least diminished according to the present dignity or indignity capacity or incapacity thereof CHAP. VIII § 1. That Spirit and Body as they are Creatures differ not essentially is farther proved by three other Reasons And a Fourth is drawn from that intimate Bond or Vnion between Body and Spirit § 2. That would be altogether an unfit comparison to go about to illustrate the manner how the Soul moves the Body by an Example of God moving his Creatures § 3. The Vnion and Sympathy of Soul and Body may be easily demonstrated as also how the Soul moves the Body from the aforesaid Principle that Spirit is Body and Body Spirit § 4. A Fifth Argument is taken from Earth and Water which continually produces Animals of divers Kinds out of putrified or corrupted Matter § 5. How a gross Body may be changed into Spirit and become as it were the Mother of Spirits where an Example is laid down of our Corporal Aliment which by various Transmutations in the Body is changed into Animal Spirits and from these into Subtiler and more Spiritual § 6. Of the good or bad Angels of Men which are properly the Angels of a Man and proceed from him as Branches from the Root § 7. A sixth and last Argument is drawn from certain places of Scripture § 1. TO prove that Spirit and Body differ not essentially but gradually I shall deduce my Fourth Argument from the intiment Band or Union which intercedes between Bodies and Spirits by means whereof the Spirits have Dominion over the Bodies with which they are united that they move them from one place to another and use them as Instruments in their various Operations For if Spirit and Body are so contrary one to another so that a Spirit is only Life or a living and sensible Substance but a Body a certain Mass merely dead a Spirit penetrable and indiscerpible but a Body impenetrable and discerpible which are all contrary Attributes What I pray you is that which doth so join or unite them together Or what are those Links or Chains whereby they have so firm a connexion and that for so long a space of Time Moreover also when the Spirit or Soul is separated from the Body so that it hath no longer Dominion or Power over it to move it as it had before What is the cause of this separation If it be said that the vital agreement the Soul hath to the Body is the cause of the said Union and that the Body being corrupted that vital Agreement ceaseth I Answer We must first enquire in what this vital Agreement doth consist for if they cannot tell us wherein it doth consist they only trisle with empty Words which give a sound but want a signification For certainly in that sence which they take Body and Spirit in there is no Agreement at all between them for a Body is always a dead Thing void of Life and sense no less when the Spirit is in it than when it is gone out of it Hence there is no Agreement at all between them and if there is any Agreement that certainly will remain the same both when the Body is found and when it is corrupted If they deny this because a Spirit requires an organized Body by means whereof it performs its vital Acts of the external Senses moves and transports the Body from place to place which Organical Action ceases when the Body is corrupted Certainly by this the difficulty is never the better solved For why doth the Spirit require such an organized Body ex gr Why doth it require a Corporeal Eye so wonderfully formed and organized that I can see by it Why doth it need a Corporeal Light to see Corporeal Objects Or why is it requisite that the Image of the Object should be sent to it through the Eye that it may see it If the same were entirely nothing but a Spirit and no way Corporeal Why doth it need so many several Corporeal Organs so far different from the Nature of it Furthermore how can a Spirit move its Body or any of its Members if a Spirit as they affirm is of such a Nature that no part of its Body can in the least resist it even as one Body is wont to resist another when 't is moved by it by reason of its Impenetrability For if a Spirit could so easily penetrate all Bodies Wherefore doth it not leave the Body behind it when it is moved from place to place seeing it can so easily pass out without the least resistance For certainly this is the cause of all Motions which we see in the World where one Thing moves another viz. because both are impenetrable in the sence aforesaid For were it not for this Impenetrability one Creature could not move another because this would not oppose that nor at all resist it an Example whereof we have in the Sails of a Ship by which the Wind drives the Ship and that so much the more vehemently by how much the fewer holes vents and passages the same finds in the Sails against which it drives When on the contrary if instead of Sails Nets were expanded through which the Wind would have a freer passage certainly by these the Ship would be but little moved although it blew with great violence Hence we see how this Impenetrability causes resistance and this makes Motion But if there were no Impenetrability as in the case of Body and Spirit then there could be no resistance and by consequence the Spirit could make no motion in the Body § 2. AND if it be objected That God is altogether incorporeal and intrinsecally present in all Bodies and yet doth move Bodies whethersoever he pleaseth and is the First Mover of all Things and yet nothing is impenetrable to him I Answer This Motion by which God moves a Body doth wonderfully differ from that manner by which the Soul moves the Body for the Will of God which gave Being to Bodies gave them Motion also so that Motion it self is of God by whose Will all Motion happens For as a Creature cannot give Being to it self so neither can it move it self for in him we Live Move and have our Being so that Motion and Essence come from the same cause sc God the Creator who remains immoveable in himself neither is he carried from place to place because he is equally present every where and gives Being to Creatures But the case is far different when the Soul moves the Body for the Soul is not the Author of Motion but only determines it to this or that particular Thing And the Soul it self is moved together with the Body from place to place and if the Body be imprisoned or held in Chains it cannot free or deliver it self out of Prison or out of Chains Wherefore it would be a very unfit comparison if one should go about to illustrate that Motion the Soul makes in the Body by an Example of God moving his Creatures yea so great is the
its notable thinness immediately to vanish From which Aethereal Substance as well Angels as Men have their Original quoad Spiritus or as to their Spirits as the Brutal Nature hath its Original from Water But as all the Punishments God inflicts on his Creatures have some proportion with their Sins so all these Punishments the worst not excepted do tend to their Good and Restoration and so are Medicinal that by them these diseased Creatures may be cured and restored to a better condition than before they enjoyed § 11. NOW therefore let us examine how every Creature is composed and how the parts of its composition may be converted the one into the other for that they have originally one and the same Essence or Being In every visible Creature there is a Body and a Spirit or Principium magis Activum magis Passivum or more Active and more Passive Principle which may fitly be termed Male and Female by reason of that Analogy a Husband hath with his Wife For as the ordinary Generation of Men requires a Conjunction and Co-operation of Male and Female so also all Generations and Productions whatsoever they be require an Union and conformable Operation of those Two Principles to wit Spirit and Body but the Spirit is an Eye or Light beholding its own proper Image and the Body is a Tenebrosity or Darkness receiving that Image when the Spirit looks thereinto as when one sees himself in a Looking-Glass for certainly he cannot so behold himself in the Transparent Air nor in any Diaphanous Body because the reflexion of an Image requires a certain opacity or darkness which we call a Body Yet to be a Body is not an Essential Property of any Thing as neither is it a Property of any Thing to be dark for nothing is so dark that it cannot be made Light yea the Darkness it self may become Light as the Light which is created may be turned into Darkness as the Words of Christ do fully evince when he saith If the Light which is in thee be darkness c. where he means the Eye or Spirit which is in the Body which beholdeth the Image of any Thing Therefore as every Spirit hath need of a Body that it may receive and reflect its Image so also it requires a Body to retain the same for every Body hath this retentive Nature either more or less in it self and by how much the perfecter a Body is that is more perfectly mix'd so much the more retentive is it and so Water is more retentive than Air and Earth of some Things is more retentive than Water But the Seed of a Female Creature by reason of its so perfect mixture for that it is the purest Extraction of the whole Body hath in it a notable retention And in this Seed as a Body the Male Seed which is the Image and Spirit of the Male is received and retained together with other Spirits which are in the Female and therefore whatsoever Spirit is then strongest and hath the strongest Image or Idea in the Seed whether it be the Masculine or the Feminine or any other Spirit from either of these received from without thaâ— Spirit is predominant in the Seed and forms the Body as near as may be after its own Image and so every Creature receives his External Form And after the same manner also the Internal Productions of the Mind viz. Thoughts are generated which according to their Kind are true Creatures and have a true Substance proper to themselves being all our Internal Children and all of them Male and Female that is they have Body and Spirit for if they had not a Body they could not be retained nor could we reflect on our own proper Thoughts for every reflection is made by a certain Tenebrosity or Darkness and this is a Body so the Memory requires a Body to retain the Spirit of the Thing thought on otherwise it would vanish as the Image in a Glass which presently vanishes the Object being removed And so likewise when we remember any Body we see his Image in us which is a Spirit that proceeded from him whilst we beheld him from without which Image or Spirit is retained in Some-Body which is the Seed of our Brain and thence is made a certain Spiritual Generation in us And so every Spirit hath its Body and every Body its Spirit and as the Body sc of a Man or Beast is nothing else but an innumerable multitude of Bodies compacted together into one and disposed into a certain order so likewise the Spirit of a Man or Beast is a certain innumerable multitude of Spirits united together in the said Body which have their Order and Government so that there is one Captain or Chief Governor another a Lieutenant and another hath a certain kind of Government under him and so through the whole as it is wont to be in an Army of Soldiers wherefore the Creatures are called Armies and God the God of Hosts as the Devil which possessed the Man was called Legion because there were many of them so that every Man yea every Creature consists of many Spirits and Bodies many of these Spirits which exist in Man are called by the Hebrews Nizzuzoth or Sparks See in Kabbal denud Tom. 2. Part 2. Tract de revolutionibus animarum Cap. 2. seq p. 256 268 c. And indeed every Body is a Spirit and nothing else neither differs any thing from a Spirit but in that it is more dark therefore by how much the thicker and grosser it is become so much the more remote is it from the degree of a Spirit so that this distinction is only modal and gradual not essential or substantial CHAP. VII § 1. That every Body may be turned into a Spirit and a Spirit into a Body because the distinction between Body and Spirit is only in Modo not in Essentia The reason hereof is taken first from the Order of Things abovesaid which consists only in Three And that the worst of Creatures yea the most cursed Devils after many and long-continued Torments shall at length return to a State of Goodness Moreover that all this hardness and grossness of Bodies came from a certain Fall which therefore shall in time return to a state of softness and subtilty § 2. The Second Reason is drawn from the Divine Attributes whereof some are communicable to his Creatures § 3. The Third Reason is drawn from the love which the Spirits have to their Bodies § 4. That to be penetrable and indiscerpible is as truly attributed to Bodies as to Spirits and to be impenetrable and disceâ—pible agrees as well to Spirits as to Bodies for that the difference is Gradual and not Essential And that no Creature or Created Spirit can be intimately present in any Creature because Intrinsick Presence only pertains to God and Christ and therefore that Philosophical Penetration of Created Spirits in regard of Bodies is a mere Scholastick Fiction NOW that I
Magnet thereof whence also God is above all the most to be loved because he is the best which Goodness is in some measure in Creatures either really or apparently wherefore such are loved of their Fellow-Creatures I Answer It must be granted indeed that Goodness is a great yea the greatest Cause of Love and the proper Object of it but this Goodness is not a distinct Cause from those before laid down but is comprehended in them Wherefore do we call a Thing Good But because it either really or apparently pleases us for the unity it hath with us or which we have with it Hence it comes to pass that Good Men love Good Men and not otherwise for Good Men cannot love Evil nor Evil Men Good Men as such for there is no greater similitude than between Good and Good For the reason why we call or esteem a Thing Good is this that it benefits us and that we are made Partakers of its Goodness and so here the First Cause of Similitude is still Militant So likewise when one Thing gives being to another as when God and Christ give Being to Creatures as from whom have every true Essence proceeded here is in like manner a certain Similitude for it is impossible that the Creatures should not in some Things be like their Creator and agree with him in some Attributes or Perfections This being supposed a Touch-stone we shall now return to our subject matter i. e. to examine whether Spirits and Bodies are of one Nature and Substance and so convertible one into another Therefore I demand What is the reason That the Spirit or Soul so loveth the Body wherewith it is united and so unwillingly departs out of it that it has been manifestly notorious the Souls of some have attended on and been subject to their Bodies after the Body was dead until it was corrupted and dissolved into dust That the Spirit or Soul gave a distinct Being to the Body or the Body to the Spirit cannot be the reason of this Love for that were Creation in a strict sence but this viz. to give Being unto Things agrees only to God and Christ therefore that necessarily comes to pass by reason of that similitude they have one with another or some Affinity in their Natures Or if it be said there is a certain Goodness in the Body which moves the Spirit to love it certainly this Goodness must necessarily answer to something in the Soul which is like it otherwise it could not be carried unto it yea let them inform us what that Goodness in the Body is for which the Soul doth so servently love it or in what Attributes or Perfections a Body is like a Spirit if a Body is nothing but a dead Trunk and a certain Mass which is altogether uncapable of any degree of Life and Perfection if they say a Body agrees with a Spirit Ratione entis or in respect of Being that is to say as this hath Being so that hath the same this is already refuted in the former Argument for if this Being hath no Attributes or Perfections wherein it may agree with the Being of a Spirit then it is only a mere Fiction for God created no Naked Ens or Being which should be a mere Being and have no Attributes that may be predicated of it besides also Ens is only a Logical Notion or Term which Logicians do call Genus generalissimum or the most General Kind which in the naked and abstracted Notion of it is not in the Things themselves but only in the Conception or Humane Intellect And therefore every true Being is a certain single Nature whereof may be affirmed such and such Attributes Now what are those Attributes of Body wherein it resembles a Spirit Let us examine the principal Attributes of Body as distinct from a Spirit according to their Opinion who so much dispute that Body and Spirit are so infinitely distant in Nature that one can never become the other The Attributes are these That a Body is impenetrable of all other Bodies so that the parts thereof cannot penetrate each other but there is another Attribute of Body viz. to be discerpible or divisible into parts But the Attributes of Spirit as they define it are penetrability and indiscerpibility so that one Spirit can penetrate another also that a thousand Spirits can stand together one within another and yet possess no more Space than one Spirit Moreover that a Spirit is so simple and one in it self that it cannot be rent asunder or actually divided into separate parts If now the Attributes of Body and Spirit are compared together they are so far from being like one another or having any Analogy of Nature in which nevertheless the true Foundation of Love and Unity doth consist as before was said that they are plainly contrary yea nothing in the whole World can be conceived â—o contrary to any Thing as Body and Spirit in the opinion of these Men. For here is a pure and absolute contrariety in all their Attributes because Penetrability and Impenetrability are more contrary one to another than black and white or hot and cold For that which is black may become white and that which is hot may become cold But as they say that which is impenetrable cannot be made penetrable yea God and Creatures do not so infinitely differ in Essence one from another as these Doctors make Body to differ from Spirit For there are many Attributes in which God and the Creatures agree together but we can find none wherein a Body can any way agree with a Spirit and by consequence nor with God who is the chiefest and purest of Spirits wherefore it can be no Creature but a mere Non-entity or Fiction But as Body and Spirit are contrary in the Attributes of Penetrability and Impenetrability so are they no less contrary in Discerpibility and Indiscerpibility But if they alledge that Body and Spirit do agree in some Attributes as Extension Mobility and Figurability so that Spirit hath Extension and can reach from one place to another and also can move it self from place to place and form it self into whatsoever Figure it pleaseth in which cases it agrees with a Body and a Body with it To this I Answer Supposing the first that a Spirit can be extended which yet many of them deny yea most who teach that Body and Spirit are essentially distinct yet the Extension of Body and Spirit as they understand it do wonderfully differ for the Extension of Body is always impenetrable yea to be extended and impenetrable as pertaining to Body is only one real Attribute proposed in two Mental and Logical Notions or ways of speaking for what is Extension unless the Body wheresoever it is be impenetrable of its own proper parts But remove this Attribute of Impenetrability from a Body and it cannot be conceived any longer as extended Moreover also the Extension of Body and Spirit according to their Notion infinitely differ for
Nature more near unto them and yet because he is more excellent than all other Productions which we call Creatures and that too in his own Nature Hence it is he is deservedly called the First Begotten of all Creatures and the Son of God rather than a Creature of God and his Production is rather a Generation or Emanation from God than Creation if the Word be taken in a strict sence although according to the larger sence and use of this Word he may be said to be created or formed as the Scripture somewhere speaketh of him But if the thing it self be duly understood 't is needless to contend about Words Yet nevertheless a Man's Son is rather said to be begotten of him than made or created by him Of an House or a Ship built or made by a Man we do not say it is his Son but his Work because his Son is the Living Image and Similitude of himself which cannot be said of an House or a Ship So this first Production of God ad extra or to without is more fitly and properly term'd his Son than a Creature because this is the Living Image of himself and is greater and more excellent than all Creatures Now it follows that the Son himself must be immediately present in all these that he may bless and benefit them And seeing he is that true Medium between God and the Creatures he must needs exist within them that so by his Operation he may stir them up to a Union with him And seeing he is the most excellent Production of God made ad extra or to without and the most perfect and express Image of him he must needs be like unto God in all his Attributes which without contradiction may be said to be communicated to him and so by consequence he must necessarily be Omnipresent Besides if he were not present in all Creatures there would wholly remain a Chasma or wide Gap between God and the Creatures where he was not which is absurd § 5. MOREOVER as he is Partaker of the Immutability of God and the Mutability of Creatures and so a Medium between that which is altogether unchangeable and that which is altogether changeable as partaking of both so also he may be said to be a Partaker of Eternity which is proper to God and Time which is proper to Creatures and albeit it be said in the precedent Chapters that nothing interceded between Eternity and Time or between the Creatures and the Will of God which created them Time and Creatures are there to be taken in a larger sence viz. with respect to all the Productions of God made ad extra So that this Middle Being is as well there comprehended as the rest Neither can we conceive this Middle Being to be before Creatures in Time but only in the order of Nature so that indeed nothing of Time strictly taken hapned between the Creatures and the All-Creating Power and Will of God that created them § 6. BUT if by Time according to the common signification of the Word we understand a succedaneous increase or decrease of Things according to which they grow and increase unto a certain pitch or period and then again fail from it until they die or are changed into another State or Condition of Life in this sence it may be positively affirmed that neither this Middle Being or any Creature perfectly united with the same are subject to Time or the Laws thereof for the Laws of Time reach but unto a certain Period or Age and when that Period is compleated then those things which are subject to Time decay and are consumed and so die and are changed into quite another Species of Things according to that old Saying of the Poet. Tempus edax rerum tuque invidiosa vetustas Omnia destruis Which may be thus Englished Thus spiteful Age and Time that eats up Things All Things consumes and to Destruction brings And for this Reason Time is divided into Four Parts according to the Age of a Man living in this World which is Infancy Youth Manhood and Old Age even until Death so that all things which are bounded with Time are subject unto Death and Corruption or are changed into another Species of things as we see Water changed into Stones Stones into Earth and Earth into Trees and Trees into Animals or Living Creatures But in this most excellent Middle Being is neither Decay or Corruption nor to speak properly hath Death any place in him He is a most powerful and effectual Balsam which can preserve all things from Death and Corruption which are joined to him or united with him so that here all things are perpetually new springing up fresh and green here is perpetual Youth without Old Age and here is the Perfection of Old Age to wit great increase of Wisdom and Experience without any imperfection of Age. But when Christ came in the Flesh and in that Body which he bare with him from Heaven for every created Spirit hath a certain Vehicle either Terrestrial Aereal or Aethereal as this was He took upon him somewhat of our Nature and by consequence the Nature of all Things because the Nature of Man hath in it the Nature of all Creatures whence also he is called the Microcosm which Nature having assumed in Flesh and Blood he sanctified that by that he might sanctifie all Things and so was as that little Leaven that changed the whole Lump He descended then within Time and for a certain space or period of his own accord subjected himself to the Laws of Time so as to endure great Torments even Death it self but Death did not long detain him for the Third Day he rose again and this was the end of all his Sufferings even of his Death and Burial viz. that he might Heal Cure and Redeem his Creatures from Death and Corruption which came upon them by the Fall and so at length hereby put an end to Times and elevate the Creatures above Times to himself where he abideth who is the same yesterday today henceforth and for ever without Decay Death or Corruption In like manner in his Spiritual and Internal Appearance in Man whereby he purposeth to Save Heal and Redeem the Soul he doth as it were after a certain manner subject himself to a kind of Death and Passion and so for a certain space submits himself to the Laws of Time that he might elevate the Souls of Men above Time and Corruptibility to himself wherein they receive Blessing and grow from one degree of Goodness and Vertue unto another in insinitum § 7. BY the same Reason those who are come unto a perfect Union with Christ are mounted up into a Region or Sphere of perfect Tranquility where nothing is seen or perceived to move or compel for although there exist the most swift and vehement Motions yet nevertheless because the same do so uniformly so equally and harmoniously move without the least contrariety or disorder they
and Inclination which before in the Humane Body it had not it necessarily follows that the Body which this Vital Spirit forms will be Brutal and not Humane for the Brutal Spirit cannot produce and form any other Figure Because its Plastick Faculty is governed of its Imagination which it doth most strongly imagine to its self or conceive its own proper Image which therefore the External Body is necessarily forced to assume § 8. HEREIN the Justice of God marvellously appears whilst he assigns to every Kind and Degree of Transgression its due and proper Punishment neither doth he sentence every Sin and Transgression to Hell-Fire and the Punishment due unto Devils for Christ hath taught the contrary in that Parable where he sheweth the Third Degree only is Doom'd to Infernal Punishment viz. if one say to his Brother Thou Fool What can be here objected against the Justice of God If it be said it doth too much lessen and disparage the Dignity and Nobility of Humane Nature to suppose the same with respect to Body and Soul convertible into the Nature of a Brute To this I Answer according to the common Maxim Corruptio optimi fit pessima The best Things by Corruption become the worst For seeing Man by his voluntary Transgression hath so exceedingly polluted and brought down his own Nature which was so Noble into a far worse State and Condition that the same could wax as vile and base in Spirit as the most unclean Beast or Animal so that he is become as subject to Earthly Concupiscences and Desires as any Beast yea is become worse than any Beast What Injustice will this be if God should also compel him to bear that Image outwardly in his Body into the which he hath inwardly transformed himself Or which thinkest thou is the worst Degeneration to bear the Image of a Beast in Spirit or in Body Certainly every one will say to be like a Beast in Spirit is far the greatest Degeneration and there is not one who is indued with true Nobility of Mind who will not confess that to be like a Beast inwardly is worse than to be like the same outwardly for to be one with him in Spirit is far worse than to be one with him in External Form and Figure of Body But if any one shall say this Punishment is too little for such a Man who hath lived all his Days a Brutish Life if after Death he shall only return to the State or Condition of some Beast let such know that the most just Creator and Maker of all Things is wiser than he and knows best what Punishment is due unto every particular Sin who hath also so most justly and wisely disposed all Things that no Man that lives carnally and after the manner of Beasts can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and so also the Doctrine of Christ expresly informs us that all Sins are not to be punished with the pains of Hell And that where the Treasure is there is the Heart also and the Spirit of Man Also if a Man is joyn'd or united with any Things that then he becomes unum quid or one with the same and that he that cleaves to the Lord is one with him in Spirit and he that cleaves to a Harlot is one Flesh with her Why then doth not he that cleaves to a Beast by the same reason become one with a Beast And so in all other cases For to whom any one yields himself in obedience the same is his Master so far as he obeys him as the Scripture saith Moreover also it is said With what measure soever ye mete the same shall be meted unto you As if it should have said All Kinds and Degrees of Sin have their proper Punishments and all these Punishments tend to the Creatures Advantage so that Grace prevails over Judgment and Judgment is turned into Victory to the Salvation and Restoration of the Creature For seeing the Grace of God is extended over all his Works Why should we think God a more severe and rigid Master to his Creatures than indeed he is Seeing this doth wonderfully obscure and darken the Glory of the Divine Attributes neither doth it beget a Love towards God and an Admiration of his Goodness and Justice in the Hearts of Men as it ought to be but the plain contrary § 9. FOR that common Notion of the Justice of God that every Sin how small soever it be shall be punished with Hell Fire and that without all end begets in Men an horrible Idea or Conception concerning God to wit as though he were a cruel Tyrant towards all his Creatures rather than a Gracious Father But if the lovely Image of God was more known unto Men such as indeed he is and manifesteth himself in all his Dispensations to his Creatures and if our Souls could inwardly feel and tast him viz. as he is Charity and Goodness it self and as he inwardly reveals himself by the Light and Spirit of Christ Jesus our Lord in the Hearts of Men then indeed and not till then would Men come to Love God above all things and acknowledge him to be beyond all the most Lovely Just and Merciful who may not punish all Sinners with an equal Punishment § 10. AND moreover also Why did he drown the old World with Water and hath purposed to destroy this with Fire Such as was that of Sodom but that he would show that for diverskinds of Sin divers sorts of Punishment are to be inflicted And that the old World was indeed wicked but that which is to be destroyed with fire is worse which for that reason will have the greater Judgment But the different nature of these transgressions for which those different punishments are prepared seem to consist in this that the sins of the old World were more brutish and carnal as the word of God doth seem to point out when he saith My Spirit shall not always strive with Man because he is become Flesh that is he is become perfectly Brutish or Bestial by obeying the desires of the Flesh So that unless this Generation had been cut off all Mankind except Noah and his Family in the succeeding Generation would have become Bestial which Evil God would prevent by drowning them with the Waters that by this Punishment they might be reduced from the Brutish Nature to the Nature of Men But the Sins of this World which like Sodom is to be destroyed with Fire seâ—â—â— their own Nature to be more like the Sins of Devils than any thing else viz. by reason of Craft Deceit Malice Hostility and Cruelty and therefore their proper Punishment is Fire which also is the Original Principle of those Noble Spirits so greatly degenerated and so they ought deservedly by the same to be restored and regenerated For what is Fire but a certain kind of imperfect Aethereal Substance shut up in combustible Bodies as we observe the same still to mount upwards and by reason of
may more clearly demonstrate that every Body is a certain Spirit or Life in its own Nature and that the same is a certain intelligent Principle having knowledge Sense Love Desire Joy and Grief as it is this or that way affected and by consequence hath Activity and Motion per se so that it can remove it self whithersoever it desires to be I say in its own Nature wherein it was originally created and as it shall be again when it shall be reduced to its primitive State and delivered from that Confusion and Vanity to which it is subject by reason of Sin I shall produce these following Reasons Of the Nature of Matter and Spirit more may be seen in Kabbal denud Tom. 1. Part 2. p. 308. unto p. 312. and Tom. 2. Treatise ult pag. 6. 28 29 32. § 1. THE first hereof shall be from the Order of Things before-mentioned which I have already proved to be but Three to wit God the Supreme or Chiefest Christ the Medium or Middle and the Creature the lowest in Order which Creature is but one Essence or Substance as to Nature or Essence as is above demonstrated so that it only differs secundum modos existendi or according to the manners of existence among which one is Corporiety whereof also there are many degrees so that a Thing may more or less approach to or recede from the State and Condition of a Body or a Spirit but because a Spirit between these two is more excellent in the Natural Order of Things and by how much the more a Creature is a Spirit if at least wise it doth not any otherwise degenerate so much the nearer it approaches to God who is the chiefest Spirit Hence a Body may always be more and more Spiritual ad infinitum because God who is the First and Supreme Spirit is Infinite and doth not nor cannot partake of the least Corporiety whence such is the Nature of a Creature unless it degenerates that it always draws nearer and nearer unto God in likeness But because there is no Being which is every way contrary to God Viz. there is no Being which is infinitely and unchangeably Evil as God is infinitely and unchangeably Good nothing infinitely Dark as God is infinitely Light nor any thing infinitely a Body having nothing of Spirit as God is infinitely a Spirit having nothing of Body hence it is manifest that no Creature can become more and more a Body ad infinitum although the same may become more and more a Spirit ad infinitum and nothing can become infinitely more dark though it may become infinitely more light By the same reason nothing can be Evil ad infinitum although it may become more and more Good ad infinitum And so indeed in the very Nature of Things there are limits or bounds to Evil but none unto Good And after the same manner every degree of Sin or Evil hath its Punishment Grief and Chastisement annexed to it in the very Nature of the Thing by which the Evil is again changed into Good which Punishment or Correction though it be not presently perceived of the Creature when it Sins yet is reserved in those very Sins which the same committeth and in its due time will appear and then every Sin will have its Punishment and so the Pain and Chastisement will be felt of the Creature and by that the Creature will be again restored unto its former State of Goodness in which it was created and from which it cannot fall or slide any more because by its great Chastisement it hath acquired a greater Strength and Perfection and so is ascended so far above that indifferency of Will which before it had to Good or Evil that it Wills only that which is Good neither is any more capable to Will any Evil. See Kabbal denud Tom. 2. Tract ult p. 61. § 9. p. 69. § 21. and 70. § 5. ibid. Tract 2. p. 157. And hence may be inferred that all the Creatures of God which heretofore degenerated and fell from their primitive Goodness must after certain periods be converted and restored not only to as good but unto a better State than that was in which they were created For Divine Operation cannot cease And hence it is the Nature of every Creature to be still in Motion and always to change either from Good to Good or from Good into Evil or from Evil again into Good and because it cannot proceed infinitely to Evil for that there is no Infinite Example thereof hence it must necessarily return or slide into Eternal Silence which is contrary to the Nature of it But if it be said it goes into Eternal Torments I Answer If by Eternal thou meanest an Infiniteness of Ages which shall never cease that is impossible because every Pain and Torment excites or stirs up an operating Spirit and Life in every thing which suffers as we observe by continued Experience and Reason teacheth us that of necessity it must be so because through Pain and the enduring thereof every kind of crassitude or grossness in Spirit or Body contracted is attenuated and so the Spirit captivated or detained in that grossness or crassitude is set at Liberty and made more Spiritual and consequently more Active and Operative through suffering Now seeing a Creature cannot proceed infinitely to Evil nor slide down into Inactivity or Silence nor yet also into mere Eternal Passion it incontestably follows that it must at length return unto Good and by how much the greater its Sufferings are so much the sooner shall it return and be restored And so we see how a Thing the same Substance still remaining may be marvellously changed in respect of the manners of its Existence so that a certain Holy and Blessed Spirit or Angel of Light could by his voluntary Action become a Wicked and Cursed Spirit of Darkness which Change or Metamorphosis certainly is as great as if a Spirit were changed into a Body And if it be here demanded Whether those Spirits became more Corporeal by their Transgression than they were in their Primitive State before they fell I answer Yes but because as I have already shown that a Spirit is capable of Corporiety Secundum majus minus or more and less although not infinitely yet in many degrees Hence it is they could remain for many Ages and have nothing of such a Corporeal Crassitude as Things in this visible World have such as are hard Stones or Metals or the Bodies of Men and Women For certainly the Bodies of the worst Spirits have not such a Crassltude as any visible Body and yet all that grossness of visible Bodies came from the Fall of Spirits from their First State And so the Spirits after long and various periods could contract this grossness to themselves although they could not together and at one and the same time fall into an universal grossness so that the whole Body of any fallen Spirit should be in all its parts equally
gross but some parts become grosser and grosser and the other Corporeal Parts of this Spirit which are its immediate Vehicle and wherewith it is most intimately united retain a certain Tenuity or Subtilty without which the Spirit could not be so moveable and active as otherwise it would and with these subtiler and more tenuious Parts of the Body the principal Spirit together with its ministring Spirits so many of them as it can possibly gather together departs out of those thicker Parts of the Body which it leaves as so many cadaverous Bodies which are no longer fit to serve the said Spirits in those Operations which they exercise in their present State And we may observe this departure of the subtiler and stronger Spirits out of the harder and grosser parts of the Body into the more soft and tenuâ—ous in a certain Spirituous Liquor which is congealed with great cold where the stronger Spirits forsaking the harder Parts which are outward and chiefly exposed to the cold do gather themselves into the middle Part of the Body which is always subtile and thin so that one only drop of that Liquor which is not congealed but remaineth still liquid in the innermost Part of the congealed Body hath in it the augmented force of all those Parts which are congealed so that here is a two fold grossness and hardness of Bodies the one palpable and visible to our External Senses the other invisible and impalpable which nevertheless is as gross as the other yea often grosser and harder which may be truly perceived by the Internal Senses although the External Senses may be insensible thereof for the invisible and impalpable grossness or hardness is that which is proper to those Bodies which are so small that our External Senses cannot perceive them when nevertheless they are really exceeding hard yea harder than any Flint or Metal which we can handle with our Hands And out of these hard and small Bodies visible Waters are for the most part composed although they appear to us very soft fluid and tenuious by reason of the great Plenty of certain other subtile Bodies which continually agitate and move the said hard Particles so that Water seems to our gross Senses to be one thing Homogeneal Simple and Uniform although it consisteth of many Heterogeneous and Dissimilar or differing Parts more than many other Bodies and many of these Parts are exceeding hard and stony whence proceeds Gravel bubbling sorth and all other little Sands and Stones which have their Original and Birth from the Waters springing from the bottom of the Earth and when those little Stones or stony Particles of Water grow into visible Sand and Stones the same after some time do again lose this hardness and become more soft and tenuious than when they belonged to the Waters for Stones do rot and are converted into soft Earth and out of this proceed Animals so also Stones putrifying do often become Water again but this Water is of another Species than the former for one is petrefying the other mollifying as it is observed that from one Mountain in Helvetia two Kinds of Water flow one whereof being drunken breeds the Stone and the other is a proper remedy against it so that one Water is changed into a Stone and the other Water proceeds from that Stone whilst it is in Corruption and so it alters and loseth its former hardness And so from what hath been said may the better be understood how the Heart and Spirit of a Wicked Man may be said to be hard and stony because indeed his Spirit hath in it a real hardness such as is found in those little stony Particles of certain Waters when on the contrary the Spirits of good Men are soft and tender which internal softness and hardness of Spirits we may also really feel and every Good Man doth as sensibly perceive the same as the external hardness of gross Bodies is discerned by the outward touch but such who are dead in their Sins have not this sense of the hardness or softness of Good or Evil Spirits and therefore they call these only Metaphorical Speeches when indeed the Things are really so in a proper sence and that without any Figure § 2. THE Second Reason that created Spirits are convertible into Bodies and Bodies into Spirits I shall deduce from a serious and due consideration of the Divine Attributes from which as from a Treasury of Instructions may be manifested the Truth of all Things For seeing God is infinitely Good and communicates his Goodness infinite ways to his Creatures so that there is no Creature which doth not receive something of his Goodness and that very largely And seeing the Goodness of God is a living Goodness which hath Life Power Love and Knowledge in it which he communicates to his Creatures How can it be that any dead Thing should proceed from him or be created by him such as is mere Body or Matter according to their Hypothesis who affirm that the same is wholly inconvertible to any degree of Life or Knowledge It is truly said of one that God made not Death and it is as true that he made no dead Thing For how can a dead Thing depend of him who is infinitely Life and Charity Or how can any Creature receive so vile and diminutive an Essence from him who is so infinitely Liberal and Good that should partake nothing of Life or Knowledge nor ever be able to aspire to it no not in the least degree Hath not God created all his Creatures for this end that in him they might be Blessed and enjoy his Divine Goodness in their several States and Conditions But how can this be without Life or sense Or how can any Thing that wanteth Life enjoy Divine Goodness But we shall urge this Argument a little farther The Divine Attributes are commonly and rightly distinguished into communicable and incommunicable the incommunicable are that God is a Being subsisting by himself Independent Unchangeable absolutely Infinite and most Perfect The communicable are that he is a Spirit Life and Light that he is Good Holy Just Wise c. But now there are none of these communicable Attributes which are not living yea Life it self And because every Creature hath a Communication with God in some of his Attributes now I demand In what Attribute dead Matter hath it or a Body that is uncapable of Life and Sense for ever If it be said It agrees with God in Entity or that it is an Essence I Answer In God there is no dead Being whereof he is or can be Partaker Whence therefore shall this have its dead Essence Moreover the Entity or Being of a Thing is not properly an Attribute thereof but an Attribute is properly tale quid or something that is predicated or affirmed of that Being Now what Attributes or Perfections can be attributed to dead Matter which do analogically Answer to those which are in God If we diligently enquire thereinto we
shall find none at all for all his Attributes are living yea Life it self Moreover seeing the Creatures of God so far as they are Creatures ought necessarily in some things to resemble their Creator now I demand in what dead Matter is like unto God If they say again in naked Entity I Answer There is none such in God or his Creatures And so it is a mere non ens or nothing But as touching the other Attributes of Matter viz. Impenetrability Figurability and Mobility certainly none of these have any place in God and so are not of his communicable Attributes but rather Essential Differences or Attributes of Diversity whereby the Creature as such is distinguished from God as also Mutability is of the Number of those differential Attributes whence it cannot be said that Mutability is of the communicable Attributes of God And in like manner Impenetrability Figurability and Mobility do not pertain unto the communicable Attributes of God but to those only in which the Creatures differ from him And seeing dead Matter doth not partake of any of the communicable Attributes of God we must certainly conclude that the same is a mere non ens or nothing a false Fiction or Chimaera and so a thing impossible If they say it hath a Metaphysical Goodness and Truth even as every Being is Good and True Again I demand What is that Goodness and Truth For if it hath no participation with any of the communicable Attributes of God it will be neither Good nor True and so a mere Fiction as before was said Moreover seeing it cannot be said wherein dead Matter doth any way partake of Divine Goodness much less can it be shown how it may be capable always to acquire a greater Perfection ad infinitum which is the Nature of all Creatures viz. to increase and infinitely advance towards a farther Perfection as is before demonstrated But what farther progress in Goodness or Perfection hath a dead Matter Because after it hath suffered Infinite Changes of Motion and Figure it is constrained always to remain dead as before and if Motion and Figure contribute nothing to the receiving of Life then certainly this is made never the better nay is not in the least degree promoted in Goodness For suppose this dead Matter had undergone all Forms and been transmuted into all Kinds of Figures even the most regular and exact What doth this profit this Matter or Body because it wants all Life and Sense So let us suppose the same to have undergone Infinite Kinds of Motion from slowness to swiftness Wherein therefore is it better by the way of its Intrinsecal Melioration For the Argument speaketh of Intrinsecal Melioration which is such a Melioration as the Nature of the Thing it self requireth and which is performed thereby but a mere dead Body or Matter requires no kind of Motion or Figure nor in it self is perfected more by one Motion or Figure than by another for it is alike indifferent to all Motions and Figures whatsoever and by consequence is not perfected or bettered by any of them And then what advantage will it have from all these helps if it always remain a dead and impassible Thing § 3. MY Third Reason is drawn from the great Love and Desire that the Spirits or Souls have towards Bodies and especially towards those with which they are united and in which they have their Habitation But now the Foundation of all Love or Desire whereby one Thing is carried unto another stands in this That either they are of the same Nature and Substance with them or like unto them or both or that one hath its Being from the other whereof we have an Example in all living Creatures which bring forth their young and in like manner also in Men how they love that which is born of them For so also even Wicked Men and Women if they are notextremely perverse and void of Parental Love do Love their Children and cherish them with a Natural Affection the cause whereof certainly is this That their Children are of the same Nature and Substance viz. as though they were Parts of them and if they are like them either in Body Spirit or Manners hereby their Love is the more increased So also we observe that Animals of one Species love one another more than those that are of a different Species whence also Cattle of one Kind feed together Birds of a Kind flock together and Fishes of a Kind swim together and so Men rather converse with Men than with any other Creatures But besides this particular Love there remains yet something of Universal Love in all Creatures one towards another setting aside that great confusion which hath fallen out since by reason of Transgression which certainly must proceed from the same Foundation viz. in regard of their First Substance and Essence they were all one and the same Thing and as it were Parts and Members of one Body Moreover in every Species of Animals we see how the Male and Female Love one another and in all their Propagations which are not Monstrous and contrary to Nature they respect each other and that proceeds not only from the unity of Nature but also by reason of a certain eminent similitude or likeness between them And both these Foundations of Love between a Man and a Woman are expresly mentioned in Genesis but that which Adam spoke concerning his Wife This is Bone of my Bone and Flesh of my Flesh c. pertains unto the Unity of Nature for she was taken out of him and was a part of him and therefore he loved her Moreover also concerning Similitude it is said there was no Help found for him or before his Face as it is in the Hebrew i. e. among all Creatures he saw not his like with whom he would converse until Eve was made for him But there is yet another cause of Love when Beings that love each other are not one Substance but one gave Being to the other and is the proper and real cause thereof And so it is in the case between God and Creatures for he gave to all Being Life and Motion and therefore he loves all Creatures neither can he not love them yea at the same time when he seems to hate and be angry with them this his Anger and what proceeds therefrom viz. Punishments and Judgments turns to their Good because he perceiveth they have need of them So on the contrary the Creatures which have not wholly degenerated and lost all sense of God do love him and this is a certain Divine Law and Instinct which he put in all rational Creatures that they might love him which is the fulfilling of the whole Law But those Creatures which draw most near unto God in similitude or likeness do love him the more and are the more loved of him But if it be thought there is another principal cause of Love to wit Goodness which is the most vehement or powerful
whatsoever Extension a Body hath the same is so necessary and essential to it that it is impossible for it to be more or less extended when nevertheless a Spirit may be more or less extended as they affirm and seeing to be moveable and figurable are only consequential Attributes of Extension for that a Spirit is far otherwise moveable and figurable than a Body because a Spirit can move and form it self as a Body cannot The same Reason which is good against the one is good against the other also § 4. BUT Secondly How can they prove Impenetrability is an Essential Attribute of Body or that Penetrability is an Essential Attribute of Spirit Why may not Body be more or less impenetrable and Spirit more or less penetrable as it may and indeed doth happen in all other Attributes For ex gr some Body may be more or less heavy or light condensed or rarefied solid or liquid hot or cold then why may it not also be more or less penetrable or impenetrable If it be said that in all those other Mutations we always observe that a Body remains impenetrable as Iron when it is heat red-hot yet remains still impenetrable I Answer I grant it may remain impenetrable of any other Body of equal thickness yet may and is entirely penetrated of a more subtile Body sc of the Fire which hath entred into it and penetrated all its parts whereby 't is made so soft and if the Fire be stronger begins wholly to melt But if against this they Object that the ingress of Fire into the Iron is not penetration in a Philosophical Sence nor as they understand it viz. as though the Fire and Iron did possess but one place and so the one could be intrinsecally present in the other because it is manifest to the contrary that Iron if it be made candent or glowing hot it swelleth and acquireth a greater Bulk than when it is cold and as it waxeth cold again it returneth to its former dimension To this I Answer If they mean such a Penetration which we call Intrinseck Presence viz. that one Homogeneal Substance should enter into another both being of equal Dimensions and yet the bulk or quantity not increased that seems wholly irrational And it would be a mere impossibility and contradiction to grant such an intimate Presence in Creatures which only agrees unto God and Christ as Creators whose Prerogative it is to be intrinsecally present in Creatures whereas no Creature can have that Intrinseck Presence in its Fellow Creature because then it would cease to be a Creature and obtain one of the incommunicable Attributes of God and Christ which is Intrinseck Presence This I say is primarily to be attributed to God and secondarily to Christ in as much as he is Medium quid or a certain Medium between God and Creatures and who as he is Partaker of Mutability and Immutability of Eternity and Time so he may be said to be Partaker of Body and Spirit and consequently of Place and Extension For in as much as his Body is of another Substance than the Bodies of all other Creatures as of whom he is the nearest Beginning to God it may be truly said he is intrinsecally present in them and yet not so as to be confounded with them For to suppose one Creature intrinsecally present in another so as to be mingled and most perfectly united with it and yet its Quantity or Extension not increased that confounds the Creatures and maketh two or more to be but one Yea according to this Hypothesis it may be said the whole Creation is reducible into the quantity of the least Grain or Dust because every part would be supposed to penetrate another and no greater extension follow than of one Part. But if it be said that only proves that Spirits may be reduced into so small a space but not Bodies Because Bodies are Impenetrable I Answer This is but a begging of the question because they have not yet proved that Body and Spirit are distinct Substances which unless they are it follows that one Nature is not more penetrable than the other according to their sence And indeed it seems very consentaneous to Reason that as Times are each of them so extended into their due Measures and Extensions that they cannot exceed those Bounds and so cannot be intrinsecally present one with another as ex gr the First Day of the Week cannot be present with the Second Day of the same Week nor the First Hour of the Day with the Second neither is the First Minute of an Hour present with the Second Minute thereof because such is the Nature and Essence of Time that it is successive and hath partes extra partes or parts one without another When nevertheless God is really and intrinsecally present in all Times and is not changed which cannot be said of the Creature sc that that is present in all or more Times and not changed for the Creature is perpetually changed with Times seeing Times are nothing else but the Motion or Change of the Creature from one State or Condition into another And as it is in the case of Time and Creatures which are in Time so also in the case of Place Bulk or Quantity for as in God there is no Time so also in him there is no Bulk or Corporeal Quantity but in Creatures there is both Time and Corporeal Quantity because otherwise they would be either God or Nothing which is impossible For whatsoever Quantity Bulk or Extension any Creature hath it retains the same as something which is of its own Essence as it is the Essence of Time to consist of more parts and those again of more and so ad infinitum For it may be easily conceived how a less Time is in a greater ex gr how so many Minutes are in an Hour and so many Hours in a Day and one Hour doth immediately touch the next but cannot be present in it the same is to be understood of the Creatures in regard of their Quantity or Bulk for indeed one Creature may immediately touch another but cannot be present in all its parts but only a less may be in a greater and a subtiler in a grosser and this is more properly Penetration which agrees to Bodies as well as Spirits as some Body that is less gross may penetrate another that is more gross but two Bodies of an equal thickness cannot penetrate each other The same may be said of Spirits which have their degrees of more or less grossness as Bodies have Neither is there any other difference between Body and Spirit if Body be not taken in their sence who teach that it is a Thing merely Dead and void of Life or a Capacity thereof but in a proper sence sc that it is an excellent Creature having Life and Sense which either actually or potentially agrees to it but this that a Body is the grosser part of a thing and Spirit the subtiler
and Body and although they are thus united yet they still remain different in Nature one from another and so cannot be changed one into another To this I Answer if every Body even the least hath in it the Spirits of all Animals and other Things even as matter is said to have in it all Forms Now I demand Whether a Body hath actually all those Spirits in it or potentially only If actually How is it possible that so many Spirits essentially distinct from Body can actually exist in their distinct Essences in so small a Body even in the least that can be conceived unless it be by intrinseck Presence which is not communicable to any Creature as is already proved For if all kinds of Spirits are in any even the least Body How comes it to pass that such an Animal is produced of this Body and not another Yea how comes it to pass that all kind of Animals are not immediately produced out of one and the same Body which experience denies for we see that Nature keeps her order in all her Operations whence one Animal is formed of another and one Species proceeds from another as well when it ascends to a farther Perfection as when it descends to a viler State and Condition But if they say all Spirits are contained in any Body not actually in their distinct Essences but only potentially as they term it then it must be granted that the Body and all those Spirits are one and the same thing that is that a Body may be turned into them as when we say Wood is potentially Fire that is can be turned into Fire Water is potentially Air that is may be changed into Air. Moreover if Spirits and Bodies are so inseparably united that no Body can be without a Spirit yea not without many Spirits this is certainly a great Argument that they are of one Original Nature and Substance otherwise we could not conceive why in so various and wonderful dissolutions and separation of Things they should not at length be separted one from another as we see the subtiler Things may be separated from the grosser But whence is it that when a Body is at length corrupted out of this Corruption another Species of Things is generated So out of Earth and Water corrupted proceed Animals yea Stones if they putrefie or rot pass into Animals So Dung or other putrefied Matter generates Animals all which have Spirits But how doth Corruption or Dissolution of Body tend to a new Generation and that indeed of Animals If it be said the Spirits of those Animals are as it were loosed from their Bonds and set at Liberty by this dissolution and that then they can form or fashion to themselves a new Body out of the aforesaid Matter by virtue of their Plastick Faculty Unto this I reply How did the Primitive Body so hold it Captive Was it because it was so hard and thick If so it will be manifest that those Spirits are nothing else but subtile Bodies because hardness and density of Body could imprison them that they could not pass out for if a Spirit could as easily penetrate the hardest Body as the softest and most fluid it could as easily pass out of the one as the other nor would there be need of Death and Corruption to a new Life or Generation therefore this kind of Captivity of Spirits in some kind of hard Bodies and their deliverance therefrom when the Bodies become soft affords us a manifest Argument that Spirit and Body are originally of one Nature and Substance and that a Body is nothing but a fixed and condensed Spirit and a Spirit nothing but a subtile and volatile Body And here is to be noted that in all hard Bodies as in Stones whether common or precious and so also in Metals Herbs Trees and Animals yea in all Humane Bodies there don't only exist many Spirits which are as it were imprisoned in those gross Bodies and united with them and therefore cannot flow forth or fly out into other Bodies until they have passed Death or Dissolution but also many other very subtile Spirits which continually flow from them and which by reason of their subtilty the hardness of the Body in which they lay hid cannot detain and these Spirits are the more subtile Productions or the Sutures of the grosser Spirits detained in the Body for although these are detained therein yet they are not idle in their Prison but their Bodies are as it were Shops for them to work out those subtiler Spirits which afterwards flow out in colours sounds odours tastes and divers other Powers and Vertues whence the gross Body and the Spirits therein contained are as it were the Mother of those subtiler Spirits who take the place of Children for Nature still works to a farther perfection of subtilty and spirituality even as this is the most natural Property of all Motion and Operation For all Motion wears and divides and so renders a Thing subtile and spiritual Even thus in Man's Body the Meat and Drink is first changed into Chyle then into Blood afterwards into Spirits which are nothing else but Blood brought to perfection and these Spirits whether good or bad still advance to a greater subtilty or spirituality and by those Spirits which come from the Blood we see hear smell taste feel and think yea meditate love hate and do all things whatsoever we do and from hence also cometh the Seed by which Humane Kind is propagated and hence especially proceeds the Voice and Speech of Man which is full of Spirits form'd in the Heart either Good or Evil as Christ hath taught That out of the Plenty of the Heart the Mouth speaketh and that a Good Man out of the Good Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth Good Things c. Also that which goeth into a Man doth not defile him but that which proceeds out of him for in like manner as they proceed from him so shall they again return into him § 6. AND these are the proper Angels or Ministring Spirits of a Man although there are other Angels also as well Good as Evil which come unto Men Of which Angels Christ speaketh where he speaketh of those little Ones that believe on him Their Angels saith he always behold the Face of my Heavenly Father Which are the Angels of those Believers who become as it were like little Infants § 7. MY sixth and last Argument I shall deduce from certain Texts of Scripture as well of the Old as New Testament which do prove in plain and express Words that all Things have Life and do really live in some degree or measure Acts 17. 27. It is said He giveth Life to all Things Again 1 Tim. 6. 13. of God it is said That he quickens all Things And Luk. 20. 38. he is not called The God of the Dead but of the Living which though principally meant of Men yet it is generally to be understood of all other Creatures viz.
he is the God of all those Things which have their Regeneration and Resurrection in their kind no less then Man hath in his Kind For Death is not the Annihilation of these Things but a change from one kind and degree of Life to another wherefore also the Apostle proves and illustrates the Resurrection of the Dead by a Grain of Wheat which being faln into the ground dies and riseth again exceeding fruitful CHAP. IX § 1. The Philosophers so called of all Sects have generally laid an ill Foundation to their Philosophy and therefore the whole Structure must needs fall § 2. The Philosophy here treated on is not Cartesian § 3. Nor the Philosophy of Hobbs and Spinosa falsly so feigned but diametrically opposite to them § 4. That they who have attempted to refute Hobbs and Spinosa have given them too much advantage § 5. This Philosophy is the strongest to refute Hobbs and Spinosa but after another method § 6. We understand here quite another thing by Body and Matter than Hobbs understood and which Hobbs and Spinosa never saw otherwise than in a Dream § 7. Life is as really and properly an Attribute of Body as Figure § 8. Figure and Life are distinct but not contrary Attributes of one and the same thing § 9. Mechanical Motion and Action◠or Perfection of Life distinguishes Things § 1. FROM what hath been lately said and from divers Reasons alledged That Spirit and Body are originally in their first Substance but one and that same thing it evidently appears that the Philosophers so called which have taught otherwise whether Ancient or Modern have generally erred and laid an ill Foundation in the very beginning whence the whole House and Superstructure is so feeble and indeed so unprofitable that the whole Edifice and Building must in time decay from which absurd Foundation have arose very many gross and dangerous Errours not only in Philosophy but also in Divinity so called to the great damage of Mankind hindrance of true Piety and contempt of God's most Glorious Name as will easily appear as well from what hath been already said as from what shall be said in this Chapter § 2. AND none can Object That all this Philosophy is no other than that of des Cartes or Hobbs under a new Mask For First as touching the Cartesian Philosophy this saith that every Body is a mere dead Mass not only void of all kind of Life and Sense but utterly uncapable thereof to all Eternity this grand Errour also is to be imputed to all those who affirm Body and Spirit to be contrary Things and inconvertible one into another so as to deny a Body all Life and Sense which is quite contrary to the grounds of this our Philosophy Wherefore it is so far from being a Cartesian Principle under a new Mask that it may be truly said it is Anti-Cartesian in regard of their Fundamental Principles although it cannot be denied that Cartes taught many excellent and ingenious Things concerning the Mechanical part of Natural Operations and how all Natural Motions proceed according to Rules and Laws Mechanical even as indeed Nature her self i. e. the Creature hath an excellent Mechanical Skill and Wisdom in it self given it from God who is the Fountain of all Wisdom by which it operates But yet in Nature and her Operations they are far more than merely Mechanical and the same is not a mere Organical Body like a Clock wherein there is not a vital Principle of Motion but a living Body having Life and Sense which Body is far more sublime than a mere Mechanism or Mechanical Motion § 3. BUT Secondly as to what pertains to Hobbs's Opinion this is yet more contrary to this our Philosophy than that of Cartes for Cartes acknowledged God to be plainly Immaterial and an Incorporeal Spirit Hobbs affirms God himself to be Material and Corporeal yea nothing else but Matter and Body and so confounds God and the Creatures in their Essences and denies that there is any Essential Distinction between them These and many more the worst of Consequences are the Dictates of Hobbs's Philosophy to which may be added that of Spinosa for this Spinosa also confounds God and the Creatures together and makes but one Being of both all which are diametrically opposite to the Philosophy here delivered by us § 4. BUT the false and feeble Principles of some who have undertaken to refute the Philosophy of Hobbs and Spinosa so called have given them a greater advantage against themselves so that they have not only in effect not refuted them but more exposed themselves to Contempt and Laughter But if it be Objected That this our Philosophy seems at least very like that of Hobbs because he taught that all Creatures were originally one Substance from the lowest and most ignoble to the highest and noblest from the smallest Worm Insect or Fly unto the most Glorious Angel yea from the least Dust or Sand unto the most excellent of all Creatures and then this that every Creature is Material and Corporeal yea Matter and Body it self and by consequence the most Noble Actions thereof are either Material and Corporeal or after a certain Corporeal manner Now I Answer to the First I grant that all Creatures are originally one Substance from the lowest to the highest and consequently convertible or changeable from one of their Natures into another and although Hobbs saith the same yet that is no prejudice to the Truth of it as neither are other parts of that Philosophy where Hobbs affirms something that is true therefore an Hobbism or an Opinion of Hobbs alone § 5. MOREOVER this Principle is so far from defending them in their Errours that nothing is so strong to refute them ex gr The Hobbists argue all Things are one because we see that all visible Things may be changed one into another yea that all visible Things may be changed into invisible as when Water is made Air and Wood being burnt for the greatest part is changed into a certain invisible Substance which is so subtile that it escapes all observation of our Senses add to which that all invisible Things may become visible as when Water proceeds from Air c. and hence he concludes nothing is so low that it cannot attain to sublimity But now that we may Answer to this Argument his Adversaries generally deny the Antecedent and on the contrary affirm that no Spicies of Things is convertible into another And when Wood is burnt many say that the Wood is composed of two Substances to wit Matter and Form and that the Matter remains the same but the Form of the Wood is destroyed or annihilated and a new Form of Fire is produced in this Matter so that according to them here is a continual Annihilation of real Substances and Productions of new Ones in this World But this is so frivolous that many others deny that in the case of Wood changed into Fire and afterwards into Smoak