see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Act. 1. 31. He seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hell neither his flesh did see corruption whence is cleare that spirit life breath or soul are subject to the grave as well as body or flesh for Christs soul as well as his flesh was in Hel that is the grave or bonds of death so that he wholy and thoroughly died for us Eccl. 4. 1. 2. 3. doth shew that the living suffer oppression but to the dead is none and cap. 9. 45. they know not any thing for a living Dog is better then a dead Lion therefore Psal 146. 2. David saith I will sing prayses unto my God while I have any being implying that in death is there is none And I am 4. 14. Our life is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away And Rev. 16. 3. every living soul in the Sea dyed and cap. 30. 4. 5. dead soules lived again And Psal 39. 5. man at his best estate is altogether vanity compared with Rom. 8. 19. the creature was made subject to vanity that is corruption all which declare mans totall death And Act. 23. 6. 24. 21. 26. 6. 7. most clearly shew that all hope of future life and Being is in the Resurrection Thus much of Scripture now to Naturall Reason CHAP. III. Naturall Reasons to prove it with Objections Answered IF we will rationally argue concerning the Soul it is necessary to define what that is to which it is ascribed But since it is defined by some one way by some another way I shall produce some Opinions about it and then bring the most rationall to tryall omitting the more frivolous viz. The Stoicks held it A certaine blast hot and fierie or the vitall spirit of the blood The Cretians Blood Gallen a certaine exhalation of the purest blood Zeno Cleanthes Antipater and Possiodonius a hot complexion or corporeall quality diffused through the whole body Democritus Fire and his opinion was the round Attomes being incorporated by aire and fire doe make up the Soule Pythagoras opinionated it a Number moving of it selfe Plato a substance to be conceived in the mind that received motion from it selfe according to number and Harmonie Aristotle the first continuall motion of a body naturall having in it those instrumentall parts wherein was possibility of life Dinarchus an Harmonie of the four Elements Nemesius divides it into Phantasie Iudgment Memorie Aristotle in his Physicks into vegetative sensitive motive appetetive intellective And Ambrose Parey pag. 895. saith the soule is the inward Entelechia or the primative cause of all motions and functions both naturall and animall and the true Forme of a man It seeth heareth smelleth toucheth tasteth imagineth judgeth c. And more exactly pag. 83. lib. 3. cap. 1. he saith the soule is commonly distinguished into three Faculties Animall Vitall Naturall The Animall into Principall Sensetive Motive The Principall into Imaginative seated in the upper part of the braine Reasonable the middle part of the braine Memorative Cerebellum or after-braine The Sensetive into Seeing the eyes Hearing the eares Smelling the nose Tasting the tongue pallat Touching the body The Motive into Progressive legs Apprehensive hands The Vitall into Dilative or parts for respiration weason lungs Concoctive or parts for vitall motion heart and arteries understood by the Pulsificke Facultie The Naturall into Nutrative Active Generative which three are performed by the help of the Attractive the gullet Retentive lower passage or the stomack Concoctive body of the ventricle Assimulative three small guts Expulsive three great guts Augustine and Athanasius say it is a substance created a spirit intelligent invisible immortall incorporeall like the Angels And there be severall Opinions of its Body Lucippus and Hipparchus say it hath a fierie Body Critias and Anaxemines Woolnor and others an aeriall body Hesiod an earthly Epicurius fierie and airie Zenophon watry and earthly Drone a middle betwixt the spirit and the body Didimus and Origen a third substance Divers other conceptions and fancies there be to uphold this ridiculous invention of the Soule traducted from the Heathens who by the Book of Nature understood an immortality after Death but through their ignorance how or which way this invention reported to be Platoes was occasioned and begat a generall beliefe and so they and after them the Christians have thus strained their wits to such miserable shifts to define what it is but neither conclude any certainty or give satisfaction therein Yet since it is generally concluded to be in man and of man but what where or how no man knowes though such severall opinions be if but examined I le pitch upon those which afford most conceptory definition that is that of Aristotle Nemesius or Ambrose Parey which make the Soule to be all the internall and externall Faculties of Man joyntly considered or Man Anatomized and thereto Reply thus All the Faculties of Man sensu diviso or conjuncto are all and each of them mortall as well those that are peculiar to man as those that are common to Beasts and if all those with his corpulent matter compleating Man be proved mortall then the invention of the Soule upon that ground vanisheth which I thus prove All elementary compositions or Temperatures are mortall and transitory But Mans Faculties à minore ad majus are Temperatures Ergo Mortall The Minor is thus proved That which is subject to intention and remission is a Temperature But all Mans Faculties yea those of Reason Consideration Science c. all that distinguish Man from a Beast are augmented by Learning Education c. lessened by Negligence Idlenesse c. and quite nullified by Madnesse Ergo. That those Faculties are Temperatures I further prove thus A Temperature is a Quality and a Quality may be in the Subject or absent from it without the destruction of the same subject But Reason Understanding c. may be absent from the Body their Subject and yet the Body living as in mad men and persons in the Falling-sicknesse and none will deny they are men at that same time Ergo. Object Qualities of the Body are subject to sense But Vnderstanding c. subject to none Ergo. Answ A hot and drie braine is quick-witted which by moisture and coldnesse is altered and so we are disposed according to the present constitution of our Bodies If this suffice not I adde that an effect is by passion from the cause as motion cannot be without passion from that which moveth for take away the cause and the motion ceaseth tolle causam tollitur effectus Therefore quicknesse of wit cannot be without passion from heat and drynesse for over-power that hot and dry braine with moisture and coldnesse as may be with Opium and the hotnesse and drynesse thereof ceaseth and dulnesse followeth Further even from my Opposites Assertions I prove this
is variously used upon various occasions It is put for the stomack Prov. 27. 4. for the eyes Ier. 13 17. for the heart 1 Sam. 18. for God Prov. 9. 16. Heb. 10. 38. Ier. 14. 17. for the dead body Psal 16. 10. for the whole man Levit. 7. 19. 4. 1. Acts 7. 14. Num. 15. 39. Rom. 13. 1. Gen. 12. 5. 46. Act. 2. 41. 1 Pet 3. 20. for breath Act. 20. 10. for life Isa 53. 17. Therefore from those places those parts may as well be proved so many Soules or Spirits of Immortality as from those where it is put for Breath or Life its Being be proved or such an immortall existence to be in the body Object 5. For which cause we faint not for though our outward man perish yet the inward is renewed day by day Ergo there is soule and body in man Answ It is not said Though our flesh perish yet our soules is renewed then 't were something to little purpose but it is said our outward man which compared with what is meant by inward man must needs be whole man for by inward man is meant faith or work of grace Rom. 1. 17. 14. 8. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 5. 17. which is no part of naturall man so that without it or its renewing we are men perfect as well as with it Object 6. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the earth Wherefore man hath a soule that goeth presently to Heaven but the beasts to the earth Answ It cannot beare that sense for immediately before he saith their breath is all one there is no difference as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and goeth to one place the dust Therefore if the beasts be reversed into the elements so must mans The meaning I take to be thus that such a wonderfull thing is the breath of a man that breatheth upward and the breath of a beast tkat breatheth downward for Spirit signifieth breath according to that of Ovid Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram Os Homini sublime dedit coelumque videre Iussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultus that its Faculty how it is is past finding out for Art in all her imitations could never touch that secret with her pensill Object 7. Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him who is able to destroy both soule and body in hell Answ This carryes the face indeed of the soules immortality but if the interpretation must be confined to that sence it overthrowes the current of the whole Scriptures Wherefore my opinion of it is that by not able to kill the soul is meant as Luke hath it c. 12. 4 have no more that they can do that is though they have power over this life which is sowen in corruption they have none over that which is raysed in incorruption But rather feare him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell that as Luke hath it after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell This doth not set forth any immortality before the Resurrection but shewes that onely that is in Gods hand and he onely able to touch it that is cast it into Hell That this must be so expounded I further prove from the non-entity of Hell for there can be no casting into Hell before Hell be which though it be ordained of old Isa 30. 33. No Hell till the Resurrection it is but in posse not in esse till the Resurrection For satisfaction it is convenient to declare what we mean by Hell for Hell is diversly used in Scripture It is put for the grave Psal 16. 10. 55. 15. Isa 14. 15. for the Whale in which Ionah was Ion. 2. 2. for Sathans Kingdom leading to Hell Mat. 16. 18. for Satan or his malignant spirits Iam. 3. 6. for the place of the damned Mat. 5. 29. 10. 28. Luke 12. 5. 16. 23. 2 Pet. 2. 4. and this last the place of the damned is that which we meane by Hell and it is likewise variously called as outer darknesse Mat. 22. 13. 23. 33. wrath to come 1 Thes 1. 10. 5. 9. Chaines of darkenesse 2 Pet. 2. 4. Iude 6. eternall fire Iude 23. second death Rev. 20. 16. bottomlesse pit Rev. 9. 2. the place of torment Rev. 14. 10. 20. 10. Lake of fire Rev. 29. 20. 21. 8. everlasting punishment Mat. 25. 41. 46. blacknesse and darknesse for ever Iude 13. Those severall expressions are generally taken to set forth the end of the Reprobate or the execution of Gods wrath upon them Therefore if none of the formentioned places that Hell is put for save that of the place of the damned be taken for Hell then most of those severall expressions suite with it but the expressions in generall grant no immediate execution after this death but imply the contrary as we may see if we examine them First in Mat. 22. 13. where it is called outer darknesse and 23. v. 33. damnation of Hell compared with cap. 25. 41. where it is said Then shall he say unto them on the left hand depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his Angels to this adde 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appeare before the Iudgment Seate of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the flesh whether good or evil and to these adde 1 Thes 1. 10. 5. 9. where it is called wrath to come which thus compared shew plainely it is to come else execution must go before Judgment which in a Common-wealth would be ridiculous injustice e 29. Abs as first to hang men and then judge them At the day of Judgment we all must receive our reward according to our deeds good or bad THEN shall he say unto them on his left hand c. and not before THEN for it cannot be twice received therefore it is fitly called wrath to come and the very divels confirme this themselves Mat. 8. 25. art thou come to torment us before the time which proveth plainly that the time of their torment was not come and if the Divel cannot be believed God further cleares it 2 Pet. 2. 4. For if he spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into Chaines of darkenesse to be reserved unto Iudgment And Iude 6. The Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting Chaines unto the Iudgment of the great day In both which places it is said they are reserved unto Iudgment and Iude ver 7. to the Reprobate is reserved the blackenesse for ever and to this adde Rev. 20. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. which clearly shew that at the day of Judgement both Divels and Reprobate together shall be cast into the Lake of fire Therefore
immortall spirit be something else then we are not conceived x 47 Abs perfect men and as we are conceived so are we borne y 48 Abs trees brutes or I know not what and afterwards are made men if we be men at all and so z 49 Abs Infants that dye in the wombe or in the birth are little better then trees and worse then beasts Fiftly if the soule be not generated with the body but a creature infused into a dead body for they say the soule is forma formans that giveth life and motion to the body Then it is lawfull to be a * Absurd Nigromancer for Nigromancie is nothing but putting a spirit into a dead body and so it is but an imitation of God and God the onely Nigromancer and a 50. Abs all the men in the world but Nigromantick Apparitions whose spirits when they have done the work for which they were put into the bodies desert them as other conjured Ghosts doe Sixtly It is granted that the body considered meerly sensitive cannot sinne and that the body is but an instrument or as the pen in the hand of a Writer to the Soule whereby it acts and moves Therefore if the Soule come immediately from God or there be an immediate work of his in its production then of necessity that immortall thing and not our mortall flesh is Author of all sinne and it onely prone to all sinne and not the flesh no more then a conduite though a meet instrument to convey water is the author or fount of water or prone to spring And so Gods immediate hand b 51. Abs is the cause of all sin that man had better been without this soul for it must needs be some damnable wicked spirit c 52. Abs or some Devil that God puts in him for such as the fruit is such must the tree be but the fruit is damnably wicked Therefore the Soul must be some damnable wicked thing No marvell then if Reprobates must needs sin and be damned since God infuses such a malignant Soul that councels them with Iobs wife to curse God and dye yea such a one as wholy works out their condemnation This is as if a man should d 53. Abs break his horses legs and then knocke out his brains for halting If it be said the soul comes pure from God and it is the body that corrupteth it I Answer that this to excuse God one way makes him like the tyrant Mezentius that bound living men to dead bodyes till the putrefaction Vir. Aen. Absurd and corruption of the stinking corps had killed them Besides the mind may sin without the Action of the body but not the body without the mind for a man may covet in his mind and not act with his body and yet sin but if he do with his body and not consent with his mind he sinneth not as for example a man may accidentally and ignorantly kill a man by a blow which was never intended or aimed at him and yet he not guilty of murther but if he intend it in his mind though he never do it he is guilty Therefore the body may be made sinfull by the soul but not the soul by the body Now to the other kind who say that this supernaturall work by nature is effected by Gods speciall supernaturall assistance operating or applicated to this naturall aptitude in whose mutuall concurrence this immortall substance is concepted and in conception united to the flesh the whole in the whole and the whole in every part To which I Answer that there is no more speciall supernaturall efficiency from God in mans procreation then in other creatures but that speciall gift or naturall instinct to every kind of creature given in the Creation to produce its kind whether vegetative sensitive or rationall Gen. 1. 25. 1 Cor. 15. 38. for the gift or blessing is all one and the same and alike unto all according to their kinds as appears Gen. 1. 22. God blessed the Fowles and Fish saying Be fruitfull and multiply and fill the waters in the Seas and let the Fowles multiply in the earth And verse 28. the selfe same he speaks of man and woman And God blessed them and said unto them Be fruitfull and replenish the earth and by this blessing or Natures generall instinct equally unto all men and all other creatures continue their multiplications and procreations So that the Fowles Fish c. have as great and speciall assistance as Man in their conceptions and procreations equally mediate and naturall Therefore if by Mans conception an Angelicall immortall Soul is producted so likewise is there the e 54. Abs like in other creatures The result of all which is this that as Fish Birds and Beasts each in their kind procreate their kind without any transcendency of nature So man in his kind begets man corruptible man begets nothing but what is corruptible not halfe mortall halfe immortall halfe Angel halfe man but compleat man totally mortall for through mortall organs immortality cannot be conveyed or therein possibly reside If it be scrupled that this destroyeth the hope of our faith I Answer It doth but remove it from a false principle to a true from a deceitfull fancie to an infallible object the Resurrection For though I ascribe nothing actually to nature but corruption yet potentially I ascribe incorruption as to the kernill of an Apple a Tree may not actually yet potentially be ascribed So I grant that Nature produceth the Seed to which when she hath done her elementary work even all that shee can doe and in all things transient finished her course even from that corrupted seed Christ supernaturally raiseth an incortuptible body 1 Cor. 15. 36. Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die it is sowne in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sowne a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body Therefore nothing of Man can be immortall but what first hath seen corruption So that if that which is made the better and most excellent part of Man without which he is NO MAN as is held titled the Soul shall not see corruption it shall not f 55. Abs participate of the immortallity purchased by Christ but must needs perish except there be Ens extra Deum as that strange invented Entitie must needs be and so consequently g 56. Abs NO MAN shall be saved And as before it incur'd this Absurdity that the Soules of the damned shall not perish but stand as well as the Stative Angels So by this the Soules both of the righteous and wicked shall for ever cease and never be immortallized at the Resurrection And thence the denyall both of Resurrection Condemnation and Salvation Heaven and Hell God and Christ h 57. Abs is inavoydable After rusheth in the Epicurean Blasphemy i 58. Abs Let us eat and drinke for
Soul they so talk on to be elementall as Woolnor and others who ascribe unto it an Aeriall Body For whatsoever is Aeriall is elementall else could it not be Aeriall Ergo this Soule is elementall and so finite If this immortall spirit have an Aeriall Body I wonder what would become of it if a living man were closed up in a Vessell which were so sollid every where that the Aire could not possibly evacuate and there the man dye either it must perish with the man or else remaine there through which there is no passage for its Aeriall Body So that he m 13. Abs so martyred hath an ill-favoured Paradice for his Soul And further experience tels us If the former Brain-pan be hurt the Senses are hindred but the Cogitation remaineth found If onely the Middle-pan be harmed the Cogitation is maimed but the Seat of Sense keeps all the five Senses whole If any hurt befall both to the Former and Middle-pan both Sense and Cogitation decay If the Hinder-pan be disordered only the Memorie alone and neither Sense nor Cogitation receive harme So that in veritie Man is but a creature whose severall parts and members are endowed with proper natures of Faculties each subservient to other to make him a living Rationall Creature whose degrees or excellencies of naturall Faculties make him in his kind more excellent then the Beasts So that though Parey and others doe so excellently set forth his severall endowments or properties of his severall members it doth not follow that those Faculties together are a Being of themselves immortall For as the members cannot be perfect members without them so they cannot be faculties without their members and separation cannot be without destruction of both As attraction or heat is the property of fire which cannot be if fire cease nor fire be if it cease and as well may we say the heat of the fire n 14. Abâ—… continueth after the fire is dead out as those Faculties when their Body is dead for spoyle one spoyle both kill one kill both this is in that and that is in this The Forme is so in the Matter and the Matter so in the Forme as thereby and not else is an Existence or Humane Entity And their Being is in this Vnion and their Vnion is in this Being So that take away Forme and Matter ceaseth take away Matter and Forme ceaseth destructio vnius est interritum alterius The Forme is the Forme of the Matter and the Matter the Matter of the Forme neither of themselves but each by other and both together make one Being therefore if one Be by the other and thereby Both together then one cannot consist with the other but must Both perish together For nothing can consist without that by which it is But suppose on the contrary one could consist without the other as they say the Soul can without the Body then one may be generated without the other Soul without Body and so according to their preposterous precepts it is not unnaturall for a Woman to bring forth a o 15. Abs Spirit that hath neither flesh blood nor bones instead of a Child Or if one Be without the other as Forme without Matter Masse concepted without the Facultie conceptive then should all corpulent Substances be as infinite as God without beginning p 16. Abs and Be of themselves and themselves Gods But I hope all grant both impossible Therefore they must as well end together as begin together and begin together as end together Moreover experience further tels us that they neither can Be nor consist without other For if Nature be deprived more or lesse in her work of conception of her due her Formes or conceptions being by her powers Formative or conceptive or her Formed Faculties by her Facultive Formes her Effect is accordingly If membrally impedited a membrall impediment if totally impedited a totall frustration of Matter and Forme in Both For he that is born without any member hath neither Forme nor Faculty thereof at all or with any membrall iâ—perfection that part hath not its perfection either of Forme or Faculty â—o commeth it that some are borne Fooles and never can be wise Therefore their originall Being must be together And that their ultimate end is together we see that the Eye is no Eye without the Sight and Sight no Sight without the Eye and so of all the other Senses and Faculties è minore admajus Wherefore membral perfection is not so much in shape as in virtue and virtuall perfection not so much in Masse as in due proportion and both joyntly make naturall perfection which is the gift of God or natures generall instinct So as one can by no meanes be without the other so one cannot subsist without the other For could there be a Facultive substance as that of the Soul is made without its body then a man might live when his q 16. Abs head were cut off yea were his whole body quite burnt and consumed away except his GREAT TOE he even his Soul might as well live in his GREAT TOE as before in his whole Masse yea better in that then without all as they childishly suppose Therefore they may as well say the Popes Soul is in his GREAT TOE when men kisse it as say the Soul liveth when the Body dieth r 17. Abs Further this Facultive Gift or Natures endowment can no more be said to be a subsistent living Spirit without its Receptacle then the Sun-beames without the Sun which are the gift or property of the Sun But the Being of this communication must be in the Subject as levitie in the Fire ponderositie in the Earth And though the natures of things be immediate communications of Gods Power to Nature yet dis junctively those communications are no Entities without God be so many severall Beings for in that sence they are not communications but absolute Beings of themselves for betwixt Faculty and Subject is a Relation to communication as betwixt Father and Son to Fatherhood neither without other nor it without both and to say notwithstanding as this fancy of the Soul importeth that there may be a Facultive Substance without its Subject then Natures severall Faculties must not be the severall communications of One Being but so many absolute irrelative Beings of themselves So that this Doctrine of the Soul implyeth Å¿ 18. Abs no t 19. Abs God if a God so many severall Gods as Faculties and if but ONE then it chops v 20. Abs that ONE smaller then hearbs to the pot Therefore Faculty ceaseth with its Subject or with the Subject God gathereth to himself the power and yet his power no more by retraction then lesse before by communication and so but One Being in whom all things are or one Ens Entium Moreover those severall Faculties cannot be united or comprehended in one body but by the severall members of the same body
for we see if the member decay the faculty decayes Therefore their unite substance must be terminated membrally in the body And if it were possible they could subsist seperated from their members then in that seperation their Being could not be conjunct or unite for want of that which tyed them together the severall members And so if any Being so many severall Beings as severall Faculties if any Soul so many w 21. Abs severall Soules a Phantasticke Soul a Rationall Soul a Memorative Soul a Seeing Soul a Hearing Soul a Smelling Soul a Tasting Soul a Touching Soul with divers other Souls of all sorts and sizes as saving your presence an x 22. Abs Evacuating Soul c. And further that those Faculties are thus in their Subjects and are not without them as accidens non est nisi in subjecto we see that they increase and grow with their Subjects and perfect together For a Child is totally proportionated as Adam when God formed him of the Earth before the vitall Faculty be actuall as Parey saith and the Rationall requireth a due processe of time after birth before it be ripe to bring forth the fruit of Rationality as its Subject groweth and ripeneth so it increaseth and perfecteth for it is impossible that the thing which is not actual in it self should have a second thing actuall in it and Rationality in an Infant is no more in it then a Chickin in the egge only in posse therefore a Child cannot possibly ratiocinate before it be actually Rationall which cannot be before Organnicall perfection For Reason cannot Be and not shew it self shew it self and not Be for its Being is its Rationality and its Rationality its Being therefore as its Organs are potentiall it is potentiall and as its Organs are weake and imperfect it is weak and imperfect and as they are perfect it is perfect Therefore Faculties increase with their Subjects and if increase they must decrease Anatomize Man Take a view of all his Lineaments and Dimensions of all his members and Faculties and consider their state severally and all are transitory even all that goeth to the Subject Man is corruptible and himself but a Bundle of corruption or curious Masse of vicilitudes If all of Man that goeth to his Manhood be mortall where then or what is this immortall thing the Soul they talke of we have examined all his parts and faculties and find even all mortall It is not sure his prima materia though ingenerable incorruptible insensible indefinite c. Nor his Forma prima that principle which first gives Essence to a naturall Body the first Active principle informing and figurating the First Matter sui appetentem for both are generall to the whole Creation whose Efficient Cause is onely immediately God himselfe by whose power all things that are made shall be returned to that of which they were made their Materia prima or created matter So that as Solomon saith Man hath no preheminence above a Beast even one thing befalleth them What Reason is there now that Mans Faculties in a higher Degree should be an immortall Spirit more then a Beasts in a lower degree but both elementary and finite Further if it be not unnaturall that Seeing Hearing c. should be producted by an Elementary operation as none deny in the propagation of Beasts why is not the rationall facultie in Man as naturall in Man and may as well be producted elementarily by Man as the other by Beasts and be as actually mortall If this suffice not observe Substantia non recipit majus aut minus a Giant is no more a man then a Dwarfe there may be a graduall distinction and yet no Essentiall difference Degrees of Faculties in severall persons and yet the Faculties the same and of one nature though not equally excellent and the Degree doth not make a Facultie more a Facultie or lesse a Facultie Therefore if the said Faculties in an inferiour Degree be elementary so must they in a superiour But in Brutes whom none deny to be wholly mortall and all their Faculties elementary have our most noble parts and Faculties scattered amongst them though in an inferiour degree As Ambrose Parey saith Lib. 2. cap. 1. If we will diligently search into their nature we shall observe the impressions of many virtues as of Magnanimity Prudence Fortitude Clemency Docility Love Carefulnesse Providence yea Knowledge Vnderstanding Memory c. is common to all Brutes the Affections and Passions of the Mind all his Qualities good and bad and every Facultie he hath is to be found more or lesse amongst them And Parey further saith They are of quicke sense observant of the Rites of Friendship and Chastity they submit themselves to the Discipline of Man they have taught Man many things c. The Hare is eminent for Memory the Dog for Apprehension and Fidelity the Serpent for Wisdome the Fox for Subtiltie the Dove for Chastity and Innocency the Elephant for Docility Modesty and Gratitude Plinie saith he commeth neare the understanding of a man that they worship the Moon and Stars Plutarch that they worship the Sunrising The Ape is eminent for Imitation and Vnderstanding the Turtle for Love the Crocodile for Deceit the Lambe for Patience the Waspe for Anger c. and for his Five Senses he is by them exceld Aper auditu nos vincit Aranea tactu Vultur odoratu Linx visu Simia gustu Thus Man in sensu diviso is to be found amongst the other Creatures and in him alone those severall Faculties are eminent sensu conjuncto and so only capable of God Therfore those Faculties being elementary in an inferiour Degree in an inferiour Creature why may they not be elementary in a superiour Degree in a superiour Creature Now from all this followeth that if in man be an immortali spirit then divers other Creatures have the like though not in the same Degree for if Degree therein should make or mar the thing it selfe then some y 23. Abs would have no more Soules then Beasts and some lesse as Mad-men and Fooles no more and Infants lesse If it be the Rationall Facultie then all men are borne without Soules z 24. Abs and some die a 25. Abs before they had Soules as Infants and some after b 26. Abs their Soules are gone as Mad-men that live and perish in their madnesse and some c 27. Abs would be borne live and die without Soules as Fooles and some d 28. Abs would have Soules but by fits and jumps as Drunkards persons with the Falling-sicknesse c. nay all of us spend a great part of our dayes without our Soules for while we are in sound sleep our Rationality ceaseth pro tempore Thus this Immortall Spirit goes and comes as occasion serves CHAP. IIII. Objections from Naturall Reasons Answered BEcause I have onely met with one or two in this kind I shall give a glance
Empyreum which the Astronomers have invented for his residence I know no better ground they have for it then such as Dromodotus the Philosopher in Pedantius had to prove there was Divels Sunt Antipodes Ergo Daemones Sunt Coeli Ergo Coelum Empyreum Object 10. Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to God who gave it Eccles 12. 7. Answ By spirit cannot be meant such a thing as the soul except all soules go to God and none to the Devil for it is indifferently spoken of all but by spirit is meant life which hath various expressions in Scripture it is the will of God that dust shal be made man and live and it is done and he liveth and his will that it shall dye and it dyeth or returneth to what it was he withdraweth his communicated power and man ceaseth the spirit shall returne the communication power or faculty of life shall cease to God that gave it in him that communicated or gave it in whom we live move and have our being no otherwise mans spirit or life returneth to God that gave it he taketh away the breath and the creatures dye and returne to their dust Psal 104. 29. for the life of man is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Iam. 4. 14. Object 11. And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Iesus receive my spirit Act. 7. 59. Answ This is a commendation of his life or being into the hands of God in whom with Christ our lives are hid Col. 3. 3. as a full assurance of his hope and faith in the Resurrection that when Christ who is our life should appeare he also might appeare with him in glory For God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Luke 20. 38. And thus and no otherwise was his spirit commended or returned to him that gave it whose spirit goeth forth and we are renewed Psal 104. 30. answerable to that of the two Witnesses into whom the spirit of life from God after they had lien dead three dayes and an halfe entered into them and they stood upon their feet Object 12. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2. 7. Ergo man hath an immortall soul Answ Then so is the foul of a Beast for Solomon saith their breath is all one Eccl. 3. 19. and David reckoning up the creatures and man amongst them saith indifferently of them all God hideth his face and they are troubled he taketh away their breath they dye and returne to their dust Psal 104. 29. and this is further amplified in Gen. 1. 33. to every thing in the Earth wherein there is a living soul c. and cap. 7. 21. 22. all flesh dyed in whose nostrils was the breath of life and Num. 31. 28. all which make no difference betwixt them but as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and man hath no preheminence above a beast For what man is he that liveth and shall not see death or deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Psal 89. 48. Object 13. And it came to passe the Beggar dyed and was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome c. Luke 16. from the 22. to the end Answ There was never such a man as Dives or Lazarus or ever such a thing happened no more then Iothams Trees did walke and talke Iud. 9. 8. but was a Parable to prove that nothing is more effectuall for conversion then the ordinary preaching of the Word by the ministration of the servants of God Further the consequence concerning the soul is but drawn from the literall sence in which sence I shall deny it canonicall Scripture for it makes in that sence more for bodies then the souls present being in Heaven or Hell ver 23. 24. and maketh Abraham the Father of the Damned ver 24. 25. 27. 30. and ver 22. Dives dyed and was buried and yet v. 23. he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham c. and v. 25. he cryed for Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger to coole his tongue which in the literall sence thus applycated must needs be contradictory unlesse his eyes tongue and Lazarus finger was not buried or their souls had corporeall corpulent members which to conceit is ridiculous Therefore from this place the Resurrection of the body before the day of Judgment even as soon as a man is buried may better be proved then such a present soularie enterance into Heaven or Hell Object 14. By which also he went and preached to them in prison Answ By which that is by that whereby he was quickened or raised from the dead his divine nature the God-head as the foregoing words whereon the sence of those depend doth evidence ver 18. Christ once suffered c. death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit ver 19. by which also he went c. So that he went and preached by that whereby he was quickened or raised Therefore the preaching here meant was not by that which was raised but by that which did raise which was ministerially as the following words further evidence shewing to whom he preached even those which were disobedient in the dayes of Noah on whom the long suffering of God waited while the Arke was a preparing those were the spirits here meant the wicked of those dayes which are now in prison that is dead or imprisoned in the Elements Here the grave or death is called a prison as indeed it is for therein all that dye are reserved in the chaines of death the Elements not to be delivered till Judgement Rev. 20. 13. according to Iob. 3. 18. there the prisoners rest together Object 15. Therefore gloryfie God in your body and in your spirit 1 Cor. 6. 20. Answ Before he calleth the body the Temple of the holy Ghost ver 29. and ver 15. the members of Christ which needs must be the whole man and not his bare carcase for in death who can praise the Lord in it can be no habitation for the holy Ghost and therein were they to glorifie Absurd God to make Christ the head of such members were to make God the God of the dead and not of the living therefore by body and spirit is meant whole man aiming at a thorough and perfect sanctification as well in that which respecteth thought the spirit as in that which respecteth action the body inwardly to glorifie God as well as outwardly to flee fornication c. Object 16. I saw under the Altar the soules of them that were slaine for the word of God c. and they cried with a loud voyce c. Revel 6. 10. 11. Answ They were such souls as lay under the Altar flaine or sacrificed or as ver 11. hath it were killed these therefore being dead soules or martyred Saints their cry must be as the cry of the blood of
Abel And the like vision of dead Saints confirmes it as cap. 20. v. 4. 5. And I saw the soules of them that were beheaded for the witnesse of Iesus and they lived and raigned with Christ a thousand yeares but the rest of the dead lived not again till c. whence it is plaine that he beheld the Resurrection or restoration of life unto dead soules even of them that were beheaded but the rest lay dead or lived not again till c. Thus much of illegitimate Objections from Scripture Now to the probation hereof from Procreation or Generation and as near as I can to resolve all occurrent Objections thereon that shall confront CHAP. VI. Of procreation how from thence this Mortallity is proved IT is supposed as I conceive by none that what naturally proceedeth from Man simply by the course of nature can be immortall but must first tast of mortality And therefore there are two sorts of Opinions to maintaine this Heathenish Invention about the soul whereon its immortality is grounded which I shall chiefly encounter the one that it is created and infused at the conception and so only Gods work The other that it is concepted by the woman through the concurrence of the seed of both sexes but not simply by the course of nature but by the supernaturall and extraordinary assistance or efficacy of God in conception more then in other creatures and so partly mans and partly Gods work But that I may utterly demolish the structure of this Invention I shall turne up the foundation of each kind in its place But first I shall speak a word or two in generall of Procreation it self That whole man is generated by man observe That as the whole Tree is potentially in the seed and actually in time springeth from it or as many graines of wheat are in one graine virtually and perfectly actuall in time so in the seed of mankind is whole man potentially and wholly actuall in time or all Adams succession which in time are propagated were wholly in him life and limbs or as it is more common soule and body So that whatsoever in time is actuall by procreation it was at first potentially wholly in its originall Further Generatum sequitur naturam generantis He begat a sonne in his owne image Gen. 5. 3. is not onely philosophically but Theologically true Mat. 7. 16. Iob 4. 14. Therefore mortall Adam must beget mortall children in his owne likenesse soule and body except the soule was no part of his likenesse For that which is immortall cannot generatively proceed from that which is mortall as Christ saith that which is borne of the flesh is as it selfe is corruptible mutable flesh Iohn 3. 6. so then by this mortall flesh cannot be generated an immortall spirit or soule that can subsist by it selfe dissolved from the flesh for if it should in h 32. Abs that act it should goe beyond it selfe which is impossible and thereby more should be done i 33. Abs by man and woman in generation then God did or could doe in the Creation for he neither did or could create any thing greater purer or more excellent of nature then himselfe and such as could subsist without him But if this doctrine be true as Woolner in his Originall of the soul averreth fleshly man by a fleshly generation or mixture of the seed of both Sexes doth beget or conceive something greater purer and more excellent then himselfe an immortall substance an Angelicall entitie the Soule that can subsist without the flesh by which it is which is as fire k 34. Abs without light earth without heavinesse grosnesse c. should be by which they are and further the Effect to be prior dignitate precedent to the Cause as if a man l 35. Abs because a creature should be before his Creator But if it be Replyed that the soule is generated by the soule as the body by the body I Answer then there must be m 36. Abs He soules and She soules for without Sexes is no generation But now to the first sort who say it is by infusion or as the saying is Creando infunditur infundendo creatur To which I Answer that in conception there is corruption or marring according to the proverb corruptio unius est generatio alterius so that if it be by conceiving or creating infused and by infusion concepted or created that is as much to say it is n 37 Abs made in the marring and mard in the making or infused in the marring and mard in the infusion whence followeth that it is neither conceived created nor infused neither made nor mard but must be if it be no man knowes what or how o 38 Abs whether an Angel a Beast or a Monster any thing or nothing Riddle me riddle me what 's this a Soule a Soule Creando infunditur infundendo creatur Secondly if the Soule be a creature infused then Christ did not take the whole manhood from the seed of the woman but worse then a bare p 39 Abs brutish body a dead carcase But Christ was made of the seed of the woman according to the flesh Rom. 1. 3. Act. 2. 30. and was as we are sinne excepted Heb. 14. 15. and this our Image he received wholly from the woman Therefore receiving his whole humanitie from her the soule can be no infused creature 3. That which brake the Serpents head was Christs humanity But the seed of the woman brake the Serpents head Ergo. 4. If we consist of soule and body and are not men without both and receive not our soules from him but are daily created Then Adam q 40 Abs is the father of no man 2. Christ cannot be the r 41 Abs Son of man and so no Saviour because thereby his manhood constitutive part even that which should make him man could not be by the seed of the woman 4. So a man Å¿ 42 Abs is as much a father of fleas and lice which receive their matter from him as of his children 5. Whereas God blessed man and bid him as the rest of the creatures in their kind fill the Earth in his kind with men then he commanded him t 43 Abs to doe more then he had given him power for And so to content nature end supply her imbecility to obey is forced to a daily creation 6. Then God finished not the Creation in * Absurd sixe dayes but rested before hee had done creating Fourthly If the soule be infused it must be at the conception or after the conception If at the conception then every v 45 Abs abortive conception hath an immortall spirit in it and must rise againe If after then there is growth before w 46 Abs there is life which is impossible for the soule is made the vegetive as well as the motive sensitive or rationall part and if this
to morrow we die And so k 59. Abs so many bellyes so many Gods and no other It is objected That the rarenesse of conception argues a supernaturall immediate assistance essentiall without which the soul cannot be Answ That commeth by a naturall defect and not by the withholding of Gods immediate hand else he should have a speciall and immediate hand in Adultery And so Whoremongers and Adulterers sets God a work to create Souls for k 61. Abs their Bastards which is to make God a slave to their lusts Further it is objected That God hath from eternity decreed concerning man above all creatures both who should come into the world and at what time Therefore accordingly he must have a work in mans conception above other creatures Answ No such thing followeth for time and number may be appoynted and yet the due course of nature proceed as well without as with an immediate assistance towards man in his kind as in Beasts in their kind Moreover Woolner in his Treatise on the Soul pag. 115. saith That the more spirituall parts and chiefly the Soul is but partly mediately partly immediately conceived at the first instant or union of the seed of both Sexes For by it pag. 127. he saith the corporeall parts are prepared and perfected Therefore it must of necessity be at the first instant or else no conception And pag. 129. That all Soules as well of Beasts as of men are essentially as perfect at the first instant of conception as ever afterwards And pag. 97. he saith The Soul can live without the body and cannot be corrupted by it Answ That then it followeth If a woman miscarry immediately after that very instant l 35. Abs that the Soul of that Effluction or unshapen deformed peece of congealed blood being immortal must needs continue its immortality and that Effluction as well as perfect bodies shall be raised againe for if degrees of corporall perfection hinder then those that are borne imperfect as without legs arms or hands or any other member as divers are they m 63 Abs shall never be raised againe and so out of the compasse of Christs death and though it should be granted that Christs death is denyed an Embrio yet that soules immortality cannot be nullified for immortality once begun must never have an end and he saith it cannot suffer with the flesh therefore if not with the whole masse of mans corpulency growne to its full perfection much lesse with an Embrio that is ten times lesse imperfect and invalid for he saith it is as perfect at the first instant as ever afterwards therefore it must be saved or damned if there be any for others but no man knowes how or Absurd which way except it can be proved Christ dyed for bare soules soules without bodies which will puzzle the cunningest soule that ever was made in the marring and mard in the making Further it is objected Creatures propagated out of kind as by buggery as Apes Satyres c. are supposed are not endowed with reasonable soules Ergo soules are created immediately or however of necessity Gods superficient power is joyned to the propagation thereof Answ As I will not altogether confidently affirme they have rationall soules so will I not altogether deny it For in Man it is some organicall deficiency more or lesse that is the cause that some men are lesse rationall then others for some have abundance of wisdome and some are meere fooles and in children whose Organs are not come to perfection there is not so much as there is in an Ape This premised why in some measure as far as by those improper Organs can be expressed may they not be rationall though not in the same degree as is capable of God as well as Infants who are as uncapable pro tempore as Apes But perchance it will be replyed that then Christ dyed for Apes as well as for Infants I Answer Christ dyed not for the rationall part separated from the materiall nor the materiall from the rationall if there should be such buggery births or if by that unnaturall course they should meet in one which is impossible for the blessing of procreating any thing in its kind is to the kind for that neither but for the naturall production by the conjunction of both Sexes legitimate from Adam and not such unnaturall by-blowes As for births out of kind they come within the compasse of the Curse and cannot any wayes claim priviledge in the Restoration but must expect with Thornes Bryars and all manner of Vermin and Filth which breedeth on corruption to be done away when mortality is swallowed up of life For all other Creatures as well as Man shall be raised and delivered from death at the Resurrection my Reasons and grounds for it be these First that otherwise the The Resurrection of Beasts c. curse in Adam would extend further then the blessing in Christ contrary to the Scriptures For as in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15. 22. For the wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 23. Therefore Death comming upon all the Creatures by the sinne of Adam no death being before sinne life shall come upon all by Christ Secondly the beasts were not given Man to eate in the Innocencie but to all flesh wherein was the breath of life was given the greene herbe for meat Therefore the death of the beasts c. was part of the Curse and so to be done away by Christ Thirdly if the other Creatures doe not rise againe then Christ shall not conquer Death but when it is said O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory it will be answered in Beasts because they are still captivated under its bondage But as by one man death entered into the world Ro. 5. 12. and by man came death by man shal come resurrection from death and the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is death and death shall be swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15. 21. 54. Therefore death shall not retaine them but they must be delivered out of its Jawes Fourthly those ensuing Scriptures doe clearly prove it Col. 1. 15. to the 23. All things were created by him and for him whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven and be not removed away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature under heaven And Mar. 16. 15. Go ye into all the world preach the Gospel to every creature that is Glad tydings life and Resurrection from the bondage of corruption to every Creature by Christ therefore is he said to be the First borne of every Creature the First that 's borne or raised from the Dead so that those whereof he is the First must follow that is every creature else could he not be the First borne
from the Dead of them all And Rev. 21. 5. after the dissolution of all things he saith Behold I make all things New And Psa 104. David reckoning up Men Cattel c. saith thou takest away their breath and they dye thou sendest forth thy spirit and renewest the face of the earth and Psal 102. speaking of the Heavens saith as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed and Isa saith in the New earth the Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together and the Lion shall eat straw like a Bullock and Paul saith Rom. 8. 19. 20. 21. The expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God for the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope because the Creature it selfe also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole Creation groaneth and traveleth in paine till now Therefore the Gospel or Glad Tydings is unto all all are under hope and all things men beasts c. shall be made new or restored at the Resurrection and so Death shall be swallowed up in victory and mortallity of life or Death having given up her dead shall be cast into the Lake Rev. 20. 13. 15. Thus much by the by Now to our matter in hand But be it granted that those births are not endowed with reasonable soules yet doth it not follow that God createth immediately the soule or immediately assisteth nature in its production more then the body for this is an instance out of kind therefore cannot expect the blessing of the kind but be as it selfe is unnaturall and cursed for to the kind is required Sexes of the kind and thereto God hath given the blessing to beget its kind as well for man to beget perfect man as for the beasts to beget perfect beasts so that whatsoever is borne of man naturally is man though one be ennobled with more excellencies then another A borne Foole would have been a better instance for if to them rationall Soules were denyed it might be thought Nature naturally begetteth meere irrationall brutish inhumane bodies and rationality or humanity is a meer supernaturall work To prevent such a cavill I Answer that by the Soularies ground there can be no n 64. Abs borne fooles Infants new borne yea an Embrio should be as actually rationall as men of ripenesse of yeares for they say the soul is rationality it self and that rationality is no more of the body then inke is from the pen and the soul is absolutely perfect at the first instant yea it is forma formans therefore naturam expellas furca licet usque recurres it is made action which cannot but appeare for all action is apparant and they say it is an immortall spirit therefore cannot cease and if not cease it must shew it self Now why are not Infants then as rationall as others nay let me ask one Question If this endlesse soul be forma formans the maker of our bodys why have we not o 65. Abs endlesse bodyes for omne tale generat tale every like brings forth its like so then if one be immortall the other must be immortall Secondly I Answer that though some are fooles from their birth yet it doth not follow that Gods immediate hand is required to mans procreation but rather the contrary for imperfections in a thing argue the mediate generation thereof because no imperfection of any kind can come immediately from the hand of God imperfections are accidentall or from the curse therefore not of creation but of procreation Now seeing all this while we have had to do with this immortall Soul we cannot find or the Soularies tell what it is such likewise is its residence for if we ask where it it they flap us i' th mouth with a Ridle tota in toto tota in qualibet parte the whole in the whole and the whole in every part that is the whole immortall Soul in the whole body and the whole Soul wholy in every part of the body To which I Absurd Answer that this extends immortality or impossibility of death to the body for if immortality be in every part then no part of man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot can be excepted so we are all p 66 Aâ—… Soul all over and every part a whole Soul immortall So that it must either be held to q 67 Aâ—… be ubiquitory which is an Attribute peculiar to God or else multiplicable by a corpulent division and so were a man minced into Atomes cut into innumerable bits there would be so many innumerable r 68 Aâ—… whole Souls else could it not be wholy in every part s 69 Abâ—… Monstrum horrendum ingens cui quot sunt corpore crines Tot vigiles Animae supter mirabile dictu And thus the Ridle is unfolded CHAP. VII Testimonies of Scripture to prove that whole man is generated and propagated by Nature THat this is true secundum actum naturae observe the sence of those ensewing Scripâ—ures viz. Gen. 1. 17. 18. compared with the 22. ver where man and beast have an equall blessing and charge to propagate their like Eccl. 3. 19. There is no distinction betwixt them c. Gen. 17. 7. I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee Here by seed must be meant persons and not bare carcasses else he had been the God of dead clots and not of living soules Gen. 46. 26. All the souls that came with Iacob into Egypt which came out of his loynes c. Job 31. 15. Did not he that made me in the wombe make him and did not one fashion us in the wombe Ergo if his soul were immediately created so was his body for he that is his Entite person even all that went to make him man was formed and shapen in the womb both Epithites for procreation and not for creation Iob. 20. 10. 11. 22. Hast thou not poured me out as milke and curdled me like cheese thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinnues thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit Here Iob sets forth exactly the manner of mans procreation from the act of generation even to his breathing First poured out as milke that is the seminary evacuation of both Sexes in conjunction then curdled me like cheese that is the changing of that to a grosser matter congealed blood then clothed me with flesh and skin that is the incarnation of that condensed blood then fenced me with bones and sinnues that is that carnate matter was formed into humane shape and grew into members then grantedst me life that is began to breath whence observe that in ascribing the whole work to God he doth ascribe it to one kind only and
MANS MORTALITIE OR A TREATISE Wherein 't is proved both Theologically and Philosophically that whole Man as a rationall Creature is a Compound wholly mortall contrary to that common distinction of Soule and Body And that the present going of the Soule into Heaven or Hell is a meer Fiction And that at the Resurrection is the beginning of our immortality and then Actuall Condemnation and Salvation and not before With all doubts and Objections Answered and resolved both by Scripture and Reason discovering the multitude of Blasphemies and Absurdities that arise from the fancie of the Soule Also divers other Mysteries as of Heaven Hell Christs humane residence the extent of the Resurrection the New Creation c. opened and presented to the tryall of better judgments By R. O. That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts even one thing befalleth them all as the one dyeth so dyeth the other yea they have all one breath so that man hath no preheminence above a beast for all is vanity Ecclesiastes 3. 19. AMSTERDAM Printed by John Canne Anno Dom. 1644. To the Reader Judicious Reader THy serious perusall but the scorne and derision of the multitude hereof is my expectation Startle not thou be patient read ponder and Berean like try whether these things be so or no If any thing in it be worth thy owning take it it is thine as well as mine and I have my end thy benefit I wish it well to all but I feare it will be a Parable to most however I have unbosom'd my duty freely as I have received I give it freely to the World it is my faith as I beleeve so have I spoken I expect an Answer if it be such as will not hold tryall it is likely I shall vindicate my selfe but if by force of Argument it shall convince I shall be ready and free thankfully to embrace it and renounce my errour whether it be in part or in whole though in the maine I am nothing jealous had I therein doubted my weaknesse had not been thus visible to the World Whereas in severall places scattered through the Booke the use of the word Soule may seeme to some to imply that which I deny let such know it is for Argument sake not intending in the least any selfe distinct Being by it Thus desiring my endeavours may have a faire and equall tryall by Scripture and sollid Reason I commit thee to the blessing of God in the perusall thereof and rest Thine in the love of the Truth R. O. To his worthy friend the Author upon his Booke THe Hell hatch'd Doctrine of th' immortall Soule Discovered makes the hungry Furies houle And teare their snakey haire with griefe appal'd To see their Errour-leading Doctrine quail'd Hell undermin'd and Purgatory blowne Vp in the aire and all the spirits flowne Pluto undone thus forced for to yeeld The frightned Soules from the Elizian Field And squallid Charon now may leave his Trade To see all Soules made subject to the spade And Cerberus his dismall fate deplore To thinke that he shall scare the Soules no more But joy'd at this Minerva she doth run T' imbrace her Nurse Child great Apollo's Son The Heavens triumph i' th' wane of th' World to see Such light break out on its Posteritie They sue Mnesichole and so doe I To register this Mans Mortalitie N. C. VVOuld you a young Man see for to controule The Antient sure you 'd think he had no soul But God hath promised and still reveales To Babes what he from prudent men conceales Heavens blesse thee Man for bringing that to light Which Envy raked up i' th' dust for spight And may thy Booke be as a passing Bell To dying Man to toll his fatall knell S. R. MANS MORTALITY OR A Treatise proving MAN quatenus Animal rationale a Compound wholly Mortall CHAP. I. Of Mans Creation Fall Restitution and Resurrection how they disprove the Opinion of the Soul imagining the better part of Man immortall And proveth him quatenus homo wholly mortall TO omit tedious introductory Circumstances which are as commonly vselesse as prolix Observe That when God had moulded formed and compleatly proportionated Adam of the Dust of the ground he breathed in his face the breath of Lives * Orig. and Man became a living Soul Gen. 2. 7. That is he gave that life-lesse Body a communicative rationall Faculty or property of life in his kind And so it became a living Creature or compleate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of whom was the Woman both innocent and free from sin and so from Death and mortality For the wages of Sin is Death Rom. 5. 12. 1 Cor. 15. 56. Thus Man was gloriously immortall yet no longer a Creature incorruptible then during innocent For Gen. 2. 17. God said of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eate of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye that is thy immortality shall be changed for mortality Immortall Adam shall be made mortall not a part of thee but Thou shalt surely dye even whole man without the least exception of any the worst or noblest part of him unlesse God had a mentall reservation but even the same Thou that livest Thou shalt surely dye that must dye wherein was life then surely if he had an immortall Soul which is the life of the body that must be made mortall The result of all which is this That what of Adam was immortall through Innocency was to be mortalized by Transgression But whole Adam quatenus Animal rationale was in Innocency immortall Ergo all and every part even whole Man was lyable to Death by Sin And so consequently if Adam had then such an indefinable thing in him and of him without which he was not Man as is vulgarly supposed but simply maintained by the Church of Rome England c. as an Angelical Spirit that neither could nor can be subject to mortality Then he had that he had not which made him be what he was not he a 1. Absur sinned with that with which he could not which made him Fall b 2. Absur when he did not which Bo-peepe is impossible For if Adam was martalized and That not It was no part of him this they must confesse or else the other followes This being thus cleared and proved from Adams Creation and Innocency let us proceed to his Fall Restitution and Resurrection who eating of the forbidden fruit whose nature was as was supposed by Nemesius the Philosopher to mortalize him as Mala insana are to destroy and reduce rationality to madnesse God fulfilled his threatned Curse upon him saying Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eate bread till thou returne unto the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt returne Here he is plainly disrobed of all his immortality he must to Dust without the least mention of any Being
conjuncto make Man is not as a Tree when he is cut downe whose spirit liveth and sprouteth forth and continueth but as the flowre of the field not the stalke but the bare flowre which totally fadeth and perisheth Therefore Man is wholly mortall He shall die and the Son of Man shall be made as grasse Isa 51. 12. 2 Cor. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. there our Being after death is called A building of an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens with this the Apostle desires to be clothed and what it is he defines viz. mortalitie swallowed up of life whence it is most evident that all his hope of future life was grounded upon the Resurrection and that his hope was altogether grounded thereon he confirmes 1 Cor. 15. arguing If Christ be not risen the dead should not rise and ver 18. They which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished and ver 14. Then is our faith also in vaine whose end 1 Pet. 1. 9. is the salvation of our soules How should then all be in vaine if our soules as soone as breath is out of the 10. Abs body enter into glory and salvation For by that though there were no Resurrection of the flesh we should receive the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Soules Nay further he maketh all our hope to be in this life if there be no Resurrection for ver 19. having shown the evils that follow the denyall of the Resurrection saith If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable whence plainly appeares that the deniall of the Resurrection confines all our hopes within this life and so all our sufferings persecutions prayers faith c. were to no purpose which could not be by this Soulary fancy of present reward of beatitude after this life 1 King 2. 2. David saith to Solomon I go the way of all the earth that is as all the earth must see corruption so must he and if his Soul were part of him yea himself so must it k 11. Abs else should he not go the way of all the earth And the expression in Iosh 2. 13. Deliver our lives from death importeth absolute mortality for if Death be not dissolution of life or its depravation how can it be said to suffer death not by a bodily seperation for that is but as the laying down of a burthen wherewith it was clogged and tyred whereby it is made more lively ten thousand times as my Opposites confesse and so can no more be said to be dead then a l 12. Abs Porter when he is disburthened of his Load Iob. 34. 15. All flesh shall perish together and man shall turne again unto dust Eccl. 3. 19. That which befalleth the Sons of Men befalleth Beasts even one thing befalleth them as one dyeth so dyeth the other they have all one breath so that they have no preheminence above a Beast for all is vanity Wherefore if their Breath be all one then God breathed no other Breath that is life or soul into Man then he gave to Beasts So that if Man be Fallen and the Beasts be cursed for his sake Man must 〈◊〉 equally mortall with them 1 Tim. 4. 8. I have fought a good fight I have finisht my course I have kep◠the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give me at THAT DAY and not to me only but to all them that love his love his appearing Here from the finishing of his course a Crown being laid up which is even the same which Peter Epist 1. cap. 1. 9. maketh the end of our faith the Salvation of our soules to be given at THAT DAY concludes an intermission to him and us till then 1 Tim. 6. 14. 16. Keep this Commandement untill the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ who only hath immortality dwelling in light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see Whence appeareth that none ever entred into Heaven since the Creation And it is in vaine for my Opposites to say it is meant of the corpulent matter only for they make the Soul the very manhood and none that enter therein enter by halfes and peecemeal and this is confirmed by Ioh. 3 13. And no man hath ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven Psal 6. 5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks Psal 89 11. 12. Shall thy loving kindnesse be declared in the grave or thy faithfulnesse in destruction shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousnesse in the Land of forget fullnesse Isa 38. 18. 19. For the grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day the Father to the Children shall make known thy truth Hence it is plain that during this Death Man is voyd of actuall Being for had he then an incorruptible or present actuall Being in glory he should be more capable of the praise and remembrance of the Lord then he was before he died Iob. 3. from the 11. to 20. Why died I not from the wombe c. for now should I have lyen still and been quiet I should have slept and then I should have been at rest as a hidden untimely birth I had not been as Infants that never saw light there the Prisoners rest together they heare not the voyce of the Oppressour Hence followeth that during this Death there is no more present Being to man then to an hidden abortive Embrio in this life and no more capability then light to unborne Infants nor more oppression or torment then where there is none to oppresse which is to say He absolutely IS NOT Answerable to that of Iacob me have ye bereaved of my children Ioseph is not and Simeon is not Gen. 42. 36. Iob. 4. 17. 19. 20. 21. Whose foundation is in the dust they perish for ever that is cease to Be till the Resurrection Luke 20. 37. 38. Now that the dead are raised c. relating to Exod. 3. 6. I am the God of Abraham c. From whence Christ proveth the resurrection But if Abraham Isaac c. had then lived in their soules it had been no Argument to prove the resurrection for he had been the God of living soules Abraham Isaac and Iacob though there had been no resurrection Besides he saith all live unto him and this saying is ascribed unto the dead therefore as well may we argue from thence that they lived in their bodies as say they were dead in body but alive in soul unto God for it is impossible to be potentially and actually living at the same time Psal 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not