Immortality being continually preserved by the Almighty Concourse of Him that created them Not that I think the Souls of Brutes to be capable of that Felicity or Misery the Souls of Men are but we may either suppose them to proceed from the Anima Mundi or Soul of the World which may also be supposed to be Immaterial and so return to it at the Dissolution or rather that when they are divested of their Bodies they take to themselves Aereal ones Some there are that will not admit but explode Aereal Vehicles who suppose That the Souls of them surviving Death doth so continue in a State of Inactivity Insensibility Sleep Silence and Stupor until by a Transmigration they re-assume new Bodies to act in for while Spirits are divested of Bodies they cannot exert any Action But this Supposition would destroy our own Assertion alrady laid down concerning the Active and Cogitant Nature of the Soul But least I should exceed my bounds in too long a Digression I shall now come to the next general Head proposed in Order to treat on and that is The Immortality of the Soul CHAP. VI. Of the Immortality of the Soul The Immortality of the Soul Proved FRom what hath been already alledged concerning the Nature Origin Union and Immateriality of the Soul may with great facility and by necessary consequence be gathered its Immortality also and the fore-precedent things may serve for Topics whence we may raise so many Arguments clearly to evince the same From its Nature The Nature of the Soul is so evident a Demonstraitve of its Immortality that whoever understands the one cannot but easily apprehend the other Is not Spirituality a plain Manifesto of a Durable Existence and Activity and Cogitancy and inseparable Concomitant of Immortality How undeniably doth Plato the Mirror of the Mirror of the World for Learning demonstrates from the Souls being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-moving that it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ever-moving Is it probable that those inestimable Creatures whose very Essence declares them to be made for a high or end were created for nothing but to actuate these Bodies for a momentary space and then to return to nothing Shall those Pious and Divine Souls who for hopes of the Fruition of the endless Pleasures of another Life have wich great alacrity and content of mind undergone the difficulties of this Mortal Pilgrimage find nothing at the end of their Journey for their reward but a final annihilation And shall the malevolent Slaves of the Devil who have lavished their Patrimony and spent their days in serving the God of this World and in doing Obeisance to their Lusts and Debauched Appetites be discharged from the Penalty of their horrid Crimes by a Cessation of their Essence What can prove a greater Derogation from the Equity of a just Creator than so gross and Supposition Will He From its Origin who hath formed a Creature so like himself so soon destroy it What can be a greater Reflexion on his Wisdom Shall that puff of Divine Breath which had its Rise from Gods Immediate Inspiration subside vanish and become a Non entity Certainly That hand that could immediately produce a Being out of nothing can by an Immediate Concourse preserve it from relapsing into nothing again neither are there any Motives to perswade him that can do this to will the contrary Were the Soul generated from the Parent it might then be corruptible but it hath its Origin from a higher Principle it must needs the◠be of a Nature more lasting permanent and durable From its Union It s Union also is another Test o◠its Immortal Existence if it were united to the Animal Spriit by in near Approximation to the Nature of it or if fixt and fastened to the Pineale Glandule this might be a plausible Pretext to make us entertain some thoughts of its Mortality and Perishing with the Body whereby it is so much influenced but seeing its Union is caused by its permeating the Body and extending and diffusing it self thro every part thereof and so by a vigorous Energy actuating the same certainly all such Imaginations conceiving it Mortal are now banisht and exploded Our Fourth Topic is not likewise empty of proof to demonstrate this Truth From its Immateriality Were the Soul a Substance compounded of the Four Elements or Five Chymic Principles Blended together we should have little reason to plead for its Immortality because all Corporeal Things are subject to Corruption and have that within the verge of their own Essence that in time will cause a Dissolution in them Nam contraria contraiis destruuntur For Contrary Things are destroyed by their Contraries and all Mixed Bodies have within themselves Qualities may I call them so repugnant one to another but the Soul as hath already been proved being of an Immaterial Nature is not obnoxious to any such Cause of Mutability And Nature it self teacheth us That whatsoever hath a Being will be possessed of it until it meet with something to destroy it But now what contrary Principles opposite Elements or repugnant Qualities can Psycotomists or Anatomists of Souls I mean those that hold them Material and so Mortal find in the Analysis of Spirits There are masty more Arguments of undubitable Verity and undeniable Evidence to evince the Souls Immortality as its Infinite Desire of More Mediums to prove the same and its Solicitude about an Immortal State in Dissatisfaction under all the Felicities of this Life and vehement Appetite and Desire after Eternal Beatitude the Fear of Death the Remorses and Stings of Conscience which all Men fall under upon the Sense of Guilt But the Largeness of the Subject and the intended Brevity to which I have limited myself will admit only of a Transitory Glance upon every Thing that occurs to our Speculation Of the Stale of the Soul after Death that it doth not sleep Having therefore proceeded thus far I shall add a little concerning the Manner of the State the Soul remains in immediately after its Dissolution from the Body and that it That I do not believe as some do That it remains in a State of Sleep and Stupor till the Resurrection but that it takes up an Aereal Vehicle and hereby its Motion is made Feasible which if the Soul were devoid of a Body it would be impossible to perform If the Soul immediately after its Separation from the Body pass not only into a State but a Place either of Eternal Misery or Everlasting Happiness it is contrary to the Laws of Nature it should be carried thither without a Body That Souls assume Vehicles after Death for Loco motion is a Property of Bodies and no way to be performed by Spirits separate from Bodies Besides to argue for Vehicles it is a Priviledge proper only to the Deity to live and act alone without Vital Union with a Body It is Natural to a Soul to inliven a
Body and therefore it is not probable that it should be kept so long in an Unnatural State of Separation Again It is more than probable from Scripture That the Souls of Wicked Men after Death have Punishment of Sense and Pain besides Remorse of Conscience But lest some out of prejudice should condemn this Opinion of Vehicles as an Opinion newly feigned and foisted into Phylosophic Books more out of Novelty than Probability or as an Assertion dangerous or inconsistent with true Faith and Religion Vehicles owned by the Ancient Fathers I shall produce now the Testimonies of some of the Ancient Fathers who were the Abettors of this Hypothesis Tertullian and Irenaeus were of this Perswasion Origen also was of the same mind Viz. That Souls after Death have certain Subtil Bodies retaining the same Characterizing Form which their Terrestrial Bodies had and that the Apparitions of the Dead are the Souls themselves surviving in a Luciform Body Augustine also granteth That Souls after Death cannot be carried to any Corporeal Place or locally moved without Bodies Nor is it conceivable how Imperfect Beings could have Sense or Imagination without Bodies saith Origen For Origen contra Cels saith he It is the nature of an Incorporeal Thing always to stand in need of a Body suitable to the Place wherein it is And altho I must confess Origen did maintain some things contrary to the Doctrine of the Church yet his Authority is no less Authentic for this thing than the Authority of the rest because this was never reckoned in the Catalogue of his Errors Let me adde likewise I That our Saviour's bidding his Disciples feel him The same implicitely evidenced from Scripture and from Moses and Elias appearing upon the Mount And from all other Apparitions and telling them a Spirit had not Flesh and Bones that is no Solid Body seems to imply that they have Thinner Bodies which they may visibly appear in And also Moses and Elias visibly appearing upon the Mount argues That they had real Visible Bodies Hereby likewise we may very easily solve the Phaenomena of the Apparitions of Men and Women after their death without imagining that they take up their Bodies when Defunct and walk about with them or that these Bodies are actuated by the Devil for then they would become Objects of the Sense of Feeling but those that have seen such Apparitions do declare the contrary finding no resistance when they strike at them Likewise their vanishing and seeming to penetrate Doors or Walls shews they are not those Bodies and certainly they cannot be supposed to be the Souls themselves â— seperate from all Body for they are never visible But if we will admit this Hypothesis of Vehicles we may easily imagine how they retain their Visibility by causing only a Reflexion of Light and lose their Tractability by reason of their Tenuity and Rarity Now at the Resurrection Of the Resurrection and New Modification of the Body these Souls which have dwelt thus long in Vehicles do re-assume those very Numeric Bodies which before they deposed yet not such gross corruptible ones as they then were For the happiness of Souls consisteth not in their Conjunction with such gross Terrestrial Bodies as these we now have Scripture as well as Phylosophy complaining of them as a heavy load and burthen to the Soul but the Soul at the Resurrection will assume a Body Immortal Incorruptible Glorious and Lucid Star-like and Spiritual Heavenly and Angelic not this Fleshy Body gilded and varnished on the out-side only but changed thro-out Our Souls are Strangers and Pilgrims in these Terrestrial Bodies their proper Home and Countrey is their Heavenly Body these very Bodies we now carry about with us shall then be transformed and modified into a Heavenly Form and this is very agreeable with the Principles of Nature for according to Phylosophy the Grossest Body may by meer Motion be reduced to the Rarity and Tenuity of the Finest Aether and if thus what then cannot the Wise Fabricator of Heaven and Earth perform CHAP. VII Of the Extension of the Soul HAving already asserted the Extension of the Soul thro the Body it is requisite I should a little demonstrate or at least explicate my meaning in this my Assertion then if I remove those Difficulties which this Hypothesis may seem to labour under and manifest the contrary Assertion to be attended with far more and greater difficulties I hope I shall have performed my promise As for the Objections against the Souls Extension I know but two that have any thing of validity or cogency in them nor they neither when rightly considered The First is this viz. That this supposeth the Soul to be Material for say they Extension is an Essential Property of Bodies Cartes Princ. Phil. Pars 1. Sect. 4. and applicable to no other Creature yea says Cartes The very Nature and Essence of a Body consisteth in nothing else but Extention To this I answer That both Reason and Experience attest the contrary for were Extension a Property only pertinent to Matter then the Notion of a Vacuum proved by unanswerable Arguments Arguments to prove a Vacuum and demonstrated by visible Experiments must be quite exploded Are not Local Motion Rarefaction Condensation Levity and Ponderosity the Corporeity of Light and its Expansion thro the Air Rational Grounds to induce us to believe that there are certain Disseminate Vacuola in Bodies Which Mediums you may see exceedingly well promoted by Renowned Gassendus Gassendus in Epicurum a Learned Senator of Epicurus and Eminent Dr. Charleton Charleton's Philosophy a Proselyte of Gassendus but if Reason will not evince let Experiments demonstrate The Torrecellian Experiment so often mentioned in the Elaborate Works of the Royal Society is an infallible Proof hereof And hath not the Honourable Robert Boyle Boyle's Physico-Mechanic Experiments made it indubitably certain by his Excellent Instrument the Air Pump How this Experiment is performed by it you may see in his Physico-Mechanic Experiments Also the Experiment of the Aeolipile doth plainly evince it And surely Dr. Henshaw Dr. Henshaw's Aerochalinos Member of the Royal Society doth suppose the being of a Vacuum when in his Aerochalinos he lays down a Method of Building of a Domicil to change the state of the included Air A Vacuum demonstrated by Experiments by letting it out and in at pleasure This is so evidently demonstrated by our late Ingenuous Philosophers that I think none now but those who thro prejudice are resolved to penetrate no farther into the Bowels of Nature or make no deeper Scrutiny into the Mysteries of Philosophy than is consistent with the Old Phylosophy or than the Ancient Libels lead into can be so Irrational as to deny it I shall therefore also as the Writers of this Age do take it for granted and make this my Medium to beat down the Pretended Maxim viz. That Extension is a property essential to
the following Discourse to thy Candid Perusal hoping it may be of some Benefit and Advantage to thee Vale G. W. On the AVTHOR BEgon faint Limners with your vain pretence Of Plainly Representing Man to Sense Your Art 's defective you cannot Pourtray This Lively Image vain is your Essay By Lines and Lineaments his Shape t' Express That makes not Man which is his Garb and Dress The Soul 's the Man your Colours are too Dark To give the Features of that Heavenly Spark Learn then of th' Author for he it is that knows To Draw the Man as well as Paint his Cloaths W. B. THE CONTENTS The Introduction Pag. 1 THE Creation of the World Ib. Of Light Pag. 2 Of the Firmament Pag. 5 Of Water Pag. 6 The Cause of the Saltness of the Sea Ibid. How it is made Fresh Ibid. Of the Motion of the Sea Ibid. Of the Generation of Plants Pag. 7 Of the Heavens and Coelestial Luminaries Pag. 8 Of the Suns Motion with the Motion of the Earth Pag. 9 Of Living Creatures Ib. Of the Creation of Man Ib. Mans Analogy with the Great World Pag. 10. CHAP. I. THe two Parts of Man and the Division of this Discourse into its Two Parts Pneumatology and Somatology Pag. 12 CAHP. II. Of the Nature and Definition of the Soul Pag. 14. AN Introduction to this Chapter Ibid. That the Soul is not the Form of Man Pag. 15 But that Vnion is the Form of Man Ibid. Reasons to prove the Soul not to be a Form Pag. 16 17 18 Aristotle's Definition of the Soul ridiculous and pedantic Pag. 19 20 The true Definition of the Soul Its Essence consists in Cogitancy Pag. 21 Cogitancy hath no dependance upon the Body Pag. 23 CHAP. III. Of the Origin of the Soul Ibid. THat the Soul doth not prae-exist Pag. 24 Neither is it propagated ex tracude Pag. 25 Several Arguments against the Souls propagation Ibid. The true Origin of the Soul That it is immediately Created by God Pag. 27 CHAP. IV. Of the Union of the Soul to the Body Pag. 28 THat Spirits stand in need of Bodies to Act in Ibid. c. That the Soul is not united by the Mediation of the Corporeal Soul evinced by several Quaeries Pag. 32 Neither is it only united to the Glandula Pinealis and thence influenced by the Body Ib. But by its extention thro the Body it actuates all its parts Pag. 33 CHPP. V. Of the Immateriality of the Soul Pag. 34 THe Souls Immateriality proved from its Activity Pag. 35 From its Largeness and Discursive Faculty Ib. From Cogitation Pag. 36 Mr. Hobbs his Objection and Evasion Ib. It s Solution Pag. 37 A Digression concerning the Souls of Brutes Pag. 38 39 That Brutes have not Material Souls Pag. 40 Neither are they insensible Mâ—â—â—â—ns Pag. 42 But that Brutes also have Immaterial Souls Pag. 44 An Objection Pag. 45 The Answer Pag. 46 47 CHAP. VI. Of the Immortality of the Soul Pag. 48 THe Immortality of the Soul proved Ibid. From its Nature Ibid. From its Origin Pag. 50 From its Vnion Ibid. From its Immateriality Pag. 51 More Mediums to evince the same Pag. 52 The State of the Soul after Death Pag. 53 That it doth not Sleep Ibid. That Souls assume Vehicles after their Dissolulution from their Bodies Ib. Three Arguments to prove the same Pag. 54 The same evinced by the Testimony of the Ancient Fathers Ibid. The same implicitely evidenced from Scripture and from Moses and Elias appearing upon the Mount and from all other Apparitions Pag. 55 56 Of the Resurrection and new Modification of the Body Pag. 57 CHAP. VII Of the Extension of the Soul Pag. 58 AN Objection aganst the Souls Extension Pag. 59 The same answered Ibid. Arguments to prove a Vacuum Pag. Ibid. A Vacuum demonstrated by experience Pag. 60 The true Nature of Space Pag. 61 Another Objection against the Souls Extension Pag. 62 An Answer to it Ibid. Wherein the Nature of Extension doth consist Pag. 63 A Distinction between Divisible and Discerpible and that the Soul is mentally Divisible the actually indiscerpible Ibid. That the Soul is not Totum in toto totum in qualibet partae Corporis as the Peripatetics assert Pag. 64 Neither is the Soul in an Indivisible point Pag. 65 It s Extension hence undeniably demonstrated Pag. 66 CHAP. VIII Of the Faculties of the Soul Ibid. WHat the Faculties of the Soul are Ibid. How the Vnderstanding and Will differ Pag. 67 The Number of the Faculties Ibid. The Vnderstanding its Formal Object Truth Pag. 68 The Nine Intellectual Habits Ibid. The Will its Object Good Ibid. The Conscience no distinct Faculty Ibid. The Affections not distinct from the Will Pag. 69 How Love is caused Pag. 71 Love the Chief Affection of the Soul Pag. 72 The Memory Pag. 73 CHAP. IX Of the Parts of the Body Pag. 74 ANatomy It s Subject Pag. 75 The Division of the Parts of Mans Body Pag. 76 The Principal Parts Ib. The less Principal Parts Pag. 77 The Simular Parts Ib. The Dissimular Parts Ib. The Division of the Body into its Three Venter and Four Artus Pag. 78 The Lower Venter its Parts Ib. and Pag. 79 The Cuticula Pag. 80 The Cutis Pag. 81 The Pinguedo or Fat Ib. The Muscles of the Belly Pag. 82 The Peritoneum Pag. 83 The Omentum Ib. The Stomach Ib. The Intestines Pag. 84 The Pancreas Ib. The Cause of Agues according to Sylvius Ib. The Liver its Figure and Connection Pag. 85 Its use to secern the Bile Pag. 86 To concoct the Lympha and impregnate it with a Volatile Salt Pag. 87 Its Ducts and Meatus Ib. The Spleen Pag. 88 Its Vse Ib. Helmont's Opinion false Pag. 89 Walaeus the Inventer of its true Function Ib. The Reins Pag. 90 The use of the Capsulae Atrabilariae Ib. The Vreters Pag. 91 The Bladder Pag. 92 An Experiment touching the Coction of a humane Bladder with some Liquors Ib. The Vessels and Organs of Generation why we omit insisting on them Pag. 93 The Middle Venter or the Thorax Pag. 94 The Breasts and their Parts Pag. 95 Some Conjectures how Milk is generated Pag. 97 The Diaphragm Pag. 98 The Cause of Sardonian Laughter Pag. 99 The Ribbs Pag. 100 The Pleura the Seat of the Pleurisie Ib. The Mediastinum Pag. 101 The Pericardium Ib. Whence proceeded that Water that issued out of our Saviour's Side Pag. 102 The Heart Ib. That is not situated on the left side as some imagine Ib. The reason why it beats more on the left side then on the right Ib. How Cordials help the Heart in Syncope's Pag. 103 The use of the Heart Ib. The Pulse Pag. 104 Its Systole and Diastole Ib. and Pag. 105 The Circulation of the Blood Pag. 106 How often the Blood circulates thro the Body in an hour Pag. 107 The Vessels belonging to the Heart Pag. 109 The Lungs Pag. 110 Their use Ib. The Aspera Arteria Pag. 111 The Larynx its Muscles Pag.
with the great World both in his Angellic Heavenly and Sublunary parts The Soul that Queen Regent in the Palace of the Brain is the Anima Munduli and represents the Soul of the World the Spirits represent the Heavens the Subtle and Aetherial parts of the Universe the Four Humours bear a great Analogy with the Four Elements Choler that hot Sulphureous and Raging Humour is like the furious Element of Fire the calmness of the Blood is compared to the Serenity of Air the dulness of Flegm to the Hebetude of Water and the Adust Melancholy is like the Feculent Earth Hairs represent the verdent Vegetables Bones and Stones in the Reins and Bladder represent Rocks Stones and Minerals the Veins and Arteries the Rivers and Caverns of the Earth the Circulation of the Sanguine Liquor is a representative of the Motion of the Marine Waters and of the Waters in the profound Abysses of the Terrestrial Globe Dew is represented by Tears Hail By Concocted Flegm Rain by the Humours that fall into the Throat See Crook's Body of Man Thunder by Fury Heat Rumbling Belching and Winds by exhaled Crudities Hissing Singing and Ringing Noises in the Ears c. Now if the consonant Order harmonious Structure and regular Composure of the greater World be not enough to confute an Atheist here is enough to astonish him if the Contemplation of the Works of Creation in reference to the Macrocosme will not lead him to the acknowledgment of a Deity and first cause here 's that which will make it as Visible and Conspicuous as the Sun in its Meridian glory Having cleared the way by this Brief Introduction I shall without any further Remora come to the intended Scope of this Design Chap. I. Of the Distribution of Man into his Two Essential Constituring Parts ANthropology The Two parts of Man or that Doctrine which Treats concerning Man may rightly be divided into Two parts viz. Pneumatology which gives an account of his Soul and Somatology which is the Anatomy of his Body Man being defined a Substance consiâ—ing of a Spiritual and Rational Soul and of a fitly composed Body in order therefore to the discription of this noble Creature we shall first Treat of his more sublime and ruling part his Soul we shall endeavour to unfold the hidden Treasures and Unlock those choise Curiosities that are cloistered up in the Cabinet of this Pneumatic Science and that this might be done after a Methodic manner I shall first discourse concerning the Nature of the Soul Secondly concerning its Origen Thirdly concerning its Union to the Body Fourthly concerning its Immateriality Fifthly corcerning its Immortality Sixthly concerning its Extension and Lastly concerning its Faculties CHAP. II. Of the Nature and Definition of the Soul An Introduction to this Chapter SEing the Soul is a Being whose Nature is far above the reach of Sense invisible to the most acute Acies of Corporeal Eyes Intrectable by the most sensible Organs of Touching it is most evident that nothing can penetrate into the Bowels of this Golden Mine or explicate the hidden Mysteries therein contained but the Soul it self she who is immaterial her self can best by a reflex-speculation explicate the Nature of a Spirit and truly this Work must be set upon by the Soul not with Rashness or Temerity but with diligent Rumination serious Deliberation profound Contemplation and sedulous Industry For what Pedantic notions of the Soul have been abstracted from the Brains of some tho counted very judicious by reason of their Incogitance others thro Critical Câ—â—iosiry have broached some Notions as ridiculous as the former thro Inadvertency What a silly Fiction is that That the Soul is the Form of Man And how unprofitable are the Distinctions and Disputes of the School-men concerning Forms That the Soul is not the Form of Man in Order to the Abettment of this Hypothesis is evidently manifested by that never enough praised Person the Honourable Robert Boyle For it is most agreeable to the Canons of Reason that Man being an Animal compounded of Two distinct parts a Rotional Active and and Cogitant Soul and a fitly Adapted and Organized Body each of which have their proper and particular Forms hath no other Form quatonus compositum than the Union between the Soul and Body But that Union is the Form of Man Plato was greatly deceived in Imagining the Body to be no part of Man but that Man was nothing but a Soul making use of a Body as its Domicil wherein it is Incarcerated But of all Opinions a more ridiculous could not have been invented than that the Soul is the Form of Man Certainly this crackt the Cranny of him that found it out else he would never have vented such Crack-brained Notions so frequently one after another yet such was his Estime and Credit that many will still altho with as little Reason as the Author himself indeavor to abett this Assertion That the Soul is the Form of Man not the Forma Informans say some of them but Forma Assistens as they call it just as a Marriner in a Ship yet who will be so arrogant to assert that a Marriner is the Forme of a Ship But that I may a little demonstrate this Diametrically opposite Sentiment of mine That the Soul can in no wise be imagined to be the Form of Man Reasons to prove the Soul not to be a Form I shall shew upon what Foundation this Assertion is established and first I say the very Notion and Definition of a Form cannot in the least be appropriated to the Soul and it is agreed upon by all Cui non convenit definitio ei neque definitum beside the Peripatetic and pretended Definition of a Form viz. Forma est per quod res est id quod est is no more a Definition of a Form than Oculus est per quod al quis vidit is a Definition of the Eye But a Form may be thus rightly Defined Forma est ens incompletum materiam informans unum per se cum materiâ constituens distinuens ab omni aâ—os It is an incomplete Being informing Matter and constituting one Essential Being with the Matter and distinguishing it from every thing else Now First the Soul is not an Incomplete Being for an Incomplete Being is some Mode or Accident which cannot subsist unless coexistent wâ—th a complete Substance but the Soul is a complete Being subsisting of it self Secondly the Soul doth not inform Matter if so it would be the Form of the Body for then there would be an Intrinsic Communication of Essence and Essential Properties We will grant there is a Presence a Contact a Diffusion an Union and an Actuation yet none of these come under the Notion or Title of Information and altho the Soul doth Actuate the Body yet it doth not Communicate every Action to the Body but performs many Aâ—tions without any dependance thereupon as Cogitative Intellectual and voluntary Actions
But now a Form depends upon Matter in every if any of its Operations Again Thirdly the Soul is not one with the Body neither in Indentity as a Substantial Act according to the Peripateric Philosophy is the same with the â—ubstance not by inclusion or inherence as a Mode or Accident is one with its Subject but only in Composition as Two United Parts are one which still retain their proper Essences and can exiâ—t a part So that the Soul is an Essential part of the Composiuâ—um and not the Form thereof Lastly it is evident that the Specific difference and distinction of Man is taken as well from one part as from the other Man differs from Angelic Beings in his Body in his Soul from Inanimate Creatures yea in his Soul there is something which distinguisheth him from Angels and in his Body whereby he differs from other Bodies And as these two parts are so fitly composed and ordered that they make one compleat Being there are some particular Forms Properties and Modes which discriminate him from all other things in the whole System of this habitable Orb as Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tureri Jussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultur c. Now the definition which Aristotle gives of the Soul is far from explicating the Nature thereof Aristotle's Definition the Soul vidiculous and Pedantic neither is it any way satisfactory but Ignotum per ignotius explicans explaining an unknown thing by a thing abundantly more unkown and that is this Anima est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive actus corporis Physici Organici vitam habentis in potentiâ The Soul is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an act of a Physical and Organic Body having Life in Power An unintelligible Coacervation of Non-sence for who can interpret the meaning of Aristotle's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cannot Imagine unless he do as Hermolaus a Famous Barbarian did who when he had got some Society and Colloque with the Devil the Devil demanded of him What he should do for him He said he desired nothing more than that â—e would explain unto him the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Aristotle's Definition Yea I can truly say concerning this with a Late Author in â—â re nemo crassius Aristotele peccavit qui talem protulit anima definitionem quae omnibus plene rebus corventrâ—t veluti commune emplastrum vulueribus omnibus inedetur praeterea quid nobis distincti per actusvocem innotescit nihil amplius me Hercule quam si quis lucem definiat actum corporis lucidi calorem actum corporis calidi In this thing no body hath more grosly erred than Aristotle who brought forth such a Definition of the Soul which is applicable almost to all things and as a Common Plaister heals all Wounds Besides what would he have us to understand by the word Act Nothing more truly than if anv one should define Light to be the Act of a Lucid Body and Heat the Act of a Calorific Body How manisest an Ambiguity saith a Learned Writer and how great an Obscurity is there in the word Act or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some translate perfection Such definitions as these are so far from augmenting our Knowledge and encreasing our Literature that they detrude us into inextricable Laby rinths and obnubilate those things which in themselves are evident Having thus laid down the reason why we cannot Assent to the Definition of Arstoile it is now incumbent upon us to produce the true and genuine definition of the Soul The true Definition of the Soul Its Essence consists in Cogitancy which is this The Soul is an Incorporeal Cogitant Substance or a Substance of a Spiritual and Incorporeal Nature whose Essence consists in Cogitation This Definition is very comprehensive and very intelligible The genus here ascribed to a Soul is al Substance it is not a Model an Accident a Form or Quality but a Being of a self-subsisting Nature It is a Spiritual and Incorporeal Substance not an Igneous Fiery Flammeous Avery Aetherial or any blementary Substance but a Substance of higher Nature It borrowed not its Origen from Matter nor derived its Rise from any Corporeal Being its very Essence and formal Reason is Cogitancy It never ceaseth from perfoâ—ming the Action of thinking be the Body never so profoundly Dormant be tho Animal Spirits never so Entoxicated be the Brain never so much Stupified the Soul is still Active Cogitating Ruminating or â—ontemplating it may be troubled and diverted from being intent in it Conceptions but the Act of thinking can never be impeded neither can any thing put an end to its Cogative Operations There is no Narcotic Dose can cause the Soul to sleep nor any Anodyne Medicine to Eutoxicate an Active Spirit No for when the Ventricles of the Brain are Obstructed by Opium the spissified Juice of Soporiferous Poppies or when the Spirits are Locked up by Laudanum a more refined and rectified Medicine the Soul is so far from being attached by the Narcotic Virtue thereof that it is hereby rendered more intent in its Operations abstracted from Matter When the Body is quiescent Cogitancy hath no dependance upon the Body it is not so diverted by sensible Objects as it is in vigilance when some External Objects do always present themselves to the Organs of Sensation CHAP. III. Of the Origen of the Soul HAving laid down the true Definition of the Soul and rersised the falsity of Aristotle's Desinition proved it to be spurious and illegitimate in the precedent Chapter We now proceed to in Rie and Origen and here we have to deal with a two-fold Antagonist Teh First are Those that suppost the Soul to prae-exist that is was created in the beginning of the World and so had a Subsittance long before it was united to the Body The others are those that ussert that the Soul is propagated extraduce or generated of the Soul of the Parents If the first Hypothesis were true That the Soul doth not praexest the Soul would have some remembrance of its former condition the things which it had cognizance of before it was incarcerated in the Body as the Platonists imagine would certainly be now recorded for the Memory is a faculty of the Soul and essential to the same And altho the Artcients did judge it altogether incongruous to bring God upon the stage perpetually Cudworth's Intellectual Systeme of the Universe and make him immediately interpose every where in the Generation of Men by the miraculous Productions of Souls out of nothing yet if we well consider we shall find that there may be very good reason on the other side for the successive Divine Creation of Souls namely that God did not do all at first that ever he could or would do and put forth all his Creative Vigor at once in a moment ever afterwards remaining a Spectator of the consequent results God might also for other
good and wise ends unknown to us reserve to himself the continual exercise of his Creative Power in the successive production of new Souls The other is Neither is it propogated Extraduce that the Soul is propogated Extraduce from the Soul of the Parent but the absurdity of this Opinion is evident enough from these following reasons Several Arguments against the Souls Propagt 1977. 1 This Hypothesis supposeth the Soul of the parent to be Discerpible and so to Communicate its own Essence to the Constituting the Soul of the Foet us which can be granted to no Incorporeal Being 2 It supposeth multitudes of Souls daily Created which never come to perfection as in Abortions and Effluxes of Seed and this suppofition cannot but too much derogate from the Wisdom of the Divine Architect 3 Such is the Genesis of any thing as is the Analysis but this is the Analysis of Man that the Body should return to the dust whence it came and the Spirit to God that gave it so that seeing the Spirit had its immediate Origen from God at its Creation doubtless at its Dissolution it doth immediatly retuen to him 4 Were the Soul Generated Extraduce it must either be from the Soul or from the Body of the Parent not from the SOul because nothing can be Generated of a thing Incorporeal Incorpireal Beings do not come under sch alterations not from the Body quia nil dat quod in se non habet Because no Incorporeal Thing can be produce out of a Thing Corporeal Not from both for then the Soul of the Partus would certainly participate of the Nature of them both and so become a Substance partly Corporeal and partly Incorporeal 5 The only Way and Method of its being done were it possible it could be done is enough to Induce us to believe the contrary for then the Soul would be a Substance Compounded of Two pieces of a Spirit the one abstracted from the Spirit of the Male the other from the Soul of the Famale Parent and these Two Pieccs or Paris Blended together into one to Compose a Rational Soul which supposal how Irrational Fictitious and Ridiculous it is any Rational Creature may presently apprehend The true Origen of a Soul viz. That it is immediately Created by God It reamins then that we lay down the true Origen of the Soul which is that it was immediately created by God and infased into the Body This Opinion though it be ancient yet several considerable reasons do incline me to believe it as Orthodox and Genuine and the verity of it may easily be manifested not only by the Confutation of the Two former Opinions but from the Testimony of Sacred Writ viz. he formed the Spirit of Man within him CHAP. IV. Of the Vnion of the Soul to the Body THe Soul being a Substance of an Active and Vigorous Nature God who is its Prime Parent being the Father of Spirits deemed it requisite to bestow upon it a Body dilicately Fabricated not only that this might be its Domicil wherein it should lye Incarcerate That Spirits stand in need of Bodies to Act in as the Platonists would have us believe but he really intended that a part of a Spirits felicity should consist in its Union to some body or other which it might make Use of as a compleatly Organized Machin whereby the better to performe its Actions therefore to Angelic Spirits he gave AEthereal Lucid and Star-like Bodies to the Souls of Men while they continue in these Lower Regions Terrestial Bodies yet curiously Fabricated and fit for their Motions and Operations but when they are devested of these by the assaults of Death then he orders them to enter into Aerial Vehicles that so the easier they may Soar into the invisible Regions of the Coelestial Habitacle and to retain these till the Resurrection when they shall re-assume their former Bodies Transformed and Modified into the Nature of Angelic ones But I shall refer a further Procedure upon this till I come to the Immortality of the Soul and shall here treat a little of the manner of its Union to these our Bodies This is a thing so sublime that it transcends the reach of humane intellect to conceive so capacious that it exceeds the limits of Reason to comprehend so abstruse and difficult that it puzzels the Wits of all Philosophers to demonstrate how Two Substances the one Spiritual the other Corporeal things of a quite contrary Nature should constitute but one Compositum what Medium these can be found for their Union by what means the more principal part doth Vivifiâ— and Actuate the part more inferiour what moving Virtue it doth Exert and Communicate to the Body and by what kind of contact this is done Surely these are things that none but he that is the Sole Author of these Phoenomena can demonstrate how or in what manner they are performed yet that they are performed is very apparent and such is the curiosity of that busie and Pragmatic Creature Man that he cannot contain himself from Prying into the Causes of those things the effects whereof declare them so to be tho they are never so abstruse He thinks there is nothing so locked up in the Cabinet of Nature but by his diligence he may find the Key or that there are no Rareties Treasured up in the Magazine of this Created World that he by a diligent Scrutiny cannot find out Some therefore will tell us That in Man there are Three Essential parts a Body a Soul and a Spirit the Body say they is a Substance made of the Grosser Matter viz. Flesh Blood Bones Nerves Cartilages Veins Arteries c. The Soul is a Substance tho Material yet of an AEtherial and Subtilized Nature Fiery and Flammeous Participating both of the Nature of a Body and of a Spirit and the Spirit which is their Third ingredient in their noble Composition is altogether Incorporeal United to the Body by the mediation of the Corporeal Soul Others will affirm that the Soul being the Ruling part The Cartesians sits like a Queen in the Palace of the Brain upon her Throne the Conarion which is a little Glansâ—lous Body almost in the midst thereof there she Contemplates of the Regions of her Kingdom and the Members of that Common-wealth being always attended with her Viceroy the Animal Spirit whereby she doth at Pleasure send an Embassy into the most Remote Parts of this little World thro the nerves But how well the Authors or Abetters of these Two Opinions have hit the Mark. I leave to the Credulous Reader to determine concerning the First I shall only Query a few things That the Soul is not United by the Mediatioc of the Corporeal Soul evinced by several Queries 1 Whether it be sense to say a Meterial Soul 2 Suppose it be whether there be any such thing as they imagine by it in the Body of Man 3 Whether Body and Spirit be not things of
a quite different Nature 4 Whether Rarefaction or Subtilization make a Body to be less a Body or more a Spirit than it was before 5 Whether a Red-hot Iron have any nearer Approximation to Life than it had before or the Flame of a Candle than the Extinguisht Snuff or Tallow of it 6 Whether this Corporeal Spirit be Semicorporeal and Semi-spiritual As for the Second Opinion let me Query Neither is it only United to the Glandula pinealis and thence Influences the Body First why the Soul should sit upon the Glandula pinealis more than upon any other part of the Body and whence it appears that it doth 2 Whether or no it be extended thro every part of the Conarion or is only one point of it If extended thro every part then why not as well thro the whole Body If in a point how it Acts and Insluenceth the Body 3 Whether this Virtue which the Soul doth Exert and Communicate in its Operations be the Essence of the Soul or no Now these Two Opinions seeming to disagree with the Canons of Reason and True Philosophy it will not I hope be unkindly resented if I exhibit another to the deliberate perusal of the unprejudiced which altho at the first it may seem a little Uncouth yet I am perswaded after some Consideration it will appear to be attended with lesser Inducements to make any Wise Man Incredulous of its verity than either of the former But by its Extension thro the the Body it Actuates all its parts and that is this that the Soul is United to the Body by its Extension thro every one of its parts that the Soul is Extended is not my busienss here to Demonstrate having designed a particular Chapter for it to which I shall refer the Reader and where I shall endeavour to remove the difficulties wherewith this Truth may seem to be burthened If this then be proved how easily may we Imagine an Union of the Soul with the Body to result from its Extension and Diffusion thro the parts thereof CHAP. V. Of the Immateriality of the Soul THe Immateriality of the Soul is a Truth so Undubitably certain and so generally believed that those who have arrived to that height of Audacity as to deny it are justly looked upon to be no better than Atheists for whoever is become so grosly erroneous as to believe his own Soul to be material is consequently reduced may I say Blasphemously to Averr the Nullity of A Deity O Incredulity not to be parallelled O Atheisme absurd and abominable the Immateriality of the Soul may be evinced First from its Activity In-activity is a property pertinent to Matter for Matter can exert no action of it self no not so much as Local Motion unless it be agitated by some External Cause there being no such thing as Natural Motion Matter being a Thing Naturally Inert and Passive but a Spirit which is of a Nature far transcending Matter is always Active and therefore Plato called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-moving it is an imprevaricable Law with all Bodies that nothing whatsoever can move unless it be moved by another and hence it followeth that the Soul that moveth without being excited by any thing else Acting and Operating from its own Intrinsic Power and Faculty is of a higher Race than they From its large Capacity and Discursive Faculty and consequently Incorporeal 2 The large Capacity and Discoursive Faculty of the Soul Demonstrates its Spirituality when we consider the multitude of things that are at once contained in the Soul as likewise its Power of Exerting those Notions and Apprehensions which it had Imbibed in Discourse how can we Conceive any otherwise than that she is Spiritual in her Essence 3 Its Simplicity Uniformity Immortality Self-reflection and Perfection are Infallible Manifesto's of its Incorporeity we may also add Cogitation a Property only Essential to a Spiritual Being From Cogitation for as we said before Matter cannot move it self how much less then is it able to perform that excellent Operation of deeming and thinking I am not Insensible how some do endeavour to evade this Argument for a Late Author doth pretend to Solve the manner of Cogitation Mr. Hobbs his Evasion without recourse to an Incorporeal Principle for faith he the very Motion of Reaction of one part of Matter on another or at least the Continuation of this Reaction can easily effect this for we find by experience when we are Occupied in serious Meditations or diligently incumbent upon our Studies a great Commotion in our Heads and a kind of Confusion in the Parts of the Brain which would not happen except Perception and Cogitation did depend on Matter and were made by the Motion and Agitation of the Particles of the Brain There might be some probability in this It s Solution if the Author could drive us to believe that there was nothing else but Matter in the whole Universe but seeing this is altogether impossible we shall condemn the other as false and ridiculous for if this were true why may not also the Bodies of Men when defunct be endued with the same Power of Cogitation For they are then no less capable of Reaction or Susceptive of Corporeal Impressions besides if we divide Matter into Monads or Minute Physic Particles I Query whether these Monads being seperated one from another may be capable of Perception and Cogitation or only the Compositum resulting there-from Now I think there is no one so a Friend to Atoms that he should think them to have Intelligence for who can believe that the smallest Particle of Matter is indued with Sense and Perception But if it be the whole Compositum what can be the Reason that out of Insensible Things should Emerge Things capable of Sense and Apprehension How is it possible that from the various Coition of Atoms which are Senseless and Incogitant should be produced a Cogitant Animal Having thus proved the Immateriality of the Soul A Digression concerning the Soul of Brutes I must crave leave here to make a little Digression concerning the Souls of Brutes whether their Souls be Immaterial or no Concerning which I shall Nominate Three Opinions all which have been very plausibly received by many First The Opinion of the Lord Bacon Dr. Willis and Gassendus who who do thus Philosophize viz. That Brutes have a Corporeal Soul which being of an Ignite and Fiery Nature doth move the Organized Bodies of these Animals For this See Willis de Anima Brutorum Du. Hamel de Corpore Animato Bacon's Natural History and Learned Mr. Gales Philosophia Generalis Secondly The Hypothesis of Renowned Des Cartes viz. That Brutes are nothing else but Machins curiously Fabricated by the chief Opifex of Nature being Acted and Moved by no other than a Mechanic Motion having neither Sense nor Perception in them and this Opinion saith Monsieur Fernelius seems to be taken from the Philosophy of Moses
where the Blood is said to be the Life of Brutes Le-Grand also in his Book De Carentia sensus cognitionis in Brutis hath endeavoured to defend Des Cartes and prove that Brutes are nothing but Natural Horologies or Organs of Clock-work being altogether as void of Sense as Clocks performing their Motion the same way The Third is the Hypothesis of Famous Derodon Dr. More and Dr. Cudworth viz. That Brutes are Acted by an Incorporeal Soul not differing in kind from Mans but only in degree That Bruits have not Material Souls From the First of these I must needs acknowledge my Dissent or contradict my self in what I said before yet still retaining that Reverence and Adoration I bear to the Learning of its Authors For I have already declared that there is contrariety between Matter and Spirit so that a Material or Corporeal Spirit is a contradiction and I have already said that Matter of it self is Inactive Senseless and Inert Dr. Cudworth's System of the Universe Neither can the Souls of Brutes saith a late Learned Philosopher be imagined to be Flame and Fire for Flame and Fire is nothing but such a Motion of the Insensible Parts of a Body as whereby they are violently agitated and many times dissipated for begetting those Flames of Light and Heat in the Animals Now there is no difficulty at all in conceiving that Insensible Particles of a Body which were before Quiescent may be put into Montion this being nothing but a new Modification of them and no Entity really distinct from the Substance of the Body as Life Sense and Cogitation are and therefore it is but a crude Conceit of Atheists and Corporealists That Souls are nothing but Fiery and Flammeous Bodies for tho Heat in the Bodies of Animals be a necessary Instrument for the Life and Soul to act by in them yet it is a thing really distinct from Life We might also add That according to this Hypothesis the Souls of Animals could not be Numerically the same thro the whole space of their Lives since that Fire that needs a Pabulum to prey on doth not always continue one and the same Numeric Substance the Soul of a new-born Animal could no more be the same with the Sould of that Animal Seven years after than the Flame of a new-lighted Candle is the same with that which twinkles in the Socket which indeed are no more the same than a River or Stream is the same at several distances of time Which Reason may be farther extended to prove the Soul to be no Body at all since the Bodies of Animals are in a perpetual Flux Neither are they Insensible Machins Concerning the Second Hypothesis which is the Cartesian give me leave to say with an Ingenous Author Nec demum negaverim inquit animalium corpora esse Machinas miro artificio coagmentatas sed nihil esse quam Machinas qua nihil sentiant nihil agant ac pulsu tantum agitentur alieno id vero adduci non possum ut credam at que eos qui contradicunt appello an nullam in cane Venatico cum per compendia viarum leporem insequitur nullam in leporibus cum per varios flexus canes insequentes cludunt nullam in bestiis quae predâ vivunt aut cognitionem immo caliditatem varios ut it a dicam artes animadverterunt I will not deny saith he but that the Bodies of Animals are Machins by admirable Artifice compacted together but that they are nothing else but Machins without Sense and Action and only moved by Extern Impulse is a thing I can never be reduced to believe and I challenge those that contradict me to tell me Whether in a Hungting Dog that follows the Hare the shortest way or in a Hare indeavoring to delude the Dogs by her various turnings or in those Beasts that live upon the Prey they have not observed some Cognition Sagacity yea may I say Various Arts What do these Mechanics intend who do not only deprive Brutes of Cognition but also of Sense O absurdity contrary to common Experience Do we not daily see Brutes I mean the more perfect ones to receive Sounds in their Ears and thereby excited to Labour Meat Drink and divers Actions And who will deny that a Dog a Cat or an Ape do discern their Food by Smells And certainly this Hypothesis was not dreamt on when this Distic was made Nos Aper auditu Linx visu simia gustu Vultur odoratu praeceelit Aranea tactu That Brutes are Senseless and Inanimate things can no way be conceived how then could Spiders so Geometrically weave their Cobwebs and Bees so exactly form their Cellula's of an Hexagonic or Sexangular Figure How could Foxes by that craft and cunning catch Birds and deceive the Dogs that pursure them c. But that Brutes also have Immaterial Souls The Third Hypothesis then is that which seems to be most Genuine and Rational For if the Soul of Brutes be not Incorporeal the Soul of Man can never be proved to be Incorporeal for either all Conscious or Cogitative Beings are Incorporeal or else nothing can be evinced to be Incorporeal Those very things which we menrioned before to prove the Immateriality of the Soul of Man are apparently to be seen in Brutes as Activity Discoursive Faculty Uniformity Cogitation Cognition and Sagacity and the Actions we daily see performed by them seem more like the Actions of Rational Souls than of Dead and Senseless Matter as Doubting Resolving Inventing c. as is evident in Hawks Dogs Jaccals Foxes c. and then by the Docility of them and certain Continuate Actions of a long Tract of Time so orderly performed by them that they seem to argue Knowledge in them rather than to proceed from Brutish Matter Nay more in some Beasts there is Prescience of Future Events and Providences the Knowing of Things never seen before and such other Actions observed in some Living Creatures which seem to be even above the Reason that is in Man himself An Obje ∣ ction Neither indeed is the Objection of any consequence which our Adversaries would retort upon us That this Hypothesis supposeth also the Souls of Brutes to be Immortal which is a Notion dangerous and destructive say they to the Rules of Christianity To this I answer That there seems to be no great Reason why it should be thought absurd to grant Perpetuity of Duration to the Souls of Brutes any more than to every Atome of Matter or Particle of Dust in the whole World so that this Objection hath nothing of validity in it for they are Durable whether Corporeal or Incorporeal For Heaven and Earth and all the parts constituting the same will never be annihilated but metamorphized and changed And so the innumerable Company of Souls that were created by God may very well be supposed to survive their separation from the 〈…〉 which they actuate and so continue in a State of
Matter for if there be a Vacuum then undoubtedly there may be Extension without a Body and then Extension is no less congruous to Incorporeal than to Corporeal Beings These Corporealists are quite mistaken in the Notion of Space for by it we do not mean Superficies corporis ambientis The true Nature of Space as Aristotle feigned and whom Cartes seems to abett in his Princip Phil. Part. 2. Sect. 15. Nor as Cartes really expresseth Sect 11. a thing not really different from a Corporeal Substance but a real Entity distinct from all other Beings for Enâ— being the most General Genus is not so narrow as to admit of a Division but into two parts viz. Substance and Accident but the genuine Division of Enâ— is into Substance Mode Space and Time which two last are more general than the other and can no way be comprehended under either of them Having thus manifested the fallacy and invalidity of the fore-mentioned Objection I shall now proceed to the other which is That if the Soul be extended it is then divisible for say they if it be extended it is constituted of parts and whatsoever is so may be divided Now to suppose the Soul to be divisible is very Absurd and Irrational To this I also answer That by Extension I do not mean a rendering a Thing liable to actual division but a real amplitude of Essence Extension is not the Ratio formalis of Bodies Wherein the Nature of Extension doth consist but only as Dr. Glisson in his Book De Natura Substantiae Energetica saith An Accidental Property which belongs to all Substances both Material and Immaterial Besides I grant that Spirits are divisible Intelectually but Physically Indiscerpible for what is Intellectually divisible may be Physically Indiscerpible as it s manifest in the Nature of God whose very Idea implies indiscerpibility the contrary being so plain a Contradiction A Difâ—nction between Divisible and Discerpible and that the Soul is Mentally Divisible tho Actually Indiscerpible By Intellectual Divisibility I mean nothing but that Spirits being extended thro a divisibile Space with the Division of the Space there may be a Mental Division of the Spirits in it but Discerpibility is when a Thing may actually be seperated one part from another this is no way congruous to a Spirit So that a Spirit may be divisible altho Indiscerpible which may serve for a sufficient Solution to this Objection The Difficultes that attend the other Hypothesis are unanswerable That the Soul is not Totum in toto totum in qualibet parte Corporis as the Peripatetics assert If the Soul be not extended we must either suppose it to be Totum in Toto Totum in qualibet parte corporis The whole Soul in the whole Body and the whole Soul in every part of the Body as the Peripatetics imagine it to be Or else That it exists but in one particular Point and then virtually actuates the whole Body Which Supposals how contrary to Reason they are need not much Demonstration As for the First there is no contradiction I ever yet heard of can parallel it for it is as much as to say That One and a Thousand are one and the same number For we will suppose the Body to be constituted of a thousand parts which it may very easily be divided into and that if a whole Soul can be essentially in every one of these parts we must needs then suppose there to be a thousand whole Substances and how these thousand whole Substances should be but one whole Substance is not only inexplicable but irrational and inimaginable If the whole Soul that is every thing of the Soul be in the little finger who can possibly imagine any thing of it much less its total Substance to be in any other part of the Body unless they will also affirm That Spirits have a peculiar power of being present in many places at one and the same instant and so rob God of the Attribute of his Omnipresence making Spirits to participate of the same The next Supposition Tho an immediate consequence of the Non-Extension of Spirits for if they are not extended thro a Space Divisible they must needs be limited to an Indivisible Point is not much less absurd Neither is the Soul in an Indivisible Point for how then can it be united to the Body and as I said already how can it exert any action upon the Body They will say Perhaps it operates upon the Body virtually by causing a virtual Impulse upon the Organs of it but this virtue must be either something of the Essence of the Soul or something distinct from it If it be the Essence of the Soul communicated to the Body then its Extension is granted It s Extension hence undeniably demonstrated but if it be something distinct I answer Nill dat quod in se non habet Some of the Assertors of the Souls Existence in a Point are possessed with such merry Conceits of Spirits as to imagin that a thousand Souls can dance upon the point of a Needle at one and the same time See Dr. Move's Divine Dialogues p. 1. and have room enough to tread their Paces CHAP. VIII Of the Faculties of the Soul BY the Faculties of the Soul What the Faculties of the Soul are we are not to understand things really distinct from the Humane Soul nor each from other as the Aristoteleans would have the Understanding and Will to be but only different Modes and Ways of the Souls Operation specified by their Formal Objects and Acts. Thus as it forms Idea's and Notions of Things it may be termed the Understanding but as it is allured by the goodness of the Object and thence moves towards it it may be termed the Will How the Understanding and Will differ Gale's Philos Generalis The Understanding is conversant about its Object as true the Will about its Object as good As the Soul doth contemplate deliberate judge discourse and conclude it may be termed the Understanding but as it chooseth prosecutes or avoids an Object so it may be termed the Will Now the several distinct Modes of the Souls acting are commonly reduced to five Heads which make the same number of Faculties The Number of the Faculties and they are the Understanding the Will the Conscience the Affections and the Memory The Understanding is called by the Sacred Philosopher Prov. 20.27 The Candle of the Lord. This is it that governs the inferior Faculties The Understanding especially the Imagination and the Phantasie the Formal proper Object of the Intellect is Truth It s Formal Object Truth which as one very well asserts is congeneal and nearly allied to the Mind It hath Nine Intellectile Habits Opinion Experience Imitation Faith Sapience Intelligence Science Prudence and Art to which some adde Cognition which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Representamen of a Thing in the
Intellect The Will by Plato is defined The Will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Desire with right Reason or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Rational Appetite The Action of the Will is two-fold the one consists in effectu the other cum affectu from which Distinction that Common Distribution of Voluntary Humane Actions into Elicit and Imperate had its Origin the Object of the Will is Good The Object of the Will good and that which terminates and boundâ— its Appetite finally is the chiefeâ— Good and last End The Conscience no distinct Faculty The Conscience is a Reflexion of the Understanding upon Man's Actions together with a Sentencing them to be either Good or Evil according to those unquestionable Pinciples already received Dr. Ames or it is the judgment of man concerning himself as it is subjected to the Judgment of God So that properly the Conscience is no distinct Faculty from the Understanding this is that Prov. 22.27 Search that which is made by that Candle of the Lord in the lower parts of the Belly It is called a Judgment that thereby it may be distinguished from a naked Apprehension of the Truth for it always contains in it a firm consent and we do not take Judgment here for an Habitual only but also for an Actual Judgment The Affections not distinct from the Will The Affections also do not properly make a distinct Faculty from the Will the Voluntas in affectu or the ellicit root thereof God being the Object of the Will having many Kinds and Degrees according to the different manner of the Souls consideration of it it excites different Affections in the Will and first of all when any thing good or convenient or at least so apprehended by us to be is represented to us it presently excites in us the Passion or Affection of Love to it Cartes that we prosecute it with a desire that it may either be united to us or remain with us but on the contrary when any evil or noxious thing is exposed to us it immediately stimulates us to Hatred the opposite Affection to Love as it is an Affection of Union with present Good is often joyned Joy and to Hatred Sadness and when there is a full and perfect possession of this desired Good then there is pure Love and solid and sincere Rejoycing but when there is not a perfect Fruition of the thing beloved then Desire is joyned with Love and Sadness is mixed with Rejoycing Likewise with a desire of Absent good there is mixed Hope and Fear according to the probability of a good or evil Event Issue Effect or Consequence of the matter which Hope if it be very great is called Faith and Confidence but when small or no hope is mixed with abundance of fear it degenerates into those spurious Affections of Unbelief and Despair These Affections especially Love and Desire do vary and differ much according to the Opinion we have of the value of the Object for when the intrinsic or inward perfection and pulchritude of the Object is only look'd upon then there is a Love of Complacency and the Object is properly said to please to this is opposed an Aversion from an Object by the consideration of the contrary Imperfection and Deformity but when we consider of this Perfection as convenient for our selves and see it agreeable with our Nature How Love is caused its several kinds this Love of Complacency is turned into a Love of Concupiscence which is another Affection of the Soul and properly another kind of Love Again When the Lover hath a less esteem of the Object than of Himself there thence ariseth a simple Propension which is called Benevolence Thus we love a Flower or Bird c. When we love an Object equally with our selves thence springs Friendship and Charity and such is the Love of Parents to Children and Conjugal Relations one to another but when there is a higher Valuation of the Object than of our Selves as we all ought to have of God our Prince City Countrey Parents and Friends that are â—eminent in Vertue and Merits this kind of Love is called Devotion Among all the Affections and Passions of the Soul Love bears sway Love the chief Affection of the Soul for the several Affections of the Will are but various Forms and Shapes of Love which gives swift Wings and strong Legs to the Soul to pursue what it loves There is no Affection of the Soul but Love hath it at command the Will governs all inferiour Faculties of the Soul but she is governed by Love Plato makes Love to be the great Hero that governs the World so universal is its Empire and Dominions If the Object beloved be absent then Love fixes the Will with ardent desires after it if the Absence be attended with Difficulties or Affronts than Love goes forth by Anger and Fear to conflict therewith and Hope with Courage for the attaining the Object beloved If the Good be present then Love embraceth it with Complacence and Delight if lost then it bewails its loss with Sorrow and according to the Nature and Measure of the Love such will be the Nature and Measure of the other Affections that issue from it But we will say no more of the Affections The Memory The Memory is that Faculty of the Soul whereby it treasures up those things it hath received this is the Magazine of Notions it is the Souls grand Repository wherein it reconds its Riches and draws them forth according to Pleasure CHAP. IX Of the Parts of the Body HAving thus far considered Man in his more Sublime Superior and Coelestial Part we now descend to that Part which is Inferior and more Terrestrial viz. The Body And indeed it is not a Work much less difficult accurately to delineatâ— the Parts of the Body than to explicate the Nature of the Soul thâ— the manner of acquiring Knowledge in both these Parts is much different For the one is done by Profound Contemplation the other by Ocular Inspection the one by a Mental Notional Penetrateing into the Bowels of a Spirit the other by aâ— Actual and Manual Dissection of Bodies As for the Doctrine of the first which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pneumatology we have already handled it We come now to the Somatologio Part which is strictly called Anatomy Anatomy its Subject Anatomy then is a Science which hath the Body of any Animal for its Subject whether Terrestrial Volatile or Aquatile yet among the number of Animals the Body of Man is to be preferred both because of the Pefection of its Parts and because endless would be the Dissection of other Animals they being almost innumerable and likewise because of the incredible Conducement of Anatomizing Humane Bodies both for preserving and restoring the Health of Man But seeing the Bodies of Men defunct are not always at hand it hath been a Custom of Ancient standing even among the Learned to
Ears are called Tempora the Temples the superior part of the Face is called Frons The Inferior Parts are the Eyes the Nose the Ears and the Mouth in whch is contained the Tongue and other Parts The Pericranium and Periostium We shall begin with the Pars Capillata or hairy Part of this Venter the extern Membranes of this are two the Pericranium and the Periostium which encompass the Cranium The inward Membrances which enclose the Brain under the Cranium are the Dura Mater and the Pia Mater The Dura Mater and Pia Mater the Dura Mater oâ— Carssa Menynx divides the Cerebrum from the Cerebellum and the Brain into its right and left Parts and so constitutes four Sinus's oâ— Ventricles the receptacles of Blood and Spirits besides these four Sinus's there are three more one at the bottom of the Calx the other two lateral ones Their use is to receive the Arterial Blood The Ventricles of the Brain which is superfluous in the Nutrition of the Brain and the generation of Animal Spirits and from these proceeds that Blood that is evacuated at the Nostrils The outward part of the Brain is called Cortex the inward Medulla The Cortex is soft but of on Ash Colour which some think ariseth from the innumerable Veins there disseminated the Medulla is more hard and compact of a white Colour it hath two Parts the one Globose which hath three Cavities or Ventricles the other Oblong called Medulla Oblongata where is the fourth Ventricle in which the Animal Spirits are generated and here is the Origen of all the Nerves as this Part descends down to the Spine so it is called Medulla Spinalis The Motion of the Brain consisting of a Systole and Diastole The Brain is observed by some to have a Motion consisting of a Systole and Diastole in its Diastole or Dilatation it draws in the Vital Spirits with the Arterial Blood and Air thro the Nostrils In its Systole or Contraction it forceth the Animal Spirits therein elaborated into the Nerves The Cerebellum hath the same Substance Colour Motion and Use with the Cerebrum only it hath several circular Gyrations in an exact Order which the Cerebrum hath not it hath two Processes called Processus vermi-formes whose use is that the Calamus Scriptâ—rius being press'd by the Cerebellum might not be obstructed thereby The other Parts observed in the Brain are the Rete Mirabile the Glandula Pituitaria the Infundibulum the Corpus Callosum the Fornix the Plexus Choroides the Glandula Pinealis c. The Rete Mirabile or Plexus Retiformâ—s is at the Basis of the Cerebrum it consists of Carotid and Cervical Arteries brought up from the Heart to the Basis of the Brain and bring in them Blood and Vital Spirits to this Rete for the first preparation of the Animal Spirits The Glandula Pituitaria The Glandula Pituitaria is of a harder and more compaâ—â— Substance than other Glandules it receives the Excrements of the Brain thro the Infundibulum and throws them out upon the Palate The Infundibulum The Infundibulum is an Orbicular Cavity made of the Pia-mater it hath four little Channels saith Riolan which distil the flegmatic Serum thro their four Foramina or little Perforations it hath two Glandules or Protuberances of the Brain thro which the Infundibulum receives the Serum from the Ventricles they do also stop and impede the great Impulse of that Matter that is carried to the Infundibulum least it should thereby be too much dilated or broken The Corpus Callosum The Corpus Callosum is in the Medulla of the Brain where its Substance is harder and where the two anterior Ventricles make two Extuberances it is distinguisht by a thin lax and wrinkled Membrane called Septum Lucidum because when extended and exposed to the Light it is Pellucid the inferior white part of it where the two Ventrâ—â—â—â— are joyn'd together is of a triangular Figure Between the first Ventricle and the Fornix The Plexus Choroides is formed the Plexus Choroides its Contexture is of Veins and Arteries its use is the same with the Rete Mirabile The Glandula Pinealis its use The Glandula Pinealis is a Glandule of a conic Figure it is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conarion by others the Penis of the Brain its use is the same with that of the other Glandules but especially to distribute the Vessels of the Brain Cartes and his Followers imagined the Soul to reside in this part of the Brain Cartesius and his Followers Regius Hogelandus and Meyssonierius say that this Glandule being placed in the middle of the Ventricles which are always distended with Spirits doth receive the Motion of all Objects and the Soul being placed here doth by these Motions apprehend all sensible Species or rather external Idea's which proceed from the five Senses and as it were in the Center of them discerns them all and then by the help of this it sends the Spirits to the Nerves just as all things that are conspicuous in a large Field are in their Order represented in a little Spheric Looking-glass This therefore according to Cartes is the common Seat of Sense and Imagination but because many of the Cartesian Sentiments of the Soul contrary to our Hypothesis depend upon the verity of this Assertion I shall here take occasion to manifest the falsity of it For 1. This is too exile and obscure a Body to represent the Species of all things clearly Eight Reasons why it cannot be the Seat of the Soul for the Species of one thing would impede and hinder the Species of another it being of too small a Magnitude and therefore the Cartesians being conscious of this to make their Hypothesis more plausible make it a great deal bigger in their Cutts and Pictures than really it is 2. The Species of all the Senses cannot arrive hither because the Nerves do not touch this Glandule 3. It is situated in the place of Excrements where they are excern'd thro the third and the two anterior Ventricles and certainly here the Species would be greatly contaminated which Le Forge a Cartesian is forc'd to grant 4. There then would be a great Confusion of different Ideas in this Corpuscle for the Species must remain there otherwise there would be no Memory 5. There is no Duct or Passagâ— from this Glandule to the Nerveâ— neither any communion with the Nerves of the extern Senses 6. This Glandule is bigger iâ— those Animals which the Cartesiaâ— will have to be void of reason 7. It is sometimes found to bâ— full of Sand and little Stones without any hurt to the Reason sometimes it is black and infected how then can it be capable of performing such noble Operations 8. There was never any propeâ—… Motion seen in it but only violenâ—… either of the whole Brain its Concussion or some extern Flatulencieâ—… for it
of the Foetus striving to get out and another of the Vterus it self endeavouring to exclude the Foetus All things being thus arrived to a Mature State and the Matrix being near Delivery doth bear down groweth soft and openeth its Orifice the Waters also as they commonly call them are gathered that is a certain part of the Chorion in which the aforesaid Humour is contained doth usher in the Foetus and slide down from the Matrix into the Vagina or Sheath of the Womb and the Neighbouring Parts also are loosened and ready to distend and the Articulation of the Os Sacrum and the Share-bone to the Hanch-bone which Articulation is by Synchondrosis or a grisly Ligament is so softened and loosened that the aforesaid Bones do easily give way to the parting Infant and by gaping open do amplifie the whole Region of the Hypogastrium or lower Belly and when these things are in this condition it is certain the time of Birth is at hand As for the time when the Birth happens In what Month the Birth commonly happens altho it be regular in almost all other Animals yet in Women it is very enormous for sometimes it happens in the Seventh Month sometimes in the Ninth sometimes in the Tenth or Eleventh seldom in the Eighth if it does the Infant seldom lives the Cause of which Astrologers attribute to the unhappy Influx of Saturn which they say rules on the Eighth Month. The ordinary Computation of going with-Child observeth that time which our Blessed Saviour the Perfectest of all Men did fulfil in the Virgins Womb namely from the Day of Annunciation which is in March to the Blessed day of His Nativity which is celebrated in December and according to this Rule the Sager Matrons keeping their Account while they cast in the wonted day in every Month wherein they were accustomed to have their Purgations they are seldom out of their Reckoning but Ten Revolutions of the Moon being expired they are delivered and reap the fruit of their Womb upon that very day whereon were it not for their Pregnation their Purgations would ensue CHAP. XII Of the Sexes NAture or rather the God of Nature after the large and stately Theatre of this World was erected and perfectly finished began to contemplate what kind of Creatures might be best adapted to Act upon this lower stage and therefore Man being a Creature endued with Reason was chosen to be the Chiefest Actor and that the Comedy might be carried on with more Variety Nature the Disposer of it thought it requisite that the Persons whom she would cause to Act their several distinct and different Parts in various Scenes and several Circumstances might be discriminated one from another not only by the difference of their magnitudes complexions ages or physiognomies but also of their sexes and that they might not only be invested with different Apparel but that their Souls might be Cloathed with Bodies of different composures Thus She hath contrived that the Spectators might be pleased with the Varieties of Men and Women and that the Rules of Oeconomics in visible practice and the Actions of Lovers might be the better represented in their proper Scenes Here may be seen how the Diligent House-wife is busie in her Domestic Affairs while her Careful Husband is sedullous abroad in getting a supply Here also in another Scene we may behold how the Amorous Glances of an Atracting Beauty do Captivate the Affections of the Nobler Sex how a doteing Lover Courts his Mitriss while She at first requites him with nothing but Coyness and Aversness but at last being overcome with the restless and unwearied Expressions of his Love she breaks forth into a career of Love and professeth he hath won her Affections and elevated her Mind into such a passion that it is now impossible for her to restrain from breaking forth into the most ardent Raptures and pathetic Expressions of an undoubted Love now her former pretended Coyness is turned into amorous Embraces and her wonted seeming Aversness to the Caresses of entire Amity and modest Kisses become Badges to discover those flames of pure Love which she couched under the surface of an incensed Breast Strangeness is now turned into Familiarity small Acquaintance into Conjugal Society and former Separation into a close Union of two Minds and a mutual Enioyment one of another The Distinction of Man into two Sexes It being our business to consider Man in all manner of such like circumstances we shall here take occasion to exantlate something concerning the Sexes appropriated to Mankind and they are generally known under the Names of Male and Female The Male his Nature and Difference from the Female The Male on whose Masculine Soul Nature hath conferred a Body in Strength and Vigor almost adequate to it is of a hotter and drier Temperature than the Female for if we can give credence to our common Anatomists Whena Male and when a Female is generated the Seed whereof the Male is generated is of a hotter Nature than that whereof the Female because say they it descends out of the right Side from the Trunc of the Vena Cava while that which affords Matter for Generation of the Female proceeds out of the left Side from a branch of the Emulgent Their Native Heat invigorating their Bodies makes them robust and more fit for Labour and gives them a vehement Pulse and Respiration and causes in them a strong and Man like Voice exhales and dries up the relicts of Humidity which Nature cannot dispose of for Nutrition and leaves nothing at all superfluous and hence the abundance of Vapours which this insulting Heat causeth to be emitted thro the Pores of the Body some of them there at their very Exit thence are condensed by the Extern Ambient Cold and there remain in the Form of Hairs for which is very observable Nature hath given a Hair to every Pore unless those which are constituted in those places where by Attrition Mhey are continually worn off â—or their Generation impeded hence it is that Men are more Hairy than Women even in the whole Superfice of their Bodies these innate colorific Particles do by their agitating Virtue cause the Blood more briskly to ferment and circulate with more velocity they amplifie the Veins and other Vessels and make the whole Structure of the Muscles more compact and solid as for the influence this hath on the Soul or what different Operations it causeth in the Mental Faculties we may only take notice that they of this Sex have a more profound judgment than those of the other tho not so acute a Phansie their Wills are more stable and resolute tho they are so full of Affection The Female The Female the Character of whose generous Sex I know not how to delineate least by attempting it I should too much derogate from their Worth and Excellency is of a colder and moister Constitution yet of a more delicate and finer Contexture
debilitated and diminished hence the habit of Bodies is render'd fluxible and Man passes in a short time as it were out of one Crasis and Constitution of Body into another so that the space in which such like mutations as these are made is properly termed an Age â—iverius Or the true Notion of an Age is that space of Life in which by the action of the Native Heat upon the Primogenial Moisture the Constitution of the Body is manifestly changed The Division of the Ages of Man The Ages of Man not to divide them according to the Rules of Lawyers and Astrologers but as is most consistent to the Canons of Physic and most redounds to the use of Physicians are Four Pueritia Childhood Juventus Youth Consistens Aetas Middle-Age Senectus Old-Age Before I particularly handle each of these I will only take notice how Nature takes delight in her Quaternary changes The Constitutions of Men are distinguisht by Four Humours and Temperaments every Disease by its Four Parts the Beginning the Increment the State and the Declension A Year is divided by its four-fold Mutation into so many Quarters and the Ages of Man neither exceed not fall short of this number Pueritia or Child-hood Child-hood is from the Birth or very Exit of the Partus from the confining Cubicle of its Mothers Womb into the ample Pavilion of a capacious World to the 25th year of its Age. This Age is for the most part hot and moist it is again distributed into Four Parts the first is Infancy which is extended to the Fourth or according to others to the Seventh Year The Second Pueritia strictly so called to the Fourteenth The Third Pubertas to the Eighteenth The Fourth Adolescentia to the Twenty fifth The Character of an Infant When the feeble Infant first enters upon the Stage of this World how exactly doth it act the Part of a bewildred stranger and imitate some wandring Pilgrim arrived at some strange and unknown Haven or one that is banish'd out of a comfortable Region where he could indulge himself in what most of all delighted him into some exotic and destitute Countrey or like a Person very well cloathed who in an instant he knows not how is stript Naked and so exposed to the Eyes of them whom he never saw before Thus the Infant after its exclusion from the Womb looks on this side and on that side and in the mid'st of Friends sees no Friend and then by its Countenance seems to express or at least it is legible in its Face what Aristotle when among his Friends vocally pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Friends no Friend and because it cannot express its own Sentiments or manifest its wants in the unknown Language of that strange Land which it is now by force and compulse reduced to inhabit it begins to utter its Complaint in its own proper Tongue and bewails its forlorn Condition with Ehu's and such like deplorable Interjections but at last finding a necessity of its abiding here it endeavours to acquaint it self with the Modes and Fashions of the place wherein it is and to imitate their Customs and Practices it is pleas'd with Toys and Baubles and the Rattles of Infancy then arride it and thus he spends the two former parts of his Age in Folly and Vanity and truly the third little better but when he arrives at the Fourth which is Adolescentia he divests himself not only of the Swadling Cloaths of his Infancy but also of his Childhood Apparel and then puts on his Manly Gown he abjures the Trifles he so long retained and throws away all such silly Buffoonries and betakes himself to those things that have more Solidity in them Youth his Character The next Age to this is Youth which is Hot and somewhat Dryer than the Age before described now the Heat becomes Vigorous and Intense and precipitates the Blood adapted for Motion into a more than ordinary Fermentation it excites the Appetites to pursue the things they desire with a strange kind of Impetuosity and hurries them to satiate those Cravings and Concupiscible Appetites Now the Body is most robust and the vigorous Spirits are almost indefatigable now Passions are on every side ready to accost the Man and sometimes the violent Impulses excited in his Body make a great impression on his united Mind and cause such a strange influence upon his Soul that he finds it very difficult to abstract his Thoughts from those assaulting Representations injected into his extravagant or too inordinate Phantasie and thus the Mind doth too often consent to those Peccaminosities to which Youth is too much addicted And hence it is very requisite and becoming Youth for them to use a Bridle to all those unruly Passions that they fly not out into a career of those whch they think Heroic Pranks that their Juvenile Age is so inclinable unto or so far transcend their Sphere or exceed their Limits as to indulge themselves in such Hellish Debaucheries as always inhanse a future shame I do not conclude but Passions are lawful and where they are regular none can malign them the forbidden Object or the undue measure of the Passions themselves is that which makes them sinful for such is the Contexture of a Humane Body and such is the brisk fluctuating Motion of the Sanguine Liquor that Man is always disposed for one Passion or other For when an Object obviously presented to the Mind is apprehended by it to be of a Nature Evil and Noxious the Soul is thereby presently stimulated to the Passion of Hatred and thence excited to an ireful Revenge but when a pleasing and delectable Object is represented the Soul immediately caresses it Hence ariseth the Passion of Love the Body in the mean time finding a great Congruity between it self and the object beloved complies to embrace it and thus it is also in respect of the other passions of Youth This Age continues to the thirty first Year some will have it last to the Fortieth The Consistent Age. The Third is Aetas Consistens which begins where the other ends and continues to the Forty-fifth or Fiftieth Year it is called the Consistent Age because those that are in this age do seem to stay stop continue or consist in the same state for tho the strength in this Age doth begin something to be diminisht yet this mutation is not evident or perceptible in the habit or actions of the Body This Age is commonly cold and dry and hence more inclinable to Melancholy than any other Old Age. The last is Senectus or Old-age which continues to the very extremity of Life this is subdivided into three parts Prima Senectus from the Fiftieth Year to the Sixtieth Aetas Ingravescens from the Sixtieth Year to the Seventieth and Decrepitude from the Seventieth Year to the end of Life Now Man having past thro the Spring of his Infancy the Summer of his Youth and the