ever it is unclouded from corruption it shall beam forth most oriently as soon as it is let loose from this cage of clay it sings most melodiously nothing hinders a Christian from a sight of God face to face but the interposition of a grosse earthy body it is deaths office to break down this wall of separation that the soule may be admitted into the presence of God Secondly Then at that general day of refreshment when God shall sit upon his Throne in beauty and excellency as a centre of light streaming forth to the glorious circumference of the foure and twenty Elders that sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the 4. of the Revelation Face to face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is opposed to seeing in a glasse 1. As a more immediate vision 2. A clear and perfect vision 3. As a permanent and eternal vision 4. As the learned Piscator because those things which we see in a glasse are à tergo exceptâ facie corpore proprio In the words there is a plain allusion to that place in the 12. of Numbers the 8. where God promises to manifest himself to his servant Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint render it very agreeable to our purpose and that which is heâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in other places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Esay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is translated by St. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by our Apostle elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet we must not think that by vertue of this Promise Moses had so full and beatifical a vision of God as we expect hereafter in glory No it is spoken only of Gods communicating himself to him in a clearer way then he would to any of the Prophets he would speak to them in riddles to Jeremy in the riddle of an Almond-tree of a Seething pot and so to the rest of the Prophets I but he conversed familiarly with Moses as a man talks to his friend face to face And as for Moses his Petition in the 33. of Exod. the 18. I beseech thee shew me thy glory it was only a desire that God would shew himself in some corporeal resemblance so as to assure him of his presence that that would accompany him And this is Gods answer I will make all my goodnesse passe before thee Besides there is a plain denial God tells him he cannot see his face Moses saw no more of God then we do here the back-parts of his glory he saw them in a corporeal resemblance and we in an intellectual vision You see the allusion this place hath to that in Numbers Now as for the meaning of the words but then face to face 1. It is not meant of seeing Christ in his humane nature face to face as Job speaks With these very eyes I shall see my Redeemer for thus the wicked also shall see him with terrour and amazement when the mountains shall be esteemed an easler burthen if they could but cover them from the face of an angry Saviour that will frown them into hell 2. As for the errour of the Anthropomorphites it is so grosse as it neither deserves to be repeated nor needs to be confuted 3. I take it to be meant of an Intellectual beholding the very essence of God according to that 1 John 3. 2. When he shall appear we shall be like unto him and see him as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet it can by no means be a comprehensive vision for that 's a meer repugnancy that a finite ereature should grasp an infinite essence Or by the face of God may be meant his glory and perfections for the face is the throne of beauty In the following words St. Paul gives a plainer expression of that which before he had spoke more darkly Now I see through a glâ—sse darkly now I know in part but then face to face but then I shall know even as also I am known As when two see one another face to face the one knows the other by sight as he is known by him Now I know in part St. Paul on set purpose changes the person that he may acknowledge his own impersection He had included himself before Now WE see through a glasse darkly I but he will do it more apparently now I know in part and when so great an Apostle inculcates his own defects me thinks none should boast of their self-sufficiency 2. Now I KNOW in part Here is a reason of our imperfection here If the light that 's in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse Knowledge is a leading principle and all graces follow it in a just measure and proportion if we knew God more we should obey him more if we knew more of his goodnesse we should love him more if we knew more of his Majesty we should fear him more if more of his faithfulnesse we should trust him more nay if we knew him perfectly all these would be perfect when knowledge is compleat obedience will be exact 3. Now I know IN PART according to the Syriack parum de multo 1. Little of that I should know 2. Little of that I might know 3. Little of that others know 4. Little of that I desire to know 5. Little of that I shall know hereafter in glory 4. Now I KNOW in part 1. Religion is no fansie opinion or conjectural thing no we have a certain knowledge of God and his wayes here we see through a glasse though it be but darkly there is truth in a riddle though it be obscure 2. A Christian begins his acquaintance with God here he that knows him not in part here shall never see him face to face in glory We have here the first glimpses of heaven a prospect of Canaan the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of happinesse the initials of Glory But then I shall know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is bringing me better acquainted with a thing that I knew before a more exact viewing of an object that I saw before afarre off That little portion of knowledge which we had here shall be much improved our eye shall be raised to see the same things more strongly and clearly Our knowledge here was but scintilla futurae lucis When the soul shall say as the Queen of Sheba did to Solomon in 1 Kings 10. It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts and of thy wisdome howbeit I scarce believed the words until I came and mine eyes had seen it and behold the half was not tole me Happy are thy men O happy are these thy servants that stand continually before thee Even as also I am known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The words if they be put to it will endure a double Hebraisme I shall know as I am known 1. I shall know as I am approved
own bosome Return thee to thy Rest O my Soul Return to thine Arke O my Dove And look upon this Gospel-Plerophory as one of those great priviledges that were purchas'd for thee by a Saviour For 1. By this thy Soul thy darling 't is fully provided for for eternity Thy lot is falne to thee in a faire ground and thou hast a goodly heritage Could thy soul open its mouth any wider Could thy soul desire any more then this to be sure of being for ever compleatly happy What would the damn'd in hell give for a possibility of happinesse What would some wounded spirits give for good hopes and probabilities when as thou in the mean time hast an overflowing Plerophory What would the one give for a drop to coole their tongue What would the other give for a pure stream to wash their bleeding foules When as thou all the while art bathing in the fountain art sailing in the Ocean art swimming in the Rivers of pleasure Thine understanding may well rest satisfi'd for t' is sure to fixe its eye upon an eternal beauty upon the face of its God Thy will may rest it self in the embraces of its dearest object for 't is espoused to the fairest good and is sure to enjoy it with an indissoluble union Thy purer and more refined affections may sport themselves in the Sun-beams of heaven There may thy love warme and melt it self and there may thy joy dance and exult All that thou hast to do here below is this Thy Virgin-soul that is here assur'd and contracted must wait a while for the Nuptials for a full fruition of its God for a full consummation of its joy 2. This must needs sweeten all present conditions to thee Eat then thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God accepts thy person and smells a sweet odour in thy sacrifice Are there any pearles in the Gospel thou may'st lay claime to them Is there any balme in Gilead thou hast a share in it Are there any Gospel-priviledges thou know'st they are thine and are intended for thee Do's God bestow temporals upon thee thou know'st that he first dips them in love and sweetnesse Mount Gerizim is thy portion And how art thou above waves when as some are shipwrackt others are toss d and disquieted thou hast an happy protection in all thy wayes 1. Thou are secure against the srownes of the world for heaven smiles upon thee Thou may'st laugh at the false judging and esteems of men It may be the world brands I but the Spirit seales It may be the seed of the Serpent hisses I but the holy Ghost breaths What though thou beest fourty years in a Wildernesse Nay what though thou beest seventy years in Babylon Won't Canaan and won't the new Jerusalem make amends for all 2. Thou art secure in times of judgement As Job speaks of the Leviathan The sword of him that layes at him cannot hold the speare the dart nor the habergeon The arrow cannot make him flee darts are counted as stubble he laughs at the shaking of the spear Who is like him upon the earth one that is made without fear When God thunders upon the men of the world he speaks but in a still voice to thee he darts lightning flashes in their faces but he lists up the light of his countenance upon thee Judgements are intended for the sweeping away of Spiders webs not for the sweeping away of Gods own jewels Or if they be envolv'd in a common calamity yet how is it roll'd up in sweetnesse to them when as the other can taste nothing but gall and wormwood Their body may be toss'd a little in the world but their soul lies safe at Anchor 3. In the houre of death Thou know'st that providence then means only to break the shell that it may have the kernel Let them tremble at the knocking 's and approaches of death that know not what shall become of their precious soules Men who through the fear of death have been all theirlife-time subject unto bondage But thou may'st safely trample upon the Adder and play in the Cockatices den The Martyrs you know did thus when they embrac'd the flames and complemented with Lions and devour'd torments and came to them with an appetite Assurance of the love of God in Christ this and nothing but this pulls out the sting of death 'T is true that death has lost its sting in respect of all that are in Christ but yet such as know not that they are in Christ fear death still as if it had a sting Only an assured Christian triumphs over it O death where is â—hy sting 4. Assurance fills the soul with praise and thanksulnesse The reall presence of a mercy is not enough but there must be the appearance of a mercy and the sense of it before it fill thy heare with joy and thy mouth with praise A doubting Christian is like a bird entangled and in a snare the soul has not its comfort nor God has not his praise But an assur'd Christian is like a bird at liberty that flies aloft and sings most cheerfully It begins those Halelujahs in time that must last for ever It breaks out into the Psalmists language Blesse the Lord O my soul and all that is within me blesse hâ—s holy Name The fourth and last Observation which we propounded out of the Text was That the map to make our Eleation sure is first to make out Calling â—ute And this is sufficiently warranted from the just order and method of this Apostolical exhortation Make your Calling and Election sure First your Calling then your Election and by your Calling your Election Methodus Analytica best becoming creatures Many have handled this point at large I shall do it very briefly and I shall give you all that I intend to speak to it in these six particulars 1. Election in it self is secret and mysterious For 1. it is from eternity and so there was none could know it but God alone none could know Election but he that made an Election A Being that is spann'd by time cannot reach to what was done from everlasting You cannot imagine that Non-entity should listen and hear what was whisperd in the Secret Councel of Heaven Thou goest only by the clock of time but those decrees were written with an eternal Sun beam thou turnest up thy houre-glasse of time but these were measured by an infinite duration Was it possible that Esau not borne should see God frowning on him or that Jacob should perceive a smile Thou art as far from meriting Election as a Non entity and thou art as far from knowing it as a Non-entity 2 God has a minde to keep it secret and therefore he has set a seale upon it not only a seale of certainty but a seale of secrecy You know creatures themselves have their closet-determinations men have their thoughts under lock and key they have not windows into one anothers
The wings of the Cherubims are not weary with flying nor are the wheels of the soul weary with going the sparklings of the soul never vanish but every motion has immortality stampt upon it Spiritual Beings in all their motions are never weary nor out of breath But material Beings as they are dull and sluggish in their motion so they are faint and languishing The body that 's soon tyr'd And yet which is worth the observing only animate Beings are capable of wearinesse The Sun is not weary with shining but is alwayes ready like a Giant to run's race nor the fountain is not weary with flowing but the bird is presently weary with flying Only animate Beings are weary not by vertue of the soul but because the body can't keep peace with the soul Thus many times the string breaks when the Lutanist is not weary The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak The soul would fain be working when the body is not serviceable That which wearies the soul most is to be quencht in its motions to be dull'd by an earthy body by the interposition of that to be clouded to have its wings clipt so that 't was said of that noble Platonist Plotinus that he so liv'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was loath to be in the body as others were loath to be in prison as if he had cry'd out with the Apostle O who shall deliver me from this body of death And therefore the souls of just men made perfect that are set at full liberty they are never weary in their workings never weary of praising God never weary of singing Hallelujahs to him 3. Vast and comprehensive All beings they are within the souls Horizon What can't it graspe in its thought what can't it take in its eye It can take in the several drops of Being and it can take in much of the Ocean of Being I deny not but some men have such narrow and contracted souls as they can commerce with nothing but outward and drossy objects they can scarce have a wish thought minde only earthly things their Corne and their Wine and their Oile But this only shews their souls degenerated from their native perfection from their primitive glory For the soul of it self is more large and spacious and scornes to be bounded with material objects it self is a spirit and so it delights more in spirituals Nay it won't be bounded with reall objects it will set up Beings of its own Entia Rationis Reason's creatures such as the hand of Omnipotency never gave a reall Being to And then the desires of the soul how vast are these and comprehensive the soul can quickly open its mouth so wide as that the whole world can't fill it 4. Self-reflexive and independent upon the body And these indeed are the choicest and most precious workings of all the very flower and quintessence of an immortal soul When the soul shall sit judge upon its own actions when it shall become Speculum suiipsiâ—s view its own force bid the body farewell and even here become an Anima separata withdraw and retire it self to its Closet operations to its most reserv'd and Cabinet-counsels I could at large shew the excellency of these workings in several respects but that I must hasten 5. The workings of the soul are secret and undiscernable The creatures eye cannot pierce them Who knows the things of a man but the spirit of man that is in him The Devil can't tell the thoughts of men at most he has but a guesse and shrew'd conjecture unlesse they be such as are of his own casting in he has reason to know these for they are his own If men had â—enestrata pectora there were scarce any living in the world What mutual rage and envy and malice and heart-burnings would they then behold Yet lest men should abuse this priviledge and from hence take liberty to sin God often puts them in minde of this that he searches and sees the heart 't is his great prerogative and he is greater then the heart then the soul he knows all things This is the second particular the excellency of the souls Operations 3. The excellency of its Capacity Do but consider with your selves what a reasonable soul is capable of 'T is capable of the image of God The soul it has his superscription In the image of God made he him Now there 's little or nothing of Gods Image to be seen in the body for God is a Spirit and so stamps his Image upon the spirits of men And here indeed are some shadowings out of himself some faint and languishing representations of a Deity The soul 't is made in the Image of God and 't is capable of such stamps and impressions as God is pleas'd to put upon it 'T is endow'd with reason the apple of the souls eye 'T is capable of knowledge of learning of all the advancements and ennoblements of reason but what should I speak of these this will seem to some in the world no great matter as good be without them or it may be better in their fond esteem well then 't is capable of grace of glory sure they won't slight these too 'T is fit to be a companion of Angels to bear them company to all eternity Nay 't is capable of communion with God himself they are the friends of God The souls of men must make up a Church for him They are fit to be the Spouse of Christ 'T is the Apostles phrase That I might present you Virgin-souls unto Christ They are capable of such things as neither eye has seen nor ear heard nor e're enter'd into the heart of man to conceive the soul it self cannot conceive what great things a soul is capable of Though the workings of the soul were more vast and comprehensive then they are yet they can't reach them 4. The excellency of its Duration Do but think upon this a while how that it shall run a line parallel to all eternity The body indeed 't is soon resolv'd and crumbled into its first principles Dust thou art and to dust thou must returne But the soul returnes to God that gave it As it did not depend upon the body in some of its workings so neither does it depend upon it in its Being 'T is a very remarkable speech that of St John to Gaius I wish sayes he that thy body prosper even as thy soul prospers For most men in the world we might very well invert the wish we wish their souls prosper'd even as their bodies prosper But Saint John speaks it of a lively and vigorous Christian strong in the faith I wish thy body prosper even as thy soul prospers For many times you know in an aged and decay'd body you have a lively vigorous soul Old men are most famous for wisdome Nestor is for councel In a languishing and consum'd body you have many times a flourishing and well-complexion'd soul Men of the liveliest souls are
not alwayes of the strongest and goodliest bodies none of the longest lives Sometimes the soul is so acute as that it cuts the sheath of the body asunder Sometimes the Lutanist scrues up the strings so high as that they crack immediately Many times the soul is in the full when the body 's in the wane That which we usually call a lightning before death some think 't is but the souls finding of its former liberty that 's now to be loosen'd from the body to be enlarged and set out of prison and that makes it so chearful To be sure there are at least strong and pregnant probabilities of the souls immortality to a natural eye to a Philosophical eye with common light And they that tell us of the souls Mortality we may very well question what manner of souls they have to be sure as the Psalmist speaks They are become like the beasts that perish Others are so far in love with the souls immortality that they would have every soul immortal sensitive and vegetative souls But it shall suffice us that the souls of men are so and this is the fourth excellency of the souls of men the excellencie of their Duration And this is the first head of Arguments by which you see the preciousnesse of a soul from the several excellencies of the soul it self 2. If you would know the worth and preciousnesse of a soul Consider what value and esteem they put upon it that are best acquainted with the worth of it This is one of the wisest and surest wayes to know the worth of a thing to consider how they prize it that best know it See then how they value souls that know them best I. God himself the Creatour of souls 1. The Father of spirits He must needs know the worth of souls for he made them and he weighs the spirits of men he has often put them into the ballance and he knows the worth and weight of them Now see how he esteems them He has laid out his thoughts from everlasting for the bringing in of some souls to himself He has pickt them out as his Jewels The counsels and contrivances of heaven have been spent upon them Now do you think that God would lay out his thoughts upon them from everlasting unlesse they were very precious II. Jesus Christ the great Purchaser of souls he bought them and so must needs know the worth of them It was no ordinary price that he paid for them neither You were not ransom'd with corruptible things c. Now do you think that Jesus Christ would have laid down his own life spent his own precious blood for them except they had been very precious There 's nothing that does speak the worth and excellency of a soul then what was laid down for them to redeem them And these words in the Text are the words of him that bought souls the words of Jesus Christ himself the great Redeemer of souls he tells you that one soul is more worth then a world III. The Angles they are Spirits themselves and so are more acquainted with the nature of Spirits then we are See how they esteem them 1. The Good Angels what care do they take for souls They are ministering Spirits for the good of souls They pitch their Tents about them they have charge of souls they rejoyce at the conversion of a soul Heaven is alwayes full of joy brimfull of joy but it runs over with fresh joy when a soul is brought in to a Saviour 2. The Evil Angels those great Plunderers of souls those black and damned Potentates of Hell the Devils these know the worth of souls too well For 1. What variety of temptations have they for the beguiling of a soul How many thousand hooks and baits for the catching of a soul How many designes and stratagems for the ruining of a soul what ambushes and underminings for the undoing of a soul how does he spread abroad his nets and fill the world with snares for the entangling of a soul what serpentine windings and workings what depths and methods of deceit what flatteries and insinuations and all for the deluding of a soul 2. How does he rage when a soul is pluckt out of his paw The whole legion of them is in an uproar and commotion when they have lost one of their prisoners they look upon it as a great losse 3. How does he envy Jesus Christ the saving of one soul How does he think souls too precious for him If all the powers of darknesse could hinder it there should not be one soul translated out of their kingdome 4. How does he glory and triumph in the conquest of souls If hell were capable of joy it would have it then when souls are captivated by this Prince of darknesse These are his spolia ampla the goodly trophy's and monuments of his victory 5. How many factours and agents does he imploy to bring in souls to his kingdome how many are serviceable and instrumentall to him and how does he go up and down like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour Do you think he would take so much pains about souls if they were not worth it 6. In his formal Contracts he does not stand long a cheapning he 'l give them what they 'l aske he knows he can't outbid himself A soul is worth more he knows then he has to give for it 7. How does this torment him that he is in a chaine and can do no more hurt to souls that there is an hook in this Leviathan that he is restrain'd and limited so as that he cannot have his will of souls So that by all this you see the evil Angels the Devils know the worth of souls too well And this is the second head of Arguments by which you see the preciousnesse of souls c. 3. Arg. Because other things are precious in reference to the soul The worth of the soul puts a lustre upon other things 1. Precious Faith why is that so precious because 't is for the saving of a precious soul 't is such a radical and essential Grace We beleeve to the saving of the soul 2. Precious Promises why are they so precious because they are for the welfare of a precious soul Cordials to revive a fainting soul balme for the healing of a wounded soul restauratives for the recovery of a languishing soul 3. Precious Ordinances Why but because God does here in especial manner display himself and reveal himself to souls He gilds them with his own glorious presence they are the wells of salvation out of which souls must quench their thirst 4. Precious Ministers why such a lustre upon that Calling more then upon others why they so honourable but because they are more immediately conversant about souls The converting of souls that 's the crowne of the Ministery You are my Crown and my Joy sayes Paul to his converted Philippians No wonder then if contempt be pour'd out upon the
Creation and though we put all the letters and Characters of it together as well as we can yet we shall finde it hard enough to spell it out and read what it is for as it is in corporeal vision the too much approximation and vicinity of an object do's stop up and hinder sight so 't is also many times in Intellectual Opticks we see something better at a distance the soul cannot so easily see its own face nor so fully explain its own nature We need some Scholiast or Interpreter â—o comment upon our own beings and to acquaint us with our own Idiomes and I meet with many Authors that speak of the light of Nature but I can scarce finde one that tells us what it is Those famous and learned Triuâ—viri SELDEN that has made it his work to write De Jure Naturali and Grotius that has said somewhat of it in his book De Jure Belli Pacis and Salmasius that has toucht it in his late Treatise De Coma and in his little Dialogue subordinate to it in either of which if he had pleased he might have described it without a digression yet none of these as far as I can finde give us the least adumbration of it which notwithstanding was the rather to be expected from them because the Philosophers had left it in such a cloudy and obscured manner as if they had never seen Nature face to face but only through a glasse darkly and in a riddle And as we reade of a Painter that represented Nature appearing to Aristotle with a veile and mask upon her face so truly Aristotle himself painted her as he saw her with her veile on for he shews her only wrapt up and muffled in matter and forme whereas methinks he that could set Intelligences to the wheele to spin out time and motion should have allowed them also some natural ability for performing so famous a task and imployment which his head set them about And truly why Angelical beings should be banished from the Common-wealth of Nature nay why they should not properly belong to Physicks as well as other particular beings or why bodies only should engrosse and monopolizâ— natural Philosophy and why a soul cannot be admitted into it unlesse it bring a certificate and commendamus from the body is a thing altogether unaccountable unlesse it be resolved into a meer Arbitrary determination and a Philosophical kinde of Tyranny And yet Aristotles description of Nature has been held very sacred and some of the Schoolmen do even dote upon it Aquinas tells us in plain termes Deridendi sunt qui volunt Aristotelis definitionem corrigere The truth is I make no question but that Aristotles definition is very commensurate to what he meant by Nature but that he had the true and adaequate notion of Nature this I think Aquinas himself can scarce prove and I would fain have him to explain what it is for a thing innotescere lumine Naturae if Nature be only principium motûs quietis Yet Plutarch also in this point seems to compromise with Aristotle and after a good specious and hopeful Preface where he saies that he must needs tell us what Nature is after all this preparation he does most palpably restrain it to corporeal beings and then votes it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Empedocles as he is quoted by him will needs exercise his Poetry and make some Verses upon Nature and you would think at the first dash that they were in a good lofty straine for thus he sings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T was not of a mortal withering off-spring nor of a fading Genealogy but yet truly his Poetical raptures were not so high as to elevate him above a body for he presently sinks into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he falls down into matter and makes Nature nothing else but that which is ingenerable and incorruptible in material beings just as the Peripateticks speak of their materia prima But Plato who was more spiritual in his Philosophy chides some of his contemporaries and is extreamly displeased with them and that very justly for they were degenerated into a most stupid Atheisme and resolved all beings into one of these three Originals that they were either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were either the workmanship of Nature or of Fortune or of Art Now as for the first and chief corporeal beings they made them the productions of Nature that is say they they sprung from eternity into being by their ovvn impetus and by their ovvn vertue and efficacy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like so many natural automata they were the principles of their own being and motion and this they laid down for one of their axiomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Master-pieces of being the most lovely and beautiful pictures were drawn by Nature and Fortune and Art only could reach to some poor rudiments to some shadows and weaker imitations which you will be somewhat amazed at when you hear by and by what these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were The foundation of being that they said was Natural the mutation and disposing of being that they made the imployment of Fortune and then they said the work of Art was to finde out Laws and Morality and Religion and a Deity these were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they spake of before But that Divine Philosopher does most admirably discover the prodigious folly of this opinion and demonstrate the impossibility of it in that excellent discourse of his in his 10 De Legibus Where he does most clearly and convincingly shew that those things which they say were framed by Art were in duration infinitely before that which they call Nature that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that spirituals have the seniority of corporeals This he makes to appear by their 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for these three though they be not expressely mentioned in him yet they may very easily be collected from him Souls they move themselves and they move bodies too and therefore must needs be first in motion so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason and Religion Laws and Prudence must needs be before density and rarity before gravity levity before all conditions and dimensions of bodies And Laws and Religion they are indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the contrivances and productions of that eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wisdome of God himself So that all that Plato will allow to Nature amounts to no more then this that it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opifex rerum but only Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 famula ministra As the eyes of a servant wait upon his master and as the eyes of an handmaiden look up to her mistris so wait her eyes upon the Lord her God And he doth fully resolve and determine that God is the soul of the world and Nature but the body which must
so neere the fountain of light and continually drink in the beams of glory that are exactly conformable to their Creatour in all his motions for the same end he furnished and beautified this lower part of the world with intellectual lamps that should shine forth to the praise and honour of his name which totally have their dependance upon him both for their being and for their perpetual continuation of them in their being 'T was he that lighted up these lamps at first 't is he that drops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the golden oile into them Look then a while but upon the parentage and original of the soul of Reason you 'll presently perceive that it was the Candle of the Lord. And if you have a minde to believe Plato he 'll tell you such a feigned story as this That there were a goodly company of Lamps a multitude of Candles a set number of souls lighted up altogether and afterwards sent into bodies as into so many dark Lanthorns This stock and treasure of souls was reserved and cabinetted in I know not what Starres perhaps that they might the better calculate their own incarnation the time when they were to descend into bodies and when they came there they presently sunk into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they slipt into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he tearms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the putting off of knowledge for a while the clouding and burying of many sparkling and twinkling notions till by a waking reminiscence as by a joyful resurrection they rise out of their graves again Plato it seems lookt upon the body as the blot of nature invented for the defacing of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or at the best as an impertinent tedious parenthesis that checkt and interrupted the soul in her former notions that eclipsed and obscured her ancient glory which sprung from his ignorance of the resurrection for had he but known what a glory the body was capable of he would have entertained more honourable thoughts of it Yet Origen was much taken with this Platonical notion it being indeed a pretty piece of Philosophy for him to pick allegories out of And though he do a little vary from Plato in a circumstance or two yet in recompence of that he gives you this addition and enlargment that according to the carriage behavior of these naked spirits before they were embodied there were prepared answerable mansions for them That such a soul as had walkt with God acceptably was put into a fairer prison was clothed with an amiable and elegant body But that soul which had displeased and provoked its Creator was put into a darker dungeon into a more obscure and uncomely body That Candle which had shined clearly was honoured with a golden Candlestick that which had soiled its light was condemned to a dark Lanthorne one would think by this that Origen had scarce read Genesis he doth in this so contradict the Sacred History of the Creation Nor is this the just product of Plato's opinion but 't is pregnant with much more folly he returns him his own with usury gives him this as the just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and improvement of it Aquinas doth clash in pieces all these Platonical fictions in his two books Contra Gentiles yet upon this sinking and putrid foundation was built the tottering superstructure of connate Species For when Plato had laid down this Error for a maxime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the souls of men were long extant before they were born then that other phansie did presently step in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the soul was very speculative and contemplative before it was immerst in the body which made way for the next conceit that the soul brought many of its old notions along with it into the body many faithful attendants that would bear the soul company in her most withering condition when other more volatile and fugitive notions took wing to themselves and flew away many a precious pearl sunk to the bottome of Lethe but some reliques of notions floated upon the top of the waters and in the general Deluge of notions there was an Ark prepared for some select principles some precâ—pta Nouchidarum which were to increase and multiply and supply the wants of an intellectual world This makes the Platonists look upon the spirit of man as the Candle of the Lord for illuminating and irradiating of objects and darting more light upon them then it receives from them But Plato as he failed in corporeal vision whilest he thought that it was per extramissâ—onem radiorum So he did not ab errore suo recedere in his intellectual optioâ—â—but in the very same manner tells us that spiritual vision also is per emissionem radiorum And truly he might as well phansie such implanted Ideas such seeds of light in his external eye as such seminal principles in the eye of the minde Therefore Aristotle who did better clarifie both these kindes of visions pluckt these motes out of the sensitive eye and those beames out of the intellectual He did not antedate his own knowledge nor remember the several postures of his soul and the famous exploits of his minde before he was born but plainly profest that his understanding came naked into the world He shews you an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abrasa tabula a virgin-soul espousing it self to the body in a most entire affectionate and conjugal union and by the blessing of heaven upon this loving paire he did not doubt of a Notional off-spring posterity this makes him set open the windows of sense to welcome and entertain the first dawnings the early glimmerings of morning-light Clarum mane fenestras intrat Angustas extendit lumine rimas Many sparks and appearances fly from variety of objects to the understanding The minde that catches them all and cherishes them and blows them and thus the Candle of knowledge is lighted As he could perceive no connate colours no pictures or portraictures in his external eye so neither could he finde any signatures in his minde till some outward objects had made some impression upon his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soft and plyable understanding impartially prepared for every seal That this is the true method of knowledge he doth appeal to their own eyes to their own understandings do but analyse your own thoughts do but consult with your own breasts tell us whence it was that the light first sprang in upon you Had you such notions as these when you first peept into being at the first opening of the souls eye in the first exordium of infancy had you these connate Species in the cradle and were they rockt asleep with you or did you then meditate upon these principles Totum est majus parte Nihil potest esse non esse simul Ne're tell us that you wanted origanical dispositioÌ„s for you plainly have recourse to the sensitive powers and must needs subscribe to
this for a truth in all the branches of it but only represent the minde of the forementioned Author who himself doth acknowledge that the rise of these first principles is very Cryptical and mysterious His words are these Vos interea non morari debet quèd quomodo eliciantur istae notitiae communes nesciatis Satis supérque diximus vos nescire quomodo fiat gustus odoratus tactus c. By which you cannot but perceive that he makes the conformity of such a faculty with such an object the spring and original of common notions Yet this then had deserved a little clearing whence the difficulty of understanding spirituals pro hoc statu does arise if there be such a present and exact analogy between them whereas the intuitive knowledge of God and viewing those goodly notions that are steept in his essence uses to be reserved as a priviledge of a glorified creature Yet this I suppose may be said that herein is the souls imperfection that it cannot sufficiently attend both to spirituals and corporeals and therefore sense being so busie and importunate for the prosecution of her objects no wonder that these noëntical faculties do faint and languish So that if there be any whom the former discoursive way will not suffice it seems better for them to have recourse to an innate power of the soul that is fitted and fashioned for the receiving of spirituals quatenus spirituals then to flie to I know not what connate Species of I know not how long duration before the soul was acquainted with the body Yet that other noble Author of our own that has the same title of truth not without a competent mixture of error too doth choose to resolve all into a Platonical remembrance which yet that acute answerer of him doth shew to be a meer vanity for as for matters of fact to be sure they have no implanted Idea's And if historical knowledge may be acquired without them why then should discursive knowledge have such a dependence upon them And I wish that the Platonists would but once determine whether a blinde man be a competent judge of colours by vertue of his connate Species and whether by supply of these Idea's deaf man may have the true notion of musick and harmony if not then they must ingeniously confesse that the soul for the present wants so much of light as it wants of the window of sense But if they tell us that some outward objects must jogge and waken these drowsie and slumbring notions they then lay the foundation in sensitives and withal let them shew us why the generality of men in their intellectuals are not equally improved whereas they have the same objects to quicken and enflame them in the mean time we will look upon the understanding as speculum non coloratum a glasse not prejudic'd nor prepossest with any connate tinctures but nakedly receiving and faithfully returning all such colours as fall upon it Yet the Platonists in this were commendable that they lookt upon the spirit of a man as the Candle of the Lord though they were deceived in the time when 't was lighted Nor is this Candle lighted out of the Essence of God himself 't were a farre more tolerable errour to make the light of a Candle a piece of the Sun's essence then to think that this intellectual lamp is a particle of the divine nature There is but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I mean the wonderful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a Candle but a Sun that shined from everlasting But I finde the Stoicks challeng'd for this errour that they thought there was a real emanation and traduction of the soul out of God Ex ipsa Dei substantia and the Gnosticks the Maniche's and Priscillianists are lookt upon as their successors in this folly Now as for the Stoicks you 'll scarce finde evidence enough to prove them guilty of this opinion They have indeed some doting and venturing expressions when they amplifie and dignifie the nobility of the soul and will needs have some of the royal blood to run in every veine and faculty of it nor are the Platonists defective in this but lift up the soul to as high a pitch of perfection as the Stoicks ever did yet surely both of them but as a limited and dependant being infinitely remote from the fulnesse of a Deity Yet Simplicius in his Comment upon the grand Stoick Epictetus tells us that that Sect of Philosophers were wont to call the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pars vel membrum Dei which is a grosse and corporeal conceit not at all agreeable to the indivisibility of spirituals nor suitable with the souls immateriality much lesse consistent with the transcendent purity of God himself But the learned Salmasius in his Animadversions on both the forementioned Authors though he spend paper enough in clearing some passages of the Academicks Peripateticks and Stoicks concerning the nature of the soul yet doth not in the least measure take notice of any such heterodox tenent among the Stoicks yet if there had been any such they had very well deserved Animadversions but he doth thus represent their Philosophy to you That whereas the soul is usually lookt upon as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being brancht out into the Vegetative Sensitive and Rational the Stoicks they chose to make it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would have septem partes ancillantes Imperatricem unicam which they reckoned thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were five then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet as Plato and Aristotle disposing the soul into three several ranks and distributions would by no means allow of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a triplicity of souls in one compositum So neither would the Stoicks admit any plurality of souls but esteemed these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non membra sed ingenia as Tertullian terms them very significantly stiling the powers and faculties of the soul the several wits of the soul so that it was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlarging it self to the capacity and exigency of the body but in such a manner as that 't was dispensata potiùs quà m concisa The principal and Hegemonical power of the soul the Stoicks situated in the heart as Aristotle did though very erroneously yet Plato had taught him better for he plac'd it in the brain as the proper tabernacle for reason to dwell in But amongst the Stoicks there are some expressions that seem to depresse degrade the soul as much as others seem to advance and exalt it for though some call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet others and among the rest Zeno the great founder of that Sect tearms it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which that stupid Author of the souls mortality finding somewhere translated into English catches at
and tells us that the Stoicks hold the soul to be a certain blast hot and fiery or the vital spirit of the blood whereas at the most they did only choose that corporeal spirit as Vehiculum animae a Chariot for a more triumphant spirit to ride in the principal seate of the soul which they did so much extol and deifie 'T is abundantly clear that their Stoical Philosophy was more refined and clarified more sublime and extracted from matter then to resolve the quintessence of a rational nature into I know not what muddy and feculent spirit this they could not do if they would be faithful and constant to their own principles Nay they were so farre from thus vilifying the soul and detracting from it as that they were rather excessive and hyperbolical in praising it above the sphere of a creature Thus that known Stoick Epictetus calls the soul of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Seneca renders liber animus est Diis cognatus and Arrian in his Comment upon the forementioned Author doth thus diffuse and amplifie it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. There is connexion and coherence of souls with a Deity there are mutual touches and embraces between them they are some delibations and participations of himself thus that famous Emperour M. Antoninus that had tasted of the Stoical Philosophy styles the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where at the first one would think he had meant it in an Averroistical sense but that he himself doth prevent the interpretation by telling you that he intends nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which therefore he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that he knew the soul was separable from the body and Pythagoras long before him had called it by the same name in his golden verses But amongst all the rest Seneca is the most high and lofty in magnifying and very neer deifying of the soul for thus you may hear him speak Quid aliud vocas animum quà m Deum in humano corpore hospitantem That is What lesse title can you give the soul then that of a God condescending to dwell in an house of clay which is too neere that of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God manifestested in the flesh Nor yet was this any unwary passage that slipt from Seneca's pen on the sudden but he will stand to it and repeat it for thus he saith again Ratio nil aliud est quà m in corpus humanum pars Divini spiritûs mersa Reason 't is somewhat of a Deity steept in a body From this last speech that learned and eminent writer of our own doth endeavour to evince that Seneca made God the Intellectus Agens of the soul whereas 't is very evident that this Philosopher only prosecuted that Stoical notion of the soul being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a branch of a Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet notwithstanding all these strains of Stoical Philosophy do not sufficiently declare that they thought the soul to be of the very same essence with God himself but only that they perceived much similitude between the soul and a Deity many bright resemblances of God stampt upon it which is not only sound Philosophy but good Divinity too that the soul was made according to the image of its Creatour Thus they made it not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too even the breath of a Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stampt with the Seal of God himself as Philo speaks 'T was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Damascen calls it very agreeable to this of Solomon the Candle of the Lord. 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Greg. Nyss has it the Poeme of God himself That whereas other creatures were as it were writ in Prose the souls of men were composed more harmoniously in more exact number and measure No wonder then that the Stoicks spying out such spiritual workmanship and embroydery in the soul of man did esteem it as an inferiour kinde of Deity a Bud and Blossome of Divinity as they meant by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so likewise when they call the soul To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they need intend no more then the Pythagoreans do by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that divine vertue and efficacy which the soul has that makes it look so like its Creatour Thus the Pythagoreans were wont to call the higher region of the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the lower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not understanding by the first any particle of a Deity though it may be by the last they might understand the soul of a beast by vertue of their supposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I meet with none that doth so punctually and accuratly determine this as Trismegistus does who speaks so exactly as if he had spyed out this difficulty and objection his words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soul saies he was not framed and carv'd out of the essence of a Deity but it rather sprung from the dilatation and diffusion of his power and goodnesse as beams do from the Sun when it spreads forth its quickening and cherishing wings Yet when you hear the creatures often stiled beams of a Deity and drops of a Deity you must neither imagine that there is the least division or diminution or variation in the most immutable essence of God nor that the creature does partake the very essence of the Creatour but that it hath somewhat of his workmanship obvious and visible in it and according to the degree of its being doth give fainter or brighter resemblances of its Creatour As suppose an accurate Painter should bestow much of his skill in drawing a lively portraicture of himself you would not think such a picture a piece of his essence but you would look upon it only as the fruit and product of his skil and as a witty imitation of himself Now there is a far greater disproportion between God and any created being then between the face and the picture of it So that if you see any heavenly beauty any divine lineaments sparkling in the soul you may presently conclude that it was digitus Dei nay the hand of God that drew them there as the shadowy representations of his own most glorious being 'T is the greatest honour that a creature is capable of to be the picture of its Creatour You know the very formality of creation doth speak a being raised ex nihilo creation being the production of somthing out of the barren womb of nothing and if the creature must be ex nullo praeexistente then to be sure 't is not extracted out of the essence of God himself But the whole generality of the ancient Heathen Philosophers had a vaile upon their face here they had not a clear and open sight of the creation but only some obscure and imperfect notions about it which made them think that all corporeals were
made ex aliqua praejacente materia coexistent with the prime and supreme efficient and because they could not fetch spirituals out of materials nor yet conceive that they should be fetcht out of nothing this made them determine that they sprung out of the essence of God himself who as a voluntary fountain could bubble them forth when he pleased who as a father of lights could sparkle and kindle them when he thought best But that fiction of materia ab aeterno will do them no service at all for either 't was produced by God himself then it was created ex nihilo for God himself was a pure immaterial Spirit and therefore must make matter where none was before or else it was an Independent eternal being which makes it another Deity and that involves a flat repugnancy Therefore as corporeal and material beings were raised out of nothing by the infinite vigour and power of God himself so he can with the very same facility produce spiritual beings out of nothing too Can he not as well light this Lamp out of nothing as build the goodly fabrick of the world out of nothing Cannot a creating breath make a soul as well as a creating word make a world He that can create the shell of corporeals cannot he as well create the kernel of spirituals He that created a visible Sun cannot he as well create an invisible an intellectual spark You may hear Aquinas disputing against the Gentiles most fully and strongly demonstrating that God could not be either the materia or forma of any created being for it s not imaginable how the Creator himself should ingredi essentiam creaturae But his causality is by way of efficiency producing maintaining beings the best of creatures are but vasa figuli Now a vessel though a vessel of honour yet it is no piece of the Potters essence but only the subject of his power and will One and the same Seal may print all the Wax that 's possible yet there will not be the least mutation in the Seal but only in the Wax nor yet doth the Wax at all participate of the seals essence but only receives a stamp and signature made upon it So that the Seal was as entire and compleat before it had imprinted the Wax as it was afterwards and though all the signatures of the Wax were defaced and obliterated yet the Seal would be as perfect as before Thus God though he leaves prints of himself upon all the souls in the world nay upon all the beings in the world yet these impressions are not particles of himself nor do they make the least mutation in him only in the creature for he was as full and perfect before he had printed any one creature and if the whole impression of creatures were annihilated yet his essence were the same and he could print more when he pleased and as many as he pleased Yet all the entity goodnesse and reality that is to be found in the creature was totally derived from him and is transcendently treasured up in him as the print of the wax though it be really different from the print of the Seal yet that very stamp and signature had its being from the Seal 't was vertually and originally in the Seal and now gives some resemblance of it All created goodnesse was à Deo producta à Deo exemplata as the Schools speak though not very elegantly 'T is à Deo conservata in Deum ordinata yet all this while 't was nothing of the essence of a Deity and indeed it cannot have any of his essence unlesse it have all of it He that calls the creature a drop in such a sense may as well call it a fountain he that thus termes it a ray of Divinity may as well call it a Sun for there are no particles in essentials All essence 't is indivisible how much more the essence of God himself How fond is the fancy of a semi-Deity away with the Stoicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here if this be the meaning of them who ever heard of fragments in spirituals Dares therefore any absolutely deifie the soul or make it coëssential or coëqual with God himself Is not the soul a limited and restrained being short and imperfect in its operations a dependent and precarious being and are these things agreeable to a Deity Is not the soul naturally united to the body for the quickening and enforming of it and is that a condition fit for a Deity nay are not many souls guilty defiled miserable beings and are they all this while spangles of a Deity They must have very low and dishonourable thoughts of God that make any creature partner or sharer with him in his essence and they must have high and swelling thoughts of the creature How proud is that soul that aspires to be a God Is it not enough for a soul to approach unto his God to see his face to enjoy his presence to be like unto him to be knit unto him in love and affection Happinesse doth advance a creature to his just perfection but it doth not lift it above the sphere of its being A glorified being is still a subservient and finite being A soul when in its full brightnesse yet still is but the Candle of the Lord let it come as neer as it can yet it will be infinitely distant from him Heaven it doth not mix and blend essences together but keeps them all in their just beauty and proportions so that take a creature in what condition you will and 't is not the least particle of a Deity There 's another Errour but it 's scarce worth mentioning of some that would have the Candle of the Lord lighted up by Angels as if they had created the soul Nay the Carpocratians thought that all the rest of the world was created by them But as no secondary being could create it self so neither can it create any other being 'T was no Angelical breath but the breath of a Deity that gave life to the soul and 't was not made after the image of an Angel but of God himself Angels and souls both came from the same Almighty Father of spirits from the same glorious Father of lights who shewed the greatnesse of his power in raising such goodly beings not out of himself but out of nothing Whether ever since the first Creation the souls of men be lighted on the same manner immediately by God himself by that commanding and efficacious word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let there be light let there be an intellectual Lamp set up in such a creature or whether it be lighted by the parents whether one soul can light another whether one and the same soul may be lighted by two as a candle is lighted by two These are the several branches of that great question which hath been frequently vext and discussed but scarce ever quieted and determined The Divines favour the way of creation
the Physicians that of traduction Nay Galen tells in plain termes that the soul is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meere temper or complexion the right tuning of the body which is not farre distant from the Fidlers opinion that Tully speaks of that would needs have the soul to be an harmony His soul that plaid him some lessons and his body danc'd to them And indeed some of the Physicians are as loath as he was ab arte sua discedere and therefore they do embody the soul as much as they can that their skill may extend to the happinesse and welfare of it as if they could feel the pulse of the soul and try experiments upon the spirits as if they could soften and compose the Paroxysme of the minde and cure all the Languors and distempers of the soul as if their drugs would work upon immaterial beings as if they could kill souls as fast as they can kill bodies as if the Candle of the Lord did depend upon these Prolongers as though the Lamp would go out unlesse they pour in some of their oile into it No doubt but there is a mutual communion and intercourse between this friendly and espowsed paire the soul and body no doubt but there is a loving sympathy and fellow-feeling of one anothers conditions but 't is not so strong and powerful as that they must both live and die together Yet I speak not this as though the maintaining of the souls traduction did necessarily prejudice the immortality of it for I know there are many learned Doctors amongst them and Seneca amongst the rest that are for the souls beginning in a way of generation and yet do detest and abominate the least thoughts of its corruption Nay some sacred writers contend for the souls traduction who yet never questioned the perpetuity of it not only the African father Tertullian but most of the Western Churches also and the opinion of Apollinaris and Nemesius that one spiritual being might propagate another I have not yet found sufficiently disprov'd though it be generally reprehended The truth is the original of all formes 't is in profundo 't is very latent and mysterious yet the Naturalists must needs acknowledge thus much that the matter and forme of every thing must have at least an incompleat being before generation for by that they do not receive any new absolute entity for then it would be a creation but the parts are only collected and disposed and united by a strict Gordian knot by an inward continuity So that in all such production the materia oritur ex materia forma ex forma generantis and thus formes are continued according to that degree of being which they had in the first Creation Now why there should not be such a traditio Lampadis in the souls of men will not easily be shewn the nobility and purity of the soul doth not at all hinder this for there is a proportionable eminency in the soul that doth produce it One soul prints another with the same stamp of immortality that it self had engraven upon it But if any question how an immaterial being can be conveighed in such a seminal way let him but shew us the manner by which 't is united to the body and we will as easily tell him how it entered into it Yet Hierome was so zealous against this that he pronounceth a present Anathema to all such as shall hold the soul to be ex traduce But Austin was a great deale more calme and pacate Nay indeed he was in this point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a kinde of equipoise and neutrality and therefore with a gentle breath he did labour to fanne and coole the heat of Hieromes opinion and putting on all mildnesse and moderation plainly confesses Se neque legendo neque or ando neque ratiocinando invenire potuisse quomodo cum Creatione animarum peccatum originale defendatur It seems he could not solve all those difficulties which the Pelagians raised against original sin unlesse he held the traduction of the soul He could not perceive how the Candle should be so soyld if it were lighted only by a pure Sun-beame fetcht from heaven Yet that knot which so skilful and laborious a hand could not unty some others have easily cut asunder and indeed there is no such cogency and prevalency in that argument as can justly promise it self the victory For the Schoolmen that are strong assertors of the souls creation do satisfie all such doubts as these And the major part of modern writers do encline to this that these Lamps are lighted by God himself though some indeed do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will determine nothing as the acute Pemble does among the rest in his little Tractate De Origine Formarum and so doth that learned Knight in his late discourse of the soul where he doth only drop one brief passage that countenances the souls traduction upon which he that pretends to answer him takes occasion to huddle up no lesse then twenty Arguments against it which sure he should by number and not by weight But that Oxford answerer of that Brutish Pamphlet of The Souls Mortality doth more solidly and deliberately handle the question yet being very vehement and intense for the souls Creation he slips into this error that the traduction of the soul is inconsistent with the immortality of it But it may be you had rather hear the votes and suffrages of those ancient heathen writers that had nothing to see by but the Candle of the Lord perhaps you would willingly know what their souls thought of themselves You 'll believe nature the universal mother if she tell you who is the father of spirits Wee 'll begin with Pythagoras and he tells you his minde freely and fully whilest he gives you that piece of leafe-gold in one of his Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aratus is in the very same streine and was honoured so farre as to be quoted by an Apostle for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if these seeme somewhat more generally not exactly pointing out at the soul the Caldy Oracle will speak more punctually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of spirits by his thought and word by his commanding breath did kindle this Lamp of the soul for the quickening and illuminating of such a noble creature Zoroaster pouers it out more at large and does thus dilate and amplifie it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O soul saies he why do'st thou not aspire and mount up to the centre and light of glory to that fountain of beams and brightnesse from whence thou wert derived and sent down into the world cloath'd and apparell'd with such rich and sparkling indowments The consideration of this made the Divine Trismegist break into that pang of admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what womb saith he is fit to bear a soul who is fit to be the father of the soul what breast is able to nourish a
his enim in Naturis nihil inest quod memoriae vim mentis cogitationis habeat quod preterita teneat futura praevideat complecti possit praesentia quae sola divina sunt nec evincetur unquam unde ad hominem venire possunt nisi à Deo singular is igitur quaedam est natur a atque vis animi sejuncta ab his usitatis notisque naturis it a quicquid est illud quod sentit quod serpit quod vult quod viget coeleste divinum est ob eam rem aeternum sit necesse est which I shall thus render 'T is in vain to look for the souls parentage upon earth for there is no mixing and blending of spirituals with corporeals the earth doth not contribute for the fixing and consolidating of them 't is no aëry puff will suffice for the swiftnesse and nimblenesse of their motion no drops of water will quench their thirst and longings they have a purer light and heat then could ever be fetcht from an elementary spark in those humble and sordid beings there 's nothing fit to represent much lesse to produce the clasping and retentive power of memory the masculine and vigorous working of the minde the refined and comprehensive vertue of those thoughts that can recall and look back to things past that can interpret and comment upon all present objects and with a Prophetical glance can spy out futurities and possibilities which are works not unworthy of a Deity nor can it e're be shewn that such rare priviledges should be communicated to humane nature any other way then by the immediate bounty and indulgence of heaven there being such singular and inimitable idioms in the minde of man as could neverbe extracted from those ordinary and vulgar entities Though a sensitive soul may creep upon the ground though it may roll and tumble it self in the dust yet an intellectual being scornes to look lower then heaven it self and though it be dated in time yet it means to live as long as eternity The Poets had veiled and mufled up the same opinion in their mythology whiles they tell us that Prometheus which is all one with providence did work and fashion the bodies of men out of clay but he was fain to steal fire from heaven for the quickening and enlivening them with souls which made the Prince of Poets sing Igneus est ollis vigor Coelestis origo and Ovid supplies him with a short verse Sedibus aetheris Spiritus ille venit How often do you meet with this in Homer that God is the Father of spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of Angelical beings and of the souls of men which Virgil renders hominum Sator atque deorum Yet all this while I know not whether you can I am sure I cannot sufficiently perceive that the generality of the Heathen did think that every soul was immediately created by God himself but only that at the first there was bestowed more then ordinary workmanship upon them which they knew principally by those generous motions which they found working in their own souls and partly by some reliques of Mosaical History that was scatter'd amongst them Thus then I have represented unto you as indifferently as I can the state of this great controversie and though I could easily tell you which part I do most easily encline to yet I shall rather refer it to your own thoughts with this intimation that a modest hesitancy may be very lawful here for if you will believe Gregory the Great he tells you it's a question which cannot be determined in this life However 't is enough for us that the spirit of a man either by vertue of its constant creation or by vertue of its first creation is the candle of the Lord. As the soul is the shadow of a Deity so reason also is a weak and faint resemblance of God himself whom therefore that learned Emperour M. Antoninus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is God that plants reason 't is he that waters it 't is he that gives it an increase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belongs to Christ himself in whom are hid the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Reason first danc'd and triumpht in those eternal Sun-beams in the thoughts of God himself who is the fountain and original of Reason And as his will is the rule of goodnesse so his understanding is the rule of Reason For God himself is a most knowing and intellectual being he is the first mover of entity and does determinatè tendere in aliquem â—inem which speaks an intelligent agent he does propound most choice designes and blessed ends to himself and is not that a work of Reason he does contrive and dispose and order means for accomplishing of them and doth not that require understanding He makes all beings instrumental and subordinate to him he moves all inferiour wheels in a regular manner he moves all the spheres of second causes in a harmonical way such blinde entities as want intellectual eyes he himself doth lead them and conduct them and to others he gives an eye for their guidance and direction Now he that hath fram'd an intellectual eye shall not he see he that hath cloathed the soul with light as with a garment shall not he much more be cloathed himself with a fuller and purer brightnesse In that which we esteem reason amongst men there are many clouds and blemishes many dark spots and wrinkles that are scattered and conquered by this more glorious light The soul 't is fain to climb up and ascend to knowledge by several steps and gradations but his understanding is all at the same height and eminency Mans reason is fain to spend time in knitting a proposition in spinning out a Syllogisme in weaving a demonstration but he is infinitely beyond and above these first draughts and rudiments of knowledge he sees all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the first opening of his eye from everlasting with one intellectual glance he pierceth into the whole depth of Entity into all the dimensions of being Mans understanding is fain to borrow a Species from the object which presents to the minde the picture and portraicture of it self and strikes the intellectual eye with a colour suitable and proportionable to it But the divine understanding never receives the least tincture from an object no species ab extra but views all things in the pure Crystal of his own essence he does not at all see himself in the glasse of the creatures as we see him but he sees creatures in the glasse of his own being how else should he see them from everlasting before they were extant before they were visible by any Species of their own God therefore doth primarily and principally look upon himself for he is nobilissimum intelligibile he cannot have a more beautiful and satisfying object to look upon then his own face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Candle of the Lord when it was first lighted up before there was any thief in it even then it had but a limited and restrained light God said unto it Thus farre shall thy Light go Hither shalt thou shine and no farther Adam in innocency was not to crown himself with his own sparks God never intended that a creature should rest satisfied with its own candle-light but that it should run to the fountain of light and sunne it self in the presence of its God What a poor happinesse had it been for a man only to have enjoyed his own Lamp Could this ever have been a beatifical vision Could this light ever have made a heaven fit for a soul to dwell in The sparkling Seraphims and glittering Cherubims if it were possible that the face of God should be eclipsed from them that they should have no light but that which shines from their own essences Blacknesse and darknesse and gloominesse a totall and fatal Eclipse a present and perpetual night would rush in upon them if the heaven were fuller of Stars then it is and if this lower part of the world were adorned and illuminated with as many Lamps as 't is capable of yet would they never be able to supply the absence of one Sun Their united light would not amount to so much as to make up one day or one moment of a day Let Angels and men contribute as much light as they can let them knit and concentricate their beams yet neither Angelical Star-light nor the sons of men with their Lamps and Torches could ever make up the least shadow of glory the least appearance of heaven the least fringe of happinesse Lucifer that needs would be an Independent light that would shine with his own beams you know that he presently sunk and fell into perpetual darknesse And Adams Candle aspiring to be a Sun has burnt the dimmer ever since God taking notice of it and spying him in the dust Lo saies he here lies the spark that would needs become a God There lies the glow-worm that would needs become a Sun Man is become like one of us yet notwithstanding Adams light at first was a pure light till he had soild it 't was a Virgin-light till he had deflower'd it The breath that God breath'd into him was very precious and fragrant till he had corrupted it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit of Adam if we should render the words so 't was in a special manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucerna Domini when God raised this goodly structure of man out of nothing he built it most compleatly and proportionably he left it in statu integro perfecto for you cannot imagine that any obliquity or irregularity should come from so accurate an hand as his was when God printed the whole creation there were no errata to be found no blots at all Every letter was faire and lovely though some first and capital letters were flourisht more artificially then others Other inferiour creatures would serve like so many consonants but men were the vowels or rather the diphthongs to praise him both in soul and body When God first tun'd the whole creation every string every creature praised him but man was the sweetest and loudest of the rest so that when that string apostatized and fell from its first tuning it set the whole creation a jarring When God first planted the soul of man it was the garden of God himself his spiritual Eden he lov'd to walk in it 't was full of the fairest and choicest flowers of the most precious and delicious fruits 't was water'd with all the fresh springs of heavenly influence No weeds nor briers nor thornes to be found there The understanding that tree of knowledge was very tall and stately and reaching up to heaven There was in man a cognitio plena lucida as the Schoolmen speak clara fixa contemplatio intelligibilium The eye of the soul 't was quick and clear 't was strong and fixt God tried it by himself by a Sun-beam and found it genuine How presently did Adam by this spy out the stamps and signatures that were upon the several creatures when by an extemporary facility he gave them such names as should interpret and comment upon their essences nay according to the Schoolmens determinations man in this his primitive condition habuit scientiam omnium natur aliter scibilium As God framed him an elegant body at its full height and stature though not with his head reaching up to heaven as some did ridiculously phancy so he gave him also a comely and amiable soul at its just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 endowed with all natural accomplishments and perfections his Dove-like spirit dwelt in a spotlesse and beautiful temple This makes the Protestant Divines very well determine that pronitas ad malum non fluit ex principiis naturae integrae for it would be a thought too injurious to the God of Nature to imagine he should frame evill Yet some of the Papists and some others do constantly affirm that such a rational being as man is considered in pur is natur alibus will have an unavoydable propensity unto evil ex necessaria materiae conditione and they bring forth such bold words as these Deum non posse creare hominem ex anima rationali materiali sensibili compositum quin praeter divinam intentionem homo it à constitutus habeat praecipitem inclinationem ad sensibilia their meaning is this by reason of that intimate and essential conjunction of the sensitive powers with the intellectual there must needs arise some ataxy and confusion in the being of man and too great a favouring of sensitive objects unlesse that inferiour part of the soul be restrained supernaturali quodam fraeno as they speak and say they it was thus chain'd up in a state of innocency but now being let loose 't is extreamly wilde and unruly How derogatory is this from the goodnesse and power of Gods creation and from that accurate harmony and immaculate beauty that were to be found in such a noble being as man was in his native and original condition nec fraenum nec calcar desiderabatur for there was a just and regular tendency without the least swerving or deviation There was no such tardity in the sensitive part as should need a spurre nor yet any such impetuousnesse and violence as should require a bridle This indeed must be granted that upon the knitting and uniting of such a soul to such a body of sensitives to intellectuals there will naturally follow respectus inclinatio ad sensibilia and this is not praeter sed secundùm intentionem divinam but that this should be praeceps rebellis inordinata inclinatio is so farre from being necessary as that 't is plainly contra-natural For this sensitive appetite of man is born sub regno rationis and so is to be govern'd sceptro rationis By this golden Scepter it was
peaceably rul'd in a state of innocency Anima non aggravata erat à corpore as the Schoolmen say the body though it was not beautified and clarified in the same measure that a glorified body is yet it was dutiful and obedient and every way serviceable to the soul The sensitive powers were not factious but were willingly subject to the higher powers to the intellectuals The first bublings of the soul were pure and crystaline and streamed out very freely and fluently without any murmuring without any wavering without any foaming There were no violent motions no violent perturbations which since have made such insurrections in the soul and with their importunate breath endeavour as much as they can to blow out this intellectual Lamp this light of reason There were nullae passiones quae respiciunt malum as the School tells us There was no slavish fear to bespeak and antedate grief There was no palenesse to be seen no tremblings nor shiverings no tears nor sighs no blushes nor the least tincture of shame Paradise it had so much of the Lily as 't had nothing of the Rose yet there were istiâ—smodi passiones quae ordinantur ad bonum Joy would dance and leap sometimes love would embrace and twine about its dearest good such pure and noble affections as live and dwell in the breasts of glorified beings were not banisht and excluded from this state of integrity The Poëts shadowed out this happy time in their golden age though they mixe some drosse in the description of it Now man being constituted in this state of natural rectitude his Candle shining clearly his will following cheerfully his affections complying most suitably a sudden cloud presently rusht upon him and blotted all his glory And as the Orator stiled that Roman Magistrate that was suddenly turned out of his place Consul vigilantissimus because he did not sleep all the time of his Consulship for he continued but a day in it In the very same sense and only in this sense man also was vigilantissimus in honore in the Psalmists language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non per noctabit he would not abide in honour he did not lodge one night in honour Though I am farre from laying such stresse upon those words as they do that will needs from thence measure the time so exactly as that they 'll tell you to a minute how long Adam enjoyed his first glory This only we are sure of it was a very brief and transient happinesse a fading and withering glory he had wasted his Oile presently and the Lamp was going out but that God dropt fresh oile into it by the promise of a Messiah The Schoolmen are very solicitous desirous to know how Adams understanding being in vigore viridi could be entangled in such a snare and deluded with such a miserable fallacy Aquinas for his part determines hominem in primo statu decipi non potuisse which yet is altogether unconcelvable for how could he fall unlesse his head declin'd 'T is not very easily perceptible at any time how there can be defectus in voluntate and yet not Error in Intellectu much lesse can we tell how this should come to passe when the will was so obediently disposed ad nutum intellectûs when it gave such observance to all the commands and dictates of the understanding as that did in a state of innocency And to resolve the whole anomaly and irregularity of that first prevarication only into the wills untowardnesse what is it else then to say that Adam sinned ex mera malitia contra claritatem judicii which is to entertain a thought very groundlesse uncharitable and dishonourable to the first root of mankinde and to make his transgression of the same dye with those damned Angelical spirits that were thrown into irrecoverable misery Therefore Zanchy that was one of the most scholastical amongst the Protestants doth most judiciously conclude that the understanding of Adam was defective in its office by a negligent non-attendency The eye was clear enough the bowe was strong enough but it was not vigilant enough it was not bent enough the balance was not deceitful but he forgot to weigh things in it Now man by this fall of his was not only spoliatus supranatur alibus but also vulneratus in ipsis naturalibus How soon is this beautiful creature withered his spring is gone his May is gone his glosse and greennesse gone the flower droops the tree is neither so flourishing nor so fruitful an untimely and disconsolate Autumne comes upon him Thus the purest complexions are alwayes most fraile and brittle Thus the highest conditions are most tottering and precipitious and the noblest perfections if built only upon natures bottome are but voluble and uncertaine There arises a sudden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the being of man The Philosophers were very sensible of it and groaned under it You may hear them complaining of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the languishings and faintings of the soul of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spurious and adulterate kinde of reason You may hear them complaining of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a defluvium pennarum The wings of the soul flag many of the feathers are sick and drop away And that soul which was wont to build its nest in the Starres is now faine to build it in the dust You may hear one Philosopher complaining of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his head his understanding akes another of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his eye his reason is dimm'd a third of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the palpitatio cordis his soul trembles with doubts and uncertainties You may see one grasping a cloud of Errors another spending much of his time in untying some one knot in solving some one difficulty you may see some one pleasing himself and sitting down in the shadow of his own opinion another bending all his nerves and endeavours and they presently snap asunder You may see Socrates in the twilight and lamenting his obscure and benighted condition and telling you that his Lamp will shew him nothing but his own darknesse You may see Plato sitting down by the waters of Lethe and weeping because he could not remember his foormer notions You may hear Aristotle bewailing himself thus that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will so seldome come into act that his abrasa tabula has so few and such imperfect impressions upon it that his intellectuals are at so low an ebbe as that the motions of Euriâ—us will pose them You hear Zeno complaining that his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is dark and Epictetus confessing that he had not the right ansa the true apprehension of things look upon the Naturalists head and you 'll see it non-plust with an occult quality feel the Moralists pulse his conscience I mean and you 'll finde it beating very slowly very remissely look upon the most speculative
sparkles and makes them subject and obedient to the Lord and rule of light Created intellectuals depend upon the brightnesse of Gods beams and are subordinate to them Angelical Star-light is but Lumen Aristocraticum it borrows and derives its glory from a more vast and majestical light As they differ from one another in glory so al of them infinitly differ from the Sun in glory Yet 't is far above the Lumen Democraticum that light which appears unto the sons of men 't is above their lamps Torches poor and contemptible lights if left to themselves for do but imagine such a thing as this that this external and corporeal world should be adjudg'd never to see the Sun more never to see one Star more If God should shut all the windows of heaven and spread out nothing but clouds and curtains and allow it nothing but the light of a Candle how would the world look like a Cyclops with its eye put out 'T is now but an obscure prison with a few grates to look out at but what would it be then but a capacious grave but a nethermost dungeon yet this were a more grateful shade a pleasanter and more comely darknesse then for a soul to be condemned to the solitary light of its own Lamp so as not to have any supernatural irradiations from its God Reason does not refuse any auxiliary beams it joyes in the company of its fellow-Lamp it delights in the presence of an intellectual Sun which will so far favour it as that 't will advance it and nourish it and educate it 't will encrease it and inflame it and will by no means put it out A Candle neither can nor will put out the Sun an intellectual Sun can but will not put out the Lamp The light of Reason doth no more prejudice the light of faith then the light of a Candle doth extinguish the light of a Star The same eye of a soul may look sometimes upon a Lamp and sometimes upon a Star one while upon a first principle another while upon a revealed truth as hereafter it shall alwayes look upon the Sun and see God face to face Grace doth not come to pluck up nature as a weed to root out the essences of men but it comes to graft spirituals upon morals that so by their mutual supplies and intercourse they may produce most noble and generous fruit Can you tell me why the shell and the kernel may not dwell together why the bodies of nature may not be quickened by the soul of grace Did you never observe an eye using a prospective-glasse for the discovering and amplifying and approximating of some remote and yet desirable object and did you perceive any opposition between the eye and the glasse was there not rather a loving correspondency and communion between them why should there be any greater strife between Faith and Reason seeing they are brethren do they not both spring from the same Father of Lights and can the Fountain of love and unity send forth any irreconcileable streams do you think that God did ever intend to divide a rational being to tear and rend a soul in pieces to scatter principles of discord and confusion in it If God be pleased to open some other passage in the soul and to give it another eye does that prejudice the former Man you know is ordained to a choicer end to a nobler happinesse then for the present he can attain unto and therefore he cannot expect that God should now communicate himself in such bright and open discoveries in such glorious manifestations of himself as he meanes to give hereafter But he must be content for the present to behold those infinite treasures of reserved love in a darker and more shadowy way of faith and not of vision Nature and Reason are not sufficiently proportion'd to such blessed objects for there are such weights of glory in them as do opprimere ingenium humanum there are such depths such pleonasmes such oceans of all perfections in a Deity as do infinitely exceed all intellectual capacity but its own The most that mans Reason can do is to fill the understanding to the brim but faith that throws the soul into the Ocean and lets it roll and bathe it self in the vastnesse and fulnesse of a Deity Could the sons of men have extracted all the spirits of Reason and made them meet and jump in one head nay could Angels and men have united and concentricated all their Reason yet they would never have been able to spy out such profound and mysterious excellencies as faith beholds in one twinckling of her eye Evangelical beauties shine through a veile that 's upon their face you may see the precious objects of faith like so many pearls and diamonds sparkling and glittering in the dark Reveal'd truths shine with their own beams they do not borrow their Primitive and original lustre from this Candle of the Lord but from the purer light wherewith God hath cloathed and attir'd them as with a garment God crowns his own Revelations with his own beams The Candle of the Lord it doth not discover it doth not oppose them it cannot eclipse them They are no sparks of Reasons striking but they are flaming darts of heavens shooting that both open and enamour the soul They are Stars of Heavens lighting men behold them at a great distance twinckling in the dark Whatsoever comes in Gods name does aut invenire viam aut facere Whatever God reveals in his Word 't is supra providentiam rerum communem constitutum 'T is not in the road of nature and therefore for the welcoming and entertaining of it as a noble Author of our own doth very well observe explicatur sensus quidam supernaturalis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 's an opening of a new window in the soul an intellectual eye looks out at the window and is much pleased and affected with the oriency of that light that comes springing and rushing in upon it as there 's a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so there 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too the one 't is written by the pen of nature the other by the finger of the Spirit for ubi desinit natura ibi incipit gratia and this second Edition set out by Grace 't is auctior emendatior yet so as it doth not at all contradict the first Edition that was set out by Nature for this is the voice of Nature it self that whatsoever God reveals must needs be true and this common Principle is the bottome and foundation of all Faith to build upon The soul desires no greater satisfaction then an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if God himself say it who can question it who dare contradict i◠Reason will not Reason cannot for it does most immovably acknowledge a Deity and the unquestionable truth of a Deity in all believing there is an assent a yielding to him that speaks by vertue of his own Authority
who only hear of them will not at all attend to them So that only the seal of the Spirit can make a firme impression upon the soul who writes his own word upon the soul with a conquering and triumphant Sun-beam that is impatient either of cloud or shadow Be open therefore ye everlasting doors and stand wide open ye intellectual gates that the spirit of grace and glory with the goodly train of his revealed truths may enter in There 's foundation for all this in a principle of nature for we must still put you in minde of the concord that is betwixt Faith and Reason Now this is the voice of Reason that God can and that none but God can assure you of his own mind for if he should reveal his minde by a creature there will still be some tremblings and waverings in the soul unlesse he does withal satisfie a soul that such a creature does communicate his minde truly and really as it is so that ultimately the certainty is resolv'd into the voice of God and not into the courtesie of a creature This holy Spirit of God creates in the soul a grace answerable to these transcendent objects you cannot but know the name of it 't is called Faith Super-naturalis forma fidet as Mirandula the younger stiles it which closes and complies with every word that drops from the voice or pen of a Deity and which facilitates the soul to assent to revealed truths So as that with a heavenly inclination with a delightful propension it moves to them as to a centre Reason cannot more delight in a common notion or a demonstration then Faith does in revealed truth As the Unity of a Godhead is demonstrable and clear to the eye of Reason so the Trinity of persons that is three glorious relations in one God is as certain to an eye of Faith 'T is as certain to this eye of Faith that Christ is truly God as it was visible to an eye both of Sense and Reason that he is truly man Faith spies out the resurrection of the body as Reason sees the immortality of the soul I know there are some Authors of great worth and learning that endeavour to maintain this Opinion that revealed truths though they could not be found by reason yet when they are once revealed that Reason can then evince them and demonstrate them But I much rather â—ncline to the determinations of Aquinas and multitudes of others that are of the same judgement that humane Reason when it has stretcht it self to the uttermost is not at all proportion'd to them but at the best can give only some faint illustrations some weak adumbrations of them They were never against Reason they were alwayes above Reason 'T will be employment enough and 't will be a noble employment too for Reason to redeeme and vindicate them from those thornes and difficulties with which some subtle ones have vext them and encompast them 'T will be honour enough for Reason to shew that Faith does not oppose Reason and this it may shew it must shew this for else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that are within the inclosure of the Church will never rest satisfied nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pagans Mahumetans Jewes will ever be convinc'd God indeed may work upon them by immediate revelation but man can only prevaile upon them by Reason yet 't is not to be expected nor is it required that every weak and new-born Christian that gives reall assent and cordial entertainment to these mysterial truths should be able to deliver them from those seeming contradictions which some cunning adversaries may cast upon them There are some things demonstrable which to many seeme impossible how much more easily may there be some matters of faith which every one cannot free from all difficulties 'T is sufficient therefore for such that they so farre forth understand them as to be sure that they are not against Reason and that principally upon this account because they are sure God has revealed them And others that are of more advanced and elevated intellectuals may give such explications of them as may disentangle them from all repugnancy though they cannot display them in their full glory Nor must the multitude or strength and wit of opposers fright men out of their Faith and Religion Though the major part of the world do disesteeme and look upon them as meer contradictions yet this being the censure of moâ—â— unequal and incompetent judges is not at all prejudicial to their worth and excellency for to most of the world they were never revealed so much as in an external manner and to all others that refuse and reject them they were never powerfully revealed by the irradiations of the Holy Ghost So that one affirmative here is to be preferred before a whole heap of negatives the judgement of one wise enlighten'd experienc'd spiritualiz'd Christian is more to be attended to then the votes and suffrages of a thousand gainsayers because this is undeniable that God may give to one that Eye that Light that discerning power which he does deny to many others 'T is therefore a piece of excessive vanity and arrogancy in Socinus to limit and measure all Reason by his own Nor does this put any uncertainty in Reason but only a diversity in the improvings of it one Lamp differs from another in glory and withal it laies down an higher and nobler principle then Reason is for in things meerly natural every rational being is there a competent Judge in those things that are within the Sphere compasse of Reason the Reason of all men does agree and conspire so as that which implies an expresse and palpable contradiction cannot be own'd by any but in things above Nature and Reason a paucity here is a better argument then a plurality because Providence uses to opèn his Cabinets only for his Jewels God manifests these mysterious secrets only to a few friends his Spirit whispers to a few shines upon a few so that if any tell us that Evangelical mysteries imply a contradiction because they cannot apprehend them it is no more then for a blinde man confidently to determine that it involves a contradiction to say there is a Sun because he cannot see it Why should you not as well think that a greater part of the world lies in Error as that it lies in wickednesse is it not defective in the choisest intellectuals as well as in the noblest practicals Or can any perswade himself that a most eminent and refined part of mankinde and that which is very considerable a Virgin-company which kept it self untoucht from the pollutions of Antichrist upon mature deliberation for long continuance upon many debatings examinings discussings constantprayers unto God for the discovery of his minde should all this while embrace meere contradictions for the highest points of their Religion or can any conceive that these Evangelical Mysteries were invented and contriv'd and maintain'd by men Could the
that he may staine the pride and glory of man that he may pose his intellectuals that God may maintaine in man great apprehensions of himself of his own incomprehensiblenesse of his own truth of his own revelations as that he may keep a creature in a posture of dependency so as to give up his understanding so as to be disposed and regulated by him And if a Cherubim be ambitious of stooping if Angelical understanding do so earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 me thinks then the sons of men might fall down at the beautiful feet of Evangelical mysteries with that humble acknowledgment Non sum dignus solvere corrigiam â—ujus mysterii Only let thy Faith triumph here for it shall not triumph hereafter let it shine in time for it must vanish in eternity You see then that Reason is no enemy to Faith for all that has been said of Faith it has been fetcht out of Reason You see there are mutual embraces twixt the Law and the Gospel Nature and Grace may meet together Reason and Faith have kissed each other CHAP. XVII The light of Reason is a pleasant light 'T Is Lumen jucundum All light is pleasant 't is the very smile of Nature the glosse of the world the varnish of the Creation a bright paraphrase upon bodies Whether it discover it self in the modesty of a morning blush and open its fair and Virgin eye-lids in the dawning of the day or whether it dart out more vigorous and sprightful beams shining out in its noon-day glory whether it sport and twinckle in a Star or blaze and glare out in a Comet or frisk and dance in a Jewel or dissemble and play the Hypocrite in a gloworm or Epitomize and abbreviate it self in a spark or shew its zeale and the ruddinesse of its complexion in the yolk of the fire or grow more pale pining and consuming away in a Candle however 't is pleas'd to manifest it self it carries a commanding lustre in its face though sometimes indeed it be veil'd and shadowed sometimes 't is clouded and imprison'd sometimes 't is soyl'd and discolour'd Who will not salute so lovely a beauty with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 welcome thou first-borne of corporeal beings thou Lady and Queen of Sensitive beauties thou clarifier and refiner of the Chaos thou unspotted beauty of the Universe Let him be condemn'd to a perpetual night to a fatal disconsolate grave that is not enamour'd with thy brightnesse Is it not a pleasant thing to behold a Sun nay to behold but a Candle a deputed light a vicarious light the ape of a Sun-beame Yet there are some superstitious ones that are ready to adore it how devoutly do they complement with a Candle at the first approach how do they put off the hat to it as if with the Satyr they meant to kisse it You see how pleasant the light is to them Nay that learned Knight in his discourse of Bodies tells us of one totally blinde who yet knew when a candle came into the room only by the quickning reviving of his Spirits Yet this Corporeal light 't is but ashadow 't is but a black spot to set off the fairnes of intellectual brightnes How pleasant is it to behold an intellectual Sun Nay to behold but the Candle of the Lord How pleasant is this Lamp of Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Motions and Operations of Nature are mix'd and season'd with sweetnesse Every Entity 't is sugared with some delight Every being 't is roll'd up in some pleasure How does the inanimate Being clasp and embrace its Centre and rest there as in the bosome of delight how flourishing is the pleasure of vegetatives Look but upon the beauty and pleasure of a flower Behold the Lilies of the Valleyes and the Roses of Sharon Solomon in all his Pleasure was not cloathed like one of these Go then to sensitive Creatures and there you meet with pleasures in a greater height and exaltation How are all the Individua amongst them maintained by acts of pleasure How are they all propagated by acts of pleasure Some of them are more merry and cheerful then the rest How pleasant and jocund is the Bird How musical is it How does it sing for joy did you never see the fish playing in its element did you never see it caught with a bait of pleasure does not Leviathan sport in the sea and dally with the waves If you look up higher to rational Beings to the sonnes of men you 'l finde there a more singular and pecular kinde of pleasure whilest they have both a taste of sensitive delight and a Participation of Intellectual The soul and body enjoying a chaste and conjugal love the pleasure of the soul is more vigorous and masculine that of the body more soft and effeminate The Nobler any Being is the purer pleasure it hath proportion'd to it Sensitive pleasure it hath more of dregs Intellectual pleasure it hath more of Quintessence If pleasure were to be measured by Corporeal senses the Brutes that are more exquisite in sense then men are would by vertue of that have a choicer portion of happinesse then men can arrive to and would make a better sect of Epicureans then men are ever like to do But therefore Nature hath very wisely provided that the pleasure of Reason should be above any pleasure of Sense as much and far more then the pleasure of a Bee is above the pleasure of the Swine Have you not seen a Bee make a trade of pleasure and like a little Epicure faring deliciously every day whilest it lies at the breast of a flower drawing and sucking out the purest sweetnesse and because 't will have variety of dishes and dainties it goes from flower to flower and feasts upon them all with a pure and spotlesse pleasure when as the Swine in the mean time tumbles and wallowes in the mire rolling it self in dirt and filthinesse An Intellectual Bee that deflowers most elegant Authors a learned Epicure that sups up more Orient pearles then ever Cleopatra did one that delights in the embraces of truth goodnes hath he not a more refin'd and clarified pleasure then a wanton Corinthian that courts Lais then a soft Sardanapalus spinning amongst his Courtizans then a plump Anacreon in singing dancing and quaffing lascivious playing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the elegant Moralist hath it and 't is as if he had said the delights of a studious and contemplative Athenian or of a couragious and active Lacedemonian is infinitely to be preferr'd before the pleasure of a delicate Sybarite or a a dissolved Persian The delight of a Philosopher does infinitely surpasse the pleasure of a Courtier The choicest pleasure is nothing but the Efflorescentia veri boni there can be no greater pleasure then of an understanding embracing a most clear truth and of a will complying with its fairest good this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks calls
is understood of the God of Nature they were words of truth and loyalty but if they meant them as certainly they did of that strength which was for the present communicated to them they were but the interpreters of their own weaknesse and vanity Yet 't is no wonder to hear any of the Heathen Rhetoricating in the praise of Nature it may seem a more tolerable piece of gratitude in them to amplifie and extoll this gift of their Creatour 't is no wonder if such a one admire a Candle that ne're saw a nobler light But for such as are surrounded and crown'd with Evangelical beams for men that live under Gospel-Sun-shine for them to promise themselves and others that they may be saved by the light of a candle a Stoick an Academick a Peripatetick shall enter into heaven before these Yet I finde that in the very beginning of the fifth Century Pelagius an high Traitor against the Majesty of Heaven scattered this dangerous and venomovs Error endeavouring to set the Crown upon Natures head and to place the creature in the throne of God and grace The learned Vossius in his Historia Pelagiana a book full fraught with sacred Antiquity gives us this brief representation of him that he was humani arbitrii decomptor Divinae Gratiae contemptor a trimmer of Nature and an affronter of grace His body was the very type of his soul for he wanted an eye he was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sure he wanted a spiritual eye to discern the things of God He was a Scot by Nation a Monk by profession a man exemplary in Morals and not contemptible for learning for though Hierom vilifie him in respect of both yet Chrysostom gives him a sufficient Commendamus and Augustine himself will set his hand to it that learned adversary of his full of grace and truth the very hammer that broke his flinty and rebellious Errour in pieces If you would see the rise and progresse and variations of this Errour how it began to blush and put on more modesty in Semipelagianisme how afterwards it cover'd its nakednesse with some Popish fig-leaves how at length it refin'd it self and drest it self more handsomely in Arminianisme you may consult with the forementioned Author who kept a relique of his Pelagian History in his own breast whilest it left upon him an Arminian tincture This spreading Errour leaven'd the great lump and generality of the world as the profound Bradwardin sighs and complains Totus penè mundus post Pelagium abiit in errorem for all men are born Pelagians Nature is predominant in them it has took possession of them and will not easily subordinate it self to a superior principle Yet Nature has not such a fountain of perfection in it self but that it may very well draw from another this Heathenish principle after all its advancements and improvements after all its whitenings and purifyings it must stand but afar off in Atrio Gentium it cannot enter into the Temple off God much lesse into the Sanctum Sanctorum it cannot pierce within the veile The ennoblement of intellectuals the spotlesse integrity of Morals sweetnesse of dispositions and the candor of Nature they are all deservedly amiable in the eye of the world The Candle of Socrates and the candle of Plato the Lamp of Epictetus they did all shine before men and shine more then some that would fain be call'd Christians Nature makes a very fine show and a goodly glittering in the eye of the world but this Candle cannot appear in the presence of a Sun all the paintings and varnishings of Nature they please and enamour the eyes of men but they melt away at the presence of God The Lamp of a Moralist may waste it self in doing good to others and yet at length may go out in a snuffe and be cast into utter darknesse The harmonious composing of natural faculties the tuning of those spheres will never make up an heaven fit for a soul to dwell in Yet notwithstanding whatsoever is lovely in narure is acceptable even to God himself for 't is a print of himself and he does proportion some temporal rewards unto it the justice of an Aristides the good laws of a Solon or a Lycurgus the formal devotion of a Numa Pompilius the prudence of a Cato the courage of a Scipio the moderation of a Fabius the publitk spirit of a Cicero they had all some rewards scattered among them Nor is there any doubt but that some of the Heathen pleased God better then others Surely Socrates was more lovely in his eyes then Aristophanes Augustus pleased him better then Tiberius Cicero was more acceptable to him then Catiline for there were more remainders of his image in the one then in the other the one was of purer and nobler influence then the other Minùs malus respectu pejoris est bonus the one shall have more mitigations of punishment then the other Socrates shall taste a milder cup of wrath when as Aristophanes shall drink up the dregs of fury if divine justice whip Cicero with rods 't will whip Catiline with Scorpions An easier and more gentle worm shall feed upon Augustus a more fierce and cruel one shall prey upon Tiberius if justice put Cato into a prison 't will put Cethegus into a dungeon Nor is this a small advantage that comes by the excellencies improvements of Nature that if God shall please to beautifie and adorne such an one with supernatural principles and if he think good to drop grace into such a soul 't will be more serviceable and instrumental to God then others Religion cannot desire to shine with a greater glosse and lustre it cannot desire to ride among men in greater pomp and solemnity in a more triumphant Chariot then in a soul of vast intellectuals of Virgin and undeflowered morals of calme and composed affections of pleasant and ingenuous dispositions When the strength of Nature and the power of godlinesse unite and concentricate their forces they make up the finest and purest complexion the soundest and bravest constitution like a sparkling and vigorous soul quickening and informing a beautiful body Yet this must be thought upon that the different improvement even of Naturals springs only from grace For Essentials and Specificals which are meer Nature they are equal in all but whatsoever singular or additional perfection is annext to such a one flows only from the distingushing goodnesse of an higher cause that Socrates was any better then Aristophanes was not nature but a kinde of common gift and grace of the Spirit of God for there are the same seminal principles in all Augustus Tiberius were hew'n out of the same rock there are in Cicero the seeds of a Catiline and when the one brings forth more kindely and generous the other more wilde and corrupted fruit 't is accordingly as the countenance and favourable aspect of heaven is pleased to give the increase for as the Philosophers
an extraordinary manner Though indeed the Scripture does not afford our charity any sufficient ground to believe that he did nor dorh it warrant us peremtorily to conclude the contrary Secreta Deo it does not much concerne us to know what became of them let us then forbear our censure and leave them to their competent Judge But when we mention Socrates Plato and Aristotle and the more eminent and refined ones among the Heathens you must be sure not to entertain such a thought as this that the excellency of their intellectuals and morals did move and prevail with the goodnesse of God to save them more then others of the Heathen as if these were dispositiones de congruo merentes salutem aeternam this indeed were nothing but Pelagianisme a little disguised whereas you must resolve it only into the free grace of God that did thus distinguish them here in time and might more distinguish them eternally if it pleased him to bestow a Saviour upon them Which grace of God is so free as that it might save the worst of the Heathens and let go the rest it might save an Aristophanes as well as a Socrates nay before a Socrates as well as a Publican before a Pharisee not only all Heathen but all men are of themselves in equal circumstances in order to eternal happinesse 't is God only that makes the difference according to his own determinations that were eternal and unconditional Yet I am farre from the minde of those Patrons of Universal Grace that make all men in an equal propinquity to salvation whether Jewes or Pagans or Christians which is nothing but dight and guilded Pelagianisme whilest it makes grace as extensive and Catholick a principle of as full latitude as nature is and resolves all the difference into created powers and faculties This makes the barren places of the world in as good a condition as the Garden of God as the inclosure of the Church It puts a Philosopher in as good an estate as an Apostle For if the remedium salutiferum be equally applied to all by God himself and happinesse depends only upon mens regulating and composing of their faculties how then comes a Christian to be neerer to the Kingdome of Heaven then an Indian is there no advantage by the light of the Gospel shining among men with healing under its wings Surely though the free grace of God may possibly pick and choose an Heathen sometimes yet certainly he does there more frequently pour his goodnesse into the soul where he lets it streame out more clearely and conspicuously in external manifestations 'T is an evident signe that God intends more salvation there where he affords more means of salvation if then God do choose and call an Heathen 't is not by universal but by distinguishing grace They make Grace Nature that make it as common as Nature Whereas Nature when 't was most triumphant shining in its Primitive beauty and glory yet even then it could not be happy without Grace Adam himself besides his integritas naturae had also adjutorium gratiae for as the Schoolmen explain it though he had viros idoneas ad praestanda omnia naturalia reipsa tamen nihil praestitit sine auxilio gratiae As if you expect any goodly and delicious clusters from a Vine besides its own internal forme which we 'll stile Nature there must be also auxilium gratiae the Sun must favour it and shine upon it the raine must nourish it and drop upon it or else Nature will never be pregnant and fruitful Adams Candle did not shine so clearly but that Grace was fain to snuffe it Nature though 't were compleate and entire yet 't was faine to strengthen and support it self by its twinings about Grace and for want of the powerful support and maintenency of Grace Nature fell down presently it startled from it self and apostatiz'd like a broken bowe What meane the Pelagians to tell us of a Naturalis Beatitudo when as Nature now is surrounded with so many frailties and miseries so many disorders and imperfections Yet were it as green and flourishing as ever it was when 't was first planted in Paradise yet even then 't would be too remote from happinesse for perfect happinesse excludes and banishes all futurity and possibility of misery which Nature never yet did nor could do And happinesse never flows out till the Sunne look upon it till it see the face of God himself whom Natures eye will ne're be able to behold Yet Oh! how desirous is Nature of this how inquisitive is humane Nature into the causes of things and esteems it no smal piece of its beatitude if it can finde them out Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas What a goodly sight is it then to behold the first cause of all being and its own being how faine would an intellectual eye behold him that made it Nature longs to see who 't was that first contrived it and fram'd it and fashion'd it the soul would fain see its Father of Spirits The Candle would faine shine in the presence of him that lighted it up Yet Nature cannot see the face of God and live Ante obitum nemo supremáque funera foelix The Moralists happiness is dormant in the night-time for there 's no operatio secundùm virtutem then nor can the soul while 't is clogg'd with a fraile body climbe to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of goodnesse or happiness the soul here has not a perfect enjoyment of inferiour objects much lesse of God himself it has but a shadowy sight of Angels propter connaturalitatem intellectûs nostri ad phantasmata and if natures eye cannot look upon the face of a twinkling Starre how will it behold the brightnesse of a dazling Sunne that general knowledge which it hath of God here is mixt with much error and deceit Nor can Faith look upon the divine essence 't is a lovely grace indeed yet it must die in the Mount like Moses it cannot enter into the Land of promise 't is auditui magis similis quà m visioni it hears the voice of its God it does not see his face it enflames the desire of the soul it does not quench it for men would faine see what they beleeve the object of Faith is obscure and at a distance but the face of God is all presence and brightnesse Happinesse it consists in the noblest operation of an intellectual being whereas in beleeving there is imperfectissima operatio ex parte intellectûs licèt sit perfectio ex parte objecti Nor yet is the divine essence seen in a way of demonstration for then only a Philosopher should see his face such only as had skil in Metaphysicks who yet may be in misery for all that for demonstrations are no beatifical visions The damned spirits can demonstrate a Deity and yet they are perpetually banisht from his face there can be no demonstration of him à priore for he is
can there be much fault found with Apollo but yet none pleases me so well as Cephas O how doth he explaine the Oracles of God and unriddle the mysteries of salvation O how doth he stoop to the lowest capacity and feed us with the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby how doth he come with line upon line drop upon drop precept upon precept here a little and there a little O how doth he unvaile and â—nmaske heavenly truths so as each eye may see their beauty and every soul become enamoured with them What a lustre doth he set upon the pearle of price so as one would willingly part with all they have for the purchasing of it Let others follow Paul and admire Apollo I am sure I profit by none so much as by Peter I am of Cephas You see here the Corinthians vanity and in it our propensity to glory in men and that because we are carnal which brings us to the Apostles censure painted with a stinging interrogation Are ye not carnal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nonne homines estis So the vulgar Latine it seems that makes it equivalent to be men and to be carnal indeed there 's but little difference Paul himselfe calls it in the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nonne corporejestis So the Syriack hath it as 't is usually translated Don't you seem to be all body to have nothing of a soul in you nothing of a more refined part whilst you thus judge only according to outward appearance and so I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a degree below 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet he savours not the things of God But the force of the Original there reaches further even to this Nonne cadaverosi estis as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence it springs plainly shews Carnal men they are dead in trespasses and sinnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Lucian calls old men though they esteem it their only life as he sings Vivamus mâ—a Lesbia But here 't is to be took in a more candid sense for the Apostle speaks to such as were regenerate and in the state of grace to such as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he himself calls them babes in Christ so that here 't is meant either first have not you such grosse apprehensions as carnal men use to have or else secondly are not ye carnal in this and thus the most refin'd and spiritualiz'd Christian is grosse and carnal in part In the best soul there are schismes and divisions even here and there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Moralist Every one has a double self an Antagonist within himself We use to call a friend Alter ego but here the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the greatest enemy This Plato means when he tells us of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is like they reach't no further then the rebellion of the sensitive soul against the rational the strugling of reason with appetite But we know of a nearer and so a sharper conflict between the flesh and the Spirit in the regenerate the fight 's described at large by our Apostle in the seventh to the Romans and this is that which a Christian so much groanes under as Porphyrâ— saies of Plotinus that he so lived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we finde it true in St. Paul when he cries out O who 'le deliver me from this body of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I shall let this passe as not being formally in the text but only virtually there and by just consequence might be deduc't from it as many the like observations also might and wee 'l look upon the several aggravations in these words Are ye not carnal first You that for time and meanes might have been spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he in the Greek Epigram calls out to Lycurgus that cut down so many vines because they brought forth too much fruit the bloud of the grapes which he thought too generous he speaks to him that he would be pleased to cut down his because it brought forth none at all What could they have done more to yours then they have done and when they looked for grapes do you bring forth wilde grapes full of sowrenesse and bitternesse nothing but strife and contention is this the fruit of Paul's planting and Apollo's watering Nay how can they gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles You that have drunk in the raine which so often fell upon you do you now bring forth nothing but briers and thornes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or else you may look for the terrible curse upon the fig-tree Never fruit grow on thee more Is this your best improvement of your so many precious and golden opportunities have you thus learned Christ has the bright Sun-shine of the Gospel beamed out so strongly and gloriously upon you and can't it so much as warme your affections while you thus neglect and abuse the meanes of grace aro you not carnal 2. You that would seem to be spiritual are ye not carnal What 's become of your fair shews and promising out sides and specious professions are they vanish't into this nothing or worse then nothing are our budding hopes so soon blasted and do your forward resolutions so quickly languish You that would have counted it an injury not to be thought Christians and members of the Church what do you mean to teare and rend the body in pieces You that would have been lookt upon as living stones fit to build God an house an habitation for the God of Jacob do you now go about to demolish so faire a structure and to bring into the temple the noise of axes and hammers You that would have been thought sharers in the communion of Saints and to have had a chief part in that Spiritual consort do you now put all out of tune by your strifes and dissensions while you shew no better fruits then these what ever you seem to be are ye not carnal 3. Some of you that are truly spiritual yet here in this are ye not carnal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who has bewitcht you O Corinthians that having begun in the Spirit you should end in the flesh You that are reconciled to a God of peace and redeemed by a Saviour that breath'd out nothing but love You that are sanctifi'd and seal'd by a Spirit of unity and have imbraced a Gospel of peace in all meeknesse and subjection of minde laying down your weapons of defiance why do yo now resist the goodnesse of so gracious a God and kick against the bowels of so sweet a Saviour why do you grieve the holy Spirit and disgrace the Gospel as if that taught you to be contentious nay you that know that 't was the hand of omnipotency that pluckt you out of the jawes of hell and destruction and how 't was not in the power of man or angel to unfetter you of the least corruption you
wont to be sung at those solemn times when Baptisme was publickly celebrated 3. As for the Sacrament of the Lords Supper why there are mellita flumina streaming brooks of butter and honey as Job speaks and O how welcome is the panting soule hither God ha's sent a messenger to invite him O! every one that thirsteth let him come and drink freely Drink yea drink abundantly O beloved 'T is most true here that which Trismegistus feign'd God sets a great Cup full of Celestial liquor with this Proclamation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Up soul and drench thy self in this Cup of the Spirit Calix ebrius est as the force of the Original is in Psal 23. we render it The Cup overflows Here if ever the soule is comforted with flagons and Christs love is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sweeter then wine 4. What should I tell you nay how can I tell you the strong pantings of the soule in Prayer The Apostle calls them Rom. 8. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 groanes unutterable when the soul becomes as the Syriack Idiom calls the thuribulum domus aromatum breathing up sweet odours unto the Throne of grace and Heaven it self is thus perfum'd Domus orationis is Domus aromatum In all these you see how the soule breathes after Communion with its God mediate Communion with him here But 2dly it pants after immediate Communion with him in glory and the following words will well bear this sense though not so properly and genuine O when shall I appear before the face of God in glory Thus Paul pants I desire to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ Thus the soules pant in the Revelation Come Lord Jesus come quickly Hîc pitissamus illic deglutiemur Here we sip of the water of life but there we shall drink it up though there be eternity to the bottome Here we are sons of hope and that 's a panting grace Spes indeed is aurora gaudii matutina laetitia early joy but when grace shall be ripen'd into glory then hope shall be swallowed up in fruition And thus we as 't is in 2 Cor. 3. 18. with open face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You see that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here denotes a clear vision whereas quite contrary in 1 Cor. 13. to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we see in a glasse darkly A learned Critick hath well observed that the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 includes both for it signifies vision and speculation we clearly beholding the glory of God are chang'd into the same image from glory to glory that 's either from his glory we become glorious or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's from grace to glory for grace is glory in the bud as glory is grace at the full Surely glory is nothing else but a bright Constellation of graces and happinesse nothing but the Quintessence of holinesse And now the soule by an holy gradation ascends higher from those first-fruits and earnest-penies of joy here to the consideration of the fulnesse of glory which it expects hereafter ð„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ð„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ð„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ð„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ð„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Lyrick straines sweetly when the soule shall be unsheath'd from the body that I mayallude to the Chaldee Idiom how gloriously shall it then glister or to speak in Plutarchs expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the soule shall be unclouded from the body in what brightnesse shall it then appear what did Davids soule his panting soule here leap for joy when he remembred thee O Sioâ— O how triumphantly then does his glorified soule now sing in the new Jerusalem Did his soule sing so sweetly in a cage of clay what melody think you does it now make being let loose to all eternity Is there such deliciousnesse in a Cluster of grapes cut down in the brook Eâ—hcol what look you for in the Vintage of Canaan the Land of Promise Is but a Prospect of that holy land upon the top of Mount Pisgah so pleasant and delightful surely then their lot is fallen to them in a fair ground and they have a goodly heritage that enjoy the sweetnesse of that land that flowes with milk and honey Ha's but a glimpse of Gods favourable countenance such a powerful such a satisfying influence upon the soul O think if you can how it shall be ravish'd with the fulnesse of the Beatifical Vision when the clarifi'd soul shall drink in the beames of glory and be fill'd with joy to the very brim When the panting soule shall rest it self in the bosome of a Saviour and fix his eye upon the brightnesse of his Majesty to all eternity nay when eternity shall seem too short for the beholding and admiring of such transcendent excellencies and for the solemnizing of those heavenly Nuptials between Christ and his most beloved Spouse where all the powers of heaven shall dance for joy while a Consort of Seraphims sing an Epithalamium Beloved sayes the Apostle now are ye the sons of God but it appears not as yet what ye shall be This choice Prerogative of adoption does but shadow out your future glory for it appeares not as yet what ye shall be Now ye are sons but in your minority sons but yet insulted over by servants Now ye are sons but then ye shall be heires heires of glory and co-heires with Christ Now you see in a glasse darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a riddle and that book which is call'd the Revelation is most vail'd with obscurity but then you shall see face to face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God promises to manifest to Moses And some think that this place of the Apostle alludes to those very words taken out of Numb 12. 6. The riddle of summum bonum that hath pos'd so many shall then be explicated happinesse shall be unmask'd the book shall be unseal'd the white stone shall sparkle most oriently you shall behold with open face the glory of God you shall know as you are known not as if a finite creature could comprehend an infinite essence as some of the Schoolmen seem fondly to imagine but the words will easily bear a double Hebraisme You shall know as you are known that is either you shall know as you are approved or else you shall know as you are known that is you shall know as you are made to know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes Beza 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes Heinsius for indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if it be rendered Hellenistically he tells us the words will run thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall know so as God is pleased to be known by me to manifest himself unto me O let every pious Panting Soul with its apprehensions rais'd and its affections advanc'â— wait and long
can spy them out The Vintage will be long we shall gather but a cin ster at a time and presse it in the Application A Christian may be assured of his Saâ—â—ation for Saint Peter would never exhort them to give diligence for an impossibility for that which could not be obtained We 'l move in this order and shew 1. What Assurance is 2. Arguments for Assurance 3. The manner how Christians are assur'd 4. The special times of assurance 5. Make Application I. And here first what Assurance is 'T is a reflex act of the soule by which a Christian clearly sees that he is for the present in the state of grace and so an heire apparent to glory or in the words of the text by which he knows his Calling and Election 'T is a reflex act and so 1. Assurance is situated in the soules most noble most closettâ—â— most private and most spiritual operation 1. Reflex acts are the most noble and most royal operations the most rational and judicious acts of a most intelligent Spirit Reason is now in its exaltation it sits upon the Throne and exercises a Judge-like power all the faculties of the soule must appear before its Tribunal and give up a strict account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Pythagoreans were wont to pose and catechize themselves your inferiour sensitive creatures can go poring on upon a present object and blunder on in a direct way but are far enough from any reflex acts although some talk of reflexivenesse in sense too as to see that they see or the like but 't is but a fancy of their own Sensitive Creatures could never reach so high as a reflex act and indeed sensual men know not what belong unto it but the reasonable soul can retire into it self and take a view and survey of its own actings 2. It is the most secret and retir'd operation the soule withdrawes and bids the body farewel and even here becomes an anima separata it retires into its Closet and bolts its selfe up where none can peep in none can evesdrop it 3. The most refin'd and spiritual working of all this is most abstracted from matter The soul here does not commerce with outward drossy objects but looks upon it self fixes its eye upon its own face This is the most spiritual employment of the soule which does most strongly argue its immortality and shewes it to be a spark of Divinity How does the prime and fountain Being spend all Eternity but in looking upon his own transcendent and glorious Essence in viewing the bright Constellation of his Attributes seeing some shadowy and languishing Representations of himself in the glasse of the Creatures 'T is one of the chief works of a Christian to reflect upon himself Vita est in se reflexio as the grave Moralist Seneca speaks The Prodigal came to himself when he came to reflex acts so 1 King 8. 47. When they shall turne to their own hearts c. II. But yet this working of the soul is but weak and transient 't is fleeting and desultory it quickly vanishes which shewes a great disorder and irregularity in the Spirit that that which is the noblest and most proper operation that borders upon Divinity men are least ver'st in it How rare is it for men to reflect upon their own conditions to enter into an exact trial and examination of their own wayes Radius reflexus languet as the Opticks speak The beam begins to be weary and is ready to faint it gives a weak and languishing Representation 't is true of intellectual beames too radius reflexus languet O how quickly are men weary of serious thoughts and considerations They look upon them as melancholy interruptions turbida intervalla You had need of good arguments to perswade men to entertain a serious thought outward objects these divert the minde and take it off from its greatest work As a man that sees his natural face in a glasse as St. James speaks goes his way and presently forgets what manner of man he was The soule scarce knowes its own visage it looks abroad and is a stranger to it self Many a mans soule ha's scarce look't upon it self all his life-time III. It consists in a reflex act 1 Joh. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so differs from faith it is one thing to believe another thing to know that I believe Our Divines go somewhat too far Calvin Perkins c. when they put all justifying faith in a full perswasion Ames sayes 't is when they deal with the Papists who put it in a bare assent but me thinks they should rather be more wary there lest they give the enemy too much advantage I rather think that being men eminently pious it was as they found it in their own soules but all are not so strong in Christ Assurance is the top and triumph of faith faith that 's our victory by which we overcome the world but assurance that 's our triumph by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are more then Conquerours 'T is flos fidei the very lustre and eminency of faith Faith that 's the Root Assurance is the Top-branch the flourishing of faith faith with a glosse upon it Justifying faith that does not only dwell in the understanding in nudo assensu but requires an act of the will too which must embrace a promise indeed it calls for an act resulting from the whole soule which must receive Christ offered unto it but now assurance consists only in the minde and so there you have the difference between faith of Adherence and faith of Assurance The first is an act of the whole soule the latter is a work of the minde only it ariseth è sensu quodam spirituali whereby we know and perceive that we beleeve And when I say every beleever may be assur'd of his salvation I don't say that every beleever is assur'd of it No every one is to labour for it to give diligence as our Apostle speaks but every one ha's not yet obtained it Assurance is not of the Essence of a Christianâ— A man may be a true childe of God and certainly saved though he have not Assurance He can have little sweetnesse and comfort without it little joy and peace but yet he may be in a safe though in a sad condition 'T is requir'd to the bene esse not to the esse of a Believer 1. For the Promise is made to the direct act and not to the reflex Believe and thou shalt be saved that 's the voice of the Gospel Not know that thou dost believe Now there is many a weak Christian that ha's faith and yet does not know that he ha's it Faith like a grain of mustard-seed lies hid for a while but it ha's a vigorous and operative spirit and will work out in time and spread it self into goodly branches The least degree of faith if it be true brings salvation but it does not bring
then do what they list But 1. God won't put now wine into old bottles God never prints his love upon the heart till the heart be renew'd and prepar'd with Evangelical meltings and the same Seale that prints his love prints his Image too A flinty heart won't take the seale of the Spirit The sparkling White Stone is never given till the heart of stone be taken away The new name is not given till the new creature be fram'd God will not distill one silver drop of such precious sweetness upon the soul till it be enclos'd for his own garden And though the outward Sun-shine with liberal and undistinguishing beams shines both upon the good and the bad upon the Rose and Nettle yet the light of Gods countenance beams out only upon the Apples of his own eye the Sun-shine of his gracious presence gilds only the vessels of Honour and puts a lustre upon none but his own Jewels And though the pourings forth of ordinary goodnesse fall upon a wildernesse sometimes as well as on a Paradise yet these more choise and luscious influences of heaven slide only into the hearts of Gods peculiar ones Beleeve it thy soul must first become an Arke of the Covenant before thou shalt ever have a Pot of hidden Manna in it 'T is true that if God should thus display his goodnesse and seal up his love to the soul whil'st it were still in an unregenerate condition whil'st it did still hanker after its lusts and corruptions 't would then indeed sport it self more securely in this Sun-shine of mercy and turne this grace of God into wantoâ—nesse Thus men of sordid and ignoble spirits will trespasse more upon a friend then upon an enemy an injury will keep them in better order then a courtesie Thus nettles will sting most violently when they are handled most gently Thus the wretched Indians adore the Devil because he is their enemy and neglect the Majesty of heaven because 't is so propitious When God shines out upon ungrateful dunghils they returne him nothing but venomous and malignant evaporations We 'l easily acknowledge that if these men should have the White Stone they would trample upon it For you see how they deal with ordinary mercy which the bounty of heaven heaps upon their heads There are such Pleonasms of love in God such runnings over of goodnesse as that much falls upon these God breaks the box of common mercies and fills the whole world with the savour of it But what tribute and Revenues of glory has he from them for all this Why they violate his Lawes and profane his Name and fight against him with his own weapons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his most precious mercies gifts and parts and all they have shall oppose him that gave them Of their Jewels they make a golden Calfe Do you think now that God will trust these with his more speciall mercies with his viscera and tender mercies He try'd the vessel with water and 'twont hold that Do you think he will poure wine into it No God reveals his love to none but to his friends he sets his Seale to none but to such whom he sets as a Seale upon his heart and on his arme such as have an happy conformity to him and a full complyance with him such as have the same interests and the same glorious ends with himself such as delight in his Law and feed upon his precepts as upon an honey-combe Do you think he mayn't trust these with his minde such as have a plain antipathy against sin against the very picture and appearance of sin such as preferre Hell it self before it such as loath it even as himself loaths it men that are ready to pluck out their right eyes for him to cut off their right hands for him Do you think he mayn't manifest his love to these What sayes the Apostle John He that is borne of God cannot sin 't is a plain impossibility that he should so far put off his filial affection as to make it his work to displease him much lesse can he take so strong an advantage of his goodnesse as therefore to provoke him because he knows that God loves him These men only tell us what they would do if they had Assurance but truly they are not like to have it till their hearts be chang'd and then they 'l be of another minde 2. Love is a sweeter and surer and stronger principle of obedience then feare So that God did infatuate the counsel of that Achitophel Machiavel I mean when he still'd that venom into the hearts of Princes that they had better rule their Subjects with a Rod of iron then with a Scepter of gold that they had better enslave them by feare then engage them by love The truth is he had given them such Rules that he knew if they follow'd them they could not possibly be lov'd and therefore he would faine perswade them that 't is better to be fear'd And though this may seem to adde some sparklings to Majesty and to brighten the Crown of Sovereignty yet it leaves it farre more tottering more unfixt and unsettled upon their heads There is such a virulency mixt with fear such a tincture of hatred in it both these affections are much of a colour sad and pale And therefore that Tyrant was so wise yet as to expect hatred Oderint dum metuant sayes he he knew whilest they fear'd him that they would hate him And then there is a reluctancy and Aversation in fear And those workings upon the soul that come only from terrours they usually prove Abortive And what though a body be pull'd and hal'd and scar'd into obedience the soul is not conquer'd with all this A slave do's but watch an opportunity for shaking off the yoke And then there is a depressing and disenabling power in fear it contracts and freezes up the motions of the soul it clips the wings it takes off the wheels it unbends the bowe Trembling and Paralytick motions are weak and languishing Indeed fear 't is nothing but Praecox tristitia a crude and indigested kinde of sorrow and 't is the sowrer because it is not ripe And therefore God himself that is a most absolute Monarch and has a boundlesse and infinite supremacy over all things yet has far more glory from them that love him and only passive obedience from them that fear him Indeed he never goes about to rule any by fear but those that have first trampl'd upon Love and are no longer Subjects but profest Rebells 'T is love that glews and fastens the whole Creation together Those seeds of love which God himself who is love has scatter'd amongst Beings those sparks of love which God himself who is love has kindled amongst Beings and those indeleble prints of love which God himself who is love has stampt upon Beings maintain the whole fabrick of the world in its just beauty and proportion The harmonious composure of Beings
with all things here below if he should call for them they must be content to trample upon all relations for the love of a Saviour if they stand in competition with Christ they must be ready to lay all creatures and creature-comforts at his feet Now because this might seem somewhat an hard task and not so easie and Evangelical a yoke as he had promised them In these words he begins to sweeten his commands and to shew the reasonablenesse and equity of this that he requires of them You may well part with other things for this will be a means to save your soul Now says he if you could graspe the whole world and if you had it all in possession and should lay it down all only for the winning of a soul you would have no great cause to complain Whereas if you could embrace the present world and could gain it all nay if there were more worlds for you to enjoy and if you could have them all only for the losse of a soul you would have no great purchase of it What is a man profited There 's a plain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words more is meant then is spoken You would be so far from having any profit as that you would have the greatest losse that is imaginable the greatest dammage and detriment that such a creature is capable of You would have changed Gold for Drosse and Pearles for pebbles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now our Saviour in these words does as it were take a paire of ballances in his hand the ballance of the Sanctuary and he puts the whole world in one scale and the soul of man in the other This little sparkle of Divinity in one scale and the great Globe of the world in the other And the soul of man this spiritual being this heavenly sparkle it does mightily out-weigh the great Globe of the world the vast bulk of water the huge fabrick of the Creation The world 't is weighed in the ballance and 't is found too light In the words you have these two things very considerable 1. That absolute worth and preciousnesse that is in the souls of men which is strongly imply'd and envolv'd in the words D. The souls of men are exceeding precious 2. A comparative preciousnesse which is most directly and expressely laid down in this in respect of the whole world besides D. One soul 't is more worth then a world For the first The souls of men are very precious The preciousnesse of the souls of men will easily appear from these four several heads of Arguments For though all men or most men that know what a soul is will easily grant that their souls are precious enough yet they don't attend to those several respects in which they are thus precious much lesse do they take notice of those several results and consequences that flow from it Now this absolute preciousnesse and worth of a soul does thus shew it self 1. From the several Excellencies of the soul it self There is a fourfold excellency in the souls of men which speaks them choise and precious 1. The excellency of their Original they are of a noble descent they came from the Father of spirits from the Father of lights God lights up souls in the world they bubble forth from that fountain of spirits that spiritual Essence They are the breast of a Deity God breath'd into a man a living soul They are a beam of the glorious Sun God beam'd into man a glittering soul The body indeed 't was rais'd out of the dust we dwell in houses of clay whose foundations are in the dust But the soul 't was of an higher and Nobler Original Yet there is a great deal of cost bestow'd upon the body much Embroydery and Needle-work in that I am admirably made I am curiously wrought I am wrought with a Needle sayes the Psalmist Acupictus sum he speaks it in respect of the choise and elegant composure of mans body much needle-work in that and then that 's but the sheath of the soul the casket for the Jewel to lye in The soul 't is like the Queens daughter in the 45. Plasme Her clothing is of needle-work and she is all glorious within Now all the workmanship that is bestow'd upon the body is only that it may be serviceable to the soul that the soul may Benè habitare that it may be a fit Tabernacle for the soul to dwell in that the soul may say 'T is good for me to be here The body 't was rais'd out of the dust but the soul sprang from heaven 't was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bud of Eternity And truely that the souls of men should now be extraduce it does somewhat degrade them from that height of excellency that belongs to them I know that question 's full of briers and thornes but yet we may very well say thus much that some Scripture-passages favour and countenance this most that God still breaths into men living souls that they flow immediately from him in a way of Creation and that the soul and body do still differ in their Original That 's the first the excellency of the souls Original 2. The excellency of its Operations Do but look upon the several workings of the soul Consider the several layings out of the soul and you 'l see they have worth in them Do but view the wheels and motions of the soul the several faculties and employments of them and you 'l see they are all choice and precious What should I tell you of the Understanding crown'd with Beams compast and surrounded with Light of the Will sitting like a Queen upon her Throne and swaying the Scepter of Liberty in her hand with all the affections waiting and attending upon her There 's a five-fold excellency in the workings of the souls of men 1. The workings of the soul are quick and nimble Material Beings move heavily Matter clogs them and dulls their motion They go like the Chariots of Pharaoh in the Red-sea but spiritual Beings they move freely and presently like the Chariots of Amminadab they run with a cheerfull spontaneity What quicker then a Thought what nimbler then the twinkling of an intellectual Eye 'T is true there is a weaknesse and irregularity in the souls motions when its best workings are too flitting and desultory too gliding and transient but take the soul as 't is regular and orderly in its motions and then the freenesse and presentnesse of its working 't is the high priviledge of a spiritual Being For God that is a pure Spirit is Omni-present in his motions And the Angels that are ministering Spirits make haste of those glorious errands they are sent about The wings of the Cherubims flye very swiftly And the souls of men that are next in motion as they are next in Being they do the will of God on earth as 't is done in heaven with such freenesse and alacrity 2. They are vigorous and indefatigable
Ministery if once they come to neglect souls if Cura Animarum be made but a slight businesse But they that convert souls to righteousnesse sayes the Prophet Daniel they shall shine as the starres in the firmament they shall have a more bright and massy Crown answerable to a greater degree of service 4. Arg. If you would still see more clearly the worth and preciousnes of souls do but consider the variety of Gospel-dispensations in respect of souls 1. Those many invitations that are made to souls to come into Christ that sweet Rhetorick those strong motives those powerfull perswasions those precious wooings and beseechings of them We beseech you by the mercies of Christ by the bowels of a Saviour we beseech you as if God himself should beseech you to be reconcil'd unto him Do you think there would be so much wooing and beseeching if they were not very precious Do you think the Spirit himself would so intreat do you think the Holy Ghost would be so importunate with them else Nay these souls are so precious as that he will have some for himself he will take no denial no refusal Go and compell them to come in 2. Consider those sad Lamentations that are made when souls will trample upon their own mercy as Christ speaks to Jerusalem in that passionate strain and dips his words in teares O Jerusalem Jerusalem c. This great lamenting shews that 't is the losse of a precious thing 3. Know that the World is kept up for this very end for the bringing in of some souls for a Saviour Do you think that God is at this vast cost and expence in maintaining this vast fabrick of the Creation only for men that oppose him and provoke him and violate his Lawes No 't is for the gathering of his Jewels for the binding up some precious souls in the bundle of Life If 't were not for this the very pillars and foundations of the world would crack asunder 4. Think upon the great Preparation that is made for the entertainment of souls how that Christ is gone to prepare a place for them What treasures of love and sweetnesse what heaps of joy are stor'd up for them what a weight of Glory what Crowns what Thrones what glorious and unexpressible and unconceiveable Priviledges shall they then enjoy Thus by all these several Arguments you have seen the worth and preciousnesse of souls Vse 1. And now when we consider the worth of them we might even take up this sad lamentation How is the gold become drosse how is the most fine gold chang'd The precious souls of men that were purer then Snow ruddier then Rubies more polisht then Saphirs in their first Original now their visage 't is blacker then a coal How are they become the reproach of him that made them the body's slaves the devils captives the scorn of every lust and temptation Nay you might even melt and dissolve into tears under this sad and serious consideration that so few of these precious souls shall be saved that there are so many of them that drop into hell irrecoverably And though there be a generation of men in the world that will never go over this narrow Bridge unlesse they put on Spectacles that so they may tumble in more Artificially men that lay down such large and reaching principles of so vast a latitude as that they scarce make it possible for any to be damn'd men that widen the narrow gate in their own apprehensions yet God has reveal'd his minde expressely and 't is the constant voice of the Gospel it self that there are but few of these precious souls that be sav'd And which is more that as for men of the rarest and most admirable endowments of the choicest accomplishments men of most orient and glittering souls there are fewer of these then of others Not many wise c. And yet all this comes not about because of any want of Gospel-provision not but that there is Balm enough in Gilead Oile enough in that horn of salvation not but that there are abundance of bowels in God which yearn towards the precious souls that he has made but because men refuse his goodnesse and abuse his mercy imprison his truth and shut it up in unrighteousnesse Now when men are told of the worth of their souls when they are put in minde of their preciousnesse again and again when they have all means for the welfare of their soul and when they are directed in the wayes that tend to the saving of the soul when they are convinc'd that such and such lusts fight against their souls and when they know that the present season of grace is all they are sure of for the welfare of their soul If they shall stubbornly refuse their own mercy and wilfully and violently rush into their own ruine though their souls were ten thousand times more precious then they are yet they perish deservedly Vse 2. Me thinks therefore at length men should come to such thoughts as these 'T is time now to provide for our own souls 'T is time now to build for Eternity Tanquam semper victuri If he that does not provide for his own house is worse then an Infidel then surely he that does not provide for his own soul is little better Yet how many are there in the world that live so as if they had no souls to save Many that take no notice of their own souls These are spiritual Beings and run not into their outward senses and so they never minde them These mens souls are so dark as they cannot see themselves Others that do take some little acquaintance with their own spirits yet how do they leave them in a rolling and fluctuating condition how do they venture Eternity upon what strange uncertainties do they leave a precious soul as he that was ready to die said He should know by and by whether the soul were immortall or no that was all he made of it Or as that other that complemented with his soul in that sporting language Animula vagula blandula Quae tandem abitura es in loca And yet 't is an impression engraven upon every Being with a Pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond Nay 't is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stampt upon every Being by the finger of God himself that it should look to its own preservation to the maintaining of it self so that 't is matter of amazement astonishment that the souls of men being such precious Beings should look to their own welfare no more And it can be resolv'd into nothing else but into that same first and grand Apostasie from their God the fountain of their life and happinesse When they lost their God they lost themselves and when they fell off from him they Apostatiz'd from their own Essence And now they minde the body and take care for things here below and neglect themselves If there be any that can repair the ruins of Nature
or that can wrangle a little for mens estates these shall have honour and esteem in the world and the things of the world at their command But they that take care only for souls these must live upon meere benevolence as if the Ministers of the Gospel were nothing indeed but souls as if they were properly Angels that must assume a body and deliver their message and then must disapper This does strongly convince that men prize their bodies and their goods above their souls because men of such employments Lawyers and Physicians these finde better entertainment in the world then the Ministers of the Gospel Hence it is also that men neglect the seasons of grace opportunities of mercie advantages for their souls which they would not neglect in other things The Sabbath the market-day for souls how is it slighted prophaned yet the Sabbath was made for man for the soul of man chiefly for that is the chief of man And yet God had us'd very strong and powerful means to engage men to seek the welfare of their own souls For out of his own infinite love and goodnesse he has by a strict connexion knit and united his own glory and the salvation of souls together He has wrought Israels Name in the frame of his own glory That whereas now if these two were sever'd a man were bound to seek the glory of God before the salvation of his own soul For though the soul be very precious yet the glory of the Creatour of souls is infinitely more precious God therefore out of the riches of his grace has so joyn'd these together as none can put them asunder He that seeks the glory of God does by this promote the welfare of his own soul and he that seeks the saving of his own soul does in this advance the glory of God He that seeks the one must seek the other also Vse 3. If the souls of men be so exceeding precious then admire the goodnesse of God that does not leave them in the power of men 1. Some souls the souls of his own people are so precious as that he won't leave them in their own hands You know how Adam dispos'd of his own soul when he had it in his own keeping And such men as are left to themselves you see how they lay out their souls But God has laid up some precious souls in a safe and sure hand they are laid up as a rich Depositum in the hand of a Saviour and they are kept by his Almighty power through faith unot salvation 2. Souls are so precious as that he won't leave them to the disposing of other men He keeps these Apples of his eye under the lid of his own Providence The sword of an enemy can reach but the sheath of the body An enemy though never so fierce and furious can but cut the sheath of the body asunder Fear not them that can kill the body and that 's all they can do c. Yet such is the fury and implacablenesse of men as that if they could reach the soul that should be the first they would strike and wound and they would damne other mens souls as surely as they do their own As that desperate Italian that having an enemy of his at advantage threatened to kill him unlesse he would curse and blaspheme renounce his Religion that foolish man too covetous of a frail and fading life yielded to him but as soon as he had ended such blasphemies as were prescrib'd him the other stabs him presently and then triumphs and applauds himself in his bloody victory O sayes he 't is a kindly and delicate revenge O 't is an orderly and methodical revenge first to damne the soul and then to stab the body You see what the rage and fury of men would reach unto but that God has set souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. And therefore thou that wilt trust him with thy precious soul wilt not trust him for things here below Wilt thou trust him for Eternity and not for a moment wilt thou trust him with the Jewel and not with the casket wilt thou trust him for thy Soul and not for thy body thy state thy name Think upon our Saviours Argument Consider but the Lilies of the field they that have but vegetative souls two or three removes off from matter They neither spin nor â—â—ile why shouldst thou then have spinning and toiling thoughts will he not much more take care for thee Vse 4. See here the top of Antichristian fury his cruelty to souls as if the souls of men were Antichrists slaves to be hurried up and down at his pleasure as if an heap of precious souls were but Antichrists foot-stool for him to get up to his throne by Consult but with that place in the 18. of Rev. vers 12 13. You 'l see there that Antichrist trades there in very rich and costly commodities Gold Silver Pearles Purple Silke c. But amongst the rest he has one more precious then ordinary and 't is a sure and staple commodity that he trades in and 't is in the souls of men And that which bespeaks the ruine of Antichrist and cries aloud to that God to whom vengeance belongs and 't will pour out the very dregs of the vials upon him his deluding of souls his imposing upon souls his multiplying the bricks putting out the eyes of souls making them grinde at his mill to goround in an implicite faith and like his slaves he buyes them and sells them at his pleasure The blood of souls is the Paint of that same spiritual Jezabel and the Scarlet of the Babylonish whore 't is double-dy'd in the blood of Saints Vse 5. This speaks aloud to the Prophets and sons of Prophets that they would lay out all their golden talents and precious opportunity for the welfare of souls not only their own souls but for the souls of others too to be men of publick influence to spread light abroad in the world 'T is the strongest expression of love you can show to a Saviour Peter lovest thou me feed my sheep feed my lambs Let this be a token of thy love and signe that thou lov'st me Does not it pitty you to see so many precious souls famisht for want of the bread of Life so many ignorant souls rushing upon their own ruine for want of light so many souls poison'd with unsound doctrine and strange opinions so many unstable souls beguil'd by rude and illiterate men that torture the Scriptures and feed men so as if Non-sense were the only Nectar and Ambrosia for immortal souls to live on Don't you see how thirsty souls are that they will drink in muddy waters had not they rather think ye drink in pure and crystalline streams Do they take in Errour so fast and would not Truth be more pleasant to them You are the hope and the expectation of souls if you should frustrate and disappoint them whither should they go or where should they betake themselves Where shall the thirsty soul go unlesse the fountain afford it some streames where shall the new-born soul satisfie it self unlesse the breasts afford it sincere milk How shall the wandring soul finde out its way unlesse the Seers and Watchmen be pleased to direct it How shall souls be season'd with grace if the salt it self be unsavoury If the eye be darknesse how great must the darknesse be O lay out your selves so as that thousands of souls may blesse you and have cause to blesse God for you Truly the harvest is great and precious and the labourers are few pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest FINIS Fox Observ Vse Object Resp Doct. Vse 1. Vse 2. Observ 1. Observ 2. Observ 3. Observ 4. Observ 1. Object Sol. Object 1. Sol. 1. Sol. 2. Sol. 3. Object 2. Sol. 1 Sol. 2. Object Sol. Object 1. Sol. Observ 2. Observ 3. Observ 4.