rule in this World or Heav'n for ever Nec patet An Terris regnabit mille per annos Cum Superis Sanctis Martyribusque suis Whether he shal reign on Earth one thousand yeers With Angels Saints and Maryts 't not appeers 5. As to the Worlds final dissolution whether it shal be by a refined renovation of the Old a created substitution of a New or a predecreed abolition into Nothing I stand stif for the last against al Opposers or Oppugners 6. Anent Christmas and other holy harmless Pests forecited I suppose them to be both lawful and needful among prophane people who should be compeld to Church in season and out of season as the Spaniards at first drov uncatechised Indians like herds of Cattle to Baptism for the service of God yet al too little among stupid carnal Gospelers for al which assertions with others on the by I have rendred strong sufficient Reasons from other mens works in the particular Theses Treatises or Theorems but the three middle of Prophecies concerning the Messiah to com Christs two Genealogies and Revelation reveled are no Polemical points nor wil require farther explication or exposition therfore take this dry Distich for a final Farewel Quid volo scire voles sic stat sententia nostra Qua data hoc addo tibi Lector Amice Vale. Wilt know what I hold So sounds my judgments knel Which giv'n I bid thee Reader Friend Farewel Protestatio Verissima Protestation A most tru Protestation Tu Domine Omnipotens mea qui praecordia nosti Spargere velle nihil me nisi vera vides Thou Lord Almighty who my heart doost know Knowst that I nought but truth abroad would sow AN END Additio de Anima Humana An Addition of Mans Soul WHile my Pen was busy to transcribe the Prolog previous Theorems I met with Mr. Hobbs learned Leviathan of a Common-wealth and among divers Paradoxal points or positions as who cannot devise new dogmats and colorably defend his devises Found four flatly opposit to so many of my Theological Theses or Tenets which I thought fit by way of vindication to enumerat but not by way of refutation to recriminat being far too weak to incounter so strong a Champion as a Dwarf to a Giant 1. That Mans Soul is no special Entity Essence or Existence distinct from the Body which after separation by death shal subsist in Heaven or Hel til the general Resurrection of al Flesh and particular reunion of every individual Soul with its own identic Body but only the Breath Life Energy or Accidental quality therof as is in other animats or animals so denomined of Anima not Vita yet the Body shal rise at last day the self same living Man it was in this World This novity crosseth cleerly my first Thesis concerning the 1 Thesis Souls origin or production wherin I maintain with the current stream of al Orthodox writers that 't is an essential part of Man so wel as the Body but after death or dissolution of one from the other a distinct individual immaterial tho no simple Spirit and immortal substance which shal immediatly by Gods particular Judgment partake of Heavenly jois or Hellish torments and in fine reunite with its own Body at general Resurrection The whol controversy is largly debated already needing no vain repetition but the Souls Verity Unity and Immortality shal be farther proved by a few select places of sacred Scripture promiscuously collected and congested together for the present occasion God breathed into Gen. 2. 3. Adam the Spirit of Life or infused a living Soul as 't is generaly interpreted Which cannot be simple life sith Zechary expounding it saith The Lord spred the Heavens laid the Zeâ—h 12. 2. Earths foundations and formed Mans Spirit within him which provs intrinsic infusion Semblably saith Salomon Dust shal 〈◊〉 12. 〈◊〉 return to Earth as it was and the Spirit to God who gav it which cannot imply life or Breath sith that only ceaseth or vanisheth but returns not to God who first infused into Adam a substantial Spirit whence al others are successivly derived David speaking of Christ saith My flesh shal rest in hope 〈◊〉 16. 9 〈◊〉 for thou wilt not leav my Soul in Hel nor suffer thy holy one to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 26 27. see corruption This is meant of our Saviours condition after his Passion as deep Divines define that his flesh in the Grav shal rest in hope but his Soul descend into Hel to conquer the strong Man Satan in his own Kingdom not to be left ther nor the whol compound see any corruption being to rise speedily The blessed Virgin saith My Soul doth magnify Luk. 1. 46 47. the Lord and my Spirit rejoice in God my Saviour which two pathetical terms Soul Spirit she would not use of life or breath a blast bubble bawble nor can Christ be caled hir Saviour in that respect sith hir life did not depend on him Christ saith Ther was a rich Man clothed in purple that fared Luk 16. 19 20. sumptâ—ously every day and a begger named Lazarus who lay at his gate ful of sores Lazarus dying was caried by Angels into Abrahams bosom but the rich Man tormented in Hel flame This he whiffles off slightly that 't is a Parabol yet many learned Men take it for a tru story becaus the begger is named nor would Christ so pointly pourtray Abrahams bosom the rich Mans dialog with him and Hel-torments no not in Parabols to teach People old wifes fables if al were fals figments or that Mens Souls did not liv after dissolution from the body which was his main scope to instruct or to what end els did he propone it Yea elswhere he bids Men not to fear them which kil the Body and cannot kil the Soul but to fear Mat. 10. 28. him which is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hel. How can this be eluded Here are two distinct parts directly specified Body and Soul nor can the last be life for he that kils the Body is able and actualy doth take away that too at once together with it nor would he ad fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and Body if he meant life only Christ said to the penitent Theef on the Cross Today instantly Luk. 23 43. 〈◊〉 and immortaly shalt thou be with me in Paradise which must needs intend both their Souls sith their Bodies were to be buried that night Indeed many able interpreters expound to day eternaly yet al apply it to their Souls which shal liv with God for ever and ever St. James bids his Countrimen with Jam. 1. 〈◊〉 meeknes to receiv the word which is able to sav their Souls not their lifes for Gods word cannot sav them Many mo places may be alleged beside Reasons and testimonies of Authors if any refutation were intended but sith he saith the contrary to his Assertion that Soul and Life
but the chief charms are reserved for the Children to be Baptised as appeers in their Ceremonies The like are used in Mariage Visitation of the Sick extrem Unction consecrations of Churches and Church-yards to expel Phantasms Faieries and imaginary Spirits al which belong to the Kingdom of Darknes being effects of our natural ignorance Another error is from misinterpreting the words eternal Life everlasting Death and secund Death of which three in order Adam had an estate to liv for ever not by nature in himself Eternal Life or any part of his but by eating the Tree of Life which he had leav to doo so long as he obeied God but was thrust out of Paradise so soon as he sinned lest he should feed theron and liv for ever Now Christs death is a discharge of sin and restitution of Life eternal to al the faithful who beleev in him and to them only Yet the general doctrin of Divines is that every Man hath eternal life by nature of his immortal Soul so that the flaming Sword at entrance of Paradise may hinder him from tasting the Tree of Life but not from immortality which God bereaved Nor shal he need Christs sacrifice for recovery of the same sith not only the faithful or righteous but the wicked and Heathen shal enjoy eternal Life without Death much less a secund everlasting death To salv or shadow this they say by secund everlasting Death is meant a secund everlasting Life but Torments which is a figure never used sav in this very case Is not secund Death an eternal being both of Body and Quaere Soul in Hel-fire under Satan This tenet of the Souls immortality is founded on som obscure places of the new Testament which yet in a different sens of his own mint are cleer enough and unnecessary to Christian Faith For suppose when a Man dies nothing remains but his Carcas cannot God who made clay a living Creature by his word rais it again by another word Yes but not to the same life which vanished to nothing wheras the Soul being immortal persists identical Soul in Scripture stil signifies either Life or a Living Creature and Body jointly with Soul a Body alife As God saith Let the Waters produce Reptile animae viventis the creeping thing with a living Soul we translat that hath life Again God created Whales omnem animam viventem in English every living Creature but of Man God made him of dust and breathed in his face the spiracle or breath of life factus est Homo in animam viventem and Gen. 8. 21. Man was made a living Creature So God said when Noah cam out of the Arc I wil no more smite omnem animam viventem Deut 12. 23. every living Creature Eat not the Blood for 't is the Soul or Life But if Soul signified a substance immortal existing after separation from the Body it may be said of any other Animal so wel as Man Is it said of any other that God having made the Body of Quaere Earth breathed into his face spiraculum Vitae the Spirit of Life Which al interpreters expound of creating and infusing the Soul together He goes on the Souls or Lifes of the Faithful which being accidents that annihilated when the Bodies died must be new made are by Gods special Grace not of their own Nature to remain in their raised Bodies for ever after Judgment Wher 't is said in the new Testament that any shal be cast Body and Soul as if they were distinct Quaere parts into Hel-fire it imports Body and Life how can Life be cast being a bare accident That they shal be cast alife into Rev. 19 v. 20. Gehenna So 't is said The Beast and fals Prophet were both cast alife into a Lake of fire burning with Brimstone This dark doctrin of the Souls subsistence after separation opens a sluce to let in the superstitious superstructures of Purgatory and Indulgences Ghosts or Goblins and Exorcisms invocating of Saints yea Heaven and Hel too with som others For Men before Christs coming being taught from the Greecs Demonology that Mens Souls were distinct substances which after separation must subsist somwher by their own Nature the Doctors of the Church long doubted wher they resided til the general Resurrection supposing they lay under the Altars but finding that Martyrs Souls of them slain for Gods word if they hav Souls why not others Quae c. Lay under the Altar the Church of Rome for their profit Rev. 6 9. erected Purgatory Surely they doo al for profit to maintain their pomp pride power and prodigality Beza to prov Gods Kingdom began at Christs Resurrection Mat. 16. 28. and continues stil urgeth his words Verily I say to you som of them which stand here shal not tast of death til they hav seen Mat. 16. 28. Marc 9. 1. Luk. 9. 37. Gods Kingdom com with power Ergo either Gods Kingdom cam shortly after and is now in this World or els som then standing by Christ are yet alife Sol. This is a darke difficil place which provs nothing necessarily but if Gods Kingdom began at Christs Resurrection why doo we stil pray thy Kingdom com Therfore 't is not meant therof Yea after his Resurrection the Apostles asked Wilt thou now restore the Kingdom of Israel He answered 'T is not for you to know the time or season which the Father hath put in his own power but ye shal receiv power by the holy Ghosts coming on you and shal be my Witnesses in Jerusalem in al Judea and utmost part of the Earth So he told them his Kingdom was not com nor shal they foreknow when 't is to com Christ said to Peter of John If I wil that he tarry Joâ—n â—1 v. 22. til I com what is that to thee Which bred a beleef that he should not dy yet the truth of it was neither confirmed nor confuted by thos words but left as a dark saying and so must this Howbeit sith Christs transfiguration is the next Act handled by al three Evangelists haply he cals that Gods Kingdom which som ther should see being a representation or vision of his glory and Majesty as he shal com in his Kingdom which cannot be proved to begin til the day of Judgment Wher is it proved that any terren Kingdom shal commence Quaeâ—e then Then shal the Faithful rise with glorious spiritual Bodies inlifened and becom Christs Subjects in his Kingdom wher they shal not eat drink marry as they did in their natural Bodies but liv happily in their individual Persons for ever The elect then alife shal be suddenly changed and their Bodies made spiritualy immortal but Reprobats shal rise to receiv punishment yet not eternaly in their individual Persons nor can any place prov it As after the Resurrection the Elect shal be restored to Adams estate before he fel so Reprobats shal be in the
same condition that Adam and his Posterity were since his fal sav that God graciously promised a Redeemer to such as should repent and beleev but not to thos that dy in their sins impenitent as Reprobats doo so they may liv as they did before with gross corruptible Bodies as al Men now hav and haply beget Children continualy which no 1 Cor. 15. Scripture gainsais St. Paul treats only of the Resurrection Luk. 20 34. c. to life eternal not a word of that to pnuishment nor Christ who saith the Children of this World which liv in the estate Adam left them shal marry and generat successivly by an immortality of Kind not of Persons who are not worthy to be counted among thos that shal rise and obtain the World to com that is life to com not a terren World which alone are Heirs of eternal life equal to Angels and Children of God So a secund eternal death remains to Reprobats when after the Resurrection shal com a time of torment or punishment which by succession of sinners shal last so long as the kind of Man by propagation shal endure that is eternaly but not so every single Person nor shal the Tormenters be Fâ—ends or evil Angels Touching the Souls natural immortality that 't is a spiritual substance subsisting by it self after separation he answers som objections Ob. Salomon saith Dust shal return to Dust as it was and Eccles 12. 7. the Spirit to God that gav it Ergo God created the Soul distinct Spirit Sol. He shews how Mans Body made of dust must return to dust but God only knows what becoms of his Spirit Chap. 3. 20. Breath or Life He hath a sentence of semblable sens Al Man and Beast go to one place al are of dust and turn to dust Who knows except the Omniscient that Mans Spirit goes Ibid. v. 19. upward and a Beasts downward Sith 't is said That which befals the Sons of Men betides Beasts as one dies so doth the other yea they hav al one breath before spirit so that a Man hath no preeminence abov a Beast for al is vanity He praiseth Châ—p 4 2 3. the dead beyond the living and ads Better is he which hath not yet bin nor seen the evil work doon under the Sun then both the dead and living which cannot hold current if Mans Soul be immortal that no Soul were better then it only for a little oppression in this life Lastly he saith The living know they shal dy but the Dead know nothing naturaly before the Body shal rise nor hav any more a reward for their memory is forgot Al which places prostern the Souls immortality and by Spirit is meant Breath or Life as often foresaid Ob. Christ saith Abraham Isaac and Jacob are living Ergo their Souls separat subsist stil for their bodies lay buried many ages before Sol. This purports Gods promiss and certitud of their Resurrection not any actual life as God said to Adam on the day he should eat the forbidden fruit he shal certainly dy so from that day he was a dead Man by Sentence but not by actual execution til 930. yeers after Ob. The wicked shal rise to Judgment and go into everlasting fire torment or punishment wher the worm of Conscience never dieth which is caled a secund everlasting Death and general everlasting Life in torments far wors then Death as appeers in the new Testament Ergo c. Sol. Al this is tru yet it no wher appeers that the Damned shal liv in torments everlastingly for God the Father of Mercies and fountain of Goodnes who doth al what he wil and holds al Mens hearts at his disposing working them to wil and doo without whos free gift no Man hath any inclination to good or repentance of evil wil not punish Mens transgressions committed by inevitable ignorance natural frailty or wilful obstinacy sans end of time or with extremity of torture more then Men can conceiv or imagin Then he proceds to answer Bellarmins places or proofs in both Testaments touching Purgatory which he that lists may read p. 346. c. The next Caus of spiritual Darknes is heathen Demonology 2 Caus or doctrin of Devils as St. Paul cals it which their Poets as principal Priests diffused divulged or dissipated over the World witnes Hesiods goodly Genealogy of Gods For they caled al Spirits good and bad Demons but the Jews gav the name Demon only to evil Spirits stiling the good which Prophets or others inspired had the Spirit of God So they caled Lunatics Maniacs Lycanthrops Epileptics Hysterics or the like direct Demoniacs possest with evil Spirits They said unclean Persons had an unclean spirit dumb Men a dumb Devil aspersing John Baptist and our Saviour himself to hav Devils but Devils specified in Scripture are meer Diseases If any ask why Christ did not cross comptrole or teach Quest the contrary but confirms it by bidding Dâ—vils go out of Men which is improper to speak unto any Diseas that cannot hear He answers that Christs command to any Diseas is no more Answ improper then to rebuke the Fever Wind or Sea which obeied him yet can hear no more then the rest Nor are such speeches improper becaus they import or impart the power of Gods word to command such contumacious Diseases under the appellation of Devils as they were then generaly deemed to depart out of Mâ—ns Bodies So Devils Spectres or evil Spirits which they dreamed of are meer Phantasms or Inhabitants of their own Brains nor are any Ghosts of the Dead or ever were extant in the Air Heaven Hel or any real place as som surmise Al this must be taken upon his bare Phythagorean Ipse dixit Was that legion of Devils who besought Christ to enter 〈◊〉 into the Gergesens Swine and caried a whol Herd headlong into Sea only a Diseas Can Metaphors discurs or doo such mischeef When Christ cast out a dumb Spirit the traducing Pharisees denied not the dispossessing or matter of fact but said he did it by Beelzebub Prince of Devils can Christians then deny it Christ saith St. Matthew was led by or of the Spirit into Maâ— 4. 1. Maâ—â— 1. 12. Luk 4. 1. the Wildernes which Spirti drov him into the Desart saith St. Marc but Luke that he being ful of the holy Ghost which descended on him as a Dov newly before at Baptism was led of the Spirit into the Wildernes al which imply the holy Ghost nor can this be a possession of one substance by another sith Christ and the holy Ghost are one self same substance 'T is said after the Devil took him up into the holy City and set him on a Pinnacle but anon after caried him on a very high Mountain to shew him al the Worlds Kingdoms but certes the Devil did not transport him by force nor is any Mountain so high to shew him one Hemisphere of the World The meaning then must be
invested or indowed with the faculties forenamed which dy not with the body tho their acts and operations ceas for want of fit organs as the power of seeing remains when the eys ere dimmed or torn out Nor doth diversity of faculties and functions derogat from the Souls unity more then different offices or operations in the Sun to soften harden melt dry up c. els ther must be many Souls in the Microcosm and Suns in the Macrocosm but as the Sun suffers no decay when during an eclips it neither shines nor warms so the Soul dies not nor her faculties though after separation she useth no faculties being destitut of organs Zanohy holds the Souls unity consisting of three essential parts wherof the Vegetal being first infused at coming of the Sentient perisheth others of his opinion say vanisheth or removeth and that upon access of the Rational which is harsh doctrin to digest For hereby a duple death must insu by destruction or departure of those two first Souls Indeed they are distinct essences in Plants Beasts and Men but subordinat subservient faculties to Mans Soul and cannot subsist without it 5. Whence it coms or how it enters this earthy mansion whether by infusion or generation which is the main Sparta scope or subject of this subsequent speculation For as ther be three productions of Man beside the common foretouched First Without natural Father and Mother as Adam created by God The secund From a carnal Father without Mother as Eve out of Adams Rib. The third Of a Mother without human Father as Christ of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost So are said to be three several origins of Mans Soul 1. By infusion as Adams 2. By transfusion as Eves 3. By Traduction or procreation as al their Posterities since which is the debat here to be discussed but hardly decided or defined Divers dissident opinions occur which shal be fully and fairly vented or ventilated specially the two principal of Creation and Traduction They are reduced to three general heads 1. The efficient whence Souls com whether of God Angels or Men 2. The matter whereof whether of somthing or nothing 3. The time when whether from eternity or eviternity The particulars shal be handled promiscuously 1. Pythagoras and Plato thought Mans Soul to proced Opinions from the Worlds Soul of celical immortal substance but created by God in set number not to be augmented or diminished which in du time descend to be united with bodies designed for them Thes being separat pass into other bodies as the Jews deemed or dreamed when som said Christ was John Baptist or Elias or one of the Prophets who were dead 2. Origen the father of fancies or fopperies held That God created al at once keeping them in a Treasury to be sent into bodies prepared for them becaus he rested from al creatific Works the seventh day and doth not stil form new Souls His reason is better then his opinion 3. Philo the Maniches and Priscillianists from the Stoics suppos them al created at once of Gods own substance becaus he breathed into mans face the Spirit of life divina particulam aurae which is not meant his own Spirit but a new created by his word Fiat which Moses expresseth Catanthropopeian by breathing 4. The Massilians from Philaster maintain them to be made by Angels of Fire and Spirit but God is sole Creator 5. The Traductis are of two sorts Som hold the Soul is corporeal and begot carnally as the Body whom saint Austin justly condemns 6. Others that 't is a Spirit spiritualy derived from both Parents Souls with the Seed like light from light 7. So Apollinaris and many Godly Bishops defended with most of the Western Church as S. Jerom testifies whom sundry modernists Hunnius Magirus Goclenius Brightman c. folow 8. The Infusiasts also are bipartit Som imagin them created without as Aristole intimats and after instilled which is generaly exploded 9. Others within the Body That it is created in infusing and infused in creating The two last of each side shal be sifted but al the rest excluded S. Austin and Eucherius hang in bivio between both who neither deny lineal traduction from Parents Souls becaus al are tainted one from another nor jugial creation de novo nihilo becaus universaly received but conceiv it cannot be evidently evinced out of sacred Scripture Many of no mean mark in the Traductists Tenets literary Republic assert That the Soul is produced or procreated from Parents by an Animific virtu conveied with the Seed imparted successively from the first Soul which had a power property or prerogativ given by Gods general blessing be fruitful and multiply to beget a spiritual and immortal substance like it self in a mortal material Body but contamined with the stain of that sin which was contracted by our Protoparents primitiv disobedience in whom al Mankind offended as the Root against the Creators command and commination so Traduction if duly weighed doth no way wound or weaken its immortality For God who inspired an immortal essence into a Casket of Clay gav it a faculty or energy to produce the like indued with the same immortal authoquality no less inseparable though not essential then Rationality or Risibility according to the received Rule Naturae sequitur semina quodque suae This is the ground work or chief Ancher-hold wherto they stick like Limpets to a Rock But on the other part how that primeval pollution of our first Parents prevarication which at once defiles both Body and Soul linealy transcending through the loins of Mankind should infect a spiritual pure-made Soul wherein no corporal thing can impress unless it be derived from Parents polluted Souls is a very hard Theory to conceiv or comprehend Nor doo the many coyned curious distinctions of Schools satisfy the scruple if strictly scanned though Cobweb-Lawns wil suffice to Partialists 'T is a lepry inseparably hereditary which may be sullied or slubbered over with palliativ salvs But al the wiles or wavings of mens wits in the world cannot cleerly cure it if it be created pure which traduction easily skinneth The Souls immortality on one side and original sins traduction on the other are two difficil tasks to reconcile but neither repugning to evident Scripture nor to any Article of Faith which concerns salvation Indeed the first Council of Bracarum in Spain censured Priscillianists for holding with Origen That al Souls were created together and sinned in Heaven but the Apollinarians Tertullianists or mere Traductists never were condemned of error or heresy for asserting the Souls traduction from Parents Souls which ever had pious Patrons in the Church nor doth any absurdity arise therfrom The Infusiastists build on thes foundations 1. That our Infusiasts Grounds Protoparents personal sin becam natural or universal by derivation from the Root 2. That God in his prohibition and commination Of the Tree of knowledg thou shalt not eat for in
then every efflux shift and abortiv is a Man But what maner of Man wil such a shapeless sensless substance be at the general Resurrection when every one shal resum his identic numerical Body Ergo the generation of Souls is subject to sundry absurdities in Nature and common Reason Answ Such as hold Infusion at time of conception as Traductists inferences violently inforce are liable to the same difficulties so are they that set it at quickning for if it miscarries the day after which a few hours distance makes no difference what maner of Man wil that be cannot God perfect the one so wel as the other doo not al bodies turn to dust doo not Divines say al shal rise in such stature as at Christs age Why not then the first coagulation so wel as an inform infirm Embryon cannot omnipotence extend a Body into any dimensions so wel as amend al imperfections Thes are arcan mysteries known only to him that knows al and can doo al in al But Insusiasts are equaly engaged to answer it sith the power to prepare a Body for the Souls union is defeated or destroyed and by consequence so many Souls lost which by divine preordination should be created and infused but it crosseth not Traduction and men must be wise to sobriety not searching into Gods secrets Arg. 'T is improbable that impure material seed should be the conduit to convey a power of producing so pure a substance or divine Spirit Ergo c. Answ No more then that the Body a meer putrid mass should be the seat or subject of the Soul it self which is a divine immortal immaterial essence Arg. Spirits doo not multiply or beget one another nor can Angels propagat or generat becaus Spirits but Mans Soul is a Spirit so scripturaly stiled Ergo c. Answ Simple Spirits cannot propagat and Angels are individuals subsisting alone but human Souls organized and united to Bodies wherin they exist being so ordained to preserv the race of Mankind Som distinguish that Compounds generat and principal parts only propagat but this is a vain evasion no veritable satisfaction for propagation properly pertains to Kinds generation to Individuals and both to Compounds nor are the terms convertible in the abstract for every generation is not propagation but in the concret or subject what ever is generated is propagat and reciprocaly To apply it neither Soul nor Body is truly said to beget or be begot but the whol Man who begets and is begot completly but the parts incompletly Arg. Marsilius Ficinus prescribes three sorts of production 1. The making of Mans Soul from nothing into being caled Creation 2. The mutation of a lifeless Body into an Animal by the Soul hight Formation 3. The change of an Embryo into the whol Compound clyped Generation The object or Terminus of Creation is immortality of Formation a Soul not considered simply but as in a Body of Generation an Animal consisting of both Now saith he in every Generation is a decision of somthing from the Begetter which a Soul hath not becaus it admits no division nor decision Ergo it cannot generat Answ The Traductists exclud the fiâ—st branch except with reference to Adams Soul soly yet grant immortality to be the Terminus in production of al. The other two they apply to Compounds only wherein the Soul sends no material seed or substance by decision as the Body doth but only a procreativ virtu with the spirit of seed to produce the like spiritual substance the maner wherof is inscrutable as is also original sin for Man is Natures miracle and Epitomâ— of al Creatures yet differs from al having an immortal spirit in a corruptible casknet and his generation wonderful Arg. Beasts Souls dy becaus bred of seed or with it Ergo if Mens Souls be ingendred in the same sort by or with the conveience of seed they must likewise perish Answ This is non causa pro causa for Beasts souls dy not soly becaus bred of seed but specialy becaus formed at first intirely of the common corruptible Chaos But God made mans Body of dust wherto it must return but infused or inspâ—red a Soul which is immortal or eviternal like Angels partaking the same divine origin Arg. If the Soul proceds from both Parents Souls then either two grow into one or their Souls are extracted and they remain Soulless or part of their Souls passeth and so are divisible But al thes are gross enormites and neither possible Ergo Traduction is no way tolerable Answ Al thes inferences are impertinent for both Parents concur to beget the Body too yet two grow not together nor are they impaired but God ordained in cours of Nature that both Sexes shal cooperat in generation so from their Bodies flows a material seed with a corporific virtu to beget a Body and from their Souls proceds an animific power with the seeds spirit to produce a Soul both which conjoining is cald Prolific in regard of the Compound yet neither are the Parents Souls nor any part of them no more then their Bodies extracted or exhausted but only an energy issuing from them to generat a new Arg. The Soul exerciseth her essential operations to Wil and Understand without help of bodily organs as appears being separat Ergo it needs no Parents seed to its production for as every thing works so is its essence and contrarily as Aristotle avers who concluds mans Soul not to depend of the body L 2. de gen Anim. c. 3. becaus it works within it Answ The Soul while it is in the Body useth its organs in hir chief operations of Wil and Intellect though when separat she needs them not nor is Parents seed the efficient of producing to depend theroâ— but only the instrum ut to carry virtu of producing a new Soul with the seed which impeacheth not the exerciâ—e of hir chief operations without organs in the Body nor is ther any sap or solidity 〈◊〉 this Argument against Traduction any way however wrested Arg. The Soul dies not with the Body Ergo 't is not generated with it For ther is the same reason of generation and corruption sith the Souls presence is the caus of life as the Suns is of light and absence of death as his is of darknes so if the Bodies procreation caus the Souls production its death must be hir perdition Answ This is pithier then a former viz. whatever is generated shal be corrupted But the Bodies generation doth not caus the Souls production sith 't is generated with it not by it and though it giv the Body life as the essential Form yet dies not with it as not proceding from it but from the Parents Souls Arg. Aristotle asserts That the Mind or Intellect alone coms from without and is of divine origin Ergo not generated by Parents as Bodies be Answ 'T is thought thos words Sola mens foris adveâ—it were foisted into the Text without any coherence
be guilty of sin if his Soul com immediatly from God sav only by propagation Or how can Adam be our Father if the whol Man descends not from him One cannot be a proper Father of the whol unless he beget both parts for to supply meer matter which is elementar makes not a Father sith the Form only denominats which if he doth not generat he can no more be a Father then to Fleas and Lice which are bred of his Body Nay if Fatherhood consists chiefly in giving the Form God is rather the tru Father from whom the principal part proceds then Parents which beget the baser The Soul is Mans essential part without which he is no Man How then can he procreat a Creature like himself if he produce not the Soul specialy sith al agree that he propagats such an accident as sin which inheres in the Soul as its sole subject Can he propagat an unnatural accident Sin which cannot be without the Soul and not a natural essence the Soul without which can be no Sin The faculty of propagation pertains to the Soul so wel as Body yea hath its chif seat in the Soul soly for the Body is as a Pen in the Writers hand but the Soul principal Scribe or Secretary sith then such as the caus is such is the effect the Soul must produce a Soul and whol Man a whol Man not an inform lump which without a Soul is neither Man nor Beast but the Soul stil accompanies the Seed at first conception and gradualy builds the Body fitly framing al the organs from the first rudiments to ful perfection Nor can such effects be doon Exerâ— 6. 55. 5. but by a Soul as subtle Scaliger provs He allegeth many mo Arguments against Infusion and answers al advers Reasons but becaus they are already produced on both parts 't is nausity to serv forth twise sod Coleworts but having refuted Infusiasts and rejected Traductists he vents his own novel Invention His Grounds are thes 1. God created three sorts of spiritual A new opinion Natures 1. Angels so sublime as they cannot join with Bodies 2. Beasts Souls so material as they cannot be separat from Bodies 3. Mens Souls in a mean which can both liv without Bodies after death like Angels and unite with Bodies in this life like Beasts Souls So he ordained That Angels shal neither increas nor decreas Sensitiv Souls both increas and decreas But Rational increas or multiply not decreas or perish Hence he infers that Angels are crated immediatly by God only Beasts Souls procreated mediatly one from another But Mens Souls partly produced by Gods immediat power and partly by mediat propagation or such a production as coms neerest to creation 2. Mans Soul is indued with power to use bodily organs in attaining knowledg of al sensible things yea our knowledg of God ariseth ordinarily from Sens ordered by Reason which is a mean between Beasts sens and Angels Intelligence Therfore God united the Soul with a Body which it naturaly desires being incomplet without it nor knows ought ordinarily but by it As then al ordinary faculties and works are doon mediatly by corporal Natures so is their origin or Of-spring or els could not hav such sympathy with a Body Yet as the Nature and Works therof are som way extraordinary without abov al Elementar Natures so God proportioaly hath a supernatural extraordinary work in producing it different from al others 3. Elementar Natures cannot be produced without a more excellent external efficient then themselfs viz. the Sun and celical bodies by their light motion and influence for so al sublunars depend on them for being beside the matter wherof they are particularly compounded and peculiar Forms but the Soul having a Spiritual kind of composition nobler then the rest from Parents by seed requires a spiritual extern efficient beside it self which must needs be God the Father of Spirits sith Stars being bodies cannot produce Mans Soul to which they are far inferior 4. Human conception often fails and is not so frequent as in other Creatures which argues it is not of Nature alone but by Gods more special power and providence then in other generations If then he acts more in Mans conception why shal not the Soul be produced then without a duple task of creating and infusing at quickning When Rachel rashly cried Giv me Children els â— dy Jacob wisely answered Am â— in Gods stead so 't is said of Ruth The Lord gav hir conception who only opens and shuts the Womb but 't is no wher said he creats Souls For he sets a constant cours with his conserving blessing concurring that like shal produce their like 5. As God eternaly decreed of Man both who shal com into the World how many and when so he works in his conception more then in al others which must needs be as immediat efficient of his Soul wherby he blesseth or blasteth conception ordering it by a special providence according to his decree contrarily sundry inconveniences arise from creation that som Children are fully formed which dying before the Soul is infused cannot com to Judgment that God may be glorified and so his work shal be frustrated 6. 'T is evident in promiscuous copulations of Men or Women with Beasts that Gods efficient power is joined with the Souls propagation sith such bestial births are not indued with Reason nor shal com to Judgment though their sensitiv Entelechy is sharper and subtler then other Animals as Apes and Baboons are supposed to spring primitivly from such unnatural mixtions or conjunctions Nor is the Soul immediatly created by God sans natural means sith Children begot in Incest or Adultery hav it which God shal seem to approv or further when he might hinder it being not bound to infuse Souls This Reason may be retorted sith he is not bound to assist at such coitions being a most free Agent and not a Natural so he cannot be an external efficient as the Sun is in other generations 7. Sith Nature by divine Ordinance produceth daily out of dead Elementar matter admirable powers of Seing Hearing Phantasy Memory belonging to brute Beasts the maner wherof our Reason cannot conceiv how much more can the God of Nature produce out of Mans more excellent Nature others like to it though we cannot comprehend the manner how Nor is corporal Seed which is of far purer temper and subtler Spirits then in other Animals an unfit Instrument to propagat a Rational Soul specialy sith the Spirits in Seed are of sublime Nature which hav neer affinity with the Soul 8. God hath set a natural order That a whol Man shal beget the whol both Body and Soul yet not one the other nor Soul a Soul alone or Body a Body but the Soul a Soul immediatly by the Body and Body a Body by the Soul but both jointly a whol Man for they are Individualy united and their operations concur so Man propagats like other
Mankind so by propagation al Mankind proceds out of one and as that sin overspreads the whol Man so both parts being infected must needs be propagated Again as this sin is seated specialy in the Soul so 't is chiefly propagated according to Natures cours Hence three points rest to be proved 1. That original sin passeth only by propagation as Scriptures universaly testify By one man death passed upon al becaus al sinned in him and 't is imputed to his Posterity becaus al were in him as the Root or Stock and al descend out of him so his sin becoms ours both by imputation and propagation but by the first becaus of the last For 't is not anothers sin imputed which is not ours but that made ours by propagation actualy which before was only potentialy This is cleer by the Antithesis between the first and secund Adam as in one al dy so in Christ shal al be made aliv The one being Root of Mankind in whom al are by Nature the other Head of the Elect in whom they are al by Grace Such then are deceived as deem Adams sin only imputed like Christs righteousnes sith this last is the Creators voluntary Institution and work of meer Mercy but the first a necessary operation of the Creature and work of Justice So the Antithesis holds tru thus As in Christ we fulfilled the Law suffered death and attained salvation being members of his Body by Grace So in Adam we eat the forbiden fruit becam Satans bondslaves and were in state of damnation being al members of his Body by Nature So Christ derivs his righteousnes to his Children by spiritual regeneration as Adam did his sin to al Men by natural generation Ergo as Christs righteousnes is not imputed but by means of regeneration wherby we becom members of his Body So Adams sin cannot be imputed but by generation wherby we descend from him as his members If Adams sin be simply imputed becaus we are Men as he was who received or lost for himself and al Mankind then must it be imputed to Christ as Man so wel as to us which is not so for our sinning in him and being sinfully propagated from him makes us liable which Christ was not becaus sanctified in the womb by the holy Ghost at first conception but al els derived from him and his sin to us through one anothers loins 2. Original sin cannot be propagated unles the whol Man and both Parts be which necessarily flows from the premisses for except the whol Man descends from him the whol cannot be infected sith neither Soul nor Body alone is the subject of sin but the Person Or if the whol be not the subject 't is not properly sinful The Law likewise is given to the whol and the Person punished or rewarded 3. The whol Man cannot be propagated unles the Soul be sith the whol consists of its parts To say the Soul coms from Adam quoad existentiam unionem non quoad essentiam is sly Sophistry not real or rational for then Man contributs but the worst part not the whol nor half Nor is it tru that Adam is caus of the union but rather God if he creats the Soul Nor if the Soul be infused can any tel how long time after conception during which space the Woman works alone But if the whol Man be said properly to proced from Adam becaus the body doth much more may it be verified to com from God becaus the Soul doth so the union rather to be ascribed to God as the noblest suprem Agent then to Man the baser and inferior If then the whol Man and both parts be not propagated it results that we were in Adam wherin we are not viz. the Person that we sinned in him without that without which he could not sin viz. the Soul That the whol Man was in Adam yet never cam from him That we lost in him which we never had of him viz. original righteousnes That he shal stil be ful of Souls which he never had That the whol person proceds from him yet not that which makes the whol 4. Christs Soul was not created but his whol Humanity taken from the Virgin for his birth life death are curiosly and circumstantialy recorded by the Evangelists but no Soul creation which they would not omit being so pregnant a proof that he was without sin if it was created pure Nor is any Souls creation since Adams specified in Scripture Christ is caled the seed of the Woman and Davids seed according to the flesh which imports the whol Humanity as opposed to his Deity but if his Soul was created the imputation of Adams sin to al Men must be likewise lâ—able to him as Man Ad hereto That the Soul and Body as 't is in al others were conceived at once for the divine Nature being immediatly united to the Soul and by it to the Body the Soul must be produced in the moment of conception with the Body or els the Deity was first united to a brute Body which is brutish to imagin The truth is his Soul being united with the Body into one Nature at first conception becam one Person with the eternal Word by a miraculous working of the holy Ghost who purified the Womb that the Birth becam exempt from sin So his whol Humanity Soul and Body was deduced from Adam and separated from the Virgin by the holy Ghost But a Soul cannot be produced by Natures ordinary cours no more then a Body without concurrence of both Sexes Souls yet being performed by supernatural power 't is a tru Soul and so is the Body both which joined in one Person make a perfect Man as Eve was a very Woman though taken out of Man and Christ tru Man taken only out of Woman For in Mans quadruple production â—â— a duple concordance Adam made immediatly by God without Man or Woman Eve mediatly out of Man without Woman Christ immediatly out of Woman without Man but al els mediatly by both 'T is said the holy Ghost sanctified part of the Virgins substance assumed by the Godhead to make Christs Person which terms are tru if wel understood For by part of hir substance is meant the whol Nature or both parts not Body only whereof his Humanity was framed By sanctifying is not meant clensing that portion from sin but consecrating it to that holy purpos indowing it with gifts fit for so divine union yet was it free from sin or rather never sinful by reason of this union For al substances were created exceeding good and depend immediatly on God Nor is sin essential to Mans Nature but accidental cleaving to the person by Adams fal and not properly in the substance of Human Nature Nor are evil actions or affections stiled simply sinful but the Man sith sin consists not in any pravity of matter but in the corrupt Wil or intent of the dooer Nor is ther any Law to punish parts or substances
Thes Texts tend al to the Registry of Gods simple Prescience and Providence which tho they be no causes of any effects yet are certain in the events and cannot be frultrat but make nothing for absolut Decree of a prefixd period to our dais Dr. Charlton debats this point acutly and accuratly part wherof shal be decurted God the giver of life sole moderator but not Author of death for al natural motion proceds from one first mover God whence S. Paul saith In him we live mov Acts 17. 28. and hav our being The term Life is taken either for the period of every Mans dais caused by a sensible decay or dissolution of al ligaments which chain the Soul to the Body or by an extinction of his vital flame upon consumption of the Radical fuel when no preternatural causes interven to anticipat the dissipation of that elementar temper on which Lifes subsistence necessarily depends or els for the end of every Mans Life in general by what means or whensoever be it by diseases or violent accidents without respect to the gradual decay and consequent cessation of natural temperament in old age From the first acception arise 2. Questions 1. Whether this term of Life circumscribed by a natural deflux of the Body which is a kind of mature facil faling away of Natures ligaments like ripe Apples be definitly fixd by divine Ordinance to leav every in dividual in his own moderation without prescribing or procuring that this decay of temperature should hav more or less duration then what may naturaly occur from the more or less durability therof 2. If Life be thus fixd by Gods decree not to prolong it beyond the point of its natural durability whether he can without altering his own established cours of Nature being moved by Mens praiers or pitty as he added 15 yeers to Ezekiahs dais correct thos depravities procured by excess sicknes or other extraneous means and so hinder the dissolution therof That is whether if God hath predetermined that none shal exced the term to which the durability of his individual temper or strength of constitution may probably extend his special Providence doth not permit that the temperament may be vitiated impaired or ruined by putrefactiv destructiv preternatural causes obvenient and so not hold out to that point of time which otherwise by its primigeneous nativ condition it might hav reached unto For the secund acception of Life in general by what means of dissolution soever sicknes surfeit shipwrack suffocation famin war wounds or other-wais this question occurs whether the immature pâ—â—eâ—natural period therof be so precisely prefixd that no Human prudence or providence can prevent or prolong it nor fortuitous accidents accelerat or prevert it In brief whether the Catastrophe of ech Mans life be prefined in the Book of Fate or Divine Decree Life is said to be fixd in a duple sens 1. In respect of som absolut Decree antegredient to Gods Presâ—ience of al secund instrumental causes so that Man cannot possibly prorogue it beyond or fal short of that fatal term 2. In respect of som conditionat Hypothetic Decree whos alteration or accomplishment is superseded by the electiv liberty of mans Wil either as guided by supernatural light of divine Grace to pursu the real tru good or seduced by delusion of its own sensual judgment to wander in the devious tracts of error and so chus seeming fals Good Now it skils not whether this conditionat Decree be grounded on certain prenotion of al concomitant circumstances and corollary relations concerning Mans election of adhering to good and evil Objects and his consequent virtuous or vicious cours of life Or whether it be made without any such infallible prenotion or volition yet with a positiv deliberat sentence certainly to be executed in du time when the right use or abuse of Freewil shal be fulfilled Hence arise 3. Opinions 1. Som hold the term of every 1 Opinion very Mans life with al causes and clauses conducing to be flatly fatal or immovable by Gods irresistible Wil and Decree according to the vulgar saying his time is com this is a Stoical devise used as a spur to excite magnanimous spirits against dangers of death that every Mans destiny is writ with invisible indeleble characters in his forhead which al Mahometans maintain doctrinaly and many Christians ignorantly But 't is in it self impious if not blasphemous to confine Confut. Gods chief attribut of infinit Omnipotence within the definit lists laws or limits of secund causes and it derogats from the liberty of Mans wil leaving nothing in his power to elect or eschew nor to act or shun For if Fatal necessity be defended al our actions shal be but so many accomplishments of ineluctable Destiny and results of Counsil the decrees of Fate so al human pruâ—ence is palpable folly 〈◊〉 study of Wisdom painful vanity and al Laws meer tyranny siâ—h thâ—y injoyn only what must hâ—vâ—in doon otherwise or restrain what would els be checked by coercing fatality Thus shal al praâ—ers be fruitless vows hopelâ—ss exhortations to good needless dâ—hortations from evil frivolous and acts of piety or devotion superfluous with a â—â—yriod of other incongruâ—ties appendent if absolut fatality be admitted which is inconsistent to the rules o. Reason and Râ—ligion 2. Others assert a fixed fatality of every Mans life 2 Opin a posteriori not to be extended beyond the natural condition of each particular constitution but not a priori sith it may be contracted or abbreviated as 't is commonly but simply said one may shorten tho not exced his time appointed by divine Dâ—cree Certes God made no such absolut decrees for the length Confut. of any Mans life but leavs every Man free to be his own Carver in al temporal mundan affairs 3. Divers defend that Mans life may be lengthned or 3 Opin shortned more or less of what it usually is in most Men by the right use or abuse of means according to Gods prenotion or Hypothetic determination leaving the means to every mans Freewil This is perpendicularly proved by many plain places and Confirmat pregnant instances extant in holy Writ but none that hav any color for a fixed fatal period Salomon saith The Prov. 10. 27. fear of the Lord prolongeth dais but the wickeds yeers shal be shortned For God promiseth long life to them that honor their Parents and generaly to al such as shal keep his Commandements Yea he said to Salomon If thou wilt 1 Kings 3. 14. walk in my wais as thy Faâ—her David did I wil lengthen thy dâ—is And David definitly saith Bloody and deceitful Men shal Ps 55. 23. Ps 102. 24. Ps 6. 4 5. Ps 30 Ps 8â— not liv out half their dais Again Take me not away in the midst of my dais The like he praied in sicknes That God would not cut off the thâ—ed of his Isâ— and givs thanks for preserving him from death
himself to the Gentils Rom. 1. 20. by the Creatures that they might be without excuse So Simon saith of Christ that he is appointed for the faling and Luke 2. 〈◊〉 rising again of many in Isarel S. Paul saith I preach Christ 1 Cor. 1. 23. 2 Cor. 2. 16. to the Jews a stumbling block Again To them that perish we are the savour of death to death Thes places in general point out the end which is oft effected by them not what is primarily or principaly intended in them sith they may occasionaly produce such effects in som Men by their voluntary rebellion contrary to the Doners intention Phisitions minister medicins for the Patients good which somtime by misguidance turn to his hurt so Gods blessings intended for Mens eternal welfare tend to their perdition by il imploying them So the event doth not vary the intent sith no sinful event is properly under Gods decree but under his prescience or permission at most Now by this Tenet of absolut Reprobation al gifts both of Nature and Grace hav another end for either God intends them not to such tho they enjoy them being mix'd with the elect to whom only they are directed or if he doth 't is only to puff them up abov the common rank of Men to make their L. 3. Inst c 24. §. 13. ruin greater So saith Calvin God sends his Word to Reprobats that they may be made more deaf sets up a light to make them blinder and affords a remedy that they may not be healed Beza saith Let it not seem absurd that God offers Grace to som Reprobats not to this end that they should be saved but that they may be less excusable and more punishable Maccovius saith God knocks at Reprobats hearts who neither can nor wil open not that he may enter but partly to upbraid their impotence and partly to increas their damnation nor can any other conclusion rise or result from this doctrin for how can God intend the gifts of Grace for their salvation whom he hath irrevocably decreed to damnation Hence it infers that God meerly deludes miserable Men whom he cals to salvation in his Sons name by preaching the Word yet intends their perdition and that Ministers are fals Witnesses who preach salvation to many conditionaly whos damnation is decreed absolutly If a state closly contriv that no Dutch shal be Denisens yet publicly proclaim to giv them high privileges on condition to becom free doo they not conterfet or cosen the poor people to make them su or seek in vain Semblably may not Reprobats rightly plead Lord wilt thou punish us for not beleeving in thy Son being caled by preaching to beleev when thou hast decreed to leav us in Adams sin without al power to beleev How canst thou justly charge us with sin or increas our torment for not beleeving in him whom thou resolved st from eternity we should never beleev in Certes that Ministry givs Men a fair excuse which is given only to leav them without excuse as the Patrons of absolut Decree proclaim For the Sacraments signify nothing seal up nothing and confer nothing to such as are not saved but are meer blanks or empty Ordinances yet not by their fault but by Gods irresistible Wil nor are al other gifts tho never so glorious of any avail to promot their salvation in Gods absolut intention nor given out of lov but meer hatred that they may use them il and prepare to themselfs a greater damnation For he that receivs most of him shal most be required so they be but as snares to intrap Mens Souls like baits on barbed hooks to beguil Fishes sith they are lifted up therby that with the load of their goodly indowments they may sink the deeper into Hel. So they hav no caus to lov the Doner but hate him rather sith such favors are like a griping Usurers bounty or Jaels courtesy to Sisera 4. 'T is prejudicial to Piety and Promoter of prophanes 4 Reason cutting off the very sinews of Religion for it takes away al hope to attain happines by godlines and fear to sustain any hurt by wickednes sith al is ordered by absolut Decree Hope is the sole spur to stir Men on to virtu and fear the chief bar to withdraw them from vice For our Saviour in hope of Heb. 12 2. Mat. 10 32. the joy set before him endured al shame of the Cross who by it hardned his Disciples to suffer for his sake By this the godly in al ages hav bin excited to wel dooing See Acts 24 15. Phil. 3. 26 Colos 1 9 Titus 2. 12 13. Heb. 11. per totum Al noble Heroic acts hav sprung from the hope of eternal glory He that eareth and thresheth must doo it in hope saith S. Paul 1. Cor. 9. 10. For hope saith Aquinas conduceth to action as appeers in Souldiers Mariners and al Professions The hope of Heaven then is chief incentiv to piety and fear of Hel a main bar to impiety yea fear promots a good action accidentaly becaus Men fearing the evil of mischief or misery annexed to the evil of sin think they are never safe til they attain a contrary state by doing wel Now by an absolut Decree Hope and Fear are bereaved for hope is properly versed about some good to be attained by industry not which must be of necessity and the object of fear is an evil that may be avoided but by this Decree Heaven and Hel are no possible objects but necessary for the elect shal infallibly enjoy the one and Reprobats impossibly escape the other sith Men hav no power to alter their eternal state being prefined by eternal Decree Al Gods decrees are immutable irreversible and irresistible so that al Mens indevors are in vain to alter or avoid them See Isai 46. 11. Ps 115. 3. Rom. 9. 19. 'T is absolutly decreed the Devils shal be damned so it were folly in them by praier or tears to alter it Mans Soul is simply decreed to be immortal and 't is vain for any to attemp the abolition 'T is ordained that The Sun shal rule the day and Moon the night what power then can divert their cours so if no power be left in Man to attain eternal life or avoid death but he must needs take what is destined or designed he strivs in vain either way For if the Decree be absolut the Minister preacheth and People hear in vain Not one Soul can be saved by either of their means which is decreed to Hel nor one damned designed to Heaven 'T is frivolous and fruitless folly to be studious or sollicitous in what cannot be altered amended or avoided as Christ said to his Disciples why take ye thought about such Luk. 12. 25 26. things 'T is a misery to toil about impossibles as Sisyphus is said to rol up a stone to the top of an high hil in Hel which instantly fals down again If this
the day thou eatest thou shalt dy the death infolded an implicit Covenant for al his Posterity to be liable therto as Traitors Children are tainted Hereof Saint Paul saith As by one Rom. 5. 12. man sin entred into the World and death by sin so death went over al men sith al hav sinned viz. in him and by him for when the Parents eat sour grapes the Childrens teeth were set on edg and the whol race of man liable to duple death damnati S. Bernard antequam nati forlorn before born 3. The Soul sinned in consenting and lusting the Body in tasting and eating so both are guilty 4. Neither Soul nor Body apart is the adequat subject of sin but both united or the whol man the Body subjectum a quo of derivation the Soul in quo of inhesion the whol de quo of predication to whom al accidents of both parts are denominatly ascribed 5. It cannot properly be stiled sin til the Souls infusion becaus the Embryo is inanimat and imperfect but the rational Soul must first animat yet it can be stiled sin For whatever is not capable of Gods Image as seed is not is not liable to its privation becaus the habit and privation belong to the same subject 6. The Principium a quo is derived by seed from Parents begetting a depraved disposition in Man wherto a polluted womb ads more fuel which by the Souls union breaks forth into a flame and sets the whol hous on fire both parts together corrupting and being corrupted by a kind of emanation So before 't is infused we are said to contract sin from Parents as Infants draw diseases Stone Gowt Lepry c. that is the impression or inclination only 7. This sin is no simple privation as blindness which deprivs sight for ever but potential only including a positiv propension therto 8. Ther be three degrees of purity 1. Absolut of God 2. Subordinat according to the creatures capacity of Angels and Man in innocence 3. Comparat when being created pure they decline from it So our Souls being formed subordinatly pure soon degenerat by natural concupiscence being in respect of Adam and Angels less pure becaus procliv to sin 9. The maner of imparting it from Adam to al Posterity is rather to be beleeved saith Doctor Whitaker then inquired and better inquired then explored but easier explored then expressed For its nature is most arcane and the conveiance much more obscure 10. Parents Souls work to frame the whol compound Man not by giving being to the new Soul but by preparing a place to unite it with the Body So they may be said to concur in its production cuasaly by disposing the Body to receiv it not formaly by procreating it as Peter Lombard and his School Sectators define Thes are their curious Cautions and best bulworks of defens yet al too little To the Question Why God sends a pure Soul into a polluted prison They say becaus she hath a natural necessary pronenes therto being ordained to unite with a Human Body and both guilty of Adams sin For 't is not created a simple Spirit to subsist by it self but in the Body with relation to it which being derived from Adam draws the guilt of his sin by that preparation and union without carnal traduction so she becoms guilty both privativly and positivly yet God no Author Actor nor Abettor therin This sin then folows creation by accident for at Adams Souls infusion was mens sana in corpore sano but in every union since is sin So we must distinguish between Gods making and Adams marring for he creats every Soul in substance sound but concupiscence which S. John sais is not of the Father 1 Joh. 2. 16. creeps in instantly by Gods desertion sith every Soul even before 't is infused is virtualy guilty of Adams fal as he was Father and Fountain of al Mankind both in morals and naturals becaus God covenanted either explicitly as Cumel contests or implicitly as Sotus saith that he should stand or fal for himself and al his Of-spring by his proper power of unrestrained Free-wil The Schoolmen dissent diversly whether original sin be positiv privativ or mix'd If positiv whether Re or Ratione whether God doth necessitat the act or entity and Man the defect or obliquity whether he pacted explicitly with Adam or implicitly only but such subtle nicities shal be left to the Schools Zanchy the best Patron of Soul-creation ads mo Propositions 〈◊〉 2. de Hom. â—reat c. 5. 1. That God decreed al things eternaly to be executed in time and creats no mo nor fewer Souls then predecreed and as they becom stained by union 2. That his Decrees are just and immutable nor is it unjust to unite pure Souls with sin-tainted Bodies 3. Though he made al Decrees at once in respect of himself yet must they be effected or executed successivly in respect of the things as his decree to permit sin and deriv it by one to al Mankind subservs to the decree of Election and Reprobation 4. When Adam received integrity he had it as the root of al whence his righteousnes is stiled original and we were created in him just after Gods Image 5. His disobedience and fal was semblably ours becaus the Precept Thou shalt not eat belongs to al in him the Stock-father 6. His transgression being the Head is justly imputed to us as Members and the coruption of Nature or proclivity to evil inflicted as the penalty thereof This Saint Paul plainly proclaims in the Antithesis betwixt Adam and Christ whos Rom. 5. 15. righteousnes wherby we are justified hath two parts 1. The Grace or gift which with remission of sins by his obedience is imputed ours 2. Regeneration or Renovation of Nature as the effect So original sin is Adams disobedience imputed to us together with its guilt and corruption of Nature not only a sin but a punishment on al which sinned by his fal 7. When the Soul is said to be stained by union with the Body 't is not meant properly by any Physical impression but so soon as both are united a man is formed to whom the guilt of Adams sin is instantly imputed and by it a propension to al evil inevitably folows becaus the Command and Commination was given to al Mankind in Aâ—am Thus he is driven to decline sins inhesion inferring that the Soul is not infected by the Body as Wine by a muâ—y Cask but by union of both a Man is born Adams son to whom his disobedience is only imputed but the corruption or contagion imposed as a puâ—â—shment by divine decree and not by any action of the Body This is a kind of Gallimaufry how sound let Divines define but certainly original sin is inherent in the principles of Nature like Gehezais lepry in al Adams Progeny and not imputativ only Hinc lolium infoelix â—vae hinc oriuntur aâ—verbae Hence baleful tares doo sprout From hence
the maners of the Mind and Faculties of Soul depend wherin Children may resemble their Progenitors though in countenance complexion or constitution more like to strangers so ther is no certain or convincing Argument for Traduction to be taken from such variable observations Ob. If aformativ faculty in seed to build the Body proced from Parents Souls then doth also an animific virtu to produce the Soul But al sides grant the one Ergo the other folows For if Parents Souls impart to it a power to prepare a place that power is able to beget a Soul Sol. The formativ animific or rather Prolific faculty preparativ to sit the matter for union proceds from Parents Souls but not procreativ to beget a Soul being only able to build the bodily part and make it ready for reception of the Soul when it shal be infused Repl. This seems a meer Postulatum without proof not rendring any reason why 't is able to prepare a place and not procreat the Soul For what belongs to every Kind cannot sans derogation or disparagement be denied to the noblest Creature but the intire production of Individuals with their principal parts both matter and form pertains to al Species els Ergo to Mankind also Sol. 'T is no disparagement but a dignity that God deigns to creat in Man a divine paâ—t yet he may be said to beget Individuals intire for perpetuity of his Kind viz. praeparando uniendo though he begets not the Soul it self hic murus abeneus esto this is the main Anchor-hold Ob. David saith Man is conceived in sin which either is Psal 51. 5. impressed before the Souls infusion or the Soul corrupted at conception and first creation or an inanimat Embryo the subject of sin or els the Soul is traducted which salvs and saâ—isfies al scruples but the three first are absonous Ergo the last alone authentic Sol. Som say Parents sin committed in procreation is ther meant but that in al lawful Marriages is sanctified and who can cal that polluted which God hath cleansed Others fly to the Souls infusion at first conception which must eeds be els it wil not hold water But most say the very seed is defiled with an hereditary stain as 't is with the seeds of sundry diseases which is not properly sin til the Soul be infused being the sole subject therof â—trum horum mavis for men wil never agree in this intricat Maze Ob. Al Accidents folow their Form nor can subsist without their Subject but vegetation is visible and vigorous in an Embryo before the quickning or motion Ergo the Soul or Subject must needs be ther at conception and consequently traducted or generated Sol. Zanchy answers how orthodoxly judg ye that in building L. 2. de Hom. creat c. 5. Mans Body as it hath first the form of blood next of milk then of flesh and last a human shape so at first is no Soul but only an energy in the spermatic spirits to produce a vegetant Soul when the Embryo livs as a Plant then that Soul perishing the Sentient is generated and that livs as an Animal which being also extinct the Rational succeds or supervens not produced from the same energy nor from Parents Souls but created and infused by God This implies a duple death upon extinction of the two first Souls Others say the Vegetant powers arising from seed spirits and blood are cherished by warmth of Natures Garden the Womb til time of motion but ever after the new infused Soul exerciseth al functions til it brings the Embryo to birth and perfection Thus they are puzled touching the time when 't is infused but certainly the quickning is very uncertain Repl. The proper source and principal subject of al such Faculties is a Soul not seed spirits or blood Ergo either the seed had a Soul begetting energy or they were faculties of the succeding Soul and so subsisted alone without a subject or els are Creatures distinct and remain divided but the two later assertions are gross absurdities and the first rests irrefragable that the seed carries an animific virtu or Soul-begetting energy from the Parents Souls by natural traduction which best salvs the propagation of original sin Sol. Som say thos Faculties predepend on the Seminal Form til infusion of the Intellectual yet how can that being inanimat be the subject of vegetation or motion Or if it were a Soul how did it vanish it died not as Zanchius dreams nor is swalowed up of the succeding Soul nor can ther be any coition or coalition of Souls Others forced by thes pressures hold 't is created at conception which is more tenible of the two exercising hir functions gradualy as organs are apparated and accommodated For that time is fixed but the quickning sooner or later according to the Embryos vivacity and other various contingents but God is not tied to creat Souls upon al human casualties til his set appointed time yea Christs conception at the Angels salutation Ave Maria is cald his incarnation which is the production of his whol Humanity and his Mother went immediatly to hir Cosin Elizabeth then impregnant of John Baptist who being filled with the Holy Ghost caled hir the Mother of our Lord so that he was then Luke 1 43. perfect God and Man at first conception and the Babe leaped in her Womb for joy being before quick as plainly appears Ob. Mans Soul is impure at first conception and the whol Man polluted for what is born of flesh is flesh saith Christ but God John 3 6. creats nothing impure Ergo the Soul is not created but conceived and generated impure from the Parents Souls Sol. God creats the Soul in substance found sans stain but corruption or contagion caled Concupiscence is not of the Father saith S. John but of the World for the guilt of original sin is imputed to the whol Man so soon as both parts are united Ob. Adams Rib was made a complet woman and the Soul therin becam hirs no new being infused Ergo every Soul is not created Sol. The School-men say Eves Soul was created and infused though it be not expressed yet the extraordinary creation of the first Woman extends not to the ordinary production of al others nor is it clear that the Rib was animat or the Soul therof made hirs Repl. In this case it holds for the Infusiasts infer that al Mens Souls are created becaus Adams was Ergo it folows of al Women from Eve Sol. The reason is not semblable for he was the root of al Mankind Male and Female therfore al our souls infused as his was but not she of Womankind so it skilleth not whether hirs was created ex nihilo or diffused from that animat Rib sith 't is not reveled Ob. Christ took his whol Humanity from the Virgin by the Holy Ghosts overshadowing Ergo both Body and Soul cam from hir Sol. He took only Flesh from her which includs the whol
Humanity becaus when the Body is prepared God hath decreed to infuse a Rational Soul This is soon said gratis but by what warrant or wher doth it appear that God so decreed Repl. Flesh animat is Mans whol Nature not inanimat Ergo the Flesh which he assumed had a Rational Soul at first conception Sol. Som say that Flesh was potentialy animat to be indowed with a Soul in du time Others which hold Soul-creation at conception grant it was actualy animat But as she is caled Mother of God in regard of the Hypostatic union though he had only his Humanity from hir So Parents may be said to beget the whol Man in relation to the union which God hath decreed in du time though they beget only the bodily part apt and apparated to entertain the Soul which sufficeth for denomination Repl. The reason reacheâ—h not right sith Men are Parents to Children becaus the whol Nature is derived from them as Christs Humanity was from the Virgin but she is stiled Deiparent not in respect of his Deity which depends not on hir but for the said hypostatic union of both Natures in one Person having his humanity intirely from hir Ergo the Godhead shal be better tied to his whol Manhood by Traduction of both parts then barely to cloth him with inanimat Flesh Beside she is caled Mother of God for the hypostatic union actualy in being but Parents are said to beget a whol Man in regard of the union to com Sol. He had his whol Humanity from hir in maner foreshewed For when the Body is accomplished and accommoded the Soul shal be necessarily instilled or infused in du time which is al that can be answered in this point of the whol Humanity derived from Parents Ob. The Womans seed shal break the Serpents head but Christ fulfilled this promiss and prophecy chiefly in Soul which descended into Hel to lead Captivity captiv and bind the strong Man in his own Kingdom as his body triumphed over Death in his dominion the Grave by his tridual Resurrection for how is he the Womans seed unless he had his whol Humanity from hir Or how can the Body break the Serpents head Or how could this victory be atchieved if his Soul had not descended Ergo he assumed his Soul also from the Woman by the Holy Ghosts cooperation Sol. Divers Divines deny Christs descent into Hel in Soul but that may rest in debat sith it concerns not the production sav only to shew that by it he brok the Serpents head Touching the promiss and prophecy it was performed principaly by his Soul or rather person and that derived potentialy or preparativly from the Woman in manner foretold but primitivly and actualy from God the Creator or Infuser Ob. To bind up sundry bunches of sour Grapes in one bundle If the Soul be created pure how can it be defiled in an instant by inanimat flesh not capable of sin Or why doth God cast his own workmanship into a stinking Prison purposly to be polluted Or how can a spiritual substance be stained by a material mass specialy sith sin inheres soly in the Soul which is primarily guilty by willing or consenting and the Body only in obeying the one activly as efficient the other passivly as Instrument Upon this ground of the Soul created pure and in capacity to be polluted by lifeless flesh Pelagius built his branded Teneâ— That Children are born free from original sin And S. Austin seeking to crush this Cockatrice in the Eg like such as bow or bend a stick back to bring it right broched another error That al dying unbaptized are infallibly damned or deprived of Beatific vision being liable to the lack or loss of Heavenly happines though not to the pain of Hellish torments whence be is stiled durus Infantum Pater Lastly our Protoparents personal sin becam like sap derived from the root participatly ours not by imputation as Zanchy contests but by tru inhesion infecting the whol Nature which hereditary corruption or conâ—agion is contracted linealy from Parents loins Ergo the Soul as seat source and subject is ex Traduce Sol. This Gordian knot many hav essaied few extricated or cut it asunder like Alexander who shadow it with a vele of windy words but no real resolution Som say the seed is stained ex traduce which like levan sours the whol lump and the Soul supervening receivs stain from it as new Must put into a musty cask which the best Divines disclaim For ther can be no proper physical action of material upon immaterial and the Soul shal be polluted passivly only which sufficeth not to make it guilty unless it be a voluntary Agent yea the similitud halts for ther the Vessel taints the Wine here the Soul was first soiled and principal efficient ther both be material here the chiefest spiritual nor can inanimat flesh be capable of sin before it hath a Soul Zanchy and others hold That as Christs righteousnes so Adams guiltines is ours imputativly only but Natures corruption insuing a just punishment by divine Decree Out alas this sin is a lepry cleaving clos to the flesh and consequently corrupting our whol Nature or els could not beget and bring forth such a serpentin spawn of actual sins Peter Moulin professeth plainly that the Soul is not vitiated by the Body for to incarcerat an innocent Creature his own operature in a plaguy Bridewel purposly to be infected repugns Gods Justice and Goodness but sin being a spiritual vice of the Wil first seizeth the Soul before the Body becoms accessary as Adam first sinned in Wil and Consent yer he stretched his hand to touch or cast so sin passeth from the Soul to the Body not contrarily For the maner of spreading He saith God creats the Soul spotless but destitut of supernatural light which Man lost by his fal hence flows or folows perversnes of Wil purblindnes of Mind and proclivnes to al evil even from inordinat self lov not guided by metaphysical illumination and the temper of Body doth much incens or increas this contagion according to every complexion yet are not humors the causes but incentivs to sin nor doo impress or imprint on the Soul but only incline it therto Quot homines tot sensus so many men so many minds but al driven to sundry shifts how sin can be propagated without traduction of the Soul which being granted wil soon satisfy al scruples Repl. This last devise being newest takes best but is scars soundest for sin is an effect of natural corruption which is more then a defect of supernatural illumination and a positiv depravation of Wil far beyond deprivation of Grace Man indeed lost metaphysical light by his fal yet if our Souls be created spotless they must at first infusion be sinless so al the doubts rest intire how they can so suddenly contract this hereditary pollution diffused over our whol Nature unless the Soul bring that stain with it for
Animals but by Gods immediat power in maner aforsaid 9. The Soul being not produced simply by Natures power nor made of meer corporal matter transcends the common condition of al corporeal Creatures and is in it self immortal having God the extern efficient to produce it 10. The Soul being propagated from Parents is polluted with Natures stain contracted from Adams sin which is derived from Parents to Children with the whol Man as the adequat subject of it yet God in no fault sith our Souls are not corrupted by him but from our Parents and our selfs If any cannot conceiv how one Soul produceth another which is the hardest knot let him consider how it can be united to a Body and organized with it which wil allay the difficulty For if Angels hav aereal bodies as many Antients deem or at least are not pure Spirits compared to God muâ—h more may Mens Souls hav such a spiritual composure as meerly resembles Matter and form in Bodies which may wel accord with the maner of propagation prespecified and no way repugn the Souls divine essence If this way oppugn Reason yet 't is safer then that which repugns Religion By this Card our Author sailing betwixt Scilla and Charybdis Conclusion discovered Pachinus a middle Promontory in Sicil as Columbus did Cuba viz. that as the Sun is external efficient in the general generation of al Sublunars beside their internal particular principles so is God in the special production of every Mans Soul beside the peculiar Parents Souls working virtualy in the seed as his pretended premisses prov Which he farther confirms thus 1. Ther is no diametral Conformation difference between Soul and Body but they may be naturaly coupled together For though the Soul be not visible yet hath it a spiritual substance not simply pure but the lowest degree of Spirits prone to unite with corporeal natures and so may be propagated with them as united to them 2. Every Nature the more excellent 't is hath a neerer union with the first Being on which it depends and is more immediatly moved by it whence it folows that the Soul being more excellent and neerer to God then any corporal Creature in which he works more immediatly then others after they are made so he doth in the first production of it 3. Nothing is generated but hath som extern efficient Caus which in Coporeals is the Celical bodies whence 't is said the Sun and Man be get a Man as the Sun and Lion a Lion But the Soul being a Spirit and made at first by God can hav no other extern efficient sav the same immediat power So it may more truly be said God and Man generat the Soul God as efficient and Parents as his procreant instruments to produce what how and when he pleaseth according to his eternal Decree Nor is it absurd that Man hath two extern efficients but rather an honor that God and Nature concur to his generation 4. Mortality proceds not from natural generation but divine malediction for had not Man sinned his Body should be eviternal so wel as Soul Ergo if it were compounded and generated in a corporal way which is not so yet it folows not to make it mortal 5. Whatever hath being immediatly from God cannot be annihilated but by his immediat power which is the tru caus of immortality Hence the Body being produced soly by Natures power doth dy or perish yet the Soul produced by immediat act of the Deity can never dy but by the same power which gav it life Thus it appears that though the Soul be produced as aforesaid yet is it immortal sith 't is neither made of corporal matter nor generated in meer natural maner Nor is God faulty though we be sinful sith being wholy in Adam and actualy one with him our whol Nature is so defiled and Gods pure ordinance in producing Souls depraved that a total corruption passeth in the very conception and we stained with original sin at our very first being To cleer the Case he frames som objections against this middle way 1. Ob. If the Soul be resolved into a first principle of Adams Soul whence al are derived as Mixtils are into Elements it must needs be mortal as al such are Ergo 't is not so derived or els 't is mortal Sol. The comparison is unlike for Mixtils are compact of Elements into which they resolv but Mens Souls not compounded of Adams no nor Bodies nor one of another but of the same nature and so simple as his Nor doth it folow if the Soul be compounded like Elements it must inevitably be mortal for death and corruption coms not from composition or propagation but meerly from malediction for sin the wages wherof is death 2. Ob. If God cooperats with Man in producing Souls he no less rests from his works then in jugial creating them of nothing for the thing is the same and terms little differing Ergo this novity of a middle way to make God the external efficient is very vanity and of no validity Sol. Here is no creation of nothing but production of a thing from former principles Nor doth it repugn Gods creatifie rest to concur in other works of providence government and the Souls spiritual acts nor in assisting its production as an extern efficient which tends only to preserv Mankind specialy sith it hath no mediat maner in ordinary cours of nature sav only Gods immediat concurrence in extraordinary maner 3. Ob. If Man cannot generat his like without Gods special extraordinary help he is in this behalf inferior to Beasts as Traductists urge against Creation Ergo c. Sol. Not so for Beasts beget also by the Heavens help as exterior efficients If then Mans Soul for excellence hath a far sublimer supercelical efficient And he acts so much in generation of his like as other Creatures doo in theirs 't is rather a dignity abov al then any disparagement at al. So this exception holds against jugial creation wherin Man no whit concurs which may seem a derogation but not against natural propagation 4. Ob. If God be immediat extern efficient of our sin-polluted Souls by natural propagation he is Author or accessary to sin rather then by creation Ergo c. Sol. Nothing less for he is only external efficient of the Soul not of sin which coms from corrupt Parents who supply the internal matter of the whol Man wherin sin consists sith generation is not of Parts but Persons it being his just ordinance in nature That as the Tree is so shal the fruit be Sith then he made Man perfectly good at first to beget Children perfect like himself who prevaricated and polluted al his Progeny or Posterity God performs his part stil to confer his efficient power in the perpetual production of Mankind And as he first infused his Soul so he stil concurs in producing it though not in the same sort yet sin is meerly accidental in respect of
perswation be rooted or rivited that both salvation and damnation depends on absolut Decree Ministers may be fit instruments for Politic States to deter People from enormous Offenses but can do no spiritual good nor draw one Soul to God 'T is said the Defenders of this Doctrin are pure pious Men which open no gap to loos life but others pervert the truth to their own damnation So the Epicures in defens of their dogmat that the cheif Good consisted in carnal pleasure said most of their Sects were honest Men but Tully tels them that this proceds rather from their courteous disposition then curiosity of Opinion therfore the force of honesty prevailed more with them then the folly of pleasure which they pleaded for Another Apology is made That though they teach absolut Election and Reprobation yet design not who is elected or rejected but exhort Men to work out their salvation and get assurance of it by good works wherby they excite or encourage not stifle or curb holy honest duties Indeed they doo so But the ignorance of a Mans particular state alters not the case for if I know the Decree is absolut both wais why should I be sollicitous of either sith it can doo no good nor hurt nor can this knowledg at best be infallible in this vally of frailty but is obscured with many clouds of incertity in the point of undoubted perseverance 5. 'T is a Doctrin ful of despair both to them that stand and 5 Reason thos that fal to Men out of tentation and in it But the Gospel of glad tidings is a sweet store-hous of comfort in our worst condition under al changes as S. Paul saith Thes things Rom. 15. 4. are writ that by patience and comfort of the Scriptures we might hav hope Now absolut Reprobation procures tentation for sith ther be many mo Reprobats then Elect the Devil can easily perswade one he is one of the most rather then fewest or at least that al his labor is lost sith the Decree is irrefragable and irrevocable Bucer saith To doubt whether we be predestinat or no is the head of every tentation for he that doubts cannot confide he is caled or justified So every Man must presume he is elected To what end then is S. Pauls exhortation Work out your salvation with fear and trembling 't is a Gorgons head to affright or amaze the Tempteds fancy that the strongest arguments of consolation applied with the best art cannot avail Gods lov to Mankind Christs death for al the caling of sinners without exception of persons and al other motivs are easily eluded by this Opinion Suppose a Minister and tempted Soul talking thus Tempted Wo is me I am a cast away utterly rejected from A Dialog Grace and Glory Minister Be not danted poor afflicted Soul God hath not cast thee off he hates nothing which he hath made but lovs al Men and thee among the rest Temp. God hates none as his Creatures but many as sinners and lovs al Men with a general lov affording his outward temporal blessings only but not his special lov of eternal life which he shews to a very few his chosen ones wherof I am none Min. Yes he lovs al so as to desire their eternal good who would hav al to be saved and none to perish nor thee in particular Temp. Al is taken for al sorts or calings of Men high low rich poor bound free som of al which shal be saved but not al Individuals of thos ranks nor me in particular or if he wils in his Word to sav al yet by his secreâ— Wil he decrees millions to be damned wherof I am one Min. Nay but Christ cam to seek and sav what was lost and is a propitiation for the sins of the whol World Ergo for thy sins to sav thee Temp. The word World implies a World of Elect wherof I am none not al Mankind yet if he died for al it was only dignitate pretii by the worth of his ransom not voluntate propositi by the intention of his redemption that al should be saved Min. God made a universal Covenant with Man in the Mediators blood intending it to be shed for al and promises to sav every one that beleevs excluding none except they refuse Temp. God purposed his Son should dy for al profering and promising remission of â—ins to every one but on condition if they wil repent and beleev which he decrees that far the greatest part shal not doo Min. God means truly that al who are caled shal repent and beleev that they may be saved being caled by the preaching of the Word to knowledg of the Truth Temp. God hath a duple Cal an outer by the Word preached in Mens ears an inward by irresistible working of his Spirit in the heart which he vouchsaâ—s to a few secret ones only wherof I am none Thus no sound solace can accru by this Tenet The sole solid grounds of comfort to a dejected Soul are Gods lov to Mankind Christs death for al and the new Covenant of Grace which three he that applies wisely may easily releas or reliev the Tempted But such as hold absolut Reprobation â—oc Com. p. 526 cannot doo it Melancthon saith The universal promiss of Grace and Salvation is a Christians sole Bulwark in this combat of tentation let us not therfore leav Christ and seek for an Election out of the Word Again As 't is needful to know that the promiss of Salvation is free so 't is necessary to take notice that 't is universal against som dangerous doctrins of Predestination This he thought to be the only tru Balsam to cure a wounded Soul for thes three Gods Lov Christs Death the universal Promiss are directly contradictory to the tentation which cannot stand with an absolut antecedent Wil Intention or Decree to cast off the greatest part of Maâ—kind of meer free pleasure as if it were his sport or delight what ever quirks or quiddities are vented or invented to sully or shadow it If two contradictories cannot be tru he that proveth the truth of one disproveth the untruth of the other as he that confirms this Proposition God wil hav al to be saved beleev repent and be redeemed to be tru makes it â—leer to every understanding that the contradictory God wil hav most Men to be absolutly and inevitably damned is flatly fals and so raiseth or relieveth a tempted Soul from distress For demonstrat to a Man who fears himself to be an absolut Reprobat that ther is no such but every one that repents and beleevs shal be saved therfore his fear is fancy and doubt a dream then you driv out one nail with another and expel the terrible tentation This is the pure Nepenthe of a sick sorowful Soul and Alexanders sword to dissolv the Gordian knot Now the maintainers of absolut Reprobation cannot use it against the Replies of the tempted becaus ther is a plain
Devils like Frogs coming Rev. 16. v. 13 14. out of the mouths of the Dragon Beast and fals Prophet working miracles are Papal Emisaries or Ambassadors sent to sommon the Kings and Potentats of the whol World to the battel of that great day of God Almighty wherin the Dragon shal assist the Beast and fals Prophet with al his warlike powers worldly plots and wily policies but the seven Angels poured out their seven Phials of Gods wrath The Woman in rich attire sitting on a Scarlet Beast ful of Rev 17 v 3. c. names of Blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns on whos forehead was writ a Mystery Great Babylon Mother of Harlots drunken with the blood of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus is Romes Papacy which rides on the Empire in the seven headed City being both but as one head the seventh and last consisting of the Temporal and Spiritual State which is even the eighth yet one of the seven reigning jointly together The Man which sat on a whit Hors in Heaven caled the Word Rev 19 v 11 c. of God who was clothed with a Vesture dipt in blood having on it and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords is our Lord Jesus who shal smite the Nations ruling them wiâ—h a rod of iron and subdu al with great slaughter The Beast and fals Prophet which shal be tormented in a lake Rev 20. v 10. of fire and brimstone for ever is the whol Papacy and Antichrist the Pope head of that State or Society The holy City new Jerusalem prepared as a Bride adorned for Rev. 21. vers 2 hir Husband is the Company of Elect ever ready to receiv hir Bridegroom or best beloved Lord. The Lambs Bride or Spous that great City holy Jerusalem is Ibid. v. 9 10. Christs Militant Church on Earth which jointly with the triumphant in Heaven makes Christs Spous Thes new notions of names forty four in number never vented til now wil if wel digested make the meaning more obvious in most mysteries Many mo circumstantial terms are sparsed in the Text which are amply unveled in the insuing Commentary but this short Index shal serv to lead strangers steps in this Labyrinth Analysis Apocalypseos The Apocalyps Analysed THree principal parts are considerable 1. The Preface Analysis Part 1. which is both general of the whol Prophecy noting the Matter Pen-Man and Profit and special relation to the seven Asian Churches and in them to the Catholic Church wherin is a nomination of the person writing and thos writen to with a salutation of them and description of Jesus Christ 2. The substance and Body of the Book which contains a narration of the Churches State both Militant and Triumphant The Militant is deciphered at present as it was when John wrot and for future as it shal be at last day The Triumphant is declared both for the inchoation at general Judgment and duration to eternity 3. The Conclusion which confirms the whol Prophecy 1. By an Angels testimony who shewed it to John from the Lord 2. By Christ who testifies it to be tru and amplified by Johns earnest request on the Churches behalf 3. By John who denounceth direful judgments on al that shal ad to or take from it with a salutation to the Saints at end of al. The particulars of the Church Militant exhibit two points 1 Vision Ch. 1. 2. 3. 1 A Vision of seven golden Candlesticks and seven Stars signifying the Asian Churches 2 A description of thos Churches in seven Epistles directed to the Bishop-Angels of thos seven Seas in al which is one current constant form observed which imports 1 A description of Christ Jesus sutable to his Vision 2 A narrativ of the good commendable or evil culpable in every Angel and Church 3 Promises or menaces proportional to their Virtues or Vices 4 An exhortation to attend things writen to the Churches The Churches State for future specialy in Europ is more mysticaly unfolded which is to premonish hir of grievous persecutions by Tyrans Heretics and lims of Antichrist against al which the holy Ghost givs many comforts That God wil be with her in al distresses whos tribulations shal terminat in short space but hir Enemies shal perish and she in fine set safe or secure in the life to com al which things are pointly or precisely expressed in six Visions one after another Thes are comprised in two Prophecies or Systems Ch 4 〈◊〉 11. of Visions contemporar the first begins with the sealed Book the last lasts to the end of Apocalyps taking in som passages of five Trumpets viz. the litle Book the measuring of the Temple the out Court not to be measured and fate of the two mourning witnesses The Churches future estate is reveled in a mysterious Vision 〈◊〉 Vision Ch. 4. of a Book fastned with seven seals wherin is comprised a preparatory to open them which displais God 's sitting on a Throne in Heaven with his Ensigns or Emblems of Majesty viz. twenty four Elders and four Beasts Lightnings Thunders Voices Trumpets seven Lamps which are his seven Spirits a Sea of Ch 5. glass like Crystal and Songs of prais by them al to him that sits on the Throne The sealed Book held in his right hand which none was worthy or able to open sav the Lamb shewed to John the Churches future state til the worlds end In the seventh seal are Ch. 6. presented seven Trumpets and in the last seven Phials of Gods wrath ful of the last seven plagues or punishments The first Seal shews a whit Horse the secund a red the third a black his Rider bearing Ballances in his hand the fourth a pale his Rider death with Hel folowing at heels the fifth the Martyrs Souls under the Altar crying for vengeance which had whit robes given them with promiss of complet glory when their felow Brethren should be fulfilled The sixth sets forth Gods direful Judgments on the Churches Enimies attended with dreadful signs viz. A great Earthquake the Sun becam black and Moon as blood the Stars fel to Earth Heaven departed as a scrole and every Mountain and I le moved out of their places Herat Kings great Men cheif Captains Bond and Free even al Persecutors fel to despair hiding in Dens desiring the Mountains and Rocks to cover them from the Lamb. The seventh contains more Mysteries then any viz. A Vision 3 Vision Ch. 7. Ch. 8. of seven Angels with seven Trumpets as shal be specified but the holy Ghost comforts the Church and an Angel seals Gods Servants in the Foreheads as a sign of their deliverance At opening wherof was half an hours silence in Heaven betokening great things to com and the Angels addressed to sound The first sounded And Hail mixd with Fire and Blood insued which burnt a third part of al green things At sound of the secund A mighty Mountain burning with
drunken with the blood of Saints sitting on a scarlet Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns which can be no other then the Roman Empire and thos States over which the Papacy bears sole sway 8. That the real destruction of mystical Babylon and consummation of the Beasts whol Kingdom with al their Complices or Confederats is the Harvest ripe to be reaped into which the Son of Man shal speedily thrust his sickle to cut it down And the Vintage or Wine-press also of Gods wrath ready to be poured on them 9. That the whol Papacy with Antichrist Head of that Society is the Beast and fals Prophet which shal be tormented in a Lake of Fire and Brimstone for ever wherto to the Devil is to be cast 10. The Papal Emissaries Priests Jesuits Friers and other Shavlins are the three unclean Spirits of Devils like Frogs coming forth from the mouth of the Dragon Beast and fals Prophet to work miracles who are sent to the Kings of the whol World to gather them unto battle of that great day of God Almighty in Armageddon Al which premisses are largely and lucidly proved in the previous Comment if impartialy perused and imprejudicatly pondered Els ask your Ghostly Fathers on whom ye rely for the food of life lest they giv poison for milk what other Babylon or great whore is meant but Rome or which is the great City that made al Nations drink the wine of hir Spiritual Fornication What Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns on whom the Whore rides beside the Roman Empire Who is the two hornd Beast like a Lamb which spake as a Dragon and who the fals Prophet or Antichrist but the Pope What Image of the seven hornd Beast is ther except the two hornd or who revived that Image sav Pope Leo 3 What other name or mark of the Beasts Folowers so apt as Roman Catholic and Oath of Papal Supremacy What fitter number of the name 666 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether Iconolatry be not larved Idolatry or Diabolatry and whether be any warrant for it in al Gods Word What woman els richly attired sitting on a scarlet Beast with seven heads and ten horns can be typified if not Rome or on whos forhead is writ Mystery sav in the Popes triple Diadem or to whom doo the words great Babylon Mother of Harlots drunken with the blood of Saints any way consort or correspond but only to the Papal power which hath shed the innocent blood of many millions meerly for matters of Conscience and Religion O then lay thes things deeply to heart as ye tender your saâ—ing health Com out of Babylon betimes while 't is caled to day lest siding with hir in the same sins ye partake of hir everlasting plagues and punishments What plainer description can St. John giv of the woman in glorious garments Here is Rev. 17. 9 12 13. 18. the Mind which hath Wisdom the seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sits and ten horns ten Kings who receiv power one hour with the Beast thes hav one mind and shal giv their strength to the Beast The Woman is that great City which reigns over the Kings of the Earth If then ye wil be wise to salvation serch the Scriptures seriously and sincerely which are therfore interdicted to Laics lest they should see what the Woman is which sits on seven Mountains and many waters importing multituds of People under hir power or what the mighty City Babylon mentioned Rev. 18 al Read Rev. 18. incessantly which chapter is worth perpetual perusal Hir Merchandise ther specified is Gold Silver pretious Stones Pearls fine Linnen Purple Silk Scarlet Thyin Wood al sorts of Ivory Vessels of pretious Wood Brass Iron and Marble Cinnamon Odors Ointments Frankincens Wine Oil fine Flour Wheat Beasts Sheep Horses Charets Slavs and Souls of Men. In hir was found the blood of Prophets Saints and al that were slain on Earth Now ruminat hereon what City els makes Merchandise of Mens Souls or is drunk with Saints blood 'T is too too evident to every ey Therfore listen what the Angel saith aloud If any Rev. 14 9 10 11. worship the Beast and his Image or receiv his mark in forhead or hand he must drink the Wine of Gods wrath poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation and shal be tormented with fire and brimstone in presence of the holy Angels and the Lamb and the smoak of their torments ascends up for ever and ever They hav no rest day or night who worship the Beast and his Image or receiv the mark of his name That is be reconciled by the Oath of Papal Supremacy The holy Ghost in al thes Prophetic predictions doth not pourtrai Chymaeras or Mathematical fictions but real places and persons which can no where be found in Vtopia or al the World over sav only in that great City which hath for so many ages reigned as Empress over Nations both in hir temporal capacity and spiritual This Rev. 18. 4. then is a fair forewarning to the Beasts Folowers or Roman Catholics how dreadful dangers hang over their heads unles they speedily shun his society as al Gods People by voice from Heaven are bid to doo O then renounce hir communion for fear of this direful commination sith it so much behovs your eternal bliss God of his goodnes grant that we may at last be brought into one fold or unity of Faith under one Shepherd of our Souls the sole Mediator al sufficient betwen God and Man Which effect if it shal pleas God to produce in al or any that shal read thes lines the labor is happily emploied For a surplusage hear Mr. Medes deep disâ—urs touching the Supplement origin of Idolatry or Doctrin of Devils Belus Bel or Baal son to Nimrod was the first mortal Man made a God or Deified by his son Ninus from which first Bel or Baal al other Demons were denomined Baalims as the Romans stiled their Emperors Caesars from Julius the Egyptians their last Kings Pâ—olomes from Lagus and other Nations theirs in like sort Plutarch tels that Mens Souls after death took divers degrees becoming first Heroes as Probationers to a Demonship and after Demons or a sublimer dignity as they deserved but Heroes and Demons diffred only in antiquity the elder Heroes being caled Demons and contrarily Soul-Demons or Mortals Deified after death are like Saints whom Papists adore and their Images as Heathen Idols but the other Numens Jupiter Mars Sun Moon parallel to Angels The Gentils plead or pretend they worship not stocks and stones the works of their own hands but the Heroes or Souls in them as the Israelits adored God in the golden Calf So Papists assume the same Apology for Iconolatry that they worship not the Image but thing represented Nam Deus est quod Imago docet sed non Deus ipsa Hanc videas sed mente colas quod cernis in illa
less then twenty four hours becaus al time to God is but as a Day to Man In the interim many puzzeling questions may be proposed to them 1. Whether the holy Martyrs and chosen Confessors to com Interrogaâ—s with Christ shal multiply their generations in subordinat successions like the Saints then living here If so then must they marry and giv in mariage which scars sutes or sorts with glorified bodies 2. Whether thos then living shal surviv al thos yeers and not tast of death but be only changed at last day If so then shal they exced Methusalah and al the Protopatriarchs in longevity 3. Whether their Progenies shal be al elect vessels being none of Gog and Magogs race which are to be destroied both Bodies and Souls If so then is Christs Flock no litle Fold sith their Ofspring wil multiply incredibly in one thousand yeers 4. How so many millions of millions can be maintained whether miraculously as Elias was or by industry as al others If so then must every particular person provide for himself sith al servitud wil be cashired 5. Wher such numberless multituds shal inhabit whom the Earth can hardly contain much less sustain Whether al must cohabit in new built Jerusalem to eat and drink at Christs Table wher Infidels shal assiege them or scatteredly abroad wher they shal be subject to the Enimies swords Whether they shal be invulnerable and incorruptible to slay thos with whom they wage war yet never be hurted How they shal liv so gently with al sorts of Serpents and wild Beasts yet hold hostility with Men Lastly how the natures of al Animals shal be so miraculously Metamorphosed as not to fear Mans face nor to feed on prey but al liv familiarly one with another on the same foods Beside sundry such scruples touching eating drinking sleeping voiding excrements and other works of Nature simply in themselfs sinless Haply they wil answer with a vulgar Proverb One Fool may ask mo questions then many wise men can resolv therfore let this by business be buried in silence lest they sting my long ears Stulte cave quid agis noli irritare Crabrones Fool what thou doost take heed Stir not the Hornets breed Be wise or wary too many such nests are roused already and mo wil be when thou ministrest more matter of wrath by future provocation Mr. Burton and som of his Brethren allege a few Fathers Fathers to countenance the Chiliastic caus yet no Sects so much slights or scorns the Antients as they but infinit authorities may be mustred to the contrary were it not lost labor For deaf Adders wil not be charmed nor self wedded Sectists informed or reformed Such as desire to know the primitiv Churches verdict herin may consult St. Austin L. 20. de Civ Dei and L. Vives commentary but let al wise sober Christians reject such vain doctrins or delusions which tend not to amend maners or sav their Souls expecting with patience our blessed Saviours secund and last coming in the Clouds to Judgment not to a temporar reign to begin A. 1650. 1655. 1695. or ad Graecas Calendas being stil prepared like wise Virgins with oil in their Lamps to meet the Bride-groom and sing St. Johns Epithalamion Even so com Lord Jesus the grace of our Lord Rev. 22. Jesus Christ be with you Amen which being the last per close of holy Bible shal be the final upshot or Catastrophe of this harsh Scene sav a Supplement touching their cheif Coryphee Mr. Mede who is much more cautious and curious tho alike Mr. Mâ—â—â— veracious then the rest Therfore his scattred speculations shal be carefully collected and faithfully presented to public examen whos principal proofs are almost al answered plenarily in the premisses 1. The Millenar doctrin was so general in the next age after Apostles that Just Martyr saith both he and al Orthodox beleeved it yea Irenaeus Tertullian Lactantius Cyprian and others defended it from St. Peters words One day with the Loâ—d is as a thousand yeers but it was soon decried or discarded being not rightly understood or corrupted in som circumstances which drew Men diversly into Factions so that the Antichiliasts being pressed with pregnant proofs from the Apocalyps which they could not answer suspended that Book from the Scripture Canon til they found shifts of a spiritual and corporal Resurrection and other such to elude thos places and then allowed it 2. Justin in his Dialog to Trypho a Jew speaks thus You ask whether we seriously confes Jerusalems restauration and expect the gathering of Israel with their Tribes Patriarchs and Prophets or gâ—ant it only to gain us I answer That many pious Professors with my self sincerely assert it but others not so Orthodox deny it For som prophane Atheists and Heretics who blasphemed the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob saying ther is no resurrection gainsay thes things but we know and beleev both a Resurrection of the Body and a thousand yeers reign in Jerusalem which shal be reedified and inlarged as the Prophets testify Isaiah saith Ther shal be a new Heaven Isai 65. 17. 22 and Earth the dais of my People are as a Tree of Life Which last words plainly point out the thousand yeers For God said to Adam In that day thou eatest of the Tree thou shalt dy but he did not accomplish a thousand yeers We also know that saying one day is as a 1000. yeers to be to the same purpose For a certain Man with us caled John one of Christs twelv Apostles prophecied by Revelation that Christs faithful Members should fulfil thos yeers at Jerusalem when the last Judgment and general Resurrection shal be of al jointly together Ergo 'tis no new Opinion 3. The Rabins say the World shal dure six thousand yeers as it was created in six dais the seventh thousand shal be the great day of Judgment or reign of Messiah So R. Ketina the World lasts six thousands yeers and in one it shal be destroied of which 't is said the Lord only shal be exalted in that day Isai 2. 11. 17. Psal 90. 4. David saith a thousand yeers in thy sight are but as yesterday which later Rabbins understand of the general Judgment to be a thousand yâ—ers and then ensues an eternal Sabbath but they differ as Christian Sects doo in divers dogmats at what Millenium this day shal be The School of R. Elias makes the Judgment day the last Millenium of their six thousand but others assign a seven thousandth for that day Hence St. Jerom chargeth Chiliasts with Judaism as a chief brand of error yet to hold their Opinions in tru Tenets as of Paradise Gehenna the World to com c. is not culpable no more then to maintain the Trinity with Papists but to reject al wil harden and exasperat them The 92. Psalm is intitled A Song for the Sabbath wherin is nothing but rest so Tradition agrees that as every seventh
treats only of the Bodies resurrection or immortality of Men who shal liv again He means thos Patriarchs were immortal becaus God in meer grace confers eternal life on the faithful who tho dead liv stil to God being writ in the Book of life with thos that are absolved of their sins to reviv at resurrection but not by any property consequent to Mans essence or Soul For to make it a living entity independent after separation on the Body and in it self immortal or that any Man is immortal except Enoch or Elias hath no cleer warrant Job 14. 10 12. in the word Job complains of Mans mortality by nature Man dies and wasts away yea givs up the Ghost and wher is he Down he lieth and riseth not til the Heavens be no more Which 2 Pet 3 7. 13. St. Peter shews shal be at the universal Resurrection when the Heavens and Earth shal be dissolved by fire but new expected according to promiss wherin dwels righteousnes So wher Job saith Man riseth not til the Heavens be no more 't is as if he said immortal life for Life and Soul in Scripture sens is the same begins not in Man til the Resurrection or day of Judgment and the caus of it is Gods promiss as St. Peter tels not Mans specifical Nature or Essence Now sith Gods Kingdom is a civil Common-wealth wher he-self is Soveraign by virtu first of the old and now since of the new Covenant it evidently appeers that when Christ shal com again in Majesty and Glory to reign existently and eternaly his Kingdom shal be on Earth as God was in Israel So Gods Enimies and their torments after Judgment shal be on Earth for the place wher al remain til the Resurrection is usualy stiled in Scripture under ground in Latin Infernus or Inferi Greecly Hades wher Men cannot see or dy implying the Grav so wel as any other deep place but the damneds place after Resurrection is not designed in al holy writ by any note of situation but only by their company wher such wicked Men were whom God in miraculous maner had cut off Touching Hel 't is no real place in any part of the created Hel what World but a Metaphorical word signified by wicked Men ther being 1. 'T is caled Infernus Tartarus or bottomless Pit from Corah Dathan and Abiram swalowed alife into the Earth 2. 'T is said to be under water becaus the Giants mighty Men in Noahs dais caled Greecly Heroes were drowned in the Deluge 3. Becaus Sodom and Gomorrha consumed by Fire and Brimstone becam a bituminous Lake 't is caled a Lake burning with fire and brimstone which is the secund death So Hel fire is expressed by Sodoms fire indefinitly Rev 21. 8. taken for destruction as 't is said Death and Hel were Rev. 20. 14. cast into the Lake of fire or destroied for after the last day Men shal dy no more nor go into Hades 4. 'T is termed from Egypts triduan deep darknes utter or extern darknes viz. without the habitation of Gods elect which is ful of Light 5. Neer Jerusalem is the Vally of Hinnon in part wherof caled Tophet the Jews most Idolatrously sacrificed their Children to Moloch wher they cast out their Carrion and to clens the Air made continual fires whence Hel is caled Gehenna or Vally of Hinnon and from thos incessant Fires cam the name or notion of everlasting unquenchable Fire Now none is so sensless to expound any of thes literaly as if the damned after rising from death shal be for ever under Earth or Water both which are but one Globe like a Pins point compared to the Heavens in a bottomless Pit or that they shal be eternaly punishd in Gehenna the Vally of Hinnon or shal liv in utter darknes not one to see another or be scorched for ever with Fire and Brimstone Ergo the meaning is Metaphorical and must be disquired by the nature of the Torments and Tormenters The Tormenters are termed Satan or Enimy Diabolus or Tormenters Accuser and Abaddon or Destroier which significant titles set not forth any individual Persons like proper Names but only an office or faculty and are very Appellativs which should not be left untranslated as they are becaus therby they seem to be proper names of Demons and Men sooner seduced to beleev the Doctrin of Devils then Pagan Religion contrary to Christs So becaus the Enimy in Gods Kingdom of the Jews is meant by Enimy Accuser and Destroier if Gods Kingdom after the Resurrection shal be on Earth the Enimy and his Kingdom must be ther also as it was when the Israelits deposed God and chose Saul sith Gods Kingdom was in Palestin and the Nations round about Enimies whence it appeers that Satan signifies any Enimy of the Church Metaphoricaly it may but is not Satan properly or literaly Quaere Rev. 12. 〈◊〉 a foul Fiend Enimy to Mankind as the great red Dragon that old Serpent was who deceived Eve and since the whol World Are al the Dialogs between betwen God and Satan about Job conterfet Chimaeras When the seventy rejoiced that the 〈◊〉 10. 17. 18 20. Devils were subject to them Christ said I saw Satan as lightning fal from Heaven but rejoyce not that the Spirits are Mat 12. 24. 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. 5. subject to you Here Christ cals Devils Spirits and names Satan as one yea Beelzebub is named Prince of Devils Excommunication 1 Tim. 1. 20. is caled a delivery to Satan is this meant only a Jailor or temporal Enimy Hel torments are somtime caled weeping and gnashing Torments of teeth somtime the worm of Conscience of time fire wher Dan. 12. 2. the worm dieth not which is never quenched but by Daniel shame and contempt Al which Metaphoricaly denote great grief or discontent of Mind from sight of others felicity which they lost by their own disobedience and incredulity but becaus others felicity is known only by comparing it with their own misery it results that they shal suffer such bodily pains and calamities as Men that liv under cruel Governors having God the King of Saints their eternal Enimy Yea beside al torments of Body and Mind they shal likwise endure a secund Death For tho the general Resurrection be evident yet it 1 Cor. 15. 42 no eternal life promised to Reprobats St. Paul to the question with what Bodies Men shal rise saith 'T is sown in corruption and raised in incorruption sown in dishonor raised in glory sown in weaknes raised in power but Glory and Power cannot comply to wicked Mens Bodies nor the name of secund Death apply to such as can never dy but once Howbeit tho a calamitous everlasting Life may Metophoricaly be termed eternal Death yet can it in no property of speech be stiled a secund Death Everlasting fire prepared for the Damned is an estate wherin Secund Death none can liv after the Resurrection
without torture of Body and Mind in which sens it shal endure for ever unquenchable and the torments endlesss Yet it folows not that he so cast in shal so endure or resist it as to be eternaly burnt and tortured but never dy or be destroied Yea tho many places prov everlasting fire and torments into which Men may be cast successivly one after another for ever yet none assert that any individual Person shal perennaly abide or endure therin but he shal hav an everlasting secund Death For when Death and the Grav Hel hav delivered up the Rev. 20. 13 14. dead in them and every Man judged according to his works Death and Hel shal be cast into the Lake of Fire this is the secund Death Hence 't is cleer that every Reprobat condemned at general Judgment must suffer a secund Death after which he shal dy no more But what is meant by Mind so oft iterated if not Mans Quaere Soul The jois of eternal Life are comprised in Scripture under Eternal Life the name of Salvation or being saved which signifies to be secured either respectivly against special evils or absolutly from al as want sicknes death Now becaus Man was made immortal or immarcescible and fel from it by sin it results that to be saved from sin is to be freed from al evil and afflictions acquired by the same Ergo Remission of sin and Salvation from death and misery is al one As when Christ Mat. 9. 2 5. cured a Paralytic Man saying Friend be of good cheer or comfort thy sins be forgiven the Scribes said within themselfs he blasphems but he asked whether 't is easier to say thy sins be forgiven or arise and walk Yet he used that form of speech to shew he had power to remit sins which implies that 't is al one to the saving of the sick to say thy sins are forgiven or rise and walk For sith death and misery are punishments of sin the discharge of it releaâ—eth the other two being absolut Salvation such as the elect shal enjoy after the Judgment day by Christ Jesus favor who for that caus is caled our Saviour Touching particular Salvations from enimies or miseries 't is needless to treat but becaus the general Salvation must be in the Kingdom of Heaven ther is great debate or difficulty about the place Becaus Kingdom is an Estate ordained by Men for security Kingdom of Heaven against enimies and want it seems this Salvation which sets forth our Kings glorious reign by conquest not a safety by escape shal be on Earth For wher we expect Salvation we must look for Triumph Victory and Battle in order which cannot be supposed in Heaven and wher els we must serch the Scriptures Isaiah largely describes it To be at Jerusalem Isai 33. 20. c. a quiet habitation a Tabernacle not to be taken down The Saviour is Our Lord Judg Lawgiver King The condition of the saved is The People that dwel therin shal be forgiven their iniquities By this 't is cleer that it shal be in Jerusalem wher God shal reign at Christs next coming and fil up the Salvation of Gentils which shal be received into his Kingdom for ever Isai 66 20 21. Isaiah more expresly declares it That the Gentils who had any Jews in bondage shal bring them from al Nations on Horses Charets and Litters to Jerusalem the place of Gods John 4. 22. worship As our Saviour told the Woman of Samaria that Salvation is of the Jews or begins at them As if he should say ye worship God but know not by whom he wil sav you we know it shal be by one of Juda and not a Samaritan This Rom. 1. 16 17. St. Paul explains The Gâ—spâ—l is Gods power of Salvation to every one that beleeveth to the Jew first and also to the Greec Joel 2. 30 32. So Joel describing the Judgment day saith God wil shew wonders in Heaven and Earth Blood Fire and Pillars of smoke wherto he ads In Mount Zion and Jerusalem shal be Salvation Obad. v. 17. c. So saith Obadiah On Mount Zion shal be deliverance and holines Jacobs hous shal possess their possessions which he particularly points out by The Mount of Esau Land of Philistins fields of Ephraim Samaria Gilead and Cities of the South concluding thus The Kingdom shal be the Lords On the other side no plain pregnant place provs the Saints Ascention into Heaven sav that 't is caled the Kingdom of Heaven which was becaus he governed the Israelits by commands sent to Moses from and after sent his Son as he wil again thence or els that his Throne is Heaven and Earth his Footstool but that his Subjects or Servants shal sit so high as his Throne or abov his Footstool sutes not with the glorious Majesty of so great a King Al thes Kickshews of arguing from similituds which he Answer derides in others are soon satisfied that his subjects shal not sit on his suprem Throne as Coequals or Coordinats but only dwel as Princes Servants doo in their Palaces in his holy John 14. 2. Hous of Heaven This saith Christ hath many mansions being infinity it self wheras not a tithing paâ—â— of Mankind can possibly find place to stand on a new Earth or finit world Three Worlds are specified in Scripture 1. The old before Noahs flood wherof St. Peter speaks 2. The present of 2 Pet. 2. 5. which Christ saith My Kingdom is not of this World 3. That to com of it St. Peter saith We according to his promiss look for new Heavens and Earth which is that World wherin Christ coming in the Clouds with great glory shal send his Angels to gather the Elect from the four Winds or utmost parts of the Earth to reign over them under his Father everlastingly Thus he But wher is the World to com taken for a Real material Quaere World as the other two be 'T is not Cosmos or Mundus venturus but Seculum vita vel Aevum futurum the Time Life or Age to com Nor is ther any warrant in al Gods word for thos last words that Christ shal reign over the Saints â—iz on Earth under his Father everlastingly but that they shal reign with him 1000. yeers as Chiliasts contest Touching Understanding he saith 't is only imagination Understanding raised in Man or any Animal that can imagin by words or signs which is common to Man and Beasts As a Dog by use understands his Masters cal or check with sundry strange tricks by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calture so doo divers other kinds yea som 〈◊〉 to speak but understanding peculiar to Man is not only to know one anothers wil but his thoughts or conceptions by the consequents of things Names into affirmations â—eâ—ations and other forms of speech of which he wil treat elswher For Witchcraft he holds it to be no real power yet are
Aio Negas Nego a property of self-secking turn-coat Parasits becoms no tru Scholar nor ever harbored in my candid Dov like habitation the worth of Mutâ—â—m aâ—â—ilium your work wil shine the better and brighter by this foil or at least spread farther Opposita juxta se posita magis melius elucescunt and my Book haply wil be more esteemed becaus it brings such dainty exotic fruits and excellent flowers from your ful furnishd Eden When Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Alban intended to divulge his Instauratio Magna to new model al liberal literature he sent a MS. copy to crav Sir Thomas Budleis accurat judgment on it who after perusal highly commended as indeed it deserved both stile stuf and structure but told him the world would never want new Devisers and old Readers like Carriers horses could not leav their beaten Road being more addicted to antiquity then novity the application is obvious and superfluous Of later ages many Mr. withers and others men hav translated Davids Psalms into English meters seeking a priviledg to print them with our Bibles instead of thos allowed by Queen Elizabeth but could never obtein so base a Monopoly savoring more of filthy lucre then Scholastic ingenuity King James compiled a Translation but neither he nor his Son caused it to be inserted in the Bible sith new things seldom excel the old I wish you would revise or examin my excerptions not exceptions as Aliens and not your own to see what faults you can find in the Positions so wel as misprisions that fitting retractations may be made by your self or me or both in future Editions or new Additions for al men are too partial and obnoxious to errors To recapitulat the points that I dissent in are 1. That mans Summary Soul is an immortal substance first inspired by God into Adam and ever after produced successivly one from another though most Divines differ from us both by virtu of the general benediction to Increas and Multiply in their kinds but not life or breath only which as an accidental quality or effect of the Soul vanisheth ceaseth and perisheth with the Body That after separation from the Body by Death it subsists in Heaven or Hel for ever whereas al Essential parts els extinguish with their Bodies 2. That Church government belongs to the Clergy or Ecclesiastic Hierarchy being a Body distinct but subordinat from the Civil State 3. That the real kingdom of Heaven Gods high Throne wher Christ sits at his Fathers right hand in glory shal be the Elect Saints eternal Mansion wher they shal enjoy the beatific Vision or blessed presence of the sacro sanct Trinity face to face eviternaly 4. That Christ shal reign or remain in this Kingdom of Glory for ever resigning the Kingdom of Grace or Government of the Church to his Father that God may be al in al but not in any new finit World on Earth sith after the general Judgment al shal be infinity Your other Tenets touchig Gods Kingdom in Israel by contract or Covenant that Hel Hâ—lfire Torments Tormentors Satan Devil Accuser Dâ—sticier and such like are meant Metaphoricaly which al Divines take realy for the Vally of Hinnon caled Gehenna Bâ—imstome Lake of Sodom and Gomorrha the Churches Enimies or temporal Foes but no real Fiends which fel by pride that Christ never dispossessed any Men of Devils but only hâ—aled their bodily diseases or violent maladâ—es that ther is no Demonology Sorcery Witchery or Witches yet such justly deserv death for their fals opinion and wiâ—ked intention to doo mischief if they could which is hard Justice that suprem Soveraigns in al Stats whether legal Successors by long lineal Ancestry or late Conquerors and Intruders by power or policy are to sway al matters of Religion by their decrees dictats or directions both in defining the Canon of Scripture and al Articles of Faith wherto People must simply submit or implicitly obey whatever the civil Magistrat shal impose or innovat in Doctrin or Dâ—sciplin which is contrary to what they are taught that in such cases of Conscience they must rather obey God then Men. This the stubborn English wil scars subscribe whos contumacy was such against our last King that they rooted out him and his posterity upon pretext of Tyranny wherwith the mutinous male-contented multitud usualy brand or blast al their Roial Rulers Indeed Men ought with the noble Bereans to sift or serch whether thes things be so or no els al Common-wealths shal be stil Subject to put on new Masques or Visors of Religion at their Princes pleasures as Camaeleons change colors wheras Catholic constancy even with loss of life was ever esteemed the best blessed seed to sow Christian soil either under Pagans or Papists as our Marian Massacres make manifest but versatil wits like Weather-cocks can turn every way or with every wind to serv turns as Proteus is fained to vary Nunc violentus Aper nunc quem tetigisse timeres Anguis erit Now a fierce Bore fearful to see Next Snake horrid to touch hee 'l be Al the premised Positions with som other suspected Novities I touch not nor trench upon but commend them to the Readers free judgment If you wil deign to accept thes bold addresses or advertisments from an old Dotard who intends them fairly sans scandal or scurrility in good part you shal shew a laâ—dable disposition and liberal education according to the tru intention as they are tendered for the public behoof or benefit of the literary Republic if not I hav discharged my duty Docte tuum Nomen colo magnopereque recordo Si modo veridicus vis humilisque fore Noli Animam violare tuam nec tollere nostram Quam simul Authorum comprebat omne genus Nec tunicam spoliato tuam renuendo Ministros Jure suo Gregibus posse praeesse suis Nec Christo Sanct is Terrestria pradia finge Qui modo celsa Dei Coelica regna tenent Nec Tropice reputa Reprobos descendere ad Orcum Nec Coelum Electis detrahe post obitum Parce mihi mea si Theoremata redderâ— certo Justis vindiciis sospita ab omne malo Audeo non verbis contendere viribus impar Artibus Ingenio Literulisque bonis Unius haud oculus licet integer omnâ—â— cernit Multa scienda sapis tu resipisce tamen Learnd Sir your Name I lov and weigh greatly If you 'l embrace truth and humility Doo not your own Soul wrong nor ours take away Which Authors of al sorts maintaind alway Nor doo your Coat desile right to deny That Pastors hav power their Flocks to rectify To Christ and Saints fain not Earthly mansions Who now posless Gods Heav'nly habitations Nor deem the Damnd go t' Hel Tropicaly Nor Heaven after Death to th' Elect deny Spare m' if I to guard thes Theses contend And by just means from al il to defend I dare not striv in words being short in