he might well have bin propagated without sin But the assumption that this could not be is no lesse apparent if for no more but this that if it could no question it should For God and nature doe nothing in vaine and wee cannot deny the truth of that saying Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora So that either this extraordinary worke of the holy Ghost was in vaine or else Christs soule was not immediately created 6. The confession of the adversaries Lastly For the confirmation hereof I will only adde one reason more taken from the reasoning of the Adversaries unto this Doctrine who therefore prove the holy Ghost not to be Christs father though he overshadowed the Virgin because the matter of his humanitie was not from the holy Ghost but from the Virgin From whence I might conclude First That Christs soule comes not immediately from God for then the greatest part of his humanitie should have beene from the holy Ghost because all externall workes of God are common to each person in Trinitie Secondly 2. That his soule was taken from the Virgin for they say his humanitie was whereof I am sure the soule is the principall part yea that without which it cannot be humanitie But that which I doe especially conclude from hence is that if the holy Ghost cannot be Christs father because he gave not the matter of his humanitie Christ cannot be the son of Adam nor David according to the promise no nor the son of man and so no Saviour unlesse he receive the matter of his humanitie whereof the soule is the chiefe part from them And herein indeed they speake the truth for it is impossible to be a naturall father to that whereunto we give not the whole matter yea and forme too as wee shall see when wee come to the rules of nature which God hath instituted and from whence the truth of this is also to be fetched How Christ was true man I conclude therefore that Christs whole humanitie both soule and body was traduced from Adam that is deduced out of his substance though not after the common manner but seperated from the person of the Virgin onely by the miraculous worke of the holy Ghost which useth to be takē from both sexes in ordinary generation And though a soule cannot by the power of nature be produced of one soule no more than a body yet it being performed by supernaturall power it is a true soule no lesse than the body is a true body and both together makes a true man no lesse than Eve was a true woman whom Adam called bone of his bone Gen. 2.23 and flesh of his flesh even his other selfe-woman although shee was taken onely out of man For that which the Apostle spake in a spirituall sense is true also litterally that Wee are members of his body of his flesh of his bones Eph. 5.30 consequently so is he of ours which could not be if he had not the true nature of man though taken out of a woman onely as well as Eve who was made onely of a man yea much more because she was immediatly made perfect at the first and he conceived of seede formed nourished and brought forth by degrees like unto us in all things excepting onely the manner of his first conception that so he might be free from sin And here let us stay a little to behold and wonder at the admirable correspōdency yea double concordancy in the four-fold production of mankinde to wit in Adam and us Eve and Christ immediately and mediately after this manner A double harmony in the four-fold productiō of mankinde Adam made immediately without man or woman Other men mediately both of man and woman Eve partly both waies of man and woman Christ also both wayes of no man but woman Thus by the same authoritie that they would prove our soules created of nothing Conclusion because Christs was I can prove they were not because his was not yea by so much more as there are abundance of Scripture and reasons to confirme this and none of all for but against that CHAP. XXIII That Christs humanitie was never clensed from sinne The puritie of Christs Incarnation COncerning the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ it is cōmonly said that the holy Ghost did sanctifie a part of the Virgins substance which was then assumed by the divine nature to make the person of Christ Which words must be warily interpreted and wisely understood for by a part we are not to understand a part of her body onely but of her whole person aswell soule as body whereof his humanitie was formed and by sanctifying we are not to imagine cleansing it from sin but only the consecrating it to this holy purpose and endowing it with gifts fitting such a divine union The former is already proved namely that his whole humanitie both soule and body was taken from the substance of the Virgin and the latter how thus it could be free from sin wee are now to shew For the ground whereof I will first prove 1. that it was not cleansed from sin 2. and then shew how he could be incarnate without sin The former I will prove first 1. because it could not be sinfull and secondly 2. if it had beene sinfull it could never have beene sanctified That Christs humanitie was not sinfull The first that that part of the Virgins substance which was assumed by the divine nature was never sinfull may appeare First Because all substances as they are meere substances were created by God exceeding good have their dependance on him yea even the substance of the devils themselves Secondly Meere substāce cannot possibly be capable of sinne because that cannot be without a personall subsistence knowledge and will to encline and move it selfe to good or evill which meere substance simply considered cannot doe whether it be of the soule or body Thirdly Sin is not essentiall to the nature of man but onely an accident or evill qualitie cleaving to the person of him in whom it is and so cannot properly be said to the substance of mans nature Fourthly Even evill affections and actions themselves though they be so called are not simply sinfull but the man that commits them For not the matter of the action which proceeds from God but the will and intent of the doer makes it to be sinfull Now if those be not much lesse can the bare substance of man be sinfull but onely the man whose substance it is Fifthly If every part of mans substance should be sinfull then it followes that the haires upon our heads are even infected with it and much more such abortives as perish before the soules infusion and consequently must all rise at the day of Judgement againe to suffer without Christs sarisfactiō infinite punishments None therefore is to be accounted sinfull but onely that
which necessarily serves to make up the perfect person of a sinner and so much so is sinfull and must and shall be punished in it selfe or Christ Sixthly There is no law given to substances but to creatures not to parts but persons neither can any other be accused condemned or convicted of sin Now where no law is Rom 4.15 there is no transgression saith the Apostle not simple parts therefore but onely persons can be sinfull Seventhly It is manifest it could have no actuall sin and originall sin is not of that nature as was before shewed that it cannot come to us neither by the soule nor body nor union of both if it be created and by propagation onely if it be propagated for which cause Christ onely was freed from the ordinary course of propagation Lastly If meere substances be sinfull it cannot be shifted but Christ was infected with originall sin for his substance was in Adam in as much as he was his sonne and so by this doctrine must needs be sinfull This doctrine not so well cleared of old But this seemes to be graunted by Divines and therefore they say that the holy Ghost did in the same moment that it was assumed cleanse that masse whereof his body was made from sin and so it was sanctified from the first conception in the Virgins wombe Whereof we give this reason that it became not the eternall sonne of God personally to assume unto himselfe a nature stained defiled and polluted with sin And farther they say that indeed Mary was a sinner but the masse of flesh which was taken out of her substance was at the same instant sanctified by the operation of the holy Ghost So that it is graunted that the substāce wherof Christs humanitie was made was sinfull before it was assumed This point not being so well cleared hath much troubled the Church in former ages being assailed with divers dangerous errours why else did the Marcionites and Manichees hold that Christ had an incorporeall or heavenly body which was not takē from the Virgin but only passed through her and what else caused Apollinarius to hold that Christ had no humane soule but only a body which was insould with the deity but to free him from sin 2. If it had been sinfull it could never have been sanctified That we may therefore fully cleare this truth from all such phantasticall opinions I deny that it can be truly and properly said that Christs humanitie was ever sinfull And not onely for the former reasons but because if it had beene sinfull it could never have beene sanctifièd the Sonne of God could never have beene incarnate nor any man ever saved For who should have purged away that sin the holy Ghost nay there is one onely Mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 and it is through his blood that wee have redemption Eph. 1.7 even the forgivenesse of sinnes Col. 1.14.20 and it is the blood of his crosse that reconcileth all things 1 Pet. 1.2 And againe Heb. 9.22 it is the sprinkling of the blood of Christ that giveth power to the purging away of sin and therefore also it is said that without shedding of blood there is no remission So that the bloud of Christ onely cleanseth from sin Yea but the holy Ghost also sanctifies It is true Obj. Mat. 3.11 Ioh. 3.5 Rom. 8.14 the holy Ghost doth now sanctifie the elect purg out sin infuse grace but all by vertue of Christs redemption For if he had not first I meane in the order of nature takē away the guilt by his bloud no man could have been sanctified by the Spirit Now this he could not doe by his own humanitie for it was impossible that he shuld purge sin by that blood which he had not therfore if it had been necessary that Christ should have takē away the guilt corruption of his own nature which could not be but by the same nature taken before he tooke it it had been impossible that ever Christ could have bin incarnate Yea but God is omnipotent True Obj. 2. but his omnipotency cannot work cōtradictions such is this we must take heed therefore how we hold this lest at unawares we shut out Christ from being a Saviour and our selves and all other from salvation by him Now then if his substance was never sinfull the worke of the holy Ghost herein was not to cleanse it from sin but to seperate that which was not sinfull in it selfe from a sinfull creature that so being free it might be assured by the divine nature subsist in the person of the same CHAPTER XXIV How Christs Incarnation was free from corruption How Christ was free from sin THis ground being laid wee have a faire way opened for the freeing of our Saviour Christ from sin in every respect although his soule and body came from Adam as well as ours which we shall more fully conceive by shewing how it was 1. How free and why it was so 1. His person free For the first seeing neither the substance of soule or body can be sinfull as it is substance but as both together are a person for as much as Christs soule body is no person but as it is united with the divine nature he namely his person never was and so never could sin in Adam And thus is his person free If then it be said that though his person was not His humanitie free nor could sin in Adam yet seeing his humanitie was in him and came from him else he were not true man that must needs sin in him It cannot possibly be neither 1. From imputation For as is said his humanitie without the divinitie never was a person and not being a person but substance only 2. By propagation he is thereby exempted from the common condition of men and originall sin could not justly be imputed unto him 3. His substance in the Virgin free Neither could it be propagated because he was conceived after an extraordinary manner without man and thus is his humanitie free also If it be further said that though he be not sinfull as Christ nor yet as having the meer substance of man yet he must needs be sinfull as his substance was belonging to the person of corrupt Adam in whom it was and afterwards to the sinfull Virgin that cannot be neither For though it were sinfull as a part of their persons yet as it was so it was none of his Christ never assumed the person of the Virgin for one person cānot be another though sin were not but he tooke her nature or substance only which because it was good in it selfe though sinfull as hers the holy Ghost did seperate it by an unusuall course from belonging to her person and so being by it selfe it was sinlesse and then it was instantly assumed by the eternall Word and so made the
to know how the soule is made before it is when we cannot conceive what it is after it is made For albeit we know it is a spirituall substance truly subsisting yet what manner or metaphysicall matter it is impossible for any man to conceive Nor seeing we doubt not but that we have soules though we know them not and are no whit troubled that we doe noâ— know them why should we doubt or thinke iâ— strange because we cannot 〈…〉 their originall which 〈◊〉 â—â—â—s be harder than the â—â—â—er Reasons why the Sâ—â—les originall cannot perfectly be known 〈…〉 ignorance should more trouble than the know 〈◊〉 â—ill 〈◊〉 is good if reason 〈…〉 saâ—â—â—ed with reason I 〈◊〉 make 〈◊〉 appeare tha◠〈◊〉 â—ot onely reasonable so to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—mpossible it should be othâ—â—wise For first there is no perfect knowledge to be had of any thing in this life Whatsoever hath any being hath sâ—â—h a secret deâ—â—â—dance on God the first â—â—ing as no man is able to câ—â—â—â—end And if it be so in those things w◠〈◊〉 best known unâ—â—◠〈◊〉 mâ—â—h more must it â—â—â—â—â—s 〈◊〉 in those things whiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—ye least knowledge of Secondly the soule is a spirit and spirits are ever more difficult to judge of than corporall substances not being subject to sense as anon we shall see Thirdly the soule is an incompleat spirit being but part of a creature And therefore more difficult to be knowne for as is the thing knowne such is our knowledge of the thing if that be imperfect our knowledge is imperfect also and therefore by like reason the soule being an incompleate spirit we can have but an incompleate knowledge of it Fourthly this question concernes the existence of the soule Now the existence of any thing is harder to know then â—he essence and consequently â—hose questions that concern the â—xistence are more difficult then â—hose that concerne the essence And therefore if it be impossible â—or us in this life perfectly to know the essence of the soule it must needs be so much the more impossible to know the originall What knowledg men have of spirits And to make yet this more plaine to every mans apprehension let us a little compare the faculty of knowing with the nature of the things to be knowne For as the consideration of the faculties of spirits doe not a little helpe to finde out their natures so by the nature of the soule we shall better judge of this faculty of understanding And first touching the whole man we know that man is a mixt creature consisting of two natures soule and body which are sweetly united to make up one compleat creature The body indued with senses to receive the images of all corporall things and the soule furnished with a faculty of reason which appreheÌ„ding those images doth discourse and draw consequents from them according to its own ingenerate principle of reason whereby it gets Knowledge of causes and effects which sense cannot attaine unto This being the onely naturall way of mans knowledge Hence it commeth to passe that when we come to discourse of spirituall natures the knowledge of which lyes not through the senses but is gotten onely by the rationall power or force of reason that is in man We are put out of our naturall accustomed way and so being halfe lost wee wander in uncertainties without any perfect knowledg or such as might content the nature of man And this I take to be one reason why we are so dim-sighted in spirituâ—ll things The soules knowledg of it selfe Againe to come more closeâ—y to the nature of the soule we know that whatsoever excelâ—encies are in inferiour natures are much more and much more perfectly in those that are superiour Whence it is that the perfections of other creatures are much more perfectly in man and chiefly in the soule of man And those vertues which are in mens soules are after a more excellent manner in Angels and all perfection most perfectly of all in God Now as their natures are so also are their faculties and therefore in like manner the knowledge of inferiour natures is comprehended by the superiour but never the superiour by the inferiour I meane properly and naturally For because the soule knowes by certaine spirituall Ideas or abstracted species which being grossely taken from the senses are perfected by degrees as they come neerer the soule hence it is that the knowledg of things according to the manner of out knowledge is a more intellectuall apprehension of them and so of an higher nature than the things themselves that are knowne Whence it appeareth that it is impossible for the soule to know it selfe properly or perfectly yea of so well as it can inferiour natures If it be said if the soule be thus ignorant of it selfe how then doe men know Angels both men and Angels God being superior natures First Although the soule cannot know it selfe 1. Reflexion according to that proper and naturall way of knowledg whereby it knoweth other things yet it knoweth it selfe by reflexion that is by beholding its owne image in the effects as it were in a glasse but this knowledge is but a shadow in comparison Secondly I answer the soule knoweth Angels 2. Comparison and both men and Angels God two wayes First by the inferiour secondly by the superiour it selfe By the inferiour so by consequents of reason drawne from sensible things we conceive something of spirits both our owne soules and Angels and by the image of God in his creatures we conceive something of him also But especially we know the superiour by the superiour it selfe 3. Infusion And so both men and Angels know God by union with him that is by the working of his holy Spirit abiding in us of which nature is that immediate vision of God which the Angels injoy in heaven and the Saints somewhat taste of on earth To know that which knowes impossible By this which hath been said it appeareth that properly to know that by which it knows is impossible for any creature because to know that is to be above it selfe and to have that which it hath not This therefore is proper to God alone whose essence and knowledge is both one and all other natures by the superiour comprehend the inferiour As for example we see in the senses for as the sense is so is the understanding the eye sees but it cannot see that it sees Beasts know but they know not that they know they know by sense those things that ate inferiour and subject to sense but how they know that is by sense cogitative the highest perfection of their nature they know not For that is to be comprehended by a higher perfection that is by reason and thereby indeed men know how they know but how they know that even themselvs doe not know otherwise then by the effects and by way of reflexion but the thing it selfe that is the essence of
right therein proceed wee now to their titles and so if it be possible to find out the truth in this most intricate questioÌ„ viz. whether the soul be naturally propagated from Adam or supernaturally created by God Not generated If we say the first it must needs be generated of the soule or of the body if of the body then it will follow that it is by nature corruptible and so not immortall And if we say it is spiritually produced of the soule that seemeth contrary to reason unlesse we should overthrow the excellent nature of the soule for if it be a spirituall and immateriall substance indivisibly subsisting by it selfe how can it be that one should ingender another Besides many other inconveniences would follow thereupon as afterward we shall see Not created Now if on the other side we say that they are daily created by God of nothing besides the oppositioÌ„ that this hath to Gods first institution of nature whereby all things were setled in a course to increase and multiply of themselves and God hath rested from the works of creation ever since it is no lesse opposite to divinitie For if this be true it cannot be conceived how there can be any originall sin without impeachment to Gods Justice Originall sin denied by some of the Ancients Whenee it is that not onely the old Anabaptists the Pelagians and our new Pelagians the Anabaptists holding that the soule is immediately created by God deny that there is any originall sin otherwise then by imitation but even divers of the antient Fathers seeme to be of the same minde and not onely Hierome and Chrysostome Zan. de operibus par 3. li. 2. c. 5. thes 1. but as Zanchy wintnesseth this was the chiefe reason that moved the chiefest Divines and most famous Doctors of those times to choose rather to hold the propagation of the soule than to fall into so many absurdities as follow upon â—he former Doctrine And as â—hey could not see how these two could stand together so neither can I see how it can be seene Not cleared by our moderne Divines Nay I dare say farther themselves that hold this opinion themselves cannot see it clearely neither can they herein satisfie either themselves or others As appeareth plainly first 1. because throughly urged they put it off by accounting it a curious question and so restraine diligent searching under a colour of modesty 2. Secondly they plainly confesse they cannot satisfie such 3. Thirdly they urge exhort us to faith without reason 4. Lastly they turne us from searching after the originall to make a good end with it and that indeed is good counsell but in the meane while if this opinion be contrary to the truth and staineth God by consequence they must give others leave to doubt and to dissent For as it is ridiculous folly to neglect quenching to finde out who fired our house so it is a great wickednesse to lay it upon him that did it not 1. Not by the soule For if the soule comes immediately from God the question is how we come to be defiled with originall sin this infection cannot proceed from the soule for if God created it he maketh it exceeding good and it is not good to say God forsakes it before it sinnes or it sinnes before it comes into the body or God punisheth for anothers fault a good soule for a mans sin 2. Not by the body Againe it cannot be polluted by the body for neither can the body be sinfull without the soule nor yet if it could could the divine nature of the soule be corrupted by the body and if it could be yet not with originall sin 3. Not by union Neither can it be by the union of both for that is done by God And how can it possibly stand with Gods Justice to put a new created soule that is good and without sin into such a condition as wherein it shall be straight way liable to eternall damnation for the fault of another that doth nothing perteine unto it or how can it belong to a good soule newly created of nothing that not a soule but a man some thousand yeares since sinned Neither will it availe any thing to say it is created in the infusion and infused in the creation for that is all one as if we should say in plainer word It s made in the marring and marred in the making for being a spitituall substance and nature distinct from the body if it come from another principle it must have a proper existence of its owne before it can be made part of another and if not in time yet in nature I am sure it must first be before it can be united to the body Neither can it helpe to say it is Cods decree for that cannot be proved and being unjust is most justly disproved 4. By neither by law of Iustice insufficient But the last and best refuge is that originall sin passeth neither by the soule nor by the body but by the offence of our first parents who standing in the roome of all their posteritie as looke what gifts they ieceived was no lesse for their posteritie than for themselves so what they lost they lost also for their posteritie And therefore in the instant that God createth souls although he creates them good yet for Adams sin he deprives them of those supernaturall gifts which otherwise they should have had which deprivation although it putteth no evill into the soule yet evill necessarily followeth and hence is Originall sin The reason why This indeed comes somewhat nearer the matter for if it be granted that the soule is not propagated from Adam it must be granted withall that we are not guilty of Originall sin simply because wee proceed from Adam but by some other means as namely because he stood in our roomes and we are men as he was but yet this will not serve the turne neither For first it stands not with the Justice of God that Adams sin should be imputed to us any other way then as it is our own 1. It must be our owne that is as we sinned potentially in him it being Gods just ordinance in nature Rom. 11.16 that all things should be potentially in their principles and pertake of their natures secondly 2. Not by imputation onely it is confessed as the truth is that originall sin is not onely by implication as this is but also by propagation yea I will say more and yet according to the truth that it is not by imputation 3. Chiefly by pâ—opagation but onely in respect of propagation For if wee could be without sin of our owne as a new created Soule is his sinne could not justly hurt us True it is that God may justly punish all mankinde for the sin of Adam yet this is and must be his posteritie onely neither they for his sin properly
Ezek. 18.20 for the son shall not beare the iniquitie of the Father but because by his sin they are made sinfull or rather sinned in him and so for their owne sin are justly subject to the same punishment So that in truth propagatiō is the main if not the onely streame of originall corruption Now if wee receive onely the least parts of our selves that is our body from Adam which cannot be the subject of sin not onely because it wants the soule but because not parts but whole persons sinned in Adam how can this satisfie any reasonable man that it is possible for us to be guilty of Originall sinne if the soule comes immediately from God CHAPTER V. The meane chosen and the question resolved Further satisfaction needfull THis therefore is a most profound question full of wonderfull difficulties this is that intricate Meander and that endlesse Maze wherein St. Augustine wandered all his life long and could finde no issue and to conclude this is that wherein Divines to this day have rather shewed their modesty in not searching than their judgement in determining the truth If not rather too much searing least they should seeke too farre they have thereby failed in finding But how soever it is very commendable to walk soberly herein yet we may not through too much modesty leave a gap open to be trodden downe by the feet of beastly Atheists and therefore notwithstanding it is a Labarinth where it is hard to wade out safely yet we may and must indeavour to give satisfaction in such a needfull question The Authors apologie for this singularitie And here I most humbly crave leave to step a little out of the cōmon path or rather to make the same path straight which as to me it seemeth is a little crooked in this place bearing out against Philosophy on the one hand and Divinitie on the other and if force of reason doe not prove my assertion I will willingly beare the blame that is due which yet I hope cannot be much though I should erre First because it is a most difficult point wherein the greatest Clearkes can scarce tell which way to turne themselves Secondly because the premisses being confessed it can be no fundamentall errour Thirdly being in the meane it must needs be confessed neerer the truth at least them that which hath yet beene maintained by the most wise and godly of the antient Fathers in former ages Fourthly those opinions which I oppose were never maintained as necessary doctrines but onely as probable opinions Lastly I am not peremptory much lesse obstinate but willing to submit to better judgements and propound this onely by way of tryall as one that would gladly be a means to find out the truth How man propagates man That we may therefore saile even between this Scylla Charibdis seeing we see it can neither be meerely propagated by man nor yet immediately created by God my conclusion is that it is partly from both That is to say that the whole man consisting of soule and body doth propagate a creature like himselfe consisting of the same parts by vertue of that efficacious word of God in the beginning increase and multiply and the concurrence of his own immediate power therewith And that therefore God hath set a stedfast law in nature for the generation of mankind both soule and body as well as other creatures But yet partly mediately and partly immediately Mans propagation naturall himselfe having a more peculiar worke in this than in any other For besides this generall providence in conseiving the naturall order that himselfe hath instituted as the nature of the soule is more excellent Gods act in the production of the soule so answerable thereunto the act of his providence is more immediate therein than in any other creature whatsoever And thus the soule may be propagated as well as the body after a manner convenient to either nature God having so much in it as to make it immortall and man so much as to make if sinfull yet not as if there were any separation in their generation Soule and body not to be divided the body of the body onely and the soule of the soule onely for this is but to multiply difficulties without end no man being able to say directly here it is either for the one or the other but the whole of the whole generation being not of parts but of persons For nature it selfe teacheth that neither soule nor body can properly be said to be generated but the creature consisting of soule and body neither is there any thing that seemes to me more absurd than that when God and nature hath thus conjoyned them the Scripture alwayes speaking of the generation of the whole man and nature we see alwayes bringing forth the whole we should notwithstanding make a seperation fetching one part from heaven and another from earth and then vainely tyre our selves to bring both ends together againe How the soule is propagated of the soule Now if the soule and body may not be seperated in this case much lesse should we take upō us to assigne the proper cause of every effect herein and yet because such is the curiositie of mans nature that it will not otherwise rest satisfied if we must needs in reason distinguish what in nature cannot be severed I should thus determine The essentiall causes distinguished That the parents by Gods immediate assistance doe out of their owne spirituall nature informe their issue with a reasonable soule in the instant of conception for the preservation of humane kinde So that I conceive the power of God to be the externall efficient cause 1. Efficient who as he made the first soule immediately of nothing so by reason of the purity of it it can have no other externall efficient cause but his owne immediate power The procreating cause is the parents 2. Procreant who are as instruments in Gods hand to bring forth what how and when he please according to his own eternall decree The materiall cause is the spirituall matter of the parents souls 3. Materiall It will be said the soule is immateriall be it so then I say the soule is made of that matter which is immateriall For though it be not corporeall yet it is spirituall and being a spirit and not a body it is rather an act than a matter Mark this mystery so that according to the course of nature I confesse more is to be ascribed to the efficient cause yea so much that the latter is almost extinguished in the former And hence it is that though the soule be congenerated with the body yet by reason of the pure nature of it God being the efficient it is as neere to a creation as possibly it can be and as it were a meane between creation and propagation 4. Formall Touching the formal cause as it selfe is the forme of the body or rather
of the man so it s owne form is the specificall difference or individuall existence which it hath as a reasonable soule in the coÌ„mon nature of man proceeding from the concurrence of all those causes 5. InstrumeÌ„tall And herein that body or rather the corporal seed the perfection of the body especially the pure spirits therein wherewith the soule naturally unites it selfe 1 by reason of sympathy and familiarity which is betweene them becomes an assisting or instrumentall cause Lastly 6. Finall the finall cause is the preservation of mankinde and his owne glory by them according to his first institution Now all this is done in conception soule and body beginning both in the same moment of time Time and neither being before or after other And thus we may conceive how the soule is propagated of the soule after a spirituall manner as the flame of one Lamp lighteth another by promotion or multiplication being blowne by the power of God Simile and sed with the oyle of the animall spirits And that this may not seeme strange Conclusions concerning the soules originall before I come to the proofe of it I desire that these few Conclusions might be considered 1. Of the union of the body and soule First that there is no such diametrall opposition betweene the soule the body but that they may be naturally coupled together Indeed the soule is far from such a grosse visible substance as the body is compounded of yet is it not without some spirituall kind of substance and that not altogether simple Neither doe I think the creatures of God to differ so much in kinde as in degree Besides it is manifest that the soule is of the lowest degree of spirits and not onely capable of but coveting union with corporall natures and so according to the course of nature may as well be propagated with them as united with them Secondly 2. Of the union of the soule with God as any nature is more excellent so it hath a neerer union with that first being wheron it depends is more immediately moved by it Now because all natures doe subsist and are sustained more or lesse immediately by that first being according as their natures are neerer unto it or farther removed from it answerable whereunto the worke thereof is more or lesse immediate in them Hence it followeth that the soule being more excellent and confequently neerer to God than any corporall creature can be as he workes more immediately in them than in others after they are made so by like reason it followeth that he doth so in their first propagation 3. The efficient cause in generation Thirdly there is nothing generated in the world but it hath some externall efficient cause Now this in corporall generations all grant to be the heavens which being of a more excellent nature send downe their influences to inferiour creatures by vertue of which next unto God they continue their kinds But the soule being a spirit is above all corporall creatures and being made by Gods owne immediate hand onely at first it can have no other externall efficient but the same immediate power still So that whereas it is commonly said Sol homo generant hominem it may more truly be said Deut homo generant aniâ—nam Neither is it absurd that man should have two efficients it is rather an honour that God nature should concurre together in his generation 4. The true cause of mortality Fourthly Mortality proceeds not so much from generation as divine malediction For had not â—an sinned it is confessed that â—he body should have beene immortall as well as the soule Alâ—hough therefore the soule were compounded and generated after a corporall manner without any immediate act of GODS power none of which are true yet if would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall 5. The cause of immortalitie Lastly Whatsoever hath the being immediately from God cannot be annihilated but by the same immediate power so that it is the act of his immediate power that is the proper cause of immortalitie and hence it appeareth that though the body which is produced by the power of nature onely may dye and perish yet the soule whose production is not without an immediate act of the Deity can never dye but by the same power omnipotent by which it lived How man is sinfull and the soule immortall Thus then it appeareth that though the soule be propagated in the manner aforesaid yet it is neverthelesse immortall since it is neither made of any corporall matter nor produced onely by the power of nature and God is never the more faulty though wee be sinfull because being wholy in Adam according to the just law of nature so sinning potentially in him he with us and we with him being then actually one the whole nature of mankinde is thereby so corrupted and this pure ordinance of God in producing soules so defiled that corruption passeth in the very conception and we are stained with originall sinne and so are liable to Gods eternall wrath Psal 51.5 Eph. 2.3 Rom. 11.16 Mat. 7.18 Gal. 6.7.8 so soone as we begin to be It being a just and necessary law in nature that as the roote is such are the branches and look what the tree is such must the fruit be CHAP. VI. Scriptures to prove the soules immediate creation answered The methode and reason of it HAving thus declared the manner of the soules creation or rather procreation for the better satisfying of the sober minded and silencing such as shall be wilfully contentious it behooveth me in the next place more fully to explaine prove the same Wherefore after this generall entrance having presumed to determine this so intricate a question that wee may have the freer passage my next indeavour shall be to cleare the same by removing out of the way such obstacles and objections as may seeme to oppose it And the rather because they are such as whereby I shall best explaine my selfe and shew that it may be so and so afterward prove the more clearely that it is so and thereby also take away that prejudice wherewith mens minds are forestalled before I proceed to the proofe of it Objections marshalled Here therefore I must first encounter with a whole army of Arguments that seeme to be set in battaile aray against me and then pitch a new field of reasons to maintaine what I have spoken The arguments that come marching against me seeme to be ranged in two severall battalions the former mainly intending to fight for the immediate creation of the soule the latter altogether against the propagation of the soule Those that most establish the soules immediate creation are of two sorts partly Testimonies of Scripture and partly reasons drawne from them Being thus greatly beset with enemies I have notwithstanding great hope of victory not onely because I have before well
of a part onely unlesse a woman may be a womā without a soule as some silly ones have foolishly imagined Fourthly Gen. 2.22 Zan. de operibus par 3. li. 1. c. 1 Gen. 2.23 those that hold the contrary opinion yet graunt that God did not onely take out the bare bone only out of Adams side but some flesh together with it which made Adam to say this is not onely bone of my bone but flesh of my flesh And it seemeth an unlikely thing that being done instantly by the almighty power of GOD he should take out a dry and dead bone onely and not the life spirit soule that was in it after the manner of the soules being in such a substance together with it Now it he tooke it thus whole together as it was the soule not being shut out of any part of the body how easie is it to conceive how God might miraculously in the first creation seperate the whole matter of her person from Adam onely and so of that bone as of a living body produce a new creature in a short time which now in longer time usc to be seperated from both sexes and so perfected by degrees in naturall generation yea why may not this originall affinitie between the two sexes give strength to the course of nature in producing more by uniting them againe in generation Fifthly This is the more probable because herein we have a clear type of Christs incarnatiō whose whole humanity as we shall herafter see was also miraculously made of the substance of the virgin onely as Eves onely of Adam a man of a woman onely as a woman of a man only both being insensible of it and as is probable both asleep◠when it was done Lastly when she was brought to Adam he confessed that shee was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh that is of the same humane nature that he himselfe was both for soule and body and also taken out or him Neither needed he to say soule or my soule for flesh is usually put for the whole person as where even in the same book it is said All flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6.12 which notwithstanding is chiefly in regard of the soule And least any should doubt of it he presently addes Shee shall he callea woman because shee was taken out of man where he plainly affirmes that her whole person was taken out of man and for that cause was named woman which cannot possibly be understood of the body onely I will therefore hereunto subjoyne the forgoing words of our Saviour Let no man seperate what God hath joyned together Mat. 19.6 and conclude that her whole person as well soule as body was taken out of man So that in this also that of the Apostle is true God hath made all of one blood even Adams Act. 17.26 Wherefore from this reason I also conclude the contrary that seeing in all probabilities Adams soule was of such a nature as thereon could be made another and ours are of the same nature that his was it is not absurd but very likely that others may be made of ours also The third and last reason of any weight is 3. that Christs soule was created of nothing and he is like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted ergo c. But first if it be necessary 1. From the creation of Christs soule that wee should be like unto him in all things except sin then it would follow that we should be conceived by the Holy Ghost as he was for that was without sinne especially if he might have been conceived without sin without that worke as by this doctrine it seemes he might as afterward wee shall see 2. Secondly it is not yet proved that Christs soule was immediately created of nothing yea it may be denied by the same reason for then wee should not be alike to him in all things except sin If it be said that if Christs soule had beene traduced by ordinary generation it must needs have beene sinfull I graunt it and therefore I say it was that his conception was extraordinary and supernaturall for it being impossible in nature for a Virgin to conceive without man therefore this was brought to passe by the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost who seperated a part of the Virgin for that purpose and supplied what was wanting in nature by supernaturall power which is signified in that it is said Shee was overshadowed by the holy Ghost But although he was not conceived after the manner that other men are that so he might be without sinne yet it followeth not from hence but his whole humanitie both soule and body might be made of the same matter that other mens are so as he be not corrupted with sinne Which how it may be we shall heare in the proper place where this also shall be brought as an Argument to prove the contrary so weake are objections against the truth Lastly Though it should be granted that Christs soule was immediately created by God as the first Adams was because it could not be propagated after the manner of mankinde without sinne yet it would not follow that all ours are therefore so as they collect Nay the contrary plainly appeareth for for the same cause that his must be created immediately to be without sinne ours must be mediately that they may be sinfull and tor the same cause he cannot be propagated without sinne we cannot be sinfull unlesse propagated And thus much for the Scripture and reasons drawne from them to prove the immediate creation of soules Whereby all men may see upon what weake grounds this opinion is fatherred upon the Scriptures And now I am to encounter with the other troope of Arguments taken from the impossibilitie of the soules propagation CHAP. VIII Whether propagation can stand with the spirituall nature of the Soule Objection ordered From the probabilitie of the Creation proceed wee now unto the impossibility of the propagation of the soule And indeed the reasons oppugning the soules propagation are very many and forcible and such as doe sufficiently prove that man cannot of himselfe alone without some more special work of God propagate his like as beasts doe theirs 1. From the nature of the soule The reasons that wee may not be confounded with the number of them are either such as do more specially respect the nature of the soule not without some respect to propagation or else such as doe more specially respect the nature of propagatiō not without some respect to the soule But before I come to the particulars the generall answer to all may be this 2. From the nature of propagation That all naturall reasons are taken from corporall generations and so doe onely prove that soules cannot be propagated as bodies are which is not denyed For neither doth the body propagate the soule neither yet is it propagated after a bodily manner but the whol
opinion of Origen was justly hissed out long agoe So that though no soule is produced by the body yet no soule is produced without it Secondly it is not to be thought that any soule is produced by the body otherwise then by an assisting cause or causa sine qua non whether wee consider the body generating or generated but this I say that the soule is not brought forth without the seede of the parents and yet not by that as it is corporall onely but as there is soule-seede or rather spirituall power in it And thus the soule shall be no lesse able to subsist by it selfe although it be not propagated without the body then a childe shall not be able to live after the death of his parents by whom it was brought forth into the world and as it is not generated so neither can it be corrupted by the body Lastly it cannot be said properly that the soule doth subsist by it selfe alone so long as it is united to the body for according to the course of nature it cannot doe so but after the death of the body for as much as it is not made of mortall seede nor produced meerely by the power of nature and therefore cannot die it cannot doe otherwise but must but must of necessitie subsist by it selfe alone without the body 6. It cannot be hurt by the body Of the same kinde is that objection that as the body cannot corrupt or hurt the soule so much lesse can the soule be propagated by the body For if it be absurd to say the soule is infected with sin by the body because that which is corporeall cannot worke upon that which is incorporeall much more absurd is it that the soule should be generated by the body But this also falleth beside without hurting for though the soule cannot be generated of or by the body which I also confidently affirme yet this is no impediment why it cannot be produced out of the soule by the efficient power of God to which the Body also may be an instrumentall cause in this as well as it is in all other ordinary actions of the soule 7. It worketh in-organically Lastly it is objected that seeing the proper actions of the soule as to understand and will are performed without any help of the body so also is the originall being of it for such as the operation of any thing is such is the essence and contrarily as Philosophy teacheth But first it may be doubted whether any action of the soule be performed without any helpe at all from the body so long as the union lasteth Secondly for as much as the soule ordinarily doth neither understand nor will without the assistance of the animall spirits it followes according to the former rule that by the course of nature neither is the originall without some operation of the body And whereas it is said the mind it selfe must be free from all matters that it may be the better able to discerne the same as the eye judgeth of colours this may proceed not so much from the vacuity of matter as the equall respect it hath to all matter For being the perfection of this mundane frame it hath the Idea of all natures in it as the eye doth represent all colours But as the agent is more noble than the patient though proportioned to it so is the soule above all matter and yet agreeing with it Answerable whereunto the originall according to the former rule must needs be more transcendent than the coÌ„mon course of generation Lastly all those arguments are more forcible to prove that the soule cannot be united with the body and being manifestly false in that they have small probabilitie of truth in this CHAPTER IX Whether the losse of seed be the losse of soules Objection from propagation it selfe BUt the most forcible arguments and which are indeed accounted impossible to be overcome are those which are taken from the course of nature in propagation it selfe whether we consider the matter or manner of it the matter conceived or the manner of conception As first because many soules must be lost because much seede is Secondly because the soule must come from two soules Thirdly the parents must loose part of their soules Lastly touching the manner of conception if may well be questioned how this doctrine can stand with the time of conception In one the same wombe the imperfect beginning and the varietie of conceptions in the same wombe All which seeme to take away all power from man for having any part in the propagation of the soule and these being the chiefe difficulties if they may be well cleared I doubt not but this doctrine will easily be received 1. Obj. About the losse of soules First therefore to begin with the first which concernes the losse of seede which although it may seeme difficult at the first yet I trust may receive a reasonable answer for the adversaries of this doctrine doe thus reason against it If the soule be propagated by the seede what shall become of so much seede as is lost either in sleepe or by such dishonest means Gen. 38.9 as Er and Oâ—an practised or which being received into the wombe never commeth to conception What say they shall so many soules be lost or shall they be choaked in the wombe or shall they remaine alone without bodyes seeing it is certaine they are not to be accounted amongst the number of men In a word because it cannot be denyed but much seede passeth from man which never commeth to perfection no not to conception hence they conclude that if the soule passeth in the seede then many soules perish and so the soule shall not be immortall How the soule is in the seede yet not lost with it But these conceive not rightly yea too basely and bruitishly of the soules generation imagining that which no man sound in his wits will goe about to maintaine For by that which hath been said it appeareth that the soule never passeth in the seede but at the instant of conception and from thenceforth a new soule remaineth in the conceived fruit Neither can it be properly said that it passeth then for as the soule is in the body and yet not conteined of it so it is alwayes in the seede though not comprehended by it and whensoever the seede proves not effectuall the soule remaines as it was what ever becomes of the seede for the soule is never procreated but in conception when both seedes meete in a due proportion and become one and when the efficient power of God concurring with all other naturall causes doe out of the substance of the generating soules produce another together with a body capable of that divine forme Some resemblance whereof wee may see in the lighting of a Lamp or Candle Simile for as fire is the most spirituall of all corporall substances so by it wee may have the clearest
resemblance in this case the soule of man may well be compared to a spirituall flame united to the body by the spirits as the flame of the Lamp by the oyle now as in the lighting of a Lamp every touch of fire doth not kindle it but as after blowing and fit applying of fire thereunto it sometimes flameth with a touch so the soule is not kindled at every conjunction of seedes but onely then when as I said before it is blowne by the efficient power of God which meeting with all other naturall causes out of the matter of these flames applied this new heavenly flame the soule is produced And as in that elementary inflammation the Lamp is not turned into the flame but inflamed by another so the corporall seede is not turned into the soule but informed with a soule by others Which soule being a spirituall flame not nourished by any elementary matter as the other is nor kindled without that everlasting breath whence it first came it can never after be extinguished as the other may And hence it commeth to passe not onely that soules perish not when any seede is lost but also that in case mans seede be mingled with other creatures as if sometimes happeneth such unkindly conceptiōs are never informed with reasonable soules not onely for that there is a want in the concurrence of all naturall causes but because God doth not conferre his efficient power but where and when he pleaseth To conclude therefore it appeareth that soules are neither lost nor choaked in the wombe nor yet constrained to live alone without bodyes when the seede proves not effectuall for then there is no soule produced I will not say but there may be fire but in that case I dare say there is no such flame kindled CHAPTER X. How one soule can proceede from two soules THe former objection being taken away 2. Obj. That the soule must be mingled of the parents soule we are to proceed to the second which is that if the soule be traduced from the parents it must needs be as well from the mothers soule as the father and if from both then either there must be two soules or else two soules must be mingled together and so grow into one both which are no lesse than impossible to which although it seemes unanswerable these things which shall be spoken being throughly considered I trust will give sufficient satisfaction For first why might wee not for the same cause say that there must be two bodyes also one from the father and another from the mother and if it be said that one partakes of both how comes it to passe then that it is sometimes like the father onely sometimes onely like the mother yea oftentimes a son like the mother and a daughter like the father In all other things most contrary to that part from whence the sex is received And if it must be confessed that the worke of nature herein is above reason what wonder if it be so in the soule also yea why should it not be so in that much rather than in this and if the former draw us onely to an admiration but not to a negation of if because the thing is apparent why should not the latter doe so also seeing in nature it is no lesse manifest then the former both being brought forth together as wee see To come a little neerer the matter One creature cannot be made of two souls I would first of all demand how it commeth to passe that among all living creatures of two divers seeds that is to say of the male and female is notwithstanding generated but one creature of the one kinde Since as Philosophers truely teach the species of things cannot be mingled no more than soules Vide Scal. de subti exer 268. and the essence of every thing is indivisible and two formes cannot be made one Now seeing the seede of any creature conteines in it both matter and forme thereof and is the same in potentiâ as they speake differing from the creature it selfe onely so much as power differeth from act that is ability to be or doe from being or being done how therefore can it possibly be that one creature can be produced from two seedes in univocall generations seeing also that vegetative nature have therefore but one seede These reasons made Aristotle deny that females had any seede at all being onely as the ground wherein seede is sowen Now if this be true the point is cleare without any farther opening for then the soule proceeding from the soule of the father onely there shall not need be two soules nor one mingled of two How the soule is from both as both are one But this is denied therefore some further answer is to be sought out For though the sex proceed not from the sex yet they say if this were true neither by the course of nature could ever be propagation by both Be it so yet I say that as two seeds produce but one creature because the seeds of male and female though they be two in number are but one kind else there must be two bodyes also so it is cōcerning the soule more plainly I say The seede of both but one seede that as the seede of either apart cannot properly be called seed-seed because neither of them alone conteines the matter and forme of the creature and is not Animal in potentiâ but at the instant of conception when both seedes are so mingled that therein is conteined the power of producing the like then onely it is rightly called seede and before onely because it may be thus for that is to be actually seede to have this potency in it so as the seede is properly but one in all sensitive creatures aswell as in vegetative in that sense that theirs is so in like manner I say that the spirituall seede of the soule if by way of resemblance I may so call it is not in the severall seede of either sex for there is no such materiall or locall division but rather in both when but one For in generation wee may not conceive one act to be made of two but two in act doe make one The mystery of which union lyes in this that the nature is one and the sexes two which againe united in one produce a third For by the spirituall seede of the parents soules What the soules seed is how generated I doe not meane any seperated matter as the bodies is but far otherwise namely that potentiall vertue in the parents soules which in conjunction uniting their forces together out of their owne matter doe enforme their seede with their nature that is a soule apprehended and united by the spirits therein It being the ordinance of God that mans nature should be distinguished into two sexes that by the more forcible union of both the whole kinde might be preserved And because the soule is rather facultie than matter
left destitute and if but a part then it will follow that the essence of God is divisible Zanch. de trin Eloh par 2. l. 3. cap. 7. answers the same thus that he receiveth the whole essence and yet the Father hath it all still For saith he spirituall natures whilest they are communicated are neither wholly taken away nor anything at all diminished His words be these Res enim spirituales dum communicantur neque tolluntur penitus neque etiam imminuuntur Neither can it be said that this is proper to God seeing he affirmes it of all spirituall natures indifferently yea what else can be meant by the indivisiblenesse of the soule but that it is of such a nature as cannot be diminished by taking ought from it else how should it differ from corporall natures for even they cannot be diminished if nought be taken from them yet I say not that the soule can be parted at all after the manner of dividing corporall natures but this I say as the essence and forme of every creature is indivisible no lesse than the soule and yet they can out of themselves propagate their like without making their forme or essence divisible so may man produce his like without dividing his form or essence which is his soule For seeing the forme of a beast as it is so is as much indivisible as mans soule and experience proves that they notwithstanding communicate their formes to their issue why also may not parents give soules to their of-spring without dividing their own especially considering man is the most excellent creature who must needs therefore excell in this faculty as well as in others Neither can it be said The soule not full of soules that then his soule must be full of soules no more then that other creatures should therfore have in them many of their own kinds because they beget many for as Scaliger well answers Scal. exer 6. sect 10. there is in that one sufficient power for the generating of many and so much for those objectiōs which are taken from the matter conceived I proceed now to those that concerne the manner of conception CHAPTER XII How the manner of conception can stand with the soules generation TOuching the manner of conception Objectiōs three things especially are and may be objected First it is doubted whether conception be in the act of generation or afterwards Secondly it should seeme by this that the soule is imperfect at the first and grows by degrees with the body Lastly it may be questioned how superfetation and the conception of twinnes can stand with this manner of the soules propagation And if these also can be well cleared there is nothing more materiall worth the questioning 1. Whether conception be in generation First I say it is a question amongst the learned whether conception be at the first union of seeds or no for as some Physitiās write there must be a certaine concoction and preparation of the seede before conception First of all I might answer that the ordinance of God herein is so wonderfull as passeth all mens understandings so as none can say directly how it is either for the soule or for the body it being one of those things which David professeth was too wonderfull for him Psal 139. vers 6. and therefore much more for us And yet if we make no questiō of the conception of the body though we cannot conceive the manner how why should we be more doubtfull and inquisitive about the soule of which we know we are lesse able to conceive 2. That the soule begins with the creature Secondly I answer that though it should be granted that the more grosse and corporall parts of the seede doe as indeed they do require time before they can be throughly mixed knit together to make a perfect conception yet in reason it must needs be that the more spirituall parts and chiefly the soule is conceived in the first instant I meane a small moment of time and that in the beginning at the first meeting and union of the seeds of both sexes And thus it must needs be not only because spirituall natures are more quick and subtill and so move in lesse time than corporall and therefore may doe that in a moment which the other cannot doe but in a longer time whence it is that in eating and drinking wee see the spirits are refreshed and the man strengthened immediately after he hath eaten before ever the meat can be concocted but also experiēce teacheth that in the breeding of all creatures the internall parts are perfect before the externall the more spirituall parts of the body before those that are more grosse and corporall and therefore it followeth by like reason that the spirits in man have their perfection before the body and the soule before the spirits for there is no doubt but nature observes the same order in the beginning that she doth in the continuance of her worke there being one and the same cause of both Againe be it that there is such a concoction in conception as in respect of the body questionlesse there is yet it cannot be denied but the corporall parts are prepared perfected by the other which must needs therefore be first and in the first instant for that which beginneth must of necessitie be in the beginning because all that is done afterward is by vertue of that power wherewith it was informed at first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that power becoms the first act of the conceived fruit and is the very soule of the creature wherewith if the seede be not informed at the beginning all comes to nothing at the end And hence it is that if all causes doe not fitly concurre together for the forming the seede with the soule at first by whose working it may proceed to perfection afterward the whole worke is frustrated The consideration whereof may teach us what the reason in nature should be that there is more failing in the conception of man than of other creatures Namely because the soule being of a more excellent nature in man requires a more fit proportion and due temper of all meanes before such a heavenly flame can be kindled and the seede informed and united therwith then is necessary for the production of any other creature whatsoever Now this very beginning only is properly conception all that followeth afterward being nothing but a continued perfecting of this beginning by insensible degrees which not nature but reason hath distinguished into conception forming quickning c. to every of which that time is allotted wherein that worke most appeares though natures work be one and the same from the beginning 2. Whether the soule be imperfect at first But here it will he objected that if the soule be in the seede at the first conception it must needs be very weake and imperfect at the first and so growing and increasing with the
therefore by marriage God made them one flesh againe and for that cause others should be so united also besides divers other reasons alledged before which need not here to be repeated 4. The promised seed Fourthly When our first parents had committed sin before they had brought forth any children God made a comfortable promise to Eve Gen. 3.15 saying that the seed of the woman should breake the Serpents head Now the body it selfe being without reason what is it being compared to the Serpent Wherefore by seede in this place must needs be meant the whole nature of man which Christ tooke of the Virgin Mary For whole man was conceived and borne of her except sin onely as afterward we shall see Neither is this to prove one doubtfull thing by another for it is out of doubt that by seede is here meant both body soule unlesse we shall say that Christ redeemed us by a body without a soule And if this soule was received from Eve as her seede as well as his body I thinke there is none will make question of ours 5. Adams ofspring Gen. 5.3 Fifthly Very forcible also if it be well considered is that where Moses saith Adam gat a sonne in his owne likenesse after his owne Image Whence it appeareth manifestly that he was the parent of the whole nature and not of one part onely for this Image is opposed to the Image of God spoken of in Adam before which Image and likenesse was not in the body for then it Would follow that God had a body but in his soule in respect of his minde and reason and those other divine gifts whereby Adam excelled the rest of the creatures So that if we will make a true opposition it will follow from this place that as God made Adam in his innocency in his own Image and likenesse chiefly in regard of the soule and those divine gifts wherewith it was endued so Adam in his corrupted estate begat a sonne in his own Image and likewise not in regard of the body only but chiefly in respect of the soule and in that corrupt and sinfull like himselfe 6. Gods promise to Abraham Gen. 17.7 Sixthly Such is that place also where God made a promise to Abraham saying I will be thy God and the God of thy seede after thee Where by seede must needs be meant that which is borne of seede to wit whole man and not the body onely for that without the soule of it selfe is dead and as our Saviour speaks in another case Matth. 22.32 God is not the God of the dead but of the living And if God will not style himselfe the God of the dead unlesse the soule at least be still living much lesse will he call himselfe the God of a senslesse substance inferiour to the issue of brute beasts Obj. Either thorefore GOD must here promise to be the God of an unreasonable brute or else Abrahams seede must conteine more than a body yea extend in selfe as indeed it doth to the whole man as well soule as body that is to say persons consisting of both for to such onely is this promise made Ans Neither is it for any man here to except say that the whole man may be said to proceede from man though the soule comes from God because he prepares the body and gives the existence to the creature for besides that it is contrary both to nature and reason as afterwards we shall see that a man should be a father to that to which he gives onely the least part of the matter and nothing at all of the forme it cannot be avoided but the Scripture doth here plainly affirme that the whole man consisting of soule and body is the seed issue and of-spring of man consequently begotten born and brought forth by the seed of man 7. The souls that descēded from Jacob. Seventhly When the Scriptures doe expresly affirme that sixty-six soules descended from the loynes of Jacob doth it not plainly teach that the soules of children doe descend from their parents Neither can the force of this place be avoyded by saying that the soule is here by a Metonymy put for the body or by a Synecdoche the whole soule put for the vegetable and sensible part of the soule neither yet that it is only for that denomination is taken from the better part or for that man disposeth the matter of the body for the receiving of the soule The falshood of these conceits doth plainly appeare out of the Antecedent and consequent of the Text for a little before it is said these are the sonnes of Rachel which were borne unto Jacob fourteene soules in all and immediately after the sonnes of Joseph were two soules so that it is evident in the text the soules signifie sonnes viz. the whole person and nature of man Although therefore hereby is not meant soules onely but persons according to the proprietie of the Hebrew tongue yet why in this case should the holy Ghost speake of the whole person if onely the least part of him be thereby meant Neither can I thinke the Hebrew tongue so double or the holy penman so much mistaken as to say onely soules descended if bodyes onely did yea how absurd is it when by the rules of interpretation the proper litterall sense is alwayes to be retained unlesse some manifest falshood or absurditie doe necessarily follow upon it and When wee must fly unto some tropicall sense it must be fetched out of the Text it selfe if it may be here we should depart from both onely to confirme a fancy which hath no apparent warrant in the whole Scripture and that when in all other places we understand the whole to comprehend the parts yet in this case above when the Scripture speakes of the whole we must understand but the least part and when it names the soule yet it meanes the body onely 8. Scriptures that purposely speake of mans generation Eighthly As this doctrine is cleare by the testimony or Moses from the creation of the world and the first institution of nature so also from those Scriptures which doe purposely speake of the propagation of man according to the ordinary course of nature since the creation Two places there are especially where this matter is purposely handled in the Scripture in both which the soule is said to be conceived in the wombe and brought forth by the vertue of generation as well as the body The first wee finde in the booke of Job 1. Iob 10.8.10 11. where in making his moane to God he useth these words Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about Hast thou not powred me out as milke and curdled me like theese Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinewes The other we have in the Book of the Psalmes where David speaketh unto God in this manner Thou hast possessed my
ingrafted into him at his first creation whereas our vices are neither such qualities Obj. 2. nor so ingrafted into our nature in the beginning and therefore though they might have been propagated yet it will not follow that these may To the first I answer Ans 1. that his vertues were no more qualities created by God than our vices are For God did onely so rectifie the will of Adam in his first creation that it had a disposition and inclination to good by the exercise whereof those habits of the minde are in time gotten which wee call vertues and contrarily from the evill disposition of the will proceeds those evill customes which wee call vices So that if I conceive right neither the one nor the other are qualities created by God Ans 2. And concerning the second the ingrafting of them into our nature at the first I answer that as God made Adam simply good by giving him an inclination unto good without evill so he gave him a free will to evill though he were good Neither was he at the first endued either with vertues or habits save onely that same habitu◠inchoatus which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a disposition or inclination wherby he was carried to good Adam had evill in power and goodnesse in act yet not so strongly but he could as freely will evill also whereby it came to passe that he had evill in power as well as goodnesse in act So that the seede and power of the one was ingrafted into his nature no lesse than the act of the other even in the beginning which power also we see soone after came into act as well as the other For if Adam had alike freewill to either it must needs follow that the one was as naturall to him as the other and consequently as easie to be propagated For however some conceive of it for my part I see no reason to perswade me that Adam was ever more inclined or had more power to good than to evill but that God made him as Ecclesiasticus saith Ecclus. 7.29 right that is as I understand it in equall condition either to stand or to fall to continue good or become naught which as it was the perfection of his nature and that innocent cōdition in which he was created so that it might appeare it pleased God so to order the matter that he fell from it by so small an inticement as an apple Now so farre forth as he had naturall power to sin by creation so farre sin might be derived by propagation all will confesse and why then when Adam through his owne folly and Gods just wrath upon him for the same had lost the former freedome together and brought upon himselfe a necessitie of sinning should not the corruption be propagated much more being so much more increased To conclude therfore it followeth by just consequence in reason and is manifest by the rules of nature that his corruption may and must be propagated to his posteritie now he is fallen as well and as much as his goodnesse might should have been if he had not fallen yea so much more by how much goodnesse more properly belongs to the nature of God and evill to the nature of the creature Wherefore having thus proved even from the nature of the sin it sell that it is most agreeable to the course of nature that originall sin should descend by propagation I proceed now to prove that it is most contrary to the justice of God that it should descend by a course of creations CHAP. XVII That a new created soule cannot justly be united to a sinfull body THe necessitie of the soules mediate propagation will farther appeare if wee consider the impossibilitie of the immediate creation thereof without injustice in God in respect of Originall sin seeing a soule new created can neither be justly united It justly united nor corrupted when it is united with the body for touching the former first I would know how it can agree with the goodnesse and justice of GOD to put an innocent soule as he createth it before it hath sinned into such a condition as wherein it shall he lyable straight my to eternall torments yea and perhaps presently damned for anothers fault Obj. it will be said that it is not lyable before faulty for so soone as it is united to the body it is guilty of Adams sin Ans 1. I answer first it must be shewed how a soule newly created very good can be in the fault of his sin otherwise it is unjust that it should be made guilty and much more punished for anothers fault Secondly 2. I must aske why then God makes such an union as whereby it shall be both lyable and faulty Obj. 2. If it be said that it was the eternall decree of God It was the decree of God which neither needed nor could be reversed for Adams sin and so the evill is not from God but from the vertue or rather vitiousnesse of the union which Adam caused by his sin whereby it cōmeth to passe that so soone as they are conjoyned both are guilty which is meerly accidentall in respect of God Ans 1. It cannot be proved that it is To this I answer First that wee cannot thus hide our selves under Gods decree for it cannot be proved that it is thus and therefore neither that it is the decree of God Indeed God did decree that all men should be corrupt and sinfull through Adams sin yet this must be by some just meanes which if it be by this course of propagation onely and not by creation then this not that is to be accounted the decree of God Now it appeareth by that which is and shall be said that this is the onely just and naturall way of sins conveyance for which cause God would have all men to proceed from one and not that other which for ought yet said seemeth to be an unjust course of mans devising And as it cannot be proved that it is Ans 2. It may be proved that it is not so it is easie to prove that it is not Gods decree because it is contrary to his word For if the soule be created good it must needs be unwilling to enter into this sinfull condition else it should even therein sin and none I hope will say now as some did of old that it sinned before it came into the body and being unwilling to enter It shall be inforced to sin God cannot justly force it into the body nor punish it for doing that which himselfe caused Now God forbid that wee should once imagine such a thought of him Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the world doe righteously Zeph. 3.5 Can Justice it selfe deale unjustly No verily in equitie it selfe there can be no iniquitie Againe 2. It shall be unjustly punished Ezek. 18.20 Take it the most favourable way
that can be and it must needs be and is granted by all that for a good soule to be thus united and set into such a condition is a punishment of Adams sin Now since Gods justice very nature proclaimes that the innocent child shall not be punished for the fathers offence how can a good soule be punished in so high a degree for the sin of another who was not the father of it no nor of the same kinde for Adam was not a soule but a man without injustice yea cruelty in God how justly might such a poore soule complaine of God in this case to be so farre from mercy as to be unjust and how justly may the unjust Anabaptists cry out of us as they doe that we make God the Author of sin The Lord hath taughtus in his word that he abhorres such courses for my part therefore I am so farre from beleeving this doctrine that I quake to thinke of it CHAP. XVIII That a soule newly created by God cannot be infected with Originall sinne 2. Not justly corrupted AS the soule cannot be justly united so being united it cannot be justly corrupted if it be immediately created For whence should the corruption come it must be either from the body or the soule or the union of both but it can be from none of these It is manifest it cannot be from the body for that alone cannot be corrupt and if it could it cannot corrupt the soule and if it could corrupt the soule yet not with originall sin 1. Not by â—he body That the body alone cannot be corrupt and sinfull may easily appeare by many reasons 1. It cannot be corrupt First even the thing it selfe declares that the simple substance of the body is no more capable of vertue or vice than a stone for sin can be onely in a subject that hath power to understand will and move of it selfe which the body of it selfe cannot doe but onely by reason of the reasonable soule So that the body cannot make the soule but it is the soule that makes the body sinfull Rom. 6.13 and so the Apostle also implyeth that our members are the soules instruments of sinne Although therefore the body may be cholericke melancholy c. all the world know that elementary qualities humors and affections are not of themselves sinfull but naturally good and so rather dispose to good than to evill Againe The body hath nothing in it of spirituall nature but onely that which is bodily and therefore cannot have sin which is of spirituall nature it being a spirituall evill even as obedience to God is a spirituall good Moreover if neither plants having life nor bruites having both life sense cannot be said to be sinfull because they want reason much lesse can the body the senslesse and livelesse body of man be infected with sin without the soule Lastly That which the body hath not first with that it cannot infect the soule in being united with it but the body hath not first in it ignorance unbeliefe c. in which the soules tainture originally consisteth and therefore cannot infect the soule thereby in being united with it and consequently not with originall sin neither 2. It cannot corrupt the soule But let it be granted contrary to all reason and truth that the body is first infected with originall sin can the body fasten the same upon the soule Nothing lesse And not onely because it is a spirit and bodies can work onely corporally according to their natures so as the impuritie of the body can neither affect nor infect the purest spirituall soule but also because the soule is the first mover and commander of all actions in the body Now if mens soules be created sound and sincere free from the contagion of sin every way absolute as were the soules of our first parents and so joyned unto their bodies why doe they not by vertue of that divine nature restore the ruine of that building which was defiled by the sin of Adam why doe they not clense and cleanse and purge the blots and filth of the body seeing they doe sit as Judges in the body and rule and guide it according to their owne pleasure If it be said that sin sometimes Obj. begins in the body as Davids eye when he saw Bathsheba bathing of her selfe it is easily answered For Ans 1. first the eye as a bodily part seeth not but the soule by the eye Oculus non videt sed anima per oculum Secondly His sin was not at all in seeing her but in lusting after her in his heart soule which lust conceiving I am 1.14 by consent brought forth death in act and therefore in his confession he ascends by this streame to the originall fountaine Psal 51.5 namely that originall sin wherein he was conceived Wherefore if the soule be created good and so infused into the body there is more reason that it should sanctifie the body than that the body should corrupt it and according to this doctrine it may much better be maintained that all men have originall righteousnesse because the soule comes from God than that we have originall sin because the body comes from Adam 3. It cannot corrupt it with originall sin But let this also be granted that the soule is corrupted by yeelding obedience to the body as Adam did to Eve yet we cannot have originall sin ever the more for this for the souls yeelding obedience to the body and following the sinfull motions thereof if any such there be is actuall sin and not that originall corruption wherewith the whole man is infected by descending from the loynes of Adam in whom as the Apostle saith We all sinned Rom. 5.12 and which onely was before proved to be originall sinne Not actually to commit something against the will of God is originall sin but that in-bred home-bred breathing of sin which is the spawne of all sin which if it be seated in the body how it can corrupt that new created pure soule without any provocation or inticement to sin cannot possibly be imagined Againe if Originall sin most properly consisteth in ignorance of minde aversenesse of will and perversenesse of affections none of which can be immediately in the body how can it give these things to the soule and that originall sin consists mainly in these besides the testimony of Scripture and all orthodox Writers it is manifest in reason for that from which actuall sin commeth in that doth originall sin consist now all actuall sin springs from ignorance unbeliefe c. and therefore therein especially originall sin must needs consist To conclude seeing the body alone cannot possibly have originall sin nor give that which it hath not Originall sin cannot possibly come by the body 2. Not by the soule Neither can it proceed from the soule if it be created good but it will be said it may for in the instant
of creation God depriveth it of supernaturall gifts for Adams sin which though it putteth not evill into the soule yet evill necessarily followeth and hence is originall sin But neither can I see how this can stand for first if God deprives it so soone as it is made it should be not onely absurd but a vaine worke to doe and straight way to undoe againe Secondly It should be unjust neverthelesse for he had beene as good never to have given it goodnesse as presently to take it away againe Thirdly Seeing they say it is created in infusing and infused in creating they must needs grant that he creates it without supernaturall gifts unlesse it be infused with them which is worse and so they cannot say if is deprived of that which it never had Fourthly I answer that if God createth it without those gifts which are supernaturall to us he creates it evill for so are we without supernaturall gifts and a man may as well imagine a God without goodnesse as a good soule without such gifts Fifthly However it be for creation or privation naturall or supernaturall goodnesse if God so makes it as it must needs be evill as they say he makes it evill for what is it to make an evill one if not to make one that cannot be good yea that is the greatest evill for to be necessarily evill is not onely nought but worst of all Sixthly This were unjustly to punish the innocent for the guilty as wee heard before Lastly though all this might justly be yet wee are never the neerer to originall sin For this is not our sinning in Adam but our being made sinfull for Adam So that if the soule be created good we cannot possibly be thereby infected with originall sin In the last place therefore it will be said that it comes neither by the soule not the body Not by the union of both but by the union of both and that we are deceived if we suppose it to happen through any physicall touching but because in the union we become Adams sonnes he receiving and loosing both for himselfe and us his sin is thereby made ours Verily Calvin was a man of an excellent judgement Calv. Inst lib. 2. c. 1. who seeing the former grounds unanswerable flyes to this as the last refuge yet with reverence to so worthy an instrument I must seeke for better satisfaction True it is that originall sin is neither puddle nor stench yet it is a spirituall Leprosie hereditarily descending from Adam to all his naturall posteritie and infecteth the whole man both body soule with all the parts and powers of both And I would know how if the soule be pure and the body sinfull the infant at first is halfe holy and halfe corrupt which is absurd and if both be cleane at the first can the uniting of them make both uncleane can two goods as both are confessed apart make one evill 2. Goods cannot make one evill nay rather they are so much the better being conjoyned according to that common saying Vis unita fortior neither will it serve the turne to say it is imputed and so we are reputed corrupt for so it can be onely if it be imputed onely in this 2. Imputation insufficient Indeed Christs righteousnesse is really ours by imputation For a voluntary institution Obj. as it is a covenant of grace Ans differs from a necessary course of justice in the order of nature it being lawfull to shew kindnes without cause but not to inflict punishment as afterwards we shall see besides it cannot be justly imputed neither unlesse the whole man be propagated as was before and shall be againe more fully proved But we are not onely guilty of his sin but by him really corrupt our selves For is originall sin onely imputed corruption no it is a reall infection also and that is it whose originall I enquire for which if it be neither from the soule nor from the body nor the union of both it is not at all this way but seeing it is certaine both by Scripture experience that we have both certaine it is also that we have our whole corrupt nature both soule and body from Adam CHAPTER XIX That Originall sinne cannot passe but by propagation FRom the impossibility of the soules creation wee proceed now to the necessitie of the propagation thereof in respect of originall sin the former being not more contrary to the nature of God then this is agreeable to the course of nature For first as by Gods ordination originall sin passeth from one to all mankinde so by propagation all mankinde proceeds out of one Secondly As originall sin overspreads the whole man both soule and body so according to the course of nature the whole man both soule and body is propagated Thirdly As originall sin is seated chiefly in the soule according to the Scriptures so the soul especially is propagated according to the course of nature Wherefore that the truth of the one may appeare in Scriptures as well as the other is manifest in nature I will prove first that Originall sin cannot passe but by propagation secondly that it cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be 1. The necessitie of proving this The first that originall sin can no way justly descend to us but by propagation being the chiefest must chiefly be proved and so much the rather partly because this being granted the other two will follow alone and partly because some are of opinion that wee may justly be punished for Adams sin though we had never beene borne of him even as when one brother spends the estate which he received for himselfe and all the rest And so indeed all must hold that hold the immediate creation of the soule else there can be no originall sin which course being as I thinke unequall is as far from God as God is from injustice 1. The scriptures teach this and none others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First therefore this may appeare by the cleare testimonies of the Scripture for saith the Apostle death passed upon all men by one man in whom all men sinned or because all men sinned in him Whence it is manifest not onely Rom. 5.12 that Adam was then all men that is the stocke and roote of all men naturally in whom all men were and so sinned in him and with him but also that his sin is therefore imputed to his posteritie because they were in him For if the death threatned to him for sin passed upon all because all were in him it is plaine that the sin for which that death was threatned was imputed for the same cause namely because we were all in him Now for the same cause it was imputed to us then when wee were in him for the same cause it is imputed now that we are out of him and therefore as his sin was then ours because according to the course of nature we were in
are sinfull from him onely as wee are from him Wherefore as if the whole man was not potentially in Adam the whole man did not sin in him so if the whole man did not proceed from him the whole man cannot have originall sin from him For it is impossible wee should be in him and sin in him in that respect wherein we neither were in him nor could sin in him that i◠without the whole man and therefore if the whole man neither was nor could be in him nor from him the whole man neither have nor can have fin in him or from him So that if we say we were in him in our bodyes onely then they onely and not wee sinned in him yea even they did not sin in him for bodyes simply considered cannot sin as wee heard before and therefore to say wee sinned in our bodyes onely is as much as to say we did not sin at all Besides The whol man is the subject of sin it is manifest that neither the body nor the soule alone is the subject of sin but the person or whole man For if according to the rule of reason that be the proper subject to which the accident properly cleaveth then either the whole man is the subject of sin or else the whole man is not properly sinfull Obj. And why else is the law given to the whole man and the whole man rewarded or punished Ans according to his vertuous or vitious manner of living If any object Obj. 2. that the soule cannot be punished alone after death Ans 2. I answer Neither is it simply as a soule but as the soule of a wicked man If they reply that so our soules sinned in Adam not as our soules but as the soules of-men I answer nay they must answer themselves that according to their doctrine the soule never was before and so had no being in nature no not potentially much lesse was it the soule of a man and least of all could it sin in Adam 5. Scriptures Seeing therefore I could not sin in Adam but as I was in him I sinned in him in my whole person consisting of soule and body and that not by I wot not what imaginary imputation but really and truly as I was potentially in him by the law of nature it necessarily followeth that I was naturally and really in him in my whole person both soule and body and so have proceeded from him And hereto serve the former Scriptures in him all men sinned and Rom. 5.12 1 Cor. 15.22 in Adam all dye speaking of the whole person and therefore so must wee For what is mortall man that he should contradict the holy Ghost or seeke a new way when God hath chalked out the old Wherefore I conclude that as none can partake of Christs righteousnesse unlesse the whole man be regenerated and borne againe by and from his grace Ioh. 3.3 so none can partake of Adams sin unlesse the whole person be generated by and from his nature CHAP. XXI That the whole man cannot be propagated unlesse the soule be 1. The whol cannot be without the essentiall parts IN the last place it remaines to prove that if the whole man doe the soule also must needs come from Adam for this must also be proved be it never so manifest because some seeing the former grounds unanswerable would make us beleeve that the whole man may be said to be in Adam though the soule comes from God I deny not but it may be said but I cannot see how it can be said truely For what can be more false and absurd than to say the whole was in Adam but not the essentiall parts whereof the whole consisteth And indeed such a manner of being must be an idle imagination or nothing for it is impossible to be either really or rationally But what is their reason man gives the subsistence to the person and the soule comes from Adam quoad existentiam though not quoad essentiam But I deny this too man does indeed something in the subsistence of the person but that as they say is onely to provide I know not what a body it should be without a form which at the most is but the least part and therfore not the whole nor halfe 2. The conjunction if it put them in one case cannot yet bring them from one place But they say man conjoynes both natures together whereby it doth subsist by it selfe as a person But neither is this true for the conjunction is they say no body knows how long after cōception and therefore not man but the woman must doe it alone And yet hot shee neither for they say God doth create it in the infusion and infuse it in the creating But say that God gave the soule to the parents and they did unite them would it follow that the conjunction of both makes both to come from Adam Why doe they not rather come both from God and not at all from Adam it were more reason the greater should draw the lesser than the lesse the greater that the baser should attend the more noble rather than the most noble to waite on the baser verily if the whole man may be properly said to proceed from Adam because the body doth much more may the whole man be said to proceed from God because the soule doth The vanitie of this reason that the whole man comes from Adam because the body doth may appeare by the like If a lame man should have a woodden leg joyned to his body Simile might it be said his whole body grew in the wood because his leg did nothing lesse And yet is not the woodden leg so much inferiour to the body as the body is to the soule Any childe therefore may take away these stilts from such a lame reason as this is 3. It could not be in Adams time nor ours And if any will still urge it in good earnest let him tell me when the whole man was in Adam since the former Scriptures say plainly it was it must needs be in Adams time or ours yea in both but according to this doctrine it could be in neither so not at all It could not be in Adams time for the whole man had not being in nature nor not potentially in respect of the soule many hundred yeares after neither could it be in our time for Adam was dead likewise many thousand yeares before we had any being especially in respect of the better part of the soule and so consequently never was contrary to those Scriptures and the doctrine of originall sin It must needs be therefore that the whole man as well soule body forme as matter even the whole compound was potentially in Adam as the whole tree in the roote or seede many graines of wheat in one and so being naturally propagated from him doth partake of his nature both in soule and body Else marke
what absurdities will farther follow Absurdities That wee were in Adam in that wherein we were not 1. 2. we sinned without that without which wee could not sin 3. the whole man was in Adam and yet never came from him 4. and we left that in Adam which we never had in him viz. our soules 5. Then also Adam shall be still full of soules which yet he never had 6. and that I may not be endlesse in that which is needles who can abide a speech so contrary to it selfe the whole was in Adam but not that which is the whole All which are rather wholly to be laughed at than confuted in any part CHAP. XXII That the whole humanity of Christ was taken from the Virgin The use and order of handling this questiōn HAving thus shewed out of the Scriptures the necessity of the souls propagation by reason of originall sin I proceede now to prove it from the incarnation of Christ which yet is accounted the maine let why it cannot be propagated for because the Scripture saith He is like unto us in all things Heb 4.15 sin onely excepted and it is taken for granted that his soule was created of nothing this is used not onely as one of the chiefe weapons to maintaine the creation of ours but also as a shield to defend them from the force of many other Arguments which cannot otherwise possibly be avoided It is very necessary therfore fully to cleare this point and to shew both that it was mediately though extraordinarily produced from Adam as well as ours and how so it could be free from sin No Scripture for it That the soule of our Saviour was not immediately created of nothing may appeare first because it is more than is in the Scripture 1. The holy Ghost in the description of Christs incarnation saith nothing of any such thing no notwithstanding it is thought to be such a notable yea such a necessary way to cleare him from sin 2. And who dare say or think the holy Ghost should omit one of the most principal things in the mightiest matter that ever was revealed to men or Angels yea how contrary to all reasō is it 3. that when the foure Evangelists were so carefull to set forth every materiall circumstance touching his birth life death c. so as that which is wanting in one is supplied by another yet in this alone which is the chiefe of all they should all forget to mention it if there had been any such matter And why then should we thrust in our conceits of such things as never were heard of in the Scriptures For from the beginning of the world since Adam it was never heard that a soule was created of nothing and shall wee then father our imaginations upon the Scripture yea why or how dare man speake where the holy Ghost is silent know Deut. 14.2 that cursed is he that addeth ought to the word of God Scriptures against it But not onely doe the Scriptures not speake it but they plainly affirme the contrary as where it saith Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed 22.18 Where by seede is meant the whole nature of man which Christ tooke and how can it be denied then but his soule as well as his body was their seede Againe Christ was made of the seede of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 that is his whole humanity for it is there opposed to his divinitie As also where it is said God raised up Christ Act. 2.30 of the fruit of his loynes according to the flesh And how else can he be in all things except sin like unto us who as is abundantly proved before are mediately traduced from Adam both soule and body 3. Then Adams sin must be imputed to him Againe If his and all soules be immediately created by God then the imputation of Adams sin to all men must lay hold on Christ as man Neither is it sufficient to say that he is more than a man for if Adams sin be imputed unto all men eo nomine even because they are men it cannot be avoided but it must light upon him also so far forth as he is man And thus they must needs fall into that which they so much feare the making of Christs humane nature sinfull so slippery is it to walke out of the right way though never so warily 4. His soule and body conceived together This appeareth also in that his soule and body were conceived together both at once and not after the perfecting of the vegetative and sensitive soules as they say it is with us For this is generally confessed because the divine nature is immediately united to the soule and by the soule to the body so that unlesse we should say that his body did subsist by it selfe out of the divine nature before it was assumed or else that the divine nature was united with a brute body or unformed un-informed Embrio which no man I beleeve is so brutish to affirme it must of necessitie be granted so forcible is the truth that however it is with us his soule and body was conceived together Which being so it followeth by the same reason that if he be like unto us and we like unto him in all things except sin our soules and bodyes also conceived together as his was And if it be graunted that all souls are present at the first conception there will be small reason to thinke they come by immediate creation 5. His miraculous cōception Besides it is manifest from the manner of his conception for if his soule had come immediately from God he might have beene begotten after the common manner of men without sin but this could not be and therefore the former is not The connexion of the proposition is manifest for if his and all soules doe come immediately from God Originall sin cannot possibly come by propagation but either because God bereaves it of supernaturall gifts whereby it becomes evill or by the union with the body at the instant whereof it is guilty of Adams sin because the soule of man But seeing Christs soule so soone as it was was together with the body one person with the eternall word he must needs be exempted from the common condition of men and so even by their doctrine neither could be bereaved of those gifts nor guilty of Adams sin being more than a man Neither can it be said Generation not evill that there is evill in the act of generation for that is naturally good 1. and the soule they say is not then present 2. and the body alone is not capable of sin no though the soule were present if as they say man propagate the body onely Wherefore if his soule had been immediatly created by God
person of our Lord Jesus Christ and that in the same moment that it was being by that union enriched w th supernaturall gifts and exalted above all men and Angels And thus also was his substance sinlesse although it was the substance of the sinfull Virgin And to conclude Ioh. 1.29 1 Pet. 1.19 thus is he the immaculate Lambe that taketh away the sinnes of the world 2. Why his conception was extraordinary Now all this was effected by the immediate working of the holy Ghost at the instant of his conception For it neither might nor could be performed after the manner of mans sinfull propagation 1. It could not be by man Because if man had ministred the matter of his humanitie after the ordinary way it should have been sinfull in part that is as man gave it to be a part of Christs person or indeavoured the subsistence of that nature in the person of the Son which nature alone would have made a person and consequently a sinner For by the law of nature in ordinary generation so much as man begets another person he begets another sinner which yet if the soule were immediatly created were so little as there could be no originall sin as we heard before So that by propagation the humanity of Christ which is the whol person so farre as man could in this cause have effected should have beene sinfull And though not meerely as humanitie yet as a nature sinfully propagated from man wherewith it was impossible the divine nature should be united Seeing therefore it could not be by man and the Virgin neither might nor could conceive alone for corruption must have no hand in it it was necessary therefore that it should be done by the supernaturall power of God And seeing it must be done extraordinarily by the immediate power of God no person was so fit for it as the holy Ghost whose office it properly concerns from the Father and the Son to consecrate and set apart for holy uses and especially to indue mens soules with supernaturall gifts therfore most of all in the incarnation of our Saviour Christ which was absolutely the most holy of all GODS externall workes And this as I am undoubtedly perswaded is the true doctrine of the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Phil. 2.6 7 Heb. 4.15 2-6 who was like unto us in all things sin onely excepted made of the same substance both for soule and body and therefore true man and yet not sinfull He was in Adam in respect of his humanitie as well as we and yet sinned not in him as we did In the consideratiō of all which we may well say with the Apostle Without controversie 1 Tim. 2.16 great is the mystery of godlinesse Why this truth hath beene so long obscured Thus I hope I have sufficiently manifested both by Scripture and reasons drawne from them that soules are not immediately created of God of nothing but all mediately propagated from Adam yea Christs as well as ours though his after an extraordinary manner because he was an extraordinary man From all which it plainly appeareth that the holy Ghost hath not left us to wander in uncertainties concerning the soules originall but clearely enough revealed it had not men set up two false opinions one of which they thought must needs be true and neither having sure footing in the Scripture because both false the truth hath beene long obscured and both accounted doubtfull and almost curious because difficult to be knowne CHAP. XXV Naturall reasons proving the soules propagation The nature and validitie of naturall reasons HItherto wee have proved the soules propagation by testimonies and reasons drawne out of the Scripture and now wee are to proceed to naturall reasons which in worth and authoritie are to be regarded next the former they being the word of God wrought as the other is his written word the one we call the voice of nature the other the word of grace the one mediatly manifested in the creatures the other immediately revealed by himselfe For if nature be as is no lesse commonly than truly said ordinaria dei potentia the ordinary power of God as miraculous workes are his extraordinary power then by like reason it followeth that the voice of nature is the ordinary voice of God even as the divine Oracles are his extraordinary voice Now as this question chiefly concerneth nature so the resolution thereof ought chiefly to be fetched from nature whose sentence is therefore so much the more to be respected yea so much that though the Scripture said nothing yet natures testimony were in this of sufficient credit alone And if we will hearken to nature I doubt not to make it appeare that there is nothing more manifest in nature than this mediate manner of the souls propagation and when as well nature as divinite concludes for it I see not with what reason it can be gainsaid 1. Reason from the nature of reason The first naturall reason which I will produce shall be from the nature of reason it selfe which teacheth not to beleeve any thing for which wee have no reason Scripture nor experience Some things our senses teach us to beleeve as the vertues of the Loadstone for which we can render neither Scripture nor reason but only experience Some things reason teacheth us It hath neither Scripture sense nor reason 1. as that the whole conteines the parts which we would beleeve without Scriptures or experience onely by reason And some things wee receive from Scripture as the Trinitie in the Unitie which cannot appeare either by sense or reason but onely by faith 2. But none of these can manifest the soules immediate creation for it is confessed to be above sense or reason neither is there any Scripture to prove it For who ever heard of a soule newly created since the first in the beginning is it likely that God should continually do such wonderfull workes which the Scripture never spake of and whereof there can no example be given yea is it not contrary to all sense and reason that God should worke a perpetuall miracle and that the most omnipotent worke that can be and yet this onely among all the workes of God should be omitted in the Scripture If there were such a thing as this wee should neede none other Arguments to confute all the Atheists and Epicures in the world this therfore of all other should have beene revealed if it had beene so 2. From the order of nature Seeing therefore there is no divine testimony to warrant it there had need be strong reasons to make a man beleeve it Neither is it unreasonable onely but as it seemeth to me a most unnaturall opinion cleane contrary to the whole order of nature and end of all GODS extraordinary workes For although the supreame goodnesse of GOD would not content it selfe without producing more good for which cause he created the world
perfection as could not be subjected thereunto and so God should faile in his workmanship and be constrained to helpe himselfe and worke perpetually in creating soules notwithstanding his creating all Angels together which could not be propagated and instituting naturall meanes for the rest that so he might rest and yet cannot 7. Like begets like Yea doe not the contrary directly follow and not onely from the common rule in nature like begets like and therefore man man but also because if man be the most excellent of the creatures having all or at least the most excellent faculties in an higher perfection than they he should so much the rather be more able to propagate his like than they yea shall any beast bring forth another which shall be able to persist of it selfe and bring forth more and shall the God of all creatures make mans nature so lame and imperfect that he and he onely cannot goe alone as well as they unlesse God leade him If this be true God shall be the most step-father to man and man the worst creeple of all Gods creatures 8. Everyman two fathers or none Furthermore As men can have no children this way so children can have no fathers or else every one two fathers For if the soule comes from God who is a mans father the whole mans I meane not Adam for he is the father of our bodies onely nor God for our soules only come from him If then neither God nor Adam be our father whose sonnes I beseech you are wee By this doctrine he is a wise childe that knowes his owne father Perhaps it will be said wee are the sonnes of both But then every one must have two fathers an infinite and a finite father Oh strange absurditie and no lesse ridiculous than impossible for how can both be when by the lawes of nature neither can To be short either they must make GOD and Adam both one or else every childe must have two fathers or none at all 9. Children like their parents Neither is it without force that children are ordinarily like their parents and not onely in the features of the body but in the faculties of the minde also Now though all soules be essentially alike and this is not alwayes true neither in soule nor body for divers reasons yet since it is true in both for the most part it appeareth that the parents have more in generation than the body yea so much as the whole man is ordinarily like the parents so much is the whole man propagated from him CHAP. XXVII Reasons from the nature of the soule Everyman must have two souls NEither is this kinde of propagation more agreeable to the ordinary course of generation than to the nature of the soule it selfe nor that of the immediate creation more contrary to the one than the other For first as by that doctrine every one must have two fathers or none so also two soules for if the rationall soule be infused by God after the perfecting of the vegetative and sensitive soules as they are called though in truth both be performed by one soule as wee see in beasts I would know what soule it was that did informe and shape the fruite before giving it vegetation and sense These things cannot possibly be done without of soule which if it were not the rationall was some other unreasonable soule such as is in beasts and so every man must have two soule For wee see by experience the former did not perish at the comming of the latter as it is in the forme of corporeall substances when one perish then another succeeds but here both remaine and therefore either must be mingled and made one with the reasonable scule which cannot be unlesse it be corruptible or else every man must have two soules one reasonable and another unreasonable which opinion is verily as farre from reason as the soule is from being unreasonable Againe 2. The soule is an essentiall part of man The soule the chiefe part of man and the very forme of man without which man is not man and therefore it is against nature and contrary to all reason that man by the course of nature propagating a creature like himselfe should not be able to propagate such an essentiall part as the soule is especially seeing it is graunted he can propagate such an accident as sin is Yea how can this doctrine possibly be true that man should propagate that which is unnaturall not that which is naturall an unnaturall accident and not a naturall essentiall part sin which cannot be without the soule and not the soule without which there can be no sin 3 The soule compared with other spirits This also will farther appeare if we compare the nature of the soule with other spirits For it is observed by the learned and manifest even to the ignorant that GOD hath created three sorts of spirits in the world First Angels which are so spirituall that they cannot be joyned with bodyes Secondly The spirits of beasts c. which are so corporall that they cannot be seperated from bodyes Thirdly Mens soules as a mean which can both live without bodyes as after death like Angels and united with bodies as in this life like beasts Againe we see it is the will and ordinance of God that Angels should neither increase nor decrease corporall spirits as I may call them both increase and decrease and that soules should increase and multiply but never decrease or perish Doe not then the order of nature teach then that as Angels ate immediatly created by God onely and the spirits of beasts altogether mediately propagated so the soules of men which are the meane betwixt both should be produced partly by the immediate power of God and partly mediately by propagation or rather by such a manner of production as is even a meane betweene creation and propagation It were to disturbe the order of nature to confound the nature of the soule and to make a mingle-mangle of the orderly workes of God to deny it 4. The nature of the soule it selfe And this is no lesse apparent if wee consider the nature of the foule alone then compared with others For it is to be considered that the soule is the lowest nature of all incorporeall spirits indued with power to use the bodily organs to those purposes whereunto they were ordained by nature but chiefly by its rationall faculty to get knowledg of all sensible things which senses ar◠〈◊〉 proportioned by God that the reasonable soule by them get all its naturall knowledge Ye◠even but knowledge of God himself◠doth ordinarily arise from sense onely ordered by reason and reason it selfe is a meane betweene the sense of beasts and intelligence of Angels And therefore God hath united the soule with the body it is incompleate without it it naturally desires union with it It cannot ordinarily know any thing but by it and the
end and use of it is in all things naturally to worke mediately by the body For the soule is not such a strange nature dwelling in the body miraculously as some imagine but lovingly united by a sweet union and fit concordance in nature And therefore without question as the nature use end and all ordinary faculties and workes are naturally and mediately by these corporall natures so also is the originall and could not otherwise have such union and sympathy with the body But yet as the nature and workes also are some wayes extraordinary without and above all elementary natures so proportionably thereunto God hath an extraordinary and supernaturall worke in producing of it 5. The faculty of propagation seated in the soule Another reason that the soule is propagated may be because the faculty of propagation belongs as well to the soule as the body yea hath originally the chiefe seate in the soule onely For the body alone is but a dead instrument as the pen in the hand of the writer and therefore must needs be in the soule which is the first principle and principall cause of all actions unlesse wee should graunt more soules than one and disturbe yea destroy the uniforme government of nature by placing divers commanders in one body Now if the soule hath a part yea the chiefest power in propagation it were most absurd to say that all is spent in the producing of I know not what brutish thing which is neither nan not beast And seeing according to the rule of reason such as the cause is such also is the effect how can it be but the soule must produce a soule and coÌ„sequently the whole man the whole man 6. The soule present in conception Adde hereunto that the soule doth accompany the seede and perfecteth the body from the very first conception which not onely the ancient Philosophers acknowledge as most agreeable to nature and reason whence it is that nothing is more coÌ„mon with Aristotle Arist deâ— gen anim l. 1. cap. 3. than that the power of the soule is in the seed making its owne house fitly framing the bodily organs and bringing them to the highest perfection that the first constitution of the matter is capable of but even amongst our modern Philosophers and Divines it is acknowledged for such effects cannot be done without a soule as the most acute Scaliger abundantly proveth Scal. Exerc 6. Sect. 5. And if the soule informes the seede at the very instant of perfection when there are as yet no organs is it not more probable that it is mediately propagated with the seede than immediately created by GOD Yes doubtlesse Neither need any doubt how the rationall soule can 〈◊〉 the seede without organs know that the chiefe yea the only immediate organs of the soule are the spirits and these are as well in the seede as in the most perfect body The souls worke in the Embrio Although therefore there are as yet no eyes or eares for the soule to heare or see with yet there is worke enough for it to heate and coole moysten and dry and thereby to seperate and conjoine to thicken and thinne to extend and contract to make rough and smooth to harden and soften these and such other are the workes of the soule whereby it doth ordaine place number and forme the seede For though they be the prime and secondary qualities of the elements yet in such a naturall body all are doâ—â— by the power of the soule and none of all can be done without it 7. God the efficient cause Lastly It appeareth that not nature but God is the efficient cause of the soules procreation because even elementary bodies cannot be produced without a more excellent efficient than themselves For wee see that all naturall things yea every plant that growes out of the earth besides the materiall cause the elements whereof it is compounded and the seede whence it receiveth the forme hath also an externall efficient cause which certainly is the influence of the celestiall Orbes who by causing motion gives it the first hint and power of growing And seeing the soule hath such similitude with these corporall natures that though they have not matter and forme as they have yet having a spirituall kinde of composition which for likenesse justly meriteth the name therefore as the spirituall matter and forme thereof is propagated from the parents by the seede so it must also have a spirituall externall efficient cause more excellent than it selfe which can be no other but the immediate power of God the father of spirits For as all naturall bodyes have an efficient cause correspondent to their natures which in course of nature cannot be good immediately with whose nature they have so small affinitie yea so great contrarietie but these heavenly powers with whom they have such sympathy being of the same corporall nature though of a more excellent temper so the efficient cause of our soules must needs be agreeable to their natures which cannot be the Starres which are far inferior but God who is also a spirit and of a more excellent nature than our spirits even as the Sunne is more glorious than these earthly substances betweene whom there is such sympathy that even as plants welke and fade without the force of their efficients that heavenly lampe the Sunne and the rest of those celestiall orbes but grow and flourish with them so how a soule seperated from God and one united unto his and injoying the beames of his grace is either miserable or happy we know in part but cannot perfectly comprehend CHAP. XXVIII Reasons from other considerations Rarenesse of humane conceptioÌ„ BEsides these arguments taken from the ordinary course of generation and the nature of the soule divers other probable reasons may be produced As first the often failing and indeed rarenesse of humane conception in comparison of other creatures as common experience teacheth Now if the soule be created after the perfecting of the body then the first conception and breeding beeing by the power of nature onely why shoud there not bee as much frequency and certainty in the propagation of mankind as of other creatures This rarenesse of humane conception doth intimate unto us that it is not by the power of nature alone that man is conceived in the wombe but that there is some more speciall worke of God in it than in the generation of other creatures And if it cannot be denyed but God hath such a speciall worke in the conception of man why should we not thinke that the soule hath its beginning then also rather than with reverence be it spoken to put God to a double labour and to set him twice on worke in every man generation 2. God shuld be tyed to nature And this may farther appeare not only by testimony of Scripture which makes conception to be a speciall worke of God and never mentioneth any extraordinary power in the
conclude this so difficult a doctrine which as in the beginning it seemed so hard that no words could sufficiently explaine it so now me thinkes it is so plaine and easie that I feare nothing more than that I have insisted too long in the proofe of that which I thinke no man can or will deny yet considering that such is the curiositie of some in this age that are wittily acute and such also the difficultie and necessitie of understanding this doctrine aright that a mans life were well bestowed in giving full satisfaction therein this short discourse I hope will not seeme over-long to the judicious 1. The originall of the Soule I conclude therefore as before first that the soule is neither immediately created by God of nothing nor yet meerly propagated by man without his immediate power but that he hath instituted a naturall order whereby the whole man begets the whole man both soule and body and as well the one as the other Not the soule the body nor the body the soule neither the soule the soule alone nor the body the body alone yet in this order the soule the soule onely immediately but mediately by the body and the body the body onely immediately but mediately by the soule And thus in man the whole propagation the whole as concerning matter and forme as well as other creatures albeit in the one the immediate power of GOD concurreth as an efficient cause and naturall meanes onely in the other 2. â—he imâ—â—ortaliâ—â— of the â—â—â—le From this naturall yet divine beginning I also conclude the immortall nature and everlasting continuance of the soule For seeing it is not produced by the power of nature alone nor yet made of any corporall matter but spirituall both for matter manner wherein it excelleth all other creatures though united through Gods institution to the naturall generation it must needs transcend the condition of all corporall creatures as well in the end as in the originall and so can be no lesse than immortall though we goe no higher than the rules of nature 3. Originall sinne Hence also I conclude that all Adams off-spring are infected with that staine of nature which he contracted to himselfe by sin which is propagated from parents to children together with the whole man the subject thereof and that without any fault in God it being our act and not his our sinfull soules proceeding not from him but our sinfull parents and so not being corrupted by him but by our selver in Adam 4. Christs incarnation And lastly hereby also appeareth the puritie of Christs incarnation who though he were true man like unto us and made of the same substance both for soule and body yet was not propagated after the common manner of men to avoide that infection of sin which wee receive in propagation Reasons to beleeve without reason Now if any cannot conceive through the subtle conceit they have of it how the soule should minister any matter to the producing of another which I confesse is hardest yet considering that most of the most learned ancient Fathers and Schoolmen in former times have allowed aêreall bodyes even to the Angels themselves it cannot be thought absurd that I ascribe such a spirituall composition to soules as hath such a neere resemblance unto corporall matter and forme as may well stand both with this manner of propagation and the divine nature of the soule And if thus much be not granted it cannot appeare in nature neither how it can be united with the body the one being in my conceit as hard to conceive as the other But seeing I see the one is I beleeve the other may be And further I adde that that though this did seeme to disagree with reason yet wee ought rather to beleeve it than the other which we plainly see doe disagree with Religion But to conclude seeing wee see the reason why wee cannot see the reason let us not be so vainely curious to enquire of that which we know certainly we cannot certainly know let us content our selves a while not heathenishly to reason but Christianly to beleeve and shortly after this life Phil. 3.15 all these things shall be revealed unto us FINIS A Compendious Table of matters concernable in this TREATISE THE possibilitie of knowing the Souls originall 2 Cautions in searching it 6 What knowledg men have of spirits 14 Soules knowledge of it selfe 15 How the soule knowes inferior natures how superior 17 Angels know not our thoughts 21 How farre may be knowne of the soule 23 Twenty-one opinions of the soules originall 25 A censure of the opinions and the choice made 35 Of Originall sinne 39 How man propagates man 46 Gods act in the soules production what 47 How the soule is propagated of the soule 49 Soule and body be at once propagated 50 Soules double union 52 Causes of immortalitie 55 How man is sinfull and yet immortall 56 Texts of Scripture answered and explained 60 Reasons from the Scripture answered 75 From the creation of Adams soule 75 From the creation of Christs soule 85 Of propagation of spirits 91 How the soule is immateriall 93 Its incorruption 95 Its selfe-subsistence 97 It cannot be hurt by the body 99 It worketh inorganically 100 Whether losse of seede be losse of soules 100 How one soule proceeds from two ibid. Whether parents loose part of their soules 101 Of imperfect conceptions 104 Of the soules seed how generated 111 Spirits may be communicated and not diminished 121 That the soule is perfect in conception 230 Of Eves Creation 144 Testimonies of Scripture to prove the soules propagation what 181 The nature of Originall sinne 186 In it is nothing positive 188 Body cannot corrupt the soule 130 Originall sin it propagable 241 The whole man is received from Adam 158 Christs humanitie taken from the Virgin 259 Christs soule and body conceived together and how 263 How Christ was free from sin 279 Why the truth of propagation of soule hid so long time 284 Naturall reasons to prove propagation 285 Man can father no more than he begets 292 No father without giving the form 293 The faculty of propagation seated in the soule 306 The soules work in the Embrio 308 Rarenesse of conception 312 Of unnaturall copulations 317 Soules infused in adultery 318 Objections removed and cleared 324 Conclusion of all 331 FINIS
THE TRVE ORIGINALL OF THE SOVLE Proving both by divine and naturall reason that the production of mans Soule is neither by creation nor propagation but a certain meane way between both Wherein the doctrine of originall sinne and the purity of Christs Incarnation is also more fully cleared then hath been heretofore published By H. W. B. D. PSAL. 139.14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marveilous are thy workes and that my soule knoweth right well LONDON Printed by T. Paine and M. Symmons 1641. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE WILLIAM FENIS Viscount Say and Sele Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries and one of his Majesties most Honourable privie Councell SO great is the unhappinesse of our times right Honourable wherein men have been rather led by affection than judgement that a bare ipse dixit hath with most men casily gained the authoritie of a truth Hereby able wits have been discouraged Arts have lost much lustre and the World more light This ensuing Treatise being a poore Orphant that it might be secured from such prejudice the Epidemical distemper of our times I thought best humbly to shrowd under your Honours protection to the intent also that they who will not receive a naked truth for it selfe may embrace it for the beauty it shall derive from so noble a Patron Vouchsafe then Right Honourable as to accept it together with this my humble and thankfull acknowledgement the best coine I have of all your favours toward my selfe stock whence I sprang so to pardon my boldnesse in interrupting you The God of the spirits of all flesh blesse your Lordship your honourable Lady hopefull of-spring in the fatnesse of the earth and dew of heaven and after lead you to that place where the spirits of just men made perfect take sanctuary which shall be the daily prayer of Your Honours in all humility to be commanded ELIAS PALMER To the Reader WHether this Treatise composed by Mr Henry Woolnor were to satisfie himselfe rather or the curious world I cannot say He was early arrested by sudden death that sent him hence a prisoner to his grave These papers containing his Essay of the Soules originall were brought to mine hands for their birth all the interest I shall challenge therein A discourse that may be as profitable as it is desireable though in itselfe very sublime and remote from the senses yet levelled to the plainest capacitie that none I hope will depart it unresolv'd To speake any thing of this subject definitively is as farre beyond mine intentions as my businesse but shall as best becomes me humbly submit to the censure of the learned whose counsels and encouragements gave not only being but lengthned out mine intentions toward the Pressè As for others whose indigested notions cannot admit of such a speculation nor can therfore be competent Judges in a matter beyond their sphaere let them be sober as God distributes to every one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—om 12. a measure of or in the faith Farewell ELIAS PALMER The Contents of the severall Chapters handled in this Treatise Chapter 1. THE Vse of this Treatise and how it is to be handled Chapter 2. Whether the originall of the soule may be perfectly knowne in this life Chapter 3. Diversitie of opinions about the nature and the originall of the soule Chapter 4. The state of the question propounded with the chiefe difficulties on both sides Chapter 5. The meane chosen and the question resolved Chapter 6. Scriptures to prove the soules immediate creation answered Chap. 7. Reasons from the Scripture for the soules immediate Creation answered Chap. 8. Whether propagation can stand with the spirituall nature of the Soule Chap. 9. Whether the losse of seede be the losse of soules Chap. 10. How one soule can proceede from two soules Chap. 11. How the soule can be propagable and yet indivisible Chap. 12. How the manner of conception can stand with the soules generation Chap. 13. Testimonies out of the old Testament proving the soules propagation Chap. 14. Testimonies out of the new Testament proving the soules propagation Chap. 15. The propagation proved from the Doctrine of Originall sin Chap. 16. How the nature of the sin descending confirmes the soules propagation Chap. 17. That a new created soule cannot justly be united to a sinfull body Chap. 18. That a soule newly created by God cannot be infected with Originall sinne Chap. 19. That Originall sinne cannot passe but by propagation Chap. 20. That Originall sin cannot be propagated unlesse the whole man be Chap. 21. That the whole man cannot be propagated unlesse the soule be Chap. 22. That the whole humanitie of Christ was taken from the Virgin Chap. 23. That Christs humanitie was never clensed from sinne Chap. 24. How Christs Incarnation was free from corruption Chap. 25. Naturall reasons proving the soules propagation Chap. 26. Reasons from the nature of generation Chap. 27. Reasons from the nature of the soule Chap. 28. Reasons from other considerations Chap. 29. An answer to some objections against this manner of propagation Chap. 30. The Conclusion recapitulating the summe of the premisses A TREATISE PHILOSOPHICALL Containing The true Originall of the SOULE Wherein is laboured to prove both by divine and naturall reason that the production of mans Soule is neither by Creation nor Propagation but a certaine meane way betweene both CHAPTER I. The use of this Question and how it is to be handled The difficulty and necessitie of this doctrine AMong the many intricate questions wherein the Church of God hath almost lost it selfe in this last age of the world there is none more difficult to know and more necessary to be knowne than that which concerneth the Soules originall The difficulty appeares in that so many worthies who have entered into this Labyrinth could never yet finde a cleare way out of it againe The necessitie in that there are so many necessary points in divinitie depending upon this which cannot be well cleared without it especially the doctrine of originall sinne and the immortality of the soule which are two of the maine principles of Christian Religion The possibilitie of knowing it But some perhaps will say who then shall undertake that which no man ever yet could performe It is true indeed I say so too and so in a manner say all And thus under a colour of modesty and humilitie wee are all hindered from seeking that which happily might otherwise be found I reply therefore on the coÌ„trary why should we not attempt it They are not alwayes the learnedst men that find out the greatest mysteries neither are they alwayes the greatest men by whom God bringeth the greatest things to passe Sure I am the promise is made to the godly Ioh. 7.17 not to the great it is Gods usuall course to produce the greatest effects by the most unlikely instruments that the power and praise may be of God 2 Cor. 4.7 and
the soule the soule it selfe cannot properly know Every nature as it is more excellent proves it selfe and the inferiour Yet we must know that we know our soules better then beasts doe themselves and no doubt Angels themselves better than we doe our selves and God who is above all knoweth himselfe absolutely and perfectly Why God knows all because his nature is of that height that essence and knowledge in him are all one Thus we see the reason why GOD onely can perfectly contemplate himselfe every other creature as it comes nearer to his nature can thereby contemplate it selfe and those which are inferiour And hence it is that man who is a creature cansisting of soule and body Why man knows not all secrets of nature can by his soule coÌ„template elementary natures but for as much as his soule is also united to a body which is part of himselfe he cannot perfectly know the secrets of nature even in these corporall things Whence no doubt it is that a man may find His reason non-pâ—ust in so many workes of nature But the Angels being altogether of aspirituall nature may have perfect knowledge of these inferiour natures I meane as they are in themselves not as they are virtually in God for so he onely knowes them perfectly and yet they cannot perfectly contemplate themselves Why Angels caÌ„not know our thoughts no nor our soules neither because they also are spirituall like them And hence also it may well be that Angels cannot know mens thoughts as is manifest in the Scripture Much lesse then can man have any perfect knowledge of his soule Why man not knowing his soul much lesse the originall and much lesse the Originall No although he were not joyned to a body unlesse he had another spirituall nature above the soule yea above Angels by which hee might looke downe upon it and so discerne all those difficulties which now he cannot comprehend Even as by these soules we can looke downe upon inferiour creatures and judge of elementary creatures in the world For as love so knowledge doth descend and therefore if we had such superiour soules yet then we should find as much difficulty in them also Here therefore it is to be notedâ— that no nature excepting Gods can know it selfe perfectly so neither properly but as it were by way of reflexion For even as the eye though it beholdeth all other things yet it cannot see it selfe unlesse in a glasse so we cannot know our owne soules but as it shewed it selfe in the workes as in a mirroâ—â— so that as by it wee know other things so by other things we come to the knowledg of it which must needs be an imperfect shaddow and indeed not so much as a shaddow of perfection And herein it beareth the image of God in a speciall manner who cannot be known properly but only by his creatures rather what he is not then what he is So that as it is proper to him alone who is the perfection of all natures to know all things so he only can properly and perfectly know both them and himselfe How far the soules Originall may be knowne Some perhaps will say if it be a thing that cannot be knowne then it is in vaine to enquire after it I answer that though the knowledge of the soule be very difficult especially the originall of it and though it be impossible to know it perfectly and so properly as we know other things for the reasons abovesaid yet there is a competency and such as may give reasonable satisfaction to our nature to be attained and therewith we ought to rest contented For though we can see no reason yet if we see reason why we should see no reason reason it is we should be content without reason CHAP. III. Diversitie of opinions about the nature and the originall of the soule Strange conceits about the soule THE truth of this ignorance will farther appeare and also farther the point in hand if wee shall consider the many strange opinions that have been in the world concerning the anture and originall of it 1. Aristotles opinion First Aristotle that Prince of Philosophers who being ignorant of the Creation held that the world was eternall did also maintaine that soules have been from eternity but yet propagated from parents to children the soule being in the seed potentially though not actually but whether it were mortall or immortall as himselfe was not certaine so his writings are very doubtfull yet rather concluding that it was howbeit the first creation of nothing is denied flatly by him and all his followers Somewhat more tollerable than this because it hath some resemblance of truth is the fable of the Poets that Prometheus 2. Poets made the first man of the slime of the earth and being beloved of the gods and sometimes taken up to heaven he there saw the caelestiall Orbes to live and move by fire whereupon he made bold to steale some of the heavenly fire to enlive his body and so informed it with a living soule whence it seemes came that opinion that soules were made of caelestiall fire Others againe held that Angels made all mens soules of spirit and fire 3. That Angels made them of this mind was Seleucus and long before him all Carpâ—crates was of opinion that they made the whole world Also so Menander and others 4. Of his own substance Others say God made them of his owne substance as Priscillianus Serveâ—â—us and their followers 5. Of the soule of the world But as touching the matter most of the other Philosophers were of opinioÌ„ that soules were bred of the soule of the world which they imagine to be a caelestiall substance or quint-essence of which they say the starres are made and so are incorruptible and immortall even as the body is corruptible and mortall being compounded of the elements 6. Hypocrat Notwithstanding Hippocrates thought that the soule was ingendred of the heat or vitall spirits or els of the harmony of the whole body or to speake plainly it was he could not tell what 7. Galen That famous Physitian Galen also held it to be either an aeriall body more then the elements or els not corporall and yet carried by the animall spirits as by a chariot 8. Plato Plato and his followers maintaine that all soules were at first bred in heaven of the divine nature and dwelt here being indued with excellent sciences and vertues but afterwards descending from thence into mens bodies as into stinking prisons they are corrupted and forget all their former knowledge and when afterward by study and instruction those caelestiall sparkes are againe kindled in them they doe onely recall or call to mind those things which they knew before in heaven And farther they affirme that if by vertuous living good workes or some other kinde of purgation after they are seperated from their bodies for which cause it is
like Purgatory was invented they be purged from this corporall contagion then they shall returne againe to heaveÌ„ from whence they came For thus doth Sathan seeke to obscure the truth with lies when he cannot put out all light of nature Not much unlike this and as it is like derived from it was the opinion of Origen 9. Origen who though he thought as the Scriptures teach that God created the soule of nothing and not of any caelestiall substance yet he saith that all soules were created together at the beginning of the world as Angels were and because they sinned in departing from God they are since put into divers bodies to be as it were their Jayles and fetters to imprison clog them more or lesse according to the diversitie of their sinnes And that for this cause the world was made that so these evill spirits might be bridled No lesse 10. â—â—thagoâ—â—â—â—s if not much more strange was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transmigration of soules which the Pythagoreans imagined viz. that they passed at death out of one mans body into another yea into fowles fishes plants without any difference exercising their power in them so far as in those natures could be manifested and that accordingly as they had lived in one body more or lesse vitiously so they were received at death into a worse or better body And it seemes the Jewes themselves were somewhat infected with this opinion by the Romans for they thought that Christ was John Baptist risen againe Mat. 14.2 16.13 14. or Eliah or Jarâ—â—â—ah Mar. 6.14 or some other of the old Prophets Luk. 9.7 8 11. Certaine Platonists or Pythagoreans Yea there have not beene wanting some heretickes of old who following the opinion of the Platonists have affirmed the soule to be of such a nature as it can never be quiet untill such time as it hath finished all manner of works whatsoever can be done in the world of what nature soever whether good or bad by passing out of one body into another through all sorts of creatures And untill then say they it can never be throughly purged or be at rest 12. Certaine Tertullianists Yet more some have maintained that at death those soules that live well are turned into Angels and those that have lived wickedly become devills as the Tertullianists c. And hence it is that we reade of conjurers who have killed men and children that they might have their soules as their imps and familiar spirits to command after their deaths and such an one it is said Simon Magus was 13. Every man 3 soules Neither is there more diversitie about the nature than the number of soules for some are of opinion that every man hath three soules a vegetative soule with plants a sensitive soule with beasts and a reasonable soule like unto the Angels although indeed they are but three faculties or sundry operations of one and the same soule in us 14. 2 Soules Other againe thinke there can be no lesse than two soules at the least one sensuall the other rationall the one mortall the other immortall the one propagated by the Parents and the other created by God And this Occam would prove from the diversity and contrariety of appetites and desires in one and the same man which he thinks cannot be in one and the same individuall nature 15. Maniches Some others yet more grossely have affirmed that every man hath indeed two soules the one made of the substance of God and the other of the substance of the devils These were the Maniches who held two beginnings a good God and an evill God 16. Averrois Contrary to these and yet no lesse unreasonable is the opinion of that great Philosopher Averrois that there is one onely soule of all men that ever were or shall be in the world Diversities of opinioÌ„s amongst Christians But leaving these Heathens and heretickes with their heathenish and hereticall conceits as not worthy the confuting let us heare the verdict of the learned Christians since Christ who all with one coÌ„sent affirme that the soules of men are either immediately created by God 1. Creation or else mediately propagated by man 2. Propagation yet herein also there is no small diversitie for in either of these there are two opinions each differing from other 17. Created out of the body Of those that maintaine the soule to be immediately created by God some think it is created without the body of nothing and then infused into it by God after the forming of the body of this mind was Hillary c. 18. Created within the body Others againe thinke it to be created within the body of the conceived fruit which hath first vegetative life then sensitive and lastly the reasonable soule is created therein and united therewith by the immediate power of God onely Both these have been countenanced by many of the best learned especially the latter which is most commonly received as the truth at this day 19. Propagated corporally Notwithstanding others contend that although God at first created Adams soule of nothing yet ever since they have beene naturally propagated from the parents together with the body so that as wee have our bodies from Adams body so our soule from Adams soule but so as it is immortall notwithstanding But of these some conceiting it to be a corporeall substance thought also that it was generated after a corporall manner which was worthily condemned by Austin and others 20. Propagated spiritually But those that held it to be a spirituall substance held also that it was propagated spiritually the soule of the soule as it were light of light And this heretofore was upholden by many of the most learned men amongst the Antients yea as St. Hierome witnesseth most of the Doctors of the Westerne Churches were of that minde So that it seemeth this opinion was as commonly received among them there as the other now amongst us Lastly 21. there were some that wavered between these two opinions not knowing which to take and of this minde was St. Augustine and Eucherius August Epist 157. who durst neither condemne those that thought it was spiritually propagated from the Parents nor yet those that held it to be immediately created by God Lib. 2. Cap. 56. The one professing in one of his Epistles that he could not finde any certainty of the soules Originall throughout the Canonicall Scriptures in which doubt he also continued to his death as appeareth plainly in his Retractations CHAP. IV. The state of the question propounded with the chiefe difficulties on both sides The censure and choise HEreby it appeareth sufficiently both how much difficultie is in this question of the soules originall and how imperfect our knowledge is therein But since all the rest are most absurd erronious and some blasphemous and two onely as most probable claime
whereof it was first made so the soule returnes to God from whom it first came but that was immediately from Adam so therefore is this The next proofe is taken from the words of God by the Prophet Isay 5. Isai 57.16 I will not ever contend with man for the spirit will faile before me and the soules which I have made which some doe thus expound If I should straightly marke what is done amisse and severely punish your sinnes then not onely the bodies which yee have received from your parents but even the soules which I have immediately created and infused into your bodies would also perish but who seeth not that there is more in the exposition than in the Text. If indeed this were a truth manifest in the Scripture it might happily be so understood but this being the thing we question ought first to be proved which cannot be from this place for the word translated soule signifieth breath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and somtimes any creature that hath breath and so the meaning is those whom he made to live and breath would faile and dye which the soule cannot doe and therefore it cannot he meant of that Neither would it follow that because he made them therefore he made them immediately of nothing and so the question remaineth still unanswered Againe 6. Ezek 18.4 God saith by the Prophet Ezekiel Behold all soules are mine c. But is little to the purpose for here by soule is meant the whole person for so it followeth in the next words The soule that sinneth shall dye What shall the soule only be punished and not the whole person rather Besides if every soule be created of nothing because it is Gods then so should the body be for that also is his There is yet another place alledged out of the old Testament 7. Zach. 12.1 to prove this which as it seemes to me is clearly against it namely that of the Prophet Zachary where it is said Thus saith the Lord which stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundations of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him if it be formed by the Lord then not by man say some But that followes not for it may be by both And therfore Augustine well answereth it is not denyed but God formeth every mans soule but the question is whereof whether of the substance of the parents soules or of nothing But it is objected that the scope of the place is to comfort the Church by setting forth the omnipotent power of God Be it so if then we admit an immediate act of Gods power herein which I graunt the scope of the place is answered and yet the soule not immediately created Againe it is manifest the two former sentences have relation to the first creation for God doth not now either stretch forth the heavens or lay the foundation of the earth and therefore why should not the latter also seeing it is apparent he created the first soule immediately of nothing but wee doe not reade that he created ever any other so since Lastly it is to be noted that the text saith not the Lord createth but the Lord formeth the spirit of man c. and where did ever forming signifie creating of nothing de hoc postea To this purpose 8. Ioh. 5.15 though to small purpose some doe also produce that saying of our Saviour My Father worketh hitherto and I worke as if by this working he meant the daily creating of soules but his meaning was not in the creatioÌ„ of new things but in the preservation of the old and not so much in the preservatioÌ„ of nature as in the propagation of grace For indeed it is not the government of the world but the regiment of the Church that our Saviour speaks of in that place not ordinary operations in the course of nature but miraculous workes in the promulgation of the Gospel as the words both before and after doe manifest And though it be true that God and Christ too being essentially one doe cause all these things that are done naturally for he is the Author of Nature yet he is not properly said to worke that which nature worketh because he is therefore said to rest because he hath committed these things unto nature Some also would seeme to wring it out of the words of the Poet Aratus 9. Acts 17.28 cited by St. Paul Wee are the off-spring of God For such weak proofes as these must serve where better is wanting which poverty does indeede more weaken and discredit the case than any way confirme the same For his meaning is onely that wee are of a divine nature by reason of that spirituall and immortall soule that is in us but how wo come by it whether by creation or propagation neither did Paul here purpose to speake nor the Poet ever dispute But most of all 10. Heb. 12 9 and most worthily of all is that of the Apostle to the Hebrewes urged and indeed almost all the rest have no inference at all to the purpose and this no necessitie nor as we shall see no just probabilitie the wards are these If wee â—ad Fathers four bodies that corrected us and wee gave them reverence shall wee not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live Whence they collect that earthly parents propagate the body onely and God creates the soule of every man immediately But for Answer Answer first of all Beza whose judgement is i. e. is to be reverenced rendreth the sense of this place thus If all men yeeld this right to naturall parents to whom next to God we owe this life that they may rightfully correct their children shall we not be much more subject to our heavenly Father who is the Author of our spirituall and everlasting life And indeed what els can be the meaning For if in the next place we consider the scope it is to perswade to the patient suffering of afflictions and not to teach the originall of the soule Againe if wee examine the words we shall finde that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flesh for so it should be translated and not bodyes cannot be meant of the body without the soule for parents doe not correct a carkasse Secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of spirits is not to be understood of a soule without a body for God is the father of mens bodies too and not of the soule alone and lastly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chasticers as the parents are called signifies such a chastisement as when instruction is joyned with correction but there can be no such correction of the body without a soule a castigation being of an understanding man and not of a body onely and as the word so the Antithesis makes it apparant that the Apostle in this place makes mention of a twofold castigation the one carnall the other spirituall so that not soule and body
but spirituall and carnall castigation is here opposed But be it that God is here in a peculiar right called the Father of soules it must not be in a sense of our own devising whereof there is no example nor warrant in the Scripture but as they teach us which is that he created mans soule after a peculiar manner not of former matter as the body and all other creatures but immediately of nothing when he breathed into him the breath of life Lastly I grant that God hath a more peculiar worke in the production of every mans soule than in any other thing throughout the whole order of nature and yet according to the course of nature too And this is the utmost that can be urged from this or any of the former places these being the most and best that ever I could finde brought for the immediate creation of the soule none of which doe infringe but rather confirme this mediate manner which I have propounded CHAP. VII Reasons from the Scripture for the soules immediate Creation answered From the Creation of Adams soule THe reasons drawn from the Scripture to prove the immediate creation of the soule are these first because Adams soule was created of nothing and in the creation of his God hath declared the manner of the creating of ours since it is unlike the originall of his soule and ours should be unlike when as wee are both of one kinde And seeing our Saviour Christ speaking of Manage calleth men back to the first institution saying it was not so from the beginning there is the same reason why we should learne the originall of our soules also from the beginning But notwithstanding this there is no more necessitie nor indeed probability that our soules should be created of nothing because his was then that our bodyes should be still made of the slime of the earth because his was For every one knoweth there is one consideration in the first creatiō or things and another in the producing of them afterwards according to their kindes by ordinary generation And if this difference should alter the kinde then it should doe so in all other living creatures as well for though in part they were made of that first matter yet were they in part also created by the immediate power of God as well as Adam But seeing it cannot vary the kind in them it cannot by the course of nature doe so in us neither Nay it seemes in the text there is more reason it should be thus for man rather than for any other creature For it is said God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives Gen. 2.7 the plurality of which word may in reason be better expounded of the many lives that were potentially in him than of the divers faculties and operations which yet are but one life and proceed from one soule onely And the rather because the words Spiraculum vitarum might we ll be rendred the Spirit of Soules As who should say that spirituall nature which was the fountaine of all those soules which have beene produced ever since and which is to be noted this is never affirmed of any creature in Scripture but such as being made male and female had power given them to propagate more of the same kinde Gen. 7 15. 6.17 so that it may seeme to be principally spoken for this cause and therefore to be belonging to man above all the rest and chiefly in respect of the soule which being made after such an immediate manner in man is therefore of a farre different and more excellent nature than the soules of bruites but yet propagated as well as they From the creation of Eves soule A second reason is drawne forcibly from the creation of Eve for because Moses expresseth the difference that was between the creation of her body and his the one being made of the dust the other of a rib but speaketh not of aw difference in the creation of their soules therefore say some it is very probable that both were created alike of nothing otherwise Moses would never have omitted it especially considering it was his principall intent to declare the originall of all things But this also is easily answered Answer For first if it be a good argument that Moses would not have omitted it if it had beene otherwise created than Adams was then it is much more forcible to prove that shee had no soule at all For if that which was taken out of Adam made the body onely then it is confessed he speakes nothing of the creation of her soule but leaves us to guesse that it might be as Adams was or rather that shee had none at all otherwise Moses would never have omitted it Secondly it is the thing in question whether Moses expresseth the different creation of their bodyes onely and not of their whole persons rather according to the expresse words in the text Thirdly if it should be granted that her soule was immediately created of nothing it were nothing to the purpose for this is still in the frist creation of mankinde and therefore no fit rule to measure the manner of mans propagation afterward Lastly it is at least to prove one unknowne thing by another there being no lesse doubt of the manner of the creation of her soule than of ours But for my part seeing in things doubtfull that which hath most reason is to be received as most reasonable I should rather thinke her whole person both soule and body to have beene made of Adams substance than otherwise and that for these reasons 1. Because Moses speaketh nothing of any more immediate creation of Soules but of the first He saith not that God breathed into her nostrils the breath of lives as into Adams there is not the least word or title that can seeme to signifie any such matter and what reason can be given that he who omitteth not the circumstance of the manner of closing up Adams side againe should overslip that miraculous worke of God in creating another new soule if he had done so Neither is it sufficient to say it was in vaine to repeate it for it is no where affirmed and if it were not needfull why should it still be doubtfull and men left onely to guesse at it Secondly Not only doth Moses not speake of any new created soule infused into her but if only her body was made of that which was taken from Adam as is said then for ought Moses speakes of it it may be questioned whither shee had any soule or no which must needs be very absurd especially considering it wa◠his chiefe purpose to declare unto us the true beginning of every thing at the first I doe not impute such an over-sight to the holy penman of God Thirdly so far is Moses from teaching that that he plainly affirmes the contrary saying that of that rib he made a woman not a body speaking of her whole person and not
man generates the whole man after a manner convenient to either nature 1. The soule supernaturall The first objection is that the soule is supernaturall and nature cannot produce any thing above nature But first it cannot be properly said that the soule is supernaturall It is indeed above elementary natures and therefore I also deny that it can be propagated of or by the body alone Againe I say not that the whole man can beget his like according to that common manner whereby other creatures are generated but by the supernaturall power of GOD assisting him And so though it were supernaturall yet it is not against nature that it should be propagated seeing as it is supernaturall so it is supernaturally propagated 2. Spirits cannot propagate Secondly It is objected that the soule is a simple spirit like unto Angels and therefore as one Angell cannot beget another so neither can soules First I answer 1. that we might with as good reason reason thus soules are like unto Angels and Angels cannot be united with bodies therefore soules cannot 2. Homo generat nec materiam nec formam sed totū compositum Secondly I doe not say that one soule doth beget another but one man another For generation is not of matter or forme onely but of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme Thirdly though soules are of a simple spirituall substance as are Angels in respect of elementary yet even Angels themselves and much more mens soules are not without a spirituall kinde of composition For to be simply simple is proper onely to the nature of God Fourthly Mens soules are of a farre more inferiour nature and so are more compounded than the nature of Angels and very fit it was that they should be so that they might be the more sutable to corporall natures with whom it pleased the Creator to unite them Lastly We see it is the will of God that soules should be produced with bodyes one after another in a naturall order to the worlds end and therefore hath conferred his efficient power for the effecting thereof from the beginning none of all which can be affirmed of Angels And now let reasō or any reasonable man judge whether it will follow that because one Angell neither doth nor can beget another therfore man cannot beget man yea God cannot by man produce one soule out of another though after a metaphysicall manner as for the reasons aforesaid we cannot throughly conceive 3. The soule is immateriall Of the same kinde is that objection that the soule is immateriall and the reason stands thus Whatsoever is made must be either of nothing or of some matter pre-existing now the soule is without matter and therfore cannot be propagated but must needs be immediately created of nothing But I deny the soule is altogether immateriall for although it hath no elementary matter yet it hath spirituall matter For all created spirits being compounded of act and potency have a kinde of similitude with corporall natures both in regard of matter and forme yea even Angels themselves But by a kinde of transcendency their matter is as our forme and their forme as the forme of our forme which because we want fitter words may indifferently be called spirituall matter and forme which doe best of all agree with the inferior nature of the soule And if it be said The spirituall matter of the soule it can have no such spirituall all matter because then it must be of such a nature as may receive contrary formes as we see in the generation of all other creatures by reason whereof the soule shall be made corruptible I answer first that though it be so in elementary generations yet it followeth not in spirituall compositions seeing their matter is of an higher kind Secondly Though nature cannot produce one soule put of another but by a corruptible course yet it followeth not but the God of nature may Thirdly as the soule to speake properly consists rather of power than any parts so the propagation is rather by promotion then than any decision Fourthly as the soule hath its essence more in the power and faculty than in the matter of it so more is to be ascribed to the efficient than to the materiall cause more to God than to man and yet that according to the course of nature too Lastly as man is the perfection of the creatures so his is the perfection of generation It is no strange thing therefore but very fitting that there should be somewhat in it transcending the common course as namely that one immortall nature should be derived from another by such a kind of generatiō as is very neere a creation by vertue of that first ordination and continual assistance of the father of spirits on whom the soule hath so neere a dependence 4. The soule corruptible Againe it is objected that the soule is incorruptible and it is a rule in nature Generatio unius est corruptio alterius the generation of one is the corruption of another Now if in every generation there must be a corruption seeing the soule cannot be corrupted it cannot be generated neither But first if this corruption should be graunted in the generation of the soule it is onely in termino a quo which cannot hinder the immortalitie of the soule that is propagated neither doth it belong to the soule that doth propagate for the generaration is of the soule generated not of the soule generating Againe what manner of corruption is that which is here meant A perishing indeed but such an one is rather a perfecting For in generation the seed is not corrupted by putrefaction but by perfection that is it ceaseth to be that which before it was and is made that which it was not because the potentiall being is turned into actuall being seed into a creature so that the thing is the same that it was before though not after the same manner that before it was and thus I graunt there is a corruption in the soules generation namely it ceaseth to be in power onely when it is in act and why then there is not something in man that is not the soule but rather the seminary of the soule as the seede is of the body wee shall heare afterwards 5. It can subsist by it selfe Another argument is taken from the power that the soule hath to subsist by it selfe without the body after this manner if the soule cannot be produced without the body then can it not live without the body and if the bodies generation be the cause of producing it the bodies corruption must also cause the death of it but the soule can live without the body and cannot be corrupted by it and therefore is not generated neither with nor by the body These things thus hudled up together are partly true and partly false for first there is not nor ever was there a soul produced without a body that
The production of soules the seed must needs be rather power than sperme Now the reason why parents doe coÌ„municate a soule to their issue Gen. 2.24 is because in this conjunction two are made one flesh not onely carnally but the very soules doe so cleave together that if it were possible they would lose their proper formes and become one which though being tyed by nature or rather Gods seperation which yet is not farre removed they cannot effect yet by the fitnesse of other causes concurring and the infinite power and wisdome of God so ordaining and assisting another soule and creature like the former is produced Things brecoing without seede The like whereof we may see in aequivocall generations where when one thing is changing into another even in the very change a third most commonly is ingendred And so here it is to be thought that in the interchanging of soules if I may so say even in a small moment of time Why conception so called this is performed as it were by conceit or fancy and therefore is worthily called conception or conceiving Whence is that of Athanasius Atha lib. de var. qu. 16. who saith even as fire is begotten by the strinking together of the stone and the steele so is the soule by the parents By all which it plainly appeareth that although the soule be received both from the father and the mother and indifferently from both yet it followeth not therupon that there must be two soules neither yet that two soules should thereby be mingled in one no more than the seeds of both which are not two seeds mingled or two forms made one which is impossible but onely one and that no lesse simple spirituall and immortall than either of the former CHAP. XI How the soule can be propagable and yet indivisible BY that which hath beene said 3. Obj. Parents soules divided there is a way opened also for the clearing of that other difficulty concerning the indivisible nature of the soule which they say cannot possibly stand with the course of generation For if the soule be propagated from the patents it must needs be that either the whole soule of the father is traduced and so the father shall be left soule-lesse or else some part and portion of the soule and so the soule shall be divisible and the like may be said of the mothers soule 1. â—ow a â—art is the â—hole as well as the fathers For the answering of this objection it must be considered that the substance matter of the soule is not like these corporall natures and so though this would follow in those yet not in that It is commonly said of Philosophers to which Divines also consent that the soule is tota in toto tota in qualibet parte wholly in the whole body and wholly in every part So that the soule cannot be divided into parts but if we will needs consider of a part that part is the whole and yet the whole not divided and therefore when one soule is propagated of another it is all one whether we say it be of the whole or of a part for even that part is the whole and yet according to the received doctrine the whole not divided nor any whit diminished 2. No parts but powers Others deale somewhat more subtilly herein as that learned both Philosopher and Divine Keckerman who in his Physickes treating on this subject saith that the soule is not united to the body by any physicall or corporall touching and thereupon concludeth thus Et quia anima non unitur corpori per contactum ideo etiam non concluditur extremitatibus corporis Keck Syn. l. 4. cap. 6. sicut aqua concluditur extremitatibus vasis quia non concluditur extremitatibus corporis ideo etiam non extenditur ad extensionem corporis per consequens frustra a quaeritur an sit in totô corpore tota an in singulis part ibus tota Because the soule is not united to the body by touching therefore also it is not included within the bounds of the body as water is in a vessell and because it is not so included within the bounds of the body therefore also it is not stretched out to the utmost limits of the body and consequently it is a vaine quaere whether the whole soule be in the whole body or whole in every part Now if this indeed be the truth as indeed it commeth neerer to the pure nature of the soule it is no whit lesse to the present purpose seeing it followeth accordingly that the soule is in the seede and yet not conteined of it and so the propagatioÌ„ thereof is rather a powerfull operation than any locall division For seeing all confesse that the essence of the soule properly considered consists not in parts but in powers it must needs be confessed likewise that proportionably thereunto that the propagation of the soule is not by decision whereby one part is seperated from another but by promotion whereby the same power is effected in another which it hath in it selfe and this is the manner of propagation which as I said is coÌ„venient to the nature of the soule The rather is this to be received as agreeable to nature and reason because if it be well observed we shall finde that the very nature and essence of soules consist chiefly in their faculties as corporall natures in their elementary composition and God himselfe in vertues his nature being as well as being most knowne in goodnesse justice mercy c. which perfections as they are too high to be essentiall to any created nature so are they all that one essentiall vertue which is in God or rather which is God himselfe Now seeing the soules nature consists especially in the divine faculty of it this doctrine may best be cleared by considering the faculties thereof Whereby it may appear even as when I give another my understanding or make him know that which I know my knowledge is still the same and nothing diminished so when these intellectuall natures I meane one soule produceth another the soule is still the same and indivisible I know to communicate the notion is one thing the faculty another notwithstanding herein the similitude holdeth that even as the notion communicated to another is neverthelesse perfect in his minde that imparts it so even the faculty it selfe which in respect of corporall natures is as a reall notion when it is propagated to another is neverthelesse perfect in him from whom it proceedeth And that it is thus the property 4. Spirituall natures may be communicated cannot be diminished of spirituall natures to loose nothing themselves in communicating their essence to others may farther appeare by the testimony of that learned divine Zanchy who in confuting the heretickes objection against the divinitie ot our Saviour Christ reasoning after this manner that if he receive the whole essence of the Father the Father shall be
body it must also decrease and dye with it For answer whereunto I would first of all demand of them who hold that it comes by immediate creation how the soule of an infant newly quickened in the mothers wombe can be as perfect as when it is a perfect man Surely there is not so much difference at least in tho soules appearance betweene conception and quickening as is betweene quickning and manhood when therefore they answer the one I may happily thereby also answer the other But not to stay so long in the second place I answer that all soules as well the soules of beasts as of men are essentially as perfect in the first instant of conception as ever afterward yea even the soule of a plant when it is in the seed for though not being of such a fiery nature as living creatures and wanting meanes to exercise its power it may lye a while yea many years as dead as Mustard-seed will doe yet the vegetative soule in the effence thereof Reasons proving the soules perfection in the first conceptiō is as perfect as the most perfect plant as plainly appeareth so soone as the meanes of growing is administred to it 1. Now if the soules of other creatures which as they are soules doe neither increase nor decrease no more than the soule of a man doth may be perfect when they shew no perfection no nor action at all why should we thinke mans soule imperfect because it doth not manifest the perfections at all times alike 2. And if this be a good argument against the propagation of the soule because it should then seeme to be imperfect at the first and so to grow up with the body why should not that be as good against the immortalitie of the soule that it seemes also to dye and decay with the body 3. yea why should it not be much stronger seeing it may better stand with the nature of immortalitie to increase grow better than to decrease and wax worse But to put all out of doubt 4. seeing all confesse that the soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime act or first mover and essentiall forme of the creature it must needs be perfect at the first and alwayes the same For reason teacheth that that which is first and gives perfection to all the rest cannot have another before it to give perfection to that for so there should be a first before the first and a soule of the soule And seeing the soule is the essentiall forme it must needs be unchangeable also for it is impossible the forme should be altered so long as the creature continues the same what creature soever it be So that this never change but at death nor then neither in men because it is begotten of immortall seede and not brought forth without the immediate hand of GOD. It skilleth not therfore whether the soule can see heare or reason when it is in the seede it sufficeth that it hath that spirituall and divine nature which when the organs are perfected is able to doe it Herein it is with the soule as with the body the child newly conceived hath not the fashion of an humane body yet is there all that is essentiall to the nature of it as will in time appeare so is there all that is essentiall to the soule in conception but the bodily parts requiring time hath it imperfectly the soule being spirituall and above time hath it perfectly in the first instant yet in this case the soule must stay for the expression of it selfe till the body be perfected and then all those seeming new-come perfections are to the soules as cloths to the body onely accidentall ornaments and externall habits which doe not alter it indeed but onely in shew 3. Of conception of Twinnes Lastly concerning the question of superfetation whether twins be conceived at once or at divers times we need not much to dispute For whether it be either or both wayes it makes no matter for if nature hath power to worke so diversly for producing of bodies there is no question but that both God and nature is able to indue them with soules accordingly And it is sufficient for the point in hand that howsoever the manner of generation be there is at least of the soule whereof we dispute but one conception of one and that at once which once is in propagation For though among other creatures the receiving of the seede once sometimes produceth many and often many times but one yet we need not grant it so in humane propagation and yet if we should in regard of the former we need not doubt as I said but God is as powerfull to produce soules as nature is to bring forth bodies and for the other we must needs thinke either that the former is a propagation to the latter or else the latter a perfecting of the former otherwise there would be divers bodyes too any or all of which rightly understood may well stand with this manner of the soules propagation yet in all probability there is but one for one with us howsoever there are many for one and one for many in some other creatures Further then this I thinke no modest or reasonable man will or need inquire but rather conclude this point as the Psalmist begins it Psal 139.14 I will praise the Lord for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marveilous are thy workes and that my soule knoweth right well Conclusion of all the objections Thus we have seene I hope sufficient reason that it is not against reason that God should produce one soule out of the spirituall matter of another by the helpe of bodily organs And if it were against reason yet reason teacheth that we should rather teach it than that which is against Religion which we are now to prove for having thus explained my assertion cleered the way by answering all the materiall objections that I can meet with whether from divine or naturall reason against it whence it is manifest that it may be so I will now proceed to prove that it is so CHAP. XIII Testimonies out of the old Testament proving the soules propagation The methode observed in proving the soules propagation AS the former arguments to disprove this mediate manner of the soules propagation were of two sorts Scripture and naturall reasons so also shall the arguments to prove the same be For seeing God hath a two-fold voyce the one speaking in the Booke of the Scriptures and the other in the Booke of the Creatures when the divine Oracles of the former cannot be heard we must give eare to naturall reasons drawne out of the latter the voyce of natures agreeing with the Scriptures being indeed the voyce of God The proofes from the Scripture shall be of two sorts likewise either direct testimonies or reasons drawne from them And againe the testimonies shal be first from the old and then from the new
Testament which we will take up in order as wee shall meet with them And first that this doctrine may not seeme new I will prove it even from the beginning of the world beginning first with the testimony of God himselfe who in the day he created man upon the face of the earth he created them male and female and blessed them and said unto them 1. Gods first Institution Be fruitfull and multiply and replenish the earth Here without any limitatioÌ„ they are commanded to fill the whole earth Sâ— to subdue it also Gen. 1.27 28. which must certainly be understood of the whole man and not of the body onely For what is the body that it should subdue the earth or who is man that he should limit the holy One of Israel or presume to set bounds where God hath set none Neither can there be any colour of doubt how this is to be understood seeing God spake the very same immediately before Verse 22. even to the fishes and fowles For saith the Text God blessed them saying be fruitfull and multiply and fill the waters c. As therefore God so framed their natures and gave such power unto them that the like might produce the like unto it selfe as touching the whole creature so if we will beleeve God and his word man doth produce man the whole the whole as well as other creatures Besides how can it stand with reason that that blessing that proves sufficiently effectuall to the basest creatures should not only be effectual in man the most excellent especially so grossely defective as that man should not be able to propagate man but some imperfect formelesse peice of a creature which indeed is so unnaturall as no man knowes what to call it For the body of a man can be no more termed man than the carcase of a bruite beast can be called a bruit beast and shall a beast upon whom there is no such blessing expresly pronounced in Scripture be acknowledged to doe more this way in his kinde than man who was most expresly blessed even twice over yea is it not contrary to reason and religion too that God should command man that which he did not give him power to performe for it is manifest that God did not onely blesse but command them and it is no lesse manifest did extend to the whole man Now if Gods coÌ„mand reacheth to the whole man and mans power reacheth onely to the body or carcase how can it be avoided but Gods command shall be in vaine and unreasonable if not unjust If in this worke the chiefe part belongs to God it cannot with reason be ascribed to man neither can God command him to doe all according to his kinde that is the law of nature if he can doe but the least part Lastly it is to be considered that God so framed the nature of every living creature that it was apt not onely for the bringing forth of the body but also and especially of the soule that being the chiefe part of the creature so that this blessing and command of God doth principally respâ—ct the soule in every creature Whence it followeth that it is more absurd to deny the propagation of the soule than of the body but most of all absurd to deny it in man who of all other creatures is the most excellent and herein most especially blessed of God To conclude therefore from the premises we may well frame this argument that if the voyce ordinance of God be no lesse effectuall in man then it is in the rest of the living creatures propagating then according to the ordinance of God man begetteth whole man soule and body But the Antecedent is true as appeares in the text and therefore all so the consequent 2. Gods resting from his labour Secondly It appeareth that God so ordered the nature of all creatures in the beginning that they might persist of themselvs and multiply their kinds by the power of nature that so he himselte might not need to be alwayes creating new creatures and herein man was ranked amongst the rest without any difference And so on the seventh day saith Moses God ended the worke which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his-workes which he had made How then dare we set him aworke to create thousands of new souls every day at our pleasure Obj. I know the ordinary answer is Ans that God indeed rested from creating any more new kinds of things but not from creating any more individuals of the same kinde But first there is no such limitation extant there nor in any other place of Scripture therfore it is to be rejected as a vaine imagination of mans braine Secondly This is a direct begging of the question for they graunt it generally in all the workes of nature yea in every particular excepting onely this exceptioÌ„ of their own notwithstanding Moses speaketh alike of both ascribing no more to one than to another Thirdly It is most absurd to say God rested from creating more kinds but not from creating more particulars of the same kinde because to create new things of nothing is more properly a worke of creation than still to produce new kinds out of former matter For according to the common definition of creation Creatio est productio entis ex non ente a making of something of nothing And therefore if God hath so ceased from his worke of creation that he makes no more new kinds of creatures although of former matter much more hath he ceased from creating daily new substances of nothing Lastly otherwise God should not have ceased at all for it cannot be denied but there are new kinds coÌ„tinually brought forth and not onely in aequivocall generations but by such copulations as are out of kinde whereby it commeth to passe that there are divers kindes of creatures now in the world which were not created by God in that sort at the first so that this resting must be understood chiefly if not onely from immediately creating new substances of nothing From this place of Scripture therefore I reason thus If God absolutely ceased from the worke of Creation then also he ceased from the creatioÌ„ of souls but the Antecedent is true therfore the consequent 3. The creation of Eve Thirdly we reade that God of the rib of Adam as of a living body formed Eve but wee doe not reade that he breathed into her nostrils the breath of lives as he did into Adams which certainly if it had beene done the Scripture would not have passed over in silence especially seeing it was Moses chiefe purpose to declare the originall of all things but contrarily he plainly affirmeth that of that he made a woman and speaking of her whole person he saith that shee that is Eve the woman was taken out of man and addeth moreover that therefore shee was called wo-man Gen 2.22 23 24. and farther affirmeth that
reines 2. Psal 139.13.15.16 thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in a secret place and curiously wrought as in the lowest parts of the earth thine eyes did see my masse or whole substance yet being imperfect and in thy booke all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them To omit the omission although it is very unlikely that Job and David here describing so precisely the manner of mans conception breeding bringing forth into the world wherein Gods power wisdome 〈◊〉 1. â—â— and goodnesse is most of all to be magnified should pretermit that wonderfull worke of the creation c infusion of the soule if it had beene knowne and beleeved in their dayes this onely I would know how if the soule be immediately created by God they could so pereÌ„ptorily without any exception or limitation affirme that the whole man was formed in the wombe powred out as milke curdled like cheese c. which that they both joyntly affirme will plainly appeare if we coÌ„sider these three things Man or me secret place and masse or substance For the first it is manifest they doe not herein speake of their owne persons onely as being a matter proper to them alone but in this they ranke themselves with all mankinde so as man here signifies all mankinde male and female as Moses uses the word soule and body Gen. 1.27 5.1.2 and one as well as the other When therefore they both expresly affirme that man is conceived in the wombe it followeth that all men and womens soules have heir originall together with their bodyes As for the terme secret place it signifieth the wombe of the mother where the childe is conceived which is expresly named where he saith thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe therefore when David saith he was woÌ„derfully formed in a secret place he intimateth that the conception of the whole man is made in the wombe Lastly the word masse or substance which he addeth afterwards makes it yet more manifest for it signifieth all whatsoever is in man which is also proved by the words that follow after for he saith that this whole masse or substance of man which is formed in the wombe was described in the booke of Gods providence and who dare deny but soule as well as the body was from all eternitie knowne unto the providence of God for it is not meant of the members of the body only but according to the true meaning of the words in the originally all things whatsoever in man is brought forth in continuance of time which before was not So that from these Scriptures I conclude thus If whole man with his whole masse or substance be conceived in the wombe of his mother then his rationall soule together with his body is propagated out of or by vertue of the seede But whole man together with his whole masse or substance is conceived in the wombe of his mother therefore the rationall soule together with the body is brought forth by vertue and power of the seede 9. Davids confession Ninthty Like unto these also is that other speech of the Prophet David where he confesseth that not his body onely but he himselfe both soule and body was conceived in sin So are his words Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sin did my mother conceive me Whence it appeareth not onely that the whole man is conceived in the wombe but that he is bred and borne in sin yea corrupt and sinfull even from the very first conception which as wee shall afterward see could not possibly be if the soule were immediately created by God And least we should not take knowledge of this or knowing if think it more strange than true he setteth before it this speciall note of observation Behold as being a matter worthy to be knowne and beleeved of all men Jeremies approbation Tenthly The Prophet Jeremy likewise or rather the Lord by the Prophet speaketh thus Before I formed thee in the wombe I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the wombe I sanctified thee Whence also it appeareth not onely that the whole man the soule as well as the body is formed in the wombe but also that the soule is present and in some sanctified by grace as all are corrupt by nature even from the beginning for so it may well be understood that Jeremy was sanctified Luk. 1.15.41 as John Baptist also was with the gifts of the holy Ghost even from his mothers wombe yea before he was borne even from the time of his first forming in the wombe And seeing such sanctification and speciall knowledge of God cannot be ascribed to a body without a soule it will follow that as all are sinfull and some in part sanctified even from the very conception neither of which can be without a soule so all doe receive both soule and body together at the very first conception 11. Salomons resolution Eleventhly Hereunto may be added that of Salomon which was before alledged to prove the contrary where he saith Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was Eccl. 12.7 and the spirit shall return to God that gave it That is at death the body returns to the earth whereof it was first made when God formed man of the dust of the ground and the soule returnes to God who first breathed into Adams nostrils the breath of lives Now if Salomons meaning be that looke as the body ariseth from the earth so the soule comes from God whence some would inferre the immediate creation of the soule it holds much more strongly that the soule is not immediately given of God but mediately by the meanes of nature seeing we have not our bodies neither immediatly from the earth but mediately by propagatioÌ„ from Adam from whom both soule and body is communicated to posterity and both by the gift of God To conclude therefore as our bodyes come from the dust so doe our soules from God but our bodyes come by propagation from Adam and therefore by this argument so doe our soules soules also 12. Zacharies testimony Zach. 12.1 Lastly That of the Prophet Zachary before objected to the contrary serves also notably for the confirmation of this mediate manner of the soules propagation his words be these The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him Now to forme in the Scripture never signifieth to create of nothing as God did in the beginning but to frame of some matter pre-existing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1.1.2.7 as when the Lord formed Adams body of the dust of the ground For though indeed creating be sometimes put for forming yet forming is never put for creating of nothing Seeing therefore the Lord formeth the soules of men of some matter it must be either
of the soules of the parents or of his own essence they being neither bodies nor Angels but the latter is impossible and therefore it must needs be the former Againe the Prophet saith not without him as if it were first made and then infused but within him So that in saying the Lord formeth the spirit of man within him he doth evidently declare 1. Of matter that there is some matter within man whereof the Lord formeth the soule than which what in so few words can so fitly and fully expresse the manner of the soules propagation being formed in conception of the spirituall matter of the parents soules by the power and vertue of the seede in generation And yet not meerely by the power of nature for in the last place it is to be observed that he saith the Lord formeth it For he indeed is the externall efficient the nature of the soule being of that height that without an immediate act of his providence it cannot be produced Whence it is that in the production of the soule though it be not a creation it is as neere to a creation as can be and though it be by propagation yet it is not meerly by propagation but some way above it and so it is in a manner a kinde of meane betweene creation and propagation For according to these words of the Prophet the soule is formed of the spirituall matter of the parents soules within the conceived fruit not without the omnipotent power of God So that by all these testimonies it appeareth I thinke sufficiently that this doctrine went currant in the time of Adam Abraham Moses David and the Prophets and I beleeve never was once questioned in those first ages of the world CHAP. XIV Testimonies out of the new Testament proving the soules propagation THis doctrine is no lesse if not much more clearely revealed and fully confirmed in the new Testament also 1. S. Paul For first the Apostle Saint Paul saith as plainly as can be that all men in their whole persons both were in Adam and sinned in him Death saith he passed by one man upon all men in whom all sinned Where he maketh no such division of soule and body one from one place and another from another as men have now invented but he saith plainly the whole man Rom. 5.12 yea all men who consist of soules I am sure as well as bodyes were in Adam yea and sinned in him too which is absurd to say and impossible to be without soules What would we yea what can we have more plainly spoken Is it not then high presumption to say no worse of it for men thus to sever what God hath joyned together without apparent warrant from his word how much more then in this for which it is confessed there is no warrant there at all And yet least any man should be mistaken as thinking the whole man may well enough be said to be in Adam though not in other of our parents by I know not what imaginary imputation because he was the stocke of all mankinde or rather of the bodyes of all mankinde the holy Ghost I say foreseeing our aptnesse to erre to take away all exception saith the very same concerning other Fathers also The Author to the Heb. Heb. 7.1 as that Levi together with all his sonnes was yet in the loynes of his Father grandfather yea and great grand-father Abraham when Melchisedeck men him and which is more paid tithes in him So that by the testimony of the Apostle Vâ—rs â— Abrakam is to be reckoned in the number of those that did propagate the whole man soule and body together and for that cause paid tithes for his posteritie while they were yet in his loynes And if Isaaâ— Jacob and the whole tribe of Levi were once in the loynes of Abraham we need not doubt but we were all in like manner once wholly in Adam and consequently are now wholly propagated from him 2. The Angell Gabrell Againe that we may not deny it unlesse we will deny Christ and our owne salvation The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ as concerning his humanitie was the sonne of the virgin Mary and so of David his Father for so said the Angell Gabrell being sent unto her Luk 1.31 32. Thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and againe the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David Neither is it sufficient to say his body came from them for the Apostle plainly affirmeth Rom. 1.3 that he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh Where flesh is figuratively put for his whole humanity both soule and body as themselves confesse Per syâ—ocdochâ—n Neither can it be denyed for it is there opposed to his Divinitie as the words immediately following doe manifestly declare and all Interpreters acknowledge Whence it necessarily followeth that the soul of our Saviour was the seede of David even the fruit of his loynes as well as his body 3. S. Peter Act. 2.30 as St. Peter witnesseth for since the holy Ghost affirmeth it why should we feare to do it yea why should we not feare to doe otherwise Is it not safer to follow such a guide than to run a way by our selves for which we have no warrant And seeing as the Apostle elsewhere affirmeth Heb. 4.15 He was made like unto us in all things except sinne why should wee make any doubt but it is so with us also as it was with him Especially considering the whole currant and full streame of the Scriptures run this way even from the beginning And not onely concerning him as where it is said Gen. 3.15 22.18 the Seede of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 5.10.11 as we heard before but also all other places speaking of his or our generation comprehends both soule and body under the name of seede 1 Chron. 1 2 3 c. Mat. 1. Luk. 2. Mat. 19.6 without any exception making the soule no lesse the seede of man than the body and the body no more than the soule and neither of them more or lesse propagation than the other and this throughout the whole Scripture without any the least word to the contrary And therefore I say againe let no man dare to seperate what God hath so joyned together 4. Our Saviour himselfe Lastly Unlesse we will make God the Author of sin and consequently deny God that made us we must confesse the truth of this doctrine proved from those words of our Saviour where speaking both of the naturall and the new birth of man he saith Ioh. 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Whence I reason thus If the soule were immediately created by God it should not be flesh that is corrupt and
sinfull but spirit that is pure and holy For whatsoever comes immediately from God he makes it pure good yea Gen. 1.3 all things very good But man from his very beginning is corrupt and sinfull because he is borne of flesh for saith our Saviour of the whole man that being borne of the flesh he is flesh Eph. 2.3 and therefore the whole man hath need of a second birth that he may be borne of the spirit Either therefore we must deny originall sin or else make God the Author of evill if the soule be immediately created by him But seeing it is manifest we are borne of flesh and are by nature children of wrath and it is impious blasphemy once to imagine that God is the Author of sin I feare not to conclude that the soule is not borne of the spirit I meane created by God but of the flesh that is propagated by man The conclusion of the divine Testimonies Thus then for divine testimonies we have produced no lesse than a whole Jury of witnesses first God himselfe then Adam Moses Job David Salomon Jeremy Zachary Peter Paul the Angell Gabrell and our Saviour Christ himselfe and if humane Testimonies would serve the turne it were not hard to shew more than twelve Legions of Saints learned and unlearned that have lived and dyed in this beliefe It being the received doctrine of the westerne Churches in Saint Hieromes time as was before declared but if these will not satisfie much lesse would those and therefore I omit them CHAPTER XV. The propagation proved from the Doctrine of Originall sinne Reasons proving the soules propagation BEsides the Testimonies of Scripture this mediate manner of the soules propagation may farther be demonstrated by reasons drawne from them whereof there are two onely most materiall and indeed necessary to be considered the one concerning the doctrine of originall sin and the other touching the incarnation of our Saviour which two being the maine difficulties in this question the one hindering the soules immediate creation the other the immediate propagatiō therof if these two can be cleared but especially if both doe agree together to confirme this doctrine there will remaine no more place of disputation about it and therefore I purpose to insist so much the longer in them both 1. Originall sinne And for the better clearing the first reason drawne from the Doctrine of Originall sin I will first make way to it by a generall description of these three things First Originall sinne Secondly Creation Thirdly Propagation and then apply it particularly to the proving of the point in hand l. From the nature of the sin descending 2. From the goodnesse of God in creating 3. From the course of nature in propagating Of all which I will speake as briefly and plainly as I can and according to that divine light which is revealed in the Scriptures First therfore it must be shewed out of the Scripture whether there be any originall sin or no and what it is For the first that the streame of mans being first poysoned in Adam the fountaine hath infected every man that comes into the world with sinne is manifest through the whole Scripture Proofes out of the Scripture By one man namely Adam sin entred into the world and death by n = a Rom. 5.12 sin in the day that he did eate of the forbidden fruit wee began to die the n = b Gen. 2 17 death yea n = c Rom. 5.14 even Infants that had not actually sinned yet were tainted with originall sin so that in Adam all dye n = d 1 Cor. 15.22 because in Adam all did sin n = e Rom. 5.12 Hence it was that by and by after all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were onely evill continually n = f Gen 6.5 yea evill even from his youth n = g Gen. 8.21 And now who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane n = h Iob 14.4 And what is man that he should be cleane n = i Iob 15.14 and he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous sayth Job Hence even David confesseth of himselfe I was borne in iniquitie and in sin did my n = k Psal 51.5 mother conceive me and of others he saith the wicked are estranged from the wombe n = l Ps 58.3 they goe astray as soone as they are borne Esay also calleth man a transgressor from the wombe n = m Isa 48.8 and Jeremy saith the heart of man is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked n = n Ier. 17.9 hence also it is that the Apostle saith Wee are by nature children of Wrath n = o Eph. 2.3 and by the offence of one the fault came upon all n = p Ro. 5.18 men to condemnation And to conclude our Saviour saith plainly that which is borne of the flesh is flesh n = q Ioh. 3.6 Ioh. 3.3.5 and except a man be regenerate and borne againe he cannot enter into nor see the Kingdome of God Reasons to prove it Besides Reason teacheth that like begets like as touching the substance and accidents proper to the kinde 1. according to the Rule Generatum sequitur naturam generantis Beasts bring forth beasts Serpents serpents and sinfull man a sinfull of-spring We cannot gather grapes of thornes Mat. 7.16 nor figges of thistles but an evill tree bringeth forth evill fruit and corrupt Adam sinfull men otherwise how could Infants justly be punished with death seeing death is the wages of sinne And why were Infants circumcized and women purified after child-birth under the law but to shew that all that commeth of mans seed is defiled with sin Againe cōmon experience sheweth the fruit of this bitter roote to bud forth in childrē even from their very cradles and that by inclination before they can learne by imitation The necessitie also of our regeneration proves it for if by our first birth we were not corrupt then should not the second be necessary to salvation Lastly the double grace which we receive from the second Adam Christ Jesus namely Justification Regeneration shews that there floweth a double evill from the first Adam namely the guilt and corruption of nature If we had not this double sinne we should not need this double remedy What originall sin is And now that we see we are thus infected let us inquire a little more narrowly into the nature of it It appeares by that which hath beene said already that all men are become sinfull through Adams sin having lost those now supernaturall gifts wherewith he and we with him were at first indued and in stead therof are all over infected with a venomous qualitie or inclination to all manner of evill causing ignorance and blindnesse in the minde stubbornesse and rebellion in the will disorder in the affections making the senses sensuall and beast-like all the members
of the body instruments of unrighteousnesse and the whole man a slave to the devill and that from our first being even so farre as nature can reach as well potentially as actually ever since Adams sinne which groweth up with us from the wombe and in time if we live brings orth the fruits of unrighteousnesse in our thoughts words and actions by reason whereof we are not onely corrupt but guilty of Gods wrath and lyable to eternall damnation from our first being Now it is called Originall sin Why it is so called first because it was from the beginning even as soone as ever Adam sinned secondly because it is with us from the beginning even in conception as soone as we doe actually begin to be and thirdly because it is the beginning of all actuall sin whatsoever Howbeit in the Scripture it is called by other names Rom. 6.6 as The old man The body of sin Rom. 7.17.23 The sin that dwels in us The law of our members The sin that incloseth us on every side Heb. 12.1 Concupiscence Iam. 1.14 and the like And as we use the word it is sometimes taken more largely for the sin of Adam together with the guilt and corruption following it but usually more strictly for the corruption of nature onely consisting of the privation of goodnesse and inclination to evill before rehearsed These grounds being laid down we may make a full definition of it after this manner Definitie Originalis peccati Originall sin is the depravation of the whole nature of man consisting of the privation of originall righteousnesse and an inclination to all manner of evill derived from Adam to all his posteritie by naturall generation whereby they stand guilty of eternall death in which definition wee may see all the essentiall causes of originall sin the subject or materiall cause is the whole nature of man all men and every part of all men soule body understanding will memory affections senses and severall members of the body as they constitute the person of a man propagated from Adam The formall cause is the depravation of the same whereby every man is deprived of originall righteousnesse and prone to every sin that can be committed The efficient cause the sinning will of Adam the instrumentall cause naturall generation and the end and effect of it guilt and punishment misery and death here eternall damnation hereafter More briefly Originall sinne is by some defined to be the depravation of mans nature consisting of the privation of righteousnesse and inclination to evill contracted from the generation it selfe and derived from Adam to all his posteritie For as sicknesse is not onely a privation of health but also an evill affection of the body arising from the distemper of the humours so originall sin is not onely the want of righteousnesse but also an inclinablenesse to unrighteousnes arising from the sin of Adam and conveyed unto us by naturall propagation In a word it is our potentiall sinning in Adam whereby according to the law of nature we are both corrupt and guilty And so much for the generall nature of originall sinne Creation what it is Now for the second what Creation is we shall not need many words Improperly Creation is taken sundry wayes somtimes for the determination and decree of God to create as where Wisdome saith Ecclu 24. He created me in the beginning before the world that is he decreed to create and reveale me in the Church Sometimes for renovation changing not of the substance but the qualitie of a thing Ps 51.10 So David prayeth Create in me a cleane heart O God Sometimes for the naturall generation of the creatures Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Psal 104.30 and they are created And sometimes it is taken for the restauration of that which is destroyed Isa 65.17 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth But properly taken it either signifieth to make something of nothing or else to give formes to the matter unto which it hath no naturall power of it selfe And for that cause doe require an omnipotent hand to effect if so as creation properly taken belongs to God onely Neverthelesse for the most part it is used in the first sense and therefore creation is commonly defined thus Creatio est productio entis ex non ente or as Aquinas hath it Est productio rei secundum totam substantiam ex nihilo So that in the most proper sense a thing cannot be said to be created unlesse the whole substance be produced by the omnipotent power of God out of nothing and not at all unlesse at least he hath an immediate hand in the forming of it Propagation what it is Lastly For Propagation it is that most excellent and naturall faculty whereby a living creature by feede of generation begets his like for the continuation of the kinde It is a faculty commonly accounted a species of the vegetative faculty but is indeed the naturall perfection of a living creature whether vegetative sensitive or rationall and it is the most excellent and the most naturall faculty being ingrafted into nature with a speciall charge blessing from God in the creation and is therfore most desired and consequently most natural to all creatures that have life Gen. 1.22.28 whereby like begets like univocall which is most properly so called when as a creature brings forth the like to it selfe as a plant comes of a plant and a Lyon of a Lyon and aequivocall generation of unlike as when a plant or living creature is bred of putrefaction as Mice Flies Serpents and the like for the continuation of the kinde for nature aymeth at the highest perfection that can be even to continue all creatures for ever and therefore every creature naturally desires ever to be which because it cannot be effected in the individuals therefore it is done another way namely by propagation for to beget the like is after a sort to be ever And to conclude this is done by the seede of generation which as the faculty it selfe is most excellent so is the matter of it the perfection of mans nature as the seed of a tree the sap whereof hath passed through roote body branch leafe bud and all and so conteines the nature of the whole so is the seede of man the quintessēce of nature which having passed through all the degrees of concoction and conteining the whole kinde of man is reserved by nature in a place convenient for the procreation of another of the same kinde Now because this generation is the affection or rather perfection of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme a man cannot be said to propagate the matter alone but the whole creature so as to speake properly generatiō is not either of the matter or of the forme but of a certaine third thing consisting of matter and forme So that here it followeth that our propagation from Adam is
nothing else but the deduction of the whole man out of Adam according to the course of nature that is the turning of our potentiall being in him into act by naturall generation which is the onely meanes whereby Adams nature is derived unto us Difference betweene generatiō and creation And here to conclude it shall not be amisse to observe the differences between naturall generation and immediate creation the chiefe whereof are these First Creation is the worke of God by himselfe Generation is the worke of nature from God Secondly Creation is wrought onely by the word command of God by his onely becke and will generation is performed in a naturall order pre-ordeined of God Vide Polan Synt. lib. 5.6.2 Thirdly Creation is meerly of nothing not of any matter or substance but of nothing at all generation is of some matter pre-existing indeede old matter putting on new formes Fourthly Creation is done in a moment without any time being by an infinite vertue which is not capable of any time generation cannot be but in time being perfected by degrees and in succession of time Fifthly In Creation things are not made of the same substance with the creator but in generation that which is generated hath the same substance with the generator Sixthly Creation is performed without any motion or mutation but in generation there is both motion and mutation the same matter being varied into diversitie of formes Lastly the order of creation is one and of generation another for in creation the privation is before the habit power before act darknesse before light but in generation the habit is before the privation sight before blindnesse light before darknesse And so much for the generall description of Originall sin Creation and Propagation CHAP. XVI How the nature of the sin descending confirmes the soules propagation The nature of the sinne IT appeareth by the former description of Originall sinne which is proved by the scripture confessed by all that it is not onely a losse of originall righteousnesse but an hereditary infection or spirituall corruption which hath over-spread the whole nature of man which two as they are the maine things in originall sin so the one necessarily followeth the other For the soule ceasing to be good it must needs become evill and being turned out of the right way goes on in a wrong for it cannot stand still or be idle but must be doing either good or evill and therefore being deprived of goodnesse corruption follows as darknesse succeeds in the place of light The meanes of deriving it Whereas therefore some make originall sin to consist of guiltinesse corruption as the parts of it and to be derived from Adam by imputation and propagation guiltinesse by imputation and corruption by propagation it appeareth that guiltinesse is no part of originall sin but an effect of it and consequently that imputation is not properly the meanes of conveying it to us but an effect of the other And as that depravation or corruption onely is properly originall sin and guiltinesse comes onely by reason of corruption so propagation onely is properly the meanes whereby it is derived unto us and imputation is onely in regard of propagation For as we should not have beene guilty if we had not beene corrupt so sin should not have been imputed if it had not beene propagated And as we were potentially guilty in Adam because potentially corrupt so by like reason it followeth that it is now actually imputed to us because we are actually propagated from him I conclude therefore that the nature of this sin consists in the corruption of nature and the streame thereof runs in naturall propagation Objectiōs from the nature of sinne But here it will be objected that sin is such an accident as cannot by the course of nature be communicated to posteritie 1. It is nothing For if we consider the matter or substance of it it is indeed nothing it is non ens in rerum naturâ no substance for then it should be created by God but a meere of privation the want of that which should be and not any thing that should not be as darknesse is a privation of light not any thing that succeeds in the place of light For there is nothing in the dark night which was not in the day onely light is absent and such a manner of thing or nothing rather is sin said to be And if it should be grāted that it is somwhat more namely an evill qualitie besides that then it must needs be created of God as good qualities are it must needs be either in the soule or in the body yea in the soule and not in the body for sin is a spirituall thing if it be any thing 2. Not by the soule Now if it be a qualitie of the soule it cannot be conveyed to posteritie for such habits and indowments of the minde as are not engrafted into nature but happen from without as this did cannot be propagated according to the Proverbe Ex grammatico non nascitur grammaticus but they are gotten by art and industry and so they will grant that Adams sin may be derived to us by imitation but not by generation 3. Not by the body On the other side if it be a corporall and elementary qualitie besides that it cannot then be sinfull it cannot descend to posteritie neither because it is not inherent in the principles of nature but an externall accident which nature hath no sense of for what is nature the worse for Adams taking the forbidden fruit yea what if he had cut off his owne armes his children should not have bin borne without for nature followeth the first institution yea more if it had caused some distemper in the body yet it is not necessary it should be communicated to posteritie for all children have not the sicknesses of their parents how much lesse their sins then which are not naturall either to soule or body These things Ans I confesse have a shew of truth but I deny the power of it in them all for disproving originall sin not doubting to make it appeare that all these doe agree together to confirme this onely way of sinnes propagation 1. Privation of good For first let it be granted that sin in regard of substance is nothing but a privation of goodnesse then it will follow that it cānot subsist without some subject which must also be good because every substance is created by God It is in a good subject so that evill cannot be but in a good subject Againe being a privation it can have no efficient cause 2. Hath no efficient cause for to speake properly it is no effect but a defect rather And if evill can have no cause 3. It comes from a good God much lesse can it be caused by the chiefe good For God who is summum bonum being as the habit unto this privation
can no more be the cause of sin than light can be of darknesse which cannot possibly be for light alwayes inlightens and no darknesse can proceed from light for though we reade that God commanded light to shine out of darknesse yet for darknesse to proceede from light is altogether impossible and even so it may stand with the nature of God to bring good out of evill but not evill out of good 4. There can be no evill God And for that sin is no positive thing but a privation of good hence it followeth also that there cannot be a summum malum as well as a summum bonum for the one is not and if it were the one should destroy the being of the other in as much as there cannot be two chiefes contrary to the devillish conceits of the Manichees of a good God and an evill God 5. It may be propagated Lastly Though it be an accident yea a privation yet it is not a meere negation though it be but an accident yet even an accident is his imperfection and sometimes the accident of a substance prevailes as much as the substance it selfe so that though it be but a privation yet it may have a being in nature Malum est in rerum naturâ etiamsi per se nihil est else Aristotle was much over-seene in making privation one of the principles of nature and if that be so necessary in generation why should we thinke this impossible to be generated and though it cannot hang in the ayre but must cleave to some subject yet it followeth not but it may be propagated together with the subject wherein it is 2. An inclination to evill But if this will not satisfie it is farther to be considered that originall sin is not onely a privation of goodnesse but also a corrupt qualitie and inclination to evill as appeares by the former description an◠the proofe of it and may farther be manifested by the punishment and consequents of the same For a meere privation of happinesse were a sufficient punishment for a meere privation of goodnesse but we know that Adam and all his posteritie have not only lost Paradise but gained a great deale of labour paine sorrow and misery Neither was the earth onely deprived of that excellent condition wherein it was created but in the place thereof hath succeeded a curse making it barren of good fruit and fruitfull of evill Gen. 3.17 18. thornes thistles and the like Teaching us that there is an evill qualitie in sin as well as a privation of goodnesse 3. Seated in the Soule Against this it is objected that if it be an evill qualitie it must cleave either to the soule or to the body or both If to the soule it cannot descend because such endowments of the mind as are not ingrafted into nature cannot be propagated according to the proverbe c. To which I answer Ans 1. first that even those arts which are least naturall are not altogether excluded in generation nay experience proves that children for the most part are like their parents even in such faculties as these whether they be inclined to Husbandry Horse-manship Merchandise Navigation or the liberall sciences howsoever they are often crossed in their inclinations Secondly 2. It is commonly seene that children are like their parents also in the faculties of the minde as in acutenesse of understanding firmnesse of memory soundnesse of judgement and the like Thirdly 3. It is well knowne that the affections of the soule which are yet neerer to the nature of sin are very commonly cōmunicated to posteritie whether concupiscible or irascible as covetousnesse wrathfulnesse mirth sadnesse feare boldnesse and the like whence is that other Proverbe Partus ventrem sequitur Lastly 4. It is manifest that sin cleaves to the will it selfe which is the fountain of the affections For as there are certaine naturall principles of knowledge as of good and evill which were at the first ingrafted into the understanding so there are certaine naturall inclinations in the will as of love and hatred which at first were carried to their proper objects and so were created good but now through mans failing and Gods curse upon it they are carried a contrary way by meanes whereof we are now corrupt and sinfull Now if sin cleaves thus to the will whence these affections proceede yea pierceth into the most inward and purest parts of the soule whence it spreads it self through the whole man it must needs be propagated much better or rather than the affections which are removed a degree farther from the soule and how much more then better than those externall acts which are not naturall but meere habits gotten by use and industry which neverthelesse in regard of naturall aptnesse unto them may also after a sort be propagated unto posteritie 4. Cleaving to the body Yet is not sin so seated in the soule as that it should not affect or rather infect the body also For though it cannot dwell in the body alone nor be propagated by it yet together with the soule the body is infected and by them both sin propagated Which may further appeare First if we consider that not the soule or body alone but the whole man or person is the subject of this sin especially for not parts but persons sinned and so were corrupted with sin in Adam and thu◠the body is sinfull not of it selfe but as a part of the person of man Secondly being a corrupt qualitie of the body though accidentall and not ingrafted into nature at the first yet why may it not be propagated as well as the gout leprosie whereunto sin is resembled in the Scripture especially considering these are no lesse accidentall unnaturall yea and contrary to created nature at the first and are not now common to all mankinde as sin is Lastly If it be granted that nature does alwayes follow the first institution notwithstanding externall accidents yet this is such an externall accident as it is also internall yea farther I affirme that sin is now no lesse ingrafted into our nature I meane the whole nature of man 5. Ingrafted into nature it selfe How sin is ingrafted into mans nature and propagated with it consisting of soule and body than if the first and yet without fault in God Which that I may plainly manifest and so cleare all in a word I would know of the adversaries of this doctrine whether that wisdome and holinesse which was at first in Adam was such as might and should have beene communicated to his posteritie if he had not sinned or no If yes as no reasonable man can deny it then it must follow by that rule of reason Contraria contrariorum sunt consequentia that so may sin and corruption now since the fall All that can be objected to the contrary is this Obj. that these vertues which were in Adam were good qualities created by God
Why God made the world Why he instituted nature yet for as much as his essence is chiefly manifested in the vertues which are essentiall to himselfe onely and the end of all his workes is to manifest himselfe which as it is the greatest good is this greatest glory he therefore could not without disparagement to his own excellency worke alwayes immediately in the matters of his creatures as in creating new substances of nothing but onely in bringing to an higher perfection by qualifying them with his owne essentiall vertues so farre as the creature is capable and for this cause at their first creation he disposed all things in such order as they might persist of themselves without his immediate working any more in their matter or substance which order we call nature It breeds a disturbance in the course of nature Now seeing this is true in Angels and all other creatures that ever God created were it not unreasonable unnaturall too to disturbe the order of all Gods workes in exempting man onely Nay then let nature goe to wracke and every thing be done miraculously for the whole order of nature is broken and instituted in vaine And for my part I thinke that God would have rather created men together when he made Adam as he did Angels than thus to continue creating to the worlds end 3. From the end of GODS workes But it pleased the wisdome of God to make choice of this course not onely for the former reason namely because it was most fit for the excellency of his nature 1. This is a disparagement to God which might worke no more in the substāce of his creatures than needs must but also for the meanness of ours which require his working by meanes after a naturall order 2. Unfit for us proportionable to that reason he hath given us which onely our nature was capable of the better to manifest himselfe unto us 3. Against the order of grace Againe that so he might propagate his Church of mankinde successively by course of nature 4. A vaine worke against nature who thus according to his decree might and did all fall most fitly and justly in one Adam by nature as they are restored againe most fitly and justly in another Adam Christ Jesus by grace And lastly that he might not work perpetuall miracles which onely manifest his power one of the meanest of his attributes which yet is so fully manifested without it in the first creation of all things of nothing and still preserving them that it should be in vaine for him to doe so at the best and therefore certainly he doth not Arist De Caelo lib. 1. cap. 4. according to the Rule Deus natura nil frustra faciunt CHAP. XXVI Reasons from the nature of generation Man can father no more than he begets NOw by this mediate manner of Gods working I meane the rules of nature and that order which God instituted for all creatures in the beginning it is impossible that Adam should be our father and we his children if wee have not our whole man as well soule as body from him For if we receive onely the least part of our selves that is our bodies from him then he doth not beget a man that is to say a reasonable creature but onely I wot not what formelesse matter or dead carkase for such an uncouth thing is the body without the soule and though a soule comes afterward from another Obj. Ans that 's nothing to the parents for they beget onely the former and I trow it is unjust to make them father that which they never begate So that by the course of nature if man doe not beget the whole man he cannot possibly be said to be a father to the whol man No father without giving the forme This farther appeareth for that by the law of nature it is not the giving of the matter alone much lesse the matter of the body onely that makes a father for that is of the elements in the conveyance whereof the father is as it were an instrument onely but the forme is properly and immediately his which if he doe not propagate to his of-spring he can no more be a father to his children than to fleas or lice that breed of his matter but without his forme than which what grosser absurditie can be in nature 3. Else he cannot be a father to the body Besides man should then be so farre from being a father to the whole man that he could be father to no part of him For he can be but partly a father that begets but part of a creature and so not a whole father to any part And if fatherhood consists especially in giving the forme and that comes only from God he onely is a father to the whole man rather yea is not there much more reason to say God onely is our father because the soul the more noble part comes from him than that Adam is because the baser part the body and yet not the body neither but something like the body comes from him I suppose any reasonable man will graunt it without any farther reason 4. Else he can beget nothing And thus he cannot be father to our bodyes unlesse to our soules also yea it is impossible in nature that he should beget any thing without the soule For there can be no naturall body without forme and no forme of a humane body but the soule If therefore man doth not propagate the soule together with the body he cannot propagate any thing but a meere nullity viz. nothing at all 5. Else he cannot beget at all Moreover I say he cannot propagate at all for generation is not of parts but of creatures the matter and forme simply considered cannot be said to be generated but the creature consisting of matter and forme and therefore when I say the soule is generated or produced it is to be understood joyntly with the body because the whole is otherwise neither can properly be said to be generated but rather congenerated so that if man begets not both he begets not at all 6. Else man shall be inferior to beasts Againe If man cannot beget man he is by nature herein inferior to brute beasts yea even the basest creatures who yet can propagate their like both in regard of soule and body And to make man herein inferior to beasts Ob. Ans what can be more absurd Neither is it not any disparagement so long as his soule comes from an higher principle for it is not onely an indecorum and a grosse deformity in nature that man should be left destitute of that power which is given to brute beasts in so maine a thing yea even the highest degree of naturall perfection but also it casts an aspersion upon GOD himselfe as if he were overseene in endeavouring to make a creature subject to the lawes of nature of so high
quickning giving of soules to children as when Rachel rashly cryed oud Give me children or else I dye Jacob gravely answereth Am I in Gods stead And so when Boaz went in unto Ruth it is said the Lord gave her conception but even reason it selfe will evince it For is it not an absurd thing that God should waite our leisures and be set on worke at our pleasures And yet this must needs be if God create soules after the forming of the body for then the former being done by the power of nature God shall be bound to give soules immediately whensoever nature produceth bodyes unlesse hee should suffer children to be born without soules or corrupt and kill their bodyes before they be informed and so indanger their mothers too both which are both against nature and reason Whereas if this mediate manner be admitted this cannot justly be objected for as much as God shall not then produce mans soule according to a particular immediate and new creation but according to his almighty blessing powerfull ordinance and constant conserving providence which though it be somewhat more immediate in this than in other cases yet it is still within the lists of nature nature it selfe so requiring 3. The excellency of mans nature requires it Yea farther it followeth both by divine and naturall reason that as God hath from eternitie decreed concerning man above all creatures both who shall come into the world and at what time therefore accordingly he must needs have a work in mans conception above all other creatures Which what can it be in the course of nature but that he is the immediate efficient of mens soules whereby he blesseth or blasteth furthers or hinders mans conception at the first and so by a speciall providence orders the same according to his owne most wise decree And hence it is that men cannot propagate either what or when they will 4. God and nature should worke in vaine Againe Otherwise this absurditie will also follow that there are many children begotten conceived formed quickned with sense and so well nigh perfected and yet dying before the rationall soule be infused they shall never rise againe at the end of the world that God might be glorified in their salvation or damnation unlesse he should then create new soules for un-informed bodyes And this besides crossing the word of God which teacheth that all that are conceived in sinne must be punished in Christ or themselves for the satisfying of Gods Justice wee must absurdly frustrate the workes both of God and nature notwithstanding neither can doe any thing in vaine 5. Unnatural conceptions voyde of reason Furthermore It is manifest that not nature alone but the efficient power of God is joyned with the propagation of soules because it is wholly denyed to such copulations as are out of kinde For nature alone would make a mixture whereas notwithstanding we see that some kinde of creatures as Apes and Satyres which as it is probable were at first begotten by such unkindly conjunctions are not indued with reasonable soules Or if not they yet it is possible that humane seed should be mingled with other creatures for which cause buggery is forbidden in the Law and yet such issue is altogether soulelesse and voyde of reason although it cannot be denyed but naturall sense may be and is the more perfect in them and so they more craftie than other creatures They therefore make a monstruous and prophane mingle-mangle that would have man propagate his like by the power of nature meerely as other creatures doe 6. Soules infused in adulterous generations On the other side it is plaine also that it is not altogether immediately created by GOD without naturall meanes because it is not denyed to children that are unlawfully begotten for then God should seeme to approve of that which is evill For albeit it is true as it is commonly answered that it is good in God to make stollen corne grow because that order of nature is good though the action of stealing bee naught and there is no reason he should alter that good institution of nature for the personall corruption of some men yet this helpeth them not at all who maintaine the immediate creation of the soule but onely freeth him in regard of this mediate manner and naturall order in propagating soules which is indeed this way sufficiently answered But if as they say there be no naturall order for the soules propagation but they come immediately from God he not being bound to infuse soules but where he pleaseth he cannot be free from tollerating if not allowing and approving of evill in this behalfe Whereas in the other though he be not bound neither unlesse by his owne band yet he may lawfully by the just order of nature 7. Sense ariseth out of the dead elements Moreover Concerning the matter of the soule seeing wee see by daily experience that nature by vertue of Gods first ordination doth out of the dead matter of the elements continually produce so admirable powers as seeing hearing c. yea common sense phantasie memory and all those cogitative vertues which are in brute beasts the manner of which working is above humane reason to conceive how can it seeme strange that the God of nature by his owne speciall assistance should out of that farre more excellent and divine nature in man produce others like unto it though we cannot conceive the manner how Even this well weighed will adde no small credit to this truth amongst the wise The corporall seed a fit instrument Lastly That the corporall seede is a fit instrument for nature to use in so high a worke is manifest enough in as much as it is of a more excellent temper especially the spirits therein being more purely subtle and temperate than they are in any other creature in the world And how this may farther the operation and consequently the propagation of the reasonable soule appeareth in that Elephants who being of a more excellent temper and comming neerer to the nature of man than other creatures doe both live longer and are as I may say indued with more reasonable parts than others So that although the soule cannot arise out of any elementary temper as appeareth by the immortall nature which even naturall reason is able to demonstrate yet there is no question but it may bee instrumentally furthered or hindred thereby yea even in the most excellent workes of reason this beeing indeed one of the maine reasons in nature why one man excelleth another in wisedome Now then seeing the Spirits in humane seed are of such a transcendent nature not meerely corporall but approaching very neere to the nature of the soule whereby they are soone acquainted and easily united and used as the hand of the soule even in the most divine operations of reason why should they not much more be a fit instrument for the conveyance of the soule in naturall generation And
thus I have finished my taske in proving this manner of the soules propagation both by divine and naturall reason CHAP. XXIX An answer to some objections against this manner of propagation BUt now me-thinkes I heare some call me backe saying I contradict my selfe in that I say and that even this meane way hath its extremities Having therefore shewed that the soule of man can neither be immediately created by God not yet meerely propagated by man and proved this middle way betweene both both by Scripture and naturall reasons I will now in the last place that there may remaine no just scruple to cavill at briefly answer some few Objections which I conceive may be made more directly even against this meane manner of the soules procreation and so conclude The Objections are these foure Objections First That the soule shall not be immortall if it may be resolved into a former principle namely Adams soule from whence all came Secondly God shall hereby still worke immediately in the creation of soules and so shall not yet have ended his worke and rest from his labours Thirdly Man shall still be inferior to beasts in that he cannot beget his like alone but must have more helpe from God than they Lastly God shall still be touched with sin in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules All which may be as easily answered as objected 1 Obj. That the soule must be mortall if it proceed from another For the first first although it is true that all mixt bodyes may be againe resolved into their former principles the elements whereof they are compounded and out of which they arise yet this is no impeachment to the soules immortalitie For the comparison is unequall and the causes nothing like unlesse wee should say that all bodyes must returne into Adams also whence they came as well as soules Secondly Mixt bodyes are not the simple elements but compounded of them where as our soules are of the same nature and no lesse simple than his was Thirdly If it were compounded yea even of the elements yet it would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall because corruption and death comes not onely nor so much from propagation or composition as from divine malediction for death is the wages of sinne without which even Adams body should have beene immortall as well as his soule Lastly To this objection I will oppose an infallible conclusion viz. that nothing can returne to nothing but by the same meanes whereby it receives the first being And hence it is that all creatures that are produced out of the elements by the power of nature doe by nature resolve into them againe but because mens soules cannot be propagated from their parents but by the immediate power of GOD concurring hence it necessarily followeth that neither can they be againe dissolved or annihilated but by the same omnipotent power This therefore doth invincibly prove so farre is it from disproving proving the soules immortalitie 2 Obj. That God still works in creating Soules For the second that God shall not yet rest from his labour but be still set aworke in the creation of soules I answer first here is no creation of any new kind of creature which they of the contrary part would have us to take for a sufficient answer Secondly Which is more here is no new substance created of nothing but onely produced out of former matter Thirdly It nothing oppugnes Gods resting to worke immediately in some things as by his holy Spirit in the hearts of Gods Elect Ioh. 5.17 in such things the Father worketh hitherto and the Sonne likewise Lastly This worke is no part of creation properly but of preservation which is ordinarily either mediate or immediate Mediate so all elementary creatures and individuall natures are preserved by God but by the meanes of nature or rather naturall meanes but now nature it selfe or as I may say the very nature or Symmetry of nature is preserved by his owne immediate power there being no nature above nature but onely his to preserve it And by the same immediate power it must needs be that the production of soule is conserved the excellency of whose nature is such as can have no naturall or mediate efficient cause and therefore of necessitie it must be his immediate providence onely and that even by course of nature 3 Obj. That ma◠shall still be inferiour to other creatures To the third objection that if mans generatiō requires more helpe from God than other creatures his nature shall therein be still inferiour to theirs I answer That no creature can propagate the like alone no more than he and that he doth as much in the generation of his like as any other creatures doe in theirs For it is well knowne that in generation besides the matter and forme which proceeds from the generators it is necessary that there should bee an efficient power comming from an externall cause which all grant to be the influence of the celestiall Orbes whence is that common Proverb amongst Philosophers Sol homo generant hominem now seeing man gives the matter and forme of the whole man soule and body though in regard of his soule he hath a more excellent efficient than they or rather the same efficient after a more excellent manner that is immediately this is so farre from disparaging that it exalteth mans nature above all other creatures in the world Neverthelesse if man did not give both matter and forme this were indeed justly objected and he should be herein according to the order of nature inferiour to all others as we heard before 4. Obj. That God shall still be touched with sin Lastly The last objection that God shall be touched with sinne in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules is easily answered for God is simply the efficient cause of the soule and not of sin but that comes from our corrupt parents who supply the matter of the whole man corrupt and sinfull like themselves It being Gods just ordinance in nature Rom. 11.16 that as the tree is so should the fruit be And thus sin is meerly accidentall in respect of God who as he made man at the first perfect so also this ordinance of generation whereby he should have begotten children perfect like himselfe but he by his fall corrupting himselfe hath likewise corrupted all his posteritie albeit God still performes his part as perfectly as ever in conferring of his efficient power for the producing of them Thus then we see how the generation of men which should have been perfect is become sinfull through out faults and not Gods and why then God did not make man new againe or stop sin there but continue his first institution might be sufficiently cleared but is not in this place to be disputed CHAP. XXX The Conclusion recapitulating the summe of the premisses Use of this Tractate IT is now time to