Indivisible added to Another can make Quantity but la All Infinit Number of Indivisibles Consists of or is One Indivisible added to Another Therefore rent-No Infinit Number of Indivisibles can make Quantity 10. The Minor is Evident for all Number tho' Infinit consists of Ones that is of One added to another Add that 't is demonstrated above that all Infinit Number is Impossible Proposition III. If any two parts of Quantity be Actually distinct All the parts must be Actually distinct also Bar-What ever springs out of the precise nature of Quantity must be equally found where ever there is Quantity or throughout all the parts of Quantity by Axiom 3 d. But ba-All Actual Distinction of the parts of Quantity if put in any two springs out of the precise Notion of Quantity therefore ra-All Actual Distinction of the parts of Quantity if put in any two must be equally found wherever there is Quantity or throughout all the parts of Quantity 11. The Minor is proved for all Unity and Distinction in any Line follows out of the Entity to which it is peculiar that is in our case out of the Entity or Essence of Quantity Again this Actual Distinction of Quantitative parts cannot spring from Substance for this has no Distinction of parts but that of Matter and Form Nor out of any other Line for all those do presuppose Quantity and spring from it as the Primary Affection of Body therefore if any two parts of Quantity be actually Distinct that Distinction must proceed from the Nature of Quantity it self 12. Now that all the parts of Quantity should be Actually Distinct destroys the Nature of Quantity and is Contradictory is thus proved Da-Whatever makes Quantity consist of Infinit Indivisibles contradicts the Nature of Quantity But ri-That Position which makes all the parts of Quantity Actually Distinct makes Quantity consist of Infinit Indivisibles therefore i-That Position which makes all the parts of Quantity actually Distinct contradicts the nature of Quantity 13. The Minor is Evident For those things which are Actually Distinct quantitatively may be Divided quantitatively or rather are already so as those which are Actually Distinct in the Line of Substance are Distinct Substances or Distinct things in that Line Wherefore since the Nature of such a Subject as they put Quantity to be does bear it let us suppose Quantity divided into all it's Actual parts it can be divided into that is into All they being all of them suppos'd Actually Distinct it is manifest there could remain only Infinit Indivisibles They must be Indivisible because it is supposed to be Divided into all it could be Divided into and they must be Infinit for Divisibility that is but Finite would contradict Euclid's Clear and most Approved Demonstration Besides it would follow hence that if all the parts of Quantity were Actually Distinct each of them must be Determinate in the line of Quantity Wherefore they being also Infinit in Number for a Finite Number of parts makes Quantity not to be Divisible Infinitly against Euclid's Demonstration it would follow that each least Quantity would be of Infinit Extension for the least Determinate Quantity Infinit times repeated makes an Infinit Extension 14. Hence is evinced our Main Demonstration that since Continu'd Quantity is neither compounded of a Finit nor of an Infinit Number of Indivisibles nor of Actual parts it is made up of Potential parts that is there is but One Actual Whole in the Line of Quantity and this Whole is Divisible without end Corol. I. Hence is farther demonstrated the Unity of the whole World as to it's Quantity or which is the same the Continuity of the whole imaginable Mass of Body Corol. II. Hence is demonstrated likewise that all Vacuum and Epicurus's Scheme of Plenum and Vacuum are Contradictory As likewise that there cannot possibly be more Worlds than One the very Nature of Quantity being but One whole Divisible still into its Potential parts or parts still farther Divisible Thesis III. 15. Successive Quantity or Motion and consequently the Course of Nature could not have been ab Aeterno but must have had a Beginning Demonstration IV. Bar-All Infinit Motion or Time is Impossible but ba-All Duration of Motion ab Aeterno must have been for an Infinit Time therefore ra-All Duration of Motion ab aeterno is Impossible The Minor is Self-evident The Major is thus prov'd Bar-All Infinit Time must be an Infinit Number of Determinate Parts of Time v. g. Infinit Hours but ba-All Infinit Number of the Determinate parts of Time is Impossible Therefore ra-All Infinit Time is Impossible 16. The Major is clearly Evident for were the Number of the Determinate parts of Time Finite then all the Parts which are equivalent to the Whole being Finite the Whole must likewise be Finite The Minor is prov'd above Demonstration 1. and 2. where it was demonstrated that all Infinit Number is Impossible 17. Whence is Demonstrated our main Thesis that Time Motion or the Course of Nature had a beginning Whence many useful Conclusions may be drawn against Heathens and Atheists Note that 't is the same as to our Argument whether there be an Infinit Number of parts of Time which are Actually Determin'd and Measur'd or no 't is sufficient the Subject Infinit Motion or Infinit Time bears the having such a Determination made by having that in it which corresponds to all those Infinit Determinate parts for this necessarily induces and enforces a Contradiction Thesis IV. There are Spiritual Beings which we call Angels Demonstration V. Axiom 1. What acts is 2. Every thing acts as it is and à fortiori cannot act directly contrary to what it is especially as an Immediate Agent 3. Motion is Change 4. There are no Created Beings but either Divisible or Indivisible ones that is Body or Spirit 5. The First Being is Essentially Vnchangeable Da-Whatever must be the Immediate Cause of some Effect acts and consequently is but ri-An Angel must be the Immediate Cause of some Effect viz. of the First Motion in Nature therefore i-An Angel acts and consequently is The Minor is thus prov'd Da-Every Effect that can neither be caused Immediatâ—ly by the First Cause noâ— by a Body must have been caus'd immediatly by a Created Spirit or an Angel But ri-The First Motion in Nature is an Effect which could not have been caus'd Immediatly by the First Cause nor by a Body Therefore i-The first Motion in Nature must have been caus'd Immediatly by an Angel and consequently an Angel acts is The former part of thâ— Minor viz. that the first Motion could not be caus'd immediately by the First Cause is thus demonstrated 19. Fe-No being that is Essentially Vnchangeable and whose Nature is directly contrary to the Nature of Change can be the Immediate Cause o Change or Motion nor consequently of the First Motion in Nature but ri-The First Being is Essentially Vnchangeable and his Nature is directly
as to the nature of Agent and Patient there needs no more to begin the Effect actually but Application 2. If Agent and Patient be perfectly fitted as to the nature of Agent and Patient and the Effect be Indivisible there needs no more to begin and end that is to Compleat the Effect at once but Application 3. An Indivisible Effect cannot be perform'd by piecemeal or by parts 4. Every thing operates as it is 5. No Change can be made without the Operation of some Cause 6. A Pure Spirit is not Quantitative a Body is Proposition I. No Corporeal Operation is without Local Motion For since Ax. 4. Every thing operates as it is what is Quantitative operates Quantitatively but nothing can operate Quantitatively or exercise 't is Quantity when it perfectly rests according to it's Quantity that is moves not according to it's Quantity It follows then that to Operate Quantitatively is to move according to Quantity Wherefore since nothing can move according to it's Quantity but either Intrinsically by having it's Quantity made greater or less or Extrinsically that is by having it's Quantity unmov'd as to it 's own parts or it's self mov'd towards Another and both these do evidently require some kind of Local Motion 't is Evident likewise that No Câ—â—poreal Operation is without Local Motion Proposition II. 13. That an Angel is not susceptible of Local Motion For since Motion is Mutation and consequently Local Motion Mutation or Change according to Place and Change of Place does necessarily require some Space and Space is Quantity it follows that Local Motion cannot be made in a Subject which has no Quantity But Angels they being Pure Spirits are not Quantitative therefore they are not Susceptible of Local Motion or capable of having Local Motion made in them Proposition III. 15. That no Body can cause a Change in an Angel For since no Operation of Body is without Local Motion and an Angel it being a Pure Spirit is not susceptible of Local Motion it follows that neither is it Susceptible of the Operation of Body But No Cause can change any thing unless that Cause operates upon it Therefore no Body can cause any Change in an Angel Proposition IV. 16. That an Angel cannot change it self after the First Instant For since a Cause the self same in all respects if the Patient be likewise the self same and the Application also the self same produces the self-same Effect equally in any time assignable that is sufficient for such an Effect and an Angel put to act upon it self or change it self after the first Instant is put to be the self-same as to its being a Cause in every Instant before it acts as likewise to be the self-same Patient in all respects and the Application of it self to its self cannot but be Equal it follows that in any time sufficient for the same Effect it will produce the same Effect that is act upon it self or change it self Wherefore since an Effect in an Indivisible subject is Indivisible that is Impossible not to be all at once or in one Instant and an Angel being a Pure Spirit is an Indivisible Subject t is Evident that this Effect or the Action of that Spirit upon it self would be equally made in every Instant in case it were not already made that is can only be made in the First Instant Wherefore an Angel cannot change it self after the First Instant Proposition V. 17. If there were only Two Angels Existent one of them could not act upon the other after the very First Instant of their Being Let there be only Two Angels the one whereof can work upon the other and let the Agent be A the Patient B and because they are suppos'd not to act in the First Instant but after some Duration let the Duration assign'd be C the Instant at the end of that Duration in which they first work D. Since neither A. nor B. are able to work upon themselves except in the First Instant and as is suppos'd one works not upon the other till the Instant D they must necessarily remain in all respects the same they were in the First Instant till the Instant D that is for the whole Intermediat Duration C Therefore they are equally fitted in point of Agent and Patient in each nay in the very First Instant of the Duration C as they are in the Instant D But in the Instant D in which they acted they were in all points fitted to act therefore they were also in all points perfectly fitted to act in the very first Instant of the Duration C Wherefore the Effect Begun and the Subject being Indivisible Ended in the very First Instant in case their wanted not Application of the perfectly-ready Agent to the perfectly-dispos'd Patient But there wanted not Application in the very First Instant For since Quantitative Application or Propinquity is not competent to Pure Spirits all the Application they can be imagin'd to have to one another is by Knowledg and Will But they had the same Knowledg and Will for the Whole Duration antecedent because they are suppos'd Vnchang'd and perfectly the same for that whole Duration And tho' they had not had it formerly the Argument returns with the same force that they could not have had this new Knowledg and Will from Themselves in any part of that Duration nor from a Body and therefore they must have had it from anâ—ther Spirit and this in the First Instant because that Other was then perfectly apt to give it This perfectly apt to receive it And consequently If there were only Two Angels Existent one of them could not act upon rhe other after the very First Instant of their Being Proposition VI. 18. Put any multitude of Angels how great soever all that they can work upon one another will be perform'd in the First Instant of their Being For since where there are only Two one must therefore act upon the other in the First Instant or not at all because all the imaginable Concurrents to that Action were then adequately put the rest also where there are more will for the same reason be wrought upon in the same Instant in case the Causes of that Action be then adequately put But they are all Adequately put in the same First Instant For the second Angel that acts either is a perfect Agent and perfectly apply'd by what it has of it self or by what it has from another wherefore since it can never want what it has of it self or by it's self it cannot want any thing to work upon the Third unless it be to be wrought upon by the First and so be fitted to work upon the Third but this is done in the very first Instant wherefore also the Third will for the same reason be wrought upon in the self-same Instant Again since the Third cannot be imagin'd to want any thing to enable it to work
upon the Fourth but to be chang'd by the Second and this was done as was now shown in the First Instant the Causes of changing the Fourth were adequately put in the same Instant too and consequently the Effect And since how far soever we proceed the same reason holds viz. that the Effects are still Indivisible and all the Causes of each immediately succeeding Effect still adequately put in the first Instant it will follow that the Effects will still be put in the same Instant by the same necessity that the Effect of the First up on the Second was put in the First Instant of their Being Therefore all whatever any Multitude of Angels how great soever can work upon one another is perform'd in the First Instant of their Being Proposition VII 19. That 't is Infinitly more Impossible an Angel should be chang'd by God after the first Instant than by any other Spirit For since the Angel is in the same manner capable of Change as far as concerns it's self or it 's own power to be changed whether God or any other Spirit be to change it on that side precisely there is a perfect Equality Wherefore seeing on the other side 't is infinitly more Impossible that GOD should not have Power to change her in the First Instant than that any other Spirit should not have such a Power and Infinitly more Impossible that GOD should not of himself be ultimately dispos'd to act where the nature of the thing is capable of it his Nature being Pure Actuality Also since 't is Infinitly more Impossible that GOD should after some Duration receive any Change in himself fitting him to produce that Effect than that any other Spirit should And lastly since 't is Infinitly more Impossible his Active Power should not be Apply'd to the Patient both in regard he most necessarily and comprehensively knows it and most intimately by himself conserves it in Being Wherefore since from these Considerations or Reasons however Infinitly short in Creatures it is concluded to be Impossible that even any Other Spirit if it should change an Angel at all should not change it in the First Instant and these Considerations or Reasons are found to be in GOD with Infinitly greater Advantage it is Evident that 't is Infinitly more Impossible that GOD if he change an Angel at all should not change it in the first Instant that is should change it in the Intermediate Duration than that any other Spirit should Proposition IX 20. That 't is absolutely Impossible an Angel should be Changed after the First Instant of it's Being For since no Change can be made without â—he working of Some Cause and no Body can work upon an Angel and all that it self or any other Created Spirit can work upon it must necessarily be in the very First Instant of it's Being and 't is much more Impossible GOD should work upon it unless in the First Instant than that any Created Spirit should and there can be no Cause possible or Imaginable besides GOD Created Spirits or Bodies it follows that there can be no Cause at all to work upon an Angel or to Change it after the First Instant of it's Being and therefore it can undergo no Change after that First Instant ADVERTISEMENT 1. THIS last Conclusion may seem a strange Paradox to some Readers whose Reason and Principles have not rais'd them above Fancy But not to insist farther on the Evidence of our Consequences from Undeniable Principles which have forced the Necessity of our Conclusion such men are desirâ—d to reflect that Ens being divided as by it's Proper Differences by Divisible and Indivisible and these Differences being Contradictory to one another it follows that Body and Spirit which are the Species constituted by those Differences do agree in nothing at all but in the Common and Generical notion of Ens or in this that they are both of them Capable of Being Whence 't is Logically demonstrated that they must Differ nay contradictorily disagree in every thing else so that whatever else is Affirm'd literally of the one must be deny'd of the other Wherefore since we can truly and literally Affirm that Body is Quantitative Corruptible in Place mov'd Locally Chang'd by Time or Subject to it Capable of Succession or of Before and After which are the Differences of time c. we must be forced with equal Truth Literally to Deny all these of Pure Spirits or Angels because none of these do belong to the Common Generical Notion of Ens but to that Difference which constitutes that Species call'd Body and therefore the Contradictory to all these and amongst them to be Vnsuccessive in it's Operations must be predicated of the other Species call'd Spirit It will I doubt not be much wonder'd at too that the Devils should be Damn'd in the First Instant of their being which looks as if they were Created in the state of Damnation A thing certainly most Unworthy GOD who is Essentially and Infinitly Good But their wonder will cease if they reflect that those Bad Angels had far more Knowledg and consequently more perfect Deliberation such as they can have in that one Single Instant than We could have had tho' we have been a thousand years Considering and Deliberating e'er we had made our Choice of our last End and fix our Resolution to adhere to it Finally So that it never lay in the power of any Man to have so Clear a Knowledg of his Duty and so perfect and full sight of all the Motives to continue in that Duty as the Devil and his Angels had in that one Instant Whence the Crime of Lucifer and his Adherents was a Sin of pure Malice and not mere Frailty or mixt with Frailty much less of Inadvertence Speculative Ignorance or suggested by the Soul 's deprav'd Companion the Body as are the Sins of the Generality of Mankind some Inconsiderable number of them excepted whose Souls are thorowly poison'd with Spiritual Sin 's peculiar to the Devil such as are Spiritual Pride Malice Envy or such like which wicked Sinners are therefore even while here so many Limbs as it were of the Devil and very difficult to be brought to any Repentance And this is the reason why GOD's Wisdom Goodness and Justice laid so many Miracles of Mercy to save poor weak Mankind and left the Faln Angels in the sad condition in which they had so wilfully and desperately engulft themselves Wisely and Justly placing it in the Order of Causes that that Sin which was so perfectly and in despite of all Motives to the contrary so Wilfully Resolute should be Irretractable whereas on the other side Sins of mere Frailty are not hard to be repented of when the alluring circumstance is past and gone The same Faculty which permitted them to fall leaving them likewise in a Pliableness to reform and retract what their Reason abus'd by Passion had perhaps either by surprize or after much
Affection of the Soul which is spiritual and known only by Reflexion should have a Different Appearance The two Manners of Existing with which the same Nature is vested differing toto genere that is as far as Body and Spirit their subjects can distance them To explicate this more fully and to shew the difference between Corporeal and Spiritual Idea's I offer to their thoughts this Reflexion concerning the distinct nature of a Phantasm which is a Corporeal Resemblance and the nature of the thing in the Mind that is its Nâ—tion express'd by a Dâ—finition which is Intellectual and Spiritual The Phantasm or Corporeal Resemblance of a Man is a kind of Picture of a thing with two Legs two Arms such a Face with a Head placed uprightly that grows moves itself c. Let us regard next the Definition of a Man or rather which is abating the Expression the same the Notion of him which is that he is a Rational Creature and we shall easily discern of how different a shape it is from the other how it abstracts from many Corporeal Qualities Figures of the Parts and other Considerations which were Essential Ingredients to the Picture or Phantasm and not at all Essential to It nor found in the Definition and how some Considerations too are added in the Definition or imply'd in it as to Apprehend Iudge Discourse c. which no more belong to the Phantasm than it did to Zeuxis's Grapes to have the Definition of the Fruit of such a Vegetable predicated of them In a word one of them is a kind of Portraicture outwardly resembling the other speaks the most Intrinsecal Essence of the thing Defin'd The one signifies Bodily Parts belonging to such an Animal and therefore is Corporeal the other does not signifie but is the Nature signified and this too by Words which denote to us the Mind or Meaning that is the Notion of the speaker which is therefore Spiritual at least in part Whence the Compleat Essence of Man could not be understood nor a Definition of it fram'd without making use of some of these Notions or Idea's which are made by our Understanding reflecting upon its own Spiritual Operations LESSON III. How these Common Heads of Notions are to be Divided 1. THE Differences that divide each Common Head must be Intrinsecal to it For since we cannot discourse of two Disparate Notions at once and since were those Heads divided by Differences that are Extrinsecal to the Common Genus or taken from another Head each Species of it would consist of two Disparate Notions hence it is absolutely necessary to Science that the Differences which divide these Common Heads be such as belong to no other Common Head but be within the Limits of that Head or Intrinsecal to it Again since the Difference is most Formal in constituting the Species and the Genus only Material were the Differences Extrinsecal or Borrow'd from another Head it would follow that all the Species of the Head divided by such Differences would belong to another Head viz. to that Head whence those Differences are taken Which would put all our Notions into Confusion and involve a direct Contradiction as making Substances to be Quantities Qualities c. 2. Intrinsecal Differences can be no other but more and less of the Common Notion For since being Intrinsecal they cannot be taken from any other Head it follows that they must partake of the Common Notion of their own respective Heads Again since if they did partake of the Common Notion Equally they would not differ in that Notion and so would not be Differences of it it follows that they must partake of it Vnequally that is they must be more and less of the Common Notion 3. Hence the Common Notion of Ens Thing or Substence being that which is capable of Existence is Immediately Intrinsecally or Essentially divided into what 's more and less capable of Existence Wherefore 4. Divisible and Indivisible which constitute Body and Spirit are the proper and intrinsecal Differences of the Common Head of Substance For since Actual Division of the Entity makes the thing to be no longer indivisum in se that is to be unum that is to be Ens that is to be capable of Existence it follows that that Ens which is Divisible or Body is less capable of Existence that is has less of the nature of Ens or Substance and the Ens that is Indivisible or Spirit has more Again since Things Divisible or Bodies can only have their own Being or Existence whereas Things indivisible or Spirits are capable of being Other things also or of having in them the Natures and Existences of all the things they know hence they have a greater Capacity of Existence than Bodies have since they have enough for themselves and can impart it to Millions of Other things besides and consequently Body and Spirit are constituted by Divisible and Indivisible as by the proper immediate and Intrinsecal Differences that divide Substance or Ens. 5. The Divisibility and Indivisibility that are the Intrinsecal Differences of Ens are not those of being Quantitative and not Quantitative For were it so it would follow that some Intrinsecal Differences of Ens in Common would be taken from some other Head viz. that of Quantity and so the Differences being what 's most Formal in the Species hence those Species of Ens would rather be under that Head than its own Again that Divisibility which is of Quantity may oftentimes be put into Act and yet the same Ens remain v. g. a Man may lose the Quantity of an Arm a Tree of a Branch c. and yet remain still the same Things whereas if Quantitative Divisibility were the Intrinsecal Difference which constituted it such an Ens Quantitative Division must by consequence make it cease to be that Ens. Moreover since Quantity as will be shortly seen is Divisibility and Divisibility in Vnity in case Quantity did Intrinsecally divide Ens and constitute Body where-ever there were Quantity there would be Vnity under that notion and so all Quantitative things would be but one Ens or one Body which is the highest absurdity Therefore the Divisibility and Indivisibility which are the intrinsecal Differences of Ens are not those of being Quantitative and not Quantitative 6. Therefore the Divisibility and Indivisibility which divide Ens Intrinsecally must be the Divisibility and Indivisibility of the Constituents of Ens as such that is the Divisibility of it into Matter and Form and Indivisibility of it into such Constituent parts Which differences do Essentially divide the Genus of Ens and constitute the species of Body and Spirit For since we see Bodies chang'd into one another and therefore the former Body had really somewhat in it determining it to be actually what it was which we call the Form and somewhat by which it could be Another which we call the Power to be another or Matter Again since we see that the
who are subject to those Laws For since those Laws are the Causes of the Common Practice and the Common Practice is the Effect of those Laws hence the sence of the Laws is demonstrated by the Common Practice a posteriori 20. But the very best and most assured way to detect and avoid Equivocation in all words whatever is to observe and examin whether the same Definition agrees to the word as found in diverse places For since the Definition consists of a Determinate Genus and its Intrinsecal or Proper Differences it must needs give us the precise Notion or Meaning of the Word since if it be either under any Other Genus or constituted by any Other Differences the Essence which they constitute must needs be a different Essence and therefore the Word which signifies it must necessarily have another Meaning or Notion Corol. V. Words being invented to express Sense or Meaning it follows that those Words that have many Senses and all of them True and coherent to one another have the highest perfection that Words can possibly have Wherefore those passages in Holy Scripture that bear both a Literal Tropological or Moral Analogical and Anagogical sence or several of them are of a more sublime nature than other Words are and argue that they were endited by a Divine Author BOOK II. OF THE SECOND Operation OF OUR Understanding or Judgments LESSON I. Of the Nature of Judgments or Propositions in Common of their Parts of the Ground of their Verification and of the several Manners of Predicating 1. HAving treated of Notions and of their Clear Distinction and Expression to that degree as may be sufficient for Science it follows of course that we treat next of Cognition or the putting together of Notions and this not joyning them together on any fashion by rote as it were in our Memory as a School-boy gets a Latin Sentence without book the meaning of whose words he understands and revolves in his Mind but regards not whether it be True or no nor yet the putting them together according to Grammatical Congruity as is this Sentence Virtue and Vice are both equally Laudable in which the Words do Cohere indeed according to Grammar Rules but the Sence is False and Incoherent But as the word Cognition imports it must be the Connecting or Joyning them together in order to Knowledge that is with an Application of our Knowing Power to see whether they ought to be thus put together or no or which is the same whether the Proposition be True 2. Wherefore since we cannot know any thing to be so but what is truly so it follows that all Knowledge must be of some Verity or Truth and this not of a Truth which is materially such or repeated in our Mind for this amounts to no more but a Complex Notion or Apprehension but to make up the Notion of Knowledge we must see the Notions of which that Truth does Formally consist to be truly and indeed Connected As when we say A Stone is Hard we must see that what 's meant by Stone and by Hard are some way or other Connected in the Thing or otherwise all Truths being taken from the things we cannot be said to Know it to be True 3. Judging in proper speech is not meerly and precisely the Seeing or Knowing that the Notions are Connected but the Saying Interiourly or Assenting heartily that they are so Otherwise since nothing can be Known to be so but what is so it would follow that there would be no False Iudgments Wherefore Judging adds to the meer notion of Knowledge that it is the subduing of all Hesitation or the Fixure of our Intellective Faculty about the Verity or Falsity of any thing Whence Judging is the Effect immediately and necessarily resulting from our Knowledge that the Notions are really Connected when 't is a True Iudgment or else from our only Conceiting them to be Connected when the Judgment is False Whence this is a right consequence I see or know the Notions cohere therefore I judge the Saying or Sentence that signifies they are connected to be True which is the Method that all Rational or Judicious men take Whereas Passionate or Ignorant men who are blindly addicted to their own Sentiment take the Contrary way and will have the Notions to cohere and the Proposition to be True because they had prejudg'd it so upon some other Motive than the seeing that the Terms themselves were indeed connected It will be objected that Knowledge also fixes our Understanding and therefore Knowing is Judging I answer That to fix the Understanding so as to acquiesce to what it sees is to make it Judge but the Notion of Knowing is compleated in the bare Seeing the Terms Connected and is terminated in regarding the Object or the Proposition that is Known But Judging superadds to it that it is moreover the yielding to reject all farther disquisition and adhering firmly to that Knowledge which tho' the distinction between them be nice and delicate is another Consideration superadded to meer Knowing and sinks and rivets the Object more deeply and unremovably in the Soul Lastly the Intuitive Knowledge of Pure Spirits is True Knowledge but it is not made by our way of Judging in regard they neither Abstract nor Compound or Divide Notions 4. Hence is seen that to make Judgments of things out of True Knowledge is the Greatest Natural Perfection our Soul is capable of For since nothing can be Known to be so but what is so or True all Judgments resulting from True Knowledge not onely fill our Mind with Truths but are moreoever a Firm Adhesion to Truths and the Secure Possession of those incomparable Endowments which are the Best Perfections of our Understanding and make us like the God of Truth Nor ends the Advantage we gain by Truth in meer Speculation but Truth excluding from its notion all Possible Errour it makes it Impossible we should ever embrace any Errour while we thus Judge Which since Omnis peccans ignorat and that every Sinner as the Proverb is has his blind side must therefore if Truth be Express in our Understanding and kept awake there Preserve such a mind from Sin and by making right and Lively Judgments of our Present and Future State and of our several Duties here most certainly bring us to Eternal Happiness hereafter 5. That Speech that Connects Notions in order to Knowledge or Expresses a Judgment is call'd a Proposition that is such a Speech as proposes the Notions and puts them into such a Frame or Posture of Connexion as best serves for us to Judge whether they are really Connected or no. Whence it must consist of three parts viz. that which is Affirm'd or Deny'd of another which in an Artificial term we call Predicated and that notion the Predicate That of which 't is Affirm'd or Deny'd call'd the Subject and that Notion which signifies their Connexion call'd the Copula The two first are also call'd the Terms
struggling that is half unwillingly yielded to Corol. I. Hence abstracting from Faith and Theology 't is Demonstrated against the Originists by Reason reflecting on the nature of Things that the Devils are to be Eternally Damn'd and how and why 't is Impossible their Hell should have an End For they cannot be saved without Repentance nor repent without having some new Motive which they either knew not of before or did not well consider of it Neither of which can have place here for since they acquire no New Knowledg either by the Senses or by Discourse it follows that they have all in the first Instant that is due to their Natures that is they know all they could possibly know and out of that Knowledg made their Full and Final Choice Nor can there be Consideration in a Knower that sees all things by Simple Intuition For Consideration is the Comparing one Motive with another and therefore 't is an Operation Proper to that Knower that works by Abstracted Notions or Considerations of the Thing Whence it is most Improper and Incompetent to such an Intelligent Being as knows all as once by way of Simple Intuition Corol. II. Tho' all that can concern the Internal Operations of Angels was finished in an Instant yet we may for all that conceive certain Priorities of Nature in the Course or Process as it were of what belongs to them in that First Instant v. g. We can conceive them to be and to be Good according to thâ—ir Essence and Existence as coming Immediately out of God's hand ere we conceive their own Depraved Will made them Bad. We can conceive them to know Themselves ere they knew in and by Themselves the whole Angelical Order and the whole Course of Nature We can conceive them to know Themselves as most fit under God to preside over Humane Nature ere they knew that a Man by the Incarnation of the Word was to be their Head and as it were take their office out of their hands and be Lord of themselves too We can conceive them to know This which was the cause of their Aversion from GOD ere we can conceive them to have had that Aversion from him for his thus Ordering things We can conceive Lucifer their Ring-leader to have had that Aversion ere he propos'd his Seditious thoughts to other Angels to debauch them from their Allegiance We can conceive him to have Debaucht them ere we conceive the Contrast and Battle was between Michael and his Loyal Angels and Lucifer with his Rebellious Troops Lastly we can conceive this Battel fought ere the latter black Squadrons were cast down from their Sublime Height into Hell All these I say may be Conceiv'd to have had certain Priorities of Nature to one another such as those Causes and Effects use to have which are in the same Instant So that this Single Instant of theirs is tho not Formally yet virtually and in order to the many Indivisible Effects producible in it Equivalent or as we use to say as good as a Long Series of our Time Not by way of Quantitative Commensuration of one to the other but by the Eminency of the Angelical Duration or Aeviternity which is of a Superiour Nature to Body and consequently Bodily Motion or Time and Comprehending it all Indivisibly and Instantaneously Corol. III. Hence it follows that the Several Instants which Divines put in Angelical Actions and particularly in Lucifer and his Fiends before their Fall can be no way Solidly explicated and conformably to the nature of Pure Spirits but by those Priorities of Nature For since Comparisons can only be made of those Natures which are ejusdem generis we cannot Compare or Commensurate those Actions which are Spiritual to the Succession found in the Actions of Bodies which are Measurable by Time any more than we can their Essence to the Nature of a Body and it would be an odd Comparison to say an Angel is as Knowing as a Horse is Strong or as a Wall is Hard Wherefore Before and After which are Differences of Time or Successive Motion can never be with good Sense apply'd to the Operations of Pure Spirits Again should we allow such Instants Succeeding one another it would avail nothing For since one Indivisible added to another cannot make a thing Greater nor consequently a Duration Longer the putting many of them advances no farther than the First Indivisible or the First Instant Add that even those Divines who put diverse Instants do all owe our Principles that Angels are Indivisible Substances for did they hold them Corporeal as some of the Fathers did I should not wonder at their Inconsistency but they are frightned from the Conclusions that Naturally and Necessarily follow thence either because they vainly fear Scripture-Texts expressing things humano more or in Accomodation to our low Conceptions cannot otherwise be verified or else because those Conclusions too much shock their Fancy by their seeming Extravagancy or lastly because they are willing to gratifie and please the Fancy of the Vulgar which is startled at such uncouth propositions And this is one mane Hindrance to the Advancement of Science when men are afraid of their own Conclusions because the herd of vulgar Philosophers will dislike and decry them A Fault which I hope I have not been Guilty of in this former Treatise but have both avoided it my self and have Indeavour'd to prevent it in others by holding firmly and directing others to hold to the right Notions or Natures of the things and to pursue steadily the Consequences that do naturally Issue from them how Aukward soever the Conclusions may seem to those who take their Measures from Fancy how to frame their Rules of Logick which are to direct their Reason LESSON VIII Of Opinion and Faith 1. SCience being grounded on Intrinsical Mediums and on such as are Proper or Immediately Connected with the Extrems whence it has to be Evident it follows that those Mediums which are either Extrinsical to the thing or Common ones cannot beget Science but some Inevident or Obscure kinds of Light call'd Faith and Opinion The former of which is grounded on an Extrinsical Medium call'd Witnessing Authority or Testimony the Later on Remote or Common Mediums which seem to bend or lean towards the Conclusion but do not by any Maxim of true Logick reach it or inferr it Examples of both may be these 2. That which is Attested unanimously by such a Multitude of Witnesses and so Circumstanc'd that they can neither be Mistaken in it Themselves nor Conspire to deceive others is true But That there is such a City as Rome is attested by such a multitude of Witnesses and so Circumstanc'd that they can neither be Mistaken in it Themselves nor Conspire to deceive others therefore That there is such a City as Rome is True What 's Promis'd will be but That my Debtor will pay me money to morrow is what 's promis'd therefore That my Debtor will pay me