Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A30096
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An essay of transmigration, in defence of Pythagoras, or, A discourse of natural philosophy
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Bulstrode, Whitelocke, 1650-1724.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing B5450; ESTC R16493
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53,371
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249
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fit for the Learned 〈◊〉 of the Honourable Mr. 〈◊〉 the Ornament of our Nation But to return to Pythagoras Can the Belief of this Doctrine that teaches that Spirit set at Liberty by 〈◊〉 Dissolution of its Body may afterwards animate another Body be an Argument for any man's paying a Deference to that Creature whom he fansies the Spirit of his Father animates He may with as much Reason honour that Field that produced his Father's Food being assimilated into his Nature or adore the Wind that continued Life to him as this Animal For the Sensitive Spirit after its dissolution from the Body is no more his Father's than the Air he expired was a part of himself it was nothing at first but the Ligature of the Rational Soul and Body which when they are dissolved as to them there is an end of the Tie No one sure will think this Opinion does invade the Doctrine of the Resurrection since there can be no need of a Medium where there are no Extreams The cloathing of the Blessed Spirits after this Life will doubtless be with a Robe of Light because they are always to appear before the Father of Lights Our Saviour's Transfiguration may give us a glimpse of this but where Flesh and Blood cannot enter what need can there be of a Sensitive Spirit But I think this Matter may be carried higher than the Opinion laid down of Pythagoras for this very Particle of Light and Heat when it is free from its Body of whatever sort may penetrate Matter that may concrete into Stone or Metal produce a Vegetable or insinuate into an Animal-Matrix and cooperate in the Generation of the Foetus for it is homogeneous with the Vital Heat in all but their Specification 'T is true Eirenaeus the Great has said There is nothing that has a Seminal Virtue applicable to two things But this is spoken of a Seminal Virtue latent in some Body not at Liberty and free but specificated and determin'd That this Spirit is universal I need not go back to the first Abyss and Form to shew the Identity of Matter and Form in General which was afterwards divided and distinguish'd according to the Proportion of Matter and Form to prove the Identity of Spirit in all these Three 'T is enough here to shew that Minerals and Plants not to mention Animals being Physick and Food for Man are by application to him assimilated into his Nature and that only by the Power of his own Specifick Spirit which shews them to be of his own Matter and Form or it could not attract and convert into its own Nature what is repugnant to it But that there is an Homogeneity of Spirit in all the Three Provinces of Nature will appear from hence if it be true that from the Dross of Metals reduc d to Ashes are generated Beetles from Plants Caterpillers from Fruit Maggots and from putrefied Animals Bees and Flies so that an Animal Life flows from them all And out of any Species of every one of the Three Kinds may be drawn a Light burning and fiery Spirit which could not be were they not homogeneous The great difference which there seems to be between the several parts of the Creation makes the People indeed believe them of contrary Natures Thus the Vulgar can hardly think that Fountain Water will ever become Wood Leaves Fruit Bones Sinews Blood and all the Parts of an Animal Body But a Naturalist can easily discern that the Water or moist Vapour that dissolves the Seed is by the Specifick Spirit of the Seed converted into its own Nature and shoots up into Branches bearing Leaves and Fruit whose grosser part encreaseth the Body of the Tree And so the Water drank by Animals becomes converted into Nourishment and is communicated into all the Parts of the Body by which they all grow and are encreased to a determinate Time Thus are all the Parts of the Universe related to each other by the common Bond of the same Universal Spirit which Parmenides in his famous Idea's calls That one Idea which is the Foundation of all Singulars out of which as from a Thread the whole Web as it were of Individuals is woven Now this Universal Spirit residing in many Particulars is the Support and Foundation of them all and is according to Zenophanes wholly together one though for distinction sake and that we may better understand one another in Discourse we divide it into Three Heads which are called Kinds and into almost infinite Species which are the Particulars Thus we see Nature tho' She is One Pure and Simple is yet beneficial to the whole Creation and continually supplies the perishing Old by the Gift as it were of New And thus we may see that without God who is Nature's Governor we can do nothing even in this world O Eternal Wisdom How excellent are the Divine Operations How manifold the divine Goodness whose Wisdom Power and Love are no less evident in the Conservation than the Creation of the World If the Divine Mind should check Nature a few moments this delicate Machine would be without Spirit the world would be benumb'd with an eternal Cold and Darkness and an everlasting Death all things would run back into their first Mass Chaos and dark Abyss never to be renewed without that Spirit that first banished Darkness by separating the Waters and enkindling in their most refined Parts advanced to the Region Above a Spirit of Light To the Eternal therefore be infinite Praises by the pure Spirits of Men and Angels He that thinks I do a dishonour to Animals in supposing that that Spirit that animated a mean Vegetable 〈◊〉 a sluggish Metal on its leaving these Bodies should give Life and Motion to an Animal Being will easily see his Mistake when he considers 〈◊〉 those Things are always esteemed most Excellent 〈◊〉 Noble that are of longest duration Now we see 〈◊〉 many Vegetables and all Things of a Metallick Composition do exceed Animals 〈◊〉 duration of Time Besides all Things receive a value from their Usefulness now though divers Beasts and Birds are very useful both for Food and Pleasure yet 〈◊〉 of them are supported without Vegetables nor can any Man plow or go to Sea without Metals But this is speaking rather like a Merchant than Naturalist therefore I shall wave it That Spirit seems to me to be most Noble that has so digested the Passive Matter which contains it as to be able to defend it against all the assaults of the Elements and on the other side that Spirit seems to be most weak and unactive that suffers its Body to be soonest dissolved on their Intention Now Vegetables and Animals do both perish in the Flames but Metals do not So that the Strength and Virtue they enjoy visible to every Eye gives them justly the Precedence But could their Bodies be dissolved and their Spirits 〈◊〉 loose as we see in Vegetable Seeds
AN ESSAY OF TRANSMIGRATION In Defence of PYTHAGORAS OR A DISCOURSE OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY Principio Coelum Terras Camposque liquentes Lucentemque Globum Lunae Titaniaque Astra Spiritus imus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet Virg. Natura naturans naturat omnia LONDON Printed by E. H. for Tho. Basset at the George in Fleet-street 1692. AN ESSAY OF TRANSMIGRATION In Defense of PYTHAGORAS THE Epistle Dedicatory To Mr. LEY T Was you my Dear Friend with whom I first enjoyed the Pleasures of Friendship and 't was you that first invited me though not into the Garden of the Hesperides yet into a Field of great Usefulness and infinite Delight where after the Fatigue and Embarrasment of a troublesome Employment like the wearied Traveller I have often at Night lain down and refreshed my tired Spirits If I have therefore nodded in the following Pamphlet be you my Witness and Excuse But whatever it is to you Dear Sir of right it belongs being that good Friend that first shewed me my Faults and moved me to a Study which has given me a true Prospect of the Trifles of Life and how much more valuable the Unseen Things are than those our Senses daily converse with For As the kind Heavenly Genius when we go Out of that Path appointed us below Mov'd with great Pity t' our declining State Do's softly whisper Turn ere 't is too late So my Leander when I went astray From the unbeaten Path of Vertues Way Swifter than Lightning darting from a Cloud Stretch'd forth his hand But I forget I am in publick and that this is not my Province This shew that the Body is too gross to enjoy a refin'd Pleasure and that the Affections of a man given to the Delights of Contemplation and Search are too lofty to be allur'd down to sensual Enjoyments Aquila non capit Muscas Des Cartes expresses it well Voluptas quam percipimus ex intuitu rerum quas oculi cernunt minimè aequiparanda est cum illa quam adfert notitia illarum quas Philosophando invenimus The Pleasures of Sense are in no sort comparable to those which the Mind enjoys by Knowledge and Philosophy So that Philosophy and Religion or the latter alone have truly the better on 't in this Life as well as the next God bids fairer for our Service than all things else besides But to do Justice to both I must acknowledge the Sensualist has Pleasures and Diversions such as they are more ready and at hand than a man of Thought and Retirement The one had need but look out and he sees something that is ready to fill up the narrow Faculties of Sense presently whilst the other must go farther off and with great industry find out an Object that is noble enough to divert and entertain him The Pleasures of the one are like Diamonds rarely to be found but of the other like Pebbles every where to be had Yet this Advantage the Learned and the Wise the vertuous Philosopher when advanced to some Height has over the other that he carries his Pleasures with him in the Streets or in the Fields or even in disagreeable Company can find useful and pleasing Thoughts both to delight and improve his Mind who not only dares be alone but finds infinite Pleasure in the Contemplation of the several parts of the Universe to whom with Jacob the World is a Bethel for he can turn the Darkness of a Dungeon into the Light o a Divine Palace and behold Nature ascending and descending like the Angels on the Ladder But not to pretermit any of the excellent Advantages the Dissolute enjoy The one I must confess more constantly gains his Point than the other for what with his sordid Flattery and Baseness of Spirit towards the Great and Haughty his Insolence towards the Modest and Humble and other mean and disingenuous Arts towards all he obtains what he desires But did a Beggar gain a Crown by such means he were not worth my Envy for when a little Affliction befalls such an one so loose is his Constitution by the unsetledness of his Principles if a constant Byas to Baseness of Spirit may be called unsetled he dissolves under the weight of a little misfortune a few Weeks imprisonment puts an end to his Life But how does the Vertuous sit smooth and sedate whilst Lightning invades his Eyes and Thunder his House Who though he would dissolve in Tears for the least voluntary Sin yet would not shrink to see the World in a general Conflagration who goes out of this Life with the same Joy a man goes to see his affectionate Friend Give me the man who having secur'd the Divine Love by an universal Obedience carries his own Heaven with him where-ever he goes that can see in every Field enough of the Divine Wisdom to fill all the Powers of his Soul with a lasting Joy and Pleasure Compar'd to these how mean are the Thoughts of a last Night's Debauch or the expecting ones of another How sordid the Contemplation of many Bags and how empty the Titles of Honour For my part I have not Sence enough to distinguish any real difference between a Feather in a Child's Cap and a Riband cross the Shoulders of a Man Ah! how foolish is Mankind to neglect the solid Joys of Wisdom and Philosophy for the Rattles and Trifles of Life So that the next World apart with great Truth I may affirm That the most voluptuous Man alive enrich'd with the Fancy of Aristippus or a Lord Rochester that does indulge his Senses with all the Art that Wit Health and Riches can lay together that has all the Court which the Devil in Nature is capable of making to him falls infinitely short of the Pleasures of a Man that has a good Understanding well govern'd Affections and but a moderate Fortune to enable him to enjoy the Pleasures of Philosophy and to exert his Religion in the pleasing Offices of Charity and Affection The Cynicks and Stoicks will charge me with a surplus of Ingredients to the constitution of Happiness but I conceive their Notion of it to be Romantick and Fanciful but that of the Peripateticks and Epicureans sober and wise For Externals in the hands of a wise man are good Instruments even of Beatitude and Pleasure and Pain must have some difference even in the opinion of a Philosopher that is conversant in the World 'T is a foolish thing to make Vertue the Object of a wise man's choice and then set it above his reach at least above his desires Vertue I mean stripp'd of Health and Necessaries and clogg'd with Pain and Misery without the Prospect of a future Life But the Cynick indeed had Wit when being blam'd for giving a Pattern above Human Life said he was like the Singing Masters who sung a Note too high that their Scholars who would naturally fall short of their Master might reach a