the object gooâ— or bad the one by prosecution the otheâ— by avoiding so that where the heart iâ— not nor the externall senses to conveigâ— the object to the phantasie nor the animalâ— spirits to carry the species of the object from the phantasie to the heart there caâ— be no affection but such is the estate of â—he soule separated it hath no commerce 〈◊〉 all with the body or bodily affections â—nd of this the Poets were not ignorant â—hen they made the departed soules to â—rink Securos latices longa oblivia â—f the river Lethe which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wished for goddesse by â—hose that are in misery 11. He thinkes that when the slaine body â—uddenly bleedeth at the approach of the murâ—erer that this motion of the bloud is caused by â—he soule But this cannot be for the soule when it is in the body cannot make it â—leed when it would if it could we should â—ot need Chirurgions to phlebotomise and â—carifie us much lesse then can it being seâ—arated from the body Secondly in a â—old body the bloud is congealed how â—hall it grow fluid againe without heat or how hot without the animall and vitall spirits and how can they worke without the soule and how can this operate without union to the body If then any such â—leeding be as I beleeve that sometimes â—here hath been and may be so againe I thinke it the effect rather of a miracle tâ— manifest the murtherer then any naturalâ— cause for I have read that a mans armeâ— which was kept two years did at the sighâ— of the murtherer drop with bloud which could not be naturally seeing it could noâ— but be withered and dry after so long time yet I deny not but before the body be cold or the spirits quite gone it may bleed some impressions of revenge and anger being left in the spirits remaining which may move the bloud but the safest way is to attribute such motions of the bloud to the prayers of these soules under the Altar saying Quousque Domine 12. No annihilation can proceed from God it is more impossible that not-being should flow from him then that cold should flow immediately from fire 'T is true that God is not an efficient cause of annihilation for of a non-entity there can be no cause yet we may safely say that hee is the deficient cause for as the creatures had both their creation and have still their conservation by the influx of Gods Almighty power who as the Apostle saith sustaines all things by the word of his power so if he should suspend or withdraw this influx all things must returne to nothing as they were made of nothing There is then in the creature both a passive possibilitie of annihilation and in God an active possibilitie to withdraw his assistance and why should we be afraid to affirm such a power in God Before the world was made there was annihilation and yet God was still the same both before and since without any alteration in him So if the world were annihilated God should lose nothing being in himselfe all things Againe as God suspended his worke of creation the seventh day without any diminution of his power and goodnesse so hee may suspend if hee please the work of conservation which is a continuated production Besides as God created not the world by necessity of his nature but by his free will so by that same freedome of will hee sustaines what hee hath created and not by any necessity and therefore not only corruptible bodies but even spirits and angels have in them a possibility of annihilation if God should withdraw from them his conservative influence Ieremy was not ignorant of his owne and his peoples annihilation if God should correct them in fury Ierem. 10. But though there be a possibility in the creatures if God withdraw his power of annihilation yet wee must not think that this possibility in them flowes from the principles of their owne nature for in materiall substances there is no such possibility seeing the matter is eternall and much lesse can it be in immateriall substances in which there is neither physicall composition nor contrariety As the Sun then is the cause of darknesse and the Pilot the cause of shipwrack the one by withdrawing his light the oâ—her by denying his assistance so may God be the cause of annihilation by suspending or subtracting his influence 13. He thinkes it is a grosse conception to think that every atome of the body or every graine of ashes of the cadaver burned and scattered by the wind should be raked together and made up anew into the same body it was But this is no grosse conceit if he consider the power of the Almighty who can with as great facility re-unite these dispersed atomes as he could at first create them utpote idoneus est reficere qui fecit The Gentiles objected the same unto the Christians as a grosse conceit of theirs as Cyril sheweth to whom Tertullian returnes this answer That it is as easie to collect the dispersed ashes of thy body as to make them of nothing Ubicunque resolutus fueris quaecunque te materia destruxerit hauserit aboleverit in nihil prodegerit reddet te ejus est nihilum ipsum cujus est totum 14. But Sir Kenelme in his subsequent discourse to salve this grosse conception as hee calls it of collecting the dispersed ashes of the burned body tells us that the same body shall rise that fell but it shall be the same in forme onely not in matter which he proves by some reasons First that it is the forme not the matter that gives numericall individuation to the body Secondly that the matter without forme hath no actuall being Thirdly that identity belongeth not to the matter by it selfe Fourthly that the body of a man is not the same it was when it was the body of a childe Fifthly he illustrates this by some Similies As that a ship is still the same though it be all new timbered The Thames is still the same river though the water is not the same this day that flowed heretofore That a glasse full of water taken out of the sea is distinguished from the rest of the water but being returned backe againe becomes the same with the other stocke and the glasse being againe filled with the sea-water though not out of the same place yet it is the same glasse full of water that it was before That if the soule of a newly dead man should be united to another body taken from some hill in America this body is the same identicall body hee lived with before his death This is the summe of Sir Kenelm's Philosophy and Divinity concerning the resurrection In which are these mistakes First the resurrection by this opinion is overthrowne a surrection wee may call it of a body but not the resurrection of the same body This is no new opinion but the
and therefore are not the objects of his omnipotencie but that is only the object which is possibile absolutum So I think it is good manners to say God cannot lie or die because it cannot â—gree with his active power to suffer or to die So he cannot sin because it agreeth not with right reason In a word Deus nequit facere quod nequit fieri I think then it were breach of good manners to say that God could do any thing which were repugnant either to his wisdome goodnesse or power And though his power and will make but one God yet they are different attributes ratione for the will commands and the power puts in execution You say that they who deny witches deny spirits also and are a kind of Atheists A strange kind of Atheisme to deny witches but is there such a strict relation between witches and spirits that hee that denies the one must needs deny the other Sure the existence of spirits depends not upon the witches invocation of or paction with spirits We reade that Zoroastres was the first witch in the world and hee lived after the Floud were there no spirits I pray till then This is as much as if you would say there were no divels among the Gadarens till they entered into their swine You thinke the Angels know a great part of our thoughts because by reflexion they behold the thoughts of one another That the Angels know one another is out of doubt but how they know one anothers thoughts is unknowne to mee This I know that none knowes the thoughts of man but man himself and God that made him it being Gods prerogative to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they know our thoughts 't is either by revelation from God or by some outward signe and demonstration from our selves for whilest they are immanent and in the Understanding they are only knowne to God because he only hath the command of our Wills from which our thoughts depend The light which wee stile a bare accident you say is a spirituall substance where it subsists alone and may be an Angell Let us see where and when it subsists alone without a subject and then wee will beleeve you that it is a spirituall substance And if your light may be an Angel that must needs be an Angell of light What a skipping Angell will ignis fatuus make The Chandlers and Bakers trades are honouâ—able those can make lights which may in â—ime become Angels these wafers which â—n time become gods This Section consists of divers errours First you call the Heavens the immateriall world so you confound the celestiall world with the intellectuall which only is immateriall and had its being in the divine intellect before it was made Secondly if the Heavens be immateriall they are not movable for matter is the subject of motion Why then doe you call the great Sphere the first movable Thirdly an immateriall world cannot be the habitation of materiall substances where then will the bodies of the Saints after the resurrection have their residence Fourthly if the Heavens have not matter they have not quantity and parts Fifthly nor are they compounded substances of matter and forme but simple as spirits Sixthly though they have not such a matter as the elementary world yet immateriall they are not they have a matter the subject of quantity though not of generation and corruption Your second errour is that you call Gods essence the habitation of Angels and therefore they live every-where where his essence is Divinitie tells us that Angels are in a place definitivè and that they as we all live and move in him as in our efficient protecting and sustaining cause but not as in a place for Angels move out of one place to another and while they are on earth they are not in heaven but if Gods essence be their habitation then they never change place for his essence is every-where and so you make them partakers of Gods proper attribute Ubiquity Your third errour is that God hath not subordinated the creation of Angels to ours but as ministring spirits they are willing to fulfill Gods will in the affaires of man Then belike God made them not to be ministring spirits to the heires of salvation but they are so of their owne accord if so wee are more beholding to them for their comfort protection and instruction of us then to God who made them not for this end but as you say for his owne glory But if you were as good at Divinity as at Physick you will find that Gods glory is not â—ncompatible with their service to us but â—n this is God glorified that they comfort â—nstruct and protect us for this charge hee hath given to his Angels over us and so we are bound to them for their care much more to him for his love in creating them to this end Your fourth errour is that both generation and creation are founded on contrarieties If creation were a transmutation which still presupposeth a subject I would be of your opinion but seeing it is not and hath no subject without which contrarieties cannot be in nature I deny that creation is founded on contrarieties neither is non-entity contrary but the totall privation of being which God gave to the creature You wonder at the multitude of heads that deny traduction having no other argument of their beliefe but Austins words Creando infunditur c. But I wonder as much at you who is not better acquainted with our Divinitie for wee have many reasons to confirm us against traduction besides Saint Austins authority At first that the soule is immateriall therefore hath not quantitie nor parts nor is subject to division as it must be if it be subject to traduction or propagation Secondly the soule existeth in and by it selfe depending from the bodie neither in its being nor operation and by consequence not in its production nec in esse nec in fieri nec in operari Thirdly if the soule were educed out of the power of the matter it were mortall as the soules of beasts are which having their beginning and being from the matter must faile when that failes Fourthly the effect is never nobler then the cause but the soule in regard of understanding doth in excellencie far exceed the body Fifthly a body can no more produce a spirit then an horse can beget a man they being different species Sixthly if the soule were propagated in or by the seed then this were a true enunciation Semen est animal rationale and so the seed should be man Seventhly if the soule of the son be propagated by the soule or of the soule of the parent then we must admit transmutation of soules as we doe of bodies in generation Eighthly we â—ave the Churches authoritie Ninthly â—nd the testimony of Gentiles for Aristotle â—cknowledgeth the Intellect to enter into â—â—e body from without And Apuleius in â—is mysticall
Medicus Medicatus OR THE PHYSICIANS RELIGION CURED BY A LENITIVE OR GENTLE POTION With some ANIMADVERSIONS upon Sir Kenelme Digbie's OBSERVATIONS on Religio Medici By ALEXANDER ROSS LONDON Printed by Iames Young and are to be sold by Charles Green at the Signe of the Gun in Ivie-lane Anno Dom. 1645. TO MY VVORTHY AND EVER HONOURED FRIEND Mr. EDWARD BENLOWES ESQUIRE SIR TO satisfie your desire I have endeavoured so farre as the shortnesse of time the distractions of my mind and the want of Bookes would give mee leave in this place of exile to open the mysteries of this Treatise so much cried up by those whose eyes pierce no deeper then the superficies and their judgements then the out-sides of things Expect not here from mee Rhetoricall flourishes I study matter not words Good wine needs no bush Truth is so amiable of her selfe that shee cares not for curious dressing Where is most painting there is least beauty The Gentleman who at last acknowledgeth himselfe to be the Authour of this Booke tells us that many things in it are not to be called unto the rigid test of reason being delivered Rhetorically but as I suspect that friendship which is set out in too many Verball Complements so doe I that Religion which is trimmed up with too many Tropicall pigments and Rhetoricall dresses If the gold be pure why feares it the Touch-stone The Physician will trie the Apothecaries drugges ere hee make use of them for his Patients bodie and shall wee not trie the ingredients of that Religion which is accounted the physick of our soules I have no leasure nor mind here to expatiate my selfe a sparkle of the publike flame hath taken hold on my estate my avocations are divers my Bookes farre from mee and I am here Omnibus exhaustus pene casibus omnium egenus Therefore accept these sudden and extemporary Animadversions so earnestly desired by you as a testimony of his service and love to you who will alwaies be found Your servant to command Dum res aetas Sororum Fila trium patiuntur atra A. R. The Contents of the chiefe things briefly handled here in this Booke are these 1 IF the Papists and we are of one faith 2. If it be lawfull to joyne with them in prayers in their Churches 3. If Crosses and Crucifixes are fit meanes to excite devotion 4. If it be fit to weep at a Procession 5. If we owe the Pope good language 6. If we may dispute of Religion 7. If the Church at all times is to be followed 8. Of the soules immortality 9. Of Origen's opinion concerning the damned 10. Of prayer for the dead 11. Of seeing Christ corporally 12. If the soule can be called mans Angell or Gods body 13. Of Gods wisedome and knowledge 14. How Nature is to be defined 15. If Monsters are beautifull 16. If one may pray before a game at Tables 17. Of judiciall Astrologie 18. Of the brasen Serpent 19. Of Eliah's miracle of fire Of the sire of Sodome Of Manna 20. If there be Atheists 21. If man hath a right side 22. How America was peopled 23. If Methusalem was longest lived 24. If Judas hanged himselfe Of Babels Tower Of Peters Angell 25. If miracles be ceased 26. If we may say that God cannot doe some things 27. If he denieth Spirits who denieth Witches 28. If the Angels know our thoughts 29. If the light be a spirituall substance or may be an Angell 30. If the Heavens bee an immateriall world 31. If Gods presence be the habitation of Angels 32. How they are ministring spirits to us 33. If creation bee founded on contrarieties 34. If the soule be ex traduce 35. Of Monsters 36. If the body be the soules instrument 37. If the seat of Reason can be found in the braine 38. If there be in death any thing that may daunt us 39. If the soule sleeps in the body after death 40. If there shall be any judiciall proceeding in the last day 41. If there shall be any signes of Christs coming 42. If Antichrist be yet knowne 43. If the naturall forme of a plant lost can be recovered 44. If beyond the tenth Sphere there is a place of blisse 45. Of Hell-fire and how it workes on the soule 46. Of the locall place of Hell 47. The soules of worthy Heathens where 48. Of the Châ—rches in Asia and Africa 49. If wee can bee confident of our salvation The CONTENTS of the second Part. 1 OF Physiognomie and Palmestry 2. If friends should be loved before parents 3. If one should love his friend as hee doth his God 4. If originall sin is not washed away in baptisme 5. Of Pride 6. If we should sue after knowledge 7. If the act of coition be foolish 8. Evill company to be avoided 9. If the soule was before the elements The CONTENTS of the ANIMADVERSIONS 1 IF the condition of the soule cannot bee changed without changing the essence 2. How the light is actus perspicui 3. If the first matter hath an actuall existence 4. If matter forme essence c. be but notions 5. Iudiciall Astrologie impious and repugnant to Divinity 6. If the Angels know all at their creation 7. If the light be a solid substance 8. If the soule depends on the body 9. If terrene soules appeare after death 10. Departed soules carry not with them affections to the objects left behind 11. If slaine bodies bleed at the sight of the murtherer 12. How God is the cause of annihilation and how the creature is capable of it 13. If our dust and ashes shall be all gatheâ—ed together in the last day 14. If the same identicall bodies shall rise â—gaine 15. If the forme or the matter gives nuâ—ericall individuation 16. If the matter without forme hath actuâ—ll being 17. If identity belong to the matter 18. If the body of a childe and of a man be â—he same 19. Of some Similies by which identicall â—esurrection seems to be weakned 20. If grace be a quality and how wee are â—ustified by grace I Have perused these Animadverâ—â—ons entitled Medicus Medicatus anâ— those likewise of Sir Kenelme Digbieâ— themselves also animadverted on bâ— the same Authour and finding then learned sound and solid I alloâ— them to bee printed and published that many others may receive thâ— same satisfaction content and delight in reading of them which professe my selfe to have enjoyed iâ— their perusall Iohn Downameâ— Medicus Medicatus THough the Authour desires that his Rhetorick may not be brought to the test of reason yet we must be bold to let him know that our reason is not given to us in vaine shall we suffer our selves to be wilfully blind-folded shall we shut our eyes that wee may not see the traps and snares â—aid in our waies he would have us sleep securely that the envious man may sowe tares among the good corne latet anguis in herba all is not gold that glisters it were strange stupidity in
which the great animal of the world moves it selfe Such definitions are good for women and â—hildren who are delighted with toyes wise men search into the causes and naâ—ures of things But is not Nature a princiâ—le of motion and rest No say you What then A straight line a settled course Gods hand and instrument Is not â—his obscurum per obscurius Nature is not a â—ine for it is no quantity nor is it like a â—ine for these are entities too remote to make any similitude between them Nature is as like a line as the ten Plagues of Egypt were like the ten Commandements a ridiculous similitude And why is Naâ—ure rather a straight then a circular line We see the world is round the motions of the heavens and starres are circular the generation and corruption of sublunary bodies is also circular the corruption of onâ— being still the generation of another snow begets water and water snow the riverâ— returne to the sea from whence they flow Redit labor actus in orbem And what say you to the circulation oâ— the bloud in our bodies Is not Naturâ— then a circular rather then a straight line Againe Nature is not a settled course buâ— in the workes of Nature there is a settled and constant course if you will speak properly and like a Philosopher which you love not to doe And suppose wee admit that metaphorically Nature is the hand of God and an instrument yet it is not such an instrument as the hammer is to the house which cannot move it selfe but as the fire was to the Chaldeans and the red sea to the Egyptians for the one of it selfe burned the other of it selfe drowned and moved downwards to its own place without an externall agent Otherwise you must say that God burned the Chaldeans and God drowned the Egyptians and so you will make God both fire and water Nay if Nature doth not worke and produce its immediate effects but God in Nature then you may say It is not the fire but God that rosts your meat and extracts your physicall spirits and quintessences For you will not have Gods actions ascribed to Nature lest the honour of the principall agent be devolved upon the instrument And what else is this but with Plato to make this world a great animal wherof God is the soule Principio coelum ac terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum lunae titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet Inde hominum pecudumque genus vitaeque volantûm Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus Igneus est ollis vigor c. Now if Nature be not the principle of motion what is that which moveth or altereth the water from cold to heat when it is on the fire Is it not the nature of the fire Againe is not forme and matter the nature of things but these are causes and causes are principles of motion Doe noâ— you know that the forme actuates the Compositum and restraines the extravagancie of the matter Doth not the matter receive the forme and sustaine it but to actuatâ— restraine receive and sustaine are motions of which you see Nature is the principle except you will deny the two internall causes of things but so you must deny generation and corruption composition and mixture in Nature which I thinke you will not doe as you are a Physician You say that there is in monsters a kind of beauty for that the irregular parts are so contrived that they become more remarkable then the principall fabrick It is not their beauty but their monstrosity and irregularity that makes them remarkable for the eye is as soon drawn with strange and uncouth as with beautifull objects the one to admiration and stupiditie the other to delight A woman as beautifull as Venus will not draw so many eyes as if she were â—orne with a dogs head and a fishes taile 'T is not you say a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at Tables I think â—t is profanation and taking of Gods Name in vaine For what doe you pray for that God would prosper your game to win your neighbourâ— mony to which you have no right If Abraham durst scarce â—ntercede to God for the preservation of five populous Cities how dare you be so bold with him as to solicite him to assist you in your idle foolish and sinfull desires and in divers respects unlawfull recreations You will not have us labour to confute judiciall Astrologie for if there be a truth therein it doth not injure Divinity This is as much as if you would say Let us not labour to resist the Divell for if hee loves our salvation hee doth not injure us If there were truth in that Art we would not confute it but we see there is so much deceit vanitie and impietie in it that Councels Canons civill and municipall Lawes and Gods Word condemne it therefore wee confute it You had better then in plaine termes said that Mercury doth not disposâ— us to be witty nor Iupiter to be wealthy then to tell us that if Mercury disposeth 〈◊〉 to be witty and Jupiter to be wealthy you wiâ—â— thanke God that hath ordered your nativity unto such benevolent aspects I know the Star were made to be signes to measure time to warme and illuminate but not to givâ— wealth and wit promotion comes neitheâ— from East nor West but from the Lord It 's hee that gives and takes saith Iob It 's hee that filleth the hungry and sends the râ—câ— empty away saith the Virgin His wisdome hath wealth and honour in her left hand Solomon went not to Mercury but to God for wisdome Was Abraham â—saac Iacob and other rich men in Scripture borne under Iupiter How disposeth he us to be wealthy Passively that is to be capable of wealth or willing to take it when it is profer'd us then I think the most men in the world are borne under Iupiter For Quis nisi mentis inops Who will refuse wealth when profer'd except very few Or disposeth hee us actively that is makes he us fit to raise our owne fortunes Surely whereas there be maâ—â— waies to attaine wealth wit in some learning in others industry in others boldnesse with hazzarding of their lives and vigilancie and paines in others Againe oppression robbery theeving lying and many other waies there be of getting wealth you must make Iupiter the cause of all these meanes But if hee can make us rich what need wee pray to our heavenly Father for our daily bread You were as good tell us of the goddesse Pecunia of the god Aesculanus and his son Argentarius worshipped among the Romans for being the authors of mony brasse and silver that if they dispose wealth on us wee will thank the Supreme giver for it not them as to call Mercury and Iupiter benevolent aspects because they dispose
description of Psyche affirmes her to be the youngest daughter of the great King intimating that she is not infuâ—ed till the body be first framed Many testimonies I could set downe here if I were not in haste Tenthly the Scripture is â—or us affirming that the soules returne to God that gave them but the bodie to the â—arth from whence it came therefore God keeps the same order in generation that hee did in creation first framing and articulating the body and its organs and then infusing the soule But the maine reason that enclines you to the opinion of traduction is the monstrous productions of men with beasts for in these you â—ay there is an impression and tincture of reaâ—on So I may say that Elephants are â—en because in them is an impression and â—incture of reason more then in any such â—onstrous birth Secondly if I should grant that in these equivocall productions there were more reason then in otheâ— beasts it will not prove the traduction oâ— the reasonable soule because the formative power of mans seed or the vegetativâ— faculty thereof which is not the worke oâ— the reasonable soule being conveigheâ— with the seed makes organs semblable to these of men and therefore somewhat fitter to exercise functions like those of men in which you may see the shadow of reason but not a reasonable soule which is not conveighed by the seed but infused into the body when it is articulated Thirdly if mens soules with the seed bâ— transfused into beasts then these monstrous productions must be men and so capable of salvation and damnation of faith and the Sacraments and the other mysteries of Religion You will not have the body the instrumeâ—â— of the soule but rather of sense and this thâ— hand of reason As if I would say The axâ— is not the proper instrument of the Carpeâ—ter but of his hand and this of the Carpeâ—ter Causa causae est causa causati what is subject to the sense is also subject to the soule But if you will speak properly the body is â—ot the instrument of the sense but the â—ense rather the bodies instrument for whether depends the body on the sense or â—his on the body the body can subsist without the sense not the sense without â—he body The whelp hath a body before â—he ninth day but not the sight because â—he corporeall organ of that sense is not till â—hen fitted for sight but to speak Philosoâ—hically the sense is the instrument of the whole compositum You cannot find in the braine the organ of â—he rationall soule which wee terme the feat of â—eason There is no reason why you â—hould seeing you confesse that this is a â—ensible argument of the soules inorganiâ—ie Shew me the seats of the Intellect and â—he Will and I will shew you the seat of Reason Though you can discover no more in 〈◊〉 mans brain then in the cranie of a beast yet mans braine differs specifically from that of â—he beast Now why we call the brainâ—â—he seat of reason is because the ratioâ—all soule makes use of the senses and â—he phantâ—sie which have their being in and their originall from the braine You find nothing in death able to daunt the courage of a man and you cannot highly love any that is affraid of it Then you would hardly love David that prayed against it and Ezechia that wept so bitterly when newes was brought to him of it Sure Christ as man was not quite exempt from the feare of it Hee often avoided it and wills his Disciples in persecution to flie from it The Apostle shewes that the Saints desire not to be unclothed but to be clothed upon There is something in it able to daunt the courage of man as it dissolves his fabrick of a wicked man as it is an introduction to eternall death of a Christian man as it is the fruit of Adams sinne and a part of that punishment laid on him and us all for sin Nullum animal ad vitam prodit sine metu mortis said hee who feared death as little as you And the greatest of all Philosophers not unfitly called it the most terrible of all terrible things The Philosophers Stone hath taught you that your immortall spirit or soule may â—ye obscure and sleep awhile within this house of flesh I am sure the Scripture teacheth you other Divinity to wit that the soule returnes to God that gave it Christ did not tell the penitent Thiefe that his soul should sleep in his house of flesh but that it should be with him in Paradise The soule of Lazarus was not left to sleep in that putrefied house of his flesh but was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome Saint Paul desired to be dissolved not to sleep in the grave but to be with Christ who will not leave the soules of his sons in that hell nor suffer them to see corruption whose comfort is that when this earthly tabernacle of their house shall be dissolved they have a building given them of God made without hands eternall in the Heavens You see then what a bad Schoole-master the Philosophers Stone is which hath taught so many to make shipwrack of their estates and you of the soules immortalitie You cannot dreame that there should be at the last day any such judiciall proceeding as the Scripture seemes to imply It seemes then that in your opinion the Scripture speaks here mystically but your bare word will not induce us to subscribe to your conceit being the whole Church from the beginning hath to this day beleeved that Christ shall in a judiciary way come as a Iudge and call all flesh before him and we shall stand all naked before his Tribunall and receive the sentence of life or death A mysticall and unknowne way of tryall will not stand so much with the honour of Christ as an open and visible that all may see and witnesse the justice of the Iudge First then observe we have the literall sense of the Scripture for our beliefe Secondly the consent of the Church Thirdly Reason for as the beginning of the world was so shall its consummation be that was not created in a mysterie as some have thought but really and visibly neither shall it be dissolved but after the same way it was created Fourthly it is fit that Christ who wâ—s not mystically but visibly and really judged by sinners should be the visible Judge of those his Judges and of all sinners therefore as the Apostles saw him ascend in glory not mystically so they shall see him with reall glory returne Fifthly this visible proceeding will be more satisfactory to the Saints who shall see their desire upon their enemies and vengeance really executed on those that afflicted them Sixthly and it will be more terrible to the wicked who have persecuted Christ in himselfe and in his members when they shall look on him whom they have pierced Seventhly if you thinke
Hell but of that to come Though you cannot conceive how yet you must beleeve that the fire of Hell is corporall and worketh on spirits Perdidisti rationem tene fidem saith Austin Yet the Schoolemen tell us divers waies how the soule may be affected and afflicted by that fire First as it shall be united to the fire and shut up as it were in a prison there Secondly as it shall retaine the experimentall knowledge of those paines which it suffered in the body Thirdly as it is the principium and originall of the senses which shall remaine in the soule as in their root Fourthly as that fire shall be a representative signe or symbole of Gods indignation against them and of their losse of his favour and of so great happinesse and that eternally for so small foolish and fading sinfull delights these are the corporall waies by which that fire shall torment the soule And if you hold your Masters Tenent Mores animi sequuntur temperamentum corporis you will find no more impossibility for a corporall fire to worke upon a spirit then for the materiall humours of the body to worke upon the soule As you thinke Hell and Hell-fire to be metaphoricall and in mens consciences onely so you seeme to doubt of the place under earth where you say though wee â—â—ace Hell under earth the Divels walk is about 〈◊〉 But this is no argument to disswade â—s from beleeving Hell to be under earth â—ecause the Divels are not yet confined â—â—ither By the same reason you may say â—â—e habitation of Angels is not above beâ—ause they are imployed here by God upâ—n the earth Wee beleeve Hell to be unâ—er earth because it stands with reason â—nd Gods justice that the wicked should â—e removed as farre as might be from the â—resence of the Saints and the place of â—oy which is above Secondly as their â—elight and hopes were not in heaven but â—n earth and earthly things so it is fitting â—hat their eternall habitation should be within the earth Thirdly the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—n Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek Infernus in Laâ—in Hell in English c. doe shew that the â—lace of the damned is low and in darkâ—esse Fourthly the Scripture still speakes of Hell as a place under ground and the â—nhabitants thereof are said to be under the earth and the motion thither is called there a descending Fifthly the Gentiles were not ignorant of this as Tertullian sheweth Imum tartarum carcerem poenaruâ— cum vultis affirmatis c. Iuvenal callâ— Hell subterranea regna Virgil Barathrum and infernas sedes tum tartarus ipse Bis petet in praeceps tantum c. Homer calls it a most deep gulfe under earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You thinke it hard to place the soules of those worthy Heathens in Hell whose worthâ— lives teach us vertue on earth If there be no salvation but in Christ if there be no other name under Heaven by which meâ— can be saved but by the name of Iesus if it be life eternall to know God in him if he only is the way the life and the truth if there be no coming to the Father but by him I cannot thinke it hard if those worthy Heathens have no place in Heaven seeing they had no interest in him who with his bloud hath purchased Heaven to us and hath opened the gates of that Kingdome to all beleevers And how specious soever their lives and actions were in the eyes of men yet without Christ â—hey were nothing else but splendida peccaâ—a glorious enormities onely in this I can â—lace them that it will be easier for them as it will be for Sodome and Gomorrha for â—yre and Sidon in the last day then for â—ewes and Christians who have knowne â—heir Masters will and have not done it â—ewer stripes remaine for Socrates a Heaâ—hen then for Iulian a Christian. We cannot deny say you the Church of God â—oth in Asia and Africa if wee forget not the â—eregrination of the Apostles the death of Marâ—yrs c. nor must a few differences excommuâ—icate from Heaven one another First wee â—eny not but God hath many who bow â—ot their knee to Baal in those countries â—nd that his Church is oftentimes invisiâ—le Secondly wee deny that the preâ—ence of Apostles death of Martyrs sessiâ—ns of lawfull Councels can or have priviâ—edge those places from Apostasie Christs owne presence and miracles and doctrine â—n Iudea have not given stabilitie or perâ—anencie to the Church there What 's â—ecome of the famous Churches of Coâ—inth Ephesus Laodicea Philadelphia c. planted by the Apostles themselves Thirdly it is not for a few or light differences that we have separated our selves from the communion of the Church of Rome and of those in Asia and Africa if wee can call them Churches which are rather Sceletons then the body of Christ. The differences between the Church of Rome and us are not few nor small as you know The differences betweene us and the Eastern Churches are greater for most of them are either Nestorians denying Mary to be the mother of God and so in effect making two Christs by making two persons or else they are Eutychians or Monothelites affirming but one nature and will in Christ and therefore reject the Councell of Chalcedon such are the Iacobites in Asia if they be not lately converted and those other Iacobites in Africk under the King of the Abyssins I will not speake of the Greek Church which denieth the procession of the holy Ghost Nor of the Cophti of Egypt who are also Eutychians and reject the observation of the Lords day as superstitious and marry in the second degree The Georgians in Iberia baptise not their children till the eighth yeare of their age and give them the Eucharist at seven The Armenians are little better As for the Christians of Saint Thomas and the Maronites in Mount Libanus if they have forsaken their old heresies they are fallen into those that are little better by submitting themselves to the Religion and Jurisdiction of Rome You are confident and fully perswaded yet dare not take your oath of your salvation for you think it a kind of perjury to sweare that Constantinople is such a City because you have not seen it To be fully perswaded and not dare to sweare is a contradiction and if you dare not sweare but what you have seen then you will in a manner perjure your selfe if you should sweare that Christ was the son of Mary or that he was crucified on Mount Calvaâ—ie for this you have not seen What think you if a blind man should sweare that the Sun is a great light for hee hath no infallible warrant from his owne sense to confirme him in the certainty thereof You have I perceive so much humility that you meet with many doubts But indeed doubting is not the fruit of humilitie but of infidelitie you encline too
then upon mans owne wickednesse saith the same Father Aug. de Gen. ad lit c. 17. Who in another place to wit in his Commentarie on the Psalmes sheweth that the Converts of S. Paul Act. 19. had been Astrologers and therefore the books which they burned were of Astrologie But is not Astrologie repugnant to Divinity and impious when it robs God of his honour which it doth by undertaking to foretell future contingencies and such secrets as are onely knowne to God this being his true property alone By this Esay ch 41. distinguisheth him from false gods Declare what will come to passe and wee shall know you to be gods And hee mockes these Diviners ch 47. and so doth Ieremy ch 10. and Solomon Eccles. chap. 8. and 10. sheweth â—he knowledge of future things to be hid â—rom man of which the Poet was not igâ—orant when he saith Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae â—herefore both the Astrologer and he that consults with him dishonours God in a high nature by giving credit to or having commerce with those excommunicate and apostate Angels and so endanger their owne soules Is it because there is no God in Israel that you consult with the god of Ekron Now that Astrologers have commerce with evill spirits besides the testimony of Austin de civit Dei lib. 5. cap. 7. and lib. 2. de Gen. ad lit c. 17. and other ancient Fathers the proofes of divers witnesses and their owne confessions upon examination doe make it apparent Not to speake of their flagitious lives and their impious and atheisticall Tenents for this cause Astrologers are condemned by Councels and Decrees of the Church Conc. Bracar 1. c. 9. in Tolet. 1. sec. part decret c. 26. 6. The Angels in the very instant of their creation actually knew all that they were capable of knowing and are acquainted with all free thoughts past present and to come They knew not so much then as they doe now because now they have the experimentall knowledge of almost six thousand yeares and many things revealed to them since their creation Secondly they know not our free thoughts even because they are free and variable at our pleasure not at theirs it 's onely Gods property to know the heart yet some thing they may know by outward signes or by revelation Thirdly they know not things future for first they know not the day of Judgement secondly they know not future contingentcies thirdly they know not infallibly naturall effects that are to come though they know their causes because all naturall causes are subordinate to God who when hee pleaseth can stay their operations What Angel could fore-know if God did not reveale it that the Sun should stand at the prayer of Iosua that the fire should not burne the three Children or the Lions devoure Daniel Fourthly as they know â—ot future contingencies because they â—ave not certaine and determinate causes â—o they know not mans resolutions which depend upon his will because the will is onely subject to God as being the principall object and end of it and he onely can â—encline it as hee pleaseth therefore as Esay of the Gentile Idols so say I of Angels Let us know what is to come to wit infallibly of your selves and all and wee shall know that you are gods 7. Sir Kenelme sayes he hath proved sufficiently light to be a solid substance and body These proofes I have not seen therefore I can say nothing to them but this I know that if light be a body when the aire is illuminated two bodies must be in one place and there must be penetration Secondly the motion of a body must be in an instant from the one end of the world to the other both which are impossible Thirdly what becomes of this body when the Sun goeth downe Doth it putrefie or corrupt or vanish to nothing all these are absurd Or doth it follow the body of the Sun then when the light is contracted into a lesser space it must be the greater but wee find no such thing And if light be a body it must be every day generated and corrupted why should not darknesse be a body too But of this subject I have spoken else where therefore I will say no more till I see Sir Kenelme's proofes 8. The soule hath a strange kind of neere dependance of the body which is as it were Gods instrument to create it by This phrase I understand not I have already proved that the soule hath no dependance on the bodie neither in its creation essence or operation it hath no other dependance on the bodie but as it is the forme thereof to animate and informe it So you may say the Sun depends upon the earth to warme and illuminate it The body is the soules instrument by which it produceth those actions which are called organicall onely but that God used the body as it were an instrument to create the soule by is a new phrase unheard of hitherto in Divinitie God immediately createth and infuseth the soule into the body hee used no other â—â—strument in the workes of creation but â—â—xit mandavit 9. Sir Kenelme thinkes that terrene â—ules appeare oftnest in Cemeteries because â—â—ey linger perpetually after that life which â—â—ited them to their bodies their deare conâ—â—rts I know not one soule more terrene â—â—en another in its essence though one â—â—ule may be more affected to earthly â—â—ings then another Secondly that life â—hich united the soule to the body is not â—ost to the soule because it still remaines in 〈◊〉 as light remaines still in the Sun when â—ur Horison is deprived of it Thirdly if â—â—ules after death appear it must be either 〈◊〉 their owne or in other bodies for else â—hey must be invisible if in their own then â—hey must passe through the grave and enâ—er into their cold and inorganicall bodies â—nd adde more strength to them then ever â—hey had to get out from under such a â—â—ad of earth and rubbish if in other â—odies then the end of its creation is overâ—hrowne for it was made to informe its â—wne bodie to which onely it hath relaâ—ion and to no other and so we must acknowledge a Pythagoricall transanimatioâ— Fourthly such apparitions are delutions oâ— Sathan and Monkish tricks to confirme superstition 10. Soules he sayes goe out of their bodieâ— with affections to those objects they leave behinâ— them Affections saith Aristotle are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that unreasonable part of the soulâ— or rather of the whole compositum for thâ— soule hath no parts and though whilst iâ— the body it receiveth by meanes of its immediate union with the spirits some impressions which we call affections yet being separated is free from such and carrieâ— nothing with it but the reasonableand inorganicall faculties of the Intellect and Will And to speak properly affections are motions of the heart stirred up by the knowledge and apprehension of
heresie of the Marcionites Basilidians and Valentinians whom Tertullian calls Partianos sententiae Sadducaeorum as acknowledging but halfe a resurrection Resurrectio dici non potest ubi non resurgit quod cecidit saith Gregory Secondly Christ is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to transfigure or transforme our vile bodies in the resurrection but if the same numericall body rise not our resurrection will be a forming of a new body not a transforming of the old Or an assumption of a body rather then a resurrection Or if you please a Pythagoricall transanimation Thirdly the end why man was made or why his body was united to his soule was that both might enjoy God the chief beatitude but man should be frustrated of his end if the same body did not rise that was given him in the creation Fourthly if the essentiall forme of mans body was totally lost as the formes of other creatures are by corruption wee might have some reason to thinke that the body should not rise the same numerically which fell but mans soule which is his essentiall forme remains still the same therefore the body shall returne the same Fifthly though the childe begotten be not numerically the same with the parent begetting because the whole matter of the parent is not transfused into the childe yet in the resurrection the same numericall body shall returne that fell because the whole matter of it remaines Sixthly though the union of the body to the soule in the resurrection be not numerically the same action that was in generation yet the body shall be the same because the entity and unity of the body is not hindered by the multiplication or iteration of accidents such as union is Seventhly our resurrection shall bee conformable to Christs but he raised up the same numericall temple of his body which was destroyed as the same numericall body of Ionas was disgorged which was swallowed by the Whale Eighthly if in artificiall things the introduction of a new forme makes not the matter to be identically different from what it was much lesse can mans body be any other then what it was by introducting the same essentiall forme which was never lost though for a while separated Ninthly it stands with Gods justice and mans comfort that the same body which was the soules companion in tribulation should be also companion with it in glorie that the same body which was to the soule the organ of iniquity should be also the organ of paine and misery the same soules and bodies that run together in the same race let them weare the same crown and reigne together in the same glory Let the Baptist have the same head he lost and Bartholomew the same skin he parted with This was Iob's comfort on the dung-hill that though wormes destroy his body yet hee should see God in his flesh whom I my selfe saith he shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for mee though my reines are consumed within me His second mistake is That the forme not the matter gives numericall individuation to the body Is the dead body of an Ethiopian numerically the same with the dead bodie of a Scythian he will not say so then they are different bodies but by what the forme is gone is not then the difference in respect of the matter and accidents which remaine in the carkasse 'T is true that the chiefe cause of individuation is the forme in men yet not as it gives essence for so it makes the specificall union by which all men are one but as it gives existence to the matter which it terminates with quantitie and invests with other accidents which matter and accidents are the secondary cause of individuation but in dead bodies the forme of man being gone there remaines nothing but the form of a carkasse or the form of mixtion which determinating the matter of the carkasse with its accidents makes up the numericall individuation by which one carkasse is distinguished from another His third mistake That the matter without forme hath no actuall being The matter as it is a substance and hath entity as it is the other principle of generation and as it is the cause of motion it must needs have an actuall being or else it can be none of these it must be all one with privation if it have no actuall being 'T is true it hath not that measure of actuall being which it receives from the forme till the union and yet I see not how the matter is at any time without forme seeing it is never without privation which presupposeth a forme in the matter which is to be expelled for introduction of another His fourth mistake That identitie belongs not to the matter by it selfe So he may as well say that entity belongs not to the matter by it selfe for identity followes the entity as unity doth which is in a maner the same that identity he should have said that matter gives not identity to things neither genericall specificall nor numericall for such proceeds from the forme yet there can be neither of these identities without the matter for the conjunction of the forme with the matter makes identity and yet before the forme be united the particular parts of the matter have their particular identities and inclinations to such and such formes as mans seed to the forme of a man not of an horse an egge to the forme of a chick not of a man so after the soule is gone that identity remaines in the matter which was before to wit an inclination to that forme which once it had rather then to any other or rather then any other part of the matter can have to this forme His fifth mistake That the body of a man is not the same it was Philoâ—ophers say that the matter remaines after the forme is gone so that a dead body in respect of its matter is the same it was whilst the soule was in it If then the absence or change of the forme takes not away the identity of the matter much lesse can that identity of the body be gone whilst the soule remains in it They that bring markes and spots in their skins as Seleucus and Augustus did retaine them still untill their skin be consumed which shewes that the body is the same in infancie aâ—d old age If Ulysses had not brought home after his twenty years travell the same body he carried out his Nurse had not knowne him by his foot nor had his dogge fawned on him I know the common opinion is that the body is the same in respect of continuation and because it hath the same essentiall forme otherwise there is a continuall deperdition and reparation of the matter by nutrition and auction but I cannot find that there is any deperdition of the solid parts or any alteration in the heterogeneall but onely in the bloud and spirits or such fluid parts And doubtlesse the primogeneall or radicall humour which wee bring with us wee
retaine still in us till it be quite wasted and then there is no reparation so that the body is still the same whilst the soul is in it both in respect first of continuation secondly of the forme of man thirdly of the forme of mixtion fourthly of the solid homogeneall parts fifthly of all the heterogeneall sixthly of the radicall moisture and naturall heat so that if there be any deperdition it is in respect of the fluid parts only and that so slowly and insensibly that there is no reason why wee should thinke the body of an old man to be any other then what it was in child-hood and if it were not the same it could not be the fit subject of generation and corruption nutrition augmentation and alteration Lastly for his Similies they will not hold for a ship which is all new timbered though it be called the same in vulgar speech yet indeed is not the same for the forme which remaines is onely artificiall and accidentall which ought not to carry away the name of identity or diversity from the materialls which are substantiall Secondly the Thames is the same river now that heretofore not in respect of the water which is still flowing but in respect of the same springs that feed it the same channell that contains it and the same bankes that restraine it so that the Thames is still the same but the water without these other makes not the Thames neither is there any consequence from a fluid to a solid body Thirdly a glasse full of sea-water is the same glasse when it 's full and empty but the water is not the same which is taken out of divers parts of the sea I meane not the same individuall water though it be the same specificall to wit of the same sea no more then two branches lopt off from a tree are the same though the tree be the same Fourthly the soule of a newly dead man united to another body will not make it the same identicall body he lived with before his death for if the soule of Dives had entered into the scabby body of Iob or Lazarus had that been his indenticall body which hee left then that tongue of Iob or Lazarus which was must be tormented in flames and that tongue of Dives which was shall â—cape is this justice If the soule of Lazarus when it was foure dayes absent from â—he body had not returned to that body â—hat was his and which Christ raised but to the body of some other that had been doubtlesse no resurrection of Lazarus his body but a transmigration of Lazarus his soule In the Postscript Sir Kenelme doth not conceive grace to be a quality infused by God into the soule but a concatenation rather or complex of motives that encline a man to piety and set on foot by Gods grace and favour 'T is true wee are not justified by any inherent or infused quality in us which the Romanists call gratia gratis data for when the Scripture speaks of our justification it speaks of that grace which is set in opposition to workes not only such as may be done by a naturall man out of the light of reason but such as are called the gifts of Gods Spirit for Abraham was justified not by his workes but by faith and wee are justified by faith not by the workes of the Law If of grace then not of workes otherwise grace were not grace Faith there is 〈◊〉 taken for a quality but for the object aâ—prehended by faith which is Christ 〈◊〉 grace in the matter of Justification is takâ—â— for the free acceptation mercy and gooâ—nesse of God in Christ. By this grace wâ— are saved and this was given us before thâ— world was made therefore this grace caâ— signifie nothing inherent in us But if weâ— take the word Grace in a larger extent theâ— it signifieth every thing freely given foâ— gratia is from gratis so Nature it self the gifts of Nature are graces for we deserved them not Ex gratia nos fecit Deus 〈◊〉 ex gratia refecit So in a stricter sense thosâ— spirituall gifts of God which more neerlâ— cencerne our salvation are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graces in Scripture faith hope charity anâ— other Christian vertues are called graces yet they are qualities the gifts of prophecying teaching or evangelizing are qualities and yet are graces For to every one oâ— us is given grace according to the measure oâ— the gift of Christ. Eloquence is that grace which was diffused in Christs lips The Gospel is that grace under which wee are â—ot under the Law therefore though the â—â—ace by which we are justified is no quaâ—â—ty iâ—herent in us yet wee must not deny â—ut those graces by which wee are sanctiâ—ed are qualities But to say with Sir Keâ—elme that the accidents of misfortune the â—entlenesse and softnesse of nature the impreâ—editated chance of hearing a Sermon should â—ake up that which we call justifying grace â—or of this he speaketh is a harsh and danâ—erous phrase and contradictory to his â—wne position for what is gentlenesse and â—oftnesse of nature but qualities and yet â—ee will have them to make up that grace â—y which man is converted and so he will â—ave our conversion or justification to deâ—end on our selves And thus have I briefly pointed at the â—istakes of this noble and learned Knight â—hose worth and ingenuity is such that â—ee will not take it amisse in mee to vindiâ—ate the truth which is the thing I oneâ—y aime at The Moone hath her spots and â—he greatest men have their failings No man is free from errour in this life Truth could never yet be monopolized thâ— great Merchants of spirituall Babylon have not ingrossed it to themselves nor was it ever tyed to the Popes Keyes for all theiâ— brags The God of truth send us a time wherein mercy and truth may meet together righteousnesse and peace may kisse each other Amen FINIS â—his â—eface 〈◊〉 3. Sect â—ect 3. Sect. 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 〈◊〉 6. Sect. 6 Sect. 6 â—ect 7. In Tâ—maeo Philebo in de ani c. 4. t. 66 Sect. ◠〈◊〉 7. 〈…〉 lib. â— cont 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 9. Sect. Sect. 13 â—ect 16. 〈◊〉 16. Sect. Sect. Secâ— â—ect 20. Sect. 〈◊〉 1. de 〈◊〉 deâ—m Sect. 2 〈◊〉 21. â—ect 22. Sect. Sect. Mat 27.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. 〈◊〉 27. 〈◊〉 27. Sect. 〈◊〉 33. 〈◊〉 33. Sect. 〈◊〉 Sect De ge animâ— c. 3. t. Meta lib. 4. Sect. â—ect 35. Sect. 〈◊〉 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 38. Sect Sect. 〈◊〉 45. Secâ— Sect. 4 Tertâ— de aâ— cap. 5 Sect. 〈◊〉 49. â—pol 11. 〈◊〉 52. Sect. 5 Sect. 〈◊〉 2. Iuve l. 1. sa 〈◊〉 5. Sect. 〈◊〉 7. 〈◊〉 Sect. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 9. Sect. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12. 3. Pag. 〈◊〉 21. 〈◊〉 22. Pag Pag. 3â— Isa. 4â— 22 23 Pag. 4 〈…〉 〈◊〉 43. Pag. 46 â—ag 46. Pag. 4 Pag. 4◠〈◊〉 51. 〈◊〉 78. 〈…〉 Paâ— 81 83 85 Phil. 21. Rom. â— Rom. â— Tim. â— â—ugust Ephes. â— 7 Psa. 4 5. â—ohn 1.