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A53583 Man wholly mortal, or, A treatise wherein 'tis proved, both theologically and philosophically, that as whole man sinned, so whole man died ... with doubts and objections answered and resolved, both by Scripture and reason ... : also, divers other mysteries, as of heaven, hell, the extent of the resurrection, the new-creation, &c. opened, and presented to the trial of better judgment. / by R.O.; Mans mortallitie Overton, Richard, fl. 1646.; Overton, Robert, ca. 1609-ca. 1668. 1675 (1675) Wing O629C; Wing O640_CANCELLED; ESTC R11918 46,615 138

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interim he there appeares in the presence of God for them as Heb. 9.24 Object 12. In 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Peter saith that it is an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for the Saints and S. Paul 2 Cor. 5. says it is eternal in the heavens wherefore it being for the Saints enjoyment the souls of the Saints presently after death must ascend to enjoy it else can they not enjoy it at all we nowhere read that their bodyes shall at any time ascend thither Answ Saint Paul there saith It is eternal in the heavens but saith not that it is eternally there for Saint Peter in the 13 vers of the same chap. saith that it is to be brought thence to the Saints at the Revelation of Jesus Christ and not that the Saints shall be taken up to it and this will not be so brought down to them for their enjoyment till after the Resurrection and when the new Heavens and the new Earth are created as is evident in Rev. 21.1 2 3. and When mortality is swallowed up of life then and not till then shall the Saints be clothed with this their house from Heaven as Paul in the same place vers 2 4. declares Object 13. By faith Enoch was translated Heb. 11.5 And Elijah went to heaven in a whirlewind 2 King 2.11 12. Answ This no way contributes any thing to the fancy of the soul in a Paradice but rather altogether confounds the conceit for Elijah left his mantle not his body behind him when he ascended and Enoch was also wholly taken up And therefore Christ in the speech of the Theifs being with him in Paradice did not intend that present day but at the time of his coming into his Kingdome he should be there with him according to the theifes petition which Kingdome was not then shortly to be expected but is yet to come nor will it be until after Christs coming again in the clouds with power and great Glory as is evident Luke 19.11 12 15. Luke 21.27 31. Besides if Christ himself was that day in Paradice a place of glory he was there unglorified or else being there glorified he afterward became unglorified again for so he told Mary he was after his Resurrection Joh. 20.17 neither of which can reasonably be imagined And it is palpable that many errors are grounded upon mis-translations of the Scripture this place though the genuine signification of the words thereof be rendred yet may it be reputed within the nature of mis-translation for we have manifestly cleared that the sense of this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise cannot as it is vulgarly taken stand with the foundation of Religion or with solid reason Therefore there must be some fault in the English Text which if narrowly examined may appear for if the words in the Original be thus rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day Thou shalt be with me in Paradise which differeth from the common copies onely in the transposition of a comma incident to transcribing and printing and then the objection from hence vanisheth i. e. To day I tell thee not This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And well might he use that expression I tell thee this day as a trial of the sincerity of his faith for if he could believe in him that day or present time of his sufferings he should be with him in paradise or when he should appeare in his Kingdome he should appeare with him in glory or thus I tell thee to day Thou shalt be with me in Paradise is as if he should say I tell thee this day which is the day of my suffering and of thy conversion that as sure as this is the Day so sure thou shalt be saved or be with me at my coming into my Kingdome where the attestation of This Day is as an assurance pledge or witness of Christs mercy towards him and as a tryal of his faith therein The like expression Paul useth Acts 20.26 Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men Obj. 14. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it Eccl. 7.12 Answ By spirit cannot be meant such a thing as the soul except all souls go to God and none to the Devil for it is indifferently spoken of all but by spirit is meant life which hath various expressions in Scripture it is the will of God that dust shall be made man and live and it is done and he liveth and his will that it shall die and it dyeth or returneth to what it was he withdraweth his communicated power and man ceaseth The Spirit shall return the communication power or faculty of life shall cease to God that gave it to him that communicated or gave it in whom we live move and have our being no otherwise mans spirit or life returneth to God that gave it he taketh away the breath and the creatures dye and return to their dust Psal 104.29 for the life of man is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 Object 15. And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Act. ●7 59 Answ This is a commendation of his life or being into the hands of God in whom with Christ our lives are hid Col. 3.3 as a full assurance of hope and faith in the Resurrection that when Christ who is our life should appeare we also might appear with him in glory For God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Luke 20.38 And thus and no otherwise was his spirit commended or returned to him that gave it whose spirit goeth forth we are renewed Psal 104.30 answerable to that of the two witnesses in whom the spirit of life from God after they had lien dead three dayes and an halfe entered into them and they stood upon their feet Object 16. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2.7 Ergo man hath an immortal soul Answ Then so is the soul of a Beast for Solomon saith their breath is all one Eccl. 3.19 and David reckoning up the creatures and man amongst them saith indifferently of them all God hideth his face and they are troubled he taketh away their breath they die and retrun to their dust Psal 104.29 and this is further amplyfied in Gen. 1.33 to every thing in the Earth wherein there is a living soul c. and cap. 7.21 22. all flesh dyed in whose nostrils was the breath of life and Num. 31.28 all which make no difference betwixt them but as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and man hath no preheminence above a beast For what man is he that liveth and shall not see death or deliver his soul from the hand
Job 14.1 2. Man that is borne of a woman is of few days and full of trouble he cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not and vers 7 8 9 10 11 12. For there is hope of a Tree if it be cut downe that it will sprout againe and that the tender branch thereof will not cease though the roote thereof wax old in the ground and the stock thereof die in the earth yet through the sent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant But Man dyeth and wasteth away yea Man giveth up the ghost and where is He As the waters fail from the Sea and the flood decayeth and dryeth up so Man lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more they shall not awake out of their sleepe Psal 103.15 16. As for man his dayes are as grass as a flower of the field so he florisheth for the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more From these places compared we may see that man not his flesh onely for that makes not man but flesh and Spirit sensu conjuncto make Man is not as a Tree when He is cut down whose Spirit liveth and sprouteth forth and continueth but as the flower of the field not the stalke but the bare flower which totally fadeth and perisheth Therefore Man is wholly mortal he shall die and the Son of Man shall be made as grass Isa 51.12 Ezekiel 13.19 To slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls that should not live Psal 7.1 2. Save me c. Lest he teare my soul like a Lion renting it in pieces c. Psal 89.48 Who can deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Psal 19.10 Lev. 21.1 11 and 19.28 Numb 5.2 and 19.11 13. Hag. 2.13 in all which places the words dead body in the Original is soul See Jun. Annot. Lev. 21.1 2 Cor. 5.1 2 3 4. there out Being after death is called a building of an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens with this the Apostle desires to be clothed and what it is he defines viz. mortality swallowed up of life whence it is most evident that all his hope of future life was grounded upon the Resurrection and that his hope was altogether grounded thereon he confirms 1 Cor. 15 arguing if Christ be not risen the dead should not rise and vers 18. They which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished and vers 14. Then is our faith also in vaine whose end 1 Pet. 1.9 is the Salvation of our Souls How should then all be in vaine if our souls as soon as breath is out of the body enter into glory and salvation For by that though there were no Resurrection of the flesh we should receive the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls Nay further he maketh all our hope to be in this life if there be no Resurrection for vers 19. having showne the evils that follow the denyall of the Resurrection faith If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable vers 32. Saint Paul said If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the dead rise not whence plainly appeares that the denyal of the Resurrection confines all our hopes and advantages within this life and so all our sufferings persecutions prayers faith c. were to no purpose which could not be by this Soulary fancy of present reward of beatitude after this life 1 King 2.2 David saith to Solomon I goe the way of all the earth that is as the earth must see corruption so must he and if his Soul were part of him yea himself so must it else should he not go the way of all the earth And the expression in Joshua 2.13 Deliver our lives from death importeth absolute mortality for if Death be not dissolution of life or its deprivation how can it be said to suffer death not by a bodily separation for that is but as the laying down of a burthen wherewith it was clogged and tyred whereby it is made more lively ten thousand times as my Opposites confess and so can no more be said to be dead then a Porter when he is disburthened of his Load Job 34.15 All flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again unto dust That which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3.6 and flesh and blood cannot inherite the Kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15.50 But this Spirit the soul so Idoliz'd if such a thing be is borne of the flesh for in the wombe a Child is a living soul and is so borne of the mother that is flesh Therefore this soul is fleshly and cannot enter into the Kingdome of glory till corruption have put on incorruption which cannot be but by death Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die 1 Cor. 15.36 Eccl. 3.12 That which befalleth the Sons of Men befalleth Beasts even one thing befalleth them as one dyeth so dyeth the other they have all one breath so that they have no preheminence above a Beast for all is vanitie Wherefore if their Breath be all one then God breathed no other Breath that is life or soul into Man then he gave to Beasts So that if Man be Fallen and the Beasts be cursed for his sake Man must be equally mortal with them 1 Tim. 4.8 I have fought a good fight I have funished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crowne of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at THAT DAY and not to me onely but to all them that love his appeareing Here from the finishing of his course a Crowne being laid up which is even the same which Peter Epist 1 cap. 1.9 maketh the end of our faith the Salvation of our souls to be given at THAT DAY concludes an intermission to him and us till then 1 Tim. 6.14 16. Keepe this Commandment until the appeareing of our Lord Jesus Christ who onely hath immortality dwelling in light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seene nor can see Whence appeareth that none ever entered into Heaven since the Creation And it is in vaine for my Opposites to say it is meant of the corpulent matter onely for they make the Soul the very manhood and none that enter therein enter by halfes and peecemeal and this is confirmed by Joh. 3.13 And no man hath ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven Psal 6.5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks Psal 89.11 12. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction shall thy wonders be known in the darke and thy righteousness in the Land
Childs soul come into him again And the Lord heard his voyce and the soul of the Child came into him again and he revived 1 King 17.21 22. And Job 14.22 It is said his flesh upon him shall have paine and his soul within him shall mourne Ergo there is such a thing as the soul Answ If it be meant life or breath whose Being is consistent and terminated in a corpulent union For by that of the Child is meant his breath or life the thing that his corpulent matter wanted as vers the 17. implyeth which saith his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him Therefore that which was gone was prayed for his breath or life as his Answer further proveth which was and it revived And by Soul in that of Job is meant his conscience whose seate is in the reasonable and memorative Faculties Therefore the use of the word Soul in those places doth not prove such a thing in man as is supposed For in Scripture it is variously used upon various occasions It is put for the Stomack Pro. 27.7 for the eyes Jer. 13.17 for the heart 1 Sam. 18. for God Pro. 9.16 Heb. 10.38 Jer. 14.17 for the dead body Psal 16.10 for the whole man Lev. 7.19 and 4.1 Acts 7.14 Num. 15.39 Rom. 13.1 Gen. 12.5 and 46. Acts 2.41 1 Pet. 3.20 for breath Act. 20.10 for life Isa 53.17 Therefore from those places those parts may as well be proved so many Souls or Spirits of immortalitie as from those where it is put for breath or life it 's Being be proved or such an immortal existence to be in the body But to this Objection might be added Christs raising of Lazarus and others from the dead and it would make a very good plea for Purgatory Because from hell there is no returning and from heaven none could be thankful to be called again and it cannot be supposed that Christ would work miracles for any for which they should not have cause to be thankful to him and therefore these persons raised from the dead if they shall be supposed to have immortal Souls their return must needs be from some one of the Popes supposed Lymbocs or other Object 6. For which cause we faint not for though our outward man perish yet the inward is renewed day by day Ergo there is soul and body in man Answ It is not said though our flesh perish yet our souls are renewed then 't were something to little purpose but it is said our outward man which compared with what is meant by inward man must needs be whole man for by inward man is meant faith or worke of grace 2 Cor. 5.17 which is no part of natural man so that without it or it's renewing we are men perfect as well as with it Object 7. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the earth Wherefore man hath a soul that goeth presently to Heaven but the beasts to the earth Answ It cannot bear the sence for immediately before he saith their breath is all one there is no difference as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and goeth to one place the dust Therefore if the beasts be reversed into the elements so must mans The meaning I take to be thus that such a wonderful thing is the breath of a man that breatheth upward and the breath of a beast that breatheth downward for spirit signifieth breath according to that of Ovid Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram Os Homini sublime dedit coelumque videre Jussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultus that it's Faculty how it is is past finding out for Art in all her imitations could never touch that secret with her pensill Object 8. Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather feare him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell Answ This carries the face indeed of the souls immortality but if the interpretation must be confined to that sence it overthrowes the current of the whole Scripture Wherefore my opinion of it is that by not able to kill the soul is meant as Luke hath it chap. 12.4 have no more that they can do that is though they have power over this life or the natural Body that is sowne in corruption they have none over the Spiritual that is raised in incorruption which spiritual Bodies of men raised from the dead are by Saint John in Rev. 20 4 5. termed Souls I saw the Souls saith he of those that were beheaded for Christ and they lived and reigned with him a thousand years But the rest of the dead lived not again untill the thousand years were ended the Souls then that lived and reigned with him are none other then the persons that were first raised by him from the dead at his coming over whom none hath power but God alone who therefore is most chiefly to be feared This doth not set forth any immortality before the Resurrection but shews that onely that is in Gods hand and he onely able to touch it that is cast it into Hell That this must be so expounded I further prove from the non-entitie of Hell for there can be no casting into Hell before Hell be which though it be ordained of old Isa 30.33 it is but in posse not in esse till the Resurrection for satisfaction it is convenient to declare what we mean by Hell for Hell is diversly used in Scripture It is put for the grave Psal 16.10 and 55.15 Isa 14.15 for the Whale in which Jonah was Jon. 2.2 for Sathans Kingdome leading to Hell Mat. 16.18 for Satan or his malignant Spirits Jam. 3.6 for the place of the damned Mat. 5.29 and 10.28 Luke 12.5 and 16.23 2 Pet. 2.4 this last the place of the damned is that which we mean by Hell and it is likewise variously called as outer darkness Mat. 22.13 and 23.33 wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 and 5.9 Chaines of darkness 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude 6. eternal fire Jude 23. second death Rev. 20.6 bottomless pit Rev. 9.2 place of torment Rev. 14.10 and 20.10 Lake of fire Rev. 29.20 and 21.8 everlasting punishment Mat. 25.41 46 blackness of darkness for ever Jude 13. Those several expressions are generally taken to set forth the end of the Reprobate or the execution of Gods wrath upon them Therefore if none of the forementioned places that Hell is put for save that of the place of the damned be taken for Hell then most of those several expressions suite with it yea declare it but the expressions in general grant no immediate execution after this death but imply the contrary as we may see if we examine them First in Mat. 22.13 when it is called outer darkness and 23. vers 33. damnation of Hell compared with cap. 25.41 where it is said Then shall he say unto them on the left hand
and actually in time springeth from it or as many graines of wheat are in one graine virtually and perfectly actual in time so in the seed of mankind is whole man potentially and wholly actual in time or all Adams succession which in time are propagated were wholly in him life and limbes or as 't is more common soul and body So that whatsoever in time is actual by procreation it was at first potentially wholly in it's original Further Generatum sequitur naturam generantis he begat a son in his own image Gen. 5.3 is not not onely philosophically but Theologically true Mat. 7.16 Job 4.14 Therefore mortal Adam must beget mortal children in his own likeness soul and body except the soul was no part of his likeness For that which is immortal cannot generatively proceed from that which is mortal as Christ saith that which is born of the flesh is as it self is corruptable mutable flesh John 3.6 so then by this mortal flesh cannot be generated an immortal spirit or soul that can subsist by it self dissolved from the flesh for if it should in that act it should go beyond it self which is impossible and thereby more should be done by man and woman in generation then God did or could do in the creation for he neither did or could create any thing greater purer or more excellent of nature then himself and such as could subsist without him But if this doctrine be true as Woolner in his Original of the soul averreth fleshly man by a fleshly generation or mixture of the seed of both Sexes doth beget or conceive something greater purer and more excellent then himself an immortal substance an Angelical entitie the Soul that can subsist without the flesh by which it is which is as fire without light earth without heaviness grosseness c. should be by which they are and further the Effect to be prior dignitate precedent to the Cause as if a man because a creature should be before his Creator But if it be Replyed that the soul is generated by the soul as the body by the body I answer then there must be He-souls and She-souls for without Sexes is no generation But now to the first sort who say it is by infusion or as the saying is Creando infunditur infundendo creatur To which I Answer that in conception there is corruption or marring according the proverb Corruptio unius est generatio alterius so that if it be by conceiving or creating infused and by infusion concepted or created that is as much to say it is made in the marring and mar'd in the making or infus'd in the marring and mar'd in the infusion whence followeth that it is neither conceived created nor infused neither made nor mar'd but must be if it be no man knows what or how whether an Angel a Beast or a Monster any thing or nothing Riddle me riddle me what 's this a Soul a Soul creando infunditur infundendo creatur Secondly if the soul be a creature infused then Christ did not take the whole man-hood from the seed of the woman but worse then a bare brutish body a dead carcass But Christ was made of the seed of the woman according to the flesh Ram. 1.3 Acts 2.30 and was as we are sin excepted Heb. 14.15 and this our Image he received wholly from the woman Therefore receiving his whole humanity from her the soul can be no infused creature Thirdly That which brake the Serpents head was Christs humanity But the seed of the woman brake the Serpents head Ergo. Fourthly If we consist of soul and body and are not men without both and receive not our souls from him but are dayly created Then Adam is the father of no man 2. Christ cannot be the Son of man and so no Saviour because thereby his manhood constitutive part even that which should make him man could not be by the seed of the woman 3. So a man is as much a father of fleas and lice which receive their matter from him as of his children 4. Whereas God blessed man and bid him as the rest of the creatures in their kinde fill the Earth in his kinde with men then he commanded him to do more then he had given him power for and so to content nature and supply her imbecility to obey is forced to a daily creation 5. Then God finished not the Creation in sixe dayes but rested before he had done creating Fifthly If the soul be infused it must be at the conception or after the conception If at the conception then every abortive conception hath an immortal spirit in it and must rise again If after then there is growth before there is life which is impossible for the soul is made the vegetive as well as the motive sensitive or rational part and if this immortal spirit be something else then we are not conceived perfect men and as we are conceived so are we born trees brutes or I know not what and afterwards are made men if we be men at all and so Infants that die in the wombe or in the birth are little better then trees and worse then beasts Sixthly If the soul be not generated with the body but a creature infused into a dead body for they say the soul is forma formans that giveth life and motion to the body Then it is lawful to be a Nigromancer for Nigromancie is nothing but putting a spirit into a dead body and so it is but an imitation of God and God the onely Nigromancer and all the men in the word but Nigromatnick Apparitions whose spirits when they have done the worke for which they were put into the bodies desert them as other conjured Ghosts do Seventhy It is granted that the body considered meerly sensitive cannot sin and that the body is but an instrument or as the pen in the hand of a Writer to the Soul whereby it acts and moves Therefore if the Soul come immediately from God or there be an immediate worke of his in it's production then of necessity that immortal thing and not our mortal flesh is Author of all sin and it onely prone to all sin and not the flesh no more then a conduit though a meet instrument to convey water is the author or fount of water or prone to spring And so Gods immediate hand is the cause of all sin that man had better been without this soul for it must needs be some damnable wicked spirit or some Devil that God puts in him for such as the fruit is such must the tree be but the fruit is damnably wicked Therefore the Soul must be some damnable wicked thing No marvel then if Reprobates must needs sin and be damned since God infuses such a malignant Soul that counsels them with Jobs wife to curse God and die yea such a one as wholly workes out their condemnation This is as if a man should break his horses legs and then knock
the Dictates of Nature and Reason let us repair to the unerring rule of the Scriptures to see how this mortality is either proved or disproved thereby And first we may consider that the Scripture saith that when God had molded formed and compleatly proportionated Adam of the dust of the ground he breathed in his face the breath of life and man became a living Soul Gen. 2.7 Here first we are to consider that we are not to speak of Man as the title or word man may be ascribed to the humane shape or carcasse as in this place it seemeth it is by way of distinction from other forms but of such an humane shape or carcasse as is a living soul and so alwayes when we speak or treat of man in this point of difference we are not to mean his carcase in humane form or shape onely but as he is a rational living soul in that form and so call'd man for the text ascribeth the title of Man to him both before and after the breathing in his face the breath of life and man became a living Soul therefore that living Soul was Man That which was formed or made of the earth became a living soul or creature by the breathing or communicating the breath of life a communicative rational Faculty or property of life in his kinde That liveless Lumpe became a living soul and not such a living soul another creature a distinct being of it self was infused into that formed matter that had its Being before that Infusion and can be when the body ceaseth as is vulgarly supposed That which was breathed before it was breathed was not a living soul but that which was breathed upon became the living soul no living soul was ascribed to man before that so that man was formed and man became a living soul as Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.45 The first man Adam was made a living Soul which was his natural body as vers 44. of whom was the woman both innocent free from sin and so from Death and mortality For the wages of Sin is Death Romans 6.23 therefore before sin there could be no death but as by one man sin entered into the world even so death by sin Rom. 5.12 and by the offence of one man Judgement came upon all men unto death vers 18. and 1 Cor. 15.21 by man came death therefore man was created free from the power of death so to continue but in the day he did eat the forbidden fruit he became mortal and as he was made a living soul 1 Cor. 15.45 so by transgression a dying soul Gen. 2.17 that is in dying to die or by becomming mortal be dissolved or return to what he was the dust Gen. 3.19 namely his Elements Thus Man was gloriously immortal yet no longer a Creature incorruptible then during innocent For Gen. 2.17 God said Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye or dying thou shalt die that is thy immortality shall be changed for mortality Immortal Adam shall be made mortal not apart of thee but Thou shalt surely dye even whole man without the least exception of any the worst or noblest part of him unless God had a mental reservation but even the same Thou that livest Thou shalt surely die that must die wherein was life then surely if he had an immortal Soul which is the life of the body that must be made mortal The result of all which is this That what of Adam was immortal through Innocency was to be mortalized by Transgression But whole Adam quatenus Animal rationale was in Innocency immortal Ergo all and every part even whole Man was lyable to Death by Sin And so consequently if Adam had then such an indefinable thing in him of him without which he was not Man as is vulgarly supposed and zealously meintained by the Church of Rome England c. as an Angelical Spirit that neither could nor can be subject to mortality Then he had that he had not which made him be what he was not he sinned with that with which he could not which made him fall when he did not for if Adam sinned and that not it was no part of him so that Adam was a living Soul when he was not And if Adam sinned with that which he had not he sinned with that with which he could not which made him fall when he did not which Bo-peepe in impossible For if Adam was mortalized and That not It was no part of him this they must confess or else the otheer follows Now whereas many from the expression of God's breathing into man the breath of life and he became a living soul conceive an Angelical Entitie a supernatural spiritual infinite Existence to be couched in the flesh or mens corpulency whose being doth not depend on it but is proper and peculiar to it self let such know that so weake is the ground from whence it is concepted that by the same reason the like may be said of fish birds and beasts for the breath of life and a living soul is ascribed to them as well as to man Gen. 7.21 to which read the margent in R. Jatran compared with vers 28. and vers 30. And to every beast of the earth and to every Foul of the Aire and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is a living soul see the margent This being thus cleared and proved from Adams Creation and Innocency let us proceed to his Fall Restitution and Resurrection who eating of the forbidden fruit God fulfilled his threatned Curse upon him saying Gen. 3.19 In the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate bread till thou return unto the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt return Here he is plainly disrobed of all his immortality he must to Dust without the least mention of any being thereafter either of part or whole till the Resurrection for then and not before Mans immortality is in Actual Being whose beatitude and infelicity comes through Faith and infidelity So that Death reduceth this productio Entis ex Non-ente ad Non-entem returnes Man to what he was before he was that is not to Be Psal 115.47 the Dead praise not the Lord neither they that goe downe into silence And Psal 116.4 His breath goeth forth he returneth to the Earth in that very Day his thoughts perish see more pag. 5 6 7 8. But Christ the second man Adam who is made a quicking Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 at the Resurrection restoreth this non-ented Entitie to an everlasting Being 1 Cor. 5.42 It is sowne in corruption it is raised in incorruption Thus Mortality is derivated to all Adams posteritie The first man quatenus homo is of the Earth earthly as is the earthly such are they that are earthly 1 Cor. 15.47 48. But the Earth of which Man is is corruptable and
of the grave Selah Psal 89.48 Object 17. And it came to pass the Beggar dyed and was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome c. Luke 16. from the 22. to the end Answ There was never such a man as Dives or Lazarus or ever such a thing happened no more then Jothams Trees did walk and talke Judg. 9.8 but it was a Parable to prove that nothing is more effectual for conversion then the ordinary preaching of the Word by the true Ministers or Ambassadors of God such as Moses and true Prophets of old and as Christ his Apostles and Prophets and true ministers since Further the consequence concerning the soul is but drawn from the literal sence in which sence I shall deny it canonical Scripture for it makes in that sence more for bodys then the souls present being in Heaven or Hell v. 23 24. maketh Abraham the Father of the Damned vers 24 25 27 30. and vers 22. Dives dyed and was buried and yet vers 23. he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham c. and vers 25. he cryed for Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger to coole his tongue which in the literal sence thus applicated must needs be contradictory unless his eyes tongue and Lazarus finger was not buried or their souls had corporeal corpulent members which to conceit is ridiculous Therefore from this place the Resurrection of the body before the day of Judgment even as soon as a man is buried may better be proved then such a present Soulary enterance into Heaven or Hell Object 18. By which also he went and preached to them in prison Answ By which that is by that whereby he was quickened or raised from the dead his divine Spirit as the foregoing words whereon the sence of those depend doth evidence vers 18. Christ once suffered c. dead in flesh but quickened by the spirit vers 19. by which also he went c. So that he went and preached by that whereby he was quickened or raised Therefore the preaching here meant was not by that which was raised but by that which did raise which was ministerially as the following words further evidence shewing to whom he preached even those which were disobedient in the days of Noah on whom the long-suffering of God waited while the Arke was a preparing those were the spirits here meant the wicked of those days which are now in prison that is dead or imprisoned in the Elements Here the grave or death is called a prison as indeed it is for therein all that dye are reserved in the chaines of death the Elements not to be delivered till Judgment Rev. 20.13 according to Job 3.18 there the prisoners rest together Object 19. Joh. 11.26 Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die Answ Whosoever liveth doth not in this place import the state of this life for should it believers should not die this death but relateth to the state or life at the Resurrection as the foregoing words on which the sense of these depend evidence viz. I am the Resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live to which these words are annexed And whosoever liveth believeth in me c. which is to say Every believer though dead shall live or be raised again and living or raised again shall never dye any more that is shall scape the second death Joh. 5.24 Secondly This life may be reckoned from the action of belief for God calleth things that are not as if they were Rom. 4.17 yea all even the dead live unto him Luke 20.38 And so the believer never dyeth in Gods account Rom. 14.7 8 9. None of us liveth to himself and none of us dyeth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords for this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living Object 20. Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirits 1 Cor. 6.20 Answ Before he called the body the Temple of the holy Ghost vers 29. and vers 15. the members of Christ which needs must be the whole man and not his bare carcass for in death who can praise the Lord in it can be no habitation for the holy Ghost and therein were they to glorifie God to make Christ the head of such members were to make God the God of the dead and not of the living therefore by body and spirit is meant whole man aiming at a thorough and perfect sanctification as well in that which respecteth thought the spirit as in that which respecteth action the body inwardly to gloryfie God as well as outwardly to flee fornication c. Object 16. I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slaine for the word of God c. and they cryed with a loud voyce c. Rev. 6.10 11. Answ They were such souls as lay under the Altar slaine or sacrificed or as vers 11. hath it were killed these therefore being dead souls or martyred Saints their crie must be as the crie of the blood of Abel And the like vision of dead Saints confirms it as cap. 20. vers 4 5. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeares but the rest of the dead lived not again till c. whence it is plaine that he beheld the Resurrection or restoration of life unto dead souls even of them that were beheaded but the rest lay dead or lived not again till c. Thus much of illegitimate Objections from Scripture Now to the probation hereof from Procreation or Generation and as neer as I can to resolve all occurrent Objections thereon that shall confront CHAP. V. Of procreation how from thence this Mortality is proved IT is supposed as I conceive by none that what naturally proceedeth from Man simply by the course of nature can be immortal but must first taste of mortality And therefore there are two sorts of Opinions to maintaine this Heathenish Invention about the soul whereon it's immortalitie is grounded which I shall chiefly encounter the one that it is created and infused at the conception and so onely Gods worke The other that it is concepted by the woman through the concurrence of the seed of both sexes but not simply by the course of nature but by the supernatural and extraordinarie assistance or efficacie of God in conception more then in other creatures and so partly mans and partly Gods worke But that I may utterly demolish the structure of this Invention I shall turn up the foundation of each kinde in it's place But first I shall speak a word or two in general of Procreation it self That whole man is generated by man Observe That as the whole Tree is potentially in the seed
perfect at the first instant as ever afterwards therefore it must be saved or damned if there be any for others but no man knows how or which way except it can be proved Christ dyed for bare souls souls without bodies which will puzzle the cunningest soul that ever was made in the marring and mar'd in the making Further it is objected Creatures propagated out of kinde as by buggery as Apes Satyres c. are supposed are not endowed with reasonable souls Ergo souls are created immediately or however of necessity Gods superficient power is joyned to the propagation thereof Answ As I will not altogether confidently affirm they have rational souls so will I not altogether deny it For in man it is some organical deficiency more or less that is the cause that some men are less rational then others for some have abundance of wisedome and some are meer fools and in children whose Organs are not come to perfection there is not so much as there is in an Ape This premised why in some measure as far as by those improper Organs can be expressed may they not be rational though not in the same degree as is capable of God as well as Infants who are as uncapable pro tempore as Apes But perchance it will be replyed that then Christ dyed for Apes as well as for Infants I answer Christ dyed not for the rational part separated from the material nor the material from the rational if there should be such Buggery-births or if by that unnatural course they should meet in one which is impossible for the blessing of procreating any thing in its kinde is to the kinde for that neither but for the natural production by the conjunction of both Sexes legitimate from Adam and not such unnatural by-blowes As for births out of kinde they come within the compass of the Curse and cannot any wayes claime priviledge in the Restoration but must expect with Thornes Briers and all manner of Vermine and Filth which breedeth on corruption to be done away when mortality is swallowed up of life For all other Creatures as well as man shall be raised and delivered from Death at the Resurrection my Reasons and grounds for it be these First that otherwise the curse in Adam would extend further then the blessing in Christ contrary to the Scriptures For as in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 Therefore Death coming upon all the Creatures by the sin of Adam no death being before sin life shall come upon all by Christ Secondly the Beasts were not given man to eat in the Innocency but to all flesh wherein was the breath of life was given the green herbe for meat Therefore the death of the Beasts c. was part of the Curse and so to be done away by Christ Thirdly If the other Creatures do not rise again then Christ shall not conquer death but when it is said O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory it will be answered In Beasts because they are still captivated under its bondage But as by one man death entered into the world Rom. 5.12 and by man came Death by man shall come resurrection from Death and the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death and Death shall be swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.21 54. Therefore Death shall not retain them but they must be delivered out of its Jawes Fourthly these ensuing Scriptures do clearly prove it Col. 1.15 to the 23. All things were created by him and for him whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven and be not removed away from the hope of the Gospel which yee have heard and which was preached to every Creature under Heaven And Mar. 16.15 Go yee into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature that is Glad Tydings life and Resurrection from the bondage of corruption to every Creature by Christ therefore is he said to be the First-born of every Creature the First that 's born or raised from the Dead so that those whereof he is the First must follow that is every creature else could he not be the First-born from the Dead of them all And Rev. 21.5 after the dissolution of all things he saith Behold I make all things New And Psal 104. David reckoning up Men Cattel c. saith Thou takest away their breath and they die thou sendest forth thy spirit and renewest the face of the Earth and Psal 102. speaking of the Heavens saith as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed and Isaiah saith in the New Earth the Wolfe and the Lambe shall feed together and the Lion shall eate straw like a Bullocke and Paul saith Rom. 8.19 20 21. The earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifectation of the sons of God For the Creature was made subject to vanitie not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope because the Creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole Creation groaneth and traveleth in pain till now Therefore the Gospel or Glad Tydings is unto all all are under hope and all things men beasts c. shall be made new or restored at the Resurrection and so Death shall be swallowed up in victory and mortality of life or Death having given up her dead shall be cast into the Lake Rev. 20.13 15. Thus much by the by Now to our matter in hand But be it granted that those births are not endowed with reasonable souls yet doth it not follow that God createth immediately the soul or immediately assisteth nature in it's production more then the body for this is an instance out of kind● therefore cannot expect the blessing of the kinde but be as it self is unnatural and cursed for to the kinde is required Sexes of the kinde thereto God hath given the blessing to beget its kinde as well for man to beget perfect man as for the beasts to beget perfect beasts so that whatsoever is born of man naturally is man though one be ennobled with more excellencys then another A born Fool would have been a better instance for if to them rational Souls were denyed it might be thought Nature naturally begetteth meer irrational brutish inhumane bodies and rationality or humanity is a meer supernatural worke To prevent such a cavil I answer that by the Soularies grounds there can be no born fooles Infants new born yea an Embryo should be as actually rational as men of ripeness of years for they say the soul is rationality it self and that rationality is no more of the body then inke is of the pen and the soul is absolutely perfect at the first instant yea 't is forma