old Hereticks that held that God had Eyes Ears Head Hands and Feet and the like had an easie notion of it conceiving him to have humane members but I hope the Doctor will not say that this notion of theirs was a notion truly drawn from the nature and being of God because there is no corporeity in him at all And it is and hath been the Tenent of all Orthodox Divines Ancient Middle and Modern that God in his own nature and being is infinite and incomprehensible and therefore there can no true and adequate notion of him as being so be duly and rightly gathered in the understanding of creatures and so the Doctors position or notion must needs be Phantastry and imaginary Enthusiasm For as there are many things in nature that in themselves are finite and comprehensible that as he grants of naked essence or substance are utterly unconceivable to any of our faculties much more must the being of God that is infinite and incomprehensible which are attributes that are incommunicable be utterly unconceivable to any of our faculties And it is but the vain pride of Mans Head and Heart thereby to magnifie his own abilities whereas the Text doth pronounce this of him For vain man would be wise though he be born like a wild ass colt that lifts him up to conceit that he can fathom and comprehend the Infinite and Almighty whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain and therefore cannot frame a true notion of him whom perfectly he doth not understand nor comprehend and the attributes of God are matters of Faith and not the weak deductions of humane reason 3. Those that seem to idolize humane abilities and carnal reason have not only applied those so much magnified Engines to the discovery of created things wherein they have effected so little that sufficiently proclaims the invalidity of the instruments or the inauspicious application of them or both all the several sorts of Natural Philosophy hitherto found out or used being examined coming far short of solving the Phaenomena of nature when even the least animal or vegetable affords matter enough to puzle and non-plus the greatest Philosopher so that we may justly complain with Seneca that the greatest part of those things we know are the least part of those things we know not These engines I say though proving ineffectual to find out the true notions and knowledge of natural things have also like the fiction of the Gyants notwithstanding invaded Heaven and taken upon them to discover and determine of Celestials wherein it is in a manner totally blind or sees but with an Owl-like vision For indeed the deciding of this point must be taken from the Divine authority of the Scriptures and the clear deductions that may be drawn from thence for this is that clear light that we ought to follow and not the Dark-lanthorn of Mans blind frail and weak reason for it is a sure word of Prophecie whereunto it is good to take heed and not to vain Philosophy old Wives Fables or opposition of Sciences falsly so called And therefore we shall conclude this point here concerning the corporeity or incorporeity of Angels with that Christian and learned position of Dr. Stillingfleet in these words But although Christianity be a Religion which comes in the highest way of credibility to the minds of Men although we are not bound to believe any thing but what we have sufficient reason to make it appear that it is revealed by God yet that any thing should be questioned whether it be of Divine revelation meerly because our reason is to seek as to the full and adequate conception of it is a most absurd and unreasonable pretence 4. In handling this point of the corporeity or incorporeity of Angels we do here once for all exclude and except forth of our discourse and arguments the humane and rational Soul as not at all to be comprised in these limits and that especially for these reasons 1. Because the humane Soul had a peculiar kind of Creation differing from the Creation of other things as appeareth in the words of the Text. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Upon which the note of Tremellius and Junius is anima verò hominis spiritale quiddam est divinum 2. Because I find Solomon the wisest of Men making this question who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth 3. Because it is safer to believe the nature of the Soul to be according to the Analogy of Faith and the concurrent opinion of the learned than to sift such a deep question by our weak understanding and reason So having premised these things and left this as a general exception and caution we shall proceed to the matter intended in this order 1. We lay it down for a most certain and granted truth that God simply and absolutely is only a most simple spirit in whom there is no corporeity or composition at all and what other things soever that are called or accounted spirits are but so in a relative and respective consideration and not in a simple and absolute acceptation And this is the unanimous Tenent of the Fathers Schoolmen and all other Orthodox Divines agreeing with the plain and clear words of the Scripture as God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth And again Now the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty Therefore we shall lay down this following proposition 2. That Angels being created substances are not simply and absolutely incorporeal but if they be by any called or accounted spirits it can but be in a relative and respective sense but that really and truly they are corporeal And this we shall labour to make good not only by shewing the absurdities of that opinion of their being simply spiritual but in laying open the unintelligibility of that opinion and by answering the most material objections 1. And first to begin at the lowest step Body is a thing that affecteth the senses most plainly and feelingly for though many bodies are so pure as the air aether steams of the Load-stone and many other steams of bodies that they escape the sight of our eyes yet are they either manifest to our feeling or otherwise made manifest by some sensible effect operation or the like yet for all this the intrinsick nature of body as such is utterly unknown unto us for when we speak of the extension of body as its Characteristical property we do but conceive of its superficial dimensions its internal nature quatenus Corpus being utterly unknown unto us it being a certain truth that Quidditates rerum non sunt cognoscibiles and as Dr Moore granteth the naked essence or substance of a thing
carnal and therefore we are to prepare our selves against all spiritual assaults but as for any visible carnal or bodily there is not nor can be any such because the Apostle that declared by his Preaching and Writings the whole counsel of God hath revealed no such thing as the visible appearing of Satan much less of his making of a visible League with the Witches or the sucking of their bodies or the having carnal Copulation with them which must of necessity be lyes and figments because the Holy Ghost hath not warned us of any such which we ought certainly to believe he would have done if there had been any such matter And the holy Apostle who was not ignorant of the devices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notions or intentions of Satan would not have omitted to have warned the godly if there had been any such matter as a visible League sucking of their bodies or carnal Copulation the thing being of so great weight and concern For as one said well Grave est de vita bonis periclitari sed multò gravius insidiantem habere Satanam And he that so often hath given us warning of the wiles devices and snares of the Devil if there had been any such dangerous snare as this would without doubt have given us notice of it 2. We are to consider the end of this Warfare that it is for no less than a Crown and that not a terrestrial but a celestial one not a fading one but an everlasting one a Crown of eternal life of immortal glory even for an house given of God eternal in the Heavens Therefore this being a thing of the greatest concern that belongs to a Christian the Apostle would not doubtlesly omit any thing that had been necessary to the obtaining of such an inestimable prize and such an important Victory and therefore cannot in reason have concealed or omitted such a weighty matter as a visible League and the like if there had been any such thing 3. We are to consider that this Armor prescribed for the Souldiers of Jesus Christ is the whole armor of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the compleat armor of God as Dr. Hammond renders it perfect both for defence and offence And therefore the Apostle describes it fully by a Metaphor taken from such Arms as the Roman or other Nations in his time did use saying Stand therefore having your loyns girt about with truth and having on the breast-plate of righteousness And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints And as it is a compleat and perfect Armor both in respect of defence and offence so it is a spiritual not a carnal corporeal or bodily armor because the warfare is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places against spiritual enemies not against corporeal and carnal ones for as the enemies are and the warfare so are the armor and weapons From whence we truly urge that the Apostle led by the Holy Ghost and the Wisdom of the Father and knowing the whole counsel of God especially in this point hath omitted nothing that is fitting armor for a Christian either of defence or offence whereby he may be inabled to get the victory against Satan and all his spiritual Army And therefore that either Satan hath not power or doth not assault Christians after a visible carnal and bodily manner or else that the Holy Ghost hath been defective in prescribing armor against such assaults and consequently that the armor of a Souldier of Jesus Christ is not compleat or else there is no such bodily assaults of Satan at all as to tempt visibly to make a corporeal League to suck upon the Witches bodies nor to have carnal Copulation with them But we affirm and that as we conceive with sound reason that the Scriptures in this particular of a Christians armor and the compleatness of it is abundantly sufficient against all spiritual assaults whatsoever and consequently that there is no other kind of assaults but meerly spiritual and therefore the Word of God the most proper Medium with sound reason to judge of the power of Spirits and Devils by 3. That the Scriptures and sound reason are the only true and proper Medium to decide these Controversies by is most undeniably apparent because God is a Spirit and the invisible God and therefore best knows the nature and power of the spiritual and invisible World and being the God of truth can and doth inform us of their power and operations better than the vain lyes and figments of the Heathen Poets or the dreams of the Platonick School either elder or later nay better than all the notional and groundless speculations of the School-men of whom it may truly be said that Rivulo divinae Scripturae relicto in abyssos vanarum opinionum incidêrunt Nay these can better inform us in this point than the Writings of all Mortals besides and therefore whatsoever may be said to the contrary may receive its answer from the Father Quod de Scripturis sacris authoritatem non habet eâdem facilitate contemnitur quâ probatur Therefore he being the King eternal immortal invisible and the only wise God of none can we so truly and certainly learn these things as of him who hath plentifully taught us in his Word all things necessary to Salvation that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to every good work Nay he is the Father of Spirits and therefore truly knoweth and can and doth teach us their Natures Offices and Operations 4. The Scriptures especially the Writings of Moses considered only as Historical are of more antiquity verity and certainty both as to Doctrine Precepts matters of Fact and Chronology than all other Histories whatsoever whether of the Phenicians Egyptians Chaldeans or Grecians as the learned person Dr. Stilling fleet hath sufficiently proved Now if there had been such an one as a Witch that made a visible League with the Devil and upon whose body he suckt and with whom he had carnal Copulation something of that nature would doubtless have been recorded in the Scriptures of which notwithstanding there is not the least tittle or mention And Moses who was so perfect a Law-giver as in a manner to omit no kind or sort of sin or evil that men possibly could commit but to forbid it and make a Law against it could never have left out such an horrid unnatural and hellish wickedness as carnal Copulation with the fallen Angels if there had been any such matter For he saith after he had forbidden all sorts of Fornications
Athenodorus the Philosopher adventured upon it and abode the coming of the Apparition or Phantasm and upon its signs followed it to a place below and then it vanished he marked the place and went to the Magistrate and caused the place to be digged up and found the bones of a person inchained or fettered and caused the bones to be buried and so the House remained free afterwards It is a wonder to think how many Authors have swallowed this relation nay even Philip Camerarius himself who though a very Learned man yet in things of this nature too extremely credulous and urged it for proof as a matter of great credit and authority when we cannot discern that it affords any credible ground to a rational man to believe it not only because the very matter it self and the circumstances of it do yield sufficient grounds of the suspicion of its verity but chiefly because Pliny doth but relate it by hear-say exponam ut accepi and of it and the rest he desires the opinion of his Friend Sura from whom we do not find any answer The story taken from Plutarch a grave Author if he be considered as an Heathen and a Moralist yet of no authority to decide such points as these are of the voice that called upon Thamus and commanded him to declare when he came at Palodes that the great God Pan was dead which he performed and that thereupon followed a great lamentation of many the story at large is related by many and urged as a matter of great weight and credibility when indeed there is no ground sufficient to perswade any that it was true For if it had been related by Plutarch as an ear-witness of it yet was he but an Heathen that we know believed many fond lying and impossible things especially of their Gods and therefore in this case to a considerate Christian could be of no great authority And if his authority had been great or of weight in such matters as these yet was he but singularis testis which is not sufficient in these things to be relied upon And lastly to our present purpose here he doth not record it as a thing of his own certain knowledge but of hear-say from Epitherses who was but a single Relator and a man of no certain veracity and therefore we can have no rational ground to believe the truth of the story but it may be rejected with more reason than it can be affirmed by Of no greater credit can his story be of Brutus his malus Genius appearing unto him because he received this by meer Tradition and hear-say neither could it have any other rise but from the relation of Brutus himself whose guilty conscience and troubled brain fancied such vain things for those that were near Brutus neither saw nor heard any such matter and therefore must have been a deception of Phansie and no real Apparition ad extra 2. And as evidence of the matter of fact recorded from the relation of others is of no validity to a judicious person so if the matter of fact be witnessed but by one single testimony though an eye or an ear-witness it is not sufficient because one single person may be imperfect in some senses or under some distemper and so be no proper Judge of what it sees or hears and the Word of Truth tells us That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established and therefore we are not especially in such abstruse matters as these to trust the evidence of one single testimony To make clear this Particular we shall relate a story or two from the credit of the Reverend and Learned Bishop Hall joyned with his judgment of such weak and feigned Tales one of which runs thus Johannes à Jesu Maria a modern Carmelite writing the Life of Theresia Sainted lately by Gregory XV. tells us that as she was a vigilant Overseer of her Votaries in her life so in and after death she would not be drawn away from her care and attendance For saith he if any of her Sisters did but talk in the set hours of their silence she was wont by three knocks at the door of the Cell to put them in mind of their enjoyned taciturnity And on a time appearing as she did often in a lightsome brightness to a certain Carmelite is said thus to bespeak him Nos coelestes ac vos exules amore ac puritate foederati esse debemus c. We Citizens of Heaven and ye exiled Pilgrims on earth ought to be linked in a League of love and purity c. Methinks the Reporter saith the Bishop should fear this to be too much good fellowship for a Saint I am sure neither Divine nor Ancient story had wont to afford such familiarity and many have misdoubted the agency of worse where have appeared less causes of suspicion That this was if any thing an ill Spirit under that face I am justly confident neither can any man doubt that looking further into the relation finds him to come with a ly◠in his mouth For thus he goes on We Celestial ones behold the Deity ye banished ones worship the Eucharist which ye ought to worship with the same affection wherewith we adore the Deity such perfume doth this holy Devil leave behind him The like might be instanced in a thousand Apparitions of this kind all worthy of the same entertainment This is a story from one single person a lying Carmelite one that for interest and upholding of Superstition and Idolatry had feigned and forged it for in it self it appeareth to be a meer falsity and figment as any rational man may easily discern and so are a thousand stories of this kind worthy of the like entertainment that is to be condemned for most horrid lyes Another he tells us Amongst such fastidious choice of whole dry-fats of voluminous relations I cannot forbear to single out that one famous of Magdalen de la Croix in the year of our Lord Christ 1545 c. The third from the mouth of another lying Fryar named Jacobus de Pozali in his Sermon That St. Macarius once went about to make peace betwixt God and Satan c. Now whatsoever credit this Learned man who in things of this kind appeareth to be as vainly credulous as any doth seem to give unto these or what use soever he would make of them it is undeniably manifest to all impartial judgments that they were but absolute forgeries and knacks of Imposture and Knavery and according to his own opinion may justly be ranked amongst those thousand Apparitions of this kind all worthy of the same entertainment that is to be rejected for abominable lyes or forgeries and that for these reasons 1. Because they are not attested by any sincere and uncorrupt ear and eye-witnesses but by reports and relations and that of those that were corrupt and partial or Accomplices to bring to pass the fraud and
tentabant dicere demonstrat Illi enim volebant ostendere quòd non propriâ virtute ejecit Daemones Ipse autem ostendit quòd non solùm Daemones sed eorum Principem ligavit quod manifestum est ab his quae fact a sunt Qualiter enim Principe non victo hi qui subjacent Daemones direpti sunt 5. Lastly he concludeth He that is not with me is against me And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad And it 's proverbially known saith Dr. Hammond that he that is not on ones side that brings Forces into the field and is not for a mans assistance he is certainly for his Enemy engages against him doth him hurt and consequently my casting out Devils shews that I am Satans declared Enemy By all which arguments he flatly overthrows the false supposition of the Pharisees 4. These Tenents do overthrow the chief Articles of the Christian Faith to wit the rational and infallible evidence of the Resurrection of Christ in the same individual and numerical body in which he suffered and this we shall elucidate in these particular Considerations 1. The whole strength of the Christian Religion consists in the certainty of Christs Resurrection in his true and individual body For as the Apostle argueth And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain yea and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not For if the dead rise not then is not Christ risen And if Christ be not risen your faith is vain ye are yet in your sins Then also they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable So that all these sad consequences must needs follow and the whole Christian Religion be found a lye if Christ be not truly risen from the dead 2. And though the Apostle do enumerate sufficient Witnesses of his Resurrection and appearance after death and that he was seen of Cephas then of the Twelve after that he was seen of above five hundred Brethren at once then of James then of all the Apostles and lastly of himself Yet all this Cloud of Witnesses will prove little but dissolve into vapour if there were or are either Angels or Spirits that in their own or assumed bodies may appear in his form shape and likeness and to sight and tangibility be in all properties as his body was to have flesh and bones the print of the nails in the hands and feet and to eat and drink 3. That the Apostles held the opinion that there was Apparitions and Spirits that did shew themselves in any form or likeness is most plain and evident for when they saw Christ walking upon the Sea they supposed it had been a Spirit or Apparition for the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cryed out That is either being cruelly affrighted and amazed their Phantasies did represent strange thoughts in their minds or else which doubtless was the truth seeing Christ walking upon the Sea which they thought was not possible for a man to do without sinking or drowning they in great fear cryed out and forgetting his former Miracles did vainly suppose it some Spirit that had made an apparition in his likeness But it is most strange that the Disciples that had seen and been eye-witnesses of so many Miracles wrought by him during his life and those that accompanied him at his death as the renting of the veil of the Temple from the top to the bottom and the Earth-quake and the renting of the Rocks and the Darkness that was over the Land from the sixth hour unto the ninth and that after his Resurrection the Graves were opened and many bodies of Saints that slept arose and came out of the Graves and went into the holy City and appeared unto many of which they could not be ignorant It is I say most wondrous strange that after all these they could doubt of the verity of his Resurrection and imagine that it was a Spirit in his form and likeness And most especially considering that his Sepulchre was made sure the stone sealed and a Watch set to attend it of which they could not be ignorant and likewise the certain affirmation and evidence of the two Maries from the mouth of the Angel and their own sight who worshipped him and held him by the feet and Peters finding the Sepulchre empty and his appearing to the two Disciples that went to Emmaus and yet for all this at his next appearance not to be satisfied but to be terrified and affrighted and to suppose they had seen a Spirit is beyond all wonder but that doubtless the heavenly Father had so ordained it in his inscrutable Wisdom that the infallible certainty of his Resurrection might be more evidently and punctually proved For at his next appearing when they were all together Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said unto them Peace be unto you But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed they had seen a Spirit there the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now the cause of this supposing that they had seen a Spirit doubtless was because as St. John tells us That Jesus twice had stood in the midst of them the doors being shut because of the Jews and therefore they could not possibly imagine that he could have a body that could make penetration of dimensions not considering that he had an omnipotent Power and therefore nothing could be impossible unto him Though it may well be conceived to be done without penetration of dimensions because by his Almighty Power he might inperceptibly both open and shut the doors and so enter and suddenly stand in the midst of them and no humane sense be able to discern it But however it was the Disciples did not then believe that it was Christ with his individual body in which he suffered but either as some of the Fathers believed that it was his very Spirit that he yielded up upon the Cross that appeared in his figure or shape that was so pure fine and penetrable that it could pass through any Medium though never so dense or solid or some other Spirit that assumed his form and shape which is far more probable and sound But howsoever it was they did believe that it was some Spirit in his likeness and not he himself in that very numerical body in which he suffered as may be apparently gathered from the words of Thomas called Didymus who strongly affirmed saying Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my fingers into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe 4. To the grounds of all these doubts our Saviour gives a demonstrative and infallible solution which we shall explain in
that forthwith six thousand Franks should be given to Brabantius that three Masses might be said every day to redeem his Father forth of Purgatory otherwayes that there could be no redemption for him And thereupon the Son obliged both by conscience and religion although unwillingly delivers so many to the trust of Brabantius all lawful evidence of the agreement and performance being utterly neglected The Father freed from the fire and torments afterwards hath rested quiet and by speaking did not trouble the Son any more But the wretched Cornutus after Brabantius was gone being one time more pleasant than wonted which made his Table-companions much to wonder and forthwith opening the cause to them inquiring it he was forthwith so derided of all because that in his judgment he had been so beguiled and cheated of his money besides that within few days after he died for plain grief and so followed his Father to know the truth of that thing of him But to make this more plain and certain we shall add a Story of a notable Impostor or Ventriloquist from the testimony of Mr. Ady which we have had confirmed from the mouth of some Courtiers that both saw and knew him and is this It hath been saith he credibly reported that there was a Man in the Court in King James his days that could act this imposture so lively that he could call the King by name and cause the King to look round about him wondering who it was that called him whereas he that called him stood before him in his presence with his face towards him but after this Imposture was known the King in his merriment would sometimes take occasion by this Impostor to make sport upon some of his Courtiers as for instance There was a Knight belonging to the Court whom the King caused to come before him in his private room where no Man was but the King and this Knight and the Impostor and feigned some occasion of serious discourse with the Knight but when the King began to speak and the Knight bending his attention to the King suddenly there came a voice as out of another room calling the Knight by name Sir John Sir John come away Sir John at which the King began to frown that any Man should be so unmannerly as to molest the King and him And still listning to the Kings discourse the voice came again Sir John Sir John come away and drink off your Sack at that Sir John began to swell with anger and looked into the next rooms to see who it was that dared to call him so importunately and could not find out who it was and having chid with whomsoever he found he returned again to the King The King had no sooner begun to speak as formerly but the voice came again Sir John come away your Sack stayeth for you At that Sir John began to stamp with madness and looked out and returned several times to the King but could not be quiet in his discourse with the King because of the voice that so often troubled him till the King had sported enough I my self also have seen a young man about 16 or 17 years of age who having learned at School and having no great mind to his Book fell into an Ague in the declination of which he seemed to be taken with convulsion-fits and afterwards to fall into Trances and at the last to speak as with another small voice in his Breast or Throat and pretended to declare unto those that were by what sinful and knavish tricks they had formerly acted or what others were doing in remote places and rooms So that presently his Father and the Family with the neighbourhood were perswaded that he was possest and that it was a spirit that spoke in him which was soon heightned by Popish reports all over the Countrey But there being a Gentleman of great note and understanding his Kinsman caused him to be sent over unto me to have mine opinion whether it were a natural distemper or not The Father and the Boy with an old cunning Woman the made creature to cry up the certainty of his possession and the verity of a spirit speaking in him came unto me who all appeared to my judgment and best reason fit persons to act any designed Imposture The Father having been one that had lived profusely and spent the most of his means being sufficiently prophane and irreligious The Boy by his face appearing to be of a melancholy complexion and of a subtile and crafty disposition the Woman cunning who would have forced me to believe whatsoever she related thinking to impose upon me as she had done upon others I presently judged it to be neither natural disease nor supernatural distemper but only knavery and Imposture and so made the Woman silent and told her she was a cheater and deserved due punishment and that what she told were the most of them lies of her own inventing and told the Father and the Son that I could soon cast forth all the Devils that he was possessed with but then I must have him in mine own custody and none of them to come near him nor to speak with him A long time I expected to have seen him in one of his fits but his Devil was too timerous of my sterâ— countenance and rough carriage Well after they three had consulted together the Lad by no means could be gotten to stay with me no not for that night nor be prevailed with again to be brought into my presence but away they went the Lad riding behind his Father and when about a quarter of a mile from the Town the Father turned the Horse to come back again unto me the Lad leapt from off the Horse and run away crying from the Townwards as fast as he could They went that night to a Popish House where were concourse of people sufficient and many tales told of the Divinations of the spirit in the Boy but not one word either of me or against me Soon after the Gentleman that was of kin to the Boy came over and I gave him satisfaction that it was a contrived cheat and after he returned he would have prevailed with them to have sent the Boy to me but by no means could effect it and so he never after gave any regard unto them and soonafter it vanished to nothing I my self also knew a person in the West-riding of Yorkshire who about some forty years or above to have made sport would have put a Coverlet upon him and then would have made any believe that knew not the truth that he had a child with him he would so lively have discoursed with two voices and have imitated crying and the like And also the said person under a Coverlet and coming upon all four would so exceeding aptly even to the life have acted a skirmish betwixt two Mastiffs both by grinning snarling and all other motions and noise that divers understanding persons have been
to the mind of the Holy Ghost that gave them forth and by whose inspiration they were indited it is most necessary that we implore the help of that blessed Spirit that did reveal them to those that penned them because as S. James saith If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning And it is said of the Disciples of Christ Then opened he their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures So that all Men whether wise or unwise learned or unlearned have need of the teaching and spirit of Christ to open their understandings to understand the Scriptures and therefore have all men need of faithful and servent Prayers that God may enlighten their minds in the understanding of them otherwayes they are but as blind Men that go without a guide and so must needs fall into the Ditch of ignorance and error 2. That a most due and diligent collation and comparison be made of the several versions with the Fountains and Originals themselves that so the truth of the translations may be ascertained For if an error in this point be committed all the expositions and deductions drawn from thence must needs be erroneous and vitious 3. That there be a due comparing of the Antecedents and Consequents in the context that the purpose scope theme arguments disposition and method may be perfectly and maturely considered otherwise the sleighting or omitting any one of these particular points the whole place may be mistaken and an error easily faln into 4. There must a due and serious consideration be had of the Phrases and manner of speaking especially in regard of that language it was first written in For every several language hath its peculiar Phrases and forms of speaking which may not be proper in another tongue the not regarding of which may sooner lead into a great deviation from the genuine sense of the place 5. That there be a most diligent comparing of the place of the Scripture to be explicated with others of the same similitude or dissimilitude For oftentimes one Scripture doth unfold and open another and one Text doth enucleate and make plain another Which for want of a due comparison one with another may occasion the mistaking of the true sense of the place that is to be expounded 6. And chiefly in explicating any place regard must be had to the Analogy of Faith Because the Scriptures do not contradict one another especially in the Articles of Faith and the chief points necessary to be believed 7. There ought a due comparison be made with the judgments and sentiments of other Interpreters according as the Apostle saith That no Prophecie of Scripture is of any private interpretation Which ought to be rendered as learned Beza and Dr. Hammond give it No Prophecie of Scripture is propriae incitationis of a Man 's own or proper incitation motion or loosing forth for so the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which Beza gives this learned note The Prophets truly are to be read but so that the gift of interpretation be begged of God that the same God may be the Author and Interpreter of the Prophetical writings For though a Man have by nature never so great endowments of understanding judgment and reason or have never so large and ample acquirements or presume never so highly to be assisted with the Spirit yet his own single judgment ought not to be relyed upon in the exposition of the Scriptures but he ought to call in to his aid and to consider the sentiment and opinion of others For it is obvious into what dangerous errors the Arrians Pelagians and Antitrinitarians of old and the Socinians and Arminians of later years have faln by making their innate notions and the strength of natural reason to be the chief and principal rules for interpreting of the Scriptures by And there is hardly any one thing that the Scriptures are more against or do more condemn than the too much extolling and idolizing of Humane and Carnal reason Because the carnal mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be of which Beza saith Probatio cur intelligentia carnis sit mors quia inquit Dei est hostis And again the Text saith For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And again Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the words of the Hebrew in that place of Isaiah do signifie all that height of wisdom or understanding that Men either have by Nature or acquire by Art and Industry Neither is it safe for a Man to rely upon his own single acquired parts be they never so vast or great because in the most ages the most pestilent Errors and damnable Heresies have been vented and maintained by Men that were of the greatest acquired endowments And that it is often as vain to presume upon having the guidance of the Spirit as are the other two is manifest in the late times of Rebellion and Confusion where every Man pretending the Spirit made such wild and extravagant expositions of the Scriptures as few ages have known before and is still kept up by the giddy troop of Fanatical Quakers and the like There is another rule which the learned do use in expounding of the Scriptures which is often either too far extended or not rightly limited and applied which is this That Men in interpreting of the Scriptures should keep close to the literal sense if it include not an absolute absurdity Whereby Allegorical Metaphorical Mystical and Parabolical Expositions are not only cried down but by some even abhorred and detested which thing ought not absolutely and simply to be approved of and therefore we shall make it plain in some few particulars 1. In Historical relations of matters of fact we ought to keep close to the literal meaning and not to deviate a jot from it otherwise we should overthrow the best part of the Christian Faith and destroy the chief foundation of Scripture truths But notwithstanding this though we ought to hold to the literal sense in respect of the matter of fact yet we are not always to be bound to the bare letter in the mood means or manner of the performance As may be plain in these examples 1. It is apparent that our Saviour Christ cured the Man that was born blind and the means and manner is described He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the
aversion and the like and in a manner a sensitive way of ratiocination and yet is distinct from the ratinal Soul or Mens that is incorporeal immortal and far more excellent And perspicacious Helmont holding this sensitive Soul to be distinct from the mens or immortal and rational Soul saith thus Est ergo anima sensitiva caduca mortalis mera lux vitalis data à patre luminum nec alio modo verboque explicabilis But of the rational Soul he saith Ipsa autem mens immortalis est substantia lucida incorporea immediate Dei sui imaginem referens quia eandem in creando sive in ipso Empsychosis instanti sibi insculptam suscepit So that both these late and learned Authors hold that in every Man there are two distinct Souls the sensitive that is mortal corporeal and coextended with the Body and the rational that is immortal and absolutely incorporeal so that though in words and terms they seem to differ yet in substance they agree For the Hermetick School the Platonists Paracelsus Jacob Behemen and others do hold three parts in Man which they call Soul Spirit and Body and these two last Authors do hold the body to be one part in Man and two Souls besides the sensitive and rational that are two distinct parts the one corporeal and mortal and the other incorporeal and immortal and so they do but nominally differ And now our task must be to prove that first there are such three parts in Man and that after death they do separately exist which we shall attempt in this order 1. Though arguments taken à notatione nominis do not necessarily prove yet they illustrate and render the case plain and intelligible and we shall find that the Hebrews have three distinct appellations for these three parts As for the Soul either rational or sensitive or vital spirit they use Nephesh which is common to brutes and reptiles as well as to Man as saith the Text And to every beast of the earth and to every sowl of the air and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth in which there is a living soul Nephesh Haiah And therefore to distinguish the rational and immortal Soul from this which is sensitive mortal and common with brutes the Text saith And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Upon which Tremellius gives us this note Ut clarins appareret discrimen quod est inter animam hominis reliquorum animantium Horum enim animae ex eadem materia provenerunt unde corpora habebant illius verò anima spiritale quiddam est Divinum And upon the words Sic fuit homo Id est ait hac ratione factum est ut terrea illa statua animata viveret Another word they use which is Ruah and this is also generally attributed to Men and Beasts as the words of Solomon do witness Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upwards and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth And in both these touching both Man and Beast the word Ruah is used as common to them both and sometimes it is taken specially for the rational immortal Soul as And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it Also they have the word Niblah and Basar that is corpus caro or cadaver and by these three they set forth or distinguish these three parts And the Grecians have likewise their three several names for these parts as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima vita which is taken promiscuously sometimes for the rational and immortal Soul as in this place And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell And it is taken for the life in that of the Acts And Paul said Trouble not your selves his life is in him Also they have the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus ventus spiritus vitae being variously taken yet sometimes for the rational and immortal Soul as Father into thy hands I commend my spirit So they have the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpus the body or gross and fleshly part And to these accord the three Latine terms for these three distinct parts Anima Spiritus and Corpus 2. This opinion of these three parts in Man to wit Body Soul and Spirit is neither new nor wants Authors of sufficient credit and learning to be its Patrons For Hermes Trismegistus an Author almost of the greatest Antiquity saith thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is God is in the mind the mind in the soul and the soul in matter But Marsilius Ficinns gives it thus Beatus Deus Daemon bonus animam esse in corpore mentem in anima in mente verbum pronunciavit And further addeth Deus verò circa omnia simul atque per omnia mens circa animam anima circa aërem aër circa materiam And some give it more fully thus God is in the mind the mind in the Soul the Soul in the Spirit the Spirit in the blood and the blood in the Body But besides this ancient testimony it is apparent that the whole School of the Platonists both the elder and later were of this opinion and also the most of the Cabalists For Ficinus from the Doctrine of of Plato tells us this Humanae cogitationis domicilium anima ipsa est Animae domicilium spiritus Domicilium spiritus hujus est corpus But omitting multitudes of others that are strong Champions for this Tenent we think for authorities to acquiesce in that of our most learned Physician and Anatomist Dr. Willis and in those that he hath quoted which we shall give in the English First he saith Lest I be tedious in rehearsing many it pleaseth me here only to cite two Authors but either of which is a Troop for the confutation of the contrary opinion The one he saith is the most famous Philosopher Petrus Gassendus who Physic. Sect. 3. lib. 9. c. 11. doth divide toto Coelo as is said the mind of man from the other sensitive power as much as is possible to be done by many and most signal notes of discrimination yea disjoining of them as it is said in the Schools by specific differences Because when he had shewed this to be corporeal extended nascible and corruptible he saith the other is an incorporeal substance and therefore immortal which is immediately created and infused into the body by God to which opinion he sheweth Pythagoras Plato Aristotle and for the most part all the ancient Philosophers except Epicurus did much agree excepting notwithstanding that they did hold as not knowing the origin of the Soul which they judged to be immortal that it being cropt off from the soul of the world did slide into the body