quod cum inferna crura lumbive offenderentur commune Corpus utrumque dolorem sentiret cum vero supernè Pungeretur aut alioqui Laederetur ad Alterum corpus tantum doloris sensus perveniret Quod discrimen in morte fuit magis Conspicuum Nam cum alternum corpus complures ante alterum dies extinctum fuisset quod superstes fuit dimidio sui Computrescente paulatim contabuit Vixit id monstrum Annos Viginti Octo ac decessit Administrante rem Scoticam Joanne Prorege Hac de re scribimus eo Confidentius quod adhuc supersint homines honesti Complures qui haec viderint So Buchanan and Schenkius from him I will not give my self the trouble to translate the Relation because I find it in Mr. Ross his continuation of Sir Walter Rawleigh's History of the World who thus tells the Story ad An. 1490. About this time says he a strange Monster was born in Scotland which beneath the Navel was one Body but above two distinct Bodies having different Senses Souls and Wills any hurt beneath the Navel is equally felt by Both Bodies above but if any of the upper Members were hurt one of the Bodies only felt the pain This Monster the King caused to be instructed in Musick and divers Languages One of the Bodies died some days before the other which also shortly after pined and consumed away It lived Eight and Twenty years I might instance in many other Stories of this kind but these suffice to evince what I induce them for that the numerication of Souls and consequently of other Spirits depends upon that of Bodies for in the alledged Examples especially the latter it is plain that where the Bodies were divided and separated the Powers of Perception likewise were so that the offences of but one were not felt by both but by one only and yet again in the parts beneath the Navel common unto both the Bodies any hurts in these were equally perceived by both I take the Theodosian and Scottish Monsters to be evident illustrations of my Hypothesis And so much for Substance Harmonically considered CHAP. IX Of Substance in the Scholastical Consideration of it Substance what that it is First or Second Second Substance is called a singular a suppositum or a subsistent Of the Principle of Individuation or that which makes a singular to be so Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Individuation of Spirits Of a Person The true Idea of it Laurentius Valla his notion of a Person the unusefulness of it to the salving of the Holy Trinity shewed The Trinity a Mystery and Doctrine of Faith not a Point of Philosophy and so the Idea of it to be derived only from Revelation in the Holy Scriptures and not from bare Discourses of Reason I Have Discoursed of Substance after the Harmonical way in the Precedent Chapters It now remaineth that I add something concerning it in the Scholastical and thus Substance is defined to be a thing that is by it self or that is under others called Accidents and is divided into First and Second The Second Substance is that which is not in a Subject but may be Praedicated of it and such are Generical and Specifical Substances as for example Living Creature and Man neither of which is in a subject as an Accident is but both are Praedicated of it for Living Creature is Praedicated of Man and Man of Peter James John c. As for first Substance which is the substance I design to speak of more particularly it is defined to be that which neither is in a Subject as an Accident is nor is Praedicated of it as the second substance is it is also called a Suppositum a subsistent or a singular in which is wont to be distingushed Nature and Subsistence Subsistence is a mode of Existence to which it adds Perseity and Existence is Essence in Act the Nature is the Idea or Definitive Conception of a Substance Or thus the Nature is the Thing or Substance as it is defined a Suppositum is the Thing or Substance that hath that Nature or Definition Nature and Subsistence differ but as Essence and Existence Subsistence being but the Existence of a substantial Nature But Nature and a Suppositum Differ as Essentia and Ens the Former signifying as the Schools speak ut Quâ the latter ut Quod. In a singular Substance or Suppositum that which comes particularly into Consideration is the Principle as Schollars call it of Individuation or that which makes a singular to become a singular for the Nature is supposed to belong to one particular no more than to another but to be a thing abstracted from all Particulars and thence the question arises what that is that singularizes the Nature for example that of Man and makes it to belong to Peter or to John or to James in particular This Principle of Individuation be it what it will may as is thought by some be called the individuating difference as well as that which does divide the Genius and constitute the Species is called the specifical since this indiuiduating Principle doth as much divide the Species and constitute the individual as the specifical difference divides the Genius and constitutes the species Much ado there is what this Principle should be but after all they seem to me to come nearest to the Truth who do affirm that a singular or individual becomes so not by any distinct Principle of individuation but immediately and per se and in that that it is in being just as Quantity is Terminated by self and not by mediation of another Thing that should confine and bound it and in like manner is Figured not by any thing superadded to it but barely in that it is thus and thus Terminated I am already almost tired with this idle fruitless way of talking and should not overcome my self to proceed any farther in it but that the Notion a Learned Person has of late delivered to the World about the Individuation of Spirits will oblige me to Consider it and by affording matter of more intelligible Discourse make some amends for the dryness and barrenness of the former It is Dr. Sherlock I mean who in his vindication of the Trinity S. 4. p. 48. tells us ' that in Created Finite Spirits their numerical oneness can be nothing but every Spirits Unity within it self and distinct and separate subsistence from all other Created Spirits now this self-unity of the Spirit can be nothing else but self-Consciousness that it is Conscious to its own Thoughts Reasonings Passions which no other Spirit is Conscious 〈◊〉 but it self This makes a Finite Spirit â—umerically one and separates it from all other Spirits that every Spirit feels only its own Thoughts and Passions but is not Conscious to the Thoughts and Passions of any other Spirit and therefore if there were three Created Spirits so United as to be Conscious each to others Thoughts I cannot see any Reason why we might not say
in it a Plastical Power according as the Portions of the said Matter are Predisposed and this he calls the Spirit of Nature and Distinguishes it from the Spirit of God Affirming that God doth actuate all the Matter of the Natural Corporeal World by the Spirit of Nature but that he actually acts in and governs the world of Men and Angels by the Spirit of God But I have shewed already from the Scriptural Hypothesis that it is one Spirit the Mosaical that Actuates and Acts in All in Men and other Animals as well as in the World of meer Nature as to all the operations commonly called Natural for as to those that are called Supernatural that come from the Holy Ghost or the Comforter these as they are of another Nature so the Consideration of them belongs to another place In fine the Principium Hylarchicum or Spirit of Nature as this Learned person calls it is but a Plastick Faculty of the Mosaical Spirit SECT II. An Inquiry into the Original and Rise of Motion What is meant by Motion in this Inquiry That Motion comes from Mind in Matter or the Mosaical Spirit This shewed in many instances by the Connexion between Cogitation and Motion How Motion comes from a Principle at Rest and how Matter from Mind set out in the Metaphysical Hypothesis and by other Illustrations I Think I shall not step much if I do at all out of my way to make Inquiry in this place into the Original and Rise of Motion By Motion now I mean not Actual Motion or Motion as it is the actual Translation of Bodies from place to place which some define The Successive Application of a Body in all it hath out wardly unto the several parts of the Bodies which touch it immediately which is the most usual Sense of the word But here I mean by it that Force Energy or Motive Vertue called in Latine Impetus from which this Actual Translation or Successive Application of Bodies does immediately come And my Enquiry now shall be concerning the Original of This not in particular as it is in this or that particular Body but the Rise of Impetus or Motive Force in general which having found I will first remove an Objection and then improve the Discovery to shew how Matter comes from Mind as well as how Motion doth from a Principle that is at rest It must be acknowledged that there is some appearance at first sight of cause to believe that as mind is the first subject of Cogitation and matter the first subject of Extension so since Energy or Force the immediate Principle of Action and of Actual motion is neither Cogitation nor Extension that some third substance Distinct both from mind and matter should be the first subject of it and consequently that there should be three Principles Mind Matter and the first Mover And indeed it looks as if the Scripture Hypothesis did countenance this for there mention is made of the Spirit which wrought as the first subject of motion of the Abyss of Waters wrought upon as the first Recipient Subject and of the word Reason or Wisdom which directed the Work But on second Consideration as it is clear that all that Moses says in his Genesis concerning the Spirit and the Word is not said with design to intimate that really the Spirit was only a meer sensless inartificial Force or Energy and that Wisdom or the Word was another distinct Principle that directed and guided it in all its Motions but to shew since we men in our inadequate way of Conceiving do distinguish Wisdom and Power that all the works of God were made in Both but Both united in one Demiurgical Mind or to use Seneca's Expression on Ratio faciens Thus Ratio faciens is the Idea or Notion of the Mosaical Spirit the true Natura Naturans that concurred to make the World not in the manner that God himself did who in the Mosaical Hypothesis Acted only as an External Efficient but in the way that the Soul would do in a living Creature if first by its Plastic vertue it should form all the members of the Body of it and afterwards should inform it and act in it And Gotta in Cicero has as finely as compendiously expressed the Difference between these two several ways of working even in Reference to the World When L. 3. de Nat. Deor. he says Ita prorsus existimarem si illum mundum aedificatum non quemadmodum docebo à naturâ conformatum putarem It is this Spirit that is the Original Cause of the Impetus that is the nearest cause of Local Motion and indeed it is the Original Cause of all Mundane Activity and Energy Motion comes from Energy or Action and all Energy and Action from the Mosaical Spirit not from meer matter but from mind in matter In short Impetus or Force arises from the same Principle that Cogitation or Perception does as is evident by the following Considerations First The first mention that we have of motion or Corporeal Action is in Relation to the Mosaical Spirit in Gen. 1.2 where it is said that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters It is true the word used in this Text for motion is seldom used but thrice in the whole Scripture to wit in this place in Deut. 32.11 and in Jer. 23.9 And therefore the direct particular meaning of it will not be easily agreed but that it imports some motion which is as much as I do urge it for is beyond dispute Motum aliquem Notari says Hotting in Exam. Hist Creat Quest 33. non est Dubitandum Secondly It is farther Evident from the very Ideas that we have of things For we cannot conceive mind as a Perceptive Cogitative substance but withall we must conceive it as Active and that there is something Energetical in it whereas on the other hand matter may and in its own proper Idea must be conceived as a thing that is only Passive not Active there being nothing of Active or Energetical in it as it is but spacious extensive substance and therefore Energy and Action cannot be conceived to proceed but from matter which in its self is Idle and unactive but rather from mind which is essentially active and busie Thirdly It may also be argued from the relation that Experience assures us is between Cogitation and Actual motion For we clearly perceive that all our voluntary motions do arise from Thought or Imagination we do move our selves or any particular part that hath the proper instruments of voluntary motion and these duly qualified at our pleasure when we will that is by imagination and thought We go we stand still which is by Tonic motion we put our hands feet heads eyes and other parts of our bodies into motion and regulate them in their several motions by will or thought ay even cogitation it self in all the several modes of it as it is sensation imagination or ratiocination does ever
several Faculties in which the Organ or System of Organs would be the Body the Faculty or System of Faculties the Soul so all of them taken together would be an Entire Body of the Universe Actuated by an Universal Principle as by a Common Soul that should Endow it with those several Powers and Faculties In short why may not the Universe Really be Body and Soul and every Particular Animal as a part thereof be Organ and Faculty in the same sense that in our ordinary Common way of Conceiving every Particular Animal is Body and Soul and the Parts of it Organs and Faculties But to Proceed This is Certain that what in Animals and particularly in a Man we do Commonly call a Faculty is neither that which commonly is called the Soul nor is it meerly the Body or any Part of the Body but a Result some Third thing Arising from them both in Conjunction For the Eye for Example tho' never so well Qualified doth not see unless the Mind or Soul do Attend and again the mind or Soul tho' never so Attentive cannot see unless it has the use of an Eye to see with so that the Power of seeing neither is in the Eye barely nor in the Soul barely but belongs to the Animal which is Soul and Body as arising from the presence of the Soul in such a Particular Part or Organ of the Body And the like is to be said of other Powers And yet if all the Faculties that are united in Man were supposed Separated each from other with their several Organs and so to be in the Nature of wholes and this without the supposal of any Thing else for Example that the Eye could see apart the Ear hear apart and the Tongue taste apart from the Body there would to all Appearance be so many several Animals and Consequently so many several Souls So that what is called a Faculty only while it is in a part is Denominated a Soul in the whole and then where the Body is a Compage or System of Organs the Soul must be a System of Faculties and yet be one still in the same sense as the Body is But here I must expect it shall be told me that the True and commonly Received Notion of a Soul is that it is the Principle of the Faculties called Vital and Animal and not any one of them it self or any System of them All To which I Answer that this is indeed the Popular and Common Notion but how true it is and how much Adjusted to the Nature of the Soul cannot be understood but by making some Distinction in the sense of word Soul The word Soul may be taken Two ways the one of which I will call the Philosophical the other the Popular sense of the Word First then word Soul may be taken Philosophically as a Name of all the Causes together that are necessary for the Producing of Vital and Animal Actions in the several Species of Animals and so tho' it is commonly considered as if it were some Substantial thing that Differ'd from them All yet indeed it is nothing but a Modification of their Action as they are All in Conjunction And Dicearchus who Affirmed there was no such thing as a Soul if he meant but thus was very Excusable for in this sense a Soul is nothing but a Result that is a Mode of Conceiving for this I mean by Result of all the Causes that must be Joyned for Animal or Vital Actions as they do either Qualifie or else Aid each others Influence And in this sense as a Soul in respect of the Action of a Particular Organ may be called a Faculty so in respect of the whole Body a Soul is a System of Faculties Thus Life in Animals arises from the Concurrence of many things which things therefore in that Concurrence as they are the Prince of Life so they may be called the Soul for by Soul is meant nothing but the Principle of that we call the Life if one of these is wanting that are necessary the Life ceases and we say the Soul is gone but then again supposing all the other Requisites Remaining as they ought to be and Ready to do their Parts if that one which was wanting is Restored there is again a Concurrence of all the Causes Requisite to Life and so with the Life the Soul is said to Return or come again For Example there is in Snakes in Dormice in Swallows and in other Dormitive Creatures of that kind and if we shall believe Guagninus apud Schottum Phys Curios l. 1. part 2. C. 38. § 4. in some Men too for so he says of the Inhabitants of Lucomoria a certain Country of Russia that there is an Actual Suspension of the Exercise of Life in all the Species of it during Winter while their Spirits lie Congealed and un-active so that tho' all the Organs of those Animals in other Respects are duly Qualified and Disposed yet there being not for that season sufficient Heat Imparted to them from the Sun to put their Spirits in Motion These like Mercury while Cold are wholly un active and so for several Months there is a Cessation of Life for Life is a Sort of Action in all the sensible Instances of it But then again on the other side nothing being wanting but a due Heat as unto Mercury to put it in Actual Motion as soon as the Sun Returns and with its warmth Communicates that Motion that is Requisite to the Spirits and other Parts for the Invigorating and the stirring of them there Results that Action or Exercise of Organs which we call Life and which in many Places of Holy Scripture is called the Soul tho' commonly we call the Soul the Principle not the Exercise of Life but then by a Principle we must mean the Concourse of all the Requisite Causes and so the Soul in Effect will be but a Faculty or rather a System of Faculties And so much for the Philosophical Sense of the Word Soul But besides the Former there is Another meaning of the word Soul which I call the Popular because it is the most usual and that is when it is Taken not for all the Causes together or the Result of them as in the Former but for the Principal and Chief Cause of Animal and Vital Actions which in the Holy Scriptures is called the Spirit who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth Upward or the Spirit of a Beast that goeth Downward And so when a Person dies he is said to to give up his Spirit to Give up the Ghost And thus a Soul may be Conceived a System of very subtle Refined Matter such as Light but in some more in others less Refined that gives the last Disposition to a Body and its Organs for the receiveing of Vital Cogitative Influence from the Original Mind it is the Texture and Qualification of the Body and the Organs that compose it that is the Ligament and Bond
presence of God is but a Mode of his Essence and if we have no distinct and clear Conception of the presence of God nor consequently of his Omnipresence or the way how he is present with all his Creatures where ever they are I do not see with what Cogency or Force an Argument can be Deduced from it in this business In short since things are present one with another very differently in proportion to their several Natures it will follow that things Mental must be present with others in much another way than those that are Material and Consequently that God who is pure Mind must be present with Material Beings much otherwise than these themselves are one with another Mind can no more be present the same way that Matter is than be the same thing with Matter CHAP. IV. Of Mind in Matter SECT I. Mind as concerned with Matter comes under a double consideration 1 As it actuates a most subtle and more than Etherial Matter that is diffus'd throughout the World 2ly As it actuates some particular Vechicle or Body In the first Notion of it Mind in Matter is the Idea of the Mosaical Spirit of God This Spirit according to the Scriptural Hypothesis is the Immediate cause of all things in the first Creation and ever since The Being of this Spirit Evinced both by Authority and by Argument Dr. Mores Distinction between the Spirit of Nature which he calls Principium Hylarchicum and the Spirit of God considered AFter a Consideration of Mind as it is in it self Pure and Abstract Exempt from all Intrinsecal concernment and composition with Matter I come now to consider it as concerned with Matter that is as Acting in and by means of Matter in which consideration Mind may be called second Mind as in the former it may be termed the first Mind concerned with Matter may be considered in two respects either as it has for the Vehicle which it actuates and by which it acts all that most subtle Matter that does permeate the Universe in the utmost Extent and Capacity of it or as it actuates some particular system of Matter that may be called a Body and it is a particular Vehicle Mind in the former Consideration of it as it doth actuate and act in and by a most subtle matter diffused throughout the Universe seems to me to be the Mosaical Spirit of God mentioned Gen. 1. v. 2. And the same that in the Scriptural Hypothesis which never mentions Nature as the Efficient Cause of any thing but Represents Philosophy only as a Theology that swallows up the second Causes in Contemplation of the first is the Cause of all productions the Births the Growths and all the Alterations and Changes that come to pass in the World This in that account is the Principle of Human Souls Mal 2.15 Did he not make one Yet had he the Residue of the Spirit As if he had said he wanted not Spirit he had more left to Animate more had he been pleased to make them but he made but one and the Principal too of all Corporeal Effects even of Snow of Hail of Ice of Wind c. Psal 147.15 16 17 18. He sendeth forth his Commandment upon the Earth his word runneth very swiftly He giveth Sonw like Wool he scattereth the Hoar Frost like Ashes He Casteth forth his Ice like Morsels who can stand before his Cold He sendeth out his word and melteth them he causeth his Wind to blow and the Waters Flow. To understand this Text with the more clearness we must have Recourse unto Genesis Ch. 1. v. 2 3 6 9 12 14 20 24 26. In which we find in v. 2. mention made of the Spirit of God that moved upon the Face of the Waters as the Active Principle that wrought all and in the 3. and the following verses of the Word or Commandment of God that as a Directive Principle did regulate and order all so that the Spirit acted accordingly thus v. 3. God said let there be Light and there was Light and v. 6. God said let there be a Firmament or rather an Expanse in the midst of the Waters and it was so and v. 9. God said Let the Waters under the Heaven be gathered together into one place and let the Dry Land Appear and it was so The like in the following works Now the World in the account of the Holy Scriptures has the same for its Conserving that it had for its Procreating Cause and therefore as God at first did make All by his Almighty Spirit through his Word so the Psalmist tells us that he still doth for as at first he said Let there be so still he Sendeth forth his Commandment and as all was ordered at first by the Divine Word He said let there be Light He said let there be a Firmament c. So still his WORD Runneth very swiftly The Spirit of God doth still Execute as he did at first all the Directions and Commands are given it He Produces the Snow the Hoar Frost and Ice he maketh Cold and Raiseth Winds and causes all the Alterations that are made in the Air in the Earth in a Word in all the Elements and in all above them This is the Scriptural Hypothesis the meaning of which is that God by his infinite Wisdom as well as Power both Made and Governs the World but to Return Of this Spirit that Penetrates through all the World and that doth All in it not only Moses has written but many of the Old Philosophers have also told Velleius in Cicero l. 1. de Nat. Deor. acquaints us concerning Pythagoras Quod censuit animum esse per Naturam rerum omnem intentum Commeantem that he believed a Mind diffused throughout the whole Nature of things The same Velleius also reports concerning Zeno that he in some of his Books discoursed of what he called the Reason of the Universe Rationem per omnem pertinentem Naturam In fine to omit others Plutarch mentions a Spirit that Penetrates throughout the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And what can this Spirit be that Penetrates throughout the Universe that animates it and is as a common Reason in it for I will unite the Expressions and so compleat the Idea but the Mosaical Spirit But not only Authority Sacred and Prophane evinces that there is such a Spirit an Energetical Vital Principle diffused throughout the World but Experience also shows it if the Experience that we have of such a Principle Diffused throughout one Region of it our own may be sufficient to conclude it is so in all of which Experience I shall speak hereafter when also the Nature of this Spirit and the Influence it has upon and in things will be set out more clearly and more fully I Know the Learned Dr. More hath told us of a Principium Hylarchicum which he defines an Incorporeal Substance without Sense and Animadversion that pervades the Matter of the whole Universe and exercises
Mind is in the Center and matter in the utmost Circumference it follows that the nearer things are unto pure mind and the more they do participate of that the more they have of Rest and the less of motion but the farther off they are from pure Mind and the nearer to matter the more in motion they are And indeed all Energy in matter is Local Motion Thus all the Effects of Mechanism as they are purely material so they are performed only by Local Motion but the business of Cogitation even in the lowest step of it which is sensation as it is of nearer Relation unto mind than to matter so it is performed rather by way of mutation than of Local motion the Eye is not sensible of any motion imparted to it nor is the Ear or the Nose or any other of our Sensories and yet each is sensible of a mutation made therein or rather in the Faculty which comes from motion But tho' the more refined any Beings are and the nearer that they are to the Central Mind the more at rest they be and the less in motion in their several Actions and consequently Abstract Spirits that do not live in gross Elementary Bodies are more at rest and have less of motion in the exercises of their several Powers than Men have who are imbodied in Elementary Vehicles yet no Spirit whatsoever but only God himself who only is Pure Mind is so wholly so Absolutely at Rest as that it sees all Things at once by one Entire view and Intuition all Principles and all Conclusions in them all Ends and all Means and Motives to them without the least degree of Succession or any Addition Only the Central Being sees so and he doe's For seeing all the Circumference is in the Center so that all the Lines however divided they be in the former do meet together in the latter it is plain that an Eye placed in the Center must needs see all in the Circle as clearly as any thing in it and this too with one Individual single Intuition without Succession or Addition seeing there is nothing of Motion but all is Rest in the Center And this properly is to see in Eternity Thus God sees But all other Beings beside God as they are not God or Pure mind so they are not in the Center and not being the Center but at Distance from it some at Greater some at Lesser but All at some they All have something of Motion and consequently cannot Act or See in the same manner as Central Pure Mind by way of Absolute Rest without Succession or Addition and without Distinction of past present and to come For tho' all the Lines do meet in the Center yet there being no place without it in which they do so Creatures cannot see as God sees no more than they can be in the Center as God is It is too short and Inadequate a way of Arguing to Infer that any Creatures can see All things at once but from the notions confused enough that we Mortals have of Time and Eternity as that Time is Successive Eternity a Permanent Duration together with a Conceit that all Spirits they being things Abstract and Separate from Bodies both Are and Act in Eternity as all Imbodied Beings Are and do Act in Time Certainly every Being but God is in Time tho' not in the same Kind of Time for as God only is in the Center so he only is Absolutely in Eternity And if Time is taken for all Duration that is not Eternity God only is without Time and so without Succession of Actions But to Return SECT III. Of Mind as it Actuates a certain Particular Body Mind in this Notion called a Soul Body is a System of Organs Soul and Body an Animal Body Considered two ways To wit in Reference to External Objects and in Reference to the Internal Principle that Acts it In the First Consideration of Body the Ends and uses of Organs are shewed and withal the Reason of their variety This Illustrated by several Instances and Observations The use of Body in Relation to the Internal Principle that Actuates it is to Individuate and Singularize that Principle This set out in sensible and plain Resemblances A Comparison between Vital and Locomotive Energy with a Recapitulation of the whole Discourse as it unfolds the Mystery of Animals WE have Considered Mind in the first Step of Relation that it carries unto Matter Namely as it doe's Actuate a most subtle Matter diffused throughout the Universe in which Notion it is called Spirit simply as was showed from Malachy Ch. 2. v. 15. Come we now to Consider it in the next place as it Actuates some Particular System of Matter in a Particular Manner and so it is called a Soul and that Particular System of Matter which it doth Actuate is a Body or a Particular Vehicle and the Result of both an Animal An Animal is nothing but Soul and Body together or a Body Actuated by a Soul A Body is a System of Organs an Organ is Matter framed and Contrived after a Particular Manner for some Animal Use and End some Use End or Action of a Soul A Soul is a certain Determinate Vital Energy or a certain Portion of the Spirit of the Universe Vested in a Body or particular Vehicle in which Notion all Souls are Spirits as indeed they are stiled in the Holy Scripture wherein we Read of the Spirit of the Beast tho' it goes Downward as well as of the Spirit of a Man that goes Upward This Discourse I fear will seem a little Mysterious and therefore to Inlighten it and withal to open tho' but in general the Mystery of the Animal Nature and by Analogy unto it the Nature of other Vivents I will Resume it from the Beginning and speak more Distinctly taking my Rise from Bodies or Systems of Organs which coming under Sense are better known unto us than Spirits or Souls Body then as it is a System of Organs has a Double Relation and so may be Considered two ways either with Respect to External Objects by which it self is Affected and by means thereof the Mind or else with Respect to the Internal Principle that doth Inform and Actuate it and Act in it which Principle it doth Individuate and Singularize We will first Consider a Body in the Relation that it has unto External Objects and here we must set out the Nature that is the Ends and Uses of the Organs which compose a Body as also the Reason of the Variety and number of those Organs why any Organs at all and why many both which will be done with one Performance An Organ properly is Matter Particularly Textured and Framed for some Particular use And an Animal Organ is Particularly Textured and Framed for an Animal use I will give the Example in only Sensitive Animals and in the Acts of Sensation as being best understood but what is said of Sensation and of the Organs of
there is no Actual Intellection but when that of the Understanding is and that tho' we have always the Power of Understanding as we have that of seeing yet we do not actually Exercise that Power but when it is drawn into Act by some Impression upon it either from the Will within or from Objects without any more than we do Actually see c. but when the Eye c. is Affected In fine since nothing of Cogitation is done within us by the Soul Immediately but only by means of the Understanding or of the will or of the sense External or Internal and All these are rather Faculties than Actions I believe I have Reason to Conclude that the Soul is rather a System of the Faculties or else a Principle of them than that it is a Perpetual never ceasing Exercise or Action It is rather Actus than Actio in the Language of the Schools And tho' in the Opinion of these it be Essentially an Act Actus Corporis an Informing form to the Body yet in other Respects it is but Actus Primus not Actus Secundus for tho' it be an Original Principle of Action and so an Active Power yet in it self it is but a Power and not Actually Active or Acting but in the Requisite Circumstances Thus we are Obliged to speak to wit inadequately in the Notions of Power and Act or Faculties and Exercise And thus much for the First Objection The Second is that in this Hypothesis in the last Result God is made the Immanent cause whereas Really and according to the truth of Revelation Gen. 1. he is only a Transient Cause of all things But to this the Answer is Easie for tho' in Gen. 1. God is Represented as he is in Reality to be the Almighty Creator of all and so as a Transient Cause yet in this sense he is also the Immanent that by the Mosaical Spirit he giveth Life and Being and Motion unto all and this according to the Apostle who says that in him we live and move and have our being as well as to Common Metaphysicks which tell us that all Beings are either First or second Beings and that Second Beings are Participations of the First And however strange it may Look now it was certainly of Old the Common sentiment of all the Wiser part of the World the Jewish Doctors as well as Gentile Philosophers and even of many Ancient Fathers of the Christian Church it would be Superfluous as well as Tedious to mention all if I could and therefore to confine my self within Fitting Bounds I will instance two or three of the Chief for Examples The first shall be Apuleius in his Book de Mundo a Book ascribed to Aristotle and by Huetius to Posidonius and for certain it was originally Greek where he says vetus opinio est atque Cogitationes omnium hominum penitus Insedit Deum Essentiae originis haberi Auctorem Deumque ipsum salutem esse Perseverantiam earum quas effecerit rerum neque ulla Res est quae viduata dei Auxilio sui naturâ contenta sit Hanc Opinionem vates secuti profiteri ausi sunt omnia Jove plena esse It is an Ancient Opinion and imprinted on the hearts of all Mortals c. And afterwards he adds Sed cum credamus Deum per omnia permeare ad nos ad ultra potestatem sui nominis tendere quantum abest vel Imminet tantum Existimandum est eum amplius minusue rebus utilitatis dare Tho' it is true that in conclusion he compares God to a Great King that does many things by his Ministers The second shall be Seneca who in his 65th Epistle among many other expressions to the same purpose has this in so many words Quem in hoc Mundo Locum Deus Obtinet hunc in homine Animus What God is in reference to the World that same the Soul is in respect of a Man The third shall be the Emperor Marcus Antoninus who in his 4th Book Sect. 40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Be always minding that this World is like an Animal that hath but one Substance or one Soul I had not cited this Emperor after I had cited Seneca seeing both were Stoicks but that in doing so I knew I should have occasion to refer my Reader to Mr. Gataker who in his Annotations on this passage of Antoninus has made a large Collection of Authorities to the same intendment which saves me a farther Labour The last that I will mention shall be a most Celebrated Father in the Christian Church the great St. Austin for I omit the Excellent Origen tho' as Learned as he for being more obnoxious and I will cite the Testimony he gives as I find it in a Schoolman to show that some even of the Schoolmen were in the same Opinion Orbellis then for he is the Schoolman I intend upon the first of the Sentences Dist 8. Q. 2. says just as Seneca Sicut Deus in Majori Mundo sic Anima in Minori as God is in the greater World so is the Soul in the lesser and then by a simple Conversion of the Sentences what the Soul is in the lesser World of Man that God must be in the greater and this he says is according to St. Augustine sicut enim says he Deus est in Majori Mundo sic Anima in Minori viz. in homine secundum Augustinum Only here it must be observed that when God is compared unto a Soul it must be understood with due limitation to wit as a Soul is taken only for a Principle of Powers and Actions and not as it is an informing Form or part of the Animal for that God should be a Soul in this latter sense is a notion no ways agreeing to him who in himself is all and only perfection Another Objection is that God and Nature are confounded in this Hypothesis so that it is not easie to say what is the interest of God in things and what is Natures or how they differ to which I Reply that indeed in the Holy Scriptures all is ascribed to God and the Spirit of God without any mention of Nature and yet since there are second Causes as well as a first and so there is a thing which we call Nature for by this I now mean nothing but second Causes and their working it will be very convenient to show how God how Nature does operate and how they differ and this perhaps may be done upon the proposed Hypothesis better than on any other For in this God and Nature are distinguished as the Soul of an Animal and the System of Faculties taking the Soul as it is in the common Opinion for the Principle of Faculties and Faculties for the immediate Principles of all actions of Animals and thus Active Nature is the System of all the Powers all the Faculties of the Universe and God the essential Principle of them Or