perfection as could not be subjected thereunto and so God should faile in his workmanship and be constrained to helpe himselfe and worke perpetually in creating soules notwithstanding his creating all Angels together which could not be propagated and instituting naturall meanes for the rest that so he might rest and yet cannot 7. Like begets like Yea doe not the contrary directly follow and not onely from the common rule in nature like begets like and therefore man man but also because if man be the most excellent of the creatures having all or at least the most excellent faculties in an higher perfection than they he should so much the rather be more able to propagate his like than they yea shall any beast bring forth another which shall be able to persist of it selfe and bring forth more and shall the God of all creatures make mans nature so lame and imperfect that he and he onely cannot goe alone as well as they unlesse God leade him If this be true God shall be the most step-father to man and man the worst creeple of all Gods creatures 8. Everyman two fathers or none Furthermore As men can have no children this way so children can have no fathers or else every one two fathers For if the soule comes from God who is a mans father the whole mans I meane not Adam for he is the father of our bodies onely nor God for our soules only come from him If then neither God nor Adam be our father whose sonnes I beseech you are wee By this doctrine he is a wise childe that knowes his owne father Perhaps it will be said wee are the sonnes of both But then every one must have two fathers an infinite and a finite father Oh strange absurditie and no lesse ridiculous than impossible for how can both be when by the lawes of nature neither can To be short either they must make GOD and Adam both one or else every childe must have two fathers or none at all 9. Children like their parents Neither is it without force that children are ordinarily like their parents and not onely in the features of the body but in the faculties of the minde also Now though all soules be essentially alike and this is not alwayes true neither in soule nor body for divers reasons yet since it is true in both for the most part it appeareth that the parents have more in generation than the body yea so much as the whole man is ordinarily like the parents so much is the whole man propagated from him CHAP. XXVII Reasons from the nature of the soule Everyman must have two souls NEither is this kinde of propagation more agreeable to the ordinary course of generation than to the nature of the soule it selfe nor that of the immediate creation more contrary to the one than the other For first as by that doctrine every one must have two fathers or none so also two soules for if the rationall soule be infused by God after the perfecting of the vegetative and sensitive soules as they are called though in truth both be performed by one soule as wee see in beasts I would know what soule it was that did informe and shape the fruite before giving it vegetation and sense These things cannot possibly be done without of soule which if it were not the rationall was some other unreasonable soule such as is in beasts and so every man must have two soule For wee see by experience the former did not perish at the comming of the latter as it is in the forme of corporeall substances when one perish then another succeeds but here both remaine and therefore either must be mingled and made one with the reasonable scule which cannot be unlesse it be corruptible or else every man must have two soules one reasonable and another unreasonable which opinion is verily as farre from reason as the soule is from being unreasonable Againe 2. The soule is an essentiall part of man The soule the chiefe part of man and the very forme of man without which man is not man and therefore it is against nature and contrary to all reason that man by the course of nature propagating a creature like himselfe should not be able to propagate such an essentiall part as the soule is especially seeing it is graunted he can propagate such an accident as sin is Yea how can this doctrine possibly be true that man should propagate that which is unnaturall not that which is naturall an unnaturall accident and not a naturall essentiall part sin which cannot be without the soule and not the soule without which there can be no sin 3 The soule compared with other spirits This also will farther appeare if we compare the nature of the soule with other spirits For it is observed by the learned and manifest even to the ignorant that GOD hath created three sorts of spirits in the world First Angels which are so spirituall that they cannot be joyned with bodyes Secondly The spirits of beasts c. which are so corporall that they cannot be seperated from bodyes Thirdly Mens soules as a mean which can both live without bodyes as after death like Angels and united with bodies as in this life like beasts Againe we see it is the will and ordinance of God that Angels should neither increase nor decrease corporall spirits as I may call them both increase and decrease and that soules should increase and multiply but never decrease or perish Doe not then the order of nature teach then that as Angels ate immediatly created by God onely and the spirits of beasts altogether mediately propagated so the soules of men which are the meane betwixt both should be produced partly by the immediate power of God and partly mediately by propagation or rather by such a manner of production as is even a meane betweene creation and propagation It were to disturbe the order of nature to confound the nature of the soule and to make a mingle-mangle of the orderly workes of God to deny it 4. The nature of the soule it selfe And this is no lesse apparent if wee consider the nature of the foule alone then compared with others For it is to be considered that the soule is the lowest nature of all incorporeall spirits indued with power to use the bodily organs to those purposes whereunto they were ordained by nature but chiefly by its rationall faculty to get knowledg of all sensible things which senses ar◠〈◊〉 proportioned by God that the reasonable soule by them get all its naturall knowledge Ye◠even but knowledge of God himself◠doth ordinarily arise from sense onely ordered by reason and reason it selfe is a meane betweene the sense of beasts and intelligence of Angels And therefore God hath united the soule with the body it is incompleate without it it naturally desires union with it It cannot ordinarily know any thing but by it and the
to know how the soule is made before it is when we cannot conceive what it is after it is made For albeit we know it is a spirituall substance truly subsisting yet what manner or metaphysicall matter it is impossible for any man to conceive Nor seeing we doubt not but that we have soules though we know them not and are no whit troubled that we doe noâ— know them why should we doubt or thinke iâ— strange because we cannot 〈…〉 their originall which 〈◊〉 â—â—â—s be harder than the â—â—â—er Reasons why the Sâ—â—les originall cannot perfectly be known 〈…〉 ignorance should more trouble than the know 〈◊〉 â—ill 〈◊〉 is good if reason 〈…〉 saâ—â—â—ed with reason I 〈◊〉 make 〈◊〉 appeare tha◠〈◊〉 â—ot onely reasonable so to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—mpossible it should be othâ—â—wise For first there is no perfect knowledge to be had of any thing in this life Whatsoever hath any being hath sâ—â—h a secret deâ—â—â—dance on God the first â—â—ing as no man is able to câ—â—â—â—end And if it be so in those things w◠〈◊〉 best known unâ—â—◠〈◊〉 mâ—â—h more must it â—â—â—â—â—s 〈◊〉 in those things whiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—ye least knowledge of Secondly the soule is a spirit and spirits are ever more difficult to judge of than corporall substances not being subject to sense as anon we shall see Thirdly the soule is an incompleat spirit being but part of a creature And therefore more difficult to be knowne for as is the thing knowne such is our knowledge of the thing if that be imperfect our knowledge is imperfect also and therefore by like reason the soule being an incompleate spirit we can have but an incompleate knowledge of it Fourthly this question concernes the existence of the soule Now the existence of any thing is harder to know then â—he essence and consequently â—hose questions that concern the â—xistence are more difficult then â—hose that concerne the essence And therefore if it be impossible â—or us in this life perfectly to know the essence of the soule it must needs be so much the more impossible to know the originall What knowledg men have of spirits And to make yet this more plaine to every mans apprehension let us a little compare the faculty of knowing with the nature of the things to be knowne For as the consideration of the faculties of spirits doe not a little helpe to finde out their natures so by the nature of the soule we shall better judge of this faculty of understanding And first touching the whole man we know that man is a mixt creature consisting of two natures soule and body which are sweetly united to make up one compleat creature The body indued with senses to receive the images of all corporall things and the soule furnished with a faculty of reason which appreheÌ„ding those images doth discourse and draw consequents from them according to its own ingenerate principle of reason whereby it gets Knowledge of causes and effects which sense cannot attaine unto This being the onely naturall way of mans knowledge Hence it commeth to passe that when we come to discourse of spirituall natures the knowledge of which lyes not through the senses but is gotten onely by the rationall power or force of reason that is in man We are put out of our naturall accustomed way and so being halfe lost wee wander in uncertainties without any perfect knowledg or such as might content the nature of man And this I take to be one reason why we are so dim-sighted in spirituâ—ll things The soules knowledg of it selfe Againe to come more closeâ—y to the nature of the soule we know that whatsoever excelâ—encies are in inferiour natures are much more and much more perfectly in those that are superiour Whence it is that the perfections of other creatures are much more perfectly in man and chiefly in the soule of man And those vertues which are in mens soules are after a more excellent manner in Angels and all perfection most perfectly of all in God Now as their natures are so also are their faculties and therefore in like manner the knowledge of inferiour natures is comprehended by the superiour but never the superiour by the inferiour I meane properly and naturally For because the soule knowes by certaine spirituall Ideas or abstracted species which being grossely taken from the senses are perfected by degrees as they come neerer the soule hence it is that the knowledg of things according to the manner of out knowledge is a more intellectuall apprehension of them and so of an higher nature than the things themselves that are knowne Whence it appeareth that it is impossible for the soule to know it selfe properly or perfectly yea of so well as it can inferiour natures If it be said if the soule be thus ignorant of it selfe how then doe men know Angels both men and Angels God being superior natures First Although the soule cannot know it selfe 1. Reflexion according to that proper and naturall way of knowledg whereby it knoweth other things yet it knoweth it selfe by reflexion that is by beholding its owne image in the effects as it were in a glasse but this knowledge is but a shadow in comparison Secondly I answer the soule knoweth Angels 2. Comparison and both men and Angels God two wayes First by the inferiour secondly by the superiour it selfe By the inferiour so by consequents of reason drawne from sensible things we conceive something of spirits both our owne soules and Angels and by the image of God in his creatures we conceive something of him also But especially we know the superiour by the superiour it selfe 3. Infusion And so both men and Angels know God by union with him that is by the working of his holy Spirit abiding in us of which nature is that immediate vision of God which the Angels injoy in heaven and the Saints somewhat taste of on earth To know that which knowes impossible By this which hath been said it appeareth that properly to know that by which it knows is impossible for any creature because to know that is to be above it selfe and to have that which it hath not This therefore is proper to God alone whose essence and knowledge is both one and all other natures by the superiour comprehend the inferiour As for example we see in the senses for as the sense is so is the understanding the eye sees but it cannot see that it sees Beasts know but they know not that they know they know by sense those things that ate inferiour and subject to sense but how they know that is by sense cogitative the highest perfection of their nature they know not For that is to be comprehended by a higher perfection that is by reason and thereby indeed men know how they know but how they know that even themselvs doe not know otherwise then by the effects and by way of reflexion but the thing it selfe that is the essence of
abated their courage and broken their force 1 â— horâ—◠〈…〉 by setting them in the first encounter to fight one against another but also because by the advantage of the place the forces of both fall besides me for neither doe I hold that it is not at all from God nor altogether from man Testimonies of Scripture And first to answer those testimonies of Scripture which are brought to prove the immediate creation of the soule that generall answer of that divine Father Saint Augustine may serve for all i. e. that the divine testimonies only teach that God is the giver and former of our soules but they doe not declare how or by what meanes God sendeth them into us So that by his judgement they straine the Scripture too farre who indeavour to prove this immediate manner of the soules creation from them and indeed if wee proceed to a particular examination of them wee shall finde that amongst all Exod. 21.22.23.24 there is not scarce one that doth purposely speake either of the originall of the soule or the generation of man As for example to take them up in order the first is drawne by consequence from a Law which God made concerning the hurting of a woman with childe for which if it were so that her fruit did depart from her before it was informed with a soule as they would have it then he should have some light punishment onely but if it were informed with a soule thereby perish then he that did it should dye the death And why say they should so small a punishmeÌ„t be inflicted for the one but because it was void of a reasonable soule before so great a punishment for the other but because the soule was present and so a man being slaine the slayer must give life for life But first of all Answer this is to corrupt the Text for the words truely translated be these If men strive and hurt a woman with childe so that her fruit depart from her and yet no mischiefe follow or as some reade it death follow not Geneva Bible for so it is in the Originall he shall he surely punished according as the womans husband will lay upon him c. and if any mischiefe or death followeth then thou shalt give life for life c. This being the true Text in the Originall from which wee ought not to swerve it maketh nothing to their purpose Indeed the Septuagint seemeth to reade it thus Et non fuit efformatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is and it hath not been informed or enlived with a living soule And thus that the fruit may depart without a soul they make the text depart from the true sence Secondly if this should be granted this informing must be understood of quickning else no judgement could be given seeing none can know when the soule is infused if that should be the meaning seeing they say the rationall soule comes after vegetation and sense it must be needs that the childe can move before it hath a rationall soule and so it shall still be uncertaine when a man shall deserve death by such a mischance unlesse we could set downe the just time when God did infuse the soule or feele when it is infused But touching the quickning there is more reason a man should dye for it after then before though the soule be the same from the beginning both because it is not so certaine before what it is or whether it be any thing or no and also before it be come to that perfection any light matter might occasion a mischance for which there were no reason a man should loose his life Lastly 3. this is to be understood of the mother as well as of the childe It her fruit depart from her and yet death follow not neither to her selfe nor to it a light punishment may serve but if either dye he must render life for life But it is manifest then there must be life else there could be no death and life there cannot be in a reasonable creature without a reasonable soule this therefore maketh nothing at all for them 1 but yet something against them The next is taken from the prayer of Moses Let the Lord 2. Num. 27.16 the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over the congregation which may goe in and out before them and when God was about to take away Moses he like a faithfull Steward having a care that the people might be well governed after his departure and knowing how weak mans judgement is and how apt to erre in choosing of Officers entreats God by that Epethite that he would choose for them As if he should say thou oh father from whom commeth every good gift thou that givest spirit and wisdome to all men thou that searchest the heart and tryest the reines doe thou set a man over the congregation that may be fit to goe in out before thy people c. And that this is the sense plainly appeareth by Gods answer 1. Vers 18. Take yce Joshua a man in whom is the spirit c. 2. Besides if it were meant simply of the soule for which there is no shew of reason yet will it not follow that because he is the God of them therefore he daily creates them of nothing Next followeth that of the Psalmist 3. Psal 33.15 He fashioneth their hearts or soules alik He considereth all thâ—ir works Pro. 22.1.2 which is in effect this The hearts of all men even of Kings are in the hands of the Lord and he turneth them whethersoever he will he orders both the thoughts and actions of men according to his owne good pleasure as is plaine from the words both before and after and so is nothing to the purpose and if it should be meant of the originall of the soule whereof there was no occasion to speake in this place yet the questioÌ„ still remaines whether God formes them mediatly or immediately by creation or propagation But that which is esteemed of more weight is that of Salomon 4. Eccl. 12.7 where resolving the parts of man at his death into the first principles he saith Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to God that gave it But though this may prove the immortalitie of the soule 1. yet the immediate creation cannot be proved by it but rather the contrary 2. For it is manifest that he hath relation to mans first creation and that necessarily in the one else it should not be true For every mans body is not now made of the dust 3. but onely Adams from whom we came and therefore if wee will make a true Antithesis it will follow that neither is every mans soule created of nothing but onely Adams from whom all others come So that this is rather Salomons meaning as the body returnes to dust
whereof it was first made so the soule returnes to God from whom it first came but that was immediately from Adam so therefore is this The next proofe is taken from the words of God by the Prophet Isay 5. Isai 57.16 I will not ever contend with man for the spirit will faile before me and the soules which I have made which some doe thus expound If I should straightly marke what is done amisse and severely punish your sinnes then not onely the bodies which yee have received from your parents but even the soules which I have immediately created and infused into your bodies would also perish but who seeth not that there is more in the exposition than in the Text. If indeed this were a truth manifest in the Scripture it might happily be so understood but this being the thing we question ought first to be proved which cannot be from this place for the word translated soule signifieth breath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and somtimes any creature that hath breath and so the meaning is those whom he made to live and breath would faile and dye which the soule cannot doe and therefore it cannot he meant of that Neither would it follow that because he made them therefore he made them immediately of nothing and so the question remaineth still unanswered Againe 6. Ezek 18.4 God saith by the Prophet Ezekiel Behold all soules are mine c. But is little to the purpose for here by soule is meant the whole person for so it followeth in the next words The soule that sinneth shall dye What shall the soule only be punished and not the whole person rather Besides if every soule be created of nothing because it is Gods then so should the body be for that also is his There is yet another place alledged out of the old Testament 7. Zach. 12.1 to prove this which as it seemes to me is clearly against it namely that of the Prophet Zachary where it is said Thus saith the Lord which stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundations of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him if it be formed by the Lord then not by man say some But that followes not for it may be by both And therfore Augustine well answereth it is not denyed but God formeth every mans soule but the question is whereof whether of the substance of the parents soules or of nothing But it is objected that the scope of the place is to comfort the Church by setting forth the omnipotent power of God Be it so if then we admit an immediate act of Gods power herein which I graunt the scope of the place is answered and yet the soule not immediately created Againe it is manifest the two former sentences have relation to the first creation for God doth not now either stretch forth the heavens or lay the foundation of the earth and therefore why should not the latter also seeing it is apparent he created the first soule immediately of nothing but wee doe not reade that he created ever any other so since Lastly it is to be noted that the text saith not the Lord createth but the Lord formeth the spirit of man c. and where did ever forming signifie creating of nothing de hoc postea To this purpose 8. Ioh. 5.15 though to small purpose some doe also produce that saying of our Saviour My Father worketh hitherto and I worke as if by this working he meant the daily creating of soules but his meaning was not in the creatioÌ„ of new things but in the preservation of the old and not so much in the preservatioÌ„ of nature as in the propagation of grace For indeed it is not the government of the world but the regiment of the Church that our Saviour speaks of in that place not ordinary operations in the course of nature but miraculous workes in the promulgation of the Gospel as the words both before and after doe manifest And though it be true that God and Christ too being essentially one doe cause all these things that are done naturally for he is the Author of Nature yet he is not properly said to worke that which nature worketh because he is therefore said to rest because he hath committed these things unto nature Some also would seeme to wring it out of the words of the Poet Aratus 9. Acts 17.28 cited by St. Paul Wee are the off-spring of God For such weak proofes as these must serve where better is wanting which poverty does indeede more weaken and discredit the case than any way confirme the same For his meaning is onely that wee are of a divine nature by reason of that spirituall and immortall soule that is in us but how wo come by it whether by creation or propagation neither did Paul here purpose to speake nor the Poet ever dispute But most of all 10. Heb. 12 9 and most worthily of all is that of the Apostle to the Hebrewes urged and indeed almost all the rest have no inference at all to the purpose and this no necessitie nor as we shall see no just probabilitie the wards are these If wee â—ad Fathers four bodies that corrected us and wee gave them reverence shall wee not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live Whence they collect that earthly parents propagate the body onely and God creates the soule of every man immediately But for Answer Answer first of all Beza whose judgement is i. e. is to be reverenced rendreth the sense of this place thus If all men yeeld this right to naturall parents to whom next to God we owe this life that they may rightfully correct their children shall we not be much more subject to our heavenly Father who is the Author of our spirituall and everlasting life And indeed what els can be the meaning For if in the next place we consider the scope it is to perswade to the patient suffering of afflictions and not to teach the originall of the soule Againe if wee examine the words we shall finde that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flesh for so it should be translated and not bodyes cannot be meant of the body without the soule for parents doe not correct a carkasse Secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of spirits is not to be understood of a soule without a body for God is the father of mens bodies too and not of the soule alone and lastly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chasticers as the parents are called signifies such a chastisement as when instruction is joyned with correction but there can be no such correction of the body without a soule a castigation being of an understanding man and not of a body onely and as the word so the Antithesis makes it apparant that the Apostle in this place makes mention of a twofold castigation the one carnall the other spirituall so that not soule and body
but spirituall and carnall castigation is here opposed But be it that God is here in a peculiar right called the Father of soules it must not be in a sense of our own devising whereof there is no example nor warrant in the Scripture but as they teach us which is that he created mans soule after a peculiar manner not of former matter as the body and all other creatures but immediately of nothing when he breathed into him the breath of life Lastly I grant that God hath a more peculiar worke in the production of every mans soule than in any other thing throughout the whole order of nature and yet according to the course of nature too And this is the utmost that can be urged from this or any of the former places these being the most and best that ever I could finde brought for the immediate creation of the soule none of which doe infringe but rather confirme this mediate manner which I have propounded CHAP. VII Reasons from the Scripture for the soules immediate Creation answered From the Creation of Adams soule THe reasons drawn from the Scripture to prove the immediate creation of the soule are these first because Adams soule was created of nothing and in the creation of his God hath declared the manner of the creating of ours since it is unlike the originall of his soule and ours should be unlike when as wee are both of one kinde And seeing our Saviour Christ speaking of Manage calleth men back to the first institution saying it was not so from the beginning there is the same reason why we should learne the originall of our soules also from the beginning But notwithstanding this there is no more necessitie nor indeed probability that our soules should be created of nothing because his was then that our bodyes should be still made of the slime of the earth because his was For every one knoweth there is one consideration in the first creatiō or things and another in the producing of them afterwards according to their kindes by ordinary generation And if this difference should alter the kinde then it should doe so in all other living creatures as well for though in part they were made of that first matter yet were they in part also created by the immediate power of God as well as Adam But seeing it cannot vary the kind in them it cannot by the course of nature doe so in us neither Nay it seemes in the text there is more reason it should be thus for man rather than for any other creature For it is said God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives Gen. 2.7 the plurality of which word may in reason be better expounded of the many lives that were potentially in him than of the divers faculties and operations which yet are but one life and proceed from one soule onely And the rather because the words Spiraculum vitarum might we ll be rendred the Spirit of Soules As who should say that spirituall nature which was the fountaine of all those soules which have beene produced ever since and which is to be noted this is never affirmed of any creature in Scripture but such as being made male and female had power given them to propagate more of the same kinde Gen. 7 15. 6.17 so that it may seeme to be principally spoken for this cause and therefore to be belonging to man above all the rest and chiefly in respect of the soule which being made after such an immediate manner in man is therefore of a farre different and more excellent nature than the soules of bruites but yet propagated as well as they From the creation of Eves soule A second reason is drawne forcibly from the creation of Eve for because Moses expresseth the difference that was between the creation of her body and his the one being made of the dust the other of a rib but speaketh not of aw difference in the creation of their soules therefore say some it is very probable that both were created alike of nothing otherwise Moses would never have omitted it especially considering it was his principall intent to declare the originall of all things But this also is easily answered Answer For first if it be a good argument that Moses would not have omitted it if it had beene otherwise created than Adams was then it is much more forcible to prove that shee had no soule at all For if that which was taken out of Adam made the body onely then it is confessed he speakes nothing of the creation of her soule but leaves us to guesse that it might be as Adams was or rather that shee had none at all otherwise Moses would never have omitted it Secondly it is the thing in question whether Moses expresseth the different creation of their bodyes onely and not of their whole persons rather according to the expresse words in the text Thirdly if it should be granted that her soule was immediately created of nothing it were nothing to the purpose for this is still in the frist creation of mankinde and therefore no fit rule to measure the manner of mans propagation afterward Lastly it is at least to prove one unknowne thing by another there being no lesse doubt of the manner of the creation of her soule than of ours But for my part seeing in things doubtfull that which hath most reason is to be received as most reasonable I should rather thinke her whole person both soule and body to have beene made of Adams substance than otherwise and that for these reasons 1. Because Moses speaketh nothing of any more immediate creation of Soules but of the first He saith not that God breathed into her nostrils the breath of lives as into Adams there is not the least word or title that can seeme to signifie any such matter and what reason can be given that he who omitteth not the circumstance of the manner of closing up Adams side againe should overslip that miraculous worke of God in creating another new soule if he had done so Neither is it sufficient to say it was in vaine to repeate it for it is no where affirmed and if it were not needfull why should it still be doubtfull and men left onely to guesse at it Secondly Not only doth Moses not speake of any new created soule infused into her but if only her body was made of that which was taken from Adam as is said then for ought Moses speakes of it it may be questioned whither shee had any soule or no which must needs be very absurd especially considering it wa◠his chiefe purpose to declare unto us the true beginning of every thing at the first I doe not impute such an over-sight to the holy penman of God Thirdly so far is Moses from teaching that that he plainly affirmes the contrary saying that of that rib he made a woman not a body speaking of her whole person and not
of a part onely unlesse a woman may be a womā without a soule as some silly ones have foolishly imagined Fourthly Gen. 2.22 Zan. de operibus par 3. li. 1. c. 1 Gen. 2.23 those that hold the contrary opinion yet graunt that God did not onely take out the bare bone only out of Adams side but some flesh together with it which made Adam to say this is not onely bone of my bone but flesh of my flesh And it seemeth an unlikely thing that being done instantly by the almighty power of GOD he should take out a dry and dead bone onely and not the life spirit soule that was in it after the manner of the soules being in such a substance together with it Now it he tooke it thus whole together as it was the soule not being shut out of any part of the body how easie is it to conceive how God might miraculously in the first creation seperate the whole matter of her person from Adam onely and so of that bone as of a living body produce a new creature in a short time which now in longer time usc to be seperated from both sexes and so perfected by degrees in naturall generation yea why may not this originall affinitie between the two sexes give strength to the course of nature in producing more by uniting them againe in generation Fifthly This is the more probable because herein we have a clear type of Christs incarnatiō whose whole humanity as we shall herafter see was also miraculously made of the substance of the virgin onely as Eves onely of Adam a man of a woman onely as a woman of a man only both being insensible of it and as is probable both asleep◠when it was done Lastly when she was brought to Adam he confessed that shee was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh that is of the same humane nature that he himselfe was both for soule and body and also taken out or him Neither needed he to say soule or my soule for flesh is usually put for the whole person as where even in the same book it is said All flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6.12 which notwithstanding is chiefly in regard of the soule And least any should doubt of it he presently addes Shee shall he callea woman because shee was taken out of man where he plainly affirmes that her whole person was taken out of man and for that cause was named woman which cannot possibly be understood of the body onely I will therefore hereunto subjoyne the forgoing words of our Saviour Let no man seperate what God hath joyned together Mat. 19.6 and conclude that her whole person as well soule as body was taken out of man So that in this also that of the Apostle is true God hath made all of one blood even Adams Act. 17.26 Wherefore from this reason I also conclude the contrary that seeing in all probabilities Adams soule was of such a nature as thereon could be made another and ours are of the same nature that his was it is not absurd but very likely that others may be made of ours also The third and last reason of any weight is 3. that Christs soule was created of nothing and he is like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted ergo c. But first if it be necessary 1. From the creation of Christs soule that wee should be like unto him in all things except sin then it would follow that we should be conceived by the Holy Ghost as he was for that was without sinne especially if he might have been conceived without sin without that worke as by this doctrine it seemes he might as afterward wee shall see 2. Secondly it is not yet proved that Christs soule was immediately created of nothing yea it may be denied by the same reason for then wee should not be alike to him in all things except sin If it be said that if Christs soule had beene traduced by ordinary generation it must needs have beene sinfull I graunt it and therefore I say it was that his conception was extraordinary and supernaturall for it being impossible in nature for a Virgin to conceive without man therefore this was brought to passe by the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost who seperated a part of the Virgin for that purpose and supplied what was wanting in nature by supernaturall power which is signified in that it is said Shee was overshadowed by the holy Ghost But although he was not conceived after the manner that other men are that so he might be without sinne yet it followeth not from hence but his whole humanitie both soule and body might be made of the same matter that other mens are so as he be not corrupted with sinne Which how it may be we shall heare in the proper place where this also shall be brought as an Argument to prove the contrary so weake are objections against the truth Lastly Though it should be granted that Christs soule was immediately created by God as the first Adams was because it could not be propagated after the manner of mankinde without sinne yet it would not follow that all ours are therefore so as they collect Nay the contrary plainly appeareth for for the same cause that his must be created immediately to be without sinne ours must be mediately that they may be sinfull and tor the same cause he cannot be propagated without sinne we cannot be sinfull unlesse propagated And thus much for the Scripture and reasons drawne from them to prove the immediate creation of soules Whereby all men may see upon what weake grounds this opinion is fatherred upon the Scriptures And now I am to encounter with the other troope of Arguments taken from the impossibilitie of the soules propagation CHAP. VIII Whether propagation can stand with the spirituall nature of the Soule Objection ordered From the probabilitie of the Creation proceed wee now unto the impossibility of the propagation of the soule And indeed the reasons oppugning the soules propagation are very many and forcible and such as doe sufficiently prove that man cannot of himselfe alone without some more special work of God propagate his like as beasts doe theirs 1. From the nature of the soule The reasons that wee may not be confounded with the number of them are either such as do more specially respect the nature of the soule not without some respect to propagation or else such as doe more specially respect the nature of propagatiō not without some respect to the soule But before I come to the particulars the generall answer to all may be this 2. From the nature of propagation That all naturall reasons are taken from corporall generations and so doe onely prove that soules cannot be propagated as bodies are which is not denyed For neither doth the body propagate the soule neither yet is it propagated after a bodily manner but the whol
conclude this so difficult a doctrine which as in the beginning it seemed so hard that no words could sufficiently explaine it so now me thinkes it is so plaine and easie that I feare nothing more than that I have insisted too long in the proofe of that which I thinke no man can or will deny yet considering that such is the curiositie of some in this age that are wittily acute and such also the difficultie and necessitie of understanding this doctrine aright that a mans life were well bestowed in giving full satisfaction therein this short discourse I hope will not seeme over-long to the judicious 1. The originall of the Soule I conclude therefore as before first that the soule is neither immediately created by God of nothing nor yet meerly propagated by man without his immediate power but that he hath instituted a naturall order whereby the whole man begets the whole man both soule and body and as well the one as the other Not the soule the body nor the body the soule neither the soule the soule alone nor the body the body alone yet in this order the soule the soule onely immediately but mediately by the body and the body the body onely immediately but mediately by the soule And thus in man the whole propagation the whole as concerning matter and forme as well as other creatures albeit in the one the immediate power of GOD concurreth as an efficient cause and naturall meanes onely in the other 2. â—he imâ—â—ortaliâ—â— of the â—â—â—le From this naturall yet divine beginning I also conclude the immortall nature and everlasting continuance of the soule For seeing it is not produced by the power of nature alone nor yet made of any corporall matter but spirituall both for matter manner wherein it excelleth all other creatures though united through Gods institution to the naturall generation it must needs transcend the condition of all corporall creatures as well in the end as in the originall and so can be no lesse than immortall though we goe no higher than the rules of nature 3. Originall sinne Hence also I conclude that all Adams off-spring are infected with that staine of nature which he contracted to himselfe by sin which is propagated from parents to children together with the whole man the subject thereof and that without any fault in God it being our act and not his our sinfull soules proceeding not from him but our sinfull parents and so not being corrupted by him but by our selver in Adam 4. Christs incarnation And lastly hereby also appeareth the puritie of Christs incarnation who though he were true man like unto us and made of the same substance both for soule and body yet was not propagated after the common manner of men to avoide that infection of sin which wee receive in propagation Reasons to beleeve without reason Now if any cannot conceive through the subtle conceit they have of it how the soule should minister any matter to the producing of another which I confesse is hardest yet considering that most of the most learned ancient Fathers and Schoolmen in former times have allowed aêreall bodyes even to the Angels themselves it cannot be thought absurd that I ascribe such a spirituall composition to soules as hath such a neere resemblance unto corporall matter and forme as may well stand both with this manner of propagation and the divine nature of the soule And if thus much be not granted it cannot appeare in nature neither how it can be united with the body the one being in my conceit as hard to conceive as the other But seeing I see the one is I beleeve the other may be And further I adde that that though this did seeme to disagree with reason yet wee ought rather to beleeve it than the other which we plainly see doe disagree with Religion But to conclude seeing wee see the reason why wee cannot see the reason let us not be so vainely curious to enquire of that which we know certainly we cannot certainly know let us content our selves a while not heathenishly to reason but Christianly to beleeve and shortly after this life Phil. 3.15 all these things shall be revealed unto us FINIS A Compendious Table of matters concernable in this TREATISE THE possibilitie of knowing the Souls originall 2 Cautions in searching it 6 What knowledg men have of spirits 14 Soules knowledge of it selfe 15 How the soule knowes inferior natures how superior 17 Angels know not our thoughts 21 How farre may be knowne of the soule 23 Twenty-one opinions of the soules originall 25 A censure of the opinions and the choice made 35 Of Originall sinne 39 How man propagates man 46 Gods act in the soules production what 47 How the soule is propagated of the soule 49 Soule and body be at once propagated 50 Soules double union 52 Causes of immortalitie 55 How man is sinfull and yet immortall 56 Texts of Scripture answered and explained 60 Reasons from the Scripture answered 75 From the creation of Adams soule 75 From the creation of Christs soule 85 Of propagation of spirits 91 How the soule is immateriall 93 Its incorruption 95 Its selfe-subsistence 97 It cannot be hurt by the body 99 It worketh inorganically 100 Whether losse of seede be losse of soules 100 How one soule proceeds from two ibid. Whether parents loose part of their soules 101 Of imperfect conceptions 104 Of the soules seed how generated 111 Spirits may be communicated and not diminished 121 That the soule is perfect in conception 230 Of Eves Creation 144 Testimonies of Scripture to prove the soules propagation what 181 The nature of Originall sinne 186 In it is nothing positive 188 Body cannot corrupt the soule 130 Originall sin it propagable 241 The whole man is received from Adam 158 Christs humanitie taken from the Virgin 259 Christs soule and body conceived together and how 263 How Christ was free from sin 279 Why the truth of propagation of soule hid so long time 284 Naturall reasons to prove propagation 285 Man can father no more than he begets 292 No father without giving the form 293 The faculty of propagation seated in the soule 306 The soules work in the Embrio 308 Rarenesse of conception 312 Of unnaturall copulations 317 Soules infused in adultery 318 Objections removed and cleared 324 Conclusion of all 331 FINIS
not of man Certaine it is there is a truth if we could find it For God will prove himselfe true Rom. 3.4 though every man be a lyar and therefore if any mistake be the fault is in our selves This I hold as one principle Againe looke what God hath spoken in his Word the same he hath wrought in the world he doth not say one thing and doe another but his word his works agree and this I hold as a second principle Lastly I doubt not but in this controversall age God is about to refine the Christian Religion and to reveale secrets that have beene hitherto hidden and seeing many other mysteries are daily cleared why should not this also seeing that God which giveth an heart to undertake can give power to performe let men say thinke what they will I shall not therefore faile through his assistance to doe my best indeavour Curiositie to be avoided Two extreames notwithstanding I confesse are in this matter to be avoided Curiosity and Negligence First Curiositie It is strange how mans nature is affected to noveltie so divine a thing is knowledge that even innocency it selfe was ambitious of it it cost Adam a fall as we know Deut. 29.29 Neverthelesse secret things belong to God and onely things revealed to us and our children Where God hath not a tongue to speake we may not have an eare to heare when he is sparing in revealing we must be sparing in enquiring Gen. 2.17 forbidden fruit may not be tasted and when God hath set us limits Exod. 19.12 we may not passe our bounds least we die Being creatures we must submit our selves to our Creator and if we will be Christians faith must satisfie where reason cannot And good reason there is it should be so both for our humiliation and trial To humble us when we shall see our reason non-plust even in matters of greatest consequence and to try our faith in mounting above reason when it shall appeare that wee rely more upon Gods word then our own fancy Now that the soule is immortall and that all men are stained with originall sinne are things most certaine for the Scripture plainly affirmes them And if the originall of the soule be doubtfull yet even reason teacheth that it is altogether madnesse to reject a certaine truth for uncertaine Justly therefore is their curiosity to be condemned who are wondrous inquisitive to know whence the soule came but care not at all whither it goes Indeed desiring to see cause of doubting in the one that they may have the more libertie to be carelesse in the other Cautions to be observed Yet is not this so to be understood as if we were not to seeke after any thing but that which is manifest in the Scripture for so we shall not need to seeke at all Neither is every question curious which may seem to be so but that indeed is a curious question which is either needlesse or not revealed Nor how needfull this present question about the soules originall is no man doubteth the onely quaere is whither it be revealed or no and indeed many thinke it is not But besides that all things are not revealed at once we must know that God reveales things two wayes either by his word or by his works Now as many things are not to be found in the booke of the creatures are yet manifest in the booke of the Scriptures So many things that are not mentioned in the word are yet manifest in the works of God It is our dutie therefore to search both But divine things are to be sought especially in the former and naturall as this is in the latter yet still comparing both together If therefore this truth can be found in either then it is revealed neither can we say it is a secret untill both be throughly searched And because there is a depth in both past finding out therefore we must exercise our selves in them day and night and never leave searching I meane for things needfull so long as the world endureth and in this cause where God is sparing in revealing it is to make us the more diligent in searching and enquiring For as Curiositie on the one hand so negligence on the other is also to be avoided And not onely in regard of those fundamentall doctrines which doe so neerly depend upon it the overthrowing of which would overturne all Religion but also in regard of the godly themselves both to stay their minds in this wavering age and to cut off those doubts and unbeseeming motions which through Sathans malice and our owne corruption are too apt to arise even in the hearts of Gods best children and lastly to stop the mouths of wicked men and Atheists who are ready upon all occasions to blaspheme GOD and make a mocke of Religion For the shunning of such difficulties as these under a colour of modesty and to avoid curiosity or the like gives them occasion of suspition that there is some secret fraud which we are afraid to discover in all points of controversie therefore so much as is maniâ—â—st in the word I certainly beleeve though reason seemes against it and withall I know that it is not for me to question the doctrine but to blame mine owne ignorance and so set my selfe to search not because I doubt but because I doe beleeve the truth And this we may and must performe as well for our owne satisfaction as the edification of others Neither may the difficulty discourage us but rather whet on our diligence so much the more wherin for our comfort so long as we maintaine that the soule is so produced whither immediately from God or mediately from man that it is of an immortall nature and yet stained with originall sin according to the Scriptures what ever we determine of the manner we are out of danger of heresie though perhaps subject to error Neither yet may the feare of being censured for presumption or curiositie hinder the sober search of it which though it cannot justly for the former reasons yet can hardly be avoided not onely because some lazy persons would gladly free themselves of that labour by calling it curious but also considering the intricate nicenesse of it which is such indeed as may seeme to be handled curiously and yet without curiositie yea curiousnesse it selfe is no curiositie in such a curious though necessary question Wherefore taking Philosophy on the one hand and Divinitie on the other hand to leade me craving the light of Gods Spirit to direct me I will set my selfe unto it resolving so God may be glorified not much to care who is offended CHAP. II. Whether the originall of the Soule may be perfectly knowne in this life BUt before I proceede any further I must preadmonish my Reader not to thinke to attaine perfect knowledge herein in this life nor yet to thinke it strange that he cannot For how doe we thinke it is possible
the soule the soule it selfe cannot properly know Every nature as it is more excellent proves it selfe and the inferiour Yet we must know that we know our soules better then beasts doe themselves and no doubt Angels themselves better than we doe our selves and God who is above all knoweth himselfe absolutely and perfectly Why God knows all because his nature is of that height that essence and knowledge in him are all one Thus we see the reason why GOD onely can perfectly contemplate himselfe every other creature as it comes nearer to his nature can thereby contemplate it selfe and those which are inferiour And hence it is that man who is a creature cansisting of soule and body Why man knows not all secrets of nature can by his soule coÌ„template elementary natures but for as much as his soule is also united to a body which is part of himselfe he cannot perfectly know the secrets of nature even in these corporall things Whence no doubt it is that a man may find His reason non-pâ—ust in so many workes of nature But the Angels being altogether of aspirituall nature may have perfect knowledge of these inferiour natures I meane as they are in themselves not as they are virtually in God for so he onely knowes them perfectly and yet they cannot perfectly contemplate themselves Why Angels caÌ„not know our thoughts no nor our soules neither because they also are spirituall like them And hence also it may well be that Angels cannot know mens thoughts as is manifest in the Scripture Much lesse then can man have any perfect knowledge of his soule Why man not knowing his soul much lesse the originall and much lesse the Originall No although he were not joyned to a body unlesse he had another spirituall nature above the soule yea above Angels by which hee might looke downe upon it and so discerne all those difficulties which now he cannot comprehend Even as by these soules we can looke downe upon inferiour creatures and judge of elementary creatures in the world For as love so knowledge doth descend and therefore if we had such superiour soules yet then we should find as much difficulty in them also Here therefore it is to be notedâ— that no nature excepting Gods can know it selfe perfectly so neither properly but as it were by way of reflexion For even as the eye though it beholdeth all other things yet it cannot see it selfe unlesse in a glasse so we cannot know our owne soules but as it shewed it selfe in the workes as in a mirroâ—â— so that as by it wee know other things so by other things we come to the knowledg of it which must needs be an imperfect shaddow and indeed not so much as a shaddow of perfection And herein it beareth the image of God in a speciall manner who cannot be known properly but only by his creatures rather what he is not then what he is So that as it is proper to him alone who is the perfection of all natures to know all things so he only can properly and perfectly know both them and himselfe How far the soules Originall may be knowne Some perhaps will say if it be a thing that cannot be knowne then it is in vaine to enquire after it I answer that though the knowledge of the soule be very difficult especially the originall of it and though it be impossible to know it perfectly and so properly as we know other things for the reasons abovesaid yet there is a competency and such as may give reasonable satisfaction to our nature to be attained and therewith we ought to rest contented For though we can see no reason yet if we see reason why we should see no reason reason it is we should be content without reason CHAP. III. Diversitie of opinions about the nature and the originall of the soule Strange conceits about the soule THE truth of this ignorance will farther appeare and also farther the point in hand if wee shall consider the many strange opinions that have been in the world concerning the anture and originall of it 1. Aristotles opinion First Aristotle that Prince of Philosophers who being ignorant of the Creation held that the world was eternall did also maintaine that soules have been from eternity but yet propagated from parents to children the soule being in the seed potentially though not actually but whether it were mortall or immortall as himselfe was not certaine so his writings are very doubtfull yet rather concluding that it was howbeit the first creation of nothing is denied flatly by him and all his followers Somewhat more tollerable than this because it hath some resemblance of truth is the fable of the Poets that Prometheus 2. Poets made the first man of the slime of the earth and being beloved of the gods and sometimes taken up to heaven he there saw the caelestiall Orbes to live and move by fire whereupon he made bold to steale some of the heavenly fire to enlive his body and so informed it with a living soule whence it seemes came that opinion that soules were made of caelestiall fire Others againe held that Angels made all mens soules of spirit and fire 3. That Angels made them of this mind was Seleucus and long before him all Carpâ—crates was of opinion that they made the whole world Also so Menander and others 4. Of his own substance Others say God made them of his owne substance as Priscillianus Serveâ—â—us and their followers 5. Of the soule of the world But as touching the matter most of the other Philosophers were of opinioÌ„ that soules were bred of the soule of the world which they imagine to be a caelestiall substance or quint-essence of which they say the starres are made and so are incorruptible and immortall even as the body is corruptible and mortall being compounded of the elements 6. Hypocrat Notwithstanding Hippocrates thought that the soule was ingendred of the heat or vitall spirits or els of the harmony of the whole body or to speake plainly it was he could not tell what 7. Galen That famous Physitian Galen also held it to be either an aeriall body more then the elements or els not corporall and yet carried by the animall spirits as by a chariot 8. Plato Plato and his followers maintaine that all soules were at first bred in heaven of the divine nature and dwelt here being indued with excellent sciences and vertues but afterwards descending from thence into mens bodies as into stinking prisons they are corrupted and forget all their former knowledge and when afterward by study and instruction those caelestiall sparkes are againe kindled in them they doe onely recall or call to mind those things which they knew before in heaven And farther they affirme that if by vertuous living good workes or some other kinde of purgation after they are seperated from their bodies for which cause it is
like Purgatory was invented they be purged from this corporall contagion then they shall returne againe to heaveÌ„ from whence they came For thus doth Sathan seeke to obscure the truth with lies when he cannot put out all light of nature Not much unlike this and as it is like derived from it was the opinion of Origen 9. Origen who though he thought as the Scriptures teach that God created the soule of nothing and not of any caelestiall substance yet he saith that all soules were created together at the beginning of the world as Angels were and because they sinned in departing from God they are since put into divers bodies to be as it were their Jayles and fetters to imprison clog them more or lesse according to the diversitie of their sinnes And that for this cause the world was made that so these evill spirits might be bridled No lesse 10. â—â—thagoâ—â—â—â—s if not much more strange was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transmigration of soules which the Pythagoreans imagined viz. that they passed at death out of one mans body into another yea into fowles fishes plants without any difference exercising their power in them so far as in those natures could be manifested and that accordingly as they had lived in one body more or lesse vitiously so they were received at death into a worse or better body And it seemes the Jewes themselves were somewhat infected with this opinion by the Romans for they thought that Christ was John Baptist risen againe Mat. 14.2 16.13 14. or Eliah or Jarâ—â—â—ah Mar. 6.14 or some other of the old Prophets Luk. 9.7 8 11. Certaine Platonists or Pythagoreans Yea there have not beene wanting some heretickes of old who following the opinion of the Platonists have affirmed the soule to be of such a nature as it can never be quiet untill such time as it hath finished all manner of works whatsoever can be done in the world of what nature soever whether good or bad by passing out of one body into another through all sorts of creatures And untill then say they it can never be throughly purged or be at rest 12. Certaine Tertullianists Yet more some have maintained that at death those soules that live well are turned into Angels and those that have lived wickedly become devills as the Tertullianists c. And hence it is that we reade of conjurers who have killed men and children that they might have their soules as their imps and familiar spirits to command after their deaths and such an one it is said Simon Magus was 13. Every man 3 soules Neither is there more diversitie about the nature than the number of soules for some are of opinion that every man hath three soules a vegetative soule with plants a sensitive soule with beasts and a reasonable soule like unto the Angels although indeed they are but three faculties or sundry operations of one and the same soule in us 14. 2 Soules Other againe thinke there can be no lesse than two soules at the least one sensuall the other rationall the one mortall the other immortall the one propagated by the Parents and the other created by God And this Occam would prove from the diversity and contrariety of appetites and desires in one and the same man which he thinks cannot be in one and the same individuall nature 15. Maniches Some others yet more grossely have affirmed that every man hath indeed two soules the one made of the substance of God and the other of the substance of the devils These were the Maniches who held two beginnings a good God and an evill God 16. Averrois Contrary to these and yet no lesse unreasonable is the opinion of that great Philosopher Averrois that there is one onely soule of all men that ever were or shall be in the world Diversities of opinioÌ„s amongst Christians But leaving these Heathens and heretickes with their heathenish and hereticall conceits as not worthy the confuting let us heare the verdict of the learned Christians since Christ who all with one coÌ„sent affirme that the soules of men are either immediately created by God 1. Creation or else mediately propagated by man 2. Propagation yet herein also there is no small diversitie for in either of these there are two opinions each differing from other 17. Created out of the body Of those that maintaine the soule to be immediately created by God some think it is created without the body of nothing and then infused into it by God after the forming of the body of this mind was Hillary c. 18. Created within the body Others againe thinke it to be created within the body of the conceived fruit which hath first vegetative life then sensitive and lastly the reasonable soule is created therein and united therewith by the immediate power of God onely Both these have been countenanced by many of the best learned especially the latter which is most commonly received as the truth at this day 19. Propagated corporally Notwithstanding others contend that although God at first created Adams soule of nothing yet ever since they have beene naturally propagated from the parents together with the body so that as wee have our bodies from Adams body so our soule from Adams soule but so as it is immortall notwithstanding But of these some conceiting it to be a corporeall substance thought also that it was generated after a corporall manner which was worthily condemned by Austin and others 20. Propagated spiritually But those that held it to be a spirituall substance held also that it was propagated spiritually the soule of the soule as it were light of light And this heretofore was upholden by many of the most learned men amongst the Antients yea as St. Hierome witnesseth most of the Doctors of the Westerne Churches were of that minde So that it seemeth this opinion was as commonly received among them there as the other now amongst us Lastly 21. there were some that wavered between these two opinions not knowing which to take and of this minde was St. Augustine and Eucherius August Epist 157. who durst neither condemne those that thought it was spiritually propagated from the Parents nor yet those that held it to be immediately created by God Lib. 2. Cap. 56. The one professing in one of his Epistles that he could not finde any certainty of the soules Originall throughout the Canonicall Scriptures in which doubt he also continued to his death as appeareth plainly in his Retractations CHAP. IV. The state of the question propounded with the chiefe difficulties on both sides The censure and choise HEreby it appeareth sufficiently both how much difficultie is in this question of the soules originall and how imperfect our knowledge is therein But since all the rest are most absurd erronious and some blasphemous and two onely as most probable claime
of the man so it s owne form is the specificall difference or individuall existence which it hath as a reasonable soule in the coÌ„mon nature of man proceeding from the concurrence of all those causes 5. InstrumeÌ„tall And herein that body or rather the corporal seed the perfection of the body especially the pure spirits therein wherewith the soule naturally unites it selfe 1 by reason of sympathy and familiarity which is betweene them becomes an assisting or instrumentall cause Lastly 6. Finall the finall cause is the preservation of mankinde and his owne glory by them according to his first institution Now all this is done in conception soule and body beginning both in the same moment of time Time and neither being before or after other And thus we may conceive how the soule is propagated of the soule after a spirituall manner as the flame of one Lamp lighteth another by promotion or multiplication being blowne by the power of God Simile and sed with the oyle of the animall spirits And that this may not seeme strange Conclusions concerning the soules originall before I come to the proofe of it I desire that these few Conclusions might be considered 1. Of the union of the body and soule First that there is no such diametrall opposition betweene the soule the body but that they may be naturally coupled together Indeed the soule is far from such a grosse visible substance as the body is compounded of yet is it not without some spirituall kind of substance and that not altogether simple Neither doe I think the creatures of God to differ so much in kinde as in degree Besides it is manifest that the soule is of the lowest degree of spirits and not onely capable of but coveting union with corporall natures and so according to the course of nature may as well be propagated with them as united with them Secondly 2. Of the union of the soule with God as any nature is more excellent so it hath a neerer union with that first being wheron it depends is more immediately moved by it Now because all natures doe subsist and are sustained more or lesse immediately by that first being according as their natures are neerer unto it or farther removed from it answerable whereunto the worke thereof is more or lesse immediate in them Hence it followeth that the soule being more excellent and confequently neerer to God than any corporall creature can be as he workes more immediately in them than in others after they are made so by like reason it followeth that he doth so in their first propagation 3. The efficient cause in generation Thirdly there is nothing generated in the world but it hath some externall efficient cause Now this in corporall generations all grant to be the heavens which being of a more excellent nature send downe their influences to inferiour creatures by vertue of which next unto God they continue their kinds But the soule being a spirit is above all corporall creatures and being made by Gods owne immediate hand onely at first it can have no other externall efficient but the same immediate power still So that whereas it is commonly said Sol homo generant hominem it may more truly be said Deut homo generant aniâ—nam Neither is it absurd that man should have two efficients it is rather an honour that God nature should concurre together in his generation 4. The true cause of mortality Fourthly Mortality proceeds not so much from generation as divine malediction For had not â—an sinned it is confessed that â—he body should have beene immortall as well as the soule Alâ—hough therefore the soule were compounded and generated after a corporall manner without any immediate act of GODS power none of which are true yet if would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall 5. The cause of immortalitie Lastly Whatsoever hath the being immediately from God cannot be annihilated but by the same immediate power so that it is the act of his immediate power that is the proper cause of immortalitie and hence it appeareth that though the body which is produced by the power of nature onely may dye and perish yet the soule whose production is not without an immediate act of the Deity can never dye but by the same power omnipotent by which it lived How man is sinfull and the soule immortall Thus then it appeareth that though the soule be propagated in the manner aforesaid yet it is neverthelesse immortall since it is neither made of any corporall matter nor produced onely by the power of nature and God is never the more faulty though wee be sinfull because being wholy in Adam according to the just law of nature so sinning potentially in him he with us and we with him being then actually one the whole nature of mankinde is thereby so corrupted and this pure ordinance of God in producing soules so defiled that corruption passeth in the very conception and we are stained with originall sinne and so are liable to Gods eternall wrath Psal 51.5 Eph. 2.3 Rom. 11.16 Mat. 7.18 Gal. 6.7.8 so soone as we begin to be It being a just and necessary law in nature that as the roote is such are the branches and look what the tree is such must the fruit be CHAP. VI. Scriptures to prove the soules immediate creation answered The methode and reason of it HAving thus declared the manner of the soules creation or rather procreation for the better satisfying of the sober minded and silencing such as shall be wilfully contentious it behooveth me in the next place more fully to explaine prove the same Wherefore after this generall entrance having presumed to determine this so intricate a question that wee may have the freer passage my next indeavour shall be to cleare the same by removing out of the way such obstacles and objections as may seeme to oppose it And the rather because they are such as whereby I shall best explaine my selfe and shew that it may be so and so afterward prove the more clearely that it is so and thereby also take away that prejudice wherewith mens minds are forestalled before I proceed to the proofe of it Objections marshalled Here therefore I must first encounter with a whole army of Arguments that seeme to be set in battaile aray against me and then pitch a new field of reasons to maintaine what I have spoken The arguments that come marching against me seeme to be ranged in two severall battalions the former mainly intending to fight for the immediate creation of the soule the latter altogether against the propagation of the soule Those that most establish the soules immediate creation are of two sorts partly Testimonies of Scripture and partly reasons drawne from them Being thus greatly beset with enemies I have notwithstanding great hope of victory not onely because I have before well
man generates the whole man after a manner convenient to either nature 1. The soule supernaturall The first objection is that the soule is supernaturall and nature cannot produce any thing above nature But first it cannot be properly said that the soule is supernaturall It is indeed above elementary natures and therefore I also deny that it can be propagated of or by the body alone Againe I say not that the whole man can beget his like according to that common manner whereby other creatures are generated but by the supernaturall power of GOD assisting him And so though it were supernaturall yet it is not against nature that it should be propagated seeing as it is supernaturall so it is supernaturally propagated 2. Spirits cannot propagate Secondly It is objected that the soule is a simple spirit like unto Angels and therefore as one Angell cannot beget another so neither can soules First I answer 1. that we might with as good reason reason thus soules are like unto Angels and Angels cannot be united with bodies therefore soules cannot 2. Homo generat nec materiam nec formam sed totū compositum Secondly I doe not say that one soule doth beget another but one man another For generation is not of matter or forme onely but of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme Thirdly though soules are of a simple spirituall substance as are Angels in respect of elementary yet even Angels themselves and much more mens soules are not without a spirituall kinde of composition For to be simply simple is proper onely to the nature of God Fourthly Mens soules are of a farre more inferiour nature and so are more compounded than the nature of Angels and very fit it was that they should be so that they might be the more sutable to corporall natures with whom it pleased the Creator to unite them Lastly We see it is the will of God that soules should be produced with bodyes one after another in a naturall order to the worlds end and therefore hath conferred his efficient power for the effecting thereof from the beginning none of all which can be affirmed of Angels And now let reasō or any reasonable man judge whether it will follow that because one Angell neither doth nor can beget another therfore man cannot beget man yea God cannot by man produce one soule out of another though after a metaphysicall manner as for the reasons aforesaid we cannot throughly conceive 3. The soule is immateriall Of the same kinde is that objection that the soule is immateriall and the reason stands thus Whatsoever is made must be either of nothing or of some matter pre-existing now the soule is without matter and therfore cannot be propagated but must needs be immediately created of nothing But I deny the soule is altogether immateriall for although it hath no elementary matter yet it hath spirituall matter For all created spirits being compounded of act and potency have a kinde of similitude with corporall natures both in regard of matter and forme yea even Angels themselves But by a kinde of transcendency their matter is as our forme and their forme as the forme of our forme which because we want fitter words may indifferently be called spirituall matter and forme which doe best of all agree with the inferior nature of the soule And if it be said The spirituall matter of the soule it can have no such spirituall all matter because then it must be of such a nature as may receive contrary formes as we see in the generation of all other creatures by reason whereof the soule shall be made corruptible I answer first that though it be so in elementary generations yet it followeth not in spirituall compositions seeing their matter is of an higher kind Secondly Though nature cannot produce one soule put of another but by a corruptible course yet it followeth not but the God of nature may Thirdly as the soule to speake properly consists rather of power than any parts so the propagation is rather by promotion then than any decision Fourthly as the soule hath its essence more in the power and faculty than in the matter of it so more is to be ascribed to the efficient than to the materiall cause more to God than to man and yet that according to the course of nature too Lastly as man is the perfection of the creatures so his is the perfection of generation It is no strange thing therefore but very fitting that there should be somewhat in it transcending the common course as namely that one immortall nature should be derived from another by such a kind of generatiō as is very neere a creation by vertue of that first ordination and continual assistance of the father of spirits on whom the soule hath so neere a dependence 4. The soule corruptible Againe it is objected that the soule is incorruptible and it is a rule in nature Generatio unius est corruptio alterius the generation of one is the corruption of another Now if in every generation there must be a corruption seeing the soule cannot be corrupted it cannot be generated neither But first if this corruption should be graunted in the generation of the soule it is onely in termino a quo which cannot hinder the immortalitie of the soule that is propagated neither doth it belong to the soule that doth propagate for the generaration is of the soule generated not of the soule generating Againe what manner of corruption is that which is here meant A perishing indeed but such an one is rather a perfecting For in generation the seed is not corrupted by putrefaction but by perfection that is it ceaseth to be that which before it was and is made that which it was not because the potentiall being is turned into actuall being seed into a creature so that the thing is the same that it was before though not after the same manner that before it was and thus I graunt there is a corruption in the soules generation namely it ceaseth to be in power onely when it is in act and why then there is not something in man that is not the soule but rather the seminary of the soule as the seede is of the body wee shall heare afterwards 5. It can subsist by it selfe Another argument is taken from the power that the soule hath to subsist by it selfe without the body after this manner if the soule cannot be produced without the body then can it not live without the body and if the bodies generation be the cause of producing it the bodies corruption must also cause the death of it but the soule can live without the body and cannot be corrupted by it and therefore is not generated neither with nor by the body These things thus hudled up together are partly true and partly false for first there is not nor ever was there a soul produced without a body that
resemblance in this case the soule of man may well be compared to a spirituall flame united to the body by the spirits as the flame of the Lamp by the oyle now as in the lighting of a Lamp every touch of fire doth not kindle it but as after blowing and fit applying of fire thereunto it sometimes flameth with a touch so the soule is not kindled at every conjunction of seedes but onely then when as I said before it is blowne by the efficient power of God which meeting with all other naturall causes out of the matter of these flames applied this new heavenly flame the soule is produced And as in that elementary inflammation the Lamp is not turned into the flame but inflamed by another so the corporall seede is not turned into the soule but informed with a soule by others Which soule being a spirituall flame not nourished by any elementary matter as the other is nor kindled without that everlasting breath whence it first came it can never after be extinguished as the other may And hence it commeth to passe not onely that soules perish not when any seede is lost but also that in case mans seede be mingled with other creatures as if sometimes happeneth such unkindly conceptiōs are never informed with reasonable soules not onely for that there is a want in the concurrence of all naturall causes but because God doth not conferre his efficient power but where and when he pleaseth To conclude therefore it appeareth that soules are neither lost nor choaked in the wombe nor yet constrained to live alone without bodyes when the seede proves not effectuall for then there is no soule produced I will not say but there may be fire but in that case I dare say there is no such flame kindled CHAPTER X. How one soule can proceede from two soules THe former objection being taken away 2. Obj. That the soule must be mingled of the parents soule we are to proceed to the second which is that if the soule be traduced from the parents it must needs be as well from the mothers soule as the father and if from both then either there must be two soules or else two soules must be mingled together and so grow into one both which are no lesse than impossible to which although it seemes unanswerable these things which shall be spoken being throughly considered I trust will give sufficient satisfaction For first why might wee not for the same cause say that there must be two bodyes also one from the father and another from the mother and if it be said that one partakes of both how comes it to passe then that it is sometimes like the father onely sometimes onely like the mother yea oftentimes a son like the mother and a daughter like the father In all other things most contrary to that part from whence the sex is received And if it must be confessed that the worke of nature herein is above reason what wonder if it be so in the soule also yea why should it not be so in that much rather than in this and if the former draw us onely to an admiration but not to a negation of if because the thing is apparent why should not the latter doe so also seeing in nature it is no lesse manifest then the former both being brought forth together as wee see To come a little neerer the matter One creature cannot be made of two souls I would first of all demand how it commeth to passe that among all living creatures of two divers seeds that is to say of the male and female is notwithstanding generated but one creature of the one kinde Since as Philosophers truely teach the species of things cannot be mingled no more than soules Vide Scal. de subti exer 268. and the essence of every thing is indivisible and two formes cannot be made one Now seeing the seede of any creature conteines in it both matter and forme thereof and is the same in potentiâ as they speake differing from the creature it selfe onely so much as power differeth from act that is ability to be or doe from being or being done how therefore can it possibly be that one creature can be produced from two seedes in univocall generations seeing also that vegetative nature have therefore but one seede These reasons made Aristotle deny that females had any seede at all being onely as the ground wherein seede is sowen Now if this be true the point is cleare without any farther opening for then the soule proceeding from the soule of the father onely there shall not need be two soules nor one mingled of two How the soule is from both as both are one But this is denied therefore some further answer is to be sought out For though the sex proceed not from the sex yet they say if this were true neither by the course of nature could ever be propagation by both Be it so yet I say that as two seeds produce but one creature because the seeds of male and female though they be two in number are but one kind else there must be two bodyes also so it is cōcerning the soule more plainly I say The seede of both but one seede that as the seede of either apart cannot properly be called seed-seed because neither of them alone conteines the matter and forme of the creature and is not Animal in potentiâ but at the instant of conception when both seedes are so mingled that therein is conteined the power of producing the like then onely it is rightly called seede and before onely because it may be thus for that is to be actually seede to have this potency in it so as the seede is properly but one in all sensitive creatures aswell as in vegetative in that sense that theirs is so in like manner I say that the spirituall seede of the soule if by way of resemblance I may so call it is not in the severall seede of either sex for there is no such materiall or locall division but rather in both when but one For in generation wee may not conceive one act to be made of two but two in act doe make one The mystery of which union lyes in this that the nature is one and the sexes two which againe united in one produce a third For by the spirituall seede of the parents soules What the soules seed is how generated I doe not meane any seperated matter as the bodies is but far otherwise namely that potentiall vertue in the parents soules which in conjunction uniting their forces together out of their owne matter doe enforme their seede with their nature that is a soule apprehended and united by the spirits therein It being the ordinance of God that mans nature should be distinguished into two sexes that by the more forcible union of both the whole kinde might be preserved And because the soule is rather facultie than matter
left destitute and if but a part then it will follow that the essence of God is divisible Zanch. de trin Eloh par 2. l. 3. cap. 7. answers the same thus that he receiveth the whole essence and yet the Father hath it all still For saith he spirituall natures whilest they are communicated are neither wholly taken away nor anything at all diminished His words be these Res enim spirituales dum communicantur neque tolluntur penitus neque etiam imminuuntur Neither can it be said that this is proper to God seeing he affirmes it of all spirituall natures indifferently yea what else can be meant by the indivisiblenesse of the soule but that it is of such a nature as cannot be diminished by taking ought from it else how should it differ from corporall natures for even they cannot be diminished if nought be taken from them yet I say not that the soule can be parted at all after the manner of dividing corporall natures but this I say as the essence and forme of every creature is indivisible no lesse than the soule and yet they can out of themselves propagate their like without making their forme or essence divisible so may man produce his like without dividing his form or essence which is his soule For seeing the forme of a beast as it is so is as much indivisible as mans soule and experience proves that they notwithstanding communicate their formes to their issue why also may not parents give soules to their of-spring without dividing their own especially considering man is the most excellent creature who must needs therefore excell in this faculty as well as in others Neither can it be said The soule not full of soules that then his soule must be full of soules no more then that other creatures should therfore have in them many of their own kinds because they beget many for as Scaliger well answers Scal. exer 6. sect 10. there is in that one sufficient power for the generating of many and so much for those objectiōs which are taken from the matter conceived I proceed now to those that concerne the manner of conception CHAPTER XII How the manner of conception can stand with the soules generation TOuching the manner of conception Objectiōs three things especially are and may be objected First it is doubted whether conception be in the act of generation or afterwards Secondly it should seeme by this that the soule is imperfect at the first and grows by degrees with the body Lastly it may be questioned how superfetation and the conception of twinnes can stand with this manner of the soules propagation And if these also can be well cleared there is nothing more materiall worth the questioning 1. Whether conception be in generation First I say it is a question amongst the learned whether conception be at the first union of seeds or no for as some Physitiās write there must be a certaine concoction and preparation of the seede before conception First of all I might answer that the ordinance of God herein is so wonderfull as passeth all mens understandings so as none can say directly how it is either for the soule or for the body it being one of those things which David professeth was too wonderfull for him Psal 139. vers 6. and therefore much more for us And yet if we make no questiō of the conception of the body though we cannot conceive the manner how why should we be more doubtfull and inquisitive about the soule of which we know we are lesse able to conceive 2. That the soule begins with the creature Secondly I answer that though it should be granted that the more grosse and corporall parts of the seede doe as indeed they do require time before they can be throughly mixed knit together to make a perfect conception yet in reason it must needs be that the more spirituall parts and chiefly the soule is conceived in the first instant I meane a small moment of time and that in the beginning at the first meeting and union of the seeds of both sexes And thus it must needs be not only because spirituall natures are more quick and subtill and so move in lesse time than corporall and therefore may doe that in a moment which the other cannot doe but in a longer time whence it is that in eating and drinking wee see the spirits are refreshed and the man strengthened immediately after he hath eaten before ever the meat can be concocted but also experiēce teacheth that in the breeding of all creatures the internall parts are perfect before the externall the more spirituall parts of the body before those that are more grosse and corporall and therefore it followeth by like reason that the spirits in man have their perfection before the body and the soule before the spirits for there is no doubt but nature observes the same order in the beginning that she doth in the continuance of her worke there being one and the same cause of both Againe be it that there is such a concoction in conception as in respect of the body questionlesse there is yet it cannot be denied but the corporall parts are prepared perfected by the other which must needs therefore be first and in the first instant for that which beginneth must of necessitie be in the beginning because all that is done afterward is by vertue of that power wherewith it was informed at first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that power becoms the first act of the conceived fruit and is the very soule of the creature wherewith if the seede be not informed at the beginning all comes to nothing at the end And hence it is that if all causes doe not fitly concurre together for the forming the seede with the soule at first by whose working it may proceed to perfection afterward the whole worke is frustrated The consideration whereof may teach us what the reason in nature should be that there is more failing in the conception of man than of other creatures Namely because the soule being of a more excellent nature in man requires a more fit proportion and due temper of all meanes before such a heavenly flame can be kindled and the seede informed and united therwith then is necessary for the production of any other creature whatsoever Now this very beginning only is properly conception all that followeth afterward being nothing but a continued perfecting of this beginning by insensible degrees which not nature but reason hath distinguished into conception forming quickning c. to every of which that time is allotted wherein that worke most appeares though natures work be one and the same from the beginning 2. Whether the soule be imperfect at first But here it will he objected that if the soule be in the seede at the first conception it must needs be very weake and imperfect at the first and so growing and increasing with the
reines 2. Psal 139.13.15.16 thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in a secret place and curiously wrought as in the lowest parts of the earth thine eyes did see my masse or whole substance yet being imperfect and in thy booke all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them To omit the omission although it is very unlikely that Job and David here describing so precisely the manner of mans conception breeding bringing forth into the world wherein Gods power wisdome 〈◊〉 1. â—â— and goodnesse is most of all to be magnified should pretermit that wonderfull worke of the creation c infusion of the soule if it had beene knowne and beleeved in their dayes this onely I would know how if the soule be immediately created by God they could so pereÌ„ptorily without any exception or limitation affirme that the whole man was formed in the wombe powred out as milke curdled like cheese c. which that they both joyntly affirme will plainly appeare if we coÌ„sider these three things Man or me secret place and masse or substance For the first it is manifest they doe not herein speake of their owne persons onely as being a matter proper to them alone but in this they ranke themselves with all mankinde so as man here signifies all mankinde male and female as Moses uses the word soule and body Gen. 1.27 5.1.2 and one as well as the other When therefore they both expresly affirme that man is conceived in the wombe it followeth that all men and womens soules have heir originall together with their bodyes As for the terme secret place it signifieth the wombe of the mother where the childe is conceived which is expresly named where he saith thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe therefore when David saith he was woÌ„derfully formed in a secret place he intimateth that the conception of the whole man is made in the wombe Lastly the word masse or substance which he addeth afterwards makes it yet more manifest for it signifieth all whatsoever is in man which is also proved by the words that follow after for he saith that this whole masse or substance of man which is formed in the wombe was described in the booke of Gods providence and who dare deny but soule as well as the body was from all eternitie knowne unto the providence of God for it is not meant of the members of the body only but according to the true meaning of the words in the originally all things whatsoever in man is brought forth in continuance of time which before was not So that from these Scriptures I conclude thus If whole man with his whole masse or substance be conceived in the wombe of his mother then his rationall soule together with his body is propagated out of or by vertue of the seede But whole man together with his whole masse or substance is conceived in the wombe of his mother therefore the rationall soule together with the body is brought forth by vertue and power of the seede 9. Davids confession Ninthty Like unto these also is that other speech of the Prophet David where he confesseth that not his body onely but he himselfe both soule and body was conceived in sin So are his words Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sin did my mother conceive me Whence it appeareth not onely that the whole man is conceived in the wombe but that he is bred and borne in sin yea corrupt and sinfull even from the very first conception which as wee shall afterward see could not possibly be if the soule were immediately created by God And least we should not take knowledge of this or knowing if think it more strange than true he setteth before it this speciall note of observation Behold as being a matter worthy to be knowne and beleeved of all men Jeremies approbation Tenthly The Prophet Jeremy likewise or rather the Lord by the Prophet speaketh thus Before I formed thee in the wombe I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the wombe I sanctified thee Whence also it appeareth not onely that the whole man the soule as well as the body is formed in the wombe but also that the soule is present and in some sanctified by grace as all are corrupt by nature even from the beginning for so it may well be understood that Jeremy was sanctified Luk. 1.15.41 as John Baptist also was with the gifts of the holy Ghost even from his mothers wombe yea before he was borne even from the time of his first forming in the wombe And seeing such sanctification and speciall knowledge of God cannot be ascribed to a body without a soule it will follow that as all are sinfull and some in part sanctified even from the very conception neither of which can be without a soule so all doe receive both soule and body together at the very first conception 11. Salomons resolution Eleventhly Hereunto may be added that of Salomon which was before alledged to prove the contrary where he saith Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was Eccl. 12.7 and the spirit shall return to God that gave it That is at death the body returns to the earth whereof it was first made when God formed man of the dust of the ground and the soule returnes to God who first breathed into Adams nostrils the breath of lives Now if Salomons meaning be that looke as the body ariseth from the earth so the soule comes from God whence some would inferre the immediate creation of the soule it holds much more strongly that the soule is not immediately given of God but mediately by the meanes of nature seeing we have not our bodies neither immediatly from the earth but mediately by propagatioÌ„ from Adam from whom both soule and body is communicated to posterity and both by the gift of God To conclude therefore as our bodyes come from the dust so doe our soules from God but our bodyes come by propagation from Adam and therefore by this argument so doe our soules soules also 12. Zacharies testimony Zach. 12.1 Lastly That of the Prophet Zachary before objected to the contrary serves also notably for the confirmation of this mediate manner of the soules propagation his words be these The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him Now to forme in the Scripture never signifieth to create of nothing as God did in the beginning but to frame of some matter pre-existing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1.1.2.7 as when the Lord formed Adams body of the dust of the ground For though indeed creating be sometimes put for forming yet forming is never put for creating of nothing Seeing therefore the Lord formeth the soules of men of some matter it must be either
of the soules of the parents or of his own essence they being neither bodies nor Angels but the latter is impossible and therefore it must needs be the former Againe the Prophet saith not without him as if it were first made and then infused but within him So that in saying the Lord formeth the spirit of man within him he doth evidently declare 1. Of matter that there is some matter within man whereof the Lord formeth the soule than which what in so few words can so fitly and fully expresse the manner of the soules propagation being formed in conception of the spirituall matter of the parents soules by the power and vertue of the seede in generation And yet not meerely by the power of nature for in the last place it is to be observed that he saith the Lord formeth it For he indeed is the externall efficient the nature of the soule being of that height that without an immediate act of his providence it cannot be produced Whence it is that in the production of the soule though it be not a creation it is as neere to a creation as can be and though it be by propagation yet it is not meerly by propagation but some way above it and so it is in a manner a kinde of meane betweene creation and propagation For according to these words of the Prophet the soule is formed of the spirituall matter of the parents soules within the conceived fruit not without the omnipotent power of God So that by all these testimonies it appeareth I thinke sufficiently that this doctrine went currant in the time of Adam Abraham Moses David and the Prophets and I beleeve never was once questioned in those first ages of the world CHAP. XIV Testimonies out of the new Testament proving the soules propagation THis doctrine is no lesse if not much more clearely revealed and fully confirmed in the new Testament also 1. S. Paul For first the Apostle Saint Paul saith as plainly as can be that all men in their whole persons both were in Adam and sinned in him Death saith he passed by one man upon all men in whom all sinned Where he maketh no such division of soule and body one from one place and another from another as men have now invented but he saith plainly the whole man Rom. 5.12 yea all men who consist of soules I am sure as well as bodyes were in Adam yea and sinned in him too which is absurd to say and impossible to be without soules What would we yea what can we have more plainly spoken Is it not then high presumption to say no worse of it for men thus to sever what God hath joyned together without apparent warrant from his word how much more then in this for which it is confessed there is no warrant there at all And yet least any man should be mistaken as thinking the whole man may well enough be said to be in Adam though not in other of our parents by I know not what imaginary imputation because he was the stocke of all mankinde or rather of the bodyes of all mankinde the holy Ghost I say foreseeing our aptnesse to erre to take away all exception saith the very same concerning other Fathers also The Author to the Heb. Heb. 7.1 as that Levi together with all his sonnes was yet in the loynes of his Father grandfather yea and great grand-father Abraham when Melchisedeck men him and which is more paid tithes in him So that by the testimony of the Apostle Vâ—rs â— Abrakam is to be reckoned in the number of those that did propagate the whole man soule and body together and for that cause paid tithes for his posteritie while they were yet in his loynes And if Isaaâ— Jacob and the whole tribe of Levi were once in the loynes of Abraham we need not doubt but we were all in like manner once wholly in Adam and consequently are now wholly propagated from him 2. The Angell Gabrell Againe that we may not deny it unlesse we will deny Christ and our owne salvation The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ as concerning his humanitie was the sonne of the virgin Mary and so of David his Father for so said the Angell Gabrell being sent unto her Luk 1.31 32. Thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and againe the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David Neither is it sufficient to say his body came from them for the Apostle plainly affirmeth Rom. 1.3 that he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh Where flesh is figuratively put for his whole humanity both soule and body as themselves confesse Per syâ—ocdochâ—n Neither can it be denyed for it is there opposed to his Divinitie as the words immediately following doe manifestly declare and all Interpreters acknowledge Whence it necessarily followeth that the soul of our Saviour was the seede of David even the fruit of his loynes as well as his body 3. S. Peter Act. 2.30 as St. Peter witnesseth for since the holy Ghost affirmeth it why should we feare to do it yea why should we not feare to doe otherwise Is it not safer to follow such a guide than to run a way by our selves for which we have no warrant And seeing as the Apostle elsewhere affirmeth Heb. 4.15 He was made like unto us in all things except sinne why should wee make any doubt but it is so with us also as it was with him Especially considering the whole currant and full streame of the Scriptures run this way even from the beginning And not onely concerning him as where it is said Gen. 3.15 22.18 the Seede of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 5.10.11 as we heard before but also all other places speaking of his or our generation comprehends both soule and body under the name of seede 1 Chron. 1 2 3 c. Mat. 1. Luk. 2. Mat. 19.6 without any exception making the soule no lesse the seede of man than the body and the body no more than the soule and neither of them more or lesse propagation than the other and this throughout the whole Scripture without any the least word to the contrary And therefore I say againe let no man dare to seperate what God hath so joyned together 4. Our Saviour himselfe Lastly Unlesse we will make God the Author of sin and consequently deny God that made us we must confesse the truth of this doctrine proved from those words of our Saviour where speaking both of the naturall and the new birth of man he saith Ioh. 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Whence I reason thus If the soule were immediately created by God it should not be flesh that is corrupt and
sinfull but spirit that is pure and holy For whatsoever comes immediately from God he makes it pure good yea Gen. 1.3 all things very good But man from his very beginning is corrupt and sinfull because he is borne of flesh for saith our Saviour of the whole man that being borne of the flesh he is flesh Eph. 2.3 and therefore the whole man hath need of a second birth that he may be borne of the spirit Either therefore we must deny originall sin or else make God the Author of evill if the soule be immediately created by him But seeing it is manifest we are borne of flesh and are by nature children of wrath and it is impious blasphemy once to imagine that God is the Author of sin I feare not to conclude that the soule is not borne of the spirit I meane created by God but of the flesh that is propagated by man The conclusion of the divine Testimonies Thus then for divine testimonies we have produced no lesse than a whole Jury of witnesses first God himselfe then Adam Moses Job David Salomon Jeremy Zachary Peter Paul the Angell Gabrell and our Saviour Christ himselfe and if humane Testimonies would serve the turne it were not hard to shew more than twelve Legions of Saints learned and unlearned that have lived and dyed in this beliefe It being the received doctrine of the westerne Churches in Saint Hieromes time as was before declared but if these will not satisfie much lesse would those and therefore I omit them CHAPTER XV. The propagation proved from the Doctrine of Originall sinne Reasons proving the soules propagation BEsides the Testimonies of Scripture this mediate manner of the soules propagation may farther be demonstrated by reasons drawne from them whereof there are two onely most materiall and indeed necessary to be considered the one concerning the doctrine of originall sin and the other touching the incarnation of our Saviour which two being the maine difficulties in this question the one hindering the soules immediate creation the other the immediate propagatiō therof if these two can be cleared but especially if both doe agree together to confirme this doctrine there will remaine no more place of disputation about it and therefore I purpose to insist so much the longer in them both 1. Originall sinne And for the better clearing the first reason drawne from the Doctrine of Originall sin I will first make way to it by a generall description of these three things First Originall sinne Secondly Creation Thirdly Propagation and then apply it particularly to the proving of the point in hand l. From the nature of the sin descending 2. From the goodnesse of God in creating 3. From the course of nature in propagating Of all which I will speake as briefly and plainly as I can and according to that divine light which is revealed in the Scriptures First therfore it must be shewed out of the Scripture whether there be any originall sin or no and what it is For the first that the streame of mans being first poysoned in Adam the fountaine hath infected every man that comes into the world with sinne is manifest through the whole Scripture Proofes out of the Scripture By one man namely Adam sin entred into the world and death by n = a Rom. 5.12 sin in the day that he did eate of the forbidden fruit wee began to die the n = b Gen. 2 17 death yea n = c Rom. 5.14 even Infants that had not actually sinned yet were tainted with originall sin so that in Adam all dye n = d 1 Cor. 15.22 because in Adam all did sin n = e Rom. 5.12 Hence it was that by and by after all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were onely evill continually n = f Gen 6.5 yea evill even from his youth n = g Gen. 8.21 And now who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane n = h Iob 14.4 And what is man that he should be cleane n = i Iob 15.14 and he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous sayth Job Hence even David confesseth of himselfe I was borne in iniquitie and in sin did my n = k Psal 51.5 mother conceive me and of others he saith the wicked are estranged from the wombe n = l Ps 58.3 they goe astray as soone as they are borne Esay also calleth man a transgressor from the wombe n = m Isa 48.8 and Jeremy saith the heart of man is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked n = n Ier. 17.9 hence also it is that the Apostle saith Wee are by nature children of Wrath n = o Eph. 2.3 and by the offence of one the fault came upon all n = p Ro. 5.18 men to condemnation And to conclude our Saviour saith plainly that which is borne of the flesh is flesh n = q Ioh. 3.6 Ioh. 3.3.5 and except a man be regenerate and borne againe he cannot enter into nor see the Kingdome of God Reasons to prove it Besides Reason teacheth that like begets like as touching the substance and accidents proper to the kinde 1. according to the Rule Generatum sequitur naturam generantis Beasts bring forth beasts Serpents serpents and sinfull man a sinfull of-spring We cannot gather grapes of thornes Mat. 7.16 nor figges of thistles but an evill tree bringeth forth evill fruit and corrupt Adam sinfull men otherwise how could Infants justly be punished with death seeing death is the wages of sinne And why were Infants circumcized and women purified after child-birth under the law but to shew that all that commeth of mans seed is defiled with sin Againe cōmon experience sheweth the fruit of this bitter roote to bud forth in childrē even from their very cradles and that by inclination before they can learne by imitation The necessitie also of our regeneration proves it for if by our first birth we were not corrupt then should not the second be necessary to salvation Lastly the double grace which we receive from the second Adam Christ Jesus namely Justification Regeneration shews that there floweth a double evill from the first Adam namely the guilt and corruption of nature If we had not this double sinne we should not need this double remedy What originall sin is And now that we see we are thus infected let us inquire a little more narrowly into the nature of it It appeares by that which hath beene said already that all men are become sinfull through Adams sin having lost those now supernaturall gifts wherewith he and we with him were at first indued and in stead therof are all over infected with a venomous qualitie or inclination to all manner of evill causing ignorance and blindnesse in the minde stubbornesse and rebellion in the will disorder in the affections making the senses sensuall and beast-like all the members
that can be and it must needs be and is granted by all that for a good soule to be thus united and set into such a condition is a punishment of Adams sin Now since Gods justice very nature proclaimes that the innocent child shall not be punished for the fathers offence how can a good soule be punished in so high a degree for the sin of another who was not the father of it no nor of the same kinde for Adam was not a soule but a man without injustice yea cruelty in God how justly might such a poore soule complaine of God in this case to be so farre from mercy as to be unjust and how justly may the unjust Anabaptists cry out of us as they doe that we make God the Author of sin The Lord hath taughtus in his word that he abhorres such courses for my part therefore I am so farre from beleeving this doctrine that I quake to thinke of it CHAP. XVIII That a soule newly created by God cannot be infected with Originall sinne 2. Not justly corrupted AS the soule cannot be justly united so being united it cannot be justly corrupted if it be immediately created For whence should the corruption come it must be either from the body or the soule or the union of both but it can be from none of these It is manifest it cannot be from the body for that alone cannot be corrupt and if it could it cannot corrupt the soule and if it could corrupt the soule yet not with originall sin 1. Not by â—he body That the body alone cannot be corrupt and sinfull may easily appeare by many reasons 1. It cannot be corrupt First even the thing it selfe declares that the simple substance of the body is no more capable of vertue or vice than a stone for sin can be onely in a subject that hath power to understand will and move of it selfe which the body of it selfe cannot doe but onely by reason of the reasonable soule So that the body cannot make the soule but it is the soule that makes the body sinfull Rom. 6.13 and so the Apostle also implyeth that our members are the soules instruments of sinne Although therefore the body may be cholericke melancholy c. all the world know that elementary qualities humors and affections are not of themselves sinfull but naturally good and so rather dispose to good than to evill Againe The body hath nothing in it of spirituall nature but onely that which is bodily and therefore cannot have sin which is of spirituall nature it being a spirituall evill even as obedience to God is a spirituall good Moreover if neither plants having life nor bruites having both life sense cannot be said to be sinfull because they want reason much lesse can the body the senslesse and livelesse body of man be infected with sin without the soule Lastly That which the body hath not first with that it cannot infect the soule in being united with it but the body hath not first in it ignorance unbeliefe c. in which the soules tainture originally consisteth and therefore cannot infect the soule thereby in being united with it and consequently not with originall sin neither 2. It cannot corrupt the soule But let it be granted contrary to all reason and truth that the body is first infected with originall sin can the body fasten the same upon the soule Nothing lesse And not onely because it is a spirit and bodies can work onely corporally according to their natures so as the impuritie of the body can neither affect nor infect the purest spirituall soule but also because the soule is the first mover and commander of all actions in the body Now if mens soules be created sound and sincere free from the contagion of sin every way absolute as were the soules of our first parents and so joyned unto their bodies why doe they not by vertue of that divine nature restore the ruine of that building which was defiled by the sin of Adam why doe they not clense and cleanse and purge the blots and filth of the body seeing they doe sit as Judges in the body and rule and guide it according to their owne pleasure If it be said that sin sometimes Obj. begins in the body as Davids eye when he saw Bathsheba bathing of her selfe it is easily answered For Ans 1. first the eye as a bodily part seeth not but the soule by the eye Oculus non videt sed anima per oculum Secondly His sin was not at all in seeing her but in lusting after her in his heart soule which lust conceiving I am 1.14 by consent brought forth death in act and therefore in his confession he ascends by this streame to the originall fountaine Psal 51.5 namely that originall sin wherein he was conceived Wherefore if the soule be created good and so infused into the body there is more reason that it should sanctifie the body than that the body should corrupt it and according to this doctrine it may much better be maintained that all men have originall righteousnesse because the soule comes from God than that we have originall sin because the body comes from Adam 3. It cannot corrupt it with originall sin But let this also be granted that the soule is corrupted by yeelding obedience to the body as Adam did to Eve yet we cannot have originall sin ever the more for this for the souls yeelding obedience to the body and following the sinfull motions thereof if any such there be is actuall sin and not that originall corruption wherewith the whole man is infected by descending from the loynes of Adam in whom as the Apostle saith We all sinned Rom. 5.12 and which onely was before proved to be originall sinne Not actually to commit something against the will of God is originall sin but that in-bred home-bred breathing of sin which is the spawne of all sin which if it be seated in the body how it can corrupt that new created pure soule without any provocation or inticement to sin cannot possibly be imagined Againe if Originall sin most properly consisteth in ignorance of minde aversenesse of will and perversenesse of affections none of which can be immediately in the body how can it give these things to the soule and that originall sin consists mainly in these besides the testimony of Scripture and all orthodox Writers it is manifest in reason for that from which actuall sin commeth in that doth originall sin consist now all actuall sin springs from ignorance unbeliefe c. and therefore therein especially originall sin must needs consist To conclude seeing the body alone cannot possibly have originall sin nor give that which it hath not Originall sin cannot possibly come by the body 2. Not by the soule Neither can it proceed from the soule if it be created good but it will be said it may for in the instant
end and use of it is in all things naturally to worke mediately by the body For the soule is not such a strange nature dwelling in the body miraculously as some imagine but lovingly united by a sweet union and fit concordance in nature And therefore without question as the nature use end and all ordinary faculties and workes are naturally and mediately by these corporall natures so also is the originall and could not otherwise have such union and sympathy with the body But yet as the nature and workes also are some wayes extraordinary without and above all elementary natures so proportionably thereunto God hath an extraordinary and supernaturall worke in producing of it 5. The faculty of propagation seated in the soule Another reason that the soule is propagated may be because the faculty of propagation belongs as well to the soule as the body yea hath originally the chiefe seate in the soule onely For the body alone is but a dead instrument as the pen in the hand of the writer and therefore must needs be in the soule which is the first principle and principall cause of all actions unlesse wee should graunt more soules than one and disturbe yea destroy the uniforme government of nature by placing divers commanders in one body Now if the soule hath a part yea the chiefest power in propagation it were most absurd to say that all is spent in the producing of I know not what brutish thing which is neither nan not beast And seeing according to the rule of reason such as the cause is such also is the effect how can it be but the soule must produce a soule and coÌ„sequently the whole man the whole man 6. The soule present in conception Adde hereunto that the soule doth accompany the seede and perfecteth the body from the very first conception which not onely the ancient Philosophers acknowledge as most agreeable to nature and reason whence it is that nothing is more coÌ„mon with Aristotle Arist deâ— gen anim l. 1. cap. 3. than that the power of the soule is in the seed making its owne house fitly framing the bodily organs and bringing them to the highest perfection that the first constitution of the matter is capable of but even amongst our modern Philosophers and Divines it is acknowledged for such effects cannot be done without a soule as the most acute Scaliger abundantly proveth Scal. Exerc 6. Sect. 5. And if the soule informes the seede at the very instant of perfection when there are as yet no organs is it not more probable that it is mediately propagated with the seede than immediately created by GOD Yes doubtlesse Neither need any doubt how the rationall soule can 〈◊〉 the seede without organs know that the chiefe yea the only immediate organs of the soule are the spirits and these are as well in the seede as in the most perfect body The souls worke in the Embrio Although therefore there are as yet no eyes or eares for the soule to heare or see with yet there is worke enough for it to heate and coole moysten and dry and thereby to seperate and conjoine to thicken and thinne to extend and contract to make rough and smooth to harden and soften these and such other are the workes of the soule whereby it doth ordaine place number and forme the seede For though they be the prime and secondary qualities of the elements yet in such a naturall body all are doâ—â— by the power of the soule and none of all can be done without it 7. God the efficient cause Lastly It appeareth that not nature but God is the efficient cause of the soules procreation because even elementary bodies cannot be produced without a more excellent efficient than themselves For wee see that all naturall things yea every plant that growes out of the earth besides the materiall cause the elements whereof it is compounded and the seede whence it receiveth the forme hath also an externall efficient cause which certainly is the influence of the celestiall Orbes who by causing motion gives it the first hint and power of growing And seeing the soule hath such similitude with these corporall natures that though they have not matter and forme as they have yet having a spirituall kinde of composition which for likenesse justly meriteth the name therefore as the spirituall matter and forme thereof is propagated from the parents by the seede so it must also have a spirituall externall efficient cause more excellent than it selfe which can be no other but the immediate power of God the father of spirits For as all naturall bodyes have an efficient cause correspondent to their natures which in course of nature cannot be good immediately with whose nature they have so small affinitie yea so great contrarietie but these heavenly powers with whom they have such sympathy being of the same corporall nature though of a more excellent temper so the efficient cause of our soules must needs be agreeable to their natures which cannot be the Starres which are far inferior but God who is also a spirit and of a more excellent nature than our spirits even as the Sunne is more glorious than these earthly substances betweene whom there is such sympathy that even as plants welke and fade without the force of their efficients that heavenly lampe the Sunne and the rest of those celestiall orbes but grow and flourish with them so how a soule seperated from God and one united unto his and injoying the beames of his grace is either miserable or happy we know in part but cannot perfectly comprehend CHAP. XXVIII Reasons from other considerations Rarenesse of humane conceptioÌ„ BEsides these arguments taken from the ordinary course of generation and the nature of the soule divers other probable reasons may be produced As first the often failing and indeed rarenesse of humane conception in comparison of other creatures as common experience teacheth Now if the soule be created after the perfecting of the body then the first conception and breeding beeing by the power of nature onely why shoud there not bee as much frequency and certainty in the propagation of mankind as of other creatures This rarenesse of humane conception doth intimate unto us that it is not by the power of nature alone that man is conceived in the wombe but that there is some more speciall worke of God in it than in the generation of other creatures And if it cannot be denyed but God hath such a speciall worke in the conception of man why should we not thinke that the soule hath its beginning then also rather than with reverence be it spoken to put God to a double labour and to set him twice on worke in every man generation 2. God shuld be tyed to nature And this may farther appeare not only by testimony of Scripture which makes conception to be a speciall worke of God and never mentioneth any extraordinary power in the
quickning giving of soules to children as when Rachel rashly cryed oud Give me children or else I dye Jacob gravely answereth Am I in Gods stead And so when Boaz went in unto Ruth it is said the Lord gave her conception but even reason it selfe will evince it For is it not an absurd thing that God should waite our leisures and be set on worke at our pleasures And yet this must needs be if God create soules after the forming of the body for then the former being done by the power of nature God shall be bound to give soules immediately whensoever nature produceth bodyes unlesse hee should suffer children to be born without soules or corrupt and kill their bodyes before they be informed and so indanger their mothers too both which are both against nature and reason Whereas if this mediate manner be admitted this cannot justly be objected for as much as God shall not then produce mans soule according to a particular immediate and new creation but according to his almighty blessing powerfull ordinance and constant conserving providence which though it be somewhat more immediate in this than in other cases yet it is still within the lists of nature nature it selfe so requiring 3. The excellency of mans nature requires it Yea farther it followeth both by divine and naturall reason that as God hath from eternitie decreed concerning man above all creatures both who shall come into the world and at what time therefore accordingly he must needs have a work in mans conception above all other creatures Which what can it be in the course of nature but that he is the immediate efficient of mens soules whereby he blesseth or blasteth furthers or hinders mans conception at the first and so by a speciall providence orders the same according to his owne most wise decree And hence it is that men cannot propagate either what or when they will 4. God and nature should worke in vaine Againe Otherwise this absurditie will also follow that there are many children begotten conceived formed quickned with sense and so well nigh perfected and yet dying before the rationall soule be infused they shall never rise againe at the end of the world that God might be glorified in their salvation or damnation unlesse he should then create new soules for un-informed bodyes And this besides crossing the word of God which teacheth that all that are conceived in sinne must be punished in Christ or themselves for the satisfying of Gods Justice wee must absurdly frustrate the workes both of God and nature notwithstanding neither can doe any thing in vaine 5. Unnatural conceptions voyde of reason Furthermore It is manifest that not nature alone but the efficient power of God is joyned with the propagation of soules because it is wholly denyed to such copulations as are out of kinde For nature alone would make a mixture whereas notwithstanding we see that some kinde of creatures as Apes and Satyres which as it is probable were at first begotten by such unkindly conjunctions are not indued with reasonable soules Or if not they yet it is possible that humane seed should be mingled with other creatures for which cause buggery is forbidden in the Law and yet such issue is altogether soulelesse and voyde of reason although it cannot be denyed but naturall sense may be and is the more perfect in them and so they more craftie than other creatures They therefore make a monstruous and prophane mingle-mangle that would have man propagate his like by the power of nature meerely as other creatures doe 6. Soules infused in adulterous generations On the other side it is plaine also that it is not altogether immediately created by GOD without naturall meanes because it is not denyed to children that are unlawfully begotten for then God should seeme to approve of that which is evill For albeit it is true as it is commonly answered that it is good in God to make stollen corne grow because that order of nature is good though the action of stealing bee naught and there is no reason he should alter that good institution of nature for the personall corruption of some men yet this helpeth them not at all who maintaine the immediate creation of the soule but onely freeth him in regard of this mediate manner and naturall order in propagating soules which is indeed this way sufficiently answered But if as they say there be no naturall order for the soules propagation but they come immediately from God he not being bound to infuse soules but where he pleaseth he cannot be free from tollerating if not allowing and approving of evill in this behalfe Whereas in the other though he be not bound neither unlesse by his owne band yet he may lawfully by the just order of nature 7. Sense ariseth out of the dead elements Moreover Concerning the matter of the soule seeing wee see by daily experience that nature by vertue of Gods first ordination doth out of the dead matter of the elements continually produce so admirable powers as seeing hearing c. yea common sense phantasie memory and all those cogitative vertues which are in brute beasts the manner of which working is above humane reason to conceive how can it seeme strange that the God of nature by his owne speciall assistance should out of that farre more excellent and divine nature in man produce others like unto it though we cannot conceive the manner how Even this well weighed will adde no small credit to this truth amongst the wise The corporall seed a fit instrument Lastly That the corporall seede is a fit instrument for nature to use in so high a worke is manifest enough in as much as it is of a more excellent temper especially the spirits therein being more purely subtle and temperate than they are in any other creature in the world And how this may farther the operation and consequently the propagation of the reasonable soule appeareth in that Elephants who being of a more excellent temper and comming neerer to the nature of man than other creatures doe both live longer and are as I may say indued with more reasonable parts than others So that although the soule cannot arise out of any elementary temper as appeareth by the immortall nature which even naturall reason is able to demonstrate yet there is no question but it may bee instrumentally furthered or hindred thereby yea even in the most excellent workes of reason this beeing indeed one of the maine reasons in nature why one man excelleth another in wisedome Now then seeing the Spirits in humane seed are of such a transcendent nature not meerely corporall but approaching very neere to the nature of the soule whereby they are soone acquainted and easily united and used as the hand of the soule even in the most divine operations of reason why should they not much more be a fit instrument for the conveyance of the soule in naturall generation And