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A90237 Mans mortalitie: or, A treatise wherein 'tis proved, both theologically and philosophically, that whole man (as a rationall creature) is a compound wholly mortall, contrary to that common distinction of soule and body: and that the present going of the soule into heaven or hell is a meer fiction: and that at the resurrection is the beginning of our immortality, and then actual condemnation, and salvation, and not before. : With all doubts and objections answered, and resolved, both by scripture and reason; discovering the multitude of blasphemies, and absurdities that arise from the fancie of the soule. : Also divers other mysteries, as, of heaven, hell, Christs humane residence, the extent of the resurrection, the new creation, &c. opened, and presented to the tryall of better judgments. / By R.O. Overton, Richard, fl. 1646.; Writer, Clement, fl. 1627-1658. 1644 (1644) Wing O629E; ESTC R11330 42,502 47

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Empyreum which the Astronomers have invented for his residence I know no better ground they have for it then such as Dromodotus the Philosopher in Pedantius had to prove there was Divels Sunt Antipodes Ergo Daemones Sunt Coeli Ergo Coelum Empyreum Object 10. Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to God who gave it Eccles 12. 7. Answ By spirit cannot be meant such a thing as the soul except all soules go to God and none to the Devil for it is indifferently spoken of all but by spirit is meant life which hath various expressions in Scripture it is the will of God that dust shal be made man and live and it is done and he liveth and his will that it shall dye and it dyeth or returneth to what it was he withdraweth his communicated power and man ceaseth the spirit shall returne the communication power or faculty of life shall cease to God that gave it in him that communicated or gave it in whom we live move and have our being no otherwise mans spirit or life returneth to God that gave it he taketh away the breath and the creatures dye and returne to their dust Psal 104. 29. for the life of man is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Iam. 4. 14. Object 11. And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Iesus receive my spirit Act. 7. 59. Answ This is a commendation of his life or being into the hands of God in whom with Christ our lives are hid Col. 3. 3. as a full assurance of his hope and faith in the Resurrection that when Christ who is our life should appeare he also might appeare with him in glory For God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Luke 20. 38. And thus and no otherwise was his spirit commended or returned to him that gave it whose spirit goeth forth and we are renewed Psal 104. 30. answerable to that of the two Witnesses into whom the spirit of life from God after they had lien dead three dayes and an halfe entered into them and they stood upon their feet Object 12. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2. 7. Ergo man hath an immortall soul Answ Then so is the foul of a Beast for Solomon saith their breath is all one Eccl. 3. 19. and David reckoning up the creatures and man amongst them saith indifferently of them all God hideth his face and they are troubled he taketh away their breath they dye and returne to their dust Psal 104. 29. and this is further amplified in Gen. 1. 33. to every thing in the Earth wherein there is a living soul c. and cap. 7. 21. 22. all flesh dyed in whose nostrils was the breath of life and Num. 31. 28. all which make no difference betwixt them but as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and man hath no preheminence above a beast For what man is he that liveth and shall not see death or deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Psal 89. 48. Object 13. And it came to passe the Beggar dyed and was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome c. Luke 16. from the 22. to the end Answ There was never such a man as Dives or Lazarus or ever such a thing happened no more then Iothams Trees did walke and talke Iud. 9. 8. but was a Parable to prove that nothing is more effectuall for conversion then the ordinary preaching of the Word by the ministration of the servants of God Further the consequence concerning the soul is but drawn from the literall sence in which sence I shall deny it canonicall Scripture for it makes in that sence more for bodies then the souls present being in Heaven or Hell ver 23. 24. and maketh Abraham the Father of the Damned ver 24. 25. 27. 30. and ver 22. Dives dyed and was buried and yet v. 23. he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham c. and v. 25. he cryed for Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger to coole his tongue which in the literall sence thus applycated must needs be contradictory unlesse his eyes tongue and Lazarus finger was not buried or their souls had corporeall corpulent members which to conceit is ridiculous Therefore from this place the Resurrection of the body before the day of Judgment even as soon as a man is buried may better be proved then such a present soularie enterance into Heaven or Hell Object 14. By which also he went and preached to them in prison Answ By which that is by that whereby he was quickened or raised from the dead his divine nature the God-head as the foregoing words whereon the sence of those depend doth evidence ver 18. Christ once suffered c. death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit ver 19. by which also he went c. So that he went and preached by that whereby he was quickened or raised Therefore the preaching here meant was not by that which was raised but by that which did raise which was ministerially as the following words further evidence shewing to whom he preached even those which were disobedient in the dayes of Noah on whom the long suffering of God waited while the Arke was a preparing those were the spirits here meant the wicked of those dayes which are now in prison that is dead or imprisoned in the Elements Here the grave or death is called a prison as indeed it is for therein all that dye are reserved in the chaines of death the Elements not to be delivered till Judgement Rev. 20. 13. according to Iob. 3. 18. there the prisoners rest together Object 15. Therefore gloryfie God in your body and in your spirit 1 Cor. 6. 20. Answ Before he calleth the body the Temple of the holy Ghost ver 29. and ver 15. the members of Christ which needs must be the whole man and not his bare carcase for in death who can praise the Lord in it can be no habitation for the holy Ghost and therein were they to glorifie Absurd God to make Christ the head of such members were to make God the God of the dead and not of the living therefore by body and spirit is meant whole man aiming at a thorough and perfect sanctification as well in that which respecteth thought the spirit as in that which respecteth action the body inwardly to glorifie God as well as outwardly to flee fornication c. Object 16. I saw under the Altar the soules of them that were slaine for the word of God c. and they cried with a loud voyce c. Revel 6. 10. 11. Answ They were such souls as lay under the Altar flaine or sacrificed or as ver 11. hath it were killed these therefore being dead soules or martyred Saints their cry must be as the cry of the blood of
is variously used upon various occasions It is put for the stomack Prov. 27. 4. for the eyes Ier. 13 17. for the heart 1 Sam. 18. for God Prov. 9. 16. Heb. 10. 38. Ier. 14. 17. for the dead body Psal 16. 10. for the whole man Levit. 7. 19. 4. 1. Acts 7. 14. Num. 15. 39. Rom. 13. 1. Gen. 12. 5. 46. Act. 2. 41. 1 Pet 3. 20. for breath Act. 20. 10. for life Isa 53. 17. Therefore from those places those parts may as well be proved so many Soules or Spirits of Immortality as from those where it is put for Breath or Life its Being be proved or such an immortall existence to be in the body Object 5. For which cause we faint not for though our outward man perish yet the inward is renewed day by day Ergo there is soule and body in man Answ It is not said Though our flesh perish yet our soules is renewed then 't were something to little purpose but it is said our outward man which compared with what is meant by inward man must needs be whole man for by inward man is meant faith or work of grace Rom. 1. 17. 14. 8. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 5. 17. which is no part of naturall man so that without it or its renewing we are men perfect as well as with it Object 6. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the earth Wherefore man hath a soule that goeth presently to Heaven but the beasts to the earth Answ It cannot beare that sense for immediately before he saith their breath is all one there is no difference as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and goeth to one place the dust Therefore if the beasts be reversed into the elements so must mans The meaning I take to be thus that such a wonderfull thing is the breath of a man that breatheth upward and the breath of a beast tkat breatheth downward for Spirit signifieth breath according to that of Ovid Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram Os Homini sublime dedit coelumque videre Iussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultus that its Faculty how it is is past finding out for Art in all her imitations could never touch that secret with her pensill Object 7. Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him who is able to destroy both soule and body in hell Answ This carryes the face indeed of the soules immortality but if the interpretation must be confined to that sence it overthrowes the current of the whole Scriptures Wherefore my opinion of it is that by not able to kill the soul is meant as Luke hath it c. 12. 4 have no more that they can do that is though they have power over this life which is sowen in corruption they have none over that which is raysed in incorruption But rather feare him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell that as Luke hath it after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell This doth not set forth any immortality before the Resurrection but shewes that onely that is in Gods hand and he onely able to touch it that is cast it into Hell That this must be so expounded I further prove from the non-entity of Hell for there can be no casting into Hell before Hell be which though it be ordained of old Isa 30. 33. No Hell till the Resurrection it is but in posse not in esse till the Resurrection For satisfaction it is convenient to declare what we mean by Hell for Hell is diversly used in Scripture It is put for the grave Psal 16. 10. 55. 15. Isa 14. 15. for the Whale in which Ionah was Ion. 2. 2. for Sathans Kingdom leading to Hell Mat. 16. 18. for Satan or his malignant spirits Iam. 3. 6. for the place of the damned Mat. 5. 29. 10. 28. Luke 12. 5. 16. 23. 2 Pet. 2. 4. and this last the place of the damned is that which we meane by Hell and it is likewise variously called as outer darknesse Mat. 22. 13. 23. 33. wrath to come 1 Thes 1. 10. 5. 9. Chaines of darkenesse 2 Pet. 2. 4. Iude 6. eternall fire Iude 23. second death Rev. 20. 16. bottomlesse pit Rev. 9. 2. the place of torment Rev. 14. 10. 20. 10. Lake of fire Rev. 29. 20. 21. 8. everlasting punishment Mat. 25. 41. 46. blacknesse and darknesse for ever Iude 13. Those severall expressions are generally taken to set forth the end of the Reprobate or the execution of Gods wrath upon them Therefore if none of the formentioned places that Hell is put for save that of the place of the damned be taken for Hell then most of those severall expressions suite with it but the expressions in generall grant no immediate execution after this death but imply the contrary as we may see if we examine them First in Mat. 22. 13. where it is called outer darknesse and 23. v. 33. damnation of Hell compared with cap. 25. 41. where it is said Then shall he say unto them on the left hand depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his Angels to this adde 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appeare before the Iudgment Seate of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the flesh whether good or evil and to these adde 1 Thes 1. 10. 5. 9. where it is called wrath to come which thus compared shew plainely it is to come else execution must go before Judgment which in a Common-wealth would be ridiculous injustice e 29. Abs as first to hang men and then judge them At the day of Judgment we all must receive our reward according to our deeds good or bad THEN shall he say unto them on his left hand c. and not before THEN for it cannot be twice received therefore it is fitly called wrath to come and the very divels confirme this themselves Mat. 8. 25. art thou come to torment us before the time which proveth plainly that the time of their torment was not come and if the Divel cannot be believed God further cleares it 2 Pet. 2. 4. For if he spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into Chaines of darkenesse to be reserved unto Iudgment And Iude 6. The Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting Chaines unto the Iudgment of the great day In both which places it is said they are reserved unto Iudgment and Iude ver 7. to the Reprobate is reserved the blackenesse for ever and to this adde Rev. 20. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. which clearly shew that at the day of Judgement both Divels and Reprobate together shall be cast into the Lake of fire Therefore
Abel And the like vision of dead Saints confirmes it as cap. 20. v. 4. 5. And I saw the soules of them that were beheaded for the witnesse of Iesus and they lived and raigned with Christ a thousand yeares but the rest of the dead lived not again till c. whence it is plaine that he beheld the Resurrection or restoration of life unto dead soules even of them that were beheaded but the rest lay dead or lived not again till c. Thus much of illegitimate Objections from Scripture Now to the probation hereof from Procreation or Generation and as near as I can to resolve all occurrent Objections thereon that shall confront CHAP. VI. Of procreation how from thence this Mortallity is proved IT is supposed as I conceive by none that what naturally proceedeth from Man simply by the course of nature can be immortall but must first tast of mortality And therefore there are two sorts of Opinions to maintaine this Heathenish Invention about the soul whereon its immortality is grounded which I shall chiefly encounter the one that it is created and infused at the conception and so only Gods work The other that it is concepted by the woman through the concurrence of the seed of both sexes but not simply by the course of nature but by the supernaturall and extraordinary assistance or efficacy of God in conception more then in other creatures and so partly mans and partly Gods work But that I may utterly demolish the structure of this Invention I shall turne up the foundation of each kind in its place But first I shall speak a word or two in generall of Procreation it self That whole man is generated by man observe That as the whole Tree is potentially in the seed and actually in time springeth from it or as many graines of wheat are in one graine virtually and perfectly actuall in time so in the seed of mankind is whole man potentially and wholly actuall in time or all Adams succession which in time are propagated were wholly in him life and limbs or as it is more common soule and body So that whatsoever in time is actuall by procreation it was at first potentially wholly in its originall Further Generatum sequitur naturam generantis He begat a sonne in his owne image Gen. 5. 3. is not onely philosophically but Theologically true Mat. 7. 16. Iob 4. 14. Therefore mortall Adam must beget mortall children in his owne likenesse soule and body except the soule was no part of his likenesse For that which is immortall cannot generatively proceed from that which is mortall as Christ saith that which is borne of the flesh is as it selfe is corruptible mutable flesh Iohn 3. 6. so then by this mortall flesh cannot be generated an immortall spirit or soule that can subsist by it selfe dissolved from the flesh for if it should in h 32. Abs that act it should goe beyond it selfe which is impossible and thereby more should be done i 33. Abs by man and woman in generation then God did or could doe in the Creation for he neither did or could create any thing greater purer or more excellent of nature then himselfe and such as could subsist without him But if this doctrine be true as Woolner in his Originall of the soul averreth fleshly man by a fleshly generation or mixture of the seed of both Sexes doth beget or conceive something greater purer and more excellent then himselfe an immortall substance an Angelicall entitie the Soule that can subsist without the flesh by which it is which is as fire k 34. Abs without light earth without heavinesse grosnesse c. should be by which they are and further the Effect to be prior dignitate precedent to the Cause as if a man l 35. Abs because a creature should be before his Creator But if it be Replyed that the soule is generated by the soule as the body by the body I Answer then there must be m 36. Abs He soules and She soules for without Sexes is no generation But now to the first sort who say it is by infusion or as the saying is Creando infunditur infundendo creatur To which I Answer that in conception there is corruption or marring according to the proverb corruptio unius est generatio alterius so that if it be by conceiving or creating infused and by infusion concepted or created that is as much to say it is n 37 Abs made in the marring and mard in the making or infused in the marring and mard in the infusion whence followeth that it is neither conceived created nor infused neither made nor mard but must be if it be no man knowes what or how o 38 Abs whether an Angel a Beast or a Monster any thing or nothing Riddle me riddle me what 's this a Soule a Soule Creando infunditur infundendo creatur Secondly if the Soule be a creature infused then Christ did not take the whole manhood from the seed of the woman but worse then a bare p 39 Abs brutish body a dead carcase But Christ was made of the seed of the woman according to the flesh Rom. 1. 3. Act. 2. 30. and was as we are sinne excepted Heb. 14. 15. and this our Image he received wholly from the woman Therefore receiving his whole humanitie from her the soule can be no infused creature 3. That which brake the Serpents head was Christs humanity But the seed of the woman brake the Serpents head Ergo. 4. If we consist of soule and body and are not men without both and receive not our soules from him but are daily created Then Adam q 40 Abs is the father of no man 2. Christ cannot be the r 41 Abs Son of man and so no Saviour because thereby his manhood constitutive part even that which should make him man could not be by the seed of the woman 4. So a man Å¿ 42 Abs is as much a father of fleas and lice which receive their matter from him as of his children 5. Whereas God blessed man and bid him as the rest of the creatures in their kind fill the Earth in his kind with men then he commanded him t 43 Abs to doe more then he had given him power for And so to content nature end supply her imbecility to obey is forced to a daily creation 6. Then God finished not the Creation in * Absurd sixe dayes but rested before hee had done creating Fourthly If the soule be infused it must be at the conception or after the conception If at the conception then every v 45 Abs abortive conception hath an immortall spirit in it and must rise againe If after then there is growth before w 46 Abs there is life which is impossible for the soule is made the vegetive as well as the motive sensitive or rationall part and if this
immortall spirit be something else then we are not conceived x 47 Abs perfect men and as we are conceived so are we borne y 48 Abs trees brutes or I know not what and afterwards are made men if we be men at all and so z 49 Abs Infants that dye in the wombe or in the birth are little better then trees and worse then beasts Fiftly if the soule be not generated with the body but a creature infused into a dead body for they say the soule is forma formans that giveth life and motion to the body Then it is lawfull to be a * Absurd Nigromancer for Nigromancie is nothing but putting a spirit into a dead body and so it is but an imitation of God and God the onely Nigromancer and a 50. Abs all the men in the world but Nigromantick Apparitions whose spirits when they have done the work for which they were put into the bodies desert them as other conjured Ghosts doe Sixtly It is granted that the body considered meerly sensitive cannot sinne and that the body is but an instrument or as the pen in the hand of a Writer to the Soule whereby it acts and moves Therefore if the Soule come immediately from God or there be an immediate work of his in its production then of necessity that immortall thing and not our mortall flesh is Author of all sinne and it onely prone to all sinne and not the flesh no more then a conduite though a meet instrument to convey water is the author or fount of water or prone to spring And so Gods immediate hand b 51. Abs is the cause of all sin that man had better been without this soul for it must needs be some damnable wicked spirit c 52. Abs or some Devil that God puts in him for such as the fruit is such must the tree be but the fruit is damnably wicked Therefore the Soul must be some damnable wicked thing No marvell then if Reprobates must needs sin and be damned since God infuses such a malignant Soul that councels them with Iobs wife to curse God and dye yea such a one as wholy works out their condemnation This is as if a man should d 53. Abs break his horses legs and then knocke out his brains for halting If it be said the soul comes pure from God and it is the body that corrupteth it I Answer that this to excuse God one way makes him like the tyrant Mezentius that bound living men to dead bodyes till the putrefaction Vir. Aen. Absurd and corruption of the stinking corps had killed them Besides the mind may sin without the Action of the body but not the body without the mind for a man may covet in his mind and not act with his body and yet sin but if he do with his body and not consent with his mind he sinneth not as for example a man may accidentally and ignorantly kill a man by a blow which was never intended or aimed at him and yet he not guilty of murther but if he intend it in his mind though he never do it he is guilty Therefore the body may be made sinfull by the soul but not the soul by the body Now to the other kind who say that this supernaturall work by nature is effected by Gods speciall supernaturall assistance operating or applicated to this naturall aptitude in whose mutuall concurrence this immortall substance is concepted and in conception united to the flesh the whole in the whole and the whole in every part To which I Answer that there is no more speciall supernaturall efficiency from God in mans procreation then in other creatures but that speciall gift or naturall instinct to every kind of creature given in the Creation to produce its kind whether vegetative sensitive or rationall Gen. 1. 25. 1 Cor. 15. 38. for the gift or blessing is all one and the same and alike unto all according to their kinds as appears Gen. 1. 22. God blessed the Fowles and Fish saying Be fruitfull and multiply and fill the waters in the Seas and let the Fowles multiply in the earth And verse 28. the selfe same he speaks of man and woman And God blessed them and said unto them Be fruitfull and replenish the earth and by this blessing or Natures generall instinct equally unto all men and all other creatures continue their multiplications and procreations So that the Fowles Fish c. have as great and speciall assistance as Man in their conceptions and procreations equally mediate and naturall Therefore if by Mans conception an Angelicall immortall Soul is producted so likewise is there the e 54. Abs like in other creatures The result of all which is this that as Fish Birds and Beasts each in their kind procreate their kind without any transcendency of nature So man in his kind begets man corruptible man begets nothing but what is corruptible not halfe mortall halfe immortall halfe Angel halfe man but compleat man totally mortall for through mortall organs immortality cannot be conveyed or therein possibly reside If it be scrupled that this destroyeth the hope of our faith I Answer It doth but remove it from a false principle to a true from a deceitfull fancie to an infallible object the Resurrection For though I ascribe nothing actually to nature but corruption yet potentially I ascribe incorruption as to the kernill of an Apple a Tree may not actually yet potentially be ascribed So I grant that Nature produceth the Seed to which when she hath done her elementary work even all that shee can doe and in all things transient finished her course even from that corrupted seed Christ supernaturally raiseth an incortuptible body 1 Cor. 15. 36. Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die it is sowne in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sowne a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body Therefore nothing of Man can be immortall but what first hath seen corruption So that if that which is made the better and most excellent part of Man without which he is NO MAN as is held titled the Soul shall not see corruption it shall not f 55. Abs participate of the immortallity purchased by Christ but must needs perish except there be Ens extra Deum as that strange invented Entitie must needs be and so consequently g 56. Abs NO MAN shall be saved And as before it incur'd this Absurdity that the Soules of the damned shall not perish but stand as well as the Stative Angels So by this the Soules both of the righteous and wicked shall for ever cease and never be immortallized at the Resurrection And thence the denyall both of Resurrection Condemnation and Salvation Heaven and Hell God and Christ h 57. Abs is inavoydable After rusheth in the Epicurean Blasphemy i 58. Abs Let us eat and drinke for
from the Dead of them all And Rev. 21. 5. after the dissolution of all things he saith Behold I make all things New And Psa 104. David reckoning up Men Cattel c. saith thou takest away their breath and they dye thou sendest forth thy spirit and renewest the face of the earth and Psal 102. speaking of the Heavens saith as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed and Isa saith in the New earth the Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together and the Lion shall eat straw like a Bullock and Paul saith Rom. 8. 19. 20. 21. The expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God for the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope because the Creature it selfe also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole Creation groaneth and traveleth in paine till now Therefore the Gospel or Glad Tydings is unto all all are under hope and all things men beasts c. shall be made new or restored at the Resurrection and so Death shall be swallowed up in victory and mortallity of life or Death having given up her dead shall be cast into the Lake Rev. 20. 13. 15. Thus much by the by Now to our matter in hand But be it granted that those births are not endowed with reasonable soules yet doth it not follow that God createth immediately the soule or immediately assisteth nature in its production more then the body for this is an instance out of kind therefore cannot expect the blessing of the kind but be as it selfe is unnaturall and cursed for to the kind is required Sexes of the kind and thereto God hath given the blessing to beget its kind as well for man to beget perfect man as for the beasts to beget perfect beasts so that whatsoever is borne of man naturally is man though one be ennobled with more excellencies then another A borne Foole would have been a better instance for if to them rationall Soules were denyed it might be thought Nature naturally begetteth meere irrationall brutish inhumane bodies and rationality or humanity is a meer supernaturall work To prevent such a cavill I Answer that by the Soularies ground there can be no n 64. Abs borne fooles Infants new borne yea an Embrio should be as actually rationall as men of ripenesse of yeares for they say the soul is rationality it self and that rationality is no more of the body then inke is from the pen and the soul is absolutely perfect at the first instant yea it is forma formans therefore naturam expellas furca licet usque recurres it is made action which cannot but appeare for all action is apparant and they say it is an immortall spirit therefore cannot cease and if not cease it must shew it self Now why are not Infants then as rationall as others nay let me ask one Question If this endlesse soul be forma formans the maker of our bodys why have we not o 65. Abs endlesse bodyes for omne tale generat tale every like brings forth its like so then if one be immortall the other must be immortall Secondly I Answer that though some are fooles from their birth yet it doth not follow that Gods immediate hand is required to mans procreation but rather the contrary for imperfections in a thing argue the mediate generation thereof because no imperfection of any kind can come immediately from the hand of God imperfections are accidentall or from the curse therefore not of creation but of procreation Now seeing all this while we have had to do with this immortall Soul we cannot find or the Soularies tell what it is such likewise is its residence for if we ask where it it they flap us i' th mouth with a Ridle tota in toto tota in qualibet parte the whole in the whole and the whole in every part that is the whole immortall Soul in the whole body and the whole Soul wholy in every part of the body To which I Absurd Answer that this extends immortality or impossibility of death to the body for if immortality be in every part then no part of man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot can be excepted so we are all p 66 A●… Soul all over and every part a whole Soul immortall So that it must either be held to q 67 A●… be ubiquitory which is an Attribute peculiar to God or else multiplicable by a corpulent division and so were a man minced into Atomes cut into innumerable bits there would be so many innumerable r 68 A●… whole Souls else could it not be wholy in every part s 69 Ab●… Monstrum horrendum ingens cui quot sunt corpore crines Tot vigiles Animae supter mirabile dictu And thus the Ridle is unfolded CHAP. VII Testimonies of Scripture to prove that whole man is generated and propagated by Nature THat this is true secundum actum naturae observe the sence of those ensewing Scrip●ures viz. Gen. 1. 17. 18. compared with the 22. ver where man and beast have an equall blessing and charge to propagate their like Eccl. 3. 19. There is no distinction betwixt them c. Gen. 17. 7. I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee Here by seed must be meant persons and not bare carcasses else he had been the God of dead clots and not of living soules Gen. 46. 26. All the souls that came with Iacob into Egypt which came out of his loynes c. Job 31. 15. Did not he that made me in the wombe make him and did not one fashion us in the wombe Ergo if his soul were immediately created so was his body for he that is his Entite person even all that went to make him man was formed and shapen in the womb both Epithites for procreation and not for creation Iob. 20. 10. 11. 22. Hast thou not poured me out as milke and curdled me like cheese thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinnues thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit Here Iob sets forth exactly the manner of mans procreation from the act of generation even to his breathing First poured out as milke that is the seminary evacuation of both Sexes in conjunction then curdled me like cheese that is the changing of that to a grosser matter congealed blood then clothed me with flesh and skin that is the incarnation of that condensed blood then fenced me with bones and sinnues that is that carnate matter was formed into humane shape and grew into members then grantedst me life that is began to breath whence observe that in ascribing the whole work to God he doth ascribe it to one kind only and
MANS MORTALITIE OR A TREATISE Wherein 't is proved both Theologically and Philosophically that whole Man as a rationall Creature is a Compound wholly mortall contrary to that common distinction of Soule and Body And that the present going of the Soule into Heaven or Hell is a meer Fiction And that at the Resurrection is the beginning of our immortality and then Actuall Condemnation and Salvation and not before With all doubts and Objections Answered and resolved both by Scripture and Reason discovering the multitude of Blasphemies and Absurdities that arise from the fancie of the Soule Also divers other Mysteries as of Heaven Hell Christs humane residence the extent of the Resurrection the New Creation c. opened and presented to the tryall of better judgments By R. O. That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts even one thing befalleth them all as the one dyeth so dyeth the other yea they have all one breath so that man hath no preheminence above a beast for all is vanity Ecclesiastes 3. 19. AMSTERDAM Printed by John Canne Anno Dom. 1644. To the Reader Judicious Reader THy serious perusall but the scorne and derision of the multitude hereof is my expectation Startle not thou be patient read ponder and Berean like try whether these things be so or no If any thing in it be worth thy owning take it it is thine as well as mine and I have my end thy benefit I wish it well to all but I feare it will be a Parable to most however I have unbosom'd my duty freely as I have received I give it freely to the World it is my faith as I beleeve so have I spoken I expect an Answer if it be such as will not hold tryall it is likely I shall vindicate my selfe but if by force of Argument it shall convince I shall be ready and free thankfully to embrace it and renounce my errour whether it be in part or in whole though in the maine I am nothing jealous had I therein doubted my weaknesse had not been thus visible to the World Whereas in severall places scattered through the Booke the use of the word Soule may seeme to some to imply that which I deny let such know it is for Argument sake not intending in the least any selfe distinct Being by it Thus desiring my endeavours may have a faire and equall tryall by Scripture and sollid Reason I commit thee to the blessing of God in the perusall thereof and rest Thine in the love of the Truth R. O. To his worthy friend the Author upon his Booke THe Hell hatch'd Doctrine of th' immortall Soule Discovered makes the hungry Furies houle And teare their snakey haire with griefe appal'd To see their Errour-leading Doctrine quail'd Hell undermin'd and Purgatory blowne Vp in the aire and all the spirits flowne Pluto undone thus forced for to yeeld The frightned Soules from the Elizian Field And squallid Charon now may leave his Trade To see all Soules made subject to the spade And Cerberus his dismall fate deplore To thinke that he shall scare the Soules no more But joy'd at this Minerva she doth run T' imbrace her Nurse Child great Apollo's Son The Heavens triumph i' th' wane of th' World to see Such light break out on its Posteritie They sue Mnesichole and so doe I To register this Mans Mortalitie N. C. VVOuld you a young Man see for to controule The Antient sure you 'd think he had no soul But God hath promised and still reveales To Babes what he from prudent men conceales Heavens blesse thee Man for bringing that to light Which Envy raked up i' th' dust for spight And may thy Booke be as a passing Bell To dying Man to toll his fatall knell S. R. MANS MORTALITY OR A Treatise proving MAN quatenus Animal rationale a Compound wholly Mortall CHAP. I. Of Mans Creation Fall Restitution and Resurrection how they disprove the Opinion of the Soul imagining the better part of Man immortall And proveth him quatenus homo wholly mortall TO omit tedious introductory Circumstances which are as commonly vselesse as prolix Observe That when God had moulded formed and compleatly proportionated Adam of the Dust of the ground he breathed in his face the breath of Lives * Orig. and Man became a living Soul Gen. 2. 7. That is he gave that life-lesse Body a communicative rationall Faculty or property of life in his kind And so it became a living Creature or compleate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of whom was the Woman both innocent and free from sin and so from Death and mortality For the wages of Sin is Death Rom. 5. 12. 1 Cor. 15. 56. Thus Man was gloriously immortall yet no longer a Creature incorruptible then during innocent For Gen. 2. 17. God said of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eate of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye that is thy immortality shall be changed for mortality Immortall Adam shall be made mortall not a part of thee but Thou shalt surely dye even whole man without the least exception of any the worst or noblest part of him unlesse God had a mentall reservation but even the same Thou that livest Thou shalt surely dye that must dye wherein was life then surely if he had an immortall Soul which is the life of the body that must be made mortall The result of all which is this That what of Adam was immortall through Innocency was to be mortalized by Transgression But whole Adam quatenus Animal rationale was in Innocency immortall Ergo all and every part even whole Man was lyable to Death by Sin And so consequently if Adam had then such an indefinable thing in him and of him without which he was not Man as is vulgarly supposed but simply maintained by the Church of Rome England c. as an Angelical Spirit that neither could nor can be subject to mortality Then he had that he had not which made him be what he was not he a 1. Absur sinned with that with which he could not which made him Fall b 2. Absur when he did not which Bo-peepe is impossible For if Adam was martalized and That not It was no part of him this they must confesse or else the other followes This being thus cleared and proved from Adams Creation and Innocency let us proceed to his Fall Restitution and Resurrection who eating of the forbidden fruit whose nature was as was supposed by Nemesius the Philosopher to mortalize him as Mala insana are to destroy and reduce rationality to madnesse God fulfilled his threatned Curse upon him saying Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eate bread till thou returne unto the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt returne Here he is plainly disrobed of all his immortality he must to Dust without the least mention of any Being
see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Act. 1. 31. He seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hell neither his flesh did see corruption whence is cleare that spirit life breath or soul are subject to the grave as well as body or flesh for Christs soul as well as his flesh was in Hel that is the grave or bonds of death so that he wholy and thoroughly died for us Eccl. 4. 1. 2. 3. doth shew that the living suffer oppression but to the dead is none and cap. 9. 45. they know not any thing for a living Dog is better then a dead Lion therefore Psal 146. 2. David saith I will sing prayses unto my God while I have any being implying that in death is there is none And I am 4. 14. Our life is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away And Rev. 16. 3. every living soul in the Sea dyed and cap. 30. 4. 5. dead soules lived again And Psal 39. 5. man at his best estate is altogether vanity compared with Rom. 8. 19. the creature was made subject to vanity that is corruption all which declare mans totall death And Act. 23. 6. 24. 21. 26. 6. 7. most clearly shew that all hope of future life and Being is in the Resurrection Thus much of Scripture now to Naturall Reason CHAP. III. Naturall Reasons to prove it with Objections Answered IF we will rationally argue concerning the Soul it is necessary to define what that is to which it is ascribed But since it is defined by some one way by some another way I shall produce some Opinions about it and then bring the most rationall to tryall omitting the more frivolous viz. The Stoicks held it A certaine blast hot and fierie or the vitall spirit of the blood The Cretians Blood Gallen a certaine exhalation of the purest blood Zeno Cleanthes Antipater and Possiodonius a hot complexion or corporeall quality diffused through the whole body Democritus Fire and his opinion was the round Attomes being incorporated by aire and fire doe make up the Soule Pythagoras opinionated it a Number moving of it selfe Plato a substance to be conceived in the mind that received motion from it selfe according to number and Harmonie Aristotle the first continuall motion of a body naturall having in it those instrumentall parts wherein was possibility of life Dinarchus an Harmonie of the four Elements Nemesius divides it into Phantasie Iudgment Memorie Aristotle in his Physicks into vegetative sensitive motive appetetive intellective And Ambrose Parey pag. 895. saith the soule is the inward Entelechia or the primative cause of all motions and functions both naturall and animall and the true Forme of a man It seeth heareth smelleth toucheth tasteth imagineth judgeth c. And more exactly pag. 83. lib. 3. cap. 1. he saith the soule is commonly distinguished into three Faculties Animall Vitall Naturall The Animall into Principall Sensetive Motive The Principall into Imaginative seated in the upper part of the braine Reasonable the middle part of the braine Memorative Cerebellum or after-braine The Sensetive into Seeing the eyes Hearing the eares Smelling the nose Tasting the tongue pallat Touching the body The Motive into Progressive legs Apprehensive hands The Vitall into Dilative or parts for respiration weason lungs Concoctive or parts for vitall motion heart and arteries understood by the Pulsificke Facultie The Naturall into Nutrative Active Generative which three are performed by the help of the Attractive the gullet Retentive lower passage or the stomack Concoctive body of the ventricle Assimulative three small guts Expulsive three great guts Augustine and Athanasius say it is a substance created a spirit intelligent invisible immortall incorporeall like the Angels And there be severall Opinions of its Body Lucippus and Hipparchus say it hath a fierie Body Critias and Anaxemines Woolnor and others an aeriall body Hesiod an earthly Epicurius fierie and airie Zenophon watry and earthly Drone a middle betwixt the spirit and the body Didimus and Origen a third substance Divers other conceptions and fancies there be to uphold this ridiculous invention of the Soule traducted from the Heathens who by the Book of Nature understood an immortality after Death but through their ignorance how or which way this invention reported to be Platoes was occasioned and begat a generall beliefe and so they and after them the Christians have thus strained their wits to such miserable shifts to define what it is but neither conclude any certainty or give satisfaction therein Yet since it is generally concluded to be in man and of man but what where or how no man knowes though such severall opinions be if but examined I le pitch upon those which afford most conceptory definition that is that of Aristotle Nemesius or Ambrose Parey which make the Soule to be all the internall and externall Faculties of Man joyntly considered or Man Anatomized and thereto Reply thus All the Faculties of Man sensu diviso or conjuncto are all and each of them mortall as well those that are peculiar to man as those that are common to Beasts and if all those with his corpulent matter compleating Man be proved mortall then the invention of the Soule upon that ground vanisheth which I thus prove All elementary compositions or Temperatures are mortall and transitory But Mans Faculties à minore ad majus are Temperatures Ergo Mortall The Minor is thus proved That which is subject to intention and remission is a Temperature But all Mans Faculties yea those of Reason Consideration Science c. all that distinguish Man from a Beast are augmented by Learning Education c. lessened by Negligence Idlenesse c. and quite nullified by Madnesse Ergo. That those Faculties are Temperatures I further prove thus A Temperature is a Quality and a Quality may be in the Subject or absent from it without the destruction of the same subject But Reason Understanding c. may be absent from the Body their Subject and yet the Body living as in mad men and persons in the Falling-sicknesse and none will deny they are men at that same time Ergo. Object Qualities of the Body are subject to sense But Vnderstanding c. subject to none Ergo. Answ A hot and drie braine is quick-witted which by moisture and coldnesse is altered and so we are disposed according to the present constitution of our Bodies If this suffice not I adde that an effect is by passion from the cause as motion cannot be without passion from that which moveth for take away the cause and the motion ceaseth tolle causam tollitur effectus Therefore quicknesse of wit cannot be without passion from heat and drynesse for over-power that hot and dry braine with moisture and coldnesse as may be with Opium and the hotnesse and drynesse thereof ceaseth and dulnesse followeth Further even from my Opposites Assertions I prove this
for we see if the member decay the faculty decayes Therefore their unite substance must be terminated membrally in the body And if it were possible they could subsist seperated from their members then in that seperation their Being could not be conjunct or unite for want of that which tyed them together the severall members And so if any Being so many severall Beings as severall Faculties if any Soul so many w 21. Abs severall Soules a Phantasticke Soul a Rationall Soul a Memorative Soul a Seeing Soul a Hearing Soul a Smelling Soul a Tasting Soul a Touching Soul with divers other Souls of all sorts and sizes as saving your presence an x 22. Abs Evacuating Soul c. And further that those Faculties are thus in their Subjects and are not without them as accidens non est nisi in subjecto we see that they increase and grow with their Subjects and perfect together For a Child is totally proportionated as Adam when God formed him of the Earth before the vitall Faculty be actuall as Parey saith and the Rationall requireth a due processe of time after birth before it be ripe to bring forth the fruit of Rationality as its Subject groweth and ripeneth so it increaseth and perfecteth for it is impossible that the thing which is not actual in it self should have a second thing actuall in it and Rationality in an Infant is no more in it then a Chickin in the egge only in posse therefore a Child cannot possibly ratiocinate before it be actually Rationall which cannot be before Organnicall perfection For Reason cannot Be and not shew it self shew it self and not Be for its Being is its Rationality and its Rationality its Being therefore as its Organs are potentiall it is potentiall and as its Organs are weake and imperfect it is weak and imperfect and as they are perfect it is perfect Therefore Faculties increase with their Subjects and if increase they must decrease Anatomize Man Take a view of all his Lineaments and Dimensions of all his members and Faculties and consider their state severally and all are transitory even all that goeth to the Subject Man is corruptible and himself but a Bundle of corruption or curious Masse of vicilitudes If all of Man that goeth to his Manhood be mortall where then or what is this immortall thing the Soul they talke of we have examined all his parts and faculties and find even all mortall It is not sure his prima materia though ingenerable incorruptible insensible indefinite c. Nor his Forma prima that principle which first gives Essence to a naturall Body the first Active principle informing and figurating the First Matter sui appetentem for both are generall to the whole Creation whose Efficient Cause is onely immediately God himselfe by whose power all things that are made shall be returned to that of which they were made their Materia prima or created matter So that as Solomon saith Man hath no preheminence above a Beast even one thing befalleth them What Reason is there now that Mans Faculties in a higher Degree should be an immortall Spirit more then a Beasts in a lower degree but both elementary and finite Further if it be not unnaturall that Seeing Hearing c. should be producted by an Elementary operation as none deny in the propagation of Beasts why is not the rationall facultie in Man as naturall in Man and may as well be producted elementarily by Man as the other by Beasts and be as actually mortall If this suffice not observe Substantia non recipit majus aut minus a Giant is no more a man then a Dwarfe there may be a graduall distinction and yet no Essentiall difference Degrees of Faculties in severall persons and yet the Faculties the same and of one nature though not equally excellent and the Degree doth not make a Facultie more a Facultie or lesse a Facultie Therefore if the said Faculties in an inferiour Degree be elementary so must they in a superiour But in Brutes whom none deny to be wholly mortall and all their Faculties elementary have our most noble parts and Faculties scattered amongst them though in an inferiour degree As Ambrose Parey saith Lib. 2. cap. 1. If we will diligently search into their nature we shall observe the impressions of many virtues as of Magnanimity Prudence Fortitude Clemency Docility Love Carefulnesse Providence yea Knowledge Vnderstanding Memory c. is common to all Brutes the Affections and Passions of the Mind all his Qualities good and bad and every Facultie he hath is to be found more or lesse amongst them And Parey further saith They are of quicke sense observant of the Rites of Friendship and Chastity they submit themselves to the Discipline of Man they have taught Man many things c. The Hare is eminent for Memory the Dog for Apprehension and Fidelity the Serpent for Wisdome the Fox for Subtiltie the Dove for Chastity and Innocency the Elephant for Docility Modesty and Gratitude Plinie saith he commeth neare the understanding of a man that they worship the Moon and Stars Plutarch that they worship the Sunrising The Ape is eminent for Imitation and Vnderstanding the Turtle for Love the Crocodile for Deceit the Lambe for Patience the Waspe for Anger c. and for his Five Senses he is by them exceld Aper auditu nos vincit Aranea tactu Vultur odoratu Linx visu Simia gustu Thus Man in sensu diviso is to be found amongst the other Creatures and in him alone those severall Faculties are eminent sensu conjuncto and so only capable of God Therfore those Faculties being elementary in an inferiour Degree in an inferiour Creature why may they not be elementary in a superiour Degree in a superiour Creature Now from all this followeth that if in man be an immortali spirit then divers other Creatures have the like though not in the same Degree for if Degree therein should make or mar the thing it selfe then some y 23. Abs would have no more Soules then Beasts and some lesse as Mad-men and Fooles no more and Infants lesse If it be the Rationall Facultie then all men are borne without Soules z 24. Abs and some die a 25. Abs before they had Soules as Infants and some after b 26. Abs their Soules are gone as Mad-men that live and perish in their madnesse and some c 27. Abs would be borne live and die without Soules as Fooles and some d 28. Abs would have Soules but by fits and jumps as Drunkards persons with the Falling-sicknesse c. nay all of us spend a great part of our dayes without our Soules for while we are in sound sleep our Rationality ceaseth pro tempore Thus this Immortall Spirit goes and comes as occasion serves CHAP. IIII. Objections from Naturall Reasons Answered BEcause I have onely met with one or two in this kind I shall give a glance
not partly mediate partly immediate for he ascribeth even the evacuation of seed in carnall copulation and the conception of flesh and bones in as high a measure yea to take away all cavil rather a greater as he doth his life poured clothed and fenced imply a more absolute act then granting which is but a sufferance permission or assenting therefore his conception was meerly and wholy naturall according to that of David Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me And to this adde that of Zach. 12. 1. The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him Whence it is clear that whole man flesh and spirit is a second act formed in the wombe otherwise flesh as well as spirit must be created which all deny Gen. 5. 3. Adam begat a son in his own likenesse Psal 139. 15. 16. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in a secret place and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth thine eyes did see my masse yet being imperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet was none of them whence is evident that his whole Person was an act of nature in his mothers wombe or secret place what of him was in the Book of Gods providence he declareth was made not created in a secret place to wit his substance or Masse all that went to the subject man and I hope the Soularies will not blot his Soul out of the Book of Gods providence or say it was no part of him Luke 1. 31. Thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a son whence observe that what she was to bring forth she was to conceive to wit a son and none will deny Christ was borne compleat man in all things as we are sin excepted And if any scruple arise from Rom. 1. 3. He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh I Answer That it is a distinction of his manhood from his godhead as all Interpreters agree Gen. 4. 1. She conceived and bare Cain see the like cap. 38. 3. 4. 5. Judg. 13. 3. 5. 7. And Job 3. 3. There is a man child conceived And Gen. 17. 6. And Kings shall come out of thee ver 17. twelve Princes shall he beget And Judg. 8. 30. Gideon had 70. Sons out of his body begotten And Num. 5. Then she shall be free and shall conceive seed and Heb. 11. 11. compared with Gen. 17. 8. and such like plainly shew mans procreation wholy naturall Ioh. 3. 6. That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Here is the naturall birth by nature and the spirituall birth by grace declared each in his kind the one a meer naturall the other a supernaturall work It is therefore inavoydablely true otherwise the Soul cannot be saved for what is not borne again cannot be saved as the immediate words testifie except a man be borne again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God So then the soul as well as the body is born that is proceeds from the flesh except we be born without it Wherefore they are no more twaine but one flesh Thus having found Mans Foundation to be wholy in the Dust from thence taken and thither to returne Let this then be the use of all That man hath not wherewith at all to boast no more then of dirt under his feet but is provoked wholy out of himself to cast himself wholy on Iesus Christ with whom in God our lives are hid that when he who is our life shall appeare he might also with him appeare in glory to whom be the honour of our immortality for ever and for ever Amen FINIS