with his about this very point of the soules creation I demand of thee O my soul who gave thee thy being since thou hadst it not from eternity thou wast created in time and lately it was that thou hadst not a being certainly it could not be thy parents in the flesh for what is sprung from flesh is flesh but thou art spirit neither did Heaven or Earth or Sun or Stars produce thee for these are corporeal thou incorporeal neither could Angels or Archangels or any other spiritual creature be the authors of thy being for thou of no matter but meerly of nothing wast created and none but a power omnipotent can create a thing out of nothing therefore God onely without any companion or helper with his own hands which are his Wisdom and his Will when it seemed him best did create thee Again a little after Besides the conjunction of soul and body which is a principal part in the making of the humane nature can be made by none but a workman of an infinite power for by what art except divine can the spirit be joyned with the flesh in so close a bond as to become one substance for there is no likeness and proportion 'twixt the flesh and spirit therefore he onely must doe it who onely doth great wonders Consider then O my soul from whence from whom in what manner and into what thou art come First From whence From heaven thou art descended a pilgrim and a stranger here for a time thou art not here to continue and dwell thy country is above thither then aspire from whence thou camest mind not earthly things but seek those things which are above that when this my earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved thou be not pressed down lower with the weight of carnal l sts into the lowermost hell but maist have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Secondly From whom From God thou camest thou art the spirit and breath of God in men O then breath again out of man to God whilst thou art in this prison of flesh send out thy hot breathings to God and draw in those cooler breathings of the Spirit from God thy hot sighs and zealous prayers to God his cool and gentle refreshments of love and pity from God that when I shall have payd all my rights of nature unto death and am gone into my silence though my body lie in the dust for a time my spirit may return to God that gave it Thirdly In what manner Not per media naturalia by any ordinary means but immediately and modo extraordinario without any companion without any helper 1 Learn then this O my soul that as God hath used no naturall meanes or secundary causes in the work of thy Creation so thou relie upon none in the work of thy salvation thou maist safely and boldly approach the Throne of grace without the mediation of Saints or Angels there is but one Mediator unto us who is both God and man Christ Jesus 2 Since God hath put nothing betwixt thee and him beware that thou thy self interpose nothing sever not what God hath not disjoyned let not thy sin be a Wall of separation twixt thee and him nor the mists and foggs of Carnall concupisence eclipss the Sun of righteousness from thee from whom thou borrowest all thy light and without whom thou art but Cimmerian darkness Fourthly consider whither thou art come into a Humane body a Humane nature fitted and prepared to receive thee but how not as a Subject but as a Prince thou to rule as a Queen it to obey as a Subject Therfore know this O my soul by the concurrent opinion of all Philosophers man is of a midle nature twixt mortal and immortal twixt terrestrial and caelestial things and some way resembles both participates of both in that man is indued with Vegetative and Sensitive faculties he is like unto brutes and ignobler creatures but in regard of his Intellectual faculty especially that which consists in speculation he is most like unto God twixt these two the Humane nature is sâ—ated and in a kind participates of both in this nature the soul sits as Emp ess if Sense rules here man lives as a beast degenerates into a brute if Reason and understanding rule especially the speculative Intellectual faculty man lives as God suffer not then O suffer not my soul thy vassals and slaves Sense and Appetite those ignobler faculties of thine to rule and reign over thee and so to transform the whole man into the nature of beasts but rule and govern thou by those more noble and Diviner faculties of thine Reason and understanding by which man resembles his Maker is made like unto him Lâ—stly consider O my soâ—l this mysterious conjunction of soul and body to become one man flesh and spirit one substance which cannot be but by a power Divine and thou wilt cease though not humbly to admire yet curiously to search into that sacred Mystery that Article of Christian faith touching the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ he Hypostaticall Union of the two natures in Christ St. Athanasius proves it and explaines it from this Union of the soul and body in one man saying The right faith is this that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is God and Man God of the substance of the Father begotten before the World and Man of the substance of his Mother born in the World Perfect God and perfect Man of a Reasonable soul and Humane flesh subsisting Equall to the Father as touching his God-head and inferior to the Father touching his Man-hood Who although he be God man yet he is not two but one Christ One not by conversion of the God-head into Nan but by taking the Man-hood into God One altogether not by confusion of substance but by Unity of person For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ The conjunction of soul and body is a secret and hidden thing but the Incarnation of Christ the Union of the God-head and Manhood far more secret for without doubt great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh and if it be so difficult a matter for man to find out the hidden things of this visible World that none as Solomon saith can comprehend the works thereof from the beginning to the end no not the workings of God within a mans self how shall man attempt to search out those invisible things of Heaven the hidden mysteries the unsearchable things of God therefore if thou beest wise O my soul seek saving knowledge and embrace the wisdom of the Saints which is to fear God and keep his Commandements delight more in supplication and prayer than in vain janglings and disputations in charity that edifies than knowledge that puffs up for this is the way that leads to life the Kingdom of Heaven where shall be
Essence or yet of the Operations of these Angels and Spirits Intellectual as a Doctrine less useful and necessary for Mans salvation than of the Nature of Man or God yet so much hath it imparted to her Disciples as may evidence by necessary consequence the truth of this Metaphysical Science of Natures Angelical the Fathers and Doctors of the Church having little varied in judgement from the Curiousest Naturalist and Philosopher in this point all concurring in this particular the School of Christ and School of Nature teaching one and the same thing without any grand Variation and dissenting The Creation of Angels though holy-Churches-creed is no where plainly pointed out in holy Writ otherwise than in the first daies Creation under that General notion of Heaven and Earth which may contain the whole host of Heaven so those words Genesis 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth are by most understood viz. by Heaven not onely it but all things therein contained as Angels and the like whose proper seat is Heaven which may seem to be thus also explicated by St. Paul Col. 1.16 For by him are all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth Visible and Invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions Principalities or Powers viz. four of the Orders of Angels further also by God himself in the 38 Chapter of Job saying where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth when the morning Stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy that is to say the holy Angels who were created together with Heaven and Earth even in the beginning or morning of that first day as some have hence gathered Of all created substances some were created Visible Material Corporeal others were created Invisible Incorporeal Spiritual of their own Nature that the Angels are such created Invisible Incorporeal and Spiritual substances may be gathered out of the word of God David and Paul Prophet and Appostle both terming them Spirits and if Spirits then Invisible by Mortal eye and then Incorporeal at least as unto Humane or other natural body of their own Nature for so our Saviour hath resolved it saying a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And the Schoolmen have decreed and concluded that Angels are meerly Spiritual and Incorporeal substances and no bodies or Corporeal Natures and with them agree the Fathers not a few though Origen and after him Saint Jerome would seem to maintain that Angels as oft as they sinned and fell away were thrust into bodies and there remained as a punishment unto them which opinion is exploded by all both Antient and Modern as savouring of Platonism more than Christianity Yet may we not deny but that Angels have been in bodily shapes and so seen and appeared unto our Fathers of old wherefore we must either grant unto them real bodies or that they did delude and deceive the Patriarches with Phantasms and meer Apparations which is not to be conceived of the holy Angels and therefore St. Bernard put a kind of necessity in it that Angels should have bodies otherwise how could they be ministring Spirits sent out to minister unto them who shall be Heirs of Salvation to men who yet live in the body how shall they perform this Ministerial Function of discoursing of walking and talking of eating and drinking and the like without a body all which notwithstanding Angels have done as sacred Writ accordeth But it may be objected if we do grant unto them true real Visible bodies then must we also grant them all motions and mutations incident to such Bodies to wit of Generation Corruption Augmentation Diminution Altricion alteration then such as may be borne fed and nourished may die may suffer and the like as other corporeall Creatures doe how then are they meerly Spirituall and of an Incorporeall nature To which may be answered First 1 Negatively negatively True humane bodies Angels have not humane nature no spirituall substance ever assumed except the Son of God the second Person in the ever blessed Trinity of whom it is said He took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham and by whom it is verified A spirit hath no flesh and bone so no humane or fleshly Bodies are ascribed to Angels 2 Affirmatively Secondly affirmatively True reall bodies they have not newly generate created or begotten but assumed of Air and other Elements so condensate consolidate and contract together as that it may be seen felt touched c. Beyond the very nature of Air such a Body as is not essentiall but accidentall taken up for a time as we do put on our Cloathes and may be dissolved again at pleasure as soon as their Ministery is accomplish'd now such a Body is not subject to those Mutations of Generation Corruption and the like nor may it be said to die to suffer to feel o feed or the like as a humane Body may Thus is the nature of Angels Spirituall not carnall Incorporeall not corporeall and surpasseth the humane Nature in Understanding freedom of Will and externall Operations First in Understanding in regard of that Intuitive Vision they have of God per lumen Gloriae besidâ—s those superexcellent naturall Endowments Intellectual of seeing God per lumen naturae alwayes beholding his Face Vid. Hockers Eccles pol. 1. Sect. 4. fol. 53. as the Text expresseth they are so acquainted with the Mind and Will of God that Irrepercussa mentis acie divinorum judiciorum abyssum intuentur as St. Bernard hath it in comparison of which knowledge Angelicall all ours is but as that of Babes and Sucklings Out of whose Mouth notwithstanding God hath perfected his praise See Mr. Hooker his first book of Eccles pol. Sect. 6. fol. 56. or ordained strength as the Psalmist hath it here on Earth till such time as we grow up to perfect Man-hood to the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ where shall be given to us little ones an equality of knowledge with the Angels to be like unto them who alwayes behold the Face of their Heavenly Father As touching their Freedom of Will and Power of working the Angelical far surpasseth the Humane Nature Bellarmine puts these differences betwixt them First in the Power and Rule over Bodies The humane Soul can onely move his own Body at his pleasure it cannot move others after the same sort Again the humane Soul moves its own Body upon the Earth in a slow motion step by step it hath not power to bear it upon the Water or elevate it above the Air or carry it whither it pleaseth but the Angels by the Power and Freedom of Will by the meer force of their spirit can lift up mighty Bodies and carry them whither they please Thus did an Angel take up Habacuc and in a short space brought him to Babylon with a Dinner for Daniel and carried him back again into the Land of Palestine Again
the dayes of their Pilgrimage upon Earth the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh she who was earst Rebellious is now Obse quious to the Dictates of the Soul now is she wholly subject to the will of her Lord yielding obeysance and obedience with admirable Agility and Celerity of motion now not the least Ponderosity of a Massie substance or Natural body to foreslow her motion appears any more but the Perpensility of a Caelestial and Spiritual body mounted as it were on the wings and Plumes of a Cherub to expedite the Souls Injunctions such Homage and obedience the Body paies unto its Soul that as St Augustine saith ubi volet spiritus ibi protinus erit corpus nec volet aliquid spiritus quod nec spiritum nec corpus possit decere 1. Hereupon is the body enfranchised of sundry Praerogatives and Immunities which are altogether inconsistent with it in its Natural condition whilst it was Elementary its Natural motion tended downward according to the Nature of the Predominant Element the ascendent motion of a Physical body is Excentrique and Irregular which motion is Concentrique and Consonant to a body glorified solo voluntatis impetu c. at the beck and command of the glorious Soul is the body mounted from Earth to Heaven whose Nature it is to be wholly subject to that glorified Spirit from whose Redundancie the body likewise receives its Glorification 2. The Humane body in the state of Nature in a slow Progress marcheth forward step by step and that not without some Earth or other solid body to tread or go on whereupon the Earth is made a cause of our walking Causa fine qua non but in the state of Glory most swiftly and as it were in an instant it moves from place to place from one part of Heaven to another absque adminiculo without the benefit of Earth or other Element to impress the least Vestigias or footsteps of his treadings 3. In the terrene estate the body is Opaque and Luskie Dark and Purblind Beautified onely by the Additaments of External colour but the Spiritual body is Diaphanous transparent transplendent not like those lesser lights which onely appear in the night but like the Sun at noon day in the Firmament of Heaven Matthew 13.43 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father The CoÌ„fulgurations of bodies glorifi'd are like the bright shining of the Sun or compare we them to our Saviours glorious Body after his Exaltation which no doubt exceeds all the glory can be expressed or conceived when this transfiguration upon the Mount was so glorious That his face did shine as the Sun Matthew 17.2 and his Raiment was white as the light yet such is the condition and state of these bodies which are fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phillip 3.21 Yet doth not this transcendent Glory superadded to the Humane body alter the Nature and Essence of the same the same Humanity is retained as well after as before the Resurrection the same body that is laid in the dust the self same body ariseth and ascends into glory that body is resumed in the Resurrection which was assumed in the Conception onely one to a Mortal the other to an Immortal life alterius gloriae sed ejusdem naturae the glory is different but the bodie 's the same The glorified bodies of Saints and the glorious body of our ever blessed Saviour in Heaven all of them of one Nature and Substance made up of Flesh and Blood and Bone Nerves Sinewes Arteries and what else conduceth to the perfection of a Humane body To deny this is to run into the Heresie of Eutiches condemned in the several Councils of Constantinople and Chalcedon who affirmed that the body of Christ was not of the same Nature with ours and that ours also after the Resurrection were not Palpable or Visible but more subtle and slender than VVind or Air. But as we have said the same body that is laid in the dust the same ariseth and puts on Immortality and glory a body of flesh is sown in dishonor but the same body of flesh is raised in glory Consonant hereto are the words of Job Job 19.25 26 27. I know that thy Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day day upon the Earth And though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another though my Reines be consumed within me thus we read and thus is our Creed so is preached and so is believed for the Resurrection of the flesh is an Article of our Faith a Fundamental point of that Religion the Church Catholick professeth and that our Saviours body is of the same Substance is another Fundamental Athanasius is plain perfect God and perfect Man Of a Reasonable Soul and Humane Flesh subsisting yea Palpable flesh and Visible even after his Resurrection our Saviours words are full for it behold saith he my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have And therefore those words of the Apostle flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God are to be understood of sinful lusts and corruptions of the flesh 1 Cor. 15.10 and not of the flesh and blood it self dismantled of these And as the substance of a Humane body continues intire so hath she her faculties and qualities perfect though not all for in as much as the body is purged of sin and corruption those qualities which argue corruption and infirmity must needs be perished also absit labes silicet corruptionis assit effigies assit motio absit fatigatio assit vescendi potestas absit esuriendi necessitas c. Soft soft O my Soul dash not thy self on the Rock of Contention be not prolix in Polemick discourses and points Controversal since thou art devoted to thy calmer Theoremes and Diviner Speculations The case standing thus that none have admittance to those glorious Mansions in the new Jerusalem the City of God but bodies purged from their filthy lusts and sinful corrâ—ption bodies morigerous submisse and pliant to Soul and Spirit see then and lament the wretched estate of us Mortals upon Earth An evil it is under the sun an error proceeding from the ruler folly set in great dignity and the rich set in low place servants on horseback and Princes walking as servants upon the Earth Eccles 10.5 6 7. whose lives and conversations Diametrically oppose the glorified Saints in Heaven Apame was but Concubine to the great and mighty King Darius yet was she seen sitting on his right hand and taking the Crown from off his head did set it upon her own she also stroke the King with her
imago Dei forma servi My Soul is athirst after Christ my Saviour O when shall I come and appear before him Grant holy Jesu I may so behold thee though veiled here that when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved when it shall turn to the Lord and be clothed upon with our horse of immortality and glory which is from heaven the veil which to this day is upon my heart may be taken away and I may with open face behold the glory of my Lord being changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Amen Christ in the blessed Eucharist is the object of our Ears speaking unto our hearts both in secret whisperings and in shriller notes and holds a familiar conference with us he is an audible Voice and a speaking Word the sound whereof is gone to the ends of the world that Word which in the beginning was with God and was God but was made Flesh and dwelt among us God made Man the Son of God the Son of Man unicus patris filius hominis verbum quippe caro factum this Word incarnate is that Bread of God which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the World This Word is not onely audible to the Ear but penetrable to the Heart piercing like a two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the marrow and the joynts Those reverend thoughts and meditations we have of Christ especially in this Sacrament are nothing else but so many words of his spoken to our Soules though all our cogitations are not Christs locutions nor all his communications our meditations cum enim mala in corde versamus nostra cogitatio est si bona Dei sermo est illa cor nostrum dicit haec audit our good thoughts are Christs words our evill thoughts are our own words The fool hath sayd in his heart there is no God there 's our own words The Lord speaketh peace unto his people those are Christ's one is spoke from the heart the other is to the heart Our own words again are twofold or have two wayes of proceeding one from Natures corruption another from Satans suggestion but of all these bitter fruits and sinfull effects proceeding from within us it is a hard matter to assign a proper cause and author to demonstrate which are the works of the Devill and which be the fruites of the Flesh we are not able so exactly to distinguish inter morbum mentis morsum serpentis inter malum innatum malum seminatum inter partum cordis seminarium hostis only we may know they both are evill and proceed from evill both in the heart though not both from the heart this I know most assuredly though which to ascribe to my heart which to Satan I know not But for my good thoughts since all our sufficiency is from God I doe undoubtedly believe they are the very words of that very Word verba verbi Dei written in my heart by the finger of his blessed Spirit This is that Word which is not sonans onely but penetrans non loquax sed efficax non obstrepens auribus sed blandiens affectibus Happy art thou O my Soul if when thy God calleth thou answerest with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth or with holy David repliest I will hear what the Lord my God will say unto me Christ is the object of our Sense of Olfaction sâ—nding forth most sweet perfumes he is sweet in his Name Christ Jesus Christ i. e. Annâ—inted so much the name imports Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth he is sweet in his name Iesus a Saviour there is no other name given under heaven whereby we shall be saved neither is there any malady of Mind any disease of the Soul which this precious balm and ointment cannot cure Erit tibi sapor odor in medicinam salubrem morbos si qui fuerint repellentem venturosque caventem He is sweet and pleasant to God the Fath r he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and the smell of his Son is like the smell of a field whom the Lord hath blessed he is that Lamb slain from the foundaâ—ions of the world whose bâ—dy and blood being offered as an Holocaust unto God the Father smelleth a sweet smelling sacrifise unto him and from whom issueth unto his Spouse the Church to every particular Member and to every worthy Communicant partaking of his Body and Blood such streams of precious ointment and oyl of the Holy Ghost runing down not onely to the beard of Aaron that is as St Bernard expounds it to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ but unto the very skirts of his clothing that is to the meanest of his Members in infima membra Ecclesiae quae est tanquam Christi vestimentum that even these vile bodies and soules being offered an oblation smell also a sweet-smelling sacrifise to God through Christ holy and acceptable we are anointed with oyl of gladness but Christ with holy oyl and oyl of gladness above all his fellows It falls first upon Christ the Head so runs down to his beard so descends to the skirts of his garments the meanest member in hi Church the smell of Christs garment is like the smel of Lebanon but the smel of his ointments super omnia aromata is better than all spices Christ is the object of our Spiritual Tast and that food of Saints and Angels in Heaven of which it hath pleased God to give a tast to his Saints on earth feeding them with the bread of Heaven the food of life which comes from Heaven that Heavenly Manna and food of Angels the Prophet speaks of more pleasant and sweet to the tast than honney or the honney-comb But that we might eat Angels food Christ was Incarnate the Word was made Flesh so all are partakers of Christ the Saints on Earth as well as Saints and Angels in Heaven onely with this difference Comedunt Angeli verbum de Deo natum comedunt homines verbum faenum factum pane suo vivunt Angeli in caelis beati sunt faeno suo vivunt homines in terris sancti sunt Yet doth not every man tast of the food that partakes of the outward Elements the Natural man hath no sense or tast no fruit and benefit of this Sacrament because it is spiritually discerned it is food eternal not temporal spiritual not corporal for supernatural nourishment unto Eternal life not for physical and natural which accomplisheth its ends in this life pereat hic physicale nutrimentum cibis iste non ventris sed mentis we feed on him in our heart by Faith and Thanksgiving My Body is nourished with the outward Elements of Bread and Wine my Soul is 2nourished with the inward Graces the Body and Blood of Christ not with the Bread of Affliction the corn arising from the earth but
Science of this was Philosophical drawn from the light of Nature Reason teacheth thou art Immortal and capable of everlasting Felicity which consists in the Vision and Contemplation of God thy chiefest good and hast an Innate concreate desire thereto And although the principles of Rational Knowledge are for the most part per se nota so known by their own light as may force an assent yet in as much as God who is thy summum bonum is a light inaccessible such a light as blear-eyed Reason can not behold the full Knowledge of God is not by Rational principle Natural Science is not a scale large enough to contain nor a yard long enough to measure out the true Vertue and full force of this divine Essence but must resolve into principles of a higher nature here thou must run from the principles of Philosophy to the maxims of Divinity here thou must submit thy understanding to the rules and articles of Faith Thy Science of God then is Theological drawn not from the light of Nature but from the revelation of God in the Scriptures the principles of this Theological science are supernatural and resolve not into the grounds of natural reason but into the maxims of divine knowledge supernatural and of this we have just so much light and no more than God hath revealed to us in the Scriptures which is not so full a light as the prime principles of rational Sciences carry along with them to force reason upon the first sight to yeeld unto it such as are these viz. Every whole is greater than a part of the whole and again The same thing cannot be and not be at one and the same time and in one and the same respect These carry a natural light in them clear and evident the Scriptures not so yet such a light as is of force to breed Faith though not to make a perfect Knowledge for though it be life eternal to know God John 17. and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent yet this knowledge is no more than a belief since God requires not a demonstrative knowledge of him here but our Faith in him and such a knowledge as may fit that we walk by faith and not by sight or perfect knowledge for Man having sinned by pride God thought it fittest to humble him at the very root of the tree of knowledge and make him deny his understanding and submit to Faith or hazard his happinesse Faith then is a Christians rule and ground of Science now the evidence of Faith is not so clear as that of Reason tum ratione objecti tum ratione subjecti First Ratione objecti God Faith is the evidence of things not seen Secondly Ratione subjecti the Subject that sees it is but in aegnimate in a glass or dark speech Moreover Faith is an act of the Will primarily and chiefly and not of the Understanding It is not in this Theological Science as in other Sciences where voluntas sequitur dictamen intellectus but contrariwise intellectus sequitur arbitrium voluntatis For Faith is a mixt act of the Will and Understanding and the Will first inclines the Understanding to yeeld full approbation to that whereof it sees not full proof Credere enim est actus intellectus vero assentientis productus ex voluntatis imperio In sent d. 23. q. 2. a. 1. Tho. 2.2 q. 2. a. 2. ad 3 Biel. And again Intellectus credentis determinatur ad unum non per rationem sed per voluntatem And Stapleton contra Whittaker saith Fides actus est non solius intellectus sed etiam voluntatis quae cogi non potest Triplic contra Whittak cap. 6. p. 64 imo magis voluntatis quam intellectus quatenus illa operationis principium est assensum qui propriè actus fidei est sola elicit nec ab intellectu voluntas sed à voluntate intellectus in actu fidei determinatur And though the principles of Faith being concealed from our view and foulded up in the un-revealed counsell of God appear not so evident and manifest unto us as those of Reason yet they are in themselves much more sure and infallible than they for they proceed immediatly from God that heavenly Wisdom which being the fountain and original of ours must needs infinitely precede ours both in nature and excellency And therefore though we be far unable to reach the order of their deductions nor can in this life come to the vision of them yet we yeeld as full and firm consent not only to the articles but to all the things rightly deduced from them as we doe to the most evident principles of natural reason so that thou mayst justly say thy Faith is stronger than thy Reason or Knowledge is because it goes higher and so upon a safer principle than thy Reason or Knowledge can in this life attain unto Hoc intelligendum est ut scientia certior sit certitudine evidentiae fides vero certior firmitate adhaesionis majus lumen in scientia majus robur in fide saith Biel in 3 sent d. 23. q. 3 a. 1. Thus much and more maist thou find couched and excellently handled by the most reverend Father in God William Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury in his book against Fisher pag. 16. And for certainty and assurance in this kind Faith doth not only exceed all certainty that can proceed from any natural Science be it never so demonstrative but in a manner equals the very knowledge by Intuitive Vision in the world to come St Bernard makes it good too in sermonibus Domini Gilleberti super Cantica Canticorum cap. 3. Intelligentia quidem etsi fidem excedit non tamen aliud contuetur quam quod fide continetur in intelligentia quam in fide non major certitudo inest sed serenitas neutra vel errat vel haesitat ubi vel error vel haesitatio est intelligentia non est ubi haesitatio est fides non est et si fides admittere posse videtur errorem non est vera nec Catholica fides sed erronea credulitas Thus are Reason Faith and Vision instrumental and necessary one for another without Reason no Faith without Faith no Vision and this is all the difference amongst them 't is St Bernards still and exquisitely done Fides ut sic dicam veritatem rectam tenet possidet Intelligentia revelatam nudam contuetur Ratio conatur revelare ratio inter fidem intelligentiamque discurrens ad illam se erigit sed ista regit ratio plus aliquid quam credere vult quid aliud conspicere aliud est credere aliud est cernere non tamen aliud quam quod fide concipit conspicere conatur et si nondum sincerè videre potest quibusdam tamen accommodatis experimentis conjicere tentat quae jam solida fide concepit ratio supra fidem conatur fide tamen nititur fide cohibetur in primo devota est in secundo prudens in tertio sobria ut sic dicam fides tenet tuetur ratio intelligentia intuetur bonus iste circuitus in quo mens rationis ductu pervestigando procedit sed à fide non recedit instructa à fide restricta ad fidem Thus have I shewed thee O my Soul thy spiritual progress in the search of thy Felicity this is the circuit and round of the Soul in its Military march to the heavenly Jerusalem in the search of him who is the dearly beloved of my Soul these are the streets it compasseth about bonus quidem rationis circuitus a happy circuit and progress of the Soul doubtless when the Soul prosecutes its felicity by rational disquisition and this search too is bounded and limited by the rules of Faith walking from Faith to Faith or from Faith to Vision and Contemplation till it come to the full fruition of what it so much desireth and loveth And now having brought thee to thy journeys end to thy harbour and haven of joy and bliss I will here sing a Requiem to my soul a nunc dimittis to my Spirit Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And since the way to this beatitude lies by the gates of Death that there must be a separation of Soul and Body before there be a full Vision and Fruition I doe here desire to set this little house in order and to make this my last Will and Testament where I bequeath my Soul into the hands of God that gave it and my Body to the grave in Christian buriall Earth to Earth Dust to Dust Ashes to Ashes in hope of a joyfull and glorious resurrection unto eternal life through the merits of Christ my Saviour Amen FINIS
attributes we know which are not Proper to them but Common with other things as that they are essences entia realia perse existentia substances not accidences that they are Incorporeal Immaterial Intellectual Incorruptible spirits of a finite power and perfection all this hath been found out by the strength of natural Reason heathen Philosophers have taught it and Aristotle writes a whole Book de deo intelligâ—ntiis abstractis wherein he acknowledgeth them to be entia realia for asmuch as he grants them a being in nature Substances for as much as they are per se existentes not inhaering like accidences in any Material or Immaterial entity if then Substance not Material nor Inhaering they must be Incorporeal and Immaterial and if Immaterial then Intellectual as hath been said whence cometh their name Intelligenâ—ae which is attributed to these spiritual essences by the heathen Philosophers and that they are finite in power and perfection their creation is an argument for no created substance is infinite but created they are and all of them though not all alike in a necessary and an Essential order among themselves depending one upon another and all upon one as head which is God whom Aristotle calls intelligentia prima And thus much of the Nature and Essences of Angells and Separated Souls by the light of Nature what they are now of their Operations what they do The power of Angells and Souls abstracted Of the power of Angels Forms abstracted in their unstanding is seen in three things viz. in their Understanding in their Will and in their External Actions and Operations as for the power of their Understanding for as much as wee have proved them to be Intelligences Immaterial and of an Intellectual Nature it must needs follow they have in them the Act and Operation of knowledge and this in a far more eminent manner than any Rational Soul in this life by it Natural strength can attain unto wee shall first speak of the Act and manner of knowing themselves then of their Act and manner of knowing others The faculty of knowing themselves Every created Intellectual spirit hath this power to know it self which is not difficult to demonstrate by Natural Reason since every Intellectual Spirit is of it own nature Intelligible yea of it self actually Intelligible and a proportionate Object to any Understanding much more to it own therefore doth e-Intellectual Spirit actually know it self yea with an Intuitive Quidditative and Comprehensible knowledge know it self and is known by it self And how The manner of knowledge which it hath of it self is not as ours in this life per species impressas by Intelligible Forms imprinted of some outward Object nor as it knows other things per species congenitas innatas but it knows it self per propriam subst antiam by its own substance It needs no Accidental Form to represent it self by but every spiritual substance knows it self by its own substance as an Adaequate and proportionate Intelligible Object closely conjoyned to it own Understanding this is the way of knowing themselves God is known by all Intellectual Spirits after the same manner they know themselves by their own Substance Their power of knowing God and how and God by it as their Cause Principle and Author no other Spiritual or Corporeal substance is known this way save onely God yet is not this knowledge God of a proper Quiditative adn Comprehensive but an Improper Imperfect and confused Science for God cannot properly be known as he is in himself of any creature either by his Substance or proper Form who is Incomprehensible by any finite Power much less perfectly known by the proper substance of any Intellectual creature which is but a very imperfect Analogical representation of the Divine Nature Therefore when it is said God is known by the proper substance of any creature it is not to be understood of such a Quidditative knowledge whereby he is known as he is in himself but a knowledge of God per substantiam tanqnam per effectum as the Cause is known by the Effect and thus the Angelical Natures know God by their substance yet as the Effect of such a Cause which standeth with very good Reason for if here we may attain to the knowledge of God in this life by Effects if the invisible things of him from the creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead much more and in a more eminent manner may Angelical Spirits and Separated substances know God by their own Substances as by Effects for as they know their own substances so must they know them to be Effects necessarily and Essentially depending upon God and so by their own Substance as by the noblest Effect made after the Image and likeness of God may they Naturally attain to the knowledge of their Maker Of their knowing others and how But the knowledge which Angels and separated substances have one of another and of other inferior creatures is after another manner not per substantiam but per speciem by Intelligible Forms nor are these Forms imprinted by any outward Object presented to the Senses and so to the Phantasie but are Innate Connatural and ingendred together with their Nature and altogether Intelligible The difference twixt Sensitive Rational and meer intellectual knowledge True it is the Sensitive knowledge is per speciem as well as the Intellectual but perfecter the Intellectual than the Sensitive and the Angelical perfecter than the Humane the Sensitive creatures know nothing but per species and those of Objects singular it knoweth nothing of Universals the Intellectual know per species too but by those he understandeth Universals as well as Singulars all à genere generalissimo ad infimam speciem as for example when we conceive in our mind Substance which is the highest Genus in the Scale of the Predicaments and understand it aright we understand also all its Species under it the whole with all its parts so the Intellectual creatures know per speciem but such as represents some Universal Nature with all its Singulars the Genus with its Species the whole with its parts thus the Intellectual creatures excel the Sensitive in the manner of knowing per speciem And as the Intellectual excel the Sensitive so do they differ in excellencie among themselves the Humane from the Angelical and abstracted Intelligences and these one from another the Separated substances know that at once unico intuitu by one and the same Form which we cannot but by many several Forms running over the Cause with its Effects the Universal Nature with its Singulars with one simple aspect and apprehension which we cannot but under many and divers Conceptions and notions And thus much touching the Operation of the Angelical Intellect Now of their Will and Freedom Where there is Knowledge there is Desire and Appetite where there is no
Man cannot fight with his enemies in Mind and Will onely but stands in need of Hands Weapons and the like but an Angel by the sole power of his Spirit and Will without either Hands or Armes can both fight against and also overcome a whole Host of Armed-men so an Angel in one night slew of the Assyrians one hundred eighty and five thousand Again Man by the Art of Painting and Engraving may make such an Image of Man so lively represented that it may seem to live and breath yet not without great paines and labour but an Angel without any paines without Hands without Instruments can even in an instant as it were so frame a Body of Elements that it shall be taken for a true humane Body of very wise Men such a Body as can Walk Speak Eat Drink yea may be touched handled and washed Thus Abraham prepared Meat for Angels and washed their Feet as th' Apostle hath it entertaning Angels unawares supposing they had been Men the same which happened to his Nephew Lot when he received two Angels into his house for Men as strangers and Travellers so the Angel Raphael for many dayes together dwelt and was conversant with Tobia the yonger Walking Talking and Eating and Drinking as if he were truly Man and yet when he was to leave him said I seemed to Eat and Drink with you but I use invisible Meat and Drink and so vanisht suddainly out of their sight a great power certainly and an admirable so quickly to make a Body as shall not be discerned to differ from a humane and living Body in any thing and the same again to dissolve in a trice as oft as it pleaseth him Again the Soul of Man is so closely conjoyn'd to the Body that without it the Soul cannot move from place to place but God hath not so tied a Body to Angelical natures but without a Body they may most swiftly pass from Heaven to earth from earth to Heaven again or whither also they please Thus as the Angelical Nature is next unto God in Dignity so doth it resemble Gods Omnipresence in Subtilty and Agility God is every where by the infinity of of his being and needs no local motion since he is every where Angels also do pass in so easie and swift a motion from place to place and have their Presence in all places as in a sort they may be said to be ubiquitary The number of these Angels are uncertain not revealed in the Word of God but without doubt so many as cannot well be comprised in the Art of Enumeration millions of millions ministring unto God and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him whereupon Dionysius and with him Aquinas do conclude that the number of Angels are more than are the number of all corporeall substances whatsoever and although their number be so infinite yet they do every one differ amongst themselves not onely in individuall number but also in specificall form Yet for all this number almost infinite they are reduced into nine Ranks and Orders under some of which every of them are comprehended The first and highest Order is that of the Seraphims secondly Cherubins thirdly Thrones fourthly Dominions fifthly Principalities sixthly Powers seventhly Vertues eightly Archangels and the ninth and last Angels of all which Names we read in the holy Scriptures by which their severall Offices Degrees and Orders are dignified and distinguisht Chap. 4. Book 2. Wherefore else serve these different Names if they signified nothing but sure there is a difference twixt Angels and Archangels in degree then why not twixt the rest quid ergo sibi vult gradualis distinctio haec saith St. Bernard upon the same subject But Dionysius makes but three Orders of all putting three in every Order so making a ternary of Trinities alluding to the Sacred Trinity viz. Three Superior three middle and three inferior Orders The highest Orders are the Seraphim Cherubin and Thrones The midlemost Orders are the Dominions Principalities and Powers The lowermost are the Vertues Archangel and Angel but of this enough is said CHAP. IV. Of the Knowledge we have of God and his Attributes THat which may be known of God by the strength of naturall reason is drawn from the Works of his Creation for as the Cause is known by the Effects so is the Creator by the Creature the Physical Science of Causes and Effects here below brings us to a Metaphysical Knowledge of the cause of all causes even God above whose Deity may be seen in every place omnia sunt deâ—rum plena was the saying of Thales Milesius an antient Philosopher thus cited by Aristotle Lib. 1. De anima and thus said the Poets of old Jovis omnia plena paersentem que refert quaelibet herba deuÌ„ not the meanest of the Creatures but manifest a God-head The Philosophers therefore excepting the Epicureans who held that this great spacious universe was nothing else but Theatrum caeco atomorum confluxu genitum searching out the causes of things and finding a concatenation of them in an orderly dependance one upon another Simplicius Philoponus Ammonius Averrores aliique multi viri illustres neque numero pauciores nec autoritate inferiores iis qui de sipere maluerint mundum à deo ut causa efficiente pendere affirmant Scaliger and a necessary conjunction of every of them with their Effects ne daretur progressus in infinitum vel circulus committendus an absurdity in Nature which otherwise they would run into were forced to acknowledge one Supreme cause of all things which was God Plato Aristotle Galen and others from hence do prove that there is a God The quod sit is thus proved the quid sit may from thence also be concluded for when we look upon the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth wee may see the Greatness and Power of God when we behold the Governance and Guidance of all in so great a Beauty Order and Distinction of all things we may judge of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God when we consider the commodity profit and Use of all things we may experience the goodness and Love of God and so we may come to know God in his Predicates and Attributes viz. that he is Ens Actus Substantia Vivens Aeternus Justus Sapiens c. Yea under such conceptions and notions as are only proper and essential to God not agreeing with any other may God be apprehended by us in this Metaphysical Science viz. that he is Ens infinitum simpliciter that he is Actus purus causa prima primus motor immobilis c. And so we come to the knowledge of God quodsit and quid sit both that he is and what he is Yet is not this knowledge comprehensive of him these Motions of Gods Essentiall Attributes though Proper to him and Communicative to none beside are not quidditative an infinite Essence cannot so be comprehended within the Sphaer of a Finite
knowest my thoughts afar off God is a searcher of the heart and trier of the reins the desires of the soul thoughts of the heart are not hid from him he long before knows all the free and voluntary acts of men and certainly can foretell the Event of every Future Contingent this is by Vertue of that Infinite Knowledge which is proper to God alone Prevision and Prediction of Contingent Effects none is capabel of but God alone and those to whom God is pleased to reveal it and therefore though the Prophets of old have foretold as we may read in holy Writ of many effects of this Nature which most truly and certainly came to pass yet it was not they but God in them foretold them Luk. 1.70 so saith Zacharie in his Benedictus As he spake by the mouth of his Prophets since the World began and St. Peter in his 2. Epist 1.21 Prophesie in old time came not by the Will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost The Devils have formerly spoken in Oracles and taken upon them to foretel such Future Events but this is above the Nature of any Angel a Conjectural Knowledge they may have at the best such as a Mariner by his long Experience may foretel of the Wind the Husbandman of rain the Physician of diseases and the like by which the Devils have presumed to foretel such things to come in which also often they have both deceived themselves and others And where this Knowledge could not be attained wherein they could have no probable conjecture of Future Events they have in Oracles uttered Amphibologiously and in a double meaning that so if the Event proved otherwaies the fault might be imputed to the Misinterpretation and not to the Prediction But a certain Knowledge of a Future Contingent that they have not it is onely proper to God Your Astrologers Genethlialogists Vide Sennertum lib. 2. cap. 2. fol. 34. a b. and other such Diviners who like Gods Apes take upon them to imitate him in such Predictions are here to be derided and rejected as Impostors and deluders of mankind since they pretend not to Divine Revelation and Inspiration of God from whom alone such Effects do come to be certainly known The consideration hereof may make us with the Appostle cry out and say O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God Great is the Lord and great is his Power yea and his Wisdom infinite sapientiae ejus non est numerus Stand thou in Admiration and Adoration of this Knowledge of God O my Soul say with the Prophet David such Knowledge is too wonderful forme O God I cannot attain unto it for of such Knowledge doth the Prophet David there speak viz. of the Knowledge of Future Cogitations saying thou knowest my thoughts afar of not such as there already are but such as shall be hereafter nor such as shall be but such as may not be hereafter also Now the heart of Man is deep and unsearchable profundum inscrutabile saith the Steptuagint and who can know it It is answered I the Lord which search the heart and trie the Reins this makes the Psalmist crie out such knowledge is too wonderfull for me If we but cast in our mind the number of all mankind that have been since the Creation of the World living upon the face of the Earth and add thereto the number of those that are with those that shall be conversant upon the Earth before the Consummation of this Universe and we shall find they will not fall within the number of Arithmetick Millions of Millions and ten thousand times ten thousand are not the one half of them Let us withall cast in our mind the several various thoughts and desires of the heart which this day and night hath passed us thee and me much less the thoughts of every mans particular heart since the beginning of the World throughout the whole course of his life we are not able to recount them yet such is the infiniteness of his Wisdom and Knowledge that God in the Book of his Remembrance hath the number of all with the names of every one that hath been or now are from the beginning of the World to this very instant with a Register of all and every one of their Thoughts Words and Actions of what Nature soever or how secretly soever committed nor onely so but every mans thoughts and imaginations of heart that shall be nay more every thought that may be though it never be fall within the compass and comprehension of this infinit knowledge of God the thoughts which are not in thy heart O my Soul but furthest from thee nay and against thy mind as loathsom to retain are known to God It was not in Hasaels heart to kill his Master to take the strong holds of the Children of Israel and set them on fire to slay the young men with the sword to dash their Children rip up their women with child when he answered the Prophet What is thy Servant a dog that he should do these great things nor was it in Peters heart he was not guilty of such dissimulation to deny his Master when he answered our Saviour though all should forsake thee yet would not I and again though I should die with thee yet will not I deny thee yet these were foretold and so came to pass as they were foretold by that admirable Knowledge of him who searching the hearts and trying the reines seeth not as Man seeth but knoweth the thoughts afar off even such as are not yea and depend upon the Will of Man whether ever they spall be or not Such Knowledge is too wonderful for thee O my Soul thou canst not attain unto it Naural and Divine CONTEMPLATIONS Of the Passions and Faculties Of the Soul of Man In Three Bookes THE THIRD BOOK The Theological part CHAP. I. BUT oh the Trump hath sounded the Earth hath opened her Womb those that slept are awaked the bodies of the dead are raised to life and blessed are they that have died in the Lord. No longer now shall we view the Souls of those departed in their Metaphysical shapes and abstracted Forms every form to its Individual determinate matter and every Soul to its Numerical body the Soul hath quickned and revived the Body the Body is again reunited to the Soul in an Indissoluble Conjugal knot in an everlasting wedlock But since Corruption cannot Inherit Incorruption or Souls Immortal ever dwell in trunks of clay and dust therefore hath the Body cast off her old Garments and changed her attire she was sown a Natural body she is raised a Spiritual body sown in weakness but raised in Power in dishonor but raised in Glory sowen in Corruption but raised in Incorruption that she may for ever dwell with the Incorruptible Soul in Unity There are no jarrings twixt Soul and Body here as in
left hand Semblable to which is the rule and Dominion which Impetuous and Implacable flesh usurpeth and excerciseth over the Souls of Mortal men in their Pilgrimage here below leading them Captive to the Law of sin and death This is that miserable Bondage under which the Sons of men in this Vale of â—ars do groan from which Bondage of Corruption and body of sin they wait with earnest expectation to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And not onely they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies not that we should be found naked and our bobodies unclothed but clothed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of life It is not a change of our bodies but of our Raiment and Vestments which we do look for a Crown of glory for a Crown of thornes the Robes of Righteousness for the Raggs of Sin This change must be inâ—hoate here though compleated hereafter the Foundation must be layed on Earth in Grace but finished in Heaven in Glory the Garments of the Old man laid aside and the Garments of the New man put on the lusts of the flesh mortified the fruits of the Spirit quickned Ephe. 4.22 23 24. We must put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceiptful lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of our mind and we must put on that new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness that we may henceforth serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter For if we live after the flesh wee shall die but if we through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live Woe is me that I am constrained to live in Mesech to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar my Soul hath long dwelt with them that are Enemies to peace they are daily fighting and troubling it the Body with all its sinful lusts rebel against my Soul and when I labour for Peace they make them ready for Battel they will not have her rule over them whom thou O Lord hast made the Monarch and sole Empress of this little World but attempt by continual Insurrections and Intestine Wars to introduce an Arbitrary Power over an Athenian and Popular Government For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned in the inward Man in the spirit of my mind by the might and Power of his Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dead that as he died for my sin and rose again for my justification so I may die to sin and live unto righteousness and being buried with Christ into death by Baptism may walk in newness of life that being planted together in the likeness of his death I may be also in the likness of his Resurrection kowing this that my old man is Crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth I should not sin And though I live and walk in the flesh yet that I may not war after but against the flesh the weapons of my warfare being Spiritual and mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds to the casting down of Imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience of the flesh against the Law of my mind which is onely subject to the Law of God Help me O God so to keep under my body and bring it into subjection that I my self be no a castaway Thy will O Heavenly Father be done on Earth as it is in Heaven and as thou hast praepared an Heaven and fitted the body with all Obsequiousness to serve and the Soul to rule and command with all just Authority and moderation all this in the Resurrection of the body at the last day when Soul and Body meet again in a glorified estate to Possess the Heavenly Mansions so fit and and prepare them here that whilst they are in this Earthly Tabernacle all Schism being abandoned all Rebellion Anathemaâ—ized the heel may not kick against the body or the foot tread upon the head but however it fareth in the body Politick there may be such an orderly subjection in the body Natural that my flesh may be subject not Predominant to my Spirit my Body unto my Soul and both Soul and Body subject unto thee O my God do thou thus set my foot over the threshold of thy Heaven Chap. 2. Book 3. put thou my Soul into this happy condition of an inchoate blessedness so shall I cheerfully spend the remaindâ—r of my daies in a joyful expectation of the full Consummation of my glory Amen Bish Hall his Susurium cum Deo CHAP. II. Of the Organs of the body and the Exercise of the Sensitive faculties of the Soul by them in the state of glory AS the appearance of the Bride newly come from her Chamber in the daies of her Espousals on the Solemnity of her brideale and other Nuptial Rites bedecked and adorned with all the Ornaments both of body and mind that may render her gratious and Amiable in the eyes of her Betrothed or like the Kings Daughter all glorious within and without in clothing of wrought Gold brought into the Kings Palace attended on among the Honorable VVomen by a Train of Virgins that be her fellows Even such is the inward grace and outward Magnificence Pomp and State of the body in the morning of her Resurrection and Ascension from the Chamber of death to be Espoused again to the Soul in an everlast-VVedlock the Bill of Divorcement being cancelled and Nullified by an Act of perpetual Oblivion Her Soporiferous bed of rottenness she thenceforth lotheth and outrunneth leaving behind her load of inward Corruption all waywardness of mind and frowardness of disposition and her Troops of Natural Imperfection Deafness Dumbness Blindless Lameness c. such Sons of sorrow and servants of sin and perdition presume not to approach the marriage Chamber all other her Companions in the flesh that were faithful and serviceable to her and instrumental to the Soul in the Acts of grace are still her attendants and are admitted into the Royal Palace and invested with the Robes of Glory and Immortality as a badge and livery of the glorified Soul whose Servants and Ministers they are Those Organical parts of the body in which the Soul was exercised and without which it could not Operate in which respect the Soul as to such faculties and Operations might be termed Mortal are revived with the body and useful to the Soul in their several Stations I do not I dare not here affirm that all the parts of