〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no such Solid Body as they might find him to have bidding them therefore handle him to remove that Scruple of theirs As if he should have said Though Spirits or Ghosts and Souls Departed have Bodies or Vehicles which may by them be so far Condensed as sometimes to make a Visible appearance to the Eyes of men yet have they not any such Solid Bodies as those of Flesh and Bone and therefore by Feeling and Handling may you satisfie your selves that I am not a meer Spirit Ghost or Soul Appearing as others have frequently done without a Miracle but that I appear in that very same Solid Body wherein I was Crucified by the Jews by miraculous Divine Power raised out of the Sepulchre and now to be found no more there Agreeable to which of our Saviour Christ is that of Apollonius in Philostratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Touch me and Handle me and if you find me to avoid the Touch then may you conclude me to be a Spirit or Ghost that is a Soul departed but if I firmly resist the same then believe me Really to live and not yet to have cast off the Body And indeed though Spirits or Ghosts had certain Subtle Bodies which they could so far Condense as to make them sometimes Visible to men yet is it reasonable enough to think that they could not Constipate or Fix them into such a Firmness Grossness and Solidity as that of Flesh and Bone is to continue therein or at least not without such Difficulty and Pain as would hinder them from attempting the same Notwithstanding which it is not denied but that they may possibly sometimes make use of other Solid Bodies Moving and Acting them as in that famous Story of Phlegons where the Body Vanished not as other Ghosts use to do but was left a Dead Carcase behind Now as for our Saviour Christ's Body after his Resurrection and before his Ascension which notwithstanding its Solidity in Handling yet sometimes Vanished also out of his Disciples sight this probably as Origen conceived was purposely conserved for a time in a certain Middle State betwixt the Craâ—sities of a Mortal Body and the Spirituality of a Perfectly Glorified Heavenly Etherial Body But there is a place of Scripture which as it hath been interpreted by the Generality of the Ancient Fathers would Naturally Imply even the Soul of our Saviour Christ himself after his Death and before his Resurrection not to have been quite Naked from all Body but to have had a certain Subtle or Spirituous Clothing and it is this of St. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which being understood by those Ancients of our Saviour Christ's descending into Hades or Hell is accordingly thus rendered in the Vulgar Latin Put to Death In the Flesh bút Quickned in the Spirit In which Spirit also he went and preached to those Spirits that were in Prison c. So that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Spirit here according to this interpretation is to be taken for a Spirituous Body the Sense being this That when our Saviour Christ was put to death in the Flesh or the Fleshly Body he was Quickned in the Spirit or a Spirituous Body In which Spirituous Body also he went and preached to those Spirits that were in Prison c. And doubtless it would be said by the Asserters of this Interpretation that the word Spirit could not here be taken for the Soul of our Saviour Christ because this being Naturally Immortal could not properly be said to be Quickned and Made Alive Nor could He that is our Saviour Christ's Soul be so well said to go In this Spirit neither that is In it self the Soul in the Soul to preach to the Spirits in Prison They would add also that Spirit here could not be taken for the Divine Spirit neither which was the Efficient Cause of the Vivification of our Saviour's Body at his Resurrection because then there would be no direct Opposition betwixt Being put to Death in the Flesh and Quickned in the Spirit unless they be taken both alike Materially As also the following Verse is thus to be understood That our Saviour Christ went in that Spirit wherein he was Quickned when he was Put to Death In the Flesh and therein preached to the Spirits in Prison By which Spirits in Prison also would be meant not Pure Incorporeal Substances or Naked Souls but Souls Clothed with Subtle Spirituous Bodies as that word may be often understood elsewhere in Scripture But thus much we are unquestionably certain of from the Scripture That not only Elias whose Terrestrial Body seems to have been in part at least Spiritualized in his Ascent in that Fiery Chariot but also Moses appeared Visibly to our Saviour Christ and his Disciples upon the Mount and therefore since Piety will not permit us to think this a meer Prestigious thing in Real Bodies which Bodies also seem to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luciform or Lucid like to our Saviour's then Transfigured Body Again there are sundry places of Scripture which affirm that the Regenerate and Renewed have here in this Life a certain Earnest of their Future Inheritance which is their Spiritual or Heavenly Body as also the Quickning of their Mortal Bodies is therein attributed to the Efficiency of the Spirit Dwelling in them Which is a Thing that hath been taken notice of by Some of the Ancients as Irenaeus Nunc autem Partem aliquam Spiritus ejus sumimus ad Perfectionem Praeparationem Incorruptelae paulatim assuescentes Capere Portare Deum Quod Pignus dixit Apostolus hoc est Partem ejus Honoris qui à Deo nobis promissus est Si ergo Pignus hoc habitans in nobis jam Spirituales effecit absorbetur Mortale ab Immortalitate Now have we a Part of that Spirit for the Preparation and Perfection of Incorruption we being accustomed by little and little to Receive and Bear God Which also the Apostle hath called an Earnest that is a Part of that Honour which is promised to us from God If therefore this Earnest or Pledge dwelling in us hath made us already Spiritual the Mortal is also swallowed up by Immortality And Novatian Spiritus Sanctus id agit in nobis ut ad Aeternitatem ad Resurrectionem Immortalitatis corpora nostra perducat dum illa in se assuefacit cum Caelesti Virtute misceri This is that which the Holy Spirit doth in us namely to bring and lead on our Bodies to Eternity and the Resurrection of Immortality whilst in it self it accustometh us to be mingled with the Heavenly Vertue Moreover there are some places also which seem to imply that Good Men shall after Death have a Further Inchoation of their Heavenly Body the full Completion whereof is not to be expected before the Resurrection or Day of Judgment We know that If our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we
delivered down to us from very ancient Times that the Stars are Gods also besides that Supreme Deity which contains the Whole Nature But all the other things were Fabulously added hereunto for the better Perswasion of the Multitude and for Vtility of Humane Life and Political Ends to keep men in Obedience to Civil Laws As for example that these Gods are of Humane Form or like to other Animals with such other things as are consequent hereupon In which words of Aristotle these Three Things may be taken notice of First That this was the General Perswasion of the Civilized Pagans from all known Antiquity downwards that there is One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comprehends the whole Nature Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by Aristotle plainly taken for the Supreme Deity And his own sence concerning this Particular is elsewhere thus declared after the same manner where he speaks of Order Harmony and Proportion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Work of the Divine Power which also conteinâ— this Vniverse Which Divinity Conteining and Compâ—ehending the Whole Nature and Vniverse must needs be a Single and Solitary Being according to that Expression of Horace before cited Nec viget quicquam Simile aut Secundum That which hath nothing Like it nor Second to it The next thing is That according to the Pagan Tradition besides this Vniversal Numen there were certain other Particular and Infeferiour Deities also that is Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to Men namely the Animated Stars or Spheres according to the Vulgar Apprehension though Aristotle's Philosophy would interpret this chiefly of their Immovable Minds or Intelligences Lastly that all the rest of the Pagan Religion and Theology those Two Things only excepted were Fabulous and Fictitious invented for the better Perswasion of the Vulgar to Piety and the conserving of them in Obedience to Civil Laws amongst which this may be reckoned for one that those Gods are all like Men or other Animals and therefore to be worshipped in Images and Statues of those several Forms with all that other Fabulous Farrago which dependeth hereupon Which being separated from the rest the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ancient Tradition of their Pagan Progenitors would remain comprized within those Two Particulars above mentioned namely that there is One Supreme Deity that Conteins the whole Vniverse and that besides it the Animated Stars or their Minds are certain Inferiour Gods also To Aristole may be here subjoyned Speusippus and Xenocrates his Equals and Corrivals they being Plato's Successors together with Theophrastus his own Scholar and Successor Concerning the former of which it is recorded in Cicero that agreeably with Plato he asserted Vim quandam quâ omnia regantur eamque Animalem One Animal and Intellectual Force by which all things are governed by reason whereof Velleius the Epicurean complains of him as thereby endeavouring Evellere ex animis cognitionem Deorum To pluck out of the minds of men the Notion of Gods as indeed both he and Plato did destroy those Epicurean Gods which were all supposed to be Independent and to have no Sway or Influence at all upon the Government of the World whereas neither of them denied a Plurality of Subordinate and Dependent Deities Generated or Created by One Supreme and by him Employed as his Ministers in the Oeconomy of the Universe For had they done any such thing as this they would certainly have been then condemned for Atheists And Xenocrates his Theology is thus represented in Stobaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That both a Monad and Dyad were Gods the one Masculine having the order of a Father which he calleth Zen and Mind and which is also to him the First God the other Feminine as it were the Mother of the Gods which is to him the Soul of the Vniverse besides which he acknowledgeth the Heaven to be Divine that is Animated with a Particular Soul of its own and the Fiery Stars to be Celestial Gods as he asserted also certain Sublunary Gods viz. the Invisible Demons Where instead of the Platonick Trinity Xenocrates seems to have acknowledg'd only a Duality of Divine Hypostases the First called a Monad and Mind the Second a Dyad and Soul of the Vniverse And lastly we have this Testimony of Theophrastus besides others cited out of his Metaphysicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is one Divine Principle of all things by or from which all things subsist and remain XXV The Stoicks and their chief Doctors Zeno Cleanthes and Chrysippus were no better Naturalists and Metaphysicians than Heraclitus in whose footsteps they trode they in like manner admitting no other Substance besides Body according to the true and proper Notion thereof as that which is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Distant and Extended but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resisting and Impenetrable So that according to these Stoicks the Souls not only of other Animals but of Men also were properly Corporeal that is Substances Impenetrably Extended and which differ'd from that other part of theirs commonly called their Body no otherwise than that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more Thin and Subtil Body and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Hot and Fiery Spirit it being supposed by these Philosophers that Cogitation Reason and Vnderstanding are lodged only in the Fiery Matter of the Universe And though the Generality of these Stoicks acknowledged Humane Souls to have a certain Permanency after Death and some of them till the next Conflagration unless perhaps they should be crushed and broken all to pieces in their Passage out of the Body by the down-fall of some Tower Steeple or the like upon them yet did they all conclude against their Immortality there being nothing at all Immortal with them as shall be afterwards declared save only Jupiter or the One Supreme Deity And as for the Punishment of Wicked Souls after death though some of them seem to have utterly exploded the same as a meer Figment of Poets insomuch that Epictetus himself denies there was any Acheron Cocytus or Phlegethon yet others granted that as the better Souls after Death did mount up to the Stars their First Original so the Wicked wandred up and down here in certain Dark and Miry Subterraneous Places till at length they were quite extinct Nevertheless they seem to have been all of this Perswasion that the Frightning of men with punishments after Death was no Proper nor Accommodate means to promote Virtue because that ought to be pursued after for its own sake or the Good of Honesty as Vice to be avoided for that Evil of Turpitude which is in it and not for any other External Evil consequent thereupon Wherefore Chrysippus reprehended Plato for subjoyning to his Republick such affrightful Stories of Punishments after death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysippus affirmeth that Plato in the Person of Cephalus does not rightly deterr men from Injustice
Inanimate Bodies because he that acknowledgeth no Animant God acknowledges no God at all but is a downright Atheist Page 512 Neither ought this Physiological Theology of the Pagans that consisted in Personating and Deifying the Natures of things and Inanimate Bodies to be Confounded with that Natural and Philosophical Theology of Varro Scaevola and others which admitted of no other but Animant Gods and such as Really Existed in Nature for which Cause it was called Natural in opposition to the Fictitious and Phantastick Poetick Gods Page 512 S. Austin's just Censure and Condemnation of the Pagans for their thus Theologizing of Physiology or Fictitiously Personating and Deifying the Natures of things Page 512 513 But though the Pagans did thus verbally Personate and Deifie the things of Nature yet did not the Intelligent amongst them therefore account these True and Proper Gods Cotta in Cicero Though we call Corn Ceres and Wine Bacchus yet was there never any one so mad as to take that for a God which himself feeds upon and devours The Pagans really accounted that onely for a God by the Invoking whereof they might expect benefit to themselves and therefore Nothing Inanimate This proved from Plato Aristotle Lucretius Cicero and Plutarch Wherefore these Natures of things Deified but Fictitious and Phantastick Gods Nor can any other sense be made of them than this that they were really but so many several Names of one Supreme God as severally manifested in his works according to that Egyptian Theology That God may be called by the Name of every thing or every thing by the Name of God With which agreeth Seneca That there may be as many Names of God as there are Gifts and Effects of his and the Writer De Mundo That God may be Denominated from every Nature he being the Cause of all things Page 513 515 Wherefore these Deified Natures of things were not directly worshipped by the Intelligent Pagans but onely Relatively to the Supreme God or in way of Complication with him onely and so not so much Themselves as God worshipped in them The Pagans Pretence that they did not look upon the world with such Eyes as Oxen and Horses do but with Religious Eyes so as to see God in every thing They therefore worshipped the Invisible Deity in the Visible manifestations of himself God and the World together This sometimes called Pan and Jupiter Thus was the whole World said to be the Greatest God and the Circle of the Heavens worshipped by the Persians not as Inanimate Matter but as the Visible manifestation of the Deity displayed from it and pervaded by it When the Roman Sea-Captains Sacrificed to the Waves their worship intended to that God who Stilleth the Waves and Quieteth the Billows Page 515 516 These Pagans also apprehended a Necessity of permitting men to worship the Invisible God in his Visible Works This account given by them in Eusebius Plato himself approved of worshipping the Invisible God in the Sun Moon and Stars as his Visible Images And though Maximus Tyrius would have men endeavour to rise above the Starry Heavens and all Visible things yet does he allow the weaker to worship God in his Progeny And Socrates perswades Euthydemus to be contented herewith Besides which some Pagans worshipping the Elements directed their Intention to the Spirits of those Elements as Julian in Ammianus these being supposed also to be Animated or else to those Daemons whom they conceived to inhabit them or preside over them Page 516 518 XXXIII Further to be observed That amongst those Natures of things some were meerly Accidental as Hope Love Desire Memory Truth Vertue Piety Faith Justice Concord Clemency Victory Echo Night According to which the vulgar Athenians supposed S. Paul to have Deified Anastasis or made a Goddess of the Resurrection as well as a God of Jesus Vices also sometimes thus Deified by them as Contumely and Impudence to whom were Temples dedicated at Athens though to the end that these things might be Deprecated These Accidents sometimes Deified under Counterfeit Proper Names as Pleasure under the name of Volupia and Lubentina Venus Time under the name of Chronos or Saturn Prudence or Wisedom under the names of Athena or Minerva against which Origen in his answer to Celsus Cicero himself allowed of Dedicating Temples to Mind Vertue Piety Faith c. Page 518 520 But such Accidents and Affections of Things Deifyed could not possibly be Accounted True and Proper Gods they having not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Reall Subsistence or Substantiall Essence of their own And thus does Origen again dispute against Minerva's Godship as Tropologized into Prudence As he doth also elsewhere upon the same Ground against that of Memory the Mother of the Muses and that of the Graces he concluding these and such like therefore to be nothing but Figments of the Greeks they being Things Personated and Feigned with Humane Members Thus the Pagans condemned by Prudentius also for Feigning Things Incorporeal with Counterfeit Members These Gods plainly Exploded by Cotta or Cicero in disguise as having onely Vim Rerum but not Deorum the Force of Things but not of Gods in them or being but Naturae Rerum and not Figurae Deorum Page 520 521 Wherefore the True meaning of these Deified Natures of Things could be no other then this that God was to be acknowledged and worshipped in All things or as the Pagans themselves declare it that the Force of every thing was both governed by God and it self Divine Pliny of this Breaking and Crumbling of the Deity into Parts Every one Worshipping that in God and for a God which himself most stood in need of This dividing of the Simple Deity and Worshipping it Brokenly by parcells and piece-meal as manifested in all the Several Things of Nature and Parts of the world Justly Censured and Elegantly Perstringed by Prudentius against Symmachus Where Prudentius grants that Symmachus who declared that it was One thing which all worshipped when he sacrificed to Victory did sacrifice to God Almighty under that Partiall Notion as the Giver of Victory This in the Egyptian Allegory Osiris Mangled and Cut in pieces by Typhon Victory and Vertue as well as Neptune Mars and Bellona but several names or Notions of Jupiter in the Prologue of Plautus his Amphitryo Page 521 522 Vossius his opinion that these Deified Accidents and Natures of Things as well as the other Pagan Invisible Gods were commonly lookt upon by the Vulgar as so many Single Substantiall Minds or Spirits Created by the Supreme God and appointed to preside over those several things respectively Where it is acknowledged that neither the Political nor the Poetical Gods of the Pagans were taken so much as by the Vulgar for so many Independent Deities Page 523 524 Probable that by these Gods the Wiser Pagans sometimes understood Demons in Generall or Collectively that is whosoever they were that were appointed to preside over those several Things or dispense them As