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A95692 Theologia Germanica. Or, Mysticall divinitie : a little golden manuall briefly discovering the mysteries, sublimity, perfection and simplicity of Christianity, in belief and practise. Written above 250 years since in high Dutch, & for its worth translated into Latine, and printed at Antwarp, 1558. Whereto is added definitions theologicall and philosophicall. Also a treatise of the soul, and other additions not before printed. Randall, Giles, translator. 1648 (1648) Wing T858; Thomason E1162_2; ESTC R210095 77,165 196

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Impressions 2. Determineth what is to be followed and what avoyded His seat is the middle part or Cell of the brain whither the Imagination stretcheth his Impresses The Phantasie compareth Forms with forms as black with white Forms with Intensions as the form of a wolf with the flight of a wolf Intention with Intention as the feeding of her own with the rejecting of another His seat is betwixt the Memory and the Estimation because is concerns them both for it is enlightened by Estimation maintained by Memory Led by Phantasie Creatures Make them caves and nests Provide them sustenance a far off Know and distinguish this to be this Choose and refuse this and that Memory Doth receive the operations of all the Senses from the Common Sense Doth reserve the things receive as Imagination doth the Intents His seat is in the hinder part of the head Memory is Artificial got by litteral observation and practise Natural instilled in our composition The Reasonable Soul hath 1. Inbred Powers 2. Acquired Habits 3. Inferred Passions The inbred powers of the Soul are 1. Understanding Speculative to contemplate withall Practick to exercise and this is the Cogitative part of the Soul which apprehendeth withall 2. Will Natural which is directed by instinct Deliberative which is guided by reason and this is the Motive part of the soul which produceth all the operations both of body and mind The Soul Knoweth the good by the speculative understanding Affecteth the good by practick understanding Discerneth good and evil by Reason Chooseth the good from evil by free-will Consenteth to chosen good by rectified will Inventeth means to accomplish it by will Raiseth it self to vertue by the motive of the Conscience This is the order and degree of Understanding 1. Sense perceiveth 2. Imagination representeth 3. Understanding formeth 4. Wit deviseth 5. Reason judgeth 6. Memory preserveth 7. Intelligence apprehendeth 8. Contemplation perfecteth The Soul knoweth things Present by Sense Absent and to come by Imagination Absent and past by Memory It self by reflection upon it self God by elevation above it self Creatures by humiliation of it self The Soul is immortal 1. Because it is capable of felicity which is eternal 2. Because it is made after Gods similitude which is immortal 3. Because it hath no contrariety to corrupt it A Spirit doth unite the Soul unto a body whose Flesh bones are made of earth Humors to wit Blood Phlegm Choller and Melancollick are made of water Lights are made of ayr to cool the heat of the heart Heart containeth fire to temper the moisture of the brain The members of the body are 1. Radical wherein is the root of life as in the Liver Heart Brain Tests 2. Serviceable to convey the natural animal and vital spirits as the Veines Nerves Arteries 3. Official to perform the offices of the body as the Eyes Hands Feet The Soul was united to the body 1. To teach us the union of our Soul and God 2. To accomplish and perfect the work of God For as God made one creature meerly spiriritual as the Angels and one meerly corporal as the World so he hath made one both spiritual corporal which is Man The acquired habits of the Soul be 1. Vertues 2. Habitual Customs got by industry and use Vertues proceed from grace 1. Incoative which begetteth them 2. Continuing which maintaineth them 3. Perfecting which consummates and acteth them Vertue in respect of the 1. Giver is the operation of God in man 2. Subject is the habitation of a well-governed mind 3. Working is a habit bringing us to Mediocrity 4. End is a disposition to the best perfection 5. Quality a good faculty whereby we live well All Vertues consist in 1. Understanding hard matters 2. Enduring adverse crosses 3. Abstaining from pleasures The measure of Vertue is placed in Doing 1. Doing neither above Measure nor under Measure but in Measure 2. Having neither Excess nor Defect 3 Bearing Prosperity with hūblenes Adversity with patience The tree of Vertue hath his 1. Seed Fear 2. Irigation Grace 3. Root Faith 4. Bud Devotion 5. Growth Desire 6. Strength Charity 7. Greenness Hope 8. Leaf Heed 9. Flourish Discipline 10. Fruit Doctrine 11. Maturity Patience The condition of Vertue is to 1. Remove tentations this setles Vertue in the Root 2. Multiply vertuous actions this is the flower of Vertue 3. Delight in goodness this the fruit of Vertue There be four mother Vertues 1. Faith to conceive them 2. Charity to bring them forth 3. Wisdom to dispose and order them 4. Humility to sustain and uphold them Men are more inclinable to one vertue then to another 1. Because they have the gift of that special vertue 2. Because their complexion inclineth to that vertue 3. Because use exerciseth them in that vertue 4. Because that vertue is not suppressed by his contrary vice Vertues are 1. Intellectual conducing to God 1. Wisdom which ruleth our affections and will 2. Intelligence which guideth cogitations and understandings 3. Knowledg of the Spirit which governeth both the will and understanding 2. Consuetudinal to converse with men as 1. Honesty to order our private actions 2. Liberality to benefit our neighbours Consuetudinal vertues are 1. Moral to inform our manners 2. Oeconomical to dispose our family 3. Political to order Kingdoms and Cities Mans life is guided by seven Vertues By 3 Theological 1. Faith whereby we know God as Verity 2. Hope whereby we trust in God as in Eternity 3. Charity wherby we love God as the only Bonity 4 Cardinal 4. Prudence which rectifieth Reason 5. Fortitude which tempereth Anger 6. Temperance which moderates desire 7. Justice which confirmeth all our powers 1. Faith is either Historical to believe the histories of Scripture Miraculous to believe in Christ for Miracles Diabolical to confess of necessity without Hope Justifying to believe and confess with full Hope 2. Hope is either for Pardon Grace Glory 3. Charity is refered Naturally to our self this is called Love To our Parents this is called Piety To our Neighbours this is called Dilection To our follows which is called Friendship and contains 1. Familiarity 2. Society 3. Benevolence 4. Benignity To our Enemies which is called Exitation Love of Innocency To God which is properly called Charity 4. Prudence 1. Loveth all things by the line of Reason 2. Neither willeth nor doth any thing otherwise then right Prudence must be in the Heart to guide our thoughts and intents Mouth to order our speech Works to grace our actions Prudence may be divided into Intelligence to understand things present Prudence to guess at things to come Remembrance to recal matters past 5. Temperance 1. Brings the appetite under the Rule of Reason 2. Never exceedeth the Laws of Moderation Temperance may be divided into 1. Continency which refrain and restrain pleasures 2. Charity 3. Clemency which appeaseth anger 4. Sobriety which avoydeth excess in Eating Drinking 5. Modesty which escheweth vain-gloriousness in our words
the plough As concerning my translation understand that I have neither added nor detracted any thing from the Author and I could no more avoyd obscurity in translating a book compiled with much affected brevity then the Author himself in writing of it yet I counsel the Reader that he would often and attentively read it which may ●●●ve in stead of a Comment I have used some words in it as these Egoity Selfness Meity Deified Disposence Personal●ity c. necessity compelling me thereunto because the Author useth that manner of speech wherein I ought to be thought no more blameable then Tidley who doubted not to be bold in using the words Appiety and Lentallity A Writer may make bold when necessity requireth it to command words and not to learn them The Inscription of this Book is Theologia Germanica the Author is not named only I find it written in a certain little Preface to the Book that he was one of those who are called Dun Teutonici or Dutch Lords the French call them Knights of the Rhodes and that he was a Priest and Governor in the house of Teutonici or high Dutch at Frankfort The Argument is of the new man or the new creature for he sheweth the manner how a man may be restored and return to God from whence he is faln by following his own will It is necessary that he bewilling to be restored because medicines are to be contrary to their diseases that he be deprived of his own will follow the will of God and no man can serve two masters but as a man may very well put out his own eyes or kill himself yet cannot restore himself to sight or life again even so man is in Adam prone to destroy himself and all his posterity by following his own will But neither he nor any who is guilty and overthrown by his sin can possibly save himself or repair the breach It was necessary again for the saving of the world that one should arise and exist who was holy harmless and undefiled separate from sinners to deliver others from sin and teach the way of life and this was Jesus Christ the Son of the living God to whom all power is given both in heaven and earth who doth not only teach man this way to salvation but also giveth them power by Faith to walk in it I would not hereby have you understand a dead Faith for that is no more Faith then a dead man is a man but a working and living Faith such a one as Saint Peter describeth together with the works and effects thereof saying Add to your faith vertue and to your vertue knowledg and to your knowledg temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity For if these things remain and abound in you they will make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather brethren give all diligence to make your calling and election sure for if these things be in you you shall never fail S. Peter speaks of a true and lively faith which doth not only procure unto a man the forgiveness of his sins by the merit of Christ but also effecteth that as before be yeelded his members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin so hereafter he may give them as instruments of righteousnes to do well And because S. Peter in this place doth describe a certain ladder to salvation I purpose to make it plain whereby we may more evidently perceive by which steps we may ascend to the top thereof lest that any man should be content to stand only upon the first step and yet think he had attained tosalvation from which he was distant many degrees Therefore according to S. Peter faith bringeth forth vertue that is strength and ability to perform those things which thou beleevest are to be done as so taught from God As for example Christ commands us to love our enemies and to do good to them which do evil to us Now there are some who beleeve that this cannot be done again they hate their enemies and do them all mischief others beleeve that it is to be done by the assistance of God and therefore do good to their enemies Consider all sects and kinds of men and you shall find that those who beleeve it is possible to be done do act the same and that Christ who hath given them power to beleeve hath given them power also to perform his Commandments for it is not said in vain that all things are possible to him that beleeveth And this I say generally of all other precepts of Christ As thou beleevest saith Christ so be it to thee this is generally to be taken look how much faith any one hath and so much strength of vertue he hath also And vertue begeteth knowledge for true knowledg consists in experience which comes to pass when a man is made able to perform something doth certainly know that that which before he did beleeve he did not certainly know might have been performed Examples hereof we have in Caleb and Joshua and the rest of the Israelites who did overcome the Canaanites for then did they certainly know that those might be overcome as they had before beleeved but the rest of the Israelites who did not beleeve that this could be done could not do it and again they knew it not So at this day such as do not beleeve that such a the power of Christ as that he is able to beat down the power of the Serpent under the feet of the faithful those men are not able to resist sin therefore they know not how it may be done and therefore deny it but those who beleeve can do it by faith and know certainly that it may be done and again affirm it to be true Knowledg bringeth forth temperance for a man confirmed with this knowledg goeth forward to the mark hoping for the same success in the rest and therefore with-holds himself from bodily lusts and pleasures which fight against the soul lest being hindred by them he be deprived of his Crown of victory Now as the Chaldeans did vex and persecute Jerusalem when it rebelled against them having before of its own accord served and obeyed them In like manner it falleth out in all rebellions of Subjects for the lusts and pleasures which before we voluntarily served when we rebel against them by temperance do vex us in renewing their desires and breed us grief as much as before they did delight which that we may bear manfully we stand in need of patience And because we know that this trouble which we must undergo in resisting these wicked lusts and affections in bearing of injuries doth far exceed our strength let us earnestly call upon God with
or actions 6 Fortitude 1. Attempteth dangers discreetly not rashly 2. Endureth calamity not weakly but patiently Fortitude may be divided into 1. Magnificence which deviseth and atchieveth brave exploits 2. Confidence which is not daunted with appearance of peril 3. Patience which willingly suffereth mis-fortune for vertue or profit 4. Perseverance which continueth in doing and suffering valiantly 7. Justice 1. Giveth every one his due 2. Is not deflected or wrung from Truth by Love Fear Rancor Justice may be divided into 1 Religion which bindeth to give due to God 2. Piety which tyeth us to give duty to our parents and kindred 3. Favor whereby we return due to our friend 4. Vindication whereby we vindicate our selves from injuries 5. Observance whereby we give due to our betters 6. Verity whereby we deal uprightly in the eye of men 7. Equity whereby we deal justly in our conscience if the matter be not manifest to the world Definitions Theological ALL Divinity is said to be put into a circle because one attribute is affirmed of another and for God to have a thing is to be that thing his having is his being his moving is his standing his running is his resting He is the absolute Reason in which all Alterity is Unity all Diversity Identity The Invisibility of God is represented by contracted shadows conceived in the mind and understanding and in the things that are It self being free from all contraction as not being subject to quantity nor quality time nor place but is the absolute Form of all forms the adequate measure of all things and superexalted c. He therefore that sees God sees nothing diverse from himself because he sees his own truth or the truth of himself God is seen alike by all that see him God is the proper object of the mind When man attributeh a face to God he seeks not for it out of the Latitude of the Species of man because his judgment is contracted ergo excedes not the passion of this Contraction as if a Lion should ascribe him a face he would give only a lions face c. All things that see his face are not sufficient to admire it which cannot be seen until a man enter into a secret and hidden silence where there is neither knowledg nor conception of a face For this Mist Cloud Darkness and Ignorance he enters into when he surmounts all knowledg He that sees Gods Face sees all things openly and there is nothing hid unto him yea he knows and hath all things because no man sees God but he that hath Him No man comes to God because unapproachable No man can take God except he give himself unto him How wilt thou give thy self unto me unless thou givest all things that are How wilt thou give thy self unto me unless thou give my self unto me whilest I rest in this silence of contemplation and hearken unto the Word of God which ceaseth not to speak within me I shall be freed from the service of sin and enjoy God as his own gift and the infinite treasure of all desirable things God sees all things and every particular together or at once God standeth still and is moved together because neither motion nor rest without God Thou O God art wholy present to each thing at once and yet art thou neither moved nor restest because super-exaited and free from all God is above all station or motion in most simple and absolute Infinity Gods eternal Word cannot be manifold nor diverse nor variable nor changeable because it is simple Eternity Nothing can there be past or to come where to come and past concide with the present In God the End concides with the Beginning Alpha and Omega are the same All things are all that they are because God is God is no such thing as can be said or conceived but infinitely and absolutely superexalted above all things To understand Infinity is to comprehend that which is incomprehensible The understanding knows it self ignorant of God because it knows he cannot be known unless that which is unknowable be known the invisible be seen the inaccessible be approached c. God is an end without an end because the end of himself his end is his essence ergo that end which is the end or bound of itself is infinite ergo God is the bound without bound which passeth all reason for it infolds contradiction c. Contradiction in Infinity is without contradiction because Infinity In Infinity is opposition of opposites without opposition If there were Infinity and something besides it it were not Infinity Infinity complicates all things and nothing can be besides it or diverse unto it Infinity is so all things that it is none of them all Infinity is neither great nor little nor any thing that can be named neither great nor less nor equall to any thing Neither yet is it equality as contracted equality is understood but it is infinite equality not capable of more nor less Definitions Theological and Philosophical GOd is the Father and the good In Being all things For he both will be this and is it and yet all this for himself But then shal we see the chief good when we have nothing at all to say of it Hermis holy Ser. For the knowledg of it is a divine silence and the Rest of all the Senses For neither can he that understands that understand nor he that sees that see nor hear any other thing nor in sum move c. For it is possible for the soul to be Deified while it lodgeth in the body contemplating the beauty of the Good God and the Father and Good is neither spoken nor heard and Knowledg differs from Sense Knowledg is the gift of God All knowledg is unbodily using the mind as an instrument as the mind useth the body That which is good is immaterial and not passable as the world is the first of all passable things and the second of the things that are was once made is ever in generation of things that have quantity and quality ergo not that good The world is a sphere i. e. a head above the head nothing material beneath the feet nothing intelectual All things depend of one beginning and the beginning depends of that which is one and alone The beginning is moved and that which is one standeth and abideth unmoved God is above all and the Beams of God are operations If God were apparent he were not all for whatsoever is apparent is generated but God is always and makes all other things manifest and aparent is nothing but generation God which maketh all things appear appeareth in all and by all especially in those things wherein himself listeth The understanding sees that which is not manifest it self being not manifest yea it contemplates the Image of God The things that are he hath made manifest and the things that are not he hath hid in himself This is God that is better then any name that