Qualities of the Tree were so strong that they could dispose any Matter although it were not Alimentous and breed Blood of it and Substance for the thing nourished Wherefore of Earth Water and the Ambient Air or of any other circumadjacent thing whatever it were they were able to make Nourishment § 19. Which may be effectually proved by the Example of that Maid of twelve years old lying sick of a Diabetes who turned the Ambient Air drawn in by Respiration and by the Pores into Water or Serum as was the certain Opinion of the Physicians then present For she made thirty six pounds of Water every day but did not take above seven pounds in Meat and Drink and seeing this lasted threescore days it appears that in that Time she made one thousand seven hundred and forty Pounds of Water above the Weight of her Meat and Drink which was much more than the Weight of the Maid if she had even been all dissolved into Urine as Cardan b affirms For the Maid weighed not above one hundred and fifty Pounds Wherefore of necessity the inspired or circumfused Air must have been turned into Urine What wonder therefore if the strong Faculties of the Wood helping and elevating the Natural Powers of the Body were able sufficiently to dispose any indisposed Matter and to turn it into the Substance of the thing nourished § 20. And it is confirmed Because for any Matter to be fit to nourish it sufficeth that Alimental Qualities be found therein and that it want those which may hurt But the Vertues of the Wood which we suppose most efficacious and most agreeable to Nature were able to introduce these Qualities into any Matter that occurr'd Therefore the Body of Man arm'd with the Qualities of the Wood might be nourished by any occuring Matter whatever § 21. You will object thirdly If Men in Innocence or after the Fall had eaten the Fruit of Life yet they would have generated by Abscision of Seed But Matter is necessary for generation of the Seed to be abscinded and consequently Meat Drink and Air Therefore if they had used Venery and notwithstanding had eaten nothing without doubt they had dyed I grant the Major and the Minor I deny the Consequence Because for them who gave themselves to Generation and used Venery even for those that were of the best Constitution of Body the use of Food was necessary towards the Generation of Seed But though they used Venery they would not be sick for want of Food because the strong Retentive Faculty of the Body would not suffer the Seed necessary for the Body to be expelled nor therefore would Nature at that Time send Blood or other necessary Matter to the Seminary Vessels Wherefore through want of Food and consequently of Seed they might be rendred Barren but dye they could not § 22. You will object fourthly Therefore at least through defect or immoderate Use of the other non-natural things which are necessary for the preservation of Life Diseases would happen nor could Man be defended by the Qualities of the Wood of Life And these things are Sleep and Waking Motion and Rest and the Accidents of the Mind as Anger Sorrow Joy and the like I deny the Sequel Because these non-natural things do so far preserve or destroy Health as they preserve or change Natural things for it is by Accident that they alter the Temper of the Body or change its Composition But since we suppose the Qualities of the Wood of Life do keep the Temper of the Body in a fixt Proportion it cannot be preternaturally changed by these Causes Whereas also we suppose the Faculties of the Body would be helped by the Qualities of the Wood after such a manner as we have said they would most easily prevent the Harms of the Excesses or Defects of the said non-natural things as will easily appear to him that throughly considers the Use of each non-natural thing § 23. It is to be observed fourthly The Wood of Life defends the Body from Plague Malignant Fevers and contagious occult Diseases by those Alexipharmack Qualities whereof we have treated before For the Body is hurt by the Poysonous Qualities of these things Therefore it is well defended by other contrary Alexipharmack Qualities afforded by the Tree of Life § 24. It is to be observed fifthly A Natural Quality which we called Resistive was possible which was able to defend the Body that it could not be broken or divided by any Impulse or Blow even the most violent It is proved effectually first Because as the Hardness of a Stone resists Division so also there might be a Quality imparted by the Wood which was able to resist Division It is proved secondly For in things Natural there be Qualities which indispose a Moveable Body that it cannot be moved by a Cause able to produce Motion For it is evident from Experience that Iron is so indisposed by some Qualities that it cannot be moved by Virtue of the Magnet That Fishes swimming over the Torpedo enclosed in the Mud or Sand for the purpose when they come to the place whereto the Virtue of the Torpedo is extended can stir no farther by which Art She catches and eats them as Aristotle relates c. In like manner the Fishers Arm is deprived of Motion when the Quality of the Torpedo reaches it The Quality of Opium and other Stupefying Medicines doth so dispose the Humors that they cannot move further during the Quality of the Opium Wherefore Opium given stops violent Fluxes of Blood and other Humors The Quality of the Blood-Stone doth also stop the Motion of the Blood § 25. And what is more wonderful a Remora coming near stops the swiftest Motion of a Ship under full Sail as is the common Tradition of the fore-quoted Authors and of many others Which although it may happen because the Remora draws the Ship a contrary way as it fell out in that Fish whereof we made mention before because it had fixt its Horn most firmly in the Ship Yet the Remora may do it a more easie way namely by impressing such a Quality on the Ship that it being present the Force of the Wind bearing upon the Ship cannot produce Motion by reason there is an Indisposition which is as an Agent that it cannot act Wherefore a Power drawing the contrary way or otherwise resisting is not necessary for hindring the Ship to be moved but this Quality may most easily hinder its Motion § 26. It is proved from the like For if Amber be dulled by Moisture its Virtue cannot produce Motion in Straws If the Virtue of the Torpedo reach the Fishes swimming over her or the Fishers Arm their Motive Power cannot produce Motion If the Virtue of Opium come to the Humors they cannot be expelled or any way moved by the Faculties Therefore so it will happen in like manner in the Virtue of the Remora impressed on the Ship that it being present the force of the Wind
were many dead Bodies out of which a Pestilential Vapour came even to the Land of the a Greeks Whereupon so great a Mortality raged among the Grecians that in those who did escape there remained a Forgetfulness both of their own and their Childrens Names Which Galen affirms according to Avicenna in his third Canon in the Chapter Of Signs gathered from the Operations of Animals An hurt of the operation of the Soul sometimes happens also From a thick and troubled Air And this is the Cause that the Eastern People are more acute and subtil than other Men because of the Want of Vapours For they have a most subtil and pure Air. As is also manifest in our own People For at a time when it is clear they have their Acuteness of Mind more prompt and their Wit more quick in searching out of Matters than when it is cloudy For a troubled Air dejects the Soul makes it sad and blends the Humours But there is a difference between a Gross and a Troubled Air. A Gross Air is that which is something thick in Substance A Troubled Air is that which is mixt with the Parts of another thick Substance Which thing is apparent from the small Stars which do appear and shine a little but withal they twinkle and tremble The Reason is because there are many Exhalations and plentiful Vapours and but few Winds stirring So saith Avicenna in his first Book Of the Operation of Aerial Qualities This Impediment likewise happens through Neglect of cleansing the Body inwardly and outwardly For outward Nastiness will obstruct and stop up the Pores and will hinder Nature from casting out new Excrements Sometimes also this Hurt ariseth from Diseases Because it is impossible that a Sickly Man should have his Sense sound For in our first Discourse of its Disposition it is said That Sense is not perfect nor the Understanding rational except in time of Health nor will there be any Soundness of the Rational Soul but by the Soundness of the Vital and Animal Power as Aristotle saith in his Book Of the Secrets of Secrets So that there is no Way to know and understand any thing aright but by the Force of a clear Intellect There is no Force and Power of a sharp Intellect but by Health There is no Health but by an AEquality of Complexion There is no AEquality of Complexion but by a right tempered Harmony of Humours And therefore GOD most High hath delivered and revealed to the Prophets his Servants and to some other Men whom he hath illuminated with the Spirit of Divine Wisdom a Way for the Temper and Conservation of the Humours NOTE on CHAP. V. a Our Author here intends the great Plague of Athens curiously described by Lucretius Lib. 6. A Plague thus rais'd laid learned Athens wast Thrô every Street thrô all the Town it past Blasting both Man and Beast w th poysonous wind Death fled before and Ruin stalk'd behind From AEgypt's burning Sands the Fever came More hot than those that rais'd the deadly Flame The Wind that bore the Fate went slowly on And as it went was heard to sigh and groan At last the raging Plague did Athens seise The Plague and Death attending the Disease Then Men did dye by heaps by heaps did fall And the whole City made one Funerall First fierce unusual heats did seise the Head The glowing Eyes with bloodshot Beams lookt red Like Blazing Stars approaching Fate foreshow'd The Mouth and Jaws were fill'd with clotted Blood The Throat with Ulcers the Tongue could speak no more But overflow'd and drown'd in putrid gore Grew useless rough scarce could make a moan And scarce enjoy'd the wretched power to groan Next through the Jaws the Plague did reach the Brest And there the Heart the Seat of Life possest Then Life began to fail strange Stinks did come From every putrid Breast as from a Tomb A sad Presage that Death prepar'd the Room The Body weak the Mind did sadly wait And fear'd but could not fly approaching Fate To these fierce Pains were join'd continual Care And sad Complainings Groans and deep Despair Tormenting vexing Sobs and deadly Sighs Which rais'd Convulsions brake the Vital Ties Of Mind and Limbs and so the Patient dies But touch the Limbs the Warmth appear'd not great It seem'd but little more than natural heat The Body red with Ulcers swoln with Pains As when the Sacred Fire spreads o'r the Veins But all within was Fire fierce Flames did burn No Cloths could be endur'd no Garments worn But all as if the Plague that fir'd their Blood Destroy'd all Vertue Modesty and Good Lay naked wishing still for cooling Air Or ran to Springs and hop'd to find it there And some leap'd into Wells in vain the Heat◠Or still encreas'd or still remain'd as great In vain they drank for when the Water came To th' burning Breast it hiss'd before the Flame◠And thrô each mouth did Streams of Vapors rise Like Clouds and darkned all the ambient Skies◠The pains continual and the Body dead And senseless all before the Soul was fled Physicians came and saw and shook their Head No sleep the pain'd and wearied Mens delight The fiery Eyes like Stars wak'd all the Night Besides a Thousand Symptoms more did wait And told sad News of coming hasty Fate Distracted Mind and Sad and Furious Eyes Short Breath or constant deep and hollow Sighs And buzzing Ears and much and frothy Sweat Spread o'r the Neck and Spittle thin with heat But salt and yellow and the Jaws being rough Could hardly be thrown up by violent Cough The Nerves contracted Strength in Hands did fail And Cold crept from the Feet and spread o'r all And when Death came at last it chang'd the Nose And made it sharp and prest the Nostrils close Hollow'd the Temples forc'd the Eye-balls in And chill'd and hardned all and stretcht the Skin They lay not long but soon did Life resign The Warning was but short Eight Days or Nine If any liv'd and ' scap'd the fatal Day And if their Loosness purg'd the Plague away Or Ulcers drain'd yet they would soon decay Their Weakness kill'd them or their poyson'd Blood And Strength with horrid Pains through Nostrils flow'd But those that felt no Flux the Strong Disease Did oft descend and wretched Members seise And there it rag'd with cruel Pains and Smart Too weak to kill the Whole it took a Part Some lost their Eyes and some prolong'd their Breath By loss of Hands So strong the Fear of Death The Minds of some did dark Oblivion blot And they their Actions and themselves forgot CHAP. VI. Of the hurt of the inner Senses and the Brain SINCE I have already explained almost all the Causes of Age and Old Age as also the Hurts of the exterior Senses now we must treat of those kind of Hurts wherewith the a Senses residing in the Brain are affected Which come to pass for two Causes and are known
whatever is dissolved from any thing it must of necessity be assimilated to that thing As is manifest in Diseases passing from one to another such is Weakness of the Eyes and Pestilential Diseases This thing hath an admirable Property for it doth not only render Humane Bodies harmless from Corruption but it defends also the Bodies of Plants from Putrefaction This thing is seldome found and although sometime it be found yet it cannnot commodiously be had of all Men. And instead of it the Wise do use that Medicine which is in the Bowels of the Earth complete and prepared and that which swims in the Sea and that which is in the Square Stone of the Noble Animal so that every part may be free from the infection of another But if that Stone cannot be acquired let other Elements separated divided and purified be made use of Now when this thing is like to Youth that is of temperate Complexion it hath good Operations If its Temperature be better it produceth better Effects Sometimes it is even in the highest Degree of its perfection and then it operates best and then there is that Property whereof we have spoken before This differs from other Medicines and Nutriments which heat and moisten after a certain temperate manner and are good for Old Men. For other Medicines principally heat and moisten the Body and secondarily they strengthen the Native Heat But this doth principally strengthen the Native Heat and after that o refreshes the Body by moistening and heating it For it reduces this Heat in Old Men who have it but weakly and deficient to a certain stronger and more vehement Power If a p Plaster be made hereof and applied to the Stomach it will help very much for it will refresh the Stomach it self and excite an Appetite it will very much recreate an Old Man and change him to a kind of Youth and will make Complexions by what means soever depraved or corrupted better Many Wise Men have spoken but little of this thing they have indeed laid down another thing like it as Galen in his fifth Book Of Simple Medicines and Iohannes Damascenus in his Aphorisms But it is to be observed that q Venus doth weaken and diminish the Power and Virtue of this thing And it is very likely that the Son of the Prince in his second Canon Of the Operations of Simple Medicines spoke of this thing where he saith that there is a certain Medicine concealed by Wise Men lest the r Incontinent should offend their Creator There is such a Heat in this thing as is in Young Men of a Sound Complexion and if I durst declare the Properties of this Heat this most hidden Secret should presently be revealed For this Heat doth help the Palsical it restores and preserves the wasted Strength of the Native Heat causeth it to flourish in all the Members and gently revives the Aged In like manner because of Similitude let the Square Stone of the Noble Animal the Mineral Sun and the Matter which swims in the Sea be made use of These three things well prepared are assimilated to the Native Heat of a healthy Man The Antient Sages have also reported that there is another kind of Medicine which is able to perform this namely s Wine artificially mixt and prepared whereof there are five Properties as Galen saith Wine mixt with Water 1. Heats the whole Body 2. As it were pierceth the Members 3. Tempers the Humors 4. Excites Natural Heat 5. Chears the Heart which I think is to be imputed to the Wine not the Water And it must be understood of that Wine which is t strong and is found in Syria Also Royal Haly in his Chapter Of Old Age where he discourses of Drink speaks thus If any one use it according to the Measure and at the Time he ought it will strengthen the Native Heat and diffuse it through the whole Body it will disperse Cholerick Humors and temper them by purging by Sweat and Urine it will make a hard Nature softer and will moisten when through too violent Labour Dryness doth happen It begets Chearfulness and Joy and mitigates Melancholy It is said also that the white and subtil should be drunk with a great deal of Water especially when the ripe Age of Man and the time of full growth is come But Sowre and Old Wines are to be avoided If Men be of necessity forced to drink such Wines let them be dashed with sweet Water and Warm and before they be drunk let them stand mixt for six Hours For Isaac doth thus speak of strong Wine mixt Wine mixt doth cool hot Bodies moisten the dry make dry the moist and produce contrary Operations Whence the Antients likened it to the great Treacle because one may see two contrary Vertues latent in it We would have all understood of strong Wine mixt wherein are five Properties u Colour Smell Tast Substance Age. A Man ought to drink that Wine which is yellowish Haly affirms that Wine should be drunk whose Colour enclines to Redness Avicenna saith Red is most eligible which is clear of Substance in Tast neither bitter nor sweet but Pontick But if it seem too Vinous it ought to be mixt with Spring-Water where there is no extraneous Vapor Royal Haly saith that Old and Sowre Wine should be avoided Isaac thinks that after a Year is over the Goodness and Strength of the Wine doth begin None almost do speak of the space of Time wherein this Mixture should be made except Royal Haly who seems to have spoken well in his foresaid Canon Of Old Wine For unless Wine remain for some Time mixt the Wine by Digestion in the Stomach will be separated from the Water For the hot and fiery part ascends and the Earthy will remain in the Bottom of the Stomach as appears by a Glass-Vessel full of Red Wine so that if Water be poured upon it and the Vessel closed that no Air can get in you shall see the Water sink to the Bottom But this Clashing of the Wise about the Colour and Season of Wine is not worthy so great Admiration seeing that diversity of Soils doth often cause it For the Vertue of Plants is various according to the Variety of Places and Provinces as Haly saith upon Galen's Regiment where he speaks of the Correction of Medicine Aristotle Of the Secrets of Secrets affirms That Wine should be drunk by Old Men and them that plentifully flow with Phlegm he thinks it hurtful for the Young and Hot. Red Wine encreases Blood more than White and is in some measure better than all Wine and more agreeable to Mens Complexions such namely as grows on a Soil enclosed between Hills and Dales whose Clusters are of a good Sweetness and Maturity in a subtil and pure Air and which are not gathered before the Force of their Substance be rebated their Colour become Golden namely a Mean between Red and Yellow their Tast sharp pungent and delectable and
of the Tree the Body would have been rendred impassible because it could never be removed from that Perfection it had But in the second sense it had not been impassible as long as it was not arrived at the top of Perfection for it would have been receptive of such a Change § 22. But you will question Whether then Generation and Propagation of Children could have been I answer in the Affirmative And prove it Because if such Qualities ought to be no hindrance to a Child that his Body should come to its Perfection nor to an Old Man that he should be restored to his why should it hinder Generation of Seed in the Vessels and Propagation of Children You will object Therefore to this end and to the growth of a Child's Body and reduction of an Old Man's it was necessary to take again of the Fruit of the Tree or at least of other Food I answer to this Work perhaps so it was necessary or may be the Faculties would have been so strong after the first taking of that Fruit that from the ambient Air Water or from any other Matter one might have repaired the Substance wanting to the growing of a Child or restoring an Old Man or to breeding Seed for Children For this would not then have been impossible to very strong Faculties Because perhaps the Fruit it self would have introduced alimentous Qualities into any Matter although of its own Nature such Matter had them not § 23. But whether Man stated in this Immortality acquired by the Fruit of the Tree should have had those Actions and the same Qualities in kind which we shall have after the Resurrection I dispute not this nor doth it belong to me but let Divines determine it Amongst whom the interlineary Gloss o and Bellarmine p seem to think so § 24. But Whether could Children newly born before they eat the Wood or also before their Birth in the Mothers Womb be subject to Death It seems to be denied Because the Qualities of the Fruit of the Tree of Life which was eaten by the Parents would have been in their Seed also and would have defended their Children from Death both before their Birth and after § 25. You will infer It had sufficed therefore that the Tree of Life had been once taken by Adam and Eve for all that should be born of them to have been made immortal And this Opinion seems to be confirmed first by an Argument taken from the necessary Efficient Cause for these Qualities would have been incorrupâ—ible and ever have remained so in the Matter and with the Seed and its Virtue would have been propagated into all the Individuals of Humane Kind and would have produced other like Qualities in a kind of Cause Univocal Therefore there was no necessity for Adam's Successors to taste the Tree of Life that they might live for ever § 26. Secondly By an Argument taken from the Final Cause For if by taking of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge which was but once eaten of our First Parents the Punishment of Death inevitable was inflicted upon them and their Descendents also that equality of Justice might be observed by once taking of the Fruit of the Tree of Life Life eternal for a Reward of Obedience ought not only to be given to our Parents themselves but to Universal Mankind But if this doth not please any Man one may say that some Qualities of the Tree derived to the Child would have preserved it from perishing till the Birth and after the Birth also for some Time would have been communicated in the Mothers Milk and afterwards had it been necessary he might also have eaten of the Fruit of Life it self § 27. But whether should they that had committed actual Sin according to the Opinion which admits that have been subject to Death afterwards although before they had eaten of the Tree It seems to be denied First Because even Adam after Sin should have been made free from Death had he eaten the Fruit of Life And seeing the Qualities of the Fruit would have been derived to his Children both Just and Unjust would by them have been defended from Death Secondly Because the Punishment of Death was only imposed if our first Parents violated that only Precept a D. Augustinus l. 3. de Civitat Dei c. 20. l. 11. Genes ad lit cap. 4. l. 1. de peccat mer. c. 3. b D. Thom. 1. part q. 97. art 4. colligitur ex 2. 2. quaest 164. art 2. ad 6. eámque habent communiter Scholastici sequuntur Suarius c L. 3. de opere sex dierum cap. 15. d Becanus tract de immortalitate cap. 4. e Benedictus Pereire lib. 3. in Genes disp de arbore Vitae quaest 3. f Aristoteles lib. 3. metaph cap. 4. text 15. g Rupertus lib. 3. in Genes cap. 30. h Theodoretus quaest 16. in Gen. i Thomas 1. part q. 100. art 2. k Chrysostomus hom 18. l Patres Conimbricenses 2. de generat cap. 3. quaest 2. articul 2. assert 2. lib. 7. phys cap. 1. quaest 1. art 2. m Petrus Garcia Fen. 1. 4. tract 1. cap. 4. disp 2. quaest 5. pagina 269. col 2. n Thom. 1. p. quaest 97. art 2. § Respondeo o Gloss. interl in illa verba Ne forte sumat p Bellarm. lib. 1. tom 4. contr 1. c. 18. DOUBT V. Whether the Tree of Life were a Cause adequate to the escaping all Occasions of Death § 1. NOW of those Authors who deny to the Tree of Life the Virtue of extending Life absolutely to Eternity though it should be eaten at repeated Turns when yet they are compelled to affirm that in the State of Innocence Men would have been free from Death Some do assert following Scotus a that this Tree by restoring the Native Heat and Radical Moisture he spake according to the Old and Nugatory Opinion that admits of a Radical Moisture diverse from the Living Parts either as Nourishment or Medicine or both ways would have preserved Life for a very long Time and they add that before the Virtue of the Tree were spent Men without the intervention of Death should have been translated to a State of Immortality Wherefore according to this Opinion the Tree of Life would not have been an adequate Cause of Immortality Which Opinion of Scotus notwithstanding stands refuted from what hath been already said § 2. But others with Cajetane b admit of a certain Supernatural and Spiritual Quality in the Soul whereby the Body could resist the Rëaction of the Tree of Life and of other Meats and that for this Cause Men in the State of Innocence would have been eternal which Quality since in the State of Lapsed Nature it was wanting although Man had eaten of the Tree of Life he would not have been altogether eternal but would only have lived for a longer Time But this Opinion is confuted first from the Words of Holy Writ c lest â—e put forth his hand
cannot produce Motion on the Ship Therefore after the same manner may a Quality be afforded by the Wood of Life which being present no external Motive Cause is able to effect Motion on the said Body Nay perhaps that Quality might be diffused for some Space without the Body of Man who eat the Wood by virtue whereof Darts cast or Bullets shot from Guns coming to the Sphere of that Quality would presently lose Motion and not come at the Body Because the Motive Force impressed on the Dart or Bullet could not effect Motion because of the indisposing Quality diffused without the Body by the Virtue of the Wood. § 27. It is proved thirdly Because as before we have already said all Natural Agents although they have most violent Powers are yet of a finite Virtue Therefore there is no Inconvenience that a Resistence may be which surpasseth their Power Seeing therefore such a Resistence is possible whereby the Wood of Life might defend Man's Body from Death and that the Sacred Text doth clearly intimate that it was an adequate Cause of Immortality unless some Supernatural Help should intervene why shall we dare to deny it Why shall we seek other Interpretations for the Sacred Text Medium's therefore should rather be enquired whereby the Wood of Life mâ—ght be an adequate Cause of Immortality Which if they be found as now by us through God's Blessing they are found it will be superfluous to have recourse to Miracles § 28. You will object If such a Quality were which indisposed any thing to Motion if such a thing could not be moved by one Cause neither also could it be moved by another Cause of equal Strength since all Local Motion is of the same kind Therefore there can be no Quality indisposing to Local Motion I answer The said Qualities are not Indispositions on the part of the Patient to receive Motion for if it were so that thing which could not be moved by one Agent could be moved by none for its Incapacity of Motion But they are Indispositions only on the part of the Agent namely of the Motive Quality that it cannot produce Motion And for this Cause the Virtue of the Magnet can produce Motion in Iron not in other Bodies because it finds in it Dispositions necessary on the part of the Agent which being present it can operate not in other things And for the same Reason Amber moves Straws not Iron nor Stones Agarick purgeth Phlegm and not other Humors and so we may say of the rest § 29. It is to be observed sixthly to give better Satisfaction to the Point That Philosophers reckon of a double positive Resistence beside another Negative one Active another Formal Negative Resistence is the utter Incapacity of the Subject to receive any Form such as is in the Heavens supposing them incorruptible as to receiving Qualities altering to Corruption Active Resistence is the very Action of the Agent as by it a Term is produced which formally resisteth or by it the Force of another Agent is broken which is resisted and it is called by d Suarez Radical Resistence because by it another Agent is prevented that it doth not act and that its Virtue is diminished And seeing it is not immediately diminished but by the Form produced of such an Action therefore it is called Radical Resistence and as it proceeds from an Agent it is Active but as it produceth an Effect immmediately resisting it is Active Resistence § 30. Passive Resistence or actual is an Accidental Form whereby the Subject is rendred incapable of receiving another which is resisted or whereby the Subject is indisposed to another and this Resistence consists saith the same Author e in a certain formal Incompossibility or Repugnance from whence it comes that the Action of a contrary or any way repugnant Agent is either altogether hindred or retarded or remitted And Active Qualities as Heat and Cold may as well have this Resistence as the not Active as White and Black From whence it follows that one Quality can violently resist actively but not at all formally as Heat or on the contrary that another may violently resist formally not at all actively as Dryness § 31. But seeing Formal Resistence consists in a Formal Incompossibility or Repugnance and two contrary Qualities in the same intense Degree for example Heat and Cold in the eighth Degree are equally incompossible in the same Subject it is hard to assign a Cause whence it comes that one can more resist than another Yet Suarez f brings three Causes for which it may happen The first is a greater and firmer Union to the Subject as it happens in things artificial that some are more hardly parted asunder because other things cleave to them in form of a stronger Glew The second is a greater Inequality in some Condition requisite to do or suffer as Density in the Patient by Reason whereof more Parts are united to resist the Action of the Agent The third is a greater or the greatest Activity whereby the quality flows from or is otherwise produced of its Cause which way for example it may be said that the Moisture of Water resists more than that of Air because it is produced or flows more efficaciously from the Form of Water than from that of Air. Also two or three of these Causes may be conjoyned by reason whereof the Resistance may be greater and besides the Active and Formal Resistance may be joyned and therefore the Resistance may yet be more vehement § 32. From whence it is easily gathered that the Elemental Qualities produced in Mans Body by the Supra-elemental would both actively and formally resist other Contraries which are produced by ordinary intrinsick or extrinsick Agents Fire for example or Snow And it is evident that this Formal Resistance would have been much greater than the Formal Resistance of extrinsick active Qualities for the third Cause alleged by Suarez namely for the exceeding Efficacy whereby they are produced of the Qualities of the Wood of Life Which in the same manner may be said of the Alexipharmack Qualities which resist Poysonous ones § 33. Therefore the Supra-elemental Qualities as they most efficaciously produce the Elemental they resist actively radically and mediately But the Elemental now produced resist formally and immediately other their Elemental Contraries and can by no means be overcome of them Because they are either perpetually produced in Specie by the Qualities of the Wood which among all Natural Agents are the most efficacious in acting Or because by their continual and most efficacious Influx they persist in the same as we said before But whether their Union or their Inherence to their Subject be greater it doth not appear because it appears not whence it should proceed § 34. It is gathered from this Doctrine besides that the Quality which resists dividing things imparted to the Body by the Wood of Life doth sufficiently resist them passively or formally only First because as Hardness