by existing in time and place did give a being thereto and by assuming a most compleat and perfect body which being both elementary vegetative sensitive c. he did contribute essence to the Elements Vegetables living Creatures c. even so by the personal union and perfect conjunction of his divine and humane nature which personal union is to be considered before the humane nature alone or those other subordinate natures comprehended in it viz. sense vegetation corporeity he hath created the Angels which are a middle nature betwixt God and Man so that the whole Creation seems to be a most perfect Scheme Image or Shadow of the Word incarnate and all the variety thereof in each particular analogically received from his fulness Although quoad nos the Word incarnate may seem to be the second Adam who may seem to us to have existed in the world before him yet quoad Deum he is the beginning of the Creation of God and the protoplast of mankind after whose image Man was made Who by the conjunction of his divine and humane nature is the Supporter and Bearer of the whole world to whom each Creature ows its being by whom as an efficient cause by whom as a final cause and by whom as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world was made and whithout whom in each of these respects was not any thing made that was made Who in his divine nature is ubiquitary and in his humane nature was in the midst of time generally taken conversant in the midst of the then habitable world and in the very midst of time strictly taken did without doubt locally descend together with all the immateriate powers of the humane nature into the bottom centre or midst of all circumference which could not be * Si unum corpus per aliud penetraret sequoretur corpus non esse corpus sed substantiam incorpoream quantitatis expertâ—m quod absurdum est manifestam implicat contradictionem Quemadmodum Damascenus l. 1. Orthodoxae fidei cap. 3. ait 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except he should have put off the material and corporeal part of his humanity not reassuming the same until his assent from the infernal pit Now such must necessarily have been the * Rationi consentaneum est eam fuisse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporis illius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut si omnia ossa ejus fracta fuissent statim conglutinarentur Probabile autem est tam balsamica polluisse vi humores illius corporis ut vulnera in exterioribus inflicta mortem non conciliassent sed innato corporis balsamo humoribus sc illuc defluâ—ntibus sanari potuissent Methodum igitur isthanc frustrancam frangendi ossa ejus omniscia recusavit providentia Et ad vulnera quod attinet previdit ut non tantum exteriora infligerentur sed ut ipsum cor lancea perfoderetur ita ut ex ipso corde sanguis efflueret ab ejusdem capsula sc pericardio aqua dimanaret exact crasis or temperament of that most perfect and compleat body which the Word did assume that it is conjecturable that it might suffer and be deprived of its form by solution of continuity rather then from any internal principles proceeding from a depraved habit or evil constitution and being deprived of its form it is probable it should be incapable of corruption in that it is impossible it should have been produced by generation The Soul is ravished with the contemplation hereof being not able to express a tythe of what she cannot but conceive being so oppress'd and overwhelm'd with reason that she cannot possibly utter her notions herein except she had cloven tongues to multiply her expressions For the Word incarnate is that All in All both of finity and infinity wherein are all the reasons of things together with their beings concentred whereby corruption hath a possibility to put on incorruption and mortality to put on immortality For as his being in the world caused the world to be so the perfect conjunction and personal union of his divine and humane nature which can never be disjoyned giveth an eternal precarium esse to the whole humane nature or a possibility to all man-kinde to enjoy an eternal being yet must the whole world besides necessarily return unto its first nothing whose existence is but as a parenthesis in infinity in which parenthesis the two extreams viz. Creation and Annihilation must necessarily be equally distant from that point in the midst wherein the Word did exist to give an absolutely finite being thereto At the dissolution whereof it is necessary that the Word incarnate do actually exist in the world to impose a period thereto whose commencement did depend upon his actual existence therein by recollecting into himself that scattered light which is tutelary to the world which was at first from him dispersed before whom the whole world must necessarily be collected together with the angelical nature which is the next and immediate supporter thereof and must be rolled up as a Book and then being deprived of its tutelary light must pass away as a Scheme the glory whereof shall no sooner be reassumed into the Word then reflected upon the humane ashes to revive the same into an incorruptible and eternal being After this manner doth the rational Soul ascribe the Creation of the World to God as the first efficient cause thereof which one God she doth demonstrate by reason to have subsisted personally three in the very act of Creation but in a more special manner she doth ascribe the Creation to the Word which is the second Person in the Trinity whose actual existence in the world gave a being thereto In the contemplation whereof she cannot but discern with the Eye of Reason that all those mysteries which the holy Scriptures hold forth unto us are not at all repugnant to Reason As that the Word was incarnated in the fulness of time having been eternally conceived by the Holy Ghost that he took upon him the humane nature that he died by a violent death that he descended into hell with many others Having found out in the Book of Nature those mysteries which are express'd in the Scriptures she comes in the next place to observe whether those things less mysterious in the Scriptures be not also written in the Book of Nature In the holy Scriptures which are the written Word of God the Soul conceives her self chiefly concerned as a rational creature for there is no other creature in the whole world except man alone to whom the Scriptures do properly belong before whom God hath set the way of good and evil upon the onely account of rationality having breath'd into him the breath of life whereby he became a reasonable Soul although all other inferior creatures do owe continual praises to God for their being whereupon they are commanded to observe the Sabbath which is by God an appointed time of thanks to
prejudice Then doth she conclude that there are three necessary distinct subsistences yet but one essence of the Deity or that the Deity which is essentially one is subsistentially three The Deity doth necessarily subsist first in the eternal contemplation of it self secondly it doth subsist eternally contemplated by it self and thirdly it doth subsist in an eternal complacency of it self yet are there not three eternals but one eternal because the notion we have of eternity excludes plurality neither do we conceive the first second and third subsistence to be one before another in time or duration because eternity is indivisible having neither priority nor posteriority but onely by a priority of order or disposition of their relation When we say that God is merciful or that God is just we speak improperly or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men there being no real distinction betwixt God's mercy and his justice But when we denominate the Deity to subsist contemplating or contemplated c. we speak * Scientia seu contemplatio proprie competit divinae naturae improprie tribuitur creaturis notitia enim nostra est obscura imperfecta divina vero est perfecta â—bsoluta Multo magis ab aeterno in aeternum scire contemplari Dei proprium est quod nullo modo de creaturarum perfectissima predicari potest properly and absolutely Wherefore although these three subsistences be all concentred in the Deity yet they are * Distinguntur ab invicem quia ad invicem referuntur Ratio enim formalis relationis est semper supponere aliud cui unumquodque relaâ—orum referatur Quemadmodum Aristoteles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Et infra subjungit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distinct each one from the other In that they do susibst invisible in themselves and really distinct from each other we may properly call them persons †Persona est substantia individua intelligens incommunicabilis Haec definitio a Zanchic lib. 1. De tribus Elohim uno Jehova cap. 2. ex communi Patrum Latinorum consensu affertur for a person according to Philosophers is a rational or intelligible subsistence distinct from others and indivisible in it self Hither is the Soul arriv'd viz. to the knowledge of three persons in one essence of the Deity or to the acknowledgement of a Trinity in Unity by the consideration of God's immanent actions Now doth she pass from hence unto his transient actions which are the Creation of the World and the preservation thereof Here she doth premise that the world was not from eternity but did commence with time as also that there could be no first matter * Absurdum enim esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolutam aeternitatem essendi necessitatem aliâ—ui nisi soli Deo tribuere eternally coexisting with the Deity Moreover she doth presuppose that it would be absurd either to affirm or grant that the Deity did act positively upon nothing although before the Creation of the world there was besides God privatively not any thing There was before the Creation of the world one onely absolutely necessary infinite Being viz. God who by reason of his infinity and absolute perfection could perform no action absolutely transient neither had he any object besides himself to act upon Time and place or finity might have then been denominated nothing it being contradistinct to infinity or a negation of that infinite being which did onely then exist Wherefore time and place before the Creation of the World could never have been * Nihil non est intelligibili nisi per notionem alterius de quo simplicitur negatur sed tempus locus ante creationem mundi nihil erant Ergo. conceived or willed by the Deity unless he had conceived and willed himself together with time and place So that it seems to the rational Soul that time and place had its being by the Deities conception and volition of himself together with time and place which was the position of the word of his minde in time and place Here is also so clear a Demonstration of the Trinity in the Creation of the world that it seems impossible to the rational Soul to have the true notion of Creation without the conceit of the Trinity Insomuch that the Ancients who were more profound Philosophers did express the word create by an Hebrew word consisting of three Letters viz. × Aleph ב Beth and ר Resch which signifie the Father the Son and the Spirit which three Letters by addition of their proper Vowels either exprest or understood are a Verb of the Preterperfect tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the Father the Son and the Spirit have joyntly acted or they have conspired to act This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creavit doth in it self sufficiently express the action of the Deity subsisting in a three-fold manner yet the Ancients go farther putting to it a word expressing the Deity in the Plural Number saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ElohÃm bara the Gods have created or rather God as he is personally three hath created Hermes a most profound Rationalist who was therefore called Trismegistus in his Book intituled Pimander hath â—eft a senâ—ence to posterity relating to the Creation of the World as some do interpret but as others do construe it it doth onely express the Trinity In this ambiguity it is not difficult to decide the controversie by affirming that Mercurius Trismegistus did by one and the same sentence primarily adumbrate the Trinity and secondarily the Creation of the World For God who is himself a pure and most simple act in the eternal contemplation of himself absolutely infinite doth necessarily contemplate himself coexisting with the world or time and place the World being an inclusion or parenthesis of infinity The sentence is this Monas genuit monadem in se suum reflexit ardorem In 1 Part summae theolog quaest 32. art 1. Thomas understands it to be onely related to the production of the world supposing it to be analogical to these words of his viz. Unus Deus produxit unum mundum propter suiipsius amorem but most Philosophers say that Hermes by ratiocination came to the knowledge of the Trinity and exprest it after the aforesaid manner He saith not Monas produxit monadem but Monas genuit monadem Now the world may not properly be said to have been begotten for in the Creation of the World by his will the World can in no wise be called verbum mentis the Word of his minde in that the world being nothing could not have been conceived in the minde of God had not he conceiv'd himself together with the World so that God himself being primarily conceiv'd of himself is verbum mentis Dei the word of his own minde by whom all things were made and without whom there could nothing have been made which was made who as he is conceived is personally distinguished from
himself conceiving although he be essentially the same The Soul whose property it is to try all things and by discourse either to reduce her superficial conceits into impossibilities and so pass them by as phantasmes or else to prove them necessary and then to retain and embrace them as eternal Truths doth by such-like preceding discourse prove an absolute necessity of the eternal being of one God whose every action is but one action and that eternal in which eternal action which is also himself who is actus purus he hath eternally subsisted personally three in which personal subsistency he hath eternally created the World The Soul having contemplated the World in fieri comes now to take a survey thereof as it doth exsist in facto esse In this place she doth not consider it as consisting of such and such parts or containing such and such particular creatures but she onely looks upon it as a finite being contradistinct to infinity and first she discourseth the nature of time defining it according to common Philosophy to be mensura motûs Coeli per prius posterius But being jealous lest she should impose upon her self by a paralogism and so be mistaken in the finding out of that most precious Jewel which she so earnestly seeks after viz. Truth she rests not contented with this definition but convinceth her self of the nature of time by comparing it with Eternity Eternity is a duration without either beginning or ending having neither priority nor posteriority but indivisible Time is a duration having both beginning and ending and is in it self divisible into priority and posteriority Time as time whether we look upon all time or the least particle thereof doth consist of these two essential parts viz. the later and the former which have their dependence upon a point or moment in the midst thereof If then before all time there was one onely infinite being who by the position of his Word in time caused time to be the rational Soul collects from hence together with what is premised that the Word of God was in the fulness or midst of all time to impose a period to the former and a commencement to the later time or to constitute the essential parts of time viz. priority and posteriority by being in the midst thereof And seeing it is that middle point which doth by dis-joyning duration give a being to priority and posteriority we must necessarily conclude that the Word of God which is the second Person in the Trinity not onely in his eternal essence but also in his existence in the fulness of time was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of the creation of God Now the Soul comes to examine the nature of place which saith she is that determinate and circumscrib'd ubi wherein a body is contain'd which can neither be named nor rightly understood without the presupposition of a body * Corpus a Philosophis dicitur esse in loco bifariam sc vel circumscriptive quatenus ab alio corpore extrinsecus ambiente continetur vel repletive quateuus sua mâ—le occupat replet certum spatium locale Priori modo quicquid est corporum excepto Caelo supremo localitatem habet Posteriori autem modo de omni corâ—ore simpliciter localitas praedicatur Omne enim corpus est quantum quatenus quantum est extensum in longum latum profundum quatenus est extensum habet certum situm distantiam partium ac proinde certum spatium locale replet ac occupat insomuch that it is impossible there should be a body which is not in place as also that there should be place which doth not contain a body so that a body and place have a relative convertibility the one to the other and are so mutually reciprocated that the one being granted the other is necessarily presupposed The Soul from hence collects that if the Word of God did so exist in place as to give a being thereto the Word of God did assume a body which being from eternity conceived in the minde of God as the onely Idea and platform of the whole creation must necessarily be of the nature of the perfectest of bodies which is flesh The Soul is now arrived to the incarnation of the Word The Word saith she became flesh and dwelt amongst us yet in such a Tabernacle as might be the patern of the great Temple the World as also of other living Temples of the Holy Ghost Here she conceiveth that though flesh in the general be the perfectest of bodies yet not any manner of flesh could make a fit Tabernacle for the Word to dwell in but such onely as should contain all the variety of the whole world which is the humane nature Here the Soul contemplates the Word incarnate to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both God and Man having a perfect humane body and rational Soul personally united with his Divinity This personal Union of the divine and humane nature of the Word must necessarily be the immediate act of God and consequently that body which the Word did assume although as it was perfectly humane it should necessarily consist of flesh and blood other such essential parts as do constitute an absolute humane body could not be produced by generation according to the will of man having no need of seminality to contribute unto it its plastick or formative virtue not onely in that it was eternally conceived in the minde of God as the Idea of the whole Creation but also in that it did exist in the fulness of time which is the beginning of all time according to the true notion thereof In this moment or middle point which gave time a being which doth divide and couple time with eternity and doth dis-joyn and unite priority with posteriority which is in a several respect both time and eternity I say in this both temporal and eternal duration was the light created in this fulness of time was the Word incarnated which Word incarnate is both God and Man the image of God and the light of Man and Man is the image or shadow of that light This at the first view may seem mysterious and profound yet after a more inward scrutiny it squares with the humane intellect being pure quintessentiated and sublim'd reason for time is so included in interwoven with and as it were strung upon eternity that eternity is both the centre and the circumference the poles and the axle-tree of all time and according to the notion we have of time together with its dependence upon and connexion with eternity we must necessarily grant some duration to be both time and eternity wherein we imagine the first act of the Creation to have been performed Which first act of the Creation the rational Soul demonstrates to have been the incarnation of the Word as a cause and the Creation of light or the angelical nature under the notion of an immediate effect for even as the Word