Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	father_n	heaven_n	miserable_a	2,524	5	10.2318	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70182	Two choice and useful treatises the one, Lux orientalis, or, An enquiry into the opinion of the Eastern sages concerning the praeexistence of souls, being a key to unlock the grand mysteries of providence in relation to mans sin and misery : the other, A discourse of truth / by the late Reverend Dr. Rust ... ; with annotations on them both.	Rust, George, d. 1670. Discourse of truth.; More, Henry, 1614-1687. Annotations upon the two foregoing treatises.; Glanvill, Joseph, 1636-1680. Lux orientalis.	1682 (1682)	Wing G815; Wing G833; Wing M2638; ESTC R12277	226,950	535

such Grammar as that there is no School-boy but would be ashamed of it nor is there for all his pretences any place in Scripture to countenance such an extravagant Exposition by way of Parallelism as it may appear to any one that will compare the places which he alleadges with this which I leave the Reader to do at his leisure Let us consider the Context Joh. 17. 4. I have glorified thee upon earth during this my Pilgrimage and absence from thee being sent hither by thee I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do and for the doing of which I was sent and am thus long absent And now O Father glorifie me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud teipsum in thine own presence with the glorie which I had before the world was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud te or in thy presence What can be more expressive of a Glorie which Christ had apud Patrem or at his Fathers home or in his presence before the world was and from which for such a time he had been absent Now for others that would salve the business by communication of Idioms I will set down the words of an ingenious Writer that goes that way Those Predicates says he that in a strict and vigorous acception agreed onely to his Divine Nature might by a communication of Idioms as they phrase it be attributed to his Humane or at least to the whole Person compounded of them both than which nothing is more ordinarie in things of a mixt and heterogeneous nature as the whole man is stiled immortal from the deathlessness of his Soul thus he And there is the same reason if he had said that man was stiled mortal which certainly is far the more ordinarie from the real death of his Bodie though his Soul be immortal This is wittily excogitated But now let us apply it to the Text expounding it according to his communication of Idioms affording to the Humane Nature what is onely proper to the Divine thus Father glorifie me my Humane Nature with the glorie that I my Divine Nature had before the world was Which indeed was to be the Eternal Infinite and Omnipotent brightness of the Glory of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Glory which his Divine Nature had before the World was But how can this Humane Nature be glorified with that Glory his Divine Nature had before the world was unless it should become the Divine Nature that it might be said to have pre-existed But that it cannot be For there is no confusion of the Humane and Divine Nature in the Hypostasis of Christ Or else because it is hypostatically united with the Divine Nature but if that be the Glory that he then had already and had it not according to the Opposers of Pre-existence before the world was So we see there is no sence to be made of this Text by communication of Idioms and therefore no sence to be made of it without the Pre-existence of the Humane Nature of Christ And if you paraphrase me thus My Hypostasis consisting of my Humane and Divine Nature it will be as untoward sence For if the Divine Nature be included in me then Christ prays for what he has aleady as I noted above For the Glory of the eternal Logos from everlasting to everlasting is the same as sure as he is the same with himself Pag. 86. By his expressions of coming from the Father descending from Heaven and returning thither again c. I suppose these Scriptures are alluded to John 3. 13. 6. 38. 16. 28. I came down from Heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me I came forth from the Father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father Whereupon his Disciples said unto him Lo now speakest thou plainly and speakest no Parable But it were a very great Parable or Aenigm that one should say truly of himself that he came from Heaven when he never was there And as impossible a thing is it to conceive how God can properly be said to come down from Heaven who is alwaies present every where Wherefore that in Christ which was not God namely his Soul or Humane Nature was in Heaven before he appeared on Earth and consequently his Soul did pre-exist Nor is there any refuge here in the communication of Idioms For that cannot be attributed to the whole Hypostasis which is competent to neither part that constitutes it For it was neither true of the Humane Nature of Christ if you take away Pre-existence nor of the Divine that they descended from Heaven c. And yet John 3. 13 14. where Christ prophesying of his Crucifixion and Ascension saith No man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was in Heaven So Erasmus saith it may be rendred a Participle of the present tense having a capacity to signifie the time past if the sence require it as it seems to do here Qui erat in Coelo viz. antequam descenderat So Erasmus upon the place Wherefore these places of Scripture touching Christ being such inexpugnable Arguments of the Pre-existence of the Soul of the Messiah the Writer of No Pre-existence methinks is no where so civil or discreet as in this point Where he saies he will not squabble about this but readily yield that the Soul of Christ was long extant before it was incarnate But then he presently flings dirt upon the Pre-existentiaries as guilty of a shameful presumption and inconsequence to conclude the Pre-existence of all other Humane Souls from the Pre-existence of his Because he was a peculiar favourite of God was to undergo bitter sufferings for Mankind and therefore should enjoy an happy Pre-existence for an Anti-praemium And since he was to purchase a Church with his own most precious Bloud it was fit he should pre-exist from the beginning of the world that he might preside over his Church as Guide and Governour thereof which is a thing that cannot be said of any other soul beside This is a device which I believe the Pre-existentiaries good men never dreamt of but they took it for granted that the creation of all Humane Souls was alike and that the Soul of Christ was like ours in all things sin onely excepted as the Emperour Justinian in his Discourse to Menas Patriarch of Constantinople argues from this very Topick to prove the Non-pre-existence of our Souls from the Non-pre-existence of Christs he being like us in all things sin onely excepted And therefore as to Existence and Essence there was no difference Thus one would have verily thought to have been most safe and most natural to conclude as being so punctual according to the declaration of Scripture and order of things For it seems almost as harsh and repugnant to give Angelical Existence to a Species not Angelical as Angelical

and changings and interpolations hard to prove to be his but have spared his name for that unspeakable good service he did the Church in his life-time See Dr. H. Mores Preface to his Collectio Philosophica Sect. 18. where Origens true Character is described out of Eusebius Wherefore whether this be to begin or carry on things in via Spiritus Sancti so that we may rely on the Authority of such a Council I leave to the impartial and judicious to consider Fourthly In reference to the fourth Head That true wisdom and moderation and the holy assistance of Gods Spirit did not guide the affairs of this Council seems to be indicated by the Divine Providence who to shew the effect of their unwise proceedings in the self-same year the Council sate sent a most terrible Earthquake for forty days together upon the City of Constantinople where the Council was held and upon other Regions of the East even upon Alexandria it self and other places so that many Cities were levelled to the ground Upon which Spondanus writes thus Haec verò praesagia fuisse malorum quae sunt praedictam Synodum consecuta nemo negare poterit quicunque ab eventis facta noverit judicare This also reminds me of a Prodigy as it was thought that happened at the sixth reputed General Council where nigh three hundred Fathers were gathered together to decide this nice and subtile Point namely whether an operation or volition of Christ were to be deemed Vna operatio sive volitio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to that Axiom of some Metaphysicians that Actio est suppositi and so the Humane and Divine Nature of Christ being coalescent into one person his volition and operation be accounted one as his person is but one or because of the two Natures though but one person there are to be conceived two operations or two volitions This latter Dogma obtained and the other was condemned by this third Constantinopolitan Council whereupon as Paulus Diaconus writes abundance of Cobwebs or Spiders webs fell or rained as it were down upon the heads of the people to their very great astonishment Some interpret the Cobwebs of Heresies others haply more rightfully of troubling the Church of Christ with over-great niceties and curiosities of subtile Speculation which tend nothing to the corroborating her Faith and promoting a good Life and are so obscure subtile and lubricous that look on them one way they seem thus and another way thus To this sixth General Council there seemed two Operations and two Wills in Christ because of his two Natures To a Council called after by Philippicus the Emperour and John Patriarch of Constantinople considering Christ as one person there appeared Numerosissimo Orientalium Episcoporum collecto Conventui as Spondanus has it but as Binius Innumerae Orientalium Episcoporum multitudini congregatae but one will and one operation And certainly this numerous or innumerable company of Bishops must put as fair for a General Council as that of less than three hundred But that the Authority of both these Councils are lessened upon the account of the second Head in that the matter they consulted about tended nothing to the corroboration of our Faith or the promotion of a good Life I have already intimated These things I was tempted to note in reference to the tenth Head For it seems to mean undeniable Argument that our First Reformers which are the Risen Witnesses were either exquisitely well seen in Ecclesiastick History or the good Hand of God was upon them that they absolutely admitted onely the four first General Councils but after them they knew not where to be or what to call a General Council and therefore would not adventure of any so called for the adjudging any matters Heresie But if any pretended to be such their Authority should no further prevail than as they made out things by express and plain words of Canonical Scripture And for other Synods whether the Seventh which is the second of Nice or any other that the Church of Rome would have to be General in defence of their own exorbitant points of Faith or Practice they will be found of no validity if we have recourse to the sixth seventh eighth and ninth Heads Fifthly In reference to the fifth Head This fifth Council loseth its Authority in anathematizing what in Origen seems to be true according to that express Text of Scripture John 16. 28. especially compared with others See Notes on Chap. 11. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father He came forth from his Father which is in Heaven accordingly as he taught us to pray to him the Divine Shechina being in a peculiar manner there He leaves the world and goes to the Father which all understand of his Ascension into Heaven whence his coming from the Father must have the same sense or else the Antithesis will plainly fail Wherefore it is plain he came down from Heaven as he signifies also in other places as well as returns thither But he can neither be truly said to come from heaven nor return thither according to his Divine Nature For it never left Heaven nor removes from one place to another and therefore this Scripture does plainly imply the Pre existence of the Soul of the Messiah according to the Doctrine of the Jews before it was incarnate And this stricture of the old Cabala may give light to more places of St. Johns Writings than is fit to recite in this haste I will onely name one by the by 1 John 4. 2. Every Spirit that confesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh that is to say is the Christ incarnate is of God For the Messiah did exist viz. his Soul before he came into the flesh according to the Doctrine of the Jews Which was so well known that upon the above-cited saying John 16. 28. of our Saviour they presently answered Lo now speakest thou plainly and speakest no Parable because he clearly discovers himself by this Character to be the expected Messias incarnate Nor is there any possible evasion out of the clearness of this Text ●rom the communication of Idioms because Christ cannot be said to come down from Heaven according to his Humane Nature before it was there therefore his Humane Nature was there before it was incarnate And lastly The Authority of the Decision of this Council if it did so decide is lessened in that contrary to the second Head as was hinted above it decides a point that Faith and Godliness is not at all concerned in For the Divinity of Christ which is the great point of Faith is as firmly held supposing the Soul of the Messias united with the Logos before his incarnation as in it So that the spight onely of Pelagius against Theodorus to multiply Anathematisms against Origen no use or necessity of the Church required any such thing

what joynt soever I shall discover it And yet I must needs say that whoever compares the Texts that follow with some particulars mention'd in the answer to the objection of Scripture-silence will not chuse but acknowledge that there is very fair probability for Praeexistence in the written word of God as there is in that which is engraven upon our rational natures Therefore to bring together here what Scripture saith in this matter 1. I 'le lightly touch an expression or two of the old Testament which not improperly may be applyed to the business we are in search of And methinks God himself in his posing the great instance of patience Job seems to intimate somewhat to this purpose viz. that all spirits were in being when the Foundations of the earth were laid when saith he the morning stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy By the former very likely were meant the Angels and 't is not improbable but by the latter may be intended the blessed untainted Souls At least the particle All me thinks should comprize this order of spirits also And within the same period of discourse having question'd Job about the nature and place of the Light he adds I know that thou wast then born for the number of thy days are many as the Septuagint render it * And we know our Saviour and his Apostles have given credit to that Translation by their so constant following it Nor doth that saying of God to Jeremias in the beginning of his charge seem to intimate less Before I formed thee in the Belly I knew thee and before thou camest out of the womb I gave thee wisdom * as reads a very creditable version Now though each of these places might be drawn to another sense yet that only argues that they are no necessary proof for Praeexistence which I readily acknowledge nor do I intend any such matter by alledging them However I hope they will be confest to be applicable to this sense and if there be other grounds that swade this Hypothesis to be the truth 't is I think very probable that these Texts intend it favour which whether it be so or no we have seen already 2. For the Texts of the New Testament that seem to look pleasingly upon Praeexistence I shall as briefly hint them as I did the former * And me thinks that passage of our Saviours prayer Father Glori●ie me with the same glory I had with thee before the world began sounds somewhat to this purpose The glory which he prays to be restored to seems to concern his humane nature only for the divine could never lose it And therefore it supposeth that he was in his humanity existent before And that his soul was of old before his appearance in a Terrestrial body Which seems also to be intimated * by the expressions of his coming from the Father descending from Heaven and returning thither again which he very frequently makes use of And we know the Divinity that ●ills all things cannot move to or quit a place it being a manifest imperfection and contrary to his Immensity I might add those other expressions of our Saviour's taking upon him the ●orm of a Servant of rich for our sakes becoming poor and many others of like import all which are very clear if we admit the doctrine of Praeexistence but without it somewhat p●rplex and intricate since these things applyed to him as God are very improper and disagreeing but appositely suit his Humanity to which if we refer them we must suppose our Hypothesis of Praeexistence But I omit further prosecution of this matter * since these places have been more diffusely urged in a late discourse to this purpose Moreover the Question of the Disciples * Was it for this mans sin or for his Fathers that he was born blind and that answer of theirs to our Saviours demand whom men said he was in that some said he was John the Baptist some Elias or one of the Prophets both which I have mentioned before do clearly enough argue that both the Disciples and the Jews believed Praeexistence And our Saviour saith not a word to disprove their opinion But I spake of this above Now however uncouth these allegations may seem to those that never heard these Scriptures thus interpreted yet I am confident had the opinion of Praeexistence been a received Doctrine and had these Texts been wont to be applyed to the proof on 't they would then have been thought to assert it with clear and convictive evidence But many having never heard of this Hypothesis and those that have seldom meeting it mentioned but as a silly dream or antiquated absurdity 't is no wonder that they never suspect it to be lodg'd in the Sacred volume so that any attempt to confirm it thence must needs seem rather an offer of wit than serious judgment And the places that are cited to that purpose having been frequently read and heard of by those that never discerned them to breath the least air of any such matter as Praeexistence their new and unexpected application to a thing so little thought of must needs seem a wild fetch of an extravagant imagination But however unconclusive the Texts alledged may seem to those a strong prejudice hath shut up against the Hypothesis The learned Jews who were perswaded of this Doctrine thought it clearly enough contain'd in the Old Volume of holy writ and took the citations named above for current Evidence And though I cannot warrant for their Judgment in things yet doubtless they were the best Judges of their own Language Nor would our School-Doctors have thought it so much a stranger to the New had it had the luck to have been one of their opinions or did they not too frequently apply the sacred Oracles to their own fore-conceived notions But whether what I have brought from Scripture prove any thing or nothing 't is not very material since the Hypothesis of Prae-existence stands secure enough upon those P●llars of Reason which have their Foundation in the Attributes of God and the Phaenomena of the world And the Right Reason of a Man is one of the Divine volumes in which are written the indeleble Idea's of eternal Truth so that what it dictates is as much the voice of God as if in so many words it were clearly exprest in the written Revelations It is enough therefore for my purpose if there be nothing in the sacred writings contrary to this Hypothesis which I think is made clear enough already and though it be granted that Scripture is absolutely silent as to any assertion of Prae-existence yet we have made it appear that its having said nothing of it is no prejudice but an advantage to the cause CHAP. XII Why the Author thinks himself obliged to descend to some more particular Account of Praeexistence 'T is presumption positively to determine how it was with us of Old The Authors design in the Hypothesis that

just because God Wills them so to be and if that be granted we are disabled from using the arguments taken from natural Notions and the Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature against the Blackest and most Blasphemous Opinions that ever were entertained concerning Gods proceedings with the Sons of Men. If there be no settled Good and Evil Immutable and Independent on any Will or Vnderstanding then God may have made his reasonable Creatures on purpose to damn them for ever He may have absolutely decreed that they should sin that he may damn them justly He may most solemnly and earnestly prohibit Sin by his Laws and declare great displeasure against it and yet by his ineluctable Decrees force men to all the sin that is committed in the World He may vehemently protest his unfeigned desire of their Life and Happiness and at the same time secretly resolve their Eternal Destruction He may make it his Glory and Pleasure to triumph eternally in the torments of poor Worms which himself hath by his unalterable and irresistible Will made miserable yea as the discourse instanceth he may after his Decrees concerning the Salvation of the Elect after the death of his Son for them and the mission of his Spirit to them and after all the promises he hath made to assure them thrust them also at last into the dreadful Regions of Death and Woe I say if there be no immutable respects in things but Just and Vnjust Honourable and Dishonourable Good and Cruel Faithful and Deceitful are respects made by meer arbitrarious Will it will be in vain to dispute from Them against any such dismal Opinions yea it will be great folly to argue for the Simplicity of the Divine Nature against the vile conceits of the old Anthropomorphites and the Blasphemies of the present Muggletonians of God's having a Corporal shape Parts and Members if there be no necessary Independent Connexion betwixt Immensity Spirituality and Perfection But this being established that there are immutable respects in things and that such and such are Perfections and their contrary Defects and imperfections hence it will follow that it is impossible the forementioned Doctrines can be true concerning God who cannot lye cannot deny himself viz. He being Absolute and Infinite Perfection cannot act any thing that is Evil or imperfect But all the expressions in Scripture that at first sight look towards such a sense must be interpreted by the general Analogy and course of them which declares his Infinite Immutable Excellencies and these Notions of himself which he hath written on the Souls of Men. So that the Subject of this little Discourse is of vast Moment and the truth asserted in it is I think confirmed with an irresistible Strength and force of Reasoning and not to be convinced by it will argue either great weakness of Vnderstanding in not perceiving consequences that are so close and plain or great obstinacy of Will in being shut up by prejudices and preconceiv'd Opinions against Light that is so clear and manifest The Author was a Person with whom I had the Honour and Happiness of a very particular acquaintance a man he was of a clear Mind a deep Judgment and searching Wit greatly learned in all the best sorts of Knowledge old and new a thoughtful and diligent Enquirer of a free Vnderstanding and vast Capacity joyn'd with singular Modesty and unusual Sweetness of Temper which made him the Darling of all that knew him He was a person of great Piety and Generosity a hearty Lover of God and Men An excellent Preacher a wise Governour a profound Philosopher a quick forcible and close Reasoner and above all a true and exemplary Christian In short he was one who had all the Qualifications of a Primitive Bishop and of an extraordinary Man This I say not out of kindness to my Friend but out of Justice to a Person of whom no Commendation can be extravagant He was bred in Cambridge and Fellow of Christ's Colledge where he lived in great Esteem and Reputation for his eminent Learning and Vertues he was one of the first that overcame the prejudices of the Education of the late unhappy Times in that Vniversity and was very Instrumental to enlarge others He had too great a Soul for the trifles of that Age and saw early the nakedness of Phrases and Phancies He out-grew the pretended O●thodoxy of those days and addicted himself to the Primitive Learning and Theology in which he even then became a great Master After the return of the Government the excellent Bishop Taylor foreseeing the vacancy in the Deanery of Connor sent to Cambridge for some Learned and Ingenious Man who might be fit for that Dignity The motion was made to Dr. Rust which corresponding with the great Inclination he had to be conversant with that incomparable Person he gladly accepted of it and hastn'd into Ireland where he langed at Dublin about August 1661. He was received with much Respect and Kindness by that great and good Bishop who knew how to value such Jewels and preferr'd to the Deanery as soon as it was void which was shortly after He continued in that Preferment during the Bishops Life always dearly lov'd and even admir'd by him At his Death that sad stroke to all the Lovers of Religion and Learning he was chosen for the last solemn Office to his Deceased Father and Friend and he Preach't such a Funeral Sermon as became that extraordinary Person and himself It hath been since published and I suppose you may have seen it upon the lamented Death of Bishop Taylor which hapned August 13th 1667. The Bishopricks were divided Dr. Boyle Dean of Cork was nominated Bishop of Downe and Connor and Dr. Rust Dean of Connor Bishop of Dromore he lived in the Deanery about six years in the Bishoprick but three for in December 1670 he dyed of a Fever in the prime of his years to the unspeakable grief of all that knew his Worth and especially of such of them as had been blest by his Friendship and most sweet and indearing Conversation He was buried in the Quire of his own Cathedral Church of Dromore in a Vault made for his Predecessour Bishop Taylor whose Sacred Dust is deposited also there and what Dormitory hath two such Tenants This is the best account I can give you of the Work and the Author and by it you may perceive his Memory deserves to live and this product of him but there is so much reverence due to the Manes of so venerable a Person that nothing should be hastily published under his honour'd name I know had he designed this Exercitation for the Publick he would have made it much more compleat and exact than we now have it but as it is the Discourse is weighty and substantial and may be of great use As it goes about now in written Copies it is I perceive exceedingly depraved and in danger of being still worse abused The Publication would preserve

Genius And for that Objection of the Author's Antagonist against his Opinion touching those inclinations to Trades which may equally concern this Hypothesis of Menander that it would then be more universal every one having such a Genius this truth may be smothered by the putting young people promiscuously to any Trade without observing their Genius But the Chineses suppose this truth they commonly shewing a Child all the Employs of the Citie that he may make his own choice before they put him to any But if the Opinion of Menander be true that every man has his guardian Genius under whose conduct he lives the Merchant the Musician the Plowman and the rest it is manifest that these Genii cannot but receive considerable impressions of such things as they guide their Clients in And pre-existent Souls in their aereal estate being of the same nature with these Daemons or Genii they are capable of the same Employment and so tincture themselves deep enough with the affairs of those parties they preside over And therefore when they themselves after the state of Silence are incorporated into earthly Bodies they may have a proneness from their former tincture to such methods of life as they lived over whom they did preside Which quite spoils the best Argument our Author's Antagonist has against this Topick which is That there are several things here below which the Geniusses of men pursue and follow with the hottest chase which have no similitude with the things in the other state as Planting Building Husbandrie the working of Manufactures c. This best Argument of his by Menander's Hypothesis which is hard to confute is quite defeated And to deny nothing to this Opposer of Pre-existence which is his due himself seems unsatisfied in resolving these odd Phaenomena into the temper of Bodie And therefore at last hath recourse to a secret Causality that is to he knows not what But at last he pitches upon some such Principle as that whereby the Birds build their Nest the Spider weaves her Webs the Bees make their Combs c. Some such thing he says though he cannot think it that prodigious Hobgoblin the Spirit of Nature may produce these strange effects may byass also the fancies of men in making choice of their Employments and Occupations If it be not the Spirit of Nature then it must be that Classical Character I spoke of above But if not this nor the preponderancies of the Pre-existent state nor Menander's Hypothesis the Spirit of Nature will bid the fairest for it of any besides for determining the inclinations of all living Creatures in these Regions of Generation as having in itself vitally though not intellectually all the Laws of the Divine Providence implanted into its essence by God the Creator of it And speaking in the Ethnick Dialect the same description may belong to it that Varro gives to their God Genius Genius est Deus qui proepositus est ac vim habet omnium rerum gignendarum and that is the Genius of every Creature that is congenit to it in vertue of its generation And that there is such a Spirit of Nature not a God as Varro vainly makes it but an unintelligent Creature to which belongs the Nascency or Generation of things and has the management of the whole matter of the Universe is copiously proved to be the Opinion of the Noblest and Ancientest Philosophers by the learned Dr. R. Cudworth in his System of the Intellectual World and is demonstrated to be a true Theorem in Philosophie by Dr. H. Moore in his Euchiridion Metaphysicum by many and those irrefutable Arguments and yet I dare say both can easily pardon the mistake and bluntness of this rude Writer nor are at all surprized at it as a Noveltie that any ignorant rural Hobthurst should call the Spirit of Nature a thing so much beyond his capacitie to judge of a prodigious Hobgoblin But to conclude be it so that there may be other causes besides the pristine inurements of the Pre-existent Soul that may something forcibly determine her to one course of life here yet when she is most forcibly determined if there be such a thing as Pre-existence this may be rationally supposed to concur in the efficiencie But that it is not so strong an Argument as others to prove Pre-existence I have hinted alreadie Pag. 79. For those that are most like in the Temper Air Complexion of their Bodies c. If this prove true and I know nothing to the contrarie this vast difference of Genius's were it not for the Hypothesis of their Classical Character imprinted on Souls at their very creation would be a considerably tight Argument But certainly it is more honest than for the avoiding Pre-existence to resolve the Phaenomenon into a secret Causality that is to say into one knows not what Pag. 82. There being now no other way left but Pre-existence c. This is a just excuse for his bringing in any Argument by way of overplus that is not so apodictically concluding If it be but such as will look like a plausible solution of a Phaenomenon as this of such a vast difference of Genius's Pre-existence once admitted or otherwise undeniably demonstrated the proposing thereof should be accepted with favour Chap. 11. pag. 85. And we know our Saviour and his Apostles have given credit to that Translation c. And it was the authentick Text with the Fathers of the Primitive Church And besides this if we read according to the Hebrew Text there being no object of Job's knowledge expressed this is the most easie and natural sence Knowest thou that thou wast then and that the number of thy days are many This therefore was reckoned amongst the rest of his ignorances that though he was created so early he now knew nothing of it And this easie sence of the Hebrew Text as well as that Version of the Septuagint made the Jews draw it in to the countenancing of the Tradition of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Pre-existence of Souls as Grotius has noted of them Pag. 85. As reads a very credible Version R. Menasse Ben Israel reads it so I gave thee Wisdom which Version if it were sure and authentick this place would be fit for the defence of the Opinion it is produced for But no Interpreters besides that I can find following him nor any going before him whom he might follow I ingenuously confess the place seems not of force enough to me to infer the conclusion He read I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Piel whence he translated it Indidi tibi Sapientiam but the rest read it in Cal. Pag. 86. And methinks that passage of our Saviours Prayer Father glorifie me with the glorie I had before the World began c. This Text without exceeding great violence cannot be evaded As for that of Grotius interpreting that I had that which was intended for me to have though it make good sence yet it is