the Retaining of his wounds which was only for our sakes that our Faith touching the Truth of his Body might not be without these visible and inferiour Witnesses by which he was pleased to make his very Glorified flesh a proportioned Object to our fraile sense and faith that so wee might thence learne confidently to rely for our selves as well on the Benefit of his Exaltation as of his Humility Or it was done as St. Augustine speaks Non ex Necessitate sed ex Potestate as the Sunne is said to draw and suck up standing waters Non Pabuli Egestate sed Virtutis Magniâ—…adine Not to Nourish but to Manifest its vertue Thirdly the Body shall be a strong and beautifull Body throughly able to minister unto the Soule any service wherein it shall imploy it and shall be no longer as it is now the clogge and luggage thereof It shall likewise be free from all blemish and deformity which ever ariseth out of the distemper discord of the Elements as it is by good probability conjectured reduced unto a full comely and convenient stature even in those who were in their Death contemptible Infants lame dismembred or any other way dishonoured with the miseries of corruption Naturae non injuriae reddimur we shall be restored to our Nature but not to our shame the Dust shall still retaine and bury our dishonour and it shall be one part of our Glory to be made fit for it The last quality of our Bodies which I shall observe is a perfect subtilty and agility best befitting their service for the Soule in all speedy motion which surely shall be there so much the more requisite than here on earth by how much Heaven is a more ample and spacious Country And thus while the Body is made an attendant on the Soules glory it is likewise a partaker of it Unto these adde the sweet Harmony of the Affections the exact and exquisite Operation of the senses the Bodily communion and fellowship of the Saints and above all the Eternall Corporeall vision of that most sacred Body whence all ours derive their degrees of Honour whose presence were truly and without any Hyperbole able to make Hell it selfe a Place of Glory how much more that Country and those Mansions where the Soule likewise shall be swallowed up with the immediate vision and fruition of Divine Glory Our Soules are not here noble enough to conceive what our Bodies shall be there CHAP. XXXVI Of that part of Gods Image in the Soule which answereth to his Power Wisedome Knowledge Holines Of Mans Dominion over other Creatures Of his Love to Knowledge What remainders we retaine of Originall Iustice. THe other Properties or Attributes of God of which Mans Soule beareth an Image dark resemblance are those which according to our Apprehension seeme not so Intrinsecall and Essentiall as the former And they are such as may be either generally collected from the Manifestation of his Works or more particularly from his Word These which referre unto his Works are his Power in Making and Ruling them his Wisedom in Ordering and Preserving them his Knowledge in the Contemplation of them and of these it pleaseth him at the first to bestow some few degrees upon mans Soule Concerning the Attribute of Power most certaine it is that those great parts of Gods workmanship Creation and Redemption are incommunicably belonging unto him as his owne Prerogative Royall Insomuch that it were desperate blasphemy to assume unto our selves the least resemblance of them Yet in many other proceedings of Gods works there is some Analogie and Resemblance in the Works of Men. For first what are all the motions and courses of Nature but the Ordinary works of God All formes and intrinsecall Motive Principles are indeed but his Instruments for by him we live and move and have our being And of all other works mans only imitate Nature as Aristotle observes of the Works of Art which peculiarly belong unto Man all other Creatures being carried by that naturall instinct which is Intrinsecally belonging to their condition without any manner of Art or variety The Resemblances of Nature in the Works of Art are chiefly seene in these two Proportions First as Nature doth nothing in Vaine but in all her Works aymes at some End the Perfection or the Ornament or the Conservation of the Universe for those are the three ends of Nature subordinate to the Maine which is the Glory of the Maker so likewise are the works of Art all directed by the Understanding to some one of those ends either to the perfection of Men such are all those which informe the Vnderstanding and governe the life or to his Conservation as those directed to the furthering of his welfare and repairing the decayes or sheltering the weaknesses of Nature or lastly to his Ornament such as are those Elegancies of Art and Curiosities of Invention which though not necessary to his Being yet are speciall instruments of his delight either Sensitive or Intellectuall The second Resemblance is betweene the Manner and Progresse of their Workes for as the Method of nature is to proceed ab imperfectioribus ad Perfectiora and per determinata Media ad 〈◊〉 Finem So Art likewise as is plaine in those which are Manuall by certain fixed rules which alter not proceeds to the producing of a more perfect effect from more tough and unformed beginnings by the help of Instruments appropriated to particular services But this because â—…t limits Mans dignity as well as commends it I for beare to speake of Though even herein also we doe seeme to imitate God who in his great worke of Creation did proceed both by successiâ—… of Time and degrees of Perfection only it is Necessity in us which was in him his Will To come therefore nearer it is observable that in the first Act of Gods power in the Making and Framing of the World there was No thing here below created properly immediatly and totally but the Chaos and Masse or the Earth without forme and voide out of the Obedience whereof his Power did farther educe and extract those Wonderfull Vaâ—…ious and Beauti full Formes which doe evidently set forth unto the Soule of Man the Glory and Majestie of him that made them By a small Resemblance of this manner of Working Man also in those Workes of Art peculiar to him from other Creatures doth ex Potentia Obedientiall as the Schooles call it out of the Obedience and Subjection of any proposed Masse produce Non per Naturam sed per Imperium not out of the Nature of the Subject but by the command of Reason sundry formes of Art full of Decency and Beauty And for Government I meane Subordinate and by Derivation or Indulgence it is manifest that all Creatures inhabiting the World with him were subdued unto Man and next unto the Glory of the great Maker were ordained for his service and benefit * And therefore when ever wee finde any
senses since they are in this life delivered from the Malediction of the Law from the Wrath of the Judge from the Tyrannie of the Enemie from the Raigne of Sinne and by Death freed not only from the Dominion but from the Possession or Assault of the Enemie not only from the Kingdome but from the Body of Sinne and is withall in good part possessed of that Blisse which it shall more fully enjoy at last But our Bodies though before that Great day they partake much of the benefits of Redemption as being here sanctified vessells freed from the Authority and Power of the Devill World Flesh and from the Curse of Death too wherein they part not only with life but with sinne yet after all this doe they want some part of either Redemption as namely to be raised and delivered from that dishonour and corruption which the last Enemie hath brought upon them and to be Admitted into those Mansions and invested with that Glory whereby they shall be Totally possessed of their Redemption In a word the Soule is in its separation fully delivered from all Enemies which is the first and in a great measure enjoyeth the Vision of God which is the second part or degree of mans Redemption But the Body is not till its Resurrection either quite freed from its Enemie or at all possessed of its Glory I meane in its selfe though it be in its Head who is Primitiae P◅gnus Resurrectionis the first fruits and earnest of our Conquest over Death Touching the Dignity of our Bodies though there be more comfort to be had in the Expectation than Curiosity in the enquirie after it yet what is usually granted I shall briefly set down And first it shall be Raised a whole entire and perfect Body with all the parts best fitted to be Receptacles of Glory freed from all either the Usherers in or Attendants and followers on the Grave Age Infirmity Sicknesse Corruption Ignominie and Dishonour And shall rise a true whole strong and honourable Body For though every part of the Body shall not have those peculiar uses which here they have since they neither eat nor drink marry nor are given in marriage but are as the Angels of God yet shall not any part be lost Licet enim officiis liberentur judiciis re◅inentur Though they are freed from their Temporall service for which they were here ordained yet must they be reserved for receiving their judgment whether it be unto Glory or unto Dishonour The second Dignity is that Change and Alteration of our Body from a Naturall to a Spirituall Body whereby is not meant any Transubstantiation from a Corporeall to a Spirituall substance For our Bodies shall after the Resurrection be conformable unto Christs body which though glorious was not yet a Spirit but had flesh and bone as we have Nor is it to be understood of a thinne Aereall Invisible Body as some have collected since Christ saith of his Body after he was risen Videte Palpate Wheresoever it is it hath both its quantity and all sensible qualities of a Body Glorified with it It is a strong Argument that it is not there where it is not sensible And therefore the Doctrines of Vbiquity and Transubstantiation as they give Christ more thā he is pleased to owne an Immensity of Body so doe they spoyle him of that which hee hath beene pleased for our sakes to assume Extension Compacture Massinesse Visibility and other the like sensible Properties which cannot stand with that pretended miracle whereby they make Christs Body even now a Creature and like unto ours in substance though not in qualities of Corruptibility Infirmity Ignominie Animality to be truly invested with the very immediate properties of the Deity True indeed it is that the Body of Christ hath an efficacie and operation in all parts of the world it worketh in Heaven with God the Father by Intercession amongst the blessed Angels by Confirmation in Earth and that in all ages and in all places amongst Men by Justification and Comfort in Hell amongst the Devils and Damned by the Tremblings and Feares of a condemning and convicting Faith But Operation requireth only a presence of Vertue not of Substance For doth not the Sunne work wonderfull effects in the bowels of the Earth it selfe notwithstanding being a fixed Planet in the Heaven And why should not the Sunne of Righteousnesse work as much at the like distance as the Sunne of Nature Why should he not be as Powerfull Absent as he was Hoped Or why should the Not presence of his Body make that uneffectuall now which the Not existing could not before his Incarnation Why should we mistrust the Eyes of Stephen that saw him in Heaven at such a Distance of place when Abraham could see him in his own bowels through so great a Distance of Time That Speech then that the Body shall be a Spirituall Body is not to be understood in either of those former senses but it is to be understood first of the more immediate Union and full Inhabitation of the vertue and vigour of Gods Spirit in our Bodies quickning and for ever sustaining them without any Assistance of Naturall or Animall qualities for the repairing and augmenting of them in recompence of that which by labour and infirmity and the naturall opposition of the Elements is daily diminished Secondly it shall be so called in regard of its Obedience Totall Subjection to the Spirit of God without any manner of Reluctance and dislike Thirdly in respect of those Spirituall qualities those Prerogatives of the Flesh with which it shall be adorned which are First a Shining and Glorious Light wherewithall it shall be cloathed as with a Garment for the Iust shall shine as the Sunne in the Firmament Now this shal be wrought first by vertue of that Communion which wee have with Christ our Head whose Body even in its Mortality did shine like the Sunne and had his cloathes white as light And secondly by diffusion and Redundancie from our Soule upon our Body which by the Beatificall Vision filled with a Spirituall and unconceiveable brightnesse shall work upon the Body as on a Subject made throughly Obedient to its Power unto the Production of alike qualities The second Spirituall Property shall be Impassibility not in respect of Perfective but in respect of annoying disquieting or destructive Passion There shall not be any Warre in the members any fighting and mutuall languishing of the Elements but they shall all be sustained in their full strength by vertue of Christs Communion of the Inhabitation of the Spirit of the Dominion of the Glorified Soule There shall be no need of rest or sleepe or meat all which are here requisite for the supply of our Infirmities and daily defects and are only the Comforts of Pilgrimage not the Blessednesse of Possession For although Christ after his Resurrection did eat before his Disciples yet this was none otherwise done than that other
on them proceed onely from the Impression of Fancy and sensitive Appetite to serve themselves but not to improve one another And therefore Speech is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Name of Reason because it attendeth onely upon Reason And as by this the Soule of man differeth in Excellency from all other Creatures so in two things amongst many others both subservient unto Reason doth his Body excell them too First in the Vprightnesse of his Stature whereby he is made to looke up to Heaven and from his Countenance to let shine forth the Impression of that Light which dwellâ—…th within him For the Face is the Window of the Soule Pronáque cum spectent Animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dediâ—… Caelumque tueri Iussit erectos ad Sydera tollere Vultus Whil'st other creatures downward fix their sight Bending to Earth an Earthly Appetite To man he gave a lofty Face might looke Vp to the Heavens and in that spatious Booke So full of shining Characters descry Why he was made and whether he should fly Next in the Faculty of Speech which is the Gare of the Soule through which she passeth and the Interpreter of the Conceits and Cogitations of the mind as the Philosopher speaks The uses whereof are to convey and communicate the Conceptions of the Mind and by that means to preserve humane Society to derive Knowledg to maintaine mutuall love and supplies to multiply our Delights to mitigate and unload our sorrows but above all to Honour God and to edifie one another in which respect our Tongue is called our Glory Psal. 16. 2. Act. 2. 26. The force power of Speech upon the minds of men is almost beyond its power to expresse How suddenly it can inflame excite allay comfort mollify transport and carry captive the Affections of men Caesar with one word quiets the Commotion of an Army Menenius Agrippa with one Apologue the sedition of a people Flavianus the Bishop of Antioch with one Oration the fury of an Emperour Anaximenes with one Artifice the indignation of Alexander Abigail with one Supplication the Revenge of David Pericles and Pisistratus even then when they spake against the peoples liberty over ruled them by their Eloquence to beleeve and imbrace what they spake and by their Tongue effected that willingly which their Sword could hardly have extorted Pericles and Nicias are said to have still pursued the same Ends and yet with cleane different successe The one in advancing the same busines pleased the other exasperated the people and that upon no other Reason but this the one had the Art of Perswasion which the other wanted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One spake the Right with a slow Tongue Another fluently spake wrong He lost this stole the Cause and got To make you thinke what you thinke not And this power of Speech over the Minds of men is by the Poet in that knowne passage of his thus elegantly described Magnâ—… in popule cum sapè Coorta est Seditio savitque Animus Ignobile vulgus Ianâ—…que faces Saxa volant furor arma ministrat Tum pietate gravem ac merit is si fortè viruÌ„quem Conspêxere silent arrectisque auribus astant Ille regit dictis Animâ—…s pectora â—…ulcet When in a Multitude Seditions grow And Vicerated Minds do overflow With swelling Ire when stones firebrands fly As Rage doth every where weapons supply Then if some Aged man in Honor held For Piety and Prudence stand to wield And moderate this Tumult strait wayes all Rise up with silent Reverence and let fall Their Angry Clamors His grave words do sway Their Minds and all their Discontents allay The Vertues of Speech whereby it worketh with such force upon the Minde are many which therefore I will but name some Grammaticall as Property and Fitnesse and Congruity without Solaecismes and Barbarousnesse some Rhetoricall as choice Purity Brevity Perspecuity Gravity Pleasantnesse Vigoâ—… Moderate Acrimony and Vehemency some Logicall as Method Order Distribution Demonstration Invention Definition Argumentation Refutation A right digesting of all the Aydes of Speech as Wit Learning Poverbs Apologues Emblemes Histories Lawes Causes and Effects and all the Heads or Places which assist us in Invention Some Morall as Gravity Truth Seriousnesse Integrity Authority When words receive weight from manners and a mans Speech is better beleeved for his Life than for his Learning When it appeares That they arise esulce pectoris and have their foundation in Vertue and not in Fancy For as a man receiveth the selfe same Wine with pleasure in a pure and cleane Vessell which he loâ—…ths to put unto his mouth from one that is soule and soiled so the selfe same Speech adorned with the Piety of one man and disgraced with the Pravity of another will be very apt accordingly to be received either with delight or loathing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Speech from Base men and men of Respect Though 't be the same works not the same Effect And therefore the Spartan Princes when they heard from a man of a disallowed and suspected Life an Opinion which they approved They required another man of reputation to propose it That the prejudice of the person might not procure a rejection of his Iudgement For wee are apt to nauseate at very good meat when we know that an ill Cooke did dresse it And therefore it is a very true Character which Tully and Quintilian give of a right Oratour That he must be Vir bonus dicendi Peritus as well a Good man as a Good speaker Otherwise though he may speake with admirable wit to the fancy of his hearers he will have but little power over their Affections Like a fire made of greene wood which is fed with it as it is fewell but quencheed as it is greene Lastly some are Civill in Causes Deliberative or Iuridicall as Wisedome pertinency and fitnes to the Nature and Exigence of the End or Matter whereupon we speake For in that case we are to ponder and measure what we say by the end whereunto we say it and to fit it to all the Circumstances incident thereunto Paul amongst the Philosophers disputed with them from the Inscription of their Altar from the Authority of their Poets and from confessed Maximes of Reason by these degrees convincing them of Idolatry and lending them to Repentance But amongst the Iewes hee disputed out of Scripture With Felix that looked for money he disputed of Righteousnesse and Iudgement to come but amongst the Pharisees and Sadduces of the Resurrection that a Dissention amongst themselves might procure a party for him It is not wisedome for a man in misery to speake with a high stile or a man in Dignity with a Creeping The same speech may be excellent in an umbratile Exercitation which would be too pedanticall and smelling of the Lampe in a matter of serious and weighty debate and that may
divers according to the particular nature of the Passions sometimes too sudden and violent sometimes too heavie oppression of the heart the other sudden perturbation of the spirits Thus old Ely dyed with sudden griefe Diodorsu with shame Sophocles Chilo the Lacedemonian and others with joy Nature being not able to beare that great and sudden immutation which these Passions made in the Body The causes and manner of which cogitation I reserre as being inquiries not so directly pertinent to the present purpose unto Naturall Philosophers and Physicians And from the generalitie of Passions I proceed unto the consideration of some particulars according to the order of their former division In all which I shall forbeare this long Method of the Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents of their Acts many particulars whereof being of the same nature in all Passions will require to be observed onely in one or two and so proportionally conceived in the rest and shall insist principally in those particulars which I handle on the causes and effects of them as being Considerations wherein commonly they are most serviceable or prejudiciall to our Nature CHAP. IX Of the affection of Love of Love naturall of generall communion of Love rationall the object and generall cause thereof NOw the two first and fundamentall Passions of all the rest are Love and Hatred Concerning the Passion of Love we will therein consider first its object and its causes both which being of a like nature for every morall object is a cause thougâ—… not every cause an object will fall into one Love then consists in a kind of expansion oâ—… egresse of the heat and spirits to the object loved or to that whereby it is drawne and attracted whatsoever therefore hath such an attractive power is in that respect the object and generalâ—… cause of Love Now as in Nature so in the Affections likewise we may observe from their objects a double attraction The first is thaâ—… naturall or impressed sympathie of things wherâ—… by one doth inwardly incline an union with the other by reason of some secret vertues and occâ—… qualities disposing either subject to that 〈◊〉 all friendship as betweene Iron and the Loaâ—… stone The other is that common and moâ—… discernable attraction which every thing receivâ—… from those natures or places whereon they 〈◊〉 ordained and directed by the Wisedome anâ—… Providence of the first Cause to depend both in respect of the perfection and conservation of their being For as God in his Temple the Church so is He in his Pallace if I may so call it the World a God of Order disposing every thing in Number Weight and Measure so sweetly as that all is harmonious from which harmonie the Philosophers have concluded a Divine Providence and so powerfully as that all things depend on his Government without violence breach or variation And this Order and Wisdome is seene chiefely in that sweet subordination of things each to other and happie inclination of all to their particular ends till all be reduced finally unto Him who is the Fountaine whence issue all their streames of their limited being and the fulnesse of which all his creatures have received Which the Poet though something too Poetically seemeth to have express'd Principio Coelum ac Terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque Astra Spiritus intus alâ—… â—…otamque infusa per Artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet Heaven Earth and Seas with all those glorious Lights Which beautifie the Day and rule the Nights A Divine inward Vigour like a Soule Diffus'd through ev'ry joint of this great Whole Doth vegetate and with a constant force Guideth each Nature through its fixed course And such is the naturall motion of each thing to its owne Sphere and Center where is both the most proper place of its consisting and withall the greatest freedome from sorraine injurie or violence But we must here withall take notice of the generall care of the Creator whereby he hath fastned on all creatures not onely his private desire to satisfie the demands of their owne nature but hath also stamp'd upon them a generall charitie and feeling of Communion as they are sociable parts of the Vniverse or common Body wherein cannot possible be admitted by reason of that necessarie mutuall connexion betweenâ—… the parts thereof any confusion or divulsion without immediate danger to all the members And therefore God hath inclin'd the nature of these necessarie agents so to worke of their discords the perfect harmonie of the whole that iâ—… by any casualtie it fall out that the Body of Nature be like to suffer any rupture deformitie oâ—… any other contumely though haply occasioned by the uniforme and naturall motions of thâ—… particulars they then must prevent such damagâ—… and reproach by a relinquishing and forgetting of their owne natures and by acquainting themselves with motions whereunto considered iâ—… their owne determinate qualities they have aâ—… essentiall reluctancie Which propertie and sense of Nature in common the Apostle hath excellently set downe in 1 Cor. 12. where he renders this reason of all that there might be 〈◊〉 Schisme in the Body which likewise he divinely applyeth in the mysticall sense that all the severall gifts of the Spirit to the Church should drive to one common end as they were all derived from one common Fountaine and should never be used without that knitting qualitie of Love to which he elsewhere properly ascribeth the building continuation and perfecting of the Saints Now as it hath pleased the infinite Wisdome of God to guide and moderate by his owne immediate direction the motions of necessarie agents after the manner declared to their particular or to the generall end which motion may therefore as I before observed be called the naturall Passion of things so hath it given unto Man a reasonable Soule to be as it were his Vice-gerent in all the motions of Mans little World To apply then these proportions in Nature to the affection of Love in Man we shall finde first a Secret which I will call Naturall and next a Manifest which I call a Morall and more discursive attraction The first of these is that naturall sympathie wrought betweene the affection and the objâ—…ct in the first meeting of them without any suspension of the person â—…ll farther inquirie after the disposition of the object which comes immediately from the outward naturall and sensitive Vertues thereof whether in shape feature beautie motion 〈◊〉 behaviour all which comming under the spheare of Sense I include under the name of Iudiciarie Physiognomie Which is not a bare delight in the outward qualities but a farther presumption of the Iudgement concluding thence a lovely disposition of that Soule which animateth and quickneth those outward Graces And indeed if it be true which Aristotle in his Ethicks tels us That similitude is the ground of Love and if there be no naturall Love stronger than
his mercy he is not delighted in the ruine neither doth hee find pleasure or harmony in the groanes of any thing which himselfe created But hee is said to will those Evills as good and just for the manifestation of his glorious Power over all the Creatures and of his glorious Iustice on those who are voluntarily fallen from him But now because it is left onely to the Wisedome of God himselfe to know and ordaine the best meanes for glorifying of himselfe in and by his creatures we are not here hence to assume any warrant for willing evill unto our selves or others but then onely when the honour of the Creator is therein advanced And so the Apostle did conditionally wish evill unto himselfe if thereby the glory of Gods mercy towards his Countrey-men the Iewes might be the more advanced Secondly it is no good Argument God willeth the inflicting of such an evill therefore it is unlawfull for my will to decline it for first the Will of God whereby hee determineth to worke this or that evill on particular Subjects is a part of his secret Counsell Now the Revealed and not the Hidden Will of God is the rule of our Wills and Actions whence it commeth to passe that it is made a part of our necessary obedience unto God in our wishes or aversations to goe a crosse way to his unrevealed purpose Peradventure in my sicke bed it is the purpose of God to cast my body into the earth from whence it was taken yet for me herein to second the Will of God by an execution thereof upon my selfe or by a neglect of those Ordinary meanes of recovery which hee affords were to despise his mercy that I might fulfill his Will Peradventure in my flight a sword will overtake mee yet I have the warrant of my Saviours example and precept to turne my backe rather than my conscience in persecution alwaies reserved that though I will that which God willeth yet my will bee ever subordinated unto his Wee owe submission to the will of Gods purpose and Counsell and wee owe conformity to the will of his Precept and Command we must submit to the will whereby God is pleased to worke himselfe and wee must conforme to the will whereby hee is pleased to command us to worke And therefore Secondly though the Will of God were in this case knowne yet is not our will constrained to a necessary inclination though it bee to an humble submission and patience in bearing that which the Wisedome and purpose of God hath made inevitable for as the promises and decrees of Good things from God doe not warrant our slacknesse in neglecting or our profanenesse in turning from them so neither doth the certainty and unavoidablenesse of a future evill as death intended upon us by God put any necessity on our nature to deny it selfe or to love its owne distresses Of which that we may be the more sure wee may observe it in him who as hee was wholly like us in nature and therefore had the same naturall inclinations and aversations with us so was hee of the same infinite essence with his Father and therefore did will the same things with him yet even in him we may observe in regard of that which the Scripture saith was by the hand and Counsell of God before determined a seeming Reluctancy and withdrawing from the Divine Decree He knew it was not his Fathers Will and yet Father if thou bee willing lâ—…t this cup passe from me he was not ignorant that he was to suffer and that there was an Oporteâ—… a necessity upon it and yet a second and a third time againe Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me Consider it as the Destruction of his Temple and Anguish of nature which hee could not being in all things like unto us but love and then Transeat Let it passe but consider it as the necessary meanes of procuring pretious blessings for mankind and of fulfilling the eternall Decree of his Fathers Love and then Not as I but as thou wilt The same may be applied in any manner of humane evills notwithstanding we are with an armed patience to sustaine them or with an obedient submission unto Divine pleasure to wait for them yet in regard of that pressure of nature which they bring with them on which the God of Nature hath imprinted a naturall desire of its owne quiet and integrity so farre forth all Evill not onely may but must bee Hated by every Regular will upon paine of violating the Law of its Creation And indeed in all this there is not any deviation from the Will of God intending that which we abhorre for as it stands not with the nature of man to hate himselfe or any good thing of his owne making so neither doth it stand with the goodnesse of God to hate his Creature or to delight barely in the misery or afflictions thereof but onely in that end of manifesting his glory and righteousnesse whereunto hee in the dispensation of his Wisdome and Iustice hath wonderfully directed them And therefore as to murmure at the Wisedome of God in thus ordering evills unto a good end were a presumptuous repining so on the other side not to entertaine those naturall desires of a straightned mind after deliverance from those evills were to be in Solomons phrase too Righteous and out of a purpose to answere the ends of Gods Wisedome to crosse the Law of his Creation So then it is evident that the Object and fundamentall cause of Hatred is all and onely Evill which however in respect of the Existence of it it bee in some cases Good for as it is in the power of God to educe out of confusion order light out of darkenesse his owne honour out of mans shame so is it his providence likewise to turne unto the great good of many men those things which in themselves doe onely hurt them Yet I say this notwithstanding as it worketh the deformity and disquiet of nature it is against the created law and in-bred love which each thing beareth to its owne perfection and therefore cannot but be necessarily hated As on the other side those ordinary and commong goods which we call in respect of God blessings as health peace prosperity good successe and the like notwithstanding they commonly prove unto men unfurnished with those habits of wisedome and sobriety whereby they should bee moderated occasions of much evill and dangers so that their Table is become their snare as the experience of those latter Romane Ages proveth wherein their victories over men hath made them in luxury and vilenesse so prodigious as if they meant to attempt warre with God Notwithstanding I say all this yet for as much as these things are such as doe quiet satisfie and beare convenience unto mans nature they are therefore justly with thankefulnesse by our selves received and out of love desired unto our friends I now proceed from the object or Generall
their owners 6 Give not an easie Eare to Reports nor an Easie entertainement to suspicioâ—…s bee not greedy to know who or wherein another hath wrong'd thee That which wee are desirous to know or apt to beleeve wee shall be the more ready to revenge Curiosity and â—…dulity are the Handmaides unto Passion Alexander would not see the woman after â—…hom he might have Lusted Nor Casar search Pompeyes Cabinet lâ—…st he should find new matters of Revenge He chose rather to make a Fire of them on his Hearth then in his Heart Injuâ—…ies unknowne doe many times the lesse hurt when I have found them I then begin to feele them and suffer more from mine owne discovery then from mine enemies attempt 7 Bee Candid in Interpreting the thingâ—… wherein thou sufferest Many times the glasse through which I looke makes that seeme formidable and the wave that crooked which in it selfe was beautifull and straight Haply thou art Angry with that which could not intend to hurt thee Thy Booke thy Penne the stone at which thou stumblest the winde or raine that beates upon thee bee Angry gaine but with thy selfe who art either so bold as to be Angry with GOD or so foolish as to be Angry with nothing Thou art displeased at a Childish or an Ignorant miscarriage Call it not Injury but Imprudence and then pitty it Thou art Angry with Counsell Reproofe Discipline why doest thou not as well breake the Glasse in which thy Physitian Ministreth a potion unto thee Bee Angry with thy sinne and thou wilt love him that takes it from thee Is hee that adviseth thee thy Superiour Thine Anger is undutifull is hee thy friend thine Anger is ungratefull 8 Give Injuries a New Name and that will worke a new Affection In blinde Agents call it Chance in weake Persons Infirmity In simple Ignorance in wise Counsell in Superiours Discipline In equals Familiarity ' in Inferious Confidence where there is no other construction to be made doe as Ioseph and David did call it Providence and see what God sayes to thee by it Get a minde conversant with high and noble things the more heavenly the lesse Tempestuous 9 Be not Idle Sluggish Luxurious wee are never more apt to bee Angry then when we are sleepy or greedy Weake resolutions and strong Desires are sensible of the least exaâ—…peration as an empty ship of the smallest Tempest Againe be not â—…ver-busie neither That man can hardly bee master of his Passion that is not master of his imployments A minde ever burdened like a Bow alwayes bent must needes grow impotent and weary the fittest preparations to this distemper When a mans businesse doth not poise but presse him there will ever bee something either undone or ill-done and so still matter of Vexation And therefore our Mindes as our Vessels must bee unloaded if they would not have a Tempest hurt them Lastly wrastle not with that which pincheth thee If it bee strong it will hurt if cunning it will hamper and entangle thee Hee that strives with his burden makes it heavier That Tempest breakes not the stalkes of Corne which rends asunder the armes of an Oake the one yeelds the other withstands it An humble weaknesse is safer from injury then a stubborne strength I have now done with the Passions of the Minde And briefly proceede to those Honours and Dignities of the Soule of Man which belong unto it in a more abstracted Consideration CHAP. XXXII Of the Originall of the Reasonable Soule whether it be immediatly Created and Infused or derived by Seminall Traduction from the Parents Of the Derivation of Originall sinne THe dignity of Man in respect of his Soule alone may be gathered from a consideration either of the whole or of the parâ—…s therof CoÌ„cerning the whole we shall consider two things It s Originall and its Nature Concerning the Originall of the Soule divers men have diversly thought for to let passe the Opinion of Seleucus who affirmed that it was educed out of the Earth and that of Origin and the Platoâ—…ists who say that the Soules of men were long agoe created and after detruded into the Body as into a Prison There are three Opinions touching this question The first of those who affirm the Traduction of the Soule by generaâ—… some of which so affirm because they judged 〈◊〉 a Corporeall substance as did Tertullian Others because they beleeved that one spirit might as easily proceed from another as one fire or light be kindled by another as Apollinarius Nemesiâ—… and divers in the Westerne Churches as St. Hierome witnesseth The second of those who deby the naturall Traduction and say that the Soule is 〈◊〉 â—…ion infused into Bodies organiz'd and praedisposed to receive them of which Opinion among the Ancients were St. Hierom Hilarie Ambrose Lactantius Theodoret. Aeneas Gazâ—…us and of the moderne Writers the major part The third is of those who doe haesitare stick betweene both and dare affirme nothing certaine on either side which is the moderation of St. Augustine and Gregory the great who affirme that this is a question incomprehensible and unsolvable in this life Now the only reason which caused St. Austin herein to haesitate seemeth to have been the difficulty of traducing Originall sinne from the Parents to the Children For saith he writing unto St. Hierome touching the Creation of the Soule If this Opinion doe not oppugne that most fundamentall faith of Originall sinne let it then be mine but if it doe oppugne it let it not be thine Now since that Opinion which denieth the Traduction seemeth most agreeable to the spirituall substance of the soule I shall here produce some few reasons for the Creation and solve an argument or two alledg'd for the Traduction of the Soule reserving notwithstanding unto my selfe and others the liberty and modesty of St. Austins haesitation which also I finde allowed by the Holy Ghost himselfe Two things there are of certainty in this point 1. That the soule is not any corporeall Masse or substance measurable by quantity or capable of substantiall augmentation 2. That the Traduction of one thing out of another doth connotate these two things That the thing traduced doth derive Being from the other as from its original principle that this derivation be not any other manner of way but Ratione semiâ—…ali per modum decisionis by a seminall way and the decision seperation or effluxion of substance from the other which things being laid The Arguments against Traduction are these First the testimonies of Holy Scripture calling God the Father of spirits as our naturall Parent the Father of our bodies Iob 33. 4. Eccles. 12. 7. Esa 57. 16. Num. 16. 22. 27. 16. Heb. 12. 9. Zach. 12. 1. which though they doe not according to the judgement of St. Aug. conclude the point by infallible consequence yet doe they much favour the probability of this
produceing of its operation All which prove that the soule is separable from the body in its Nature and therefore that it is not corrupt and mortall as the body Another reason may be taken from the Universall agreement of all Nations in the Earth in Religion and the worship of some Deity which cannot but be raised out of a hope and secret Resolution that that God whom they worshipped would reward their piety if not here yet in another life Nulla gens adeo extra leges est projectâ—… ut non aliquos deos credat saith Seneca whence those fictious of the Poets touching Elyzium and fields of happinesse for men of honest and well ordered lives and places of Torment for those that doe any way neglect the bonds of their Religion Ergo exercentur poenis veterumque malorum Supplicia expendunt Therefore they exercised are with paine And punishments of former crimes sustaine For in this life it is many times in all places seene that those which have given themselves most liberty in contempt of Gods Lawes and have suffered themselves to be carried by the swinge of their owne rebellious Passions unto all injurious ambitious unruly Practises have commonly raised themselves and their fortunes more than others who out of tendernesse and feare have followed no courses but those which are allowed them And yet these men who suffer so many indignities out of regard to Religion doe still observe their duties and in the midst of all contempt and reproach fly into the bosome of their God And as Lucretius himselfe that Arch-Atheist confesseth of them Multò in rebus acerbis Acriâ—…s advertunt animos ad religionem Their hearts in greatest bitternesse of minde Unto Religion are the more enclinde Their very terrors and troubles make them more zealous in acknowledging some Deity and in the worship of it Hic Pietatis hâ—…s would not this easily have melted their Religion into nothing and quite diverted their minds from so fruitlesse a severity had they not had a strong and indeleble perswasion fastned in their soules that a state would come where in both their Patience should be rewarded and the insolencie of their Adversaries repayed with the just Vengeance they had deserved As for that Atheisticall conceit that Religion is only grounded on Policie and maintained by Princes for the better Tranquillity and Setlednesse of their States making it to be only Imperiorum Vinculum a Bond of Government that the Common-weale might not suffer from the fury of minds secure from all Religion it is a fancie no lesse absurd than it is impious For that which hath not only beene observed and honour'd by those who have scarce had any forme of a civill Regiment amongst them but even generally assented unto by the opinions and practice of the whole world is not a Law of Policie and civill Institution but an inbred and secret Law of Nature dictated by the consciences of men and assented unto without and above any humane imposition Nor else is it possible for Legall institutions and the closest and most intricate conveyances of Humane Policy so much to entangle the hearts of men of themselves enclinable to liberty nor to fetter their consciences as thereby only to bring them to a regular conformity unto all government for feare of such a God to whose Infinitnesse Power and Majestie they Assent by none but a civill Tradition It must be a visible character of a Deitie acknowledged in the Soule an irresistible Principle in Nature and the secret witnesse of the heart of man that must constraine it unto those sundry religious ceremonies observed among all Nations wherein even in places of Idolatry were some so irksome and repugnant to Nature and others so voyd of Reason as that nothing but a firme and deepe Assurance of a Divine Judgement and of their owne Immortality could ever have impos'd them upon their consciences And besides this consent of men unto Religion in generall we finde it also unto this one part hereof touching the Soules immortality All the wisest and best reputed Philosophes for Learning and stayednesse of life and besides them even Barbarians Infidels and savage people have discerned it Adeò nescio quo modâ—… inhaeret in menibus quasi seculorum quoddam augurium futurorum saith Tully The Soule hath a kinde of presage of a future world And therefore he saith that it is in mans Body a Tenant tanquam in dome alâ—…enâ as in anothers house And is only in Heaven as a Lord tanquam in domo suâ as in its owne Though in the former of these the ignorance of the Resurrection made him erre touching the future condition of the Body wherein indeed consists a maine dignity of Man above other creatures And this Opinion it is which he saith was the ground of all that care men had for posterity to sow and plant Common-wealths to ordaine Lawes to establish formes of Government to erect Foundations and Societies to hazard their Blood for the good of their Country all which could not have beene done with such freedome of Spirit and prodigality of life unlesse there were withall a conceit that the good thereof would some way or other redound to the contentment of the Authors themselves after this life for it was a speech savouring of infinite Atheisme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When I am dead and in mine Vâ—…ne What care I though the World burns Now although against this present Reason drawne from the consent of men which yet Heathens themselves have used It may be alledged that there hath beene a consent likewise of some That the Soule is nothing else but the Eucrasie or good Temperature of the Body and that it is therefore subject to those Maladies Distempers Age Sicknesse and at last Death which the Body is as amongst the rest Lucretius takes much paines to prove yet the Truth is that is Votum magic quà m Iudicium never any firme opinion grounded on Judgement and Reason but rather a desire of the heart and a perswasion of the Will inticing the Understanding so to determine For the conscience of lewd Epicures and sensuall minds being sometimes frighted with the flashes and apprehensions of Immortality which often times pursues them and obtrudes it selfe upon them against their wills shining like lightning through the chinks crevises as I may so speak of their Soules which are of set purpose closed against all such light sets the Reason on work to invent arguments for the contrary side that sâ—… their staggering and fearefull impiety may bâ—… something emboldned and the Eye of their conscience blinded and the Mouth mustled from breathing forth those secret clamors and shrikes of feare The Deniall then of the Immortality of the Soule is rather a Wish than an Opinion a corruption of the Heart and Will than any Naturall Assertion of the understanding which cannot but out of the footsteps and reliques of those first sacred Impressions acknowledge a spirituall