before or after other in the Generation of man See Magirus his Comment in Physicam suam lib. 6. cap. 3. By this Philosophical Verity of the Unity of the soul in the Trinity of faculties maist thou more readily assent O my soul to that Christian and Catholick article of that sacred Mystery of the Unity of the God-head in the Trinity of persons thou art an Embleme of the trine-une-God of one God in essence and three persons in operation one simple essence in three distinct persons Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art one Soul a simple and undivided essence in three divided and distinct powers Vegetative Sensitive and Intellectual and these are three not confounded but so distinct powers that one may not be predicated of another the Vegetative is not the Sensitive or Rational nor the Sensitive the Vegetative or Intellectual faculties nor the Intellectual either Vegetative or Sensual so in the Trinity of persons in one God-head they are all distinct not confounded persons we must not confound the persons nor yet divide the substance so saith Catholick faith the Father is not the Son nor the Holy Ghost St. Athanasius his Creed Licet namque in hac ineffabili incomprehensibili deitatis essentia alter alter id quidem requirentibus proprietatibus personarum sobrie Catholiceque dicatur non tamen ibi est alterum alterum sed sim◠〈…〉 â—um ut nec prejudicium faciat unitati trinitatis confessio nec propri◠〈…〉 â—it exclusioâ— vera assertio veritatis Bernardus Epist 190. fol. 1581. K. paulâ— infra Alius procul dubio pater alius filius quamvis non aliud pater quam filius nam per aliud aliud novit pietas fidei caute inter personarum proprietates individuam essentiae unitatem discernere medium iter tenens regiâ incedere via ut nec declinat ad dextram confundendo personas nec respiciat ad sini tram substantiam dividendo It s truly said saith Ursinus in his Catechism the Father is alius another from the Son and Holy Ghost the Son is alius another from the Father and the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost is alius from the Father and the Son but not truly said the Father is aliud the Son aliud the Holy Ghost aliud for alium esse denotes the diversity of persons but aliud esse the diversity of essence now though the persons in the Trinity be dictinct and the names of Father Son and Holy Ghost are proper names and may not be predicated one of another yet God is a common name because the essence of the deity is common to them all and may be predicated of any of them therefore doth holy Church acknowledge the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God not as a part of God or the Divine essence for God is indivisible and hath no parts and there is no person in this Trinity but is perfect God and whole God Even so the Soul is a Common name and may be predicated of any of the faculties not as a whole to its parts for the soul is indivisible and hath no parts and there is none of the faculties but is the full and whole soul For as the essence of the soul is indivisible and is whole in the whole and whole in every part of the body so are the powers and faculties of the soul of the same nature for since the powers and faculties of the soul are or at least flow from the very substance of the soul and the substance of the soul is in all and every part of the body it must needs follow that the faculties of the soul are also there intire It is true Anima quae est in toto corpore eadem eisdem quidem est ubique instructa facultatibus in omnibus membris omnia quae sibi propria sunt agendi potentiam habet per certa tamen organa certas actiones perficit videt per oculum audit per aures olfacit per nares Sennartus lib. 6. cap. 1. Tom. 1. the Operations of the soul are not in every part and place of the body because in every part there are not requisite Organs and therefore it s said The faculties of the soul are in every part of the body as to their essence though not as to their Operations See Fab. Favent theor 82. in sine primi capitis Again in this Trinity of persons none is before or after other none is greater or less than the other but the whole three persons are Coeternal together and Coequal so saith Athanasius And thus far may the Soul of man with its faculties in a sort though in a weak and imperfect manner hold the resemblance of God and the blessed Trinity yet maist thou not O my soul but conceive that this sacred Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity in a far more eminent manner excells that of thine nor maist thou with safety too curiously search into this mystery but what in Reason thou canst not apprehend with the Catholick Church adore and believe and the Catholick Faith is this That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance for there is one perperson of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost But the God-head of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one the glory equal the Majesty Coeternal Such as the Father is such is the Son and such is the Holy Ghost The Father Uncreate the Son Uncreate and the Holy Ghost Uncreate The Father Incomprehensible the Son Incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible The Father Eternal the Son Eternal and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not three Eternals but one Eternal as also there are not three Incomprehensibles nor three Uncreated but one Uncreated and one Incomprehensible so likewise the Father is Almighty the Son Almighty and the Holy Ghost Almighty and yet they are not three Almighties but one Almighty so the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not three Gods but one God so likewise the Father is Lord the Son is Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord and yet not three Lords but one Lord for like as we be compelled by Christian Verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord so we are forbidden by the Catholick Religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords the Father is made of none neither created nor begotten the Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but Begotten the Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son neither made nor created nor begotten but Proceeding so there is one Father not three Fathers one Son not three Sonnes one Holy Ghost not three Holy Ghosts And in this Trinity none is before or after other none is greater or less than another But the whole
capacity neither know we him hereby as he is in himself but as he is represented unto us in the Glass of his Creatures as in his Effects which representation is very imperfect not able to set forth the Divine Perfection It is therefore a quidditative knowledge improperly so called to wit a confused knowledge of some but not of all Essentiall Predicates and Attributes proper to him And hence may we learn another of Gods Attributes viz. that he is Incomprehensible understanding this in reference to Created substances no created intelligence is able to comprehend him otherwise of himself he is Comprehensible as an adaequate Object of himself for as God is said to behold himself or to see himself in himself so may he most properly be said Adaequately to see himself for so we say the Soul of Man reflecting upon it self sees it self in its self and not only the Soul of Man but all other intellectuall spirits are actually Intelligible of themselves and a proportionate Object to their own understanding and therefore do know themselves with an Intuitive Quidditative and Comprehensive Knowledge and shall we deny this Knowledge to God cujus intellectio reflectiturin seipsam seu in ipsum intelligentem qui non minus intellectivus quam intelligibilis saith Suarez so Comprehensive of himself but Incomprehensible unto us that he is and must be granted and under that notion known to us which is Negative Knowledge no Quidditative or Positive Knowledge of him Our Knowledge of God and his Attributes is threefold Negative Relative or Positive our Negative conceptions of God are under these Attributes or Predicates of Infinite Incomprehensible Immortal Increate Immutable Independent and the like our Relative notions are under the Predicates of Creator Governor Maker and Pattern c. The Positive are under the Predicates of Being Act Substance Eternal Just Wise c. Now our best Knowledge of God in this life is by Negation and is preferred before our Positive notion of God both by Dionysius and St. Augustine as Suarez hath observed and he gives the Reason Because saith he if we desire to know any proper and absolute Attribute of God and not that which is common Analogical or Relative we understand it easilier and more distinctly by what God is not than by what he is and that is by these Negations of Infinite Immortal Incomprehensible Immutable Immense and the like that is to say God is not Finite not Comprehensible not Mutable not Circumscriptive c. For to know what God is not sufficeth any one Negative Attribute which is proper to him as for example God is Independent that is to say not depending on any by which very Attribute all created Substances whatsoever are excluded and God is known by this as Proper to him alone and thus wee come to God easily by knowing first what he is not whereas if we go about to know what God is by Positive and Absolute Attributes we must then run over all the Attributes of God which are both infinite in number and perfection upon which consideration Cicero in his first Book of the Nature of the Gods hath these words Dost thou ask me saith he what God is I will answer with Symonides who being demanded the self same question by Hieron a Tyrant desired a day to consider of it and being demanded the next day he craved two dayes longer and still as the question was pressed he doubled the time for his answer Hieron wondring asked for what intent he did so because saith he the longer I consider on it the obscurer it is to me rectè autem dixit obscurior saith Fonseca for suppose you should know some Attributes of God there remains an infinite number more to be known nor is there any one at all which may be understood as it is proper to God but as it is Analogically common to God and the creatures Wherein Nature hath been lame and Reason blind the Scriptures have afforded us both staff and prospective by which as it were setting us upon the Pinacle of the Temple we may walk and view the Almighty not only in his works his back parts but even in his face to wit in his Nature and Essential being O how hath it pleased God O my Soul to manifest himself unto thee in the sacred Scriptures that by knowing of him thou mighst learn to fear him to love him to obey him and to believe and trust in him for thy own healths sake and Eternal felicity 1. God reveals himself to be causa prima the first of all Causes and himself without all causes having both being beginning from himself I am Alpha and Omega saith God of himself the first and the last even so to the creatures as these two Letters are to the Greek Alphabet Alpha is the first Omega the last of the Greek Letters God is both to every creature Alpha the first Omega the last of every Entity Blasphemously impious then were those of the Classical Consistory who demanded why there was a God since no cause can be given neither indeed can there be any for could there be any Cause of him it must be before him and better than he and consequently God which is impossible 2. God reveales himself to be Infinite in Power not limited not bounded he is an Almighty and omnipotent God Genes 2. Psal 132. so Isaack in his blessing of his Son Jacob stiles him saying God Almighty bless thee so David calls him the Almighty God of Jacob again most high and Almighty Psal 91. the Scriptures are full of this Attribute of God being seaventy times therein expressed as some have observed and being further evidenced unto us both by his Internal and External Actions in his Operations ad intra before all time and his Operations ad extra in time In holy Scriptures is set forth unto us a Theological Science of Gods omnipotency even in his Operations ad intra which are those of Begeting Breathing and Proceeding and this is a Science purely Theological not acquired by Humane Invention not Investigable by Natural Reason not Attainable by any rules of Philosophy onely delivered us in a Mystery which we must look into with the eye of Faith not with an eye of Reason it is a Science Supernatural non ratione probanda sed fide tenenda we must not go to prove it by Mathematical demonstrations but by Theological principles and rules of Faith a curious search is not so safe as humble ignorance we may not pry into the manner of the Eternal Generation of the Son by the Father or Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son thus much onely is necessary to be believed that there is a person begetting a person begotten and a person proceeding a Trini of Persons in the Unity of a God-head distinct according to the several relations of Father Son and Holy Ghost which in a sense are included and may be gathered from this power and Internal
est qui non clauditur loco nusquam non est qui non excluditur loco God is no where because concluded in no place and God is every where because excluded from none 6. God is ens simplex actus purus and this simplicity is sufficiently manifested in holy Writ I am that I am saith God to Moses and again I am hath sent me unto you that is as Doctor Preston hath it a pure Act all being whole entire a simple and Uniform being without parts accidents or any Composition not like to the Creatures for the best of them although they have not a Substantial and Physical simplicity i. e. no◠compounded of Matter and Form nor consisting of Integral parts yet a Metaphysical and Accidental Composition they have and no simplicity for as much as they are compounded of Essence and Existence of Act and Power or of Actions and Qualities which whatsoever it be called cannot he said of God who is a simple and Indivisible Essence whose Essence is his Existence and whose Act is Power Power in God is neither objectiva nor passiva such distinctions are not in God whose Power is purè activa and all that is in God is but one God so do those words impart viz. I am that I am as much as to say whatsoever is in me it is my self in God is nothing but himself nihil in se nisi se habet saith St. Bernard hear him further But God is a Trinity what then do we overthrow Gods Unity by confessing a Trinity no but we confirm the Unity we acknowledge the Father and so the Son and so the Holy Ghost yet not three Gods but one God what means this number and no number as I may so speak For if three how is it not a number And if but one where then is the number But I have saist thou both what I may number and what I may not the Substance is one the Persons are three and what Ridde or Mystery lies in this none at all if we may divide the Persons from the Substance but since these three Persons are that one Substance and that one Substance those three Persons who can deny a number for they are truly Three yet who can call a number that is but truly One Or if thou hast as thou thinkst sufficiently numbred them by professing three what dost thou number Their Natures That 's but one their Essence It 's but one their Substance It 's but one their God-heads It 's but one but thou wilt say I number not these but the Persons which are not that one Nature that one Substance one Essence and that one God-head Thou art a Catholick and maist not profess this The Catholick Faith believeth the properties of the Persons is no other than the Persons themselves and that the Persons are no other than one God one Divine Nature Substance and Supreme Majesty reckon therefore if thou canst either the Persons without the Substance which they are or the properties without the Persons which they are Qui duplici impietate numerum trinitati minuit tribuit unitati Bernard Epist 190. fol. 1581. G. Or if any go about to divide and sever the Persons from the Substance or the Properties from the Persons I know not how the Trinity will own him for a Worshiper wee may therefore acknowledge Three but not to prejudice the Unity and acknowledge One but not to confound the Trinity This is a great Mystery and a sacred if any would know how this Plurality is in Unity or Unity in Plurality I answer it is rashness to search Piety to believe life everlasting to know 7. To these we may add another Attribute appropriate to God by which he is made known unto us in his Word viz his Invisibility where it is expressed as in the place before mentioned To the King Eternal Immortal Invisible and onely wise God no man hath seen God at any time neither indeed can see him with Mortal eye and though this manner of Invisibility be not the proper Attribute of God so doth not sufficiently set forth the Divine perfection being common also to all Spiritual Substances as well the Rational Soul in this life as Souls abstracted and Spirits Intellectual for as much as no Spirit is Visible with Corporeal eyes yet God in a more eminent manner is Invisible There is a twofold sight one of the body another of the mind the light of the body is the Eye the light of the mind Understanding with the bodily eye no Spirits can be seen but with the eye of the mind they are Visible not properly and fully in this life we know not any thing but per species impressas by Intelligible Forms imprinted in our Understanding from some sensible Objects not our own Souls much less those purer Intellectual Natures But the Intellectual Spirits and separated Souls do see themselves and other Created Substances though Superior and so are they Visible with an Intuitive Vision from Innate and Connatural Forms which way notwithstanding God is not Visible to any Created Intellect And thus Invisibility comes to be Appropriate to God alone and not Communicative to any besides no Created Substance can see God as he is in himself by any Natural way of Created Intuitive Vision of the Understanding without the infusion of some other Supernatural Endowments which agrees with the rules of our Faith and of Sacred Writ professing God to be Invisible and to dwell in an unaccessable light Yet may we not otherwise but according to Catholick Faith believe that God is Visible too 1. He is Visible to himself as he is Comprehensible of himself because he is equally Intelligent and Intelligible non minus Intellectivus quam intelligibilis as hath been elsewhere said therefore Visible in respect of himself though Invisible in respect others 2. Visible in respect of others viz. all the blessed Saints and Angels these enjoy a full Fruition and Beatifical Vision of him not a glimse as I may say or some Created brightness and illumination in a glass per aenigma either in the glass of his Creatures as Naturalists with the eye of Reason or in a more Spiritual glass as Christians with an eye of Faith in this Vale of tears may behold him but face to face clearly and as he is in himself Intuitively not in any Natural Created light but by an eye and light of glory unexpressibly Supernatural by which God is pleased to convey Intelligible Forms of his own Essence unto us which Vision is meant and signified by Saint John in his 1. Epistle 3.2 Wee shall see him even as he is viz. in a glorified estate per lumen gloriae by a light of glory unexpressible Of the Knowledge and Will in God CHAP. V. Chap. 5. Book 2. WEE have treated of God and his Attributes which are of the Essence of God we come now to treat of the Knowledge and Will in God as much as
imago Dei forma servi My Soul is athirst after Christ my Saviour O when shall I come and appear before him Grant holy Jesu I may so behold thee though veiled here that when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved when it shall turn to the Lord and be clothed upon with our horse of immortality and glory which is from heaven the veil which to this day is upon my heart may be taken away and I may with open face behold the glory of my Lord being changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Amen Christ in the blessed Eucharist is the object of our Ears speaking unto our hearts both in secret whisperings and in shriller notes and holds a familiar conference with us he is an audible Voice and a speaking Word the sound whereof is gone to the ends of the world that Word which in the beginning was with God and was God but was made Flesh and dwelt among us God made Man the Son of God the Son of Man unicus patris filius hominis verbum quippe caro factum this Word incarnate is that Bread of God which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the World This Word is not onely audible to the Ear but penetrable to the Heart piercing like a two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the marrow and the joynts Those reverend thoughts and meditations we have of Christ especially in this Sacrament are nothing else but so many words of his spoken to our Soules though all our cogitations are not Christs locutions nor all his communications our meditations cum enim mala in corde versamus nostra cogitatio est si bona Dei sermo est illa cor nostrum dicit haec audit our good thoughts are Christs words our evill thoughts are our own words The fool hath sayd in his heart there is no God there 's our own words The Lord speaketh peace unto his people those are Christ's one is spoke from the heart the other is to the heart Our own words again are twofold or have two wayes of proceeding one from Natures corruption another from Satans suggestion but of all these bitter fruits and sinfull effects proceeding from within us it is a hard matter to assign a proper cause and author to demonstrate which are the works of the Devill and which be the fruites of the Flesh we are not able so exactly to distinguish inter morbum mentis morsum serpentis inter malum innatum malum seminatum inter partum cordis seminarium hostis only we may know they both are evill and proceed from evill both in the heart though not both from the heart this I know most assuredly though which to ascribe to my heart which to Satan I know not But for my good thoughts since all our sufficiency is from God I doe undoubtedly believe they are the very words of that very Word verba verbi Dei written in my heart by the finger of his blessed Spirit This is that Word which is not sonans onely but penetrans non loquax sed efficax non obstrepens auribus sed blandiens affectibus Happy art thou O my Soul if when thy God calleth thou answerest with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth or with holy David repliest I will hear what the Lord my God will say unto me Christ is the object of our Sense of Olfaction sâ—nding forth most sweet perfumes he is sweet in his Name Christ Jesus Christ i. e. Annâ—inted so much the name imports Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth he is sweet in his name Iesus a Saviour there is no other name given under heaven whereby we shall be saved neither is there any malady of Mind any disease of the Soul which this precious balm and ointment cannot cure Erit tibi sapor odor in medicinam salubrem morbos si qui fuerint repellentem venturosque caventem He is sweet and pleasant to God the Fath r he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and the smell of his Son is like the smell of a field whom the Lord hath blessed he is that Lamb slain from the foundaâ—ions of the world whose bâ—dy and blood being offered as an Holocaust unto God the Father smelleth a sweet smelling sacrifise unto him and from whom issueth unto his Spouse the Church to every particular Member and to every worthy Communicant partaking of his Body and Blood such streams of precious ointment and oyl of the Holy Ghost runing down not onely to the beard of Aaron that is as St Bernard expounds it to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ but unto the very skirts of his clothing that is to the meanest of his Members in infima membra Ecclesiae quae est tanquam Christi vestimentum that even these vile bodies and soules being offered an oblation smell also a sweet-smelling sacrifise to God through Christ holy and acceptable we are anointed with oyl of gladness but Christ with holy oyl and oyl of gladness above all his fellows It falls first upon Christ the Head so runs down to his beard so descends to the skirts of his garments the meanest member in hi Church the smell of Christs garment is like the smel of Lebanon but the smel of his ointments super omnia aromata is better than all spices Christ is the object of our Spiritual Tast and that food of Saints and Angels in Heaven of which it hath pleased God to give a tast to his Saints on earth feeding them with the bread of Heaven the food of life which comes from Heaven that Heavenly Manna and food of Angels the Prophet speaks of more pleasant and sweet to the tast than honney or the honney-comb But that we might eat Angels food Christ was Incarnate the Word was made Flesh so all are partakers of Christ the Saints on Earth as well as Saints and Angels in Heaven onely with this difference Comedunt Angeli verbum de Deo natum comedunt homines verbum faenum factum pane suo vivunt Angeli in caelis beati sunt faeno suo vivunt homines in terris sancti sunt Yet doth not every man tast of the food that partakes of the outward Elements the Natural man hath no sense or tast no fruit and benefit of this Sacrament because it is spiritually discerned it is food eternal not temporal spiritual not corporal for supernatural nourishment unto Eternal life not for physical and natural which accomplisheth its ends in this life pereat hic physicale nutrimentum cibis iste non ventris sed mentis we feed on him in our heart by Faith and Thanksgiving My Body is nourished with the outward Elements of Bread and Wine my Soul is 2nourished with the inward Graces the Body and Blood of Christ not with the Bread of Affliction the corn arising from the earth but
Essence or yet of the Operations of these Angels and Spirits Intellectual as a Doctrine less useful and necessary for Mans salvation than of the Nature of Man or God yet so much hath it imparted to her Disciples as may evidence by necessary consequence the truth of this Metaphysical Science of Natures Angelical the Fathers and Doctors of the Church having little varied in judgement from the Curiousest Naturalist and Philosopher in this point all concurring in this particular the School of Christ and School of Nature teaching one and the same thing without any grand Variation and dissenting The Creation of Angels though holy-Churches-creed is no where plainly pointed out in holy Writ otherwise than in the first daies Creation under that General notion of Heaven and Earth which may contain the whole host of Heaven so those words Genesis 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth are by most understood viz. by Heaven not onely it but all things therein contained as Angels and the like whose proper seat is Heaven which may seem to be thus also explicated by St. Paul Col. 1.16 For by him are all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth Visible and Invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions Principalities or Powers viz. four of the Orders of Angels further also by God himself in the 38 Chapter of Job saying where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth when the morning Stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy that is to say the holy Angels who were created together with Heaven and Earth even in the beginning or morning of that first day as some have hence gathered Of all created substances some were created Visible Material Corporeal others were created Invisible Incorporeal Spiritual of their own Nature that the Angels are such created Invisible Incorporeal and Spiritual substances may be gathered out of the word of God David and Paul Prophet and Appostle both terming them Spirits and if Spirits then Invisible by Mortal eye and then Incorporeal at least as unto Humane or other natural body of their own Nature for so our Saviour hath resolved it saying a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And the Schoolmen have decreed and concluded that Angels are meerly Spiritual and Incorporeal substances and no bodies or Corporeal Natures and with them agree the Fathers not a few though Origen and after him Saint Jerome would seem to maintain that Angels as oft as they sinned and fell away were thrust into bodies and there remained as a punishment unto them which opinion is exploded by all both Antient and Modern as savouring of Platonism more than Christianity Yet may we not deny but that Angels have been in bodily shapes and so seen and appeared unto our Fathers of old wherefore we must either grant unto them real bodies or that they did delude and deceive the Patriarches with Phantasms and meer Apparations which is not to be conceived of the holy Angels and therefore St. Bernard put a kind of necessity in it that Angels should have bodies otherwise how could they be ministring Spirits sent out to minister unto them who shall be Heirs of Salvation to men who yet live in the body how shall they perform this Ministerial Function of discoursing of walking and talking of eating and drinking and the like without a body all which notwithstanding Angels have done as sacred Writ accordeth But it may be objected if we do grant unto them true real Visible bodies then must we also grant them all motions and mutations incident to such Bodies to wit of Generation Corruption Augmentation Diminution Altricion alteration then such as may be borne fed and nourished may die may suffer and the like as other corporeall Creatures doe how then are they meerly Spirituall and of an Incorporeall nature To which may be answered First 1 Negatively negatively True humane bodies Angels have not humane nature no spirituall substance ever assumed except the Son of God the second Person in the ever blessed Trinity of whom it is said He took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham and by whom it is verified A spirit hath no flesh and bone so no humane or fleshly Bodies are ascribed to Angels 2 Affirmatively Secondly affirmatively True reall bodies they have not newly generate created or begotten but assumed of Air and other Elements so condensate consolidate and contract together as that it may be seen felt touched c. Beyond the very nature of Air such a Body as is not essentiall but accidentall taken up for a time as we do put on our Cloathes and may be dissolved again at pleasure as soon as their Ministery is accomplish'd now such a Body is not subject to those Mutations of Generation Corruption and the like nor may it be said to die to suffer to feel o feed or the like as a humane Body may Thus is the nature of Angels Spirituall not carnall Incorporeall not corporeall and surpasseth the humane Nature in Understanding freedom of Will and externall Operations First in Understanding in regard of that Intuitive Vision they have of God per lumen Gloriae besidâ—s those superexcellent naturall Endowments Intellectual of seeing God per lumen naturae alwayes beholding his Face Vid. Hockers Eccles pol. 1. Sect. 4. fol. 53. as the Text expresseth they are so acquainted with the Mind and Will of God that Irrepercussa mentis acie divinorum judiciorum abyssum intuentur as St. Bernard hath it in comparison of which knowledge Angelicall all ours is but as that of Babes and Sucklings Out of whose Mouth notwithstanding God hath perfected his praise See Mr. Hooker his first book of Eccles pol. Sect. 6. fol. 56. or ordained strength as the Psalmist hath it here on Earth till such time as we grow up to perfect Man-hood to the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ where shall be given to us little ones an equality of knowledge with the Angels to be like unto them who alwayes behold the Face of their Heavenly Father As touching their Freedom of Will and Power of working the Angelical far surpasseth the Humane Nature Bellarmine puts these differences betwixt them First in the Power and Rule over Bodies The humane Soul can onely move his own Body at his pleasure it cannot move others after the same sort Again the humane Soul moves its own Body upon the Earth in a slow motion step by step it hath not power to bear it upon the Water or elevate it above the Air or carry it whither it pleaseth but the Angels by the Power and Freedom of Will by the meer force of their spirit can lift up mighty Bodies and carry them whither they please Thus did an Angel take up Habacuc and in a short space brought him to Babylon with a Dinner for Daniel and carried him back again into the Land of Palestine Again