of the Creation of Humane Souls which salves their Immortality without Preexistence is Rational 35. A new Hypothesis to salve the Incorporeity of the Souls of Brutes without their Postexistence and successive Transmigrations 36. That this will not prejudice the Immortality of Humane Souls 37. That the Empedoclean Hypothesis is more Rational than the Opinion of those that would make the Souls of Brutes Corporeal 38. That the Constitution of the Atomical Physiology is such that whosoever entertains it and thoroughly understands it must needs hold Incorporereal Substance in five Particulars 39. Two general Advantages of the Atomical or Mechanical Physiology first that it renders the Corporeal World intelligible 40. The second Advantage of it that it prepares an easie and clear way for the Demonstration of Incorporeal Substance 41. Concluded That th◠ancient Moschical Philosophy consisted of two Parts Atomical Physiology and Theology or Pneumatology 42. That this entire Philosophy was afterwards mangled and dismembred some taking one part of it alone and some the other 43. That Leucippus and Democritus being Atheistically inclined took the Atomical Physiology endeavouring to make it subservient to Atheism and upon what occasion they did it and how unsuccessfully 44. That Plato took the Theology and Pneumatology of the Ancients but rejected their Atomical Physiology and upon what accounts 45. That Aristotle followed Plato herein with a Commendation of Aristotle's Philosophy THEY that hold the Necessity of all humane Actions and Events do it upon one or other of these two Grounds Either because they suppose that Necessity is inwardly essential to all Agents whatsoever and that Contingent Liberty is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Thing Impossible or Contradictious which can have no Existence any where in Nature The sence of which was thus expressed by the Epicurean Poet Quòd res quaeque Necessum Intestinum habeat cunctis in rebus agendis c. That every thing Naturally labours under an Intestine Necessity Or else because though they admit Contingent Liberty not only as a thing Possible but also as that which is actually Existent in the Deity yet they conceive all things to be so determin'd by the Will and Decrees of this Deity as that they are thereby made Necessary to us The former of these two Opinions that Contingent Liberty is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a Thing as can have no Existence in Nature may be maintained upon two different Grounds Either from such an Hypothesis as this That the Universe is nothing else but Body and Local motion and Nothing moving it self the Action of every Agent is determined by some other Agent without it and therefore that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Material and Mechanical Necessity must needs reign over all things Or else though Cogitative Beings be supposed to have a certain Principle of Activity within themselves yet that there can be no Contingency in their Actions because all Volitions are determined by a Necessary antecedent Understanding Plotinus makes another Distribution of Fatalists which yet in the Conclusion will come to the same with the Former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man saith he will not do amiss that will divide all Fatalists first into these two General Heads namely That they derive all things from One Principle or Not The former of which may be called Divine Fatalists the latter Atheistical Which Divine Fatalists he again subdivides into such as First make God by Immediate Influence to do all things in us as in Animals the Members are not determined by themselves but by that which is the Hegemonick in every one And Secondly such as make Fate to be an Implexed Series or Concatenation of Causes all in themselves Necessary whereof God is the chief The Former seems to be a Description of that very Fate that is maintained by some Neoterick Christians the Latter is the Fate of the Stoicks Wherefore Fatalists that hold the Necessity of all Humane Actions and Events may be reduced to these Three Heads First such as asserting the Deity suppose it irrespectively to Decree and Determine all things and thereby make all Actions necessary to us Which kind of Fate though Philosophers and other ancient Writers have not been altogether silent of it yet it has been principally maintained by some Neoterick Christians contrary to the Sence of the Ancient Church Secondly such as suppose a Deity that acting Wisely but Necessarily did contrive the General Frame of things in the World from whence by a Series of Causes doth unavoidably result whatsoever is now done in it Which Fate is a Concatenation of Causes all in themselves Necessary and is that which was asserted by the Ancient Stoicks Zeno and Chrysippus whom the Jewish Essenes seemed to follow And Lastly such as hold the Material Necessity of all things without a Deity which Fate Epicurus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fate of the Naturalists that is indeed the Atheists the Assertors whereof may be called also the Democritical Fatalists Which three Opinions concerning Fate are so many several Hypotheses of the Intellectual System of the Universe All which we shall here propose endeavouring to shew the Falseness of them and then substitute the true Mundane System in the Room of them II. The Mathematical or Astrological Fate so much talked of as it is a thing no way considerable for the Grounds of it so whatsoever it be it must needs fall under one or other of those two General Heads in the Plotinical Distribution last mentioned so as either to derive all things from one Principle or Not. It seems to have had its first Emersion amongst the Chaldaeans from a certain kind of blind Polytheism which is but a better sort of disguised Atheism but it was afterwards Adopted and fondly nursed by the Stoicks in a way of subordination to their Divine Fate For Manilius Firmicus and other Masters of that Sect were great Promoters of it And there was too much attributed to Astrology also by those that were no Fatalists both Heathen and Christian Philosophers such as were Plotinus Origen Simplicius and others Who though they did not make the Stars to necessitate all Humane Actions here below yet they supposed that Divine Providence fore-knowing all things had contrived such a strange Coincidence of the Motions and Configurations of the Heavenly Bodies with such Actions here upon Earth as that the former might be Prognosticks of the latter Thus Origen determines that the Stars do not Make but Signifie and that the Heavens are a kind of Divine Volume in whose Characters they that are skilled may read or spell out Humane Events To the same purpose Plotinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Motion of the Stars was intended for the Physical Good of the whole but they afford also another Vse collaterally in order to Prognostication namely that they who are skilled in the Grammar of the Heavens may be able from the several Configurations of the Stars as it were Letters to spell out future Events
That the first Elements Fire water Air and Earth were all made by Nature and Chance without any Art or Method and then that the bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars and the whole Heavens were afterward made out of those Elements as devoid of all manner of Life and only fortuitously moved and mingled together and lastly that the whole Mundane System together with the orderly Seasons of the year as also Plants Animals and Men did arise after the same manner from the mere Fortuitous Motion of sensless and stupid Matter In the very same manner does Plato state this Controversie again betwixt Theists and Atheists in his Philebus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether shall we say O Protarchus that this whole Vniverse is dispensed ond ordered by a mere Irrational Temerarious and Fortuitous Principle and so as it happens or contrariwise as our fore-fathers have instructed us that Mind and a certain Wonderful Wisdom did at first frame and does still govern all things Wherefore we conclude that Plato took no notice of any other Form of Atheism as then set on foot than such as derives all things from a mere Fortuitous Principle from Nature and Chance that is the unguided Motion of Matter without any Plastick Artificialness or Methodicalness either in the whole Universe or the parts of it But because this kind of Atheism which derives all things from a mere Fortuitous Nature had been managed two manner of ways by Democritus in the way of Atoms and by Anaximander and others in the way of Forms and Qualities of which we are to speak in the next place therefore the Atheism which Plato opposes was either the Democritick or the Anaximandrian Atheism or else which is most probable both of them together IX It is hardly imaginable that there should be no Philosophick Atheists in the world before Democritus and Leucippus Plato long since concluded that there have been Atheists more or less in every Age when he bespeaks his young Atheist after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The full sence whereof seems to be this Neither you my Son nor your friends Democritus Leucippus and Protagoras are the first who have entertained this Opinion concerning the Gods but there have been always some more or less sick of this Atheistick Disease Wherefore we shall now make a diligent search and enquiry to see if we can find any other Philosophers who Atheized before Democritus and Leucippus as also what Form of Atheism they entertained Aristotle in his Metaphysicks speaking of the Quaternio of Causes affirms that many of those who first Philosophized assigned only a Material Cause of the whole Mundane System without either Intending or Efficient Cause The reason whereof he intimates to have been this because they asserted Matter to be the only Substance and that whatsoever else was in the World besides the substance or bulk of Matter were all nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 different Passions and Affections Accidents and Qualities of Matter that were all Generated out of it and Corruptible again into it the Substance of Matter always remaining the same neither Generated nor Corrupted but from Eternity unmade Aristotle's words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Most of those who first philosophized took notice of no other Principle of things in the Vniverse than what is to be referred to the Material Cause for that out of which all things are and out of which they are first made and into which they are all at last corrupted and resolved the Substance always remaining the same and being changed only in its Passions and Qualities This they concluded to be the first Original and Principle of all things X. But the meaning of these old Material Philosophers will be better understood by those Exceptions which Aristotle makes against them which are Two First that because they acknowledged no other Substance besides Matter that might be an Active Principle in the Universe it was not possible for them to give any account of the Original of Motion and Action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though all Generation be made never so much out of something as the Matter yet the question still is by what means this cometh to pass and what is the Active Cause which produceth it because the Subject-matter cannot change it self As for example neither Timber nor Brass is the cause that either of them are changed for Timber alone does not make a Bed nor Brass a Statue but there must be something else as the Cause of the Change and to enquire after this is to enquire after another Principle besides Matter which we would call that from whence Motion springs In which words Aristotle intimates that these old Material Philosopers shuffled in Motion and Action into the World unaccountably or without a Cause forasmuch as they acknowledged no other Principle of Things besides Passive Matter which could never move change or alter it self XI And Aristotle's second Exception against these old Material Philosophers is this that since there could be no Intending Causality in Sensless and Stupid Matter which they made to be the only Principle of all things they were not able to assign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Cause of Well and Fit and so could give no account of the Regular and Orderly Frame of this Mundane System 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That things partly are so well in the World and partly are made so well cannot be imputed either to Earth or Water or any other sensless Body much less is it reasonable to attribute so noble and Excellent an Effect as this to mere Chance or Fortune Where Aristotle again intimates that as these Material Philosophers shuffled in Motion into the world without a Cause so likewise they must needs suppose this Motion to be altogether Fortuitous and Unguided and thereby in a manner make Fortune which is nothing but the absence or defect of an Intending Cause to supply the room both of the Active and Intending Cause that is Efficient and Final Whereupon Aristotle subjoyns a Commendation of Anaxagoras as the first of the Ionick Philosophers who introduced Mind or Intellect for a Principle in the Universe that in this respect he alone seemed to be sober and in his wits comparatively with those others that went before him who talked so idly and Atheistically For Anaxagoras his Principle was such saith Aristotle as was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at once a cause of Motion and also of Well and Fit of all the Regularity Aptitude Pulchritude and Order that is in the whole Universe And thus it seems Anaxagoras himself had determined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anaxagoras saith that Mind is the only Cause of Right and Well this being proper to Mind to aim at Ends and Good and to order one thing Fitly for the sake of another Whence it was that Anaxagoras concluded Good also as well as Mind to have been a Principle of the Universe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
was for his free and open condemning those Traditions concerning the Gods wherein Wicked Dishonest and Unjust Actions were imputed to them For when Euthyphro having accused his own Father as guilty of Murther meerly for committing a Homicide into prison who hapned to die there would justifie himself from the examples of the Gods namely Jupiter and Saturn because Jupiter the Best and Justest of the Gods had committed his Father Saturn to Prison for devouring his sons as Saturn himself also had castrated his Father Caelius for some miscarriages of his Socrates thus bespeaks him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Is not this the very thing O Euthyphro for which I am accused namely because when I hear any one affirming such matters as these concerning the Gods I am very loath to believe them and stick not Publickly to declare my dislike of them And can you O Euthyphro in good earnest think that there are indeed Wars and Contentions amongst the Gods and that those other things were also done by them which Poets and Painters commonly impute to them such as the Peplum or Veil of Minerva which in the Panathenaicks is with great pomp and ceremony brought into the Acropolis is embroidered all over with Thus we see that Socrates though he asserted one Supreme Deity yet he acknowledged notwithstanding other Inferiour created Gods together with the rest of the Pagans honouring and worshipping them only he disliked those Poetick Fables concerning them believed at that time by the Vulgar in which all manner of Unjust and Immoral Actions were Fathered on them which together with the Envy of many was the only true reason why he was then accused of Impiety and Atheism It hath been also affirmed by many that Plato really asserted One only God and no more and that therefore whensoever he speaks of Gods Plurally he must be understood to have done this not according to his own Judgment but only in a way of Politick Compliance with the Athenians and for fear of being made to drink poyson in like manner as Socrates was In confirmation of which opinion there is also a Passage cited out of that Thirteenth Epistle of Plato's to Dionysius wherein he gives this as a Mark whereby his Serious Epistles and such as were written according to the true sence of his own mind might by his friends be distinguished from those which were otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When I begin my Epistles with God then may you conclude I write seriously but not so when I begin with Gods And this place seems to be therefore the more Authentick because it was long since produced by Eusebius to this very purpose namely to prove that Plato acknowledged One Only God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is manifest that Plato really acknowledged One only God however in compliance with the Language of the Greeks he often spake of Gods Plurally from that Epistle of his to Dionysius wherein he gives this Symbol or Mark whereby he might be known to write seriously namely when he began his Epistles with God and not with Gods Notwithstanding which we have allready manifested out of Plato's Timaeus that he did in good earnest assert a Plurality of Gods by which Gods of his are to be understood Animated or Intellectual Beings Superiour to Men to whom there is an Honour and Worship from men due He therein declaring not only the Sun and Moon and Stars but also the Earth it self as Animated to be a God or Goddess For though it be now read in our Copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Earth was the Oldest of all the Bodies within the Heavens yet it is certain that anciently it was read otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Oldest of the Gods not only from Proclus and Cicero but also from Laertius writing thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though Plato 's Gods were for the most part Fiery yet did he suppose the Earth to be a God or Goddess too affirming it to be the Oldest of all the Gods within the Heavens Made or Created to distinguish day and night by its Diurnal Circumgyration upon its own Axis in the Middle or Centre of the World For Plato when he wrote his Timaeus acknowledged only the Diurnal Motion of the Earth though afterwards he is said to have admitted its Annual too And the same might be further evinced from all his other writings but especially his Book of Laws together with his Epinomis said to have been written by him in his old age in which he much insists upon the Godships of the Sun Moon and Stars and complains that the young Gentlemen of Athens were then so much infected with that Anaxagorean Doctrine which made them to be nothing but Inanimate Stones and Earth as also he approves of that then vulgarly received Custom of Worshipping the Rising and Setting Sun and Moon as Gods to which in all probability he conformed himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prostrations and Adorations that are used both by the Greeks and all Barbarians towards the Rising and Setting Sun and Moon As well in their Prosperities as Adversities declare them to be unquestionably esteemed Gods Wherefore we cannot otherwise conclude but that this Thirteenth Epistle of Plato to Dionysius though extant it seems before Eusebius his time yet was Supposititious and counterfeit by some Zealous but Ignorant Christian. As there is accordingly a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Brand of Bastardy prefixed to it in all the Editions of Plato's Works However though Plato acknowledged and worshiphed Many Gods yet is it undeniably evident that he was no Polyarchist but a Monarchist an assertor of One Supreme God the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Self-originated Being the maker of the Heaven and Earth and of all those other Gods For first it is plain that according to Plato the Soul of the whole World was not it self Eternal much less Self-existent but Made or produced by God in time though indeed before its Body the World from these words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God did not fabricate or make the Soul of the world in the same order that we now treat concerning it that is After it as Junior to it but that which was to rule over the world as its Body being more excellent he made it First and Seniour to the same Upon which account Aristotle quarrels with Plato as contradicting himself in that he affirmed the Soul to be a Principle and yet supposed it not to be Eternal but Made together with the Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither is it possible for Plato here to extricate himself who sometimes declares the Soul to be a Principle as that which Moves it self and yet affirms it again not to be Eternal but made together with the Heaven For which cause some Platonists conclude that Plato asserted a Double Psyche one the Third Hypostasis of his Trinity and Eternal the other Created in Time together with the World
Pagans but what had Life Sense and Understanding Wherefore those Personated Gods that were nothing but the Natures of Things Deified as such were but Dii Commentitii Fictitii Counterfeit and Fictitious Gods or as Origen calls them in that place before cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Figments of the Greeks and other Pagans that were but Things turned into Person and Deified Neither can there be any other sence made of these Personated and Deified Things of Nature than this that they were all of them really so many Several Names of One Supreme God or Partial Considerations of him according to the Several Manifestations of himself in his Works Thus according to the old Egyptian Theology before declared God is said to have both No Name and Every Name or as it is expressed in the Asclepian Dialogue Cum non possit Vno quamvis è Multis composito Nomine nuncupari potius Omni Nomine vocandus est siquidem sit Vnus Omnia ut necesse sit aut Omnia Ipsius Nomine aut Ipsum Omnium Nomine nuncupari Since he cannot be fully declared by any one Name though compounded of never so many therefore is he rather to be called by Every Name he being both One and All Things so that either Every Thing must be called by His Name or He by the Name of Every thing With which Egyptian Doctrine Seneca seemeth also fully to agree when he gives this Description of God Cui Nomen Omne convenit He to whom every Name belongeth and when he further declares thus concerning him Quaecunque voles illi Nomina aptabis and Tot Appellationes ejus possunt esse quot Munera You may give him whatsoever Names you please c. and There may be as many Names of him as there are Gifts and Effects of his and lastly when he makes God and Nature to be really One and the same Thing and Every thing we see to be God And the Writer De Mundo is likewise consonant hereunto when he affirmeth that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or may be denominated from Every Nature because he is the Cause of all things We say therefore that the Pagans in this their Theologizing of Physiology and Deifying the Things of Nature and Parts of the World did accordingly Call Every Thing by the Name of God or God by the Name of Every Thing Wherefore these Personated and Deified Things of Nature were not themselves Properly and Directly worshipped by the Intelligent Pagans who acknowledged no Inanimate thing for a God so as to terminate their worship ultimately in them but either Relatively only to the Supreme God or else at most in way of Complication with him whose Effects and Images they are so that they were not so much themselves worshipped as God was worshipped in them For these Pagans professed that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look upon the Heaven and World not slightly and superficially nor as meer Bruit Animals who take notice of nothing but those sensible Phantasms which from the objects obtrude themselves upon them or else as the same Julian in that Oration again more fully expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not view and contemplate the Heaven and World with the same eyes that Oxen and Horses do but so as from that which is Visible to their outward senses to discern and discover another Invisible Nature under it That is they professed to behold all things with Religious Eyes and to see God in Every Thing not only as Pervading all things and Diffused thorough all things but also as Being in a manner All things Wherefore they looked upon the whole World as a Sacred Thing and as having a kind of Divinity in it it being according to their Theology nothing but God himself Visibly Displayed And thus was God worshipped by the Pagans in the whole Corporeal World taken all at once together or in the Universe under the Name of Pan. As they also commonly conceived of Zeus and Jupiter after the same manner that is not Abstractly only as we now use to conceive of God but Concretely together with all that which Proceedeth and Emaneth from him that is the Whole World And as God was thus described in that old Egyptian Monument to be All that Was Is and Shall be so was it before observed out of Plutarch that the Egyptians took the First God and the Vniverse for One and the same Thing not only because they supposed the Supreme God Vertually to contain all things within himself but also because they were wont to conceive of him together with his Outflowing and all the extent of Fecundity the whole World displayed from him all at once as one entire thing Thus likewise do the Pagans in Plato confound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greatest God and The Whole World together as being but one and the same thing And this Notion was so Familiar with these Pagans that Strabo himself writing of Moses could not conceive of his God and of the God of the Jews any otherwise than thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely That which containeth us all and the Earth and the Sea which we call the Heaven and World and the Nature of the Whole By which notwithstanding Strabo did not mean the Heaven or World Inanimate and a Sensless Nature but an Understanding Being framing the whole World and containing the same which was conceived together with it of which therefore he tells us that according to Moses no wise man would go about to make any Image or Picture resembling any thing here amongst us From whence we conclude that when the same Strabo writing of the Persians affirmeth of them that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take the Heaven for Jupiter and also Herodotus before him that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Call the Whole Circle of the Heaven Jupiter that is the Supreme God the meaning of neither of them was that the Body of the Heaven Inanimate was to them the Highest God but that though he were an Understanding Nature yet framing the whole Heaven or World and containing the same he was at once conceived together with it Moreover God was worshipped also by the Pagans in the Several Parts of the wrorld under Several Names as for example in the Higher and Lower Aether under those Names of Minerva and Jupiter in the Air under the name of Juno in the Fire under the name of Vulcan in the Sea under the name of Neptune c. Neither can it be reasonably doubted but that when the Roman Sea-Captains Sacrificed to the Waves they intended therein to worship that God who acteth in the Waves and whose Wonders are in the Deep But besides this the Pagans seemed to apprehend a kind of necessity of worshipping God thus in his works and in the Visible things of this World because the generality of the Vulgar were then unable to frame any notion or conception at all
is their Personating and Deifying also the Parts of the World and Things of Nature themselves and so making them so many Gods and Goddesses too Their meaning therein being declared to be really no other than this That God who doth not only Pervade all things but also was the Cause of All things and therefore himself is in a manner All things ought to be worshipped in all the Things of Nature and Parts of the World as also that the Force of every thing was Divine and that in all things that were Beneficial to mankind The Divine Goodness ought to be acknowledged We shall now observe how both those forementioned Principles of Gods Pervading all things and his Being All things which were the Chief Grounds of the Seeming Polytheism of the Pagans were improved and carried on further by those amongst them who had no Higher Notion of the Supreme Deity than as the Soul of the World Which Opinion that it found entertainment amongst so many of them probably might be from hence because it was so obvious for those of them that were Religious to conceive that as themselves consisted of Body and Soul so the Body of the Whole World was not without its Soul neither and that their Humane Souls were as well derived from the Life and Soul of the World as the Earth and Water in their Bodies was from the Earth and Water of the World Now whereas the more refined Pagans as was before observed supposed God to Pervade and Pass thorough All things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnmixedly these concluded God to be according to that Definition of him in Quintilian taken in a rigid sence Spiritum omnibus Partibus Immistum a Spirit Immingled with all the Parts of the World or else in Manilius his Language Infusumque Deum Caelo Terrisque Fretoque Infused into the Heaven Earth and Seas Sacroque meatu Conspirare Deum and intimately to conspire with his own Work the World as being almost one with it Upon which account he was commonly called Nature also that being thus defined by some of the Stoicks Deus Mundo permistus God Mingled throughout with the World and Divina Ratio toti Mundo insita The Divine Reason inserted into the whole World Which Nature notwithstanding in way of distinction from the Particular Natures of things was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Communis Natura the Common Nature And it was plainly declared by them not to be a Sensless Nature according to that of Balbus in Cicero Natura est quae continet Mundum omnem eumque tuetur atque ea quidem non sine Sensu atque Ratione It is Nature by which the whole World is conteined and upheld but this such a Nature as is not without Sense and Reason As it is elsewhere said to be Perfect and Eternal Reason the Divine Mind and Wisdom conteining also under it all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spermatick Principles by which the things of Nature commonly so called are effected Wherefore we see that such Naturalists as these may well be allowed to be Theists Moses himself in Strabo being accounted one of them whereas those that acknowledge no Higher Principle of the World than a Sensless Nature whether Fortuitous or Orderly and Methodical cannot be accounted any other than Absolute Atheists Moreover this Soul of the World was by such of these Pagans as admitted no Incorporeal Substance it self concluded to be a Body too but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Most Subtil and Most Swift Body as was before observed out of Plato though endued with Perfect Mind and Vnderstanding as well as with Spermatick Reasons which insinuating it self into all other Bodies did Permeate and Pervade the whole Universe and frame all things inwardly Mingling it self with all Heraclitus and Hippasus thinking this to be Fire and Diogenes Apolloniates Air whom Simplicius who had read some of his then extant Works vindicates from that Imputation of Atheism which Hippo and Anaximander lye under Again whereas the more Sublimated Pagans affirmed the Supreme God to be All so as that he was nevertheless something Above All too he being Above the Soul of the World and probably Aeschylus in that forecited passage of his is to be understood after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter is the Ether Jupiter is the Earth Jupiter is the Heaven Jupiter is All things and yet something Higher than all or Above all those Pagans who acknowledged no Higher Numen than the Soul of the World made God to be All Things in a grosser sence they supposing the whole Corporeal World Animated to be also the Supreme Deity For though God to them were Principally and Originally that Eternal Vnmade Soul and Mind which diffuseth it self thorough all things yet did they conceive that as the Humane Soul and Body both together make up one whole Rational Animal or Man so this Mundane Soul and its Body the World did in lke manner both together make up One Entire Divine Animal or God It is true indeed that as the Humane Soul doth Principally act in some one Part of the Body which therefore hath been called the Hegemonicon and Principale some taking this to be the Brain others the Heart but Strato in Tertullian ridiculously the Place betwixt the Eye-browes so the Stoicks did suppose the Great Soul or Mind of the World to act Principally in some one Part thereof which what it was notwithstanding they did not all agree upon as the Hegemonicon or Principale and this was sometimes called by them Emphatically God But nevertheless they all acknowledged this Mundane Soul as the Souls of other Animals to Pervade Animate or Enliven and Actuate more or less its whole Body The World This is plainly declared by Laertius in the Life of Zeno. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks affirm that the World is governed by Mind and Providence this Mind passing through all the Parts of it as the Soul doth in us Which yet doth not act in all parts alike but in some more in some less it passing through some parts only as a Habit as through the bones and Nerves but through others as Mind or Vnderstanding as through that which is called the Hegemonicon or Principale So the whole World being a Living and Rational Animal hath its Hegemonicon or Principal Part too which according to Antipater is the Aether to Possidonius the Air to Cleanthes the Sun c. And they say also that this First God is as it were sensibly Diffused through all Animals and Plants but through the Earth it self only as a Habit. Wherefore the whole World being thus Acted and Animated by one Divine Soul is it self according to these Stoicks also The Supreme God Thus Didymus in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks call the whole World God and Origen against Celsus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greeks universally affirm the World to be a God but the Stoicks the First and Chief God· And
betwixt their Second and Third Hypostasis so do they Debase the Deity therein too much confound God and the Creature together laying a Foundation not only for Cosmo-Latry or World-Idolatry in general but also for the grossest and most sottish of all Idolatries the worshipping of the Inanimate Parts of the World themselves in pretence as Parts and Members of this great Mundane Animal and Sensible God It is true indeed that Origen and some others of the ancient Christian Writers have supposed that God may be said in some sence to be the Soul of the World Thus in that Book Peri Archοn Sicut Corpus nostrum unum ex multis Membris aptatum est ab una Anima continetur ita Vniversum Mundum velut Animal quoddam Immane opinandum puto quod quasi ab una Animâ Virtute Dei ac Ratione teneatur Quod etiam à Sanctâ Scripturâ indicari arbitror per illud quod dictum est per Prophetam Nonne Coelum Terram ego repleo dicit Dominus Coelum mihi Sedes Terra autem Scabellum pedum meorum Et quod Salvator cum ait non esse jurandum neque per Coelum quia Sedes Dei est neque per Terram quia Scabellum pedum ejus Sed illud quod ait Paulus Quoniam in ipso Vivimus Movemur Sumus Quomodo enim in Deo Vivimus Movemur Sumus nisi quod in Virtute suâ Vniversum constringit continet Mundum As our own Body is made up of many Members and conteined by One Soul so do I conceive that the whole World is to be looked upon as One huge great Animal which is conteined as it were by One Soul the Vertue and Reason of God And so much seems to be intimated by the Scripture in sundry places as in that of the Prophet Do not I fill Heaven and Earth And again Heaven is my Throne and the Earth my Footstool And in that of our Saviour Swear not at all neither by Heaven because it is the Throne of God nor by the Earth because it is his Footstool And lastly in that of Paul to the Athenians For in him we Live and Move and have our Being For how can we be said to Live and Move and have our Being in God unless because he by his Vertue and Power does Constringe and Contein the whole World And how can Heaven be the Throne of God and the Earth his Footstool unless his Vertue and Power fill all things both in Heaven and Earth Nevertheless God is here said by Origen to be but Quasi-Anima As it were The Soul of the World As if he should have said That all the Perfection of a Soul is to be attributed to God in respect of the World he Quickening and Enlivening all things as much as if he were the Very Soul of it and all the Parts thereof were his Living Members And perhaps the whole Deity ought not to be look'd upon according to Aristotle's Notion thereof meerly as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Immovable Essence for then it is not conceivable how it could either Act upon the World or be Sensible of any thing therein or to what purpose any Devotional Addresses should be made by us to such an Vnaffectible Inflexible Rockie and Adamantine Being Wherefore all the Perfection of a Mundane Soul may perhaps be attributed to God in some sence and he called Quasi-Anima Mundi As it were the Soul thereof Though St. Cyprian would have this properly to belong to the Third Hypostasis or Person of the Christian Trinity viz. The Holy Ghost But there is something of Imperfection also plainly cleaving and adhering to this Notion of a Mundane Soul besides something of Paganity likewise necessarily consequent thereupon which cannot be admitted by us Wherefore God or the Third Divine Hypostasis cannot be called the Soul of the World in this sence as if it were so Immersed thereinto and so Passive from it as our Soul is Immersed into and Passive from its Body Nor as if the World and this Soul together made up one Entire Animal each Part whereof were incomplete alone by it self And that God or the Third Hypostasis of the Christian Trinity is not to be accounted in this Sence properly the Soul of the World according to Origen himself we may learn from these words of his Solius Dei id est Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Naturae id proprium est ut sine Materiali Substantia absque ulla Corporeae adjectionis societate intelligatur subsistere It is proper to the Nature of God alone that is of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to subsist without any Material Substance or Body Vitally Vnited to it Where Origen affirming that all Created Souls and Spirits whatsoever have always some Body or other Vitally Vnited to them and that it is the Property only of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity not to be Vitally Vnited to any Body as the Soul thereof whether this Assertion of his be true or no which is a thing not here to be discussed he does plainly hereby declare that God or the Third Hypostasis of the Trinity is not to be accounted in a true and proper sence the Soul of the World And it is certain that the more Refined Platonists were themselves also of this Perswasion and that their Third God or Divine Hypostasis was neither the Whole World as supposed to be Animated nor yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Immediate Soul of this Mundane Animal but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Supermundane Soul that is such a thing as though it Preside over the Whole World and take Cognizance of all things in it yet is not properly an Essential Part of that Mundane Animal but a Being Elevated above the same For thus Proclus plainly affirmeth not only of Amelius but also of Porphyrius himself who likewise pretended to follow Plotinus therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After Amelius Porphyrius thinking to agree with Plotinus calls the Supermundane Soul the Immediate Opificer or Maker of the World and that Mind or Intellect to which it is converted not the Opificer himself but the Paradigm thereof And though Proclus there make a question whether or no this was Plotinus his true meaning yet Porphyrius is most to be credited herein he having had such an intimate acquaintance with him Wherefore according to these Three Platonist Plotinus Amelius and Porphyrius the Third Hypostasis of the Platonick Trinity is neither the World nor the Immediate Soul of the Mundane Animal but a certain Supermundane Soul which also was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Opificer and Creator of the World and therefore no Creature Now the Corporeal World being supposed by these Platonists also to be an Animal they must therefore needs acknowledge a Double Soul one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Immediate Soul of this Mundane Animal and another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of his Physicks Spent upon this very Subject to prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That his First Immoveable Mover which is God Almighty must of necessity be devoid of Parts or Indivisible and have no Magnitude at all The Conclusion of which Section and his whole Book of Physicks is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These things being thus determined It is manifestly Impossible that the first Mover should have any Magnitude For if it hath Magnitude that must of necessity be either Finite or Infinite But that there can be no Infinite Magnitude was before demonstrated in the Physicks and that nothing which hath a Finite Magnitude can have Infinite Power hath been now Proved Wherefore it is plain that the First Mover is Indivisible and devoid of Parts and hath no Magnitude at all Which same Doctrine is again Taught and Asserted by Aristotle in his Metaphysicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From what hath been declared it is manifest that there is an Eternal and Immoveable Substance Separate from Sensibles as also that this Substance cannot possibly have any Magnitude but is devoid of Parts and Indivisible Because no Finite thing can have Infinite Power and there is no such thing possible as Infinite Magnitude Neither doth Aristotle appropriate this to the Supreme Deity To be thus devoid of Magnitude and of Parts and consequently Indivisible he some where attributing the same also to all other Immaterial or Incorporeal things and particularly to the Humane Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every thing that is devoid of Matter is Indivisible as the Humane Mind And the like doth he assert at once both concerning the Mundane and the Humane Soul that they are no Magnitudes though ridiculously after his manner imputing the Contrary Opinion to Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not rightly affirmed either of the Mundane or Rational Soul that they are Magnitudes For the Intellect is One and Continuous as Intellection is which is the same with the Intelligibles But these are one not as Magnitudes but as Numbers Wherefore the Intellect is not so Continuous but either devoid of Parts or not Continuous as Magnitude For how being Magnitude could it understand with any of its Parts whether Conceived as Points or as lesser Magnitudes since either way there would be an innumerable company of Intellections Moreover how can it conceive any thing that is Indivisible by what is Divisible Furthermore in this same Book De Animâ Aristotle stifly denies Souls in general either to be in a Place or to be Locally Moved otherwise than by Accident as they are said to be Moved together with the Motion of the Body Thus Simplicius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See how Aristotle doth every where remove or exclude from the Soul Corporeal or Local Motions And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle will by no means allow any Incorporeal things whatsoever whether of the First Second or Lowest rank they being all the Causes of motion themselves to be moved Philoponus likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You see how Aristotle respecting Corporeal Motions pronounces of the Soul that it is Immoveable For whatsoever is in a Place and moveable is Body Lastly in that Passage before cited Aristotle plainly makes the Essence of Corporeal Substance as opposed to Incorporeal to consist in Magnitude Besides Plato and Aristotle we might here instance in sundry other of the ancient Incorporealists who clearly maintained the same Doctrine Philo doth not only assert in general a Double Essence or Substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Distant and Indistant one but somewhere writeth thus concerning the Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All things are filled with God as Containing them but not as being Contained by them or in them to whom alone it belongeth to be both Every where and No where No where because himself Created Space and Place together with Bodies and it is not Lawful to include the Creator within any of his Creatures And Every where because he extendeth his Vertues and Powers throughout Earth and Water Air and Heaven and leaveth no Part of the World destitute thereof but collecting all things together under himself hath bound them fast with Invisible Bonds But none hath more industriously pursued this business then Plotinus who every where asserts Body and Magnitude to be one and the same thing and that besides this there is another Substance Incorporeal which consequently is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devoid of Quantity and of Magnitude and of Parts locally distant from one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it having in its Nature transcended the Imperfection of Quantity And Who hath also written Two Whole Books upon this very Subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That one and the self same Numerical thing may be all of it entirely Every where Wherein his Principal design was to Prove that the Deity is not Part of it here and part of it there and so much thereof in one place and so much in another as if the very Substance of it were Mensurable by Yards and Poles but the whole Vndivided Deity every where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he God is before all things that are in ◠Place And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not at all to be wondered at that God being not in a Place should be present to every thing that is in a Place wholly and entirely Reason pronouncing that he having no place must therefore of necessity be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of him Indivisibly Present to whatsoever he is Present Neither is this saith he a thing only deduced by Reason but that which is before Reason suggested by the Instincts of Mankind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That one and the same Numerical Substance to wit of the Deity is at once entirely every where is agreable to the Common Notions Sentiments of Mankind when we do so often by the Instincts of Nature speak of that God who is in Every one of us as supposing him to be one and the same in all Where the Philosopher subjoyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And this is the Firmest of all Principles that which our Souls do as it were Naturally and of themselves Speak and which is not Collected by Reason but comes forth from them before Ratiocination Moreover he often affirmeth of the humane Soul or rather takes it as a thing for granted that this is the Whole or All of it in every part of the Body that is Undividedly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As for the humane Soul it is one and the same Numerically in the Hand and in the Foot And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Since we commonly suppose our own Soul to be the same both in our foot and in our hand why should we not in like manner acknowledge that of the Mundane Soul or Deity which is in one part of the Universe
Elements out of which he would have all other Bodies to be compounded and that as Aristotle affirms he made those Elements not to be transmutable into one another neither To which we reply that he did indeed make four Elements as the first general Concretions of Atoms and therein he did no more than Democritus himself who as Laertius writes did from Atoms moving round in a Vortex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Generate all Concretions Fire Water Air and Earth these being Systems made out of certain Atoms And Plato further confirms the same for in his Book De Legibus he describes as I suppose that very Atheistical Hypothesis of Democritus though without mentioning his Name representing it in this Manner That by the Fortuitous Motion of Senseless Matter were first made those four Elements and then out of them afterward Sun Moon Stars and Earth Now both Plutarch and Stobaeus testifie that Empedocles compounded the four Elements themselves out of Atoms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empedocles makes the Elements to be compounded of other small Corpuscula which are the least and as it were the Elements of the Elements And the same Stobaeus again observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empedocles makes the smallest Particles and Fragments of Body that is Atoms to be before the four Elements But whereas Aristotle affirms that Empedocles denied the Transmutation of those Elements into one another that must needs be either a slip in him or else a fault in our Copies not only because Lucretius who was better versed in that Philosophy and gives a particular Account of Empedocles his Doctrine besides many others of the Ancients affirms the quite contrary but also because himself in those Fragments of his still preserved expresly acknowledges this Transmutation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides all this no less Author than Plato affirms that according to Empedocles Vision and other Sensations were made by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Defluxions of Figures or Effluvia of Atoms for so Democritus his Atoms are called in Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they were Bodies which had only Figure without Qualities he supposing that some of these Figures or Particles corresponded with the Organs of one Sense and some with the Organs of another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You say then according to the Doctrine of Empedocles that there are certain Corporeal Effluvia from Bodies of different Magnitudes and Figures as also several Pores and Meatus's in us diversly Corresponding with them So that some of these Corporeal Effluvia agree with some pores when they are either too big or too little for others By which it is evident that Empedocles did not suppose Sensations to be made by intentional Species or Qualities but as to the Generality in the Atomical way in which notwithstanding there are some differences among these Atomists themselves But Empedocles went the same way here with Democritus for Empedocles's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Defluxions of figured Bodies are clearly the same thing with Democritus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Insinuations of Simulachra or Exuvious Images of Bodies And the same Plato adds further that according to Empedocles the Definition of Colour was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Defluxion of Figures or figured Corpuscula without Qualities Commensurate to the Sight and Sensible Moreover that Empedocles his Physiology was the very same with that of Democritus is manifest also from this Passage of Aristotle's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empedocles and Democritus deceiving themselves unawares destroy all Generation of Things out of one another leaving a seeming Generation only For they say that Generation is not the Production of any new Entity but only the Secretion of what was before Inexistant as when divers kinds of things confounded together in a Vessel are separated from one another Lastly we shall confirm all this by the clear Testimony of Plutarch or the Writer de Placitis Philosophorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empedocles and Epicurus and all those that compound the World of small Atoms introduce Concretions and Secretions but no Generations or Corruptions properly so called neither would they have these to be made according to Quality by Alteration but only according to Quantity by Aggregation And the same Writer sets down the Order and Method of the Cosmopoeia according to Empedocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empedocles writes that Aether was first of all Secreted out of the Confused Chaos of Atoms afterward the Fire and then the Earth which being Constringed and as it were Squeezed by the Force of Agitation sent forth Water bubling out of it from the Evaporation of which did proceed Air. And from the Aether was made the Heavens from Fire the Sun We see therefore that it was not without cause that Lucretius did so highly extol Empedocles since his Physiology was really the same with that of Epicurus and Democritus only that he differed from them in some Particularities as in excluding Vacuum and denying such Physical Minima as were Indivisible XV. As for Anaxagoras though he Philosophized by Atoms too substituting Concretion and Secretion in the Room of Generation and Corruption insisting upon the same Fundamental Principle that Empedocles Democritus and the other Atomists did which was as we shall declare more fully afterward That Nothing could be made out of Nothing nor reduced to Nothing and therefore that there were neither any new Productions nor Destructions of any Substances or Real Entities Yet as his Homoeomeria is represented by Aristotle Lucretius and other Authours that Bone was made of Bony Atoms and Flesh of Fleshy Red things of Red Atoms and Hot things of Hot Atoms these Atoms being supposed to be endued originally with so many several Forms and Qualities Essential to them and Inseparable from them there was indeed a wide difference betwixt his Philosophy and the Atomical However this seems to have had its Rise from nothing else but this Philosophers not being able to understand the Atomical Hypothesis which made him decline it and substitute this Spurious and Counterfeit Atomism of his own in the room of it XVI Lastly I might adde here that it is recorded by Good Authours concerning divers other Ancient Philosophers that were not addicted to Democriticism or Atheism that they followed this Atomical way of Physiologizing and therefore in all probability did derive it from those Religious Atomists before Democritus As for Example Ecphantus the Syracusian Pythagorist who as Stobaeus writes made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indivisible Bodies and Vacuum the Principles of Physiology and as Theodoret also testifies taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Corporeal World was made up of Atoms Zenocrates that made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indivisible Magnitudes the first Principles of Bodies Heraclides that resolved all Corporeal things into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain smallest Fragments of Bodies Asclepiades who supposed all the Corporeal World to be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of Similar Parts as Anaxagoras
but of Dissimilar and inconcinn Moleculae i. e. Atoms of different Magnitude and Figures and Diodorus that salved the Material Phaenomena by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the smallest Indivisibles of Body And Lastly Metrodorus not Lamsacenus the Epicurean but Chius who is reported also to have made Indivisible Particles and Atoms the first Principles of Bodies But what need we any more proof for this that the Atomical Physiology was ancienter than Democritus and Leucippus and not confined only to that Sect since Aristotle himself in the Passages already cited doth expressly declare that besides Dâ—mocritus the Generality of all the other Physiologers went that way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Democritus and the most of the Physiologers make all Sense to be Touch and resolve sensible Qualities as the Tastes of Bitter and Sweet c. into Figures And again he imputes it generally to all the Physiologers that went before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former Physiologers without any exception said not well in this that there was no Black and White without the Sight nor Bitter and Sweet without the Taste Wherefore I think it cannot be reasonably doubted but that the Generality of the Old Physiologers before Aristotle and Democritus did pursue the Atomical way which is to resolve the Corporeal Phaenomena not into Forms Qualities and Species but into Figures Motions and Phancies XVII But then there will seem to be no small difficulty in reconciling Aristotle with himself who doth in so many places plainly impute this Philosophy to Democritus and Leucippus as the first Source and Original of it As also in salving the Credit of Laertius and many other ancient Writers who do the like Democritus having had for many Ages almost the general cry and vogue for Atoms However we doubt not but to give a very good account of this Business and reconcile the seemingly different Testimonies of these Ancient Writers so as to take away all Contradiction and Repugnancy between them For although the Atomical Physiology was in use long before Democritus and Leucippus so that they did not Make it but Find it yet these two with their confederate Atheists whereof Protagoras seems to have been one were undoubtedly the first that ever made this Physiology to be a complete and entire Philosophy by it self so as to derive the Original of all things in the whole Universe from sensless Atoms that had nothing but Figure and Motion together with Vacuum and made up such a System of it as from whence it would follow that there could not be any God not so much as a Corporeal one These two things were both of them before singly and apart For there is no doubt to be made but that there hath been Atheism lurking in the minds of some or other in all Ages and perhaps some of those Ancient Atheists did endeavour to Philosophize too as well as they could in some other way And there was Atomical Physiology likewise before without Atheism But these two thus complicated together were never before Atomical-Atheism or Atheistical Atomism And therefore Democritus and his Comrade Leucippus need not be envied the glory of being reputed the first Inventors or Founders of the Atomical Philosophy Atheized and Adulterated XVIII Before Leucippus and Democritus the Doctrine of Atoms was not made a whole entire Philosophy by it self but look'd upon only as a Part or Member of the whole Philosophick System and that the meanest and lowest part too it being only used to explain that which was purely Corporeal in the World besides which they acknowledged something else which was not meer Bulk and Mechanism but Life and Self Activity that is Immaterial or Incorporeal Substance the Head and Summity whereof is a Deity distinct from the World So that there has been two Sorts of Atomists in the World the One Atheistical the Other Religious The first and most ancient Atomists holding Incorporeal Substance used that Physiology in a way of Subordination to Theology and Metaphysicks The other allowing no other Substance but Body made sensless Atoms and Figures without any Mind and Understanding i. e. without any God to be the Original of all things which latter is that that was vulgarly known by the Name of Atomical Philosophy of which Democritus and Leucippus were the Source XIX It hath been indeed of late confidently asserted by some that never any of the ancient Philosophers dream'd of any such thing as Incorporeal Substance and therefore they would bear men in hand that it was nothing but an upstart and new fangled Invention of some Bigotical Religionists the falsity whereof we shall here briefly make to appear For though there have been doubtless in all Ages such as have disbelieved the Existence of any thing but what was Sensible whom Plato describes after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That would contend that whatsoever they could not feel or grasp with their hands was altogether nothing yet this Opinion was professedly opposed by the best of the Ancient Philosopherâ— and condemned for a piece of Sottishness and Stupidity Wherefore the same Plato tells us that there had been always as well as then there was a perpetual War and Controversie in the World and as he calls it a kind of Gigantomachy betwixt these two Parties or Sects of men The one that held there was no other Substance in the World besides Body The Other that asserted Incorporeal Substance The former of these Parties or Sects is thus described by the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These saith he pull all things down from Heaven and the Invisible Region with their hands to the Earth laying hold of Rocks and Oaks and when they grasp all these hard and gross things they confidently affirm that that only is Substance which they can feel and will resist their Touch and they conclude that Body and Substance are one and the self same thing and if any one chance to speak to them of something which is not Body i.e. of Incorporeal Substance they will altogether despise him and not hear a word more from him And many such the Philosopher there says he had met withal The other he represents in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Adversaries of these Corporealists do cautiously and piously assault them from the Invisible Region fetching all things from above by way of Descent and by strength of Reason convincing that certain Intelligible and Incorporeal Forms are the true or First Substance and not Sensible things But betwixt these two there hath always been saith he a great War and Contention And yet in the Sequel of his Discourse he adds that those Corporealists were then grown a little more modest and shame-faced than formerly their great Champions had been such as Democritus and Protagoras for however they still persisted in this that the Soul was a Body yet they had not it seems the Impudence to affirm that Wisdom and Vertue were Corporeal Things or Bodies as others before
several parts of Matter distant from one another acting alone by themselves without any common Directrix being not able to confer together nor communicate with each other could never possibly conspire to make up one such uniform and Orderly System or Compages as the Body of every Animal is The same is to be said likewise concerning the Plastick Nature of the whole Corporeal Universe in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are ordered together conspiringly into One. It must be one and the same thing which formeth the whole or else it could never have fallen into such an Uniform Order and Harmony Now that which is One and the Same acting upon several distant parts of Matter cannot be Corporeal Indeed Aristotle is severely censured by some learned men for this that though he talk every where of such a Nature as acts Regularly Artificially and Methodically in order to the Best yet he does no where positively declare whether this Nature of his be Corporeal or Incorporeal Substantial or Accidental which yet is the less to be wondred at in him because he does not clearly determine these same points concerning the Rational Soul neither but seems to stagger uncertainly about them In the mean time it cannot be denied but that Aristotle's Followers do for the most part conclude this Nature of his to be Corporeal whereas notwithstanding according to the Principles of this Philosophy it cannot possibly be such For there is nothing else attributed to Body in it besides these three Matter Form and Accidents neither of which can be the Aristotelick Nature First it cannot be Matter because Nature according to Aristotle is supposed to be the Principle of Motion and Activity which Matter in it self is devoid of Moreover Aristotle concludes that they who assign only a Material Cause assign no Cause at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of well and fit of that Regular and Artificial Frame of things which is ascribed to Nature upon both which accompts it is determined by that Philosopher that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is more a Principle and Cause than Matter and therefore it cannot be one and the same thing with it Again it is as plain that Aristotle's Nature cannot be the Forms of particular Bodies neither as Vulgar Peripateticks seem to conceive these being all Generated and Produced by Nature and as well Corruptible as Generable Whereas Nature is such a thing as is neither Generated nor Corrupted it being the Principle and Cause of all Generation and Corruption To make Nature and the Material Forms of Bodies to be one and the self-same thing is all one as if one should make the Seal with the Stamper too to be one and the same thing with the Signature upon the Wax And Lastly Aristotle's Nature can least of all be the Accidents or Qualities of Bodies because these act only in Vertue of their Substance neither can they exercise any Active Power over the Substance it self in which they are whereas the Plastick Nature is a thing that Domineers over the Substance of the whole Corporeal Vniverse and which Subordinately to the Deity put both Heaven and Earth into this Frame in which now it is Wherefore since Aristotle's Nature can be neither the Matter nor the Forms nor the Accidents of Bodies it is plain that according to his own Principles it must be Incorporeal 21. Now if the Plastick Nature be Incorporeal then it must of necessity be either an Inferiour Power or Faculty of some Soul which is also Conscious Sensitive or Rational or else a lower Substantial Life by it self devoid of Animal Consciousness The Platonists seem to affirm both these together namely that there is a Plastick Nature lodged in all particular Souls of Animals Brutes and Men and also that there is a General Plastick or Spermatick Principle of the whole Vniverse distinct from their Higher Mundane Soul though subordinate to it and dependent upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is called Nature is the Off-spring of an higher Soul which hath a more Powerful Life in it And though Aristotle do not so clearly acknowledge the Incorporeity and Substantiality of Souls yet he concurrs very much with this Platonick Doctrine that Nature is either a Lower Power or Faculty of some Conscious Soul or else an Inferiour kind of Life by it self depending upon a Superiour Soul And this we shall make to appear from his Book De Partibus Animalium after we have taken notice of some considerable Preliminary Passages in it in order thereunto For having first declared that besides the Material Cause there are other Causes also of Natural Generations namely these two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that for whose sake or the Final Cause and that from which the Principle of Motion is or the Efficient Cause he determines that the former of these Two is the principal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The chiefest of these two Causes seems to be the Final or the Intending Cause for this is Reason and Reason is alike a Principle in Artificial and in Natural things Nay the Philosopher adds excellently that there is more of Reason and Art in the things of Nature than there is in those things that are Artificially made by men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is more of Final or Intending Causality and of the reason of Good in the works of Nature than in those of Humane Art After which he greatly complains of the first and most Ancient Physiologers meaning thereby Anaximander and those other Ionicks before Anaxagoras that they considered only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Material Principle and Cause of things without attending to those Two other Causes the Principle of Motion and that which aims at Ends they talking only of Fire Water Air and Earth and generating the whole World from the Frotuitous Concourse of these Sensless Bodies But at length Aristotle falls upon Democritus who being Junior to those others before mentioned Philosophised after the same Atheistical manner but in a new way of his own by Atoms acknowledging no other Nature neither in the Universe nor in the Bodies of Animals than that of Fortuitous Mechanism and supposing all things to arise from the different Compositions of Magnitudes Figures Sites and Motions Of which Democritick Philosophy he gives his Censure in these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If Animals and their several parts did consist of nothing but Figure and Colour then indeed Democritus would be in the right But a Dead man hath the same Form and Figure of Body that he had before and yet for all that he is not a Man neither is a Brazen or Wooden Hand a Hand but only Equivocally as a Painted Physician or Pipes made of Stone are so called No member of a Dead Mans Body is that which it was before when he was alive neither Eye nor Hand nor Foot Wherefore this is but a rude way of Philosophizing and just as if a Carpenter should talk
of a Wooden Hand For thus these Physiologers declare the Generations and Causes of Figures only or the Matter out of which things are made as Air and Earth Whereas no Artificer would think it sufficient to render such a Cause of any Artificial Fabrick because the Instrument happened to fall so upon the Timber that therefore it was Hollow here and Plane there but rather because himself made such strokes and for such Ends c. Now in the close of all this Philosopher at length declares That there is another Principle of Corporeal things besides the Material and such as is not only the Cause of Motion but also acts Artificially in order to Ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is such a thing as that which we call Nature that is not the Fortuitous Motion of Sensless Matter but a Plastick Regular and Artificial Nature such as acts for Ends and Good declaring in the same place what this Nature is namely that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul or Part of Soul or not without Soul and from thence inferring that it properly belongs to a Physiologer to treat concerning the Soul also But he concludes afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the whole Soul is not Nature whence it remains that according to Aristotle's sence Nature is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either part of a Soul or not without Soul that is either a lower Part or Faculty of some Conscious Soul or else an Inferiour kind of Life by it self which is not without Soul but Suborditate to it and dependent on it 22. As for the Bodies of Animals Aristotle first resolves in General that Nature in them is either the whole Soul or else some part of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature as the Moving Principle or as that which acts Artificially for Ends so far as concerns the Bodies of Animals is either the whole Soul or else some Part of it But afterward he determines more particularly that the Plastick Nature is not the whole Soul in Animals but only some part of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Nature in Animals properly so called is some Lower Power or Faculty lodged in their respective Souls whether Sensitive or Rational And that there is Plastick Nature in the Souls of Animals the same Aristotle elsewhere affirms and proves after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is that which in the Bodies of Animals holds together such things as of their own Nature would otherwise move contrary ways and flie asunder as Fire and Earth which would be distracted and dissipated the one tending upwards the other downwards were there not something to hinder them now if there be any such thing this must be the Soul which is also the Cause of Nourishment and Augmentation Where the Philosopher adds that though some were of Opinion that Fire was that which was the Cause of Nourishment and Augmentation in Animals yet this was indeed but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only the Concause or Instrument and not simply the Cause but rather the Soul And to the same purpose he philosophizeth elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither is Concoction by which Nourishment is made in Animals done without the Soul nor without Heat for all things are done by Fire And certainly it seems very agreeable to the Phaenomena to acknowledge something in the Bodies of Animals Superiour to Mechanism as that may well be thought to be which keeps the more fluid parts of them constantly in the same Form and Figure so as not to be enormously altered in their Growth by disproportionate nourishment that which restores Flesh that was lost consolidates dissolved Continuities Incorporates the newly received Nourishment and joyns it Continuously with the preexistent parts of Flesh and Bone which regenerates and repairs Veins consumed or cut off which causes Dentition in so regular a manner and that not only in Infants but also Adult persons that which casts off Excrements and dischargeth Superfluities which makes things seem ungrateful to an Interiour Sense that were notwithstanding pleasing to the Taste That Nature of Hippocrates that is the Curatrix of Diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that Archeus of the Chymists or Paracelsians to which all Medicaments are but Subservient as being able to effect nothing of themselves without it I say there seems to be such a Principle as this in the Bodies of Animals which is not Mechanical but Vital and therefore since Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity we may with Aristotle conclude it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain part of the Soul of those Animals or a Lower Inconscious Power lodged in them 23. Besides this Plastick Nature which is in Animals forming their several Bodies Artificially as so many Microcosms or Little Worlds there must be also a general Plastick Nature in the Macrocosm the whole Corporeal Universe that which makes all things thus to conspire every where and agree together into one Harmony Concerning which Plastick Nature of the Universe the Author de Mundo writes after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Power passing thorough all things ordered and formed the whole World Again he calls the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit and a Living and Generative Nature and plainly declares it to be a thing distinct from the Deity but Subordinate to it and dependent on it But Aristotle himself in that genuine Work of his before mentioned speaks clearly and positively concerning this Plastick Nature of the Universe as well as that of Animals in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seemeth that as there is Art in Artificial things so in the things of Nature there is another such like Principle or Cause which we our selves partake of in the same manner as we do of Heat and Cold from the Vniverse Wherefore it is more probable that the whole World was at fiâ—st made by such a Cause as this if at least it were made and that it is still conserved by the same than that Mortal Animals should be so For there is much more of Order and determinate Regularity in the Heavenly Bodies than in our selves but more of Fortuitousness and inconstant Regularity among these Mortal things Notwithstanding which some there are who though they cannot but acknowledge that the Bodies of Animals were all framed by an Artificial Nature yet they will needs contend that the System of the Heavens sprung merely from Fortune and Chance although there be not the least appearance of Fortuitousness or Temerity in it And then he sums up all into this Conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore it is manifest that there is some such thing as that which we call Nature that is that there is not only an Artificial Methodical and Plastick Nature in Animals by which their respective Bodies are Framed and Conserved but also that there is such a General Plastick Nature likewise in the Vniverse by which the Heavens
and whole World are thus Artificially Ordered and Disposed 24. Now whereas Aristotle in the forecited Words tells us that we partake of Life and Understanding from that in the Universe after the same manner as we partake of Heat and Cold from that Heat and Cold that is in the Universe It is observable that this was a Notion borrowed from Socrates as we understand both from Xenophon and Plato that Philosopher having used it as an Argumentation to prove a Deity And the Sence of it is represented after this manner by the Latin Poet Principio Coelum ac Terram Campósque Liquentes Lucentémque Globum Lunae Titaniáque Astra Spiritus intus alit totósque Infusa per Artus Mens agitat Molem Magno se Corpore miscet Inde Hominum Pecudúmque Genus Vitaeque Volantûm From whence it may be collected that Aristotle did suppose this Plastick Nature of the Vniverse to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Either Part of some Mundane Soul that was also Conscious and Intellectual as that Plastick Nature in Animals is or at least some Inferiour Principle depending on such a Soul And indeed whatever the Doctrine of the modern Peripateticks be we make no doubt at all but that Aristotle himself held the Worlds Animation or a Mundane Soul Forasmuch as he plainly declares himself concerning it elsewhere in his Book De Coelo after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we commonly think of the Heavens as nothing else but Bodies and Monads having only a certain Order but altogether inaâ—imate whâ—râ—as we ought on the contrary to conceive of them as partaking of Life and Action that is as being endued with a Rational or Intellectual Life For so Simplicius there rightly expounds the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we ought to think of the Heavens as Animated with a Rational Soul and thereby partaking of Action and Rational Life For saith he though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be affirmed not only of Irrational Souls but also of Inanimate Bodies yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does only denominate Rational Beings But further to take away all manner of scruple or doubt concerning this business that Philosopher before in the same Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affirmeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Heaven is Animated and hath a Principle of Motion within it self Where by the Heaven as in many other places of Aristotle and Plato is to be understood the Whole World There is indeed One Passage in the same Book De Coelo which at first sight and slightly considered may seem to contradict this again and therefore probably is that which hath led many into a contrary Perswasion that Aristotle denied the Worlds Animation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is not reasonable neither to think that the Heavens continue to Eternity moved by a Soul necessitating or violently compelling them Nor indeed is it possible that the Life of such a Soul should be pleasurable or happy Forasmuch as the continual Violent Motion of a Body naturally inclining to move another way must needs be a very unquiet thing and void of all Mental Repose especially when there is no such Relaxation as the Souls of Mortal Animals have by sleep and therefore such a Soul of the World as this must of necessity be condemned to an Eternal Ixionian Fate But in these Words Aristotle does not deny the Heavens to be moved by a Soul of their own which is positively affirmed by him elsewhere but only by such a Soul as should Violently and Forcibly agitate or drive them round contrary to their own Natural Inclination whereby in the mean time they tended downwards of themselves towards the Centre And his sence concerning the Motion of the Heavens is truly represented by Simplicius in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole World or Heaven being as well a natural as an Animalish Body is moved properly by Soul but yet by means of Nature also as an Instrument so that the Motion of it is not Violent But whereas Aristotle there insinuates as if Plato had held the Heavens to be moved by a Soul violently contrary to their Nature Simplicius though sufficiently addicted to Aristotle ingenuously acknowledges his Error herein and vindicating Plato from that Imputation shews how he likewise held a Plastick Nature as well as a Mundane Soul and that amongst his Ten Instances of Motion the Ninth is that of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which always moves another being it self changed by something else as the Tenth that of the Mundane Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which originally both moves it self and other things as if his Meaning in that place were That though Nature be a Life and Internal Energy yet it acts Subserviently to a Higher Soul as the First Original Mover But the Grand Objection against Aristotle's holding the Worlds Animation is still behind namely from that in his Metaphysicks where he determines the Highest Starry Heaven to be moved by an Immoveable Mover commonly supposed to be the Deity it self and no Soul of the World and all the other Spheres likewise to be moved by so many Separate Intelligencies and not by Souls To which we reply that indeed Aristotle's First Immoveable Mover is no Mundane Soul but an Abstract Intellect Separate from Matter and the very Deity it self whose manner of moving the Heavens is thus described by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It Moveth only as being Loved wherefore besides this Supreme Vnmoved Mover that Philosopher supposed another Inferiour Moved Mover also that is a Mundane Soul as the Proper and Immediate Efficient Cause of the Heavenly Motions of which he speaks after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which it self being moved objectively or by Appetite and Desire of the First Good moveth other things And thus that safe and sure-footed Interpreter Alex. Aphrodisius expounds his Masters Meaning That the Heaven being Animated and therefore indeed Moved by an Internal Principle of its own is notwithstanding Originally moved by a certain Immoveable and Separate Nature which is above Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both by its contemplating of it and having an Appetite and Desire of assimilating it self thereunto Aristotle seeming to have borrowed this Notion from Plato who makes the Constant Regular Circumgyration of the Heavens to be an Imitation of the Motion or Energy of Intellect So that Aristotle's First Mover is not properly the Efficient but only the Final and Objective Cause of the Heavenly Motions the Immediate Efficient Cause thereof being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul and Nature Neither may this be Confuted from those other Aristotelick Intelligences of the Lesser Orbs that Philosopher conceiving in like manner concerning them that they were also the Abstract Minds or Intellects of certain other inferiour Souls which moved their several Respective Bodies or Orbs Circularly and Uniformly in a kind of Imitation of them For this plainly appears from hence in that he
Theologer only Xenophanes his One and All being nothing else but God Whom he proved to be One solitary Being from hence because God is the Best and Most Powerful of all things and there being many degrees of Entity there must needs be something Supreme to rule over all Which Best and most Powerful Being can be but One. He also did demonstrate it to be Vnmade as likewise to be neither Finite nor Infinite in a certain sence as he removed both Motion and Rest from God Wherefore when he saith that God always remaineth or resteth the same he understands not this of that Rest which is opposite to Motion and which belongs to such things as may be moved but of a certain other Rest which is both above that Motion and its Contrary From whence it is evident that Xenophanes supposed as Sextus the Philosopher also affirmeth God to be Incorporeal a Being unlike to all other things and therefore of which no Image could be made And now we understand that Aristotle dealt not ingenously with Xenophanes when from that expression of his that God was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Spheryform he would infer that Xenophanes made God to be a Body and nothing else but the Round Corporeal World Animated which yet was repugnant also to another Physical Hypothesis of this same Xenophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there were Infinite Suns and Moons by which Moons he understood Planets affirming them to be all habitable Earths as Cicero tells us Wherefore as Simplicius resolves God was said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Spheryform by Xenophanes only in this sence as being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every way like and uniform However it is plain that Xenophanes asserting One God who was All or the Universe could not acknowledge a Multitude of Partial Self-existent Deities Heraclitus was no Clear but a Confounded Philosopher he being neither a Good Naturalist nor Metaphysician and therefore it is very hard or rather impossible to reconcile his Several Opinions with one another Which is a thing the less to be wondred at because amongst the rest of his Opinions this also is said to have been One That Contradictories may be true and his writings were accordingly as Plato intimates stuft with Unintelligible Mysterious Non-sence For First he is affirmed to have acknowledged no other Substance besides Body and to have maintained That All things did Flow and nothing Stand or remain the same and yet in his Epistles according to the common opinion of Philosophers at that time doth he suppose the Prae Post-existence of Humane Souls in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. My soul seemeth to vaticinate and presage its approaching dismission and freedom from this its prison and looking out as it were through the cracks and cranies of this body to remember those its native Regions or Countries from whence descending it was cloathed with this Flowing Mortal Body which is made up and constipated of Flegm Choler Serum Blood Nerves Bones and Flesh. And not only so but he also there acknowledgeth the Souls Immortality which Stoicks allowing its Permanency after Death for some time at least and to the next Conflagration did deny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Body shall be fatally changed to something else but my Soul shall not die or perish but being an Immortal thing shall fly away mounting upwards to Heaven those Etherial Houses shall receive me and I shall no longer converse with men but Gods Again though Heraclitus asserted the Fatal Necessity of all things yet notwithstanding was he a strict Moralist and upon this accompt highly esteemed by the Stoicks who followed him in this and other things and he makes no small pretence to it himself in his Epistle to Hermodorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have also had my difficult Labours and Conflicts as well as Hercules I hâ—ve conquer'd Pleasures I have conquer'd Riches I have conquer'd Ambition I have subdued Cowardise and Flattery neither Fear nor Intemperance can control me Grief and Anger are afraid of me and fly away from me These are the Victories for which I am crowned not by Eurystheus but as being made Master of my self Lastly though Heraclitus made Fire to be the First Principle of all things and hath some odd Passages imputed to him yet notwithstanding was he a Devout Religionist he supposing that Fiery Matter of the whole Universe Animantem esse Deum to be an Animal and God And as he acknowledged Many Gods according to that which Aristotle recordeth of him That when some passing by had espied him sitting in a smoaky Cottage he bespake them after this manner Introite nam hic Dii sunt Come in I pray for here there are Gods also he supposing all places to be full of Gods Demons and Souls so was he an undoubted Asserter of One Supreme Numen that governs all things and that such as could neither be represented by Images nor confined to Temples For after he had been accused of Impiety by Euthycles he writes to Hermodorus in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But O you unwise and unlearned teach us first what God is that so you may be believed in accusing me of Impiety Tell us where God is Is he shut up within the Walls of Temples Is this your Piety to place God in the dark or to make him a Stony God O you unskilful know ye not that God is not made with hands and hath no basis or fulcrum to stand upon nor can be inclosed within the Walls of any Temple the whole World variegated with Plants Animals and Stars being his Temple And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Am I Impious O Euthycles who alone know what God is Is there no God without Altars or are Stones the only witnesses of him No his own Works give testimony to him and principally the Sun Night and Day bear witness of him the Earth bringing forth fruits declares him the Circle of the Moon that was made by him is a Heavenly Testimony of him In the next place Anaxagoras the Clazomenian Philosopher comes to be considered whose Predecessors of the Ionick Order after Thales as Anaximander Anaximenes and Hippo were as hath been already observed Materialists and Atheists they acknowledging no other Substance besides Body and resolving all things into the Motions Passions and Affections of it Whence was that cautious advice given by Jamblichus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prefer the Italick Philosophy which contemplates Incorporeal Substances by themselves before the Ionick which principally considers Bodies And Anaxagoras was the first of these Ionicks who went out of that Road for seeing a necessity of some other Cause besides the Material Matter being not able so much as to move it self and much less if it could by Fortuitous Motion to bring it self into an Orderly System and Compages he therefore introduced Mind into the Cosmopoeia as the Principal Cause of the Universe
That Perfect Happiness is a Speculative or Contemplative Energy maybe made manifest from hence because we account the Gods most of all Happy Now what Moral Actions can we attribute to them Whether those of Justice amongst one another as if it were not ridiculous to suppose the Gods to make Contracts and Bargains among themselves and the like Or else those of Fortitude and Magnanimity As if the Gods had their Fears Dangers and Difficulties to encounter withal Or those of Liberality as if the Gods had some such thing as Money too and there were among them Indigent to receive Alms. Or Lastly shall we attribute to them the Actions of Temperance but would not this be a Reproachful Commendation of the Gods to say that they conquer and master their vitious Lusts and appetites Thus running through all the Actions of Moral Virtue we find them to be small and mean and unworthy of the Gods And yet we all believe the Gods to live and consequently to Act unless we should suppose them perpetually to sleep as Endymion did Wherefore if all Moral Actions and therefore much more Mechanical Operations be taken away from that which Lives and Vnderstands what is there left to it besides Contemplation To which he there adds a further Argument also of the same thing Because other Animals who are depriv'd of Contemplation partake not of Happiness For to the Gods all their Life is Happy to men so far forth as it appoacheth to Contemplation but brute Animals that do not at all contemplate partake not at all of Happiness Where Aristotle plainly acknowledges a Plurality of Gods and that there is a certain Higher Rank of Beings above Men. And by the way we may here observe how from those words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All men suppose the Gods to live and from what follows in him that Opinion of some late Writers may be confuted that the Pagans generally worshipped the Inanimate Parts of the World as true and proper Gods Aristotle here telling us that they Universally agreed in this that the Gods were Animals Living and Understanding Beings and such as are therefore capable of Contemplation Moreover Aristotle in his Politicks writing of the means to conserve a Tyranny as he calls it sets down this for one amongst the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For a Prince or Monarch to seem to be always more than ordinarily sedulous about the Worship of the Gods because men are less afraid of suffering any Injustice from such Kings or Princes as they think to be Religiously disposed and devouâ—ly affected towards the Gods Neither will they be so apt to make conspiracies against such they supposing that the Gods will be their Abettors and Assistants Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to be taken in a good sence and in way of Commendation for a Religious Person though we must confess that Aristotle himself does not here write so much like a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Meer Politician Likewise in his First Book De Coelo he writeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All men have an Opinion or Perswasion That there are Gods And they who think so as well Bvrbarians as Greeks attribute the Highest place to that which is Divine as supposing the Immortal Heavens to be most accommodate to Immortal Gods Wherefore if there be any Divinity as unquestionably there is the Body of the Heavens must be acknowledged to be of a different kind from that of the Elements And in the following Book he tells us again That it is most agreeable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to that Vaticination which all men have in their minds concerning the Gods to suppose the Heaven to be a Quintessence distinct from the Elements and therefore Incorruptible Where Aristotle affirmeth that men have generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Vaticination in their Minds concerning Gods to wit that Themselves are not the Highest Beings but that there is a Rank of Intellectual Beings superiour to men the chief of which is the Supreme Deity concerning whom there is indeed the Greatest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Vaticination of all We acknowledge it to be very true that Aristotle does not so much insist upon Demons as Plato and the generality of Pagans in that Age did and probably he had not so great a Belief of their Existence though he doth make mention of them also as when in his Metaphysicks speaking of Bodies compounded of the Elements he instanceth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animals and Demons and elsewhere he insinuates them to have Airy Bodies in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some perhaps would demand a Reason why the Soul that is in the Air is better and more immortal than that in Animals However whether Aristotle believed these Lower Demon-Gods or no it is certain that he acknowledged a Higher kind of Gods namely the Intelligences of all the Several Spheres if not also the Souls of them and the Stars which Spheres being according to the Astronomy then received Forty Seven in number he must needs acknowledge at least so many Gods Besides which Aristotle seems also to suppose another sort of Incorporeal Gods without the Heavens where according to him there is neither Body nor Place nor Vacuum nor Time in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They who exist there are such as are neither apt to be in a Place nor to wax old with Time nor is there any change at all in those things above the Highest Sphere but they being impassible and unalterable lead the best and most self-sufficient Life throughout all Eternity But this Passage is not without suspicion of being Supposititious Notwithstanding all which that Aristotle did assert One Supreme and Vniversal Numen is a thing also unquestionable For though it be granted that he useth the Singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times Indefinitly for a God in General or any Divine Being and that such places as these have been oftentimes mistaken by Christian Writers as if Aristotle had meant the Supreme God in them yet it is nevertheless certain that he often useth those words also Emphatically for One only Supreme God As in that of his Metaphysicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God seemeth to be a Cause and certain Principle to all things And also in his De Anima where he speaks of the Soul of the Heavens and its Circular Motion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither is that a good Cause of the Circular Motion of the Heavens which they that is the Platonists call the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is Better that it should be so than otherwise as if God therefore ought to have made the Soul of the World such as to move the Heaven circularly because it was better for it to move so than otherwise but this being a Speculation that properly belongs to some other Science we
World especially since in so many other places of his Writings he plainly owns a Divine Monarchy We pass from M. Tullius Cicero to M. Terentius Varro his Equal a man famous for Polymathy or Multifarious Knowledge and reputed unquestionably though not the most Eloquent yet the most Learned of all the Romans at least as to Antiquity He wrote One and Forty Books concerning the Antiquities of Humane and Divine things wherein he transcended the Roman Pontifices themselves and discovered their Ignorance as to many points of their Religion In which Books he distinguished Three Kinds of Theology the First Mythical or Fabulous the Second Physical or Natural and the Last Civil or Popular The First being most accomodate to the Theatre or Stage the Second to the World or the Wiser men in it the Third to Cities or the Generality of the Civilized Vulgar Which was agreeable also to the Doctrine of Scaevola that Learned Pontifex concerning Three Sorts of Gods Poetical Philosophical and Political As for the Mythical and Poetical Theology it was censured after this manner by Varro In eo sunt multa contra Dignitatem Naturam immortalium ficta In hoc enim est ut Deus alius ex capite alius ex femore sit alius ex guttis sanguinis natus In hoc ut Dii furati sint ut adulteraverint ut servierint homini Denique in hoc omnia Diis attribuuntur quae non modo in hominem sed etiam in contemptissimum hominem cadere possunt That according to the Literal Sence it conteined many things contrary to the Dignity and Nature of Immortal Beings The Genealogy of one God being derived from the Head of another from the Thigh of another from drops of Blood Some being represented as Thieves others as Adulterers c. and all things attributed to the Gods therein that are not only incident to men but even to the most contemptible and flagitious of them And as for the Second the Natural Theology which is the True this Varro conceived to be above the capacity of Vulgar Citizens and that therefore it was expedient there should be another Theology calculated more accommodate for them and of a middle kind betwixt the Natural and the Fabulous which is that which is called Civil For he affirmed Multa esse vera quae vulgo scire non sit utile quaedam quae tametsi falsa sint aliter existimare populum expediat that there were many things true in Religion which it was not convenient for the Vulgar to know and again some things which though false yet it was expedient they should be believed by them As Scaevola the Roman Pontifex in like manner would not have the Vulgar to know that the True God had neither Sex nor Age nor Bodily Members Expedire igitur existimat saith St. Austin of him falli in Religione Civitates quod dicere etiam in Libris Rerum Divinarum ipse Varro non dubitat Scaevola therefore judgeth it expedient that Cities should be deceived in their Religion which also Varro himself doubteth not to affirm in his Books of Divine Things Wherefore this Varro though disapproving the Fabulous Theology yet out of a pious design as he conceived did he endeavour to assert as much as he could the Civil Theology then received amongst the Romans and to vindicate the same from Contempt yet nevertheless so as that Si eam Civitatem novam constitueret ex Naturae potiùs Formulâ Deos Deorum nomina se fuisse dedicaâ—urum non dubitet confiteri If he were to constitute a New Rome himself he doubts not to confess but that he would dedicate Gods and the Names of Gods after another manner more agreeably to the Form of Nature or Natural Theology Now what Varro's own sence was concerning God he freely declared in those Books of Divine Things namely That he was the Great Soul and Mind of the whole World Thus St. Austin Hi soli Varroni videntur animadvertisse quid esset Deus qui crediderunt cum esse Animam Motu ac Ratione mundum gubernantem These alone seem to Varro to have understood what God is who believed him to be a Soul governing the whole World by Motion and Reason So that Varro plainly asserted One Supreme and Vniversal Numen he erring only in this as St. Austin conceives that he called him A Soul and not the Creator of Soul or a Pure and Abstract Mind But as Varro acknowledged One Vniversal Numen the Whole Animated World or rather the Soul thereof which also he affirmed to be called by several Names as in the Earth Tellus in the Sea Neptune and the like so did he also admit together with the rest of the Pagans other Particular Gods which were to him nothing but Parts of the World Animated with Souls Superiour to men A summo Circuitu coeli usque ad Circulum Lunae aethereas Animas esse Astra ac Stellas eosque coelestes Deos non modo intelligi esse sed etiam videri Inter Lunae verò gyrum nimborum Caeumina Aereas esse Animas sed eas animo non oculis videri vocari Heroas Lares Genios That from the highest Circuit of the heavens to the Sphere of the Moon there are Ethereal Souls or Animals the Stars which are not only understood but also seen to be Celestial Gods And between the Sphere of the Moon and the Middle Region of the Air there are Aereal Souls or Animals which though not seen by our Eyes yet are discovered by our Mind and called Heroes Lares and Genii So that according to Varro the only True Natural Gods were as himself also determined Anima Mundi ac Partes ejus First the great Soul and Mind of the whole world which comprehendeth all and secondly the Parts of the World Animated superiour to men Which Gods also he affirmed to be worshipped Castiùs more purely and chastly without Images as they were by the first Romans for one hundred and seventy years he concluding qui primi simulachra Deorum populi posuerunt eos civitatibus suis metum dempsisse errorem addidisse prudenter existimans saith St. Austin Deos facilè posse in Simulachrorum stoliditate contemni That those Nations who first set up Images of the Gods did both take away Fear from their Cities and add Errour to them he wisely Judging that the Foppery of Images would easily render their Gods contemptible L. Annaeus Seneca the Philosopher was contemporary with our Saviour Christ and his Apostles who though frequently acknowledging a Plurality of Gods did nevertheless plainly assert One Supreme he not only speaking of him Singularly and by way of Eminency but also plainly describing him as such as when he calls him Formatorem Vniversi Rectorem Arbitrum Custodem Mundi Ex quo suspensa sunt omnia Animum ac Spiritum Vniversi Mundani hujus operis Dominum Artificem Cui nomen
Gods placed in the â—ighest Aether Plato thinks to be true incorporeal Animal without beginning or end Eternal happy in themselves without any external good The Parent of which Gods who is the Lord and Author of all things and who is alone free from all bonds of doing and suffering why should I go about in words to describe him since Plato who was endued with most Heavenly eloquence equal to the Immortal Gods does often declare that this Highest God by reason of his excess of Majesty is both ineffable and Incomprehensible From which words of Apuleius it is plain that according to him the Twelve Consentes and all the other Invisible Gods were derived from One Original Deity as their Parent and Author But then if you demand what Gods of Plato these should be to which Apuleius would here accommodate the Civil and Poetick Gods contained in those Two Verses of Ennius Juno Vesta Minerva Ceres Diana Venus Mars Mercurius Jovi ' Neptunus Vulcanus Apollo and the rest of this kind that is all their other Gods properly so called Invisible We reply that these are no other than Plato's Ideas or First Paradigms and Patterns of things in the Archetypal World which is the Divine Intellect and his Second Hypostasis derived from his first Original Deity and most Simple Monad For as Plato writeth in his Timaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Sensible World must nâ—eds be the Image of another Intelligible one And again afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Animal was the Pattern according to whose likeness he that made this great Animal of the World framed it certainly we must not think it to be any Particular Animal since nothing can be perfect which is made according to an imperfect copy Let us therefore conclude it to be that Animal which containeth all other animals in it as its Parts For that Intelligible World containeth all Intelligible Animals in it in the same manner as this Sensible World doth us and other sensible animals Wherefore Plato himself here and elsewhere speaking obscurely of this Intelligible World and the Ideas of it no wonder if many of his Pagan followers have absurdly made so many Distinct Animals and Gods of them Amongst whom Apuleius accordingly would refer all the Civil and Poetick Gods of the Pagans I mean their Gods properly so called Invisible to this Intelligible world of Plato's and those several Ideas of it Neither was Apuleius singular in this but others of the Pagan Theologers did the like as for example Julian in his Book against the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato indeed speaketh of certain Visible Gods the Sun and the Moon and the Stars and the Heaven but these are all but Images of other Invisible Gods that Visible Sun which we see with our eyes is but an Image of another Intelligible and Invisible One so likewise the Visible Moon and every one of the Stars are but the Images and Resemblances of another Moon and of other Stars Intelligible Wherefore Plato acknowledged also these other Invisible Gods inexisting and co-existing with the Demiurgus from whom they were generated and produced That Demiurgus in him thus bespeaking these Invisible and Intelligible Gods Ye Gods of Gods that is Ye Invisible Gods who are the Gods and Causes of the Visible Gods There is one common maker therefore of both these kinds of Gods who first of all made a Heaven Earth Sea Stars in the Intelligible World as the Archetypes Paradigms of these in the Sensible Where S. Cyril in his Confutation writeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This our excellent â—â—lian by his Intelligible and Invisible Gods seems here to mean 〈◊〉 ideas which Plato sometimes contends to be Substances and to subsist alone by themselves and sometimes again determineth to be nothing but Notions or Conceptions in the mind of God But however the matter be the skilful in this kind of learning affirm that these Ideas have been rejected by Plato 's own Disciples Aristotle discarding them as Figments or at least such as being meer notions could have no real causality and influence upon things But the meaning of this Pagan Theology may be more fully understood from what the same St. Cyril thus further objecteth against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sence whereof seems to be this Julian addeth that the God of the Vniverse who made Heaven and Earth is alike the Demiurgus both of these Sensible and of the other Intelligible things If therefore the Ingenit God be alike the Creator of both how can he affirm those things that are Created by him to co-exist with and inexist in him How can that which is created co-exist with the Ingenit God but much less can it inexist in him For we Christians indeed affirm that the Vnmade Word of God doth of necessity co-exist with and inexist in the Father it proceeding from him not by way of Creation but of Generation But this defender of Platonick trifles acknowledging the Supreme God to be Ingenit affirmeth notwithstanding those things which were Made and Created by him to inexist in him thus mingling and confounding all things Where notwithstanding Julian and the Platonick Pagans would in all probability reply that those Ideas of the Intelligible and Archetypal World which is the First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Intellect proceeding from the Highest Hypostasis and Original Deity by way of Necessary and Eternal Emanation are no more to be accounted Creatures than the Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore might with as little absurdity be said to exist With and In the First Original Deity But besides the same Julian elsewhere in that Book of his accommodates this Platonick Notion also to the Pagan Gods in Particular in like manner as Apuleius had done before he writing of Aesculapius after this canting way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Jupiter amongst the Intelligible things generated out of himself Aesculapius and by the Generative Life of the Sun manifested him here upon Earth he coming down from Heaven and appearing in a Humane Form first about Epidaurus and from thence extending his salutary power or vertue over the whole Earth Where Aesculapius is First of all the Eternal Idea of the Medicinal Art or Skill generated by the Supreme God in the Intelligible world which afterward by the Vivifick Influence of the Sun was Incarnated and appeared in a humane form at Epidaurus This is the Doctrine of that Julian who was so great an Opposer of the Incarnation of the Eternal Logos in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Neither was this Doctrine of Many Intelligible Gods and Powers Eternal of which the Archetypal World consisteth first invented by Platonick Pagans after the times of Christianity as some might suspect but that there was such a thing extant before amongst them also may be concluded from this passage of Philo's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though God be but one yet hath he about himself Innumerable Auxiliatory
Powers all of them salutiferous and procuring the good of that which is made c. Moreover by these Powers and out of them is the Incorporeal and Intelligible World compacted which is the Archetype of this visible World that consisting of Invisible Ideas as this doth of visible Bodies Wherefore some admiring with a kind of astonishment the Nature of both these worlds have not only Deified the whole of them but also the most excellent parts in them as the Sun and the Moon and the whole Heaven which they scruple not at all to call Gods Where Philo seems to speak of a double Sun Moon and Heaven as Julian did the one Sensible the other Intelligible Moreover Plotinus himself sometimes complies with this Notion he calling the Ideas of the Divine Intellect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intelligible Gods as in that place before cited where he exhorteth men ascending upward above the Soul of the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To praise the Intelligible Gods that is the Divine Intellect which as he elsewhere written is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and Many We have now given a full account of Apuleius his sence in that Book De Deo Socratis concerning the Civil and Poetical Pagan Gods which was not to assert a Multitude of Substantial and Eternal Deities or Minds Independent in them but only to reduce the Vulgar Theology of the Pagans both their Civil and Poetical into some conformity with the Natural Real and Philosophick Theology and this according to Platonick Principles Wherein many other of the Pagan Platonists both before and after Christianity concurred with him they making the Many Pagan Invisible Gods to be really nothing but the Eternal Ideas of the Divine Intellect called by them the Parts of the Intelligible and Archetypal World which they supposed to have been the Paradigms and Patterns according to which this Sensible World and all Particular things therein were made and upon which they depended they being only Participations of them Wherefore though this may well be look'd upon as a Monstrous Extravagancy in these Platonick Philosophers thus to talk of the Divine Ideas or the Intelligible and Archetypal Paradigms of things not only as Substantial but also as so many several Animals Persons and Gods it being their humour thus upon all slight occasions to multiply Gods yet nevertheless must it be acknowledged that they did at the very same time declare all these to have been derived from One Supreme Deity and not only so but also to exist in it as they did likewise at other times when unconcerned in this business of their Pagan Polytheism freely acknowledge all these intelligible Ideas to be Really nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conceptions in the Mind of God or the First Intellect though not such Slight Accidental and Evanid ones as those Conceptions and Modifications of our humane Souls are and consequently not to be so many Distinct Substances Persons and Gods much less Independent Ones but only so many Partial Considerations of the Deity What a Rabble of Invisible Gods and Goddesses the Pagans had besides those their Dii Nobiles and Dii Majorum Gentium their Noble and Greater Gods which were the Consentes and Selecti hath been already showed out of St. Austin from Varro and others as namely Dea Mena Deus Vagitanus Dea Levana Dea Cunina Diva Rumina Diva Potina Diva Educa Diva Paventina Dea Venilia Dea Agenoria Dea Stimula Dea Strenua Dea Numeria Deus Consus Dea Sentia Deus Jugatinus Dea Virginensis Deus Mutinus To which might be added more out of other places of the same St. Austin as Dea Deverra Deus Domiducus Deus Domitius Dea Manturna Deus Pater Subigus Dea Mater Prema Dea Pertunda Dea Rusina Dea Collatina Dea Vallonia Dea Seia Dea Segetia Dea Tutilina Deus Nodotus Dea Volutina Dea Patelena Dea Hostilina Dea Flora Dea Lacturtia Dea Matura Dea Runcina Besides which there are yet so many more of these Pagan Gods and Goddesses extant in other Writers as that they cannot be all mentioned or enumerated by us divers whereof have Very Small Mean and Contemptible Offices assigned to them as their names for the most part do imply some of which are such as that they were not fit to be here interpreted From whence it plainly appears that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing at all without a God to these Pagans they having so strong a Perswasion that Divine Providence extended it self to all things and expressing it after this manner by assigning to Every thing in Nature and Every part of the World and whatsoever was done by men some particular God or Goddess by name to preside over it Now that the Intelligent Pagans should believe in good earnest that all these Invisible Gods and Goddesses of theirs were so many Several Substantial Minds or Vnderstanding Beings Eternal and Vnmade really existing in the World is a thing in it self Vtterly Incredible For how could any possibly perswade themselves that there was One Eternal Unmade Mind or Spirit which for example Essentially presided over The Rockings of Infants Cradles and nothing else another over the Sweeping of Houses another over Ears of Corn another over the Husks of Grain and another over the Knots of Straw and Grass and the like And the Case is the very same for those other Noble Gods of theirs as they call them the Consentes and Selecti since there can be no reason given why those should all of them be so many Substantial and Eternal Spirits Self-existent or Vnmade if none of the other were such Wherefore if these be not all so many Several Substantial and Eternal Minds so many Selfexisting and Independent Deities then must they of necessity be either Several Partial Considerations of the Deity viz. the Several Manifestations of the Divine Power and Providence Personated or else Inferiour Ministers of the same And thus have we already shewed that the more High-flown and Platonick Pagans as Julian Apuleius and others understood these Consentes and Select Gods and all the other Invisible ones to be really nothing else but the Ideas of the Intelligible and Archetypal World which is the Divine Intellect that is indeed but Partial Considerations of the Deity as Vertually and Exemplarily conteining all things whilst others of them going in a more plain and easie way concluded these Gods of theirs to be all of them but several Names and Notions of the One Supreme Deity according to the Various Manifestations of its Power in the world as Seneca expresly affirmeth not only concerning Fate Nature and Fortune c. but also Liber Pater Hercules and Mercury before mentioned by him that they were Omnia ejusdem Dei Nomina variè utentis suâ potestate all Names of One and the same God as diversly using his power and as Zeno in Laertius concludes of all the rest or else which amounts to the same thing that they were the Several Powers and Vertues
of an Invisible Deity and therefore unless they were detained in a way of Religion by such a worship of God as was accommodate and suitable to the lowness of their apprehensions would unavoidably run into Atheism Nay the most Philosophical Wits amongst them confessing God to be Incomprehensible to them therefore seemed themselves also to stand in need of some Sensible Props to lean upon This very account is given by the Pagans of their practice in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God being Incorporeally and Invisibly present in all things and Pervading or Passing through all things it was reasonable that men should worship him by and through those things that are Visible and Manifest Plato likewise represents this as the opinion of the generality of Pagans in his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as for the Greatest God and the Whole World men should not busily curiously search after the knowledge thereof nor pragmatically enquire into the causes of things it being not pious for them so to do The meaning whereof seems to be no other than this that men ought to content themselves to worship God in his Works and in this Visible World and not trouble themselves with any further curious Speculations concerning the Nature of that which is Incomprehensible to them Which though Plato professeth his dislike of yet does that Philosopher himself elsewhere plainly allow of worshipping the First Invisible God in those Visible Images which he hath made of himself the Sun and Moon and Stars Maximus Tyrius doth indeed exhort men to ascend up in the Contemplation of God above all Corporeal Things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The End of your Journey saith he is not the Heaven nor those shining Bodies in the Heaven for though those be beautiful and Divine and the Genuine Off-spring of that Supreme Deity framed after the best manner yet ought these all to be transcended by you and your head lifted up far above the Starry Heavens c. Nevertheless he closes his discourse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But if you be too weak and unable to contemplate that Father and Maker of all things it will be sufficient for you for the present to behold his Works and to Worship his Progeny or Off-spring which is various and manifold For there are not only according to the Boeotian Poet Thirty Thousand Gods all the Sons and Friends of the Supreme God but innumerable And such in the Heaven are the Stars in the Aether Demons c. Lastly Socrates himself also did not only allow of this way of worshipping God because himself is Invisible in his works that are Visible but also commend the same to Euthydemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That I speak the truth your self shall know if you will not stay expecting till you see the Forms of the Gods themselves but count it sufficient for you beholding their works to worship and adore them Which he afterward particularly applies to the Supreme God who made and containeth the whole World that being Invisible he hath made himsâ—lf Visible in his Works and consequently was to be worshipped and adred in them Whether Socrates and Plato and their genuine Followers would extend this any further than to the Animated Parts of the World such as the Sun Moon and Stars were to them we cannot certainly determine But we think it very probable that many of those Pagans who are charged with worshipping Inanimate Things and particularly the Elements did notwithstanding direct their Worship to the Spirits of those Elements as Ammianus Marcellinus tells us Julian did that is Chiefly the Souls of them all the Elements being supposed by many of these Pagans to be Animated as was before observed concerning Proclus and Partly also those Demons which they conceived to inhabit in them and to preside over the parts of them upon which account it was said by Plato and others of the Ancients that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are full of Gods and Demons XXXIII But that these Physiological Gods that is the Things of Nature Personated and Deified were not accounted by the Pagans True and Proper Gods much less Independent and Self-existent ones may further appear from hence because they did not only thus Personate and Deifie Things Substantial and Inanimate Bodies but also meer Accidents and Affections of Substances As for example First the Passions of the Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Greg. Nazianzen They accounted the Passions of the Mind to be Gods or at least worshipped them as Gods that is built Temples or Altars to their Names Thus was Hope not only a Goddess to the Poet Theognis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where he Fancifully makes her to be the only Numen that was left to men in Heaven as if the other Gods had all forsaken those Mansions and the World but also had Real Temples Dedicated to her at Rome as that consecrated by Attillius in the Forum Olitorium and others elsewhere wherein she was commonly pictured or feigned as a Woman covered over with a green Pall and holding a Cup in her hand Thus also Love and Desire were Gods or Goddesses too as likewise were Care Memory Opinion Truth Vertue Piety Faith Justice Clemency Concord Victory c. Which Victory was together with Vertue reckoned up amongst the Gods by Plautus in the Prologue of his Amphytrio and not only so but there was an Altar erected to her also near the entrance of the Senate-house at Rome which having been once demolished Symmachus earnestly endeavoured the restauration thereof in the Reign of Theodosius he amongst other things writing thus concerning it Nemo Colendam neget quam profitetur Optandum Let no man deny that of right to be worshipped which he acknowledgeth to be wished for and to be desirable Besides all which Eccho was a Goddess to these Pagans too and so was Night to whom they sacrificed a Cock and Sleep and Death it self and very many more such Affections of things of which Vossius has collected the largest Catalogue in his eighâ—h Book De Theologia Gentili And this Personating and Deifying of Accidental Things was so familiar with these Pagans that as St. Chrysostome hath observed St. Paul was therefore said by some of the Vulgar Athenians to have been a Setter forth of strange Gods when he preached to them Jesus and the Resurrection because they supposed him not only to have made Jesus a God but also Anastasis or Resurrection a Goddess too Nay this Humour of Theologizing the Things of Nature transported these Pagans so far as to Deifie Evil things also that is things both Noxious and Vicious Of the former Pliny thus Inferi quoque in genera describuntur Morbique multae etiam Pestes dum esse placatas trepido metu cupimus Ideoque etiam publicè Febri Fanum in Palatio dedicatum est Orbonae ad aedem Larium Ara Malae Fortunoe
in way of opposition to those who think God to be nothing else but the Heaven it self and those Heavenly things which we see or the whole Sensible World Animated Wherefore Cicero that he might shew the Omnipotence of the First and Supreme God to be such as could scarcely be understood but not at all perceived by Sense he calleth whatsoever falleth under humane sight His Temple that so he that worshippeth these things as the Temple of God might in the mean time remember that the chief Worship is due to the Maker and Creator of them as also that himself ought to live in the World like a Priest or Mysta holily and religiously And thus we see that the Pagans were universally Cosmolatrae or World-worshippers in one sence or other not that they worshipped the World as a Dead and Inanimate thing but either as the Body of God or at least as the Temple or Image of him Neither of which terminated their worship in that which was Sensible and Visible only but in that great Mind or Soul which Framed and Governeth the whole World Understandingly though this was called also by them not the Nature of things but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Common Nature and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Nature of the Vniverse because it contained under it the Spermatick Reasons or Plastick Principles of the whole World Furthermore these Pagan Theists Universally acknowledging the whole World to be an Animal and that Mundane Animal also to be a God those of them who supposed it not to be the First and Highest God did consequently all conceive it as hath been already observed to be either a Second or at least a Third God And thus Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greeks do plainly affirm the whole World to be a God some of them as the Stoicks the First God others as the Platonists to whom may be added the Egyptians also the Second God though some of these Platonists call it the Third God Those of the Platonists who called the Mundane Animal or Animated World the Second God look'd upon that whole Platonick Trinity of Divine Hypostases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all but as One First God but those others of them who called it a Third God supposed a greater distinction betwixt those Three Hypostases and made so many several Gods of them the First a Monad or Simple Goodness the Second Mind or Intellect the Third Psyche or the Universal Soul which also without any more ado they concluded to be the Immediate Soul of this Corporeal World Existing likewise from Eternity with it Now this Second God which was the whole Animated World as well to the Egyptians as the Platonists was by them both said to be not only the Temple and Image but also the Son of the First God That the Egyptians called the Animated World the Son of God hath been already proved and that the other Pagans did the like also is evident from this of Celsus where he pretends that the Christians called their Jesus the Son of God in imitation of those Ancient Pagans who had styled the World so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whence these Christians came to call their Jesus the Son of God I shall now declare Namely because our Ancestors had called the World as made by God the Son of God and God Now is there not a goodly similitude think you betwixt these two Sons of God theirs and ours Upon which words of his Origen writeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celsus supposed us Christians to have borrowed this Appellation of the Son of God from the Pagans they calling the World as made by God the Son of God and God Wherefore these Pagans who look'd upon the whole Animated World only as the Second God and Son of God did unquestionably also worship the First God in the World and that probably by Personating and Deifying his several Parts and Members too Thus do we understand what that was which gave occasion to this mistake of late Writers that the Pagans worshipped the Inanimate Parts of the World as such for True and Proper Gods viz. their not perceiving that they worshipped these only as the Parts or Living Members of One Great Mundane Animal which was to them if not the First God yet at least the Second God the Temple Image and Son of the First God And now have we as we conceive given a full account of the Seeming Polytheism of the Pagans not only in their Poetical and Fabulous but also their Political or Civil Theology the Former of which was nothing but Phancy and Fiction and the Conforming of Divine to Humane Things the Latter nothing but Vulgar Opinion and Errour together with the Laws and Institutes of States-men and Politicians designed Principally to amuze the Vulgar and keep them the better in obedience and subjection to Civil Laws Besides which the Intelligent Pagans generally acknowledged another Theology which was neither Fiction nor meer Opinion and Law but Nature and Philosophy or Absolute Truth and Reality according to which Natural and Philosophick Theology of theirs there was only One Vnmade Self-originated Deity and many other Created Gods as his Inferiour Ministers So that those many Poetical and Political Gods could not possibly be look'd upon otherwise than either as the Created Ministers of One Supreme God whether taken Singly or Collectively or else as the Polyonymy and Various Denomination of him according to several Notions and Partial Conceptions of him and his several Powers and Manifestations in the World Personated and Deified Which latter we have already proved to have been the most generally received Opinion of the Pagan Theologers according to that of Euclides the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is One Supreme Good or Highest Deity called by Many Names and according to that of Antisthenes before cited That the Many Popular Gods were but One and the same Natural God viz. as Lactantius adds Summae totius Artifex The Maker of the whole World We shall conclude with repeating what hath been already suggested that though the Intelligent Pagans did Generally disclaim their Fabulous Theology St. Austin telling us that when the absurdities thereof were urged against them they would commonly make such replies as these Absit inquiunt Fabularum est ista Garrulitas and again Rursus inquiunt ad Fabulas redis Far be it from us say they to think so or so this is nothing but the garrulity of idle Fables and You would bring us again to Fables and though they owned another Theology besides their Civil also which was the Natural and Philosophical as the only True yet did they notwithstanding acknowledge a kind of necessity that in those times at least there should be besides the Natural and Philosophical Theology which the Vulgar were not so capable of another Theology framed and held forth that might be more accommodate to their
of God as a Part of him And now let any one Judge whether upon Plutarch's account there be not yet further reason to complain of this Boeotick Air. Wherefore we conclude that those old Physiologers in Aristotle who insisted so much upon that Principle That no Real Entity could be Made or Generated out of Nothing acted only as Physiologers therein and not as Theologers or Metaphysicians they not opposing a Divine Creation out of Nothing Prae-Existing but only contending that no New Entity could be made out of Matter and that in Natural Generations and Corruptions there was no Creation or Annihilation of any thing But what the true scope and meaning of these Physiologers indeed was will more plainly appear from that Use or Improvement which themselves made of this Philosophick Principle and this was Twofold For First It is certain that upon this Foundation they all of them Endeavoured to Establish a Peculiar kind of Physiology and some Atomology or other either an Homoeomery or an Anomoeomery a Similar or Dissimilar Atomology For Anaxagoras looking upon this Maxim of the Italick Philosophers That Nothing could be Physically made out of Nothing or no Real Entity Generated or Corrupted as an Undoubted Principle of Reason and being also not able to Conceive otherwise of the Forms and Qualities of Bodies than that they were Real Entities distinct from the Substance of Matter or its Modifications concluded that therefore in Generations Corruptions and Alterations these were not created out of Nothing and Annihilated into Nothing but that every thing was Naturally made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of Prae-Existent and In Existent Things and consequently that there were in all things Dissimilar Atoms and Particles of every Kind though by reason of their Parvitude Insensible to us and every thing seemed to be only that which was most Predominant and Conspicuous in it To wit That Bone was made out of Bony Atoms and Flesh out of Fleshy Hot things out of Hot Atoms and Cold things out of Cold Black out of Black and White out of White c. and Nothing out of Nothing but every thing out of Prae-Existing Similar Atoms Thus was the sense of Anaxagoras plainly declared by Aristotle That because Contraries were made out of one another they were therefore before In-Existent For since every thing must of necessity be made either out of Something or out of Nothing and all Physiologers agree That it is Impossible for any thing to be made out of Nothing it follows unavoidably that whatsoever is Generated must be Generated out of things Prae Existing and In-Existing though by reason of their Parvitude Insensible to us That is out of Similar or Homogenial Atoms of which there are some of all kinds in Every thing every thing being mingled in every thing Here therefore have we the Anaxagorean Homoeomery or Similar Atomology built upon this Principle of Reason as its Foundation That Nothing can Naturally be Made or Generated out of Nothing But the Italicks or Pythagoricks as well before Anaxagoras as after him with whom also hitherto concurred Leucippus Democritus and Epicurus those Atheizers of the Italick Physiology did with much better Reason from the same Fundamental Principle conclude that since these Forms and Qualities of Bodies were unquestionably Generated and Corrupted they were therefore no Entities Really Distinct from the Substance of Matter or its Modifications but only different Dispositions or Modifications of the Insensible Parts thereof Causing in us Different Phantasms and this was the First Original of the Dissimilar Atomology In Matter or Body therefore as such there was nothing else to these Philosophers conceivable but only Magnitude of Parts Figure Site and Motion or Rest and these were those few Elements out of which In-Existing and variously Combined together they supposed all those Forms and Qualities of Bodies commonly so called in Generations to result without the Production of any New Real Entity out of Nothing For as out of a few Letters in the Alphabet of every Language Differently placed and Combined do Result innumerable Syllables Words and Sounds signifying all the several things in Heaven and Earth and sometimes from all the very same Letters neither more nor fewer but only Transposed are begotten very Different Phantasms of Sounds in us but without the Production of any New Real Entity out of Nothing in the very same manner from those Fewer Letters in the Alphabet of the Corporeal Nature Variously combined or from the different Modifications of Matter in respect of Magnitude of Parts Figure Site Motion are Made up and Spelled out all those Syllables of Things that are in the whole World without the Production of any New Real Entity Many times the very same Numerical Matter neither more nor less only different Modified Causing very different Phantasms in us which are therefore vulgarly supposed to be Forms and Qualities in the Things as when the same water is successively changed and transformed into Vapour Snow Hail and Ice And to this very purpose is the forementioned Similitude elegantly pursued by the Epicurean Poet in these following Verses Quin etiam refert nostris in Versibus ipsis Cum quibus quali sint Ordine quaeque locata Namque eadem Coelum Mare Terras Flumina Solem Significant eadem Fruges Arbusta Animantes Sic ipsis in rebus item jam Materiai Concursus Motus Ordo Positura Figurae Cum permutantur mutari Res quoque debent For were those supposed Forms and Qualities produced in Generations and Alterations Entities Really distinct from the Substance of Matter or its different Modifications in respect of the Magnitude Figure Site and Motion of Parts there being no such things before In-Existing as Anaxagoras supposed then would they Materially proceed from Nothing which is a thing Impossible And this Dissimilar Atomology of the ancient Italicks so far as to these Material Forms and Qualities Seems to be Undoubtedly the only true Physiology it being built upon this sure Principle of Reason That because Nothing can give what it hath not therefore no New Substance or Real Entity can be Materially produced in the Generations and Alterations of Nature as such but only Modifications As when an Architect builds a House or a Weaver makes a piece of Cloth there is only a different Modification of the Prae-Existent Matter This is the First Improvement which the Ancient Italick Philosophers made of this Principle That Nothing can be Physically and Materially Generated out of Nothing or that no Real Entity is Naturally Generated or Corrupted That therefore the Forms and Qualities of Bodies were no Real Entities but only Different Modifications But besides this there was also another thing which these Philosophers principally Aimed at herein as a Corollary deducible from the same Principle concerning Souls that since the Souls of Animals Especially Humane are unquestionably Entities Really distinct from Matter and all its Modifications no Magnitudes Figures Sites and Motions being ever able to beget
and no further but the Latter into Terrestial also Now Hierocles positively affirmeth this to have been the True Cabala and Genuine Doctrine of the Ancient Pythagoreans entertained afterwards by Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And This was the Doctrine of the Pythagoreans which Plato afterwards declared he resembling Every both Humane and Divine Soul that is in our Modern Language Every Created Rational Being to a Winged Chariot and a Driver or Charioteer both together meaning by the Chariot an Enlivened Body and by the Charioteer the Incorporeal Soul it self Acting it And now have we given a full Account in what manner the Ancient Asserters of Incorporeal Substance as Vnextended Answered that Objection against the Illocality and Immobility of Particular Finite Spirits Demons or Angels and Humane Souls that these being all Naturally Incorporate however in Themselves and Directly Immoveable yet were capable of being in some sense Moved by Accident together with those Bodies respectively which they are Vitally United to But as for that Pretence That these Finite Spirits or Substances Incorporeal being Vnextended and so having in themselves no Relation to any Place might therefore Actuate and Inform the Whole Corporeal World at once and take Cognizance of all things therein their Reply hereunto was That these being Essentially but Parts of the Vniverse and therefore not Comprehensive of the Whole Finite or Particular and not Universal Beings as the Three Hypostases of the Platonick Trinity are the Sphere of their Activity could not possibly Extend any further than to the Quickning and Enlivening of some certain Parts of Matter and the World allotted to them and thereby of becoming Particular Animals it being Peculiar to the Deity or that Incorporeal Substance which is Infinite to Quicken and Actuate All things But it would be no Impertinent Digression here as to the main Scope of our Present Vndertaking should we briefly compare the forementioned Doctrine and Cabbala of the Ancient Incorporealists the Pythagoreans and Platonists with that of Christianity and consider the Agreement or Disagreement that is betwixt them First therefore here is a plain Agreement of these Best and most Religious Philosophers with Christianity in this That the most Consummate Happiness and Highest Perfection that Humane Nature is capable of consisteth not in a Separate State of Souls strip'd Naked from all Body and having no manner of Commerce with Matter as some High-flown Persons in all Ages have been apt to Conceit For such amongst the Philosophers and Platonists too was Plotinus Vnevennes and Vnsafeness of whose Temper may sufficiently appear from hence That as he conceived Humane Souls might possibly ascend to so high a Pitch as quite to shake off Commerce with all Body so did he in the other hand again Imagine that they might also Descend and Sink down so low as to Animate not only the Bodies of Bruits but even of Trees and Plants too Two Inconsistent Paradoxes the Latter whereof is a most Prodigious Extravagancy which yet Empedocles though otherwise a Great Wit seems to have been guilty of also from those Verses of his in Athenaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And amongst the Jews the famous Maymonides was also of this Perswasion it being a Known Aphorism of his in his Great Work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That in the World to Come or State of Consummate Happiness there shall be nothing at all of Body but Pure Incorporeity Upon which Account being accused as a Denyer of the Resurrection an Article as well of the Jewish as of the Christian Faith he wrote that Book intituled Iggereth Teman purposely to purge himself and to reconcile those Two Assertions together which he doth after such a manner as that there should be indeed a Resurrection at the First Coming of the Jewish Messias of some certain Persons to live here a while upon the Earth Eat and Drink Marry and be given in Marriage and then dy again after which in the World to come they should for ever continue Pure Souls Ununited to any Body In which it may be well suspected that the Design Maymonides drove at was against Christianity which notwithstanding as to this Particular hath the Concurrent Suffrages of the best Philosophers That the most Genuine and Perfect state of the Humane Soul which in its own Nature is immortal is to continue for ever not without but with a Body And yet our High-flown Enthusiasts generally however calling themselves Christians are such great Spiritualists and so much for the Inward Resurrection which we deny not to be a Scripture-Notion also As in that of S. Paul If ye be Risen with Christ c. And again If by any means I might attain to the Resurrection of the Dead as that they quite Allegorize away together with other Parts of Christianity the Outward Resurrection of the Body and indeed will scarcely acknowledge any Future Immortality or Life to come after Death their Spirituality thus ending in Sadducism and Infidelity if not at length in Down-right Atheism and Sensuality But besides this there is yet a further Correspondence of Christianity with the forementioned Philosopbick Cabbala in that the Former also supposes the Highest Perfection of our Humane Souls not to consist in being Eternally Conjoyned with such Gross Bodies as these we now have Unchanged and Unaltered For as the Pythagoreans and Platonists have always Complained of these Terrestrial Bodies as Prisons or Living Sepulchres of the Soul so does Christianity seem to run much upon the same strain in these Scripture-Expressions In this We Groan Earnestly desiring to be Clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven and again We that are in this Tabernacle do Groan being burdened not for that we would be Vncloathed that is strip'd quite Naked of all Body but so cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life and lastly Our selves also which have the First Fruits of the Spirit Groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption Sonship or Inheritance namely the Redemption of our Bodies That is the Freedom of them from all those Evils and Maladies of theirs which we herely oppressed under Wherefore we cannot think that the same Heavy Load and Luggage which the Souls of good men being here burdened with do so much groan to be delivered from shall at the General Resurrection be laid upon them again and bound fast to them to all Eternity For of such a Resurrection as this Plotinus though perhaps mistaking it for the True Christian Resurrection might have some cause to affirm that it would be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Resurrection to another Sleep the Soul seeming not to be Thoroughly Awake here but as it were Soporated with the Dull Steams and Opiatick Vapours of this gross Body For thus the Authour of the Book of Wisdom The Corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the Earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the Mind that museth upon many things But the same will further appear from that
Incorruption Which Place being undoubtedly not to be Allegorized it may be from thence inferred that the Happy Resurrection-Body shall not be this Foul and Gross Body of ours only Varnished and Guilded over on the outside of it it remaining still Nasty Sluttish and Ruinous within and having all the same Seeds of Corruption and Mortality in its Nature which it had before though by perpetual Miracle kept off it being as it were by Violence defended from being Seised upon and devoured by the Jaws of Death but that it shall be so Inwardly changed in its Nature as that the Possessers thereof Cannot die any more But all this which hath been said of the Resurrection-Body is not so to be understood as if it belonged Vniversally to all that shall be Raised up at the last day or made to appear upon the Earth as in their own Persons at that Great and General Assizes That they shall have all alike wicked as well as Good such Glorious Spiritual and Celestial Bodies but it is only a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Resurrection of Life which is Emphatically called also by our Saviour Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Resurrection from the dead or to a Happy Immortality as they who shall be thought worthy thereof are likewise Styled by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Children of the Resurrection Of which Resurrection only it is that S. Paul treateth in that Fifteenth Chapter of his to the Corinthians And we say that this Christian Resurrection of Life is the Vesting and Setling of the Souls of Good men in their Glorious Spiritual Heavenly and Immortal Bodies The Complete Happiness of a man and all the Good that can be desired by him Was by the Heathen Poet thus Summed up Vt sit Mens Sana in Corpore Sano That there be a Sound Mind in a Sound Body and the Christian Happiness seems to be all comprized in these Two Things First in being Inwardly Regenerated and Renewed in the Spirit of their Mind Cleansed from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit and made partakers of the Divine Life and Nature and then Secondly in being Outwardly Clothed with Glorious Spiritual Celestial and Incorruptible Bodies The Scripture plainly declareth that our Souls are not at Home here in this Terrestrial Body and These Earthly Mansions but that they are Strangers and Pilgrims there in it which the Patriarchs also confessing plainly declared that they Sought a Country not that which they came out from but a Heavenly one From which passages of Scripture some indeed would infer that Souls being at first Created by God Pure Pre-Existed before this their Terrene Nativity in Celestial Bodies but afterwards stragled and wandered down hither as Philo for one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Soul saith he having left its Heavenly Mansion came down into this Earthly Body as a strange place But thus much is certain that Our Humane Souls were at first intended and designed by God Almighty the Maker of them for other Bodies and other Regions as their proper Home and Country and their Eternal Resting Place however to us that be not First which is Spiritual but that which is Natural and afterwards that which is Spiritual Now though some from that of St. Paul where he calls this Happy resurrection-Resurrection-Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That house of ours that is from Heaven or which cometh out of Heaven would infer that therefore it will not be taken out of Graves and Charnel Houses they conceiving also that the Individuation and Sameness of mens Persons does not necessarily depend upon the Numerical Identity of all the Parts of Matter because we never continue thus the Same our Bodies always flowing like a River and passing away by Insensible Transpiration and it is certain that we have not all the same Numerical Matter and neither more nor less both in Infancy and in Old Age though we be for all that the self Same Persons yet nevertheless according to the best Philosophy which acknowledges no Essential or Specifical Difference of Matter the Foulest and Grossest Body that is meerly by Motion may not only be Chrystallized but also brought into the Purity and Tenuity of the Finest Ether And undoubtedly that Same Numerical Body of our Saviour Christ which lay in the Sepulchre was after his Resurrection thus Transformed into a Spiritual and Heavenly Body the Subtlety and Tenuity whereof appeared from his entring in when the doors were shut and his vanishing out of sight however its Glory were for the time suspended partly for the better convincing his Disciples of the Truth of his Resurrection and partly because they were not then able to bear the Splendor of it We conclude therefore that the Christian Mystery of the Resurrection of Life consisteth not in the Souls being reunited to these Vile Rags of Mortality these Gross Bodies of ours such as now they are but in having them Changed into the Likeness of Christ's Glorious Body and in this Mortal's putting on Immortality Hitherto have we seen the Agreement that is betwixt Christianity and the Old Philosophick Cabbala concerning the Soul in these Two Things First That the highest Happiness and Perfection of the Humane Soul consisteth not in a State of Pure Separation from all Body and Secondly that it does not consist neither in an Eternal Vnion with such Gross Terrestrial Bodies as these Unchanged the Soul being not at Home but a Stranger and Pilgrim in them and Oppressed with the Load of them but that at last the Souls of Good men shall arrive at Glorious Spiritual Heavenly and Immortal Bodies But now as to that Point Whether Humane Souls be always United to some Body or other and consequently when by Death they put off this Gross Terrestrial Body they are not thereby quite Devested and Strip'd Naked of all Body but have a Certain Subtle and Spirituous Body still adhering to them and accompanying them Or else Whether all Souls that have departed out of this Life from the very beginning of the World have ever since continued in a State of Separation from all Body and shall so continue forwards till the Day of Judgment or General Resurrection We must confess that this is a thing not so explicitely Determined or expresly Decided in Christianity either way Nevertheless it is First of all certain from Scripture That Souls Departed out of these Terrestial Bodies are therefore neither Dead nor Asleep till the Last Trump and General Resurrection but still Alive and Awake our Saviour Christ affirming That they all Live unto God the meaning whereof seems to be this that they who are said to be Dead are Dead only unto Men here upon Earth but neither Dead unto themselves nor yet unto God their Life being not Extinct but only Disappearing to us and withdrawn from our sight for as much as they are gone off this Stage which we still continue to act upon And thus is it said also of our Saviour Christ himself
wherein God is Visible to them and again Corporeal in that other Part wherein themselves are Visible to men Moreover Fulgentius writeth concerning Angels in this manner Planè ex Duplici eos esse Substantia asserunt Magni Docti Viri Id est Ex Spiritu Incorporeo quo à Dei contemplatione nunquam recedunt ex Corpore per quod ex tempore hominibus apparent Corpora vero Aetherea id est Ignea eos dicunt habere Daemones vero Corpus Aereum Great and learned men affirm Angels to consist of a Double Substance that is of a Spirit Incorporeal whereby they contemplate God and of a Body whereby they are sometimes Visible to men as also that they have Etherial or Fiery Bodies but Devils Aereal And perhaps this might be the meaning of Joannes Thessalonicensis in that Dialogue of his read and approved of in the Seventh Council and therefore the meaning of that Council it self too when it is thus declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That the Catholick Church acknowledges Angels to be Intellectual but not altogether Incorporeal and Invisible but to have certain Subtle Bodies either Aiery or Fiery For it being there only denied that they were Altogether Incorporeal one would think the meaning should not be that they were Altogether Corporeal nor indeed could such an Opinion be fastened upon the Catholick Church but that they were partly Incorporeal and partly Corporeal this being also sufficient in order to that design which was driven at in that Council However Psellus who was a Curious Enquirer into the Nature of Spirits declares it not only as his own Opinion but also as agreeable to the Sense of the Ancient Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Demoniack or Angelick kind of Beings is not altogether Incorporeal or Bodiless but that they are conjoyned with Bodies or have Cognate Bodies belonging to them Who there also further declares the Difference betwixt the Bodies of Good Angels and of Evil Demons after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Angelical Body sendeth forth Rays and Splendours such as would dazle Mortal Eyes and cannot be born by them But the Demoniack Body though it seemeth to have been once such also from Isaias his calling him that fell from Heaven Lucifer yet is it now Dark and Obscure Foul and Squalid and grievous to behold it being deprived of its Cognate Light and Beauty Again the Angelical Body is so devoid of gross Matter that it can pass through any Solid thing it being indeed more Impassible than the Sun-beams for though these can Permeate Pellucid Bodies yet are they hindered by Earthy and Opake and refracted by them whereas the Angelical Body is such as that there is no thing so Imporous or Solid that can resist or exclude it But the Demoniack Bodies though by reason of their Tenuity they commonly escape our sight yet have they notwithstanding Gross Matter in them and are Patible especially those of them which inhabit the Subterraneous places for these are of so Gross a Consistency and Solidity as that they sometimes fall also under Touch and being strucken have a Sense of Pain and are capable of being burnt with Fire To which purpose the Thracian there addeth more afterwards from the Information of Marcus the Monk a person formerly Initiated in the Diabolick Mysteries and of great Curiosity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Demoniack Spirit or Subtle Body being in every part of it capable of Sense does immediately See and Hear and is also Obnoxious to the affections of Touch insomuch that being suddainly divided or cut in two it hath a Sense of Pain as the Solid Bodies of other Animals have it differing from them only in this that those other Bodies being once discontinued are not easily consolidated together again whereas the Demoniack Body being divided is quickly redintegrated by Coalescence as Air or Water Nevertheless it is not without a Sense of Pain at that time when it is thus divided c. Moreover the same Marcus affirmeth the Bodies of these Demons to be Nourished also though in a different manner from ours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are some of them Nourished by Inspiration as the Spirit contained in the Nerves and Arteries others by sucking in the adjacent Moisture not as we do by mouths but as Spunges and Testaceous Fishes And now we may venture to conclude that this Opinion of Angels being not meer Abstract Incorporeal Substances and Vnbodied Minds but consisting of Something Incorporeal and Something Corporeal that is of Soul or Spirit and Body Joyned together is not only more agreeable to Reason but hath also had more suffrages amongst the Ancient Fathers and those of greater weight too than either of those Two other Extreams viz. That Angels are meer Bodies and have nothing at all Incorporeal in them or else that they are altogether Incorporeal without any Bodily Indument or Clothing Notwithstanding which this latter Opinion hath indeed prevailed most in these Latter Ages Time being rightly compared to a River which quickly sinks the more Weighty and Solid things and bears up only the Lighter and more Superficial Though there may be other Reasons given for this also as partly because the Aristotelick Philosophy when generally introduced into Christianity brought in its Abstract Intelligences along with it and partly because some Spurious Platonists talking so much of their Henades and Noes their Simple Monads and Immoveable Vnbodied Minds as the Chief of their Generated and Created Gods probably some Christians might have a mind to vie their Angels with them And lastly because Angels are not only called in Scripture Spirits but also by Several of the Ancients said to be Incorporeal whilst this in the mean time was meant only either in respect of that Incorporeal Part Soul or Mind which they supposed to be in them or else of the Tenuity and Subtlety of their Bodies or Vehicles For this account does Psellus give hereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is usual both with Christian Writers and Pagans too to call the Grosser Bodies Corporeal and those which by reason of their Subtlety avoid both our Sight and Touch Incorporeal And before Psellus Joannes Thâ—ssalonicensis in his Dialogue approved in the Seventh Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you find Angels or Demons or Separate Souls called Sometimes Incorporeal you must understand this in respect of the Tenuity of their Bodies only as not consisting of the Grosser Elements nor being so Solid and Antitypous as those which we are now Imprisoned in And before them both Origen in the Proeme of his Peri Archon where citing a passage out of an Ancient Book Intituled The Doctrine of Peter wherein our Saviour Christ is said to have told his Disciples That he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Incorporeal Demon though rejecting the Authority of that Book he thus interprets those words non idem Sensus ex isto
sermone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indicatur qui Graecis vel Gentilibus auctoribus ostenditur quum de Incorporeâ Naturâ à Philosophis disputatur In hoc enim Libello Incorporeum Daemonium dixit pro eo quod ipse ille quicunque est habitus vel circumscriptio Daemonici Corporis non est similis huic nostro Crassiori vel Visibili Corpori sed secundum sensum ejus qui composuit illam Scripturam intelligendum est quod dixit non esse tale Corpus quale habent Daemones quod est naturaliter Subtile velut Aura Tenue propter hoc vel imputatur à multis vel dicitur Incorporeum sed habere se Corpus Solidum Palpabile The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Incorporeal is not to be taken here in that sense wherein it is used by the Greek and Gentile Writers when they Philosophised concerning the Incorporeal Nature But a Demon is here said to be Incorporeal because of the Disposition of the Demoniack Body not like to this Gross and Visible Body of ours So that the sense is as if Christ should have said I have not such a Body as the Demons have which is naturally Subtle Thin and Soft as the Air and therefore is either supposed to be by many or at least called Incorporeal but the Body which I now have is Solid and Palpable Where we see plainly that Angels though supposed to have Bodies may notwithstanding be called Incorporeal by reason of the Tenuity and Subtlety of those Bodies comparatively with the Grossness and Solidity of these our Terrestrial Bodies But that indeed which now most of all inclineth some to this Perswasion That Angels have nothing at all Corporeal hanging about them is a Religious regard to the Authority of the Third Lateran Council having passed its Approbation upon this Doctrine as if the Seventh Oecumenical so called or Second Nicene wherein the contrary was before owned and allowed were not of equal force at least to counterbalance the other But though this Doctrine of Angels or all Created Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men having a Corporeal Indument or Clothing does so exactly agree with the Old Pythagorick Cabbala yet have we reason to think that it was not therefore meerly borrowed or derived from thence by the Ancient Fathers but that they were led into it by the Scripture it self For first the Historick Phaenomena of Angels in the Scripture are such as cannot well be otherwise Salved than by supposing them to have Bodies and then not to lay any stress upon those words of the Psalmist Who maketh his Angels Spirits and Ministers a flame of fire though with good reason by the Ancient Fathers interpreted to this sense because they may possibly be understood otherwise as sometime they are by Rabbinical Commentators nor to insist upon those passages of S. Paul where he speaks of the Tongues of Angels and of the Voice of an Arch-Angel and such like there are several other Places in Scripture which seem plainly to confirm this Opinion As first that of our Saviour before mentioned to this purpose Luke the 20. the 35. They who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the Resurrection from the dead neither Marry nor are given in Marriage neither can they die any more for they are Equal unto the Angels For were Angels utterly devoid of all Bodies then would the Souls of Good men in a State of Separation and without any Resurrection be rather Equal to Angels than after a Resurrection of their Bodies Wherefore the Natural meaning of these words seems to be this as St. Austin hath interpreted them that the Souls of Good men after the Resurrection shall have Corpora Angelica Angelical Bodies and Qualia sunt Angelorum Corpora such Bodies as those of Angels are Wherein it is supposed that Angels also have Bodies but of a very different kind from those of ours here Again that of St. Jude where he writeth thus of the Devils The Angels which kept not their First Estate or rather according to the Vulgar Latin Suum Principatum Their own Principality but left thei◠Proper Habitation or Dwelling House hath he reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness unto the Judgement of the Great Day In which words it is first Implied that the Devils were Created by God Pure as well as the other Angels but that they kept not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their own Principality That is their Lordly Power and Dominion over their Worser and Inferiour part they having also a certain Duplicity in their Nature of a Better and Worser Principle of a Superiour Part which ought to Rule and Govern and of an Inferiour which out to be Governed nor is it indeed otherwise easily conceivable how they should be Capable of Sinning And this Inferiour Part in Angels seems to have a respect to something that is Corporeal or Bodily in them also as well as it hath in men But then in the next place St. Jude addeth as the Immediate Result and Natural Consequent of these Angels Sinning that they thereby Left or Lost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suum Proprium Domicilium That is not only their Dwelling Place at Large those Etherial Countries and Heavenly Regions above but also their Proper Dwelling House or Immediate Mansion to wit their Heavenly Body For as much as that Heavenly Body which Good men expect after the Resurrection is thus called by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Habitation or Dwelling House that is from Heaven The Heavenly Body is the Proper House or Dwelling Clothing or Indument both of Angelical and Humane Souls and this is that which makes them fit Inhabitants for the Heavenly Regions This I say was the Natural effect and Consequent of these Angels Sinning their Leaving or Loosing their Pure Heavenly Body which became thereupon forthwith Obscured and Incrassated the Bodies of Spirits Incorporate always bearing a Correspondent Purity or Impurity to the different disposition of their Mind or Soul But then again in the last place that which was thus in Part the Natural Result of their Sin was also by the Just Judgment of God converted into their Punishment For their Etherial Bodies being thus changed into Gross Aerial Feculent and Vaporous ones themselves were Immediately hereupon as St. Peter in the Parallel Place expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cast down into Tartarus and there Imprisoned or Reserved in Chains Under Darkness until the Judgment of the Great Day Where it is observable that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by St. Peter is the very same that Apollodorus and other Greek Writers frequently make use of in a like case when they speak of the Titan's being Cast down from Heaven which seems to have been Really nothing else but this Fall of Angels Poetically Mythologized And by Tartarus here in all probability is meant this Lower Caliginous Air or Atmosphere of the Earth according to that of St. Austin concerning these
Angels Post Peccatum in hanc sunt detrusi Caliginem ubi tamen Aer That after their Sin they were thrust down down into the Misty darkness of this Lower Air. And here are they as it were Chained and Fettered also by that same Weight of their Gross and heavy Bodies which first sunk them down hither this not suffering them to reascend up or return back to those Bright Etherial Regions above And being thus for the present Imprisoned in this Lower Tartarus or Caliginous Air or Atmosphere they are indeed here Kept and Reserved in Custody unto the Judgment of the Great Day and General Assizes however they may notwithstanding in the mean time seem to Domineer and Lord it for a while here And Lastly our Saviours Go ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels seems to be a clear Confirmation of Devils being Bodied because First to Allegorize this Fire into nothing but Remorse of Conscience would indanger the rendering of other Points of our Religion uncertain also but to say that Incorporeal Substances Vnunited to Bodies can be tormented with Fire is as much as in us lieth to expose Christianity and the Scripture to the Scorn and Contempt of all Philosophers and Philosophick Wits Wherefore Psellus laies no small stress upon this Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am also convinced of this That Demons have Bodies from the words of our Saviour affirming That they shall be Punished with Fire which how could it be were they altogether Incorporeal it being Impossible for that which is both it self Incorporeal and Vitally Vnunited to any Body to suffer from a Body Wherefore of necessity it must be granted by us Christians that Devils shall receive Punishment of Sense and Pain hereafter in Bodies capable of Suffering Now if Angels in general that is all Created Beings Superiour to men be Substances Incorporeal or Souls Vitally United to Bodies though not always the same but sometimes of one kind and sometimes times of another and never quite Separate from all Body it may seem probable from hence that though there be other Incorporeal Substances besides the Deity yet Vita Incorporea a Life perfectly Incorporeal in the forementioned Origenick Sense or Sine Corporeae Adjectionis Societate Vivere to Live altogether without the Society of any Corporeal Adjection is a Privilege properly belonging to the Holy Trinity only and consequently therefore that Humane Souls when by Death they are Devested of these Gross Earthly Bodies they do not then Live and Act Compleatly without the Conjunction of any Body and so continue till the Resurrection or Day of Judgment this Being a priviledge which not so much as the Angels themselves and therefore no Created Finite Being is capable of the Imperfection of whose Nature necessarily requires the Conjunction of some Body with them to make them up Complete without which it is unconceivable how they should either have Sense or Imagination And Thus doth Origen Consentaneously to his own Principles Conclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Soul which in its own Nature is Incoâ—poreal and Invisible in whatsoever Corporeal place it Existeth doth always stand in need of a Body suitable to the Nature of that place respectively Which Body it sometimes beareth having Put Off that which before was necessary but is now Superfluous for the Following State and sometimes again Putting On something to what before it had now standing in need of some better Clothing to fit it for those more Pure Etherial and Heavenly places But in what there follows we conceive that Origen's sense having not been rightly understood his words have been altered and perverted and that the whole place ought to be read thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sense whereof iâ— this The Soul descending hither into Generation Put on first that Body which was useful for it whilst to continue in the Womb and then again afterward such a Body as was necessary for it to Live here upon the Earth in Again it having here a Two fold kind of Body the one of which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by St. Paul being a more Subtle Body which it had before the other the Superinduced Earthly House necessarily subservient to this Schenos here the Scripture Oracles affirm that the Earthly House of this Schenos shall be corrupted or dissolved but the Schenos it self Superindue or Put On a House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens The same declaring that the Corruptible shall put on Incorruption and the Mortal Immortality Where it is plain that Origen takes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Paul 1 Cor. 5.1 for a Subtle Body which the Soul had before its Terrene Nativity and which Continues with it after death but in good men will at last Superindue or Put on without Death the Clothing of Immortality Neither can there be a better Commentary upon this place of Origen than those Excerpta out of Methodius the Martyr in Photius though seeming to be Vitiated also where as we conceive the sense of Origen and his Followers is first contained in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That in St. Paul the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is One thing and the Earthly House of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another thing and We that is our Souls a Third thing distinct from both And then it is further declared in this that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That this short Life of our Earthly Body being destroyed our Soul shall then have before the Resurrection a dwelling from God until we shall at last receive it renewed restored and so made an Incorruptible House Wherefore in this we groan desirous not to put off all Body but to put on Life or Immortality upon the Body which we shall then have For that House which is from Heaven That we desire to put on is Immortality Moreover that the Soul is not altogether Naked after Death the same Origen endeavours to confirm further from that of our Saviour concerning the Rich Man and Lazarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rich man Punished and the Poor man refreshed in Abraham 's bosome before the Coming of our Saviour and before the end of the world and therefore before the Resurrection plainly teaches that even now also after Death the Soul useth a Body He thinketh the same also to be further proved from the Visible Apparition of Samuel's Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Samuel also visibly appearing after Death maketh it manifest that his Soul was then clothed with a Body To which he adds in Photius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That the Exteriour Form and Figure of the Souls Body after Death doth resemble that of the Gross Terrestrial Body here in this Life All the Histories of Apparitions making Ghosts or the Souls of the Dead to appear in the same Form which their Bodies had before This therefore as was observed is that which Origen understands by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the Deity by Theists is generally supposed to be a Living Being Perfectly Happy and Immortal or Incorruptible there can be no such Living Being Immortal and Consequently none Perfectly Happy Because all Living Beings whatsoever are Concretions of Atoms which as they were at first Generated so are they again liable to Death and Curruption Life being no Simple Primitive Nature nor Substantial thing but a meer Accidental Modification of Compounded Bodies only which upon the Disunion of their Parts or the Disordering of their Contexture vanisheth again into Nothing And there being no Life Immortal Happiness must needs be a meer Insignificant Word and but a Romantick Fiction Where first This is well that the Atheists will confess that according to their Principles there can be no such thing at all as Happiness because no Security of Future Permanency all Life perpetually coming Out of Nothing and whirling back into Nothing again But this Atheistick Argument is likewise Founded upon the Former Errour That Body is the Only Substance the First Principles whereof are devoid of all Life and Vnderstanding whereas it is certain that Life cannot possibly result from any Composition of Dead and Lifeless things and therefore must needs be a Simple and Primitive Nature It is true indeed that the Participated Life in the Bodies of Animals which yet is but improperly called Life it being Nothing but their being Actuated by a Living Soul is a meer Accidental thing Generable and Corruptible since that Body which is now Vitally united to a Living Soul may be Disunited again from it and thereby become a Dead and Lifeless Carcase but the Primary or Original Life it self is Substantial nor can there be any Dead Carcase of a Humane Soul That which hath Life Essentially belonging to the Substance of it must needs be Naturally Immortal because no Substance can of it self Perish or Vanish into Nothing Besides which there must be also some not only Substantial but also Eternal Vnmade Life whose Existence is Necessary and which is Absolutely Vnannihilable by any thing else which therefore must needs have Perfect Security of its own future Happiness And this is an Incorporeal Deity And this is a Brief Confutation of the Eight Atheistick Argument BUt the Democritick Atheist proceeds endeavouring further to Disprove a God from the Phaenomena of Motion and Cogitation in the Three following Argumentations First therefore whereas Theists commonly bring an Argument from Motion to Prove a God or First Vnmoved Mover the Atheists contend on the contrary that from the very Nature of Motion the Impossibility of any such First Vnmoved Mover is clearly Demonstrable For it being an Axiom of undoubted Truth concerning Motion That Whatsoever is Moved is Moved by some other thing Or That Nothing can Move it self it follows from thence Unavoydably That there is no Aeternum Immobile No Eternal Vnmoved Mover but on the contrary that there was Aeternum Motum an Eternal Moved Or That One thing was Moved by Another from Eternity Infinitely Without any First Mover or Cause Because as Nothing could move it self So could nothing ever Move Another but what was it self before Moved by Something else To which we Reply That this Axiom Whatsoever is Moved is Moved by Another and not by It self was by Aristotle and those other Philosophers who made so much use thereof restrained to the Local Motion of Bodies only That no Body Locally Moved was ever Moved Originally from it self but from something else Now it will not at all follow from hence That therefore Nihil Movetur nisi à Moto That No Body was ever Moved but by some othâ—r Body that was also before Moved by Something else or That of necessity One Body was moved by another Body and that by another and so backwards Infinitely without any First Vnmoved or Self-Moving and Self-Active Mover as the Democritick Atheist fondly Conceits For the Motion of Bodies might proceed as Unquestionably it did from something else which is not Body and was not Before Moved Moreover the Democritick Atheist here also without any Ground imagines That were there but One Push once given to the world and no more this Motion would from thence forward always continue in it one Body still moving another to all Eternity For though this be indeed a Part of the Cartesian Hypothesis that according to the Laws of Nature A Body Moving will as well continue in Motion as a Body Resting in Rest until that Motion be Communicated and Transferred to some other Body yet is the Case different here Where it is supposed not only one Push to have been given to the world at first but also the same Quantity of Motion or Agitation to be constantly Conserved and Maintained But to let this pass because it is something a Subtle Point and not so rightly Understood by many of the Cartesians themselves We say that it is a thing Utterly Impossible That One Body should be Moved by Another Infinitely without any first Cause or Mover which was Self Active and that not from the Authority of Aristotle only Pronouncing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That in the Causes of Motion there could not Possibly be an Infinite Progress but from the Reason there subjoyned by Aristotle Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If there were no First Vnmoved Mover there could be no Cause of Motion at all For were all the Motion that is in the World a Passion from something else and yet no First Vnmoved Active Mover then must it be a Passion from no Agent or without an Action and Consequently proceed from Nothing and either Cause it self or be Made without a Cause Now the Ground of the Atheists Errour here is only from hence because He taketh it for granted That there is no other Substance besides Body nor any other Action but Local Motion from whence it comes to pass that to Him this Proposition No Body can Move it self is one and the same with this Nothing can Act from It self or be Self-Active And thus is the Atheistick Pretended Demonstration against a God or First Cause from Motion abundantly Confuted we having made it Manifest that there is no Consequence at all in this Argument That because No Body can Move it Self therefore there can be no First Vnmoved Mover as also having discovered the Ground of the Atheists Errour here their taking it for granted that there is Nothing but Body and lastly having plainly showed that it implies a Contradiction there should be Action and Motion in the World and yet Nothing Self-Moving or Self-Active So that it is Demonstratively certain from Motion that there is a First Cause or Vnmoved Mover We shall now further add That from the Principle acknowledged by the Democritick Atheists themselves That No Body can move it self it follows also undeniably that there is some Other Substance besides Body something Incorporeal which is Self-Moving and Self-Active and was the First Vnmoved Mover of the Heavens or World For
any Art Mind or Vnderstanding and nâ—xt to these the Bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars and this Terrestrial Globe produced out of the foreâ—aid Inanimate Elements by Vnknowing Nature or Chance likewise without any Art Mind or God The Fortuitous Concourse of Similar or Dissimilar Atoms begetting this whole System and Compages of Heaven and Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that afterwards Art or Mind and Vnderstanding being Generated also in the last place out of those same Sensless and Inanimate Bodies or Elements it rising up in certain Smaller Pieces of the Universe and Particular Concretions of Matter called Animals Mortal from Mortal things did produce certain other Ludicrous things which partake little of Truth and Reality but are meer Images Vmbrages and Imitations as Picture and Landskip c. but above all those Moral Differences of Just and Vnjust Honest and Dishonest the meer Figments of Political Art and Slight Vmbratil Things compared with Good and Evil Natural that consist in nothing but Agreement and Disagreement with Sense and Apppetite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as for Things Good and Honest those that are such by Nature differ from those which are such by Law but as for Just and Vnjust there is by Nature no such thing at all The Upshot and Conclusion of all is That there is no such Scale or Ladder in Nature as Theists and Metaphysicians suppose no Degrees of Real Perfection and Entity one above another as of Life and Sense above Inanimate Matter of Reason and Vnderstanding above Sense from whence it would be Inferred that the Order of things in Nature was in Way of Descent from Higher and Greater Perfection Downward to Lesser and Lower which is indeed to Introduce a God And that there is no such Scale or Ladder of Perfection and Entity they endeavour further to prove from hence because according to that Hypothesis it would follow that every the Smallest and most Contemptible Animal that could see the Sun had a Higher degree of Entity and Perfection in it than the Sun it self a thing ridiculously Absurd or else according to Cotta's Instance Idcircò Formicam anteponendam esse huic Pulcherimae Vrbi quòd in Vrbe Sensus sit nullus in Formica non modo Sensus sed etiam Mens Ratio Memoria That therefore every Ant or Pismire were far to be preferred before this most beautiful City of Rome because in the City there is no Sense whereas an Ant hath not only Sense but also Mind Reason and Memory that is a certain Sagacity superiour to Sense Wherefore they conclude that there is no such Scale or Ladder in Nature no such Climbing Stairs of Entity and Perfection one above another but that the whole Vniverse is One Flat and Level it being indeed all Nothing but the same Vniform Matter Under several Forms Dresses and Disguises or Variegated by Diversity of Accidental Modifications one of which is that of such Beings as have Phancy in them commonly called Animals which are but some of Sportful or Wanton Natures more trimly Artificial and Finer Gamaieus or Pretty Toys but by reason of this Phancy they have no Higher Degree of Entity and Perfection in them than is in Sensless Matter as they will also be all of them quickly transformed again into other seemingly dull Vnthinking and Inanimate Shapes Hitherto the Sense of Atheists But the Pretended Grounds of this Atheistick Doctrine or rather Madness have been already also confuted over and over again Knowledge and Vnderstanding is not a meer Passion from the thing Known Existing without the Knower because to Know and Vnderstand as Anaxagoras of old determined is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Master and Conquer the thing Known and consequently not meerly to Suffer from it or Passively to Lie Under it this being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be Mastered and Conquered by it The Knowledge of Vniversal Theoremes in Sciences is not from the Force of the thing Known existing without the Knower but from the Active Power and Exerted Vigour or Strength of that which Knows Thus Severinus Boetius Videsne ut in cognoscendo cuncta Suâ potius Facultate quà m Eorum quae Cognoscuntur Vtantur Neque id injuria nam cum omne Judicium Judicantis Actus existat necesse est ut suam quisque Operam non ex Alienâ sed ex propriâ Potestate persiciat See you not how all things in Knowing use their own Power and Faculty rather than that of the thing Known For since Judgment is the Action of that which Judgeth every thing must of necessity perform its own Action by its own Power Strength and Faculty and not by that of another Sense it self is not a meer Passion or Reception of the Motion from Bodies without the Sentient for if it were so then would a Looking-Glass and Other Dead things See but it is a Perception of a Passion made upon the Body of the Sentient and therefore hath something of the Souls own Self-Activity in it But Vnderstanding and the Knowledge of Abstract Sciences is neither Primary Sense nor yet the Fading and Decaying Remainders of the Motions thereof but a Perception of another kind and more Inward than that of Sense not Sympathetical but Vnpassionate the Noemata of the Mind being things distinct from the Phantasmata of Sense and Imagination which are but a Kind of Confused Cogitations And though the Objects of Sense be only Singular Bodies Existing without the Sentient yet are not these Sensibles therefore the only Things and Cogitables but there are other Objects of Science or Intelligibles which the Mind Containeth within it Self That Dark Philosophy of some tending so directly to Atheism That there is Nothing in the Mind or Vnderstanding which was not First in Corporeal Sense and derived in way of Passion frrom Matter was both Elegantly and Solidly Confuted by Boetius his Philosophick Muse after this manner Quondam Porticus attulit Qui Sensus Imagines Credant Mentibus imprimi Mos est aequore paginae Pressas Figere literas Nihil motibus explicat Notis subdita Corporum Rerum reddit imagines Cernens omnia Notio Aut quae cognita dividit Alternumque legens iter Nunc decidit in Infima Veris falsa redarguit Longe Causa potentior Impressas patitur notas Et Vires Animi movens Cum vel Lux oculos ferit Tum Mentis Vigor excitus Ad Motus similes vocans Obscuros nimium Senes E Corporibus extimis Vt quondam Celeri stylo Quae nullas habeat notas Sed Mens si propriis vigens Sed tantum patiens jacet Cassasque in Speculi vicem Vnde haec sic animis viget Quae vis singula prospicit Quae divisa recolligit Nunc Summis Caput inserit Tum sese referens sibi Haec est Efficiens magis Quam quae Materiae modo Praecedit tamen Excitans Vivo in corpore Passio Vel Vox auribus instrepit Quas intus species tenet Notis applicat exteris
Soul and Mind to have sprung up afterwards out of them Nay they do not only Seem to suppose this but also in Express Words declare the same And thus by Jupiter have we discovered the very Fountain of that Atheistick Madness of the Ancient Physiologers to wit their making Inanimate Bodies Senior to Soul and Mind And accordingly that Philosopher addresses himself to the Confutation of Atheism no otherwise than thus by proving Soul not to be Junior to Sensless Body or Inanimate Matter and Generated out of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is the First Cause of the Generation and Corruption of all Things the Atheistick Doctrine supposes not to have been First Made but what is indeed the Last thing to be the First And hence is it that they erre concerning the Essence of the Gods For they are ignorant what kind of thing Soul is and what power it hath as also especially concerning its Generation and Production That it was First of all made before Body it being that which Governs the Motions Changes and Transformations thereof But if Soul be First in Order of Nature before Body then must those things which are Cognate to Soul be also before the Things which appertain to Body and so Mind and Vnderstanding Art and Law be before Hard and Soft Heavy and Light and that which these Atheists call Nature the Motion of Inanimate Bodies Junior to Art and Mind it being Governed by the same Now that Soul is in order of Nature before Body this Philosopher demonstrates only from the Topick or Head of Motion because it is Impossible that one Body should Move another Infinitely without any First Cause or Mover but there must of Necessity be something Self-Moving and Self-Active or which had a power of Changing it Self that was the first Cause of all Local Motion in Bodies And this being the very Notion of Soul that it is such a thing as can Move or Change it self in which also the Essence of Life consisteth He thus inferreth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is therefore sufficiently demonstrated from hence that Soul is the Oldest of all things in the Corporeal World it being the Principle of all the Motion and Generation in it And his Conclusion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It hath been therefore rightly affirmed by us that Soul is Older than Body and was Made Before it and Body Younger and Junior to Soul Soul being that which Ruleth and Body that which is Ruled From whence it follows that the Things of Soul also are Older than the things of Body and therefore Cogitation Intellection Volition and Appetite in order of Nature before Length Breadth and Profundity Now it is Evident that Plato in all this Understood not only the Mundane Soul or his Third Divine Hypostasis the Original of that Motion that is in the Heavens and the whole Corporeal Universe but also all other Particular Lives and Souls whatsoever or that whole Rank of Beings called Soul he supposing it all to have been at first made before the Corporeal System or at least to have been in order of Nature Senior to it as Superiour and more excellent that which Ruleth being Superiour to that which is Ruled and no Soul or Life whatsoever to be Generated out of Sensless Matter Wherefore we must needs here condemn that Doctrine of some Professed Theists and Christians of Latter Times who Generate all Souls not only the Sensitive in Brutes but also the Rational in Men out of Matter For as much as hereby not only that Argument for the Existence of a God from Souls is quite taken away and nothing could hinder but that Sensless Matter might be the Original of all things if Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind sprung out of it but also the Atheist will have an advantage to prove the Impossibility of a God from hence Because if Life and Vnderstanding in their own Nature be Factitious and Generable out of Matter then are they no Substantial Things but Accidental only from whence it will plainly follow that no Mind could possibly be a God or First Cause of all things it being not so much as able to Subsist by it Self Moreover if Mind as such be Generable and Educible out of Nothing then must it needs be in its own Nature Corruptible also and Reducible to Nothing again whereas the Deity is both an Vnmade and Incorruptible Being So that there could not possibly be according to this Hypothesis any other God than such a Jupiter or Soul of the World as the Atheistick Theogonists acknowledged that Sprung out of Night Chaos and Non-Entity and may be again Swallowed up into that Dark Abyss Sensless Matter therefore being the only Vnmade and Incorruptible thing and the Fountain of all things Even of Life and Vnderstanding it must needs be acknowledged to be the Only Real Numen Neither will the Case be much different as to some others who though indeed they do not professedly Generate the Rational but only the Sensitive Soul both in Men and Brutes yet do nevertheless maintain the Humane Soul it self to be but a meer Blank or White Sheet of Paper that hath nothing at all in it but what was Scribled upon it by the Objects of Sense and Knowledge or Understanding to be nothing but the Result of Sense and so a Passion from Sensible Bodies existing without the Knower For hereby as they plainly make Knowledge and Vnderstanding to be in its own Nature Junior to Sense and the very Creature of Sensibles so do they also imply the Rational Soul and Mind it self to be as well Generated as the Sensitive wherein it is Vertually Contained or to be nothing but a Higher Modification of Matter agreeably to that Leviathan Doctrine That men differ no otherwise from Brute Animals then only in their Organization and the Use of Speech or Words In very truth Whoever maintaineh that any Life or Soul any Cogitation or Consciousness Self-Perception and Self-Activity can spring out of Dead Sensless and Unactive Matter the same can never possibly have any Rational Assurance but that his own Soul had also a like Original and Consequently is Mortal and Corruptible For if any Life and Cogitation can be thus Generated then is there no Reason but that all Lives may be so they being but Higher Degrees in the same Kind and neither Life nor any thing else can be in its own Nature Indifferent to be either Substance or Accident and sometimes one sometimes the other but either all Life Cogitation and Consciousness is Accidental Generable and Corruptible or else none at all That which hath inclined so many to think the Sensitive Life at least to be nothing but a Quality or Accident of Matter Generable out of it and Corruptible into it is that strange Protean Transformation of Matter into so many seemingly Unaccountable Forms and Shapes together with the Scholastick Opinion threupon of Real Qualities that is Entities distinct from the Substance of
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no such Solid Body as they might find him to have bidding them therefore handle him to remove that Scruple of theirs As if he should have said Though Spirits or Ghosts and Souls Departed have Bodies or Vehicles which may by them be so far Condensed as sometimes to make a Visible appearance to the Eyes of men yet have they not any such Solid Bodies as those of Flesh and Bone and therefore by Feeling and Handling may you satisfie your selves that I am not a meer Spirit Ghost or Soul Appearing as others have frequently done without a Miracle but that I appear in that very same Solid Body wherein I was Crucified by the Jews by miraculous Divine Power raised out of the Sepulchre and now to be found no more there Agreeable to which of our Saviour Christ is that of Apollonius in Philostratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Touch me and Handle me and if you find me to avoid the Touch then may you conclude me to be a Spirit or Ghost that is a Soul departed but if I firmly resist the same then believe me Really to live and not yet to have cast off the Body And indeed though Spirits or Ghosts had certain Subtle Bodies which they could so far Condense as to make them sometimes Visible to men yet is it reasonable enough to think that they could not Constipate or Fix them into such a Firmness Grossness and Solidity as that of Flesh and Bone is to continue therein or at least not without such Difficulty and Pain as would hinder them from attempting the same Notwithstanding which it is not denied but that they may possibly sometimes make use of other Solid Bodies Moving and Acting them as in that famous Story of Phlegons where the Body Vanished not as other Ghosts use to do but was left a Dead Carcase behind Now as for our Saviour Christ's Body after his Resurrection and before his Ascension which notwithstanding its Solidity in Handling yet sometimes Vanished also out of his Disciples sight this probably as Origen conceived was purposely conserved for a time in a certain Middle State betwixt the Craâ—sities of a Mortal Body and the Spirituality of a Perfectly Glorified Heavenly Etherial Body But there is a place of Scripture which as it hath been interpreted by the Generality of the Ancient Fathers would Naturally Imply even the Soul of our Saviour Christ himself after his Death and before his Resurrection not to have been quite Naked from all Body but to have had a certain Subtle or Spirituous Clothing and it is this of St. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which being understood by those Ancients of our Saviour Christ's descending into Hades or Hell is accordingly thus rendered in the Vulgar Latin Put to Death In the Flesh bút Quickned in the Spirit In which Spirit also he went and preached to those Spirits that were in Prison c. So that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Spirit here according to this interpretation is to be taken for a Spirituous Body the Sense being this That when our Saviour Christ was put to death in the Flesh or the Fleshly Body he was Quickned in the Spirit or a Spirituous Body In which Spirituous Body also he went and preached to those Spirits that were in Prison c. And doubtless it would be said by the Asserters of this Interpretation that the word Spirit could not here be taken for the Soul of our Saviour Christ because this being Naturally Immortal could not properly be said to be Quickned and Made Alive Nor could He that is our Saviour Christ's Soul be so well said to go In this Spirit neither that is In it self the Soul in the Soul to preach to the Spirits in Prison They would add also that Spirit here could not be taken for the Divine Spirit neither which was the Efficient Cause of the Vivification of our Saviour's Body at his Resurrection because then there would be no direct Opposition betwixt Being put to Death in the Flesh and Quickned in the Spirit unless they be taken both alike Materially As also the following Verse is thus to be understood That our Saviour Christ went in that Spirit wherein he was Quickned when he was Put to Death In the Flesh and therein preached to the Spirits in Prison By which Spirits in Prison also would be meant not Pure Incorporeal Substances or Naked Souls but Souls Clothed with Subtle Spirituous Bodies as that word may be often understood elsewhere in Scripture But thus much we are unquestionably certain of from the Scripture That not only Elias whose Terrestrial Body seems to have been in part at least Spiritualized in his Ascent in that Fiery Chariot but also Moses appeared Visibly to our Saviour Christ and his Disciples upon the Mount and therefore since Piety will not permit us to think this a meer Prestigious thing in Real Bodies which Bodies also seem to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luciform or Lucid like to our Saviour's then Transfigured Body Again there are sundry places of Scripture which affirm that the Regenerate and Renewed have here in this Life a certain Earnest of their Future Inheritance which is their Spiritual or Heavenly Body as also the Quickning of their Mortal Bodies is therein attributed to the Efficiency of the Spirit Dwelling in them Which is a Thing that hath been taken notice of by Some of the Ancients as Irenaeus Nunc autem Partem aliquam Spiritus ejus sumimus ad Perfectionem Praeparationem Incorruptelae paulatim assuescentes Capere Portare Deum Quod Pignus dixit Apostolus hoc est Partem ejus Honoris qui à Deo nobis promissus est Si ergo Pignus hoc habitans in nobis jam Spirituales effecit absorbetur Mortale ab Immortalitate Now have we a Part of that Spirit for the Preparation and Perfection of Incorruption we being accustomed by little and little to Receive and Bear God Which also the Apostle hath called an Earnest that is a Part of that Honour which is promised to us from God If therefore this Earnest or Pledge dwelling in us hath made us already Spiritual the Mortal is also swallowed up by Immortality And Novatian Spiritus Sanctus id agit in nobis ut ad Aeternitatem ad Resurrectionem Immortalitatis corpora nostra perducat dum illa in se assuefacit cum Caelesti Virtute misceri This is that which the Holy Spirit doth in us namely to bring and lead on our Bodies to Eternity and the Resurrection of Immortality whilst in it self it accustometh us to be mingled with the Heavenly Vertue Moreover there are some places also which seem to imply that Good Men shall after Death have a Further Inchoation of their Heavenly Body the full Completion whereof is not to be expected before the Resurrection or Day of Judgment We know that If our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we
have a Building of God a House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan Earnestly And Verse the 5. He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who also hath given us the Earnest of the Spirit Now how these Preludiums and Prelibations of an Immortal Body can consist with the Souls continuance after Death in a Perfect Separation from all manner of Body till the Day of Judgement is not so easily Conceivable Lastly it is not at all to be Doubted but that Irenaeus Origen and those other Ancients who entertained that Opinion of Souls being Clothed after Death with a certain Thin and Subtle Body suspected it not in the least to be Inconsistent with that of the Future Resurrection as it is no way Inconsistent for one who hath only a Shirt or Wastcoat on to put on a Sute of Cloths or Exteriour Upper garment Which will also seem the less strange if it be considered that even here in this Life our Body is as it were Two Fold Exteriour and Interiour we having besides the Grosly-Tangible Bulk of our Outward Body another Interiour Spirituous Body the Souls Immediate Instrument both of Sense and Motion which Latter is not put into the Grave with the Other nor Imprisoned under the Cold Sods Notwithstanding all which that hath been here suggested by us we shall not our selves venture to determine any thing in so great a Point but Sceptically leave it Vndecided The Third and Last thing in the Forementioned Philosophick or Pythagorick Cabbala is concerning those Beings Superior to men commonly called by the Greeks Demons which Philo tells us are the same with Angels amongst the Jews and accordingly are those words Demons and Angels by Hierocles and Simplicius and other of the latter Pagan Writers sometimes used indifferently as Synonymous viz. That these Demons or Angels are not Pure Abstract Incorporeal Substances devoid of Vital Vnion with any Matter but that they consist of something Incorporeal and something Corporeal joyned together so that as Hierocles writeth of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have a Superiour and an Inferiour Part in them and their Superiour Part is an Incorporeal Substance their Inferiour Corporeal In a word that they all as well as men consist of Soul and Body united together there being only this Difference betwixt them that the Souls of these Demons or Angels never descend down to such Gross and Terrestrial Bodies as Humane Souls do but are always Clothed either with Aerial or Etherial ones And indeed this Pythagorick Cabbala was Universal concerning all Vnderstanding Beings besides the Supreme Deity or Trinity of Divine Hypostases that is concerning all the Pagan Inferiour Gods that they are no other than Souls vitally united to some Bodies and so made up of Incorporeal and Corporeal Substance Joyned together For thus Hierocles plainly expresseth himself in the forecited place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Rational Nature in General was so produced by God as that it neither is Body nor yet without Body but an Incorporeal Substance having a Cognate or Congenit Body Which same thing was else where also thus declared by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Rational Order or Rank of Being with its Congenite Immortal Body is the Image of the whole Deity the Maker thereof Where by Hierocles his Rational Nature or Essence and by the Whole Rational Order is plainly meant all Vnderstanding Beings Created of which he acknowledgeth only these Three Kinds and Degrees First the Immortal Gods which are to him the Animated Stars Secondly Demons Angels or Heroes and Thirdly Men called also by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terrestrial Demons he pronouncing of them all that they are alike Incorporeal Substances together with a Congenite Immortal Body and that there is no other Vnderstanding Nature than such besides the Supreme Deity which is Complete in it self without the Conjunction of any Body So that according to Hierocles the Ancient Pythagorick Cabbala acknowledged no such Entities at all as those Intelligences of Aristotle and the Noes of some High-flown Platonists that is perfectly Vnbodied Minds and much less any Rank of Henades or Vnities Superior to these Noes And indeed such Particular Created Beings as these could neither have Sense or Cognizance of any Corporeal thing Existing without them Sense as Aristotle hath observed Resulting from a Complication of Soul and Body as Weaving Results from a Complication of the Weaver and Weaving Instruments nor yet could they Act upon any Part of the Corporeal Vniverse So that these Immoveable Beings would be but like Adamantine Statues and things Unconnected with the rest of the World having no Commerce with any thing at all but the Deity a kind of Insignificant Metaphysical Gazers or Contemplators Whereas the Deity though it be not properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mundane Soul such as together with the Corporeal World as its Body makes up one Compleat and Entire Animal yet because the whole world proceeded from it and perpetually dependeth on it therefore must it needs take Cognizance of all and Act upon all in it upon which account it hath been styled by these Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a Mundane but a Supra-Mundane Soul Wherefore this Ancient Pythagorick Cabbala seems to be agreeable to reason also that God should be the only Incorporeal Being in this sense such whose Essence is Complete and Life Entire within it self without the Conjunction or Appendage of any Body but that all other Incorporeal Substances Created should be Compleated and Made up by a Vital Vnion with Matter so that the whole of them is neither Corporeal nor Incorporeal but a Complication of both and all the Highest and Divinest things in the Universe next to the Supreme Deity are Animals consisting of Soul and Body united together And after this manner did the Ancient asserters of Incorporeal Substance as Unextended decline that Absurdity Objected against them of the Illocality of all Finite Created Spirits that these being Incorporeal Substances Vitally Clothed with some Body may by reason of the Locality and Mobility of their Respective Bodies truly be said to be he Here and There and to Move from Place to Place Wherefore we are here also to show what Agreement or Disagreement there is betwixt this Part of the Pythagorick Cabbala and the Christian Philosophy And First it hath been already intimated that the very same Doctrine with this of the Ancient Pythagoreans was plainly asserted by Origen Thus in his First Book Peri Archon c. 6. Solius Dei saith he id est Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Naturae id proprium est ut sine Materiali Substantia absque Vllâ Corporeae Adjectionis Societate intelligatur subsistere It is proper to the Nature of God only that is of the Father Son and Holy Ghost to subsist without Material Substance or the Society of any Corporeal