the Motions that measâ—re it are taken and derive their Being there we may contemplate the Primitive Causes of much greater Antiquity than those we observed in the Self-moving Agent and there we shall see them lie in all their Perfections Immovable Eternal Entire United to each other so as that each should be all by Virtue of this intimate Conjunction and yet the intelâ—ectual Differences between them should remain distinct and unconfused For what account can be given of so many different Forms in the World but only that the Great God and Creator of the World produces these as he thinks fit to separate and distinguish the Causes of them in his own Mind which yet we must not suppose to make such actual and incommunicable differences between the Originals as we observe between the Copies of them here Nor are the Distinctions of the differing sorts of Souls the same with those of Bodies Each of the Eight Heavens we see and the Constellations peculiar to them are a part of the whole Heaven taken together a full and integral Part and yet each hath its Essence and Influences and Operations proper to it self And so likewise the Forms of Sublunary as well as Celestial Bodies that are always the same as that of a Man a Horse a Vine a Fig-tree each of these are perfect and full though not in Individuals as the Heavenly Bodies are yet according to the various Species with which they fill the World and the Essential Differences which distinguish them from one another Just thus it is with those more simple and Intellectual Considerations of which these Forms are compounded such as Essence Motion Repose Identity Beauty Truth Proportion and all those other Metaphysical Qualities belonging to the Composition of Bodies each of which is perfect in its own kind and hath a distinct Form of its own and many Differences peculiar to it self only And if this be the Case in so many Inferiour Beings how much more perfect and entire shall every thing subsist in the great Soul of the World These are the spontaneous Causes of the Bodies here below and all their differences lie united there According to this Pattern all things here are formed but that Pattern abundantly more perfect and pure and exact than any of its Resemblances Much more persect still then are these Divine and Intellectual Forms than any Corporeal ones of which they are the great Originals For these are united not by any mutual Contact or Continuity of Matter or bodily Mixture but by the Coalition of indivisible Forms And this Union being such as still presents the Distinctions between them clear and unconsus'd makes each of them perfect in it self and qualifies it to be the common Principle and Root of all the Forms of its own likeness and kind from the highest to the lowest Now the several distinct Principles of things derive their Causal Power and Dignity from some One Superiour Principle For it is plain that many could not exist without an antecedent Cause For which Reason each of Many is One but not such a One as was before those Many For the One of Many is a part of that Number and is distinguished from the rest by some particular Qualifications which give him a Being a part to himself But the One before Many was the Cause of those Many he comprehended them all within himself existed before them is the Cause of Causes the first Principle of all Principles and the God of Gods for thus all the World by the meer Dictates of Nature have agreed to call and to adore him He is likewise the Supreme and Original Goodness For all Effects have a natural desire and tendency to the respective Properties of their first Cause Now that which all things desire is Good and consequently the first Cause must be the Original and the Supreme Good So likewise he must be the Original and Supreme Power For every Cause hath the highest Power in its own kind and consequently the first Cause of all must needs exceed them all in Power and have all of every kind He must needs be endued with perfect Knowledge too for how can we imagine him ignorant of any thing which himself hath made It is no less evident too from hence that the World and all things were produced by him without any difficulty at all Thus by considering of particulars we are at last arrived to a general Demonstration and from the parts have learnt the whole for indeed we had no other way of coming to the Knowledge of it but by its parts the whole it self is too vast for our Comprehension and our Understandings are so feeble as often to mistake a very small part for the whole And the result of the Argument is this That as all Things and Causes are derived at last from one Cause so they ought to pay all manner of Honour and Adoration to that Cause for this is the Stem and Root of them all and therefore it is not an empty Name only but Similitude in Nature too by which every Cause is allied to this Universal One. For the very Power and Privilege of being Causes and the Honour that is due to them when compared with their Effects is the free Gift of this Supreme Cause to all the inferiour and particular ones Now if any man think it too great an Honour for these lower and limited ones to be called Causes or Principles as well as that original and general one it must be owned in the first place That there is some Colour for this Scruple because this seems to argue an equality of Causal Power But then this may easily be remedied by calling These barely Causes and That the First and Universal Cause And though it be true that each particular Principle is a first and general one with respect to others of less extent and power contained under it as there is one Principle of Gracefulness with regard to the Body another with regard to that of the Mind and a third of Gracefulness in general that comprehends them both yet in Truth and strict Propriety of Speech none is the First Principle but that which hath no other before or above it and so likewise we may and do say by way of Eminence the First and Supreme Cause the First and Supreme God and the First and Supreme Good Moreover we must take notice that this First Cause which is above and before all things cannot possibly have any proper Name and such as may give us an adequate Idea of his Nature For every Name is given for distinction's sake and to express something peculiar but since all distinguishing Properties whatever flow from and are in Him all we can do is to sum up the most valuable Perfections of his Creatures and then ascribe them to Him For this Reason as I hinted at the beginning of this Discourse the Greeks made choice of a name for God derived from the Heavenly Bodies and the swiftness of their
Wisdom and Sobriety and worse by Perverseness and a Dissolute Behaviour and can confirm it self in each of these Courses by the frequent Repetition of Acts suitable to them then the Soul is the true Cause of all this Though in truth it must not be admitted for a general Rule neither That the Liberty and Power of the Will is to be judged of by Mens being able to do Things contrary to one another For those Souls that are immediately united to the Original Good prefer that constantly and yet the Freedom of their Choice is still the same for that Preference is no more constrained and necessary than if they took Evil instead of it But it is their Excellence and Perfection that they continue stedfast in their own Good and never suffer themselves to be drawn off to the contrary But as for our Souls which are more remotely descended from that great Original their Desires are according to their Tempers and Dispositions those of them that are well disposed have good Desires and those that are ill have evil ones But still these Souls of ours are capable of great Alterations they frequently recover themselves from Vice to Virtue by Reformation and better Care they decline too and sink down from Virtue to Vice by Supineness and a foolish Neglect and both these Changes are wrought in them by their own voluntary Choice and not by any Force or Necessity that compels them to it So that there can be no manner of Pretence for charging any part of our Wickedness upon God He created the Soul after such a manner indeed as to leave it capable of being corrupted because its Essence is not of the first and best sort of Natures but hath a Mixture of the middle and the lowest and this Mixture was fit that so all might remain in its Perfection and the first and best continue still such without degenerating into Barrenness and Imperfection and Matter God therefore who is infinitely good himself made the Soul in a Condition that might be perverted and it is an Argument of his Mercy and the exceeding Riches of his Goodness that he did so For he hath set it above the reach of all external Violence and Necessity and made it impossible for it to be corrupted without its own Consent There is one Argument more still behind which pretends That a fatal Revolution of the Heavens hath so strong and absolute a Power upon us as not only to influence our Actions but even to determine our Choice and all our Inclinationss and leave us no Liberty at all to dispose of our selves but only the empty Name of such a Liberty Now to these we may answer That if the Rational Soul be Eternal and Immortal which I shall not go about to prove that being foreign to this Subject but desire at present to take for granted though it must be confest not in all Points agreeable to the Doctrin of the Stoicks in this particular but If the Soul I say be Eternal and Immortal it cannot be allowed to receive its Being or to have its Dependance upon Matter and Motion It s Instrument indeed that is the Animal taken in the gross by which I mean the Body animated by the Soul may owe its Nature and its Changes to such Causes For material Causes produce material Effects and these may differ according as those Causes are differently disposed with regard to Things here below And the Instrument is formed so as to be proper and serviceable to the Soul whose Business it is to make use of it now as the difference of Tools teaches us to distinguish the several Professions that use them so as to say These belong to the Carpenter's those to the Mason's and others to the Smith's Trade and not only to distinguish the Trades themselves but the Skill and Capacity of the Artificers themselves to judge of their Designs and Intentions and the Perfection of the Work it self for those who are Masters of their Trade have better Tools and use them with greater Dexterity than others In like manner they who have attained to the Knowledge of Astrology find out the Nature and Temper of the Instrument the Body from the different Constitution of Material Causes and from hence make their Conjectures of the Disposition of the Soul and this is the Reason why they often guess aright For indeed the Generality of Souls when falling under ill Management and the Conversation of naughty Men a sort of Degradation inflicted upon them by way of Punishment for the loss of their primitive Purity addict themselves too much to the Body and are govern'd and subdu'd by it so as to use it no longer as their Instrument of Action but to look upon it as a part and piece of their own Essence and conform their Desires to its brutish Appetites and Inclinations Besides this Position and fatal Revolution of the Heavens carries some sort of Agreement to the Production of the Souls united to Bodies under it yet not so as to impose any absolute Necessity upon their Appetites and Inclinations but only to infer a Resemblance of their Temper For as in Cities there are some particular solemn Seasons and Places that give us good Grounds to distinguish the Persons assembled in them as the Days and Places of Publick Worship commonly call those that are wise and religious and well-disposed together and those that are set apart for Pomp and publick Sports gather the Rabble and the Idle and the Dissolute so that the observing these Solemnities gives us a clear Knowledge of the People that attend upon them By the same Reason the particular Seasons and Places the Houses and Conjunctions of the Planets may be able to give us some Light into the Temper of the Souls united to Bodies under them as carrying some Affinity to the Conjunctions under which Men are born For when God in his Justice hath ordained such a particular Position and all the Fatalities consequent to it then those Souls which have deserved his Vengeance are brought under that Position For Likeness and Affinity of Tempers hath a strange Power of bringing all that agree in it together This fatal Revolution then does by no means constrain or bind up the Soul nor take away its native Freedom but the Soul only bears some Resemblance to the Temper of this Revolution and is framed agreeably to such a Body as it self hath deserved to be given it for its Use and by this means gives Men an Opportunity of learning its particular Desires and Inclinations from the considering of the Consteilations that People are born under Again the Souls chuse their particular Ways of living according to their former Dignity and Disposition but still the behaving themselves well or ill in each of these Ways is left in their own Power And upon this Account we see many who have chosen a Way of Trade and Business and great Temptation yet continue very honest and good Men in it and
many that profess Philosophy and the Improvement of Wisdom and Virtue are yet of very loose Conversation notwithstanding all the Advantages of such an Employment For the different Methods of Life as that of Husbandry or Merchandise or Musick or the like are chosen by the Soul according to her former Disposition and Mens Station in the World is assigned them suitable to their Dignity and Deserts But the Management of themselves in any of these Callings is the Choice and Work of the Soul afterwards and we do not so much blame or commend Men for their Callings themselves as for their different Behaviour in them Farther yet This fatal Position or Revolution does never as some Men too boldly affirm it does cause any thing of Wickedness in us so as to make it necessary that Men born under it should be Knaves and Cheats adulterous or addicted to beastly and unnatural Lusts For though the Casters of Nativities sometimes say true when they foretell these Things yet this only happens according as we receive particular Qualities or Impressions which is done sometimes in a moderate and sometimes in an immoderate Degree And it is not the Insluence of the Stars but the Corruption of the Mind that makes Men Knavish or Lascivious or Unnatural and Brutish Those that receive these Insluences moderately and do not assist them by their own Depravity are Cautious and Wary correct the Heats of Youth and use it vertuously but those that receive them immoderately that is give way to them and promote them debase and prostitute themselves to all manner of Wickedness And what a Reflection upon Nature is this For even that which is most beneficial to us may turn to our Prejudice by a perverse Use of it The Sun gives us Light it both makes Things visible and enables us to see them And yet if a Man will be so foolish as to take too much of it to gaze upon his Rays when they shine in their full Strength he may lose his Eye-sight by his Folly But then that Folly and not the Brightness of the Sun is to be blamed if that which is the Author of Light to all the World be the Occasion of Blindness and Darkness to him Now when the Astrologers have as they think formed to themselves certain Marks and Rules whereby to know who will receive these Impressions in a due measure and who in a vicious Excess then they pronounce some Men Wise and others Subtle and Knavish accordingly Though after all I very much doubt Whether the erecting of any Schemes can furnish them with such Marks of Distinction or no. Some Things indeed are so manifest that all the World must allow them as that when the Sun is in Cancer our Bodies feel excessive Heat but some again are exceeding dark and doubtful and such as none but those who have made themselves Masters of Astrology can make any thing of Now that those Things which act constantly according to the Design and Directions of Nature that preserve the Original Constitution given them at first by their Great Creator and are endued with the greatest Power and Strength that such Things I say always act upon a good Design and properly speaking are never the Cause of any Evil seems to me very plain For all Evil is occasioned not by the Excess but by the Want of Power and if it were not so Power ought not to be reckoned among those Things that are Good And yet it is as plain that even Good Things in Excess oftentimes prove hurtful to us but then that Hurt is not owing to the Things but to our Selves And thus much may suffice in Answer to them who deny the Freedom of the Will upon the Pretence of any Fatality from the Motion or Position of the Heavens †If this Argument seem obscure in some of the Parts of it that must be imputed to the dark Notions of the Old Philosophers upon this Matter and the Superstitious Regard they had to Judicial Astrology which Simplicius himself is content only so far to comply with as to allow some considerable Influence of the Heavens upon the Bodies and Tempers of Men and that Stroke which the Complexions of People have in forming the Dispositions of their Minds Some Passages there are too which proceed upon the Hypotheses of the Pre-existence and Transmigration of Souls and their being provided with Bodies of Good or Bad Complexions here according to their Merits or Demerits in some former State But in truth this whole Notion of Judiciary Astrology is now very justly exploded as groundless and fantastical and many Modern Philosophers have proved it by very substantial Arguments to be no better See particularly Gassend in his Animadversions on the 10th Book of Diogenes Laertius But indeed to all who deny this Liberty upon any Argument whatsoever it may be replied in general That those who go about to destroy it do by no means consider or understand the Nature of the Soul but overthrow its very Original Constitution without seeming to be sensible of it For they take away all Principle of Internal and Self-Motion in which the Essence of the Soul chiefly consists For it must be either moved of its own Accord and then it is excited by a Cause within its self to its Appetites and Affections and not thrust forward and dragg'd along as Bodies are or else it is moved by an External Force and then it is purely Mechanical Again They that will not allow us to have our Actions at our own Disposal do not attend to nor are able to account for the Vital Energy of the Soul and its Assenting and Dissenting Accepting or Rejecting Power Now this is what Experience and Common Sense teaches every Man that he hath a Power of Consenting and Refusing Embracing and Declining Agreeing to or Denying and it is to no purpose to argue against that which we feel and find every Moment But all these are internal Motions begun in the Soul it self and not violent Impulses and Attractions from Things without us such as Inanimate Creatures must be moved by For this is the Difference between Animate and Inanimate Bodies that the one Sort are moved by an Internal Principle and the other are not Now according to this Distinction that which puts the Inanimate into Motion must have a Principle of Motion of its own and cannot it self be moved Mechanically For if this derived its Motion from something else too then as was urged before the Body is not moved by this but by that other cause from whence the Motion is first imparted to this and so the Body being moved no longer from within but by some forcible impression from without as all other Inanimate Creatures are must it self be concluded Inanimate Once more By denying that we have power over our Actions and a liberty of Willing or not Willing of Considering Comparing Choosing Defining Declining and the like all Moral Distinctions are lost and gone and Virtue