Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	abase_v	body_n	brightness_n	22	3	11.6814	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63913	A phisico-theological discourse upon the Divine Being, or first cause of all things, providence of God, general and particular, separate existence of the human soul, certainty of reveal'd religion, fallacy of modern inspiration, and danger of enthusiasm to which is added An appendix concerning the corruption of humane nature, the force of habits, and the necessity of supernatural aid to the acquest of eternal happiness : with epistolary conferences between the deceased Dr. Anthony Horneck and the author, relating to these subjects : in several letters from a gentleman to his doubting friend.	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.; Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1698 (1698)	Wing T3313; ESTC R5343	198,836	236

no Reason assign'd why i● shou'd be otherwise but because there is more of the sensible Nature in one part than there is in another but how can there be more or less when the whole fe●ls both wherefore if there are degrees of Pain in the Sentient Parts if we c●n feel pain in this part and none in the other and can at once feel several distinct Pains in several distinct parts then the Soul must either feel by parts which an Indivisible cann●t or Sensation must belong to another Principle whose Properties are Extension and Divisibility and if those Properties do not belong to Body or can belong to Spirit we have no Notion either of Body or Spirit Whoever throughly considers this Argument will find that the Judgment of most Learned Physician concur with this Opinion of the Corporiety of the Souls of Brutes and that the same is plainly hinted in those places of Scripture which relate to the Jewish Prohibition of Eating Blood because the same contained the Life or Soul For as our Animal Spirits 〈◊〉 off by what we call the insensible Transpiration we are sensibly enfeebled and grow unactive till there are new ones ma●e out of the Arterial Blood which Blood must be again s●p●ly'd by Corporeal Nourishment Thus we see Bodies un●●●ustom'd to hot Countries in those places their Po●es are so much open'd as to cause the Spirits flying away in such quantities that the Life would soon expire without the assistance of spi●●tuous Liquors which give a speedy supply of Spirits On the other hand we find Dormice will sleep whole Months without the help of Food but if you observe those Creatures in their sleep they are stiff and cold their Pores are so contracted that the Life cannot fly off and therefore they want no Recruit but when warmth awakens them whereby their Pores are opened they can fast no longer than other Creatures therefore if the Animal Life flies off by parts which are again renew'd by Corporeal Nourishment it is a clear Evidence that the Soul of Brutes or Animal Life is Corporeal and by this we come to a plain and true Notion of Death that it is not as usually defin'd a Separation of the Soul and Body which is but a Consequence of Death but an absolute Extinguishment of the Animal Life or Vital Flame For to suppose that meer Animals are a Compound of Matter and Spirit and that Death is only a Separation of them is to ridicule all the Natural Arguments for Man's Immortality by making them hold as strong for the Immortality of Brutes which is both against Divinity and Common Sense And indeed the reason why some Physicians who of all Men should admire most the wonderful Works of Creating Wisdom have been Atheistically inclin'd is because they are able to demonstrate that Sense is made by Matter and Motion and therefore have carelesly concluded Reason to spring from the same Principle and all our Actions to be accounted for by Mechanism and those Men help much to the Confirmation of this Opinion who assign the Office of Sensation to the Rational Soul and allow Reason to other Animals there is no Adversary to Religion but will readily grant the Animal Life and Rational Soul to be the same thing and that all Animals are Rational but then he subjoyns that the Animal Life is Corporeal and therefore concludes that Rationality is no Argument either of Immateriality or Immortality My Lord Bacon upon this Subject delivers his Opinion in the following words The sensible Soul or the Soul of Beasts must needs be granted to be a Corporeal Substance attenuated by Heat and made invisible let there be therefore made a more diligent Enquiry touching this Knowledge and the rather for that this Point not well understood bath brought forth superstitious and very contagious Opinions and most vilely abasing the dignity of the Soul of Man of Transmigration of Souls out of one Body into another and lustration of Souls by Periods of Years and finally of the too near affinity in evey point of the Soul of Man with the Soul of Beasts This Soul in Beasts is a principal Soul whereof the Body of the Beast is the Organ but in Man th●s Soul is it self an Organ of the Soul Rational Having made this Enquiry into the Soul of Brutes and given I hope sufficient proof that the same is Corporeal we shall next inform our selves what Knowledge they are endow'd with and enquire whether or no there is a Principle of Reason in the most subtil of their Actions Our common Observation may assure us That all the Actions of meer Animals are either the Effects of a bare Sensitive Nature which in various degrees is common to all or of Sensitive Creatures as they are fram'd of this or that peculiar Species or Kind for what those Creatures act according to the Nature common to all is plainly the Effect of bare Sensation We see Ideots do as much who have no use of Reason they distinguish who feeds them and fear who beats them Outward Objects must affect the Animal Spirits the Animal Spirits must make Traces in the Brain and lodge those Idea's and so far Will and Reason have nothing to do And altho' the Actions of meer Animals as they are of this or that peculiar Species or Kind seem somewhat agreeable to Reason yet they prove only a wise Author of their Beings and that the more strongly because 't is visible that those Actions are not the Effects of a reasoning Principle in those Creatures for Actions that are constantly agreeable to Reason must be somewhere directed by Reason but they are not the Effect of Re●son in those Creatures In earthly created Beings we find Reason is improv'd by degrees from a Series of Observations or from Information Men cannot conclude or reason about any thing but a Posteriori from the operation and effects of things but meer Animals act according to their Nature immediately and without observation which are so many Demonstrations that they are instructed by a secret Instinct and not by Reason or a Knowledge of what they do for they ever act according to their Natures when by plain and visible Accident they act against the most apparent Reason One wou'd think a little very little Reason wou'd instruct Creatures that they cou'd not eat when their Mouths are sewed up at least a trial might learn them that knowledge yet stitch up the Mouth of a Ferret day after day and for all that he 'l as warmly pursue the Rabbits for his food as if his Jaws were at liberty Farthermore Meer Animals must act according to their kind when so acting is visibly their certain ruin Take a Bull-dog and muzzle him throw him Bones that he may find he cannot open his Mouth ●●t after that shew him a Bull and he shall as boldly attack the Bull as if he had no Muzzle on Again It is certain that young Birds bred in Trees will

of the Humane Soul and whatever else belongs to the Science of Metaphysics which teacheth us to abstract from all Matter and Quantity Nay I presume it will not be accounted Paradoxical in me to affirm that Immaterial Objects are most genuine and natural to the Understanding especially since Cartes hath irrefutably demonstrated that the knowledge we have of the Existence of the Supream Being and of our own Souls is more certain clear and distinct than the knowledge of any Corporeal Nature whatever according to that Canon of Aquinas Nulla res qualiscunque est c. The Moral Considerations usually brought in defence of the Soul 's Incorruptibility are principally three 1. The Universal Consent of Mankind 2. Man's inseparable Appetite of Immortality 3. The Justice of God in rewarding good Men and punishing evil Men after Death Now as Cicero judiciously observes Omni in re consentio omnium Gentium Lex naturae putanda est and thus the Notion of the Soul's Immortality is so implanted in the Nature and Mind of Man that whoso denies it doth impugn his own Natural Principles As for that common Objection the Alteration observable in Infancy and old Age we may answer with the great Master of Nature at least one so esteem'd by some Innasci autem Intellectus videtur substantia quaedam esse nec corrumpi nam si corrumperetur quidem id maxime fieret ab habitatione illa quae in Senectute contingit nunc autem res perinde fit ac in ipsismet sensuum instrumentis si enim Senex Occulum Juvenilem reciperet non secus ac ipse Juvenis videret unde Senectus non ex eo est quod quidquam passa Anima sit fed quod simile aliquid ac in Ebrietate morbisque eveniat ipsaque intelligendi contemplandi functio propter aliquid aliud interius corruptum marcescit cum ipsum interim cujus est passionis expers maneat Which words consider'd we have good reason to affirm that all that Change which the Epicurean would have to be in the Rational Soul or Mind during the growth of the Body in Youth and decay of it in old Age doth not proceed from any Mutation in the Soul it self but some other Interiour thing distinct from it as the Imagination or Organ of the common Sense the Brain which being well or ill affected the Soul it self suffereth not at all but only the Functions of it flourish or decay accordingly for as the Philosopher remarks if it were possible to give an old Man a young Eye and a young Imagination his Soul would soon declare by exquisite vision and quick reasoning that it was not she that had grown old but her Organs and that she is capable of no more Change from the impairment of the Body than is usually observed to arise pro tempore from a fit of Drunkenness or some Disease of the Brain so that it is evident from hence that whatever Change Men have thought to be in the Soul by reason of that great decay generally attending old Age to not really in the Soul but only in the Imagination and the Organs thereof which are not so well dispos'd as in the Vigour of Life In like manner are we to understand that the Soul when the Members grow cold and mortify'd doth then indeed instantly cease to be in them yet is not cut off by piece-meal or diminisht and gradually dissipated but the whole of it remains in so much of the Body as yet continues warm and perfused by the Vital Heat until ceasing longer to animate the principle Seat of its Residence whether the Brain or Heart it at length bids adieu to the whole and withdraweth it self entire and perfect so that Death is an Extinction of the Vital Flame and not of the Soul which as Solomon calls it is the brightness of the Everlasting Light the unspotted Mirror of the Power of God and the Image of his Goodness and being but one she can do all things and remaining in her self she maketh all things new The like may be said with relation to those failings observable in swooning fits which fall not upon the Soul but on the Vital Organs at those times render'd unfit for the uses and actions to which they were framed and accommodated and if the Causes of such failings shou'd happen to be so violent as to bring on a sudden Death then the Soul must indeed depart yet not by reason of any dissolution in its Substance or imbecility in it self but for want of those dispositions in the Organs of Life by which she was enabled to enliven the Body Now if saith this Author in such a Thesis or Proposition which is not capable of being evinced by Geometrical Demonstration there can yet be expected such substantial and satisfactory Reasons Physical or Moral as may suffice to the full establishment of its Truth in the Mind of a reasonable Man If this be granted I thence argue that the Soul is an Immortal Substance and that its Immortality is not only credible by Faith or upon Authority Divine but also demonstrable by Reason or the Light of Nature To be convinc'd of our Immortality and satisfactorily perswaded whether or no there is any thing in us which shall not perish with the Life we are shortly to lay down is of so great and so important Consequence that I can readily expect your forgiveness if I trespass upon your Patience and inlarge a little farther upon this weighty Argument That there is somewhat in us essentially differing from distinct and superior to other Animals or that the Rational Soul of Man bears no Analogy with the Souls of other Creatures is farther elegantly toucht upon in these words of Dr. Willis The Eminency of the Rational Soul above the Brutal or Corporeal shines clearly by comparing either both as to the Objects and to the chief Acts or Modes of Knowing As to the former when●● every Corporeal Faculty is limited to sensible Things the Object of the Humane Mind is every Ens whether above or subl●mary material or immaterial true or fictitious real or intentional The Acts or Degrees of Knowledge common to either Soul are vulgarly accounted these three to wit Simple Apprehension Enunciation and Discourse How much the power of the Rational excels the other which is Corporeal we shall consider 1. The knowing Faculty of the Corporeal Soul is Phantasie or Imagination which being planted in the middle part of the Brain receives the sensible Species first only impressed on the Organs of Sense and from thence by a most quick irradiation of the Spirits deliver'd inwards and so apprehends all the several Corporeal Things according to their Exterior Appearances which notwithstanding as they are perceived only by the Sense which is often deceived they are admitted under an appearing and not always under a true Image or Species for so we imagine the Sun no bigger than a Bushel the Horizon of the Heaven and the Sea to meet