what Assured Hopes of Success in our Quest of Science so we ground our Discourses on the Natures of the Things made and establisht by GOD's Creative Wisdom CHAP. II. Of the ESSENCES of Bodies in in Common and of the First or Simple Bodies in particular § 1. ALl Concrete Notions do include some Form which constitutes them such 2. The Form of Ens is Essence 5. The Essences of Pure Acts consists in Actual Knowledge 4. Yet they are Potential to the Act of Existence 5. The Essence of Body is chiefly taken from it's Form 6 Yet not only but from the Matter also 7. Quantitative and not Quantitative are not the Proper Differences that constitute Body and Spirit 8. The Essence of the FIRST MATTER of the Cartesians cannot consist in only Extension 9. Nor as Mr. Locke speculates in Extension and Impenetrability together 10. Every Body is essentially a Distinct Part of Nature 11. Wherefore 't is essentially ordain'd for some Proper and Primary Operation in Nature 12. Wherefore what sits it for this Primary Operation does Constitute it 13. In this Fitness to perform this Primary Operation consists it's Metaphysical Bonity or GOODNESS 14. Every Body is also Essentially an Instrument 15. The Essential Difference of Body is chiefly taken from it's Action 16. The Modes or Accidents which make Bodies thus Fit are their ESSENTIAL or SUBSTANTIAL FORM. 17. But the Thing must retain that Complexion of Accidents for some time 18. Divisibility in common cannot constitute any Body 19. More and Less of Divisibility may 20. One or Two different Accidents may constitute the Simplest Bodies 21. Wherefore the Elements may be constituted by Rarity or Density 22. That is they were thus Constituted at first tho' perhaps there are not any such now 23. Hence the Cartesian First Matter which they put neither to be Rare nor Dense is a Chimera MEDITATION What we have gain'd by our Speculation hitherto What Dull Unactive Instruments Bodies are Yet none of them is Useless but in it's Degree Good The Reason why we discourse of such Abstract Notions and of the many Vast Advantages that Way yields CHAP. III. Of the Essences of Mixt Vegetable and Animal Bodies § 1. 'T Is scarce conceiveable there should be now any Pure Elements 2. How First-Mixt Bodies may be conceiv'd to have been made 3. The Essential Form of First-Mixt Bodies 4. And their Essence or Total Form 5. The Second Sort of Mixt Bodies 6. The Third Sort of Mixts 7. The Fourth Sort. 8. What other Accidents are added to make Variety of Mixts and Demixts 9. Yet Rarity and Density are the Principal and most Intrinsecal 10. Hence the Corpuscularians can give no account of the Intrinsecal Constitution of any Natural Body 11. Of the several Sorts of Demixts 12. The Ground of Sensible Qualities 13. Of Imperfect Mixts 14 Of Living Bodies 15. Of Vegetables 16 The Primary Operation of Vegetables 17. The Form of Vegetables 18. The Essence of Animals 19. The Primary Operation of Animals 20. What Animal is most Perfect in it's Kind 21. In what Sense we speak here of the Primary Operation of meer Animals MEDITATION What has been prov'd here Recapitulated The Excellency of Metaphysicks and the Sublime Way of Discoursing peculiar to that Science What sleight ways of Discoursing are affected by some Great Pretenders to Science Of our Duty as we are Rational Creatures CHAP. IV. Of the Essence of MAN § 1. MAN is One Thing made up of Soul and Body 2. Therefore the Soul and Body are here only Potential Parts of Man 3. Therefore neither Part can Operate Alone 4. According to that Excellent Maxim Actiones Passiones sunt Suppositorum 5. Hence the Christian Tenet of the Incarnation is Agreeable to Right Reason 6. Of the Act or Form of Man as he is MAN 7. That Both Parts concur to every Operation of Man as he is Man 8. Hence every Notion has a Phantasm accompanying it 9. Of the Total Form of Man 10. What chiefly in both those Parts distinguishes Man from all Other Things 11. Hence all pretence of GOD's Voluntary Annexing one thing to another is Groundless and Unphilosophical 12. Hence the Mens is not the Man as Cartesius fancy'd 13. The Soul's Manner of Existing and Operating here is in part Corporeal 14. The Primary Operation of Man is Reasoning 15. The Attainment of Truth is the Perfection of Man's Understanding 16. The Knowledge of Truth which thus perfects Man must be Evident 17. Hence Probability perfects no Man 18. Nor the Improvements of Memory or Fancy 19. Hence the Promoting Evident Truth is the Noblest Action of Man as he is Intellectual 20. Hence ERROUR is the Greatest Depravation of Man's Nature as he is Cognoscitive 21. The Essence of Man is RATIONALITY 22. And Distinguishes him from Angels and Brutes 23. Hence Animal Rationale is his True Definition 24. In Rationality are included the Powers of Apprehending and Judging as also of Receiving Impressions from the Senses 25. The Power of Reflecting is also an Essential Property of Man 26. The Soul acquires Knowledge by Impressions from Outward Objects on the Senses 27. First Proof 28. Second Proof 29. Third Proof 30. Fourth Proof 31. Fifth Proof 32. Sixth Proof 33 Seventh Proof 34. Eighth Proof 35. That the Soul cannot Elicit Ideas out of her self Prov'd from many heads 36. That the Position which makes the Soul and Body Two Things hinders the Right Explication of Christian Faith 37. And moreover makes every Man to be a Monstrous Chimera 38. That the Pre existence of Souls is a Senseless Conceit and Impossible 39. So is the Pythagorean Transmigration 40. That 't is a Folly to ask how the Soul and Body which they fancy Two Things come to be United MEDITATION What Immediate Steps we have taken in our Rational Progress hitherto Why it was Fitting such a Creature as Man should be made By what Connatural Means GOD's Infinite Wisdom contriv'd that Soul and Body should make up One Thing The Condition of our Soul here laid open What Incredible Inconveniencies and Absurdities arise from putting the Soul and Body to be Two Things CHAP. V. Of the Constitution and Dissolution of Individual Bodies § 1. THat only Individuals are properly THINGS 2. And therefore only Individual Essences are properly ESSENCES 3. Yet we can discourse more clearly of the Common Essences than we can of the Individual ones 4. There go more Accidents to constitute the Individuum than there go to constitute the Common Essences 5. The Individual Complexion of Accidents is the most Perfect Act next to that of Existence 6. Hence 't is Demonstrated that to give Existence is above the Power of Natural Causes and only Peculiar to GOD. 7. There must be some Instant in which the Individual Thing first begins to Bee 8. This Complexion of Accidents is Essential to the new-made Individuum 9. Therefore it is the Essential or Substantial FORM of the Individual Compound 10. Those Accidents that accrue
naturally Require them especially when that Disposition or Requiringness of a farther Perfection was laid by Himself He saw that to link Matter to a Spiritual Nature Orderly and Connaturally it was Requisite the Former should be rais'd to its Highest Pitch of Perfection and the Later deprest while â—ere below what was due to a Pure Spirit that so the Supremum Infimi as was fit to build up Methodically the great Work of the Creation might immediately confine upon and thence be joyn'd to the Inflmum Supremi He contriv'd then that some Part of the Brain which was the Quintessence and Flower of Animality call'd by us The Seat of Knowledge should be capable of serving for a more excellent Operation than Matter alone could perform that so it might become his Wisdom and Goodness as he is Author of Nature to endow it with a Nobler Form than the Heard of other Animals could deserve and thence produce that more Elevated Operation I say as Author of Nature For as the Matter of Wood ultimately Dispos'd by increasing Degrees of Glowing Heat to become Fire not only has given it the Form which makes it such an Element or such a determinate Thing but also at the same instant by the steady and ever ready Emanation of God's superabundant Goodness it has an Existence given it though this latter Effect exceeds the Power of all Creatures together to bestow it So in the same manner as soon as the said Dispositions in the Brain of an Embryo are grown up to their due Perfection the same Goodness and for the same Reason infuses into it a Rational Soul though it was beyond the Power of all Natural Agents to produce it Thus came we into this Material World Thus were we compounded of the Top of Corporeal Nature and the Bottom or Lowest Size of the Spiritual Minuisti cum paulo minùs ab Angelis Thus was Man constituted the Horizon of the two Opposite Hemispheres of Meer Matter and Pure Spirits confining upon and by Nature neer Akin to both Whence he becomes capable to Ascend to and even â—â— Transcend the Dignity of the Highest Angels or to be Debas'd below the Vilenes of the most contemptible Brute Nothing is so High but through God's Assistance we may not aspire to nor any thing so Low and Filthy into which we may not plunge our selves according as we follow the Conduct of Angelical Reason or Brutish Passion Let us then my Soul know our own Dignity but yet let us not overween Matter The Condition of our Soul here laid open is indeed in us exalted and superindu'd with a Spiritul Power yet we are for all that at present but a Part of this Material World and our Condition while here is at least at first meerly Passive and ever subject to Change and Alteration Thy self art liable to receive Impressions from Natural Agents Nor is this intended by thy Creator to debase thee and keep thee down but to improve and perfect thee Thou hadst no Title being but a Part to be a Subsistent Knowing Thing considering thee in thy single self and therefore couldst not claim to have Actual Knowledge given thee at thy Creation Thou art then to acquire it by the Operations of our fellow-Fellow-Creatures or rather Useful Servants Bodies which play about us perpetually and by their subtillest Particles which they perpetually send forth affect our Senses We had our Being at first by Bodily Dispositions How the Coalition of the Soul and Body into one Ens agrees with Principles of Reason and therefore 't is no Disparagement to us by the same means to have those Materials which give and continue to us our Operations Let us not listen then to those Mistakers who would perswade us that we are Two Things while we are here Such Conceits spring from Fancy unable to reach the true Nature of Unity and Entity The Notion of Ens comprises in its spacious Extent both Corporeal and Spiritual Nature wherefore there is Room enough in that Comprehensive Conception to comprise both Natures in One Thing provided those Parts can be Adapted and Fitted to make up One Compound as we have seen they are Let us ask all Nature and our own Thoughts reflecting upon it and they will tell us this is done by the Proportion and Sutableness the one Part of an Ens has to the other as Power and Act or Matter and Form which are the Proper Parts of all Things here below that is by the Capacity which the Material Potential and Indetermin'd Part has to be Determin'd or Actuated by the Form and the Correspondent Virtue which the Form or Act has to Actuate and Determine the Matter when 't is fitly dispos'd for it By which Determination it becomes This and no other in which consists its Unity whence it is made capable of receiving Existence which is the same as to make them One THING Consider what innumrrable Errors have spawn'd from the Ignorance of this one Great Truth which gives us the right What Errors and Absurditics have sprung out of the contrary Opinion Knowledge of our selves First Those Men fancy thee to be a kind of Distinct Spiritual Thing whence since thou art Individually such and the very Notion of an Individual Thing is What is capable to Exist they must attribute to thee the having a Peculiar Existence of thy own whence thou canst not by this Tenet be the Form of thy own or of any Body but an Assistant or Extrinâ—â—cal Form that is a Subsistent Spirit or an Angel Next because they cannot conceive how an Operation of Body which is Divisible should be receiv'd in an Indivisible Subject they are forced to deny that any Impression from outward Objects convey'd by our Senses to the Brain can affect thee or give thee Knowledge and therefore they make those Necessary Assistants assign'd thee by Nature nay our own Inferiour Faculties too to be altogether Useless for thâ—â— End Hence they will needs endow thee with 〈◊〉 Power to give thy self Knowledge by thy producing within thy self little Spiritual Mirrours call 〈◊〉 Ideas Not reflecting that whatever is of its self only a Power to have any Thing or Mode or has only a Power of Knowing cannot possibly reduce its self tâ— Act or give its self what it has not and that what 's Indetermin'd to every particular Mode cannot of it self produce Determinate ones Since from meer Indifferency to all no One particular Effect can proceed For this Reason finding no Similitude or Resemblance between those Spiritual Effects and Corporeal Causes they substitute instead of such Causes Stupid and Unactive Occasions which have no Influence or Causality at all by which means they break â—â—â—â—der the Chain of Causes and Effects by which the well-compacted Frame of Nature hangs together and the steady Course of God's Ordinary Providence Atâ—â—git a fine usque ad finem fortiter disponâ—t omâ—… suaviter Not considering also that this closelyâ—… Order of Causes and
of this Great and most Important Trâ—â— How Unreasonable then and Unnatural would it â—â— in us not to bestow our Chief if not Only carâ— â—â— provide for the Eternal Welfare of our Soul which â—â— so Precious in it self and so neerly ally'd to Us tâ—â— 't is a Part and by far the Best Part of this Thing â—â— are call'd Man What will it profit a Man sayâ—â— who is the Eternal Wisdom to gain the Whoâ—â— World and lose his own Soul How Senseless â—â— Foolish must we appear in the Sight of GOD and â—â— Angels â—o prefer the Conveniencies of this Momeâ—tary Life for all Time could we live while it lâ—st is but a Moment to the Endless Duration of a Spirâ—â— before the Mâ—ans to live Eternally Happy in the Oâ—â—â—â— How Vile to enslave our Affections here to Riches â—â—â—â—oâ—eal Pleasures or Airy Honour which are so inâ—â—itely below us being indeed nothing but Shining Clay well figur'd and colour'd Earth and Articulate Air which are perhaps the Basest of all Material Beings What Generous heart if not infatuated even to Madness would so debase his Dignity as to subject himself and all his dearest Concerns to his Underling or Slave and such a Slave as will certainly ruin him by his over-kind Condescendency Knowledge and Virtue are the Only True and the â—â—â—t Perfections of our Soul while she is in the Way to her Last End Whence we may be Certain they â—â—â— Agreeable to her Nature The Increase in these gives her Growth and Strength and consequently must advance her towards the Right End for which Nature ordain'd her Whereas what 's made of this corruptible Trash Matter must needs depress â—er High-born Nature and disgrace her Extraction â—â—deed those Material Creatures may by our Sober â—se of them serve as Drudges to assist our other Compâ—rt the Body with necessary Conveniencies They may also be a means to raise the Soul to the Knowledge of her self and her Great Maker but â—f we affect them farther than as they are subservient to those Laudable Ends we shall put the Order of the Creation out of it's Frame and Irrational Love especially if Excessive being a perfect Slavery we shall invert the Gradual Series of Beings of which the world consists turn the Climax of Causes with the â—eels upwards and make our Soul servilely truckle to those Despicable things which were made to do her Homage Lest our Fancy not much assisting our Memory in things above us we may forget what we lately demonstrated of how Our former Demonstrations for the Immortality of our Soul summ'd up and Recapitulated surpassing an Excellency and how Refin'd a perfection of Being our Soul is above this Dross of Matter of which our Bodies are â—neaded let us review once more the Product of some of our most Attentive and Deliberate Thoughts We have seen it clearly Demonstrated that our Soul's Capacity which is of Knowledge contrary to the Nature of Material Containers is Infinite Whence she is so far from being fill'd by the accession of such Objects as this Material World can afford her that even now while here they serve but to enlarge her said Capacity that is to encrease â—er Thirst of knowing still more From which follows that in her future State when she is all Mind and constantly and most eagerly Attentive and addicted to her only Natural Perfection Knowledge she will being then a Pure Act and operating accordingly strain her incredible Activity to attain the Sight of the First Cause of all things and to know what he is in himself and thence must remain ever in a vehement Longing and Tormenting Dissatisfaction unless she attain that only Soul-satiating Contemplation of Him who is Infinite Truth and the First Cause of all those Created Effects the Knowledge of which transported her with such an Insatiable Desire of seeing him We have seen that as the Purest and most Refined Gold cannot incorporate with Dust the Natures or Qualities of Corporeal Beings when in thy Knowing Power cannot mingle with thy Purer and Nobler Essence nor as Proper and Connatural Affections do use alter it or bring it to their Nature But they stand aloof from it and tho' they be in thee yet they keep their Distance and contrary to the Genius of Corporeal Modes they are there â—s Objects that is as Other Things or as Distinct from thee We have shown that by our Apprehending what Existence or Actual Being is which 't is Evident we do since we know the Meaning of those words thou hast the Nature of Existence in thy Knowledge that is in thy self which is impossible to be shadow'd or represented but only in a Spiritual Mirrour Nay by having what 's meant by the word Existence in thee which Abstracts from all Limited or Particular Manners or Degrees of it thou hast in thee the Nature of Existence in Common or in it's whole Latitude Unconfin'd to this or that Subject which demonstrates that thy Nature is Capable to comprehend the whole Creation and to see clearly even that Soveraign Being it self whose Nature is Unconfin'd or Infinite Existence We have seen by thy framing Respects of one thing to another that thou hast in thee a Power of Ordering them and consequently the Nature of that Order it self whereas there is nothing in the Material World but so many Singulars each of which is ultimately Determin'd by it's Individuating Principles and therefore is Independent and Absolute in it self without the least Reference or Actual Respect to one another We have seen clearly demonstrated that thy Essâ—â—ce is Superiour in the Line of Being to the whole â—â—ture of Continu'd Quantity tho' stretcht out to the vast Expansion of the Heavens and even as far as the World's Surface and that thy Knowing Power is able to fathom it all without straining it's Capacity beyond it's reach We have seen also how it is capacious enough to contain the whole Nature of Discrete Quantity tho' it fills all those Boundless Rooms in the Long Row of Number algebraically repeated All those short Items of particular Times and Places summ'd up into one Total are compriz'd and writ in short hand in thy Indivisible Essence The whole Progress of Motion and Time and it 's Untraceable Antiquity from the First Winding up the Clock of Nature till it's Line is run out at the World's last Period when the sick Tapour of dying Nature and the Eye of the World the Sun shall begin to wink and become bloodshot till 't is darken'd and Extinguisht All this Long Race of Time I say is far too short to be commensurated with thy Essence and Duration The Former sort of Quantity is but as it were a Point the later but an Instant when resum'd after an Indivisible manner in thy Comprehensive Being All the Permanent parts of the one are in Thee without the least Extension or Distance and all the Succeeding Parts of the Other whether Past or Future when vested with thy manner
〈…〉 labour for our own True Good pursue that bestâ—…isht Food which connaturally nourishes our Soul in it's way and comply with the Best Intentions and End of our Creation CHAP. IV. Of the Essence of MAN 1. MAN is One Thing made up or Compounded of a Corporeal and a Spiritual Part which we call BODY and SOUL For were the Body and Soul iâ— MAN is One Thing made up of Soul and Body Man Two Distinct Things those Two Things they being of such Different Natures could not possibly have any Coalition nor any kind of Union 〈…〉 as to make up One Compound more than can 〈…〉 Angel and a Brute Nor could they be in 〈…〉 Manner or according to any Mode of which wâ— have a Notion cemented together Not according to that Mode or Accident call'd QUANTITY the Unity of which kind of Parts is Continuity because the Spiritual Part the Soul is not Quantitative nor can it be thus Continu'd or Joyn'd to the Body Nor consequently according to the Notion of Quality For first Quality supposes tâ—… Thing which it Qualifies already constituted and only superadds some Perfection or Imperfectiâ—… to it's Nature Secondly Because all the Qualities of One of those Parts are Corporeal ones aâ—… all the Qualities of the Other Part are Spiritual that is they are Quantitatiâ—s and Not-Quantitativâ— which can no more unite than a Body and a Spâ—… could Nor according to Relation or to speâ—… more properly according to the Things themselves as they are consider'd to be Relata or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this Notion is of the Thing it self as it gives us the Ground or Reason of our Relating or Comparing it to Another in such a Respect which presupposes the Things and is so far from giving us a Ground of conceiving them to be One that it obliges us to conceive them as some way or other Two and moreover Relatively Opposite to one another and Opposition cannot be the Formal Reason of Unity And if we take the word Relation not Fundamentally but Formally for the very Act of Referring 't is clearly a Spiritual Mode peculiarly belonging to One part of Man the Soul and therefore for the Reason lately given it cannot unite both those Parts together Nor can they be United according to any of the Four last Predicaments for These as is shown in my METHOD can only belong to Bodies Nor lastly can those Parts were they Two Things be United according to Action and Passion in which the Cartesians â—â—ce this Union for these besides their being Extrinsecal Considerations do most evidently presuppose the Whole Thing or Suppositum only which Acts oâ— Suffers constituted and therefore cannot be the Formal Cause or Reason of constituting that Whole or Compounding those Parts together but are the Exercise of that Essence and 〈…〉 Existence already Constituted such It is left â—â—en that those Two Parts can only be United 〈…〉 make One Compound according to the First Predicament or according to the Notion of Ens Thing or Substance But to be United or which â—…the same made One precisely under the Notion or Respect of Thing is out of the force of the very Words to be One Thing Therefore this Compound of SOUL and BODY call'd MAN is truly and necessarily One Thing 2. Therefore the Soul and Body in Man are only Potential Parts of that Compound Therefore the Soul and Body are here only Potential Parts and neither of them while in the Compound is Actual For it has been already Demonstrated Ch. 1. § 27. that there can be no Actual Parts in any Compound whatever Moreover were they Actual while in the Compound each of them would have it's oâ—â— Act there and consequently it 's own Essence and this not only Distinctly from the Other but Independently of it since every Act in the Line of Substance as both these Parts are determines the Substance to be This fits it for Existence and makes it capable to Subsist alone wherefore each of those Parts when separated would retain it's Act and Essence and exist or actually remain such as it was whereas 't is manifest that a Human Body does not exist or remain so much as a Sensitive or Vegetative Thing but becomes a meeâ— Dead Carkass 3. Therefore neither Part while in the Compound can Act or Operate Alâ—… Therefore Neither Part can Operate Alone For 't is Demonstrable that Whâ—… ever Acts must Be Actually Bâ—… in our case neither Part Is actuaâ—… but are both of them only Potential by § 2. Wheâ—… fore 't is manifest that Neither Part can work Alâ—… but concomitantly with the other that is in all 〈…〉 Operations of Man as he is Man 't is the Wâ—… Compound or that Ens Thing Substantia Priâ—… or Suppâ—sâ—â—um which only can Act or Operâ—… sâ—nce It only Is actually 4. Corollary I. Hence is seen on what Evident Ground that most Useful and Solid Maxim Actiones Which Groundâ— that Excellent Maxim Actiones Passiones sunt Suppositorum Passiones sunt Suppositorum which all seem to admit but Few I fear duly reflect on is built viz. on those most Evident Truths Nothing can Act but what is it self in Act or Is Actually or Nothing can Act in such a manner unless it Bee such and No Parts in any Compound singly consider'd Are Actually With which notwithstanding it well consists that The Whole may act more chiefly and Peculiarly according to This Part than to That as we also experience not only in Man but in every Compound whatever 5. Corollary II. How Useful this Doctrine is to explicate the Incarnation or the Subsistence of Two Natures Hence the Christian Tenet of the Incarnation is Agreeable to Right Reason in One Divine Person and the Different Operations of Christ our Saviour as he is GOD and MAN will easily appear to Reflecters and will more fully be seen when we shall have occasion to show the Conformity which that Fundamental Article of Christian Faith has to the Principles of True Philosophy 6. Tho' the Peculiar and Immediate Form or Act of that Part call'd The Seat of Knowledge be that Spiritual Of the Form or Act of Man as he is Man Part we call The Soul yet the Act or Form of Man as he is Man is the said Spiritual Part together with that Complexion of Accidents in his Body which contribute to fit him for his Primary Operation For since Man is One Thing which has in it both a Corporeal and a Spiritual Nature § 1. and every Thing acts as it is his Operation peculiar to him as he is Man must also be Corporeo-Spiritual and consequently his Total Form which constitutes him such an Individual Acter must likewise partake of both those Natures 7. Corollary III. Hence in every Operation of Man as he is Man the Operations peculiar to the Soul Both â—arts concurr to every Operation of Man as he is Man cannot be produced without the Immediate
Concurrence of the Fancy or Imagination and by the Remote Assistance of the Complexion of those Accidents by which he is constituted an Animal and comes to be Imaginative 8. Corollary IV. Hence every Notion or Conception we have has a Phantasm accompanying it either Hence every Notion has a Phantasm accompanying it Simple or Compounded Lively or Obscure Express or Confus'd Proper or Metaphorical The Distinction or Variety of which is taken from the Different manner of the Action of the Object the different manner of Reception in that Part call'd The Seat of Knowledge or from the Reflexion of the Man himself framing and ordering those Phantasms as he finds most convenient 9. Hence this Total Form which constitutes Man must also distinguish him Of the Total Form of Man from all other sorts of Things that is from all meer Bodies and from all Pure Spirits or Angels For otherwise it could not be the Peculiar Act of that Compound if it did not give him a Distinct Essence from all other Species or Sorts of Things which it could not do were it either meerly Corporeal or meerly Spiritual 10. That which chiefly distinguishes Man essentially according to his Corporeal What chiefly in both these Parts distinguishes Man from all other Things Part from all other Bodies is that he has some such Part in his Body call'd by us The Seat of Knowledge which is a fit Instrument to assist the Soul to work comparatively by representing divers Distinct Things at once Which property it has from it's being in the highest manner Sensitive so as to be apt to receive the several Impressions with an exact Distinction and also to receive retain or exhibit More or Many of them at once Whence that Part requires it should have a Spiritual Power in it to work thus Actually as is shown Solid Philosophy Asserted Preliminary IV. § 13. to § 20. That which chiefly Distinguishes him according to his Spiritual Part is that That Power being but a Part of the Compound or of the Whole Ens cannot while it is such connaturally Act after the Manner of a Pure Spirit but Dependently on the Body and by means of the Impressions on it Whence it works by Abstract or Inadequate Notions and not Comprehensively and withall by observing the Pace of the Body's or the Fancy's Motion which is perform'd leasurely or Successively Neither of which can agree to a Pâ—… Spirit or an Angel 11. Corollary V. Hence all Pretence of GOD's voluntary Annexing Knowledge to a Corporeal Being or to Hence all Pretence of GOD voluntary Annexing is Unphilosophical and Groundless Matter not thus Fitted for it and therefore not Requiring it or Connaturally Dispos'd for it is against GOD's Wise est Administration of the World by Previous and Proper Dispositions Besides 't is a pure Voluntary Assertion without any kind of Ground in Nature and utterly Unphilosophical as is shown Ideae Cartesianae Indicatio 3. § 44 45. c. and Solid Philosophy Reflexion 20. § 2 3 4. 12. Corollary VI. Hence the Mens is not the Man nor an Actual Part of him or a Thing but a Potential Part Hence the Mens is not the Man only Nor consequently could it receive Impressions of pretended Idea's or be connaturally affected with them unless it were Identify'd with the Body That is 't is the Suppositum or the Whole Man that can receive them tho' peculiarly according to such a Part. 13. Corollary VI. Notwithstanding that Man has evidently a Spiritual Part in him yet his Manner of Existing The Soul's manner of Existing and Operating here is in part Corporeal in this State is Formally Corporeal and only Virtually Spiritual For since his Spiritual Operations here do follow the Slow Pace of the Motion of the Fancy and are not Instantaneous or Simultaneous as will be shown the Manner of Operating Proper to a Spirit is and the Manner of Operating follows and observes the Manner of Existing 't is Evident that the Manner of Existing which Man has here is Corporeal and not Spiritual Whence if we regard Physical or which are built on them Logical Considerations he is such a Body and placed directly under the Notion of Corpus But if we regard Metaphysical Principles which Abstract from Motion and Corporeal Considerations and all the Manners of them and consider him precisely under the Notion of Ens then he is consider'd as joyntly constituted of both these Parts of which the Spiritual Part and the aforesaid Complexion of Bodily Accidents which dispos'd the Matter for such a Form and clubs to his Primary Operation is his Formal Act and together with the Matter does compound that Ens call'd MAN 14. From what has been deduc'd Chap. 3. § 16 19. 't is evinced that the The Primary Operation of Man is Reasoning Primary Operation of Man as he is Man is Reasoning or Discoursing rationally For since that is the Primary Operation of all Vegetable and Animal Things by which they are Conserv'd Perfected and Nourishâ— agreeably to their Respective Natures so as to attain the Good or the End for which they were immediately ordain'd by Nature and the Natural Good of Man is that which improves betters and as it were nourishes his Better part the Soul to which the Body is only Subservient Subordinate and a Means to procure and promote it's Good And that which most perfects the Soul which is of an Intellectual Nature is the Acquiring and Increasing of KNOWLEDGE which during the whose Course of our Lives is done by Reasoning or Deducing New Knowledges out of Fore-going ones it follows that Ratiocination or Reasoning iâ— the Primary and Proper Operation of Man And accordingly we shall find by an easie Reflexion that when we arrive at the Knowledge of any New especially very concerning Objects by Exact or Evident Reasoning the Soul finds it's Self Improv'd Dilated and Nourisht according to it's Nature and we use to acknowledge that our Desire or as it were Hunger or Natural Appetite of Truth is then Satisfy'd So that as the Pursuit of Food is the Primary Operation of a meer Animal so the Pursuit of Knowledge which can only be perform'd by Reasoning is the Primary Operation of MAN 15. Hence follows that this Knowledge which gives Nourishment Growth and Strength to the Soul according The Attainment of Truth is the Perfection of Man's Understanding to her Nature must be Knowledge of TRUTHS For First Falshoods cannot in true Speech be Known because they are Contrary and Destructive to the nature of ENS which is the Adequate Object of the Understanding and has for it's Property Intelligibility and Confound it with Non Ens. Next all Falshoods are either Formally or Virtually Contradictions as is shown Method to Science B. 3. Lâ—ss 3. § 17. Whence Contradictions cannot Unite to the Knowing Nature of the Soul or be Receiv'd in it's Judging Power but are directly Opposite to her Nature and as it were Poison to
The Power of Reflecting is also an Essential Property of Man of MAN For daily Experience tells us that Reflexion makes the Notions and Thoughts of all Mankind in what Business whatever more Lively and Express it preserves Men from Mistakes and Miscarriages and makes all their Judgments and Actions Orderly Steady and Prudent Nor could Men of Art or Scholars without Reflexion which when us'd with a Seduloâ—… Application we call STUDY range all their Notions with exact Distinction under Geneâ—… Heads without doing which all their Discourse might be Confus'd and Interfere or Ramble from one Notion to another nor could they so firmly and certainly hold to the same Point or to the same Subject of their Discourse Nor could they Divide those Notions by Proper Differences nor Define them right much less lay them together or Connect them Orderly without which 't is manifest no Evident Ratiocination can 〈…〉 made nor any True Science be possibly attain'd 26. 'T is most Connatural to the State of thâ—… Soul while in the Body that sâ—… should Acquire her First Elemeâ—… The Soul acquires Knowledge by Impressions from Objects on their Senses of Knowing or Notions by meaâ—… of Bodily Instruments and 〈…〉 have them Infus'd into her 〈…〉 first or Innate This is Evident from divers Considerations 27. First Because the Soul had her Being 〈…〉 first by reason that some part of the Body was Dispos'd and therefore First Proof Naturally Requir'd to have such a Form Nor can any other reason be assign'd why Ordinary Providence or GOD as he is the Author of Nature puts a Soul into each Embryo much less such a Soul into such an Embryo when it is fit to Receive it Wherefore 't is Agreeable to the same Wise Course of Nature thâ—… her Operations which follow her Being should likewise observe the same method or depend oâ—… those Previous Operations or Impressions on the Body causing such or such Dispositions in it 28. Secondly We find in the Body Fit Organs and Instruments to receive those Impressions from Objects and Second Proof convey them to the Brain which therefore had been Useless and to no End did they not work that Effect and convey them thither 29. Thirdly Since it has been Demonstrated here § 1. that this Compound of Soul and Body call'd MAN is Third Proof â—…e Thing and therefore that â—…e Soul is primarily and immediately Identify'd 〈…〉 Entitatively United with some Chief Corporeal â—… which by the wise Contrivance of an animal Body is apt to influence all the rest that 〈…〉 to some Part in the Brain where the Animal â—…ts chiefly reside and whenee all their Motion begins It follows necessarily that as that Corporeal Part is affected after it's manner that is materially or as Material things are wrought â—…on by one another so the Soul which makes â—…e Thing with it as the Form does with the Matter should also at the same time and by the same â—…ns become affected after it's manner that 〈…〉 Spiritually or to some degree Knowingly â—… which is the same should have Direct Spiriâ—…l Impressions made upon her which are those â—e call NOTIONS or Simple Apprehensions which â—re the First Rude Draughts and the Materials of â—ll our Knowledges 30. Fourthly We find by Evident Reflexion that when Outward Corporâ—… things that are Sensible are objected Fourth Proof to us with which 〈…〉 were before Unacquainted we have immediately New Notions of it But we do not find by oâ—… best Reflexion that any Idea or Notion of sucâ—… a thing was in us antecedently and only excited 〈…〉 new 31. Fifthly We find also by Evident Reflexion that our Notion or Idea is Dâ—… and Dull if the Impression froâ—… Fifth Proof without do but slightly affect 〈…〉 or imperfectly exhibit the Object Wherefore the Degree of Clearness or Obscurity in the Iâ—…pression does make a correspondent Degree 〈…〉 Clearness or Obscurity in the Idea or Notion it argues likewise that the Substance of the Notion is made by the Substance of the Impression aâ—… consequently that our Notions themselves 〈…〉 caus'd by Impressions from without and are 〈…〉 Innate For otherwise since a less Clear Impression might serve to excite this Idea rather thaâ—… Another the Idea in the Soul having there â—…qually it 's Native Brightness independently on tâ—… Body it would when once excited appear 〈…〉 it's full Lustre the contrary to which we â—…perience whenever the Impression is Imperfect 32. Sixthly The Objects or Things to be knoâ—… are without us and by sendiâ—… out their Effluviums which 〈…〉 Sixth Proof minute particles of the same Nature are apt to affect our Senses and to Pâ—…trate or be Transmitted to that most Sensiâ—… part call'd the Seat of Knowledge Wherefoâ—… as was prov'd Man being One Thing and consequently the Soul being immediately United with the Body as the Form to that Noblest Part and all Passions or Receptions having for their Subject the Suppositum or the Whole Compound it follows that when that Part is affected the Whole and consequently the Soul must be affected or wrought upon at the same time Especially since the very Essence of Man fundamentally consists in the Substantial Union or Identity in the Notion of Ens of those two Parts Whence follows that every Impression being Receiv'd according to the Manner or Nature of the Receiver â—…nd the Receiver here consisting of two diversnatur'd Parts one of which is Corporeal the other Spiritual consequently when the Corporeal Part is affected after it's manner or has the Nature of that Object in it Corporeally the Spiritual Part or the Soul will be affected or have the Nature of that Object in it Spiritually that is Knowingly Or which is the same there will be a Notion or Simple Apprehension of the Nature of that Object directly Imprinted in it as far as the Sense or Senses exhibit that Object Of which see Preliminary IV. § 14 15. 33. Seventhly There being no Actual Parts in any Compound whatever by Ch. 1. § 27. the Condition of Seventh Proof the Soul while 't is a Part of that Compound Thing MAN is only Potential and far different from that of a Pure Act or an Angel which because it has no Organs or Means to acquire any New Knowledge from Outward Objects has therefore all the Knowledge that can be due to it's Nature given it in the First Instant of it's Being that is all it's Knowledge is Innate Whereas the Soul being hâ—… in a State of Potentiality and besides the Mâ—…ner of Existing which she has here being 〈…〉 some sort Corporeal by § 13. this Potentiality â—…hers is to be reduced to Act or her Power 〈…〉 Knowing is to be brought to Actual Knowledge by Degrees But were her Notions Innate shâ—… would have her Knowledge by the same Connatural Way and after the same Manner by which Angels have theirs which confounds the Nature of those two vastly different Kinds of Beingâ—… MAN and ANGEL
Stone and a Tree a Horse and an Eagle a Lizard and a Herring c. Nor is at all to purpose to alledge they are a Compound Thing for this is contrary to many Evident Truths since it has been demonstrated Ch. 1. § 27. that there are no Actual Parts in any Compound whatever Nor can the Parts of Ens joyn to make One Thing otherwise than as one of them is Determinable Potential or has the Notion of Matter the other Determinative of the Other as it 's Form Lastly that Unum or One Thing would be Divisum in se which is against the Nature of Ens. Nor is it to purpose to alledge they are United by their Acting together for this only makes them Coacters such as the Principal Cause and the Instrument uses to be and not One Thing as is clearly shown Preliminary V. § 25. Besides they must Be One Thing ere they can Act as One Thing which as is there shown makes the alledging this for a Reason very Preposterous 38. Corollary XIV From what 's deduced above 't is demonstrated against that every-way-Groundless Opinion That the Pre-existence of Souls is a Senseless Conceit and Impossible of the Pre-existence of Souls Since the Form of an Ens being but a Part of that thing it belongs to and a Part of a Thing not being the Thing it self or the Whole Thing and only the Thing it self being Capable of Existance the Soul which is the Form of Man cannot possibly exist till it informs the Matter and with it makes up that Thing call'd Man 39. Corollary XV. Hence that foppish Opinion of the Transmigration of Souls So is the Pythagorean Transmigration is confuted Since the Form is not Received but in Matter fitted to receive it or Dispos'd for it and with it compounding one Thing which shall have a Primary Operation sutable to the Nature of such a Compound which kind of Disposition can no where be found but in Humane Bodies otherwise every meer Animal and Vegetable might require and therefore have a Rational Soul in them which put there could neither need any Transmigration nor could it be without having two Souls in one Body or Two Forms in the same Matter which would make every such Compound a CHIMERA Whence I am forced to declare that those who talk of GOD's Annexing Reason to the Matter of a Brute bid fair for the Tenet of a Pythagorean Transmigration for to what other end can the starting such a Question or such a wild Supposition tend 40. Corollary XVI Hence is farther shown that to those who ask How the Soul and Body come to be That 't is a Folly to ask how the Soul and Body came to be United United The properest Answer is They were never DISUNITED or TWO A farther reason how they come to be One may be gather'd out of the following Meditation MEDITATION BY this time my Soul we have rais'd our selves by immediate Steps from the Material World our Underling and God's Footstool The Rational Progress and Immediate Steps of our Thoughts hitherto till we are come within Ken of our own Nature Nor can we think we have err'd in that Noble and Necessary Quest There have been no Meandrian Turnings and Windings in our Rational Progress which is the Way we have taken We started first from the Simplest and as we may say Embryo-Notions of POWER and ACT which belong to every Created Being We proceeded next to that sort of Power and Act which compounds the Changeable Nature of BODY We went on to take a view of the Essences of the most Uncompounded Bodies and those of their Simpler Mixts and Demixts till we arriv'd at those most Compounded ones which are Organical such as are Vegetables and Animals divers Parts of which seem to have distinct Natures and Operations of their own But they only seem to have them for out of the Compound they can perform no such Operations at all because those Parts being only Potential or in Power to be Things they are hence of themselves not Actually Things nor capable of Being nor consequently of Acting So that 't is the Compound only that Acts according to such a Part which is somewhat of it because it only Is or is in Act. Lastly We have shewn the Establishment of the Essence of an Animal and that its Primary Operation for which it was ordain'd is like it self meerly Sensitive or Material But must the Climax of BEING stop in that lowest Degree of Entity Base Matter Why it was necessary such a Creature as MAN should be made No surely For how should the Alpha of all Being be the Omega of it too if there were nothing Created here but such a Stupid and Senseless Nature as Body which is utterly unable to ascend to him or raise it self towards him and chuse him for its Last End and Final Good And yet how should meer Matter rise to that vastly higher Story of Being call'd Spiritual or how should it arrive to a next Neighbourhood with an Angel They seem rather Contradictory and in the highest manner Opposite The one is of its own Nature Divifible the other Indivisible The one is a Pure Act the other is meerly Potential being made of Matter which depresses it's Compart while here to a Potential State also The Order of Beings which is the Product of God's Creative Wisdom could not but be contriv'd with all the Beauty of the most exact Harmony which consists in fitting one Thing to another It must then arise by Immediate Degrees otherwise it would not be Compacted but Shatter'd And it had been too great a Leap and had left too wide a Chasm in the Frame of the Creation to ascend or rather skip from meer Matter to a Pure Spirit But what cannot Infinite Wisdom By what means GOD's Infinite Wisdom contriv'd the Union of the Soul and Body in one Thing contrive without either perverting or straining the Proportions of Order or Violating the Natures of Body or Spirit either Wherefore to make the Contexture of Beings Close and not intersticed by Flaws Gaps or Incoherences Divine Providence which disposes all things sweetly order'd there should be some Dispositions in Matter which requir'd to be indu'd with such a Form as was beyond the Power of Matter to produce 〈◊〉 have educed out of it viz. Such as was of a Spiritual Nature tho' of the lowest size to perform with its Assistance Operations beyond the Power of Matter to compass alone that is with a Faculty of Reasoning which partakes in some sort â—â—th Natures or with a Power both of Knowing 〈◊〉 also of Succession in Acquiring or Using that Knowledge Those Dispositions being laid in Matter 〈◊〉 â—â—llow'd necessarily that a Form of a Spiritual Naâ—â—re would be in it For to an Infinite Being streamâ—…enerously his Gifts from his Exuberant Source of â—…ss there needs no more to receive and have the Effects of his Bounty but to be Dispos'd for them or
singly as if they were so many Distinct Essences or â—â—stinct Things tho' in re they be but One Thing variously conceiv'd And thence we can consider what or how great a Complexion of Aâ—â—dents is requisite to constitute the Essences of â—â—â— of those Superiour or Inadequate Notions anâ— what is requir'd to constitute Another as is seâ—â— Ch. 2 3 4. Hence also we can truly say that One of them is not Another viz. Formally or Distinctly taken tho' Materially or as in â—â— they are but One and the Same Thing in the same manner as we can say The Hand is not the Foot which are Integral parts of a Man and not â—â—stinct Things from the Man materially but â—…fy'd with him in re Seventhly Hence â—… we can say with Truth that the Thing â—â—y be Chang'd according to One of these Conâ—…tions or Respects and not-Chang'd according â—â— another That the Determination to be This â—…de immediately by Second Causes the â—istence not but given by GOD That a Thing â—â—â—ording to the precise Notion of Essence or â—â—ture may be Two and yet not-Two but One â—â—â—ording to the Notion of Suppositum or may â—â— Three as to it's Suppofitality or Personality and â—â— but One according to it's Essence or Nature â—â— which sayings are properly Verify'd because â—â—â—â—â—â—â—mation and Negation are only made in â—â— Mind where One of those Notions is not the 〈◊〉 or which is the same where the Thing â—â— â—â—â—ceiv'd THUS is not the Thing as conceiv'd â—â—HERWISE And the same is of the Things 〈◊〉 United or Assum'd according to the Noâ—â—â—â— of Person and yet not-United according to â—â—â— Notion of Essence Lastly 't is to be noted â—â—â— as Conception Apprehension Proposition Disâ—â—â—â— c. are Metaphorical Expressions tranâ—… from Corporeal to Spiritual Natures by 〈…〉 of some Analogy Proportion or Resemâ—… to those other so likewise are those â—…ds Substratum Suppositum Subjectum Inheâ—… Accident and such like And the Literal meaning of those words is this that As those things which cannot subsist or stand by themselves or by virtue of any Firmness of their own â—â— re or in Nature must and use to be underâ—â—â—â— and sustain'd by Another which is more Substantial as we use to say or more strong than they so neither in our Mind can the Notion of Mode Manner or Accident stand alone unless we conceive Some Thing of which it is a Mode or speaks the Manner HOW it is or Some Thing to which it advenes or is superadded whereas on the other side we have the Notion of Being or Thing without apprehending such a Transcendental Relation to the Mode or Manner how it is Whence the Notion of Thing has a kind of Priority in our Minds to the Accidents or Modes under the consideration of Standing in our Intellect without them and the Notions of the Modes or Accidents has a kind of posteriorily in our Mind and a Dependence on them for their Being these because the former has Being one way or other in it's Notion the others as Length Whiteness Roundness â— have in their Notion no express signification of Being at all Whence I cannot but think Mr. Locke should not have apply'd his Ingenioâ—â— Raillery of Supporting and Underpropping and of an Elephant supporting the Earth and a Tortoise the Elephant to those Authors who were forced to use those words in case they did not take those Expressions in that Gross and too-Literal Sense And I conceive he might with equal Justice have apply'd them against Grammarians who tell us that a Noun Substantive can stand by it's self aâ—â— a Noun Adjective cannot without it's Elephant and Tortoise the Substantive to support it MEDITATION WE have seen formerly in what consisted our Essence as we are of that Species call'd Mankind This was a fair Step towards the Knowing our Individual How impossible it is to know perfectly all that belongs to our Individuality Self which we have here to â—â—r power attempted But alas How lamely and imperfectly have â—e reacht it We experienc'd no great difficulty to find our way amongst so many Common Kinds of Things tho' in a manner Strangers to us but we have lost our selves at home A Few Abstracted Modes twisted together â—…y by Nature did oft times satisfie our Enquiry â—â—ile we discours'd of the former but when we came to consider that numerous Complexion of them only which can serve to constitute our Individual Body â—â—d to distinguish our single Self from every other Particular Thing whether of our own or of any other Kind we are at an utter loss and seem bewilder'd â—â—â— pathless Wood Such a Concourse of various Acâ—â—ents and as it were Thrums-ends of Being are requisite to weave our Particular Texture so to make up This Thing which we are that to endeavour to comprehend them all seems the same as to go about to fathom at once a great part of Nature and in stead of enlightning us stuns our Understanding Our Primigenial Composition in the last minute of our Embryo-state which was the first Instant of our being This Man is so admirably Deliâ—ate and the Stamina of it so finely spun by the most wise Contrivance of the Author of Nature that we may break our Eye-balls by bending our Sight â—re we can gain a Glimpse of it Nor can the help of Microscopes which as Modern Virtuoso's tell us can show tho Outward Shape of the Tree in it's Seed discover to us those imperceptible Particles their Natures Mixture Order Proportion Situation c. that make up the Individual Composition of our Body which gave the Particular Degree of Excellency and Nobleness to our Soul Dull Artificers must see all the parts of the Matter they are to work upon that so they may measure proportion and place them but the Architect of the World needs no reflected Rays of his own Sun to discern them but sees them by the Creative Light of his own Wisdom or rather by seeing them makes them tho' they be meer Darkness to us Non est occultatum os meum a te quod fecisti in occulto substantia mea in inferioribus terrae Imperfectum meum viderunt oculi tui and every part of all thy Creature in libro duo scribuntur Ps. 138. But alas Who can read so abstruse a Manuscript much less the Original from which 't is Copy'd Let us then vail our over-weoning Pride bewail our Ignorance and lament with the Eagle-sighted Evangelist that No Man is found worthy or able to open the folded and Sealed Book even of Created Nature nor read the Contents of it wrapt up in the shady leaves of an incomprehensible Providence But how large a Field of Contemplation is open'd to us when we come to consider the Infinite number of Causes which By what wonderful and Untraceable Ways GOD's Providence has brought about our Individuation were order'd to make this Complexion of Accidents that constituted This Body of ours and Distinguisht
every Step our Soul takes towards Knowledge and the same discourse holds as to our Acquiring Virtue and only beseems some Heathen who had but Half-Lights of a DEITY The Progress and Conduct of every Act of ours towards both it's Immediate and it 's Ultimate End and Perfection do all of them spring from the Giver of every Good and perfect Gift as well as the Beginning of it This Soveraign Cause is as well in Natural as Supernatural Effects Principium Rector Dux Semita Terminus idem Nay every least Manner of Action as far as it is Good as well as the Action it self is not only Determin'd but Proportion'd to it's Proper End by his Universal Superintendency Therefore Right Reason and True Philosophy as well as St. Paul's Sublime Faith and Divinity do oblige us to catechize and ask our selves Quid â—abes quod non accepisti Quod si accepisti quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis 'T is Vain and False Philosophy then and not the True one which begets that miscall'd Science which does inflare or puff â—â—â—n up with a self-assuming Pride Philosophy were â—â—â— Philosophy did it not bring us to True Science â—â—â— Science would not be Science did it not refund â—â—â—â—cts into their Genuine Causes and consequently â—â—â—ry Action of ours as far as it is Good and not Defective into that Supreme and First Cause in whom we live move and have our Being Hence also is seen how powerfully True Science conduces to â—ake Men Virtuous For by seeing thus evidently â—â—r Total Dependence on GOD and how little we â—â—â— do of our selves it reads us a Solid and most effectual Lecture of Profound Humility which is the Ground of all Virtue and the Basis of all our Spiritual Building At least I say we have thro' God's Assistance gain'd by our former Discourse a Certain tho' something Confus'd Knowledge of what That we ought to comply with the Designs of our Great Cretour and by what means this may be best accomplisht we are as to our Particulars and a Clear Discernment of what Kind we are viz an Intelligent and Rational Being Let us follow then and comply with what we undoubtedly know Let us not degenerate from our Nature and then we may be sure we shall not wrong our Creation nor offend our Great Creatour Let us cultivate â—â—â— Reason and extirpate it's Enemy Passion Let us love Truth our Best Natural Perfection and pursue it by making use of those Means which are most Proper to attain it To do this as we ought let us not precipitate our Assent rashly but warily and wisely suspend till Self-evidence of our Principles and Evidence of our Deductions appear only which can secure our Steps from stumbling into Errour While we take this way we may hope in the same good Providence which has led us on hitherto to grow fit to comprehend Higher Truths till we ascend by those Gradual Approaches as by the Stepâ— of Jacob's Ladder to reach Heaven and attain the Blissful Ssght of Him who is TRUTH it self which only can satisfie fully our Inquisitive and infinitely Capacious Understanding CHAP. VI. some Preliminaries fore-lay'd in order to Demonstrate the Immortality of the SOUL 1. THO' Man be but One 1. Preliminary Thing as was prov'd Chap. 4. § 1. and Ch. 5. § 20. â—â—r we cannot but make Diverse We cannot but have different Conceptions of the Parts of Man Conceptions of Him as he is Man according to those Different Naâ—â—â—es or Parts found in him call'd â—â—â—l and Body This needs no farther Proof it being granted by all insomuch as some will â—â—eds make them Two Distinct Things And is â—â—â—her Prov'd For since as has been demonâ—â—rated above the Soul is the Form or ACT of the Body and we cannot but have Different Notions or Conceptions of ACT and POWER it follows that we cannot but have Different Notions or Conceptions of the Soul and the Body 2. Preliminary II. Whence follows that we may and must have Different Notions or Conceptions of every Operation of Man as â—â— is Man For since every And consequently of every Operation of his as he is Man Man tho' One Thing yet has two Different Natures in him of which he consists and every Thing is that of which it consists and Operates or Acts as it is it follows that every Operation of Man as well as Himself is of vastly Different Natures and partakes of both and consequently we can and are oblig'd to have Diverse Conceptions of every such Operation for the same Reason for which we must have Diverse Conceptions of those Natures themselves that is we can find somewhat in such Operations that is Proper or Peculiar to One of those Natures and not Proper or Peculiar to the Other Hence I proceed Closer to my Main Thesis to be demonstrated in my next Chapter viz. 3. If we can find by Evident Reflexion that there is somewhat in the Operations which Man has according That we must examin whether there be anything in Man according to his Soul which is above Quantity or Matter his Soul that is above the Nature of Matter or above Quantity which is the Common Affection of all Corporeal Nature and therefore that is Indivisible or which is the same Indissoluble or Incorruptible it must follow demonstratively that then that Part of Man call'd his Soul is Immaterial Incorruptible or Immortal In order to Demonstrate which we proceed with our Preliminaries 4. Preliminary III. There are Three Distinct Operations of Man according to his Soul as 't is Intellective or That there are Three Distinct Operations of Man as he is Intellective Knowing viz. Simple Apprehension Iudging and Discoursing This I think is granted by all and is easily prov'd For we must first Lay hold of that which we are to work upon or take into out Mind that of which we are to Iudge or Discourse that is have a Notion of it for otherwise we should Iudge and Discourse of we know not what Wherefore that Operation call'd Simple Apprehension or the having the Notion of the Thing in our Mind is clearly Antecedent to the other Two and consequently Distinct from them Again Discoursing does clearly presuppose some Iudgments already had and Assented to ere we can Deduce any thing out of them by Discourse since we must necessarily Iudge our Premisses True ere we can hope to derive their Truth to another Proposition or Deduce any thing out of them by our Reason which manifests a perfect Distinction between the Operations of Discoursing and Iudging 'T is therefore Evident that there are Three Distinct Operations of Man according to that Part call'd the Soul as 't is Intellective or Knowing call'd Simple Apprehension Iudging and Discoursing 5. Preliminary IV. The Notion of Created Ens or Thing Abstracts from or is Indifferent to Existence and Non-Existence The Notion of Ens or Thing is Indifferent to Actual Being or Not-Being and a
Contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt Wherefore since to put those Sensible Qualities â—ither Themselves to be in our Mind after the manner they are in Matter or as Material Similitudes of them is in every respect such Inconâ—â—stent Nonsense they must be in our Soul Imâ—aterially or which is the same our Soul is â—n Immaterial Subject 16. Demonstration XIV The same is Demonstrated if possible more evidently from the Notion of Figure Dem XIV Because Innumerable multitudes of Various and Large Figures are in the Soul at once For the Soul has in her the Figures of all things that ever enter'd into the Senses and can frame to her self Millions of others Nor is any thing that is once in her as will be prov'd ever blotted out of her but while she is in this state and cannot work without the Body they are reposited there habitually as it were nor can be brought actually into Play till re-excited Hence I argue thus Were these Numberless Figures in her Materially then each of them by Prel 6. must make the Soul their Subject such as themselves are Wherefore the Soul would be at once Round Square Triangular Quadrate Chiliagone Câ—nical Cylindrical c. Nay but an Inch Long and yet at the same time as Long as a Yard or a Mile she having in her the Natures or Notions of all these Whence also besides the manifest Impossibility of such a Position those Figures interfering with one another would all of them be defaced and blunder'd and leave nothing but one Confus'd and Indeterminate Figure of which we could never have any Notion Whereas yet 't is Evident by Experience that we have a Clear and Distinct Notion of each of them and can judge and discourse about each of them as exactly as if we had none but that one Figure in our Mind If it be reply'd by the Atheists that our Soul being Material these Figures may be in several Parts of her besides the Incredibility that the Soul should have so many thousand several Apartments in her and that one of them should just light into that one Part and no other hit upon the same place and so confound that former we may moreover reflect that each of those Figures are not represented to our Mind in a small Imperceptible Extension but in a very Visible or Large Appearance and therefore when there are so many thousands of them their Quantity so often multiply'd would be extended to a vast Space beyond our Body as was shown above § 10. Wherefore it is concluded that 't is absolutely Impossible those Figures thus clearly and distinctly known should be in our Soul materially or Quantitatively or as such Qualities are in Matter and that therefore the Soul their Subject is necessarily Immaterial 17. Demonstration XV. We experience that we 〈…〉 in us Universal Notions or â—…er Notions of an Universal Demon. XV. Because the Soul has in her Universal Notions 〈…〉 of Man Body or Ens in Comâ—… and the same may be said of the Summum Genus of every Accident or Mode viz. Quantity Quality c. 〈…〉 their respective Species We find we can disâ—…rse nay write whole Treatises of each of â—…ose Universals as such nay more that each 〈…〉 them has a kind of Unity belonging to it self which it had not in Nature or Matter where â—ere is found nothing but Individuums constituted and Determin'd by such a Complexion of Accidents none of which are found in Universals which are Indetermin'd and abstract from them all Therefore this Manner of Existence which Universals have in the Soul is contrary to the Nature of Existing in Matter and consequently both they and the Soul by which and in which Universals have this manner of Existence are Immaterial 18. Demonstration XVI The same is clearly Demonstrated from the Soul's Manner of Working by Abstract Notions Dem. XVI Bâ—the Thing is in and by the Soul Divided in-into such Parts as Material Division cannot reach For Example we can frame divers Abstract Notions or Conceptions of the Self-same Individual Thing v. g. a Stone which we can consider as Extended hard Rough Cold Moist Heavy Round c. And thence have the Abstract Notions of Quantity Hardness Roundness c. Now that which is signify'd by each of those Words being materially the Thing it self in regard they have of their own Nature no Being nor are Capable of Being of themselves alone and yet none of them being the Whole Thing it follows that the Thing by being thus diversely conceiv'd becomes evidently some way or other Divided by our Mind or as it is there For one of those Parts after it is thus separated or Divided by the Mind is not in the Mind Another since they are deny'd of one another Quantity is not Weight nor is Roundness Roughness and the same may be said of all the rest Hence I argue It is Evident that there is some kind of Division of that Whole Thing made in our Mind when the Thing is thus Abstractedly Partially or Inadequately Conceiv'd But this Division is not made after a Quantitative or Material Manner for those parts of Body which are Divided Materially do after the Division is made exist apart in Nature and become so many Wholes as is manifest in a Lump of Earth or Lead whereas these Parts thus Separated by the Soul cannot exist at all but in the Whole and by it's Existence having none of their own Therefore this Division made by the Soul conceiving the Thing by piece-meal is made after a manner not competent to Material Parts or a Material Divider Wherefore this manner of Division and consequently the Soul that made it and is the Subject in which 't is made is of an Immaterial Nature 19. Demonstration XVII This leads us to the Second Operation of our Understanding Demon. XVII Because the Composition the Soul makes afterwards of these thus-Divided Parts is impossible to be perform'd by a Material Agent Iudging which Compounds again those thus-divided Parts Iudging then is an Actual Referring or Comparing the Predicate to the Subject in order to see the Truth or Falshood in Propositions which Referring when either done interiourly in the Mind or exprest in Words we call Predicating whence also we â—…sely refer those Predicates which as they 〈…〉 our Minds are diversely Referrable to the Sâ—…ect as is seen in the Predicables of Porphyrius Bâ—â— this Referring Actually one Notion or Thing â—…other cannot be perform'd by Matter as is â—…'d above § 8 9. where we argu'd from 〈…〉 Notion of Respect in common Again All oâ—â— Predication is a Composition and such a one as answers to the Division lately made which it â—…upposes and therefore is of the same Nature â—… But that Division as is prov'd § 18. could not be made by a Material Agent nor consequently could this Composition which answers â—o it and is of the same Nature be made by such an Agent Therefore the Soul in
Unity and consequently her Entity Secondly Because Matter is the only Power to become a New Ens and consequently the only Principle of Corruption or Mortality that is of Mutation according to the Notion of Entity as has been demonstrated Ch. 1. § 19. Lastly Because for what reason Bodies are corruptible viz. Because they are compounded of Matter and Form for the same reason the Soul being Immaterial or a Pure Act is Incorruptible or Immortal So that we may as well deny that Bodies can be Corrupted as affirm that the Soul can die or cease to be either by her own Nature she having no Ground of losing her Being in her own Intrinsecal Constitution nor by the Operation of all Natural Causes because all their Action has Passion answering to it which cannot be produced when there wants the only Passive Principle Matter She can then only lose her Existence by the Omnipâ—â—ence of her Great Creatour working Miracâ—â—ously nor can it be that it should work this unless it be Agreeable to his other Divine Attributes and it has been as yet never shown by any that Annihilation can consist with them but on the contrary it has been shown by us that it is hiâ—hly Repugnant to them See Raillery Deâ—… from Pag. 41. to pag. 52. MEDITATION AT length my Soul after a tedious Iourney of thy Thoughts travelling thro' all the vast Regâ—â—â— of those Inferiour Essences of â—odies thou hast arriv'd at thy That the Nature of our Spiritual part the Soul can only be known by Reflexion and therefore in discoursing of It we must Tâ—anscâ—nd our Senses and Corporeal Phantasms Self Thy Individuation which gâ—â—â— thee thy particular Degree of Rationality is in this State best learn'd from thy Material Compart to whose Pre-existent size and pitch thou wast adjusted but thy Peculiar Nature it self can only be known from the Genius of â—â— Interiour Operations as they proceed from Thee and are Proper to thee But â—ow or by what Vehicle came the Knowledge of those Operations into thy Understanding They are as has been shown at large Immaterial and of a Contrary Nature to Quantitative Beings whence they could not enter by the Senses nor be imprinted as those Natural Notions were which were Directly Stampt in thee Nothing therefore but thy own Reflexion comparing thy Operations with those of Bodies and seeing These to be of a quite Contrary Genius to Those could give thee this knowledge of thy self Which shews that the First Lesson to be learn'd by all those Speculaters who study Thee is that they mâ—â—â— abstract from Fancy and lay aside and transcend all the Objects of our Senses and all Corporeal Phantasms otherwise they can never reach thy Indivisible Essence tke want of knowing which Preliminary Rule has made so many Unskilful Thinkers degrade their own Soul from the Dignity which the Author of Nature has given it and to apprehend it to be Material or Mortal 'T is only the Connexion of Notions the Proper Act of the Comparing Power call'd REASON in which all Formal Truth consists which could elevate thy Thoughts above thâ—se Baser Objects and bring thee to frame a Iust Conception of thy Self Our Body cannot see it 's own Face but by Reflexion from a Looking-glass Nor canst thou gain knowledge of thy Immaterial Essence but by the Spiritual Mirrour of thy own Understanding which Reflects thee upon thy self by considering the nature oF thy own Interiour Acts and how they differ from those which are produced by Bodily Substances Nothing is easier to discern than 't is that all Corporeal Operations are perform'd Part-after Part and therefore have Parts or Quantity in them Nor is any consideration more facil and obvious than to conclude thence that their Subjects are of their own Nature Dissoluble Perishable and if they be Living Things Mortal And I may presume â—â— have seen Demonstrations enow alledg'd to manifest that the Operations of our Soul and of all the Objects as they are in her when she knows them and consequently our Soul her self which is their Subject is of a quite Contrary or rather Contradictory Nature and therefore is Incorporeal Immaterial Unquantitative Indissoluble and Immortal Nay â—â—â— shâ—wn § 4. That the Natural Notions of all 〈…〉 who use even Common Râ—â—â—â—xion does in a manner imbue The Unreasonableness of Atheists â—â— with this Sentiment Which renâ—ers the Atheists void oâ—…ll Excâ—se and giveâ— us just occasion to fear that 't is Perversity of Will and not Weakness of Understanding which makes them disacknowledge it They wâ—â—â—d live like Libertines and at large or as the â—…ure expresses it like Sons of Belial sine jugo â—… placing all their Affections on the Pleasures or â—…ts of this Life they are loath to think there 〈…〉 be any Future State in which they should be 〈◊〉 to an account The Goodness of Rational Nature which their Creatour had given them could not but 〈…〉 and upbraid them that they had deprav'd that Nâ—â—â—â—e and wrong'd the Best Order of the World by â—…centious Debaucheries Wherefore their Thoughts â—â— St. Paul says thus accusing themselves by the â—…inct of the Law writ in their hearts they endeaâ—â—â—â—'d to stifle all those Truths which could put them 〈◊〉 an apprehension of a future reckoning and thence â—â—ey willingly entertain'd the opinion that there being 〈…〉 survivency of the Soul Death would Seal an â—â—â—esty for all their Extravagancies and cancel all â—… Debts And for the same reason they were â—â—th to think there was a GOD who govern'd the â—â—â—ld lest being Just he should severely punish them 〈…〉 abusing the Nature he had given them and for â—…olating the Universal Law of the World which he 〈…〉 establisht But leaving those poor Miscreants as Objects of 〈…〉 Pity after we have charitably What Obligations are incumbent on us who know and acknowledge our Soul to be Immortal â—â—deâ—vour'd to our best Power to â—…ctifie and convince their Reason et us which most concerns us look home to our selves and take care that We to whom God has given the Knowledge or Belief that our Soul is Immoâ—â—al be not beaten with as many stripes as They if we neglect to guide our lives according to that Principle which we profess and acknowledge to be True theâ— which if it be a Truth 't is Self-evident that nothing can more highly or more nearly concern as The more Evident it is the more indispensable obligation it lays upon us to follow it in our Practice and the more Inexcusable we shall be if we neglect that Duty Our own Clear Reason has shown as that our Soul it being of a Spiritual Nature or â— Pure Act is Superiour and in the Heraldry â—â— Being of a far Nobler Extraction than is all tâ—â— Great Heap of Rubbish Matter and therefore iâ— of more Intrinsick worth than all this Visible Worlâ— Not an Operation of thine not an Object that is â—â— thy Knowing Power but if well reflected on infoâ—â— us clearly
Paâ—…el A Quantitative Thing v. g. The Manner how this is done Illustrated Stone has many Potential Parts in it some of one Colour or Figure some of another Now none of those Parts taken singly can Exist or â—ubâ—â—st while they were Parts but only the whole Thing call'd a Stone for only that was a Distinct Individual Thing which only is capable of Existing But because this whole Thing had a Power to be Divided or had Potential Parts in it â—â—â— so was apt to be made more Actual Wholes or 〈…〉 ings hence each Part when thus Divided â—…ade a Distinct whole Ens has immediately its â—â—â—â—icular Existence given it by GOD. And beâ—…se some of those Parts while in the Whole 〈◊〉 some different Modifications in it which another Part had not whence it was independent on any other Part as to the sustaining such Accidents and consequently it has a Power to â—â—â—â—ain them when it should come to be made a Whole therefore it has given it to Subsist independently on the former Whole or any other Part of it and to be a Suppositum to sustain those Accidents Much more are those Perfections of Being â—â—turally due to the Soul which is of an Immortal Nature 3. Notwitstanding each Soul when separated continues the same Individual Yet the same Individual Nature remains in her Soul which it was in the Body First Because in the Body she was the chief Essential Part of the Man And Essence abstract from Existence and consequently from Subsistence and Suppositality So that her being chang'd according to Suppositality or in some manner according to Existence does not alter her particular Essence or Nature Secondly She had her Individuality from the Individual Dispositions in the Embryo which determine the Matter so as to require that such an individual Form or Soul and no other should be infus'd Thirdly She had her Determinate or Individual Pitch of Spirituality or Cognoscitiveness given her at the Instant in which she was first infus'd nor could it be taken away by the succeeding Accidents of Knowledge afterwards both because they superven'd to her Individual Nature or Degree of Cognoscitiveness as also because they were not contrary but agreeable to such a Nature Again were this true Reason wav'd yet since in this Mortal State the Soul gains Notions or Knowledge by means of her Senses from every Circumstance the Man is in and 't is impossible any two Men should be all their Lives in the self-same Circumstances 't is impossible abatiâ—â— their Constitutions individually different that my Soul should have the self-same Complexion of Spiritual Modes of Knowledge and consequent Affections in this World which another Soul has which sufficiently distinguishes her from every other Particular Soul or which is the same Individuatâ— her as she is a Soul Wherefore this Change of the Soul at her â—…ration amounts to no more but to take from 〈◊〉 the Imperfection of being a Part and to â—…fer upon her the Priviledge of a Whole Ens which is given to every new Individuum in Nature that is made such by Division or meer Separation 4. Nothing which was once in the Soul in this â—…e excepting False Judgeâ—…nts All the Modes or Accidenti v. g. all the Knowledges and Affections she had while here do remain still in her is blotted out of her in 〈◊〉 State of Separation For 〈◊〉 whatever is naturally exâ—…d out of any Subject is driven â—â—â—ce by it's Contrary and Conâ—â—â—es by Ch. 7. § 15. do not â—…l one another out of the â—…d but fix one another better there 't is eviâ—â—nt that from this Head or from the Objects which are in the Soul nothing whatever that 〈◊〉 once in the Soul is Effaced out of her but â—…ains there for ever Again since the pecuâ—… Nature of the Soul is not Material or Divisiâ—… but when she is separated she is a Pure Act â—…re can be no Ground from the Subject's side â—â—at Notions or Knowledges should be worn out 〈◊〉 decay by reason of the Alterableness or Fading Genius of the Subject or her Incapacity to retain â—…m still Whatever Knowledge therefore was 〈◊〉 in the Soul will be ever there And the â—…son why in this State they come not into â—â—â—y when we would use them but seem forgotten is because the Phantasms without which the Soul cannot operate being the smallest particles of Matter are either perisht or else lost in a wilderness of innumerable others so that they are not still ready at hand to re-excite our Knowledge of them or make us remember them 5. Every Separated Soul which had any one Notion in her while here does know all Created Truths as soon Each Soul when Separated knows all Created Truths as she is out of the Body For since * B. 1. Ch. 5. §. 2. as has been demonstrated the knowing of a Great Number of Finite Truths do not to any Degree tend to fill the Capacity of the Soul but enlarge and enable it to know still much more there can be no difficulty on the Subjects side why she should not know all Created Truths they being Finite both in their Nature and in their Number On the other side since our Notions are the Ground of Truth and All Truths tho' they be never so many are connected and this by the Identifying particle is which shows they are after some manner iâ— one another Nay which alone suffices since it has been fully demonstrated Method to Science Book 3. Ch. 4. § 14. beginning at § 8. That Every Soul Separate that knows any one Natural Truth does know all Nature at once in the First Instant of her Separation it is evinced that there can be as little difficulty on the part of the Objects to be known as there was on the Subjects side Whence follows that every Soul Separated which had here any one Notion in her especially as she must of her own or the Man's Existence does know all Truths as soon as she is out of the Body 6. To satisfie those who led by Fancy and customary Impressions from Material Objects do make them the How this is very Possible Rule and Measure to judge of Spiritual Natures and thence are very backward to assent to a Truth which seems so Paradoxical and Impossible I take leave to recommend to their serious consideration a far stranger Point which yet all Christians hold viz. That a Holy Soul when separate is capable of seeing clearly the Divine Essence it self in comparison of which all Created Beings are but a sâ—ifâ—e or rather a meer Nothing 7. Hence follows That every Separated Soul comprehends all Time and Place â—â—r since those innumerable Natural Hence every Separated Soul comprehends All Time and Place Objects which â—he then knows are in Distinct Times and Places nay are the very Things whose Extension and Succession do make all Place and Time it is Impossible but that having those Things in her Knowledge she must
Definition of True Religion for Eternal Happiness This is evident Because all the Maxims Means Motives and Methods of True Religion do either immediately or remotely tend to that End 23. On the contrary and for the same Reason those Unhappy Souls which at their Separation have their First From the same Principle is Demonstrated that To depart â—hâ—nce with a Contrary Disposition or a First Affection for any Creature will torment the Soul with most Unspeable Grief and Anguish Affection placed on some False or Temporary Good v. g. on Aiery Honour Ambitious Greatness Corporeal Pleasure or Sordid Riches will as soon as they are out of the Body be in a State of Intolerable Grief and most Horrid Torment For as is already prov'd § 20. they can never obtain their True Last End to which Nature does now give them most Violent Propensions because they want the Disposition Proper for it or rather by not loving it as they ought but having Chosen another False End in stead of it and Loving that above all things that is above It they are utterly Indispos'd for it which Disposes or Entitles them to that Eternal Pain call'd Poena Damni or Damnation which is the loss of ever seeing GOD. Nor yet can they get or enjoy those Temporary or False Goods which they did here and must now unchangeably or for ever chiefly if not only dote upon the Loss of which affects them with that Tormenting Grief call'd Poena Sensûs or the Pain which arises from the want of an ill-chosen Temporary Last End So that they have lost and are left destitute of all they can possibly wish they have their Wills crost in every thing and this for all Eternity which fills their whole Soul with most Unspeakable and Unconceiveable Anguish 24. The State of Separation Elevates the Soul to an Incomparable and in a manner an Infinite Perfection of The State of Separation Elevates the Soul to an Incomparably higher Perfection of Existence she being then a Pure Act than she had here Existence above that which she had in the Body For as was prov'd lately she is now a Pure Act knows all Created things comprehends Time and Place perfectly sees all her former Thoughts and Actions and this all at once Nay when Separated she is Capable if due Dispositions be put to see the Divine Essence which none can see and live 25. Therefore all her Modes or Accidents and particularly the Affections she had here are elevated in a vast Wherefore it does consequently Elevate the Activity of all her Powers and particularly the Acts of her Will her Affections to an Unconceiveable Intenseness and Vehemency above what she had while in the Body proportion as far as the State of Separation can heighten them that is to an Unconceiveable degree of Intenseness For her Modes are only her Knowledges and her Affections how vastly her Knowledge is increast and extended is already prov'd and her Affections which spring from her Knowledge and are proportion'd to them must necessarily be increast accordingly and this out of the force and nature of her Separated State So that put case the Affections she had here for a Temporary Good was as we say ad unum and the Love she had for her Eternal Good was ad centum and that the State of Separation rais'd that Affection ut mille which as appears by these Grounds is but a weak expression it would follow that the Soul when Separated would be found loving her Eternal Good a hundred thousand times more than she lov'd that Temporary one which would make her fly with a most ravishing Transport to be united with her Chief Good if that Temporary Affection does not indispose her 26. Wherefore those Wretched Souls which part from the Body with Love of Created and Temporal Goods Hence the Poena Damni for the Loss of the Sight of GOD and the Poena Sensus for the Loss of the Temporal False Good she here dâ—ted on in a wicked Soul are Unspeakable and plunge her in a HELL of Misery Their sad Condition describ'd above the Increated Infinite and Eternal one especially those who by Supernatural Light had a higher Knowledge of GOD than Nature could have given them must necessarily by means of the Elevation of their Affections in their Separate State have their Torments increast to a Hell of Misery For since the State of Separation exalts the Soul and consequently the Knowledges and Affections she had in the Body to an incompatable pitch above what they were here and Every Thing operates as it is It follows That the Pain and Sorrow they have for the Loss of what they thus Affected and on which they had set their whole hearts must in a manner infinitely exceed any Sorrow they could possibly have had in this life Besides they have this Surcharge of Torture that their Contrary and ever Unreâ—â—actable and Irreconcileable Judgments tear the Soul in pieces as it were within her self and make her become her own Torment The Natural Love of her True Last End and much â—ore if it were formerly known also Supernaturally carries her with a Violent Bent towards that which he sees now is her only-True Happiness and at the same time the far stronger Torrent of her Affections for that False Last End which she had here with a full Deliberation and long-frequented Practice made Choice of and pursu'd for her Summum Bonum hurries her with a Madness of Transport and an impetuosity equal to the inconceiveable activity she is now endow'd with to enjoy them tho' at the same time she sees them impossible to be had and withall most Base Vile and below her Nature if they were had and yet as Base as they are she must as her condition now is ever affectionately hug the Thoughts and Wish of them tho' she sees this Affection for them is her Torment and the true Cause of all her Endless Misery Add that they have and must have these racking Convulsions of their Mind all at once without hopes of the least Intermission for all Eternity Lastly Those Souls comprehending now all Time and Place their Affections work accordingly So that whereas in this Life they confin'd their Wishes to enjoy those False Goods in some one time or place or some one Circumstance they now long vehemently to enjoy All of them which are sutable to such an Affection in every part of Time and every particular Place nay they wish to subordinate all the whole Creation to attain that False Last End which they had unfortunately chosen and must now for ever dote upon Which being impossible as the Course of Causes now stand it follows that every Creature in the world crosses them and is their Torment according to that saying Pugnabit orbis terrarum contra insensatos So that their whole never-ending Life if it may be call'd so is wholly made up of Distracting Madness Furious Rage Self-racking Contrary Wishes tearing their own Bowels Heart-gnawing
Regret Shameful Confusion Fruitless Repentance Black Desperation Cursings of themselves and all Creatures Blasphemings of the Holy Saints and of their Dread Creatour and Just Judge GOD Blessed for evermore Or as our B. Saviour in accommodation to our greatest Griefs here moderately expresses it Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth The Gnawing Worm of Helpless Remorse â—ever dies there nor is the Vehement Fire of these Violent and Contrary Affections ever quenched Quis poterit habitare cum igne devorante Quis habitabit cum ardoribus sempiternis Isaiae Cap. 33. 14. 27. Hence is seen That GOD damns no Man For since by § 23. Inordinate Affection for Creatures addicts the Soul to a wrong Last End and at the GOD Damns no Man same time by doing so does Inâ—â—pose her for her True Happiness the Sight of GOD which she cannot when Separated but Naturally desire and long for and these Inordinate Affections if Unretracted here do still remain in the Soul by § 4. and when Separated she is Unchangeable in that State and consequently sees she must for ever Despair of â—â—taining her True Good she being Impure and Inâ—ispos'd for it and also of ever getting that False Good upon which she had here set her Chief Affection because it is impossible according to the Circumstances of things in the other Life and that hence she becomes incapacitated of having any kind of Good she can desire but has her Desire and Wish crost in every thing And the perpetual crossing her Voluntary and Natural Wishes in every thing especially in what 's of Infinite Concern to her must naturally cause in such a Soul Extreme Grief Torment and Desperation And this Tormenting Grief is enhanced by the Intenseness and Vehemency of her Acts when she is a Pure Spirit with which the greatest and most violent Grief in this life bears no proportion Lastly since it has been clearly shown that all these dismal Effects which induce and make up that wretched State we call Damnation do as is here shown spring originally as from their Sole Cause from her having by her own Free Choice pitchâ— her First Affections upon some Created or False Good and all the other bad Consequences do follow out of the very Nature of a Spirit thus Affected or Indispos'd It is manifest That GOD Damns no Man but that while a Sinner hugs and cherishes Inordinate Affections for Creatures in his Breast he is all the while connaturally kindling and adding Fuel to Hell-Fire in his own Soul to which effect of Damnation GOD contributes no otherwise than by preserving the Natures of things and carrying on the Course of Causes according to those Natures which Wisest Method he has no reason to alter miraculously for their sakes who have preferr'd a Creature before Him 28. It may be objected that these Affections for Creatures were Passions which either Spring from the Body or The Knowing all Truths Speculatively in the State of Separation does not alter the Predominant Affection for Creatures As the Tree falls so it lies from the Circumstances of the former World and therefore they do not remain in a State where neither of them have any Influence upon the Soul I Answer First That these are not Passions in our future State as that word imports Motion but they are far worse viz. the Termini or Effects of the most steadily fixt and worst Passion which we call Resolvedness in ill or Willfulness And this can and must remain in a Soul determin'd to a wrong Last End she having tho' no Motion of the Spirits or Passion a Power in her call'd a Will of it 's own Nature indeed determinable to Good and Bad but by her State of Separation fixt unchangeably in that Determination which she dy'd with Secondly Tho' those Passions did indeed spring here from our Material Compart the Body yet they did not stay in that Part but affected by means of material Impressions the Soul and were â—â—t in her by a deliberate and serious pitching her Chief Affections on them nay perhaps rivetted there by long-continu'd Habits and therefore they must still remain in her for ever unless they had been Retracted while she was in a Changeable condition in this Life 29. Corollary XI Hence one Actual Sin of a high Nature and done with Hence one Enormous Actual Sin Unrepented renders a Soul liable to Eternal Damnation perfect Deliberation of which the Man dies Unrepentant will make the Soul miscarry eternally such as are Self-Murther being kill'd in a Duel for a Puntilio and such like 30. It may be said that the Knowledge of all Truths will rectifie and alter the Soul as soon as she is separated That the State of Separation does not alter the First Affection of Souls farther demonstrated in regard that she sees then clearly the Vileness and Perniciousness of placing her Affection on a wrong Last End 'T is Answer'd First That the Soul as soon as Separated knows all Truths only Speculatively but that the Practical Judgments or Affections which had prepossest her as has been prov'd § 17. do more sway with her than all her Speculative Knowledge which her Choice did not give her but Nature forced into her Secondly There could be no Cause which was Competent to alter her Not her Separation For the whole Effect of that Action is to Divide the Potential Parts of a Compound that is to take from them the State of Potentiality and make them if they can exist separate Actual Wholes Actual Parts as it has been demonstrated being Impossible Wherefore Death being only the Separation of the Soul and Body terminates it's Agency in making them Two of One and has no Influence upon changing them Nor does their State of Separation or their remaining or becoming Separate alter their Natures or their Modes for this consists in the Soul 's existing now A Pure Act which has nothing to do with taking away what she had but only taking her as it found her to elevate her such as she was and consequently those Knowledges and Affections she actually had to a higher Perfection in the Line of Ens or to give her to exist after a Nobler manner than she did formerly Lastly Were this so the Order of the World would be quite perverted for in that case the Wickedest Livers would have equal Priviledge and Benefit in the next world as the greatest Saints since each of them as is presuppos'd to our question knowing all things as soon as Separated their Wickedness would be corrected and effaced which takes away all the dread of Hell evacuates all the Motives to good Life and even destroys the Notion of Virtue and Vice Punishment and Reward and consequently GOD's Attribute of Justice 31. Corollary XII Hence is seen that Sin does not consist meerly in the Hence Sin does not formally consist in the Falsity of the Practical Iudgment or Affection but in the Disproportion and Inordinateness of it Falshood of
are not in reality Passive by receiving them having no Passive Principle or Matter in them Thus the Essences of all Creatures did Inexist in the Divine Understanding from Eternity Yet none will say this infers any Passiveness in GOD. Indeed while our Soul is in this State she as being the Form of the Body is thence in some sort Passive because the Suppositum the Man is such but when she is a Pure Spirit her Knowledges are not then beat into her as it were by so many dints of the Object but are in her purely by the Formal Inexistence of all Created Truths in one another By which is sâ—en that for the Object Known to be thus in the Knower after the manner of a Form argues no Imperfection in either of them and therefore is with good reason Transferrible to GOD. Perhaps some may think that the subject is in this case a kind of Matter in respect of the Form and that this argues Imperfection But they err in the whole business a â—orm that aduenes to a Material Subject and Intrinsecally Determines it as Modes or Accidents do does indeed induce Imperfection for it smells rank of Materiality or Corporeity but it is quite otherwise here For Modes or Accidents have no Being but by means of their Subject whereas the Things which are known by us have their own proper Existence out of our Soul notwithstanding the Intellectual Manner of Being they have in it Their Essences and that which is in them are â—ngrafted on her Nobler Stock of Being not as an Intrinsecal part of its peculiar Nature to which they owe their Being but as Another thing or as Distinct from it so that both the peculiar Essences of the One and the Other are the same Essentially and Intrinsecally tho' the being of the Soul is Enlarged and Perfected by having Another Being tackt to it as an Extrinsecal Form or by her being or becoming Another in which as Aristotle and Evident Reflexion tells us all Knowledge consists There is a Conceit current amongst many Philosophers that every Spiritual Operation is an Action and hence they may mean to Transfer such a Spiritual Action to GOD But they are in a great Errour Indeed our Formal Iudging and Discoursing may be call'd Actions because they are found in our Soul while in the Body and have Succession in them being accompanied by the Motion of the Phantasms without which the Soul in this State cannot operate but Pure Acts have no such leasurely progress of their thoughts nor do they Compound or Divide their Notions as we do here but all their Knowledge is by Simple Intuition which has nothing of Succession or Motion in it and therefore this sort of Spiritual Operation only is that which can be Apply'd to GOD the Other which is Part after Part being in some respect Quantitative or Corporeal that iâ— most Imperfect Now if we take away the State of Motion there is no Notion left us but that of Being Whence all Knowledge that is purely-Spiritual must be explicated by Being or the Inexistence of the Object in the Knower as a kind of Form which makes the Knower be that Thing which is known in case the Knower be a Created Being because 't is the Form which according to our Natural Notions constitutes a Thing in Being such or such Whence such an Operation sutes not with our Natural Notion of Action which does necessarily at least connotate Motion but is better exprest by a Neuter-Active Verb such as are Stupeo ardeo and such like which signifie that the Affection of Amazement or Burning is in me as a kind of Accidental Form for 't is in this manner the words I know signifie that the Object is in my Knowledge and therefore such a kind of Inexistence of the Object in the Knower may without scruple be Transferr'd to GOD for 't is our greatest Spiritual Perfection and indeed the very Notion of Knowing so that whoever denies this to be in the Divine Nature must at the same time deny him to be Knowing For these Reasons I do judge that in explicating this Mystery we ought to decline the using any Notions that imply or cannotate Agency and Action and to make use of those which have â—â—e Conception of a Form which constitutes the to be such or such A farther Reason may be because Essence Self-Existence Subsistence Personality which we must necessarily attribute to GOD and indeed all Abstract Words whatever have that manner of Signification 11. Prel XI Because in discoursing of this Mystery we shall only make use of such Notions as belong to the Common Heads of Substance and Relation or rather speaking of it as in GOD of Relatum esse 't is our Duty to set these two Kinds of Notions in as Clear a Light as we can To begin then with Substance A Natural Thing or Ens call'd also an Individuum or Substantia Prima only which do exist in Nature and consequently from which only we have all our Natural Notions does give us these Distinct or Abstracted Conceptions of it To take them in Order and consider in the First place what 's most Potential and Imperfect in a Thing we can conceive that it being Mutable there can another Natural Thing be made of it and therefore that it has in it somewhat by which it has a Power to become Another Thing which Power we call Matter For we call that MATTER of which any Thing is made Now this meer Power to be a Thing cannot be held by Virtue of that Sole Notion to be a Thing since nothing is that which it is only a Power to be and if it be not as thus conceiv'd a Thing it cannot be conceiv'd to have any Accident Mode or which is the same Determination of Thing in it which are Subsequent to the Notion of Thing for all these are apt to Determine the Thing which is against the Notion of a meer Power which is utterly Indeterminate Hence is seen clearly why Aristotle gave this exact Description of this Matter or Power to be viz. That which is Nec Quid nec Quantum nec Quâ—le neque aliquid aliud eorum quibus Ens determinatur Proceeding still forwards we may conceive this Individual Thing according to That in it which so Determines this Power call'd Matter as to Individuate it or so distinguish it as to make it This and no Other Which we have shown in our Metaphysicks is perform'd by such a Complexion of Accidents as is found no where but in It which therefore is it's Substantial or Essential Form whence it becomes properly or in the First Sense of that word a Thing or as Logicians call it an Individuum And because nothing in Common can exist but only what 's thus Ultimately Determin'd it is justly conceiv'd to be Capable of Existing or Possible to be which is to be an Ens or to have in it the Nature or Notion of what we call by that word The
afterwards are Accidental 11. To be an Individuum some degree of Constancy Permanency or Stability is requir'd 12. Which Existence supervening does establish 13. The Twisting the Results of so many Causes into one Individuum argues the Design of an All-comprehending Providence 14. This Complexion of Accidents can never be eradicated while the Individuum continues 15. And gives the Compound a Different Genius and Natural Propension 16. Existence can with no show of Reason be pretended to be the Principle of Individuation 17. The Distinction between the Notion of a Subsistent Thing or a Suppositum and the Notion of an Individual Ens clearly manifested 18. How and When the Individuality is lost 19. The First Rule how to know this 20. The Second Rule 22. The Third Rule 22. Hence Simple Division of the Matter or Quantity in Living Bodies does not change the Individuum 23. Much less in Man 24. When 't is Chang'd in Simple Bodies 25. When in First-Mixt Bodies 26. When in Demixts 27. When in Homogeneous Mixts 28. When in very Heterogeneous or Organical Bodies 29. Two Contradistinct Natures may compound One Thing 30. The Divine and Humane Natures may siâ—â—sist in the same Suppositum 31. Notwithstanding those Natures and their Properties must remain Unmingled and not Confounded as some Eutvchians imagin'd 32. Yet all the Actions and Padions must be attributed to the Suppositum tho' according to such a Nature contrary to what Nestorius fancy'd 33. Hence Lastly There is no show of Contradiction that GOD should be Three according to the Respect of Person and yet not-Three but One according to the Respect of Nature or Essence 34. A large Explication of some Grounds very Useful to take off all Shadow of Contradiction from divers Chief Mysteries of Christian Faith and to show how Consonant they are to the most Exact Rules of Right Reason MEDITATION How impossible it is for us to know perfectly all that belongs to our own Individuum By what Wonderful and Untraceable ways GOD's Providence has brought about our Individuation and gives us all our Knowledge and other Endowments How little our Best Performances contributed to the Acquisition of them and how little reason the most Knowing and most Virtuous Man living has to be Proud of the most Laudable Actions GOD has done by him That we ought to comply with the Designs of our Creatour by pursuing the End of our Nature and by what Means this may be best accomplisht CHAP. VI. Some Preliminaries fore-lay'd in order to Demonstrate the Immortality of the Soul § 1. WE cannot but have Different Conceptions of the Essence of MAN 2. And consequently of every Operation of his aâ— he is Man 3. We are therefore to examine whether there be any thing in Man according to his Soul which is above Quantity or Matter 4. There are Three Distinct Operations of Man as he is Intellective 5. The Notion of Ens or Thing is Indifferent to Actual Being and not-being 6. Every Form must denominate the Subject in which it is such as the Form it self is 7. A Notion may either be consider'd Subjectively or Objectively 8. Every Object of our Knowledge must either be the Thing it self in the Mind or something that 's Like it 9. NOTIONS understood objectively are the Things themselves as they are in the Mind and not meer Similitudes of them Prov'd unanswerably 10. Prov'd no less unaswerably by the Concession of the Ideists themselves that the Thing it self must thus be in the Mind 11. In what Sense that saying Every Like is not the Same is verify'd 12. Every Inadequate Notion we have of the Thing is of the Whole Thing Confusedly and Materially tho' it be only of one Metaphysical Part or Considerability of it Distinctly and Formally 13. A Third Unanswerable Proof that the Thing must be in the Mind when we know it 14. The Author's Reason why he builds on this Thesis The Reasons why some others are backwards in Assenting to it 15. Notwithstanding the Immortality of the Soul may be demonstrated tho' this Thesis were wav'd CHAP. VII Of the Immateriality and consequently the Immortality of Man's SOUL § 1. FIrst Leading Demonstration Because her Operations and Objects are receiv'd in her after an Indivisible Manner 2. Dem. II. Because her Capacity is Infinite 3. Dem. III. Because she has Other Natures in her without Altering her own 4. Dem. IV. Because they are in her not as Intrinfecal Modes affecting Her but as Distinct from her Contrary to the Nature of Material Subjects 5. Dem. V. Because the Contrary Thesis is Opposite to the Natural Notions of all Mankind 6. Existence is the only Absolute Notion we have and all the rest are Respective 7. Dem. VI. Because she has in her the Notion of Existence which is every way Indivisible 8. Dem. VII Because she has Actual Respects in her 9. This Demonstration enforced 10. Dem. VIII Because she has in her the Notions or Natures of Vast Quantities which are impossible to be there Themselves as they are in Matter nâ—â— yet any Material Similitudes of them 11. Dem. IX Because the Parts of Motion are perfectly Distinct and Determinate in the Soul which are utterly Undistinguisht and Indeterminate as they are in Material Subjects 12. Dem. 10. Because the Soul has Past and Future Parts of Time Present in her at once 13. Dem. XI Because the Soul can tye together as many Singulars as she pleases in the Notion of One Number of which generally the Fancy can have no Material Resemblance 14. Dem. XII Because Sensible Qualities tho' Innumerable and Contrary to one another are in the Soul without Disordering her in the least 15. Dem. XIII Because the said Qualities as in her do not fight and expel one another as they must were their Subject made of Matter 16. Dem. XIV Because Innumerable multitudes of various and large Figures are in the Soul at once 17. Dem. XV. Because the Soul has in her Universal Notions 18. Dem. XVI Because the Thing is in and by the Soul Divided into such Parts as Material Division cannot reach 19. Dem. XVII Because that kind of Composition which the Soul makes afterwards of these thus-Divided Parts is impossible to be perform'd by a Material Agent 20. Hence is seen the reason why Angels do not thus Compound and Divide and consequently they know the Whole Thing Intuitively 21. Dem. XVIII Because what is meant by the Copula is which we use in all our Affirmative Iudgments cannot be so much as shadow'd or represented by a Material Similitude 22. Dem. XIX Because the Connexion of the Conclusion with Right Premisses is above the force of all Nature or Matter and impossible to be Solv'd or Broken 23. Dem. XX. Because all the Notions the Soul has are most concise and exact even to an Indivisible 24. Dem. XXI Because the Soul is a Pure Act and therefore Immaterial 25 Dem. XXII Because the Soul gives a kind of Being to Non-Entities and Chimeraes
which can have no Existence in Nature 26 How some do mistake the Nature of the Indivisibility attributed to the Soul 27. The Proper and True Sense in which a Spirit is said to be Indivisible 28. That 't is consonant to the Nature of the Subject that the Soul should contain Corporeal Nature and it 's Modes Indivisibly 29. In what Sense we are to take the word Instantaneous when we say the Operations of Pure Spirits are such 30. Last Demonstration Concluding the Whole Point That our Soul it heing so manifestly and manifoldly Demonstrated to be IMMATERIAL is necessarily IMMORTAL MEDITATION In discoursing of our Soul we must transcend our Senses and Corporeal Phantasms and avail our selves only by Reflexion on those Operations which are Proper to it 'T is to be fear'd the Chief Origin of Atheism is in Men's Wills it being so easie to satisfie their Understandings What Duties are incumbent on Us who know and acknowledge our Soul to be Immortal Our former Demonstrations of that Great and most Concerning Truth summ'd up and Recapitulated Of what vast Importance it is to lay 〈…〉 heart this Preliminary Truth to all Religion BOOK II. Of PURE ACTS CHAP. I. Of the SOUL SEPARATED and ANGELS § 1. THe Soul does at her Separation receive some Change according to the Manner of her Existing and her Suppositality 2. The Means how this is done illustrated 3. Yet the same Individual Nature remains in her 4. All the Knowledges and Unretracted Affections the Soul had here remain still in her 5. Each Soul when Separated knows all Created Truths 6. How this is very Possible 7. Hence every Separated Soul knows all Time and Place 8. Hence her Operations are not measur'd by Time They and their Subject being of a Superiour Nature 9. Hence she will be Eternally Miserable unless she knows the First Cause GOD. 10. Hence also she is naturally Unchangeable 11. Hence too as soon as Separated she knows all the Thoughts and Affections Words and Actions of her past Life 12. Whence follows the Particular Judgment which determines her Lot at the hour of Death 13. Hence is understood how the Book of Conscience will be laid open at the Last Day 14. And how Infants are connaturally sav'd by Baptism 15. Hence Ana-Baptism is Impious and Unnatural 16. The foregoing Principles show how much more easie it is for the Saints and Angels in Heaven to know our Actions and Necessities 17. The Practical Iudgments or Affections do carry the Soul to the Attainment of the Good she most Lov'd here in case it be Attainable in the Future State 18. The Best Intellectual Good or the Sight of GOD is Attainable in the Next Life if the Soul be Dispos'd for it 19. Therefore to work up our Christian Principles to such Good Dispositions ought to be the whole Employ of our Life here 20. This good Disposition is CHARITY or the Love of GOD above all things 21. Hence all the Means and Motives laid by our B. Saviour tend only to breed and cultivate in our Souls this Predominant Affection for Heaven 22. Hence RELIGION is the Way of breeding up Souls in such a manner as may dispose them fâ—… Eternal Bliss 23. From the same Principles is Demonstrated that To depart hence with a Contrary Disposition 〈…〉 a First Affection for any Creature will torment the Soul when Separated with most Unspeakable Grief and Anguish 24. The State of Separation Elevates the Soul to aâ—… Incomparably higher Perfection of Existence shâ—… being then a Pure Act than she had here 25. Wherefore it does consequently Elevate the Activity of all her Powers and particularly the Acts of her Will her Affections to an Unconceiveable Intenseness and Vehemency above what she had while in the Body 26. Hence the Poena Damni in Wicked Souls foâ—… the Loss of the Sight of GOD and also the Loss of thâ—… Temporal False Good they here doted on is Unspeakable and plunges them in a HELL of Misery Their Sad Condition describ'd 27. Hence 't is evident that GOD damns no Man but that the Sinner while he hugs and cherishes 〈…〉 his Thoughts those Inordinate Affections for Creatures on which by his own Deliberate Choice 〈…〉 had set his First Love does connaturally kindlâ—… and foment all the while Hell-Fire in his own Soul To which GOD contributes no farther but by conserving the Wisest Course of the World that Propeâ—… Causes should have their Effects which he has 〈…〉 reason to alter for their sakes 28. The Knowing then all Truths Speculatively doeâ—… not alter the Predominant Affection for Creatures As the Tree falls so it lies 29. Hence one Enormous Actual Sin unrepented renders a Separated Soul liable to Eternal Damnation 30. That the State of Separation does not alter the First Affection of Souls farther Demonstrated 31. Hence Sin does not formally consist in the Falsity of the Practical Iudgment or Affection but in the Disproportion and Inordinateness of it 32. ' From the former Principles it follows that all those several Kinds of Knowledges we had here will be Elevated to an Unmeasurable Excess in the State of Separation 33. Hence also all the Virtuous Affections which good Souls had here for Friends Relations and Acquaintances will remain in the Next Life and make them ardently wish and pray for their Salvation 34. That each Particular Deduced here is Demonstrable by the Principles laid formerly Shown by repeating those Principles 35. Wherefore there is not the least Thought Word or Action Good or Bad which we ever had or did in this Life but will have it's Consequent and Proper Effect Adjusted and Proportion'd to it in the Next MEDITATION The Admirable Nature of a Soul when separated and become a Pure Spirit Display'd That there is no Comparison between our Soul's Condition here and That in the State of Separation Meer Humane Science when at the Height was too short and Impotent to raise Mankind to those Dispositions that fit him for True Happiness The Necessity of Divine Revelation farther shown That the Christian Life is most Comfortable and the Un-Christian Life most full of Anxiety The Unexpressible Transports of Joy which Holy Souls experience at their first entring into Bliss CHAP. II. Of the Existence Essence Knowledge Distinction and Action of ANGELS § 1. THE Order of the Universe requires that there should be Different Kinds of Beings 2. And much more that there should be Pure Acts or ANGELS 3. Especially since the Angelical Natures are Capable of Existing 4. And that otherwise there could be no Immediate Cause of Motion 5. As is also demonstrated from the Nature of all Causality 6. Every more perfect Ens includes in it the Nature of the less-perfect as it is an Ens. 7. And therefore Pure Acts or Spirits Contain in them the Nature of Body 8. Which since it cannot be done by way of Quantity they must contain them by the way of Knowledge 9. Therefore the very Natures or Essences of Bodies are in
distinctly understood will be signally Useful to defeat almost all the Arguments drawn from Reason by the Deists and if well reflected on clears many Objectionâ— brought against the B. Trinity by the Sociâ—ians and other Anti-Trinitarians opposing the Christian Tenet of the Unity of the Divine Nature in Three Persons and to confute as far as it impugns that Tenet it self that Treatise Entituled A Letter to the Reverend the Clergy of both Universities concerning the Trinity and the Athanasian Creed Which tho' it seems to be the utmost Effort of those Parties and has a very plausible Appearance to those who either are not well skill'd in or do not well reflect on the Laws of Predication and the Use of Humane Language in parallel Cases yet it is easie to show that that piece of Wit and Fancy is utterly void of Art and good Sense and that the Christian Thesis it self if rightly represented is perfectly consonant to the Nature of the Subject the DEITY and to Right Reason and that there is no more show of Contradiction that that most Simple Being should verifie Sending and being Sent Generating and being Generated and such like tho' they be Opposites than it is that the same Infinite Being when GOD knows himself which themselves grant should notwithstanding it 's most perfect Simplicity verifie that he is the Knower and thing Known which are as much Relatively Opposite as are any of the Others Lastly it may be shown very evidently that all the while they oppose the Doctrine of the Trinity those witty Gentlemen do quite mistake the whole Question by confounding what the Deity is in it's self abstracting from any order to our Conceptions or rather as it is above our Conceptions according to which consideration we cannot think or speak of it at all with what GOD is as conceiv'd by us or what as He is the Object of our Understanding His Infinite Essence obliges us truly to conceive and affirm of Him All which may perhaps particularly and at large be shown hereafter 25. Corol. VI. The same Doctrine clears the Mystery of the Incarnation Which clears Objections against the B. Trinity and against the Mystery of the Incarnation also from the least semblance of Contradiction and shows how not only Possible but consonant to right Reason it is that the Humanity of our B. Saviour may be Assum'd by the Second Person of the B. Trinity and yet not be Assum'd by either of the other Persons As also how that Person may supply to it or be united to it immediately according to the Subsistence or Personality and yet not be thus United to it formally according to it's Nature or Essence And the same may be said of the same Doctrine in order to some other Revealed Mysteries of Christian Faith which I here forbear to mention 26. Corollary VI. Hence is clearly discern'd what is the Difference between Logical and Metaphysical ABSTRACTION The Difference between Logical and Metaphysical Abstraction and that Logical Abstraction is of the Generical or Specifical that is of more Common Notions from the Inferioâ—â— ones which is done by taking from these later that precise Consideration iu which they Agree leaving out those in which they Disagree that is by taking meerly what belongs to the Genus or Generical Notion and leaving out or Abstracting from the Differences Whereas Metaphysical Abstraction regards only this that the Notion Nature or Essence of the One is not the precise Notion Nature or Essence of the Other or that both the One and the Other are different Respects or Considerations of the Thing tho' they do both of them stand upon the same Level and neither of them be Higher or Lower in the way of Predication or in the Extent of their Notion than the other In which later Sense of the word Abstraction we use to say that our Soul works or knows things by Abstract or Inadequate Notions 27. From what is said above 't is manifest that there can be no Actual Parts in any Ens whatever whether we conceive That Excellent and Useful Maxim That There are no Actual Parts in any Compound whatever Defended and Explicated it under the Notion of Ens or of such an Ens call'd Body or as affected with such an Intrinsecal Mode or Accident v. g. Quantity or any of the rest For since to Distinguish cannot belong to the Power it being of it self or of it's own nature utterly Indistinct or Indetermiâ—â—te it follows that to Distinguish must properly and only belong to the Act. Wherefore in case those Parts were Distinct Actually they must have Distinct Acts and by consequence the Power or Subject must be made Distinct by having those Distinct Acts in it that is the Subjects must be More under that Notion Therefore Unum being the Property of Ens in what Sense soever the word Ens be taken as is shown § 22. there would in that case be no Unity nor consequently Entity under any Notion left in the World To explicate this more â—…y and show it particularly In case the First â—â—rt of Power call'd Ens and it's Act Existence â—â—d each of them it 's Proper Act which constitutes a Thing and so were Two Things nothing in the World that Exists would be One Thing â—or consequently Unum being the Property of Ens A Thing or Any Thing Also if the Second fort of Power Matter and it 's Act or Form that constitutes Body were Two Things there would be no One Thing of that Sort or no one Body and consequently there would be No Body in Nature And since as will be prov'd hereafter L. 2. § 16. the Complexion of Accidents is the Essential Form which constitutes Body were those Accidents Distinct Things from the Matter and the Matter from them or were they Distinct Things from one another and therefore each of them were Capable of Existing alone or properly Entia there would be no One or No Individual Body in the World but every such Thing would be a Multitude or Many and perhaps Innumerable Or were the Parts that compound Quantity or which is the same the Parts of Body as precisely having Quantity in them Actually Distinct as many Schoolmen hold then each of them as was lately prov'd must have a Distinct Act of that sort to make them Distinct Actually whence they would be in that case Diverse Quanta or Things having divers Quantities in them Wherefore it being Demonstrable that Quantitas est Divisibilis in semper Divisibilia there could be no Quantum or Thing of that Kind in the World but would contain many Lesser Quantums in it and therefore there could be no One or No Quantum and consequently No Thing that had Quantity in it found in Nature Add that those pretended Distinct Actual Parts must be distinguisht by § 17. from others by some Act and yet most of them could have no Act iâ— them to Distinguish them from their Comparts For the Second Power
Considering the most Common Notions of 〈◊〉 Thing enlarges the Soul and that tho' those 〈◊〉 Abstract Conceptions be but a very small part a partial and very Inadequate Notion of the whâ—… Individual Thing yet that Shortness is abundantly reâ—â—mpenced by the Largeness of their Extent He that knows distinctly the Notion or Nature of Quantity knows the whole World and each particular Body in it as far as they are Quantitative In like â—…nner he who has the Exact Knowledge of Ens â—…nce Act Power c. knows the whole Creaâ—… and every particular part of it as far as they â—…ve in them what grounds the Notions of Ens Essence Power Act Divisibility Composition c. â—…t what is all this if we add the vast trains of â—lear Consequences enriching our Mind with Innumerable Truths many of which are neer as Universal 〈◊〉 these Notions themselves were Let us permit 〈◊〉 those Men of Fancy to slubber over their Knowâ—… of things by their Confused Methods of Talking 〈◊〉 random and pursue the Way to Science which Right Nature and the Rules of Exact Art have â—…ablisht to our hands CHAP. III. Of the Essences of Mixt Vegetable and Animal Bodies 1. THere are not in Nature as far as we can judge at this time any perfectly Simpâ—… Bodies or Pure Elements For since to perfect the Forming of It can scarce be imagin'd that there are now any Pure Elements farther prov'd the World at first it was requisite that there should be a thoroâ—… Mixture of those Simplest Bodies or Elements which were made in the Beginning And finâ— there are many pregnant Reasons which are very hard to solve that at the Flood or Universal Deluge the whole Body of the Earth and all it's parts were still more confusedly blended together with the other Bodies which were themselves Mixts or rather Demixts before Again since it is hard to conceive the Course of Nature which consists in Motion still continuing how those Simple Bodies should re-gain their Original Purity and not rather mingle still 〈…〉 and more It may I think be concluded hence and from what has been alledged Chap. 2. Cordlary IV. that there are not now in the World anâ— Pure Elements or Unmixt Bodies 2. To pursue the Thread of my Discourse When Two very Minute Bodies of different Natures of which How First-Mixt Bodies may be conceiv'd to be made one is Rare the other Dense do cling together which by being of the smallest size are not easie to be divided or separated from one another by others they being too big to come between their parts and so divide them they may be reasonably conceiv'd to constitute a First-Mixt Body For since by their constant Adhesion they do not Act or Operate as Two but Conjoyntly or as One 〈…〉 follows that they have a peculiar Modify'd Operation of their own distinct from that which other of those Elements had produced in case it had existed alone Wherefore since every Part 〈…〉 Nature is then a Distinct Thing when it has a â—…ct Operation 't is consequent that these were at first or in the beginning Distinct Entities which kind of Things we call Mixt or Compounded and this being the Simplest or Least sort of Mixture First-Mixt Bodies 3. Wherefore the Essential Form of those First-Mixt-Bodies was the Complexion The Essential Form of First-Mixt Bodies of those two Primary Qualities Rarity and Density since 't is evident that the having those Two in it does distinguish them from Simple Bodies or Elements which have but One of them that is at that time distinguisht them from all others 4. Therefore the Essence or Total Form of those First-Mixt And their Essences Bodies consists of Power and Act or in this that they have Matter in them Determin'd by such a Form viz. by the Complexion of those two Accidents 5. The next Sort of Mixt Bodies is That they have Three or All of the Elements in them For all Proper The Second sort of Mixt Bodies and Intrinsecal Differences being nothing but more and less and the Elements having each of them a Distinct Degree of Rarity or Density in them It follows that these are evidently more-Mixt than the others were which had but only Two Elements and their Particular Degrees of Rarity and Density in their Composition Whence 't is easie by what 's discourst here § 4. and 5. to discover in what their Essential or Partial Form and their Essence which is their Total Form consists 6. The Next or Third Sort of Mixt Bodies if it be not in some sort the same is when the Compound possesses The Third sort of Mixts with some Stability and Constancy an incomparably greater Proportion of some one of those Elements above the rest For 't is manifest that there are in Nature many sorts of those Things which we call Fire Air Earth and Water in all which some One of those particular Elements does so much abound that we cannot well discern at first Sight any Mixture of the others tho' 't is Evident to our Reflex Thoughts there is and even to our Sight when Art comes to separate them tho' our Rude and First Impressions make us commonly give them their Name from the exceedingly Predominant Element 7. The Next or Fourth sort of Mixts which perhaps are in proper Speech the First Sort of Demixt or Decompounded The Fourth sort of Mixts Bodias is when they have More or Fewer of the former Sorts of Mixts variously united in them whose 〈…〉 is the Complexion of those Qualities found in those several Mixts And their Essence consists in this that their Matter is Determin'd by the Complexion of those Mixt Accidents which giving them as Constant Agents the power of Operating thus or after a Distinct Manner from the former do by consequence principally concur to make them Distinct Parts of Nature that is Distinct Things or Bodies I say principally for 't is to be observ'd that â—â—st Many other Accidents besides those most Intrinsecal ones of Rarity and Density either Single or Mingled What other Accidents are superadded to make variety of Mixts and Demixts do concur to the Essential Constitution of most Mixts and Demixts For since Mixture is made first by the Division of the Simple and afterwards of First-Mixt-Bodies at and Division makes more of One the parts of those Divided Bodies the ways of Nature's Operation being manifold and various must necessarily be Diverse in Number and consequently each Divided part being Determinate in Bigness Figure and Situation which the Potential parts of the Elements before Division each of them being Homogeneous or Uniform were not Whence follows that most of the Mixt and all of the Demixt bodies besides their Different Degrees of Rarity and Density must also have in them great Variety of the Bulk Figure and Situation of their Parts Which every thing operating as it is must needs make them operate diversely and consequently these are parts of their
her and therefore cannot nourish or improve her but tend to pervert and destroy her Spiritually 16. This Knowledge must also be Evident or beyond Probability For otherwise The Knowledge of Truth which thus perfâ—cts Man must be Evident 't is not properly Knowledge Nor can we be truly said to â—…now a thing to bee if we see it may not bee it being against a First Principle and a Proof which is no more than Probable cannot make us see that the Thing may not bee or necessarily is for an Evident Proof can do no more 17. Corollary VII Whence what has but a Probable Proof cannot sink into or cling to her Knowing Probability perfects no Man Nature or improve and nourish it nor so much as be receiv'd in it at all as 't is Knowing but as 't is Unknowing or Ignorant either of True Principles or of Right Deduction 18. Corollary VIII Hence also what only affects and dilates the Memory or Nor the improving his Memory or Fancy Fancy or serves to excite the Passions as Skill in Languages Eloquence Wit and such like is not properly Connatural Food for the Knowing Nature of the Soul tho' they may be very Useful to express her Knowledge or be a Means to gain Knowledge from those Authors who writ in other Languages Or lastly For her Recreation which is not properly the Food of the Soul but a kind of Sauce to that Food 19. Corollary IX Hence to endeavour the Promoting the Evident Knowledge of Truths especially of those The promoting Evident Truth is the Noblest Action of Man which are of the Highest Concern is the most Manly most Noble and most Universally Beneficial Action that can possibly be perform'd by Manâ— as having for it's Object the most General Good of MANKIND that can be imagin'd And which if it be of Sacred or Revealed Truths has a Direct Tendency to bring him to his Last End and dispose him for Eternal Happiness 20. Corollary X. Hence all Errour it being when reduced to it's True and Hence Errour is the greatest Depravation of Man's Nature Proper Original a Contradiction is a Deprauation of the Soul and if it be such an Errour as is Opposite to those Truths which guide her towards her True Last End it tends of it's own nature to ruin and destroy her Spiritually And would Actually do so if the Poison of it were not rebated and render'd Ineffectual by the Antidote of a Sincere and Good Intention that is such a one as springs from some Truth of a High Nature which well imprinted cultivated and become Practical in that well-meaning Soul directs and strongly addicts her to the Pursuit of that which is her Chief Good Eternal Happiness 21. From what has been Demonstrated § 14 it is Evident That the Essence of Man is RATIONALITY or the The Essence of Man is Rationality Power of Reasoning For as was prov'd above Ch. 2. § 9. 10. and is evident of it self That is the Essence of every thing from which immediately proceeds the Power to perform it's Primary Operation for which it was ordain'd and made But the Act of Reasoning which by § 14 is his Primary Operation proceeds immediately from the Power of Reasoning therefore the Power of Reasoning or Rationality â—â— the Essence of Man 22. Moreover Rationality does perfectly distinguish Man from all other Sorts And distinguishes him from Angels and Brutes of Things whether they be Boâ—…s or Spirits For Matter tho' 〈…〉 parts be never so artificially â—…d together can never make Knowledge and therefore no meer Body can know or Reason And it distinguishes him also from all other Sorts of Spiritual Natures that is from Pure Spirits or Angels in regard that These having no Matter or Quantity in them their Operations â—re therefore Unsuccessive or Instantaneous because there cannot be Part after Part which is the Notion of Succession in that which has no Parts at all Whereas in the Act of Reasoning the Whole Suppositum which has in it both Soul and Body being that which operates hence every such Act it being accompany'd with the Act of the Fancy which is Corporeal is thence necessitated to be Successive both because no Corporeal Motion can be in an Instant as also because no two Parts of such a Motion can possibly be together for this would make it Unsuccessive 32. Corollary XI Hence is demonstrated That Animal Rationale is a True and Proper Definition of Man Hence Animal Rationale is his true Definition Because it both explains or gives us his True Essence and also Distinguishes Mankind from all other Kinds or Sorts of Things 24. In this Essence of Man Rationality are included the Power of Simply Apprehending or Conceiving and In Rationality are included the Powers of Apprehending and Judging the Power of Iudging especially the Power of Seeing the First Principles to be True and Self evident For since in that Compleat Act of Reasoning which is Formally oâ— Equivalently a Syllogism there are necessarily included Iudgments because we cannot hold a Conclusion Inferr'd by our Reason to be True unless we first Iudge the Premisses to be such nor that it follows from those Premisses unless we Iudge that Identical Proposition on which is Grounded the Force of the Consequence to be both True and Self-evident Again since in every Iudgment are Included those Notions or Simple Apprehensions call'd the Subject Copula and Predicate which are the Immediate Parts of the Proposition we Judge of and the Remote Materials of all our Discoursings or Reasonings It follows that tho' the Powers of Apprehending and Iudging be not Formally the Power of Reasoning yet they are Included in it as Integral Parts constituting it or Presuppos'd to it 24. For the same Reason the Power of Reâ—…ing the Particles or Effluviâ—… emitted from outward Objects As also the Power of receiving Simple Apprehensions by Impressions from Objects transmitted them to the Brain and Transmitting them at â—â—rst to the Brain or the Seat of Knowledge is a Necessary Requisite or Previous Disposition to Rationality For since we cannot Discourse without Iudging nor Iudge without Propositions which are the Objects of Judging nor have Propositions in us without having Simple Apprehensions or Notions â—hich are the Parts of a Proposition of which it â—…sists Nor lastly can we as will be prov'd â—…ortly have Notions but by Receiving Impressions on the Senses from Outward Objects and â—…nce on the Brain or Seat of Knowledge by affecting which they do consequently or after it's manner affect the Soul which immediately inâ—…ms that Part and is identify'd with it and thence imbues her with those Notions It follows that the Power of Receiving those Particles by the Senses and transmitting them to the Seat of Knowledge is a Necessary Prerequisite to Rationality and an Essential Property of Man 25. The Power of REFLECTING on our Notions had at first by means of the Senses is also an Essential Property
contrary to all the Maâ—…ims of Sound Philosophy 34. Lastly If All the Ideas or Notions be Innatâ— and there can be no reason why some should be so and otheâ— Eighth Proof not since the Soul is equally capable of All as of Some only then since to be Actually in a Knowing Power is to Actuate or Inform that Power that is to render that Power Actually Knowing it would follow that the Souâ— in that case having in her all those Notions of which her Nature is capable that is All Notions whatever she would either know all things while she is here or else she would have while here Innumerable Ideas or Materials of Knowledge which never come to be Excited and so are perfectly Useless Which makes the Immediate Act of the First Being which Infus'd them Frustraneous and to no purpose For their own Principles must force them to confess those Ideas which shall never be Excited cannot in that case either serve for Reasoning Contemplation nor Outward Action and therefore the Imbuing the Mind with them here is Preposterous Suâ—…ous and to no end 35. 'T is equally Groundless and Unphilosoâ—…cal in many regards to affirm That the Soul cannot Elicit Ideas out of her self from many heads 〈…〉 the Soul has a Power to Eliâ—… or Produce such Ideas in her â—… upon Occasion of such an Imâ—…ssion made on the Senses For â—… the Reasons given above I mean those â—…hich have been produced § 28 29 30 32. â—… in a manner equally disprove such Ideas â—…se which are properly Innate Secondly 〈…〉 impossible to show by their Grounds any Natural Connexion between that Impression on the â—…ve and the Production of such or such an 〈…〉 nor as far as I can see do they so much 〈…〉 pretend to show how this Effect does ex naâ—…a rei spring from that Cause For 't is conâ—… that the Stroke on the Nerve and the Idea which starts up when it is made there are utterly Unlike one another By which lame account any kind of Impression provided it be Unlike may occasion the Production of any Idea whatever and therefore there would be no Reason why 〈…〉 particular Impression more than another made 〈…〉 the Body should concur any way no not so much as a sutable Occasion to the Production of any particular Idea at all Thirdly Hence they make this Impression on the Nerve to be only an Occasion that is a kind of Conditio sine quâ non and not any sort of Cause contrary to the whole Intention and End of all Philosophy which is to refund Effects into their Proper Causes Fourthly They put the Soul which is of an Indivisible nature to Act upon it self and to be the Sole Cause of such an Idea which is against divers Principles confining upon Self-evidence and easily reducible to it Such as are Nothing that is meerly iâ— Power to such an Effect can reduce st self to Act. Nothing Indetermin'd can produce a Determinate Effect Nothing can change it self An Indivisible Entity cannot work upon it self A Thing in Rest cannot move it self Or in a word the Whole Course of Causes consisting in this that One Thing which is in Act it self is to work upon Another which is in Power to receive that Act is by this Extravagant Doctrine made Needless Absurd and Incoherent 36. Corollary XII From what 's Deduc't above it follows that that Position of That the Position which makes the Soul and Body Two Things hinders the Right Explication of Christian Faith the Cartesians which makes the Soul and Body in Man to be Duae Res or Two Things does not seem to sute well with Christian Faith For since Cartesius does therefore make them Two Things because he finds them to be of Different Natures 't is Evident that he does not Distinguish between the Notion of the Thing which has the Nature in it and of the Nature which is in the Thing or is had by it Whence follows that whereever and whenever there are those two Distinct Natures there must also be two Distinct Things But the Second Person of the Trinity will ever retain the Humanity of Christ and the Humanity of Christ will ever consist of the Corporeal and Spiritual Natures call'd Soul and Body therefore there will ever be according to this Doctrine two distinct Things in the Humanity of Christ-Again since these Two Natures in Christ's Humanity which they call Two Things are Individually or Numerically such and an Individual Thing is the same as a Suppositum the Followers of this Doctrine must hold there are Two Suppositums in Christ according to his Humanity Wherefore since 't is a Fundamental of Christian Faith that there is also in Christ the Divine Suppositum they must be forced to put three Suppositums in Christ GOD and MAN which is strange Language in Christianity Nor will it avail them to alledge that the Divine Personality by Assuming Humane Nature sâ—pplies the Subsistence of both those Natures for this takes not away the Distinction of the Two Natures in the Humanity wherefore if whereever there are two Natures there must be Two Things and those in our case Individually such of force there will remain two Individual Things that is Two Supposita in Christ's Humane Nature and consequently Three in all Whence since Verum vero non contradicit the Christian Tenet of but One Suppositum in Christ being True the Cartesian Doctrine that the Soul and Body in Man are two Things because they are of such Different Natures must needs be False and our main Tenet that the Soul and Body in Man do make but One Thing is both Evident to Reason and Consonant to Faith and to the Creed of St. Athanasius 37. Corollary XIII Hence also it follows from this Thesis of the Cartesians that every Individual Man in This Tenet makes overy Man to be a Monstrous Chimera the World is a Perfect Chimera nay a more Monstrous one than a Hircoceruus a Centaur or any other we use to Instance in For since all Created Beings are either Pure Acts or Compounded of Power and Act that is Matter and Form by Ch. 1. § 33. and the Word Thing signifies What 's Capable of Existing and therefore Two Things must be Capable of Diverse Existences and if they exist actually must actually have Two Existences It follows that the Soul and Body even in this State they have here must have actually Two Diverse Existences Again since their Nature the one being Corporeal the other Incorporeal are far more Distant and more vastly Different than a Goat and a Stag or any other Natures amongst Bodies to clap two such Things thus actually distinct under the Notion of Thing and Existing thus Distinct into One Species call'd MAN makes all the Individuals under that Species to be Chimerical nay greater Chimera's than is a Compound made of any two Things in Nature which are of divers Corporeal Species and exist actually by distinct Existences as a
Effects is that which gives Consistency and Coherence to all our Discourses and 〈◊〉 the only Ground of all Demonstration and consâ—â—â—â—ently of all the Science Mankind has or can 〈◊〉 Whence also it comes that puzzled with their 〈◊〉 ill-lay'd Principles how to find any Contexture between those Natural Effects and Causes they are given to have frequent and in a manner constant recourse to the Gratuitous Pretence that God Wills This or That without so much as attempting to Demonstrate that God does indeed Will such particular â—…ects or showing any Necessity why he should do 〈◊〉 or that it becomes God's Wisdom in the ordinaâ—… Administration of Nature to set aside the Operaâ—â—â—â—s of Second Causes for which they are Essentially Ordain'd and at every turn to act Immediately by Himself These and many other most absurd Doctrines every great Errour being Fruitâ—… of False Consequences they are thrown upon through their not reflecting on this Grand Truth that Man being One Thing consisting of a Corporeal and Spiritual Compart hence as was said the Impressions sent from Outward Objects by means of the Senses to that Material most Sensitive and most Noble Part of the Brain where the Fancy resides call'd The Seat of Knowledge which Part is immediately Inform'd by the Soul do by reason that the Soul and Body as Matter and Form make â—p One Thing affect also the said Form or Soul at the same time after her manner or according to her Nature that is to some Degree Knowingly by Imprinting or Stamping upon her Direct Conceptions Notions or Simple Apprehensions of somewhat or some Mode of the Thing On which fast Rudiments of Knowledge duly reflected on well Distinguish'd and aptly Connected by our Discoursing Faculty all our Science is built What other Important Truths occur in this Chapter affording matter for our farther Contemplation is lesâ— to our more leisurely Consideration CHAP. V. Of the Constitution and Dissolution of Individual Bodies 1. HItherto of the Constituting the Generical and Specifical Kinds of Bodies which they being but Common that is Partial or Inadequate Notions of That only Individuals are properly THINGS Ens or Thing are therefore no otherwise Entia but only in a Secondary and Improper Sense of that word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle calls them because regarding them under this Common and Abstracted consideration they are not Capable of Existing which is the Definition of Ens. We come next to treat of INDIVIDUAL Entities call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Primarily and Properly Substances or Things because consisting of Matter ultimately Determin'd to such and such Particulars they only as being Wholes or Intire Things are of themselves or by the merits of their own Notion Capable of Existing or Entia Whereas the Former are not at all THINGS but as they are Metaphysical Parts of the Things truly so call'd abstracted from one another by our conceiving them singly or aparted from their Fellow-parts and therefore since the Parts cannot exist out of the Whole they are Incapable of Existing but in these Later and by virtue of Them Wherefore 2. Hence follows that the Generical and Specifical Essences of which we have hitherto treated are not properly And therefore only Individual Essences are properly ESSENCES ESSENCES in the First and Primary Acceptation of that word For since the Notion of Ens is properly That which is Capable of Existing and Essence is that which properly constitutes Ens it follows that That which does not constitute it's Subject Capable of Existing is not in proper Speech an Essence Wherefore since neither Corpus Mixtum Vivens Animal nor Homo taken as those words signifie them in Common are Capable of Existing but the Particulars or Individâ—ums of each of those Kinds 't is consequent that as none of These is properly an Ens but only the Individuums of each of those Common Sorts so neither is that which constitutes any of them properly to be call'd an Essence but That only which constitutes the Individual Thing Again since an Individuum v. g. Peter contains in it self all those Common Notions and so that what answers to the Definitions of each of them is Included in Him and Verify'd of Him it follows that they are all of them as was said Metaphysical Parts of Peter or Parts of his Essence and that He is a Whole in respect of Theâ— Wherefore since as was said a Part cannot exist but in the Whole none of these can exist but in their Individuals nor is of it's self properly an Ens or Thing Nor consequently since Essence is the Formal Constitutive of Ens or oâ— that which is Capable of Being are their Essence in proper Speech ESSENCES In a word Ens signifies what 's Capable of Existing which none of those Common Essences staying in Them is or can be for were they such they must necessarily make the Concretes which are their Subjects to be thus Capable of Existing which â—is most Evident they do not seeing nothing in Common does or can exist but only Particulars 3. Corollary I. This notwithstanding we can discourse as clearly of those Improper Essences nay far Yet we can discourse more clearly of the Common Essences than we can of the Individual ones more clearly and evidently than we can of those Proper ones For since those Improper and Analogical Essences are each of them some One Inadequate or Abstracted Conception which we make of the Whole Thing v. g. the Essence or Nature of such a Quantity Figure Time Place Situation c. and our Soul as will be seen hereafter being Indivisible they by being in our Conception are there Indivisibly that is most Dsstinctly such Hence they are apt to render our Discourses which are conversant about such most Distinct Objects most Distinct and Clear also Whereas on the other side the Essences properly so called which Constitute the Individuums do involve many of those Improper Essences in their Constitution which must needs make those thus-Compounded Objects Confus'd and thence less clearly Intelligible It follows then manifestly that we can discourse more clearly of those Improper Essences or Natures which abstract from their Subject and from the rest of their fellow-Modes than we can of the Proper Essences that constitute the Whole Individuum of which as was said rhe other are but Metaphysical Parts which are blended in some sort confusedly to compound or make up that Whole 4. That Complexion of Accidents which constitutes the Essence of the Individuum must be far Greater than There go more Accidents to constitute the Individuum than there goes to constitute the Common Essences that which constitutes the Generical or the Specisical Natures For since these Later are but Parts of the Individual Essence there is necessarily requir'd more Parts to constitute the Essence of the Individuum which in respect of them has the Nature of the Whole Again since there are found under every Common Notion or Nature Great Multitudes
it from all others in the First Instant of our Being What Mathematicks could contrive what Mathematician can explicate how all those Crooked and mutually-crossing Lines of sundry Kinds in which those Causes mov'd shohld meet in our Individuation as in their Center How much more wonderful will it be to reflect that each of those numberless Causes had also their Causes fore-lay'd and they others before them and so upwards to the First Framing of the World And yet our Reason assures us that none of these later or immediate Causes nor consequently our self their Product could â—ver have been had not this long Pedigree of Causes as Ancient as the Beginning of Time successively anteceded determining Matter to this Individual Body of ours which requir'd the Infusion of such a particular Soul whence we became what we are Blind Matter could never have seen her direct way to such a Steady End Rash and Heedless Chance could never have cost Senseless Matter into such an orderly and wellcomplicated Frame Be ever prais'd that Adorable Providence which has design'd so large a portion of the Creation to run in a direct Track for the Production of so mean a Thing so poor an Atome of Being â—â— our selves and our Contemporary Individuuâ—ns â—re Yet we have by this Discourse gain'd a clear sight of what in common makes our Individuation and in what it consists And has given us all our knowledge and other Endowments tho' the Detail of it's particular Ingredients be hid from us We have learnt too that nothing but an all-comprehending Wisdom and Providence which has Plac'd us tho' remotely yet surely in the Rank of Effects from the First Constitution of the World could have ripen'd Nature so as to make us Spring out of the Seeds of our Causes in our proper Season How Unreasonable then and how short-sighted is our Pride which would persuade Mankind that any particular Acquir'd Endowments of Dignity Progeny Beauty or Parts particularly that the Knowledge in which some may excel others do belong to our selves or our Individuums or essentially distinguish us from those of our own Kind who have not been so Fortunate or so blest by Providence as we have been I have done this and I have done the other thinks the Proud Boaster God has done this and the other by me says the Humble and Wise Christian. Nay if we reflect well we shall find that we fall short of being even Common Instruments For those owe only their Motion and Direction to the Principal Cause but We owe our Being too to Him who makes use of us to bring about his Infinitely-Wise Designs None of those Endowments Productions or Acquisitions are to be attributed to us as Us. Our Substantial Individuation anteceded those Ornamental Accessories for we must be This ere we could thus Act or be thus Qualify'd Nay there is not one of those superadded Accidents whether Intrinsecal or Extrinsecal that furbisht up our Individuum and fitted it to act for the Ends of the World 's Great Governour but requir'd as vast a Chain of Precedent Causes as our Individuum it self Our Nurses show'd us one fine thing after another which that we might pick and glean Notions out of them by our Senses we look'd wistly upon and long'd to handle them We put them to our Mouths and knockt them against other things as if we had a mind to know how they Tasted or Sounded And after we had perus'd them so long till we had suckt all the Knowledge out of them they could afford us we straight grew weary of them threw them away and cry'd for some new thing we had never seen before which we us'd in the same manner as we did the former to enlarge our little Stock of Simple Apprehsnsions which are the Elements of our Natural Knowledge Then they began to name the things they show'd us and by their continual Tattle they fram'd our Tongues and instructed our Lisping Vocal Organs to imitate them and so taught us by Degrees to prattle and ask for those things we needed Growing up we came by little and little to compound those Simple Thoughts or Notions which we had acquir'd into Iudgments and were deliver'd over from How little our best Performance contributed to the Acquisition of them our Natural Instructers to the Discipline of Schoolmasters and in process of time we began to converse with the Learned Part of the World by their Books and Verbal Discourses whence we become tinctur'd with their Thoughts concerning the several Natures of Things and the Rules of Art 〈…〉 which we stor'd up in the Repository of our Memory .. When we were thus furnisht with fit Matter and some Forms of Discoursing New Occasions and Circumstances joyn'd those previous and preparatory Knowledges with which we were preâ—…u'd to our Present Thoughts which Dispositions had even to every single particular been foreâ—aid in us thro' the whole Course of our former Life â—nd working in us according to our Natural Genius 〈…〉 our Individual pitch of Rationality were the Adequate Cause of that peculiar Turn of Writing and Discoursing in which we differ from other Scholars Now each of those Assistants of ours which contributed to this Effect were themselves And how little the most Knowing or Best Man has to be Proud of the most Estimable Actions GOD has done by him Individuums too and consequently had as far-fetcht and as Ancient a Descent of Causes to make them be what they are as our Selves had And the same may be said of those Circumstances by which those several Informations come to be Apply'd from time to time to our Knowing Faculty which how little for the most part they are in our power to foresee lay or prevent every Reflecter knows So that that Maxim of the Stoicks Agimur non agimus seems in a manner tho' not in their Sense Appliable to the Wisest of us We do all of us Act indeed by our Natural Powers which were given us by our Good Maker at first yet those meer Powers could not have exerted themselves into Action at all nor have been Useful to us unless order had been taken by the same Goodness to Determine them to perform This or That Action in particular or to Act after such a manner and this by a Course of Causes impossible to be laid or carry'd on by any in by the same Great Governour of the World When I set my self to speculate or write do I know before hand what New Thoughts I shall have or what â—â— Former Thoughts will Dictate to me Not one jâ—â— The present Circumstances do indeed set those Thought I had got on work and level them at such an Object But the Disposal of them Rationally depends â—â— Millions of Unseen Causes preordain'd to bring â—â— about which 't is Impossible for us to recollect or â—â— give any account of them Whence A Joue Principium is but a scanty Acknowledgement of our Intire Dependence on GOD for
of a Spiritual Operation is or conceive How this is done they will needs conclude it is not done at all or cannot be done But how void of Common Reason this Inference is is obvious to every Ordinary Reflecter When we see a Thing a-far off we know that it is tho' we know not yet What is is The Rudest Vulgar knows That there are Sun Moon and Stars but they are utterly Ignorant What they are Again We All of us know most certainly that the Loadstone attracts Iron and that we move our Hands and Feet c. but very Few of these All do perfectly comprehend How this is done Now 't is only the An est of the Things being in our Mind or That it is there which is in Question here for 't is only this which we strive to evince and not the Quid est of that Spiritual Operation or How this is perform'd which perhaps is beyond any Man's Skill in this State The Second Reason is Because they do not distinguish between the Indivisible or Spiritual Manner of Existing which Things have in the Soul and the Proper Manner of Existing they have iâ— themselves as they are out of it Whereas by § 5. what 's meant by the word Thing or the Notion of it abstracts from both is Indifferent to both and consequently can have both or either of them And 't is also Evident hence that 't is granted by all who hold a First Being that the Essences of all things and amongst them of Bodies and consequently those Things themselves were and are in the Divine Intellect after a Spiritual Manner and yet they exist in themselves after a Manner quite Different from the Other Whence it being only asserted by us that they are in our Mind after a Spiritual Manner their Objection is wholly grounded on their Confounding those two Manners of Being which are most Vastly and indeed Contradictorily Different Nor have they any way to confute our Assertion but by Producing some Metaphysical Arguments to evince that Things cannot possibly have two such Manners of Being which we are confident they can never do On the contrary we cannot but judge we have Unanswerably Demonstrated our Affirmative that they can have such Different Manners of Existing and Actually have them The Third Reason of their Dissatisfaction is That such Objecters do not guide their Thoughts by regarding the Connexion of Terms in Propositions or Discourses in which and by which only Truth is Clearly and Certainly to be found but by customary Impressions on the Fancy begetting diveâ—s Phantasms there which being taken from Material or Corporeal Objects must needs be very Unsutable to Spiritual Operations nor consequently can they any more enable us to judge of Spiritual Natures unassisted by Reflexion and Reason connecting our Notions than a Blind Man is able to judge of Colours Let then these Gentlemen correct their Thoughts as to these Three Faults and they will quickly see what a puzzle they will be at to frame any Objection against this Thesis that will hang together and on the other side what a struggle it will cost them to solve with any show of Reason the Connexion of the Terms which gives force to those Demonstrations that pretend to evince this Great and most important Truth 15. My Second Answer to those who dislike my making use of and relying upon Notwithstanding the Immortality of the Soul may be Evinced thoâ— This Thesis were wav'd such an Abstruse point is that Many if not Most of my following Demonstrations will equally conclude the Immateriality of the Soul even according to the Opinion of those who hold that only Similitudes of the Thing are in our Understanding when we know it as they will according to our Thesis that the Thing it self is after a Spiritual Manner there Wherefore since by § 8. Knowledge must necessarily be perform'd by one of those ways or by the other it will far more conduce to the Evincing this Main and Fundamental Point by showing that my Demonstrations do conclude which soever of these Hypotheses my Readers hap to embrace I add that having thorowly study'd that Point which some Men think is so Abstruse and seeing evidently to the very best of my Judgment that no Objecter ever did this and withall that that Point is Demonstrable nay already Demonstrated and that no Objection can with True Reason be brought against it Hence I conceiv'd that I ought not to lose the Just Advantages which that True Thesis gave me to conclude such a Grand Position as is the Immortality of the Soul on the truth of which all Religion fundamentally depends meerly because many dislike it but neither well know nor can give any good Reason why as none I have yet heard of ever gave any CHAP. VII Of the Immateriality and consequently the IMMORTALITY of Man's SOUL 1. THAT Subject is evidently §. 1. Demonstration Immaterial which Works is Affected or has Objects in her after an Immaterial Manner Dem. I. Because her Operations and Objects are receiv'd in her after an Indivisible manner that is after such a Manner as is Impossible to be found in Material or Quantitative Things But such is that Subject call'd Man's SOUL in respect of her Operations and of the Objects in her Therefore the Soul is Immaterial The Major is Evident For were the Subject Divisible or had Quantitative Parts whatever Mode or Object Affects it or is Received in it must be Receiv'd in some Part or other of that Divisible Subject for if it be in no part of it it would not affect it at all And if it effects or be received in some Part of that Divisible Subject it must be Divisible and consequently Extended as that Part is which receiv'd it The Minor which proves the contrary is hence demonstrated because it is * See Solid Philosophy Asserted Reflexion 9. S. 7. perfect Nonsense to think that Knowledge which is the Proper Operation of the Soul is of such a Nature as can be measur'd by any Material Extension This will be farther demonstrated by Innumerable Arguments And first by those drawn from the Nature of Knowledge in Common 2. Demonstration II. If the Knowledge which the Soul has were in her after a Divisible Material or Quantitative Dem. II. Because thâ— Capacity of the Soul is Infinite Manner and consequently her self were Divisible and Quantitative then the Extent of that Quantity being Finite the more Knowledge she gains the nearer she would approach to being Full and so be less able to hold or contain morâ— Whereas on the contrary we find by Experience that the more Knowledge the Soul has in her already she is so far from becoming Fuller that her Capacity is by that means Enlargâ—d and she is enabled to take in still more and more But this is directly against the Nature of a Material that is a Divisible or Quantitative Capacity that is Finite as is most manifest since the least
Demonstration VIII We come now to Quantity and we discourse thus We Dem. VIII Because she has the Notions or Natures of Vast Quantities in her which 't is impossible they should be there Themselves as they are in Matter or any Material Resemblances of them have clearly a Notion of a Yard or of a Mile c. and have truly in our Mind the Meaning of those Words and the Meaning of them is a Real Yard and a Real Mile and not a Similitude of them only We can also define a Yard and a Mile and therefore since a Definition tells us the Essence of a Thing we have consequently in our Souls the Essence or Nature of those Determinate Quantities whence the Essence or Nature of those Quantities must be in our Minds first otherwise we should define we know not what Wherefore since by Ch. 6 â— 6. the Form denominates and makes a Thing such as it self is when the Nature of a Yard or Mile is in the Soul it must make our Soul a Yard or a Mile Long if this were done after the manner of Things made of Matter Whence oâ—â— Soul would be Extended a vast way out of our Body Nay since she has some kind of Notion of the Immense Expansion of the Heavens and by Reflexion multiplying it as she easily may can also have a Notion of a Million of times more she would stretch her self to a kind of Ubiquity But waving the Thesis of the Thing 's being really in our Minds as an Object when she knows it and allowing or supposing that when we know it there is only a Similitude or Resemblance of it there I would ask what can there be in Matter that can resemble a Yard after the manner we find in Material or Corporeal things unless it self be some way or other a Yard Long. It must be some sort of Quantity that can do this for otherwise it is quite Different from it and so can no way resemble it and if it be some Quantity and yet it self be not a Yard Long it must necessarily be either more than a Yard or less than a Yard And how can that which is more than a Yard or less than a Yard represent this precise and distinct Quantity of a Yard which would not be it self were it never so little either more or less than it is As certain then as it is that A Yard is a Yard or is it self so certain it is that nothing does or can resemble it materially but Another Yard which as is lately seen is in our case most Absurd and Impossible I remember I prest this Demonstration in the year 1658. against a very Civil and Ingenious Gentleman who was a Scholar of Mr. Hobbs's he reply'd that the least Quantity imaginable might represent the greatest instancing in the Scale of Miles in Maps I answer'd that ' ere we can say This very little Quantity shall stand for a very Great one or This Inch shall stand for Five or Ten Miles we must have the exact and full Notions of Inch and Mile in our Minds antecedently otherwise we could never proportion them nor could we even understand what The Scale of Miles meant if we had not in our Understanding what is meant by the word Mile that is a Real Mile for as is here prov'd even the Similitudes of a Mile must be such And so the Question returns and we are but where we were 'T is most Evident then that we cannot possibly have in our Minds either the Nature or the Similitude of a Mile after the manner it is found in Matter Wherefore it is in us quite otherwise that is Immaterially And since it has not this Manner of Being from the Things which are without us for there it is Divisibly or Extendedly it follows necessarily that it has it from it's new Subject the Soul and consequently that the Soul which imparts to the Nature of Quantity such an Indivisible Manner of Being is it self Immaterial 11. Demonstration IX From that kind of Continu'd Quantity now spoken of which is Permanent we come to Dem. IX Because the Parts of Motion are perfectly Distinct and Determinate in the Soul which are utterly Undistinguisht as they are in Material Nature consider that other sort of Continu'd Quantity which is Successive call'd Motion This Succession or Motion tho' it has it's Degrees of Slowness or Velâ—city yet while it endures as it is in Matter or Nature it flows or goes on in one Even Undistinguisht Tenour without any Butts or Bounds terminating it here or there Now for Instance Let 's consider this Regular Motion of the Heavens or of the Sun call'd Time and we shall find that we have Notions of such Parts of it call'd an Hour a Day a Year an Age c. Distinct from any other Quantity of it as much as we have of any two Individual Things which are most perfectly Distinguisht in Nature Wherefore since this Motion call'd Time as it is in Material Nature has no such Actual Distinction of it's Parts plainest Reason assures us that it has another different Manner of Being as it is in the Soul than it has in Matter for in Matter it's Parts were only Potential and utterly Undistinguisht but in the Soul they are all Actual and most exactly Distinguisht Wherefore since the Manner of Being they have in Nature is confessedly Material it follows that that contradistinct Manner of Being they have in the Soul must forcibly be Immaterial and consequently the Soul it 's self which gives them that vastly distinct Manner of Being must necessarily it self be Immaterial also 12. Demonstration X. Divers other Demonstrations might be drawn from the same Head I shall select one Dem. X. Because the Soul has in her Past and Future Parts of Time Present at once No two parts of Time or of any other kind of Motion as it is in re or in Material Nature can be present at once without a manifest Contradiction for it would make some Successive Quantity to be Simultaneous or Unsuccessive But in the Mind many and great Portions of Time are at once Present For we could not work interiously or discourse of a Day v. g. or a Year by Dividing Multiplying or Proportioning their parts if those parts were not all at once in our Minds which since as was shown they could not be as they are in Material Nature they must therefore be there Immaterially and consequently our Mind their Subject is Immaterial Which is enforced by this that both Past and Future Parts of Time exist in the Soul when she has a Notion of them whereas 't is direct Contradiction to say they can actually exist in re or in Matter Add That our Soul comprizes as much of Time as she pleases in one Notion as a Day a Year c. which remains there as steadily and grounds all her Notions about it as firmly as if it were the most Stable Thing in Nature So that the
very Notion of Succession is in the Soul Permanently or Unsuccessively which is directly contrary to it's Nature as it passes in the Material World 13. Demonstration XI The same may be said of Discrete Quantity or Number There is nothing in Nature but Dem. XI Because the Soul can tye together as many Singulars as she pleases in the Notion of One Number of which the Fancy has no Material Resemblance Individuals each of which is properly an Ens and consequently Unum and therefore if we put a Multitude the Unity they had in Nature is lost since One cannot be Many nor Many One and this is all the Unity we find among Individual Beings as they are in Matter or out of the Soul Now when the Soul takes Many or More of these together she bundles up even those Incommunicable Actual and perfectly Distinct Individuums at her pleasure and tho' they were never so many she pâ—â—ches upon what Quantity of them she lists to take notice of and gives even their Singularitâ—â—s a new sort of Unity in her Notion which Nature never gave them and calls this Notion which comprizes them all Three Ten or a Hundrâ—â— or what she pleasâ—s Which since it depends on her Choice how many she will take of them 't is Evident that this Union was not given them by the Being which they had in Material Nature Or out of the Soul where they were altogether Distinct and one of them has nothing to say to the other And let it be noted that this Union is not made as Universal Notions are by Abstraction or our leaving out the Particular Considerations belonging to the Species or Inferiour Notion and only taking in one Common Consideration found in them all there being a fair Ground in Nature to consider them on that fashion But this Colligation of many into One Number is a kind of Union of those whole Individuums in despite of the multitude of their Singularities and a Reducing those Things which are ultimately Determin'd Distinct and stand aloof from one another as they are in Material Nature to a Close Unity compacted so Indivisibly and Indissolubly that the least part added or detracted that Unity is specifically alter'd and presently becomes another kind of Number Lastly which makes this Point yet more Evident We can have a Material Resemblance in our Fancy of Four Five or some small number of Natural Things and have in our Heads a kind of Picture of them as it were standing all on a Row But 't is impossible for us to have such a Lively and exactly-Just Picture of a Hundred a Thousand a Million c. so as to see clearly there is not one more or less and yet we experience that we can have most Clear Distinct and Exact Notions of These as well as we can have of Two or Three Nor do we look upon those Great Numbers by the Eye of our Understanding as a Confused Heap or Multitude as it happens when we see a great Croud of Men standing together but with a clear and perfect Discernment that they are just so many not one more or less and this as easily as we can know Four or Five Since then in the way of Matter nothing can resemble a Thousand but a Thousand for the Resembler must be some sort of Number otherwise it is not at all Like it and neither One more nor less that it is must it self be a Thousand it follows that the Distinct and Exact Notions we have of very great Numbers is Immaterial and consequently the Soul their Subject is such also 14. Demonstration XII Come we now to these Notions which belong to the Head of Quality which because Dem. XII Because Sensible Qualities tho' Innumerable and contrary to one another are in the Soul without Disordering her in the least they are Innumerable we will instance in Two of them Sensible Qualities and Figure As for the First of these If when we have the Notion of a Sensible Quality v. g. Dry or Moist the Thing or Body thus affected be in our Mind and consequently the Nature of those Qualities we have gain'd our Point and prov'd it is in us Immaterially it being evidently impossible a thing should have two Material Manners of Existing Nor can these Qualities be there by some Material Representation or Resemblance For what can resemble Dryness or Moistness Whatever it be it must be some other Sensible Quality for otherwise it would be utterly Unlike it and the same would happen were it a Sensible Quality belonging to some other Sense than that of the Touch v. g. were it Whiteness or Fragrancy which belong to the Sight and Smell 'T is Evident then that nothing but Dryness it self can represent Dryness materially Wherefore it must either be said that Dryness it self is in the Soul Immaterially or not at all and yet that we have iâ— in us we are satisfi'd in regard we have it in our Notion and can discourse of Dryness it self Again if Dryness Moistness and all other Sensible Qualities be in the Soul materially when she knows them then as they did in Material Nature affect their other Material Subject according to the peculiar Genius of each by Ch. 6. § 6. so they must affect the Soul too after the same Manner and make her materially Dry and Moist And moreover since no Notions are ever blotted out of the Soul she would also be at once Moist and Dry Hot and Cold White Black Blue Green and of all Colours Rough and Smooth Fragrant and Stinking Diaphanous and Opacous and imbâ—'d with a thousand other Contrary Qualities which finee they could not be all of them Agreeable to any Material Nature each of them having a peculiar Constitution of it's own they must needs Disorder Distemper and Corrupt it the Effects of which the Man must necessarily experience if the most Frincipal Part of him the Soul were made of Matter and they would render the Compound affected with many Diseases whereas yet none ever found himself in the least Distemper'd Griev'd or Pain'd by having in his Mind the Notions of all these Opposite Qualities and ill-agreeing Dispositions 15. Demonstration XIII This is farther enforced because were the Soul which is confest to be our Knowing Dem. XIII Because those Sensible Qualities do not fight and expel one another as they must were their Subject made of Matter Power Material all these Opposite Qualities when they are in that Power or Known must be perpetually Fighting Contrasting and Expelling one another out of their Subject at least they would Refract one another's Nature and make it otherwise than it was to some Degree as they do in Material Things or Bodies Whereas we experience that they amiâ—ably cohabit in the Soul and are so far from â—â—pelling one another out of the Knowing Power that they draw their Contraries into it and each â—â—tters one another as an Object and makes it more distinctly Knowable according to that â—â—â—axim
and Confâ—sion Whence follows that that which Determines most perfectly or to an Indivisible has no Matter at all in it but is of it 's own peculiar Nature and consider'd according to her self only a Pure Act and therefore Immaterial 25. Demonstration XXII Numberless are the Demonstrations and to the shame Demon. XXII Because the Soul gives a kind of Being to Non-Entities and Chimeraes which can have no Existence in Nature of Atheists be it spoken as many as the Soul has particular Acts or Objects to evince her Immateriality and consequently her Immortality I have rather hinted a few of them here than endeavour'd to enumerate them all or pursue them home as they might deserve Only I hope that the Grounds I have laid and the Way I have taken in my Proofs may exciâ—â— some others to add many other Demonstrations as occasion invites and enforce these I have here touch'd upon to a fuller and clearer Eviction of this Preliminary Point to all Religion I shall only add this Last Demonstration We have Notions in our Minds of Indivisibles of Negations Privations of Non-Ens of Chimera's of Chrystal Mountains a Golden Earth and innumerable such which we can frame to our selves at pleasure We are most Certain all these are in our Minds as Objects of our Simple Apprehensions because we know and have in us the Meanings of those Words which signifie them as also because we can by our Iudgment admit some of them as Possible and reject others as Impossible which we could not do unless we had the Natures as it were of each of them in our Understanding before we come to judge of them otherwise we should Admit and Reject we know not what nor why which we are sure we do not Nay we can by a Reflex Act have a Notion of their Formalities as Distinct from or Superadded to the Subjects they are conceiv'd to affect Now none of these formally conceiv'd can with any shew of Sense have any Being in Nature or Matter some of them being formally Non-Entities others Chimerical which is in a manner the same Therefore this Distinct Being they have in our Mind as Objects of our Simple Apprehension is most incontestably Immaterial and therefore their Subject the Soul is such also To clear the Meaning of some Words we have us'd and to meet with some Objections I thought fit to subjoyn these following Notes 26. Note I. I fear that when we say the Soul is of an Indivisible Nature some Readers who are not well vers'd in Metaphysicks should be apt to apprehend How some do mistake the Nature of the Indivisibility attributed to the Soul that we take the word Indivisible in a Mathematical Sense and mean she is Indivisible as a Point is or so little that there is not Space enough for the least possible Divider to come between the Parts of it and so Divide it And hence they may imagine it Inconceiveable that all these several Notions or Natures of things which are in our Knowledge and so many Innumerable Operations should all be Compriz'd and Transacted in so narrow a room as is a Point or a Quantitative Indivisible But the thing is quite otherwise Those kind of Indivisibles call'd Points and such like have no Positive Being in Nature but because we must conceive a Finite Line whose every Part it being some Quantity is Divisible has an End hence this End or as we may call it No-fartherness of Quantity is no Quantity and therefore Quantity being Divisibility it is not Quantitative nor Divisible but Indivisible Now those Ends or Not-Beings of Quantity we call Points or Surfaces according to the Respective Quantities which they are conceiv'd to terminate So likewise Continuative Indivisibles which some do imagine in Quantity and suppose them to be in the midst of all Quantitative Beings can mean no more in any good Sense but that let us divide any Continu'd Quantity where we please the Parts when Divided becoming so many Wholes will for the same reason be each of them Terminated as that Greater Whole was Whence some conceit that these result as it were from that Division only they change their Office and are become Terminative now whereas they were before Continuative and that they were potentially in that Former Whole before and are only of late Discluded For Because we call this sort of Quantity Continu'd it being the Genius of such Mis-Speculaters whenever they are at a plunge to invent some New Entity to do the Job they cannot apprehend how Quantitative Parts should cohere but by this Cement of Continuative Indivisibles Not considering that 't is the Nature Entity or Unity peculiar to Quantity to be Continu'd of it's self For it 's Essence being Divisibility and what 's Divisible or has only a Power to be Divided quantitatively or a Power to be made More according to the Respect of Quantity not being Actually thus Divided and what 's not Actually thus Divided or made more is out of the force of the Terms Actually One according to the notion of Quantity which kind of Quantitative Unity we call Continuity to contra-distinguish it from Discrete Quantity the Parts of which are actually and really Divided and Separated and only Ty'd into One Number by the Operation or Consideration of the Mind as is shewn above Hence whatever Bodies have Quantity in them are by It as by the Formal Cause Quantitatively One or Continu'd without any other assistance Another Reason or rather the main Errour which led those Schoolmen into that Groundless Conceit was their Fanâ—ying that there are Actual Parts in every Compound particularly in Quantity the contrary to which is Demonstrated Ch. 1. § 27. No wonder then such a Fundamental Truth in Metaphysicks being violated those Gentlemen have faln into these absurd Tenets about Indivisibles especially being apt to conceit that whenever we have a diverse Conception or Notion in our Mind there is a New Entity in re answering to it adequately even tho' sometimes the Object of that Conception be purely a Non-Ens 27. Note II. When therefore we say that an Angel or a Soul is Indivisible however we are forced to use a Negative The Proper and True Sense in which a Spirit is said to be Indivisible Manner of Expression because we have no Proper Notion of a Spiritual Substance we do not intend to express by that word a meer Negation as we did in those Indivisibles call'd Points but the most Positive Being that can be next to that of GOD himself Which I show thus Ens and all other Common Notions as is Demonstrated in my Method to Science B. 1. L. 3. is Divided by More and Less of the Common Notion of Ens or by being more Capable of Being or Existing Thus far Logick which teaches us how to Divide our General Notions by Proper or Intrinsecal Differences The Supreme Science of Metaphysicks which treats of the Essence of Things takes up the Thesis and pursues it
thus The Essence or Nature of Body consisting of Power and Act or Matter and Form has consequently in it's Bowels a Ground of Separability of one from the other or of Dissolution and Destruction of that Compound Ens whenee it is Less Capable of Being as having a constant Capacity of Not-Being woven into it's very Nature Whereas the other Species of Ens Spirit being of it's own peculiar Nature or as 't is contradistinguisht from Body a Pure Act without any Power in it to become another Ens that is without Matter in it has on the contrary no Composition in it nor Power by means of which it might come to lose it's Act or Form and therefore it is of it 's own Nature Indissoluble â—ncorruptible and Immortal The very Terms evincing that what has no Composition in it as to it's Entity is of it's own Nature Incapable of Dissolution as to it 's Entity that is not Mathematically Indivisible as our former Note shew'd but Metaphysically or Entitatively Indivisible and therefore not obnoxious to lose it's Unity or Entity Wherefore the best most Positive and most Proper Notion we can have of a Spiritual Being is that it is a Pure Act which has an Incomparably Greater Capacity of Being than Body has and consequently it is of a Superiour and far more Noble Nature in the Line of Ens. Whence follows that it comprehends eminently in it self the whole Inferiour Nature of Body and being a Pure Act essentially and consequently essentially Active or rather Acting it has a Power or Virtue in it if nothing hinders it's proceeding to Action to order dispose of or alter that Inferiour and meerly Passive Ens Material Nature as it pleases 28. Note III. The Spiritual Nature of the Soul then transcending in it's Essence this That 't is consonant to the Nature of the Subject that the Soul should contain Corporeal Nature and it 's Modes Indivisibly Corporeal World made of the Perishable Rubbish of Base Matter and thence containing in it self after a manner Proper to it's own Nature that is Intellectually or Indivisibly taking this word as explain'd above all the Natures Powers Modes Operations Existence Duration Succession c. that ever did or can belong to Material Nature there can be no wonder that all these as we have shown in our several Demonstrations are compriz'd and can exist in the Soul 's Spiritual Nature as in a Higher Orb of Being comprehending after it's manner all that can be in the Lower and Narrower one of Body Nor can it shock any considerate Man that the Operations proper to the Soul should be Inexplicable according to Physical Principles or transcend the Notions of Bodily Substances and their Modes which we receive by means of the Senses and the Phantasms they imprint which makes them so unsuitable to Fancy and yet I am sure this is all that the Impugners of this Doctrine have to build upon or object For not one Objection drawn from a Metaphysical Medium did they ever produce tho' nothing is more Evident than 't is that only These can have any force against us or do them any service 29. Note IV. As my First and Second Note show how grosly those short-sighted Speculaters do mistake In what Sense we are to take the word Instantaneous when we say the Operations of Pure Spirits are such while they conceit that the Essence of the Soul is Indivisible after the manner of a Mathematical Point so they fall into a parallel Errour by misunderstanding me when I say that all the Operations of a Spiritual Nature are perform'd in an Instant For they imagine that I mean by the word Instant an Indivisible of that Successive Motion call'd Time Whence their Fancy is stunn'd and they are at a strange Wonderment to conceive how so many several Acts following as it were and depending on one another can be begun and ended in one such Instant Whereas tho' I use the Word partly arguing ad hâ—minem because They do so partly because 't is hard to find another Word to signifie the Opposite to Succession yet I mean there by the word Instant such an Indivisible Duration as is directly Contradictory to the whole Nature of Quantitative Succession and corresponds if that improper word which signifies a kind of Commensuration may be here allow'd to all the Successive Motion Bodies ever had or can have nay which eminently comprehends it all under the Notion of Duration as was shown lately as the Essence of a Spirit being of a Superiour Nature does as was shown lately eminently comprehend in it self the Essence of Body under the Notion of Ens or Being Nay it seems to differ from Eternity which is the Duration proper to GOD and which in an Inferiour Degree it resembles only in this that it does not include Impossibility of not-being for it centers in it self â—â— the Differences of Time Past Present and Fuâ—â—â—â— by comprehending them all and therefore is call'd Aeuiternity Wherefore when I say that all the Spiritual Operations of a Spirit are in â—…stant I only mean that they have such a Duration as befits a Pure Act which being devoid â—â— Matter and consequently of Quantity can have no Successiveness in it Whence pursuing â—…sely and keeping strictly to the Reflex Notions I â—ave of Spiritual Nature as contradistinguisht from that which is Material or Corporeal and from the Duration Proper to each of them I must beg leave to recede in this particular from sâ—me Philosophers and Divines of most celebrated â—ame and Greatest Eminency and to declare that I cannot at all conceive what a First and Seâ—…h Instant in the Duration of a Pure Act or a Spirit can signifie For since their Duration has no Parts after Parts as the Successive Duration of Bodies has if it endures or is at all it has it's Whole Duration and so all Second and Third Instants are Insignificant and seem to have their Origin from an Imaginary Correspondence to a Mathematical Instant of Time which Mistake we have lately rectify'd And seeing Succession in what ever Thing or Mode of Thing it is must signifie Part after Part which as both Logick and Metaphysicks demonstrate is the very Notion of Quantity whoever puts Succession or Part after Part in any Modes belonging to a Pure Act or a Spirit does put those Modes and consequently it 's Subject to be Quantitative or Material that is he puts A Pure Act to be no Pure Act which is a Contradiction 30. From the foregoing Demonstrations that the Soul is Immaterial our Grand Conclusion is Demonstratively Last Demonstration Concluding the Whole Point That our Soul it being so manifestly and manifoldly Demonstâ—aâ—ed to be Immaterial is necessarily IMMORTAL evinc'd That Man's Soul is IMMORTAL First Because being Immaterial she is a Pure Act in the Line of Being whence she has no Composition in her under the Notion of Ens only which can render her capable of Dissolution or losing her
of Being amount but to one still-Present Now. Nor can this seem Incredible to any Christian since we all hold that Spiritual Natures are Capable of seeing GOD's Essence as in it self which as is Undeniable infinitely surmounts all the whole Machine of this Material World We have seen that all Physical Qualities do enjoy when in thee another manner of Being and affect Thee their Subject after a quite different way from what they had when they were in Material Nature The most Opposite ones which are perpetually contrasting and restlessly striving to expell one another do by thy Soveraign Power remain at peace in thy Steady Essence which is of 〈…〉 High a Dignity to be mov'd or disturb'd by their Petty Quarrels We have seen that thy Abstracting Power can â—…de these Lower Beings more Subtilly than can the Operation of Fire or any Chymistry of Nature assisted by Art and can take in pieces their very Essences and the Essences of their several Modes by cutting them into their Metaphysical Parts which are too delicate for our Bodily Sight tho' assisted with the best Microscopes to discern or make Observations how they differ Each of which Parts too tho' naturally Impartible have a Distinct Being given by Thee and can be wrought upon by thy Understanding as if they were so many Wholes and this with that most perfect Distinction that they do not in the least interfere in thee tho' they â—â—â— All of them confusedly blended as they stand in Rude and Unpolisht Matter We have seen how by the cement of Existence exprest by the short Monosyllable is thou dost iâ— thy Comparing Power the Laboratory where Truths are fram'd re-connect those thus-divided Parts into Propositions and this with an Union so Close that 't is absolutely Indissoluble by the utmost Force of all the Causes in Nature Nay that thy Spiritual Essence can in some manner Create by giving a kind of Being in Thee to Not-Beings or Nothings In a word we have seen that all the whole Material World and every Part of it that ever came to thy Knowledge do enjoy a New sort of Being in Thee and such a one as is contradictorily Opposite to the Being they had in their Material State All these high Prerogatives dilating thy Essence and Duration to a kind of Infinity above this Narrow World we The most Important Use we ought to make of this Doctrin That our Soul is Immortal have found clearly to be no more but thy Just Due however Unreflecting Atheists whose groveling Souls immerst in Matter cannot or will not raise themselves above Fancy do use their misemploy'd Foolish Wit as the World calls it to devest themselves of their own Dignity and like so many worst Feloes de se by maintaining their Soul is Mortal do give themselves to be Guilty of Eternal Death or which is worse than Death of Annihilation by granting their Souls incapable of Surviving But let us to whom the Providence of our Good Makeâ— has indulg'd these Clear Informations make oâ—â— Right Use of them Since these are Great Truths let Truth have it's Due Effects 'T is so Gross at Errour that it is below Confute to imagine that any Truth is an Idle and Fruitless Speculatiâ—â— The Knowledge of Truth in Particular things does of it's own Nature tend to direct our Outward Actions and Universal Truths such as these are do naturally conduce to enlarge our Soul raise â—â— to High Contemplation and to breed in us Conformable Affections Since then we have the best â—…rance Clear Demonstration can give us that this Material World is below our Essence 't is most fit we should esteem it to be also below our most Serious Thoughts and our Best Affections Let us â—â—ancipate our selves then from the Slavish Adoration with which Worldlings devote themselves to that Dull and Senseless Idol And seeing Evident Reason has perfectly convinced us there is no shadow of Likelihood that our Soul is Mortal let us bend all â—â—â— carefullest Endeavours to provide she may be Happy in her Eternal State when she comes to be â—â—â—â—â—dg'd from her terrene habitation and has got clear of her Body and this World nay is got above it which is the only True Wisdom To the Consideration of which State of hers we advance in our next Discourse Transnatural Philosophy OR METAPHYSICKS BOOK II. Of PURE ACTS VIZ. Of the SOUL SEPARATED and ANGELS CHAP. I. Of the State of the Soul Separated from the Body and what Dispositions in her when the Man Dies will make her Eternally Happy or Miserable 1. THE Soul does at her Separation The Soul at her Separation receives some Change according to her Manner of Existing and Suppositality receive from GOD as he is the Author of Nature some Change according to her Existence and her Subsistence or Suppositality For since in her former State of Union with her Body she was the Form of that Body and therefore Form and Matter being the Parts of every Compound Ens only a Part of Man and a Part of an Ens is not an Ens or Individuum nor consequently capable of Existing much less of Subsisting which as is shown above B. 1. Chap. 5. § 17. superadds some Perfection to the Notion of Existence It follows that seeing the same Soul when separated from the Body she being by Book 1. Chap. 7. Immortal does Exist and also Subsist in regard she Sustains her own Nature and as will be prov'd shortly her Modes too she must be made apt to Exist and Subsist which she was not while in her former State that is she must be Chang'd according to those Considerations or Respects and made an Existent and Subsistent Thing and consequently a Kind of Suppositum And that it belongs to GOD as he is the First Cause to give the Soul this highest Perfection of Being is hence demonstrated For it belongs to an Infinite Actuality or an Infinite Goodness to give to his Creatures all the Goodness and Natural Perfections they are capable to receive especially such as the very Nature he has given them makes them require Now 't is evident that the Nature of the Soul she being Immortal is capable of and requires still to Exist and also to Subsist and be a Suppositum because she had while in the Body Power to have in her as in their Subject that is to Sustain or be the Suppositum of innumerable Accidents Notions or Knowledges which they being Spiritual or Indivisible could not be received in a Divisible Subject the Corporeal part of Man and therefore could only be peculiarly in Her Whence it follows that since 〈◊〉 Ordain'd the Dissolution of the Man or the 〈◊〉 Separation from the Body and had also mâ—de the Soul Immortal it became His Goodness to give her when separated Existence which her Immortal Nature requir'd and also the Power of Subsisting and of being the Subject or Suppositum of those Accidents â— How this is done we may learn by this
That There is not the least tittle of our whole Life in which we act as Men or with perfect Deliberation of our Reason which is Indifferent or that passes Unregarded by the World 's Infinitely-Wise and Just Governour but that every such Word Action Thought Gesture Look or Wish we ever had and dy'd without altering it will have according as it is well or ill Intended Effects in the other world conformable to it's Nature and to the Degree of it's Goodness or Badness and that each of them will receive with most Just and Exact Proportion Reward or Punishment by the Course of Natural and Supernatural Causes laid and appointed by GOD's Infinite Wisdom for the Eternal Salvation of those who love him and the Eternal Confusion and Perdition of his Enemies MEDITATION WHere art thou now my Soul after thou hast abandon'd and flitted from thy Terrene Habitation and into what strange Ultramundane Region art thou flown The Admirable Excellency of a Soul when Separated and become a Pure Spirit Display'd in an Instant The whole Earth nay all Material Nature seems a contemptible Atome when thou look'st down upon it from the Transcendent Height of Being to which the Wisdom and Goodness of thy Creatour who promotes all his Creatures to those Perfections they art capable of has rais'd thee I see thy Knowledge that is thy Essence stretcht out boyond the Vast Expansion of this Material World's Circumference and our Firmament bespangled with those Starry Bodies which it contains or rather I see them all center'd â—… Spiritual and Indivisible Essence as in a 〈…〉 Orb of Being Thou seest now at one 〈…〉 the Whole Sphere of Time sweeping along 〈…〉 â—â—â— thee or rather thou comprizest it all in 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Natural Thought And canst now 〈…〉 more ease comprehend it 's whole Race than 〈…〉 couldst while here resume thâ—se Fleeting Parts 〈…〉 v. g. an Hour or a Day in t one Steady 〈…〉 in which they were all Present and Permaâ—â—nt at once The whole Bulk of Quantity is in 〈…〉 more Noble Being without Extension and the â—â—ng Course of Motion without Succession But the Extent of thy Actual Knowledge is nothing in comparison of thy Clear Penetration of those Great 〈…〉 Various and Numberless Objects which are now â—…nted to thy view What was here Misty and â—â—â—dy is now the Screen of Matter the Ground â—â— ll Confusedness and Obscurity being taken away 〈…〉 brightly Intelligible with Noon-day Evidence 〈…〉 clearly that if thou hast in this World but â—â—â—prehended or laid hold of any one Piece of the 〈…〉 Link in the Chain of Causes which weaves 〈…〉 one orderly Loom all Natural Truths thou â—â—â—est into thee the whole Length of that Line 〈…〉 the First Birth of the World till it expires inâ—â— Eternity Or rather those Truths are so innext â—…e another by the closest Texture of Identity 〈…〉 if thou admittest any one of them all the rest 〈…〉 â—roud themselves into thy Capacious tho' Spaceâ—… Understanding â—…ow shall we then frame any That there is no Comparison between our Souls Condition here and the State of Separation â—â—â— Conception of the Difference â—…en thy Former and this Future State Or by what parallel â—hall we illustrate it Shall we compare it to the condition of a Child in the Womb on the one side and of a perfect Man grown up to Ripâ— Knowledge on the other Indeed this World is but as it were our Second Womb Nature is deliver'd of Thee and thou art born a Pure Spirit when the Man diâ—s Or Shall we compare these two States to those of a Man first shut up in a dark Tower who can see no Objects about him but when presented before five dim Glasses placed in it's Walls but afterwards when the Tower by some Chance is thrown down and the Man preserv'd unhurt then he can freely range with his Sight all over the large Prospect about him and discover at once the various Scenes of all the vast circumstant Region of which he could before take but a scant obscure and leasurely Survey Both those are but lame Comparisons and far from parallelling the Excess which this New State of thine has above thy Former one Thy Capacity in thy purely-Spiritual Condition does Infinitely that is beyond Proportion go beyond that thou hadst in the Body when it was at it's best Whereas thy Capacity in the other two States that pretended to parallel this being both of them Finite are very easily Proportion'd Wherefore we will leave this Consideration to be seriously and at leasure meditated on by those truly Wise Souls who think it their highest Concern to reflect on their Future State and what Happy or Dismal Consequences attend it according to the Good or Bad Dispositions they contract here and carry with them hence That we may gratefully and humbly acknowledge to whom we owe this Clear Knowledge of our True Last End the That meer Humane Science when at the Height was too short and Impotent to raise Mankind to those Dispositions that fit him for True Happiness Attaining which is our Only and Eternal Happiness Let us consider how far Natural Reason carry'd those Heathen Philosophers who were the Greatest Masters of Human Science in their â—â—â—es and where it stopt The 〈◊〉 Intelligent Followers of Aristoâ—â—â— do gather from his Principles this â—â—â—â—sonant Discourse The Goods of 〈◊〉 Body are preferrable to those â—â— Fortune and the Goods of the 〈◊〉 to those of the Body Wherefore Happiness â—â—st consist in something that in the best manner â—â—â—ects that Part of Man call'd the Soul Now the Powers of the Soul are the Understanding and tâ—â— Will Of which the Understanding is the Noâ—â—â—â— because the Will is naturally ordain'd to be â—â—â—â—ed and Govern'd by the Understanding and 〈◊〉 Act of the Will which the previous Reason 〈◊〉 Understanding does not dictate and warrant â—â—llfulness which is justly held the Greatest â—â—perfection Imaginable Happiness therefore 〈…〉 be sought for in the Best Perfection of the Understanding Farther the Understanding is but a â—â—â—wer and Act is better than Power for it includes 〈◊〉 and adds to it the Acting or Exercise of it â—â—â—ch is the Immediate End for which the Power was â—â—â—n'd Therefore Happiness must consist in some 〈◊〉 Perfect Act of the Understanding Wherefore 〈◊〉 Power and it's Acts taking their Degree of Perâ—â—â—â— from the Clearness of the Sight and from the â—â—â—llency of the Object about which they are emâ—â—â— and the Primum Ens being the most Excellent Object it follows that the Beatitude of Man does 〈◊〉 in the Actual and Clear Knowledge of the First Being which in Christian Language is the seeing GOD face to face or in the Beatifical Vision Thus far their Speculative Thoughts rais'd them But there were other necessary Truths requisite erâ— Man could be Happy which were below their short Reach As First That this Contemplation of the First Being must also be most Durable or never
Give us Grace to sink deep and fix steadily in our Mind this most Solid most Clear and most Important Truth that as to live for ever in a dark Dungeon would be highly Disastrous to our Bodily Sight and the seeing the Chearful Rays of the Day is the only true Perfection Comfort and Satisfaction of our Corporeal Eye So when our Soul now Separate comes to be altogether one Intellectual Eye her falling short for ever of seeing thy Divine Essence her only True Light for which as her Last End she was Created will certainly plunge her in a Dismal Hell of Torment and Misery Since Nothing but the Clear Sight of thy Glorious Being can be able to give her True and Eternal Happiness in whose Face is the Fullness of Joy and at thy right hand Pleafures for evermore Psalm 16. 11. CHAP. II. Of the Existence Knowledge Distinction and Action of ANGELS 1. THE Order of Things requires that there should be Different Kinds of Entitles arising gradually to Higher Perfection under the Notion of The Order of the Universe requires that there should be different Kinds of Beings Ens. For since were all Things of the same pitch of Perfection or all of One Sort the Creation would look like a Confused Multitude or as it were a Heap of Things and quite destitute of Order which by placing them in Due Ranks of Superiority and Inferiority makes up this Harmony which beautifies the World Again since there can be no Distinction nor consequently any Ground of Order under the Notion of Ens but it must be made by Intrinsecal Differences or such as are found within the Precincts of that Line that is as is Demonâ—â—rated in my METHOD to Science B. I. L. 3. â—â— 1. 2. c. by Partaking More and Less of that Common Notion and what has More of it â—ontains what has Less and superadds to it and â—â—â—â—quently is more perfect under that Notion 〈◊〉 the other which several or Distinct Degrees â—f Perfection when they come to be Excessive â—o constitute divers Sorts Kinds or Species of it â—â—s therefore Evident out of the Order of the World which is the Workmanship of the First Being and is also Logically Demonstrated that 't is Requisite there should be Different Kinds of Things arising Gradually to higher Perfection under the Notion of Ens. This is seen almost to our Eye in the Predicamental Scale of Substance where we find the several kinds of Ens gradually Descending in one of the Collateral Lines as to the Extent of their Notion but Increasing or Ascending as to their Degrees of Perfection v. g. Body Mixt Vegetable Sensitive Rational Which Orderly Distinction is not invented by us as are the imaginary Lines in the Heavens put by Astronomers but Copy'd from Nature 2. Hence follows immediately and necessarily without Proof that there ought à fortiori to be Pure Acts or ANGELS And much more that there should be Pure Acts or ANGELS Created unless they be Incapable of Being that is Chimerical or Non-Entia Otherwise the Order of Entities had been Maim'd and Imperfect in its Principal or most Noble Part. 3. The Angelical Essence is Capable of having Existence given it For since the reason why Individual Bodies have Especially since the Angelical Nature is Capable of Existence Title to have Existence given them is because by their peculiar Complexion of Accidents they are become Distinct from all others or Determinate under the Notion of such an Ens oâ— Body and this Distinction or Determination springs from it's Act or Form and consequently the Act which gives Determinations to all others cannot but be Determinate it self a fortiâ—â—â— the Nature or Essence of a Pure Act bears in it's Notion that it is of it 's own Nature or Essentially Determinate in the Line of Ens and more Capable of Existence than any other sort of Ens whatever Again since as was shown Book I. â—â— 1. § 6. the Essence of all Einite Entities consists in their Possibility or Non-Repugnance to Existence and there can be no shadow of Impossibility but much more Reason that the Nature of a Pure Act should exist than that Bodies should that have Matter or Power in them which iâ— of it self the Principle of Indetermination and Confusion in regard this Indetermination makes Bodies less fit for Existence or rather did not the Act determine the Power or Matter utterly Unfit Wherefore seeing it belongs to the First Being to give to his Creatures what they are Capable of especially when it consists with the Best Order of the World as is shown § 1. this does It follows that he has given to that Nature or Essence which is a Pure Act that is to the Angelical Nature to Exist and consequently ANGELS are Which is farther Demonâ—â—rated by the following Medium showing that otherwise there had wanted a Proper or Immediate â—â—â—se of Motion 4. Every Thing acts it is Wherefore Imperfect Agents do produce first that part of the Effect which is Imperfect And that otherwise there could be no Immediate Cause of Motion and thence proceed to what 's 〈◊〉 perfect as we see all Natuâ—â—â— Agents do But Perfect Agents and most especially that Agent which is 〈◊〉 Perfect produces first that Effect which is most Perfect or most Like it self Wherefore the First and Immediate Effect produced by GOD is Existence it being the most perfect of any thing found in Creatures To proceed Since nothing is more Preposterous and contrary to Reason than to order that which is most perfect as a Means to produce that which is Less-perfect it follows that GOD's Wisdom does not order Existence which as being most Actual is most perfect of any thing found in Creatures it does not I say order It as a Means to cause any thing that is less perfect than it self is Wherefore whatever less perfect Effect is produced by GOD as Motion is it must either have been caus'd by him because it is necessarily concomitant to Existence or else necessarily consequent to it But Motion is neither necessarily Concomitant nor Consequent to Existence For let us put diverse Bodies to be Created in Rest as they must be in the First Instant they were Created ere Motion began they would have in that Case all that is requisite to Existence nor would Motion follow meerly upon their being put to Exist Therefore some other Cause is requisite to produce the First Motion of Bodies Which since it can neither be a Body as is granted and indeed in a manner Self-evident nor GOD as was now proved nor a Separated Soul for this presupposes the Motion of Bodies to her Being it must be some other Cause distinct from all these But no other Cause is imaginable or possible to be assign'd but some Creature which is a Pure Act or an Angel Therefore as certain as it is that there is Motion so certain it is that Angels are Nay so impossible it is that Motion can be
Concomitant to the First Existence of Bodies that 't is a Contradiction they should be together in Duration or at once For Existence it having â—â— parts is Indivisible in Duration or without part after part whereas 't is Essential to Motion to be part after part or Successive So that 't is equally Contradictory that Existence should not be all at once as 't is that Motion should be all at once so far is the Later from being Consequent or Concomitant to the Former 5. This is farther Demonstrated from the Nature of Causality by this Argument No Effect can proceed As is also Demonstrated from the Nature of all Causality immediately from a Cause which is of a Nature diametrically Opposite to such an Effect V. g. Not-being cannot produce Being Light cannot produce Darkness not can that which is essentially â—â—â— immediately produce Cold. But Motion which is essentially Successive or which is the same perpetually Changing is diametrically Opposite to the Nature of GOD whose Essence is Unchangeable Existence Therefore Motion cannot be produced by GOD as it's Immediate Cause Wherefore since by our former Discourse the â—â—â— Motion of Bodies could not have been immediately produced either by any meer Body â—oâ— by a Human Soul nor yet by GOD it is 〈◊〉 that it could only be caus'd by a Pure Act â—â— an Angel See Method to Science Pag. 299. â—â—â—â—â—s 4. Ideae Cartesianae P. 44. § 31. and Railâ—â—â— Defeated § 43. where this Demonstration is â—â— large put down and prest home What I â—â—â—tend for here is that the Contrary Tenet â—â—erthrows all Likeness of the Cause and Effect â—â—d all Causality and therefore all Connexion of Proper Causes with their Proper Effects and Vice Versâ that is it quite destroys all Possibility of Science and Demonstration Notwithstanding 't is Granted that GOD is the Mediate Remote or Principal Cause of Motion as giving Second Causes both the Power to move Bodies and Pre-moving or Determining them to move them 6. Every more perfect Ens contains or includes in it the Nature of the less perfect Thus as was said the Every more perfect Ens includes in it the Nature of the less perfect Nature of a Mixt or Compound Body having diverse Elements in it and therefore having more of the Nature of Body than a Simple Body or any one Element has includes in it the Nature or Essence of a Simple Body Thus and for the same reason a Vegetative Mixt has more of the Nature of a Mixt in it than a meerly-Mixt such as are Pebbles Clay Gold or such like Thus Sensitive Things include in them the Nature of a Vegetable and every Rational Animal includes in it the Nature of a meer Sensitive Thing or an Animal All which are Evident because the Perfecter Ens has in it the Notion or Nature of the Imperfecter and superadds something to it So that to deny the force of this Demonstration or the Truth it demonstrates is the same Folly as to deny that what has more in it of any Kind does not contain in it what 's Less of the same Kind or that what 's a Whole in respect of the other is not more than a Part of it or which is the same that a Whole does not contain or include it's Parts And that they include them Essentsally is most Evident to all Logicians and granted by all while they acknowledge those Later or less perfect Notions to be essentially predicated of the former in regard they superadd to them nothing that 's Positive 7. Wherefore for the same Reason Every Pure Act Spirit or Angel includes in it self one way or And therefore Pure Acts contain in them the Nature of Body other the whole Nature of Body For since Ens is adequately divided into Pure Acts or Spirit and into those Entities whose Essences are alloy'd with Power and Potentiality as are Bodies which are compounded of Matter and Form and these two Species are constituted as by it's Intrinsecal Differences by partaking â—â—â—e and less of Ens their Genus and that which is more in any Kind or Respect includes what 's Less in the same respect as a Yard in Quantity contains an Inch which is Less under that Notion or a Lesser Quantity Hence it follows demonstratively that the self-same Discourse must equally hold in the Species of Ens as it does in those of Quantity now mention'd or in the Species of any other Genus and consequently that a Pure Act or Spirit must include some way or other the whole Nature of Body which has less of the Nature of Ens in it than had the other 8. Wherefore the very Essences of all Natural Bodies are really and truly contain'd Which since it cannot be done by the manner of Quantity they must contain them by the way of Knowledge in the Knowledge of an Angel and not their Ideas or Similitudes only For since it is granted that Angels they being Pure Acts are of an Indivisible Nature or void of Quantity the Essences of Bodies which by § 7. are one way or other contain'd or included in an Angel cannot be included in it Quantitatively after the manner a Vessel contains Liquâ—ur or as a Bigger Box contains a Lesser Wherefore it must be said that those Lesser Essences of Body are contain'd in the Superiour Essence of an Angel Indivisibly or after the manner of a Spirit that is Knowingly or as Objects of their Knowing Power which was the Point to be Demonstrated 9. Wherefore he who denies that the very Essences of Bodies are in the Understanding of an Angel or in Therefore the very Essences of Bodies are in a Spiritual Understanding and not Idea's or Similitudes only any Spiritual Nature and affirms that only the Similitudes of them are there may as well say the Essences or Natures of Simple Bodies are not in Mixts or that the Essences of meer Vegetatives are not in Sensitive Things or Animals or that the Essence of an Animal is not really in a Rational Thing or a Man but Likenesses only which is both against the Sentiments of all Logicians in the world who do acknowledge that the Former are Essential Predicates of the Later and not Accidental ones which could not with Truth be said unless the Essences themselves from which the Denomination of Essential is taken were really in them Nay it is moreover against the Definitions of these Later in which those Former are found I add against the Sense of all Mankind too who reflect upon what they say Whence those Ideists who hold the contrary Opinion are desir'd to take notice that our Argument here is drawn from the Notion of the Thing as it is a Thing or â—â—â—tance and from the Nature of the Species of â—â— as such and not from the Qualities or Relations of them from whence their Likeness or Unâ—â—â—ness is taken Which clinches the force of our demonstration drawn from Logick and Metaphysicks and will forestall and
defeat all the Opâ—â—ion that can be made against it 10. Corollary I. Our foregoing Discourses being chiefly built on that piece of Doctrine in my Method This Doctrine being built on that Logical Maxim All Differences are more and less of the Generical Notion The Consideration of that Thesis is recommended to the Reader B. I. L. 3 § 2. that all Intrinsecal or Essential Differences in any Predicament or under whatever Notion are nothing else but More and Less of that Notion therefore since so much stress is put upon this Thesis I beg of my Readers to peruse attentively the Third Chapter of my Method to Science my Ideae Cartesianae Expensae Pag. 51 52 53. and Raillery Defeated § 72. where this Position is at large explicated and defended against the Mistakes of my Opposers Which I do the rather Request because however it may seem New yet I dare affirm that besides it 's being perfectly Demonstrable no one Rule in Logick is more Useful to keep our Notions Distinct or to frame Right Definitions or to Discourse solidly or exactly 11. Corollary II. What 's deduc'd here of the very Essences of things being intellectually or as Objects in the This holds equally in the Soul which is of a Spiritual Nature Understanding of an Angel does for the same reason hold in every Spiritual or Cognoscitive Nature and consequently in the Soul whether in the Body or Separated the Argument being grounded on the Nature of a Spirit and it 's being Superiour to the Nature of Body 12. Corollary III. For the same reason what has been discourst before of the Angels being Pure Acts are Immutable Immutability of a Soul while Separated and of her Final or Eternal State springing from her Choice of a wrong Last End if unretracted before Death may Mutatis Mâ—tandis be apply'd to an Angel without needing Repetition or farther Enlarging upon it 13. Since the Essence or Nature of an Angel is to be after such a manner Cognoscitive the Distinction of Angels The Distinction of Angels is taken from their being more or less Cognoscitive after their manner must consist in their being more or less thus Cognoscitive This is already Demonstrated because by the Doctrine lately given all the Intrinsecal or Essential Differences under whatever Kind or Notion are nothing but more or less of the Common Notion or the partaking of it unequally 14. Yet this Degree of Cognoscitiveness which â—â—â—â—itutes Distinct Angels must This is not to be understood of the greater Extent of their Knowledge but of the Intenseness or Penetrativeness of it understood of the Intenseness â— their Knowledge or the Penetrativeness of their Knowing Poâ—â— For since every Pure Act â—â—is shown above and particuâ—â—â— Raillery Defeated P. 89 90. â—â—ws All things it cannot be understood of the Extent of their Knowledge or that one of them knows a Greater Number of things than Another It must therefore be meant â—â— One of them knows things more perfectly â—â—â— clearly thorowly or deeply than Another â—â—â— Which as may be seen in my Ideae Cartesianae P. 68 69. may spring from two Causes Oâ— Because Eorum aliqui magis perspicaâ—i Intelâ—â—â— acie praediti sunt quà m alii which seems â—â— be most Essential to them The Other Because by their seeing better the First Cause it self they must better and withal more solidly and â—â—â—ndedly know those Effects that spring â—â—â—m that Supreme Cause 15. Corollary IV. From this Greater or Lesser Excess of Knowledge as thus explicated as far as Natural Hence as far as Reason carries us is taken the Distinction of the Three Hierarchies and Nine Quires of Angels Reason carries us are taken the Diverse Orders of Angels All farther or more particular Disquisition concerning the Three Hierarchies and Nine Quires of Angels is left to Divines gathering them from Holy Writ and the Antient Mysticks A Philosopher must step no farther than he can tread sure upon his own Firm Grounds 16. Corollary V. From our Discourse about Human Souls and Angels will be seen in what different manner The different manner by which Angels and Human Souls come to have all their Knowledge and by what means an Angel and a Humane Soul when Separate come to know all things The Later by Notions caus'd at first by Impressions on the Senses and improv'd into Iudgments and Discourses The Former by Knowledge not Acquir'd but Innate The First and Immediate Objects of both of them is Themselves or their own Essence Whence a Soul in regard it's Body and consequently the Determination of the Degree of Rationality it had grew as it were out of Natural Causes knows all things as first Connected with her self then with one another in the well-linkt Chain of those Causes in which there can be no Flaw or Interruption But an Angel knows all Things by Transcending from one Ens or one Degree of Entity to another and this Intuitively that is an Angel by knowing it self knows what place it bears in the Order of Angels or Spirits And since it could not know it 's own particular pitch or Individuality but by knowing how high or low it is in the Order of Angelical Beings nor could this be known but by knowing the whole Order because in an Order which is contriv'd after the best manner each part is proportion'd in exact Symmetry to the rest Hence the Knowledge of that whole Order and consequently of each part of it or each Entity in the whole Creation is Due to it's Nature and therefore is given it As for the Knowledge of Corporeal Nature 't is below them both and therefore both of them comprehends it Knowingly as is deduced above Lastly The Soul gains her Knowledge by Abstract or Inadequate Notions and by Discourse whereas an Angel knows at once the Whole Entities and all that belongs to them and this not by Discourse or Reflex Thoughts but by a Direct Penetrative and Comprehensive Intuition 17. There is besides those Differences amongst Angels mention'd § 13. 14. and Câ—roll V. Another arising from These Angels have a Nobler Essence whose each Act of Knowledge has for it's Object a Greater Portion of the Universe the several Degrees or rather Manners of that Cognoscitiveness which is Essential to them viz. That some of them know more things by One Operation or Act of Knowledge or as it were by one Thought than Another does which happens because the Object of each Thought which some of them have is more Universal than are the Objects of those Thoughts that others have Parallels of which may be found among our several Sorts of Knowers or Philosophers here Some treat of such particular Sorts of Quantities or Figures Others of Quantity or Figure in their whole Latitude or iâ— Common Some Philosophers have for the Objects of their Knowledge such a sort of Ens as Minerals or such a Species of Birds or Beasts Others raise their Thoughts to contemplate Body or
Ens in their whole Extent as do Metaphysicians But with this difference which renders them Unparallel that our Science is employ'd about Abstract Notions of the Thing that is about the Thing consider'd in such an Abstracted or Common Respect without descending to the Under-Kinds or to the Individuums under it whereas the Intuitive Knowledge of an Angel as not being made by way of Abstract or Inadequate Conceptions comprehends in one Act or at once the Individualities of all those Things from which We abstract one Common Notion and all that belongs to them Whence when we said that the Generical Notion common to all Angels is to be Cognoscitive it is to be understood of an Intuitive Cognoscitiveness or such a one as we have describ'd above by which they are distinguisht from the Inferiour or Narrower Degree of Knowingness peculiar to the Soul in this State and even in some respect as she is found in her State of Separation 18. The same is evinced by Reason For since the Object speciâ—ies the Act and the Excellency of the Act Which makes them fit to superintend the Administration of a Larger Province argues a more excellent Faculty or Power and consequently a more Excellent Degree of the Essence or Nature of the Acter and since Bonum I add Verum this being the Best and most Connatural Good of a Knowing Creature quò Communius eò Divinius It follows that the Essence of those Angels are more Excellent and Noble who have a more Comprehensive and Larger Knowledge of more Universal Objects at once or by one Act whence it comes that since Reflexion or Deliberation can have no place in Pure Acts but are contrary to their Nature they are fitted for the Overseeing more-Common Goods or to preside over the Spiritual Good of Provinces Kingdoms or great Nations of People 19. Corollary VII That which gives greater force to this Doctrine is the Consonancy it has to the How Consonant this is to those Passages of the Holy Scripture which speak of such Operations of Angels Sacred Scripture Where Daniel Ch. 10. we read of the Angel of the Kingdom of Persia withstanding that particular Angel in likelihood Gabriel who presided over the Iews till Michael who was Higher in Dignity than the former being Chief Patron and Defender of the Jewish Church then as he is held to be of the Christian Church now over-power'd his Inclination by his more Soveraign Influence Where also we read of the Angel who was Prince or Super-intendent over the Greeks divers of which sort if not all were Archangels Whereas 't is generally held and is Consonant to Reason That the Angel-Guardians of Particular or Individual Persons are of the Lowest and least-Cognoscitive Quire of meer Angels Thus far concerning the Essence and Internall Operations of Angels We proceed now to their External Operation or their Action upon other Things 20. An Angel cannot operate upon another Angel so as to make it otherwise than it was For since that An Angel cannot operate upon another Angel so as to change it Operation must work some new Effect in it and this requires some Passive Principle in the Subject rendring it Mutable which Principle we call Matter And Angels they being Pure Acts have not that sort of Power call'd Matter in them it follows that an Angel cannot thus operate upon another Angel nor for the same reason upon a Soul while 't is Separate 21. Wherefore all such External Operation of an Angel can be only upon Bodies For since an Angel can neither Wherefore all it 's External Operation so as to work a Change in another thing can only be upon Bodies thus operate upon that is alter another Angel nor a Separated Soul because they are Pure Acts much less GOD who is an Infinitely Pure Act and essentially Immutable and there is no other Subject imaginable it follows that the External Operation of Angels must either be exercis'd on Bodies or on Nothing 22. An Angel can operate upon Material Entititles or on Body For since the Being of an Angel is Superiour An Angel can thus operate upon Material Entities or Bodies to the Nature of Body and consequently it 's Faculty or Power of Acting is Superiour to whatever is in Body that can resist it's Activity Also since being a Pure Act it 's Nature is Active Wherefore seeing on the other side Matter is easily or rather essentially Passive and there can want no Application of such an Agent to such a Patient because an Angel has the Natures or Essences nay the Existences of Bodies and all that can belong to them intimately joyn'd to their Understanding by Knowledge of them 'T is Evident that there are all the Requisites imaginable put for their Operating upon Body and producing some Effect in it which was not in it before that is of Changing it Wherefore an Angel has Power to Operate this upon Body or Material Nature Nor is there any Disproportion between the Motion which the Angel works in Bodies and such an Immediate Cause as was shown § 5. is between GOD and such an Effect since as has been shown Method to Science B. I. L. 8. § 2. Motion according to it 's precise Nature or as it superadds to it's Subject is as it were made up of Non-Entities or next to nothing and every Created Being as to what it has of it self is such All the Essential Distinction between Creatures and consequently their Formal Constitution being only such and such Limitations of Being or more and less that is thus much and no more of Entity 23. Advertisement Let it be noted that what 〈…〉 intend to evince here is conâ—…'d That we only intend to evince here the An Est of the Operation of an Angel and not the Manner how it is perform'd to the Question An est or â—…o demonstrate that Angels have Power to move Bodily Nature â—…od not to show How or in what â—…articular Manner they work this effect To clear which Point requires a perfect and penetrative Knowledge of the Angelical Nature which is perhaps Unattainable by us in this State 24. Notwithstanding what 's said no One Angel has an Unlimited Power to move or change all the Bodies Yet no one Angel has an Unlimited Power to operate thus on all Bodies whatevee in the World For since the Natures of Spirit and Body are constituted by their Partaking More and Less of Ens and more and less do manisestly signifie only Degrees of the Nature of Ens in Common from whence their Power over another is taken and on which it is entirely and adequately grounded and what exceeds another only in some Degree does only exceed it Finitely Limitedly and in some Proportion It follows that however the whole Angelical Nature or some considerable Part of it may have Power to work upon or alter the whole Mass of Material Beings yet a Single Angel being but one Individual of it and consequently
inconsiderable in comparison of the Whole tho' it may change some Part or Parts of it yet it 's Activity which consists in it's Addiction to do that Effect or in it's Act of Volitiâ—â— and not in it's bare Knowledge of it is stinted to a certain Proportion of Matter according to the Greater or Lesser Excellency of it's Essence from which it's Activity springs and to which it goes parallel 25. An Angel can easily and in an Imperceptiâ—… Time order and alter that Quantity An Angel can move or change those Bodies which are of Matter or those Bodies that are within the Bounds of it Activity which generally speaking are only those which it superintends anâ—… also those material Causes which are requisite as fit Instruments for Holy Angels to do Men Good or Protect within the Sphere of it's Activity in an imperceptible Time them or for Bad Angels to do them Harm or Punish them as sutes best with GOD's Mercy or â—ustice For since all Motion proceeds from Angels as Second Causes and that by knowing all Nature Intuitively their Knowledge reaches not only to the Subject or Patient which is to be alter'd but to every imaginable circumstance either belonging to the said Patient or to those Material Agents which being apply'd are proper to work upon them It follows that this alone must needs wonderfully facilitate the Effect Again since those Acts of the Angel's Will which were the Efficient Causes of Altering those Bodies were of themselves Instantaneous It follows that tho' the Nature of the Patient which is Material or Quantitative would not permit the Effect or Change to be put by a â—…ite Power in an Instant yet all imaginable Requisites do concur to produce in it such or as little a Time as the perfect Subjection of the Patient can bear and as the Activity of the Agent which acts on it's part Instantaneously requires that is in a very Imperceptible Time And accordingly 1 Cor. 15. v. 51 52. the Holy Scripture tells us that the Change of those Bodies which survive at the Resurrection from a Corruptible to an Incorruptible Condition the â—…rangest Change Matter can possibly bear will be made in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye that is in the least time we are able to conceive 26. Corollary VIII Whence it being so consonant to the Natures of Things Hence the Wonderful Effects recorded in Holy Writ to have been done by Angels are Consonant to Metaphysical Principles viz. to the Activity of Angels and to the Passiveness of Matter our meer Naturalists need not wonder that the Prophet Habbacuc was carried so suddenly Dan. 14. 35. by an Angel impetu Spiritus sui as the Scripture expresses it to Daniel in the Lion's Den at Babylon a place unknown to the Prophet and therefore very far off so quickly which can scarce be conceiv'd possible to be done so suddenly without strangely disordering and even killing him without taking from the Air all power of Resistence Nor need it be wonder'd at that a Light shone so suddenly in St. Peter's Prison nor that his Chains fell off and that the Iron-Gate open'd to them of it's own accord Act. 12. nor that all the Guards were stupify'd with a dead Sleep Nor that Angels so suddenly make to themselves a Body of Air to appear in and as suddenly disappear again Nor at many other such like Effects related in Holy Writ None of these I say ought to appear Wonderful to any Solid Philosopher who attends to his Principles and True Reason For since the Motion of Bodie and therefore all Action springs from Angels as the Immediate Causes their Activity upon Bodily Substances so Inferiour tâ— them must needs be very Soveraign and Powerful Nor is there any thing in thâ— whole Discourse or in any of these anâ— such like Particular Actions which does not subsist upon Solid Grounds and is not built upon and is consonant to Evident Principles of Reason 27. Corollary IX From what has been deduced formerly we may Collect as most Agreeable to Rational That the Ordinary Ministring Spirits or the Guardian Angels of particular Persons are the Lowest sort of Angels Principles that those Angels or Ministring Spirits who by their Office are to work upon Matter and are with good reason hold to be those of the lowest Quire and particularly the Angel Guardians should at the General Resurrection be employ'd in Changing the Mass of pre-existent Matter for we cannot think Creation begins a-new when the World is near an end into Human Bodies fitted according to the respective Dispositions of the Holy and the Wicked Souls as is seen Mat. 13. where the Harvest is said to be the Resurrection and the Angels the Reapers gathering the good Seed to be eternally preserv'd and the Tares to be burnt We may hence also clearly gather that the Chief Overseeing that Grand Affair belongs to the Superiour Influence of an Arch-Angel signify'd Metaphorically 1 Thessal 4. 15. by the Voice of an Archangel and his Trumpet blowing to summon the Dead to appear before Christ's Dread Tribunal Which understood literally is the putting them or making them to appear in their Distinct Ranks according to their several Merits or Demerits that Christ may judge them by discriminating the Sheep from the Goats that is by Beatifying the Former and Establishing them in Sanctity and the Reward of it Glory and the Later as the Nature of their State requires unchangeably in Sin and consequently Damnation as is emphatically exprest in our Saviours Words Apoc. 22. 11. He that is Unjust let him be Unjust still and he that is Filthy let him be Filthy still and he that is Righteous let him be Righteous still and he that is Holy let him be Holy still Which Final Sentence forbids and precludes to the Damned all hope of Change or fruitful Repentance and fixes them Unalterably and for ever in their Sinful State and consequently in Eternal Death which is the Reward and Connatural Effect or Fruit of Sin Whence also we see the reason of that severe Saying Ex inferno nulla Redemptio and why their Bad and Unchangeable Affections which so strongly detain them there are called Rudentes Inferni 2 Pet. 2 4. 28. Corollary X. For the reason given above all the Affairs of very High moment are said to be done by But the Greater and Weightier Affairs are transacted by Archangels â— an Archangel Thus Michael made head against Lucifer and subdu'd him Thus Gabriel the Archangel was the Messenger of the Incarnation Nor can it be doubted but the Head of those Angels which gave the Law on Mount Sina as is written Acts 7. 38. and v. 53. was of the same Dignity Nor that those Intelligences which give and continue Motion to the Matter of ours and of all the other Suns if that opinion may be allow'd which holds all the Fixed Stars to be so many Corpora per se lucentia or so many Suns are all