to Ethnick authority We have touched a ticklish cause and a grave controversie A young man one Vincentius Victor as Chemnitius relateth when learned Augustine demurred and would not determine this point concerning the originall of a rationall soul censured boldly the Fathers unresolvednesse and vaunted that he would undertake to prove by demonstration that souls are created de novo by God For which peremptory rashnesse the Father returned the young man a sober reprehension But I therefore lest I should be obnoxious to the like reproof have not so much determined the point evident as argued it probable However it is res quaestionis not res fidei It standeth not upon our salvation to believe the one or the other either that it is or it is not created As he then concludeth his Rhetoricks so I this little discussion of this great controversie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The third respect wherein we are Gods offspring is the Union of body and soul together which maketh our third proposition as we formerly propounded it We are Gods offspring in respect of body and soul together I will not here runne into the nice dispute whether A B be Ab Whether the whole man really differeth from the parts taken together and so whether God in the uniting of them be a cause of a new Entitie God almighty who made bodies and souls though in a different manner betwixt the first bodies namely of our first Parents and the rest and in a different manner betwixt bodies and fouls made one for the other the body to receive the soul the soul to enlive and inform the body And here we are to consider the time of the creation of the soul according as we apprehend it in probability to be created And here we have the way how we are the offspring of God in respect of body and soul together in that the form is framed in the matter prepared As God made man when all things in the world were ready and dressed to shew him enterteinment so likely he maketh the soul when the body the house is furnished with rooms for the abode and working of it And that he maketh not the soul extra materiam without the body but in it Biels argument may evince beside whatsoever may be said out of the places in Scripture before named against the contrary His argument is this Quia tunc anima haberet aliquem actum volendi vel intelligendi priusquam infunderetur If the soul were created out from the body then it would exercise some act of understanding and willing before it were infused For such a divine creature cannot be idle and unactive If it should exercise any act before the union it should merit before the union as he saith We deny his merit but we cannot well imagine how the soul should exercise any act of understanding and will before it be in the body And this S. Paul supposeth as Biel noteth Rom. ix 11. For the children not being yet born neither having done good or evil Neither good nor evil is done before birth Moreover how that good act if any though not meritorious yet should be rewarded to the soul peculiarly besides the reward for those actions of it in the body we cannot well conceive For every man shall recieve according to what he hath done in the body The Person shall receive according to the actions of the person the Soul is not a Person A question here may arise Why God should unite this soul to this body Why should this glorious soul dwell in this corruptible body this royall tenant in so low a cottage this vast spirit in a circumscribed skin as if not onely Galba's wit but all our souls did malè habitare For answer 1. The highest cause is the best Gods pleasure Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his reason as we may say and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his will the Egyptian Doctour taketh for the same 2. Likely for the order of the Universe that as there is a created rationall spirit without a body namely the Angel so there should be a created rationall Spirit though not rationall in that degree of perfection in a body 3. The Poet Et quod dominari in caetera possit Natus homo est Lombard upon this question in his first Distinction of the second book giveth another That by the conjunction of the soul with the body so farre its inferiour man might learn and believe a possibility of the union of man with God in glory notwithstanding the vast distance of nature and excellence the infinitenesse of both in God the finitenesse of both in man But our soul in the moment of union with the body is defiled with originall sinne But our nature sinned in Adam and the order of the Universe and the glory of Christs redemption are of greater moment as Zanchie Now out of the conjunction of soul with body we might have the resultance of deductions and inferences many and important ones We might have raised an exhortation peculiar unto the soul That it is the bravest substance under heaven and therefore that we should fit it with the purest accident We should adorn it with the best habit of Faith of Love of Hope That when we think we should think of our selves when we think upon our selves we should think upon our soul when we think upon our soul we should think that it is from God absolutely and that it is immortall and that we should provide for it accordingly Get this soul beautified with white and red Christs Bloud his Righteousnesse And when thou thinkest of thy self composed of body and soul for who in the body even while he thinketh of the soul will forget his body 1. consider what is due from hence to him that made thee a man not a beast what piety what devotion what obedience what rationall service what rationall or reasonable sacrifice as Trismegist speaketh 2. from hence also consider what an ingagement there is of love and friendship and justice unto our neighbour since he who made him made us We are all of the same make all of the same nature Job is moved hereby to do no wrong no not to his very servant Job xxxi 15. Did not he that made me in the wombe make him and did not one fashion us in the wombe 3. from Gods conjunction of both together we are bound to maintein the union As in the conjunction of man and wife so in the conjunction of body and soul What God hath joyned together let no man put asunder no private man no Magistrate unjustly not our selves for no cause Let both grow together as we may speak untill the harvest untill thou beest fairly cut down by that common sickle of Death and laid in the granary of the grave 4. We learn hence humility Our best excellence is in our soul Our soul is in an earthly tabernacle easily resolved into its principles undone with a flie destroyed with a grape-stone cracked with a shell All our learning is soon refuted with one black o which understanding us not snappeth us unrespectively without any distinction and putteth at once a period to our reading and to our being Look we upon our black feet nay below our feet unto the dust reade we and meditate and learn meeknesse and humilitie in this originall 5. It is our duty since God is thus our Father in regard of body and soul to rely upon his care and providence for a living in the world and infinitely more then upon the care of the fathers of our flesh God is more principally our Father They of the body subordinately unto God God of the soul excluding them They men not God therefore not able to see what is best for us They men not God therefore not able to foresee all dangers They men not God therefore not able alwayes to help us They men not God therefore changeable in their affection They men not God therefore changeable in their being What power the Father of our flesh hath he hath from God what goodnesse from God God susteineth his nature concurreth with his action blesseth the effect 6. Lastly we have hence S. Pauls conclusion in the next verse which shall be mine For as much then as we are the off-spring of God we are not to think that the Godhead is like unto silver or gold or stone graven by art and mans devise Whereby is intimated that the Heathens did make memorials of God by creatures which they represented in images of filver of gold of stone This conclusion we have touched before to prosecute it were to begin another text FINIS
Deo in the two former ex Deo not de Deo IV. Another sort would have the souls to be made by the Angels ex igne spiritu neither de Deo nor ex Deo So Seleucus Hermeas and the Carpocratians who held that all the world was made by the Angels These foure opinions the Authour saith are antiquated with those who professe assent unto sacred Scripture V. The first of the other quaternion mainteined the first soul indeed to be created by God of nothing and breathed into Adam but the rest to be propagated successively with the propagation of the body yet to be immortall These also were divided in their conceipts Some thought the soul to be corporeall and corporeally generated Some thought it to be a Spirit and spiritually produced somewhat like as one candle is lighted by another Thus Apollinaris and others in the western Churches as Zanchie faith VI. Others denied the production of it per traducem affirming that new souls are created simply by God and each put into their proper bodies This Jerome saith was the generall tenet and doctrine of the Church in his time VII Augustine neither condemned those who say that it cometh per traducem nor those that say that souls are created de novo by God yet he saith he could not see how this opinion of the absolute creation of the soul could be confirmed by Scripture therefore he desired Jerome to help him in this point with his advice VIII Lastly some thought that the souls are dayly created by God But some of these again imagined that the souls are created without the body extra corpus afterwards put in others that they are created in the infusion and infused in the creation But amidst and maugre all the rest this is Zanchie's and may be our determination That rationall souls are created immediately by God of nothing after the organizing of the body or when the body is entirely organized in the body Not to meddle with the anasceuasticall or refutative part of the contrary assertions For rectum est index sui obliqui this thesis may seem more consonant to Scripture to Ecclesiastick writers to reason to Heathen Authours by all which we shall in order but very briefly try it Onely we must premise here That the time of the creation of the soul beareth an intimate respect unto the latter proposition and that we need not make a distinct proving that it is created of nothing since thus we have Zanchie for our praecedent and 2. because those who contend for a matter out of which the soul should be made by God are more exotick authours and 3. their matter is altogether inconvenient and 4. Creation in a proper sense which is an absolute and simple creation excludeth whatsoever matter and 5. because by this creation abstracting the consideration ex quo from whence it is created namely out of nothing we shall conclude against the way of production per traducem which is the principall opposite opinion So that now to the second proposition as at first we named it That God is the Authour of our souls we shall adde in our discourse a differencing of his efficiency of the body and the soul Of our body he is the Authour by our Parents of our soul absolutely by himself by creation This we endeavour to prove first by Scripture And the first place in Scripture should be Exod. xxi 22. wherein God giveth them a law concerning the striking of a woman with child But then we must reade the Scripture in the Septuagints translation and then two things are to be granted first that we have the right and true translation of the Septuagint and secondly that this translation is true which indeed great Ecclesiastick writers have followed The words in their version are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If two men strive together and strike a woman with child and the child abortively cometh forth not shaped he shall be mulcted but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if the child shall be fully shaped then thou shalt pay life for life Whereupon is inferred by this Greek version that during the time of the embryo there is no soul in it and therefore if it perish by the stroke the woman escape the punishment must be but pecuniary because no murther because of no man because the soul is not in it but if the child proveth abortive and cometh out fully shaped both must die because then the body is animated and therefore it is murther So that the soul is not propagated with the seed for then the soul should successively grow to perfection with the body and then there could be thus no abortive without murther This reading the Greek Fathers and others who generally do follow the Septuagint do follow Yet since the originall which our English translation followeth maketh not at all for our purpose we will passe over this place without any urging of it and without any observation how the Interpreters and in how many respects were here mistaken Onely by the way we may take notice that we have here the judgement of the Septuagint delivered in favour of our cause and also the judgement of the Greek Fathers and others who use their interpretation of Scripture and also the determination of Canon law grounded as one noteth upon this place according to the Septuagint That he is not a murtherer who maketh an abortive before the infusion of the soul The second authority in Scripture may be Zach. xii 1. The burthen of the word of the Lord for Israel saith the Lord which stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and frameth the spirit of man within him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in interiori ejus as Montanus rendreth it in medio as Pagnine This place seemeth not onely to conclude the peculiar production of the soul by God but the time also especially the manner in the body nay in the heart likely which is as they say primum vivens ultimum moriens Isa lvii 16. For I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwaies wroth for the Spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made In this sacred testimony I conceive two objections excluded That it may be understood of the souls of our first Parents this may be the first But then it is to be answered Dicit pluraliter he speaketh in generall SOULS and he speaketh as de futuro I VVILL not contend FOR EVER I VVILL not be ALVVAYES wroth Secondly It may be objected That God may be said to be the Authour of our souls and to make our souls although our parents do conduce as God is said to be the Authour of our bodies It may be answereed that God speaketh here of the making of the souls signanter in way of especiall appropriation which I have made I have made them Eccles xii 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return
incorruptible and therefore how generative Or if the soul be generated then what is in its nature incorruptible must be corruptible by generation for generation importeth corruption This is in effect Zanchie's argument in the forecited place Secondly as we argue à priori from the Immateriality of the soul unto the Immortality of it so reciprocally we may argue à posteriori from the Immortalitie of the soul to the Immaterialitie of it And we need not fear a circular demonstration in diverso genere demonstrationis Now if we prove it immateriall then it is not ex traduce not by our parents and if it be immortall then it is not materiated Now the immortality of the soul those Ecclesiasticall writers could not deny who yet would not grant that it is created but thought it might be produced cum semine Aquinas part I. quaest 118. art 2. concludeth that it is hereticall to hold the traduction of the soul Sure much more is it hereticall to hold the Mortality of it And indeed he giveth his reason why it is hereticall to maintein the traduction of it in regard of the consequent because so it would be mortall if mortall where is our resurrection if no resurrection where is our Christianity The immortality then of the soul we may take as confessed and granted which was assevered even by the learned Heathen Trifmegist Plato Thales Plutarch Pindar Virgil as we might see by their severall testimonies if it were necessary to recite them they being so well known As for Aristotle in this point it is commonly said of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he were a Vertumnus determined neither pro not con Yet were he well inquired into we should find him to be on our side But thirdly Bonaventure's Argument as Biel citeth it is worth the naming though it be not fit for urging as being drawn from convenience onely Since the soul is the image of God nata immediatè fieri in Deum made to be happified in him by a clear vision of him and by a fruition in loving him with all our soul by which love our soul is spiritually united unto him it becometh it is fitting that the whole being of it should be immediately from God with whom it is to be wholly united And so much or rather so little in respect of what might be said for the third way of the triall of our Thesis The fourth and last is the inartificiall argument of Ethnick authority This assertion of the creation of the soul by God is not destitute of humane suffrages Besides all their opinions who hold that the souls were created from eternall we have other testimonies I will give you one or two which may be a signe of more Learned Zanchy quoteth Pythagoras Epictetus Trismegist Simplicius Zoroaster Aristotle First Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be of a valiant spirit since Mans descent is Divine which he supposeth Pythagoras understood in regard of the soul as surely he did As for his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transanimation if it concerned very much our purpose it were not very difficult to vindicate him from it and many other absurdities which either ignorant or envious men attributed to him as Reuchline observeth in his second book Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are akin to God from him we came Suffer us to go from whence we came Simplicius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soub is said to proceed from God as a beam from the sunne Zoroaster very clearly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou must make speed unto the light and the glories of thy father from thence was thy soul sent down endued with much understanding Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the question now is how we shall construe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifieth with Trismegist Salvo meliori judicio I cannot see what sense or notion may be framed of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to our purpose He seemeth not to understand hereby the Mind or Soul For he often distinguisheth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and immediately after the place which Zanchie quoteth he speaketh thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in men is a Divinity and therefore some men are Gods Me thinketh he intendeth hereby some intelligent power separated from the soul To passe him therefore Aristotle may be next who bringeth in as clear an authority for our behalf as any Nay none so clear as that in his second book De generat animal c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the reason followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It remaineth that the mind cometh from without and is onely divine because no corporeall operation is mixed with its by which place and another in his De Anima we may inferre Aristotle's opinion concerning the immortalitie of the soul He saith in his first book De Anima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If there be any operation proper and peculiar to the soul it may be separated if separated then immortall Here he assumeth The bodily operation is not mixed with the operation of the mind therefore separable therefore immortall Parisiensis in his treatise De Legibus saith Omnes enim animae creantur in corporibus suis sicut declarat Aristoteles He nameth not where Aristotle declareth himself thus but surely there cannot be a clearer passage for that opinion then the forenamed in his second De generat anim If it be objected that Aristotle taketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Trismegist doth it may be answered 1. we may understand his meaning by the title of the book according to the rule Titulus libri saepe est legendus 2. he discusseth in that chapter the production and the time of the production of souls Tully is plain in the first of his Tusculane questions Animorum nulla in terris origo inveniri potest Pindar also as I find him quoted speaking of the soul which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This onely cometh from heaven Seneca in his cxx epistle Maximum inquam mi Lucili argumentum animi ab altiori venientis sede A very great argument of the souls coming down from heaven it is if it accounteth these things wherein it is here below conversant base and low and too strait for it if it fear not to go out for knowing from whence it came it knoweth whether it is going To these testimonies more might be added as Morney collecteth them in his fifteenth chapter where he treateth de immortalitate anima Zanchie believeth that this was Aratus his meaning not onely That God was the first and universall cause of the soul as he is of the body and all things else but That the substance of the soul is not made of the Elements or of any heavenly substance but that it is a creature absolutely divine Thus we have seen our Thesis agreeable to sacred Scripture to Fathers to reason
the Quoter S. Paul 2. the Quoted certain of your own Poets 3. the Form of quotation as they have said In the Quoted we have again 1. the Manner of speech touching them certain 2. the Profession of them Poets 3. the Appropriation of them your own Poets As certain also of your own Poets Certain there is the manner of speech concerning the quoted And in this we have subincluded three considerations First it soundeth plurality certain not one onely Secondly it importeth restriction certain not all certain not many Thirdly it representeth a kind of disrespectivenesse an overly speaking not so much as honouring them with their naming certain of your own Poets This is the division of the first part of the text the indefinite Quotation Concerning the second part the rationall Aphorisme we shall first propound an Exposition and then raise three Propositions An exposition first of the HIS in the text who this HE is whose offspring we are secondly of the particles FOR and ALSO which seem to be of no use since the sense of the Aphorisme is entire without them The propositions do issue out of the severall respects wherein we may be said to be his off-spring his that is Gods as we shall hereafter declare The three respects make the three propositions We are Gods offspring in respect of our bodies We are Gods offspring in respect of our souls We are Gods offspring in respect of both together First now of the first particular of the first part of the text the Quoter S. Paul I have formerly spoken of him upon another text but he deserveth second and third thoughts Surely never can be said enough of so devout so seraphicall so industrious so eloquent so learned an Apostle Learned I say and eloquent these qualities are considerable in our present purpose As Moses the promulger of the Law unto the Jews was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians so S. Paul the Preacher of the Gospel unto the Gentiles was learned in all the learning of the Heathens Neither could he well otherwise confute them As one saith somewhat quaintly of Logick that we cannot prove it to be unnecessary but by it semblably neither could the Gentiles be refuted in their idolatry but by the knowledge of them and the use of their knowledge It is very remarkable what is said of Apollos in the next chapter and the 24 verse that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eloquent man and potent in the Scriptures as we reade it And an effect and successe proportionable to this his abilitie we have in the last verse he mightily convinced the Jews and that publickly shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ How did he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mightily confute them but by his potencie in the Scriptures how was he potent in the Scriptures but in that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the notion of the term may import two things skill in the words that he could expound well and facultie of speech that he could expresse well his exposition Matter and Form do all in nature matter and form do all in art our Apostle was furnished with them both and abundantly so that he who was to teach the Gentiles Christ might have taught them humane knowledge might have taught them also Rhetorick Scholarship we see is not out of date neither in the times of the Law for Moses had it nor in the times of the Gospel for S. Paul expresseth it here Though in respect of the glorious and fun-like light of the holy Scriptures it be but as straminea candela as one saith a rush-candle a mean light a small light and soon out yet some light it giveth S. Paul useth the mention of the Poets And thus briefly we passe from the Quoter to the Quoted And in the quoted we have first the manner of speech concerning them certain And in the manner we observed three branches of discourse First as it soundeth plurality certain not one onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bernardus non videt omnia Two are better then one saith the Preacher Multitude of witnesses maketh an evidence more probable Alas Master what shall we do saith Elisha's servant when the host of the Syrians environed the city Elisha soon resolveth the question Fear not for those that be with us are more then those that be with them 2. Kings vi 15 16. Exemplatrahunt Many draw much It was a very strange speech of him that said Malo errare cum Origene quà m cum aliis vera sentire Extraordinary partiality to hold with one against many with one erring against many having truth on their side Plato speaketh well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So truth is truth say it you or say it you not be we more or be we fewer that affirm it And the reason is Bëcause truth is fundamentally in the thing not in the words Neverthelesse an assertion confirmed by many voices sooner taketh off suspension of consent sooner perswadeth the belief of it Multiplication of testimonies doth not increase the truth yet it increaseth assent The Church of Rome understandeth the virtue of this plurality too well It is none of the least of her flourishes wherein she so bravingly vaunteth that she hath ever had a world of authoritie for her religion multitudes of Professours and that little petty England thrust up into a corner of the world enterteineth a religion which now hath not so great a number of followers one century ago and a little more had scarce enough to conserve the species Seculis omnino quindecim non oppidum non villam non domum ullam reperiunt suâ doctrinâ imbutam But we shall have a restriction for Campian by and by Before we leave this point of plurality it is not unworthy of some disquisition why our Doctour intimating more suffragants then one yet produceth the testimony onely of Aratus There is none here that bringeth glory to God but this Aratus I can scarce imagine I dare not pronounce but that our Apostle knew there were more of the Poets of the same mind He could have produced a long list of those authours all agreeing in the same position and sentence as Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Hesiods authoritie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another also calleth God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best Artist either in generall in respect of the frame of the world or specially of mans body So * Hymno cui titulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he would make confession of his faith O glorious and immortall Jupiter this testimony and expiatory supplication we present unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O King by thy wisdome were all things easily produced the Earth the sacred mother and the high-topped mountains the sea and whatsoever is comprehended
as we may speak Few and evil have been the dayes of my pilgrimage Matth. vii 14. Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod saith the like of Virtue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a little before to Vice it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little way to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It dwelleth hard by Our Saviour John xix 27. to his beloved disciple S. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold thy mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I give thee this woman for thy mother was the speech of the Samians when to the richer of the citizens the mothers of those who died in the warres were given to be mainteined by them And did not our Saviour die for S. John 1. Tim. v. 6. S. Paul speaking of a widow which liveth in pleasure saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth Talis vita nunquid vita erat Domine but that is S. Augustines speaking of a licentious life Lord what a life was that But Terence in Hecyra cometh nearer Sanè hercle homo voluptati obsequens Fuit dum vixit Pamphilus speaketh it there of a woman too S. Pauls Greek cannot well be rendred but by Terence's Latine and Terences Latine cannot be put wel into other Greek Aristotle Rhet. ii c. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thâ—se that looked not well to other mens horses by Thâ—â—dectes his law were not to have their own given them Like unto this may that of our Saviour seem Luke xvi 12. And if ye have not been faithfull in that which is another mans who shall give you that which is your own AEsop being asked by Chilo one of the seven wisemen of Greece what God was doing answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Psalm cxlvii 6. The Lord setteth up the meek and bringeth the ungodly down to the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if one place had been taken from the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chilo to his brother who took it ill that he was not chosen to be one of the Judges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Paul I know how to be abased One of Chilo's precepts as appeareth in the Life of Chilo by Diogenes Laertius was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To rule ones own house well S. Paul 1. Tim. v. 4. hath the same precept in effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but more patly chap. iii. vers 12. where he speaketh of the qualification of Deacons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ruling their children and their own houses well Moses Exod. iii. when he was to be sent to the children of Israel by God desired to know Gods name that he might tell them who sent him and God expressed himself by I AM Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you vers 14. So Plato calleth God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is indeed as if nothing had any reall existence but God Plato in his dialogue Of Death calleth mans body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tabernacle so doth S. Paul 2. Cor. v. 1. Plato in the eighth of his Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The communion of the soul with the bodie is not better then the dissolution as I would say if I were to speak in earnest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Paul Phil. i. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is farre better To be with Christ farre better being farre better saying We heare no more of the Heathens when we speak of Christ As the Oracles are said to have ceased at Christs nativity so the Heathens are silent concerning Christ Yet there is a sort of writers behind which go thus farre namely the Sibylls and Trismegist and if there be any more such Nothing spoken of Christ with more dilucidation then by the Sibylls By one of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ the Sonne of God the Saviour the initiall and beginning letters of which prophesie being put in order together make up the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Fish whence Tertullian calleth our Saviour Piscem And one of these Sibylls Virgil in one of his Eclogues is supposed with good probability to have imitated namely in the fourth eclogue Te Duce si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras meaning by Te Duce Christ according to the Sibyll And Christ is called Heb. ii 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Captain of our salvation Many other passages also there are in the same eclogue to the same purpose And as for Trismegist who is quoted so much by great Authours onely for rationall knowledge as if he had no other light to direct him in his writings besides the light of nature in the second page of his Poemander he speaketh of the Trinity as if he had been in heaven therefore for his opinion of the Trinity he was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thrice-great or Greatest as Suidas saith In that second page of the Treatise we have his authority against the Arian heresie And the very term which Arius would not subscribe unto we have there namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he saith that he is COESSENTIALL with the Father And concerning the creation he speaketh as if he had read Genesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he should say that God presently after the creation spoke to man Encrease and multiply and replenish the earth as it is Gen.i. Our Saviour saith there is none good but God Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is the onely Good and how as if he commented on Scripture before it was written not good onely as by an honorary term but the Good by essence And in the thirteenth chapter of his Poemander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Authour of regeneration is the Sonne of God a man by the will of God But it is objected or may be that these passages out of Trismegist and the Sibylls are not to our purpose seeing as the opinion is of some these Treatises were made by Ecclesiastick writers and then ascribed unto Gentiles to make by an holy kind of deceit the doctrine of the Gospel more passable amongst the Heathen For answer Cicero may refute this tenet who in his De natura Deorum maketh mention of the Sibylls and produceth somewhat of theirs And as for Trismegist he was an Egyptian Doctour as Reuchlinus and Suidas and lived before Pharaoh as Suidas saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That then there were such Heathens and they authours of these sayings which we spoke of is more then probable But whether their divine speeches proceeded merely out of the principles of nature or whether they sprang from some other light either of Divine revelation or Diabolicall as Augustine thinketh De Civit. Dei
strict and clear substance of the words will be this We are Gods offspring The question now is concerning the supposition of the subject of the proposition WE how much it importeth If we consider the words without any reference unto Saint Pauls consequence out of them in the next verse this WE may signifie in a double acception reduplicativè specificativé First reduplicatively most universally comprehending all Entities all creatures whether of Being onely or Life besides Being or Sense besides both or Reason besides all or pure Reason without Sense as Angels all of him and from him from the highest Angel in heaven to the lowest in hell Bad ones as of men so of Angels as ones his Gods as bad their own It is a rationall creatures weaknesse to be able to sinne It is Gods omnipotence to create from the king to the begger from Dan to Beersheba from the greatest mountain to the slenderest atome all of all all proceed from him who proceedeth from none But this all is too much for S. Pauls drift and for the common expression WE This sense is fit for the proposition but too wide and redundant for the inference Secondly then WE specificativè or indeed specially We men So the Apostle meaneth it in the next verse Since then we are the offspring of God we are not to think that the Godhead is like to gold or silver or stone graven by art or mans devise as if man should be the image by which God should be worshipped if he would be worshipped by any In man is the image of God though defaced by that originall sinne And no better Embleme for representing the God of the whole or of all as Ignatius in his Epistles and Theodoret in his Questions calleth him then Man who is the Epitome of the whole of all the Docquet of the book of the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a whole world in a world a little one in a great one so that Democritus in his opinion of more worlds was out but in quantity for there be many little worlds And we are Gods offspring in a threefold respect in respect of our bodies in respect of our souls in respect of both together These severall considerations for our more distinct proceeding may serve if you please in lieu of a division First of the first we are Gods offspring in respect of our body Now God is the Authour of our bodies to speak in an universalitie two wayes immediately or mediately immediately of our first Parents though in some difference of manner mediately of the rest The immediate production is also twofold Ex parte Materiae ex parte Efficientis Immediate production in respect of matter maketh a simple creation when somewhat is made out of no praeexistent subject at all So Adam was not made in respect of his body it being formed of the dust of the earth Gen. ii 7. And God formed man of the dust of the ground The second immediate production is in respect of efficient So Adam was created immediately by God no other Agent coming betwixt and helping the Divine omnipotence in raising so glorious a fabrick out of so unlikely a subject And therefore this is also called a Creation secundùm quid no created virtue being able out of such an indisposed matter to make such a work And as Adam was thus immediately produced by God in respect of his body so was his wife Eve They had a different matter but the same efficient of their being God made the woman off the rib of man Indeed Constantinus Manasses saith that Adam was to Eve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Authour spake here as a Poet as the Fathers sometimes like Rhetoricians Adam concurred not in any way of Agency towards the production of his Wife he was not maried to his daughter God took the rib from him when he was in a deep sleep and off it framed the body of Eve Matter in the beginning of time was taken from man to make a woman and matter in the fulnesse of time was taken from a woman to make a man even the man Christ Jesus So God was the Authour without any other of the bodies of Adam and Eve God by this immediate production had a sonne and a daughter as we may speak And this sonne and daughter immediate causes of our ordinary generation are the causes why to us God is not the immediate God almighty who shewed what he could do in that extraordinary production of our first parents is now pleased to bring men into the world in way of a successive traduction by them Parents we have and God will have us account them so for he giveth us a law to honour them by reverence by obedience by gratitude as it is expounded Yet not so are they the authours of our being according to the flesh not so fathers of our flesh as they are called Hebr. xii 9. as if God were excluded from being our Father also according to a common manner of expression God by a proper generation a generation naturall hath but one Sonne the second person in the Trinitie yet God in Scripture is commonly called a Father without any reference unto the second Person God saith Mal. 1. If I be a Father where is my honour And he is a Father as Creatour expressely Mal. ii 10. Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us What more usuall in the Greek then to expresse Authour by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is scarce any other word for it So Martiall for the Latine calleth his books his children So God is said to be the Father of Spirits Heb. xii so the devil the father of a lie in S. John And thus we have expounded how God is said to be our Father and how in the text we are called Gods offspring not in strict proper speech but according to the common use of expressing the producer of any thing by the Father or Parent of it So Tertullian to our purpose in his book De Anima Omne quod quoquo modo accipit esse generatur But more directly in the following words Nam factor ipse parens facti dici potest sic Plato utitur Now that God is the Authour of our bodies by our Parents that he hath a finger nay a hand nay hands in framing our bodies we have the expresse testimony of the Prophet David Psal cxix Thy hands have made me and fashioned me And again Psal cxxxix 12. For my reins are thine thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe I will give thanks unto thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mirificatus sum mirabilibus operibus tuis as Montanus rendreth it I am fearfully and wonderfully made I am moulded I am made as it were and composed altogether in wonders beyond all understanding and expression so strangely so subtilly so beyond the power of man The
words import more then we can say The Prophet may well go on Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well It knoweth onely that they are marvellous and so above knowledge My bones are not hid from thee though I be made secretly and fashioned beneath in the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy book were all my members written which day by day were fashioned while as yet there were none of them To this place happily S. Augustine alludeth in his Confessions speaking of his parents Patricius and Monica per quorum carnem introduxisti me in hanc vitam quemadmodum nescio how I know not The wombe is Gods doore which he openeth to give men induction into the world Think we that a little petty matter of seed by the created virtue of a created faculty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call it could or should without a supernaturall direction and superefficiencie elaborate and frame and square and polish in the obscure wombe in no long time such a structure of flesh so fashionable so serviceable so strong and trimme so ordered and connexed that an Heathen hereupon called God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best Artist and another called mans body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair variegated piece of a wise builder Job excellently in this matter chap. x. 8. where speaking to God he saith Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about yet thou dost destroy me Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me like the clay and wilt thou bring me into the dust again Hast thou not poured me out as milk and crudled me as cheese Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fensed me with bones and sinews Nature that particular power which God hath put in every creature to do actions convenient to its species is it self Gods servant in the working as his creature in the being and although it could by the solitary virtue of its own form without a Divine concurrence work an effect yet that effect also should be Gods it self and the form of it being Gods How much more shall God be the Authour of that which he worketh by it As of the grain committed to the ground S. Paul saith God giveth it a body so it may be said of this humane seed God giveth it a body The Father who knoweth the child better then the child the Father and the Mother that knoweth the child better then the Father and therefore the Father loveth the child better then the child the Father and the Mother loveth the child better then the Father as he speaketh in his Ethicks know not yet how the child is wrought and made in the wombe They know the effect they know not the manner of the effecting Eccles xi 5. the secresie of Gods way in making all things is expressed by the privatenesse and obscuritie how the bones do grow in the wombe of her that is with child This is one of the wayes whereby he describeth there symbolically the abstrusenesse of Gods works As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the wombe of her that is with child even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all Certainly the matter of generation is not much unlike that matter out of which all things were created at first which matter Moses Gen. i. calleth the heaven and the earth not formally so but because there was out of it to be produced not by a physicall but omnipotent virtuality the particulars of heaven and earth And the same power that could and goodnesse that would and wisdome that knew how to fashion out of such a disguised matter so brave a world doth and must if ever it be done raise out of the semblable subject the most exact and excellent structure of the body of the modell of the universe The Egyptian Doctour Trismegist shall conclude the truth of this point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnderstand O Sonne the framing of man in the wombe search out accurately the art of the building learn who made this fair and divine shape of man as he goeth on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who turned the eyes who bored the nostrils and eares who extended and tied the sinews who derived the veins who set and firmed the bones who invested the flesh with skin who divided and branched the fingers who hath inlarged our steps who hath digged our pores who hath stretched out the spleen who hath made the heart like a pyramid who hath drawn out the liver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who hath made the lungs like a pipe who made the capacious belly who made the honourable parts of the body so visible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who made all these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what mother what father who but the invisible God who made all things with his will Thus we see that God is the Authour of us and we are his offspring in respect of our bodie Now from this discourse of Gods being the Authour also though mediately of our bodies we may raise some inference to the good of our soul but in a word or two A little Philosophie from heaven for our practice and we passe to the second point Lord didst thou make our bodies and yet do we use them as if we had made them our selves or sinne or Satan or as if they had been made by thee for them How many organs hast thou framed for the multiplicity of our operations and yet how few how little do we use those few if we use any for thy service Let us not dishonour this temple of the holy Ghost by uncleannesse by fornication by adultery or any such turpitude Other sinnes as S. Paul 1. Cor. vi 18. are without the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 objectivé they passe no speciall actuall pollution upon the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body It was for this that Democritus pulled out his eyes lest he should lust upon sight as Tertullian in his Apologetick not that he might the better addict himself to contemplate in Philosophy And Pythagoras his precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a precept against uncleannesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying somewhat else besides beans wherein he himself delighted as Gellius saith by the testimony of Aristoxenus in his fourth book and 11 chapter Again the body is an accurate structure admire the Artist the Builder And what wilt thou admire what part what member wilt thou commend the breast all thy Rhetorick is not enough for the belly Wilt thou commend the belly thou hast not praises enough for the Head What the Eare O glorious Eye I should admire the Arteries that come from the Heart but the Nerves draw me back which come from the Brain I should praise the Nerves but I am astonished at the Veins which flow from the Liver What shall I
say of the Legs the pillars of the house or rather of the Hands the agents What not of the Mouth the doore into which mortall things enter out of which immortull things proceed as Philo the Jew But the Teeth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he calleth them barracadoe the Tongue lest it should wander too much and be too talkative O admirable creature in that we see of thee the Body though more admirable in that we see not the Soul Keep this piece this brave piece handsome and clean let it not be sordid untrim It is the temple of the holy Ghost bestow on it a decent ornament not gaudy It is the servant to the soul give it food sufficient and so tune the instrument the organ Make not thy body as it were a trough by drunkennesse that thy soul should be as salt as he said to keep thy body from rotting Make not thy belly thy God nor thy head thy Idole They are Gods creatures God doth not use to make Gods Pride not thy self in the ampleness◠or majestie or proport of thy body God could have made thy body a great deal bigger God hath given thee the lesse body that thou shouldest be the lesse proud So Theodoret in the exposition of that place in Genesis There were then giants upon the earth giveth the reason why God doth not make our bodies of that vastnesse as he could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if in those small bulks they swelled in pride not onely against one another but also against God himself what would they not have done if they had had more tall and mighty bodies But because thy body is not so great happily therefore more neat and thou hast vires ingenuas as the Poet expresseth it and so thou wilt glory in the feature of it Nay rather give glory to God in expressing the humilitie and subjection of thy spirit unto God by bodily worship The service of the body who will deny God unlesse those who will deny God to be the authour of it Nay the Manichees who denied God to be the authour of the body did not for they fasted on Sundayes as it is storied of them and in fasting they exercised an humiliation of the body This shall be left for Schwenckfeildians onely who as Zanchy of them took away all externall service As Christs Divinity was manifested in the flesh so should our spiritualnesse be manifested by the body Man consisteth of body and soul the service of man therefore is the service of both Both are to be glorified both are to glorifie Both are from God both are for God Some give God the soul not the body these are few such Schwenckfeeldians Some give God the body not the soul and many do so such are hypocrits Some give God neither Atheists Some give God both men Christians As Tertullian therefore of the old Christians so we Illuc suspicientes manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non erubescimus oramus Looking up thither unto heaven with our hands stretched out because innocent with our head bare because we are not ashamed we pray And this service of the body is indeed a small and easie matter to perform as lying in the power of freedome of will and yet this is very requisite And we may erre in the service of the outward man yet hereby is not taken away the duenesse and right of a rectified outward worship S. Paul discoursing of the Christians complete armature Ephes 6. biddeth us to have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace We may tread this Gospel awry and we may tread it too much outward and the sect before mentioned treadeth it too much inward Remember that good counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that of the Satyrist Persius pone in pectore dextram Passe we now to our second proposition We are the off-spring of God in respect of our Souls That God is the Authour of our bodies mediately by our parents and that he was the Authour of the bodies of Adam and Eve immediately in regard of the Efficient we have determined And is he the Authour of our materiated bodies not of our immateriall souls The efficiency of these we are come now by order to discourse of which deserveth indeed rather a volume then some circumscribed treatise and hasty disquisition The knowledge and science of it is very noble as Aristotle beginneth in his book of it and none more difficult as it may seem by Dicearchus who doubted whether there were such a thing in rerum natura as Tully of him in his Tusculane Questions Yet if he would have examined his doubting he might have found by it an evidence of its being He could not have doubted of it without it But the beginning and originall of it hath ever been matter of dispute in a threefold respect 1. of the Efficient from whom it proceedeth 2. of the Matter out of which it should be made whether out of nothing terminativè or out of some preexistent subject 3. of the Time when produced whether from eternall or in time and if in time whether before the body be composed or whether in the very instant of the finishing of it Learned Zanchy who stateth these heads of controversie concerning the soul lib. 2. part 13. cap. 5. doth there reduce all the varieties of opinions concerning the soul unto these eight I. The first opinion is of those who held that the soul is of God but that it is made by God of the soul of the world namely the substance of the heavens that it is like the starres therefore incorruptible immortall that there is a certain number of them without increase or diminution and that their mansion is in heaven from whence they descend into particular bodies as they are framed This was the tenet of Pythagoras and Plato and of the Academicks as Zanchy saith and also this was not much different from the opinion of the Egyptian Doctour This opinion was the ground of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transanimation Which some of the Jews may be thought to have inclined unto some of them saying that Christ was Elias some that he was John Baptist as if either of their souls had lived in Christs body although others are of another mind that they deemed that one of them were raised from the dead as Barradius noteth This was Herods phansie of Christ Matth. xiv 2. This is John the Baptist he is risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him II. Others with Origen held that the souls were made in time of nothing by God but all at once and they held those to be kept in thesaure Dei to be sent afterwards into their particular bodies III. Some held not onely that they were made at once but also of the substance of God So the Stoicks after them the Manichees In this opinion the souls are ex Deo and de