Senses is cause of that uniting But wee shall never be perswaded to grant unto them that the Senses are certaine powers of the body For wee have already manifestly declared what things belong properly to the Body what things to the SOUL only and what to the SOUL and body both together And we therupon concluded that the Senses which worke by the instruments of the Body are to bee reckoned among those things which are proper to the SOUL and bodie joyned in One These things confidered it is most agreeable to reason wee should affirme according to the nature of incorporeall-things and as is aforesaid that these Essences of the soule and Body are united without confusion and in such maner that the more Divine nature is nothing impaired by the inferiour nature but that onely the inferiour nature is profited by that which is Divine For a nature which is purely incorporeall can passe without stop thorow all things whereas nothing hath passage thorow that By passing through all things it is united and in regard nothing passes through the same it remaines void of mixture and without confusion It is not rightly affirmed therefore though many excellent men be of this opinion that no reason else can be given why the union whereof wee have treated should bee after such a manner but onely because it pleased God it should so be For the very nature of the things is cause thereof We may justly say that it came to passe meerely by GOD's good pleasure and choise that the SON should take a Bodie unto himselfe But it commeth not meerely of the good pleasure of GOD though it be also his good pleasure it should be so but of the proper nature of the Godhead that when it is united it should not bee confounded with the Man-hood Wee will speake nothing of the degrees of soules nor of their ascending and descending mentioned by Origen For we finde in holy Scriptures nothing warranting the same neither are they agreeable to the doctrines commonly received among Christians CAP. 4. SECT 1. I. Of the Body and of the mediate and immediate composition thereof II. Of those parts of a living-creature every portion wherof taketh the name of the whole and of those parts which take not the name of the whole III. MAN only hath every part belonging to the Body of a perfect LIVING-CREATVRE whereas all others are defective in some of the parts and many in the Situation of them RIghtly may we affirme that every corporeall Essence is a composition proceeding from the foure Elements and made up of them The bodies of living-creatures having blood in them are cōpacted immediatly of the four humors Blood flegm Choller Melancholy But the Bodies of such as are without blood are made of the other three humours and of somewhat in them answering proportionably unto blood We call that immediately when any thing is made of the selfe-same things without any other thing comming between them As the foure humours are made of the foure Elements and those things are compounded of the foure humours which consist of like parts and are parts also of the body that is things having such parts every part of which parts may bee called by the same name which is given unto the whole as when every part of the flesh is called flesh Melancholy is likned to Earth Flegme to water Blood to Ayre Choller to Fire and every thing which is compounded of the Elements is either a Masse or Moisture or Spirits Aristotle thought that the bodies of living-creatures were made immediately of Blood onely because the seed is ingendred of blood and all the parts of a living-creature nourished thereby But because it seemed somewhat absurd to imagine that both hardest bones and the tenderest flesh and fatnesse should proceed all of one thing It pleased Hippocrates to affirme that the bodies of living-creatures were immediately compacted of the foure Elements the thicke and sollid parts of the more earthly Elements and the soft parts of such Elements as are softest Oftentimes all the foure humours are found in the blood whereof wee have experience in Phlebotomy For sometime a certaine flegme like whey doth abound in it otherwhile Melancholy and sometime againe Choller Whereupon it commeth to passe that all men seem in some sort to agree with one another Now of the parts of living-creatures some parts there be every portion of which parts hath the same name which is given unto the whole part Othersome there are which cannot bee called by the same name whereby the whole is called As for example Every part of the Braine is called Braine In like maner of the sinewes of the marrow of the bones of the teeth of the grissells of the nayles of the thin muscles that binde the Ioynts together of all the skins throughout the body of the strings which are in the bloody flesh of the haires of the flesh of the veines of the arteries of the pores of the fat and of those foure which are in maner of Elemēts yeelding matter out of which the things aforesaid are immediately made pure Blood Flegme Melancholy and Choller Except from these the Muscle which is compounded of those thinner Muscles which knit our joynts together and of the strings which are of the nature of sinewes The parts of the body consisting of portions whereof every one taketh not the name of the whole are these that follow viz. the head the breast the hands the feet and such other members of Mans body For if you divide the head into severall parts every part of it is not called a Head but if you divide a sinew into severall portions every portion of it shall have the denomination of a sinew and so shall it be likewise if you divide or subdivide a veine or flesh Every whole thing whose severall parts have not the same name with the whole is made of such things as impart the name of the whole to the parts when they are compounded together as the head is made of sinewes and flesh and bone and such like which are called the instrumentall parts The definition therefore of such things as the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is things which consist of like parts is thus made They are things whose parts are like both to the whole and to each other as flesh braine c. and by the word like in this place we meane the same with the whole for a piece of a mans flesh is as truly flesh as the whole masse Now every living-creature hath not all the parts of a body but some of them are defective in one part and some in others for some lack feet as fishes and Serpents Some have no head as Crabs and Lobsters and certaine other water-creatures and because they want a head the seat of their sense is in the breast Some living-creatures have no Lungs namely all such as breath no Ayre some are without a bladder as birds and all such as
void not urine And creatures which have thick shells are destitute of so many members that some of them have but few appearances of being living-creatures There bee also some living-creatures which although they have such things as are in our bodies yet seeme to want them As the Stag which seemes to have no choller because hee hath it not in one place but so dispersed abroad in his entrailes that it is no where apparant But MAN hath all the parts of a living-creature every part also perfect and all in so goodly order that it could not possibly have beene better composed Beside their want of some parts there is likewise among other living-creatures much difference in the scituation of the parts For some have their dugs in the breast some on their bellies and some under their thighes Some againe have two dugs some foure and some have more Nature hath so provided for the most part that the number of dugges is answerable to the number of young-ones which every creature brings forth at a time But let him that would bee more exactly informed of these things reade the hystory which Aristotle hath written of living-creatures For it pertaineth not unto the discourse which I now purpose to treate at large of such things but only to point at them or to speak briefly of them CAP. 5. SECT 1. I. Of the foure Elements of their simple and mixt Nature of their foure qualities Heat Cold Moisture and Drinesse of their contrarieties and of the meanes of uniting them into one body II. Of the Circular motion and changeablenesse of the Elements one into another and a reason why God made them of such a nature III. The opinion of Aristotle concerning the nature of the Ayre c. GOe we now on to the Elemēts which are consequently to be next handled in this Treatise An Element of the world is a most small part in the composition of bodies They are these foure Earth water ayre and fire and if you begin at the lowest and so passe to the highest body of them they are placed in such order as I have named them The bodies of these Elements are the first bodies and simple bodies in respect of other bodies And every Element is of the same kinde with those things whose Element it is For principles as matter forme and privation are not of the same kinde with the things which are made of them But an Element is necessarily of the same kinde Now it is manifest that these foure Earth water ayre and fire are the Elements and it is as evident that the foure first qualities that is to say Hot cold moist and dry bee in those Elements in the highest degree both potentially and actually also And yet there is not one of these Elements which we can discerne by our senses to bee altogether void of temperature and mixture with some other Element For indeed all those which wee are sensible of are in a sort somewhat counterfeit and participate each of other more or lesse even when in their mixture their severall natures continue most apparant Moreover every one of these Elements hath two coupled qualities which constitute the species or nature of it For EARTH is dry and cold WATER is cold and moist AIRE is hot and moist and FIRE is hot and dry Yet these qualities by themselves cannot be Elements For qualities are void of bodie and of things incorporeall things corporeall cannot be made Neither is it possible that other bodies should be actually Elements w ch have not actually each of these qualities in the highest degree For if those things which have these qualities more or lesse should bee Elements there would be an infinite number of Elements and we should never bee able to discerne the Elements of each particular thing because every thing hath some quality in it more or lesse It followes therefore necessarily that every Element is a BODIE and a simple-body and such a one as hath actually in it in the highest degree these qualities HEAT COLD MOISTURE and DRINESSE because of all qualities these onely and no other doe make a whole change in the whole substance Whitenesse comming neare unto a Body cannot make it white thorow and thorow as wee say neither can such a change bee wrought by any other thing whereas Heat or cold can warme or coole a body not onely superficially but quite throughout the same Those Elements are accounted contraries which are directly contrary to one another in both their qualities Thus WATER is contrary to FIRE For water is cold and moist and Fire is hot and dry In like maner EARTH is contrary to AIRE For Earth is cold and dry and Aire is hot and moist And forasmuch as things which are so repugnant could not bee fitly joyned one unto another without a middle-band ordained to knit them together The wise Creator hath placed water as a meane between the Earth and the Aire which are contraries induing it with her two qualities cold and moist that being the medium betweene those which extreamely differ they might be united thereby For by reason of the cold it agrees naturally with the earth and by meanes of moisture it is fitly joyned unto the aire Againe in the middle betweene the water and the fire which are also contraries in themselves hee hath placed the aire which by his moist-qualitie doth very well accord with water and with fire by the quality of heat Thus God hath linked every one of them each to other as in a chaine by placing betweene things contrary such other things as may both unite the said contraries to themselves and to such things also as are bound one to another by them Yea which is an excellent kind of band hee hath joyned together every one of the Elements by the one of his qualities to that which went before and by the other to that which followed after For example the water being cold and moist is joyned unto the earth which if you beginne at the lowest and ascend is next beneath it by his coldnesse and by his moisture to the aire which is next above it The aire likewise by the moistnes of it is joyned to the water which is next beneath it and by heat to the fire which is above it The fire also by the heat thereof is joyned to the aire which is beneath it and by drynesse to the earth to which being the lowest it declineth it selfe as it were in a circular motion The earth by coldnesse is united to the water and by drynesse to the fire which declineth towards it For that the Elements should not have onely an inclination to ascend and descend directly upward and downeward but incline also to a circular motion God bowed them as it were and made the two extreame Elements fire and earth to turne one toward the other For the fire if it lose heat is no longer fire but becommeth earth as is manifestly proved by thunder-bolts which being thrown
downe and cooled are converted into stones For every thunder-bolt consists of stone and brimstone The stone is as it were the brimstone over-baked Brimstone is as it were fire cooled and no more actually hot but having a neare possibility of heat and being also actually dry For the Elements only have the qualities actually wheras all other things have them but in possibility except they come near unto some Elements But to the end that neither the Elements should faile nor the Bodies which are to be compounded of those Elements the Creator did providently devise that they should be convertible both one into another and also into compound-bodies and that the compound-bodies should be againe resolved into their Elements By which meanes it commeth to passe that they are continually engendered one of another and perpetually preserved from being wasted For Earth being first dissolved into a mirie moistnesse becommeth water Water being thickned and congealed becommeth earth Water also being heated and resolved into vapours vanisheth into aire Aire being collected and condensed is turned into water The same aire being dryed changeth into fire Fire if it be quenched and water also if it be evaporated become aire For aire is the quenchings of fire and the moisture arising from water being heated even by both of these is the aire generated For experience doth shew us that whensoever fire is quenched or water heated aire is encreased thereby Therefore aire is naturally hot and cooled by being scituated so neare unto the water and the earth which coole the lower parts thereof as the fire heateth also the upper parts of the same And this hapneth unto the aire by reason of the softnesse thereof and the easinesse which it hath to receive impressions makes it quickly depart from its proper nature and very apt to be changed But Aristotle is of opinion that there bee two sorts of aire one like unto vapours and generated by the exhalations of waters The other smoakie and bred out of the fire when it is quenched The aire which commeth of smoke he conceiveth to bee hot and that also which proceedeth from vapours when it is first bred but in continuance of time that aire as he saith cooleth by little and little untill it is converted into water This supposition of Aristotles that the aire is of two sorts was by him devised that he might escape some absurdities which he knew not otherwise how to avoid and that things which are somewhat high and farre distant from the earth might seeme hot and that such as are very low might seeme colder SECT 2. I. Of the uniting of the Elements into a naturall body what maner of composition it is and why those bodies are againe resolved into Elements II. Plato's opinion concerning the Element of earth as also concerning the other three Elements III. Of the division of the Elements according to the Stoicks The opinion of Aristotle touching a fifth body out of which hee thinkes the heavens were made and of the contrary opinion of Plato NOw all Bodies are made by the conjunction of these foure Elements both the Bodies of Plants and of living-creatures also to the composition of which bodies nature drawes together the purest parts of those Elements These are called by Aristotle naturall bodies being compounded not by heaping of the Elements one upon another but by tempering all together throughout the whole so much of every Element as is in the Body in the uniting therof and by making of them one certaine BODIE differing from what they were before that composition For they are so united that impossible it is to sever them or to see Earth by it selfe or Water alone or Ayre or Fire distinctly from the rest because one intire thing and a thing differing from the Elements is made by the tempering of all foure of them together As a medicine consisting of foure Ingredients being once made up is a thing differing from those Ingredients But yet the composition of a naturall body is not in all things like those artificiall composures For the Elements do not make the bodies by the scituation of the thinnest parts one by another as it falleth out in a medicine compounded of foure ingredients but it is effected rather by altering themselves and by uniting of all into One. All Bodies are again resolved also into these Elements by which means it commeth to passe that all the Elements remaine continually unwasted and are kept sufficient for the making of all things in regard they neither are diminished nor abound And from hence arises this generall proposition That the generation of one thing is the corruption of another And the corruption of one the generation of another not referring this perpetuity to the Soul as is aforesaid but to the Bodie onely Plato is of opinion that the three other Elements are changed one into each other and that the Earth remains altogether without mutation as may appeare by his comparing of the firmnesse of figures consisting of streight-lines with every Element To the Earth he compares the figure called a Cube because of all other figures that is least moveable The figure Icosaedron which is hardliest moved of all the rest and consisting of twenty bases he likeneth unto water The Pyramide whose motion is easiest of all the rest he resembleth to fire And Octaedron the figure consisting of eight bases hee compareth unto the Aire whose motion is easier then that of the water and more hard then fire By these figures he endevors to prove demonstratively that the three other Elements are changed one into another but that no change hapneth to the Earth For saith he three of these figures that is to say the Pyramide the Octaedron and the Icosaedron are made of Triangles whose sides are unequall whereas the Cubicall figure is made of Triangles whose sides are equall now things which are made of Triangles whose sides are unequall being dissolved and meeting together again may be changed into another but the Cubicall-figure being dissolved cannot be changed into any other because it is made of equall-sided Triangles whereof none of the other three can be made In like manner none of the other figures can be changed into a Cube And for these reasons it is necessary that the Bodies formed of these species and the species whereof they are formed should in respect of one another be such as they were And yet the Earth remaineth not altogether impassible but is divided by bodies having thinner parts then it selfe being after a manner altered from Element to Element and yet not changed into those things which doe divide it For when it is recollected againe unto it selfe it recovereth the state which it formerly had as appeares by it in the water For if you cast a little earth into the water and stir it often up and down that earth dissolves into water but if you leave stirring of the same the water settles and the earth sinks to a residence The like is to
be thought of the whole earth and this is not a changing but a dissevering of such things as were mingled together Plato affirmes that the earth is also severed by the sharpnesse of the fire and being so dissolved is elevated and carryed away in the fire So likewise in the masse of the Aire when Aire dissolves it and in the water when it is dissolved in the water Moreover Plato mentioneth another division of the Elements affirming every one of them to have three Qualities The fire to have sharpnesse rarenesse and motion The Element which is directly in the extreame thereunto that is to say the earth to have dulnesse thicknesse and rest So in respect of these Qualities the earth and the fire be cleane contrary to each other whereas they were not so by those two qualities whereof we had formerly spoken He holdeth likewise that by qualities taken from the two extreames those Elements were made which are in the middle betweene these two For saith he two qualities to wit rarenesse and motion being taken from the fire and one that is to say dulnesse being assumed from the Earth Aire is thereof composed whose effecting Qualities are rarenesse motion and dulnesse In like manner two Qualities are taken from the earth namely dulnesse and thicknesse and one from the fire to wit motion whereof proceeds water which getteth also his forme by thicknesse dulnesse and motion Therefore the same that sharpnesse is in respect of dulnesse the same is fire in respect of aire such as rarenesse is in respect of thicknesse such is aire in respect of water That which motion is in respect of rest that water is in respect of earth Look what fire is in respect of aire the like is aire in respect of water And as aire is in respect of water so is water in respect of earth For it is the nature of things having a plaine thin ground to bee held together by one medium that is to say by a proportion betweene them whereas firme and sollid Bodies are not kept fast together but by two mediums There are yet other qualities ascribed unto the Elements Namely to the earth and water WEIGHTINESSE whereby they doe naturally incline downeward and to aire and fire LIGHTNESSE whereby they are naturally given to mount upward The Stoicks have moreover another way of dividing the Elements for some they affirme to be active and some passive By active they meane the more stirring Elements such as are the fire and the aire By passive they understand the duller Elements that is to say the earth and water But Aristotle besides these Elements bringeth in a Fifth BODIE which he tearmes Aethereall and this bee fancies to bee a BODIE having in it a circular motion because it pleaseth him not to say that the heavens are composed of the foure Elements And he calls the Fifth a Body moved circularly because it is as he imagines caried circularly round about the earth Plato is of another opinion and affirmes directly that the heavens are made of fire and of earth His words are these Every bodily shape which is made must be visible and subject unto touching but nothing can bee visible without some fire in it not subject unto touching without some firmenesse nor can any thing be firm without earth And therupon in the beginning God caused the body of the whole world to bee composed of earth and fire Now it is not possible that two things alone should bee made to unite and agree well together without a third which must be as it were a band betweene them to bring them both together and of all bands that is the chief which can most perfectly bring into an unity both it selfe and such things as are united by the same And this the nature of proportion doth best performe By the band here mentioned hee intends the two middle-Elements taken according to the proportion whereof we spake before SECT 3. I. The opinion of the Hebrewes and of Apollinarius touching the making of the heavens and of the earth II. Arguments out of Hippocrates against Thales Anaximenes and Heraclitus who say that there is but one onely Element III. The body being an instrument for the soul is made fit for the operations thereof THe Hebrewes in their opinions concerning the making of the heavens and the earth differ so much from all others that but few have conceived thereof as they doe For they affirme that they were created of no fore existing matter according to Moses who said In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth But Apollinarius thinks that God made the heaven and the earth of the depth of waters For Moses in his description of the worlds creation doth not so make mention of the depth of waters as if it had beene created but in Iob these words are to bee found He made the depth of waters Therefore hee affirmed that all other things were made out of that as out of a matter common to all Hee doth not say that this depth of waters was never made but that it was laid downe by the Creator as a foundation before any other bodily-thing was made that other things might bee made thereof For the very name of depth declares the infinitenesse of the matter And indeed whether it bee this or that way taken it is not much materiall For even by this opinion also God is confessed the sole Creator of all things and that hee made every thing of nothing Now there bee some who say that there is but one onely Element either Fire or Aire or Water For Thales affirmes that fire only Anaximenes that aire onely and Heraclitus with Hipparchus Metapontinus that water onely is an Element against whom it shall be sufficient to alleage what Hippocrates hath said in that behalfe If saith he MAN were composed but of one onely thing hee could never feele any griefe For hee being but One thing nothing could procure paine unto him or if hee should feele any griefe there could be but one thing which might heale him For that which feeleth griefe must needs bee in a mutation with some sense And if there bee but one Element there can then bee nothing whereinto the living-creature should be changed And if it were not altered but continued setled in the same state it could not possibly feele paine though it were never so sensible He saith further It is necessary that the thing which any body suffereth should proceed from some other thing but if there bee but one onely Element there can be no quality beside the quality of one Element whereby the living-creature may be afflicted And if neither can bee changed nor suffer any thing how can it bee grieved After hee had thus declared the impossibility thereof he supposeth neverthelesse the same to be granted and thereupon thus inferreth Grant saith hee it could suffer griefe and then it will follow that there is but one thing onely which can cure the same but experience
hath taught us that there is not one thing only but many things to cure every disease and therefore Man cannot be one onely intire thing It may be further proved that there are foure Elements by the reason wherewith every one of them endeavoureth to confirme his owne opinion who affirme that there is but one onely Element For when Thales affirmed that water onely was to bee accounted an Element hee endeavoured to shew that all the other three were made of it saying that the faeces of it become earth the thin parts become aire and that the thinnest parts of that aire are turned into fire Anaximenes holding opinion that aire onely is an Element goes about to prove likewise that all the rest of the Elements are made of aire Heraclitus and Hipparchus Metapontinus affirming that there is no Element but fire use likewise the very same demonstration to make their argument seeme reasonable Now it will become evident by the reasons which these men give to justifie their assertion that every one of them is an Element For by some it is demonstrated that all other Elements are made of the fire by another that all the rest are made of water and by a third that they are all of aire which make it plaine that all the Elements are changed one into another by their generall consent who otherwise disagree And if they can all bee changed one into another it will necessarily follow that they must all be Elements because which of the foure soever shall bee taken it will appeare that even that is made of some other The Body which is composed of these Elements being an instrument for the SOUL is divided together with the powers of the same For it was framed to be convenient and fit for them in such maner that no power of the SOUL should be hindered through the Bodies defect And therefore to every power of the SOUL there are proper parts of the Body assigned for his operation as I will more particularly declare in the following Chapters The SOUL exercises the part of an Artificer the BODIE is as it were his instrument It is also the matter wherein the actions are conversant and the effect which is wroght thereby is the action it selfe The matter is as the woman the act is that which is conversant about her either whoredome incest or lawfull copulation The powers of the Soul are divided into these three phantasie judgement and memory CAP. 6. I. Of the phantasie or imagination what it is by what Names expressed and by what instruments it worketh II. Of the seats and nature of the senses and why being but foure Elements there are five senses III. The definitions of sense according to Plato and others and distinctions betweene such faculties in the Soul as are appointed to beare rule and to obey EXpresse we will in the next place such things as concerne the phantasie or imagination The faculty of imagining is a power of that part of the soule which is void of Reason and worketh by those instruments wherein the senses are placed The thing subject to imagination is that whereabout our imagination is conversant and may bee called imaginable as that which is felt is termed sensible Imagination it selfe called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a passion of that part of the soul which is irrationall procured by something which is subject to our imagination A vaine imagination called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a void passion in the parts of the soule which are destitute of reason being procured of no certaine thing whereof an imagination should arise But the Stoick Philosophers doe set downe those foure in this maner The imagination it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The thing wherby the imagination is moved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A voide drawing away of our imagination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that which moveth our imagination to bee vainely drawne away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imagination is a passion representing unto us both it selfe and the thing moving our Imagination For when we see some white thing there is ingendred some passion in the Soule by the reception thereof Even as there is some passion begotten in the seats of the Sense when it feeleth any thing So there is then something engendred in the Soule when it conceiveth any thing it receiveth an Image or impression of the thing understood The fancie or the thing wherby Imaginatiō is moved is any sensible-thing which hath caused the Imagination as it may bee some white thing or any other object which may move the SOVL. The Fantastick or void drawing away of our Imagination is a needles or causuall seducing or distracting of the Imagination without any certaine thing which may move the same The Fantasme or thing it selfe whereby wee are idely drawne away is the very attraction whereby wee are attracted according to our vain Imagination which falleth out in those that are Mad or Melancholy Betweene these Opinions there is no difference but only in the alteration of some Names The Instruments of the Imagination are the former Panns of the braine The Vitall spirits which are in them The sinewes proceeding from the braine The nerves moistned by the Vitall spirits and the very frame of the places wherein the Senses are seated There are five seats for the senses but all are properly but one sense which is the SOUL it self who by the seats of the senses discernes all such things as fall out in them It discernes or taketh knowledge of an Earthy nature by that sense which is most Earthie and Bodily namely the Touching It perceiveth perspicuous or bright shining things by that sense which is most perspicuous that is to say the sight It judgeth such things as are pertinent to aire by that seat which is ordained for the aire for the very substance of the voice is aire or the smiting of the aire and it receiveth every tast by a certaine quality of the instrument of the sense of tasting which attracts by its waterish and spongy nature For it is the nature of every sensible thing to be discerned by some thing which hath a nature like unto it and by this reason it should seeme that there being onely foure Elements there should bee no more but foure senses But because there is a kinde of vapour and certaine smells which have a middle-nature betweene aire and water the parts whereof are somewhat thicker then aire thinner then water which appeares by them who are sick of a heavinesse in the head by rhumes and stoppings for they drawing the aire by respiration have no feeling of the vapour by reason the fatnesse of the odour is hindered by obstructions from approaching the sense therefore a fifth-seat of the sense namely smelling was provided by nature that no such thing as may bee brought unto our knowledge should be hidden from the sense Yet the sense is not an alteration but the discerning of alterations Indeed the seats of the sense are
one of his parts and seeing every inferiour compound bodie is composed of the foure Elements it is necessary that such things should happen unto him as the Elements are subject unto That is to say Cutting mutation and flowing By mutation I mean mutation in Qualitie and I terme it Flowing when he is emptied or purged of such things as are in him For a living creature hath alway his evacuations both by such pores as are manifestly seene and by such also as we see not whereof I shall speake hereafter It is necessary therefore that so much should be taken in again as was evacuated seeing else the living creature would perish through defect of what should re-enter to supply the want And if the things evacuated be either dry or moist or spirits it is as necessary that the living creature should have a continuall supply of dry and moist nourishments and of spirits The meats and drinks which wee receive are made of those Elements whereof we also are composed for every thing is nourished with what is agreeable and like unto it and in diseases we are cured with what is contrary to the disease There he some of the Elements which we sometime receive into our Bodies immediately of thēselves and sometime use means unto the receiving of them as for example we somtime receive water of it self sometime wee use Wine and Oyle and all those that are called moist fruits as means to the receiving of water For wine is nothing else but a certain water comming from the Vine and so or so qualified In like manner we partake of Fire sometime immediately as when we are warmed by it sometime also by the means of such things as we eate and drink for all things containe in them some portion of Fire more or lesse We are in like case partakers of Aire either immediately when we breathe it and have it spread round about us or draw it in by our eating and drinking or else by meanes of such other things as we receive into us But as for the Earth we seldome or never receive it immediately but by certain meanes For we eate the corn which commeth of the earth Larks Doves and Partridges feed oftentimes upon the earth but Man usually feedeth on the earth by the means of feeds fruits berries and by the flesh which proceedeth from things nourished by the Earth And forasmuch as God respecting not onely a decencie but also the furnishing of us with a very quick sense of feeling in which man exceedeth all other living creatures he hath clothed us neither with a tough skin as Oxen and other beasts that have a thicke hide neither with large thicke set haire as goats hares and sheepe neither with scales as fishes and serpents neither with hard shells as Tortoises and Oysters neither with a more fleshie bark as Lobsters neither with feathers as birds and therefore wanting these coverings it is necessary wee should have Raiment to supply that in us which nature hath bestowed on other living creatures These are the causes why wee stand in need of nourishment and clothing And not onely for the same ends are our houses become necessary but also that wee may escape the violence of wilde beasts which is none of their least commodities Moreover by reason of the distemperature of qualities in the humane body Physitians and their art are likewise needfull that thereby as often as occasion requires those things which are rent asunder may be fastned againe together for the preservation of health And whereas the alteration consisteth in the quality it is necessary that wee bring the state of the body to a just temperature by the contrary Quality For it is not the Physitians purpose as some think to coole the Bodie which hath beene in a heat but to change it into a temperate estate seeing if they should coole it the disease turneth not to health but to the contrary sicknesse Now in regard of Arts and Sciences and by the necessarie use which we have of such things as they accomplish it so commeth to passe that we need the mutuall assistance one of another and by that need which wee have each of other many of us assembling together in common doe thereby the more conveniently bargaine and contract for such things as may serve to supply the necessities of life This meeting and dwelling together was anciently termed by the name of a Citie by the neere neighbourhood whereof men received aid and profit by each others arts labours without the discommodities of long and far Travaile For Man was naturally made to be such a living creature as should be sociable delighted in neighbourhood And forasmuch as men could not otherwise be so conveniently provided of useful things it is evident that the study of Arts and the necessity of traffick were the first occasions of erecting Cities SECT 4. I. Of the two Priviledges which MAN hath obtained above all other Creatures viz. to be capable of the Forgivenes of sinnes and Immortalitie the Justice and Mercy of GOD in vouchsafing the pardon of sinne of MAN and denying the same to Angels II Man only is a creature capable of learning Arts and Sciences A Definition of Man and Reasons justifying every branch of that Definition III. The World was not made for the Angels nor for any other but MAN onely To him was committed the government of the Vniverse with a limitation to use not abuse the Creatures THere are also two Priviledges which Man hath specially gotten above all other One is to obtaine pardon by Repentance the other is that his body being mortall should be brought to immortalitie This priviledge of the body he getteth by meanes of the soul and the priviledge of the soul by reason of the bodie Yea among Reasonable creatures Man only hath obtained this Peculiar that God vouchsafeth him the pardon of sin upon repentance For neither the Devils nor the Angels are vouchsafed pardon though they doe repent Hereby the most exact Iustice and admirable mercy of GOD is both fully proved and evidently declared For good cause is there why pardon should not bee granted to Angels though they doe repent because there is nothing in them which naturally allures or draws them to sin and in regard also that they of their own nature are free from all passions wants and pleasures of the body But MAN though hee be indowed with Reason yet hee is also a bodily living creature and therefore his wants in that hee is such a living creature together with his passions do often blinde and captivate his reason And therefore when he returnes againe by repentance and applies himselfe unto vertue he obtaineth mercy and forgivenesse For as it is proper to the Essence of MAN to have the ability of laughing because it agreeth to man only to all men and ever to man so in respect of those things which proceed from the grace of God it is proper unto Man above all Creatures
could the Lions finde power to seife the one nor the Viper to fasten upon the other These things considered who is able to commend sufficiently the nobility of this living-creature Behold he bindeth together in himself things mortall and immortall and knitteth up in One things reasonable and unreasonable In his owne nature hee beareth the image of all creatures and from thence is rightly called A little world He is a creature of whom God hath vouchsafed to take so much regard that all created-things both present and to come were for him created He is that creature also for whose sake GOD became MAN and who shaking off his corruption finisheth it in a never-ending immortality Yea he is that creature who being made after the image and likenesse of GOD raigneth above the heavens living and becomming cōversant with CHRIST the sonne of GOD who sitteth above all power and authority and no eloquence may worthily publish forth the manifold preheminences and advantages which are bestowed on this creature He passeth over the vast Seas he rangeth about the wide heavens by his contemplation and conceives the motions and the magnitudes of the stars He enjoyes the commodities both of sea and land He contemns the furie of wild-beasts the strength of the greatest fishes He is learned in every science and skilfull in Artificiall workings Hee communicates by writing with whomsoever he pleaseth though they be far distant and is nothing hindred therein by the absence of his Bodie He foretelleth things to come he ruleth all subdueth all and enjoyeth all things He talketh with Angels yea and with GOD himself He hath all the Creatures within his Dominion and keeps the Devils in subjectiō He searcheth out the nature of every thing and is diligently studious in the knowledge of GOD. He was borne to be the house and Temple of the Holy-ghost and he acquires the fruition of all these priviledges by Vertue and Piety But lest it may be thought of some that we proceed unskilfully in setting forth so largely the praises of Man whereas wee should rather have contented our selves to proceed with a Discourse touching the nature of MAN according to our first purpose wee will break off our speech in this place though we are not ignorant that by setting forth his preheminence and priviledges we have not improperly prosecuted our intention to declare the Nature of MAN And now seeing it is manifested unto us of how great nobility we are partakers and that we are a heavenly plant let us not deface or shame our Nature neither let it be truely said that we are unworthy of such gifts nor let us foolishly deprive our selves of so great Power and Glory and Blessednes by casting away the fruition of Ioyes that shall be everlasting for the seeming possession of imperfect pleasures which will endure but a while But let us preserve rather this nobility of ours by doing good by abstaining from evill works and by a good-zeal intent or purpose For to such endeavours if we seek it by prayer God alwaies lendeth his assisting hand Thus much concerning these matters And now seeing it is the received opinion that MAN consisteth of Body and Soul we will follow the same Division treating first of the Soul and therein passe by those questions which being over subtile and difficultly understood cannot be intelligibly expressed to many capacities CAP. 2. SECT 1. I. The severall and different Opinions of the Ancients concerning the SOVL as whether it be a Substance whether corporeall or incorporeall whether mortall or immortall c. II. The confutation of those who affirme in generall that the SOVL is a corporeall-substance III. Confutations of their particular Arguments who affirme that the SOVL is Bloud Water or Aire EXceeding great variance is discovered among the old Philosophers in their discourses of the SOUL insomuch that almost all of them differ one from another in that matter Democritus and Epicurus and the whole sect of the Stoicks doe peremptorily affirme that the SOVL is a Bodie and those very men who affirme the SOVL to be a Bodie dissent one from another in declaring the Essence of it The Stoicks affirm that it is a certain Blast hot and fiery Critias holds that it is bloud Hippon the Philosopher will have it to be water Democritus thinks it is fire and his opinion is that the round Formes of indivisible-bodies or Atomes being incorporated by ayre and fire do make up the Soul Heraclitus conceives that the Soul of the whole frame of the World is a certaine breathing out of the vapours from moist things and that the Soul which is in living-creatures doth proceed both from exhalations without themselves and from exhalations also within them and being of the same kind of which they themselves are Againe on the contrary part there are almost innumerable disagreements among them who say that the SOUL is not a Body or Bodily-substance Some of them affirm that the SOUL is a substance and immortall Some that it is without a Bodie and neither a substance nor immortall Thales who was the first of that opinion held that the SOUL was alwaies in motion and had that motion from it selfe Pythagoras thought that it was a NUMBER moving it selfe Plato affirmed that it was a substance to be conceived in mind that received motion from it self according to NUMBER and HARMONY Aristotle taught that it was the first continuall-motion of a BODIE-NATURALL having in it those Instrumentall parts wherein was possibility of life Dinarchus took it to be an Harmony of the foure Elements not a Harmony made of sounds but as it were a tunable temperature and agreement of hot cold moist dry things in the Bodie But it is without doubt that all the best of these doe agree in this that the SOUL is a substance Aristotle and Dinarchus excepted who affirme that it is no substance at all Besides all these some were of opiniō that there was but one and the same SOUL belonging to all things which was by smal portions distributed to all particular things and then gathered into it self againe of which opinion were the Manichees and certain others Some likewise imagined the Soules were many and of differing sorts Some affirmed that there was both one universall and many particular SOULS and therefore it cannot be but that my Discourse must be drawne to a great length seeing I am to disprove so many opinions Therefore to confute in generall all those together who affirme that the Soul is a corporeall essence it shall be sufficient to alledge that which hath been heretofore delivered to that purpose by Numinius the Pythagorist and by Amonius the Master of Plotinus who thus affirme All Bodies being by their proper nature mutable and such as may be utterly dispersed and divided into innumerable parts and having nothing remaining in them which may not be changed and dispersed have need of something to close them in to bring them together to knit them
into one and as it were to hold them fast united And this we say is done by the SOUL Now if the SOUL be corporeall let it be what Body you please yea though it be a body consisting of the most thin and subtile parts what will you say holds that together as that knitteth the Bodie in One For as we declared before every Bodily thing hath need of some other thing to fasten the parts of it together yea the Bodie of this SOUL that knits together our visible BODIE if we should grant the same to be a corporeall SOUL and the next to that also infinitely it would still have need of some other thing to knit and fasten its own parts together untill an incorporeall-essence were found out If they answer as the Stoicks doe that there is a certaine motion pertaining unto Bodies extending both to the inward and outward parts of the Body That the motion tending outward effects the quantity and the qualities of the Body and that the motion tending inward is cause both of uniting the body and of the essence thereof wee will then aske them seeing every motion doth proceed from some power what kinde of power it is which that motion hath in what consisteth it and what gives essence thereunto If this power bee a certaine matter which the Greekes call Hylen wee will use the same reasons against them which wee objected before If they say it is not matter but a materiall thing for matter and materiall things thus differ That which hath matter in it is called a materiall thing wee then aske them whether that which hath matter in it be likewise matter or void of matter If they say it is matter we demand how it can be both materiall and matter If they answer that it is not matter then they must grant it to be void of matter and if it be void of matter wee will easily prove it to be no Body because every body hath matter in it If they alleage that Bodies have the three Dimensions in them and that the SOUL extending it selfe through the whole Body hath in it also the three Dimensions and therefore must necessarily be a Body wee will then thus answer them It is true that all BODIE' 's have in them the three Dimensions but every thing having the three Dimensions is not a BODY For place and Quality which in themselves have no Body have accidentally a Quantity if they bee in such things as have magnitude In like maner the SOUL in respect of it selfe is utterly void of the Dimensions but accidentally it hath Dimensions because the Body in which it is having in it the three Dimensions wee so conceive it together with the Body as though the Soule also had in it the three Dimensions We argue further and say thus Every Body hath his motion either from without it selfe or from within If the motion bee from without it selfe it must then be void of life if it be from within it selfe it must be indued with life now it is absurd to say that the SOUL is either indued with life or without life one of which must necessarily be affirmed if the Soule bee a corporeall substance therefore the soule cannot be a corporeal Essence Againe the SOUL if it be nourished it is nourished by that which is void of Body for knowledge is the nourishment thereof but no corporeal essence is norished by things bodiless therefore the SOUL cannot be a Body Xenocrates thus concluded this argument If said hee the SOUL be not nourished it cannot be a corporeal-substance because the Body of every living-creature must be nourished Thus much in generall in confutation of all those who generally affirm that the SOUL is a bodily thing Now we will treate particularly against them who are of opinion that the SOUL is either Blood or Breath because when either Blood or Breath is taken away the living-creature dyeth Wee will not say as some well accounted of have written that part of the SOUL falleth away when any part of the blood faileth if the SOUL be the Blood for that were but a slender answer In those things which have every part of like nature with the whole the part remaining is the same with the whole Whether the water bee much or little it is every way perfect water In like maner gold silver and every other thing whose parts do not essentially differ from each other are still the same as is afore said And even so that part of blood which remaineth of what quantity soever may be called the SOUL aswell as the whole quantity if the blood be the SOUL We therfore will rather answer them thus If that be rightly accounted the SOUL upon whose taking away the death of the living creature ensues then should it needs bee that flegme and the two choller 's must be also the SOUL seeing if any one of these faileth it brings the living-creature to his death The like falleth out in the Liver in the Braine in the Heart in the Stomach the Reines the Entrails and in many other parts whereof if you bereave a living-creature it will immediatly perish Moreover there are many things without blood which have life in them neverthelesse as some smooth and gristly fishes some also of a softer kind to wit Sepiae Teuthides and Smyli as the Greekes call them and Lobsters Crabs Oysters and all shel-fish whether they have hard or soft shells Now if these things have a living-Soule in them as we know they have and yet are void of blood then it plainely followes that blood cannot bee the SOUL Against those who say that water is the Soule many things may bee said to disprove their opinion though water helps to quicken and nourish all things and though it bee as they say impossible to live without water Wee cannot live without nourishment and therefore if their assertion bee true wee may aswell affirme that all nourishment in generall and every particular nourishment is the SOUL And whereas they have said that no living-creature can live without water wee finde the contrary to bee probable for it is written of some Aegles and of Partridges that they live without drinke And why should water be the SOUL rather then ayre Seeing it is possible to abstaine from water very long whereas wee can hardly live a moment without breathing the Aire And yet neither is Aire the SOUL For there are many creatures which live without breathing the Aire as all Insectae riveted creatures such as Bees Wasps and Ants as also all bloodlesse creatures all those which live in the waters and such as have no Lungs For none of those things that are without Lungs can breath Aire The proposition is true also if it be converted There is no creature having Lungs which doth not breath aire SECT 2. I. The arguments of Cleanthes the Stoick affirming the SOUL to bee corporeall are here confuted logically and by demonstration II. Chrysippus intending to
the view of every thing which is in the world if his opinion be allowed for according to his tenet there is but one soul for all things even the reasonable-soul SECT 2. I. Of the proper object of sight and of such other meanes and circumstances as are usefull in seeing II. Though colour and shape are onely the proper objects of sight yet by cogitation and memory it commeth to the knowledge of other qualities in the thing seene III. Of such senses as are conversant about things at a distance and in what cases the sight erres or needs the aide of other senses THe sight seeth by straight lines but it feeleth first principally the colours of things and together with theÌ„ discerneth also the body that is coloured the magnitude the shape the place wherein it is the distance the number the motion and the rest thereof as like wise whether it be rough or smooth or unequall or even or sharpe or dull or what element is predominant therin and whether it be waterish or earthy moist or dry Yet that which is the proper object of this sense is colour onely for wee no way attaine the knowledge of colours but by our sight and assoone as wee behold the colour wee therewithall do immediately perceive also the coloured body the place wherein the visible object abideth and the distance which is between the seâ—r and the thing seene Looke in how many senses wee receive the knowledge of bâ—dily things even in so many wee come to the knowledge of a place together with the body as it is in touching and tasting but these two feele them onely when they are joyned neare unto the body except in those things which we shall speake of anon whereas the sight beholds things at a great distance Now in that the sight laies hold of such things as are visible when they be far off it must necessarily follow that it receives a sight only of the distance of things and it is then only capable of the magnitude of things when it is able at one view to comprehend the thing which appeareth but whensoever the visible body is too large to bee apprehended at one aspect then the sight needeth memory and cogitation to assist it For the sight beholding so great an object by peece-meale and not at one whole view must necessarily passe from one part thereof to another and in that passage so much onely is apprehended by the proper faculty of the sight as is present in view the rest which was viewed before is kept by the memory untill our understanding hath brought together both that which was before seen and that which is present likewise in our sight Moreover sight apprehends the magnitude of bodies two maner of wayes Sometime by it selfe alone and sometime again by the aide of memory and cogitation But by it selfe alone it never taketh notice of the number of things visible if they exceed three or foure seeing the number of them cannot not be discerned at one attempt neither can it lay hold on the motions of things neither on Figures which have many corners without it have the helpe of memory and cogitation to assist it For sight is not able to bring together five or sixe or seaven or more without the helpe of memory neither can it bring together figures that have six eight or many corners The motion also that commeth by passing from one great thing to another hath in the same some what preceding and somewhat following after and wheresoever things are found to bee some first some second and some third there memory onely is the preserver of them together But these qualities high and low equall and unequall rough and smooth sharpe and dull bee communicable both to the touching and to the sight for that they onely can discerne of place and yet they stand in some need also of our understanding For that thing onely which moves the sense by one only attempt is wrought by the sense alone without the helpe of memory and cogitation but such things as are felt at divers times are not wrought by the sense onely but by the aide of memory and cogitation as is aforesaid Such is the nature of sight that it can pierce even unto the bottome of transparant things and first and specially of the Aire For it can passe quite through it Secondly it can passe through water when it is cleare insomuch that wee may see fishes swimming in the same And though somwhat more hardly it passes through earth being of a glassie or such like transparant nature Yet this is alwayes to be supposed that these things must be enlightned when they become the proper object of sight without the aide of any other assistant But let no man bee so deceived as to imagine that the sight may of it selfe discerne hot things because when wee see fire we know that it is hot for if you refer that speech to the first function of sight you shall finde that when the sight first beheld the fire it perceived nothing but the shape and colour thereof After that wee comming to touch it and thereby knowing the same to be hot our memory preserves in us the knowledge which wee first gained by the touch and ever since when wee behold fire though wee see nothing in it but the shape and colour our understanding by the helpe of memory conceives the hear of the fire to be in the same as well as the things which are properly seene The like may be said of an apple For seeing the whole forme thereof consisteth not onely in the colour and the shape but in the smell also and in the tast it followes not that it is the sight onely whereby we know the same to bee an apple because we saw the shape and colour of it for our memory had preserved in our understanding the experience which we had formerly collected from the smell and tast and these being added unto that whereof the eye tooke notice perfited our knowledge Therefore when wee thinke an apple made of waxe to be a true apple it is our understanding which erreth and not our sight for the sight failed not to informe rightly so much as pertained unto her sense when it perceived the true colour and shape of an apple Now these three senses sight hearing and smelling are conversant about things at a distance and such as are not joyned close unto them by means of the aire comming between them But the tast cannot possibly feele any thing but that whereunto it is nearely joyned and the touching taketh part of both for sometime wee touch things bodily without any intermedium betweene us and them somtime againe wee touch them with a staffe betwixt us and the things touched Moreover the sight hath now and then want of some other of the senses to witnesse unto it the certainty of that which it perceiveth when things are artificially wrought to deceive the sight as it falleth out in
painting For it is the painters cunning to deceive the eye with counterfeit shadowings either of an Embost or hollow worke as the nature of the things requires To the discerning whereof the sense of touching is especially usefull and sometime of the tast and smell also as appeared in the example of the apple made of wax Yea and otherwhile at no great distance the sight it selfe maketh some things appeare unto us to bee that which they are not For if a towne which is foure-square bee but a pretty distance from us it will seeme unto the sight to be round The sight erres likewise when wee looke through a thick aire or through smoake or some such things as otherwise trouble the sight by the thicknesse thereof In like maner when we see things in the water being stirred for in the Sea an Oare seemeth broken when it is whole So is it also when wee looke in or through some transparant bodie as looking-glasses or other glasses and the like things or when the visible object is moved swiftly For a swift-motion so distempers the sight that those things are thereby made appeare to be round which are nothing so and those to bee fixed which are moved The same happeneth when the minde is busied about other matters as when a man purposing to meet his friend passeth by without heeding him whom hee went to meet though hee met him in the way by reason he had his minde busied with other thoughts But indeed this is not properly an error of the sight but of the minde For the sight beheld his friend and gave warning but the minde heeded not that which was brought unto it Finally the sight needeth foure things for the cleare discerning of all visible objects namely A whole and sound seat for that sense a proportionable measure of motion a fit distance and the aire to bee pure and cleare CAP. 8. I. Of the sense of touching why the seat of it is in all parts of the body and why every living-creature enjoyes that sense whereas many are defective in other of the senses II. Of the proper objects of this sense and of such as it hath in common with other senses III. In which of the senses Man excelleth and in what senses other creatures excell him IT was by the Creator of the world so ordered that hee made the seats of all the other senses two-fold and confined them to a certaine circuit of place in some parts of the body For example hee hath made two eyes two eares two passages for the sense scituate in the nostrill yea and hee hath planted in every living-creature as it were two tongues In some they are evidently parted as in serpents and in some other they are joyned and united as in men And for this cause hee made onely two former-pans of the braine that the sinewes which serve for the senses being sent downe from either of these braine-pans might make the seats of the senses to be twofold Now hee made them twofold in respect of that exceeding tender love which hee bare unto us that when the one of them tooke harme the other which remained might preserve the sense And yet though most of the seats of the other senses perish the living-creature may be alive but as soone as the sense of touching is extinct the living-creature doth instantly perish For onely the sense of touching among all the rest of the senses is common to all livingcreatures and every living-creature is indued therewith whereas all of them have not every one of the other senses but some have these and some have others except those which wee call the more perfect creatures and they indeed have all the senses Now seeing the living-creature loseth life by the losse of this sense the Creator hath allotted unto the sense of touching not one part of the body onely but almost the whole body of the living-creature For except the bones and the hornes and the nailes and the binding-sinewes and the haires and certaine other such like things each part of the body is partaker of the sense of touching Thereupon it hath so hapned that the seat of every sense hath two senses in it one of such things as are properly the object of every particular sense and another in respect of the sense of touching For the sight discerneth colours and yet is partaker both of hot and cold things participating of heat and cold as it is a body and discerning of colours as it is the sense of sight The like may be thought also of the tast of the smelling and of the hearing It may hereupon bee questioned how the touching can bee spred over the whole body seeing that the senses proceed from the former braine-pans for indeed the sinewes come downe from the braine and being dispersed into every part of the body doe there occasion the sense of touching And some were of opinion because the haire stands up as it were with a sudden horror when the foot is casually pricked with a thorne that the griefe or at least the feeling of the griefe ascended up unto the brain and was there felt Which being true it might then be concluded that there could bee no griefe in any part of the body that were wounded but in the brain only It were better therefore to make this answer that the sinewes which bee dispersed as aforesaid are the braine it selfe For they are a certaine portion of the braine containing in them the vitall spirits and diffusing them throughout the whole body of the living-creature in such manner as fire is contained in burning-iron And wheresoever such a sensible-sinew is planted it makes the part wherein it is ingraffed to be partaker of sense and to be so qualified that it may feele things Neither were it improperly spoken to say that not the passion but rather a certaine partaking of the griefe and a denunciation of the same is conveyed up to the braine where all the sinewes have their beginning Now the proper objects of the sense of touching are hot cold soft hard slimy stiffe heavy and light For by touching only we attaine the knowledge of these things whereas these next following are common both to the touching and the sight to wit sharp dull rough plaine dry moist thick thin high low yea and place it selfe So likewise is magnitude when it can bee comprised within one attempt of the touching fogginesse clearenesse roundnesse if it be but in small things as also the shape of other figures yea and it fooleth likewis the motion of bodies comming neare unto it being assisted by memory and understanding Moreover it is sensible of number as farre as two or three but no farther and those things must also be of no larger magnitude then may easily bee comprehended by the touch And these are better discerned by sight then touching as are also such things as bee equall or unequall they being of the same kinde with smooth and rough things for
For in respect of these things this clause was added that the thing consulted of should be in our power The definition saith further that it must bee of things which may be done by VS Because we doe not consult of all men neither of every thing but of those which are in our power to consult of For we consult not how the common wealth of our enemies may be governed nor of them who dwell very far from us albeit this bee a thing which may be consulted of among themselves Neither doe we consult of all things that may bee done by us nor of all things that are in our power And therfore these words which have an uncertain end were added to the definition for if the thing bee manifest and confessed we deliberate no more thereof Neither is there any consultation of such works or actions as are according to Science and Art For all their principles are determinately knowne except a few Arts which are termed conjecturall as Physick and the art of Exorcising and of governing For we doe not onely consult of these things but of such also as are under our hand and may be executed by us they having such an uncertaine end that the successe may be as well that as this But it hath been declared that our consultation is not of the end but of things which tend unto the end For our consultation is not of being rich but of the meanes how to be rich To speake all in briefe wee doe consult of those things onely which are doubtfull and may be either so or not so and of those things we must also treate that in our discourse nothing be wāting which may make things evident Those qualities are called faculties whereby we are enabled to the performance of any thing For whatsoever we doe wee have the faculty of it and those things wee cannot performe whereof the faculty is not in us Therefore our action dependeth upon our faculty and our faculty upon our essence yea the action proceedeth from our faculty and our faculty from our substance and is in our substance And as I said before these are three things depending one upon another The thing able the faculty by which it hath ability and the thing which is to be done The thing able to doe it is a substance The faculty is that whereby wee have ability to doe it The thing to be done is that whose nature may be practised upon by our faculty Of things that may bee done some are necessary some contingent Those are termed necessary which cannot possibly be hindered or those the contrary whereof is unpossible And that is contingent which may bee hindered or whose contrary may possibly fall out For example It is necessary that a man should breath as long as hee liveth for it is impossible a man should live and not breath It is contingent that there should be raine to day for it is possible that this day it should not raine which is contrary to the other Againe things contingent are said to fall out sometimes often sometime seldome and sometimes indifferently in this maner or in that They are frequent as to have gray haires at three score they are seldome as not to have gray haires at that age And they are indifferent as it is equally in our choice to walke or not to walke or simply to doe any act or not to doe it Now our consultation is of those things onely which may indifferently come to passe or not come to passe and a thing is said to fall out equally or indifferently when wee may in like sort doe as well the contrary thereof as the thing it selfe For if we could not doe both equally wee should not consult thereof Because no man consults either of things confessed or impossible For if wee were able to doe but one of those things which are contrary that should be received without ambiguity and the contrary should not because impossible CAP. 35. I. of destiny and of the absurdities impieties and blasphemies which follow their opinion who ascribe the cause of all things to the motion of the Starres or fatall necessity II. Of them who affirme that some things are both necessitated by destiny and yet in mans power III. An examination of the opinion afore mentioned OUr opinion is that they who ascribe all things which are done to the motions and constellations of the Starres doe not onely oppose the vulgar notions of humane reason but teach also in effect that all governance in common-weales are to no purpose For indeed lawes are in vaine and judgements superfluous because they punish innocent men without cause If their opinion bee true it is also a thing unreasonable to reprehend or praise any man yea if every thing come to passe by destiny or by an inavoidable decree our prayers are foolish and ineffectuall bablings and there is neither place nor use for providence or piety Moreover if this were true what account is to be made of man or what is he more then an instrument serviceable to the motions of the superiour bodies Seeing as they affirme he is moved by the celestiall influences not only to the performance of all bodily actions but to every thought also which is in his minde They that are of this opinion doe generally take away together with such things as should bee left in our power the nature likewise of all contingent things and in a manner subvert and destroy the whole world making the Stars injurious homicides and cuckold-makers or at least the causers of all adulteries and murthers Nay God who is the Creator of the starres is by this blasphemous opinion made to beare the blame of all which is ill done rather then the starres because hee made them such as should necessarily and inavoidably bring and lay evills upon us Thus their absurditie extends not onely to the subversion of common-weales but maketh God also to bee the author of all sinne and the cause of all mischiefes Which absurdity blasphemy is both impossible for them to and intollerable for us to heare Some there be who affirme that things may bee in our power and that there may be destiny also For some things say these is given by destiny to every thing that is made as to the water to coole to every plant to beare such fruit as is according to its kinde to a stone to sinke downeward to fire to mount upwards and to living-creatures to accept or to be desirous of things agreeable unto them And when nothing without us or belonging to destiny opposeth it selfe against that which we endeavour then it becomes perfectly in our power to proceed yea and then say these we shall assuredly effect it They who affirme this are Chrysippus Philopater and many other men of great sufficiency and esteem among the Stoicks and all which they have said what shew soever it makes of somewhat else proves nothing but this that all things are done by