necessary cause such as are the other Elements or of a free and intellectual Agent Not of the Earth or of any other natural and necessary cause because natural and necessary causes all things remaining in the same state act and work always the same things and act as much as they can without having power to suspend their action and consequently would not have remained more than an hundred thousand times an hundred thousand millions of years to produce this aptness and disposition much less an infiniteness of time If this Disposition hath been produced by a free and intellectual Agent it cannot be but by the Creator of the Universe who is the great and glorious God whom we adore 4. Now add to what hath been said this true Maxime of Philosophers Natura progreditur ab imperfectionibus ad perfectiora Nature proceeds from things more imperfect to the more perfect That is to say Natural causes in their operations produce first imperfect things which afterwards become more perfect in time So the Earth breeds first Shrubs which in time become great Trees and produces Frogs and Worms and Flies and other small and weak insects which in time become great and strong Therefore If the first Men have been produced by the Earth or the other Elements they cannot have been produced but very little and most weak as they that are newly born and do but come out of the Mothers Womb in which case Men would have been almost Dead as soon as Born there being no succour nor help for them and so there would be never a Man left at this time For it were to overthrow the order of Nature to imagine that the Earth or the other Elements should have produced the first Men as perfect as they are at this time at Five and twenty or thirty years of Age. And besides Our Reason extends it self to all sorts of Animals as well Terrestrial as them that live in the Waters so that it would necessarily follow that the Earth the Air the Water and the Fire or all the Elements together should have produced not onely the first Men but also the first Lions the first Elephants the first Whales the first Dolphins and the like in their perfection Male and Female for the propagation of the same which is altogether against the Order of Nature Moreover If the Earth or the other Elements have heretofore produced some Men why do not they produce no more at this time and if they have produced Lions Whales and other Animals how comes it to pass that they produce none at this time in some parts of the World Surely Mens Wits must be strangely perverted and overturned to suppose such Extravagances and Dreams Therefore since for the propagation of the humane kind the first Men must necessarily have been in a perfect Age and State and that Nature could not make them such one must believe that as it is related by Moses in the Book of Genesis to wit that there is a God who out of the Earth mixed with the other Elements hath framed end fashioned a perfect humane Body and having breathed in his Nostrils the breath of Life he became a living Soul Finally It is an undoubted Truth That none can give that which he hath not Therefore Seeing that the Earth and the other Elements distitute of understanding and much more imperfect than Men neither contain nor enjoy either formally or in eminency and vertue the excellent perfections of the reasonable Soul it is evident they cannot produce it nor consequently Man whose chiefest and noblest part is the reasonable Soul CHAP. IX 1. The Eighth Answer of Atheists saying That there have been many Worlds which have been produced the one by the other and not by a Superior Spirit 2. The Confutation of this Answer 1. THe Eighth Answer of Atheists is That this World hath not been from all Eternity and yet hath not been created by any Superior and Almighty Spirit but that it hath been produced out of the Matter of another World which was before and that that other hath been produced out of the Matter of another which was also before it and so there have been many Worlds which have succeeded one another the World that perished being the Matter of the Generations of the new produced World and that this World which we see now shall perish one day and out of the Matter of it another shall be produced and out of the Matter of that another shall be produced again and so consequently 2. Against this Answer I say That the Worlds which are pretended to have been in time past are either finite or infinite in number if finite in number it follows that there hath been a first World which was never produced out of the Matter of another World else it would not have been first nor out of any Chaos or Eternal Matter as I have sufficiently proved in the Fifth and Sixth Chapters and consequently the first World must needs have been created by a Superior and Almighty Spirit who is the great God whom we adore If infinite in number the same absurdities which follow the infiniteness of Men which we have shewed heretofore will also follow of the infiniteness of Worlds for there is no greater number than an infinite number else the less infinite number would be exceeded by the greater and consequently should be finite and termined seeing that which is exceeded is termined where it is exceeded Now there is a greater number than that of the Worlds which are pretended to have been in time past to wit the number of Stars the number of Plants the number of Animals or the number of all Things in particular which have been in all those pretended Worlds Therefore the number of those Worlds pretended to have been in time past is not infinite Moreover All those pretended Worlds were distant one from another with a finite distance of time onely or with an infinite distance onely or some were distant with a finite distance and others with an infinite distance If they all have been distant with a finite distance of time onely and since a finite distance of time cannot comprehend Eternity or infiniteness it follows necessarily that they have not been from all Eternity that they have been in a finite number and that there hath been one first which having not produced it self nor having been produced by a Chaos or an Eternal Matter as I have shewed above it must have been created of God necessarily If they have been all distant with an infinite distance of time onely it follows that there hath been an infinite time betwixt the two nearest Worlds as well as betwixt the two remotest which is contradictory And if some have been distant with a finite distance of time and others with an infinite and one takes the two remotest Worlds in the finite distance it will follow that one onely World to wit the nearest beyond one of them two being removed from them
ought always to be before the privation For Example The Sight before Blindness Life before Death and that consequently the Light was before Darkness But I answer first That all Philosophers agree that all Physical Privations are before the Forms whereof they are privations because they are privations of future forms as logical privations are privations of forms past And thus the seminal matter hath the privation of the Soul before it hath the Soul it self and every physical matter hath the privation of the essential form before it hath such a form and in the Example alleadged above it may happen that Blindness is before the Sight Deafness before Hearing and the privation of Life before Life So the Born Blind and Deaf Man that Jesus Christ healed were Blind and Deaf before they received either Sight or Hearing And the Embryo that is to say the Infant in the Mothers Womb before it hath got perfect shape hath the privation of rational Life before ever he receives the said rational Life Secondly It is must true that when a Subject is equally susceptible of the Form and the privation of it if the Agent may produce the Subject and the Form it is then in the power of the Agent if it be a free Agent to produce the Subject with the Form or with the Privation thereof But the Earth and the Waters are Bodies equally susceptible of Light and Darkness Therefore God who is a most free Agent and who hath created the Earth the Waters and the Light may have produced the Earth and the Waters with or without Light So then seeing that by the Text it appears that Darkness was before Light we must conclude that the Earth and the Waters were produced tenebrous Finally It is most true that the Light God created is a most bright and shining Body and not an accident as I might make it appear were not the Digression too long already Now who seeth not that God may have created the Earth and the Waters before this bright and shining Body seeing he can create one Body before another By the consideration of these things it is clear that in the two alleadged verses Moses doth not set down a general Proposition of all those things God was to create afterwards but that he describes particularly the creation of Heaven of the Earth and of the Waters which were produced the Evening of the first Day Moreover It is evident that in the said verses Moses speaks not one word of a Chaos containing all Creatures pell-melled and confused together seeing there is no mention made of the Firmament nor of the Element of Fire nor of the Stars nor Plants nor Living Creatures but onely of the Imperial Heaven of the Earth and of the Waters and yet there is never a word of the Heaven and the Earth being mixed together and in the whole History of the Creation there is no mention made of the separation of Heaven from the Earth as there is of the separation of the Earth from the Waters that covered it But enough of this matter it is time to come to the Consutation of other Objections and Answers of Atheists CHAP. VI. 1. The Fifth Answer of Atheists saying That there has been from all Eternity a Matter without Form 2. The proof that there hath not been from all Eternity a Matter without Form and that the Matter could not produce the Forms 3. That the Eternal Atomes by a casual concourse have not made and disposed the World 4. That the Forms cannot have been produced but by God 1. THe Fifth Answer of Atheists is That indeed the World has not been from all Eternity in the case and state it is now and that from all Eternity there hath been no Chaos but that there hath been from all Eternity a Matter without Form and that afterwards out of this Matter all Forms have been produced which being joyned with the Matter have framed all Corporal Creatures and made the World in the case and state it is now The Epicures following the Opinion of their Masters Democritus and Epicurus have specified and determined what that Matter was to wit the Atomes which in time by a casual and accidental concourse have made up the World in the state it is now The Reply 2. Against this Answer I say That if there had been from all Eternity a Matter without Form it would follow that the pretended Forms of Heaven the Stars and the Elements as well as the Forms of Plants and Living Creatures should have been after the Matter and consequently would have had a beginning and having not had beginning of themselves seeing that nothing produces it self they would have been necessarily produced in time by another and that other would be necessarily either the the Matter or some other thing differing from the Matter Now these Forms cannot have been produced in time neither by the Matter nor by any other thing differing from the Matter unless it be by God himself which I prove thus If any Eternal Matter had produced these Forms in time it would follow necessarily that before the productâ—â— of the same a time either finite or inâ—â—nite should have passed not a 〈◊〉 time because betwixt that which is from all Eternity as the Matter is supposed by them to be and that which is not from all Eternity as these Forms or the Productions of the same the difference is greater than of a finite time And Moreover It would follow that a finite time such as that which should have passed since the productions of these Forms added to a finite time such as that which should have passed before the production of these Forms would make up an infinite time or an infinite duration such as the Eternity of the Matter would be which is impossible Neither did an infinite time pass before the production of these Forms for how should it come to pass that the Matter having been an infinite time all alone without acting would produce them afterwards Is it not a constant and true Maxime that Idem qua Idem semper facit Idem when it is not a free and intellectual Agent when there is no impedement and the subjects which it works about are not different Now Matter being not a free and intellectual Agent and finding no impediment nor different subjects seeing it is supposed to be all alone before the productions of these Forms it follows necessarily it hath always done the same thing and consequently that it hath not remained a time either finite or infinite to produce these Forms if it may have produced them Moreover All Men know that Causa naturaliis agit a dextremum suae potentiae that is to say Natural Causes act and work as much as they can For Example The Sun shines as much as it can the Fire heats with all its strength and 't is most true that Causa necessaria positis omnibus requisitis ad agendum sublatis impedimentis necessario agit That
is to say Necessary Causes all things required granted and having no impediments act and work necessarily and cannot keep back nor suspend their action Now then seeing that Matter is a Natural and not a Voluntary Cause a necessary and not a free Cause and that there is no impediment being supposed all alone it follows that if it may have produced these Forms it must necessarily have produced them before or without remaining an infinite time 3. Against the Epicures teaching that the Eternal Atomes by a casual concourse have made and disposed the World in the same case and state it is at present I say that this concourse of Atomes to frame and fashion the World cannot have happened without the local motion of some of them From whence I argue thus If the Atomes or the parts of the Matter had concurred and consequently had moved themselves locally to frame and fashion the World in the case and state it is at present it would follow that they would have moved themselves locally from all Eternity or that they would have remained either a finite or an infinite time without moving and then afterwards would have framed and fashioned the World in the case and state it is at present but they have not moved themselves locally from all Eternity neither have they remained a finite or an infinite time without moving as I have sufficiently proved in the precedent Chapter Num. 2 3 4. for the same things I have said there of the Heaven and the Elements may be said likewise of the Atomes 4. Finally That these Forms have not been produced by any thing differing from the Matters but by God himself appears because the Agent who should have produced them would have been Eternal or not if not Eternal he would have had a Beginning and consequently would have been produced of another of whom I would ask Whether he be Eternal or not and so always inquire until one should come to such an Agent as would not have been produced by another and consequently would be Eternal If Eternal he should be either a necessary and natural Agent or a free and voluntary Agent If a natural and necessary Agent he would have forthwith produced these Forms for a natural and necessary Agent acts and works as much as it can and cannot suspend his action and consequently these Forms would have been from all Eternity and consequently the World in the case and state it is at present which I have demonstrated already to be altogether impossible And if a free and intellectual Agent it can be no other but God sceing that by the word GOD we mean and conceive nothing else but a free and intellectual Agent who hath produced the world in the state and case it is at present CHAP. VII 1 The Sixth Answer of Atheists saying That men have their Original and Beginning from the Tritons and Sirens commonly called Mairmaids 2. The Confutation of this Answer 1. THe Sixth Answer of Atheists is That though men had not been from all Eternity it would not follow that they had been produced by some Divine and Superiour Cause for one might say That their Original is from some Tritons and Sirens who after the Universal Floods lived both in the Waters and on the Land and so in time became terrestrial And they say that some Historiographers relate several things which seem to justifie their allegation Herodotus in the Fourth Book of his History relates that Jason being carried away by a storm into Libia in the Countrey of the Lotophages in the dangerous places of the Tritonide Fenns and Marshes there appeared to him a Triton who demanded of him a Trevet promising to reward him with the discovery of the means whereby he might come out of that place which being performed by Jason the Triton shewed him the way and saved him Lewis Guicharden writes that in the year 1403 they brought to Harbem in Holland a Siren commonly called a Mair maid which by degrees learned to eat bread milk and other meat to spin and to make the Sign of the Cross Acosta in the Third Book Chapter the 18th of his Relations describes the Vros as a kind of men living in the waters and observes that they themselves said they were no men Nicolo Conti in Ramnusio relates That in the River of Cochin there are Fishes to be found with a humane Form and Resemblance that being taken the difference of Sex is to be seen both in Male and Female altogether like ours and further he saith that they are so industrious as to come out of the water at night to strike fire with flints they find there to make a fire with wood at the light whereof they catch all other fishes that come near them The Reply 2. Against this Answer I say First That there is no Author let him be never so fabulous that ever dreamed or writ that men have their Original from the Tritons and Sirens And Besides my reason respecting all terrestrial Creatures it would follow that Elephants Lions Bears Oxen and other terrestrial Creatures would have had their Original from the like Marine Creatures Secondly It is a Moral Maxime That every thing seeks and endeavours to better its Condition Now either it is better for waterish Creatures to become terrestrial or not If it be better for them how came it to pass that they do not seek after it And if it be not better for them why have they done it in time past Finally If they are become terrestrial in times past why do they not do the same now And if such a thing has happened heretofore some where why does it not come to pass again either there or in seme other place of the World Thirdly Histories make mention but of three Floods onely to wit that of Noah that of Ogyges and that of Deucalion now these two last have not been universal for they happened onely in one part of Greece so that it was an easie thing to furnish it again with neighbouring People And as for the first it cannot be believed except one believes a Divinity whether we respect the Miracles that went along with it or the Holy Man that writ the History of it who saith positively that God sent it and commanded Noah to build the Ark to save in it all kinds of Terrestrial Creatures so that it is needless to have recourse to Waterish Creatures Fourthly The Examples of Herodotus Guicharden and others prove indeed that there are Tritons and Sirens but they speak never a word concerning Men having had their original from them And as for the strange things they write of them it is certain they had them by hear-say from others who might have been deceived in the Narration and by the Declarer as well as themselves And this will soon appear to be true if we judge impartially of the Writings of Herodotus for most part of what he writes from others is so far from being a true History