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<NAME>Emma Leeson Huber</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="frontispiece">
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<P><FIGURE>
<HEAD>W. Faithorne Sculp.</HEAD>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>TWO <HI>CHOICE and &V;SEF&V;L</HI> TREATISES: THE ONE LUX ORIENTALIS; OR An Enquiry into the Opinion of the EASTERN SAGES Concerning the <HI>PRAEEXISTENCE of SO&V;LS.</HI> Being a Key to unlock the Grand My|&s;teries of PROVIDENCE. In Relation to Mans Sin and Mi&s;ery. THE OTHER, A <HI>DISCO&V;RSE</HI> of <HI>TR&V;TH,</HI> By the late Reverend Dr. <HI>R&V;ST</HI> Lord Bi|&s;hop of <HI>Dromore</HI> in <HI>Ireland.</HI> WITH ANNOTATIONS on them both.</P>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">,</Q>
<BIBL>Plato.</BIBL>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>James Collins,</HI> and <HI>Sam. Lowndes</HI> over again&s;t <HI>Exeter</HI> Exchange in the <HI>Strand,</HI> 1682.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE HONOURABLE Sir JOHN FINCH</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>YO&V; may well be &s;urpri|zed at this unexpected Dedication from one that may &s;eem an utter Stranger to your Per&s;on; but the fame of your &s;ingular knowledge in the choice&s;t parts of Philo&s;ophy, and all other worthy accompli&s;hments, will make this pre&s;umption of me, the Publi&s;her of the&s;e two Treati&s;es, as pardonable by your &s;elf, &s;o, I hope, justifiable to all the World. Not to &s;ay that it is a peice of in|di&s;pen&s;able
<PB REF="3">
justice that one of them be Dedicated to you; the Author thereof being that Excellent Per|&s;on the Reverend Dr. <HI>Ru&s;t,</HI> late Bi&s;hop of <HI>Dromore</HI> in <HI>Ireland,</HI> once fellow of <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> Colledge in <HI>Cambridge,</HI> to which you lately have been &s;o Noble a Benefactor. Wherefore in hopes that you will be plea&s;ed to take the Dedication of this whole Book, the two <HI>Trea|ti&s;es,</HI> and the <HI>Annotations</HI> there|on in good part, craving pardon for this boldne&s;s I humbly take leave, and am,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Honoured Sir,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED>Your mo&s;t obedient and humble Servant. JAMES COLLINS.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
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<HEAD>The Publi&s;her to the Reader.</HEAD>
<P>THe&s;e two Choice and U&s;eful <HI>Treati&s;es</HI> I pre|&s;ent thee with the name of the Author of the latter of them is &s;et down in the Title Page, the Reverend Dr. <HI>Ru&s;t</HI> late Lord Bi&s;hop of <HI>Dromore</HI> in the Kingdom of <HI>Ireland;</HI> who&s;e Vertues Parts and Abilities are copiou&s;ly &s;et out in a Letter of Mr. <HI>Jo&s;. Glanvill</HI> prefixt to the <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e</HI> it &s;elf. And i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> thou ha&s;t the curio&s;ity to know who is the Author of the former Treati&s;e <HI>L&V;X ORI|ENTALIS</HI> (who then thought fit to conceal his name as him&s;elf takes notice in his Epi&s;tle Dedica|tory) I can a&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">re thee, that it is the &s;aid Mr. <HI>Jo&s;. Glanvill,</HI> a per&s;on reputed one of the mo&s;t ingeni|ous and florid Writers of his Age. But for my own part I mu&s;t ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;s, that I am no compe|tent J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">dge, and con&s;equently can be no fit <HI>Encomia&s;t</HI> of the Abi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ities or Performances of Either. Only this I know, that both the&s;e <HI>Treati&s;es</HI> have &s;old very well, and that there is none to be got of the <HI>Di&s;|cour&s;e of Truth;</HI> though it is not many years &s;ince it was Printed. And for <HI>L&V;X ORIENTA|LIS,</HI> which was Printed about twenty years ago, when the Book grew &s;carce, it was &s;o much valued by the more eager and curious &s;earchers into the pro|founde&s;t points of Philo&s;ophy, that there was given for it by &s;ome, four or five times the price for which it was at fir&s;t Sold.</P>
<P>The con&s;iderations whereof coming into my mind, I thought I &s;hould both gratifie the learned World and benefit my &s;elf, if I reprinted the&s;e <HI>two Treati&s;es</HI> together. Which I do the more willingly,
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becau&s;e the former Editions were too too fal&s;e and corrupt, e&s;pecially of <HI>L&V;X ORIENTALIS.</HI> Which faults of the Pre&s;s, or MSS. are carefully corrected in this.</P>
<P>And be&s;ides that this Edition is more correct than the former, there are al&s;o <HI>Annotations</HI> added to each <HI>Treati&s;e</HI> by one not unexercized in the&s;e kind of Speculations. And in the <HI>Annotations</HI> upon the <HI>Di&s;|cour&s;e of Truth,</HI> there is in&s;erted a <HI>DIGRESSI|ON</HI> that contains a brief An&s;wer to Mr. <HI>Baxters Placid Collation with the learned Dr.</HI> Henry More.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e men u&s;ually have a fondne&s;s even for the &s;maller Toyes or Trifles of well e&s;teemed Wri|ters after their decea&s;e, I have prefixed a <HI>Latin Dedi|cation</HI> of <HI>L&V;X ORIENTALIS</HI> (which I op|portunely had by me) before the Epi&s;tle Dedicatory: Which <HI>Latin Dedication</HI> the Author &s;ent &s;o prefixed, in a Copy to the Party it is made, and I have Printed it in the &s;ame order it was there found, that it may be one Monument among&s;t many other of the Au|thors <HI>Wit</HI> and <HI>Ingenuity.</HI> I have al&s;o, that nothing may be wanting to thy Content, got a friend to de|vi&s;e an <HI>Hieroglyphical Fronti&s;pice,</HI> intended more e|&s;pecially for <HI>L&V;X ORIENTALIS.</HI> But I do not profe&s;s my &s;elf able to unriddle the meaning thereof. The be&s;t Interpreter will be the Book it &s;elf. To the reading whereof I leave thee and re&s;t</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your humble Servant JAMES COLLINS.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>LUX ORIENTALIS, OR An Enquiry into the Opinion of the Ea&s;tern Sages Concerning the PRAEEXISTENCE OF SOULS. Being a Key to unlock the Grand My&s;teries of PROVIDENCE, In relation to mans Sin and Mi&s;ery.</P>
<BIBL>Cardanus.</BIBL>
<Q> Quid jucundius qu&agrave;m &s;cire quid &s;imus, quid fuerimus, quid erimus, atque cum his etiam Divina illa atque &s;uprema po&s;t obitum mundique Vici&s;&s;itudines?</Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>J. Collins,</HI> and <HI>S. Lowndes</HI> o|ver again&s;t <HI>Exeter Exchange</HI> in the <HI>Strand,</HI> 1682.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 LANG="lat" TYPE="dedication">
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<P>Docti&s;&s;imo viro Domino Doctori HENRICO MORO Maximo Purioris Philo&s;ophiae Magi&s;tro &amp; Sapientiae ORIENTALIS RESTAURATORI In exiguum Summi Affect&ucirc;s Te&s;timonium ET Aeternae Ob&s;ervantiae Pignus a &s;uis Flammis mutuatam hanc Orientis Scintillam D. D. D. Humillimus Virtutum ejus Et candoris non min&ugrave;s Quam Doctrinae Cultor; Qui ei exoptat Lucem Sem|piternam, &amp; petit ut candid&egrave; accipiat LUCEM ORIENTALEM.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<PB REF="6">
<HEAD>TO THE Much Honoured and Ingenious <HI>FRANCIS WILLO&V;GHBY</HI> ESQUIRE.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>'TIS likely you will no le&s;s wonder at this unexpected &s;ally of my pen; than at my having prefixt your name to a &s;mall Trifle, that owns no Author. Of the former, you will receive an account in the <HI>Pre|face.</HI> And the latter, if the con&s;ide|rations following are not of weight, to attone for; I know you have good|ne&s;s enough to pardon, what I have not rea&s;on &s;ufficient to excu&s;e, or vin|dicate. Well meaning intentions are <HI>Apology</HI> enough, where candour, and ingenuity are the Judges. I was not induced then to this Addre&s;s,
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becau&s;e, I thought, I could oblige you; Worth de&s;cribes it &s;elf in the faire&s;t Character. But reflecting upon that de|light and &s;atisfaction, that I have re|ceived in di&s;cour&s;ing with you on &s;uch matters; and knowing that your Noble Genius is grati&s;ied by &s;uch kind of &s;pe|culations; I thought, I could not make more &s;uitable payment for my content, or better acknowledge the favour I re|ceive in your acquaintance, then by pre&s;enting you a Di&s;cour&s;e about <HI>Prae-exi&s;tence;</HI> and giving you a peculiar intere&s;t in <HI>it,</HI> as you have in its <HI>Au|thor.</HI> Not that I would &s;ugge&s;t, that you are a favourer of any &s;trange opini|ons, or hold any thing in this particu|lar, or any other, that is &s;it to be di&s;|countenanc'd. But I know you love to be dealing in high and generous <HI>Theories,</HI> even where your &s;elf are a di&s;&s;enter, Nor is it the lea&s;t evidence of the great|ne&s;s and Heroick Noblene&s;s of your Spirit; that amid&s;t the &s;lowing aboun|dance
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of the World's Ble&s;&s;ings, with which you are encircled, you can yet Dedicate your &s;elf to your beloved <HI>Con|templations,</HI> and look upon the Fur|niture and accompli&s;hments of the mind, as better riches, than the larg|e&s;t doals of fortune, and the Wealth and Revenues of an ample inheritance. Andmethinks, while mo&s;t others at the be&s;t, do but <HI>u&s;e</HI> the <HI>Donatives</HI> of <HI>Pro|vidence,</HI> you <HI>enjoy</HI> them. And, by a Nobler kind of <HI>Chymi&s;try,</HI> extract from them a plea&s;ure, that is not to be met with in all the trivial &s;ports of <HI>empty Gallantry.</HI> To be reveiwing the Rece&s;&s;es of Nature, and the Beau|teous in&s;ide of the &V;niver&s;e, is a more <HI>Manly,</HI> yea <HI>Angelick</HI> felicity, than the highe&s;t <HI>gratifications</HI> of the <HI>&s;en&s;es;</HI> an happine&s;s, that is common to the Youthful <HI>Epicure,</HI> with his Hounds and Hor&s;es; yea, your ends are more <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> and generous, then to terminate in the private plea&s;ure you take, even in tho&s;e
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<HI>Philo&s;ophical Re&s;earches;</HI> For you are Meditating a more general good in tho&s;e careful and profound inquiries you are making into <HI>Animals,</HI> and o|ther concerning affairs of nature, which I hope, one day the World will be ad|vantag'd by. But I mu&s;t not ingage in an <HI>Encomium,</HI> in which I cannot be <HI>ju&s;t,</HI> but I mu&s;t be trouble&s;ome. For your mode&s;ty is no more able to bear it, then my Pen can reach. Wherefore I &s;hall di&s;mi&s;s your eyes from this tire&s;ome Attendance; and only beg, that you would a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf that no Man is more your Servant, then</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>The Authour of <HI>Lux Orientalis:</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="8">
<HEAD><HI>THE</HI> PREFACE.</HEAD>
<P>IT is none of the lea&s;t commenda|ble indulgences of our Church, that &s;he allows us a latitude of judging in points of <HI>Speculation;</HI> and ties not up mens Con&s;ciences to an implicite a&s;&s;enting to opinions, not <HI>nece&s;&s;ary</HI> or <HI>Fundamental;</HI> which favourable and kind <HI>permi&s;&s;ion,</HI> is que&s;tionle&s;s a great obligation upon the ingenuous, &s;ubmi&s;&s;ively to re|ceive and ob&s;erve her pious appoint|ments for <HI>peace</HI> and <HI>order.</HI> Nor is there le&s;s <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> in this <HI>parental in|dulgence,</HI> than there is of Chri&s;tian <HI>charity</HI> and <HI>prudence;</HI> &s;ince to tie all others up to our opinions, and to impo&s;e difficult and di&s;putable mat|ters under the Notion of <HI>Confe&s;&s;ions</HI> of <HI>Faith,</HI> and <HI>fundamentals</HI> of <HI>Reli|gion,</HI> is a mo&s;t unchri&s;tian piece of
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<HI>Tyranny,</HI> the foundation of <HI>per&s;ecuti|on,</HI> and very root of <HI>Antichri&s;tiani&s;me.</HI> So that I have often wondred, that tho&s;e that heretofore would have forced all men to a compliance with their darling <HI>notions,</HI> and would have made a prey of them, that could not bow down before the <HI>Idol</HI> of their new-framed <HI>Orthodoxy;</HI> &s;hould yet have the face to object <HI>per&s;ecuti|on</HI> and unchri&s;tian <HI>Tyranny</HI> to our Church Appointments; when them|&s;elves lie under a deep and Crim&s;on guilt of tho&s;e very &s;ame mi&s;carriages, which they endeavour to affix upon tho&s;e more innocent <HI>Con&s;titutions.</HI> For is it not a far more blameable and obnoxious impo&s;ition to frame <HI>Sy&s;tems</HI> of di&s;putable <HI>Opinions,</HI> and to require their admittance into our <HI>Creeds,</HI> in the place of the mo&s;t <HI>&s;a|cred, nece&s;&s;ary,</HI> and <HI>fundamental</HI> veri|ties; Than it is to appoint &s;ome harmle&s;s orders of <HI>circum&s;tance</HI> and
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<HI>ceremony,</HI> which in them&s;elves are <HI>indifferent</HI> and <HI>innocent?</HI> And let any equal Man be Judge, which is the greater <HI>&s;uper&s;tition,</HI> either to <HI>Idolize</HI> and place <HI>Religion</HI> in things of <HI>di&s;|pute</HI> and meer <HI>opinions;</HI> or con&s;ci|entiou&s;ly to ob&s;erve the <HI>Sanctions</HI> of that <HI>Authority</HI> we are bound to obey. But how all tho&s;e ill apply|ed reproaches of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> recoyl upon tho&s;e that di&s;|charge them, I have fully proved in a Di&s;cour&s;e on this Subject, which in its due time may &s;ee the <HI>Light.</HI> But for the pre&s;ent I go on with what I was about; Therefore I &s;ay, 'tis a mo&s;t commendable excellency in our <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Con&s;titutions;</HI> which with all due regard ought to be ac|knowledged; That they lay &s;tre&s;s on few matters of <HI>opinion,</HI> but &s;uch as are of important concernment, or very <HI>meridian</HI> truths. Which I mention not to this purpo&s;e, as if
<PB REF="10">
men might therefore indulge them|&s;elves in what conceits and dange|rous opinions &s;oever their phancies might give birth to, (This were an unpardonable abu&s;e of that noble and ingenuous Liberty that is affor|ded us;) But that they might &s;ee the beauty of tho&s;e well temper'd Con&s;titutions; and that the mouth of obloquy might be &s;topped that &s;landers our Church, as if it yield|ed no &s;cope at all for <HI>free inquiry;</HI> when I dare &s;ay there is not a Church in Chri&s;tendome, that in this regard is le&s;s taxable.</P>
<P>As for the opinion of <HI>Praeexi|&s;tence,</HI> the &s;ubject of the following Papers, it was never determined a|gain&s;t by ours, nor any other Church, that <HI>I</HI> know of; And there|fore <HI>I</HI> conceive is left as a matter of <HI>School Speculation,</HI> which without danger may be <HI>problematically</HI> argu|ed on either hand. And I have &s;o
<PB REF="10">
great confidence in all true Sons of our common Mother, to think, that they will not fix any har&s;h and &s;e|vere cen&s;ures, upon the innocent <HI>Speculations</HI> of tho&s;e, though po&s;|&s;ibly they may be Errours, who own the <HI>Authority, Articles, Canons,</HI> and <HI>Con&s;titutions</HI> of that Church which they are &s;o de&s;ervedly zealous for.</P>
<P>Therefore let me here premoni&s;h once for all, that I intend no In|novation in Religion, or di&s;turbance of our e&s;tabli&s;hed and received Do|ctrines, by any thing I have under|taken in this little <HI>Treati&s;e;</HI> But only an innocent repre&s;entation of an Antient and Probable opinion, which <HI>I</HI> conceive, may contribute &s;omewhat towards the clearing and vindica|ting the <HI>Divine Attributes,</HI> and &s;o repre&s;enting the ever ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Deity,</HI> as a more fit object of <HI>Love</HI> and <HI>A|doration,</HI> than the <HI>Opinions</HI> of the <HI>World</HI> make him. And what ever
<PB REF="11">
may be thought of the thing it &s;elf, or the manage of this affair, I'm &s;ure the end and de&s;ign is concerning and important, and de&s;erves at lea&s;t a favourable con&s;truction of the undertaking. For there is nothing more for the intere&s;t of <HI>Religion,</HI> than that God be repre&s;ented to his Creatures as amiable and lovely, which cannot be better done, than by clearing up his Providences and dealings with the Sons of men, and di&s;covering them to be full of Equi|ty, Sweetne&s;s and Benignity; &s;o that though I &s;hould be mi&s;taken in the opinion which <HI>I</HI> endeavour to recommend, yet <HI>I</HI> expect the can|dour of the ingenuous, being betray'd into an errour, if it be one, by &s;o pardonable an occa&s;ion.</P>
<P>If it be excepted again&s;t this un|dertaking, that the Doctrine of <HI>Pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eexi&s;tence</HI> hath in a late Di&s;cour&s;e been purpo&s;ely handled; be&s;ides
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what the learned Dr. <HI>More</HI> hath writ|ten of it; and therefore that this la|bour may &s;eem a &s;uperfluous, unne|ce&s;&s;ary Repetition: <HI>I</HI> an&s;wer, that that very Treati&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> the Account of <HI>Origen,</HI> made &s;ome &s;uch thing as this expedient. For though the proof and management of this af|fair be there unexceptionable, as far as the Author is by his de&s;ign inga|ged; yet, he being confined to the rea&s;ons of <HI>Origen,</HI> and to the an&s;wer|ing &s;uch objections, as the <HI>Fathers</HI> urged again&s;t him; hath not &s;o ful|ly &s;tated and cleared the bu&s;ine&s;s, but that there was room for after|undertakers. And 'tis a great di&s;in|tere&s;t to &s;o &s;trange and unu&s;ual a Doctrine as this, to be but partially handled: &s;ince &s;o long, it will not be under&s;tood, and con&s;equently be but expo&s;ed to contempt and ig|nominy. Nor can we hope that the world will be &s;o favourable to a <HI>Para|dox,</HI>
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or take &s;o much pains for the under&s;tanding of that which they think a <HI>gro&s;s ab&s;urdity,</HI> as to collect tho&s;e Principles that are &s;catter'd up and down the writings of that great and excellent Re&s;torer of the <HI>Plato|nick Cabbala,</HI> and accommodate them to the intere&s;t of this opinion. So that <HI>I</HI> thought that till the <HI>Rea&s;ons, An&s;wers, Principles,</HI> and <HI>particular State</HI> of the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> were brought all together, to talk of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> in Earne&s;t were but to make a mans &s;elf ridiculous, and the Doctrine, the common <HI>Ludibrium</HI> of fools and ignorants.</P>
<P>And yet <HI>I</HI> mu&s;t confe&s;s my &s;elf to be &s;o much a contemner of the half|witted cen&s;urers of things they know not, that this Rea&s;on alone could not have moved my pen the breadth of a letter; But &s;ome ingenious friends of mine, who were willing to do their Maker right, in a due
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apprehen&s;ion of his Attributes and Providences, having read the <HI>Letter of Re&s;olution,</HI> and thence being induced to think favourably of <HI>Prae-exi&s;tence,</HI> were yet not fully &s;atisfi|ed in the proof, nor able to give &s;top to tho&s;e <HI>objections,</HI> which their imperfect knowledge of the <HI>Hypo|the&s;is</HI> occa&s;ioned; wherefore they de&s;ired me to draw up a more full and particular Account of that Doctrine, which they had now a kindne&s;s for, and which wanted no|thing more to recommend it to them, but a clear and full repre&s;en|tation. For their &s;atisfaction then, <HI>I</HI> drew up the following Di&s;cour&s;e, intending at fir&s;t, that it &s;hould go no further than their hands, who&s;e intere&s;t in mine affections had com|manded it; but they being more than <HI>I</HI> could well plea&s;ure with writ|ten Copies, and perceiving others of my acquaintance al&s;o, to whom
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<HI>I</HI> owe regard and &s;ervice, to be in the like condition with the&s;e; <HI>I</HI> was induced to let this <HI>Little Tri&s;le</HI> tread a more <HI>publick Stage;</HI> and to &s;peak my mind to them from the <HI>Pre&s;s.</HI></P>
<P><HI>If</HI> further rea&s;on be expected for mine undertaking a bu&s;ine&s;s in which others have been ingaged, <HI>I</HI> would de&s;ire them to con&s;ider what an infi|nite of Books are written upon al|mo&s;t all &s;ubjects can be named. And <HI>I</HI> am confident, if they turn o're <HI>Libraries,</HI> they'l find no <HI>theam,</HI> that is of any con&s;ideration, le&s;s tra|ced than this is. So that no body hath rea&s;on to call it a <HI>Crambe,</HI> who con&s;iders, that there are multitudes, even of Scholars that have never &s;een or heard of any thing of this na|ture; And there is not, that <HI>I</HI> know of, any one Book extant in any language be&s;ides this, that purpo&s;e|ly, &s;olely, and fully treats of <HI>Praeex|i&s;tence.</HI> Wherefore who ever con|demns
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this as a &s;uperfluous ingage|ment, if he will be ju&s;t, mu&s;t pa&s;s the &s;ame cen&s;ure upon well nigh every Di&s;cour&s;e the Pre&s;s is deliver'd of; for hee'l meet with few written on le&s;s handled &s;ubjects. I might urge al&s;o if there were need on't, that various repre&s;entations of the &s;ame thing, fit the variety of phan|cies and gu&s;ts of peru&s;ers; and that may have force and prevalence to per&s;wade in one, which &s;ignifies nothing in another. But 'tis e|nough; he that will judge me on this account, mu&s;t pa&s;s the &s;ame A|ward on every Sermon he hears, and every Book he looks on; And &s;uch a cen&s;ure will do me as little hurt, as him good, that pa&s;&s;eth it.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides this exception, 'tis not un|likely that &s;ome may object, that I u&s;e <HI>Arguments</HI> that have already been pleaded in behalf of this o|pinion; which rightly under&s;tood,
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is no matter of di&s;repute; &s;ince e|very one el&s;e doth it that deals in a Subject formerly written of. And I would have him that commenceth &s;uch a charge again&s;t me, to con&s;ult divers Authours who have handled the &s;ame &s;ubject; and if he find not the &s;ame Arguments and Rea&s;ons infinitely repeated every where, let him call me <HI>plagiary,</HI> and &s;pare not. 'Tis true therefore I have not baulk't the rea&s;ons of <HI>Origen,</HI> Dr. <HI>More,</HI> or the Authour of the <HI>Letter of Re&s;o|lution,</HI> becau&s;e they had been u&s;ed already; but freely own the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of tho&s;e worthy Authours; however I think I have &s;o managed, fortified, and &s;ecured them again&s;t excepti|ons, e&s;pecially the mo&s;t con&s;idera|ble, that <HI>I</HI> may rea&s;onably expect a pardon, yea and an intere&s;t in them al&s;o. For 'tis the backing of an ar|gument that gives it force and effi|cacy; which <HI>I</HI> have done to the
<PB REF="14">
mo&s;t weighty of them, at my pro|per co&s;t and charges. Nor &s;hould I have been faithful to my cau&s;e, had <HI>I</HI> omitted any thing that <HI>I</HI> thought confirm'd it, upon any pretence whatever; &s;ince po&s;&s;ibly this di&s;|cour&s;e may fall into the hands of &s;ome, who never met with tho&s;e o|ther Authors. And my de&s;ign be|ing a full proof, defence, and ex|plication of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> it had been an unpardonable defect to have pre|termitted tho&s;e weighty rea&s;ons by which its learned a&s;&s;ertors have inforced it.</P>
<P><HI>If</HI> any yet &s;hould criminate me (as <HI>I</HI> know &s;ome did the <HI>account of Ori|gen,)</HI> for u&s;ing many of the &s;ame <HI>words,</HI> and &s;ome of the &s;ame <HI>phra&s;es</HI> and <HI>expre&s;&s;ions,</HI> that tho&s;e others, who have writ about tho&s;e matters, have made u&s;e of; <HI>I</HI> am not very careful to an&s;wer them in this mat|ter; and <HI>I</HI> doubt this engagement
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again&s;t tho&s;e little &s;cruples, will but &s;eem importune to the judicious. For no body blames the frequent u&s;age of words of Art; or tho&s;e which the fir&s;t <HI>Ma&s;ters</HI> or <HI>Re&s;torers</HI> of any Doctrine have been wont to expre&s;s their notions by; &s;ince that &s;uch words and expre&s;&s;ions are be&s;t under&s;tood, as have by cu&s;tome, or the Authority of &s;ome great Authors, been appropriated to &s;uch Doctrines, as they have imployed them in the &s;ervice of. And &s;hould every man that writes on any &s;ub|ject, be obliged to invent a-new, all the terms he hath need of, and in|du&s;triou&s;ly to &s;hun tho&s;e <HI>proper ex|pre&s;&s;ive words</HI> and <HI>phra&s;es</HI> that are fit|ted to his hands, and the bu&s;ine&s;s he is about; all things will be fill'd with <HI>impertinency, darkne&s;s</HI> and <HI>confu&s;ion.</HI></P>
<P>It mu&s;t be acknowledged then, that mo&s;t of the peculiar <HI>words</HI> and <HI>phra&s;es</HI> that either I, or any body
<PB REF="15">
el&s;e that will &s;peak properly and intelligibly in this matter, make u&s;e of, are borrowed from the judicious and elegent contriver of them, the profound Re&s;torer and Refiner of almo&s;t-extinct <HI>Platoni&s;m:</HI> Who&s;e in|vention hath been &s;o happy in this kind, that it hath &s;erved up tho&s;e notions in the mo&s;t <HI>appo&s;ite, &s;ignifi|cant, comprehen&s;ive</HI> and <HI>expre&s;&s;ive</HI> words that could well be thought of. Wherefore 'twere an humour|&s;ome piece of folly for any man that deals in the&s;e matters, indu&s;triou&s;ly to avoid &s;uch <HI>termes</HI> and <HI>expre&s;&s;ions</HI> as are &s;o adapted and fitted to this purpo&s;e, and &s;o well known among tho&s;e that are acquainted with this way of <HI>Learning;</HI> when without vanity he could not think to be better furni&s;h't from his own phan|cy.</P>
<P>If in the following papers I have u&s;ed any <HI>expre&s;&s;ions</HI> of others, which
<PB REF="16">
the&s;e con&s;iderations will not war|rant; I mu&s;t beg pardon for my <HI>memory,</HI> which doth not u&s;e to be &s;o &s;erviceable. And where I writ this Di&s;cour&s;e, I had not one of my books within my reach, that treat|ed of <HI>this,</HI> or <HI>indeed any other Sub|ject.</HI> Nor am I at lea&s;ure now to examine them and <HI>this,</HI> to &s;ee whe|ther I can find any &s;uch <HI>coincidences;</HI> which a mans phancy dealing fre|quently in &s;uch matters, might in|&s;en&s;ibly occa&s;ion. If any there be, let tho&s;e that find them out, pardon them, as the &s;lips of a too <HI>officious imagination;</HI> or however el&s;e they treat them, they &s;hall not much di&s;|plea&s;e the Author.</P>
<P>And now that this Di&s;cour&s;e may pa&s;s with le&s;s controul among tho&s;e that &s;hall light on it, I find my &s;elf ingag'd to &s;peak a little to a double &s;ort of Readers, who are like to be offended at my de&s;ign, and aver&s;e
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to the <HI>Doctrine</HI> a&s;&s;erted in the&s;e <HI>Pa|pers.</HI> And (1) &s;ome will boggle at <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> and be afraid to enter|tain it, upon an apprehen&s;ion that the Admi&s;&s;ion of this opinion will di&s;order and change the Frame of <HI>Orthodox</HI> Divinity; which, were there cau&s;e for &s;uch a jealou&s;ie, were but a commendable caution; but there's hope this may prove but a panick fear, or &s;uch a needle&s;s ter|rour as &s;urpri&s;eth Children in the dark, when they take their be&s;t friends for &s;ome <HI>Bug-Bear</HI> that would carry them away, or hurt them. For 'tis but &s;uppo&s;ing (as I have &s;ome|where intimated in the di&s;cour&s;e it &s;elf) that God created all &s;ouls toge|ther as he did the Angels; That &s;ome of them &s;inned and fell with the o|ther <HI>Apo&s;tate Spirits;</HI> and for their di&s;obedience were thru&s;t into a &s;tate of &s;ilence and in&s;en&s;ibility; That the <HI>Divine goodne&s;s</HI> &s;o provided for
<PB REF="17">
them, that they &s;hould act a part a|gain in <HI>terre&s;trial Bodies,</HI> when they &s;hould fitly be prepared for them; And that <HI>Adam</HI> was &s;et up as our great <HI>Protopla&s;t</HI> and <HI>Repre&s;entative,</HI> who, had he continued in <HI>Innocence</HI> and <HI>Integrity,</HI> we had then been &s;ha|rers in that happine&s;s which he at fir&s;t was in&s;tated in; but by his un|happy defection and di&s;obedience we lo&s;t it; and became thus mi&s;era|ble in our <HI>New life</HI> in the&s;e earthly bodies. I &s;ay the Doctrine of <HI>Prae-exi&s;tence</HI> thus &s;tated, is, in nothing that I know of, an enemy to <HI>common Theology:</HI> all things hence proceed|ing as in our ordinary Sy&s;tems; with this only difference, that this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> clears the <HI>divine</HI> Attri|butes from any &s;hadow of har&s;hne&s;s, or breach of equity, &s;ince it &s;up|po&s;eth us to have &s;inned and de&s;erv|ed all the mi&s;ery we &s;uffer in this condition before we came hither:
<PB REF="17">
whereas the other which teacheth, that we became both guilty and mi|&s;erable by the &s;ingle and &s;ole offence of <HI>Adam,</HI> whenas we were not then in being, or as to our &s;ouls, as much as <HI>potentially</HI> in our great <HI>Progenitour;</HI> bears &s;omewhat hardly upon the re|pute of the <HI>Divine perfections.</HI> So that if the wary Reader be afraid to venture upon the <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> that I have drawn up at the end, (which, I confe&s;s, I would not give him the lea&s;t incouragement to meddle with) yet without danger he may admit of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> as accommodated to the <HI>Orthodox</HI> Doctrine.</P>
<P>Nor &s;hould I indeed have medled with the other <HI>&s;cheme,</HI> which is built upon the <HI>Principles</HI> of meer <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>Philo&s;ophy;</HI> but that tho&s;e friends who drew the re&s;t of the Di&s;cour<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e from me, ingag'd me to give them an Account of the <HI>Philo&s;ophical Hy|pothe&s;is.</HI> In which, I know, I have
<PB REF="18">
not in every particular, followed the mind of the Ma&s;ters of the <HI>Ori|genian Cabbala;</HI> but kept my &s;elf to the conduct of tho&s;e <HI>Principles,</HI> that I judged mo&s;t rational; though in|deed the things wherein I differ, are very few and incon&s;iderable. How|ever for that rea&s;on I thought fit to intitle no body to the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> that I have made a draught of, le&s;t I &s;hould have affix't on any one, what he would not have owned. But for the main, tho&s;e that under&s;tand it, know the Fountain; and for others, 'tis no great matter if they be ignorant.</P>
<P>Now if any one judge me to be a Pro&s;elyte to tho&s;e <HI>opinions,</HI> becau&s;e I call them not all to nought, or damn not tho&s;e, that have a favour for them; I know not how to avoid the doom of their &s;evere di&s;plea&s;ure; having &s;aid as much in the place where I treat of tho&s;e matters, to purge my &s;elf of &s;uch a &s;u&s;picion, as I thought nece&s;|&s;ary
<PB REF="18">
to clear me, in the opinion of any competently ingenuous. As for others, let me &s;ay what I can, I &s;hall be what their wi&s;doms think fit to call me; And let that be what it will, I am very well content to bear it. I'le only add, to take off the ground of this uncharitable jealou|&s;ie, that among the favourers of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> I know none that are adherers to tho&s;e <HI>opinions;</HI> and there|fore for me to have declaim'd a|gain&s;t any, on this account, had been a piece of <HI>Knight-Errantry;</HI> And tho&s;e <HI>Dons</HI> that do &s;o make <HI>Gyants</HI> of the <HI>Wind-mills</HI> of their own <HI>Ima|ginations.</HI></P>
<P>But, (2) There are another &s;ort of Readers that I have a word to &s;ay to, who contemn and laugh at every thing that their narrow noddles com|prehend not. This, I confe&s;s, is a good <HI>ea&s;ie</HI> way of <HI>confutation,</HI> and if we may take every fool's &s;mile for a
<PB REF="19">
<HI>Demon&s;tration, Praeexi&s;tence</HI> will be routed. But the be&s;t on't is, to call things by their right names, this is but a vulgar, childi&s;h humour ari&s;ing from nothing but a fond doating on the opinions we were fir&s;t in&s;tructed in. For having made tho&s;e the &s;tan|dard of truth and &s;olidity, the&s;e prepo&s;&s;e&s;t di&s;cerners pre&s;ently con|clude every thing that is a &s;tranger to their ears and under&s;tandings, and of another &s;tamp from their <HI>Education-receptions,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">al&s;e and ridicu|lous; ju&s;t like the common people, who judging all cu&s;toms and fa&s;hi|ons by their own, account tho&s;e of other Nations ab&s;urd and barba|rous. 'Tis well for tho&s;e &s;miling <HI>Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">uters,</HI> that they were not <HI>bred</HI> in <HI>Mahumeti&s;m,</HI> for then without doubt they would have made &s;port of <HI>Chri|&s;tianity.</HI> But &s;ince they are &s;o di&s;po|&s;ed, let them laugh at the opinion I have undertaken for, till they under|&s;tand
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it; I know who in the judg|ment of wi&s;e men will prove <HI>Ridicu|lous.</HI> It was from this very <HI>principle</HI> that the mo&s;t con&s;iderable truths, that ever the world was acquainted with, were to the <HI>Jews,</HI> a <HI>&s;tumbling block,</HI> and to the <HI>Greeks, fooli&s;hne&s;s;</HI> and 'twas &s;uch a <HI>&s;pirit</HI> as reigns in the&s;e Children of <HI>&s;elf-con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">idence,</HI> that call'd S. <HI>Paul</HI> a <HI>babbler.</HI> And methinks till the&s;e narrow-&s;cull'd people could boa&s;t them&s;elves <HI>infallible,</HI> and all their opinions, an <HI>unerring Canon,</HI> common mode&s;ty and civility &s;hould teach them better manners, than at fir&s;t da&s;h to judge that a ridiculous ab&s;urdity, which the greate&s;t and wi&s;e&s;t Sages, that inlightned the anti|ent World, accounted &s;o &s;ound and probable a <HI>Conclu&s;ion.</HI> E&s;pecially it being a matter not determin'd a|gain&s;t, but rather countenanc't in <HI>Scripture,</HI> as will appear hereafter. But <HI>Opinionative Ignorance</HI> is very <HI>weak</HI>
<PB REF="20">
and immoral. And till tho&s;e &s;light and Vulgar di&s;cerners have learn't that fir&s;t principle of true <HI>wi&s;dom, To judge nothing till they throughly under|&s;tand it, and have weighed it in the Bal|lance of impartial Rea&s;on;</HI> 'tis to no purpo&s;e to &s;pend ones breath upon them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="20">
<HEAD>THE CONTENTS OF <HI>L&V;X ORIENTALIS.</HI></HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 1. THE opinions propo&s;ed concerning the original of Souls. <HI>pag.</HI> 1</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap. 2. Daily creation</HI> of <HI>Souls</HI> is incon&s;i&s;tent <HI>with the Divine Attributes. pag.</HI> 3</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap. 3. (2) Traduction</HI> of <HI>Souls</HI> is impo&s;&s;ible, the rea&s;on for it weak and frivolous; The propo&s;al of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence. pag.</HI> 16</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 4. (1) Praeexi&s;tence cannot be di&s;proved. <HI>Scripture</HI> &s;aith nothing again&s;t it: It's &s;ilence is no prejudice to this Doctrine, but rather an Argument for it, as the ca&s;e &s;tandeth. Praeex|i&s;tence was the common opinion of
<PB REF="21">
our Saviour's times. How, probably, it came to be lo&s;t in the Chri&s;tian Church. <HI>pag.</HI> 27</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 5. Rea&s;ons again&s;t <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> an&s;wered. Our <HI>forgetting</HI> the <HI>former &s;tate</HI> is no argument to di&s;prove it: Nor are the other Rea&s;ons that can be pro|duc'd, more conclu&s;ive. The proof of the <HI>po&s;&s;ibility</HI> of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> were enough, all other <HI>Hypothe&s;es</HI> being ab&s;urd and contradictious. But it is prov'd al&s;o by <HI>po&s;itive</HI> Argu|ments. <HI>pag.</HI> 45</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 6. A &s;econd Argument for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> drawn from the con&s;ideration of the <HI>Divine Goodne&s;s,</HI> which alwayes doth what is be&s;t. <HI>pag.</HI> 51</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 7. The fir&s;t <HI>Eva&s;ion,</HI> that God acts <HI>freely,</HI> and his <HI>meer will</HI> is rea&s;on enough for his doing, or forbearing any thing, overthrown by four Con&s;iderations,
<PB REF="21">
Some incident Eva&s;ions, <HI>viz.</HI> that Gods <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> or his <HI>glory,</HI> may be contrary to this di&s;play of his <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> in our being made of old, clearly taken off. <HI>pag.</HI> 55</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 8. A &s;econd general <HI>Eva&s;ion, viz.</HI> that our Rea&s;ons cannot tell what God &s;hould do, or what is <HI>be&s;t,</HI> overthrown by &s;everal con&s;iderations. As is al&s;o a third, <HI>viz.</HI> that by the &s;ame Argu|ment God would have been obliged to have made us <HI>impeccable,</HI> and not liable to <HI>Mi&s;ery. pag.</HI> 61</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 9. A fourth <HI>Objection</HI> again&s;t the Argu|ment from <HI>Gods goodne&s;s, viz.</HI> That it will conclude as well that the <HI>World</HI> is <HI>infinite</HI> and <HI>eternal,</HI> An&s;wered. The conclu&s;ion of the <HI>&s;e|cond Argument</HI> for <HI>Praeexi|&s;tence. pag.</HI> 71</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 10. A third Argument for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI>
<PB REF="22">
from the great variety of mens <HI>&s;pe|culative</HI> inclinations; and al&s;o the diver&s;ity of our <HI>Genius's,</HI> copiou&s;ly urged. If the&s;e Arguments make Praeexi&s;tence but probable, 'tis e|nough to gain it the <HI>Victory. pag.</HI> 74</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 11. Great caution to be u&s;ed in alledging Scripture for our &s;peculative opinion. The <HI>countenance</HI> that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> hath from the <HI>&s;acred writings</HI> both of the <HI>Old</HI> and <HI>New</HI> Te&s;tament; Rea|&s;ons of the &s;eeming uncouthne&s;s of the&s;e allegations. <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> &s;tood in no need of <HI>Scripture-proof. pag.</HI> 82</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 12. Why the Author thinks him&s;elf obliged to de&s;cend to &s;ome more particular Account of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> The pre|&s;umption po&s;itively to determine how it was with us of <HI>old.</HI> The Authors de&s;ign in the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> that fol|lows. <HI>pag.</HI> 90</ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="22">
<HI>Chap.</HI> 13. Seven <HI>Pillars</HI> on which the particular <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> &s;tands. 94
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Pillar</HI> 1. All the Divine de&s;igns and actions are laid and carried on by pure and in|finite <HI>Goodne&s;s. pag.</HI> 95</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Pillar</HI> 2. There is an exact Geometrical <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> that runs through the &V;niver&s;e, and is interwoven in the <HI>contexture of things. pag.</HI> 97</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Pillar</HI> 3. Things are carried to their proper place and &s;tate, by the <HI>congruity</HI> of their <HI>natures;</HI> where this fails, we may &s;uppo&s;e &s;ome <HI>arbitrary</HI> manage|ments. <HI>pag.</HI> 100</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Pillar</HI> 4. The Souls of men are capable of living in <HI>other</HI> bodies be&s;ides <HI>Terre&s;trial;</HI> And <HI>never</HI> act but in <HI>&s;ome body</HI> or other. <HI>pag.</HI> 102</ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="23">
<HI>Pillar</HI> 5. The Soul in every &s;tate hath &s;uch a body as is fitte&s;t for tho&s;e faculties and operations that &s;he is mo&s;t incli|ned to exerci&s;e. <HI>pag.</HI> 105</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Pillar</HI> 6. The powers and faculties of the Soul are either (1) <HI>Spiritual,</HI> and intel|lectual: or (2) <HI>Sen&s;itive:</HI> or (3) <HI>Pla&s;tick. pag.</HI> 107</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Pillar</HI> 7. By the &s;ame degrees that the <HI>higher</HI> powers are <HI>invigorated,</HI> the <HI>lower</HI> are con&s;opited and <HI>abated,</HI> as to their <HI>proper exerci&s;es,</HI> and <HI>&egrave; con|tra. pag.</HI> 108</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chap.</HI> 14. A Philo&s;ophical <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of the Souls <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> 113
<LIST>
<ITEM>Her <HI>Aethereal</HI> State.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Aereal</HI> State. <HI>pag.</HI> 102</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> State. <HI>pag.</HI> 122</ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="23">
The next &s;tep of De&s;cent, or <HI>Af|ter-&s;tate. pag.</HI> 126</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Conflagration</HI> of the <HI>Earth. pag.</HI> 137</ITEM>
<ITEM>The General <HI>Re&s;titution. pag.</HI> 142</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<PB REF="24">
<HEAD><HI>THE</HI> ERRATA Correct thus: </HEAD>
<P><TABLE>
<HEAD>In <HI>Lux Orientalis.</HI></HEAD>
<ROW>
<CELL ROLE="label"><HI>For</HI></CELL>
<CELL ROLE="label"><HI>Read</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>PAg. 9. lin.</HI> 6. For</CELL>
<CELL>* For.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>pa. 61. l.</HI> 3. Rea&s;ons</CELL>
<CELL>Rea&s;on.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 78. l.</HI> 1. his</CELL>
<CELL>this.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 126. l.</HI> 6. cour&s;e</CELL>
<CELL>coar&s;e.</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE>
<TABLE>
<HEAD>In the <HI>Annotations.</HI></HEAD>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>pag. 34. l. 28. promptus</HI></CELL>
<CELL><HI>promptos.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 38. l.</HI> 27. <GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
<CELL><GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 45. l.</HI> 12. tye</CELL>
<CELL>lye.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 51. l.</HI> 5. Plai&s;tick</CELL>
<CELL>Pla&s;tick.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 53. l.</HI> 7. Zoophiton's</CELL>
<CELL>Zoophyton's.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 54. l.</HI> 29. Unluckly</CELL>
<CELL>Unlucky.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 56. l.</HI> 8. <GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
<CELL><GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 62. l.</HI> 19. other the <GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
<CELL>over the <GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 74. l.</HI> 8. property</CELL>
<CELL>properly.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 80. l.</HI> 2. doors: for</CELL>
<CELL>doors for.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>ibid. l.</HI> 21. properly</CELL>
<CELL>property.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 84. l.</HI> 2. fitted</CELL>
<CELL>&s;ited.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>ibid. l.</HI> 21. re&s;tore</CELL>
<CELL>re&s;olve.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 94. l.</HI> 15. vigorous</CELL>
<CELL>rigorous.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 95. l.</HI> 8. this humane</CELL>
<CELL>his humane.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 101. l.</HI> 30. <GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
<CELL><GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 104. l.</HI> 28. corporeal</CELL>
<CELL>incorporeal.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 106. l.</HI> 13. alledged</CELL>
<CELL>alledge.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 113. l.</HI> 20. P&s;ychopanychites</CELL>
<CELL>P&s;ychopannychites.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>ibid. l.</HI> 31. to</CELL>
<CELL>two.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 119. l.</HI> 7. <GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
<CELL><GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 144. l. 23. ante. Interii&s;&s;e</HI></CELL>
<CELL><HI>ante <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="6 letters">&s;&s;e.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 184. l.</HI> 26. Nymphs</CELL>
<CELL>Nymph.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 209. l.</HI> 16. <GAP DESC="foreign"></CELL>
<CELL><GAP DESC="foreign">.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 238. l.</HI> 26. &s;lawes</CELL>
<CELL>flawes.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 255. l. 11. &s;e&s;quealtera</HI></CELL>
<CELL><HI>&s;e&s;quialtera.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 265. l.</HI> 3. the &s;teady</CELL>
<CELL>their &s;teady.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 268. l.</HI> 10. to tho&s;e</CELL>
<CELL>&s;o tho&s;e.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>p. 275. l.</HI> 2. Heaven's</CELL>
<CELL>Haven's.</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<HEAD><PB N="1" REF="24">LUX ORIENTALIS.</HEAD>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. I.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>The opinions propo&s;ed concerning the original of Souls.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>IT hath always been found a matter of di&s;couraging difficulty, among tho&s;e that have bu&s;ied them&s;elves in &s;uch <HI>Inquiries,</HI> To determine the <HI>Soul</HI>'s <HI>o|riginal.</HI> In&s;omuch that after all the conte&s;ts and di&s;putes that have been about it, many of the wi&s;e&s;t Inqui&s;itors have con|cluded it <HI>undeterminable:</HI> or, if they have &s;ate down in either of the two opinions, <HI>viz.</HI> of it's <HI>immediate Creation,</HI> or <HI>Traducti|on</HI> (which of later ages have been the only competitors); they have been driven to it, rather from the ab&s;urdities of the <HI>oppo&s;ite opinion,</HI> which they have left; than drawn by any rational <HI>alliciency</HI> in that which they have taken to. And indeed, if we do but impartially con&s;ider the grand inconveni|ences
<PB N="2" REF="25">
which each party urgeth again&s;t the others Conclu&s;ion, it would even tempt one to think, that both are right in their <HI>oppo&s;i|tion,</HI> and neither in their <HI>a&s;&s;ertion.</HI> And &s;ince each &s;ide &s;o &s;trongly oppugns the other and &s;o weakly defends it &s;elf, 'tis a &s;hrewd &s;u&s;picion that they are both mi&s;taken. Wherefore if there be a <HI>third</HI> that can lay any probable claim to the truth, it de&s;erves to be heard to plead its cau&s;e; and, if it be not chargeable with the contradictions or ab&s;urdities either of the one or other, to be admitted.</P>
<P>Now though the&s;e later ages have con|cluded the matter to lie between <HI>immediate Creation,</HI> and <HI>&s;eminal Traduction;</HI> yet I find that the more <HI>antient</HI> times have pitcht upon <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> as more likely than either; For the <HI>Platoni&s;ts, Pythagoreans,</HI> the <HI>Chal|daean</HI> wi&s;e men, the Jewi&s;h <HI>Rabbins,</HI> and &s;ome of the mo&s;t learned and antient Fa|thers were of this opinion. Wherefore I think we owe &s;o much at lea&s;t to the <HI>Me|mory</HI> of tho&s;e grave <HI>Sages,</HI> as to examine this <HI>Doctrine</HI> of theirs, and if neither of the later <HI>Hypothe&s;es</HI> can ea&s;e our anxious minds, or free them&s;elves from ab&s;urdities; and this Grey <HI>Dogma</HI> fairly clear all doubts, and be obnoxious to no &s;uch contradictions; I &s;ee no rea&s;on but we may give it a favourable admittance, till &s;omething el&s;e appear
<PB N="3" REF="25">
more concinnous and rational. Therefore let us take &s;ome account of what the two fir&s;t <HI>opinions</HI> alledge one again&s;t another, and how they are proved by their promoters and defendants. Now if they be found unable to with&s;tand the &s;hock of one anothers op|po&s;ition; we may rea&s;onably ca&s;t our eyes upon the third, to &s;ee what force it brings to vouch its intere&s;t, and how it will behave it &s;elf in the encounter.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. II.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Daily creation <HI>of</HI> Souls <HI>is incon&s;i&s;tent</HI> with the Divine Attributes.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THe fir&s;t of the&s;e <HI>opinions</HI> that offers it &s;elf to Tryal is, <HI>that God daily creates humane &s;ouls, which immediately are united un|to the bodies that Generation hath prepared for them.</HI> Of this &s;ide are our later <HI>Divines,</HI> and the generality of the <HI>Schoolmen.</HI> But not to be born down by <HI>Authorities,</HI> Let us con|&s;ider what rea&s;on &s;tands again&s;t it. Therefore,</P>
<P N="1">(1) If our Souls came immediately out of the hands of God when we came fir&s;t into the&s;e bodies, Whence then are tho&s;e enor|mou&s;ly bruti&s;h inclinations, that &s;trong natu|ral proclivity to vice and impiety, that are ex&s;tant in the children of men? All the works
<PB N="4" REF="26">
of God bear his image, and are perfect in their kind. Purity is his nature, and what comes from him, proportionably to its capa|city partakes of his perfections. Every thing in the <HI>natural world</HI> bears the &s;uper&s;cription of his <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>goodne&s;s;</HI> and the &s;ame foun|tain cannot &s;end forth <HI>&s;weet</HI> waters and <HI>bitter.</HI> Therefore 'tis a part of our allegiance to our Maker to believe, * that he made us <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>innocent,</HI> and if we were but ju&s;t then fra|med by him when we were united with the&s;e <HI>terre&s;trial bodies,</HI> whence &s;hould we contract &s;uch degenerate propen&s;ions? Some tell us, that this impurity was immediately derived from the <HI>bodies</HI> we are united to; But, how is it po&s;&s;ible, that purely <HI>pa&s;&s;ive in&s;en&s;ible</HI> Mat|ter &s;hould transfu&s;e <HI>habits</HI> or <HI>inclinations</HI> into a Nature that is quite of another Make and Quality? How can &s;uch a cau&s;e produce an effect &s;o di&s;proportionate? * Matter can do nothing but by motion, and what relation hath <HI>that</HI> to a moral contagion? How can a <HI>Body</HI> that is neither capable of <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> nor <HI>&s;in,</HI> infect a <HI>&s;oul,</HI> as &s;oon as 'tis united to it, with &s;uch vitious debauched di&s;po&s;itions?</P>
<P>But others think to evade by &s;aying, That we have not the&s;e <HI>depravities</HI> in our natures, but contract them by <HI>Cu&s;tome, education,</HI> and evil <HI>u&s;ages.</HI> How then comes it about, that tho&s;e that have had the &s;ame care and indu&s;try u&s;ed upon
<PB N="5" REF="26">
them, and have been nurtured under the &s;ame di&s;cipline and &s;evere over&s;ight, do &s;o va&s;tly and even to wonder differ in their <HI>inclinations?</HI> * How is it that tho&s;e that are under continual temptations to <HI>vice,</HI> are yet kept within the bounds of <HI>vertue,</HI> and &s;obriety? And yet that others, that have &s;trong motives and allurements to the con|trary, &s;hould violently break out into all kinds of extravagance and impiety? Sure, there is &s;omewhat more in the matter than tho&s;e general cau&s;es, which may be common to both; and which many times have quite contrary effects.</P>
<P N="2">(2.) This <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> that <HI>God continually Creates humane &s;ouls in the&s;e bodies,</HI> con&s;i&s;ts not with the honour of the Divine Attri|butes. For,</P>
<P N="1">(1.) How &s;tands it with the <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> and <HI>benignity</HI> of that <HI>God,</HI> who is <HI>Love,</HI> to put pure and immaculate <HI>&s;pirits,</HI> who were ca|pable of living to him and with him, into &s;uch <HI>bodies</HI> as will pre&s;ently defile them, deface his <HI>image,</HI> pervert all their <HI>powers</HI> and <HI>faculties,</HI> incline them to hate what he mo&s;t loves, and love what his Soul ha|teth; and that, without any knowledge or concurrence of theirs, will quite marre them as &s;oon as he hath made them, and of dear <HI>Children,</HI> render them <HI>rebels</HI> or <HI>enemies,</HI> and in a moment from being like <HI>Angels</HI> trans|form
<PB N="6" REF="27">
them into the perfect re&s;emblance of the fir&s;t <HI>Apo&s;tates, Devils?</HI></P>
<P>Is this an effect of tho&s;e tender mercies that are over all his works? And</P>
<P N="2">(2.) Hath that <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> that hath made all things to operate according to their na|tures, and provided them with whatever is nece&s;&s;ary to that end, made myriads of noble <HI>Spirits</HI> capable of as noble operations, and pre&s;ently plunged them into &s;uch a con|dition wherein they cannot act at all accor|ding to their fir&s;t and proper <HI>di&s;po&s;itions,</HI> but &s;hall be nece&s;&s;itated to the quite contra|ry; and have other noxious and depraved inclinations <HI>fatally</HI> impo&s;ed upon their pure natures? Doth that wi&s;dom, that hath made all things in <HI>number, weight,</HI> and <HI>mea|&s;ure,</HI> and di&s;po&s;ed them in &s;uch exact <HI>harmo|ny</HI> and <HI>proportions</HI> u&s;e to act &s;o <HI>ineptly?</HI> And that in the be&s;t and noble&s;t pieces of his Creation? Doth it u&s;e to make and pre&s;ent|ly de&s;troy? To frame one thing and give it &s;uch or &s;uch a nature, and then undo what he had done, and make it another? And if there be no &s;uch irregular methods u&s;ed in the framing of <HI>inferiour Creatures,</HI> what rea|&s;on have we to &s;u&s;pect that the <HI>Divine Wi&s;dom</HI> did &s;o vary from its &s;elf in its <HI>noble&s;t compo&s;ures?</HI></P>
<P N="3">And (3), Is it not a great affront to the <HI>Divine J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tice,</HI> to &s;uppo&s;e, as we are com|monly taught, that a&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oon as we are <HI>born,</HI> yea,
<PB N="7" REF="27">
and in the <HI>Womb,</HI> we are obnoxious to <HI>eter|nal wrath</HI> and torments, if our <HI>Souls</HI> are then <HI>immediately created</HI> out of <HI>nothing?</HI> For, To be <HI>ju&s;t</HI> is to give every one his <HI>due;</HI> and how can <HI>endle&s;s</HI> un&s;upportable <HI>puni&s;hments</HI> be due to <HI>innocent Spirits,</HI> who but the <HI>la&s;t moment</HI> came <HI>righteous, pure,</HI> and <HI>immaculate</HI> out of their Creators hands; and have not <HI>done</HI> or <HI>thought</HI> any thing &s;ince, contrary to his <HI>will</HI> or <HI>Laws,</HI> nor were in any the lea&s;t capacity of <HI>&s;inning?</HI></P>
<P>I, but the fir&s;t of our order, our <HI>General head</HI> and Repre&s;entative, &s;inned, and we in him; thus we contract guilt as &s;oon as we have a Being, and are lyable to the puni&s;h|ment of his di&s;obedience. This is thought to &s;olve all, and to clear <HI>God</HI> from any &s;ha|dow of <HI>unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI> But whatever truth there is in the thing it &s;elf, I think it cannot &s;tand upon the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of the <HI>Souls imme|diate Creation,</HI> nor yet ju&s;tifie God in his pro|ceedings. For, (1.) If I was then newly <HI>Created</HI> when fir&s;t in this <HI>body;</HI> what was <HI>A|dam</HI> to me, who &s;inned above 5000 <HI>years</HI> before I came out of <HI>nothing?</HI> If he repre|&s;ented me, it mu&s;t be as I was in his <HI>Loins,</HI> that is, in him as an <HI>effect</HI> in a <HI>cau&s;e.</HI> But &s;o I was not, according to this Doctrine; for my &s;oul owns no <HI>Father</HI> but <HI>God,</HI> its <HI>im|mediate</HI> progenitour. And what am I con|cern'd then in his &s;ins, which had never my
<PB N="8" REF="28">
will or con&s;ent, more than in the &s;ins of <HI>Ma|hom<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t,</HI> or <HI>Julius Cae&s;ar?</HI> Nay, than in the &s;ins of <HI>Beelzebub</HI> or <HI>Lucifer?</HI> And for my bo|dy, 'tis mo&s;t likely, that never an <HI>Atom</HI> of <HI>his,</HI> ever came at me; or, if any did, he was no cau&s;e on't. Be&s;ides, <HI>that</HI> of it &s;elf is neither capable of <HI>&s;en&s;e, &s;in, guilt,</HI> nor <HI>puni&s;hment:</HI> or, (2.) Admitting that we become thus <HI>obnoxious</HI> a&s;&s;oon as in the <HI>body,</HI> upon the account of his <HI>default,</HI> How doth it comport with the divine <HI>Ju&s;tice,</HI> in one moment to make &s;uch excellent Creatures, and in the next to render them &s;o <HI>mi&s;erable,</HI> by thru&s;ting them into a condition, &s;o <HI>fa|tally obnoxious;</HI> e&s;pecially &s;ince they were capable of living and acting in <HI>bodies</HI> more perfect, and more accommodate to their new <HI>undefiled natures?</HI> Certainly, could they have been put to their choice whether they would have come into <HI>being</HI> upon &s;uch termes, they would rather have been <HI>nothing</HI> for ever. And <HI>God</HI> doth not u&s;e to make his Creatures &s;o, as that, without their own <HI>fault,</HI> they &s;hall have cau&s;e to unwi&s;h them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Hitherto in this &s;econd <HI>general Argument</HI> I have dealt again&s;t tho&s;e that believe and a&s;|&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rt the <HI>original depravity</HI> of our <HI>natures:</HI> which tho&s;e that deny, may think them&s;elves not pin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">'t by or concern'd in; Since they think they do no &s;uch di&s;honour to the <HI>divine Attri|butes,</HI> while they a&s;&s;ert, that we were not made
<PB N="9" REF="28">
in &s;o deplorable and depraved a conditi|on, but have &s;o made our &s;elves by our <HI>volun|tary aberrations.</HI> But neither is this a fit <HI>Plai|&s;ter</HI> for the <HI>&s;ore,</HI> &s;uppo&s;ing our <HI>&s;ouls</HI> to be <HI>im|mediately created</HI> and &s;o &s;ent into the&s;e <HI>bodies.</HI> For &s;till it &s;eems to be a diminutive and di&s;|paraging apprehen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ion of the <HI>infinite and im|men&s;e Goodne&s;s</HI> of God, that he &s;hould de|trude &s;uch excellent creatures as our <HI>&s;ouls</HI> in|to a &s;tate <HI>&s;o</HI> hazardous, * wherein he &s;eeth it to be ten thou&s;and to one, but that they will corrupt and defile them&s;elves, and &s;o make them&s;elves mi&s;erable here, and to <HI>eternity</HI> hereafter. And certainly, be we as <HI>indifferent</HI> naturally to <HI>good</HI> and <HI>evil</HI> as can be &s;uppo&s;ed; yet great are the di&s;advantages to <HI>virtue</HI> that all men unavoidably meet with, in this &s;tate of <HI>imperfection.</HI></P>
<P>For con&s;idering, that our <HI>infant</HI> and <HI>grow|ing</HI> age is an age of <HI>&s;en&s;e,</HI> in which our <HI>appetites,</HI> and <HI>pa&s;&s;ions</HI> are very <HI>&s;trong,</HI> and our <HI>rea&s;ons weak,</HI> and &s;carce any thing but a <HI>chain</HI> of <HI>ima|ginations,</HI> 'tis I &s;ay great odds, but that we &s;hould be carried to inordinacy, and exceed the bounds the divine laws have &s;et us. So that our <HI>lower powers</HI> of <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> and <HI>pa&s;&s;ions</HI> u&s;ing to have the <HI>head,</HI> will grow &s;trong and impe|tuous, and thus 'tis an hundred to one but we &s;hall be rooted in <HI>vice,</HI> before we come to the <HI>maturity</HI> of our <HI>rea&s;ons,</HI> or are capable of the <HI>exerci&s;e</HI> of <HI>virtue.</HI> And woful experience
<PB N="10" REF="29">
teacheth us, that mo&s;t men run &s;o far before they con&s;ider whither they are a-going, that the care and diligence of all their lives after, will &s;carce reclaim them. Be&s;ides, the far greate&s;t part of the world are led into <HI>wick|edne&s;s</HI> and all kinds of <HI>debauchery,</HI> by corrupt and vitious <HI>education.</HI> And 'tis not difficult to ob&s;erve what an <HI>enormous</HI> &s;trength, bad <HI>education</HI> hath to deprave and pervert well <HI>di&s;pos'd inclinations.</HI> Which things con&s;ider'd, this way al&s;o methinks reflects a Di&s;parage|ment on the <HI>Divine Attributes:</HI> Since by crea|ting &s;ouls daily and putting them into &s;uch <HI>bodies,</HI> and &s;uch parts of the world as his <HI>in|finite Wi&s;dom</HI> &s;ees will <HI>debauch</HI> them, and per|vert them from the ways of <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;s</HI> and <HI>happine&s;s,</HI> into tho&s;e of <HI>vice</HI> and <HI>mi&s;ery;</HI> he deals with them le&s;s mercifully than a <HI>parent</HI> among us would with his <HI>Off-&s;pring.</HI> And to &s;uppo&s;e <HI>God</HI> to have le&s;s goodne&s;s than his degenerate <HI>creatures,</HI> is to have very <HI>narrow</HI> apprehen&s;ions of his <HI>perfections,</HI> and to rob him of the honour due to his <HI>Attributes.</HI></P>
<P>(3) It hath been urged with good <HI>proba|bility</HI> by great and wi&s;e <HI>Sages,</HI> that 'tis an <HI>un|becoming apprehen&s;ion</HI> of the <HI>Maje&s;ty</HI> on high, * to &s;uppo&s;e him a&s;&s;i&s;tant to unlawful and unclean <HI>coitions,</HI> by creating a <HI>&s;oul</HI> to animate the impure <HI>foetus.</HI> And to think, It is in the power of <HI>bruti&s;h</HI> lu&s;t to determine <HI>Om|vipotence</HI> to create a <HI>Soul,</HI> when&s;oever a
<PB N="11" REF="29">
couple of <HI>unclean Adulterers</HI> &s;hall think fit to join in their <HI>be&s;tial plea&s;ures;</HI> is methinks to have a very mean apprehen&s;ion of the <HI>divine Maje&s;ty</HI> and <HI>Purity.</HI> This is to make him the wor&s;t of <HI>Servants</HI> by &s;uppo&s;ing him to <HI>&s;erve</HI> his creature's vices, to wait upon the vile&s;t actions, and to engage the &s;ame infinite Power that made the world for the perfecting what was begun by <HI>di&s;|&s;olute Wantons.</HI> This Argument was u&s;ed of old by pious and learned <HI>Origen,</HI> and hath been imployed in the &s;ame &s;ervice &s;ince, by his <HI>modern</HI> defendents. But I fore&s;ee an <HI>eva&s;ion</HI> or two, that po&s;&s;ibly with &s;ome may &s;tand for an <HI>an&s;wer,</HI> the removal of which will clear the bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
<P>It may be pretended that God's atten|ding to <HI>create</HI> &s;ouls for the &s;upply of &s;uch <HI>generations,</HI> is but an act of his <HI>ju&s;tice,</HI> for the <HI>detection,</HI> and con&s;equently <HI>pu|ni&s;hment,</HI> of &s;uch lawle&s;s offenders; which therefore will be no more matter of di&s;|paragement than the waiting of an <HI>Officer</HI> of <HI>ju&s;tice</HI> to di&s;cover and apprehend a <HI>Ma|lefactour.</HI></P>
<P>But this Subterfuge cannot elude the force of the <HI>Argument,</HI> for it hath no place at all in mo&s;t Adulteries; yea great <HI>inju&s;tice</HI> and <HI>injury</HI> is done many times by &s;uch <HI>illegitimate</HI> births; the Child of a Stranger being by this means admitted
<PB N="12" REF="30">
to carry away the <HI>inheritance</HI> from the <HI>law|ful</HI> off-&s;pring. Be&s;ides, <HI>God</HI> u&s;eth not ordi|narily to put forth his <HI>Almighty power</HI> to di&s;|cover <HI>&s;ecret</HI> mi&s;carriages, except &s;ometimes for very remarkable and momentous ends, but leaves <HI>hidden iniquities</HI> to be the objects of his own <HI>ca&s;tigations.</HI> And if <HI>di&s;covery</HI> of the fault be the main end of &s;uch <HI>creations,</HI> * methinks that might be done at a cheaper rate, that &s;hould not have brought &s;o much inconvenience with it, or have expo&s;ed his own <HI>innocent</HI> and <HI>harmle&s;s</HI> off-&s;pring to un|de&s;erv'd <HI>Reproach</HI> and <HI>Infamy.</HI></P>
<P>But further it may be &s;ugge&s;ted, that it is no more <HI>indecent</HI> for God to <HI>create &s;ouls</HI> to furni&s;h tho&s;e <HI>unlawful Generations,</HI> than it is that a man &s;hould be nouri&s;ht by meat that he hath unlawfully come by, or that the <HI>Cat|tle</HI> which he hath &s;toln &s;hould ingender with his own. But the difference of the&s;e in|&s;tances from the ca&s;e in hand is ea&s;ily di&s;cern|able; in that the <HI>nouri&s;hment</HI> and <HI>productions</HI> &s;poken of, proceed in a &s;et orderly way of <HI>natural cau&s;es,</HI> which work <HI>fatally</HI> and <HI>nece&s;|&s;arily</HI> without re&s;pect to <HI>moral circum&s;tances;</HI> and there is no rea&s;on, it &s;hould be in the power of a &s;inful creature to engage his <HI>Ma|ker</HI> to pervert or &s;top the cour&s;e of nature, when he plea&s;eth. But in the ca&s;e of creat|ing &s;ouls, God is &s;uppo&s;ed to act by <HI>explicite</HI> and <HI>immediate Will,</HI> the &s;u&s;pending of which,
<PB N="13" REF="30">
in &s;uch a ca&s;e as this, is far different in point of credit and <HI>decorum,</HI> from his altering the &s;etled <HI>Laws</HI> he hath &s;et in the Creation, and turning the world up&s;ide down.</P>
<P>I might further add <HI>(4ly),</HI> That * it &s;eems very <HI>incongruous</HI> and <HI>unhand&s;ome</HI> to &s;uppo&s;e, that God &s;hould create two <HI>&s;ouls</HI> for the &s;up|ply of one <HI>mon&s;trous body.</HI> And of &s;uch <HI>prodigious productions</HI> there is mention in <HI>Hi|&s;tory.</HI> That's a remarkable in&s;tance in <HI>Sen|nertus,</HI> of a <HI>Mon&s;ter</HI> born at <HI>Emmaus</HI> with two <HI>hearts,</HI> and two <HI>heads;</HI> the diver&s;ity of who&s;e <HI>appetites, perceptions,</HI> and <HI>affections,</HI> te&s;ti|fied that it had two &s;ouls within that <HI>bi-partite habitation.</HI> Now, to conceive the mo&s;t <HI>wi&s;e Maker</HI> and <HI>Contriver</HI> of all things, im|mediately to create two <HI>&s;ouls,</HI> for a <HI>&s;ingle</HI> bo|dy, rather than &s;uffer that <HI>&s;uper-plus</HI> of <HI>mat|ter</HI> which con&s;titutes the <HI>mon&s;trous excre&s;cence</HI> to prove <HI>effoete &amp; inanimate,</HI> is methinks a <HI>derogatory apprehen&s;ion</HI> of his <HI>wi&s;dom,</HI> and &s;uppo&s;eth him to act more <HI>ineptly</HI> in the great and <HI>immediate</HI> in&s;tances of his power, than in the ordinary cour&s;e of nature about le&s;s noble and accurate <HI>productions.</HI> Or, if it be pretended, that <HI>Souls</HI> were &s;ent into them while the <HI>bodies</HI> were yet <HI>di&s;tinct,</HI> but that afterwards they grew into one: This, I &s;ay, will not heal the breach that this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> makes upon the <HI>divine Wi&s;dom;</HI> it tacitely reflecting a &s;hameful over&s;ight upon <HI>Omni|&s;cience,</HI>
<PB N="14" REF="31">
that he &s;hould not be aware of the fu|ture <HI>coale&s;cence</HI> of the&s;e bodies into one, when he made &s;ouls for them; or at lea&s;t, 'tis to &s;uppo&s;e him, <HI>knowingly</HI> to act <HI>i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eptly.</HI> Be&s;ides, that the <HI>rational &s;oul</HI> is not <HI>created</HI> till the bo|dy, as to the main &s;troaks of it at lea&s;t, is framed, is the general opinion of the A&s;&s;er|tors of daily <HI>creation;</HI> So that then there is no room for this <HI>eva&s;ion.</HI></P>
<P>And now one would think that an <HI>opinion</HI> &s;o very <HI>obnoxious,</HI> and &s;o lyable to &s;uch grand <HI>inconveniences,</HI> &s;hould not be admitted but upon mo&s;t pre&s;&s;ing <HI>rea&s;ons</HI> and <HI>ineludible de|mon&s;trations.</HI> And yet there is not an <HI>argu|ment</HI> that I ever heard of from rea&s;on to in|force it, but only &s;uch as are brought: from the impo&s;&s;ibility of the way of <HI>Traduction;</HI> which indeed is chargeable with as great <HI>ab|&s;urdities,</HI> as that we have been di&s;cour&s;ing of. 'Tis true, &s;everal <HI>Scriptures</HI> are <HI>pre&s;t</HI> for the &s;er|vice of the cau&s;e; but I doubt much again&s;t their <HI>intent</HI> and <HI>inclination. General te&s;timo|nies</HI> there are to prove that God is the <HI>Fa|ther</HI> and <HI>Creator</HI> of <HI>Souls,</HI> which is equally true, whether we &s;uppo&s;e it made ju&s;t as it is <HI>united</HI> to the&s;e <HI>bodies,</HI> or did <HI>praeexi&s;t,</HI> and was before them; But that it is ju&s;t then <HI>created</HI> out of nothing when fir&s;t it comes into the&s;e <HI>earthly bodies,</HI> I know not a word in the <HI>in&s;pi|red Writings</HI> that &s;peaks it. For that &s;aying of our <HI>Saviour, My Father worketh hitherto, and
<PB N="15" REF="31">
I work,</HI> is by the mo&s;t <HI>judicious</HI> under&s;tood of the <HI>works</HI> of <HI>pre&s;ervation</HI> and <HI>providence:</HI> Tho&s;e of <HI>creation</HI> being concluded within the fir&s;t <HI>Hebdomade,</HI> accordingly as is expre&s;t in the <HI>Hi&s;tory,</HI> * that God on the <HI>&s;eventh day</HI> re&s;ted from all his works. Nor can there an in&s;tance be given of any thing <HI>created</HI> &s;ince, or is there any pretended, but that which hath been the &s;ubject of our <HI>inquiry;</HI> which is no incon&s;iderable <HI>pre&s;umption,</HI> that that was not &s;o neither; &s;ince the divine way of <HI>working</HI> is not <HI>parti-colour</HI> or <HI>humour&s;ome,</HI> but <HI>uniform</HI> and <HI>con&s;onant</HI> to the laws of ex|acte&s;t <HI>wi&s;dom.</HI> So that for us to &s;uppo&s;e that God, after the compleating of his <HI>Creation,</HI> and the laws given to all things for their <HI>acti|on,</HI> and <HI>continuance,</HI> to be every moment working in a quite other way in one <HI>in&s;tance</HI> of beings, than he doth in all be&s;ides; is me|thinks a &s;omewhat odd <HI>apprehen&s;ion,</HI> e&s;pecial|ly when no <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> urgeth to it, and Scrip|ture is <HI>&s;ilent.</HI> For &s;uch places as this <HI>[the God of the Spirits of all fle&s;h, the Father of Spirits. The &s;pirit returns to God that gave it. The &s;ouls which I have made. We are his off-&s;pring. Who formeth the &s;pirit of man within him,</HI> and the like] &s;ignifie no more, but that our <HI>&s;ouls</HI> have a nearer relation to <HI>God</HI> than our <HI>bo|dies,</HI> as being his <HI>immediate</HI> workman&s;hip, made without any <HI>creature-</HI>interpo&s;al, and more e&s;pecially regarded by him. But to
<PB N="16" REF="32">
inferr hence, that they were then produced when the&s;e bodies were <HI>generated,</HI> is <HI>illogical</HI> and <HI>incon&s;equent.</HI> So that all that the&s;e Scrip|tures will &s;erve for, is only to di&s;prove the Doctrine of <HI>Traduction,</HI> but makes not a tittle for the ordinary <HI>Hypothe&s;is of Daily Creation again&s;t Praeexi&s;tence.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. III.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="2">(2) <HI>Traduction</HI> of <HI>&s;ouls</HI> is impo&s;|&s;ible, the rea&s;ons for it weak and frivolous, the propo&s;al of <HI>Praeex|i&s;tence.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THus then we have examin'd the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ir&s;t way of &s;tating the <HI>Soul's original,</HI> that of <HI>continual Creation;</HI> and finding no &s;ure <HI>re&s;ting</HI> place for our <HI>inquiry</HI> here, we remove to the &s;econd,</P>
<P>The way of <HI>Traduction</HI> or <HI>&s;eminal Propagation.</HI> And the adherers to this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> are of two &s;orts, <HI>viz.</HI> either &s;uch as make the Soul to be nothing but a <HI>pu|rer</HI> &s;ort of <HI>matter,</HI> or of tho&s;e that con|fe&s;s it wholly <HI>&s;piritual</HI> and <HI>immaterial.</HI> I'le di&s;patch the former, briefly &s;trike at the
<PB N="17" REF="32">
root of their mi&s;conceit of the <HI>Souls producti|on,</HI> and &s;hew it cannot be <HI>matter,</HI> be it as <HI>pure</HI> as can be conceived.</P>
<P>Therefore (1) If the <HI>&s;oul</HI> be <HI>matter,</HI> then whatever <HI>perceptions</HI> or <HI>apprehen&s;ions</HI> it hath, or is capable of, they were l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> in at the <HI>&s;en|&s;es.</HI> And thus the great Patron of the <HI>Hypo|the&s;is</HI> &s;tates it, in his <HI>Leviathan,</HI> and other writings. But now clear, it is that our Souls have &s;ome <HI>conceptions,</HI> which they never re|ceived from <HI>external &s;en&s;e:</HI> For there are &s;ome <HI>congenite implicit Principles</HI> in us, with|out which there could be no <HI>&s;en&s;ation&punc;</HI> * &s;ince the <HI>images</HI> of objects are very <HI>&s;mall</HI> and <HI>incon&s;iderable</HI> in our <HI>brains,</HI> comparatively to the va&s;tne&s;s of the things which they <HI>repre|&s;ent,</HI> and very unlike them in <HI>multitudes</HI> of other <HI>circum&s;tances;</HI> &s;o that 'twere impo&s;|&s;ible we &s;hould have the <HI>&s;en&s;ible repre&s;enta|tion</HI> of any thing, * were it not that our <HI>&s;ouls</HI> u&s;e a kind of <HI>Geometry,</HI> or <HI>mathematick</HI> In|ference in judging of external objects by tho&s;e little hints it finds in <HI>material impre&s;|&s;ions.</HI> Which <HI>Art</HI> and the <HI>principles</HI> thereof were never received from <HI>&s;en&s;e,</HI> but are pre|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uppo&s;ed to all <HI>&s;en&s;ible perceptions.</HI> * And, were the <HI>&s;oul</HI> quite void of all &s;uch <HI>implicit notions,</HI> it would remain as <HI>&s;en&s;ele&s;s</HI> as a &s;tone for ever.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, we find our minds fraught with principles <HI>logical, moral, metaphy&s;ical,</HI> which
<PB N="18" REF="33">
could never owe their original to <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> other|wi&s;e, than as it gives us occa&s;ions of u&s;ing them. * For <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> teacheth no <HI>general pro|po&s;itions,</HI> but only affords <HI>&s;ingulars</HI> for <HI>In|duction;</HI> which being an <HI>Inference,</HI> mu&s;t proceed from an higher <HI>principle</HI> that owns no &s;uch dependence on the <HI>&s;en&s;es,</HI> as being found i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the mind, and not deriv'd from any thing without. Al&s;o we find in our &s;elves <HI>mathematical notions,</HI> and build <HI>certain de|mon&s;trations</HI> on them, which ab&s;tract from <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> and <HI>matter.</HI> And therefore never had them from any <HI>material</HI> power, * but from &s;omething more &s;ublime and excellent. But this Argument is of too large a con&s;ideration to be treated of here, and therefore I con|tent my &s;elf with tho&s;e brief Touches, and pa&s;s on.</P>
<P>(2) If the <HI>&s;oul</HI> be <HI>matter,</HI> 'tis impo&s;&s;ible it &s;hould have the <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> of any thing: for ei|ther the whole <HI>image</HI> of the <HI>object</HI> mu&s;t be re|ceived in one point of this <HI>&s;en&s;itive matter;</HI> a thing ab&s;urd at fir&s;t view, that &s;uch varie|ty of di&s;tinct and orderly <HI>repre&s;entations</HI> &s;hould be made at once upon a <HI>&s;ingle atom;</HI> or the <HI>whole image</HI> is impre&s;t upon every <HI>point,</HI> and then there would be as many <HI>ob|jects</HI> as there are <HI>points</HI> in this <HI>matter;</HI> and &s;o every thing would be infinitely <HI>multiplied</HI> in our <HI>del<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ive &s;en&s;es.</HI> Or finally, every part of the <HI>&s;oul</HI> mu&s;t receive a proportionable part
<PB N="19" REF="33">
of the <HI>image;</HI> and then, how could tho&s;e parts communicate their <HI>perceptions</HI> to each other, and what &s;hould <HI>perceive</HI> the <HI>whole?</HI> This Argument is excellently managed by the great Dr. <HI>H. More,</HI> in who&s;e writings this fond <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> is fully <HI>triumpht</HI> over, and <HI>de|feated.</HI> Since therefore the very lowe&s;t de|gree of <HI>perception, &s;ingle</HI> and <HI>&s;imple &s;en&s;e,</HI> is in|compatible to meer <HI>body</HI> or <HI>matter,</HI> we may &s;afely conclude, that the higher and nobler o|perations of <HI>imagining, remembring, rea&s;oning,</HI> and <HI>willing</HI> mu&s;t have a cau&s;e and &s;ource that is not <HI>Corporeal.</HI> Thus therefore tho&s;e that build the &s;ouls traduction upon this ground of its being only <HI>body</HI> and <HI>modified matter,</HI> are di&s;appointed in the <HI>foundation</HI> of their <HI>conclu&s;ion.</HI></P>
<P>But (2) Another &s;ort of a&s;&s;ertors of <HI>tra|duction</HI> teach the <HI>Soul</HI> to be <HI>&s;piritual</HI> and <HI>incor|poreal,</HI> and affirm that by a vertue deriv'd from the fir&s;t <HI>benediction,</HI> it can propagate its like; one <HI>&s;oul</HI> emitting another as the body doth the matter of <HI>Generation.</HI> The manner of which <HI>&s;piritual production</HI> u&s;eth to be illu|&s;trated by one Candle's lighting another; and a mans begetting a thought in anothers mind, without dimini&s;hing of his own. This is the mo&s;t favourable repre&s;entation of this o|pinion, that I can think on. And yet, if we nearly con&s;ider it, it will appear mo&s;t <HI>ab&s;u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d</HI> and <HI>unphilo&s;ophical.</HI> For if one <HI>&s;oul produce ano|ther,</HI>
<PB N="20" REF="34">
'tis either out of <HI>nothing</HI> or &s;omething <HI>praeexi&s;tent.</HI> If the former, 'tis an <HI>ab&s;olute creation,</HI> which all <HI>philo&s;ophy</HI> concludes impo&s;|&s;ible for a <HI>Creature.</HI> And if it be pretended that the Parent doth it not by his proper <HI>na|tural</HI> virtue, but by a &s;trength imparted by God in the fir&s;t <HI>ble&s;&s;ing, Increa&s;e and multiply,</HI> &s;o that God is the prime <HI>agent,</HI> he only the <HI>in|&s;trument:</HI> I rejoin, that then either God hath thereby obliged him&s;elf to put forth a new and extraordinary <HI>power</HI> in every &s;uch occa|&s;ion, di&s;tinct from his <HI>influence</HI> in the ordinary <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">our&s;e of <HI>nature:</HI> Or el&s;e (2) he only con|currs by his <HI>providence,</HI> as he doth to our o|ther natural actions, we having this Ability be&s;towed upon our very natures. He that a&s;&s;erts the fir&s;t, runs upon all the rocks that he would avoid in the former <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of <HI>continual Creation,</HI> and God will be made the cau&s;e of the <HI>&s;in,</HI> and <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> of his &s;potle&s;s and blamele&s;s Creatures; which <HI>ab&s;urdities</HI> he cannot &s;hun by &s;aying, that God, by interpo|&s;ing in &s;uch <HI>productions,</HI> doth but follow the <HI>rules</HI> of acting, which he fir&s;t made while man was innocent. For certainly, infinite <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> would never have tyed up it &s;elf to &s;uch <HI>Laws</HI> of <HI>working,</HI> as he fore&s;aw would pre&s;ently bring unavoidable <HI>inconvenience, mi&s;ery,</HI> and <HI>ruine</HI> upon the be&s;t part of his <HI>workman&s;hip.</HI> And for the &s;econd way, it &s;uppo&s;eth God to have no more to do in this
<PB N="21" REF="34">
<HI>action</HI> than in our <HI>eating</HI> and <HI>drinking.</HI> Con|&s;equently, here is a <HI>creation</HI> purely <HI>natural.</HI> And methinks, if we have &s;o va&s;t a <HI>power</HI> to bring the <HI>ends</HI> of <HI>contradictories</HI> together, <HI>&s;omething</HI> out of <HI>nothing,</HI> (which &s;ome deny to <HI>Omnipotence</HI> it &s;elf) 'tis much we cannot <HI>con&s;erve</HI> in being our <HI>Creature</HI> &s;o <HI>produced,</HI> nor our own intimate <HI>&s;elves,</HI> &s;ince <HI>con&s;erva|tion</HI> is not more than <HI>Creation.</HI> And 'tis much, that in other things we &s;hould give &s;uch few <HI>&s;pecimens</HI> of &s;o va&s;t an <HI>ability;</HI> or, have a <HI>power</HI> &s;o <HI>divine</HI> and <HI>excellent,</HI> and no faculty to di&s;cern it by.</P>
<P>Again, (2) if the <HI>Soul</HI> be <HI>immediately</HI> pro|duced out of <HI>nothing,</HI> be the agent who it will, <HI>God</HI> or the <HI>Parent,</HI> it will be <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>&s;in|le&s;s.</HI> For, &s;uppo&s;ing our <HI>parents</HI> to be our <HI>Cre|ators;</HI> they make us but as <HI>natural</HI> agents, * and &s;o can only tran&s;mit their <HI>natural</HI> quali|ties, but not their <HI>moral pravities.</HI> Where|fore there can no better account be given from this way how the Soul is &s;o debauch|ed and infected a&s;&s;oon as it comes into the body, than in the former, and therefore it fails in the main end it is de&s;igned for.</P>
<P>Thus we &s;ee then that the <HI>traduction</HI> of the Soul, &s;uppo&s;ing it to be <HI>produced</HI> out of <HI>nothing,</HI> cannot be defended.</P>
<P>Nor doth the &s;econd general way yield any more relief to this <HI>Hypothe&s;is.</HI> For if it be made of any thing <HI>praeexi&s;tent,</HI> it is either
<PB N="22" REF="35">
of <HI>matter</HI> or <HI>&s;pirit.</HI> The former we have undermined and overthrown already, in what was &s;aid again&s;t tho&s;e, that hold it to be <HI>body.</HI> And if it be made out of any <HI>Spi|ritual</HI> &s;ub&s;tance, it mu&s;t be the <HI>&s;oul</HI> of the <HI>parent,</HI> (except we will revive the old <HI>en|thu&s;ia&s;tick</HI> conceit of its <HI>being</HI> a <HI>particle</HI> of the <HI>divine e&s;&s;ence)</HI> which &s;uppo&s;ition is * again&s;t the nature of an <HI>immaterial</HI> being, a chief property of which, is to be <HI>indi&s;cerpible.</HI> Nor do the <HI>&s;imilitudes</HI> I mentioned in the propo&s;al of the <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> at all fit the bu&s;i|ne&s;s; for one <HI>candle</HI> lights another, * by <HI>&s;e|parable emi&s;&s;ions</HI> that pa&s;s from the <HI>flame</HI> of that which is kindled, to the <HI>wick</HI> of the other. And <HI>flame</HI> is a body who&s;e <HI>parts</HI> are in continual <HI>flux,</HI> as a <HI>river.</HI> But the &s;ub|&s;tance of the <HI>&s;oul</HI> is <HI>&s;table, permanent,</HI> and <HI>indivi&s;ible,</HI> which quite makes it another ca&s;e. And for a mans informing anothers mind with a thought which he had not conceived, it is not a <HI>production</HI> of any <HI>&s;ub&s;tance,</HI> but on|ly an occa&s;ioning him to exert an <HI>operation</HI> of his <HI>mind</HI> which he did not before. And therefore makes, nothing to the <HI>illu&s;trating,</HI> how a <HI>Soul</HI> can produce a <HI>Soul,</HI> a &s;ub&s;tance <HI>di&s;tinct</HI> and without it &s;elf: Thus we &s;ee how de&s;perate the ca&s;e of the <HI>&s;ouls original</HI> is in the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of <HI>Traduction</HI> al&s;o. But yet to let it have fair play, we'l give it leave to plead it's cau&s;e; and briefly pre|&s;ent
<PB N="23" REF="35">
what is mo&s;t material in its behalf.</P>
<P>There are but two rea&s;ons that I can think of, worth the naming: (1) <HI>A man</HI> begets <HI>a man,</HI> and <HI>a man</HI> he is not without a <HI>Soul,</HI> therefore 'tis pretended that the <HI>&s;oul</HI> is <HI>be|gotten.</HI> But this argument is ea&s;ily detected of palpable <HI>&s;ophi&s;try,</HI> and is as if one &s;hould argue, a man is <HI>mortal,</HI> therefore his <HI>Soul</HI> is <HI>mortal;</HI> or is <HI>fat</HI> and <HI>lu&s;ty,</HI> therefore his <HI>Soul</HI> is <HI>&s;o.</HI> The ab&s;urdity of which kinds of <HI>rea|&s;oning</HI> lyes in drawing that into a <HI>&s;trict</HI> and <HI>rigorous affirmation,</HI> which is only meant ac|cording to <HI>vulgar</HI> &s;peech, and is true only in &s;ome remarkable <HI>re&s;pect</HI> or <HI>circum&s;tance.</HI> Thus we &s;ay, A <HI>man</HI> begets a <HI>man</HI> becau&s;e he doth the <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> and only <HI>&s;en&s;ible</HI> part of him; The vulgar, to whom common &s;peech is accommodate, not taking &s;o much notice of what is pa&s;t the ken of their <HI>&s;en&s;es.</HI> And therefore <HI>Body</HI> in ordinary &s;peaking is oft put for <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> as here <HI>man</HI> for the <HI>body.</HI> Sometimes the <HI>noble&s;t part</HI> is u&s;ed for the <HI>whole,</HI> as when 'tis &s;aid 70 Souls went down with <HI>Jacob</HI> into <HI>Egypt;</HI> therefore &s;uch arguments as the <HI>a&s;&s;erters</HI> of <HI>traduction</HI> make u&s;e of, which are drawn from vulgar <HI>&s;chemes</HI> of <HI>&s;peech,</HI> argue nothing but the de&s;peratene&s;s of the <HI>cau&s;e,</HI> that needs &s;uch pitiful <HI>&s;ophi|&s;tries</HI> to recommend it. Such are the&s;e <HI>proofs</HI> which yet are &s;ome of the be&s;t I meet with, <HI>The &s;eed of the Woman &s;hall break the Ser|pents
<PB N="24" REF="36">
head; Sixty &s;ix &s;ouls de&s;cended out of</HI> Ja|cobs <HI>loins;</HI> Adam <HI>begat a &s;on in his own like|ne&s;s,</HI> and &s;uch like. According to this rate of arguing the <HI>&s;cripture</HI> may be made &s;peak any thing that our humour &s;ome phancies plea&s;e to dictate. And thus to <HI>rack</HI> the <HI>&s;acred</HI> writings, to force them whether they will or no to bring <HI>evidence</HI> to our <HI>opinions,</HI> is an affront to their <HI>Authority,</HI> that's next to the <HI>denying</HI> on't. I might add (2) that <HI>begetting</HI> al&s;o hath a <HI>latitude,</HI> and in common &s;peech &s;ignifies not a <HI>&s;trict</HI> and <HI>philo&s;ophical production;</HI> So that a man <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">egets a man, though he only generates the <HI>body,</HI> into which fitly <HI>prepared</HI> de&s;cends a <HI>&s;oul.</HI> And he that doth that upon which a|nother thing nece&s;&s;arily follows, is &s;aid to be the cau&s;e of both.</P>
<P>(2) The <HI>adherents</HI> to <HI>traduction</HI> u&s;e to urge, that, except the <HI>whole man, &s;oul</HI> and <HI>bo|dy,</HI> be <HI>propagated,</HI> there is no account can be given of our <HI>original de&s;ilement.</HI> And <HI>&s;cripture</HI> gives evident <HI>te&s;timony</HI> to that <HI>early pollution;</HI> for we are &s;aid to be <HI>con|ceived in &s;in,</HI> and <HI>tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors from the Womb.</HI></P>
<P>We have already &s;een that indeed the way of <HI>daily creating &s;ouls,</HI> cannot come off but with vilely a&s;per&s;ing the <HI>divine attributes.</HI> And it hath been hinted, that neither can <HI>Traduction</HI> &s;olve the bu&s;ine&s;s: for if the <HI>Pa|rent</HI> beget the <HI>&s;oul</HI> out of <HI>nothing,</HI> it will be
<PB N="25" REF="36">
as <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>clean</HI> as if God him&s;elf were it's <HI>immediate Creator;</HI> for though a <HI>clean</HI> thing cannot come out of an <HI>unclean,</HI> when any thing of the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> of the <HI>producent</HI> is im|parted to the <HI>effect;</HI> yet where 'tis made out of <HI>nothing,</HI> the rea&s;on is very different: Yea, the <HI>&s;oul</HI> in all the <HI>powers</HI> that ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> concern'd in this <HI>production</HI> is now as <HI>clean</HI> and <HI>pure</HI> as ever 'twas; for it is &s;uppos'd to do it by a <HI>capacity</HI> given, at its fir&s;t <HI>creation</HI> while <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>inno|cent;</HI> in which re&s;pect it is not capable of <HI>moral contagion;</HI> this being an ability meerly <HI>natural</HI> and <HI>pla&s;tick,</HI> and not at all under the <HI>imperium</HI> or <HI>command</HI> of the <HI>will,</HI> the only &s;eat of <HI>moral good</HI> and <HI>evil.</HI> Or, if our &s;ouls are but <HI>particles</HI> and <HI>decerptions</HI> of our <HI>parents,</HI> then I mu&s;t have been guilty of all the <HI>&s;ins</HI> that ever were committed by my <HI>Progenitors</HI> ever &s;ince <HI>Adam;</HI> and by this time, my <HI>&s;oul</HI> would have been &s;o <HI>deprav'd</HI> and <HI>debauch'd,</HI> that it would be now <HI>bruti&s;h,</HI> yea <HI>diabolical.</HI> Thus then we &s;ee, that even upon this rea&s;on, 'tis nece&s;&s;ary, to pitch upon &s;ome other <HI>Hypo|the&s;is,</HI> to give an account of the <HI>pravity</HI> of our <HI>natures;</HI> which both the&s;e fail in the <HI>&s;olution</HI> of. And, &s;ince the former commits &s;uch <HI>vio|lence</HI> upon the honour of the <HI>divine attri|butes,</HI> &s;ince the latter is &s;o contrary to the nature of things, and &s;ince neither can give any &s;atisfaction in the great affairs of provi|dence and our natures, or have any incou|ragement
<PB N="26" REF="37">
from the <HI>Sacred Volume;</HI> 'Tis I think, very excu&s;able for us to ca&s;t our eyes abroad, to &s;ee if there be no other way, that may probably unriddle tho&s;e <HI>my&s;teries,</HI> and relieve the minds of <HI>anxious</HI> and <HI>contemplative</HI> inqui|rers. In which &s;earch, if we light on any thing that doth &s;weetly accord with the <HI>At|tributes</HI> of God, the <HI>nature</HI> of <HI>things,</HI> and un|locks the intricacies of <HI>Providence;</HI> I think we have found, what the two former <HI>opinions</HI> aim at, but cannot make good their pretences to; And may &s;alute the <HI>truth</HI> with a joyful <GAP DESC="foreign">. Wherefore from the <HI>modern</HI> di&s;pu|tants, let us look towards the <HI>ancient Sages,</HI> tho&s;e <HI>Ea&s;tern Sophi,</HI> that have fill'd the world with the fame of their <HI>wi&s;dom;</HI> And &s;ince our inquiries are <HI>benighted</HI> in the <HI>We&s;t,</HI> let us look towards the <HI>Ea&s;t,</HI> from whence 'tis likely the de&s;ired <HI>light may</HI> di&s;play it &s;elf, and cha&s;e away the <HI>darkne&s;s</HI> that co|vers the <HI>face</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>theories.</HI> Therefore it was the <HI>opinion</HI> of the <HI>Indian Brachmans,</HI> the <HI>Per&s;ian Magi,</HI> the <HI>Aegyptian Gymno&s;o|phi&s;ts,</HI> the <HI>Jewi&s;h Rabbins,</HI> &s;ome of the <HI>Grae|cian Philo&s;ophers,</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;tian Fathers,</HI> that the &s;ouls of men were created all at fir&s;t; and at &s;everal times and occa&s;ions upon forfei|ture of their better life and condition, dropt down into the&s;e <HI>terre&s;trial</HI> bodies. This the learned among the <HI>Jews</HI> made a part of their <HI>Cabbala,</HI> and pretend to have received
<PB N="27" REF="37">
it from their great <HI>Law-giver, Mo&s;es;</HI> which <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> if it appear but probable to an <HI>impartial</HI> inquiry, will even on that account be preferrible to both the former, which we have &s;een to be de&s;perate.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. IV.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="1">(1) Praeexi&s;tence cannot be di&s;proved. <HI>Scripture</HI> &s;aith nothing again&s;t it. It's &s;ilence is no prejudice to this Doctrine, but rather an Argu|ment for it, as the ca&s;e &s;tandeth. Praeexi&s;tence was the common opini|on of our Saviour's times. How, probably, it came to be lo&s;t in the Chri&s;tian Church.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THerefore let us &s;ee what title it can &s;hew for our <HI>a&s;&s;ent,</HI> or whether it can prove it &s;elf worthy of the <HI>Patronage</HI> of tho&s;e great <HI>Authors</HI> that have owned it.</P>
<P N="1">(1) Then, Whether this Doctrine be <HI>true</HI> or no; I'm confident it cannot be proved <HI>fal&s;e:</HI> for if all <HI>Souls</HI> were not <HI>made</HI> together, it mu&s;t be, either becau&s;e God <HI>could</HI> not do
<PB N="28" REF="38">
it; or becau&s;e he <HI>would</HI> not. For the fir&s;t; I &s;uppo&s;e very few have &s;uch <HI>narrow Concep|tions</HI> of the <HI>divine power,</HI> as to affirm that <HI>om|nipotence</HI> could not produce all tho&s;e beings at fir&s;t, which apart he is &s;uppos'd to <HI>create daily;</HI> which implies no <HI>contradiction,</HI> or as much as <HI>difficulty,</HI> to be <HI>conceived;</HI> and which <HI>de facto</HI> he hath done in the ca&s;e of <HI>Angels.</HI> Or, if <HI>incon&s;i&s;tence</HI> with any <HI>Attribute</HI> &s;hould be pretended, <HI>that</HI> &s;hall be prov'd quite o|therwi&s;e hereafter; And the <HI>amicable</HI> con|&s;i&s;tence of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> with them, yea, the <HI>nece&s;&s;ity</HI> of it, from this very con&s;ideration of the <HI>divine Attributes,</HI> &s;hall be argued in the proce&s;s.</P>
<P>Therefore, whoever concludes that <HI>God</HI> made not all <HI>&s;ouls</HI> of old, when he produ|ced the world out of nothing, mu&s;t confe&s;s the rea&s;on of this a&s;&s;ertion to be, becau&s;e he <HI>would not.</HI> And then I would ask him, how he came to know what he affirms &s;o boldly? Who acquainted him with the <HI>Divine Coun|&s;els?</HI> Is there a word &s;aid in his <HI>revealed Will</HI> to the contrary? or, hath he by his <HI>holy</HI> pen-men told us that either of the other ways was more &s;utable to his <HI>beneplaciture?</HI> Indeed, 'tis very likely that a &s;trong and ready <HI>phancy,</HI> po&s;&s;e&s;t with a per&s;wa&s;ion of the fal&s;hood of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> might find &s;ome half phra&s;es in <HI>Scripture,</HI> which he might &s;uborn to &s;ing to the tune of his <HI>imagination.</HI> For, in &s;uch a
<PB N="29" REF="38">
<HI>Mi&s;cellaneous</HI> piece as the <HI>Bible</HI> is, it will not be difficult for a man that's &s;trongly re&s;olv'd again&s;t an opinion, to find &s;omewhat or other that may &s;eem to him to &s;peak the lan|guage of his <HI>phancy;</HI> And therefore it &s;hall go hard, but that tho&s;e whom their <HI>educati|on</HI> or <HI>prejudice</HI> have engaged again&s;t this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> will light on &s;ome ob&s;cure pieces of <HI>texts,</HI> and broken &s;entences or other, that &s;hall &s;eem to condemn what they di&s;ap|prove of. But I am &s;ecurely confident, that there is not a &s;entence in the <HI>&s;acred volume,</HI> from end to end, that ever was intended to teach, that all <HI>Souls</HI> were not <HI>made</HI> of <HI>old;</HI> or that, by a legitimate con&s;equence, would inferr it. And if any there be that &s;eem to look another way, I dare &s;ay they are <HI>colla|teral,</HI> and were never de&s;igned by the <HI>divine</HI> Authors for the purpo&s;e they are made to &s;erve, by the enemies of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> Where|fore not to conceal any thing that with the lea&s;t &s;hew of probability can be pretended from the <HI>&s;acred volume</HI> in di&s;countenance of the Doctrine of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> I'le bring into view whatever I know to have the lea&s;t face of a <HI>Te&s;timony</HI> to the contrary, in the <HI>divine Revelations.</HI> That &s;o, when it &s;hall appear that the mo&s;t &s;pecious <HI>Texts</HI> that can be al|ledg'd, have nothing at all in them to di&s;|prove the <HI>&s;ouls praeexi&s;tence,</HI> we may be &s;ecure that God hath not di&s;covered to us in his
<PB N="30" REF="39">
<HI>written will,</HI> that 'twas not his <HI>plea&s;ure</HI> to <HI>create</HI> all <HI>&s;ouls</HI> together.</P>
<P>Therefore (1.), It may be pretended, that the Doctrine of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> comports not with that <HI>innocence</HI> and <HI>integrity</HI> in which the <HI>Scripture</HI> determines <HI>Adam</HI> to have been made. Since it &s;uppo&s;eth the <HI>de&s;cent</HI> into the&s;e <HI>bodies</HI> to be a <HI>culpable lap&s;e</HI> from an high|er and better &s;tate of <HI>Life,</HI> and this to be a &s;tate of <HI>incarceration</HI> for former <HI>delinquencies.</HI> To this I <HI>an&s;wer,</HI></P>
<P>(1) No one can object any thing to pur|po&s;e again&s;t <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> from the <HI>unconceive|ablene&s;s</HI> of it, until he know the particular <HI>frame</HI> of the <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> without which, all <HI>im|pugnations</HI> relating to the <HI>manner</HI> of the <HI>thing,</HI> will be wide of the mark, and but little to the bu&s;ine&s;s. Therefore, if the Objector would have patience to wait till we come to that part of our undertaking, he would find that there was but little ground for &s;uch a <HI>&s;cruple.</HI> But however, to prevent all cavillings, in this place I'le &s;hew the <HI>invalidity</HI> of this <HI>ob|jection.</HI> Wherefore,</P>
<P>(2) There is no nece&s;&s;ity from the Doctrine of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> to &s;uppo&s;e <HI>Adam</HI> a <HI>Delinquent,</HI> before his no|ted <HI>tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion</HI> in a <HI>terre&s;trial</HI> body: for con&s;idering, that his <HI>body</HI> had va&s;t <HI>advantages</HI> above ours, in point of <HI>Beauty, Purity,</HI> and <HI>Serviceablene&s;s</HI>
<PB N="31" REF="39">
to the Soul, what har&s;hne&s;s is there in con|ceiving that God might &s;end one of tho&s;e <HI>immaculate Spirits</HI> that he had made, into &s;uch a Tenement, that he might be his <HI>&s;te|ward</HI> in the affairs of this <HI>lower Family;</HI> and an <HI>over&s;eer,</HI> and <HI>ruler</HI> of tho&s;e other Crea|tures that he had ordered to have their dwelling upon earth? I am &s;ure, there is no more contrariety to any of the <HI>Divine Attributes</HI> in this <HI>&s;uppo&s;ition,</HI> than there is in that, which makes God to have &s;ent a <HI>pure</HI> &s;pirit, which he had <HI>ju&s;t</HI> made, into &s;uch a <HI>body.</HI> Yea,</P>
<P>(3) Suppo&s;ing that &s;ome <HI>Souls fell,</HI> when the <HI>Angels</HI> did (which the proce&s;s of our di&s;cour&s;e will &s;hew to be no unrea&s;onable &s;uppo&s;ition) this was a <HI>merciful provi&s;ion</HI> of our <HI>Maker,</HI> and a generous undertaking for a <HI>Seraphick</HI> and <HI>untainted Spirit.</HI> For by this means, fit and congruous <HI>matter</HI> is pre|pared for tho&s;e Souls to re&s;ide and act in, who had rendred them&s;elves unfit to <HI>live</HI> and <HI>enjoy</HI> them&s;elves in more <HI>refined bodies.</HI> And &s;o tho&s;e Spirits that had <HI>&s;inned</HI> them&s;elves into a &s;tate of <HI>&s;ilence</HI> and <HI>inactivity,</HI> are by this <HI>&s;ea&s;onable means,</HI> which the <HI>divine Wi&s;|dom</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> hath contrived for them, put once more into a capacity of acting their parts anew, and coming into play again. Now if it &s;eem hard to any to conceive how &s;o noble a <HI>Spirit</HI> in &s;uch an <HI>advantagious body,</HI>
<PB N="32" REF="40">
&s;hould have been impo&s;ed upon by &s;o gro&s;s a <HI>delu&s;ion,</HI> and &s;ubmit &s;o <HI>impotently</HI> to the fir&s;t <HI>temptation;</HI> He may plea&s;e to con&s;ider, that the difficulty is the &s;ame, &s;uppo&s;ing him ju&s;t then to have been <HI>made;</HI> if we grant him but that <HI>purity</HI> and tho&s;e great <HI>perfections</HI> both of <HI>will,</HI> and <HI>under&s;tanding,</HI> which <HI>or|thodox theology</HI> allows him.</P>
<P>Yea, again (4) I might ask, What <HI>incon|venience</HI> there is in &s;uppo&s;ing, that <HI>Adam</HI> him&s;elf was one of tho&s;e <HI>delinquent Souls,</HI> * which the divine <HI>pity</HI> and <HI>compa&s;&s;ion</HI> had thus &s;et up again; that &s;o, &s;o many of his excellent Creatures might not be lo&s;t and undone irrecoverably; but might act anew, though upon a lower &s;tage in the univer&s;e? A due con&s;ideration of the <HI>infinite foecundi|ty</HI> and fulne&s;s of the <HI>divine goodne&s;s</HI> will, if not <HI>warrant,</HI> yet <HI>excu&s;e</HI> &s;uch a <HI>&s;uppo&s;iti|on.</HI></P>
<P>But now if it be demanded, What <HI>advan|tage Adam</HI>'s &s;tanding had been to his po|&s;terity, had he continued in the &s;tate of <HI>in|nocence;</HI> and how <HI>&s;in</HI> and <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> is brought upon us by his <HI>Fall,</HI> according to this <HI>Hy|pothe&s;is?</HI> I an&s;wer, that then among many other great priviledges, he had tran&s;mitted downwards by way of natural <HI>generation</HI> that <HI>excellent</HI> and <HI>ble&s;&s;ed temper</HI> of <HI>body;</HI> which &s;hould have been like his own <HI>happy cra&s;is.</HI> So that our <HI>apprehen&s;ions</HI> &s;hould have been
<PB N="33" REF="40">
more <HI>large</HI> and <HI>free,</HI> our <HI>affections</HI> more <HI>regular</HI> and <HI>governable;</HI> and our <HI>inclinations</HI> to what is good and vertuous, <HI>&s;trong</HI> and <HI>vigorous.</HI> For we cannot but ob&s;erve in this <HI>&s;tate,</HI> how va&s;t an influence the temper of our <HI>bodies</HI> hath upon our <HI>minds;</HI> both in reference to <HI>intellectual</HI> and <HI>moral di&s;po&s;i|tions.</HI> Thus, daily experience teacheth us, how that, according to the <HI>ebb</HI> or <HI>flow</HI> of certain humours in our bodies, our wits are either more <HI>quick, free,</HI> and <HI>&s;parkling,</HI> or el&s;e more <HI>obtu&s;e, weak,</HI> and <HI>&s;luggi&s;h.</HI> And we find that there are certain <HI>clean</HI> and <HI>heal|thy</HI> di&s;po&s;itions of <HI>body</HI> which make us <HI>cheer|ful,</HI> and <HI>contented;</HI> others on the contrary <HI>moro&s;e, melancholy,</HI> and <HI>dogged.</HI> And 'tis ea&s;ie to ob&s;erves how <HI>age</HI> or <HI>&s;ickne&s;s</HI> &s;owers, and crabbs our natures. I might in&s;tance in almo&s;t all other <HI>qualities</HI> of the <HI>mind,</HI> which are &s;trangely influenc't and modifyed ac|cording to the bodies <HI>con&s;titution.</HI> But none will deny &s;o plain a truth; and there|fore I forbear to in&s;i&s;t further on it. Nor need I mention any more <HI>advantages;</HI> &s;o many, and &s;uch <HI>great</HI> ones, being con&s;e|quent upon <HI>this.</HI> But our great <HI>Protopla&s;t</HI> and <HI>repre&s;entative,</HI> falling through his un|happy <HI>di&s;obedience,</HI> be&s;ides the integrity and rectitude of his <HI>mind,</HI> he lo&s;t al&s;o that <HI>ble&s;&s;ed con&s;titution</HI> of <HI>Body,</HI> which would have been &s;o great a priviledg to his <HI>off-&s;pring:</HI> &s;o that
<PB N="34" REF="41">
it became now <HI>corrupt, weak,</HI> and <HI>indi&s;po|&s;ed</HI> for the nobler exerci&s;es of the Soul; and he could tran&s;mit no better to us, than him&s;elf was owner of. Thus we <HI>&s;ell in him,</HI> and were made <HI>mi&s;erable</HI> by his <HI>tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion.</HI> We have bodies conveyed to us, which &s;trangely do <HI>bewitch</HI> and <HI>betray</HI> us. And thus we all bear about us the marks of the <HI>fir&s;t apo&s;tacy.</HI> There are other &s;ad effects of his <HI>defection,</HI> but this may &s;uffice for my pre|&s;ent purpo&s;e. Thus we &s;ee how that the <HI>derivation</HI> of <HI>original depravity</HI> from <HI>Adam</HI> is as clear in this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> as can be pre|tended in either of the other. And upon other Accounts it &s;eems to have much the advantage of both of them. As will ap|pear to the <HI>unprejudiced</HI> in what is further to be di&s;cour&s;ed of.</P>
<P><HI>Finally,</HI> therefore, If the urgers of the <HI>Letter</HI> of <HI>Gene&s;is</HI> of either &s;ide, again&s;t this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> would but con&s;ider, <HI>That the Souls that de&s;cend hither, for their praevari|cation in another &s;tate, lye in a long condition of &s;ilence and in&s;en&s;ibility, before they appear in terre&s;trial bodies;</HI> each of them then might, from the doctrine of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> thus &s;ta|ted, gain all the <HI>advantages</HI> which he &s;up|po&s;eth to have by his <HI>own opinion,</HI> and avoid all tho&s;e <HI>al&s;urdities</HI> which he &s;eeth the o|ther run upon. If the A&s;&s;erters of <HI>daily Creation</HI> think it clear from Scripture that
<PB N="35" REF="41">
<HI>God is the Father of Spirits, and immediate maker of Souls,</HI> they'l find the <HI>&s;ame</HI> made good and a&s;&s;ented to in this <HI>Hypothe&s;is.</HI> And if they are unwilling to hold any thing contrary to the <HI>Nature</HI> of the <HI>&s;oul,</HI> which is <HI>immortal</HI> and <HI>indi&s;cerpible,</HI> the Doctrine of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> amicably clo&s;eth with them in this al&s;o.</P>
<P>And if the Patrons of <HI>Traduction</HI> would have a way, how <HI>&s;in</HI> and <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> may be <HI>propagated</HI> from our <HI>fir&s;t Parent</HI> without a&s;|per&s;ing the <HI>divine Attributes,</HI> or affirming any thing contrary to the <HI>phaenomena</HI> of <HI>Providence,</HI> and <HI>Nature;</HI> this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> will clear the bu&s;ine&s;s; It giving us &s;o fair an Account how we all <HI>dye</HI> in <HI>Adam,</HI> with|out blotting the <HI>Wi&s;dom, Ju&s;tice,</HI> or <HI>Good|ne&s;s,</HI> of God, or affirming any thing contra|ry to the <HI>Appearances</HI> of <HI>Nature.</HI></P>
<P>I have been the longer on this Argument, becau&s;e 'tis like to be one main <HI>objection;</HI> And we &s;ee it is &s;o far from prejudicing, that it is no incon&s;iderable evidence of the <HI>truth</HI> of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI></P>
<P>And now, be&s;ides this that I have named, I cannot think of any <HI>Arguments</HI> from <HI>Scrip|ture</HI> again&s;t this Doctrine, con&s;iderable e|nough to excu&s;e a mention of them. How|ever, if the <HI>candid Reader</HI> will pardon the impertinency I'le pre&s;ent to view what I find mo&s;t <HI>colourable.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="36" REF="42">
Therefore (2), It may be &s;ome are &s;o inadvertent as to urge again&s;t our <HI>&s;ouls</HI> having been of <HI>old,</HI> that, <HI>Sacred</HI> writ &s;ays <HI>We are but of Ye&s;terday;</HI> which expre&s;&s;ion of <HI>divine Scripture,</HI> is que&s;tionle&s;s to be un|der&s;tood of our <HI>appearance</HI> on this <HI>&s;tage</HI> of <HI>Earth.</HI> And is no more an <HI>Argument</HI> again&s;t our <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> than that other phra&s;e of his, <HI>Before I go hence,</HI> and <HI>Be no more,</HI> is a|gain&s;t our <HI>future exi&s;tence</HI> in an other &s;tate after the pre&s;ent life is ended. Nor will it prove more the bu&s;ine&s;s it is brought for, than the expre&s;&s;ion of <HI>Rachels weeping for her Children becau&s;e they were not,</HI> will in|ferr, that they were, <HI>ab&s;olutely nothing.</HI> Nor can any thing more be made.</P>
<P>(3.) Of that place in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes, Yea, better is he than both they,</HI> (meaning the <HI>dead</HI> and <HI>living) which hath not yet been;</HI> &s;ince, be&s;ids that 'tis a like <HI>&s;cheme</HI> of <HI>&s;peech</HI> with the former, it &s;eems more to favour, than di&s;countenance <HI>Praeexi&s;tence;</HI> for what is <HI>ab|&s;olutely nothing</HI> can neither be <HI>wor&s;e,</HI> nor <HI>bet|ter.</HI> Moreover, we coming from a &s;tate of <HI>&s;ilence</HI> and <HI>inactivity</HI> when we drop into <HI>the&s;e bodies,</HI> we were before, as if we had <HI>not been;</HI> and &s;o there is better ground in this ca&s;e, for &s;uch a manner of &s;peaking, than in meer <HI>non-appearance;</HI> which yet Scripture phra&s;eth a <HI>Not being.</HI></P>
<P>* And now I cannot think of any place
<PB N="37" REF="42">
in the <HI>Sacred volume</HI> more that could make a tolerable plea again&s;t this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> of our <HI>Souls</HI> having been before they came in|to the&s;e <HI>bodies;</HI> except</P>
<P>(4.) Any will draw a <HI>negative Argument</HI> from the <HI>Hi&s;tory</HI> of the <HI>Creation,</HI> concluding that the <HI>Souls</HI> of men were not made of <HI>old,</HI> becau&s;e there is no mention there, of any &s;uch matter. To which I return briefly, That the &s;ame Argument concludes again&s;t the being of <HI>Angels,</HI> of who&s;e <HI>Creation</HI> there is no more &s;ay'd in the fir&s;t <HI>&s;tory</HI> than of this <HI>inferiour</HI> rank of <HI>Spirits, Souls.</HI> The rea&s;on of which <HI>&s;ilence</HI> is commonly taken to be, becau&s;e <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had here to do with a rude and <HI>illiterate</HI> people, who had few or no apprehen&s;ions of any thing beyond their <HI>&s;en&s;es,</HI> and therefore he takes notice to them of nothing but what was <HI>&s;en&s;ible</HI> and of com|mon ob&s;ervation. This rea&s;on is given al&s;o why <HI>minerals</HI> were omitted. 'Twere an ea&s;y matter, to &s;hew how the outward <HI>cor|tex,</HI> the <HI>Letter</HI> of this <HI>Hi&s;tory</HI> is adapted to mean and vulgar apprehen&s;ions, who&s;e <HI>nar|rowne&s;s</HI> renders them incapable of <HI>&s;ublimer &s;peculations.</HI> But that being more than needs for our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, I &s;hall forbear to &s;peak further of it.</P>
<P>I might (2) further add, that great and learned <HI>Interpreters</HI> tell us, that all &s;orts of <HI>Spirits, Angels,</HI> and <HI>Souls</HI> are <HI>&s;ymbollically</HI>
<PB N="38" REF="43">
meant by the <HI>creation</HI> of <HI>heaven,</HI> and <HI>light.</HI> And, if it were directly in the way of our pre&s;ent bu&s;ine&s;s, it might be made appear to be no improbable conjecture. But I referr him that is curious in this particular to the great <HI>Re&s;torer</HI> of the <HI>antient Cabbala,</HI> the Learned Dr. <HI>H. More</HI> in his <HI>conjectura Cab|bali&s;tica.</HI></P>
<P>And now from the con&s;ideration of the <HI>&s;ilence</HI> of the <HI>fir&s;t Hi&s;tory,</HI> we de&s;cend to the la&s;t and mo&s;t likely to be urged <HI>&s;cruple,</HI> which is to this purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>(5.) We are not to &s;tep beyond the <HI>divine Revalations,</HI> and &s;ince God hath made known no &s;uch Doctrine as this, of the Souls <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> any where in his word, we may rea&s;onably deny it, or at lea&s;t have no ground to imbrace it. This is the mo&s;t im|portant <HI>objection</HI> of all the re&s;t, and mo&s;t like|ly to prepo&s;&s;e&s;s timorous and wary inquirers again&s;t this <HI>Hypothe&s;is;</HI> wherefore I conceive that a full an&s;wer to this doubt, will pre|vent many &s;crupulous <HI>Hae&s;itations,</HI> and make way for an unprejudic'd hearing of what I have further to alledge in the behalf of this <HI>opinion.</HI> And</P>
<P>(1.) I wi&s;h that tho&s;e that urge <HI>Scripture &s;ilence</HI> to di&s;prove <HI>praeexi&s;tence</HI> would con|&s;ider, how <HI>&s;ilent</HI> it is both in the ca&s;e of <HI>Daily Creation,</HI> and <HI>Traduction;</HI> we have &s;een already that there is nothing in <HI>Sacred</HI> writ
<PB N="39" REF="43">
to warrant either, but only &s;uch <HI>Generals</HI> from which the <HI>re&s;pective Patrons</HI> of either Doctrine would inferr their own conclu&s;i|on, though indeed they all of them with better right and congruity prove <HI>Praeex|i&s;tence.</HI></P>
<P>(2.) I &s;uppo&s;e tho&s;e that argue from <HI>Scrip|ture-&s;ilence</HI> in &s;uch ca&s;es mi&s;take the de&s;ign of <HI>Scripture,</HI> which is not to determine <HI>points</HI> of <HI>&s;peculation,</HI> but to be a <HI>rule</HI> of <HI>Life</HI> and <HI>Manners.</HI> Nor doth it otherwi&s;e de&s;ign the teaching of <HI>Doctrinals,</HI> than as they have a tendency to promote the <HI>divine</HI> life, <HI>righte|ou&s;ne&s;s</HI> and <HI>Holine&s;s.</HI> It was never intend|ed by it's <HI>in&s;pired</HI> Authors to fill our <HI>Heads</HI> with <HI>notions,</HI> but to regulate our di&s;order|ly <HI>appetites</HI> and <HI>affections,</HI> and to <HI>direct</HI> us the <HI>way</HI> to a nobler <HI>happine&s;s.</HI> Therefore tho&s;e that look for a <HI>&s;y&s;teme</HI> of <HI>opinions</HI> in tho&s;e otherways-de&s;igned writings, do like him that &s;hould &s;ee for a body of natural Philo&s;ophy, in <HI>Epictetus</HI> his <HI>morals,</HI> or <HI>Sene|ca's Epi&s;tles.</HI></P>
<P>(3.) <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> and his <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> &s;poke and writ as the condition of the per&s;ons with whom they dealt admini&s;tred occa&s;ion, as as did al&s;o the other <HI>pen-men.</HI> Therefore doubtle&s;s there were many noble Theories which they could have made the world ac|quainted with, which yet for want of a fit occa&s;ion to draw them forth were never
<PB N="40" REF="44">
upon Record. And we know, &s;ew <HI>&s;pecula|tive</HI> truths are deliver'ed in <HI>Scripture,</HI> but &s;uch as were called forth by the <HI>controver&s;ies</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>times:</HI> And <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> was none of them, it being the con&s;tant opinion of the <HI>Jews,</HI> as appears by that Que&s;tion, <HI>Ma&s;ter, was it for this man's &s;in or his Fa|thers, that he was born blind,</HI> which &s;uppo&s;|eth it of the <HI>Di&s;ciples</HI> al&s;o. Wherefore</P>
<P>(4.) There was little need of more teach|ing of that, which tho&s;e times were &s;uffici|ently in&s;tructed in: And indeed, as the ca&s;e &s;tands, if <HI>Scripture-&s;ilence</HI> be <HI>Argumentative,</HI> 'twil be for the advantage of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence;</HI> &s;ince it being the <HI>then common opinion,</HI> and the <HI>di&s;ciples</HI> them&s;elves being of that belief, 'tis very likely, had it been an errour, that our <HI>Saviour</HI> or his <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> would have wit|ne&s;t again&s;t it. But there being not a word let fall from them in di&s;approval of that <HI>o|pinon,</HI> though &s;ometimes occa&s;ions were ad|mini&s;tred (as by the <HI>Que&s;tion</HI> of the Di&s;|ciples, and &s;ome other occurrences) 'tis a good pre&s;umption of the &s;oundne&s;s of it.</P>
<P>Now that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> was the common opinion of the <HI>Jews,</HI> in tho&s;e times might be made good with full and convictive evi|dence, were it worth our labour to in&s;i&s;t much upon this Inquiry; but this being on|ly a <HI>by-con&s;ideration,</HI> a brief touch of it will &s;uffice us. One of the great <HI>Rabbins</HI> there|fore,
<PB N="41" REF="44">
* Mr. <HI>Ben I&s;rael</HI> in his <HI>Problems de Creatione,</HI> a&s;&s;ures us, that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> was the <HI>common belief</HI> of all <HI>wi&s;e</HI> men among the <HI>Jews,</HI> without exception. And the <HI>Author</HI> of the Book of <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> who certainly was a <HI>Jew,</HI> probably <HI>Philo,</HI> plainly &s;uppo&s;eth the &s;ame Doctrine in that Speech, <HI>For I was a wit|ty Child, and had a good Spirit, wherefore the rather being good, I came into a body undefiled.</HI> As al&s;o did the Di&s;ciples in their Foremen|tion'd Que&s;tion to our <HI>Saviour;</HI> For ex|cept they &s;uppo&s;ed, that he might have <HI>&s;in|ned</HI> before he was <HI>born,</HI> the Que&s;tion had been <HI>&s;en&s;le&s;s</HI> and <HI>impertinent.</HI> Again, when Chri&s;t askt them, <HI>whom men &s;aid he was</HI> they an&s;wered, that &s;ome &s;aid <HI>John the Bapti&s;t,</HI> others <HI>Elias,</HI> others <HI>Jeremias</HI> or one of the <HI>Prophets,</HI> which &s;ayings of theirs &s;uppo&s;e their belief of a <HI>Metemp&s;ycho&s;is</HI> and con&s;equently of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> The&s;e, one would think, were very proper occa&s;ions for our <HI>Saviour</HI> to have rectified his <HI>mi&s;ta|ken</HI> followers, had their <HI>&s;uppo&s;ition</HI> been an <HI>errour,</HI> as he was wont to do in ca&s;es not more con&s;iderable. Therefore if the ene|mies of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> will needs urge <HI>Scrip|tures &s;uppo&s;ed &s;ilence</HI> again&s;t it; they have no rea&s;on to take it ami&s;s if I &s;hew them how their Argument recoyls upon them&s;elves, and de&s;troy their <HI>own</HI> cau&s;e, in&s;tead of their <HI>Adver&s;aries.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="42" REF="45">
(5.) Be&s;ides, there were doubtle&s;s many Doctrines entertain'd by the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> and the more learned of their followers, which were di&s;proportion'd to the capacities of the <HI>generality,</HI> who hold but little <HI>Theory.</HI></P>
<P>There was <HI>&s;trong meat</HI> for the more <HI>grown</HI> and <HI>manly</HI> Chri&s;tians, as well as <HI>milk</HI> for <HI>babes,</HI> and weaker <HI>Con&s;titutions.</HI> Now <HI>Scrip|ture</HI> was de&s;igned for the benefit of the <HI>mo&s;t,</HI> and <HI>they</HI> could little under&s;tand, and le&s;s make u&s;e of a <HI>&s;peculation</HI> &s;o remote from <HI>common conceit,</HI> as <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> Among us, <HI>wi&s;e men</HI> count it not &s;o proper to deal forth <HI>deep</HI> and <HI>my&s;terious points</HI> in <HI>Divini|ty</HI> to common and promi&s;cuous <HI>Auditories.</HI> Wherefore the Apo&s;tles and others of their more improv'd and capable <HI>di&s;ciples</HI> might have had &s;uch a <HI>Doctrine</HI> among them, though it were never expre&s;ly defined in their <HI>publick writings.</HI> And the Learned <HI>Origen</HI> and &s;ome other of the <HI>Antients</HI> af|firm that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> was a <HI>Cabbala</HI> which was handed down from the <HI>Apo&s;tolick</HI> ages, to <HI>their times;</HI> and we know <HI>tho&s;e</HI> were <HI>early,</HI> and had therefore better advantages of knowing the certainty of &s;uch a <HI>Tra|dition,</HI> than we at &s;o va&s;t a <HI>di&s;tance.</HI></P>
<P>Nor need any wonder how it came at length to be lo&s;t, or at lea&s;t kept but a|mong <HI>a few,</HI> who con&s;iders the <HI>gro&s;&s;ne&s;s</HI> of &s;ucceeding ages, when &s;uch multitudes could
<PB N="43" REF="45">
&s;wallow the dull and cour&s;e <HI>Anthropomor|phite Doctrines;</HI> much le&s;s, if he reflects up|on that <HI>black night</HI> of <HI>barbarick ignorance</HI> which &s;pread it &s;elf over this <HI>we&s;tern</HI> world, upon the <HI>incur&s;ion</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>rude</HI> and <HI>uncivi|liz'd Nations</HI> that 'ore-ran the <HI>Empire:</HI> out of which <HI>darkne&s;s,</HI> 'twas the work of &s;ome Centuries to recover the then ob&s;cured <HI>Re|gion</HI> of <HI>Civility</HI> and <HI>Letters.</HI> Moreover, it would allay the <HI>admiration</HI> of any one in|qui&s;itive in &s;uch re&s;earches, when he &s;hall have taken notice of the &s;tarting up and prevailing of <HI>School-Divinity</HI> in the world, which was but <HI>Ari&s;totles Philo&s;ophy theolo|giz'd.</HI> And we know that <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> had the luck to <HI>&s;wim</HI> in the general <HI>e&s;teem</HI> and <HI>credit,</HI> when <HI>Platoni&s;m</HI> and the more <HI>anti|ent wi&s;dom,</HI> a branch of which, Praeexi&s;t|ence was, were almo&s;t quite <HI>&s;unk</HI> and <HI>bu|ried.</HI> So that a <HI>Theology</HI> being now made, out of <HI>Ari&s;totelian principles,</HI> 'tis no wonder that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> was left out, nothing be|ing &s;uppo&s;ed to have been &s;aid of it, by the <HI>great</HI> Author of that <HI>Philo&s;ophy;</HI> and his <HI>admiring Sectators</HI> were loath to borrow &s;o con&s;iderable a <HI>Theory,</HI> from their Ma&s;ters neglected Rival, <HI>Plato.</HI></P>
<P>But (6) at once to remove this <HI>&s;tone</HI> of <HI>offence</HI> out of the way, I think <HI>Scripture</HI> is not &s;o <HI>&s;ilent</HI> in this matter as is imagin'd. And I'm confident, more can be &s;aid from
<PB N="44" REF="46">
tho&s;e <HI>divine</HI> writings in behalf of <HI>Praeexi&s;t|ence,</HI> than for many <HI>opinions,</HI> that it's op|po&s;ers are very fond of, and think to be there evidently a&s;&s;erted. And had this been a commonly received Doctrine, and mens Wits as much exerci&s;ed for the defence on't, as they have been for the <HI>common dog|mata,</HI> I nothing doubt, but that <HI>Scriptures</HI> would have been heaped up in abundance for it's <HI>ju&s;tification,</HI> and it would have been thought to have been plainly witne&s;t too, in the in&s;pired volume. For, as mens, <HI>phan|cies</HI> will readily furni&s;h them with a proof of that, of who&s;e truth they are &s;trongly prepo&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed; So, on the contrary, they'l be very backward to &s;ee any evidence of that which is &s;trange to them, and which hath alwaies been reputed an <HI>Ab&s;urdity.</HI> But my <HI>Scripture-evidence</HI> is not &s;o proper for this place, I intending to make it an Argu|ment by it &s;elf. Therefore if the urger of this <HI>objection,</HI> will but have a little patience till I come &s;o far on the way of my <HI>di&s;cour&s;e,</HI> I hope he may be &s;atisfied that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> is not &s;uch a &s;tranger to <HI>Scripture</HI> as he con|ceits it.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="45" REF="46">
<HEAD>CHAP. V.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Rea&s;ons again&s;t <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> an&s;we|red. Our <HI>forgetting</HI> the <HI>former &s;tate</HI> is no argument to di&s;prove it: nor are the other Rea&s;ons that can be produc'd, more conclu&s;ive. The proof of the <HI>po&s;&s;ibility</HI> of <HI>Praeex|i&s;tence</HI> were enough, all other <HI>Hypothe&s;es</HI> being ab&s;urd and con|tradictious. But it is prov'd al&s;o by <HI>po&s;itive</HI> Arguments.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>NOw therefore to proceed, let us look back upon our progre&s;s, and &s;o enter on what remains. We have &s;een, that God <HI>could have created</HI> all <HI>Souls at fir&s;t had he &s;o plea&s;ed,</HI> and <HI>that he hath revealed nothing in his written Will to the contrary.</HI> And now if it be found al&s;o, that he hath not made it known to our <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> that 'twas not his <HI>will</HI> to do <HI>&s;o,</HI> we may conclude this fir&s;t particular, <HI>That no one can &s;ay, that the Doct|rine of Praeexi&s;tence is a fal&s;hhood.</HI> There|fore let us call to Account the mo&s;t momen|tous
<PB N="46" REF="47">
rea&s;ons that can be laid again&s;t it, and we &s;hall find that they all have not <HI>weight</HI> enough in the lea&s;t to move &s;o <HI>rational</HI> and <HI>&s;olid</HI> an <HI>opinion.</HI></P>
<P>(1.) Then, 'tis likely to be urged, that had we <HI>lived</HI> and acted in a former &s;tate, * we &s;hould doubtle&s;s have retain'd &s;ome <HI>re|membrance</HI> of that <HI>condition;</HI> But we ha|ving no <HI>memory</HI> of any thing backwards be|fore our appearance upon this <HI>pre&s;ent &s;tage,</HI> it will be thought to be a con&s;iderable prae|&s;umption, that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> is but a <HI>phan|cy.</HI></P>
<P>But I would de&s;ire &s;uch kind of rea&s;on|ers to tell me, how much they <HI>remember</HI> of their <HI>&s;tate</HI> and condition in the <HI>womb,</HI> or of the <HI>Actions</HI> of their fir&s;t <HI>infancy.</HI> And I could wi&s;h they would con&s;ider, that not one pa&s;&s;age in an hundred is <HI>remembred</HI> of their <HI>grown</HI> and <HI>riper</HI> age. Nor doth there &s;carce a <HI>night</HI> pa&s;s but we <HI>dream</HI> of many things which our <HI>waking Memories</HI> can give us no Account of; yea, <HI>old age</HI> and &s;ome kinds of <HI>di&s;ea&s;es</HI> blot out all the <HI>images</HI> of things <HI>pa&s;t,</HI> and even in this <HI>&s;tate</HI> cau&s;e a <HI>total oblivion.</HI> * Now if the <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> why we &s;hould lo&s;e the <HI>remembrance</HI> of our former life be <HI>greater,</HI> than are the <HI>cau&s;es</HI> of <HI>for|getfulne&s;s</HI> in the <HI>in&s;tances</HI> we have produ|ced, I think it will be clear, that this Ar|gument hath but little force again&s;t the <HI>opi|nion</HI>
<PB N="47" REF="47">
we are inquiring into. Therefore if we do but reflect upon that long &s;tate of <HI>&s;ilence</HI> and <HI>inactivity</HI> that we emerged from, when we came into the&s;e bodies; and the <HI>va&s;t change</HI> we under-went by our &s;inking into this new and unwonted <HI>habitation,</HI> it will appear to the con&s;iderate, that there is greater rea&s;on why we &s;hould have <HI>for|gotten</HI> our former <HI>Life,</HI> than any thing in <HI>this.</HI> And if a <HI>di&s;ea&s;e</HI> or <HI>old age</HI> can ra&s;e out the <HI>memory</HI> of <HI>pa&s;t actions,</HI> even while we are in one and the &s;ame <HI>condition</HI> of <HI>Life,</HI> cer|tainly &s;o <HI>long</HI> and <HI>deep</HI> a <HI>&s;woon</HI> as is ab&s;olute <HI>in&s;en&s;ibility</HI> and <HI>inertne&s;s,</HI> may much more rea&s;onably be thought to blot out the <HI>me|mory</HI> of an <HI>other Life,</HI> who&s;e pa&s;&s;ages pro|bably were nothing like the <HI>tran&s;actions</HI> of <HI>this.</HI></P>
<P>And this al&s;o might be given as an other Rea&s;on of our forgetting our former <HI>&s;tate,</HI> &s;ince u&s;ually things are brought to our <HI>re|membrance</HI> by &s;ome <HI>like occurrences.</HI> But</P>
<P>(2.) Some will argue, If <HI>this</HI> be a &s;tate of <HI>puni&s;hment</HI> for <HI>former</HI> mi&s;carriages, how comes it about then, that 'tis a better con|dition than that we la&s;t came from, <HI>viz.</HI> the &s;tate of <HI>&s;ilence</HI> and <HI>in&s;en&s;ibility?</HI> I an|&s;wer, That if we look upon our pre&s;ent <HI>terre&s;trial</HI> condition as an effect of our <HI>defecti|on</HI> from the <HI>higher Life,</HI> and in reference to our former happine&s;s lo&s;t by our own de|fault,
<PB N="48" REF="48">
'tis then a <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> and a <HI>puni&s;hment.</HI> But if we compare our <HI>now-</HI>being with the &s;tate of <HI>inactivity</HI> we were delivered from, it may then be called an <HI>After-Game of</HI> the <HI>divine Goodne&s;s,</HI> and a Mercy. As a <HI>Male|factor,</HI> that is at fir&s;t put into a dark and di&s;con&s;olate dungeon, and afterwards is re|mov'd to a more comfortable and light|&s;ome pri&s;on, may acknowledge his remove to be a <HI>favour</HI> and <HI>deliverance</HI> compared with the <HI>place</HI> he was la&s;t con&s;ined to; though with re&s;pect to his <HI>fault</HI> and former <HI>liberty,</HI> even this condition is both a <HI>mulct</HI> and a <HI>mi&s;ery.</HI> It is ju&s;t thus in the pre&s;ent ca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e, and any one may make the applica|tion.</P>
<P>But it will be &s;aid, (3) If our <HI>Souls</HI> liv'd in a <HI>former &s;tate,</HI> did they <HI>act</HI> in <HI>bodies,</HI> or without them? The former they'l &s;ay is ab&s;urd, and the latter incongruous and un|likely; &s;ince then all the <HI>powers</HI> the Soul hath to exert in a body, would have been <HI>idle</HI> and to no purpo&s;e. But (1) the mo&s;t that can be argued from &s;uch like <HI>objections,</HI> is, that we know not the <HI>manner</HI> of the <HI>thing;</HI> and are no Arguments again&s;t the a&s;&s;ertion it &s;elf. And were it granted that the <HI>paticular &s;tate</HI> of the <HI>Soul</HI> before it came hither is <HI>inconceivable,</HI> yet this makes no more again&s;t it, than it doth again&s;t it's <HI>af|ter-condition;</HI> which the&s;e very <HI>objectors</HI> hold
<PB N="49" REF="48">
to be &s;o, as to the <HI>particular modus.</HI> But (2) Why is it &s;o ab&s;urd that the Soul &s;hould have <HI>actuated</HI> another kind of <HI>body,</HI> before it came into <HI>this?</HI> Even <HI>here</HI> 'tis <HI>immedi|ately</HI> united to a purer <HI>vehicle,</HI> moves and acts the gro&s;&s;er body by it; And why then might it not in its former and <HI>purer &s;tate</HI> of <HI>Life</HI> have been joyn'd only to &s;uch a <HI>re|fined body,</HI> which &s;hould have been &s;uitable to its own <HI>perfection</HI> and <HI>purity?</HI> I'me &s;ure, many, if not the mo&s;t of the <HI>Antient Fa|thers,</HI> thought <HI>Angels</HI> them&s;elves to be <HI>embo|died,</HI> and therefore they reputed not <HI>this</HI> &s;uch a gro&s;s ab&s;urdity. But an occa&s;ion hereafter will draw our pen this way again, and therefore I pa&s;s it to a third return to this <HI>objection.</HI></P>
<P>(3.) Therefore, though it were granted that the <HI>Soul</HI> lived afore-times without a <HI>body,</HI> what greater <HI>incongruity&punc;</HI> is there in &s;uch a <HI>&s;uppo&s;ition,</HI> than that it &s;hould <HI>live</HI> and <HI>act</HI> after <HI>death</HI> without any union with <HI>matter</HI> or any <HI>body</HI> what&s;oever, as the <HI>ob|jectors</HI> them&s;elves conceive it doth? But all &s;uch objections as the&s;e will fly away as mi&s;ts before the Sun, when we &s;hall come particularly to &s;tate the <HI>Hypothe&s;is.</HI> And therefore I may be excu&s;ed from further troubling my &s;elf and the Reader about them here. E&s;pecially &s;ince, as hath been inti|mated, they prove nothing at all, but that
<PB N="50" REF="49">
the objectors cannot conceive what manner of &s;tate that of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> was, which is no prejudice to the opinion it &s;elf; that <HI>our Souls were extant before the&s;e earthly bo|dies.</HI></P>
<P>Thus then I hope I have clearly enough made good <HI>that all Souls might have been Created from the beginning;</HI> for ought any thing that is made known, either in the <HI>Scriptures</HI> or our <HI>rea&s;ons</HI> to the contrary. * And thereby have removed tho&s;e <HI>prejudices</HI> that Would have &s;tood in the way of our <HI>conclu&s;ion.</HI> Wherefore we may now with|out controul, from our proof of, <HI>That it may be &s;o;</HI> pa&s;s on to enquire, whether in|deed, <HI>it is &s;o;</HI> and &s;ee, whether it may as well be <HI>a&s;serted,</HI> as <HI>defended.</HI></P>
<P>And truly con&s;idering that both the o|ther ways are <HI>impo&s;&s;ible,</HI> and this <HI>third</HI> not at all <HI>unrea&s;onable,</HI> it may be thought need|le&s;s to bring more forces into the field to gain it the victory, after its enemies are quite &s;cattered and defeated. Yet however, for the <HI>pomp</HI> and <HI>triumph</HI> of truth, though it need not their &s;ervice, we &s;hall add &s;ome <HI>po|&s;itive</HI> Arguments, whereby it may appear, that not only all other ways are <HI>dangerous</HI> and <HI>unpa&s;&s;able,</HI> and <HI>this irreproveable;</HI> but al&s;o that there is <HI>direct</HI> evidence enough to prove it <HI>&s;olid</HI> and <HI>rational.</HI> And I make my fir&s;t con|&s;ideration of this kind, a <HI>&s;econd Argument.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="51" REF="49">
<HEAD>CHAP. VI.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>A &s;econd Argument for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> drawn from the con&s;ideration of the <HI>Divine Goodne&s;s,</HI> which always doth what is be&s;t.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P N="2">(2) THen, whoever conceives rightly of <HI>God,</HI> apprehends him to be <HI>infi|nite</HI> and <HI>immen&s;e Goodne&s;s,</HI> who is alwayes &s;hedding abroad of his own <HI>exuberant <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ul|ne&s;s:</HI> There is no <HI>&s;traitne&s;s</HI> in the <HI>Deity,</HI> no <HI>bounds</HI> to the <HI>ocean</HI> of <HI>Love.</HI> Now the <HI>divine Goodne&s;s</HI> referrs not to him&s;elf, as ours <HI>extends not unto him.</HI> He acts nothing for any <HI>&s;elf-accompli&s;hment,</HI> being <HI>e&s;&s;entially</HI> and <HI>ab&s;olutely compleat</HI> and <HI>perfect.</HI> But the ob|ject and term of his <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> is his creatures <HI>good</HI> and happine&s;s, in their re&s;pective capa|cities. He is that infinite <HI>fountain</HI> that is con|tinually <HI>overflowing;</HI> and can no more cea&s;e to &s;hed his <HI>influences</HI> upon his <HI>indigent depen|dents</HI> than the <HI>&s;un</HI> to &s;hine at <HI>noon.</HI> * Now as the <HI>infinite Goodne&s;s</HI> of the deity, obligeth him always to do <HI>good,</HI> &s;o by the &s;ame rea&s;on to do that which is <HI>be&s;t;</HI> &s;ince to omit any degrees of <HI>good</HI> would argue a <HI>defect</HI> in <HI>good|ne&s;s,</HI>
<PB N="52" REF="50">
&s;uppo&s;ing <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> to <HI>order,</HI> and <HI>power</HI> to <HI>execute.</HI> He therefore that &s;uppo&s;eth <HI>God</HI> not always to do what is <HI>be&s;t,</HI> and <HI>be&s;t</HI> for his <HI>Creatures</HI> (for he cannot act for his own <HI>Good)</HI> apprehends him to be le&s;s <HI>good</HI> than can be <HI>conceived,</HI> and con&s;equently not <HI>infinitely &s;o.</HI> For what is <HI>infinite,</HI> is beyond <HI>mea&s;ure and apprehen&s;ion.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore to direct this to our purpo&s;e, <HI>God</HI> being <HI>infinitely good,</HI> and that to his <HI>Creatures,</HI> and therefore doing always what is <HI>be&s;t</HI> for them, methinks it roundly fol|lows that our <HI>&s;ouls lived</HI> and 'njoy'd them&s;elves of <HI>old</HI> before they came into the&s;e <HI>bodies.</HI> For &s;ince they were <HI>capa|ble</HI> of <HI>living,</HI> and that in a much <HI>better</HI> and <HI>hap|pier</HI> &s;tate long before they de&s;cended into this <HI>region</HI> of <HI>death</HI> and <HI>mi&s;ery;</HI> and &s;ince that con|dition of <HI>life</HI> and <HI>&s;elf-enjoyment</HI> would have been <HI>better,</HI> than <HI>ab&s;olute not-being;</HI> may we not &s;afely conclude from a due con&s;idera|tion of the <HI>divine goodne&s;s,</HI> that it was <HI>&s;o?</HI> What was it that gave us our <HI>being,</HI> but the <HI>immen&s;e goodne&s;s</HI> of our <HI>Maker?</HI> And why were we drawn out of our <HI>nothings,</HI> but becau&s;e it was <HI>better</HI> for us to <HI>be,</HI> than <HI>not</HI> to <HI>be?</HI> Why were our <HI>&s;ouls</HI> put into <HI>the&s;e bodies,</HI> and not into &s;ome more <HI>&s;qua|lid</HI> and <HI>ugly;</HI> but becau&s;e we are capable of <HI>&s;uch,</HI> and 'tis <HI>better</HI> for us to <HI>live</HI> in <HI>the&s;e,</HI> than in tho&s;e that are le&s;s &s;utable to
<PB N="53" REF="50">
our natures? And had it not been <HI>better</HI> for us, to have injoy'd our &s;elves and the bounty and favours of our <HI>Maker</HI> of old, as did the other order of <HI>intellectual</HI> crea|tures, than to have layn in the comfort|le&s;s <HI>night</HI> of <HI>nothing</HI> till t'other day? Had we not been <HI>better</HI> on't to have lived and acted in the joyful regions of light and ble&s;&s;edne&s;s with tho&s;e Spirits that at fir&s;t had being, than ju&s;t now to jump into this &s;ad plight, and &s;tate of <HI>&s;in</HI> and <HI>wretched|ne&s;s?</HI></P>
<P><HI>In&s;inite Power</HI> could as well have made us all at once, as the <HI>Angels;</HI> and with as good <HI>congruity</HI> to our <HI>natures</HI> we might have <HI>liv'd</HI> and been happy without the&s;e bodies, as we &s;hall be in the <HI>&s;tate</HI> of <HI>&s;e|paration:</HI> &s;ince therefore it was <HI>be&s;t</HI> for us, and as ea&s;ie for our <HI>Creator</HI> &s;o to have ef|fected it, where was the <HI>defect,</HI> if it was not &s;o? Is not this to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lurr his <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> and to <HI>&s;trait-lace</HI> the <HI>divine beneficence?</HI> And doth not the contrary <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> to what I am pleading for, repre&s;ent the <HI>God</HI> of <HI>Love</HI> as le&s;s <HI>good</HI> and <HI>bountiful,</HI> than a <HI>charitable</HI> Mortal, who would neglect no opportunity within his reach of doing what good he could to tho&s;e that want his help and a&s;&s;i&s;tance?</P>
<P>I confe&s;s, the world generally have &s;uch <HI>Narrow</HI> and <HI>unbecoming apprehen&s;ions</HI>
<PB N="54" REF="51">
of <HI>God,</HI> and draw his <HI>picture</HI> in their <HI>i|maginations</HI> &s;o like them&s;elves, that few I doubt will feel the <HI>force</HI> of this <HI>Argu|ment;</HI> and mine own ob&s;ervation makes me enter the &s;ame &s;u&s;picion of its &s;uc|ce&s;s that &s;ome others have who have u|&s;ed it. 'Tis only a <HI>very deep &s;en&s;e</HI> of the <HI>divine goodne&s;s</HI> can give it any <HI>per&s;wa&s;ive energy.</HI> And this noble &s;entiment there are very few that are po&s;&s;e&s;t of. How|ever to lend it what &s;trength I can, I &s;hall endeavour to remove &s;ome <HI>prejudices</HI> that hinder it's force and efficacy; And when tho&s;e <HI>&s;pots</HI> and <HI>&s;cum</HI> are <HI>wiped</HI> a|way, that <HI>mi&s;take</HI> and <HI>inadvertency</HI> have fa&s;t|ned on it, 'twill be <HI>illu&s;trious</HI> by its own brightne&s;s.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="55" REF="51">
<HEAD>CHAP. VII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>This fir&s;t <HI>Eva&s;ion,</HI> that God acts <HI>freely,</HI> and his <HI>meer will</HI> is rea|&s;on enough for his doing, or for|bearing any thing, overthrown by four Con&s;iderations. Some incident Eva&s;ions, <HI>viz.</HI> that Gods <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> or his <HI>glory,</HI> may be contrary to this di&s;play of the divine <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> in our being made of old, clearly ta|ken off.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P N="1">(1.) THerefore, will &s;ome &s;ay, God worketh <HI>freely,</HI> nor can he be <HI>obliged</HI> to <HI>act</HI> but when he <HI>plea&s;eth.</HI> And this <HI>will</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ure</HI> of his is the rea&s;on of our <HI>beings,</HI> and of the <HI>determinate</HI> time of our <HI>beginning.</HI> Therefore if <HI>God</HI> would not that we &s;hould have been made <HI>&s;ooner,</HI> and in a <HI>better</HI> &s;tate of life, his <HI>will</HI> is <HI>rea&s;on</HI> enough, and we need look no further. To this eva&s;ion, I thus Reply.</P>
<P N="1">(1.) 'Tis true indeed, <HI>God</HI> is the mo&s;t <HI>Free Agent,</HI> becau&s;e none can <HI>compel</HI>
<PB N="56" REF="52">
him to <HI>act,</HI> none can <HI>hinder</HI> him from <HI>acting.</HI> Nor can his Creatures oblige him to any thing. But then</P>
<P N="2">(2.) The <HI>divine liberty</HI> and <HI>freedom</HI> con&s;i&s;ts not in his acting by meer <HI>arbitrari|ous will,</HI> as disjunct from his other <HI>Attri|butes.</HI> For he is &s;aid to <HI>act</HI> according to the <HI>Coun&s;el</HI> of his own <HI>will.</HI> So that his <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> are as it were the <HI>Rules</HI> whereby his <HI>will</HI> is directed. Therefore though he cannot be <HI>obliged</HI> to act by any thing <HI>without him&s;elf,</HI> yet he may be the <HI>Laws</HI> of his own <HI>e&s;&s;ential rectitude</HI> and <HI>per|fection.</HI> Wherefore I conceive he is &s;aid, <HI>not to be able to do</HI> tho&s;e things (which he might well enough by <HI>ab&s;olute power)</HI> that con|&s;i&s;t not with his <HI>ever ble&s;&s;ed Attributes.</HI> Nor by the &s;ame rea&s;on can he <HI>omit</HI> that which the <HI>eternal Law</HI> of his mo&s;t per&s;ect nature <HI>obligeth</HI> him to. The &s;umm is, * <HI>God</HI> ne|ver <HI>acts</HI> by <HI>meer will</HI> or <HI>groundle&s;s humour, that</HI> is a <HI>weakne&s;s</HI> in his <HI>imper&s;ect</HI> Creatures; but according to the <HI>immutable Rules</HI> of his ever ble&s;&s;ed <HI>e&s;&s;ence.</HI> And therefore,</P>
<P N="3">(3) 'Tis a derogation from his <HI>infinite Maje&s;ty</HI> to a&s;&s;ert any thing contrary to his <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> upon pretence of his <HI>will</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ure.</HI> For whatever is mo&s;t &s;uta|ble to this mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Attribute,</HI> and con|tradicts no other, <HI>that</HI> be &s;ure he <HI>willeth.</HI> Wherefore</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="57" REF="52">
(4) If it be <HI>better,</HI> and more <HI>agreeable</HI> to the <HI>divine goodne&s;s</HI> that we &s;hould have been in an <HI>happier</HI> &s;tate, before we came into the&s;e <HI>bodies, Gods will</HI> cannot then be pre|tended to the contrary, (e&s;pecially it ha|ving been proved already, that he hath no way <HI>revealed</HI> any &s;uch <HI>will</HI> of his) but ra|ther it is demon&s;tratively clear that his <HI>will</HI> was, <HI>it &s;hould be &s;o.</HI> Since as God never acts in the ab&s;ence of his <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>good|ne&s;s,</HI> &s;o neither doth he ab&s;tain from acting when tho&s;e great <HI>Attributes</HI> require it.</P>
<P>Now if it be excepted again (2) That 'tis tr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e that this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> is mo&s;t &s;utable to the <HI>divine goodne&s;s,</HI> and the con&s;iderati|on of that alone would inferr it: But how know we but his <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> contradicts it? I return briefly, That if it be confe&s;t to be &s;o corre&s;pondent to, and inferrible from one <HI>Attribute,</HI> and cannot be prov'd <HI>incon|&s;i&s;tent</HI> with another, my bu&s;ine&s;s is deter|mined. Therefore let tho&s;e that pretend an incon&s;i&s;tence, prove it. (2) The <HI>Wi&s;|dom</HI> of God is that Attribute and <HI>e&s;&s;ential perfection,</HI> whereby the <HI>divine</HI> actions are <HI>directed</HI> to their <HI>end,</HI> which is always <HI>good,</HI> and <HI>be&s;t:</HI> Therefore to do that which is <HI>be&s;t,</HI> cannot thwart the <HI>divine wi&s;dom,</HI> but always includes and &s;uppo&s;eth it: Whence it follows, that what <HI>&s;o</HI> comports with <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> cannot &s;tand oppo&s;ite to <HI>Wi&s;dom.</HI>
<PB N="58" REF="53">
Wi&s;dom in <HI>God</HI> being indeed nothing el&s;e but <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> contriving and directing for the Creature's <HI>good</HI> and happine&s;s. For we mu&s;t remember, what was &s;aid above, that <HI>what is infinitely full and perfect, can have no ends for any &s;elf-advantage;</HI> and therefore the <HI>ends</HI> of the <HI>divine wi&s;dom</HI> are &s;ome|thing <HI>without him&s;elf,</HI> and con&s;equently <HI>the good and perfection</HI> of his <HI>Creatures.</HI> So that unle&s;s it can be proved to have been con|trary to <HI>ours,</HI> or any other Creatures <HI>good,</HI> that we &s;hould have been extant as &s;oon as the <HI>Light,</HI> it cannot be concluded to have any <HI>contradiction</HI> to the <HI>divine wi&s;dom.</HI></P>
<P>But it will be &s;aid again, (3) <HI>Gods glory</HI> is his great end, for the promoting of which his wi&s;dom <HI>directs</HI> all his Actions; and con|&s;equently, that which may be <HI>be&s;t</HI> for the <HI>Creature,</HI> may not be &s;o conducive to the <HI>divine Glory,</HI> and therefore not agreeable with his <HI>wi&s;dom.</HI></P>
<P>Now, though I think the world hath a very mi&s;taken apprehen&s;ion of <HI>Gods glory,</HI> yet I &s;hall not here ingage in more contro|ver&s;ies, than I mu&s;t needs. 'Tis enough for my pre&s;ent purpo&s;e to intimate; That <HI>Gods glory</HI> is no <HI>by-end</HI> or <HI>&s;elf-accumulation,</HI> nor an <HI>addition</HI> of anything to Him which he was not eternally po&s;&s;e&s;t of; nor yet is it any thing that &s;tands in oppo&s;ition to the <HI>good</HI> of his <HI>Creation;</HI> But the <HI>di&s;play</HI> and <HI>communi|cation
<PB N="59" REF="53">
of his excellencies;</HI> among the which, his <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> is not the lea&s;t con&s;iderable, if it be not that mo&s;t <HI>divine</HI> and <HI>fundamental At|tribute</HI> which <HI>gives perfection to all the re&s;t.</HI> So that we may a&s;&s;ure our &s;elves, that when ever his <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> obligeth him to acti|on, his <HI>glory</HI> never &s;tands in <HI>oppo&s;ition.</HI> For even this is his <HI>glory,</HI> to <HI>communicate</HI> to his creatures &s;utably to his own <HI>ab&s;olute fulne&s;s,</HI> and to act according to the direction of his <HI>e&s;&s;ential perfections;</HI> yea, though we &s;hould &s;tate his <HI>glory</HI> to con&s;i&s;t alone, in the <HI>honour</HI> and <HI>renown</HI> of his Attributes, yet even then the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of our having been made in the <HI>beginning</HI> will accumulate to his <HI>prai&s;es,</HI> and repre&s;ent him to his creatures as more <HI>illu&s;trious;</HI> &s;ince it is a more <HI>magnificent ap|prehen&s;ion</HI> of his <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> and clears his other <HI>Attributes</HI> from tho&s;e &s;tains of di&s;-repute that all other &s;uppo&s;itions ca&s;t upon them. And though his <HI>glory</HI> &s;hould con&s;i&s;t, as too many fondly imagine, in being <HI>prai&s;ed</HI> and ad|mired by his <HI>creatures,</HI> even on this account al&s;o it would have obliged him to have <HI>made us all of old,</HI> rather than oppo&s;ed it; &s;ince, then, his excellencies had been &s;ung forth by a more numerous <HI>Quire,</HI> in continual <HI>Hallelujahs.</HI> Now if it &s;hould be urged, * that <HI>God made all things for him&s;elf,</HI> and therefore is not obliged to con|&s;ult the <HI>good</HI> of his creatures in all his Acti|ons:
<PB N="60" REF="54">
I rejoyn, that <HI>God's making all things for him&s;elf,</HI> can argue no more than his ma|king all things for his own <HI>ends, viz.</HI> the <HI>ends</HI> of <HI>goodne&s;s.</HI> Be&s;ides, the be&s;t <HI>Criticks</HI> make that place to &s;peak no more but this, That <HI>God orders</HI> all things <HI>according</HI> to <HI>him|&s;elf;</HI> that is, according to the rules of his own <HI>nature</HI> and <HI>perfections.</HI></P>
<P>Thus then, we &s;ee that for <HI>God</HI> to do that which is <HI>be&s;t</HI> for his Creatures, is neither con|trary to his <HI>will</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ure,</HI> his <HI>wi&s;dom,</HI> nor his <HI>glory,</HI> but mo&s;t con&s;onant to all of them. And therefore &s;ince the <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> of <HI>Souls,</HI> is &s;o agreeable to the divine <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> and &s;ince nothing el&s;e in the <HI>Deity</HI> oppo&s;|eth, but rather &s;weetly con&s;pires with it, methinks this argument were enough to conclude it. But yet there are other <HI>Eva&s;i|ons</HI> which would elude this <HI>Demon&s;tration;</HI> I &s;hall name the mo&s;t con&s;iderable and leave it to the judicious to determine, whether they can di&s;able it.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="8" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="61" REF="54">
<HEAD>CHAP. VIII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>A &s;econd general <HI>Eva&s;ion, viz.</HI> that our Rea&s;ons cannot tell what God &s;hould do, or what is <HI>be&s;t,</HI> overthrown by &s;everal con&s;iderations. As is al&s;o a third, <HI>viz.</HI> that by the &s;ame Argu|ment God would have been obliged to have made us <HI>impeccable,</HI> and not liable to <HI>Mi&s;ery.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>WHerefore the <HI>&s;econd</HI> general eva&s;ion is, That our <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> cannot con|clude what God <HI>&s;hould do,</HI> there being va&s;t fetches in the <HI>divine wi&s;dom</HI> which we com|prehend not, nor can our <HI>natural light</HI> de|termine what is be&s;t. I an&s;wer (1) Our Saviour him&s;elf, who was the be&s;t Judge in the ca&s;e, teacheth us, that the Rea&s;on of a man may in &s;ome things conclude what <HI>God will do,</HI> in that &s;aying of his, <HI>If ye be|ing evil, know how to give good things to your Children, much more &s;hall your Father which is in Heaven give his Spirit to them that ask him:</HI> Plainly intimating, that we may &s;e|curely
<PB N="62" REF="55">
argue from any thing that is a <HI>per|fection</HI> in our &s;elves, to the &s;ame in <HI>God.</HI> And if we, who are <HI>imperfectly good,</HI> will yet do as much <HI>good</HI> as we can, for tho&s;e we <HI>love</HI> and <HI>tender;</HI> with greater confidence may we conclude, that <HI>God,</HI> who is <HI>infinite|ly &s;o,</HI> will confer upon his <HI>creatures</HI> whatever <HI>good</HI> they are capable of. Thus we &s;ee our <HI>Saviour</HI> owns the capacity of <HI>rea&s;on</HI> in a ca&s;e that is very near the &s;ame that we are dealing in.</P>
<P>And God him&s;elf appeals to the <HI>rea&s;ons</HI> of men to judge of the <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;s</HI> and <HI>equity</HI> of his ways. <HI>Ye men of</HI> I&s;rael <HI>and inhabi|tants of</HI> Jeru&s;alem, <HI>judge between me and my vineyard;</HI> which place I bring to &s;hew that meer natural <HI>rea&s;on</HI> is able to judge in &s;ome ca&s;es <HI>what is fit for God to do,</HI> and what is &s;u|table to his <HI>e&s;&s;ence</HI> and <HI>perfections.</HI> And if in <HI>any,</HI></P>
<P>Methinks (2) its <HI>capacity</HI> in the ca&s;e be|fore us &s;hould be own'd as &s;oon as in any. For if <HI>rea&s;on</HI> cannot determine and a&s;&s;ure us, that a <HI>ble&s;&s;ed</HI> and <HI>happy Being</HI> is <HI>better</HI> than <HI>None</HI> at all; and con&s;equently, that it was <HI>be&s;t</HI> for our &s;ouls to have been, before they were in this <HI>&s;tate</HI> of <HI>wretchedne&s;s;</HI> and thence conclude, that it was very congruous to the <HI>divine goodne&s;s</HI> to have made us in a former and better condition; I think then (1) That <HI>it</HI> cannot give us the a&s;&s;urance of any thing,
<PB N="63" REF="55">
&s;ince there is not any principle in <HI>Metaphy|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">icks</HI> or <HI>Geometry</HI> more clear than this, viz. <HI>That an happy Being, is better than ab&s;olute Not|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eing.</HI> And if our <HI>rea&s;ons</HI> can &s;ecurely determine this, 'tis as much as we need at pre&s;ent. Or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f this be not certain, how vain are tho&s;e Learned men that di&s;pute whether a &s;tate of the extreme&s;t <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> a creature is capable <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">of, and that <HI>everla&s;ting,</HI> be not <HI>better</HI> than <HI>Non|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">entity?&punc;</HI> (2) If we cannot certainly know that it had been <HI>Better</HI> that we &s;hould have exi&s;ted in a life of happine&s;s, proportion'd to our natures of old, than have been meer <HI>nothing,</HI> till &s;ome few years &s;ince; we can never then own and acknowledg the <HI>divine goodne&s;s</HI> to us in any thing we enjoy. For if it might have been as <HI>good</HI> for us <HI>not to Be,</HI> as <HI>to Be,</HI> and <HI>happily;</HI> Then it might have been as <HI>good</HI> for us to have wanted any thing el&s;e that we enjoy, as to have it; and con&s;e|quently, we cannot own it as an effect of God's <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> that he hath be&s;towed any ble&s;&s;ing on us. For if <HI>Being</HI> be not <HI>better</HI> than <HI>Not-being,</HI> then 'tis no effect of goodne&s;s that we <HI>are;</HI> and if &s;o, then 'tis not from goodne&s;s that we have any thing el&s;e, * &s;ince all other things are inferiour to the good of <HI>Being.</HI> If it be &s;aid, It had been better indeed for <HI>us,</HI> to have lived in a <HI>former</HI> and <HI>happier</HI> &s;tate; but it may be, it had not been <HI>&s;o</HI> for the <HI>univer&s;e;</HI> and the <HI>general good</HI> is to be pre|ferr'd
<PB N="64" REF="56">
before that of <HI>particulars;</HI></P>
<P>I &s;ay then, and it may &s;erve for a (3) an|&s;wer to the <HI>general objection:</HI> If we may de|ny that to be done by <HI>almighty goodne&s;s,</HI> which is undoubtedly <HI>be&s;t</HI> for a whole <HI>&s;pecies</HI> of his creatures, meerly on this account, that, for ought we know, it may be for the advan|tage of &s;ome others, though there be not the lea&s;t appearance of any &s;uch matter; we can never then argue any thing from the <HI>di|vine goodne&s;s.</HI> It can never then be prov'd from that <HI>glorious Attribute,</HI> that he hath not made &s;ome of his creatures <HI>on purpo&s;e</HI> that they might be <HI>mi&s;erable;</HI> nor can it be con|cluded thence, that he will not <HI>annihilate</HI> all the <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>&s;potle&s;s</HI> Angels; both which I &s;uppo&s;e, any &s;ober inquirer will think con|gruou&s;ly deducible from the <HI>divine goodne&s;s.</HI> And if to &s;ay, <HI>for ought we know,</HI> It may be <HI>be&s;t</HI> for &s;ome other creatures, that tho&s;e &s;hould be <HI>mi&s;erable,</HI> and the&s;e <HI>annihilated,</HI> be e|nough to di&s;able the Argument; on the &s;ame account we &s;hall never be able to prove ought from <HI>this,</HI> or any other <HI>Attribute.</HI> I might add,</P>
<P>(2) There is not the lea&s;t colourable pre|tence for any &s;uch &s;u&s;picion. For, would the <HI>world</HI> have been too little to have con|tain'd tho&s;e <HI>&s;ouls,</HI> without ju&s;tling with &s;ome others? or, would they by violence have taken any of the priviledges of the other
<PB N="65" REF="56">
intellectual Creatures from them? If &s;o, how comes it about that at la&s;t they can all &s;o well con&s;i&s;t together? And, could o|ther Creatures have been more di&s;advan|tag'd by them, when they were <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>in|nocent,</HI> than they will at la&s;t, when they are &s;o many of them <HI>debauched</HI> and <HI>depra|ved?</HI></P>
<P>(3) If this be enough to an&s;wer an <HI>Argu|ment,</HI> to &s;ay, <HI>for ought we know, it may be thus and thus,</HI> when there is not the lea&s;t &s;ign or appearance of any &s;uch thing, then <HI>nothing</HI> can ever be <HI>proved,</HI> and we are con|demned to <HI>everla&s;ting Sceptici&s;m.</HI> We &s;hould never, for in&s;tance, from the <HI>order, beauty,</HI> and <HI>wi&s;e contrivance</HI> of the things that do appear, prove there is a <HI>God,</HI> if it were &s;ufficient to an&s;wer, That things are indeed &s;o made in this <HI>earth,</HI> on which we are extant; but, it may be, they are framed very <HI>odly, ridi|culou&s;ly,</HI> and <HI>ineptly</HI> in &s;ome other <HI>worlds,</HI> which we know nothing of. If this be <HI>an|&s;wering,</HI> any thing might be <HI>an&s;wered.</HI> But there is yet another <HI>objection</HI> again&s;t mine <HI>Argument</HI> from the Divine <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> which looks very formidably at a di&s;tance, though when we come near it, we &s;hall find, it will not bear the tryal. And it may thus be urged.</P>
<P>(3) If the <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> of God always obli|geth him to do what is <HI>be&s;t,</HI> and <HI>be&s;t</HI> for
<PB N="66" REF="57">
his <HI>Creatures,</HI> How is it then, that we were not made <HI>impeccable,</HI> and &s;o not <HI>obnoxious</HI> to <HI>mi&s;ery?</HI> Or how doth it con&s;i&s;t with that overflowing <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> of the <HI>Deity,</HI> that we were let to lie in a long &s;tate of <HI>&s;ilence</HI> and <HI>in&s;en&s;ibility,</HI> before we came into the&s;e bo|dies? This &s;eems a pre&s;&s;ing difficulty, but yet there's hopes we may di&s;patch it. There|fore,</P>
<P>(1) Had we been made <HI>impeccable,</HI> we &s;hould have been another kind of Creatures than now; &s;ince we had then wanted the <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <HI>liberty</HI> of <HI>will</HI> to <HI>good</HI> and <HI>evil,</HI> which is one of our <HI>e&s;&s;ential Attributes.</HI> Con|&s;equently, there would have been one <HI>&s;pe|cies</HI> of <HI>beings</HI> wanting to compleat the <HI>uni|ver&s;e;</HI> and it would have been a <HI>&s;lurre</HI> to the <HI>divine</HI> Goodne&s;s not to have given be|ing to &s;uch Creatures as in the <HI>Idea</HI> were fairly <HI>po&s;&s;ible,</HI> and contradicted no other <HI>Attribute.</HI> Yea, though he fore&s;aw that &s;ome would <HI>&s;in</HI> and make them&s;elves <HI>mi&s;e|rable,</HI> yet the fore&s;een <HI>lap&s;e</HI> and <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> of tho&s;e, was not an <HI>evil</HI> great enough to o|ver-ballance the <HI>good</HI> the <HI>&s;pecies</HI> would reap by being partakers of the <HI>divine Goodne&s;s</HI> in the <HI>land of the Living;</HI> Therefore how|ever 'twas goodne&s;s to give &s;uch Creatures being. But it will be urged upon us, If <HI>Liberty</HI> to <HI>good</HI> and <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">vil</HI> be &s;o e&s;&s;ential to our natures, what think we then of the
<PB N="67" REF="57">
<HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">le&s;&s;ed</HI> &s;ouls after the <HI>Re&s;urrection;</HI> are not they the &s;ame <HI>Creatures,</HI> though without the <HI>liberty</HI> of <HI>&s;inning?</HI> To return to this; I think tho&s;e that affirm, that the ble&s;&s;ed have not this <HI>natural liberty,</HI> as long as they are uni|ted to a <HI>body,</HI> and are capable of re&s;enting it's <HI>plea&s;ures,</HI> &s;hould do well to prove it. * In|de<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d they may be <HI>morally immutable</HI> and <HI>il|lap&s;ible:</HI> but this is <HI>grace,</HI> not <HI>nature;</HI> a <HI>re|ward</HI> of <HI>obedience,</HI> not a nece&s;&s;ary <HI>annex</HI> of our <HI>Beings.</HI> But will it be &s;aid, why did not the divine Goodne&s;s endue us all with this <HI>moral <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ability?</HI> Had it not been better for us to have been made in this condition of <HI>&s;e|curity,</HI> than in a &s;tate &s;o <HI>dangerous?</HI> My re|turn to this doubt will be a &s;econd An|&s;wer to the main <HI>Objection.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore <HI>Secondly,</HI> * I doubt not, but that 'tis much <HI>better</HI> for <HI>rational</HI> Creatures, that this &s;upream happine&s;s &s;hould be the <HI>Reward</HI> of <HI>vertue,</HI> rather than entail'd upon our <HI>natures.</HI> For the procurement of that which we might have mi&s;t of, is far more <HI>&s;en&s;ibly gratifying,</HI> than any <HI>nece&s;&s;ary</HI> and unac|quired injoyment; we find a greater plea|&s;ure in what we gain by <HI>indu&s;try, art,</HI> or <HI>ver|tue,</HI> than in the things we were <HI>born</HI> to. And had we been made &s;ecure from <HI>&s;in</HI> and <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> from the fir&s;t moment of our <HI>Being,</HI> we &s;hould not have put &s;o high a <HI>rate</HI> and <HI>value</HI> upon that priviledge.</P>
<P><PB N="68" REF="58">
(3) Had we been at fir&s;t e&s;tabli&s;ht in an <HI>imp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ibility</HI> of <HI>lap&s;ing</HI> into <HI>evil;</HI> Then many choice <HI>vertues,</HI> excellent branches of the <HI>di|vine Life</HI> had never been exercis'd, or in|deed have been at all. Such are <HI>Patience, Faith,</HI> and <HI>Hope;</HI> the objects of which are, <HI>evil, futurity,</HI> and <HI>uncertainty.</HI> Yea,</P>
<P>(4) Had we been &s;o <HI>&s;ixt</HI> in an <HI>inami&s;&s;ible happine&s;s</HI> from the <HI>beginning,</HI> there had then been no <HI>vertue</HI> in the world; nor any of that matchle&s;s <HI>plea&s;ure</HI> which attends the ex|erci&s;e thereof. For <HI>vertue</HI> is a kind of <HI>victo|ry,</HI> and &s;uppo&s;eth a <HI>conflict.</HI> Therefore we &s;ay, that God is <HI>good</HI> and <HI>holy,</HI> but not <HI>ver|tuous.</HI> Take away a <HI>po&s;&s;ibility</HI> of <HI>evil,</HI> and in the <HI>Creature</HI> there is no <HI>moral</HI> goodne&s;s. And then no <HI>Reward,</HI> no <HI>Plea&s;ure,</HI> no <HI>Hap|pine&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore in &s;um (5ly), The <HI>divine Good|ne&s;s</HI> is manife&s;ted in making all Creatures &s;utably to tho&s;e <HI>Idea's</HI> of their natures, which he hath in his <HI>All-comprehen&s;ive Wi&s;dom.</HI> And their <HI>good</HI> and <HI>happine&s;s</HI> con&s;i&s;ts in <HI>acting</HI> ac|cording to tho&s;e <HI>natures,</HI> and in being fur|ni&s;ht with all things nece&s;&s;ary for &s;uch <HI>acti|ons.</HI> Now the <HI>divine Wi&s;dom</HI> is no <HI>arbitrary thing,</HI> that can change, or alter tho&s;e &s;etled <HI>immutable Idea's</HI> of things that are there re|pre&s;ented. It lopps not off <HI>e&s;&s;ential Attri|butes</HI> of &s;ome <HI>Beings,</HI> to <HI>in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">culate</HI> them up|on others: But di&s;tinctly comprehending
<PB N="69" REF="58">
all things, a&s;&s;igns each <HI>Being</HI> its proper <HI>na|ture,</HI> and <HI>qualities.</HI> And the <HI>Divine goodne&s;s,</HI> according to the <HI>wi&s;e</HI> direction of the <HI>eternal Intellect,</HI> in like di&s;tinct and orderly manner produceth all things: <HI>viz.</HI> according to all the variety of their re&s;pective <HI>Idea's</HI> in the <HI>divine</HI> wi&s;dom. * Wherefore as the <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> of God obligeth him not to make every <HI>Planet</HI> a <HI>fixt Star,</HI> or every <HI>Star</HI> a <HI>Sun;</HI> So neither doth it oblige him to make every de|gree of <HI>Life,</HI> a rational <HI>Soul,</HI> or every <HI>Soul,</HI> an impeccable <HI>Angel.</HI> * For this were to tye him to <HI>contradictions.</HI> Since therefore, &s;uch an order of <HI>Beings,</HI> as <HI>rational</HI> and <HI>hap|py,</HI> though <HI>free,</HI> and therefore <HI>mutable</HI> crea|tures, were di&s;tinctly comprehended in the <HI>Divine Wi&s;dom;</HI> It was an effect of God's <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> to bring them into being, even in &s;uch a condition, and in &s;uch manner, as in their <HI>eternal Idea's</HI> they were repre&s;ented.</P>
<P>Thus then we &s;ee, it is not contrary to the infinite <HI>plenitude</HI> of the <HI>Divine Goodne&s;s</HI> * that we &s;hould have been made <HI>peccable</HI> and lyable to <HI>defection.</HI> And being thus in our very e&s;&s;ential con&s;titutions <HI>lap&s;ible;</HI> 'twas no defect in the goodne&s;s of our Maker that he did not interpo&s;e by his ab&s;olute <HI>omnipotence</HI> to prevent our actual <HI>praevarication</HI> and <HI>apo&s;ta|&s;ie.</HI> Since his goodne&s;s obligeth him not to &s;ecure us upon any terms whatever, but up|on &s;uch, as may mo&s;t promote the general
<PB N="70" REF="59">
<HI>good</HI> and advantage. And que&s;tionle&s;s, 'twas much better that &s;uch, as would <HI>wilful|ly</HI> depart from the laws of their ble&s;&s;ed na|tures, and break through all re&s;traints of the divine commands, &s;hould feel the &s;mart of their <HI>di&s;obedience;</HI> than that <HI>providence</HI> &s;hould di&s;order the con&s;titution of nature to prevent the puni&s;hment, which they drew up|on them&s;elves: Since tho&s;e <HI>apo&s;tate</HI> &s;pirits re|main in&s;tances to tho&s;e that &s;tand, of the <HI>divine ju&s;tice,</HI> and <HI>&s;everity</HI> again&s;t <HI>&s;inners,</HI> and &s;o may contribute not a little to their <HI>&s;ecurity.</HI> And for that long <HI>night</HI> of <HI>&s;ilence,</HI> in which multi|tudes of&s;ouls are buried before they de&s;cend into <HI>terre&s;trial matter,</HI> it is but the due reward of their former di&s;obedience; for which, con|&s;idering the <HI>happy circum&s;tances</HI> in which they were made, they de&s;erv'd to be nothing for ever. And their re-in&s;tating in a condition of <HI>life</HI> and &s;elf-injoyment after &s;o highly cul|pable <HI>delinquencies,</HI> is a great in&s;tance of the over-flowing fulne&s;s of the divine <HI>compa&s;&s;ion</HI> and <HI>benignity.</HI></P>
<P>Thus then we &s;ee, That Gods making us <HI>lap&s;ible</HI> and permitting us to <HI>fall,</HI> is no pre|judice in the lea&s;t to the infinite fecundity of his <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> and his making all things <HI>be&s;t.</HI> So that mine Argument for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> bot|tom'd on this Foundation, &s;tands yet firm and immoveable, notwith&s;tanding the rude a&s;&s;ault of this <HI>objection.</HI> From which I pa&s;s to a <HI>fourth.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="9" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="71" REF="59">
<HEAD>CHAP. IX.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>A <HI>(4th.) Objection</HI> again&s;t the Ar|gument from <HI>God's goodne&s;s, viz.</HI> That it will conclude as well that the <HI>World</HI> is <HI>infinite</HI> and <HI>eternal,</HI> An&s;wered. The conclu&s;ion of the <HI>&s;econd Argument</HI> for <HI>Praeexi|&s;tence.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THerefore fourthly, it will be excepted, If we may argue from the <HI>divine good|ne&s;s,</HI> which always doth what is <HI>be&s;t,</HI> for the <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> of <HI>Souls;</HI> then we may as rea&s;o|nably thence conclude, that the <HI>world</HI> is both <HI>infinite</HI> and <HI>eternal,</HI> &s;ince an <HI>infinite communi|cation</HI> of goodne&s;s is <HI>better</HI> than a <HI>finite.</HI> To this, becau&s;e I doubt I have di&s;tre&s;t the Rea|ders patience already, I <HI>an&s;wer</HI> briefly.</P>
<P>(1) Every one that believes the <HI>infinite|ne&s;s</HI> of Gods <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> is as much obliged to an&s;wer this <HI>objection,</HI> as I am. For it will be &s;aid, <HI>infinite goodne&s;s</HI> doth <HI>good infinitely,</HI> and con&s;equently the <HI>effects</HI> to which it doth <HI>communicate</HI> are <HI>infinite.</HI> For if they are not &s;o, it might have <HI>communicated</HI> to more, and thereby have done more <HI>good,</HI> than now
<PB N="72" REF="60">
'tis &s;uppo&s;ed to do, and by con&s;equence now is not <HI>infinite.</HI> And to affirm that goodne&s;s is <HI>infinite,</HI> where what it doth and intends to do is but <HI>finite,</HI> will be &s;aid to be a <HI>contradiction,</HI> &s;ince <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> is a <HI>relative</HI> term, and in God always re&s;pects &s;omewhat <HI>ad ex|tra.</HI> For he cannot be &s;aid to be <HI>good</HI> to him&s;elf, he being a nature that can receive no <HI>additional perfection.</HI> Wherefore this <HI>Ob|jection</HI> makes no more again&s;t mine <HI>Argument,</HI> than it doth again&s;t the <HI>Infinity</HI> of the <HI>Divine Goodne&s;s,</HI> and therefore I am no more con|cern'd in i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> than others. Yea (2<HI>ly.)</HI> the Scripture affirms that which is the very &s;trength of mine Argument, <HI>viz.</HI> That God made all things be&s;t; <HI>Very Good,</HI> &s;aith our Tran&s;lation: but the <HI>Original,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">; and <GAP DESC="foreign"> is a <HI>particle</HI> of the <HI>Superlative.</HI> And therefore every one that owns its &s;acred <HI>Au|thority</HI> is intere&s;ted again&s;t this <HI>Objection.</HI> For it urgeth, it had been far more <HI>&s;plendid, glo|rious,</HI> and <HI>magnificent</HI> for God to have made the <HI>univer&s;e commen&s;urate</HI> to his own <HI>immen|&s;ity;</HI> and to have produced <HI>effects</HI> of his <HI>power</HI> and <HI>greatne&s;s,</HI> where ever he him&s;elf is, <HI>viz.</HI> in <HI>infinite &s;pace</HI> and <HI>duration,</HI> than to have confined his <HI>omnipotence</HI> to work only in one little <HI>&s;pot</HI> of an <HI>infinite inane capacity,</HI> and to begin to act but t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">other day. Thus then the late <HI>creation,</HI> and <HI>finitene&s;s,</HI> of the <HI>World,</HI> &s;eem to conflict with the undoubted <HI>oracle</HI> of
<PB N="73" REF="60">
<HI>truth</HI> as well as with mine <HI>Argument,</HI> and there|fore the <HI>Objection</HI> drawn thence is of no <HI>va|lidity.</HI> (3) Tho&s;e that have mo&s;t &s;trenu|ou&s;ly defended the orthodox doctrine a|gain&s;t the <HI>old opinion</HI> of the <HI>eternity</HI> and <HI>infi|nity</HI> of the world, * have a&s;&s;erted it to be <HI>impo&s;&s;ible</HI> in the <HI>nature</HI> of the <HI>thing.</HI> And &s;ure the <HI>divine benignity</HI> obligeth him not to do <HI>contradictions;</HI> or &s;uch things, as in the very <HI>notion</HI> of them, are <HI>impo&s;&s;ible.</HI> But in the ca&s;e of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> no &s;uch thing can be rea&s;onably pretended, as above hath been declared; and therefore there is no e&s;caping by this <HI>Eva&s;ion neither.</HI> Nor can there any thing el&s;e be urged to this purpo&s;e, but what whoever believes the <HI>infinity</HI> of the <HI>divine bounty</HI> will be concern'd to an&s;wer; And therefore 'twill make no more again&s;t me, than again&s;t a truth on all hands confe&s;&s;ed. Let me only add this, That 'tis more be|coming us, to inlarge our <HI>apprehen&s;ions</HI> of things &s;o, as that they may &s;uit the <HI>Divine Bene|ficence,</HI> than to draw <HI>it</HI> down to a complyance with our <HI>little &s;chemes,</HI> and <HI>narrow models.</HI></P>
<P>Thus then I have done with the <HI>Argument</HI> for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> drawn from the <HI>Divine Goodne&s;s.</HI> And I have been the longer on it, becau&s;e I thought 'twas in vain to propo&s;e it, without taking to task the <HI>principal</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>objections,</HI> that mu&s;t needs ari&s;e in the minds of tho&s;e that are not u&s;ed to this <HI>way</HI> of <HI>arguing.</HI>
<PB N="74" REF="61">
And while there was no provi&s;ion made to &s;top up tho&s;e <HI>Eva&s;ions,</HI> that I &s;aw this <HI>Argu|ment</HI> obnoxious to; the u&s;ing of it, I was afraid, would have been a <HI>prejudice,</HI> rather than a <HI>furtherance</HI> of the <HI>cau&s;e</HI> I ingaged it in. And therefore I hope the ingenious will par|don this &s;o nece&s;&s;ary piece of tediou&s;ne&s;s.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="10" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. X.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>A third Argument for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> from the great variety of mens <HI>&s;pe|culative</HI> inclinations; and al&s;o the diver&s;ity of our <HI>Genius's,</HI> copiou&s;ly urged. If the&s;e Arguments make Praeexi&s;tence but probable, 'tis enough to gain it the <HI>Victory.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>BUt now I proceed to another <HI>Argument.</HI> Therefore, <HI>Thirdly,</HI> If we do but re|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ect upon what was &s;aid above, again&s;t the Souls <HI>daily Creation,</HI> from that <HI>enormous pra|vity</HI> which is &s;o <HI>deeply rooted</HI> in &s;ome mens <HI>natures,</HI> we may thence have a con&s;iderable evidence of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> For as this &s;trong <HI>natural propen&s;ity</HI> to <HI>vice</HI> and <HI>impiety</HI> cannot po&s;&s;ibly con&s;i&s;t with the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of the <HI>&s;ouls</HI> coming ju&s;t out of Gods hands <HI>pure</HI> and
<PB N="75" REF="61">
<HI>immaculate;</HI> &s;o doth it mo&s;t aptly &s;uit with the doctrine of its <HI>praeexi&s;tence:</HI> which gives a mo&s;t clear and appo&s;ite account of the <HI>phae|nomenon.</HI> For let us but conceive the Souls of men to have grown <HI>degenerate</HI> in a former <HI>condition</HI> of <HI>life,</HI> * to have contracted &s;trong and inveterate <HI>habits</HI> to vice and lewdne&s;s, and that in various manners and degrees; we may then ea&s;ily apprehend, when &s;ome mens <HI>natures</HI> had &s;o incredibly a <HI>depraved tincture,</HI> and &s;uch <HI>impetuous, ungovernable, irreclaimable inclinations</HI> to what is vitious; while others have nothing near &s;uch wret|ched propen&s;ions, but by good <HI>education</HI> and good <HI>di&s;cipline</HI> are <HI>mouldable</HI> to <HI>vertue;</HI> This &s;hews a clear way to <HI>unriddle</HI> this <HI>amazing my&s;tery,</HI> without blemi&s;hing any of the <HI>di|vine Attributes,</HI> or doing the lea&s;t <HI>violence</HI> to our <HI>faculties.</HI></P>
<P>Nor is it more difficult to conceive, how a <HI>&s;oul</HI> &s;hould awaken out of the <HI>&s;tate</HI> of <HI>in|activity</HI> we &s;peak of, with tho&s;e <HI>radical incli|nations</HI> that by long practice it had contracted, * than how a <HI>Swallow</HI> &s;hould return to her old trade of living after her winter <HI>&s;leep</HI> and <HI>&s;ilence;</HI> for tho&s;e <HI>cu&s;toms</HI> it hath been ad|dicted to in the other &s;tate, are now &s;o deep|ly fa&s;tened and rooted in the <HI>&s;oul,</HI> that they are become even <HI>another nature.</HI></P>
<P>Now then, if <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> be not the truth, 'tis very &s;trange that it &s;hould &s;o ex|actly
<PB N="76" REF="62">
an&s;wer the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of our natures, when as no other <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> doth any whit tolerably &s;uit them. And if we may con|clude that fal&s;e, which is &s;o corre&s;pondent to all <HI>appearances,</HI> when we know nothing el&s;e that can yield any probable account of them, and which is not in the lea&s;t <HI>repugnant</HI> to any <HI>inducement</HI> of belief, we then &s;trange|ly forget our &s;elves when we <HI>determine</HI> any thing. We can never for in&s;tance, conclude the <HI>Moon</HI> to be the cau&s;e of the <HI>flux</HI> and <HI>re|flux</HI> of the Sea, from the an&s;wering of her <HI>approaches</HI> and <HI>rece&s;&s;es</HI> to its <HI>ebbs</HI> and <HI>&s;wellings.</HI> Nor at this rate can the cau&s;e of any thing el&s;e be determined in nature.</P>
<P>But yet be&s;ides, (2) we might another way inforce this <HI>Argument,</HI> from the &s;trange difference and diver&s;ity that there is in mens <HI>wits</HI> and <HI>intellectual cra&s;eis,</HI> as well as in the di&s;po&s;itions of their <HI>wills</HI> and <HI>appetites.</HI> E|ven the natural tempers of mens <HI>minds</HI> are as va&s;tly different, as the <HI>qualities</HI> of their <HI>bodies.</HI> And 'tis ea&s;ie to ob&s;erve in things purely <HI>&s;pe|culative</HI> and <HI>intellectual,</HI> even where neither <HI>education</HI> or <HI>cu&s;tom</HI> have interpo&s;ed to &s;ophi|&s;ticate the natural <GAP DESC="foreign">, that &s;ome men are &s;trangely <HI>propen&s;e</HI> to &s;ome <HI>opinions,</HI> which they greedily drink in, as &s;oon as they are duly repre&s;ented; yea, and find them&s;elves bur|thened and oppre&s;t, while their <HI>education</HI> hath kept them in a <HI>contrary belief,</HI> * when
<PB N="77" REF="62">
as <HI>others</HI> are as fatally &s;et again&s;t the&s;e <HI>opi|nions,</HI> and can never be brought favourably to re&s;ent them.</P>
<P>Every <HI>Soul</HI> brings a kind of <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> with it into the world, whereby it <HI>ta&s;tes</HI> and <HI>reli&s;h|eth</HI> what is &s;uitable to its peculiar <HI>temper.</HI> And <HI>notions</HI> will never lie ea&s;ily in a mind, that they are not fitted to; &s;ome can ne|ver apprehend <HI>that</HI> for other than <HI>an Ab&s;ur|dity,</HI> which others are &s;o clear in, that they almo&s;t take it for a <HI>Fir&s;t Principle.</HI> And yet the former hath all the &s;ame evidence as the latter. This I have remarkably taken no|tice of, in the opinion of the <HI>exten&s;ion</HI> of a <HI>&s;pirit.</HI> Some that I know, and tho&s;e <HI>inqui|&s;itive, free,</HI> and <HI>ingenuous,</HI> by all the proof and evidence that is, cannot be reconciled to it. Nor can they conceive any thing <HI>ex|tended,</HI> but as a <HI>Body.</HI> Whereas other deep and impartial &s;earchers into nature, cannot apprehend <HI>it</HI> any thing at all, if not <HI>extend|ed;</HI> but think it mu&s;t then be a <HI>mathematical point,</HI> or a meer non-entity.</P>
<P>I could in&s;tance in other &s;peculations, which I have ob&s;erv'd &s;ome to be pa&s;&s;ionate Embracers of upon the fir&s;t propo&s;al; when as no arguments could prevail on others, to think them tolerable. But there needs no proof of a manife&s;t ob&s;ervation.</P>
<P>Therefore before I go further, I would demand, whence comes this meer <HI>notional</HI> or
<PB N="78" REF="63">
<HI>&s;peculative variety?</HI> * Were his <HI>difference</HI> a|bout <HI>&s;en&s;ibles,</HI> yea, or about things depen|ding on the <HI>imagination,</HI> the <HI>influence</HI> of the body might then be &s;u&s;pected for a <HI>cau&s;e.</HI> But &s;ince it is in the mo&s;t <HI>ab&s;tracted Theories</HI> that have nothing to do with the gro&s;&s;er <HI>phanta&s;mes;</HI> &s;ince this <HI>diver&s;ity</HI> is found in <HI>minds</HI> that have the greate&s;t care to free them&s;elves from the <HI>deceptions</HI> of <HI>&s;en&s;e,</HI> and intanglements of the body, what can we con|clude, but that the &s;oul it &s;elf is the <HI>immediate</HI> &s;ubject of all this <HI>variety,</HI> and that it came <HI>prae|judiced</HI> and <HI>praepo&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed</HI> into this <HI>body</HI> with &s;ome <HI>implicit notions</HI> that it had learnt in a|nother? And if this <HI>congruity</HI> to &s;ome <HI>opi|nions,</HI> and aver&s;ene&s;s to others be <HI>congenial</HI> to us, and not <HI>advenient</HI> from any thing in <HI>this &s;tate,</HI> 'tis methinks clear that we were in a former. * For the <HI>Soul</HI> in its <HI>fir&s;t</HI> and <HI>pure</HI> nature hath no <HI>idio&s;yncra&s;ies,</HI> that is, hath no <HI>proper</HI> natural inclinations which are not competent to others of the &s;ame kind and condition. Be &s;ure, they are not fatally <HI>de|termin'd</HI> by their natures to <HI>fal&s;e</HI> and <HI>errone|ous apprehen&s;ions.</HI> And therefore &s;ince we find this determination to one or other fal&s;|hood in many, if not mo&s;t in this &s;tate, and &s;ince 'tis very unlikely 'tis derived <HI>only</HI> from the <HI>body, cu&s;tom,</HI> or <HI>education,</HI> what can we conceive on't, but that our Souls were tain|ted with the&s;e <HI>peculiar</HI> and <HI>wrong corrupti|ons</HI>
<PB N="79" REF="63">
before we were <HI>extant</HI> upon this <HI>&s;tage of Earth?</HI></P>
<P>Be&s;ides, 'tis ea&s;ie to ob&s;erve the &s;trange and wonderful <HI>variety</HI> of our <HI>genius's;</HI> one mans nature inclining him to one kind of &s;tudy and imployment, anothers to what is very different. Some almo&s;t from their ve|ry <HI>cradles</HI> will be addicted to the making of figures, and in little <HI>mechanical</HI> contrivan|ces; others love to be <HI>riming</HI> almo&s;t as &s;oon as they can &s;peak plainly, and are taken up in &s;mall e&s;&s;ays of <HI>Poetry.</HI> Some will be &s;craw|ling <HI>Pictures,</HI> and others take as great de|light in &s;ome pretty offers at <HI>Mu&s;ick</HI> and <HI>vo|cal harmony.</HI> Infinite almo&s;t are the ways in which this <HI>pure natural diver&s;ity</HI> doth di&s;cover it &s;elf. * Now to &s;ay that all this variety proceeds primarily from the meer <HI>temper</HI> of our <HI>bodies,</HI> is me thinks a very poor and un|&s;atisfying Account. * For tho&s;e that are the mo&s;t like in the <HI>Temper, Air, Complexion</HI> of their bodies, are yet of a va&s;tly differing <HI>Ge|nius.</HI> Yea, they that have been made of the &s;ame clay, ca&s;t in the &s;ame mould, and have layn at once in the &s;ame natural bed, the womb; yea who&s;e bodies have been as like as their &s;tate and fortunes, and their <HI>education</HI> and u&s;ages the &s;ame, yet even they do not unfrequently differ as much from each other in their <HI>genius</HI> and <HI>di&s;po&s;itions</HI> of the <HI>mind,</HI> as tho&s;e that in all the&s;e par|ticulars
<PB N="80" REF="64">
are of very different condition. Be&s;ides, there are all kind of <HI>makes, forms, di&s;po&s;itions, tempers,</HI> and <HI>complexions</HI> of <HI>body,</HI> that are addicted by their natures to the &s;ame <HI>exerci&s;es</HI> and <HI>imployments:</HI> &s;o that to a&s;cribe <HI>this</HI> to any <HI>peculiarity</HI> in the <HI>body,</HI> is me &s;eems a very improbable &s;olution of the <HI>Phaenome|non.</HI> And to &s;ay all the&s;e <HI>inclinations</HI> are from <HI>cu&s;tom</HI> or <HI>education,</HI> is the way not to be believed, &s;ince all experience te&s;tifies the contrary.</P>
<P>What then can we conjecture is the cau&s;e of all this <HI>diver&s;ity,</HI> but that we had taken a great <HI>delight</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ure</HI> in &s;ome things <HI>like</HI> and <HI>analogous</HI> unto the&s;e, in a former conditi|on, which now again begins to put forth it &s;elf, when we are awakened out of our <HI>&s;ilent</HI> rece&s;s into a &s;tate of <HI>action?</HI> And though the <HI>imployments, plea&s;ures</HI> and <HI>exerci&s;es</HI> of our former <HI>life,</HI> were without que&s;tion very dif|ferent from the&s;e in the pre&s;ent e&s;tate; yet 'tis no doubt, but that &s;ome of them were more <HI>confamiliar</HI> and <HI>analogous</HI> to &s;ome of our <HI>tran&s;actions,</HI> than others: &s;o that as any ex|erci&s;e or imployment here is more &s;uitable to the particular di&s;po&s;itions that were praedo|minant in the other &s;tate, with the more pe|culiar kindne&s;s is it regarded by us, and the more greedily do our inclinations now fa&s;ten on it. Thus if a <HI>Mu&s;ician</HI> &s;hould be inter|dicted the u&s;e of all <HI>mu&s;ical</HI> in&s;truments, and
<PB N="81" REF="64">
yet might have his choice of any other Art or Profe&s;&s;ion, 'tis likely he would betake him&s;elf to <HI>Limning</HI> or <HI>Poetry;</HI> the&s;e exer|ci&s;es requiring the &s;ame <HI>di&s;po&s;ition</HI> of <HI>wil</HI> and <HI>genius,</HI> as his beloved <HI>Mu&s;ick</HI> did. And <HI>we</HI> in like manner, being by the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ate of our wretched <HI>de&s;cent</HI> hindred from the direct exerci&s;ing our &s;elves about the objects of our former <HI>delights</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ures,</HI> do yet as &s;oon as we are able, take to tho&s;e things which do mo&s;t corre&s;pond to that <HI>genius</HI> that formerly in&s;pired us.</P>
<P>And now 'tis time to take leave of the <HI>Ar|guments</HI> from <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> that give evidence for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> If any one think that they are not &s;o <HI>demon&s;trative,</HI> but that they may be <HI>an&s;wered,</HI> or at lea&s;t <HI>evaded;</HI> I pray him to con&s;ider how many demon&s;trations he ever met with, that a good wit, re&s;olv'd in a contrary cau&s;e, could not &s;hu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">le from the edge of. Or, let it be granted, that the <HI>Ar|guments</HI> I have alledged are no <HI>infallible</HI> or <HI>nece&s;&s;ary proofs;</HI> yet if they render my <HI>cau&s;e</HI> but <HI>probable,</HI> yea but <HI>po&s;&s;ible,</HI> I have won what I contended for. For it having been made manife&s;t by as good evidence as I think can be brought for any thing, that the way of <HI>new creations</HI> is mo&s;t <HI>incon&s;i&s;tent</HI> with the <HI>honor</HI> of the ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Attributes</HI> of <HI>God:</HI> And that the other of <HI>Traduction</HI> is mo&s;t <HI>impo&s;&s;ible</HI> and <HI>contradictio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> in the <HI>nature</HI> of <HI>things:</HI>
<PB N="82" REF="65">
* There being now no other way left but <HI>Prae-exi&s;tence,</HI> if <HI>that</HI> be <HI>probable</HI> or but barely <HI>po&s;|&s;ible,</HI> 'tis enough to give it the <HI>victory.</HI> And whether all that hath been &s;aid prove &s;o much or no, I leave to the <HI>indifferent</HI> to de|termine. I think he that will &s;ay it doth not, can bring few proofs for any thing, which according to his way of judging will de|&s;erve to be called <HI>Demon&s;trations.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="11" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XI.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Great caution to be u&s;ed in alledging Scripture for our &s;peculative opinions. The <HI>countenance</HI> that <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> hath from the <HI>&s;acred wri|tings</HI> both of the <HI>old</HI> and <HI>new</HI> Te&s;tament; Rea&s;ons of the &s;eeming uncouthne&s;s of the&s;e allegations. <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> &s;tood in no need of <HI>Scripture-proof.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>IT will be next expected, that I &s;hould now prove the Doctrine I have under|taken for, by <HI>Scripture evidence,</HI> and make good what I &s;aid above, That the <HI>divine oracles</HI> are not &s;o &s;ilent in this matter as is imagined. But truly I have &s;o tender a &s;en&s;e of the &s;acred Authority of that <HI>Holy volume,</HI> that I dare not be &s;o <HI>bold</HI> with it, as to <HI>force</HI> it to &s;peak what I think <HI>it intends</HI> not; A <HI>pre|&s;umption,</HI> that is too common among our
<PB N="83" REF="65">
confident <HI>opinioni&s;ts,</HI> and that hath occa&s;ion|ed great troubles to the <HI>Church,</HI> and di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">e|pute to the <HI>in&s;pired</HI> writings. For, for men to a&s;cribe the <HI>odd</HI> notions of their <HI>over-hea|ted</HI> imaginations to <HI>the Spirit of God,</HI> and <HI>eternal truth,</HI> is me thinks a very bold and im|pudent <HI>belying</HI> it. Wherefore I dare not but be very <HI>cautious</HI> what I &s;peak in this matter, nor would I willingly urge <HI>Scripture</HI> as a proof of any thing, but what I am &s;ure by the <HI>whole tenor</HI> of it, is therein contained: And would I take the <HI>liberty</HI> to fetch in every thing for a <HI>Scripture-evidence,</HI> that with a little <HI>indu&s;try</HI> a man might make <HI>&s;erviceable</HI> to his de&s;ign; I doubt not but I &s;hould be able to <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ill</HI> my <HI>Margent</HI> with <HI>Quotations,</HI> which &s;hould be as much to <HI>purpo&s;e</HI> as have been cited in general <HI>CATECHISMS</HI> and <HI>CONFESSIONS</HI> of <HI>FAITH,</HI> and that in points that mu&s;t for&s;ooth be digni|fied with the &s;acred title of <HI>F&V;NDA|MENTAL.</HI> But <HI>Reverend ASSEM|BLIES</HI> may make more bold with Scrip|ture than <HI>private per&s;ons;</HI> And therefore I confe&s;s I'm &s;o <HI>timorous</HI> that I dur&s;t not fol|low their example: Though in a matter that I would never have <HI>impo&s;ed</HI> upon the be|lief of any man, though I were <HI>certain</HI> on't, and had <HI>ab&s;olute</HI> power to enjoyn it. I think the only way to pre&s;erve the <HI>reverence</HI> due to the <HI>oracles</HI> of <HI>Truth,</HI> is never to urge their
<PB N="84" REF="66">
<HI>Authority</HI> but in things very <HI>momentous,</HI> and &s;uch as the whole <HI>current</HI> of them gives an <HI>evident &s;uffrage</HI> to. But to make them &s;peak every <HI>trivial</HI> conceit that our &s;ick brains can imagine or <HI>dream</HI> of, (as I inti|mated) is to <HI>vilifie</HI> and <HI>deflowre</HI> them. There|fore though I think that &s;everal <HI>Texts</HI> of <HI>Scri|pture</HI> look very fairly upon <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> and would encourage a man, that con&s;iders what &s;trong <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> it hath to back it, to think, that very <HI>probably</HI> they mean &s;ome thing in <HI>favour</HI> of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is;</HI> yet I'le not urge them as an <HI>irrefutable</HI> proof, being not willing to lay more &s;tre&s;s upon any thing than it will bear. Yea, I am mo&s;t willing to <HI>confe&s;s</HI> the <HI>weakne&s;s</HI> of my <HI>Cau&s;e</HI> in what joynt &s;oever I &s;hall di&s;cover it. And yet I mu&s;t needs &s;ay, that whoe|ver compares the <HI>Texts</HI> that follow, with &s;ome particulars mention'd in the <HI>an&s;wer</HI> to the objection of <HI>Scripture-&s;ilence,</HI> will not chu&s;e but acknowledge that there is very fair probability for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> in the <HI>writ|ten</HI> word of God, as there is in that which is <HI>engraven</HI> upon our rational <HI>natures.</HI> There|fore to bring together here what <HI>Scripture</HI> &s;aith in this <HI>matter,</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. I'le lightly <HI>touch</HI> an <HI>expre&s;&s;ion</HI> or two of the <HI>old</HI> Te&s;tament, which not <HI>improperly</HI> may be applyed to the bu&s;ine&s;s we are in &s;earch of. And methinks God him&s;elf in his <HI>po&s;ing</HI>
<PB N="85" REF="66">
the great in&s;tance of patience, <HI>Job,</HI> &s;eems to intimate &s;omewhat to this purpo&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> that all <HI>&s;pirits</HI> were in being when the <HI>Foundati|ons</HI> of the <HI>earth</HI> were laid: when &s;aith he, <HI>the morning &s;tars &s;ang together, and all the Sons of God &s;houted for joy.</HI> By the <HI>former</HI> very like|ly were meant the <HI>Angels,</HI> and 'tis not im|probable but by the latter may be intended the ble&s;&s;ed untainted <HI>Souls.</HI> At lea&s;t the par|ticle <HI>All</HI> me thinks &s;hould comprize <HI>this</HI> or|der of &s;pirits al&s;o. And within the &s;ame <HI>pe|riod</HI> of di&s;cour&s;e, having que&s;tion'd <HI>Job</HI> a|bout the nature and place of the <HI>Light,</HI> he adds, <HI>I know that thou wa&s;t then born, for the number of thy days are many,</HI> as the <HI>Septuagint</HI> render it. * And we know our <HI>Saviour</HI> and his <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> have given credit to that <HI>Tran&s;lation</HI> by their &s;o con&s;tant following it. Nor doth that &s;aying of God to <HI>Jeremias</HI> in the beginning of his <HI>charge</HI> &s;eem to <HI>intimate</HI> le&s;s, <HI>Before I formed thee in the Belly I knew thee, and before thou came&s;t out of the womb I gave thee wi&s;dom;</HI> * as reads a very <HI>credi|table ver&s;ion.</HI> Now though each of the&s;e places might be drawn to <HI>another</HI> &s;en&s;e, yet that only argues that they are no nece&s;&s;a|ry proof for <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> which I readily acknowledge; nor do I intend any &s;uch matter by alledging them. However I hope they will be <HI>confe&s;t</HI> to be <HI>applicable</HI> to <HI>this</HI> &s;en&s;e; and if there be <HI>other</HI> grounds that
<PB N="86" REF="67">
<HI>&s;wade</HI> this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> to be the <HI>truth,</HI> 'tis I think very probable that the&s;e Texts <HI>intend</HI> it <HI>favour,</HI> which whether it be &s;o or no, we have &s;een already.</P>
<P N="2">2. For the Texts of the <HI>New</HI> Te&s;tament that &s;eem to look plea&s;ingly upon <HI>Praeex|i&s;tence,</HI> I &s;hall as briefly <HI>hint</HI> them as I did the <HI>former.</HI> * And <HI>me thinks</HI> that pa&s;&s;age of our <HI>Saviours</HI> prayer, <HI>Father, Glori<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ie me with the &s;ame glory I had with thee before the world began,</HI> &s;ounds &s;omewhat to this purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>The glory which he prays to be <HI>re&s;tored</HI> to, &s;eems to concern his <HI>humane</HI> nature only; for the <HI>divine</HI> could never lo&s;e it. And there|fore it <HI>&s;uppo&s;eth</HI> that he was in his <HI>humanity</HI> exi&s;tent <HI>before:</HI> And that his <HI>&s;oul</HI> was of <HI>old</HI> before his <HI>appearance</HI> in a <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> body. Which &s;eems al&s;o to be intimated * by the expre&s;&s;ions of his <HI>coming from the Father, de|&s;cending from Heaven,</HI> and <HI>returning thither</HI> again, which he very frequently makes u&s;e of. And we know the <HI>Divinity</HI> that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ills <HI>all</HI> things, cannot <HI>move to,</HI> or <HI>quit</HI> a place, it being a manife&s;t <HI>imperfection,</HI> and contrary to his <HI>Immen&s;ity.</HI></P>
<P>I might add tho&s;e other expre&s;&s;ions of our Saviour's taking upon him the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">orm</HI> of a <HI>Ser|vant,</HI> of <HI>rich</HI> for our &s;akes becoming <HI>poor,</HI> and many others of like <HI>import,</HI> all which are very clear if we <HI>admit</HI> the doctrine of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> but <HI>without</HI> it &s;omewhat <HI>p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rplex</HI>
<PB N="87" REF="67">
and <HI>intricate:</HI> &s;ince the&s;e things, applyed to him as <HI>God,</HI> are very <HI>improper</HI> and <HI>di&s;agree|ing,</HI> but <HI>appo&s;itely</HI> &s;uit his <HI>Humanity,</HI> to which if we refer them, we mu&s;t &s;uppo&s;e our <HI>Hypo|the&s;is</HI> of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> But I omit further <HI>pro&s;ecution</HI> of this matter, * &s;ince the&s;e places have been more <HI>diffu&s;ely</HI> urged in a <HI>late di&s;|cour&s;e</HI> to this purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>Moreover the <HI>Que&s;tion</HI> of the Di&s;ciples, * <HI>Was it for this mans &s;in, or for his Fathers that he was born blind?</HI> and that <HI>an&s;wer</HI> of theirs to our Saviours demand, whom men &s;aid he was; in that &s;ome &s;aid he was <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Bapti&s;t,</HI> &s;ome <HI>Elias,</HI> or one of the <HI>Prophets;</HI> both which I have mentioned before; do clearly enough argue, that both the <HI>Di&s;ciples</HI> and the <HI>Jews</HI> believed <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> And our Saviour &s;aith not a <HI>word</HI> to di&s;prove their <HI>opi|nion.</HI> But I &s;pake of this above.</P>
<P>Now however <HI>uncouth</HI> the&s;e <HI>allegations</HI> may &s;eem to tho&s;e that never heard the&s;e Scriptures <HI>thus interpreted;</HI> yet I am confi|dent, had the opinion of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> been a received Doctrine, and had the&s;e Texts been <HI>wont</HI> to be applyed to the proof on't, they would then have been <HI>thought</HI> to a&s;&s;ert it, with clear and convictive <HI>evidence.</HI> But many having never heard of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> and tho&s;e that have, &s;eldom meeting it men|tioned but as a <HI>&s;illy dream</HI> or <HI>antiquated</HI> ab|&s;urdity, 'tis no wonder that they never &s;u&s;|pect
<PB N="88" REF="68">
it to be <HI>lodg'd</HI> in the <HI>Sacred volume,</HI> &s;o that any attempt to confirm it <HI>thence,</HI> mu&s;t needs &s;eem rather an offer of <HI>wit</HI> than &s;erious <HI>judgment.</HI> And the <HI>places</HI> that are cited to that purpo&s;e having been frequently read and heard of, by tho&s;e that never di&s;cerned them to <HI>breath</HI> the lea&s;t <HI>air</HI> of any &s;uch matter as <HI>Praeexi&s;tence,</HI> their <HI>new</HI> and <HI>unexpected</HI> appli|cation to a thing &s;o <HI>little</HI> thought of, mu&s;t needs &s;eem a <HI>wild</HI> fetch of an <HI>extravagant</HI> imagination. But however <HI>unconclu&s;ive</HI> the <HI>Texts</HI> alledged may &s;eem to tho&s;e a &s;trong <HI>prejudice</HI> hath &s;hut up again&s;t the <HI>Hypothe&s;is;</HI> The <HI>learned</HI> Jews, who were per&s;waded of this <HI>Doctrine,</HI> thought it clearly enough con|tain'd in the <HI>Old</HI> Volume of holy writ, and took the <HI>citations,</HI> named above, for cur|rent Evidence. And though I cannot <HI>war|rant</HI> for their <HI>Judgment</HI> in <HI>things,</HI> yet doubt|le&s;s they were the <HI>be&s;t</HI> Judges of their own <HI>Language.</HI> Nor would our School-Doctors have thought it &s;o much a &s;tranger to the <HI>New,</HI> had it had the luck to have been one of their <HI>opinions,</HI> or did they not too frequent|ly apply the <HI>&s;acred Oracles</HI> to their own fore|conceived <HI>notions.</HI></P>
<P>But whether what I have brought from <HI>Scripture</HI> prove any thing or nothing, 'tis not very material, &s;ince the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of <HI>Prae-exi&s;tence</HI> &s;tands &s;ecure enough upon tho&s;e <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">llars</HI> of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> which have their <HI>Foun|dation</HI>
<PB N="89" REF="68">
in the <HI>Attributes</HI> of God, and the <HI>Phae|nomena</HI> of the world. And the <HI>Right Rea|&s;on</HI> of a Man, is one of the <HI>Divine</HI> volumes, in which are written the indeleble <HI>Idea</HI>'s of eternal Truth: &s;o that what it dictates, is as much the voice of God, as if in &s;o many words it were clearly <HI>expre&s;t</HI> in the <HI>written Revelations.</HI> It is enough therefore for my purpo&s;e, if there be nothing in the <HI>&s;acred</HI> writings contrary to this <HI>Hypothe&s;is;</HI> which I think is made clear enough already; and though it be granted that <HI>Scripture</HI> is ab&s;o|lutely <HI>&s;ilent</HI> as to any a&s;&s;ertion of <HI>Prae-exi&s;tence,</HI> yet we have made it appear that its having &s;aid nothing of it, is no <HI>prejudice, but an advantage to the cau&s;e.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="12" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="90" REF="69">
<HEAD>CHAP. XII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Why the Author thinks him&s;elf obliged to de&s;cend to &s;ome more particular Account of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> 'Tis pre&s;umption po&s;itively to determine how it was with us of <HI>Old.</HI> The Authors de&s;ign in the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> that follows.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>NOw becau&s;e inability to apprehend the <HI>manner of a Thing</HI> is a great pre|judice again&s;t the belief on't; I find my &s;elf obliged to go a little further than the bare proof, and defence of <HI>Praeexi&s;tence.</HI> For though what I have &s;aid, may po&s;&s;ibly in|duce &s;ome to think favourably of our <HI>con|clu&s;ion,</HI> That <HI>the &s;ouls of men were made be|fore they came into the&s;e bodies;</HI> yet while they &s;hall think that nothing can be <HI>conceived</HI> of that <HI>former &s;tate,</HI> and that our Praeexi&s;tent condition cannot be repre&s;ented to Humane Under&s;tanding, but as a <HI>dark black</HI> &s;olitude: it mu&s;t needs weaken the per&s;wa&s;ion of tho&s;e that are le&s;s confirmed, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ill the minds of the inqui&s;itive with a dubious
<PB N="91" REF="69">
trouble and Anxiety. For &s;earching and contemplative Heads cannot be &s;atisfied to be told, That our <HI>&s;ouls have lived and acted in a former condition,</HI> except they can be helpt to &s;ome more <HI>particular</HI> apprehen&s;ion of that <HI>State;</HI> How we lived and acted of <HI>old,</HI> and how probably we <HI>fell</HI> from that <HI>better life,</HI> in|to this Region of mi&s;ery and imperfecti|on.</P>
<P>Now though indeed my Charity would prompt me to do what I can for the relief and ea&s;e of any mode&s;t Inquirer; yet &s;hall I not attempt to &s;atisfie punctual and eager <HI>curio|&s;ity</HI> in things <HI>hidden</HI> and <HI>un&s;earchable.</HI> Much le&s;s &s;hall I po&s;itively determine any thing in matters &s;o lubricous and uncertain. And indeed con&s;idering how imperfect our now <HI>&s;tate</HI> is, how mi&s;erable &s;hallow our under|&s;tandings are, and how little we know of our pre&s;ent &s;elves, and the things about us, it may &s;eem a de&s;perate undertaking to at|tempt any thing in this matter. Yea, when we contemplate the va&s;t <HI>circuits</HI> of the <HI>Di|vine Wi&s;dom,</HI> and think how much the thoughts and actions of <HI>Eternity</HI> and <HI>Omni|&s;cience</HI> are beyond ours, <HI>who are but of Ye&s;ter|day, and know nothing,</HI> it mu&s;t needs di&s;|courage Con&s;idence it &s;elf from determining, how the <HI>Oeconomy</HI> of the <HI>world</HI> of <HI>life</HI> was order'd, in the day the <HI>Heavens</HI> and <HI>Earth</HI> were framed. There are doubtle&s;s infinite
<PB N="92" REF="70">
ways and methods according to which the un&s;earchable wi&s;dom of our Maker could have di&s;po&s;ed of us, which we can have no conceit of; And we are little more capable of unerringly re&s;olving our &s;elves now, how it was with us of old, than a Child in the womb is to determine, what kind of life it &s;hall live when it is &s;et at liberty from that <HI>dark inclo&s;ure.</HI> Therefore let &s;hame and blu&s;hing cover his face that &s;hall confident|ly affirm that 'twas <HI>thus</HI> or <HI>thus</HI> with us in the <HI>&s;tate</HI> of our <HI>Fore-Beings.</HI></P>
<P>However, to &s;hew that it may have been that our <HI>Souls</HI> did <HI>Praeexi&s;t,</HI> though we can|not punctually and certainly conclude upon the <HI>Particular State,</HI> I &s;hall pre&s;ume to draw up a conceivable <HI>Scheme</HI> of the <HI>Hypothe&s;is;</HI> And if our narrow minds can think of a way how it might have been, I hope no body will deny that the <HI>divine wi&s;dom</HI> could have contriv'd it &s;o, or infinitely better than we can imagin in our little models.</P>
<P>And now I would not have it thought that I go about to in&s;inuate or repre&s;ent any opinions of my own, or that I am a votary to all the notions I make u&s;e of, whether of the <HI>Antient,</HI> or more modern <HI>Philo&s;ophers.</HI> For I &s;eriou&s;ly profe&s;s again&s;t all determi|nations in this kind. But my bu&s;ine&s;s only is, by &s;ome imperfect hints and gue&s;&s;es to help to apprehend a little how the &s;tate of
<PB N="93" REF="70">
<HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> might have been, and &s;o to let in &s;ome beams of <HI>ancient</HI> and <HI>modern light</HI> upon this <HI>immen&s;e</HI> darkne&s;s. * Therefore let the Reader if he plea&s;e call it a <HI>Roman|tick Scheme,</HI> or <HI>imaginary Hypothe&s;is,</HI> or what name el&s;e be&s;t fits his <HI>Phancy,</HI> and he'l not offend me; Nor do I hold my &s;elf con|cern'd at all to vindicate the truth of any thing here that is the fruit of mine own in|vention or compo&s;ure; Though I confe&s;s I could beg civilities at lea&s;t for the notions I have borrowed from great and worthy Sages. And indeed the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> as to the main, is derived to us from the <HI>Platoni&s;ts:</HI> though in their writings 'tis but <HI>Gold</HI> in <HI>Oar,</HI> le&s;s pure and perfect: But a late great Arti&s;t hath excellently refined it. And I have not much work to do, but to bring together what he up and down hath &s;cattered, and by a method-order, and &s;ome connexions and notions of mine own, to work it into an intire and uniform ma&s;s.</P>
<P>Now becau&s;e the Frame of the <HI>particular Hypothe&s;is</HI> is originally <HI>Philo&s;ophical,</HI> I &s;hall therefore not deprave it by mingling with it the opinions of <HI>modern Theologers,</HI> or di&s;tort any thing to make it accommodate to their <HI>dogmata,</HI> but &s;olely and &s;incerely follow the light of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>Philo&s;ophy.</HI> For I intend not to endeavour the late alteration of the ordinary <HI>&s;y&s;teme</HI> of <HI>Divinity,</HI> nor de&s;ign any
<PB N="94" REF="71">
thing in this place but a repre&s;entation of &s;ome harmle&s;s <HI>Philo&s;ophical</HI> conjectures: In which I &s;hall continually guide my &s;elf by the Attributes of <HI>God,</HI> the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of the <HI>world,</HI> and the be&s;t di&s;coveries of the <HI>na|ture</HI> of the <HI>&s;oul.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="13" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="7">(7) Pillars on which the particu|lar <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> &s;tands.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>NOw the <HI>Fabrick</HI> we are going to build, will &s;tand like as the <HI>Hou&s;e</HI> of <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> upon <HI>&s;even Pillars;</HI> which I &s;hall fir&s;t erect and e&s;tabli&s;h, that the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> may be firm and &s;ure like a Hou&s;e that hath Foundations. Therefore the <HI>fir&s;t Fundamental Principle</HI> I &s;hall lay, is this</P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="pillar">
<PB N="95" REF="71">
<HEAD>Fir&s;t Pillar.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="1">(1) All the Divine de&s;igns and acti|ons are laid and carried on by pure and infinite Goodne&s;s.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>AND methinks this &s;hould be owned by all for a manife&s;t and indi&s;putable Truth; But &s;ome odd opinions in the world are an intere&s;t again&s;t it, and therefore I mu&s;t be fain to prove it. Briefly then, E|very <HI>rational</HI> Being acts towards &s;ome <HI>end</HI> or other; That <HI>end</HI> where the <HI>Agent</HI> acts <HI>re|gularly</HI> and <HI>wi&s;ely,</HI> is either &s;ome <HI>&s;elf-good</HI> or accompli&s;hment, or 'tis the <HI>good</HI> and <HI>perfection</HI> of &s;ome thing el&s;e, at lea&s;t in the <HI>intention.</HI> Now <HI>God</HI> being an <HI>ab&s;olute</HI> and <HI>immen&s;e fulne&s;s,</HI> that is incapable of any the lea&s;t &s;hadow of <HI>new perfection,</HI> cannot act for any <HI>good</HI> that may accrue to his <HI>immutable &s;elf;</HI> and con&s;equently, whatever he acts, is for the good of &s;ome other <HI>Being:</HI> &s;o that all the <HI>divine actions</HI> are the <HI>communications</HI> of his <HI>perfections,</HI> and the i&s;&s;ues of his <HI>Good|ne&s;s;</HI> which, being without the ba&s;e alloy of <HI>&s;elf-intere&s;t,</HI> or <HI>partial fondne&s;s,</HI> and not compri&s;ed within any bounds or limits, as
<PB N="96" REF="72">
his other <HI>perfections</HI> are not, but far beyond our narrow conception, we may well call it <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>infinite benignity.</HI> This is the <HI>original</HI> and <HI>root</HI> of all things, &s;o that this ble&s;&s;ed, ever ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Attribute</HI> being the <HI>Spring</HI> and <HI>Fountain</HI> of all the <HI>Actions</HI> of the Deity, his de&s;igns can be no other but the <HI>contrivances</HI> of <HI>Love</HI> for the compa&s;&s;ing the <HI>good</HI> and <HI>per|fection</HI> of the <HI>univer&s;e.</HI> Therefore to &s;up|po&s;e God to <HI>act</HI> or <HI>de&s;ign</HI> any thing that is not for the good of his Creatures, is either to phancy him to <HI>act</HI> for no <HI>end</HI> at all, or for an <HI>end</HI> that is contrary to his <HI>benign Nature.</HI> Finally therefore, the very <HI>notion</HI> of <HI>infinite fulne&s;s</HI> is to be <HI>communicating</HI> and <HI>overflowing;</HI> And the mo&s;t congruous apprehen&s;ion that we can entertain of the <HI>Infinite</HI> and <HI>eternal Deity,</HI> is * to conceive him as an <HI>immen&s;e</HI> and all <HI>glorious Sun,</HI> that is continually <HI>communi|cating</HI> and &s;ending abroad its <HI>beams</HI> and <HI>bright|ne&s;s;</HI> which conception of our Maker, if 'twere deeply imprinted on us, would I am confident &s;et our apprehen&s;ions right in ma|ny <HI>Theories,</HI> and cha&s;e away tho&s;e <HI>black</HI> and <HI>di&s;mal</HI> notions which too many have given harbour to. But I come to erect the</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="pillar">
<PB N="97" REF="72">
<HEAD>Second Pillar.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="2">(2) <HI>Then,</HI> There is an exact <HI>Geome|trical Ju&s;tice</HI> that runs through the &V;niver&s;e, and is interwoven in the <HI>contexture</HI> of things:</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THis is a re&s;ult of that wi&s;e and Almigh|ty <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> that prae&s;ides over all things. For this <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> is but the <HI>di&s;tribu|ting</HI> to every thing according to the require|ments of its nature. And that <HI>benign wi&s;dom</HI> that contrived and framed the natures of all Beings, doubtle&s;s &s;o provided that they &s;hould be &s;uitably furni&s;ht with all things proper for their re&s;pective conditions.</P>
<P>And that this <HI>Neme&s;is</HI> &s;hould be twi&s;ted into the very <HI>natural con&s;titutions</HI> of things them&s;elves, is methinks very rea&s;onable; &s;ince que&s;tionle&s;s, <HI>Almighty Wi&s;dom</HI> could &s;o perfectly have formed his works at fir&s;t, as that all things that he &s;aw were <HI>regular, ju&s;t,</HI> and for the good of the <HI>&V;niver&s;e,</HI> &s;hould have been brought about by tho&s;e <HI>&s;tated Laws,</HI> which we call <HI>nature;</HI> without an ordinary engagement of <HI>ab&s;olute power</HI> to effect the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.
<PB N="98" REF="73">
And it &s;eems to me to be very becoming the wi&s;e Author of all things &s;o to have made them in the beginning, as that by their own <HI>internal &s;pring and wheels,</HI> they &s;hould or|derly bring about whatever he intended them for, without his often <HI>immediate</HI> in|terpo&s;al. For this looks like a more mag|nificent apprehen&s;ion of the <HI>Divine power</HI> and <HI>Pre&s;cience,</HI> &s;ince it &s;uppo&s;eth him from everla&s;ting ages to have <HI>fore&s;een</HI> all <HI>future</HI> occurrences, and &s;o wonderfully to have &s;een and con&s;tituted the great <HI>machina</HI> of the <HI>world,</HI> that the <HI>infinite</HI> variety of <HI>motions</HI> therein, &s;hould effect nothing but what in his <HI>eternal wi&s;dom</HI> he had concluded <HI>fit</HI> and <HI>decorous:</HI> But as for that which was <HI>&s;o,</HI> it &s;hould as certainly be compa&s;t by the <HI>Laws</HI> he appointed long ago, as if his <HI>omnipotence</HI> were at work every <HI>moment.</HI> On the con|trary, to engage <HI>Gods ab&s;olute</HI> and extraor|dinary <HI>power,</HI> in all <HI>events</HI> and <HI>occurrences</HI> of things, is m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ms to think meanly of his <HI>wi&s;dom;</HI> as if he had made the world &s;o, as that it &s;hould need <HI>omnipotence</HI> every now and then to mend it, or to bring about tho&s;e his de&s;tinations, which by a &s;horter way he could have effected, by his <HI>in&s;trument Na|ture.</HI> Can any one &s;ay that our <HI>&s;uppo&s;ition</HI> derogates from the <HI>Divine concour&s;e</HI> or <HI>Provi|dence?</HI> For on the&s;e, depend continually both the being and operations of all things,
<PB N="99" REF="73">
&s;ince without them they would cea&s;e to <HI>act,</HI> and return to their <HI>old nothing.</HI> And doubt|le&s;s God hath not given the ordering of things out of his own hands; but holds the <HI>power,</HI> to <HI>alter, innovate,</HI> or change the cour&s;e of nature as he plea&s;eth. And to act by extraordinary means, by <HI>ab&s;olute omnipo|tence,</HI> when he thinks fit to do &s;o.</P>
<P>The &s;um of what I intend, is, that Gods <HI>works</HI> are perfect; and as his <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> is di&s;|cover'd in them, &s;o is his <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> wrought into their very <HI>e&s;&s;ential con&s;titutions:</HI> &s;o that we need not &s;uppo&s;e him to be <HI>immediate|ly</HI> engaged in every event and all di&s;tribu|tions of things in the world, or upon all occa&s;ions to exerci&s;e his <HI>power</HI> in <HI>extraordi|nary</HI> actions, but that he leaves &s;uch ma|nagements to the <HI>Oeconomy</HI> of <HI>&s;econd cau&s;es.</HI> And now <HI>next</HI> to this, (for they are of k<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n) I rai&s;e</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="pillar">
<PB N="100" REF="74">
<HEAD>The third Pillar.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="3">(3) Things are carried to their proper place and &s;tate, by the <HI>congruity</HI> of their natures; where this fails, we may &s;uppo&s;e &s;ome arbitrary ma|nagements.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THE <HI>Congruity</HI> of <HI>things</HI> is their &s;uit|ablene&s;s to &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;tate or con|dition; And 'tis a great <HI>Law</HI> in the <HI>Divine</HI> and fir&s;t <HI>con&s;titutions,</HI> that things &s;hould in|cline and move to what is &s;uitable to their natures. This in <HI>&s;en&s;ibles</HI> is evident in the motions of <HI>con&s;ent</HI> and <HI>&s;ympathy.</HI> And the <HI>a&s;cent</HI> of <HI>light,</HI> and <HI>de&s;cent</HI> of <HI>heavy</HI> bodies, mu&s;t I doubt when all is done, * be re&s;olv'd into a <HI>principle</HI> that is not meerly corporeal. Yea, &s;uppo&s;ing all &s;uch things to be done by the <HI>Laws</HI> of <HI>Mechanicks,</HI> why may we not conceive, that the other rank of Beings, <HI>Spirits,</HI> which are not &s;ubject to corporeal <HI>motions,</HI> are al&s;o di&s;pos'd of by a <HI>Law</HI> pro|per to their natures, which &s;ince we have no other name to expre&s;s it by, we may call <HI>congruity?</HI> We read in the &s;acred <HI>Hi&s;tory</HI> that <HI>Judas</HI> went to his <HI>own</HI> place; And 'tis very probable that <HI>Spirits</HI> are conveyed to their
<PB N="101" REF="74">
proper <HI>&s;tates</HI> and <HI>re&s;idence,</HI> * as <HI>naturally</HI> as the <HI>fire</HI> mounts, or a <HI>&s;tone</HI> de&s;cends. The <HI>Platoni&s;ts</HI> would have the <HI>Soul</HI> of the <HI>world</HI> to be the great <HI>In&s;trument</HI> of all &s;uch <HI>di&s;tributi|ons,</HI> as al&s;o of the <HI>Phaenomena,</HI> that are be|yond the <HI>powers</HI> of <HI>matter:</HI> And 'tis no un|likely <HI>Hypothe&s;is:</HI> But I have no need to ingage further about this: nor yet to &s;peak more of this fir&s;t part of my <HI>Principle,</HI> &s;ince it &s;o nearly depends on what was &s;aid in be|half of the former <HI>Maxim.</HI> Yet of the <HI>lat|ter</HI> we need a word or two.</P>
<P>When therefore we cannot give account of things either by the <HI>Laws</HI> of <HI>Mechanicks</HI> or conceivable <HI>Congruities,</HI> (* as likely &s;ome things relating to the States of <HI>Spirits,</HI> and immaterial Beings can be re&s;olv'd by nei|ther) I &s;ay then, we may have recour&s;e to the <HI>Arbitrary</HI> managements of tho&s;e <HI>invi&s;ible Mini&s;ters</HI> of <HI>Equity</HI> and <HI>Ju&s;tice,</HI> which with|out doubt the world is plentifully &s;tored with. For it cannot be conceived that tho&s;e <HI>active Spirits</HI> are <HI>idle</HI> or unimployed in the <HI>momentous</HI> concerns of the <HI>&V;niver&s;e.</HI> Yea, the <HI>&s;acred</HI> volume gives evidence of their in|terpo&s;als in our affairs. I &s;hall need menti|on but that remarkable in&s;tance in <HI>Daniel,</HI> of the indeavours of the <HI>Prince</HI> of <HI>Per&s;ia,</HI> and of <HI>Grecia,</HI> to hinder <HI>Michael,</HI> and the other Angel, that were ingaged for the affairs of <HI>Judea;</HI> Or if any would evade this, what
<PB N="102" REF="75">
think they of all the <HI>apparitions</HI> of <HI>Angels</HI> in the <HI>old</HI> Te&s;tament, of their <HI>pitching their Tents about us,</HI> and being <HI>Mini&s;tring Spirits for our good.</HI> To name no more &s;uch pa&s;&s;ages. Now if tho&s;e noble <HI>Spirits</HI> will ingage them|&s;elves in our trifling concernments, doubt|le&s;s they are very &s;edulous in tho&s;e affairs that t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd to the <HI>good</HI> and <HI>perfection</HI> of the <HI>&V;niver&s;e.</HI> But to be brief; I advance.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="pillar">
<HEAD>The Fourth Pillar.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="4">(4) * The Souls of men are capable of living in other bodies be&s;ides Ter|re&s;trial; And never act but in &s;ome body or other.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>FOr (1.) when I con&s;ider how deeply in this &s;tate we are immer&s;ed in the <HI>body,</HI> I can methinks &s;carce imagin, that pre&s;ently upon the quitting on't, we &s;hall be &s;tript of all <HI>corporeity;</HI> for this would be &s;uch a <HI>jump</HI> as is &s;eldom or never made in <HI>nature;</HI> &s;ince by almo&s;t all in&s;tances that come under our ob&s;ervation 'tis manife&s;t, that &s;he u&s;eth to act by due and orderly <HI>gradations,</HI> and takes no <HI>precipitous leaps</HI> from one <HI>extream</HI> to another. 'Tis very probable therefore,
<PB N="103" REF="75">
that in our immediately next &s;tate we &s;hall have another <HI>vehicle.</HI> And then, (2.) con|&s;idering that our Souls are <HI>immediately united</HI> to a more <HI>tenuious</HI> and <HI>&s;ubtile</HI> body here, than this gro&s;s out&s;ide; 'Tis methinks a good pre&s;umption, that we &s;hall not be &s;tript and dive&s;ted of our <HI>inward &s;tole</HI> al&s;o, when we leave this <HI>dull Earth</HI> behind us. E&s;pecially (3) if we take notice how the highe&s;t and noble&s;t <HI>faculties</HI> and <HI>operations</HI> of the Soul are help'd on by &s;omewhat that is <HI>corporeal,</HI> and that it imployeth the bodily <HI>Spirits</HI> in its &s;ublime&s;t <HI>exerci&s;es;</HI> we might then be per|&s;waded, that it always u&s;eth &s;ome body or other, and never acts without one. And (4) &s;ince we cannot conceive a <HI>Soul</HI> to <HI>live</HI> or <HI>act</HI> that is <HI>in&s;en&s;ible,</HI> and &s;ince we know not how there can be <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> where there is no <HI>union</HI> with <HI>matter,</HI> we &s;hould me &s;eems be induc'd to think, that when 'tis <HI>disjunct</HI> from all <HI>body,</HI> 'tis <HI>inert</HI> and <HI>&s;ilent.</HI> * For in all <HI>&s;en&s;ations</HI> there is <HI>corporeal motion,</HI> as all <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> and <HI>Experience</HI> te&s;tifies: And the&s;e <HI>motions</HI> become <HI>&s;en&s;ible</HI> repre&s;entations, by virtue of the <HI>union</HI> between the <HI>Soul</HI> and its <HI>confederate matter;</HI> &s;o that when it is loo&s;e and <HI>di&s;-united</HI> from any <HI>body</HI> what&s;oever, it will be unconcern'd in all <HI>corporeal motions,</HI> (being a <HI>penetrable</HI> &s;ub&s;tance) and no <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> or <HI>perception</HI> will be conveyed by them.</P>
<P>Nor will it make any thing at all again&s;t
<PB N="104" REF="76">
this <HI>Argument</HI> to urge, that there are N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> and purely <HI>unembodied Spirits</HI> in the <HI>&V;niver&s;e,</HI> which <HI>live</HI> and <HI>act</HI> without relation to any <HI>body,</HI> and yet the&s;e are not <HI>in&s;en&s;ible:</HI> For what they <HI>know,</HI> and how they <HI>know</HI> we are very incompetent Judges of, they being a &s;ort of <HI>Spirits &s;pecifically</HI> di&s;tinct from our order: and therefore their <HI>faculties</HI> and <HI>ope|rations</HI> are of a very <HI>diver&s;e</HI> con&s;ideration from <HI>ours.</HI> So that for us to <HI>deny</HI> what we may rea&s;onably argue from the <HI>contemplation</HI> of our own <HI>natures,</HI> becau&s;e we cannot com|prehend the natures of a &s;pecies of creatures that are far above us, is a great mi&s;take in the way of rea&s;oning.</P>
<P>Now how &s;trange &s;oever this <HI>Principle</HI> may &s;eem to tho&s;e, whom <HI>cu&s;tomary opinions</HI> have &s;ea&s;oned with another <HI>belief,</HI> yet con|&s;idering the Rea&s;ons I have alledged, I can|not forbear concluding it very <HI>probable;</HI> and if it prove hereafter &s;erviceable for the hel|ping us in &s;ome concerning <HI>Theories,</HI> I think the mo&s;t wary and timerous may admit it, till upon good grounds they can di&s;prove it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="pillar">
<PB N="105" REF="76">
<HEAD>The Fifth Pillar.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="5">(5) The Soul in every &s;tate hath &s;uch a body as is fitte&s;t for tho&s;e faculties and operations that it is mo&s;t incli|ned to exerci&s;e.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>'TIs a known Maxim, <HI>That every thing that is, is for its operation;</HI> and the Contriver and Maker of the World hath been &s;o bountiful to all Beings, as to furni&s;h them with all <HI>&s;uitable</HI> and <HI>nece&s;&s;ary</HI> requi&s;ites for their re&s;pective <HI>actions;</HI> for there are no <HI>propen&s;ities</HI> and <HI>di&s;po&s;itions</HI> in nature, but &s;ome way or other are brought into <HI>actual exer|ci&s;e,</HI> otherwi&s;e they were meer <HI>nullities,</HI> and impertinent <HI>appendices.</HI> Now for the im|ployment of all kinds of <HI>faculties,</HI> and the exerting all manner of <HI>operations,</HI> all kinds of <HI>in&s;truments</HI> will not &s;uffice, but only &s;uch, as are proportion'd and adapted to the <HI>exer|ci&s;es</HI> they are to be u&s;ed in, and the <HI>Agents</HI> that imploy them. 'Tis clear therefore, that the <HI>Soul</HI> of <HI>Man,</HI> a <HI>noble</HI> and <HI>vigorous Agent,</HI> mu&s;t be fitted with a <HI>&s;uitable body,</HI> according to the <HI>Laws</HI> of that exact <HI>di&s;tributive Ju&s;tice</HI> that runs through the <HI>&V;niver&s;e;</HI> and &s;uch a one is mo&s;t <HI>&s;uitable,</HI> as is fitte&s;t for tho&s;e
<PB N="106" REF="77">
exerci&s;es <HI>it</HI> propends to; for the <HI>body</HI> is the <HI>Souls in&s;trument,</HI> and a nece&s;&s;ary requi|&s;ite of action: Whereas &s;hould it be other|wi&s;e, God would then have provided wor&s;e for his worthie&s;t Creatures, than he hath for <HI>tho&s;e</HI> that are of a much <HI>inferiour</HI> rank and order. For if we look about us upon all the Creatures of God, that are expo&s;ed to our Ob&s;ervation, we may &s;eal this Truth with an <HI>infallible Induction; That there is nothing but what is &s;itted with all &s;uitable requi&s;ites to act according to its nature.</HI> The <HI>Bird</HI> hath <HI>wings</HI> to waft it aloft in the thin and &s;ubtile <HI>aire;</HI> the <HI>Fi&s;h</HI> is furni&s;ht with <HI>fins,</HI> to move in her liquid <HI>element;</HI> and all other <HI>Animals</HI> have <HI>In&s;truments</HI> that are proper for their peculiar inclinations: So that &s;hould it be otherwi&s;e in the ca&s;e of <HI>Souls,</HI> it would be a great blot to the wi&s;e managements of <HI>Providence;</HI> and con|trary to its u&s;ual <HI>methods;</HI> and thus we &s;hould be di&s;-furni&s;ht of the be&s;t and mo&s;t <HI>convictive Argument,</HI> that we have to prove that a <HI>Prinoiple</HI> of exacte&s;t <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> hath made and ordered all things.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="pillar">
<PB N="107" REF="77">
<HEAD>The Sixth Pillar:</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="6">(6) The Powers and Faculties of the Soul, are either (1) <HI>Spiritual,</HI> and <HI>Intellectual: (2) Sen&s;itive:</HI> Or, (3) <HI>Pla&s;tick.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>NOw (1) by the <HI>intellectual</HI> powers I mean all tho&s;e that relate to the <HI>&s;oul,</HI> in its naked and ab&s;tracted <HI>conception,</HI> as it is a <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> and are exerci&s;ed about <HI>immate|rial</HI> Objects; as, <HI>vertue, knowledge,</HI> and <HI>di|vine love:</HI> This is the <HI>Platonical</HI> N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">; and that which we call the <HI>mind:</HI> The two other more immediately relate to its e&s;pou|&s;ed <HI>matter:</HI> For (2) the <HI>&s;en&s;itive</HI> are exer|ci&s;ed about all the objects of <HI>&s;en&s;e,</HI> and are concerned in all &s;uch things as either <HI>gratifie,</HI> or <HI>di&s;gu&s;t</HI> the <HI>body.</HI> And (3) the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> are tho&s;e faculties of the <HI>&s;oul,</HI> where|by it <HI>moves</HI> and <HI>forms</HI> the body, and are without <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> or <HI>Animadver&s;ion:</HI> The exer|ci&s;e of the <HI>former,</HI> I call the <HI>Higher life;</HI> and the operations of the <HI>latter,</HI> the <HI>lower;</HI> and the <HI>life</HI> of the <HI>body.</HI> Now that there are &s;uch <HI>faculties</HI> belonging to our natures, and that they are exerci&s;ed upon &s;uch and &s;uch <HI>objects</HI> re&s;pectively, plain experience avou|cheth,
<PB N="108" REF="78">
and therefore I may be excu&s;ed from going about to prove &s;o univer&s;ally ac|knowledged a truth: Wherefore I pa&s;s to</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="pillar">
<HEAD>The Seventh Pillar.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P N="7">(7) By the &s;ame degrees that the high|er powers are invigorated, the lower are con&s;opited and abated, as to their proper exerci&s;es, <HI>&amp; &egrave; contra.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>(1) THat tho&s;e <HI>Powers</HI> &s;hould each of them have a <HI>tendency</HI> to <HI>action</HI> and in their turns be exerci&s;ed, is but rational to conceive, &s;ince otherwi&s;e they had been <HI>&s;uper&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uous.</HI> And (2) that they &s;hould be <HI>incon&s;i&s;tent</HI> in the &s;upreme&s;t <HI>exerci&s;e</HI> and <HI>in|actuation,</HI> is to me as probable. For the <HI>Soul</HI> is a <HI>finite</HI> and limited Being, and there|fore cannot operate diver&s;e ways with e|qual intention at once. That is, cannot at the &s;ame time imploy all her faculties in the highe&s;t degree of exerci&s;e that each of them is capable of. For doubtle&s;s did it ingage but one of tho&s;e alone, the <HI>operations</HI> there|of would be more <HI>&s;trong</HI> and <HI>vigorous,</HI> than when they are conjunctly exercis'd, their Acts and Objects being very divers. So that I &s;ay, that the&s;e <HI>faculties</HI> &s;hould act toge|ther
<PB N="109" REF="78">
in the highe&s;t way they are capable of, &s;eems to be contrary to the nature of the <HI>Soul.</HI> And I am &s;ure it comports not with <HI>experience;</HI> for tho&s;e that are endowed with an high degree of exerci&s;e of one <HI>faculty,</HI> are &s;eldom, if ever, as well provided in the re&s;t. 'Tis a common and daily ob&s;ervation, that tho&s;e that are of mo&s;t heightned and &s;trong <HI>Imaginations,</HI> are defective in <HI>Judgment,</HI> and the faculty of <HI>clo&s;e rea&s;oning.</HI> And your very larg and capacious <HI>Memories,</HI> have &s;eldom or never any great &s;hare of either of the other <HI>perfections.</HI> Nor do the deepe&s;t <HI>Judgments</HI> u&s;e to have any thing con&s;iderable either of <HI>Me|mory</HI> or <HI>Phancy.</HI> And as there are fair in&s;tan|ces even in this &s;tate of the <HI>incon&s;i&s;tence</HI> of the <HI>faculties</HI> in the highe&s;t exerci&s;e; &s;o al&s;o are there others that &s;ugge&s;t untous,</P>
<P>(3) <HI>That by the &s;ame degrees that &s;ome Fa|culties fail in their &s;trength and vigour, others gain and are improved.</HI> We know that the &s;hutting up of the <HI>&s;en&s;es,</HI> is the letting loo&s;e and inlarging of the <HI>Phancy.</HI> And we &s;el|dom have &s;uch <HI>&s;trong imaginations</HI> waking, as in our <HI>dreams</HI> in the <HI>&s;ilence</HI> of our other <HI>&s;aculties.</HI> As the <HI>Sun</HI> recedes, the <HI>Moon</HI> and <HI>Stars</HI> di&s;cover them&s;elves; and when <HI>it</HI> re|turns, <HI>they</HI> draw in their baffled <HI>beams,</HI> and hide their <HI>heads</HI> in <HI>ob&s;curity.</HI> But to urge what is more clo&s;e and pre&s;&s;ing; It is an un|erring remarque, that tho&s;e that want the
<PB N="110" REF="79">
u&s;e of &s;ome one <HI>natural part</HI> or <HI>faculty,</HI> are wont to have very liberal amends made them by an <HI>excellency</HI> in &s;ome others. Thus tho&s;e that nature hath deprived of <HI>&s;ight,</HI> u&s;e to have wonderfully <HI>tenacious memories.</HI> And the <HI>deaf</HI> and <HI>dumb</HI> have many times a &s;trange kind of <HI>&s;agacity,</HI> and very remarkable <HI>me|chanical ingenies:</HI> Not to mention other in&s;tances; for I'le &s;ay no more than I mu&s;t needs. Thus then experience gives us in|couraging probability of the truth of the <HI>Theorem</HI> a&s;&s;erted. And in its &s;elf 'tis very rea&s;onable; for (as we have &s;een) the <HI>Soul</HI> being an <HI>active nature,</HI> is always propen|ding to the exerci&s;ing of one faculty or o|ther, and that to the utmo&s;t it is able, and yet being of a <HI>limited capacity,</HI> it can imploy but one in hight of exerci&s;e at once; which when it lo&s;eth and abates of its <HI>&s;trength</HI> and &s;upream <HI>vigour;</HI> &s;ome other, who&s;e im|provement was all this while hindred by this its <HI>ingro&s;&s;ing Rival,</HI> mu&s;t by con&s;equence be|gin now to di&s;play it &s;elf, and awaken into a more <HI>vigorous actuation:</HI> &s;o that as the for|mer lo&s;eth, the latter proportionably gain|eth.</P>
<P>And indeed 'tis a great in&s;tance of the <HI>divine wi&s;dom,</HI> that our <HI>faculties&punc;</HI> are made in &s;o <HI>regular</HI> and <HI>equilibrious</HI> an order. For were the &s;ame <HI>powers</HI> &s;till <HI>uppermo&s;t</HI> in the greate&s;t hight of <HI>activity,</HI> and &s;o <HI>unalterably</HI>
<PB N="111" REF="79">
con&s;tituted, there would want the beauty of <HI>variety,</HI> and the other faculties would never act to that pitch of <HI>perfection</HI> that they are capable of. There would be no <HI>Liberty</HI> of <HI>Will,</HI> and con&s;equently no <HI>Humane Na|ture.</HI> Or if the <HI>Higher Powers</HI> might have le&s;&s;en'd, and fail'd without a <HI>proportionable increa&s;e</HI> of the <HI>lower,</HI> and <HI>they</HI> likewi&s;e have been <HI>remitted,</HI> without any advantage to the other <HI>faculties,</HI> the <HI>Soul</HI> might then at length fall into an irrecoverable <HI>rece&s;s</HI> and <HI>in|activity.</HI></P>
<P>But all the&s;e inconveniences are avoided by &s;uppo&s;ing the principle we have here in&s;i&s;ted on; And it is the la&s;t that I &s;hall mention.</P>
<P>Briefly then, and if it may be more plain|ly, the <HI>higher faculties</HI> are tho&s;e, where by the <HI>Soul</HI> acts towards <HI>&s;piritual</HI> and <HI>immaterial</HI> ob|jects: and the <HI>lower</HI> whereby it acts towards the <HI>Body.</HI> Now it cannot with equal <HI>vi|gour</HI> exerci&s;e it &s;elf both ways together; and con&s;equently the more it is taken up in the <HI>higher operations,</HI> the more prompt and vi|gorous it will be in <HI>the&s;e exerci&s;es,</HI> and le&s;s <HI>&s;o</HI> about <HI>tho&s;e</HI> that concern the <HI>body, &amp; &egrave; Con|ver&s;o.</HI></P>
<P>Thus when we are very deeply ingaged in <HI>intellectual contemplations,</HI> our outward <HI>&s;en&s;es</HI> are in a manner <HI>&s;hrunk</HI> up and <HI>cram|ped:</HI> And when our <HI>&s;en&s;es</HI> are highly exer|ci&s;ed
<PB N="112" REF="80">
and gratified, tho&s;e operations <HI>mono|polize</HI> and <HI>imploy</HI> us. Nor is this le&s;s ob&s;er|vable in relation to the <HI>Pla&s;tick.</HI> For fre|quent and &s;evere <HI>Meditations</HI> do much <HI>morti|fie</HI> and <HI>weaken</HI> the <HI>body;</HI> And we are mo&s;t <HI>nouri&s;ht</HI> in our <HI>&s;leep</HI> in the <HI>&s;ilence</HI> of our <HI>&s;en|&s;es.</HI> Now what is thus true in re&s;pect of <HI>acts</HI> and <HI>particular exerci&s;es,</HI> is as much <HI>&s;o</HI> in <HI>&s;tates</HI> and <HI>habits.</HI> Moreover, 'tis apparent that the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> is then mo&s;t &s;trong and vi|gorous when our other faculties are wholly unimployed, from the <HI>&s;tate</HI> of the <HI>womb.</HI> For <HI>nature</HI> when &s;he is at her <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> work, cea&s;eth all other operations. The &s;ame we may take notice of, in <HI>Silk-worms</HI> and other <HI>In&s;ects,</HI> which lie as if they were <HI>dead</HI> and <HI>in&s;en&s;ible,</HI> while their <HI>lower powers</HI> are for|ming them into another <HI>appearance.</HI> All which things put together, give good evi|dence to the truth of our Axiom.</P>
<P>I'le conclude this with one Remark more, to prevent mi&s;take; Therefore briefly; As the <HI>Soul</HI> always acts by the <HI>Body;</HI> &s;o in its highe&s;t <HI>exerci&s;es</HI> it u&s;eth &s;ome of the <HI>inferiour powers;</HI> which, therefore mu&s;t operate al|&s;o. So that &s;ome <HI>&s;en&s;es,</HI> as <HI>&s;ight</HI> and &s;ome|what <HI>analagous</HI> to <HI>hearing</HI> may be imployed in con&s;iderable degree, even when the <HI>highe&s;t life</HI> is mo&s;t <HI>predominant;</HI> but then it is at the command and in the &s;ervices of tho&s;e <HI>nobler powers;</HI> wherefore the <HI>&s;en&s;itive life</HI>
<PB N="113" REF="80">
cannot for this cau&s;e be &s;aid to be <HI>invigora|ted,</HI> &s;ince 'tis under <HI>&s;ervitude</HI> and <HI>&s;ubjection,</HI> and its <HI>gu&s;ts</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ures</HI> are very <HI>weak</HI> and <HI>flaccid.</HI> And this is the rea&s;on of that clau&s;e in the <HI>Principle (as to their proper exerci&s;es.)</HI></P>
<P>Having thus laid the Foundation, and fixt the Pillars of our building, I now come to advance the Super&s;tructure.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="14" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIV.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>A Philo&s;ophical Hypothe&s;is of the Souls Praeexi&s;tence.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THE <HI>Eternal</HI> and <HI>Almighty Goodne&s;s,</HI> the ble&s;&s;ed <HI>&s;pring</HI> and <HI>root</HI> of <HI>all things,</HI> made all his <HI>creatures,</HI> in the <HI>be&s;t, happie&s;t,</HI> and mo&s;t <HI>perfect</HI> condition, that their re|&s;pective natures rendred them capable of, By <HI>Axiom</HI> the <HI>fir&s;t;</HI> and therefore they were then con&s;tituted in the <HI>inactuation</HI> and <HI>exerci&s;e</HI> of their <HI>noble&s;t</HI> and mo&s;t <HI>perfect powers.</HI> Con&s;equently, the <HI>&s;ouls</HI> of men, a con&s;iderable part of the <HI>divine</HI> workman|&s;hip, were at fir&s;t made in the <HI>highe&s;t invi|goration</HI> of the <HI>&s;piritual</HI> and <HI>intellective</HI> fa|culties which were exerci&s;ed in <HI>vertue,</HI> and in blisful <HI>contemplation</HI> of the <HI>&s;upream Deity;</HI> wherefore now by <HI>Axiom</HI> 6 and 7, * the <HI>ig|nobler</HI>
<PB N="114" REF="81">
and <HI>lower powers,</HI> or the <HI>life of the body,</HI> were <HI>languid</HI> and <HI>remi&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>So that the mo&s;t <HI>tenuious, pure</HI> and <HI>&s;imple matter</HI> being the fitte&s;t <HI>in&s;trument</HI> for the mo&s;t <HI>vigorous</HI> and <HI>&s;piritual</HI> faculties accor|ding to <HI>Principle</HI> 2, 4, and 5. The Soul in this condition was <HI>united</HI> with the mo&s;t <HI>&s;ub|tile</HI> and <HI>aethereal matter</HI> that it was capable of <HI>inacting;</HI> and the <HI>inferior powers,</HI> tho&s;e re|lating to the <HI>body,</HI> being at a very <HI>low ebb</HI> of <HI>exerci&s;e,</HI> were wholly <HI>&s;ub&s;ervient</HI> to the <HI>&s;u|periour,</HI> and imployed in nothing but what was <HI>&s;erviceable</HI> to that <HI>higher life:</HI> So that the <HI>&s;en&s;es</HI> did but pre&s;ent occa&s;ions for <HI>divine love,</HI> and <HI>objects</HI> for <HI>contemplation;</HI> * and the <HI>pla&s;tick</HI> had nothing to do, but to <HI>move</HI> this <HI>pa&s;&s;ive</HI> and <HI>ea&s;ie body,</HI> accordingly as the concerns of the <HI>higher faculties</HI> required. Thus then did we at fir&s;t live and act in a <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>aethereal</HI> body; and con&s;equently in a place of <HI>light</HI> and <HI>ble&s;&s;edne&s;s,</HI> by <HI>Principle</HI> 3d. But particularly to de&s;cribe and point at this <HI>paradi&s;aical re&s;idence,</HI> can be done on|ly by tho&s;e that live in tho&s;e <HI>&s;erene</HI> regions of <HI>light&s;ome</HI> glory: Some <HI>Philo&s;ophers</HI> indeed have adventured * to pronounce the <HI>place</HI> to be the <HI>Sun,</HI> that va&s;t <HI>Orb</HI> of <HI>&s;plendor</HI> and <HI>brightne&s;s;</HI> though it may be 'tis more probable, that tho&s;e <HI>immen&s;e</HI> tracts of <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>quiet aether</HI> that are above <HI>Saturn,</HI> are the joyous place of our ancient <HI>cele&s;tial</HI> a|bode:
<PB N="115" REF="81">
But there is no determination in mat|ters of &s;uch lubricous uncertainty, where ever it is, 'tis doubtle&s;s a place and &s;tate of won|derful <HI>bli&s;s</HI> and <HI>happine&s;s,</HI> and the <HI>highe&s;t</HI> that our natures had fitted us to.</P>
<P>In this <HI>&s;tate</HI> we may be &s;uppo&s;ed to have lived in the bli&s;sful exerci&s;e of <HI>vertue, di|vine love</HI> and <HI>contemplation,</HI> through very long tracts of <HI>duration.</HI></P>
<P>But though we were thus <HI>unconceivably happy,</HI> * yet were we not <HI>immutably &s;o;</HI> for our highe&s;t perfections and noble&s;t faculties being but <HI>finite,</HI> may after long and vigo|rous exerci&s;e, &s;omewhat abate and remit in their &s;ublime&s;t operations, and <HI>Adam</HI> may fall <HI>a&s;leep;</HI> In which time of <HI>remi&s;&s;ion</HI> of the <HI>higher powers,</HI> the <HI>lower</HI> may advance and more livelily di&s;play them&s;elves than they could before, by <HI>Axiom</HI> 7; for the <HI>&s;oul</HI> be|ing a little &s;lackt in its pur&s;uits of <HI>immate|rial</HI> objects, the <HI>lower powers</HI> which before were almo&s;t wholly taken up and imployed in tho&s;e high &s;ervices, are &s;omewhat more relea&s;t to follow a little the <HI>tendencies</HI> of their proper natures. And now they begin to convert towards the <HI>body,</HI> and warmly to re&s;ent the delights and plea&s;ures thereof; Thus is <HI>Eve</HI> brought forth, while <HI>Adam</HI> &s;leep|eth. The <HI>lower life,</HI> that of the body is now con&s;iderably <HI>awakened,</HI> and the <HI>operati|ons</HI> of the <HI>higher,</HI> proportionably abated.
<PB N="116" REF="82">
However, there is yet no <HI>anomy</HI> or <HI>di&s;obedi|ence,</HI> for all this is but an innocent exerci&s;e of tho&s;e faculties which God hath given us to <HI>imploy,</HI> and as far as is con&s;i&s;tent with the <HI>divine laws</HI> to <HI>gratifie.</HI> For it was no fault of ours that we did not unce&s;&s;antly keep our <HI>&s;piritual powers</HI> upon the mo&s;t <HI>inten&s;e</HI> exerci&s;es that they were capable of exerting; * we were made on &s;et purpo&s;e <HI>defatigable,</HI> that &s;o all <HI>degrees</HI> of <HI>life</HI> might have their exerci&s;e; and our <HI>Maker</HI> de&s;igned that we &s;hould feel and ta&s;te the joys of our <HI>conge|nite</HI> bodies, as well as the plea&s;ures of tho&s;e <HI>&s;eraphick a&s;pires</HI> and injoyments.</P>
<P>And me thinks it adds to the <HI>felicity</HI> of that <HI>&s;tate,</HI> that our happine&s;s was not one <HI>uniform</HI> piece, or continual <HI>repetition</HI> of the &s;ame, but con&s;i&s;ted in a mo&s;t <HI>grateful variety, viz.</HI> in the plea&s;ure of all our faculties, the <HI>lower</HI> as well as the <HI>higher;</HI> for tho&s;e are as much gratified by &s;uitable exerci&s;es and en|joyments as <HI>the&s;e;</HI> and con&s;equently accor|ding to their <HI>proportion</HI> capable of as great an <HI>happine&s;s:</HI> Nor is it any more derogation from the <HI>divine goodne&s;s,</HI> that the <HI>noble&s;t</HI> and <HI>highe&s;t life</HI> was not always exerci&s;ed to the height of its capacity, than that we were not made all <HI>Angels,</HI> all the <HI>Planets</HI> &s;o many <HI>Suns</HI> and all the <HI>variety</HI> of the Creatures formed into one <HI>Species:</HI> Yea, as was intimated a|bove; 'tis an in&s;tance of the <HI>divine benigni|ty,</HI>
<PB N="117" REF="82">
that he produced things into being, ac|cording to the va&s;t <HI>plenitude</HI> of Forms that were in his <HI>all-knowing mind;</HI> and gave them <HI>operations</HI> &s;uitable to their re&s;pective <HI>natures;</HI> &s;o that it had rather &s;eemed a defect in the divine di&s;pen&s;ations, if we had not had the plea&s;ure of the proper exerci&s;e of the <HI>lower faculties</HI> as well as of the <HI>higher.</HI> * Yea, me thinks 'tis but a rea&s;onable reward to the <HI>body,</HI> that it &s;hould have its delights and gratifications al&s;o, whereby it will be fit|ted for further &s;erviceablene&s;s. For doubt|le&s;s it would be in time &s;pent and exhau&s;ted were it continually imployed in tho&s;e <HI>high</HI> and le&s;s proportioned <HI>operations.</HI></P>
<P>Wherefore God him&s;elf having &s;o order'd the matter, that the inferiour life &s;hould have its turn of <HI>invigoration;</HI> it can be no evil in us, * that that is executed which he hath &s;o determined, as long as we pa&s;s not the bounds that he hath &s;et us. <HI>Adam</HI> therefore was yet innocent, though he joyed in his beloved <HI>Spou&s;e,</HI> yea, and was permitted to feed upon all the fruits of this Paradi&s;e, the various re&s;ults of corporeal plea&s;ure, as long as he followed not his own <HI>will</HI> and <HI>ap|petites</HI> contrarily to the <HI>divine commands</HI> and <HI>appointments.</HI></P>
<P>But at length unhappily the <HI>delights</HI> of the <HI>body</HI> betray us, through our over indul|gence to them, and lead us captive to <HI>anomy</HI>
<PB N="118" REF="83">
and <HI>di&s;obedience.</HI> The &s;en&s;e of what is <HI>grate|ful</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ant</HI> by in&s;en&s;ible degrees g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ts head over the apprehen&s;ion of what is <HI>ju&s;t</HI> and <HI>good;</HI> the <HI>Serpent</HI> and <HI>Eve</HI> prove &s;ucce&s;sful <HI>tempters;</HI> * <HI>Adam</HI> cannot with&s;tand the <HI>in|ordinate appetite,</HI> but feeds on the <HI>forbidden fruit,</HI> viz. the dictates of his <HI>debauched will,</HI> and <HI>&s;en&s;ual plea&s;ure.</HI> And thus now the <HI>body</HI> is gotten uppermo&s;t, the <HI>lower faculties</HI> have greater exerci&s;e and command than the higher, tho&s;e being very vigorou&s;ly <HI>awakened,</HI> and the&s;e proportionably <HI>&s;hrunk up,</HI> and <HI>con&s;opited;</HI> wherefore by <HI>Axiom</HI> 3. and 5. the &s;oul contracts a le&s;s pure body, which may be more accommodate to <HI>&s;en&s;itive opera|tions;</HI> and thus we fall from the highe&s;t <HI>Pa|radi&s;e</HI> the bli&s;sful regions of <HI>life and glory,</HI> and become Inhabitants of the <HI>Air.</HI></P>
<P>Not that we are pre&s;ently quite dive&s;ted of our <HI>Aethereal &s;tate,</HI> as &s;oon as we de&s;cend into this le&s;s perfect condition of life, for retaining &s;till con&s;iderable exerci&s;es of the <HI>higher life,</HI> though not &s;o ruling and vigo|rous ones as before, the <HI>&s;oul</HI> mu&s;t retain part of its former <HI>vehicle,</HI> to &s;erve it as its <HI>in&s;trument,</HI> in tho&s;e its <HI>operations:</HI> For the <HI>aethereal body</HI> contracts <HI>cra&s;ne&s;s</HI> and <HI>impurity</HI> by the &s;ame degrees as the <HI>immaterial facul|ties</HI> abate in their <HI>exerci&s;e;</HI> &s;o that we are not immediately upon the expiring of the highe&s;t congruity wholly &s;tript of all remains
<PB N="119" REF="83">
of our <HI>cele&s;tial bodies,</HI> but &s;till hold &s;ome portion of them, within the <HI>gro&s;&s;er vehicle,</HI> while the <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> or <HI>higher life</HI> is in any <HI>degree</HI> of <HI>actuation.</HI></P>
<P>Nor are we to &s;uppo&s;e that every <HI>&s;lip</HI> or <HI>indulgence</HI> to the <HI>body</HI> can detrude us from our <HI>aethereal happine&s;s;</HI> but &s;uch a <HI>change</HI> mu&s;t be wrought in the <HI>&s;oul,</HI> as may &s;poil its <HI>con|gruity</HI> to a <HI>cele&s;tial body,</HI> which in time by degrees is effected: Thus we may probably be &s;uppo&s;ed to have fallen from our &s;upream felicity.</P>
<P>But <HI>others</HI> of our <HI>order</HI> have made better u&s;e of their <HI>injoyments,</HI> and the indulgences of their Maker; and though they have had their <HI>Perigae</HI>'s as well as their <HI>Apogae</HI>'s: I mean their Verges towards the body and its joys, as well as their A&s;pires to nobler and &s;ublimer objects, yet they kept the &s;ta|tion of their Natures, and made their or|derly <HI>returns,</HI> without &s;o remarkable a <HI>de|fection:</HI> And though po&s;&s;ibly &s;ome of them may &s;ometimes have had their <HI>&s;lips,</HI> and have waded further into the plea&s;ures of the bo|dy than they ought to have done, yet part|ly by their own timely care and con&s;idera|tion, and partly by the divine a&s;&s;i&s;tance, they recover them&s;elves again to their con|dition of <HI>primigenial innocence.</HI> But we mu&s;t leave them to their <HI>felicity,</HI> and go on with the <HI>Hi&s;tory</HI> of our own <HI>de&s;cent.</HI> Therefore
<PB N="120" REF="84">
after we are <HI>detruded</HI> from our <HI>aethereal con|dition,</HI> we next de&s;cend into the <HI>Aereal.</HI></P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Aereal State.</HEAD>
<P>NOw our bodies are more or le&s;s <HI>pure</HI> in this condition, proportionably to the degrees of our <HI>apo&s;tacy:</HI> So that we are not ab&s;olutely mi&s;erable in our fir&s;t &s;tep of <HI>de|&s;cent;</HI> but indeed <HI>happy</HI> in compari&s;on of our now condition: As yet there may be very con&s;iderable remains of <HI>vertue</HI> and <HI>di|vine love,</HI> though indeed the <HI>lower life,</HI> that of the body be grown very <HI>&s;trong</HI> and <HI>ram|pant:</HI> So that as yet we may be &s;uppo&s;ed to have lap&s;t no lower than the be&s;t and pure&s;t Regions of the <HI>Air,</HI> by Axiom 2 and 3. And doubtle&s;s there are &s;ome, who by &s;tri|ving again&s;t the <HI>inordinacy</HI> of their <HI>Appe|tites,</HI> may at length get the victory again over their <HI>bodies,</HI> and &s;o by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the <HI>Divine Spirit,</HI> who is always ready to promote and a&s;&s;i&s;t good beginnings, may re-enkindle the <HI>higher life,</HI> and &s;o be tran|&s;lated again to their old <HI>cele&s;tial habitations</HI> without <HI>de&s;cending</HI> lower.</P>
<P>But others irreclaimably per&s;i&s;ting in their <HI>Rebellion,</HI> and &s;inking more and more into the <HI>body,</HI> and the reli&s;h of its <HI>joys</HI> and <HI>plea|&s;ures, the&s;e</HI> are &s;till verging to a <HI>lower</HI> and more degenerate <HI>&s;tate;</HI> &s;o that at the la&s;t
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the <HI>higher powers</HI> of the Soul being almo&s;t quite laid <HI>a&s;leep</HI> and <HI>con&s;opited,</HI> and the <HI>&s;en|&s;itive</HI> al&s;o by long and tedious exerci&s;es be|ing much tired, and abated in their vigour, * the <HI>pla&s;tick faculties</HI> begin now fully to <HI>a|waken;</HI> &s;o that a body of <HI>thin</HI> and <HI>&s;ubtile air</HI> will not &s;uffice its now &s;o highly exalted <HI>energy,</HI> no more than the <HI>&s;ubtile Aether</HI> can &s;uffice us <HI>terre&s;trial animals</HI> for <HI>re&s;piration;</HI> wherefore the <HI>aereal-congruity</HI> of <HI>life</HI> expires al&s;o, and thus are we ready for an <HI>earthly body.</HI></P>
<P>But now &s;ince a <HI>&s;oul</HI> cannot <HI>unite</HI> with any <HI>body,</HI> but with &s;uch only as is fitly prepared for it, by <HI>Principle&punc;</HI> 3. and there being in all likelyhood more <HI>expirations</HI> in the <HI>Air,</HI> than there are prepared <HI>bodies</HI> upon <HI>earth,</HI> it mu&s;t needs be, that for &s;ome time it mu&s;t be de&s;ti|tute of any <HI>congruous matter</HI> that might be joyned with it; And con&s;equently by <HI>Prin|ciple</HI> 4. 'twill lye in a <HI>&s;tate</HI> of <HI>inactivity</HI> and <HI>&s;ilence.</HI> Not that it will for ever be lo&s;t in that forgotten <HI>rece&s;s</HI> and <HI>&s;olitude,</HI> * for it hath an <HI>aptne&s;s</HI> and <HI>prope<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ity</HI> to act in a <HI>ter|re&s;trial</HI> body, which will be reduced into <HI>actual exerci&s;e,</HI> when fit <HI>matter</HI> is prepared. The Souls therefore, that are now laid up in the <HI>black night</HI> of <HI>&s;tupidity</HI> and <HI>inertne&s;s</HI> will in their proper &s;ea&s;ons be <HI>awakened</HI> into <HI>life</HI> and <HI>operation</HI> in &s;uch <HI>bodies</HI> and <HI>places</HI> of the earth, as by their di&s;po&s;itions they are
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fitted for. So that no &s;ooner is there any matter of due <HI>vital</HI> temper, afforded by <HI>generation,</HI> but immediately a <HI>&s;oul</HI> that is &s;uitable to &s;uch a <HI>body,</HI> * either by meer <HI>na|tural congruity,</HI> the <HI>di&s;po&s;ition</HI> of the <HI>&s;oul</HI> of the <HI>world,</HI> or &s;ome more <HI>&s;pontaneous agent</HI> is <HI>attracted,</HI> or <HI>&s;ent</HI> into this &s;o <HI>befitting tenement,</HI> according to Axiom 2 and 3.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Terre&s;trial State.</HEAD>
<P>NOw becau&s;e in this &s;tate too we u&s;e our <HI>&s;en&s;itive faculties,</HI> and have &s;ome, though very &s;mall reliques of the <HI>higher life</HI> al&s;o; therefore the <HI>&s;oul</HI> fir&s;t makes it &s;elf a <HI>vehicle</HI> out of the mo&s;t <HI>&s;piritous</HI> and yielding parts of this <HI>&s;pumous terre&s;trial matter,</HI> which hath &s;ome analogy both with its <HI>aethereal</HI> and <HI>aereal</HI> &s;tate. This is as it were its <HI>inward ve&s;t,</HI> and immediate <HI>in&s;trument</HI> in all its ope|rations. By the help of this it <HI>under&s;tands, rea&s;ons,</HI> and <HI>remembers,</HI> yea <HI>forms</HI> and <HI>moves</HI> the body. And that we have &s;uch a <HI>&s;ubtile aery</HI> vehicle within this <HI>terre&s;trial,</HI> our ma|nife&s;t <HI>&s;ympathizing</HI> with that element, and the nece&s;&s;ity we have of it to all the <HI>functi|ons</HI> of <HI>life,</HI> as is palpable in <HI>re&s;piration,</HI> is me thinks good ground for conjecture. And 'tis not improbable but even within this it may have a <HI>purer fire</HI> and <HI>aether</HI> to which it is <HI>united,</HI> being &s;ome little remain of what it had of old.</P>
<P><PB N="123" REF="85">
In this <HI>&s;tate</HI> we grow up merly into the life of <HI>&s;en&s;e,</HI> having little left of the <HI>higher life,</HI> * but &s;ome api&s;h &s;hews and imitations of <HI>rea&s;on, vertue,</HI> and <HI>religion:</HI> By which alone with <HI>&s;peech,</HI> we &s;eem to be di&s;tingui&s;ht from <HI>Bea&s;ts,</HI> while in reality the <HI>bruti&s;h na|ture</HI> is <HI>predominant,</HI> and the concernments of the body are our great <HI>end,</HI> our only <HI>God</HI> and <HI>happine&s;s;</HI> this is the condition of our now degenerate, lo&s;t natures. How|ever, that ever over-flowing <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> that always aims at the happine&s;s of his crea|tures, hath not left us without all means of recovery, but by the gracious and benign di&s;pen&s;ations which he hath afforded us, hath provided for our <HI>re&s;tauration;</HI> which &s;ome (though but very few) make &s;o good u&s;e of, that being a&s;&s;i&s;ted in their well meant and &s;incere indeavours by the <HI>divine &s;pirit,</HI> they in good degree <HI>mortifie</HI> and <HI>&s;ubdue</HI> the <HI>body,</HI> conquer <HI>&s;elf-will,</HI> un|ruly <HI>appetites,</HI> and di&s;orderly <HI>pa&s;&s;ions,</HI> and &s;o in &s;ome mea&s;ure by <HI>Principle</HI> 7. awaken the <HI>higher life,</HI> which &s;till directs them up|wards to <HI>vertue</HI> and <HI>divine love;</HI> which, where they are perfectly kindled, carry the Soul, when di&s;mi&s;t from this pri&s;on, * to its old <HI>cele&s;tial abode:</HI> For the <HI>&s;pirit</HI> and <HI>noble&s;t faculties</HI> being &s;o recovered to life and exer|ci&s;e require an <HI>aethereal body</HI> to be united to, and that an <HI>aethereal place</HI> of re&s;idence, both
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which, the divine <HI>Neme&s;is</HI> that is wrought into the very nature of things be&s;toweth on them by Principle the &s;econd.</P>
<P>But they are very few that are thus im|mediately re&s;tored to the <HI>cele&s;tial paradi&s;e,</HI> upon the quitting of their earthly bodies. For others that are but in the way of reco|very, and dye imperfectly vertuous, meer <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> and <HI>natural rea&s;on</HI> (within the bounds of which we are now di&s;cour|&s;ing) can determin no more, * but that they &s;tep forth again into <HI>aery vehicles;</HI> that <HI>congruity</HI> of life immediately awakening in them after <HI>this</HI> is expired. In this &s;tate their happine&s;s will be more or le&s;s, pro|portionably to their <HI>vertues,</HI> in which if they per&s;evere, (we &s;hall &s;ee anon how they will be recover'd. But for the pre&s;ent we mu&s;t not break off the clue of our account, by going backwards before we have arriv'd to the utmo&s;t verge of <HI>de&s;cent</HI> in this <HI>Philo&s;o|phical Romance,</HI> or <HI>Hi&s;tory;</HI> the Reader is at his choice to call it which he plea&s;eth.</P>
<P>Wherefore let us ca&s;t our eyes upon the <HI>Mo&s;t,</HI> in whom their life on earth hath but confirmed and &s;trengthened, their <HI>degenerate &s;en&s;ual,</HI> and <HI>bruti&s;h propen&s;ions;</HI> And &s;ee what is like to become of them, when they take their leave of the&s;e <HI>terre&s;trial</HI> bodies.</P>
<P>Only fir&s;t a word of the <HI>&s;tate</HI> of <HI>dying Infants,</HI> and I come immediately to the next
<PB N="125" REF="86">
<HI>&s;tep</HI> of <HI>de&s;cent.</HI> * Tho&s;e therefore that pa&s;s out of <HI>the&s;e bodies&punc;</HI> before the <HI>terre&s;trial con|gruity</HI> be <HI>&s;poil'd, weakened,</HI> or orderly <HI>un|wound;</HI> according to the tenour of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> mu&s;t return into the &s;tate of <HI>in|activity.</HI></P>
<P>For the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> in them is too highly <HI>a|wakened,</HI> to inactuate only an <HI>aereal</HI> body; And, there being no other more <HI>congruous,</HI> ready, and at hand for it to enter, it mu&s;t needs &s;tep back into its former &s;tate of <HI>in|&s;en&s;ibility,</HI> and there wait its turn, till be|fitting <HI>matter</HI> call it forth again into <HI>life</HI> and <HI>action.</HI> This is a conjecture that <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> dictates, which I vouch not for a truth; * but only follow the clue of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is.</HI> Nor can there any danger be hence concei|ved that tho&s;e who&s;e <HI>congruities</HI> orderly ex|pire, &s;hould fall back again into a &s;tate of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ilence</HI> and <HI>inertne&s;s;</HI> *&s;ince by long and hard exerci&s;es in this body, the <HI>pla&s;tick life</HI> is well tamed and debilitated, &s;o that now its activity is proportioned to a more <HI>tenuious</HI> and <HI>pa&s;&s;ive vehicle,</HI> which it cannot fail to meet with in its next condition. For 'tis on|ly the <HI>terre&s;trial body</HI> is &s;o long a <HI>preparing.</HI> But to</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="126" REF="87">
<HEAD>The next &s;tep of De&s;cent, or After-&s;tate.</HEAD>
<P>TO give an Account of the <HI>After-&s;tate</HI> of the more <HI>degenerate</HI> and yet <HI>de&s;cend|ing</HI> &s;ouls, &s;ome fancy a very odd <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> imagining that they pa&s;s hence into &s;ome other more cour&s;e and inferior <HI>Planet,</HI> in which, they are provided with bodies &s;uit|able to their &s;o depraved natures; But I &s;hall be thought <HI>extravagant</HI> for the mention of &s;uch a &s;uppo&s;ition; Wherefore I come to what is le&s;s <HI>obnoxious.</HI></P>
<P>When our &s;ouls go out of the&s;e bodies therefore, they are not pre&s;ently di&s;charged of all the matter that belonged to this con|dition, but carry away their <HI>inward</HI> and <HI>aereal</HI> &s;tate to be partakers with them of their <HI>after fortunes;</HI> only leaving the u&s;ele&s;s earth behind them. For they have a <HI>congruity</HI> to their <HI>aery</HI> bodies, though that which they had to a <HI>terre&s;trial,</HI> is worn out and defaced.</P>
<P>Nor need we to wonder how it can now have an <HI>aereal aptitude,</HI> when as that <HI>congruity expired</HI> before we <HI>de&s;cended</HI> hither; If we con&s;ider the rea&s;on of the <HI>expiration</HI> of its former <HI>vital aptitude,</HI> which was not &s;o much through any defect of power to actuate &s;uch a body, but through the exce&s;s of <HI>invigoration</HI> of the <HI>Pla&s;tick,</HI> which was then grown &s;o <HI>&s;trong,</HI> * that an <HI>aereal</HI> body
<PB N="127" REF="87">
was not enough for it to di&s;play its force upon. But now the ca&s;e is altered, the&s;e <HI>lower powers</HI> are <HI>worn</HI> and <HI>wearied</HI> out, by the toyl&s;ome exerci&s;e of <HI>dragging</HI> about and managing &s;uch a <HI>load</HI> of <HI>fle&s;h;</HI> wherefore be|ing &s;o <HI>ca&s;tigated,</HI> they are duly attemper'd to the more <HI>ea&s;ie</HI> body of <HI>air</HI> again, as was intimated before; to which they being al|ready <HI>united,</HI> they cannot mi&s;s of a proper habitation.</P>
<P>But con&s;idering the <HI>&s;tupor, dulne&s;s</HI> and <HI>in|activity</HI> of our <HI>declining</HI> age, it may &s;eem un|likely to &s;ome, that after death we &s;hould immediately be re&s;u&s;citated into &s;o <HI>lively</HI> and <HI>vigorous</HI> a <HI>condition,</HI> as is the <HI>aereal,</HI> e&s;pecial|ly, &s;ince all the <HI>faculties</HI> of <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> and <HI>action,</HI> are ob&s;erved gradually to fail and abate as we draw nearer to our <HI>exit</HI> from this <HI>Stage;</HI> which &s;eems to threaten, that we &s;hall next <HI>de&s;cend</HI> into a &s;tate of more <HI>&s;tupor</HI> and <HI>inert|ne&s;s.</HI> But this is a groundle&s;s <HI>jealou&s;ie;</HI> for the <HI>weakne&s;s</HI> and <HI>lethargick inactivity</HI> of old age, ari&s;eth from a <HI>defect</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>Spirits,</HI> that are the <HI>in&s;truments</HI> of all our <HI>operations,</HI> which by long exerci&s;e are at la&s;t <HI>&s;pent</HI> and <HI>&s;cattered.</HI> So that the remains can &s;carce any longer &s;tand under their unweildy <HI>burthen;</HI> much le&s;s, can they perform all <HI>functions</HI> of <HI>life</HI> &s;o vigorou&s;ly as they were wont to do, when they were in their due <HI>temper, &s;trength,</HI> and <HI>plenty.</HI> However notwith&s;tanding this
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<HI>inability</HI> to manage a <HI>&s;luggi&s;h, &s;tubborn,</HI> and <HI>exhau&s;ted terre&s;trial</HI> body, there is no doubt, but the <HI>Soul</HI> can with great <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;e, when it is di&s;charged of its former <HI>load,</HI> actuate its <HI>thin aery</HI> vehicle; and that with a brisk <HI>vi|gour</HI> and <HI>activity.</HI> As a man that is overladen, may be ready to faint and &s;ink, till he be re|lieved of his burthen; and <HI>then,</HI> he can run away with a cheerful vivacity. So that this decrepit condition of our decayed natures cannot ju&s;tly prejudice our belief, that we &s;hall be erected again, into a &s;tate of <HI>life</HI> and <HI>action</HI> in <HI>aereal</HI> bodies, after this <HI>congruity</HI> is expired.</P>
<P>But if all alike live in <HI>bodies</HI> of <HI>air</HI> in the next <HI>condition,</HI> * where is then the diffe|rence between the <HI>ju&s;t</HI> and the <HI>wicked,</HI> in <HI>&s;tate, place</HI> and <HI>body?</HI> For the <HI>ju&s;t</HI> we have &s;aid already; that &s;ome of them are re|in&s;ta|ted in their <HI>pri&s;tine</HI> happine&s;s and felicity; and others are in a <HI>middle</HI> &s;tate, within the confines of the Air, perfecting the <HI>inchoati|ons</HI> of a better <HI>life,</HI> which commenc'd in this: As for the <HI>&s;tate</HI> and <HI>place</HI> of tho&s;e that have lived in a continual cour&s;e of <HI>&s;en&s;uali|ty</HI> and <HI>forgetfulne&s;s</HI> of God; I come now to declare what we may fancy of it, by the help of <HI>natural light,</HI> and the conduct of <HI>Philo&s;o|phy.</HI></P>
<P>And in order to this di&s;covery I mu&s;t pre|mi&s;e &s;omewhat concerning the <HI>Earth,</HI> this
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<HI>Globe</HI> we live upon; which is, that we are not to conceive it to be a full <HI>bulky ma&s;s</HI> to the <HI>center,</HI> but rather that 'tis &s;omewhat like&punc; a &s;uckt Egg, in great part, an hollow &s;phere, &s;o that what we tread upon, is but as it were, an Arch or Bridge, to divide between the <HI>upper</HI> and the <HI>lower regions:</HI> Not that this&punc; <HI>inward hollowne&s;s</HI> is a meer void <HI>capacity,</HI> for there are no &s;uch <HI>cha&s;ms</HI> in nature, but doubtle&s;s repleni&s;ht it is with &s;ome fluid bodies or other, and it may be a kind of <HI>air, fire</HI> and <HI>water:</HI> Now this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> will help us ea&s;ily to imagin how the <HI>earth</HI> may <HI>move,</HI> notwith&s;tanding the pretended indi&s;po&s;ition of its Bulk, and on that account I believe it will be &s;omewhat the more acceptable with the free and ingenious.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e that under&s;tand the <HI>Carte&s;ian Philo|&s;ophy,</HI> will readily admit the <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> at lea&s;t as much of it as I &s;hall have need of: But for others, I have little hopes of per|&s;wading them to any thing, and therefore I'le &s;pare my labour of going about to prove what they are either uncapable of, or at fir&s;t da&s;h judge ridiculous: And it may be <HI>mo&s;t</HI> will grant as much as is requi&s;ite for my purpo&s;e, which is, <HI>That there are huge va&s;t cavities within the body of the Earth;</HI> and it were as needle&s;s, as pre&s;umptuous, for me to go about to determinemore. Only I &s;hall mention a <HI>probability,</HI> that this <HI>gro&s;s
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cru&s;t</HI> which we call <HI>earth,</HI> is not of &s;o va&s;t a <HI>profundity</HI> as is &s;uppo&s;ed, and &s;o come more pre&s;s to my bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
<P>'Tis an ordinary ob&s;ervation among them that are imployed in <HI>Mines</HI> and <HI>&s;ubterraneous vaults</HI> of any depth, that <HI>heavy</HI> bodies lo&s;e much of their <HI>gravity</HI> in tho&s;e hollow <HI>caverns:</HI> So that what the &s;trength of &s;everal men can|not &s;tir above ground, is ea&s;ily moved by the &s;ingle force of one under it: Now to improve this experiment, 'tis very likely that <HI>gravity</HI> proceeds from a kind of <HI>magne|ti&s;m</HI> and <HI>attractive</HI> vertue in the <HI>earth,</HI> which is by &s;o much the more &s;trong and vigorous, by how much more of the <HI>attrahent</HI> contri|butes to the <HI>action,</HI> and proportionably <HI>weaker,</HI> where le&s;s of the <HI>magnetick</HI> Element exerts its <HI>operation;</HI> &s;o that &s;uppo&s;ing the <HI>&s;olid earth,</HI> to reach but to a certain, and that not very great di&s;tance from the &s;urface, and 'tis obvious this way to give an account of the <HI>Phaenomenon.</HI></P>
<P>* For according to this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> the <HI>gravity</HI> of tho&s;e bodies is <HI>le&s;s,</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>quantity</HI> of the <HI>earth</HI> that draws them is <HI>&s;o;</HI> whereas were it of the &s;ame nature and &s;o|lidity to the <HI>center,</HI> this diminution of its <HI>bulk,</HI> and con&s;equently <HI>vertue</HI> would not be at all con&s;iderable, nor in the lea&s;t &s;en&s;ible: Now though there are other cau&s;es pre|tended for this effect, yet there is none &s;o
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likely, and ea&s;ie a &s;olution as this, though I know <HI>it</HI> al&s;o is obnoxious to exceptions, which I cannot now <HI>&s;tand</HI> to meddle with; all that I would have, is, that 'tis a <HI>probability,</HI> * and the mention of the <HI>fountains</HI> of the <HI>great deep</HI> in the <HI>&s;acred Hi&s;tory,</HI> as al&s;o the <HI>flaming Vulcano's</HI> and <HI>&s;moaking mountains</HI> that all relations &s;peak of, are others.</P>
<P>* Now I intend not that after a certain di&s;tance all is <HI>fluid matter</HI> to the <HI>center.</HI> For the <HI>Carte&s;ian Hypothe&s;is</HI> di&s;tributes the <HI>&s;ub|terranean</HI> &s;pace into di&s;tinct regions of <HI>divers matter,</HI> which are divided from each other by as <HI>&s;olid walls,</HI> as is the open air from the <HI>inferiour Atmo&s;phere:</HI> Therefore I &s;uppo&s;e only that under this <HI>thick out&s;ide,</HI> there is next a <HI>va&s;t</HI> and large region of <HI>fluid matter,</HI> * which for the mo&s;t part very likely is a <HI>gro&s;s</HI> and <HI>fetid</HI> kind of <HI>air,</HI> as al&s;o con&s;ide|rable proportions of <HI>fire</HI> and <HI>water,</HI> under all which, there may be other <HI>&s;olid</HI> floors, that may incompa&s;s and cover more vaults, and va&s;t hollows, the contents of which 'twere vanity to go about to determine; only 'tis very likely, that as the admirable <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> of <HI>Des Cartes</HI> &s;uppo&s;eth, * the lowe&s;t and <HI>central</HI> Regions may be filled with <HI>flame</HI> and <HI>aether,</HI> which &s;uppo&s;itions, though they may &s;eem to &s;ome to be but the ground|le&s;s <HI>excur&s;ions</HI> of bu&s;ie <HI>imaginations;</HI> yet tho&s;e that know the <HI>French Philo&s;ophy,</HI> and &s;ee
<PB N="132" REF="90">
<HI>there</HI> the Rea&s;ons of them, will be more candid in their cen&s;ures, and not &s;o &s;evere to tho&s;e not ill-framed <HI>conjectures.</HI></P>
<P>Now then being thus provided, I return again to pro&s;ecute my main intendment; Wherefore 'tis very probable, that the <HI>wicked</HI> and <HI>degenerate</HI> part of mankind, * are after death committed to tho&s;e &s;qualid <HI>&s;ubterra|neous</HI> habitations; in which <HI>dark pri&s;ons,</HI> they do &s;evere <HI>penance</HI> for their pa&s;t <HI>impieties,</HI> and have their <HI>&s;en&s;es,</HI> which upon earth they did &s;o fondly indulge, and took &s;uch care to gratifie, now per&s;ecuted with <HI>darkne&s;s, &s;tench,</HI> and <HI>horror.</HI> Thus doth the <HI>divine ju&s;tice</HI> tri|umph in puni&s;hing tho&s;e vile <HI>Apo&s;tates</HI> &s;uita|bly to their <HI>delinquencies.</HI></P>
<P>Now if tho&s;e vicious &s;ouls are not carri|ed down to the <HI>infernal caverns</HI> by the meer <HI>congruity</HI> of their natures, as is not &s;o ea&s;ie to imagine; we may then rea&s;onably con|ceive, * that they are driven into tho&s;e <HI>dun|geons</HI> by the <HI>invi&s;ible Mini&s;ters</HI> of <HI>Ju&s;tice,</HI> that manage the affairs of the <HI>world</HI> by <HI>Axiom</HI> 3. For tho&s;e pure <HI>Spirits</HI> doubtle&s;s have a deep <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> of what is <HI>ju&s;t,</HI> and for the <HI>good</HI> of the <HI>univer&s;e;</HI> and therefore will not let tho&s;e inexcu&s;able wretches to e&s;cape their de&s;erv|ed <HI>ca&s;tigations;</HI> or permit them to re&s;ide a|mong the <HI>good,</HI> le&s;t they &s;hould infect and poy&s;on the better world, by their examples. Wherefore, I &s;ay, they are di&s;po&s;ed of into
<PB N="133" REF="90">
tho&s;e <HI>black under-Aby&s;&s;es,</HI> where they are &s;uit|ed with company like them&s;elves, and match't unto <HI>bodies</HI> as <HI>impure,</HI> as are their de|praved <HI>inclinations.</HI> Not that they are all in the &s;ame <HI>place,</HI> and under the like <HI>tor|ments;</HI> but are variou&s;ly di&s;tributed accor|ding to the merits of their <HI>natures</HI> and <HI>actions;</HI> &s;ome only into the <HI>upper pri&s;ons,</HI> * others to the <HI>Dungeon:</HI> And &s;ome to the mo&s;t intolera|ble <HI>Hell,</HI> the <HI>Aby&s;s</HI> of <HI>fire.</HI> Thus doth a ju&s;t <HI>Neme&s;is</HI> vi&s;it all the quarters of the <HI>&V;ni|ver&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>Now tho&s;e mi&s;erable pri&s;oners cannot e|&s;cape from the places of their confinement; for 'tis very likely that tho&s;e watchful <HI>&s;pirits</HI> that were in&s;trumental in committing them, * have a &s;trict and careful eye upon them to keep them within the confines of their goal, that they rove not out into the regions of <HI>light</HI> and <HI>liberty,</HI> yea, 'tis probable that the <HI>bo|dies</HI> they have contracted in tho&s;e <HI>&s;qualid</HI> man|&s;ions, may by a kind of fatal <HI>magneti&s;me</HI> be chained down to this their <HI>proper</HI> element. Or, they having now a <HI>congruity</HI> only to &s;uch <HI>fetid vehicles,</HI> may be no more able to abide the <HI>clear</HI> and <HI>light&s;ome</HI> Air; than the <HI>Bat</HI> or <HI>Owl</HI> are able to bear the <HI>Suns</HI> noon-day <HI>beams;</HI> or, the <HI>fi&s;h</HI> to live in the&s;e thinner Regions. This may be the rea&s;on of the <HI>unfre|quency</HI> of their appearance; and that they mo&s;t commonly get them away at the approach
<PB N="134" REF="91">
of <HI>light.</HI> Be&s;ides all this, &s;ome there are who &s;uppo&s;e that there is a kind of <HI>polity</HI> among them&s;elves, which may * under &s;evere pe|nalties, prohibit all unlicen&s;ed <HI>excur&s;ions</HI> in|to the <HI>upper world;</HI> though I confe&s;s this &s;eems nor &s;o probable, and we &s;tand in no need of the &s;uppo&s;ition. For though the <HI>laws</HI> of their natures &s;hould not detain them within their <HI>proper re&s;idences;</HI> yet the care and over&s;ight of tho&s;e watchful Spirits, who fir&s;t committed them, will do it effectually. And very oft when they do appear, they &s;ignifie that they are under re&s;traint, and come not abroad, but by permi&s;&s;ion; as by &s;everal credible Stories I could make good: But for brevity I omit them.</P>
<P>Now though I intend not this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> either for a di&s;covery of infallible truth, or declarement of mine own opinions, yet I cannot forbear to note the &s;trange <HI>coinci|dence</HI> that there is between <HI>Scripture expre&s;&s;i|ons</HI> in this matter, &s;ome main &s;troaks of the <HI>Orthodox</HI> Doctrine, and this <HI>Philo&s;ophical</HI> conjecture of the <HI>&s;tate</HI> and <HI>place</HI> of the <HI>wicked.</HI> 'Tis repre&s;ented in the <HI>Divine Oracles</HI> as a <HI>deep pit,</HI> a <HI>pri&s;on,</HI> a place of <HI>darkne&s;s, fire,</HI> and <HI>brim&s;tone;</HI> and the <HI>going thither,</HI> is na|med a <HI>de&s;cent.</HI> All which mo&s;t appo&s;itely agree with the <HI>repre&s;entation</HI> we have made; And the u&s;ual <HI>Periphra&s;is</HI> of <HI>Hell torments, fire,</HI> and <HI>brim&s;tone,</HI> is wonderfully appli|cable
<PB N="135" REF="91">
to the place we have been de&s;cribing; &s;ince it abounds with <HI>fuliginous flames,</HI> and <HI>&s;ulphureous &s;tench</HI> and <HI>vapours;</HI> And, as we have conjectur'd, the lowe&s;t <HI>cavity,</HI> is no|thing <HI>el&s;e</HI> but a <HI>vault</HI> of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">re.</HI> For the other expre&s;&s;ions mentioned, every one can make the application. So that when a man con|&s;iders this, he will almo&s;t be tempted to think, that the <HI>in&s;pired writers</HI> had &s;ome &s;uch thing in their <HI>fancies.</HI> And we are not to run to <HI>tropes</HI> and <HI>figures</HI> for the <HI>interpretation</HI> of <HI>plain</HI> and <HI>literal de&s;criptions;</HI> except &s;ome weighty rea&s;on force us to &s;uch a <HI>Refuge.</HI></P>
<P>Moreover <HI>Hell</HI> is believed among the <HI>Or|thodox</HI> to have degrees of <HI>torments,</HI> to be a place of uncomfortable <HI>horror,</HI> and to &s;tand at the greate&s;t di&s;tance from the <HI>&s;eat</HI> and <HI>ha|bitation</HI> of the <HI>ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> All which, and more that I could reckon up, cannot more clearly be made out and explained, than they are in this <HI>Hypothe&s;is.</HI></P>
<P>Thus then we &s;ee the <HI>irreclaimably wicked</HI> lodg'd in a place and condition very <HI>wretch|ed</HI> and <HI>calamitous.</HI> If any of them &s;hould be taught by their <HI>mi&s;eries</HI> to renounce and for&s;ake their <HI>impieties;</HI> or &s;hould have any <HI>di&s;po&s;itions</HI> to <HI>vertue</HI> and <HI>divine love</HI> re-inkind|led in them; meer <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> would con|clude, that in time they might then be deli|vered from their &s;ad <HI>durance;</HI> But we know what <HI>Theology</HI> hath determined. And in|deed
<PB N="136" REF="92">
tho&s;e <HI>bruti&s;h Apo&s;tates</HI> are &s;o <HI>fixt</HI> and <HI>rooted</HI> in their <HI>&s;en&s;ual</HI> and <HI>rebellious propen&s;ions,</HI> that tho&s;e who are not yet as far di&s;tant from their <HI>Maker</HI> as they can be, are &s;till verging <HI>downwards;</HI> And po&s;&s;ibly being quite void of the <HI>divine grace,</HI> and any con&s;iderable exerci&s;es of <HI>rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>con&s;cience,</HI> they may never &s;top till they have run through all the <HI>infernal &s;tages,</HI> and are arriv'd to the <HI>extre|me&s;t</HI> degree of mi&s;ery, that as yet any are obnoxious to.</P>
<P>Wherefore the <HI>earth</HI> and all the <HI>infernal Regions</HI> being thus mon&s;trou&s;ly depraved; 'tis time for the <HI>Divine Ju&s;tice</HI> to &s;hew &s;ome remarkable and more than ordinary <HI>&s;everity</HI> upon tho&s;e <HI>remor&s;ele&s;s Rebels;</HI> and his good|ne&s;s is as ready to deliver the virtuous from this <HI>&s;tage</HI> of <HI>wretchedne&s;s</HI> and <HI>impiety.</HI> When therefore <HI>tho&s;e</HI> have compleated the number of their iniquities, and the&s;e are &s;it for the mercy of &s;o great a <HI>deliverance;</HI> then &s;hall the great <HI>decree</HI> for <HI>judgment</HI> be <HI>executed;</HI> which though it cannot be expected that meer <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> &s;hould give an unerring and punctual account of, yet we &s;hall follow <HI>this light</HI> as far as it will lead us; not in|trenching upon the <HI>&s;acred rights</HI> of <HI>Divinity,</HI> nor yet <HI>baulking</HI> what the ancient <HI>Ea&s;tern Cabbala,</HI> a&s;&s;i&s;ted by later <HI>di&s;coveries</HI> into na|ture, will dictate; But &s;incerely following the <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> we &s;hall leave all its <HI>errours</HI>
<PB N="137" REF="92">
and <HI>mi&s;guidances</HI> to be corrected by the more &s;acred <HI>Canons.</HI> So that where we &s;hall di&s;|cern the <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> of the <HI>World</HI> to have mi&s;|directed the mo&s;t <HI>knowing</HI> and &s;edulous <HI>in|quirers,</HI> we may duly acknowledge the great benefit of that <HI>light</HI> which we have received to guide us in matters of &s;uch va&s;t and con|cerning <HI>&s;peculation,</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Conflagration of the Earth.</HEAD>
<P>THerefore at length, when the time pre|appointed by the <HI>divine wi&s;dom</HI> for this <HI>execution,</HI> is come; * The <HI>internal, central fire</HI> &s;hall have got &s;uch &s;trength and <HI>irre&s;i&s;tible</HI> vigour, that it &s;hall ea&s;ily melt and di&s;&s;olve that <HI>fence</HI> that hath all this while inclo&s;ed it; And all tho&s;e other &s;maller <HI>fires,</HI> which are lodged in &s;everal parts of the <HI>lower Regions</HI> joyning them&s;elves with this mighty <HI>flame,</HI> &s;hall prey upon what ever is <HI>combu&s;tible,</HI> and &s;o rage fir&s;t within the bowels of the <HI>earth,</HI> beginning the <HI>tragick execution</HI> upon tho&s;e <HI>damned &s;pirits</HI> that are there <HI>confined;</HI> the&s;e having been re&s;erved <HI>in the chains of dark|ne&s;s to the judgment of this great day;</HI> and now &s;hall their hell and mi&s;ery be com|pleated, and they receive the full reward of their <HI>impieties,</HI> which doubtle&s;s will be the mo&s;t intolerable and &s;evere torment that can be imagined, the&s;e fierce and mercile&s;s
<PB N="138" REF="93">
flames &s;ticking clo&s;e to, yea, piercing through and through their bodies, which can remove no where to avoid this <HI>fiery</HI> o|ver-&s;preading <HI>vengeance.</HI></P>
<P>And now the <HI>&s;ubterranean vaults</HI> being thus all on fire, it cannot be long ere this <HI>prevailing cumbu&s;tion</HI> take hold of the up|per <HI>regions,</HI> wherefore at la&s;t with irre&s;i&s;ti|ble violence it breaks forth upon <HI>the&s;e</HI> al|&s;o: So that the great <HI>pyre</HI> is now <HI>kindled, &s;moak, fire, darkne&s;s, horror</HI> and <HI>confu&s;ion,</HI> cover the face of all things. Wherefore the mi&s;erable inhabitants of the <HI>earth</HI> and <HI>in|feriour air,</HI> will be &s;eized on by the devou|ring <HI>Element,</HI> and &s;uffer in that <HI>fire that was re&s;erved for the perdition of ungodly men.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;hall the righteous peri&s;h with the wicked? And &s;hall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Will not the &s;incere and vertuous both in the Earth and Air be &s;e|cured from this <HI>&s;ad fate?</HI> And how can their deliverance be effected? Doubtle&s;s <HI>Providence</HI> that in all things el&s;e hath been righteous and equal, will not fail in this la&s;t <HI>&s;cene;</HI> but provi&s;ion will be made for their recovery from this vengeance that hath taken hold of the wicked. But all natural cau|&s;es failing here, &s;ince their bodies are not pure enough to waft them up the quiet <HI>re|gions</HI> of the <HI>un infe&s;ted aether;</HI> and the <HI>higher
<PB N="139" REF="93">
congruity</HI> of <HI>life,</HI> being yet but imperfectly <HI>inchoated;</HI> they would be detained pri&s;on|ers here below by the <HI>chains</HI> of their <HI>un|happy natures,</HI> were there not &s;ome <HI>extraor|dinary interpo&s;ure</HI> for their re&s;cue and inlarge|ment; wherefore when we contemplate the <HI>infinite fertility</HI> of the <HI>divine goodne&s;s,</HI> we cannot think, that he will let tho&s;e <HI>&s;eeds</HI> of <HI>piety</HI> and <HI>vertue,</HI> which him&s;elf hath &s;own and given &s;ome increa&s;e to, to come to nought; or the hone&s;t <HI>po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors</HI> of them, fatally to mi&s;car|ry: But that he will imploy his <HI>power</HI> for the compleating what he hath begun, and the deliverance of tho&s;e, who have relyed upon his mercies. But for the particular way and method how this great <HI>tran&s;action</HI> will be accompli&s;ht, <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> cannot de|termine it.</P>
<P>Happy therefore are we, who have the di&s;coveries of a more certain <HI>Light,</HI> which doth not only &s;ecure us of the thing, but acquaints us with the way and means, that the <HI>Divine Wi&s;dom</HI> hath re&s;olv'd on, for the <HI>delivery</HI> of the <HI>righteous.</HI> So that here|by we are a&s;&s;ured that our ever ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Re|deemer</HI> &s;hall appear in the <HI>clouds</HI> before this fiery Fate &s;hall have quite taken hold of the Earth, and its condemned inhabitants. The Glory of his appearance with his <HI>Coe|le&s;tial Legions,</HI> &s;hall rai&s;e &s;uch &s;trong <HI>love, joy,</HI> and <HI>triumph</HI> in his now pa&s;&s;ionately
<PB N="140" REF="94">
enamoured expectants, as &s;hall again en|kindle that <HI>high</HI> and <HI>potent</HI> principle, the Spirit, which being throughly awakened and excited, will melt the gro&s;&s;e&s;t con&s;i&s;t|ence into <HI>liquid Aether,</HI> &s;o that our bodies being thus turned into the <HI>pure&s;t flame,</HI> we &s;hall a&s;cend in tho&s;e <HI>fiery Chariots</HI> with our Glorious <HI>Redeemer,</HI> and his illu&s;trious and ble&s;&s;ed Attendants to the <HI>Coele&s;tial</HI> habitati|ons. This is the Re&s;urrection of the ju&s;t, and the Recovery of our antient ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;s.</P>
<P>Thus have &s;ome repre&s;ented this great tran&s;action; But I dare warrant nothing in this matter beyond the declarations of the Sacred Scriptures; therefore to proceed in our <HI>Philo&s;ophical conjectures,</HI> However the <HI>good</HI> &s;hall be delivered, be &s;ure the <HI>wicked</HI> &s;hall be made a prey to the <HI>Scorching Ele|ment,</HI> which now rageth every where, and &s;uffer the Judgment threatned. But yet the mo&s;t degenerate part of Mankind (if we con&s;ult meer <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and the Antient <HI>Ea&s;tern Cabbala)</HI> who are detained Pri&s;oners in the now <HI>inflamed Atmo&s;phere,</HI> &s;hall not for ever be abandon'd to mi&s;ery and ruin. For they are &s;till pretended to be under the eye and tender care of that <HI>Almighty good|ne&s;s,</HI> that made and pre&s;erveth all things, that puni&s;heth not out of <HI>malice</HI> or <HI>revenge,</HI> and therefore will not pur&s;ue them to their
<PB N="141" REF="94">
utter undoing for ever: But hath &s;et bounds to their <HI>de&s;truction,</HI> and in <HI>infinite Wi&s;dom</HI> hath &s;o ordered the matter that none of his Creatures &s;hall be lo&s;t eternally, or indure &s;uch an endle&s;s mi&s;ery, than which <HI>not Being</HI> it &s;elf were more <HI>eligible.</HI> Where|fore tho&s;e curious contemplators phancy, that the un&s;upportable pain and angui&s;h which hath long &s;tuck to tho&s;e mi&s;erable creatures, will at length &s;o con&s;ume and de&s;troy that <HI>in&s;en&s;ible plea&s;ure</HI> and <HI>congruity</HI> that unites Soul and Body, that the thus mi&s;erably <HI>cruciated Spirit</HI> mu&s;t needs quit it's unfit habitation; and there being no o|ther body within its reach that is capable of a <HI>vital</HI> union, according to the tenor of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> it mu&s;t become <HI>&s;en&s;ele&s;s</HI> and <HI>unactive</HI> by Axiom, 4. And &s;o be buried in a &s;tate of <HI>&s;ilence</HI> and <HI>inertne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>At length when the&s;e <HI>greedy flames</HI> &s;hall have devoured what ever was <HI>combu&s;tible,</HI> and converted into a <HI>&s;moak</HI> and <HI>vapour</HI> all gro&s;&s;er <HI>concretions,</HI> that great <HI>orb</HI> of <HI>fire</HI> that the <HI>Carte&s;ian Philo&s;ophy</HI> &s;uppo&s;eth to con&s;titute the <HI>center</HI> of this <HI>Globe,</HI> &s;hall per|fectly have recovered its pri&s;tine <HI>nature,</HI> * and &s;o following the Laws of its <HI>proper motion,</HI> &s;hall fly away out of this <HI>vortex,</HI> and become a <HI>wandring Comet,</HI> till it &s;ettle in &s;ome other.</P>
<P>But if the next <HI>Conflagration</HI> reach not
<PB N="142" REF="95">
&s;o <HI>low</HI> as the inmo&s;t regions of the <HI>Earth,</HI> * &s;o that the central fire remains uncon|cern'd, and unimploy'd in this <HI>combu&s;tion,</HI> this <HI>Globe</HI> will then retain its wonted place among the <HI>Planets.</HI> And that &s;o it may happen, is not improbable, &s;ince there is plenty enough both of <HI>fiery principles</HI> and <HI>materials</HI> in tho&s;e Regions that are nearer to the &s;urface, to &s;et the Earth into a Light|&s;ome <HI>flame,</HI> and to do all that execution that we have &s;poken of. Some conceive therefore, that the <HI>conflagration</HI> will not be &s;o <HI>deep</HI> and <HI>univer&s;al</HI> as this opinion &s;up|po&s;eth it; But that it may take beginning from a le&s;s di&s;tance, and &s;pend it &s;elf up|wards. And to this purpo&s;e they repre|&s;ent the &s;equel of their <HI>Hypothe&s;is.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The General Re&s;titution.</HEAD>
<P>THo&s;e <HI>thick</HI> and <HI>clammy</HI> vapours which er&s;twhile a&s;cended in &s;uch va&s;t mea|&s;ures, and had fill'd the <HI>vault</HI> of Heaven with <HI>&s;moak</HI> and <HI>darkne&s;s,</HI> mu&s;t at length o|bey the Laws of their nature and gravity, and &s;o de&s;cend again in abundant <HI>&s;howres,</HI> and mingle with the <HI>&s;ub&s;iding a&s;hes,</HI> which will con&s;titute a <HI>mudd vegetative</HI> and <HI>fertile.</HI> For tho&s;e warm and benign beams, that now again begin to vi&s;it the <HI>de&s;olate</HI> Earth, will excite tho&s;e <HI>&s;eminal principles</HI> into acti|on,
<PB N="143" REF="95">
which the <HI>Divine Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>good|ne&s;s</HI> hath mingled with all things. Where|fore they operating according to their na|tures, and the di&s;po&s;itions which they find in the re&s;tored matter, will &s;hoot forth in all &s;orts of <HI>flowers, herbs,</HI> and <HI>trees;</HI> ma|king the whole <HI>Earth</HI> a <HI>Garden</HI> of <HI>delight</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ure;</HI> And erecting all the <HI>Phae|nomena</HI> proper to this <HI>Element.</HI> By this time the <HI>Air</HI> will be grown <HI>vital</HI> again and far more pure and plea&s;ant, than be|fore the <HI>fiery purgation.</HI> Wherefore they conceive, that the di&s;bodyed Souls &s;hall return from their unactive and <HI>&s;ilent</HI> re|ce&s;s, and be joyned again to bodies of purified and duly prepared <HI>Air.</HI> For their <HI>radical aptitude</HI> to matter &s;till remain|ed, though they fell <HI>a&s;leep</HI> for want of bo|dies of fit temper to unite with.</P>
<P>This is the &s;umm of the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> as it is repre&s;ented by the profoundly Learned Dr. <HI>H. More,</HI> with a <HI>copious</HI> and <HI>pompous eloquence.</HI></P>
<P>Now &s;uppo&s;ing &s;uch a <HI>rece&s;s</HI> of any Souls into a &s;tate of inactivity, &s;uch a <HI>Re&s;tituti|on</HI> of them to <HI>life</HI> and <HI>action</HI> is very rea|&s;onable; &s;ince it is much better for them to <HI>live</HI> and <HI>operate</HI> again, than to be u&s;ele&s;s in the <HI>univer&s;e,</HI> and as it were nothing for ever. And we have &s;een above, that the <HI>Divine goodne&s;s</HI> doth always what is <HI>be&s;t,</HI>
<PB N="144" REF="96">
and his <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> is not &s;o &s;hallow as to make his Creatures &s;o as that he &s;hould be fain to bani&s;h them into a &s;tate that is next to <HI>non-entity,</HI> there to remain through all <HI>duration.</HI> Thus then will tho&s;e lately tor|mented Souls, having &s;marted for their pa&s;t iniquities, be recovered both from their <HI>&s;tate</HI> of <HI>wretchedne&s;s</HI> and <HI>in&s;en&s;ibility;</HI> and by the un&s;peakable <HI>benignity</HI> of their <HI>Ma|ker,</HI> placed once more in &s;uch conditions, wherein by their own endeavours, and the divine a&s;&s;i&s;tance they may amend what was formerly ami&s;s in them, and pur&s;ue any <HI>good Re&s;olutions</HI> that they took while under the la&s;h of the fiery tortures; Which tho&s;e that do, when their <HI>good inclinations</HI> are perfected, and the <HI>Divine Life</HI> again enkindled, they &s;hall in due time re-a&s;cend the <HI>Thrones</HI> they &s;o unhappily fell from, and be circled about with unexpre&s;&s;ible felicity. But tho&s;e that for all this, fol|low the &s;ame ways of <HI>&s;en&s;uality</HI> and <HI>rebellion</HI> again&s;t their merciful deliverer, they &s;hall be &s;ure to be met with by the &s;ame <HI>methods</HI> of <HI>puni&s;hment;</HI> and at length be as mi&s;erable as ever.</P>
<P>Thus we &s;ee the <HI>Air</HI> will be <HI>re-peopled</HI> after the <HI>conflagration:</HI> but how the <HI>Earth</HI> will &s;o &s;oon be re&s;tored to <HI>Inhabitants,</HI> is a matter of &s;ome difficulty to deter|mine, &s;ince it u&s;eth to be furni&s;ht from
<PB N="145" REF="96">
the <HI>Aereal</HI> regions, which now will have none left that are fit to plant it. For the <HI>good</HI> were delivered thence before the <HI>conflagration:</HI> And tho&s;e that are newly come from under the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iery la&s;h and latter &s;tate of <HI>&s;ilence,</HI> are in a hopeful way of <HI>recovery;</HI> At lea&s;t, their aereal <HI>congruity</HI> cannot be &s;o &s;oon expired, as to fit them for an early return to their <HI>terre&s;trial pri|&s;ons.</HI> Wherefore to help our &s;elves in this rencounter, we mu&s;t remember, that there are continually multitudes of &s;ouls in a &s;tate of <HI>inactivity,</HI> for want of &s;uit|able bodies to unite with, there being more that dye to the aery &s;tate, than are born into this <HI>terre&s;trial.</HI> In this condi|tion were <HI>myriads,</HI> when the general <HI>Fe|ver</HI> &s;eiz'd this great <HI>de&s;temper'd body;</HI> who therefore were unconcern'd in the <HI>confla|gration,</HI> and are now as ready to return into <HI>life</HI> and <HI>action</HI> upon the <HI>Earth's</HI> happy <HI>re&s;tauration,</HI> as if no &s;uch thing had hap|ned.</P>
<P>Wherefore they will not fail to de&s;cend into fitly <HI>prepared matter,</HI> and to exerci&s;e all the functions proper to this condition. Nor will they alone be inhabitants of the <HI>Earth.</HI> For all the variety of other <HI>Animals,</HI> &s;hall <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ve and act upon this <HI>&s;tage</HI> with them; all &s;orts of &s;ouls in&s;inuating them&s;elves into tho&s;e bodies, which are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">it for their re&s;pective natures.</P>
<P><PB N="146" REF="97">
Thus then &s;uppo&s;ing habitable <HI>congruous</HI> bodies, there is no doubt, but there will be humane <HI>Souls</HI> to <HI>actuate</HI> and <HI>inform</HI> them; but all the difficulty is to conceive how the <HI>matter</HI> &s;hall be <HI>prepared.</HI> For who &s;hall be the common <HI>Seeds-man</HI> of &s;ucceeding Huma|nity, when all mankind is &s;wept away by the <HI>fiery deluge?</HI> And to take Sanctuary in a <HI>Miracle</HI> is <HI>unphilo&s;ophical</HI> and <HI>de&s;perate.</HI> I think therefore, it is not <HI>improbable</HI> (I mean according to the duct of this <HI>Hypothe|&s;is)</HI> but that in this <HI>renewed youth,</HI> of the &s;o lately <HI>calcined</HI> and <HI>purified Earth,</HI> there may be &s;ome pure <HI>efflore&s;cences</HI> of <HI>balmy</HI> mat|ter, not to be found now in its exhau&s;ted and decrepit <HI>Age,</HI> that may be proper <HI>ve|hicles</HI> of <HI>life,</HI> into which &s;ouls may de&s;cend without further <HI>preparation;</HI> And &s;o order|ly &s;hape and form them, as we &s;ee to this day &s;everal &s;orts of other creatures do, without the help of generation. For doubtle&s;s there will be great plenty of <HI>unctu|ous &s;pirituous matter,</HI> when the mo&s;t inward and <HI>recondite</HI> &s;pirits of all things, &s;hall be di&s;lodg'd from their <HI>old</HI> clo&s;e <HI>re&s;idences,</HI> and &s;catter'd into the <HI>Air;</HI> where they will at length, when the fierce agitation of the fire is over, gather in con&s;iderable proporti|ous of <HI>tenuious vapours;</HI> which at length de|&s;cending in a <HI>cry&s;talline liquor,</HI> and ming|ling with the fine&s;t parts of the <HI>newly modi|fied</HI>
<PB N="147" REF="97">
Earth, will doubtle&s;s compo&s;e as <HI>genital</HI> a matter as any can be prepared in the bo|dies of <HI>Animals.</HI> And the <HI>calm</HI> and <HI>whole|&s;ome Air</HI> which now is duly purged from its noxious <HI>reeks</HI> and <HI>vapours,</HI> and abounds with their <HI>&s;aline &s;pirituous humidity,</HI> will que&s;ti|onle&s;s be very propitious to tho&s;e tender <HI>inchoations</HI> of <HI>life;</HI> and by the help of the Sun's favourable and gentle <HI>beams,</HI> &s;upply them with all nece&s;&s;ary materials.</P>
<P>Nor need we puzzle our &s;elves to phancy, how tho&s;e <HI>Terrae Filii,</HI> tho&s;e young &s;ons of the Earth will be fortified again&s;t the in|juries of <HI>weather,</HI> or be able to provide for them&s;elves in their fir&s;t and tender <HI>infancy;</HI> &s;ince doubtle&s;s, if the &s;uppo&s;ition be ad|mitted, * tho&s;e <HI>immediate births</HI> of <HI>una&s;&s;i&s;ted</HI> nature will not be &s;o <HI>tender</HI> and <HI>helple&s;s</HI> as <HI>we,</HI> into who&s;e very con&s;titutions <HI>delicacy</HI> and <HI>effeminatene&s;s</HI> is now twi&s;ted. For tho&s;e <HI>ma&s;culine productions</HI> which were always ex|po&s;ed to the open <HI>Air,</HI> and not <HI>cloy&s;ter'd</HI> up as we, will feel no more incommodity from it, than the young fry of fi&s;hes do from the coldne&s;s of the water they are &s;pawn'd in. And even now much of our tenderne&s;s and <HI>delicacy</HI> is not natural but <HI>contracted.</HI> For <HI>poor</HI> Children will indure that hard&s;hip that would quickly di&s;patch tho&s;e that have had a more careful and officious nurture. And without que&s;tion we &s;hould do many things
<PB N="148" REF="98">
for <HI>&s;elf-pre&s;ervation</HI> and <HI>provi&s;ion,</HI> which now we yield no &s;igns of; had not cu&s;tom pre|vented the <HI>endeavours</HI> of <HI>nature,</HI> and made it expect a&s;&s;i&s;tance. For the <HI>Indian Infants</HI> will &s;wim currently, when a&s;&s;oon as they are born, they are thrown into the water. And nature put to her &s;hifts, will do many things more than we can &s;u&s;pect her able for the perfor|mance of; which con&s;ider'd, 'tis not hard to apprehend, but that tho&s;e Infant <HI>Aborigines</HI> are of a very different temper and condition from the weak products of now decayed na|ture; having que&s;tionle&s;s, more pure and <HI>&s;erviceable bodies, &s;en&s;es</HI> and other <HI>faculties</HI> more <HI>active</HI> and <HI>vigorous,</HI> and <HI>nature</HI> better exerci&s;ed; &s;o that they may by a like <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> to that which carries all creatures to their pro|per food, pur&s;ue and take hold of that nu|triment which the <HI>free</HI> and <HI>willing Earth</HI> now offer'd to their mouths; till being ad|vantaged by <HI>Age</HI> and <HI>growth,</HI> they can move about to make their choice. * But all this is but the <HI>frolick</HI> exerci&s;e of my pen chu&s;ing a <HI>Paradox;</HI> And 'tis time to give over the pur&s;uit.</P>
<P>To make an end then, we &s;ee that after the <HI>Conflagration</HI> the earth will be <HI>inhabited</HI> again, and all things proceed much-what in like manner as before. But whether the <HI>Cata&s;trophe</HI> of <HI>this</HI> &s;hall be like the former or no, I think is not to be determined. For
<PB N="149" REF="98">
as one world hath <HI>peri&s;h't</HI> by <HI>water,</HI> and this pre&s;ent <HI>&s;hall</HI> by <HI>fire,</HI> 'tis po&s;&s;ible the next <HI>period</HI> may be by the <HI>Extinction</HI> of the <HI>Sun.</HI> But I am come to the end of the <HI>line,</HI> and &s;hall not go beyond this pre&s;ent Stage of <HI>Providence,</HI> or wander into an <HI>Aby&s;&s;e</HI> of un|certainties, where there is neither <HI>Sun</HI> nor <HI>Star</HI> to guide my notions.</P>
<P>Now of all that hath been repre&s;ented of this <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> there is nothing that &s;eems more <HI>extravagant</HI> and <HI>Romantick</HI> than tho&s;e notions that come under the two la&s;t Gene|rals; And yet &s;o it falls out, that the main matters contained under them, one would think to have a &s;trange con&s;onancy with &s;ome expre&s;&s;ions in the <HI>Sacred Oracles.</HI> For clear it is from the <HI>divine Volume,</HI> that the <HI>wicked</HI> and the <HI>Devils</HI> them&s;elves are re&s;er|ved to a further and more &s;evere <HI>Judgment</HI> than yet afflicteth them; It is as plainly de|clared to be a <HI>vengeance</HI> of <HI>fire</HI> that abides them, as a compleatment of their torments: And that the <HI>Earth</HI> &s;hall be <HI>burnt,</HI> is as ex|plicitely affirmed, as any thing can be &s;po|ken. Now if we put all the&s;e together, they look like a probability, that the <HI>con|flagration</HI> of the <HI>Earth</HI> &s;hall con&s;ummate the <HI>Hell</HI> of the wicked. And * tho&s;e other expre&s;&s;ions of <HI>Death, De&s;truction, Perdition</HI> of the ungodly, and the like, &s;eem to &s;how a favourable regard to the State of &s;ilence
<PB N="150" REF="99">
and <HI>inactivity.</HI> Nor is there le&s;s appearing countenance given to the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of <HI>Re&s;ti|tution,</HI> * in tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ages which predict <HI>New Heavens</HI> and a <HI>New Earth,</HI> and &s;eem to inti|mate only a <HI>change</HI> of the pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>And yet I would have no body be &s;o cre|dulous as to be taken with little appearan|ces, nor do I mention the&s;e with an intent that they &s;hould with full con&s;ent be delive|red to intend the a&s;&s;erting any &s;uch Doct|rines; But that there is &s;hew enough both in Rea&s;on and Scripture for the&s;e Opinions to give an occa&s;ion for an <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> and therefore that they are not meer <HI>arbitrary</HI> and <HI>idle imaginations.</HI></P>
<P>Now whatever becomes of this particu|lar <HI>draught</HI> of the Souls &s;everal <HI>conditions</HI> of life and action, * the main Opinion of <HI>Prae-exi&s;tence</HI> is not at all concerned. This <HI>Scheme</HI> is only to &s;hew, that natural and imperfect Rea&s;on can frame an <HI>Intelligible Idea</HI> of it; And therefore que&s;tionle&s;s the Divine <HI>Wi&s;|dom</HI> could form and order it, either &s;o, or with infinitely more <HI>accuracy</HI> and <HI>exactne&s;s.</HI> How it was with us therefore of <HI>Old,</HI> I know not; But yet that we may have been, and acted before we de&s;cended hither, I think is very probable. And I &s;ee no rea&s;on but why <HI>Praeexi&s;tence</HI> may be admitted without altering any thing con&s;iderable of the ordi|nary <HI>Sy&s;teme</HI> of <HI>Theology.</HI> But I &s;hut up
<PB N="151" REF="99">
with that mode&s;t conclu&s;ion of the Great <HI>Des Cartes:</HI></P>
<P>That although the&s;e matters &s;eem hardly otherwi&s;e intelligible than as I have here ex|plained them:</P>
<P>Yet neverthele&s;s remembring I am not in|fallible, I a&s;&s;ert nothing; * but &s;ubmit all I have written to the Authority of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> and to the matured judgments of graver and wi&s;er men; Earne&s;tly de|&s;iring that nothing el&s;e may be entertained with credit by any per&s;ons, but what is able to win it by the force of evident and victo|rious rea&s;on. <HI>Des Cartes Princ. Philo&s;. lib. 4. &s;&s;.</HI> CVII.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="100">
<PB REF="100">
<P>A DISCOURSE OF TRUTH. BY THE Reverend Doctor RUST, Late LORD BISHOP of <HI>DROMORE</HI> in <HI>IRELAND.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>J. Collins,</HI> and <HI>S. Louns</HI> over a|gain&s;t <HI>Exeter Exchange</HI> in the <HI>Strand,</HI> 1682.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="101">
<PB REF="101">
<HEAD>A LETTER Concerning the <HI>Subject</HI> and the <HI>Author.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><HI>I</HI> Have now peru&s;ed, and returned the Manu&s;cript you &s;ent me; it had contracted many and great Errours in the Tran&s;cription, which I have corrected: I was enabled to do it by a written Copy of the &s;ame Di&s;cour&s;e, which I have had divers years in my Hands. The Subject is of great and weighty importance, and the Acknowledgment of the Truths here a&s;&s;erted and made good, will lay a Foundation for right conceptions in the Doctrines that concern the <HI>De|crees</HI>
<PB REF="102">
of God. For the fir&s;t Errour, which is the ground of the re&s;t, is, That things are good and ju&s;t, be|cau&s;e God Wills them &s;o to be; and if that be granted, we are di&s;abled from u&s;ing the arguments taken from natu|ral Notions, and the Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature, a|gain&s;t the Blacke&s;t and mo&s;t Bla&s;phe|mous Opinions that ever were enter|tained concerning Gods proceedings with the Sons of Men. If there be no &s;ettled Good and Evil, Immutable and Independent on any Will or &V;nder&s;tand|ing, then God may have made his rea&s;onable Creatures on purpo&s;e to damn them for ever. He may have ab&s;olutely decreed that they &s;hould &s;in, that he may damn them ju&s;tly; He may mo&s;t &s;olemnly and earne&s;tly pro|hibit Sin by his Laws, and declare great di&s;plea&s;ure again&s;t it; and yet by his ineluctable Decrees force men to all the &s;in that is committed in the
<PB REF="102">
World: He may vehemently prote&s;t his unfeigned de&s;ire of their Life and Happine&s;s, and at the &s;ame time &s;e|cretly re&s;olve their Eternal De&s;tructi|on; He may make it his Glory and Plea&s;ure to triumph eternally in the torments of poor Worms, which him|&s;elf hath by his unalterable and irre|&s;i&s;tible Will made mi&s;erable; yea, (as the di&s;cour&s;e in&s;tanceth) he may af|ter his Decrees concerning the Sal|vation of the Elect, after the death of his Son for them, and the mi&s;&s;ion of his Spirit to them, and after all the promi&s;es he hath made to a&s;&s;ure them; thru&s;t <HI>them</HI> al&s;o at la&s;t into the dreadful Regions of Death and Woe; I &s;ay if there be no immutable re|&s;pects in things, but Ju&s;t and &V;n|ju&s;t, Honourable and Di&s;honourable, Good and Cruel, Faithful and Deceit|ful, are re&s;pects made by meer arbi|trarious Will, it will be in vain to di&s;pute from Them again&s;t any &s;uch
<PB REF="103">
di&s;mal Opinions: yea it will be great folly to argue for the Simplicity of the Divine Nature again&s;t the vile con|ceits of the old <HI>Anthropomorphites,</HI> and the Bla&s;phemies of the pre&s;ent <HI>Muggletonians,</HI> of God's having a Corporal &s;hape, Parts and Mem|bers, if there be no nece&s;&s;ary Inde|pendent Connexion, betwixt Immen|&s;ity, Spirituality and Perfection. But this being e&s;tabli&s;hed, that there are immutable re&s;pects in things, and that &s;uch and &s;uch are Perfecti|ons, and their contrary, Defects and imperfections; hence it will follow, that it is impo&s;&s;ible the foremention|ed Doctrines can be true concerning God, who <HI>cannot lye,</HI> cannot <HI>deny him&s;elf: viz.</HI> He being Ab&s;olute and Infinite Perfection, cannot act any thing that is Evil or imperfect; But all the expre&s;&s;ions in Scripture, that at fir&s;t &s;ight look towards &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, mu&s;t be interpreted by the gene|ral
<PB REF="103">
<HI>Analogy</HI> and cour&s;e of them, which declares his Infinite, Immutable Ex|cellencies, and the&s;e Notions of him|&s;elf, which he hath written on the Souls of Men.</P>
<P>So that the Subject of this little Di&s;cour&s;e, is of va&s;t Moment, and the truth a&s;&s;erted in it, is, I think, confirmed with an irre&s;i&s;tible Strength and force of Rea&s;oning; and not to be convinced by it, will argue either great weakne&s;s of &V;nder&s;tanding, in not perceiving con&s;equences that are &s;o clo&s;e and plain; or great ob&s;tinacy of Will, in being &s;hut up by prejudi|ces, and preconceiv'd Opinions again&s;t Light that is &s;o clear and manife&s;t.</P>
<P>The Author was a Per&s;on with whom I had the Honour and Happine&s;s of a very particular acquaintance; a man he was of a clear Mind, a deep Judg|ment and &s;earching Wit: greatly learned in all the be&s;t &s;orts of Know|ledge, old and new, a thoughtful and
<PB REF="104">
diligent Enquirer, of a free &V;nder|&s;tanding, and va&s;t Capacity, joyn'd with &s;ingular Mode&s;ty, and unu&s;ual Sweetne&s;s of Temper, which made him the Darling of all that knew him: He was a per&s;on of great Piety and Ge|nero&s;ity; a hearty Lover of God and Men: An excellent Preacher, a wi&s;e Governour, a profound Philo&s;opher, a quick, forcible, and clo&s;e Rea&s;oner, and above all, a true and exemplary Chri&s;tian. In &s;hort, he was one who had all the Qualifications of a <HI>Pri|mitive</HI> Bi&s;hop, and of an extraordina|ry Man. This I &s;ay not out of kind|ne&s;s to my Friend, but out of Ju&s;tice to a Per&s;on of whom no Commenda|tion can be extravagant. He was bred in <HI>Cambridge,</HI> and Fellow of <HI>Chri&s;t's</HI> Colledge, where he lived in great E&s;teem and Reputation for his eminent Learning and Vertues; he was one of the fir&s;t that overcame the pre|judices of the Education of the late
<PB REF="104">
unhappy Times, in that &V;niver&s;ity, and was very In&s;trumental to enlarge others. He had too great a Soul for the trifles of that Age, and &s;aw ear|ly the nakedne&s;s of Phra&s;es and Phan|cies; He out-grew the pretended O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|thodoxy of tho&s;e days, and addicted him&s;elf to the Primitive Learning and Theology, in which he even then became a great Ma&s;ter.</P>
<P>After the return of the Govern|ment, the excellent Bi&s;hop <HI>Taylor,</HI> fore&s;eeing the vacancy in the Dea|nery of <HI>Connor,</HI> &s;ent to <HI>Cambridge,</HI> for &s;ome Learned and Ingenious Man, who might be fit for that Dignity. The motion was made to Dr. <HI>Ru&s;t,</HI> which corre&s;ponding with the great Inclination he had to be conver&s;ant with that incomparable Per&s;on, he gladly accepted of it, and ha&s;tn'd in|to <HI>Ireland,</HI> where he langed at <HI>Dub|lin</HI> about <HI>Augu&s;t 1661.</HI> He was received with much Re&s;pect and Kind|ne&s;s
<PB REF="105">
by that great and good Bi&s;hop, who knew how to value &s;uch Jewels; and preferr'd to the Deanery as &s;oon as it was void, which was &s;hortly af|ter. He continued in that Prefer|ment during the Bi&s;hops Life, al|ways dearly lov'd, and even admir'd by him.</P>
<P>At his Death (that &s;ad &s;troke to all the Lovers of Religion and Learn|ing) he was cho&s;en for the la&s;t &s;olemn Office to his Decea&s;ed Father and Friend; and he Preach't &s;uch a Fu|neral Sermon as became that extraor|dinary Per&s;on and him&s;elf. It hath been &s;ince publi&s;hed, and I &s;uppo&s;e you may have &s;een it, upon the la|mented Death of Bi&s;hop <HI>Taylor,</HI> which hapned <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> 13th. 1667. The Bi&s;hopricks were divided; Dr. <HI>Boyle</HI> Dean of <HI>Cork,</HI> was nomina|ted Bi&s;hop of <HI>Downe</HI> and <HI>Connor;</HI> and Dr. <HI>Ru&s;t</HI> Dean of <HI>Connor,</HI> Bi|&s;hop of <HI>Dromore;</HI> he lived in the
<PB REF="105">
Deanery about &s;ix years, in the Bi|&s;hoprick but three; for in <HI>December 1670,</HI> he dyed of a Fever (in the prime of his years) to the un&s;peak|able grief of all that knew his Worth, and e&s;pecially of &s;uch of them as had been ble&s;t by his Friend&s;hip, and mo&s;t &s;weet and indearing Conver&s;ati|on. He was buried in the Quire of his own Cathedral Church of <HI>Dromore,</HI> in a Vault made for his Predece&s;&s;our Bi&s;hop <HI>Taylor,</HI> who&s;e Sacred Du&s;t is depo&s;ited al&s;o there: and what Dor|mitory hath two &s;uch Tenants?</P>
<P>This is the be&s;t account I can give you of the Work and the Author: and by it you may perceive his Memory de&s;erves to live, and this product of him: but there is &s;o much reverence due to the <HI>Manes</HI> of &s;o venerable a Per&s;on, that nothing &s;hould be ha&s;tily publi&s;hed under his honour'd name. I know, had he de&s;igned this Exerci|tation for the Publick, he would have
<PB REF="106">
made it much more compleat and exact than we now have it; but as it is, the Di&s;cour&s;e is weighty, and &s;ub&s;tantial, and may be of great u&s;e. As it goes about now in written Co|pies&punc; it, is (I perceive) exceedingly depraved&punc; and in danger of being &s;till wor&s;e abu&s;ed; The Publication would pre&s;erve it from further cor|ruptions. However I dare not ad|vi&s;e any thing in it, but this, that you take the judgment of that Reve|rend Doctor you mention (the decea&s;ed Authors Friend and mine,) and act according as he &s;hall direct. I am,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your real Friend, Jo&s;. Glanvil.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<HEAD><PB N="165" REF="106">A DISCOURSE OF TRUTH.</HEAD>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. I.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That Truth is twofold; In the <HI>Object,</HI> and in the <HI>Subject.</HI> That in the <HI>Object</HI> what it is; And that it is antecedent to and independent of any Will or &V;nder&s;tanding whatever.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>TRUTH is of aequivocal &s;ignificati|on, and therefore cannot be defi|ned before it be di&s;tingui&s;h't. It is twofold; Truth in <HI>things,</HI> which you may call Truth in the Object: and Truth in the <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> which is Truth in the Sub|ject. By the fir&s;t I mean nothing el&s;e but that Things nece&s;&s;arily are what they are: And that there are nece&s;&s;ary mutual re|&s;pects and relations of Things one unto an|other.
<PB N="166" REF="107">
Now that things are what they are, and that there are mutual Re&s;pects and Re|lations eternal, and immutable, and in order of Nature * antecedent to any Under&s;tanding either created or uncreated, is a thing very plain and evident; For it's clearer than the <HI>Meridian</HI> Light, that &s;uch Propo&s;itions as the&s;e, <HI>Homo e&s;t animal rationale, Triangulum e&s;t quod habet tres angulos,</HI> are not arbitrarious de|pendencies upon the Will, Decree, or Un|der&s;tanding of God, but are nece&s;&s;ary and eternal Truths; and wherein 'tis as im|po&s;&s;ible to divide the Subject, and what is &s;poken of it, as it is for a thing not to be what it is, which is no le&s;s than a Contra|diction; And as indi&s;pen&s;ible are the mu|tual re&s;pects and relations of things both in Speculatives and Morals.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. II.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>The nece&s;&s;ity of there being certain Arguments, Means and Objects for certain Conclu&s;ions, Ends and Faculties; and that every thing will not &s;uit every thing.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>FOR can it be imagin'd that every Ar|gument can be made a proportioned <HI>Me|dium</HI> to prove every Conclu&s;ion? * that any thing may be a &s;uitable means to any end? that any Object may be conformable to any
<PB N="167" REF="107">
Faculty? Can Omnipotence it &s;elf make the&s;e Propo&s;itions, That twice two are four, or that Parallels cannot inter&s;ect, clear and convincing Arguments to prove the&s;e grand Truths, <HI>That Chri&s;t came into the World to dye for Sinners, and is now exalted as a Prince and a Saviour at the Right Hand of God?</HI> * Is it po&s;&s;ible that there &s;hould be &s;uch a kind of <HI>Geometry,</HI> wherein any problemes &s;hould be demon&s;trated by any Principles; <HI>quidlibet ex quolibet;</HI> as that a <HI>Quadrangle</HI> is that which is comprehended of four right Lines: * Therefore the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two right ones?</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. III.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>An In&s;tance or two of gro&s;s and horrid Ab&s;ur|dities, con&s;equent to the denying the mutual re&s;pects and relations of things to be eternal and indi&s;pen&s;ible.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>CAN the infinite Wi&s;dom it &s;elf make the damning of all the Innocent and the un&s;potted Angels in Heaven a proporti|onate means to declare and manife&s;t the un|mea&s;ureablene&s;s of his Grace and Love, and goodne&s;s towards them? Can Lying, Swear|ing, Envy, Malice, nay Hatred of God and Goodne&s;s it &s;elf, be made the mo&s;t ac|ceptable Service of God, and the readie&s;t
<PB N="168" REF="108">
way to a mans Happine&s;s? And yet all the&s;e mu&s;t be true, and infinitely more &s;uch con|tradiction<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> than we can po&s;&s;ibly imagin, if the mutual re&s;pects and relations of things be not eternal and indi&s;pen&s;ible: which that they are, I &s;hall endeavour to prove.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. IV.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>The Entrance into the fir&s;t part of the Di&s;|cour&s;e, which is of <HI>Truth in the Object.</HI> That the Divine <HI>Under&s;tanding</HI> does not make the Re&s;pects and Relations of its Objects, but finds them or ob&s;erves them.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>Fir&s;t, we mu&s;t premi&s;e that * Divine <HI>&V;n|der&s;tanding</HI> cannot be the Fountain of the Truth of things; * nor the Foundation of the references of one to another. For it is again&s;t the nature of all Under&s;tanding, to <HI>make</HI> its Objects. * It is the nature of Under&s;tanding, <HI>ut moveatur, illuminetur, formetur, &amp;c.</HI> Of its Object, <HI>ut moveat, illu|minet, formet. Intellectus in actu primo</HI> hath it &s;elf unto its object, as the Eye unto the Sun; it is irradiated, inlightned and actua|ted by it: And <HI>Intellectus in actu &s;ecundo,</HI> hath it &s;elf unto its Object, as the Image to that it repre&s;ents; and the perfection of Under&s;tanding con&s;i&s;ts in being actuated by,
<PB N="169" REF="108">
and in an adaequate Conformity to its ob|ject, according to the nature of all Idea's, Images or Repre&s;entations of things. The Sum is this, * No Idea's or Repre&s;entati|ons are or make the things they repre&s;ent; all Under&s;tanding is &s;uch; therefore no Under&s;tanding doth <HI>make</HI> the Natures, Re&s;pects and Relations of its Objects.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. V.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That the Divine <HI>Will</HI> does not determine the References and Dependencies of things, be|cau&s;e that would &s;ubvert his other Attri|butes.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>* IT remains then, that ab&s;olute, arbitra|rious and independent <HI>Will</HI> mu&s;t be the Fountain of all Truth; and mu&s;t de|termine the References and Dependencies of things: * which a&s;&s;ertion would in the <HI>Fir&s;t</HI> place de&s;troy the nature of God, * and rob him of all his Attributes. For then it's impo&s;&s;ible that there &s;hould be &s;uch a thing as Divine <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Knowledge,</HI> which is nothing el&s;e but an apprehen&s;ion of common notions, and the natures and mutual re&s;pects and relations of things. For if the Nature of God be &s;uch, that his arbitrarious imagination that &s;uch and &s;uch things have &s;uch and &s;uch natures and
<PB N="170" REF="109">
Dependencies, doth make tho&s;e things to have tho&s;e Natures or Dependencies, he may as ea&s;ily Unimagine that Imaginati|on; and then they that before had a mutu|al Harmony, Sympathy and Agreement with one another, &s;hall now &s;tand at as great a di&s;tance and oppo&s;ition. And thus the Divine Under&s;tanding will be a mere Protaean <HI>Chimaera,</HI> a Ca&s;ual Conflux of in|tellectual Atomes: Contradictions are true, if God will under&s;tand them &s;o, and then the foundation of all Knowledge is taken away, and God may as truly be &s;aid to know nothing as every thing; nay, * any Angel or Man may as truly be &s;aid to know all things, as God him&s;elf; for then every thing will be alike certain, and every ap|prehen&s;ion equally conformable to Truth. The&s;e are infallible con&s;equences, and a thou&s;and more as ab&s;urd as the&s;e, if con|tradictory Propo&s;itions may be both true: and whether they be &s;o or no, it's a meer ca&s;ual Dependence upon the Arbitrarious plea&s;ure of God, if there be not a nece&s;|&s;ary immutability and eternal oppo&s;ition be|twixt the being and the not being of the &s;ame thing, at the &s;ame time and in the &s;ame re&s;pect. Likewi&s;e all tho&s;e Truths we call <HI>Common Notions,</HI> (the Sy&s;teme and Com|prehen&s;ions of which, is the very E&s;&s;ence of Divine Wi&s;dom; as the conclu&s;ions i&s;&s;u|ing
<PB N="171" REF="109">
from them, not by any opero&s;e d&egrave;|duction, but a clear intuitive light, are the very Nature of Divine Knowledge, * if we di&s;tingui&s;h tho&s;e two Attributes in God) I &s;ay, all the&s;e propo&s;itions of im|mediate and indemon&s;trable Truth, if the&s;e be only &s;o, becau&s;e &s;o under&s;tood by God, and &s;o under&s;tood by God becau&s;e he plea|&s;ed &s;o to have them, and not becau&s;e there is an indi&s;pen&s;ible relation of Harmony and Proportion betwixt the Terms them&s;elves; then it is a thing meerly ca&s;ual, and at the plea&s;ure of God to change his former ap|prehen&s;ions, and Idea's of tho&s;e Truths, and to make their contradictories as Evi|dent, Radical and Fundamental as them|&s;elves but even now were; and &s;o Divine Wi&s;dom and Knowledge will be a various, &s;ickle and mutable thing, a meer tumult and confu&s;ion. All the&s;e con&s;equences in|fallibly flow from this certain Principle, That upon a changeable and uncertain Cau&s;e, Effects mu&s;t needs have a changeable and uncertain Dependence. And there is no|thing imaginable in it &s;elf, more changeable and uncertain than <HI>Will</HI> not regulated by the dictates of Rea&s;on and Under&s;tanding.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="6" TYPE="section">
<PB N="172" REF="110">
<HEAD>SECT. VI.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>The avoidance of the foregoing ill con&s;equen|ces by making God immutable, with an An|&s;wer thereto.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>IF any deny the&s;e Con&s;equences and De|ductions, * becau&s;e they &s;uppo&s;e that God is mutable and changeable; I an&s;wer, by bringing this as another ab&s;urdity, that if there be no indi&s;pen&s;ible and eternal re|&s;pects of things, it will rob God of his Im|mutability, and unchangeablene&s;s: for if there be no nece&s;&s;ary dependence betwixt <HI>&V;nchangeablne&s;s</HI> and <HI>Perfection,</HI> what &s;hould hinder, but that if God plea&s;e to <HI>think it &s;o,</HI> it will be his perfection to be change|able? and if <HI>Will,</HI> as <HI>&s;uch,</HI> be the only prin|ciple of his Actions, it is infallibly his Per|fection to be &s;o. For 'tis the Perfection of every Being to act according to the principle of its Nature, and it is the na|ture of an arbitrarious Principle to act or not, to do or undo upon no account but its own will and plea&s;ure; to be de|termined, and tied up, either by it &s;elf, or from abroad, is violent and contranatu|ral.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="7" TYPE="section">
<PB N="173" REF="110">
<HEAD>SECT. VII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>An hideous, but genuine Inference of a Pam|phleteer from this principle, that ab&s;olute and Sovereign Will is the Spring and Foun|tain of all Gods actions.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>AND therefore from this principle, that ab&s;olute and Soveraign Will is the Spring and Fountain of all Gods Actions, it was rightly inferr'd by a late <HI>Pamphleteer,</HI> that God will one day damn all Mankind, Good and Bad, Believers and Unbelievers, notwith&s;tanding all his Promi&s;es, Preten|&s;ions or Engagements to the contrary; be|cau&s;e this damning all mankind in de&s;pight of his Faithfulne&s;s, Ju&s;tice, Mercy and Goodne&s;s will be the greate&s;t advance|ment of his <HI>Soveraignty, Will</HI> and <HI>Preroga|tive</HI> imaginable. His words are, <HI>God hath &s;tored up De&s;truction both for the perfect and the wicked, and this does wonderfully &s;et forth his Soveraignty; his exerci&s;ing whereof is &s;o perfect, that when he hath tied him&s;elf up fa&s;t as may be, by never &s;o many promi&s;es, yet it &s;hould &s;till have its &s;cope, and be able to do what it will, when it will, as it will:</HI> Here you have this principle improved to the height. And however you may look upon this Au|thor as &s;ome new Light, or <HI>Ignis fatuus</HI> of
<PB N="174" REF="111">
the times, yet I a&s;&s;ure you in &s;ome pieces by him &s;et forth, he is very &s;ober and ratio|nal.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="8" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. VIII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That the Denial of the mutual Re&s;pects and Re|lations of things unto one another to be eter|nal and unchangeable, de&s;poils God of that univer&s;al <HI>Rectitude of his Nature.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>IN the next place, to deny the mutual re|&s;pects and <HI>rationes rerum</HI> to be immutable and indi&s;pen&s;ible, * will &s;poil God of that <HI>univer&s;al rectitude</HI> which is the greate&s;t Per|fection of his Nature: For then Ju&s;tice, Faithfulne&s;s, Mercy, Goodne&s;s <HI>&amp;c.</HI> will be but contingent and arbitrarious I&s;&s;ues of the Divine Will. This is a clear and unde|niable Con&s;equence. For if you &s;ay the&s;e be indi&s;pen&s;ible perfections in God, for in|&s;tance, if <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> be &s;o, then there is an eter|nal relation of Right and Equity betwixt e|very Being and the giving of it that which is its propriety; if <HI>Faithfulne&s;s,</HI> then there is an indi&s;pen&s;ible agreement betwixt a pro|mi&s;e and the performance of it; if <HI>Mercy,</HI> then there is an immutable and unalterable &s;uitablene&s;s and harmony between an indi|gent Creature, and pity and commi&s;eration; if <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> then there is an everla&s;ting Pro|porti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n
<PB N="175" REF="111">
and &s;ymmetry between fulne&s;s and its overflowing and di&s;preading of it &s;elf, which yet is the thing denyed: * For to &s;ay they are indi&s;pen&s;ibly &s;o, becau&s;e God under|&s;tands them &s;o, &s;eems to me extream incogi|tancy; for that is again&s;t the nature of all under&s;tanding, which is but the Idea and Repre&s;entation of things, and is then a true and perfect Image, when it is exactly con|formed to its Object: And therefore, if things have not mutual re&s;pects and relations eternal and indi&s;pen&s;ible, then all tho&s;e per|fections do &s;olely and purely depend upon ab&s;olute and independent Will, as <HI>Will;</HI> And con&s;equently, it was and is indifferent in it &s;elf that the contrary to the&s;e, as, <HI>In|ju&s;tice, &V;nfaithfulne&s;s, Cruelty, Malice, Ha|tred, Spite, Revenge, Fury;</HI> and whatever goes to the con&s;titution of Hell it &s;elf, &s;hould have been made the top and highe&s;t perfecti|ons of the Divine Nature: which is &s;uch Bla&s;phemy as cannot well be named without horror and trembling. For in&s;tead of being a God, &s;uch a nature as this is, joyned with Omnipotency, would be a wor&s;e Devil than any is in Hell. And yet this is a nece&s;&s;ary and infallible con&s;equence from the denial of the&s;e mutual re&s;pects and relations of things unto one another, to be eternal and un|changeable.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="9" TYPE="section">
<PB N="176" REF="112">
<HEAD>SECT. IX.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That the Denial of the unchangeablene&s;s of the &s;aid mutual Re&s;pects and Relations of things to one another, takes away all <HI>Knowledge of God</HI> and of our <HI>own Happine&s;s,</HI> and lays a Foundation of the mo&s;t incurable <HI>Sceptici&s;m</HI> imaginable.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>AND as by the denial of the&s;e, the Na|ture of God is wholly de&s;troyed, &s;o in the &s;econd place, the <HI>mind</HI> of <HI>Man</HI> would have no certainty of Knowledge, or a&s;&s;u|rance of Happine&s;s. He can never come to know there is a God, and con&s;equently not the Will and Mind of God, which if there be no intrin&s;ecal and indi&s;pen&s;ible re&s;pects and relations of things, mu&s;t be the ground and foundation of all Knowledge; for what means or arguments &s;hould we u&s;e to find out, or prove a Divine Nature? It were folly and madne&s;s to &s;it down and con|&s;ider the admirable contrivement and artifice of this great Fabrick of the Univer&s;e; how that all natural things &s;eem to act for &s;ome end, though them&s;elves take no Cognizance of it: How the Sun by its motion and &s;itua|tion, or (which is all one) by being a Centre of the Earths Motion, provides Light and Heat, and Life for this inferiour
<PB N="177" REF="112">
World, how living Creatures bring forth a mo&s;t apt compo&s;ure and &s;tructure of parts and members, and with that a being endued with admirable Faculties, and yet them&s;elves have no in&s;ight into, nor con&s;ultation about this incomparable Workman&s;hip; how they are furni&s;hed with Powers and Inclinations for the pre&s;ervation of this Body when it is once brought into the World; how without prae|vious deliberation they naturally take in that Food which without their intention or ani|madver&s;ion is concocted in their Ventricle, turned into Chyle, that Chyle into Bloud, that Bloud diffu&s;ed through the Veins and Arteries, and therewith the &s;everal Members nouri&s;hed, and decays of &s;trength repaired; I &s;ay, the gathering from all the&s;e (which one would think were a very natural con&s;e|quence) that there is a wi&s;e Principle which directs all the&s;e Beings unknown to you, in their &s;everal motions, to their &s;everal ends, (&s;uppo&s;ing the dependence and relations of things to be contingent and arbitrarious) were a piece of folly and incogitancy; For how can the Order of tho&s;e things &s;peak a wi&s;e and under&s;tanding Being, which have no relation or re&s;pect unto one another, but their whole agreement, &s;uitablene&s;s and proportion is a meer ca&s;ual i&s;&s;ue of ab&s;olute and independent Will? If any thing may be the cau&s;e of any effect, and a proportio|nate
<PB N="178" REF="113">
mean to any end, who can infer in|finite Wi&s;dom from the dependence of things and their relations unto one ano|ther? * For we are to know that there is a God, and the Will of that God before we can know the mutual Harmony, or Di&s;|proportion of things; and yet, if we do not know the&s;e principal re&s;pects that things have among them&s;elves, it is im|po&s;&s;ible we &s;hould ever come to the know|ledge of a God: For the&s;e are the only ar|guments that any Logick in the world can make u&s;e of to prove any conclu&s;ion. But &s;uppo&s;e we &s;hould come to know that there is a God, which, as I have demon&s;trated, denying the nece&s;&s;ary and immutable truth of common Notions, and the indi&s;pen&s;ible and eternal relations of things, is altoge|ther impo&s;&s;ible: However, let it be &s;up|po&s;ed; yet how &s;hall we know that the&s;e common Notions, and principles of natu|ral in&s;tinct, which are the foundation of all Di&s;cour&s;e and Argumentation, are cer|tain and infallible Truths; and that our <HI>Sen&s;es,</HI> (which with the&s;e former Principles, we &s;uppo&s;e this Divine Nature to have gi|ven us to conver&s;e with this outward world) were not on purpo&s;e be&s;towed upon us, to befool, delude and cheat us; if we be not fir&s;t a&s;&s;ured of the <HI>Veracity</HI> of God? And how can we be a&s;&s;ured of that, if we know
<PB N="179" REF="113">
not that Veracity is a perfection? and how &s;hall we know it is &s;o, unle&s;s there be an intrin&s;ecal relation betwixt Veracity and Perfection? For if it be an arbitrarious re|&s;pect depending upon the Will of God, there is no way po&s;&s;ible left whereby we &s;hould come to know that it is in God at all; And therefore we have fully as much rea&s;on to believe that all our common No|tions and Principles of natural in&s;tinct, whereupon we ground all our rea&s;onings and di&s;cour&s;e, are meer Chimaera's to de|lude and abu&s;e our faculties; and all tho&s;e Idea's, Phanta&s;ms and Apprehen&s;ions of our external &s;en&s;es, we imagine are occa&s;ioned in us by the pre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ence of outward objects, are meer Spectrums and Gulleries, where|with poor mortals are befooled and cheat|ed; as that they are given us by the fir&s;t Goodne&s;s and Truth to lead us into the Knowledge of him&s;elf and Nature.</P>
<P>This is a clear and evident con&s;equence, and cannot be denyed by any that doth not complain of darkne&s;s in the brighte&s;t and mo&s;t Meridian Light. And here you have the foundations laid of the highe&s;t Scepti|ci&s;m; for who can &s;ay he knows any thing, when he hath no ba&s;is on which he can rai&s;e any true conclu&s;ions?</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="10" TYPE="section">
<PB N="180" REF="114">
<HEAD>SECT. X.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That the denying the Eternal and immutable Re&s;pects of things fru&s;trates all the noble E&s;&s;ays of the mind or under&s;tanding of man.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THus you &s;ee the noble faculties of man, his Mind and Under&s;tanding, will be to no end and purpo&s;e, but for a Rack and Torture; for what greater un|happine&s;s or torment can there be imagi|ned, than to have Faculties, who&s;e Accom|pli&s;hment and Perfection con&s;i&s;ts in a due conformation unto their objects, and yet to have no objects unto which they may be conformed; to have a Soul unmea&s;u|rably breathing after the embraces of Truth and Goodne&s;s, and after a &s;earch and en|quiry after one and the other, and to find at la&s;t they are but <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iery, empty and uncertain Notions, depending upon the arbitrarious determinations of boundle&s;s and independent Will; which determina|tions &s;he &s;ees it beyond her reach ever to come to any knowledge of?</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="11" TYPE="section">
<PB N="181" REF="114">
<HEAD>SECT. XI.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That in the above&s;aid denial are lad the Foun|dations of Ranti&s;m, Debauchery, and all Di&s;&s;olutene&s;s of Life.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>HEre you have likewi&s;e the true Foun|dations of that we call <HI>Ranti&s;m;</HI> for if there be no di&s;tinction 'twixt Truth and Fal&s;hood, Good and Evil, in the nature of the things them&s;elves, and we never can be a&s;&s;ured what is the mind and plea&s;ure of the &s;upream and ab&s;olute Will (becau&s;e Veracity is not intrin&s;ecally and <HI>ex natura re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> a Perfection, but only an Arbitrarious, if <HI>any</HI> Attribute in the Deity) * then it infallibly follows, that it is all one what I do, or how I live; and I have as much rea&s;on to believe that I am as plea|&s;ing unto God, when I give up my &s;elf unto all F<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">thine&s;s, Uncleanne&s;s and Sin; when I &s;well with Pride, Envy, Hatred and Malice, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> as when I endeavour with all my Might and Strength to purge and purifie my Soul from all pollution and de|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ilement both o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Fle&s;h and Spirit; and when I pur&s;ue the mortification of all my <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">arnal Lu&s;ts and Inclinations: And I have fully as much ground and a&s;&s;urance, that the one is the ready Way to Happine&s;s, as the other.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="12" TYPE="section">
<PB N="182" REF="115">
<HEAD>SECT. XII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That our a&s;&s;urance of future Happine&s;s is quite cut off by the Denying of the Eternal and immutable re&s;pects of things.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>ANd this is another branch of this <HI>&s;e|cond</HI> Ab&s;urdity, from the denial o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the intrinfecal and eternal re&s;pects and re|lations of things, that a man would not have any a&s;&s;urance of future Happine&s;s; for though it be true indeed, or at lea&s;t we fancy to our &s;elves that God hath &s;ent <HI>Je|&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> into the world, and by him hath made very large and ample promi&s;es, that who&s;oever believes in him and conforms his life unto his precepts, &s;hall be made heir of the &s;ame Inheritance and Glory which Chri&s;t is now po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of and inve&s;ted with in the Kingdom, of his Father; yet what ground have we to believe that God does not intend only to play with and abu&s;e our Faculties, and in conclu&s;ion to damn all tho&s;e that believe and live as is above ex|pre&s;&s;ed; and to take <HI>them only</HI> into the Injoyments of Heaven and H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ppine&s;s, who have been the great Oppo&s;ers of the Truth, and Go&s;pel, and Life and Nature of <HI>Je|&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> in the world? For if there be no eternal and indi&s;pen&s;ible Relation of
<PB N="183" REF="115">
Things, then there's no intrin&s;ecal Evil in Deceiving and Fal&s;ifying, in the damning the Good, or &s;aving ob&s;tinate and contu|macious Sinners (whil&s;t &s;uch) notwith|&s;tanding any promi&s;es or threatnings to the contrary: and if the things be in them&s;elves indifferent, it is an unadvi&s;ed Confidence to pronounce determinately on either &s;ide. Yea further, &s;uppo&s;e we &s;hould be a&s;&s;ured that God is <HI>Verax,</HI> and that the Scripture doth declare what is his Mind and Plea|&s;ure; yet if there be not an intrin&s;ecal op|po&s;ition betwixt the Being and not Being of a thing at the &s;ame time, and in the &s;ame re&s;pect; then God can make a thing that hath been <HI>done, undone;</HI> and that what|ever hath been done or &s;poken either by him&s;elf, or Chri&s;t, or his Prophets, or A|po&s;tles, &s;hould never be done, or &s;poken by him or them; though He hath come into the world, yet that He &s;hould not be come; though he hath made the&s;e promi&s;es, yet that they &s;hould not be made; though God hath given us Faculties, that are capable of the enjoyment of him&s;elf, yet that he &s;hould not have given them us; and that yet we &s;hould have no Being, nor think a thought while we fancy and &s;peak of all the&s;e con|tradictions: In fine, it were impo&s;&s;ible we &s;hould know any thing, * if the oppo&s;ition of contradictory terms depend upon the
<PB N="184" REF="116">
arbitrarious re&s;olves of any Being what&s;o|ever. If any &s;hould affirm, that the terms of common Notions have an eternal and indi&s;pen&s;ible relation unto one another, and deny it of other truths, he exceedingly betrays his folly and incogitancy; for the&s;e common Notions and principles are foundations, and radical truths upon which are built all the deductions of rea&s;on and Di&s;cour&s;e, and with which, &s;o far as they have any truth in them, they are in&s;epa|rably united. All the&s;e con&s;equences are plain and undeniable, and therefore I &s;hall travel no further in the confirmation of them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="13" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. XIII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Several Objections propounded, again&s;t the &s;cope of this Di&s;cour&s;e hitherto, from the <HI>Inde|pendency</HI> of the <HI>Divine Under&s;tanding</HI> and <HI>Will.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>AGain&s;t this Di&s;cour&s;e will be <HI>objected,</HI> that it de&s;troys God's <HI>Independency</HI> and <HI>Self-&s;ufficiency;</HI> * for if there be truth antecedently to the Divine Under&s;tanding, the Divine Un|der&s;tanding will be a meer pa&s;&s;ive principle, acted and inlightened by &s;omething without it&s;elf, as the Eyes, by the Sun, and le&s;&s;er Ob|jects, which the Sun irradiates: and if there be
<PB N="185" REF="116">
mutual congruities, and dependencies of things in a moral &s;en&s;e, and &s;o, that &s;uch and &s;uch means have a natural and intrin&s;e|cal tendency, or repugnance to &s;uch and &s;uch ends, then will God be determined in his actions from &s;omething without him&s;elf, * which is to take away his independency, and Self-&s;ufficiency. The pardoning of Sin to repenting Sinners &s;eems to be a thing very &s;uitable to infinite Goodne&s;s and Mer|cy, if there be any &s;uitablene&s;s, or agree|ment in things antecedently to Gods Will; therefore in this ca&s;e will God be moved from abroad, and as it were determined to an act of Grace. This will al&s;o undermine and &s;hake many principles and opinions which are look'd upon as Fundamentals, and nece&s;&s;ary to be believed: It will unlink and break that chain and method of Gods Decrees, which is generally believed among&s;t us. God's great plot, and de&s;ign from all Eternity, as it is u&s;ually held forth, was to ad|vance his Mercy and Ju&s;tice in the Salvation of &s;ome, and Damnation of others; We &s;hall &s;peak only of that part of Gods de&s;ign, the advancement of his Ju&s;tice in the Damnati|on of the greate&s;t part of Mankind, as be|ing mo&s;t pertinent for the improving of the &s;trength of the Objection again&s;t our former Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="14" TYPE="section">
<PB N="186" REF="117">
<HEAD>SECT. XIV.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>A main Objection more fully in&s;i&s;ted on, name|ly how well the advancement of Gods Ju&s;tice in the Damnation of the greate&s;t part of Mankind con&s;i&s;ts with the &s;cope of this Di&s;cour&s;e, e&s;pecially it being &s;tated as is here &s;et down.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THat God may do this, He decrees to create man, and being created, de|crees that man &s;hould &s;in; and becau&s;e, as &s;ome &s;ay, man is a meer pa&s;&s;ive principle, not able, no not in the pre&s;ence of objects, to reduce him&s;elf into action; Or becau&s;e in the moment of his creation, as others, he was impowered with an indifferency to &s;tand or fall; Therefore, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;t there &s;hould be a fru&s;tration of God's great de&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gn; he decrees in the next place, infallibly to de|termine the Will of man unto <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">n, that ha|ving &s;inned he might accompli&s;h his Damna|tion; and what he had fir&s;t, and from all eternity in his intentions, the advancement of his Ju&s;tice. Now if there be &s;uch an in|trin&s;ecal relation of things, as our former Di&s;cour&s;e pretends unto, this De&s;ign of God will be wholly fru&s;trated. For it may &s;eem clear to every mans under&s;tanding, that it is not for the Honour and Advance|ment
<PB N="187" REF="117">
of Ju&s;tice to determine the Will of man to &s;in, and then to puni&s;h him for that &s;in unto which he was &s;o determined; Whereas if God's Will, as &s;uch, be the only Rule and Principle of Actions, this will be an accommodate means (if God &s;o plea&s;e to have it) unto his de&s;ign. The Summ is, We have &s;eemed in our former di&s;cour&s;e to bind and tye up God, who is an ab&s;olute and in|dependent Being, to the petty formalities of Good and Evil, * and to fetter and im|pri&s;on freedom, and liberty it &s;elf, in the fatal and immutable chains, and re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">pects of things.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="15" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. XV.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>An An&s;wer to that Objection that concerns the <HI>Under&s;tanding of God,</HI> &s;hewing that the Divine &V;nder&s;tanding does not depend upon the natures and mutual re&s;pects of things, though they be its Objects.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>I An&s;wer&punc; This objection concerns partly the Under&s;tanding of God, and partly his Will; As for the divine under&s;tanding, the Ca&s;e is thus; There are certain Beings, or natures of things which are Logically po&s;&s;ible; it implyes no contradiction that they &s;hould be, although it were &s;uppo&s;ed, there were no power that could bring them
<PB N="188" REF="118">
into being; which natures, or things, &s;up|po&s;ing they were in being, would have mu|tual relations of agreement or oppo&s;ition un|to one another, which would be no more di&s;tingui&s;hed from the things them&s;elves, than Relations are from that which founds them. Now the Divine Under&s;tanding is a repre|&s;entation, o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> comprehen&s;ion of all tho&s;e natures or beings thus <HI>logically,</HI> and in re|&s;pect of God ab&s;olutely po&s;&s;ible, and con|&s;equently it mu&s;t needs be al&s;o a comprehen|&s;ion of all the&s;e Sympathies, and Antipa|thies, either in a natural or a moral way, which they have one unto another: for they, as I &s;aid, do nece&s;&s;arily, and imme|diately flow from the things them&s;elves, as relations do, <HI>po&s;ito fundamento, &amp; termino.</HI> Now the Divine under&s;tanding doth not at all depend upon the&s;e natures, or relations, though they be its Objects; for the nature of an Object doth not con&s;i&s;t in being <HI>moti|vum facultatis,</HI> as it is u&s;ually with us, who&s;e apprehen&s;ions are awakened by their pre|&s;ence; but its whole nature is &s;ufficiently comprehended in this, that it is <HI>terminati|on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Facultatis;</HI> and this preci&s;ely doth not &s;peak any dependency of the faculty upon it, e&s;pecially in the divine under&s;tanding; where this <HI>objective, terminative</HI> pre&s;ence flows from the foecundity of the Divine Na|ture: for the things them&s;elves are &s;o far
<PB N="189" REF="118">
from having any being antecedently to the Divine Under&s;tanding; that had not it been their exemplary pattern, and <HI>Idea,</HI> they had never been created, and being created they would lye in darkne&s;s; (I &s;peak of things that have not in them a Prin|ciple of under&s;tanding, not con&s;cious of their own natures, and that beauteous har|mony they have among them&s;elves) were they not irradiated by the Divine Under|&s;tanding, which is as it were an univer&s;al Sun that di&s;covers and di&s;plays the natures and re&s;pects of things, and does as it were draw them up into its beams.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="16" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. XVI.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>An An&s;wer to that Objection which concerns the <HI>Will of God,</HI> &s;hewing, that Liberty in the Power or Principle, is no where a Perfecti|on, where there is not an Indifferency in the things or actions about which it is conver|&s;ant.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>TO the &s;econd part of the <HI>Objection,</HI> the &s;trength whereof is, that * to tye up God in his actions to the rea&s;on of things, de|&s;troys his Liberty, Ab&s;olutene&s;s, and Inde|pendency. I an&s;wer, it is no imperfection for God to be determined to Good; It is no bondage, &s;lavery, or contraction, to be
<PB N="199" REF="119">
bound up to the eternal Laws of Right and Ju&s;tice: It is the greate&s;t impotency and weakne&s;s in the world to have a power to evil, and there is nothing &s;o diametrically oppo&s;ite to the very being and nature of God. <HI>Stat pro ratione voluntas,</HI> unle&s;s it be as a redargution and check to impudent and daring Inquirers, is an account no where ju&s;tifiable. The more any Being partakes of rea&s;on and under&s;tanding, the wor&s;e is the imputation of acting arbitrariou&s;ly, <HI>&amp; pro imperio.</HI> We can pardon it in Women and Children, as tho&s;e from whom we do not expect that they &s;hould act upon any higher principle; but for a man of rea&s;on and un|der&s;tanding, that hath the Laws of goodne&s;s and rectitude (which are as the Laws of the <HI>Medes</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> that cannot be altered) engraven upon his mind, for him to ca&s;t off the&s;e golden reins, and to &s;et up arbitrari|ous Will for his Rule and Guide, is a piece of intolerable ra&s;hne&s;s and pre&s;umption. This is an infallible rule, that liberty in the power or principle is no where a perfecti|on, where there is not an indifferency in the things or actions about which it is conver|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ant: And therefore it is a piece of our weakne&s;s and imbecillity, that we have na|ture &s;o indetermined to what is good. The&s;e things need no proof, indeed cannot well be proved, otherwi&s;e than they prove
<PB N="101" REF="119">
them&s;elves: for they are of immediate truth, and prove them&s;elves they will, to a pure unprejudiced mind.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="17" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. XVII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>That the Di&s;cour&s;e hitherto does not infer any <HI>dependency of God</HI> upon any thing <HI>with|out him&s;elf;</HI> But only occa&s;ions are offered to him of acting according to his own intimate nature and e&s;&s;ence.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P N="2">2. * OUR former Di&s;cour&s;e doth not in|fer any dependency of God, up|on any thing without him&s;elf; for God is not excited to his actions by any forreign, or extrin&s;ecal motives; what he does, proceeds from the eternal immutable re&s;pects, and re|lations, or rea&s;ons of things, and where are the&s;e to be found, but in the eternal and divine Wi&s;dom? For what can infinite Wi&s;|dom be, but a &s;teady, and immoveable com|prehen&s;ion of all tho&s;e natures and relations? and therefore God in his actions, does not look abroad, but only con&s;ults, (if I may &s;o &s;peak) the <HI>Idea's</HI> of his own mind. What Creatures do, is but the offering a particular ca&s;e, for the reducement of a general principle into a particular action: or the pre&s;entment of an occa&s;ion for God to act according to the principles of his own
<PB N="192" REF="120">
nature; when we &s;ay that God pardoneth Sin upon repentance, God is not moved to an act of Grace from any thing without him|&s;elf; for this is a Principle in the divine Wi&s;dom, that pardon of Sin to repenting Sinners, is a thing very &s;uitable to infinite goodne&s;s, and this Principle is a piece of the Divine Nature: Therefore when God up|on a particular act of repentance puts forth a particular act of grace, it is but as it were a particular in&s;tance to the general rule, which is a portion of Divine Perfection, when 'tis &s;aid, <HI>to him that hath &s;hall be given, and he &s;hall have abundance;</HI> the meaning is, He that walks up unto that light, and improves that &s;trength, that God hath al|ready communicated unto him, &s;hall have more abundant Incomes of light and &s;trength from God: It doth not follow that God is moved from without to impart his Grace. For this is a branch of Divine Wi&s;dom; it is agreeable to the infinite goodne&s;s of God, to take notice of, and reward the &s;incere, though weak endeavours of his Creatures, after him; &s;o that what is from abroad, is but a particular occa&s;ion to tho&s;e Divine Principles to exert, and put forth them&s;elves.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="18" TYPE="section">
<PB N="193" REF="120">
<HEAD>SECT. XVIII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>The &s;econd part of the Di&s;cour&s;e, which briefly treats of <HI>Truth</HI> in the <HI>Subject;</HI> what it is: What in God, and what in the Creature; And that in both it is, A Repre&s;entation or Con|ception in the mind, conformable to the un|changeable Natures and mutual Re&s;pects of things.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THus have we &s;poken concerning the <HI>truth</HI> of <HI>things,</HI> or <HI>Truth in the Ob|ject.</HI> It follows that we &s;peak</P>
<P>Concerning <HI>Truth</HI> in the <HI>power,</HI> or fa|culty, which we called <HI>Truth in the Subject;</HI> which we &s;hall di&s;patch in a few words.</P>
<P>* Truth in the power, or faculty is nothing el&s;e but a conformity of its con|ceptions or <HI>Idea</HI>'s unto the natures and relations of things, which in God we may call an actual, &s;teady, immoveable, eternal Omniformity, as <HI>Plotinus</HI> calls the Divine In|tellect, <GAP DESC="foreign">, which you have largely de|&s;cribed by him. And this the <HI>Platoni&s;ts</HI> truly call the Intellectual World, for here are the natures of all things pure, and unmix'd, purged from all tho&s;e dregs, re|fined from all that dro&s;s and alloy which cleave unto them in their particular in|&s;tances. All inferiour and &s;ublunary things,
<PB N="194" REF="121">
not excluding Man him&s;elf, have their ex|cre&s;cences, and defects; Exorbitances, or privations are moulded up in their very frames and con&s;titutions. There is &s;ome|what extraneous, heterogeneous, and pre|ternatural in all things here below, as they exi&s;t among&s;t us; but in that other world, like the mo&s;t purely fined gold, they &s;hine in their native and proper glory. Here is the fir&s;t goodne&s;s, the benign Parent of the whole Creation, with his numerous off-&s;pring, the infinite throng of Created Beings: Here is the fountain of Eternal Love, with all its &s;treams, and rivulets: Here is the Sun of uncreated glory, &s;urroun|ded with all his rayes, and beams: Here are the eternal, and indi&s;pen&s;ible Laws of right and Ju&s;tice, the immediate and inde|mon&s;trable principles of Truth, and good|ne&s;s: Here are &s;teady and immoveable rules, for all ca&s;es and actions, however circum|&s;tantiated, from which the Will of God, though never &s;o ab&s;olute, and independent, from everla&s;ting to everla&s;ting, &s;hall never depart one Tittle. * Now all that Truth that is in any Created Being, is by parti|cipation and derivation from this fir&s;t un|der&s;tanding, and fountain of intellectual light. And that truth in the power of faculty is nothing but the conformity or its conceptions, or <HI>Ideas</HI> with the natures
<PB N="195" REF="121">
and relations of things, is clear and evi|dent in it &s;elf, and nece&s;&s;arily follows from what hath been formerly proved concern|ing the truth of things them&s;elves, * an|tecedently to any <HI>under&s;tanding,</HI> or <HI>will;</HI> * for things are what they are, and cannot be otherwi&s;e without a contradiction, and their mutual re&s;pects and dependences E|ternal and unchangeable, as hath been al|ready &s;hew'd: &s;o that the conceptions and <HI>Ideas</HI> of the&s;e natures and their relations, can be only &s;o far true * as they conform and agree with the things them&s;elves, and the harmony which they have one to an|other.</P>
</DIV1>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="122">
<HEAD>THE CONTENTS OF THE DISCOURSE of TRUTH.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 1. THAT Truth is twofold; In the <HI>Object</HI> and in the <HI>Subject.</HI> That in the <HI>Object,</HI> what it is; And that it is antecedent to and indepen|dent of any Will or &V;nder&s;tanding whatever. <HI>p.</HI> 165</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 2. The nece&s;&s;ity of there being certain Ar|guments, Means and Objects for cer|tain Conclu&s;ions, Ends and Faculties; And that every thing will not &s;uit every thing. <HI>p.</HI> 166</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 3. An In&s;tance or two of the gro&s;s and horrid Ab&s;urdities, con&s;equent to the denying the mutual re&s;pects and re|lations
<PB REF="122">
of things to be eternal and indi&s;pen&s;ible. <HI>p.</HI> 167</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 4. The Entrance into the fir&s;t part of the Di&s;cour&s;e, which is, of <HI>Truth</HI> in the <HI>Object:</HI> That the Divine <HI>Under|&s;tanding</HI> does not make the Re&s;pects and Relations of its Objects, but finds them or ob&s;erves them. <HI>p.</HI> 168</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 5. That the Divine <HI>Will</HI> does not deter|mine the <HI>References</HI> and <HI>Depen|dences</HI> of things, becau&s;e that would &s;ubvert his other Attributes. <HI>p.</HI> 169</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 6. The avoidance of the foregoing ill con|&s;equences by making God <HI>immutable,</HI> with an An&s;wer thereto. <HI>p.</HI> 172</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 7. An hideous, but genuine Inference of a <HI>Pamphleteer</HI> from this principle, <HI>That ab&s;olute and Sovereign Will is the Spring and Fountain of all Gods actions. p.</HI> 173</ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="123">
<HI>Sect.</HI> 8. That the Denial of the mutual Re&s;pects and Relations of things unto one a|nother to be eternal and unchangea|ble, de&s;poils God of that univer&s;al <HI>Rectitude</HI> of his <HI>Nature. p.</HI> 174</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 9. That the Denial of the unchangeable|ne&s;s of the &s;aid mutual Re&s;pects and Relations of things to one another, takes away the <HI>Knowledge of God</HI> and of our <HI>own Happine&s;s,</HI> and lays a foundation of the mo&s;t incurable Sceptici&s;m imaginable. <HI>p.</HI> 176</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 10. That the denying the Eternal and Im|mutable Re&s;pects of things, fru&s;trates <HI>all</HI> the noble E&s;&s;ays of the mind or under&s;tanding of man. <HI>p.</HI> 180</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 11. That in the above&s;aid Denial are laid the Foundations of <HI>Ranti&s;m, Debauche|ry,</HI> and of all <HI>Di&s;&s;olutene&s;s of Life. p.</HI> 181</ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="123">
<HI>Sect.</HI> 12. That our <HI>A&s;&s;urance of future Happi|ne&s;s</HI> is quite <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ut off by the denying of the Eternal and Immutable Re|&s;pects of Things. <HI>p.</HI> 182</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 13. Several Objections propounded, again&s;t the &s;cope of this Di&s;cour&s;e hitherto, from the <HI>Independency</HI> of the Di|vine <HI>Under&s;tanding</HI> and <HI>Will. p.</HI> 184</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 14. A main Objection more fully in&s;i&s;ted upon, namely, How well the Advancement of Gods Ju&s;tice in the Damnation of the greate&s;t part of Mankind, con&s;i&s;ts with the &s;cope of this Di&s;cour&s;e, e&s;pe|cially it being &s;o &s;tated as is here &s;et down. <HI>p.</HI> 186</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 15. An An&s;wer to that Objection that con|cerns the <HI>Under&s;tanding</HI> of God, &s;hewing hat the Divine &V;nder&s;tan|ding does not depend upon the natures and mutual Re&s;pects of things, though
<PB REF="124">
they be its Objects. <HI>p.</HI> 187</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 16. An An&s;wer to that Objection which con|cerns the <HI>Will</HI> of God, &s;hewing, That Liberty in the Power or Principle, is no where a Perfection, where there is not an Indifferency in the things or a|ctions about which it is conver&s;ant. <HI>p.</HI> 189</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 17. That the Di&s;cour&s;e hitherto does not in|fer any <HI>Dependency</HI> of God upon a|ny thing <HI>without him&s;elf;</HI> But only occa&s;ions are offered to him of acting according to his own intimate Na|ture and E&s;&s;ence. <HI>p.</HI> 191</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sect.</HI> 18. The &s;econd part of the Di&s;cour&s;e which briefly treats of <HI>Truth</HI> in the <HI>Sub|ject:</HI> What it is. What in God, and what in the Creature. And that in both it is, A repre&s;entation or concep|tion in the mind conformable to the unchangeable natures and mutual Re|&s;pects of things. <HI>p.</HI> 193</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="124">
<P>Annotations UPON THE Two foregoing TREATISES, <HI>L&V;X ORIENTALIS,</HI> OR, An Enquiry into the OPINION OF THE EASTERN SAGES Concerning the Prae-exi&s;tence of Souls; AND THE Di&s;cour&s;e of TRUTH. Written for the more fully clearing and further confirming the main DOCTRINES in each TREATISE. By one not unexercized in the&s;e kinds of SPECULATION.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>J. Collins,</HI> and <HI>S. Lounds,</HI> over again&s;t <HI>Exeter-Change</HI> in the <HI>Strand.</HI> 1682.</P>
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<HEAD>Annotations UPON <HI>L&V;X ORIENTALIS.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe&s;e two Books, <HI>Lux Orientalis</HI> and the <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of Truth,</HI> are luckily put together by the <HI>Publi&s;her,</HI> there being that &s;ui|tablene&s;s between them, and mutual &s;upport of one another. And the Ar|guments they treat of being of the greate&s;t importance that the Mind of man can enter|tain her&s;elf with, the con&s;ideration thereof has excited &s;o &s;luggi&s;h a Genius as mine to be|&s;tow &s;ome few <HI>Annotations</HI> thereon, not very anxious or opero&s;e, but &s;uch as the places ea&s;i|ly &s;ugge&s;t; and may &s;erve either to rectifie what may &s;eem any how oblique, or illu&s;trate what may &s;eem le&s;s clear, or make a &s;upply or adde &s;trength where there may &s;eem any fur|ther need. In which I would not be &s;o un|der&s;tood as that I had &s;uch an anxiety and
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fondne&s;s for the Opinions they maintain, as if all were gone if they &s;hould fail; but that the Dogmata being more fully; clearly, and pre|ci&s;ely propounded, men may more &s;afely and con&s;iderately give their Judgments thereon; but with that mode&s;ty as to admit nothing that is contrary to the Judgment of the truly Catholick and Apo&s;tolick Church.</P>
<P>Chap. 2. p. 4. <HI>That he made us pure and in|nocent,</HI> &amp;c. This is plainly &s;ignified in the general Mo&s;aick Hi&s;tory of the Creation, that all that God made he &s;aw it was good; and it is particularly declared of <HI>Adam</HI> and <HI>Eve,</HI> that they were created or made in a &s;tate of Innocency.</P>
<P>Pag. 4. <HI>Matter can do nothing but by motion, and what relation hath that to a moral Conta|gion?</HI> We mu&s;t either grant that the figures of the particles of Matter and their motion, have a power to affect the Soul united with the Body, (and I remember <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> &s;ome|where &s;peaking of Wine, &s;ays, it does <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>regenerate,</HI> as it were, <HI>the Soul</HI> into ano|ther life and &s;en&s;e of things) or el&s;e we mu&s;t acknowledge that the parts of Matter are al|terable into qualifications, that cannot be re&s;ol|ved into mere mechanical motion and figure; whether they be thus altered by the vital pow|er of the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> or however it comes to pa&s;s. But that Matter has a con&s;iderable
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influence upon a Soul united thereto, the Au|thor him&s;elf does copiou&s;ly acknowledge in his fourth Chapter of this Book; where he tells us, that according to the di&s;po&s;ition of the Body, our Wits are either more quick, free, and &s;parkling, or more obtu&s;e, weak, and &s;luggi&s;h; and our Mind more chearful and contented, or el&s;e more moro&s;e, melancholick, or dogged, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Wherefore that he may ap|pear the more con&s;i&s;tent with him&s;elf, it is likely he under&s;tands by this Moral Contagion the very venome and malignity of vitious In|clinations, how that can be derived from Mat|ter, e&s;pecially its power con&s;i&s;ting in mere motion and figuration of parts. The P&s;al|mi&s;t's de&s;cription is very appo&s;ite to this pur|po&s;e, <HI>P&s;al. 58. The ungodly are froward even from their mothers womb; as &s;oon as they are born they go a&s;tray and &s;peak lyes. They are as venomous as the poy&s;on of a &s;erpent, even like the deaf adder that &s;toppeth her ear.</HI> That there &s;hould be &s;uch a difference in the Nativity of &s;ome from that of others, and haply begot al|&s;o of the &s;ame Parents, is no &s;light intimation that their difference is not from their Bodies, but their Souls; in which there is &s;o &s;udden Eruptions of vitious Inclinations which they had contracted in their former &s;tate, not re|pre&s;&s;ed nor extinct in this, by rea&s;on of <HI>Adam</HI>'s lap&s;e, and his lo&s;ing the Paradi&s;iacal body in which he was created, and which &s;hould, if it
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had not been for his Fall, been tran&s;mitted to his Po&s;terity; but that being lo&s;t, the &s;everal mea&s;ures of the pri&s;tine Vitio&s;ity of humane Souls di&s;cover them&s;elves in this life, accor|ding to the ju&s;t Laws of the Divine Neme&s;is e&s;&s;entially interwoven into the nature of things.</P>
<P>Pag. 5. <HI>How is it that tho&s;e that are under continual temptations to Vice, are yet kept with|in the bounds of Vertue,</HI> &amp;c. That tho&s;e that are continually under temptations to Vice from their Childhood, &s;hould keep within the bounds of Vertue, and tho&s;e that have per|petual outward advantages from their Child|hood to be vertuous, &s;hould prove vitious not|with&s;tanding, is not rationally re&s;olved into their free will; for in this they are both of them equal: and if they had been equal al&s;o in their external advantages or di&s;advantages, the different event might well be imputed to the freedom of their Will. But now that one, notwith&s;tanding all the di&s;advantages to Ver|tue &s;hould prove vertuous, and the other, notwith&s;tanding all the advantages to Vertue &s;hould prove vitious; the rea&s;on of this cer|tainly to the con&s;iderate will &s;eem to lie dee|per than the meer liberty of Will in man. But it can be attributed to nothing, with a more due and tender regard to the Divine At|tributes, than to the <HI>pre-exi&s;tent</HI> &s;tate of hu|mane Souls, according to the Scope of the Au|thor.</P>
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Pag. 9. <HI>For &s;till it &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ms to be a diminutive and di&s;paraging apprehen&s;ion of the infinite and immen&s;e goodne&s;s of God, that he &s;hould detrude &s;uch excellent Creatures,</HI> &amp;c. To enervate this rea&s;on, there is framed by an ingenious hand this Hypothe&s;is, to vie with that of Pre-exi|&s;tence: That Mankind is an Order of Beings placed in a middle &s;tate between Angels and Brutes, made up of contrary Principles, <HI>viz. Matter</HI> and <HI>Spirit,</HI> indued with contrary fa|culties, <HI>viz. Animal</HI> and <HI>Rational,</HI> and encom|pa&s;&s;ed with contrary Objects proportioned to their re&s;pective faculties, that &s;o they may be in a capacity to exerci&s;e the Vertues proper and peculiar to their compounded and hetero|geneal nature. And therefore though hu|mane Souls be capable of &s;ub&s;i&s;ting by them|&s;elves, yet God has placed them in Bodies full of bruti&s;h and unrea&s;onable Propen&s;ions, that they may be capable of exerci&s;ing many choice and excellent Vertues, which otherwi&s;e could never have been at all; &s;uch as Temperance, Sobriety, Cha&s;tity, Patience, Meekne&s;s, Equa|nimity, and all other Vertues that con&s;i&s;t in the Empire of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> over <HI>Pa&s;&s;ion</HI> and <HI>Appe|tite.</HI> And therefore he conceives that the creating of humane Souls, though pure and immaculate, and uniting them with &s;uch bru|ti&s;h Bodies, is but the con&s;tituting and con|tinuing &s;uch a Species of Being, which is an Order betwixt <HI>Brutes</HI> and <HI>Angels;</HI> into which
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latter Order, if men u&s;e their faculties of the <HI>Spiritual</HI> Principle in them well, they may a&s;|cend: Fora&s;much as God has given them in their <HI>Spiritual</HI> Principle (containing <HI>Free Will,</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> to di&s;cern what is be&s;t) a power and faculty of overcoming all their in|ordinate Appetites.</P>
<P>This is his Hypothe&s;is, mo&s;twhat in his own words, and all to his own &s;ence, as near as I could with brevity expre&s;s it: And it &s;eems &s;o rea&s;onable to him&s;elf, that he profe&s;|&s;es him&s;elf apt to be po&s;itive and dogmatical therein. And it might very well &s;eem &s;o to him, if there were a &s;ufficient faculty in the Souls of men in this World, to command and keep in order the Pa&s;&s;ions and Appetites of their Body, and to <HI>be</HI> and <HI>do</HI> what their Rea&s;on and Con&s;cience tells them they &s;hould <HI>be</HI> and <HI>do,</HI> and blames them for not <HI>being</HI> and <HI>doing.</HI> So that they know more by far than they find an ability in them&s;elves to perform. Ex|treamly few there are, if any, but this is their condition: Whence all <HI>Philo&s;ophers</HI> (that had any &s;en&s;e of Vertue and Holine&s;s) as well as <HI>Jews</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> have looked upon Man as in a lap&s;ed &s;tate, not blaming God, but deplo|ring the &s;ad condition they found them&s;elves in by &s;ome foregoing lap&s;e or fault in Mankind. And it is &s;trange that our own Con&s;ciences &s;hould flie in our faces for what we could ne|ver have helped.</P>
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It is witty indeed which is alleadged in the behalf of this Hypothe&s;is, <HI>viz.</HI> That the <HI>Ra|tional</HI> part of man is able to command the lower <HI>Appetites;</HI> becau&s;e if the &s;uperiour part be not &s;trong enough to govern the inferiour, it de&s;troys the very being of <HI>moral</HI> Good and Evil: Fora&s;much as tho&s;e acts that proceed out of <HI>nece&s;&s;ity</HI> cannot be <HI>moral,</HI> nor can the &s;u|periour Faculties be obliged to govern the in|feriour, if they are not able, becau&s;e nothing is obliged to impo&s;&s;ibilities. But I an&s;wer, if in|abilities come upon us by our <HI>own fault,</HI> the de|fects of action then are upon the former ac|count <HI>moral,</HI> or rather <HI>immoral.</HI> And our Con&s;ciences rightly charge us with the Vitio|&s;ities of our Inclinations and Actions, even be|fore we can mend them here, becau&s;e they are the con&s;equences of our former Guilt.</P>
<P>Wherefore it is no wonder that there is found a flaw in a &s;ubtilty that would conclude again&s;t the univer&s;al Experience of men, who all of them, more or le&s;s, that have any &s;en&s;e of Morality left in them, complain that the inferiour powers of the Soul, at lea&s;t for a time, were too hard for the &s;uperiour. And the whole ma&s;s of Mankind is &s;o generally corrupt and abominable, that it would argue the wi&s;e and ju&s;t God a very unequal Matcher of in|nocent Souls with bruti&s;h Bodies, they being univer&s;ally &s;o hugely foiled or overcome in the conflict, if he indeed were the immediate
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Matcher of them. For how can that be the effect of an equilibrious or &s;ufficient Free Will and Power, that is in a manner perpetual and con&s;tant? But there would be near as many Examples one way as the other, if the Souls of men in this &s;tate were not by &s;ome precedent lap&s;e become unable to govern, as they ought, all in them or about them that is to be &s;ubje|cted to their Rea&s;on. No fine Fetches of Wit can demoli&s;h the &s;teady and weighty &s;tructure of &s;ound and general Experience.</P>
<P>Pag. 9. <HI>Wherein he &s;eeth it, ten thou&s;and to one but that they will corrupt,</HI> &amp;c. The Ex|pre&s;&s;ion [ten thou&s;and to one] is figurative, and &s;ignifies how hugely more like it is that the Souls would be corrupted by their Incor|poration in the&s;e Animal or&punc; Bruti&s;h Bodies, than e&s;cape Corruption. And the effect makes good the A&s;&s;ertion: for <HI>David</HI> of old (to &s;ay nothing of the days of <HI>Noah)</HI> and <HI>Paul</HI> after him, declare of Mankind in general, that they are altogether become abominable; there is none that doth good, no not one. Wherefore we &s;ee what efficacy the&s;e Bodies have, if inno|cent Souls be put into them by the immediate hand of God, as al&s;o the force of Cu&s;tom and corrupt Education to debauch them; and therefore how unlikely it is that God &s;hould create innocent Souls to thru&s;t them into &s;uch ill circum&s;tances.</P>
<P>Pag. 10. <HI>To &s;uppo&s;e him a&s;&s;i&s;tent to unlawful
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and unclean Coitions, by creating a Soul to ani|mate the impure Foetus,</HI> &amp;c. This &s;eemed ever to tho&s;e that had any &s;en&s;e of the Divine Pu|rity and Sanctity, or were them&s;elves endued with any due &s;en&s;iblene&s;s and di&s;cernment of things, to be an Argument of no &s;mall weight. But how one of the more rude and unhewen Oppo&s;ers of <HI>Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> &s;waggers it out of countenance, I think it not ami&s;s to &s;et down for a plea&s;ant Entertainment of the Reader.</P>
<P><HI>Admit,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>that Gods watchful Provi|dence waits upon di&s;&s;olute Voluptuaries in their unmeet Conjunctions, and &s;ends down fre&s;h crea|ted Spirits to actuate their ob&s;cene Emi&s;&s;ions, what is here done which is not very high and becoming God, and mo&s;t congruous and proportio|nable to his immen&s;e Grandeur and Maje&s;ty,</HI> viz. To bear a part among&s;t Pimps and Bawds, and pocky Whores and Worema&s;ters, to ri&s;e out of his Seat for them, and by a free Act of Creation of a Soul, to &s;et his Seal of Conni|vance to their Villanies; who yet is &s;aid to be of more pure Eyes than to endure to behold Wickedne&s;s. So that if he does (as his Phra&s;e is) pop in a Soul in the&s;e unclean Coitions, certainly he does it winking. But he goes on: <HI>For in the fir&s;t place,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>his conde&s;cen|&s;ion is hereby made &s;ignal and eximious; he is glo|riou&s;ly humble beyond a parallel, and by his own Example le&s;&s;ons us to perform the meane&s;t works, if fit and profitable, and to be content even to
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drudge for the common b&eacute;nefit of the World.</HI> Good God! what a Rapture has this im|pure Scene of Venerie put this young Theo|loger into, that it &s;hould thus drive him out of his little Wits and Sen&s;es, and make him &s;peak incon&s;i&s;tences with &s;uch an affected Grace and lofty Eloquence! If the act of Gods freely creating Souls, and &s;o of a&s;&s;i&s;ting wretched Sinners in their foul acts of Adulte|ry and Whoredom, be a <HI>glorious</HI> action, how is it an <HI>Aba&s;ement</HI> of him, how is it his <HI>Humili|ation?</HI> and if it be an <HI>humbling</HI> and deba&s;ing of him, how is it <HI>glorious?</HI> The joyning of two &s;uch <GAP DESC="foreign">, are indeed without <HI>parallel.</HI> The creating of an humane Soul immortal and immaculate, and &s;uch as bears the Image of God in it, as all immaculate Souls do, is one of the mo&s;t glorious actions that God can perform; &s;uch a Creature is it, as the Schools have judged more of value than the frame of the whole vi&s;ible World. But to joyn &s;uch a Creature as this to &s;uch impure corporeal mat|ter, is furthermore a mo&s;t tran&s;cendent Speci|men of both his <HI>Skill</HI> and <HI>Soveraignty;</HI> &s;o that this is an act of further <HI>Super-exaltation</HI> of him&s;elf, not of <HI>Humiliation.</HI> What remains then to be his <HI>Humiliation,</HI> but the conde&s;cen|ding to a&s;&s;i&s;t and countenance the unclean en|deavours of Adulterers and Adultere&s;&s;es? Which therefore can be no Le&s;&s;ons to us for <HI>Humility,</HI> but a Cordial for the faint-hearted in
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<HI>Debauchery,</HI> and degeneracy of Life; wherein they may plead, &s;o in&s;tructed by this rural Theolog, that they are content to drudge for the common profit of the World. But he proceeds.</P>
<P><HI>And &s;econdly,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>hereby he elicits Good out of Evil, cau&s;ing famous and heroick per&s;ons to take their Origine from ba&s;e occa&s;ions; and &s;o converts the Lu&s;ts of &s;en&s;ual Varlets to nobler ends than they de&s;igned them.</HI> As if an&punc; hero|ick Off-&s;pring were the genuine effect of A|dultery or Fornication, and the mo&s;t likely way to People the World with worthy Per&s;o|nages. How this raw Philo&s;opher will make this comply with his Profe&s;&s;ion of Divinity, I know not; whenas, it teaches us, that Marriage is honourable, but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge; and that he puni&s;hes the Iniquities of the Parents on their Children. But this bold Sophi&s;t&punc; makes God adjudge the noble&s;t Off-&s;pring to the defiled Bed, and not to puni&s;h, but reward the Adul|tery or Whoredom of debauched per&s;ons, by giving them the be&s;t and brave&s;t Children: Which the more true it could be found in ex|perience, it would be the &s;tronger Argument for Pre-exi&s;tence; it being incredible that God, if he created Souls on purpo&s;e, &s;hould crown Adultery and Whoredom with the choice&s;t Off-&s;pring.</P>
<P>And then <HI>thirdly and la&s;tly,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>hereby
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he often detects the lewdne&s;s of Sinners, which o|therwi&s;e would be &s;mothered,</HI> &amp;c. As if the All-wi&s;e God could find no better nor ju&s;ter means than this to di&s;cover this Villany. If he be thus immediately and in an extraordi|nary way a&s;&s;i&s;tant in the&s;e Coitions, were it not as ea&s;ie for him, and infinitely more deco|rous, to charge the Womb with &s;ome <HI>Mola</HI> or <HI>Ephemerous Mon&s;ter,</HI> than to plunge an imma|culato humane Soul into it? This would as effectually di&s;cover the Villany committed, and be&s;ides prevent the charge Pari&s;hes are put to in maintaining Ba&s;tards. And now that we have thus &s;een what a mere nothing it is that this Strutter has pronounced with &s;uch &s;onorous Rhetorick, yet he is not a&s;hamed to conclude with this Appeal to I know not what blind Judges: <HI>Now,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>are not all the&s;e Actions and Concerns very graceful and a|greeable to God?</HI> Which words in the&s;e cir|cum&s;tances no man could utter, were he not of a cra&s;s, in&s;en&s;ible, and injudicious Con&s;ti|tution, or el&s;e made no Con&s;cience of &s;peaking again&s;t his Judgment. But if he &s;peak accor|ding to his Con&s;cience, it is manife&s;t he puts Sophi&s;ms upon him&s;elf, in arguing &s;o weak|ly.</P>
<P>As he does a little before in the &s;ame place, where that he may make the coming of a Soul into a ba&s;e begotten Body in &s;uch a &s;eries of time and order of things as the <HI>Pre-exi&s;ten|tiaries</HI>
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&s;uppo&s;e, and Gods putting it immedi|ately upon his creating it into &s;uch a Body, to be equally pa&s;&s;able, he u&s;es this &s;light Illu&s;tra|tion: <HI>Imagine,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>God &s;hould create one Soul, and &s;o &s;oon as he had done, in&s;tantly pop it into a ba&s;e begotten Body; and then create ano|ther the matter of an hours &s;pace before&punc; its pre|cipitation into &s;uch a Receptacle: which of the&s;e Actions would be the mo&s;t dimin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tive of the Creators honour? would not the difference be in&s;en&s;ible, and the &s;candal, if any, the &s;ame in both? Yet thus lies the ca&s;e ju&s;t betwixt the</HI> Pre-exi&s;tentiaries <HI>and us.</HI> Let the Reader con&s;i|der how &s;en&s;ele&s;s this Author is in &s;aying the ca&s;e betwixt the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> and him is <HI>ju&s;t</HI> thus, when they are ju&s;t <HI>nothing</HI> akin: for his two Souls are both unlap&s;ed, but one of the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> lap&s;ed, and &s;o &s;ubjected to the Laws of Nature. In his ca&s;e God acts freely, rai&s;ing him&s;elf, as it were, out of his Seat to create an immaculate Soul, and put into a foul Body; but in the other ca&s;e God onely is a looker on, there is onely his Permi&s;|&s;ion, not his Action. And the va&s;t difference of time, he &s;alves it with &s;uch a Quibble as this, as if it were nothing, becau&s;e thou&s;ands of Ages ago, in re&s;pect of God and his Eternity, is not an hour before. He might as well &s;ay the difference betwixt the mo&s;t glorious Angel and a Flea is nothing, becau&s;e in compari&s;on of God both are &s;o indeed. Wherefore this
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<HI>Anti-Pre-exi&s;tentiary</HI> is &s;uch a Trifler, that I am half a&s;hamed that I have brought him up|on the Stage.</P>
<P>But yet I will commend his Craft, though not his Faithfulne&s;s, that he had the wit to o|mit the propo&s;ing of <HI>Buggery</HI> as well as of <HI>A|dultery,</HI> and the endeavouring to &s;hew how <HI>graceful and agreeable to God, how congruous and proportionate it were to his immen&s;e Grandeur and Maje&s;ty,</HI> to create a Soul on purpo&s;e (im|maculate and undefiled) to actuate the ob|&s;cene Emi&s;&s;ions of a Brute having to do with a Woman, or of a Man having to do with a Brute: For both Women and Brutes&punc; have been thus impregnated, and brought forth humane Births, as you may &s;ee abundantly te&s;tified in <HI>Fortunius Licetus;</HI> it would be too long to produce In&s;tances.</P>
<P>This Opinion of Gods creating Souls, and putting them into Bodies upon ince&s;tuous and adulterous Coitions, how exceeding ab&s;urd and unbecoming the Sanctity of the Divine Ma|je&s;ty it &s;eemed to the Churches of <HI>Aethiopia,</HI> you may &s;ee in the Hi&s;tory of <HI>Jobus Ludol|phus.</HI> How intolerable therefore and execra|ble would this Doctrine have appeared unto them, if they had thought of the prodigious fruits of &s;ucce&s;sful Buggery? The words of <HI>Ludolfus</HI> are the&s;e: <HI>Perab&s;urdum e&s;&s;e &s;i quis Deum a&s;trictum dicat pro adulterinis &amp; ince&s;tuo|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">is partubus animas quotidie novas creare.</HI> Hi&s;t.
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Aethiop. lib. 3. cap. 5. What would they then &s;ay of creating a new Soul, for the Womb of a Bea&s;t bugger'd by a Man, or of a Woman bugger'd by a Bea&s;t!</P>
<P>Pag. 12. <HI>Methinks that may be done at a cheaper rate,</HI> &amp;c. How it may be done with more agreeablene&s;s to the Goodne&s;s, Wi&s;dom, and Ju&s;tice of God, has been even now hinted by me, nor need I repeat it.</P>
<P>Pag. 13. <HI>It &s;eems very incongruous and un|hand&s;ome, to &s;uppo&s;e that God &s;hould create two Souls for the &s;upply of one mon&s;trous Body.</HI> And there is the &s;ame rea&s;on for &s;everal other Mon|&s;tro&s;ities, which you may take notice of in <HI>Fortunius Licetus,</HI> lib. 2. cap. 58. One with &s;even humane heads and arms, and Ox-feet; others with Mens bodies, but with a head the one of a Goo&s;e, the other of an Elephant, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> In which it is a &s;trong pre&s;umption humane Souls lodged, but in &s;everal others certain. How does this con&s;i&s;t with Gods fre&s;h crea|ting humane Souls pure and innocent, and putting them into Bodies? This is by the a|fore&s;aid <HI>Anti-Pre-exi&s;tentiary</HI> at fir&s;t an&s;wered onely by a wide gape or yawn of Admiration. And indeed it would make any one &s;tare and wonder how this can con&s;i&s;t with Gods imme|diately and freely intermeddling with the Ge|neration of Men, as he did at fir&s;t in the Crea|tion. For out of his holy hands all things come clean and neat. Many little efforts he
<PB N="16" REF="133">
makes afterwards to &s;alve this difficulty of Mon&s;ters, but yet in his own judgment the &s;ure&s;t is the la&s;t; <HI>That God did purpo&s;ely tye fre&s;h created Souls to the&s;e mon&s;tro&ucirc;s &s;hapes, that they who&s;e Souls &s;ped better, might humbly thank him.</HI> Which is as wi&s;ely argued, as if one &s;hould fir&s;t with him&s;elf take it for granted that God determines &s;ome men to mon&s;trous Debaucheries and Impieties, and then fancy this the u&s;e of it, that the Spectators of them may with better pretence than the Phari&s;ee, cry out, Lord, we thank thee that we are not as the&s;e men are. There is nothing permit|ted by God, but it has its u&s;e &s;ome way or o|ther; and therefore it cannot be concluded, becau&s;e that an Event has this or that u&s;e, therefore God by his immediate and free Om|nipotence effected it. <HI>A Pre-exi&s;tentiary</HI> ea&s;ily di&s;cerns that the&s;e Mon&s;tro&s;ities plainly imply that God does not create Souls &s;till for every humane Coition, but that having pre-exi&s;ted, they are left to the great <HI>Laws</HI> of the <HI>&V;niver&s;e</HI> and <HI>Spirit of Nature;</HI> but yet dares not con|clude that God by his free Omnipotence de|termines tho&s;e mon&s;trous Births, as &s;erviceable as they &s;eem for the evincing &s;o noble a The|ory.</P>
<P>Pag. 15. <HI>That God on the &s;eventh day re&s;ted from all his works.</HI> This one would think were an Argument clear enough that he cre|ates nothing &s;ince the celebration of the fir&s;t
<PB N="17" REF="133">
&s;eventh days re&s;t. For if all his works are re&s;ted from, then the creation of Souls (which is a work, nay a Ma&s;ter-piece among&s;t his works &s;carce inferiour to any) is re&s;ted from al&s;o. But the above-mentioned Oppo&s;er of Pre-exi&s;tence is not at a lo&s;s for an An&s;wer; (for his An&s;wers being &s;light, are cheap and ea&s;ie to come by:) He &s;ays therefore, That this &s;uppo&s;eth onely that after that time he cea&s;ed from creating new Species. A witty Invention! As if God had got &s;uch an ea&s;ie habit by once creating the things he created in the &s;ix days, that if he but contained him|&s;elf within tho&s;e kinds of things, though he did hold on &s;till creating them, that it was not <HI>Work,</HI> but mere <HI>Play</HI> or <HI>Re&s;t</HI> to him, in compari&s;on of his former labour. What will not the&s;e men fancy, rather than abate of their prejudice again&s;t an opinion they have once taken a toy again&s;t! When the Author to the Hebrews &s;ays, <HI>He that has entred into his re&s;t, has cea&s;ed from his own works, as God cea&s;ed from his;</HI> verily this is &s;mall comfort or in&s;tructi|on, if it were as this <HI>Anti-Pre-exi&s;tentiary</HI> would have it: for if God cea&s;ed onely from creating new Species, we may, notwith&s;tanding our promi&s;ed <HI>Re&s;t,</HI> be tyed to run through new in&s;tances of <HI>labours</HI> or <HI>&s;ins,</HI> provided they be but of tho&s;e kinds we experienced before. To any unprejudiced under&s;tanding, this &s;ence mu&s;t needs &s;eem forced and unnatural, thus to
<PB N="18" REF="134">
re&s;train Gods Re&s;t to the <HI>Species</HI> of things, and to engage him to the dayly task of creating <HI>Individuals.</HI> The whole <HI>Aethiopian</HI> Church is of another mind: <HI>Qui animam humanam quoti|di&egrave; non creari hoc argumento a&s;&s;erunt, qu&ograve;d Deus &s;exto die perfecerit totum opus Creationis.</HI> See <HI>Ludolfus</HI> in the place above-cited.</P>
<P>Chap. 3. pag. 17. <HI>Since the Images of Ob|jects are very &s;mall and incon&s;iderable in our brains,</HI> &amp;c. I &s;uppo&s;e he mainly relates to the Objects of Sight, who&s;e chief, if not onely I|mages, are in the fund of the Eye; and thence in vertue of the Spirituality of our Soul ex|tended thither al&s;o, and of the due qualification of the Animal Spirits are tran&s;mitted to the <HI>Perceptive</HI> of the Soul within the brain. But how the bigne&s;&s;es and di&s;tances of Objects are conveyed to our cogno&s;cence, it would be too tedious to &s;ignifie here. See Dr. <HI>H. Moore</HI>'s <HI>Enchiridion Metaphy&s;icum,</HI> cap. 19.</P>
<P>Pag. 17. <HI>Were it not that our Souls u&s;e a kind of Geometry,</HI> &amp;c. This alludes to that pretty conceit of <HI>Des Cartes</HI> in his <HI>Dioptricks,</HI> the &s;olidity of which I mu&s;t confe&s;s I never un|der&s;tood. For I under&s;tand not but that if my Soul &s;hould u&s;e any &s;uch Geometry, I &s;hould be con&s;cious thereof, which I do not find my &s;elf. And therefore I think tho&s;e things are better under&s;tood out of that Chapter of the Book even now mentioned.</P>
<P><PB N="19" REF="134">
Pag. 17. <HI>And were the Soul quite void of all &s;uch implicit Notions, it would remain as &s;en&s;ele&s;s,</HI> &amp;c. There is no &s;en&s;itive Perception indeed, without Reflection; but the Reflection is an immediate attention of the Soul to that which affects her, without any circum&s;tance of No|tions intervening for enabling her for &s;en&s;itive Operations. But the&s;e are witty and ingeni|ous Conjectures, which the Author by reading <HI>Des Cartes,</HI> or otherhow, might be encoura|ged to entertain. To all &s;en&s;itive Objects the Soul is an <HI>Abra&s;a Tabula,</HI> but for <HI>Moral</HI> and <HI>In|tellectual</HI> Principles, their Idea's or Notions are e&s;&s;ential to the Soul.</P>
<P>Pag. 18. <HI>For Sen&s;e teacheth no general Pro|po&s;itions,</HI> &amp;c. Nor need it do any thing el&s;e but exhibit &s;ome particular Object, which our Un|der&s;tanding being an <HI>Ectypon</HI> of the <HI>Divine In|tellect</HI> nece&s;&s;arily, when it has throughly &s;if|ted it, concludes it to an&s;wer &s;uch a determi|nate Idea eternally and unalterably one and the &s;ame, as it &s;tands in the Divine Intellect, which cannot change; and therefore that I|dea mu&s;t have the &s;ame properties and re&s;pects for ever. But of this, enough here. It will be better under&s;tood by reading the <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of Truth,</HI> and the Annotations thereon.</P>
<P>Pag. 18. <HI>But from &s;omething more &s;ublime and excellent.</HI> From the <HI>Divine</HI> or <HI>Archety|pal</HI> Intellect, of which our Under&s;tanding is the <HI>Ectypon,</HI> as was &s;aid before.</P>
<P><PB N="20" REF="135">
Pag. 21. <HI>And &s;o can onely tran&s;mit their na|tural qualities.</HI> They are &s;o far from tran&s;|mitting their <HI>Moral</HI> Pravities, that they tran&s;|mit from them&s;elves no qualities at all. For to create a Soul, is to concreate the qualities or properties of it, not out of the Creator, but out of nothing. So that the &s;ub&s;tance and all the properties of it are out of nothing.</P>
<P>Pag. 22. <HI>Again&s;t the nature of an immaterial Being, a chief property of which is to be indi&s;cer|pible.</HI> The eva&s;ion to the force of this Ar|gument by &s;ome <HI>Anti-Pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> is, that it is to philo&s;ophize at too high a rate of con|fidence, to pre&s;ume to know what the nature of a Soul or Spirit is. But for brevities &s;ake, I will refer &s;uch An&s;werers as the&s;e to Dr. <HI>H. Moore</HI>'s brief Di&s;cour&s;e of the <HI>true Notion of a Spirit,</HI> printed lately with <HI>Saduci&s;mus Trium|phatus;</HI> and I think he may be thence as &s;ure that <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> is an e&s;&s;ential property of a Spirit, as that there are any Spirits in the Univer&s;e: and this methinks &s;hould &s;uffice any ingenuous and mode&s;t Oppo&s;er. But to think there is no knowledge but what comes in at our Sen&s;es, is a poor, beggarly, and precarious Principle, and more becoming the dotage of <HI>Hobbiani&s;m,</HI> than men of clearer Parts and more &s;erene Judgments.</P>
<P>Pag. 22. <HI>By &s;eparable Emi&s;&s;ions that pa&s;s from the flame,</HI> &amp;c. And &s;o &s;et the Wick and Tal|low on motion. But the&s;e &s;eparable Emi&s;&s;i|ons
<PB N="21" REF="135">
that pa&s;s from the flame of the lighted Candle, pa&s;s quite away, and &s;o are no part of the flame enkindled. So weak an Illu&s;tration is this of what the&s;e Traducters would have.</P>
<P>Chap. 4. pag. 32. <HI>Which the Divine Piety and Compa&s;&s;ion hath &s;et up again, that &s;o, &s;o many of his excellent Creatures might not be lo&s;t and undone irrecoverably, but might act anew,</HI> &amp;c. To this a more elegant Pen and refined Wit objects thus: Now is it not highly derogatory to the infinite and unbounded Wi&s;dom of God, that he &s;hould detrude tho&s;e Souls which he &s;o &s;eriou&s;ly de&s;ignes to make happy, into a &s;tate &s;o hazardous, wherein he &s;eeth it to be ten thou&s;and to one but that they will corrupt and defile them&s;elves, and &s;o make them more mi|&s;erable here and to eternity hereafter? A &s;trange method of recovering this, to put them into &s;uch a fatal nece&s;&s;ity of peri&s;hing: 'tis but an odd contrivance for their re&s;tauration to Happine&s;s, to u&s;e &s;uch means to compa&s;s it which 'tis ten thou&s;and to one but will make them infinitely more mi&s;erable. This he ob|jects in reference to what the Author of <HI>Lux Orientalis</HI> writes, <HI>chap.</HI> 2. where he &s;ays, <HI>It is a thou&s;and to one but Souls detruded into the&s;e bodies will corrupt and defile them&s;elves, and &s;o make them&s;elves mi&s;erable here and to eternity hereafter.</HI></P>
<P>And much he quotes to the &s;ame purpo&s;e
<PB N="22" REF="136">
out of the <HI>Account of Origen.</HI> Where the Souls great di&s;advantages to Vertue and Holine&s;s, what from the &s;trong inclinations of the Body, and what from National Cu&s;toms &amp; Education in this Terre&s;trial State, are lively &s;et out with a mo&s;t moving and tragical Eloquence, to &s;hew how unlikely it is that God &s;hould put inno|cent and immaculate Souls of his own creati|on immediately, into &s;uch Bodies, and &s;o hard and even almo&s;t fatal condition of mi&s;carry|ing. Upon which this &s;ubtile <HI>Anti-Pre-exi|&s;tentiary:</HI> Thus you &s;ee, &s;aith he, what &s;trong Objections and Arguments the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentia|ries</HI> urge with mo&s;t noi&s;e and clamour, are a|gain&s;t them&s;elves. If therefore the&s;e Phaeno|mena be inexplicable, without the <HI>Origenian</HI> Hypothe&s;is, they are &s;o too with it; and if &s;o, then the re&s;ult of all is, that they are not &s;o much Arguments of <HI>Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> as A&s;per&s;i|ons of <HI>Providence.</HI> This is &s;martly and &s;ur|prizingly &s;poken. But let us con&s;ider more punctually the &s;tate of the matter.</P>
<P>Here then we are fir&s;t to ob&s;erve, how cun|ningly this &s;hrewd Antagoni&s;t conceals a main &s;troke of the Suppo&s;ition, <HI>viz.</HI> That the Di|vine Pity and Compa&s;&s;ion to lap&s;ed Souls, that had otherwi&s;e fallen into an eternal &s;tate of Si|lence and Death, had &s;et up <HI>Adam</HI> for their relief, and endued him with &s;uch a Paradi&s;iacal body of &s;o excellent a con&s;titution to be tran&s;|mitted to all his Po&s;terity, and inve&s;ted him,
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in vertue of this, with &s;o full power <HI>non peccan|di,</HI> that if he and his Po&s;terity were not in an happy flouri&s;hing condition as to their eternal intere&s;t of Holine&s;s and Vertue, it would be long of him&s;elf. And what could God do more corre&s;pondently to his Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s, dealing with free Agents, &s;uch as humane Souls are, than this? And the thing being thus &s;tated, no Objections can be brought again&s;t the Hypothe&s;is, but &s;uch as will invade the inviolable Truths of Faith and Orthodox Divinity.</P>
<P>Secondly, We are to ob&s;erve, how this cun|ning Objector has got the&s;e two <HI>Pre-exi&s;ten|tiaries</HI> upon the hip for their youthful flow|ers of Rhetorick, when one &s;ays, it is hundreds to one; the other, ten thou&s;and to one, that Souls will mi&s;carry put into the&s;e di&s;advanta|ges of the Terre&s;trial &s;tate, by which no can|did Reader will under&s;tand any more, than that it is exceeding difficult for them to e&s;cape the pollutions of this lower World once incorpo|rated into Terre&s;trial Bodies. But it being granted po&s;&s;ible for them to emerge, this is a great grace and favour of the Divine Good|ne&s;s to &s;uch peccant wretches, that they are brought out of the &s;tate of eternal <HI>Silence</HI> and <HI>Death,</HI> to try their Fortunes once more, though incumbred with &s;o great difficulties which the Divine <HI>Neme&s;is</HI> &s;uffers to return upon them. That therefore they are <HI>at all</HI> in a condition
<PB N="24" REF="137">
of recovery, is from the <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> and <HI>Mercy</HI> of God; that their condition is &s;o <HI>hard,</HI> from his <HI>Ju&s;tice,</HI> they having been &s;o foully pec|cant. And his wi&s;dom being only to contrive what is mo&s;t agreeable to his Mercy and Ju|&s;tice, it is not at all derogatory to the infinite and unbounded Wi&s;dom of God thus to deal with lap&s;ed Souls. For though he does &s;eri|ou&s;ly intend to make them happy, yet it mu&s;t be in a way corre&s;pondent to his <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> as well as <HI>Mercy.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly and La&s;tly, Be&s;ides that the Spirit of the Lord pervades the whole Earth ready to a&s;&s;i&s;t the &s;incere; there is moreover a mighty weight of mercy added in the Reve|lation of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t to the world, &s;o that the retriving of the Souls of men out of their <HI>Death</HI> and <HI>Silence</HI> into this Terre&s;tri|al &s;tate, in which there is the&s;e helps to the &s;incere, it is manife&s;tly worthy the Divine Wi&s;|dom and Goodne&s;s. For tho&s;e it takes no ef|fect with, (they beginning the world again on this &s;tage) they &s;hall be judged onely ac|cording to what they have done here, there be|ing an eternal obliteration as well as oblivi|on of the acts of their Pre-exi&s;tent &s;tate; but tho&s;e that this merciful Di&s;pen&s;ation of God has taken any effect upon here, their &s;incere de&s;ires may grow into higher accompli&s;hments in the future &s;tate. Which may &s;omething mitigate the horrour of that &s;eeming univer|&s;al
<PB N="25" REF="137">
&s;qualid e&s;tate of the Sons of men upon earth. Which in that it is &s;o ill, is rightly imputed by both <HI>Jews</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> and the divine&s;t <HI>Philo&s;ophers</HI> to a Lap&s;e, and to the <HI>Mercy</HI> and Grace <HI>of God</HI> that it is no wor&s;e. From whence it may appear, that that argu|ment for <HI>Pre-exi&s;tence,</HI> that God does not put newly created innocent Souls into &s;uch di&s;ad|vantageous circum&s;tances of a terre&s;trial In|corporation, though partly out of <HI>Mercy,</HI> part|ly out of <HI>Ju&s;tice,</HI> he has thought fit lap&s;ed Souls &s;hould be &s;o di&s;po&s;ed of, that this I &s;ay is no a&s;per&s;ion of Divine Providence.</P>
<P>Pag. 36. <HI>And now I cannot think of any place in the &s;acred Volume more, that could make a to|lerable plea against this Hypothe&s;is,</HI> &amp;c. It is much that the ingenious Author thought not of <HI>Rom.</HI> 9. 11. [For the Children being not yet born, neither having done either good or evil, that the purpo&s;e of God according to Election might &s;tand, not of works, but of him that calleth.] This is urged by <HI>Anti-pre-exi&s;tentiaries,</HI> as a notable place again&s;t <HI>Pre-ex|i&s;tence.</HI> For, &s;ay they, how could <HI>E&s;au</HI> and <HI>Jacob.</HI> be &s;aid neither to have done good nor evil, if they pre-exi&s;ted before they came in|to this world? For if they pre-exi&s;ted, they acted; and if they acted, they being rational Souls, they mu&s;t have done either good or evil. This makes an hand&s;ome &s;hew at fir&s;t &s;ight; but if we con&s;ult <HI>Gen.</HI> 25. we &s;hall plain|ly
<PB N="26" REF="138">
&s;ee that this is &s;poke of <HI>Jacob</HI> and <HI>E&s;au</HI> yet &s;trugling in the Womb; as it is &s;aid in this Text, <HI>For the Children being not yet born;</HI> but &s;trugling in the Womb, as you may &s;ee in the other. Which plainly therefore re&s;pects their actions in this life, upon which certainly the mind of St. <HI>Paul</HI> was fix'd. As if he &s;hould have expre&s;ly &s;aid: For the Children being not yet born, but &s;trugling in the Womb, neither having done either good or evil in this life as being &s;till in the Womb, it was &s;aid of them to <HI>Rebeckah, The elder &s;hall &s;erve the younger.</HI> Which &s;ufficiently illu&s;trates the matter in hand with St. <HI>Paul;</HI> that as <HI>Jacob</HI> was prefer|red before <HI>E&s;au</HI> in the Womb, before either of them was born to act here on the Earth, and that therefore done without any re&s;pect to their actions; &s;o the purpo&s;e of God touching his people &s;hould be of free Election, not of Works.</P>
<P>That of <HI>Zachary</HI> al&s;o, Chap. 12. 1. I have heard alledged by &s;ome as a place on which no &s;mall &s;tre&s;s may be laid. The Lord is there &s;aid to be the <HI>Former of the Spirit of Man within him.</HI> Wherefore they argue, If the Spi|rit of Man be formed <HI>within him,</HI> it did never pre-exi&s;t <HI>without him.</HI> But we an&s;wer, That <GAP DESC="foreign"> is but the &s;ame that <GAP DESC="foreign">. And then the &s;ence is ea&s;ie and natural, that the Spirit that is in man, God is the Former or Creator of it. But this Text
<PB N="27" REF="138">
defines nothing of the time of forming it. There are &s;everal other Texts alledged, but it is &s;o ea&s;ie to an&s;wer them, and would take up &s;o much time and room, that I think fit to o|mit them, remembring my &s;cope to be &s;hort <HI>Annotations,</HI> not a tedious <HI>Commentary.</HI></P>
<P>Pag. 41. <HI>Mr.</HI> Ben I&s;rael <HI>in his Problems De Creatione a&s;&s;ures us, that Pre-exi&s;tence was the common belief,</HI> &amp;c. That this was the com|mon opinion of the wi&s;er men among&s;t the Jews, R. <HI>Mena&s;&s;e Ben I&s;rael</HI> him&s;elf told me at <HI>London</HI> with great freedom and a&s;&s;urance, and that there was a con&s;tant tradition thereof; which he &s;aid in &s;ome &s;ence was al&s;o true con|cerning the Trinity, but that more ob&s;cure. But this of Pre-exi&s;tence is manife&s;t up and down in the Writings of that very ancient and learned Jew <HI>Philo Judaeus;</HI> as al&s;o &s;omething toward a Trinity, if I remember aright.</P>
<P>Chap. 5. Pag. 46. <HI>We &s;hould doubtle&s;s have retained &s;ome remembrance of that condition.</HI> And the rather, as one ingeniou&s;ly argues, be|cau&s;e our &s;tate in this life is a &s;tate of puni&s;h|ment. Upon which he concludes, <HI>That if the calamities of this life were inflicted upon us only as a puni&s;hment of &s;ins committed in another, Providence would have provided &s;ome effectual means to pre&s;erve them in our memories. And therefore, becau&s;e we find no remainders of any &s;uch Records in our minds, 'tis,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>&s;ufficient
<PB N="28" REF="139">
evidence to all &s;ober and impartial inquirers, that our living and &s;inning in a former &s;tate is as fal&s;e as inevident.</HI></P>
<P>But to this it may be an&s;wered, That the &s;tate we are put in, is not a &s;tate <HI>only</HI> of pu|ni&s;hment, but of a merciful trial; and it is &s;uf|ficient that we find our &s;elves in a lap&s;ed and &s;inful condition, our own Con&s;ciences telling us when we do ami&s;s, and calling upon us to amend. So that it is needle&s;s particularly to remember our faults in the other world, but the time is better &s;pent in faithfully endeavour|ing to amend our &s;elves in this, and to keep our &s;elves from all faults of what nature &s;o|ever. Which is a needle&s;s thing our memo|ry &s;hould di&s;cover to us to have been of old committed by us, when our Con&s;ciences urge to us that they are never to be committed; and the Laws of holy Law-givers and divine In&s;tructers, or wi&s;e Sages over all the world, a&s;&s;i&s;t al&s;o our Con&s;cience in her office. So that the end of Gods Ju&s;tice by the&s;e inward and outward Monitors, and by the cro&s;s and afflicting Rancounters in this pre&s;ent &s;tate, is to be attained to, <HI>viz.</HI> the amendment of De|linquents if they be not refractory.</P>
<P>And we were placed on this &s;tage as it were to begin the world again, &s;o as if we had not exi&s;ted before. Whence it &s;eems meet, that there &s;hould be an utter obliteration of all that is pa&s;t, &s;o as not to be able by memory
<PB N="29" REF="139">
to connect the former life and this together. The memory whereof, if we were capable of it, would be incon&s;i&s;tent with the orderly pro|ceedings of this, and overdoze us and make us half moped to the pre&s;ent Scene of things. Whenas the Divine Purpo&s;e &s;eems to be, that we &s;hould al&s;o experience the natural plea&s;ures and &s;atisfactions of this life, but in an orderly and obedient way, keeping to the pre&s;cribed rules of Virtue and Holine&s;s. And thus our faith|fulne&s;s being exerci&s;ed <GAP DESC="foreign"> in tho&s;e things which are more <HI>e&s;tranged</HI> from our no|bler and diviner nature, God may at la&s;t re|&s;tore us to what is more properly our own.</P>
<P>But in the mean time, that &s;aying which the Poet puts in the mouth of <HI>Jupiter,</HI> touching the inferiour Deities, may not misbe&s;eem the mercy and wi&s;dom of the true God concer|ning lap&s;ed Souls incorporate into terre&s;trial Bodies.</P>
<LG>
<L>Has quoniam coeli nondum dignamur honore.</L>
<L>Quas dedimus cert&egrave; terras habitare &s;inamus.</L>
</LG>
<P>Let them not be di&s;tracted betwixt a &s;en&s;ible remembrance of the Joys and Glories of our exteriour Heaven above, and the pre&s;ent frui|tion of things below, but let them live an ho|ly and heavenly life upon Earth, exerci&s;ing their Graces and Vertues in the u&s;e and enjoy|ment of the&s;e lower earthly Objects, till I call
<PB N="30" REF="140">
them up again to Heaven, where, after this long &s;woond they are fallen into, they will more &s;ea&s;onably remember their former Para|di&s;iacal &s;tate upon its recovery, and reagnize their ancient home. Wherefore if the remem|bring or forgetting of the former &s;tate depend ab&s;olutely upon the free contrivance of the Divine Wi&s;dom, Goodne&s;s, and Ju&s;tice, as this ingenious Oppo&s;er &s;eems to &s;uppo&s;e, I &s;hould even upon that very point of fitne&s;s conceive that an utter oblivion of the former &s;tate is interwoven into the fate and nature of lap&s;ed Souls by a Divine <HI>Neme&s;is,</HI> though we do not conceive explicitely the manner how. And yet the natural rea&s;ons the Author of <HI>Lux Ori|entalis</HI> produces in the &s;equel of his Di&s;cour&s;e, &s;eem highly probable.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t, As we had forgot &s;ome lively Dream we dreamt but la&s;t night, unle&s;s we had met with &s;omething in the day of a peculiar vertue to remind us of it, &s;o we meeting with nothing in this lower &s;tage of things that lively re&s;embles tho&s;e things in our former &s;tate, and has a peculiar fitne&s;s to rub up our Memory, we continue in an utter oblivion of them. As &s;uppo&s;e a man was lively entertain'd in his &s;leep with the plea&s;ure of dreaming of a fair Cry&s;tal River, who&s;e Banks were ador|ned with Trees and Flags in the flower, and tho&s;e large Flies with blue and golden-colour'd Bodies, and broad thin Wings curiou&s;ly
<PB N="31" REF="140">
wrought and tran&s;parent, hovering over them, with Birds al&s;o &s;inging on the Trees, Sun and Clouds above, and &s;weet breezes of Air, and Swans in the River with their wings &s;ometimes lifted up like &s;ails again&s;t the wind. Thus he pa&s;&s;ed the night, thinks of no &s;uch thing in the morning, but ri&s;ing goes about his occa|&s;ions. But towards evening a Servant of a Friend of his pre&s;ents him with a couple of Swans from his Ma&s;ter. The &s;ight of which Swans &s;triking his <HI>Perceptive</HI> as &s;en&s;ibly as tho&s;e in his Dream, and being one of the mo&s;t extraordinary and eximious Objects of his Night-vi&s;ion, pre&s;ently reminds him of the whole &s;cene of things repre&s;ented in his &s;leep. But neither Sun, nor Clouds, nor Trees, nor any &s;uch ordinary thing could in any likeli|hood have reminded him of his Dream. And be&s;ides, it was the lively re&s;emblance betwixt the Swans he &s;aw in his &s;leep, and tho&s;e he &s;aw waking, that did &s;o effectually rub up his memory. The want therefore of &s;uch occur|rences in this life to remind us of the pa&s;&s;ages of the former, is a very rea&s;onable account why we remember nothing of the former &s;tate.</P>
<P>But here the Oppo&s;ers of Pre-exi&s;tence pre|tend that the joyous and glorious Objects in the other &s;tate do &s;o pierce and tran&s;port the Soul, and that &s;he was inured to them &s;o long, that though there were nothing that re&s;embled
<PB N="32" REF="141">
them here, the impre&s;&s;ion they make mu&s;t be indelible, and that it is impo&s;&s;ible &s;he &s;hould forget them. And moreover, that there is a &s;imilitude betwixt the things of the upper World and the lower, which therefore mu&s;t be an help to memory.</P>
<P>But here, as touching the fir&s;t, they do not con&s;ider what a Weapon they have given into my hand again&s;t them&s;elves. For the long inuredne&s;s to tho&s;e Cele&s;tial Objects abates the piercingne&s;s of their tran&s;port; and before they leave tho&s;e Regions, according to the <HI>Platonick</HI> or <HI>Origenian</HI> Hypothe&s;is, they grow cooler to &s;uch enjoyments: &s;o that all the ad|vantages of that piercing tran&s;port for memo|ry, are lo&s;t. And be&s;ides, in vertue of that piercing Tran&s;port, no Soul can call into me|mory what &s;he enjoyed formerly, but by re|calling her&s;elf into &s;uch a Tran&s;port, which her Terre&s;trial Vehicle makes her uncapable of.</P>
<P>For the memory of external Tran&s;actions is &s;ealed upon us by &s;ome pa&s;&s;ionate corporeal impre&s;s in conjunction with them (which makes them whip Boys &s;ometimes at the boundaries of their Pari&s;h, that they may bet|ter remember it when they are old men;) which Impre&s;s if it be lo&s;t, the memory of the thing it &s;elf is lo&s;t. And we may be &s;ure it is lo&s;t in Souls incorporate in Terre&s;trial Vehicles, they having lo&s;t their Aereal and
<PB N="33" REF="141">
Cele&s;tial, and being fatally incapacitated &s;o much as to conceit how they were affected by the External Objects of the other World, and &s;o to remember how they felt them. And therefore all the de&s;criptions that men of a more Aethereal and Entheous temper adven|ture on in this life, are but the Roamings of their Minds in vertue of their Con&s;titution to|wards the nature of the heavenly things in ge|neral, not a recovery of the memory of pa&s;t Experience; this State not affording &s;o lively a repre&s;entment of the <HI>Pathos</HI> that accompani|ed the actual <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> of tho&s;e things, as to make us <HI>think</HI> that we once <HI>really</HI> enjoyed them be|fore. That is onely to be collected by Rea|&s;on; the noble exerci&s;e of which faculty, in the di&s;covering of this <HI>Arcanum</HI> of our Pre-exi|&s;tence, had been lo&s;t, if it could have been de|tected by a compendious Memory. But if ever we recover the memory of our former State, it will be when we are re-entred into it; we then being in a capacity of being really &s;truck with the &s;ame Pathos we were before, in vertue whereof the Soul may remember this was her pri&s;tine condition.</P>
<P>And therefore to an&s;wer to the &s;econd, Though there may be &s;ome faintne&s;s of re&s;em|blance betwixt the things of the other State and this, yet other peculiarities al&s;o being re|quired, and the former &s;en&s;ible Pathos to be recovered, which is impo&s;&s;ible in this State, it
<PB N="34" REF="142">
is likewi&s;e impo&s;&s;ible for us to remember the other in this.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Argument of the Author for the proving the unlikeline&s;s of our remem|bring the other State is, the <HI>long intermi&s;&s;ion</HI> and <HI>di&s;continuance from thinking of tho&s;e things.</HI> For 'tis plain that &s;uch di&s;continuance or de|&s;uetude bereaves us of the memory of &s;uch things as we were acquainted with in this World. In&s;omuch as if an ancient man &s;hould read the Ver&s;es or Themes he made when he was a School-boy, without his name &s;ub&s;cri|bed to them, though he pumpt and &s;weat for them when he made them, could not tell they were his own. How then &s;hould the Soul re|member what &s;he did or ob&s;erv'd many hun|dreds, nay thou&s;ands of years ago?</P>
<P>But yet our Authors Antagoni&s;t has the face to make nothing of this Argument nei|ther: Becau&s;e, for&s;ooth, it is not &s;o much the de&s;uetude of thinking of one thing, but the thinking of others, that makes us forget that one thing. What a &s;huffle is this! For if the Soul thought on that one thing as well as on other things, it would remember it as well as them. Therefore it is not the thinking of o|ther things, but the not thinking of <HI>that,</HI> that makes it forgotten. <HI>&V;&s;us promptus facit,</HI> as in general, &s;o in particular. And therefore di&s;u&s;e in any particular &s;lackens at fir&s;t, and after a|boli&s;hes the readine&s;s of the Mind to think
<PB N="35" REF="142">
thereof. Whence &s;leepine&s;s and &s;luggi&s;hne&s;s is the Mother of Forgetfulne&s;s, becau&s;e it di&s;u&s;es the Soul from thinking of things. And as for tho&s;e &s;even Chronical Sleepers that &s;lept in a Cave from <HI>Decius</HI> his time to the reign of <HI>The|odo&s;ius junior,</HI> I dare &s;ay it would have be&s;otted them without a Miracle, and they would have ro&s;e out of their &s;leep no more wi&s;e than a Wi&s;p; I am &s;ure not altogether &s;o wi&s;e as this awkward Arguer for memory of Souls in their Pre-exi&s;tent &s;tate after &s;o hugely long a di&s;con|tinuance from it. But for their immediately coming out of an Aethereal Vehicle into a Ter|re&s;trial, and yet forgetting their former &s;tate, what Example can be imagined of &s;uch a thing, unle&s;s that of the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias,</HI> who yet &s;eems to remember his former glorious condition, and to pray that he may return to it again? Though, for my part I think it was rather Di|vine In&s;piration than Memory, that enabled him to know that matter, &s;uppo&s;ing his Soul did pre-exi&s;t.</P>
<P>Our Authors third and la&s;t Argument to prove that lap&s;ed Souls in their Terre&s;trial condition forget their former &s;tate, is from ob&s;ervation how deteriorating changes in this earthly Body &s;poils or quite de&s;troys the Me|mory, the Soul &s;till abiding therein; &s;uch as Ca&s;ualties, Di&s;ea&s;es, and old Age, which chan|ges the tenour of the Spirits, and makes them le&s;s u&s;eful for memory, as al&s;o 'tis likely the
<PB N="36" REF="143">
Brain it &s;elf. Wherefore there being a more deteriorating change to the Soul in coming in|to an earthly Body, in&s;tead of an aereal or ae|thereal, the more certainly will her memory of things which &s;he experienced in that &s;tate, be wa&s;hed out or obliterated in this.</P>
<P>Here our Authors Antagoni&s;t an&s;wers, That though changes <HI>in body</HI> may often weaken, and &s;ometimes utterly &s;poil the memory of things pa&s;t, yet it is not nece&s;&s;ary that the Souls changing <HI>of her body</HI> &s;hould therefore do &s;o, becau&s;e it is not &s;o injurious to her facul|ties. Which if it were, not onely our <HI>Memory,</HI> but <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> al&s;o &s;hould have been ca&s;heered and lo&s;t by our migration out of tho&s;e Vehicles we formerly actuated, into the&s;e we now en|liven; but that &s;till remaining &s;ound and en|tire, it is a &s;igne that our Memory would do &s;o too, if we had pre-exi&s;ted in other bodies be|fore, and had any thing to remember. And be&s;ides, if the bare tran&s;location of our Souls out of one body into another, would de&s;troy the memory of things the Soul has experien|ced, it would follow, that when People by death are &s;ummoned hence into the other &s;tate, that they &s;hall be quite bereaved of their Me|mory, and &s;o carry neither applau&s;e nor re|mor&s;e of Con&s;cience into the other World; which is mon&s;trou&s;ly ab&s;urd and impious. This is the main of his An&s;wer, and mo&s;twhat in his own words. But of what &s;mall force it is, we &s;hall now di&s;cover, and how little perti|nent to the bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
<P><PB N="37" REF="143">
For fir&s;t, we are to take notice that the de|teriorating change in the Body, or deteriora|ting &s;tate by change of Bodies, is under&s;tood of a debilitative, diminutive, or privative, not depravative deterioration; the latter of which may be more injurious to the faculties of the Soul, though in the &s;ame Body, &s;uch a deterio|rating change cau&s;ing Phren&s;ies and outragi|ous Madne&s;s. But as for diminutive or pri|vative deterioration by change, the Soul by changing her Aereal Vehicle for a Terre&s;trial, is (comparing her latter &s;tate with her for|mer) much injured in her faculties or opera|tions of them; all of them are more &s;low and &s;tupid, and their aptitude to exert the &s;ame Phanta&s;ms of things that occurred to them in the other State, quite taken away, by rea&s;on of the heavy and dull, though orderly con&s;titu|tion of the Terre&s;trial Tenement; which weight and &s;tupor utterly indi&s;po&s;es the Soul to recall into her mind the &s;cene of her former &s;tate, this load perpetually &s;waying down her thoughts to the Objects of this.</P>
<P>Nor does it at all follow, becau&s;e Rea&s;on is not lo&s;t, therefore Memory, if there were any &s;uch thing as Pre-exi&s;tence, would &s;till abide. For the univer&s;al principles of Rea&s;on and Mo|rality are e&s;&s;ential to the Soul, and cannot be obliterated, no not by any death: but the knowledge of any particular external Objects is not at all e&s;&s;ential to the Soul, nor con&s;e|quently
<PB N="38" REF="144">
the memory of them; and therefore the Soul in the &s;tate of &s;ilence being &s;tript of them, cannot recover them in her incorpora|tion into a Terre&s;trial Body. But her Rea&s;on, with the general principles thereof, being e&s;|&s;ential to her, &s;he can, as well as this State will permit, exerci&s;e them upon the Objects of this Scene of the Earth and vi&s;ible World, &s;o far as it is di&s;covered by her outward &s;en&s;es, &s;he loo|king out at tho&s;e windows of this her earthly Pri&s;on, to contemplate them. And &s;he has the faculty and exerci&s;e of <HI>Memory</HI> &s;till, in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as &s;he has of <HI>&s;en&s;itive</HI> Perception, who&s;e Objects &s;he does remember, being yet to all former impre&s;&s;es in the other &s;tate a mere <HI>A|bra&s;a Tabula.</HI></P>
<P>And la&s;tly, it is a mere mi&s;take of the Op|po&s;er, or wor&s;e, that he makes the <HI>Pre-exi&s;ten|tiaries</HI> to impute the lo&s;s of memory in Souls of their former &s;tate, merely to their coming into other Bodies; when it is not bare change of Bodies, but their de&s;cent into wor&s;er Bodies more dull and ob&s;tupifying, to which they im|pute this lo&s;s of memory in lap&s;ed Souls. This is a real death to them, according to that an|cient Aenigm of that ab&s;tru&s;e Sage, <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>We live their death,</HI> namely of &s;eparate Souls, <HI>but are dead to their life.</HI> But the changing of our Earthly Body for an Aereal or Aethereal, this is not <HI>Death,</HI> but <HI>Revivi&s;cency,</HI> in which all the ener|gies
<PB N="39" REF="144">
of the Soul are (not depre&s;&s;ed, but) ex|alted, and our Memory with the re&s;t quicken|ed; as it was in <HI>E&s;dras</HI> after he had drunk down that Cup offered to him by the Angel, full of Liquor like Fire, which filled his Heart with Under&s;tanding, and &s;trengthned his Memory, as the Text &s;ays.</P>
<P>Thus we &s;ee how all Objections again&s;t the three Rea&s;ons of lap&s;ed Souls lo&s;ing the me|mory of the things of the other &s;tate, va|ni&s;h into &s;moak. Wherefore they every one of them &s;ingle being &s;o &s;ound, all three put together methinks &s;hould not fail of convincing the mo&s;t refractory of this Truth, That though the Soul did pre-exi&s;t and act in another &s;tate, yet &s;he may utterly forget all the Scenes thereof in this.</P>
<P>Pag. 46. <HI>Now if the rea&s;ons why we lo&s;e the remembrance of our former life be greater,</HI> &amp;c. And that they are &s;o, does appear in our An|&s;wer to the Objections made again&s;t the &s;aid Rea&s;ons, if the Reader will con&s;ider them.</P>
<P>Pag. 50. <HI>And thereby have removed all pre|judices,</HI> &amp;c. But there is yet one Rea&s;on a|gain&s;t Pre-exi&s;tence which the ingenious Au|thor never thought of, urged by the <HI>Anti-Pre-exi&s;tentiaries,</HI> namely, That it implies the re&s;t of the Planets peopled with Mankind, it being unrea&s;onable to think that all Souls de&s;cended in their lap&s;e to this onely Earth of Ours. And if there be lap&s;ed Souls there, how &s;hall they
<PB N="40" REF="145">
be recovered? &s;hall Chri&s;t undergo another and another death for them? But I believe the ingenious Author would have looked up|on this but as a mean and trifling Argument, there being no force in any part thereof. For why may not this Earth be the onely Ho&s;pi|tal, <HI>No&s;ocomium</HI> or <HI>Coemeterium,</HI> &s;peaking Pla|tonically, of &s;infully lap&s;ed Souls? And then &s;uppo&s;e others lap&s;ed in other Planets, what need Chri&s;t die again for them, when one drop of his Bloud is &s;ufficient to &s;ave myriads of Worlds? Whence it may &s;eem a pity there is not more Worlds than this Earth to be redee|med by it. Nor is it nece&s;&s;ary they &s;hould hi&s;torically know it. And if it be, the Eclip&s;e of the Sun at his Pa&s;&s;ion by &s;ome in&s;pired Pro|phets might give them notice of it, and de|&s;cribe to them as orderly an account of the <HI>Redemption,</HI> as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> does of the <HI>Creation,</HI> though he &s;tood not by while the World was framed, but it was revealed to him by God. And la&s;tly, it is but a ra&s;h and precarious Po|&s;ition, to &s;ay that the infinite Wi&s;dom of God has no more ways than one to &s;ave lap&s;ed Souls. It is &s;ufficient that we are a&s;&s;ured that this is the onely way for the &s;aving of the Sons of <HI>Adam;</HI> and the&s;e are the fixt bounds of re|vealed Truth in the Holy Scripture which ap|pertains to us Inhabitants on Earth. But as for the Oeconomy of his infinite Wi&s;dom in the other Planets, if we did but reflect upon
<PB N="41" REF="145">
our ab&s;olute ignorance thereof, we would have the di&s;cretion not to touch upon that Topick, unle&s;s we intended to make our &s;elves ridicu|lous, while we endeavour to make others &s;o.</P>
<P>Chap. 6. pag. 51. <HI>Now as the infinite good|ne&s;s of the Deity obligeth him always to do good, &s;o by the &s;ame to do that which is be&s;t,</HI> &amp;c. To elude the force of this chief Argument of the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries,</HI> an ingenious Oppo&s;er has de|vi&s;ed a way which &s;eems worth our con&s;ider|ing, which is this; <HI>viz.</HI> By making the Idea of God to con&s;i&s;t mainly in Dominion and So|veraignty, the Scriptures repre&s;enting him un|der no other notion than as the Supream Lord and Soveraign of the Univer&s;e. Wherefore nothing is to be attributed to him that enter|feres with the uncontroulablene&s;s of his Domi|nion. And therefore, &s;ays he, they that a&s;&s;ert Goodne&s;s to be a nece&s;&s;ary Agent that can|not but do that which is be&s;t, directly &s;up|plant and de&s;troy all the Rights of his Power and Dominion. Nay, he adds afterwards, That this notion of Gods goodne&s;s is mo&s;t ap|parently incon&s;i&s;tent, not onely with his Pow|er and Dominion, but with all his other moral Perfections. And for a further explication of his mind in this matter, he adds afterwards, <HI>That the Divine Will is indued with the highest kind of liberty, as it imports a freedom not onely
<PB N="42" REF="146">
from foreign Violence, but al&s;o from inward Ne|ce&s;&s;ity: For &s;pontaneity, or immunity from coacti|on, without indifferency, carries in it as great ne|ce&s;&s;ity as tho&s;e motions that proceed from Violence or Mechani&s;m.</HI> From whence he concludes, <HI>That the Divine Will cannot otherwi&s;e be deter|mined than by its own intrin&s;ick energie.</HI> And la&s;tly, Fora&s;much as no Courti&s;ie can oblige, but what is received from one that had a pow|er not to be&s;tow them, if God nece&s;&s;arily acted according to his Goodne&s;s, and not out of mere choice and liberty of Will, there were no thanks nor prai&s;e due to him; which therefore would take away the duties of Religion. This is the main of his Hypothe&s;is, whereby he would defeat the force of this Argument for the Pre-exi&s;tence of Souls, taken from the Goodne&s;s of God. Which this Hypothe&s;is certainly would do, if it were true; and there|fore we will briefly examine it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t therefore I an&s;wer, That though the Scriptures do frequently repre&s;ent God as the Lord and Soveraign of the Univer&s;e, yet it does not conceal his other Attributes of Good|ne&s;s and Mercy, and the like. But that the former &s;hould be &s;o much inculcated, is in re|ference to the begetting in the People Awe and Obedience to him. But it is an invalid con&s;e|quence, to draw from hence that the Idea of God does mainly con&s;i&s;t in Dominion and So|veraignty; which ab&s;tracted from his other
<PB N="43" REF="146">
Attributes of Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s, would be a very black and dark repre&s;entation of him, and &s;uch as this ingenious Writer could not him&s;elf contemplate without aver&s;ation and horror. How then can the Idea of God chiefly con&s;i&s;t in this? It is the mo&s;t terrifying indeed, but not the mo&s;t noble and accompli|&s;hing part in the Idea of the Deity.</P>
<P>This Soveraignty then is &s;uch as is either bounded or not bounded by any other Attri|butes of God. If bounded by none, then he may do as well unwi&s;ely as wi&s;ely, unju&s;tly as ju&s;tly. If bounded by Wi&s;dom and Ju&s;tice, why is it bounded by them, but that it is bet|ter &s;o to be than otherwi&s;e? And Goodne&s;s being as e&s;&s;ential to God as Wi&s;dom and Ju|&s;tice, why may not his Soveraignty be boun|ded by that as well as by the other, and &s;o he be bound from him&s;elf of him&s;elf to do as well what is be&s;t as what is better. This con&s;i&s;ts with his ab&s;olute Soveraignty, as well as the o|ther. And indeed what can be ab&s;olute Sove|raignty in an intelligent Being, if this be not? <HI>viz.</HI> fully and entirely to follow the will and inclinations of its own nature, without any check or controul of any one touching tho&s;e over whom he rules.</P>
<P>Whence, in the &s;econd place, it appears that the a&s;&s;erting that Gods goodne&s;s is a nece&s;&s;ary Agent (in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as Gods Wi&s;dom and Ju&s;tice are, which can do nothing but what is
<PB N="44" REF="147">
wi&s;e and ju&s;t) the a&s;&s;erting, I &s;ay, that it can|not but do that which is the <HI>best,</HI> does nei|ther directly nor indirectly &s;upplant or de&s;troy any Rights of his Power or Dominion, fora&s;|much as he does fully and plenarily act accor|ding to his own inclinations and will touching tho&s;e that are under his Dominion. But that his Will is always inclined or determined to what is be&s;t, it is the Prerogative of the Di|vine Nature to have no other Wills nor Incli|nations but &s;uch.</P>
<P>And as for that in the third place, That this notion of Gods Goodne&s;s is incon&s;i&s;tent with all his other moral Perfections, I &s;ay, that it is &s;o far from being incon&s;i&s;tent with them, that they cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t without it, as they re|&s;pect the dealings of God with his Creatures. For what a kind of Wi&s;dom or Ju&s;tice would that be that tended to no good? But I &s;u&s;pect his meaning is by <HI>moral</HI> Perfections, Perfecti|ons that imply &s;uch a power of doing or not doing, as is in <HI>humane</HI> actions; which if it be not allowed in God, his Perfections are not <HI>moral.</HI> And what great matter is it if they be not, provided they be as they are and ought to be, <HI>Divine?</HI> But to fancy <HI>moral</HI> actions in God, is to admit a &s;econd kind of <HI>Anthropo|morphiti&s;m,</HI> and to have unworthy conceits of the Divine Nature. When it was ju&s;t and wi&s;e for God to do &s;o or &s;o, and the contrary to do otherwi&s;e, had he a freedom to decline
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the doing &s;o? Then he had a freedom to do unju&s;tly and unwi&s;ely.</P>
<P>And yet in the fourth place he contends for the highe&s;t kind of liberty in the Divine Will, &s;uch as imports a freedom not onely from for|reign Violence, but al&s;o from inward Nece&s;&s;i|ty, as if the Divine Will could be no other|wi&s;e determined, than by its own intrin&s;ick Energie, as if it willed &s;o becau&s;e it willed &s;o; which is a &s;ad principle. And yet I believe this learned Writer will not &s;tick to &s;ay, that God cannot tye, cannot condemn myriads of innocent Souls to eternal Torments. And what difference betwixt <HI>Impo&s;&s;ibility</HI> and <HI>Ne|ce&s;&s;ity?</HI> For Impo&s;&s;ibility it &s;elf is onely a Ne|ce&s;&s;ity of not doing; which is here internal, a|ri&s;ing from the excellency and ab&s;olute perfe|ction of the Divine Nature. Which is nothing like Mechani&s;m for all that; Fora&s;much as it is from a clear under&s;tanding of what is be&s;t, and an unbya&s;&s;ed Will, which will mo&s;t cer|tainly follow it, nor is determined by its own intrin&s;ick Energy. That it is otherwi&s;e with us, is our imperfection.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, That Beneficence does not o|blige the Receiver of it to either Prai&s;e or Thank&s;giving when it is received from one that is &s;o e&s;&s;entially good, and con&s;tantly acts according to that principle, when due occa&s;ion is offered, as if it were as ab&s;urd as to give thanks to the Sun for &s;hining when he can do
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no otherwi&s;e; I &s;ay, the ca&s;e is not alike, be|cau&s;e the Sun is an inanimate Being, and has neither Under&s;tanding nor Will to approve his own action in the exerting of it. And he be|ing but a Creature, if his &s;hining depended up|on his Will, it is a greater perfection than we can be a&s;&s;ured would belong to him, that he would unfailingly admini&s;ter Light to the World with &s;uch a &s;teadine&s;s of Will, as God &s;u&s;tains the Creation.</P>
<P>Undoubtedly all Thanks and Prai&s;e is due to God from us, although he be &s;o nece&s;&s;arily good, that he could not but create us and pro|vide for us; fora&s;much as he has done this for our &s;akes merely (he wanting nothing) not for his own. Suppo&s;e a rich Chri&s;tian &s;o inu|red to the works of Charity, that the Poor were as certain of getting an Alms from him, as a Traveller is to quench his thir&s;t at a pub|lick Spring near the Highway; would tho&s;e that received Alms from him think them&s;elves not obliged to Thanks? It may be you will &s;ay, they will thank him, that they may not forfeit his Favour another time. Which An|&s;wer di&s;covers the &s;pring of this Mi&s;conceit, which &s;eems founded in &s;elf-love, as if all Du|ty were to be re&s;olved into that, and as if there were nothing owing to another, but what im|plied our own profit. But though the Divine Goodne&s;s acts nece&s;&s;arily yet it does not blindly, but according to the Laws of Decorum
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and Ju&s;tice; which tho&s;e that are unthankful to the Deity, may find the &s;mart of. But I cannot believe the ingenious Writer much in earne&s;t in the&s;e points, he &s;o expre&s;ly decla|ring what methinks is not well con&s;i&s;tent with them. For his very words are the&s;e: <HI>God can never act contrary to his nece&s;&s;ary and e&s;&s;en|tial properties, as becau&s;e he is e&s;&s;entially wi&s;e, just and holy, he can do nothing that is fooli&s;h, unju&s;t, and wicked.</HI> Here therefore I demand, Are we not to thank him and prai&s;e him for his actions of Wi&s;dom, Ju&s;tice, and Holine&s;s, though they be nece&s;&s;ary?</P>
<P>And if <HI>Ju&s;tice, Wi&s;dom,</HI> and <HI>Holine&s;s,</HI> be the <HI>e&s;&s;ential</HI> properties of God, according to which he does nece&s;&s;arily act and ab&s;tain from acting, why is not his <HI>Goodne&s;s?</HI> when it is expre&s;ly &s;aid by the Wi&s;dom of God incarnate, <HI>None is good &s;ave one, that is God.</HI> Which mu&s;t needs be under&s;tood of his e&s;&s;ential Goodne&s;s. Which therefore being an e&s;&s;ential property as well as the re&s;t, he mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily act accor|ding to it. And when he acts in the Scheme of Anger and Severity, it is in the behalf of Goodne&s;s; and when he imparts his Goodne&s;s in le&s;&s;er mea&s;ures as well as in greater, it is for the good of the <HI>Whole,</HI> or of the <HI>&V;niver&s;e.</HI> If all were Eye, where were the Hearing, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> as the Apo&s;tle argues? So that his Wi&s;dom mo|derates the prompt outflowings of his Good|ne&s;s, that it may not outflow &s;o, but that in
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the general it is for the be&s;t. And therefore it will follow, that if the Pre-exi&s;tence of Souls comply with the <HI>Wi&s;dom, Ju&s;tice,</HI> and <HI>Holine&s;s</HI> of God, that none of the&s;e re&s;train his prompt and parturient Goodne&s;s, that it mu&s;t have cau&s;ed humane Souls to pre-exi&s;t or exi&s;t &s;o &s;oon as the Spirits of Angels did. And he mu&s;t have a &s;trange quick-&s;ightedne&s;s that can di&s;cern any cla&s;hing of that act of Goodne&s;s with any of the above&s;aid Attributes.</P>
<P>Chap. 7. pag. 56. <HI>God never acts by mere Will or groundle&s;s Humour,</HI> &amp;c. We men have un|accountable inclinations in our irregular and depraved Compo&s;ition, have blind lu&s;ts or de|&s;ires to do this or that, and it is our pre&s;ent ea&s;e and plea&s;ure to fulfil them; and there|fore we fancy it a priviledge to be able to exe|cute the&s;e blind inclinations of which we can give no rational account, but that we are plea|&s;ed by fulfilling them. But it is again&s;t the Purity, Sanctity, and Perfection of the Divine Nature, to conceive any &s;uch thing in Him; and therefore a weakne&s;s in our Judgments to fancy &s;o of him, like that of the <HI>Anthropomor|phites,</HI> that imagined God to be of Humane &s;hape.</P>
<P>Pag. 59. <HI>That God made all things for him&s;elf.</HI> It is ignorance and ill nature that has made &s;ome men abu&s;e this Text to the proving that God acts out of either an humourous or &s;elfi&s;h
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principle, as if he did things merely to plea&s;e him&s;elf as &s;elf, not as he is that &s;overaign <HI>un|&s;elf-inrere&s;&s;ed Goodne&s;s,</HI> and perfect <HI>Rectitude,</HI> which ought to be the mea&s;ure of all things. But the Text implies no &s;uch matter: For if you make <GAP DESC="foreign"> a Compound of a Prepo&s;i|tion and Pronoun, that &s;o it may &s;ignifie [for him&s;elf] which is no more than <HI>propter &s;e,</HI> it then will import that he made all things to &s;a|tisfie his own <HI>Will</HI> and <HI>Plea&s;ure,</HI> who&s;e <HI>Will</HI> and <HI>Plea&s;ure</HI> re&s;ults from the richne&s;s of his e|ternal <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> and <HI>Benignity</HI> of Nature, which is infinite and ineffable, provided always that it be moderated by Wi&s;dom, Ju&s;tice, and De|corum. For from hence his Goodne&s;s is &s;o &s;tinted or modified, that though he has made all things for his own Will and Plea&s;ure who is infinite Goodne&s;s and Benignity, yet there is a day of Evil for the Wicked, as it follows in the Text, becau&s;e they have not walked an&s;wer|ably to the Goodne&s;s that God has offered them; and therefore their puni&s;hment is in behalf of abu&s;ed Goodne&s;s. And <HI>Bayns</HI> ex|pre&s;ly interprets this Text thus: <HI>&V;niver&s;a propter &s;eip&s;um fecit Dominus;</HI> that is, &s;ays he, <HI>Propter bonitatem &s;uam; juxta illud Augu&s;tini, DE DOCTRINA CHRISTIANA, Quia bo|nus est Deus, &s;umus &amp; in quantum &s;umus boni &s;umus.</HI></P>
<P>But <GAP DESC="foreign"> may be a Compound of a Par|ticiple and a Pronoun, and then it may &s;ignifie
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[for them that an&s;wer him] that is, walk an|&s;erably to his Goodne&s;s which he affords them, or [for them that obey him] either way it is very good &s;ence. And then in oppo&s;ition to the&s;e, it is declared, that the Wicked, that is, the Di&s;obedient or De&s;pi&s;ers of his Good|ne&s;s, he has (not made them wicked, but they having made them&s;elves &s;o) appointed them for the day of Evil. For &s;ome &s;uch Verb is to be &s;upplied as is agreeable to the matter, as in that pa&s;&s;age in the P&s;alms; <HI>The Sun &s;hall not burn thee by day, neither the Moon by night.</HI> Where [burn] cannot be repeated, but &s;ome other more &s;uitable Verb is to be &s;upplied.</P>
<P>Chap. 8. pag. 63. <HI>Since all other things are inferiour to the good of Being.</HI> This I &s;uppo&s;e is to be under&s;tood in &s;uch a &s;ence as that &s;ay|ing in <HI>Job, Skin for skin, and all that a man has, will he give for his life.</HI> Otherwi&s;e the condi|tion of Being may be &s;uch, as it were better not to be at all, whatever any dry-fancied Meta|phy&s;icians may di&s;pute to the contrary.</P>
<P>Pag. 67. <HI>Indeed they may be morally immu|table and illap&s;able; but this is Grace, not Nature,</HI> &amp;c. Not unle&s;s the Divine Wi&s;dom has e&s;|&s;entially interwoven it into the natural con|&s;titution of our Souls, that as after &s;uch a time of the exerci&s;e of their Plai&s;tick on the&s;e Ter|re&s;trial Bodies, they, according to the cour&s;e of Nature, emerge into a plain u&s;e of their Rea|&s;on,
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when for a time they little differed from Brutes; &s;o after certain periods of time well improved to the perfecting their Nature in the &s;en&s;e and adherence to Divine things, there may be awakened in them &s;uch a <HI>Divine Plai|&s;tick faculty,</HI> as I may &s;o &s;peak, as may eternally fix them to their Cele&s;tial or Angelical Vehi|cles, that they &s;hall never relap&s;e again. Which Faculty may be al&s;o awakened by the free Grace of the Omnipotent more maturely: Which if it be, Grace and Nature con&s;pire to|gether to make a Soul everla&s;tingly happy. Which <HI>actual Immutability</HI> does no more change the &s;pecies of a Soul, than the <HI>actual</HI> exerci&s;e of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> does after the time of her &s;tupour in Infancy and in the Womb.</P>
<P>Pag. 67. <HI>I doubt not but that it is much better for rational Creatures,</HI> &amp;c. Namely, &s;uch as we experience our humane Souls to be. But for &s;uch kind of Intellectual Creatures as have nothing to do with matter, they be&s;t under|&s;tand the priviledges of their own &s;tate, and we can &s;ay nothing of them. But for us under the conduct of our faith<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ul and victo|rious Captain, the Soul of the promi&s;ed <HI>Me&s;&s;i|as,</HI> through many Conflicts and Tryals to e|merge out of this lap&s;ed &s;tate, and regain again the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of true Holyne&s;s and Vertue, and therewith the Kingdom of Heaven with all its Beauty and Glories, will be &s;uch a gra|tification to us, that we had never been capable
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of &s;uch an exce&s;s thereof, had we not experi|enced the evils of this life, and the vain plea|&s;ures of it, and had the remembrance of the en|dearing &s;ufferings of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, of his Aids and Supports, and of our &s;incere and con&s;cientious adhering to him, of our Conflicts and Victories to be enrolled in the eternal Re|cords of the other World.</P>
<P>Pag. 69. <HI>Wherefore as the Goodne&s;s of God o|bligeth him not to make every Planet a fixt Star, or every Star a Sun,</HI> &amp;c. In all likelihood, as <HI>Galilaeus</HI> had fir&s;t ob&s;erved, every fixed Star is a Sun. But the compari&s;on is framed accor|ding to the conceit of the Vulgar. A thing neither unu&s;ual with, nor misbecoming Philo|&s;ophers.</P>
<P>Pag. 69. <HI>For this were to tye him to Contra|dictions,</HI> viz. to turn one &s;pecifical form or e&s;|&s;ence into another. Matter indeed may re|ceive &s;everal modifications, but is &s;till real Matter, nor can be turned into a Spirit; and &s;o Spirits &s;pecifically different, are untran&s;mu|table one into another, according to the di|&s;tinct Idea's in the eternal Intellect of God. For el&s;e it would imply that their e&s;&s;ential properties were not e&s;&s;ential properties, but loo&s;e adventitious Accidents, and &s;uch as the e&s;&s;ence and &s;ub&s;tance of &s;uch a Spirit, could &s;ub&s;i&s;t as well without as with them, or as well with any others as with the&s;e.</P>
<P>Pag. 69. <HI>That we &s;hould have been made pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|cable
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and liable to defection.</HI> And this may the more ea&s;ily be allowed, becau&s;e this defection is rather the affecting of a le&s;s good, than any pur&s;uing of what is really and ab&s;olutely evil. To cavil again&s;t Providence for creating a Crea|ture of &s;uch a double capacity, &s;eems as unrea|&s;onable as to blame her for maki<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">g <HI>Zoophiton</HI>'s, or rather <HI>Amphibion</HI>'s. And they are both to be permitted to live according to the nature which is given them. For to make a Crea|ture fit for either capacity, and to tye him up to one, is for God to do repugnantly to the Workman&s;hip of his own hands. And how little hurt there is done by experiencing the things of either Element to Souls that are re|claimable, has been hinted above. But tho&s;e that are wilfully ob&s;tinate, and do de&s;pite to the Divine Goodne&s;s, it is not at all incon&s;i|&s;tent with this Goodne&s;s, that they bear the &s;mart of their ob&s;tinacy, as the ingenious Au|thor argues very well.</P>
<P>Chap. 9. pag. 73. <HI>Have a&s;&s;erted it to be impo&s;&s;ible in the nature of the thing,</HI> &amp;c. And this is the mo&s;t &s;olid and unexceptionable An|&s;wer to this Objection, That it is a Repugnan|cy in Nature, that this vi&s;ible World that con|&s;i&s;ts in the motion and &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of things, &s;hould be either <HI>ab aeterno,</HI> or infinite in ex|ten&s;ion. This is made out clearly and amply in Dr. <HI>H. Moore</HI>'s <HI>Enchiridion Metaphy&s;icum,</HI>
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cap. 10. which is al&s;o more briefly toucht up|on in his Adverti&s;ements upon Mr. <HI>Jo&s; Glan|vil</HI>'s Letter written to him upon the occa&s;ion of the Stirs at <HI>Tedworth,</HI> and is printed with the &s;econd Edition of his <HI>Saduci&s;mus Triumpha|tus.</HI> We have now &s;een the mo&s;t con&s;idera|ble Objections again&s;t this Argument from the Goodne&s;s of God for proving the Pre-exi|&s;tence of Souls, produced and an&s;wered by our learned Author.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e I find &s;ome others in an Im|pugner of the Opinion of Pre-exi&s;tence urged with great confidence and clamour, I think it not ami&s;s to bring them into view al&s;o, after I have taken notice of his acknowledgment of the peculiar &s;trength of this Topick, which he does not onely profe&s;s to be in truth the &s;tron|ge&s;t that is made u&s;e of, but &s;eems not at all to envy it its &s;trength, while he writes thus.</P>
<P><HI>That God is infinitely good, is a Po&s;ition as true as him&s;elf; nor can he that is furni&s;hed with the Rea&s;on of a man, offer to di&s;pute it. Good|ne&s;s con&s;titutes his very Deity, making him to be him&s;elf: for could he be arayed with all his other Attributes &s;eparate and ab&s;tract from this, they would be &s;o far from denominating him a God, that he would be but a prodigious Fiend, and ple|nipotentiary Devil.</HI> This is &s;omething a rude and uncourtly A&s;&s;everation, and unluckly di|vul&s;ion of the Godhead into two parts, and calling one part a Devil. But it is not to be
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imputed to any impiety in the Author of <HI>No-Pre-exi&s;tence,</HI> but to the roughne&s;s and boari&s;h|ne&s;s of his &s;tyle, the texture whereof is not onely <HI>Fu&s;tian,</HI> but over-often hard and &s;tiff <HI>Buckram.</HI> He is not content to deny his a&s;|&s;ent to an Opinion, but he mu&s;t give it di&s;|graceful Names. As in his Epi&s;tle to the Rea|der, this darling Opinion of the greate&s;t and divine&s;t Sages of the World vi&s;iting of late the Studies of &s;ome of more than ordinary Wit and learning, he compares it to a Bug and &s;turdy Mendicant, that pretends to be &s;ome Per&s;on of Quality; but he like a skilful Beadle of Beggars, lifting up the skirts of her Veil, as his Phra&s;e is, &s;hews her to be a Coun|terfeit. How this bu&s;ie Beadle would have behaved him&s;elf, if he had had the opportunity of lifting up the skirts of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>'s Veil when he had de&s;cended the Mount, I know not. I dare not undertake for him, but that according to the coar&s;ne&s;s of his phancy he would have mi|&s;taken that lucid Spirit &s;hining through the skin of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>'s face, for &s;ome <HI>fiery Fiend,</HI> as he has &s;omewhere the <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> for an <HI>Hobgobling.</HI> But there is no plea&s;ure in in&s;i|&s;ting upon the rudene&s;&s;es of his &s;tyle; he is be&s;t where he is mo&s;t unlike him&s;elf, as he is here in the re&s;idue of his De&s;cription of the Di|vine Goodne&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>'Tis Goodne&s;s,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>that is the Head and Glory of Gods perfect E&s;&s;ence; and therefore when</HI>
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Mo&s;es <HI>importuned him for a Vi&s;ion of his Glory, he engaged to di&s;play his Goodne&s;s to him.</HI> Could a man think that one that had engaged thus far for the <HI>infinitene&s;s</HI> of Gods Goodne&s;s, for its <HI>Head&s;hip</HI> over the other Attributes, for its <HI>Glory</HI> above the re&s;t, nay for its <HI>Con&s;titutive|ne&s;s</HI> of the very Deity, as if this were the onely <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>God him&s;elf,</HI> the re&s;t of Him divided from this, a prodigious Fiend, or plenipoten|tiary Devil, &s;hould prove the Author of <HI>No-Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> a very contradiction to this De|claration? For to be able to hold <HI>No-Pre-exi|&s;tence,</HI> he mu&s;t de&s;ert the <GAP DESC="foreign"> of God, and betake him&s;elf to the Devil-part of him, as he has rudely called it, to avoid this pregnant proof for Pre-exi&s;tence taken from the <HI>infinite Goodne&s;s of God.</HI> And indeed he has pickt out the very wor&s;t of that black part of God to &s;erve his turn, and that is <HI>Self-will</HI> in the wor&s;t &s;ence. Otherwi&s;e Goodne&s;s making God to be him&s;elf, if it were his true and genuine Self-will, it were the Will of his infinite Good|ne&s;s, and &s;o would nece&s;&s;arily imply Pre-exi|&s;tence.</P>
<P>But to avoid the dint of this Argument, he declares in the very &s;ame Section for the Su|premacy of the <HI>Will</HI> over the <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> of the Divine Nature. Which is manife&s;tly to con|tradict what he &s;aid before, That Goodne&s;s is the <HI>Head</HI> and <HI>Glory</HI> of Gods perfect E&s;&s;ence. For thus <HI>Will</HI> mu&s;t have a <HI>Supremacy</HI> over the
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<HI>Head</HI> of the Deity. So that there will be an Head over an Head, to make the God|head a Mon&s;ter. And what is mo&s;t in&s;uffe|rable of all, That he has cho&s;en an Head out of the <HI>Devil-part</HI> of the Deity, to u&s;e his own rude expre&s;&s;ion, to controul and <HI>lord</HI> it o|ver what is the <HI>onely God him&s;elf,</HI> the re&s;t a Fiend &s;eparate from this, according to his own acknowledgment. The&s;e things are &s;o infi|nitely ab&s;urd, that one would think that he could have no heart to go about to prove them; and yet he adventures on it, and we &s;hall briefly propo&s;e and an&s;wer what he produ|ceth.</P>
<P>And this Supremacy of the <HI>Will,</HI> &s;aith he, over the Goodne&s;s of the Divine Nature, may be made out both by Scripture and other for|cible Evidences. The Scriptures are three; the fir&s;t, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 135. 6. <HI>What&s;oever the Lord plea&s;ed, that did he in heaven, and in the earth, and in the &s;eas, and in all deep places.</HI> Now if we remember but who this Lord is, <HI>viz.</HI> he whom Goodne&s;s makes to be him&s;elf, we may ea&s;ily be a&s;&s;ured what plea&s;ed him, namely, that which his Wi&s;dom di&s;cerned to be the be&s;t to be done; and therefore it is very right, that what&s;oever he plea&s;ed he &s;hould do through|out the whole Univer&s;e. The &s;econd place is <HI>Mat.</HI> 20. 15. <HI>Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?</HI> Yes I trow, every one mu&s;t acknowledge that God has an <GAP DESC="foreign"> (for
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the word is <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the Original) to di&s;po&s;e of what is his own; and indeed all is his. No one has either a right or power to controul him. But this does not prove that he ever di&s;po&s;es of any thing otherwi&s;e than according to his Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s. If his Goodne&s;s be ever limited, it is limited by his Wi&s;dom, but &s;o then as di&s;cerning &s;uch a limitation to be for the be&s;t. So that the mea&s;ure of Wi&s;|doms determination is &s;till Goodne&s;s, the only Head in the Divine Nature, to which all the re&s;t is &s;ubordinate. For that there are diffe|rent degrees of the Communication of the Divine Goodne&s;s in the Univer&s;e, is for the good of the Whole. It is &s;ufficient to hint the&s;e things; it would require a Volume to enlarge upon them. And then for the la&s;t place, <HI>Exod.</HI> 33. 19. <HI>I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.</HI> This onely implies that he does <HI>pro &s;uo jure,</HI> and without any motive from any one but him&s;elf, communicate more of his Goodne&s;s to &s;ome Men or Nations than others. But that his Wi&s;dom has not di&s;co|vered this to be be&s;t for the whole con&s;titu|tion of things, I challenge any one to prove. But of this we &s;hall have occa&s;ion to &s;peak more afterward. The&s;e are the Scriptures.</P>
<P>The other forcible Evidences are the&s;e: The fir&s;t, The late Production of the World. The &s;econd, The patefaction of the Law but to one &s;ingle People, namely, the Jews. The third,
<PB N="59" REF="154">
The timing the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias</HI>'s Nativity, and bringing it to pa&s;s, not in the Worlds Infancy or Ado|le&s;cence, but <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Heb.</HI> 1. 2. in its declining Age. The fourth, the perpetuity of Hell, and interminablene&s;s of tho&s;e Tor|tures which after this life &s;hall ince&s;&s;antly vex the impious. The fifth and la&s;t, God's not perpetuating the Station of Pre-exi&s;tent Souls, and hindering them from lap&s;ing into the&s;e Regions of Sin and Death. The&s;e he pretends to be forcible Evidences of the Soveraignty of Gods Will over his Goodne&s;s, fora&s;much as if the contrary to all the&s;e had been, it had been much more agreeable to the Goodne&s;s of God.</P>
<P>As for the fir&s;t of the&s;e forcible Arguments, we have di&s;armed the &s;trength thereof alrea|dy, by intimating that the World could not be <HI>ab oeterno.</HI> And if it could not be <HI>ab oeter|no,</HI> but mu&s;t commence on this &s;ide of Eter|nity, and be of finite years, I leave to the Op|po&s;er to prove that it has not been created as &s;oon as it could be; and that is &s;ufficient to prove that its late Production is not incon&s;i|&s;tent with that principle, that Gods Goodne&s;s always is the mea&s;ure of his Actions. For &s;up|po&s;e the World of as little continuance as you will, if it was not <HI>ab oeterno,</HI> it was once of as little; and how can we di&s;cern but that this is that very time which &s;eems &s;o little to us?</P>
<P><PB N="60" REF="155">
As for the &s;econd, which &s;eems to have &s;uch force in it, that he appeals to any competent Judge, if it had not been infinitely better that God &s;hould have apertly di&s;pen&s;ed his Ordi|nances to all Mankind, than have committed them onely to <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in &s;o private and clan|cular a manner; I &s;ay&punc; it is impo&s;&s;ible for any one to be a&s;&s;ured that it is at all better. For fir&s;t, If this Priviledge which was peculiar, had been a Favour common to all, it had lo&s;t its enforcement that it had upon that le&s;&s;er num|ber. Secondly, It had had al&s;o the le&s;s &s;ur|prizing power with it upon others that were not Jews, who might after conver&s;e with that Nation, and &s;et a more high price upon the Truths they had travelled for, and were com|municated to them from that People. Third|ly, The nature of the thing was not fitted for the univer&s;ality of Mankind, who could not be congregated together to &s;ee the Wonders wrought by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and receive the Law with tho&s;e awful circum&s;tances from Mount <HI>Sinai</HI> or any Mount el&s;e. Fourthly, All things hap|pened to them in Types, and them<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">elves were a Type of the true <HI>I&s;rael</HI> of God to be re|deemed out of their Captivity under Sin and Satan, which was wor&s;e than any <HI>Aegyptian</HI> Servitude: Wherefore it mu&s;t be &s;ome pecu|liar People which mu&s;t be made &s;uch a Type, not the whole World. Fifthly, Con&s;ider|ing the great load of the Ceremonial Law
<PB N="61" REF="155">
which came along with other more proper Pri|viledges of the Jews, &s;etting one again&s;t ano|ther, and con&s;idering the freedom of other Nations from it, unle&s;s they brought any thing like it upon them&s;elves, the difference of their Conditions will rather &s;eem &s;everal Modifica|tions of the communicated Goodne&s;s of God to his Creatures, than the neglecting of any: Fora&s;much as, &s;ixthly and la&s;tly, though all Nations be in a lap&s;ed condition, yet there are the Reliques of the Eternal Law of Life in them. And that things are no better with a|ny of them than they are, that is a thou&s;and times more rationally re&s;olved into their de|merits in their pre-exi&s;tent &s;tate than into the bare Will of God, that he will have things for many Ages thus &s;qualid and forlorn, merely becau&s;e he will. Which is a Womans Rea&s;on, and which to conceive to belong to God, the Author of <HI>No-Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> has no rea&s;on, un|le&s;s he will alleadge that he was &s;tyled <GAP DESC="foreign"> of the Ancients for this very cau&s;e.</P>
<P>Wherefore the Divine Neme&s;is lying upon the lap&s;ed Souls of men in this Terre&s;trial State, who&s;e &s;everal Delinquencies in the other World and the degrees thereof God alone knows, and according to his Wi&s;dom and Ju|&s;tice di&s;po&s;es of them in this: It is impo&s;&s;ible for any one that is not half crazed in his Intel|lectuals, to pretend that any Acts of Provi|dence that have been &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nce this Stage of the
<PB N="62" REF="156">
Earth was erected, might have been infinitely better otherwi&s;e than they have been, or in|deed better at all.</P>
<LG>
<L>Power, Wi&s;dom, Goodne&s;s, &s;ure did frame</L>
<L>This &V;niver&s;e, and &s;till guide the &s;ame;</L>
<L>But thoughts from Pa&s;&s;ion &s;prung, deceive</L>
<L>Vain Mortals: No man can contrive</L>
<L>A better cour&s;e than what's been run</L>
<L>Since the fir&s;t circuit of the Sun.</L>
</LG>
<P>This Poetical Rapture has more &s;olid truth in it than the dry Dreams and di&s;torted Fan|cies, or Chimerical Metamorpho&s;es of earthly either Philo&s;ophers or Theologs, that pre&s;cin|ding the re&s;t of the Godhead from his Good|ne&s;s, make that remaining part a foul Fiend or Devil; and yet almo&s;t with the &s;ame breath pronounce the <HI>Will</HI> of this Devil of their own making, which is the mo&s;t poy&s;onous part of him, to have a Supremacy other the <GAP DESC="foreign">, o|ver the <HI>Divine Goodne&s;s;</HI> which makes God to be <HI>Him&s;elf,</HI> that is, to be God, and not a ple|nipotentiary Devil. Wherefore we &s;ee from the&s;e few &s;mall hints, (for it were an infinite Argument fully to pro&s;ecute) how feeble or nothing forcible this &s;econd Evidence is.</P>
<P>Now for the third Evidence, The timing of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI>'s Nativity, That it was not in the Infancy of the World, but rather in its decli|ning Age, or in the latter times. In which
<PB N="63" REF="156">
times the <HI>Ancient</HI> of Days, according to his coun&s;el and purpo&s;e, (which the Eternal <HI>Wi&s;|dom</HI> that was to be incarnate a&s;&s;ented and &s;ub|&s;cribed to) &s;ent his Son into the World, the promi&s;ed <HI>Me&s;&s;iah.</HI> This did the <HI>Ancient</HI> of Days and the Eternal <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> agree upon. But oh the immen&s;e Priviledge of <HI>Youth</HI> and Confidence! The Author of <HI>No-Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> &s;ays, it had been better by far, if they had a|greed upon the Infancy of the World. As if this <HI>young</HI> Divine were wi&s;er than the <HI>Ancient</HI> of <HI>Days,</HI> or the <HI>Eternal Wi&s;dom</HI> it&s;elf. I, but he will mode&s;tly reply, That he acknowledges that the Ancient of Days and the Eternal Wi&s;|dom are wi&s;er than he, but that they would not make u&s;e of their Wi&s;dom. They &s;aw as clearly as could be, that it was far better that the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> &s;hould come in the Infancy of the World; but the Father would not &s;end him then, merely becau&s;e he would not &s;end him: That his <HI>Will</HI> might act freely as <HI>mere Will</HI> pre&s;cinded from Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s. This is the plain &s;tate of the bu&s;ine&s;s, and yet ad|mitted by him, who with that open freene&s;s and fulne&s;s profe&s;&s;es, that pre&s;cind the Divine Goodne&s;s from the Godhead, what remains is a prodigious Fiend or Devil. What is then: mere <HI>Will</HI> and <HI>Power</HI> left alone, but a blind <HI>Hurri|cane</HI> of <HI>Hell?</HI> which yet mu&s;t have the Su|premacy, and over-power the Divine Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s it&s;elf. His Zeal again&s;t Pre-exi&s;tence
<PB N="64" REF="157">
has thus infatuated and blinded this young Writers Intellectuals, otherwi&s;e he had not been driven to the&s;e Ab&s;urdities, if he had been plea&s;ed to admit that Hypothe&s;is.</P>
<P>As al&s;o that Wi&s;dom and Ju&s;tice, and Fit|ne&s;s and Decorum attend the Di&s;pen&s;ation of Divine Goodne&s;s; &s;o that it is not to be com|municated to every Subject after the mo&s;t am|ple manner, nor at every time, but at &s;uch times, and to &s;uch Subjects, and in &s;uch mea|&s;ures as, re&s;pecting the whole compages of things, is for the be&s;t. So that Goodne&s;s bears the Soveraignty, and according to that Rule, perpetually all things are admini&s;tred, though there be a different Scene of things and parti|culars in them&s;elves va&s;tly varying in Goodne&s;s and Perfection one from another as the parts of the Body do. And &s;o for Times and Ages, every &s;ea&s;on of the year yield di&s;&s;erent Com|modities: nor are we to expect Ro&s;es in Win|ter, nor Apples and Apricocks in Spring. Now the infinite and incomprehen&s;ible Wi&s;dom of God comprehending the whole entire Scene of his Providence, and what references there are of one thing to another, that this mu&s;t be thus and thus, becau&s;e &s;uch and &s;uch things prece|ded; and becau&s;e &s;uch things are, &s;uch and &s;uch mu&s;t be con&s;equent; which things pa&s;t and to come lie not under our eye: I &s;ay, if this ha&s;ty Writer had con&s;idered this, he need not have been driven to &s;uch a rude &s;olution of
<PB N="65" REF="157">
this pre&s;ent Problem, why the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> came no &s;ooner into the World, <HI>viz.</HI> Merely becau&s;e God willed it &s;hould be &s;o, though it had been far better if it had been otherwi&s;e; but he would have roundly confe&s;&s;ed, that undoubted|ly this was the be&s;t time and the fitte&s;t, though it was pa&s;t his reach to di&s;cover the rea&s;ons of the fitne&s;s thereof.</P>
<P>This as it had been the more mode&s;t, &s;o it had been the more &s;olid &s;olution of this hard Problem. I but then it had not put a bar to this irrefragable Argument from the Goodne&s;s of God, for proving Pre-exi&s;tence: Which he is per&s;waded in his own Con&s;cience is no le&s;s than a demon&s;tration, unle&s;s it be acknowled|ged that the <HI>Will</HI> of God has a <HI>Supremacy</HI> over his Goodne&s;s; and therefore in &s;pight to that abhorred Dogma of Pre-exi&s;tence, he had ra|ther broach &s;uch wild &s;tuff again&s;t the glory of God, than not to purcha&s;e to him&s;elf the &s;weet conceit of a glorious victory over &s;uch an Opinion that he has taken a groundle&s;s toy again&s;t, and had rather adventure upon gro&s;s Bla&s;phemies than entertain it.</P>
<P>The devout P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 36. &s;peaking of the Decrees of God and his Providence over the Creation, <HI>Thy righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>is as the great mountains, thy judgments are a great deep.</HI> And St. <HI>Paul, Rom.</HI> 11. after he has treated of intricate and amazing points, cries out, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Oh the depth of the riches both of the wi&s;dom
<PB N="66" REF="158">
and knowledge of God! How un&s;earchable are his judgments, and his ways pa&s;t finding out!</HI> Now according to the rudene&s;s of our young Wri|ter, there is no &s;uch depth of Wi&s;dom, or un|&s;earchablene&s;s in the Judgments and Decrees of God and his Providences in the World that mo&s;t amaze us, but the rea&s;ons of them lie ve|ry obvious and &s;hallow. Where we fancy that things might have been better otherwi&s;e, (though of never &s;o grand import, as the co|ming of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> is) it is ea&s;ily re&s;olved in|to the <HI>Supremacy</HI> of the <HI>Will</HI> of God, which it has over his <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;s.</HI> He willed it &s;hould be &s;o, becau&s;e he would it &s;hould be &s;o, though it had been &s;ar better if the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> had come &s;ooner. But &s;ee the difference be|twixt an in&s;pired Apo&s;tle, and a young hot|headed Theologi&s;t: This latter re&s;olves the&s;e un&s;earchable and unintelligible Decrees of God and pa&s;&s;ages of Providence, into the mere <HI>Will</HI> of God, <HI>lording</HI> it over the <HI>Divine Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s:</HI> But the Apo&s;tle, by how much more un&s;earchable his Judgments and Decrees are, and the ways of his Providence pa&s;t fin|ding out, the greater he declares the depth of the richne&s;s of his Wi&s;dom, which is &s;o ample, that it reaches into ways and methods of doing for the be&s;t beyond the Under&s;tandings of men. For mo&s;t a&s;&s;uredly, while the depth of the <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> of God is acknowledged to carry on the ways of Providence, it mu&s;t be al&s;o ac|knowledged
<PB N="67" REF="158">
that it acts like it&s;elf, and chu&s;eth &s;uch ways as are be&s;t, and mo&s;t comporting with the Divine Goodne&s;s; or el&s;e it is not an act of Wi&s;dom, but of Humour or Over&s;ight.</P>
<P>But it may be the Reader may have the cu|rio&s;ity to hear briefly what tho&s;e great Argu|ments are, that &s;hould induce this young Wri|ter &s;o confidently to pronounce, that it had been far better that the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> &s;hould have come in the Infancy of the World, than in the times he came. The very quinte&s;&s;ence of the force of his arguing extracted out of the ver|bo&s;ity of his affected &s;tyle, is neither more nor le&s;s than this: That the World be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ore the coming of Chri&s;t, who was to be the Light of the World, was in very great Darkne&s;s; and therefore the &s;ooner he came, the better. But to break the a&s;&s;urance of this Arguer for the more early coming o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Chri&s;t,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, we may take notice out of him&s;elf, chap. 3. <HI>That the Light of Nature is near akin not onely to the</HI> Mo&s;aick <HI>Law, but to the Go&s;pel it&s;elf; and that even then there were the a&s;&s;i|&s;tances of the Holy Gho&s;t to carry men on to &s;uch vertuous Accompli&s;hments as might avail them to eternal Salvation.</HI> This he acknowledges pro|bable, and I have &s;et it down in his own words. Whence con&s;idering what a various Scene of things there was to be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rom the Fall of <HI>Adam</HI> to the end of the World, it became the great and wi&s;e <HI>Dramati&s;t</HI> not to bring upon the Stage
<PB N="68" REF="159">
the be&s;t things in the fir&s;t Act, but to carry on things pompou&s;ly and by degrees; &s;omething like that Saying of <HI>Elias,</HI> Two thou&s;and years under the Light of Nature, two thou&s;and un|der the Law, and then comes the Nativity of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> and after a due &s;pace the happy Millennium, and then the Final Judgment, the compleated Happine&s;s of the Righteous in Heaven, and the Puni&s;hment of the Wicked in Hell-fire. But to ha&s;ten too &s;uddenly to the be&s;t, is to expect Autumn in Spring, and Virility or Old Age in Infancy or Childhood, or the <HI>Cata&s;trophe</HI> of a Comedy in the fir&s;t Act.</P>
<P>Secondly, we may ob&s;erve what a weak Di&s;prover he is of Pre-exi&s;tence, which like a Gyant would break in upon him, were it not that he kept him out by this fal&s;e Sconce of the <HI>Supremacy</HI> of the Divine <HI>Will</HI> over his <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;s;</HI> which Conceit, how odious and impious it is, has been often enough hinted already. But letting Pre-exi&s;tence take place, and admitting that there is, according to Di|vine Providence, an orderly in&s;emination of lap&s;ed Souls into humane Bodies, through the &s;everal Ages of the World, who&s;e lap&s;es had &s;everal circum&s;tantial differences, and that men therefore become differently fitted Ob|jects of Grace and Favour; how ea&s;ie is it to conceive God according to the fitne&s;&s;es of the generality of Souls in &s;uch or &s;uch periods of
<PB N="69" REF="159">
times, as it was more ju&s;t, agreeable, or need|ful for them, &s;o and in &s;uch mea&s;ures to have di&s;pen&s;ed the Gifts of his ever-watchful and all-comprehending Providence to them, for both time and place. This one would think were more tolerable than to &s;ay, That God wills merely becau&s;e he wills; which is the Character of a frail Woman, rather than of a God, or el&s;e, as this Writer him&s;elf acknow|ledges, of a Fiend or Devil. For &s;uch, &s;ays he, is God in the re&s;t of his Attributes, if you &s;eclude his Goodne&s;s. What then is that acti|on which proceeds onely from that part from which Goodne&s;s is &s;ecluded? So that him&s;elf has dug down the Sconce he would entrench him&s;elf in, and lets <HI>Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> come in upon him, whether he will or no, like an armed Giant; whom let him abhor as much as he will, he is utterly unable to re&s;i&s;t.</P>
<P>And thirdly and la&s;tly, Suppo&s;e there were no particular probable account to be given by us, by rea&s;on of the &s;hortne&s;s of our Under|&s;tandings, and the va&s;t fetches of the all-com|prehen&s;ive Providence of God, why the co|ming of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> was no earlier than it was; yet according to that excellent Aphori&s;m in Morality and Politicks, <HI>Optim&egrave; prae&s;umendum est de Magi&s;tratu,</HI> we &s;hould hope, nay be a&s;|&s;ured it was the be&s;t that he came when he did, it being by the appointment of the infinite good and all-wi&s;e God, and cry out with St.
<PB N="70" REF="160">
<HI>Paul, Oh the depth of the riches of both the wi&s;|dom and knowledge of God! How un&s;earchable are his judgments, and his ways pa&s;t finding out!</HI> And in the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>Thy judgments are like a great deep, O Lord, thou pre&s;erve&s;t man and, bea&s;t.</HI> And &s;o acknowledge his Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s in the ordering his Creatures, even there where his ways are to our weak and &s;cant Under&s;tandings mo&s;t inexplicable and un|&s;earchable. Which Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s as we have all rea&s;on to acknowledge in all mat|ters, &s;o mo&s;t of all in matters of the greate&s;t concernment, that there mo&s;t a&s;&s;uredly God wills not thus or thus merely becau&s;e he wills, but becau&s;e his Wi&s;dom di&s;cerns that it is for the be&s;t. And this is &s;ufficient to &s;hew the weakne&s;s of this third Evidence for proving the <HI>Supremacy</HI> of the Divine <HI>Will</HI> over his <HI>Wi&s;|dom</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>His fourth Evidence is, <HI>The Perpetuity of Hell,</HI> and interminablene&s;s of tho&s;e Tortures which after this life vex the Wicked. For, &s;ays he, had the penalties of mens &s;ins here been rated by <HI>pure</HI> Goodne&s;s, free and uncon|trouled by any other principle, it is not pro|bable that they &s;hould have been puni&s;hed by an eternal Calamity, the plea&s;ures of them be|ing &s;o tran&s;ient and fugitive. Thus he argues, and almo&s;t in the very &s;ame words; and there|fore concludes, that the authority of Gods <HI>Will</HI> interpo&s;ed, and <HI>pro &s;uo jure,</HI> having the
<PB N="71" REF="160">
<HI>Supremacy</HI> over his <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> over-&s;wayed the more benign Decree; and <HI>Will,</HI> becau&s;e it would have it &s;o, doomed &s;inners to the&s;e <HI>e|ternal</HI> Torments. But I would ask this Sophi|&s;ter, Did the <HI>Will</HI> of God in good earne&s;t &s;en|tence &s;inners thus in Decree, merely becau&s;e he willed it, not becau&s;e it was either good or ju&s;t? What a black and di&s;mal Reproach is here ca&s;t upon the Divine Maje&s;ty! That he &s;entences &s;inners thus becau&s;e he will, not becau&s;e it is ju&s;t. The &s;ence whereof is, So he will do, right or wrong. But the Patriarch <HI>Abraham</HI> was of another mind, <HI>Shall not the Judge of the whole Earth do right?</HI> This he &s;aid even to Gods face, as I may &s;o &s;peak. Wherefore God doing nothing but what is <HI>just,</HI> does nothing but what is al&s;o <HI>good.</HI> For <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> is nothing but <HI>Goodne&s;s modified.</HI></P>
<P>Nor is it a&s;&s;erted by tho&s;e that make <HI>Good|ne&s;s</HI> the mea&s;ure of Gods Providence, that the modification and moderation thereof is not by his <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Ju&s;tice.</HI> So that this Sophi&s;ter puts [pure] to Goodne&s;s, merely to ob&s;cure the &s;ence, and put a Fallacy upon his Reader. The &s;ins of men here are not rated by <HI>pure</HI> Goodne&s;s, but by that <HI>modification</HI> of <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> which is termed <HI>Ju&s;tice;</HI> which is not a di&s;tinct principle from Goodne&s;s, but a branch thereof, or Goodne&s;s it &s;elf under &s;uch a modification, not mere <HI>Will</HI> acting becau&s;e it will, right or wrong, good or evil. Where|fore
<PB N="72" REF="161">
the &s;tate of the Que&s;tion is not, whe|ther the eternal Torments of Hell are con|&s;i&s;tent with the <HI>pure</HI> Goodne&s;s of God, but with his Ju&s;tice. But if they are eternal mere|ly from his <HI>Will,</HI> without any re&s;pect to <HI>Ju|&s;tice,</HI> his <HI>Will</HI> does will what is infinitely be|yond the bounds of what is ju&s;t, becau&s;e end|le&s;s is infinitely beyond that which has an end. Such gro&s;s Ab&s;urdities does this Oppo&s;er of Pre-exi&s;tence run into, to fetch an Argument from the &s;uppo&s;ititious <HI>Supremacy</HI> of the <HI>Will</HI> of God over his <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>But as touching the Que&s;tion rightly pro|po&s;ed, whether the Perpetuity of Hell to &s;in|ners con&s;i&s;ts with the Ju&s;tice of God, a man ought to be chary and wary how he pronoun|ces in this point, that he &s;lip not into what may prove di&s;advantageous to the Hearer. For there are that will be &s;candalized, and make it &s;erve to an ill end, whether one declare for eternal Torments of Hell, or again&s;t them. Some being ready to conclude from their <HI>E|ternity,</HI> that Religion it&s;elf is a mere <HI>Scarecrow</HI> that frights us with &s;uch an incredible <HI>Mormo;</HI> others to indulge to their Plea&s;ures, becau&s;e the Commination is not frightful enough to deter them from extravagant Enjoyments, if Hell Torments be not eternal. But yet I can|not but deem it a piece of great levity in him that decided the Controver&s;ie, as the comple|&s;ant Par&s;on did that about the May-pole; they
<PB N="73" REF="161">
of his Pari&s;h that were for a May-pole, let them have a May-pole; but they that were not for a May-pole, let them have no May-pole. But this in &s;obriety one may &s;ay, that the u&s;e of <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> in Scripture is indif|ferent to &s;ignifie either that which is properly everla&s;ting, or that which la&s;ts a long time. So that by any immediate infallible Oracle, we are not able to pronounce for the Eternity or Perpetuity of Hell-torments. And the Creeds u&s;e the phra&s;e of Scripture, and &s;o &s;ome may think that they have the &s;ame latitude of interpretation. But it is the &s;afe&s;t to adhere to the &s;ence of the Catholick Church, for tho&s;e that be bewilder'd in &s;uch Speculations.</P>
<P>But what the Writer of <HI>No-Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> ar|gues from his own private Spirit, though it be not inept, yet it is not over-firm and &s;olid. <HI>But that the Penancies of Reprobates are end|le&s;s, I &s;hall ever thus per&s;wade my &s;elf,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>either the Torments of Hell are eternal, or the Felicities of Heaven are but temporary (which I am &s;ure they &s;hall never be:) for the very &s;ame word that is u&s;ed to expre&s;s the permanence of the one, mea&s;ures out the continuance of the other; and if</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>denotes everla&s;ting life, a ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;s that &s;hall never end,</HI> (Mat. 25. ult.) <HI>what can</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>in the &s;ame ver&s;e &s;ignifie, but per|petual puni&s;hment, a mi&s;ery that &s;hall never cea&s;e?</HI> This is pretty hand&s;omly put together, but as I &s;aid, does not conclude firmly what is driven
<PB N="74" REF="162">
at. For it being undeniably true that <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifies as well that which onely is of a <HI>long continuance,</HI> as what is <HI>properly everla&s;ting;</HI> and it being altogether rational, that when words have more &s;ignifications than one, that &s;igni|fication is to be applied that is mo&s;t agreeable to the &s;ubject it is predicated of, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> in that higher &s;ence of property and <HI>ab&s;olutely e|verla&s;ting,</HI> not being applicable to <GAP DESC="foreign">, but upon this Writers mon&s;trous &s;uppo&s;ition that the <HI>Will</HI> of God has a <HI>Supremacy</HI> over his <HI>Wi&s;|dom, Goodne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> (as if the righteous God could act again&s;t his own Con&s;cience, which no hone&s;t man can do) it is plain, that though <GAP DESC="foreign"> in <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifie properly e|verla&s;ting, that there is no nece&s;&s;ity that it &s;hould &s;ignifie &s;o in <GAP DESC="foreign">, but have that other &s;ignification of <HI>long continuance,</HI> though not of <HI>everla&s;tingne&s;s,</HI> and that continuance <HI>&s;o long,</HI> as if <HI>con&s;idered,</HI> would effectually rouze any man out of his &s;ins; and <HI>Eternity</HI> not <HI>con&s;idered,</HI> will not move him. This one would think were enough to repre&s;s the confi|dence of this young Writer.</P>
<P>But I will adde &s;omething more out of his fellow <HI>Anti-Pre-exi&s;tentiary.</HI> That <HI>Commina|tions</HI> are not, though <HI>Promi&s;es</HI> be obligatory. Fora&s;much as in <HI>Comminations</HI> the <HI>Comminator</HI> is the <HI>Creditor,</HI> and he that is menaced the <HI>Debtor</HI> that owes the puni&s;hment (with which that Latine Phra&s;e well agrees, <HI>dare poenas)</HI>
<PB N="75" REF="162">
but in <HI>Promi&s;es,</HI> he that promi&s;eth becomes <HI>Debtor,</HI> and he to whom the Promi&s;e is made, <HI>Creditor.</HI> Whence the <HI>Promi&s;er</HI> is plainly o|bliged to make good his Promi&s;e, as being the <HI>Debtor:</HI> But the <HI>Comminator,</HI> as being the <HI>Cre|ditor,</HI> is not obliged to exact the puni&s;hment, it being in the power of any <HI>Creditor</HI> to remit the Debt owing him if he will. Wherefore in this Commination of <HI>eternal fire,</HI> or everla&s;ting puni&s;hment, though <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifie here <HI>proper|ly everla&s;ting,</HI> as well as in <HI>everla&s;ting life,</HI> yet becau&s;e this latter is a <HI>Promi&s;e,</HI> the other onely a <HI>Commination,</HI> it does not follow, that as &s;urely as the Righteous &s;hall be rewarded with ever|la&s;ting life, &s;o &s;urely &s;hall the Wicked be pu|ni&s;hed with everla&s;ting fire, in the mo&s;t pro|per and highe&s;t extent of the &s;ignification of the word. Becau&s;e God in his <HI>Comminations</HI> to the Wicked is onely a <HI>Creditor,</HI> and has &s;till a right and power to remit either part or the whole Debt; but to the Righteous, by vertue of his <HI>Promi&s;e,</HI> he becomes a <HI>Debtor,</HI> and cannot recede, but mu&s;t punctually keep his word.</P>
<P>To all which I adde this Challenge: Let this Writer, or any el&s;e if they can, demon|&s;trate that a Soul may not behave her&s;elf &s;o perver&s;ely, ob&s;tinately, and de&s;pightfully a|gain&s;t the Spirit of Grace, that &s;he may de|&s;erve to be made an everla&s;ting Hack&s;tock of the Divine <HI>Neme&s;is,</HI> even for ever and ever. And if &s;he de&s;erve it, it is but ju&s;t that &s;he have
<PB N="76" REF="163">
it; and if it be ju&s;t, it is likewi&s;e good. For <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> is nothing el&s;e but <HI>Goodne&s;s modified</HI> in &s;uch &s;ort, as <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and &s;en&s;e of <HI>Decorum</HI> &s;ees fitte&s;t. But the Election of <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> being al|ways for the be&s;t, all things con&s;idered, it is plain that Ju&s;tice and the execution thereof, is for the be&s;t; and that &s;o <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> not <HI>mere Will</HI> upon pretence of having a <HI>Supremacy</HI> o|ver <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> would be the mea&s;ure of this &s;en|tencing &s;uch obdurate &s;inners to eternal pu|ni&s;hment. And this eternal puni&s;hment as it is a piece of vindicative Ju&s;tice upon the&s;e ob|durate &s;inners, &s;o it naturally contributes to the e&s;tabli&s;hment of the Righteous in their Cele&s;tial Happine&s;s. Which, this Oppo&s;er of Pre-exi&s;tence objects &s;omewhere, if Souls ever fell from, they may fall from it again. But the&s;e eternal Torments of Hell, if they needed it, would put a &s;ure bar thereto. So that the <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> al&s;o of God is upon this account concerned in the eternal puni&s;hments of Hell, as well as his <HI>Ju&s;tice.</HI> That it be to the unreclaimable, as that <HI>Orphick Hemi&s;tichi|um</HI> calls it,
<Q><L>&mdash;<GAP DESC="foreign">.</L></Q></P>
<P>The fifth and la&s;t forcible Argument, as he calls them, for the proving the Soveraignty of Gods Will over his Goodne&s;s, is this. If Gods <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> &s;aith he, be not under the command of his <HI>Will,</HI> but does always what is be&s;t, why did it not perpetuate the Station of Pre-exi|&s;tent
<PB N="77" REF="163">
Souls, and hinder us (if ever we were happy in a &s;ublimer &s;tate) from lap&s;ing into the&s;e Regions of Sin and Death? But who does not at fir&s;t &s;ight di&s;cern the weakne&s;s of this Allegation? For it is plainly <GAP DESC="foreign">, an ab&s;urd thing, and contrary to Rea&s;on, to create &s;uch a &s;pecies of Being, who&s;e nature is free and mutable, and at the fir&s;t da&s;h to dam up or &s;top the exerci&s;e of that freedom and ca|pacity of change, by confining it to a fixt Sta|tion. As ridiculous as to &s;uppo&s;e a living Creature made with wings and feet, and yet that the Maker thereof &s;hould take &s;pecial care it &s;hould never &s;lie nor go. And &s;o like|wi&s;e, that the mere making of &s;uch an Order of Beings as have a freedom of Will, and choice of their Actions, that this is misbecoming the Goodne&s;s of God, is as dull and idiotical a con|ceit, and &s;uch as implies that God &s;hould have made but one kind of Creature, and that the mo&s;t ab&s;olutely and immutably happy that can be, or el&s;e did not act according to his Goodne&s;s, or for the be&s;t: Which is &s;o obvi|ous a Fal&s;hood, that I will not confute it. But it is not hard to conceive that he making &s;uch a free-willed Creature as the Souls of men, <HI>&s;i|mul cum mundo condito,</HI> and that in an happy condition, and yet not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ixing them in that Station, may excellently well accord with the <HI>Soveraignty</HI> of his <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> nor any one be con&s;trained to have recour&s;e to the <HI>Supremacy</HI>
<PB N="78" REF="164">
of his <HI>Will</HI> over his <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> as if he did it becau&s;e he would do it, and not becau&s;e it was be&s;t.</P>
<P>For what can this freedom of Will con&s;i&s;t in &s;o much as in a temptablene&s;s by other Ob|jects that are of an inferiour nature, not &s;o di|vine and holy as the other, to which it were the &s;ecurity of the Soul to adhere with all due con|&s;tancy, and therefore her duty. But in that &s;he is temptable by other Objects, it is a &s;igne that her pre&s;ent enjoyment of the more Di|vine and Heavenly Objects, are not received of her according to their excellency, but ac|cording to the mea&s;ure and capacity of her pre&s;ent &s;tate, which though very happy, may be improved at the long run, and in an orderly &s;eries of times and things, whether the Soul lap&s;e into &s;in or no. For acce&s;&s;ion of new improvements increa&s;eth Happine&s;s and Joy. Now therefore, I &s;ay, &s;uppo&s;e &s;everal, and that great numbers, even innumerable myriads of pre-exi&s;tent Souls, to lap&s;e into the Regions of Sin and Death, provided that they do not &s;in perver&s;ely and ob&s;tinately, nor do de&s;pight to the Spirit of Grace, nor refu&s;e the advantage|ous offers that Divine Providence makes them even in the&s;e &s;ad Regions, why may not their once having de&s;cended hither tend to their greater enjoyment, when they &s;hall have re|turned to their pri&s;tine Station? And why may not the &s;pecifical nature of the Soul be
<PB N="79" REF="164">
&s;uch, that it be e&s;&s;entially interwoven into our Being, that after a certain period of times or ages, whether &s;he &s;in or no, &s;he may arrive to a fixedne&s;s at la&s;t in her heavenly Station with greater advantage to &s;uch a Creature, than if &s;he had been fixed in that &s;tate at fir&s;t.</P>
<P>The thing may &s;eem lea&s;t probable in tho&s;e that de&s;cend into the&s;e Regions of Sin and Mortality. But in tho&s;e that are not ob&s;ti|nate and refractorie, but clo&s;e with the gra|cious means that is offered them for their re|coverie, their having been here in this lower State, and retaining the memorie (as doubt|le&s;s they do) of the tran&s;actions of this Ter|re&s;trial Stage, it naturally enhances all the en|joyments of the pri&s;tine felicitie they had lo&s;t, and makes them for ever have a more deep and vivid re&s;entment of them. So that through the richne&s;s of the Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s of God, and through the Merits and conduct of the Captain of their Salvation, our Saviour Je|&s;us Chri&s;t, they are, after the &s;trong conflicts here with &s;in and the corruptions of this lower Region, made more than Conquerours, and greater gainers upon the lo&s;&s;es they &s;u&s;tained before from their own folly. And in this mo&s;t advantageous &s;tate of things, they be|come Pillars in the Temple of God, there to remain for ever and ever. So that unle&s;s &s;tray|ing Souls be exceedingly perver&s;e and ob&s;ti|nate, the exitus of things will be but as in a
<PB N="80" REF="165">
<HI>Tragick Comedy,</HI> and their perver&s;ene&s;s and ob|&s;tinacie lies at their own doors: for tho&s;e that finally mi&s;carrie, who&s;e number this confident Writer is to prove to be &s;o con&s;iderable that the enhanced happine&s;s of <HI>the &s;tanding</HI> part of pre-exi&s;tent Souls and <HI>the recovered</HI> does not far preponderate the infelicitie of the others condition. Which if he cannot do, as I am confident he cannot, he mu&s;t acknowledge, That God in not forcibly <HI>fixing</HI> pre-exi&s;tent Souls in the &s;tate they were fir&s;t created, but leaving them to them&s;elves, acted not from the <HI>Supremacy</HI> of his <HI>Will</HI> over his <HI>Goodne&s;s,</HI> but did what was <HI>best,</HI> and according to that Soveraign Principle of Goodne&s;s in the De|itie.</P>
<P>And now for that &s;nitling Dilemma of this eager Oppo&s;er of Pre-exi&s;tence, touching the freedom of acting and mutabilitie in humane Souls, whether this mutabilitie be a <HI>Specifick</HI> properly and e&s;&s;ential to them, or a &s;epa|rable <HI>Accident.</HI> For if it were e&s;&s;ential, &s;ays he, then how was Chri&s;t a perfect man, his humane nature being ever void of that lap&s;a|bilitie which is e&s;&s;ential to humanitie? and how come men to retain their &s;pecifick nature &s;till, that are tran&s;lated to Cele&s;tial happine&s;s, and made unalterable in the condition they then are? To this I an&s;wer, That the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> will admit, that the Soul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> was created as the re&s;t, though in an
<PB N="81" REF="165">
happie condition, yet in a lap&s;able; and that it was his peculiar merit, in that he &s;o faithfully, con&s;tantly, and entirely adhered to the Divine Principle, incomparably above what was done by others of his Cla&s;&s;is, notwith&s;tanding that he might have done otherwi&s;e; and therefore they will be forward to extend that of the Au|thor to the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> chap. 1. v. 8. <HI>(Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the Scepter of Righ|teou&s;ne&s;s is the Scepter of thy Kingdom. Thou ha&s;t loved Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and hated Iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the Oyl of Gladne&s;s above thy Fellows)</HI> to his behaviour in his pre-exi&s;tent &s;tate, as well as in this. And whenever the Soul of Chri&s;t did exi&s;t, if he was like us in all things, &s;in one|ly excepted, he mu&s;t have a capacitie of &s;in|ning, though he would not &s;in; that capacitie not put into act being no &s;in, but an Argu|ment of his Vertue, and &s;uch as if he was al|ways devoid of, he could not be like us in all things, &s;in onely excepted. For <HI>po&s;&s;e peccare non e&s;t peccatum.</HI></P>
<P>And as for humane Souls changing their Species in their unalterable heavenly happi|ne&s;s, the Species is not then changed, but per|fected and compleated; namely, that facultie or mea&s;ure of it in their <HI>Pla&s;tick,</HI> e&s;&s;entially la|titant there, is by the Divine Grace &s;o awaken|ed, after &s;uch a &s;eries of time and things, which they have experienced, that now they are
<PB N="82" REF="166">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">irmly united to an heavenly Body or ethereal Vehicle for ever. And now we need &s;ay lit|tle to the other member of the Dilemma, but to declare, that free will, or mutability in hu|mane Souls, is no <HI>&s;eparable Accident,</HI> but of the e&s;&s;ential contexture of them; &s;o as it might have its turn in the &s;eries of things. And how con&s;i&s;tent it was with the Goodne&s;s of God and his Wi&s;dom, not to &s;uppre&s;s it in the beginning, has been &s;ufficiently intimated a|bove. Wherefore now fora&s;much as there is no pretext that either the <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> or <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> of God &s;hould &s;treighten the time of the crea|tion of humane Souls, &s;o that their exi&s;tence may not commence with that of Angels, or of the Univer&s;e, and that this figment of the <HI>Su|premacy</HI> of Gods mere <HI>Will</HI> over his other At|tributes is blown away, it is manife&s;t that the Argument for the Pre-exi&s;tence of Souls drawn from the Divine Goodne&s;s, holds firm and ir|refragable again&s;t whatever Oppo&s;ers.</P>
<P>We have been the more copious on this Ar|gument, becau&s;e the Oppo&s;er and others look upon it as the &s;tronge&s;t proof the <HI>Pre exi&s;ten|tiaries</HI> produce for their Opinion. And the other Party have nothing to &s;et again&s;t it but a fictitious <HI>Supremacy</HI> of the <HI>Will</HI> of God over his <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> and other Attributes. Which be|ing their onely Bulwark, and they taking San|ctuary nowhere but here, in my apprehen&s;ion they plainly herein give up the cau&s;e, and e&s;ta|bli&s;h
<PB N="83" REF="166">
the Opinion which they &s;eem to have &s;uch an antipathy again&s;t. But it is high time now to pa&s;s to the next Chapter.</P>
<P>Chap. 10. p. 75. <HI>To have contracted &s;trong and inveterate habits to Vice and Lewdne&s;s, and that in various manners and degrees,</HI> &amp;c. To the un|bya&s;&s;ed this mu&s;t needs &s;eem a con&s;iderable Ar|gument, e&s;pecially when the Parties thus irre|claimably profligate from their Youth, &s;ome as to one Vice, others to another, are found &s;uch in equal circum&s;tances with others, and advantages, to be good; born of the &s;ame Pa|rents, educated in the &s;ame Family, and the like. Wherefore having the &s;ame bodily Ex|traction, and the &s;ame advantages of Educati|on, what mu&s;t make this great difference as they grow up in the Body, but that their Souls were different before they came into it? And how &s;hould they have &s;uch a va&s;t difference in the proclivity to Vice, but that they lived be|fore in the &s;tate of Pre-exi&s;tence, and that &s;ome were much deeper in rebellion again&s;t God and the Divine Rea&s;on, than others were, and &s;o brought their different conditions with them into the&s;e Terre&s;trial Bodies?</P>
<P>Pag. 75. <HI>Then how a Swallow &s;hould return to her &ograve;ld trade of living after her Winter &s;leep,</HI> &amp;c. Indeed the Swallow has the advantages of Memory, which the incorporate Soul has not in her incorporation into a Terre&s;trial
<PB N="84" REF="167">
Body after her &s;tate of <HI>Silence.</HI> But the vital inclinations, which are mainly if not onely fit|ted in the <HI>Pla&s;tick,</HI> being not onely revived, but (&s;ignally vitious of them&s;elves) revived with advantage, by rea&s;on of the corruption of this coar&s;e earthly Body into which the Soul is in|corporate, they cannot fail of di&s;covering them&s;elves in a mo&s;t &s;ignal manner, without any help of memory, but from the mere preg|nancie of a corrupt Body, and formerly more than ordinarily debauched <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> in the &s;tate of Pre-exi&s;tence.</P>
<P>Pag. 76. <HI>Whenas others are as fatally &s;et a|gain&s;t the Opinions,</HI> &amp;c. And this is done, as the ingenious Author takes notice, even where neither Education nor Cu&s;tom have interpo&s;ed to &s;ophi&s;ticate their Judgments or Sentiments. Nay, it is mo&s;t certain, that they &s;ometime have Sentiments and entertain Opinions quite contrary to their Education. So that that is but a &s;light account, to re&s;tore this Phaenome|non into Education and Cu&s;tom, whenas Opi|nions are entertained and &s;tiffly maintained in de&s;pight of them. This I mu&s;t confe&s;s implies that the aerial Inhabitants philo&s;ophize, but conjecturally onely, as well as the Inhabitants of the Earth. And it is no wonder that &s;uch Spirits as are lap&s;ed in their <HI>Morals,</HI> &s;hould be at a lo&s;s al&s;o in their <HI>Intellectuals&punc;</HI> and though they have a de&s;ire to know the truth in Specu|lations, it &s;uiting &s;o well with their pride, that yet they &s;hould be &s;ubject to various errours
<PB N="85" REF="167">
and hallucinations as well as we, and that there &s;hould be different, yea oppo&s;ite Schools of Philo&s;ophie among them. And if there be a|ny credit to be given to <HI>Cardans</HI> &s;tory of his Father <HI>Facius Cardanus,</HI> things are thus <HI>de fa|cto</HI> in the aereal Regions. And two of the Spi|rits which <HI>Facius Cardanus</HI> &s;aw in that Vi&s;ion (left upon Record by him, and of which he often told his Son <HI>Hieronymus</HI> while he was living) were two Profe&s;&s;ors of Philo&s;ophie in different Academies, and were of different Opinions; one of them apertly profe&s;&s;ing him&s;elf to be an <HI>Aven-Roi&s;t.</HI> The &s;tory is too long to in&s;ert here. See Dr. <HI>H. Moore</HI> his <HI>Im|mortality of the Soul,</HI> book 3. chap. 17.</P>
<P>So that lap&s;ed Souls philo&s;ophizing in their Aerial State, and being divided into Sects, and con&s;equently maintaining their different or oppo&s;ite Opinions with heat and affection which reaches the <HI>Pla&s;tick,</HI> this may leave a great propen&s;ion in them to the &s;ame Opini|ons here, and make them almo&s;t as prone to &s;uch and &s;uch Errours, as to &s;uch and &s;uch Vi|ces. This, I &s;uppo&s;e, the ingenious Author propounds as an Argument credible and plau|&s;ible, though he does not e&s;teem it of like force with tho&s;e he produced before. Nor does his Oppo&s;er urge any thing to any purpo&s;e again&s;t it. The main thing is, That the&s;e Propen&s;i|ties to &s;ome one Opinion are not univer&s;al, and blended with the con&s;titution of every
<PB N="86" REF="168">
per&s;on, but are thin &s;own&punc; and grow up &s;pa|ringly. Where there are five, &s;ays he, natu|rally bent to any one Opinion, there are ma|ny millions that are free to all. If &s;ome, &s;ays he, de&s;cend into this life big with aptne&s;&s;es and proclivities to peculiar Theories, why then &s;hould not all, &s;uppo&s;ing they pre-exi&s;ted to|gether, do the like? As if all in the other Ae|real State were Profe&s;&s;ors of Philo&s;ophie, or zealous Followers of them that were. The &s;olution of this difficulty is &s;o ea&s;ie, that I need not in&s;i&s;t on it.</P>
<P>Pag. 78. <HI>Were this difference about &s;en&s;ibles, the influence of the body might then be &s;u&s;pected for a cau&s;e,</HI> &amp;c. This is very rationally allead|ged by our Author, and yet his Antagoni&s;t has&punc; the face from the ob&s;ervation of the di|ver&s;ity of mens Palates and Appetites, of their being differently affected by &s;uch and &s;uch &s;trains of Mu&s;ick, &s;ome being plea&s;ed with one kind of Melodie, and others with another, &s;ome pl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;ed with Aromatick Odours, others offended with them, to rea&s;on thus: If the Bodie can thus cau&s;e us to love and di&s;like <HI>Sen|&s;ibles,</HI> why not as well to approve and di&s;like <HI>Opinions</HI> and <HI>Theories?</HI> But the rea&s;on is ob|vious why not; becau&s;e the liking or di&s;liking of the&s;e Sen&s;ibles depends upon the grateful or ungrateful motion of the Nerves of the Bodie, which may be otherwi&s;e con&s;tituted or quali|fied in &s;ome complexions than in other &s;ome
<PB N="87" REF="168">
But for Philo&s;ophical Opinions and Theories' what have they to do with the motion of the Nerves? It is the Soul her&s;elf that judges of tho&s;e ab&s;tractedly from the Sen&s;es, or any u&s;e of the Nerves or corporeal Organ. If the dif|ference of our Judgment in Philo&s;ophical The|ories be re&s;olvible into the mere con&s;titution of our Bodie, our Under&s;tanding it&s;elf will ha|zard to be re&s;olved into the &s;ame Principle al|&s;o: And Bodie will prove the onely difference betwixt Men and Brutes. We have more in|tellectual Souls becau&s;e we have better Bodies, which I hope our Authors Antagoni&s;t will not allow.</P>
<P>Pag. 78. <HI>For the Soul in her first and pure nature has no Idio&s;yncra&s;ies,</HI> &amp;c. Whether there may not be certain different Characters proper to &s;uch and &s;uch Cla&s;&s;es of Souls, but all of them natural and without blemi&s;h, and this for the better order of things in the Uni|ver&s;e, I will not ra&s;hly decide in the Negative. But as the Author him&s;elf &s;eems to in&s;inuate, if there be any &s;uch, they are not &s;uch as fatal|ly determine Souls to fal&s;e and erroneous ap|prehen&s;ions. For that would be a corruption and a blemi&s;h in the very natural Character. Wherefore if the Soul in Philo&s;ophical Specu|lations is fatally determined to fal&s;hood in this life, it is credible it is the effect of its being in|ured thereto in the other.</P>
<P>Pag. 79. <HI>Now to &s;ay that all this variety
<PB N="88" REF="169">
proceeds primarily from the mere temper of our Bodies,</HI> &amp;c. This Argument is the le&s;s valid for Pre-exi&s;tence, I mean that which is drawn from the wonderful variety of our Genius's, or natural inclinations to the employments of life, becau&s;e we cannot be a&s;&s;ured but that the Divine Providence may have e&s;&s;entially, as it were, impre&s;&s;ed &s;uch Cla&s;&s;ical Characters on humane Souls, as I noted before. And be|&s;ides, if that be true which <HI>Menander</HI> &s;ays,
<Q><L><GAP DESC="foreign"></L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L></Q>
That <HI>every man, as &s;oon as he is born, has a Geni|us appointed him to be his In&s;tructer and Guide of his Life:</HI> That &s;ome are carried with &s;uch an impetus to &s;ome things rather than others, may be from the in&s;tigations of his a&s;&s;i&s;ting <HI>Genius.</HI> And for that Objection of the Au|thor's Antagoni&s;t again&s;t his Opinion touch|ing tho&s;e inclinations to Trades, (which may equally concern this Hypothe&s;is of <HI>Menander)</HI> that it would then be more univer&s;al, every one having &s;uch a <HI>Genius;</HI> this truth may be &s;mothered by the putting young people pro|mi&s;cuou&s;ly to any Trade, without ob&s;erving their Genius. But the <HI>Chine&s;es</HI> &s;uppo&s;e this truth, they commonly &s;hewing a Child all the Employs of the Citie, that he may make his own choice before they put him to any.</P>
<P>But if the Opinion of <HI>Menander</HI> be true, that
<PB N="89" REF="169">
every man has his guardian <HI>Genius,</HI> under who&s;e conduct he lives; the Merchant, the Mu&s;ician, the Plowman, and the re&s;t; it is ma|nife&s;t that the&s;e Genii cannot but receive con|&s;iderable impre&s;&s;ions of &s;uch things as they guide their Clients in. And pre-exi&s;tent Souls in their aereal e&s;tate being of the &s;ame nature with the&s;e Daemons or Genii, they are capable of the &s;ame Employment, and &s;o tincture them&s;elves deep enough with the affairs of tho&s;e parties they pre&s;ide over. And there|fore when they them&s;elves, after the &s;tate of <HI>Silence,</HI> are incorporated into earthly Bodies, they may have a pronene&s;s from their former tincture to &s;uch methods of life as they lived over whom they did pre&s;ide. Which quite &s;poils the be&s;t Argument our Author's Anta|goni&s;t has again&s;t this Topick; which is, That there are &s;everal things here below which the Geniu&s;&s;es of men pur&s;ue and follow with the hotte&s;t cha&s;e, which have no &s;imilitude with the things in the other &s;tate, as Planting, Buil|ding, Husbandrie, the working of Manufa|ctures, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> This be&s;t Argument of his, by <HI>Menander</HI>'s Hypothe&s;is, which is hard to con|fute, is quite defeated.</P>
<P>And to deny nothing to this Oppo&s;er of Pre-exi&s;tence which is his due, him&s;elf &s;eems un|&s;atisfied, in re&s;olving the&s;e odd Phaenomena in|to the temper of Bodie. And therefore at la&s;t hath recour&s;e to a <HI>&s;ecret Cau&s;ality,</HI> that is, to
<PB N="90" REF="170">
he knows not what. But at la&s;t he pitches upon &s;ome &s;uch Principle as that whereby the Birds build their Ne&s;t, the Spider weaves her Webs, the Bees make their Combs, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Some &s;uch thing he &s;ays <HI>(though he cannot think it that prodigious Hobgoblin</HI> the Spirit of Na|ture) may produce the&s;e &s;trange effects, may bya&s;s al&s;o the fancies of men in making choice of their Employments and Occupations. If it be not the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> then it mu&s;t be that Cla&s;&s;ical Character I &s;poke of above. But if not this, nor the preponderancies of the Pre-exi&s;tent &s;tate, nor <HI>Menander</HI>'s Hypothe&s;is, the <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> will bid the faire&s;t for it of a|ny be&s;ides, for determining the inclinations of all living Creatures in the&s;e Regions of Gene|ration, as having in it&s;elf <HI>vitally,</HI> though not <HI>intellectually,</HI> all the Laws of the Divine Pro|vidence implanted into its e&s;&s;ence by God the Creator of it. And &s;peaking in the Ethnick Dialect, the &s;ame de&s;cription may belong to it that <HI>Varro</HI> gives to their God Genius. <HI>Genius est Deus qui proepo&s;itus est, ac vim habet omnium rerum gignendarum,</HI> and that is the Genius of e|very Creature that is congenit to it in vertue of its generation. And that there is &s;uch a <HI>Spi|rit of Nature</HI> (not a God, as <HI>Varro</HI> vainly makes it, but an unintelligent Creature) to which belongs the <HI>Na&s;cency</HI> or <HI>Generation</HI> of things, and has the management of the whole matter of the Univer&s;e, is copiou&s;ly proved to
<PB N="91" REF="170">
be the Opinion of the Noble&s;t and Anciente&s;t Philo&s;ophers, by the learned Dr. <HI>R. Cudworth</HI> in his <HI>Sy&s;tem of the Intellectual World,</HI> and is demon&s;trated to be a true Theorem in Philo|&s;ophie by Dr. <HI>H. Moore</HI> in his <HI>Euchiridion Me|taphy&s;icum,</HI> by many, and tho&s;e irrefutable Ar|guments; and yet I dare &s;ay both can ea&s;ily pardon the mi&s;take and bluntne&s;s of this rude Writer, nor are at all &s;urprized at it as a No|veltie, that any ignorant rural <HI>Hobthur&s;t</HI> &s;hould call the <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> (a thing &s;o much be|yond his capacitie to judge of) a prodigious <HI>Hobgoblin.</HI></P>
<P>But to conclude, be it &s;o that there may be other cau&s;es be&s;ides the pri&s;tine inurements of the Pre-exi&s;tent Soul, that may &s;omething for|cibly determine her to one cour&s;e of life here, yet when &s;he is mo&s;t forcibly determined, if there be &s;uch a thing as Pre-exi&s;tence, this may be rationally &s;uppo&s;ed to concur in the effici|encie. But that it is not &s;o &s;trong an Argu|ment as others to prove Pre-exi&s;tence, I have hinted alreadie.</P>
<P>Pag. 79. <HI>For tho&s;e that are most like in the Temper, Air, Complexion of their Bodies,</HI> &amp;c. If this prove true, and I know nothing to the contrarie, this va&s;t difference of Genius's, were it not for the Hypothe&s;is of their Cla&s;&s;ical Character imprinted on Souls at their very creation, would be a con&s;iderably tight Argu|ment. But certainly it is more hone&s;t than
<PB N="92" REF="171">
for the avoiding Pre-exi&s;tence to re&s;olve the Phaenomenon into a <HI>&s;ecret Cau&s;ality,</HI> that is to &s;ay, into one knows not what.</P>
<P>Pag. 82. <HI>There being now no other way left but Pre-exi&s;tence,</HI> &amp;c. This is a ju&s;t excu&s;e for his bringing in any Argument by way of overplus that is not &s;o apodictically conclu|ding. If it be but &s;uch as will look like a plau|&s;ible &s;olution of a Phaenomenon (as this of &s;uch a va&s;t difference of Genius's) Pre-exi|&s;tence once admitted, or otherwi&s;e undeniably demon&s;trated, the propo&s;ing thereof &s;hould be accepted with favour.</P>
<P>Chap. 11. pag. 85. <HI>And we know our Savi|our and his Apo&s;tles have given credit to that Tran&s;lation,</HI> &amp;c. And it was the authentick Text with the Fathers of the Primitive Church. And be&s;ides this, if we read according to the Hebrew Text, there being no object of <HI>Job</HI>'s knowledge expre&s;&s;ed, this is the mo&s;t ea&s;ie and natural &s;ence: <HI>Knowe&s;t thou that thou wa&s;t then, and that the number of thy days are many?</HI> This therefore was reckoned among&s;t the re&s;t of his ignorances, that though he was created &s;o early, he now knew nothing of it. And this ea&s;ie &s;ence of the Hebrew Text, as well as that Ver&s;ion of the Septuagint, made the Jews draw it in to the countenancing of the Tra|dition of the <GAP DESC="foreign">, that is, the Pre-exi&s;tence of Souls, as <HI>Grotius</HI> has noted of them.</P>
<P><PB N="93" REF="171">
Pag. 85. <HI>As reads a very credible Ver&s;ion. R. Mena&s;&s;e Ben I&s;rael</HI> reads it &s;o: [I gave thee Wi&s;dom,] which Ver&s;ion, if it were &s;ure and authentick, this place would be fit for the de|fence of the Opinion it is produced for. But no Interpreters be&s;ides, that I can find, follow|ing him, nor any going before him, whom he might follow, I ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;s the place &s;eems not of force enough to me to infer the conclu&s;ion.</P>
<P REND="small">He read, I &s;uppo&s;e, <GAP DESC="foreign"> in <HI>Piel,</HI> whence he tran&s;lated it,
<HI>Indidi tibi Sapientiam;</HI> but the re&s;t read it in <HI>Cal.</HI></P>
<P>Pag. 86. <HI>And methinks that pa&s;&s;age of our Sa|viours Prayer, Father, glorifie me with the glorie I had before the World began,</HI> &amp;c. This Text, without exceeding great violence, cannot be evaded. As for that of <HI>Grotius</HI> interpreting [that I had] <HI>that which was intended for me to have,</HI> though it make good &s;ence, yet it is &s;uch Grammar as that there is no School-boy but would be a&s;hamed of it; nor is there, for all his pretences, any place in Scripture to countenance &s;uch an extravagant Expo&s;ition by way of Paralleli&s;m, as it may appear to a|ny one that will compare the places which he alleadges, with this; which I leave the Rea|der to do at his lei&s;ure. Let us con&s;ider the Context, <HI>Joh. 17. 4. I have glorified thee upon earth,</HI> during this my Pilgrimage and ab&s;ence from thee, being &s;ent hither by thee. <HI>I have fini&s;hed the work which thou gavest me to do,</HI>
<PB N="94" REF="172">
and for the doing of which I was &s;ent, and am thus long ab&s;ent. <HI>And now, O Father, glorifie me,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>apud teip&s;um,</HI> in thine own pre|&s;ence, <HI>with the glorie which I had before the world was,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>apud te,</HI> or in thy pre&s;ence. What can be more expre&s;&s;ive of a Glorie which Chri&s;t had <HI>apud Patrem,</HI> or at his Fathers home, or in his pre&s;ence before the world was, and from which for &s;uch a time he had been ab&s;ent?</P>
<P>Now for others that would &s;alve the bu&s;i|ne&s;s by communication of Idioms, I will &s;et down the words of an ingenious Writer that goes that way: <HI>Tho&s;e Predicates,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>that in a &s;trict and vigorous acception agreed onely to his Divine Nature, might by a communication of Idioms (as they phra&s;e it) be attributed to his Humane, or at least to the whole Per&s;on com|pounded of them both, than which nothing is more ordinarie in things of a mixt and heterogeneous nature, as the whole man is &s;tiled immortal from the deathle&s;&s;ne&s;s of his Soul:</HI> thus he. And there is the &s;ame rea&s;on if he had &s;aid that man was &s;tiled mortal (which certainly is far the more ordinarie) from the real death of his Bodie, though his Soul be immortal. This is wittily excogitated. But now let us apply it to the Text, expounding it according to his communication of Idioms, affording to the Humane Nature what is onely proper to the Divine, thus.</P>
<P><PB N="95" REF="172">
<HI>Father, glorifie me</HI> [my Humane Nature] <HI>with the glorie that I</HI> [my Divine Nature] <HI>had before the world was.</HI> Which indeed was to be the Eternal, Infinite, and Omnipotent bright|ne&s;s of the Glory of the Father <GAP DESC="foreign">. This is the Glory which his Divine Na|ture had before the World was. But how can this Humane Nature be glorified with that Glory his Divine Nature had before the world was, unle&s;s it &s;hould become the Divine Na|ture, that it might be &s;aid to have pre-exi&s;ted? (But that it cannot be. For there is no con|fu&s;ion of the Humane and Divine Nature in the Hypo&s;ta&s;is of Chri&s;t:) Or el&s;e becau&s;e it is hypo&s;tatically united with the Divine Nature; but if that be the Glory, that he then had al|ready, and had it not (according to the Oppo|&s;ers of Pre-exi&s;tence) before the world was. So we &s;ee there is no &s;ence to be made of this Text by communication of Idioms, and there|fore no &s;ence to be made of it without the Pre-exi&s;tence of the Humane Nature of Chri&s;t. And if you paraphra&s;e [me] thus, My Hypo&s;ta&s;is con&s;i&s;ting of my Humane and Divine Nature, it will be as untoward &s;ence. For if the Di|vine Nature be included in [me] then Chri&s;t prays for what he has aleady, as I noted above. For the Glory of the eternal <HI>Logos</HI> from ever|la&s;ting to everla&s;ting, is the &s;ame, as &s;ure as he is the &s;ame with him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Pag. 86. <HI>By his expre&s;&s;ions of coming from the
<PB N="96" REF="173">
Father, de&s;cending from Heaven, and returning thither again,</HI> &amp;c. I &s;uppo&s;e the&s;e Scriptures are alluded to, <HI>John</HI> 3. 13. 6. 38. 16. 28. <HI>I came down from Heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that &s;ent me. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father.</HI> Whereupon his Di&s;ciples &s;aid unto him, <HI>Lo now &s;peake&s;t thou plainly, and &s;peake&s;t no Para|ble.</HI> But it were a very great Parable, or Aenigm, that one &s;hould &s;ay truly of him&s;elf, that he came from Heaven, when he never was there. And as impo&s;&s;ible a thing is it to conceive how God can properly be &s;aid to come down from Heaven, who is alwaies pre|&s;ent every where. Wherefore that in Chri&s;t which was not God, namely his Soul, or Hu|mane Nature, was in Heaven before he appea|red on Earth, and con&s;equently his Soul did pre-exi&s;t. Nor is there any refuge here in the communication of Idioms. For that cannot be attributed to the whole Hypo&s;ta&s;is, which is competent to neither part that con&s;titutes it. For it was neither true of the Humane Nature of Chri&s;t, if you take away Pre-exi|&s;tence, nor of the Divine, that they de&s;cended from Heaven, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And yet <HI>John</HI> 3. 13, 14. where Chri&s;t prophe&s;ying of his Crucifixion and A&s;cen&s;ion, &s;aith, <HI>No man hath a&s;cended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of man,</HI> [<GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>who was in
<PB N="97" REF="173">
Heaven.</HI> So <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> &s;aith, it may be rendred a Participle of the pre&s;ent ten&s;e, having a ca|pacity to &s;ignifie the time pa&s;t, if the &s;ence re|quire it, as it &s;eems to do here. <HI>Qui erat in Coelo,</HI> viz. <HI>antequam de&s;cenderat.</HI> So <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> upon the place.</P>
<P>Wherefore the&s;e places of Scripture touch|ing Chri&s;t being &s;uch inexpugnable Argu|ments of the Pre-exi&s;tence of the Soul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah;</HI> the Writer of <HI>No Pre-exi&s;tence,</HI> me|thinks, is no where &s;o civil or di&s;creet as in this point. Where, he &s;aies, <HI>he will not &s;quab|ble about this, but readily yield that the Soul of Chri&s;t was long extant before it was incarnate.</HI> But then he pre&s;ently flings dirt upon the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries,</HI> as guilty of a &s;hameful pre&s;umpti|on and incon&s;equence, to conclude the Pre-exi|&s;tence of all other Humane Souls from the Pre-exi&s;tence of his. <HI>Becau&s;e he was a peculiar fa|vourite of God, was to undergo bitter &s;ufferings for Mankind; and therefore &s;hould enjoy an happy Pre-exi&s;tence for an</HI> Anti-praemium. <HI>And &s;ince he was to purcha&s;e a Church with his own most precious Bloud, it was fit he &s;hould pre-exi&s;t from the be|ginning of the world, that he might pre&s;ide over his Church as Guide and Governour thereof; which is a thing that cannot be &s;aid of any other &s;oul be|&s;ide.</HI></P>
<P>This is a device which, I believe, the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries,</HI> good men, never dreamt of, but they took it for granted, that the creation of
<PB N="98" REF="174">
all Humane Souls was alike, and that the Soul of Chri&s;t was like ours in all things, &s;in onely excepted; as the Emperour <HI>Ju&s;tinian,</HI> in his Di&s;cour&s;e to <HI>Menas</HI> Patriarch of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> argues from this very Topick to prove the Non-pre-exi&s;tence of our Souls, from the Non-pre-exi&s;tence of Chri&s;ts, <HI>he being like us in all things, &s;in onely excepted.</HI> And therefore as to Exi&s;tence and E&s;&s;ence there was no diffe|rence. Thus one would have verily thought to have been mo&s;t &s;afe and mo&s;t natural to conclude, as being &s;o punctual according to the declaration of Scripture, and order of things. For it &s;eems almo&s;t as har&s;h and re|pugnant to give Angelical Exi&s;tence to a Spe|cies not Angelical, as Angelical E&s;&s;ence. For according to them, it belongs to Angels onely to exi&s;t <HI>a mundo condito,</HI> not to Humane &s;ouls. Let us therefore &s;ee what great and urgent oc|ca&s;ions there are, that the Almighty &s;hould break this order.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is, That he may remon&s;trate the Soul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> to be his mo&s;t &s;pecial Fa|vourite. Why? That is &s;ufficiently done, and more opportunely, if other &s;ouls pre-exi&s;ted to be his corrivals. But his faithful adhe&s;ion above the re&s;t to the Law of his Maker, as it might make him &s;o great a Favourite: &s;o that tran|&s;cendent priviledge of being hypo&s;tatically united with the Godhead, or Eternal <HI>Logos,</HI> would, I trow, be a &s;ufficient Te&s;timony of
<PB N="99" REF="174">
Gods &s;pecial Favour to him above all his fel|low Pre-exi&s;tent Souls.</P>
<P>And then, which is the &s;econd thing for his <HI>Anti-praemial</HI> Happine&s;s (though it is but an <HI>Hy&s;teron Proteron,</HI> and prepo&s;terous conceit, to fancie wages before the work) had he le&s;s of this by the coexi&s;tence of other &s;ouls with him, or was it not rather the more highly encrea&s;ed by their coexi&s;tencie? And how oddly does it look, that one &s;olitary Individual of a Species &s;hould exi&s;t for God knows how many ages alone? But &s;uppo&s;e the &s;oul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> and all other &s;ouls created together, and &s;eve|ral of them fallen, and the Soul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> to undertake their recovery by his &s;ufferings, and this declared among&s;t them; &s;urely this mu&s;t hugely inhance his Happine&s;s and Glory through all the whole order of Humane &s;ouls, being thus con&s;tituted or de&s;igned Head and Prince over them all. And thus, though he was rejected by the Jews and de&s;pi&s;ed, he could not but be care&s;&s;ed and adored by his fellow|&s;ouls above, before his de&s;cent to this &s;tate of humiliation. And who knows but this might be part at lea&s;t of that Glory which, he &s;ays, he had before the world was? And which this ungrateful world denied him, while he was in it, who crucified the Lord of life.</P>
<P>And as for the third and la&s;t, That the Soul of the Me&s;&s;iah was to pre-exi&s;t, that he might pre&s;ide over the Church all along from the be|ginning
<PB N="100" REF="175">
of it: What nece&s;&s;ity is there of that? Could not the Eternal <HI>Logos</HI> and the Mini&s;try of Angels &s;ufficiently di&s;charge that Province? But you conceive a congruity therein; and &s;o may another conceive a congruity that he &s;hould not enter upon his Office till there were a con&s;iderable lap&s;e of Humane Souls which &s;hould be his care to recover; which im|plies their Pre-exi&s;tence before this &s;tage of the Earth: And if the Soul of the Me&s;&s;iah, united with the <HI>Logos,</HI> pre&s;ided &s;o early over the Church; that it was meet that other unlap&s;ed &s;ouls, they being of his own tribe, &s;hould be his <HI>Satellitium,</HI> and be part of tho&s;e mini&s;tring Spirits that watch for the Churches good, and zealou&s;ly endeavour the recovery of their &s;i|&s;ter-&s;ouls, under the conduct of the great Soul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> out of their captivity of &s;in and death.</P>
<P>So that every way Pre-exi&s;tence of other &s;ouls will hand&s;omly fall in with the Pre-exi|&s;tence of the &s;oul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> that there may be no breach of order, wherias there is no oc|ca&s;ion for it, nor violence done to the Holy Writ, which expre&s;sly declares Chri&s;t to have been <HI>like to us in all things</HI> (as well in <HI>Exi|&s;tence</HI> as <HI>E&s;&s;ence) &s;in onely excepted;</HI> as the Em|perour earne&s;tly urges to the Patriarch <HI>Menas.</HI> Wherefore we finding no nece&s;&s;ity of his par|ticular pre-exi&s;ting, nor convenience, but what will be doubled if other Souls pre-exi&s;t with
<PB N="101" REF="175">
him; it is plain, if he pre-exi&s;t, it is as he is an Humane &s;oul, not as &s;uch a particular &s;oul; and therefore what proves his &s;oul to pre-exi&s;t, proves others to pre-exi&s;t al&s;o.</P>
<P>Pag. 87. <HI>Since the&s;e places have been more diffu&s;ely urged in a late di&s;cour&s;e to this purpo&s;e.</HI> I &s;uppo&s;e he means in the <HI>Letter of Re&s;olution</HI> concerning <HI>Origen,</HI> Where the Author opens the &s;en&s;e of <HI>Philip.</HI> 2. 6. learnedly and judici|ou&s;ly, e&s;pecially when he acknowledges Chri&s;ts being <HI>in the form of God,</HI> to be under&s;tood of his Phy&s;ical Union with the Divine <HI>Logos.</HI> Which is the Ancient Orthodox Expo&s;ition of the Primitive Fathers, they taking this for one notable Te&s;timony of Scripture, for the Divi|nity of Chri&s;t. Whenas they that under&s;tand it Politically of Chri&s;ts Power and Authority onely, take an excellent weapon out of the hands of the Church wherewith &s;he u&s;ed to oppo&s;e the Impugners of Chri&s;ts Divinity. But how can Chri&s;t being God <HI>(verus Deus,</HI> as <HI>Vatablus</HI> expounds <GAP DESC="foreign">,) empty him&s;elf, or any way deteriorate him&s;elf as to his Di|vinity, by being incarnate, and taking upon him <GAP DESC="foreign"> the <HI>form</HI> of the <HI>terre&s;trial</HI> Adam? For every <HI>earthly</HI> man is <GAP DESC="foreign">, as the A|po&s;tle &s;eems to intimate, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8. 21. as this ingenious Writer has noted; and the Apo&s;tle likewi&s;e &s;eems &s;o to expound it in the Text, by adding pre&s;ently by way of Exege&s;is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>and was made in the likene&s;s of
<PB N="102" REF="176">
men;</HI> like that Gen. 5. 3. <HI>Adam begot a &s;on in his own likene&s;s,</HI> a terre&s;trial man as him&s;elf was. Wherefore the Incarnation of Chri&s;t being no exinanition to his <HI>Divinity,</HI> there was an <HI>Humanity</HI> of Chri&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> his <HI>Soul,</HI> in a glori|ous &s;tate of Pre-exi&s;tence, to which this volun|tary exinanition belonged.</P>
<P>Pag. 87. <HI>Was it for this mans &s;in, or his fa|thers, that he was born blind?</HI> For the avoiding the force of this Argument for proving that Pre-exi&s;tence was the Opinion of the Jews; and that Chri&s;t when it was &s;o plainly implied in the Que&s;tion, by his &s;ilence, or not reproving it, &s;eemed to admit it, or at lea&s;t to e&s;teem it no hurtful Opinion: They alledge the&s;e two things: Fir&s;t, That the&s;e Enquirers having &s;ome notions of the Divine Pre&s;cience, might &s;uppo&s;e that God foreknowing what kind of per&s;on this blind man would prove, had antedated his puni&s;hment. The other is, That the Enquirers may be conceived to un|der&s;tand the blind mans original &s;in. So that when they enquired whether the man was born blind for his own or his Parents &s;in, they might onely ask whether that particular Judgment was the effect of his Parents, or of his own original pravity. This is <HI>Came|rons.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ee what &s;orced conceits Learned men will entertain, rather than not to &s;ay &s;ome|thing on a Text. What a di&s;torted and pre|po&s;terous
<PB N="103" REF="176">
account is that found, that God &s;hould puni&s;h men before they &s;in, becau&s;e he fore&s;ees they will &s;in? And he onely produces this example, and a &s;light one too, That <HI>Jero|boams</HI> hand was dried up as he &s;tretched it forth to give a &s;ign to apprehend the Prophet. And the other is as fond an account, That God &s;hould &s;end &s;uch &s;evere Judgments on men for their original Pravity, which they cannot help. And original Pravity being &s;o common to all, it could be no rea&s;on why this particular man &s;hould be born blind, more than others. Where|fore <HI>Grotius</HI> far more ingenuou&s;ly writes thus upon the place: <HI>Quoerunt ergo an ip&s;e peccaverit, quia multi Judoeorum credebant</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>anima|rum.</HI> And as our Saviour Chri&s;t pa&s;&s;ed it for an innocent Opinion, &s;o did the Primitive Church, the <HI>Book of Wi&s;dom</HI> being an allowable book with them, and read in publick, though it plainly declare for Pre-exi&s;tence, <HI>Chap.</HI> 8. 20.</P>
<P>Chap. 12. p. 93. <HI>Therefore let the Reader, if he plea&s;e, call it a Romantick Scheme, or imaginary Hypothe&s;is,</HI> &amp;c. This is very di&s;creetly and judi|ciou&s;ly done of the Author, to propo&s;e &s;uch things as are not nece&s;&s;ary members or bran|ches of Pre-exi&s;tence, and are but at the be&s;t conjectural, as no part of that otherwi&s;e-u&s;eful Theory. For by tacking too fa&s;t the&s;e unne|ce&s;&s;ary tufts or ta&s;&s;els to the main Truth, it
<PB N="104" REF="177">
will but give occa&s;ion to wanton or wrathful whelps to worry her, and tug her into the dirt by them. And we may ea&s;ily ob&s;erve how greedily they catch at &s;uch occa&s;ions, though it be not much that they can make out of them, as we may ob&s;erve in the next Chap|ter.</P>
<P>Chap. 13. pag. 96. Pill. 1. <HI>To conceive him as an immen&s;e and all-glorious Sun, that is conti|nually communicating,</HI> &amp;c. And this as certainly as the Sun does his light, and as re&s;trainedly. For the Suns light is not equally imparted to all &s;ubjects, but according to the mea&s;ure of their capacity. And as Nature limits here in <HI>natural</HI> things, &s;o does the Wi&s;dom and Ju&s;tice of God in <HI>free</HI> Creatures. He imparts to them as they capacitate them&s;elves by improving or abu&s;ing their Freedom.</P>
<P>Pag. 100. Pill. 3. <HI>Be re&s;olved into a Prin|ciple that is not meerly corporeal.</HI> He &s;u&s;pects that the de&s;cent of heavy bodies, when all is &s;aid and done, mu&s;t be re&s;olved into &s;uch a Principle. But I think he that without preju|dice peru&s;es the Eleventh and Thirteenth Chapters (with their <HI>Scholia)</HI> of Dr. <HI>Mores En|chiridion Metaphy&s;icum,</HI> will find it beyond &s;u&s;pition, that the De&s;cent of heavy bodies is to be re&s;olved into &s;ome corporeal Principle; and that the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> though you &s;hould call it with the <HI>Cabali&s;ts</HI> by that a&s;tart|ling
<PB N="105" REF="177">
name of <HI>Sandalphon,</HI> is no &s;uch prodigi|ous <HI>Hobgoblin,</HI> as rudene&s;s and pre&s;umptuous ignorance has made that Buckeram Writer in contempt and deri&s;ion to call it.</P>
<P>Pag. 101. <HI>As naturally as the fire mounts, and a &s;tone de&s;cends.</HI> And as the&s;e do not &s;o (though naturally) meerly from their own intrin&s;ick nature, but in vertue of the <HI>Spirit of the &V;niver&s;e;</HI> &s;o the &s;ame rea&s;on there is in the di&s;po&s;al of Spirits. <HI>The Spirit of Nature</HI> will range their <HI>Pla&s;ticks</HI> as certainly and orderly in the Regions of the World, as it does the matter it &s;elf in all places. Whence that of <HI>Plotinus</HI> may fitly be under&s;tood, That a Soul enveigled in vitiou&s;ne&s;s, both here and after death, according to her nature <GAP DESC="foreign">, is thru&s;t into the &s;tate and place &s;he is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, as if &s;he were drawn thither by certain invi&s;ible or Magical &s;trings of Na|tures own pulling. Thus is he plea&s;ed to ex|pre&s;s this power or vertue of the <HI>Spirit of Na|ture</HI> in the Univer&s;e. But I think that tran|&s;po&s;ition &s;he makes of them is rather <GAP DESC="foreign">, than either <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, a <HI>tran&s;vection</HI> of them, rather than <HI>pul&s;ion</HI> or <HI>traction.</HI> But the&s;e are over|n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ce Curio&s;ities.</P>
<P>Pag. 101. <HI>As likely &s;ome things relating to the &s;tate of Spirits,</HI> &amp;c. That is to &s;ay, Spirits by the mini&s;try of other Spirits may be carried in|to &s;uch regions as the <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> would not have tran&s;mitted them to, from the place
<PB N="106" REF="178">
where they were before, whether for good or evil. Of the latter kind whereof, I &s;hall have occa&s;ion to &s;peak more particularly in my Notes on the next Chapter.</P>
<P>Pag. 102. Pill. 4. <HI>The &s;ouls of men are capa|ble of living in other bodies be&s;ides terre&s;trial,</HI> &amp;c. For the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> allow her &s;ucce&s;|&s;ively to have lived, fir&s;t, in an <HI>Ethereal</HI> body, then in an Aereal; and la&s;tly, after the &s;tate of <HI>Silence,</HI> to live in a Terre&s;trial. And here I think, though it be &s;omething early, it will not be ami&s;s to take notice what the <HI>Anti-pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> alledged again&s;t this Hypothe&s;is; for we &s;hall have the le&s;s trouble afterwards.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, therefore, they &s;ay, That it does not become the Goodne&s;s of God to make Mans Soul with a triple <HI>Vital Congruity,</HI> that will fit as well an <HI>Aereal</HI> and <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> condition, as an <HI>Aethereal.</HI> For from hence it appears, that their Will was not &s;o much in fault that they &s;inned, as the con&s;titution of their E&s;&s;ence: And they have the face to quote the account of <HI>Origen,</HI> pag. 49. for to &s;trengthen this their fir&s;t Argument. The words are the&s;e: <HI>They being originally made with a capacity to joyn with this terre&s;trial matter, it &s;eems nece&s;&s;ary accord|ing to the cour&s;e of nature that they &s;hould &s;ink in|to it, &amp; &s;o appear terre&s;trial men.</HI> And therefore, &s;ay they, there being no de&s;cending into the&s;e earthly bodies without a lap&s;e or previous &s;in, their very con&s;titution nece&s;&s;itated them to &s;in.</P>
<P><PB N="107" REF="178">
The &s;econd Argument is, That this Hypo|the&s;is is incon&s;i&s;tent with the bodies Re&s;ur|rection. For the <HI>Aereal</HI> bodie immediately &s;ucceeding the <HI>Terre&s;trial,</HI> and the <HI>Aethereal</HI> the <HI>Aereal,</HI> the bu&s;ine&s;s is done, there needs no re&s;u&s;citation of the <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> body to be glo|rified. Nor is it the &s;ame <HI>numerical body</HI> or <HI>fle&s;h</HI> &s;till, as it ought to be, if the Re&s;urrection-body be <HI>Aethereal.</HI></P>
<P>The third is touching the <HI>Aereal</HI> Body; That if the &s;oul after death be tyed to an <HI>Aere|al</HI> body (and few or none attain to the <HI>Aethe|real</HI> immediately after death) the &s;ouls of very good men will be forced to have their abode among&s;t the very Devils. For their Prince is the Prince of the Air, as the Apo&s;tle calls him; and where can his &s;ubjects be, but where he is? So that they will be enforced to endure the com|panie of the&s;e foul Fiends; be&s;ides all the in|commodious changes in the Air, of Clouds, of Vapours, of Rain, Hail, Thunder, tearing Tempe&s;ts and Storms; and what is an Image of Hell it &s;elf, the darkne&s;s of Night will over|whelm them every four and twenty hours.</P>
<P>The fourth Argument is touching the <HI>Ae|thereal</HI> &s;tate of Pre-exi&s;tence. For if &s;ouls when they were in &s;o Heavenly and happy an e&s;tate could lap&s;e from it, what a&s;&s;urance can we have, when we are returned thither, that we &s;hall abide in it? it being but the &s;ame Hap|pine&s;s we were in before: and we having the
<PB N="108" REF="179">
&s;ame <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> with its triple <HI>Vital Congruity,</HI> as we had before. Why therefore may we not lap&s;e as before?</P>
<P>The fifth and la&s;t Argument is taken from the &s;tate of <HI>Silence.</HI> Wherein the Soul is &s;up|po&s;ed devoid of perception. And therefore their number being many, and their attracti|on to the place of conception in the Womb being merely Magical, and reaching many at a time, there would be many attracted at once; &s;o that &s;carce a <HI>Foetus</HI> could be formed which would not be a multiform Mon&s;ter, or a clu|&s;ter of Humane <HI>Foetus</HI>'s, not one &s;ingle <HI>Foetus.</HI> And the&s;e are thought &s;uch weighty Argu|ments, that Pre-exi&s;tence mu&s;t &s;ink and peri&s;h under their pre&s;&s;ure. But, I believe, when we have weighed them in the balance of un|prejudiced Rea&s;on, we &s;hall find them light e|nough.</P>
<P>And truly, for the fir&s;t; It is not only weak and &s;light, but wretchedly di&s;ingenuous. The &s;trength of it is nothing but a maimed and fraudulent Quotation, which makes a&s;hew as if the Author of the <HI>Account</HI> of <HI>Origen,</HI> bluntly affirmed, without any thing more to do, that &s;ouls being originally made with a capacity to joyn with this terre&s;trial matter, it &s;eems ne|ce&s;&s;ary, according to the cour&s;e of nature, that they &s;hould &s;ink into it, and &s;o appear terre&s;tri|al men: Whenas if we take the whole Para|graph as it lies, before they ca&s;t them&s;elves in|to
<PB N="109" REF="179">
this fatal nece&s;&s;ity, they are declared to have a freedom of will, whereby they might have &s;o managed their happy E&s;tate they were created in, that they need never have faln. His words are the&s;e: <HI>What then remains, but that through the faulty and negligent u&s;e of them|&s;elves, whil&s;t they were in &s;ome better condition of life, they rendred them&s;elves le&s;s pure in the whole extent of their powers, both Intellectual and Animal; and &s;o by degrees became di&s;po&s;ed for the &s;u&s;ception of &s;uch a degree of corporeal life, as was le&s;s pure, indeed, than the former; but ex|actly an&s;werable to their pre&s;ent di&s;po&s;ition of Spi|rit. So that after certain Periods of time they might become far le&s;s fit to actuate any &s;ort of body, than the terre&s;trial; and being originally made with a capacity to joyn with this too, and in it to exerci&s;e the Powers and functions of life, it &s;eems nece&s;&s;ary,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>The&s;e are the very words of the Author of the Account of <HI>Origen,</HI> wherein he plainly affirms, that it was the fault of the Souls them|&s;elves, that they did not order them&s;elves then right when they might have done &s;o, that ca&s;t them into this terre&s;trial condition. But what an Oppo&s;er of Pre-exi&s;tence is this, that will thus &s;hamele&s;ly fal&s;ifie and corrupt a Quo|tation of an ingenious Author, rather than he will &s;eem to want an Argument again&s;t his O|pinion! Wherefore briefly to an&s;wer to this Argument, It does as much become the Good|ne&s;s
<PB N="110" REF="180">
of God to create &s;ouls with a triple <HI>Vital Congruity,</HI> as to have created <HI>Adam</HI> in Paradi&s;e with free Will, and a capacity of &s;inning.</P>
<P>To the Second, the Pre-exi&s;tentiaries will an|&s;wer, That it is no more ab&s;urd to conceive (nor &s;o much) that the &s;oul after death hath an Airy body, or it may be &s;ome an <HI>Ethereal</HI> one, than to imagine them &s;o highly happy after death without any body at all. For if they can act &s;o fully and beatifically without any body, what need there be any Re&s;urrecti|on of the body at all? And if it be mo&s;t natu|ral to the &s;oul to act in &s;ome body, in what a long unnatural e&s;tate has <HI>Adams</HI> &s;oul been, that &s;o many thou&s;and years has been without a body? But for the &s;oul to have a body, of which &s;he may be the <GAP DESC="foreign">, certainly is mo&s;t natural, or el&s;e &s;he will be in an unnatural &s;tate after the Re&s;urrection to all Eternitie. Whence it is manife&s;t, that it is mo&s;t natural for the &s;oul, if &s;he act at all, to have a body to act in. And therefore, unle&s;s we will be &s;o dull as to fall into the drouzie dream of the <HI>Py&s;chopannychites,</HI> we are to allow the &s;oul to have &s;ome kind of body or other till the very Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>But tho&s;e now that are not <HI>P&s;ychopannychites,</HI> but allow good Souls the joys and glories of Paradi&s;e before the Re&s;urrection of the Body, let them be demanded to what end the &s;oul &s;hould have a Re&s;urrection-body; and what
<PB N="111" REF="180">
they would an&s;wer for them&s;elves, the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> will an&s;wer for their po&s;ition that holds the Soul has an Aethereal body al|ready, or an Aereal one which may be chang|ed into an Aethereal body. If they will alledge any Concinnity in the bu&s;ine&s;s, or the firm promi&s;e of more highly compleating our Hap|pine&s;s at the union of our terre&s;trial bodies with our &s;ouls at the Re&s;urrection; This, I &s;ay, may be done as well &s;uppo&s;ing them to have bodies in the mean time as if they had none. For tho&s;e bodies they have made u&s;e of in the interval betwixt their Death and Re&s;urrection, may be &s;o thin and dilute, that they may be no more con&s;iderable than an <HI>Interula</HI> is to a Royal Robe lined with rich Furrs, and em|broidered with Gold. For &s;uppo&s;e every mans bodie at the Re&s;urrection framed again out of its own du&s;t, bones, &s;inews and fle&s;h, by the miraculous Power of God, were it not as ea&s;ie for the&s;e &s;ubtile Spirits, as it is in the <GAP DESC="foreign">, to enter the&s;e bodies, and by the Di|vine Power a&s;&s;i&s;ting, &s;o to inactuate them, that that little of their Vehicle they brought in with them, &s;hall no more de&s;troy the individuation of the Body, than a draught of wine drunk in, does the individuation of our body now, though it were, immediately upon the drink|ing, actuated by the Soul. And the &s;oul at the &s;ame in&s;tant actuating the whole Aggre|gate, it is exqui&s;itely the &s;ame numerical bo|die,
<PB N="112" REF="181">
even to the utmo&s;t curio&s;ity of the School|men. But the Divine A&s;&s;i&s;tance working in this, it is not to be thought that the &s;oul will loo&s;e by re&s;uming this Re&s;urrection-body, but that all will be turned into a more full and &s;aturate Brightne&s;s and Glory, and that the whole will become an heavenly, &s;piritual, and truly glorified Body, immortal and incor|ruptible.</P>
<P>Nor does the being thus turned into an hea|venly or &s;piritual Body, hinder it from being &s;till the &s;ame Numerical body, fora&s;much as one and the &s;ame Numerical matter, let it be under what modifications it will, is &s;till the &s;ame numerical matter or body; and it is gro&s;s ignorance in Philo&s;ophie that makes any conceive otherwi&s;e.</P>
<P>But a rude and ill-natured Oppo&s;er of Pre-exi&s;tence is not content that it be the &s;ame nu|merical body, but that this &s;ame numerical body be &s;till fle&s;h, peevi&s;hly and invidiou&s;ly thereby to expo&s;e the Author of the <HI>Account</HI> of <HI>Origen,</HI> who, pag. 120. writes thus: <HI>That the bodie we now have, is therefore corruptible and mortal, becau&s;e it is fle&s;h; and therefore if it put on incorruption and immortality, it mu&s;t put off it &s;elf fir&s;t, and cea&s;e to be fle&s;h.</HI> But que&s;tionle&s;s that ingenious Writer under&s;tood this of <HI>natural</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">le&s;h and bloud, of which the Apo&s;tle declares, <HI>That fle&s;h and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.</HI> But as he &s;ays
<PB N="113" REF="181">
<GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>There is a natural body and there is a &s;piritual body:</HI> So if he had made application of the &s;everal kinds of <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> he mentions, of Men, of Bea&s;ts, of Fi&s;hes, and Birds, he would have pre&s;ently &s;ubjoyned. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>There is a natural fle&s;h and there is a &s;piritual fle&s;h.</HI> And 'tis this <HI>&s;pi|ritual</HI> Fle&s;h to which belongs incorruption and immortality, and which is capable of the King|dom of Heaven. But for the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the <HI>natural fle&s;h,</HI> it mu&s;t put off it &s;elf, and cea&s;e to be <HI>natural</HI> fle&s;h, before it can put on immorta|lity and incorruption.</P>
<P>So little incon&s;i&s;tency is there of this Hypo|the&s;is (as touching the &s;ouls acting in either an Aereal or Aethereal Vehicle, during the inter|val betwixt the Re&s;urrection and her depar|ture hence) with the Re&s;urrection of the bodie. But in the mean time, there is a &s;trong bar thereby put to the dull dream of the <HI>P&s;ycho|panychiles,</HI> and other har&s;hne&s;&s;es al&s;o ea&s;ed or &s;moothed by it.</P>
<P>Now as for the third Argument, which mu&s;t needs &s;eem a great <HI>Scare-crow</HI> to the illi|terate, there is very little weight or none at all in it. For if we take but notice of the whole <HI>Atmo&s;phere,</HI> what is the dimen&s;ion thereof, and of the three Regions into which it is di&s;tribu|ted, all the&s;e Bugbears will vani&s;h. As for the Dimen&s;ion of the whole Atmo&s;phere, it is by the skilful reputed about fifty to Italick miles
<PB N="114" REF="182">
high, the <HI>Convex</HI> of the middle Region thereof about four &s;uch miles, the <HI>Concave</HI> about half a mile. Now this di&s;tribution of the Air into the&s;e three <HI>Regions</HI> being thus made, and the Hebrew tongue having no other name to call the <HI>Expan&s;um</HI> about us, but <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Heaven,</HI> here is according to them a di&s;tribution of Heaven into <HI>three,</HI> and the highe&s;t Region will be part of the <HI>third</HI> Heaven.</P>
<P>This therefore premi&s;ed, I an&s;wer, That though the &s;ouls of good men after death be detained within the Atmo&s;phere of the Air, (and the Air it &s;elf haply may reach much higher than this Atmo&s;phere that is bounded by the mere a&s;cent of exhalations and vapours) yet there is no nece&s;&s;ity at all that they &s;hould be put to tho&s;e inconveniencies, which this Argument pretends, from the company of De|vils, or incommodious changes and di&s;turban|ces of the Air. For &s;uppo&s;e &s;uch inconvenien|cies in the middle and lowe&s;t Region, yet the upper Region, which is al&s;o part of the third Heaven, tho&s;e parts are ever calm and &s;erene. And the Devils Principality reaching no fur|ther than through the middle and lowe&s;t Re|gion next the earth, (not to adverti&s;e that his quarters may be re&s;trained there al&s;o) the &s;ouls of the departed that are good, are not liable to be pe&s;ter'd and haunted with the un|grateful Pre&s;ence or Occur&s;ions of the defor|med and grim Retinue, or of the vagrant va&s;|&s;als
<PB N="115" REF="182">
of that foul Feind, that is Prince of the Air, he being onely &s;o of the&s;e lower parts thereof, and the good &s;ouls having room enough to con&s;ociate together in the upper Region of it.</P>
<P>Nor does that promi&s;e of our Saviour to the thief on the Cro&s;s, that that very day he &s;hould be with him in Paradi&s;e, at all cla&s;h with this Hypothe&s;is of Aereal Bodies, both becau&s;e Chri&s;t by his miraculous power might confer that upon the penitent thief his fellow|&s;ufferer, which would not fall to the &s;hare of other penitents in a natural cour&s;e of things; and al&s;o becau&s;e this third Region of the Air may be part of Paradi&s;e it &s;elf: <HI>(In my Fathers hou&s;e there are many Man&s;ions)</HI> and &s;ome learned men have declared Paradi&s;e to be in the Air, but &s;uch a part of the Air as is free from gro&s;s Vapours and Clouds; and &s;uch is the third Region thereof. In the mean time we &s;ee the &s;ouls of good men departed, freed from tho&s;e Panick fears of being infe&s;ted either by the un|welcome company of Fiends and Devils, or incommodated by any dull cloudy ob&s;curati|ons, or violent and tempe&s;tuous motions of the Air.</P>
<P>Onely the &s;hadowy Vale of the Night will be ca&s;t over them once in a <HI>Nycthemeron.</HI> But what incommodation is that, after the brisk active heat of the Sun in the day-time, to have the variety of the more mild beams of the
<PB N="116" REF="183">
Moon, or gentle, though more quick and chearful, &s;cintillations of the twinkling Stars? This variety may well &s;eem an addition to the felicity of their &s;tate. And the &s;hadowyne&s;s of the Night may help them in the more compo|&s;ing Introver&s;ions of their contemplative mind, and ca&s;t the &s;oul into ineffably plea&s;ing &s;lumbers and Divine exta&s;ies; &s;o that the tran&s;|actions of the Night may prove more &s;olacing and beatifick &s;ometimes, than tho&s;e of the day. Such things we may gue&s;s at afar off, but in the mean time be &s;ure, that the&s;e good and &s;e|rious Souls know how to turn all that God &s;ends to them to the improvement of their Happine&s;s.</P>
<P>To the fourth Argument we an&s;wer, That there are not a few rea&s;ons from the nature of the thing that may beget in us a &s;trong pre|&s;umption that &s;ouls recovered into their Cele|&s;tial Happine&s;s will never again relap&s;e, though they did once.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t, it may be a mi&s;take that the Hap|pine&s;s is altogether the &s;ame that it was before. For our fir&s;t Paradi&s;iacal Bodies from which we lap&s;ed, might be of a more crude and dilute Aether, not &s;o full and &s;aturate with Heavenly glory and perfection as our Re&s;urrection-body is.</P>
<P>Secondly, The &s;oul was then unexperienced, and lightly coming by that Happine&s;s &s;he was in, did the more heedle&s;sly forgo it, before
<PB N="117" REF="183">
&s;he was well aware; and her mind roved af|ter new adventures, though &s;he knew not what.</P>
<P>Thirdly, It is to be con&s;idered, whether Re|generation be not a &s;tronger tenour for endu|ring Happine&s;s, than the being created happie. For this being wrought &s;o by degrees upon the <HI>Pla&s;tick,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>with ineffable groans and piercing de&s;ires after that Divine Life, that the Spirit of God co-operating exciteth in us;</HI> when Regeneration is perfected and wrought to the full by the&s;e &s;trong Agonies, this may rationally be deemed a deeper tincture in the &s;oul than that &s;he had by mere Creation, whereby the &s;oul did indeed become Holy, innocent and happie, but not coming to it with any &s;uch &s;trong previous conflicts and eager workings and thir&s;tings after that &s;tate, it might not be &s;o firmly rooted by far as in Regeneration begun and accompli&s;hed by the operation of Gods Spirit, gradually but more deeply renewing the Divine Image in us.</P>
<P>Fourthly, It being a renovation of our Na|ture into a pri&s;tine &s;tate of ours, the &s;trength and depth of impre&s;&s;ion &s;eems increa&s;ed upon that account al&s;o.</P>
<P>Fifthly, The remembrance of all the hard|&s;hips we underwent in our lap&s;ed condition, whether of Mortification or cro&s;s Rancoun|ters, this mu&s;t likewi&s;e help us to per&s;evere when once returned to our former Happine&s;s.</P>
<P><PB N="118" REF="184">
Sixthly, The comparing of the evanid plea|&s;ures of our lap&s;ed or terre&s;trial life, with the fulne&s;s of tho&s;e Joys that we find &s;till in our heavenly, will keep us from ever having any hankering after them any more.</P>
<P>Seventhly, The certain knowledge of ever|la&s;ting puni&s;hment, which if not true, they could not know, mu&s;t be al&s;o another &s;ure bar to any &s;uch negligencies as would hazard their &s;etled felicity. Which may be one rea&s;on why the irreclaimable are eternally puni&s;hed, name|ly, that it may the better &s;ecure eternal Hap|pine&s;s to others.</P>
<P>Eighthly, Though we have our triple <HI>Vital Congruity</HI> &s;till, yet the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> life is &s;o throughly &s;atisfied with the <HI>Re&s;urrection-body,</HI> which is &s;o con&s;iderably more full and &s;aturate with all the heavenly richne&s;s and Glorie than the former, that the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> of the &s;oul is as entirely taken up with this one Bodie, as if &s;he enjoyed the plea&s;ures of all three bodies at once, <HI>Aethereal, Aereal,</HI> and <HI>Terre&s;trial.</HI></P>
<P>And la&s;tly, Which will &s;trike all &s;ure, He that is <HI>able</HI> to &s;ave to the <HI>utmo&s;t,</HI> and has pro|mi&s;ed us <HI>eternal life,</HI> is as <HI>true</HI> as <HI>able,</HI> and therefore cannot fail to perform it. And who can deny but that we in this State I have de|&s;cribed, are as capable of being <HI>fixed</HI> there, and confirmed therein, as the Angels were after <HI>Lucifer</HI> and others had faln?</P>
<P>And now to the fifth and la&s;t Argument a|gain&s;t
<PB N="119" REF="184">
the &s;tate of <HI>Silence,</HI> I &s;ay it is rai&s;ed out of mere ignorance of the mo&s;t rational as well as mo&s;t <HI>Platonical</HI> way of the &s;ouls immedi|ate de&s;cent <GAP DESC="foreign">. For the fir&s;t Mover or &s;tir|rer in this matter, I mean in the formation of the <HI>Foetus,</HI> is the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> the great <GAP DESC="foreign"> of the Univer&s;e, to whom <HI>Plotinus</HI> &s;omewhere attributes <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>The fir&s;t Predelineations and pro|drome Irradiations into the matter,</HI> before the particular &s;oul, it is preparing for, come into it. Now the <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> being &s;uch a &s;pirit as contains <HI>Spermatically</HI> or <HI>Vitally</HI> all the Laws contrived by the Divine Intellect, for the management of the Matter of the World, and of all E&s;&s;ences el&s;e <HI>unperceptive,</HI> or <HI>quatenus unperceptive,</HI> for the good of the Univer&s;e; we have all the rea&s;on in the world to &s;uppo&s;e this <HI>Vital</HI> or <HI>Spermatical</HI> Law is among&s;t the re&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> That it tran&s;mit but one &s;oul to one pre|pared conception. Which will therefore be as certainly done, unle&s;s &s;ome rare and odd ca&s;ualty intervene, as if the Divine Intellect it &s;elf did do it. Wherefore one and the &s;ame <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> which prepares the matter by &s;ome general Predelineation, does at the due time tran&s;mit &s;ome one &s;oul in the &s;tate of <HI>Silence</HI> by &s;ome particularizing Laws (that fetch in &s;uch a &s;oul rather than &s;uch, but mo&s;t &s;ure but one, unle&s;s as I &s;aid &s;ome &s;pecial ca&s;ualty happen) into the prepared Matter, act|ing
<PB N="120" REF="185">
at two places at once according to its <HI>Syn|energetical</HI> vertue or power.</P>
<P>Hence therefore it is plain, that there will be no &s;uch clu&s;ters of <HI>Foetus</HI>'s and mon&s;trous deformities from this Hypothe&s;is of the &s;ouls being in a &s;tate of <HI>Silence.</HI> But for one to &s;huffle off &s;o fair a &s;atisfaction to this difficulty, by a precarious &s;uppo&s;ing there is no &s;uch Being as the Spirit of Nature, when it is de|mon&s;trable by &s;o many irrefragable Arguments that there is, is a Symptome of one that phi|lo&s;ophizes at random, not as Rea&s;on guides. For that is no rea&s;on again&s;t the exi&s;tence of the Spirit of Nature, becau&s;e &s;ome define it <HI>A Sub&s;tance incorporeal, but without &s;en&s;e and ani|madver&s;ion,</HI> &amp;c. as if a &s;pirit without &s;en&s;e and animadver&s;ion were a contradiction. For that there is a <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> is demon&s;trable, though whether it have no &s;en&s;e at all is more dubitable. But though it have no &s;en&s;e or perception, it is no contradiction to its being a Spirit, as may appear from Dr. <HI>H. Mores Brief Di&s;cour&s;e</HI> of the <HI>true Notion of a Spirit.</HI> To which I direct the Reader for &s;atisfaction, I having already been more prolix in an&s;wer|ing the&s;e Arguments than I intended. But I hope I have made my pre&s;age true, that they would be found to have no force in them to overthrow the Hypothe&s;is of a threefold <HI>Vital Congruity</HI> in the Pla&s;tick of the &s;oul. So that this fourth <HI>Pillar,</HI> for any execution they can do, will &s;tand un&s;haken.</P>
<P><PB N="121" REF="185">
Pag. 103. <HI>For in all &s;en&s;ation there is corpo|real motion,</HI> &amp;c. And be&s;ides, there &s;eems an e&s;&s;ential relation of the Soul to Body, accor|ding to <HI>Ari&s;totles</HI> definition thereof, he defi|ning it <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>that which actuates the bo|by.</HI> Which therefore mu&s;t be idle when it has nothing to actuate, as a Piper mu&s;t be &s;ilent, as to piping, if he have no Pipe to play on.</P>
<P>Chap. 14. pag. 113. <HI>The ignobler and lower properties or the life of the body were languid and remi&s;s,</HI> viz. as to their proper exerci&s;es or act|ing for them&s;elves, or as to their being regar|ded much by the Soul that is taken up with greater matters, or as to their being much re|li&s;hed, but in &s;ub&s;erviency to the enjoyment of tho&s;e more Divine and &s;ublime Objects; as the Author intimates towards the end of his la&s;t Pillar.</P>
<P>Pag. 114. <HI>And the Pla&s;tick had nothing to do but to move this pa&s;&s;ive and ea&s;ie body,</HI> &amp;c. It may be added, and keep it in its due form and &s;hape. And it is well added [accordingly as the concerns of the higher faculties required] For the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> by rea&s;on of its <HI>Vital</HI> Union with the vehicle, is indeed the main in&s;trument of the motion thereof. But it is the Imperium of the <HI>Perceptive</HI> that both excites and guides its motion. Which is no wonder it can do, they being both but one &s;oul.</P>
<P>Pag. 114. <HI>To pronounce the place to be the
<PB N="122" REF="186">
Sun,</HI> &amp;c. Which is as rationally gue&s;&s;ed by them, as if one &s;hould fancy all the Fellows and Students Chambers in a Colledge to be contai|ned within the area of the Hearth in the Hall, and the re&s;t of the Colledge uninhabited. For the Sun is but a common <HI>Focus</HI> of a <HI>Vortex,</HI> and is le&s;s by far to the <HI>Vortex,</HI> than the Hearth to the Ichnographie of the whole Colledge, that I may not &s;ay little more than a Tennis-ball to the bigne&s;s of the earth.</P>
<P>Pag. 115. <HI>Yet were we not immutably &s;o,</HI> &amp;c. But this mutability we were placed in, was not without a pro&s;pect of a more full confirmation and greater accumulation of Happine&s;s at the long run, as I intimated above.</P>
<P>Pag. 116. <HI>We were made on &s;et purpo&s;e defa|tigable, that &s;o all degrees of life,</HI> &amp;c. We being &s;uch Creatures as we are and finite, and taking in the enjoyment of tho&s;e infinitely perfect and glorious Objects onely <HI>pro modulo no&s;tro,</HI> according to the &s;cantne&s;s of our capacity, di|ver&s;ion to other Objects may be an ea&s;e and relief. From whence the promi&s;e of a glori|fied body in the Chri&s;tian Religion, as it is mo&s;t grateful, &s;o appears mo&s;t rational. But in the mean time it would appear mo&s;t irrati|onal to believe we &s;hall have eyes and ears and other organs of external &s;en&s;e, and have no &s;uitable Objects to entertain them.</P>
<P>Pag. 117. <HI>Yea, methinks 'tis but a rea&s;onable reward to the body,</HI> &amp;c. This is &s;poken &s;ome|thing
<PB N="123" REF="186">
popularly and to the &s;en&s;e of the vulgar, that imagine the body to feel plea&s;ure and pain, whenas it is the &s;oul onely that is perce|ptive and capable of feeling either. But 'tis fit the body &s;hould be kept in due plight for the lawful and allowable corporeal enjoyments the &s;oul may reap therefrom for &s;ea&s;onable di|ver&s;ion.</P>
<P>Pag. 117, <HI>That that is executed which he hath &s;o determined,</HI> &amp;c. Some fancy this may be extended to the enjoying of the fruits of the Invigouration of all the three <HI>Vital Con|gruities</HI> of the <HI>Pla&s;tick,</HI> and that for a &s;oul or|derly and in due time and cour&s;e to pa&s;s through all the&s;e di&s;pen&s;ations, provided &s;he keep her &s;elf &s;incere towards her Maker, is not properly any lap&s;e or &s;in, but an harmle&s;s ex|periencing all the capacities of enjoying them|&s;elves that God has be&s;towed upon them. Which will open a door to a further An&s;wer touching the re&s;t of the Planets being inhabi|ted, namely, That they may be inhabited by &s;uch kind of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ouls as the&s;e, who therefore want not the Knowledge and a&s;&s;i&s;tance of a Redeemer. And &s;o the earth may be the one|ly <HI>No&s;ocomium</HI> of &s;infully lap&s;ed &s;ouls. This may be an an&s;wer to &s;uch far-fetched Objecti|ons till they can prove the contrarie.</P>
<P>Pag. 118. <HI>Adam cannot with&s;tand the inor|dinate appetite,</HI> &amp;c. Namely, after his own re|mi&s;&s;ne&s;s and heedle&s;&s;ne&s;s in ordering him&s;elf,
<PB N="124" REF="187">
he had brought him&s;elf to &s;uch a wretched weakne&s;s.</P>
<P>Pag. 121. <HI>The Pla&s;tick faculties begin now fully to awaken,</HI> &amp;c. There are three <HI>Vital Con|gruities</HI> belonging to the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> of the Soul, and they are to awake orderly, that is, to ope|rate one after another downward and upward, that is to &s;ay, In the lap&s;e, the <HI>Aereal</HI> follows the <HI>Aethereal,</HI> the <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> the <HI>Aereal.</HI> But in their Recovery or Emergency out of the lap&s;e, The <HI>Aereal</HI> follows the <HI>Terre&s;trial,</HI> and the <HI>Aethereal</HI> the <HI>Aereal.</HI> But however, a more gro&s;s turgency to <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> operation may hap|ly ari&s;e at the latter end of the Aereal Period, which may be as it were the di&s;ea&s;e of the &s;oul in that &s;tate, and which may help to turn her out of it into the &s;tate of <HI>Silence,</HI> and is it &s;elf for the pre&s;ent &s;ilenced therewith. For where there is no union with bodie, there is no opera|tion of the Soul.</P>
<P>Pag. 121. <HI>For it hath an aptne&s;s and propen&s;i|ty to act in a Terre&s;trial body,</HI> &amp;c. This aptne&s;s and fitne&s;s it has in the &s;tate of <HI>Silence&punc;</HI> accor|ding to that e&s;&s;ential order of things interwo|ven into its own nature, and into the nature of the <HI>Spirit</HI> of the <HI>World,</HI> or great <HI>Archeus</HI> of the Univer&s;e, according to the eternal coun&s;el of the Divine Wi&s;dom. By which Law and ap|poyntment the &s;oul will as certainly have a fit|ne&s;s and propen&s;ity at its leaving the <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> body to actuate an <HI>Aereal</HI> one.</P>
<P><PB N="125" REF="187">
Pag. 122. <HI>Either by mere natural Congruity, the di&s;po&s;ition of the &s;oul of the world, or &s;ome more &s;pontaneous agent,</HI> &amp;c. Natural Congruity and the di&s;po&s;al of the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> &s;oul of the world (which others call the <HI>Spirit of Nature)</HI> may be joyned well together in this Feat, the Spirit of Nature attracting &s;uch a &s;oul as is mo&s;t con|gruous to the predelineated Matter which it has prepared for her. But as for the &s;ponta|neous Agent, I &s;uppo&s;e, he may under&s;tand his mini&s;try in &s;ome &s;upernatural Birth. Unle&s;s he thinks that &s;ome Angels or Genii may be im|ployed in putting &s;ouls into bodies, as Gardi|ners are in &s;etting Pea&s;e and Beans in the beds of Gardens. But certainly they mu&s;t be no good Genii then that have any hand in a&s;&s;i&s;t|ing or &s;etting &s;ouls in &s;uch wombs as have had to do with Adulterie, Ince&s;t, and Bugge|ry.</P>
<P>Pag. 123. <HI>But &s;ome api&s;h &s;hews and imitati|ons of Rea&s;on, Vertue and Religion,</HI> &amp;c. The Rea&s;on of the unregenerate in Divine things is little better than thus, and Vertue and Re|ligion which is not from that Principle which revives in us in real Regeneration, are, though much better than &s;candalous vice and profa|ne&s;s, mere pictures and &s;hadows of what they pretend to.</P>
<P>Pag. 123. <HI>To its old cele&s;tial abode,</HI> &amp;c. For we are Pilgrims and &s;trangers here on the earth, as the holy Patriarchs of old declared.
<PB N="126" REF="188">
And they that &s;peak &s;uch things, &s;aith the A|po&s;tle, plainly &s;hew <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>that they &s;eek their native country,</HI> for &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign"> properly &s;ignifies. And truly if they had been mind|ful of that earthly country out of which they came, they might, &s;aith he, have had oppor|tunity of returning. But now they de&s;ire a better, to wit, an heavenly, <HI>Hebr.</HI> 11.</P>
<P>Pag. 124. <HI>But that they &s;tep forth again in|to Airy Vehicles.</HI> This is their natural cour&s;e, as I noted above. But the examples of <HI>Enoch</HI> and <HI>Elias,</HI> and much more of our ever Ble&s;|&s;ed Saviour, are extraordinary and &s;upernatu|ral.</P>
<P>Pag. 125. <HI>Tho&s;e therefore that pa&s;s out of the&s;e bodies before their Terre&s;trial Congruity be &s;poyled, weakened, or orderly unwound, accor|ding to the tenour of this Hypothe&s;is,</HI> &amp;c. By the favour of this ingenious Writer, this Hy|pothe&s;is does not need any &s;uch obnoxious Ap|pendage as this, <HI>viz.</HI> That &s;ouls that are outed the&s;e <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> bodies before their <HI>Terre&s;tri|al Congruity</HI> be &s;poiled, weakned, or orderly unwound, return into the &s;tate of <HI>Inactivity.</HI> But this is far more con&s;onant both to <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>Experience</HI> or Storie, that though the <HI>Ter|re&s;trial Congruity</HI> be &s;till vigorous, as not having run out it may be the half part, no not the tenth part of its Period, the &s;oul immediately upon the quitting of this body is inve&s;ted with a bodie of Air, and is in the &s;tate of <HI>Activity</HI>
<PB N="127" REF="188">
not of <HI>Silence</HI> in no &s;en&s;e. For &s;ome being murdered have in all likelyhood in their own per&s;ons complained of their murderers, as it is in that &s;tory of <HI>Anne Walker;</HI> and there are ma|ny others of the &s;ame nature.</P>
<P>And be&s;ides, it is far more rea&s;onable, there being &s;uch numerous multitudes of <HI>&s;ilent</HI> &s;ouls, that their lea&s;t continuance in the&s;e <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> bodies &s;hould at their departure be as it were a Magical <HI>Kue</HI> or <HI>Te&s;&s;era</HI> forthwith to the <HI>Ae|real Congruity of life</HI> to begin to act its part up|on the cea&s;ing of the other, that more &s;ouls may be rid out of the &s;tate of <HI>Silence.</HI> Which makes it more probable that every &s;oul that is once be&s;meared with the unctuous moi&s;ture of the Womb, &s;hould as it were by a <HI>Magick Oyntment</HI> be carried into the <HI>Air</HI> (though it be of a &s;till-born Infant) than that any &s;hould re|turn into the &s;tate of <HI>Silence</HI> or <HI>Inactivity</HI> up|on the pretence of the remaining vigour of the <HI>Terre&s;trial Congruity</HI> of life. For the&s;e Laws are not by any con&s;equential nece&s;&s;ity, but by the free coun&s;el of the Eternal Wi&s;dom of God con&s;ulting for the be&s;t.</P>
<P>And therefore this being &s;o apparently for the be&s;t, this Law is interwoven into the <HI>Spi|rit of the World</HI> and every particular &s;oul, that upon the cea&s;ing of her <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> Union, her <HI>Aereal</HI> Congruity of life &s;hould immediately operate, and the Spirit of Nature a&s;&s;i&s;ting, &s;he &s;hould be dre&s;t in Aereal robes, and be found
<PB N="128" REF="189">
among the Inhabitants of tho&s;e Regions. If &s;ouls &s;hould be remanded back into the &s;tate of Silence that depart before the Terre&s;trial Period of <HI>Vital Congruity</HI> be orderly unwound, &s;o very few reach the end of that Period, that they mu&s;t in a manner all be turned into the &s;tate of <HI>Inactivity.</HI> Which would be to weave <HI>Penelope</HI>'s Web, to do and undo becau&s;e the day is long enough, as the Proverb is, when&punc; as it rather &s;eems too &s;hort, by rea&s;on of the numero&s;ity of <HI>Silent</HI> &s;ouls that expect their turn of Recovery into Life.</P>
<P>Pag. 125. <HI>But onely follow the clew of this Hypothe&s;is.</HI> The Hypothe&s;is requires no &s;uch thing, but it rather cla&s;hes with the fir&s;t and chiefe&s;t <HI>Pillar</HI> thereof, <HI>viz. That all the Divine de&s;igns and actions are laid and carried on by Infinite Goodne&s;s.</HI> And I have already intima|ted how much better it is to be this way that I am pleading for, than that of this otherwi&s;e-in|genious Writer.</P>
<P>Pag. 125. <HI>Since by long and hard exerci&s;e in this body, the Pla&s;tick Life is well tamed and de|bilitated,</HI> &amp;c. But this is not at all nece&s;&s;ary&punc; no not in tho&s;e &s;ouls who&s;e <HI>Plastick</HI> may be deemed the mo&s;t rampant. Di&s;-union from this Terre&s;trial body immediately tames it, I mean, the <HI>Terre&s;trial Congruity of Life;</HI> and it<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> operation is &s;topt, as &s;urely as a &s;tring of a Lut<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> never &s;o &s;martly vibrated is &s;treightways &s;i|lenced by a gentle touch of the finger, and ano|ther
<PB N="129" REF="189">
&s;ingle &s;tring may be immediately made to &s;ound alone, while the other is mute and &s;ilent. For, I &s;ay, the&s;e are the <HI>free</HI> Laws of the <HI>Eter|nal Wi&s;dom,</HI> but <HI>fatally</HI> and <HI>vitally,</HI> not <HI>intellectu|ally</HI> implanted in the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> and in all Humane Souls or Spirits. The whole Uni|ver&s;e is as it were the Automatal Harp of that great and true <HI>Apollo;</HI> and as for the general &s;triking of the &s;trings and &s;topping their vi|brations, they are done with as exqui&s;ite art as if a free intellectual Agent plaid upon them. But the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> powers in the world are not &s;uch, but onely <HI>Vital</HI> and <HI>Fatal,</HI> as I &s;aid be|fore.</P>
<P>Pag. 126. <HI>That an Aereal body was not e|nough for it to di&s;play its force upon,</HI> &amp;c. It is far more &s;afe and rational to &s;ay, that the &s;oul de&s;erts her Aereal E&s;tate by rea&s;on that the Period of the <HI>Vital Congruity</HI> is expired, which according to tho&s;e fatal Laws I &s;poke of before is determined by the Divine Wi&s;dom. But whether a &s;oul may do any thing to abbreviate this Period, and excite &s;uch &s;ymptoms in the Pla&s;tick as may &s;horten her continuance in that &s;tate, let it be left to the more inqui&s;itive to define.</P>
<P>Pag. 128. <HI>Where is then the difference be|twixt the ju&s;t and the wicked, in &s;tate, place, and body?</HI> Their difference in place I have &s;uffici|ently &s;hewn, in my An&s;wer to the third Argu|ment again&s;t the <HI>triple Congruity of Life</HI> in the
<PB N="130" REF="190">
<HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> of Humane Souls, how fitly they may be di&s;po&s;ed of in the Air. But to the rude Buffoonry of that crude Oppo&s;er of the Opi|nion of Pre-exi&s;tence, I made no An&s;wer. It being methinks &s;ufficiently an&s;wered in the Scholia upon <HI>Sect. 12. Cap. 3. Lib.</HI> 3. of Dr. <HI>H. Mores Immortalitas Animae,</HI> if the Reader think it worth his while to con&s;ult the place&punc; Now for State and Body the difference is ob|vious. The <HI>Vehicle</HI> is of more pure Air, and the Con&s;cience more pure of the one than of the other.</P>
<P>Pag. 130. <HI>For according to this Hypothe&s;is, the gravity of tho&s;e bodies is le&s;s, becau&s;e the quan|tity of the earth that draws them is &s;o,</HI> &amp;c. This is an ingenious invention both to &s;alve that Phaenomenon, why Bodies in Mines and other deep &s;ubterraneous places &s;hould &s;eem not &s;o heavy nor hard to lift there, as they are in the &s;uperiour Air above the earth; and al&s;o to prove that the cru&s;t of the earth is not of &s;o con&s;ide|rable a thickne&s;s as men u&s;ually conceive it is. I &s;ay, it is ingenious, but not &s;o firm and &s;ure. The Quick-&s;ilver in a <HI>Torricellian</HI> Tube will &s;ink deeper in an higher or clearer Air, though there be the &s;ame Magneti&s;m of the earth un|der it that was before. But this is not alto|gether &s;o fit an illu&s;tration, there being ano|ther cau&s;e than I drive at conjoyned there|to.</P>
<P>But that which I drive at is &s;ufficient of it
<PB N="131" REF="190">
&s;elf to &s;alve this Phaenomenon. A Bucket of water, while it is in the water comes up with ea&s;e to him that draws it at the Well; but &s;o &s;oon as it comes into the Air, though there be the &s;ame earth under it that there was before, it feels now exceeding more weighty. Of which I conceive the genuine rea&s;on is, becau&s;e the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> which ranges all things in their due order, acts proportionately &s;trongly to reduce them thereto, as they are more hete|rogeniou&s;ly and di&s;proportionately placed as to their con&s;i&s;tencies. And therefore by how much more cra&s;s and &s;olid a body is above that in which it is placed, by &s;o much the &s;tronger effort the Spirit of Nature u&s;es to re|duce it to its right place; but the le&s;s it exceeds the cra&s;&s;ne&s;s of the Element it is in, the effort is the le&s;s or weaker.</P>
<P>Hence therefore it is, that a &s;tone or &s;uch like body in tho&s;e &s;ubterraneous depths &s;eems le&s;s heavy, becau&s;e the air there is &s;o gro&s;s and thick, and is not &s;o much di&s;proportionate to the gro&s;&s;ne&s;s of the &s;tone as our air above the earth here is; nor do I make any doubt, but if the earth were all cut away to the very bot|tom of any of the&s;e Mines, &s;o that the Air might be of the &s;ame con&s;i&s;tency with ours, the &s;tone would then be as heavy as it is u&s;ual|ly to us in this &s;uperioor &s;urface of the earth. So that this is no certain Argument for the proving that the cru&s;t of the earth is of &s;uch
<PB N="132" REF="191">
thinne&s;s as this Author would have it, though I do not que&s;tion but that it is thin enough.</P>
<P>Pag. 131. <HI>And the mention of the Fountains of the great Deep in the Sacred Hi&s;tory,</HI> &amp;c. This is a more con&s;iderable Argument for the thinne&s;s of the cru&s;t of the earth; and I mu&s;t confe&s;s I think it not improbable but that there is an Aqueous hollow <HI>Sphaericum,</HI> which is the Ba&s;is of this habitable earth, according to that of P&s;alm 24. 2. <HI>For he hath founded it upon the &s;eas, and e&s;tabli&s;hed it upon the flouds.</HI></P>
<P>Pag. 131. <HI>Now I intend not that after a cer|tain di&s;tance all is fluid matter to the Centre;</HI> That is to &s;ay, After a certain di&s;tance of earthly Matter, that the re&s;t &s;hould be fluid Matter, namely, Water and Air, to the Cen|tre, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But here his intention is directed by that veneration he has for <HI>Des Cartes.</HI> Other|wi&s;e I believe if he had freely examined the thing to the bottom, he would have found it more rea&s;onable to conclude all fluid betwixt the <HI>Concave</HI> of the Terre&s;trial Cru&s;t and the <HI>Centre</HI> of the Earth, as we u&s;ually phra&s;e it, though nothing be properly Earth but that Cru&s;t.</P>
<P>Pag. 131. <HI>Which for the mo&s;t part very like|ly is a gro&s;s and foetid kind of air,</HI> &amp;c. On this &s;ide of the <HI>Concave</HI> of the Terre&s;trial Cru&s;t there may be &s;everal Hollows of foetid air and &s;tagnant water, which may be &s;o many parti|cular lodgings for lap&s;ed and unruly Spirits
<PB N="133" REF="191">
But there is moreover a con&s;iderable Aqueous <HI>Sphaericum</HI> upon which the earth is founded, and is mo&s;t properly the Aby&s;s; but in a more comprehen&s;ive notion, all from the <HI>Convex</HI> thereof to the <HI>Centre</HI> may be termed the Aby&s;s, or the Deepe&s;t place that touches our imagi|nation.</P>
<P>Pag. 131. <HI>The lowe&s;t and central Regions may be filled with flame and aether,</HI> &amp;c. That there was the Reliques of a Sun after the In|cru&s;tation of the Earth and Aqueous Orb, is according to this Hypothe&s;is rea&s;onable e|nough. And a kind of Air and Aether be|twixt this dimini&s;hed Sun and the <HI>Concave</HI> of this Aqueous Orb, but no cra&s;s and opake concamerations of hard Matter interpo&s;ed be|twixt.</P>
<P>Which is an Hypothe&s;is the mo&s;t kind to the ingenious Author of <HI>Telluris Theoria Sacra,</HI> that he could wi&s;h. For he holding that there was for almo&s;t two thou&s;and years an opake earthy Cru&s;t over this Aqueous Orb unbroke till the Deluge, which he a&s;cribes to the break|ing thereof, it was nece&s;&s;ary there &s;hould be no opake Orb betwixt the Central Fire and this Aqueous Orb; for el&s;e the Fi&s;hes for &s;o long a time had lived in utter darkne&s;s, having eyes to no purpo&s;e, nor ability to guide their way or hunt their prey. Onely it is &s;uppo&s;ed, which is ea&s;ie to do, that they then &s;wam with their backs toward the Centre, whenas as now
<PB N="134" REF="192">
they &s;wim with their bellies thitherward; they then plying near the <HI>Concave,</HI> as now near the <HI>Convex</HI> of this watry Aby&s;s. Which being admitted, the difference of their po&s;ture will nece&s;&s;arilly follow according to the Laws of Nature, as were ea&s;ie to make out, but that I intend brevity in the&s;e Annotations.</P>
<P>Onely I cannot forbear by the way to ad|verti&s;e how probable it is that this Central Fire which &s;hone clear enough to give light to the Fi&s;hes &s;wimming near the <HI>Concave</HI> of this Watry Orb, might in proce&s;s of time grow dimmer and dimmer, and exceeding much a|bate of its light, by that time the Cru&s;t of the Earth broke and let in the light of the Sun of this great <HI>Vortex</HI> into this Watry Region, with|in which, <HI>viz.</HI> in the Air or Aether there, there has been &s;till a decay of light, the Air or Aether growing more thick as well as that lit|tle Central Fire or Sun, being more and more inveloped with fuliginous &s;tuff about it. So that the whole Concavity may &s;eem mo&s;t like a va&s;t duski&s;h Vault, and this dwindling over|clouded Sun a Sepulchral Lamp, &s;uch as, if I remember right, was found in the Monuments of <HI>Olybius</HI> and <HI>Tulliola.</HI> An hideous di&s;mal forlorn Place, and fit Receptacle for the <HI>Methim</HI> and <HI>Rephaim.</HI></P>
<P>And the Latin Tran&s;lation, <HI>Job</HI> 26. 5. ex|cellently well accords with this &s;ad Phaenome|non. <HI>Ecce Gigantes gemunt &s;ub Aquis, &amp; qui
<PB N="135" REF="192">
habitant cum eis.</HI> Here is that <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Symmachus</HI> tran&s;lates the word. And it follows in the ver&s;e, <HI>Nudus e&s;t Infernus coram eo,</HI> Hell is naked before God. And <HI>Symmachus</HI> in other places of the Proverbs puts <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> together, which therefore is the mo&s;t proper and the nethermo&s;t Hell. And it will be <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the highe&s;t &s;en&s;e, whenever this lurid Light (as it &s;eems probable to me it &s;ome|time will be) is quite extinct, and this <HI>Central Fire</HI> turned into a <HI>Terrella,</HI> as it may &s;eem to have already happened in <HI>Saturn.</HI> But we mu&s;t remember, as the Author &s;ometimes reminds us, that we are embelli&s;hing but a Romantick Hypothe&s;is, and be &s;ure we admit no more than Rea&s;on, Scripture, and the Apo&s;tolick Faith will allow.</P>
<P>Pag. 132. <HI>Are after death committed to tho&s;e &s;qualid &s;ubterraneous Habitations,</HI> &amp;c. He &s;eems to &s;uppo&s;e that all the wicked and dege|rate &s;ouls are committed hither, that they may be le&s;s trouble&s;om to better &s;ouls in this air a|bove the earth. But con&s;idering the Devil is call'd the Prince of the Air, &amp; that he has his Cli|ents and Subjects in the &s;ame place with him; we may well allow the lower Regions of the Air to him, and to &s;ome wicked or unregenerate &s;ouls promi&s;cuou&s;ly with him, though there be &s;ubterraneous Receptacles for the wor&s;t and mo&s;t rebellious of them, and not &s;end them all packing thither.</P>
<P><PB N="136" REF="193">
Pag. 132. <HI>That they are driven into tho&s;e Dungeons by the invi&s;ible Mini&s;ters of Ju&s;tice,</HI> &amp;c. He &s;peaks of &s;uch Dungeons as are in the bro|ken Caverns of the Farth, which may be &s;o many vexatious Receptacles for rebellious Spi|rits which the&s;e invi&s;ible Mini&s;ters of Ju&s;tice may drive them into, and &s;ee them commited; and being confined there upon far &s;everer pe|nalties if they &s;ubmit not to that pre&s;ent pu|ni&s;hment which they are &s;entenced to, they will out of fear of greater Calamity be in as &s;afe cu&s;tody as if they were under lock and key. But the mo&s;t di&s;mal penalty is to be car|ried into the Aby&s;s, the place of the <HI>Rephaim</HI> I above de&s;cribed. This is a mo&s;t a&s;toni&s;hing commination to them, and they extreamly dread that &s;entence. Which makes the Devils, <HI>Luke</HI> 8. 31. &s;o earne&s;tly be&s;eech Chri&s;t that he would not command them <GAP DESC="foreign"> to pack away into the Aby&s;s.</P>
<P>This puni&s;hment therefore of the Aby&s;s where the <HI>Rephaim</HI> or <GAP DESC="foreign"> groan, is door and lock that makes them, whether they will or no, &s;ubmit to all other puni&s;hments and con|finements on this &s;ide of it. <HI>Michael P&s;ellus</HI> takes &s;pecial notice how the Daemons are frigh|ted with the menaces <GAP DESC="foreign">, with the menaces <HI>of the &s;ending them away packing into the Aby&s;s and &s;ubterrane|ous places.</HI> But the&s;e may &s;ignifie no more than Cavities that are in the ruptues of the
<PB N="137" REF="193">
earth, and they may &s;teal out again if they will adventure, unle&s;s they were perpetually watched, which is not &s;o probable. Where|fore they are impri&s;oned through fear of that great horrid Aby&s;s above de&s;cribed, and which as I &s;aid is an iron lock and door of bra&s;s upon them.</P>
<P>But then you will &s;ay, What is the door and lock to this terrible place? I an&s;wer, The invio|lable Adamantine Laws of the great <HI>Sandal|phon</HI> or <HI>Spirit</HI> of the <HI>&V;niver&s;e.</HI> When once a rebellious Spirit is carried down by a Mini&s;ter of Ju&s;tice into this Aby&s;s, he can no more re|turn of him&s;elf, than a man put into a Well for|tie <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">athoms deep is able of him&s;elf to a&s;cend out of it.</P>
<P>The unlap&s;ed Spirits, it is their priviledge that their Vehicles are wholly obedient to the will of the Spirit that inactuates them, and therefore they have free ingre&s;s and egre&s;s eve|ry where; and being &s;o <HI>little pa&s;&s;ive</HI> as they are, and &s;o <HI>quick</HI> and <HI>&s;wift</HI> in their motions, can per|form any Mini&s;tries with little or no incom|modation to them&s;elves. But the Vehicles of lap|&s;ed Spirits are <HI>more pa&s;&s;ive,</HI> and they are the very chains whereby they are tyed to certain Regi|ons by the iron Laws of the Spirit of the Uni|ver&s;e, or Hylarchick Principle, that unfailingly ranges the Matter everie where according to certain orders. Wherefore this Serjeant of Ju|&s;tice having once depo&s;ited his Pri&s;oner with|in
<PB N="138" REF="194">
the <HI>Concave</HI> of the <HI>Aqueous Orb,</HI> he will be as certainly kept there, and never of him&s;elf get out again, as the man in the bottom of the Well above-mentioned, For the Laws of the &s;ame Spirit of Nature that keeps the man at the bottom of the Well (that everie thing may be placed according to the mea&s;ure of its con|&s;i&s;tencie) will inhibit this Captive from ever returning to this Superiour Air again, becau&s;e his Vehicle is, though foul enough, yet much thinner than the Water; and there will be the the &s;ame ranging of things on the <HI>Concave</HI> &s;ide of the <HI>Aqueous Orb,</HI> as there is on the <HI>Convex.</HI></P>
<P>So that if we could &s;uppo&s;e the Ring about <HI>Saturn</HI> inhabited with any living creatures, they would be born toward the <HI>Concave</HI> of the Ring as well as toward the <HI>Convex,</HI> and walk as &s;teadily as we and our Antipodes do with our feet on this and that &s;ide of the earth one again&s;t another. This may &s;erve for a brief intimation of the rea&s;on of the thing, and the intelligent will ea&s;ily make out the re&s;t them|&s;elves, and under&s;tand what an ineluctable fate and calamity it is to be carried into that du&s;|ki&s;h place of dread and horrour, when once the Angel that has the Keys of the Aby&s;s or bot|tomle&s;s pit has &s;hut a rebellious Spirit up there, &amp; chained him in that hideous Dungeon.</P>
<P>Pag. 133. <HI>Others to the Dungeon, and &s;ome to the mo&s;t intolerable Hell the Aby&s;s of fire.</HI> The Dungeon here, if it wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> under&s;tood with an
<PB N="139" REF="194">
Empha&s;is, would mo&s;t properly denote the Dungeon of the <HI>Rephaim,</HI> of which tho&s;e parts neare&s;t the Centre may be called the Aby&s;s of Fire more properly than any Vulcano's in the Cru&s;t of the earth. Tho&s;e &s;ouls therefore that have been of a more fierce and fiery nature, and the Cau&s;ers of Violence and Blood&s;hed, and of furious Wars and cruel Per&s;ecutions of inno|cent and harmle&s;s men, when they are com|mitted to this Dungeon of the <HI>Rephaim,</HI> by tho&s;e inevitable Laws of the &s;ub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eraqueous <HI>Sandalphon,</HI> or <HI>Demogorgon</HI> if you will, they will be ranged neare&s;t the Central Fire of this Helli&s;h Vault. For the Vehicles of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ouls &s;ymbolizing with the temper of the mind, tho&s;e who are mo&s;t haughty, ambitious, fier<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e, and fiery, and therefore, out of Pride and con|tempt of others in re&s;pect of them&s;elves and their own Intere&s;t, make nothing of &s;hedding innocent bloud, or cruelly handling tho&s;e that are not for their turn, but are faithful adherers to their Maker, the Vehicles of the&s;e being more thin and fiery than theirs who have tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed in the <HI>Concap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ble,</HI> they mu&s;t needs &s;urmount &s;uch in order of place, and be mo&s;t remote from the <HI>Concave</HI> of the <HI>Aqueous Orb</HI> under which the <HI>Rephaim groan,</HI> and &s;o be placed at lea&s;t the neare&s;t to that Aby&s;s of Fire, which our Author terms the mo&s;t intolerable Hell.</P>
<P>Pag. 133. <HI>Have a &s;trict and careful eye upon them, to keep them within the confines of their
<PB N="140" REF="195">
Goal,</HI> &amp;c. That this, as it is a more tedious Pro|vince, &s;o a needle&s;s one, I have intimated above, by rea&s;on that the fear of being carried into the Aby&s;s will effectually detain them in their confinements. From whence if they be not relea&s;ed in time, the very place they are in may &s;o change their Vehicles, that it may in a man|ner grow natural to them, and make them as uncapable of the Superiour Air as Bats and Owls are, as the ingenious Author notes, to bear the Suns Noon-day-Beams, or the Fi&s;h to live in the&s;e thinner Regions.</P>
<P>Pag. 134. <HI>&V;nder &s;evere penalties prohibit all unlicen&s;ed excur&s;ions into the upper World, though I confe&s;s this &s;eems not &s;o probable,</HI> &amp;c. The Author &s;eems to re&s;erve all the Air above the earth to good &s;ouls onely, and that if any <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ad ones appear, it mu&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e by either &s;tealth or li|cen&s;e. But why bad &s;ouls may not be in this lower Region of the Air as well as Devils, I under&s;tand not. Nor do I conceive but that the Kingdom of Darkne&s;s may make &s;uch Laws among&s;t them&s;elves, as may tend to the ea&s;e and &s;afety of tho&s;e of the Kingdom of Light. Not out of any good-will to them, but that them&s;elves may not further &s;mart for it if they give licen&s;e to &s;uch and &s;uch exorbi|tancies. For they are capable of pain and pu|ni&s;hment, and though they are permitted in the world, yet they are ab&s;olutely under the power of the Almighty, and of the Grand Mi|ni&s;ter
<PB N="141" REF="195">
of his Kingdom, the glorious Soul of the Me&s;&s;iah.</P>
<P>Pag. 137. <HI>The internal Central Fire &s;hould have got &s;uch &s;trength and irre&s;i&s;tible vigour,</HI> &amp;c. But how or from whence, is very hard to con|cei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e: I &s;hould rather &s;u&s;pect, as I noted above, that the Fire will more and more decay till it turn at la&s;t to a kind of <HI>Terrella,</HI> like that ob|&s;erved within the Ring of <HI>Saturn,</HI> and the Dungeon become utter Darkne&s;s, where there will be weeping and wailing and gna&s;hing of teeth, as well as in the furnace of Fire.</P>
<P>Pag. 141. <HI>And &s;o following the Laws of its proper motion &s;hall fly away out of this Vortex,</HI> &amp;c. This looks like an <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eedle&s;s mi&s;take of this ingenious Writer, who though he &s;peak the language of <HI>Carte&s;ius,</HI> &s;eems here not to have recalled to mind his <HI>Principles.</HI> For the <HI>Earth</HI> according to his Principles is never like to be|come a <HI>Sun</HI> again. Nor if it had &s;o become, would it then become a <HI>Comet.</HI> Fora&s;much as <HI>Comets</HI> according to his Philo&s;ophie are <HI>incr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|&s;tated Suns,</HI> and <HI>Planets</HI> or <HI>Earths</HI> in a manner, and &s;o to be deemed &s;o &s;oon as they &s;ettle in any Vortex, and take their cour&s;e about the Centre thereof. Nor if the Earth become a Sun again, is it like to leave our <HI>Vortex</HI> accor|ding to the <HI>Carte&s;ian</HI> Principles, but rather be &s;wallowed down into the Sun of our <HI>Vortex,</HI> and increa&s;e his magnitude; the ranging of the Planets according to <HI>Des Cartes</HI> Mechanical
<PB N="142" REF="196">
Laws being from the difference of their &s;olidi|ties, and the lea&s;t &s;olid next to the Sun. Whi|ther then can this <HI>Sol redivivus</HI> or the <HI>Earth</HI> turned wholly into the <HI>Materia &s;ubtili&s;&s;ima</HI> again be carried, but into the Sun it &s;elf? This &s;eems mo&s;t likely, e&s;pecially if we con&s;ider this <HI>Sol Redivious</HI> or the Earth turned all into the <HI>Materia &s;ubtili&s;&s;ima,</HI> in it&s;elf. But if we take into our con&s;ideration its particular <HI>Vortex</HI> which carries about the Moon, the bu&s;ine&s;s may bear a further debate which will require more time than to be entred upon here. But it &s;eems plain at fir&s;t &s;ight, that though this <HI>Sol Redivivus</HI> &s;hould by vertue of its particu|lar <HI>Vortex</HI> be kept from being &s;wallowed down into the Sun and Centre of the great <HI>Vortex,</HI> yet it will never be able to get out of this great <HI>Vortex,</HI> according to the frame of <HI>Des Cartes</HI> Philo&s;ophy. So that there will be two Suns in one Vortex, a <HI>Planetary</HI> one and a <HI>fixt</HI> one. Which unexpected mon&s;tro&s;itie in Nature will make any cautious <HI>Carte&s;ian</HI> more wary how he ad|mits of the Earths ever being turned into a Sun again; but rather to be content to let its Central Fire to incru&s;trate it &s;elf into a <HI>Terrel|la,</HI> there &s;eeming to be an example of this in that little Globe in the mid&s;t of the Ring of <HI>Saturn;</HI> but of an Earth turned into a Sun no example at all that I know of.</P>
<P>Pag. 142. <HI>So that the Central Fire remains unconcerned,</HI> &amp;c. And &s;o <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t well may, it being
<PB N="143" REF="196">
&s;o con&s;iderable a di&s;tance from the <HI>Concave</HI> of the <HI>Aqueous Orb,</HI> and the Aqueous Orb it &s;elf betwixt the Cru&s;t of the Earth and it. But the Pri&s;oners of this Gaol of the <HI>Rephaim</HI> will not be a little concerned. This Hell of a &s;ud|dain growing &s;o &s;mothering hot to them all, though the Central Fire no more than it was. And whatever becomes of tho&s;e Spirits that &s;uffer in the very Conflagration it &s;elf, yet <HI>Ab hoc Inferno nulla e&s;t redemptio.</HI></P>
<P>Pag. 147. <HI>Tho&s;e immediate births of una&s;&s;i&s;t|ed nature will not be &s;o tender,</HI> &amp;c. Be&s;ides, the Air being repleni&s;ht with benign <HI>Daemons</HI> or <HI>Genii,</HI> to whom it cannot but be a plea|&s;ant Spectacle to behold the inchoations and progre&s;&s;es of reviving Nature, they having the Curio&s;itie to contemplate the&s;e births, may al&s;o in all likelihood exerci&s;e their kind|ne&s;s in helping them in their wants; and when they are grown up, a&s;&s;i&s;t them al&s;o in the me|thods of Life, and impart as they &s;hall find fit the Arcana of Arts and Sciences and Religion unto them, nor &s;uffer them to &s;ymbolize over|much in their way of living with the re&s;t of their fellow terre&s;trial Creatures. If it be true that &s;ome hold, that even now when there is no &s;uch need, every one has his <GAP DESC="foreign">, his <HI>Genius</HI> or Guardian Angel, it is much more likely that at &s;uch a &s;ea&s;on as this, every tender <HI>Foetus</HI> of their common Mother the Earth, would be taken into the care of &s;ome good
<PB N="144" REF="197">
Daemon or other, even at their very fir&s;t bud|ding out into life.</P>
<P>Pag. 148. <HI>But all this is but the frolick ex|erci&s;e of my Pen choo&s;ing a Paradox.</HI> And let the &s;ame be &s;aid of the Pen of the <HI>Annotator,</HI> who has be&s;towed the&s;e pains not to gain Pro|&s;elytes to the Opinions treated of in this Di&s;|cour&s;e, but to entertain the Readers Intellectu|als with what may &s;omething inlarge his thoughts; and if he be curious and anxious, help him at a pinch to &s;ome ea&s;e of mind touching the ways of God and his wonderful Providence in the World.</P>
<P>Pag. 149. <HI>Tho&s;e other expre&s;&s;ions of Death, De&s;truction, Perdition of the ungodly,</HI> &amp;c. How the entring into the &s;tate of <HI>Silence</HI> may well be deemed a real Death, De&s;truction and Per|dition, that pa&s;&s;age in <HI>Lucretius</HI> does marvel|ou&s;ly well &s;et out.</P>
<LG>
<L>Nam &s;i tantopere e&s;t animi mutata pote&s;tas,</L>
<L>Omnis ut actarum exciderit retinentia rerum,</L>
<L>Non, ut opinor, ea ab letho jam longiter errat</L>
<L>Quapropter fateare nece&s;&s;e e&s;t, quoe fuit ante.</L>
<L>Interii&s;&s;e, <HI>&amp;c. De Rerum Natura, Lib.</HI> 3.</L>
</LG>
<P>And again in the &s;ame book he &s;ays, though we were again ju&s;t as we were before, yet we having no memory thereof, it is all one as if we were perfectly lo&s;t. And yet this is the condition of the &s;oul which the Divine Neme&s;is
<PB N="145" REF="197">
&s;ends into the &s;tate of Silence, becau&s;e after|wards &s;he remembers nothing of her former life. His words are the&s;e:</P>
<LG>
<L>Nec, &s;i materiam no&s;tram collegerit oetas</L>
<L>Po&s;t obitum, rur&s;&uacute;m&abque; redegerit ut &s;ita nunc e&s;t,</L>
<L>At&abque; iterum nobis fuerint data lumina vitoe,</L>
<L>Pertineat quicquam tamen ad nos id quo&abque; fa|ctum</L>
<L>Interrupta &s;emel quom &s;it retinentia no&s;tri.</L>
</LG>
<P>Pag. 150. <HI>In tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ages which predict new Heavens and a new Earth,</HI> &amp;c. I &s;uppo&s;e he alludes e&s;pecially to that place in the Apoca|lyp&s;e, <HI>Chap.</HI> 21. where pre&s;ently upon the De|&s;cription of the Lake of Fire in the precedent Chapter which an&s;wers to the Con&s;lagration, it is &s;aid, <HI>And I &s;aw a new Heaven and a new Earth.</HI> But que&s;tionle&s;s that pa&s;&s;age, as in o|ther places, is <HI>Politically</HI> to be under&s;tood, not <HI>Phy&s;ically,</HI> unle&s;s this may be the ingenious Authors meaning, That the Writer of the A|pocalyp&s;e adorning his &s;tyle with allu&s;ions to the mo&s;t rouzing and mo&s;t notable real or Phy|&s;ical Objects (which is ob&s;ervable all along the Apocalyp&s;e) it may be a &s;ign that a new Heaven and a new Earth &s;ucceeding the Con|flagration, is one of tho&s;e noble Phaenomena true and real among&s;t the re&s;t, which he thought fit to adorn his &s;tyle with by alluding thereto. So that though the chief intended
<PB N="146" REF="198">
&s;en&s;e of the Apocalyp&s;e be <HI>Political,</HI> yet by its allu&s;ions it may countenance many noble and weighty Truths whether <HI>Phy&s;ical</HI> or <HI>Metaphy|&s;ical.</HI> As, The exi&s;tence of Angels, which is &s;o perpertually inculcated all along the Book from the beginning to the ending: The Divine Shechina in the cele&s;tial Regions: The Dread|ful Aby&s;s in which rebellious Spirits are chain|ed, and at the commination whereof they &s;o much tremble: The Conflagration of the Earth; and la&s;tly, The renewing and re&s;toring this Earth and Heaven after the Conflagrati|on.</P>
<P>Pag. 150. <HI>The main Opinion of Pre-exi&s;tence is not at all concerned,</HI> &amp;c. This is very judi|ciou&s;ly and &s;oberly noted by him. And there|fore it is by no means fairly done by the Op|po&s;ers of Pre-exi&s;tence, while they make &s;uch a pudder to confute any pa&s;&s;ages in this Hy|pothe&s;is, which is acknowledged by the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tentiaries</HI> them&s;elves to be no nece&s;&s;ary or e&s;&s;ential part of that Dogma. But this they do, that they may &s;eem by their Cavils (for mo&s;t of them are no better) again&s;t &s;ome parts of this unnece&s;&s;arie Appendage of Pre-exi|&s;tence, to have done &s;ome execution upon the Opinion it &s;elf; which how far it extends, may be in &s;ome mea&s;ure di&s;covered by the&s;e Notes we have made upon it. Which &s;tated as they direct, the Hypothe&s;is is at lea&s;t po&s;&s;ible; but that it is ab&s;olutely the true one, or &s;hould be
<PB N="147" REF="198">
thought &s;o, is not intended. But as the in|genious Author &s;ugge&s;ts, it is either this way or &s;ome better, as the infinite Wi&s;dom of God may have ordered. But this po&s;&s;ible way &s;hews Pre-exi&s;tence to be neither impo&s;&s;ible nor improbable.</P>
<P>Pag. 151. <HI>But &s;ubmit all that I have writ|ten to the Authority of the Church of England,</HI> &amp;c. And this I am per&s;waded he heartily did, as it is the duty of every one, in things that they cannot confirm by either a plain demon|&s;tration, clear authority of Scripture, Mani|fe&s;tation of their outward Sen&s;es, or &s;ome rou|zing Miracle, to compromi&s;e with the Deci&s;i|ons of the National Church where Providence has ca&s;t them, for common peace and &s;ettle|ment, and for the ea&s;e and &s;ecurity of Gover|nours. But becau&s;e a fancy has taken a man in the head, that he knows greater <HI>Arcana</HI> than others, or has a more orthodox belief in things not nece&s;&s;arie to Salvation than others have, for him to affect to make others Pro&s;e|lytes to his Opinion, and to wear his badge of Wi&s;dom, as of an extraordinarie Ma&s;ter in matters of Theory, is a mere vanitie of Spirit, a ridiculous piece of pride and levitie, and un|be&s;eeming either a &s;ober and &s;tanched man or a good Chri&s;tian. But upon &s;uch pretences to gather a Sect, or &s;et up a Church or Indepen|dent Congregation, is intolerable Faction and Schi&s;m, nor can ever bear a free and &s;trict ex|amination
<PB N="148" REF="199">
according to the mea&s;ures of the true&s;t <HI>Morals</HI> and <HI>Politicks.</HI></P>
<P>But becau&s;e it is the fate of &s;ome men to believe Opinions, to others but probable, nor it may be &s;o much (as the motion of the Earth &s;uppo&s;e, and <HI>Des Cartes</HI> his <HI>Vortices,</HI> and the like) to be certain Science, it is the intere&s;t of every National Church to define the truth of no more Theories than are plainly nece&s;&s;a|ry for Faith and good manners; becau&s;e if they either be <HI>really,</HI> or <HI>&s;eem</HI> to be mi&s;taken in their unnece&s;&s;ary Deci&s;ions or Definitions, this with tho&s;e that are more knowing than ingenuous will certainly le&s;&s;en the Authori|ty and Reverence due to the Church, and hazard a &s;ecret enmity of &s;uch again&s;t her. But to adventure upon no Deci&s;ions but what have the Authority of Scripture (which they have that were the Deci&s;ions of General Councils before the Apo&s;ta&s;ie) and plain u&s;e|fulne&s;s as well as Rea&s;on of their &s;ide, this is the greate&s;t Con&s;ervative of the Honour and Authority of a Church (e&s;pecially joyned with an exemplary life) that the greate&s;t Prudence or Politicks can ever excogitate. Which true Politicks the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> having a long time ago de&s;erted, has been fain, an horrid thing to think of it! to &s;upport her Autho|rity and extort Reverence by mere Violence and Bloud. Whenas, if &s;he had followed the&s;e more true and Chri&s;tian Politicks, &s;he would
<PB N="149" REF="199">
never have made her&s;elf &s;o obnoxious, but for ought one knows, &s;he might have &s;tood and retained her Authority for ever.</P>
<P>In the mean time, this is &s;uitable enough, and very well worth our noting, That fora&s;|much as there is no a&s;&s;urance of the Holy Gho&s;t's a&s;&s;i&s;ting unnece&s;&s;ary Deci&s;ions, though it were of the Univer&s;al Church, much le&s;s of any National one, &s;o that if &s;uch a point be de|termined, it is uncertainly determined, and that there may be &s;everal ways of holding a nece&s;&s;a|ry Point, &s;ome more accommodate to one kind of men, others to another, and that the Deci&s;i|ons of the Church are for the Edification of the people, that either their <HI>Faith</HI> may be more firm, or their <HI>Lives</HI> more irreprehen&s;ible: the&s;e things, I &s;ay, being premi&s;ed, it &s;eems mo&s;t prudent and Chri&s;tian in a Church to de|cline the Deci&s;ion of the circum&s;tances of any nece&s;&s;ary point, fora&s;much as by deciding and determining the thing one way, tho&s;e other handles by which others might take more fa&s;t hold on it are thereby cut off, and &s;o their a&s;&s;ent made le&s;s firm thereto.</P>
<P>We need not go far for an example, if we but remember what we have been about all this time. It is nece&s;&s;arie to believe that we have in us an Immortal Spirit capable of Salvation and Damnation, according as we &s;hall behave our&s;elves. This is certainly revealed to us, and is of indi&s;pen&s;able u&s;efulne&s;s. But though
<PB N="150" REF="200">
this Opinion or rather Article of Faith be but o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e, yet there are &s;everal waies of holding it. And it lies more ea&s;ie in &s;ome mens minds, if they &s;uppo&s;e it created by God at every conception in the Womb; in other&s;ome, if they conceive it to be <HI>ex Traduce;</HI> and la&s;tly in others, if it pre-exi&s;t. But the waies of holding this Article &s;ignifie nothing but as they are &s;ub&s;ervient to the making us the more firmly hold the &s;ame. For the more firmly we believe it, the greater influence will it have upon our lives, to cau&s;e us to live in the fear of God, and in the waies of Righteou&s;ne&s;s like good Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>Wherefore now it being &s;uppo&s;ed that it will &s;tick more firm and fixt in &s;ome mens minds by &s;ome one of the&s;e three waies, ra|ther than by either of the other two, and thus of any one of the three; It is manife&s;t, it is much more prudently done of the Church not to cut off two of the&s;e three handles by a needle&s;s, nay, a harmful Deci&s;ion, but let every one choo&s;e that handle that he can hold the Article fa&s;te&s;t by, for his own &s;upport and Edification. For thus every one laying firm hold on that handle that is be&s;t fitted for his own gra&s;p, the Article will carry all the&s;e three &s;orts of believers &s;a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e up to Heaven, they living accordingly; whenas two &s;orts of them would have more &s;lippery or uncertain hold, if they had no handle offered to them but
<PB N="151" REF="200">
tho&s;e which are le&s;s &s;uitable to their gra&s;p and Genius.</P>
<P>Which &s;hews the Prudence, Care, and Accu|racy of Judgment in the Church of <HI>England,</HI> that as in other things, &s;o in this, &s;he has made no &s;uch needle&s;s and indeed hurtful Deci&s;ions, but left the modes of conceiving things of the greate&s;t moment, to every ones &s;elf, to take it that way that he can lay the fa&s;te&s;t hold of it, and it will lie the mo&s;t ea&s;ily in his mind without doubt and wavering. And therefore there being no one of the&s;e handles but what may be u&s;eful to &s;ome or other for the more ea&s;ie and undoubted holding that there is in us an Immaterial and Immortal Soul or Spirit, my having taken this &s;mall pains to wipe off the &s;oil, and further the u&s;efulne&s;s of one of them by the&s;e Annotations, if it may not merit thanks, it mu&s;t, I hope, at lea&s;t de&s;erve excu&s;e with all tho&s;e that are not of too &s;owre and tetrick a Genius, and prefer their own humours and &s;entiments before the real bene|fit of others.</P>
<P>But now if any one &s;hall invidiou&s;ly object, that I prefer the Chri&s;tian Di&s;cretion of my own Church the Church of <HI>England,</HI> before the Judgment and Wi&s;dom of a General Council, namely, the fifth Oecumenical Council held at <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> in <HI>Ju&s;tinians</HI> time under the Patriarch <HI>Eutychius,</HI> who &s;ucceeded <HI>Menas</HI> late|ly decea&s;ed, to whom <HI>Ju&s;tinian</HI> &s;ent that Di&s;|cour&s;e
<PB N="152" REF="201">
of his again&s;t <HI>Origen</HI> and his errours, among&s;t which <HI>Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> is reckoned one: In an&s;wer to this, &s;everal things are to be con|&s;idered, that right may be done our Mo|ther.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, What number of Bi&s;hops make a ge|neral Council, &s;o that from their <HI>Numero&s;ity</HI> we may rely upon their Authority and in|fallibility that they will not conclude what is fal&s;e.</P>
<P>Secondly, Whether in what&s;oever matters of debate, though nothing to the Salvation of mens &s;ouls, but of curious&punc; Speculation, fitter for the Schools of Philo&s;ophers than Articles of Faith for the edification of the people (who&s;e memory and con&s;cience ought to be charged with no notions that are not &s;ub&s;ervient to the rightly and duly honouring God and his onely begotten Son our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and to the faithful di&s;charging their duty to man) the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Spirit of God can rational|ly be expected; or onely in &s;uch things as are nece&s;&s;ary to be profe&s;&s;ed by the people, and very u&s;eful for the promoting of Life and God|line&s;s. And as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> has circum&s;cribed his Nar|rative of the Creation within the limits of <HI>Mundus Plebeiorum,</HI> and al&s;o the Chronology of time according to Scripture is bounded from the fir&s;t <HI>Adam</HI> to the coming again of the &s;e|cond to Judgment, and Sentencing the wicked to everla&s;ting puni&s;hment, and the righteous to
<PB N="153" REF="201">
life everla&s;ting: &s;o whether the Deci&s;ions of the Church are not the mo&s;t &s;afely contained within the&s;e bounds, and they faithfully di&s;|charge them&s;elves in the conduct of Souls, if they do but in&s;truct them in &s;uch truths only as are within this compa&s;s revealed in &s;acred Scripture. And whether it does not make for the Intere&s;t and Dignity of the Church to decline the medling with other things, as unprofitable and unnece&s;&s;ary to be deci|ded.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Whether if a General Council meet not together <HI>in via Spiritus Sancti,</HI> but &s;ome &s;tickling imbitter'd Grandees of the Church out of a pique that they have taken again&s;t &s;ome per&s;ons get through their intere&s;t a Ge|neral Council called, whether is the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy Gho&s;t to be expected in &s;uch a meeting, &s;o that they &s;hall conclude nothing again&s;t truth.</P>
<P>Fourthly, Whether the Authority of &s;uch General Councils as Providence by &s;ome no|table prodigie may &s;eem to have intimated a di&s;like of, be not thereby ju&s;tly &s;u&s;pected, and not ea&s;ily to be admitted as infallible de|ciders.</P>
<P>Fifthly, Whether a General Council that is found mi&s;taken in one point, anathematizing that for an Here&s;ie which is a truth, forfeits not its Authority in other points, which then whether fal&s;hoods or truths, are not to be dee|med
<PB N="154" REF="202">
&s;o from the Authority of that Council, but from other Topicks.</P>
<P>Sixthly, Since there can be no commerce be|twixt God and man, nor he communicate his mind and will to us but by &s;uppo&s;ition, That our &s;en&s;es rightly circum&s;tantiated are true, That there is skill in us to under&s;tand words and Grammar, and &s;chemes of &s;peech, as al&s;o com|mon notions and clear inferences of Rea&s;on, whether if a General Council conclude any thing plainly repugnant to the&s;e, is the Con|clu&s;ion of &s;uch a Council true and valid; and whether the indeleble Notices of truth in our mind that all Mankind is po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of, whe|ther Logical, Moral, or Metaphy&s;ical, be not more the dictates of God, than tho&s;e of any Council that are again&s;t them.</P>
<P>Seventhly, If a Council, as general as any has been called, had in the very midnight of the Churches Apo&s;ta&s;ie and ignorance met, and concluded all tho&s;e Corruptions that now are obtruded by the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> as Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation, Invocation of Saints, Wor&s;hipping of Images, and the like, whether the Deci&s;ions of &s;uch a Council could be held infallible or va|lid. What our own excellently well Reformed Church holds in this ca&s;e, is evident out of her Articles. For,</P>
<P>Eighthly, The Church of <HI>England</HI> plainly declares. <HI>That General Councils when they be gathered together, fora&s;much as they be an A&s;|&s;embly
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of men whereof all are not governed with the Spirit and Word of God, they may err, and &s;ometimes have erred even in things pertaining to God. Wherefore,</HI> &s;aith &s;he&punc; <HI>things ordained by them as nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation have neither &s;trength nor Authority, unle&s;s it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture.</HI> Artic 21.</P>
<P>Ninthly, And again, <HI>Artic.</HI> 20. where &s;he allows the Church to have power to decree Rites and Ceremonies, and Authority in Con|trover&s;ies of Faith, but with this re&s;triction, <HI>That it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to Gods Word written, neither may it &s;o expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another:</HI> &s;he concludes: <HI>Wherefore although the Church be a Witne&s;s and Keeper of Holy Writ, yet as it ought not to de|cree any thing again&s;t the &s;ame, &s;o be&s;ides the &s;ame ought it not to inforce any thing to be be|lieved for nece&s;&s;ity of Salvation.</HI> What then, does &s;he null the Authority of all the General Councils, and have no deference for any thing but the mere Word of God to convince men of Here&s;ie&punc; No &s;uch matter. What her &s;en&s;e of the&s;e things is, you will find in 1 <HI>Eliz. cap.</HI> 1. Wherefore,</P>
<P>Tenthly and la&s;tly, What General Councils the Church of <HI>England</HI> allows of for the con|viction of Hereticks you may under&s;tand out of the&s;e words of the Statute: <HI>They &s;hall not
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adjudge any matter or cau&s;e to be Here&s;ies, but onely &s;uch as heretofore have been adjudged to be Here&s;ie by the Authority of the Canonical Scrip|tures, or by the fir&s;t four General Councils or any of them, or by any other General Council wherein the &s;ame was declared Here&s;ie by the expre&s;s and plain words of the &s;aid Canonical Scrip|tures.</HI></P>
<P>By brief reflections upon &s;ome of the&s;e ten Heads, I &s;hall endeavour to le&s;&s;en the Invidi|ou&s;ne&s;s of my <HI>&s;eeming</HI> to prefer the Di&s;cretion of the Church of <HI>England</HI> before the Judgment of a <HI>General Council,</HI> I mean of &s;uch a General Council as is &s;o unexceptionable that we may relie on the Authority of their Deci&s;ions, that they will not fail to be true. Of which &s;ort whether the fifth reputed General Council be, we will briefly fir&s;t con&s;ider.</P>
<P>For reflecting on the fir&s;t head, It &s;eems &s;carcely numerous enough for a General Coun|cil. The fir&s;t General Council of <HI>Nice</HI> had above three hundred Bi&s;hops; That of <HI>Chal|cedon</HI> above &s;ix hundred: This fifth Council held at <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> had but an hundred &s;ixty odd. And which &s;till makes it more unlike a General Council, in the very &s;ame year, <HI>viz.</HI> 553, the We&s;tern Bi&s;hops held a Council at <HI>Aquileia,</HI> and condemned this fifth Council held at <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, The Pre-exi&s;tence of Souls being a mere Philo&s;ophical Speculation, and indeed
<PB N="157" REF="203">
held by all Philo&s;ophers in the affirmative that held the Soul incorporeal; we are to con&s;ider whether we may not ju&s;tly deem this ca&s;e re|ferrible to the &s;econd Head, and to look &s;ome|thing like Pope <HI>Zacharies</HI> appointing a Coun|cil to condemn <HI>Virgilius</HI> as an Heretick, for holding <HI>Antipodes.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, We may very well doubt whether this Council proceeded <HI>in via Spiritus Sancti,</HI> this not being the fir&s;t time that the lovers and admirers of <HI>Origen</HI> for his great Piety and Knowledge, and &s;ingular good &s;ervice he had done to the Church of Chri&s;t in his time, had foul play plai'd them. Witne&s;s the &s;tory of <HI>Theophilus</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Antioch,</HI> who to revenge him&s;elf on <HI>Dio&s;corus</HI> and two others that were lovers of <HI>Origen</HI> and <HI>Anti-Anthropomorphites,</HI> &s;tickled &s;o, that he cau&s;ed <HI>Epiphanius</HI> in his See, as he did in his own, to condemn the Books of <HI>Origen</HI> in a Synod. To which con|demnation <HI>Epiphanius</HI> an <HI>Anthropomorphite,</HI> and one of more Zeal than Knowledge, would have got the &s;ub&s;cription of <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> the Pa|triarch of <HI>Con&s;tantinople;</HI> but he had more Wi&s;|dom and Hone&s;ty than to li&s;ten to &s;uch an in|jurious demand.</P>
<P>And as it was with tho&s;e Synods called by <HI>Theophilus</HI> and <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> &s;o it &s;eems to be with the fifth Council. Piques and Heart|burnings among&s;t the Grandees of the Church &s;eemed to be at the bottom of the bu&s;ine&s;s. <HI>Bi|nius</HI>
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in his Hi&s;tory of this fifth Council takes notice of the enmity betwixt <HI>Pelagius,</HI> Pope <HI>Vigilius</HI>'s Apocri&s;iarie, and <HI>Theodorus</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Cae&s;area Cappadociae</HI> an <HI>Origeni&s;t.</HI> And <HI>Spon|danus</HI> likewi&s;e mentions the &s;ame, who &s;ays, touching the bu&s;ine&s;s of <HI>Origen,</HI> that <HI>Pelagius</HI> the Popes Apocri&s;iarie, <HI>eam quae&s;tionem in ip&s;ius Theodori odium movi&s;&s;e exi&s;timabatur.</HI> And truly it &s;eems to me altogether incredible, un|le&s;s there were &s;ome helli&s;h &s;pight at the bot|tom, that they &s;hould not have contented them|&s;elves to condemn the errours &s;uppo&s;ed to be <HI>Origens</HI> (but after &s;o long a time after his death, there being in his writings &s;uch choppings and changings and interpolations, hard to prove to be his) but have &s;pared his name, for that un|&s;peakable good &s;ervice he did the Church in his life-time. See Dr. <HI>H. Mores</HI> Preface to his <HI>Collectio Philo&s;ophica,</HI> Sect. 18. where <HI>Origens</HI> true Character is de&s;cribed out of <HI>Eu&s;ebius.</HI> Wherefore whether this be to begin or carry on things <HI>in via Spiritus Sancti,</HI> &s;o that we may rely on the Authority of &s;uch a Council, I leave to the impartial and judicious to con&s;i|der.</P>
<P>Fourthly, In reference to the fourth Head, That true wi&s;dom and moderation, and the holy a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Gods Spirit did not guide the affairs of this Council, &s;eems to be indica|ted by the Divine Providence, who to &s;hew the effect of their unwi&s;e proceedings in the
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&s;elf-&s;ame year the Council &s;ate, &s;ent a mo&s;t ter|rible Earthquake for forty days together upon the City of <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> where the Council was held, and upon other Regions of the Ea&s;t, even upon <HI>Alexandria</HI> it &s;elf and other places, &s;o that many Cities were levelled to the ground. Upon which <HI>Spondanus</HI> writes thus: <HI>Haec ver&ograve; prae&s;agia fui&s;&s;e malorum quae &s;unt prae|dictam Synodum con&s;ecuta, nemo negare poterit quicun&abque; ab eventis facta noverit judicare.</HI></P>
<P>This al&s;o reminds me of a Prodigy as it was thought that happened at the &s;ixth reputed Ge|neral Council, where nigh three hundred Fa|thers were gathered together to decide this nice and &s;ubtile Point, namely, whether an o|peration or volition of Chri&s;t were to be dee|med, <HI>&V;na operatio &s;ive volitio</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, according to that Axiom of &s;ome Metaphy&s;icians, that <HI>Actio e&s;t &s;uppo&s;iti,</HI> and &s;o the Humane and Di|vine Nature of Chri&s;t being coale&s;cent into <HI>one per&s;on,</HI> his <HI>volition</HI> and <HI>operation</HI> be accoun|ted <HI>one</HI> as his per&s;on is but <HI>one;</HI> or becau&s;e of the <HI>two Natures,</HI> though but one per&s;on, there are to be conceived <HI>two operations</HI> or two voli|tions. This latter Dogma obtained, and the other was condemned by this third <HI>Con&s;tanti|nopolitan Council:</HI> whereupon, as <HI>Paulus Diaco|nus</HI> writes, abundance of Cobwebs or Spiders webs fell or rained, as it were, down upon the heads of the people, to their very great a&s;to|ni&s;hment. Some interpret the Cobwebs of
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Here&s;ies; others haply more rightfully of troubling the Church of Chri&s;t with over|great niceties and curio&s;ities of &s;ubtile Specu|lation, which tend nothing to the corrobora|ting her Faith, and promoting a good Life; and are &s;o ob&s;cure, &s;ubtile, and lubricous, that look on them one way they &s;eem thus, and another way thus.</P>
<P>To this &s;ixth General Council there &s;eemed <HI>two Operations</HI> and <HI>two Wills</HI> in Chri&s;t, becau&s;e of his <HI>two Natures.</HI> To a Council called after by <HI>Philippicus</HI> the Emperour, and <HI>John</HI> Patri|arch of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> con&s;idering Chri&s;t as <HI>one per&s;on,</HI> there appeared <HI>Numero&s;i&s;&s;imo Orienta|lium Epi&s;coporum collecto Conventui&punc;</HI> as <HI>Sponda|nus</HI> has it: but as <HI>Binius, Innumerae Orientalium Epi&s;coporum multitudini congregatae,</HI> but <HI>one will</HI> and <HI>one operation.</HI> And certainly this nume|rous or innumerable company of Bi&s;hops mu&s;t put as fair for a General Council as that of le&s;s than three hundred. But that the Authority of both the&s;e Councils are le&s;&s;ened upon the account of the &s;econd Head, in that the mat|ter they con&s;ulted about tended nothing to the corroboration of our Faith, or the pro|motion of a good Life, I have already intima|ted.</P>
<P>The&s;e things I was tempted to note, in re|ference to the tenth Head. For it &s;eems to mean undeniable Argument, that our <HI>First Reformers,</HI> which are the <HI>Ri&s;en Witne&s;&s;es,</HI> were
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either exqui&s;itely well &s;een in Eccle&s;ia&s;tick Hi&s;tory, or the good Hand of God was upon them that they ab&s;olutely admitted onely the four fir&s;t General Councils; but after them, they knew not where to be, or what to call a General Council, and therefore would not ad|venture of any &s;o called for the adjudging any matters Here&s;ie. But if any pretended to be &s;uch, their Authority &s;hould no further prevail, than as they made out things by expre&s;s and plain words of Canonical Scripture. And for other Synods, whether the Seventh, which is the &s;econd of <HI>Nice,</HI> or any other that the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> would have to be General in defence of their own exorbitant points of <HI>Faith</HI> or <HI>Practice,</HI> they will be found of no validity, if we have recour&s;e to the &s;ixth, &s;eventh, eighth and ninth Heads.</P>
<P>Fifthly, In reference to the fifth Head. This fifth Council lo&s;eth its Authority in anathe|matizing what in <HI>Origen</HI> &s;eems to be true ac|cording to that expre&s;s Text of Scripture, John 16. 28. (e&s;pecially compared with others. See Notes on <HI>Chap. 11.) I came forth from the Fa|ther, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father.</HI> He came forth from his Father which is in Heaven, according|ly as he taught us to pray to him (the Divine <HI>Shechina</HI> being in a peculiar manner there) He leaves the world and goes to the Father, which all under&s;tand of his A&s;cen&s;ion into Heaven,
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whence his coming from the Father mu&s;t have the &s;ame &s;en&s;e, or el&s;e the Antithe&s;is will plain|ly fail. Wherefore it is plain he came down from Heaven (as he &s;ignifies al&s;o in other pla|ces) as well as returns thither. But he can neither be truly &s;aid to come from heaven, nor return thither, according to his Divine Nature. For it never left Heaven, nor removes from one place to another; and therefore this Scripture does plainly imply the Pre exi&s;tence of the Soul of the Me&s;&s;iah, according to the Doctrine of the <HI>Jews,</HI> before it was incarnate. And this &s;tricture of the old <HI>Cabala</HI> may give light to more places of St. <HI>Johns</HI> Writings than is fit to recite in this ha&s;te; I will onely name one by the by, 1 <HI>John 4. 2. Every Spirit that confe&s;&s;eth</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>that Je&s;us is the Chri&s;t come in the fle&s;h,</HI> that is to &s;ay, is the Chri&s;t incarnate, <HI>is of God.</HI> For the Me&s;&s;iah did exi&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> his Soul, before he came into the fle&s;h, ac|cording to the Doctrine of the <HI>Jews.</HI> Which was &s;o well known, that upon the above-cited &s;aying <HI>(John</HI> 16. 28.) of our Saviour, they pre&s;ently an&s;wered, <HI>Lo, now &s;peake&s;t thou plain|ly, and &s;peake&s;t no Parable;</HI> becau&s;e he clear|ly di&s;covers him&s;elf by this Character to be the expected Me&s;&s;ias incarnate. Nor is there any po&s;&s;ible eva&s;ion out of the clearne&s;s of this Text <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rom the communication of Idioms, becau&s;e Chri&s;t cannot be &s;aid to come down from Heaven according to his Humane Nature be|fore
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it was there, therefore his Humane Na|ture was there before it was incarnate.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, The Authority of the Deci&s;ion of this Council (if it did &s;o decide) is le&s;&s;ened, in that contrary to the &s;econd Head (as was hinted above) it decides a point that Faith and Godline&s;s is not at all concerned in. For the Divinity of Chri&s;t, which is the great point of Faith, is as firmly held &s;uppo&s;ing the Soul of the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias</HI> united with the <HI>Logos</HI> before his in|carnation, as in it. So that the <HI>&s;pight</HI> onely of <HI>Pelagius</HI> again&s;t <HI>Theodorus</HI> to multiply Ana|themati&s;ms again&s;t <HI>Origen,</HI> no <HI>u&s;e</HI> or <HI>nece&s;&s;ity</HI> of the Church required any &s;uch thing. Whence again their Authority is le&s;&s;ened upon the ac|count of the third Head.</P>
<P>The&s;e things may very well &s;u&s;pend a care|ful mind, and loth to be impo&s;ed upon, from relying much upon the Authority of this fifth Council. But &s;uppo&s;e its Authority entire, yet the Acts again&s;t <HI>Origen</HI> are not to be found in the Council. And the &s;ixth Council in its Anathemati&s;ms, though it mention <HI>Theodorets</HI> Writings, the Epi&s;tle of <HI>Ibas</HI> and <HI>Theoda|rus Mop&s;ue&s;tenus</HI> who were concerned in the fifth Council; yet I find not there a &s;yllable touching <HI>Origen.</HI> And therefore tho&s;e that talk of his being condemned by that fifth Council, have an eye, I &s;uppo&s;e, to the Ana|themati&s;ms at the end of that Di&s;cour&s;e which <HI>Ju&s;tinian</HI> the Emperour &s;ent to <HI>Menas.</HI> Patri|arch
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of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> according to which form they &s;uppo&s;e the errours of <HI>Origen</HI> condemned. Which if it were true, yet <HI>&s;imple Pre-exi&s;tence</HI> will e&s;cape well enough.</P>
<P>Nor do I think that learned and intelligent Patriarch <HI>Photius</HI> would have called the &s;im|ple Opinion of Pre-exi&s;tence of &s;ouls <GAP DESC="foreign">, but for tho&s;e Appendages that the injudiciou&s;ne&s;s and ra&s;hne&s;s of &s;ome had affix|ed to it. Partly therefore re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lecting upon that fir&s;t Anathemati&s;m in the Emperours Di&s;|cour&s;e that makes the pre-exi&s;tent &s;ouls of men fir&s;t to be <GAP DESC="foreign"> as if their highe&s;t felicity con|&s;i&s;ted in having no body to inactuate (which plainly cla&s;hes with both &s;ound Philo&s;ophy and Chri&s;tianity, as if the <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <HI>Rephaim</HI> were all one, and they were not <GAP DESC="foreign"> till they were <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>grown cold to the Divine Love,</HI> and onely gathered body as they gathered corruption, and were alienated from the Life of God; which is point-blank again&s;t the Chri&s;tian Faith, which has promi&s;ed us, as the highe&s;t prize, a glorified body:) And partly what him&s;elf adds, that one &s;oul goes into &s;everal bodies; Which are impertinent Appendages of the Pre-exi&s;tence of the &s;oul, fal&s;e, u&s;ele&s;s and unnece&s;&s;ary; and therefore tho&s;e that add the&s;e Appendages thereto, violate the &s;incerity of the Divine Tradition to no good purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>But this &s;imple Doctrine of Pre-exi&s;tence is &s;o unexceptionable and harmle&s;s, that the
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third collection of Councils in <HI>Ju&s;tellus,</HI> which is called <GAP DESC="foreign">, though it reckon the other errours of <HI>Origen</HI> condemned in the fifth Council, omits this of Pre-exi&s;tence. Cer|tainly that Eccle&s;ia&s;tick that framed that Di&s;|cour&s;e for the Emperour, if he did it not him|&s;elf, had not fully, deliberately and impartial|ly con&s;idered the Dogma of Pre-exi&s;tence ta|ken in its &s;elf, nor does once offer to an&s;wer any Rea&s;ons out of Scripture or Philo&s;ophy that are produced for it. Which if it had been done, and this had been the onely errour to be alledged again&s;t <HI>Origen,</HI> I cannot think it cre|dible, nay &s;carce po&s;&s;ible, though their &s;pight had been never &s;o much again&s;t &s;ome lovers of <HI>Origen,</HI> that they could have got any Ge|neral Council to have condemned &s;o holy, &s;o able, &s;o victorious a Champion for the Chri&s;ti|an Church in his life-time for an Heretick, up|on &s;o tolerable a punctilio, about three hun|dred years after his death. What Father that wrote before the fir&s;t four General Councils, but might by the Malevolent, for &s;ome odd pa&s;&s;age or other, be doomed an Heretick, if &s;uch &s;everity were admittable among&s;t Chri|&s;tians?</P>
<P>But I have gone out further than I was a|ware, and it is time for me to bethink me what I intended. Which was the ju&s;tifying of my &s;elf in my &s;eeming to prefer the Di&s;cretion of our own Church in leaving us free to hold the
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Incorporeity and Immortality of the &s;oul by any of the three handles that be&s;t fitted every mans Genius, before the Judgment of the fifth General Council, that would abridge us of this liberty. From which Charge I have en|deavoured to free my &s;elf, briefly by the&s;e two ways: Fir&s;t, by &s;hewing how hard it is to prove the fifth Oecumenical Council &s;o called, to be a legitimate General or Oecumenical Council, and &s;uch as who&s;e Authority we may relie on. And &s;econdly, if it was &s;uch, by &s;hewing that it did not condemn &s;imply the Pre-exi&s;tence of &s;ouls, but Pre-exi&s;tence with &s;uch and &s;uch Appendages. So that there is no real cla&s;hing betwixt our Church and that Council in this.</P>
<P>But however this is, from the eighth and ninth Heads it's plain enough that the Church of <HI>England</HI> is no favourer of the Conclu&s;ions of any General Council that are enjoyned as nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation, that be either repug|nant to Holy Scripture, or are not clearly to be made out from the &s;ame; which Non-pre-exi&s;tence of Souls certainly is not, but rather the contrary. But being the point is not &s;uf|ficiently clear from Scripture either way to all, and the Immortality of the Soul and &s;ub&s;i|&s;tence after death is the main u&s;eful point; that way which men can hold it with mo&s;t firmne&s;s and ea&s;e, her Candour and Prudence has left it free to them to make u&s;e of.</P>
<P><PB N="167" REF="208">
And as for General Councils, though &s;he does not in a fit of Zeal, which <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> a Prior in <HI>Pale&s;tine</HI> is &s;aid to have done, anathe|matize from the Pulpit all people that do not give as much belief to the four fir&s;t General Councils as to the four. Go&s;pels them&s;elves; yet, as you may &s;ee in the tenth Head, &s;he makes the Authority of the fir&s;t four General Councils &s;o great, that nothing is to be ad|judged Here&s;ie but what may be proved to be &s;o either from the <HI>Scripture</HI> or from the&s;e <HI>four Councils.</HI> Which Encomium might be made with le&s;s skill and more confidence by that Prior, there having been no more than four General Councils in his time. But it was &s;ingular Learning and Judgment, or el&s;e a kind of Divine Sagacity in our fir&s;t Refor|mers, that they laid &s;o great &s;tre&s;s on the fir&s;t four General Councils, and &s;o little on any o|thers pretended &s;o to be.</P>
<P>But in all likelihood they being per&s;waded of the truth of the prediction of the Apo&s;ta&s;ie of the Church under Antichri&s;t how univer|&s;al in a manner it would be, they had the mo&s;t confidence in tho&s;e General Councils which were the earlie&s;t, and that were held within tho&s;e times of the Church which &s;ome call <HI>Symmetral.</HI> And without all que&s;tion, the two fir&s;t General Councils, that of <HI>Nice,</HI> and that other of <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> were within tho&s;e times, <HI>viz.</HI> within four hundred years after
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Chri&s;t; and the third and fourth within the time that the ten-horned Bea&s;t had his horns growing up, according to Mr. <HI>Mede</HI>'s compu|tation. But the Definitions of the third and fourth Councils, that of <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI> and that other of <HI>Chalcedon</HI> (which are to e&s;tabli&s;h the <HI>Divini|ty</HI> of Chri&s;t, which is not to be conceived with|out the Union of both Natures into <HI>one per&s;on;</HI> as al&s;o his <HI>Theanthropy,</HI> which cannot con&s;i&s;t with the confu&s;ion of <HI>both Natures</HI> into one) were vertually contained in the Definitions of the fir&s;t and &s;econd Councils. So that in this regard they are all of equal Authority, and that unexceptionable. Fir&s;t, becau&s;e their De|ci&s;ions were concerning points nece&s;&s;ary to be decided one way or other, for the &s;ettlement of the Church in the objects of their Divine Wor&s;hip. And therefore they might be the better a&s;&s;ured that the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy Gho&s;t would not be wanting upon &s;o weighty an occa&s;ion. And &s;econdly, in that tho&s;e two fir&s;t Councils were called while the Church was <HI>Symmetral,</HI> and before the <HI>Apo&s;ta&s;ie</HI> came in, according to the te&s;timony of the Spirit in the Vi&s;ions of the <HI>Apocalyp&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>Which Vi&s;ions plainly demon&s;trate, that the Definitions of tho&s;e Councils touching the <HI>Triunity</HI> of the Godhead and <HI>Divinity</HI> of Chri&s;t are not Idolatrous, el&s;e the Apo&s;ta&s;ie had be|gun before the time the&s;e Oracles declare it did; and if not Idolatrous, then they are mo&s;t
<PB N="169" REF="209">
certainly true. And all the&s;e four Councils driving at nothing el&s;e but the&s;e nece&s;&s;ary points to be decided, and their deci&s;ion being thus plainly approved by the &s;uffrage of the Holy Gho&s;t in the Apocalyp&s;e, I appeal to any man of &s;en&s;e and judgment if they have not a peculiar prerogative to be believed above what other pretended General Council &s;oever; and con&s;equently with what <HI>&s;pecial</HI> or rather <HI>Di|vine</HI> &s;agacity our fir&s;t Reformers have laid &s;o peculiar a &s;tre&s;s on the&s;e four, and how con&s;i|&s;tent our Mother the Church of <HI>England</HI> is to her&s;elf, <HI>that the deci&s;ions of General Councils have neither &s;trength nor Authority further than the matter may be cleared out of the Holy Scrip|tures.</HI> For here we &s;ee, that out of the Holy Scriptures there is a mo&s;t ample te&s;timony given to the Deci&s;ions of the&s;e four General Councils. So that if one &s;hould with <HI>Theodo|&s;ius</HI> the Prior of <HI>Pale&s;tine</HI> in a fit of Zeal ana|thematize all tho&s;e that did not believe them as true as the four Evangeli&s;ts, he would not want a fair Plea for his religious fury.</P>
<P>But for men after the <HI>Symmetral</HI> times of the Church, upon Piques and private quarrels of Parties, to get General Councils called as they fancy them, to conclude matters that tend neither to the confirmation of the real Articles of the Chri&s;tian Faith, or of &s;uch a &s;en&s;e of them as are truly u&s;eful to life and godline&s;s, and herein to expect the infallible
<PB N="170" REF="210">
a&s;&s;i&s;tances of the Holy Spirit, either upon &s;uch terms as the&s;e, or for rank worldly intere&s;t, is &s;uch a pre&s;umption as to a free Judgment will look little better than Simony, as if they could hire the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy Gho&s;t for mo|ney.</P>
<P>Thus have I run further into the con&s;idera|tion of General Councils, and the mea&s;ure of their Authority, than was requi&s;ite upon &s;o &s;mall an occa&s;ion; and yet I think there is no|thing &s;aid, but if &s;eriou&s;ly weighed may be u&s;e|ful to the intelligent Reader, whether he fa|vour Pre-exi&s;tence or not. Which is no fur|ther to be favoured than is con&s;i&s;tent with the known and approved Doctrines of the Chri|&s;tian Faith, nor cla&s;hes any thing with the &s;ounde&s;t Sy&s;temes of Divinity, as Dr. <HI>H. More</HI> &s;hews his way of exhibiting the Theorie does not, in his <HI>General Preface</HI> to his <HI>Collectio Philo|&s;ophica,</HI> Sect. 19. who&s;e cautious and ca&s;tigate method I have imitated as near as I could in the&s;e my Annotations. And he has indeed been &s;o careful of admitting any thing in the Hypothe&s;is that may ju&s;tly be &s;u&s;pected or ex|cepted again&s;t, that his Friend Mr. <HI>Glanvil</HI> m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ght have enlarged his Dedication by one word more, and called him <HI>Repurgatorem Sa|pientiae Orientalis,</HI> as well as <HI>Re&s;tauratorem,</HI> un|le&s;s <HI>Re&s;taurator</HI> imply both: It being a piece of Re&s;tauration, to free an Hypothe&s;is from the errours &s;ome may have corrupted it with, and
<PB N="171" REF="210">
to recover it to its primeval purity and &s;inceri|ty.</P>
<P>And yet when the bu&s;ine&s;s is reduced to this harmle&s;s and unexceptionable &s;tate, &s;uch is the mode&s;ty of that Writer, that he declares that if he were as certain of the Opinion as of any demon&s;tration in Mathematicks, yet he holds not him&s;elf bound in con&s;cience to profe&s;s it any further than is with the good-liking or permi&s;&s;ion of his Superiours. Of which tem|per if all men were, it would infinitely contri|bute to the peace of the Church. And as for my &s;elf, I do freely profe&s;s that I am altoge|ther of the &s;elf-&s;ame Opinion and Judgment with him.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>Annotations UPON THE Di&s;cour&s;e of TRUTH. Into which is in&s;erted By way of DIGRESSION, A brief Return To M^r^. <HI>BAXTER</HI>'s Reply, Which he calls A Placid COLLATION With the Learned Dr. <HI>HENRY MORE,</HI> Occa&s;ioned by the Doctors ANSWER to a LETTER of the Learned <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;t.</HI> Whereunto is annexed A DEVOTIONAL HYMN, Tran&s;lated for the u&s;e of the &s;incere Lovers of true PIETY.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>J. Collins,</HI> and <HI>S. Lownds,</HI> over again&s;t <HI>Exeter-Change</HI> in the <HI>Strand.</HI> 1683.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
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<HEAD>THE Annotatour TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<P>ABout a fortnight or three weeks ago, while my <HI>Annotations</HI> upon the two foregoing Trea|ti&s;es were a printing, there came to my hands Mr. <HI>Baxter's Reply</HI> to Dr. <HI>Mores An&s;wer to a Letter of the learned P&s;ychopyri&s;t,</HI> printed in the &s;econd Edition of <HI>Saduci&s;mus Tri|umphatus:</HI> Which <HI>Reply</HI> he &s;tyles a <HI>Placid Collation with the Learned Dr.</HI> Henry More. I being fully at lea&s;ure, pre&s;ently fell upon reading this <HI>Placid Collation;</HI> which I mu&s;t confe&s;s is &s;o writ, that I was much &s;urprized in the reading of it, I expecting by the Title
<PB REF="213">
thereof nothing but fairne&s;s and freene&s;s of Judgment, and calmne&s;s of Spirit, and love and de&s;ire of Truth, and the pro&s;perous &s;ucce&s;s thereof in the World, whether our &s;elves have the luck to light on it, or where ever it is found.</P>
<P>But in&s;tead of this, I found a Magi|&s;terial loftine&s;s of Spirit, and a &s;tudie of ob&s;curing and &s;uppre&s;&s;ing of the Truth by petty crooked Artifices, &s;trange di&s;tortions of the &s;en&s;e of the Doctors Arguments, and Fal&s;ifications of Pa&s;&s;ages in his An&s;wer to the Letter of the <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;t.</HI> Which &s;urprize moved me, I confe&s;s, to a com|petent mea&s;ure of <HI>Indignation</HI> in the be|half of the injured Doctor, and of the Truth he contends for: And that In|dignation, according to the <HI>Idio&s;yncra&s;ie</HI> of my <HI>Genius,</HI> &s;tirred up the <HI>merry Hu|mour</HI> in me, I being more prone to laugh than to be &s;everely angry or &s;urly at tho&s;e that do things unhand&s;omely; And this merry humour &s;tirred up, pre|vailing &s;o much upon my Judgment as
<PB REF="213">
to make me think that this <HI>Placid Colla|tion</HI> was not to be an&s;wered, but by one in a plea&s;ant and jocular humor; And I finding my &s;elf &s;omething &s;o di&s;po&s;ed, and judging the matter not of that mo|ment as to be buzzed upon long, and that this more light&s;ome, brisk and jocular way of an&s;wering the <HI>Placid Collation</HI> might better befit an <HI>unknown Anno|tatour,</HI> than the <HI>known</HI> Pen and Per|&s;on of the Doctor, I pre&s;ently betook my &s;elf to this little Province, thinking at fir&s;t onely to take notice of Mr. <HI>Baxters Di&s;ingenuities</HI> towards the Doctor; but one thing drawing on another, and that which followed being carefully managed and apparently u&s;eful, I mean the An&s;we|ring all Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> pretended <HI>Objecti|ons</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Penetrability</HI> or <HI>Indi&s;cer|pibility</HI> of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> and all his &s;maller Critici&s;ms upon the Doctors Definition thereof, in fini&s;hing the&s;e three Parts, I quickly completed the whole little Work of what I call the <HI>Digre&s;&s;ion,</HI> (in&s;erted
<PB REF="214">
into my <HI>Annotations</HI> upon Bi&s;hop <HI>Ru&s;ts</HI> ingenious <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of Truth)</HI> which, with my <HI>Annotations,</HI> and the &s;erious <HI>Hymn</HI> annexed at the end (to recompo&s;e thy Spirits, if any thing over-ludicrous may chance to have di&s;compo&s;ed them) I offer, courteous Reader, to thy candid peru&s;al; and &s;o in &s;ome ha&s;t take leave, and re&s;t</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your humble Servant, The ANNOTATOUR.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<HEAD>Annotations UPON THE Di&s;cour&s;e of TRUTH.</HEAD>
<P>Sect. 1. pag. 165. <HI>AND that there are nece&s;&s;ary mutual re&s;pects,</HI> &amp;c. Here was a gro&s;s mi&s;take in the former Impre&s;&s;ion. For this clau&s;e there ran thus: <HI>By the fir&s;t I mean nothing el&s;e, but that things nece&s;&s;arily are what they are. By the &s;econd, that there are nece&s;&s;ary mutual Re&s;pects and Relations of things one unto another.</HI> As if the&s;e mutual Re&s;pects and Relations of Things one to another were Truth in the <HI>Subject,</HI> and not Truth in the <HI>Object;</HI> the latter of which he handles from the fourth Section to the eigh|teenth, in which la&s;t Section alone he treats of Truth in the <HI>Subject</HI> or Under&s;tanding. The former part of the Di&s;cour&s;e is &s;pent in trea|ting of Truth in the <HI>Object;</HI> that is to &s;ay, of Truth in the nature of things, and their nece&s;|&s;ary Re&s;pects and mutual Relations one to another. Both which are antecedent in the order of nature to all Under&s;tandings, and
<PB N="174" REF="215">
therefore both put together make up the fir&s;t branch of the Divi&s;ion of Truth. So gro&s;ly had the Authours MS. been depraved by pa&s;|&s;ing through the hands of unskilful Tran&s;cri|bers, as Mr. <HI>J. Glanvil</HI> complains at the end of his Letter prefixed to this Di&s;cour&s;e. And &s;o far as I &s;ee, that MS. by which he corrected that according to which the former Impre&s;&s;ion was made, was corrupt it &s;elf in this place. And it running glibly, and they expecting &s;o &s;ud|dainly the propo&s;al of the other member of the Divi&s;ion, the errour, though &s;o great, was over&s;een. But it being now &s;o &s;ea&s;onably cor|rected, it gives great light to the Di&s;cour&s;e, and makes things more ea&s;ie and intelligi|ble.</P>
<P>Sect. 2. pag. 166. <HI>That any thing may be a &s;uitable means to any end,</HI> &amp;c. It may &s;eem a mon&s;trous thing to the &s;ober, that any mans Under&s;tanding &s;hould be &s;o depraved as to think &s;o. And yet I have met with one that took him&s;elf to be no &s;mall Philo&s;opher, but to be wi&s;er than both the Univer&s;ities, and the Royal Society to boot, that did earne&s;tly af|firm to me, that there is no natural adapta|tion of means to ends, but that one means would be as good as another for any end if God would have it &s;o, in who&s;e power alone every thing has that effect it has upon another. Whereupon I asked him, whether if God would a Foot-ball might not be as good an
<PB N="175" REF="215">
In&s;trument to make or mend a Pen withal, as a Pen-knife. He was &s;urprized; but whether he was convinced of his madne&s;s and folly, I do not well remember.</P>
<P>Pag. 167. <HI>Is it po&s;&s;ible there &s;hould be &s;uch a kind of Geometry, wherein any Problem &s;hould be demon&s;trated by any Principles?</HI> Some of the <HI>Carte&s;ians</HI> bid fair towards this Freaki&s;h|ne&s;s, whenas they do not &s;tick to a&s;&s;ert, that, If God would, he could have made that the whole &s;hould be le&s;&s;er than the part, and the part bigger than the whole. Which I &s;uppo&s;e they were animated to, by a piece of raillery of <HI>Des Cartes,</HI> in an&s;wering a certain Objection; where, that he may not &s;eem to violate the ab|&s;olute Power of God for making what Laws he plea&s;ed for the ordering of the matter of the Univer&s;e (though him&s;elf &s;eems to have fra|med the world out of certain inevitable and nece&s;&s;ary Mechanical Laws) does affirm, that tho&s;e Laws that &s;eem &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, are by the arbitrarious appointment of God, who, if he would, could have appointed other Laws, and indeed framed another Geometry than we have, and made the power of the <HI>Hypotenu&s;a</HI> of a Right-angled Triangle unequal to the pow|ers of the <HI>Ba&s;is</HI> and <HI>Cathetus.</HI> This piece of Drollery of <HI>Des Cartes</HI> &s;ome of his followers have very gravely improved to what I &s;aid above of the Whole and Part. As if &s;ome &s;uper&s;titious Fop, upon the hearing one being
<PB N="176" REF="216">
demanded, whether he did believe the real and corporeal pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t in the Sacra|ment, to an&s;wer roundly that he believed him there booted and &s;purred as he rode in tri|umph to <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> &s;hould become of the &s;ame Faith that the other &s;eemed to profe&s;s, and glory in the improvement thereof by adding that the A&s;s was al&s;o in the Sacrament, which he &s;purred and rid upon. But in the mean time, while there is this Phren&s;ie among&s;t them that are no &s;mall pretenders to Philo&s;ophy, this does not a little &s;et off the value and u&s;e|fulne&s;s of this pre&s;ent <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of Truth,</HI> to un|deceive them if they be not wilfully blind.</P>
<P>Pag. 167. <HI>Therefore the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two right ones;</HI> namely, Becau&s;e a Quadrangle is that which is compre|hended of four right lines. It is at lea&s;t a more opero&s;e and ambagious Inference, if any at all. The more immediate and expedite is this, That the two internal alternate Angles made by a right line cutting two parallels, are equal to one another: Therefore the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two right ones, <HI>P. Ram. Geom. Lib. 6. Prop.</HI> 9. If the rea|&s;oning had been thus: A Quadrangle is that which is comprehended of four right lines, Therefore the three Angles of a Triangle are not equal to two right ones; as the Conclu|&s;ion is gro&s;ly fal&s;e, &s;o the proof had been egre|giou&s;ly alien and impertinent. And the in|tention
<PB N="177" REF="216">
of the Author &s;eems to be carried to In&s;tances that are mo&s;t extravagant and &s;ur|prizing; which makes me doubt whether [e|qual] was read in the true MS. or [not equal] but the &s;en&s;e is well enough either way.</P>
<P>Sect. 4. pag. 168. <HI>The Divine &V;nder&s;tan|ding cannot be the fountain of the Truth of things,</HI> &amp;c. This &s;eems at fir&s;t &s;ight to be a very har&s;h Paradox, and again&s;t the current Do|ctrine of Metaphy&s;icians, who define Tran&s;cen|dental or Metaphy&s;ical Truth to be nothing el&s;e but the relation of the Conformity of things to the Theoretical (not Practical) In|tellect of God; His Practical Intellect being that by which he knows things as produced or to be produced by him, but his Theoretical that, by which he knows things as they are: but yet in an <HI>Objective</HI> manner, as <HI>Exi&s;tent ob|jectively,</HI> not <HI>really.</HI> And hence they make Tran&s;cendental Truth to depend upon the In|tellectual Truth of God, which alone is mo&s;t properly Truth, and indeed the fountain and origine of all Truth. This in brief is the &s;en&s;e of the Metaphy&s;ical Schools. With which this pa&s;&s;age of our Author &s;eems to cla&s;h, in denying the Divine Intellect to be the foun|tain of the Truth of things, and in driving ra|ther at this, That the things them&s;elves in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> &s;uch as they appear there unalterably and unchangeably to the Divine Intellect, and not at plea&s;ure contrived by it
<PB N="178" REF="217">
(for as he &s;ays, it is again&s;t the nature of all under&s;tanding to make its Object) are the mea&s;ure and fountain of Truth. That in the&s;e, I &s;ay, con&s;i&s;ts the <HI>Truth</HI> in the <HI>Object,</HI> and that the <HI>Truth</HI> in the <HI>Subject</HI> is a conception con|formable to the&s;e, or to the Truth of them whether in the uncreated or created Under|&s;tanding.</P>
<P>So that the nicene&s;s of the point is this: Whether the Tran&s;cendental Truth of things exhibited in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence</HI> to the The|oretical Intellect of God con&s;i&s;ts in their Con|formity to that Intellect, or the Truth of that Intellect in its Conformity with the immu|table natures and Relations or Re&s;pects of things exhibited in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> which the Divine Intellect finds to be unaltera|bly &s;uch, not contrives them at its own plea|&s;ure. This though it be no <GAP DESC="foreign"> or &s;trife a|bout mere words, yet it &s;eems to be &s;uch a conte&s;t, that there is no harm done whether|&s;oever &s;ide carries the Cau&s;e, the two &s;eeming &s;ides being but one and the &s;ame Intellect of God nece&s;&s;arily and immutably repre&s;enting to it &s;elf the natures, Re&s;pects, and Aptitudes of all things &s;uch as they appear in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> and &s;uch as they will prove when|ever produced into act.</P>
<P>As for example, The Divine Under&s;tan|ding <HI>quatenns exhibitive</HI> of Idea's (which a Platoni&s;t would call <GAP DESC="foreign">) does of its infinite
<PB N="179" REF="217">
pregnancy and fecundity nece&s;&s;arily exhibit certain and unalterable Idea's of &s;uch and &s;uch determinate things, as &s;uppo&s;e of a Cylinder, a Globe and a Pyramid, which have a &s;etled and unalterable nature, as al&s;o immutable proper|ties, references and aptitudes immediately con|&s;equential thereto, and not arbitrariou&s;ly added unto them, which are thus nece&s;&s;arily extant in the Divine Intellect, as <HI>exhibitive</HI> of &s;uch Idea's. So likewi&s;e a Fi&s;h, a Fowl, and a four-foo|ted bea&s;t, an Ox, Bear, Hor&s;e, or the like, they have a &s;etled nature exhibited in their Idea's, and the properties and aptitudes immediately <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lowing therefrom. As al&s;o have all the E|lements, Earth, Water and Air, determinate natures, with properties and aptitudes imme|diately i&s;&s;uing from them. Nor is a Whale fitted to fly in the Air, nor an Eagle to live under the Water, nor an Ox or Bear to do either, nor any of them to live in the Fire. But the Idea's of tho&s;e things which we call by tho&s;e names being unchangeable (for there are di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ferences indeed of Idea's, but no changing of one Idea into another &s;tate, but their natures are di&s;tinctly &s;etled; and to add or take away any thing from an Idea, is not to make an alterati|on in the &s;ame Idea, but to con&s;titute a new one; As <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> &s;omewhere in his <HI>Metaphy|&s;icks</HI> &s;peaks of Numbers, where he &s;ays, that the adding or taking away of an Unite quite varies the &s;pecies. And therefore as every number,
<PB N="180" REF="218">
&s;uppo&s;e, Binary, Quinary, Ternary, Denary, is &s;uch a &s;etled number and no other, and has &s;uch properties in it &s;elf, and references im|mediately accrewing to it, and aptitudes which no other number be&s;ides it &s;elf has; &s;o it is with Idea's) the Idea's I &s;ay therefore of tho&s;e things which we call by tho&s;e names above|recited being unchangeable, the aptitudes and references immediately i&s;&s;uing from their na|ture repre&s;ented in the Idea, mu&s;t be al&s;o un|alterable and nece&s;&s;ary. Thus it is with <HI>Ma|thematical</HI> and <HI>Phy&s;ical</HI> Idea's; and there is the &s;ame rea&s;on concerning &s;uch Idea's as may be called <HI>Moral.</HI> Fora&s;much as they re&s;pect the rectitude of Will in whatever Mind, created or uncreated.</P>
<P>And thus, la&s;tly, it is with <HI>Metaphy&s;ical</HI> Idea's, as for example; As the <HI>Phy&s;ical</HI> Idea of <HI>Body,</HI> Matter or Sub&s;tance <HI>Material</HI> contains in it immediately of its own nature or inti|mate &s;pecifick E&s;&s;ence real <HI>Divi&s;ibility</HI> or <HI>Di|&s;cerpibility, Impenetrability</HI> and mere <HI>Pa&s;&s;ivity</HI> or Actuability, as the proper fruit of the E&s;|&s;ential Difference and intimate Form thereof, unalterably and immutably as in its Idea in the Divine Intellect, &s;o in any Body or Mate|rial Sub&s;tance that does exi&s;t: So the Idea of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> or of a Sub&s;tance <HI>Immaterial,</HI> the oppo|&s;ite Idea to the other, contains in it immedi|ately of its own nature <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility, Pene|trability,</HI> and <HI>Self-Activity,</HI> as the in&s;eparable
<PB N="181" REF="218">
fruit of the e&s;&s;ential difference or intimate form thereof unalterably and immutably, as in its Idea in the Divine Intellect, &s;o in any Imma|terial Sub&s;tance properly &s;o called that doth exi&s;t. So that as it is a contradiction in the <HI>Idea</HI> that it &s;hould be the Idea of Sub&s;tance <HI>Immaterial,</HI> and yet not include in it <HI>Indi&s;cer|pibility,</HI> &amp;c. &s;o it is in the <HI>being</HI> really exi&s;tent, that it &s;hould be Sub&s;tance <HI>Immaterial,</HI> and yet not be <HI>Indi&s;cerpible,</HI> &amp;c. For were it &s;o, it would not an&s;wer to the Truth of its Idea, nor be what it pretendeth to be, and is indeed, an <HI>exi&s;tent</HI> Being <HI>Indi&s;cerpible;</HI> which exi&s;tent Being would not be Indi&s;cerpible, if any could di&s;cerp it.</P>
<P>And &s;o likewi&s;e it is with the Idea of <HI>Ens &s;umm&egrave; &amp; ab&s;olut&egrave; perfectum,</HI> which is a &s;etled determinate and immutable Idea in the Di|vine Intellect, whereby, were not God him|&s;elf that <HI>Ens &s;umm&egrave; &amp; ab&s;olut&egrave; perfectum,</HI> he would di&s;cern there were &s;omething better than Him&s;elf, and con&s;equently that he were not God. But he di&s;cerns Him&s;elf to be this <HI>Ens &s;umm&egrave; &amp; ab&s;olut&egrave; perfectum,</HI> and we cannot but di&s;cern that to &s;uch a Being belongs <HI>Spi|rituality,</HI> which implies <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility,</HI> (and who but a mad man can imagine the Divine E&s;&s;ence di&s;cerpible into parts?) <HI>Infinity</HI> of <HI>E&s;&s;ence,</HI> or E&s;&s;ential <HI>Omnipre&s;ence, Self-Cau&s;ali|ty,</HI> or <HI>nece&s;&s;ary Exi&s;tence</HI> immediately of it &s;elf or from it &s;elf&punc; re&s;ulting from the ab&s;olute and
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peculiar perfection of its own nature, whereby we under&s;tand that nothing can exi&s;t <HI>ab aeter|no</HI> of it &s;elf but He. And la&s;tly, <HI>Omni&s;cience</HI> and <HI>Omnipotence,</HI> whereby it can do any thing that implies no contradiction to be done. Whence it nece&s;&s;arily follows, that all things were Created by Him, and that he were not God, or <HI>Ens &s;umm&egrave; perfectum,</HI> if it were not &s;o: And that among&s;t other things he created <HI>Spi|rits</HI> (as &s;ure as there are any Spirits in the world) <HI>indi&s;cerpible</HI> as him&s;elf is, though of finite E&s;&s;ences and Metaphy&s;ical Amplitudes; and that it is no derogation to his <HI>Omnipotence</HI> that he cannot di&s;cerp a Spirit once created, it being a contradiction that he &s;hould: Nor therefore any argument that he cannot create a Spirit, becau&s;e he would then puzzle his own Omnipotence to di&s;cerp it. For it would then follow, that he cannot create any thing, no not <HI>Metaphy&s;ical Monads,</HI> nor Matter, unle&s;s it be Phy&s;ically divi&s;ible <HI>in infinitum;</HI> and God Him&s;elf could never divide it into parts Phy|&s;ically indivi&s;ible; whereby yet his Omnipo|tence would be puzzled: And if he can divide matter into <HI>Phy&s;ical Monads</HI> no further divi&s;i|ble, there his Omnipotence is puzzled again; And by &s;uch &s;ophi&s;tical Rea&s;oning, God &s;hall be able to create nothing, neither Matter nor Spirit, nor con&s;equently be God, or <HI>Ens &s;umm&egrave; &amp; ab&s;olut&egrave; perfectum,</HI> the Creator and E&s;&s;enti|ator of all things.</P>
<P><PB N="183" REF="219">
This is &s;o Mathematically clear and true, that I wonder that Mr. <HI>Rich. Baxter</HI> &s;hould not rather exult, (in his <HI>Placid Collation)</HI> at the di&s;covery of &s;o plain and u&s;eful a truth, than put him&s;elf, p. 79. into an Hi&s;trionical (as the Latin) or (as the Greek would expre&s;s it) Hypocritical fit of trembling, to amuze the populacy, as if the Doctor in his &s;erious and &s;o|lid rea&s;oning had verged towards &s;omething hugely exorbitant or prophane. The igno|rant fear where no fear is, but God is in the ge|neration of the knowing and upright. It's plain, this Rea&s;oning brings not the exi&s;tence of God into any doubt, (For it is no repug|nance to either his nature or exi&s;tence, not to be able to do what is a contradiction to be done) but it puts the <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> of Spirits (which is a Notion mainly u&s;eful) out of all doubt. And yet Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> his phancie &s;talking upon wooden &s;tilts, and getting more than a &s;pit and a &s;tride before his Rea&s;on, very magi&s;terial|ly pronounces, <HI>It's a thing &s;o high, as required &s;ome &s;hew of proof to intimate that God cannot be God if he be Almighty, and cannot conquer his own Omnipotency.</HI> An&s;. This is an expre&s;&s;ion &s;o high and in the Clouds, that no &s;en&s;e there|of is to be &s;een, unle&s;s this be it: That God cannot be God, unle&s;s he be not Almighty; as he would di&s;cover him&s;elf not to be, if he could not di&s;cerp a Spirit of a Metaphy&s;ical ampli|tude when he has created it. But it plainly
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appears from what has been &s;aid above, that this di&s;cerping of a Spirit, which is immediate|ly and e&s;&s;entially of its own nature indi&s;cerpi|ble, as well as a Phy&s;ical Monad is, imply|ing a contradiction, it is no derogation to the Almightine&s;s of God that he cannot do it; all Philo&s;ophers and Theologers being agreed on that <HI>Maxim,</HI> That what implies a contra|diction to be done, is no Object of Gods Al|mightine&s;s. Nor is he le&s;s Almighty for not being able to do it. So that the prick-<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ar'd Acutene&s;s of that trim and &s;mug &s;aying, that &s;eemed before to &s;hoot up into the Sky, flags now like the flaccid lugs of the over-laden Animal old <HI>Silenus</HI> rid on when he had a Plot upon the Nymphs by Moon-&s;hine. Pardon the tediou&s;ne&s;s of the Periphra&s;is: For though the Poet was plea&s;ed to put old <HI>Silenus</HI> on the A&s;s, yet I thought it not &s;o civil to put the A&s;s upon old Mr. <HI>Baxter.</HI></P>
<P>But he proceeds, pag. 80. <HI>Your words,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>like an intended Rea&s;on, are</HI> [For that can|not be God from whom all other things are not produced and created] to which he an|&s;wers, (1.) <HI>Relatively,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>(as a God to us) it's true, though</HI> quoad exi&s;tentiam E&s;&s;entiae, <HI>he was God before the Creation.</HI> But, I &s;ay, if he had not had the power of creating, he had been &s;o defective a Being, that he had not been God. But he &s;ays (2.) <HI>But did you take this for any &s;hew of a proof? The &s;en&s;e implyed is this [All things
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are not produced and created by God, if a &s;piri|tual ample &s;ub&s;tance be divi&s;ible by his Omnipo|tencie that made it: Yea; Then he is not God.</HI> Negatur con&s;equentia. <HI>An&s;.</HI> Very &s;chola&s;ti|cally di&s;puted! Would one think that Reve|rend Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> whom Dr. <HI>More</HI> for his Fun|ction and Grandevity &s;ake handles &s;o re&s;pect|fully, and forbears all &s;uch Juvenilities as he had u&s;ed toward <HI>Eugenius Philalethes,</HI> &s;hould play the Doctor &s;uch hor&s;e-play, having been u&s;ed &s;o civilly by him before? What Buffoon or Antick Mime could have di&s;torted their bo|dies more ill-favour'dly and ridiculou&s;ly, than he has the Doctors &s;olid and well-compo&s;ed Argument? And then as if he had done it in pure innocency and &s;implicity, he adds a Quaker-like [Yea] thereunto. And after all, like a bold Schola&s;tick Champion, or Pole|mick Divine, couragiou&s;ly cries out, <HI>Negatur con&s;equentia.</HI> What a fardle of freaks is there here, and illiberal Artifices to hide the Do|ctors &s;ound Rea&s;oning in the 28th Section of his An&s;wer to the <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;ts Letter?</HI> Where having plainly proved that God <HI>can</HI> create an <HI>Indi&s;cerpible</HI> Being though of a large Metaphy&s;ical amplitude, and that there is no|thing objected again&s;t it, nor indeed can be, but that then he would &s;eem to puzzle his own Omnipotency, which could not di&s;cerp &s;uch a Being; the Doctor &s;hews the vanity of that Objection in the&s;e very words&punc; <HI>The &s;ame,</HI> &s;ays he,
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<HI>may be &s;aid of the Metaphy&s;ical Monads</HI> (name|ly, that God cannot di&s;cerp them) <HI>and at that rate he &s;hall be allow'd to create nothing, no not &s;o much as Matter</HI> (which con&s;i&s;ts of Phy&s;ical Monads) <HI>nor him&s;elf indeed to be. For that cannot be God from whom all other things are not produced and created.</HI> What rea&s;on can be more clear or more convincing, That God <HI>can</HI> create a Spirit in the proper &s;en&s;e thereof, which includes <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility?</HI> there being no rea&s;on again&s;t it but what is fal&s;e, it plainly implying that he can create nothing, and con|&s;equently that he cannot be God. Wherefore that Objection being thus clearly removed, God, as &s;ure as him&s;elf is, can create a Spirit, penetrable and <HI>indi&s;cerpible,</HI> as him&s;elf is, and is expre&s;ly acknowledged to be &s;o by Mr. <HI>Bax|ter</HI> him&s;elf, pag. 5<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. And he <HI>having created</HI> Spirits or <HI>Immaterial</HI> Sub&s;tances of an oppo&s;ite Species to <HI>Material,</HI> which are <HI>impenetrable and di&s;cerpible</HI> of their immediate nature how can the&s;e <HI>Immaterial</HI> &s;ub&s;tances be any other than <HI>Penetrable</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpible?</HI> Which is a very u&s;eful Dogma for a&s;&s;uring the &s;ouls per&s;onal &s;ub&s;i&s;tence after Death. And therefore it is a piece of grand Di&s;ingenuity in Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> to endeavour thus to &s;lur and ob&s;cure &s;o plain and edifying a Truth, by mere Antick Di&s;tortions of words and &s;en&s;e, by al|terations and mu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ilations, and by a kind of &s;ophi&s;tick Buffoonry. This is one &s;pecimen
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of his <HI>Difingenuity</HI> towards the Doctor, who in his <HI>An&s;wer</HI> has been &s;o civil to him. And now I have got into this <HI>Digre&s;&s;ion,</HI> I &s;hall not &s;tick to exemplifie it in &s;everal others.</P>
<P>As &s;econdly, pag. 4. in tho&s;e words: <HI>And when I pre&s;ume mo&s;t, I do but mo&s;t lo&s;e my &s;elf, and mi&s;u&s;e my under&s;tanding. Nothing is good for that which it was not made for. Our &V;nder|&s;tandings, as our Eyes, are made onely for things revealed. In many of your Books I take this for an exce&s;s.</HI> So Mr. <HI>Baxter&punc;</HI> Let me now interpo&s;e a word or two in the behalf of the Doctor. Is not this a plain piece of Di&s;in|genuity again&s;t the Doctor, who has &s;pent &s;o great a part of his time in Philo&s;ophie (which the mere <HI>Letter</HI> of the Scripture very rarely reveals any thing of) to reproach him for his having u&s;ed his under&s;tanding &s;o much about things not revealed in Scripture? Where &s;hould he u&s;e his Under&s;tanding and Rea&s;on, if not in things unrevealed in Scripture; that is, in Philo&s;ophical things? Things revealed in Scripture are Objects rather of Faith than of Science and Under&s;tanding. And what a Paradox is this, that our Under&s;tandings, as our Eyes, are made onely for things revealed? When our Eyes are &s;hut, all the whole vi&s;ible world, by the clo&s;ing of the <HI>palpebrae</HI> is vailed from us, but it is revealed to us again by the opening of our eyes; and &s;o it is with the eye of the Under&s;tanding. If it be &s;hut through
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Pride, Prejudice, or Sen&s;uality, the my&s;teries of Philo&s;ophy are thereby vailed from it; but if by true vertue and unfeigned &s;anctity of mind <HI>that</HI> eye be opened, the My&s;teries of Philo&s;ophy are the more clearly di&s;covered to it, e&s;pecially if points be &s;tudied with <HI>&s;in|gular indu&s;try,</HI> which Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> him&s;elf ac|knowledges of the Doctor, pag. 21. onely he would there pin upon his back an <HI>Humble Ig|noramus</HI> in &s;ome things, which the Doctor, I dare &s;ay, will ea&s;ily admit in many things, yea in mo&s;t; and yet, I believe, this he will &s;tand upon, that in tho&s;e things which he profe&s;&s;es to know, he will challenge all the world to di&s;prove if they can. And for probable Opi|nions, e&s;pecially if they be u&s;ele&s;s, which ma|ny Books are too much &s;tuffed withal, he ca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">s them out as the lumber of the mind, and would willingly give them no room in his thoughts. Firmne&s;s and &s;oundne&s;s of Life is much better than the multiplicitie of uncertain Conceits.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, whereas Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> &s;peaking of him&s;elf, &s;ays, <HI>And when I pre&s;ume mo&s;t, I do but mo&s;t lo&s;e my &s;elf;</HI> He has &s;o bewildered and lo&s;t him&s;elf in the multifarious, and mo&s;t|what needle&s;s points in Philo&s;ophy or Schola|&s;tick Divinity, that if we can collect the mea|&s;ures of the Cau&s;e from the amplitude of the Effect, he mu&s;t certainly have been <HI>very pre|&s;umptuous.</HI> He had better have &s;et up his Staff
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in his <HI>Saints everla&s;ting Re&s;t,</HI> and &s;uch other edifying and u&s;eful Books as tho&s;e, than to have &s;et up for either a <HI>Philo&s;opher</HI> or <HI>Pole|mick Divine.</HI> But it is the infelicity of too many, that they are ignorant&mdash;<HI>Quid valeant humeri, quid ferre recu&s;ent,</HI> as the Poet &s;peaks, or as the <HI>Pythagoreans</HI>&mdash;<GAP DESC="foreign">. And &s;o taking upon them a part in a Play which they are unfit for, they both neglect that which they are fit for, and mi&s;carry, by rea|&s;on of their unfitne&s;s, in their acting that Part they have ra&s;hly undertaken; as <HI>Epictetus</HI> &s;omewhere judiciou&s;ly ob&s;erves.</P>
<P>But if that pa&s;&s;age, <HI>And when I pre&s;ume mo&s;t, I do but mo&s;t lo&s;e my &s;elf,</HI> was intended by him as an oblique <HI>Socratical</HI> reproof to the Doctor; let him in&s;tance if he can, where the Doctor has pre&s;umed above his &s;trength. He has medled but with a few things, and therefore he need not envie his &s;ucce&s;s therein, e&s;pecially they being of manife&s;t u&s;e to the &s;erious world, &s;o many as God has fitted for the reception of them. Certainly there was &s;ome grand oc|ca&s;ion for &s;o grave a preliminary monition as he has given the Doctor. You have it in the following Page, p. 5. <HI>This premi&s;ed,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>I &s;ay, undoubtedly it is utterly unrevealed either as to any certainty or probability, That all Spirits are Souls, and actuate Matter.</HI> See what Heat and Ha&s;t, or &s;ome wor&s;e Principle has engaged Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> to do; to father a down-right
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fal&s;hood upon the Doctor, that he may thence take occa&s;ion to be&s;tow a grave admonition on him, and &s;o place him&s;elf on the higher ground. I am certain it is neither the Doctors opinion, That <HI>all</HI> Spirits are Souls, and actuate Matter, nor has he writ &s;o any where. He onely &s;ays in his Preface to the Reader, <HI>That all</HI> created <HI>Spirits are</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>[Souls] in all proba|bility, and actuate &s;ome matter.</HI> And his ex|pre&s;&s;ion herein is both mode&s;t and true. For though it is not <HI>certain</HI> or nece&s;&s;ary, yet it is <HI>very probable.</HI> For if there were of the highe&s;t Orders of the Angels that fell, it is very proba|ble that they had corporeal Vehicles, without which it is hard to conceive they could run into di&s;order. And our Saviour Chri&s;ts Soul, which actuates a glorified &s;piritual Bodie, being &s;et above all the Orders of Angels, it is likely that there is none of them is &s;o refined above his Humane Nature, as to have no bodies at all. Not to add, that at the Re&s;urrection we be|come <GAP DESC="foreign">, though we have bodies then; which is a &s;hrewd intimation that the Angels have &s;o too, and that there are no <HI>created</HI> Spirits but have &s;o.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> pag. 6. wrongfully blames the Doctor for being &s;o defective in his &s;tudies as not to have read over Dr. <HI>Gli&s;&s;on De Vita Naturae;</HI> and &s;ays he has talk'd with diver&s;e high pretenders to Philo&s;ophie, and askt their judgment of that Book, and found that none
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of them under&s;tood it, but neglected it, as too hard for them; and yet contemned it. His words to Dr. <HI>More</HI> are the&s;e: <HI>I marvel that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hen you have dealt with &s;o many &s;orts of Di&s;&s;en|ters, you meddle not with &s;o &s;ubtile a piece as that of old Dr.</HI> Gli&s;&s;ons, <HI>De Vita Naturae.</HI> He thinks the <HI>&s;ubtilty</HI> of the Book has deterred the Doctor from reading it, as &s;omething above <HI>his</HI> Capacity, as al&s;o of <HI>other</HI> high Pretenders to Philo&s;ophie.</P>
<P>This is a Book it &s;eems calculated onely for the elevation of Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> &s;ubtile and &s;ub|lime wit. And indeed by the benefit of rea|ding this Book he is mo&s;t dreadfully armed with the affrightful terms of <HI>Quoddities</HI> and <HI>Quiddities,</HI> of <HI>Conceptus formalis</HI> and <HI>funda|mentalis,</HI> of <HI>Conceptus adaequatus</HI> and <HI>inadaequa|tus,</HI> and the like. In vertue of which <HI>thwack|ing</HI> expre&s;&s;ions he has fancied him&s;elf able to play at <HI>Schola&s;tick</HI> or <HI>Philo&s;ophick</HI> Quarter-&s;taff with the mo&s;t doughty and be&s;t appointed Wits that dare enter the Li&s;ts with him; and as over-neglectful of his flock, like &s;ome conceit|ed Shepherds, that think them&s;elves no &s;mall fools at the u&s;e of the Staff or Cudgil-play, take Vagaries to Fairs or Wakes to give a &s;pecimen of their skill; &s;o he ever and anon makes his <HI>Polemick</HI> &s;allies in Philo&s;ophie or Divinity to entertain the Spectators, though very oft he is &s;o rapt upon the knuckles, that he is forced to let fall his wooden In&s;trument,
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and blow his fingers. Which is but a ju&s;t Neme&s;is upon him, and he would do well to interpret it as a &s;ea&s;onable reproof from the great Pa&s;tor of Souls, to whom we are all accountable.</P>
<P>But to return to his &s;peech to the Doctor; I will adventure to an&s;wer in his behalf, That I marvel that whenas Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> has had the curio&s;ity to read &s;o many Writers, and &s;ome of them &s;ure but of &s;mall concern, that he has not read that &s;ound and <HI>&s;olid</HI> piece of Dr. <HI>More,</HI> viz. his <HI>Epi&s;tola altera ad V. C.</HI> with the <HI>Scholia</HI> thereon, where <HI>Spinozius</HI> is confu|ted. Which if he had read he might have &s;een <HI>Volum. Philo&s;oph. Tom.</HI> 1. pag. 604, 605, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> that the Doctor has not onely read that <HI>&s;ub|tile</HI> Piece of Doctor <HI>Gli&s;&s;ons,</HI> but under&s;tands &s;o throughly his <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> that he has &s;olid|ly and &s;ub&s;tantially confuted it. Which he did in a faithful regard to Religion. For that <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> if it were true, were as &s;afe, if not a &s;afer Refuge for <HI>Athei&s;ts,</HI> than the mere Me|chanick Philo&s;ophie is: And therefore you may &s;ee there, how <HI>Cuperus,</HI> brought up a|mong&s;t the <HI>Athei&s;ts</HI> from his very childhood, does confe&s;s, how the <HI>Athei&s;ts</HI> now-a-daies ex|plode the Mechanick Philo&s;ophie as not being for their turn, and betake them&s;elves whol|ly to &s;uch an Hypothe&s;is as Dr. <HI>Gli&s;&s;ons Vita Naturae.</HI> But, God be thanked, Dr. <HI>H. More</HI> in the fore-cited place has perfectly routed
<PB N="193" REF="224">
that fond and foul Hypothe&s;is of Dr. <HI>Gli&s;&s;on,</HI> and I dare &s;ay is &s;orry that &s;o good and old a Knight <HI>errant</HI> in Theologie and Philo&s;ophie as Mr. <HI>Richard Baxter</HI> &s;eems to be, &s;hould be|come benighted, as in a wood, at the Clo&s;e of his daies, in this mo&s;t horrid dark Harbour and di&s;mal Receptacle or Randevouz of wret|ched <HI>Athei&s;ts.</HI> But I dare &s;ay for him, it is his ignorance, not choice, that has lodged him there.</P>
<P>The fourth <HI>Di&s;ingenuity</HI> of Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> to|wards the Doctor is, in complaining of him as if he had wronged him by the Title of his <HI>An|&s;wer</HI> to his <HI>Letter,</HI> in calling it an <HI>An&s;wer</HI> to a <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;t,</HI> pag. 2. 82. As if he had a&s;&s;erted <HI>that</HI> materiality of Spirits which belongs to bodies, pag. 94. In complaining al&s;o of his in|con&s;i&s;tency with him&s;elf, pag. 10. as if he one while &s;aid that Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> made Spirits to be Fire or <HI>material,</HI> and another while &s;aid he made them not Fire or <HI>material.</HI> But to the fir&s;t part of this Accu&s;ation it may be an&s;wer|ed, That if it is Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> that is called the Learned <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;t,</HI> how is the thing known to the world but by him&s;elf? It looks as if he were ambitious of the Title, and proud of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ivil treating he has had at the hands of the Doctor, though he has but ill repai'd his civi|lity in his Reply. And be&s;ides this, there is no more har&s;hne&s;s in calling him <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;t,</HI> than if he had called him <HI>P&s;ycho-Hyli&s;t,</HI> there being nothing ab&s;urd in <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;m</HI> but &s;o
<PB N="194" REF="225">
far forth as it includes <HI>P&s;ycho-Hyli&s;m,</HI> and makes the Soul <HI>material.</HI></P>
<P>Which <HI>P&s;ycho-Hyli&s;m</HI> that Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> does admit, it is made evident in the Doctors <HI>An|&s;wer,</HI> Sect. 16. And Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> in his <HI>Placid Collation</HI> (as he mi&s;-calls it, for a&s;&s;uredly his mind was turbid when he wrote it) pag. 2. allows that Spirits may be called Fire <HI>Analogic&egrave;</HI> and <HI>Eminenter,</HI> and the Doctor in his Preface in|timates that the &s;en&s;e is to be no further &s;tretched, than the <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;t</HI> him&s;elf will al|low.</P>
<P>But now that Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> does a&s;&s;ert <HI>that</HI> Materiality in created Spirits that belongs to bodies in the common &s;en&s;e of all Philo&s;o|phers, appears Sect. 16. where his words are the&s;e: <HI>But cu&s;tom having&punc; made MATERIA, but e&s;pecially CORP&V;S to &s;ignifie onely &s;uch gro&s;&s;er Sub&s;tance as the three pa&s;&s;ive Elements are</HI> (he means Earth, Water, Air) <HI>I yield,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>&s;o to &s;ay, that Spirits are not Corporeal or Material.</HI> Which plainly implies that Spirits are in no other &s;en&s;e <HI>Immaterial,</HI> than <HI>Fire</HI> and <HI>Aether</HI> are, <HI>viz.</HI> than in this, that they are thin|ner matter.</P>
<P>And therefore to the la&s;t point it may be an&s;wered in the Doctors behalf, that he a&s;&s;u|redly does nowhere &s;ay, That Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> does not &s;ay that <HI>Spirits</HI> are <HI>Material,</HI> as Ma|terial is taken in the common &s;en&s;e of all Phi|lo&s;ophers for what is <HI>impenetrable</HI> and <HI>di&s;cer|pible.</HI>
<PB N="195" REF="225">
Which is <HI>Materia Phy&s;ica,</HI> and in op|po&s;ition to which, a Spirit is &s;aid to be <HI>Imma|terial.</HI> And which briefly and di&s;tinctly &s;tates the Que&s;tion. Which if Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> would have taken notice of, he might have &s;a|ved him&s;elf the labour of a great deal of need|le&s;s verbo&s;ity in his <HI>Placid Collation,</HI> where he does over-frequently, under the pretence of more di&s;tinctne&s;s, in the multitude of words ob&s;cure knowledge.</P>
<P>Fifthly, Upon Sect. 10. pag. 21. where Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> Que&s;tion is, <HI>How a man may tell how that God that can make many out of one, cannot make many into one,</HI> &amp;c. To which the Doctor there an&s;wers: <HI>If the meaning be of &s;ub&s;tantial Spirits, it has been already noted, that God acting in Nature does not make many &s;ub&s;tances out of one, the &s;ub&s;tance remaining &s;till entire; for then Generation would be Creation. And no &s;ober man believes that God a&s;&s;i&s;ts any creature &s;o in a natural cour&s;e, as to enable it to create: And then I &s;uppo&s;e that he that believes not this, is not bound to puzzle him&s;elf why God may not as well make many &s;ub&s;tances into one, as many out of one, whenas he holds he does not the latter,</HI> &amp;c. The&s;e are the Doctors own words in that Section. In reply to which, Mr. <HI>Baxter: But to my Que&s;tion,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>why God cannot make two of one, or one of two, you put me off with this lean An&s;wer, that we be not bound to puzzle our &s;elves about it. I think,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>that An&s;wer
<PB N="196" REF="226">
might &s;erve to much of your Philo&s;ophical di&s;|putes.</HI> Here Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> plainly deals very di&s;ingenuou&s;ly with the Doctor in perverting his words, which affirm onely, <HI>That he that denies that God can make two &s;ub&s;tances of one in the &s;en&s;e above-declared, need not puzzle him|&s;elf how he may make one of tho&s;e two again.</HI> Which is no <HI>lean,</HI> but <HI>full</HI> and appo&s;ite An&s;wer to the Que&s;tion there propounded.</P>
<P>And yet in this his <HI>Placid Collation,</HI> as if he were wroth, he gives ill language, and in&s;inu|ates, That much of the Doctors Philo&s;ophical Di&s;putes are &s;uch as are not worth a mans puzling him&s;elf about them; whenas it is well known to all that know him or his Wri|tings, that he concerns him&s;elf in no Theories but &s;uch as are weighty and u&s;eful, as this of the <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> of Spirits is, touching which he further &s;landers the Doctor, as if it were his <HI>mere A&s;&s;ertion without any Proof.</HI> As if Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> had never read, or forgot the Doctors <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of the true Notion of a Spirit,</HI> or what he has writ in the further <HI>Defence</HI> thereof. See Sect. 26, 28, 30, 31. Thus to &s;ay any thing in an angry mood, verily does not become the Title of a <HI>Placid Collati|on.</HI></P>
<P>Sixthly, The Doctor in Sect. 11. of his <HI>De|fence of his Notion of a Spirit,</HI> writes thus: I de&s;ire you to con&s;ider the nature of Light throughly, and you &s;hall find it nothing but a
<PB N="197" REF="226">
certain motion of a <HI>Medium,</HI> who&s;e parts or particles are &s;o or &s;o qualified, &s;ome &s;uch way as <HI>Carte&s;iani&s;m</HI> drives at. To this Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> replies again&s;t the Doctor, pag. 59. <HI>Really,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>when I read how far you have e&s;caped the de|lu&s;ions of</HI> Carte&s;iani&s;m, <HI>I am &s;orry you yet &s;tick in &s;o gro&s;s a part of it as this is; when he that know|eth no more than motion in the nature of Fire, which is the Active Principle by which Mental and Sen&s;itive Nature operateth on Man and Brutes and Vegetables, and all the Pa&s;&s;ive Ele|ments; and all the vi&s;ible actions in this lower world are performed, what can that mans Philo|&s;ophie be worth? I therefore return your Coun&s;el, &s;tudy more throughly the nature of Ethereal Fire.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Satis pro imperio!</HI> very <HI>Magi&s;terially</HI> &s;poken! and in &s;uch an igneous Rapture, that it is not continuedly &s;en&s;e. Does <HI>Mental</HI> and <HI>Sen&s;itive</HI> Nature act on Brutes and Vegetables and all the Pa&s;&s;ive Elements? But to let go that: Is all the Doctors Philo&s;ophie worth nothing if he hold with <HI>Des Cartes</HI> touching the Phaeno|menon of Light as to the <HI>Material</HI> part there|of? It is the ignorance of Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> that he rejects <HI>all</HI> in <HI>Des Cartes,</HI> and Judiciou&s;ne&s;s in the Doctor, that he retains <HI>&s;ome</HI> things, and &s;up|plies where his Philo&s;ophie is deficient. He names here onely the <HI>Mechanical</HI> Cau&s;e of Light, <HI>viz. Motion,</HI> and duly modified <HI>Parti|cles.</HI> But in his <HI>Enchiridium</HI> he intimates an
<PB N="198" REF="227">
higher principle than either Fire or Aether, or any thing that is <HI>Material,</HI> be it as fine and pure as you plea&s;e to fancie it. See his <HI>Enchi|rid. Metaphy&s;.</HI> Cap. 19. where he &s;hews plain|ly, that Light would not be Light, were there not a <HI>Spiritus Mundanus,</HI> or <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> which pervades the whole Univer&s;e; Mr. <HI>Bax|ters</HI> ignorance whereof has ca&s;t him into &s;o deep a dotage upon <HI>Fire</HI> and <HI>Light,</HI> and fine di&s;cerpible <HI>Corporeities,</HI> which he would by his Magi&s;terial Prerogative dubb <HI>Spirits,</HI> when to nothing that Title is due, but what is <HI>Pene|trable</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpible</HI> by rea&s;on of the imme|diate Onene&s;s of its E&s;&s;ence, even as God the Father and Creator of all Spirits is one Indi&s;cer|pible Sub&s;tance or Being. And therefore I would advi&s;e Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> to &s;tudie more throughly the true nature of a Spirit, and to let go the&s;e <HI>Ignes Fatui</HI> that would &s;educe him into thick mi&s;ts and bogs. For that uni|ver&s;al <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> is mo&s;t certainly the Mover of the matter of the world, and the Mo|difier thereof, and thence exhibits to us not onely the Phaenomena of <HI>Light</HI> and <HI>Fire,</HI> but of Earth and Water, and frames all Vegeta|bles into &s;hape and growth; and Fire of it &s;elf is but a dead In&s;trument in its hand, as all is in the hand of God, who is <GAP DESC="foreign">! and <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Syne&s;ius,</HI> if I well remember, &s;omewhere calls him in his Hymns.</P>
<P>Seventhly, That is al&s;o le&s;s ingenuou&s;ly done
<PB N="199" REF="227">
of Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> when the Doctor &s;o friendly and faithfully puts him in a way of undecei|ving him&s;elf, Sect. 17. touching the Doctrine of Atoms, that he puts it off &s;o &s;lightly. And &s;o Sect. 18. where he earne&s;tly exhorts him to &s;tudie the nature of Water, as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> does others to &s;tudie the nature of Fire; he, as if he had been bitten, and thence taken with that di&s;ea&s;e the Phy&s;icians call <GAP DESC="foreign">, and which &s;ignifies the <HI>fear of Water,</HI> has &s;lunk away and quite neglected the Doctors friendly monition; and is &s;o &s;mall a Proficient in <HI>Hydro|&s;taticks,</HI> that pag. 68. he under&s;tands not what greater wonder there is in the ri&s;ing of the Dr.'s Rundle, than in the ri&s;ing of a piece of Timber from the bottom of the Sea. Which is a &s;ign he never read the 13th Chapter of the Dr.'s <HI>En|chiridion Metaphy&s;icum,</HI> much le&s;s the Scholia thereon. For if he had, he would di&s;cern the dif|ference, and the va&s;t u&s;efulne&s;s of the one above that of the other to prove a <HI>Principium Hylar|chicum</HI> di&s;tinct from the matter of the Univer&s;e, again&s;t all eva&s;ions and tergiver&s;ations what&s;o|ever. But the&s;e things cannot be in&s;i&s;ted on here.</P>
<P>Eighthly, Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> pag. 76. charges the Doctor with &s;uch a &s;trange Paradox as to half of it, that I cannot imagine from whence he &s;hould fetch it. <HI>You &s;eem,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>to make all &s;ub&s;tance Atoms, Spiritual Atoms and Mate|rial Atoms.</HI> The latter part of the charge the Doctor I doubt not but will acknowledge to
<PB N="200" REF="228">
be true: But may ea&s;ily prove out of Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> pag. 65. that he mu&s;t hold &s;o too. For his words there are the&s;e: <HI>Tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> God is able to divide all matter into Atoms or indivi&s;ible parts I doubt not.</HI> And can they be Phy&s;ically di|vided into parts of which they don't con&s;i&s;t? But Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> by the &s;ame rea&s;on making Spirits divi&s;ible by God, though not by any Creature, makes them con&s;i&s;t of Spiritual A|toms, for they cannot but con&s;i&s;t of &s;uch parts as they are divi&s;ible into. And if they be di|vi&s;ible by God into larger &s;hreds onely but not into Atoms, then every created Spirit, e&s;pecial|ly particular ones, are &s;o many &s;ubtil living Pup|pets made up of &s;piritual rags and clouts. But if God can divide them neither into &s;piritual <HI>Atoms</HI> nor <HI>larger</HI> &s;piritual <HI>parcels,</HI> he can't di|vide them at all. And &s;o according to what the Doctor contends for, they will be, as they ought to be, ab&s;olutely indi&s;cerpible.</P>
<P>I omit here to take notice of another ab|&s;urdity of Mr. <HI>Baxters,</HI> That though the &s;ub|&s;tance of a Spirit he will have to be divi&s;ible, yet he will have the form indivi&s;ible, pag. 50, 99. and yet both parts to be Spirit &s;till; which implies a contradiction. For then one of the parts will be without the form of a Spirit, and con&s;equently be no Spirit, and yet be a Spirit according to Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> who makes Spirits divi&s;ible into parts of the &s;ame denomination, as when water is divided into two parts, each part is &s;till water, pag. 53.</P>
<P><PB N="201" REF="228">
Ninthly. That which occurrs pag. 48. is a gro&s;s Di&s;ingenuity again&s;t the Doctor, where Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> &s;ays, <HI>And when you make all Spi|rits to be Souls and to animate &s;ome matter, you &s;eem to make God to be but</HI> Anima Mundi. How unfair and har&s;h is this for you Mr. <HI>Bax|ter,</HI> who has been &s;o tenderly and civilly hand|led by the Doctor in his An&s;wer to your Let|ter, he con&s;tantly hiding or mollifying any thing that occurred therein that might over|much expo&s;e you, to repre&s;ent him as a favour|er of &s;o gro&s;s a Paradox as this, That there is no God but an <HI>Anima Mundi,</HI> which is the Po&s;ition of the <HI>Vaninian Athei&s;ts,</HI> which him|&s;elf has expre&s;ly confuted in his <HI>My&s;tery of God|line&s;s,</HI> and declared again&s;t lately in his Ad|verti&s;ements on <HI>Jo&s; Glanvils</HI> Letter to him&s;elf, in the &s;econd Edition of <HI>Saduci&s;mus Triumpha|tus?</HI> This looks like the breaking out of un|chri&s;tian rancour, in a <HI>Reply</HI> which bears the Specious Title of a <HI>Placid Collation.</HI> Which is yet exceedingly more aggravable, for that this odious Collection is not made from any words of the Doctor, but from a fiction of Mr. <HI>Baxter.</HI> For the Doctor has nowhere Writ|ten, nor ever thought that <HI>all</HI> Spirits, but only all <HI>Created</HI> Spirits, might probably be Souls, that is to &s;ay, actuate &s;ome matter or other. And tho&s;e words are in his Preface to his An|&s;wer to the <HI>Letter</HI> of the <HI>P&s;ychopyrist,</HI> as I no|ted before. I might reckon up &s;everal other
<PB N="202" REF="229">
Di&s;ingenuities of Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> towards the Do|ctor in this his <HI>Placid Collation;</HI> but I have enu|merated enough already to weary the Reader, and I mu&s;t remember I am but in a <HI>Digre&s;&s;ion.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall onely name one <HI>Di&s;ingenuity</HI> more, which was antecedent to them all, and gave occa&s;ion both to Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> Letter, and to the Doctors <HI>An&s;wer</HI> thereto, and to this <HI>Re|ply</HI> of Mr. <HI>Baxter.</HI> And that was, That Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> in his <HI>Methodus Theologiae</HI> (as he has done al&s;o in a little Pamphlet touching Judge <HI>Hales)</HI> without giving any rea&s;ons, which is the wor&s;t way of traducing any man or his &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ntiments, &s;lighted and &s;lurred tho&s;e two e&s;|&s;ential Attributes of a Spirit, <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility,</HI> which for their certain Truth and u&s;efulne&s;s the Doctor thought fit to com|municate to the World.</P>
<P>But fora&s;much as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> has in this his <HI>Reply</HI> produced his Rea&s;ons again&s;t them, I doubt not but the Doctor will accept it for an amends. And I, as I mu&s;t di&s;allow of the Di&s;ingenuity of the omi&s;&s;ion before, yet to be ju&s;t to Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> I mu&s;t commend his di&s;|cretion and judgment in being willing to omit them; they appearing to me now they are produced, &s;o weak and invalid. But &s;uch as they are, I &s;hall gather them out of his <HI>Reply,</HI> and bring them into view.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, pag. 13. It is alledged, That no|thing hath two forms univocally &s;o called.
<PB N="203" REF="229">
But if <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie</HI> be added to the <HI>Virtus Vitalis,</HI> to the <HI>Vital Power</HI> of a Spirit, it will have two forms. Therefore <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie</HI> are to be o|mitted in the notion of a Spirit. See al&s;o <HI>p.</HI> 22.</P>
<P>Secondly, pag. 14. <HI>Penetrable</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;|cerpible</HI> can be no otherwi&s;e a form to Spirits, than <HI>Impenetrable</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpible</HI> are a form to Matter. But <HI>Impenetrable</HI> is onely a modal <HI>Con|ceptus</HI> of Matter, and <HI>Di&s;cerpible</HI> a Relative notion thereof, and neither one nor both con|trary to <HI>Virtus vitalis</HI> in a Spirit.</P>
<P>Thirdly, pag. 14. He &s;ees no rea&s;on why <HI>Quantity,</HI> and the <HI>Trina Dimen&s;io,</HI> may not as well be part of the form of Matter as <HI>Di&s;cerpi|bilitie</HI> and <HI>Impenetrabilitie.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly, pag. 15, 16. Nothing is to be known without the mediation of Sen&s;e, except the immediate &s;en&s;ation it&s;elf, and the acts of intellection and volition or nolition, and what the Intellect inferreth of <HI>the like,</HI> by the percep|tion of the&s;e. Wherefore as to the modificati|on of the &s;ub&s;tance of Spirits which is contrary to <HI>Impenetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Divi&s;ibilitie,</HI> I may grope, &s;ays he, but I cannot know it po&s;itively for want of &s;en&s;ation.</P>
<P>Fifthly, pag. 16, 17. If <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie</HI> be the e&s;&s;ential character of a Spirit, then an Atom of matter is a Spirit, it being acknowledged to be <HI>Indi&s;cerpible.</HI> Wherefore <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie</HI> is a fal&s;e character of a Spirit.</P>
<P><PB N="204" REF="230">
Sixthly, pag. 17, 18. [Penetrable] whether actively or pa&s;&s;ively under&s;tood, can be no proper Character of a Spirit, fora&s;much as Mat|ter can penetrate a Spirit, as well as a Spirit Matter, it po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the &s;ame place. See <HI>pag.</HI> 23.</P>
<P>Seventhly, pag. 40, 41. <HI>Immaterialitie,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie,</HI> in your own judgment I think are none of them proper to Spirit. For they are common to diver&s;e <HI>Ac|cidents</HI> in your account, <HI>viz.</HI> to Light, Heat, Cold. And again in his own words,</P>
<P>Eighthly, pag. 77. If your <HI>Penetrabilitie,</HI> &s;ays he, imply not that all the &s;ingular Spirits can contract them&s;elves into a <HI>Punctum,</HI> yea that all the Spirits of the world may be &s;o con|tracted, I find it not yet &s;ufficiently explain|ed. See al&s;o <HI>pag.</HI> 52, 78, 89, 90.</P>
<P>Ninthly, pag. 50. Seeing, &s;ays he, you a|&s;cribe Amplitude, Quantitie, and Dimen&s;ions and Logical Materialitie to the Sub&s;tantialitie of Spirits, I &s;ee not but that you make them Intellectually divi&s;ible, that is, that one may think of one part as here, and another there. And if &s;o, though man cannot &s;eparate and di|vide them, if it be no contradiction, God can.</P>
<P>Tenthly, and la&s;tly, pag. 90. The putting of <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> into the noti|on of a Spirit, is needle&s;s, and <HI>hazardous,</HI> it being &s;ufficient to hold that God hath made Spirits of no kind of parts but what do Naturally ab|hor
<PB N="205" REF="230">
Separation, and &s;o are in&s;eparable unle&s;s God will &s;eparate them, and &s;o there is no fear of lo&s;ing our Per&s;onality in the other State. But <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> being hard and doubtful words, they are bet|ter left out, le&s;t they tempt all to believe that the very Being of Spirits is as doubtful as tho&s;e words are.</P>
<P>Thus have I faithfully though briefly brought into view all Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> Arguments again&s;t the <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> of Spirits, which I &s;hall an&s;wer in order as they have been recited.</P>
<P>To the fir&s;t therefore I &s;ay, that the Do|ctors Definition of a Spirit, which is [A Sub|&s;tance immaterial intrin&s;ecally indued with life and a faculty of motion] where <HI>Sub&s;tance</HI> is the <HI>Genus,</HI> and the re&s;t of the terms com|prize the <HI>Differentia</HI> (which Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> calls <HI>Conceptus formalis</HI> and <HI>Forma)</HI> I &s;ay, that this <HI>Difference</HI> or <HI>Form</HI> though it con&s;i&s;t of many terms, yet the&s;e terms are not <HI>Heterogeneal,</HI> as he would in&s;inuate, pag. 22. but <HI>Congene|rous,</HI> and one in order to another, and e&s;&s;enti|ally and in&s;eparably united in that <HI>one</HI> &s;ub|&s;tance which is rightly and properly called <HI>Spirit,</HI> and in vertue of that one &s;ub&s;tance, though their Notions and Operations differ, they are really <HI>one</HI> in&s;eparable &s;pecifick <HI>Diffe|rence</HI> or <HI>Form,</HI> as much as Mr. <HI>Baxters Virtus vitalis un a-trina</HI> is; that is to &s;ay, they are
<PB N="206" REF="231">
&s;pecifick knowable terms, <HI>&s;uccedaneous</HI> to the true <HI>intimate &s;pecifick Form</HI> that is utterly un|knowable; and therefore I &s;ay, in this &s;en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e the&s;e knowable terms are one in&s;eparable &s;pe|cifick Difference or Form whereby Spirit is di&s;tingui&s;hed from Bodie or <HI>Matter</HI> in a Phy|&s;ical acception. Which the Univer&s;ality of Philo&s;ophers hold to con&s;i&s;t in <HI>Impenetrability,</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpibilitie,</HI> and <HI>Self-inactivitie.</HI> Which if Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> would have been plea&s;ed to take notice of, <HI>viz.</HI> that a Spirit is &s;aid to be a Sub|&s;tance <HI>Immaterial</HI> in oppo&s;ition to Matter <HI>Phy|&s;ical,</HI> he might have &s;aved him&s;elf the labour of a deal of tedious tri&s;ling in explication of words to no purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>But to &s;hew that this Pretence of more Forms than one in one Sub&s;tance is but a Ca|vil, I will offer really the &s;ame Definition in a more &s;uccinct way, and more to Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> tooth, and &s;ay, As <HI>Corpus</HI> is <HI>Sub&s;tantia Materi|alis</HI> (where <HI>Materialis</HI> is the &s;pecifick Diffe|rence of <HI>Corpus</HI> comprized in one term:) &s;o <HI>Spi|ritus</HI> is <HI>Sub&s;tantia Immaterialis</HI> (where <HI>Imma|terialis</HI> the &s;pecifick Difference of <HI>Spiritus</HI> is likewi&s;e comprized in one term, to plea&s;e the humour of Mr. <HI>Baxter.)</HI> But now as under that one term [Materialis] are comprized <HI>Im|penetrabilitie, Di&s;cerpibilitie,</HI> and <HI>Self-Inactivi|ty;</HI> &s;o al&s;o under that one term [Immaterialis] are comprized, as under one head, <HI>Penetrability, Indi&s;cerpibility,</HI> and <HI>Intrin&s;ecal life</HI> and <HI>motion,</HI>
<PB N="207" REF="231">
that is, an e&s;&s;ential facultie of life and motion, which in one word may be called <HI>Self-Activi|ty.</HI> Whence <HI>Penetrability, Indi&s;cerpibility,</HI> and <HI>Self-Activity</HI> are as much one Form of a Spirit, as Mr. <HI>Baxters Vita, Perceptio,</HI> and <HI>Appetitus,</HI> is one Form thereo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. For though in both places they are three di&s;tinct notions, at lea&s;t as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> would have it, yet they are the e&s;&s;ential and in&s;eparable Attributes of one &s;ub&s;tance, and the immediate fruit and re|&s;ult of the <HI>Specifick nature</HI> thereof. They are in&s;eparably one in their Source and Subject.</P>
<P>And this I think is more than enough to take off this fir&s;t little Cavil of Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> again&s;t the Doctors including <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>In&s;eparability</HI> in the Form or Specifick diffe|rence of a Spirit. For all that &s;ame is to be called <HI>Form,</HI> by which a thing is that which it is, as far as our Cognitive faculties will reach, and by which it is e&s;&s;entially di&s;tingui&s;hed from other things. And if it were not for <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie, Spirit</HI> would be confounded with <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Matter.</HI> And Body or Phy&s;ical Matter might be <HI>Self-Active, Sentient,</HI> and <HI>Intelligent.</HI></P>
<P>To the Second I an&s;wer, That who&s;oever &s;earches things to the bottom, he will find this a &s;ound Principle in Philo&s;ophie, That there is nothing in the whole Univer&s;e but what is either <HI>Sub&s;tantia</HI> or <HI>Modus.</HI> And when a Mode or &s;everal Modes put together are
<PB N="208" REF="232">
immediately and e&s;&s;entially in&s;eparable from a Sub&s;tance, they are lookt upon as the <HI>Form,</HI> or the onely knowable <HI>Specifick difference</HI> of that Sub&s;tance. So that <HI>Impenetrability</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpibility,</HI> which are immediately e&s;&s;ential to, and in&s;eparable from Body or Matter, and Self-Inactivitie, (as <HI>Irrational</HI> is made the &s;peci|fick difference of a Brute) may be added al&s;o: The&s;e, I &s;ay, are as truly the Form or Specifick difference of Body or Matter, as any thing knowable is of any thing in the world. And <HI>Self-Inactivity</HI> at lea&s;t, is contrary to the <HI>Vir|tus vitalis</HI> of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> though <HI>Impenetrability</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpibility</HI> were not. So that accor|ding to this oeconomy, you &s;ee how plainly and exqui&s;itely <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Spirit</HI> are made op|po&s;ite <HI>Species</HI> one to another. And 'tis the&s;e Modal differences of Sub&s;tances which we only know, but the <HI>Specifick</HI> Sub&s;tance of any thing is utterly unknown to us, however Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> is plea&s;ed to &s;wagger to the contrarie, p. 44, 62. Where he &s;eems to mi&s;-under&s;tand the Doctor, as if by <HI>E&s;&s;ence</HI> he did not under&s;tand <HI>Sub&s;tance,</HI> as both <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <HI>E&s;&s;entia</HI> u&s;ually &s;ignifie (e&s;peci|ally with the Ancients) but any Being at large.</P>
<P>But of <HI>Sub&s;tance</HI> it is mo&s;t true, we know it onely by its e&s;&s;ential <HI>Modes,</HI> but the <HI>Modes</HI> are not the <HI>Sub&s;tance</HI> it &s;elf of which they are Modes; otherwi&s;e the Sub&s;tance would want Modes, or every Sub&s;tance would be more &s;ub&s;tances than one. And Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> him|&s;elf
<PB N="209" REF="232">
&s;aith, pag. 62. <HI>To know an e&s;&s;ential Attri|bute, and to know</HI> ip&s;am e&s;&s;entiam &s;cienti&acirc; ina|daequat&acirc;, <HI>is all one.</HI> Which inadequate or par|tial knowledge, &s;ay I, is this, the knowing of the E&s;&s;ential Mode of the Sub&s;tance, and not knowing the Sub&s;tance it &s;elf; Otherwi&s;e if both the E&s;&s;ential <HI>Modes</HI> were known, and al|&s;o the <HI>Specifick Sub&s;tance</HI> to which the Modes belong (more than that tho&s;e Modes belong to that Sub&s;tance) the knowledge would be full and adequate, and &s;tretcht through the whole Object. So that Mr. <HI>Baxters Scientia inadoequata,</HI> and the Doctors denying the bare Sub&s;tance it &s;elf to be known, may very well con&s;i&s;t together, and be judged a mere <GAP DESC="foreign">. Which is an exerci&s;e more grateful it's likely to Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> than to the Doctor.</P>
<P>To the third I &s;ay, Any one that con&s;iders may find a nece&s;&s;arie rea&s;on why <HI>Quantitie</HI> or <HI>Trina Dimen&s;io</HI> &s;hould be left out in the Form of <HI>Body</HI> or <HI>Matter,</HI> e&s;pecially why the Doctor &s;hould leave it out, becau&s;e he does profe&s;&s;edly hold, That whatever is, has <HI>Meta|phy&s;ical</HI> Quantitie or Metaphy&s;ical <HI>Trina Di|men&s;io;</HI> Which no man can denie that holds God is <HI>E&s;&s;entially</HI> pre&s;ent every-where. And no man, I think, that does not dote can denie that. Wherefore allowing Matter to be <HI>Sub|&s;tance;</HI> in that <HI>Generical</HI> nature, <HI>Trina Dimen|&s;io</HI> is comprized, and need not be again re|peated in the <HI>Form.</HI> But when in the <HI>Forma</HI>
<PB N="210" REF="233">
or <HI>Differentia,</HI> Di&s;cerpible and Impenetrable is added, this is that which makes the <HI>Trina Dimen|&s;io</HI> (included in the <HI>Genus, Sub&s;tantia)</HI> of a <HI>Corpo|real</HI> kind, and does con&s;titute that <HI>Species</HI> of things, which we call <HI>Corpora.</HI> This is &s;o plain a bu&s;ine&s;s, that we need in&s;i&s;t no longer upon it.</P>
<P>Now to the fourth, I an&s;wer briefly, That from what knowledge we have by the medi|ation of the <HI>Sen&s;es</HI> and inference of the <HI>Intellect,</HI> we arrive not onely to the knowledge of <HI>like things,</HI> but of <HI>unlike,</HI> or rather <HI>contrary:</HI> As in this very example, we being competently well in&s;tructed, indeed a&s;&s;ured by our Sen&s;es, that there is &s;uch a kind of thing as Body, who&s;e nature is to be <HI>Impenetrable</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpible,</HI> and our Rea&s;on certainly informing us, as was noted even now, that whatever is, has a kind of Amplitude more or le&s;s, or el&s;e it would be nothing; hence we are confirmed, that not <HI>Exten&s;ion</HI> or <HI>Trina Dimen&s;io,</HI> but <HI>Im|penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpibilitie</HI> is the deter|minate and adequate nature of what we call <HI>Body;</HI> and if there be any oppo&s;ite &s;pecies to <HI>Body,</HI> our Rea&s;on tells us it mu&s;t have oppo&s;ite Modes or Attributes, which are <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility.</HI> This is a plain truth not to be groped after with our fingers in the dark, but clearly to be di&s;cerned by the eye of our under&s;tanding in the light of Rea&s;on. And thus we &s;ee (and many examples more we might accumulate) That by the help of our
<PB N="211" REF="233">
<HI>Sen&s;es</HI> and <HI>Inference</HI> of our <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> we are able to conclude not onely concerning <HI>like things,</HI> but their <HI>contraries</HI> or <HI>oppo&s;ites.</HI> I mu&s;t confe&s;s I look upon this allegation of Mr. <HI>Bax|ter</HI> as very weak and faint.</P>
<P>And as for his fifth, I do a little marvel that &s;o grave and grandaevous a per&s;on as he &s;hould plea&s;e him&s;elf in &s;uch little <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">irts of Wit and Sophi&s;try as this of the <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> of an <HI>Atom</HI> or <HI>Phy&s;ical Monad.</HI> As if <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> could be none of the e&s;&s;ential or &s;pecifical Modes or Attributes of a Spirit, becau&s;e a <HI>Phy|&s;ical Monad</HI> or <HI>Atom</HI> is <HI>Indi&s;cerpible</HI> al&s;o, which is no Spirit. But tho&s;e very <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilities</HI> are <HI>Specifically</HI> different. For that of a <HI>Spirit</HI> is an <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> that ari&s;es from the po&s;i|tive perfection and <HI>Onene&s;s</HI> of the E&s;&s;ence, be it never &s;o <HI>ample;</HI> that of an <HI>Atom</HI> or <HI>Phy&s;ical Mo|nad,</HI> from imperfection and privativene&s;s, from the mere <HI>littlene&s;s</HI> or &s;malne&s;s thereof, &s;o &s;mall that it is impo&s;&s;ible to be &s;maller, and thence onely is Indi&s;cerpible.</P>
<P>The &s;ixth al&s;o is a pretty juvenile Ferk of Wit for a grave ancient Divine to u&s;e, That <HI>Penetrability</HI> can be no proper Character of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> becau&s;e Matter can penetrate Spirit as well as Spirit Matter, they both po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the &s;ame &s;pace. Suppo&s;e the bodie A. of the &s;ame amplitude with the bodie B. and thru&s;t the bodie A. again&s;t the bodie B. the bodie A. will not nor can penetrate into the &s;ame &s;pace
<PB N="212" REF="234">
that the bodie B. actually occupies. But &s;up|po&s;e the bodie A. a Spirit of that amplitude, and according to its nature piercing into the &s;ame &s;pace which the bodie B. occupies, how plain is it that that active piercing into the &s;ame &s;pace that the bodie B. occupies, is to be attri|buted to the <HI>Spirit</HI> A. &amp; not to the bodie B? For the <HI>bodie</HI> A. could not get in. The&s;e are pret|tie forc'd di&s;tortions of Wit, but no &s;olid me|thods of due Rea&s;on. And be&s;ides, it is to be noted, that the main Character of a <HI>Spirit</HI> is, as to <HI>Penetrability,</HI> that <HI>Spirit</HI> can penetrate <HI>Spirit,</HI> but not <HI>Matter Matter.</HI></P>
<P>And now the Seventh is as &s;light as the Fifth. Diver&s;e Accidents, &s;aith he, penetrate their Subjects, as Heat, Cold, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Therefore <HI>Pene|trabilitie</HI> is no proper Character of a Spirit. But what a va&s;t difference is there here! The one pierce the matter, (or rather are in the matter merely as continued Modes thereof) the other enters into the matter as a di&s;tinct Sub|&s;tance therefrom. Penetration therefore is here under&s;tood in this Character of a Spirit, of <HI>Pe|netratio Sub&s;tantialis,</HI> when a &s;ub&s;tance pene|trates &s;ub&s;tance, as a Spirit does Spirit and mat|ter, which Matter cannot do. This is a certain Character of a Spirit. And his in&s;tancing in Light as Indi&s;cerpible, is as little to the purpo&s;e. For the &s;ub&s;tance of Light, <HI>viz.</HI> the <HI>Materia &s;ub|tili&s;&s;ima</HI> and <HI>Globuli,</HI> are di&s;cerpible. And the motion of them is but a <HI>Modus,</HI> but the point
<PB N="213" REF="234">
in hand is Indi&s;cerpibilitie of Sub&s;tance.</P>
<P>To the Eighth I An&s;wer, That Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> here is hugely unrea&s;onable in his demands, as if <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> of Spirits were not &s;ufficiently explained, unle&s;s it can be made out, that all the Spirits in the world, Univer&s;al and parti|cular, may be contracted into one <HI>Punctum:</HI> But this is a Theme that he <HI>loves</HI> to enlarge upon, and to declaim on very Tragically, as <HI>pag.</HI> 52. If Spirits have parts which may be extended and contracted, you will hardly &s;o ea|&s;ily prove as &s;ay, that God cannot divide them. And when in your Writings &s;hall I find &s;ati&s;|faction into how much &s;pace one Spirit may be extended, and into how little it may be con|tracted, and whether the whole Spirit of the World may be contracted into a Nut-&s;hell or a Box, and the Spirit of a Flea may be exten|ded to the Convex of all the world? And a|gain, <HI>pag.</HI> 78. You never tell into how little parts onely it may be contracted; And if you put any limits, I will &s;uppo&s;e that one Spirit hath contracted it&s;elf into the lea&s;t compa&s;s po&s;&s;ible; and then I ask, Cannot another and another Spirit be in the &s;ame compa&s;s by their Penetration? If not; Spirits may have a con|tracted Spi&s;&s;itude which is not Penetrable, and Spirits cannot penetrate contracted Spirits, but onely dilated ones. If yea; then <HI>quaero,</HI> whe|ther all created Spirits may not be &s;o contra|cted. And I &s;hould hope that the Definition
<PB N="214" REF="235">
of a Spirit excludeth not God, and yet that you do not think that his E&s;&s;ence may be contracted and dilated. O that we knew how little we know!</P>
<P>This grave moral <HI>Epiphonema</HI> with a &s;orrow|ful &s;haking of the Head is not in good truth much misbecoming the &s;ly in&s;inuating cunning of Mr. <HI>Richard Baxter,</HI> who here makes a &s;hew, &s;peaking in the fir&s;t per&s;on [We] of lamenting and bewailing the ignorance of his own igno|rance, but friendly hooks in, by expre&s;&s;ing him|&s;elf in the plural number, the Doctor al&s;o into the &s;ame condemnation. <HI>Solamen mi&s;eris&mdash;</HI>as if He neither did under&s;tand his own igno|rance in the things he Writes of, but will be &s;trangely &s;urpri&s;ed at the hard Riddles Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> has propounded, as if no <HI>Oedipus</HI> were able to &s;olve them. And I believe the Doctor if he be called to an account will freely confe&s;s of him&s;elf, That in the things he po&s;itively pro|nounces of, &s;o far as he pronounces, that he is indeed altogether <HI>ignorant</HI> of any <HI>ignorance</HI> of <HI>his own</HI> therein; But that this is by rea&s;on that he according to the cautiou&s;ne&s;s of his Genius does not adventure further than he clearly &s;ees ground, and the notion appears u&s;eful for the Publick. As it is indeed u&s;eful to under&s;tand that <HI>Spirits</HI> can both <HI>Penetrate</HI> matter and Pe|netrate one another, el&s;e God could not be <HI>E&s;|&s;entially</HI> pre&s;ent in all the parts of the <HI>Corpore|al</HI> Univer&s;e, nor the Spirits of Men and An|gels
<PB N="215" REF="235">
be in God. Both which notwith&s;tanding are mo&s;t certainly true, to &s;ay nothing of the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> which particular Spirits al&s;o Penetrate, and are Penetrated by it.</P>
<P>But now for the <HI>Contraction</HI> and <HI>Dilatation</HI> of Spirits, that is not a propertie of Spirits in ge|neral as the other are, but of <HI>particular created</HI> Spirits, as the Doctor has declared in his Trea|ti&s;e of the <HI>Immortalitie of the Soul.</HI> So that that hard Que&s;tion is ea&s;ily an&s;wered concern|ing <HI>Gods</HI> contracting and dilating him&s;elf; That he does neither, he being no <HI>created</HI> Spirit, and being more ab&s;olutely perfect than that any &s;uch properties &s;hould be competible to him. And it is rea&s;onable to conceive that there is little actually of that propertie in the <HI>Spirit of Nature,</HI> it being no <HI>particular</HI> Spirit, though <HI>created,</HI> but an Univer&s;al one, and having no need thereof. For the corporeal world did not grow from a &s;mall <HI>Embryo</HI> into that va&s;t am|plitude it is now of, but was produced of the &s;ame largene&s;s it now has, though there was a &s;ucce&s;&s;ive delineation and orderly poli&s;hing and perfecting the va&s;t di&s;tended parts thereof. And to &s;peak compendiou&s;ly and at once, That God that has Created all things <HI>in number, weight</HI> &amp; <HI>mea&s;ure,</HI> has given &s;uch mea&s;ures of <HI>Spiritual E&s;&s;ence</HI> and of the facultie of <HI>contracting</HI> and <HI>di|lating</HI> the &s;ame, as al&s;o of Spiritual <HI>Subtilty</HI> of &s;ub&s;tance, as &s;erves the ends of his Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s in creating &s;uch a &s;pecies of Spi|rit.
<PB N="216" REF="236">
So that it is fond, unskilful, and ridicu|lous, to ask if the whole Spirit of the world can be contracted into a Nut-&s;hell, and the Spirit of a Flea extended to the Convex of the Univer&s;e. They that talk at this rate err, as A|liens from the Wi&s;dome of God, and ignorant of the Laws of Nature, and indeed of the voice of Scripture it&s;elf. Why &s;hould God make the Spirit of a Flea, which was intended for the con&s;tituting of &s;uch a &s;mall Animal, large enough to fill the whole world? Or what need of &s;uch a contraction in the <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> or <HI>Pla&s;tick Soul</HI> of the corporeal Univer&s;e, that it may be contrived into a Nut-&s;hell?</P>
<P>That it has &s;uch <HI>Spiritual &s;ubtiltie</HI> as that <HI>particular</HI> Spirits may contract them&s;elves in it &s;o clo&s;e together, as to be commen&s;urate to the fir&s;t Inchoations of a <HI>Foetus,</HI> which is but very &s;mall, &s;tands to good rea&s;on, and Effects prove it to be &s;o. As al&s;o this &s;malne&s;s of a <HI>Foetus</HI> or <HI>Embryo</HI> that <HI>particular</HI> Spirits are &s;o far contracted at fir&s;t, and expand them&s;elves lei&s;urely afterwards with the growth of the bo|die which they regulate. But into how much le&s;&s;er &s;pace they can or do contract them&s;elves at any time, is needle&s;s to know or enquire. And there is no Repugnancie at all, but the <HI>Spirit of Nature</HI> might be contracted to the like <HI>E&s;&s;ential Spi&s;&s;itude</HI> that &s;ome <HI>particular</HI> Spi|rits are; but there is no rea&s;on to conceit that it ever was or ever will be &s;o contracted, while the World &s;tands.</P>
<P><PB N="217" REF="236">
Nor la&s;tly is there any Inconvenience in putting indefinite limits of <HI>Contraction</HI> in a Spirit, and to allow that after &s;uch a mea&s;ure of Contraction, though we cannot &s;ay ju&s;t what that is, it naturally contracts no further, nor does another &s;o contracted naturally pene|trate this thus contracted Spirit. For as the u&s;efulne&s;s of that mea&s;ure of <HI>Self-Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Contraction</HI> is plain, &s;o it is as plain, that the admitting of it is no incongruitie nor in|commoditie to the Univer&s;e, nor any confu&s;i|on to the <HI>Specifick</HI> modes of <HI>Spirit</HI> and <HI>Bodie.</HI> For the&s;e two Spirits, &s;uppo&s;e, contracted to the utmo&s;t of their natural limits, may natural|ly avoid the entring one another, not by a dead <GAP DESC="foreign"> as in Bodies or Matter, but by a vital Saturitie, or natural Unea&s;ine&s;s in &s;o do|ing. Be&s;ides that, though at &s;uch a contract|ed pitch they are naturally <HI>impenetrable</HI> to one another, yet they demon&s;trate &s;till their <HI>Spiri|tuality,</HI> by <HI>Self-Penetration,</HI> haply a thou&s;and and a thou&s;and times repeated. And though by a Law of life (not by a dead <GAP DESC="foreign">), they are kept from penetrating one another, yet they both in the mean time nece&s;&s;arily pene|trate Matter, as undergoing the diver&s;e mea|&s;ures of <HI>e&s;&s;ential Spi&s;&s;itude</HI> in the &s;ame. So that by the increa&s;e of that <HI>e&s;&s;ential Spi&s;&s;itude,</HI> they may approach near to a kind of <HI>Hylopathick</HI> di&s;po&s;ition of <HI>Impenetrability,</HI> and thence, by the Matter of the Univer&s;e (out of which they
<PB N="218" REF="237">
never are) be curb'd from contracting them|&s;elves any further, than to &s;uch a degree; and I noted at fir&s;t, that <HI>&s;piritual Subtilty,</HI> as well as <HI>Amplitude,</HI> is given in mea&s;ure to created Spi|rits. So that <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> is &s;till a &s;teadie Character of a Spiritual E&s;&s;ence or Sub&s;tance, to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> utmo&s;t &s;en&s;e thereof. And to argue again&s;t <HI>Impenetrability</HI> its being the propertie of <HI>Matter</HI> from this kind of Impenetrability of <HI>contracted Spirits,</HI> is like that quibbling So|phi&s;trie again&s;t <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> being the pro|pertie of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> becau&s;e a <HI>Phy&s;ical Monad</HI> is al&s;o <HI>indi&s;cerpible.</HI></P>
<P>The ninth Objection is again&s;t the <HI>Indi&s;cer|pibility</HI> of Spirits, and would infer, that becau&s;e the Doctor makes them intellectually divi&s;i|ble, therefore by Divine Power, <HI>if it imply no contradiction,</HI> a Spirit is Di&s;cerpible into Phy&s;i|cal parts. But this is &s;o fully &s;atisfied alrea|dy by the Doctor in his <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of the true Notion of a Spirit,</HI> and its <HI>Defence,</HI> to &s;ay no|thing of what I have &s;aid already above to prove it <HI>does imply a contradiction,</HI> that I will let it go, and proceed.</P>
<P>To the tenth and la&s;t Allegation, which pretends, That the&s;e two terms <HI>Penetrable</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpible</HI> are <HI>needle&s;s</HI> and <HI>hazardous</HI> in the Notion of a Spirit. But how <HI>u&s;eful</HI> or <HI>needful Penetrability</HI> is, is manife&s;t from what we have &s;aid to the eighth Objection. And the needfulne&s;s of <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> is al&s;o &s;uffici|ently
<PB N="219" REF="237">
&s;hewn by the Doctor in his <HI>Defence of the true Notion of a Spirit,</HI> Sect. 30. But now for the <HI>Hazardou&s;ne&s;s</HI> of the&s;e terms, as if they were &s;o hard, that it would di&s;courage men from the admitting of the Exi&s;tence of Spi|rits; It appears from what has been &s;aid to the eighth Objection, That <HI>Penetrability</HI> is not onely intelligible and admittable, but nece&s;&s;a|rily to be admitted, in the Notion of a Spirit, as &s;ure as God is a Spirit, and that there are Spirits of men and Angels, and that the Souls of men are not made of Shreds, but actuate their whole grown bodie, though at fir&s;t they were contracted into the compa&s;s of a very &s;mall <HI>Foetus.</HI> And that there is no Repug|nancie that an E&s;&s;ence may be ample, and yet indi&s;cerpible, Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> him&s;elf mu&s;t allow, who, pag. 51. plainly declares, <HI>That it is the vile&s;t contradiction to &s;ay that God is capable of divi&s;ion.</HI> So that I wonder that he will call [Penetrable] and [Indi&s;cerpible] <HI>hard</HI> and <HI>doubtful</HI> words, and &s;uch as might &s;tumble mens belief of the Exi&s;tence of Spirits, when they are terms &s;o <HI>plain</HI> and <HI>nece&s;&s;ary.</HI> Nor can that <HI>&V;nitie</HI> that belongs to a Spirit be con|ceived or under&s;tood without them, e&s;pecially without <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie.</HI> And indeed if we do not allow <HI>Penetrability,</HI> the Soul of a man will be far from being <HI>one,</HI> but a thing <HI>di&s;con|tinued,</HI> and &s;catter'd in the pores of his corpo|real con&s;i&s;tencie.</P>
<P><PB N="220" REF="238">
We will conclude with Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> Conceit of the <HI>Indivi&s;iblene&s;s</HI> of a Spirit, and &s;ee how that will corroborate mens faith of their Exi|&s;tence, and put all out of <HI>hazard.</HI> Various Elements, &s;aith he, pag. 50. vary in <HI>Divi&s;ibili|ty; Earth</HI> is mo&s;t divi&s;ible; <HI>Water</HI> more hard|ly, the parts more inclining to the clo&s;e&s;t con|tact; <HI>Air</HI> yet more hardly; and in <HI>Fire,</HI> no doubt the <HI>Di&s;cerpibility</HI> is yet harder: And if God have made a Creature &s;o &s;trongly incli|ned to the unitie of all the parts, that no Crea|ture can &s;eparate them but God onely, as if a Soul were &s;uch, it is plain that &s;uch a Being need not fear a di&s;&s;olution by Separation of parts. <HI>An&s;.</HI> This is well &s;aid for an heedle&s;s and credulous multitude; but this is not to Philo&s;ophize, but to tell us that God works a perpetual Miracle in holding the &s;mall tenui|ous parts of the Soul together, more pure and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ine than tho&s;e of <HI>Fire</HI> or <HI>Aether;</HI> but here is no natural cau&s;e <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">om the thing it &s;elf offered, un|le&s;s it be, that in every Sub&s;tance, or rather Matter, the parts according to the tenuitie and puritie of the Sub&s;tance, incline to a clo&s;er Contact and in&s;eparable Union one with a|nother; which is a conceit repugnant to expe|rience, and ea&s;ily confuted by that ordinarie accident of a Spinner hanging by its weak thread from the brim of ones Hat; which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eeble line yet is of force enough to divide the Air, and for that very rea&s;on, becau&s;e it con|&s;i&s;ts
<PB N="221" REF="238">
of thinner parts than Water or Earth. As al&s;o, we can more ea&s;ily <HI>run</HI> in the Air than <HI>wade</HI> in the Water, for the very &s;ame rea&s;on. The&s;e things are &s;o plain, that they are not to be dwelt upon.</P>
<P>But Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> is thus plea&s;ed to &s;hew his Wit in maintaining a weak <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">au&s;e, which I am per&s;waded he has not &s;o little judgment as that he can have any great confidence in. And therefore in &s;undry places he intimates that he does allow or at lea&s;t not deny but that <HI>Pene|trabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie</HI> is contained in the Notion of a Spirit; but not as part of the <HI>Conceptus formalis,</HI> but as <HI>Di&s;po&s;itio</HI> or <HI>Modus &s;ub&s;tantiae,</HI> but yet withal &s;uch a <HI>Di&s;po&s;itio</HI> as is <HI>e&s;&s;ential</HI> to the &s;ub&s;tance that with the <HI>Con|ceptus formalis</HI> added, makes up the true No|tion of a Spirit. See <HI>pag.</HI> 30, 32, 61, 85. And truly if Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> be in good earne&s;t and &s;incere in this agreement without all equivocation, that <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cer|pibilitie</HI> is <HI>E&s;&s;ential</HI> to the true Notion of a Spirit, onely they are to be admitted as <HI>Di&s;|po&s;itio Sub&s;tantiae,</HI> not as <HI>Pars Formae,</HI> I confe&s;s, as he declares <HI>pag.</HI> 94. That the di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">erence be|twixt him and the Doctor lyeth in a much &s;maller matter than was thought; and the Do|ctor I believe will ea&s;ily allow him to plea&s;e his own fancy in that. But then he mu&s;t un|der&s;tand the terms of <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>In|di&s;cerpibilitie</HI> in the Doctors &s;en&s;e, <HI>viz,</HI> of a
<PB N="222" REF="239">
Spirits penetrating not <HI>inter partes,</HI> but <HI>per par|tes materi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">,</HI> and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the &s;ame &s;pace with them. And of an <HI>Indi&s;cerpiblene&s;s</HI> not a|ri&s;ing from thinner and thinner parts of mat|ter, as he imagines Air to be more hardly di&s;cer|pible than Earth or Water, fora&s;much as by rea&s;on of its thinne&s;s its parts lye clo&s;er toge|ther, as was above noted; but from the imme|diate e&s;&s;ential Onene&s;s of &s;ub&s;tance in a Spi|rit, according to the true Idea of an <HI>Indi&s;cer|pible Being</HI> in the Divine Intellect, which, whe|ther in Idea or in Actual Exi&s;tence, it would cea&s;e to be, or rather never was &s;uch, if it were di&s;cerpible, and therefore implies a contradicti|on it &s;hould be &s;o. But if a Spirit be not <HI>Pene|trable</HI> in the Doctors &s;en&s;e, it is really <HI>Impene|trable;</HI> and if not <HI>Indi&s;cerpible</HI> in his &s;en&s;e, it is really <HI>Di&s;cerpible,</HI> and con&s;equently divi&s;ible in|to Phy&s;ical Monads or <HI>Atoms,</HI> and therefore con&s;tituted of them, and the la&s;t Inference will be that of the Epigrammati&s;t:</P>
<Q><L><GAP DESC="foreign">.</L>
<L><GAP DESC="foreign">. </L></Q>
<P>To this &s;en&s;e:</P>
<Q><L>All a vain Je&s;t, All Du&s;t, All Nothing deem,</L>
<L>For of mere Atoms all compo&s;ed been.</L></Q>
<P>And thus the faire&s;t and firme&s;t &s;tructures of Philo&s;ophical Theorems in the behalf of the Providence of God, the Exi&s;tence of Spirits, and the Immortality of the Soul, will become a
<PB N="223" REF="239">
Ca&s;tle of Come-Down, and fall quite to the ground. Whence it was rightfully done of the Doctor to lay &s;uch &s;tre&s;s upon the&s;e two terms <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie,</HI> they being the e&s;&s;ential Characteri&s;ticks of what is <HI>truly</HI> a <HI>Spirit,</HI> and which if they were taken out of the world, <HI>all</HI> would nece&s;&s;arily be <HI>Matter,</HI> I mean <HI>Phy&s;ical Matter</HI> (to prevent all quibblings and fiddlings about words and phra&s;es) and this <HI>Phy&s;ical Matter</HI> would be the Subject and Source of all <HI>Life</HI> whatever, <HI>In|tellective, Sen&s;itive</HI> and <HI>Vegetative.</HI> And Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> did ill in not onely omitting the&s;e terms him&s;elf in <HI>his</HI> Notion of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> but in publickly &s;lighting and di&s;gracing of the Do|ctors u&s;ing of them, and afterwards in &s;o &s;to|maching his vindication of the &s;ame in publick, whenas we &s;ee that without them there can be nothing but <HI>Phy&s;ical Matter</HI> in the world, and <HI>God</HI> and <HI>Angels</HI> and the <HI>Souls of men</HI> mu&s;t be <HI>&s;uch</HI> Matter, if they be any thing a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> all: and therefore in &s;uch an errour as this, Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> with Chri&s;tian patience might well have born with the Doctors calling it, not onely a <HI>Mi|&s;take,</HI> but a <HI>Mi&s;chief.</HI> And I hope by this time he is &s;uch a proficient in that Vertue, that he will chearfully bear the publication of this my An&s;wer in the behalf of the Doctor to all his Objections again&s;t the&s;e two e&s;&s;ential and ne|ce&s;&s;arie Characters of a Spirit; and not be of|fended if I briefly run over his &s;maller <HI>Criti|ci&s;ms</HI>
<PB N="224" REF="240">
upon the Doctors Definition of the &s;ame, which do occur, pag. 80, 81. and el&s;ewhere, as I &s;hall adverti&s;e.</P>
<P>The Doctors Definition of a Spirit in his Di&s;cour&s;e of that Subject, Sect. 29. is this [A Spirit is a Sub&s;tance immaterial intrin&s;ecally indued with life and the facultie of motion] where he notes that <HI>Immaterial</HI> contains vir|tually in it <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility.</HI> Now let us hear how Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> criticizes on this Definition.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, &s;aies he, pag. 80. Your Definition is common, good and true, allowing for its little imperfections, and the common imperfection of mans knowledge of Spirits. If by [Imma|terial] you mean not [without Sub&s;tance] it &s;ignifieth truth, but a negation &s;peaketh not a formal E&s;&s;ence. <HI>An&s;.</HI> How very little the&s;e <HI>imperfections</HI> are, I &s;hall note by pa&s;&s;ing through them all; and for the <HI>common</HI> imperfection of mans <HI>knowledge of Spirits,</HI> what an unskilful or hypocritical pretence that is, the Doctor hath &s;o clearly &s;hewn in his <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of the true Notion of a Spirit,</HI> Sect. 16, 17, 18, 19. that it is enough to &s;end the Reader thither for &s;a|tisfaction. But as for [Immaterial] how can any one think that thereby is meant [with|out Sub&s;tance] but tho&s;e that think there is nothing but Matter in the Phy&s;ical &s;en&s;e of the word, in the world? As if [Sub&s;tance Im|material] was intended to &s;ignifie [Sub&s;tance
<PB N="225" REF="240">
without Sub&s;tance]! And la&s;tly, the Doctor will denie that [In] in <HI>Immaterial</HI> &s;ignifies ne|gatively here more than in <HI>Immortal, Incor|ruptible,</HI> or <HI>Infinite,</HI> but that it is the indication of oppo&s;ite properties to tho&s;e of <HI>Phy&s;ical Mat|ter,</HI> viz. <HI>Impenetrability</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpibility,</HI> and that therefore <HI>Immaterial</HI> here includes <HI>Indi|&s;cerpibility</HI> and <HI>Penetrability.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, pag. 81. Spirit it &s;elf, &s;aies he, is but a metaphor. <HI>An&s;.</HI> Though the word fir&s;t &s;ignified other things before it was u&s;ed in the &s;en&s;e it is here defined, yet u&s;e has made it as good as if it were originally <HI>proper.</HI> With your Logicians, in tho&s;e Definitions, <HI>Materia e&s;t Cau&s;a ex qua res e&s;t, Forma e&s;t Cau&s;a per quam res e&s;t id quod e&s;t; Materia</HI> and <HI>Forma</HI> are Me|taphorical words, but u&s;e has made them in tho&s;e Definitions as good as proper; nor does any &s;ober and knowing man move the lea&s;t &s;cruple touching tho&s;e Definitions on this ac|count. To which you may add, that <HI>Ari&s;to|tles</HI> caution again&s;t Metaphors in defining things, is to be under&s;tood of the Definition it &s;elf, not the <HI>Definitum;</HI> but <HI>Spirit</HI> is the <HI>De|finitum</HI> here, not the Definition.</P>
<P>Thirdly, [Intrin&s;ecally indued with li&s;e] tells us not that it is the <HI>Form.</HI> Qualities, and proper Accidents are <HI>intrin&s;ecal. An&s;.</HI> Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> I &s;uppo&s;e, for clearne&s;s &s;ake, would have had <HI>Form</HI> written over the head of this part of the Definition, as the old bungling
<PB N="226" REF="241">
painters were wont to write, This is a Cock, and this a Bull; or as one wittily per&s;tringed a young Preacher that would name the Logi|cal Topicks he took his Arguments from, &s;ay|ing he was like a Shoemaker that offered his Shoes to &s;ale with the La&s;ts in them. I thought Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> had been a more nimble Logician than to need &s;uch helps to di&s;cern what is the <HI>Genus</HI> in the Definition, what the <HI>Differentia</HI> or <HI>Forma.</HI> And for [intrin&s;ecally indued] I per|ceive he is ignorant of the proper force and &s;en&s;e of the word <HI>Intrin&s;ec&ugrave;s,</HI> which &s;ignifies as much as <GAP DESC="foreign"> not <GAP DESC="foreign"> onely, which implies that this life is from the intimate E&s;&s;ence of a Spirit <HI>quatenus</HI> a Spirit, and therefore can be no common qualitie nor a facultie clar|ted on, as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> fancies God may clart on Life the &s;pecifick Form of Spirit, as he him&s;elf acknowledges, on Matter, though <HI>Materia</HI> quatenus <HI>Materia</HI> implies no &s;uch thing; but, I &s;ay; <HI>Spiritus quatenus Spiritus</HI> does, which is both the Source and proper Sub|ject of life. But it is the effect of an ill per|turbed &s;ight, to fancie flaws where there are really none. And to fancie that a <HI>Vis Vitalis,</HI> or Power of living can belong to <HI>Materia Phy|&s;ica</HI> immediately, which power mu&s;t nece&s;&s;ari|ly be the Re&s;ult of an E&s;&s;ence &s;pecifically di|&s;tinct from Phy&s;ical Matter, I think may ju&s;tly be called clarting of this Power on a Subject it belongs not to, nor is intrin&s;ecal to it, there be|ing
<PB N="227" REF="241">
no new &s;pecifick E&s;&s;ence from whence it &s;hould &s;pring.</P>
<P>Fourthly, The [Facultie of motion] &s;aies he, is either a Tautologie included in <HI>Life,</HI> or el&s;e if explicatorie of <HI>Life,</HI> it is defective. <HI>An&s;.</HI> It is neither Tautological nor Exegetical, no more than if a man &s;hould define <HI>Homo, Animal ra|tionale ri&s;ibile.</HI> [Ri&s;ibile] there, is neither Tautological, though included in <HI>Animal ratio|nale;</HI> nor Exegetical, it &s;ignifying not the &s;ame with <HI>Rationale.</HI> And the Definition is as true with <HI>Ri&s;ibile</HI> added to it, as if omitted. But the addition of <HI>Ri&s;ibile</HI> being needle&s;s, is indeed ridiculous. But it is not <HI>Ridiculous</HI> to add the faculty of motion in this Definition of a Spirit, becau&s;e it is not <HI>needle&s;s,</HI> but is added on pur|po&s;e to in&s;truct &s;uch as Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> that an <HI>in|trin&s;ecal facultie</HI> of <HI>motion</HI> belongs to Spirit <HI>quatenus</HI> Spirit, and indued with <HI>Life;</HI> when|as yet he, pag. 35. will not admit that &s;elf|motion is an indication of <HI>Life</HI> in the &s;ubject that moves it&s;elf, although it is the very prime argument that his beloved and admired Dr. <HI>Gli&s;&s;on</HI> u&s;eth to prove, that there is <HI>uni|ver&s;ally life in Matter.</HI> But it is the &s;ym|ptome of an over-<HI>Polemical</HI> Fencer, to deny a thing merely becau&s;e he finds it not for his turn. In the mean time it is plain the Do|ctor has not added [the facultie of motion] ra&s;hly out of over &s;ight, but for the in&s;tructing the ignorant in &s;o important a truth, That
<PB N="228" REF="242">
there is no <GAP DESC="foreign"> but there is <HI>Life</HI> and <HI>Spirit.</HI> This is &s;o great a truth, that the <HI>Platoni&s;ts</HI> make it to be the main Character of Soul or Spirit, to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, as you may &s;ee in <HI>Proclus.</HI></P>
<P>Fifthly, No man, &s;aith he, can under&s;tand that the Negative [Immaterial], by the terms, includeth <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpi|bilitie. An&s;.</HI> No man that rightly under|&s;tands him&s;elf but mu&s;t conceive that [Im|material] &s;ignifies an oppo&s;ite or contrary condition to [Material]: and he knowing (as who is ignorant of it?) that the proper and e&s;&s;ential characters of [Material] in <HI>&s;ub|&s;tantia materialis,</HI> is to be <HI>Impenetrable</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cerpible,</HI> he will nece&s;&s;arily, even whether he will or no, di&s;cover that [Immaterial] which &s;ignifies the oppo&s;ite to the&s;e in <HI>&s;ub|&s;tantia immaterialis,</HI> mu&s;t denote <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility.</HI></P>
<P>Sixthly, You do not &s;ay here, &s;aith he, that they are the <HI>Form,</HI> but el&s;ewhere you do; and the Form &s;hould be <HI>expre&s;t,</HI> and not onely <HI>ver|tually</HI> contained, as you &s;peak. <HI>An&s;.</HI> What would you have him in the very Definition it &s;elf, which is &s;o clear an one, &s;ay, This is the <HI>Genus,</HI> this the <HI>Form,</HI> as tho&s;e bunglers I men|tioned above writ the names of the Animals they had &s;o badly drawn? And that the <HI>Form</HI> &s;hould be <HI>expre&s;t</HI> is true, but it is &s;ufficient it be expre&s;t in &s;uch a comprehen&s;ive term as contains under it all that belongs to &s;uch a
<PB N="229" REF="242">
Species. As when we have divided <HI>Vivens</HI> in|to <HI>Planta</HI> and <HI>Animal,</HI> if we then define <HI>Ani|mal</HI> to be <HI>Vivens &s;en&s;u praeditum,</HI> that one word <HI>&s;en&s;us,</HI> is &s;ufficient, becau&s;e it reaches any Species of Animal, and none but Animals. And yet here the Doctor is not &s;o niggardly as to pinch the expre&s;&s;ion of all the Form or Diffe|rence, into that one word <HI>Immaterial,</HI> whereby he here onely intimates <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>In|di&s;cerpibility;</HI> but for fuller explication addeth, <HI>Intrin&s;ecally indued with Life and the facultie of motion.</HI> But la&s;tly, For his el&s;ewhere calling <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> the <HI>Form</HI> of a Spirit, he nowhere makes them the <HI>whole Form</HI> of a Spirit, but makes the Logical <HI>Form</HI> or <HI>Differentia</HI> of a Spirit, to be all that which he has expre&s;&s;ed in this Definition, <HI>viz.</HI> [Im|material] which denotes <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>In|di&s;cerpibility,</HI> and [Intrin&s;ecal life and motion]. And it is evident that when he calls this <HI>Diffe|rentia</HI> in his Definition, <HI>Form,</HI> that he does not mean the very <HI>&s;pecifick</HI> Sub&s;tance or E&s;&s;ence, whereby a Spirit is a Spirit, but onely e&s;&s;en|tial or in&s;eparable <HI>Attributes,</HI> which onely are known to us, and which are only in an impro|per &s;en&s;e &s;aid to be the <HI>Form</HI> it &s;elf, or <HI>&s;pecifick</HI> Nature. They are onely the <HI>Re&s;ult</HI> of the <HI>Form</HI> and <HI>Notes</HI> of an E&s;&s;ence or Sub&s;tance <HI>Specifically</HI> di&s;tinct from &s;ome other Sub|&s;tance.</P>
<P>It is not &s;o in <HI>&s;ub&s;tantial</HI> Forms as in Geome|trical
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<HI>Forms</HI> or <HI>Figures,</HI> as to Vi&s;ibilitie or Per|ceptibilitie. <HI>Dic tu formam hujus lapidis,</HI> &s;ays <HI>Scaliger</HI> to <HI>Cardan, &amp; Phyllida &s;olus habeto.</HI> But there are in&s;eparable and e&s;&s;ential <HI>Proper|ties</HI> of a <HI>&s;ub&s;tantial Form,</HI> nece&s;&s;arily re&s;ulting from the Form it &s;elf, as there are in external Forms or Figures. As for example, from the <HI>form</HI> of a <HI>Globe,</HI> which is a round Form, defi|ned from the equalitie of all lines from one point drawn thence to the Superficies. From this form does nece&s;&s;arily and in&s;eparably re|&s;ult the Character of an ea&s;ie rouling Mobili|tie. That a bodie of this Form is the mo&s;t ea|&s;ily moved upon a Plain, of any bodie in the world. And &s;o from the <HI>Form</HI> of a piece of Iron made into what we call a <HI>Sword;</HI> Fit|ne&s;s for &s;triking, for cutting, for &s;tabbing, and for defending of the hand, is the nece&s;&s;arie re|&s;ult from this Form thereof. And &s;o I &s;ay that from the intimate and e&s;&s;ential <HI>Form</HI> of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> &s;uppo&s;e, e&s;&s;entially and in&s;eparably re|&s;ult &s;uch and &s;uch properties by which we know that a Spirit is a di&s;tinct Species from o|ther things, though we do not know the very <HI>&s;pecifick</HI> e&s;&s;ence thereof. And therefore here I note by the by, that when the Doctor &s;aies any &s;uch or &s;uch Attributes are the <HI>Form</HI> of a Spi|rit, he does <HI>dat&acirc; oper&acirc; balbutire cum balbutien|tibus,</HI> and expre&s;&s;es him&s;elf in the language of the Vulgar, and &s;peaks to Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> in his own Dialect. For it is the declared opinion
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of the Doctor, that the intimate <HI>Form</HI> of no E&s;|&s;ence or Sub&s;tance is knowable, but onely the in&s;eparable Fruits or Re&s;ults thereof. Which is a Principle wants no proof, but an appeal to every mans faculties that has ordinarie wit and &s;inceritie.</P>
<P>Seventhly, They are not the <HI>Form,</HI> &s;aith he, but the <HI>Di&s;po&s;itio vel Conditio ad formam.</HI> An&s;. You may under&s;tand out of what was &s;aid even now, that <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cer|pibilitie</HI> are &s;o far from being <HI>Di&s;po&s;itio ad for|mam,</HI> that they are the <HI>Fruits</HI> and <HI>Re&s;ults</HI> of the intimate and <HI>Specifick Form</HI> of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> and that they &s;uppo&s;e this <HI>Specifick Form</HI> in order of nature to precede them, as the Form of a Globe precedes the rouling mobilitie thereof. In vertue of a Spirits being &s;uch a Specifick &s;ub&s;tance, it has &s;uch in&s;eparable attributes re|&s;ulting from it, as a <HI>Globe</HI> has <HI>mobilitie.</HI> And as the <HI>Globe</HI> is conceived <HI>fir&s;t,</HI> and <HI>mobilitie</HI> in|&s;eparably re&s;ulting from it; &s;o the <HI>Specifick</HI> Nature of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> which is its true and inti|mate Form, and made &s;uch according to the eternal Idea thereof in the Intellect of God, being one &s;imple <HI>Specifick</HI> &s;ub&s;tance or E&s;&s;ence, has re&s;ulting from it tho&s;e e&s;&s;ential or in&s;epa|rable properties which we attribute to a Spirit, it&s;elf in the mean time remaining but one &s;imple &s;elf-&s;ub&s;i&s;tent <HI>Actus Entitativus,</HI> who&s;e <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indivi&s;ibilitie</HI> Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> him&s;elf, pag. 99. &s;ays is ea&s;ily defendible. And
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the Doctor, who under&s;tands him&s;elf, I dare &s;ay for him, defends the <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>In|divi&s;ibilitie</HI> of no E&s;&s;ences but &s;uch.</P>
<P>Eighthly, If &s;uch Modalities, &s;ays he, or Con&s;i&s;tence were the <HI>Form,</HI> more &s;uch &s;hould be added which are left out. <HI>An&s;.</HI> He &s;hould have nominated tho&s;e which are left out. He means, I &s;uppo&s;e, <HI>Quantity</HI> and <HI>Trina Dimen&s;io,</HI> which it was his di&s;cretion to omit, they be|ing &s;o impertinent as I have &s;hewn above, in my An&s;wer to his third Objection again&s;t the Penetrabilitie and Indi&s;cerpibilitie of a Spi|rit.</P>
<P>Ninthly, <HI>Penetrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie</HI> are two Notions, and you &s;hould not give us, &s;ays he, a <HI>compound</HI> Form. <HI>An&s;.</HI> This im|plies that <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> are the <HI>Form</HI> of a Spirit; but I have &s;aid again and again, they are but the <HI>Fruits</HI> and <HI>Re&s;ult</HI> of the <HI>Form.</HI> A Spirit is one &s;imple <HI>Specifick</HI> E&s;|&s;ence or &s;ub&s;tance, and that true <HI>Specifickne&s;s</HI> in its E&s;&s;ence, is the <HI>real</HI> and <HI>intimate Form,</HI> or <HI>Conceptus formalis</HI> thereof, but that which we know not (as I noted above out of <HI>Julius Sca|liger)</HI> though we know the e&s;&s;ential and in&s;e|parable Attributes thereof, which may be <HI>ma|ny,</HI> though in <HI>one &s;imple</HI> &s;pecifick Sub&s;tance, as there are many Attributes in God immediate|ly and in&s;eparably re&s;ulting from his mo&s;t <HI>&s;im|ple</HI> &s;pecifick Nature.</P>
<P><PB N="233" REF="244">
Tenthly, Yea you compound, &s;aith he, <HI>Pe|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">etrabilitie</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibilitie</HI> with a quite different notion [life and the faculty of mo|tion], which is truly the <HI>Form,</HI> and is one thing, and not compounded of notions &s;o diffe|rent as <HI>Con&s;i&s;tence</HI> and <HI>Vertue</HI> or <HI>Power.</HI> An&s;. I &s;ay again as I &s;aid before, that neither <HI>Pene|trability</HI> nor <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility,</HI> nor <HI>Life</HI> nor <HI>Mo|tion,</HI> are the <HI>&s;pecifick Form</HI> it &s;elf of a Spirit, which is a &s;imple Sub&s;tance, but the <HI>Fruits</HI> and <HI>Re&s;ults</HI> of this <HI>&s;pecifick Form;</HI> and all the&s;e have a proper <HI>Cognation</HI> with one another, as a|greeing in <HI>Immateriality</HI> or <HI>Spirituality:</HI> and how the common &s;agacitie of mankind has pre&s;aged, that the mo&s;t noble functions of life are performed by that which is mo&s;t <HI>&s;ub|tile</HI> and mo&s;t <HI>one,</HI> as <HI>Penetrability</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cer|pibility</HI> makes the con&s;i&s;tence of a Spirit to be, the Doctor has noted in his <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of the true notion of a Spirit.</HI> Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> in reading Theological Sy&s;tems may ob&s;erve, That Attri|butes as much differing among them&s;elves as the&s;e, are given to the mo&s;t &s;imple E&s;&s;ence of God.</P>
<P>Eleventhly, You &s;ay, &s;ays he, pag. 82. Life intrin&s;ecally i&s;&s;ues from this Immaterial Sub|&s;tance: But the <HI>Form</HI> is concreated with it, and i&s;&s;ues not from it. <HI>An&s;.</HI> I grant that the <HI>Form</HI> is concreated with the Spirit. For a Spirit is nothing el&s;e but &s;uch a <HI>&s;pecifick</HI> &s;imple Sub&s;tance or E&s;&s;ence, the <HI>Specifickne&s;s</HI> of who&s;e
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nature onely is its real intimate <HI>Form.</HI> And if we could reach by our Conception that ve|ry <HI>Form</HI> it &s;elf, it would be but the <HI>Conceptus inadaequatus</HI> of one &s;imple Sub&s;tance, and be the true <HI>Conceptus formalis</HI> thereof; and the <HI>Concep|tus fundamentalis,</HI> to &s;peak in Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> or Dr. <HI>Gli&s;&s;ons</HI> language, would be <HI>Sub&s;tance</HI> in <HI>general,</HI> which is contracted into this <HI>Species</HI> by this <HI>real intimate Form;</HI> which both con&s;i|dered together, being but one &s;imple E&s;&s;ence, they mu&s;t needs be created together, accor|ding to that Idea of a Spirit which God has con|ceived in his eternal mind. And life will as naturally and nece&s;&s;arily i&s;&s;ue from &s;uch a <HI>Species</HI> or <HI>Specifick E&s;&s;ence,</HI> or from <HI>Sub&s;tance</HI> contracted into &s;uch a <HI>Species</HI> by the above|&s;aid <HI>Form,</HI> as <HI>Mobility</HI> does i&s;&s;ue from the form of a Globe. From whence it is plainly under|&s;tood how Life does intrin&s;ecally i&s;&s;ue from im|material Sub&s;tance, nor is the <HI>Form</HI> it &s;elf but the Fruit thereof. And as it were but trifling to &s;ay that the power of ea&s;ie rolling every way on a Plain were the very Form of a Globe, the word <HI>Power</HI> or <HI>Vertue</HI> being but a dark, loo&s;e, general, dilute term, and which belongs to every thing, and is re&s;trained onely by its Operation and Object; but it is the Form or Figure of the Globe that is the immediate cau&s;e that that Vertue or Power in general is &s;o re|&s;trained to this ea&s;ie rolling: &s;o it is in Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> pretended Form of a Spirit, which he
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makes <HI>Virtus vitalis,</HI> a <HI>power</HI> of living: <HI>Power</HI> there, is &s;uch a dark dilute term, loo&s;e and ge|neral. But that it is determined to life, it is by that intimate &s;pecifick Form, which we know not; but onely this we know, That it is to the <HI>Power</HI> of <HI>living</HI> as the Figure of a Globe is to the <HI>Power</HI> of ea&s;ie <HI>rolling,</HI> and that in nei|ther, one can be without the other. There mu&s;t be a Specifick E&s;&s;ence, which is the root of tho&s;e Powers, Properties, or Operations from whence we conclude di&s;tinct Species of things: For 'tis too coar&s;e and &s;lovenly to con|ceit, that the&s;e are clarted on them, but the Specifick Powers ari&s;e immediately, and in&s;e|parably from the Specifick Nature of the thing; el&s;e why might they not be other pow|ers as well as the&s;e?</P>
<P>Twelfthly and la&s;tly, pag. 32. But do you verily believe, &s;aith he, that <HI>Penetrability</HI> or <HI>Subtility</HI> is a &s;ufficient <HI>Efficient</HI> or <HI>Formal</HI> cau&s;e of Vitalitie, Perception and Appetite, and &s;o of Intellection and Volition? I hope you do not. <HI>An&s;.</HI> I hope &s;o of the Doctor too; and before this, I hoped that Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> had more in|&s;ight into the nature of a <HI>Formal cau&s;e</HI> and in|to the Laws of Logick, than once to imagine that any one in his Wits could take <HI>Penetrabi|lity</HI> to be the <HI>Formal cau&s;e</HI> of <HI>Intellection</HI> and <HI>Volition.</HI> For then every Spirit being <HI>Pene|trable,</HI> every Spirit even of a plant, at lea&s;t of the vile&s;t <HI>Animalonium,</HI> would have Intellection
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and Volition. Nor, for the &s;ame rea&s;on, can any body think that <HI>Penetrability</HI> is a <HI>&s;ufficient</HI> Efficient cau&s;e of Intellection and Volition. Nor is it &s;o much as the <HI>Efficient</HI> cau&s;e of <HI>Vita|lity, Perception, Appetite,</HI> much le&s;s the <HI>Formal.</HI> So infinitely is Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> out in the&s;e things. But the ca&s;e &s;tands thus: The Sub&s;tance of that &s;pecies of things which we call a <HI>Spirit,</HI> and is &s;o by that <HI>intimate &s;pecifick Form</HI> which I named before, this &s;ub&s;tance is the cau&s;e of <HI>Vitality</HI> in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as the round Form of a Globe, or any matter of that Form is, <HI>quatenus</HI> of that Form, the cau&s;e of its own rolling Mo|bilitie. I &s;ay therefore, that <HI>Vitality</HI> is as im|mediate and nece&s;&s;arie a Fruit or Effect of the <HI>real and intimate Form</HI> of a <HI>Spirit,</HI> as that ea&s;ie mobilitie is of the Form of a Sphere or Globe; And &s;uch a kind of <HI>Vitality, Vegetative, Sen&s;i|tive, Intellective</HI> of &s;uch a Species of Spirit: The&s;e kinds of <HI>Vitalities</HI> are the Fruits or Ef|fects nece&s;&s;arie and immediate of the above|&s;aid &s;o &s;pecificated Sub&s;tances; that is to &s;ay, they are immediately <HI>Self-living,</HI> and all of them <HI>Penetrable</HI> and <HI>Indi&s;cerpible</HI> of them|&s;elves, <HI>quatenus Spirits,</HI> all the&s;e e&s;&s;ential attri|butes ari&s;ing from the &s;imple e&s;&s;ence or &s;pe|cificated &s;ub&s;tance of every Spirit, of what Cla&s;&s;is &s;oever, created according to its own Idea eternally &s;hining in the Divine Intel|lect.</P>
<P>As for example; In the Idea of a Pla&s;tick
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Spirit onely; <HI>Penetrability, Indi&s;cerpibility,</HI> and <HI>Pla&s;tick Vitality,</HI> whereby it is able to or|ganize Matter thus and thus, are not three E&s;|&s;ences clarted upon &s;ome fourth E&s;&s;ence, or glewed together one to another, to make up &s;uch an Idea: But the Divine Intellect con|ceives in it&s;elf one &s;imple &s;pecifick E&s;&s;ence im|mediately and intrin&s;ecally of it &s;elf, indued with the&s;e e&s;&s;ential Properties or Attributes. So that when any thing does exi&s;t according to this Idea, tho&s;e three properties are as im|mediately Con&s;equential to it, and as effectu|ally, as <HI>Mobility</HI> to the <HI>Form</HI> of a <HI>Globe.</HI> It is the <HI>&s;pecifick Sub&s;tance</HI> that is the nece&s;&s;ary Source of them, and that acts by them as its own connate or natural in&s;truments, fitted for the ends that the eternal Wi&s;dom and Good|ne&s;s of God has conceived or contrived them for.</P>
<P>For it is manife&s;t, that tho&s;e e&s;&s;ential Attri|butes of a Spirit contrarie to Matter are not in vain. For whenas a <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> Spirit is to actuate and organize Matter, and inwardly di&s;|po&s;e it into certain forms, <HI>Penetrability</HI> is need|ful, that it may po&s;&s;e&s;s the Matter, and order it throughout; As al&s;o that <HI>Onene&s;s</HI> of E&s;&s;ence and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility,</HI> that it may hold it toge|ther. For what &s;hould make any ma&s;s of Matter <HI>one,</HI> but that which has a &s;pecial <HI>One|ne&s;s</HI> of E&s;&s;ence in it &s;elf, quite different from that of Matter? And fora&s;much as all Souls
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are indued with the <HI>Pla&s;tick</HI> whether of Brutes or Men, not to add the Spirits of Angels; &s;till there holds the &s;ame rea&s;on in all ranks, that Spirits &s;hould be as well <HI>Penetrable</HI> and <HI>Indi|&s;cerpible</HI> as <HI>Vital.</HI> And if there be any <HI>Plato|nick</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, that have no <HI>Pla&s;tick,</HI> yet <HI>Penetrabili|ty</HI> mu&s;t belong to them, and is of u&s;e to them, if they be found to be within the verges of the Corporeal Univer&s;e (and why not they as well as God him&s;elf?) and <HI>Indi&s;cerpibility</HI> main|tains their Suppo&s;ital Unitie, as it does in all Spirits that have to do with Matter, and are capable of a <HI>vital</HI> coale&s;cencie therewith. But I have accumulated here more Theorie than is needful. And I mu&s;t remember that I am in a <HI>Digre&s;&s;ion.</HI></P>
<P>To return therefore to the particular point we have been about all this while. I hope by this time I have made it good, that the Dr.'s <HI>De|finition</HI> of a <HI>Spirit</HI> is &s;o clear, &s;o true, &s;o expre&s;s, and u&s;efully in&s;tructive (and that is the &s;cope of the Doctors Writings) that neither he him|&s;elf, nor any body el&s;e, let them con&s;ider as much as they can, will ever be able to mend it. And that the&s;e affected Cavils of Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> argue no defects or &s;laws in the Do|ctors Definition, but the ignorance and impo|tencie of Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> Spirit, and the undue e|lation of his mind, when notwith&s;tanding this unexceptionablene&s;s of the Definition, he, pag. 82. out of his Magi&s;terial Chair of Judicature
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pronounces with a gracious nod, <HI>You mean well&mdash;but all our Conceptions here mu&s;t have their ALLOWANCES, and we mu&s;t confe&s;s their weakne&s;s.</HI> This is the Sentence which grave Mr. <HI>Baxter, alto &s;upercilio,</HI> gives of the Doctors ac|curate Definition of a Spirit, to humble <HI>him,</HI> and exalt <HI>him&s;elf,</HI> in the &s;ight of the <HI>populacie.</HI> But is it not a great weakne&s;s, or wor&s;e, to talk of favourable <HI>allowances,</HI> and not to <HI>allow</HI> that to be <HI>unexceptionable</HI> again&s;t which <HI>no ju&s;t exception</HI> is found?</P>
<P>But to give Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> his due, though the extream or extimate parts of this Paragraph, pag. 82. which you may fancie as the skin thereof, may &s;eem to have &s;omething of bit|terne&s;s and toughne&s;s in it, yet the Belly of the Paragraph is full of plums and &s;weet things. For he &s;aies, <HI>And we are all greatly beholden to the Doctor for his &s;o indu&s;trious calling fooli&s;h Sen&s;uali&s;ts to the &s;tudy and notion of</HI> invi&s;ible <HI>Beings, without which, what a carca&s;s or nothing were the world?</HI></P>
<P>But is it not pity then, while the Doctor does di&s;charge this Province with that faith|fulne&s;s and indu&s;trie, that Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> &s;hould di&s;turb him in his work, and hazzard the fruits and efficacie thereof, by eclip&s;ing the clearne&s;s of his Notions of <HI>Spiritual</HI> Beings, (for <HI>Bodies</HI> may be al&s;o <HI>invi&s;ible)</HI> by the in|terpo&s;ition or oppo&s;ition of his own great Name again&s;t them, who, as him&s;elf tells the
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world in his <HI>Church-Hi&s;tory,</HI> has wrote <HI>four|&s;core Books,</HI> even as old Dr. <HI>Gli&s;&s;on</HI> his Patron or rather Pattern in Philo&s;ophy arrived to at lea&s;t <HI>four&s;core Years</HI> of age? And Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> it &s;eems is for the common Proverb, The older the wi&s;er; though <HI>Elihu</HI> in <HI>Job</HI> be of another mind, who &s;aies there, <HI>I &s;aid Days &s;hould &s;peak, and multitude of Years &s;hould teach Wi&s;dom; But there is a Spirit in man, and the In&s;piration of the Almighty giveth him &V;nder&s;tanding.</HI> But whither am I going?</P>
<P>I would conclude here according to promi&s;e, having re&s;cued the Doctors Definition of a Spirit from Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> numerous little <HI>Cri|tici&s;ms,</HI> like &s;o many &s;hrill bu&s;ie Gnats trum|peting about it, and attempting to in&s;ix their feeble <HI>Probo&s;cides</HI> into it; and I hope I have &s;i|lenced them all.</P>
<P>But there is &s;omething in the very next Pa|ragraph which is &s;o wrongfully charged upon the Doctor, that I cannot forbear &s;tanding up in his ju&s;tification. The Charge is this: That he has fathered upon Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> an Opinion he never owned, and nick-named him <HI>P&s;ycho|pyri&s;t</HI> from his own fiction. As if, &s;ays he, we &s;aid that <HI>Souls</HI> are <HI>Fire,</HI> and al&s;o took <HI>Fire,</HI> as the Doctor does, for <HI>Candles</HI> and <HI>hot Irons,</HI> &amp;c. onely. But I an&s;wer in behalf of the Doctor, as I have a little toucht on this matter before, That he does indeed entitle a certain Letter (which he an&s;wers) to a <HI>Learned P&s;ychopyri&s;t</HI>
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as the Author thereof: But Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> name is with all imaginable care concealed. So that he by his needle&s;s owning the Letter, has notch|ed that nick-name (as he calls it) of <HI>P&s;ycho|pyri&s;t</HI> upon him&s;elf, whether out of greedine&s;s after that alluring Epithet it is baited with, I know not; but that he hangs thus by the gills like a Fi&s;h upon the Hook, he may thank his own &s;elf for it, nor ought to blame the Doctor. Much le&s;s accu&s;e him for &s;aying, that Mr. <HI>Bax|ter</HI> took <HI>Fire</HI> in no other &s;en&s;e than that in Candles and hot Iron, and the like. For in his <HI>Preface,</HI> he expre&s;ly declares on the <HI>P&s;ychopy|ri&s;ts</HI> behalf, that he does not make this <HI>cra&s;s</HI> and <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> Fire the E&s;&s;ence of a Spirit, but that his meaning is more &s;ubtile and refined. With what con&s;cience then can Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> &s;ay, that the Doctor affirms that he took Fire in no o|ther &s;en&s;e than that in Candles and hot Iron, and the like, and that he held <HI>all</HI> Souls to be &s;uch Fire? whenas the Doctor is &s;o mode&s;t and cautious, that he does not affirm that Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> thinks any to be &s;uch; though even in this <HI>Placid Collation,</HI> he profe&s;&s;es his inclina|tion towards the Opinion, that <HI>Ignis</HI> and <HI>Ve|getative Spirit</HI> is all one, pag. 20, 21. I have oft profe&s;&s;ed, &s;aith he, that I am ignorant whether <HI>Ignis</HI> and <HI>Vegetative Spirit</HI> be all one, (to which I mo&s;t incline) or whether <HI>Ignis</HI> be an active nature made to be the in&s;tru|ment, by which the three &s;piritual natures,
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<HI>Vegetative, Sen&s;itive,</HI> and <HI>Mental</HI> work on the three pa&s;&s;ive natures, Earth, Water, <HI>Air.</HI></P>
<P>And again, pag. 66. If it be the Spirit of the world that is the neare&s;t cau&s;e of illumination, by way of natural activity, then that which you call the <HI>Spirit</HI> of the <HI>World,</HI> I call <HI>Fire;</HI> and &s;o we differ but <HI>de nomine.</HI> But I have (&s;aith he as before) profe&s;&s;ed my ignorance, whether <HI>Fire</HI> and the <HI>Vegetative nature</HI> be all one, (which I incline to think) or whether <HI>Fire</HI> be a middle active nature between the <HI>&s;piritu|al</HI> and the mere <HI>Pa&s;&s;ive,</HI> by which <HI>Spirits</HI> work on <HI>bodie.</HI> And, pag. 71. I doubt not but <HI>Fire</HI> is a Sub&s;tance permeant and exi&s;tent in all mixt bodies on Earth. In your bloud it is the prime part of that called the Spirits, which are nothing but the <HI>igneous</HI> principle in a pure Aereal Vehicle, and is the organ of the <HI>Sen&s;itive</HI> faculties of the Soul. And if the Soul carry any Vehicle with it, it's like to be &s;ome of this. I doubt you take the &s;ame thing to be the <HI>Spi|rit</HI> of the <HI>world,</HI> though you &s;eem to vilifie it. And, pag. 74. I &s;uppo&s;e you will &s;ay, the Spi|rit of the world does this. But call it by what name you will, it is a pure active Sub&s;tance, who&s;e form is the <HI>Virtus motiva, illuminativa &amp; calefactiva,</HI> I think the &s;ame which when it operateth on due &s;eminal Matter is <HI>Vegetative.</HI> And la&s;tly, pag. 86. I &s;till profe&s;s my &s;elf in this al&s;o uncertain, whether <HI>Natura Vegetativa</HI>
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and <HI>Ignea</HI> be all one, or whether <HI>Ignis</HI> be <HI>Na|tura Organica</HI> by which the three <HI>Superiour</HI> (he means the <HI>Vegetative, Sen&s;itive,</HI> and <HI>Intelle|ctive</HI> Natures) operate on the <HI>Pa&s;&s;ive.</HI> But I incline mo&s;t to think they are all one, when I &s;ee what a glorious <HI>Fire</HI> the <HI>Sun</HI> is, and what operation it hath on Earth, and how unlike|ly it is that &s;o glorious a Sub&s;tance &s;hould not have as noble a formal nature as a Plant.</P>
<P>This is more than enough to prove that Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> in the mo&s;t proper &s;en&s;e is inclined to <HI>P&s;ychopyri&s;m</HI> as to the <HI>Spirit of the world,</HI> or <HI>Ve|getative &s;oul</HI> of the <HI>&V;niver&s;e;</HI> that that <HI>Soul</HI> or <HI>Spirit</HI> is <HI>Fire:</HI> And that all <HI>created</HI> Spirits are <HI>Fire, analogic&egrave;</HI> and <HI>eminenter,</HI> I have noted a|bove that he does freely confe&s;s.</P>
<P>But certainly if it had not been for his igno|rance in the Atomick Philo&s;ophie which he &s;o greatly de&s;pi&s;eth, he would never have taken the <HI>Fire</HI> it &s;elf, a <HI>Congeries</HI> of agitated particles of &s;uch figures and dimen&s;ions, for the <HI>Spirit</HI> of the <HI>world.</HI> But without further doubt have concluded it onely the in&s;trument of that Spi|rit in its operations, as al&s;o of all other created Spirits, accordingly as the Doctor has declared a long time &s;ince in his <HI>Immortalitas Animae,</HI> Lib. 2. Cap. 8. Sect. 6. And finding that there is one &s;uch univer&s;al <HI>Vegetative</HI> Spirit (properly &s;o called) or <GAP DESC="foreign"> of the world, he could not mi&s;s of concluding the <HI>whole &V;niver&s;e</HI> one
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great <HI>Plant,</HI> or if &s;ome ob&s;cure degree of &s;en&s;e be given to it, one large <HI>Zoophyton</HI> or <HI>Plant-ani|mal,</HI> whence the Sun will be endued or actua|ted as much by a <HI>Vegetative</HI> Nature as any particular Plant what&s;oever; whereby Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> might have took away his own diffi|cultie he was entangled in. But the truth is, Mr. <HI>Baxters</HI> defectivene&s;s in the right under|&s;tanding of the <HI>Atomick Philo&s;ophy,</HI> and his A|ver&s;ne&s;s therefrom, as al&s;o from the <HI>true Sy&s;tem of the world,</HI> which nece&s;&s;arily includes the <HI>motion of the Earth,</HI> we will ca&s;t in al&s;o his ab|horrence from the <HI>Pre-exi&s;tence of Souls</HI> (which three Theories are hugely nece&s;&s;ary to him that would Philo&s;ophize with any &s;ucce&s;s in the deepe&s;t points of natural Religion and Di|vine Providence) makes him utter many things that will by no means bear the Te&s;t of &s;everer Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>But in the mean time this De&s;ectivene&s;s in &s;ound Philo&s;ophie neither hinders him nor any one el&s;e from being able In&s;truments in the Go&s;pel-Mini&s;trie, if they have <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> in a due mea&s;ure; If they have a firm <HI>Faith</HI> in the revealed Truths of the Go&s;pel, and skill in <HI>Hi|&s;tory, Tongues</HI> and <HI>Critici&s;m,</HI> to explain the Text to the people, and there be added a &s;incere Zeal to in&s;truct their Charge, and (that they may appear in good earne&s;t to believe what they teach) they lead a life devoid of &s;candal and offence, as regulated by tho&s;e Go&s;pel-Rules
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they propo&s;e to others; <HI>this,</HI> though they have little of the <GAP DESC="foreign"> properly &s;o called, that rea|ches to the deepe&s;t account of things, (but in|&s;tead thereof, <HI>Prudence</HI> and <HI>Ingenuity)</HI> will &s;ufficiently enable them to be Guides to the people, e&s;pecially by adhering in Matters of moment to the Ancient Apo&s;tolick and unapo|&s;tatized Church, and pre&s;uming nothing upon their private &s;pirit again&s;t the &s;ame. Such, que&s;tionle&s;s, will prove able and &s;afe Pa&s;tors, and will not fail of being approved of by our Lord Je&s;us the great Shepherd and Bi&s;hop of our Souls.</P>
<P>But if any &s;uch, as I noted above, for that they conceit them&s;elves al&s;o dapper fellows at Cudgils or Quarter-&s;taff, &s;hall, leaving their Flocks &s;olitary in the fields, out of an itch af|ter applau&s;e from the Country-Fry, gad to Wakes and Fairs to give a proof of their dex|terity at tho&s;e Rural exerci&s;es; if they &s;hall, I &s;ay, for their pains return with a brui&s;ed knuc|kle or broken pate, who can help it? it will learn them more wit another time. Thus much by way of <HI>Digre&s;&s;ion</HI> I thought fit to &s;peak, not out of the lea&s;t ill-will to Mr. <HI>Bax|ter,</HI> but onely in behalf of the Doctor, ho|ping, though it is far from all that may be &s;aid, that yet it is &s;o much, and &s;o much al&s;o to the purpo&s;e, that it will &s;ave the Doctor the la|bour of adding any thing more thereto. So that he may either enjoy his Repo&s;e, or betake
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him&s;elf to &s;ome de&s;ign of more u&s;e and mo|ment.</P>
<P>In the mean time, I having di&s;patcht my <HI>Digre&s;&s;ion,</HI> I &s;hall return to the main bu&s;ine&s;s in hand. I think it may plainly appear from what has been &s;aid, that it is no &s;uch har&s;h thing to adventure to conclude, That the Truth of the Divine Intellect <HI>quatenus conce|ptive, &s;peculative,</HI> or <HI>ob&s;ervative,</HI> which a <HI>Pla|tonist</HI> would be apt to call <GAP DESC="foreign">, as the Di|vine Intellect <HI>exhibitive</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, (for though it be but one and the &s;ame Intellect, yet for di&s;tinctne&s;s &s;ake we are fain to &s;peak as of two) does con&s;i&s;t in its Conformity with the Divine Intellect <HI>exhibitive,</HI> with the immutable Idea's, Re&s;pects and References of things there. In conceiving and ob&s;erving them (as I may &s;o &s;peak) to be &s;uch as they are repre&s;ented in the &s;aid Intellect <HI>quatenus</HI> nece&s;&s;arily and unaltera|bly repre&s;enting &s;uch Idea's with the immedi|ate Re&s;pects and References of them. In this con&s;i&s;ts the <HI>Truth</HI> of the Divine Intellect <HI>Spe|culative.</HI> But the Tran&s;cendental Truth of things con&s;i&s;ts in their Conformity to the Divine Intellect <HI>Exhibitive.</HI> For every thing is true as it an&s;wers to the immutable Idea of its own nature di&s;covered in the Divine Intel|lect <HI>Exhibitive.</HI> To which al&s;o the &s;ame Di|vine Intellect <HI>quatenus Conceptive, Speculative,</HI> or <HI>Ob&s;ervative,</HI> gives its &s;uffrage &s;teadily and unalterably, conceiving the&s;e immutable Idea's
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of things in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence</HI> what their natures will be, with their nece&s;&s;ary refe|rences, aptitudes or ineptitudes to other things when they are produced into act.</P>
<P>From whence we may di&s;cern, how that &s;aying of this ingenious Author of the <HI>Di&s;|cour&s;e of Truth</HI> is to be under&s;tood. Where he writes, <HI>It is again&s;t the nature of all &V;nder|&s;tanding to make its Object.</HI> Which if we will candidly interpret, mu&s;t be under&s;tood of all under&s;tanding <HI>quatenus</HI> merely <HI>conceptive, &s;pe|culative</HI> or <HI>ob&s;ervative,</HI> and of framing of its Object at its plea&s;ure. Which as it is not done in the &s;etled Idea of a Sphere, Cylinder and Pyramid, no more is it in any other Idea's with their properties and aptitudes immediately i&s;|&s;uing from them, but all the Idea's with their inevitable properties, aptitudes, or ineptitudes are nece&s;&s;arily repre&s;ented in the Divine Intel|lect <HI>Exhibitive,</HI> immutably &s;uch as they are, a Triangle with its three Angles equal to two right ones, a right-angled Triangle with the power of its <HI>Hypotenu&s;a</HI> equal to the powers of the <HI>Ba&s;is</HI> and <HI>Cathetus</HI> both put together: Which things &s;eem nece&s;&s;ary to every &s;ober man and rightly in his wits, our under&s;tan|ding being an <HI>Ab&s;tract</HI> or <HI>Copy</HI> of the Divine Under&s;tanding. But tho&s;e that &s;ay that if God would, he might have made the three An|gles of a Triangle unequal to two right ones, and al&s;o the powers of the <HI>Ba&s;is</HI> and <HI>Cathetus</HI>
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of a right-angled Triangle unequal to the pow|er of the <HI>Hypotenu&s;a,</HI> are either Buffoons and Quibblers, or their Under&s;tandings being but creatural huffine&s;s of mind and an ambition of approving them&s;elves the Broachers and main|tainers of &s;trange Paradoxes, has crazed their Intellectuals, and they have already entred the &s;uburbs of down-right Phren&s;ie and Mad|ne&s;s.</P>
<P>And to conclude; Out of what has been in|&s;inuated, we may reconcile this har&s;h &s;ounding Paradox of our Author, that &s;eems &s;o point-blank again&s;t the current doctrine of the Me|taphy&s;ical Schools, who make Tran&s;cendental Truth to depend upon the Intellectual Truth of God, which they rightly deem the Foun|tain and Origine of all Truth, whenas he plain|ly declares, <HI>That the Divine &V;nder&s;tanding can|not be the Fountain of the Truth of things:</HI> But the &s;eeming ab&s;urdity will be ea&s;ily wiped a|way, if we take notice of our di&s;tinction touch|ing the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>quatenus</HI> merely <HI>conceptive, &s;peculative</HI> or <HI>ob&s;ervative,</HI> and <HI>qua|tenus</HI> nece&s;&s;arily (through its own infinite and immutable pregnancie and foecundity) <HI>Exhibi|tive</HI> of the di&s;tinct and determinate Idea's or natures of things, with their immediate Pro|perties, Re&s;pects or Habitudes in their <HI>Ob|jective Exi&s;tence,</HI> repre&s;enting them &s;uch as they certainly will be if reduced into act. His a&s;&s;ertion is not to be under&s;tood of the Divine
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Under&s;tanding in this latter &s;en&s;e, but in the former. But being it is one and the &s;ame Un|der&s;tanding, though con&s;idered under this two|fold Notion, our Author, as well as the ordina|rie Metaphy&s;icians, will agree to this truth in the &s;en&s;e explained; That the Divine Under|&s;tanding is the Fountain of the truth of things, and that they are truly what they are, as they an&s;wer to their Idea's repre&s;ented in the <HI>Exhi|bitive</HI> Intellect of God. How the Author him&s;elf comes off in this point, you will better under&s;tand when you have read the fifteenth, &s;ixteenth and &s;eventeenth Sections of his Di&s;|cour&s;e. Let this &s;uffice in the mean time for the removing all &s;tumbling-blocks from before the Reader.</P>
<P>Pag. 168. <HI>Nor the foundation of the referen|ces one to another;</HI> that is to &s;ay, The Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>quatenus Conceptive</HI> or <HI>Specu|lative,</HI> is mo&s;t certainly not the Foundation of the references of things one to another; but the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>quatenus Exhibitive,</HI> that repre&s;ents the Idea's or natures of things in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence</HI> &s;uch as they would be if reduced really into act, repre&s;ents there|with all the references and habitudes they have one to another. Which habitudes are repre&s;ented not as flowing from or arbitrari|ou&s;ly founded in any Intellect what&s;oever, but as re&s;ulting from the natures of the things them|&s;elves that re&s;pect one another, and are repre|&s;ented
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in the <HI>Exhibitive</HI> Under&s;tanding of God. Which is the main thing that this inge|nious Author would be at, and &s;uch as will &s;erve all his intents and purpo&s;es.</P>
<P>Pag. 168. <HI>It is the nature of &V;nder&s;tanding ut moveatur, illuminetur,</HI> &amp;c. namely, of Un|der&s;tanding <HI>quatenus Conceptive</HI> or <HI>Speculative,</HI> not <HI>quatenus Exhibitive.</HI></P>
<P>Pag. 169. <HI>No Idea's or Repre&s;entations either are or make the things they repre&s;ent,</HI> &amp;c. This A&s;&s;ertion is mo&s;t certainly true. But yet they may be &s;uch Idea's and Repre&s;entations as may be the mea&s;ure of the Truth of tho&s;e things they repre&s;ent: And &s;uch are all the Idea's in the Divine Intellect <HI>Exhibitive,</HI> their &s;etled di|&s;tinct natures nece&s;&s;arily exhibited there in ver|tue of the ab&s;olute perfection of the Deitie, though onely in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> are the mea&s;ures of the Truth of tho&s;e things when they are reduced into act, as I have no|ted above; but they are not the things them|&s;elves reduced into act, no more than an Au|tographon is the very Copy.</P>
<P>Ibid. <HI>All &V;nder&s;tanding is &s;uch;</HI> that is, Idea's and Repre&s;entations of the natures of things in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> the Patterns of what and how they are when they Exi&s;t, and what references and aptitudes they have. I &s;uppo&s;e he means here by Under&s;tanding, not any power of the mind to conceive any thing, but Under&s;tanding properly &s;o called,
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<HI>viz.</HI> that, who&s;e Objects are <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, as the <HI>Platoni&s;ts</HI> &s;peak, the Idea's or Repre&s;entations of &s;uch things as are nece&s;|&s;arily and unalterably &s;uch, not fictions at plea&s;ure. Let the Intellect <HI>Speculative</HI> be &s;uch Idea's or Repre&s;entations as the&s;e, and then what it perceives, conceives, or ob&s;erves, it does not make, but it is made to its hand, as not being able to be otherwi&s;e, nor it &s;elf to think otherwi&s;e. And therefore it is rightly inferred as follows: That no Speculative Un|der&s;tanding in that re&s;trict &s;en&s;e above-named makes at plea&s;ure the natures, re&s;pects and re|lations of its Objects repre&s;ented in the Intel|lect <HI>Exhibitive</HI> in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> but finds them there. Nor does any Intellect what&s;oever make them at plea&s;ure, but they are nece&s;&s;arily and unalterably repre&s;ented in the <HI>Exhibitive</HI> Intellect of the Deitie, both their natures, re&s;pects, and habitudes, as I no|ted above.</P>
<P>Sect. 5. pag. 169. <HI>It remains then that ab&s;o|lute, arbitrarious and independent Will mu&s;t be the Fountain of all Truth,</HI> &amp;c. It being &s;uppo|&s;ed that the Divine Under&s;tanding and the in|dependent Will of God are the onely competi|tours who &s;hould be the Fountain of all Truth, and the former Section proving in a &s;en&s;e rightly under&s;tood, that the Divine Under|&s;tanding cannot be the Fountain of Truth, it remains that the mere Will of God &s;hould be
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the Fountain of Truth, and that things are true onely becau&s;e he wills they be &s;o. As if four bore a double proportion to two becau&s;e God would have it &s;o; but if he would that Two &s;hould bear a double proportion to Four, it would immediately be &s;o.</P>
<P>Ibid. <HI>Which A&s;&s;ertion would in the fir&s;t place de&s;troy the nature of God,</HI> &amp;c. Nay, if he will, it de&s;troys his very <HI>Exi&s;tence.</HI> For if all Truths depend upon Gods Will, then this Truth, <HI>That God Exi&s;ts,</HI> does. And if he will the contrary to be true, namely, That he does not Exi&s;t, what becomes of him then?</P>
<P>Ibid. <HI>And rob him of all his Attributes.</HI> That it robs him of Science and a&s;&s;ured Knowledge, who&s;e Objects are <GAP DESC="foreign">, Things immutable and nece&s;|&s;ary, this Section makes good. And that it de&s;poils him of his Rectitude of Nature, the Eighth Section will &s;hew.</P>
<P>Pag. 170. <HI>Any Angel or man may as truly be &s;aid to know all things as God him&s;elf,</HI> &amp;c. Be|cau&s;e this &s;uppo&s;ition takes away all the &s;tea|die and &s;cientifick Knowablene&s;s in things, it taking away their &s;etled, fixt and nece&s;&s;ary ha|bitudes one to another, as if <HI>double</HI> proporti|on of Four to Two did no more belong to it in Truth and Reality than <HI>Sub-double,</HI> and that Four in Truth were no more the Qua|ternarie number than the Binary, but in|differently either, as the Will of God will
<PB N="253" REF="254">
have it. This plainly pulls up by the roots all pretence of Science or Knowledge in God, Angels, and Men. And much more, flatly to a&s;&s;ert, That if God will, contradictions may be true. For this plainly implies that there is really no Repugnancy nor Connection of one thing with another, and that therefore no one thing can be proved or di&s;proved from a|nother.</P>
<P>Pag. 171. <HI>If we di&s;tingui&s;h tho&s;e two Attri|butes in God,</HI> &amp;c. namely, of <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Know|ledge,</HI> as if the one were <HI>Noematical,</HI> the other <HI>Dianoetical;</HI> although that di&s;cur&s;ivene&s;s is more quick than lightning, or rather an eter|nal intuitive di&s;cernment of the con&s;equence or cohe&s;ion of things at once.</P>
<P>Sect. 6. pag. 172. <HI>Becau&s;e they &s;uppo&s;e that God is mutable and changeable,</HI> &amp;c. This can be no allegation again&s;t the other Arguings, becau&s;e we cannot be a&s;&s;ured of the Immuta|bility or Unchangeablene&s;s of God, but by admitting of what tho&s;e arguings drive at, namely, That there is an immutable, nece&s;&s;a|ry and unchangeable reference and re&s;pect or connection of things one with another. As for example, of Immutablene&s;s or&punc; Unchange|ablene&s;s with Perfection, and of Perfection with God. For to fancie God an imperfect Being is non&s;en&s;e to all men that are not delirant; and to fancie him Perfect, and yet Changeable in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as is here under&s;tood, is as arrant
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a Contradiction or Repugnancie. Wherefore they that would oppo&s;e the fore-going Algu|ings by &s;uppo&s;ing God Unchangeable, mu&s;t ac|knowledge what is aimed at, That there is a ne|ce&s;&s;ary and unchangeable re&s;pect and connection betwixt things, or el&s;e their oppo&s;ition is plain|ly weak and vain. But if they grant this, they grant the Cau&s;e, and &s;o Truth has its ju&s;t vi|ctory and triumph. This Section is abun|dantly clear of it &s;elf.</P>
<P>Sect. 8. pag. 174. <HI>Will &s;poil God of that u|niver&s;al Rectitude which is the greate&s;t perfection of his nature,</HI> &amp;c. In the fifth Section it was &s;aid, That the making the Will of God the Fountain of all Truth robs him of all his At|tributes. And there it is proved how it robs him of his <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Knowledge.</HI> Here it is &s;hewn how it robs him of his <HI>Ju&s;tice, Mercy, Faithfulne&s;s, Goodne&s;s,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Pag. 175. <HI>For to &s;ay they are indi&s;pen&s;ably &s;o becau&s;e God under&s;tands them &s;o,</HI> &amp;c. This, as the Author &s;aies, mu&s;t be extream Incogitan|cy. For the Truth of the Divine Under&s;tan|ding <HI>Speculative</HI> con&s;i&s;ts in its Conformitie with the Idea's of things and their Re&s;pects and Habitudes in the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>Exhibitive,</HI> which nece&s;&s;arily, unchangeably and unalterably repre&s;ents the natures of things with their Re&s;pects and Habitudes in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> &s;uch as they nece&s;&s;arily are when they do really exi&s;t. As of a Sphere,
<PB N="255" REF="255">
Pyramid, Cube and Cylinder. And there is the &s;ame rea&s;on of all natures el&s;e with their Re&s;pects and Habitudes, that they are as ne|ce&s;&s;arily exhibited as the Cube and Cylinder, and their Habitudes and Re&s;pects one to ano|ther, as the proportion that a Cylinder bears to a Sphere or Globe of the &s;ame altitude and e|qual diameter. Which <HI>Archimedes</HI> with incompa|rable clearne&s;s and &s;ubtiltie of wit has demon|&s;trated in his Treati&s;e <HI>De Sphaera &amp; Cylindro,</HI> to be <HI>ratio &s;e&s;quealtera,</HI> as al&s;o the Superficies of the Cylinder with its Ba&s;es to bear the &s;ame proportion to the Super&s;icies of the Sphere. And as the&s;e Idea's are nece&s;&s;arily and unalte|rably with their Re&s;pects and <GAP DESC="foreign"> repre&s;ented, &s;o are all Idea's el&s;e, <HI>Phy&s;ical</HI> and <HI>Moral,</HI> as I have noted above. And the nature of Ju&s;tice, Mercy, Faithfulne&s;s and Goodne&s;s are with their habitudes and re&s;pects as &s;ixedly, deter|minately and unalterably repre&s;ented in their Idea's, as the Sphere and Cylinder, or any o|ther Form or Being what&s;oever.</P>
<P>Sect. 9. pag. 178. <HI>For we are to know that there is a God, and the Will of God,</HI> &amp;c. That is to &s;ay, If there be no &s;etled natures and re|&s;pects and habitudes of things in the order of Nature antecedent to any <HI>Will</HI> whatever, Meditation or Contrivance, nor there be any certain nature, re&s;pects, habitudes, and con|nections of things in them&s;elves; it will be ne|ce&s;&s;ary that we fir&s;t know there is a God, and
<PB N="256" REF="256">
what his <HI>Will</HI> is touching the natures, re&s;pects and habitudes of things. Whether the&s;e which we &s;eem to di&s;cern and do argue from are the &s;ame he means and wills, or &s;ome other. And &s;o there will be a nece&s;&s;ity of knowing God and his Will, before we have any means to know him; or, which is all one, we &s;hall never have any means to know him upon this fal&s;e and ab&s;urd Hypothe&s;is.</P>
<P>Sect. 11. pag. 181. <HI>Then it infallibly follows that it is all one what I do or how I live,</HI> &amp;c. This, as the following words intimate, is to be un|der&s;tood in reference to the plea&s;ing God, and to our own future Happine&s;s. But it is mani|fe&s;t it is not all one what I do or how I live (though I did &s;uppo&s;e there were no real di|&s;tinction betwixt Truth and Fal&s;hood, Good and Evil in the &s;en&s;e here intended) in refe|rence to this pre&s;ent condition in this World, where the &s;en&s;e of pain and ea&s;e, of impri&s;on|ment and liberty, and of the &s;ecurity or &s;a&s;ety of a mans own per&s;on will oblige him to order his life in &s;uch a manner as hath at lea&s;t the imi|tation of Temperance, Faithfulne&s;s, and Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P>Sect. 12. pag. 183. <HI>If the oppo&s;ition of Con|tradictory Terms depend upon the arbitrarious re&s;olves of any Being what&s;oever.</HI> The plain|ne&s;s and irrefragablene&s;s of this Truth, that the oppo&s;ition of contradictory Terms is an af|fection, habitude or <GAP DESC="foreign"> betwixt tho&s;e terms that no power in Heaven or Earth can aboli&s;h,
<PB N="257" REF="256">
methinks &s;hould a&s;&s;ure any that are not pure Sots or crazie Fanta&s;ticks, that there may be many other &s;uch unalterable and immutable habitudes of Terms, Natures or Things that are every jot as unaboli&s;hable as this. Which is no derogation to the Divine Perfection, but an Argument of it; unle&s;s we &s;hould conceit that it is the height of the Perfection of Divine Omnipotence to be able to de&s;troy him&s;elf. And truly to fancie an ability in him of de&s;troy|ing or aboli&s;hing tho&s;e eternal, nece&s;&s;ary and immutable habitudes or re&s;pects of the na|tures of things repre&s;ented in their Idea's by the Divine Intellect <HI>Exhibitive,</HI> is little le&s;s than the admitting in God an ability of de|&s;troying or aboli&s;hing the Divine Nature it &s;elf, becau&s;e <HI>ip&s;o facto</HI> the Divine Wi&s;dom and Knowledge would be de&s;troyed, as was &s;hewn in the fifth Section, and what a God would that be that is de&s;titute thereof!</P>
<P>Wherefore it is no wonder that tho&s;e men that are &s;ober and in their wits, find it &s;o impo&s;|&s;ible in them&s;elves but to conceive that &s;uch and &s;uch natures are &s;teadily &s;uch and no o|ther, and betwixt &s;uch and &s;uch natures there are &s;teadily and immutably &s;uch habitudes and re&s;pects and no others. Fora&s;much as the Intellect of man is as it were a &s;mall compen|dious Tran&s;cript of the Divine Intellect, and we feel in a manner in our own Intellects the firmne&s;s and immutability of the Divine, and
<PB N="258" REF="257">
of the eternal and immutable Truths exhibi|ted there. So that tho&s;e that have their minds &s;o crackt and &s;hatter'd as to be able to fancy that if God would, he could change the <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <HI>common notions</HI> into their Contradictories, as <HI>The whole is le&s;s than its Part,</HI> &amp;c. mu&s;t have very crazy Intellectuals, and have taken their lodging at lea&s;t in the &s;uburbs of downright dotage or Phren&s;ie, as I noted above.</P>
<P>Pag. 184. <HI>If any one &s;hould affirm that the Terms of common notions have an eternal and in|di&s;pen&s;able relation to one another,</HI> &amp;c. That this priviledge is not confined to the common notions they are abundantly convinced of, that have be&s;towed any competent &s;tudy upon Ma|thematicks, where the connection of every link of the demon&s;tration is di&s;cerned to be as firmly and indiflolubly knit, as the Terms of a common notion are the one with the other. And it is our Impatience, Carele&s;ne&s;s or Preju|dices that we have not more conclu&s;ions of &s;uch certitude than we have in other &s;tudies al&s;o.</P>
<P>Sect. 13. pag. 184. <HI>For if there be Truth antecedently to the Divine &V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> &amp;c. This Objection of the Adver&s;aries is framed &s;omething perver&s;ly and invidiou&s;ly, as if the other party held, That there were Truth ante|cedently to the Divine Under&s;tanding, and as if from thence the Divine Under&s;tanding would be a mere pa&s;&s;ive Principle actuated by &s;omething without, as the Eye by the
<PB N="259" REF="257">
Sun. But it is a plain ca&s;e, out of what has been declared, that the Divine Under&s;tan|ding (though there be &s;uch eternal Natures and unchangeable re&s;pects and habitudes of them repre&s;ented in the Idea's that are in the <HI>Exhi|bitive</HI> Intellect of the Deity) that it is, I &s;ay, be|fore any external Object whatever, and yet al|ways had exhibited to it &s;elf the eternal and unalterable natures and re&s;pects of things in their Idea's. And it was noted moreover, that the Truth of the external Objects, when brought into act, is mea&s;ured by their Conformity to the&s;e Idea's.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, the Divine Under&s;tanding being be|fore all things, how could there be any Truth before it, there being neither Under&s;tanding nor Things in which this Truth might re&s;ide? Or the Divine Under&s;tanding be a mere pa&s;&s;ive Principle actuated by &s;omething without, as the eye by the Sun, whenas que&s;tionle&s;s the Divine Intellect <HI>quatenus Exhibitive</HI> is the mo&s;t active Principle conceivable; nay, indeed <HI>Actus puri&s;&s;imus,</HI> the mo&s;t pure Act, as <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> has defined God? It is an eternal, ne|ce&s;&s;ary, and immutable Energy, who&s;e very E&s;&s;ence is a true and fixt Ideal Repre&s;entation of the natures of all things, with their re&s;pects and habitudes re&s;ulting eternally from the Di|vine foecundity at once. How then can this, which is &s;o pure and pregnant an Energy, be a mere pa&s;&s;ive Principle, or be actuated by any
<PB N="260" REF="258">
external Object, when it was before any thing was? But a further An&s;wer is to be found of the Authour him&s;elf in the Fifteenth Secti|on.</P>
<P>Pag. 185. <HI>Which is to take away his inde|pendency and &s;elf &s;ufficiency.</HI> Namely, If there be mutual and unalterable <HI>Congruities</HI> and <HI>In|congruities</HI> of things, as if they would deter|mine God in his actions by &s;omething without him&s;elf. Which is a mere mi&s;take. For the pregnant fulne&s;s of the Divine E&s;&s;ence and per|fection eternally and nece&s;&s;arily exerting it&s;elf into an Ideal di&s;play of all the natures, proper|ties, re&s;pects and habitudes of things, whe|ther Congruities or Incogruities, and the&s;e fixt, immutable, nece&s;&s;ary and unchangeable in their Ideal or <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence;</HI> And in time producing things according to the&s;e Pa|radigms or Patterns into actual Exi&s;tence by his Omnipotence, and ever &s;u&s;taining, &s;uppor|ting and governing them by his unfailing Power and &s;teady and unchangeable Wi&s;dom and Coun&s;el; I &s;ay, when all things are thus from God, &s;u&s;tained by God, and regulated ac|cording to the natures he has given them, which an&s;wer the Patterns and Paradigms in him, how can any &s;uch determination of his Will any way cla&s;h with his Self-&s;ufficiency or Independency, whenas we &s;ee thus, that all things are from God and depend of him, and his actions guided by the immutable Idea's in
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his own nature, according to which all exter|nal things are what they are, and their Truth mea&s;ured by their Conformity with them. But there is a fuller an&s;wer of the Author's, to this Objection, in the &s;ixteenth and &s;eventeenth Sections.</P>
<P>Sect. 14. pag. 187. <HI>And to fetter and impri|&s;on Freedom and Liberty it &s;elf in the fatal and immutable chains and re&s;pects of things,</HI> &amp;c. This is a mi&s;conceit that &s;avours &s;omething of a more refined <HI>Anthropomorphiti&s;m,</HI> that is to &s;ay, Though they do not make the E&s;&s;ence of God finite and of an Humane figure or &s;hape, yet they imagine him to have two different Principles in him, an extravagant and unde|termined lu&s;t or appetite, as it is in man, and an Intellectual or rational Principle, who&s;e Laws are to correct the luxuriancies and im|petuo&s;ities of the other, and to bridle and re|gulate them. But this is a gro&s;s mi&s;take; For there is no &s;uch blind and impetuous will in God upon which any Intellectual Laws were to lay a re&s;traint, but his whole nature being <HI>pure</HI> and <HI>Intellectual,</HI> and he acting ac|cording to his own nature, which contains tho&s;e Idea's and immutable re&s;pects, Congru|ities and Incongruities of things there eternal|ly and unalterably repre&s;ented, he acts with all freedom imaginable, nor has any chains of re&s;traint laid upon him, but is at perfect liber|ty to do as his own nature requires and &s;ug|ge&s;ts.
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Which is the mo&s;t ab&s;olute liberty that has any &s;ound or &s;hew of Perfection with it, that can be conceived in any Be|ing.</P>
<P>Sect. 15. pag. 189. <HI>And does as it were draw them up into its own beams.</HI> This is &s;omething a &s;ublime and elevate expre&s;&s;ion. But I &s;uppo&s;e the meaning thereof is, That the natures and re|&s;pects of the things of this lower Creation, the Divine Under&s;tanding applies to the bright &s;hining Idea's found in his own exalted nature, and ob&s;erves their Conformity therewith, and acknowledges them true and right as they an|&s;wer to their eternal Patterns.</P>
<P>Sect. 16. pag. 189. <HI>To tie up God in his acti|ons to the rea&s;on of things, de&s;troys his Liberty, Ab&s;olutene&s;s, and Independency.</HI> This is &s;aid, but it is a very vain and weak allegation, as may appear out of what has been &s;ugge&s;ted above. For rea&s;ons of things and their habitudes and references repre&s;ented in the eternal Idea's in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence,</HI> which is the Pattern of their natures when they exi&s;t actually, is the very life and nature of the Divine Under|&s;tanding; And as I noted above, the mo&s;t true and perfective libertie that can be conceived in any Being is, that without any check or tug, or lubricity and un&s;teadine&s;s, it act according to its own life and nature. And what greater Ab&s;olutene&s;s than this? For that which acts according to its own nature, acts al&s;o according
<PB N="263" REF="259">
to its own will or appetite. And what grea|ter Independencie than to have a power upon which there is no re&s;traint, nor any modification of the exerci&s;e thereof, but what is taken from that which has this power? For the eternal and immutable rea&s;ons of things are originally and Paradigmatically in the Divine Under|&s;tanding, of which tho&s;e in the Creatures are but the Types and tran&s;itorie Shadows. The Author in this Section has &s;poke &s;o well to this pre&s;ent Point, that it is needle&s;s to &s;uper|add any thing more.</P>
<P><HI>Sect. 17. pag.</HI> 191. In this &s;eventeenth Se|ction the Author more fully an&s;wers that Ob|jection, As if Gods acting according to the rea&s;ons of things inferred a dependency of him upon &s;omething without him&s;elf; Which he does with that clearne&s;s and &s;atisfaction, that it is enough to commend it to the peru&s;al of the Reader.</P>
<P>Sect. 18. pag. 193. <HI>Truth in the power or faculty is nothing el&s;e but a Conformity of its con|ceptions or Idea's unto the natures and relations of things which in God we may call,</HI> &amp;c. The De&s;cription which follows is (though the Au|thor nowhere takes notice of that di&s;tinction) a De&s;cription of the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>quate|nus Exhibitive,</HI> not <HI>Conceptive</HI> or <HI>Speculative.</HI> The Truth of which latter does indeed con|&s;i&s;t in the Conformity of its Conception unto the natures and relations of things, but not
<PB N="264" REF="260">
of things <HI>ad extra,</HI> but unto the natures, ha|bitudes and re&s;pects of things as they are ne|ce&s;&s;arily, eternally and immutably repre&s;ented in the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>Exhibitive,</HI> which is the Intellectual World, which the Author here de&s;cribes, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> the va&s;t Champion or boundle&s;s field of Truth. So that in tho&s;e words [unto the natures and re|lations of things which in God we call an actu|al, &s;teady, immoveable, eternal omniformity, <HI>&amp;c.] Which</HI> is to be referred to [the Natures and Relations of things] as is evident to any that well con&s;iders the place. And with this &s;en&s;e that which follows the de&s;cription is very coherent.</P>
<P>Pag. 194. <HI>Now all that Truth that is in any created Being, is by participation and derivation from this fir&s;t &V;nder&s;tanding</HI> (that is, from the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>quatenus Exhibitive) and Fountain of Intellectual Light.</HI> That is, ac|cording to the <HI>Platonick</HI> Dialect, of tho&s;e &s;teady, unalterable and eternal Idea's (<GAP DESC="foreign">) of the natures and re&s;pects of things repre&s;ented there in the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>Exhibitive</HI> in their <HI>Objective Exi&s;tence;</HI> In conformity to which the Truth in all created things and Un|der&s;tandings doth nece&s;&s;arily con&s;i&s;t.</P>
<P>Pag. 195. <HI>Antecedently to any &V;nder&s;tanding or Will,</HI> &amp;c. That is, Antecedently to any Un|der&s;tanding <HI>Conceptive, Ob&s;ervative</HI> or <HI>Specu|lative</HI> what&s;oever, or to any <HI>Will;</HI> but not an|tecedently
<PB N="265" REF="260">
to the Divine Under&s;tanding <HI>Ex|hibitive.</HI> For that is antecedent to all created things, and contains the &s;teady, fixt, eternal, and unalterable natures and re&s;pects or habi|tudes, before they had or could have any Be|ing. I &s;ay it contains the Truth and mea&s;ure of them; nor can they be &s;aid to be truly what they are, any further than they are found con|formable to the&s;e eternal, immutable Idea's, Patterns and Paradigms, which nece&s;&s;arily and eternally are exerted, and immutably in the Di|vine Under&s;tanding <HI>Exhibitive.</HI> And of the&s;e Paradigmatical things there, what follows is mo&s;t truly affirmed.</P>
<P>Pag. 195. <HI>For things are what they are, and cannot be otherwi&s;e without a Contradiction,</HI> &amp;c. This was true before any external or created things did exi&s;t. True of every <HI>Form</HI> in that eternal <HI>Omniformity,</HI> which the <HI>Platoni&s;ts</HI> call the Intellectual World, as the Author has ob|&s;erved above in this Section. A Circle is a Circle, and a Triangle a Triangle there, nor can be otherwi&s;e without a Contradiction. And &s;o of a Globe, Cylinder, Hor&s;e, Eagle, Whale, Fire, Water, Earth, their Ideal fixt and determinate natures, habitudes, aptitudes, and re&s;pects nece&s;&s;arily and immutably there ex|hibited, are &s;uch as they are, nor can be other|wi&s;e without a contradiction. And becau&s;e it is thus in the Divine Nature or E&s;&s;ence, which is the root and fountain of the exteriour Crea|tion,
<PB N="266" REF="261">
the &s;ame is true in the created Beings them&s;elves. Things are there al&s;o what they are, nor can they be a Globe &s;uppo&s;e, or a Cy|linder, and yet not be a Globe or a Cylinder at once, or be both a Globe and Cylinder at once; and &s;o of the re&s;t. As this is a contra|diction in the Intellectual World, &s;o is it in the Exteriour or Material World, and &s;o, becau&s;e it is &s;o in the Intellectual. For the &s;teadine&s;s and immutablene&s;s of the nature of all things, and of their re&s;pects and habitudes, ari&s;e from the nece&s;&s;ity, immutability, and unchange|ablene&s;s of the Divine E&s;&s;ence and Life, which is that &s;erene, unclouded, undi&s;turbed, and un|alterable Eternity, where all things with their re&s;pects and aptitudes, their order and &s;eries, are nece&s;&s;arily, &s;teadily and immutably exhibited at once.</P>
<P>P. 195. <HI>As they conform &amp; agree with the things them&s;elves,</HI> &amp;c. The more <HI>Platonical</HI> &s;en&s;e, and more conformable to that we have given of other pa&s;&s;ages of this learned and ingenious Au|thor is, if we under&s;tand the things them&s;elves, at lea&s;t primarily, to be the <GAP DESC="foreign"> of <HI>Plato,</HI> which is the term which he be&s;tows upon his Idea's, which are the Patterns or Paradigms ac|cording to which every thing is made, and is truly &s;uch &s;o far forth as it is found to agree with the Patterns or Originals in which all Archetypal Truth is immutably lodged. All created things are but the <HI>Copies</HI> of the&s;e, the&s;e
<PB N="267" REF="261">
the Original, the <GAP DESC="foreign"> or Writing it &s;elf, from whence <HI>Plato</HI> calls them <GAP DESC="foreign">, as if tho&s;e Archetypal Forms were the forms or things them&s;elves, but the numerous created Beings here below, only the <HI>Copies</HI> or Imita|tions of them. Wherefore no Conception or Idea's that we frame, or any Intellect el&s;e as <HI>Con|ceptive</HI> merely and <HI>Speculative,</HI> can be true, but &s;o far as they agree with the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, in that &s;en&s;e we have declared, or with cre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ted things &s;o far as they are an&s;werable to the <GAP DESC="foreign"> or Archetypal things them&s;elves. And from hence is &s;ufficiently under&s;tood the na|ture of <HI>Truth</HI> in the <HI>Subject.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e few cur&s;ory Notes I thought worth the while to make upon the&s;e two learned and ingenious Writers, the Subjects they have writ|ten on being of no mean importance and u&s;e, and the things written in &s;uch a time of their age, as if men be born under an au&s;picious Planet, be&s;t fits their minds for the reli&s;hing and ruminating upon &s;uch noble Theories. For I dare &s;ay, when they wrote the&s;e Di&s;|cour&s;es or Treati&s;es, they had neither of them reached &s;o much as half the age of man as it is ordinarily computed. Which has made them write upon the&s;e Subjects with that vigour and briskne&s;s of Spirit that they have.</P>
<P>For the con&s;titution of Youth, in tho&s;e that have not an unhappy Nativity, is far more heavenly and Angelical than that of more
<PB N="268" REF="262">
grown age, in which the Spirit of the World is more u&s;ually awakened, and then begins that Scene which the Poet de&s;cribes in his <HI>De Arte Poetica,</HI></P>
<LG>
<L>Quaerit opes &amp; amicitias, in&s;ervit honori.</L>
</LG>
<P>their mind then begins to be wholly intent to get wealth and riches, to enlarge their Intere&s;t by the friend&s;hip of great Per&s;ons, and to hunt after Dignities and Preferments, Honours and Imployments in Church or State, and to tho&s;e more heavenly and Divine Sentiments through di&s;u&s;e and the pre&s;ence of more &s;trong and fil|ling Impre&s;&s;ions are laid a&s;leep, and their Spi|rits thickened and clouded with the gro&s;s fumes and &s;teams that ari&s;e from the de&s;ire of earthly things; and it may &s;o fall out, if there be not &s;pecial care taken, that this mud they have drawn in by their coar&s;e de&s;ires, may come to that opaque hardne&s;s and incru|&s;tation, that their Terre&s;trial body may prove a real dungeon, &amp; ca&s;t them into an utter oblivi|on of their chiefe&s;t concerns in the other State.
<Q><L>&mdash;Nec auras</L>
<L>Re&s;picient clau&s;i tenebris &amp; carcere caeco.</L></Q>
Which I thought fit to take notice of, as well for the in&s;truction of others, as for a due Ap|pretiation of the&s;e two brief Treati&s;es of the&s;e
<PB N="269" REF="262">
florid Writers, they being as it were the Vir|gin-Honey of the&s;e two <HI>Attick</HI> Bees, the <HI>Pri|mitiae</HI> of their intemerated Youth, where an happy natural complexion, and the fir&s;t Rudi|ments of Chri&s;tian Regeneration may &s;eem to have con&s;pired to the writing of two &s;uch u&s;e|ful Treati&s;es.</P>
<P><HI>&V;&s;eful,</HI> I &s;ay, and not a little <HI>grateful</HI> to men of refined Fancies and gay Intellectuals, of be|nign and Philo&s;ophical tempers, and Lovers of great Truths and Goodne&s;s. Which natural con&s;titution were a tran&s;cendent priviledge in|deed, were there not one great danger in it to tho&s;e that know not how to u&s;e it skilfully. For it does &s;o nearly ape, as I may &s;o &s;peak, the Divine Benignity it &s;elf, and that un&s;elf|intere&s;&s;ed Love that does truly ari&s;e from no other &s;eed than that of real Regeneration (which Self-mortification and a &s;erious endea|vour of aboli&s;hing or utterly demoli&s;hing our own will, and quitting any thing that would captivate us, and hinder our union with God and his Chri&s;t, does nece&s;&s;arily precede) that too ha&s;tily &s;etting up our re&s;t in the&s;e mere complexional attainments, which is not <HI>Spirit</HI> but <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> though it appear marvellous &s;weet and goodly to the owner, if there be not due care taken to advance higher in that Divine and Eternal Principle of real Regeneration, by a con&s;tant mortification of our own will, the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e may be a perpetual hazzard of this <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> grow|ing
<PB N="270" REF="263">
corrupt and fly-blown, and &s;ending up at la&s;t no &s;weet &s;avour into the no&s;trils of the Almighty. <HI>That which is born of the fle&s;h is fle&s;h, and that which is born of the &s;pirit is &s;pirit;</HI> And all fle&s;h is gra&s;s, and the beauty thereof as the flower of the field; but that which is born of the eternal Seed of the living Word, a|bideth for ever and ever.</P>
<P>And therefore there is no &s;afe Anchorage for the Soul, but in a perpetual endeavour of annihilating of her own Will, that we may be one with Chri&s;t, as Chri&s;t is with God. O|therwi&s;e if we follow the &s;weet enticing Coun|&s;els of mere Nature, though it look never &s;o &s;mugly on it, it will &s;educe us into a fal&s;e li|berty, and at la&s;t &s;o corrupt our Judgment, and blind us, that we &s;hall &s;carce be able to di&s;cern him that is that great Light that was &s;ent into the world, but become every man an <HI>Ignis Fatuus</HI> to him&s;elf, or be &s;o &s;illy as to be led about by other <HI>Ignes Fatui,</HI> whenas it is mo&s;t certain that Chri&s;t is the only way, the Truth and the Life, and he that does not clear|ly &s;ee that, when he has opportunity to know it, let his pretence to other knowledge be what it will, it is a demon&s;tration that as to Divine things he is &s;tark blind. But no man can really adhere to Chri&s;t, and unwaveringly, but by union to him through his Spirit; nor ob|tain that Spirit of life, but by re&s;olved Mor|tification of his own will, and a deadne&s;s to all
<PB N="271" REF="263">
worldly vanities, that we may be re&s;tored at la&s;t to our &s;olid happine&s;s which is through Chri&s;t in God, without who&s;e Communion no &s;oul can po&s;&s;ibly be happy.</P>
<P>And therefore I think it not ami&s;s to clo&s;e the&s;e my Theoretical Annotations on the&s;e two Treati&s;es, with that more Practical and Devotional Hymn of <HI>A. B.</HI> that runs much up|on the mortification of our own Wills, and of our Union and Communion with God, tran|&s;lated into Engli&s;h by a Lover of the Life of our Lord Je&s;us.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="hymn">
<PB N="272" REF="264">
<HEAD>THE Devotional HYMN.</HEAD>
<LG N="1">
<HEAD>1.</HEAD>
<L><HI>O</HI> Heavenly Light! my Spirit to Thee draw,</L>
<L>With powerful touch my &s;en&s;es &s;mite,</L>
<L>Thine arrows of Love into me throw.</L>
<L>With flaming dart</L>
<L>Deep wound my heart,</L>
<L>And wounded &s;eize for ever, as thy right.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="2">
<HEAD>2.</HEAD>
<L>O &s;weete&s;t Sweet! de&s;cend into my Soul,</L>
<L>And &s;ink into its low'&s;t aby&s;s,</L>
<L>That all fal&s;e Sweets Thou may&s;t controul,</L>
<L>Or rather kill,</L>
<L>So that Thy will</L>
<L>Alone may be my plea&s;ure and my bli&s;s.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="3">
<HEAD>3.</HEAD>
<L>Do thou my faculties all captivate</L>
<L>&V;nto thy &s;elf with &s;tronge&s;t tye;</L>
<L>My will entirely regulate:</L>
<L>Make me thy Slave,</L>
<L>Nought el&s;e I crave,</L>
<L>For this I know is perfect Liberty,</L>
</LG>
<LG N="4">
<PB N="273" REF="264">
<HEAD>4.</HEAD>
<L>Thou art a Life the &s;weete&s;t of all Lives,</L>
<L>Nought &s;weeter can thy Creature ta&s;te;</L>
<L>'Tis this alone the Soul revives.</L>
<L>Be Thou not here,</L>
<L>All other chear</L>
<L>Will turn to dull &s;atiety at la&s;t.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="5">
<HEAD>5.</HEAD>
<L>O limpid Fountain of all vertuous Leare!</L>
<L>O well-&s;pring of true Joy and Mirth!</L>
<L>The root of all contentments dear!</L>
<L>O endle&s;s Good!</L>
<L>Break like a floud</L>
<L>Into my Soul, and water my dry earth,</L>
</LG>
<LG N="6">
<HEAD>6.</HEAD>
<L>That by this Mighty power I being reft</L>
<L>Of every Thing that is not ONE,</L>
<L>To Thee alone I may be left</L>
<L>By a firm will</L>
<L>Fixt to Thee &s;till,</L>
<L>And inwardly united into one.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="7">
<HEAD>7.</HEAD>
<L>And &s;o let all my E&s;&s;ence, I Thee pray,</L>
<L>Be wholly fill'd with thy dear Son,</L>
<L>That thou thy Splendour may&s;t di&s;play</L>
<L>With bli&s;sful rays</L>
<L>In the&s;e hid ways</L>
<L>WhereinGods nature by frail Man is won.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="8">
<PB N="274" REF="265">
<HEAD>8.</HEAD>
<L>For joyned thus to Thee by thy &s;ole aid</L>
<L>And working (whil&s;t all &s;ilent &s;tands</L>
<L>In mine own Soul, nor ought's a&s;&s;ay'd</L>
<L>From Self-de&s;ire)</L>
<L>I'm made entire</L>
<L>An in&s;trument fit for thy glorious Hands.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="9">
<HEAD>9.</HEAD>
<L>And thus henceforwards &s;hall all workings cea&s;e,</L>
<L>&V;nle&s;s't be tho&s;e Thou do&s;t excite</L>
<L>To perfect that Sabbatick Peace</L>
<L>Which doth ari&s;e</L>
<L>When Self-will dies,</L>
<L>And the new Creature is re&s;tored quite.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="10">
<HEAD>10.</HEAD>
<L>And &s;o &s;hall I with all thy Children dear,</L>
<L>While nought debars Thy workings free,</L>
<L>Be clo&s;ely joyn'd in union near,</L>
<L>Nay with thy Son</L>
<L>Shall I be one,</L>
<L>And with thine own adored Deitie.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="11">
<HEAD>11.</HEAD>
<L>So that at la&s;t I being quite releas'd</L>
<L>From this &s;trait-lac'd Egoity,</L>
<L>My &s;oul will va&s;tly be encreas'd</L>
<L>Into that ALL</L>
<L>Which ONE we call,</L>
<L>And <HI>one</HI> in't &s;elf alone doth all imply.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="12">
<PB N="275" REF="265">
<HEAD>12.</HEAD>
<L>Here's Re&s;t, here's Peace, here's Joy and holy Love,</L>
<L>The Heaven's here of true Content,</L>
<L>For tho&s;e that hither &s;incerely move,</L>
<L>Here's the true Light</L>
<L>Of Wi&s;dom bright,</L>
<L>And Prudence pure with no &s;elf-&s;eeking mient.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="13">
<HEAD>13.</HEAD>
<L>Here Spirit, Soul and clean&s;ed Body may</L>
<L>Bathe in this Fountain of true Bli&s;s</L>
<L>Of Plea&s;ures that will ne're decay,</L>
<L>All joyful Sights</L>
<L>And hid Delights;</L>
<L>The &s;en&s;e of the&s;e renew'd here daily is.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="14">
<HEAD>14.</HEAD>
<L>Come therefore come, and take an higher flight,</L>
<L>Things peri&s;hing leave here below,</L>
<L>Mount up with winged Soul and Spright,</L>
<L>Quick let's be gone</L>
<L>To him that's One,</L>
<L>But in this One to us can all things &s;how.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="15">
<HEAD>15.</HEAD>
<L>Thus &s;hall you be united with that ONE,</L>
<L>That ONE where's no Duality;</L>
<L>For from this perfect GOOD alone</L>
<L>Ever doth &s;pring</L>
<L>Each plea&s;ant thing,</L>
<L>The hungry Soul to feed and &s;atisfie.</L>
</LG>
<LG N="16">
<PB N="276" REF="266">
<HEAD>16.</HEAD>
<L>Wherefore, O man! con&s;ider well what's &s;aid,</L>
<L>To what is <HI>be&s;t</HI> thy Soul incline,</L>
<L>And leave off every evil trade.</L>
<L>Do not de&s;pi&s;e</L>
<L>What I advi&s;e:</L>
<L>Fini&s;h thy Work before the Sun decline.</L>
</LG>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</GROUP>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="266">
<HEAD>Books Printed for, or Sold by <HI>Samuel Lownds,</HI> over again&s;t <HI>Exeter Ex|change</HI> in the <HI>Strand.</HI></HEAD>
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<P><HI>Clelia,</HI> an Excellent new Romance, the whole Work in Five Books. Writ|ten in <HI>French,</HI> by the exqui&s;ite pen of Mon&s;ieur <HI>de Scudery.</HI></P>
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<PB REF="267">
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<PB REF="267">
which are very nece&s;&s;ary for Com|merce.</P>
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<P>The Great Law of Con&s;ideration; a Di&s;cour&s;e &s;hewing the Nature, U&s;e|fulne&s;s, and ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity of Con|&s;ideration, in order to a truly &s;erious and Religious Life. The Third Edi|tion, Corrected and much Enlarged, by <HI>Anthony Horneck, D. D.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Mirror of Fortune,</HI> or the true Characters of Fate and De&s;tiny, Treat|ing of the Growth and Fall of Em|pires, the Misfortunes of Kings and Great Men, and the ill fate of Virtu|ous and hand&s;ome Ladies.</P>
<P><HI>Saduci&s;mus Triumphatus:</HI> or full &amp; plain Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions, in Two parts, the
<PB REF="268">
fir&s;t Treating of their Po&s;&s;ibility, the &s;econd of their Real Exi&s;tence; by <HI>Jo&s;eph Glanvil,</HI> late Chaplain to His Maje&s;ty, and Fellow of the Royal Society. The Second Edition. The advantages whereof above the former, the Reader may under&s;tand out of Dr. <HI>Henry More</HI>'s Account prefixt thereunto. With two Au|thentick but wonderful &s;tories of <HI>Swedi&s;h</HI> Witches, done into Engli&s;h by <HI>Anthony Horneck,</HI> D. D.</P>
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<P><HI>Cambridge Je&s;ts,</HI> being Witty Alarms for Melan|choly Spirits. By a Lover of Ha, Ha, He.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
