Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

out, and threed-bare, hecafts it off: fo doth the foule with the body. And for the further proofe of this,and that it depends not on the body, nor hath its originall of it, or by it; confider the great acts of the foule, which are fuch as cannot, arife from the temper of the matter, bee it never fo curious: As the difcourfe of the foule from one generall to another, the apprehenfion of fo high things as God and Angels; the devifing of fuch things as never came into the fenfes; for though it be true, that founds & colours be carried into the understanding by the fenfes, yet to make pictures of thefe colours, and muficke of thefe founds,this is from the understanding with in: So the remembrance of things paft; obferving the condition of things, by comparing one with another. Now, looke upon bruitbeafts, we fee no actions but may arife from the temper of the matter; according to which their fancie and appetite are fashioned; though fome actions are ftronger then others, yet they arife not aboue the Well-head of fenfe: all thofe extraordinary things which they are taught to doe, it is but for their food, as Hawks, and fome Pigeons it is reported, in Aẞyria that they carry Letters from one place to another, where they use to have food; fo other beafts that act dancing, and fuch like motions, it is done by working on their fenfes: but come to man, there are other actions of his understanding and will in the foule.It is true indeed,in a man there are fancyand appetite,and thefe arife from the temper of the body; there

C

fore

! 17

fore as the body hath a different temper fo there are feverall appetites,difpofition and affections; fome men longs after one thing, fome after another,but the fe are but the feveral turnings of the fenfuall appetite, (which is alfo feene in beasts) but come to the higher part of the foule, the actions of the will and understanding of man, and they are of an higher nature; the acts which they doe have no dependence upon the body at all. Befides, come to the motions of the body; the foure guides and moves the body, as a Pilot doth a hip, now the Pilot may be fafe, though the fhip be split upon the Rock.) Looke on beafts, they are led wholly as their appetite carries them,and they must goe that way, therefore they are not ruled, as a Pilot governs a fhip: but in men, their appetites would carry them hither, or thither, but the will faith no, and that hath the understanding for its counselor.So that the motions of the body arife nor from the diverfity of the fenfuall appetites, as in all other creatures, but of the will and understanding; for the foul depends not upon the body,but the acts of the body depend upon it: therefore when the body perifheth,the foule dies not; but,as a man that dwels in a house, if the house fall, hee hath no dependence on it, but may goe away to another house; fo the foule hath no dependence upon the body at all, therefore you must not think. that it doth dye when the body perifheth.

Befides,the foule is not worne, it is not weary, as other things are, the body is weary, and the

fpirits

spirits are weary; the body weares, as doth a garment, till it be wholly worne out: now, any thing that is not weary, it cannot perish; and, in the very actions of the foule it felfe there is no wearineffe, but whatfoever comes into the foule perfects it,with a perfection naturall to it,& it is the ftronger for it; therefore it cannot be fubject to decay,it cannot weare out,at other things doe, but the more notions it hath,the more perfect it is: the body, indeed, is weary with labour, and the fpirits are wearie,but the foule is not weary, for in the immediate a&s thereof, it workes ftill,even when the body fleepeth: Looke upon the actions of the foule, and they are independent, and as their independencie growes, fo the foule growes younger and younger,and ftronger and ftronger, fenefcens juvenefcit, and is not fubject to decay,or mortality: as you fee in a Chicken, it growes ftill, and fo the fhell breakes, and falls off: fo is it with the foule, the body hangs on it but as a fhell, and when the foule is growne to perfection, it falls away,and the loule returnès to the Maker.

a

The next thing that I fhould come to,is to fhew you how this is made evident by faith. When man hath fome rude thoughts of a thing, and hath some reason for it, hee then begins to have fome perfwafion of it, but when (befides) a man wife and true,fhall come and tell him it is fo,this addes much strength to his confidence:for when you come to difcerne this God-head,and to know it by reafons from the creatures, this may give

C &

you

19

The fecond way to prove,

that God is, is by faith.

you fome perfwafions, but when one shall come and tell you of the Scripture, made by awife and true God, that is fo indeed,this makes you confirmed in it. Therefore the strength of the argument by faith, you may gather after this manner: I beleeve the Scriptures to bee true and that they are the word of God; now this is contained in the Scriptures,that God made heaven and Earth; therefore I beleeving the Scriptures to be the Word of God, and whatsoever is contained in them, my faith layes hold upon it alfo, and fo my confent growes ftrong and firme,that there is a God: After this manner you come to conclude it by faith. For what is faith? Faith is but when a thing is propounded to you even as an object fet before the eye, there is an habit of faith within,that fees it wha it is; for faith is nothing else, but a feeing of that which is: for though a thing is not true because I beleeve it is fo, yet things firftare, and then I beleeve them. Faith doth not beleeve things imaginary, and fuch as have no ground;but whatsoever faith beleeves, it hath a being,and the things we beleeve doe lye before the eyes of reafon, fanctified and elevated by the eye of faith; therfore Mofes, when he goes about to fet downe the Scripture, doth not proue things by reason, but propounds: them, as, In the beginning GOD made the Heaven and Earth; he propounds the object,and leaves it to the eye of faith to looke upon. For the nature of faith is this:God hath giuen to man an understanding facultie,(which we call, Rea

[ocr errors]

fon)

fon) the object of which is all the truths that are delivered in the world,and whatsoever hath a being. Now take all things that wee are said to beleeve, and they alfo are things that are, which are the true objects of the understanding and reason. But the understanding hath objects of two forts: 1 Such as we may eafily perceive, as the eye of man doth the object that is before him.

2 Such as wee fee with more difficulty, and cannot do it,without fomething above the eie to elevate it: As the candle and the bigneffe of it, the eye can fee; but to know the bigneffe of the Sunne, in the latitude of it, you must have inftruments of art to fee it,and you must measure it by degrees, and fo fee it: fo is it here, fome things wee may fully fee by reafon alone, and those are fuch as lye before us, and them wee may eafily fee: but other things there are, that though they are true, yet they are more remote, and further off, therefore they are harder to bee feene; and therefore wee must have something to helpe our understanding to fee them. So that indeed, Faith is but the lifting up of the understanding, by adding a new light to them and it: and therefore they are faid to be revealed, not because they were not before, as if the revealing of them gave a being unto them; but even as a new light in the night difcovers to us that which we did not fee before, and as a profpective glaffe reveales to the eye, that which we could not fee before, and by its owne power, the eye could not reach unto: So that the way to ftrengthen our felves

C 3

« AnteriorContinuar »