Part xm.

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Idcrt,
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55^3
If you demand, why we dream moft of thofe things in which we chiefly delight, or to which we are moft particularly addifted when awake, ( for Orators plead,Solders fight, Mariners con* teft with the winds,Gamcfters play, and fo of others ; Neither is it thus with men only, but amongft other Animals alfo-, Horfes fweat and blow, as if they were running a race ; Hounds ftretch their iegs, cry, and fnuff up the Air \ and fo of the reft, ) We muft fay, that this hap¬ pens; forafmuch as by reafon of the imprefllon lately made in the mind, the palTages are left o- pen, into which the fame Images infinuate, and above the reft, move the foul again.
From the fame ground it feems to proceed, that he who is thirfty dreams of a fountain, and that he is drinking ; he that hath need to Urine dreams of a chamber-pot, and that he is ufing it. For the intrinfecal motions open as k were, the wayes, into which the Images of things of the fame nature infinuating, ftrike the mind. Hence alfo it comes to pafs, that many Images of the fame thing meeting together, there are produced certain great motions in the mind,and then he who dreameth, imagines that he poITefteth
‘and divided from the body in which it Was, ‘ cannot fee any thing.
When I fay. The foul is dilTipated, I Imply the mind alfo ; fince the mind is indivifibly joyn- ed with it, rtfcither can it fubfift if the foul pfer- ilh. So that here it is all one to fay, the mind and the loul,for the fame diflipation happens to both. Now this dilTolucion is made, not into nothing, ( as they muft necclTarily affirm, who hold the foul to be harmony, or fuch a contem- peration as health, ) but into the Principles and little bodies, of which its contexture is made ; and this not fo much like water, which runneth about when the veflel is broken, as like fmeke, or a mill, which goes away into Air, but milch more eafily •, its contexture being more fubtlc, fince k is capable of receiving imprelfions from the Images of fmoke and mift.
That the foul is dilfipated and periftieth, is manifeft ; for that it is compounded and hath a beginning. Some indeed there are, who con¬ ceive it to be Eternal, denying it to have a be¬ ginning, to avoid its diflblution ; and alTuming for granted, that it was before the Body, and came from without into it, that they may main-
great knowledge , performeth great aftions,] tain,that it furvives after the body,out of which fpeaketh excellent things ; and fometimes cryeth k goes intire. 1 (hall omit; that they feem not
out as if his throat were about to bq:eut,or him- fclf to be devoured by a Lion or Panther, and is no Icfs affrighted, than if he had caft himfelf down from a high Mountain, (b as when he a- wakes, he has fcarce the ufc of his reafon.
CHAP. XXII.
Of Death,
A S for Death, it is nothing but a privation jl^ of fenfc,by reafon of the departure of the SouiT By fenfe hcrc,l underftand not only the adion, of which fleep alfo is the privation ; but the faculty likewifc of feeling or perceiving , which perilheth with the foul, and together with thefe,the mind alfo ;fo that the foul going forth, the mind which is joyned with it goeth forth alfo.
For, ‘ as long as the foul exifts in the body,
* although fomc other part fail, yet there is not I a privation of fenfe : but fenfe periflies together , with the foul, as foon as ever that wherein ft is t contained, whether it be the whole body, or *fome part in which it is feated, happens to be
diflblved. Neither can it be objeded, that the jbody remaineth a while undiflblvcd, either in , whole or in part .* For it is neverthelefs Void
* of fenfe, as foon as fuch a company of Atoms,
* as is necelTary to conftitute the nature of the
* foul, goeth out of it.
* Moreover, the body being diflblved,the foul ‘ itfelf is dilfipated, and hath no longer the fame I faculties,nor any longer is moved,nor any long¬ er hath fenfe ; for we cannot imagine,that the
* fame thing doth any longer feel or perceive,
‘ when it no longer ufeth the fame motions, when
* it no longer is in the fame compound, when
* thofe things no longer are by which(it was chc-
* rilhed and preferved, and in which ’ exifting it *Tcrformed fuch kind of motions. It is the fame
* with the foul as with the eye ; which, being out,
itobferve, that nothing can be durable for c- ver, unlefs it be fuch, either by reafon of its folidity as an Atom - or for that it is. uncapable of being ft ruck, as Vacuuin {or for that itvvants place whereinto it might remove, as the Hni- verffc Neither do they reffefk how great a4iad- nefs it is to conceive,that things fo different as immortal and mortal, may be joyned together.
1 omit this, I fay, and demand oncly, How -it is pofiible the foul can, from without, be infi- unated into the body, and tiiffulcd through its parts, and yet not be divided and dilfolved, as meat diftributed through the limbs ; And muft it not dwell in the Body, as a Bird irt a Gage, rather than be though: to grow, and be coex¬ tended with the Body ? And how then arrives it together with the Body, at the flower of age ? And why it is, that in old age it fears, not re- joycetb, to go out of the Body as out of her prifon, and like the ferpent to caft her decay’d skin ? And if forfaking the Body, it leaves fbme relicks of it felf behind,is it not diffolvable ? But if it leaves none, how comes it, that fo many worms are generated in a carkafs ?
For to fay, that fo many fools flow thither from without, and fly up and down like flia- dowes, and chufe their own matter, and frame their own Bodies, and the like, How abfurd is it ? Neither is it lefs ridiculous , that there Ihould be a fwarm, as it were,of Souls, hovering round about at the coition and birth of Ani¬ mals, contefting with one another which IhaU enter into the Body.
And if Souls did fo often Ihift Bodies, would not their natures, by degrees, become changed, and fo the Lion in time not be fierce, the Hart not timorous, the Fox not trafcy,the Dog afraid of the Hare, the Hawke of the Dove ? And if any* */hall fay, that human fouls only pafs int6 human Bodies, he^cannot give a reafon, Why the foul, of wife,becomcs foolifh ? why no children arc wife f Why wc; as the firft Author of thefo Opinions feigned of themfelvcs, never rciiicri- G 6 g g bev
m
iE P I C V R
PARiT?;XIIl-
an^tt^e a^i,ons perfofn^it
* . . . nr-Bo’ .
Tije »foul jthcrefore hatha beginning^/frorp which' as., i^groweth up an^.fiourifheth, with the Body, fo muft it necelTar^y tend to an end,, growing old, and decay ing/bv degrees, tqgej- ther with it. , • ,
This I fay likewife of the lMind,which by de¬ grees is. peffedted, and decayeth •, feeing that it not only b^aijs a, (hare in the difeafes, and pains . of the Bbdy,but fuffers difeafes, and pains of her own, and i^ cured by Medicuie : which copld not he, if fotnthing were not added to, ©r taken from, or tranfpofed in her contexture. , We need, hot; , inftance, what happens to her by drunkenhefs, the falling ftcknefe, or dotage.
We mufe obferve, that, ihe is affixed to fome certain paVrof the Body, no otherwife than the . ear to the eye, fo that, accordingly (he begins anderds with the whole- and this is manifeft, tbrafniuch .as every thing, ( Thees, Fi(hes,e7'c. ) .jliatha certain determinate place in which it is "produced, liveth, and at lali ceafeth to be, and cannot exiit out of it.
'^nd,-^6rafmuch, as a man dieth limb by limb, and by degrees,, the foul^beip^ as it
- w^pe di^^4>le ; wlp,can'i^!,t;hat .the Mipd’ ( or doth hot evApai;^ out of jpf ib^fbreft, bat^goetji entire out throat c Forfilii^thp foul her feff goeth out,
o fif^askjwerewandieyer’d thorough the whole -IKfs- atgi&niiren-ior that the flench ..Wljkli after hcrjdej^ture is in the dead c^rkafs, f l>f§§eed?th frohijP9 other caufe, than thajt-its feyerafpji^-are into that placcj which, was 3 ta^ja^npf by the ieveriajl.ip.arts of the-fouh jSIot .yo p^^tjoHji that, , o|hepwife, when the'Body is . lud^nly.t^utafunderi into two or more pieces, the foul could not be cut into tvs^o of more piecesas the Body,,;
As therefore, the foul was not before the ge^e/atipn, fo neither will it be after the dilTo- lih;jpn,;Ot death i and as, before that, we did nptieel any painji|o ^either (hall we no any, .affepjfehis.^ as well, for that there will be no long¬ er Touch, or any pther Senfe, whkh cannot ex- ift in.a feparate foulj as for that,it is now with¬ out thofe Organs,in which only the fenfes reftde, and with which only, they can aft and fuffer.
,I^:^nce it is manifelf, that all fears of the In¬ fer! are vain^ locion is not roll’d upon a wheel ;
does not thruffi a (lone up hill continual ly ip liver cannot be devoured and
reiii^w’d every day, Thefe are but Fables, as ^aruabbithofe which are -reported of Tantahis^ of. pf the D amides^ of the Furies; and
the-.li^-^ which. if- they, are made, good any, is in tliU life, through the depraved paijnprs'pf mcn,«
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SEC T. IV. , i
. .1 -/ . .
. i-nA s ‘ \ .
Of \ Sttpriour thi^igs , .as- mil C^leSiialy as ydi yrl' - . AeruL
.'laiblifJj •
'ItliertQ, of /nfemur things ; we qome now ]5to which appear in the Re-
J3(
gion above ^e Earth •, fuch are the §uij, die Moon, and other Stars, arid all that befengs to them, as Rifings, , Settings, . Tropicks, Eefipfes, and the like. , .Moreover Clouds, Rain^ Wfed, Lighting, Thunder, Tnurider-bolts, and\^lie like, tor tho’ fome make^a diftinftion, and call thefe feter only Su^eriour,
yet is it convenient, to call the former alfo Me¬ teors, and to include both within Meteorology, that is, a Treatifeof fuperiour things.
Here we muff repeat what was faid at firffi,
that‘ we mud not propofe any other end -of
the. know ledge of S'uperiour things, whether *■ they be treated of joinxly with others, as here ,
‘ or feparately, and by themfelves, as eife where ‘ we do, than an undifturbed date of mind, and ‘ unwavering Judgement ', asalfefe fbe red of ‘ the things, of which we ufe to difeourfe.
‘ ^or Superiour things being fuch,as that they ‘ either have, or may have a manifold caufe of ‘ generation, and declaration of their being,
‘ conformable to that which we perceive by tiie ‘ fenfe; we ought not to adhere to one particular ‘ way,as we do inMoralMaxims,or fome in Phy- ‘ lick, fu.ch as are. The Univerfe is Body and Vacuum ; the Principles of things are indivifi- ble, ‘ and thdlike^ which agree onely one way ^ with the Phenomena’s : But firmly hold, that ‘many ways, neither ought v/e to attempt any ‘ thing above the reach ot human power, by de- ‘ fining one certain w,ay, after which only the ‘ thing may be performed.
T4t«-, Ffay, wermufr Tqicit~;~fcrrafiTitRffi' as Ln^u ‘ it is requifite to conceive, that it is the Office ' of Phyliology,accnrat;eIy,to examine the caufes ‘ of the chief things ..'yhieffi are in nature, and ‘ that from hence proceedeth all the felicity ‘ which confideth in knowledge of Tupeiiour ‘ things,and in that efpepialiy,tbat we examine,
‘ what kind of things thofeare, whkh afedii- ‘ covered in thofe fuperiour ones, and whatever ‘ has affinity, with them. And withal,inviolabiy ‘ to obferve this rule, that it is competent to ‘ th»(e things, to be done many way and not mceffarily one way onely ; ,‘OMf,that they may be brought fome other way alfo.
This, I fo exprefly" inculcate ; led, if we ad¬ here onely to one way^-and that happen to dif- pleafe us, vve prefently recur> not to fome ©- ther natual caufe, but to the divine j fPr. this were to acknowledge a manifold manncr,where there is but one. Tha$, to the divine nature we (hould attribute trouble and bufmefs, vvhere*- as ‘ it is (imply and abfolucely necelTary, that in ‘ an Immortal and Blelfed Nature,there be none ‘of thofe things which caufe dilfolution and trou- ‘ blejfor the mind immediately apprehends, and ‘ concludes from the confideration of animmor- ‘ tal and blelfed conddioti, that it is abfolutely ‘ impoffible, any fuch thing (hould happen to it.
And doubtleft,for want of this confideration, it comes to pafs, that ‘ the contemplation and ‘ obfe.rvation of rifing, fetting, foidices,eclipfes ‘ and the like, make our knowledge notffing the ‘ happier, but they who have confidered thefe ‘ things ( yet know not what are the nature of ‘ thofe Bodies,and what are their chief Caufes,)
‘ fear as much,and perhaps more, than as if they ‘had not contemplated them at alljby realon^^^