Part V.

PLATO,
I
he produced nothing j for, of the moft perfeO: caufe, the effcd rauft be moft perfe£f, and the moft perte^f can be but one^ for, of two or more, it is not poffible but that ftiould be more’or lefs perfed than the reft,otherwife they would not be two, but the fame. This reafbn for our Opinion I rather choofe, than that which .•Avicen alledges, founded upon this Principle, That from one Caufe, as one, caii proceed but one Effe£f. We conclude therefore, that no Creature but this hrft Mind proceeds immedi¬ ately ftom God : for, of all other effedfs iflu- ing from this Mind, and all other fecondCau- les, God is only the mediate efficient. This by Hermes,, and Zoroajier, is called the Daughter of God,, the Miud, JVifdom, Dmne Reajon^ by fome interpreted the .JVord-, not meaning (with our Divines) the Son of God, he not being a Creature, but one Effence co-equal with the Creator.
Sea, V.
All underftanding Agents have in themfelves the form of that which they defign to effebf : as an ArchiteQ hath in his mind a Fi¬ gure of the Building he undertakes, which as his Pattern he exabfly ftrives to imitate : This F/atou/Jb . calls the Idea, or Exemplar, believing it more perfe£f than that which is made after it : and this manner of Being, Ideal, or Intelli¬ gible, the other Material and Senfible ; So that when a Man Builds a Houfe, they affirm there are two^ one Intelle£fual in the Wokman’s Mind :, the other Senfible, which he makes in Stone, Wood, or the like ^ exprefling in that Matter the Form he hath conceived : to this Daute alludes. ■
- . rJ^one any Work can frame,,
XJnleJs himfelf become the fame.
Hereupon they fay, tho’ God produced only one Cr^ture, yet he produced all, becaufe in it he produced the Ideas and Forms of all, and that in their moft perfebf Being, that is, the Idea, for which reafbn they call this Mind, the Iritel- . ligible World.
VI.
AFter the pattern of that Mind they affirm this Senfible World was made, and the. E'xemplar being the moft perfebf of all Created things, it muft follow that this Image thereof be as perfed as its Nature will bear. Aijid fince Animate things are more perfcd than the Inani¬ mate ^ and of thofe-the d4atioflal than the Ir¬ rational, we muft grant, this World hath a Soul perfed above all others. This is the firfi:JR.atio- nal Soul, which, tho’ Incorporeal, and Im¬ material, is deftin’d |o ;the Fundion of Go- veting and moving Corporeal Natuee : not free frorn the Body as- that Mind whence from E- ternity it was deriv^-,;:as was the Mind from God. Hence Flatorfjh argue the World is E- ternal ^ its Soul -being fiich, a nd .not capable of being without a Body, that alfp muft be from Tternity j as likewife the -Mptiojl of the Hea¬ vens, becaufe theBojul cannot be witliout mov¬ ing-
Sea. VII.
TH E ancient Ethnick Theologians, who call: Poetical Veils over the Face of their Myfteries, exprefs thefe three Natures by other names. Caelum they call God in himfelf he produced thefirft Mind, Saturn: Saturnfut Soul of the World, Jupiter, Ccehmi implies Priority and Excellence, as in the Firmament, the firft Heaven. Saturn fignifies Intelledual Nature, wholly imployed in Contemplation ^ Jupiter Adive Life, confifting in Moving and Governing all fubordinate to it. The Properties of the two latter agree with their Planets^!- 5^- turn makes Men Contemplative, Jupiter Impe¬ rious. The Speculative buffed about things above them 5 the pradick beneath them.
Sea. VIII.
WHich three names are promifcuoufly ufed i^on thefe Grounds : In God we un- derftand firft his Excellence, which as Caufe, he hath above all his effedsj for this he is cal¬ led Cwlus. Secondly, the produdion of thofe effeds, which denotes Converfion towards infe- riours ; in this refped he is fometimes called Jupiter,, but with an addition, Optimus,, Maxi¬ mus. The firft Angelick Nature hath more names,, as more diverfity. Every Creature con- fifts of Powder and Ad : the firft, Plato in Phi- lebo,, calls Infinite : the fecond, finite : all im- perfedions in the Mind are by reafon of the firft : all perfedions, from the latter. Her O- perations are threefold. About Superiours, the Contemplation of God -, about the knowledge of herfelfj about inferiours, the produdion and care of this fenfible VVorld : thefe three proceed from Ad. By Power fire defcends to make inferiour things-, but in either refped is firm within her felf. In the two firft, becaufe Contemplative,ftie is called Saturn : in the third, Jupiter, a name principally applied to her pow¬ er, as that part from whence is derived the Ad of Produdion of things.- For the fame reafon is the Soul of the World, as fhe contemplates her felf or fuperiours, termed Saturn 5 as ihe is im¬ ployed in ordering- word-iy things, Jupiter: and fince the Government of the AVorld. belongs pro¬ perly to her the Contemplation to the Mind j therefore is the one abfolurely called Jupiter, the other Saturn.
Self. TX.
This World therefore (as all other crea¬ tures) confifteth of a Soul and Body: the Body is all that we behold, compounded of of the four Elements. Thefe have their cafual being in the Heavens, (which confift nor of them, as fuhlunary things j for then it would follow that thefe inferiour parts were made before the Cocleftial, the Elements in themfelves being fimplcy by concourfe canfing fuch rhjngs as are compounded of r hem : ) Tlieir former being from theMoorf down to tire Earth : Their participate and iraperfecl: under- the Larth, evident in the Fire, Air, and ^ater, experience daily finds there'j evinced by natural Philofoplrers to which