Book III, chapters 37–40: The soul joined to the body; divine gifts received by man

CHAP. XXXVII. Of mans soul and through what means it is joyned to the body.

THe soul of man is a certain divine Light, created after the image of the word, the cause of causes and first example, and the substance of God, figured by a seal whose Character is the eternall word; also the soul of man is a certain divine substance, individuall and wholly present in every part of the body, so produced by an incorporeall Author, that it dependeth by the power of the Agent only, not by the bosome of the matter: The soul is a substantiall number, uniform, conversive unto it self, and rationall, very far excelling all bodies and materiall things; the partition of which is not according to the matter, nor proceeding from inferiour and grosser things, but from the efficient cause: For it is not a quantitative number, but removed from all corporeall Laws, whence it is not divided nor multiplyed by parts. Therefore the soul of man is a certain divine substance, flowing from a divine fountain, carrying along with it self number: not that divine one by the which the creator hath disposed all things, but a rational number by the which seeing it hath a proportion to all things, it can understand all things: Therefore mans soul being such, according to the opinion of the Platonists, immediately proceeding from God, is joyned by competent means to this grosser body; whence first of all in its descent, it is involved in a Celestiall and aeriall body, which they call the celestiall vehicle of the soul, others the chariot of the soul: Through this middle thing, by the command of God who is the center of the world, it is first infused into the middle point of the heart, which is the center of mans body, and from thence it is diffufed through all the parts and members of his body, when it joyneth his chariot to the naturall heat, being a spirit generated from the heart by heat; by this it plungeth it self into the humours, by the which it inhereth in all the members, and to all these is made equally the nighest, although it be diffused through one to another; even as the heat of fire adhereth most nigh to the air and water, although it be transferred by the air to the water; thus it is manifest, how the immortal soul, by an immortall body, viz. an Etheriall vehicle, is included in a grosse and mortall body, but when by a disease or some mischief, these midle things are dissolved or fail, then the soul it self by these middle things recollecteth it self, and floweth back into the heart which was the first receptacle of the soul: but the spirit of the heart failing, and heat being extinct, it leaveth him, and man dieth, and the soul flieth away with this Celestiall vehicle, and the Genius his keeper and the Demon follow it being gone forth, and carry it to the Judge, where sentence being pronounced, God quietly leadeth forth the good souls to glory: the evil the fierce devill draggeth to punishment.

CHAP. XXXVIII. What Divine gifts man receiveth from above, from the severall Orders of the Intelligences and the heavens.

BY the seven Planets as it were by instruments all powers are diffused into man from the Supream fountain of good: by Saturn a sublime contemplation & profound understanding, solidity of judgement, firm speculatiom, stability and an immoveable resolution: by Jupiter, an unshaken prudence, temperance, benignity, piety, modesty, Justice, Faith, Grace, Religion, equity, clemency, royalty; by Mars, truth; not to be terrified, constant courage and fortitude, a fervent desire of animosity, the power of acting and the practice, and an inconvertible vehemency of the mind. By the Sun, nobility of mind, persp[…]cuity of imagination, the nature of knowledge and opinion, maturity, counsell, zeal, light of justice, reason and judgement distinguishing right from wrong purging light from the darkness of ignorance, the glory of truth found out, and charity the Queen of all vertues: by Venus a fervent love, most sweet hope, the motion of desire, order, concupiscence, beauty, sweetness, desire of encreasing and propagation of it self; by Mercury a piercing faith and belief, clear reasoning, the vigour of interpreting and pronouncing, gravity of speech, acuteness of wit, discourse of reason, and the swift motions of the senses: by the Moon a peace making consonancy, fecundity, the power of generating and of growing greater, of increasing and decreasing, and a moderate temperance, and faith which being conversant in manifest and occult things, yeeldeth direction to all; also motion to the tilling of the earth for the manner of life and giving growth to it-self and others; but these influences are principally drawn from those seven intelligences, who stand before the face of God, who dispose the soul the seat of these vertues: but the planets dispose the body only giving a tractable complexion proportionated and tempered for every good thing, and they are as it were the instruments of the Intelligences; but God as the primary cause doth yeeld both the influence & increase to all they therefore who have sought out the vertues and diverse dispositions of the soul, do judge, that they obtain diverse natures, by reason of the diversity of means, by the which they have a passage to us, and that these souls are not joyned with the bodies themselves unless they be proportioned by these Stars; So in a body brought to a temperament by Jupiter, they think that the soul infused is temperated by the power and intelligence of Jupiter, and so of the rest. According to which disposition if the soul work well in this body, when its purged and expiated, it returneth to that divine power and Mansion, from whence it descended. Furthermore from the Angelicall orders man is strengthened with wonderfull vertues, viz. from the angels, that he may be a messenger of the divine will and an interpreter of the mind of God; from the Archangels, that he may rule over all beasts of the field, fish of the sea, and fowls of the air, over the which command is given him; from the Principalities, that all things may be subdued to him, he comprehending the powers of all, and drawing all powers to himself by a certain force most secret and supercelestiall; From the Vertues, it receiveth power, by the which it constantly fighting is strengthened against the enemies of truth, for the reward of which we run a race in this life; from the powers against the enemies of this earthly Tabernacle: from the Dominations, it hath help by the which we can subject any domestick enemy we carry along with us, and can obtain our desired end. From the Thrones, we are knit together, and being collected into our selves, we fix our memory on those eternall visions: From the Cherubins, is light of mind, power of wisdom, very high plantasies and figures, by the which we are able to contemplate even the divine things; From the Seraphins, that by the perfect flame of love we may at length inhere in them: These are the degrees, these the ladders, by the which men easily ascend to all kinds of powers by a certain naturall connexion and chariot, according to the diverse disposition of body and mind, and by the favour of the Stars, in the disposing of the body, and of the Intelligences ruling them, the nature of which the soul in its descense putteth on, even as light the colour of the glasse, through which it passeth; the supream power of the Creator favouring, from whom is all good, and without which no good nor perfect thing can be obtained; Therefore all those do labour in vain, who trusting only on the course of nature, and the power and favour of inferiour things, do think to attain to divine things; and those who faining to have a foot in the heavens, do endeavour to receive those things from the favour of the heavens, which ought to be received from God alone; for these inferiours have, I mean animals, Herbs, stones, metals, their power subservient to the heaven; but the heaven from the Intelligences; but these from God, in whom all things pre-exist in the greatest power; as in man the little world there is not a member which hath not correspondence with some element, plant, intelligence, and with some measure and numeration in the Archetype: as we have shewen before.

CHAP. XXXIX.

How the superior Influences, seing they are good by nature, are depraved in these inferior things, and are made causes of evil.

SEEing every power and vertue is from above, from God, from the Intelligences and Stars, who can neither erre nor do evill, it is necessary, that all evill, and whatsoever is found disagreeing and dissonant in these inferiour things, do proceed, not from the malice of the Influence, but from the evill disposition of the receiver; thus Chysippus rightly sang,

They do like fooles accuse the Gods falsly
Make them the cause of all their misery,
When as their folly hurts themselves—

Hence Jupiter calling to minde the case of Aegisthus slain by Orestes, by Homer in the counsel of the Gods, saith,

Us Gods do men accuse (what vice is this?)
To be the cause, fountain of what's amiss,
When they themselves by their own wickedness
Run into danger—

When therefore the perversity of the subject receiveth the Influences of the perverse, or its debility cannot endure the efficacy of the superiors, then by the Influence of the heavens thus received into a matter full of discords, doth result something dissonant, deformed and evill; yet the celestiall powers alwaies remain good, which while they exist in themselves, and from the giver of light have their Influence by the holy Intelligences and the heavens, even till they shall come to the Moon, their Influence is good, as it were in the first degree; but then when it is received in a viler subject, it also is vilified; then also in respect of the different nature of the recipient it is received after diverse manners, and by the qualities disagreeing in the same subject amongst themselves, it also is varied and patiently suffreth in the subject; whence from all comprehended in the subject, at length some other thing doth result than that the Superiors send down; therefore the hurtfull quality in these Inferiors, is far different from the influx of the heavens; and therefore as the distemperof the bleareyed, is not to be imputed to the light, nor burnings to the fire, nor wounds to the sword, nor fetters and Prisons to the Judge, but to the evill disposed and offenders; so neither is the fault of wicked ones to be cast on the celestial Influences: Therefore we being well disposed, the celestial influences cooperate all things for good; but being evill disposed, and having for our sins, that divine good, which was in us, departed from us, all things work for evill: therefore the cause of all our evills is sinne, which is the disorder and distemper of our soul; from the which then, thus evilly governing, or falling down or declining from that which the celestial influences require, all things rebel, and are distempered for our destruction: then in mans body otherwise most temperate and composed with most sweet Harmony, the distemper of the Elements beginneth, evill humors arise: and even the good being disordered and severed from one another, by a certain vicissitude both vex and torment the body: then is a most vehement dissonance perceived, either by superfluity or diminution, or some intrinseral accident, or by superfluous meat, whence superfluous humors are generated, and by the same cause infirmities follow; yea the animal spirits, the bridle being broken, do fall to contention. Then the celestial influences, otherwise of themselves good, are made hurtfull to us, even as the light of the sun to eyes ill disposed: Then Saturn darteth down anguish, tediousnes, melancholy, madnes, sadnes, obstinacy, rigidnes, blasphemy, desperation, lying, Apparations, affrightments, walkings of the dead, stirrings of Divels: Jupiter then sendeth down covetousnes, evill occasions to get wealth and tyranny: Mars, furious wrath, prophane arrogancy, violent boldness, fierce stubbornnes: but the Sun imperious pride, and insatiable ambition: Venus, the deceits of concupiscence, lascivious loves and filthy lusts: Mercury deceits, cousenages, lyes, subtile desires of evill, propensity to sin; The Moon the inconstant progress of all things, and whatsoever is contrary to mans nature: and by this means man himself by reason of his unlikeness with the heavenly things receiveth hurt, whence he ought to reap benefit: by reason of the same dissonancy with the heavenly things (as Proclus saith) men also are subjected even to wicked spirits who as the officers of God do discharge themselves in punishing them: Then do they suffer grievances by evill spirits, even untill they are again expiated by due purgations, and man returneth to a divine nature: therefore an excellent Magitian can prohibite many mischifes about to fall on him from the disposition of the Stars, when he foreknoweth their nature by preventing, taking heed, and defending, least they should meet him, and least an ill disposed subject, as we have said, should receive hurt whence it ought to reap benefit.

CHAP. XL.

That on every man a divine Character is imprinted, by the vertue of which man can attain the working of miracles.

BY no small experience it is found that a certain power of ruling and pred ominating is implanted in man by nature; for (Pliny testifieth) that an Elephant meeting a man wandring in a desart, is reported to shew himself gentle and courteous, and to shew the way to him; and the same creature also is said, before he seeth man, to tremble, to stand still, to look about, to quake at the steps of man, for fear of treachery: in like manner the Tiger the most fierce of all beasts, at the sight of man doth remove her yong ones; and more of this kinde we read in divers authors, who have writ great volumes of creatures; but from whence do these animals know, that man is to be feared, whom they never saw: and if they have seen and known, whence do they fear him seeing they do excell-him in greatnes, force and swiftnes? what is this nature of man, striking this terror on wild beasts? all the Historiographers of animals do finde out and grant this, but have left to others to teach and prove it. Concerning this therefore Apollonius Tyaneus (as we read in Philostartus) seeing a child leading an hūge Elephant, answered Damus asking him, whence came that obedience of so huge a Creature to the little child: That it was from a certain active terror, implanted in man by his creator, which inferiour creatures and all animals perceiving do fear and reverence man, which is as it were a terrifiing Character, and a seal of God imprinted on man, by the which every thing is subject to him, and acknowledges him superior, whither it be servant or animal. For otherwise neither could a child rule his herd and Elephants, neither could a King terrify his people, nor the Judge the guilty. Therefore this Character is imprinted on man from the divine Idea which the Cabalists of the Hebrew call Pahad [Hebrew] and the left hand or sword of God: furthermore man hath not only a seal by the which he is feared, but also by the which he is be loved, the Idea of which in the divine numerations is called Hesed [non-Latin script] which signifieth Clemency, & the right hand and Scepter of God: from these divine numerations, by the intelligences and Stars, Seals and Characters are imprinted on us to every one according to his capacity and purity: which signes the first man created, without doubt did possess in all integrity and fulness, when all creatures being attracted by secret gentlenes, and subjected by terror, came to him as to their lord, that he might give them names: but after the sin of prevarication he fell from that dignity with all his posterity; yet that Character is not all together extinct in us. But by how much every one is laden with sin, by so much he is farther off from these divine Characters and receiveth less of them; and whence he ought to receive frendship and reverence, he falleth into the slavery and terror of others, both of animals and also men and devils: which Cain perceiving feared, saying to God, every one who findeth me, will kill me; for he feared beasts and devils, not only men, who were very few; but in the old times, many men who lived innocently, a very good life, as yet did enjoy that obedience and power, as Sampson, David and Daniel over the Lions, Elisha over the Bear, Paul over the Viper; and many Anchorites lived in the deserts, in Caves and Dens of wild beasts, not fearing, nor receiving any hurt; for as by sin that divine Character is obscured, so sin being purged and expiated, it again more and more shineth forth.