A26976:322
Of the immortality of mans soul, and the nature of it and other spirits.…
Of the immortality of mans soul, and the nature of it and other spirits. Two discourses, one in a letter to an unknown doubter, the other in a reply to Dr. Henry Moore's Animadversions on a private letter to him, which he published in his second edition of Mr. Joseph Glanvil's Sadducismus triumphatus, or, History of apparitions by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for B. Simons, 1682
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Ans. 1. It cannot be denied, but the Operations of the Soul here, are much of them upon the organized body; and tho not organical, as if they acted by an Organ, yet organical, as acting on an Organ; which is the material Spirit▪ primarily. And so there go various Causes to some Effects, called Acts.
2. And the Soul doth nothing independently, but as dependent on God, in Being and Operation: and therefore doth what God knoweth, and useth it too, as his Instrument, in the forming of the body; and in what it knoweth not it self. And as God, as fons naturae necessitateth the natural agency of the Soul, as he doth the Soul of Bruits. But as the wise and free Governor of the world, he hath to moral acts, given mans Soul free-will, and therefore conducting Reason; which it needs not to necessitated acts, as digestion, motion of the blood, formation of the body, &c.
And as it is not made to do all its acts freely and rationally, so neither at all times, as in Apoplexies, Infancy, Sleep, &c. It is essential to the Soul, to have the active power or virtue of Intellection and Free-will, but not always to use it. As it is essential to the substance of fire, tho latent in a flint, to have the power of motion, light and heat.
And as it is not made to do all its acts freely and rationally, so neither at all times, as in Apoplexies, Infancy, Sleep, &c. It is essential to the Soul, to have the active power or virtue of Intellection and Free-will, but not always to use it. As it is essential to the substance of fire, tho latent in a flint, to have the power of motion, lighe and heat.