Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul, Chapter 1
A TREATISE of the Passions and Faculties of the SOULE of MAN.
CHAP. I. Of the dependance of the Soule, in her operations upon the Body.
IT hath been a just Complaint of Learned Men, that usually wee are more curious in our inquiriesCic. de Div. lib. 2. after things New than excellent;Plin. lib. 2. ep. 20. and that the very neerenesse of worthy Objects, hath at once made them both despised and unknowne. Thus like Children, with an idle diligence, and fruitlesse Curiositie, wee turne over this great Booke of Nature, without perusing those ordinarie Characters, wherein is exprest the greatest power of the Worker, and excellencie of the Worke; fixing our Admiration onelyonly on those Pictures and unusuall Novelties, which though for their rarenesse they are more strange, yet for their na ture are lesse worthy. Every Comet or burning Meteor strikes more wonder into the beholder,Cic. d… Nat. Deor. lib. 2. than those glorious Lampes of Nature, with their admirable Motions and Order, in which the Heathen have acknowledged a Divinenesse. Let a Child be borne but with six fingers, or have a part more than usuall, wee rather wonder at One supers…uous, than at All naturall. Sol spectatorem nisi cum desicit non habet, nemo observat Lunam Sen. qu. Nat. lib. 7. c. 1.nisi laborantem, adeò naturale est magis nova, quàm magna mirari: None looketh with wonde… on the Sunne, but in an Eclipse; no eye gazeth on the Moone, but in her Travell: so naturall it is with men, to admire rather things N…w than Common. Whereas indeed things are fit for studie and observation, though never so common, in regard of the perfection of their nature, and usefulnesse of their knowledge. In which respect, the plaine Counsell of the Oracle was one of the wi…est which was ever given to man, To studie and to know himselfe; because, by reason of his owne neerenesse to himselfe, hee is usually of himselfe most unknowne and neglected. And yet if wee consider, how in him it hath pleased God to stampe a more notable Character of his owne Image, and to make him, amongst all hisSen. de …. lib. 6. c. 23. Workes, one of the most perfect Models of created excellencie, wee cannot but acknowledge him to be one, though of the least, yet of the fittest Volumes, in this great varietie of Nature to be acquainted withall. Intending therefore, according to my weakenesse, to take some view of the inside, and more noble Characters of this Booke, it will not be needfull for me to gaze upon the Cover, to insist on the materials or sensitive conditions of the humane nature, or to commend him in his Anatomie; though even in that respect the Psalmist tells us, that he is fearefully and wonderfully made: for wee commonly see, that as most kind of Plants or Trees exceed us in vegetation and fertilitie; so, many sorts ofSen. Ep. 76. beasts have a greater activitie and exquisitenesse in their senses than wee. And the reason hereof is, because Nature aiming at a superiour and more excellent end, is in those lower faculties lesse intent and elaborate. It shall suffice therefore, onelyonly to lay a ground-worke in these lower faculties, for the better notice of mans greater perfections, which have ever some connexion and dependance on them. For whereas the principall acts of mans Soule are either of Reason and Discourse, proceeding from his Vnderstanding; or of Action and Moralitie, from his Will; both these, in the present condition of mans estate, have their dependance on the Organs and faculties of the Body, which in the one precede, in the other follow: To the one, they are as Porters, to let in and convey; to the other as Messengers, to performe and execute: To the one, the whole Body is as an Eye, through which it seeth; to the other a Hand, by which it worketh.
Concerning the ministrie therefore of the Body unto the Soule, wee shall thus resolve; That the Reasonable part of Man, in that condition of subsistence which now it hath, depends in all its ordinarie and naturall operations, uponSolirus de … …esert quid accepto … in …ccipitio ad tantam devenit ignorantiam ut …esciret se ha…isse nomen. Honori… …. de Philosoph. M…di, lib. 4. c. 24. the happie or disordered temperature of those vitall Qualities, out of whose apt and regular commixion the good estate of the Body is framed and composed. For though these Ministeriall parts have not any over-ruling, yet they have a disturbing power, to hurt and hinder the operations of the Soule▪ Whence wee finde, that sundry diseases of the Body doe oftentimes weaken, yea, sometimes quite extirpate the deepest impression and most fixed habits of the minde. For, as wheresoever there is a locomotive facultie, though there be the principall cause of all motion and activitie; yet if the subordinate instruments, the bones and sinewes be dis-jointed, shrunke, or any other wayes indisposed for the exercise of that power, there can be no actuall motion; Or as in the Body Politique▪ the Prince (whom Seneca calleth the Soule of the Common-wealth)Sen. de Clem. lib. 1. cap▪ 4. receiveth either true or false intelligence from abroad, according as is the fidelitie or negligence of those instruments▪ whom Xenophon tearmeth the Eyes and Eares of Kings: InXenop▪ Cyrop. lib. 8. & Arist. Polit. lib. 3. c. 12. like manner, the Soule of man being not an absolute independant worker, but receiving all her objects by conveyance from these bodily instruments, which Cicero calleth the Messengers to the Soule, if they out of any indisposition shall be weakened, the Soule must continue like a Rasa Tabula, without any acquired or introduced habits. The Soule hath not immediately from it selfe that strange weakenesse, which is observed in many men, but onelyonly ▪as it is disabled by Earthie and sluggish Organs; which being out of order, are more burthensome than serviceable thereunto.
There are observable in the Soules of men, considered in themselves, and in reference one to another, two defects; an imperfection, and an inequalitie of operation: the former of these I doe not so ascribe to that bodily weakenesse, whereby the Soule is any way opprest, as if I conceived no internall darknesse in the faculties themselves; since the fall of man working in him a generall corruption, did amongst the rest infatuate the Mind, and as it were smother the Soule with ignorance; so that the outward ineptitude of bodily instruments, is onelyonly a furtherance and improvement of that Native imperfection. But for the inequalitie and difference of mens understandings in their severall operations, notwithstanding it be questioned in the Schooles, Whether the Soules of men have not originally, in their Nature, degrees of perfection and weakenesse, whence these severall degrees of operation may proceed; yet neverthelesse that being granted, I suppose, that principally it proceeds from the varietie, tempers, and dispositions in the instrumentall faculties of the Body▪ by the helpe whereof, the Soule in this estate worketh: for I cannot perceive it possible, that there should have beene, if man had continued in his Innocencie, (wherein our Bodies should have had an exact constitution, free from those distempers to which now by sinne they are lyable) such remarkable differences betweene mens apprehensions, as wee now see there are: for there should have beene in all men a great facilitie to apprehend the mysteries of Nature, and to acquire knowledge (as wee see in Adam) which now wee finde in a large measure granted to some, and to others quite denyed. And yet in that perfect estate (according to the opinion of those who now maintaine it) there would have beene found a substantiall and internall inequalitie amongst the Soules of men: and therefore principally this varietie comes from the sundry constitutions of mens bodies; in some, yeelding enablement, for quicknesse of Apprehension; in others, pr…ssing downe and intangling the Vnderstanding; in some, disposing the Minde unto one object; in some, unto another; according as the impetus and force of their naturall affections carrieth them. And therefore Aristotle in his Politiques ascribeth the inequalitieArist. Polit. lib. 7. which hee observes betweene the Asiatique and European Wits, unto the severall Climates and temperature of the Regions in which they lived; according whereunto, the Complexions and Constitutions of their Bodies onelyonlyArist. de Anim… ▪ lib. 3. could be alter'd; the Soule being in it selfe, according to the same Philosopher, impassible from any corporeall Agent. And to the same purpose againe he saith, That if an old man had a young mans eye, his sight would be as sharpe and as distinct as a young mans is; implying … diversitie of Perception to be grounded on…ly on the diversitie of bodily instruments, by which it is exercised. And therefore he elsewhere observesDe Anima, lib. 2. (I shall not trouble my selfe to examine upon what ground) that men of soft and tender skins have greatest quicknesse of wit; and on the contrarie, Duri Carne, inepti…mente: thereby intimating, that there is no more significant and lively expression of a vigorous or heavie Soule, than a happie or ill-ordered Body; wherein wee may sundry times reade the abilities of the Minde, and the inclinations of the Will: So then it is manifest, that this weakenesse of apprehension in the Soules of men, doth not come from any immediate and proper darknesse belonging unto them; but onelyonly from the coexistence which they have with a Body illdisposed for assistance and information. For hee who is carried in a Coach (as the Body is vehiculum animae) though he be of himselfe more nimble and active, must yet receive such motion as that affoords; and Water, which is conveyed through Pipes and Aqueducts, though its motion by it selfe would have beene otherwise, must yet then be limitted by the posture and proportion of the Vessels through which it passeth.