Observations Natural and Moral, Chapter 14
CHAP. XIIII. What time the ſoule animateth the body and what care the Lord hath of the child after that he is animated.
Exod. 21.21. If two ſtrive together and hurt a woman with child, ſo that her fruit depart from her, and no miſchiefe do follow, &c.
AS the world in the firſt Creation was a confuſed maſſe, and then by degrees the Lord diſtinguiſhed the ſeverall dayes workes: ſo doth he in the little world man: In the firſt ſeven dayes it is no other thing but ſeed; ſecondly, it is curdled as Iobſaith cap. 10.10. and becommeth fleſh, How man is faſhioned in his mothers wombe.and it is no more called ſeed but fatus: thirdly the principall parts of the body are faſhioned, the Heart, the Braine, and the Liver, and the reſt of the members, are hardly diſcerned; fourthly, when the reſt of the members are diſtinctly faſhioned, then it is no more called faetus but infans, then it liveth and ſtirreth.
It is an errour too commonly holden, that wee firſt live the life of the plant by the vegetative facultie onelyonly, and ſecondly the ſenſitive life, and thirdly the reaſonable; but if it were ſo, then the child might be juſtly called a plant, ſecondly a beaſt, and laſtly a man. Object.
The Philoſopher ſaith that we live firſt the life of the plant.
This is not ſo to bee underſtood as though that imperfect conception called Embrio liveth firſt the vegetative life, Anſw. The Embrio receiveth the three faculties at once.and then the ſenſitive, for it receiveth all theſe three faculties at once, but it exerciſeth this vegetative facultie firſt; for the firſt fortie dayes, or fortie five dayes, the ſeed is in the matris, and by that power onelyonly which is in the ſeed called virtus formatrix, it is peece and peece prepared, and then ſimul & ſemel at one and the ſelfe ſame time it receiveth all theſe faculties together, The featus is ſometimes ſooner and ſometimes longer ere it be perfected.then it is nouriſhed and groweth til it be quickned by the ſoule, neither is it a living ſoule till it be perfectus fatus, and ſometimes it is longer ere it bee perfected, and ſometimes in ſhorter time it is perfected. If the fatus be perfected in the thirtie five dayes and the ſoule animates it, then the child beginneth to ſtirre the ſeventieth day, foreign puer. foreign movere.and then he is called nagnar from nagnar movere, becauſe then he beginneth to ſtirre in his mothers wombe, and then the child is ſeptimeſtris borne in the ſeventh monethmonth; We know when the child liveth by doubling the perfection of the faetus.but if the faetus bee perfect in the fortie five day, then the child beginneth to ſtirre the nintieth day, and he is borne in the ninth monethmonth; ſo that by doubling the perfection of the Embri… when it hath all the parts of it formed, we ſhall know when the child beginneth to ſtirre in the mothers bellie, We know when the childis borne by trebling the motion of the child.and tripling the motion of the child in the mothers bellie, we ſhall know the time, when the child is borne.
This place Exod. 21.22. If two ſtrive together and hurt a woman with child; the vulgar tranſlation readeth it badly thus. If the ſtriker ſtrike a woman with child, and ſhe abhort and live, hee ſhall ſurely bee puniſhed, How this place is interpreted by the vulgar tranſlation.their meaning is, that the man ſhall bee puniſhed by a fine or a mulct for ſtricking of the woman, but if ſhe live although the child die, yet the ſtricker ſhall not die for it; whereas the meaning of the law is, if there follow [aſhon] damnum any hurt either to the mother, or to the child, then the ſtriker ſhall die, ſo that there are two cauſes ſet downe here; firſt, if the ſtriker ſtrike, Two cauſes in this Iaw.and death follow not, then he ſhal not die for it, although ſhe abhort, becauſe the child was not [gebher] a living child, but [naphal] fructus abortivus vel deciduus Iob. 3.3. which falleth from the tree before it be ripe, which Salomon Eccleſ. 6.3. calleth an untimely birth; but if it bee a child which is animated, and the ſtriker ſtrike her, and there follow death either of the mother or of the child, then the man ſhall die for it: this place then muſt be underſtood of a child formed and animated, for if it be onelyonly that which David calleth [golem] maſſa rudis an unperfect ſubſtance, foreign non ſignatum, and the Rabbins call it aſiman.Pſal. 139.16. then if ſhee abhort and bring forth ſuch a birth; he ſhall not die for it. The Seventie tranſlate it foreign , non ſignatum, and the Rabbins call it aſiman, which words they have borrowed from the greekes, as ye would ſay, mony not ſtamped or ſealed. So is the Embrio before the ſoule be created in it, and therefore the ſtriker if he ſtrike the mother, and ſhe abhort and live, ſo that there follow no danger to her, then he is not to die it, becauſe he hath not killed a living ſoule, no more than if a man ſhould die for cutting a member from a dead man. Concluſion.
The concluſion of this is, the Lord hath great care of the life of man, God hath great eare of the life of man.even when he is in his mothers belly, if he be once a living child whoſoever killeth him ſhall die for it. When Benah and Rechab killed Iſhboſeth, David ſayd ye are wicked men who have killed a righteous perſon in his owne houſe upon his owne bed, ſhall I not require this at your hands, 2 Sam. 4.11. So the Lord required this at the hands of the murtherer who killed an infant in his firſt manſion and ſleeping in his bed. The Lord forbiddeth in his Law, Exod. 23.19. to kill the kid when it is ſucking the dam, hath the Lord regard of kids. 1 Cor. 9.9.? no: his chiefe intention is to have young infants ſafe in their mothers wombe and when they are ſucking.