Dr Creeds Voluminous Defense of Hammons Ektenesteron, Part 1
Dr. CREED.
YOur third (to begin with that, for I ſhall not tie my ſelf to your Method) is moſt ridiculouſly falfe. You ſay (not to trouble our ſelves about the Mo…d and Figure (3) No one word can as a Gerus equally comprehend the efficient, and the effect: The habit of Love is the efficient cauſe, and the ſincere and cordial expreſſions of Love are the effect: Therefore Love is not predicated of them equally as a Genus.
Your Major, Sir, your Major; by all meanes have a care of your Major. For what think y…u, Sir, of all Ʋnivocal pr…ductions? When Fire produces Fire, and Corn brings forth Corn; when a Man begets a Man, and one Heat makes another; does not one and the ſame word as a Genus comprehend the efficient and the effect? And is it not in theſe a certain maxime, tha…, Qualis eſt cauſatalis eſt effectus; ſuch as the Cauſe is in nature, ſuch alſo is the effect? And I h…pe you will think it lawfull for things of the ſame nature to be comprehended under the ſame Genus: Nay, are not theſe diſtinguiſhed from equivocal productions, becauſe in theſe, Effectum eſt ejuſdem rati…nis cum efficiente; but in the other, efficiens non convenit cum effectu in eadem forma, ſed eminenter illam c…ntinet? Nay, does not your own Scheibler, as well as Suarez (both whom you ſo ſeriouſly commend to the Doctor's peruſall) tell you that Cauſa univoca, eſt quae pr…ducit effectum ſimilem in ſpecie? But methinks, Sir, if (ſince your more noble, more ſerious employments in the Study and writing of Scholaſticall and Practicall Divinity) you had thought ſit to neglect ſuch Vulgar Authors, and to forget the Common Notions and Maximes delivered by them; yet you ſhould at leaſt have obſerved, this in your reading of Aquinas, that in his Sums does frequently deliver this doctrine, and makes very good uſe of it. And now, Sir, I hope you will think it lawfull for things of the ſame Nature to be comprehended under the ſame Genus; For where, I pray, will you rank the ſeveral individualls of the ſelf-ſame Species (for ſuch are all Ʋnivocall Cauſes, and Effects, as is plain from Senſe and Experience) if not under the ſame Genus?
I might prove the groſſe and palpable falſhood of your Major. Sir, by divers inſtances drawn from equivocall productions, where the Cauſe and Effect muſt be placed in the ſame predicament, and conſequently under the ſame remote Genus at leaſt, which is ſufficient to deſtroy your Major. When the Sun and Stars produce Gold and Silver, and Braſſe, and other Mineralls, when they produce S…ones of all ſorts and kinds in the Bow…lls of the Earth, are not the cauſe and the effect, at leaſt as ſpecies ſubalternae, placed under the ſi…ne Genus of ſubſtantia Corporea? When an Aſſe begets a Mule, or a Man produces Wormes and Vermin in his Head and Entrailes; and when a Woman brings for m…nſtr…ous births inſtead of L…gitimate iſſues, as Serp…nts, Moles and Froggs, and other ſuch like (of which among Phyſitians there are ma…y true ſtories) I pray, Sir, muſt not the cauſe, and effect be both ranged under the ſame immediate Genus proximum, which is Animal? So when light produces Hea…, are not the Cauſe and the Effect both put in the ſame Predicament under the ſame Genus of Patible Qualities? To keep cloſer to the buſineſs more immediately in controverſie. The habit of Love effectively concurrs with the will of to the production of the inward Acts of Love, and yet I ſay that love as a G…nas is Equally predicated of the habit, and the inwa…d Acts of Love, as has already been demenſtrated, and may in due time b… further proved, notwithſtanding any thing you have, or can ſay to the contrary. And this is abundantly more than ſufficient to ſhew the fa…ſho…d of your Major, when you ſay that no one word can as a Genus (whether proximum or remotum, ſ…mmum, or ſubal…e…um) (for you …bſ… lutely deliver it) equally comprehend the Efficient and the Effect.
The Major which you ſay Is moſt ridiculouſly falſe, and againſt which you make ſo horrible an Out-cry, I ſhall fortifie by three reaſons.
The 1. Is becauſe Genus Analogum non praedicatur aequaliter dae ſpeciebus. But now Analogy, viz. Attributionis Intri…ſecae, conſiſts in dependency, from which Effective dependency is not excluded; as is maintained by the generality of the ancient Thomiſts, by my Maſter, Scheibler. Metaph. lib. 2. cap. 1. art. 3. cap. 3. tit. 5. art. 1. And by Scheibler's Maſter, Suarez, M… taphyſ. di p. 28. ſ. 3. diſp. 32. ſ. 2. n. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. By …en…us a Frier Ca melite, Diſcep. in Univerſ. Logic. p. 113. Martinus Exercit. Metaph. p. 521. And by divers others as you may ſee in Stalio Reg. Philoſoph. p. 397. And upon this account is it, that Ens is made to be Gerus Analogum to Ens creatum, and increatum, to ſubſtantia and accidens. And I have read in the Manuſcript of a Great Philoſopher of the Ʋniverſity of Oxford, that for this reaſon Quali…as is ge…us Analogum, becauſe of the Dependency that Habi…s hath upon Potentia.
I know this is to be underſtood with many Limita…ions, with which I ſhall not now Cumber the Reader: and beſides, I am not Ignorant that 'tis Oppoſed by many Moderne Philoſ…phers.
But however it hath ſo Great and Learned Patrons, and they br…ng ſo good Rea…ons for this their Opinion, as that no modeſt man will Cenſure it to be a m…ſt Ridiculus Propoſition.
Se…ondly, No word that is predicated of things Secundum prias, et p…ſterius, is predicated of them equally, as genus univ…cum of its ſpecies, for the equality that diſtinguiſheth genus univocum from analogium, *Pro hac Sententia vid…tur militare, qu…d habet A…iſtotles in cap. de …dis ſimul e… dicens quae ex e…d…m g…nere in divi…ione ſibi invicem opponuntur, eſſe natura ſimul. Atqui ſpecies immediate unum genus reſpicientes, ex codem genere in diviſione ſibi in vicem opponuntur, …ut albedo & nigredo, in quas color dividitur. Sunt igitur natura ſimul. Quod ſi natura ſimul iunt, n…n poteſt una ab altera dependere in participando genere. Stallio. Reg. …biloſoph. p. 397.is ae…ualitas ordinis, not dignitatis. But whatſoever is predicated of the Efficient Cauſe and the Effect, is predicated ſecundum prius and p…ſterius: Erg… nothing that is predicat…d of the Efficient and the Effect, is predicated of them equally as genus un vicum.
Thirdly, Species totius generis univoci, are ſimul natura: but the Efficient Cauſe and the Effect, are not ſimul natura: And therefore they are not ſpecies of the ſame genus.
And thus have I ſufficiently provided for my Major; as for your Arguments againſt it, they had need be very ſtrong, and convincing, for otherwiſe indifferent Readers will judge your Vociferation againſt it, being with ſo full a mouth, to be Frontleſſe. But let them be what they will, let us hear them.