1. The power or ability of cogitation ; " * Thoughts are properly " the actings and agitations of the mind, or any actual operation " of the understanding.'*' They are the musings of the mind, which are acted in the speculative part of the understanding. It is observable that the f Hebrew word mw suach, which is used for meditation, or thinking, signifies both to think and to speak in the mind. When the understanding, or mind resolves, and meditates the things that come into it, that very meditation is an inward speaking, or hidden word in the heart, Deut. xv. 9- " Be- " ware, lest there be a thought in thy wicked heart," as some ren-
* A/tfVO/a, cogitatio est mentis agitatio Pas. vel actio mentis. Zanch. T niU/ cum jmncto sinistro, locutus est ore, ant corde : et diaXoyi C^o/MOCt est strrru cinari intra se, i. e. apud se in avimis sin's. Mat. xx'u 25.
50-i A TltEATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
der it: In the Hebrew it is rps1? &y -on "a word in thy heart." So Mat. ix. 3, 4. erarov */ avror$, M they spake within themselves," i. e. " they thought in their hearts/' The objects presented to the mind are the companions with whom our hearts talk and converse.
Thoughts are the figments and creatures of the mind : They are formed within it, in multitudes innumerable. The power of co- gitation is in the mind, yea, in the spirit of the mind.
" * The fancy indeed, whilst the soul is embodied, ordinarily, " and for the most part presents the appearances and likenesses of " things to the mind ;" but yet it can form thoughts of things which the fancy can present no image of, as when the •)• soul thinks of God, or of itself. This power of cogitation goes with the soul, and is rooted in it when it is separated from the body ; and by it we speak to God, and converse with angels, and other spirits in the unbodied state, as will be more fully opened in the process of this discourse.
2. The conscience belongs also to this faculty ; for it being the judgment of a man upon himself, with respect or relation to the judgment of God, it must needs belong to the understanding part or faculty. " Thoughts are formed in the speculative, but \ co?i- " conscience belongs to the practical understanding.,, It is a very high and awful power ; it is solo Deo mi nor, and rides (as Joseph did) in the second chariot ; the next and immediate officer under God. He saith of conscience with respect to every man, as he once said of Moses with respect to Pharaoh. " See I have made thee a " god to Pharaoh," Exod. vii. 1. The voice of conscience is the voice of God ; for it is his vicegerent and representative. What it binds on earth, is bound in heaven : and what it looseth on earth is loosed in heaven. It observes records, and bears witness of all our ac- tions ; and acquits and condemns, as in the name of God, for them. Its consolations are most sweet, and its condemnations most terrible : so terrible, that some have chosen death, which is the king of ter- rors, rather than to endure the scorching heat of their own con- sciences. The greatest deference and obedience is due to its com- mand, and a man had better § endure any rack or torture in the world, than incur the torments of it. It accompanies us as our
* Phantasia menti offert phantasmatn. Picol.
f When we think of Gcd, saith Max. Tyr. Diss. i. we must think of nothing ma- terial, MTZ /JMytQog, f^re ^p,a«. (xrtTi uXko r/ vXr^ rraQog, i. e. Neither magni- tude nor colour, nor any other property of matter.
t Judicium appello conscientiamy ut ad inteUectum earn pertinere ostendam. Ames.
§ What deaths would I not chuse ? What punishment would I not undergo ? Yea, into what vault of hell would I not rather chuse to be thrown, than to witness against my conscience f
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAX. 505
shadow wherever we go : and when all others forsake us, (as at death they will) conscience is then with us, and is then never more active and vigorous than at that time. Nor doth it forsake us after death ; but where the soul goes, it goes, and will be its companion in the other world for ever. How glad would the damned be if they might but have left their consciences behind them, when they went hence ! But as * Bernard rightly says, " It is both witness, "judge, tormentor, and prison ;" it accuseth, judgeth, punisheth, and condemneth.
And thus briefly of the understanding, which hath many offices, and as many names from those offices.
It is sometimes called wit, reason, understanding, opinion, wis- dom, judgment. And why we bestow so many names upon one and the same faculty, the learned author of that small, but excellent •f* tract de anima, gives this true and ingenious account.
The wit, the pupil of the souVs clear eye,
And in maris world the only shining star, Looks in the mirror of the fantasy,
Where all the gatherings of the senses are ; And afler by discoursing to and fro,
Anticipating and comparing things, She doth all universal natures know,
And all effects into their causes brings.
When she rates things, and moves from ground to ground,
The name of reason she obtains by this : But when by reason she the truth hath found,
And standethjix'd, she understanding is. When her assent she lightly doth incline
To either part, she is opinion light : But when site doth by principles define
A certain truth, she hath true judgment's sight.
And as from senses, reason's work doth spring:
So many reasons understanding gain ; And many understandings knowledge bring,
And by much knowledge wisdom we obtain.
VI. God hath endued the soul of man not only with an under- standing to discern, and direct, but also a will to govern, moderate, and over-rule the actions of life.
* Ipsaju4icat, ipsa imperat, ipsa observat, ipsa torter, ipsa career. Bern. lib. de Consc. cap. 9.
f Nosce teipsum, p. 48, 49.
506 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAX.
The will is a faculty of the rational soul, whereby a man either chuseth or refuseth the things which the understanding discerns and knows.
This is a very high and noble power of the soul. The under- standing seems to bear the same relation to the will, as a grave counsellor doth to a great prince. It glories in two excellencies, viz.