but he also that omitteth something, is oftentimes unjust.
V. If my present apprehension of the object be right,
and my present action charitable, and this, towards whatsoever
doth proceed from God, be my present disposition, to be well
pleased with it, it sufficeth. VI. To wipe away fancy,
to use deliberation, to quench concupiscence, to keep the mind
free to herself. VII. Of all unreasonable creatures, there is
but one unreasonable soul; and of all that are reasonable,
but one reasonable soul, divided betwixt them all.
As of all earthly things there is but one earth, and but one
light that we see by; and but one air that we breathe in,
as many as either breathe or see. Now whatsoever partakes
of some common thing, naturally affects and inclines unto
that whereof it is part, being of one kind and nature with it.
Whatsoever is earthly, presseth downwards to the common earth.
Whatsoever is liquid, would flow together. And whatsoever is airy,
would be together likewise. So that without some obstacle,
and some kind of violence, they cannot well be kept asunder.
Whatsoever is fiery, doth not only by reason of the elementary
fire tend upwards; but here also is so ready to join,
and to burn together, that whatsoever doth want sufficient
moisture to make resistance, is easily set on fire.
Whatsoever therefore is partaker of that reasonable common nature,
naturally doth as much and more long after his own kind.
For by how much in its own nature it excels all other things,
by so much more is it desirous to be joined and united unto that,
which is of its own nature. As for unreasonable creatures then,
they had not long been, but presently begun among them swarms,
and flocks, and broods of young ones, and a kind of mutual
love and affection. For though but unreasonable, yet a kind