More, Henry (1614-1687)

The Immortality of the Soul, so Farre Forth as it is Demonstrable from the Knowledge of Nature and the Light of Reason

London

Printed by J. Flesher, for William Morden

1659

"Which must therefore necessarily take place, in a far greater measure, in the other state; where our outward form is wholy framed from the inward Imperium of our Minde."

4. But what we have said concerning the purity and impurity of this light, remindes me of what is of more sutable consequence to discourse of here, which is the Splendour and Beauty of personal shape in the better sort of the Genii. Which assuredly is greater or lesser, according to the degrees of Vertue and moral Affections in them. For even in this Body, that is not so yielding to the powers of the Mind, a man may observe, that according as persons are better or worse inclined, the aire of their visage will alter much, and that vicious courses, defacing the inward pulcritude of the Soul, doe even change the outward countenance to an abhorred hue. Which must therefore necessarily take place, in a far greater measure, in the other state; where our outward form is wholy framed from the inward Imperium of our Minde: which by how much more pure it self is, it will exhibit the more irreprehensible pulcritude in the outward feature and fashion of the Body, both for proportion of parts, the spirit and aire of the Countenance, and the ornament of cloaths and attirings: there being an indissoluble connexion in the Soule of the Sense of these three things together, Vertue, Love, and Beauty; of all which she her self is the first Root, and especially in the separate state, even of outward Beauty it self: whence the converse of the most vertuous there must needs afford the highest pleasure and satisfaction; not onely in point of rational communication, but in reference to external and personal complacency also. For if Vertue and Vice can be ever seen with outward eyes, it must be in these aerial Vehicles, which yield so to the Will and Idea of good and pure affections, that the Soule in a manner becomes perfectly transparent through them, discovering her lovely beauty in all the efflorescencies thereof, to the ineffable enravishment of the beholder.
(III.viii.4, pp. 410-2)

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Henry More, The Immortality of the Soul, so Farre Forth as it is Demonstrable from the Knowledge of Nature and the Light of Reason (London: Printed by J. Flesher, for William Morden, 1659). <Link to EEBO>

03/29/2012