against Ramoth of Gilead were welcome but only Miche◅s who pronounced the contrary was put in prison and yet they were false and this true Let vs beware of the like least that fauour and grace deceiue vs in this matter Let vs take the ballance of equity and weigh the reasons propounded if they be good they wil weigh downe whatsoeuer shall be opposed and if they bee currant they will endure the touch let vs then try the first Huart a great Philosopher of Spaine maintaines that the vnderstanding hath his beginning his increase and his constitution and then his declining like vnto a man hee meanes his body for the vnderstanding is the most excellent part of man and like other Creatures and plants And for this cause hee that will learne at what age hi◅ vnderstanding is most strong and vigorous let him know that it is from 33. vnto fifty at what time the gravest Authors should be made if during their liues they haue had contrary opinions Hee that wil write bookes should compose them at this age neither before or after if hee will not retract or alter them Hitherto Huart which experience doth confirme for we see that as a man doth aduance in age he growes in wisedome and Iesus himselfe made true man aduanced in wisedome and stature Contrariwise age declining the spirit decaies in memory in quicknesse in vnderstanding so as man being very old hee becomes twice a child fumbling with his tong doating in minde As for that the Testators say that they are sound in minde it is to shew that neither age nor sicknesse hath as yet made them lose their spirits and therefore it is a true signe of their decay concluding contrary to the intention of the Author And whereas the labourer spake so diuinely it did not proceed from the neerenesse of death but from the alteration of the temperature of his braine growne whot in the first degree by the force of his infirmity so some women haue prophecied and spoke Latine yet neuer learned it by the same reason of the temperature required yet they die not suddainly in this estate To the 2. Religion proceedes partly from nature partly from institution from nature who to rule all Creatures to make them follow the traine of his order graues in them al a certaine terror indistinct apprehension The Creatures feare man and by this feare are contained in their duties man feares a hidden superiority and maintaines himselfe in society many times hee feares hee knowes not what nor wherefore and therefore it happens that women who are commonly more fearefull are more religious Yea they report of certaine bruite beasts which adore the deity as Elephants yet they do not say that their soules are immortall From institution for as vessells do long retaine the sent of their first liquor wherewith they are seasoned so children maintaine vnto the end the religion wherein they are bred and brought vp although it were the most fantasticke and strange in the world yea if in stead of sauing it should damme them as we may see if we will open our eyes in these times so fertill in religions To the 3. If the soule bee mortall it followeth not that nature hath made any thing in vaine if she hath hope or feare to be immortall it is to encourage it to vertue that is to say to the preseruation of that goodly order and to terrifie it from the infraction thereof if she dies her alteration of the immortality dries away Nature hath also giuen vnto the Bat a desire to see the light of the Sun yet this desire neuer takes effect Finally euery creature flies death and desires life not for a time but for euer and by consequent in their kind desire to be immortall and yet they attaine not to it To the 4. The heart beats continually and is immortal Dogs sleeping dreame and are mortall therefore the vnquiet and vncessant action of the soule can bee no certaine signe of her immortalitie To the Fift Iohn de Seres almost throughout the whole course of his history of France will answer That man findes no miserie but what he seekes The philosophers yea Diuines will say that felicitie proportionable vnto humaine nature consists in an vpright disposition of his will to carry himselfe according to the reason that is in him towards all things that shall present themselues to make his profit of al things not to trouble himselfe with any thing that can happen in this world and to nourish the seeds of vertue which are sowen in his mind To the Sixt Solon will answer that it is a hard matter to please all men some complaine of the shortnes of life if we obserue it these are such as haue prodigally consumed thēselus at cardes dice and haue not found it but toolate Others complaine of the length and cut it off before their time But Seneca wiser then either well say that wee must not be carefull to liue long but enough to liue long is a worke depending of destinie to liue enough is of the minde The life is long if it be full and it is full when the spirit affects her good and tranfers her power to her selfe O excellent speech hee that hath eares let him heare Let vs proceed certen creatures liue longer then man and which Rauens Stags the Phenix I doubt it much as for the Phenix it is a fabulous thing for Stags we know not any thing but by a writing which was found about a Stags necke Caesar gaue me this if it were the first Caesar it is long since but it might be some other whilest that the Emperours reigned in France and that is not long As for the Rauen a most importune and vnfortunate bird who hath tryed it But admit this were true there were but two or three excepted out of the generall rule of nature which is that man her chiefe worke liues longer then any other creature and it is her pleasure to except from the generall as we see else where ceasee then to blame that which you should commend and admire To the Seuenth and last simbolizing much with the second you must receiue the same answer And moreouer there is not found any generous instinct in the soule of man which appeares not as great in brute beasts for the preseruation and defence of their yong As for the confession pretended so easie of an offence committed the diuerse kinds of tortures invented to wrest it out in iustice belie it but you will say they are inwardly tormented how know you that who can see nothing but the exterior part Answere The doctrine of the humaine soule depends of a superior knowledge that is of the Metaphisicke whereof the rule is the Canon of the old and new Testament man must not presume to thinke he can fully comprehend it her perfect intelligence is reserued for vs exclusinely for euer when we shall behold it in
his age giues some light contributes discourses and lends him Counsell Memorie a faithfull register keepes a Iournall booke of all and will quickned by the goodly obiect which presents it selfe to the vnderstanding giues her consent and keepes all ioyfull so as by the Imagination which is alwayes ready at the first sommons that which hath once pleased the minde is often repeated and these are the last and goodliest degrees of life after which a wise man should prepare himselfe to decline it he will not doe it willingly his owne temper which had raised him will draw him force him thereunto maugre his resistance the naturall heate diminisheth the Imagination which consists in a certaine point of heat growes weake the radicall moysture consumes and the memorie is lost reason doats for that the memorie is not firme enough nor the Imagination strong to conclude the will can no more loue any thing shee is still wayward and displeased and the vnderstanding doth nothing but doaâ—…e for that the vigour and vertue of the sences is decayed they which were wont to make a faithfull report of al things in this world vnto the soule haue no more any power the sight growes dimme the hearing hardned the smelling verie dull the mouth without tast the body without appetite the hands knotted with the Goute Finally it is no more what it was And how then should these building of the bodie subsist seeing the foun dations decay daily This facultie which desired and receiued sustenance is altogether distasted that fierie vertue which did concoct it suffers it to goe downe all rawe finally that power which did nourish and giue strength vnto the body is now become vnable so aâ—… the bodie withers growes crooked and leane and in the ende dyes Thou doest imagine O 〈◊〉 that this last period of â—…y bodies fayling is very horrible thou doest beleeue it but thou art deceiued seeing it giues a finall end to all other defects which troubled thee made thee wayward Alas wouldest thou alwaies liue languish in this pittifull infancie to which thy many yeares doe reduce the remember what thou sometimes desired seeing these old men twise children when as thy reason and iudgement being â—…ound and perfect made thee conceiue what a pittie and miserie it was to liue in that estate remember I said that thou desiredst not to liue so long now the effect of thy desire the ende of thy life offereth it selfe which thou canst not nor maist in reason refuse The third Obiection The Losse of Happines causeth an insupportable griefe Death is the losse of happinesse Therefore c. THe rest of the minde is the happinesse of life to the which man iâ—… led of himselfe if he doth not wretchedly resist it for his owne reason makes him easely and distinctly to know his soule his bodie and those thing which are for his body she teacheth him that onely his soule is his and that his body and those things which concerne it depend of an other and therfore should not affect them but so far as they are profitable and not be troubled for any accident that shall befall them as not concerning him seeing it toucheth not the soule so as the spirituall and bodily infirmities to which the body is subiect as pouertie reproach and disdayne of men which may happen to a man without deâ—…rt should be indiffereÌ„t vnto him seeing they are out of his power As for that which is in his power as to allowe desire poursue the good and good things which are honest and according vnto reason and contrariwise to hate and flye the euill hee applyes himselfe 〈◊〉 â—…o easâ—…y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contâ—… vnlesse 〈◊〉 death commâ—… betweene doâ—… interâ—…pt this happiâ—… and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Answer It is true that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 doth 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parts at all 〈◊〉 aâ—…d in â—…uery place And it is also true that the very meanes â—…o attaiâ—…e vnto it is veâ—…ue But it is likewise 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 the one nor the other can be obtained in this life all wee can haue is but a shadowe of the one and the other as far different from the â—…ffect as night is from day for night is the shadow and the day is the light of the Sun which is 〈◊〉 cause â—…hat they which in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oâ—… a 〈◊〉 full of dagerous beasts being surprized by night desire nothing more 〈◊〉 to see day appaâ—… so 〈◊〉 that are in this life should desire nothing but to see the day of the Lord the Sun of Iustice to shine vpon thâ—…m Iâ—… they 〈◊〉 it noâ—… they are not tâ—…ue â—…n but â—…tish hauing taken the habit of beasts But to answer more categorically to these Sâ—…oicks 〈◊〉 especially â—…o Epictâ—… from whom this obiection is drawne to say that the bodie and those externall thingâ—… which happen vnto man should not bee respected of him it is the farthest from reason that can be euen to the vulgar fort who whollie runne after honour riches and pleasure and to say that a man in some great Infirmitie either of bodie or minde feeles no paine were to make a iest of himselfe Aristotle called the â—…ye of reason is not of that opinion these are his words in his Booke of Manners It is impossible faith hee or verie hard that any one should do wel without means and preparation Many things are effected by friends by wealth by credit and authoritie and they that are depriued of these thinges blemish their happinesse like vnto them that are issued from obscure parents who neither haue children nor good children or that are crooked For he is not perfectly happie that is deformed of a base race and without issue This is too much see what Antipater one of the great authors of the Stoicks sayth who attributs something although but little to exterior things But what sayth Seneca the wise man writes that he is happie yet he can neuer attaine vnto that Soueraigne good vnlesse the naturall Instruments be propicious And although the bodie and the exterior things be not the soule which is the principal seaâ—… of happines yet are they accessories Instruments and meanes which God hath ordayned and vnited and therefore they should tast of the happinesse of the soule if there be any as the fire dâ—…sperseth his heat in the ayer that doth enuiron it As for the other ground of this imaginarie felicitie that man doth easily apply himselfe to seeke that onely which is honest and according vnto reason it is a greater Parodoxe then the precedent for the most vertuous man in the world hath a continual combate against vice is neuer at truce how then hath he any peace or rest The eye oâ—… his vnderstanding is dazeled at the shinning of his â—…oueraigue good his wil straies from the true ende or in ayming mistakes one for an other and therefore most commonly if hee
of man the deprauation of his will he wils not that which hee should and wils that which hee should not that which hee should do is conformable to nature to reason to vertue whereof the Law is written in his heart and the seed cast in his spirit Other creatures moue speedily and easily to that which is proper vnto them and seemely and contrariwise they go vnwillingly and by force to that which is repugnant to their nature But men they reioyce when they haue done euill they take delight in their impious works saith wife Salomon Man drinkes sinne as the fish doth water saith Iob. Yea the corruption is so generall as it is become a prouerb It is a humane thing to erre he thoght so who to excuse his sinne of adultery said The night loue wine and my yong age perswaded me vnto it c. Finally wil you see a great signe of great misery in the spirit of man which is that he is neuer content with his condition an other pleaseth him better Other creatures apply themselues easily to the course that is offered vnto them seeke no change it is the property of sicke persons to affect sometimes one thing sometimes an other to change beds hourely as if in the bed only consisted the remedy of their griefe they desire one kind of meate and are presently distasted Wee sayeth S. Gregory borne in the misery of this pilgrimage are presently loathed we know not what we should desire and a little lower In the end we grow into a consumption for that we are distasted of euery thing and we are wonderfully tired with the want of eating and drinkking Saint Chrysostome doth also sharpely censure this fitrious dainty for that euery man doth commonly complaine of that whereunto he is most bound as if it were an insupportable charge Homil. 60. Cleobulus in Plutarke obseruing the inconstancy and foolish demands of many sent them for answere to the mother of the moone On a time sayd he the moone intreated her mother to make her a little garment that might sit close to her body And how is it possible answe red shee seeing that sometimes thou doest encrease then thou art full and after decreasest If now from this most eminent part of the soule wee descend vnto the sensitiue how many men are borne blind or deafe and dumbe or lame or in some other part counterfeite and monstrous who although they were not so in the beginning yet are growne so how few be there but feele it in their old age Looke into other Creatures if you finde these defects In man that facultie of anger which was giuen him as a strong man at armes to repulse all that outwardly should offer to trouble him behold how it seeks to domineere ouer reason how it treads it vnder foote and turnes man into a madd dog to bite and into a Scorpion to flatter and sting and into worse then that Let vs proceede and leauing those naturall infirmities Let vs obserue the accidentall How many haue endured an vnspeakable torment by thirst which hath forced them to drinke their owne vrine yea that of others Then hunger which could not abstaine from humaine bloud but hath fallon vpon dead carcasses and liuing men not onely vpon strangers but euen mothers vpon their own children deuowring them cruelly and greedily whereof the sacred historie and Pagan is full Thirdly there is so great paine to maintaine this dying life that man in this world hath lesse rest then a Mill Asse Man is borne to labour as a bird to flie sayth the holy writ and the Eternall cries from heauen Thou shalt eate thy bread with the sweate of thy browes Doe not tell me that this is no generall Law it is for without exception hee that trauells not with his bodio trauels in minde thinke you that ambitious and voluptuous men yea theeues are not more troubled and vexed then handy-crafts men If you reply that at the least students are happie yea in com parison of them that are more miserable but being considered absolutely they haue their part of miserie by their sitting life which is necessarie to meditation they haue sooner filled their bodies with diseases then their soules with knowledge Moreouer he that adds know ledge adds torment sayth the wise man and yet most part of students haue no sooner learned the tongues the instruments of sciences nor the principles but they must leaue all eyther through death which cutsthem off or through age which tends vnto it which depriues them of all ablenes memorie industrie sight c. Wherefore one dying complaynes that when he began to know many things and to gouerne his life well he was called out of life Another beginnes his booke with these words Life is short the arte long the occasion hasty the experience dangerous the iudgement difficult as if he would say Miserable man who cannot possibly for his short continuance for his weeke iudgement for the slownesse of his flesh for the slippery estate of the world attaine vnto that knowledge which is so necessary for him But this is not all we haue yet but lightly runne ouer the miseries which man hatcheth in his bosome they which assayle him without are more violent Hee hath his God and Lord interessed and angry against him wee are all borne the children of wrath the whole world makes warre against him and what wonder is it seeing that hee that rules it is his enemy he is infe sted with the incursions of spiritual malices which dwelling in the most cloudy ayer are alwayes ready like carrion kites to fall vpon the prey of man Man is alwayes to man in al places a troublesome enemy and the ancient prouerbe sayeth That man is a wolfe to man and the more meanes he hath to hurt the more dangerous hee is and in truth neuer Tigers Onces or Lyons haue so torne men in pieces as the Phelares the Busines the first Emperors the Massachiers the Spaniards at the West Indies Fourthly there is not any little Creature which doth not shoote out the darts of his poore splene against man being grieued to see such a Tyrant reigne vpon the 〈◊〉 Fiftly the heauen fire ayre sea sand are armed against him dart out against him their wenimous influences lightening and hayle They shake him with their earthquakes they swallow him with there opening they drowne him they burne him If thou thinkest in fayre weather to walke into thy Garden to recreate thy selfe the Aspike attends thee in ambush vnder ome flower or herbe which thou doest intend to gather If thou doest enter into a strangers house the mastiue will take thee by the thigh if into thine owne yet art thou not without feare for thine owne dog may be madd byte thee and make thee mad Fynally that which exceeds all these miseries is that when thou shalt thinke thy selfe most safe a thousand vnexpected accidents may ouerthrow thee
All braue Comedians bend their spirits wholly to act their parts well and reioyce at the Comedy Men liuing in the world are Comedians Therefore braue men should bend their spirits to liue wel and to ioy at the end of life THe Island of the Hermaphrodites begins his discourse with these verses The world 's a stage and man is a Comedy One beares the bable th' other acts the folly So Epictetus spake to the men of this time Imagine that you play a morall Scene vpon this Theater of the world in the which you act what part it pleaseth the master if short short if long loÌ„g If he wil haue thee represent a begger or a lame man a King or a rogue thou must act it as naturally as thou canst and onely feare to faile but in the end clap hands in signe of ioy The good and the end are conuertible tearms saith Plato in Philebus Aristonimus sayd that the life of man was like a Theater on the which the most wicked held the first rankes Aeneas Syluius writes that our life is a comedy whereof the last act is death He is then no good Poet sayth hee that doth not order al the acts wel and discreetly vnto the end he would say that it is not sufficient to liue well but we must die well vntill which no man can be held happie by the saying of Solon yeaeof Saloman for man sayd he shall be knowne by his children Caesar Augustus lying in the bed of death and feeling himselfe at the last periode of life sayd often to his friends Haue I acted my personage well in this place haue I pronounced my part well had I a good grace What thinke you Goe then giue a Plaudite and clappe your hands This life is a verie stage on which some mount vp to be actors others stay below to be spectators and then after the Catastrophe euery one must make his retreat into the last house If the ancients in their simplicitie had reason to vse this comparison wee in this age haue much more for we liue not at this day but by shewes and fictions in most the outward countenance is the maske of the inward man dissembling which hath euer increased since the Kings time who would haue his sonne learne no other Latiue but these words Quinescit dissimulare nescit regnare not to defend himselfe carefully but to practise it seriously during his whole reigne In olde time they detested that speech of Lysanders That when the Lyons skinne will not serue wee must sowe on the Foxes but at this day there are none more esteemed and honoured then such as can cunningly offer their seruice vpon all occasions who can make a shewe of friendship to allure who haue their welcome and at parting many submissions and humble conges But it is to lull him asleepe and to practise some supercherie they wilkisse the hand which they would gladly see burnt Let euery man take heede of his most inward friend â—…aigh Ieremie c. 〈◊〉 Trust not in any brother for euery brother makes a practise to supplant and a bosome friend goes away detracting If then how much more now Let then our courteous Courtiours be suspect vnto vs and see what the fore named treatie of Hermaphrodites sayeth in the Chap. of the Entregent This booke represents to the life the wicked abominations of France if we vnderstand it as it is written the prohibition for the allowaÌ„ce mean thy antiphrasis Finally at this â—…day the most peopled towne are full of Monsters which counterfet the voice of pastors to draw men vnto them eate them like bread Oh what safety is there among so many wolues disguised like sheepe among so many enemies carrying the face of friends Vppon this occasion Salomon cryes out in his time That he had beheld all the wrongs which were done vnder the Sunne and seeing the teares of them that suffer wrong haue no comfort for that they which doe the wrong are the stronger Ecceles 4. In these times the oppressed not onely finde no support but they meet with deceitfull men who vnder the color of Iustice deuoure the remainder of their substaÌ„ce Oh whatsafety This peruers age is a very Sodome God attends but our retreat to rainedown fire brimstone and burning flames Let vs beware when the Angell of the Eternall shal take vs by the hand when the voyce of God shall call vs let vs not looke backe againe like vnto Lots wife by a treacherous greefe for this treacherous life but rather let vs sing with ioy the song of the Lambe who hath giuen himselfe for our sinnes to the end he may retyre vs out of this wretched world as S. Paul speaks The 23. Argument taken from the effects of Death Whosoeuer hath a will to bee sacred and inuiolable should affect death Euery liuing man should haue that will THIS Argument is drawne from the Law of nature which speaking by Chilon Solon doth pronounce the dead to bee very happy and forbids to curse the dead and in truth a man cannot wrong his honour more then in speaking iniuriously of him who cannot answere It is the fact of cowards to fight with the tong against them that can make no reply and to pull a dead man out of his graue It is a duty of piety to hold them that are departed out of this world sacred inuiolable If the last words of a dying man be blessings as Iob doth witnesse desiring them to come vpon him as Iacob did practise it vpon the Patriarkes as Saint Ambrose doth expound as experience doth teach what esteeme should wee make o him whose soule being separated from the body doth conuerse with Angells in heâ—…n And is it not very reasonable not to depraue them which cease to be seeing they are not to bee layd hold on but it is most iust to make an end of hatred by the death of thine enemy Pausanias King of Sparta vnderstood it and did practice it who hauing slaine Mardonius Lieutenant to the King of Persia in battell he was aduised by Lampon a man of great authority to cause him to bee hanged for that he had done the like to King Leonidas No no sayd hee that were to dishonor my selfe and the Country which thou doest so magnifie if I should bee cruell against a dead man it were an act befitting Barbarians and not Grecians who cannot allow of such disorders And in truth it is the act of fearefull confusion to tears in sunder the skin of a dead Lyon It is an act befitting the fain the arted 〈◊〉 before Troy to insult ouer dying Hector But it is the property of a generous Lyon to resist them that make head against him and to passeon and not to strike him that falls flat to the earth like a dead man 〈◊〉 Nature speakes heere It is a villanie and an vnworthy foolery to fight against the dead it is for
the body she should haue some actions without the body But this is not true ARistotle saith that the soule in the body vnderstandeth nothing but by her conuersation with the Ideas which the imagination represents vnto her whether that shee gets new knowledge or contemplates that which is gotten But the Ideas perish with the body and by consequence the soule Answer The excellent effects of the soule suffice to conuince her presence and essence as for the vnderstanding it is double passiue and actiue and these two faculties remaine still although the figures which imagination hath furnished bee vanished So a man in the bottome of an obscure Caue hath not lost his faculty of seeing although hee cannot plainely iudge of colours But the soule you will say vnderstands not any thing beeing out of the body seeing that within it she vnderstands not any thing without him It followes not That great Workman who after a manner incomprehensible to vs hath vnited and ioyned the soule vnto the body two such different natures without any apparent meane to reconcile them that great workeman I say is powerfull to furnish new meanes to her operations when hee hath called it vnto him and what wee shall know when it shall be fit In the meane time if we will beleeue Thomas Aquinas it shall be by the conuersion of the soule to things which are simply intelligible as the other spirituall substances doe Iesus Christ also hath vouchsafed to teach vs that in heauen we shall be like vnto the Angels Let vs not then trouble our selues heere no more then for the childe comming into the world In the mothers wombe it liued by the nauell this meanes is cut off by his birth but nature hath prouided him a mouth another passage in another life It is euen so of the soule it is nourished in this corruptible life by a carnall meanes and in the heauenly by another which is spirituall But you will reply that the soule is to returne into the body and not the infant into the wombe I answer That it is sufficient the similitude explaining the thing shewes it not to be impossible Moreouer it is not likely that in the Resurrection the body which shall bee spirituall should furnish the same meanes for the actions of the soule as it doth in this life but this businesse is too intricate Let vs put in practise what S. Augustine propounds vnto vs Let not the soule saith he labour do fore know it selfe absent but to know it selfe well being present and how much shee differs from other things Aso shee hath not taken her forme from Christ but her saluation and therefore the Sonne of God descended and tooke vpon him mans soule not to the end the soule should know it selfe in Christ but that shee should know Christ within her selfe for by the ignorance of her selfe her saluation is not onely in danger but by the ignorance of the eternall word as Tertullian doth learnedly teach lib. de Car. Christ. The third Obiection If the soule of man were immortall it should also be immateriall But she is materiall IF the soule bee materiall she is dissoluble into her first matter with all other sublunary things but she is materiall if shee proceedes from the Fathers seede as Tertullian Origen and other ancient moderne Diuines thinke and mainetaine it by their written bookes And in truth how can it bee said that the infant is the sonne of his father if hee hold nothing from him but his basest part the body not his form not his soule how could the holy Ghost say that all the soules which came out of Iacobs thigh were 66 How can originall sinne flow from the father vpon the sonne which hath no seat but in the soule And this made S. Augustine doubt in his fourth booke of the beginning of the soule the which he did write being olde to doubt I say of this beginning not daring to deliuer his opinion and some more hardy haue maintained that she proceeded from the congression of the two seedes of man and woman as by the striking of the iron against the stone fire comes forth Answer The principall foundation of the immortality of the soule is the word of God so they which haue had more feeling of this word haue better acknowledged it as Zoroastres Mercurius Trismegistes Pithagoras and Plato surnamed the Diuine for that effect but Aristotle Gallen and others who would measure all by humaine reason haue wonderfully deceiued themselues in matters which exceeded this measure as in this Doctrine If then the Obiector will beleeue this witnesse of whom he cites a passage the question will be soone ended the holy Scripture sayth that the Eternall breathed the spirit of life into the nosestrills of Adam he being framed of the slime of the earth the which is not spoken of any other creature In Ecclesiastes it is said that the spirit returnes to God that gaue it Iesus dying cryed out Father into thy hands I commit my soule Hee promiseth to the beleeuing theefe that he shal be that day with him in Paradise finally S. Stephen dying made this prayer Lord Iesus receiue my soule with a thousand other passages As for that which he speakes of the generatiō of the soule we first will oppose the authoritie of Tertullian lib. de Anima c. 13. You mothers sayeth he which are newly deliuered answer the question is of the truth of your nature if you feele in your fruite any other viuacitie from you but what your arteries do breath And for this cause the infant is sayd to be the true sonne of his father and mother from whom the bodie with his Organes proceeded to make which perfect God infused the spirit so as this spirit is made for this bodie and not the body for this spirit simply Moreouer the generation is not ended nor consisteth in the production of the forme or of the matter onely but of all that is composed therfore he that composeth or that ioynes the matter with the forme the flesh with the soule he doth truly ingender man But it is he that makes this coniunction who disposeth so of matter and forme as the soule followes infallibly and it is that which makes man in the generation and man and woman are the begetters of the infant As for the passage of Moses who doth not see the intellectuall figure who means one thing for another the body for the soule by reason of their strict vnion Finally that which made S. Augustin doubt of the generation of the soule was that hee could not comprehend how the sin which dwells in the soule of the father doth pasfe vnto the sonne But that is so plainely fet downe by the Diuines at this day as it is needlesse to speake of here neither were it to the pourpose It sufficeth that the Pagans themselues haue acknowledged that the soule came into man otherwise then from man Aristotle sayes plainly that it is