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A72420	The soule is immortall, or, Certaine discourses defending the immortalitie of the soule against the limmes of Sathan to wit, Saducees, Anabaptists, atheists and such like of the hellish crue of aduersaries / written by Iohn Iackson.	Jackson, John, fl. 1611.; Houppelande, Guillaume, d. 1492. De immortalitate animae.; Xenocrates, of Chalcedon, ca. 396-ca. 314 B.C. De morte.; Athenagoras, 2nd cent. De resurrectione.; Palingenio Stellato, Marcello, ca. 1500-ca. 1543.	1611 (1611)	STC 14297a.3; ESTC S116566	64,456	189

Philosophers on all sides rested because of their probable probations and sometime for the assertions of their formors because of necessarie reason And in the same Chapter De alijs astris dicunt Aegiptij et Babilonicj c. Of other Starres doe speake the Aegiptians and Babilonians from whom wee haue many thinges that wee doe beleeue of euery our of those Starres But in the sciences of Astrologie and Astronomie haue flourished the sonnes of Seth Noe Abraham Salomon and the holy Fathers which haue taught Philosophers of secrets Celestiall and Diuine vnto the which they could not haue attained by humaine strength and naturall reason But Iosephus in the first Booke of the Antiquities of the Iewes sayth That Seth when he came to that age that could discerne good thinges gaue him selfe to the studie of Virtue and when he was become an excellent man he left his Sonnes to be followers of himselfe they all being the Sonnes of a good Father tarryed in the same Land liuing most happily without any vexation and first found out the discipline and learning of thinges Celestiall and the trimnesse of them And least they should slide away from men and vtterly perish seeing they had learned of Adam that there should be one extermination of all thinges by Fire and an other by the power and force of Water they made two Pillars one of Brasse and an other of Stone and wrote therein what they had found out of Celestiall thinges that they might leaue vnto men the knowledge of Celestiall secrets And in the Secrets of Secrets it is said That the glorious GOD hath ordained the meane and remedie to temper Humors and preserue Health and how to get many other thinges And hath reuealed it to Prophets and Holy men and others whom he fore-chose and illustrated with the spirit of his Wisedome Of these the men that followed had the beginning and originall of Philosophie Aegiptians Greekes Latines from whom the latter haue drawne and written the principles of Artes and Sciences And sayth he to Alexander it is meete and worthy that he know noble Phisicke which is sayd to be a glory inestimable and is called The Treasure of Philosophers I truely haue neuer truely or perfectly enough learned it neither doe I know who it was that inuented it Some affirme that Adam was the inuentor thereof Some say that it was Esculapius and Hermogenes the Phisition Hirsos and Domasti●● and Mati●dos hebrewes and Dioris and Carus glorious Philosophers Many say that Henooh by a vision knew this secret whom many will haue to be that great Hermogenes whom the Greekes do prayse and to him commend all Science secret celestiall Wherefore in the Prologue of the Books of Hermes Mercurius Triplex Trismegistus it is thus sayd We read in old Histories of Diuines that there were Three Philosophers whereof the first was Henoch who is also called Hermes and Mercurie The second Noe who was called Hermes for he as Albumuzar witnesseth was a great Prophet and first builded peopled Babilon after the Flood and instructed them in knowledge and learning His sonne Sem also taught the Babilonians or Caldeans and deliuered vnto them the science of the Starres The third was called Hermes Mercurius Triplex because he was a King a Philosopher a Prophet hee flourished after the Flood with great equitie gouerned the Kingdome of Aegipt and clearely brightened Astronomie And in the Booke of the Death of Aristotle it is said that After Noe was Abraham borne who being wiser then all did thorowly come to the great degree of Philosophie for he knew that Sol and Luna had a first moouer and therefore he followed not the way of his Father neither of his Kindred that worshipped Idols But as Josephus witnesseth in his Booke of the Antiquities of the Iewes hee preuayled to change innouate that opinion which then all had of God for hee first presumed to pronounce God one God to be the only Creator of all things for he according to the Histories of the Caldeans taught the Aegiptians Arithmeticke and also Astronomie These and many other secrets were planted in Aegipt which are knowne to haue come to the Greekes By the doctrines therefore of these Fathers illuminated from Heauen the Philosophers that came after being informed as it were strengthned by the Oracles of Prophets haue conscribed many glorious Sciences which they could not attaine vnto by the force of mans witte Did not Plato goe into Aegipt to learne Astrologie And there as it is thought of all for the most part hee learned what great thinges soeuer were there had and taught And chiefely these things which are knowne to be agreeing to our Fayth Not that Hieremias as some suppose saw or read the Translation of the Seauentie For Plato was borne almost an hundred yeares from the time that Jeremie prophecied Who seeing that he liued fourescore yeares and one from the yeare of his death to the translation of the seauentie Interpreaters are found threescore yeares Wherefore Ieremie could neither see nor read the Translation of the holy Scriptures seeing hee was dead so long before they were translated into the Greeke tongue But because he was a man of a very sharpe witte as the Aegiptians are hee so did learne the foresayd holy Scriptures by an Interpreater as those thinges in Timaeo which hee there wrote of the trueth of our Religion doe witnesse Out of Aegipt they say that Plato came into Italie and there learned all the doctrine of Pythagoras But of the Immortalitie of mens Soules hee did not onely perceiue and know the same that Pythagoras did but also brought and added thereunto reasons which they afore him in a maner did not Whose Booke of the Immortalitie of the Soule a worke most elegant Cato the later before hee flew himselfe did twise read ouer as Plutarch reporteth which when hee had read he so departed this life that he reioyced that he was borne to the end to die so great surely was the force and power of this Booke to perswade the Immortalitie of mens mindes that Therebrotus a certaine man of Ambrochia when no aduersitie would befall him to end his life he got him vp vpon a very high Wall and cast himselfe into the Sea after that he had read the foresayd Booke of Plato of whom Saint Augustine in his first Booke De ciuitate Dej and the 22. chapter writeth thus Therebrotus libro Platonis vbi de immortalitate animae disputauit se praecipitem dedit e muro vt sic ab ista vita migraret ad eandem quam credidit mehorem 1. Therebrotus when he had read ouer the Booke of Plato where he hath disputed of the Immortalitie of the Soule cast himselfe downe headlong from a Wall that so he might flit away from this life vnto that same which he beleeued to be better The third Conclusion BY vndoubted Fayth and Beliefe it is to be holden that the Soule of euery man is Immortall And

Spirit and Angell doc impudently say that mens Soules are Mortall and die togeather with their Bodyes The Epicures also affirming the Soule to be Mortall doe place the chiefest Good in Pleasures For Epicurus who as it pleaseth the greatest men did moderately vse Hearbes and Apples such meane Meate was afterward by those that came after being a beastly and filthy companie reproched with infamie for his sottish vnbridled Schollers fell into voluptuousnesse and counted themselues to be most happie with the vse thereof All these and many other moe in the reckoning vp of whom it is not profitable for vs for to stay thought mans Soule to be Mortall Whom Plinie seemeth to fauour when he sayeth in his second Booke of his Naturall Historie that God cannot giue men Eternitie nor call againe the Dead And also many Romaines renowned both for fame and learning for Valerius in his seconde Booke of the Immortalitie of the Soule seemeth to mocke the Frenchmen when he saith That old custome of the Frenchmen commeth to my remembraunce who as it is written doe lend Money that it might be payde them againe in Hell because they were certainely perswaded that the Soules be immortall Fooles are they to thinke that they there weare long Garments as Pithago●as beleeued them to weare Cloakes Moreouer Caesar and Cato as Salust witnesseth plainely said that mens Soules were Mortall and many others also of whom it is not necessarie to speake particularly Against whom it is sayd in the second Chapter of the Booke of Wisedome The vngodly say as they falsely imagine with themselues our life is short and tedious and in the death of a man there is no recouerie neither was any knowne that returned from the Graue For wee are borne at all aduenture and we shall be hereafter as though we had neuer been for the Breath is a Smoake in our Nostrels and the Wordes as a Sparke raised out of our Heartes which being extinguished the Body is turned into Ashes and the Spirit vanisheth as the soft Ayre Our life shall passe away as the trace of a Cloude and come to naught as the Miste that is driuen away with the beames of the Sunne and cast downe with the heate thereof Our name also shal be forgotten in time and no man shall haue our workes in remembrance for our time is as a Shadow that passeth away and after our ende there is no returning For it is fast sealed so that no man commeth againe Come therefore and let vs enioy the pleasures that are present and let vs chearefully vse the creatures as in youth c. Then it followeth at the. 21. verse Such things doe they imagine and goe astray for their owne wickednesse hath blinded them And they doe not vnderstaud the mysterie of God neither hope for the reward of righteousnesse nor can discerne the honour of the Soules that are faultlesse And in the third Chapter The Soules of the righteous are in the hand of God no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeared to die and their ende was thought grieuous and their departing from vs. destruction but they are in peace And though they suffer paine before men yet is their hope full of immortalitie c. There are also others of euery sect and nation as well Poets as Philosophers in witte learning fame and glorie more excellent then the former who speaking more rightly of the state of the Soule haue taught that the Soules of men are not dissolued togeather with their bodyes but are immortall or rewarded with eternitie For Hermes talking in his Dialogues with Asclepius about the eternall Word confesseth that the Soules of men are immortall and that the Euill are punished and the Good eternally rewarded Goe to sayth he Wee must now reason of the Mortall and Immortall way or manner The feare of death vexe and trouble many being ignorant of the true way And a litle after When the Soule shall depart from the Body then shall the tryall of his merite passe into the power of the great Iudge and hee when he shall see it to be iust shall permit it to abide in places fit for it But if it be vnrighteous it shall be throwne downe into the great deepe and condemned to the stormes whyrlewinds of the Ayre and the Water and be snatched vp betwixt the Heauen and the Earth and be heere and there tossed haled and turmoyled in eternall paines But in this is eternitie hurtfull vnto the Soule that by the immortall sentence it is tyed to eternall punishment And thy Graunfather Esculapius O Asclepius saith hee the first finder out of Phisicke to whom is consecrated a Temple vpon a Mountaine of Lybea about the shore of Cocodrilli a man of a very godly life is gone backe againe into Heauen The Pharesies also and the Essies doe say that the Iudgement of God shall come and that the Soules of men be immortall Josephus in his second Booke of the Warres of the Jewes sayth this It is a confirmed opinion amongst vs that our Bodies are corruptible and that the matter of them is not perpetuall but our Soules alwayes remaine immortall And when they be losed from their carnall bondes as though they were deliuered or set free from a long seruitude so doe they foorthwith reioyce and are caryed vp on high The Pharesies also beleeued the same which two sectes were best allowed of among the Jewes as the same Iosephus affirmeth And of the Esseis being put to torments the same Josephus sayeth They smiling in the midst of punishings and laughing those to scorne that eschewed torments did constantly yeeld vp their Soules with a certaine hilaritie as though they should at length receiue thē againe And what is meant by that in the Sentences of the Greekes that assure them that remaine content with good things that they shall liue beyond the Occean where is promised vnto them a full fruition of the chiefest Ioyes For there verily say they is the Region which is aggrauated neither with Raine Cold Heate nor any Maladies but the Occean orient and gentle blowing Zephirus is there very pleasant But for euill soules they choose and appoint stormy and wintery places which are full of wailings schrikings and howlings of paines intollerable whose continuance is euerlasting and world with out end According to this same intelligence the Greekes haue faigned that for those whom they call Heros 1. noble and halfe Gods Semidij are sequestrated the Ilands of the blessed but for the Soules of the wicked Hell is destinated wherein also they faigne that there is tormented certaine Sysiphos Tantalusses Ixions and Licias For the Greeke say that Her●i noble and well deseruing Soules indued with immortalitie dwell vp very high in the Ayre whereof Jsiodore sayeth Heroas dicuntur a Junone traxisse nomen Grece enim luno a herba appellatur c. 1. Heroas are sayd to haue drawne their name from Juno for in the Greeke tongue

the Soule he sayth that there are certaine partes that are not separable from their Matters or the thinges whereof they be made or receiue the name and some are separable as Nauta a Nauj The Mariner from the Ship Vt rationalis anima a ratione and therefore hee concludeth that it is separable from other thinges as that which is perpetual from that which is corruptible And in the third Booke of the Soule putting a difference betweene Sensus and Intellectus the Sense and the Vnderstanding hee saith Excellens sensibile corrumpit sensum excellens autem intelligibile non corrumpit intellectum 1 The excellent sensible thing corrupteth the Sense but the excellent intelligible corrupteth not the Vnderstanding Also in the first Booke where the translation that Auarroys expoundeth the Vnderstanding doth seeme to bee a certaine substaunce which is made indeed and is not corrupted And in his Booke De Animalibus the Philosopher enquireth whether all Soules doe come foorth of their bodies and hee answearing saith That it is not possible for corporall Soules to come foorth of the bodyes It therefore remayneth sayth hee that it is the Vnderstanding that cōmeth foorth and only is diuine And he in his twelfth of Metaphysuks ca. 8. sayth The moueing causes as they were made before it so doe they come foorth of it And in the Booke of the death of Aristotle it is written that he lying on his death-bed comforting his schollars concerning the feare of death said vnto them Et vos vt quid turbatis et de morte timetis quae est via et incessus animae recedentis a corpore et ad comprehendendum gradus diuinos et coniungendum se animabus sapientibus et letis 1. And you why are you troubled and are afraid of death which is the gate entring in of the soule departing from the body to comprehend the heauenly wayes or degrees to ioyne it selfe to the soules that are wise and ioyfull After whose death his scholers praied for him saying Deus qui recolligit animas Philosophorum recolligat animam tuam et reponat eam in thesauris suis 1. The God that gathereth togeather the Soules of the Philosophers gather thy Soule and lay it vp in his treasures And Libro secundo posteriorum he reciteth Pythagoras saying That God doth thunder and sounde as one that threatneth that those that are in Tartarus or in Hell may be afraid And in the 4. Booke of his Ethicks hee sayth Although they sinne yet they suffer whatsoeuer punishment is layd vpon them because they say that immortalitie is life euerlasting for the passion of life seemeth immortalitie c. On the contrarie part Aristotle doth sometime seeme to be against the immortalitie of the Soule for in his Praedicaments he sayth Corrupto animali corruptitur scientia non autem scibile scientia autem non est anima ex quo videtur sequi animam interire cum corpore 1 The liuing creature being corrupted the science or knowledge is also corrupted not the thing that may be knowne for the science is not the Soule whereof it seemeth to follow that the Soule doth die with the Body And in his Booke De longitudine et breustate vitae Of the length shortnes of life hee sayth The liuing creatures being corrupted the science is also corrupted and likewise the healthfulnesse and therefore who of these shall reason for the Soule for if it be not of Nature but as science in the Soule so also shall the Soule be in the Body And of the same another corruption besides the corruption wherewith the corruption is corrupted with the Body therefore it must needes be that it hath cōmunion with the body And in the third De anima Non reminiscimur post mortem corum qui in vita sciuimus We haue no remembrance againe of thē after whom we knew while they were aliue And in the third Booke of Ethickes Terribilissimum autemmors terminus enim c. Death is a most terrible and fearefull thing for it is the tearme or end And there seemeth thencefoorth to be vnto the dead neither good nor euill And Septimo Metaph hee determineth of the Intention that Omnes partes quae possunt manere seperatae a toto sunt elementa hoc ect partes matcriales All partes that may remaine being seperated from the whole are Elementes that is to say partes Materiall And Primo de Caelo he seemeth to hold it for vnpossible against Plato Quod aliquid sit factum perpetuū et incorruptibile et hoc de mundo c. That any thing can be made perpetuall and vncorruptible And this is prooued of the world by two reasons which I omit for breuities sake And Quinto phisico he sayth Cuius est principtum eius est finis As is the beginning of a thing so is the end of it Out of which sayinges it seemed to Scotus and to many others also that Aristotle was alwayes doubtfull of the immortalitie of the Soule yea euen vnto the day of his death And he seemeth sometimes to come nearer the one part then the other and sometimes to agree to that hee seemed before to condemne accordingly as the matter whereof hee entreated was more consonant to the one part rather then the other Yet notwithstanding by Scotus leaue in the foresaid sentence he seemeth to mee not to differ frō his maister Plato in this matter and herein my witnesse is Bessario the Cardinall of Nicea in that which he wrote in the defence of Plato and Cicero also whose testimonie amongst all men is most of authoritie sayth in the first Tusculan question Post multorum Philosopherum de animi quidditate recitatas opiniones Aristoteles longe omnibus Platonem semper excipio c. After the recited opinions of many Philosophers touching questioninges of the Soule Aristotle is farre aboue all but I alwayes except Plato a man very excellent both for witte and wisedome and diligence seeing hee embracing receiuing and allowing those foure knowne kindes thought that there was also a fifth Nature The minde is equall for to cogitate and to prouide to speake and to teach and to inuent somewhat and to remember so many seuerall thinges to loue to hate to couet to feare these thinges and such as be like vnto them are not to be found in any one of these foure kindes and therefore he thinketh there is a fifth nature that is without name and so hee calleth the Minde it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Endelcia quasi quandam contanuatam motionem et perennem As it were a certaine continued and euerlasting motion And speaking also of the sentences of the philosophers which we haue put in the first place hee sayth His omnibus sententijs nihil post mortem pertinere ad quenquam potest By all these sentences nothing can belong to any man after death But of the sentence of Aristotle and Plato he sayth afterward Reliquorum sententiae spem afferunt posse

Morcouer the formes or Soules which all men iudge or do thinke to be corruptible to be of themselues wholly corrupted and the corruption of the whole to be as is the corruption of the part are corrupted as the part is corrupted because they are extended hauing part without part and are greater in a great body and lesser in a lesse body This Scotus doth very notably deduct in the fourth Booke That in Nutrition is required a new forme and in the Diminution there floweth not onely the matter but also the thing compounded of the matter and the forme Therefore the Nutrition or Nourishing is called a certaine Generatiō And it is very manifest that in Nutrition there are more partes of the matter in the whole then was before or else the new part of the matter is in the whole without forme which is not to be graunted neither vnder the whole forme because so it is extended hauing part without part or else vnder a new forme and so we haue our purpose or else vnder part of the forme that was before and then euen that leaueth off to perfect part of the matter which before it perfected and so one and the same part of the materiall forme shall slit from one part of the matter vnto to an other part which is inconuenient or that part of the forme being the same it was before doth in like maner perfect part of the matter that it did before and this part of the matter now new And so it shall togeather perfect two perfectable thinges either whereof is fully matchable to it serfe But the reasonable Soule is not extended or stretched out neither greater in a greater body lesser in a lesser Body but it is whole in the whole Body and wholly or altogeather indiuisible in euery part therefore it is an other kind from the corruptible formes and mortall Soules It is a thing well knowne that all men doe desire blessednesse and that it is the end of good men It is also knowne by reason that blessednesse cannot be otherwise then sempiternall Therefore it is well knowne that Man is ordained to some euerlasting perfection which prooueth that the Soule is Immortall The Minor doth Saint Augustine prooue 13. de Trin ap 8. Si beata vita bearum d●●erat c. If so be the blessed sife doe forsake the blessed man hee being therevnto either willing or not willing or neither of them If not willing how is it a blessed life which is so in the Will as it cannot be in the Power If willing how could that life be blessed which he that had it would not haue it verily and indeed But if neither Then such a life cannot in any wise be blessed in such a case when he that it maketh blessed is a stranger from the loue thereof This may in this wise be confirmed Mans Soule is made to be partaker of blessednesse to receiue it and enioy it For this is certaine truly prooued by the clamor of euery Appetite naturall Therefore the Soule is made to receiue either eternall and perpetuall blessednesse or else temporall If the first then the Soule is Immortall and at the length shall be perpetually blessed Now the second cannot be because like as sorrow commeth of those thinges which happen vnto vs against our willes euen so doth it of those thinges that depart from vs against our willes But blessednesse if we should be vnwilling vnto it should perish and become no blessednesse at all for how can we be blessed against our willes And so blessednesse perishing our Soules by a consequent should haue in them selues a feare and griefe and be alwaies sorrowfull whereby it should follow that they should be miserable Also in euery well ordered ciuill gouernement there are appointed rewards to prouoke men to the doing of good and punishmentes to sound the retreat from vices But in the whole gouernement of Mankind good and virtuous men are not sufficiently rewarded nor euill and naughtie men sufficiently punished yea they cannot sufficiently be rewarded nor punished the one by reason of Gods Promise the other because of his Iustice Therefore there is another life in the which shall be giuen to euery one according as his workes shall be For no man could say that the virtuous be rewarded with the pleasures which Epicures enioy and wherewith all they are delighted Neither can it be said that the goods of Fortune as they call them can sufficiently reward the virtuous seeing that for the most part we see the euill men flow in riches delightes prosperitie and all pleasures that their heartes can desire On the contrarie part the Virtuous doe often want these pleasures and delightes and are excruciated with many sundry sharpe showers of Aduersitie What then shall be giuen vnto the iust man that hath abstayned from delightes euen vnto the day of his death and sustayneth sorrowes pouertie aduersitie and tribulations Moreouer the worke of Virtue is better incomparably then the goods of Fortune And as Aristotle witnesseth Honor and Fame and chiefely of those things which are outward goods hence he sayth Maxime grauiter quisque fert suo honore priuatus as wee vse to say in our English Who is so woe begone as first a man and then none But Honor is not a meete or worthy reward for Virtue as the same Aristotle sayth in the seauenth Booke of Ethickes Virtuti perfectae non vtique dignus honor Honor is no worthy reward for perfect Virtue Neither is it auaileable to say That the Virtuous are sufficiently rewarded with essentiall goodnesse that inseparably followeth a good Act. And that the Euill are punished with the paine that inseparably accompanieth an euill Acte which the Doctors call Paenam derelictam Punishment left off and not Punishment inflicted Of which Augustine sayth in his Booke of Confessions Thou hast commaunded Lord and so it is that euerie sinner is a punishment to himselfe Of the which good as some say the Philosopher speaketh in the 9. Booke of Ethickes saying That euery one that dieth for his Friende doth purchase to himselfe the greatest good that may be Moreouer a lesse delectation for the most part doth follow a greater operation and peraduenture none at all as of the operations of Fortitude Whereof it is that the Philosopher sayth in the third Booke of Ethickes That in all Vertues a man can not be occupied with delight Neither is it of force to say that mans felicitie doth consist in Sciences speculatiue or in the operations of Wisedome and in the knowledge of most high causes And so by a consequent by such like operations of Wisedome a man should sufficiently be rewarded in this life As the Philosopher and Auerrhois doe seeme to say For the Cōmentator vpon the first Booke of Physicks sayth That it is proper to a man concerning his last perfecttion to be perfect according to the Sciences speculatiue And this Disposition is vnto him his vtmost felicitie And that

he can not be deceiued in any thing Who is so perfect that he is perfectly quieted in all thinges and fully satisfied Was not Aristotle deceiued in many thinges and found ignoraunt in many thinges as about the Eternitie of the World and the Perpetuitie of generation and corruption and in very many other thinges also he foully erred The second Conclusion FAyth secluded and set apart in the light of naturall Reason it is more agreeable to Reason and more probable to affirme that the reasonable Soule is Immortall then to say that it is Mortall Or that the opinion of those Philosophers that auouch that the Soule is Immortall is more reasonable and more probable yea Fayth being secluded and set aside then the opposite or contrary thereof First it is very manifest according to the Philosopher that that is probable which doth seeme to the most euen chiefely to the wisest But very many of the Philosophers those whom we see to be preferred aboue all others of euery sect and nation in fame glory wisedome haue verily thought the Soule to be Immortall And but a few and those of the meanest of the Philosophers of no fame and reputation haue said That it is Mortall as hath been shewed before therefore the Soule is Immortall Hereof the Philosopher sayth in the ninth Booke of Ethicks that Opinionibus sapientum oportet acquiescere habent enim fidem quandam 1. Wee ought for to rest and stay our selues in the Opinions of Wisemen for they haue a certaine Fayth Whereof he also sayth That the opinions of Wisemen doe sound togeather c. Also that Opinion is more reasonable and probable whereunto there are more effectuall perswasions or more dialecticall reasons But for this Opinion That the Soule is Immortall there are more effectuall perswasions and more Topicall reasons then for the contrarie opinion Yea for that part the reasons are most slender neither haue they scarsely any shadow of probabilitie for all the reasons wherewith they goe about to impugne the Immortalitie of the Soule are founded in errour or on a false ground as are these wherevnto all for the most part doe leane If the Soule should be Immortall it should follow that all the Soules should be perpetually idle and depriued of their proper act But this Reason is grounded on two thinges whereof both are false and erroneous The first is that the Body being corrupted cannot be repayred and brought againe to the same forme and maner that it was before The second is That the Soule cannot vnderstand but in the Body by the meanes of the Body of which thinges at this present it is not needfull to speake Also Reasons dialecticall how effectuall or forceable soeuer they shall be or multiplied out of the nature of them or from the Empire or Godly affection of the Will cannot cause but an opinion or assent with a feare of the opposite From the same feate are Reasons bred with the empire of the Will the godly Affection thereof to cause a greater assent in the kind of opinion yea verily sometimes Fayth or a firme Assent without feare of the opposite whereof the Philosopher saith in the seauenth Booke of Ethicks that Aligui ita firmiter harent his de quibus habent opinionem sicut alij his quibus habent scientiam 1. Some doe so firmely cleaue to the thinges whereof they haue opinion as others doe to those thinges whereof they haue full knowledge or skill And this proceedes of the empire and godly Affection of the Will Whereof the Text thus lyeth Some that doe hold Opinions doe not doubt but esteeme or thinke that they doe surely know that whereof they hold opinion and doe nothing lesse belieue those that are of opinion then others those that know But euery one well disposed is inclined Ad esse et non ad non esse To bee and not to not bee to the affirmatiue not negatiue and is affected to alwayes to bee if it be possible therefore others being like euery one well disposed is borne to haue a greater Assent yea a firmer and a surer that the Soule is Immortall then of the opposite thereof Therefore it is more agreeable to reason and more probable in the light of naturall reason to suppose or to thinke that the Soule is Immortall then the opposite thereof Whereof our Cicero thought it more saf secure to erre with those Philosophers that hold that the Soule is Immortal then with those meane and base accounted on Philosophers that doe affirme and hold of opinion that the Soule is Mortall If the Soule be Mortall then they that hold it to be Immortal do not therby get any detriment losse hinderance or euill neither can they be blamed in an other life nor noted of ignorance If it be Immortall then they that hold it to be Mortall are worthy in an other life to be reprehended laughed to scorne Therfore it is more agreeable to reason in the light of naturall reason to say that the Soule is Immortall then to say that it is Mortall For so saith Cicero Quod si in hoc erro quod animos hominū credebū immortales esse lebenter erro Nec mihi hunc errorem quo delector dum viuo extorqueri volo Sin mortuus vt quidam minuti Philosophi censent nihil s●ntiam Non vereor ne hunc errorem meum Philosophi mortui irrideant If so be I doe erre in this that I beleeued the Soules to be Immortall I doe willingly erre Neither while I liue will I be wrested away from this error wherein I am delighted But when I am dead as certaine meane Philosophers doe thinke I shall feele nothing I doe not feare least the dead Philosophers should scorne this my errour Therefore the foresayd Philosophers of whom wee haue spoken aboue not ouercome by euident reasons and demonstrations but fully setled and grounded in the foresaid perswasions and all other reasons probable which for breuities sake I omit haue concluded That the Soule is Immortall For the Philosophers in following Naturall reason haue written and taught those thinges which they haue not prooued euidently neither by demonstratiue reason but perswasiuely and dilectically They also supposed thought and concluded many thinges without any great proofe by mingling and conforming themselues to the opinions of the common people and the sentences of the Philosophers that were before them Whereof the Philosopher saith Secundo de caelo cap. Of two hard Questions saith he it is to be tryed which thing we should say is the worthy thing Reputing Promptitude to be imputed a poynt of shamefastnesse rather then of bouldnesse If any do stand on Philosophies part and doth loue few sufficiencies of that thing whereof we haue very great doubtinges whence few sufficiencies perswasions vsually haue sufficed Philosophers where they were not able to attaine to greater thinges neither did they contradict the principles of Philosophie or the opinions of their predecessours wherein

she doe this willingly And if perforce she be compeld in Carcasse caue to lie Who doth constraine doth God himselfe then her he nought esteemes Nay what in Prison vile he puts to hate he rather seemes More of it selfe except it learne sith it doth nothing know And oftentimes forgetfulnesse the Minde doth ouerthrow Therefore they iudge it nothing is when Body heere doth die For learne it cannot senses dead which it knowes all thinges by Some other say that Soule there is in all the World but one Which giueth life to euery thing as Sunne but one alone There is that makes all eyes to see Eternall thinke they this Though Body die or eyes put out the Sunne eternall is These trifles fond it is not hard with Reason to disprooue But heere I longer am I feare then it doth mee behooue There shall not want that such demands shall answere once at full And all the doubtes therein assoyle and knots asunder pull O man of sharpe and pregnant wit thy prayse shall liue with mine Our labours doubt not shall commend the men of later time Thy famous workes attempt and seedes of Heauen on Earth goe sow This one thing will I more put to that euery man may know The Soule Immortall for to be and sprung of Heauenly grace If Senses and Affections all he will restraine a space If that despising worldly ioyes and earthly thought resignde With dayly labour he attempt to God to lift his minde Then perfect Wisedome shall he haue and thinges to come foretell A wake or else in heauie sleepe perceiue the same as well In this sort did the Prophets old the thinges to come declare The sober minde therefore doth come more neare to heauenly fare The farther from the flesh it flies and from the earthly care But like to Beastes the greatest sort doth liue as sense doth will And thinke none other good to be but flesh to haue his fill Hereof it comes that many thinke the Soule with Body dyes Because they see not thinges Diui●e with weake and fleshly eyes But of the Soule this shall suffice Palengenius in Pisces ANd when escapt from mortall chaine the Soule hath passage straight Conueighing with her selfe these three that alwayes on her waite The Minde the Sense Moouing force vnto the Heauens hie Shall ioyfull goe and there remaine in blisse perpetually Matheus Dresserus libro de Anima A Confirmation of the Immortalitie of the Soule THe Sentence of the Soules immortalitie is twofold 1. Philosophicall 2. Theologicall What is the opinion of Philosophers touching the Immortalitie of the Soule Some affirme that the Soule doth die with the Body Others do hold that after the separation of the Body it remayneth aliue and immortall The Argument of Panaetius What soeuer is bred or hath a certaine beginning The same also dieth or hath a cetraine ending But the Soule is bred or hath a certaine beginning Therfore the Soule dieth or hath a certaine ending The Answere The Maior is to be distinguished for some thinges are bred or haue their beginning of the Elementes and doe die againe But others haue a Celestiall and Diuine originall as the Soule which doth not die Thinges that are borne bred or haue beginning are of two sortes Some are Elementarie some Celestiall The Elementarie doe die or perish But the Celestiall doe not die or perish But on the contrarie part Cicero Plato and Xenophon haue iudged the Soule to be Immortall and they prooue it thus 1. Because the originall and nature thereof is Diuine or as the Pythagoreans said the Soule is drawen from the vniuersall Heauenly minde Cicero in 1 Tuscul That which is Diuine that doth not die The Soule is Diuine Ergo The Soule doth not die 2 Because vnto the Soule there is nothing mixt nothing concrete i. the Minde and Soule is not compounded of the Elementes therefore it can not die with the thinges that are compounded of the Elementes Whatsoeuer is compounded the same is conflated or compounded of the Elementes But the Soule is not compound of the Elements Therefore the Soule doth not die 3 Because the workes or effectes of the Minde are Diuine and Celestiall as to perceiue and know thinges past and to come therefore the Minde it selfe also is Celestiall and Incorruptible As is the effect so is the cause But the effectes of the Soule are Diuine Therefore the Soule is also Diuine 4 Because the order of Diuine iustice doth require that rewardes be giuen to Iust and punishments to the Vniust But in this life there often chance no rewardes to the Iust nor punishmentes to the Wicked therefore after this life there remayneth another life wherein it shall goe well with the Godly and ill with the wicked 5 Plato in Exiocho saith Discessus ex hac vita est mutatio mali in bonum that is to say The departing out of this life is a changing of euill into good Therefore after death the Soule also liueth and somewhere remayneth aliue that it may enioy that so great a good Of the Place of the Soule after the separation from the Body SOcrates thought that the Soule when it departeth from the Body doth returne to Heauen from whence it is sprinckled strowed into mans Body But Philosophie doth plainely deny and is vtterly ignoraunt that the Soule shall be ioyned togeather to the Body at the vniuersall raysing againe of the dead Cicero also although he did excellently dispute many thinges of the Soules Diuinitie yet he confesseth that he is in very great doubt and staggering euen as the Shippe is tossed in the middes of the raging Seas And Atticus sayth That hee while he readeth Platos Phaedo doth truely Assent that is to say Approoue the Opinion of the Immortalitie of the Soule But when he had layde the Booke away and beganne to cogitate with himselfe then that Assent slided away Socrates when hee was going to his death sayth in Plato It is time for mee now to goe away from hence that I may die and you liue but whether is better God knoweth I thinke truely no man knoweth There was a Philosopher of great Authoritie who being called to end his life was verie sore vexed in minde doubting of the flitting or departure in what state his soule should be after death And when he found no other Hauen he sent for two Philosophers and bade them dispute of the condition of the Soule after the departure foorth of the Body saying Loe I must flitte hence away forsake this mortall life wherefore tell yee mee what shall become of mee whether my Soule shall liue when this Body is extinct or no for vnlesse this can be prooued vnto me and I therein perswaded with what minde can I depart out of this life Heere the Philosophers began sharply to contende about the Nature of the Soule and the one reason'd it to be Mortall and the other Immortall And when they had a long time disputed neither part preuailing