Porphirius and Proclus notwithstanding that now and then they passe their bounds suffering their wits to runne royet For in their Philosophie they had none other rule than only the drift of their owne reason It was commonly thought that Alexander of Aphrodise beléeued not the immortalitie of the Soule because he defined it to be the forme of the body proceeding of the mixture temperature of the Elements Surely these words of his doe vs to vnderstand either that he ment to define but the sensitiue lyfe onely as many others doe and not the reasonable soule or els that he varieth from himselfe in other places And in very déede hee sayeth immediatly afterward that he speaketh of the things which are subiect to generation and corruption But speaking of the Soule he sayeth it is separable vnmateriall vnmixed and voyd of passions vnlesse perchaunce we may thinke as some doe that by this Soule he meane but onely God and not also the Soule that is in vs for the which thing he is sharply rebuked by Themistius who notwithstanding speaketh neuer a whit better thereof himselfe Howsoeuer he deale elsewhere these words of his following are without any doubtfulnes at all The Soule sayth he which is in vs commeth from without and is vncorruptible I say vncorruptible because the nature thereof is such and it is the very same that Aristotle affirmeth to come from without And in his second booke of Problemes searching the cause why the abilities of the Soule are oftentimes impeached If a mans brayne be hurt sayth he the reasonable soule dooth not well execute the actions that depend thereon But yet for all that it abydeth still in itselfe vnchaungeable of nature abilitie and power through the immortalitie thereof And if it recouer a sound instrument it putteth her abilities in execution as well as it did afore But I wil reason more at large hereafter against the opinion that is fathered vpon him What shall we say of Galene who fathereth the causes of all things as much as he can vpon the Elements and the mixture and agréeble concord of them if after his disputing against his owne Soule he be constreyned to yéeld that it is immortall Surely in his booke concerning the manners of the Soule he doeth the worst that he can against Plato and in another place hee doubteth whether it be immortall and whether it haue continuance of it selfe or no. Yet notwithstanding in his booke of the doctrine of Hippocrates and Plato It must needes be graunted sayeth hee that the Soule is either a sheere body and of the nature of the Skye as the Stoiks Aristotle himself are inforced to confesse or els a bodilesse substance whereof the body is as it were the Chariot and whereby it hath fellowship with other bodyes And it appeareth that hee inclyneth to this latter part For hee maketh the vitall spirit to be the excellentest of all bodily things and yet he graūteth the Soule to bee a farre more excellent thing than that What shall we then doe Let vs wey his words set downe in his booke of the conception of a Child in the Moothers Wombe The Soule of Man sayeth he is an influence of the vniuersall Soule that descendeth from the heauenly Region a substance that is capable of knowledge which aspyreth alwayes to one substance lyke vnto it selfe which leaueth all these lower things to seeke the things that are aboue which is partaker of the heauenly Godhead and which by mounting vp to the beholding of things that are aboue the heauens putteth it selfe into the presence of him that ruleth all things Were it reason then that such a substance comming from elsewhere than of the body and mounting so farre aboue the body should in the ende dye with the body because it vseth the seruice of the body Now hereuntoo I could adde infinite other sayings of the auncient authors both Greeke and Latin Philosophers Poets and Orators from age to age wherein they treate of the iudgement to come of the reward of good men of the punishment of euill men of Paradise and of Hell which are appendants to the immortalitie of the Soule but as now I will but put the reader in mynd of them by the way reseruing them to their peculiar places To bée short let vs runne at this day from East to West and from North to South I say not among the Turkes Arabians or Persians for their Alcoran teacheth them that mans Soule was breathed into him of God and consequently that it is vncorruptible but euen among the most barbarous ignorant beastly people of the Wold I meane the very Caribies and Cannibals and we shall find this beléefe receiued and imbraced of them all Which giueth vs to vnderstand that it is not a doctrine inuented by speculations of some Philosophers conueyed from Countrie to Countrie by their disciples perswaded by likelyhods of reasons or too be short entered into mans wit by his eares but a natiue knowledge which euery man findeth and readeth in himself which he carieth euerywhere about with himselfe and which is as easie to bée perswaded vnto all such as viewe themselues in themselues as it is easie to perswade a man that neuer sawe his owne face to beléeue that he hath a face by causing him to behold himselfe in a glasse There remayne yet two opinions to be confuted The one is the opinion of Auerrhoes and the other is the opinion of Alexander of Aphrodise who affirme themselues to hold both of Aristotle namely in that they vpholde that there is but one vniuersall reasonable Soule or mynd which worketh al our discourses in vs howbeit diuersly in euery seuerall person And this thing if wee beléeue Auerrhoes is done according to the diuersitie of the Phantasies or Imaginations wherewith the mynd is serued as with instruments But if we beléeue Alexander it is done according too the diuersities of the capable mind as they terme it that is to say of the abilitie or capabilitie that is in men to vnderstand things by receyuing the impression of the vniuersall mynd that worketh into euery of them which in respect thereof is called of them the woorker Soothly these opinions are such as may bee disprooued in one worde For this onely one Mynd whether in possibilitie or in action could not haue receiued or imprimted in euery man one selfesame common beléef and conceit of the immortalitie of the Soule in so great diuersitie of imaginations and in so many Nations as we sée doe beléeue it considering that the very same conceit is directly repugnant against it Nay it may well bée sayde that Auerrhoes and Alexander had very diuers conceits and imaginations one from another and very contrary to all other mens seeing they had so diuers and cōtrarie opinions imprinted either in their mind or in their imagination Howbeit forasmuch as there may be some the will make a doubt of it Let
euen those which would haue had that rather then all the rest wyped out of the Table to confesse his arte and excellent skill And this serueth to conuict thée of blockishnes thée I say which haddest rather to finde fault with God and with the Flye then to wonder at the excellencie of him who hath inclosed so liuely a life so quicke a moouing and so great an excellencie in so little a thing So then it is not for vs to chace her out of the table but rather to confesse our owne ignoraunce or els to chace it away Hereby therefore we perceiue that of all the things which they can alledge there is none which is not good and behofefull in it self and that the euilnesse thereof commeth onely through vs and therfore that the thing hath but onely one Beginner thereof who is good But behold they vrge the matter yet more strongly Howsoeuer the case stād say they it cannot be denyed but there is euilnesse in things seeing that they corrupt themselues and the sinne that is in our selues is vtterly euill and sith it is so from whence may that bee For if God be good he cannot bee the author of euill and therefore there must néedes bee another author thereof This question shall bee handled more lightsomely when I come to treate of Mans fall which is the bringer in of the two euilles namely both of payne and fault but yet may we assoyle it if we take heede Wée say that making and creating are referred to natures or substances and that all natures and substances are good and therefore that God who is good is the author and Creator of them On the contrary part we say that euill is neither a nature nor a substance but an income or accident which is falne into natures and substances It is say I a bereuing or diminishing of the good qualities which things ought naturally to haue This euill hath not any being in it selfe neither can haue any being but in the thing that is good It is not an effect but a default nor a production but a corruption And therefore to speake properly we must not seeke whence commeth the doing of euill but whence commeth the vndoing of good As for example Wine is of Gods creating and it is good Now this good substance falling to decay that is to say to abate or diminish of his vertue becommeth Uineger Wherevpon no man asketh who made the substaunce that is become sharpe for it is the selfsame that it was afore but they aske whence cōmeth the sharpnes or eagernesse that is to say the alteration that is befalne to the substance If thou say that it commeth of the foresayd euill Beginner the author of all euill as the good Beginner is the author of all goodnesse forasmuch as euill is nothing els but a default want or fayling of good it is the souereine or chiefe default or fayling as the good is the souereine or chiefe being And if it be the chiefe default then is it not any more For the default or fayling of a thing is a tending of the thing to notbeing any more the same that it was and the fayling of all is a tending to the vtter vnbeing or notbeing of the whole Moreouer the sayd euill Beginner which worketh not but in the substance that is made or created by another could do nothing if the good Beginner wrought not first and so should he haue the Commencement of his power depending vpon another than himselfe which is a thing repugnant to a Godhead And if you aske what is then the cause thereof I tell you it is the very nothing it selfe that is to wit that God almightie to shewe vs that he made all of nothing hath left a certeyne inclination in his Creatures whereby they tend naturally to nothing that is to say to chaunge and corruption vnlesse they bee vphild by his power who hauing all in himselfe abideth alonly vnchaungeable and free from all passions As in respect then that things be they be of God but as in respect that they corrupt tend to notbeing that which they were afore that commeth of the sayd notbeing whereof they were created And so they be good as in respect of their bare being and euill as in respect that they forgo their formal being that is to say their goodnesse Good on the behalfe of the souereine Good the father of all substances Euill as on the behalfe of the Nothing And soothly neither by nature nor by iustice ought they to be made equall with the vnchaungeable Being of their Creator And this is to be seene alike in all things An Apple rotteth and a man dyeth The Apple and the man that is to say the natures of them are Gods Creatures As for the rottennesse and the sicknesse they bee but abatements and defaults of the good nature that was in either of them from the good Creator Man againe becommeth a Sinner and hereunto he néedeth no newe creation It is a vanishing away of the good nature which loseth her taste And therefore S. Austine sayth that the Latins terme an euill man Nequam and an euillnesse Nequitiam that is to say Naughtie and Naughtinesse Now like as of rightnought there néedeth no beginner so also is there none to bee sought of naughtinesse or euill And by that meanes there remayneth vnto vs but onely one God the beginner and author of all things as wee haue defined him alreadie afore Plato Plotin and other great Philosophers of all Sexts are of opinion that Euill is not a thing of itselfe nor can bee imagined but in the absence of all goodnes as a depriuation of the good which ought to be naturally in euery thing That euill is a kynd of notbeing and hath no abyding but in the good whereof it is a default or diminishing That the cause thereof is in the very matter whereof God created things which matter they termed the very vnbeing that is to say in very trothe no being atall whereof the Creatures reteyne still a certeine inclination whereby they may fall away from their goodnesse And that in the very Soule of man the euil that is there is a kind of darknesse for want of looking vp to the light of the souereyne mynde which should inlighten it and through suffering it selfe too bee caried too much away to the materiall things which are nothing But now that we haue doone with nature it is good tyme to sée what the wysest men will teach vs concerning the onely one God The third Chapter That the Wisdome of the world hath acknowledged one onely God SOme man will say vnto mée if in the worlde if in the things conteyned in the worlde if in man himselfe it bee so liuely painted out that there is but only one God whereof then commeth the multitude of Gods among men yea and among those whome the worlde counted wysest I will not proue héere that all those Gods were either
to be weake and without wings except he hold with vs that the Soule hath by her fall forgone her strength and that the body by the feeblenes of the Soule and the sentence of the Creator is strengthened in his weakenesse that is to wit in so much as the body as I haue sayde afore is of a House become a Prison to the Soule To be short graunting Gods Iustice as he doth hee can neuer wind himselfe out of this question which he himself maketh namely why the sinnes are imputed to the Soule seeing it doth them not but by infection of the body vnlesse he make this infection to be a punishment of the fault which the Soule had committed afore in the body But Porphyrius who perceyued these inconueniences hath spoken more distinctly of the matter than his Mayster did agréeing with him neuerthelesse in the corruption of man and in the cleansing of the Soule Which cleansing of the Soule sayth he is so needfull a thing as that it cannot possibly bee but that God hath prouided some vniuersal meane of cleansing mankynd How is it possible then sayth he that the fall of the Soule should come of Imagination which knitteth the Soule to the bodie seeing that the higher things are not drawne downe by the lower but contrarywise the lower are drawne vp by the higher Nay rather sayth he the higher substances come downe in themselues from vnderstanding into imagination from spirituall things to bodily things from high things to lowe things froÌ„ perfect things to vnperfect things And wheras by sticking fast vnto God they might haue abidden firme not so much by their owne strength as by his and might haue liued and wrought as vnder his forme they bee come to a fall of themselues by stooping to matter And therfore sayth he in the substaunces which are inclinable to such things there is befalne as men say a sinne and a certeyne vnbeleef which is condemned because they fell in loue with the Creatures and turned away to them from the Creator To be short he commeth to this poynt that the fall of mens Soules is like the fall of the Féendes that is taught by the Iewes and that through the fault of the wit and the will which he termeth vnbeleefe or vnfaithfulnesse man is falne into the folly of concupiscence that is to say from the fault into the punishment thereof from the rebellion of the Soule into the bondage thereof to the bodie And ye must not thinke wee speake contraries when wee say one while that man sinned by aduauncing himself too high and by presuming to become as it were equall with God and another while that he sinned by stooping downe to these bace and lowe things For in very déede the lifting vp of a mans selfe to Godward is the true abacing and humbling of himselfe for who is hée that can rightly looke vp to God and make account of himselfe or rather not bee abaced in himselfe And to inclyne to a mans selfe is in very trueth a presuming to make himselfe equall to God For it is a seeking of that thing in our selues which is not to bee found but in GOD namely of welfare and felicitie and what els is pride but a selfestimation or an ouerwéening of a mans selfe Proclus doth ordinarily call the inclyning of our nature vnto euill a descending or comming downe and the corruption thereof a fall because the highest that our Soule can atteyne vnto is the beholding of God and the descending stooping or comming downe thereof is to fall into estimation of our selues and the fall is to bee thrust downe in subiectioÌ„ vnder our selues like a body that falleth from some high place But as touching the cause of the corruption he fathereth it vppon our Mynd that is to wit the highest part of our Soule saying that if the same had continued sound and sticked fast vnto God as sayth Plotin it had also hild reason sound still which is the Sunbeame thereof and consequently all our actions should haue bene found so as wee should not haue bene subiect to sinne Séeing then that the punishment is come euen to the highest part of vs which we sée combered with so many passions dimmed with so much darknesse and defiled with so many vyces surely the fault procéeded onely from thence Herevnto we might ad many other sayings but wee will content our selues as now with onely Simplicius the famous interpreter of Aristotle As long as mans Soule sayth he cleaueth fast vnto God the author thereof it abydeth sound and holdeth her perfection wherwith she was created of God but fall she once to shrinking away from him by and by she withereth as hauing lost her roote and comes to nothing neyther can she recouer her former liuelynesse except she be reunited agayne to her former cause Now perceyue we euerychone of vs that our nature is withered and therefore let vs say that we be slipped from our roote And the roote leaueth not the braunches but contrarywise the braunches leaue the roote Let vs say then that we haue bereft ourselues of the gracious goodnesse of God who would haue mainteyned vs still for to nourish and quicken is the propertie and nature of the roote In one only thing doe the Philosophers differ from vs in this behalfe namely that they vphold all mens Soules to haue sinned euery one in himselfe and wee say That the onely first man sinned and thereby hath bound all his whole ofspring to the punishment But yet doe both come backe agayne to one poynt seeing that euen by their owne reasons I proued the creation of the world which of necessitie leadeth vs to one man the father of vs all whereas the Philosophers hang wauering still vnresolued in that poynt Among all people wee see there were prayers to craue pardon for sinne Sacrifices to appease Gods wrath Misticall washings and Satisfactories or Uotaries that were 〈…〉 â—he sinnes of some whole Realme Citie or 〈…〉 as I haue sayd afore are publick protestations of a publick 〈◊〉 The Philosophers were sore combered in finding a meane 〈…〉 Mankynd from his filthinesse some would haue done it by the Morals some by the Mathematicals and some by Religious Ceremonies but in the end they confesse that all these â—â—â—ngs can doe nothing in that behalf They be fooles in their remedies but wise in discerning the disease Wee reade of the people of Affricke at this day who bee giuen enough to contemplation that they fall into great conceyts of mynd and are not able to perswade themselues that all their Churchseruices are sufficient to make them cleane And that is a proofe that they féele a mischief within them whereinto neither the eye of the Phisition can see nor the medicine that he ministreth can atteyne Also the Persians were woont to hold a holyday euery yéere which they called The Death of vyces In the which Feast for a token of deuotion they killed
vpon them was the ende why they tooke the orders of them vppon them so the end of true Philosophie is the Contemplation and beholding of the myndly and immortall nature that is to say of God the Creator Iamblichus was surnamed the Diuine and it is sayd that he was so called because he spake so Diuinely of this matter Thus therfore doth he say Shal we say that to be healthy to be faire to be riche to be honored to be of a good wit and such lyke are mans happines No surely The strength of man is but a iest and his honour a mockery Yea Man himself and all that he maketh account of are but a fleeting shadowe Neuerthelesse vnto good men they be good possessions but vnto wicked men they be euill and daungerous What then shoulde not the possessing of them for euer and not as in a Dreame that vanisheth away be the true happines No the possessing of them for euer if it were without vertue were a very greate mischiefe and the sooner they were taken from vs the lesse harme it should be Nay the very true meane to atteine to the heauenly felicitie is praying and calling vpon the Goddes cheely vpon the great God which reigneth ouer them all And therefore he sayth in another place Whatsoeuer a man doeth or leaueth vndone ought to be referred to the Godhead and all this lyfe is ordeyned for nothing els but to followe God the knowledge of whom is perfect vertue Wisdome and Blesfulnes which maketh vs lyke the Goddes that is to say after his maner of speaking like the Angels Let vs heare yet more of him The time hath bene saith he that man was fast tyed to the beholding of God but afterward he was made subiect to the body and tyed to the necessitie of Destinie therfore it behoueth him to be well aduised by what meane he may be rid of it Now other knowledge there is none that can deliuer him but onely the knowledge of God For the paterne of felicitie is to knowe the good and the knowing of good is the holy gate whereby to come to the maker of all things Now sayth hee againe afterward the care of these inferiour things which maketh vs to forget God cānot be separated from this transitory lyfe wherein we be for this body will neuer suffer vs to play the right Philosophers in deed It followeth then that this knowledge of God vnder the which he comprehendeth all vertue all wisedome and all studie of Philosophie cannot be atteind vnto nor become perfect in this lyfe but onely in the life to come The finall end of Man sayth Plotin is the pure Good that is to wit God and all other things are but appurtenances to that end and not the end itself Whosoeuer possesseth this good can haue no good taken from him nor any good put vnto him For it is not only an vniting vnto God but almost a being of God himselfe Now who is he that can take such possession of it in this lyfe And therefore he addeth There our mynd beholdeth the fountayne of life of vnderstanding of being the cause of good and the roote of the Soule There lyeth our welfare after such a sort that to be farre from it is as good as not to be atall There is the beginning and end of lyfe The beginning for from thence doth it proceede and the end for there is the welfare whereon it resteth The welfare say I for in atteyning thether it becommeth agein that which it had bin afore For as for the being which it hath here what is it but a downfall whereby it hath lost hir wings Here reigneth a bace and vile Venus but there reigneth a heauenly one Here a loue of the World there the loue of God And what a greefe ought it to be vnto vs to be wedded to the earth And on the contrary part how desirous ought we to bee to feele God in all parts aboue Yea and to be so ioyned vnto him as one centre is within another so as both of them may be but as one Now he is full of such and larger sayings and alwayes he concludeth blesednes euerlastingnes follow one another wherby he excludeth them both out of this world and out of this lyfe But for the more spéede let vs come to others What is the end of Man saieth Porphyrius It is vndoutedly to liue in Mynd And how is that By contemplation in this lyfe No sayeth he in another place All Philosophy is but gessing a lyght beleefe receyued from hand to hand and which hath nothing therein which may not be called in question What maner of Contemplation then shal the true one be Not a heape of words sayth he nor a patching together of precepts but a true vnion of the beholder and the thing that is behild that is to say of our Mynd and of God Simplicius the Peripatetik whether he learned it of Epictetus or some where els speaketh of it thus The greatest good that is in the knowledge of Nature is that it is a fayre path to leade men to the knowing of the Soule of the seperated substāces and of Gods beeing Moreouer it inflameth vs to the seruing of God leading vs by the effectes to the Maiestie of the Creator wherevpon followeth an onement with God with assured fayth and hope which are the things for which philosophy is cheefly to be vsed And in another place The beginning sayth he and the end of happy lyfe and the perfection of our Soule consisteth in being bent and turned vnto God as well by acknowledging that he gouerneth all things with Iustice as by consenting to all that he doth as proceeding from a rightfull iudgement For so long as our Soule abydeth in him as in the roote it abydeth in the perfection wherein GOD created it But if it fall to starting out of him it becometh withered and droopeth vntill it turne backe and bee vnited againe vnto him The cause then of our vnhappines is our seperating of our selues from God and the cause of our happinesse is our linking in againe with him and man seeketh a happinesse agréeable to his kynd as all other things doe The end of man therefore is to turne againe vnto God that he may become one with him Syrian the Schoolemayster of Simplicius wryting vppon Aristotle hath comprehended the matter in one word we deale with Philosophie sayth he for our owne benefite that is to say for our owne welfare which welfare is to be vnyted vnto God And Alexander of Aphrodise commeth not farre behind when he sayth that our souereine felicitie consisteth in deuotion towards God beyond whom there is not any further reward to be desired For seeing sayth he that the worthiest operation of the Soule is contemplation contemplation properly is the knowing of the best things none are so good as the things that concerne God our end and felicitie ought to
all respects is most infinite Notwithstanding in mans Soule when I say Soule I meane there the highest power thereof the image and likenesse of the Trinitie is yet much more lyuely and more expresse For first there is in it a Nature abilitie of working and as it were a mere act whereby it liueth and giueth lyfe and is it selfe in continuall working The Latins call it Mens that is to say Mynd we call it also the reasonable Soule the which wee may liken to the Father This Mynd bréedeth an vnderstanding or Wit by the which we vnderstand and discerne not onely other things but also our selues and againe by vnderstanding we come to will through the which we loue other things and most of them for our owne sakes These thrée powers are very distinct in vs for wee worke not alwayes by Wit not alwayes by Will and yet our mynd worketh continually Moreouer oftentymes wee will the thing which wee vnderstand not and wee vnderstand the thing which wee will not And therefore to will and to vnderstand are not both one Neuerthelesse this Working Understanding and Willing are not thrée lyues or thrée Soules in vs but one lyfe and Soule and that so streitly vnited in once essence that euen in the selfsame instant that our mind doth a thing it also vnderstaudeth the reason why it willeth it or willeth it not in which worke both our inworking power and also our wit and our will doe concurre all together Yet notwithstanding this image is farre from the thing it selfe For these thrée powers are seuerall in the essence of our Soule and howe néerly so euer they be vnited together yet is not the one the other But in God who is most singly one Being is Understanding and vnderstanding is will as I haue said afore And againe by Gods vnderstanding and by his will there procéede from hym two Inbeings by reasons whereof hee myndeth and loueth himselfe and in himselfe all things As for our Soule there can no such thing procéede from it by the wit or the will because although they be both in it yet they take their grounds from without themselues insomuch that it can neither vnderstand nor loue vnlesse the abilities thereof be set aworking by some outward thing And which more is the more it vnderstandeth it selfe the more doth it streine it selfe to vnderstand and knowe another than it selfe and the more it loueth it selfe through true knowledge of it selfe the more dooth it séeke contentment by louing another which other it cannot loue but by hating it selfe that is to wit it streyneth it selfe too behold and loue God and to knowe and loue it selfe but only for his sake to whome alonly it belongeth to vnderstand all things in himselfe and to loue all things of himselfe But now it is high time hencefoorth to sée what antiquitie will say to vs concerning this matter the which it wil be better for vs to reserue to the next Chapter following And as touching the questions that may bee made by the curious sort vppon this poynt we answere them at one word Let them tell vs how they themselues are bred and begotten and then let them aske vs of the begetting of the Sonne of God Let them tell vs the nature of the spirit that beateth in their Pulses and theÌ„ let them bee inquisitiue at our hands for the procéeding of the holy Ghost And if they must be fayne to kéepe silence in so comon matters which they dayly sée and féele in themselues let them giue vs leaue to be ignorant in many things which are such as sayth Empedocles as no eye hath séene nor eare heard nor wit of man can conceyue The vj. Chapter That the Philosophie of old tyme consenteth to this doctrine of the Trinitie SUrely as I haue sayd afore this doctrine is not bred of mans braine though it be paynted there after some sort but was verely inspyred into our forefathers from aboue who as saith Plato were better than we and nerer also vnto God And in good sooth we see an infallible argument thereof in that the elder the world groweth the more do mens doctrines grow to perfection knowledge But contrarywise the further that this hath gone from the former ages the more hath it bin found darkened hath nowhere bin so lightsome as at the welspring thereof vntill that by the birth of the true daysonne in deede it receyued greater light than euer it had afore And therefore when Plato yea and Aristotle himselfe speake of the Godhead of the Creation of the World and of other like Misteries they be fayne to alledge the auncient report and the record of antiquitie descended from hand to hand as the surest staffe to stand by in matters that excéede the capacitie of man Which thing they expresse ordinarily by these spéeches According to the old Sawe as the auncientest reports goe As our forefathers and Eldeâ—s say and such like Among these men of the auncientest sort the first that wee méete with is Zoroastres whom Plutarke reporteth to haue liued certeyne thousands of yeres afore the warres of Troy Neuerthelesse by report of the best Authors he descended of Cham and was vanquished by Nynus King of the Assyrians Of him came the Magies that is to say the Wisemen of Chaldey and from them sprung vp the like in Persia who had in their custodie the Registers of the Kings of those daies wrate their déeds and had the ordering of matters perteining to Religion And now marke what we find in their sayings gathered by men of old time which are commonly called Logia that is to say Oracles The father sayth Zoroaftres did perfect all things and gaue them to a second Mynd whom all mankind taketh for the first And Pletho Gemistus a Platonist sayth that by this second Mynd he meaneth a second God which succéedeth the Father and hath his begetting of the Father and that men haue taken him for the first because God created the World by him howbeit that the Father created the myndly shapes and gaue the gouernment of them to this second Mynd Ye see then here is a second person begotten of the Father Proclus rehearseth the same saying This Mynd hauing alone taken the flower of VnderstaÌ„ding from the power of the Father possesseth the vnderstanding and power to deale foorth his Fathers vnderstanding or mynd to all Originalles and all Beginnings of things Then hath he his being and his vnderstanding from the Father and all other things haue them from him But the things which are found in his Commentarie vpon the Parmenides of Plato are wonderfull For the better yéelding of the sence whereof I will translate it into Prose notwithstanding that it be written in verse in the Gréeke The Mynd of the Father sayth he being settled by determinate purpose did shed foorth shapes of all sorts which issued all from one selfesame fountayne because the deuise and
Coessentiall And this desire sayth he in another place is in the Mynd which alwaies desireth and alwaies posseth the first This Loue then procéedeth not alonly from the first person but also from the second according to his former teaching concerning the Soule of the World which is that it procéedeth from the first person by the second Aud thus haue wee the three Persons or Iubeings acknowledged and layd foorth by Plotinus whom I haue alledged somewhat the more at length because he auowweth it to be a very auncient doctrine and that he had learned it of his predecessors Numenius Seuerus Cronius Gaius Atticus Longinus and Philarchaeus and did afterward teach it to his Discipies who estéemed him as a God as we shall see hereafter in their writings Iamblichus sayth plainly that God made the World by his diuine Word but he playeth the Philosopher more profoundly in this behalfe The first God sayth he being afore the Beeër and alone is the father of a first God whom he begetteth and yet neuerthelesse abydeth still in the solenesse of his vnitie which thing farre exceedeth all abilitie of vnderstanding This is the Originall patterne of him that is called both Father to him selfe and Sonne to himself and is the Father of one alone and God verely good in deede Now when he sayth that he is father to himselfe and father to a second therein he distinguisheth the persons And whereas he sayth that notwithstanding this begetting yet he abydeth one still he sheweth that there is no separating of the essences And he speaketh there after the opinion receyued among the Diuines of AEgipt But let vs heare Porphirie to whom Plotinus committed the ouerlooking of his bookes the best learned of all the Philosophers as sayth Saint Austin and yet neuerthelesse the sworne enemie of Christenfolke In his Historie of the Philosophers these are his words Plato taught sayth he that of the Good that is to say of the first person is begotten an vnderstaÌ„ding by a maner vnknowne to men and that the same vnderstanding is all whole next vnto himselfe In this vnderstanding are all things that truely are and all the Essences of all things that haue beeing It is the first beautifull and beautifull of it selfe and hath the grace of beautie of himselfe and before all world 's proceeded from God as from his cause selfeborne and father of himself And this proceeding of his was not as ye would say by Gods mouing of himselfe to the begetting of him but by his owne proceeding of himselfe from God and by his issewing of him selfe I say by proceeding howbeit not at any beginning of tyme for there was not yet any tyme and tyme is nothing in comparison of him But this Mynd is without time and only euerlasting Yet notwithstanding as the first God is alwaies one and alone although he haue made all things because nothing can match or compare with him so also is this Vnderstanding or Mynd euerlasting alone without tyme the tyme of things that are in tyme and yet alwaies abyding in the vnitie of his own substance Of a trueth he could not haue sayd more plainly that the Sonne is the Sonne eternally and of the fathers owâ—e substance Againe expounding that foresaid so greatly renowmed place of Platoes Episte The Essence of God sayth he extendeth euen vnto three Inbeeings For there is the highest GOD or the good and next him the Second who is the workmayster of all things and lastly the third who is Soule of the World for the Godhead extendeth euen vnto the Soule And that is the thing that Plato meÌ„t in speaking of three Kings for although all things depend vppon these three yet is their depending first vpon the first God secondly vpon the God that isseweth of him and thirdly vpon the third that proceedeth from him Now in that he raungeth them in order thus one vnder another he seemeth to play the Arrian And yet is that very much in a Heathen man But whereas he acknowledgeth one selfsame essence he sheweth that the diuersitie is only in the functions and in the order of causes which is one steppe beyond the Arrians Also S. Austin saith that he did put the third person as a meane betwene the other two after which maner we also doe call him the band and vnion of them two notwithstanding that Plotine doe put him vnder the Understanding But in his booke of the chiefe Fathers or first Authors of things Proclus setteth doune his opinion yet more plainly saying that there is an euerlasting or eternall Mynd and yet notwithstanding that afore the same there is a Foreëternall or former euerlasting vnto whom the euerlasting sticketh because the Foreeuerlasting is beyond all and that in the euerlasting beeing there is a second and a third and that betwne the Foreeuerlasting and the Euerlasting Eternitie resteth in the middest Now forasmuch 〈◊〉 Eternities are alike equall this forenesse and afternesse which are attributed to the persons is not in respect of tyme but as Plotine sayth in respect of Nature and as ye would say inconsideration of cause Proclus the Disciple of Iamblichus sayeth that the aunâ—â—ent Platonists did set downe three Beginners whome wee call Persons Of the which the first they called the One The second namely the sayd Understanding they called the one many and the third that is to wit the Soule of the world they called the One and many But it is best for vs to heare what he himself saith The Essence or vnderstanding sayeth he for among the Platonists both are one is sayd first of all to haue his being of the Good and to be about the same Good and to be filled with the light of trueth which proceedeth from it and to be partaker thereof by the vnion which it hath therewith and is most diuine because it dependeth originally vpon the Good Here ye see now a second persone Light of Light hauing his fulnesse from the first And whereas hee saieth of the first light that it is most diuine it is because he knoweth not by what words to expresse the prehemâ—nence of the Father In another place hee sayeth that this vnderstanding that is to say the Soule is become One with the Good that is to say with the Father And also that by his inyndly Inworking he is the very eternitie it selfe sauing that hee dependeth vpon the Unitie and that he is like vnto the One and that the Soule or third persone is like to the mynde from whence it procéedeth But here is yet a more euident thing The most part saith he doe set downe three Beginnings the Good the Vnderstanding or the Beeër the Soule The first principall and vncommunicable is the One who is before and beyond all things Next vnto him is the one Vnitie which hath his being about the sayd first substance and aboundeth by participation of him that is the One first
the Soule of man hath his beeing from without and not from the elements or from matter as the bodye hath And that all Soules are formes and all formes are substances Dooth hee not make God to bee the creater of substances yea and of better substances than the elements Ageine when he sayth that the knitting parts that is to wit the bones the skin the Sinewes and such lyke may be made of the mixing togither of the elements and that the vnknitting parts as the Head the Leg the Arme and so foorth cannot be so made but are made by nature and heauenly skil insomuch that the proper essence and forme of the knitters procéedeth neither of heate nor of cold of moysture nor of drythe Dooth hee not acknowledge in euery seuerall part a seuerall forme and substaunce which commeth from some other where than of the matter or of the mixture of the elements And sith hee sayth in another place that it were possible to haue such a coniunction of the heauenly bodyes as myght produce not only an efficient cause but also euen matter it self for the creating and bringing foorth of liuing things yea and of mankind also why should he haue thought it vncredible that GOD who dwelleth verye farre aboue such Coniunctions should be able to doo the like Also we see that Theophrast the greatest Clark of all his Disciples findeth himself so graueled in his booke of Sauors or Sents by reason of the particular natures of things that hee bursteth out into expresse woords and sayeth that God created all things of nothing And Algazel the Arabian disputing ageinst Auerrhoes sayeth that the cause of all things did also make matter it selfe Also Aphrodiseus declareth in his problemes that the philosophers were fayne to referre the effects and vertues of many things to some other thing than to the Elements And if they coulde not father them vppon the Elementes howe could they father them vppon matter or stuffe séeing that the Elements haue power and force to do wheras matter hath abilitie but only to suffer or to be wrought vppon And if they could not father them vppon matter vppon what else should they father them than vppon God who hath created both the propertie and the substance of them togither The Platonists that wrate since the comming of Christ haue giuen libertie too their owne braynes to gad out into a thousand imaginations But whereas Plotin telleth vs that Gods actions and effects are contemplations which imprint in nature the séedes of all things hee teacheth vs too thrust farre from vs such brutish questions as these namely Of what kind of stuffe did God frame the world And with what tooles did hee it which are further of from the nature of the Godhead than our dooings are from mere contemplations For what else is contemplation according to their owne docttine than to be wholy seuered from matter He speaketh often of the first matter but how doth he descrybe it He sayeth that the very matter it selfe which is ioyned too the forme hath not any true béeing and he termeth it The beeing of a Notbeeing that is to say a thing that in deede is not and that dooth hee too distinguish theis transitorie natures from the verye Beeing of God which he termeth The Supersubstantiall Beeing But as for the first matter he calleth it The very Notbeeing that is too say an imaginatiue thing which hath not any béeing at all in déede as if yée would say as hée himself addeth a certeine vnshapednesse which is the cause of all mishapennesse the chéef default or want which is the cause of all the defaults or wants that are in particâ—lar things the very euill which is the originall of all euils and to be short a thing that can neither bée knowen nor imagined otherwise than we imagine what Darknesse is by the knowledge of light namely an vtter absence of all light Yea but will some man say Although it be not an Essence yet ought it at the least to bee a Qualitie and by his terming of it an Euill he séemeth after a sort to make it a qualitie Nay like as saith he when we call the first of all Beeings by the name of Goodnesse we meane not that that Goodnesse is in him a Qualitie but a very substance yea and more than a substance So when wee call Matter by the name of Euill our meaning is not that it is a Qualitie or hath any Qualitie in it But that it is no Qualitie ne hath Qualitie in it For had it any Qualitie in it then should it bee a Substance and consequently a shape or forme too but it is not any forme at all That in effect is the summe of his booke concerning euill and the originall thereof In his booke of Matter he declareth that there was a matter for he would not els haue made bookes thereof in vayne but yet he sayth that the same was neither essence qualitie nor quantitie nor had any essence qualitie or quantitie in it ne differed any whit from priuation sauing in this respect that priuation is verifyed as in respect of some subiect or substaunce that is bereft of some thing that is peculiar or incident vnto it wheras Matter is an vniuersall and vtter want of all things that is to say a thing farre worse than priuation And yet for all this he will not haue it to be vtterly nothing at all but as a wast or emptie space a thing without bounds a being without being And what or where theÌ„ shall that be At length he findeth it in the world that is to be conceyued but only in vnderstanding that is to say in God in whom he will haue it to abide as a forme or patterne of the vniuersall masse of all things What a raunging is here abroade to fall alwaies into one selfesame path againe Might he not with more ease haue confessed plainly that God is both the formall and the materiall cause of all things that is to say the Creator former and shaper of all things by his wisedome and power Agayne whereas in other places he telleth vs that Matter being it self no essence at all cannot be the cause of the particular beings of so many sundrie things nor hauing no life bée the cause of life but that both life and béeing are breathed into all things from without euen from the souereyne mynd doth he not iumpe with vs which say that GOD created all substances of nothing And if he could create that which was and giue vnto it both being and life could he not also forbeare the thing that was not that is to say matter Atticus and his adherents would néedes beare Plato downe by reason of certeyne sentences of his Timeus and of his Commonwealematters misunderstood that matter was eternall as well as God howbeit that the same being voyd of reason was brought vnto reason by him that is the very reason it self
the body and that the Glasses are out of the Spectacles but the eysight is still good Why should we déeme the Soule to be forgone with the Sences If the eye be the thing that séeth and the eare the thing that heareth why doe wee not see things dubble and heare sounds dubble seeing we haue two eyes and two eares It is the Soule then that seeth and heareth and these which wee take to be our sences are but the instruments of our sences And if when our eyes bee shut or pickt out wee then beholde a thousand things in our mynd yea and that our vnderstanding is then most quicksighted when the quickest of our eysight is as good as quenched or starke dead how is it possible that the reasonable Soule should bee tyed and bound to the sences What a reason is it to say that the Soule dyeth with the sences séeing that the true sences do then growe and increase when the instruments of sence doe dye And what a thing were it to say that a Beast is dead because he hath lost his eyes when we our selues see that it liueth after it hath forgone the eyes Also I haue prooued that the Soule is neither the body nor an appertnance of the body Sith it is so why measure we that thing by the body which measureth al bodies or make that to dye with the body whereby the bodies that dyed yea many hundred yéeres agoe doe after a certeine maner liue still Or what can hurt that thing whom nothing hurteth or hindereth in the bodie Though a man lose an arme yet doth his Soule abide whole still Let him forgoe the one halfe of his body yet is his Soule as sound as afore for it is whole in it selfe and whole in euery part of it selfe vnited in it felfe and in the owne substance and by the force and power thereof it sheadeth it selfe into all parts of the body Though the body rot away by péecemeale yet abideth the Soule all one and vndiminished Let the blud dreyne out the mouing wex weake the sences fayle and the strength perish and yet abideth the mynd neuerthelesse sound and liuely euen to the ende Her house must bee pearced through on all sides ere she bee discouraged her walles must be battered doune ere she fall to fléeting and she neuer forsaketh her lodging till no roome be left her to lodge in True it is that the brute Beastes forgo both life and action with their blud But as for our Soule if wee consider the matter well it is then gathered home into it self and when our sences are quenched then doth it most of all labour to surmount it selfe woorking as goodly actions at the tyme that the body is at a poynt to fayle it yea and oftentymes farre goodlyer also than euer it did during the whole lifetyme thereof As for example it taketh order for it selfe for our houshold for the Commonweale and for a whole Kingdome and that with more vprightnesse godlynesse wisedome and moderation than euer it did afore yea and perchance in a body so forspeâ—â—â— so bare so consumed so withered without and so putrified within that whosoeuer lookes vpon him sees nothing but earth and yet to heare him speake would rauish a man vp to heauen yea and aboue heauen Now when a man sees so liuely a Soule in so weake and wretched a body may he not say as is said of the hatching of Chickens that the shell is broken but there commeth forth a Chicken Also let vs sée what is the ordinary cause that things perish Fire doth eyether goe out for want of nourishment or is quenched by his contrary which is water Water is resolued into aire by fire which is his contrary The cause why the Plant dyeth is extremitie of colde or drought or vnseasonable cutting or vyolent plucking vp Also the liuing wight dyeth through contrarietie of humours or for want of foode or by feeding vpon some thing that is against the nature of it or by outward vyolence Of all these causes which can we choose to haue any power against our Soule I say against the Soule of man which notwithstanding that it be vnited to matter and to a bodie is it selfe a substance vnbodily vnmateriall and only conceiuable in vnderstanding The contrarietie of things Nay what can be contrarie to that which lodgeth the contraries alike equally in himselfe which vnderstandeth the one of them by the other which coucheth them all vnder one skill and to bee short in whom the contrarieties themselues abandon their contrarietie so as they doe not any more pursewe but insewe one another Fire is hote and water cold Our bodies mislike these contraries and are gréeued by them but our mynd linketh them together without eyther burning or cooling it selfe and it setteth the one of them against the other to knowe them the better The things which destroy one another through the whole world do mainteine one another in our mynds Againe nothing is more contrary to peace then warre is and yet mans mynd can skill to make or mainteyne peace in preparing for warre and to lay earnestly for warre in seeking or inioying of peace Euen death it selfe which dispatcheth our life cannot bée contrary to the life of our Soule for it seeketh life by death and death by life And what can that thing méete withall in the whole world that may bee able to ouerthrowe it which can inioyne obedience to things most contrary What then Want of foode How can that want foode in the world which can skill to feede on the whole world Or how should that forsake foode which the fuller it is so much the hungryer it is and the more it hath digested the better able it is to digest The bodily wight feedeth vppon some certeyne things but our mynd feedeth vpon all things Take from it the sensible things and the things of vnderstanding abyde with it still bereaue it of earthly things and the heauenly remayne abundantly To be short abridge it of all worldly things yea and of the world it selfe and euen then doth it feede at greatest ease maketh best chéere agréeable to his owne nature Also the bodily wight filleth it selfe to a certeyne measure and delighteth in some certeyne things But what can fill our mynd Fill it as full as ye can with the knowledge of things and it is still eager and sharpe set to receyue more The more it taketh in the more it still craueth and yet for al that it neuer feeleth any rawnesse or lack of digestion What shall I say more discharge our vnderstanding from the mynding of it self and then doth it liue in him and of him in whom all things doe liue Againe fill it with the knowledge of it selfe and then doth it feele it self most emptie and sharpest set vpon desire of the other Now then can that dye or decay for want of foode which cannot be glutted with any thing which is nourished and mainteyned with
haue at al tymes bene men so shall we see also that men haue at all tymes beléeued admitted the immortalitie of the Soule I say not some one man or some one Nation but the whole world with generall consent because all men vniuersally and perticularly haue learned it in one Schoole and at the mouth of one Teacher namely euen their owne knowledge in themselues The holy Scripture which teacheth vs our saluation vseth no schoole arguments to make vs beléeue that there is a God and that is because we cannot step out of our selues neuer so little but wee must néedes finde him present to all our Sences And it seemeth to speake vnto vs the lesse expresly of the immortalitie of our soules specially in the first bookes therof because we cannot enter into our selues be it neuer so little but we must néedes perceiue it But inasmuch as from the one end thereof to the other it declareth vnto vs the will of God in so doing it doth vs to vnderstand that it is a thing wherof it is not lawfull for vs to doubt And whereas it setteth foorth so precisely from age to age the great and manifold troubles and paines which good and godly men haue susteyned in indeuering to followe that will it sheweth infallibly that their so doing was in another respect than for this present wretched life For who is he that would depart with any péece of his owne lyking in this life but in hope of better things and what were it for him to lose his life if there were not another life after this This serueth to answer in one word to such as demaund expresse texts of Scripture and are loth to finde that thing in the Byble which is cōteyned there not only in euery leafe but almost in euery sine For whereas God created man after the world was fully finished and perfected it was as much as if he had brought him into a Theatre prepared for him howbeit after another sort than all the other liuing things which were to do him seruice As for Beastes Birds Plants and such other things the Elements brought them foorth but Man receyued his Soule by inspiration from God Also the brute Beasts are put in subiection to man but man is in subiection onely vnto God And the conueying of that good man Henocke out of this life for his godlinesse was to none other end but to set him in another life voyd of all euill and full of all good But when we reade the persecutions of Noe the ouerthwartings of Abraham the banishment and wayfarings of Iacob and the distresses of Ioseph Moyses and all the residewe of the Fathers they be all of them demonstrations that they did certeynly trust and beléeue that the Soule is immortall that there is another life after this and that there is a iudgement to come For had they bene of opinion that there is none other life after this the flesh would haue perswaded them to haue hild themselues in quiet here and they would haue liked nothing better than to haue followed swéetly the cōmon trade of the world Noe among his frends Abraham among the Chaldees Moyses in Pharaos Court and so foorth So then although the Scripture seeme to conceale it yet doth it speake very loude thereof in déede considering that all the cryes of the good and godly and all the despayres of the wicked which it describeth vnto vs doe sound none other thing vnto vs if we haue eares to heare it And it may bee that in the same respect this article of the Immortalitie of the Soule was not put into the auncient Créede of the Iewes nor also peculiarly into the Créede of vs Christians because wee beléeue beyond reason and this is within the bounds of reason and whosoeuer treateth of Religion must néedes presuppose God eternall and man immortall without the which two all Religion were in vayne Also when we see that Godlinesse Iustice and vertue were commended among the Heathen of all ages it is all one as if wee should heare them preach in expresse words the Immortalitie of the Soule For their so doing is buylded euery whit vppon that as vppon a foundation without the which those things could not stand I will spend my goodes or my life for the maintenance of Iustice. What is this Iustice but a vayne name or to what end haue I so many respects if I looke for nothing out of this present world here I will sayd a man of olde tyme rather lose euen the reputation of an honest man thā behaue my selfe otherwise than honestly But why should I doe so if I looke for no good in another world seeing I haue nothing but euill here Surely if there be none other thing than this life then is vertue to be vsed no further than profite and commoditie may growe vpon it and so should it become a Chaffer and Merchandise not vertue in déede Yet notwithstanding those are the ordinary spéeches euen of such as speake doubtfully of the Immortalitie of the Soule Therefore they doe but denye the ground and yet graune the cōsequence which is all one as if a man bauing first bin burned should fall to disputing whether fire be hot or no. But now which is better for vs I will here gather together their owne spéeches one after another Hermes declareth in his Poemander how at the voyce of the euerlasting the Elements yéelded forth al reasonlesse liuing wights as it had bin out of their bosomes But when he commeth to man he sayth He made him like vnto himselfe he linked himself to him as to his Sonne for he was beautiful and made after his owne Image and gaue him al his works to vse at his pleasure Againe he exhorteth him to forsake his bodie notwithstanding that he woonder greatly at the cunning workmanship thereof as the very cause of his death and to manure his Soule which is capable of immortalitie to consider the originall roote from whence it sprang which is not earthly but heauenly and to withdraw himself euen from his Sences and from their traiterous allurements to gather himself wholly into that mynd of his which he hath from God and by the which he following Gods word may become as GOD. Discharge thy selfe sayth he of this body which thou bearest about thee for it is but a cloke of ignorance a foundation of infection a place of corruptiō a liuing death a sensible carryon a portable graue and a household theefe It flattereth thee because it hareth thee and it hateth thee because it enuieth thee As long as that liueth it bereueth thee of life and thou hast not a greater enemie than that Now to what purpose were it for him to forsake this light this dwellingplace and this life if he were not sure of a better in another world as he himselfe sayth more largely afterward On the other side what is the Soule The Soule sayth he is the
garment of the mynd and the garment of the Soule is a certeyne Spirit whereby it is vnited to the bodie And this Mynd is the thing which wee call properly the Man that is to say a heauenly wight which is not to bee compared with Beastes but rather with the Gods of Heauen if he be not yet more than they The Heauenly can not come downe to the earth without leauing the Heauen but Man measureth the Heauen without remouing from the earth The earthly man then is as a mortall God and the heauenly God is as an immortall man To bee short his conlusion is That man is dubble mortall as touching his body and immortall as touching his Soule which Soule is the substantiall man and the very man created immediatly of God fayth he as the light is bred immediatly of the Sunne And Chalcidius sayth that at his death he spake these wordes I goe home againe into myne owne Countrie where my better forefathers and kinsfolk be Of Zoroastres who is yet of more antiquitie than Hermes we haue nothing but fragments Neuerthelesse many report this article to be one of his That mens Soules are immortall and that one day there shall be a generall rysing againe of their bodies and the answers of the Wise men of Chaldye who are the heires of his Doctrine doe answer sufficiently for him There is one that exhorteth men to returne with spéede to their heauenly father who hath sent them from aboue a Soule indewed with much vnderstanding and another that exhorteth them to seeke Paradise as the peculiar dwelling place of the Soule A third sayth that the Soule of man hath God as it were shut vp in it and that it hath not any mortalitie therein For sayth he the Soule is as it were dronken with God and sheweth foorth his â—â—â—uders in the harmonie of this mortall body And agayne another sayth It is a cléere fire procéeding from the power of the heauenly father an vncorruptible substance and the mainteyner of life conteyning almost all the whole world with the full plentie thereof in his bosome But one of them procéedeth yet further affirming that he which setteth his mynde vppon Godlinesse shall saue his body frayle though it bee And by those words he acknowledgeth the very glorifying of the bodie Now all these sayings are reported by the Platonists namely by Psellus and they refuse not to be acknowne that Pythagoras and Plato learned theÌ„ of the Chaldees insomuch that some think that the foresayd Hermes and Zoroastres and the residewe aforementioned are the same of whom Plato speaketh in his second Epistle and in his eleuenth booke of Lawes when he sayth that the auncient and holy Oracles are to be beléeued which affirme mens Soules to bee immortall and that in another life they must come before a Iudge that will require an account of al their doings The effect whereof commeth to this That the Soule of man procéedeth immediatly from God that is to say that the father of the bodie is one and the father of the Soule is another That the Soule is not a bodily substance but a Spirit and a light That at the departure thereof from hence it is to goe into a Paradise and therfore ought to make haste vnto death And that it is so farre from mortalitie that it maketh euen the body immortall What can wee say more at this day euen in the tyme of light wherein we be Pherecydes the Syrian the first that was knowne among the Greekes to haue written in prose taught the same And that which Virgill sayth in his second Eglog concerning the Drug or Spice of Assyria and the growing thereof euerywhere is interpreted of some men to bée ment of the Immortalitie of the Soule the doctrine whereof Pherecydes brought from thence into Greece namely that it should be vnderstood euerywhere throughout the whole world Also Phocylides who was at the same time speaketh therof in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say The Soule of man immortall is and neuer weares away With any age or length of tyme but liueth fresh for ay And againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Remnants which remaine of men vnburied in the graue Become as Gods and in the Heauens a life most blessed haue For though their bodies turne to dust as dayly we doe see Their Soules liue still for euermore from all corruption free And in another place he sayes agayne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We hope that we shall come agayne Out of the earth to light more playne And if ye aske him the cause of all this he will answer you in another verse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because the Soule Gods instrument and Image also is Which saying he seemeth to haue taken out of this verse of Sibils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In very reason Man should bee The Image and the shape of mee Of the same opinion also are Orpheus Theognis Homer Hesiodus Pindar and all the Poets of old tyme which may answer both for themselues and their owne Countries and for the residue of their ages Likewise Pythagoras a disciple of Pherecides held opinion that the Soule is a bodylesse and immortall substance put into this body as into a Prison for sinning And whereas the fléeting of soules out of one body into another is fathered vpon him although the opinion be not directly against the immortalitie of the Soule yet doe many men thinke that hee hath wrong doone vnto him And his Disciple Timoeus of Locres reporteth otherwyse of him For what punishment were it to a voluptuous man to haue his Soule put into a beast that he might become the more voluptuous without remorse of sinne Soothly it is all one as if in punishment of Murder or theft yée would make the Murderer to cut the throtes of his owne Father and Mother or the Théef to commit trecherie ageinst God Howsoeuer the case stand he teacheth in his verses that man is of heauenly race and that as Iamblichus reporteth he is set in this world to behold God And his Disciple Architas sayth that God breathed reason and vnderstanding into him Likewise Philolaus affirmeth that the Diuines and Prophets of old time bare record that the Soule was cuppled with the body for hir sinnes and buryed in the same as in a Graue Of Epicharmus we haue this saying If thou beest a good man in thy heart Death can doe thee no harme for thy Soule shall liue happyly in heauen c. Also of Heraclides we haue this saying We liue the Death of them that is to say of the blessed his meaning is that we be not buried with our bodyes and we dye their Lyfe that is to say wee bee still after this body of ours is dead Of the like opinion are Thales Anaxagoras and Diogenes concerning this poynt yea and so is Zeno too howbeit that he thought the Soule to bee
owne indytement and willingly beare witnesse against himselfe by his owne voluntarie confession Surely that man is straungly infected with vyce it is witnessed sufficiently by the Histories of all ages which in effect are nothing els but registers of the continuall Manslaughters Whoredomes Guyles Rauishments and Warres And when I say Warres I thinke that in that worde I comprehend all the mischief that can be imagined And that these vyces were not created in mans nature but are crept into it it appeareth sufficiently by the bookes of the Ceremonies of al Nations all whose Church-seruices are nothing but Sacrifices that is to say open protestations both euening and morning that we haue offended God and ought to bee sacrifized and slayne for our offences according to our desarts in stead of the sillie Beastes that are offered vnto him for vs. Had man bene created with vyce in him he should haue had no conscience of sinne nor repentance for it For repentance presupposeth a fault and conscience misgiueth the insewing of punishment for the same And there can be neither fault nor punishment in that which is done according to creation but onely in and for our turning away from creation Now the Churchseruice and Ceremonies of all Nations doe witnesse vnto vs a certeyne forthinking and remorce of sinne against God And so they witnesse altogether a forefeeling of his wrath which cannot bee kindled against nature which he himselfe created but against the faultinesse and vnkindlynesse that are in nature Also what els are the great number of Lawes among vs but authenticall Registers of our corruption And what are the manifold Commentaries written vppon them but a very corruption of the Lawes themselues And what doe they witnesse vnto vs but as the multitude of Phisitions doth in a Citie namely the multitudes of our diseases that is to wit the sores and botches whereto our Soules are subiect euen to the marring and poysoning of the very playsters themselues Againe what doe the punishments bewray which we haue ordeyned for our selues but that wee chastise in vs not that which GOD hath made or wrought in vs but that which wee our selues haue vndone or vnwrought nor the nature it selfe but the disfiguring of nature But yet when we consider that among all Nations that Lawmaker is beléeued and followed by and by which sayth Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steale thou shalt not beare false witnesse whereas great perswasion is required in all other lawes which are not so naturall It must néedes be concluded that the Consciences of all men are perswaded of themselues that the same is sinne and that sinne deserueth punishment that is to wit that sinne is in nature but not nature it selfe But to omit the holy Scripture which is nothing els but a Lookingglasse to shewe vs our spots and blemishes what are all the Schooles of the Philosophers but instructions of the Soule And what els is Philosophie it selfe but an arte of healing the Soule whereof the first precept is this so greatly renowmed one know thy selfe Aristotle in his Moralles sheweth that the affections must be ruled by reason and our mynd bee brought from the extremes into the meanes and from iarring into right tune Which is a token that our mynd is out of tune euen of it owne accord seeing that it néedeth so many precepts to set it in tune agayne And yet is not Aristotle so presumptuous as to say that euer he brought it to passe in his owne mynd Theophrast his Disciple was woont to say that the Soule payd wel for her dwelling in the bodie considering how much it suffered at the bodies hand And what els was this but an acknowledgement of the debate betwéene the bodie and the mynd But as sayth Plutarke he should rather haue sayd that the bodie hath good cause to complayne of the turmoyles which so irksome and troublesome a guest procureth vnto him Plato who went afore them sawe more cléerly than both of them He condemneth euerywhere the companie and fellowship of the body with the soule and yet he condemneth not the workmanship of God But he teacheth vs that the Soule is now in this bodie as in a prison or rather as in a Caue or a graue And that is because he perceiued euidently that contrarie to the order of nature the Soule is subiect to the bodie notwithstanding that naturally it should and can commaund it The same Plato sayth further that the Soule créepeth bacely vpon these lower things and that it is tyed to the matter of the bodie the cause whereof he affirmeth to be that she hath broken her wings which she had afore His meaning then is that the soule of her owne nature is winged and flyeth vpward that is to say is of a heaueÌ„ly diuine nature which wings she hath lost by meanes of some fall But to get out of these bonds and to recouer her wings the remedie that Plato giueth her is to aduaunce her selfe towards God and to the things that concerne the mynd By the remedie we may coniecture what he tooke the disease to be namely that our Soule hauing bin aduaunced by God to a notable dignitie the which it might haue kept still by sticking vnto God fell to gazing at her gay feathers till she fell headlong into these transitorie things among the which she créepeth now like a sillie woorme reteyning nothing as now of her birdlike nature saue onely a rowsing of her feathers and a vayne flapping of her wings Now he sayth that he learned all this of a secret Oracle the which he had in great reuerence And of â—â—â—cueth in this doctrine of the originall of our corruption wee haue to marke the same poynt which wee haue noted in some other things afore namely that the néerer wee come to the first world the more cléere and manifest we finde the matter Empedocles and Pythagoras taught that the Soules which had offended God wâ—â— condemned and banished into bodies here belowe And Philâ—â—â—aus the Pythagorian addeth that they receyued that opinion from the Diuines and Prophets of old tyme. Their meaning is that the body which ought to be the house of the soule is by Gods iust iudgemeÌ„t turned into a prison to it and that which was giuen it for an instrument is become Manicles and Stocks So then there is both a fault and the punishment and the fault must néedes procéede from one first man euen in the iudgement of those men of olde tyme which acknowledged the Creation of the world Also those auncient fathers seeme to haue heard what prouoked the first man to sinne For Homer speaketh of a Goddesse whom he calleth Até that is to say Waste Losse or Destruction which troubled heauen and therefore was cast downe to the earth where she hath euer since troubled Mankynd And herevpon Euripides calleth the Féendes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Falne from Heauen And the
Seede but that he corrupted it afterward Anotherwhile hee sayth that he delt with reason as perfumers doe with Oyles which neuer ceasse medling and mingling of them till there remayne no sent of Oyle at all And in one place perceiuing by all likelihod this corruption to be so vniuersal he saith further that at the very beginning and from their first comming into the Worlde men intangled and confounded themselues with sinne Whereby we may perceiue that had the thing bin declared vnto him in such sort as wée beléeue it surely hee would willingly haue imbraced and receiued it as the only solution of so many perplexities wherein he was intangled Let vs come to the Platonists All of them agrée in these points That the Soule of Man is a spirit and that a spirit cannot naturally receiue any affection from a body neither which may cause it to perish nor which may doe so much as once trouble it Yet notwithstanding on which side so euer they turne themselues they cannot deny but that our mynds are trubbled with infinite affections and passions in this body and that they be subiect one while to starting besides themselues through pryde anger or enuie an another while to be cast downe with Riottousnes Gluttonie and Idlenes yea and to receiue diuers impressions not only from the body but also from the aire the water and from Mistes and finally from euery little thing in the world Now how can this contrarietie be reconciled except their meaning be as ours is that naturally our Soules are not subiect to any of these things but that they bee put in subiection to them beyond the course of nature If it bee beyond the course of nature by whome is it doone but by him that commaundeth nature to whome it is as easie to put a spirit in Prison as to lodge a man in a house If it be done by him who is the rightuousnes it selfe doth it not followe that it was for some fault committed by the Soule If for some fault then seeing that the punishment thereof is in all men in whome should that first fault be but in that man which was the originall of all men as in whom all of vs say I were materially Now againe this fault cannot bee imputed to the body for it is in the will and the body of it selfe hath no will neither can it be imputed to any â—â—fection receiued first from the body for the Soule could not be wrought into by the body In the Soule therefore must the fault of mankind néedes be and for the soules offence doth the Soule itself suffer punishment and make the body also to suffer with her Howbeit that we may the better iudge of their opinions let vs heare them in the chief of them one after another Plotine hauing considered that the Soule is of nature diuine heauenly and spirituall concludeth that of itselfe it is not wrought into by the body But afterward perceiuing how it is defiled ouermaistred by sinne and by force of necessitie linked vnto lust he commeth backe to this solution That hir béeing here beneath is but a banishment too her which he termeth expresly a fall and otherwise as Pato doth a losing of hir wings That the vertue which she hath is but a Remnant of hir former nature That the vyce which she hath is taken by dealing by these bace and transitorie things and too bee short that al the vertue which is learned is but a purging of the Soule which must be fayne to be as it were newfurbished to scoure of the greate Rust that hath ouergrowen it In these Contradictions therefore hee maketh this question to himselfe What should bee the cause sayth hee that our Soules being of a diuine nature should so forget both God their father and their kinred and themselues Surely answereth he the beginning of this mischeef was a certeine rashnes ouerboldnesse wherethrough they would needes plucke their neckes out of the collar and be at their owne commaundement by which abuse turning their libertie into licentiousnes they went cleane backe and are so farre gone away from GOD that like Children which being newly weaned are byanby conueyed away from their Fathers and Moothers they knowe neither whose nor what they be nor from whence they came Now in these words he agreeth with our Diuines not only in this that corruption came in by sin but also in the kind of sinne namely Pryde wherby we be turned away froÌ„ our Maker In another place The Soule saith he which was bred for heauenly things hath plundged itselfe in these materiall things and matter of itselfe is so euill that not onely all that is of matter or matched with matter but also euen that which hath respect vnto matter is filled with euill as the eye that beholdeth darknes is filled with darknes Here ye sée not onely from whence we be turned away but also too what that is too wit from God to vanitie from the Creator to the creature from good to euill But of this inclyning to the materiall things he sometymes maketh the body to be the author as though the body had caried the Soule away by force of his imaginations and he acquitteth the mynde thereof as much as he can insomuch as hee sticketh not to affirme that notwithstanding all this marrednesse yet the Soule liueth and abideth pure and cleane in God yea euen whyle the Soule whereof the Mynd is as yee would say the very eisight or apple of the eye dwelleth in this body Howbeit besides that he is reproued for it by Porphyrius Proclus and others his owne reasons whereby he proueth that the Soule is not naturally subiect to the body be so strong that it were vnpossible for him too shift himself from them In this the great Philosopher is ouershot that he will needes seeke out the cause of sinne in Man as Man is now Where finding Reason caried away by Imagination and Imagination deceiued by the Sences he thought the fault to haue procéeded of that wheras in deede he should haue sought the cause in Man as he was first created when he had his Sences and Appetites absolutely at commaundement whose wilfull offending hath brought vppon vs the necessitie of punishment which we indure And in good sooth this saying of his in another place cannot be interpreted otherwise namely that the cause why the Soule indureth so many trubbles and passions in this body is to be taken of the life which is led afore out of the body that is to say that the subiection of the Soule to the Body is not the originall cause of the sinne therof but rather a condemnation thereof to punishment Neither also can he scape froÌ„ these conclusions of his owne namely that the Soule beeing separated from the body hath her wings sound and perfect and that the Body being ioyned to the Soule hath no power to breake her wings and yet that she findeth herself there
is by his Sonne as we shall see hereafter and moreouer it is an action that passeth into the thing saued and abydeth not in God alone Therefore it maketh not to the stablishing of a fourth person or inbeing for then it ought to be Coessentiall To be short all Gods operations doe eyther procéede from within him and abyde still in the worker and in their first ground or els they procéed from without and passe into the outward effect That worke or action which procéedeth from within can bee of none other essence than the thiug from whence it commeth for in GOD there is nothing but essence and in that esseuce can nothing abyde but the essence it selfe That which procéedeth from without is alwaies of a sundrie essence as are the Creatures and workes of God which come nothing nere the essence of the Creator The thing which doth the worke without is Gods power howbeit accompanyed with his vnderstanding and will And the thing that doth the work within is his vnderstanding and will and nothing els as wee may discerne in our selues who are but a very slender image thereof And like as in beholding a paynted Table or in reading the verses of a Poet we imagine not therefore that there was a peculiar and immediate abilitie of paynting or versifying in the mynd or souereyne part of their Soule but we referre those skilles and al other like vnto Wit and Will euen so and much more according to reason of all the workes and doings which we see done by Gods power we cannot gather any other persons or inbeings in him than those which procéede immediatly of his Understanding and Will and alonly those and none other can be Coessentiall in him Now Understanding and Will in GOD are essence and his essence is merely one and most single And moreouer the Word or Spéech conceyueth not another Spéech but turneth wholly vnto the Father neither doth the Spirit conceyue another loue than the loue of those two but resteth and reposeth it selfe altogether in them So then there can but one onely word or spéech procéede by the vnderstanding nor but only one Loue procéede by the Will neither can any other procéede of that Word and that Loue. And so there remayne vnto vs the onely thrée persons of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost by the which two the Father gouerneth and loueth all things because he himself alone is all things Now as we haue read in nature that there is but one God as a thing which we finde written euen in the least creatures so may we now perceyue the euident footsteps of the chrée inbeings or persons in one eâ—sence as a marke of the worker that made them in some more and in some lesse according to their dignitie which yet notwithstanding are such as we could not well perceine them vntill the doctrine thereof was reuealed vnto vs no more than we can vnderstand the letters of Cyphering which wee can neither reade nor decypher vnlesse we haue some knowledge of the matter which they import from other folkes hands or by coniecture or by some other way Wee finde an Unitie in all things yea euen in those which haue but only being For all things are inasmuch as they be one and whensoeuer they ceasse to bee that one they consequently ceasse also to be Againe we see in them a forme or shape and that is the marke of that witfull action that is to say of the euerlasting Word or Conceyt whereby God made them which hath bred vs the essentiall forme or shape and all other maner of formes and shapes Also we see an inclination or disposition in some more apparant than in othersome in some to mount aloft as in fire in some to sincke downe towards the Center as in a Stone and in all to hold themselues vnited in their matter forme This is the marke of the workfull Will wherein God hath voutsafed to stoope vnto them and of the vnion which procéedeth therof wherein he loueth vpholdeth preserueth all things But euen in some of the things of this bacest sort there appeareth not onely a trace but almost an image thereof For the Sunne breedeth or begetteth his owne beames which the Poets doe call the very sonne of the Sunne and from them two proceedeth the light which imparteth it selfe to all things here beneath and yet is not the one of them afore the other for neither is the Sunne afore his beames nor the Sunne or his beames afore the light otherwise than in consideration of order and relation that is to wit as in respect that the beames are begotten and the light is proceeding which is an apparant image of the Coeternitie Likewise in Waters we haue the head of them in the earth the Spring boyling out of it the streame which is made of them both and sheadeth it self out farre of from thence It is but one selfesame continuall and vnseparable essence which hath neither forenesse nor afternesse saue only in order and not in tyme that is to say according to our considering of it hauing respect to causes and not according to trueth For the Welhead is not a head but in respect of the Spring nor the Spring a Spring but in respect of the Welhead nor the Streame a Streame but in respect of them both and so all three be but one Water and cannot almost be considered one without another howbeit that the one is not the other It is an expresse mark of the originall relations and persoâ—s Coessentiall in the only one essence of God The like is to bee sayd of Fire which ingendreth fire and hath in it both heate and brightnesse vnseparable Also there are other examples to bee found of such as list to seeke them out In Hearbes and Plants there is a roote which yeeldeth a slippe stocke or ympe and the same ympe groweth afterward into a Tree It cannot well be named or deemed to be a roote but that therewith it hath also ingendred an ympe or stocke for in that respect is it called a roote and so is the one as soone as the other Also there is a sappe which passeth from the one to the other ioyning knitting and vniting them together by one common life without the which life neither the roote should bee a roote nor the slip a slip and so in effect they bee altogether the one as soone as the other Moreouer among all liuing wights euery of them ingendreth after his owne kind and forme of whom one is an ingendrer and another is ingendred among men a father and a sonne and by and by through knowledge there procéedeth a naturall loue and affection from the one to the other which knitteth and linketh them together All these are traces footsteps and images howbeit with the grossest of that high misterie and also I haue told you afore that no effect doth fully resemble his cause and much lesse that cause which in