things in the world and not to be paralleld whereof the reason is hid from vs though we see the things themselues But there is a great difference betweene the destruction or annihilation and the change of nature As we beleeue the resurrection of this our flesh so is it certaine that the nature of the same flesh shall subsist and remaine in the life eternall But the condition shall be changed in as much as this flesh vile and miserable shall be made glorious and happy These are some proofes brought by Tertullian Lactantius Firmianus in his Booke of the Heauenly Reward Chap. 23. obserueth That the Pagan Philosophers who desired to discourse of the last resurrection haue confounded and soyled this Article of our faith as al the Poets haue done Pythagoras maintained that the soule did transmigrate and passe out of one mans body into anothers and that he himselfe in the Troian warre was Euphorbus Chrysippus the Stoicke hath made a better answere who in his Booke De Prouidentia discoursing of the restauration of the world addeth This being so wee see that it is not impossible that after our death at the end of the reuolutions of some ages wee may bee restored againe into the state and condition wherein we are now But as Lactantius addeth the faith of Christians is much otherwise and their hope much more certaine For they vndoubtedly beleeue the resurrection of the flesh confirmed by most sacred and inuincible proofes of the holy Scripture by the promises of God and by the motions of the Spirit which raysed vp Christ Iesus from the dead as the Apostle declares it in the eight Chapter to the Romanes saying If the Spirit of him that raysed vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raysed vp Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortall bodies because of the Spirit dwelling in you True it is that the wicked shall rise againe in their bodies but this shall not bee for any communion they haue with the body of Christ Iesus nor with his Spirit but simply by the absolute power of God who shall giue them againe their being life and motion to suffer the second death being for euer damned in their bodies and soules So then such a resurrection cannot be counted grace nor called regeneration nor a resurrection to life but a repairing to condemnation whereof S. Iohn writes these wordes in the twentith Chapter of the Apocalips Verse eleuenth c. I saw a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face fled away the earth and the heauen and their place was no more found I saw the dead great and small standing before God and the Bookes were opened and another Booke was opened which is the Booke of Life and the dead were iudged by the things which were written in the bookes according to their workes and the Sea gaue vp her dead which were in her and death and hell deliuered vp the dead which were ion them and they were iudged euery man according to their workes And the wicked were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death And whosoeuer was not found written in the Booke of Life was cast into the lake of fire Blessed then bee God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who by his great mercy hath regenerated vs into a liuely hope by the resurrection of Christ Iesus from the dead to obtain an incorruptible inheritance which cannot bee defiled nor fade away reserued in the heauens for vs who are kept by the power of God thorough faith to haue the saluation prepared to be reuealed at the last day wherein we reioyce being now made heauy by diuers temptations as it is meete to the end that the triall of our faith much more precious then gold which perisheth and yet is tried in the fire may turne to our prayse honour and glory when Iesus Christ shall be reuealed who speaketh thus vnto vs in the person of his Disciples in the beginning of the 14. Chapter of S. Iohn Let not your hearts bee troubled You beleeue in God beleeue also in me There are many dwelling places in my Fathers house I goe to prepare a place for you and when I shall be gone hence and shall haue prepared a place for you I will come againe and will receiue you to my selfe that where I am there may you be also Then shall be the true regeneration and restauration of Gods children when the soule emptied of all errour ignorance and malice shall be filled with new illumination perfect righteousnesse and holinesse when the body clothed with glory and immortalitie shall see death swallowed vp in victory In him there shall be no fainting decâ—ying drooping nor old age The bodies of the Saints sayth S. Augustine in the 19. chap. of his Manuel shal rise againe without blemish without deformity without corruption heauines or impediment This shall as easily be done as their felicity shall be consummated for which cause wee call them spirituall although their bodies ought still to remaine not to be changed into Ghosts and Spirits As for the corruption which now presseth downe the soule and the vices by whose meanes the flesh lusteth against the spirit such flesh shall cease to be because it could not be able to possesse the Kingdome of God In regard of the substance of the same flesh it shall not be abolished but still remaine but euerlastingly glorified For this cause S. Paul said That the body being sowen a fleshly body shall rise againe a spirituall body because there shall be so strong an vnion betweene the soule and the body that the soule making the body to liue without any supply of nourishment and hauing no more combate and striuing within vs betweene the spirit and the flesh all being then spirit we shall not feele any enemies assaults nor dangers whatsoeuer without nor within but shall be repleat compassed about saciated crowned with permanent glory Behold as touching this point of the resurrection of the flesh The beleefe of this Article encourageth all Christians but particularly wise old men patiently to beare their infirmities and maladies remembring the counsell of the Apostle S. Peter in the third Chapter of his second Epistle Seeing that so it is sayth he that the heauens and the earth must be dissolued what manner of persons ought wee to bee in holy couersation and holy workes looking for and hasting vnto the comming of the day of the Lord by whom the heauen being set on fire shall bee dissolued and the Elements shal melt with heate But according to his promise wee looke for new heauens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse Wherefore beloued seeing ye looke for such things be diligent that ye may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse Let vs strengthen this Article of the resurrection by the notable sayings of S. Paul to the Corinthians Chap. 5. of the 2. Epistle We must all appeare before the iudgement
the Sea with Shipps This Monarch considering from the toppe of a hill many millions of men at his seruice in warres fell a weeping that at the end of a hundred yeares not one of them should be aliue And if we loue added he this advantage to be mounted vpon so high a watch Tower that from thence we may behold all the earth vnder our feete and so many kingdomes fallen to ruine also many liuing men some tortured others strangled and drowned on the one side festiualles on the other side funeralles some to be borne others to die To what straight and exigent should we be brought if wee were not assured that all these things are ordered by the just appoyntment of the All-mightie S. Ambrose in his exposition of the creation of the world sayth that all men are borne and die naked that there is no difference betweene the bodies of poore men and rich but that the bodies of rich-men being very pursie well fed and fat while they liue are more puant and stinking then the bodies of poore men Besides these helpes and supports against death which the Heathens haue collected from our condition to be borne and to die they haue from thence collected other causes which we are now to discusse and examine and whereof Ciceco speaketh in his Dialogue of old age as followeth We know how chearefully and manfully souldiers contemne death why then should wise old men feare it To haue our fill of all things causeth that we haue our fill and satietie of life Those who die well liue a life which alone deserueth the name but so long as we are locked vp in the prison of the bodie wee are as it were plunged deepe in the earth and exiled very farre from and beneath our heauenly Mansion Wherfore all wise men die willingly fooles on the contrarie leaue this world against their will mauger their teeth or in brutish ignorance Socrates the last day of his death discoursed of the immortalitie of the soule Cyrus a little before his death sayd to his sonnes Doe not thinke that after I shall be dead I am annihilated and brought to nothing If some god said Cato in the same Dialogue would permit me to returne from old age to childhood and to cry in a Cradle I should forbeare to accept such a condition nor would I for any thing returne to the beginning of my race hauing almost finished it For what commoditie is found in a life tossed to and fro with turmoyles and toyles as this present life is Notwithstanding I will not bewayle it nor doe I repent me to haue liued I which goe out of this world as out of an Inne not as out of a house seeing nature hath giuen vs a cabbin here of ingresse and egresse but not to stay and continue O how glorious will that day be wherein I shall be found in the holy assembly of soules and shall goe to heauen Certainely Old age is the end and Epilogue of our life even as of some Comedie or Interlude Loe here some sayings of Cicero in the fore-mentioned dialogue In the first Booke of his Tusculane questions wherein he expressely treateth of the contempt of death among other his sayinges and discourses we reade that among the old Latines whom the Poet Ennius calleth Cascj that it was a doctrine held from Father to Sonne that death did not abolish man so as it might be sayd he was vtterly perished The sages would not haue set out and adorned their funerals sepulchers and tombes with such ceremonies nor hallowed them with so many devotions if they had certainely held that death is an vtter destruction of the whole man on the contrarie they were in this poynt perswaded that it was a departure and change of life which brought worthie men and women to heauen Plato also bringeth in Socrates condemned to death saying to his judges I hope that good shall befall me to die For if all sense and feeling be abolished in death it bringeth a quiet and perpetuall rest but if that which is said of it be found true that it is a departure out of this world to goe into places where those that be dead are assembled together what contentment shall it be to me to talke and discourse with them It is further addeth Cicero a sound and solid Argument that nature it selfe proclaimes the soules of men to be immortall in this that all men haue a wondrous care what shall become of them and all thinges else after their death and die very willingly when life beginning to faile and to leaue them may stay and settle it selfe vpon a good conscience and a worthie euidence to it selfe In the second Booke of the Lawes these words following are read Our auncestors haue ordained that the dead should bee canonized and placed in the number of gods by certaine ceremonies which they did institute Ennius as of opinion that wee were not to weepe for the dead because their soules were immortall Plato sayd in the first Booke of his Common weale that a man which hath this good testimonie in himselfe to haue done no man wrong is alwayes vpheld with a greacious and stedfast hope the good nursse and supportresse of his old age And againe Cicero in his first Booke of Tusculane questions writeth these words You haue in sleepe the image of death wherein you are sheeted and wrapped vp euery night Are you in doubt then that there is no more sense in death seeing you know that in sleepe the soule of man is never at rest Moreouer banish farre from you those old wiues fables and comptes that it is a great miserie to die before the time And of what time Of Nature But nature hath lent vs life as siluer or coyne without setting vs a day of restitution but to restore it backe againe at her will and pleasure Why then doe you complaine if shee call for and demand her owne againe when it pleaseth her seeing you hold and haue it vpon this condition With what alacritie and chearefulnesse ought we to goe that way at which wayes end we shall be released and discharged of all carefull carkinges fascheries and anxieties of minde A woman of Sparta hauing sent her sonne to the warre and tydinges being brought her that hee was slaine in the battaile with great courage answered that shee did beare him to the end he should die for his Countrie Seneca an excellent Stoicke Philosopher hath verie worthie precepts in his morall Bookes touching death We could compile a great Booke of them but not to be too long too large it shall suffice vs to cull out some sentences of them which shall be able to giue the reader a taste and desire to see the rest I will beginne at the end of the thirteenth Epistle which speaketh to old men Among other euills folly hath yet this one that shee still begins to liue This poynt sheweth how bad and scurrilous the levitie and giddie humour of men
THE WISE-VIEILLARD OR OLD MAN TRANSLATED OVT OF French into English by an obscure Englishman a friend and fauourer of all wise Old-Men ECCLVS 25. 4. 5. O how pleasant a thing is it when gray-headed men minister judgement and when the Elders can giue good counsell O how comely a thing is Wisedome vnto aged men c. PRO. 16. 31. Age is a crowne of glorie when it is found in the way of righteousnesse LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson 1621. TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVLL VVORTHIE REVEREND AND LEARNED DIVINE Mr IOSEPH HALL Doctor of Diuinitie and Deane of Worcester the Author doth Dedicate this Translation as the first fruit and essay of his FRENCH Studies WORTHIE SIR This translation of the sage Vieillard being the fruit of certaine vacant and divorced houres I purposed to dedicate in a singular respect to a worshipfull Gentleman your good friend and neighbour Mr Henry Archer late of Thaydon Garnon in Essex who was well versed in the French language But his death disappoynted me of my purpose made my pen fall out of my hand lye still and stirre no further hauing then more then halfe finished the Booke The second yeare after whose death well weighing with my selfe that it was a Worke might yeeld some profit to my Countrie men of England I tooke vp my Pen againe and at starts and tymes finished it And then withall considering with my selfe that a good Booke in these dayes had need of a good man to Patronize it I called to mind that your worthy selfe hauing beene in Fraunce and other forraine partes might be a fit Maecenas to support my weake labours therein and so boldly adventured to Dedicate the Patronage thereof to your good Worship And I was the rather imboldened thereunto vpon hope that for your deceased good friend and neighbours sake to whom it should haue beene Dedicated you would not refuse it at least for the workes sake being a mixt Subiect of morall and diuine documents and instructions And further I hope that it will not be accompted presumption to dedicate a good Booke to the learned and vertuous Howsoeuer it is my dutie to craue pardon for presuming to dedicate it to your worship my selfe being a man of an obscure and humble condition And therefore I doe further craue your pardon that I may not make my selfe otherwise knowne vnto your worship then by the two Alphabeticall letters of my name here-vnder printed Yet haue I alwayes beene since I first knew you and still doe rest a man which doth vnfainedly reuerence you T. VV. ¶ To the Reader I AM loath to woce thee by styling thee courteous kinde gentle Reader but rather desire that the subiect matter of the Booke might allure thee to read it The French Author thereof hath intituled it TheWise Old Man by which title hee seemes to implie that all are not wise that are old which if it be so hee then seemes to glance at our English Prouerb No foole to the old foole Howsoeuer hee lessons both young and old what they should be As for my part I thinke it not fitting to preface the wholesome documents and instructions contained in it which as good Viandes are offered to thy taste least I should take away thine appetite to read it and make thee to surfeit before thou hast fed All that I haue to doe and lesse I cannot doe is to craue thy fauourable construction of that I haue done For I modestly confesse I haue beene too ouerweening and bold to take vpon me to translate so worthy a Worke of the worthy French Author thereof Monsieur Symon Goulart my selfe being no higher a graduate in learning then a common Grammarian and no better skilled in the French language then what mine owne practise and study hath enhabled mee to be But vpon the first reading of him I was so delighted that my fingers did euen itch to set pen to paper and to vnclaspe so good a Worke which was shut vp from thy vse and benefit vnder a strange tongue Make much I pray thee of him now because hee speakes to thee in English and if he speake it not well I craue thy pardon for I am in fault that haue taken vpon mee to make him speake our language before I well vnderstand his Yet I hope I haue hit of his meaning though I vary from his wordes as all Translators must doe And now I am a suiter for pardon I doe wooe thee by these Epithites of courteous kinde gentle Reader charitably to censure mee for taking vpon me to put into English so worthy a Worke with so weake a hand which fauour I hope I shall the rather obtaine at thy hands for that I haue done it out of a good will to thee and not out of any skill in mee which I doe disclaime and therefore I desire to hide mee from thee and not otherwise to be knowne vnto thee then I am to the worthy Gentleman to whom I haue beene hold to commend the patronage of this Worke. And so I leaue thee courteous Reader to God and wish thee to be with God when thy time is to goe to him and will still bee thy well wisher in all good things T. W. THE CONTENTS OF THE twentie Chapters of this Booke Chapter 1. OF long life and the desire men haue to liue long in the world Page 1. Chapter 2. Of such persons as haue liued long namely the Patriarches before the Flood Page 11. Chapter 3. Of the Tree of Life and of the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill Page 16. Chapter 4. What old age is and how many Species and kindes of old age there be Page 22. Chapter 5. The Spring-head of old age and the causes and occasions of it Page 28. Chapter 6. Of the Climactericall Yeares Page 41. Chapter 7. The complaints of the miseries of old age aduisedly discussed Page 44 Chapter 8. Foure causes propounded by Cicero of the miseries of old age reduced to two to wit the miseries of the bodie and of the minde Page 48. Chapter 9. A more speciall Catalogue or numbring vp of some miseries in old men in regard of their bodies Page 53. Chapter 10. The miseries of old men in regard of their mindes Page 63. Chapter 11. Of the causes that old age is burthensome and tedious to old men Page 82. Chapter 12. Of the benefit or good of old age Page 86. Chapter 13. Of the profit which wise old men may reape from the doctrine contained in the Writings of Philosophers and Heathen Authors Page 96. Chapter 14. Assured consolations against all infirmities of bodie and minde Page 107. Chapter 15. An aduise to wise old men containing the summarie and substance of their dutie vntill their last gasp Page 126. Chapter 16. Worthy meditations for all persons especially the wise Vieillard of what quality or condition soeuer he be Page 136 Chapter 17. Consolations against death and how it ought to be feared or not feared Page 145. Chapter 18.
Ierusalem no more a childe of yeares nor an old man which shall not accomplish and fill vp his yeares for hee that shall bee a hundred yeares old shall bee a young man By which manner of speech the Prophet would giue vs to vnderstand that all the children of God shall come to that age and stature where of Saint Paul maketh mention in the fourth Chapter of his Epistle to the Ephesians in such sort that they shall be exempt from all infirmities wherewith children and old men are cumbred that is they shall not be children in vnderstanding nor poore silly dotardes and sots as those are that know not Iesus Christ but liue in perpetuall ignorance Idolatry and beastly impiety On the contrary life prolonged vnto the prophane shall bee but a presage and forerunner of their euerlasting accursed condition But to proceed the inherent and naturall causes of old age are not all of one sort and kinde For some of them are meerely naturall and sleepe in our bosomes and some of them be accidentall and forraine and further of from vs. Those we call meerely naturall and which sleep with vs which the Naturalists Physicians speake of to wit our coldnesse and drynesse of body because the more our radicall moysture dryes vp and our blood cooles the neerer is our sensitiue and naturall life to an end which hath beene the cause to moue some men to thinke that old men were called Senes which is as much to say as Semineces men halfe dead because old men especially those that are decrepit very much worne with age haue cold and dry bodies For although they abound with excrements and by this accident seeme to haue moist bodies for that their naturall heat being too much cooled and not able to cherish and warme them within the humour purgeth it selfe at the nose or mouth Yet this age is found indeed and in truth to be cold and dry And as death is a totall suffocation of the naturall heate so old age doth by little and little coole and abate it whereupon it also followes that all cold and dry bodies are quickly worne out and grow old On the contrary young men are of hoate and moyst constitutions But euen as it is to bee found in wines that some keepe collour long and drink briske and neate and some by and by loose collour and drinke eagre and flat So wee see some men waxe old and were out sooner then others And notwithstanding that man wheele about from this place to that shifting ayres and vsing all the wayes and means he can to cherish nature for a while yet his naturall heate and strength doth by little and little leaue him whereupon doth ensue to aged persons white haires loosenesse of teeth deafenesse of hearing weaknesse and decay of sight the shaking palsie in their hands and legges and the chilling and shrinking vp of all the whole body This naturall weaknenesse and drynesse which by succession of time doth inuade all bodies made of earth or other matter besides is seconded in many men with diuers diseases and with old age comming on which with greater paine doth hasten it forward and further it the more All these euils may be reduced to two heads which wee call the labours and toyles of the body distinctly or both together and intemperance Concerning labour it is expresly set downe in that sentence immediately after the sinne of Adam and Eue which Moyses doth propound in these words The earth shall bee accursed because of thee in sorrow shalt thou eate of the fruites thereof all the dayes of thy life in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eate bread c. Gen. 2. 17 19. And in the ninetith Psalme it is said That we flourish and wither away all at once Because as the Prophet saith there is no part of our life how strong and lusty soeuer it bee which is priuiledged and free from sorrow and labour These two are the parents of old age as euery man knowes and there hath beene in our time young men which being oppressed with extreame griefe haue become old in a night the toyles of the warres haue made some gray headed in the prime and flower of their yeares and it comes by kind to the men and women of some kindreds and families to be soone gray and old Plime in his seuenth booke and seuenth chapter writeth That in Albania some haue all the haire of their heads white from their infancy I my selfe haue seene in diuers places where I haue trauelled fiue or sixe yong men whereof the last I saw was in Dauphiné who had all the haire of their heads as white as a man of threescore and tenne yeares old Touching intemperance whereof there bee diuers kindes a vice to common in young men destitute of the feare of God and very vnseemely in old men being the harbinger of death and the Phisicians best friend It hath beene an old complaint seeing this present life is so short fraile and transitory that men doe so naturally desire to liue and to bee so carefull to recouer and preserue their health and to that end spare for no cost nor make any bones or difficulties to turne their tender stomackes into an Apothecaries shop of bitter and vnsauory druges how almost all men by their outragious riots and surfettings doe bring vpon themselues an irkesome old age doe before hand as much as in them lies with sharpe and violent diseases hasten their death are not wise till it bee too late and neuer condemne or finde fault with their shamefull luxuries and riots till the gout is in their knees or the dropsie doth painefully shingle them round or the stone doth torment them and till the excesses and disorders by them committed to the fearefull abuse of Gods patience haue deliuered vp their rotten and crazed bodies into the hands of a miserable old age They should before hand remember and bethinke themselues of the old excellent Prouerb If thou wilt bee a very old man bee old betime Which doth warne vs to bee carefull of our health in our youth flying all shamefull and vnruly passions and seeking by the wise gouernment of our selues to obtaine such an old age as may bee long strong and healthfull Verily it is a licentiousnesse not to be borne withall or tollerated that a man should giue his youth as a present to the vncleane spirit by abandoning it to impudent dissolutenesse pollutions and ribauld impurities promising to himselfe that all shall goe well with him at last and conceiting to himselfe rude and wilde peccauies which deceiue and misleade him It is a further euill and vtterly abominable in old men to see them so farre to haue abandoned God their honour their respect of others all remembrance of their wretched condition and of death which hangs ouer their heads that they would still weaue a webb of new yeares for Couerlets to hide the foule deedes they commit in horrible hypocrisie which at last
they imitate and act the foule enormities and scandalous manners of some wilfull impudent young men But if according to the opinion of Seneca there is nothing more wretched in the world then the man who hath neuer had any misfortune crosse or affliction Let vs deeme him happy which beareth his afflictions in such sort that hee is confident and assured quickely to haue a release and end of them to his credite and true contentment But to proceed old men are not without laudable exercises imployments and delightfull studies and meditations If their feet bee slow of pace their mindes are quicke enough and ready to conceiue and apprehend as Euripides saith If young men doe know how to vse the Stoccado the Punto reuerso and are expert and cunning in their weapon it is old men doe direct them how to mannage a quarrell and when to fight for their aduantage and honour if heerein wee will giue credit to Plutarch wh writes that it belongs to young men to beare Armes and for old men to consult and determine what is best and profitable for the good and welfare of the State Old men then are the heads of the politicke body and young men are the armes As for holy meditations wherewith the soule is rauished and transported aboue the clouds they require not great strength of body but on the contrary when the wise Vicillard or Old man cannot without great paine stirre hand and foote and lies bedred hee comforteth and cheeres vp himselfe with diuine meditations sitting to his age and while fooles and dissolute persons confound themselues in base shamefull pleasures hee is priuately conuersant and talking with God hearkens vnto him inwardly speaking to him not daring once to looke vp with his eyes doth question and expostulate with him humbly prayes and sues to him preuailes and obtaines fauour of him to grant him his humble request and desires Young men that are so forward and bold to prouoke old men to anger and displeasure feele now and then that old men haue strong and forcible resistances sharp swords and words to to daune and dismay the stoutest of them As in our time it hath chanced to many great and meane persons who in regard of their age weakenesse of body being esteemed as dead men haue made young men to tremble and quake who earst purposed to plucke their skin ouer their eares before they had beene laide in their beds asleepe S. Ierome glanceth at these things and toucheth them by the way in his letters to S. Augustine I pray you saith hee doe not challenge and dare one that hath been an old beaten Souldier both by sea and land to single combate and to hand blowes with you who are but a young nouice and fresh-water Souldier remember Dares and Entellus in Virgil c. Cicero writeth that Agamemnon the chiefe Generall of the Grecian Army was wont to wish for tenne Nestors that is eloquent and wise counsellours and not for ten Aiaxes or stout Captaines and bold daring warriours Valerius Maximus in his eight booke chap. 1. maketh mention of certaine old men who being deepely strooken in yeares would not giue ouer to doe seruice for their Countrie and to the State and had good successe in their enterprises Among others hee nameth Marcus Valerius Coruinus who liued a hundred yeares and was sixe times Consul Also Metellus who being a very aged man was notwithstanding chosen chiefe Pontifex and worthily discharged the place Lastly Appius surnamed the blinde who in his decrepit old age caused his Litter to be made ready wherein he was carried to the Senate house where hee gaue his negatiue voyce and crossed the treatie of a dishonourable peace with Pyrrhus that it went not forward Some doe obiect that old age is to be feared because it bleares mens eyes or puts them out quite But will you reproach Appius that he was blinde who gaue eyes to his weake sighted countrey to see what was honourable and behoouefull for it I solemnely affirme that losse of sight is a discommodity which doth diuersly sometimes blast and smite young men from their cradle either thorough some defect in nature or by accident Some see best a farre off others neerer hand some cannot indure to looke vpon the Sunne others are so weake sighted that the light of the day doth offend their eyes some are borne starke blinde and some purblinde Howsoeuer this may bee yet old men are not without the comfort which blinde Asclepiades had who pleasantly said That hee had this benefit by his blindnesse that before he went all alone by himselfe but since hee was blinde hee went not abroad any whether but hee had the company of him that did lead him The solace and comfort of a wise old man who is become starke blinde or sees but very little is that hee hath no more the ill hap to see so many dissolute lasciuious arrogant impudent mad-braine-sicke and lewd persons with whom the earth is ouerspread Hee can make the same answere which a good Father made to Iulian the Apostata who to mocke and scoffe so much the more at Christians reproched and hit him in the teeth with his imperfection of sight I prayse God said the good Father that he hath giuen mee the grace not to see so wicked a man as thou art Let vs adde that which the good Anthony heretofore liuing a Hermites life not farre from AEgypt said to Didymus the blinde man of Alexandria a very pious and religious person and of singular learning as Sozomene reports in his third booke chap. 14. Thou oughtest not friend Didymus to hold it grieuous or molestfull to haue lost thy sight which myce lynxes and other brute beasts haue very piercing and quicke but rather to be glad and to iudge thy condition happie that thou hast eyes like the eyes of the holy Angells by whose helpe thou beholdest the Lord and doest perfectly see and discerne the causes of his workes But what auayles it to haue eyes in our head if our vnderstanding bee sensuall and brutish if it bee clouded with the darkenesse of ignorance Briefly if in question and discourse of good things wee be beetle-blinde and see no more then a mole How great cause haue we then to begge of the Lord with Dauid 119. Psalme To open our eyes that wee may be able to behold the wonderfull mysteries of heauenly knowledge The soule as Basil said in his first booke against Eunomius is glad and reioyceth which inquiring into things that bee diuine hath so good eye sight that shee can penetrate and pry into things that are not to bee perceiued by sense and can contemplatiuely behold the Lord with whom she shall dwell for euer Some find fault with and complaine of their memory the infirmitie whereof Seneca the Oratour in the first booke of his controuersies doth number among the principall hazards of old age and sayth it doth first faile and decay that in times past hee had a very
bee driuen out of it although misery doth assayle and afflict them on euery side CHAP. XII Of the benefit or good of old age WE doe now speake of some commodities of old age and doe parcell out the benefits and good thereof Wee speake heere of a well framed and well ordered old age and of that age which is from fiftie fiue yeeres or there abouts vntill threescores and tenne or fourescore yeares Touching those casuall miseries as childish humours and doting manners paulsies faintnesse feeblenesse and the like infirmities either of minde or body these art not heere to be considered for all old men doe not bring forth commendable fruits and effects of their liues being become sots leud and men altogether rude and ill nurtured And who would thinke to goe to gather grapes of thornes figges of thistles and to finde hony in a gall Ancient men had a Prouerb as Dauid reports 1. Sam. 24. 14. That wickednesse doth proceed from the wicked But we doe maintaine that there are vertues not common which are to bee found in old men who are vertuous wise and fearing God who only are worthy and none else as Basil saith of the worthy name of old men although they haue faint and languishing bodies and lye bedred Speaking then of good we doe consider diuers sorts of good There is a naturall good a politique a supernaturall and a good which is opposed to that which is vitious and bad vnpleasing painefull vnprofitable hurtfull Wee doe take vpon vs to make it appeare that these diuers species and sorts of good doe all meete in old men And first to speake of the naturall good What thing is there so agreeable to nature as ripenesse of iudgement Now this is found properly and altogether in old men For pregnant and forward wittes are of an extraordinary last and doe seldome last long Men of ripe age doe vndoubtedly perceiue the ouerboyling blood and passions of youth to waxe luke-warme and to freeze in them they feele ordinarily many salt rheumes and Catarrhes to consume and dry vp in them they are macerated and leane and they know their iudgement decayes It is a naturall good to dye old for a man to bee carefull of himselfe and his health which is sounder in old men then in young who for the most part regard not the good gouernment of their bodies and liues Concerning the ciuill or politique good it chiefely consisteth in honour which being the Magnificent and Maiesticall reward of vertue hath beene the cause that wise old men haue alwayes iudged that there was no good so commodious as this The Spartanes and many other people did honour very much the ancients and elders who in the common-weale of Israel were superintendents and had the charge of publique and State affaires committed to them And Saint Paul 1. Timoth. 5. 17. willeth That the elders that rule well bee esteemed worthy of double honour All constitutions and ordinances doe decree that old men command and yong men obey The Athenians obseruing an ancient decree of Solon did honour old age in such sort that the ancientest men of the citie had the prime voyce and spake first in all their common counsells and assemblies and they esteemed it very expedient for the good of their state to respect the counsell of old men Young Plinie in the eight booke of his Epistles writeth that there was an ancient constitution to this effect That young men should learn of old men not only how to behaue themselues in their speeches and words but also in their carriage and gesture of body The father was tutor to the sonne and if the father dyed the ancientest man of the place where he dyed or of some other place was to haue the tuition and wardship of his sonne The Apostle sath to Timothy his scholler Rebuke not an elder but exhort him as a father and the elder women as mothers Concerning the goods of the minde which are morall as prudence temperance continency and those which are supernaturall and infused as the true wisedome the sincere knowledge of God the zealous inuocation of his name the discussion of Theologicall controuersies the dexterity and skill of managing and ordering Church discipline there was neuer no doubt made but it is agreed vpon of all men that old men haue a larger measure of knowledge heerein and without comparison more vnderstanding to direct then young men Certainely young men who are of sober and discreet conuersation and manners and plentiously furnished qualified with graue counsells as Timothy the Euangelist was doe deserue very great commendation and applause 1. Timoth. 4. 12. But Saint Paul doth not mynce and dissemble the matter but that such greene heads are often time in trauell and whurried about with intemperate lusts and desires and further will not admit that the Pastour and Minister of the Church should be a young scholler or fresh-man least being puffed vp with pride hee fall into the condemnation of the Arch Calumniator the Diuell 1. Tim. 3. 6. Hee forbiddeth the young widdowes to meddle in things set a part for the seruice of the Church 1. Timoth. 5. 12. It is euident what opinion old men in times past had of young men Homer in his Vlisses declares that young men vsually are inconsiderate and heedlesse Aristotle writeth That they are not very capable of morall knowledge for lacke of iudgement and experience which they could not attaine vnto but by succession of time Cicero propoundeth this sentence That young men are rash and heady and old men are aduised and stayed Besides many others haue shot forth the like bolts and censures whereof this is the totall summe and substance I neuer saw wisedoms and youth both together dwell Nor him a good commander that did neuer obey well I will heereunto adde further this Stanza of verses of the same quill Suddenly to resolue and rashly to beleeue all Not to discerne and friends voyce from a flatterers call Young headed counsell and new seruants put in trust Haue oftentimes laid high estates in the dust It is recorded in Histories that many Common-weales hauing beene disturbed turned topsie turuie and brought to ruine by the bold forwardnesse and rashnesse of young Counsellours haue beene reestablished and at length reduced to a good forme of gouernment by the counsell of old men The kingdome in the house of Dauid in the time of Rehoboam the Common-weale of Athens many times and of Rome in the conspiracie of Catiline are a proofe heereof So then the fruits which old age doth yeeld and bring forth are manifold whereof some redound to the glory of God as old men haue more deuotion and religion then other men their prayers are more powerfull and frequent they doe more vsually and daily extoll and magnifie the grace fauour prouidence of God whereof they haue many testimonies and experiences in their owne persons There are other fruits which old age doth yeeld which doe serue to the benefit and
and reckons of death the threatnings and rage of Tyrants As Solon who being demanded By what vertue hee did so braue the Tyrant Pisistratus answered His old age Touching the contempt of death and a resolution couragiously to apprehend and embrace it who will not maruell to heare the wordes which the great Cyrus King of Persia vttered to his sonnes a little before his death My dearely beloued sonnes said he when you shall see mee no more thinke not therefore I am quite annihilated and no where for when I was in your company you could not perceiue my soule but onely discusled it in your minde to be in my body by the deedes and actions you saw me to doe Beleeue then that the soule is still aliue and in being although you see my body no more Neuer could any man perswade mee that the soules of mortall men perish with their bodies nor that being departed out of our bodies past feeling and sense that they are without feeling and sense on the contrary seeing that the soul being at liberty and hauing nothing to doe with the body begins to become pure and wholy to see and behold it selfe I hold and maintaine that then it is in full perfection of knowledge and vnderstanding Furthermore the case standing thus that death is the dissolution of nature wee see whither all things tend to wit to their first matter whereof they were made the soule excepted which we see not how it comes into the body remaines there nor goes out You see that there is nothing so much resembles death as sleepe But the soules of those which sleepe shew their diuine nature in this point that being free from disturbance and at rest see and behold things a farre off and to come which plainely declares what they must bee after they are deliuered from the prison of the body This being so reuerence mee my sonnes as a thing diuine but if the soule be to perish with the body yet giue not you ouer to feare the gods which maintaine vphold gouerne this Principall master peece called Man And in this doing as good children you shall inuiolably preserue my name To this Oration which is bettered by Cicero in his Dialogue of old age reciting Socrates who in prison wisely and stoutly discourseth of the immortality of the soule Old Cato also addeth that seeing the soules of men are so prompt and apprehensiue to remember things past and of so wise foresight in things future and to come haue inuented so many trades arts sciences so many rare and notable things It is impossible that such natures capable of so great excellencies should bee mortall And seeing the soule is in continuall agitation and motion which shee originally hath not to wit from any extrinsecall cause and from other then her Creatour which Cicero forgetteth seeing shee mooues and stirres of her selfe it followes that shee shall euer haue such agitation and motion for shee will neuer leaue or abandon to bee her selfe Further that the soule in it owne nature being a substance simple pure vnmixt hauing no disagreeing qualities cannot be diuided and being indiuiduall it followes it is immortall which serues to prooue that men are capable and of vnderstanding before they bee borne seeing that children in learning the baser and more seruile and meaner trades arts and sciences doe on a suddaine comprehend and conceiue infinit things ere on would say they begin to apprehend and vnderstand what this or that is but onely their memories serue them to retaine and beare them away Cato afterward affirmeth further That if the soules of men were not immortall good men would not desire or aspire to a glory which is durable and ay-lasting What meanes this saying That euery wise man dieth most willingly and the wicked depart hence full fore against their will and with much griefe and vexation of minde Seemes it not vnto you that the soule which sees more cleerely and father off knowes she goes to a better place On the contrary hebere dull and sencelesse man is vncapable and ignorant heereof Verily I desire nothing more then to see your forefathers whom I haue made much on respected and honoured and besides I desire to be with those of whom I haue heard men to speake and discourse whose bookes I haue seene and perused and whose names I haue quoated and mentioned in mine owne writings Now that I am onward in my way and making hast to goe to them It would be a troublesome and hard matter to hale mee or make mee roule or goe backe as men would a ball or a bowle And if God had made me a grant to become a childe againe and to cry in a cradle I should stifly and with might and maine refuse such an offer for seeing I haue almost finished my course I will not bee recalled from my last end to my first state and condition Is there any commoditie in this life Is not this life painefull in all her reuolutions terminations periods and endes But put the case this life hath many commodities so it is that wee may be full gorged satiated and glutted with them and see and end of them too I will not for all that way wardly and testily fret fume storme and chaffe at this life as many learned men haue oftentimes done and I repent me not that I haue liued for I haue so spent my dayes that I account of my selfe as one that hath serued for some vse and for something in the world I goe out of this life as out of an Inne and not as one out of a house seeing that nature leaues vs here in this world a time to passe and walke vp and downe but not heere to settle abide and continue O happy the day when I shall goe to the holy company of blessed soules and shall leaue the base rabble and rascally route of the world See heere for certaine the worthy Treatises of men ignorant of the immortality of mans soule but as they did gropingly and blindely imagine Notwithstanding they were grounded vpon this imagination that nothing being so common nor of more price and account with man then the loue and preseruation of himselfe a care and regard ought especially to bee had of that part which properly may be called Man to wit the soule and that the way and meanes to liue well and happily consisteth in the knowledge and comtemplation of things diuine inciting and prouoking vs to good workes so as the tranquility of our mindes consisteth not properly in being freed from paine and griefe but rather in being deliuered from those raging and vnruly passions which hurry the wicked vp and downe For as Seneca sayth in his booke De Prouidentia those casuall miseries which our owne hands bring not vpon vs are sent for our good that our many vertues may the more gloriously shew and appeare and that as wee cut Vines to make them yeeld the more fruit so by the smart and wound of
cost but six Liards three halfe pence or thereabouts and there were burned with faggotts of reedes or brush wood which were set round about them Behold sayth he our equipage our munition and armour of victorie this is out triumphall Chariot Eusebius writeth in the fiftie booke of his Historie of a holy martyr burned aliue with certaine plates of iron made red hot and set to his naked bodie notwithstanding which tormentes hee made a constant profession of the Christian faith even to the last gaspe Eusebius addeth that this sheweth that nothing is terrible to him which feeles that God loueth him and that whosoeuer seekes the glory of Christ Iesus is guarded and saued harmelesse from euery painefull and terrible accident and casuall event As for the vncouth and strange diseases and kindes of hideous death whereunto to mans life is exposed as they are to be seene in the horrible convulsions of Epilepsies falling sicknesses in the violent fittes of Apoplexies in cruell and hot burning feavers these are pittifull cases to behold and incident to our fraile and sinnefull nature But they are also certaine monitors of a better life seeing that our health and happinesse consisteth not in a sound temperature of humours but in this that our names are written in heauen and that wee haue bin dedicated to Iesus Christ For the Lord God who knoweth our heartes who in his secret judgement exerciseth some more then others regardes and considers what he hath done for vs and what the holy Ghost who comforteth vs in such accidents and cases doth for vs by vnspeakeable groanings not the intemperature of our bodies nor the effectes of it For this is an assured thing that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus and that nothing is able to seperate vs from the loue which the father of heauen beares vs for his sonnes sake yea that all things doe helpe together for the good of those whom according to his determinate counsell he hath called to the participation of his grace Therefore all Christians ought to remaine vndoubted and resolued in this poynt that there is no kinde of maladie torment or death which doth hurt Gods elect that there is no death happie ioyful peaceable to the wicked vnbeleeuers and miscreants whom God often times for a while doth vphold in this world to the end more heauily to punish them after hee hath dragged and haled them out of the earth Hereupon it will be demanded wherefore then so many great personages members of the Church of God and Christ Iesus himselfe the head thereof did feare death and prayed to be guarded and secured from it I answere that there was something of singular note in our Lord and which must be differenced and distinguished from others In that he not onely bore and felt a common death or seperation of the soule from the bodie but also vnder-went and sustayned the wrath of God and all the torments and agonies that may be imagined without sinne notwithstanding because hee was an hostage and pledge for vs Neuerthelesse in such sort that he did not yeeld nor shrinke vnder the burthen nor murmured a whit against God but voluntarily offred himselfe in sacrifice stood not demurring and shifting of death with natures delayes wholly submitted himselfe to the will of God his Father as it was foretold and figured by Dauid in the fortieth Psalme Here am I O God that I may doe thy will Behold as touching the head of the Church who had had no subiect of combat and victorie if he had not felt the tormentes and terrors of death without sinne or any offence and fault on his part In respect then we are his members let vs keepe and obserue this rule That wee cannot commend euery refusal or euery desire of death nor discommend all contempt of death Some wish death not so much for any desire they haue of a better life as for the despite and dislike they conceiue against their abode and stay in the world where they see miseries which their weake mindes cannot brooke and endure and which giue terrible shockes and assaults to the most resolued and stoutest hearts The Israelites wanting bread in the wildernesse wished death as also when newes was brought them that the Cananites were men of a very tall stature Iob in the depth of his panges and griefes desired to die as also the Prophet Eliah did during his escape in the Desert On the contrary Dauid Ezechias and other great personages very much feared death and instantly besought the Lord to guard and saue them from it But this was for a speciall consideration to wit in as much as they being afraide of the threatninges and judgements of God the approach of death appeared more terrible vnto them or because they wished to continue longer to aduance Gods glory and to yeeld their helpe and seruice to the edification of the Church Againe the same personages banished all feare from them looking vpon death according as now it is made vnto vs by the grace of God the rest from our labours the passage to a better life In this sense the Patriarch Iob spake in the 19. Chapter I know that my redeemer liueth and that I shall rise againe at the last day that I shall be againe cloathed with my skin and shall see the Lord in my flesh So Dauid did sing in the 16. Psalme For this cause my heart is glad my tongue reioyceth Moreouer my flesh resteth in assurance for thou wilt not leaue my soule in the graue And in the 23. Psalme Though I should walke in the shadow of death I will feare no euill because thou art with me CHAP. XVIII The sequele of the poynts propounded in the former Section concerning the resolutions and consolations against Death IF there be any men bound to meditate ordinarily vpon death to be armed with remedies against the alarumes of it to procure that their children friends and families doe liue as prest and readie to die wise old men are especially they whose true Philosophie is called the Meditation of death To draw them so much the more easily vnto it we will remember to euery one of them some sayings of wise Pagans and Heathens which will cause vs to say to all persons who vaunt themselues of the name of Christians At least doe not afflict and torment your selues more with the death of the your selues and yours then the silly Heathens who had no hope who so manfully contemned the approches of death who with so great constancie haue embraced it and striuen against it I speake thus considering the cowardize of some Christians who haue nothing so much in their mouthes and take so little to heart as death S. Ierome in the Epistle to Heliodorus shewing how we ought to be more resolute against the assaults of death and all accidents and casualties of humaine life then Infidells were maketh mention of Xerxes that mightie Monarch who ouerthrew mountaines and paved
seat of Christ that euery man may receiue according to what he hath done in his body be it good or euill Knowing then the terror of the Lord we perswade men to the faith and wee are made manifest to God And that which he sayth at the end of the fourth Chapter of the first to the Thessalonians This we say vnto yee by the word of the Lord that wee which shall liue and remaine to the comming of the Lord shall not preuent them which sleepe For the Lord himselfe with a shout with the voyce of the Archangell and with the Trumpet of God shall descend from heauen and those which are dead in Christ shall rise first afterward wee which shall bee aliue and remaine shall bee caught vp with them also in the cloudes to meete the Lord in the ayre and so shall we euer be with the Lord. O how great occasion haue young and old who read these things to thinke vpon and consider their consciences Let vs adde some lineaments of the immortalitie of mans soule not that wee thinke that any good man doth call in doubt this truth but because we cannot too much fortifie young nor old against the bloudie scoffings execrable blasphemies of Epicures Atheistes with whom the earth is couered in these latter tymes Many auncient Philosophers as Pythagoras Pherecydes the Platonistes and the Stoickes haue set forth many sayinges of the immortalitie of the soule as much as they could learne out of the Schoole of Nature And yet as Lactantius declares it in his 7. booke of Diuine Institutions seeing they were ignorant wherein the soueraigne good of man doth consist vnlearned in the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles they apprehended not any thing of the truth of this Article but by vncertaine opinion and coniecture rather then by assured knowledge Yea which is worse some of them first Dicaearchus then Democritus and after them Epicurus haue disputed against the immortalitie of soules Cicero himselfe who otherwise doth eloquently harang and pleade this cause in the first booke of his Tusculane questions hauing examined diuers opinions is at a demurr doubt euen to say that it belongs to some god to scan and to see which of all these diuers opinions are maintained sayth he because these diuers opinions are maintained by learned men we cannot well coniecture which of them all is to be receiued But as Lactantius sayth wee to whom God manifesteth his truth need not to coniecture But the source and spring of error vpon this poynt is that those who haue questioned the certaintie of the immortalitie of the soule haue stood too much vpon their owne conceiptes and vnderstanding judging false and incomprehensible whatsoeuer was out of the reach of their apprehension Their reasons are well set forth and fitly confuted in the second and third Chapter of the Booke of Wisedome as it followeth The wicked haue falsely imagined with themselues our life is short and full of vexation and in the death of man there is no recouery and it was neuer knowne that any returned from the graue For we are borne at aduenture and shall be as if we had neuer beene because the breath of our nostrilles is as smoake and our wordes as a sparke rising vp out of our heart which being extinguished our body is turned into ashes and our spirit vanisheth as soft ayre Come then and let vs frolicke it with the pleasures that are present chearefully vsing the creatures and our youth let vs fill our selues with the best wine and with parfumes c. It is added also after The wicked haue thus erred and gone astray because their wickednesse hath blinded them and they haue not vnderstood the mysteries of God nor hoped for the reward of holines and haue not discerned what is the reward of the soules that are faultlesse For God created man to be incorruptible hauing made him to be an Image of his owne nature and likenesse but thorough the enuie of the Deuill death is come into the world and those which hold on his side proue it But the soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they seemed to die their end was grieuous At their departure from vs they seemed vtterly destroyed but they are in peace They suffered paines before men their hope was full of immortalitie hauing beene lightly or in few things punished they shall be plentifully rewarded because God hath proued them as gold and hath found them worthie of him They shall judge the Nations and shall haue dominion ouer the people and their Lord shall raigne for euer Those which trust in him shall vnderstand the truth and the faithfull shall remaine with him in loue For grace and mercy is to his Saints and he hath care of his elect But the vngodly shall be punished for their very imaginations who haue made no reckoning of the righteous and haue rebelled against the Lord. For wicked is he who despiseth Wisedome and Discipline their hope is vaine their labours helpe them not and their workes are vnprofitable From these words we gather that the abhominable opinion of the mortalitie of the soule openeth the windowe to error and letteth goe the raynes to all impietie and dissolution Whereunto doth sort and agree the scoffing speeches of Epicures and prophane ones to elude and shift off the judgments of God denounced vnto them of which Esaiah in the 22. Chapter and Saint Paul in the 15. Chapter of the 1. to the Corinthians make mention Let vs eate and drinke for to morrow we shall die Let vs be frolicke and merry we haue but one day more to liue This is the reckoning of these clamourers and brawlers who deafe and trouble our eares with their discourses and reasons Moreouer this Text of the Booke of Wisedome discouereth the prophanenesse of these sensuall and carnall men to proceede from this that they judge of the soule of man according to their grosse imaginations to wit that it is no other but a respiration a breath and vapour of smoake not considering there is great difference betweene the effect and the cause that is betweene respiration which proceedes from the lunges and is conveyed to the nostrills or to the mouth and the soule it selfe which is that essentiall spirit which formeth man yea doth many thinges without the adiument and helpe of the bodie witnesse her speculations deepe imaginations profound meditations shee being neuer idle and without motion when the bodie is faste a sleepe and stirres not Although then that respiration ceaseth the naturall faculties of the heart and lunges being suffocated and leauing their office the soule created to the image of God is not stifled and abolished so as there is great difference betweene it and the soules of Beastes which being formed with the bodies of the same matter that the bodies are doe perish also as the bodies and with them whereof it is that
the Beastes doe suour the earth and desire nothing but that which is earthie and of the earth Man on the contrary as the wisest of the Heathens especially Plato and Cicero in diuers passages of their writings doe obserue hath a diuine and heauenly soule which being enfranchised and deliuered out of the prison of the bodie returneth to the place of his originall And the more generous the mind of man is the more he lusteth after and desireth heauenly thinges meditating and looking for a better state and condition then he enioyeth in this present life From thence it commeth to passe that he despiseth losses and troubles calamities wounds and death it selfe holding it a great honour to yeeld vp his soule in some valiant and vertuous exployt and enterprise for the seruice and safetie of his Countrie to the end to goe to the other life where good men haue their reward Salust sayth that the vertuous effectes and suffringes of the minde are no lesse immortall then the soule it selfe which to vs is common with God but the body assimilateth and a greeth with the beastes Another reason hath strongly perswaded the auncient Philosophers to beleeue the immortality of mans soule That God should seeme otherwise vniust if he should suffer the vau-neantes treacherous dissolute to prosper in the world after to escape his vengeance and good men who are industrious and imploy themselues to preserue humane societie should vtterly perish in death without hope of rest at the end of their trauailes and of ioy after so many disquiets and griefes of minde and of a crowne at the end of so many thousand fought battailes and combatts Vndoubtedly prophane persons who are bold to thinke and affirme the soule of man to bee mortall doe abolish as much as in them lyes all pietie and religion they ouerthrow all vertuous and laudable actions and enterprises and as S. Ambrose very well sayth in his exposition of the worke of the six dayes they are madd-men Furthermore what is more avers preposterous and ill beseeming then to haue a straight body and a crooked soule alwayes groveling and stooping to the earth never lifting or rouzing vp it selfe toward heauen her true dwelling place But as God our creator hath plainly instructed vs in his word touching the originall end and soueraigne good of man It is also from the same word that wee must gather the infallible doctrines which we doe handle Mans soule was not composed of the elements nor fabricated or formed of the dust of the earth but the Lord God inspired it and endowed it with diuers gifts Little children doe obtaine even a soule of God their creator to wit a reasonable soule not of the seed of their fathers and mothers but by the singular fauour and benefit of him whom the Apostle Hebr. 12. calleth the Father of spirits and not without cause For although that he be the father of our bodies yet notwithstanding he created not our soules by corporall helpes but hath placed them in our bodies as excellent lampes and lights as Salomon speakes of them Prov. 20. 7. We call them immortall for two reasons first by reason of their essence which is spirituall and originarie or primarie from God the giuer of it Secondly in regard of the grace peculier to the children of God for so much as we haue communion with Iesus Christ the eternall Word of the Father the Prince and author of life This immortall and eternall life is the true happie life and so much to be desired so much recommended in the Scripture whereof Saint Paul sayth The just shall liue by faith Rom. 1. 17. Also who beleeueth in me hath eternall life Iohn 6. 47. And the Apostle sayth Iesus Christ hath abolished death and brought life and immortalie vnto light thorough the Gospell 2 Timoth. 1. 10. For although the soules of the wicked in regard of their essence sense and motion be immortall neuerthelesse they suffer death in as much as they are depriued of the iustice light beatitude and glorious life of God vpon which cause the wicked who triumph and braue it for a while in the world are called dead and after this present life it is sayd that they goe into condemnation and into eternall death because the state wherein they are then to be and remaine in perpetuall torments deserueth rather the name of death then life Prophane people talke they know not what in obiecting vnto vs that neuer any came from the other world as they babble and prattle to tell newes of them O the greatest fooles and idiots among people O silly sotts will they be still madde miserable and more brutish them beasts who beleeue nothing but what they see with their eyes and touch with their hands According to their babble they ought to giue ouer to beleeue that they doe participate of reason seeing they doe not see their soule Let them giue ouer to beleeue that our friends dwelling remote and farre from vs doe liue and are at their ease and content desiring to see vs againe and that because wee see them no more But to proceed it is not simply true that neuer any returned from the other life on the contrary the Histories of the Old and New Testament doe furnish vs with examples of men and women of young striplings and damsells raised againe from death The Prince of our faith the head of all Christians our Lord Iesus descending from heauen to assume our humaine nature in earth hath tould vs ample and gladsome newes of the state of heauen and of life eternall His ascension to heauen in bodie and soule is an assured pledge that we also shall ascend into heauen in our bodies and soules S. Paul caught vp into the third heauen where he was informed of the high and deepe mysteries and secrets of God from thence came to tell vs afterward many particularities of the Church Christ Iesus is in heauen and we shall liue there For although that death dissolue the bodie into dust from whence it was taken death cannot let the soule to returne to him that gaue it And when we die young and old let vs after the example of Christ Iesus and of Dauid recommend our soules to God rendring them into his hands as into the handes of a most faithfull keeper and gardian of them And let vs say with S. Stephen Lord Iesus receiue my soule being well assured that at the same houre when it shall be fit for vs to goe out of this present life we haue part in that gracious promise of the sonne of God made to the sinner conuerted Verely I say vnto thee that this day thou shalt be with me in Paradize This is the sweete voyce which still ought to be sounding in the heart of the wise Vieillard to the end that being at the poynt to leaue this world as his age plainely shewes him his conscience doe not smite and checke him to be a prophane person and a contemner