vnto Iesus Christ who being disswaded by his Disciples from going vp to Ierusalem he sayd vnto them There are 12 houres of the day after the example of the Apostles namely of Saint Paul who was thrice whipt with rodds continued whole dayes and nights in the bottome of the sea c. We ought to do it for Christ is a gaine to vs both in life and death for that dying we change the drosse of the world for the gold of heauen we going out of life as out of a deepe pit of darknesse and ignorance and wee ascend vp into the heauenly Vniuersity whereas the deepest sciences are learned and wee passe from a miserable seruitude into a most happy freedome of spirit Let vs then quicken our spirits and take courage and not be like vnto the skoÌ„me of the world to whom dying Nature makes this reproch which is read in Seneca What is this I haue put you into the world without couetous desires without feare without superstition without treason and without any other such infections As you entred into the world so depart this life without apprehension feare vexation or passion which torment your soules But especially let vs be carefull to depart without feare of death which among all humaine passions is most desperate it is done if we once put on a Christian courage and magnanimity and shall not flie but offer our selues following our vocation to the greatest dangers As good Macedonius did who seeing two Captaines march to reuenge the irreuereÌ„ce done to the statue of Placilla by the expresse and vnworthy commandement of Theodosius her husband seeing them I say runne to a great Massacre meetes them stayes them pulls them from their horses and by more then humaine authority commands them to desist from such cruelty to tell their master That the greatnesse of his estate shold not make him forget that he is a man that hee seekes to teare that a sunder which he cannot put together deface liuely Images which hee cannot repaire and that this outrage should touch the Creator By the boldnesse of his words and by his constancy he amazed these Captaines with the feare of Gods reuenging wrath and makes them returne towards the Emperour who hauing heard them pacified his rage Obiection Whatsoeuer is a guift of nature cannot be gotten by art Fortitude is a guift of nature c. ANswere It is true that fortitude hath her foundation in the irascible faculty but her culture her instruction and increase is purchased by labour study and continuall exercise If Alexander Caesar and other valiant Captaines had not bene continually thrust into armes hazarded themselues in warre and cast themselues into battailes they had neuer purchased the habite of valour nor gotten so many triumphes vpon their enemies In like manner if wee desire to conquer our selues and our owne passions which are most dangerous enemies wee must exercise our selues continually in these listes of vertue and weede out of our hearts two contrary vices the one is dull negligence which lulling vs asleepe in the world will not suffer vs to consider what this life is how miserable how vaine wauering although wee suppose it be perpetuall contrary to that which experience doth teach vs shewing vs dayly that either necessity doth pull it away or vanity doth swallow it vp or hasty nature doth end it The other extreame vice is feare which is the cause that wee cannot once thinke of such necessity but with trembling and horror And as the eye viciated with some yellow humour or looking through a yellow glasse thinkes all it sees to be yellow yea the purest white So our soules being infected with this terror increased by faintnesse and fortified by cowardise takes quiet things to be horrible the safest port and secuâ—…est from winds to bee more dangerous then the Rocke Capharois and finally death the happy end of all miseries to bee the beginning of most horrible paines But let vs purge this peccant huâ—… â—…ast off this 〈◊〉 scart and clothe our selues with this force with this resolute vâ—…reue and wee shall visibly see and iudge with reason that wee haue beene miserably deceiued taking our friends for enemies the greatest safety for horror and 〈◊〉 happinesse 〈◊〉 death for misery The 26. Argument taken from the instrumentall cause In euery expedition the meanes must be proper vnto it A good conscience is the proper meanes to the expedition of death Therefore we must haue a good conscience IF we consider profoundly of the cause of this terror which man hath of death we shall finde it is a naturall feeling though dull and some what brutish to haue offended his Lord thinking that he attends nothing but death to lay open the volumne of his faults to indite him criminally to pronounce sentence of condemnation against him and to deliuer him ouer to Satan the executioner to cast him into a fire which is neuer quenched Man hath a confused apprehension of all this he sees nothing in life hee feares it in death his conscience within accuseth him and serues for a thousand witnesses It is that which makes the wicked to tremble when the leaf of a tree doth fall and liues no more assured then if his life were tyed to a thread it is the Worme which neuer dies but gnawes the wicked continually It is a bad conscience said Diogenes which keepes man from beeing couragious and without feare Let a man bee by nature hardy yet a bad conscience will make him most fearefull said Pithagoras yea he added that the torments which hee shall suffer will bee much more sharpe and painefull then whipping to the body the diseases of the minde being far more grieuous then of the body which gaue occasion to Poets to paint the Furies armed with burning torches to burne the wicked So was the Emperor Caligula intreated for his cruelties terrified with feare waking awaked suddainely sleeping alwayes troubled neuer in quiet Nero was in the same estate hauing slaine his mother So Saule being forsaken by the Eternall was possest by an euill spirit hauing bad newes of his speedy death he trembles for feare forsakes his meate and drinke is much perplexed falls downe vppon the ground as the Scripture doth obserue for then the Iniustice committed against Dauid whom he had confest with his mouth to bee more lust then himselfe came to his minde Wherefore if we will liue without feare of death let vs liue without wounding of our coÌ„sciences for it alone in life doth neuer feare said wise Bias It is it that makes men liue in tranquility finding theÌ„selues not guilty of any thing Periander sayd that a good conscience made Agis King of the Lacedemonians triumph ouer his enemies in death for as hee was led to execution by the Ephores seeing some moued with compassioÌ„ to weep Weepe not for me said hee for it is against equity and reason that I am led
death of man-hood at what time the spirit is fortified and growes more ripe in good Counsell and wiser in his actions this life ascends vnto the decrepit age as they call it which begins at 70. yeares where rests the death of age and so runnes on vnto the graue all the remainder of his life and this is the 8. degree of life In the end succeeds in his turne the last principall and most to be desired death I say the principall for that it makes an end of all the other deathes that went before and feares no more the miseries of life I say to be desired for she alone doth crowne the actions of mortal life with glorious immortality it is the hand which sets vpon our heads the flourishing Diadem of eternall life It is the last staffe of the ladder manifested vnto Iacob by vision ordained by God to the end wee may thereby ascend vp into heauen It is that dun horse that is to say pale and mournefull to our opinions but yet wee must backe him to runne the carreere of death to passe vnto that most happy aboad Poore man thou tremblest at the shadow of death thou doest crie and howle when she layes hold on thee euen so thou diddest when thy mothers strength cast thee out of her wombe if then thou haddest had thy iudgement neate as now thou hast thou wouldest haue held thy selfe happy to haue left a most filthy prison within the circuite of that round Citty In like sort if now thou hadst thy vnderstanding and Spirit transformed and renewed as the Apostle speakes thou shouldest see plainely that what doth terrifie thee is that which should assure thee But yet if God hath not imparted vnto thee the light of his grace take aduice of humane reason call Seneca vnto thee who had but the eyes of a man and consider what he sayth thou shalt find that in it are no ambushes nor constraint it is onely pure and simple nature which speakes by reason it is an vndoubted Maxime that nature alwayes tends and attaines for the most part to the perfection of her worke Man is her Master peece all other Creatures are made for him the perfection of man is his perpetuity in a most happy life nature leads man by degrees to this perfection We see she failes not in the second degree seeing that the Infant borne is much more perfect then that which is newly ingendred in the wombe it failes no more in the third nor cōsequently to the eighth as I haue shewed Let vs conclude thereby that it is impossible she shold faile in the principall which is the ninth degree of life which shee must perfectly finish wee must iudge of the end of the worke by the beginning and progresse Finally if the study of Philosophy bee a kinde of death as Philosophers hold for that man is sequestred from the company of men and the vanities of the world to haue his spirit free and at liberty in his braue meditations and if in this estate man is more accomplished and more perfectly happy without comparison then they that trouble themselues continually with the affaires of this actiue life Oh what shall it bee when as the soule purged from the infection of the senses freed from all commerce with the body shall be wholly in it selfe ennobled with a supernaturall grace illuminated with a celestiall flame inspired with an vnspeakeable ioy how beautifull happy and ioyfull shall shee be To this death then let vs direct our vowes and our eies let vs take acquaintance and be familiar with her shee is our friend since that Iesus Christ did vanquish and subdue her for our sakes shee is prepared for vs as a way into which wee must of necessity enter to goe into our Countrey which is heauen It is the onely meanes ordained of God to go vnto that most blessed Mansion Let vs then stretch out our armes couragiously and with a smiling countenance when we shall see her turned towards vs making signe that shee will imbrace vs let vs receiue her for shee is a necessary gift to our cortupted nature which wee must not reiect but imbrace as Saint Chrysostome saith The first Obiection Euery end of a worke is not the finall cause therefore it followes not that death is the finall cause of life although it be the extreame end THere are three cōditions necessary to a finall cause the one is that it be the last point of the operation the other is that the worke bee finished for the loue thereof if the first bee found in death the second which is the principal falls seeing that the actions of life tend not vnto death as to their deare and best beloued Answer I said not that death was the finall cause of life but the way yea the onely way which leades vs vnto it and that for the loue of that great and foueraigne good which is ioyning to the gate of death we should desire it and not bee amazed at it after the example of S. Paule who writing to the Philippians desired to be dissolued and to be with Christ the which was farre better for him that he might bee crowned with a crowne of Iustice and enioy that vnspeakeable good as hee saith else-where But some Infidels will say I demand proofes hereof fauorable to my reason I answer that hee hath put the flame of reason into thy vnderstanding who doth illuminate euery man which commeth into the world hath presented his grace vnto thee in the Gospell to beleeue and there is nothing but the barre of thy sinnes that doth hinder thee neither is this Gospell concealed from any but such as haue the eyes of their vnderstanding blinded by the Prince of this world But if thy reason beeing blinded cannot apprehend the souereigne Good which is in death yet shall you plainly see a meere priuation from all miseries an absolute rest and a tranquility which cannot be interrupted and therfore if there were no other but this reason death should cause no amazement but rather giue contentment considering the estate of this life The second Obiection All demolishings carry deformity and cause horror Death is a demolishing of man therefore death causeth horror PAllaces Temples and other buildings yeeld a pittifull spectacle when we see them ruined and what shall man doe who exceedes in excellency all buildings yea the earth the heauen and all that we behold what can hee doe lying vpon the earth in death but perplexe our mindes To this I answer by distinction to the similitude and then I flatly deny the application I say therefore to the first proposition that there are two sorts of demolishings the one is necessary and wisely vndertaken for a better structure the other is preiudiciall and vndiscreetly done by reuenge for a totall ruine I confesse that this in its deformity should giue cause of horror but I cannot confesse that the like is in death in the
his age giues some light contributes discourses and lends him Counsell Memorie a faithfull register keepes a Iournall booke of all and will quickned by the goodly obiect which presents it selfe to the vnderstanding giues her consent and keepes all ioyfull so as by the Imagination which is alwayes ready at the first sommons that which hath once pleased the minde is often repeated and these are the last and goodliest degrees of life after which a wise man should prepare himselfe to decline it he will not doe it willingly his owne temper which had raised him will draw him force him thereunto maugre his resistance the naturall heate diminisheth the Imagination which consists in a certaine point of heat growes weake the radicall moysture consumes and the memorie is lost reason doats for that the memorie is not firme enough nor the Imagination strong to conclude the will can no more loue any thing shee is still wayward and displeased and the vnderstanding doth nothing but doaâ—…e for that the vigour and vertue of the sences is decayed they which were wont to make a faithfull report of al things in this world vnto the soule haue no more any power the sight growes dimme the hearing hardned the smelling verie dull the mouth without tast the body without appetite the hands knotted with the Goute Finally it is no more what it was And how then should these building of the bodie subsist seeing the foun dations decay daily This facultie which desired and receiued sustenance is altogether distasted that fierie vertue which did concoct it suffers it to goe downe all rawe finally that power which did nourish and giue strength vnto the body is now become vnable so aâ—… the bodie withers growes crooked and leane and in the ende dyes Thou doest imagine O 〈◊〉 that this last period of â—…y bodies fayling is very horrible thou doest beleeue it but thou art deceiued seeing it giues a finall end to all other defects which troubled thee made thee wayward Alas wouldest thou alwaies liue languish in this pittifull infancie to which thy many yeares doe reduce the remember what thou sometimes desired seeing these old men twise children when as thy reason and iudgement being â—…ound and perfect made thee conceiue what a pittie and miserie it was to liue in that estate remember I said that thou desiredst not to liue so long now the effect of thy desire the ende of thy life offereth it selfe which thou canst not nor maist in reason refuse The third Obiection The Losse of Happines causeth an insupportable griefe Death is the losse of happinesse Therefore c. THe rest of the minde is the happinesse of life to the which man iâ—… led of himselfe if he doth not wretchedly resist it for his owne reason makes him easely and distinctly to know his soule his bodie and those thing which are for his body she teacheth him that onely his soule is his and that his body and those things which concerne it depend of an other and therfore should not affect them but so far as they are profitable and not be troubled for any accident that shall befall them as not concerning him seeing it toucheth not the soule so as the spirituall and bodily infirmities to which the body is subiect as pouertie reproach and disdayne of men which may happen to a man without deâ—…rt should be indiffereÌ„t vnto him seeing they are out of his power As for that which is in his power as to allowe desire poursue the good and good things which are honest and according vnto reason and contrariwise to hate and flye the euill hee applyes himselfe 〈◊〉 â—…o easâ—…y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contâ—… vnlesse 〈◊〉 death commâ—… betweene doâ—… interâ—…pt this happiâ—… and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Answer It is true that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 doth 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parts at all 〈◊〉 aâ—…d in â—…uery place And it is also true that the very meanes â—…o attaiâ—…e vnto it is veâ—…ue But it is likewise 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 the one nor the other can be obtained in this life all wee can haue is but a shadowe of the one and the other as far different from the â—…ffect as night is from day for night is the shadow and the day is the light of the Sun which is 〈◊〉 cause â—…hat they which in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oâ—… a 〈◊〉 full of dagerous beasts being surprized by night desire nothing more 〈◊〉 to see day appaâ—… so 〈◊〉 that are in this life should desire nothing but to see the day of the Lord the Sun of Iustice to shine vpon thâ—…m Iâ—… they 〈◊〉 it noâ—… they are not tâ—…ue â—…n but â—…tish hauing taken the habit of beasts But to answer more categorically to these Sâ—…oicks 〈◊〉 especially â—…o Epictâ—… from whom this obiection is drawne to say that the bodie and those externall thingâ—… which happen vnto man should not bee respected of him it is the farthest from reason that can be euen to the vulgar fort who whollie runne after honour riches and pleasure and to say that a man in some great Infirmitie either of bodie or minde feeles no paine were to make a iest of himselfe Aristotle called the â—…ye of reason is not of that opinion these are his words in his Booke of Manners It is impossible faith hee or verie hard that any one should do wel without means and preparation Many things are effected by friends by wealth by credit and authoritie and they that are depriued of these thinges blemish their happinesse like vnto them that are issued from obscure parents who neither haue children nor good children or that are crooked For he is not perfectly happie that is deformed of a base race and without issue This is too much see what Antipater one of the great authors of the Stoicks sayth who attributs something although but little to exterior things But what sayth Seneca the wise man writes that he is happie yet he can neuer attaine vnto that Soueraigne good vnlesse the naturall Instruments be propicious And although the bodie and the exterior things be not the soule which is the principal seaâ—… of happines yet are they accessories Instruments and meanes which God hath ordayned and vnited and therefore they should tast of the happinesse of the soule if there be any as the fire dâ—…sperseth his heat in the ayer that doth enuiron it As for the other ground of this imaginarie felicitie that man doth easily apply himselfe to seeke that onely which is honest and according vnto reason it is a greater Parodoxe then the precedent for the most vertuous man in the world hath a continual combate against vice is neuer at truce how then hath he any peace or rest The eye oâ—… his vnderstanding is dazeled at the shinning of his â—…oueraigue good his wil straies from the true ende or in ayming mistakes one for an other and therefore most commonly if hee
water and saw with drie eyes his life fade away But S. Ambrose assures that a good consciēce makes the life happy Be it so but forgets to adde That in the death of the faithfull this happynesse is doubled for it is pretious before God And in the end I deny that those men in whom a melancholy humour doth most abound suffer themselues to bee so abused in their iudgements for this humour is more aduised then all the rest hauing some diuine matter in it as Aristotle saith and therefore more to be credited then the rest and particularly more then the Iouiall sanguine As for the admonition of the Stoicks it was easie for them to speake it but vertue consists in action and I know not whether Epictetus did that himself which he taught to others otherwise as the prouerbe saith I hate the Philosopher which is not wise but for others and not for himselfe You will that I take the most troublesome things on the best fide yea but I see no end of that side it is like vnto occasion which hath long haire before and bald behinde Where is that end then I cannot see it and admit I should I cannot attaine vnto it being borne vnder the planet of Saturne alwaies taking things on that side which is sadde I would haue my neighbour and my aduersarie obserue your precept and he would haue me and so neither of vs doe it and we continue by reason of the one and the other in continuall vexation Finally the pleasure of this world is very small and intermixt with many displeasures It is a Myne where there is gold but it is so fastned to the stones as to draw one crowne it will cost 12. So there is not one ounce of ioy but doth cost a pound of sorrow The 18. Argument taken from the miseries of life Euery Estate that is full of calamity should desire and not apprehend a change This present life is full of calamity c. THe field of this streight life is so spacious and so full of great dangers and extreame miseries as the exchange thereof to him that hath any sence cannot be but delightfull Obserue the diseases of the body measure number their greatnes and their great number consider the tempests stormes of the passions of the soule the clouds and troubles of his vnderstanding and you will conclude that man must of necessity change this life or to be continually miserable in euery degree And therefore he was fitly compared to a Bull which leapt suddenly into his Maisters garden and by chance ouerthrew sundry skepps of Bees which being prouoked came forth assaile him and sting him on the throate backe in the eyes and generally all ouer And it auailes him nothing to pierce the ayre with his homes to beate the earth with his feete to whippe his flankes with his strong tayle to roare make a noyse yee his stingings sticke still-to him and do not leaue him So man since that in his Creatures garden in the earthly Paradise he durst presume to ouerthrow and transgresse his Masters commandments there is no part of him from the head to the foote which is not toucht and pierced euen to the marrow of his bones with many calamities his head is subiect to inflamed Phrensies which make him madd to the Apoplexie which like Lightening depriues him of all motion his eyes are toucht with the Opthalmie or inflāmation the Squinancie takes him by the throate which making the Muscles to swell with a congealed bloud stoppe the passage of respiration the inflamed Pleurisie stabs him in the sides the Feauer burns him the swelled Dropsie drownes him the Iaundise makes war against his Liuer powring forth gall for pure bloud the vngentle Cholike wrings his bowells straitens the passages and makes of his mouth a stinking Iakes the bloudy flux excoriates his gutts the hardened grauell staying his vrine in the bladder pricks him most horribly the Goute knits his sinnews faster then bonds of Iron the Canker burnes his flesh more then fire it selfe the filthie and lousie Phtiriasis eats his skin Finally there is not any member either within or without the body that is not subiect to many infirmities Who can comprehend them all seing the eyes alone by exact search of Physitions is assayled with 113. diseases And who doth not see here that the estate of man is very wretched And that which doth aggrauate this is that euen those helps wherewith they think to ease themselues the medicins are conuerted into worse torments then thé disease the strict dyets the bitter potions the cutting and burning of members which they vse in Cankers and other vlcers that tubbe wherein they boyle the bodies of such as are infected with the venerian scab or the French poxe with a thousand other deuices to restore health and life to man what torments what agonies and what cryes do they not cause vnto the poore patients These miseries are great but those of the minde are greater which seemed for her noble extraction not to be subiect to any Come and let vs runne ouer her faculties the vnderstanding holds the chiefe place at the very entrie of life we see in infants a greater ignorance then in brute beasts Fawns as soone as they are borne know their dammes and without helpe of any goe into the most secret places to seeke the dug and sucke whereas children new borne know not where they are and being neere the breast will crie and perish with hūger rather then suck as S Augustine writes and experience doth teach This ignorance hath taken such deepe roote in the spirit os man as to roote it out and passe vnto the sciences there is found such difficultie as most men had rather liue perpetually in darkenes then to take so much paines to learne Thirdly and that is most lamentable man knowes nothing of his last end in the getting of which knowledge consists his soueraigne good hee goes alwayes astray if God doth not inspire him from aboue Let all the sects of Philosophers be witnesse who by so many diuers waies haue sought it yet could not finde it Fourthly the ignorance in man of his Essence is a notable misery the Angels know themselues perfectly The soule knowes nothing lesse then it selfe and the body which was giuen it for an Organ of the Sciences hinders it that she neither knows her selfe nor any other thing for the body which corrupts makes the soule heauie and this earthly habitation puls downe the spirit that it cannot raise it selfe to thinke of many things For a fift point there is a curiositie or naturall itching to obserue the actions errours of others more willingly and diligently then his owne this misery is great for to know his owne faults is alwayes profitable and many times necessary to examine other mens actions is seldome good and many times pernicious There is for the 6. place and for the deepest degree of the calamitie
some one returnes from market saith S. Augustin sound and lustie who falling breaks a leg whereof hee shall dye Who semes better assured then he that is set in a strong chaire yet vpon some troublesome newes hee may be disquieted fall and breake his necke Another laughing eating and drinking shal be suddenly surprized with an Apoplexie rising from some vnknowne cause and dye presently What receptacle seemes more safe and commodious for hunters that are wearie and full of sweat and dust then a cleane house with a good fire And yet a Prince with his traine thinking to retire him to such a place found himselfe in such dāger of death in the morning as he could not escape without the losse of his nayles that fell away by the vehemencie of his paine and two of his company found smotheredin the morning whence thinke you proceeded the cause of this strange Accident It was from the wall newly plastered which cast forth a virulent vapor which together with the smoake of a great cole fire fumed vp into the head dispersed his poyson throughout all the members of their bodies Who could haue foreseene this accident but too late Ammianus Marcellinus reports tho like to haue happened to the Emperour Iouinian who was found smothered in the mor ning by the like poyson And to conclude what seemes freer from breaking then a head lying in the shadow far from any house yet it hap pened that the Poet Aeschilus being so retired an Eagle flying in the ayre thinking his bald head had bene a flint stone let fal a Tortose to break it and to haue the meate but falling downe it brake the skull os poore Aeschilus The first Obiection That which shall not happen vnto vs is not to bee accounted among our miseries But these misfortunes shall not happen vnto vs c. THese miseries if it pleaseth God shall not befall vs but where is that warrant from heauen to assure vs The comicall Poet saith That man cannot be exempt from any humane accident No man liuing can say without warrāt This shal not happen vnto mee saith Menander What befalls to one thinke it may happen to thee saith Seneca for thou art a man and therefore retaine this and thinke of it not to be deiected in aduersity nor puft vp in prosperity but haue alwayes before thine eyes the liberty of fortune as being able to lay vpon thee all the miseries shee holds in her hand Man is in continuall warre vpon earth Is there not a course of warre ordayned for mortall men vpon earth saith Iob. If he be freed from his enemies abroad let him beware of some treacherous Synō at home Be alwaies ready sayd Iesus Christ for you know not the day nor the houre no man is no more assured against death then the bird is against the shot of a harquebuze God would saith S. Augustine that wee should watch continually But if changing thy tune thou thinkest that thy neighbour is not afflicted like thy selfe and that hee is much more happy thou art much deceiued Euery man feeles his owne griefe Herodotus hath seene it and written it saying That if all men liuing laden with their owne miseries had brought them together vpon one heape to exchange with them of their neighbours hauing well weighed them and viewed them euery man would willingly carry backe his owne Without doubt this present life is so full of miseries that in comparison thereof death seemes a remedy A long life is but a long torture saith S. Augustine And what other opinion can wee haue seeing that Iesus Christ who was giuen vs for a perfect president is neuer propounded vnto vs laughing but somtimes weeping as when hee approched the Tombe of his friend Lazarus and when as he wept vpon the ingratefull Citie of Ierusalem and therefore the Apostle saith That in the dayes of his flesh hee offered himselfe with great cries and teares to him who could saue him from death What is that but to shew vs that this life is not worthy of ioy but of lamentation not of laughter but of crying as the Philosopher Heraclitus doth esteeme it who alwayes with a weeping voice did lament the estate of this life The second Obiection It is a cowardly consideration not to be willing to die but to cease to liue This reason hath that consideration TO denounce death to end the miseries of this life is sayth one to pro pound a carnall end to the liking of sensuality Vpon death sayth another the priuation of thislife there is no Cataplasme but of a better life for the losse of earth but the enioying of heauen Answere Death is the corruption of the flesh and a priuation of all the sences to the end therefore that the remedy may be proportionable to the flesh it must also be fleshly sensible and palpable I grant that in retiring ourselues we must not think only to fly from humaine miseries but rather to draw neere to diuine fauours But betwixt doing and duty who doth not at this day see an infinite distance That elect vessell of the holy Ghost that great Apostle Saint Paul seeles a Law in his members fighting against the Law of his vnderstanding He complaines there was a thorne thrust into his flesh the angel of Satan did buffer him what is this but the relikes of sin of infirmity distrust what glosse soeuer they will set of it If Saint Paul were such a one what then are we poore dwarses wauering and staggering let vs not flatter and seduce our selues for our workes discouer vs O God fortifie vs and make thy holy Spirit to reigne in vs and attending the happy effect of diuine promises let vs meditate of the Testament sealed with the bloud of Christ. But if the horror of death which doth threaten vs of euery side comes to hinder our holy meditations let vs vanquish it by the darts of reason this may be done and it is that we ought to doe The Surgion which hath sercht a wounde hath applied a fit Cataplasime hath made his patient without passion or paine is to be cō-mended The Philosopher which hath examined the naturall death hath found o◅t the cause of the feare it giues hath accomodated reasons fit to take awaie this feare and to assure mans courage is not to be contemned I know well that hee which through death hath made vs see the life eternall hath done more but this worke is of God and not of men and if the sacred word of the eternall God doe it not no humaine voice can doe it But doe you say there is no Catap◅sme fit for the losse of a pleasant life but the hope of a better Answer You presuppose two suppositions heere which are not First that life is full of pleasures Secondly that in death wee haue a feeling of the losse against that which hath beene and shab be said to the which I will send
it is rather for griefe that hee must dye or some other distemperature and not the death which doth cause some troublesome alteration in his sinewes sensible parts As for death which proceeds from diseases there are some long others short If they be long the paine is little for that nature doth accustome it selfe to that which comes by degrees it turnes to a habite and hee feares no griefe or very little there being nothing but the suddain alteration which nature cannot endure that which causeth pain is that which changeth the good temperature the which in very long languishing diseases comes slowly and insensibly As for example in an Hectick feuer they grow leane and consume away by little and little and dye with paine which is in a manner imperceptible there is nothing but an heauinesse of the spirits but in their bodyes feele no paine It is euen so of the paine of the Lights whereon the rheume distilling it doth consume them by little and little as a spout of water doth a stone so as in the end this infirmity brings the patient insensibly to death As for short diseases the paine is short What great pain can there be in a swoun ding in an Appoplexie that happens by the sudaine dissipation of the spirits What great paine can a moment of time bring to man But you wil reply that there are diseases wonderfully sharpe It is true but if you will obserue them they are least dangerous for death whereof our discourse is Nature giuing death knowes how to mortifie the members so wel and to weaken the vertue of the sinewes as man cannot discerne when death seazeth on him no more thē when sleep surprizeth him It is an Aphorisme of Hipocrates When a sicke body saith he feeles no paine playes with the couering of his bed and pulls off the wooll it is a signe of death and no likelihood of life what paine then when as hoping to recouer and feeling ease of his paine hee shall dye As for famine and thirst which quench the spirit of life that happens very seldome and the Annales in 16. ages haue scarce obserued two the one vnder the Empire of Honorius at what time in the Theater at Rome there was this strange voyce heard You must set a price vpon humane flesh The other vnder Iustinian at what time they did not only eate mans flesh but euen the excrements of men Here in truth is great horror but little paine neither can I beleeue whatsoeuer they say that he which dies of hun ger feeles no great torment examine it by your selfe whē you haue fasted long you shall feele a great debility a great appetite or a great heate in all your members but no great paine it is in the sinewes to feele where the paine lies which sinewes do not suffer any thing in the extreamity of hunger or thirst but the principal parts which receiue the nourishment therefore in this most pittifull and pitty is here taken for the paine Let the death of Charles 7. the French King be an example vnto vs who being full of suspition and way wardnesse entertained in that humor by the dayly reports of his household flatterers that they would attempt against his person yea a Captaine in whom he trusted most assured him that they meant to poyson him he gaue such credit to this aduice as he resolued neither to eate nor drinke in which capricious humor hee continued seuen dayes But in the end being prest not with paine but by his Phisitions and house hold seruants who laid before him the danger of life whereinto he did voluntarily bring his person when hee would haue eaten he could not by reason sayth the History the passages of the stomake were shrunke Let vs weigh these last words and acknowledge that this naturall fire in vs wherewith the lampe of our life is kindled is like vnto the Elementary alwayes actiue wherefore wanting his ordinary nutriment hee turnes himselfe violently vpon that which beares it vpon the radicall humidity the which it doth waste and consume in a short time and this humidity being consumed the members remaine dry and without vigour so as when they offer them the accustomed remedy hauing lost their vsuall vertue they disgest it not but cast it vp againe It is the same reason why such as obserue a certaine houre for their meales when this houre is come they feele certaine motions of an appetite in their stomacke which requires meate But if they passe this houre either by fasting or by diets they lose their appetites for that this heate being frustrated of his ordinary repast falls either vpon the peccant humor or that failing vpon the vitall humour and as we suffer it to do more or lesse so we receiue more or lesse preiudice Now if in the first and most sensible touches of this natural heate we feele no great torment as euery man may try in the religious fasts of the Church which passe the ordinary time of eating three or foure houres I cōclude necessarily that the longer they abstaine from meate the lesse they suffer for the heate decaying still by the want of nourishment the actiue vertue also decreaseth and his subiect the body suffereth lesse by such a languishing action also the body which for his part decayes in force is daily lesse susceptible of paine vntill that all his humor being exhausted and his heate euaporated hee must die Last in ranke come good men who are vniustly put to death by Tyrants to whom the paine is sensible according to the horror of the punishment But I answere First that it happens seldome God holding in his power the Tyrannous resolutions of great men that they may not execute their wicked designes against his seruants wickednesse shall neuer preuaile so much she shal neuer conspire so strongly against vertue but the name of wisedome shall alwayes remaine sacred and venerable Secondly God who suffers it giues them ease in their torments knowes how to restraine and suspend their paines as hee did to his seruants Sidrac Mizac and Abednego in the burning furnace as they go ioyfully to death and sing the praises of the Lord cheerefully in the middest of the fire as hath bene seene in the Martyrs And thus much for this point But if after all these reasons they persist still in a fantasticall apprehension of some great paine in the article of death wee will adde that it is not fitting to accuse death it is life the remainders whereof cause the paine and death is the end Wherefore Diogenes being demanded if death were euil How can it be sayd hee seing we neuer feele it present and that which is absent cannot bee hurtfull to any man whilest that man hath feeling he hath life but if he bee dead hee hath no feeling and that which is not felt is not hurtfull And therefore hee concludes that it was not death which was euill but the way to
to this death they which haue condemned mee are more vniust then I am Inferring thereby that he died well and honestly seeing they put him to death wrongfully and without cause Plato doth teach vs that Socrates was wont to insult ouer death in these tearmes I haue beene carefull said he to liue well in my youth and to die well in my age I am not tormented within me with any paine I am not vnwilling to dye for seeing my life hath beene honest I attend death ioyfully This is much but it is nothing in regard of Saint Paule who protesting that he felt not himselfe guilty in any thing cried out with a bold spirit that hee was assured that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers neither things present nor things to come nor height nor depth should separate him from the loue of God Let vs theÌ„ be careful to polish our soules and to settle our consciences let vs apply our selues to a well ordered equity let the body subiect it selfe vnto the soule and follow her motions Let the inferiour powers of the soule obey the commandements of reason Let reason guided by the holy Ghost obserue the Law grafted in euery creature by nature especially in man and most of all the Law of Moses To doe this is to be vertuous and to be vertuous is to haue a good conscience We must then direct all our actions to vertue if wee desire to liue in the world without feare without paine in peace and ioy vertue doth first of all make the soule perfect in her intellectuall part disperseth the clouds of error ignorance illuminating reason doth adorne it with prudence Secondly she labours to polish the will of man and hauing reformed it by her orderly course shee giues him the habite of Iustice. Thirdly she doth temper the angry part pulls away the extreame feare and on the other side prunes away the sprouts of rashnes and plants betwixt both valour and haâ—… dy feare Finally it doth also bridle the faculty of concupiscence and restraines the motions of voluptuousnesse and makes them obedient to the command of Temperance It is in a few words the true meanes to get a pure and vpright conscience especially if we bee carefull to be as honest in our priuate secret actions as if all the world did behold vs Seneca doth recommend this vnto vt in many places Wee reade of one called Virginius whose History was written by Cluuius who presented it vnto the sayd personage and sayd vnto him If there be any thing written otherwise then thou wouldest pardon mee and reforme it Oh no answered Virginius whatsoeuer I haue done hath bene done in that manner to that end that it might bee free for all to write at their pleasures a worthy speech of a noble spirit and content with his conscience in his actions Iulius Drusus when as one promised a great sum of mony to his Master mason that his house might not be subiect to the view of any man and I sayd he will giue twice so much if thou canst build my house in that sort as all men may see into it what is done there This was to saue his conscience not to do more in secret then before all the world And what a madnesse is it in most men not to feare God nor their conscience and yet to feare men who can do least in the correction of their faults What shall we then feare in this world One only God for his feare will inspire our hearts with an hardy courage against the greatest feares The 27. Argument taken from the frequent thinking of Death He that will receiue Death ioyfully must propound it often to his thoughts Wee all desire to receiue it ioyfully c. SOme sayth Seneca come to their death in choler but no man receiues it when it comes with a cheerefull countenance but he that hath long before prepared himselfe for it Let vs try this remedy it cannot be bad In the night after our first sleepe in bed let vs presuppose that we are dead and by a strong imagination let vs settle our selues in that sort as hauing no sence nor feeling that our soule and reason tells vs that it is euen so in death that there is no other difference but that our soule is yet present in the body and then let vs goe vnto our friends or to any other that die let vs view them talke vnto them and touch them being dead and we shall finde that in all this there is nothing to be feared that all is quiet that there is nothing but opinion that 〈◊〉 abuse man Let vs proceed enter the Church-yards and go down into their graues wee shall finde that 〈◊〉 the dead rest in peace yeaâ—… so profound 〈◊〉 peace as no liuing creature can interrupt them Let vs yet go on farther there is no danger for by the saying of Plato the knowledge of death is the goodliest science that man can attaine vnto Let vs do like vnto Iohn Patriarke of Alexandria build our tombes and not finish them but euery day lay one stone Let vs haue some Anatomy or MoÌ„mie in our houses and let vs not passe a day without beholding it let vs handle it it is death Little children by little and little grow familiar with that which they did strangely fly and in the end they play with it and know that it is but a dead image of copper which so terrified them Wee shall also see in death that it was but a shaddow that so amazed vs. Let vs yet do more waking and not dreaming let vs dispose our selues of purpose as Philippe King of Macedon did by chance who wrestling vpon the sand after the manner of the Country saw and measured the length of his body and admired the littlenes thereof in the shape printed in the sand where he had fallen Finally let vs not forget what the Emperour Maximilian 2. or 3. yeares before his death commanded carefully to be done that they should carry with him a coffin of oake in a chest with an expresse command that being dead they should couer his body with a course sheete hauing put lime in his eares nosestrills and mouth and then to lay him in the ground Let vs follow these great examples both high low and wee shall see that when death shall present her selfe vnto vs it will bee without amazement But if wee flie from euery image of death from al thought therof if the ringing of bells a shew of some mans death doth importune vs finally if euery word of death be troublesome as there haue beene such I doubt not but to them death is wonderfull terrible Obiection If the most reasonable feare Death most it is by reason to be feared But the antecedent is true therefore the Consequent must follow SEneca yea experience doth teach vs that Infants little children and such as haue lost their
their immortalitle Answer This Obiection seemes subtill but to speake truly it hath but the shew not the effect for it is subiect to many pertinent answeres First to alledge an inconuenience is not to dissolue the question 2. It is a consequence ill applied to say Such a one hath not spoken therefore hee is no man Wee haue digged verie deepe into the earth and yet wee neuer heard any of them that goe with their feete against ours therefore there are no Antipodes So the soules speake not vpon dead mens lippes therefore they haue none for beeing thus hindred is the cause they neither heare nor see any signe of their life Thirdly the teares of the dead mans kinsfolkes are ill grounded Socrates a Pagan knew it well when hee said that we must leaue the soule at rest and not trouble it with lamentations The holy Ghosts goes farther and assures That blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord yea for certain saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them this should assure and reioice and not discomfort by a foolish desire that ioy of the soule of the deceased Fourthly God will not that we should be inquisitiue of the dead he forbids it expresly in his law pronounceth abhomination against them that doe it He hath giuen Moses and the Prophets let vs adde the Apostles if they will not beleeue them neither will they beleeue the soules of the deceased If that the liuing are forbidden to enquire how then can the dead haue leaue to speake Fifthly the soules are prest at the departure from their bodyes to yeeld an account of their administration in this life vndergoing a particular iudgement This is beleeued rightly and wholesomely saith S. Augustine that the soules are iudged at the departure from their bodies before the comming to this Iudgement at the which hauing taken againe the same bodyes they must appeare Also S. Hilary saith that immediately without any delay after death we vndergo a Iudgement and passe into Paradise or into Hell Finally Salomon to the end wee should not doubt sayth That God will easily render vnto man according to his workes at that day of his deceasse That the affliction of one houre makes him forget all pleasures and that the ende of man is the manifestation of his workes 6 S. Athanasiws sayeth It is not the will of God that the soules should declare the estate wherein they are for that many should be deceaued many errors wold grow the Deuils being ready to make men thus abused to beleeue what they would suggest as Crepet the Celestin doth well obserue and he adds that the like happened lately to a poore woman of Verum seduced by a diuell which appeared vnto her in the forme of her Grand father perswading her to goe in Pilgrimage to doe other things which were impossible So S. Augustin writes that Vincentius the Donatist was counselled to write against the Christian religion by a spirit which appeared vnto him 7. The Soule destitute of the Organs of her body being not yet glorified nor illuminated with the Celestiall splendor nor adorned with the supernaturall gifts which God cōfers vpon her for her felicitie cannot satifsie the will of the kinsfolkes that be present desiring a testimonie of her blessednes and life for the soule sayth S. Athanasius in the former passage as soone as she hath layed down her body can worke neither good not euill And as for visions that appeare from thē God by a certaine dispensation shewes them as it pleaseth him For as a Lute if there be no man to play of in seems idle and vnprofitable so the soule and body being separated one from another haue no operation The which Ecclesiastes doth confirme saying Certainly the liuing know that they shall dye but the dead know nothing neither doe they get any thing for their memory is forgotten in like manner their loue their hatred and their enuy perish and they haue not any portion in the world of whatsoeuer is done vnder the Sun Wherfore let vs cōclude and say That the soule whilest that shee giues any life to her dying body with the last puffe of life yeeldes a certaine testimony of her ioy and immortality by the inspiration of the holy Ghost as it happens to many good men But to demand instantly vpon death some token from the soule dislodging were to tempt God to mock at the deceased acd to be an vniust demander and therefore iustly to be refused The 5. Argument taken from the aspect of the face Whatsoeuer is represented by a iust mirrour or glasse is true The immortality of the soule is represented by the iust mirror of the face AS the soule of man is the Image of God so the face is the Image of the soule and therefore the Eternall creating the soule of man did breathe it in his face which the holy Ghost cals respiration of life so the property of man is to paint in his face by his diuers colours the diuers affections of his soule Wisedome saith Salomon cleeres the face of man and his fierce and sowre aspect is changed The Latines haue called it vultus for that the will is read in the forehead the manners of the soule follow the humours of the body saith Gallen and if some one belies his inclination it is a maske which hee puts on and therefore Momus did vniustly blame God for that hee had not made man with an open heart Thereon is all the Art of Phisiognomie grounded an Art which without this faining euery man would learn without teaching By the face that Diuiner Egyptian familiar to Marc. Anthony did know the diuers dispositions of men These markes of the face are imprinted with the seale of the soule and hee that will not iudge by such markes ingrauen of the brightnesse and immortality of the soule is without iudgement Homer writes that Vlisses hauing escaped from shipwracke was graciously entertained and reuerenced by the Pheagues hauing no ornament then but this vertue generous disposition the beauty excellency whereof appeared in his fore-head Man in like sort carries on his fore-head the markes of his immortal soule Wherof the first is the carrying his countenance straight vp to heauen proper to man at all times to him alone and to all the generation of mankinde which shewes his be ginning to bee celestiall and immortall for that onely is perishable which is vnder the region of the Moone whatsoeuer is aboue it is not subiect vnto destinie The 2. is that foresight afarre off those beames I say cast farre and wide by the piercing sight without staying vpon that which doth touch it or enuiron it neere which shewes that the flight of the soule must go farre If any one say that certaine birds foure footed beasts see farre but it is not to the same end for man doth it only for the
All that is depraued and there is nothing but a horrible confusion in his will and actions 7. He was absolute Lord ouer all Creatures which trembled at his looke and brought him fruits according to his desire 8. Now they rebell and assaile him yea the earth instead of good corne brings forth nothing but thornes thistles 9. He had frequent conuersation with God inspired of him and breathing by him 10. Now the Prince of the power of the aire the vncleane spirit workes powerfully in the children of rebellion which are all the sonnes of Adam Ephes. 2. 2. 11. A glorious angelical and diuine Maiesty did shine in his face 12. Now they couer their shame with leaues they hide themselues among the trees and crie out Mountains fall vpon vs and couer vs. To conclude there is no greater contrariety betwixt day and night then of these famous qualities to the infamous blemishes of man as he liued in this world before his regeneration in the which by little and little hee recouers this Iustice holinesse and trueth Ephes. 4. 24. But the fulnesse thereof is reserued to heauen whither death leades vs and therefore to be desired The Fourth Argument taken from the efficient cause All that a good and wise mother giueth vnto her Children cannot be hurtfull Nature our good and wise mother giues vs death Death then cannot be hurtfull THe first proposition of this Argument cannot bee denyed after the experience which wee haue seene after the comparison which God makes of himselfe with a mother who cannot forget her child nor he his people After that Iesus Christ had said No man giues a stone instead of bread nor a Scorpion for fish to him that he loues And how then can nature the liuely spring of so liuely a loue giue any thing that is very hurtfull and fayle at neede and in the principall hauing neuer fayled vs in all the course of our life Now to proue that the second proposition is true and that nature hath ordayned death for her children Seneca doth teach vs saying That death is a Law of nature yea that our whole life is but a way vnto it S. Cyprian also doth affirme that it is a decree intimated vnto the world that whatsoeuer is borne should haue an end and from whom is this decree from God the Authour of nature the executioner of this decree but it is a fauourable decree to such as Heauen fauours It is a generall Law to restore that which is lent vs this life is but a loane wee must restore it at the end of the time it is a tribute wee owe for we entred vpon condition to depart when it shall please the master Moreouer what is this life but a harmony rising from the mixture of the foure elements which are the foure ingredients of our bodie and what is death by the censure of Hippocrates but a diuorce of marriage of these foure Elements This diuorce is as naturall to man as it is naturall that fire should be contrarie to water and ayre to earth for their contrarietie is the cause of this diuorce which is death I know that it is not sufficient for humane life to haue a body well tempered with his Organes and to haue the power of life but he must also haue a fist Effence as a Lute well strung and well tuned is not sufficient to make it sound vnlesse there bee a hand to play vpon it And I also maintayne that as the Musitian ceaseth to play when the Instrument is vnstrung so the soule ceaseth to giue life vnto the body yea flyes out when it is destroyed but this destruction is naturall and by consequence death and to that end Nature hath planted this body vpon pyles which take vent vpon boanes not very solide caulkt ouer with soft flesh glued with a viscous humour which may easily melt with heate or dissolue with rayne full of transparent veines easie to pierce watered with vnholesome water tempered with contrarie qualities which a certaine temperature keepes at quiet for a season but when euery one desires to command his companion and time in the end presenting the occasion the common right being forced the body sodainely falls And this force is of nature who must needes effect the words of the Lord spoken vnto man Thou art dust and shalt returne to dust Sonnes of men returne but whither From whence you came to the earth to death death then is of nature and therefore Thales the Milesian said that there was no difference betwixt life and death for that they are both equally according vnto Nature and as one demanded of him why he was in life and dyed not For the same cause answered he that the one is no more excellēt then the other It is also the reason why the Emperor Antonin the gentle seeing his seruants weepe lying sicke in his bed hee sayed vnto them Why weepe you for me and not rather the naturall and mortall condition of all the world that is to say Why doe you not rather weepe for life which is of a mortall condition The answere of Anaxagoras was more vertuous who being aduertised of the death of his deere and onely Sonne sayd O Messenger thou bringest me no vnexpected newes I know well I had begotten a Sonne that was mortall hee was not insensible like a stone but he considered that nothing had chanced to his sonne but what he had foreseene from his birth his long foresight and his sodaine con sideration of the condition of all men for to die had tēpered all sorow in him and brought him to reason which should alwaies holde the helme of this little world man Like was the answere of Lochades father to Siron vp on the like report of the death of one of his children I knew well sayth he that he should dye VVe shall see others hereafter to the ende they may haue no cause to say that this resolution was monstrous in the world To conclude nature to make vs resolue ioyfully vnto death seemes to direct vs to the sweete song of the Swanne a presaging bird consecrated to Apollo by Antiquitie the which dying nature gathers together about the heart the purest and sweetest bloud which makes him Iouiall and to sing a happie presage to whom Socrates Plato and Tully send them that haue so great feare of death An Obiection Satan Man and Sinne are the causes of death Therefore it is not Nature ANswere When it is said in the holy Scripture that Satan holds the empire of death that by one man sinne entred into the world and by sin death finally that death is the reward of sinne we must not vnderstand it of the naturall death whereof the question growes but of the spirituall and eternall death as many of the ancient fathers doe expound it And how else could the threatning of God against Adam be vnderstood touching the tree of knowledge of good and euil Thou shalt not eate
to heauen It is a constant opinion of the Stoickes sayth he that after all humor is consumed this world shall burne and Nature by whom this reuolution is made seemes to giue vs some notice in that the fields being burnt by the labourer or drowned by water as in Egypt as in pooles dried vp and when the sea is retired in that I say this earth remaining is found renewed fat and producing many Creatures yea great and perfect as they write namely of Nile after it is retired Now vnder the wings of these great personages I come to maintaine this combate and refell the reasons of the Obiector Wee haue in our Argument toucht two points simbolizing together although the one be Christian and the other Heathen the first is the Resurrection of the flesh which we extend to man only not of other Creatures And let vs say that he who of nothing could make all may easily ouerthrow the imagined difficulty and raise vp and restore to the same estate the bodies of dead men for he that can do more can do lesse without all controuersie and hee that could of nothing make that which was not may repaire that which was vndone But how shall this Resurrection bee made and what assurance shall wee haue Behold how In the presence of all the world of Angells of men and of diuells with vnspeakable ioy to the good and incomprehensible horror to the wicked the Lord shall come with a cry of exhortation and the voice of the Archangell and the Trumpet of God these are the very words of the text By the sound of this trumpet all the dead shall awake and rise out of their graues and they that shall liue and remaine at this comming shal be suddenly changed and of mortall shal be made immortall by his force and efficacy who can make all things subiect vnto him as the Apostle sayth The bodies of the children of God shall rise againe like the glorious bodie of Iesus Christ impassible spirituall and yet fleshly shining like stars subtil light transparent and full of all happines behold the letters of heauen We attend the Sauiour who will transforme our vile bodies and make them conformable to his glorious body We know sayeth Saint Iohn that after hee hath appeared wee shall bee like vnto him God will wipe away all teares from our eyes sayth hee death shall bee no more there shal bee no mourning cries nor labour The body sowne in corruption shall rise spirituall sayth S. Paul for that no sollide thing can hinder it it may without helpe or wings flye into remote places as Iesus Christ after his resurrection did manifest it more then sufficiently in his body finally hee shall bee spirituall for that hee shal be readily and willingly obedient to his glorified spirit In this flesh and not in any other shall I see my Sauiour sayth Iob c. 1. 9. For this mortal body must put on immortality sayth the Apostle Thirdly they which haue bin vnderstood sayth Daniel 12. shall shine like the heauens and they that bring many to Iustice shall glister like the starres for euer Also the glory of the Sunne is one the glory of the Moon another and the glory of the starres is also different euen so shall bee the resurrection of the dead whereby it followes that the bodyes raised again shal haue no grosse substance but shall be transparent like vnto glasse Fourthly beeing raised againe we shall bee taken vp into the clouds before the Lord and beeing ascended into heauen wee shall haue vnspeakeable ioy such as the eye hath not seene the eare not heard nor hath entred into the heart of man These are wonderfull things but what assurance the Spirit of God doth assure thee if thou beest of God for God doth seale vp an earnest penny of his holy Spirit in their hearts that are his as the Apostle teacheth Secondly If the soule be immortall the body must one day rise immortall to the end that this soule being created for the body may giue it life againe being reunited Moreouer as Saint Ambrose teacheth it is the order and cause of Iustice seeing that the work of man is common to the body and soule and what the soule doth fore-thinke the body effects and therefore it is reasonable that both should appeare in iudgement to receiue either punishment or glory Thirdly Iesus Christ is risen for vs and to assure vs that by the same diuine power that hath drawne him out of the graue we also shal be raised I proue the antecedent by aboue 500. witnesses which at one time haue seene Iesus Christ liuing after that he had beene crucified by the Iewes as the Apostle sheweth and Ioseph also who was a Iew doth witnesse it lib. 18. c. 2. 4. of his Antiquities He was seene precisely by women beleeued by the incredulous and for a ful assurance thereof hee would contrary to the nature of his body which aspired nothing but heauen conuerse forty dayes vpon earth Heere is reason sufficient in this matter of faith whereas reason should yeeld her selfe prisoner and yet to make it appeare visibly and to free all doubt God would both in the ancient and new alliance raise vp some that were seene and admired of the people So Lazarus being called out of his graue was beheld of all men and the malicious Pharisies tooke counsell to put him to death as well as Iesus Christ. The same God would manifest a plot of the future Resurrection to his Prophet Ezechiel when as he had transported him into a field full of drye bones which when hee had seene and prophesied ouer â—…em behold a motion the bones draw neere one vnto another and suddainely behold they had sinewes vppon them and flesh came and then the skinne couered it and in the end after a second dâ—…untiation of the word of God the spirit came and then appeared a great army of men As for this point which concernes an article of our faith the Resurrection of the flesh the Obiector dares not deny but there is matter sufficient in this world to furnish for the restoring of all the dead bodies not since an imaginary Eternity for we are now vpon tearmes of diuinity whereof wee must beleeue the principles and not question them but from the first man vnto the last that shall be Herein there is nothing that inuolues contradiction The other point was that suppose the eternity of the world after the reuolution of all things and the encounter of the same order in all points that is at this present there shall bee the same Superficies the same creatures and the same men that are at this present this also hath no implicity seeing we affirm not that all things the same creatures which haue bin shal be for euer shal be restor'd together at one instant but by degrees and euery one in his turne Behold how this first
their carnall pleasures As for Sardanapalus hee hath also doubted whether he were a man since that hee tooke vpon him a womans habit among his Courtisans and handled a distaffe with them For my part I beleeue that he had the humour and spirit of a beast as Tully reports that Aristotle hauing read this Epitaphe sayd that they should haue written it vpon the pit of a beast not on the graue of a King The same answere shall serue for the like thing pretended at Brescia As for the third their ignorance and malice would force a beleefe of mortality of soules what others more honest and more wise haue done shall serue to confute them For the same antiquaries write that many caused to bee drawne vpon their tombes doores halfe open shewing thereby that their soules escaped from the tombe If one Philosopher would dispute of it there are others who to get fame haue questioned matters more apparent as Cardan the fourth Element of fire Copernicus the motion of heauen maintaining by the illusion of reason that it is the earth not the heauen that moues There haue beene alwayes and shall be such fantasticke humors who would make themselues famous with the preiudice of the truth As for the Empresse Barbara hee should haue added that shee was an insatiable Letcher therefore she had great interest not to giue an accoumpt of her dissolute life to perswade her self that al was extinguished in death Now followeth this depra ued age into the which as into the bottome of a sinke al the filth of precedent ages haue seemed to run yet there are God bee thanked who beleeue it in their hearts and deliuer it with ther mouthes that their spirit is immortal and they that speake it only with their mouthes it is sufficient that naturall shame will not suffer them to discouer the villany of thier hearts and this bashfulnesse an impression of God is sufficient to make them inexcusable in the great day of the Lord. Moreouer they that with a furious impudency haue beleeued that the soule died with the body haue for the most part in their miserable ends made knowne the iudgements of God who punished them for their frantike opinion as Lucian who was torne in pieces by dogs Lucre tius who grown mad cast him selfe downe a precipice Caligula who was cruelly slaine with infinite others Or else they haue shewed it in their confused and irresolute carriage the distemperature and trouble of their soules impugning their damnable opinion To conclude As for Theodorus and the swarme of his disciples who in a manner alone hold the chaires in all estates I will suffer them to be led in Triumph before the triumphant chariot of faith that which Du Bartas sayth in the beginning of the second song is sufficient to confound them The 4. Argument That which proceeds immediatly f◅om God is euerlasting Such is the soule I will prooue the consequēce of the Maior for the rest is plaine of it selfe whilest the Sun shall last he will cast fo◅th his beames whilest there is fire there will come forth heate whilest the heart beates in the body there remaines life for that the position of the sufficient cause very neere and immediate doth of necessity establish the effect the which continues as long as the cause if there happens no inpeachment But God is a sufficient cause neuer hindered in his effects he is the neere and immediate cause of the soule which hee breathes into the body as soone as it was disposed and fit to receiue that breathing hee is immortall and by consequent the soule is immortall So hee created the Angels the Angels shal subsist for euer so he made the heauen earth and they shall neuer perish If they reply that the heauēs shal passe that God wil cōsume them as a flaming pyle of wood as the Poet speakes after S. Peter The answer is That it is not to be vnderstood of the substance of the world but of the qualities which being vaine and corrupted by reason of man shal be changed and renewed by fire to shine more purely like refined gold They may againe obiect That God with his owne hands had moulded and fashoned the first man who not with standing is dead I answer that God was the efficient and immediate cause of man but not the formall nor the materiall his substance was the slime of the earth which might be dissolued his forme was his soule which might be separated But in the soule and of the soule of man God holds immediatly the foure kinds of causes the efficient for he hath made it of himselfe without any help the materiall not that it is of his essence but that hee hath created it of nothing as hee did the world the formall in like manner his continual inspiration retaines it as his continuall prouidence preserues the world from ruine and therefore Christ sayd my Father works hitherto and I with him Finally he is the finall cause for man liues to know and serue God If they reply againe that God being a voluntarie cause in his actions should not be numbred among the naturall causes which necessarily produce their effects if there be not some let that is most certen but where the word of God is euident we must not doubt of his will but it is apparent in the passages alledged that the soule is immortall And therefore we may profitably and safely conclude That if from the sufficient and neere cause the effect doth necessarilie flow and that this effect doth continue as long as the cause if there happen no lets that vndoubtedly the soule is immortal seeing that God her most sufficient cause and who feares no disturbance is immortall so as to denie this immortalitie is to deny the Deitie Obiection That which hath bin alwaies required to be sufficiently testified yet hath beene still denyed cannot be certaine The immortalitie of the soule hath beene alwayes required to be sufficiently testified yet hath beene still denyed NO great ioy doth at any time accompanie a deepe silence If the soule going out of the bodie felt it selfe immortall shee should feele it if she were so for going out of the body as out of a darke prison shee should haue the fruition of all her light if shee felt her selfe as I say immortall shee would witnesse it by some signe to the poore kinsfolkes that suruiue being desolate by reason of his departure to comfort fortifie and make them ioyfull And although the soules which are in heauen be there detained by a voluntarie prison hindering them from comming downe and on the other side those that are in hell are tyed there by a will that is captiue as one hath affirmed But the soules that goe out of the bodies which are yet on earth euen vpon the lips of them that die why haue they not instantly before they fly to heauen being so often required giuen some smalle proofe of
man being borne and bred in the bottome of a darke caue thinks that he hath no facultie to see is he the therefore blinde the soule being buried in the darkenesse of a mortall body as in a graue sees not her immortalitie hath she therfore none Thirdly we doe not say that man is immortall for that he differs from beasts but for many reasons deliuered to be deliuered Fourthly the Philosophers aboue mentioned would see and touch the soule in her immortalitie she is not subiect to any sence S. Basile hath seene it in spirit written it with his hand The soule sayth he cannot be seene with eyes for that she is not illuminated by any colour nor hath any figure or corporal character Aristotle knew it whengoing out of the fabrike of corporall nature hee sayd that it was not the charge of a Physition to treat of all sorts of soules as is the intellectuall which hee pronounceth to differ from the sensitiue vegetatiue from which he sayth shee may separate her selfe as the perpetuall from the corruptible Gallen had his eyes fixed onlie vpon the body the subiect of Phisick and therefore hee sayd freely that it did not import him in his arte if hee were ignorant how the soules were sent into the bodyes or whether they past from one to an other But if it please Gallen leauing the limites of his arte to take the fresh ayre of diuine Philosophy presently his goodly conception is followed with these words The soule is distilling from the vniuerfall Spirit descending from heauen c. Which hauing left the earth recouers heauen and dwells with the Moderator of all things in the Celestiall places As for Hippocrates his words sound more of the immortalitie then of the death of the soule hauing this sence That the soule goes alwayes increasing vntil the death of the bodie But if you desire effects and not words what conceit could Aristotle Gallen and Hippocrates haue of the soule to bee mortall who by an immortall labour haue purchased such great same throughout the world and whose authoritie is the cause that they are now produced and maintained Finally that which he obiects of the soules thoughts fixed for the most part on the fraile things of this passing world it is no smal signe of the corruption of mankind but no argument that the soule is perishable seeing she retaines still the immortal seale which God hath set vpon her in her first creation The. 2 Obiection The container and that which is contained should entertaine themselues by a iust proportion The body and the soule are the container and contained IF the soule bee immortal seeing the body is mortall what proportion were there betwixt the soule and body How hath nature which doth all things by a iust weight number and measure ioyned things together which are so dislike It serues to no purpose to produce the birde kept in a cage which as soone as shee can get out flies away for he is kept there by force and not as forme in substance Answere Wee grant the whole argument and wee adde that it is sinne which came by accident that hath caused this great disproportion Otherwise man before sinne in his estate of innocency had his body immortall therefore Iesus Christ our Sauiour like a cunning Logitian drew the resurrection of the body from the immortality of the soule for that God was called the God of Abraham of Isaacke and of Iacob but God sayth hee is not the God of the dead but of the liuing So sayth Saint Augustine and Saint Bernard that the soule is so separated from the body as there remaines still a naturall inclination to resume it againe to minister to his body and this onely doth hinder her that shee is not affectionate towards God withal her vertue and force as be the Angells and therefore her blessednesse is imperfect For the soules ô flesh saith Bernard cannot without thee bee accomplished in their ioy nor perfect in their glory nor consummated in their felicity and in the same place hee distinguisheth their degrees or places for the soule in this life as in a Tabernacle before the resurrection in heauen as in a gallery and then after the resurrection in the house of God But you will say this answere is Metaphisicall I desire one that is naturall Answere This goodly order which you recommend in nature required this ordering that as there are some Creatures meerely spirituall others meerely corporall so there were some which were mixt both spirituall and corporall and that is man who in that smal forme represents all that is in the world and who by his senses doth communicate with the Creatures and by his vnderstanding with the Angells giuing his right hand to heauen and his left to the earth The 3. Obiection If reason loades vs to the immortality of the soule by the same meanes she shold guide vs to the resurrection of the body But that is not true I Proue the Minor by this knowne Maxime of reason That there is no returne from priuation to the habit nor by consequence from death to life no more then from starke blindnes to sight Wherefore they of Athens where one writes that the men are borne Philosophers hearing S. Paul discourse of many points of heauenly doctrine they gaue an attentiue heare vnto him but when hee came to the Resurrection of Iesus Christ they interrupted him mocking at him as one that doated Ans. I deny it that the resurrectiō of the dead is absolutely beyond the apprehension of nature The West-Indians who are without the Church of Christ beleeue it and practise it as well by the ceremonies of their interrements which aime directly at it as by the vsuall intreaties they make to the Spaniards digging for the gold of their Sepulchres that they should not take out carry away the bones to the end they may rise againe speedily as Benzo reports At Rome this Epitaph is yet to be read in Latine vpon a Pagans tombe The publike hath giuen a place vnto Aurelius Balbus a man of an vnspotted life I rest heere in hope of the resurrection But that which is most wonderfull and exceedes all credit if they that write it were not eye witnesses and worthy of credit that in Egypt in a place neere vnto Caine a multitude of people meete on a certaine day in march to bee spectators of the resurrection of the flesh as they say where from Thursday to Saterday inclusiuely they may see and touch bodies wrapt in their sheetes after the ancient manner but they neither see them standing nor walking but onely the armes or the thighes or some other part of the body which you may touch If you go farther off and then returne presently you shall finde these members to appeare more out of the ground and the more they change place the more diuers these motions appeare This admirable sight is written by
efficient cause of Immortaliti But the soule is eleuated aboue all time and place IT is without all question that onely time ruines all things yet the vnderstanding is not subiect to time for the time past is present vnto it And therefore man shall see an act plaied before him and yet he shall haue another in his vnderstanding which was done 10. 20. or 30. yeares before and shall haue it so present in his minde as the spirituall intuition thereof will steale from his corporall eyes that which is presently acted before them So Scipio Affricanus sayed that he was neuer lesse alone then when he was alone why For that his actes past his armies led and his triumphes presented themselues vnto him in the most solitarie walkes of his garden Obserue a horse he doth not see seele nor thinke of any thing but the obiect that is before his eyes But contrarie-wise the soule is there where she stayes least she studies and calls to mind what is past becomes wise for the future before shee sees and of three times makes but one for that she is not subiect to time this is plainly seene in the Prophets to whom the future is reuealed in the spirit as it were present by him that hath made time And this is the true reason why the Prophets speak without lying of things to come as if they had bin done So Esay chap. 9. spake of Iesus Christ A child is borne vnto vs a child is giuen vs for hee saw him borne with his Propheticall eyes dead and risen againe I would insist vpon this Argument if it were not as plaine as it is firme As for the naturall place of the Soule she is not definite for she is all in the braine all in the heart all in the liuer all in the Matrix so of the other parts of the bodie not according to the totall of her vertue for she is one in the head an nother the feete another in the sight another in the hearing But she is thus diffused according to the totall of her essence which makes her in some sort infinite and by consequent immortall It is not then of her as of the moouer of a great wheele which touching one part makes all the rest turne Nor as a King who sitting in his Pallace stretcheth out his hands to the farthest confines of his kingdome But as God in the world who is in heauen on earth and all in all The first Obiection All that is distempered by heate and drought is perishable Such is the Soule GAllen thinking that the Soule burnes in the body by a burning feauer is lost with the great losse of bloud and that a strong poyson doth poyson it hee protests plainely that vntill that time hee had doubted what the substance of the Soule was but then growne wiser as well by practise as by age he durst boldly sweare that it was nothing but the temperature of the bodie And therefore calling Plato out of his graue hee demands of him how it is possible the soule should be immortall Answer The heate of a feuer and the corporall force cannot worke vpon the soule neither can she suffer and although the actions which the soule doth by meanes of the Organes of the body be depraued or interrupted by the deprauation and interruption of the Organes yet for all that the soule loseth nothing of her vertue nor of her habilitie He that euen now played excellently well on the Lute must not be held to haue lost his cunning if taking a Lute ill mounted and with 〈◊〉 stringâ—… hee play ill or if hauing no strings at all he ceaseth to play It is euen so of the spirit in the body for in the sinewes flowing from the braine there distills a certain vital spirit as a beame of the Sun of whose force the soule makes vse first to handle the sinewes and by them the Muscles which being afterwards moued reuiue euery member apart and altogether Now if any maligne disease come to depraue this subtile humor the functions of the soule feele it but not the soule Moreouer as certaine vncleane spirits remaining in some darke and filthy house by reason of the vapors agreeing with their dispositioÌ„ if it be clensed the doore windowes set open if a good aire a comfortable Sun and wholsome wind enter into it if it be inhabited by many who passe the time ioyfully and especially if they play vpon many Instruments these spirits quit the place So by a contrary analogie the soule is kept and entertained in the bodie by certaine spirituall qualities and fit for her exercises which comming in time to change to the contrarie they chase away the soule being glad vpon that occasion to dislodge from a place which was not to be held Thirdly if the temperament bee nothing but the Quintâ—…ssence of the mixtion of the foure elements whereof mans body is compounded as the harmonie is the fift sownd rysing from all the parts in Musicke and if Gallen meanes not to speake but of this soule which hee hath felt in the touching of the pulse in the Anatomie of the body I say of the vegetatiue and the sensitiue soule wee may yeelde vnto him But of the reasonable soule which contaynes these two within her compasse as the fift angle doth a triaÌ„gle quadrangle which makes vse of the temper to the bodie as of an instrument to rule and gouerne it as the Pilot doth the Helme to conduct his ship that cannot be for to confound the instrument with the principal agent the Pilot with the Helme were no reason In the actioÌ„s of a vegetatiue sensitiue life although there be a mature teÌ„perature required yet shall they neuer proue that this temper is necessary to vnderstand and contemplate seeing that out of all question the most exquisite contemplation consists in the sequestratioÌ„ of the soule from the communion of the body for that contemplation is the more certen the more it is sequestred from grosse circumstaÌ„ces of matter place and time things which with their accidentarie attires are perceiued by the seÌ„ses do often deceiue How often hath our sight and our hearing deceiued vs thinking to see heare one thing which proued another But the sciences as the Mathematicks which extract the Essences out of bodyes are neuer deceiued following their art and much lesse the Metaphisicke which coÌ„templates the pure spirits free from any contagion of matter But if the reasonable soule were nothing but the temperament of the body it could not bee but among a millioÌ„ of beasts which are in the world some one should bee found which had the same mixture of the the foure first humors which are in man and by consequence the same reasonable facultie and if any reply that the chiefe difference is in the braine I will answer that the Anatomy doth not shew any difference of the braine of men and beasts The 2. Obiection If the soule liued out of
demolition of man but onely the first for as a wise master of a familie when hee sees that his house threatneth ruine that it sinks in many places and the walls open commands it to be pulled downe that with the ruines and materials hee may raise another to cōtinue many yeares euen so nature a most expert Architectrice seeing man ladē with woūds deiected with misery and melancholy cōsumed with age and grown cro◅ked with the gou◅e catar◅es sowe◅ him co◅uptible in the graue that after many changes she may raise him incorruptible by the powerful voice of Christ. If the earthly habitation of this mansion bee destroyed saith the Apostle S. Paule we haue a dwelling with God that is to say an eternal house in heauen which is not made with hands and therefore we sigh and desire so much to be cloathed with our mansion which is in heauen and this is for our soule expecting the Resurrection of her body And this body sayth the same Apostle being sown in dishonour shall rise againe in glory sowne in weakenesse shall rise in strength and sowne a sensuall body shall rise a spirituall body What thē can man produce against this but onely some murmuring of his Incredulity that it exceedes the bounds of reason without the which hee will not assure himselfe of any thing I answer that the full perswasion of that which is written in the holy word is well grounded vpon faith a particular gift of heauen to all true Christians touching the returning of our bodies as for the reasonable coniecture of our future life after death I deny that this hath beene altogether vnknowne to men guided onely by the instinct of nature and I will proue my assertion sufficiently in the 39. Argument if God so please To this first consolation we will adde a second that is nature finding the declining and wasting of the substance of man came by a sacred mariage to stay some portion in the matrix of his deare moity and to fashion and bring forth many other reasonable creatures at diuers times creatures which haue the same flesh and bones of father and mother And if it be true that a good friend is a second selfe what shal a good sonne bee but himselfe without any addition whereby is plainly manifested what Macrobius saith that the body recoiues three aduantages of the reasonable soule that is to say he liues he liues well and in succession of time he remaines immortall Ecclesiasticus goeth ◅art her saying That if the father of a childe dyes it is all one as if hee were not dead for hee hath left his like behind him hee hath seene him and hath ioyed hauing left one who shall take reuenge of his enemies and requite his friends And this was it which moued that great Law-giuer Plato to make a law that euery man at a comperent age should marrie a wife else he shuld be called before the Iudge condemned in a fine and declared infamous for that as he afterwards sayth euery man should consider in himself that there is a certen power efficacie of nature which makes men to purchase an Immortalitie he would inferre that whosoeuer leaues children doth reuiue in some sort in them It is an order of nature which we must inviolablie obserue ingendring we perish of the one side but we begin again of the other If our parents by their fading and dying substance had not giuen vs life we could not haue entred into it of our selues what wrong is it if nature doth that of vs for our children which she bath done of our Parents for vs Moreouer death which is a priuation of life is a beginning of life in nature remayning in the first matter by the which she disposeth her selfe to a new forme not to continue still at this deformed spectacle Thirdly wha◅ great deformitie see you in death which is not in him that sleeps Fourthly that deformitie which may be is not seene by him whom it concernes it is to the suruiuor◅ that it should be hideous but most commonly they find it pleasing reaping by that meanes large successions elboe roome freedome from comptroll and if it were otherwise the world would not be able to containe vs. And thus much for the first part of the obiection As for the 2. which resembleth the demolishing of building to death this similitude hath no proportion yea it is contrary to the state of the question for what makes a ruined building deformed It is the disorder we see in it it is but a heape of stones and timber the stones are not layd in order one vpon another neither is the timber raised as it ought to be It is then the forme that wants when as the materialls remaine but in man or rather a dead carcase the soule which is the forme receiues no blemish she is freed from the surprises of the graue Thou doest not complaine that the egge-shell is broken when a chicken comes forth neither is the body of man to be lamented when as the soule flies away But what great difformitie doest thou see in a dead body thou seest little or no difference at all with one that sleeps this doth not terrifie thee why should the other amaze thee especially if thou doest consider that the body which is dead is truely asleepe the which is a subiect of an other discourse as we shall see if God please But all things haue their period the ladder his last staffe and life her last degree Thou diddest ascend ioyfully so must come downe againe with the like content if in the last steppe or in the midst thou beest not carried away accidentially by some violent death but to returne to the place where thou hast beene taken thy nature doth exhort thee yea it forceth thee If too vniust thou doest not willingly giue thy consent looke into the degrees of life and this contemplation will giue thee cōsolation against death when thou wert borne into the world there was found in thee an appetite to some substāce or meat without thy selfe the which hauing beene supplied thee and sent by the mouth into the stomacke was conuerted into a conco◅ted iuyce and then transformed into bloud by the liuer refined into spirits by the heart and finally fitted to thy decaying body thou didst receiue nourishment force and Ioy these are the first degrees of life then climing higher thou hast extended the fiue faculties of thy senses thine eye to see beautiful things thine eares to heare melodious sounds thy nose to smell pleasing sents thy mouth to tast holesome and delightfull sauours and thy hand to handle smooth and wel polished things these are other degrees of the same life At length the reasonable soule comes to play his part the vnderstanding desires to know whatsoeuer the sences apprehend whatsoeuer his eye sees his eare heareth his hands touch and moreouer what they neither see heare nor touch reason flying to