either melting or taking it in sunder Plutarch in the life of Solon and Lycurgus If it be demaunded what caused Solon and Lycurgus to trauell into Egypt to learne rudiments and lawes to bring their people into a reasonable gouernment It will be answered that the inclination they had to draw rude and confused matters to some reasonable head and order moued them to take that paines The lawes of dominion and propertie of things both reall and personal of mixt and entire are drawne out of Reason and all their braunches ought to bee tied fast thereunto The law of seueritie and punishment are in the nature of keeping the guiltlesse from receiuing wrong and are as a protection for the well gouerned not drawne out of an vnreasonable desire of punishment without cause or tormenting the offender in respect of his person but to take off the offence In the orderly or fit doing of any thing the mind and Reason beginne their work at the latter end and at the effect as in building a house Reason hath laid the whole plot and the cause to what end it is built before any stone be laid In any iourny Reason either hath or should set downe the probabilitie of good to ensue therof What caused the men of auncient time to enter into consideration of eternitie and to search into the difference of things immortall and things transitorie subiect to corruption of the beginning ending of time and of the world and that time is not in respect of God and eternitie but of things that had beginnings and passe with time and whosoeuer shall looke into the workes of Homer Hesiodus Parminides Mercurius Sophocles Aeschylus Euripides and others shall finde that this Soules qualitie of Reason euen out of nature it selfe had searched farre into these deepe matters It is amongst the Philosophers agreed that there is in man a double speach the one in the mind before we vtter it and the other is called the speach of the voyce vttered with the mouth the one priuate the other serueth to publish that which the minde and vnderstanding haue conceiued and determined to manifest The learned translatours of the Greeke word Logos somtimes call it speach somtimes word and sometimes Reason and it alludeth to this Vox praefert animus ratiocinatur mentis verbum ipsa ratio est The voice vttereth the mind reasoneth and debateth so Reason is the very word or speach of the mind And as it is fitlie said that what proportion is between the voyce or speach of the mind the like is betweene the speach of the mind and the speach of vnderstanding the voyce hath neede of aire and is diuided into partes and requireth leasure the minde is indiuisible but yet hath neede to passe from one conclusion or Reason to another But vnderstanding accomplisheth his action or working in lesse then a moment with one only act filleth the Reason and minde that it is constrayned to make many acts of one so that there is such an indiuisible vniting and putting together of vnderstanding mind and reason in the Soule that they may not be parted nor be one without the other For which cause Reason is properly said to bee the daughter speach or word of our vnderstanding That nature and abilitie of working of the Soule which the Latines call Mens the French translators vnderstand to be the reasonable Soule And as there is described to bee in the reasonable Soule working vnderstanding and willing so are not these three liues nor three soules in vs but one life one soule And these are three powers which the reasonable and immortall soule cannot want The like is said of the memorie of vnderstanding or of mindefull vnderstanding to be an aboundance of reason and as it were a hoorder vp of the continuall influences of the minde which minde Auerhos and Alexander tearme the workefull minde which is a power or force that can skill to extend reason from one thing to an other which they also conclude to be vncorruptible euerlasting and diuine and by this Minde is vnderstoode the immortall reasonable soule of man And as a great learned man writing of the corruption of mans nature sheweth that the worlde and all the creatures were made for the vse of man and commending the vnderstanding and reason of man Hee first speaking of the other creatures sayth To what purpose are all their virtues and excellent properties if themselues know them not The Sunne saith he excelleth among the Coelestiall bodies and the Rose among the flowers The beast is a degree aboue the trees But what skilles it what thou arte or what thou hast if thou know it not nor vnderstand it For what auaileth the light to the blinde meate to him that cannot taste sweete odours to him that smelleth not Or what auaileth the excellencie of thy Creation or thy reasonable and immortall Soule if thou discerne not the woorthinesse thereof By the meanes of Reason onely man of all the things in this inferior world can skill of these things and how to enioy them and so of force it may rightly and truely be concluded that they were made for none but for him That is to speake more properly God hath giuen vnto man al and whatsoeuer al other creatures either haue or be and hath not dealt with him barely as with a creature but rather as with his owne childe for whome he hath expresly created this world and giuen it him to possesse and besides gaue him an vnderstanding mind and reason which I so much labour to aduance to enioy gouerne and order the same Yet to drawe Reason a little higher this excellent qualitie in the soule of man by some is vnderstoode to be a religious regard and vnderstanding of God and to walke in his seruice and a continuall obseruation of good things that tend to immortalitie For as death separateth the body and soule for a time so doth the soule carry with it so much of his substāce power quality as it first brought that is spirite life reason and will which it shall bring to the bodie againe at the time of their second vniting Agayne if Reason bee the Daughter Vnderstanding which is a chiefe power of the soule be the Mother then are these co-relatiues and the one can not be without the other The soule cannot be without vnderstanding and vnderstanding cannot be without reason therefore as the soule is an immortall substāce so is vnderstanding an immortal power and reason an immortall quality of the soule The word Logos which the translators of the Greeke many times call Reason or word is said by the diuines to be incarnate by the holy ghost to make the sonne of God the second person in the Trinity whome we acknowledge and beleeue to bee subsisting of a reasonable Soule and humane flesh To whome the Philosophers giue the names of the Be-er or hee that is Wit or Vnderstanding the beautiful and sometimes speach word
as rebellious or at least as disturbers of the peace of their Queene lest their outragious intemprature turn to their own subuersion for it is a most cleare resolued consequent that take away order and gouernment there presently follows horror and confusion which ruine as it often falleth out in great kingdomes among multitudes of men so yet originally do these defects commence in the particular errors of som speciall priuate men for from some small beginning the greatnes thereof must needes proceede therefore obstare principijs maximè iuuat It is very behoofefull to withstand the beginnings Such is the dignitie and maiestie of right and true reason that she hath a place aboue all earthly corruptible and mortall things aboue the Sunne the Moone the Starres and Firmament of heauen aboue the Angels themselues euen in the Sonne of God in the presence of God himself as by this ensuing discourse shall be made manifest Sect. II. The Soule is the substance and Reason a qualitie thereof BEfore I can fittely enter into the definition of Reason being a qualitie in a substance of higher valewe I must borrow leaue for a fewe words concerning that substance whereof reason is this qualitie for out of that wil be found a way how to discouer the trueth of all that ensueth and ought to be vnderstood The Immortall Soule of man is this substance which among Christians is not doubted and being learnedly handled by writers taught by diuines and conceiued and vnderstood by all I will leaue to speake therof in any manner of perswading others to giue credence therevnto and onelie touch the same so farre forth as may discouer the excellencie of reason Hermes treating of the soule saith Hermes in his Poemā der cha 10 It is the garment of the minde and the garment of the Soule is a certaine Spirite wherby it is vnited to the body and this thing is that which wee properly call Man that is a heauenly creature not to be compared to beastes but rather with the Gods of heauen Plato saith Plato in li. 11. de Legib epist. 2. that the ancient and holie Oracles are to be beleeued which affirme mens soules to bee immortall Pithagoras held opinion that the Soule is a bodilesse and immortal substance put into this bodie as into a prison for sin Architus saith that God breathed reason and vnderstanding into man Plato saith Plat. in his Timens third book de Republ. that God created man by himselfe yea and his liuer and his braine and his senses which is vnderstood to be the soule endued as well with sence as reason But speaking onely of the reasonable Soule Plato in Phoedon li. 10. de Repub in matter of state in his Alcibiades he saith that the Soule of man is very like the Godhead immortall reasonable vniforme vndissoluble and euermore of one sort which are conditions that can not agree but in things most diuine And therfore at his departing out of the world he willed his soule to returne home to her first originall Plat. in his first booke of Lawes And in an other place he maketh bold to terme it to be kinne vnto God that is to say euerlasting and of one selfe name with the immortall ones Aristotle saith Aristot. lib. 3. de Anim. that the soule of man commeth from without and not of the seede of man as the body doth and that the soule is the onely part in vs that is diuine which is as much as if he had said immortall Cicero hath two excellent sayings in this behalfe Li. 1. quaest Tuse The originall of our soules and mindes saith he can not be found in this lowe earth for there is not any mixture in them or any compounding that may seeme to be made or bred of the earth neither is there any moysture winde or any fiery matter in them And his reason in that place is that no such thing could retaine in it the power of memorie vnderstanding or conceipt to beare in mind things past to foresee things to come to consider things present which saith he are matters altogether diuine concluding that because it consisted not of any elementall matter it must needes be immortall In another place he saith Cic. lib. 2. de nat Deor. that beetweene God and man there is a kindred of Reason as there is betweene man and man a kindred of blood That the fellowship betweene man and man commeth of the bodie but the fellowship betweene God and man commeth of God himselfe who created the soule in vs. By reason whereof saith he we may say wee haue aliance with the heauenly sort as folkes that haue discended of the same race and roote Seneca in his booke of Comfort Seneca in lib. Consolationis c writing of the death of the Ladie Marcia hir son saith he is now euerlasting and in the best state bereft of this earthly baggage c. which he inferred for the most excellent comfort of all to be when the soule is departed from the body Out of the learning which it seemeth Hierocles had from Pithagoras Hierocl ca. 10. he very consideratelie and deepelie entering into the mindes of the wicked saieth that the wicked would not haue their soules to be immortall to thintent they might not be punished for their faultes But yet saith hee they preuent the sentence of their Iudge by condempning themselues vnto death before hand Plotinus Plotinus of the being of the soul lib. 1. Enead 4. who wrote many excellent treatises concerning the Soule and tooke great paines therein saith mens Soules proceede not of their bodies nor of the seede of their parents but are as ye would say grafted into our bodies by the hand of God The Soule saith hee hath had company with the Gods Plotinus in his booke of doubtes concerning the soule cha 26.27 and is immortall and so would we say of it as Plato affirmeth if we saw it faire and cleere But for as much as we see it commonly troubled we thinke it not to be either diuine or immortall Neuerthelesse saith he he which will discerne the nature of any thing perfectly must consider it in the very owne substance or being vtterly vnmingled with any other thing for whatsoeuer is added else vnto it doth hinder the perfect discerning therof Therfore let euery man behold himselfe naked without any thing saue himselfe so as he looke vpon nothing else saue his bare soule and surely when he hath viewed himselfe in his owne nature merely as he is in respect of his minde he shall beleeue himselfe to be immortall for he shall see that his minde aymeth not properly at the sensible and mortall things but that by a certaine euerlasting power it taketh hold of things that are euerlasting and of whatsoeuer is possible to be conceiued in vnderstanding Insomuch that euen it selfe becommeth after a sort a very world of vnderstanding and light Galen Galen
wil not sticke to supplant him whome he ought most to regarde The countrieman is neuer quiet vntill hee haue the marchants money and the marchant commonly maketh his match so as he will not loose by the bargaine But whosoeuer obserueth what others protestations vntruths deceits cunnings crafts and collusions are vsed amongst all sorts shall well find that Reason hath not her right gouernement If anie man looke but into the Comoedy that treateth of the Humors of men and the booke of Cony-catching he shall see those errors very liuely and at full discouered Now as the beginning of gouernment is at a priuate man so the first that followeth is the gouernement of a priuate family in which the maister of the house hath authority to impose domesticall Lawes The next is betweene the Lord and Tenants ouer whome the Lord hath authoritie to appoynt ordinaunces and to receiue an othe of fidelitie Then followeth the gouernement of Tithings of Towneships of Citties of Counties so concludingly of the whole state whereof to dilate would be ouer tedious The collegiate and ecclesiasticall gouernements and al priuileged places ought to haue repaire to one head At one is the beginning of obedience and at one is both the beginning and end of gouernement And whatsoeuer is meane betweene those buttols or boundes is the publique state which by reasons rule and law are to be ordered and disposed like as the stuffe and seuerall matters that goe to the building of an house which as they are to be at the direction of the principall woorkeman yet are they not to be lost nor spoiled so is it in the case of gouernment for the ordering of causes and suppressing of disorder in a publique consideration without confusion of any In which publike state many ancient laudable and godly Lawes haue beene made which of themselues are in the common-wealth as the soule is in the body of a man when hee either sleepeth or waketh The life of the law is the minister and officer thereof who should distribute the same to the indifferent and equall good of all It is as the line or plumbe rule whereby the workeman guideth his building vpright Gentle Reader consider with thy selfe which part of this building thou art wherof this maine state consistes and reason with thy selfe if thou bee contented or discontented with thine estate and the cause that mooneth thee thereunto and likewise consider whether that cause be reasonable or not if thou finde no suppresse it set the queene of thy passions and affections to iudge thereof and reforme thine errour which if euery man in this Land would performe her Maiesties gouernment would farre passe the gouernement of Numa Pompilus or any that euer liued If we enter into consideration of the seuerall kindes of liuing things how the bond of nature dooth make them affect the company and fellowship of creatures of their owne sorte to liue together in assemblies with a kinde of pleasure and contentment The beasts on the earth in the ayre the birds and in the water the fishes wherein they holde themselues strongest and most safe as they are gathered together into greatest companies in a kinde of agreement as their natures are expressed by Aristotle and others of like learning It will enforce men to wonder at their owne intemperate gouernment considering that against one beast or bird that killeth one an other of his owne kinde there are thousands of men murthered and vnnaturally slaine by their compares so that among men reason so litle preuaileth that the very sensuall partes rebell against their owne nature Insomuch that men through their vnreasonable actions committe that which the vnreasonable beasts do eschew to performe Had not Reason neede to impose laws to suppresse these disorders In the priuate body of a man if the gangrina take any member which is like to bring the whole bodie to death destruction will not the head the heart and all the rest of the members consent to the seuering that member from the body to saue the rest So in the state of a common-wealth to preserue the principall and generall parts Reason hath made lawes not to respect any particular that shall grow daungerous to the whole and specially to the head which is the life honor of the rest As the priuate man that hath his legge cut off to saue his body hath no pleasure but paine and griefe in losing the same So the good Magistrate hath no pleasure in the death or punishment of the subiect but is rather grieued that any such member should be so corrupted as he may not be abidden to remaine The law is said to be the blood bond of the commonwealth the spirit therof The law is said to be a singular reason imprinted in nature commāding those things that are to be done and forbidding the contrary by which the men of the first world liued without any written law at all Besides the written law the law of nature is a sence and feeling which euery man hath in himselfe and in his conscience wherby he discerneth betweene good and euill The lawe is as the medicine the minister and distributer therof as the Phisition the offender the patient As in some causes though the Phisition do not giue the potion rightly nor the patient haue a stomake to endure the taking yet is not the fault in the simple medicine but in the giuer and receiuer or one of them The wrong is not in the law if thou bee corrected for thy offence but in thy selfe for thine error Many a man being sicke of an ague sindeth fault with his drinke where in truth the fault is in his taste the like may be said of those that cōplaine of the iniustice of the law whē alas it is a dombe thing of it selfe and intēdeth no harme to any but the wel vsing or abusing thereof is the matter that is to be considered The euill disposed wisheth there were no law that he might vsurpe ouer the good or at least he holdeth the law to be ouer-seuere to punish his fault on the other side the honest minded man findeth that the offences against the law are notfully and speedily reformed To treate of the diuers kindes of lawes of diuers Countries and the seueral vses of them I intend not but to leaue a note to men of ordinary vnderstanding that the gouernment of men vsed by the discipline of lawes is as necessary as the life to preserue the body from putrifaction He that thinketh it an easie or sleight matter to put his hand into medling or dealing with state matters making of new lawes or abrogating the old as if they were to bee put off and on like a garment or fantastically changed as the wild humor of some few affect let them consider what Demosthenes said of the decrees among the Locrians that euery Citizen that was to bring in a new lawe shoulde come and declare it publikely with a halter about his