that wisdome which is the knowledge of Diuine and human thinges which we may deuide into twoe partes Contemplatiue and Morall Contemplatiue which containeth the knowledge of God and his works and morrall which teacheth vs howe to liue well and how to shew our selues helpefull and officious to the world How to know God GOd doth reueale and as it were make himselfe visible vnto vs after two manner of waies first in the booke of his word by the mouthes of his holy prophets Apostles and Patriarches and secondly by the book of nature in the whole frame of heauen and earth which wee cannot behold but we must needs confesse that neither heauen hath his motion the sunne and moon their light the earth his fruitfulnesse nor the sea his waters but it comes to passe by the power wisedome and prouidence of one supreme creator and preseruer which is God And as the contemplation of his creatures is a forcible argument to beate into vs the knowledge of his deyty so the behoulding of no one creature helpeth more to that ende then the consideration of our owne nature How to know our selues SOcrates the Prince of Philosophers greatly condemned the students of his age in that they toyled so much about the knowledge of external things and neuer had anye care to caste an eye vnto that which was internall meanning that all their studye and labour tended to the marking of the revolution of the heauens and other naturall causes vppon earth but neuer were solicitous or troubled about their owne nature but as his opinion was so let ours be that wee cannot come to the knowledge of God which is the end of our cteation and being knowne to glorifie him than by the knowledge of our owne nature Therfore to know our selues and our owne nature is to consider that we are compounded of a bodie that is earthly a soule that is heauenly of a body that is palpable to be felt and scene and of a soule that is invisible and not subiect to externall sense of a body that is mortall and must die and of a soule that is immortal that shall neuer dye and that at first we were created vpright both in soule and body but since through sinne we are become deformed both in soule and bodye And although we might heere take occasion to speake of the excellencie of the composition of the partes of the body as a thinge full of admiration and many deepe secrets in nature yet because the more principall parte of man which is the soule is the only obiect of the matter we haue in hande wee will passe ouer the great knoweledge that might be hadde in viewing the corporall frame and onely tie our discourse to the spiritual essence which beeing the harder and more difficulte matter by how much it is more excellent than the other therfore once looked into though but sleightly we shal the sooner come to the knowledge of the whole What this knowledge of ourselues doth worke in vs. THe knowledge of our selues doeth worke in vs a two-folde effect a meanes to be humbled and a meanes to glory and reioice To be humbled in respect of the sense and feeling of our vanity and to glory in respect of the mercy of God by whose grace we recouer our selues from the daunger of vanity for our sicke soule being lost to perdition is reuiued and quickened againe by regeneration What the Soule is THe soule cannot be known as it is but by the craetor that made it by reason that in vs there is no nature more high or excellent to comprehend it all the knowledge that we can haue of it proceedes from those effects which it doeth manifest in vs and therefore we cannot giue any absolute definition of it But according to the effects we may thus describe it The soule is a spirit which giueth life to the body whereunto it is ioyned and which is capeable of the knowledg of God to loue him as being meet to be vnited vnto him to eternal happinesse In that it is a spirit it confutes their oppinions that thought the soule did proceed frō the tēperature and harmony of the partes of the body but in that it giueth life it confutes their oppinion that thought it was mortall and that with the death of the body it likewise perished But the soule is as far frō perishing being seperated frō the body as an expert musition frō losing his skill being bereft of his instrument Others there are that thinke because man liueth no longer then he hath breath on because losse of bloud bringeth the losse of life or because in death they perceiue no difference betweene men and beastes that therefore the soule is nothinge else but bloude or a puffe of wind But these men haue no further insight into the soule than is conceiued by their externall sense A minde refynde and eleuated aboue the earth findes that the soule is the Image of God who is a spirit and eternall therefore the soule of man must be a spirit and eternall for there is alwayes an agreement betweene the Image and the thinge of which it is an Image How the soule is celestiall THe soule is celestiall not in that sense as if it were a parte of the substance and nature of god him selfe but it is saide to be celestial in 3. respectes First to shewe a difference betweene the soule of men and the soule of beastes Secondly in regard of the agreement which it hath with the deuine nature through immortalitye Thirdly in respect it approcheth neerer to the nature of god thē any other creature except Angels and yet Angels are not of the nature of God neither for they are not immortall of themselues but haue their immortaltty and their superexcellencie of God who both giueth it vnto them and preserueth them in it and can if it please him depriue them of it How the soule is in the body THe soule is in the body not as proceeding from the generatiue seed or the commixture of the humours for then the soule should be corruptible as they are but the soule is in the body by infusion of God the creator after that the parts of the body are already framed fashioned and that by no other vertue but by his own omnipotent power so that we must thinke when God inspired a soule into Adam he made not a blast of his own nature nor of the ayre round about him but euen of nothing who being himselfe incorporall made the soule also incorporall but yet he being vnchangable made the soule mutable because himselfe being vncreated made the soule a creature Vpon this may rise a question that if the soule be infused and created of God and comes not by propagation from our parents whence hath it then the pollution which we call originall sinne It were horrible to say it were so created knowing that all the workes of God are pure and holy and from the body it cannot come
for the bodie infectes not the soule but the soule the body whose instrument it is Wee answere that as the soule is infused by god in that respect it is clean without spot but so soon as it is entred vnder the line of the children of Adam it is presently made subiect to the curse which God laide vppon Adam and his posterity and so becomes guilty of originall sinne The difference betweene soule and Spirit BEcause these words are often times confounded it shall not be amisse to know their difference By the soule we may vnderstand man as he is born hauing the vse of the annimal naturall and vitall powers and by the spirit whatsoeuer grace and knowledg is giuen vnto man by God so that by soule we may vnderstand man as he is in the corruption of his nature and by spirit as he is regenerate and borne anew There is also another difference which may giue some light in maner to discerne between these twoe names which is this Soule is a word more general than spirit for it may be attributed to other creatures as well as to man As hearbs plants tree haue haue onely a vegetatiue soule Sea-spounges cockles and such like haue onely a vegetatiue and sensetiue soule brute beasts haue a vegetatiue sensetiue and cogetatiue soule for they do not onely growe increase and haue sence and feeling but they likewise are indued with cogitation knowledge and memory how to preserue their liues guide and gouerne themselues according to naturall inclination but the soule rationall and regenerate by the grace of adoption and therfore called a spirit is onely proper to men and inriched with immortality How the soule is immortall THat the soule is immortal appeareth by some reasons before aleadged as that it is the Image of god who is imortal therfore hath som agreement with him in that respect but for further assurance we haue scripture her owne properties In the booke of Gen. 2.7 it is said God made man a liuing soule that is immortall In the gospell after S. Mathew Christ admonisheth his disciples that they should not stand in feare of those that kill the bodie meanning bloudy tyrants but could not kill the soule whereby it is manefest the soule liueth after the bodie Likewise in the gospell after S. Luke 16.22 the begger dyed and his soule was carried into Abrahams bosome And in the 23. of the same gospell the 43. verse our sauiour christ said to the repentant theefe This day thou shalt be with mee in Paradice meaning his soule and not his body which words he would not haue vttered if the soule had perished with the bodie and not been immortall Many other places might be recyted but if these seeme insufficient so wil the rest Further the soule appeares to bee immortall by her owne properties first in that it giueth life to the body and is so farre from corruption that so long as it bides therein it preserues the body from corrupting Secondly in that it is in continuall motion and neuer ceaseth whether wee sleepe or wake walke or sit still to apprehend think or ponder vpon something in a moment it wanders through the heauens compasseth the earth and crosseth the broadest Seas Thirdlye it may be thought immortall in respect of that propertye which it expresseth in the mindes euen of Atheistes and heathen men who notwithstanding they not beleiue or deny the immortality of the soule yet the deuinity of their souls with in them working to the contrary make them balke their owne opinions and by the monumēts which they set vp to continue their name remembrance bewraies the soule to be immortall because in that respect they plainly shew a feruent desire to liue for euer Why some beleiue not the immortallity of the soule THe reason that moues them heareunto in some is the blockishnes of nature who obstiniately refuse to beleiue any thing but what they may be able to comprehend by their outward sense And againe some are so peruerse as they wish not only their soules were not immortall but that there were no god nor any other life to the end they might haue no Iudg but that this life might end with their delight the soule vanish with the body But here may rise an obiection If the soule be immortal why is it said in scripture euerie soule that sinneth shall die the death And againe it appeares by manie places that the soules of the wicked shall suffer eternal death We may answere that the soule is said to dye not that it is quite bereft of any beeing but for that it is for euer bannished the ioyes of heauen which vnto the soule is accounted death as the bannishnement of the soule from the bodie is accounted the bodies death What makes the soule mortall and in danger of such a death THe first thing that indangers the soule with mortality is originall sin which sinne by regeneration of holie baptisme being remoued the next thing that indangers it is the passions and affections of the soule which fall backe into their first corruption by spurning against vnderstanding and reason the soueraigne faculties of the soule which are spirituall and intelligigible stirring vs vp to virtue to pietye and godlinesse and by yeelding obedience to the sensual and inferior facultie of the soule which is the will who by reason it is neerer and more famillier with the corporal senses then vnderstanding therfore rather consenteth to the Lawes of the members which are full of ignorance frowardnesse miserie shame death and condemnation than to the workes of the spirit which are loue ioy peace long suffering gentleness faith meeknesse temperance and such like The difference betweene vnderstanding and the will and affections FIrst they differ according to the place and situation which they haue in the bodie of man Secondly according to the time wherein they are imploide and thirdly according to the dignitie of their offices They differ according to their situation in that vnderstanding hath his seat in the braine and the will and affection in the heart And this is the reason that we se many men indued with great knowledge of diuerse good and virtuous thinges but haue no willingnes or affection to follow after them or to shew them in their life and conuersation because their hart and their braine their will their vnderstanding agree not Likewise we see others to haue a will to do well yet because they want vnderstaning knowledg to discern what is iust they faile of the execution thereof Secondly they differ according to the time wherin they are imploide in that vnderstanding alwaies goes before and the affections follow For we cannot hate or loue vnlesse we first know the thing which is to be hated or loued Thirdly they differ acording to the dignitie of their offices in that vnderstanding sits as a King to commaund and the wil and affection stand as subiectes to obey For as God hath
of the bodie and fortune No man doth so desire virtue as that when he hath obtained it he reioiceth excessiuely therin nor doth any man so feare the obtaining of her as that the feare thereof driues the soule from her setled quietnesse But since the hauing of her is the true happinesse of the soule freeing our mindes from all perturbations and enduing vs with a firm and stable possession against which neither Fortune slaunder death nor old age can preuaile let vs to returne at last to that from which we haue al this while digrest embrace her as the Soueraigne ruler of our thoughts whoe togither with the grace and spirit Diuine is onlie sufficient to giue the soul in this life peace and reste and in the life to come immortall glorie What Vertue is VErtue according to the opinions of Phylosophers is a disposition and power of the reasonable part of the soule which bringeth into order and decencie the vnreasonable part therof by causing it to propound a conuenient ende to it owne affections and passions whereby the soule abideth in a comely and decent habite executing that which ought to be don and declining from that which ought to be shunned And therfore it is said that he which hath vertue is only happie though he be plunged in a thousand miseries and he that is accompanied with vice is onlie vnhappie although he haue the wealth of Cresus the empire of Cyrus or the glorie of Alexander The effects of Vertue VErtue may be said to be the hauen of the soule the nurse of piety the mother of content the root of blessednesse the shield against aduersity the staie in prosperitie the beautie of citties the gloue of kingdomes The holie patriarke Abraham got himselfe more honour by his vertue of obedience in shewing himselfe ready at the commandement of God to offer vpp his only son Isaack then by the great victorie which he obtained against diuerse powerfull kinges in redeeming his brother Lot when he was taken prisoner Gen. 14. Ioseph was more renown for his continencie in withstanding the 〈…〉 of Potiphars wife then by being made high stuard of king Pharaos house Gen. 39. If the power of virtue in these men be so greatly to be admired that knew the immortal god and were guided and led foorth by his holie spirit how much more than may we stand confounded at the example of others that neither know God nor the 〈…〉 immortalitie of the soule and yet prefer the regard of vertue before al other thinges in the world yea before life it self Anacharsis led with the loue of vertue left the kingdome of Scithia to his younger brother and trauelled into Grecia where he learned Philosophy of Solon Anaxarchus chose rather to die than to be thoght so inconstant as to bewray the couÌ„cel that was held against the tyrant Nero. So that virtue at all times in all persons is the most excellent happy thing that may be Why some men regard not vertue THere are three principal excuses or pretences wherewith some men wold fain color their negligeÌ„ce in not regarding the studie or practise of vertue The first is the difficultie therof they say it is a hard laborious matter to attain to the knowledge of it vsing the same perswasion that the Athenians did in their prouerb Non licet cuiuis adyre CorynthuÌ„ T was not for euery one to arriue at Corynth euen so say they it is not for euery one to be a student in Philosophye nor stands it with the dexteritie of euerie ones wit or the abillitie of his minde to trafficke with so magnificent a prince as virtue is therefore say they it is better to content our selues in the course of meaner matters How absurd a starting hole this is appeares in that euen in those weake matters which they prefer before the studie of virtue for the moste part they spend more time and aduenture more danger to compasse their desire then they should haue done in anie point of the discipline of virtue and yet when they haue what they would haue it is rather their destruction then their happinesse their disturbance theÌ„ their quiet as we see in the end of riches how will the couetous man labour and sweat spare and pinch himselfe to the intente he may haue his bagges cramd and his coffers stuft and yet when they are so his fear is greater to lose them then his care was before to get them nay oftentimes he is constrainde to forgoe them euen with the forfeyture of his life Euen so in honor the ambitius man wil refuse no paines thinke much of no extremitie but be readie to indure the heate of summer the colde of winter to watch attend ride and run in hope to reach at laste the top of preferment which when he once hath got and thinkes to sleep securelye some sinister blast or other shakes his tottering state and hurles him suddenlie downe into the pitt of all disgrace and obloquy But these are indifferent thinges and in some sorte tollerable enough for men to spende time about them but in cases altogether condemnable is it not an vsuall or ordinarie thing to see heare of men that doe take more paines to tread the path that leades to hell than the godlie doe to finde the waie that guides to heauen we need no far fetcht examples for the proofs â—â—â—erof it is thought the Guisians before they brought to passe the bloudie massacre at Parrisse were eight or nine whole yeare busied and imploied in meetings consultations and beating their brains about it Richard the third king of England was almost twentie yeares in plotting and complotting bloudie and secret murders to make the waie smooth for him to come vnto the diadem Herodes thoughtes were neuer quiet after hee heard of the birth of Christ til the hower of his death how he might disstroie and shed his guiltlesse bloud in lesse than halfe which time he might haue learned the grounds of true christianity and haue saued his own soule The like we may conclude of al others that think the knowledg of vertue tedious and hard to attain the end wherof is happines and peace wheras they are coÌ„tent to spend more time sweat vnder the burdeÌ„ of greater labor to attain to those 〈…〉 whos end is misery distruction The â—color or pretence wherby men labor to cloke their slacknes in the study of vertue is pouerty we finde saie they by experience that vertue giues her louers and welwillers aboundance of knowledge but verie little wealth plentifull braines but verie needy and penurious backes admit it were so yet let me aske this question whether is better the riches that shall neuer vanishe or the riches that dailie are subiect to casualtie whether more excellent the possession whose fruite is eternall then the possession whose profits are momentarie and euer fading I thinke there is no man so void of reason but will say the former but
notwithstanding this difference it is manifest that such carpers detracters doe walke in a very palpable and grosse errour For why vertue is so far from leauing her friends destitute and contemptible as she is the cause continually both of wealth honour and promotion Did not Iacob prosper and growe riche in the seruice of his Vncle Laban because of his vertuous disposion was not Alexander sirnamed the great rather for his virtues than his victories And what I praie brought Ester Mardocheus in grace and fauour with king Ahashueros but their vertues The third and last pretenced cauill against the studie of vertue is the perrils which it bringes men into by reason it hazardes their liues liberties welfares for say they to reproue mens behauiours wherunto they are natureally inclinde or to find fault with their delightes or condemne their actions as commonlie the virtuous are stirred vp to doe is but a meanes to make thē incur hatred lie open to checkes and tauntes and be subiect to a perpetuall warfare of an infinite number of such like inconueniences I answere that through the mallice of the diuel and of the world it is true in deed that vertue is many times liable to such afflictions but withall we must remember that as the measure of calamitie which insistes vpon vertue is great so the measure of patience which accompanies her is likewise great yea so great that it maketh those thinges which seeme sowre and vnpleasant to haue a moste sweet and delectable tast hence it is that many vertuous men haue suffered a thousand outrages with such constancie that tyrants haue binsooner wearie in persecuting than they in suffering naie they haue vndergone their martirdomes with such ioy as in behoulding of them you would either haue thought they had beene sensles or that in seing them you did not see them Witnesse the example of Ignatius a holie and religious man who being condemned and throwne into a caue to be deuoured of wilde beasts when he felt their teeth take hold in his flesh cried cheerfully out as if he had felt no paine grinde small and make sweete manchet for my God to feed vpon To come neerer home Bi. Cranmer Archb. of Cant. as we read was a man of that vertous resolution that without shrinking he suffered his right hand to burn off with the lingering flame of a torch and therfore we see as vertue is subiect to calamity so is she strong to make a scorne of calamity What Vice is AS no man can loue vertue or anie other good thing before he know the goodnesse therof no more can we hate vice or anie other euill except we first vnderstand what it is Therfore we do here oppose these contraries together to the intent as thereby vertue will appeare more excellent so Vice may be knowne to be more lothsome vile and detestable Vice is said to be a iarring or inequality of manners the true essence of vnhappines the sicknes of the soule proceeding from a nautie disposition of the will and affections to al corruption of pleasures and vnbridled desires so that in the end wee become most vnhappy yea more wild sauedge then bruite beasts themselues The effects of Vice BEside that vice is the mother of all disorder rancour murder contention periury lust and such like it hath four other principall and most daungerous effects First it is the depriuation of grace it robs a man of the fauour of God and leaues him in the power of the diuell and what it is to be forsakē of god appears by the example of saul that slue himself Iudas that hanged himself Secondly shame in the world for it leads men blindfold as the Prophet did the Aramits 2. king 6 20. til it hath broght them into the midst of al infamy and then it opens their eies lets them see their ignorāce and folly The third is torment of conscience which is equall with vice both for birth and age and followes it no other wise than the shadow doeth the body For euen at the same instant that wickednesse is committed she frameth in and for her selfe her own punishment which beginneth to afflict torment her with the remorse thereof and this is it which the Diuines call the worm of conscience that neuer dieth but continually like Titius vultur tyreth vpon the hart of a malefactor accompanyeng his miserable life with shame confusion frightes and continual disquietnesse euen to his latest gaspe so that his whole life is nothing else but a figure of eternall death as is made apparant vnto vs by the example of Nero who when he had slaine his owne mother could neuer sleepe quietlie in his bed but alwaies thought hee sawe her follow him and torment him with firebrandes We read another strange example to the like effect in our english Cronycles of king Richard the seconde who hauing put to death the Earle of Arundel and other noblemen rather for that they reprooued his vyces and sought to bridle his head-strong youth than for anye capitall point of treason was so troubled afterward with remorse of his bloudye fact as that one night he started out of his bed and being in great agony and passion of soule would not be perswaded but that the Earle of Arundell was reuiud and sought to persecute him til such time as he had opened his graue and saw that his dead bodie lay there still without a head The fourth and last effect of vice and wickednesse is infection for it is not onely noisome and pernitious to him in whom it remaines but it also vseth him as a means to corrupt and spoil others the proofe hereof we see dailie in that there is not any wicked person but he will labour to make others like himselfe which it he cannot bring to paste yet he wil think them to be such and seeke to perswade the worlde that they are such or rather worse than he himselfe is Why men are more prone to Vice then Vertue THere are fiue motiues that stirre vp men rather to consent and followe after vice than vertue The first is the cursednesse of our nature which lyke the earth vnlesse it be manurde and tilled wil bring forth nothing but weeds and brambles The second is the disguise which vice puts vpon her blearing mens eies with false and fained shewes so that she creepes into them and bewitcheth them vnder the title and cognisaunce of vertue as when she perswades them and sets before their eies the things of this world as their true and onely felicitie The third is authority some men will be the more audatious and readye to commerce with Vice for that they thinke their high birth or calling may be a priueledge for their lewde behauiour but such men forgette that to whom more is giuen of him more shal be required that the greater shame and scandall shall redound to such a one who being borne to commaund men of all estates and condicions