Spirit and Angell doc impudently say that mens Soules are Mortall and die togeather with their Bodyes The Epicures also affirming the Soule to be Mortall doe place the chiefest Good in Pleasures For Epicurus who as it pleaseth the greatest men did moderately vse Hearbes and Apples such meane Meate was afterward by those that came after being a beastly and filthy companie reproched with infamie for his sottish vnbridled Schollers fell into voluptuousnesse and counted themselues to be most happie with the vse thereof All these and many other moe in the reckoning vp of whom it is not profitable for vs for to stay thought mans Soule to be Mortall Whom Plinie seemeth to fauour when he sayeth in his second Booke of his Naturall Historie that God cannot giue men Eternitie nor call againe the Dead And also many Romaines renowned both for fame and learning for Valerius in his seconde Booke of the Immortalitie of the Soule seemeth to mocke the Frenchmen when he saith That old custome of the Frenchmen commeth to my remembraunce who as it is written doe lend Money that it might be payde them againe in Hell because they were certainely perswaded that the Soules be immortall Fooles are they to thinke that they there weare long Garments as Pithagoâ—as beleeued them to weare Cloakes Moreouer Caesar and Cato as Salust witnesseth plainely said that mens Soules were Mortall and many others also of whom it is not necessarie to speake particularly Against whom it is sayd in the second Chapter of the Booke of Wisedome The vngodly say as they falsely imagine with themselues our life is short and tedious and in the death of a man there is no recouerie neither was any knowne that returned from the Graue For wee are borne at all aduenture and we shall be hereafter as though we had neuer been for the Breath is a Smoake in our Nostrels and the Wordes as a Sparke raised out of our Heartes which being extinguished the Body is turned into Ashes and the Spirit vanisheth as the soft Ayre Our life shall passe away as the trace of a Cloude and come to naught as the Miste that is driuen away with the beames of the Sunne and cast downe with the heate thereof Our name also shal be forgotten in time and no man shall haue our workes in remembrance for our time is as a Shadow that passeth away and after our ende there is no returning For it is fast sealed so that no man commeth againe Come therefore and let vs enioy the pleasures that are present and let vs chearefully vse the creatures as in youth c. Then it followeth at the. 21. verse Such things doe they imagine and goe astray for their owne wickednesse hath blinded them And they doe not vnderstaud the mysterie of God neither hope for the reward of righteousnesse nor can discerne the honour of the Soules that are faultlesse And in the third Chapter The Soules of the righteous are in the hand of God no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeared to die and their ende was thought grieuous and their departing from vs. destruction but they are in peace And though they suffer paine before men yet is their hope full of immortalitie c. There are also others of euery sect and nation as well Poets as Philosophers in witte learning fame and glorie more excellent then the former who speaking more rightly of the state of the Soule haue taught that the Soules of men are not dissolued togeather with their bodyes but are immortall or rewarded with eternitie For Hermes talking in his Dialogues with Asclepius about the eternall Word confesseth that the Soules of men are immortall and that the Euill are punished and the Good eternally rewarded Goe to sayth he Wee must now reason of the Mortall and Immortall way or manner The feare of death vexe and trouble many being ignorant of the true way And a litle after When the Soule shall depart from the Body then shall the tryall of his merite passe into the power of the great Iudge and hee when he shall see it to be iust shall permit it to abide in places fit for it But if it be vnrighteous it shall be throwne downe into the great deepe and condemned to the stormes whyrlewinds of the Ayre and the Water and be snatched vp betwixt the Heauen and the Earth and be heere and there tossed haled and turmoyled in eternall paines But in this is eternitie hurtfull vnto the Soule that by the immortall sentence it is tyed to eternall punishment And thy Graunfather Esculapius O Asclepius saith hee the first finder out of Phisicke to whom is consecrated a Temple vpon a Mountaine of Lybea about the shore of Cocodrilli a man of a very godly life is gone backe againe into Heauen The Pharesies also and the Essies doe say that the Iudgement of God shall come and that the Soules of men be immortall Josephus in his second Booke of the Warres of the Jewes sayth this It is a confirmed opinion amongst vs that our Bodies are corruptible and that the matter of them is not perpetuall but our Soules alwayes remaine immortall And when they be losed from their carnall bondes as though they were deliuered or set free from a long seruitude so doe they foorthwith reioyce and are caryed vp on high The Pharesies also beleeued the same which two sectes were best allowed of among the Jewes as the same Iosephus affirmeth And of the Esseis being put to torments the same Josephus sayeth They smiling in the midst of punishings and laughing those to scorne that eschewed torments did constantly yeeld vp their Soules with a certaine hilaritie as though they should at length receiue theÌ„ againe And what is meant by that in the Sentences of the Greekes that assure them that remaine content with good things that they shall liue beyond the Occean where is promised vnto them a full fruition of the chiefest Ioyes For there verily say they is the Region which is aggrauated neither with Raine Cold Heate nor any Maladies but the Occean orient and gentle blowing Zephirus is there very pleasant But for euill soules they choose and appoint stormy and wintery places which are full of wailings schrikings and howlings of paines intollerable whose continuance is euerlasting and world with out end According to this same intelligence the Greekes haue faigned that for those whom they call Heros 1. noble and halfe Gods Semidij are sequestrated the Ilands of the blessed but for the Soules of the wicked Hell is destinated wherein also they faigne that there is tormented certaine Sysiphos Tantalusses Ixions and Licias For the Greeke say that Herâ—i noble and well deseruing Soules indued with immortalitie dwell vp very high in the Ayre whereof Jsiodore sayeth Heroas dicuntur a Junone traxisse nomen Grece enim luno a herba appellatur c. 1. Heroas are sayd to haue drawne their name from Juno for in the Greeke tongue
that my life is but a winde and that mine eye shall not returne to see pleasure For so hee expoundeth himselfe when hee addeth vers 10. Hee shall returne no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more So likewise in the 17. chap. My breath is corrupt my dayes are corrupt the Graue is readie for mee They are wordes of one despayring of life saluation God being wroth and angrie 10. Job 34.14.15 14 If he set his heart vpon man and gather vnto himselfe his spirit and his breath 15. All flesh shall perish togeather and man shall returne vnto dust Answere Job doth not heere say that the Soule doth either sleepe or perish but that by the departure of the Soule from the Bodie the Bodie dieth and is dissolued yet not that the Body doth vtterly perish for so it should repugne other plaine places that warrant the Resurrection 11. Job 14.12 Man sleepeth and riseth not for hee shall not wake againe nor be raised from his sleepe till the Heauen be no more 12. Act. 7.60 And when he had thus spoken he fell asleepe 13. 1. Cor. 15.51 We shall not all sleepe but we shal be all changed 14. 1. Thes 4.13 I would not haue you ignoraunt concerning them which are asleepe In these places the dead are sayd to sleepe Ergo The Soule sleepeth Answere In these and such like places is vsed a figure of speach called Synecdoche translating that which is proper vnto the Bodie to the whole man For that this belongeth to the Body which is to be recalled from death to life as it were to awake from sleepe many places of Scripture declare As Iob. 7. Behold now I sleepe in the dust For not the Soule but the Body onely sleepeth in the dust or Graue 15. Mat. 24.46 Blessed is that Seruant whom his Maister when he commeth shall find so doing 16. Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdome 17. Mark 13.13 13 And yee shal be hated of all men for my names sake But whosoeuer shall endure vnto the ende the same shall be saued 27 And he shall then send his Angles and gather to geather his elect from the foure Windes 18. Dan. 12.1.2 1 And at that time my people shal be deliuered euery one that shal be found written in the Booke 2 And many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life c. These places doe plainely shew that Blessednesse and the Kingdome promised to the godly shall then first fall vnto them at the last day Ergo Soules go not presently to heauen after death of the Body Answere Those places doe not shew that But they shew that at the last day when the Bodies shal be raised vp againe the Soules that alreadie are in Heauen shall by being ioyned to the bodyes againe haue their felicitie and glory consummated and made absolute For so we pray Thy Kingdome come when yet now God also raigneth in vs. 19. 1. Cor. 15.19 If in this life onely we haue Hope we are of all men most miserable Of this place they reason thus Hee that is blessed and happy before the Resurrection is not without the Resurrection most miserable But wee without the Resurrection should be of all men most miserable Ergo wee are not before the Resurrection blessed and happie Answere To the Maior we answere That he is not miserable without the Resurrection who can not onely before it but without it also be blessed But we are in such wise blessed before it that notwithstanding without it following and ensuing we can not enioy that former blessednesse because that God with so inseparable a knot hath ioyned togeather the beginning proceeding and finishing or perfectiō of the Electes blessednesse that none can haue the beginning who must not come to the end and consummation thereof Wherefore we must rise againe or we must want also the Celestiall blessednesse before the Resurrection Rom. 8.11 If the spirit of him that raysed vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raysed vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall Bodies 20. Heb. 11.39 These all through Fayth are dead and receiued not the Promise Therefore they receiued not their Countrie Answere Although when they died they had not found their Countrie yet would it not follow of these wordes that they are not at all or haue no sense after death for he that is not or hath no sense seeketh not his Countrie Secondly it is not there spoken of the life after death which is ledde in the Celestiall countrie spoken of in 2. Cor. 5. from vers 1. vnto 10. but of this life in which the faythfull walking their pilgrimage sought for the Celestiall countrie not finding their Countrie on Earth 21. If presently after death the godly were blessed then iniurie was done vnto them who were called againe into this mortall life Answere It was not iniurions to them seeing God is debtor to no man God did raise them vp for the manifesting of his glorie Now what can happen better or more acceptable vnto the Godly then to serue for the manifesting of his glory either by life or by death Therefore there was no iniurie done vnto them Phil. 1. As alwayes so now Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by life or by death c. 22. The Soule hath neither sense nor action but by bodily instrumentes and therefore being naked of those instrumentes it is also destitute of sense motion and operation Answeré Although we graunt the Antecedent that the Soules action and sense is by the instrumentes of the Body while it is in the Body before this naturall or corporal death yet notwithstanding that it is not so with the Soule after death when it is freed from the Body both learned Philosophers doe confesse and the word of God testifieth 1. Cor. 13.9 Wee know in part and wee prophecie in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shal be abolished ¶ Thus I hope are sufficiently disprooned those wicked Aduersaries of this knowne and necessarie Trueth The Soule is Immortall And the Scriptures falsely by them alleadged rightly and fully interpreted according to their true sense By which reproofe of the Aduersarie and disproofe of their cause the trueth is more approoued and stronglier confirmed For contraries by their contraries are euer made more manifest God giue the Trueth a speedie victorie in the heartes of his people that Errours may be beaten downe Sathan confounded and all our Enimies vanquished that we may triumph with our Captaine that Lion of the Tribe of luda our Lord Jesus Christ Athenagoras an Athenian and a Christian Philosopher flourished in the time of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Commodus Emperours of Rome within two hundred yeares after Christ and in his Booke of the Resurrection he reasoueth thus REasons touching thinges belonging to Mankind are some drawne
nor willingly died that their valiantnesse might be left to them memorie of posteritie vnlesse they iudged that the posteritie did belong to them The Consequent is plaine because the diuinations and opinions of good men are seene as well as of the wicked The second If the Soule were not immortall no man in his right minde would offer himselfe to death for his Countrey or the Commonweale nor yet sustaine death for his Friendes The Consequence doth not seeme false For the Philosopher sayth in the ninth Booke of Ethickes That euerie one ought to suffer for his friendes yea to die for them also it need so required The same he saith in the 3. Booke of Ethicks The Consequence is plaine because none that is in his right wittes ought by good reason to depriue himselfe of the chiefest good or without hope to get some good thing either in this present life or in that which is to come But if the Soule be mortall then it doth by death depriue it selfe of the chiefest good yea of all good thinges without any hope of reward It may be thus confirmed Death doth not profite of it selfe or by it selfe to the conseruation of the Common-weale but is indeed against it Therefore if the Soule be mortall and is not to be rewarded in time to come then no wise man ought to stand to the trueth in the right of his Countrey euen vnto death The Antecedent is plaine Simile est de vno ciue et multis What is the duetie of one Citizen is also the duetie of many But it is a foolishnesse to say that all Citizens ought to die for the conseruation of the Weale publicke seeing that the Publicke weale is the life of the Citizens For what profited them the pertinacie of the Saguntines vnto the safetie of the Common-weale If the Saguntines would haue chosen the safetie of their Common-weale they should either haue forsaken their Fayth or else neuer haue made such Oth But if they must needes keepe their Fayth then must they needes loose their Common-weale as it came to passe Secondly the Consequence is plaine No man of sound reason ought to susteyne a great euill vnlesse it be to eschew a greater euill or for the obtayning of a greater good then that good is whereof by such euill he is depriued because that of two euils the lesse alway is to be choseÌ„ But if the Soule be mortall and after death haue no beeing then no such good can be giuen or be imagined Neither doth it auaile that Scotus saith alleadging the Philosopher in the ninth of the Ethickes that hee that dyeth for his Countrey giueth to himself great good by exercising that great act of vertue Et hoe bono priuaret se omnino vicâ—ose viueret Hee should depriue himselfe of that good thing sayth Scotus and should liue viciously or in reproch and defame If the Soule be mortall there can not theÌ„ be vnto the dead either good or euill or sense For what can either prayse or fame or glorie profite the dead if the dead know not of them for after their death they cannot giue vnto themselues for the said worke either reward ioy or reioycing for these are the affections of the minde Neither againe is that true or by any meanes to be receiued as true or for any colour of trueth which the same Sootus saith that Potest dari coÌ„mune bonum propter quod debet se exponere morti et totum bonuÌ„ exponere destructioni simpliciter etiamsinesciat animaÌ„ immortalem There may be giuen a common good for whose sake euery one ought to offer himselfe to death and what good soeuer he hath to endanger it to destruction simply although he can not tell whether the Soule be Immortall or no. Because it is not certaine whether the common good be alway rather to be chosen then the particular and proper good Yea this is vniuersally true at no time but then when the particular good is included in the common good But where the common good includeth the particular good who is there of sound iudgement and in his right minde that loueth the particular and proper good more then the common For the Philosopher saith in the 8. Eth. Amabile quidem bonuÌ„ ouique c. Euery one loueth his owne good therefore by good reason euery one loueth his owne better theÌ„ an other mans And 9. Eth. Amabilia ad alteruÌ„ mensurantur ex his quae sunt adseipsum Louely things are measured vnto another by those things which a man loueth him selfe The third Reason because I studie to be short The Soule of man according to the most excellent operations is like vnto God And therefore of some it is beleeued to haue a diuine nature But of men of our Religion it is called The image of God Therefore it is to be esteemed like vnto him in immortalitie The Antecedent is plaine and very well knowne a confessed trueth amongst all The Consequence is prooued out of Plato alleadged by Eusebius Praeparationis Euangelicae lib. 11. cap. 14. where are recited these wordes of Porphirius handling this Reason Firmam cortamque rationemeam Plato putauit quae a similitudine â—â—iquorum vim accepit Nam si Deo immortali similis est anima quomodo etiam ipsae sicut exemplar suum immortalis non erit Plato thinketh that to be a firme and sure Reason which taketh force from the similitude of some thinges for if the Soule be like to God that is Immortall how shall not then it selfe be Immortall like as the examplar I passe ouer the rest Which Reason as the same Eusebius saith is drawne out of Moses who first taught that the Soule is Immortal because it is the Image of God yea hee affirmeth that assuredly it is the Image of God Whom the Wise-man following in the 2. Chapter of the Booke of Wisedome doth most briefely touch the same Reason saying Deus creauit hominem inestimabilem ad imaginem similitudinis suae fecit illuÌ„ 1. God created Man inestimable or without corruption and made him after the Image of his owne likenesse This Reason also Salust toucheth in the beginning of his Booke of Catalines Conspiracie where he affirmeth Animum nobis cum dijs communem et virtutem claram et aeternam That we haue a minde common with the Gods and a cleare vertue and eternall Which Sentence in the beginning of the Warre of Iugurtha hee vseth againe Ingenij egregia facinora sicuti et anima immortalia sunt id est The worthy workes of the Witte like as the Soule are Immortall Which also may thus be perswaded These Actes to will to vnderstand to remember to loue to hate wherein the Soules haue conueniencie with God and Angels may both bee and be exercised without the body therfore it is not repugnant to the Soule both to bee to liue without the body The Antecedent is well knowne and the Consequent is plaine because the Accidentis not more
heauenly life consisteth in this Science because that for Felicitie a man ought to be good and perfect But perfection according to the Sciences speculatiue doth not make a man absolutely neither good nor the best for many in such thinges may be perfect which are vnhonest and vicious A man vnhonest and full of vices may be very skilfull and perfect in speculatiue Sciences for the disposition to felicitie is made better by virtues Morall Heroicall and Diuine Whereof the Philosopher sayth in the 2. Booke of Ethicks That it is a very meere beast lines to say that we can be better then by virtues Heroicall Diuine Euen as Homer faigned that Priamus sayd of Hector That because he was so very good he seemed not to be the sonne of a mortall man but of a God Wherefore if it be so as they say that Gods be made of men because of the notable excellencie of their Virtues then such like habite shall be opposite to beastlinesse And in the 10. Booke of Ethicks the Philosopher doth teach That a man must so frame his workes and his life that all be directed to this end to witte to get Felicitie Vpon which Auerrhois sayth If God haue a care of Men as it is beleeued and as it is meete he should he reioyceth of the better and is delighted in those that doe well and it is meete and a worthy thing that he doe well vnto and reward those that loue him more then others or all thinges in the world and honour them and visit them often euen as it is the disposition of one friend with another therefore must wee doe our endeauour to become good This is thus confirmed First That then those men that giue themselues to Speculation or doe practise and exercise themselues in Speculatiue sciences howsoeuer they liued mortally and desormedly Virtuous should not be reputed blessed and happy nor rewarded for their Merites Secondly If so be that God haue a care of Men it is meete and most agreeable to reason that his delight concerning men should be of that thing which is the best in them and which is most knowne vnto him and most nigh and agreeable vnto him that is to say which is most like vnto God which is to liue virtuously according to the vnderstanding And also that he doe well vnto and reward those that doe loue him And bestow benefites on those that for his sake doe cast away contemne and neglect worldly wealth and delightfull pleasures and patiently sustaine and suffer Aduersitie and willingly abide all Miseries euen vnto the day of their death But he cannot sufficiently reward them in this life therefore the Soule is Immortall The Minor is plaine Because man is euen vnto death vexed with Miseries Pouertie and Aduersities The Maior is manifest by the Philosopher in the tenth Booke of Ethicks saying Seciendum intellectum autem operans et hunc curans c. Hee that worketh according to the vnderstanding and careth for it doth seeme to be the best of all disposed and to loue God most for if the Gods haue a certaine care of humaine thinges as they seeme to haue it shall then be most agreeable to reason that the Gods themselues doe reioyce and delight in that thing which is the best and the nighest of kinne vnto them c. Also it is thus confirmed Because if the Soule should be Mortall and there should be no life after this then infinite euils should remaine vnpunished and good deedes should not be rewarded Which doth seeme derogatorie to the equitie of Iustice and to the comlinesse and fairenesse of humaine ciuill gouernement For what paine punishment and miserie doth heere happen vnto those euill men who being giuen to delightes and pleasures doe continually euen vnto their death heape euils vpon euils Who I say shall punish and take vengeance of those Kings and Princes by whose decrees commaundement power and authoritie Common-weales are tossed turmoyled shaken and spoyled by so many plagues tormentes vexations violences iniuries and aduersities Who shall in this life be sufficiently able to punish those most grieuous sinnes that are done in secret euill mindes inward affections What punishment then I pray you and miserie shall there be of these euils Which if it be called the Priuation of blessednesse then shall all be equally punished which seemeth to be derogatorie to the equitie of Iustice Therefore it seemeth most agreeable to reason that there is a life of mans Soule after this wherein euery one shall receiue worthily as he hath done in this life whether it be good or euill Moreouer if mans Soule should not liue after this life in vaine then and to no purpose should we serue God heere seeing that in this life the worshippe of God and Religion is cruelly persecuted tormented afflicted and cruciated and then is there after this life no reward for it In this poynt it were better for the Soule and more profitable by much altogeather to denie God and wholly to giue it selfe to euery vanitie pleasure then to liue holily and iustly with so manie miseries and to worship the Creator with due honouring and deuotion Whereof the Apostle in the first Epistle to the Corinths the fifteenth chapter saith If in this life onely we hope in Christ then are wee of all men most miserable For if God hath no regard of his Seruantes and Worshippers where is his Power seeing that neither in this life for this thing he cannot be worsse neither in an other better seeing that after this there is not another But if he do not care nor haue any regard Where is his Wisedome his Goodnesse Wherefore he should seeme to be ignoraunt not to know or not to loue his louers and worshippers if there be not another life after this whereof the one destroyeth his Wisedome the other his Goodnesse Out of these thinges aboue declared is very easily enough disprooued the rash and erroneous opinion of Auerrhois putting humaine felicitie to consist in the euery way and Actuall coniunction or copulation with the Vnderstanding And that Vnderstanding he would haue to be but one of all men that all men haue but one vnderstanding as we haue afore sayd For he sayd That man is then happie and sufficiently rewarded when that Vnderstanding shall be euery way coupled vnto him Which hee affirmed to be done when a man shall actually haue all Vnderstandinges speculatiue But this is vnpossible because that then there should be togeather in acte infinitely infinite things in the Vnderstanding Moreouer we finde by experience in our selues that the Attention to one thing doth draw backe againe the perfect Attention about another thing Seeing therefore the Vnderstanding is of a finite vertue it shall neuer be able to be coupled perfectly and actually to all speculations Who I pray you is found at all times to be all one the same in one thing he was in another skilfull alike in all thinges Who so skilfull that
she doe this willingly And if perforce she be compeld in Carcasse caue to lie Who doth constraine doth God himselfe then her he nought esteemes Nay what in Prison vile he puts to hate he rather seemes More of it selfe except it learne sith it doth nothing know And oftentimes forgetfulnesse the Minde doth ouerthrow Therefore they iudge it nothing is when Body heere doth die For learne it cannot senses dead which it knowes all thinges by Some other say that Soule there is in all the World but one Which giueth life to euery thing as Sunne but one alone There is that makes all eyes to see Eternall thinke they this Though Body die or eyes put out the Sunne eternall is These trifles fond it is not hard with Reason to disprooue But heere I longer am I feare then it doth mee behooue There shall not want that such demands shall answere once at full And all the doubtes therein assoyle and knots asunder pull O man of sharpe and pregnant wit thy prayse shall liue with mine Our labours doubt not shall commend the men of later time Thy famous workes attempt and seedes of Heauen on Earth goe sow This one thing will I more put to that euery man may know The Soule Immortall for to be and sprung of Heauenly grace If Senses and Affections all he will restraine a space If that despising worldly ioyes and earthly thought resignde With dayly labour he attempt to God to lift his minde Then perfect Wisedome shall he haue and thinges to come foretell A wake or else in heauie sleepe perceiue the same as well In this sort did the Prophets old the thinges to come declare The sober minde therefore doth come more neare to heauenly fare The farther from the flesh it flies and from the earthly care But like to Beastes the greatest sort doth liue as sense doth will And thinke none other good to be but flesh to haue his fill Hereof it comes that many thinke the Soule with Body dyes Because they see not thinges Diuiâ—e with weake and fleshly eyes But of the Soule this shall suffice Palengenius in Pisces ANd when escapt from mortall chaine the Soule hath passage straight Conueighing with her selfe these three that alwayes on her waite The Minde the Sense Moouing force vnto the Heauens hie Shall ioyfull goe and there remaine in blisse perpetually Matheus Dresserus libro de Anima A Confirmation of the Immortalitie of the Soule THe Sentence of the Soules immortalitie is twofold 1. Philosophicall 2. Theologicall What is the opinion of Philosophers touching the Immortalitie of the Soule Some affirme that the Soule doth die with the Body Others do hold that after the separation of the Body it remayneth aliue and immortall The Argument of Panaetius What soeuer is bred or hath a certaine beginning The same also dieth or hath a cetraine ending But the Soule is bred or hath a certaine beginning Therfore the Soule dieth or hath a certaine ending The Answere The Maior is to be distinguished for some thinges are bred or haue their beginning of the Elementes and doe die againe But others haue a Celestiall and Diuine originall as the Soule which doth not die Thinges that are borne bred or haue beginning are of two sortes Some are Elementarie some Celestiall The Elementarie doe die or perish But the Celestiall doe not die or perish But on the contrarie part Cicero Plato and Xenophon haue iudged the Soule to be Immortall and they prooue it thus 1. Because the originall and nature thereof is Diuine or as the Pythagoreans said the Soule is drawen from the vniuersall Heauenly minde Cicero in 1 Tuscul That which is Diuine that doth not die The Soule is Diuine Ergo The Soule doth not die 2 Because vnto the Soule there is nothing mixt nothing concrete i. the Minde and Soule is not compounded of the Elementes therefore it can not die with the thinges that are compounded of the Elementes Whatsoeuer is compounded the same is conflated or compounded of the Elementes But the Soule is not compound of the Elements Therefore the Soule doth not die 3 Because the workes or effectes of the Minde are Diuine and Celestiall as to perceiue and know thinges past and to come therefore the Minde it selfe also is Celestiall and Incorruptible As is the effect so is the cause But the effectes of the Soule are Diuine Therefore the Soule is also Diuine 4 Because the order of Diuine iustice doth require that rewardes be giuen to Iust and punishments to the Vniust But in this life there often chance no rewardes to the Iust nor punishmentes to the Wicked therefore after this life there remayneth another life wherein it shall goe well with the Godly and ill with the wicked 5 Plato in Exiocho saith Discessus ex hac vita est mutatio mali in bonum that is to say The departing out of this life is a changing of euill into good Therefore after death the Soule also liueth and somewhere remayneth aliue that it may enioy that so great a good Of the Place of the Soule after the separation from the Body SOcrates thought that the Soule when it departeth from the Body doth returne to Heauen from whence it is sprinckled strowed into mans Body But Philosophie doth plainely deny and is vtterly ignoraunt that the Soule shall be ioyned togeather to the Body at the vniuersall raysing againe of the dead Cicero also although he did excellently dispute many thinges of the Soules Diuinitie yet he confesseth that he is in very great doubt and staggering euen as the Shippe is tossed in the middes of the raging Seas And Atticus sayth That hee while he readeth Platos Phaedo doth truely Assent that is to say Approoue the Opinion of the Immortalitie of the Soule But when he had layde the Booke away and beganne to cogitate with himselfe then that Assent slided away Socrates when hee was going to his death sayth in Plato It is time for mee now to goe away from hence that I may die and you liue but whether is better God knoweth I thinke truely no man knoweth There was a Philosopher of great Authoritie who being called to end his life was verie sore vexed in minde doubting of the flitting or departure in what state his soule should be after death And when he found no other Hauen he sent for two Philosophers and bade them dispute of the condition of the Soule after the departure foorth of the Body saying Loe I must flitte hence away forsake this mortall life wherefore tell yee mee what shall become of mee whether my Soule shall liue when this Body is extinct or no for vnlesse this can be prooued vnto me and I therein perswaded with what minde can I depart out of this life Heere the Philosophers began sharply to contende about the Nature of the Soule and the one reason'd it to be Mortall and the other Immortall And when they had a long time disputed neither part preuailing
hanc vitam recipiuntur That is Abrahams Bosome is the rest of the blessed poore whose is the kingdome of heauē whither after this life they are receiued So by the iudgement of Beda agreeing with the trueth Abrahams Bosome is the Kingdome of Heauen with Lazarus was caried Out of the same place also it is apparent concerning the Soules of the Wicked For the Rich Glutton is sayd on the contrarie to be carried downe into Hell Therefore the Soules liue after the Body 19. Luk. 23.43 Christ hanging on the Crosse said vnto the Thiefe This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise Now that Paradise is Heauen is prooued by Saint Paul in the 2. Cor. 12. 1 2 3 4. where he sayth He was taken vp into the third Heauen which hee calleth Paradise But the Thiefe could not be with Christ in Paradise in the Body because that was dead buried Therefore his Soule was with Christs in Paradise and so consequently the Soule liueth and is Immortall 20. Luk. 23.46 Father into thy hands I commende my spirit 21. John 16. Your ioy shall no man take from you 22. John 5.24 Hee that heareth my word and beleeueth in him that sent me hath euerlasting life shal not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life 23. Joe 6.54 Whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day 24. Joh. 11.26 Who soeuer liueth and beleeueth in mee shall neuer die 25. 1. Cor. 2. The eye hath not seene neither eare hath heard neither can it enter into mans heart what thinges God hath prepared for them that loue him 26. 2. Cor. 5.8 8 We loue rather to remoue out of the Body to dwell with the Lord Wherefore the Soules sleepe not as some Anabaptistes will haue them but inioy Immortall life celestiall glory with God 27. Phil. 1.23 I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ He speaketh of the rest and ioy which he should inioy with Christ But they who feele nothing what can their ioy or happinesse be Wherefore they also are refuted in this poynt that say That mens Soules sleepe and so withall denie the Immortalitie of the Soule 28. 1. Thes 4. So shall we euer be with the Lord. 29. Reuel 2. To him that ouercommeth will I giue to eate of the Tree of Life which is in the middest of the Paradise of God Be faythfull vnto the death and I shall giue thee the Crowne of life Reue. 3. Him that ouercommeth will I make a Pillar in the Temple of God and he shall goe no more out To him that ouercommeth will I graunt to sit with me in my seate 31. Reu. 4. The 24. Elders that sate on the Seates were clothed in White rayment and had on their heades Crownes of Gold 32. Reu. 7.15 16 17. 15 They are in the presence of the Throne of God and serue him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne will dwell among them 16 They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sunne light on them neither any heate 17 For the Lame which is in the middest of the Throne shall gouerne them and shall lead them vnto the liuely Fountaines of waters and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes 1. Cor. 15.19 If in this life onely we hope in Christ then are we most miserable of all men If Christians in this life onely do hope in Christ 1. If they hope of Christ for the blessednesse of this life onely and not of one to come then are they most miserable of all men But Christians are not most miserable of all men Ergo they do not looke or hope of Christ for the blessednesse of this life onely but also of the life to come and by a consequent they shall rise from the dead that they may be partakers of that blessednesse in an other life These testimonies of Scriptures doe teach and confirme most euidently that not onely in the Body before death and after the resurrection of the Body but also in the whole space and time comming betweene the Soules are liue feele vnderstand out of the Body though the manner of their operations be to vs vnknowne Wherefore also this gift of Immortalitie hath some similitude with God who alone is the onely fountaine of life hath Immortalitie as sayth Paul 1 Tim. 6.16 The Aduersaries of this Trueth the deare dearelings of the Diuell fighting with weapons of their graund Captaine Sathan euen as he in tempting our Sauiour Christ wrested the Scriptures to his purpose euen so they peruerting the true sense alleadge sundry places of the Scriptures to disprooue the Immortalitie of the Soule and to approoue their owne wicked assertion that the Soule is Mortall Of which hellish Champions and their vaine and wicked not reasons but wordes I with a reproofe will bring a double disproofe and so thereby giue our side a stronger approofe by enterpreating their false alleadged places according to the right sense and meaning 1. Gen. 2. In the day that thou eatest of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Euill thou shalt die the death Loe say they the death of Body and Soule both Answere interpreating the place The Lord in this Scripture doth not threaten to Man the destruction or extinguishing of his Soule but eternall Death that is the horrible feeling and terrour of Gods wrath and iudgement and to liue forsaken and cast off from God subiect to all miseries torments vnto the which eternall death the separation and parting asunder of the Soule and Body by temporall death is an adiunct which at that time through Gods mercie was deferred that that mankind might be saued For so was Adam dead while he yet liued in Paradise euen so soone as euer he had eaten the forbidden Fruite So in eternall death liue all the damned and reprobate whose Fire shall not be put out and their Worme shall neuer die So in the second to the Ephesians are they sayd To be dead through sinne that liue in sinne without repentance And Ephes 5. Hee who from sinne is reclaymed to God is willed to rise from the dead And Rom. 7.5 Paul saith That through the knowledge of sinne and the wrath of God hee was dead 2. Eccles. 3.19 19 The condition of the Children of men and the condition of Beastes are euen as one condition to them As the one dyeth so dyeth the other for they haue all one breath and there is no excellencie of Man aboue the Beast for all is Vanitie 20 All goe to one place and all was dust shall returne to the dust Therfore the Soule is not Immortall Answere interpreating Heere they are deceiued by a fallation taking that to be spoken simply which is but secundum quid i. in some fort or in some respect For the Preacher doth not simply say That Men die as Beastes and so doe vtterly perish for
from Naturall order some from the order of Gods Prouidence such as are the reasons concerning the Resurrection of the Dead If then wee can prooue that God is able to know this and to will it we shall then euen in a manner prooue the thing itselfe God before he made Man knew the whole World and all the partes thereof and how to order mixe and compound the Elementes one with another in the workemanshippe of euerie seuerall man In like manner when he dissolueth his worke he vnderstandeth whither and vnto what estate euery part and parcell thereof shall come at the last He therefore knoweth from whence they are in like manner to be taken againe and by what meanes they are to be brought againe into the same forme they were before and how to compounde the same man againe God his cunning might is the same that was And euen as he was also able to make that which hee knew from the beginning so that which hee yet knoweth is hee in like manner able to make new againe God seeing that he is Wisedome it selfe did therefore make nothing in vaine Hee did not in vaine make Man partaker of Wisedome therefore to some certaine end But not vnto this end that thinges either aboue or beneath vs should vse Man to their owne behoofe for those thinges stand no need of this vse but rather were created themselues for our vse God therefore made Man for himselfe and for the contemplation of Gods Goodnesse and Wisedome in his whole workemanship God indeed made Man to the end hee might liue but yet not to be vtterly extinct like vnto Beastes for vnto this liuing creature that heareth within it selfe the similitude of God it author by the Vnderstanding and Reason hath God giuen Euerlasting life For verily bruite Beastes were not created for themselues but for the vse of others which when it ceaseth the preseruation or restitution of them is not any more necessarie But Men were not so created that they should serue for the vse of others but that their life might so be continued that they considering the Might and Wisedome of their Author and keeping his Lawes might enioy Euerlasting life togeather with those with whom they lead their liues from the beginning For God verily gaue vnto Man a nature that consisteth of a Soule immortall and such a Body as might vnite it selfe to such a Soule contemplating Heauenly thinges and imitating God by the keeping of his heauenly Lawes This Acte therefore concerneth Eternitie This end constitute in the inmost Act declareth that Man shal be euerlasting to witte in his nature which conduceth vnto such like Act by the coupling togeather of the Soule and of the Body Which if at any time it be dissolued is to be restored by the Resurrection hoped for of vs not through a vaine Hope but through Fayth a most certaine sure commander to wit through Gods determinate purpose creating such like nature of man to such like euerlasting end and office God hath not appoynted to any other vse but hath ordained him according to the inward act of his nature to imitate God by the contemplation and obseruation of Heauenly thinges Which end assuredly seeing it is the inmost in his nature and diracted to euerlastingnes doth declare that Man shal be euerlasting Man I say not the Soule onely but the whole compounded of Soule and Body For God to constitute this brought togeather the Soule and Body as partes The procreation of mans composition is the nature and common life of the man compounded gathered of the actions and passions as well of Body as Soule The end therefore of the compound is commune that is to say the imitating of God and the enioying of him by the same Gods Iustice also must draw vnto Iudgement both Soule Body to beare the reward or punishment according to the action passion and common life And the end can not be common and one iustly exhibited vnlesse it should belong vnto one commonthing and that to be men who commonly had wrought it And to this is necessarie the Resurrection of the dead God hath giuen to man the iudgement of Vnderstanding and reason that he may know those thinges that may be vnderstood concerning God to witte his Goodnesse Wisedome and Righteousnesse Seeing then that these are sempiternall it followeth that man also is borne to thinges sempiternall and shall be sempiternall Man I say compounded for vnto him is giuen the vse of Iudgement the office of Virtues and imitation of Heauenly thinges And vnlesse he should remaine compound such-like vse office should not alway continue And it cannot be that Man can be euerlasting if he rise not againe from death And vnlesse Man should be euerlasting rashly and in vaine should the Soule of the Body be ioyned to so many wantes and innumerable passions In vaine should the Body be withdrawne by Reason from following delightes pleasures vaine rash should be the painefull vse of Virtues and the Religious obseruation of Iustice and Lawes Those Creatures that haue their perseueraunce euerlasting doe differ therein according to the diuersitie of their Natures Angels haue it immoueably the Heauenly bodyes moueably but continually But Men moueably interrupt The Soule truely hath a continuall perseuerance the Body a life left for a time but so hath not a bruite Beast For according to the Nature of the Body wee dayly wayting doe feare a dissolution but according to the Nature of the Soule vse of Virtues and knowledge of the Creator we looke for the Resurrection of the Body Moreouer we doe no lesse for all this call the life of the Body Sempiternall for that for a time it lieth dead through the separation of the Soule As also we call euery mans life vntill his death one and continuall although it seeme by the course of times as it were cut off through the changing of ages to be in like manner changed That the Resurrection is of Gods Prouidence and Iustice GOD by the same Wisdome that he made and maketh all thinges doth also dayly and hourely prouide for euery thing And by that Iustice that he placed seuerall degrees in the World by the same doth he giue euerywhere to euery thing the things belonging to it This prouidence prouideth for man compounded of Soule and Body nourishment succession And in like manner for Man compounded he prouideth Iudgement iustly to dispence the common reward or punishment for the actions or passions common to Soule and Body But such-like Iudgement is lesse fulfilled in this present life where the Wicked for the most part are prosperous and the Godly and Righteous almost alwayes in aduersitie Neither in the other life can this Iudgement be fulfilled distributing iustly thinges that are common vnlesse there may follow the Resurrection of the Bodies The Bodie verily as it hath been the fellow of the Soule in all actions and passions as well of Virtues as of Vices and
Iuno is called an Herbe and therefore I know not what Sonne of hers according to the Fable of the Greekes was called Heros which Fable hath a misticall signification because the Ayre is deputed to Juno where in they will haue Heroas to dwell for when the Poet Virgill described the Elisean Fieldes where they thinke the soules of the blessed Saintes doe dwell hee did not onely set downe that those do dwell there that haue been able to come thither by their owne merites but addeth also sayth Those also that by deseruing haue made others mindful of them that is to say who haue so deserued that by their deseruings they haue made others mindfull of them Moreouer as concerning the Greekes Histories doe make mention of two kindes of Philosophers One Italike of that part which in times past was called Magna Graecia The other Jonicke of that part which is now called Graecia The Prince chiefe of the Jtalke kind was Pythagoras of whom they say that Philosophie first tooke the name who was of such authoritie among the Auncients that by a preiudiciall opinion he couered and ouercame all others sentence and was sufficient enough for the confirmation of euery sentence whatsoeuer if so be any thing was taught to be that that he said For writinges doe testifie that Ferecides the Sirian sayd first that the mindes of men are sempiternall who was indeed an auncient man in the time that Oeneus raigned which opinion his Disciple Pythageras most greatly confirmed who in the time that Tarquinus superbus raigned came into that part of Italie which was called Magna Graecia wherein the name of the Pythagoreans flourished with such authoritie that a long time after no others seemed learned Of the Ionicke kind Thales Milisius was the Prince a man very notably well learned and wise and therefore so much the more admirable to his Schollers because he was able by the knowledge of Astrologie to foreshew the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone To whom succeeded Anaximander who left his Scholar Anaximenes the Maister of Anaxagoras and Dyogenes After Anaxagoras succeeded Archâ—laus his Scholar After Socrates arose who by the Oracle of Apollo was iudged the wisest of all men and left very many followers of his Philosophie whose studie was chiefly conuersant in the disceptation reasoning of Morall questions After him followed Plato who as Apuleius testifieth was first called Aristotle but afterward because of the largenes of his breast he was named Plato who was endued with such an excellencie of Philosophie and finenesse of Manners that as it were sitting in the throne of Wisedâ—me seemed by a certaine receiued authoritie to beare rule ouer all Philosophers both those that were before him and those that were after him Afterwarde arose his Disciple Aristotle a man verily of great Witte and Eloquence who farre excelling many succeeded Plate in the office of teaching for this man shined vnto men as the Morning starre and enlightened the world with manifold preceptes and sundry beames of Philosophie and the mist as it were being wiped away from the eyes repayred the mindes of men that the trueth for euer might be continued among them After the death of Plato there succeeded also in the Schoole which is called Accademia Pseusippus his sisters Sonne and Zenocrates and for this cause both they themselues and also their successours were called Academickes whom it pleased rather to follow Plato then Aristotle who instituted the sect of the Peripatetickes because that he was accustomed to dispute walking amongst whom was ennobled Plotinus Porphyrius and Apultius Afer and also many other of whom it is not deedfull for vs now to speake in singularitie All those therefore whom with others we doe see not vnworthily renowned for their fame learning and glorie haue sayd that the Soules of men doe obtaine the state of immortalitie which sentence Varro Seneca Salustius Tullius Boetius and Macrobus doe approoue Hereof Tullius in his Prologue Super somnum Scipionis sayth Omnibus qui patriam seruâ—uerunt aâ—xeruntque certum in calum defruitum esse locum vbi beati cuo sempiterno fruuntur First that for all those that haue saued and enlarged their Country there is a certaine place appoynted in Heauen where the blessed enioy euerlasting life Moreouer the Poets Virgil and Ouid thought the very same For in the fifth Booke of Metamorphosis Ouid sayth Morte carent animae semperque relicta Sedenouis domibus viuunt habitantque receptae That is to say From death are free the Soules of men and are immortall all Which when their roomes they do for sake and Corps doth dead downe fall Then habitations new they haue receiued by Ioues decree Wherein he will for euermore their dwelling place shall be All also that thinke that Gods are made of men or that men are translated to the fellowshippe of the Gods haue thought the same Did not Mercurius Trismegistus speaking of Esculapius Hermes and Osiris how they were deified and made Gods say The Idoles that you euery where worshippe were first of Egyptians called Holy liuing creatures and their Soules worshipped throughout all Cities to whom they were dedicated while they were aliue so that they are gouerned by their lawes and named by their names and in a maner al Sectes and Nations are Attlanticks as Libians Egyptians Frenchmen Romaines Spaniards Perseans Chaldiâ—s Did not the great King Cyrus as Tully doth witnes say vnto his Sonnes when he lay on his death-bed Doe not thinke ô my sonnes that when I shall depart from you I shall neuer be againe or be none at al for al the while that I haue been with you you neuer did see my Minde or Soule you saw nothing but this Body that I beare belieue therefore that I am and shal be although you shall not see mee Moreouer Galdisfa the Mahomet and the auncient elders of the Mahomets according to the traditions of their Law doe beleeue and preach that the dead shall rise againe and shall eate drinke delicate thinges and shall haue many faire Women which they shall embrace and vse at their pleasure For Marcus declaring the conditions of the East Countries sayth that the Tartarians doe so impudently deceiue themselues that if a Young man and a Mayde do die vnmaryed they cause them to be espowsed and that very solemnly before they be buried that so in the life to come they may more freely enioy their pleasures Touching Aristotle what he thought of the immortalitie of the soule many had rather doubt with the subtile Doctor then rashly to define seeing that amongst those things that are read of him whether they be those thinges that hee wrote him selfe or those thinges that others say that he spake his opinion can not easily be found out for almost in all places of his doctrine hee seemeth to fauour the immortalitie of the Soule For in his second Booke of the Soule after the definition of the Soule putting a difference betweene the partes of
the Soule is Disciplinable or Immortall but that of it owne nature it is such For the perswading of the second part of the Conclusion we haue excerpt three reasons out of Cicero his first Tusculan Question and out of Cato the elder The first he draweth from as it were a naturall and in-bred opinion of all men but especially of old auncients The second Argument he draweth from the hope and expectation of prudent and good Men. The third he fetcheth from the nigh similitude and likenesse of our Mindes vnto GOD Afterward we will induce other familiar Reasons The first Reason that must testifie this trueth is Antiquitie which the further it was gone from the birth and difference of progenie the better peraduenture it did behold those thinges that were true Therefore sayth he it is sure that old men haue a sense and feeling in death and that man is not so blotted out by the departure out of this life that he should vtterly perish And this to be so may be vnderstood by the Ceremonies vsed at the Sepulchres Graues and Buriall of the dead where is vsed such Rites towardes them as if they were still indued with most excellent Wittes Neither would they haue worshipped with so great regard nor vsed so deuout Religion vnlesse it had cleaned to their minds that Death could not destroy all things but is as it were the Guide Captaine Leader of woorthie Men and Women that doe goe from hence into Heauen and change this fraile brittle miserable and wretched life for a life permanent euerlasting blessed and ioyfull From which opinion it is sprung that many whose names it is not now needfull to reckon vp or rehearse are for their good life and virtuous behauiour while they liued heere in this world amongst men counted after their death amongst the number of the Gods This same may hereof be vnderstood that all men haue a care that these thinges should be after their death to witte Propagation of Name Procreation of Children Adoption of Sonnes and fulfilling of Testaments with many other thinges It is a most great Argument amongst the Philosophers Why wee ought to beleeue that there is Gods although there be no Nation so sauage and outragious whose minde is not indued with opinion of Gods If any one would haue this Reason reduced and brought vnto that strait forme of Logicke wherein it shall haue lesse force they shall summarily haue it thus All men and especially those old ones who as they seeme to haue excelled vs in stature of body so also in excellencie of witte because they found out all good Artes which was an hard thing to doe iudged by nature or were naturally inclined to iudge that the Soules of men be Immortall Therefore the Soules of men are Immortall The Antecedent plainely appeareth to be true of the diligence that all men vse about their Sepulchres or Graues about the propogation of their name fame and glorie about the generation of Children adoption of Sonnes of many other thinges which men would not doe vnlesse they were naturally enclined to iudge that after they be departed out of this life there belongeth something vnto them wherevnto they haue a naturall appetite The second Reason is because that Plato whose authoritie is of such force with Cicero that he counteth him worthie to be beleeued in what he saith although he shew no reason why writing vnto Dionisius in that Epistle that beginneth Audiui ex Archidomo doth perswade saying Natura fieri viaemus vt ignauissimus quisque nihil curet quae sit de eo futura opinin Sapientes autenâ— et boni viri cuncta faciunt quo futura secula bene dese existimant 1. Wee see that it commeth to passe by nature that euery slouthfull sluggard taketh no care what opinion shall hereafter he had of him But wise and good men doe all thinges whereby the ages to come may thinke well of them Whereby I doe coniecture that his meaning is that they that be dead haue some sense feeling or knowledge of our matters or the thinges that we doe This Reason Cato the elder following doth thus reason in Cicero his Booke De Senectute Nemo vnquam mihi Scipio persuadebit aut patrem tuum c. There shall neuer any man perswade mee Scipio that either your Father Paulus or your two Graundfathers Paulus and Affricanus or that Affricanus Father or his Vncle or many other excellent men whom now it is not needfull to reckon vp did endeauour so great thinges which might belong to memorie of their posteritie vnlesse they did see very well in their minds that the posteritie should pertaine vnto them Or doe you thinke that I may glorie somewhat of my selfe as it is the maner of old men to doe that I would haue taken vpon mee so great labours both night and day at home and in warre if I were perswaded that my glorie should end with my life Had it not been a great deale better for mee to haue spent my time in ease and quietnesse without any labour and contention This speach Cicero handling more largely in the first Tusculan question sayth Quae natura in hominum genere melior quam eorum qui se natos ad homines iuuandos tutandos conseruandos arbitrantur etiam vsque ad mortem fortiter sustinendam Quis autem sapiens sine spe immortalitatis se offerret ad mortem Quid enim imprudentius quam sine vsto premio se et vita et virtute propria priuare Cum aut seruitutis aut egestatis labores c. 1. What Nature in Mankind can be better then theirs that thinke them-selues to be borne vnto this end to the intent that they may helpe defend and preserue men yea euen vnto the abyding of the bitter bruntes of direfull death But what wise-man wil offer himselfe vnto death without the hope of immortalitie for what part can a man play more vnwisely then without any rewarde to depriue himselfe of life and his owne proper vertue when be might with the rest of the Citizens patiently abide the labours either of seruitude or of pouertie Who will affirme that Glorie doth profit the dead if they haue no sense or feeling of it What good can this glorie doe to those famous worthy men so diligently notably cammended described of Poets if so be they doe know nothing of it Whether is it our partes then to condemne all those worthy men of foolishnesse who haue valiantly susteyned death for their Countrey or to beleeue that they looked for the immortalitie of their soules whose mindes sentence and iudgement to finde fault withall or to reprehend seemeth to come the nearest vnto temeritie or roshnesse This Reason diffusedly handled may be brought to forme vnder a double maner First wise and good men doe iudge and hope that their Soules shall be immortall therefore it is so The Antecedent is very plaine for otherwise they would not haue so endangered them-selues
to be giuen vnto the most high GOD and Father of Mercies and to our Lord and Sauiour Jesus Christ who hath most certainely assured and fully perswaded his Faythfull ones in these things where vnto the most Wittie the best Learned men that euer were in all the World could not by the light of Naturall reason preuaile sufficiently to attaine to witte of the Last end of the reasonable Creature of the Resurrection of the Dead of the Immortalitie of the reasonable Soule and of the perpetuall Eternitic of the same And this hath that Almighty Lord most merciful Father so done in such sort that now it is not lawfull for vs neither is there any neede to doubt in these thinges or to flow out or run any where else to seeke for props or stayes of our Fayth in these matters Neither is it needfull from hence forward after this time of so great Grace reuealed to seeke or put to new reasons or probable perswasions because wee are most firmely holden without feare of the opposite or without any Ambiguitie to beleeue that the Good iust doe gloriously liue eternally with Christ And that the Euill are tormented perpetually with the Diuell his Angels according to that in the fifth of Iohn And they that haue done euill shall come foorth vnto the resurrection of Iudgement and they that haue done good to the resurrection of Life Which God shall giue to them which neuer change their Fayth from him Which God graunt vnto vs who is blessed for euer and euer Amen FINIS Of the Immortalitie of the Soule out of Palingenius in Capricorne BEcause thou shalt beleeue I will declare to thee By reason good the state of Soule Immortall for to bee For if that God in better thinges doth Cunning still expresse As Wisdome telles and as the good and virtuous must confesse Then doubtlesse must we iudge he gaue the Soules no time to die Since better farre it is for them to liue continually Then with the flesh to be extinct and feele a full decay Which thus I prooue If death do take from vs the Soule away If that we haue no other life but in this body heere Then God may be accounpted ill and shall vniust appeare For thousands euerie day wee see that florish prosperously In Ritches Substance and Renounce in Raignes and Empires hie Yet idle Lubbers naught vnlearnd that sinne at libertie And run the race of all their life in great prosperitie On th' other side we may behold the iust opprest to bee With spightfull chaunce a wretched life and pitious pouertie Thus either God vnrighteous is that doth this thing permit Or after death hath euery man as he deserueth fit Or else he doth disdaine the deedes of mortall men to know Besides what gratious minde in God what goodnes doth he show If this be all that he doth giue a life so short and vaine That swiftly runneth to an end and doth no time remaine The halfe whereof is spent in sleepe the rest in griefe and toyle And dangers great as fast doth fleete as Riuers swift in soyle Therefore goe to ō wretched men build gorgious Churches hie And let with costly Offrings great your Altars pestred lie Set vp your ioy full branch of Bayes your sacred doores about With pompe of proud Procession passe let Hymnes be ratled out Spend Frankincense and let the nose of God be stretched wide With pleasant smoke doe this and adde more honour much beside That he preserue your goodly life wherein doth you torment Somtime great cold and somtime heate now plague now famishment Now bloody warre now sicknesse great or Chance to sorrow at Sometime the busie Flie sometime the stinging Gnat The Chynch and Flea reioyce I say that heere you lead your life With thousand painefull labours great in trauaile toyle and strife And after in a litle space in paine you drop away And lumpish lie in loath some Vault to Wormes a gratefull prey O worthy life O goodly gift Man in this world is bred Among the brutish Beastes and fooles and knaues his life is led Where Stormes and flakie Snows Ice and Durt and Dust and Night And harmfull aire and clowds mistes and windes with hellish fight And griefe and wayling raignes where death beside doth worke his feat Is this our goodly Countrie heere Is this our happy seate For which we owe such seruice heere vnto the Gods aboue For which it seemeth meete with vowes the heauenly Saintes to moone And if none other life we haue then this of body vaine So frayle and full of filthinesse when Death hath Carcasse slaine I see not why such Prayses should of God resound in Ayre For why we should such honour giue to him in Temples fayre That hath vs wretches framed heere in this so wretched soyle That shall for euermore decay after so great a toyle Wherfore least God should seeme vniust and full of cruelnesse Shall well deseruing counted be we must of force confesse That Death doth not destroy the Soule but that it alwayes is None otherwise then Spirit in Ayre or Saintes in heauens blisse Both voyde of body sleepe and meate And more we must confesse That after death they liue in paines or else in blessednesse But let this reason thee suffice for if thou doe it show Vnto the wicked kind they laugh no light the blind doth know But thou beleeue for euermore and know assuredly For ground of sauing health it is that Soules doe neuer die Exempted from the Sisters power and fatall Destinie Palingenius in Libra We need not doubt but Soule proceedes and doth from loue descend And neuer dies whom he permits the World to comprehend What if so be the Atomies which some Wise men do fayne The Soule is rather thought to bee than body to maintaine All Bodyes be of quantitie and may deuided be But Soule is indiuisible and of no grosse degree And as a Centre doth she seeme where many Lines doe meete Which Senses all to her conuey as Floods to Seas doe fleete Wherefore I maruaile much at such as thinke a like decay And iudge the Soule no more to bee when Body fades away For if so be it might be prooude yet should it not be sayd Nor Publisht to the common sort nor euery way displayd For many wicked men and ill there are which if they thought Their Soules as nothing shall remaine when corps to graue is brought Nor that it feeles or suffers ought when it goeth hence away And that no punishment remaines for prancks that here they play A thousand mischifes would they doe take feare from them among And fall to euery vilonie confounding right with wrong Besides a number now that thinke in blessed state to bee When death hath them destroyd hope the face of God to see And euermore with him to ioy and therefore virtuously Doe seeke to passe their present life with godly modeslie If they shall see that after death
this sense cantradicteth other Scriptures But in two respectes the death of Men and the death of Beastes are like 1. Because Men must needes once die and depart out of this life because Men are not heere to continue for euer nor haue heere a setled place 2. Men die as Beastes that is In the sense and iudgement of the Wicked they seeme to perish 3. Psal 78.39 Hee remembred that they were but flesh yea a winde that passeth away and commeth not againe Ergo Mortall Answere By these and such like speaches is described and be wayled the frayltie of all humaine affaires that with God doe perish and come to nothing For as in this place they are likened to a Winde that soone vanisheth away so in Psal 103. they are compared to Dust Earth and Flowers of the field So Iob. 14. Man commeth vp as a Flower and is cutte downe Isa 40.6 All flesh is grasse 4. Psal 88.5 I am counted as slaine lying in the Graue whom thou remembrest no more Answere In these wordes the Psalmist doth not meane that either hee himselfe or the dead are exempted from Gods prouidence But hee complayneth that hee is forsaken of God euen as it seemeth to men that God careth not for the dead And therefore hee speaketh not according to the sense of Fayth but of his owne opinion weaknesse and miserie who iudgeth those thinges to be forsakèn and neglected of God whose deliuerie for a while he doth deferre But what Fayth in the meane season doth suggest and tell the Godly euen when they striue and wrastle with temptation he sheweth in the ii Psal and vers 2. The iust shall be had in an euerlasting remembrance 5. Psal 146.4 His Spirit departeth and returneth to his earth and then all his thoughtes perish Ergo. c. Answere Hee doth not heere say That the Spirit or Soule of men doth not die or vanish or is bereaued of sense But that it departeth to witte from the Body wherein it dwelleth and that not the Spirit but the Body returneth to earth which was made of earth And where he sayth That all his thoughtes perish he meaneth not that the Soule is after this life bereaued of Reason Iudgement and Sense of Gods mercie or wrath but that mans Purposes and Counsailes are made frustrate which in his life he had setled him selfe to bring to passe In which sense it is sayd in Psal 112.10 The desire of the Wicked shall perish 6. Psal 88. 10. Wilt thou shew a miracle to the dead Or shall the dead rise and prayse thee Whereunto we adde all such places as take away worshipping of God from the dead which must needes prooue the Soule not Immortall Answere In such speaches Death and Hell or the Graue haue two significations They who are spiritually dead whether before or after the death of the Body that is they that are depriued of Gods grace and forsaken and reiected of God and are in Hell that is in the place and tormentes of the Damned or else in this life despayring and destitute of comfort shall not prayse God at all neither in this life nor in the life to come But they who are dead not spiritually but corporally onely although they shall not prayse God while their Bodyes are in Hell that is in the Graue for which this word Hell is often vsed in the Scriptures yet in Soule they shall not ceasse to acknowledge and prayse God vntill when they haue receiued their Bodyes againe they shall magnifie him both in Soule and Body in the Celestiall eternitie But in the meane time sith God will be acknowledged and magnified of men in this life also therefore both the whole Church and euery one of the faythfull not onely pray that they may not fall into that forsaking and that sense of Gods wrath wherewith the Wicked are oppressed but also desire that they may be preserued and defended in this mortall life vntill the end thereof appoynted by God be expired for the Saintes doe not simply stand in feare of the bodily Death and Graue but that they may not be forsaken of God neither fall into desperation or destruction or their enimies insult against God when they are ouerthrowne This with dayly and ardent prayers and petitions they begge and craue continually 7. Psal 146. 2. I will prayse the Lord during my life as long as I haue any beeing I will sing vnto my God Heere hee restreyneth prayses to this life onely Answere This place maketh nothing to the purpose For he doth not limit prayses to this life but this he onely sayth that he will spend all the time of this mortall life in Gods prayses which notwithstanding in many other places he extendeth to continuall eternitie as Psal 34. I will prayse the Lord continually But often times this particle Vntill or As long signifieth a continuance of the time going before some euent without any excluding of the time following as 1. Cor. 15.25 Hee must raigne Vntill hee hath put all his enimies vnder his feete I thinke they will not say that when Christes enimies are put vnder his feete that then he shall raigne no longer 8. Job 10.20 Let him ceasse and leaue off from mee that I may take a little comfort before I goe and shall not returne Ergo the Soule is Mortall there is no Resurrection Answere In these wordes he denyeth that hee shall returne into this Mortall life and conuerse amongst men in this World But he denieth not that he in the meane season hath his beeing and doth liue vntill againe he see God in the flesh euen the same Iob who then was afflicted as himselfe sayth chap. 19.26 9. Iob. 3.11 Why died I not when I came out of the Wombe so should I haue lyen quiet and been at rest Answere Iob in these wordes doth not denie that the Soules after death doe liue feele and vnderstand but onely he sayth the Miseries of this present life are not felt Instance Iob would not wish for a bad change but if there be euils felt in the life to come hee wished for a badde change Ergo. c. Answere Iob wished not for the death of the wicked but of the godly Instance But Job maketh Kinges and Princes also which gather Gold vnto them vers 14.15 small and great good and badde vers 16 17 18 19. partakers of this rest Answere It plainely appeareth out of the whole processe and discourse of Jobs wordes that he doth not teach what is the state of men after this life but onely desireth to be ridde out of his present miserie And therefore through humaine infirmitie and impatience he compareth the sense and feeling of his present miseries with the death and state of the Dead whatsoeuer it be As they who are grieuously tormented with present Distresses and Calamities preferre any thing whatsoeuer before that which they suffer So also he sayth in the 7. chap. speaking as one despayring of deliuerie in this life Remember
Handicrafts-men Hyrelinges and such let vs view and consider them a litle that sit vp labouring and toyling night by night and doe scarcely get thinges necessarie for their liuing Moreouer day and night doe they their wiues and children liue full of complaintes and fill all the house with weeping teares What shall I say of Mariners how many dangers are they hourely in Rightly in sooth did Bias count Marriners in the number neither of those that are dead nor of those that are aliue For they being earthly men are in a doubtful-wise partakers of either estate But Husbandry is sweete let it be so but hath it not alwayes found occasion of Sorrow For in trueth the Husbandman sometime accuseth findeth fault with and bewayleth Drought sometime showers and Raine sometime Heate exustions and parching burning Sunne sometimes extreamitie of Cold and such vnseasonable weather sometime Wormes Caterpillers Grashoppers and such like deuowrers What Is not the Common-wealth in safetie and quiet Truely it is honourable But with how many euilles and sorrowes is it turmoyled Truely it hath a certaine moouing soft pleasant swelling deceiueable and troublous ioy euen like to swelling and boyling Cholar but a losse sorrowfull and worse then a thousand deathes For who can be happy when there is no remedie but he must needes liue at the peoples becke And he is mocked and hissed at as though he were a Play or a Fable of the people berated flouted fined miserable and wretched Soc. Where ô ciuill Axiochus dyed Melchindes Where Thomistocles Where Ephialtes Where all the other Captaines These thinges verily I neuer thirsted after Neither doth it seeme to be an honorable thing to execute the Magistrates duetie amongst the madde multitude But those waitelayers that about Theramenes and Calixenus did the day after bring vnder the Iudges or Rulers condemned the men vndiscreetly to death whom you Axiouchus togeather with Triptolamus did repugne in three thousand speaches vnto the people Axioc You say true ô Socrates And therefore from that same time euen vntill this day I haue euer eschewed the Tribunalshippe Neither doth any thing seeme more difficile and hard then the gouernement of the Common-weale This is very plaine and well knowne to them who themselues haue to doe in ciuill matters But you doe so speake of these thinges as one that a farre off did see them out of a Glasse or from the top of a Rocke or the prospect of a faire Tower But my selfe doe right well know them seeing I was my selfe conuersant in the matter For verily the common sort O Socratus my friende is ingratefull full of mockes and scornes vaine soone angried cruel enuious rude heaped full of troubles and trifles and whoseuer doth familiarly acquaint himselfe with them conuerse amongst them doth at the length become farre more miserable then they be themselues Socr. Seeing then O Axiochus you doe iudge that this Discipline is aboue all other most to be eschewed What doe you thinke of others Are not they also to be fledde from I haue furthermore more heard Prodicus when once he said that Death doth not belong neither to the dead nor to those that are aliue Axi Which way O Socrates or in what manner Socr. Because Death is not about the liuing and the dead are not or haue no beeing Wherefore neither is Death about you Axiochus because you are not yet dead neither if you depart this life shall Death be about you because you shall not bee Therefore griefe should be vaine if Axiochus doe bewaile that which is not about Axiochus neither shal be hereafter For you doe in like manner as if you were afraide of Scylla and Centaurus when as these Monsters are neither now about you neither shall be at any time hereafter For that which is horrible and to be feared happeneth to those which are But to those which are not nothing is to be feared Axi You gather these thinges out of that light vaine babling which is now common all abroad amongst the vulgar sort For from amongst them commeth this copie of vaine wordes composed for young mens sakes But I who am depriued of the good thinges of this life doe still mourne although you haue before in your Discourse brought very strong reasons For my sorrowing head doth not vnderstand the finenesse of your wordes neither discerne the colours of your speach Although it heare the pompe and shining of speach yet it neglecteth and is farte away from the trueth neither can it abide those rehearsed captious Sophismes it onely attendeth on those thinges which can knocke vpon and pearce the Minde and Soule So. Without reason Axiochus doe you ioyne togeather the sense of euill thinges and the priuation of good thinges And this lyeth closely hidden that he indeed is dead who is depriued of good thinges the passion of euill thinges afflicteth the contraries But hee that is not can neither marke or regard the orbitie or priuation By what meanes therefore where there is wanting the notice of the things afflicting can there be affliction For vnlesse in the beginning you should put a certaine senses by Iustice you should be afray de of Death But now you peruert and fore turmoyle your selfe fearing least you should loose your Soule But you doe condemne your Soule to amission that it shal be lost and not had againe you feare least Sense should be taken from you and doest thinke that Sense existing cannot be comprehended of that Sense whereas there are many and those notable Sermons of the Immortalitie of the Soule For neither had Mortall nature risen to so great excellencie that it should contemne the violence of outragious Beasts sayle and passe ouer the Sea build Cities prescribe order to Common-weales looke vp into Heauen measure the circuit of the Starres marke the progresse of the Sunne and Moone and their rysings and settinges defectes moreouer and swift restitutions Meridian and double conuersions the seauen Starres Winter in like manner and Sommer the flawes of Winde and the force of Raine and Stormie weather the tempostions whurring Whorlewinde and flashing of the Lightning and to conclude how the passions of the world should so wonderfully stande in eternitie vnlesse there were in the Minde some Diuine spirit by which it should get the intelligence of so great thinges Wherefore ô my deare Axiochus you doe not flit vnto Death but vnto Immortalitie it selfe Neither shall good thinges be taken away from but you shall enioy the sound possession of good thinges Neither shall you and more receiue and enioy Pleasure mixt with a mortall Body but shall quite be set free and vtterly voyde of euery sorrow Thither I say you shall goe free from this Prison where you shall haue all thinges quiet and remooued from sorrowfull Old age Where the exultation and reioycing of the inhabiters is an holy ioy and their life hath no conuersing with euilles but is quiet and nourished with Peace viewing the nature of