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A72420 The soule is immortall, or, Certaine discourses defending the immortalitie of the soule against the limmes of Sathan to wit, Saducees, Anabaptists, atheists and such like of the hellish crue of aduersaries / written by Iohn Iackson. Jackson, John, fl. 1611.; Houppelande, Guillaume, d. 1492. De immortalitate animae.; Xenocrates, of Chalcedon, ca. 396-ca. 314 B.C. De morte.; Athenagoras, 2nd cent. De resurrectione.; Palingenio Stellato, Marcello, ca. 1500-ca. 1543. 1611 (1611) STC 14297a.3; ESTC S116566 64,456 189

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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
THE SOVLE IS Immortall OR Certaine Discourses defending the immortalitie of the Soule against the limmes of Sathan to wit Saduces Anabaptistes Atheists and such like of the hellish crue of Aduersaries Written by IOHN IACKSON Imprinted at London by W. W. for Robert Boulton dwelling in Smithfield neere Long-lane 1611. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER Grace and Peace be multiplied THe Arch-enimie of mankinde Sathan that olde Aduersarie as he dared to giue the assault vpon the Author of Saluation himselfe so hath he not rested from the beginning to lay battrie to the fortresse of Fayth seeking by all meanes to beat it downe and vtterly to rase the very foundations of it And to this end hath he not left vnshaken any one article of our Christian beliefe both by old and new Heretikes the wicked instrumentes of his infernall warringes So maliciously is he set against vs that like a ramping and roring Lion he goeth about seeking whom be may deuower And where GOD hath his Church be euermore adioyneth his Chappell with his counterfaite false and faigned Religion odious to God and wonderfull to the world Amongest the rest he hath not onely of old but euen of late battered the soule yea euen the life of the soule of man yea euen now doth he most stoutly batter it by perswading some that it is corruptible and mortall and putting into their mouthes the most venomed swordes of poysoned sophisticall Argumentes to maintaine the same against the most certaine and necessarie trueth of the Soules immortalitie For not onely the Saduces did dispute against the immortalitie of the Soule yea and they in like manner who sayd in Saint Paules time that the Resurrection was past alreadie to him that beleeueth and made no other resurrection besides the resurrection of the regenerate But also the Anabaptistes of later yeares doe denie the Soule to be immortall And Paul the third of that name Pope of Rome when he was breathing out his Soule and readie to die sayd that now at length he should try and know three things First whether there were a GOD second whether the Soules were immortall third whether there were a Hell or no whereof all his life time he was in much doubt Yea verily euen at this very day there are now wicked Epicures and gracelesse Atheistes whom the Diuell to lull them faster a sleepe in their sinnes and enforce them to heape sinne vpon sinne hath so suggested them that they are fully perswaded that there is no rewarde for the Good nor punishment of the Wicked but that Man perisheth as Beast and the Soule to come to nothing according to that wicked verse of Horace Et redit in nihilum quod fuit ante nihil For they affirme that the Soule of man like as of brute Beastes is nothing else but Life or the vitall power arising of the temperature and perfection of the Body and therefore dyeth and is extinguished togeather with the Body And some againe say that the Soule sleepeth when the Body dyeth that is is without motion or sense vntill the raysing of the Body which indeed is nothing else but that the Soule is mortall that is a meere qualitie onely in the Body which when the body is dissolued becommeth nothing because if it were an incorporeall substaunce it could not be without sense and motion Wherefore hauing my selfe met with some of this badde sort and hearing of moe I thought good euery way to fight in the cause of Christ Iesus with the weapon put in mine hand by my grand Captaine and with might and maine to heaw at these two Monsters and vtter Enemies to the Soule Therefore seeing that the print of the Penne may come vnto the eyes of moe than the sound of the voyce into the cares I by Gods assistance haue set my talent on worke against them both proouing the contrarie First that the Soule is not as they say mortall but immortall Secondly that the Soule is not a forme perfection temperament force power or agitation arising out of the temperature of the Body but a substaunce incorporeall liuing vnderstanding dwelling in the Body and susteining and moouing it And this latter is prooued true by these Scriptures Psalm 48. His Soule shal be blessed in life Heb 12. God is called the Father of Spirites And it is sayd of the faythfull Yee are come to the Celestiall Ierusalem and to the companie of innumerable Angels and to the Spirites of iust and perfect men 1. Cor. 2.11 Noman knoweth the thinges of a man saue the spirite of man which is in man In these and like places of Scripture both the Soule of man is called a Spirit and the properties of a liuing and vnderstanding substaunce are attributed vnto it therefore it is a substaunce And therefore to no purpose doe the aduersaries of this Doctrine oppose those places wherein the soule is taken for the life and will of man as Mat. 6. The Soule is more worth then Meate Iob. 13.14 I put my Soule in my hand For by the fore alleadged places it is manifest that this is not generall but is vsed by figure of speach whereby we call the effect by the name of his cause Now for the former that the Soule is not mortall but immortall and also for a further declaration of this latter I haue translated foorth of latine for their sakes that vnderstande not latine a certaine Treatise of the Immortalitie of the Soule and thereunto haue adioyned other mens iudgments and reasons for the helpe of the matter Scriptures confirming the same and confuted the Aduersarie GVILERMVS HOVPPELANDVS Of the immortalitie of the Soule THat the auncient Philosophers flourished in Witte and profited in Studie it is no common opinion but vnto all men a sure and certaine perswasion For by Studie and Exercise they on euerie side made themselues away vnto those thinges that are by Nature almost incomprehensible And by their benefite there are many thinges publikely left vnto all posterities which we are glad of and doe marueile at their inuentions They measured the World subiected Heauen to their Rules searched out the sundry causes of Nature and in some sort with their eyes contemplated the Worke-man of all the World But of the state of mans Soule and the Immortalitie thereof sundrie sectes haue in their Writinges left sundrie opinions Some say that Soules are Mortall and die togeather with their bodyes Some doe say that they are Immortall and alwaies remaine in a fixed stabilitie Heraciuus affirmed mans Soule to be a Vapour Thales a Moysture Empedocles Blood for hee taught that the Soule is Blood infused in the Heart Diogenes and Anaximenes Ayre The Storkes whereof Zeno and Chrisippus are the chiefe do say it is a Fire Democritus affirmed the Soule to be made by a certaine chauncing course of certaine light and round matter Aristoxenus an Harmonie Aristophanes a due proportion of qualities The Saduces so called of Sadoc denying both Honours and Punishmentes and vniuersally both
the Soule he sayth that there are certaine partes that are not separable from their Matters or the thinges whereof they be made or receiue the name and some are separable as Nauta a Nauj The Mariner from the Ship Vt rationalis anima a ratione and therefore hee concludeth that it is separable from other thinges as that which is perpetual from that which is corruptible And in the third Booke of the Soule putting a difference betweene Sensus and Intellectus the Sense and the Vnderstanding hee saith Excellens sensibile corrumpit sensum excellens autem intelligibile non corrumpit intellectum 1 The excellent sensible thing corrupteth the Sense but the excellent intelligible corrupteth not the Vnderstanding Also in the first Booke where the translation that Auarroys expoundeth the Vnderstanding doth seeme to bee a certaine substaunce which is made indeed and is not corrupted And in his Booke De Animalibus the Philosopher enquireth whether all Soules doe come foorth of their bodies and hee answearing saith That it is not possible for corporall Soules to come foorth of the bodyes It therefore remayneth sayth hee that it is the Vnderstanding that cōmeth foorth and only is diuine And he in his twelfth of Metaphysuks ca. 8. sayth The moueing causes as they were made before it so doe they come foorth of it And in the Booke of the death of Aristotle it is written that he lying on his death-bed comforting his schollars concerning the feare of death said vnto them Et vos vt quid turbatis et de morte timetis quae est via et incessus animae recedentis a corpore et ad comprehendendum gradus diuinos et coniungendum se animabus sapientibus et letis 1. And you why are you troubled and are afraid of death which is the gate entring in of the soule departing from the body to comprehend the heauenly wayes or degrees to ioyne it selfe to the soules that are wise and ioyfull After whose death his scholers praied for him saying Deus qui recolligit animas Philosophorum recolligat animam tuam et reponat eam in thesauris suis 1. The God that gathereth togeather the Soules of the Philosophers gather thy Soule and lay it vp in his treasures And Libro secundo posteriorum he reciteth Pythagoras saying That God doth thunder and sounde as one that threatneth that those that are in Tartarus or in Hell may be afraid And in the 4. Booke of his Ethicks hee sayth Although they sinne yet they suffer whatsoeuer punishment is layd vpon them because they say that immortalitie is life euerlasting for the passion of life seemeth immortalitie c. On the contrarie part Aristotle doth sometime seeme to be against the immortalitie of the Soule for in his Praedicaments he sayth Corrupto animali corruptitur scientia non autem scibile scientia autem non est anima ex quo videtur sequi animam interire cum corpore 1 The liuing creature being corrupted the science or knowledge is also corrupted not the thing that may be knowne for the science is not the Soule whereof it seemeth to follow that the Soule doth die with the Body And in his Booke De longitudine et breustate vitae Of the length shortnes of life hee sayth The liuing creatures being corrupted the science is also corrupted and likewise the healthfulnesse and therefore who of these shall reason for the Soule for if it be not of Nature but as science in the Soule so also shall the Soule be in the Body And of the same another corruption besides the corruption wherewith the corruption is corrupted with the Body therefore it must needes be that it hath cōmunion with the body And in the third De anima Non reminiscimur post mortem corum qui in vita sciuimus We haue no remembrance againe of thē after whom we knew while they were aliue And in the third Booke of Ethickes Terribilissimum autemmors terminus enim c. Death is a most terrible and fearefull thing for it is the tearme or end And there seemeth thencefoorth to be vnto the dead neither good nor euill And Septimo Metaph hee determineth of the Intention that Omnes partes quae possunt manere seperatae a toto sunt elementa hoc ect partes matcriales All partes that may remaine being seperated from the whole are Elementes that is to say partes Materiall And Primo de Caelo he seemeth to hold it for vnpossible against Plato Quod aliquid sit factum perpetuū et incorruptibile et hoc de mundo c. That any thing can be made perpetuall and vncorruptible And this is prooued of the world by two reasons which I omit for breuities sake And Quinto phisico he sayth Cuius est principtum eius est finis As is the beginning of a thing so is the end of it Out of which sayinges it seemed to Scotus and to many others also that Aristotle was alwayes doubtfull of the immortalitie of the Soule yea euen vnto the day of his death And he seemeth sometimes to come nearer the one part then the other and sometimes to agree to that hee seemed before to condemne accordingly as the matter whereof hee entreated was more consonant to the one part rather then the other Yet notwithstanding by Scotus leaue in the foresaid sentence he seemeth to mee not to differ frō his maister Plato in this matter and herein my witnesse is Bessario the Cardinall of Nicea in that which he wrote in the defence of Plato and Cicero also whose testimonie amongst all men is most of authoritie sayth in the first Tusculan question Post multorum Philosopherum de animi quidditate recitatas opiniones Aristoteles longe omnibus Platonem semper excipio c. After the recited opinions of many Philosophers touching questioninges of the Soule Aristotle is farre aboue all but I alwayes except Plato a man very excellent both for witte and wisedome and diligence seeing hee embracing receiuing and allowing those foure knowne kindes thought that there was also a fifth Nature The minde is equall for to cogitate and to prouide to speake and to teach and to inuent somewhat and to remember so many seuerall thinges to loue to hate to couet to feare these thinges and such as be like vnto them are not to be found in any one of these foure kindes and therefore he thinketh there is a fifth nature that is without name and so hee calleth the Minde it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Endelcia quasi quandam contanuatam motionem et perennem As it were a certaine continued and euerlasting motion And speaking also of the sentences of the philosophers which we haue put in the first place hee sayth His omnibus sententijs nihil post mortem pertinere ad quenquam potest By all these sentences nothing can belong to any man after death But of the sentence of Aristotle and Plato he sayth afterward Reliquorum sententiae spem afferunt posse
Soule intellectiue or the naturall Vnderstanding and so man is per se vnum one by him selfe After the first maner a Child is not Homo Man of the same kind with himselfe when he is old nor with other men After the second maner hee is not Man neither endued with reason Nisi potentia but in power Contrarily it should follow that a Child should not be endued with Reason neither Men inwardly reasonable which is absurde Also Man vnderstandeth not seipso primo not by himselfe first therfore by his substantial forme The Antecedent is wel knowne by experience the Consequent is plaine because the proper operation agreeing to any thing compounded cannot be competent vnto it selfe per mate●●am by matter therfore by the former is the Soule the substantial forme of man This is confirmed because then by no operation of an Animall brute creature it could be conuinced that the sensitiue Soule should be the forme therof giuing vnto it esse to bee but the Aduersarie might say that it giueth it operari et non esse to worke and not to bee Adde herevnto that it is an expresse determination of the Church in Clemen Extra de summatri et fide Catholica Against the second that the proper bodies and all thinges shall returne againe vnto the same But such a continuation is not intelligible but faigned vaine and vnprofitable Because that by such continuance man neither after the first maner nor yet after the second could vnderstand Otherwise the painted Wall or the thing wrought on the Wall offred to the sight should see because the colour that is on the Wall doth cause the vision and the sight receiueth it Against the third It should follow that contraries should be togeather in the same thing for it is plaine that in the vnderstanding of one man is Assent and Insent and in the vnderstanding of another in the respect of the same is Dissent Intent And of that thing whereof one man hath Science another hath onely Opinion and an other Ignorance Also according to this we should hardly vnderstand nothing but that whereof the Phantasie should cause Intention But this is false as experience doth prooue by the actes aswell of the Vnderstanding as of the Will and by many others For the notice or knowledge Intuitiue is knowne by beholding or intuitiueely is cause of the Notice reflexed But of the immortall state of the soule after death the foresaid Philosophers are seuered among themselues for some set downe that the soules when they doe depart foorth of the bodyes do straightway enter into the bodyes of Beastes correspondent vnto their Merites As for example the Soules of Princes into Lions of Souldiers into Bores of others into Swine of some into Wolues of others into Birdes and Apes c. Neither in these doth the paine and deiection cease vntill they had put on formes agreeable to those of the wild outragious Beastes Whereof it came to passe as Ambrose saith in his Booke do bono mortis that some said that the chiefest good or summum bonum of the great Philosophers doth consist in this that their Soules after their death doe enter into Apes or Birdes Others there haue been that said and affirmed that they doe change their sexe or kind and doe turne vnto the infirmitie of Womans nature Others will that they goe into strange humaine bodyes as that fabulous Historie of the Greekes doth witnesse for it sheweth that Menelaus after that Euphorbus was ouercome laide vp his Buckler in the Temple of Iuno which Panthoydes tooke away whereof they said that the Soule of Euphorbus was entred into Panthoydes and that he was Euphorbus himselfe whereof Ouid. maketh mention in his fifth Booke of Metamorphosis Ipse egó nam memini Troiani tempore belli Panthoides Euphorbus eram cui pectore Hesit in aduerso grauis hasta minoris Atridae That is to say For I my selfe remember well in time of Troian Warre Panthoides Euphorbus was my selfe and deepe and farre A mighty speare did pearce my breast which dead did downe me throw Atreus mightie younger sonne did strike this deadly blow And to speake nothing of the rest of the Philosophers Plato had the best iudgement what becommeth of Men if notwithstanding saith he they lead their liues righteously and holily then so soone as the Soules are deliuered from their bodyes they are receiued into the bosome of the Gods themselues But they being vnmindfull of supernall thinges doe refuse them as things connexed and doe againe begin to be willing to enter into their bodyes againe For speaking of which out of Plato his doctrine Virgill is very greatly commended Therefore hee thought that the Soules of mortall men were alwayes able to abide in their bodyes but through the necessitie of death must needes be dissolued And that they are not able neither to endure perpetually without their bodyes but thought that by enterchangeable courses the liuing became dead and the dead become liuing indefinitely and for euermore But in this doe Wise-men differ from others that straight-way after death they are carried vnto the Stars that euery one resteth very long in that Starre that is agreeable or meete for him and at length forgetfull of his old miseries and ouercommed with desire of hauing his body returneth againe to the labours and sorrowes of mortall men Therfore by a most hard condition doth Plato make the Soules of men yea euen of the wisest to be happie and blessed Vnto whom are not such bodies distributed as with which they may liue alwayes and immortally neither without them can endure in eternall puritie but doe sometime though not immediatly yet at the length desire to returne vnto the bodies And so indefinitely doe by course returne againe into diuers bodies vntill the great yeare in the which they shall haue againe their owne bodies and all thinges shall come againe vnto their first estate And those that haue ledde a foolish life hee thought should come vnto bodies due to their desertes whether of Men or of Beastes and so long to liue miserably in them vntill they be scoured from their filthinesse and their errours moderated be redacted vnto the rule of reason and temperance and so at length deserue to come vnto the honour of their first estate But Porphirius doth not onely remooue from mens Soules the bodies of Beastes but also will haue the Soules of Wise-men so to be deliuered from the bonds of the bodie that fleeing vtterly from euerie bodie are kept blessed with the Father for euermore It is a foolish thing to speake of that life which cannot be most blessed vnlesse there may be a most sure certaintie of the felicitie of it and for the blessed Soules to desire the blot of corruptible Bodies and to returne backe againe vnto them as though there needed a great Purgation and an iniquination and defiling to be required Truely the sentence of Porphirius is to be preferred before theirs that will
first it is manifest by the wordes of our Sauiour Christ himselfe in the Gospell Mat. 10. vers 28. 28. Feare ye not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both Body and Soule in Hell Mat. ca. 18. v. 9. 9. It is better for thee to enter into Life halt then hauing two feete to be cast into Hell Mar. 9.43.44 43. Wherefore if thy Hand cause thee to offende cut it off it is better for thee to enter into Life maimed then hauing two Handes to goe into Hell into Fire that neuer shal be quenched 44. Where the Worme dieth not and the Fire neuer goeth out c. Mat. 25. 31. When the Sonne of man commeth in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit vpon the Throne of his glorie 32. And before him shal be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as the Shepheard separateth the Sheepe from the Goates 33. And he shall set the Sheepe on his right hand and the Goates on his left 34. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed children of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world 41. Then shall he say to them on his left hand Depart from me yee curssed into euerlasting Fire which is prepared for the Deuill and his Angels Iohn 10. My Sheepe heare my voyce I giue vnto them eternall life ¶ Of these Places I doe conclude that the Soule is Immortall because it liueth eternally or is punished euerlastingly In the Booke of Wisedome cap. 3. 1. The Soules of the Righteous are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them 2 In the sight of the Vnwise they appeare to die and their end was thought grieuous 3. And their departing from vs Destruction but they are in peace 4. And though they suffer paine before men yet is their hope full of Immortalitie 5. They are punished in few thinges yet in many thinges shall they be rewarded for God prooueth them and findeth them meete for him 6. He tryeth them as Gould in the furnace and receiueth them as a perfect fruit offring 7. And in the time of their vision they shall shine and run through as the sparkles among the stubble 8. They shall iudge the nations and haue Dominion ouer the people and their Lord shall raigne for euer Ecclesiastos 12. Because man shall goe to the house of his eternity Also in the last iudgement euery man that is predestinate to saluation shall rise againe to life euerlasting with the same Bodyes they had heere according to that saying of Job Job 19. 25. I am sure that my Redeemer liueth and that I shall rise againe out of the earth at the last day 26. And though after my skinne Wormes destroy this Body yet shall I see God in my flesh 27. Whom I my selfe shall see yea my selfe shall behold and none other for me So that hereby it is very manifest and plaine that all the Soules of men shall euery one of them take againe their owne proper Bodyes being become Immortall or brought vnto the state of Immortalitie of the good and blessed 1. Thessal 4. 14. If we beleeue that Iesus is dead and is risen euen so them that sleepe in Iesus will God bring with him 16. For the Lord himselfe shall descend from Heauen with a shoute and with the voyce of the Archangell and with the Troumpe of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first 17. Then shall we which liue and remaine be caught vp with them also in the Cloudes to meete the Lord in the Aire and so shall wee euer be with the Lord. Rom. 6. 5. If wee be dead with Christ to the similitude of his death euen so shall we be to the similitude of his resurrection 8. If we be dead with Christ we beleeue that we also shall liue with him 9. Knowing that Christ being raysed from the death dieth no more death hath no more power ouer him ¶ Of all good and bad is plaine in the Epistle to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 15. 51. Wee shall not all sleepe but wee shal be all changed 52. In moment of time by the last Trumpet for the Trumpet shall blow and the dead shall be raysed vp incorruptible and we shall be changed 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortalitie The Conclusion OF these Authorities and Reasons there may in the minde of euery faythfull man that vndoubtedly beleeueth the holy Scriptures be bred a sufficient Fayth of the Immortalitie of the Soule sufficient I say to saluation yea it doth not seeme possible that those that are instructed in the foresayd Scriptures should doubt of the Immortalitie of the Soule For it doth not seeme natuturally to be possible that some one euidently Assent that the Antecedent cannot be true without the Consequent and vndoubtedly Assent to the Antecedent but the must vndoubtedly Assent to the Consequent which he doth euidently know to be concluded and deducted out of the Antecedent But the Reasons Topicall or Perswasions Probable which we haue before set downe to perswade the second part of the first Conclusion although as it is sayd it be not of their nature to breed nothing else but an Opinion or Assent with feare of the Opposite for Opinion is the acception of one part of the Contradiction with feare of the other yet not withstanding out of the empire of the Will they may breed a firme and sure Assent of the Immortalitie of the Soule aboue Opinion and beneath Science by reason of the same euidence and not adherencie From hence may such perswasions or reasons be able manifoldly and sundry wayes to profite and auayle the fayth of the faythfull for they helpe our Fayth for by them in the vnfaythfull is begun the Fayth of the Immortalitie of the Soule By them is the same Fayth pres●rued and strengthned against the Wicked and Heretickes By the same is it suslayned and defended thereby are the simple at the length throughly mooued and prouoked to true Fayth Wherefore Peter commaundeth To be readie prepared to render to euery one that asketh a reason of the Fayth that is in vs. But the faythfull man hauing such like reasons and perswasions doth not leane to the first trueth and conclusion of Fayth or that the Soule is Immortall principally for those same reasons but rather doth assent to them and vseth them which doe consent to the first trueth that it is well as the Lord sayth by the Samaritanes that worshipped in the Mount By whom are figured and signified the true beleeuers who seeing JESVS by Fayth are called Samaritanes This is to humaine reason Now we doe not beleeue because of thy saying but because wee our selues haue seene and heard Of these thinges it most plainely and most euidently appeareth how great thankes are
doe no rewardes remaine Amased all their virtuous workes shall cease and perish plaine So many stately Temples trimde so many Altars hie With Gold and Marble garnished and decked sumptuously Beside Religion Godly zeale Honour and worshipping Of God shall come to nought if after death remaine nothing That men may hope for if the Soule as Winde doth passe away Of wild and franticke common sort Religion must be stay And feare of smart for mischiuous and full of fraud their braine Is alwayes seene nor of themselues they well doe meane or plaine The common sort doe Virtue loath and euermore her hate Religion is the comlinesse and glorie of our state Which makes the Gods to fauour vs which we winne Heauen by No wise nor good man therefore dare attempt her openly To teach that Soule shal come to nought and so corrupt the mindes Of rude vnskilfull common sort that wauer like the windes Now must we teach by reason good that Soules shall neuer die But free from sting or dart of death doe liue eternally Which euery Christian man doth hold and Greshop eater Iew Who our foreskins abhorres beleeues which God that all thinges knew Would not haue made if he had thought they had been needlesse sure And Nations all besides do thinke that Soules shall aye endure For first the thing resembling most the mightiest Lord of all Of longer lasting life we count and perfecter must call For that which doth not long endure but shortly doth decay That it should be vnperfecter who is that will say nay And therefore do celestiall thinges a greater while endure Because they are more perfecter and more Diuine and pure But thinges that nearer are the earth and farthest off from skies Vnperfect since they are do fade and soonest euer dyes Shall then our Soule sith life in it and knowledge doth appeare Most like vnto the state Diuine be closde and shut vp heere With Body for to end Nor shall it heere haue longer place Then fading flesh Or shall it liue no more nor larger space Besides that Soules cannot decay this Reason witnesse shall Because it is of single state and voyde of matter all Adde this that when the Body fades the force of Minde doth grow As weake and aged Fathers old doe more good Counsell know Then youthful blouds of younger years and often he lacks wit That doth excell in strength and force for rare doth God permit Both strength and wit to any one Wherefore if force brought low By space and course of many yeares the Minde doth stronger grow Of Body doth it not depend but of it selfe consist Another thing and after Graue doth liue and death resist Doth not beside when foote doth ake the Minde iudge thereof plaine It is no doubt But how can griefe to towre of Minde attaine Doth it ascend from lowest partes as Smoke doth vpward flie No for many partes not foote alone if so should ake thereby Nor of the foote but of the part that nearest is to Minde The ake should grieue This shewes that Soule is not of Bodyes kind And is so free from death since it in distance needes no meane Adde this when we would call to minde the thing forgotten cleane Or else deuise some worthy fetch from Minde the Senses all It then behoues to gather vp whereby doth often fall That many better for to muse doe shut vp close their eyes Or else forsaking companie some secret place deuise Or whē the night with darksome cloude the earth doth ouer spread And creatures all with heauie sleepe do take their rest in bed They still do watch and silent all vpon their beds doe rest And light put out in darknesse whet their Minde with Body prest For Senses doe the Minde disturbe Affections it destroyes Amazing it with Dulnesse great and Blindnesse it annoyes None otherwise then Cloudes do hide the Sunne that clearely shines If therefore when it doth remaine within his owne confines And flying farre from Senses all and cares that Body bringes It wiser be then shall it know and vnderstand all thinges In better sort when it is free and from the flesh doth flie More perfect of it selfe it is and liues continually Againe sith Man as Meane consistes the Saintes and Beastes betwixt Some part with each he common holds with Beast his Body mixt And with the Saintes his Minde agrees one of these partes doth die Of th' other death can haue no power but liues continually Death therefore takes not all away for why his deadly dartes Doe neuer harme the Soule a whit when it from Body partes And more then this I haue to say if nothing doe remaine Of vs when Carcasse lyes in Tombe God shall be called plaine Vniust and one that fauour shewes to such as naughtie liue For such for tearme of all their life no Sorrowes do them grieue No Ritches lacke nor Pleasures great but happily reioyce Exalted with Promotions hie and with the Commons voyce On th' other side the Virtuous men a thousand Griefes molest now sore diseasd now plagu'd with need In fine alwayes opprest Therefore the Soule liues after graue and feeles deserued paynes And if it haue done iustly heere a Crowne of Glorie gaines By these and many other wayes I could declare no doubt That Soule of man doth neuer die and Body liues without But thi 's enough time bids me end Not ignorant am I That some the soule although vnapt doe tearme an Harmonie And as of sundry voyces mou'd proceedes a melodie Of sundry Compounds Medcine made which heale with soueraigntie So of the ioyned Elements by certaine meane and way Created of the Heauens eke the Soule to be some say A part whereof in Body dwels and part abroad doth lie As sight doth spring of outward light and virtue of the eye But this opinion is not true for if it should be so The Soule with flesh should neuer striue nor once against it goe But euermore in one agree As euery power doth show That wonted are of mixed thinges By spirit Diuine to grow As in the kind of Hearbes appeares and in the precious Stone Some thinke the Soule doth not remaine when flesh from it is gone Because the heauie sluggish sleepe the nearest thing that may Resembles Death and seemes to take both Sense and Minde away Or for because they see the Minde with sicknesse diuersly So vext and harmd that it cannot the place it hath supply And with the Body to encrease with which it eke decayes As well appeares in Children young and men of elder dayes Fond is the child the man discreete the old man doteth still For weake vnwealdie withered age doth Minde and Body spill And more say they if that the Soule of substaunce be Diuine And seuered from these fleshly limmes may lead a life more fine Then why should it in wretched flesh so seeke it selfe to place by whose defect so many illes and mischifes it deface But fond she is therefore if 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 Diui●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
Goe to sayth the sicke man all sorrowfull I shall now prooue whether of you doth thinke more rightly But Theologie doth discreetly affirme both that the Soule is Immortall and also that it shall at length returne into the tabernacle of the Body doth name the very place also wherein the Soule shall remaine be kept vntill the last Iudgement That the Soule doth not die is thus prooued by the holy Scriptures 1 BEcause it is a Spirit which cannot die Gen. 2. Math. 10. Doe not feare those that can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soule Gen. 2. Hee breathed into him the breath of life 2 Because God is the God of the liuing God is the God of Abraham Therefore Abraham liueth although his body be dead Mat. 22. 3 From Examples Moses and Elias talked with Christ in Mount Thabor Luk. 9. although Moses was dead a thousand and fiue hundred yeares before Ergo they liue 4 From the testimonie of Christ Ion. 11. Hee that beleeueth in me he shall not die for euer Therefore the Soule is not extinguished but liueth alwayes 5 There is also a firme Argument from the Cause vnto the Effect or from the nature of Relatiues Christ is risen and liueth Christ is our Author and Head Therefore we also shall rise againe And the Soule at length coupled with the Body shall liue for euer For what is of force in Christ the same must needes also auaile in his members 1. Cor. 15. Now that the Body being renewed shall of vs be recciued againe in the resurrection of the dead the testimonie of Job in the 19 chap. teacheth plainely I know that my Redeemer liueth and that I shall rise againe out of the Earth in the last day and shall see God in my flesh The Place or Seate into the which the Soule doth flitte being loosed from the fetters of the Body and resteth in the same is called Paradise Luk. 23. The bosome of Abraham Luk. 16. The hand of God Sap. 3. Scheol 1. Hell Gen. 43. The Immortalitie of the Soule prooued by manifest places of the holy Scriptures 1. Numbers 23.10 I Pray God I may die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his 2. Psal 84.1 2 4 10. 1. O how amiable are thy Tabernacles o Lord of Hostes 2. My Soule longeth yea and fainteth for the Courtes of the Lord for my heart and my flesh reioyce in the liuing God 4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they will euer praise thee Selah 10. One day in thy Courtes is better then a thousand other where I had rather be a Dore-keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the Tabernacles of Wickednesse 3. Ejay 51.6.11 6. Lift vp your eyes to the Heauens and looke vpon the Earth beneath for the Heauens shall vanish away like smoake and the Earth shall waxe old like a garment and they that dwel therein shall perish in like maner but my saluation shal be for euer and my righteousnesse shall not be abolished 11 The redeemed of the Lord shall returne and come with ioy vnto Zion and euerlasting ioy shal be vpon their head they shall obtaine ioy and gladnesse and sorrow and mourning shal be away 4. Esaj 32.18 My people shall dwell in peace and in sure dwellinges in safe resting places in assurance for euer 5. Esaj 49.10 They shall not be hungry neither shall they be thirstie neither shall the heate smite them nor the Sunne for he that hath compassion on them shall lead them euen to the springes of waters shall he driue them 6. Esaj 65.17.18 17 Loe I will create new Heauens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde 18 But be you glad and reioyce for euer in the thinges that I shall create 7. Dan. 12 1.2.3 And at that time shall Michael stand vp the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as neuer was since the time that there began to be a Nation vntill the same time And at that time thy people shall be deliuered euery one that shall 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 and some to shame and perpetuall contempt 3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the Firmament and they that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as the Starres for euer euer 8. 2. Esaras 2.35.36.37 Be readie to the reward of the Kingdome for the euerlasting light shall shine vpon you for euermore 36 Flee the shadow of this world receiue the ioy of your glorie I testifie my Sauiour openly 37 Receiue the gift that is giuen you and be glad giuing thankes vnto him that hath called you to the Heauenly kingdome 9. Sap. 3. The Soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and the paine of death shall not touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeare to die c. Yet is their hope full of Immortalitie c. 10. Sap. 5. The Faythfull are counted among the Children of God and their portion is among the Saintes The Righteous shall liue for euermore their reward also is with the Lord and their remembraunce with the highest Therefore shall they receiue a glorious Kingdome a beautifull Crowne of the Lords hand 11. Tob. 3. O Lord deale with me according to thy will and commaund my spirit to be receiued in peace 12. Ecclesiastes 7. The day of death is better then the day of birth For precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of this Saintes saith the Psalmist in the 116. Psalme 13. Mat. 13.43 Then shall the Iust men shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their father 14. Mat. 19.29 They shall inherite euerlasting life 15. Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world 16. Mat. 22.29.30.31.32 29 Yee are deceiued not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God 30 For in the Resurrection they neither marrie Wiues nor Wiues are bestowed in marriage but are as the Angels of God in Heauen 31 And concerning the Resurrection of the dead haue yee not read what is spoken vnto you of God saying 32 I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing 17. The same is recorded in the 12. of Marke vers 24 25 26 27. By all which places it is a plaine consequent that the Soule is Immortall 18. Luk. 16.22 Lazarus is said to be caried into Abrahams Bosome Now what Abrahams Bosome is let venerable Beda witnesse against the Papistes that so much boast of him who in his Homilie on the Gospell for the first Sunday after Trinitie writeth thus Sinus Abraham requies heatorum pauperum quorum est regnum coelorum quo post
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
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
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
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 Pithago●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 thē 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 Her●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
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
companion in Holynesse and Martirdome so ought it also to haue like lot in Paine or Rewarde therefore the fame Body must arise againe For vnlesse there remained rewardes of the life to come Gods Prouidence and Iustice might be had in doubt yea and Man should be more miserable then bruite Beastes who for Religion Iustice sake depriueth himself of bodily delights hazardeth himselfe in innumerable daungers yea Virtue her selfe Religion and Lawes should be dotinges and detrimentes Vnlesse the Bodies rife againe Gods Iustice hath no place in the Soule and body Not in the Body because it should be vniust for the Soule to haue reward of those labours wherein the Body suffered a great part and cannot it selfe haue part in that reward Not in the Soule because it should be vniust for the Soule alone to suffer punishment for so many grieuous sinnes which of it selfe it had not committed if the Body had not been ioyned vnto it for thorow the meanes of the Body euen of necessitie Pleasure and Passion it abideth many sharpe showers or perturbations and sinneth very often Vices are not of the Soule only but are in the whole Man drawne from the wantes of the Body and prouoking of the same In like manner are Virtues in the Whole man for if the Soule had neuer come into the Body it should not haue needed Fortitude Continencie Sufferance Counsell in matters of affaires and the like Iustice Virtues then are infused from hence truly in the Soule but from thence in the Body because that all men doe confesse that Virtues at the leastwise those that are Morall are certaine inuringes of our Soule and Body Then it is not iust for the Soule alone to haue either the punishment of Vices or reward of Virtues The Lawes giuen from Heauen are not giuen to the Soule onely but to Man also For there was no need to affray the Soule from Adultry Man slaughter Theft and such like thinges which belong onely to the Bodie bodily vse The whole man then that is tyed to the Lawes must iustly either receiue reward for keeping of the Lawes or else punishment for omitting his duetie Seeing that all thinges euery one haue their proper endes according to the diuersitie of their Natures it must needes be that this Nature indued with Reason should also obtaine her proper end But this end is not lacke of paine for that is also common to other Bodies without life Neither againe is it a sensuall delight for that is common to bruit Beastes but it is rather somewhat agreeable to the proper and chiefe nature virtue and action thereof that is to say reasonable and intellectuall a precept wherein continually to rest and in which estate Virtue her selfe may enioy her rewardes Such like end in this present life we can neuer attaine therefore in the life to come But seeing there is an end of humaine life and actions and that this life and actions are common to the whole man it must needes follow that that end must needs belong to the whole man By the which consequence wee may surely know that there shal be a Resurrection especially because that our Heauenly workeman hath made all thinges for himselfe therefore hath he giuen vnto vs from the beginning Reason and Vnderstanding able to regard Heauenly things that we might contemplate him or behold him in his workes From whence is concluded that the contemplation of God is the firme and absolute end of Man These thinges haue we briefly spoken of the Resurrection not purposing hereby eloquently to set foorth al things that may hereof be spoken but euen a few such as are most fit for the time which the hearers may very easily learne FINIS A Booke of Xenocrates a Philosopher of Plato his sect concerning Death The speakers are Socrates Clinias and Axiochus VVHen I went vnto Cynosarges and was now come to Ilissum I heard ones voyce calling me by names And turning my selfe I saw Clinias the sonne of Axiochus running toward the Well Calliroe and togeather with him Damon the Musition and Carmides the sonne of Glancus of whom that same excellent cunning Musition was my very deare and especiall friend Therefore I thought good to goe backe againe and meete them that we might more leasurely and easily goe togeather But Clinias weeping said O Socrates the present time requireth that wee should shew foorth that Wisedome which you haue alwayes spoken of to vs for my Father is vexed with a sodaine and intollerable Disease and seemeth to be euen at deaths doore and to take it very vnpatiently although in times past hee was wont to mocke those that feared death as though they were afraid at the countenaunce of an imagined Spirit Come I pray you and blame him as you were wont that he may easily beare necessitie Goe therefore with vs and togeather with others doe a godly worke So. You haue made me very desirous O Clinias to do what I can to fulfill your request especially seeing the worke is holy which you craue to be done let vs therefore make hast for if the matter be so it is time to make hast Cli. So soone as he shall see you O Socrates he shall begin to recouer for it hath often hapned that he in some sort repented So. Then we went vnto him by the Walles thorow the Peritoman Fieldes for he dwelt night the Gates towardes the Amazones Pillar And we found him sound of limme and strong of body but weake in minde and greatly standing need of comfort and often times staying to take breath and fetching sighes and grones with many teares and clapping of his handes Which when I saw What now Axiochus said I Where is now that your old boasted Constancie Where are the perpetuall prayses of Virtues Where is your wonderfull magnitude and boldnesse of Minde For euen as an ill or sluggish Wrastler may in the wrastling Scoole appeare couragious till he come to try all so haue you fainted and yeelded in this conflict Why consider you not the order and course of Nature seeing you are so worthy a man and so well learned and if no other thing yet that you are an Athenian Remember you not that vulgar and old worne Sentence wherein it is sayd That this life is a certaine Pilgrimage that we ought to behaue our selues rightly with an equal minde as wanderers in a strange Countrie and so come to that thing which is due and necessarie not with a weake and feeble but with a ioyfull and merrie minde But this tender softnesse is more meete for Infancie then for riper age Axi These thinges O Socrates seeme rightly spoken But I know not how thorow imminent dangers these same most comfortable wordes of patient abiding doe sliely vanish away and are neglected yea there ariseth a certaine repugnant extreame feare which compasseth my minde on euery side Oh alas I shal be depriude of this light of these good thinges I shall lie
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