man the Countie of Mirandula praying them to consider at least wyse whether the greate studye and peynes which those greate Clerks haue takâ—n to disprooue this destinie can by any meanes bee fathered vppon destinie Now then for a small conclusion of this whole discourse let vs say that God is a souereine Beeing and a souerein mynd and that Beeing and Mynding are all one in him and therefore that as in creating things the might and power of his Beeing extended euen to the least things or els they had not bin at all so the Prouidence forecast and direction of his mynd extend to all things or else they could not continue Let not the confusion of things which we see â—eere belowe trubble vs for the greater the same is the greatâ—â— doth Gods prouidence shewe it self therein as the skill of a Phisition doth in the intricatenesse of a disease But who is he that can limit the sight of the Euerlasting God Surely not the prosperities of the wicked for they be but visors nor the aduersities of the godly for they be but exercises nor the Deathes of the giltlesse for it is but a poudering of their vertewes to preserue them to the vse of posteritie Nay let not euen sinne it selfe which is the very euill in deede cause any grudge of mynd in vs for God Created Nature good but euill is sproong thereof He Created freedome and it is degenerated into Loocenesse But let vs prayse God for giuing vs powers and let vs condemne our selues for abusing them Let vs glorifie him for chastising vs by our owne Loocenesse for executing his Iustice by our vniust Dealings and for performing the ordinaunce of his rightfull will by our inordinate passions It we see a thing whereof we knowe not the cause let vs acknowledge our ignorance and not name it fortune The causes that are furthest a sunder are neere at hand vnto him to performe whatsoeuer he listeth If we do any vnreasonable thing let vs not alledge necessitie He can skill to vse all things without marring them the moouable according to their moouings the things indewed with will according to their passions and the things indewed with reason according to their reasonings In thinking to do our owne will we bring his to passe We be free to followe out owne Nature and our Nature is becomme euill through sinne O wretched fréedome which bringeth vs vnder such bondage And aâ—fore this nature of ours we can neither shun it nor driue it from vs for we be bonâ—â—laues to it and it to sinne and there behoueth a stronger than our selues to rid vs thereof Therefore let vs pray God to bring the fréedome of our wills in bondage to his will and to frée our soules from this hard and damnable kind of fréedome and to graunt vs by his grace not as to the wicked to doe his will in béeing vnwilling to do it but as to his Children at least wise to be willing to doe it euen in not doing it The xiiij Chapter That the Soule of Man is immortall or dyeth not HIthertoo I haue treated of the world that is to be conceiued in vnderstanding and of the sensible World as the Platonists tearme them that is to say of God and of this World Now followeth the examining of the Little World as they terme it that is to say of man Concerning God we haue acknowledged him to be a Spirit and as touching the World we haue found it to be a body In man wee haue an abridgment of both namely of God in respect of Spirit and of the World in composition of body as though the Creator of purpose to set forth a mirror of his woorks intended to bring into one little compasse both the infinitenesse of his owne nature and also the hougenesse of the whole world together Wee see in mans body a Woonderfull mixture of the fower Elements the veynes spreading forth like Riuers to the vttermost members as many instruments of sence as theere be sensible natures in the world a greate nomber of sinewes Fleshstrings and knitters a Head by speciall priuiledge Directed vp too Heauen-ward Hands seruing to all maner of seruices Whatsoeuer he is that shall consider no more but onely this instrument without life without sence and without mouing cannot but think verily that it is made to verie greate purpose and he must needes krie out as Hermes or as the Sarzin Abdala doth that man is a miracle which farre surmounteth not only these Lower Elements but also the verie Heauen and all the ornaments thereof But if he could as it were out of himself behold this body receiuing life and entering into the vse of all his motions with such forewardnesse hands bestirring themselues so nimbly and after so sundrie fashions and the Senses vttering their force so farre of without stirring out of their place think you not that he would be woonderfully rauished and so much more woonder at the sayd life mouing and sence than at the body as he woondered afore at the body to behold the excellencie of the proportion thereof aboue the masse of some stone For what comparison is there betweene a Lute and a Luteplayer or betweene a dumb instrument and him that maketh it to sound What would he say then if he could afterward see how the same man being now quickned atteyneth in one moment from the one side of the earth to the other without shifting of place descending downe to the centre of the world and mounting vp aboue the outtermost circle of it both at once present in a thousand places at one instant imbracing the whole without touching it kreeping vpon the earth and yet conteyning it beholding the Heauens from beneath and beeing aboue the Heauens of Heauens both at once Should hee not be compelled to say that in this sillie body there dwelleth a greater thing than the body greater than the earth yea greater than the whole world togither Then let vs say with Plato that man is dubble outward and inward The outward man is that which we see with our eyes which forgoeth not his shape wheÌ„ it is dead no more than a Lute forgoeth his shape when the Luteplaier ceasseth from making it to sound howbeit that both life mouing sence and reason be out of it The inward man is the Soule and that is properly the very man which vseth the body as an instrument whereunto though it be vnited by the power of God yet doth it not remoue when the body ronneth It seeth when the eyes be shut and sometymes seeth not when the eyes be wyde open It traueleth while the body resteth and resteth when the body traueleth that is to say it is able of it self to parforme his owne actions without the help of the outward man wheras on the contrarie part the outward without the help of the inward that is to wit the body without the presence of the Soule hath neither sence mouing life no nor continewance of
of the Creator and the sentence of his iust wrath vppon his creature wherethrough it came to passe that the same was not onely bereft of all the grace wherewith it was replenished by beholding it selfe in him but also was made an vnderling to the selfesame things which were made to haue done it seruice Now what this sinne was wee cannot better vnderstand than by the punishment thereof For punishment and sinne haue a mutuall respect one to another as a sore and a salue and may after a sort be knowne the one by the other Order would that our wit should obey GOD and that all our sences and appetites should obey our reason but wee see that as now our sences and appetites hold reason vnder foote This punishment ought to set our fault before our eyes when as wee see our selues falne downe and thrust vnder our selues namely that man intended to haue mounted vp aboue God The same order would also that all the whole world and worldly things should haue serued man and man haue serued GOD that God might haue bene the marke of man as man should haue bene the marke for all other things to haue amed at But wee see that at this day man is an vnderling to the least things that are insomuch that euen those which haue neither sence nor life doe resist him and he pitcheth the ende of all his desires in earthly things as if they were of more valewe than himselfe accordingly as all of vs know that the end is alwaies better thā the things that tend to the same Séeing then that nature is reuolted from man it is certeyne that man is reuolted from God for it is the ordinary punishment of rebellious Subiects that their owne seruaunts and vnderlings also do kicke and spurne agaynst them And moreouer seeing that man not only findeth all maner of mischiefe and misfortune in himselfe but is also so blynd as to seeke his felicitie in the myre and in the durtie dunghils of this world it is a token that he sought his happinesse in himself and elswhere than in God To bee short wée bée striken in our Soules with ignorance of the things that are most néedfull for vs and in our bodies with continuall infirmities and finally with death and that is because we haue bene curious in seeking trifeling things as not contented with the lesson that GOD had giuen vs and would néedes haue made our selues immortall howbeit not by the euerlasting power of Gods quickening spirit but by the forbidden vse of transitorie things yea euen which had no life in them Thus see we now whereof the corruption of mankynd is come namely euen of our owne transgression and of the punishment that followed vpon the same But it is demaunded of vs yet further how long it is ago since this befell If wee had espyed this corruption in vs but from some certeyne hundred yéeres hence it were not for vs to seeke any further for it But let vs hold on our course vp the streame of Mankynd euen to the Riuers head and wee shall finde it still alwaies foule and muddy and we shal from age to age heare these outcryes euen among the best I loue well the good but I cannot doe it and to bee short that man is inclyned to doe euill and subiect to receyue euill which are in one word both the fault and the punishment Agayne were it but in some households or but in some Nations only men would not sticke to father the fault vppon the Clymate and the Soyle or vppon the misteaching or misexample of the Parents But when we see that in that respect all men are in one selfesame taking aswell the men of old tyme as the men of our daies sauing that sinne increaseth continually as well vnder the Equinoctiall lyne as betwéene both the Tropicks and as well on the further side as on the hether side of them sauing that some take more payne to keepe it from sight thā others and that those which haue most wit are woorst forasmuch as I haue alreadie sufficiently proued the creation of the world and of the first man wee be driuen to mount vp agayne to the same man and to say that as he is the roote of our ofspring so is he also the welspring of this corruption which reigneth in vs as in whom our whole race was both atteinted with sinne and attached with punishment In this behalfe it is not for vs to pleade against GOD but to submit our shoulders to his Iustice and to lift vp our eyes to his mercie For necessarily from poynt to poynt doth this consequence ensewe The Soule is corrupted in all mankynd Who is so corrupted that he feeleth it not This corruption cannot procéed from the Creator For when did euer purenesse yéeld forth corruptiō The other creatures could not haue defiled it For what maketh a thing vncleane but the taking of vncleannesse vnto it and what causeth the taking of vncleannesse vnto it but the touching thereof and what touching one of another can there be betwéene a Spirit and a Bodie It remayneth therefore that our Soule corrupted it self by forsaking her duetie eyther of her owne accord or by the admitting vnto it of some wicked Spirit that is to say by perswasion of that Spirit which perswasion is vnto Spirits as touching is vnto bodies And agayne this coruption is from all tyme then comes it not of trayning And in all Nations then comes it not of Constellation And in all ages both old young and middle sort then comes it not of imitation or exampletaking Therefore it must néedes procéed both from one only man and from the firstcreated man who turned away from God through pride whervpon God also did iustly turne away from him as wee reade of our first father Adam in the holy Scripture Now then what remayneth more for vs but to conclude that thing by nature which wee beléeue through Scripture namely That God created man good That he told him his will That man chose to liue after his owne lyking and would néedes become equall with God That therevpon he was banished from Gods presence and fauour That the Earth became rebellious against man and man against himselfe and to bee short that man was wrapped in the wretchednesse of this world intangled with sinne in himself driuen to liue euer dying in this life and were not Gods wrath appeased towards him sure to dye euerlastingly in the life to come The xvij Chapter That the men of old time agreed with vs concerning mans corruption and the cause thereof IT followeth that wee gather the voyces and iudgements of the wisest sort yea of all men in generall the which in myne opinion ought to beare the more sway with vs because it is a kindly thing with vs both to loue our selues and also to thinke ouerwell of our selues For what cause hath a man to complayne if being made Iudge in his owne case he frame his
A Woorke concerning the trewnesse of the Christian Religion written in French Against Atheists Epicures Paynims Iewes Mahumetists and other Infidels By Philip of Mornay Lord of Plessie Marlie Begunne to be translated into English by Sir Philip Sidney Knight and at his request finished by Arthur Golding ¶ Imprinted at London for Thomas Cadman 1587. To the right Honorable his singuler good Lord Robert Earle of Leycestor Baron of Denbigh Knight of the order of the Garter and of S. Michaell one of the Lords of the most Honorable priuie Counsaile and Maister of the Horse to the Queenes Maiestie Lord Generall of her Maiesties Forces in the Lowe Countries and Gouernour Generall of the vnited Prouinces and of their Associates Arthur Golding wisheth long continuance of health much increase of Honour and in the life to come in endlesse felicitie MAny causes doe fully perswade me right Honorable that this present worke which I presume to offer vnto you will in diuers respects be vnto you very acceptable For vnto such as are of greatest wisedome vertue and Nobilitie the wisest best and weightiest matters are alwaies most agreeable And whereas all men are naturally desirous of the souereine welfare highest felicitie or cheefe good howbeit that very fewe doe knowe what it is or wherein it consisteth or which is the right way that leadeth thereunto And yet not withstanding without the knowledge of that trueth all their wisedome is but mere ignorance blyndnesse and folly all their goodnesse is but mere corruption wickednesse al their brauerie tryumphe iollitie and pompe is but vtter miserie and wretchednesse This present worke treateth of the trewnesse that is to say of the perpetuall and inuariable constancie and sted fastnesse of the Christian Religion the only band that linketh God vnto man and men one to another and all vnto God the only Lampe that enlighteneth mans wit with true wisedome the onely water-spring that replenisheth his will with true goodnesse and the only mightis power that giueth strength and courage to mans spirit whereby he is enabled both perfectly to discerne and beholde his souereine welfare or felicitie which is God the very founder furtherer and finisher of trueth or rather the very trueth it selfe and constantly to hold on with ioy to the obteynement of the same than the which no greater thing can by any meanes bee imagined And in the discourse of this most graue weightie matter many deepe poynts of humaine Philosophie and many high misteries of heauenly Diuinitie be learnedly breefly and plainly discussed and layd open to the vnderstanding euen of the meanest capacities that will vout safe to reade aduisedly to conferre the parts together with diligence For the Author of this work being a man of great reading iudgement learning skill and there with addicted or rather vowed as appeareth by this and dyuers other of his excellent writings to the furthering of Gods glorie by his most faithfull and painfull imploying of himselfe in the seruice of his Church hath conueyed into this worke what soeuer he found eyther in the common reason of all Nations or in the peculiar principles of the cheefe Philosophers or in the misticall doctrine of the Iewish Rabbines or in the writings of the Historiographers and Poets that might conueniently make to the manifestation of that trueth which he taketh in hand to proue VVherby he hath so effectually brought his purpose to passe that if any Atheist Infidel or Iew hauing read this his worke with aduisemēt shall yet donye the Christian Religion to be the true and only path way to eternall felicitie all other Religions to bee mere vanitie and wickednesse must needes she we himself to be either vtterly voyd euen of humaine sence or els obstinatly and wilfully bent to impugne the manifest trueth against the continuall testimonie of his owne conscience Not without iust cause therfore hath so great loue and lyking of this worke of his bene generally conceiued that many not onely of Gentlemen in the Court and Country but also of Students in both the Vniversities haue purposed and attempted the translating therof into our English tongue as an increase of comfort and gladnesse to such as are alreadie rooted and grounded in the trueth as a stablishment to such as any way eyther by their owne infirmitie or through the wilinesse of wicked persons are made to wauer and hang in suspence and as a meane to reuoke such as of themselues or by sinister perswasions are gone away into error and also if it possible bee to reforme the malicious and stubbornhearted Among which number of weldisposed rightlyzealous Gentlemen I may not without iust desert of blame 〈◊〉 to say some what though farre lesse than is meet of that right worthie and valiant Knight your good Lordships noble kinsman Sir Philip Sidney whose rare vertue valour and courtesie matched with equall loue and care of the true Christian Religion being disappoynted of their purposed end by ouerhastie death in the very enterance of his honorable race haue left iust cause to his louing Countrie to be wayle the vntymely forgoing of so great an Ornament and the sodeyne bereuing of so hopefull a stay and defence VVhereof not withstanding this comfort remayneth That he dyed not languishing in ydlenesse ryot and excesse nor as ouercome with nyce pleasures and fond vanities but of manly wounds receiued in seruice of his Prince in defence of persons oppressed in maintenance of the only true Catholick Christian Religion among the noble valiant and wise in the open field in Martiall maner the honorablest death that could be desired and best be seeming a Christian Knight whereby he hath worthly wonne to himselfe immortall fame among the godly and left example worthie of imitation to others of his calling This honorable gentleman being delighted with the excellēcie of this present work began to put the same into our Language for the benefite of this his natiue Countrie and had proceeded certeyne Chapters therein vntill that intending a higher kind of seruice to wards God and his Prince not drawen therto by subtile deuyce of a wylie Vlysses from companie of Courtly Ladies himself being disguised in Ladies attire after the maner of Achilles nor discouered against his will by the wisedome of a Palamedes after the maner of Vlysses but aduaunced through the hardynesse of his owne knightly courage like to Prosilaus he willingly passed for a tyme from the companie of the Muses to the Campe of Mars there to make tryall as well of the Pyke as he had done of his Pen after the example of the valiant Iulius Caesar whose excellencie in all kinde of knowledge and learning could not hold him backe from seeking to inlarge his renowme by hazarding his noble person among the weapons of armed Souldyers Beeing thus determined to followe the affayres of Chiualrie it was his pleasure to commit the performāce of this peece of seruice which he had intended to the Muses or
world of al things therein So then he is if I may so terme him the materiall efficient and formall cause of all things And vnto whom can that bée attributed but vnto God Againe There are saith he Two Speeches or words the one being as an Originall deede is aboue vs and the other being as an Exemplification or Copy therof is within vs. And Moyses sayth he calleth the same the Image of God and this other which is our vnderstanding he calleth a later Copy thereof And the sayd first Speech sayeth he in his booke of the World is the expresse print or stampe of God and euerlasting as God him selfe is And what more sayth S. Iohn or the Apostle to the Hebrewes And in all those places which are worthie to be read throughout he vseth S. Iohns own terme namely Logos to signifie the sayd Spéech or Word Of the holy Ghost hee speaketh more darkly because the Hebrewes as we shal see hereafter amed chiefly at the Word or second Person But it is enough for vs to haue séene that this fountayne abode sufficiently cléere among the Hebrewes till the comming of Christ for Philo liued vnder the Emperours Tiberius and Caligula though the streames thereof were as good as dryed vp among the Gentiles verely because the Messias was to bee borne among the Hebrewes of the beléefe in whom this doctrine was to be the groundworke For as soone as Christ was come into the World it tooke light of him againe as at the day sunne which inlighteneth not onely the halfe compasse where on he shineth but also euen a part of that which seeth him not For this doctrine was not only receyued in the Church but also imbraced of all the great Philosophers that came after notwithstanding that in all other things they were deadly enemies to the Christians Numenius the excellentest of all the Pythagorians of whom Porphyrie reporteth Plotinus to haue made so great account that he wrate a hundred bookes of Commentaries vpon him saith these wordes He that will knowe the first and second GOD must well distinguish and aboue all things he must well settle his mynd and then hauing called vpon GOD he may open the treasure of his thoughts And therfore let vs begin thus God I meane the first who is in himself is single throughout cōpacted and one in himself and in no part diuidable Also the second and third God is one but yet you must consider that the First is the father of him that is the worker of all things Now ye must vnderstand that whereas wee say the Frst Second Third Person it is their maner to say the First Second and Third God which thing you must marke here at once for all the residue following And whereas he sayth that the first of them is the Father and that he is single and that they bee but one it is not to bee doubted but that he maketh them all one Essence so as the second holdeth of the first as the Light holdeth of the Sunne Againe The first God sayth he is free from all worke but the second is the maker which commaundeth Heauen and therfore are there two lyues the one from the first and the other from the second the one occupyed about things subiect to vnderstanding and the other about things subiect both to vnderstanding sence And moreouer by reason of the mouing which goeth afore in the second there is also a sending which goeth afore in the first and so there is a certeyne ioynt-mouing from whence the healthfull order of the World is spred foorth vniuersally Now whereas he speaketh of mouing it is after the maner of the Platonists who metaphorically doe meane that to be vnderstood or knowne is to moue and to vnderstand or knowe is to bee moued because they wanted words to expresse these déepe matters And in the same sence doe wee reade in the Scripture that the Sonne is sent of the Father And againe God the worker or maker sayth he is the beginner of Begetting and God the Good is the beginner of Beeing and the Second is the liuely exppresser of the First as Begetting is an Image of Beeing And in another place he sayth That this Worker beeing the Sonne is knowne to all men by reason of the creating of the World but as for the first Spirite which is the Father he is vnknowne vnto them And surely cōsidering their maner of speaking he could not haue sayd more plainly That the Sonne is the Image of the Father that he hath his being in him that he is one with him that by him the Father made all things And it is agréeable to that which Proclus witnesseth of him who reporteth of this Numenius that he woorshipped thrée Goddes of whom he calleth the first the Father the second the Maker and the third the Worke procéeding from them both Wherein wée ought not so much to seeke into the default as to commend the good that is therein Besides this it is good to marke here once for all that these men which speake vnto vs here of thrée Gods are the same which confessed vnto vs hertofore that there is but only one God Wherevpon it followeth that those thrée be but thrée Inbeings or Persons in one Essence Plotinus who was very well studyed in the bookes of Numenius steppeth yet further into the matter And first of all he hath made a Booke expressely purposely of the thrée chiefe Inbeings whereof I will set downe here a certeyne briefe Summe There are sayth he three chiefe Inbeings the One or the Good the Vnderstanding or Witte and the Soule of the World And of these three it is not for any man to speake without praying vnto God without settling his mynd afore vnto quietnes And if it be demaunded how one of them begetteth another it is to bee considered that wee speake of euerlasting things and therfore we must not imagine any temporall begetting For this begetting which wee speake of heere importeth and betokeneth but onely cause and order How commeth it to passe sayth he that this Vnderstnding is begottē of the One Surely it obteyneth not his beeing by meanes of any assent commaundment or mouing of the One but it is a light shed foorth euerywhere streaming from the One as brightnesse from the Sunne and begotten of the One howbeit without any mouing of the One. For all things as in respect of their continuing of their nature doe necessarily yeeld out of their owne essence and present power a cetteyne nature that dependeth vpon them which is a very Image and countershape of the power from whence it proceedeth As for example Fyre yeeldeth heate Snowe cold and Herbes yeeld chiefly sents or sauors And al things whē they be in their perfection ingender somewhat That then which is euerlastingly perfect doth euerlastingly beget yea and it begetteth a perfect and euerlasting thing howbeit that the thing begotten
now foretold shall stand all desolate Being asked another tyme as sayth Porphirius whether was the better of the Word or the Lawe he answered likewise in verse That men ought to beléeue in God the begetter and in the King that was afore all things vnder whom quaketh both Heauen and Earth Sea and Hell yea and the very Gods themselues whose Lawe is the Father that is honored by the Hebrewes And these Oracles were wont to be sung in Uerse to the intent that all men should remember them the better as Plutarch reporteth Now I haue bin the longer in this Chapter because most men thinke this doctrine so repugnant to mans Reason that Philosophie could neuer allowe of it not considering that it is another matter to conceyue a thing than to prooue or allow it when it is conceyued And therefore aswell for this Chapter as for that which went afore let vs conclude both by reason added to Gods reuealing and by the traces thereof in the World and by the Image thereof shining foorth in our selues and by the Confession of all the auncient Diuines and by the very depositious of the Deuilles themselues that in the onely one Essence or substance of God there is a Father a Sonne and a holy Ghost the Father euerlastingly begetting the Sonne and the Spirit euerlastingly procéeding from them both◠the Sonne begotten by the Mynd and the Spirit procéeding by the Will which is the thing that we had here to declare And let this handling of that matter concerning Gods essence bee taken as done by way of preuention howbeit that it depend most properly vppon the reuelation of our Scriptures which being proued will consequently yéeld proofe to this poynt also There may bee some perchaunce which will desire yet more apparant proofes but let them consider that wee speake of things which surmount both the arguments of Logike and also Demonstration For inasmuch as Demonstrations are made by the Causes the Cause of all Causes can haue no Demonstration But if any be so wilful as to stand in their owne opinion against the trueth which all the World prooueth al Ages acknowledge let them take the payne to set doune their Reasons in writing and men shall see how they be but eyther bare Denyalles or Gesses or simple distrusts or misbeleefs of the things which they vnderstand not and that they be vnable to wey against so graue and large Reasons and Recordes as I haue set downe heretofore And therefore the glorie thereof be vnto God Amen The vij Chapter That the World had a beginning LEt vs now retyre backe againe from this bottomlesse gulfe for the thing that is vnpossible to be sounded is vnpossible to be knowen And séeing that our eysight cānot abyde the brightnesse of so great a light let it content vs to beholde it in the shadowe Now this sensible world wherein we dwell is as the Platonists terme it the shadow of the world that is subiect to vnderstanding for certesse it cannot be called an Image thereof no more than the buylding of a Maystermason is the Image of his mynd And yet for all the greatnesse beautie and light which wee see therein I cannot tell whether the woord shadowe doe throughly fit it or no considering that shadowes haue some measure in respect of their bodies but betwéene finite and infinite is no proportionable resemblance at all We that are héere in the world doe woonder at it and we would thinke wee did amisse if we should beléeue that any thing is better or more beautifull than that For our flesh and complexions are proportioned after the Elements thereof and to the things which it bringeth foorth as our eyes vnto the light thereof and all our sences too the sensible nature thereof and those which are of the world seeke but onely to content the sensualitie that is in them But as we haue a Mynd so also let vs beléeue that the same is not without his obiect or matter to rest vpon And as the sencelesse things serue the things that haue sence so let vs make the sensible things to serue the Mynd and the Mynd it selfe to serue him by whom it is and vnderstandeth My meaning is that wee should not wonder at the world for the worlds sake it selfe but rather at the woorkemaister and author of the world For it were too manifest a childishnes to woonder at a portraiture made by a Peinter and not to woonder much more at the Peynter himselfe Now the first consideration that offereth it selfe to the beholder of this woorke is whether it hath had a beginning or no a question which were perchaunce vnnecessarie in this behalfe if euery man would consult with his owne Reason whereunto nothing is more repuguant than to thinke an eternitie to bee in things which wee not onely perceiue with our sences but also doe sée to perish Howbeit forasmuch as the world speaketh sayth the Psalmist both in all Languages and to all Nations let vs examine it both whole together and according to the seuerall parts thereof For it may be that the worldlings if they distrust their owne record will at leastwise admit that which the world it selfe shall depose thereof Let vs then examine the Elements all together they passe from one into another the Earth into Water the Water into Ayre and Ayre into Water againe and so foorth Now this intercourse cannot be made but in tyme and tyme is a measuring of mouing and where measure is there can be no eternitie Let vs examine thē seuerally The Earth hath his seasons after Springtime commeth Sommer after Sommer succeedeth Haruest and after Haruest followeth Winter The Sea hath his continuall ebbing and flowing which goeth increasing and decreasing by certeyne measures Diuers Riuers and especially Nyle haue their increasings at certeyne seasons and to a certeyne measure of Cubits The Ayre also hath his Windes which doe one while cléere it and another while trubble it and the same Windes doe reigne by turnes blowing sometime from the East and sometime from the West sometime from the North and sometime from the South And vppon them dependeth Rayne and faire wether Stormes and Calmes These interchaunges which are wrought by turnes cannot bee without beginning For where order is there is a formernesse and an afternesse and all chaunge is a kind of mouing insomuch that the alterations which are made successiuely one after another must of necessitie haue had a beginning at some poynt or other on the Land by some one of the Seasons on the Sea by ebbing and flowing and in the Ayre by North or by South and so foorth For if they began not at any one poynt then could they not hold out vnto an other poynt The Land then by his Seasons the Ayre by his chaunges and the Sea by his Tydes ceasse not to crye out and to preach vnto all that haue eares to heare that there is no euerlastingnesse in them but that they
were out of the bowelles of the moyst nature and likewise an ayre casting it selfe betwéene the water and the elementarie fire which is nothing els but a more cléere and suttle ayre The Sea and Land sayth Moyses were mingled together vntill God had spoken and then by and by eyther of them tooke his place by himselfe After the same maner Mercurie sayth that those two Elements lying erst mingled together seuered themselues asunder at the speaking of the spirituall word which inuyroned them about What more God say both of them created the Starres and the Planets At the voyce of his word the Earth the Ayre and the Water brought foorth Beasts Birdes and Fishes Last of all God created man after his owne Image and deliuered all his workes into his hand to vse them Is not this a setting downe nor only of one selfsame sence but also of the selfesame termes and words But when as Mercurie addeth afterward that God cryeth out vnto his works by his holy word saying Bring ye foorth fruite grow and increase may it not séeme vnto vs that we heare Moyses himselfe speaking And as for the small differences which are in him concerning the seuen Circles the Zones and such other things they serue greatly to the manifestation of the trueth namely that this maner of Mercuries writing is not a bare borrowing or translating out of Moyses but rather a tradition conueyed to the AEgiptians from the Father to the Sonne In another place he sayth that God by his holy spirituall and mightie working word commaunded the day sonne to bee and it was done that the Sea and Land should bee seuered asunder that the Starres should be created and that Herbes should growe vp euery one with his seede by force of the same worde Also that the World is but an alteration a mouing a generating and a corrupting of things and that it cannot be called good These are conclusions cleane contrary to eternitie or euerlastingnesse But forasmuch as if I should set downe all his sayings which he hath to that purpose I should be fayne to copie him almost whole out it is better for me to desire the Readers to go to the very place it self Orpheus the auncientest of the Greekes had bin in AEgipt as he himselfe skyth and there he learned That there is but one God and that The Ayre the Heauen the Sea the Earth and Hell With all the tâ—â—â—gs that in them all doe dwell were harberd in his â—reast from all eternitie And also that The running streames the Ocean Gods and Men Things present things to come lay all at ease In that wide lap of his and that within His belly large the bond lay lapped vp Which holdeth all this great huge worke together And afterward he addeth further These things which yet lay hidden all Within the treasure of his brest He into open light did call Creating as he deemed best This stately stage whereon to showe His noble doings on a rowe And what els is this than that God did euerlastingly hold the world hiddeny as the Apostle sayth in the Treasurie of his infinite wisedome Or as Dennis sayth in the Closet of his purpose and will and afterward brought it foorth in tyme when it pleased him And in another place I sing sayth he of the darke confusion I meane the confusion that was in the beginning how it was disfigured in diuers natures and how the Heauen the Sea and the Land were made And what more I sing sayth he of Loue euen of the Loue that is perfect of it selfe of more antiquitie than all these things and of all things which the same hath brought foorth and set in order yea of tyme it selfe I haue alreadie heretofore declared what he meaneth by this Loue namely the goodwill of GOD and that also doe euen some of the Hebrewes meane by the Spirit which Moyses speaketh of To be short he sayth that he himselfe made a booke of the Creation of the world which was a common argument among the Poets of that tyme as Empedocles Hesiodus Parmenides and such others which were all Philosophers And in many places he reduceth all things to Water and to a certeyne Mud as to their original which thing agréeth well enough to the déepe of Moyses The like is done by Homer and Hesiodus which came after him For Hesiodus maketh description not only of the Creating of â— world and of the parts thereof but also of the Chaos or confusion and of the Gods themselues And wheÌ„ Homer intendeth to curse a man I would sayth he that thou mightest returne to Water and Earth that is to say I would thou wert not any more as the time hath bene that thou wast not To be short Sophocles AEschylus and the very Comedywriters speake after the same maner and for proofe of them all Ewripides shall suffize who was the least religious of them all The tyme hath bene sayth he that Heauen and Earth were but a lumpe but after that they were separated they ingendred all things brought to light the Trees the Birds the Beastes of the field the Fishes and Men them selues For as for others they speake more to the purpose as Aratus who sayth that God hath set the Starres in the Skye to distinguish the Seasons of the yeare that he created all things that men are his ofspring that by the signes of Heauen he ment to giue them warning of the chaunges of the Aire and of Tempests And the voyce of these Poets is to bee considered as the opinion of the people to whom they sung their uerses Now let vs go on with the auncient Philosophers Pythagoras by the report of Plutarke saith that the World was begotten of God of it owne nature corruptible because it was sensible and bodily but yet that it is not corrupted because it is vphild and mainteyned by his prouidence The same thing doth also Diogenes Laertius witnesse And whereas Varro sayth that Pythagoras acknowledged not any beginning of liuing Wights Architas his Disciple shall mainteyne the contrary for his Maister For his wordes are these Of all liuing Wights man is bred most wise of capacitie to consider things and to atteyne to knowledge and to iudge of them all For GOD hath printed in him the fulnesse of all Reason And like as God hath made him the instrument of all Voyces Sounds Names and vtterances so also hath he made him the instrument of all vnderstandings and conceyts which is the workmanship of wisedome And euen for that cause saith he doe I thinke that man is of Gods creating and hath receyued his instruments and abilities at his hand Thales one of the seuen Sages hild opinion that all things had their beginning of Water and that GOD created all things therof who is alonly vnbegotten and hath not any end or any beginning And againe The World sayth he is most excellently beautiful for it is
beeing In the outward man we haue a Counterfet of the whole world and if ye rip them both vp by percelmeale ye shal find a woonderfull agreement betwixt them But my purpose in this booke is not to treate of the things that perteyne peculiarly to the body In the inward man wee haue a summe of whatsoeuer life sence and mouing is in all creatures and moreouer an Image or rather a shadowe for the Image is defaced by our sinne of the Godhead it selfe And that is the thing which wee haue to examine in this Chapter In Plants we perceyue that besides their bodies which wee see there is also an inward vertue which wee see not whereby they liue growe bud and beare fruite which vertue wee call the quickening Soule and it maketh them to differ from Stones and Mettalles which haue it not In sensitiue liuing things we finde the selfesame vertue which worketh while they sléepe are after a sort as the Plants and therewithall we finde another certeine vertue or power which seeth heareth smelleth tasteth and feeleth which also in many of them doth hoord vp the things brought in by the sences which maner of power the Plants are voyd of This do we terme the sensitiue Soule because the effects thereof are discerned and executed by the Sences In man we haue both the quickning and the Sensitiue the former vttering it selfe in the nourishing and increasing of him and the later in the subtilitie of sence and imagination wherethrough he is both Plant and Beast together But yet moreouer wee see also a Mynd which considereth and beholdeth which reapeth profite of the things that are brought in by the Sences which by his séeing conceiueth that which it seeth not which of that which is not gathereth that which is finally which pulleth a man away both from the earth from al sensible things yea and after a sorte from himself too This doe we call the reasonable Soule and it is the thing that maketh man to bée man and not a Plant or a brute Beast as the other two doe and also to bee the Image or rather a shadowe of the Godhead in that as we shal say hereafter it is a Spirit that may haue continuance of being alone by it selfe without the bodie And by the way whereas I say that the inward man hath a quickening power as a Plant hath a sensitiue power as a Beast hath and a power of vnderstanding wherby he is a man my meaning is not that he hath thrée Soules but onely one Soule that is to wit that like as in the brute Beast the sensitiue Soule comprehendeth the quickening Soule so in man the reasonable Soule comprehendeth both the sensitiue and the quickening and executeth the offices of them all thrée so as it both liueth feeleth and reasoneth euen as well and after the same maner as the mynd of a man may intend to his owne household-matters to the affayres of the Commonweale and to heauenly things all at once Or to speake more fitly these three degrees of Soules are thrée degrées of life whereof the second excéedeth and conteyneth the first and the third excéedeth and conteyneth both the other two The one without the which the bodie cannot liue is the Soule or life of the Plant and is so tyed to the bodie that it sheweth not it selfe in any wise out of it The second which cannot liue without the bodie is the Soule or life of the Beast which doth well vtter foorth his power and force abroad but yet not otherwise than by the members and instruments of the bodie whereunto it is tyed The third which can of it selfe liue and continue without the bodie but not the bodie without it is the Soule of man which giueth life inwardly to all his parts sheweth foorth his life abroad in the perceyuing of all things subiect to Sence and reteyneth still his force as shal be sayd hereafter yea and increaseth it euen when the strength of the bodie and the very liuelinesse of the sences fayle And in very déede ye shall see a man forgoe all his sences one after another as the instruments of them decay and yet haue still both life and reason vnappayred The cause whereof is that some of the instruments of life and sence doe fayle but the life it selfe which quickeneth them fayleth not And therefore the Beast forgoeth not life in losing sence but he vtterly forgoeth sence in forgoing life And that is because life is the ground of the abilities of sence and the sensitiue life is a more excellent life than the quickening life as wherein those powers and abilities are as in their roote To bee short he that bereaueth man or beast of the vse of Sences or man of the right vse of reason doth not thereby bereaue him of life but he that bereaueth the beast or the outward man of their life doth therewithall bereaue them of sence and reason Therefore it is a most sure argument that the Soule which causeth a beast to liue and the Soule that causeth it to haue sence are both one that is to wit one certeyne kynd of life more liuely and more excellent than the life that is in Plants And likewise that the Soule which causeth man to liue to haue sence and to reason is but one that is to wit one certeyne kynde of life more excellent more liuely and of further reach than the life of the Beast But like as sence is as it were the forme or Selfebeing if I may so terme it of the life of a beast so is reason or vnderstanding the very forme and Selfebeing of the Soule of man and to speak properly it is the Soule or life of the Soule like as the apple of our eye is the very eye of our eye And in very déede when the mynd is earnestly occupied the sences are at a stay and when the sences are ouerbusied the nourishment and digestion is hindered and contrary wise which thing could not come to passe if the Soule were any mo than one substance which by reason that it is but one cannot vtter his force alike in all places at once but yéeldeth the lesse care one where so long as it is earnestly occupyed anotherwhere In this Soule of man which yet notwithstanding is but one the diuersitie of the powers and abilities is very apparant The quickning power doth nourish increase and mainteyne vs and Reason and Sence meddle not therewith neyther haue they power to impeach the working thereof The trueth whereof appeareth in this that those things are best done when our mynd is at rest and our sences are asléepe insomuch that oftentymes we forgo the sence and mouing of some parts by some Rhewme or some Palsey and yet the same parts ceasse not to bee nourished still Also the sensitiue life seeth and perceiueth a farre of yea oftentimes without setting of the mynd therevpon or without considering what the Sence conceyueth Some men which haue
but weake Sences haue very quicke vnderstanding and likewise on the contrary part Agayne some fall into a consumption which â—ant not the perfect vse of their Sences Sometyme the reasonable part is so earnestly bent and occupyed about the things that iâ— liketh of that by the increasing of it self it hurteth and diminisheth the part that quickeneth Also it standeth in argument against the Sences and reproueth them of falshoode and concludeth contrary to their information And it may bee that the man which hath his digestion perfect and his Sences sound hath not his wit or reason sound in like case Now were the Soule but onely one abilitie it could not be so But now is the same diuided manifestly into wit or vnderstanding and will the one seruing to deuise and the other to execute For we vnderstand diuers things which we will not and wee will diuers things which wee vnderstand not which contrary operations cannot be attributed both to one power Neuerthelesse the vniting of all these powers together is with such distinctnesse and the distinguishing of them is with such vnion that ordinarily they méete all together in one selfesame action the one of them as readily by all likelyhood as the other howbeit that euery of them doth his owne worke seuerally by himselfe and one afore another as in respect of their obiects Thus haue we thrée sorts of men according to the thrée powers or abilities of the inwarde man Namely the earthly man which like the Plant myndeth nothing but sléeping and féeding making al his sences and al his reason to serue to that purpose as in whom the eare of this present life onely hath deuoured and swallowed vp his sences and vnderstanding The Sensuall man as S. Paule himself termeth him who is giuen wholly to these sensible things imbacing and casting downe his reason so farre as to make it a bondslaue to his sences and the pleasures and delights therof And the reasonable man who liueth properly in spirite and mynd who entereth into himselfe to knowe himselfe and goeth out of himselfe to behold God making this life to serue to the atteynment of a better and vsing his Sences but as instruments and seruants of his reason After as any of these thrée powers doe reigne and beare sway in man that is to wit after as a man yéeldeth himselfe more to one thaÌ„ to another of them so becommeth he like vnto the Spirites the brute Beastes or Plants yea and the very Blockes and Stones But it is our disposition euen by leynd to be caryed away by our corrupt nature and by the obiects which hemme vs in on all sides but as for against our nature yea or beyond our nature our nature is not able to doe any thing at all Now it is not enough for vs to knowe that wee haue a Soule whereby wee liue feele and vnderstand and which beeing but one hath in it selfe alone so many sundrie powers or abilities for it will be demaunded of vs by and by what this Soule properly is And soothly if I should say I cannot tell what it is I should not belye my selfe a whit for I should but confesse myne owne ignorance as many great learned men haue done afore me And I should doe no wrong at all to the Soule it selfe for sith wee cannot denyâ— the effects thereof the lesse that we be able to declare the nature and béeing therof the more doth the excellencie therof shine forth Againe it is a playne case that no thing can comprehend the thing that is greater than it selfe Now our Soule is after a sort lesse than it selfe inasmuch as it is wrapped vp in this body in like wise as the man that hath gyues and fetters on his féete is after a sort weaker than himselfe Neuerthelesse let vs assay to satiffye such demaunds as well as wee can And forasmuch as it is the Image of God not only in respect of the gouernment and maintenance of the whole world but also euen in the very nature thereof as wee sayd heretofore when we spake of the nature of GOD if we cannot expresse or conceyue what it is let vs at leastwise be certified what it is not First of all that the Soule and the Body be not both one thing but two very farre differing things and also that the Soule is no part of the body it appeareth of it self without further profe For if the Soule were the body or a part of the body it should grow with the body as the other parts of the body doe and the greater that the body were the greater also should the Soule be Nay contrarywise the body increaseth to a certeyne age and then stayeth after which age is commonly the tyme tha the Soule doth most grow and those that are strongest of mynd are commonly weakest of body and the Soule is seene to be full of liuelinesse in a languisshiâ—g body and to growe the more in force by the decay of the bodie The Soule then groweth not with the body and therefore it is not the body nor any part of the body And whereas I speake of growing in the Soule by growing I meane the profiting therof in power and vertue as the body groweth in greatnesse by further inlarging Againe if the Soule were the body it should lose her strength and soundnesse with the body so as the maimed in bodie should therewith feele also a mayme in his vnderstanding as well as in his members whosoeuer were sick of any disease should also bee sicke in his reason he that â—impeth or halteth should therewith haâ—â— in Soule also the blynd mans Soule should bee blynd and the lame mans Soule should be lame But we see coÌ„trariwise that the maymed and the sicke the Cripples and the blynd haue their Soule whole and sound and their vnderstanding perfect and cléeresighted in it selfe To be short many a man dyeth whose body is sound and differeth not a whit in any part from that it was wheÌ„ it was aliue and yet notwithstanding both life mouing sence and vnderstanding are out of it Let vs say then that in the body there was a thing which was not of the body but was a farre other thing than the body Some wilfull person will obiect here that the force and strength of the Soule groweth with the body as appeareâ—h in this that a man growen wil remoue that which a child cannot and that a child of two yéeres old will goe which thing a babe of two moneths old cannot doe But he should consider also that if the selfesame man or the selfesame child should haue a mischaunce in his legge or in his arme he should thereby forgoe the strength and mouing thereof whereas yet notwithstanding his Soule should haue her former force and power still to moue the other as she did afore Therefore it is to be sayd not that the childs Soule is growen or strengthened by tyme but rather that his sine wes are dried and
or in any thing that beareth life in the world In his moothers wombe he liueth the life of a Plant howbeit with this further that he hath a certeyne commencement of sence and moouing which excéede the Plant and doe put him in a readynesse to be indewed with Sences as a Beast is In this life he hath sence and mouing in their perfection which is that propertie of a sensitiue wight but yet besides these he hath also a beginning to reason and vnderstand which are a beginning of another life such as the sensitiue wight hath not this life is to be perfected in another place In the life to come he hath his actions free and full perfected a large ground to worke vppon able to suffise him to the full and a light to his vnderstanding in stead of a light to the eye And like as in comming into this world he came as it were out of another world so in going yet into another world he must also goe out of this world He commeth out of the first world into the second as it were fayling in nourishment but growing in strength vnto mouing and sence and he goeth out of the second into the third fayling in sences and mouing but growing in reason and vnderstāding Now seeing we call the passage out of the first world into the second a birth what reason is it that we should call the passage out of the second into the third a death To be short he that considereth how all the actions of mans mynd tend to the tyme to come without possibilitie of staying vppon the present time how pleasant and delightful soeuer it be we may well discerne by them all that his being which in euery thing as sayth Aristotle followeth the working thereof is also wholly bent towards the tyme to come as who would say this present life were vnto it but as a narrowe grindle on the further side whereof as it were on the banke of some streame or running water he were to finde his true dwelling place and very home in déede But now is it tyme to sée what is sayd to the contrarie wherein we haue to consider eftsoones that which we spake of afore namely that if all that euer is in vs were transitorie and mortall wee should not be so witty to examine the Immortalitie as we be for of Contraries the skill is all one If a man were not mortall that is to say if he had no lyfe he could not dispute of the mortall lyfe neither could he speake of the Immortal if he himself also were not Immortall Therefore let vs goe backe retryue Some man will say that the Soule dyeth with the body bycause the Soule and the body are but one thing and he beléeueth that they be both but one bycause he seeth no more but the body This argument is all one with theirs which denyed that there is any God bycause they sawe him not But yet by his dooings thou mayst perceyue that there is a God discerne lykewise by the dooings of thy soule that thou haste a Soule For in a dead body thou seest the same partes remayne but thou séest not the same dooings that were in it afore When a man is dead his eye seeth nothing at all and yet is there nothing chaunged of his eye but whyle hee is aliue it séeth infinite things that are dyuers The power then which séeth is not of the body Yet notwithstanding how lyuely and quickesighted so euer the eye be it séeth not it self Woonder not therefore though thou haue a soule and that the same soule sée not it self For if thyne eysight sawe itself it were not a power or abilitie of séeing but a visible thing lykewise if thy Soule sawe itself it were no more a Soule that is to say the woorker and quickener of the body but a verie body vnable to do any thing of it self and a massie substance subiect to suffering For we sée nothing but the body and bodily substances But in this thou perceiuest somewhat els than a body as I haue sayd afore that if thyne eye had any peculiar colour of it owne it could not discerne any other colour than that Seeing then that thou conceyuest so many dyuers bodies at once in imagination néeds must thou haue a power in thee which is not a body Be it say they that we haue a power of sence yet haue we not a power of reason for that which we call the power of reason or vnderstanding is nothing but an excellencie or rather a consequence of sence insomuch that when sence dyeth the residew dyeth therewith also Soothely in this which thou haste sayd thou haste surmounted sence which thing thou haddest not done if thou haddest nothing in thee beyond sence For whereas thou sayest if the sence dye the rest dyeth also it is a reason that proceedeth from one terme to another and it is a gathering of reasons which conclude one thing by another Now the sences do in deede perceyue their obiects but yet how lyuely so euer they be they reason not We sée a Smoake so farre extendeth the sence But if we inferre therefore there must needes be fire and thereupon seeke who was the kindler thereof that surmounteth the abilitie of sence We here a péece of Musicke that may any beast do as well as we But his hearing of it is but as of a bare sound whereas our hearing therof is as of an harmony and we discerne the cause of the concords and discords which either delight or offend our sence The thing that heareth the sound is the sence but the thing that iudgeth of that which the sence conceyueth is another thing than the sence The lyke is to be sayd of smelling tasting and feeling Our smelling of sents our tasting of sauours and our feeling of substances is in déede the woorke of our Sences But as for our iudging of the inward vertue of the thing by the outward sent thereof or of the wholsomnes or vnwholsomnes of foode by the taste thereof or of the whotnesse or vehemencie of a feuer by feeling the pulse yea and our procéeding euen into the very bowels of a man whether the eye beeing the quickest of all sences is not able to atteyne surely it is the woorke of a more mightie power than the sence is And in verie déede there are beasts which do here see smell taste and feele much better and quicklyer than man doth Yet notwithstanding none of them conferreth the contraries of colors sounds sents and sauours none sorteth them out to the seruing one of another or to the seruing of themselues Whereby it appeareth that man excelleth the Beasts by another power than the Sences and that whereas a man is a Peynter a Musician or a Phisition he hath it from elswhere than from his sences Nay I say further that oftentymes we conclude cleane contrarie to the report of our sences Our eye perchauce telleth vs that a Tower