thou have raysed thy thoughts to a great height they seeme to have some solidnesse in them yet there is one doubt must bee cleared before they can come to be a Pillar for if the soule perish with the body as some vaine men Imagine what will then become of thy thoughts For the breath of man goeth out he returnes againe to Earth and then all his Thoughts perish and if all his thoughts perish he can then think no more if he can thinke no more there can be no soule For as thesoule is the life of the Body so thinking is the life of the soule That without thinking at least without a power to think it is a thing vaine to think there can be a soule It is more vaine conceite the to build castles in the ayre to think the soule lives whâ— it is vanished into ayre anâ— of which when it dyes it iâ— truly said Et procul in tenuâ— em evanuit auram For thâ— soule is a Breath and thâ— death of the soule is thâ— last gaspe of that breath and this is so plaine thaâ— Salomon affirmes plainely As a Beast dyeth so dyeth a man for they have all one Breath all goe unto one place and who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downeward And shall wee now thinke the soule lives because we know not how it dyes shall wee therefore thinke there is a difference after death betwixt the soule of a man and the soule of a Beast because we see there is no difference nor none to be seene What is this but to give the soule a Being out of our owne not-knowing and to make our ignorance her Foundation Had the soule any being but by being in the body and how then can it have any longer being then while it is in the body If it be truely said Infundendo creatur creando infunditur why is it not as truly said Extinguendo Exit Exeundo Extinguitur Is the soule any thing but a temper of the Body and when that temper ceaseth then also the soule as well in man as in beast ' ceaseth If the soule should remaine after the body it must remaine without its Faculties at least without a power to vse its Faculties And were not this a blemish to nature to give the soule Faculties and not give a power to be able to use them and use them it cannot without the body and therefore without the body without wrong to nature we cannot think there can be a soule But O my soule what aspersions are these upon Nature Or rather what blasphemies against the God of Nature For did not God breath the soule of man into his body at first and can Gods breath be ever out of breath No more can the soule ever cease to be Did not God make the body and soule asunder and shall they not continue to be when they are asunder The body gives not life to the soule but it is the soule that gives life to the body and shall that which giveth life cease to bee because that to which it giveth life ceaseth to bee can any thing perish that hath no contraries at least nothing within it or without it to oppose it For all things perish by one of these opposites but the soule is a simple substance uncompounded without mixture and therefore neither hath contraries nor any thing within it or without it to oppose it and therefore cannot perish and therefore is immortall Can any thing perish that is Principium sibi ipsi is life to it selfe and such a Principium hath God made the soule of man and therefore cannot perish and therefore is immortall The body perisheth not by Annihilating but by being turned into its first matter which was not the same that now it is but dust and earth Neither can the soule perish by Annihilating but by being turned into its first matter which was the same at first that now it is and therefore other then now it is it can never bee and therefore is Immortall If the soule were made by God and not made Immortall either it was because hee could not make it such or because hee would not to say hee could not is to make him no God because not omnipotent To say hee would not is to make him not good because no rewarder of his servants for what rewarding if the soule be mortal An Angell can put on a body though nature have ordained it none and yet bee a perfect Angell still and why not the soule put off a body though Nature have assigned it one and yet remaine a perfect soule still God made man in his own image and where iâ— is Gods image so apparâ—â— as in mans immortality and wherein is mans immortality so apparent as in his soule The soule had a beeing when it came into the body and shall it not have a being when it goes out of the body was it separate then and is it inseparable now But then we must not conceive the soule of man to be such a kinde of thing as the soule of a beast is For the soule of a Beast is perhaps nothing else but the very life of the beast or if a soule yet such a one as is endued onely with the Faculties of sense and vegetation which depending upon bodily Organs must needes decay with the decay of those organs and perish with the body but the Soule of man is a heavenly substance endued besides sense and vegetation with the divine Facultie of reason and understanding which not depending upon bodily Organs neither decayeth with their decaying nor yet perisheth with the body but is a substance subsisting of it selfe and as being a spirit when once it leaves the body ascends up to the place of spirits where God himselfe is who is the Father of Spirits as Ecclesiastes saith The Spirit returnes to God that gave it And if the Soule be a Spirit and God the Father of Spirits Then must the soule be needes immortal For though all things perhaps perish of which God is the Creator yet nothing perisheth of which God is the Father God made the Beasts living creatures all at once at least made the Earth bring them forth all at once and as they were made all at once so they perish all at once body and soule such a one as they have both together but God made man a living Creature by parts and if his parts were made severally shall they not continue and subsist severally And although the body separated from the soule cannot long continue because it wants the cement of life that should keepe it together and being a compound matter without its proper forme must needes be soone dissolved into the first matter yet the soule separated from the Body may continue long enough seeing it is a simple forme and a Cement to it selfe which can never be dissolved and therefore is Immortall Is not the soule of
not capable of immortality Can any thing bee more vaine then to desire impossibility If it be not more vaine to thinke that Nature makes any thing in vaine and so it is for the credit of Nature still that the soule bee immortall Nature hath made man in Duration of Body like to those Inferiour Creatures to whom shee hath made him like in faculties of the Body and hath she not as well in duration of Soule made him like to those Superiour Creatures to whoÌ„ she hath made him like in Faculties of the Soule And so it is for the Equity of Nature that the Soule be immortall But more than this Nature hath given to her meanest creatures as Trees and Beasts folong a continuance that though they be not Eternall yet they seeme to be Aeviternall at least farre exceed the continuance of man and would shee doe this and not make man her Noblest Creature some amends for it by a longer duration in another life and so it is for the Equitie of Nature still that the Soule be immortall Who knowes not that the Soule of man hath in it three Faculties the Vegetative the Sensitive and the Rationall of which the two first are common to man with Beasts the third proper only to man The two first have relation onely to the Body and depend upon it The third hath no relation at least no necessary relation to the Body nor dependance on it and therefore the two first make a Soule which may properly bee called Anima the third a Soule which may properly be called Spiritus as Ecclesiastes calleth it Not saying the Soule but The Spirit returnes to God that gave it Yet not that Anima and Spiritus are two distinct Soules as the ancient Didymas thought but that they are both but one Soule under two names expressing a two-fold Existence and Operation properly Anima as it Animates and is sensitive and inseparable properly Spiritus as inseparable and intellectuall And although the Soule separated from the Body reteine all the three Faculties in Habit yet the third onely in Operation because only the third operates without bodily Organs which the other two cannot and yet reason enough to call it the immortality of the Soule not onely of the Spirit And further it may perhaps be that as while the Soule is in the Body the Rationall Faculty makes use of some things which were made of purpose for the Sensitive Faculty So when the Soule shall be separated from the Body the sensitive Faculty shall have the power of reflexion and be Speculum sibi ipsi a Glasse to it self which was proper before to the Rationall Faculty at least by the like Endowment whereby Angels see and heare be enabled to doe that without bodily Organs which it could not do before but with them If the Soule of man were not immortall it should be Ex Traduce from the Patents as the soules of Beasts are which are drawn E potentia materiae from the power of the matter of which their bodies are made but the Soule of man is not drawn from the power of the matter but Extrinsecus advenit commeth to the Body from a forraigne power as Christ saith Pater meus usque nunc operatur and therefore is not Ex Traduce and therefore is immortall That which is drawne from the power oâ— the matter must needes be materiall but the soule of man is a substance immateriall for if it were not immateriall how could it coÌ„prehend things that are immateriall seeing Modus operandi sequitur modum Essendi Every thing operates according to its Essence but the soule of man coÌ„prehends things immateriall Angels and Spirits Formes and Universals and could it doe this if it were not that could it appreheÌ„d things immateriall if it self were not immateriall A stream can never naturally rise higher than its Spring lower it may fall levell it may runne but higher it cannot rise so if the soule were materiall it could never rise to apprehend things immateriall which are higher than it selfe but being immateriall it may apprehend things materiall which are lower than it self and things also immateriall which are but levell with it selfe and then if it be immateriall it is also incorruptible For all corruption is from matter where no matter is there can be no corruption and if incorruptible then also immortall for all Mortality is from corruption where no corruption is there can be no mortality and so of these linkes I may say is made up the chaine of the soules immortality It is not drawne from the power of the matter and therefore is immateriall and therefore is incorruptible and therefore is immortall But if the soule be not Ex Traduce from the Parents why is it said in Genesis that sixty six soules went down with Jacob into Aegypt which came all out of his loynes for what is it to come out of his loines but to be Ex Traduce Is it not that they are called soules because they were persons then living when they went downe into Aegypt Or is it that they are called soules à Notiori parte not à meliori from â—he sensitive and vegetative parts which are visible and in a kinde common to man with Beasts and therfore in a kind also transmitted from the Parents but the intellectuall part which onely is the soule that properly is immortal was never in the loynes of Jacob and therefore issued not to his issue froÌ„ thence nor is Ex Traduce from the Parents But how then comes oâ— riginall sinne to be in the soule if it be not transmitted from the Parents and how is it transmitted if the soule be not Ex Traduce O my Soule is not this the doubt that gravelled the great Saint Austin a knot that hath busied the most learned wits to untye and yet perhaps is not so untyed but that it remaines intangled still at least the solution to ordinary capacities not made so plaine but that there are seeming difficulties still in it For is it enough to say that Adams sinne was not onely personall but extends to all mankinde Or to say that he sinned not as a private person but as one that obliged his whole Posterity For doth it not follow by this that originall sinne should be by imputation rather than by inherencie when yet the saying of David I was coâ—ceived in sinne pretends to more then imputation And if it be inherent then must it bee transmitted from the Parents and if transmitted from them then must the soule also be Ex Traduce and so this seemes not to cleare the doubt but leaves us in the bryers with S. Austin still Is it then that as Saint James saith He that breaketh one Commandement is guilty of the breach of all so if some part of the soule be tainted with sinne it sets a taint upoÌ„ the whole And is it not that so much of the soule as is common to man with Beasts which are the sensitive and
of Isaack and the God of Jacob for he is not the God of the dead but of the living and living they could not be if the Soule were mortall and so it is for the Power of God still that the soule be immortall And now my soule wilt thou rather detract from Gods Glory from his Justice from his Power than believe and acknowledge that the soule is immortall Shall Heathen men who had scarce any hope of good after this life Shall a Heathen Poet say Et cum frigida mors Anima seduxerit artus making death not a destruction of the soule but onely a separation of it from the body and shall we whose chiefe blessednesse consists in the expectation of our soules blessednes after this life make a doubt whether the soule of man be immortall or no Are there not manifest Arguments to evince it and such as are obvious to sense both in the dead and in the living For is it nothing that in all ages there have beene apparitions of man departed whereof though some perhaps be Fables and some delusions yet many no doubt are true Relations and have beene Reall Representations which could be none if the soule were mortall And if it be doubted whether any such apparitions have been or no have we not the learned Melancthon a reverend Writer of late time affirming himselfe to have beene an eye-witnesse Have wee not the learned Ludovicus Vives affirming many of his acquaintance men worthy of credit to have seene and spoken with them and heard many things related by them above the pitch of Nature that nothing is more certaine than such apparitions which could be none if the soule were mortall What though it were not the true Samuel that appeared to Saul but a delusion of Satan yet was there no ground for his using such delusion which could be none if the soule were mortall Is it nothing that the Devill oftentimes makes Pacts and bargaines with wicked men to doe great matters for them in this present life upon a hope and desire of their destruction in the next which could be none if the soule were mortall and if any doubt of such Pacts with the Devill have we not Confitentes reos daily examples of Delinquents themselves averring it at their deaths no time to dissemble that nothing is more certaine then that such Pacts are made which could be none if the soule were mortall Is it nothing that the consciences of all men whether good or bad give evident testimony of this truth of the soules immortality For why else should good men dye so patiently indeed so joyfully if they had not a hope of a better life after this which could bee none if the soule were mortall Or why should wicked men dye so unwillingly indeed so fearefully if their conscience did not give them there would be sense of paine remaining after death which could be none if the soule were mortal Have not all wise men a the world over affirme and beleeved the soule oâ— man to be immortall onely some few fooles whâ— have said in their hearts there is no God havâ— said also with theiâ— mouthes The soule iâ— mortall and shall we rather joyne in assent witâ— these few fooles thaâ— with those many wise men No my soule let Epicureans and Sadducees and Atheists doubt their pleasures till their doubt be resolved by the feeling Argument of eternall paines but let this be thy Pillar or rather thy Murus Aheneus that after this life there will be reward for the Godly and punishment for the wicked that In memoria aeterna erit justus the Righteous shall bee had in Everlasting remembrance that the number of Angels that fell from Heaven shall be filled up with Saints from the Earth and especially that God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaack and the God of Jacob and then I doubt not thou wilt be satisfied of this doubt and not onâ—y of thine owne but of â—hy bodies immortality that so thou maist por â—onely immortally be Spiritus but immortally be Anima for though thou wilt properly bee but Spiritus till the body rise againe yet after the Reâ—urrection thou wilt proâ—erly be Anima againe and have all thy Faculties not onely in Habit but in Operation and Animate the Body in a greater perfection than ever before for the body will then have greater endowments of thy Facultie 〈◊〉 thou art properly 〈◊〉 by a more vigorous vegetation and perspicacity of sense and greater endowments also of thy Faculties as thou art properly Spiritus by celerity of motion and by subtilty of dimension by which perhaps it was that Christ after his Resurrection came in amongst his Apostles when the doores were shut for so it was fit for a body being then spirituall Now indeede Corpus aggravat Animam the body is a burthen to the soule but as much as the body aggravates the soule now and makes her participate of its infirmities so much and more will the scale then alleviate the body and make it participate of her perfections And who now is so stupid that findes not a sweet showre of perswasion to fall upon him from this cloud of Reasons whereof though every drop by it selfe may seeme to wet but little yet all together make a showre able to wet to the roote but if any mans temper be so hard that no showre will mollifie it if any man be so unreasonable that no reason will satisfie him yet there is hope that Faith will for Faith raines downe a stronger showre of perswasion than Reason can and this beliefe of the soules Immortality is the mayne Root upon which all Faith is grounded For if the soule bee not believed to bee Immortall where is the assurance of forgivenesse of sinnes where the hope of Resurrection from the Dead where the expectation of life everlasting And if any man still be possest with a stupidity of this doubt that neither Reason can perswade him as a man nor Faith over-rule him as a Christian I must then leave him to feede upon grasse with the Beast of the Field like Nabuchadonozer untill like Nabuchodonozer he recover his senses and recant his Errour and then hee will bee able and shall have leave to make a benefit and to take the benefit of this cloud of Reasons And now my soule thou art sure of immortality a Fee Simple that no time can weare out no forfeiture extinguish but alas what good is it to have Immortality if it be not accompanied with Beatitude and accompanied with Beatitude it will never bee if God vouchsafe not his Beatificall Vision and that Vision hee will never vouchsafe thee if thou bee not Mundo Corde of a pure heart in his sight For Beâ—ti mundo Corde quoniam â—psi videbunt Deum Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God O therefore my soule endevour so to serve God with a pure heart in this mortall life that whâ—â— thou commest to thy true Immortality in the next thou mayst be admitted to see that Beatificall Vision â—nd mayst be immortall in â—â—joying of Happinesse and not in feeling of torments thy Joy may bee â—mmortall and not thy Misery And let this bee â—y Pillar upon which to â—â—xe thy Thoughts
then it must be an infinitenesse by extension of Magnitude and that the work only of Imagination or conceit where his Infinitenesse is a Transcendent to Quantity and leaves imagination behind it and conceit below it or rather makes Imagination weary and Conceit ashamed I can perhaps apprehend more than he is but not so much for I can apprehend many gods but all of them not so much as he that is but One. And why then would I so faine be thinking of him when I can think of nothing that is worthy of him Yet I must thinke of him or I can thinke of nothing that is worth the thinking of If I thinke of the wisdome of Salomon If of the beauty of Absalom If of the strength of Sampson Alas what are these to think of Great indeede to bee thought of by themselves but compar'd with his wisdome with his beauty with his strength they are lesse then nothing When I can measure out the Sea by dioppes and when I can sum up the Sands with Counters I may then hope to finde out something to thinke of that is worthy of him But though I cannot apprehend him as he is unum integrale One entire being yet I may perhaps apprehend him as Humane Capacity conceiveth him in parts Alas no better at all For if I thinke of his Providence and his Providence is the most visible Character in his Oeconomy of the World I finde my selfe even confounded with the course hee holdeth in it Why he suffers the wicked of the World to prosper and flourish and the godly whom he loveth best and who love him best to be in affliction as though he did mistake either his blessings or them he blesseth taking Ephraim for Manasses and Manasse for Ephraim as old Jacob did If I thinke of his Justice and every one hath a right in Justice I am then confounded to think why Abel that was the first Saint should be the first Martyr and why Cain that was the Murtherer of his brother should have the blessing of long life as though it were justice with him to punish an innocent and to reward an offender If I thinke of his Power and power will alwayes make it self be thought of I am then confounded to thinke how hee could make all things of nothing and why they are said to bee the workes of his hands when yet they were made with a word of his mouth as though Nature were not worthy to be his Apprentice and as though it were with him but a word and a deed But most of all if I thinke of his Mercy and his mercy is over all his workes I am then confounded to thinke how it can be mercy in him to give the life of his Sonne to save the lives of his Enemies an Innocent for Delinquents a Lambe for Wolves a God for men O my soule this may well be thy astonishment seeing it is the wonder of Anâ—els But though his Jutice may be brought in â—uestion by it yet his Mercy certainly it makes â—ut of question for what reater Mercy then to save â—lany by One and many â—hat could not helpe themâ—elves by one that could â—oth save himselfe and oâ—â—ers Neither yet is his â—ustice brought in questiâ—n by it for is it not just that as hee did make man by his word which is his Sonne so hee should save man by his Sonne who is the Word Is it not just he should imploy his Son where most honour might be gotten and is there any greater honor than that which he hath gotten by this imployment to sit at the right hand of his Father and to have a Name at which both men and Angels must bow their knees And now O my soule thou hast found out a thing in God most worthy for thee to thinke of of him to be thought for as his mercy is over al his works so it may justly take up all thy thoughts But can nothing be found in God worthy to be thought of but his Mercy Not his Wisdome Not his Power Not his Justice Yes my soule most worthy to be thought of all of them but not so much or if as much in themselves yet not of us and therefore not so much of us because not communicated so much to us For his Wisedome is to us a secret his Power a transcendent his Justice an abyssus onely his Mercy offers to communicate it selfe to us that if it were not for his Mercy we neither could hope nor durst presume to have Accesse unto him and therfore in all our suites we Pray him not to heare us for his wisdomes sake or for his powers sake or for his Justice sake but only alwaies for his Mercyes sake It is his Mercy that emboldens us when we are fearefull that encourageth us wheÌ„ we are doubtfull It is his Mercy that directs us when wee are Erring that upholds us when we are falling and indeed his Mercy not only is Invocated by us but is it selfe an Advocate for us that we may truly say Of all his Attributes there is none hath Bowells in it but only his Mercy Here therefore My soule Fixeâ— thy Pillar of Thoughts and let this Mercy of God be thy perpetuall Object For as some superstitious in the sect of Mahomet when they have once seen his Tombe at Mecha pull out their Eyes presently as never possible to see so worthy a sight againe so Thou my Soule when thou hast once entred upon this Thought of Gods Mercy thou mayest seale up the doores of thy Heart as never possible to let in so comfortable a Thought againe But if with all thy thinking thou canst not sufficiently apprehend it then at least admire it that by admiring it thou maist bee drawne to love it or rather to love him for it yet not to love him onely for his mercy to thee but for his mercy and not onely for his being Mercifull but for his being for then my soule thou lovest God truely when thou lovest him for himselfe and not for his benefits for how else canst thou say with Job Though thou kill mee O Lord yet will I love thee Indeede to love God apart from his benefits is a worke for the soule when it is parted from the Body for as long as wee live in this world of Vanity our love to God I may say is but Mercenary even David as much a man as he was after Gods owne heart yet saith but this I love thee O Lord because thou hast heard my supplication So this Benefit of God was the Motive of his love to God that if it had not beene for this motive his love to God might have beene as little as anothers O ye blessed Seraphins that burne with an ardour of this love of God how happy are ye in this your ardour and though I cannot wish to be a Seraphin yet I wish at least some portion of your ardour for then I should love God not for his benefits
with him into Heaven by a lively Faith and by a Heavenly conversation For thus Ascending thou shalt bee out of the reach of Time and Place and all other circumstances of thy sinne and which is most of all thou shalt be out of Satans walke which goes no further then compassing the Earth that thou needest not now to feare either their Testimonie oâ— his Accusation But O my soule there is one step of this ladder yet behind without which thou canst never climbe up so high as to Gods Mercy-seat and the step is this to Referre all thy Thoughts thy Wordes and Actions to the glory of God For if thou shouldest have faith that thou couldest remove Mountaines if thou shouldest performe all the Workes of the Law as exactly as any Sadducee and not referre them to Gods glory they would all bee taken but for ungratefull complements and bee of no account nor thou for them in any account with God And great reason it should bee so for why did God make the World and all that is in the world but onely for his glory shall any that live in the world have another End in using it then God had in making it shall man that is made after his Image doe no more to the setting forth of Gods glory then every creeping thing of the Earth be only a passive instrument of his glory not an active Can hee take it well at his servants hands to be backwardest in a service in which they should be forwardest to neglect his greatest worke and then thinke to please him with Tything of Mint canst thou looke to have Recompense of God for thy service and God to have no recompense of thee for his favours and what recompense what Retribuam Domino hast thou for God but onely to take Calicem salutaris to Glorifie his Name How can any man justly complaine of his meane estate when the meanest man that is hath that in him which is in man the most excellent thing and what is that most excellent thing what my soule but a power to glorifie God for this Power is a greater Dignitie then the greatest dignitie of any earthly Power It is the worke which Angels doe in Heaven and is there any worke done in Heaven that is not better then the best that is done on Earth and more then this it is the very worke that makes the Angels happy for without doing this worke they could not be happy and if we want any thing in this life of being happie it is because we want something of doing this worke For never shall wee come to be perfectly happie till we come to be able to doe this work perfectly What was wanting in the Morall vertues of Heathen men but only this that they referred them to their owne and not to Gods glory Aristides in a high degree was just Cato sober Socrates Patient Regulus Constant all excellent parts towards the perfecting of a Building but yet no benefit of them because they came not up to the Roofe they had not the Crowne of Glory to God therfore not the crowne of reward to themselves It is an easie lesson to say but a hard to learne and few but David have ever practised it Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the Glory for is it not that we seeme all to have a spice of Lucifer in us though we can bee content to allow the greatest glory to God yet faine wee would reserve some at least for our selves when alas if wee reserve any at all to our selves we leave none at al for God for neither is glory a thing that can bee parted neither is God one that can endure a partner and specially in his Glory for though all his Attributes be Excellent Admirable yet Majestie is Attributed to none of them but to his Glory As it is in the Angels song Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory and what greater Derogation to Majestie then to have a Partner Indeede Gods Glory is in it selfe most perfect alwaies and nothing that man can doe can either adde to it or detract from it but such is Gods graciousnesse to us so great his desire to endeere us to him that he infinitely overvalues our Endeavours and sets a farre greater price upon them then they are worth counting as if wee added to it when we detract not from it at least as if wee then give it him when we ascribe it to him If therfore O my soule thou wilt ever be admitted into the quire of Angels to sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majestie of thy Glory It must bee thy care thy principall and I may say thy onely care to ascribe all Glory and Praise to God and to him only that if the Angells will undertake for Heaven thou for thy part mayest undertake for the Earth that their song shall sung out to the End Heaven and Earth are full of the Majestie of thy Glory that when both of them be full of his glory there may be no roome left for any of ours And thus my soule when thou hast made thee a Pillar of Thoughts with these three as I may call them Pretious stones The consideration of thy sin with a penitent heart The apprehensioÌ„ of Gods mercy with a Faith unfained the Referring all to the Glory of God with an humble Reverence thou wilt then be able to climbe up this ladder of Jacob to the uppermost step where meeting with saints and holy Angels that stand ready to receive thee thou wilt bee taken into the number of their society the happinesse of which coÌ„pany the joy of which Happinesse the greatnes of which joy no Pillar of Thoughts can ever reach so high as to apprehend no my soule not so much as to Imagine Yet adde this one Thought more to thy Pillar to thinke of the great Difference of the Happinesse that will bee then and the Happinesse that can bee now for all our happinesse now is but Expectation of happinesse we joy not so much in that we are whatsoever we are as in that we hope we shall be though wee know not what wee shall be the minde is so longing after the Future that it never rests satisfied with the present nor ever will till there shall be no more Future to long after but all shall be present then at last I shal have my wish â—or thou my soule wilt â—hen be turned into a Pilâ—ar of Thoughts they will â—ot then bee voluble nor moveable as now they are being out of their right place and having various objects but they will be quiet and quiescent as being fixt in their true center and fixed upon their proper object The beautifull face of God blessed for ever and never till then will thy state be capable of this counsell Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis But O My soule though
from Adam Et natis natorum qui nascentur abâ— illis seeing as the soule was then Tota in toto tota in qualibet parte all in the whole and all in every part of Adams body so it is still in every one of ours Or lastly if this also be refused Is it not then that we are all borne of that â—cursed seed upon which â—e sentence of Morte moâ—eris was for the sinne of â—isobedience justly proâ—ounced and though the â—oule be not Ex Traduce â—om the parents yet when 〈◊〉 once joynes with this â—ccursed seed and is made â—ne with it it justly beâ—omes both guilty of the â—inne and subject to the â—urse and shall so continue untill the seede of the woman take both the guilt of the sinne and the curse of the Law upon himselfe to free us from both and now if you will say It is hard measure in God to lay the penalty of one mans offence upon all his posterity you must withall say it is great mercy in God to impute the merit of one mans righteousnesse to all his followers that as the most you can say in that case is that God is a just Judge so the least you can say in this case is that he is a Mercifull Redeemer and now and ever a Faithfull Creatour If the soule did die with the body why should it not as well be sicke with the body and grow old with the body But this is found by daily experience that in the sicknesse of the body the soule is commonly best in health and in the age of the body the soule is yet yong still or rather hath the greatest vigour in these two seasons the sensitive part indeed because it useth bodily Organs must needes decay with their decaying but the intellectuall part which neither useth any nor hath use of any continues to be it selfe still what ever they be corrupted perhaps in her quality but not made corruptible in her substance and even when it is at the very point of disbanding and leaving the body yet then she exerciseth the operation of her Faculty in as great vigour as ever understands as much knowes as much apprehends as much as at any time before And could it doe so if it depended upon the body which is then all out of frame and in confusion It is indeed plainly to be seene that while the vegetative Facultie is in the greatest vigour all that while wee use the sensitive but little the Rationall not at all as is seen in Infants and little Children and while the sensitive Faculty is in the greatest vigour all that while we use the Rationall but little which makes youth commonly so intemperate as it is but when the sensitive and vegetative Faculties grow to decay as in old age they doe then comes the Rationall to be in greatest force which makes old men commonly to be of soundest judgements and therefore seeing the Rationall Faculty decayes not with the body as the other doe neither is it possible it should be extinct with the Body as the other are If the soule perish together with the body then it perisheth before the body for the body reteines its proportion and shape at least for some time after the soul hath left it but the foule if it perish then reteines nothing at all of all her Faculties they are all extinct and gone and so by this reckoning the body should be a longer laster than the soule which though it be true in Beasts whose soule is perhaps nothing but the life yet it is false in man whose soule is a substance subfisting by it selfe and separable from the body But though by these words of Salomon Who knoweth the Soule of a man that goeth downward or the soule of a man that goeth upward It may be gathered there is Aliquid imperceptibile in the soule of man something so obscure and hidden that makes it impossible to be thorowly understood and therefore no demonstrative Arguments can bee drawne from thence to make a peremptory conclusion of its immortality yet there are Arguments enow some drawne from the nature of the soule it selfe and some from forraigne circumstances that evidently evince it against all opposition to bee immortall For the soule of man can apprehend immortality which Beasts cannot and shall it not bee capable of immortality though Beasts are not And more then this the soule of man can discharge the Function of immortality which is to make of all times one reducing the time past and that which is to come into the present and is it possible it should doe the worke of immortality and not bee immortall If the soule of man bee not immortall then neither are the Angels immortall for they are all made of the same immateriall mettall which if it be durable in the one why not as well durable in the other must not those creatures be needes of the same nature and condition which do all alike the same actions insist all alike upon the same object have all alike the same Summum bonum but all these are common alike to men and Angels to both which the Summum Bonum is to enjoy Gods Presence the chiefe Object is the blessed Face of God the Finall actions are to glorifie God if then Immortality be granted to the Nature of Angels how can it be denyed to the Soule of man The Soule of man can apprehend God who onely is immorall and can that be mortall which apprehends him that is immortall and more then this the soule of man is the onely Creature in this inferiour world that can praise God and seeing Gods praise shall never cease can that cease which is to praise him And so it is for the glory of God that the soule be immortall Hath not God made the Heavens and the Earth for the use of man therein to glorifie him and shall he use them no longer than this life and longer he cannot use them if the soule be mortall and so it is for the glory of God still that the soule be immortall If the soule be not immortall when is it that God punisheth the wicked and rewardeth the godly seeing not in this life if not in another and not in another if the soule be mortall and so it is for the Justice of God that the soule be immortall If the soule bee not immortall what good is it that In memoria aeterna erit justus the Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance of which hee can neither be sensible nor intelligent and so it is foâ— the Justice of God stil that the soule bee immortall If the soule be not immortall how shall the places of the Angels that fell be filled up againe Or shall they stand empty for ever as though God had not power to fill them up and so it is for the Power of God that the soule bee immortall If the Soule be not immortall how is God the God of Abraham the God