doth take hold of many matters and exhibite them to the vnderstanding And as many times captaines being drawn on by the errour of their spies do attempt some exploits which redound to their great harme so reason being beguiled with the errour of imagination doth fall into folly and rashnes The Greeke Philosophers doe erre about the imagination of maÌ„ some of them doe make it to bee all one with the common sense some make the imaginatioÌ„ in man in brute beastes to be both alike but both the assertions are erronious for the common sense or inwarde sense dooth in the same moment of time together with the outward senses perceiue those things which do fall vnder sense and when the obiect is remoued the actioÌ„ of the coÌ„mon sense doth vterly cease but the imaginatioÌ„ although the bodies be taken away yet it doth retain the formes and of diuerse things can make one as of a mountain and gold can make a golden mountaine Again the common or inwarde sense doth only perceiue those things which are brought vnto it by the benefite of the outward senses but imagination goeth further and doth put forth her power in high and lofty matters At the first sight of a wolfe the sheepe doth flie away and yet cannot that sagacity be attributed to the outward senses neither can we say that the imagination in brute beastes is the same that it is in man for in beastes it is occupied wholy in appetites in seeking those thinges wherewith it is delighted in flying froÌ„ those things which they imagine will bring harm But mans imagination doth beholde many thinges very farre remoued froÌ„ affections and appetites and when imagination hath conceiued many things and by the exhibiting of theÌ„ as it were rowsed reason out of sleepe then doth reason ponder discourse of the matters proceeding to fro from the effectes to the cause doth thereupon inferre conclusions and determine vpon resolutions Caluin Instit l. â— cap. 15. The commoÌ„ sense is as it were a receptacle into the which by the outward senses as by instrumentes all maner of obiectes are infused Phantasie dooth iudge of those thinges which bee apprehended by common sense Reason hath an vniuersall iudgement farre beyond those thinges which doe fall vnder sense And aboue them all that which is called Mens the minde doth with a quiet and fixed contemplation behold those thinges whereof reason hath discoursed The three faculties called cognitiuae the cognitiue or knowing faculties of the soule Caluin ibid. haue other three appetitiue faculties answering vnto them Voluntas the wil doth properly desire that which the mind and reason do propound Vis irascendi the courage doth catch at those thinges which are reached out by reason and fantasie And vis concupiscendi the concupiscence doth desire and apprehend such things as are obiected by fantasie and sense How all these should be rightly vsed it is thus defined by an ancient Father Gregor Mag in Prologo in 7. Psalm poenitent Caro quatuor constat elementis anima tribus vegetatur naturis est enim rationalis ad disceraendum concupiscibilis ad virtutes appetendum irascibilis ad vitia aduersandum The flesh consisteth of fower elemeÌ„ts and the soule is quickned in three natures for it is either rationall to discerne or concupiscible to desire vertue or irascible to abhorre sinne Some doe make in the soule three beginnings of actions Calu. Instit l. 2 cap. 15. sense vnderstanding appetite Some do more briefly bring it into a Dichotomy making onely two parts of the soule to witte vnderstanding and will vnder vnderstanding they do comprehend sense and in will they include appetite vnderstanding doth discerne decree and the will doth make choise of that which reasoÌ„ hath prescribed refuse what she hath disalowed The appetite if it do obey reasoÌ„ natural instinct it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an earnest desire but if it do shake off the yoke of reason it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sodain and rash perturbatioÌ„ which is rather a corruption infirmity theÌ„ a natural faculty of the soule The Orator or tather in that booke the Philosopher doth theÌ„ accouÌ„t the apetite to be a right force of the soule when it obeyeth reason Duplex est vis animorum Tul. lib. 1. off vna pars in appetitu posita altera in ratione quae docet explanat quid faciendum fugiendumque sit ita vt raâ—io praesit But our Christian faith geeth further and dooth teach vs that all our reason our thoughts Rom. 8.7 2 Cor 3 5. 1 Cor 2 14. Gen 8 21. Phil 2.13 Eph 4 23. Ioh. 1 9 2 Peter 1 19 2 Cor 4.4 1 Tim 5 6. Greg. in Ezech hom 17 our knowledge our appetites our wil our wisedome and the very spirites of our mind are blinde darke and euen dead vnlesse they be lightened by the beames of Gods word and quickened by his sanctifying Spirit It was well said of Gregorie Anima in corpore vita est carnis Deus autem qui viuificat omnia vita est animarum The soule in the bodie is the life of the flesh but God which quickeneth all things is the life of our soules And of Augustine Aug. de verbis dom in Math Cap. 8 sicut expirat corpus cum animam emittit ita expirat anima cum Deum amittit Deus amissus mors animae anima emissa mors corporis As the body dieth when it sendeth out the soule so doth the soule dye when it loseth God the seperation from God is the death of the soule euen as the parting of the soule is the death of the body This is opus animae regere inferiorem et regia superiore August lib 6 muâ—i cap 5 the proper office of the soule is to gouerne man and to be gouerned it selfe of God CHAP. III. Whether anima vegetatiua sensitiua et rationalis the vegetatiue sensitiue and rationall soules bee three seuerall formes of soules or but diuers faculties of one soule WHen the vegetatiue force the sensitiue life and the rational soule are considered in themselues and in their owne nature they must needs be accounted three distinct kindes because the first is in plants all things growing on the earth The second is common both to bruit beast and man And the third is proper to man onely But when they are all ioyned together in man then the question is whether they are to bee reckoned three sortes of animae or but only three distinct powers of one soule Galen doth in diuers of his bookes followe still the positions of Plato and as there are three principall parts of man the heart the brayne and the liuer so hee teacheth expressely that their seueral sortes of anima tres animae sunt species Gal. lib. de animi et corporis temperament mutua consequutione Gâ—l de placit Hipp. et Plat. lib. 9. saith he there
liue vnto the Lord or whether wee dye wee we dye vnto the Lord whether wee liue therfore or dye we are the Lords for Christ therefore dyed and rose againe and reuiued that he might bee the Lord both of the dead and of the quicke How can our sauiour bee said to be the Lord and gouernour of the dead vnlesse some part of them doe remaine aliue to be subiect to his dominion Gouernement rule do of necessity import that there be also some to yeeld obedience and submission The Apostle sheweth Heb. 12.22.23 who bee the subiectes of that heauenly king to wit the angels and the spirites of iust and perfect men and hee sheweth there the great dignity of a Christian who is ioyned as it were to the Angels and spirites of iust men when he embraceth that religion which they doe continually reuerence But say they if the soule doe already enioy eternall blisse in heaueÌ„ what needeth then a day of iudgement If it be iudged already to what purpose should there bee any further sentence The day of iudgement is ordained of God for the vniting together both of body soule that as the elect haue serued God both in body and soule so they may receiue euerlasting ioy blisse both in body and soule and as the wicked haue serued the Diuell both in body soule so they receiue eternall tormentes both in body and soule And for this cause we are taught to belieue as an article of our faith the resurrection of the body wee do not say the resurrection of the soule for the soule doth not dye but the resurrection of the flesh or the resurrection of the body The soules of theÌ„ which haue dyed in the Lord August in Iohn tract 49. doe already enioy perfect and happy rest Nothing is wanting to the perfection of their ioyes but only the company of their bodies and the company of their brethren for this cause as some expounde it the soules of the Martyrs attired with white robes Apoc. 6.10 Anselmus in Apoc. Calu. in psychopanychia doe cry out in the ReuelatioÌ„ How long Lord holy and true as thirsting and longing for the comming of Christ to their full accomplishment If in this world a glorious sight doe delight vs neuer so much yet is our ioy increased when our friend doth behold the same together with vs. And no doubt this is as it were an accomplishing of the ioyes of the soules already receiued into the presence of Christ in the celestiall paradise when they shall receiue the company of their bodies the societie of their fellow-brethren An other argument doe the Anabaptists make Gen. 2.17 Rom. 6.23 Ezec. 18 4 20. drawn from the reward of sinne The stipend of sinne is death therefore say they seeing the soule hath sinned the soule must needes dye but death is in the scripture taken sundry wayes sometimes for the separation of the soule from the body sometimes for the separation of God from the soule 1. Tim 5.6 as when the Apostle calleth the widow liuing in wanton delightes dead though shee liue that is aliue in the body but dead in the soule sometime for the horror of condemnation as the Diuell did receiue the reward of sinne and yet was not so extinguished but that hee doth watch and goe about continually 1. Pet. 5. â— seeking whome to deuoure In respect of the Saintes of God death is saide to haue lost her sting and to become as a drone bee as the Apostle speaketh 1. Cor. 15 56 O death where is thy sting It was prophesied of our Sauiour Christ by the Prophetes Praecipitabit mortem in aeternum Esay 25.8 Hee shall throw death headlong for euer O Death I will be thy death O hell I will bee thy destruction They obiect further that the death of the saintes is called a sleepe Act. 7 60 Ioh. 11.11 2. Thes 4.13 Stephen when he dyed fell a sleepe Lazarus being dead was said to sleep the Apostle biddeth not to mourne for them that sleepe that is be dead If death bee a sleepe theÌ„ can there not be in the soule any conceiuing of ioyes vntill that sleepe bee awakened by the resurrection It is very apparant that in that Phrase by a Synechdoche that is giuen to the whole which agreeth but to one part when Iob saith Ecce nunc in puluere dormio Iob 7.21 Behold I shall sleepe now in the dust and if you seeke mee in the morning I shall haue no being did Iob thinke that when hee dyed his soule should lye in the dust that were too grosse to bee once imagined It is very apparant then that hee meaneth onely that his body shall sleepe in the dust and that figuratiuely hee doth attribute that to the whole which agreeth but to a part That which they alledge out of Salomon that man and beast haue both one end Eccl. 3.21 who knoweth whether the spirite of man shall ascend vpward or the spirite of beast descend downe into the earth is answered by those wordes which Salomon doth so often repeat in that book Eccl. 1.2 Eccl. 2.11 Vanity of vanities and all is but vanity hee sheweth often in that Booke what are the speeches of vaine men Eccl. 9.4 as after when hee sayeth Better is a liuing dog then a dead Lion for the liuing know that they shall dye but the dead know nothing at all wee must not think that Salomon speaketh this as of himselfe but to shew the affections of worldlinges who are led by vanity of vanities and by nothing but vanity Tertul. lib de resurr carnis Irenaeus lib. 9 aduersus haeresi Chrysost hom 28. in â—1 ad Hebr. August lib 12 de Ciuit. Dei cap. 9 When the Fathers doe sometimes affirme that the soules are not crowned vntill the day of resurrection they mean of the perfect triumph they deny not but that the soules of the Saints are in peace and happy rest but the perfect triumph crown of glory they made to be then when the bodies being againe vnited to the soules death should be vtterly swallowed vp in victory The argument which some doe alledge out of the Apostle that because he saith If the dead rise not againe 1. Cor. 15.19 we are of all men most miserable v. 32 therefore before the resurrection there is no ioy nor felicity is of no force at all for hee saith after what will it profite mee to fight with the beastes at Ephesus if the deade bee not raysed vppe the bodies of the Saintes in this life suffer many iniuries reproches and often martyrdomes Now vnlesse these bodies bee hereafter to be aduanced to glory we are of all meÌ„ most miserable and againe although the soule do enioy blessed rest yet a great part of the happinesse doth consist in the assurance of the expected resurrection Caluin in Phychopanychia haec tractat 1 vberrime It is further obiected
A DISCOVRSE CONCERNING THE Soule and Spirit of Man Wherein is described the essence and dignity thereof the gifts and graces wherewith God hath endued it and the estate thereof aswell present as future And thereunto is annexed in the end a bipartite instruction or exhortation concerning the duties of our thankefulnesse towards God Written by SIMON HARVVARD LONDON Imprinted by IOHN WINDET 1604. ILLVSTRISSIMO omnique virtute ornatissimo Domino Georgio Moore Equiti aurato bonarum literarum Mecanati benignissimo prospera omnia foelicia precatur QVemadmodum apud priscos Philosophos vir amplissime quamplurimae de anima humana disputationes sunt literis mandatae à nonnullis quidem in dialogis vt a Platone ab aliis in tractatu continuato vtab Aristotele A quibusdam sermone soluto ab aliis oratione numeris constricta ab his fusiùs ab illis magis succinctè ab his ornatiùs ab illis stilo magis humili magisque crassa quòd aiunt Minerua Sic hodierno tempore non vti spero videbitur à ratione alienum si pro ingeniorum varietate eodem pergatur cursu vt quà m multiplices sunt animae dotes tam variae etiam sint illorum librorum formae quibus natura viâ—es animae describantur Sicut enim non omnes pisces vna capiuntur esca nec vno vultu omnes prori ita nec omnium hominum corda eodem scribendi genere alliciuntur necomnium aures eadem loquendi phrasi delectantur Si qui sint qui politiora scripta expetant ea velim perlegant quae de cognitione dei in libro non ita pridem praelo commisso acutè admodum et copiosè Ampl. tua demonstrauerit Est enim Dei agnitio tà m essentiae quà m virium animae planè certissimum argumen tum Quòd si qui peomata magis euoluere percupiaÌ„t Dauyesum Orphea Anglum audiant de noticia animae suauiter modulantem Hoc sum ego tantummodo in codicillo meo conatus vt quae ab antiquis optimis taÌ„ theologis quà m Philo sophis in aliis linguis pertractata viderim ea vt possem in exiguum reducerem compendium vt bonuÌ„ esset quo communius eo melìus in idioma nostrum vernaculum illa traducerem Visum autem est mihi vir clarissime hoc meum qualecunque scriptum tuae potissimùm Ampl. consecrare quia apud omnes satis constat eiusmodi esse tuum in his arduis quaestiunculis iudicium vt si tractatus hic meus licèt im politus sub nominis tui patrocinio in lucem prodeat non est quòd verear alicuius Momilinguam viruleÌ„tam nec est quòd de bonorum omnium approbatione quicquam omninò dubitem Conciones duas à menuper Camerwellae praedicatas in operis exitu adieci partim quia à disputatione de diuinis animae dotibus non multum viderentur dissentire Nullo enim modo se satis nouit anima nisi se suo creatori summè deuinctam gratissimè agnoscat partim quia erant coram illo habitae quem omnibus palà m innotescit te non vulgari amplecti amore cui non possum non acceptum referre quòd mihi tui fauoris spes certissima affulgeat quódque patronum adeò praestantem hoc exiguum sit nactum opusculum Deus Opt. Max. te multis verbi diuini ministris solatium atheis obstaculum Suriaeque non mediocre decus sanum laetum honoratum quà m diutissimè viuum conseruet vitáque defuncto caelestes tibi sedes largiatur iustoruÌ„ animis in aeternum repositas Tanridgiae vltimo Decembris Anno 1603. Ampl. tuae deuotissimus SIMON HARWARD The Contents of the BOOKE The Arguments or briefe Summe of the twelue Chapters following 1 THe first Chapter sheweth that the words soule and spirit are so generally synonima that in all principall vses concerning man the one is promiscuè taken for the other 2 The second what the soule of man is and how the soule of man doth differ from that anima which is in other liuing creatures 3 The third whether anima vegetatiua sensitiua rationalis the vegetatiue sensitiue and rationall soules be three seueral formes or substances of soules or but diuers faculties of one soule 4 The fourth whether anima the soule be a medium a meane or middle substance betwixt the spirit and the bodie 5 The fift in what part of the bodie the soule doth possesse her seate 6 The sixt whether the soule doe come ex traduce by propagation from the parents or us 7 The seuenth that the soule is an immortall essence and that according to the opinion of heathenish Philosophers 8 The eight how in the soule the image of God may and ought to be renewed 9 The ninth what wee may conceiue of the soule of man by the conscience of man and how the conscience is either a heauen or hell to the soule in this life 10 The tenth of the estate and condition of the soule after this life against the heresie of the Catabaptists 11 The eleuenth of the future estate of the soul being seperated from the bodie against the Romanists 12 The twelfth the conclusion concerning the twofolde estate of soules once loosed from their bodies Errata Folio 8. b for feat sent twise fol. 20. a who by wholy fol. 21. a one our fol. 21. a geneally generally fol. 30. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 32 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 58. a often giuen fol. 74 a and did not possesse fol. 99 b if we cast of if we taste of Fol. 48. Decius A DISCOVRSE concerning the Soule and Spirit of MAN CHAP. I. How many wayes the words Soule and Spirit are synonima and the one promiscuè taken for the other THe words anima and animus in their originall etymologie are thought of many to bee deriued of the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ignifying a blast or Spirit Arist de mundo according to that of Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anemos is nothing but much aire flowing hard together which is also called a Spirit The hebrew word nephesh for the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ruach for the spirit are accounted in their originall sense to signifie also one thing to wit a breath or blast The Greeke word for the soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refrigero because breath is let in to coole things naturally hote and is therefore the same in meaning with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritus of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiro The like is in the Latine tongue wherein as the word spiritus is taken often for winde and breath Virg. Aenead as in the Poet Boreae cum spiritus alto insonat Aegeo And of the Queen of the South when she came to Salomon and sodainly sawe his exceeding glorie and Maiestie it is said of her being amazed 1. Reg. 10.5 non erat ampliùs in
ea spiritus there was no more breach in her So vsually in the best approued Latine Authors the word anima is also taken for winde Cicero de V. muersit and breath Tully saith inter igneÌ„ et terram Deus aquam animamque posuit Betwixt the element of fire and the earth God hath placed the water and the ayre Geta in Terence telleth Antopho how by hearkening and listening Terent. in Phorm he had found out the parents of Phanium accessi astiti animam compressi aurem admoui I came neere stood close held in my breath and listened And in Plautus the fault of the breath is called faetor animae Plautus in Asinaria Philenium said to Demaenetus dic amabò anfaetet anima vxoris tuae As in the three chiefest languages the etymologie of the wordes vsed for soule and spirit do import one force and nature so in the three principall significations and purposes whereunto they are most commonly applied in the description of the parts and faculties of man they haue as large a priuiledge the one as the other For first they are taken generally for the spirit of life in euery liuing creature As in Genesis it is said Gen. 7.15 Venerunt ad Noachum bina ex omni carne in qua erat spiritus vitae There came 2. 2. of al to Noah Tulli. de senec tute in whoÌ„ was the spirit of life Tul. extolleth those olde men quorum ad extremum spiritum prouecta est prudentia whose wisdome encreaseth euen vnto the ende of their life Aenaeas promiseth to bee mindful of Dido Vir. Aeneid 4 dum spiritus hos regit artus while life doth last This bodily life is called often in the Scripture by the worde of anima Reuben said to his brethren concerning Ioseph Gen. 37.21 Non percutiamus eum in anima Let vs not strike him in soule that is Exod. 21.23 let vs not kill him The law of retribution is eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand animam pro anima life for life Psal 59.4 Dauid praieth to be deliuered from those bloud-thirstie men which laid waite for his soule Our Sauiour commaundeth vs not to be solliciti pro anima Math. 6.25 carefull for the life what we shal eate or drinke nor for the body what raiment we shall put on The Angell bad Ioseph to take the babe and his mother and to returne out of Aegypt into Iury because they were dead qui petebant animam pueruli Math. 2.20 which sought the childes life Qui vult animam suam seruare saith our Sauiour hee which will saue his life Luk. 9 2â— shall loose it and hee which will loose his life for my sake shall finde it Ioh. 10.11 A good sheapherd layeth downe his soule for his sheepe that is his life Ioh. 3.16 as hee laid downe his soule for vs so should wee lay downe our soules for our brethreÌ„ that is our liues The Poet Iuuenal reprouing the greedy couetousnes of marchaÌ„ts saith I nunc et ventis animam committe dolate Confisus lÃgno digitis à morte remotus Quatuor aut Septem Secondly the word spirit and soule are in an equall degree taken vsually for the affections of man either good or euill Gal. 6.1 1. Cor. 4. v. vlt. The Apostle doth exhort vs to instruct one another with the spirite of mildnesse Psal 51.10 The Psalmist prayeth God to renew a right spirit within him that is holy motions of the mind Esay 29.10 The Prophet Esay telleth the stiffe-necked people that God had cast vpon them a spirit of slumber Greg. in mor. spiritus carnalis mollia spiritus mundi vana spiritus malitiae seÌ„per amara loquitur Psal 27.12 So may proud couetous affections be called the spirit of pride and the spirit of couetousnesse So is the word soule often vsed for the affections of the heart The Prophet Dauid sath ne tradas me animae hostium meorum deliuer me not to the soule that is the wicked desire of my enemies for false witnesses are risen vp against me Anima Sichem ad haesit Dinae filie Iacobi Gen. 34.8 the soule of Sichem that is the affection of his hart did cleaue vnto Dina the daughter of Iacob The Lord saith by Ezekiel that he had giuen vp the Israelites animae odio habentium eos Ezech. 16.27 to the soule that is the will and affections of them that hated them So of good and louing affections it is said in the Actes of those first conuerts in the primitiue Church Act. 4.32 there was amongst them cor vnum et anima vna one heart and one soule that is their counsels did all agree and their willes and affections were faithfully ioyned Eph. 4.3 The like doth the Apostle Paul exhort vs to when he biddeth vs hold the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace When the affections of our Sauiour Christ are expressed they are set out sometimes by the word spirit and sometimes by the word soule Ioh. 13.21 Saint Iohn saith turbatus est spiritus his spirit was troubled when he said one of you shall betray me Luk. 10 21. and as it is in Saint Luke exhitauit Iesus spiritu Iesus reioyced in spirit when hee said I thanke thee O Father Lord of heauen and earth that thou hast hid these thinges from the wise and prudent and reuealed them to babes euen so was thy good pleasure In Saint Marke he said Mark 14.34 tristis est anima vsque ad mortem my soule is sorrowful vnto death tary here watch And in Saint Iohn anima mea turbata est Ioh. 12.27 my soule is troubled and what shall I say Father saue me from this houre Aug. in Ioh S. Augustine doth expound these places to signifie his infinite loue towardes mankind and saith caput nostrum suscepit membrorum suorum affectum Our head vouchsafed to take vpon himselfe the affections of his mystical bodie Thirdly the word soule and spirit do in as full maner the one as the other point out vnto vs the principall part of man that rationall soule and vnderstanding spirit which beeing part of mans substance here doth remaine still immortall when the bodie is extinguished Of that is meant that speech of the wise man Eccles 12.7 when earth goeth to earth the spirit goeth to God which gaue it That did the first Martyr Saint Stephen yeeld vp into the hands of Christ Act. 7.59 when he said Lord Iesu receiue my spirit Of that speaketh the Apostle to the Hebrewes Hebr. 12 9 if wee haue reuerenced the Fathers of our flesh when they haue corrected vs much more shall wee bee subiect to the Father of our spirites and liue Of that doth our Sauiour speake in the yeelding vp of his soule Luk. 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit For as he tooke
of one length is incomprehensible and vnspeakable such as no eie can see 1. Cor 2. â— no eare can heare neither can it enter into the hart of maÌ„ But it is many waies apparant that howsoeuer in the day of iudgement the body shal be ioined to the soul as in society of either blisse or torment yet is that immortal inuisible creature of it selfe inorganical sufficiently able for all her actioÌ„s motions and operations without the bodily instruments humors qualities powers agitations temperaments or any corporall faculties whatsoeuer CHAP. IIII. Whether anima the soule bee a medium a meane or middle thing betwixt the spirit and the bodie DIuers late writers set it downe for a firme position Dorn in claue pag 138 142 anima est medium inter spiritum et corpus The bodie and spirit are so contrarie one to another that they cannot be ioyned together but by a middle or meane now the meane to ioyne them is the soule and one expoundeth what that soule is anima est corporis motrix Ibid pag. 136 Fol 141 it is the mouer of the bodie and after he saith anima duobus constat motu scilicet et sensu the soule doth consist of two things to wit mouing and sense And afteward he addeth a third thing to wit appetites Fol 145 odit animam in corpore qui fraenat appetitus he hateth his soule in his body which doth bridle his appetites And in another place defineth it to bee the life Fol 137 anima est vita corporis et substantia media inter animam et corpus participans de animo et corpore the word anima signifieth the life of the bodie and is a middle substance betwixt the mind and the bodie and taketh part of both By which places his meaning seemeth to be that the worde anima should comprehend whatsoeuer is betwixt the principall part of mans soule and the grossenesse of the bodily substance and that the immortall inuisible substance is by it as by a second middle substance vnited to the bodie In these his assertions hee is first iniurious to the worde anima which as I haue shewed alreadie hath as large a signification as hath the word spirit for the immortall soule of man and hath beene alwayes so vsed in all ages amongst Philosophers and approued Latine Authors and especially amongst the most religious Fathers of the Church in all their sermons and discourses and further in as many as haue translated the holy Scriptures vnto vs. As it is taken sometimes for the inferiour faculties so is also the worde spirit and therefore there is no reason why the one should bee restrained strictly to an inferiour baser substance more then the other Marsil Ficin de vita caeliâ—us comparada lib 3 cap 3 The excellent interpreter of Plato Marsilius Ficinus maketh spiritus to be the medium betwixt corpus and anima His words are inter animam et corpus in nobis spiritus necessariò requiritur tanquam medium quo anima diuina et adsit corpori crassiori et vitam eidem penitùs largiatur Betwixt the soule and the bodie a spirit is of necessitie required in vs as it were a middle or meane whereby the soule being diuine may be present to the body being more grosse and thorowly bestow life vpon it And a little after Scimus viuentia omnia tà m plantas quà m animalia per quendam spiritum viuere et generare sui simile lapides sui similes non generant quia spiritus iniis crassiori materia cohibetur Wee knowe that all liuing things as well plants as sensible creatures do liue by a certaine spirit and thereby get their like But stones doo not bring forth their like because the spirit in them is holden backe by the grossenesse of their matter The meaning of Ficinus doth not much differ from Dorne but that which the one calleth anima the other calleth spirite because indeede the wordes are aequivalent and both of them equiuocall And therefore to take away ambiguitie the best had beene for either of them to haue added to the worde the difference as to haue said that the vegetatiue and sensitiue soule is the middle betwixt the rationall soule and the bodie or that the spirit of life is the middle betwixt the vnderstanding spirit of man and the bodie But Dorne in calling that vegetatiue and sensitiue facultie a third substance doth seeme to haue drawne his position out of Origen Origen super Leuit. Hom 2. who doth directly set it downe that anima is in such sort a medium betwixt the spirit the bodie that the soule may be damned and yet the spirit saued and one of his proofes is Origen in Mathaeum hom 30 Fol 96. because it is said in the Gospell that God can cast both bodie and soule into hell fire ex eo quod nihil de spiritu dixit euidenter oftenditur quòd spiritus cum anima peccatrice non simul punitur quà enim peccauit diuiditur et pars quidem eius cum infidelibus punitur quod autem non cius reuertitur ad Deum qui dedit eum Seeing hee speaketh nothing of casting the spirit into hell it is euidently shewed that the spirit is not punished together with the sinfull soule The person that sinned is diuided and part is punished with the Infidels and that which is not his but Gods that gaue it must returne to God that gaue it A very grosse errour is this as are likewise many other opinions which the said Origen doth hold as concerning the soule as the omnes animae erant in initio simul creatae all soules were created in the beginning all together which heresie of his is at large confuted by Aquinas Tho Aquinas 1. parte suÌ„mae theologiae and animam saluatoris fuisse antequam nasceretur à Virgine et in restitutione omnium animas Christianorum Iudaeorum et Gentilium vnius conditionis fore et ex Angelis fieri animas et rursus ex animis Angelos That the soule of our Sauiour Christ was before hee was conceiued of the Virgine and that in the restoring of all things the soules of Christians Iewes and Gentiles shall bee all of one estate and condition and that of Angels are made soules and againe of soules Angels All which absurde opinions of Origen are condemned by Saint Hierom. Whatsoeuer therefore may be gathered as is by some out of Origen Hierom. in Apologiâ— aduersus Ruffinum to proue anima to be a third substance in man wee see by these his assertions what little account may iustly bee made thereof But say they there are many places in the holy Scriptures wherein the worde soule and spirit are both ioyned together in such sort that they seeme apparantly not to signifie one thing Indeede when they are ioyned both together all the Fathers of the Church generally doe make a difference betwixt them but not such a difference
as they doe imagine as when the Apostle saith 1 Thes â— 23 the God of peace sanctifie you who by that your spirit being perfect your soule and bodie may bee kept vnblamably vntill the coÌ„ming of our Lord Iesus Christ the meaning is not that there shuld be a perfect coniunctioÌ„ of the Spirit to the bodie by the soule as a meane or middle that so the spirit the bodie might the better continue long together but the praier of the Apostle is that the spirit of the Thessalonians that is their reason vnderstanding their soul that is their wil and affections and thirdly their body should be kept vnblamably vntill the coÌ„ming of Christ These significations of the words I haue proued at large in my first Cha. And althogh they being named here together haue seueral significations Peâ—a piscater Iâ—wellus alii in hunc locum yet can we not thereupon conclude that they are seueral substaÌ„ces But as the body and flesh are but one body so the spirit soule are but one soule Aqui. saith vpoÌ„ tht place ad peccatuÌ„ tria concurruÌ„t ratio seÌ„sualitas et exi equutio corporis Aquinas in 1 Thess 5 23 optat vt in nullo horuÌ„ sit peccatuÌ„ Three things in man may offend reasoÌ„ sensuality the body he praieth that none of these maybe defiled with sinne The ancient Fathers Augustine and Hierom doe expounde this place in an other sense Folio 21. and yet nothing fauouring the opinion of Dorne v. 19. for by the spirit they vnderstand the graces of Gods spirit and so to bee all one with that which goeth a little before Spiritum ne extinguite Quench not the spirite they make the meaning to be that both one soule and the giftes graces of Gods spirit bestowed vpon it Hieron epist 150. ad 12. quest Hedibiae might be kept perfect vntill the coÌ„ming of Christ Alii ex hoc loco tripliceÌ„ affirmare volunt substantiam spiritus quo sentimus animae qua vinimus corporis quo incedimus Some saith S. Hierom would out of this place to the Thessalonians proue a threefolde substance in man c. Nos autem accipimus gratias donationesque spiritus sancti But we by the first by the word spirite do vnderstaÌ„d the graces and giftes of the holy spirite The like affirmeth S. Augustine Aug. de ecclesiast dogmat cap. 20. tom â— Non est tertius in substantia hominis spirities sicut Didimus contendit sed spiritus ipsi est anima quae prospirituali natura vel pro eo quod spiret in corpore spiritus appellatur anima veró ex eo vocatur quod ad viuenduÌ„ viuificandum aenimet corpus Tertinm autem cum anima corpore coniunctum spiritum gratiam spiritus sancti esse intelliga mus quam orat Apostolus vt integra perseueret in nobis The spirit is not a third substance in man as Didimus woulde haue it but mans spirite is his soule which for the spiritual nature or because it breatheth in the body is called a spirit and it is called Anima because it quickneth the body and giueth vnto it a quickning force but the spirit which is in this place ioined by the Apostle with the soule and body wee must vnderstand it to bee the grace of the holy Ghost which the Apostle doth pray that it may perseuere and continue in vs. The late Writers Beza Piscator and others do in the sense of this place differ from the Fathers but all doe geneally conspire against a third substance to be framed out of it Aquinas holdeth two Axioms very strongly first Aquinas in 1. parte suae summ Theol. quest 76 3 lib. senâ—â—â—â— distinct 1. that Forma substantialis vnitur immediaté materiae the substantiall forme of a thing is immediately or without any medium vnited with the matter Aquinas in 1. parte suae summ Theol. quest 70. sentent lib. 2 dist 12. and the second that non est possibile plures formas substantiales simul esse in eodem corpore It is not possible that two substantiall forms should be at one time in the selfe same body Writing also vpon that place of S. Paule 1 Cor. 15.44 Est corpus animale est corpus spirituale there is a naturall body and there is a spirituall body where the Apostle seemeth to giue the word body both to anima and spiritus Aquinas in 1. Cor. 15. he expoundeth the naturall body corpus animale to be that which in this world is troubled with naturall functions for feeding increase generation and such like and the spirituall body to bee that which absque aliquo impedimento fatigatione incessanter seruiet animae ad spirituales operationes eius hoc per Christum spiritum id est non solùm animam viuentem vt Adam sed viuentem viuificantem without all impediment and wearines continually serue the soule for her spirituall operations and that by the power of Christ being a spirite not onely a liuing spirit as Adam but a liuing and also a quickning spirite And that this is the very sense of the place it is most euident by the wordes last going before and by that which immediately followeth for in the verse before hee compareth our body in this life with our body that shall be in the resurrection It is sowen in weaknes it doth rise againe in power it is sown Copus animale it shall rise againe corpus spirituale And when he hath said there is an animall body and there is a spirituall hee addeth as it is written the first man Adam was made a liuing soule and the second Adam that is Christ Iesus was made a quickning spirit The Animal body is that which the posterity of Adam haue in this life Rom. 8. v. 11 and the spiritual body is that which shall be raysed with the quickning spirit of Christ in the resurrectioÌ„ Aug. de Ciuitate Dei lib. 13. cap. 20. Augustine sayeth that that is called a spirituall body which Spiritui summa mirabile facilitate subdetur omni molestia sensu omni corruptibilitate tarditate detracta shall obey the spirite with admirable facility all sense of trouble being taken away and all corruption and slownesse remoued And in an other place Aug. de fide symbolo cap. 6. tom â— Spirituale corpus intelligitur omnifragilitate labe terrena in coelestem puritatem stabilitatem mutata conuersa That is vnderstood to bee a spirituall body wherein all frailty and earthly pollution is conuerted and changed into heauenly purity and stedfastnes Anselmus Anselm in 1. Cor. 15 Titleman in 1. Cor. 15 and after him Titleman and other schoolemen doe interprete that to be an animal body which hath need of meats drinkes and other cherishing that to bee a spirituall body which shall not neede any of these but liue for euer by the
Christ and as the Lord doth behold vs not in our selues but in and through his sonne Christ Iesus Math. 3 17 in whome only he is well pleased How the righteousnes that is in the faithful and such as are sanctified is called the image of God shall be shewed hereafter Let this suffïce here to condemne that dreame of the Manichees and Osiander who by the image of God in man did imagine a perfect vprightnesse righteousnesse and holinesse inherent in the powers of man making him in this life voide of all blemish or imperfection either in body or soule A third opinion or rather an application by the way how the soule is the image of God is that of Saint Augustine making our soule to be an image of the blesied Trinitie In the soule there is memoria intellectus voluntas haec tria potes numerare non potes separare Aug. de verbis domini Serm. 63. Memorie vnderstanding and will you may number these three but you cannot seperate them So the three persons in the Trinitie you may number them but you cannot diuide them as the one is but one soule so the other but one Godhead Yet in another place he correcteth himselfe and saith Aug epist 102. that this is similitudo dissimilis an vnlike similitude because the memorie the vnderstanding and the will are in the soule but wee cannot say that euery one of them is the soule but the Trinitie it selfe is God and euery person God Fourthly the making of man after Gods image hath beene expounded by some to signifie the soueraigntie which God gaue vnto him ouer al his earthly creatures to bee a similitude of his heauenly prouidence gouerning all things and therefore when it is saide that God made man after his owne image there followeth in the next verse the commaundement of God Gen. 1 27 ver 28 giuing Adam power to rule ouer all beastes and fishes and foules This is the interpretation of Chrysostome and although it be condemned by some Calu. in Psycopan yet I doe not see but it may stand very well to bee a part of the image of God seeing the Apostle speaketh directly speaking of preheminence in gouernmēt 1. Cor. 11.7 The man ought not to couer his head for as much as he is the image of God but the wowan ought because shee is the image of the husband But this is not the image of God which wee are in this place to seeke out wee must finde such an image as shall be common to both sexes for as the Apostle saith Gal. 3.28 In Iesus Christ there is neither Iew nor Gentile bond nor free male nor female but all is one A fift description of the image of GOD Calu. Instit lib. 2. cap. 12. sect 6. is of them which make it to be that high perfection which God gaue first to Adam to conuerse with God and to bee ioined vnto GOD which perfect integrity was also giuen to the Angels being therefore called the sonnes of God for to behold the countenance of God requireth a similitude with God and it is saide Mat. 22.30 that the glorified in the life to come shall bee like the Angels of God This Angelical perfection was giuen to our first parents but for their disobediance and vnthankfulnes both they and wee were iustly depriued of it for man hath receiued naturally fower woundes whereby this image of God is defaced in him The first is a iudiciall wound Heb. 7.10 wherby man being shut vp in the loines of Adam and therefore sinning in Adam is iustly condemned as guilty of the same trespasse with him and standeth by nature as a mā before a iudge condemned and for a time repriued This confessed the kingly Prophet when hee sayde psal 51.5 In sinne was I born and in iniquity my mother conceiued mee The second wound is called priuatiue to wit a depriuing of all those excellent gifts which were at the first bestowed on Adam when in a corporation the liberties are shamefully abused or when Subiects doe rebell against their Soueraigne it is accounted iustice to depriue the posteritie of the one of their priuileges and the whole of spring of the other of their inheritance much more when the heauenly graces of God are rebelliously cast off they are in right and equitie most iustly plucked away from the generation ensuing Man is therfore naturally depriued first of al power of doing good so that none can come to Christ Ioh. 6 44. vnlesse the heauenly Father drawe him Luke 15.5 none can truely come home vnlesse as the lost sheep hee bee laid vpon the shouldèr of the mercifull shepheard to wit our Sauiour and be brought home to repentance Wee are therefore accounted naturally as dead The Apostle saith Rom 6.13 Giue your selues vnto God as they which of dead are aliue you which were dead hath he quickned againe Col. 2.13 forgiuing you all your sinnes Secondly wee are depriued not onely of power but also of will Phil. 2 13 Aug. in Enchirid ad Laurentium as Augustine obserueth well Libero arbitrio male vtens homo se perdidit ipsum Man by abusing free will lost both himselfe and it As saith he a man that wilfully murdereth himselfe hath neither life nor power to raise vp him selfe againe so when free will was abused vnto sinne and ouercome by sinne it lost his freedome and fell into slauery and dondage wee are further depriued of all ability of thinking well 2 Cor 3 5 so that of our selues we cannot thinke a good thought euery framing or cogitation of the heart of man Genes 6 5. is onely ill continually moreouer our knowledge is gone 1 Cor. 2.14 naturall man cannot conceiue the thinges of God Act. 16 14 Lydia cannot so much as mark the wordes of Paul vntill God doe open her eyes wee are nothing of our selues in respect of spirituall knowledge Eph. 5 8 Eph. 4 18 but meere darknes and blindenesse yea those thinges which are thought most excellent of vs haue neede to bee remoued the very wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God Rom. 8 7. Eph 4 23 and the Apostle requireth that wee be renewed euen in the spirite of our mindes psal 51 10. Dauid praieth God to create in him a new heart and a new spirit and being created to guide thē still with his grace not to take his holy spirit from him or els hee well perceiued there was no power in himselfe to yeeld obedience to the will commaundement of God The third wound is caled Positiue whereby wee are by nature enclined vnto all euill as by the former we are depriued of all powers and faculties of doing good so by this wee are naturally prone to vngodlines and iniquitie The Apostle saith Eph. 2.3 wee be natura filii irae by nature the children of wrath The Pelagians and of late the
miseries of this worlde making light to shine in the middest of darkenesse Psal 112 4 Ioh. 16 20. and turning all their pensiuenesse into gladnesse but it conceiueth an assured hope of a better to wit an euerlasting life in the ioyes of heauen and that so soone as the soule is deliuered from the bodie The Apostle Paul did account his loosing from this prison to bee a present beeing with Christ I desire saith hee to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ Phil. 1.23 hee was assured that his remouing from this tabernacle should bee a present dwelling with the Lorde as hee saide wee had rather remoue out of the bodie 2. Cor. 5.8 and dwell with the Lord. Stephen prayed in faith and assurance that his soule should presently bee receiued into the hands of God Lord Iesus receiue my spirit Act 7.59 In the Reuelation of Saint Iohn Aopc 14.13 such a blessing and such a rest is promised to them that dye in the Lorde August in Psa 102. that their good workes may followe after them that is that God may crowne his giftes in them Our Sauiour saith to the repentant thiefe vpon the Crosse Luk. 23.43 This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise The soule of Lazarus beeing departed Luk. 16.22 was carried by Angelles into Abraham his bosome Polycarpus that holy Disciple of the Apostles amongst many excellent speeches at the time of his martyrdome added this Eccl. hist lib. 4 cap. 13. Hodiè representabor coram Deo in spiritu This day I shall be in soule represented before the Lorde The Wise man saith of the death of all the faithfull When earth goeth to earth Eccl 12.7 the spirit goeth to God which gaue it When the Prophet Dauid saith Psal 16 10. that God will not leaue his soule in hell nor suffer his holy one to see corruption No doubt hee prophesieth of the resurrection as it is expounded by Saint Peter Act. 2.29 but hee includeth in that resurrectioÌ„ of Christ the life also of his own soule hee called Christ his soule I liue saith the Apostle yet not I Gal. 2.20 but Christ liueth in me especially in the resurrection of Christ our life is hid with Christ Col. 3 2 therfore Dauid beleeueth that seeing his soule Vido Gen. 42 38. Iob 14.13 de significatione inferni Psal 16.11 and the life of his soule Christ Iesus shall not bee left in the graue he shall vndoubtedly be brought to the preseÌ„ce of God which hee calleth in the next verse a fulnesse of ioy and pleasures for euermore The hope of the Apostle Paul is to be made conformable to the death of Christ Phil. 3.10 vntill he come to the resurrection of the dead now as his death was no extinguishing of the humaine soule Ion. 2.3 Mat 12.39 but like the being â—f Ionas in the Whales belly his soule being stil safe and yeelded vp into the haÌ„ds of God as hee saide Father into thy handes I commend my spirite Luke 23.46 and like the sacrificing of Isaac wherein the soule remained vntouched so also by his quickening power Iohn 4.17 hee giueth to all his elect that well of water that springeth vp to eternall life The Ram which was offered in steed of Isaac may well signifie our body our irrationall part that dieth but the soule though it be a while bouÌ„d to the body as Isaac was bound yet as soone as the bandes are loosed it mounteth vp to the place of al blisse and perpetuall blessednes Our Sauiour saith Quia ego viuo vos viuetis Because I liue Iohn 14.19 Iohn 6.56 you shal liue I liue by the father and hee that feedeth on me shall liue by me Iohn 5.24 Hee that heareth my wordes hath life eternall and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life Eccle. hist lib 6. cap. 26. Aug. lib de heres c. 83 In decret distinct 2. de Iohanne Vide Gerson in sermone paschali Hereby are condemned two grosse heresies the one deuised first by the Arabians and after renewed by Iohn Bishoppe of Rome and of late defended by certain Anabaptistes to wit that the soule doth sleepe or dye with the body and that both are raysed vp againe together in the last day And the other of the Romish Catholikes confessing indeed that the soule liueth after death but yet that the soules of the children of God Their vsuall buls and indulgences goe for thousaÌ„ds of years doe and must remaine so many yeares or so many thousand yeares in Purgatory before they can be admitted to the ioyes of heauen For the former to wit such as defeÌ„d both body and soule to dye together and both at the last day to be raised together they are coÌ„demned as you haue heard by the manifest testimonies of the holy Scriptures you may adde if you please those wordes of our Sauiour Feare not them which kill the body Luke 12.5 and haue no power to kill the soule if the Soule dye as well as the body and together with the body how can it bee said that tyrants doe kill the one and not the other 2. Cor 5.1 4 How can the Apostle Paul desire no longer to be a Pilgrime from the Lord by remaining here in the body but rather to bee absent from the body and to bee present with the Lord vnlesse the soule remaine after death with what is God saide to bee present if both soule and body bee ouercome with death v. 1 or how can the Apostle say in the same place that when this earthly tabernacle is destroyed wee haue a building or house not made with hands but euerlasting in heauen vnlesse the soule do continue to possesse that heauenly habitation Our Sauiour Christ doth promise eternall life resurrection as two distinct things and the one taking place before the other Ioh. 6.39.40 This saith he is the will of the Father that whosoeuer beleeueth in the sonne should not perish but haue euerlasting life and I will rayse him vp in the last day Iohn 6.54 And againe hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting life and I will rayse him vp in the last day And afterward Iohn 11.2 I am the resurrection and the life whosoeuer beleeueth in me though hee were dead yet hee shall liue and hee addeth hee that liueth and beleeueth in me shall not dye for euer The Saduces denyed not onely the resurrection but also the immortality of the soule Our Sauiour doth by one argument confute both their heresies Mat. 22 32 Exod. 3.6 God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob God is not a God of the dead but of the liuing therefore Abraham Isaack and Iacob doe now liue Rom 14.8.9 and all the Saintes shall liue for euer S. Paul saith whether wee liue wee
to tend to the edifying one of another As preaching ought to edifie so also thankesgiuing The Apostle doth condemne it 1. Cor. 14.17 when thou doest so giue thankes that thy brother is not edified The Prophet and Psalmist doth here require such a thanksgiuing vnto God that his workes may be declared before the children of men That cannot bee counted a declaring of Gods workes which is published in that tongue whereof the assembly hath no knowledge As in prayer the heart should bee touched with the want of that thing which it desireth So in thankesgiuing the heart should acknowledge and feele the ioy of that for which it giueth thankes And all must bee done to the glorie of God Rom. 15.6 which is then best performed when the whole Church doth with one heart and one voyce glorifie God the Father of our Lorde Iesus Christ The more publikely the thankesgiuing is vnderstoode the more euidently thereby is the glorie of God set forth And the more wee declare Gods workes before the children of men the more acceptable do wee offer our prayse vnto God Dauid vowed this thankefulnsse vnto God when hee saide Psal 22 2◠I will declare thy name amongst my brethren in the middest of the congregation I will sing prayse vnto thee Hee accounted it his chiefest ioy Psal 42. ◠to leade the people to the house of God with the voyce of ioy and thāksgiuing Psal 122. v. 1. And in another Psalme I am glad saith he when any say vnto me let vs goe to the house of God As in the other duties of our life so also in the seruice of God 1. Cor. 6.20 we must glorifie God both in bodie and soule for they are Gods When Satan tempted our Sauiour he offered to him al the kingdomes of the world and the glorie thereof Math. 4.8 if hee would but fall downe and worship him he seemed to be content with the bodily worship onely So his eldest sonne Antichrist when hee cannot drawe Christian princes to admit his damnable idolatrie nor yet by any meanes stirre vp sufficient powers to ouerthrowe them then his last refuge is to graunt to his reconciled vassals a dispensatiō to goe to the church and Sacraments in bodie so that they keepe their soules still faithfull vnto him he is then contented onely with the soule But the eternall God requireth of vs an entire worship and seruice both in body and soule Seeing hee made both bodie and soule and Christ Iesus redeemed both body and soule and both body and soule must liue for euer in the world to come we are commanded bounden to keepe our selues from all pollution as well of flesh as of spirit 2. Cor. 7.1 and to glorifie God both in bodie and soule for they are Gods When the Israelites were by the captiuitie of Babylon remoued from that publicke place of Gods seruice where they were wont both in body and soule to praise God they wept by the waters of Babilon said Psal 137.4 Dan. 6.11 how can we sing the Lords song in a strange land Daniel chose rather to be cast into the Lyons den then that his body should bee with-holden onely three dayes from the open praising of God God abhorreth all hypocrisie when men shall in his worship pretend one thing and do another he calleth hell by a proper and peculiar name Math. 24.31 the portion of hypocrites Rom. 2◠1 he requireth of vs a whole sacrifice both of bodie and soule he will haue both the one and the other all or none whole or no part The common translation doth interpret this text as declaring vnto vs to whom we must offer our thanksgiuing to wit vnto God O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse If we take the words in that sense they may very well agree with the whole argument of this Psalme For certaine it is that in all distresses and daungers the Prophet will haue vs both onely to flie to God for succor and onely to praise him for gracious deliuerance He meaneth here sundry calamities banishment enprisonment sicknesse tempestuous weather immoderate drought vnseasonable raine but still he ascribeth vnto God the deliuerance and therefore to him only must be rendered all thankes and praise In the Church of Rome for euery seuerall disease or perill they haue a seuerall Saint to call vpon Petronella for the Ague Roch for the plague Valentine for the falling-sicknesse Otilia for the eyes Apollonia for the teeth our Ladie and Saint Margaret for women in child-birth They make Christopher to be their patron against sudden death Agatha against fire Hubert against the biting of a mad dogge Scholastica against thunder Anthony for their swine Loy for their horses Wendeline for their sheepe Luke for their Kine They make seuerall patrons and defendours not onely for euery countrey as Peter and Paule for Italie Denis for Faunce George for England Andrew for Scotland Patricke for Ireland but also in a manner particularly for euerie vocation and trade as Iuo for Lawyers Ioseph for Carpenters Lucas for painters Gutmā for coblers what was this els but to rob God of his honor and to ascribe that to the creature which is due to the Creator only whose name be blessed for euer and euer for all troubles all people whatsoeuer the commaundement of God is generall by the Psalmist Psal 50.14 Call vpon me in the time of trouble and I will heare thee and thou shalt glorifie me God is a iealous God he will not giue his glorie to any creature In ascribing somewhat to their Saints they thinke that thereby they honour them but they do them the greatest dishonour that may be when they make them meanes to rob God of his honour The Saints of God do by their owne examples in the Scriptures abundantly instruct vs to whom we are to ascribe all diuine praises and worship August de sancta virg cap. 3. The blessed Virgine blessed in bearing Christ by cōception in her body but more blessed in that she bare him also in the hart by faith doth acknowledge God to be a Sauiour as wel as al beleeuers therfore she praiseth God with these words My soule doth magnifie the Lord Luc. 1.46 my spirit doth reioyce in God my Sauior When Iohn would haue fallen downe to haue worshipped the angel Apoe 22.9 he was straightly forbiddē The Angel said take heed that thou do it not I am a seruant as thou art worship God Much lesse may men admit diuine worship in mē whom the Psalmist doth call in this place the sonnes of Adam And in which respect Saint Peter denied to be worshipped by Cornelius for when he was fallen downe at his feet to reuerence him the Apostle tooke him vp saying Stand vp Act. 10.26 for I my self am also a man When wee are exhorted here to celebrate before the Lord his goodnes and his wonderfull
for thou hast created al things by thy will they are haue bin created worthy is the Lambe that was killed Apoc. 5.12 to receiue power and riches wisedome and strength and honour and glory and praise Of which celestial thanksgiuing hee make vs al partakers that dyed for vs all euen that Lambe Christ Iesus to whome with the Father and the holy Ghost bee all glory Maiestie honour and praise now for euer Amen The End of the First Sermon THE SECOND SERmon of Thanksgiuing PSALME 107. V. 21. And sacrificing the sacrifice of prayse let them tell forth his doings with gladnesse COncening that which hath already beene spoken in the forenoone as well of the generall argument of the Psalme as also of the particular handling of the former part of my text I purpose not now right Worshipfull and beloued to make any repetition thereof partly because it was so lately vttered and partly because as some of you know I must of necessitie hasten to another place It remaineth onely now that I proceede somewhat further with the fruites and effects of thankfulnesse which then I began to speake of and to enterpret the verse following of our offering the sacrifice of praise and telling forth his workes with gladnesse The sacrifices which here the Psalmist speaketh of are not propitiatory but eucharisticall not for ransome of sinne but for rendering of thankes The propitiatorie sacrifices of the olde Testament Heb. 10.1.8 were types and shadowes of the passion of Christ The truth being come those shadowes are vanished away The last altar was the Crosse the last sacrifice was the bodie and bloud of Christ Heb. 7 17 and the last sacrificing priest was Christ Iesus himselfe a priest for euer after the order of Melchizedeck The order of Aaron had successours which did often offer sacrifices because they were vnperfect But the order of Melchizedeck is to haue no successour Christ offered a perfect sacrifice and therefore without any neede of repeating it he offered himselfe once for all Heb. 10.14 No mortall man nor yet any angel of God was fit to offer this sacrifice but onely Christ Iesus himselfe who was holy pure Heb 7.26 blamelesse and higher then the heauens he offered himselfe once for all Heb. 9.26 He ordained the sacrament of his bodie and bloud not to bee an altar 1 Cor 10.21 but a table not to offer but to receiue not to be a sacrifice 1 Cor 10 16 but a heauenly supper wherein our soules doe feede vpon the bodie and bloud of Christ and doe enioy a communion or common partaking thereof not to bee a propitiatory act but eucharisticall as that sacrament was called in the primitiue Church eucharistia a solemne and publike thankesgiuing vnto God for all the benefits which wee receiue in and through his Son Christ Iesus The sacrifice was offered by Christ himselfe It is sufficient for vs by faith to feede vpon it and thankfully to acknowledge that all is ours 1. Cor 3 â—2 as wee are Christs and Christ is Gods Phil 1 17 Without this faith all our thankesgiuings are but dead sacrifices as were the offerings of Kaine Gen. 4.3 who did offer to God as well as Abel but not with the faith of Abel Luk 1â— 11 And as were the speaches of the Pharisie Lord I thanke thee that I am not as other men when he sought more to exalt himselfe then to giue glorie and prayse vnto God Be there neuer so good a proportion of a body in the outward lineaments yet if the life be absent it is not a bodie but a carkase euen so be there neuer so good words in prayer and thanksgiuing yet if the soule bee absent for the life and soule of God his seruice is faith in the bloud of Christ then is our honouring of God but only a mere shadow ad carkase howsoeuer it do carry an outward shew of holines The good Christians of the primitiue Churches did not thinke it sufficient in God his great deliuerances to testifie their ioy with bonefires ringing of belles reuelings and belly-cheare but they shewed their thankfulnes by a general and solemne receiuing of that sacrament which they called Eucharistia the sacrament of thanksgiuing to wit Cyprian in serm de orat Dom. the Supper of the Lord by the often and zealous receiuing whereof they did both testifie their thankefulnesse vnto God and acknowledge also by whom they hoped that their prayers and prayses should be graciously receaued Apoc. 8.3.4 Christ onely it is that hath the golden censer to offer vp the prayers of the Saintes before the throne of God and with the smoake of the odours that is with the sweete sauour of his oblation the prayers of the Saintes go vp to the presence of God Dauid when hee hath called to mind the manifolde blessings of God Psal 116 13 can finde no other way to bee thankefull but onely by receiuing the cup of saluation and calling vpon the name of the Lorde V. 17 by paying his vowes vnto God and offering vnto God the sacrifice of thankesgiuing True thankefulnes requireth that our heart should loue God our lippes prayse God our bodie and soule obey God and our goods with all that we haue serue for the glorie and honour of God And each of those duties is accounted in the holy Scriptures to as it were a sacrifice offered to God For the hart the Lord saith by the wisedome of Salomon Prou. 23.26 My Sonne giue me thy hart and let thine eyes marke deligently my wayes The sacrifice of the Lord saith Dauid is a contrite spirit a contrite spirit and a broken heart Psal 51.19 â— O Lorde thou wilt not despise In the sacrifices of the olde Testament the Israelites did first behold the wrath of God against sinne that the rewarde of sinne was death for the Ramme Rom 6.23 Heyfer and such like being sacrificed did plainely shewe vnto them what they had deserued and thereby they conceiued a griefe for sinne and a loathing of sinne Secondly it was vnto them a liuely figure of the passion of Christ Ioh. 8.56 whereby they were stirred vp to loue the Lorde for his goodnesse and to reioyce in the beholding of the dayes of Christ And thirdly the sacrifice was as it were a vowe of amendment of life They vowed that as that beast was slaine vpon the altar so they would from thence foorth slay mortifie the wicked corruptions of their sinfull nature In which respect God doth call it a couenant Psal 50.5 when hee saith they make a couenant with mee by their sacrifice If these thinges to wit the griefe for sinne the loue of God and the full purpose to amend were wanting then was the sacrifice before God abhominable To him will I looke saith God euen to him that is poore and of a contrite spirite Isay 66.2 and that trembleth at my wordes
otherwise hee that killeth a bullocke is as hee that slayeth a man and hee that sacrificeth a sheepe is as hee that cutteth off a dogges necke and hee that offereth an oblation is as hee that offereth swines bloud and hee that remembreth incense is as hee that blesseth an Idoll such are these which haue chosen their owne wayes and whose soule doth delight in their owne abhominations 2â— Cor. 5.14 Then do we giue the heart vnto God when wee say with the Apostle the loue of Christ constaineth vs or wheÌ„ we performe that of the Psalmist Loue the Lord all ye Saintes of his Psal 31.24 for the Lord preserueth the faithfull and plenteously rewardeth the proude doer The olde Verse is true Non clamans sed amans cantat in aure Dei Not he that crieth out but he that loueth doth sing in the eares of God Dauid when he would giue thanks for his victories saide I will loue thee O Lord my strength Psal 18.1 or as trauellers do translate it ex intimis visceribus te diligam I will loue thee from my inward bowels Racham futur eâ—chomca O Lord my strength for so indeede the Hebrew worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie Heb. 13.15 Osea 14.8 Another sacrifice of thanksgiuing is to offer the fruite of our lips confessing vnto his name that is with our tongue to praise God Dauid doth call his tongue his glory because thereby hee did principally set forth the glorie of God to the edifying of others Awake saith hee my glorie Awake Lute and Harpe Psal 57.9 I my selfe will awake right earely And in an other Psalme psal 30.13 Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded mee with gladnes therefore my glory shal sing vnto thee that is my tongue a principall member made for thy glory The Apostle doth commaund vs generally Col. 3.17 that whatsoeuer wee doe in word or deede we should doe all in the name of the Lord Iesus giuing thankes to God the Father That is indeede to consecrate our tongue wholy to the glorie of God not now with the mouth to praise God and by and by with the same mouth to dishonor God but euery where and in all our speeches to haue an eye to that for which our tongue was made to wit 1. Thess 5.11 the glory of God the edifying one of another Aboue all things saith the Apostle sweare not Iam. 5.12 Eph. 4.25 put away lying and speake euerie man the truth one to another v. 29 for wee are members one of another Let no rotten or filthy communication proceede out of your mouth but that which is good to edifie withall that it may minister grace vnto the hearers V. 31 let bitternes and railing be put from you and blasphemie and all malitiousnes Otherwise howsoeuer wee doe with the tongue sometimes praise God if wee doe with the same tongue in our other speeches dishonour God it doth then euidently argue that our praising of GOD was nothing but meere hypocrisie for so sayth Saint Iames Iam 3.9 with the tongue wee blesse GOD the Father and with the same tongue wee curse men made after Gods image this cannot bee Can the same fountaine send forth both sweet water and bitter and how then can there come out of one mouth both blessing and cursing This saith the Apostle ought not to bee The people of Israel when God had shewed his infinite fauour towards them in deliuering them from bondage in sending them a pillar of cloude Deut. 8.3.4 for the day and for fire for the night to guide them in the desert in giuing them water out of the stony rocke and feeding them with foode from heauen 1. Cor. 10.10 Numb 14.37 in so protecting them that for forty yeares their garment did not waxe old neither did their foot swell They were so far from giuing praise vnto God that they fell to the clean contrarie that is to murmure against God But for this their wretched vnthankfulnes they were plagued some with leprosies some with fiery serpentes some the earth swallowed vp some perished with the pestilence that of aboue sixe hundred thousand there came but two of them into the land of promise A fearefull iudgement of GOD against such as refused to offer to God the calues of their lippes Osea 14.8 confessing vnto his name An other sacrifice of thankesgiuing is in the whole course of our life to consecrate our bodies and soules to the obedience of God his holie will Rom. 12 1 I beseech you saith the Apostle for the tender mercy of GOD that you offer vppe your body and Soule a liuelie sacrifice holy and acceptable vnto GOD which is your reasonable seruing of God 1. Cor. 6.20 fashion not your selues like to this world In an other place hee giueth the reason why wee must offer this sacrifice both in body and soule to glorifie God to wit because they are Gods God made them Christ Iesus redeemed theÌ„ whatsoeuer is bought from vs is none of our owne yee are bought saith the Apostle with a price Christ gaue his body and bloude for vs that hee might purchase vs vnto himselfe Tit. 2.14 that hee might redeeme vs ftom all iniquitie and purge vs to bee a peculiar people vnto himselfe zealous of good works whosoeuer therfore yeeldeth any part of his bodie or mind to commit sinne hee doth therein coÌ„mit sacriledge he robbeth the Lord Iesus of that which in dutie should bee offered to him The word sacrificing doth import a killing or slaying Rom. 8 13 The Apostle sheweth what we must slay to wit our owne vices and corruptione if yee mortifie the deedes of the flesh by the spirit yee shall liue mortifie your earthly members Cos 3.15 fornication vncleannes coueteousnesse This mortification must especially take place in those sinnes whereunto we are either by nature or by age most inclined what great thing is there performed of the riotous yong man if hee auoide couetousnes or of the olde man if hee auoide the wanton lustes of youth But if the old man do subdue anger nigardly care waiwardnes and such other crimes whereunto the nature of his age is most enclined or if the young man can by prayer and the power of Gods spirit mortifie those filthy lustes whereunto hee findeth himselfe most endangered then doe they offer vnto God a verie acceptable sacrifice for this sacrifice doth highlie please God wheÌ„ euerie man shall examine his own coÌ„science and when hee hath found to what vice hee is most bent doth then striue to mortifie that sinne by earnest praier and by the assistance of God his spirit Gal. 5.24 if wee doe not seeke by all good meanes to slay sinne before it of it selfe doth forsake vs if the yong man will not abandon his lustes vntill age doe of necessitie plucke it from him then hee forsaketh not sinne but sinne forsaketh him
truly mans flesh so tooke hee also a humane soule and was perfect man Hebr. 4 15 like vnto vs in all thinges sinne onely excepted Saint Peter saith ye were all as sheepe going astray 1 Pet. 2 25 but ye are returned to the sheapheard and Bishop of your soules Ver 11. And in the same Chapter againe abstaine from fleshly lustes which fight against the soule Hee calleth by the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima Iam 1.21 the spirit and principall part of man So doth Saint Iames when he willeth vs to receiue with meeknes the word of God which is able to saue your soules so doth our Sauiour Christ when hee biddeth vs not to feare them which kill the body Mat 10.28 and haue no power to kill the soule but to feare him that hath power to kill both body and soule and to cast both into hell fire Mat. 11.28 Heb. 13.17 1. Pet. 1.9 1. Pet. 4.39 And in the Chapter following learne of me that I am meeke and lowlie in heart and you shall find rest vnto your soules Hieron aduer Iouinian lib. 2 of this speaketh S. Hierom Anima in aurigae modum retinet fraena sensuum currentium The soule as a Wagoner doth holde and gouern the bridle of the running senses Aug. quaest super Numer lib. 4. cap. 18. And Augustine Humana natura constat corpore spiritu quem etiam animam dicunt The nature of man doth consist of a body and a spirit which spirit is called also the soule And Bernard Bernard super cant se m 59. gemit anima deuota Christi absentiam A deuoute soule doth grone and sigh when it feeleth Christ absent or longeth for the comming of Christ The other significations of the wordes soule and spirit as wheÌ„ soule is taken Gen. 14.21 Rom. 13.1 either for the whole person of man yet liuing Numb 21 1 Numb 6.6 or for the body of man being dead and the spirit taken for a Phantasma or Ghost appearing in some visible shape as Theophilact doth expound that place in S. Luke Luk 24.37 where it is said that the Apostles when our Sauiour appeared to them did think that they had seene a spirit and were afraid but our Sauiour did cheare theÌ„ vp why are ye troubled touch mee and behold for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see mee haue These and sundry other acceptations of the wordes soule and spirit I omit as impertinent to the question now in hand and doe thinke it more fit the aequiualency of the words being thus briefly laid open to passe vnto that which in order ought next to follow to wit the definition of anima what it is first generally in al liuing creatures and then more particularly what is the soule of man CHAP. II. What is the soule or anima and how the soule in man doth differ from anima in other creatures WHat that anima is that is the life of all animalia of all liuing creatures it is a question much disputed amongst auncient Philosophers Some doe make it a bodily thing some a nature incorporeal and some onely the temperature of the body The Stoickes taught See these opinions more at large in the beginning of the 7. chapter ammam esse vitales spiritus in sanguine that the soule was onely the vitall spirites in bloud If it be a corporall thing then must it needes be like either the aeriall or the fiery element The signification of the worde doth import rather an aerial nature but Democritus called it Igneam naturam of a fiery nature some called it a harmony or as Empedocles a friendship of the elementes and humors Heraclitus accounted in a certaine force flowing from the celestiall bodies into the terrestrial vnto which opinion the Poet seemeth to allude Virg. Igneus est illis vigor caelestis origo Aristotle defineth it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tully Tusc 1 the continued motion as Tully doth interprete it of a naturall organicall body hauing life in power some doe reprehend that interpretatioÌ„ of Tully do think that it should be expounded rather perfectioÌ„ because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth perfect Plato de leg Arist 3 Physic in lib. de gener anim at l. 2 de ani ait inima est principium quo vluimus sentimus mouemur But Plato vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for iugiter continuè certaine it is that Aristotle doth vse often promiscuè the wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for an efficiency and working motion many hold it to be all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a continuall agitation as in the Prouerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a drippe alwaies dropping doth harden the hard rocke and the Wiseman sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccl. 30.1 He that loueth his sonne doth continually adde correction to him When anima is called a continued agitation wee must not vnderstand an accidentall motion but a substantiall and habituall agitation stirring vp actions Hippocrates nameth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the naturall heat or the spirite in bloud and hee addeth Cum haec anima inflammatur pereunt corpus anima because when the heat and spirits doe not keepe a iust proportion theÌ„ all liuing creatures are thereby extinguished In the holy scriptures the word anima is giuen to the bloud Carnem cum sanguine ipsius qui anima ipsius est ne comedite Gen. 9.4 Eate not the flesh with the bloud of it which is his life tantummodò non comedas vllum sanguinem Deut. 12. â—3 quia sanguis cuiusque est eius anima ideo non com ede vllius animam cum ipsius carne Eate no bloude for the bloude of euery thing is the life therefore eate not the life together with the flesh Herevpon is the word anima also giuen to euery liuing creature Quaecunque anima viuebat in mari mortua est Apoc. 16.3 Euerie soule that liued in the sea that is euery liuing creature Adam called by name omnem animam viuentem Gen. 2 20. euery liuing soule that is euery liuing creature omnis anima viuens quae repit euery creeping soule Ezech. 47.9 that is creeping creature In most authors the worde bloud is taken for life because of the spirits of life proceeding of the bloud when the Poet describeth a man slain he vseth this phrase Purpuream vomit ille animam He cast out his purple-red soule Virg. Aenead that is his life together with his bloud Gal. de vsu partium lib. 6 cap. 17. Galen defineth animalem spiritum esse exhalationem quandam sanguinis benigni the animall spirit to be a certain exhalation of the best part of bloud Ibid lib. 9. c. 4 And afterward sheweth how this animal spirit is engendered of the vitall the thinnest and purest portion of the vitall spirits engendered
in the heart arteries is carried vp to the ventricles of the braine and there wrought into an animall spirit and from thence by the sinewes doth exercise his force in euery part of the body Gal. de placitis â—â—p Plat. l. 7. c. 8. the braine doth purge superfluous vapours but this animall spirit it doth retaine as familiar vnto it selfe and although naturally all spirits doe ascend and not discend yet these animall spirites being gouerned of the soule are carried downe euen into the feet and to euery part of the body for this difference doe the Galenistes make betwixt anima spiritus Spiritus ita se habet ad animam vt ad ignem scintilla The spirit is in respect of the soule Galen de placitis Hipp. Plat. lib 7 as the sparkle in respect of the sire or as in some places Galen doth speake the anima or soule dwelleth in the body of the braine as the workman primuÌ„ autem eius organum tuÌ„ ad vniuersos sensus tum ad motus voluntarios esse animalem spiritum and that her chiefest instrument both for all senses and for all voluntarie motions is the animal spirites What the substance of anima is Gal. lib. de faetus format lib de anim corp tempe rameÌ„torum mutua consequutione hee confesseth often that hee is ignorant of it He enclineth sometimes to the opinion of them which make anima to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a temperature of the elementes especially of the fiery and aeriall But most vsually for the speciall kindes and powers of it hee followeth very often the diuision of Plato who maketh three animae specuâ— in man Gal. ibid in lib. 9. de placit Hippo. Plat. the first he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the principall gouernour or rationall soule hauing the sent in the brain and working by senses voluntary motions imaginations memory vnderstanding and iudgement The second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the irascible soule hauing seat in the heart and working by vitall power by affections and perturbations The third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the appetitory or coÌ„cupiscible soules hauing sent in the liuer and working by nourishing increasing procreation and what soeuer operations of nature The faculties of the first are called Animall the second vitall the third naturall to the first do serue the sinewes to the second the arteries and to the third Gal. de natur facult l. 1. c. 1. the veines the vegetatiue life in plants is called by Galen rather natura then anima the naturall force of increasing and propagating The anima sensitiua or sensible soule giuing sense and mouing is common to maÌ„ with brute creatures but the rationall soule which Plato thought to proceed from God Gal lib. 9. de placicis Hip. â— Platonis and Aristotle accounted not to come by the generation of man but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ourwardly by the gift of God Arist lib 2 de gener animal cap 3. and Hippocrates acknowledged not to bee nourished with meates and drinkes Hipp. lib. 1 dâ— victus ratione and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not able to be altered by them and therefore immortall that is indeed the essentiall difference of man whereby hee is distinguished froÌ„ other creatures voyde of reason It was thus defined by Alcmaeon Cratoniades one of the schollers of Pythagoras Plato in Phaedro as Plato sheweth anima est substantia similis aeternis essentiis semper mobilis motu illo qui conuenit naturis caelestibus The soule is a substance like to the eternal essences alwayes moueable with that motion which agreeth to heauenly natures Augustine saieth August in lib de definitione anim Anima est substantia creata inuisibilis incorporea immortalis Deo simillima imaginem habens creatoris sui The soule is a substance created inuisible in corporeal immortall most like vnto GOD and bearing the image of her Creator Melancth deâ—â— anima pag 19 Melancthon defineth the soule to be an intelligent spirite the second parte of mans substance and yet so that being seperated from the body it remaineth still immortall Athanas tom 4. in tractatu de definitionibus ecclesiasticis Athanasius although hee account the essence of the Soule to be such as that it cannot bee knowne of man for the saieth Tria sunt quae secundum essentiam hominibus sunt incognita Deus Angelus anima quae soli Deo secundum essentiam cognita sunt yet afterward in the same place hee endeuoureth by a comparison to resemble the same vnto vs. As the Sunne beames saieth hee doe enter into the house and possesse one place and yet do lighten the whole house euen so the soule though it haue a seat in the heart and also in other principall partes of the head and body yet doth it further distribute her vitall power to euery part of the body This similitude was vsed before by the auncient Philosophers Curaeus in Physic Plato and Aristotle speaking of that principall part of man called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one doth compare it to the Sunne and the other to the light because sundry beames are spread from it vnto all such partes of the body as are capable thereof The lowest beame is called of Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 radius animae passiuus vel patibilis This suffering beame is spred into all the powers of the sensitiue soule and euen into the faculties of the outward senses and is ioined with them doth furnish them with that power that they may bee able to bee conuerted and reflected into themselues otherwise they should be like vnto bees making curious workes and yet not iudging of that which they haue made But in man by the communicating of the rational soule the senses doe reflect and compreheÌ„d themselues There is an other beame of the rationall soule called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intellectus radius agens the actiue or working beame which doth discourse of matters and sometimes doth vse the helpe of the inferior powers the imagination and the senses sometimes doth returne into his own essence Aboue both these beames there is mens pura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mind pure and without passioÌ„ not mingled with the bodily powers nor vsing them for her knowledge but plainely inorganical It hath a respect and consideration of the body but it doth therewith returne into her selfe and regarde her own chief patterne Andreas Laurent lib. de Melanch Hypochondr A famous Phisition of our age to shadow out the soule of man doth vse an other similitude drawn from the forme of a iudiciall court he calleth imagination the preferrer of the bils or promoter reason the examiner and iudge and memory the Custos rotuloruÌ„ or Register First imagination by the common sense and by the outward senses which shee doth vse as spies
are three kinds or sorts of soules and addeth presently the partition of Plato And againe plures sunt animae species et triplici sede collocatae there are three maners and formes of the soule and placed in three seuerall seates he citeth againe the diuision made by Plato Aristotle Vide Peucer Pag. 601. although in some places hee maketh but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gouerning all yet when hee giueth to the vegetatiue sensitiue and rationall soule three seuerall times of beginning and seuerall efficient and materiall causes and seuerall maners of working Arist de generat animal lib 2. Cap. 3. he seemeth verie euidently to make three distinct sortes of animae For he teacheth plainely those anima or soules whose actions are corporall doe not come from outward but do growe in and with the bodie Nec simul fieri animatum et faetum It hath a vegetatiue force to growe in the wombe euen before it is endued with sense Ibid. But of the minde hee addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onely the mind doth come from out ward and is only diuine For the powers and opeations of the bodie doe not communicate with the operations thereof Melanch de anima pag. 21 Melanchthon doth not condemne the arguments of Occam wherein hee endeuoured to demonstrate that the rationall and sensitiue soule are distinct things in man His reasons are because the rationall and sensitiue appetites are contrary one to another and it is vnpossible that in the selfe same indiuisible nature there should bee at the same time contrarie appetites Againe if man beget man it must needs be with life and sense It seemeth a grosse thing to imagine that other baser creatures should naturally procreate and bring forth issue of their owne kinde with life and sense and that man being so farre a more excellent creature should not in procreation yeeld so much as sense and life The reasons of theÌ„ which defend three seuerall kinds of soules in man Howsoeuer the rationall soule the vnderstanding and mind commeth not ex trâ—duce froÌ„ the seed of the parents but is inspired and giuen of God yet the vegetatiue and sensitiue power as he saith cannot but come by naturall propagation if in bruite beasts much more in man the more noble creature Moreouer after their opinion the rationall soule differeth from the other in continuance and eternitie For whereas she is immortall and perpetuall the others to wit the vegetatiue and the sensitiue as they haue their beginning with the bodie so haue they their end also For their actions are wholy organical neither haue they any power or beeing when the bodily instruments do fayle The sensitiue power is corporall and diuisible but the mind or soule is a spirit incorporall and therfore indiuisible and is indeed the only essentiall difference betwixt man and bruitish creatures Whiles she is vnited with the bodie she gouerneth all the powers of the bodie and imparteth her efficacy to euery part of it according as it is found capable thereof As the Sunne in the great world doth come to some partes with his beames and to other parts onely with his efficacie euen so in this microcosmus the little world man the diuine spirit the soule doth on some partes cast the beames of her light and impart vnto other the power of her quickening spirit and is indeed both the fountaine of life in this world to the body being made capable by the vegetatiue and sensitiue faculties the good temperatures of the first qualities and after this life when the vegetatiue and naturall forces shall cease the bodie being by glorification made eternally capable it shall minister to it a life that neuer shall haue end A man doth sustaine no iourney if at the same time wherein he expecteth the payment of a debt though the debt be not paid yet his comming for it doth by occasion sodainly yeeld him such preferment as whereby he shall neuer stand in neede of that debt so expected And euen so it is no abasing vnto maÌ„ not to haue that debt of nature sensitiue life which all liuing creatures haue when at the same time in stead of that which should haue come from parents God doth inspire a far better euen a liuing soule performing al a thousand times more then the other could haue done I therfore hold their opinion to be soundest Peucer de diuinat cap de physiog which do attribute vnto man but one soule comprehending and gouerning al the powers in man The vegetatiue and sensitiue faculties are but bodily temperatures or corporall agitations hauing their motions according to the good disposition of the instruments and also their continuance according to their continuance But the mouing spirit which moueth all and ruleth all and quickeneth all is that one soule of man Chrysost ad populum Antioch hom 19 of which Chrysostome speaketh omnia duplicia naturae nostrae dedit Deus binos oculos binas aures binas manus binos pedes animam autem vnam quam si perdiderîmus quid superest quorum in vita maneamus God hath giuen all other things double vnto vs that if one be hurt the other may stand vs instead eies eares hands feet double But he hath giuen vs but one soule which if we destroy what is there in the world whereby we may hope for any life Isidor in etymolog And Isidore anima dum viuificat corpus anima est dum vult animus est dum scit mens est dum recolit memoria est dum rectum indicat ratio est dum spirat spiritus est dum aliquid sentit sensus est The soule is one but is called by seuerall names according to her seuerall and manifold operations Vide Curaei Physic Some holding the opinion of Plato that there bee three distinct soules in man do conclude that to be the cause of apparitions of ghostes because Plato taught that the sensitiue soule doth remaine a while after death as a garment couering to the rationall But I omit that as a playne dreame Iohannes Philoponus Philopon Grammat a Grecian Philosopher and yet a christian said that he could not conceiue how the wicked should be punished after this life vnlesse the sensitiue soule doe continue No doubt as the souls of them which dying in the Lord are alreadie blessed and with Christ in Paridise beholding the Lambe Apoc. 22 5. howsoeuer they want the bodily eye and haue no light of the Sun but the Lord God is their light for euer so the rich glutton his soule Luk 1â— the souls of as many as are alreadie damned with him do endure the torments prepared for the diuell and his angels Howsoeuer the bodies being not yet raised vp they cannot be said to haue their corporal senses The maner of the ioies punishmeÌ„ts after this life for the arme of Gods mercy and the arme of his iustice are both
quickning spirit of Christ To call a body spirituall and to say that the spirit is a body are speeches very much different Col. 2. v. â— S. Paule sayeth that the fulnes of the Godhead doth dwell in Christ bodily but wee can not thereupon inferre that the Godheade is a body Rom. 7.14 The law is called spirituall the law sayth the Apostle is spirituall and I am solde vnder sin who will thereupon inferre that the law is a spirit Rom. 8.7 It is sayd the wisedom of the flesh is enmity against God is the flesh therefore a thing rationall Paule will haue the body of sinne destroyed Rom. 6. v. 6 is therefore sin a thing corporeall 2 Cor. 4.16 He sayeth though the outward man doe perish the inward man is renewed daily is therfore the soule of it selfe a person Aquinas writing vpon that place Aquinas in 2. Cor. 4. condeÌ„neth an heresie of Tertullian Hic Tertulliani error daÌ„natur etiam ab Augustino Epist 157 who taught that because S. Paule doth call the Soule an inward man therefore the Soule no doubte had a bodily shape but hee frameth him this answere Vnumquodque dicitur illud esse quod est in eo principalius Any thing may beare the name of that which is most principall in him secundum veritatem iudicium principalius in homine est mens sed secundum apparentiam principalius est corpus exterius cum sensibus suis According to true iudgement the principall part of man is the minde but according to the outward appearaÌ„ce the principal part is the body the seÌ„ses thereof therfore it is that the one is called the outward maÌ„ the other the inward S. Hierom sheweth that some in his time to proue that the spirite and soule are seuerall substaÌ„ces Hierom. epist 150. ad 12. quaest Hedibiae In adiectione ad Dan. v. 86. did alledge that in the song of the three children O yee Spirites Soules of iust men praise the Lord. But hee putteth it downe as an vsual answere that that chapter is of the Apocrypha and he addeth Non vtique sunt tot substantiae quot nomina We must still imagine so many substances as we finde names The Apostle to the Hebrewes Heb. 4. v. 12. calleth the worde of God such a two edged sworde as doth enter to the deuiding of the soule and spirite we may not conclude thereby two seuerall substances but by the soule is meant as most do expounde it the affections and by the spirit the reason an vnderstanding Aquinas in Heb. 4. Aquinas saith spiritus est illud per quod communicamus cum essentiis spiritualibus anima est illud per quod communicamus cum brutis anima operatur cum corpore sciritus sine corpore That part of the soule which doth communicate with spirituall substances is called a spirit but that faculty which is common to brute beastes is called anima the one worketh with the body and the other without the body Others make that to the soule do appertaine those thinges which are agreeable to nature and to the spirit those thinges that are aboue nature but still meaning the faculties of one soule and not seuerall substances It is no abasing of the soule of man to haue some thinges common with brute beastes as it is no disgrace to the mightiest prince in the world to haue some things common with the vilest and basest subiect of his kingdome to witte eating drinking sleeping such other naturall functions All Creatures haue their seuerall degrees of this anima some haue onely the natural degree as haue trees and herbs some haue further a vitall degree as haue wormes some besides the vital haue also a sensuall degree with some feeling of feare and ioy as haue brute heastes and some besides the naturall vitall and sensuall haue also an intellectuall as hath man to discourse ponder and iudge and stil the higher includeth his inferior and the highest and most soueraign compreheÌ„deth all in one Some to derogate from the word anima doe alledge that speech of Athan. Athanasius tom 4. in tractatu de definitionibus ecclesiasticis Nemo existimet quod ille spiritus queÌ„ in homineÌ„ inflauit factus sit anima absit Let no maÌ„ think that the spirit which God did breath into man was made a soule God forbid wee should think so wherupoÌ„ they conclude that in Athan. his iudgemeÌ„t the spirit the soule are two distinct substaÌ„ces most certaine it is that Athanasius in that place doth not speake of spirite as of any essentiall part of man but of that Spirite wherewith God created all thinges of which it is sayde in Genesis Spiritus Dei incubabat superficiei aqua rum The spirite of God did hatch vpon the waters and in the Psalms by the word of the Lord the heaueÌ„s were made all the army of them Gen 1 2 Psal 33.6 Spiritu oris eius by the breath of his mouth This working creating spirite did God breath into maÌ„ â—en 2.7 by it man was made a liuing soule without any elementary matter now that efficient al-creating spirite which God did breath into maÌ„ let no maÌ„ think saith Athana that it self was made a soule God forbid for then anima esset nimiruÌ„ de Dei essentia Our soule should be of the very essence of God Sed spiritus ille perficit animaÌ„ But that spirite which is of Gods essence doth make the soule of man and all the powers therof by which wordes following Athanasius doth so plainely expounde his owne meaning that no doubt can be left thereof I conclude therfore that the soundest course is when we take vpon vs to determine what anima is to giue it the same properties and the same signification as hath been euer giuen to it by the holy Scriptures by the auncient Fathers by the wisest of the Philosophers and by all the best approued authors that euer haue written and if in any place either in the booke of God or in the writinges of learned Diuines if be ioined together with the word spirit theÌ„ to giue it no other sence theÌ„ is the scope and drift of the places In all the places which are alledged the purpose of the originall text is not to shew how the soule should bee vnited to the body but how al the powers of the soule should be ioyned vnto God CHAP. V. In what place of the body the Soule doth possesse his seat THe vulgar and common axiome that anima rationalis est tota in toto tota in qualibet parte The rationall soule of man is whole in whole and whole in euerie part which some do attribute to Augustine and some to other late schoolemen but in Melancthon his iudgement it is no speech of Plato Melancth de anima pag 34 Aristotle or of any ancient Philosopher may best bee expounded of the power and efficacy of the
soule for the soule being a spirituall essence as it is indeuisible so is it locall and finite it doth choose a certaine place to it selfe or rather hath a place allotted vnto it of God and doth work so far and with such distance as is appointed vnto it There is a great controuersie betwixt the Greeke and Arabian Phisitians Andr. LaureÌ„t tract de Melancth Hypochondi in what part of the head the soule of maÌ„ is situated for whether it be in the head or no they make no question The Grecians doe thinke that it doth possesse the whole braine without any distinction of places and they doe so ioyne imagination memory with reason that they doe thinke them not possible to bee diuided by distance of place nor yet scarsely so much as in thought As in the similar partes of the body they make in euery part the fower natural faculties the attractiue the retentiue the digestiue and the expulsiue not to be distinguished in place but to possesse the whole part as aboue or such like so they make the imagination the memorie and the reason to be in the same order in the whole brain But the Arabian Phisicians doe attribute to euery one of these three faculties a proper and peculiar seate First because nature hath made nothing in vaine therefore seeing there are three seueral ventricles of the braine Rationes 5. Arabum citat a Laurentio it is most likely that they doe serue for seuerall seats for the three chiefe faculties of the soule the first to be the seat of imagination the second of reason Rati 1. a toâ—â— perieventriculorum the third of memory They ascribe the former ventricle to imagination because being in the foreparte it is most fit to receiue obiectes and therfore they say it is softer then the rest as most fit to receiue impressions and memory to the hinder part as an inward chamber or closet somewhat dryer and more firm theÌ„ the ventricle before And the middest being most temperate they account the fittest seat for reasoÌ„ Secondly they endeuor to proue it by Physiognomy because they whose head is made high vp behind haue coÌ„moÌ„ly good memories they which haue high foreheads haue ready imaginatioÌ„ capacity Thirdly they aledge that probleme of Aristotle that when we would deeply consider of a matter we do coÌ„monly draw together the browes the foreheade being coÌ„tracted we do lift vp our couÌ„tenance but wheÌ„ we haue forgotten a thing we do coÌ„monly rub the hinder part of the head Fourthly they rest vpoÌ„ experience because they say it ofteÌ„ falleth out that vpon a wouÌ„d receiued in the hinder part of the head the memory is wholy destroied And also it is often seen that the one faculty being depraued the other may remain souÌ„d Phrentike Melancholike persons may haue their imagination become vaine erronious yet in some matters dispute with good reason many that are forgetfull of thinges past wil yet conceiue very wel things present And last of al they think that the fittest place for the reasoÌ„ the mind being the principal part of the soule is the middle ventricle of the braine froÌ„ which she may both easily receiue all formes of obiects from the former ventricle also readily require and exact of memory those thinges which she hath almost forgotteÌ„ These arguments though they are somwhat probable and haue indeede allured many men to giue assent vnto them yet because they are but onely probabilities gesses and coniectures and no certain demoÌ„strations Vide Andr. Laurentii tract de melanchol it is accouÌ„ted by many more safe to rest vpon the sincere ground laid down before of the GreciaÌ„s Gal. lib 2 de motu musculorum Galen sheweth that the imaginary faculty of the soule doth also remeÌ„ber for when the impressions are deeply conceiued in the imagination he calleth that memory when the imagination doth receiue the impressions but lightly superficially not ofteÌ„ enough conceiue them more deeply he nameth that forgetfulnes he placeth principatuÌ„ anime Gal. de pl. ciâ—is Hipp. Plat. lib. 8. cap. 1. the chiefe part of the soule to be where is the beginning of sinewes that he maketh to be generally in the braine and he wil haue the animal spirits which are the first instrumeÌ„ts of the soule to bee contained not only in the three ventricles Gal de vsu partiâ—m lib. 8. but also in the whole body of the brain because for the gouerning of the whole body there hath need to be multus animalis spiritus great plenty of animal spirits Many Philosophers haue determined the seat of the rationall soule and vnderstaÌ„ding to be in the hart of maÌ„ of which opinioÌ„ were Zeno the Babilonian Diogenes Chrysippus Gal. lib. 2. de placitis Hipp. Plat. Galen declareth that their chiefest proofe was this Sermo est mentis nuntius The speech of man is the messeÌ„ger of the mind and therefore from what part of the body the speech commeth there lyeth the vnderstanding now the speech commeth not from the braine but out of the breast by the aspera arteria the winde-pipe and therefore in the breast and about the heart is the seate of the minde To which he aunswereth that the minde doth in a momeÌ„t moue all the instruments of the body bee they neuer so far off if they be capable of motion Nihil impedimenti ad celeritatem ex interuallo recipit It receiueth no impedimeÌ„t to hinder speedinesse by any distance of place for as when a part of mans body is wounded there is no sensible time betwixt the wound beig giuen and the smart receiued thereby So there is no apparant distance betwixt our will of breathing and speaking and the verie action it selfe which dependeth vpon the wiill howsoeuer therefore the voyce doth proceed out of the winde-pipe yet that doth nothing hinder but that in the brayne may bee the cause which moueth that arterie The speech doth proceede from the mind not as from a place but as from a mouing ruling cause commaunding and gouerning all those instruments about the throate whereby the voyce is framed Galen proueth this by a forcible argument there are saith hee three things passing betwixt the heart and the braine and as it were knitting the one to the other to wit sinewes arteries and veines If about the outward part of the necke the sinewes onely be cut straight way doth the partie become dumbe al other actions being left vnhurt If onely the arteries thereabouts be cut or tyed hard with a band being first with an instrument plucked outward the partie doth not become dumbe but all the parts aboue the band or wound do loose the vse of the pulses and the parts downewards towards the heart do yet afterwardes retaine the pulses but vpon the cutting or intercepting of the veines there is none of the said functions abolished Whereby it appeareth that
neither the heart hath neede of the brain to the beating of the pulses nor yet the braine hath need of the heart that it may rule senses and motions according to the command of reason and will Againe daily experience doth shewe vnto vs that in learning studying about matters there is no apparant motion in the heart but in the head as on the other side in all perturbations the motion is in the heart and not in the head the heart panteth and is troubled but the head is not greeued vnlesse by a sympathie Hereof Galen concludeth that the rationall facultie of the soule Ibid. lib ◠de Plaut 〈◊〉 hath seate in the brayne and irrationall in the heart Auerrhoes obiecteth against Calen that wormes haue a voluntarie motion and yet not by sinewes mouing the muskles for they want them and therfore voluntarie motions may be without any such sinewes and muskles But he should haue considered that wormes are insecta et imperfecta animalia vnpecfect craatures as are flies gnats and such like therefore there is no argument to bee drawne from them to more perfect creatures that because they doe reare vp and stand without bones purge melancholie without spleane and moue voluntarie without sinewes and muskles therefore more perfect creatures as beastes and foules must doe all these thinges by the same meanes that they doe it Neither doth it follow because bruite beasts haue their motions by anima sensitiua the sensitiue soule that therefore man being so much more excellent then they many degrees more they are better then vermine should of necessitie haue the same fountaine of motions that is in those bruitish creatures Another reason hath Auerrhoes when we breath in sleepe the letting in and sending out of the breath is by the helpe of the muscles and sinewes And yet at that time there is no will nor power of the rationall soule to gouerne it therefore the fountaine of motion is from the heart But there is in man a twofolde will the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab electione by election and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab instinctu by instinct of nature In the time of sleepe there is the later though not the former There are also such passages bands mutual helps betwixt the braine and the heart that Hippocrates doth not sticke sometimes to make the heart the dwelling place of vnderstanding Hipp. in libello de corde his wordes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mans rationall soule is in the least ventricle of the heart it is not nourished with meates and drinks but with the pure and cleare aboundance arising out o◠the seuering of the bloud Some cōmenting vpon that place say that hee speaketh after the vulgar opinion others thinke that by the soule he meaneth that calidum that naturall heate Laurent in Anat which is the instrument of the soule The vitall spirit which Hippocrates and Galen do often leaue at our liberty Gal. lib. 5. de placit Hipp. et Plat. et in a Aph. 14. et in libro contra Lyrum whether we will call it calidum or by the name of spiritus though it bee placed in the heart yet is it also from it by the arteries communicated to all the bodie And the bloud whereof the spirits do come Gal. in lib. do vsu et vtil respirationis and which is the same to the spirits as in the lampe the oyle is to the flame although the naturall facultie of the working of it bee placed cheifely in the liuer Hippo. lib. de alimento yet is it also in the veines which haue their beginning of radication and distribution frō the liuer Atha in initio tractatus de definitionibus ecclesiasticis Hereupō cōmeth that speech of Atha habet anima sua sedem in corde in posteriori parte capitis quae caua vocatur et in basilicis venis In istis tribus partibus amma sedem habens in totum copus vitalem suam potentiam distribuit The soule hath her seat in the heart in the hinder hollow part of the head and in the basilicall veines And hauing her abode in these three places shee doth distribute her vitall power into all the bodie The Prophet Dauid saith Psal 7.10 thou Lord art the searcher of the heart and reines The best interpreters doe by the heart expound cogitations and thoughtes and by the reynes our affections Hee saith further Psal 16.7 my reynes do instruct mee in the night season that is my will and my studies beeing guided by the spirit of God for in the same verse hee giueth to God humble praise as to the author of that Instruction In sundrie places of the Scriptures Exod. 12.11 Leuit. 3.4 Hieron super Nahum 2. Greg. 11. mor. 9. Aug. super Psal 72. Tremel in Psa 139.13 the worde reynes is expounded by the Fathers to signifie lust as beeing instruments seruing to lust But the Psalmist doth apply it generally to all the inward faculties as when he saith Thou Lord doest possesse my reynes that is as the best do interpret it quicquid in me latet whatsoeuer lyeth hid within me The reines are placed by Physicians in the middle proportion of heate as are likewise the liuer and veines and all those chiefe inward receptacles of heate bloud and spirits by meanes of veines and arteries passing thorowe them haue a mutual societie one with another And if of humors and grosse things that bee true which Hippocrates writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foras et intro est spirabile totum corpus Hipp. epid 6 Thes 6. Aph. 1 all the body hath passages breathing out and inspired frō one part to another Gal. lib. 3. de natural facult and that which Galen saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euery part doth drawe out of euery part and send againe into euery part and there is one confluxe and conspiration of al parts Then much more may this bee said of spirits which are far more subtill and more fit for passage And if experience doe teach that either a veine or an arterie being opened may thorowly euacuate both the one and the other Hipp. in Coacis praenotionibus Laurent in Anatom and that there is such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Physicians do call it such a transition of humors from the veines to the sinewes and from the sinewes to the veines that a disease in one may be dissolued and auoyded by the other as Hippocrat sheweth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a crampe or convulsion of sinewes comming within the first three daies doth often dissolue a feuer why should not then the faculties and powers to wit the animall in the braine and the vitall in the heart the naturall in the liuer bee thought mutually to cōspire and worke together to vpholde the whole bodie and euery part and portion thereof I conclude therefore that howsoeuer the anima or soule is said in respect
of her chiefe animall facultie to haue seate in the braine and by her vitall facultie to haue place in the heart and by her naturall facultie to possesse the liuer yet the first by sinewes and the second by arteries and the third by veines doe with such societie harmonie and neere coniunction worke continually together in all the bodie that the soule it selfe which ruleth and gouerneth them al may bee said in and by them to bee present in all the bodie although in her owne essence and substance shee hath her proper place appointed by God being the chiefest part of mā it is most likely that she hath it in that part which is the chiefest beauty as it were the very maiestie of this earthly creature CHAP. VI. Whether the soul do come ex traduce by generation and conception from the parents as doth the bodie WHether the soule of man be created of God or no it is a matter that was neuer called in question in the Church of God for al the faithful haue euer acknowledged that as the body is created of God so also the soule But sundrie doubts haue been often made by many in what sort and maner the soule is created Some haue thought it to be a corporal thing and to come by propagation from the bodies of the parēts others haue on the other side so much extolled it as that they wold haue it to be created of the very substance of God A third sorte there haue bin which haue defended the soule to be a spiritual substāce but yet to come by propagation the soule from the soule as the bodie from the body Origin his opinion of all soules created together at the creation of the world is touched Chap. 4. August Epist 157. tom 2. Others wil haue it to be created of nothing others that it is created but yet of the substāce of that immortall soule which was giuen vnto Adam S. Augustine saith that if we keepe our selues frō the two first grosse heresies then Origo animae sine periculo latet it is no danger to vs to bee ignorant how the soule hath her beginning The first assertion which was the errour of Tertullian is at large confuted in that Epistle of Augustine The two chiefest reasons of Tertullian are these Gen. 46.26 first because it is said in Gen. that there came three score and sixe soules out of the loines of Iacob secondly because whē God made Adam Gen. 2.7 it is said that God did breath into him hee was made a liuing soule but when Eue was made there is no mētion made of any soule inspired into her therefore she had hers from Adam To the first it is answered that the word soul signifieth some times the person Gen. 14.21 as Gen. 14. giue mee the souls take thou the goods when the king of Sodom desired to haue his people againe S. Paul biddeth euery soul be subiect to higher powers that is euery person sometimes it is takē only for the body Aug. epist 157 tom 2. as S. Aug. sheweth in that Epistle as I haue laid open here in my first Chap. As for the ensāple of Eue it was sufficiēt to haue the inspiring of the soule once named but no doubt she had also her soule giuen her of God as Adā did acknowledge whē he said this is now flesh of my flesh Gen. 2 23. bone of my bone he did not say soule of my soule therfore did confesse it to be giuen of God The second opinion which was of the Manichees renewed of late time by Seruetus that because the Apostle saith Act 17.28 In God wee liue moue haue our beeing meaning indeed of the qualities gifts and graces which God hath bestowed on vs therefore our soule is made of the very essence of the God-head it is so grosse a collection that it needeth no cōfuting It is most absurd impious once to think that the soule of man being so many waies stamed polluted and so full of inconstancies vaine imaginations should be in substance a portiō of the most pure sacred God head As for them which thinke that it commeth of the essence of mans soul some do holde that in procreation it floweth out cum semine Aug. epist 15◠But Aug. doth thinke that to be incredible because multa fluunvirrita sine conceptibus semina and if the semen animae be mortall how shuld then the soule it selfe be immortall Others are of opiniō that no part of the soule issueth out with the seede but as one candle doth light another lose no part of it selfe thereby so the soule of the parents doth giue a soule to the naturall heate good temperature of that which is conceiued and yet not diminish thereby any portion of it selfe But the most generall opinion now holdē in the church is that the soules are created of God from outwardly by his diuine power inspired into mā at the time of giuing life Whether created of the soule of Adā as some in times past haue thought or created of nothing as in the first creation I account it a question needlesse seeing the word of God hath reuealed no determining thereof but that it is created of God and also created in another maner then is the body that seemeth to be apparātly declared in the holy scriptures The Apostle saith to the Hebrewes if we haue had fathers of our flesh to correct vs Heb. 12.9 we haue reuerenced thē how much more shall wee be in subiection to the father of our spirits and liue What can bee more apparant to shew that the body and the soule do not come both vnto vs after one maner God is our creator in respect of our bodies but hee hath made them by meanes by the parents of our flesh but hee is called the father of our soules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a certaine excellency and peculiar preheminēce because he hath made them himselfe alone and in the creatiō of our spirits hath gone beyond the course helpe of natural meanes The like speech we haue in the Preacher Eccl. 12.7 when earth saith he goeth to earth the spirit goeth to God which gaue it No doubt God giueth also the body as the Psalmist cōfesseth Psal 139.13 thou Lord hast couered me in my mothers wombe I will praise thee for that I am wonderfully made but he is by a singular proper prerogatiue called the giuer of spirits because they come not as the body by means but immediatly frō himself Hereunto hath S. Peter respect 1. Pet. 4.39 when he willeth vs to commit our soules vnto God as a faithful creator Dauid whē he saith the Lord doth fashion the harts of mē Psal 33.15 Hereupon is it that the Lord himselfe saith by the Prophet Esay that he hath made the soules Esay 57.16 to this worke
may wel be applyed the speech of our sauior Ioh. 5.17 pater operatur et ego operor my Father worketh still I worke The incorporall immortall spirit the soule of mā is of greater dignitie worth thē that it may be said to bee produced out of the facultie or power of any materiall thing It is also inorganicall howsoeuer for a time it do gouerne the Instruments of the body yet doth it oftē reflect into it selfe without all help of bodily instrumēts it doth discourse number gather principles vnderstād things both particular vniuersall therefore it is not likely that an essēce so spiritual inorganical shuld haue her beginning only by an instrumētall maner meanes Further it is euidēt that incorporal spiritual substances are not diuisible If the soule shuld be traducted frō the soule of the parents then must it needs bee that either the whole soule of the parēts is traducted or some part portiō if the whole thē must it needes bring the death destructiō of the parēts if but a part thē must it needs follow that simple spiritual essēces are partible diuisible that it may receiue a compositiō of parts as part frō the soul of the father part frō the mothers which consequēces do seeme absurd contrary to the groūds of reasō Obiection 1 Gen. 2. Some obiect that which is said in Gen. that God in the seuenth day did rest frō the creatiō of al his works therefore God doth not as yet still create newe soules S. Augustine answereth Aug. de Gen. ad literam lib. 4. cap. 10. tom 3. that God did cease à condendis generibus creaturae from making new kindes of creatures but for continuing those kindes which he hath at the first created that doth still take place Aug. Epist 28 Ioh. 5.17 which is saide in the Gospel Pater meus vsque nunc operatur And in another place the same Augustine saith verie well that God doth worke nowe non instituendo quod non erat sed multiplicando quod erat not in creating that which hath neuer beene but in multiplying that which hath beene Some obiect that it is not likely that God wold giue a lesse priuiledge vnto man then he hath giuē vnto bruit beasts If they beget issue wholy like vnto them selues why shuld not the same be performed in man I answere that those argumēts often do not followe which be drawne frō the more vnperfect creatures to thē that are more perfect If I should reason thus because wormes do reare vp without bones they purge melancholy humor without a splean they are moued volūtary without muscles therefore an iniury is done vnto man that he cānot also do the like or because the black flies called Beetles and other vermine do breed of dung without any helpe of male or female therefore an iniury is done to birds beastes that they cannot also do the like who wold account these argumēts to be of any force The more perfect that any creature is in the more noble maner is the forme giuen vnto it If in steede of a poore priuiledge a far greater indeede a very royall priuildge be granted then must it not be accouted an iniury but rather great fauour mercy and bountie as I haue shewed more at large in the third Chapter Some affirme that one soule doth bring forth another as one seede of wheate doth bring forth another because euery seede hath in it quiddam aeternum some thing eternall and perpetuall Saint Augustine doth answeare this argument Aug. epist 157. tales animas non spiritus sed corpora esse contendunt such men do make the soules not to be spirituall but bodily essences quo peruersius quid dici potest then which opinion what can be counted more absurd In corporall thinges the corruption of one is the generation of another That which thou sowest saith S. Paul is not quickned 1. Cor. 15.36 except it dye first but who will imagine such corruption in spirituall essences Corporall thinges doe grow and increase but these incorporall and spirituall essences haue at the first their perfection and do not grow in respect of quantitie or substance onely they haue need of Gods grace to renew their decaied qualities and of fit instrumentes for them that they may put forth their power and strength but say they if the soule be created of God and giuen from heauen not produced from the parents how is it then guilty of originall sinne or how can wee bee accounted by nature to bee the children of wrath Eph. 2.3 This obiection hath bred sundry errors amongst many Some haue affirmed that the soules are indeed created of God pure but that they are polluted at the very first when they come to man by the act of generation These are sufficiently confuted by the Apostle to the Hebrewes pronouncing mariage to bee honourable Hebr. 13.4 and the bed therein to be vnpolluted and vndefiled And againe if originall sinne should come that way then should wee by nature haue onely the sin of lust but we haue naturally all other sorts of sinne Enuy wrath pride and what not others haue taught that God indeede doth create the soule but that he hath therfore created it with these spots that it might bee a fit soule for man as hee hath giuen to other creatures a life fit for them to an Asse a life fit for an Asse and to a dog a life fit for a dog so to man he hath giuen a soule fit for him that is to a damned man a damned soule This is a wicked and damnable opinion to make God the author of euill who is wholy good perfectly good so good that there is no end of his goodnes who is as the Psalmist saith Psal 5.4 Deus non volens iniquitatem A God that willeth no iniquity But for the comming of originall sinne I take their assertion to be best and soundest which as they acknowledge the soule to be created of God pure holy as all his works are good so they do also affirme that it is not created with that strength of persisting in good Gen. 1.32 and resisting euil many such excellent graces which it should haue had if Adam had not transgressed the commandement of God Hauing therefore in it selfe though a purity yet also a weakenesse and imbecility it is no sooner ioyned to the body of man but it is presently infected with the pollution thereof euen as the purest spirite of wine or best quintessence that can be made in the world if it be powred into a filthy poisoned and vnsauory vessel it doth in a moment become partaker of the corruptions thereof yet we must not imagine the soules to haue for some time a being before they bee vnited with the bodies for at one and the selfe same time the soules are both created and also vnited to the bodies
as it is said Gen. 2.7 Hee breathed in his face the spirit of life Neither must wee thinke that they haue onely imbecility and weakenes in resisting corruptions but that they haue also many other defects of mind and will they are destitute of spirituall light are therefore blinde and not inclined to such desires and actions as the law of God requireth God bestowed his giftes and graces vpon Adam on this condition that hee would giue them also to his posterity if hee himselfe would by obedience keepe them but would not giue them to his seed if he by his vnthankfulnes should cast them away Now Adam hauing by disobedience lost them God in iustice as a iust punishment inflicted vpō Adams sinne doth bereaue his posterity of them Now these defects and the inclinations corrupted by these defectes are sins as they are drawne by men sinning vpon themselues and their posterity and as they haue from them and their seed their beginning and as they are causes also that man neither is nor can bee conformable to the law of God It is not a doctrine so strange as some would make it that the soule being created pure should bee polluted by the body seeing that the soules of our first parents were created most pure and yet afterward depraued and though the bodies of their posterity bee of themselues sencelesse yet that doth not proue but that vpon the curse laid on our first parentes they may be prone to ill and no fit instruments for any goodnesse neither is it against the goodnesse of God so to ioine his pure creature to the body that it must needes bee polluted thereby seeing that as hee hath therein shewed his iustice in punishing sinne so hee doth thereby set forth his infinite mercy ordaining for it a remedy by the redemption of Christ Iesus God could haue made the soules of our first parents in such manner that they could not possibly fall away but it was not expedient that they should be so made because then the obedience of man should haue beene as it were forced and therefore not so acceptable vnto God So God could haue made the soules of his posterity with such strength and stedfastnesse that they could not possibly bee polluted but it was more expedient that they should be so made that it might be knowne both what wee are by nature and what we are by grace The goodnesse and mercy of God doth more shine by the redemptiō of Christ Iesus then it should haue done if man had neuer fallen into miseries although in the iust iudgement of God the soule bee made in such sort as it must of necessity be polluted by the vniting of it with the body yet is it not thereby to be excused from the guilt of sinne for though it bee of necessity yet is it not of any compulsiō A stone let downe into the water goeth downe of necessity yet not with compulsion bodies depriued of food doe faint of necessity and flesh doth in time putrifie of necessity yet neither doth the one faint nor the other putrifie by any compulsion God of necessity is good and the Diuell of necessity euill yet cannot we say that eyther goodnes in God or iniquity in the Diuell do proceed of compulsion The soule being ioined to the body is of necessity sinnefull yet not by compulsion but willingly and of her owne accord But some may say the faithfull are regenerate and born a new and are in Christ become a holy people 2. Pet. 2 9. how can it then bee that their seed should not be sanctified or how can their posterity be originally sinnefull either in body or in soule To that it is annswered that man can giue nothing to his posterity but what hee hath by nature for that which cōmeth to him by grace must come to his posteritie by grace also Our new birth commeth not by any naturall meanes wee are borne as it is in the Euangelist not of bloud Ioh. 1.13 nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God If we winnow wheat neuer so perfectly and purge it throughly frō the eares Comparatio Petri Mart. ex Aug. chaffe and drosse yet if that wheat be sowne againe it will not bring forth winnowed or clensed wheate but together with the stalke huskes and such other thinges as must afterward be seperated from it It can giue nothing to the corn that must grow of it but what it had by nature what it had by art industry that must the graine next growing haue by the same meanes againe Euen so the faithful though they be washed iustified and sanctified yet they cannot giue to their children these giftes which they haue receiued of Gods grace they can giue to their children no more then what they haue had by nature and by nature they haue nothing else but to bee children of wrath Eph. 2.3 Here now ariseth another doubt if from our parents wee bee Children of wrath it should seem that the children are punished for the parents trespasse how can this agree with the iustice of God Ezech. 18.26 to afflict one for the fault of another This doubt is easily resolued if these fower positions bee duely considered First that the most excellent graces which were at the first bestowed on man were giuen on this condition that if he did loose them he should loose thē both from himselfe and from his posterity Secondly that children doe proceede out of the masse or substance of their parents and therefore must needes be accounted as a part of their parēts according to that in the epistle to the Hebrewes Heb. 7.10 The Tribe of Leui being fower generations after Abraham was yet in the loines of Abraham if then the whole nature of man bee corrupted then must needes euery portion be guilty of the same corruptiō vntill by some singular grace and fauour it doe obtaine remission Rom. 5.12 Thirdly that seeing the body proceeding from sinfull parents is one part of man and found guilty in and by the parentes it standteh well with the iustice of God to bee offended with whole man and thereupon so to withdraw his graces from the other parte that both together may fall into malediction Fourthly that though God doe thus punish sinne with sinne yet hee doth it in that maner that hee is no way the author of sinne Aug. de gratia lib arbit cap. 21 as Saint Augustine saith Deus operatur in cordibus hominum ad inclinandum voluntates eorum quocunque vult siue ad bona prosua misericordia siue ad mala pro ipsorum meritis iudicio vtique suo aliquando aperto aliquando occulto semper iusto GOD doth worke in the heartes of men to encline their willes which way soeuer his pleasure is eyther to good thinges according to his mercy or to ill according to their owne desert and that by his
iudgement sometimes manifest sometimes secret but alwayes iust A weake house must needes incline and also fall when the vnderproppers are remoued darkenesse must needes ensue when the Sunne is departed away Those bright beames of all light which were giuen to our first parentes are remoued and other gifts and excellent graces of God are in his iust iudgement so long withholden from our soules vntill by his holy spirit Act. 26.18 Eph. 1.18 Act. 5 10 Heb. 13.21 as the worker and by his holy worde as the instrument God in his good time doe lighten the eyes of our heartes purifie them by faith and confirme and strengthen vs to euery good worke CHAP. VII Of the immortality of the Soule Marsil Ficinuâ—m Theol. Platonis pag. 361. MArsilius Ficinus sheweth fiue sundry opinions of the Philosophers concerning the soule of man but of Christians which truely hope for immortality he wisheth the fower first assertions to be vtterly reiected and the first onely fit to be receiued and embraced The first sort of Philosophers were they which made the soule to be a certaine thinne body infused into a thicker a more subtle bodily substance infused into a grosser And of these some made it to bee fiery as Democritus Leucippus and Hipparchus Some to bee an ayre or an aeriall body as Anaximenes Diogenes and Critias some to bee a watery substance as Hippias some earthly as Hesiodus some of fire and ayre as Epicurus and some of water and earth as Xenophantes The second sort of Philosophers was of them which thought the soule to bee no bodily substance but some quality thereof dispersed through the body to wit either a heate or a complexion as was defended by Zeno Cleanthes Antipater and Possidonius A third sort iudged the soule to be no whole quality but some bright point of qualitie remaining in some beter part of the body and qualities to wit in the braine or heart and from thence gouerning the body their authors especially were Chrysippus Archelaus Heraclides The fourth sect were they which taught the soule to be a certaine point or pricke or indiuisible thing not fastened to any part but secluded from all set place wholy present to euery part of the body but yet such as it dependeth of the body either because the complection of the body did beget it or because it came of seede or of some proportion of matter and addicted to the matter as to her natural birth-place the chiefe broachers of this opinion were Xenophanes Colophonius Asclepiades Aristoxenus Critolaus To some of them the soule was nothing but a nimble force of mouing to others a harmony of corporall partes Others thought it a perfection of the senses others a conspiring of the Elements others a swarm of atomes The first and best sort of Philosophers Ficinus maketh to be those which defeÌ„d the soule to be a certain diuine indeuisible essence wholy ruling euery part of the body produced of an incorporeal author depending wholy on the vertue power of the worker not vpon the beginning or capacity or vertue of any material thing Thus thought Zoroaster Mercurius Pythagoras Plato and amongst these also he numbreth Aristotle It was a thing that mightily perswaded Plato that the soules both came froÌ„ God and were also immortal wheÌ„ he coÌ„sidered that her functions did not depend so vpon bodily instruments but she could performe all her chiefest actions without theÌ„ as he saith in Phaedo Ratiocinatur optimé quaÌ„do nihil eaÌ„perturbat Plato in Phaedone neque auditus neque visus neque dolor neque voluptas she doth reason and discourse best when neither hearing nor sight nor griefe nor pleasure do hinder her In age when the body groweth weake yet is ofteÌ„ her iudgement ripest though many sicknesses do bereaue the body of streÌ„gth yet the vigor of the soule is not thereby diminished she flieth beyond all the powers of the seÌ„ses more swift then the lightning from the east to the west shee can passe the seas as Plato saith in Axiochus in a moment Sort. in Axiocho Platouis she can calculate the course of Sunne moone stars shee can discourse of things past foresee things to come in ambiguous matters she can first doubt and then chuse and all these without the help of any bodily instrumeÌ„nts in knowledge she doth not only passe through humaine arts by defining deuiding dissoluing coÌ„pounding but she doth eueÌ„ pierce the skies shee coÌ„prehendeth the knowledge of God she conceiueth God his Angels to be essences immortal if brute beasts shold coÌ„ceiue reasoÌ„ they shold be then accounted reasonable Calu. Instit lib. 1. cap. 15. sect 2. This conceiuing of immortality hauing recourse to the fount aine of life is an euident argumeÌ„t that the soule is not a vanishing vapour but a diuine esseÌ„ce How chearefully went Socrates to his death Platonis Apolog when in his conscience he was perswaded that death was nothing els but as he said a flitting vnto another place where he should enioy the coÌ„pany of the Gods where vndoubtedly the dead were in better estate then the liuing Plato in Axiocho Hee made this to bee the definition of the death of theÌ„ that liued wel Discessus é vita est mali cuiusdaÌ„ in bonuÌ„ coÌ„mutatio the departure out of this life is nothing els but the chaÌ„ging of ill into good To the wicked hee confessed it to bee an entrance into some kindes of torments but to the wise and vertuous he thought it to be nothing but a chaÌ„ging of sorrows into all ioy happines what they were he could not define but of this he made no question Plato in Phaedone Socrates to Simmias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To good soules it was surely better and to ill soules worse Philo. Iudacus It em Bruson lib. 4. cap. 10. When Crito one of Socrates his friendes asked him at the time of his death in what maner he would be buried he cryed out O my frendes I haue spent a great deale of labour in vaine I haue not yet perswaded Crito that I shall flie away leane no parte behind but Crito said he if thou canst ouertake me bury me how thou wilt his meaning was that the minde or soule is the man that the body was but an instrumeÌ„t or cotage or prison Anaxurchus the Philosopher wheÌ„ being taken by Nicocreon tyrant of Cypres Idem lib. 2. cap. 1. ex Plutarcho he was knocked with iron hammers hee said Tunde tunde probé Anaxarchi carnes ossa tunde Anaxarchi folleÌ„ AnaxarchuÌ„ nequaquà m laedes knocke knocke hardly the flesh and bones of Anaxarchus knocke his bellowes the instrument of his winde but Anaxarchus himselfe thou canst not hurt Ibid. Theodorus the Macedonian philosopher when Lysimachus threatned to hang him answered haec aulicis tuis minitare mea enim non refert humine an in cruce putrescam threaten
these things to thine owne Courtiers as for me it is all one with mee whether I doe putrifie on the ground or on the gibbet Theramenes the Lacedemonian Plut. in Nicia Val. Max. lib 3 cap. 2. when being condemned by the Ephores he was going to execution he laughed and carried in his countenance all signes of ioy one of them therfore said vnto him what doest thou contemne the lawes of Lycurgus our law-giuer Hee answered no but I giue them thanks that they doe appoint me such a punishment as I may pay without borrowing on interest Infinite such examples haue beene in all ages of many valiant hearts despising death aswell in war as in peace this couragious conteÌ„pt of death is a very euident token that is in the heart some expectatioÌ„ of another life when this former is well ended Tully saith Tul. lib. 1. Tulc that it is vnpossible to finde the originall of the soule in earth nihil est in animis mistum aut concretum aut humidum aut flabile aut igneum there is no mingled nor compound thing in the soule no moist thing nor windie nor fierie for none of these things can vnderstand remember or by things past collect things future These things must needes be acknowledged diuine And although the soule be not of these mixt things yet doth she hold all these contrarieties in peace and vnion which is also a plaine proofe of the diuine power of the soule that she holdeth all contraries heate colde moisture and drought in mutuall amitie and concord Seneca being fallen into the consideration of that desire which man hath naturally to know some God for there is no couÌ„trey so barbarous which doth not in heart confesse that there is a God saith quemadmodum radii solis contingunt quidem terram Seneca lib. ad Gallione de breuitate vitae ad Lucilium sed ibi sunt vnde mittuntur ita animus magnus et sacer conuersatur quidem nobiscum sed haeret origini suae As the Sunne beames do come to the earth but they are there from whence they are sent euen so a great and holy mind is conuersant with vs but it doth cleaue and sticke there where it hath the first beginning Mors quam pertimescimus intermittit vitaÌ„ non eripu veniet iterum qui nos in lucemreponet dies but that he speaketh chiefely vpon some hope of resurrection Alphonsus the King of Arragon accounted this as a great strengthening of his faith touching the immortalitie of the soule Panormitan lib. 4. de rebus pestis Alphonsi because he sawe dayly the elder that men grew in yeares and the more that the strength did decrease the more they excelled in wisedome and the more did the powers of their mind encrease Strength is an effect of youth if the soule in the middest of bodily weakenes or worldly trouble do gather strength as Chrysostom saith anima reiuuenescit inter angustias Chrysost de resurr serm 1. the soul by troubles doth waxe more youthful then must it needes follow that it is of it selfe an essence immortall But some do say the simplicitie of children and the doâ—age of many old men do shew that the mind is like affected with the bodie and therefore the body wholy failing the mind must needes faile also I must needs confesse that when the senses and formes of things are altogether disturbed as in a frensie or when there is a great distemperature in the braine as in children by too much moisture and in crooked olde age by too much drinesse then for want of good tooles the worke-man is as it were idle and for want of fit windowes the ghest that is within vs doth not take so good a view of matters as otherwise shee would But it doth not thereby follow but that she shall fully exercise her operations againe when she is deliuered both of windowe and closet and hath no other functions to execute but what she can perfectly performe without any helpe of instruments The clouds shadowe the light of the Sunne from vs but the brightnesse of the Sunne it selfe is nothing thereby diminished As the Sunne of the little world mans soule hath seuerall faculties so hath she seuerall times when shee doth in highest degree exercise and vse them The vegetatiue power hath his mightiest force in the wombe the sensitiue hath his chiefest time in the course of this life and the intellectuall doth flourish most after this life The prodigious dreames which haue been in all ages Calu. Iustit lib. 1. cap. 15. Sect. 2. doe plainely conuince and proue what agility and vigour may be in the mind when the senses are all bound In the warre with the Latins the two Romane Consuls at that time Generals in the field did in one night dreame one the selfe same dreame a ghost appeared vnto them and told that it was agreed by the gods that on the one side the Generall should dye and on the other side the whose armie The two Generals to wit Derius and Manlius Torquatus when they had compared their dreames together did resolue like valiant commanders that they should rather one of them yeeld vp their liues as a sacrifice then that the whole armie should perish The agreement was made that whether soeuer of them had his wing or troupes first beginning to faile the Generall of that part of the armie should presently cast himselfe into the thickest of his enemies and sell his life as deare as he could It fell to Derius his lot his wing began first to shrinke and thereupon hee beeing gallantly mounted did presently make a breach vpon the armie of the enemie fought fiercely slew many and although hee was at the last slaine himselfe yet hee brought thereby happy deliuerance vnto his countrey Sophocles the Tragedian Peucerus de diuinatione pag. 456. when on a certaine night a robberie was euen then in committing at Athens did the very same time dreame so often and so apparantly of it that he arose and went to the offïcers the Areopagites declaing his dream vnto theÌ„ and the maner of the manifest appearing therof The Areopagites thereby found out the fact and inflicted vpon the offendors condigne punishment Infinite such like ensamples haue beene which doe aboundantly declare vnto vs that wheÌ„ the senses bodily powers are cast asleepe the mindes haue beene farre sharper and seene much more then any way they could haue seene by the instruments of the bodily senses Further if the soule were not a distinct essence from the bodie why should the holy Scripture vse so often these and such like kindes of phrases that wee dwell in houses of clay Iob. 4.19 that our bodie is as a house and tabernacle to the soule 2. Cor. 5. V. 1.2.6 that while we liue here wee are at home in the bodie but absent from the Lord These doe instruct the same to vs which the Philosopher sawe by the light of
reason Tul. Tusc 5. that corpus est quasi vas anim quoddam receptaculum the bodie is but as it were a vessell for the soule and a receptacle for a time Againe if the soule were not a substāce of it selfe why should the Apostle saint Peter call the end of our faith the saluation of our soules 1. Pet. 1.9 1. Pet. 2.11 or bid vs abstaine from lustes which fight against our soules Or the Apostle to the Hebrewes Heb. 1◠17 call the labour of Ministers a watching euer soules as they which must giue an account of them with sundrie other such exhortations as are set downe here in my first chapter Heb. 10.17 Or how could there be a terrour and trembling of conscience in the wicked when by the guiltinesse of their sinne they finde in themselues a fearefull looking for of iudgement and violent fire to consume the aduersarie It is not a motion but an essence which doth pierce vp to the tribunall seate of God and from thence strike terrour into it selfe This sting of conscience as it is a spirituall punishment and not corporall so it falleth not vpon the body but vpon the soule For the immortalitie of this spirituall essence what is reuealed by the holy scriptures I shall haue occasion to declare more at large in my four last chapters only my chief drift hath beene here to shew what the wise Philosophers of the world haue cōceiued thereof by the light of naturall reasō and to let vs see what a shame it is for vs not to make so much vse of deepe meditations as they did When Socrates did but consider that the minde doth thē discourse best when nothing doth trouble it neither hearing nor seeing nor griefe nor pleasure as wee see when the senses are stopped the vnderstanding doth most deepely meditate he could gather thereby an argument of immortalitie Seneca epist 111. When Seneca sawe that the greater and more heroicall mind was in man the more it did despise these base worldly things and the lesse it feared to depart out of the bodie he would say straight maximum est argumentum animi ab alitiori venientis sede It is the greatest argument that can be of a mind comming from heauen and therefore of a heauenly and eternall nature To conclude euen the Poets when they considered the diuine gifts bestowed on the soul of man Phoeylides could not but confesse that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Th' immortall soule stil yong lasteth for aye And Pythagoras a Poet but much more a Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. in aureis carmini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If soule and mind as wagoners rule all Then when thou leauing body comest to skies With God thou shalt be euer immortall And taste no more of death nor miseries CHAP. VIII How in the soule the image of God shal be renewed OF those words in Genesis Gen. 1.27 that God made man after his owne image likenes there haue beene amongst many sundry applicatiōs and sundrie opinions some plainely heretical and others more tolerable The heresie of the Anthopomorphitae is dānable which maketh God to be a bodily substance like vnto man for the scriptures doe shew vs abundantly Ioh. 4.24 2. Cor. 3.17 that God is a spirit inuisible and incomprehensible he appeared sometime visibly to the Patriarkes Exod. 33.20 Ioh. 6.46 Gen. 16.10 Exod. 2.2 Esay 6.1 and his holy seruants but that was not according to his essence which is infinite but according to certaine representments or as Athanasius speaketh maiesties farre inferior to that which he is of himself applied to the capacity of man And certaine it is that in Genesis that image of God which is said to bee in man was not in respect of the bodie which was made of the slime of the earth but in respect of the spirit which was giuen vnto man Gen. 2.7 whē God did breath into him and hee was made a liuing soule Osiander made the image of God to signifie Christ which in the preordināce of God was for to come and to take mans nature vpon him hee taught that then doth the soule beare the image of God when it hath the very righteousnesse of Christ Iesus as an inherent quality He had it from the Manichees groūded his opiniō especially vpon that place of the Apostle 2. Cor. 3.18 we all with open face beholding the glory of God as in a glasse are trāsformed into the same image frō glory to glorie as by the spirit of God Those wordes are spoken especially of the Apostles and Ministers of whome Saint Paul doth in that place intreat and doe import thus much that they in the glasse of Gods worde beholding the glorie of God are transformed into the same image to bee lights vnto others as our Sauior said Math. 5.14 ye are the lights of the world and to light them not onely in doctrine but in going before them in sanctification of life The righteousnesse of Iesus Christ is imputed to vs as the Apostle doth often declare when wee put on Christ by faith Rom. 4.9.10 Rom. 4.22 Gal. 3.27 1. Cor. 1.30 Phil. 3.9 and are clothed with the righteousnesse of Christ But that perfect righteousnesse it self such as is able to stand before the iudgement of God neither is nor euer was an inherent quality residēt in any but only in the manhood of Christ Iesus It may and ought to suffice vs to receiue of the fruit and to let the tree roote remaine where it should 2. Cor 5.21 The Apostle sheweth that in the same manner as Christ was made sinne for vs so we are made the righteousnes of God in him Now he was made sinne by imputation when all our sinnes were laid vpō him Pet 2 24 and as Saint Peter saith hee bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree so likewise his righteousnesse as of one that hath vouchsafed to become our head is imputed to all the true members of his mysticall body for as Adā was as no priuate mā but the fountain and welspring of mankind therfore most iustly Rom 5 12 as in him we all sinned so in him we all died So the second Adā our Lord Iesus is not to be considered as a priuate mā but as the head of the church what was wrought by him is wholy benificial to al the faithful If by the husband as being the head a debt be answered how iustly thē is the wife discharged The church is called the spouse of Christ Eph. 5 27. although it be said to be without spot or wrinckle yet must it not be vnderstood that it is void of all sin for why should it then be taught by our Sauiour to pray continually for forgiuenes of trespasses but we are said to bee without spot or wrinckle as we are clothed with the iustice of
Anabaptists say that wee are sinfull from our parents but they say it is by imitation or by imputation but the Apostle maketh no such begininges of sinne hee pronounceth flatly the vnregenerate to bee by nature children of wrath Iob sayeth Iob. 11 1◠that a new borne babe is as an vntamed and vnbroken Colt apt by nature to all vntowardnes Infantes haue the seedes of anger way wardenesse pride and vanity howsoeuer as the serpent sometimes is so frozen in winter that it may bee handled without danger not because it hath no poyson but because it hath no power to put it out so little children doe for a time not shew forth manifest effectes of these sins not because they haue not the venome but because they are not able to send it forth If a whole vessell be poysoned how can any droppe therof be sound or wholesome the whole stocke of mankinde is poisoned with the sinne of Adam Gen 5 3 It is saide Adam begat issue after his owne likenesse as Adam was sinful lustfull vnthankfull disobedient so the branches bee of the same nature with the stocke and roote The fourth wound is called transitiue whereby as by a wound which is deeper growne and of long continuance commeth at the last a Fistula yeelding most filthy mater so of these former woundes do proceede actuall sinnes and custome of sinning wherby all actions and operations both of body and soule are repugnant to the will of God And those things which by nature we should haue done without sinne had Adam not offended those things wee performe now with a thousand imperfections for as a man that hath the palsey hath a mouing of head and handes as hee had before and as wee see also other men haue but his mouinges are now altogether irregular and full of infirmities so all those affections of mind loue desire reioycing and all naturall functions eating drinking sleeping and such like which wee should haue performed without sinne if Adam had not transgressed are now become plainely irregular and full of infinite blemishes and corruptions Thus many wayes by nature is the image of God blotted out in the vnregenerate but in them which are born anew by the grace and spirite of God and do by a true and sound faith take holde of the merites and satisfaction of Christ 1 pet 2.21 by whose stripes we are healed and are liuely members of that Chruch Esay 30.26 vnto which the Redeemer was promised to binde vp their breaches and to heale the stroke of their woundes Ezech. 3◠16 In them all these sores hereditary diseases aforenamed are so farre cured Luk. 10.19 that nothing shall bee able to doe them harme their powers are so farre strengthned as that by the helpe of the grace of our Lord Iesus and by the merite of his passion they do performe those things which are acceptable vnto God phil 4 13. I can doe all thinges sayth the Apostle in him that doth strengthen me phil 2 13 God doth worke in vs both to will and to performe so likewise for the thoughts the heart is purified by faith Act. 15 9. for the knowledge 1 Cor. 2 14 Eph 5 8 the spirituall man discerneth all thinges ye were once darkenes but now yee are all light in the Lord Iames 1 5 for wisedome hee giueth it to the askers that vpraideth no man for the spirit of the minde that is performed in them which the Apostle nameth to the Thessaloniās 1. Thes 5 21. euen the God of Peace doth sanctifie them throughout that their perfect spirite and soule and body shall bee blameles phil 3 12 vntill the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ That spirit is accounted perfect which doth aime still at perfection and labour continually more and more to attaine vnto it Phil. 3 14. 2. Chron. 15.17 going on in singlenesse and soundnesse of heart without hypocrisie endeuouring by all meanes to bee the same before God as it would seeme to be before men Psal 119.6 and hauing respect as much as may bee to all the commandementes of God and yet seeking especially that perfect blessednesse Psal 32. ◠which doth consist in the couering of imperfections That happy couering of sinnes spoken of by the Prophet Dauid is atributed by Saint Paule to iustification by faith Rom. 4.5.7 taking hold of the righteousnes and satisfaction of Iesus Christ if these thinges bee performed with deuoute and holy zeale then doth the soule and spirit in some measure put on againe the image of God Aug. de Gen. ad literam l. 6. cap. 1 S. Augustine sheweth that it is the soule and minde of man where the image of God is to bee sought when God first created him made him after his likenesse it was non secundum corpus sed secundum intellectum not in respect of the body but in respect of the vnderstanding Quanquam in corpore habeat quandam proprietatem quae hoc indicet quòd erecta statura factus sit vt admoneretur sibi non esse terrena spectanda Although hee hath also in body a certaine property which sheweth the very same to witte his stature with the face lifted vppe that hee might bee admonished not to set his mind on earthly thinges There bee fiue especiall thinges required to the renewing of the image of God in vs. The first is knowledge of diuine misteries as the Apostle saith Col. 3.10 Put on the new man renewed vnto knowledge according to the image of the Creator The Psalmist doth pronounce him blessed which doth meditate and pōder day night in the law of GOD. Psal 1.2 The second thing is righteousnes as the Apostle exhorteth Put on the new man Eph. 4.2 4 which after God is created in righteousnes and true holinesse Dauid saith psal 145.17 God is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his workes To put on Gods image in righteousnes is not onely to abstaine from iniuries vniust dealing and oppression but to bee good vnto all men to the vttermost of our power for those who did feed the hungry giue drinke to the thirsty and visite them which were sicke or in prison are called iust the other to wit they on the left hand shall goe into euerlasting paine but these righteous into life eternall The third true holinesse Mat. 25.40 Leuit. 19.2 1. Pet. 16. Eph. 4.24 The commaundement is often giue bee holy as I am holy The Apostle to the Ephesians doth as by righteousnes point out all duties towardes our neighbour so by holinesse he doth signifie especially our duties towardes God that wee carry our selues religiously in the seruice of God that our praiers be no matters of custome psal 25.1 but liftings vp of our soules vnto God psal 63.5 that our soules be filled with marrow and fatnes when we prayse God with ioyfull lippes psal 69.9 that the zeale of
the Lordes house doe eate vs vp Deut. 28.58 that wee feare God and dread his glorious fearfull name the Lord our God and that wee loue the Lord with all the powers of heart mind soule and strength The fourth thing required for the image of God to be renewed in vs is truth not onely true deuotion in the seruice of God which the Apostle calleth true holinesse but as he addeth in the verse following Eph. 4.24.25 to speake euery man the truth one to an other for wee are members one of another The nearer man approcheth vnto truth the more doth hee put on the image of him Tit. 1.2 that is truth it selfe and is called a God that cannot lie and the more that man is giuen to falshoode and deceit the more doth hee cast off the image of God and put vpon himselfe the vizard of Satan who is the Father of lies Iohn 8.4 and was a lyer from the beginning The fift necessary part of the repairing Gods image in vs is that all our affections which by nature were corrupted be sanctified and gouerned by the grace atd power of Gods spirite as the Apostle doth in the next verse giue an instance of anger Eph. 3.2 6 Bee angry saith hee and sinne not It is not required that affections should be clean rooted out for affections were euen in our Sauiour Christ It is said in S. Marke Mar. 3.5 that when hee looked vppon the Pharises he did with anger grieue that their hart was so hardened Iohn 11 35 And in S. Iohn that when they wept for Lazarus Iesus wept also The Apostle biddeth vs couet to prophesie 1. Cor. 14.39 and in an other place reioyce with them that reioyce Rom. 12.15 and weepe with them that weepe The prophet Dauid saith Psal 139 2â— Doe not I hate theÌ„ O Lord that hate thee yea I hate them with a perfect hatred There is a very good vse of affections in man anger addeth a spurre to fortitude hatred of sinne addeth a spur to iustice griefe addeth a spurre to mercy If the heart should bee without affections then should the soule bee like to a shippe be calmed in the Sea when shee hath no wind shee can make no way neither can the soule gouerne well the matters of this life without affections onely it is required that they be saÌ„ctified by Gods grace and made more and more coÌ„formable to the will of God If thus the image of God be dayly more and more renewed in vs then doth our estate receiue a most comfortable alteration Rom 5 1 Eph. 2.3 Rom. 6.20 Rom. 7 14 for whereas by nature wee were enemies to God children of wrath slaues of sinne carnall solde vnder sinne Ezech. 16 6 filthy and wallowing in our owne bloud Eph. 2.19 and strangers from the common wealth of Israell we are now by grace made the friendes of God Iohn 3.29 Iohn 15.14 the Spouse of Iesus Christ the children of Abraham sons and heires of God Eph. â— 32 a chosen generation a â—oyall priesthood Rom. 4.16 a holy nation a peculiar people Rom. 8.16 washed in Christ his bloude 1. Pet 2.9 and made kinges and priests to God our father Apoc. 1.6 CHAP. IX What wee may conceiue of the soule by the conscience of man and how the conscience is a heauen or hell to the soule in this life THere are very well made of S. Bernard fower seuerall kinds of consciences wherof onely one doth stand against the immortality of the soule there is Quieta mala and quieta bona Power sundry kindes of consciences turbata mala and turbata bona A quiet ill conscience and a quiet good A troubled il and a troubled good A quiet ill conscience is when man sleepeth securely in sinne Eph. 4 19 Rom. 5 1. and hath no sense nor feeling of sinne A quiet good is Act. 1 18 when being iustified by faith hee is at peace with God a troubled ill when a man is swallowed vppe in the gulfe of dispaire and a troubled good Mat. 11.28 when labouring and groning vnder the burthen of sinne hee desireth to be eased and refreshed by Iesus Christ The first conceiueth little of immortality because indeed man continuing in it is transformed as it were into a brute beast for as a troubled good conscience is sitte for men of infirmities and a troubled ill maketh them like to the diuels so a quiet good doth make them after a sort angels and a quiet ill doth reduce them to the estate of brute beasts depriue them of vnderstanding and reason The Apostle caleth the CretiaÌ„ slow bellies euil beasts Tit. 1 1 Dauid saith of theÌ„ that are drowned in worldly honour psal 49 20 man being in honor hath no vnderstanding but is like to the beasts that perish in an other place biddeth vs not to be like horse and mule in whom there is no vnderstanding psal 32 9 Of the Philosophers such as onely delighted to wallow in pleasures were called Epicuri de grege porci hogs of the heard of Epicure Horat. lib. 1 Epist 2 Fruges consumere nati only born to deuoure the fruites of the earth The prophet Hosea saith Hos 4.11 Whoredom and drunkennesse doe take away the heart of man that is they make him to haue no sense nor feeling of sins but to reioyce in that which indeede he should lament and to bee though aliue in the bodie yet dead in the soule as saith Bernard Bern. lib. 1. de considerat quis magis mortuus eo qui portat ignem in sinu peccatum in conscientia sentit nec excutit nec expauescit Who is more dead then hee which carieth fire in his bosome sinne in his conscience and doth neither feele it nor shake it out nor tremble at it The cause of this quietnesse is because Satan hath gotten a peaceable possession Our Sauiour saith when a strong man doth possesse all then all is quiet Diabolus eos pulsare negligit Greg. 14. moral 12. quos quieto iure possidere se sentit The diuell is carelesse of assaulting them of whome hee hath iustly gotteÌ„ a quiet possessioÌ„ Of this quietnesse Bernard speaketh writing vpon that place of Ezekiel Ezech. 16.42 my wrath and zeale is departed from thee Bern super Cantica serm 42. Vides quòd tunc magis irascitur Deus cùm non irascitur hanc misericor diam ego nolo supra omnem iram est miseratio ista you may see that God is then most angrie when he is not angrie The quiet ioy that wicked men haue seemeth to come of mercy but I wold wish none of that mercie that mercy is aboue al the wrath that can be Howsoeuer bruitish man hath no hope of immortalitie nor feare of Gods iudgements yet is his case therby no whit the better but rather much more grieuous
away carrying his money backe againe But when he sawe that it was a dayly sting to his conscience and that hee could neuer be in quiet for it for an euill conscience is like vnto a strait bed where maÌ„ can take no rest he brought the money backe againe to his creditors house and threw it to his Executours speaking these words vnto him selfe tibi viuit aliis mortuus est he is aliue vnto thee although he bee dead vnto others The two other kindes of consciences to wit turbata bona and quieta bona a troubled good conscience and a quiet good conscience I make no other difference of them but the one to be as it were the beginning and entrance into the other for none can truly attaine vnto a heauenly ioy in his conscience vnlesse he haue first beene brought downe to hell by the consideration of his sinnes None can bee truly refreshed in Christ vnlesse hee haue first with griefe and sighing Maâ— felt the burthen of his sinnes Saint Augustine acknowledgeth that a man non potest coronari nisi vicerit Aug. in Psal 60 nec potest vincere nisi certauerit nec potest certare nisi inimicum et tentationes habeat Hee cannot be crowned vnlesse he ouercome neither can he ouercome vnlesse he striue neither can he striue vnlesse he haue an enemy temptations But when these teÌ„ptations are so ouercome that sin shal not raigne in our mortal body Rom. 6.12 then coÌ„meth in the sweetest comfort that euer can come to the soule of maÌ„ in this like theÌ„ as the Apostle speaketh our conuersatioÌ„ is in heauen Phil. 3.20 then do we feele in our heartes that peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding Phil. 4.7 then are our soules possessed with vnspeakable ioy according to that of Salomon Prou. 15.14 A good conscience is a coÌ„tinuall feast For as there is no greater worldly ioy to a man that hath trauelled a long iourney abroad then when hee commeth home to find his wife childreÌ„ and whole family in good health and quiet so there cannot bee a more excellent spiritual ioy in this life then when a man doth descend into the home of his owne conscience that he doe finde there all so reconciled vnto God that al be in good peace quietnes Esay 59.2 to perceiue that the thraldome of sin which maketh diuision and seperation betwixt the soule and God is abrogated or subdued This doth the Apostle call his chiefest reioycing Our reioycing is the testimony of our conscience 2. Cor. 1.12 that we haue had our conuersation in simplicity and godly purenes This hath vpholden the hearts of so many thousand blessed Martyrs and made them to reioyce in the middest of al their torments because they had a testimony within themselues 1. Pet. 2.19 that for their coÌ„science towards God they suffered griefe vndeserued This hath made so many Saints of God to depart so cherefully out of this world as Hierom writeth of the death of NepotiaÌ„ Intelligeres eum non mori sed migrare Hierom ad Heliodor 3. you might wel perceiue that his death was no death but a flitting to a better place And this hath brought comfort not onely to the faithful Heb. 10.22 whose harts are by the bloud of Christ sprinkled from an euil conscience purged froÌ„ dead workes to serue the liuing Lord. Heb. 9.14 But euen the heathen men also by following obeying the law of nature did in the testimony of their coÌ„science receiue exceeding ioy as the Oratour said writing of the comforts of olde age conscientia bene actae vitae Tul. in Catone mai et multorum benefactorum recordatio iucundissima A conscience of a life well led and a remembrance of deedes well done are the most pleasant things that can bee Periander being asked what was the best libertie Scob. serm 22. answered a good conscience Greg. epist 9. vnto which I thinke Gregorie doth allude when hee saith liber est quem conscientia non accusat Bias beeing asked what thing in the world is most free from feare answered a good conscience This is taught by the heauenly wisedome Prou. 28.1 The wicked as Salomon saith doth flie no man pursuing him but the iust is confident as a Lion The Oratour accounted this a most principall comfort in all distresses and calamities Tul ad Toâ—q fam lib. 6. Conscientia rectae voluntatis maxima consolatio est rerum incommodarum A conscience of a mans hart well enclined is the chiefest consolation in all aduersities And in another place nullum theatrum virtuti conscientia maius Tul lib 2 Tusc There is no theater that vertue doth more desire then a mans owne conscience Whereby he meant that good and vertuous men did not so much in their actions respect the sight of men or desire the prayse of man as they sought to keep that conscience sound which they were perswaded they had receiued from heauen Cicero pro Cluentio as hee affirmeth elsewhere Conscientiam à diis immortalibus accepimus quae à nobis diuelli non potest Wee haue receiued a conscience from the immortall gods which cannot bee plucked away but doth alwaies attend and waite vpon man Epictetus And another said well that as parents do commit children to bee gouerned and kept in awe by tutors so God doth commit men to be ruled and ordered by their conscience which more vigilant then any tutor doth continually attend on man Isid in syn according to that of Isidore omnia fugere poterit homo praeter cor suum A man may flie from any thing better then hee can flie from his owne heart The heathen men did not know aright that God which is the Iudge of the conscience Psal 7 10. and the searcher of the heartes and reines But neuer was there any Nation so barbarous neuer any Countrey so wilde and sauage Tul de nat Deorum but that it had this fastened and setled in the heartes of the people that there is a God and that he is a protectour of the good and a reuenger of them that doe ill which made honest minded men to come forth boldly and the wicked to feare euen their owne shadowe Sene. epist 98 as Seneca said bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici ipsas nequitia tenebras timet A good conscience appeareth boldly in the sight of men but naughtinesse doth feare the darkenesse it selfe Sene epist 43 etiam in solitudine est anxia et sollicita and euen in solitarinesse being alone it is fearefull and pensiue CHAP. X. Of the estate and condition of the Soule after this life against the Catabaptists THe ioy of the elect of God is called such a ioy Iohn 16 22 as shall neuer be taken from them it is an endlesse and perpetuall ioy It doth not onely vphold their hearts in all the troubles and
doth neuer apply it to any purging fire taking place betwixt the departure of the soule out of this life and that finall day of iudgement Similitudes as you see are easily drawne into sundrie expositions But it was well said of Aquinas Aquin. opusculo septuagesimo siue super Roetiū de trinitate though in words somewhat barbarous symbolica theologica non est argumentatiua when for pointes in Diuinitie there are no other proofes but similitudes and metaphors they rest vpon slender arguments Another such figuratiue speech they alleage out of the Apostle that at the name of Iesus euery knee must bowe Phil. 2.10 both of things in heauen and of things in earth and of thinges vnder the earth there by the thinges vnder the earth they vnderstand the soules in purgatorie But the Apostle there setteth downe a generall doctrine that all creatures whatsouer are subiect vnto Christ the good to bee gouerned by his spirit and the bad to be bridled by his power The bowing of the knee in Esay Esay 45.23 signifieth the worshipping of God and the bowing of the knee in the Epistle to the Romās Rom. 14.10 is taken for the appearing of all before the tribunall seate of Christ where shall also bee iudged euen the diuels Iude. V. 6. who as Saint Iude saith are reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great day The like maner of speech wee haue in the Reuelation where it is said that euery creature in heauē and in earth Apoc. 5.13 and vnder the earth and in the sea did ascribe honour and glorie and power to him that sate vpon the throne and vnto the Lambe that is so submit themselues to God that either his mercy or iustice might bee glorified in them So to the Philippians the Apostle speaketh of the soueraigne power of Christ ouer both elect and reprobate as it was foreshadowed in the kingdome of Salomon whereof the Prophet saith Psal 72.9 his enemies shall licke the dust CHAP. XII The Conclusion concerning the twofold estate of soules once loosed from their bodies WHen the soule is by death separated from the body it is either receiued into eternall happinesse as was the soule of Lazarus Luk. 16.22 or else it entreth into eternall torments as did the soul of the vnmercifull rich glutton Saint Augustine although in some places he call the bosome of Abraham onely secretum quietis eius Aug. de genes ad liter lib 12 cap 23 the secret of his rest into which the Fathers were gathered for as in the newe Testament Saintes departing are said to bee gathered to their head Christ so in the former times they were said to be gathered to Abraham the Father of the faithfull yet elsewhere doth Augustine at large define what this bosome is Aug quest Euang lib. 2. cap 38 tom 4 sinus Abrahae est requies beatorum pauperum quorum est regnum caelorum in quo post hanc vitam recipiuntur The bosom of Abraham is the rest of those blessed poore in spirit Mar. 5.3 to whom is promised the kingdome of heauen into which kingdome they are receiued when this life is ended but the hel which was possessed by the rich glutton he saith is that Paenarum profunditas quae superbos immisericordes post hanc vitam vorat That very depth of all punishments which doth swallow vp the proud and vnmercifull after this life Gregory affirmeth the very same Gregor in Euangel homil 40. Quid Abrahae sinus nisi secretam requiem significat patrum de qua veritas dixit multi venient ab oriente occidente c. What doth the bosome of Abraham signifie but that secret rest of the fathers of which our Sauiour speaketh Mat. 8.11 Many shall come from the east and from the west and shall sit downe with Abrahā Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen They doe both interprete the bosome to bee the kingdome of heauen and both also consent in this that there are but two wayes for the soule after this life Augustine sayeth Aug. de verbi Apost serm 18 Duae quippe habitationes sunt vna in igne aeterno altera in regno aeterno There are but two habitations one in an euerlasting fire Aug. lib. 5. Hypognost and the other in an eternall kingdome and againe Primum fides catholica diuina authoritate regnum esse credit coelorum secundum gehennam tertium ignoramus imo nec esse in scripturis sanctis inuenimus First the catholike faith by the authority of Gods word beleeueth that there is a kingdome of heauen and secondly a hell Greg. in 7 cap. Iob. lib. 8. cap. 8. a third place wee know not neither doe wee finde in the holy scriptures that there is any Hereto agreeth Gregory Cum humani casus tempore siue sanctus siue malignus spiritus egredientem animam claustro carnis acceperit in aeternum se cum sine vlla permutatione retinebit vt nec exaltata ad supplicium proruat nec mersa aeternis suppliciis vltra ad remedium ereptionis ascendat when in the time of mans fall or death eyther a good Angel or an euill Angell shall receiue his soule going out of the prison of his body it doth hold it for euer as it is holden it selfe without any change so that if it bee exalted it cannot fall into punishment neither can it ascend vnto any remedy of deliuerance if it bee once drowned in eternall punishmentes Mat 12.32 The scripture maketh mention of two worlds this world the world to come Damascene sheweth what is that worlde to come Aeterna vita Damascene de fide Orthodoxa lib. 2. cap. 1 aeternū supplicium seculum futurum The world to come is either euerlasting life or euerlasting punishment Bernard likewise acknowledgeth but two places Bernard in sentent cap. 9 when the soule hath left the earth Tria sunt loca coelum terra infernus coelū habet solos bonos terra mixtos infernus solos malos There are three places heauen earth and hell heauen conteineth onely the good the earth hath good and bad mingled together and hell hath onely the bad Aug. de vera religione cap 38. Augustine saith Omnia temporalia transeuntia mundus iste concludit This worlde is the place that containeth all temporall transitory things the things of the life to come 2 Cor. 4.18 whether ioyes or paines are not temporall but eternall But some may say how commeth it then to passe that Augustine praied for his mother Monica being departed and Ambrose prayed for Theodosius and diuers others of the auncient Fathers made rehearsall of the deade in their praiers and supplications if eyther the departed bee in torments vnrecouerable or in blisse immutable what neede there any prayers to bee made to God for them Those auncient fathers did pray for the departed not as hauing any
so there we shall see face to face and as here wee know in part so there we shall know euen as we are knowne It was well saide of an ancient Father In hac vita multa videmus quae non habemus Greg. 1 9. moral 2. in alia idem est videre quod habere In this life wee see many thinges which wee haue not in possession but in the life to come to see and to possesse are both one Aug. in psal 26 Augustine saith Quicquid praeter Deum est dulce non est quicquid mihi vult dare Dominus meus auferat totum se mihi det Whatsoeuer is besides God that cannot bee pleasant whatsoeuer God would bestow on mee let him take it away all and giue himselfe vnto mee In that enioying the presence of God in the life to come there is all sufficiency of delightes as is taught in the Reuelation of S. Iohn Reuel 21.22 That Citty hath no neede of the Sunne nor Moone to shine in it for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lambe is the light thereof And there is also all continuance and eternity Reuel 21.4 as is saide in the same Prophesie There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor paine but the Lord shal wipe away all teares from our eyes vnto the which glorious and eternall rest 1. Pet. 2.24 the Lord Iesus who bare our sinnes in his body on the tree and is the shepheard and Bishoppe of our Soules bring both our bodies and soules happily and speedily Apoc. 22 20 euen so come Lord Iesus Now vnto the king euerlasting immortall inuisible 1. Tim. 1.17 vnto God onely wise be honor glory for euer and euer FINIS TWO SERMONS OF THE DVties of our thankefulnes towardes GOD Preached at Camerwell in Surrey the xxii of May 1603. BY SIMON HARVVARD And now by him published as not vnfit for this time wherein GOD hath so gratiously visited vs and so plentifully powred down his blessinges vpon vs. LONDON Imprinted by Iohn Windes 1604 TO THE RIGHT worshipfull Sir Edmond Bowyer Knight one of the King his Maiesties Iustices of Peace in the County of Surrey and to the vertuous Lady the Lady Katherine Bowyer his louing wife many ioyfull and happy yeares ALthough Right worshipful at my last being with you the principall cause why I chose that text of thanksgiuing being a part of the Psalm which was read in the church that Sabboth was to stir vp our mindes to render hearty prayse vnto God as well for the peaceable happy and ioyfull entrance of our most Gracious Soueraigne Lord the King his Maiesty into the possession of these his Realmes and dominions as also for the assured hope which wee may euery way conceiue of hauing the truth of the Gospel of Christ by his Graces religious care to bee most firmely established amongst vs and likewise to declare by that text what duties wee owe vnto the Almighty for these and all other his inestimable benefites yet seeing I doe now commit to Presse a little Treatise concerning the Soule and Spirit of Man and that it is for the giftes and graces of the soule for which wee are bound especially to render prayses vnto God I haue therefore thought it not impertinent to adde to the ende of my Description of the Soule those two Sermons which I lately preached at Camerwell as a fit conclusion of the Discourse before penned In setting them downe in writing I haue as neere as I could deliuered the very same which then I spake Onely I haue thought it best for the ease of the reader to place in the margent the places and verses of the textes and authorities which in the vttering of them I did thinke it more conuenient vsually to name that such as were present and stored with the Scriptures might the better make some profitable vse therof In the publishing of these Sermons I haue endeuoured according to the talent graunted to me generally to benefite my Countrey In consecrating them particularly as a small token of my dutifull affection towards your Worships my purpose only is to shewe some thankfull remembrance of your late sauour and kindnesse in affoording me your good assistāce concerning a motion made by my best wel-willers for the benefit of me mine The prayses and thanksgiuings which are due vnto God do nothing disanull that thākfulnes which we owe vnto men as instrumēts appointed of God for our good Nay rather by a humane gratitude as by a hād God doth leade vs to the performance of that which is due to his diuine Maiestie For very well may be framed of it the selfe same argument which the Apostle doth make concerning loue 1. Ioh. 4.20 He which is not thankfull to man whom he seeth how can he be thankfull to God whom he hath not seene It is recorded of Thales the Miletian one of the seuen wise men of Greece Stob. Serm. 78 that when studying Astronomy and looking vp towards the starres by for getting himselfe he fel into a ditch a foolish simple maid could tell him that it was a iust reward for such a one as would so contemplate vpon the heauens that he should in the meane time forget his owne feet To auoid the danger of this reproofe in the middest of these my meditations of our heauenly spiritual thankfulnes towards God I haue endeuoured somewhat to keepe my selfe from falling into the pit of humane ingratitude to present vnto you this little pledge of my dutifull remembrance which although being two Sermons they might well haue borne to either of you a seuerall Dedicatory yet for as much as they were both made at one time when I came to congratulate your worships for the late fauours worthily bestowed vpon your deserts and do both of them containe one matter being parts one of another and as it were not two but one bodie I doe here present them iointly vnto you nothing doubting but that you will yeeld the same approbation to them being Printed as you vouchsafed to giue vnto them when they were first before you vttered or as you haue vsually affoorded to such other Treatises as I haue heretofore published vnder your names God graunt your Worships long to remaine either a happie comfort to the other in this life and in the end accomplish your long felicitie with an eternall blisse in his kingdome From Tanridge this 31. of December 1603. Your Worships to be commaunded SIMON HARWARD THE FIRST SERMON of Thanksgiuing PSALME 107. V. 21. Let them celebrate before the Lord his goodnesse and his wonderfull workes before the children of men Ver 22. And sacrificing the sacrifice of prayse let them tell forth his doings with gladnesse THis most Diuine Psalme Right Worshipful and beloued doth very notably describe vnto vs the prouidence of God in the gouernment of the world and doth on the other side put vs in mind what thankfulnesse is required
in mā for whose benefit and comfort the workes and affaires of this world are in such wonderfull maner managed and ordered The Psalmist deliuereth fiue especiall examples of Gods prouidence V. 4. First of exiles and pilgrims when as they do wander in desertes and are in most extremities hungrie and thirstie and their souls fainting in them the Lord doth often heare them when they cry vnto him bring thē to a city where they may dwel The second example is of captiues who whē for their sinnes V. 10. they lye fast bound in miseries and irons if they earnestly cal for Gods merciful aide the Lord doth bring them out of darknes the shadow of death and breake their bands asunder V. 17. The third proofe of Gods prouident mercy is when foolish men are by some sicknes plagued for their iniquities whē their soule doth refuse all food and sustenance and that they are now at deathes dore if in their miserie they crie vnto the Lord the Lord doth send forth his word heale thē and deliuer them from the pit of corruption The fourth spectacle of Gods goodnesse is in ship-men V. 23. who goe downe into the Seas and occupy their busines in great waters when they are in most perill mounting vp to heauē and falling downe againe to hel when they stagger and be at their wits end if then they cry vnto the Lord in their troubles then sendeth hee a gracious calme and bringeth them to the hauē where they would bee The fift as it were a theater of Gods prouidence is in the altering and changing not onely of dumbe creatures bringing some times riuers into drie deserts V. 33. sometime drie groundes into springes or ponds of water sometimes making a fruitfull land barren for the wickednes of them that dwell therein and sometimes so blessing the land V. 40. that men may sowe and plant to yeeld thē fruites of encrease but also in altering the estates of men somtimes powring out contempt vpon princes and somtimes lifting vp the poor out of his miserie and making him housholds like a flocke of sheepe The Verse which now I haue chosen to intreate of is called versus amaebaeus a verse that doth answere by turnes because in the end of the foure first histories it is added still as a conclusion of the historie to shewe vnto vs what vse we must make of Gods gracious deliuerances not to passe by them as it were with closed eyes but to stirre vp both our selues and others to magnifie the name of God for these his vnspeakable mercies The Psalmist may seeme to direct this his Psalme only to a thankfulnes for corporall benefits but no doubt in the same he doth include also the spirituall blessings of God When he speaketh of the miseries of man hee sheweth the causes to be their sinnes as speaking of captiues lying in miserie and iron V. 11. hee saith it was because they rebelled against the worde of the Lord lightly regarded the counsell of the most high And after of sicknes foolish men are plagued saith he for their wickednes iniquities V. 17. And after of barrennes of soile A fruitfull lād saith he he maketh barrē V. 34. for the wickednes of them that dwell theerin As then hee noteth the cause of all calamities to be sinne So when he celebrateth God his gratious deliuerāce he doth vndoubtedly include the remouing of the cause as well as the effect doth exhort vs to praise God for the remission of our transgressions If the Israelites were bound to prayse God for their deliuerance frō the thraldom of Aegypt and generally all others which are the redeemed of the Lord as it is here said in the secōd verse whome he hath redeemed from the hands of the oppressors how much more ought they to bee thankfull which are deliuered from the tyranny of the diuell Rom. 16 2◠when the God of glorie and peace doth treade downe Satan vnder our feete If they did owe thanks which from wandering in the wildernes were broght to this happines to haue at the last cities to dwel in what thanks is required of vs who frō wandering in the by-pathes of sin and error are by our heauenly Iosua Christ Iesus broght home to be citizens with the Saints Ephe. 2.19 of the houshold of God in this life and heires by hope of the celestial Ierusalē in the world to come Apoc. 21.2 If prisoners giue al humble praise whē they are deliuered from their darkenes misery and irons how much more then ought we to be thankfull when by the glorious triūph of our Sauiour Christ Osea 13.14 1. Cor. 15.55 we are deliuered from the dungeon of the graue hell death damnatiō If they haue great cause of thākfulnes which haue escaped the dāgers of sicknes and infirmities then much more are they to be gratefull who by the heauenly Physitian our Lord Iesus are cleansed and cured of their sinnes which are indeed the originall causes of their diseases and maladies For this deliuerance doth the kingly Prophet Dauid Psal 103.3 first principally praise Gods holy name because hee forgaue all his sins and healed all his infirmities By temporal benefits the weaknes of our nature is taught to rise vp to the consideration of spirituall blessings and if we be not wilfully blind wee may easily and plainely conceiue that if corporall giftes are to be acknowledged to be the free blessings of God as we are taught to pray giue vs our daily bread then much more must wee confesse all spirituall benefits to bee the free gifts of God bestowed vpon vs by the mercy of God in through his sonne Christ Iesus If wee cannot merit things needefull for the body much lesse can we merit the ransoming of the soule If wee are bound to praise God for deliuerances appertaining to the bodie then by good reason as much as the soule is more precious then the bodie so much more ought we to be thankful for the soule then the bodie The Psalmist in this Amaebaean verse so often repeated in this Psalme doth vpon euery particular deliuerance frō either banishment or prison or sicknes or tempest still exhort the partie deliuered that hee will thereby rise vp to a generall consideration of the goodnesse of God of all his wonderfull works which he hath wrought for mankind In these two verses which I haue red vnto you there are two especiall things offered to our consideratiō The diuision of the text First for what we are to celebrate magnifie the name of God to wit for his goodnes for his wonderfull workes Secondly how we must shew our thankfulnes to wit first both before the Lord and before the childrē of men secondly by offering the sacrifice of thāksgiuing and telling forth his works with gladnes The goodnes of God as is taught by our Sauior is the first
fouÌ„taine of our saluatioÌ„ Ioh. 3.16 So God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten Son In the causes of our redeÌ„ptioÌ„ we must not begin at our selues or at our own merits nay we may not begin at the death and passion of Christ Iesus but wee must begin at the eternall loue of God who sent his onely begotten Sonne and therefore blesse that good God Ephe. 1.4 which hath chosen vs to bee saued before the foundatioÌ„ of the world was laid The goodnesse of God in our redemption appeared to be greater towardes mankind then it was to the very Angels When the Angels fel froÌ„ God they were neuer restored but as S. Iude sayth they are reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse to the iudgement of the great day but when man was fallen Iude. v. 6. the Lord of his goodnes gaue a comfortable promise of the seede of the woman Gen. 3 15 which should bruse the power of Satan The Angels which continued stedfast do continually prayse God are ready to execute his will Psal 103.21 but of Gods goodnes they are yet ministring spirits to serue for their vse that shall bee heires of saluation Heb. 1.14 And therefore Dauid Psal 34.7 when hee hath said that the Angels of the Lord doe pitch round about theÌ„ that feare him he addeth in the next verse O tast see how good the Lord is blessed is the man that putteth his trust in him A blessing it is to bee guarded by meÌ„ a greater blessing to bee guarded by Princes but what exceeding fauour is this when God doth vouchsafe to guard vs with his holy and blessed Angels Though in some respects Dauid doth acknowledge man to bee somewhat inferior to the Angels yet in this he saith Psal â— 5 that God hath crowned man with glory and worship in that he hath made him an Emperour ouer all his works put all things in subiection vnder his feet not only the beastes of the field the foules of the aire whatsoeuer walketh through the pathes of the seas but as he saith before in the same Psalme euen the heauenly Creatures when I consider the heauens v. 3. the worke of thy fingers the moon the stars which thou hast ordained theÌ„ say I O Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the son of man that thou so regardest him This vse we must make of all Gods Creatures so to behold in theÌ„ the goodnes of God towards maÌ„kind that we be thereby stirred vp to prayse Gods holy name The horse mule can behold the heauens to bee high bright and lightsome The hog seeth the earth to be a place to walke vpon the so to feede vpon The Peacocke conceiueth a glorious shew in his variable coloured fethers many dumbe Creatures doe exceed man in the sharpenes of smelling when wee behold eyther the glistering azured skye or the beautifull flowers and fruites of the earth if we goe no further then seeing smelling and tasting theÌ„ are we no better then the brute vnreasonable creatures but we must in all those things go further we must behold therein the mighty power of God that wee may bee stirred vp to feare him and the infinite goodnes of God that we may learne to loue him and then are we endued with true spirituall wisedom as Dauid concludeth in the end of this psalme Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will consider and ponder these thinges he shall vnderstand the louing kindnes of the Lord. The goodnes of God doth many wayes shine out in the creation of man Hee made him as Zorastes said Pulcherrimum naturae spectaculum the most beautifull spectacle of nature not going groue-long towards the earth but with his face lifted vp to heauen to signifie that his mind should alwayes bee on heauenly things Hee gaue vnto him a soule endued with vnderstanding made after his own image He framed him to be as it were a little world and an abridgement of all his creatures whereupon some haue giuen him the name of Microcosmus some of Omnigena Creatura because he taketh part of al and containeth the principal parts of all Hee hath substance as haue stones life as haue plants sense as haue beastes and vnderstanding as haue angels When the Romane Pollio would haue drowned one of his slaues in a fury because hee had broken a fayre Christall glasse Augustus did well forbid him and said Homo cuiusuis conditionis si nulla alia ratione nisi quia est homo totius mundi vitris preciosior A man of any poor estate whatsoeuer if it be for no other cause but onely because he is a man is farre more pretious then all the glasses of the whole world but especially the goodnesse of God did appeare in the renewing of our hearts by his grace and holy word 1. Pet. 1.3 That doth S. Peter call the aboundant mercy of God Blessed be God the father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abouÌ„dant mercy hath begotten vs againe to a liuely hope by the resurrection of Christ Iesus That doth S. Bernard call a greater worke then the Creation of vs Bernard in Cantic or of the whole world When God made the world onely he spake the word and it was done Let there be a light Gen. 1.3.9 and there was light let the waters be gathered into one heape and they were gathered whereby was made the sea and the dry land was called earth Let there be two great lights in the firmament and there was straightway a Sunne to rule the night Bern. But quam multa dixit quà m multa fecit quà m multa perpâ—ssus est How many things hath God spoken how many things hath God done how many things hath he suffered to renew the heart of man If we should receiue the creatures ordained for the sustenance of our bodies and not be renewed and fed inwardly in our soules our estate were infinite thousand times worse then the estate of brute beasts For they are fed to perish temporally but we should be fed to perish eternally The seed of our new birth 1. Pet. 1.23 to wit the word of God is by an earnest acclamatioÌ„ pronounced by the Psalmist to be one of the greatest tokens of Gods fauour and goodnesse towards his elect For when he hath declared that God gaue his word vnto Iacob Psal 147.20 his statutes and ordinances vnto Israel he crieth out He hath not dealt so with euery nation neither haue other people the knowledge of his lawes There are two especiall properties which do greatly extoll and magnifie the goodnesse of God First that it is free not in respect of our deserts but in respect of Gods aboundant mercy Secondly that it is endlesse and perpetuall Esay 43.25 The freenesse thereof is set out by the Prophet I euen I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne
layd and thereof doth proceed their workes of charity as a sacrifice of thanksgiuing and yet those workes also the gift of God Aug in Psal 102. as Augustine sayth Deus coronat in nobis dona sua God doth crowne his owne gifts in vs. Good workes must be alwayes done to a good end 2. Sam 15 2 When Absalom called the poore vnto him and did helpe to right their causes he seemed to haue an vpright and charitable mind But when he sought thereby to steale away the heartes of the subiectes and to stirre them vppe to rebellion against his Soueraigne Lord and Father then was his shew of iustice nothing but damnable hypocrisie And the like account must be made of all charitable deedes whatsoeuer if they bee done to a sinister end to wit to ascribe merite vnto them and thereby to derogate from the sacrifice and passion of our Sauiour Christ Let vs then endeuour to the vttermost of our power to obey the will of God but let our entent and purpose bee onely thereby to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiuing to glorifie God our Creator Christ Iesus our Redeemer and the holy Ghost our Sanctifier 1 Pet 1 10 to make our election and calling more sure vnto our selues Mat. 5.16 by the light of our good workes to cause others to glorifie our father in heauen Of the manner how our sacrifices ought to bee offered to wit with singing and ioifulnes of mind as here the Prophet exhorteth vs to tell forth Gods works with gladnesse or as some interprete it with singing I shall God willing speake at some other conuenient time God of his infinite goodnes graunt vs grace so with thankfull hearts ioifull lips and vertuous liues to glorifie his holie name in this life that wee may be glorified to him for euer in the life to come with the blessed Angels sing perpetuall prayses in heauen to him Apoc. 4 11 who is worthy to receiue glorie and honour and power To this inuisible and eternall Lord three persons and one God bee ascribed all maiestie praise and dominion now and for euer Amen VVhy in right there should be no refusing to come now to our Church WHereas you requested me the other day to set downe a briefe note of the chiefest arguments which may induce and perswade a Recusant to come to the Church and to resolue you particularly of this one point in what respect prayer in the Church is more acceptable vnto God then prayer made in fields or priuate houses I haue thought good to returne this vnto you for an answer that there are sixe speciall reasons for which it must needs be better pleasing to God to frequent Churches and publike places of prayer then to be addicted onely to the exercises of our priuate mansions First it is a dutifull obeying of God his holy ordinance who hath commaunded not onely priuate prayer 1. 〈◊〉 11 2.8 and prayer in euery place but hath also appointed by his law that there should be a publike place consecrated for his seruice â—eut 12 5. In that place sayth he which the Lord your God shall chuse amongst all your tribes to set his name there in that his habitation ye shall seeke vnto him To haue it in the same place where the Iewes had it is not commaunded to vs 〈◊〉 4.21 but the equity of the Law doth still remaine to wit that there should be alwayes a house of God wherein the people may be assembled As likewise to haue the same Sabbath which the Iewes had the Apostles did not thinke it requisite but the equitie of the Law to wit to haue one day amongst the seuen to be alotted for the publike seruice of God that they thought altogether necessary And the chose the first day in the weeke because in that Christ rose againe from death which was therefore called dies Dominicus the Lord his day In the Lord his day Iohn was rapt in the spirit and heard a voyce Apoc 1 10. In that first day of the weeke Act 20 7 the Apostles in the Acts did minister the holy Sacrament and in the same first day they made collections for the poore 1. Cor 16 2 Secondly by frequenting the publicke place of God his seruice God is most glorified We must glorifie God both in body and soule 1 Cor 6 20 for they are gods The Prophet Daniel chose rather to be thrown into a den of Lions Dan. 6.11 then that he would haue his body but onely three dayes to be debarred from honoring God He honored him as he might because there was no publike place permitted But where there is a publike place assigned for the seruice of God there must especially our zeale encline vnto it and the more publike the place is the more is God glorified thereby The Prophet Dauid sayth I will praise thee ô Lord in the great congregation Psal 35.18 in much people I will giue thankes vnto thee Psal 40 11. Psal 22 22 And againe I will declare thy righteousnesse in the great congregation behold I will not refraine my lips and that Lord thou knowest In another place I will declare thy name amongst my brethren in the middest of the congregation I will sing praise vnto thee And againe I was glad when they sayd vnto me Psal 122.1 We will go into the house of God And when he was by his enemies driuen away from that publicke place of God his seruice although he prayed and sang hymnes vnto God in the mountaines and caues other places of his exile yet that losse of the publicke place of God his worship did grieue him more then the losse of his natiue soile of his acquaintance of his kindred of his goods or any other ioy or treasure whatsoeuer psal 27.4 One thing sayth he one thing especially I haue desired of the Lord and I will still require it that I dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beautie of the Lord and to visite his holie Temple He grieued that he could not doe as he had done in times past euen to leade the people into the house of God Psal 42.2 My teares sayth he hath bene my bread day and night because I had gone with the multitude and lead them to the house of God His wish was rather to be a doore-keeper in the house of God Psal 84.11 then to dwell in the tents of vngodlinesse Thirdly it is a comfortable apprehending of the promise of Christ who hath pronounced Math. 18 20 that Where two or three are assembled in his name he is in the middest of them and that whatsoeuer they aske they shall receiue Although he name two or three because the Church is indeed a little flocke in respect of the great multitude of the wicked yet it is euident that our Sauiour speaketh not there of priuate conuenticles but