of the grave Selah Psal 89.48 Object 17. And it came to pass the Beggar dyed and was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome c. Luke 16. from the 22. to the end Answ There was never such a man as Dives or Lazarus or ever such a thing happened no more then Jothams Trees did walk and talke Judg. 9.8 but it was a Parable to prove that nothing is more effectual for conversion then the ordinary preaching of the Word by the true Ministers or Ambassadors of God such as Moses and true Prophets of old and as Christ his Apostles and Prophets and true ministers since Further the consequence concerning the soul is but drawn from the literal sence in which sence I shall deny it canonical Scripture for it makes in that sence more for bodys then the souls present being in Heaven or Hell v. 23 24. maketh Abraham the Father of the Damned vers 24 25 27 30. and vers 22. Dives dyed and was buried and yet vers 23. he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham c. and vers 25. he cryed for Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger to coole his tongue which in the literal sence thus applicated must needs be contradictory unless his eyes tongue and Lazarus finger was not buried or their souls had corporeal corpulent members which to conceit is ridiculous Therefore from this place the Resurrection of the body before the day of Judgment even as soon as a man is buried may better be proved then such a present Soulary enterance into Heaven or Hell Object 18. By which also he went and preached to them in prison Answ By which that is by that whereby he was quickened or raised from the dead his divine Spirit as the foregoing words whereon the sence of those depend doth evidence vers 18. Christ once suffered c. dead in flesh but quickened by the spirit vers 19. by which also he went c. So that he went and preached by that whereby he was quickened or raised Therefore the preaching here meant was not by that which was raised but by that which did raise which was ministerially as the following words further evidence shewing to whom he preached even those which were disobedient in the days of Noah on whom the long-suffering of God waited while the Arke was a preparing those were the spirits here meant the wicked of those days which are now in prison that is dead or imprisoned in the Elements Here the grave or death is called a prison as indeed it is for therein all that dye are reserved in the chaines of death the Elements not to be delivered till Judgment Rev. 20.13 according to Job 3.18 there the prisoners rest together Object 19. Joh. 11.26 Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die Answ Whosoever liveth doth not in this place import the state of this life for should it believers should not die this death but relateth to the state or life at the Resurrection as the foregoing words on which the sense of these depend evidence viz. I am the Resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live to which these words are annexed And whosoever liveth believeth in me c. which is to say Every believer though dead shall live or be raised again and living or raised again shall never dye any more that is shall scape the second death Joh. 5.24 Secondly This life may be reckoned from the action of belief for God calleth things that are not as if they were Rom. 4.17 yea all even the dead live unto him Luke 20.38 And so the believer never dyeth in Gods account Rom. 14.7 8 9. None of us liveth to himself and none of us dyeth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords for this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living Object 20. Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirits 1 Cor. 6.20 Answ Before he called the body the Temple of the holy Ghost vers 29. and vers 15. the members of Christ which needs must be the whole man and not his bare carcass for in death who can praise the Lord in it can be no habitation for the holy Ghost and therein were they to glorifie God to make Christ the head of such members were to make God the God of the dead and not of the living therefore by body and spirit is meant whole man aiming at a thorough and perfect sanctification as well in that which respecteth thought the spirit as in that which respecteth action the body inwardly to gloryfie God as well as outwardly to flee fornication c. Object 16. I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slaine for the word of God c. and they cryed with a loud voyce c. Rev. 6.10 11. Answ They were such souls as lay under the Altar slaine or sacrificed or as vers 11. hath it were killed these therefore being dead souls or martyred Saints their crie must be as the crie of the blood of Abel And the like vision of dead Saints confirms it as cap. 20. vers 4 5. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeares but the rest of the dead lived not again till c. whence it is plaine that he beheld the Resurrection or restoration of life unto dead souls even of them that were beheaded but the rest lay dead or lived not again till c. Thus much of illegitimate Objections from Scripture Now to the probation hereof from Procreation or Generation and as neer as I can to resolve all occurrent Objections thereon that shall confront CHAP. V. Of procreation how from thence this Mortality is proved IT is supposed as I conceive by none that what naturally proceedeth from Man simply by the course of nature can be immortal but must first taste of mortality And therefore there are two sorts of Opinions to maintaine this Heathenish Invention about the soul whereon it's immortalitie is grounded which I shall chiefly encounter the one that it is created and infused at the conception and so onely Gods worke The other that it is concepted by the woman through the concurrence of the seed of both sexes but not simply by the course of nature but by the supernatural and extraordinarie assistance or efficacie of God in conception more then in other creatures and so partly mans and partly Gods worke But that I may utterly demolish the structure of this Invention I shall turn up the foundation of each kinde in it's place But first I shall speak a word or two in general of Procreation it self That whole man is generated by man Observe That as the whole Tree is potentially in the seed
Man wholly Mortal OR A TREATISE WHEREIN 'T is proved both Theologically and Philosophically That as whole Man sinned so whole Man died contrary to that common distinction of Soul and Body And that the present going of the Soul into Heaven or Hell is a meer Fiction And that at the Resurrection is the beginning of our Immortality and then actual Condemnation and Salvation and not before With Doubts and Objections answered and resolved both by Scripture and Reason discovering the multitude of Blasphemies and Absurdities that arise from the fancy of the Soul Also divers other Mysteries as of Heaven Hell the extent of the Resurrection the New-Creation c. opened and presented to the Trial of better Judgment By R. O. The second Edition by the Author corrected enlarged That which befalleth the Sons of Men befalleth Beasts even one thing befalleth them all as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one breath so that Man hath no pre-eminence above a Beast for all is vanity Eccl. 3.19 Printed at London Anno 1675. To the READER Judicious Reader THy serious perusal but the scorne and devision of the multitude hereof is my expectation Startle not thou be patient reade ponder and Berean like-try whether these things be so or no If any thing in it be worth thy owning take it it is thine as well as mine and I have my end thy benefit I wish it well to all but I feare it will be a Parable so most however I have unbosom'd my duty freely as I have received I give it freely to the World it is my faith as I believe so have I spoken I expect an Answer if it it be such as will not hold tryal it is likely I shall vindicate my self but if by force of Argument it shall convince I shall be ready and free thankefully to embrace it and renounce my errour whether it be in part or in whole though in the maine I am nothing jealous had I therein doubted my weakeness had not been thus visible to the World Whereas in several places scattered thorow the Book the use of the word Soul may seem to some to imply that which I deny let such know it is for Argument sake not intending in the least any self-distinct being by it Thus desiring my endeavours may have a faire and equal tryal by Scripture and solid Reason I commit thee to the blessing of God in the perusal thereof and rest Thine in the love of the Truth R. O. Man's Mortality OR A Treatise proving MAN as he is a Rational creature a Compound wholly mortal CHAP. I. Considerations from Natural Reason disproving the common opinions of the soul and proving man wholly mortal IF we will rationally argue concerning the Soul it is necessary to define what that is to which this immortality is ascribed But since it is defined by some one way by some another way I shall produce some Opinions about it and then bring the most rationall to tryall omitting the more frivolous viz. The Stiocks held it a certain blast hot and fierie or the vitall spirit of the blood The Creatins Blood Gallen a certain exhalation of the purest blood Zeno Cleanthes Antipater and Possiodonius a hot complection or corporeall quality diffused through the whole body Democritus Firc and his opinion was the round atomes being incorporated by aire and fire do make up the Soul Pythagoras opinionated it a Number moving of it self Plato a substance to be conceived in the mind that received motion from it-self according to Number and Harmonie Aristotle the first continual motion of a body natural having in it those instrumental parts wherein was possibility of life Dinarchus an Harmonie of the four elements Nemesius divides it into Phantasie Judgment Memorie Aristotle in his Physicks into vegetative sensitive motive appetetive intellective And Ambrose Parey p. 895. saith the soul is the inward Entelechia or the primative cause of all motions and functions both natural and animal and the true Form of a man It seeth heareth smelleth toucheth tasteth imagineth judgeth c. And more exactly pag. 83. Lib. 3. Cap. 1. he saith the soule is commonly distinguished into three Faculties Animal Vital Natural The Animal into Princial Sensitive motive The Principal into Imaginative seated in the upper part of the braine Reasonable the middle part of the brain Memorative Cerebellum or after-braine The Sensitive into Seeing the eyes Hearing the eares Smelling the nose Tasting the tongue pallet Touching the body The Motive into Progressive legges Apprehensive hands The Vital into Dilative or parts for Respiration weazon lungs Concoctive or parts for vital motion heart and arteries understood by the Pulsificke Facultie The Natural into Nutrative Active Generative which three are performed by the helpe of the Attractive the gullet Retentive lower passage or the stomack Concoctive body of the ventricle Assimulative three small guts Expulsive three great guts Augustine and Athanasius say it is a substance created a spirit intelligent invisible immortal incorporeal like the angels And there be several Opinions of it's Body Lucippus and Hipparchus say it hath a fierie Body Critias and Anaxemines Woolnor and others an aeriall body Hesiod an earthly Epicurius fierie and airie Zenophon watry and earthly Drone a midle betwixt the spirit and the body Didimus and Origen a third substance Divers other conceptions and fancies there be to uphold this ridiculous invention of the Soule traducted from the Heathens who by the Booke of Nature understood an immortality after Death but through their ignorance how or which way this invention reported to be Plato's was occasioned and begot a general beliefe and so they and after them the Christians have thus strained their wiâ—s to such miserable shifts to define what it is but neither conclude any certainty or give satisfaction therein Yet since it is generally concluded to be in man and of man but what where or how no man knowes though such several opinions of it be if but examined I le pitch upon those which afford most conceptory definition that is that of Aristotle Nemesius or Ambrose Parey which make the Soule to be all the internal and external Faculties of man joyntly considered or Man Anatomized and thereto Reply thus All the Faculties of Man severally or together are all and each of them mortal as well those that are peculiar to man as those that are common to Beasts and if all those with his corpulent matter compleating Man be proved mortal then the invention of the Soule upon that ground vanisheth which I thus prove All elementary compositions or Temperatures are mortal and transitory But mans Faculties from the least to the greatest are Temperatures Ergo mortal The Minor is thus proved That which is subject to increase and diminish is a Temperature But all mans Faculties yea those of Reason Consideration Science c. all that distinguish Man from a Beast are augmented by Learning Education c. lessened by negligence
and actually in time springeth from it or as many graines of wheat are in one graine virtually and perfectly actual in time so in the seed of mankind is whole man potentially and wholly actual in time or all Adams succession which in time are propagated were wholly in him life and limbes or as 't is more common soul and body So that whatsoever in time is actual by procreation it was at first potentially wholly in it's original Further Generatum sequitur naturam generantis he begat a son in his own image Gen. 5.3 is not not onely philosophically but Theologically true Mat. 7.16 Job 4.14 Therefore mortal Adam must beget mortal children in his own likeness soul and body except the soul was no part of his likeness For that which is immortal cannot generatively proceed from that which is mortal as Christ saith that which is born of the flesh is as it self is corruptable mutable flesh John 3.6 so then by this mortal flesh cannot be generated an immortal spirit or soul that can subsist by it self dissolved from the flesh for if it should in that act it should go beyond it self which is impossible and thereby more should be done by man and woman in generation then God did or could do in the creation for he neither did or could create any thing greater purer or more excellent of nature then himself and such as could subsist without him But if this doctrine be true as Woolner in his Original of the soul averreth fleshly man by a fleshly generation or mixture of the seed of both Sexes doth beget or conceive something greater purer and more excellent then himself an immortal substance an Angelical entitie the Soul that can subsist without the flesh by which it is which is as fire without light earth without heaviness grosseness c. should be by which they are and further the Effect to be prior dignitate precedent to the Cause as if a man because a creature should be before his Creator But if it be Replyed that the soul is generated by the soul as the body by the body I answer then there must be He-souls and She-souls for without Sexes is no generation But now to the first sort who say it is by infusion or as the saying is Creando infunditur infundendo creatur To which I Answer that in conception there is corruption or marring according the proverb Corruptio unius est generatio alterius so that if it be by conceiving or creating infused and by infusion concepted or created that is as much to say it is made in the marring and mar'd in the making or infus'd in the marring and mar'd in the infusion whence followeth that it is neither conceived created nor infused neither made nor mar'd but must be if it be no man knows what or how whether an Angel a Beast or a Monster any thing or nothing Riddle me riddle me what 's this a Soul a Soul creando infunditur infundendo creatur Secondly if the soul be a creature infused then Christ did not take the whole man-hood from the seed of the woman but worse then a bare brutish body a dead carcass But Christ was made of the seed of the woman according to the flesh Ram. 1.3 Acts 2.30 and was as we are sin excepted Heb. 14.15 and this our Image he received wholly from the woman Therefore receiving his whole humanity from her the soul can be no infused creature Thirdly That which brake the Serpents head was Christs humanity But the seed of the woman brake the Serpents head Ergo. Fourthly If we consist of soul and body and are not men without both and receive not our souls from him but are dayly created Then Adam is the father of no man 2. Christ cannot be the Son of man and so no Saviour because thereby his manhood constitutive part even that which should make him man could not be by the seed of the woman 3. So a man is as much a father of fleas and lice which receive their matter from him as of his children 4. Whereas God blessed man and bid him as the rest of the creatures in their kinde fill the Earth in his kinde with men then he commanded him to do more then he had given him power for and so to content nature and supply her imbecility to obey is forced to a daily creation 5. Then God finished not the Creation in sixe dayes but rested before he had done creating Fifthly If the soul be infused it must be at the conception or after the conception If at the conception then every abortive conception hath an immortal spirit in it and must rise again If after then there is growth before there is life which is impossible for the soul is made the vegetive as well as the motive sensitive or rational part and if this immortal spirit be something else then we are not conceived perfect men and as we are conceived so are we born trees brutes or I know not what and afterwards are made men if we be men at all and so Infants that die in the wombe or in the birth are little better then trees and worse then beasts Sixthly If the soul be not generated with the body but a creature infused into a dead body for they say the soul is forma formans that giveth life and motion to the body Then it is lawful to be a Nigromancer for Nigromancie is nothing but putting a spirit into a dead body and so it is but an imitation of God and God the onely Nigromancer and all the men in the word but Nigromatnick Apparitions whose spirits when they have done the worke for which they were put into the bodies desert them as other conjured Ghosts do Seventhy It is granted that the body considered meerly sensitive cannot sin and that the body is but an instrument or as the pen in the hand of a Writer to the Soul whereby it acts and moves Therefore if the Soul come immediately from God or there be an immediate worke of his in it's production then of necessity that immortal thing and not our mortal flesh is Author of all sin and it onely prone to all sin and not the flesh no more then a conduit though a meet instrument to convey water is the author or fount of water or prone to spring And so Gods immediate hand is the cause of all sin that man had better been without this soul for it must needs be some damnable wicked spirit or some Devil that God puts in him for such as the fruit is such must the tree be but the fruit is damnably wicked Therefore the Soul must be some damnable wicked thing No marvel then if Reprobates must needs sin and be damned since God infuses such a malignant Soul that counsels them with Jobs wife to curse God and die yea such a one as wholly workes out their condemnation This is as if a man should break his horses legs and then knock
idleness c. and quite nullified by madness Ergo. That those Faculties are Temperatures I further prove thus A Temperature is a Qualitie and a Quality may be in the Subject or absent from it without the destruction of the same subject But reason understanding c. may be absent from the Body their Subject and yet the Body living as in mad-men and persons in the Falling-sickness and none will deny they are men at that same time Ergo. Object Qualities of the Body are subject to sense But understanding c. subject to none Ergo. Answ A hot and drie braine is quick-witted which by moysture and coldness is altered and so we are disposed according to the present constitution of our Bodyes If this suffice not I adde that an effect is by passion from the cause as motion cannot be without passion from that which moveth for take away the cause and the motion ceaseth tolle causam tollitur effectus Therefore quickness of wit cannot be without passion from heat driness for over-power that hot and dry braine with moysture and coldness as may be with Opium and the hotness and driness thereof ceaseth and dulness followeth Further even from my Opposites Assertions I prove this Soule they so talke on to be elemental as Woolnor others who ascribe unto it an Aeriall Body For whatsoever is Aeriall is elemental else could it not be Aeriall Ergo this Soule is elemental and so finite If this immortal spirit have an Aeriall Body I wonder what would become of it if a living man were closed up in a Vessel which were so solid every where that the Aire could not possibly evacuate and there the man die either it must perish with the man or else remaine there through which there is no passage for its Aeriall Body So that he so martyred hath an ilfavored Paradice for his Soul And further experience tells us If the former Brain-pan be hurt the Senses are hindered but the Cogitation remaineth sound If onely the Middle-pan be harmed the Cogitation is maimed but the Seat of Sense keepes all the five Senses whole If any hurt befall both to the Former and Middle-pan both Sense and Cogitation decay If the Hinder-pan be disordered onely the Memorie alone and neither Sense nor Cogitation receive harme So that in veritie Man is but a Creature whose several parts and members are endowed with proper natures or Faculties each subservient to other to make him a living Rational Creature whose degrees or excellences of natural Faculties make him in his kind more excellent then the Beasts So that though Parey and others do so excellently set forth his several endowments or properties of his several members it doth not follow that those Faculties together are a Being of themselves immortal For as the members cannot be perfect members without them so they cannot be faculties without their members and separation cannot be without destruction of both As attraction or heat is the propertie of fire which cannot be if fire cease nor fire be if it cease and as well may we say the heat of the fire continueth after the fire is dead out as those Faculties when their Body is dead for spoile one spoile both kill one kill both this is in that and that is in this The Form is so in the Matter and the Matter so in the Form as thereby and not else is an Existence or Humane Entitie And their Being is in this Union and their Union is in this Being So that take away Form and Matter ceaseth take away Matter and Form ceaseth destructio vnius est interitum alterius The Form is the Form of the Matter and the Matter the Matter of the Form neither of themselves but each by other and both together make one Being therefore if one Be by the other and thereby Both together then one cannot consist without the other but must Both perish together For nothing can consist without that by which it is But suppose on the contrary one could consist without the other as they say the Soul can without the Body then one may be generated without the other Soul without Body and so according to their preposterous precepts it is not unnatural for a Woman to bring forth a spirit that hath neither flesh blood nor bones instead of a Child Or if one Be without the other as Form without Matter Masse concepted without the Facultie conceptive then should all corpulent Substances be as infinite as God without beginning and Be of themselves and themselves Gods But I hope all grant both impossible Therefore they must as well end together as begin together and begin together as end together Moreover experience further tels us that they neither can Be nor consist without other For if Nature be deprived more or less in her work of conception of her due her Forms or conceptions being by her power Formative or conceptive or her Formed Faculties by her Facultive Formes her Effect is accordingly If membrally impedited a membral impediment if totally impedited a total frustration of Matter and Form in Both For he that is borne without any member hath neither Form nor Faculty thereof at all or with any membral imperfection that part hath not its perfection either of Form or Facultie so cometh it that some are borne Fooles and never can be wise Therefore their original Being must be together And that their ultimate end is together we see that the Eye is no Eye without the Sight and Sight no Sight without the Eye and so of all the other Senses and Faculies e minore ad majus Wherefore membral perfection is not so much in shape as in virtue and virtual perfection not so much in Masse as in due proportion and both joyntly make natural perfection which is the gift of God or Natures general instinct So as one can by no means be without the other so one cannot subsist without the other For could there be a Facultive subsistence as that of the Soul is made without its body then a man might live when his head were cut off Further this Facultive Gift or Natures endowment can no more be said to be a subsistent living Spirit without its Receptacle then the Sun-beames without the Sun which are the gift or propertie of the Sun But the Being of this communication must be in the Subject as levitie in the Fire ponderositie in the Earth And though the natures of things be immediate communications of Gods Power to Nature yet disjunctively those communications are no Entities without God be so many several Beings for in that sence they are not communications but absolute Beings of themselves for betwixt Facultie and Subject is a Relation to communication as betwixt Father and Son to Fatherhood neither without other nor it without both and to say notwithstanding as this fancy of the Soul importeth that there may be a Facultive Subsistance without its Subject then Natures several Faculties must not be
the several communications of One Being but so many absolute irrelative Beings of themselves So that this Doctrine of the Soul implyeth no God if a God so many several Gods as Faculties and if but ONE then it chops that ONE smaller then herbs to the pot Therefore Facultie ceaseth with its Subject or with the Subject God gathereth to himself the power and yet his power no more by retraction then less before by communication and so but One Being in whom all things are or one Ens Entium Moreover those several Faculties cannot be united or comprehended in one body but by the several members of the same body for we see if the member decay the Facultie decayes Therefore their unite subsistance must be terminated membrally in the body And if it were possible they could subsist separated from their members then in that separation their Being could not be conjunct or unite for want of that which tyed them together the several members And so if any Being so many several Beings as several Faculties if any Soul so many several Souls a Phantasticke Soul a Rational Soul a Memorative Soul a Seeing Soul a Hearing Soul a Smelling Soul a Tasting Soul a Touching Soul with divers other Souls of all sorts and sizes And further that those Faculties are thus in their Subjects and are not without them as accidens non est nisi in subjecto we see that they increase and grow with their Subjects and perfect together For a Child is totally proportionated as Adam when God formed him of the Earth before the vitall Facultie be actual as Parey saith and the Rational requireth a due process of time after birth before it be ripe to bring forth the fruit of Rationality and as its Subject groweth and ripeneth so it increaseth and perfecteth for it is impossible that the thing which is not actual in it self should have a second thing actual in it and Rationality in an Infant is no more in it then a Chicken in the egge onely in posse therefore a Child cannot possibly ratiocinate before it be actually Rational which cannot be before Organical perfection For Reason cannot Be and not shew it self shew it self and not Be for its Being is its Rationality and its Rationality its Being therefore as its Organs are potential it is potential and as its Organs are weake and imperfect it is weake and imperfect and as they are perfect it is perfect Therefore Faculties increase with their Subjects and if increase they must decrease Anatomize Man take a vew of all his lineaments Dimensions of all his members faculties and consider their state severally all are transitory even all that goeth to the Subject Man is corruptible and himself but a Bundle of corruption or curious Mass of vicussitudes If all of Man that goeth to his Manhood be mortal where then or what is this immortal thing the Soul they talke of we have examined all his parts and Faculties and find even all mortal It is not sure his prima materia though ingenerable incorruptible insensible indefinite c Nor his Forma prima that principle which first gives Essence to a natural Body the first Active principle informing and figurating the First Matter sui appetentem for both are general to the whole Creation whose Efficient Cause is onely immediately God himself by whose power all things that are made shall be returned to that of which they were made their Materia prima or created matter So that as Solomon saith Man hath no pre-eminence above a Beast even one thing befalleth them What Reason is there now that Mans Faculties in a higher Degree should be an immortal Spirit more then a Beasts in a lower Degree but both elementary and finite Further if it be not unnatural that Seeing Hearing c. should be producted by an Elementary operation as none deny in the propagation of Beasts why is not the Rational Facultie in Man as natural in Man and may as well be producted elementarily by Man as the other by Beasts be as actually mortal If this suffice not observe Substantia non recipit majus aut minus a Giant is no more a man then a Dwarfe there may be a gradual distinction and yet no Essential difference Degrees of Faculties in several persons and yet the Faculties the same and of one nature though not equally excellent and the Degree doth not make a Facultie more a Facultie or less a Facultie Therefore if the said Faculties in an inferiour Degree be elementary so must they in a superior But in Brutes whom none deny to be wholly mortal and all their Faculties elementary have our most noble parts faculties scattered amongst them though in an inferiour degree as Ambr. Parey said Lib. 2. chap. 1. If we will diligently seach into their nature we shall observe the impressions of many virtues as of Magnanimitie Prudence Fortitude Clemency Docilitie Love Carefulness Providence yea Knowledge Understanding Memorie c. is common to all Brutes the Affections and Passions of the Mind all his Qualities good and bad and every Facultie he hath is to be found more or less amongst them And Parey further saith They are of quick Sense observant of the Rights of Friendship and Chastitie they submit themselves to the discipline of man they have taught man many things c. The Hare is eminent for Memorie the Dog for Apprehension and Fidelitie the Serpent for Wisedome the Fox for Subtiltie the Dove for Chastitie and Innocency the Elephant for Docilitie Modestie and Gratitude Plinie saith he cometh neare the understanding of a man that they worship the Moon and Stars Plutarch that they worship the Sun rising the Ape is eminent for Imitation and Understanding the Turtle for Love the Crocodile for Deceit the Lambe for Patience the Waspe for Anger c. and for his Five Senses he is by them exce'd Aper auditu nos vincit Aranea tactu Vulâ—ur odoratu Lynx visu Simia gustu Thus Man in sensu diviso is to be found amongst the other Creatures and in him alone those several Faculties are eminent sensu conjuncto and so onely capable of God Therefore those Faculties being elementary in an inferiour Degree in an inferiour Creature why may they not be elementary in a superiour Degree in a superiour Creature Now from all this followeth that if in man be an immortal Spirit then divers other Creatures have the like though not in the same Degree for if Degree therein should make or marre the thing it self then some would have no more Soul then Beasts and some less as Mad-men and Fooles no more and Infants less If it be the Rational Facultie then all men are born without Souls and some before they had Souls as Infants and some after their Soul is gone as Mad-men that live and perish in their Madness and some would be born live and die without Souls as Fools and some would have Souls but by fits and jumps as
Job 14.1 2. Man that is borne of a woman is of few days and full of trouble he cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not and vers 7 8 9 10 11 12. For there is hope of a Tree if it be cut downe that it will sprout againe and that the tender branch thereof will not cease though the roote thereof wax old in the ground and the stock thereof die in the earth yet through the sent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant But Man dyeth and wasteth away yea Man giveth up the ghost and where is He As the waters fail from the Sea and the flood decayeth and dryeth up so Man lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more they shall not awake out of their sleepe Psal 103.15 16. As for man his dayes are as grass as a flower of the field so he florisheth for the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more From these places compared we may see that man not his flesh onely for that makes not man but flesh and Spirit sensu conjuncto make Man is not as a Tree when He is cut down whose Spirit liveth and sprouteth forth and continueth but as the flower of the field not the stalke but the bare flower which totally fadeth and perisheth Therefore Man is wholly mortal he shall die and the Son of Man shall be made as grass Isa 51.12 Ezekiel 13.19 To slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls that should not live Psal 7.1 2. Save me c. Lest he teare my soul like a Lion renting it in pieces c. Psal 89.48 Who can deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Psal 19.10 Lev. 21.1 11 and 19.28 Numb 5.2 and 19.11 13. Hag. 2.13 in all which places the words dead body in the Original is soul See Jun. Annot. Lev. 21.1 2 Cor. 5.1 2 3 4. there out Being after death is called a building of an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens with this the Apostle desires to be clothed and what it is he defines viz. mortality swallowed up of life whence it is most evident that all his hope of future life was grounded upon the Resurrection and that his hope was altogether grounded thereon he confirms 1 Cor. 15 arguing if Christ be not risen the dead should not rise and vers 18. They which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished and vers 14. Then is our faith also in vaine whose end 1 Pet. 1.9 is the Salvation of our Souls How should then all be in vaine if our souls as soon as breath is out of the body enter into glory and salvation For by that though there were no Resurrection of the flesh we should receive the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls Nay further he maketh all our hope to be in this life if there be no Resurrection for vers 19. having showne the evils that follow the denyall of the Resurrection faith If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable vers 32. Saint Paul said If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the dead rise not whence plainly appeares that the denyal of the Resurrection confines all our hopes and advantages within this life and so all our sufferings persecutions prayers faith c. were to no purpose which could not be by this Soulary fancy of present reward of beatitude after this life 1 King 2.2 David saith to Solomon I goe the way of all the earth that is as the earth must see corruption so must he and if his Soul were part of him yea himself so must it else should he not go the way of all the earth And the expression in Joshua 2.13 Deliver our lives from death importeth absolute mortality for if Death be not dissolution of life or its deprivation how can it be said to suffer death not by a bodily separation for that is but as the laying down of a burthen wherewith it was clogged and tyred whereby it is made more lively ten thousand times as my Opposites confess and so can no more be said to be dead then a Porter when he is disburthened of his Load Job 34.15 All flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again unto dust That which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3.6 and flesh and blood cannot inherite the Kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15.50 But this Spirit the soul so Idoliz'd if such a thing be is borne of the flesh for in the wombe a Child is a living soul and is so borne of the mother that is flesh Therefore this soul is fleshly and cannot enter into the Kingdome of glory till corruption have put on incorruption which cannot be but by death Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die 1 Cor. 15.36 Eccl. 3.12 That which befalleth the Sons of Men befalleth Beasts even one thing befalleth them as one dyeth so dyeth the other they have all one breath so that they have no preheminence above a Beast for all is vanitie Wherefore if their Breath be all one then God breathed no other Breath that is life or soul into Man then he gave to Beasts So that if Man be Fallen and the Beasts be cursed for his sake Man must be equally mortal with them 1 Tim. 4.8 I have fought a good fight I have funished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crowne of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at THAT DAY and not to me onely but to all them that love his appeareing Here from the finishing of his course a Crowne being laid up which is even the same which Peter Epist 1 cap. 1.9 maketh the end of our faith the Salvation of our souls to be given at THAT DAY concludes an intermission to him and us till then 1 Tim. 6.14 16. Keepe this Commandment until the appeareing of our Lord Jesus Christ who onely hath immortality dwelling in light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seene nor can see Whence appeareth that none ever entered into Heaven since the Creation And it is in vaine for my Opposites to say it is meant of the corpulent matter onely for they make the Soul the very manhood and none that enter therein enter by halfes and peecemeal and this is confirmed by Joh. 3.13 And no man hath ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven Psal 6.5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks Psal 89.11 12. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction shall thy wonders be known in the darke and thy righteousness in the Land
Childs soul come into him again And the Lord heard his voyce and the soul of the Child came into him again and he revived 1 King 17.21 22. And Job 14.22 It is said his flesh upon him shall have paine and his soul within him shall mourne Ergo there is such a thing as the soul Answ If it be meant life or breath whose Being is consistent and terminated in a corpulent union For by that of the Child is meant his breath or life the thing that his corpulent matter wanted as vers the 17. implyeth which saith his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him Therefore that which was gone was prayed for his breath or life as his Answer further proveth which was and it revived And by Soul in that of Job is meant his conscience whose seate is in the reasonable and memorative Faculties Therefore the use of the word Soul in those places doth not prove such a thing in man as is supposed For in Scripture it is variously used upon various occasions It is put for the Stomack Pro. 27.7 for the eyes Jer. 13.17 for the heart 1 Sam. 18. for God Pro. 9.16 Heb. 10.38 Jer. 14.17 for the dead body Psal 16.10 for the whole man Lev. 7.19 and 4.1 Acts 7.14 Num. 15.39 Rom. 13.1 Gen. 12.5 and 46. Acts 2.41 1 Pet. 3.20 for breath Act. 20.10 for life Isa 53.17 Therefore from those places those parts may as well be proved so many Souls or Spirits of immortalitie as from those where it is put for breath or life it 's Being be proved or such an immortal existence to be in the body But to this Objection might be added Christs raising of Lazarus and others from the dead and it would make a very good plea for Purgatory Because from hell there is no returning and from heaven none could be thankful to be called again and it cannot be supposed that Christ would work miracles for any for which they should not have cause to be thankful to him and therefore these persons raised from the dead if they shall be supposed to have immortal Souls their return must needs be from some one of the Popes supposed Lymbocs or other Object 6. For which cause we faint not for though our outward man perish yet the inward is renewed day by day Ergo there is soul and body in man Answ It is not said though our flesh perish yet our souls are renewed then 't were something to little purpose but it is said our outward man which compared with what is meant by inward man must needs be whole man for by inward man is meant faith or worke of grace 2 Cor. 5.17 which is no part of natural man so that without it or it's renewing we are men perfect as well as with it Object 7. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the earth Wherefore man hath a soul that goeth presently to Heaven but the beasts to the earth Answ It cannot bear the sence for immediately before he saith their breath is all one there is no difference as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and goeth to one place the dust Therefore if the beasts be reversed into the elements so must mans The meaning I take to be thus that such a wonderful thing is the breath of a man that breatheth upward and the breath of a beast that breatheth downward for spirit signifieth breath according to that of Ovid Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram Os Homini sublime dedit coelumque videre Jussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultus that it's Faculty how it is is past finding out for Art in all her imitations could never touch that secret with her pensill Object 8. Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather feare him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell Answ This carries the face indeed of the souls immortality but if the interpretation must be confined to that sence it overthrowes the current of the whole Scripture Wherefore my opinion of it is that by not able to kill the soul is meant as Luke hath it chap. 12.4 have no more that they can do that is though they have power over this life or the natural Body that is sowne in corruption they have none over the Spiritual that is raised in incorruption which spiritual Bodies of men raised from the dead are by Saint John in Rev. 20 4 5. termed Souls I saw the Souls saith he of those that were beheaded for Christ and they lived and reigned with him a thousand years But the rest of the dead lived not again untill the thousand years were ended the Souls then that lived and reigned with him are none other then the persons that were first raised by him from the dead at his coming over whom none hath power but God alone who therefore is most chiefly to be feared This doth not set forth any immortality before the Resurrection but shews that onely that is in Gods hand and he onely able to touch it that is cast it into Hell That this must be so expounded I further prove from the non-entitie of Hell for there can be no casting into Hell before Hell be which though it be ordained of old Isa 30.33 it is but in posse not in esse till the Resurrection for satisfaction it is convenient to declare what we mean by Hell for Hell is diversly used in Scripture It is put for the grave Psal 16.10 and 55.15 Isa 14.15 for the Whale in which Jonah was Jon. 2.2 for Sathans Kingdome leading to Hell Mat. 16.18 for Satan or his malignant Spirits Jam. 3.6 for the place of the damned Mat. 5.29 and 10.28 Luke 12.5 and 16.23 2 Pet. 2.4 this last the place of the damned is that which we mean by Hell and it is likewise variously called as outer darkness Mat. 22.13 and 23.33 wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 and 5.9 Chaines of darkness 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude 6. eternal fire Jude 23. second death Rev. 20.6 bottomless pit Rev. 9.2 place of torment Rev. 14.10 and 20.10 Lake of fire Rev. 29.20 and 21.8 everlasting punishment Mat. 25.41 46 blackness of darkness for ever Jude 13. Those several expressions are generally taken to set forth the end of the Reprobate or the execution of Gods wrath upon them Therefore if none of the forementioned places that Hell is put for save that of the place of the damned be taken for Hell then most of those several expressions suite with it yea declare it but the expressions in general grant no immediate execution after this death but imply the contrary as we may see if we examine them First in Mat. 22.13 when it is called outer darkness and 23. vers 33. damnation of Hell compared with cap. 25.41 where it is said Then shall he say unto them on the left hand
interim he there appeares in the presence of God for them as Heb. 9.24 Object 12. In 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Peter saith that it is an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for the Saints and S. Paul 2 Cor. 5. says it is eternal in the heavens wherefore it being for the Saints enjoyment the souls of the Saints presently after death must ascend to enjoy it else can they not enjoy it at all we nowhere read that their bodyes shall at any time ascend thither Answ Saint Paul there saith It is eternal in the heavens but saith not that it is eternally there for Saint Peter in the 13 vers of the same chap. saith that it is to be brought thence to the Saints at the Revelation of Jesus Christ and not that the Saints shall be taken up to it and this will not be so brought down to them for their enjoyment till after the Resurrection and when the new Heavens and the new Earth are created as is evident in Rev. 21.1 2 3. and When mortality is swallowed up of life then and not till then shall the Saints be clothed with this their house from Heaven as Paul in the same place vers 2 4. declares Object 13. By faith Enoch was translated Heb. 11.5 And Elijah went to heaven in a whirlewind 2 King 2.11 12. Answ This no way contributes any thing to the fancy of the soul in a Paradice but rather altogether confounds the conceit for Elijah left his mantle not his body behind him when he ascended and Enoch was also wholly taken up And therefore Christ in the speech of the Theifs being with him in Paradice did not intend that present day but at the time of his coming into his Kingdome he should be there with him according to the theifes petition which Kingdome was not then shortly to be expected but is yet to come nor will it be until after Christs coming again in the clouds with power and great Glory as is evident Luke 19.11 12 15. Luke 21.27 31. Besides if Christ himself was that day in Paradice a place of glory he was there unglorified or else being there glorified he afterward became unglorified again for so he told Mary he was after his Resurrection Joh. 20.17 neither of which can reasonably be imagined And it is palpable that many errors are grounded upon mis-translations of the Scripture this place though the genuine signification of the words thereof be rendred yet may it be reputed within the nature of mis-translation for we have manifestly cleared that the sense of this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise cannot as it is vulgarly taken stand with the foundation of Religion or with solid reason Therefore there must be some fault in the English Text which if narrowly examined may appear for if the words in the Original be thus rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day Thou shalt be with me in Paradise which differeth from the common copies onely in the transposition of a comma incident to transcribing and printing and then the objection from hence vanisheth i. e. To day I tell thee not This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And well might he use that expression I tell thee this day as a trial of the sincerity of his faith for if he could believe in him that day or present time of his sufferings he should be with him in paradise or when he should appeare in his Kingdome he should appeare with him in glory or thus I tell thee to day Thou shalt be with me in Paradise is as if he should say I tell thee this day which is the day of my suffering and of thy conversion that as sure as this is the Day so sure thou shalt be saved or be with me at my coming into my Kingdome where the attestation of This Day is as an assurance pledge or witness of Christs mercy towards him and as a tryal of his faith therein The like expression Paul useth Acts 20.26 Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men Obj. 14. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it Eccl. 7.12 Answ By spirit cannot be meant such a thing as the soul except all souls go to God and none to the Devil for it is indifferently spoken of all but by spirit is meant life which hath various expressions in Scripture it is the will of God that dust shall be made man and live and it is done and he liveth and his will that it shall die and it dyeth or returneth to what it was he withdraweth his communicated power and man ceaseth The Spirit shall return the communication power or faculty of life shall cease to God that gave it to him that communicated or gave it in whom we live move and have our being no otherwise mans spirit or life returneth to God that gave it he taketh away the breath and the creatures dye and return to their dust Psal 104.29 for the life of man is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 Object 15. And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Act. â—7 59 Answ This is a commendation of his life or being into the hands of God in whom with Christ our lives are hid Col. 3.3 as a full assurance of hope and faith in the Resurrection that when Christ who is our life should appeare we also might appear with him in glory For God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Luke 20.38 And thus and no otherwise was his spirit commended or returned to him that gave it whose spirit goeth forth we are renewed Psal 104.30 answerable to that of the two witnesses in whom the spirit of life from God after they had lien dead three dayes and an halfe entered into them and they stood upon their feet Object 16. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2.7 Ergo man hath an immortal soul Answ Then so is the soul of a Beast for Solomon saith their breath is all one Eccl. 3.19 and David reckoning up the creatures and man amongst them saith indifferently of them all God hideth his face and they are troubled he taketh away their breath they die and retrun to their dust Psal 104.29 and this is further amplyfied in Gen. 1.33 to every thing in the Earth wherein there is a living soul c. and cap. 7.21 22. all flesh dyed in whose nostrils was the breath of life and Num. 31.28 all which make no difference betwixt them but as the one dyeth so dyeth the other and man hath no preheminence above a beast For what man is he that liveth and shall not see death or deliver his soul from the hand
formans therefore naturam expellas furca licet usque recurres it is made action which cannot but appeare for all action is apparent and they say it is an immortal spirit therefore cannot cease and if not cease it must shew it self Now why are not Infants then as rational as others nay let me ask one Question If this endless soul be forma formans the maker of our bodyes why have we not endless bodies for omne tale generat tale every like brings forth its like so then if one be immortal the other must be immortal if one mortal the other mortal Secondly I answer that though some are fooles from their birth yet it doth not follow that Gods immediate hand is required to mans procreation but rather the contrary for imperfections in a thing argue the mediate generation thereof because no imperfection of any kinde can come immediately from the hand of God imperfections are accidental or from the curse therefore not of creation but of procreation Now seeing all this while we have had to do with this immortal Soul we cannot find or the Soularies tell what it is such likewise is its residence for if we ask where it is they slap us i'th'mouth with a Riddle tota in toto tota in qualibet parte the whole in the whole and the whole in every part that is the whole immortal Soul in the whole body and the whole Soul wholly in every part of the body To which I answer that this extends immortality or impossibility of death to the body for if immortality be in every part then no part of man from the crown of the head to the soal of the foot can be excepted so we are all Soul all over and every part a whole Soul immortal So that it must either be held to be ubiquitarie which is an Attribute peculiar to God or else multiplicable by a corpulent division and so were a man minced into Atomes cut into innumerable bits there would be so many innumerable whole Souls else could it not be wholly in every part Monstrum horrendum ingens cui quot sunt corpore crines Tot vigiles Animae subter mirabile dictu And thus the Riddle is unfolded CHAP. VI. Testimonies of Scripture to prove that whole man is generated and propagated by Nature THat this is true secundum actum naturae observe the sence of these ensuing Scriptures viz. Gen. 1.17 18. comparted with the 22 vers where man and beast have an equal blessing and charge to propagate their like Eccl. 3.19 there is no distinction betwixt them c. Gen. 17.7 I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee here by seed must be meant persons and not bare carcasses else he had been the God of dead clots and not of living souls Gen. 46.26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Aegypt which came out of his loynes c. Job 31.15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him and did not one fashion us in the womb Ergo if his soul were immediately created so was his body for he that is his Entity person even all that went to make him man was formed and shapen in the wombe both Epithites for procreation and not for creation Job 10.10 11.22 Hast thou not poured me out as milke and curdled me like cheese thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinews thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit Here Job sets forth exactly the manner of mans procreation from the act of generation even to his breathing First poured out as milke that is the seminarie evacuation of both Sexes in conjunction then curdled me like cheese that is the changing of that to a grosser matter congealed blood then clothed me with flesh and skin that is the incarnation of that condensed blood then fenced me with bones and sinews that is that carnated matter was formed into humane shape and grew into members then grantedst me life that is began to breath whence observe that in ascribing the whole worke to God he doth ascribe it to one kinde onely and not partly mediate partly immediate for he ascribeth even the evacuation of seed in carnal copulation and the conception of flesh and bones in as high a measure yea to take away all cavil rather a greater as he doth his life poured clothed and fenced imply a more absolute act then granting which is but a sufferance permission or assenting therefore his conception was meerly and wholly natural according to that of David Psa 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me And to this adde that of Zach. 12.1 The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him Whence it is clear that whole man flesh and spirit is a second act formed in the wombe otherwise flesh as well as spirit must be created which all deny Children are the blessing of the breast and wombe Gen. 49.5 That came out of the Loynes Exod. 1.5 Heb. 7.5 the fruit of the body Deut. 18.4 came out of the bowels 2 Sam. 10.11 see Gen. 16.11 38.25 Mat. 1.18 Gen. 5.3 Adam begat a son in his owne likeness Psal 139.15 16. My Substance was not hid from thee when I was made in a secret place and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth thine eyes did see my masse yet being imperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet was none of them whence is evident that his whole Person was an act of nature in his mothers wombe or secret place what of him was in the Book of Gods providence he declareth was made not created in a secret place to wit his substance or masse all that went to the subject man and I hope the Soularies will not blot his Soul out of the Book of Gods providence or say it was no part of him Luke 1.31 Thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a son whence observe that what she was to bring forth she was to conceive to wit a son and none will deny Christ was born compleat man in all things as we are sin excepted And if any scruple arise from Rom. 1.3 He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh I Answer That it is a distinction from other men in respect of that anointing he received from the Father above his brethren and fellowes Gen. 4.1 She conceived and bare Cain see the like cap. 38.3 4 5. Judg. 13.3 5 7. And Job 3.3 There is a man-child conceived And Gen. 17.6 And Kings shall come out of thee vers 17. twelve Princes shall he beget And Judg. 8.30 Gideon had 70 Sons out of his body begotten And Num. 5. Then she shall be free and shall conceive seed and Heb. 11.11 compared with Gen. 17.8 and such like plainly shew mans procreation wholly natural Joh. 3.6 That which is
born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit Here is the natural birth by nature and the spiritual birth by grace declared each in his kinde the one a meer natural the other a supernatural worke It is therefore inavoydablely true otherwise the Soul cannot be saved for what is not born again cannot be saved as the immediate words testifie except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God So then the Soul as well as the body is born that is proceeds from the flesh except we be born without it Wherefore they are no more twaine but one flesh I might declare how Purgatorie Limbo Patrum Infantum Prayers unto dead Saints to the Virgin Mary and a World of such-like fancies are grounded upon the Invention of the Soul but that I shall leave it to the conception of the ingenious Thus having found Mans Foundation to be wholly in the Dust from thence taken and thither to return Let this then be the use of all That man hath not wherewith at all to boast no more then of the dirt under his feet but is provoked wholly out of himself to cast himself wholly on Jesus Christ with whom in God our lives are hid that when he who is our life shall appeare we might also with him appeare in glory to whom be the honour of our immortality for ever and for ever Amen THere are many places of Scripture omitted in this Treatise which import man to be wholly mortal whereof I will here commend these few to the serious consideration of all such as desire to finde out truth The Prophet Isaiah Prophesying of Christ in chap. 53. vers 10. saith Yet the Lord would break him and make him Subject to infirmities When he shall make his soul an offering for sin vers the 11. he shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied vers 12. Therefore will I give him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death c. By Saint Matthew it is also recorded chap. 26. vers 38. Then said Jesus to them My soul is very heavy unto the death Tarry ye here and watch with me speaking to Peter and the two sons of Zebedeus ver 37. Rev. 16.3 where it is Recorded And the second Angel poured out his Vial upon the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea Psal 66.9 He holdeth our soul in life Here note That Soul and Life are distinct the Soul of all are held in Life by Christ else would they die Psal 22.29 For all that go down into the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his own soul Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth it shall die Vers 20. The same soul that sinneth shall die Job 33.18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword 20. So that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat 22. His soul draweth neer unto the grave and his life to the destroyers 28. He will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light 30. To bring back his soul from the pit to be enlightned with the light of the living The diligent Reader is desired to correct the mis-quotations escaped in this little book as followeth Page 33. line 13. adde Gen. 1. p. 34. l. 23. read 1 Cor. 15. p. 46. l. 21. r. Eccl. 3.19 20. p. 47. l. 6. r. 2 Tim. p. 48. l. 14. r. Psal 88. p. 49. l. 5. adde 4. p. 56. l. 10. r. Lev. 17.14 l. 11. r. Gen. 9. p. 57. l. 7. r. Acts 2.31 p. 59. l. 15. r. Phil. 1.23 24. p. 63. l. 6. r. Jer. 53.12 p. 68. l. 2. r. Rev. 19. p. 69. l. 16. r. Mat. 8.29 p. 72. l. 22. r. Prov. 15.24 p. 93. l. 1. r. Object 21. p. 98. l. 17. r. Heb. 4.15 p. 118. l. 24. r. 11 12. The Postscript IN some ancient Chronicles of England we read of King Druis so addicted to learning that a Sect of Philosophers succeeded him named Druides and that this King the better to encourage his Subjects without dread of death to fight his battles taught them that their Souls were immortal not subject to death Hence as some think came the opinion that the Souls of men are immortal but others conceive it to have another rise namely The general Doctrine of the Philosophers being That Vertue was to be rewarded and Vice punished and these usually seeing Men to die without either punishment or reward and being ignorant of any Resurrection taught thence that mens Souls after death remained alive to receive the same yet this was contrary to the judgement of many of the Ancients who nevertheless deemed men to be wholly mortal as is cleerly proved by Pliny in the 55 chap. of the 7 th Book of his Natural History where treating of Ghosts or Spirits of Men departed he saith thus viz. After men are buried great diversitie there is in opinion what is become of their Souls and Ghosts wandering some this way and others that but this is generally held that in what estate they were before men were born in the same they remain when they are dead for neither Body nor Soul hath any more sence after our dying day then they had before the day of their nativity but such is the folly and vanity of men that it extendeth still even to the future time yea and in the very time of death flattereth it self with fond imaginations and dreaming of I know not what life after this for some attribute immortality to the Soul others devise a certain transfiguration thereof and there be again who suppose that the Ghosts sequestred from the Body have sence whereupon they do them honour and worship making a God of him that is not so much as a man as if the manner of mens breathing differed from that in other living Creatures or as if there were not to be found many other things in the world that live much longer then men and yet no man judgeth in them the like immortality But shew me what is the substance and body as it were of the Soul by it self what kinde of matter is it apart from the body where lieth her cogitation that she hath how is her seeing how is her hearing performed what toucheth she nay what doth she at all how is she imployed or if there be in her none of all this what goodness can there be without the same but I would know where she setleth and hath her abiding place after her departure from the body And what an infinite multitude of Souls like shadows would there be in so many ages as well past as to come Now surely those be fantastical foolish and childish toyes devised by men that would fain live alwayes and never make an end Qualis in novissimo vitae die quisque moritur Talis in novissimo mundi die judicabitur The Contens CHAP. I. Considerations from natural reason disproving the common opinions of the Soul and proving Man wholly mortal p. 1. CHAP. II. Considerations from the creation fall and resurrection disproving the opinion of the Soul imagining the better part of Man immortal and proving him as a reasonable creature wholly mortal p. 28. CHAP. III. Scriptures to prove this mortality p. 41. CHAP. IV. 21 Objections extorted from Scripture answered p. 58. CHAP. V. Of procreation how from thence this mortality is proved p. 94. CHAP. VI. Testimonies of Scripture to prove that whole man is generated and propagated by nature p. 117. FINIS The Argument lies in fallen nature for the dispute is not of creatures which kept their first station but of man that is fallen from it Acts 7.60 and 13.36 1 Thes 4.13 and Psal 76.6 it is a Dead sleepe No Hell till the Resurrection * Living Soul