and the fulnesse of Trées gaue it the name of a Groue sodainely like as all such chaunces happe Faustus or Faustus Spirite clapt him vppon the shoulder saying VVagner good morrowe VVagner auayled his Schollers Bonnet thinking verily that he was some other Student but beholdinge his Maister Faustus he was most terribly affrighted and stepping aside he began to mumble to himself a Benedicite and crossing himselfe rehearsing and saying CONIVRO TE IN NOMINE PATRIS ET FILII ET SPIRITVS SANCTI c. making a Circle c. Faustus rowling his eyes and for méere fury and anger stamping bound for so he séemed with the vehemency of the Exorcisme ranne about most terribly the brimmes thereof that therewith the neighbour ground did séeme to tremble casting out a blackish sâ—omy sulphury smoake out of his mouth wherwith the bright ayr was much darkned at length appeased either forced with necessity or knauery he spake and that very distinctly VVagner qd he art thou afeard of me as of a Spirite or infernall Ghost am not I vngratefull rascall Faustus am not I thy Maister Faustus quoth VVagner very confidently what thou wert I knowe what also thou art who knowes not though once my Maister â—ow thou shalt be my seruaunt though once my friend and familiar now I may iustly tearm thée neither the Lawes of Diuels hath not made me secure from thy tyranny and howe may thy friendship auaile me For how can that helpe which is not affections are not amongest Féends nor passions amongest Spirits Wherefore Faustus if thou wilt that I be thy Maister as whether thou wilt or no I will Coniure thée c. to aunswere directly and truely to all my questions Ah VVagner quoth Faustus is this the duety of a seruaunt doest thou mistrust that in mee which neither I meane nor thou of honest thought and duetye oughtest imagine And as for affections in Spirites certainely there is none but I am none féele me my good VVagner behold flesh bloud and bones and Spirites haue neither flesh bloude nor bones Beléeue me I shall teach thée the nature and essence of Diuels I will teach thée that which neither thou canst desire of me or thinke Extra captum humanum Then my good Boy VVagner come to me and vse me not as a Spirite whose bodye is nothing but a Spirit and as Logicians say Substantia incorporea and I will open vnto thée the secretes of the World and Hell and else whatsoeuer in the workes of Nature Come my VVagner my sonne my darling my swéete delight and reioysing the onely hope of my labours boldly louingly curteouslye aboue all which am the very same matter and substaunce I once was and if thou doubtst as well thou maist reach thy hand to me for I cannot mine to thée and féele whether I am not as I say I am flesh bloud and bones VVagner halfe astonished at this his feruent spéech yet rather hearing it then beléeuing it Why Faustus let me speake to you somewhat more considerately thou saiest thou art substaunce and all substaunce is heauy and no heauy thing can ascend vpwardes and as thy conference with Mephostophiles doth plainely declare the place of Spirites is in the Aire in which nothing that is heauy can remaine and therefore thou art not substaunce or not Faustus Quoth Faustus that no heauy thinges is in the Aire is plainely fals for thou séest that materiall bodies are in the Aire as haile snowe and other meteors Whereto VVagner aunswered Faustus they truly are in the Aire not of the Aire and you know the causes of them are terrestrial vapors drawn from the earth by the attracttiue vertue of the Sunne and therefore they fall downe because they are heauy for were they of the Aire as are Spirites then shoulde they still remaine in it but briefly no violent motion may bee called naturall as that heauy materiall Dew is carried from the earth by a violent and contrary motion the Sunne therefore leauing the Zenyth of any Horison and comming to the Nadir oppositely the materiall bodies of Dew as the causes alwaies faile with the effectes and nextly the concretion of Snow and Haile because they are substaunce cannot remaine in the light and vnheauy Aire Wherefore I haue aunswered thée that thou art either a Spirite or not substaunce I wondred when I read this discourse with what patience the Doctor could endure so long an argument but it prooued otherwise for the Doctor brake foorth into these speaches vnable to containe himselfe any longer Wagner thou séemest to gather naturall arguments of Metaphysicall effectes I say vnto thée Wagner sith thou art thus far entred into a Philosophicall discourse that I being as I am Faustus may be for so I am a dweller in the profound Abysse of the Aire whose compasse is measurable in this that it is not mesurable For let vs speake according to men naturally the rather to fitte thy capacity we sée that in the regiment of mans body the man is of quality like to the predominant complexion and Element as if Chollar abound the man is light nimble and for a while furious seldome strong ready to meddle and carried away with phanaticke illusions If Bloud abound hee is ruddy faire gentle c. Et sic de reliquis If therefore the predominant Element is able so much to change the nature of man as to make it aboue the rest capable or incapable the same reason maketh that this body of mine which thou séest being gouerned and predomineirde by that quicke and ready spirite and soule which makes a man immortall is no hinderaunce why this corporal realty of me should accompany my spirite not as a body but as a parte of the same Spirite and otherwise VVAGNER the whole world is in the Aire and as it were the centre of the Heauens and what substaunces soeuer is made Fishes which dwell in the déepe Seas except and yet not alwaies are mooued in the Air Kit beléeue me I am as thou séest Faustus and the same very same VVagner almost at the last cast sayd we dispute not what you are Faustus but what by reason you may be Well answered Faustus séeing thou wilt not beléeue nor giue any credite to my sayings and which I prooue by argumentes I hope thou wilt beléeue thine owne eyes and if thou séest what I saye vnto thée thou wilt neither be obstinate nor incredulous and rather then VVagner whome I doe loue as my selfe should be carried away with so palpable an Heresie beholde Wagner and beléeue and streight waies he drewe his knife the Prologue of his knauery and looking first vppon Wagner and next on the weapon which he had in his hand as if with his eies he woulde haue mooued him to some pitty and mooued them to be witnesses of the trueth he strake himselfe into his thigh twise or thrise and after his stroakes followed bloud so hastely as if it woulde haue ouertaken the iniurious worker of his
his masters Familiar after him Akercocke which was VVagners and after all Faustus Quoth Mephostophiles what cheare Sirrha such as you sée we are as wee were and neuer the better and welcome Akercocke but my very good Faustus that you come at this time I reioyce So then they all sate downe and sate right against him Then entred in diuerse delicate viands and there not then to be ended with vnséen Symphonies of Musiike Then spake Wagner and sayd Clauditeiam riuos now we haue satisfied our appetite with meate I pray you heare me with patience for I haue a thing in my minde of which I would faine be resolued but because you so fowly and so often fowly entreated my Maister for demaunding some questions you shall ratifie this Article with me againe 1. That in my demaunds you shall aunswer truly and patientiy for what hurt can redound to you by aunswering of a question séeing if you are sure of any thing you may hold fast a question cannot take it away Without delaye these good fellowes confirmed the Article with a great oath but he would take their simple word without surety he knew their honesty so well Then VVagner pulling downe his Cap into his eies and leaning vppon his elbow a while and throwing vp his eies to Heauen and then sighing at length folding his armes within themselues sate still a litle time then spitting a little and fetching a hearty hem with a good courage spake vnto them thus Sirs it is not vnknown vnto you how deare I haue alwayes accounted of my Maister whose condition is as farre from that it was as mine from yours for which I haue more often lamented his departure then mine owne misery beeing once euery waye a man so throughly instructed with the weapons of all Sciences that in all the world hardly his péere could be found so that your victory ouer such a man is more to be wailed then euer manye a thousand such as I am To be short that you may vnderstand whither I will goe without further Oration Wherefore I desire you I pray you nay I by your Article commaund you that you declare vnto me truely without collusion whither that Faustus here present in that state wherein he now is may come again to be a liuing man amongest vs either his olde shape renewed or he in a new For some Philosophers say and some Diuines as Origines and Tertullian and whither they say truely or no I know not that no sooner the soule of man departeth from one but that it doth enter into another Wherefore I considering with my selfe thus much and often for his cause that he may not onely be Faustus but also a liuing man and dweller vppon the earth to enioy not onely those graces which through his great desarts he had lost but also according to his infinit knowledge multiply them through Gods fauors againe and again aboundantly And though you shall perhaps deny that the same Indiuiduall cannot be againe so resuscitated yet that Numero it may in spite of you al I knoâ—â—â— may for we do not doubt that the same Indiuidual may Nuâ—â—â—ro be againe regotten because that after seauen and thirty thousand yeares the heauenly constellation shall be in euery point per totuÌ„ the same then that now it is according to Plato and the Astronomers And therfore we shal be the same in Numero and shall sit in this or that schoole or place as now we doe that is in that Magno anno in that great yeare Whereuppon Plato said that after the great yeare he should return to Athens and should there read Because the constellation shall happen so therefore that returning the same effects shal with them likewise return Now hauing heard my resolution answer me to my first proposition in ful amply as that I may be satisfied At the conclusion of this spéech Fa. turnd his head aside laying it betwixt his hands hiding it so sat a great while Ake he friskt vp down for he had neither clog nor chain because he was in the nuÌ„ber of the wild ones and ouer the table and backe again Ak. was the familiar which F. gaue to W. who asked him in the fashion of an Ape Such cranks such lifts caréers and gambalds as he plaid there would haue made a horse laugh Meph. who as it semed was the speaker of the Parliament in hel rose walked about very hastely at length he came to the table and striking his fist on it the print was séene 2. yeare after and was carried to S. Margets church for a relique to shew what a hot fellow the diuell is in his anger and again beating said thou and then left and came and went came and went again here he takes me one booke and hurls it against a Cupboorde and then he takes the Cupboord and hurls it against the wall and then he takes the wall and throwes it against the house and the house out at the Window Pacifying his rage at the length rowling his eyes and séeming beate his téeth together sate down further off and thus quietly spake with a lowde voice Were it not VVagner that our solemne vow forbiddeth to disturbe or torment thée for any demandes this thy fond pride shuld be rewarded with most intollerable punishmeÌ„ts As for the question I wil answer thée more substaÌ„tially then such a foolish doltish one doth require And for that we haue day inough before vs I wil trauail further in it then the grauity of the argumeÌ„t can require if it be but that thou maiest sée how great an Asse thou art which canst imagine so grosse a matter in thy more grosse head As for thy great Péere be it as you 〈◊〉 to expect it you in the meane we will enioy him and thée at our pleasure in despite of God and Heauen and all his imperiall armies of saints Thy question is this Whither the Spirite of a damned man can returne into the body of another man To which I answer Negatiuely it cannot 1 If this were to them graunted then they should obserue and kéepe the Embrious in the Wombe of the mother that they might constitutiuely vnite themselues to it to haue at the leastewise sensuall consolation and delectation 2. Then secondly because it is common to reasonable creatures to fashion and informate the body and to perfect it with some natural delightment not to vexe it 3. Then thirdly because of the law and order of Nature the soules from the places in their departure to them allotted assigned and deputed of God neither doe nor can depart at any time for it is written For the soule is a Spirite going and returning And they which doe otherwise hold opinion are to be accused nay condemned in this with Pythagoras who did abstaine from all liuing Animals and creatures beléeuing that in some the soules of some men did dwell and abide Thus farre the Arrogonian named Bartholomew Sybilla a Monopolitane who writ
vpon this question being at Wittenberg at the request of him that did set forth the Dutch Coppy shew himselfe to be a good Philosopher and no worse Diuine But marke what followes this is written according to men in faith the Diuell was out of the first stréete of Coany when he was past this last period For that Pythagorical opinion if that were this absurdity would follow I will speake plainely the rather to fitte thy capacity and if the soule should passe out of the dead into the liuing then should mortality be the cause of the soules immortality this is pretily spokē and by that meanes make it corruptible which cannot be And séest thou Wagner for I will teach thée by demonstrations and therwith he tooke a coal of fire held it to him so long that it came to be but a coale now thou séest Wagner that so long as fire was in this subiect it had life but the quality being remoued from the quantity neither is the quality found or séene or known whither it vanisheth nor can the same fire though fire may return into another body or subiect albeit the quantity remaineth Thus may the soule of man be compared to the fire in the coal as concerning his entraunce and departure but not réentrance for that coale may take life againe that is fire but so cannot humane body because one spirit can be vnited but to one body and not two to one nor one spirite to two bodies Wherefore that spirite being departed it is irreuocable because of the vnity and the impossibility of returning in the one in the other of receiuing any other As for other reasons directly by circumstaunce if the Soule goeth either to ioy or paine immediatly then I am certaine that that hope which thou hast is so méerly vaine as any thing which may hap vnder that title For proofe behold and then through the Wanscot doore of VVagners study entred in two Kings which drawing their swords did there in presence combate together fiercely couragiosly one of them shortly after fainting vnder the aduersaries stroakes fell downe the other victorious yet wounded very canonically as a man may say staggerd immediatly as if hée would faine haue not fallen yet for all that he fell then entred two men carrying Torches with the snuffes downwards with great solemnity more then is here néedfull to bee recapitulated for I sée nothing but that this might haue béene very well left out for any thing worthy the grauity of the matter which when they had carried out the first slaine combattant with armed men and a dying stroake of the Drum clothed all in the colour which best notes by his external hew the internall sorrow Then next there entred two Pages all in siluer white crownd with Baies carrying their Torches aloft declaring the height of their glory by the height of their flames next to them diuerse Trumpetters and all in white vrging forth into the wast aire their victorious florishes next a great standard bearer and I cannot tell what but the conclusion was that the triumph was excéeding great and pompous adorned with as many ceremonies as such a victory might or could be the Spirite when they were all gone began to speake and sayd this was the battaile which was fought for the greate Realme of Asia by Hercules and Orontides where Orontides was slaine and Hercules sore wounded but yet recouered after which he atchieued his 12 labors the 13 of which the Poet speaketh the hardest of al. Tertius hinc decimus labor est durissimns vna Quinquaginta simul stuprauit nocte puellas This History is as I doe thinke in the Chronicle of Hel for I did neuer heare of it before nor any body else I appeale to all the Histories Marry it may be this was when Hercules was a little Boy and then peraduenture in déede the recordes make no mention of it but yet we haue that recorded which he did whē he was lesse then a little Boy as his killing of a Serpent in his Craddle and such a History as I do remember is enrould in the golden Booke of the seauen wise Maisters of Roome an autenticall author But let that passe and let vs draw more neare vnto the cause For as the diuell was afore our daies so by authority he may alledge experience and we must of necessity beléeue that it is either true or a lie Mephostophiles continued his spéech for all this Aparenthesis declaring VVagner his meaning in this point for quoth he as you se these two champions contending for the title of victory one of thē must néeds if they try the extreamest as they did receiue the dishonor the other the glory so in the combat wherein the dying body battaileth with the liuely soule the soule if grace hath made acceptable shall enioy those euerlastinge pleasures of Paradise and dwell in heauen blessed and glorious amongst the beautifull Angels but if it be counted as reprobate outcast of God then according to that punishmēt which his great sins did deserue he can haue no other place but the continuall horror of hell wherein we miserable dwell and the vgly company of black diuels and his frightfull Angels There is no other meane but honor or dishonor in this case no other meane but ioy or pain no other meane but heauen or hell perpetually there is no place left for a third I could more copiously dispute of this matter but that I wil not be too tedious in so exile a question For where it is said in an author to which I am witnes for I stoode by his elbow when he writ the lines Animae sunt in loco certo expectant iudiciū neque se inde possunt cōmouere Which place as appeareth in the precedent chapter is heauen or hell again it is sayd Anima quae pecauerit ipsa morietur Of necessity then the soule to whom the Lord imputeth not his sin shall liue for they are immediat oppositiōs for the soule that is in ioy wil not come to these troubles nor that which is in torment cannot therefore it is said Et reuertatur puluis in terrā quemadmodum erat spiritus reuertatur ad Dominum qui dedit illum so there is no mention in any scripture of the soules returning but to a certain place deputed of God to him But before I goe any further in the declaring of that which is here to be set down I know they that haue their consciences more of the precise cut will say that there was a learned diuell true it is he is learned strong and aboue all humaine conceit subtill and crafty and if they say it is blasphemously done to haue the word spoken to the world by so vile a mouth first they know how mightely the diuell is conuersant in holy writ in any thing to ouerthrow a christian thought knowing that as the word of God is a word of power to attaine saluation to whom grace is