bodily senses whose nature approcheth nearer to the nature of the soule and spirit then any other by reason of the similitude and agreement that is betweene them Therefore by good right they beare rule among all the senses and all the other members of the body as being their guides For they are giuen to man chiefly to guide and leade him to the knowledge of God by the contemplation of his goodly works which appeare pâ—ncipally in the heauens and in al the order thereof and whereof wâ— can haue no true knowledge and instruction by any other sense but by the eies For without the who could euer haue noted the diuers course and motions of the celestiall bodies yea wee see by experience that the Mathematicall sciences among which Astronomy is one of the chiefest cannot be well and rightly shewed and taught as many others may without the helpe of the eyes because a man must make their demonstrations by figures which are their letters and images I passe ouer many other Sciences as that of the Anatomy of mans body and such like which are very hard yea impossible to bee learned and knowen certainly vnlesse they may be seene with the eie Wherefore seeing the bodily senses are the chiefest masters of man in whose house the spirite and vnderstanding is lodged and enclosed the greatest and first honour is by good right to be giuen to the eies and sight Likewise it is the first mistresse that prouoked men forward to the studie and searching out of science and wisedome For of sight is ingendred admiration and wondering at thinges that are seene and this admiration causeth men afterward to coÌ„sider more seriously of things and to marke them better and from thence it is that men fall to enquire of matters more carefully and to sound them deeper In the ende they come to the studie of science and wisedome which is the knowledge of supernaturall light namely of the light of the minde vnto which science and doctrine is as light is to the eye so that it contemplateth and museth by that as the eye seeth by right Therefore we haue to note that it hath pleased God the creator of al things to scatter his light throughout the whole world ouer all creatures as well spirituall and inuisible as corporall and visible His spirituall light hee hath infused into spirituall creatures and bodily light into bodily creatures to the ende that by this benefite the spirites might haue vnderstanding and the eyes sight So that Angelles and the spirites of men which are spirituall and inuisible creatures are illuminated by the meanes of vnderstanding with that spirituall and heauenly light whereof God hath made them partakers as the bodies of liuing creatures and chiefely of man are illuminated with the corporall light of the Sunne by meanes of the eyes For as bodies haue their bodily eyes so spirites haue their spirituall eyes For that vnderstanding wherewith God hath indued them is vnto them as the eyes are to the body Wherefore by that they see God who is their heauenly Sunne and the fountaine of all diuine and spirituall light as bodily eyes beholde the materiall sunne wherein as in a fountaine God hath placed corporall light which he would haue vs see and know by meanes of the eyes which wee ought to acknowledge as a great benefit For the light is a worke of God woorthy of great admiration which discouereth and sheweth to vs a great part of nature and is vnto vs in steade of an image of the best and most excellent natures which without doubt are lights shining natures Neither coulde any man possibly expresse in wordes or teach in any sorte what the light is which sheweth al other things what is the beautie excellencie thereof vnlesse the eyes did beholde and know it distinguish it from darkenes For by meanes of the eyes we may iudge what our life woulde be if it were buried in perpetuall darkenes or if man had no instrument to apprehend and to receiue the light when it shâ—neth Therefore as God hath created the light to discouer and shew all things by it so he hath giuen eyes to man whereby he may apprehend receiue it To this ende he hath made them of a matter that is partaker of light and meet to receiue it that by the agreement of nature that is betweene them the light they might enioy it and by â—he selfe same meanes they might be messengers to the minde to induce and leade it to the consideration of the diuine light whereof corporall light is a very small resemblance and hereby also the mind might knowe that God who dwelleth in a light that none can attaine vnto is a maruailous light as holy men knowe by experience when hee sheweth himselfe vnto them For as the eie is like to a glasse that receiueth the images of thinges offred vnto it so God imprinteth images of him selfe in our mind as in a glasse Wherefore as a glasse cannot receiue any image but of such things as are set before it so the image of God cannot shine not be imprinted in the mind of man vnlesse he alwayes set God before his eies that he may receiue his image And as the eie is illuminated by the beames that proceed from the sunne so the mind is illuminated by the brightnes of the diuine light in which we consider the Father in the vnitie of the godhead as the spring fountaine of al light the Sonne as the beames brightnes ingendred thereof the holy Ghost as a flame proceeding from it which causeth the eie of the mind to receiue it to be made partaker thereof We see then how our eyes together with the light admonish vs of great thinges of most excellent works of God and of great secrets of spirituall heauenly things whose images he hath imprinted in the light and in our cies to the ende that by these corporall and visible images wee may haue some knowledge of those things wherof they are images which cannot be seene perceiued with corporall senses but only with the spirituall senses of the soule Wherefore wee ought greatly to praise God for this goodly gift both of the light of the eies which cannot sufficiently be valewed For although it did vs no more seruice then it doth to brute beasts namely to guide and leade vs in this corporall life yet we ought seriously to acknowledge the excellencie of so great a gift of God how profitable and necessary it is for vs. But there is a great deale more in it by reason of the mind and vnderstanding which God hath giuen to the spirit and soule of man as it were spirituall eies to the end there might be an agreement proportion betweene theÌ„0 the eyes of the body For as the eies declare to the mind what they see that it might take knowledge therof so when the mind hath seene
we haue saide yet these soundes will be but confused without harmony and melody if the Organist doeth not play with his handes thereby to dispense as neede requireth that winde and breath which is to be distributed into the pipes and if hee touch not the keyes of the Organs according to those tunes and notes which hee woulde haue the pipes to make following the Arte of Musicke And this we may see yet more plainely in a bagge-pipe For although it soundeth by reason of the winde within the leather bagge which receiueth and keepeth it as it were a little sacke yet it alwayes yeeldeth foorth but one sound without distinction and harmony vntill the Minstrill play with his fingers vpon the holes of the pipe that belongeth vnto it Therfore as there is great difference betwene a simple confused voice that which is distinct artificiall so is there betweene voyce and speech So that when the tongue hath receiued the winde and breath which ascendeth vp from the lunges by the rough artery and is fashioned into voyce by the meanes afore mentioned then it formeth the same afterward into distinct speech by such an arte and science as none can vnderstande much lesse expresse it but GOD onely who hath giuen it to the tongue in which consisteth the chiefe dignitie thereof For it is that science which is the mother of eloquence which men haue in such great admiration and because of this the artes of Grammer Logike and Rhetorike haue beene published by the best learned men For all these three Artes are specially appoynted for speech the one to make it proper pure nete namely Grammer the other namely Logike to knit well together all discourses made by speech and all sentences in them according as they agree among themselues depend and follow one another and are grounded vpon good reason Thirdly Rhetorike is ioyned vnto them to adorne and polish speech to make it more significant and very eloquent so that whereas Logike maketh speech as it were a simple picture that hath nothing but bare draughts which serue to make it whole and furnished in regard of euery part and lineament thereof Rhetorike maketh it not onely as it were a picture well set foorthwith faire and liuely colours of all sortes but also adorned and enriched with goodly hilles and dales and such like payntings that it may shewe better and bee made fairer and pleasaunter to beholde Wherefore as there is great difference to looke vpon betweene these two pictures so is there of speech in respectes of the eares as it is propounded eyther more plainely and simply or more deeked and garnished For this cause seeing God hath vouchsafed vs so much honour as to giue vs speech especially to prayse and glorifie him with our tongue and to benefite the common societie of men we must not be content onely to speake but we must studie to speake well in fit termes and wisely to the glorie of God and to the good and profite as well of our selues as of them that heare vs. This cannot be done but by the knowledge of God and of his word without which all the Logike Rhetorik of men is but vaine babbling But when the one is ioyned with the other the artes that teach men to speak elegantly are appliedto this purpose then is the vse therof very good worthy of great cōmendation Therfore we must all acknowledge our selues to be as it were Organ-pipes hauing of our selues neither sound nor voyce nor tongue nor mouth to speake of God of his works as we ought and to praise and glorifie him but only so farre foorth as hee being the Organ-player bloweth within and inspireth vs by his holy spirit giuing vnto vs wisedome and tongue and mouth and vertue in speaking Now heere wee must not onely call to minde what we haue already spoken of the causes why the lungs which is one chiefe instrument of the voyce and without which it cannot bee made is placed so neere the heart but also wee must consider howe neere the tongue and the other instruments of voyce and speach next vnto it are vnto the braine wherein is the principall seate of the spirit and which is chiefly assigned to the minde of man and to that part of his soule that is most diuine For seeing God would haue the tongue to be the messenger and as it were the Interpreter of the spirite and minde and of all the thoughts thereof that men might teach one another both the knowledge of God his worship and of all other good things and seeing hee would haue speach to be the bond of humane societie and of that communication which men ought to haue one with an other therefore it was very requisite that being the instrument of speaking it shoulde be neere the braine which is the lodging of all the internall senses of which if God will wee will intreate heereafter in their place For as all the externall senses doe carry to the internall and the bodily to the spirituall whatsoeuer they perceiue by sense according to their nature and office thereby to admonish and instruct them that they may thinke and iudge thereof and lay it vp in memory so the internall and spirituall senses carry the same things afterward to the tongue that it might declare and make them knowen to those vnto whome they would communicate their minde and cogitation Hereof it is that the tongue is oftentimes taken for doctrine and for all speach both good and euill in which sence Salomon taketh it when he saieth The tongue of the wicked shall perish And Saint Paul calleth speaking with the tongue when one vseth spech that is not vnderstoode of the hearers and speaking with the spirite and with vnderstanding also when such a language is vsed as is vnderstoode of euery one and which serueth to the edification of them that heare it Therfore the tongue must not stirre nor the mouth open it selfe to speake before it haue receiued a commandement and charge from reason which is the Lady and Mistresse thereof to guide and gouern it whose messenger and seruant it is to giue notice of that which the reason and minde would haue knowen Wherefore it is very conuenient that the lady and mistresse of the tongue shoulde haue her lodging ouer and neere about her and not to be farre from her to the end she forget not her selfe nor attempt any thing without a commandement from reason So that as before wee gaue the heart to be the gouernour guide and counsailour of the tongue so nowe we appoint the braine as lord and master thereof to the end it should haue a good guide both aboue and beneath it For no member in al the body hath greater neede Therefore S. Iames calleth the tongue a fire yea a world of iniquitie which defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of hell
them but there is space betweene them to the ende that the motion of the braine might be free without any let or hinderance The second vse thereof is to serue for a passage to the veines and arteries for the nourishing of the braine and gouerning of the vitall spirites Last of all it serueth to distinguish the whole brayne first into two partes namely into that before and that behinde then into the right side and the left It is of this skinne whereof some men thinke Salomon spake when he made mention of a golden Ewer broken in the extremitie of olde age and so wee expounded it when wee intreated of the marrowe in the chine-bone Besides this skinne there is another named the Godly mother which is fine and very slender wouen of many veynes and arteries seruing not onely for it owne life and nourishment but also for that of the brayne Neither doeth it onely compasse and wrap in the braine round about as the Hard mother doeth but entreth also into the bowels and windings thereof to tie and knit it togither on al sides As for the braine which is the fountaine and beginning of the sinewes and of the voluntary motion and the instrument of the chiefest faculty of the soule namely the Animal and reasonable facultie it is greater in man then in any other creature as that which filleth almost the whole skull I say almost because if it filled it full and wholly the motion thereof could not be perfect His office and vse is to woorke and make fine the Animal spirite which is necessary for the whole body and to serue as an instrument to the facultie of reason which is the chiefest facultie and vertue of the soule The first part of the brayne retayneth the name of the whole beeing diuided into two partes namely into the right part and the left The hinder part is called the little brayne and that in comparison of the other partes So that when a man considereth the whole brayne hee shall finde within the substaunce thereof foure Ventricles or hollowe places which are ioyned together by certaine wayes Nowe although wee cannot see with our eyes nor well vnderstande and conceiue howe the soule woorketh by her instruments neuerthelesse God giueth vs a certain entrance into some knowledge thereof by the matter and forme which they haue And therefore it seemeth that these litle bellies of the braine haue such wayes from one to another to this ende that by them the spirites that are made and imprinted by the sensible and intelligible kindes and images might passe and bee communicate one with another Nowe because they must not onely bee well wrought but also throughly cleansed of all excrements God hath created those vessels and instruments in which this woorke is to bee begunne greater then the others which are to receiue the spirites alreadie wrought and almost perfected Therefore the two first are the greatest hauing their situation before namely on each side one and being in fashion like to two halfe moones The thirde is vnderneath them right in the middest of the braine The fourth and last is vpon the bending downe of the nape of the necke As for the two first ventricles they are so conioyned the one with the other that they end in one common pipe or passage like to two paire of smithes bellowes And it seemeth that God hath made them of that fashion as if hee meant thereby to shew vs that the spirite of the saide ventricles hauing receiued his forme of the kindes and images propounded vnto it is caried by this passage into the middle ventricle or bellie I omit to speak at large of many vessels and instruments which serue the brayne for sundry purposes amongest the which there is one which both the Greeke and Latine Physicions call by a name that signifieth a Presse because the blood is pressed into it for the nourishing of the braine and another called a Vault both in respect of the fashion and of the vse For it is like a Vault or arch-roofe fet vpon three pillers and is as it were the roofe and couering of the middle ventricle that there might bee a more free and easie space for the motion of the Animal spirite that is made therein and also that it might more easily sustaine and beare the greate quantitie of brayne that leaneth vnto eache side of it I omitte also other instruments which serue in like manner to strengthen and support the partes thereof There is also one instrument made as it were of many pieces ioyned together like little wheeles which is called Like-worme because of the likelihoode it hath with those great white wormes that are founde in rotten wood It seemeth that this piece was placed there to bee as it were the porter to shutte and open the passage of the spirites that goe into the hindermost ventricle to the ende they shoulde enter therein measureable and so auoyde the confusion of the memorie that is placed there which otherwise would happen if they shoulde enter in too sodainly and too much at once There is likewise a pipe to euacuate the grosse and thicke excrements of the braine aswell by the roofe of the mouth as by the nose and therefore because it resembleth a litle basin or rather a funnel it is called by those names Moreouer there is a pipe that passeth from the middle ventricle to the last which is as it were the chariot of the spirite to passe from one to another In all which thinges and in many others particularly obserued by Physicions and Anatomists in this part of the brayne wee may note a woonderfull woorkemanshippe both for the varietie of instruments and for their fitte application to those dueties that are assigned them Wherefore wee may well say that it is in this part of man chiefly wherein GOD doeth most excellent manifestly his diuine nature and the glorie of his maiestie And this wee shall better perceiue by considering particularly and in order vnto which of the internall senses all these partes of the brayne are vessels and instruments in which the faculties and vertues of the soule are contained and doc shewe themselues But as was sayde in the beginning of our speech let vs not heere looke for a sounde and perfect knowledge of that substantiall power whereby the soule effecteth so many marueilous woorkes by the meanes of these senses For so high a secrete beeing layde vp and hidde in wisedome and trueth it selfe cannot fall within the small capacitie of mans sense and vnderstanding vntill the light thereof bee purged from that corporall darknesse wherewith it is couered and compassed about during this life Neuerthelesse by a diligent contemplation of that matter which wee haue noted woorthie of admiration wee shall finde sufficient wherewith to content our mindes by causing them to looke to themselues in respect of that which it hath pleased GOD heere to reueale and manifest two manner of
sound to discerne the images of those things which hee representeth to their mindes from all Diabolicall illusions And surely no maruaile if wicked spirites so oftentimes deceiue men when as Iuglers haue so many waies to abuse them shewing them such strange sights that if they were not wrought by those kinde of men a great many woulde take them for miracles Yea although they be done after this manner yet wee wonder thereat being hardly able by the sharpnesse of our wits to attaine to the knowledge thereof so that many are perswaded that such things cannot be done without the power of the deuill But let vs returne to our matter This imaginatiue power of the soule hath moreouer such vertue that oftentimes the imagination printeth in the body the images of those things which it doeth vehemently thinke of and apprehend the experience whereof is very euident especially in the longings and imaginations of women with childe Many times also we see some that can hardly goe ouer a bridge without falling by reason of the apprehension of the danger which they haue conceiued in their fantasie and imagination But which is yet more strange it falleth out oftentimes that the fancies and imaginations of great bellied women are so vehement and violent that vpon the bodies of the children they goe withall they print the images and shapes of those things vpon which they haue fixed their fancies and vnto which by reason of their fancie they are most affectionated Wee see examples heereof a great many continually Neither is it altogether without reason which wee vse commonly to say that fancie breedes the fact which it imagineth For wee see many fall into those mishaps and inconueniences which they imprint in their fantasie and imagination Wee may also obserue heere howe wee are prouoked to yawne and gape when wee see others doe so and driuen into a desire of many things of which wee should not haue dreamed vnlesse wee had beene incited thereunto by the example of others or by some obiect presented to our senses and prouoking vs thereunto Yea this imaginatiue vertue can do much in beastes as among other things wee may see it in this that they desire rather to make water in a puddle or in a riuer or in some other water or vpon a dunghill or in a stable then else-where For the things that are offred to their senses soone mooue their fantasie and imagination which afterward stirreth them vp either in respect of the agreemēt that is betwixt those things namely water and vrine or because of their custome to doe such a thing in such a place which putteth them in minde and helpeth them to doe it more readily by reason of the imaginatiue vertue that is in them Nowe if imagination hath such vertue in beastes wee may iudge also what it is able to do in the minde of man which is a great deale more quicke and ready Therefore we ought to eschew all occasions of euill that may be presented to our senses to stirre vp our imagination and fantasie to wicked and dishonest things For one only wicked looke or one dishonest speach is sufficient to trouble our minds with diuers imaginations and fantasies Which as it is well knowne to the deuil so knoweth he also how to giue occasion and to offer the means of stirring all the stuffe in our fancies But we keep such bad watch in this respect that in steade of eschewing occasions of euil we seeke after them and where we should shut the doore against euill we set it wide open that it may enter more easily into vs. Wherein wee followe not the example of the Prophet who prayed vnto the Lorde saying Turne away mine eyes that they beholde no vanitie but wee rather take a contrary course to whet our selues forward to all beastlinesse Seeing therefore Imagination and Fantasie haue so little holde of themselues wee haue neede of an other facultie and vertue aboue that to be able to iudge of things imagined and perceiued by sense of which wee haue hitherto spoken and that is reason the discourse where of I reserre to thee AMANA as also of memorie which is the fift and last internall sense of the soule Of Reason and Memorie and of their seate nature and office of the agreement which all the senses both externall and internall haue one with another and of their vertues Chap. 26. AMANA They that haue curiously searched into the nature of beasts haue found in them especially in such as were most perfect as many externall and internal senses as are in man yea they perceiued that their braine and all the partes thereof did not differ much from that of men whether wee respect the substance or the fashion But all these excellent giftes of nature reach no farther in them then to the vses of this present life and the necessities thereof For they haue no reason giuen them to enquire after that which is good to the ende their will might followe and embrace the same Moreouer their Good consisteth only in corporall things belonging to the bodie which they easily knowe and discerne as standing in neede of no other reason or vnderstanding to make enquirie after it then of that bare knowledge and naturall inclination that is giuen them But the Good that belongeth to man is hidden in the soule and spirite For this cause hee must of necessitie enquire after it that hee may come to the knowledge thereof least he chuse euill in steade of good for want of knowledge of his proper and true Good and so be deceiued by the appearance of a false Good which is not so in trueth but in opinion onely and by errour whereby the greatest part of men are commonly beguiled preferring the supposed Goods of the body before the true goods of the soule and temporall things before eternall Therefore as our eyes stand in neede of light to keepe vs and to cause vs to see in darkenes so our soule and spirite hath neede of reason to guide it in the middest of errour and ignorance that it may discerne trueth from lying the true Good from the false and that which is profitable from the contraty This facultie and vertue of the soule so necessary in man and which is able to iudge of things imagined and perceiued by the other senses of which we haue spoken before to knowe whether they be good or bad and what is to be embraced or eschewed is called the Iudging or discoursing facultie namely Reason which is the principall part and vertue of the soule and beareth rule among all the other senses For this cause he hath his seate by good right assigned him in the midst of the braine as in the highest and safest fortresse of the whole frame of man to raigne amiddest all the other senses as Prince and Lord ouer them all For it is he that discourseth and iudgeth of trueth from falshoode that knoweth the agreement
For all these senses and vertues of mans mind agree so well together that as the outward senses serue the common sense so the common sense serueth Imagination and imagination fantasie fantasie vnderstanding and consideration consideration recordation recordation conference and conference reason and lastly memorie serueth them al as they also serue memory Therfore it is not without the great wisdome prouidence of God that the seate shop thereof is in the hindermost part of the head because it must looke to the things that are past So that we haue in that part as it were a spirituall eye which is much more excellent and profitable then if wee had bodily eyes there as wee haue before or else a face before and an other behinde as the Poets fained that Ianus had Thus we may learne by our speach what reason is and the discourse thereof and how it causeth the nature of man to approch in some sort to that nature which is diuine and heauenly making man farre to excell all other nature in the world For it goeth from things knowen to them that are vnknowen and descendeth from generalles to specialles and from them to particulars and mounteth aloft againe by the same steppes from one to another and compareth one with another For after that Imagination hath receiued the images and impressions of things offered vnto it by the outward senses the consideration of Reason followeth which enquireth of all that may be in the minde of the plentie or want that is there and causeth it to returne to it selfe as if it did beholde and consider it selfe to take knowledge what it hath or what it hath not howe much it hath and of what qualitie and nature it is After this reason draweth out and concludeth inuisible things of visible of corporall things it concludeth things without bodies and seeret things of plaine and euident matters and generalles of particulars then it referreth all this to the vnderstanding which is the chiefe vertue and power of the soule and that which comprehendeth all the faculties thereof as wee will discourse in place conuenient yea that which finally resteth in the contemplation of the spirite which is the ende of all enquirie of trueth and as it were a setled and assured view of all those things that haue beene culled out by reason and receiued and approoued by iudgement Heereof it is that wee say there is a double discourse of Reason in man whereof the one consisteth in speculation hauing Trueth for the scope and ende thereof and goeth no farther after it hath founde the trueth The other consisteth in practise and hath Good for his ende which after it hath found it stayeth not there but goeth on to Will which is an other power of the soule of great vertue as wee wil declare heereafter and is giuen of God to man that hee should loue desire and followe that which is good and hate eschew and turne from euill But these things shal be handled more at large in the sequele of our speeches Now to resume and finish this present matter as wee learne that man by the discourse of reason that is in him lifteth vp himselfe aboue the outward senses yea aboue Imagination and fantasie and knoweth well that hee is inclosed within the body as in a prison which neuerthelesse can not altogether hinder him from vnderstanding and contemplating the things hee seeth not so also hee vseth the helpe of Memorie to keepe and retaine in his minde whatsoeuer hee hath knowen by any of the senses eyther externall or internall Therefore is the Memorie compared to a Picture For as a Picture by the sight of the eyes giueth the knowledge of that which is painted therein so is it with Memorie by the sight of the minde endewed with vnderstanding and knowledge for it doeth not onely looke vpon things simply as beasts doe but considereth of them and diligently enquireth into them and hauing found them it placeth them in the Memorie and there keepeth them And the better to haue them in memorie it often thinketh and meditateth of those things it turneth and tosseth them to and fro that they may bee the better imprinted therein For this cause some Philosophers attribute vnto man beside memorie both recordation and remembrance which is one recordation vpon another whereby we call to mind that which was slipped out of it For it commeth to passe oftentimes that that which before we haue seene heard and knowen and euen kept a while in our memory is escaped vs and so forgotten that we thinke of it no more then if wee had neuer vnderstoode or knowen it neither should we euer remember it vnlesse some body did put vs in minde of it or some euident token made vs to thinke of it Some things also there are which albeit they are not cleane gone from vs but are somewhat better registred in our memory yet wee cannot readily remember them and bring them foorth without great and long inquirie Therefore must the minde turne ouer all the leaues of his Booke or Register of Memorie or at leastwise a great part thereof to finde them out as if a Chauncellour or Secretary shoulde search all his Papers and Registers and all his Rolles of Chauncery vntill hee had found that which hee sought for And wee see among our selues what notes and obseruations wee vse that they might bee as it were a memoriall booke vnto our memories You see then why some haue attributed to man both recordation and remembrahce thereby to put a difference betweene them and bare memorie without any other consideration which they say is in beastes who forgetting presently what they perceiued by their senses when they see those things againe that in some sorte putteth them in minde thereof then they call them to minde as if they had knowen them before But nowe that wee vnderstand the nature office order and seates of the internall senses of the soule that all may be more casily perceiued I thinke wee ought to shewe by some familiar examples howe a man may knowe that these internall senses are so distinguished disposed and ordained and that they haue their seats and instruments in the braine in such sort as wee haue already spoken Let vs then heare ARAM discourse to this purpose That the internall senses are so distinguished that some of them may be troubled and hindered and the rest be safe and whole according as their places and instruments assigned vnto them in the body are sound or perished and of those that are possessed with Deuilles Chap. 27. ARAM. Howsoeuer it pleased God to enrich man with heauenly gifts and graces aboue all visible creatures yet foreseeing the future pride of mankinde he alwayes and in all things gaue him great matter of humilitie and modestie to the end that they which knowe howe to profit thereby should neuer forget the graces receiued from the goodnesse of their Creator and
holes vnable to hold in and keepe anie secret matter they are fierce in assailing but inconstant in sustaining the assault in some sort resembling the nature of dogges which barke and bite if they can and afterward flie away And if there bee excesse of the melancholike humour the natures of such are sadde still hard to please suspicious conceited obstinate some more and some lesse And if the cholericke and melancholike humours be corrupt and mingled together their natures become monstrous prowd full of enuy fraud subtilties venemous and poisonfull hatefull and diabolicall And when the malignant spirits know mens natures thus disposed no doubt but they take occasion thereby to intermingle themselues if God permit them and purpose to vse them for the punishing of men I say they will ioyne themselues vnto them and make them their instruments as God on the other side vseth those natures that are most moderate and best tempered making them instruments of his glorie Now we may call to mind what we learned before almost to the same ende touching the meanes whereby euill spirites might trouble the imagination fantasie and mindes of men We may say as much of the humours of the body whose motions and nature they knowe very well Whereby they can so much the more easily abuse them in their damnable worke and will as wee may iudge by the example of him that was possessed and lunatike of whom the Euangelists make mention and whome they call by those two names And by that which they wrote of him it seemeth that he was subiect to the falling sickenesse that returneth oftentimes according to the course of the moone which naturally hath great affinitie with the humors and great power ouer them And therefore it is very likely that the euill spirit which tormented this poore lunatike watched the occasions of his disease to afflict him the more and to cause him to fall either in the fire or in the water as he did indeede thereby to worke his death if he had could Which example sheweth vnto vs what is the malice of the deuil what pleasure hee taketh in hurting of men what meanes and what occasions he seeketh for and maketh choice of and what accesse vnto vs we may offer him through our corrupt nature through our vices and sinnes and through our inclinations and manners that are naturally euill and peruerse if God letteth him loose the bridle by his iust iudgement seeing he spareth not the little children as it appeareth in that which is written of him of whom we spake euen now For this cause we ought to take good heede that we giue not our common enemie those occasions that he seeketh to haue from vs to the ende that hee abuse vs not nor any thing that is ours and which God hath bestowed vpon vs. This is the reason why the consideration of our temperature complexion and naturall inclination is very necessary for vs because the knowledge hereof affoordeth vnto vs many good instructions that may stand vs in great steade throughout our whole life as well for the preseruation of the health of our bodies as for the rule and gouernement of our affections and manners as also in regarde of the familiaritie and acquaintance which wee haue one with an other For through the contemplation hereof wee may knowe not onely the causes of health and sickenesse of the life and death of the body but also of that of the soule For as the good humours corrupt in our bodies according as wee haue heard and breede in them sundry diseases which finally leade them vnto death euen so by means of sinne all those good and naturall affections which ought to bee the seedes of vertues in vs are corrupted and turne into vices that are the diseases of the soule and bring vnto it the second and eternall death as contrariwise vertues are the health and life thereof But as GOD hath prouided corporall medicines for the bodie so hee hath prepared spirituall Physicke for the soule against all the diseases thereof Therefore when wee consider with our selues vnto what vices wee are inclined by nature wee must labour to correct and bridle them and to quench such inclinations as much as wee can through sobrietie vigilancie and continuall practise to the contrary least wee nourish and encrease them when as wee ought to diminish and wholy to abolish them For the common prouerbe is not without reason that Education passeth Nature or that it is another nature Wee see by experience what Education and Instruction are able to doe both to goodnesse and vice according as they are either good or euill For as there is no nature so good which can not bee corrupted and peruerted through euill education and teaching so there is none so vicious and euill which can not at the least in some measure through the helpe and grace of GOD bee corrected and amended by good education instruction and discipline And because conuersation and familiaritie are of great efficacie in this point wee are diligently to consider with what persons and natures wee acquaint our selues and bee carefull to eschew such natures as are vicious prowd fierce enuious hatefull malicious suspicious disloyall and traiterous as well in regarde of the corruption of manners wherewith wee may bee infected by them as also in respect of other harmes that may befall vs by reason they are vnsociable natures or at the least very difficult to conuerse withall being indeede such as towardes whome no man can beare any true loue or firme friendship But when wee haue vsed all the diligence wee can possible about these things the chiefest point wherein the whole consisteth is this that wee haue recourse to Iesus Christ the eternall sonne of GOD to the end that by his holy Spirit hee woulde correct represse and quench in vs all the vicious affections and disordered motions that wee haue contrary to his holy will according to that promise which is made vnto vs wherein it is saide that if fathers knowe howe to giue good gifts to their children and such things as are necessarie for them much more will our heauenly Father giue his holie Spirite to them that aske it of him And this is the true meanes wee ought to keepe for the correcting of these vices and defectes that are in our naturall inclinations Now wee haue spoken sufficiently of those things which concerne the naturall powers of the soule in respect of the nourishment and growth of the body and of those instruments which it hath in the same for the performaunce of her actions It remaineth nowe that wee consider what effectes it hath in Generation First then ASER thou shalt handle the restauration and reparation of all natures by that vertue and power of Generation that is in them and namely in man to the end wee may after proceede with those other points that concerne this matter Of the restauration and reparation of all
appeare vnto vs and contrariwise the more pure and thinne it is the brighter and more shining it will shew it selfe vnto vs. Nowe for this matter wee must call to minde what wee heard concerning the generation of spirites both Vitall and Animall in those discourses of the nature and office of the heart And as they are thinne vapours engendered of blood concocted and sette on fire through the vertue of the heart that they might bee as it were little flames hauing diuers actions in diuers members so according to the puritie and impuritie of the blood in the composition of the bodie wee are to iudge of the spirites that proceede from them And albeeit they haue all one and the same fountaine namely the heart in which they are bredde neuerthelesse they change according to those places and members wherein they woorke and being so changed they haue diuers and seuerall actions Wee vnderstand then by the Vitall spirite a little flame bredde and borne in the heart of the purest blood whose office is to carie naturall heate to the other members and to giue them vertue and strength to put in practise those actions and offices which they exercise by the same heat It hath beene tolde vs also before that the arteries serue to carie this vitall spirite to all the members But wee are farther to learne that when the vitall spirites bredde in the heart are in part transported to the braine others are engendered of them which are called Animall spirites in that sence in which wee called those Animall faculties and powers from whence the Soule deriueth her vessels and instrumentes in the brayne For after the spirites sent by the heart are come thither they are made more cleane and bright through the vertue of the braine and agreeable to the temperament thereof and then beeing infused into the brayne by meanes of the sinewes they are insteade of a light whereby the actions of the sences are incited and stirred vp as also those motions which are from place to place And as wee haue hearde that a good temperature of the blood and of other humours doeth much helpe forwarde and profite the manners and conditions of men the same may bee saide of the heart and of the spirites proceeding from the same For when the heart is in good temper so that it is not troubled either with anger or sadnesse or any other euill affection it is manifest that the spirites are a great deale the better in the braine Nowe let vs consider the woonderfull woorke of God wrought in man by meanes of the Vitall and Animall spirites For what are the chiefe actions effected in him Are they not the preseruation of life nourishment and generation and then sense and motion with cogitation and the affections of the heart And what were all these thinges without spirites Hence it commeth that in the holy Scriptures the heart is taken for the fountaine not onely of life but also of all the actions of men as it hath beene alreadie declared vnto vs. And for this cause also some haue sayde that these spirites and little Vitall and Animall flames were the soule it selfe or the immediate instrument thereof that is to say the verie next whereby it woorketh immediately so that there is none betwixt them twayne But the latter is more certaine and more agreeable to trueth then the former For if the soule were nothing else but the Vitall and Animall spirites it shoulde fayle and perish with them as the bodily life doeth and so it shoulde not bee immortall But seeing they are but the instruments thereof as the humours of the bodie are and namely the blood from which they proceede the soule can well bee without them albeeit they cannot bee without it and although it cannot without them perfourme the woorkes it doeth with and by them And forasmuch as God hath giuen them to bee as it were a light it is certaine that the light of these surmounteth the light of the Sunne Moone or starres and that all these lights haue great agreement one with another But it is yet a farre more woonderfull woorke of GOD when not onelie the soule vseth these instrumentes for the life of man but also when the celestiall spirite ioyneth it selfe vnto them vsing them in the elect and making them more cleere by his heauenly light that the knowledge of God might bee more euident that their assuraunce and trust in him might bee more firme and that all the motions of his children might bee kindeled the more towardes him So likewise the euill spirite knoweth well howe to take occasion by the badde temperature of the humors to abuse men as wee haue alreadie declared thereby to set forwarde their ruine when hee possesseth the heart troubleth and poysoneth the spirites in that and in the brayne Whereupon hee attempteth to hinder reason and iudgement to bring men to furie and madnesse and to thrust forwarde their heart and their other members to committe foule and execrable factes Whereof wee haue examples in the furie of Saul and in his death in the death of Achitophel of Iudas and of manie others whome hee hath brought to slaye themselues as likewise in manie other horrible factes dayly committed by men Therefore it is very requisite that wee shoulde diligently consider our nature and bee carefull to gouerne and guide it well Wee are to knowe that our spirites are the habitations of the holy spirite and therefore wee are to pray to God through his sonne Christ Iesus to repell and keepe backe euill spirites farre from vs and to inspire his diuine and celestiall spirite into our spirites heartes and mindes that it may guide and gouerne them And this agreeth verie fitly with that prayer which wee hearde alreadie vttered by Saint Paul touching the entire sanctification of the whole man whome hee diuided into spirite soule and bodie So that if wee haue throughly tasted of the former discourses as well concerning the nature of the bodie as of the soule wee may perceiue wherefore the Apostle hath thus diuided the whole man For first wee cannot doubt but that the soule beeing the principall Woorker is such a substaunce and nature as dwelleth in a bodie apt and meete to receiue life in I speake this purposely because all sortes of bodies are not capable of soule and life and they that are capable are not yet capable of euerie kinde of soule and life but onelie of such as are agreeable to their nature hauing those instrumentes in themselues which may bee vsed by them according to their nature Wherefore the soule of man must of necessitie haue another bodie with other instruments and of another nature then the soule of beastesmay haue and the soule of beastes another then the soule of plantes according as euerie one of them differeth from other both in nature and offices But of what nature soeuer eyther the soule or the bodie is the soule hath this
deale with little children and with birdes by puppets and strawe-men and such like things And who will first perceiue and finde out these subtilties such as are most ignoraunt and foolish or the other that are more skilfull and wise It is easie to iudge that they who haue best wittes and are best learned will sooner perceiue the same then the other Now what wil follow hereupon but that they being freed from the feare which held them in before shall by the same means be let loofe and sundred from the bond of all religion and vertue as if it were clean broken as it hath daily doth happen to them that mainteine this opinion and to those also that haue beene taught and instructed in their schoole And consequently this also will follow that the quicker and sharper wit a man hath and the greater knowledge vnderstanding is in him the more wicked and badde man hee will proue For if hee vnderstand that religion is but religion in name and indeed is nothing but foolish superstition and if hee iudge as much of the immortalitie of the soule hauing thus shaken off all religion he will cast away all feare of God and not suffer himselfe to be brideled in any sort either by any terrour of the iudgement to come or reuerence of the deitie but onely by the feare of mens lawes And if this take place in men we may wel thinke what licence they will take to themselues to commit the greatest sinnes and abominations in the worlde especially if they be in darknes and thinke that no man seeth them and that there is no other iudge that perceiueth them to whome they must one day giue an account And if they be so great that by their power they may violate all lawes both diuine and humane as tyrants commonly vse to doe who shall stay them from liuing like sauage beastes among men So that as euery one by dexteritie of spirite by doctrine and instruction shall approch neerer to that perfection for which man was created of God the more enclined readie and armed he will bee to commit all kinde of malice and wickednesse For how can hee doe otherwise when that secret of the schoole shall be disclosed vnto him and when he shall learne that whatsoeuer is here taught concerning religion vertue and honestie amongst men is but fained and inuented for the nonce to keepe men in feare Surely this will cause him to let loose the raines to all licenciousnesse Nowe what corruption of the spirite and mind of man is there comparable to this or what will sooner turne it aside from that perfection in which the soueraigne chief good of it consisteth Therefore seeing the case standeth thus this opinion of theirs cannot be true but ouerthroweth it selfe For whatsoeuer corrupteth the spirite and turneth it from his perfection is contrarie to the nature thereof Wherefore wee must conclude that it is farre otherwise and that this saying of theirs is as true as if one should say that the perfecter a man is the more he is vnperfect the better he is the worse he is and the more truly he is man the further off he is from the nature of a man and more like to the nature of sauage beasts Who then can doubt of the truth of the soules immortalitie after so great a multitude of arguments and of so strong and so mightie witnesses who fight in battel aray as it were a strong armie against them that vpholde the contrarie But we haue other no lesse worthie to bee considered of which we beare within our selues and which are so common to all that there is no man whatsoeuer but hee feeleth and perceiueth them whether he will or no. Therefore it shall bee good for vs to speake somewhat thereof also to the ende that the matter we haue nowe in hande may be the better and more perfectly vnderstood to the confusion of Epicures and Atheists and that we may still acknowledge more and more the testimonies of the image of God in vs and who we bee and what good or euill things are prepared for vs in the immortalitie of the second life according as we shal be conformed reformed to the will of God or els as we shal be remoued from that image giue credit to impietie and lies Now it belongeth to thee ACHITOB to discourse of this matter Of those internall testimonies which all men cary within themselues to conuince them that doubt of the immortality of the soule of the iudgement to come which shal be in eternall happines for the good and perpetuall torment for the euill how the very Heathen acknowledged as much by reasons taken from the testimonies of nature Chap. 96. ACHIT The manifold miseries scourges of Gods wrath wherwith men are daily oppressed should minister vnto thē iust occasion to think how odious their sinnes and wickednes are to God that he will not leaue them vnpunished neither in this life nor in the life to come For as he giueth to his children of his goodnes and of those good things which he hath prepared for them in another life by the benefits which he communicateth vnto them in this so he setteth before our eies testimonies of his wrath and of his iudgement and of those euils torments which he hath prepared for the wicked in another life by them wherewith he vseth to correct and punish them here in this world But besides this euery one hath within himself testimonies either of eternal blessings or curses to come which may easily conuince them that will not receiue the authority of the scriptures nor any natural reason to proue the immortality of the soule For they beare about them all their witnesses their owne condemnation and therefore it wil be an easy matter to conuince them although not to cōfound them I say to conuince thē because a man is then conuinced whē he is compelled to acknowledge in his conscience that he hath no reason whereby he is able to gainsay withstād the truth declared vnto him which cōdemneth him But yet if he be obstinat headstrong malicious and peruerse he neuer ceaseth for all that to kick against the prick to perseuere in his obstinacy peeuish malice For when reason faileth him he armeth himself with impudēcy like to a bolde murderer and to a shamelesse strumpet that cannot be made ashamed But howsoeuer wicked men labour to blind their mind and to harden their heart against the iudgement of God yet the same is neuer declared vnto them but they feele themselues pricked priessed therewith will they nill they not that it fareth with them as it doeth with Gods children who are touched therewith vnto repentance but as Saint Paul speaking of the wicked and obstinate saith that God hath giuen them a pricking spirite because they haue a bitter heart which stirreth them vp to whet themselues as it were more and more against God
stay or resting place vntill they be come to those places which God hath appoynted for them Plants cast their rootes downeward and their branches vpward euery one following therein his nature For a plant being to receiue his nourishment from the earth by meanes of his rootes which are vnto it in stead of mouthes and veines to sucke and draw necessary sustenance for the preseruation of it selfe sendeth them alwayes into the ground and disperseth them all about according as they can find nourishment but the stalke stocke branches and boughs which are to be nourished in the ayre alwayes disperse themselues draw and ascend vpward Beasts hauing sense doe much more shewe that liking which they haue to follow their natural inclination For we see that by their proper apprehension and appetite they are driuen hither and thither to seeke and follow after that which they desire and loue being agreeable to their nature and to flie from that which they hate as being contrary thereunto Likewise men who only of all other mortall creatures were by creation made partakers of reason haue their proper motion conuenient to their nature For being created to attaine to that soueraigne and eternall Good which is set before them in the diuine essence they haue receiued from that infinite goodnes power and vertue to wish for that Good with a desire to apply and ioyne themselues thereunto Wherefore all men are naturally pricked and driuen forward with a loue and desire tending to that Good aswell because of that naturall agreement which they haue with the same Idea of Good which is God their soules being of a celestial and immortall essence as also because this Good is of that nature that it ought to be loued of euery nature yea so much the more loued as there is greater measure of reason in the creature to know it But this desire naturally ingrafted in euery mans heart which prouoketh and keepeth men in a loue and liking of euery thing which they thinke meete to content and satisfie them and which they seeke after in diuers things as their affections lead them differeth much from that desire which by heauenly grace is planted a new in those whom God according to his good pleasure and alwaies iust wil hath chosen and elected to euerlasting happinesse and pricked forward guideth and leadeth them to that principall end for which they were created For although the other sort of men being heires of that corruption that hath ouerspread the whole nature of man by the meanes of the sinne of the first father of all be driuen forward in soule and spirit yea many times not thinking thereof to their naturall desire of obtayning that Good yet they seeke it as blind men that goe by groping but cannot find it because the darkenes of error ignorance wherewith their vnderstanding is ouerwhelmed hindreth them from looking directly towards that Good and causeth them to wander out of that only way that could lead them vnto it So that in stead of looking vnto God and to celestiall and heauenly things they stay themselues about earthly corruptible things vnto which the neerer they labor to approch the farther off they are from the end of their wishes desires For this cause the blessed Apostle saith that the natural man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse vnto him neyther can he know them because they are spiritually discerned But they that are illuminated and guided by heauenly and supernaturall light and whose vnderstanding is framed by the spirit of God to receiue It know then how they are carried by their proper motion to the contemplation of the true Good in the enioying whereof they shall once for euer be made partakers of a felicitie which eye neuer saw nor eare heard neither came into mans heart I meane when by dissoluing the mortall tabernacle of this body they shall be clothed with glorious immortalitie and shall see him face to face who is all in all in whome they shall be satisfied according to the doctrine of the Prophet In thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore This is that my companions which ought to whet vs on to direct our sight streight to that place whereat wee ought to leuell namely to heauen and not looke to any other thing then to God who is the scope which we desire and shal one day attaine vnto Nowe if wee can not see this white so farre off and much lesse come vnto it without direction GOD is come neare vnto vs in the person of his Sonne Iesus Christ who being the brightnesse of his glory hath left vs his word for a sure guide besides so many testimonies of his prouidence and goodnesse ouer all creatures that wee daily beholde him as it were visible in them For the ruled motions of the heauens the wonderfull workemanship of so many starry tents the connexion agreement force vertue and beauty of the Elements the situation firmnesse spreading of the earth amidst the waters and so many sundry natures and creatures in this whole frame of the worlde al these things I say are so many interpreters to teach vs that God is the efficient cause of them and that he is manifested in them and by them as their final cause But the glasse wherein we may yet better beholde him is man in whome shineth and is imprinted an image of the diuine essence which is not found againe in any visible creature that is reason and vnderstanding wherof by creation he was made partaker aswel as the Angels This is the chiefe and principall work of the creation whereby God meant to giue such a being to his creatures spiritual natures to the end he might communicate his wisdom goodnes with them thereby lead them to eternal felicitie Wherefore if it be good for men to consider the works of God in his creatures and in their nature created by him and that for the reasons and ends declared by vs it is better and more necessary that they should do the same thing in their owne person nature wherein there are almost as many maruailous works of the almighty power of God as ther are in the whole frame besids and in all other creatures Therefore that sentence which saith Knowe thy selfe was not without good reason so much praised and renowmed amongst al the ancient Greeke and Latin Philosophers as that which is worthy to be taken for a heauenly oracle a sentence pronounced by the mouth of God For whosoeuer shall know himselfe well cannot faile to know God his creator and to honour him as he ought if he follow the chiefe end for which man was created as wel as the residue of the creatures Plato in his Phaedrus and in the tenth booke of Lawes searching and inquiring by the meanes of motion what was the substance nature and immortalitie of
hath not giuen it to any of them but to him only by that he hath put a difference betweene him the beasts as also by reason and vnderstanding whereof he hath made him partaker in respect wherof he hath giuen him speech which is as naturall vnto him as reason which is the spring head thereof and from whence it proceedeth as a riuerfrom his fountaine For how could men make known their counsailes thoughts without speech And what good should they receiue by that sense vnderstanding which God hath giuen them more theÌ„ to beasts if they had no more speech then they haue wherby to make it known And to what purpose would speech serue them if they knew not what to say And what should they haue to speake if they had no more vnderstaÌ„ding reason then other liuing creatures haue Were it not sufficient then to haue a coÌ„fused voice only as they haue Therfore also we see how God hath ioined these twothings together graunting speech vnto man because hee hath created him paâ—taker of reason and vnderstanding And hauing depriued beasts of the one hee hath also depriued them of the other so that they are partakers neither of reason nor speech For this cause Ecclesiasticus hath ioyned these things together saying That God hath giuen to men counsell and tongue and eyes eares and an heart to vnderstand and sixtly he gaue them a spirite and seuenthly he gaue them speech to declare his woorkes Hee filled them with knowledge of vnderstanding and shewed them good and euill Whereby he teacheth vs plainly what is the right true vse of speech to what end it is giuen to man and from whence it springeth For he placeth counsell in the first place and next the tongue Againe after the heart and spirite he placeth speech that we might know who is their messenger Whereupon we may conclude that the one is giuen for the other and both to glorifie God by shewing foorth his works and marueilous actes To which effect Basil the great saith very well that God hath created vs and graunted vs the vse of speech to the end we might haue the ability and meanes to lay open one to another the counsels and thoughtes of our heartes and to distribute amongst vs that which is in euery one by reason of that communicable nature in which we are created For the heart ought to bee in man as a secrete treasurie or as a larder or pantry in a house out of which all things necessary for the vse thereof and for the maintenaunce of the whole familie are dayly taken The heart also is like to a seller or garner wherein counsels and thoughts are locked and closed vp and the tongue is like to the steward who draweth out and dispenseth whatsoeuer is to bee distributed For as wee saide in the beginning of our speech our soule vseth thoughts and discourses which cannot bee declared so long as it is inclosed in this tabernacle of flesh without speech wordes and names by meanes of which she bringeth foorth and publisheth that which was inclosed and hidden in the secrete closet of her vnderstanding And so wee say that there are two kindes of speech in man one internall and of the minde the other externall which is pronounced and is the messenger of the internall that speaketh in the heart Therefore that which is framed in voyce pronounced in speech and brought into vse is as a riuer sent from the thought with the voyce as from his fountaine For before the thought can vtter any outward speech by meanes of the voyce first the minde must receiue the images of things presented vnto it by the corporall senses And then hauing receiued them by the imaginatiue vertue that is in it reason must discourse to knowe and to consider of them well and to separate or ioyne things according to that agreement or difference that concorde or discord which they may haue amongst them Next it is necessary that iudgement should follow this discourse to make choise of and to followe that which it shall iudge to be meete and conuenient and to reiect and shunne the contrary Lastly all must be vttered by significations apt and conuenient for euery thing so that when the minde hath giuen ouer to the office of the vocall instruments that which it hath comprised and resolued vpon in manner aforesaid the same is manifestly declared outwardly by the aire framed into voyce I meane by the moouing of the articulate and distinct voice whereas before it was hid and couered Now when this voice and speach is pronounced with the mouth as it is inuisible to the eyes so it hath no body whereby the hands may take hold of it but is insensible to all the senses except the hearing which neuerthelesse cannot lay hold of it or keepe it fast as it were with griping hands but entring in of it selfe it is so long detained there whilest the sound reboundeth in the eares and then vanisheth away suddenly But albeit the sound and the voyce passeth so sodainely as if presently it flew away hauing respect to the outward speech neuerthelesse the internall speach remaineth not onely in the spirite heart and thought that ingendred it not being in any sort diuided cut off or seperated but also it filleth all the hearers by reason of the agreement that is betweene the spirites and mindes of men and the speach that is bred there and because it differeth not much from the minde and from the thought where it first beganne and was bred And thus the thoughtes and counsailes of the minde and spirite are discouered and manifested by speach So that al voice is not speach For the name of voyce generally taken comprehendeth all sounds and things which bring any noise to the eares Neuerthelesse it is more properly and specially attributed to those sounds which all sortes of liuing creatures are able to make with their throat to signifie any thing therby But man onely hath articulate and well distinguished soundes vnto which birdes of all other beastes approch neerest so that euen many of them are taught in some sort to frame mans voyce but it is without vnderstanding And because that instruments of musicke do after a sort imitate the distinct voyce of men wee attribute voyce to them although the sounds which they make be more without iudgement and vnderstanding then that of beasts But in men voyces framed into wordes are signes and significations of the whole soule and minde both generally and specially namely of the fantasie and imagination of reason and iudgement of vnderstanding and memory of will and affections Wherefore it is an easie matter to iudge by his speach howe all these partes are affected namely whether they bee sound or haue any defect in them For if a man be dull witted or haue his fantasie and imagination troubled and his memory slowe and heauy he shall haue much adoe to speake
deformitie in stead of beautie But if wee consider onely the beautie of the head and of the face thereof whereof wee discoursed yesterday wee shall not finde any one member that hath not singular beautie in it and that agreeth not very fitly with the rest being of so good proportion and measure and hauing such a great and excellent grace that a man may truely say that the whole woorke hath in each part thereof so great perfection that nothing can bee added or taken away nothing can bee wished to make it more faire profitable excellent or perfect then it is in it owne nature To the setting foorth of this beautie the nose whereof wee are to speake serueth very much yea so much that hardly any member in all the face or head so disfigureth a man or maketh him more deformed then the nose if it bee euill fauoured disfigured or taken cleane away But besides this beautie which it bringeth to a mans head we are to knowe that it is very seruiceable to the whole bodie and chiefly to the brayne lodged in the top thereof as it were the Lorde and Master that as it giueth motion and sense to all the members so it might bee compassed about with all the senses as it were with seruitours men of garde Therefore as it hath neere about it the eyes eares tongue and palat which are the instruments of seeing hearing and tasting so the nose is needfull to serue the sence of smelling Neither is it placed so neere the sense of tasting without the great prouidence of God For there are many things in nature which if they be tasted onely are deadly or at leastwise very dangerous and hurtfull as appeareth chiefly in thinges that are venimous and poysonfull For this cause albeit the sence of smelling bee not altogether so necessary for liuing creatures namely for such as are most perfect as the other sences so that they may more easily want it neuerthelesse GOD hath giuen it them to the ende it might bee as it were a messenger to the taste to shewe what is good for it and what not and this chiefly for two reasons The first is to keepe men from hazarding themselues through an immoderate desire to eate and drinke before they haue discerned by the smell of such things as are to be taken whether they bee profitable or hurtfull for them The second reason is to take all suspicion and feare from them which otherwise might cause them to abstayne from those thinges that are good and profitable for them And therefore this sense of smelling is neerely conioyned and hath great agreement with the sense of tasting For this is a generall rule that albeit euery thing that smelleth well hath not alwayes a good taste yet whatsoeuer a man findeth good to his taste the same hath also a good smell and contrariwise that which is founde to haue an ill relish the same hath also the like smell For the taste and smell are giuen not onely for profite but for pleasure also and delight Neyther doe those thinges which serue for delectation alwayes bring profite but sometime the contrarie principally through their fault that knowe not howe to vse them moderately For they are so subiect to their pleasures that they can neuer keepe measure in anything as wee see by experience especially in these two senses of taste and smell For as the ordinary meates satisfie not the delicate appetites of men but they must haue new dainties daily inuented to prouoke their appetite further and to cause them to eate and drinke more then is needefull to their great hurt so men are not contented with naturall odours which nature bringeth foorth of it selfe but nowe they must haue muskes and perfumes with infinite varietie of distilled waters and artificial smelles in regard of which naturall fauours are nothing set by And yet if they were vsed with sobrietie there were no cause of reprehension seeing all the creatures of God are good if they be vsed moderately and a they ought with thankesgiuing Heereof it is that they are oftes mentioned in Scripture in the good part And not to seeke farre off for examples we haue the testimonies of the holy Euāgelists as our Lord Iesus Christ himselfe who was neither nice nor voluptuous but the perfect paterne of al sobriety and temperance did not reiect nor condemne pretious ointments and sweete odours but sometime permitted the vse of them vpon his owne person Moreouer it is certaine that the animal spirites in the braine are greatly relieued and recreated by those good and naturall smels that are conueyed vnto them by means of the nose and of the sense of smelling placed therein as contrariwise they are greatly offended by euill odours yea oftentimes by artificial sauours which commonly cause rhumes catharres and great head-aches For the spirits of the head are subtile pure and very neate so that sweete smelles are good for them and stinking sauours contrary vnto them To this end therefore that the braine might receiue this benefit of good odours God hath placed both the sense and instrument of smelling so neare vnto it the instrument to keepe and conuey odours vnto it the sense to discerne and iudge of them Therefore this sense of smelling hath some agreement both with the fire and with thicke aire because smels are stirred vp by heate as smoke is by fire which are after carried by meanes of the aire vnto the sense and receiued and kept by the nose Forasmuch also as the braine needeth aire to nourish and preserue the animal spirites the nose in this respect also standeth it in great steade Therefore God hath created it not only to serue the sense of smelling but also for respiration that it should be the principall pipe and passage by which both the braine and lungs may draw in or let out breath as neede requireth For this cause the braine doeth stretch out and restraine it selfe and as by stretching foorth it selfe it draweth in the aire by the nosethrilles so by keeping it selfe close together it retaineth the aire And so the externall aire being drawen in by the nosethrilles is distributed by the cranies that are open in the palat in such sort that the greatest part is drawen into the lungs and the residue goeth to the braine by the passages holes that leade vnto it And although the mouth serueth also for respiration yet the nose is appointed more especially for that purpose and is much more fit and apte for the same Therefore God hath giuen it both matter and forme agreeable for that office For first concerning the matter it is not made all of bone nor all of gristles because if it were all of bone a double inconuenience woulde ensue thereof The first is that the bones would be in danger of breaking chiefely about the end of the nose when it should hit against any hard thing because they would not bend and giue
the ground when wee meete with some great infection shal wee not thinke that God turneth his face from vs when he findeth vs so stinking and infected Contrariwise when wee smell some good sauour it ought to bring into our remembrance the odour of Iesus Christ his sacrifice and of those vertues that are well pleasing and agreeable in the sight of God and stirre vs vp with al indeuour to present him with such smels to the end wee may be of good odour before God and men Which the holy worde will teach vs after hee hath giuen vs a spirituall nose whereby wee may attaine to the right sense and smel of that good odour of Iesus Christ and of the Gospel working in vs the spirit of discretion to discerne truth from lying that our soules may be refreshed as the braine is by those good smels that are brought vnto it by the bodily nose and by the sense of smelling that is therein Nowe therefore being come to the end of this goodly matter of the fiue corporall and externall sense me thinks we should profit much by a briefe collection of their vse and of the commoditie which they bring to men considering also the diuersitie that is in their faces and visages in which these goodly organicall instruments of the senses are planted and how their faces are images and pictures of their heart and mind The discourse of this matter appertainth to thee ACHITOB. Of the vse briefly of all the outward senses for the seruice of man namely in purging the superfluities and ordures of his body of the diuersitie that is in mens faces and of the image of the mind and heart in them Chap. 20. ACHITOB. When wee taste some pleasure by considering the workes of God namely those which wee beare about vs in our nature as indeede such contemplation affoordeth great delight to their soules that are not buried in ignorance we ought to thinke that we haue great occasions and certaine meanes to consider what pleasure and ioy it would be to see and behold the Creator and Workmaster who hath made giuen to man such excellent senses such wonderful vertues faculties what delight ariseth of hearing smelling only some smal odour of tasting a litle of his prouidence wisdome goodnes benignity grace mercy much more wheÌ„ they are throghly tasted relished of vs. Which may be performed by them that imploy all care and diligence in meditating in his eternall worde and in considering the workes of his Almighty power vntill such time as by the dissolution of this mortall tabernacle of the body they shall haue put on immortalitie to enioy true contemplation that is to beholde him face to face who onely is able to satisfie soule with goodnes and felicitie as the Prophet teacheth vs where he saieth In thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore Now then we may know by that which we haue hitherto heard in these our discourses what testimonies God hath plaÌ„ted of his great prouidence in all the partes of our bodies what care hee hath had and still hath of man and how he hath giuen him as many corporall senses as he needeth for the vse and fruition of all those visible and bodily creatures which he hath created For he hath eies whereby he vseth and enioyeth the light and the pleasure of such diuersitie of colours as may be seene in the world as well naturall as artificiall and compounded with the sundry mixtures of naturall things Then by the eares he hath the vse of al kindes of sounds and principally of speech together with the pleasure of harmonies and melodies consisting in the variety of tunes and songs as well of mâ—ns voice as of birdes and other creatures and also of instruments of musicke which are so many and of such diuersitie amongst men And by means of the nose and nosethrils he hath the fruition and pleasure of odours and smels so diuers in nature both naturall and artificiall and by means of the mouth tongue and palat he enioyeth and iudgeth of all sorts of tastes which also are very diuers and chiefly of meates and drinkes wherewithal he is nourished For this good God hath appointed a meane for the preseruation of mans life whereunto he hath ioyned pleasure with profite if men know how to vse the same with moderation and measure rather to make supply no necessity then to satisfie pleasures The like may be saide of all the rest of the feelings and touchings of al the bodily members of which there is great variety But hauing spoken sufficiently of the composition of the externall parts of mans body and of the outward members of the natural senses of man and of their vses we ought to consider also what instructions God giueth by them vnto men concerning their infirmitie For although the body of man be so beautifull and excellent outwardly as wee haue declared yet it hath infection within which of necessitie must appeare and breake foorth outwardly that it may be purged and vnburdned For the body cannot reape that profit of the nourishment it receiueth by al the elements and chiefely of that which it eateth and drinketh as that it can coÌ„uert turne al of it into nourishment substance auoyd all those accidents inconueniences whereunto it is subiect by reason of the infirmity of it owne nature Therefore it commeth to passe necessarily that the body is ful of excrements of much superfluitie ordure which would kill it if it were not discharged and deliuered thereof For these excrements woulde be poison vnto it in steade of nourishment Therefore the prouidence of God hath so prouided a remedy for the same that admonishing man of his infirmitie to the end he should alwayes remember that he is created of clay and earth that he shal returne vnto it againe it hath withal ordained the meanes whereby man should be comforted discharged of those excremeÌ„ts superfluities which might hurt him And for this cause there is no member but hath his proper passages appropriated for purgation seruing in his place yea euen the noblest members For I speake not only of those members which we account most vile abiect shamefull which nature teacheth vs to couer hide being appointed for the voiding of the grosest vilest most filthy excrements but also of those that are the excellentest chiefest in the head face so that there is no part of our body out of which there proceedeth not some infection filthines Insomuch that a man may wel say that our whole body is within as it were a stinking draught or puddle that emptieth it selfe on euery side as it were by sinks gutters For if we coÌ„sider it generally there is no part that is not subiect to sweat which oftentimes sauoureth very strongly and that purgeth not it selfby sweating from that superfluitie which it
and how others comprehend them all in one But be it that we ioyne or separate them let vs nowe consider of the nature and places of each of them The Common sense is so called because it is the first of all the internall fenses of which we are to speake as also the Prince Lord of all the externall sense who are his messengers and seruants to minister and make relation vnto him of things in common For it receiueth all the images and shapes that are offered and brought vnto it by them yea all the kindes and resemblances of materiall things which they haue receiued only from without as a glasse doth and al this for no other cause but that they should discerne and seuer euery thing according to it owne nature propertie and afterward communicate them to the internall senses For although all the knowledge that is in the minde of man proceedeth not from the outward senses as we shewed in the beginning of our speach neuertheles they are created of God to the end they should send to the vnderstanding the similitudes of things without and be the messengers of the minde and witnesses of experience and also to the ende they should awaken and stirre vp the mind to behold and marke the things that are without it that by considering of them it may iudge of and correct the faultes Wee must then obserue that the externall senses haue no iudgement of that which they outwardly receiue but by meanes of the common sense vnto which they make relation and then that iudgeth so that they ende where that beginneth In this manner therefore as the Common sense of all the internall senses is next vnto the external so is it the meanes whereby they communicate one with an other For afterward it caryeth to the other internall senses whatsoeuer hath beene communicated vnto it by the externall Now after this sense hath done his duety Imagination and Fantasie execute their offices both which are taken by many for one and the same facultie and vertue of the soule but yet distinguished from the Common sense others ioyne them both with the Common sense because these three senses whether they be distinguished or taken all for one haue their seates vessels and instruments in the former part of the braine Therefore there will be no danger if we vse these two names Fantasie and Imagination indifferently For Fantasie is deriued from a Greeke worde that signifieth as much as Imagination and it is translated by Cicero into a Latin word which is as much as Vision This faculty therfore and vertue of the soule is called Fantasie because the visions kindes and images of such things as it receiueth are diuersly framed therein according to the formes and shapes that are brought to the Common sense Therefore Daniel called the dreame of Nebuchadnezzar the visions of his head which hee had vpon his bed according to the thoughts whereupon he mused and fell on sleepe For although this was a heauenly dreame yet God vsed therein the internall senses which hee had giuen to Nebuchadnezzar vnto which hee represented the image of those things hee woulde haue him to vnderstand and knowe as afterward they were expounded vnto him by Daniel Moreouer this facultie of the fantasie is sudden so farre from stayednes that euen in the time of sleep it hardly taketh any rest but is alwaies occupied in dreaming doting yea euen about those things which neuer haue bin shal be or can be For it staieth not in that which is shewed vnto it by the senses that serue it but taketh what pleaseth it and addeth thereunto or diminisheth changeth and rechangeth mingleth and vnmingleth so that it cutteth asunder and seweth vp againe as it listeth So that there is nothing but the fantasie will imagine and counterfaite if it haue any matter and foundation to worke vpon without which it can build nothing as wee may iudge by that which hath bene already shewed namely that man can neither think imagine or doe any thing else of which hee hath not some beginning and ground in nature and in the woorkes of God from which after hee hath his inuentions But although fantasie can doe nothing without this gappe and entrance yet it is a wonder to see the inuentions it hath after some occasion is giuen it and what newe and monstrous things it forgeth and coyneth by sundry imaginations arising of those images and similitudes from whence it hath the first paterne So that in trueth fantasie is a very dangerous thing For if it bee not guided and brideled by reason it troubleth and mooueth all the sense and vnderstanding as a tempest doeth the sea For it is easily stirred vp not onely by the externall senses but also by the complexion and disposition of the body Heereof it proceedeth that euen the spirites both good and bad haue great accesse vnto it to stirre it either to good or euill and that by meanes vnknowen to vs. For as wee haue many meanes to prouoke one anothers imagination and fantasie which are not in beastes neither can be comprehended by them so these spiritual natures by reason of the agreement of their nature haue one towardes an other which wee neyther knowe nor can comprehend whereby they haue accesse to mooue our fantasie diuers wayes Wherefore as the Angelles haue meanes to represent to our mindes the images of good heauenly and diuine things both waking and sleeping so can euill spirites greatly trouble them by diuers illusions the proofe whereof wee haue in many whome badde spirites find apt and disposed thereunto and namely in sorcerers whose minde they trouble in such sort by sundry strange illusions that they verily thinke they haue seene heard spoken and done that which the deuill representeth to their fantasie yea such things as neither men nor deuilles themselues can possibly perfourme and yet all that while they stirre not out of their bedde or out of some one place But the diuell hauing once power ouer them doeth in such sort print in their fantasie the images of those things hee representeth vnto them and which he woulde haue them beleeue to be true that they can not thinke otherwise but that it is so that they haue done such things and that they were awake when indeed they slept For as God appeareth to his seruants by heauenly visions both when they sleep when they wake and printeth in their mindes the images of those things which it pleaseth him to reueale vnto them so the diuell who endeuoureth to counterfait all the woorkes of God to deceiue men hath his deuilish illusions for his visions whereby he mooueth and troubleth the fantasie and mindes of those ouer whome hee raigneth through their infidelity and wickednesse Therefore it is very needefull that men should recommend themselues to God to the ende these euil spirites may haue no such power ouer them and that their iudgements may be
moderation or defect in the internall senses which exercise their offices in the head as well particularly as generally Therefore it is not without reason sayde in our common speach of him that hath a good spirite sense and iudgement that his head is well made and contrariwise that his head is ill made that wanteth these things For whatsoeuer the inhabitant or workeman is that laboureth the lodging in which hee dwelleth or the tooles and instruments which hee vseth are of great moment to further or hinder him in his worke But nowe that we are in hand with frenetike persons and haue saide before that good and ill spirites haue great meanes and such as wee can not comprehend whereby they mooue the imagination and fantasie of men it shall not be altogether fruitlesse if we speake somewhat of them that are possessed with spirites For there are some who thinke not that the Deuilles in their very substance enter into the bodies or soules heartes or mindes of men I speake not heere of such as thinke there is neither God nor Angelles nor Deuilles but euen of them that beleeue all these thinges who neuerthelesse thinke that euill spirites trouble the heartes and mindes of men onely by prouocations temptations and illusions Others there are that referre all the madnesse of Lunatike folkes to naturall causes as if they proceeded either from melancholike or cholerike humours or some such like causes as frensinesse madnesse and furie or some such diseases whereby men are carried beside themselues True it is and cannot be denied that many are thought to be possessed with Deuilles when in deede they are nothing so For there are some counterfeit crankes as many haue beene taken with the maner who vpon some occasion haue by meere knauery fained themselues such And some also there are that bee but melancholy madde and carried away by some disease of the braine but because their melancholie and furie is very violent and strange ignorant people suppose they are possessed with some spirite Notwithstanding wee may not doubt but that euil spirits desirous to hurt men both in their goodes bodies and soules vse al the meanes and occasions they can possibly inuent and finde out to execute their malice when it pleaseth God to giue them leaue For they can driue forward and mooue the hearts and mindes of men and set them in such a fury that euen their reason and iudgement wil be wholly confounded and as it were cleane extinguished Heereupon it commeth that many being caried headlong with such madnesse teare and kill themselues or their owne wiues children or others whereof we may daily see many examples Neuerthelesse we say not that the naturall light which God hath giuen them is wholly put out in them much lesse in those that are not so farre gone but the Deuill doeth stirre them forward with such violence that they are as it were taken perforce from themselues when they are forsaken of God Which examples ought to admonish vs to call vpon God incessantly that hee woulde gouerne vs by his sonne Iesus Christ who is come to destroy the woorkes of the Deuill that so the light of reason and of iudgement may not be darkened or put out in vs and that our heartes be not so possessed and pusshed on by Satan that wee rush our selues through a deuilish furie against the will of God And this did our Sauiour teach vs to demaund of him when hee saide Pray that yee enter not into tentation and when hee taught vs to say Leade vs not into tentation but deliuer vs from euill For if euill spirits durst set vpon those that were sounde both in body and soule after that manner which I haue spoken of according to that power that was giuen them wee may not thinke that they spare such as are sicke especially those that are already troubled in braine and beside themselues For the Deuill as our mortall enemie continually watcheth for those occasions that are fittest and most for his aduantage to hurte vs withal Therefore he intrudeth himselfe amidst our diseases and miseries chiefely when there is weakenesse of braine ioyned therewith vsing against vs those weapons which hee findeth in our owne nature as also those which his owne malice and rage ministreth vnto him whereof wee haue a very profitable example in the historie of Iob. Hee declareth plainely by his speach that if the feare of God had not kept him backe he had rather haue strangled himself then liued in that miserable estate wherein he was And no doubt if God had not helde a strong hand ouer his seruant Iob and brideled the rage and euill will of Satan that persecuted him the Deuill had had great power ouer this good man to haue perswaded him to make away himselfe desperately as Achitophel and Iudas did Nowe if the Deuill preuailed so farre with Iob by that leaue which God gaue him to afflict and trouble him wee may well thinke what hee can doe with the wicked and reprobate whome GOD wholly abandoneth and giueth ouer vnto him We haue a very plaine example in Saul of whome it is written that the spirite of the Lord went from him and that hee was giuen ouer of the Lord to an euill spirite which troubled and vexed him and that in the ende he fell into such desperation that hee vtterly forsooke God and slew himselfe We may know also by that which the holy Euangelists haue written of such as were possessed and were healed by Iesus Christ and by his Apostles what power euill spirites haue ouer thē whilest God suffered them to execute their rage and furie A man may easily iudge that such persons are not onely out of their wits through sicknesse but that euill spirites possesse them For he so troubleth their minde and spirite that they knowe 〈◊〉 more what they doe then the veriest bedlems that can be And although hee horribly vexeth their bodies yet they feele not his torments or if they doe feele them yet they cannot abstain from vexing thēselues So that it is easily knowen that the deuill is in them and that it proceedeth not onely of a simple frenzie or melancholy humour seeing some of them haue done such things as coulde not possibly bee perfourmed by the power of man whereof some of those are witnesses whom the holy scripture rehearseth vnto vs. Wherefore it is out of all question that euill spirites haue wrought both in them and by them Therefore we haue good occasion offered vnto vs by all that hath beene hitherto spoken to humble our selues before God and to pray vnto him continually as wee saide in the beginning of our speech For being as we are we ought still to praise God who distributeth his graces as it pleaseth him and that by a most exquisite kinde of iustice And when wee see those that are infirme and beside themselues some for a certaine time and by fittes others continually and after diuers manners
let vs not mocke or despise them but rather haue pitie and compassion ouer them pray to God in their behalfe and succour them asmuch as wee can acknowledging the grace of God towards vs in keeping vs from such inconueniences and beseeching him to preserue and keepe vs continually For whatsoeuer befalleth others shoulde as it were hang before our eyes as often as it pleaseth him to beate them with such scourges which we our selues haue no lesse deserued then they that are beaten yea oftentimes a great deale more The Lord striketh whome it pleaseth him that by them others might take instruction Therefore if we cannot profite by such teaching nor learne at other mens cost to feare and honour him to call vpon him and to giue him thankes it is to bee feared that he will send vs asmuch that so we may learne at our owne charges Yea and then also he is very gratious vnto vs if he suffer vs to haue our vnderstandings to knowe how to profite by his roddes and chastisements and giue vs not wholly ouer into the handes of Satan our Aduersarie But enough of this matter And nowe that wee haue seene the nature and office of the internall senses of the soule with their seates and instruments the sequele of our speech requireth as I thinke that we should intreate of vnderstanding and will which are two faculties and vertues in the highest and most principall part and power of the soule of man and in regard of which it is properly called by the name of a reasonable soule and life as wee shall presently learne of ACHITOB. Of the reasonable soule and life and of vertue of the vnderstanding and will that are in the soule and of their dignitie and excellencie Chap. 28. ACHITOB. Although beastes without any iudgement and reason follow after that which they conceaue to be agreeable to their nature and eschew the contrary according as their natural inclination driueth thē thereunto yet they passe not those bounds of nature which God hath set them nor violate the lawes thereof Wherby we see that through a secret sense of nature they draw alwayes towards God their Creator in that their nature bendeth still towardes that which God hath appoynted to bee the chiefe Good vnto which they can attaine And no doubt but God hath giuen them such inclinations to bee as it were rules to direct them to that which is their proper and naturall Good which consisteth onely in corporall thinges belonging to their bodies Nowe if hee bee thus carefull for beastes we may not thinke that hee hath depriued Man of such a benefite but that hee hath also giuen him his inclination to leade him to his proper Good and to the trueth which in respect thereof is necessarie for him For what likelihoode is there that such a woorkeman as God is woulde create Man the most excellent creature vnder heauen in worse estate not onely then beastes but also then all other bodily creatures which are nothing in comparison of the excellencie which is in him who notwithstanding following their naturall disposition Prayse GOD and fulfill his worde as the Psalmist saith As therefore God hath ordayned and prepared a farre greater Good formen then for beastes and hath layde vp the same in his soule and spirite so hath he giuen them the meanes to enquire and finde it out But the difficultie that is in finding it out proceedeth through their owne fault For the darknes of ignorance and error which sinne hath brought into their minds is that which hindereth them which had not taken holde of them if mankind had continued in the perfection of his first nature Neuertheles what defect soeuer there be yet we see that in the minde of man there shineth alwaies this naturall light that is giuen vnto him aboue that which beasts haue I mean Reason which serueth to guide the soule and spirite amidst the darknesse of errour and ignorance to the ende they may be able to discerne trueth from falsehood and the true Good from the false as we see the light serueth the eyes to keepe vs and to cause vs to see in darkenesse Therefore we sayde before that there was a double discourse of reason in man whereof the one is Theoricall and Speculatiue which hath Trueth for his ende and hauing found it goeth no farther The other is Practical hauing Good for his end which being found it stayeth not there but passeth forward to the Will which God hath ioyned vnto it to the end it should loue desire and follow after the Good and contrariwise hate eschew and turne away from euill Therefore when the question ariseth of contemplation reason hath Trueth for her vtmost bounds and when she is to come into action she draweth towardes Good and hauing conferred together that which is true and good she pronounceth iudgement So that reason considereth of thinges with great deliberation and beeing sometimes in doubt which way to take shee stayeth and returneth as it were to her selfe and maketh many discourses before shee iudge and conclude But sinne hath so troubled our spirite that these naturall rules which shoulde euermore cause vs to encline to that which is right and good are greatly depraued and corrupted Neuerthelesse there remayneth in vs a small remnant of that great Good which testifieth sufficiently vnto vs what losse and damage wee receiued by our fall Therefore both the internall and externall senses serue vs not onely for the good of the bodie and for this life as they do to beasts but also for the good of the soule and helpe vs to lift vp the minde higher to seeke for a better life and for a greater Good then can be found among all the creatures and in which alone the minde findeth true felicitie agreeable to such a nature as it selfe is Heereof it commeth that it cannot content it selfe with that wherwith beasts are contented nor stay there where they stay For after the spirite is somewhat setled vpon that knowledge which it hath by his imagination and fantasie he lifteth vp himselfe higher by the meanes of reason namely to the vnderstanding of spirituall and diuine things For hee knoweth well that because he is as it were shut vp in an obscure prison and compassed about with darknesse he is hindered from attaining to the vnderstanding and knowledge of many things whereof he is ignorant and can neither see nor know that which he would so neerely cleerely and perfectly as if hee were at greater libertie nor vse that naturall vigour that he hath being in this prison of the bodie In this sort doeth man consider of himself and of his nature and from that knowledge which he hath of the highest and most excellent things in nature there springeth in him a loue towardes them insomuch that the spirit ascendeth vp and attaineth vnto God who is the authour and Creator of all For this cause there ariseth contention betwixt reason and fantasie For
are soone perswaded to giue ouer all care to seeke for and to prouide thinges necessary for the soule And if the bodie be neuer so little out of square yea the verie feare least they should procure it any griefe causeth them wholly to abstaine from labouring the minde in the searching out of wisedome and trueth so that they voluntary become ignorant There are others that haue running heads who will neuer continue and stay in one thing and some also that when they shoulde hearken to that which they are about haue their wittes a wool-gathering and as wee vse commonly to say are building of castles in Spaine But aboue all we must herein acknowledge that God distributeth his giftes and graces to men and bestoweth witte and vnderstanding as it pleaseth him Nowe that we haue intreated sufficiently of the vnderstanding and of the discourses of reason therein let vs speake of Iudgement which followeth it and of his office This then shal be the matter subiect of thy speech AMANA Of Iudgement and of his office after the discourse of reason and how Beleefe Opinion or doubting follow it of the difference that is betweene them Chap. 30. AMANA If I iudge aright of the doctrine contained in our former discourses which handled the nature powers faculties and vertues of the soule I finde that the spirite is as it were the chiefe part therin in which is the Mind the Vnderstanding Memory The Mind is as it were a white paper wherein as a man groweth in yeeres and iudgement so he writeth his cogitations and thoughts which he hath by learning and by the instruction of wisedome Vnderstanding is framed by the knowledge of reason and last of all Memorie followeth For there is great difference betweene that which the senses and the vnderstanding are able to doe in the time of infancie and that which is done by them in other ages wherein there is greater vse of them And although the seeds of al the operations of the soule are included within it euen from the beginning of the creation thereof neuertheles God hath created it of that nature that as hee hath ioyned it to the body which hath his degrees of growth in euery part thereof so the soule hath some agreement therewith in this respect touching the manifestation of her powers and vertues If then any man bee endued with an excellent spirite that is quicke and ready to conceiue and with a memory apt to retaine and holde fast it is a great meane for him whereby to attaine to the knowledge of the trueth But for the perfection of these two great giftes of nature it is necessary hee shoulde haue a good and found iudgement proceeding from a sounde disputing and discoursing of reason lightened by the spirit of God and by it purged of errour illusion and of all vaine opinions which the nature of man hath of his owne inheritance and which hindereth him from iudging aright of the trueth Nowe the office of Iudgement is to like or dislike the discourses of reason and the conclusions which are made thereby For it belongeth to Iudgement to iudge whether reason discourse and conclude well as it ought to doe And therefore it is in the spirite and in the minde as a rule or as the skoles in a payre of balance and whilest reason is a woorking it is quiet But when shee hath concluded and done iudgement afterwarde examineth and considereth whether there bee any fault in the discoursing or in the conclusion or in both or whether all bee well referred before it eyther approue or mislike any thing And if it finde any thing that breedeth feare least it be deceiued then it beginneth againe to aduise of the matter Nowe the greatest cause it hath to feare least it bee deceiued ariseth of probable reasons which albeeit they bee like to bee true yet indeede are not true And because there are some which haue such great shewe of trueth that it is a very harde matter to bee able to discerne them from true reasons and not take them to bee such indeede therefore the Iudgement may bee often deceiued by this meanes For it will not easily flippe aside but abide constant in that wherein it is once setled if it bee not ledde and induced to allowe or disallowe of a thing eyther by vertue of true and certaine reasons that may mooue it or of such reasons as are so verie likely and carry so greate a shewe of trueth that they cannot bee knowne and discerned for others Therefore wee may well saye that a good vpright and sounde iudgement is an excellent gift of God neither is there any thing more necessary in all artes and disciplines yea in the whole course of mans life and chiefly for the principall end of our being which is to know and to serue God For as Good is a thing agreeable to the Will so is Trueth agreeable to the Minde whereupon it followeth likewise that as Euill is contrarie and an enemie to the Will so is lying in respect of the minde Wherefore if iudgement iudgeth that the conclusion made by reason is true and followeth well it ioyneth it selfe thereunto receiuing and imbracing it as agreeable to it selfe This approbation is called Consent But if it iudge the conclusion to be false it turneth aside and reiecteth it and this refusall may be called dissent because it is contrary to consent when there is no agreement of sentences but disagreement and contrarietie As touching Consent we may diuide it into two kindes For one kinde thereof is firme and stedfast and another weake and vnstayed If the consent bee firme certaine and throughly resolued it is called Beleefe But there is difference betwixt that beleefe or faith which concerneth humane matters and that which is of diuine thinges For then doe wee giue credite to humane thinges when wee take them to bee so certaine that wee doubt nothing thereof as namely when wee are so perswaded eyther by very euident reasons which remoue all doubting from vs or els by testimonies which we take to bee most certaine Wherefore wee may say that there is great agreement betwixt this kinde of beleefe and betweene Science because there is a certaine resolution both in the one and in the other For Science is a kind of knowledge in which the demonstration made vnto vs compelleth vs to approue that which is spoken because we see the reasons so certaine that we cannot gainsay them nor thinke otherwise The like is done in beleefe which is a kinde of knowledge that causeth vs without doubting to giue credite vnto that which is tolde vs because wee are ouercome by witnesses and by authoritie which wee approue For if wee doubted any thing our consent woulde bee yet weake and so it coulde not properly be called beleefe but rather Coniecture or Opinion For considering that in this there is some kinde of consent which inclineth to one part rather then to another
word of God But forasmuch as the darkenesse which sinne hath brought with it keepeth man from hauing any sound and perfect knowledge of God or of heauenly things as he had in his first estate it is necessary therefore that hee should restore and kindle againe in him this diuine and perfect life which hee hath lost by the benefite of regeneration and spirituall renouation as if hee created him anew giuing him a minde to vnderstand his worde and a will to followe and to embrace it This is that which I thought we were to note and learne concerning the meanes that bring vs certaine knowledge of such things as we ought to iudge and accompt for true Let vs nowe consider howe the spirit of man being enriched in measure with heauenly gifts and graces doeth finally attaine to the ende of all inquisition and searching out of trueth which is contemplation that followeth iudgement as iudgement followeth reason and the discourse thereof Therefore doe thou ACHITOB take vpon thee to discourse of this matter subiect and so ende all speaches of this dayes worke concerning vnderstanding that afterward wee may looke particularly into the will which is the second part and vertue of the highest and most soueraigne power of the soule How the vertues and powers of the soule shew themselues by litle and litle and by degrees of contemplation and of the good that is in it of that true and diuine contemplation which we looke for after this life Chap. 32. ACHITOB. I was much troubled oftentimes about the vnderstanding of these two words Soule and Spirite in seeking to find what difference or agreement they haue one with another seeing that many times I sawe one of them taken for the other and also opposed as repugnant one to another In the ende I learned of skilful men that wee might vse the worde Soule to signifie man as hee is borne hauing onely the giftes of a humane soule namely the humane senses and those other powers and vertues both animall and naturall of which wee haue already spoken And as for the Spirite that wee must vnderstand thereby whatsoeuer heauenly grace and knowledge of the trueth is giuen to man by the spirite of God dwelling in him which guideth and leadeth him to the contemplation of the diuine nature wherein consisteth his good and felicitie Moreouer wee may see in sundrie places of the Scriptures according to the Hebrew phrase the worde Soule taken not onely for the life of man and for all things belonging thereto but also for the whole nature of man and thus also is the worde Flesh taken Therefore when the flesh is opposed and set against the spirite in man wee vnderstand thereby not the body only but also the soule of man I meane such a one as it was at the beginning when being left vnto it selfe it followed the corruption of it owne nature And likewise by the spirite wee meane that which is regenerated in euery part of man whereby hee being withdrawen from the peruerse desires and corrupt affections of his nature is lift vp to the contemplation of celestiall and eternall things But our God vseth in such sort to apply himselfe to the nature and abilitie of his creatures that by little and little and by degrees he dispenseth vnto them those things which hee will bestowe vpon them alwayes keeping that order which hee hath vsed and followed in the creation of the worde For as Moses testifieth hee first created it of nothing Then hauing created the matter of all natures hee brought it into a woorke and gaue vnto it a forme and so polishing it by degrees and day by day at length hee set it in that perfection which hee minded to bestowe vpon it Wee see likewise that in the continuation of his woorkes hee beginneth alwayes at the basest and least thing and so goeth on encreasing augmenting and ascending vp vntill hee hath placed them in their perfection whereof we haue daily experience principally in plants and liuing creatures For the generation of plants commeth of their seedes from which they take their beginning And when the seede which is the least part of the whole plant is put into the ground it taketh roote therein and then commeth foorth encreasing dayly vntill it come to those bounds that are alotted vnto it by the Creatour which it can not passe because it can not attaine to greater perfection being of that kinde but then daily falleth to decay vntill it be wholly consumed and returned to the elements from whence it was taken The like is done in the generation of all liuing creatures and namely in that of man For what is his beginning and what is his conception natiuitie childehoode adolescencie youth mans estate and then old-age Wee see howe small his beginning is and howe hee groweth steppe by steppe and from age to age vntill hee commeth to the flower of his age and to his full strength as plantes doe and from thence the neerer hee draweth to olde-age the more hee fadeth and decayeth vntill hee come to death whereby the body returneth to the Elements out of which it is taken For as God hath giuen him a beginning so hath hee appointed him limites vnto which hee may ascend vp vntill hee come to his highest and then hee is to descend as the ordinance of God shall leade him As for the soule the same can not befall it in regard of bignesse seeing it is not corporall as the body is neither yet in respect of death seeing it is immortall For it can not be resolued as the body may to returne into the elements out of which it is not taken but it abideth alwayes in that substance and nature which first it had because it is of a celestiall and diuine nature But if the question be of the faculties powers and vertues thereof the seedes of which it hath in it selfe wee see by experience howe they shewe themselues more and more perfect and howe the vse of them is greater in one age then in an other For as long as the infant is in his mothers wombe no man can perceiue that as yet hee vseth anie other vertue and facultie of the soule that is in him then that which heeretofore wee called the vegetatiue or nourishing facultie by which hee is nourished as plants are After when hee is borne hee continueth a long time like to other liuing creatures as though he had only a vegetatiue and sensitiue soule as they haue Then by little and little as hee groweth from one age to an other those vertues of the soule whereby hee differeth from beastes appeare euery day more and more And yet hee hath no other soule in substaunce nor any other senses and minde throughout his whole life then hee had when it first mooued as also hee hath no other body But a man may easily iudge that this cōmeth not of the nature of the soule but of the instruments it hath in
the body which in the infancie of man hinder it from doing that which it doeth by them in other ages Besides wee may truely say that God hath created it of that nature that as hee hath ioyned it vnto the body which hath his degrees of growth so the soule hath some agreement therewith in this respect touching the manifestation of her naturall powers and vertues Neither is it any strange thing if God deale so with it in this matter In the meane time wee see that although the soule of man seemeth in nothing or very little to differ from that of plants as long as it is in the mothers womb nor from the soule of beasts during the time of his infancie neuerthelesse afterward it sheweth very well wherein it differeth from them and that it hath certaine vertues which are not in any other soule For if this were not so both in respect of the age and growth of the body as also in regarde of that property which is in the nature thereof it woulde be alwayes like to that which it is in the beginning as wee see it is with plantes and beastes in whose soule wee can perceiue no more change in the ende and when they growe vp then in their beginning and first birth According then to that I haue now saide we see by experience that in the gifts and graces wherewith GOD daily adorneth and enricheth his children he doeth not communicate all at once vnto them but by little and little and by degrees as hee iudgeth it expedient and as they are capable of reason and vnderstanding Therefore it is written of Iohn Baptist that the childe grewe and waxed strong in spirite which is as much to say as that according as hee grewe in age God increased the graces of his holie spirite vpon him wherewith hee had indued him euen from his mothers wombe And when wee haue profited well in his schoole so that wee are assured of and instructed in those things which wee ought to followe according to the worde of GOD wee easily attaine to that Good which is the ende of all inquirie of the trueth namely to contemplation which followeth iudgement as iudgement followeth reason and the discourse thereof For reason discoursing is as it were the inquisition of the trueth that is sought for and iudgement is as the election that maketh choice of the trueth and of that which it taketh to be most certaine and Contemplation is as it were a quiet and setled beholding of all those things which were gathered together by reason and receiued with approbation by iudgement For there is no more place for disputation seeing all things are certaine and cleere Nowe all pleasure and delight proceedeth from the conuenience and agreement that is betwixt the thing that pleaseth and him whome it doeth please And because there is nothing more agreeable to the nature of the spirite and minde of man then trueth hereof it commeth that notwithstanding al corruption that is in him there is no man but naturally desireth knowledge and skill accounting science to bee excellent and woorthie of great praise and ignorance to bee full of shame yea hee iudgeth it a verie ill thing to bee deceiued Wherefore wee may not doubt but that as knowledge is more true and certaine so doeth the spirite receiue greater pleasure and when it hath found the trueth it delighteth greatly therein And if for the causes before touched by vs it can not find the trueth so certainely as it desireth yet it taketh singular pleasure in approching so neere vnto it as it can For this cause the more certaine the trueth is which it knoweth it is the more agreeable and pleasant vnto it especially when it knoweth the true spring and first causes thereof Therefore as the mindes of men delight more in those things that resemble them most of so much the more noble and excellent nature they are yea more heauenly and diuine and so will take pleasure in such things as are most excellent and celestiall Contrariwise the more earthly vile and abiect they shall be the more will they delight in mortall base and contemptible things and despise such as are of greatest value For this cause many Philosophers haue esteemed more of the studie of Philosophie and the knowledge thereof then of kingdomes and great riches being prouoked and pricked thereunto by an vnspeakeable pleasure which their spirite tooke in the knowledge of those things that were reueled vnto them therein On the other side wee see that ambitious men delight more in honours and worldely greatnesse then they woulde doe at leastwise in their owne opinion in all the skill of the Philosophers A couerous man pleaseth himselfe a great deale more in telling and beholding his crownes then in any other thing whatsoeuer It is no maruell therefore if ambitious couetous and voluptuous men and such like doe commonly deride those that take delight in learning and chiefly in the doctrine and contemplation of those celestiall and eternall things which they set before their eyes or if they preferre greatly their owne estate and condition before others that take pleasure in such things For they are pearles cast before swine which are not valued as they are woorth but onely of such as knowe them and their value Nowe if heathen Philosophers haue oftentimes willingly abandoned all their goodes that they might wholly addict themselues to the study of their humane Philosophie to the contemplation of such things as they could know thereby notwithstanding that it was alwayes accompanied with some doubting and that they could neuer attaine to a certaine knowledge either of the beginning or ende of things what ought Christians to do when the question is of Diuine Philosophie and Wisedome the treasures of which are opened and offered vnto them in the word of God For it is without all comparision farre more certayne then any science and containeth in it other trueths and matters that are great deale more profound excellent and more worthy of contemplation And they to whome God hath beene so gratious as to giue some taste and experience of these things are able to iudge well of them yea farre better then any others For it is certaine that euen for a little true knowledge of God and of the trueth of those things which hee hath reuealed vnto vs in his doctrine wee receiue singular delight with great ioy and sweete consolation So that euery man may perceiue howe much greater the pleasure will bee when the knowledge shall be greater If then this small taste which wee may haue in this worlde of these delicacies and spirituall delights bringeth vnto vs such singular ioy we may easily iudge howe great it will be in that most happy contemplation which wee shall haue in heauen with God when wee shall beholde him face to face and knowe him as wee are knowen whereas heere wee see him but as it were in a glasse and
our Will to be seruiceable to him that hath bestowed it freely vpon vs as wee ought also to perfourme the like seruice vnto him with our minde and reason wherewith he hath endued vs for the ruling and direction of the Will But when our Will taketh any other obiect beside obedience to God it proceedeth from the same cause that blindeth our minde and reason namely sinne which reigneth in vs through the corruption of our nature as wee haue already touched it Neuertheles that which I haue said is alwaies true that the wil hath Good in such sort for her obiect that she cannot truly without dissembling Will that which is euil if it hath no shew or reason of some good But notwithstanding she hath free libertie yet is shee so ordeyned of God that shee cannot will that which is euill but onely that which is good whether it bee good in trueth or in opinion onely For if shee were not created and ordayned of GOD to desire and followe after good there woulde bee no cause why she shoulde loue or desire vertue more then vice or loue God rather then hate him But wee must consider diuers degrees in the actions of Will and in the freedome theereof For some there are whose heart and Will agree so together that there is no dissimulation neither any commaundement of the Will eyther towardes it selfe or towardes any other but it heartily desireth or refuseth that which it seeketh after or escheweth As we may say of an ambitious man that hee doeth truely and with all his heart desire honour and glorie as also a couetous man doeth riches But there are other actions of the Will wherein she commaundeth her selfe or els the inferiour powers that are subiect vnto her as wee see in a man infected with the dropsie who beeing verie drye and thirstie desireth greatly to drinke But this appetite that commeth from the senses of the bodie is restrayned by the Will that hath power ouer it which knowing what hurt would issue thereof to the sicke partie commandeth this appetite and appoynteth that hee shall not drinke The reason why she will haue it so is to the ende that the patient might auoyde greater euill then that which hee endureth knowing well that to drinke woulde hurt him more then helpe him because the thirstinesse woulde not bee taken from him but encreased Wherefore although the sensuall appetite putteth the patient in minde to desire drinke yet Will following the iudgement of Reason opposeth it selfe against this appetite and commaundeth it selfe to abstain also the outward members as namely the mouth not to drink and the handes not to giue it any drinke Now if it so fall out that the Will giue place to the appetite it is alwayes with her consent and that because shee agreeth rather vnto the sensuall appetite then vnto Reason Which agreement proceedeth of her impatiencie and incontinencie because she hath not patience to stay for the better but rusheth vpon that pleasure which at that present seemeth best vnto her and neerest at hand Therfore it is alwayes requisite that the grace of God should gouerne our minde and will to perswade them euermore to counsaile and to imbrace the best otherwise wee shall make choyce of the worst and of euill rather then of good Which we shall easily vnderstand if we consider what good things the wisest and most vertuous men guided only by the light of nature are able to propound to themselues and to follow and what difference in that poynt there is betwixt them and those whome God doeth guide and gouerne by his spirite The discourse then of this matter belongeth to thee ARAM. Of those good things which both men guided onely by the light of nature are able to propound to themselues and to follow and they also that are guided by the spirite of God of the power and libertie of the Will in her actions both externall and internall Chap. 35. ARAM. Among the heathen Philosophers there haue alwayes beene some great personages endued with excellent doctrine who seemed to haue bene led with a burning affection towards good and vertuous things this no man can deny But if we compare them that haue had none but naturall light with them who beleeuing the worde of life haue receiued that light which the spirite of GOD hath kindeled in their heartes and mindes wee shall finde very great difference betwixt them For they that followe the light of nature take not an infinite spirituall and eternall good which is God for the obiect of that good which they desire but a finite carnall and temporarie good and that also no farther then their reason and sense iudge it good for mankinde or for the societie of men or for themselues and those whome they loue The like respect they haue in eschewing euill which they iudge contrary to such a good And yet there are very fewe that goe so farre who giue not themselues to vertue rather for their owne profite or glorie then for the loue they beare to vertue or to the benefite of the common societie of men And surely I thinke that if glorie had not more mooued so many excellent men as haue beene heeretofore among the Grecians Latines and other heathen people and nations then their loue to vertue and to thinges profitable for the common wealth they woulde not willingly haue incurred so great dangers to effect so many valiant deedes as Histories specifie of them neyther woulde they haue set vertue at so high a price if no glorie or profite shoulde haue redounded to them in following her or at leastwise in seeming to seeke after her If any haue beene founde to haue done otherwise as wee reade of some it is to bee attributed to a speciall grace that God hath bestowed vpon them in their ignorance more then to others But yet all this would bee nothing or very litle seeing the good which the Will propoundeth to it selfe and pursueth in this sort is not the true and soueraigne good which of it selfe is able to make men blessed Wee are then to knowe that the wisest and most vertuous men guided onely by the light of naturall reason doe not propounde to themselues nor seeke after any other good then that which consisteth in ciuill honestie in worldly honour and glorie in this bodily life and in the commodities thereof and in those delightes and pleasures which their humane sense and reason desire according as some delight eyther in the knowledge of thinges or in ciuill and morall vertues or in honours or in riches and in such like thinges Yea the best that euer were among the Heathen and the wisest of this worlde that are like vnto them neuer went farther neyther in deede coulde For seeing they knowe not GOD truely they can neither loue him nor seeke after him either because they are not throughly perswaded that there is a God or if they bee sure of that yet
they stand doubtfull what he is whether he haue care of men or no and whether he heare and helpe them when they call vpon him And if they be in aduersity then they loue him much lesse For if they thinke that their miseries come from their owne nature or at all aduenture they suppose they are not bounde vnto him neither ought to loue him seeing hee hath prouided no better for their affayres And if they thinke that himselfe doeth sende them because of their sinnes they are so farre from louing him that contrariwise they hate him and storme against him as it is most manifest by infinite blasphemies contayned in the bookes of Heathen Poets Historiographers and Philosophers aswell against God as against his prouidence iudgements and all his woorkes when they fell not out to their lyking Nowe if their Vnderstanding was so blinded in the Knowledge of God their Will was much turned out of the way For it is alwayes like to a shippe carried hither and thither by diuers tempests which seeketh still some hauen to arriue at but can finde none So the Will seeking after the good which it desireth runneth and skippeth from one to another without order and can finde no rest except that heauenly light shine into the minde which may teach it the true good and frame it to the seeking and imbracing thereof Therefore when this light is in the spirite of man it first presenteth to the Will that infinite good namely God in whom alone shee may satisfie her selfe and then all other good thinges that depende of that all which shee desireth euery one in his order Thus shall God haue the first place and the next his creatures all which wee ought to loue so farre foorth as hee hath created them and so consequently are good And if wee place God in the highest degree of loue as the soueraigne good with whose loue we ought to be as it were wholly swallowed vp wee will loue nothing but in him and by him and for his sake and consequently we will desire nothing but according to his Will because wee can Will or desire nothing but that which wee shall loue and wee shall loue nothing but that which wee ought to loue neither with any other affection nor to any other ende Which is the proper effect of the spirite of God in them that are regenerated and guided by him And thus when the darkenesse of our minde is driuen out by light from heauen which is brought vnto it by Iesus Christ and the Will inflamed by the holy Ghost then doe our heartes reioyce in the goodnesse of God and our conscience resteth therein then doe we loue him and beginne to obey him not desiring any other thing Therefore we beseech him to guide gouern vs to reforme vs daily more more after his own image and similitude to the end we may be made conformable to him both in mind will become true temples for him to dwel in And whatsoeuer he sendeth vs whether it be prosperity or aduersity we take and receiue al as from his hād giuing him thanks in prosperity not abusing or extolling our selues against him and calling vpon him in aduersity without murmuring or despiting his maiesty which we adore alwaies whether we vnderstand comprehend his iudgements or no. Likewise we are led by him to loue all good things according to that order which is shewed vnto vs by his heauenly wisdome namely other men made after the image of God as we are those vertues life things that are agreeable vnto him desiring thē for the loue of God knowing that we serue him in the lawful vse of all these things yeelding praises and thanks vnto him as to the author creator of them Neuertheles it cōmeth to passe that we see oftentimes a very great confusion in the maners works euen of the holiest best men that may be but that is whē God withdraweth from them his spirite grace although it be neuer so litle a while or when he doth not manifest shew forth his vertue power in thē For without God we can doe nothing through him nothing is impossible vnto vs. It is very certain that there remaineth alwaies natural infirmity corruption in man and that the mind reason memory may be troubled by the affections of the heart which resēbleth a fiery surnce is like to a thick smoke ascending out of a great fire which would dim the eies make them as it were blind And whē the light of the mind is thus darkned reason cānot discourse so wel nor iudgement iudge so vprightly nor memory retaine so firmly or bring forth so readily that which it hath kept as if none of them were thus hindred with darknesse which compasseth about the light that ought to guide thē Now if there be such a let impedimēt in regard of the mind the Wil is much more troubled by this fire of affections that heateth kindleth it whereby it is made a great deale more vntoward to follow the counsel aduise of reason then reason is wel affected to admonish and counsel it in that which is to be followed or to be fled And when these two principal parts powers of the soule are thus troubled and moued it is no maruel if man forget God himself if with al his soule body he turn aside from that which he ought to follow after As cōtrariwise there is no doubt but that as long as the celestial eternal father disperseth his diuine light into our minds by his sonne who is his eternal word and wisedome preparing them by his holy spirit to receaue the same and by this meanes also kindeleth the heart and Will with the heate thereof disposing and framing them to follow this light no doubt I say but there will ensue a good agreement and great conformitie of the minde and heart of the Reason and Will and of all the affections yea of all the senses and members of man But let vs return to the sequele of our speech which hath an especiall respect vnto the Will we haue then to consider more narrowly of the power and freedome of the Will both in her internall and externall actions For the first if the question bee of deliberating about any thing it is in the choyce of the Will to propound the same to the minde to aduise and consult thereupon or otherwise not to propounde the same vnto it After whilest the matter is in deliberation she may command eyther to prosecute the same or to deferre it to some other time or to giue it ouer quite and to turne the minde to some other thing as it were a Prince among his councell And if the consultation bee finished and sentence giuen by iudgement yet may the will stay it selfe from desiring and following after that which is counselled and iudged to bee good by reason
So that the whole consultation lieth in the liberty and choyce of Will For men are not drawne by an immutable violence of nature as beasts are but reason enquireth what way is to be taken or left and wayeth and examineth what good or euill is in euery thing Therefore Will may goe about againe with that which was once deliberated of to the end the first conclusion be not approued staied in but that greater inquiry may be made to finde out if it may bee some better or more profitable thing And thus when many thinges are shewed set before her she may choose what pleaseth her although it be not that which was best approued by iudgement and which reason vpon very euident arguments counselled her to follow For if there be another side that hath some shew of good albeit neuer so small she turneth to that if she please so that vpon one onely coniecture or opinion of good she will lay holde vpon that and reiect the other side in which peraduenture the ture good is to bee founde The chiefe cause whereof is in the corruption of our nature and in those impediments of good discoursing and of vpright iudging whereof wee haue alreadie hearde and which hinder reason and iudgement diuers and sundrie wayes And this also taketh place in respect of Will which likewise hath great occasions offered to beguile and deceiue it selfe because all the affaires of men are intermingled with good and euill thinges Therefore it is very hard to be able to discerne and separate them well one from another For men being compounded of diuers natures namely of a body and of a soule they propound also diuersity of good euil things vnto themselues because they know corporall and terrestriall things better then spirituall and eternall things therefore they preferre them oftentimes before the other Which is the cause why there are so many that loue this life a great deale better and those outward good things belonging therevnto then they doe eternall life and those goods which are able to leade men thither and giue them full fruition therof when they come thither Therefore in so great diuersity of good and euill things it is no marueile if there came nothing into deliberation wherein reason findeth not some good or euill which in the end it counsaileth vs to follow or to auoyde according to the circumstances of times places persons qualities and other such like things It commeth to passe also oftentimes that Will refuseth all counsaile and exhortation to doe that onely which she pleaseth thereby to shew that shee is Lady and Mistresse and subiect to none And beeing mounted vp to that pride shee accounteth this Lordshippe which shee taketh to her selfe to bee a great good and so maketh knowne her power and magnificence as it were a tyrannicall prince making choyce in the meane time of a false kinde of good which is no way good but a very great euil And thus much concerning the libertie of the Will in her internall actions which freedome also appeareth plainly enough in the outwarde actions For after she hath liked of a thing she may put it in execution or stay execution yea after she hath begunne she may giue it cleane ouer or doe not so much or so speedily as shee might And although it falleth out oftentimes that men are hindered from executing their Will yea are forced and compelled to doe the cleane contrary yet their Will if we consider the matter well is neither hindred forced or constrained For that keepeth it not from willing still that which it pleaseth but the violence offered outwardly stayeth the effectes and execution thereof Hereof it is that wee commonly say that a mans Will is taken for his deede although it bee not put in execution Nowe to conclude our speech wee knowe that the Will hath hinderances to let her from choosing those good things which shee ought to followe and refusing those euils shee ought to eschewe and auoyde For Reason beeing appoynted as Mistresse to guide and direct Will by her iudgement the selfesame thinges that mooue Reason and Iudgement doe mooue Will also as if the one touched the other or as if there were a certayne knitting and ioyning of them together not vnlike to the linkes of a chayne of which if yee mooue or touch one the like is done to the others that are neere vnto it by reason of the coniunction they haue one with another Wee ought also to knowe that although the Will often choose euill in stead of good yet it ceasseth not therefore euer to desire good naturally which is most fitte and agreeable to the nature therof but it is deceaued in that it hath no skill to discerne between true and false goodes and to distinguish the greater from the lesse And as wee haue hearde that euill spirites may trouble and mooue the fantasie and minde so no doubt they can doe the like towardes the heart and Will to induce them to euill and to driue them to doe greater thinges then weake nature woulde doe of it selfe if it were not holpen by them euen to cause them to committe such crimes as nature abhorreth Therefore wee must without ceassing watch and pray that wee enter not into temptation and if wee bee tempted that wee fayle not neither bee ouercome And this wee may assuredly beleeue wee shall obtayne if through regeneration by the spirite of GOD our minde bee taught and our Will guyded by his light Nowe then hauing spoken enough of Vnderstanding and of Will which are the principall powers of the soule let vs come to the affections thereof and first it shall bee good for vs to consider of the distinction that ought to bee made betwixt all these faculties of the soule and betweene their seates and instruments which they haue in the bodie But wee shall learne these thinges of thee ACHITOB Of the distinction that ought to be betweene the Vnderstanding and knowledge and the Will and affections in the soule and betweene the seates and instruments which they haue in the body of the agreement that is betweene the heart and the braine Chap. 36. ACHITOB. The heauens the earth and all the elementes the stones plants beasts al the other creatures that want reason vnderstanding obey God in their kind but yet they know him not the obedience which they yeld vnto him proceedeth not of any knowledge they haue of his will or of iudgement in them to discerne good from euill but only so farre forth as they are drawne by their natural inclination in those things that concerne their nature But Angels and Men in whome God woulde haue his image to shine in euery part of them and after all sorts were created by him of that nature that hee would be knowne of them and that they should follow his Will not without Vnderstanding and iudgement thereof nor without agreement of their willes with his
God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things And we see that repentance ordinarily followeth sinne and that a sinner can not but feele some heauinesse and griefe Yea nature it selfe teacheth vs when wee are displeased for some thing whereof we repent vs to strike our breast because the heart is within it as also to hang downe our eyes for shame But the vexation sadnesse and sorrowe which after the fault committed a man is striken with because of the hurt that taketh holde of him and the punishment he expecteth or endureth already serueth not but for a continuall torment vnto him as if hee were in a hell except he change his mind amend his fault and returne to God againe and so betake himselfe againe to that place and order of his which God had assigned him Beholde what good instructions we haue in our selues which ought to pricke vs forward to goodnesse and drawe vs backe from wickednesse especially our heart beareth vs certaine testimony of that which is acceptable in the sight of God Now as we haue heard that the forme thereof is aptest for the motion it hath so the substance matter whereof it is made is a kinde of flesh that hath none like it in all the other partes of the body For it is needful it should be so thicke and fast that it may the better discharge that office and duety that is laide vpon the heart On the other side it is so seated in the breast that the foundation and foote thereof is directly in the middest of it but the narrow end of it bendeth somewhat towards the left-side Which is done in regarde of two great commodities wherof the one is that it should not rush against the bones of the breast the other that it should heate the left side the more seeing the right side is holpen by the heat of the liuer which is on that side And although the left part of the heart be very bigge and hard and consequently more heauy then the right which is more subtile thinne and soft and therefore lighter neuerthelesse God hath giuen it such a counterpoize that both sides are of equall waight so that although there be no ligameÌ„t or band to tie it vnto the other parts that are neere about it yet without inclining or bending any one way more then other it hangeth in the middest of the vessell and skinne that compasseth it round about For the left part which of it owne nature is heauiest containeth in it a lighter matter namely the vitall spirite and the right side that is not so heauy hath in it a more heauy matter which is the blood Whereby wee see howe the prouidence of God hath so well framed the counterpoize that both partes are equall like to an euen and iust paire of ballance From whence also we may take a good lesson concerning the vprightnesse that ought to be in our heart and wil and in al our affections with what heart we ought to folow the ordinaÌ„ces of God that way which he showeth vs in his word how we should continue and abide stedfast therein and turne neither to the right hand nor the left as wee are often commanded in the holie Scriptures Moreouer forasmuch as the skin that coÌ„passeth the heart hath the bones of the breast on the one side the lungs on the other it was requisit that it should be of a matter so wel teÌ„pered that it might receiue no harme by the hardnes of the bones on the other side shuld not be so hard as to be able to hurt the lungs which are of as soft teÌ„der a flesh as any is in al the body Which teacheth vs sufficiently that the prouidence of God hath forgotten nothing in any respect But we must further know that there are two capacities or holow places in the heart distinguished one from another by a partition the one being on the right side the other on the left That place on the right side serueth to receiue the blood that commeth from the liuer to the heart by veines both for the nourishing of it selfe and of the lungs and for the generation of the vitall spirites whose forge and shoppe is in the other void place on the left side where the hart doth exercise his chiefe office which is to ingâ—nder the vitall spirites of the finest and thinnest blood which resolueth it selfe there as if it came of the sweate that proceedeth out of the right capacitie Now the vital spirit is as it were a most bright and liuely flame like to the celestiall nature which carrieth heat life to the whole body and is the instrument of the chief actions works therof In this left hollow place there is a great artery which is as it were the stocke of al the arteries in the body which a litle from the heart diuideth itselfe into two branches whereof the one ascendeth vpward to carry the vitall spirite into the vpper partes of the body the other which is some what bigger descendeth downeward By meanes of these arteries which are as it were the pipes of the heart the greatest benefite of all is communicated to all partes of the body Now because the arteries and veines haue neede one of an others help they meet one another are so linked and ioyned together that the arteries are seldome alone without the veines For the arteries being ioyned vnto the veines doe giue them aire and spirite which through the vitall heate stirreth the blood and helpeth to bring it to perfection and to preserue it In like manner the arteries sucke some small quantitie of blood out of the veines whereby the vitall spirite is carried sprinckled and increased Wherein wee haue againe a notable example and goodly paterne of that mutuall communicating that ought to be among men without which neither nature nor humane societie can be preserued the like also heereof wee see betweene the heart and the lungs in which there are pipes that passe from the one to the other for their mutuall helping and succouring one of an other For the Arteriall veine that proceedeth out of the right side of the hearâ— carrieth the blood to the lungs to nourish it and the veiny artery which commeth out of the left side of the heart carrieth ayre vnto it from the lungs to refresh it For after it is brought to the lungs by the artery or wind-pipe the lungs communicate the same vnto the heart Likewise by that same veiny artey the ouer-heated ayre and fumes are carried from the heart and serueth besides to carry the spirite and the arteriall blood vnto the lungs to heate them Therefore this artery is not altogether so thicke as the rest are nor so thinne as the veines to the ende it may easily enlarge or straiten it selfe or giue and receiue the ayre and that through hardnesse it hinder not the motion of the lungs as also
euil must of necessitie be fled from And of this naturall inclination to good proceede all those affections of the soule that draw it hither and thither to seeke for it but because of her badde iudgement proceeding of the darkenesse of ignorance which is in the minde she chooseth oftentimes the cleane contrary to that which she desireth as we haue already touched We call then properly by the name of affections the motions and acts of that naturall power of the soule which consisteth in following after good eschewing of euil For receiuing of God in our first creation to be to be wel we haue still some naturall seedes of the perfection of these two great gifts which teach vs naturally that it is a good thing for one to preserue himselfe and his beeing as also to be wel and happy in his beeing but this is only generally For wheÌ„ we are to come from these generalities vnto particulars there are wonderful errors and disorders throughout the whole course of mans life Now among the motions of the soule some go before iudgement others follow after although oftentimes they are so sodaine headstrong withall that it appeareth plainly they haue shaken off the bridle neuer expected staied for any iudgemeÌ„t Notwithstanding it is true that the hart is not moued before there hath bin some iudgement to determine whether that which is then offred vnto it be good or euil But bicause the motions of our spirit mind are very light sodain and need not so long time as otherwise is requisit for vs if wee will take good heede to our matters hereof it is that they seem to vs many times to preuent goe before iudgement giuen when indeed they follow it And as for those naturall motions which in truth go before it they are such as are bred borne of the disposition of the body as the desire to eate in hunger and to drinke in thirst sorrow in time of sickenes or the motion of a melancholike humor or ioy proceeding from good and pure blood in the heart But the other motions follow the aduice of iudgement as that is mooued and changed diuersly by such meanes as haue alreadie bin declared so the affections alter and increase or decrease or otherwise vanish cleane away and come to nothing Whereof it followeth that they are appeased by the same meanes by which they are moued according as they are applied vnto them But although it behooueth that the affections should be pricked forward by iudgement yet it followeth not thereupon that they can not be stirred vp except this mature ripe iudgement be alwaies there which ordaineth things to be done after the discourse of reason For it is enough for them if they haue another iudgement that obserueth not such an exact diligent examination but onely that which fantasie offereth without any other discoursing And this iudgement thus moued by fancie is most vsual ordinary and that which most guideth ruleth the affections of men Therfore it is a sodain tumultuous iudgement of which a man may truly say a short sentence of a sottish iudge Thus fancie being very turbulent skittish drawing to it selfe confusedly some shew and apparance of opinion iudgement whereby it deemeth that which is offred vnto it to be either good or bad is the cause that wee liue in the middest of marueilous troubles in respect of our affections of feare of desire of sorrow of ioy and that one while we weep and sodainly we laugh againe And because it hath great power ouer the body as wee haue already declared these perturbations doe manifestly incline that way We see also by experience that there is great agreement betweene the qualities and temperature of the body and the affections of the soule insomuch that as the bodies of men are compounded of the qualities of heate colde moisture and drienesse so among the affections some are hote others colde some moist others drie some mingled of these diuers qualities So that euery one is most subiect to those affections that come neerest to the nature temperature complexion of his body As for example the affection of ioy is hote and moist therefore they that are hot and moist as children yong men sound and healthy folkes and idle persons are more easily inclined to that affection Contrariwise sorrow is a colde and drie affection and therefore they that are colde and drie are most giuen to that affection and such are olde folkes and they that are of a melancholy humour which is earthy cold and drie For the like reason they that haue a soft and tender heart receiue more easily the impression of ioy and griefe as wax taketh the print of a seale and they that haue a haâ—d and hote heart quickly receiue ioy keep it a long time And on the other side they that haue hard and cold hearts receiue sorrowe and grieâ—e very soone and retaine it long as appeareth in melancholy and melancholike persons And as the affections followe the temperature and complexion of the body so they for their parts haue great vertue and power ouer the body Therefore we see that ioy is as it were a medicine to the body and foode to the naturall heate and moisture in which two qualities life chiefely consisteth as we haue already heard For it greatly preserueth and increaseth them forasmuch as it strengtheneth the animall and naturall vertues stirreth vp the spirites helpeth digestion and generally profiteth the habite and disposition of the whole body For the heart thereby sendeth with the blood much naturall heate and more spirites vnto all parts of the body By meanes whereof the members are watred and moistned by the humiditie contained in the fountaine of blood whereupon it followeth that all the partes increase in bignesse and waxe fatte For this cause Physicions alwayes exhort sicke persons to be as merry as they may and to auoide sorrowe and sadnesse which being colde and drie is contrary to life and so consumeth men For it drieth vp the whole body because the heart thereby is closed vp and restrained so that no great quantitie of spirites can bee made there and those fewe that are there can not easily bee distributed and dispersed with the blood throughout the members Whereupon the vitall vertue and her companions being weakened the liuely colour of the face waxeth wanne and pale and in a manner vanisheth cleane away and so consequently the whole bodie becommeth leane and consumeth as if it tooke no nourishment yea death oftentimes followeth thereupon This agreement therefore which is as we see betweene the temperature and complexion of the body the affections of the soule ought to teach vs to be very temperate in our eating and drinking and in all other things belonging to our life For as wee arre either temperate or intemperate so will the qualities be whereof our bodies are
may more easily take holde then in another that is more contrarie to it It is otherwise with flegmatike or melancholike men according as the humours which rule in them dispose and incline them more to be caried with one affection rather then with another Therefore wee see that they which are of a cholericke complexion as they are of a more hote and dry nature so their affections are more sodain burning and violent like to fire Flegmatike and melancholy persons as they are colder so they are not so easily mooued but are more slowe and heauy and haue also other inclinations and other affections And as they that are cōmonly said to be sanguine are of the best temperature so their affections are for the most part more cheerful more temperate And as there are diuers mixtions of bodily qualities so there are sundry sorts of temperatures and complexions of the body and consequently of soules in regard of their saculties and affections Therfore also there is great agreement betweene corporall and spirituall Physicke For this cause the Physicions both of the bodies and soules of men are to follow almost one the same methode and obserue a like order in their arte practise euery one according to the subiects propounded vnto them insomuch that looke what the one doeth vnto the body the other is to deale so with the soule such things being applied as best agree with their seuerall natures Wherein they may further eche others worke greatly obseruing that ende at which both of them aime which to the one is the health of the body and to the other the cure of the soule considering that the one may helpe the other as hath bin already touched For if the body be not temperant hardly wil the soule be if the soule be intemperate the body desireth not to be temperant Therefore also we see that not only Physicions for the body appoint men diets both for the preseruation of their bodily health and also for the recouery restoring thereof again but also spiritual Physicions doe the like in regard of the soules health so farre foorth as bodily sobriety wil serue greatly to that purpose For this cause not only ordinary sobriety moderation which ought to be kept throughout the whole life of man is so greatly recommended vnto vs in the holy scriptures but fasts also which being more strict abstinēces are very profitable yea necessary oftentimes according to times places and persons For they serue to tame and humble the flesh that it may be the better kept in lesse hinder the spirit which thereby is the better inabled to attend to euery good worke to the contemplation of diuine celestial things Therfore the people of God holy men fasted oftē wherof wee haue many testimonies in the scriptures And as it is necessary that bodily Physicions should know wel the tēperatures complexions of mens bodies and their natures their health and diseases also with their conuenient and apt remedies so is it needfull that spirituall Physicions shoulde knowe the nature of soules of their faculties powers affections the natures of vertues which are their health and of vices which are their diseases together with those medicines remedies that are necessarie for the preseruation increase of vertues and for the diminution abolishing of vices For without this knowledge neither of them can be good Physicions but it may bee feared least they make the diseases worse or in steed of curing the sick persons kill them outright But we must yet draw more instruction out of this matter here offered vnto vs. For whatsoeuer hath beene hitherto spoken concerning the agreement between the temperature of the body and the affections of the soule or concerning the health diseases of them both or the knowledge that is requisit in Physicions to follow a good method in their art practise for the healing of their patiēts I say the vnderstāding of al these things is not only necessary for the Physiciōs both of soules bodies but euen for euery one of vs particularly For if we were all skilfull in the art of corporall Phisicke I meane not such skil as is needful for them that make publike profession thereof to all but onely so much as is necessary for the preseruation of our owne health I doubt not but we might easily auoyde many infirmities and diseases whereinto we fall daily for want of good diet good gouernment and the vse of those meanes which might either retaine vs in health or restore it quickly vnto vs when it is somewhat altered or impeached Moreouer we should haue this aduantage besides if we fell into any disease that we should know the better howe to keepe and gouerne our selues more moderately and wisely and obey the Physicions counsell the better because we should haue greater knowledge of that which we ought to doe of the danger whereinto we might fall or which we might easily auoyde Wee may say as much of the soules phisicke the knowledge whereof is a great deale more necessary for vs not onely because the soule is more noble and precious then the body but also because it is a harder matter to knowe the nature and diseases of the soule then of the bodie And if wee prooue so happie as to be able to comprehend any thing wee shall know daily better and better what things are in vs of God and what is his order as also what there is of Satans and what is that disorder and confusion which by meanes of sinne he hath brought into all things For as sinne is cause of that excesse which is in the qualities of which our bodies are made and consequently of the diseases that proceed from thence which afterward bring death to the bodie so is it in respect of the soule and of the excesse that is in the affections thereof and in all the other partes of it contrary to that nature in which God created the same And as sinne is the cause of the disorder and confusion that is in both of them so it is the cause that one helpeth to spoile another whereas there should be a pleasant harmonie and concord not onely of the bodily qualities among themselues and so likewise of the qualities of the soule among themselues but also of the qualities both of soule and bodie one with another For God hath put nor onely into our soules but into our bodies also the seedes of all the vertues and the pricks and meanes to incite and to leade vs vnto them in such manner and forme as shal be declared hereafter Although wee may learne somewhat by that which we haue heard alreadie of the conueniencie that is betweene the body and the soule betweene the temperature of the one and the affections of the other For if the one bee answerable and correspondent to the other no doubt but God so disposeth of
so some of them are brideled and restrained by others For the first enuy hatâ—ed and anger spring of loue For they are motions of the heart that loueth against him that hateth or hurteth her who is deâ—re or beloued And desire riseth of reuenge and the ioy that commeth thereby proceede from anger and malice If a man loue any thing he wisheth it would come and hopeth also that he shall enioy it and contrariwise hee feareth that it will not come to passe If it come to passe hee reioyceth If it come not to passe when hee thinketh it will or when hee expecteth it he is grieued In like manner great ioy is lessened through greefe and enuy through mercy or through feare And one greefe altereth another when it is greater and feare maketh griefe to be forgotten and causeth the lame to runne To be short these sundry motions of affections are like to stormy waues and billowes which being driuen one of another doe either augment or diminish or wholy oppresse one another Wherefore the like happeneth in the motion of our affections that commeth to passe in a sedition and ciuill dissention in which no man considereth who is the worthier person to obey and folow him but who is the stronger and most mighty So in the fight of the affections there is no respect had to that which is most iust but only to that which is strongest and most violent and which hath gotten such power ouer the soule that it hath wholly subdued her to it selfe which thing wee ought to stand in great feare of But whatsoeuer affections are in vs there is alwayes some griefe or some ioy ioyned with them Therefore following our matter it shal be good for vs to consider particularly of the nature of these two contrary motions of which ioy serueth greatly for the preseruation of life but griefe drieth vp and consumeth the heart euen vnto the death of it as wee shall now learne of ACHITOB. That Ioy or Griefe are alwayes ioyned to the affections and what Ioy and Griefe are properly Chap. 44. ACHITOB. The knowledge of the Affections of the heart and soule is very necessary for euery one because they are very euill and dangerous diseases in the soule but yet being knowen they may be cured more easily This cause hath mooued vs after wee haue spoken of the heart and of the naturall motion thereof and of the vse it hath in this life of the body to enter into the consideration of a second motion it hath which serueth not onely for this corporall life but also for that spirituall life in regard of which it was chiefely giuen and of which we saide that there was as it were an image and representation thereof in the first motion Now we shall better vnderstand this by the subiect of this discourse propounded vnto vs being handled particularly as wee intend to doe For as by the first naturall motion of the heart it receiueth such refreshing as is necessary for the sending of life vnto the whole body and for the maintenance and preseruation of the same as also for the expelling and driuing out of all such things as might hurt and stifle it euen so is it in this second motion as farre as wee can conceiue of the nature of it For seeing God hath appointed ioy as a meanes to preserue life hee hath likewise put this affection in the heart whereby it is as it were enlarged to receiue within it selfe and to embrace all Good that is offered vnto it as also it restraineth and shutteth it selfe vp through griefe which is contrary thereunto Moreouer wee shall finde that there is no affection in vs which is not intermingled with some griefe or else with some ioy For seeing the heart is the proper seate and instrument of all the affections when it is as it were stricken and beaten with some vnpleasant thing that is offered vnto it then doeth it retire close vp it selfe and feele griefe as if it had receiued a wound then doeth it flie from the thing it liketh not Yea the heart doeth alwayes either enlarge or shut vp it selfe according to those affections that are within it the causes of which are in it owne nature God hauing so disposed and willed the same for the reasons which we haue already touched For if the heart be ioyfull the ioy that it hath doeth bring so great pleasure vnto it that thereby it is opened and enlarged as if it would receiue imbrace and lay holde vpon that thing which reioyceth it and bringeth vnto it that pleasure which it hath in this ioy Nowe because there is ioy in loue and hope the blood and spirites are gently and mildely dispersed by their moouings by reason of the reioycing at the Good that is present or that is expected as if it were already present And forasmuch as such motions are made by the enlarging of the heart whereby we embrace the thing offered vnto vs the face also appeareth smiling cheerefull and ruddy For a man may easily iudge that the obiect presented to the heart mooueth that power whereby it is stirred vp because that before the heart doth mooue it selfe it must know the thing that offereth occasion vnto it to be moued either with ioy or griefe or some such like affection For as wee haue learned already the outward senses do first perceiue the things that are offered vnto them and then they present them vnto the common sense which presently by a singular prouidence of God sendeth them to al the other senses and to al those powers that are in the sundry parts of the soule and body This done if there be matter of ioy the heart being striken with that which is acceptable vnto it enlargeth it selfe and being thus gently enlarged as it were to embrace the same it disperseth much naturall heate with the blood besides great quantitie of spirites of which it sendeth a good portion to the face if the ioy be so great that it mooueth a man to hearty laughter For the face it selfe is in some sort blowen vp and enlarged the forehead is made cleere and smoothe the eyes glister and shine the cheekes become ruddy and the lippes gather in themselues In a worde the heart doeth so enlarge it selfe that it is represented in the face as it were in a glasse or in an image framed to expresse the ioy and gladnes which it hath Moreouer experience teacheth vs sufficiently what difference there is between a cheerfull and a sad countenance Therfore when we loue one wee embrace him as if wee woulde ioyne him to our selues and put him into our bosome and heart as some deere and very pretious thing Which wee see chiefly in mothers when they holde their little infants betweene their armes and embrace them with great affection of heart For this cause Saint Paul being desirous to let the Corinthians vnderstand what good will hee bare them howe louing ready and
cheerefull his affection was towards them what ioy he receiued thereby as himselfe speaking plainly doth with his mouth giue full testimony of his heart writeth thus vnto them O Corinthians our mouth is open vnto you our heart is made large you are not kept straite in vs. And then complaining of them that their heart was not so bent towardes him he saieth But ye are kept straite in your owne bowels And heere we may note that by this worde Bowels is meant generally all the internall members and parts of man especially the heart and those that are next vnto it Now because the heart is the seate of the affections and the other members neere vnto it serue for his vse therefore the bowels are taken in the holy Scriptures for all the motions of the heart and for all the affections of men that proceed from it but chiefly for loue also for ioy pitie and compassion which haue their beginning from loue whose nature is to open the heart which in steade of opening shutteth vp it selfe against those that are not loued or that a man hateth Therefore as loue or hatred is great or small hote or cold so doth the heart open or close it selfe Hereof it is saide in the historie of the two women that stoode before Salomons iudgement seat about their two children whereof the one was dead and the other aliue that the bowels of the true mother were mooued towardes her childe And Saint Paul exhorting the Colossians to charitie and compassion saieth Now therefore as the elect of God holy and beloued put on the bowels of mercy that is to say of tender affection kindnesse humblenesse of minde meekenesse long suffering forbearing one another and forgiuing one another if any man haue a quarrell to another euen as Christ forgaue you so doe ye And aboue all these things put on loue which is the bond of perfectnesse and let the peace of God namely that which God hath established among his rule in your hearts to the which ye are called in one body and be gracious or amiable We see here what vertues accompany these bowels of mercy of which hee spake in the beginning as in deed al thâ—se vertues and heauenly gifts are so knit together that they cannot be separated one from an other And Saint Iohn speaking of that liberalitie and loue which ought to be among Christians saieth Whosoeuer hath this worldes good and seeth his brother haue neede and shutteth vp his bowels from him how dwelleth the loue of God in him Then he addeth Let vs not loue in worde neither in tongue onely but in worke and in trueth And to this purpose Esaias saith If thou powre out thy soule to the hungry and refresh the troubled soule then shall thy light spring out in the darkenesse and thy darkenesse shal be as the noone-day All which places agree very well to that which wee haue touched concerning the motion of the heart whereby it is either opened or closed vp as the affections are disposed that mooue it But let vs consider more narrowly the nature of these affections of ioy and sorrowe and what difference is betweene them seeing we haue taken them for the ground of our speach For the first let vs know that ioy is properly a motion or an affection of the heart whereby it taketh pleasure and stayeth it selfe in that Good which is offered vnto it or if wee had rather thus it is a motion of the soule proceeding from the iudgement of some Good which is already present or certainely neere at hand And therefore when the heart is enlarged therewith not onely laughter is bred but all the body also leapeth when the ioy is so great that the breast cannot containe nor keepe in the heart But when the ioy is moderate it purgeth the blood by heate it confirmeth health and bringeth with it a liuely and vigorous heate which is very wholsome and acceptable to the heart True it is that the heart and will often deceiue themselues in the choice and election of that which is Good whether it be that following reason and iudgement corrupted which should shew what is Good they embrace their errour or whether it be that Will being corrupted of it selfe through sinne letteth loose the bridle against the iudgement of reason and so suffereth her selfe to be carried headlong by her euill affections in following some false shewe of good Whereupon it commonly commeth to passe that in steade of ioy which the heart should receiue of Good vnto which the will tendeth naturally it receiueth great sorrow and griefe after knowledge taken of the fault This is the cause why we are so often admonished by the spirite of God to renounce our owne sense reason prudence and wisedome and to submit our selues wholly to the counsaile and wisedome of God and to iudge of good and of euill of the true and false Goods according to his iudgement and not according to our owne as also to renounce our owne desires to followe his will As for griefe or sorrow wee may iudge of this affection by the contrary which is ioy namely that it is a motion and an affection of the heart whereby it is restrained and pressed either with some present euill or with some that is in a manner present which displeaseth the heart as if it had receiued some grieuous wound Therefore it trembleth and languisheth as a sicke body who drying vp with griefe by little and little in the end dicth except hee haue some remedy against his sickenesse For the like happeneth to the heart of man through griefe as long as it is within it insomuch that it neuer forsaketh it vntil it hath quite dried vp and consumed the same And therefore as there is pleasure and rest in ioy so in sorrow there is dolour and torment For it ingendreth melancholy and melancholy ingendreth it and increaseth it more so that wee often see melancholy men very sadde although no harme hath befallen them neither can they giue any reason of their heauines Moreouer this blacke melancholy humor is of this nature that it will make the spirit and mind darkish whereby it groweth to be blockish the heart looseth all his cheerefulnes And because the braine is cooled thereby it waxeth very heauy drowsie Now when griefe is in great measure it bringeth withal a kind of loathing tediousnes which causeth a man to hate to be weary of all things euen of the light and of a mans selfe so that he shal take pleasure in nothing but in his melancholy in feeding himselfe therewithall in plunging himselfe deeper into it and in refusing of all ioy and consolation To conclude some growe so farre as to hate themselues and so fall to dispaire yea many kill and destroy themselues And as the heart by enlarging it selfe with ioy appeareth in the countenance so doeth it also in sorrow and griefe For as
hope maketh not ashamed because the loue of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is giuen vnto vs as if he should say that they which stay themselues vpon such a hope shal neuer be ashamed nor deceiued For the expectation thereof is neuer frustrated but it hath alwaies a good a happy issue For when we perceiue that we are deceiued of our hope we are ashamed and confounded But this neuer hapneth to true hope which proceedeth of a sound faith in Iesus Christ by means whereof we haue accesse through him vnto this grace wherein wee stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God as Saint Paul said alitle before Therefore he exhorteth christiaÌ„s to reioice in hope calleth God the God of Hope praying that he would fil the Romans with al ioy peace in belieuing that they may abound in hope through the power of the holy ghost And in the epistle to the Hebrews hope is compared to a sure and stedfast ancre of the soule For this cause God is so often called in the holy Scriptures the hope and fortresse of his people and of his It is written also that they which hope in the Lord do reioyce For hee that hopeth in him shal be healed and preserued Therefore it is not without cause that the spirite of God so often repeateth vnto vs this sentence Blessed are they that put their trust in the Lord for they shal neuer be confounded It is better to hope in him then to put any confidence in Princes But vnfaithful and wicked men can neuer be partakers of such a Good because they haue no such hope For it is written The expectation of the iust is gladnesse but the hope of the wicked shall perish And againe The hope of the hypocrite shall perish his confidence shal be cut off and his truct shall be as the house of a spider He shall leane vpon his house but it shall not stand he shall holde him fast by it yet shall it not endure But to prosecuâ—e our matter nowe that wee haue seene the hope of good men together with their ioy let vs consider what remaineth to the wicked of their vaine and false ioy namely Feare which is the second kinde of sorrowe mentioned by vs. Tell vs then AMANA what Feare is with the nature and effectes thereof Of Feare and of the nature and effects thereof towards the body the minde and soule and how it troubleth them of the true harnesse and armour against Feare Chap. 46. AMANA As wicked men can haue no certaine hope of any good they looke for so they neuer haue any true ioy of any present good because they alwayes forsake the true Good and stay in that which is not Good but in their opinion and fantasie neither doe they at any time refâ—rre the ende of good things vnto God but looke onely vpon the things themselues Therefore it is neuer in their power to reioice in that ioy which they accompt to be their true ioy but only by offending God as we heard before Which is the cause why they seek after nothing more then to hide themselues to depart from him as much as they can possible so that they would neuer heare any speech of him but desire to bury the remembrance of him for euer because they can heare nothing spoken of him but as of their iudge neither think of him but he awakeneth their coÌ„science which they labor with might and maine to rocke asleepe Wherein they take a cleane contrary course to that which they ought to follow to obtaine the true Good For seeing God is the soueraigne Good of all creatures what Good can they finde that is greater wherein they can fully reioyce and satisfie themselues Or what other Good dare they promise to themselues to finde without him and when they haue him for their enemy But they are like to drunken men who cannot vnderstand this Diuinitie vntill they haue slept out their wine and are awaked out of their drunkennesse Then shall they knowe what is true and false Ioy what is good and badde Hope when their ioy shall bee turned into sorrowe their expectation and hope into feare and terrour wherewith the wicked shall be continually haunted as the Spirite of God teacheth vs. Nowe as sorrow is a griefe for some euil which a man presently feeleth shutting vp the heart as vnwilling to receiue it so feare is a sorrow which the heart conceiueth of some looked for euill that may come vnto it Therefore it restraineth the heart also and closeth it vp as being desirous to auoide the euill Wee see then that there is the same difference betwixt sorrowe and feare in respect of euill that is betweene Ioy and Hope in regarde of Good So that we may well say that Feare is not onely a fantasie and imagination of euill approching or a perturbation of the soule proceeding from the opinion it hath of some euill to come but it is also a contraction and closing vp of the heart which commeth from that which euery one iudgeth to be euill for himselfe when hee thinketh it is at hand and will light vpon him Therefore first of all it draweth in and shutteth vp the heart and so weakneth the same Whereupon nature being desirous to relieue and succour it sendeth heate vnto it from the vpper partes and if that bee not sufficient shee draweth away that heate also which is in the neather parts By which doing she sodainely calleth backe the blood and spirites vnto the heart and then followeth a generall palenesse and cold in all the outward partes and chiefly in the face with a shiuering throughout the whole body For seeing the first moouing thereof is in the heart the other alwayes followeth so that when the heart trembleth the whole body doth so likewise Whereupon it followeth that by reason of the great beating and panting of the heart the tongue faltereth and the voice is interrupted Yea it commeth to passe sometimes that present death followeth a great and sodaine feare because al the blood retiring to the heart choaketh it and vtterly extinguisheth naturall heate and the spirites so that death must needes ensue thereof Therefore we cannot doubt but that feare hath greaâ— power ouer all the body and ouer life it selfe For this cause Esaias after he had denounced the iudgement of God against the Babylonians the comming of the Medes and Persians by whome their citie shoulde be taken and themselues slaine saieth thus Therefore shall all handes be weakened and all mens hearts shall melt which is as much to say as that their hearts shall faile them for feare And therefore hee addeth They shal be afraid anguish sorrow shall take them and they shall haue paine as a woman that trauaileth euery one shal be amased at his neighbour their faces shal be like flames of fire But here we
afraide what man can do vnto me In the feare of the Lorde saith the wise man there is assured strength and his children shall haue hope Therefore Iesus Christ saieth to his Disciples Let not your heart bee troubled And then hee sheweth them the meanes saying Ye beleeue in God beleeue also in me For nothing but faith in God through Iesus Christ is able to giue vs this assurance On the other side if wee be not armed with the feare of GOD and with true faith that wee may be certaine of his helpe and prouidence and of his loue towards vs there is nothing that can assure vs but rather that which is written in the Lawe will befall vs I will saieth the Lorde send a faintnesse into their heartes in the land of their enemies and the sound of a leafe shaken shall chase them and They shall flee as fleeing from a sworde and they shall fall no man pursuing them And in an other place where mention is made of them that despise the Lawe of GOD and rebell against the Lorde it is saide The Lord shall giue thee a trembling heart and looking to returne till thine eies fall out and a sorrowfull mind Thy life shall hang before thee thou shalt feare both night and day and shalt haue none assurance of thy life In the morning thou shalt say would God it were euening and at euening thou shalt say woulde God it were morning for the feare of thine heart which thou shalt feare and for the sight of thine eies which thou shalt see Therefore when wee see that in many great and dangerous affaires the boldest and most couragious are oftentimes the greatest cowardes and most astonished and carried away with feare and terrour and euen many times without any great cause are amased and voyde of counsaile whereas contrariwise cowardes by nature growe to bee most hardy in the middest of dangers thereby GOD sheweth very well whether strength and courage come from him or from men and who is to haue the praise thereof But nowe that wee haue seene the first motions of the heart in the affections of ioy of sorrowe of hope and of feare and knowe that they haue respect to good or euill either present or to come let vs learne in the next place that as contemplation consisteth in the rest of the Spirite after the discourse of reason and iudgement so after the heart hath the fruition of that Good which belongeth vnto it it is still and quiet resting it selfe therein which rest is called Delight or pleasure of which the order of our speech requireth that thou shouldest dilate ARAM at this present Of the delight and pleasure that followeth euery ioy and of the moderation that is required therein of diuers degrees of pleasures and howe men abuse them especially those pleasures which are receiued by the corporall senses Chap. 47. ARAM. It is certaine that all the affections which God hath placed in the nature of man were giuen vnto him in regarde of so many good things which were meete and conuenient for his will to long after and to desire For ioy and hope which affoord pleasure and consolation to the heart were bestowed vpon him to bee spurres and sollicitours to induce him to seeke after God his soueraigne Good in whom alone he may finde all delight rest and pleasure As for sorow and feare they are sure testimonies vnto men of the iudgement of God and executioners of his vengeance to this end that the feare of euill which may come vnto them should keepe them in awe and that sorow and griefe for euill which they haue already committed should be vnto them both hangman and punishment It is true that these affections being naturall in euery one bring forth contrary effects both in the good and in the bad For the children of God neuer separate his power from his goodnesse and the feare which they haue of him is not ioyned with hatred but with trust in his mercie which mooueth them to be grieued for offending him and to loue him to seeke him and to reioyce in him and to haue him in singuler honour and veneration But the wicked who feare and tremble like to malefactors fearing their iudge hate and despite God desiring nothing more then to escape his hands and to flee from him as farre as they can If they be grieued it is because they may not enioy false ioyes and vnlawfull pleasures Therefore that which is giuen them for Good is turned by them into sinne and euill and pleasure into paine and griefe But here we must call to minde what we haue spoken already concerning the signification of this worde Good as it is commonly taken not considering whether it be true or false but onely according to that opinion which men haue of it For there are many whose fancie is sufficient to affoord them as much pleasure as if indeed they enioyed that Good which they thinke to haue We see many such fooles in the world For some are Popes or Cardinals by fantasie others Emperors or Kings and great Princes or otherwise very riche or possessours of some such great Good And yet such fantasticall fellowes are better contented and pleased with that which they thinke they haue in their foolishe imagination then they that haue them in trueth vnto whome commonly they serue for nothing but to torment them more Therefore I knowe not which of them I shoulde esteeme more foolish and fantasticall For none ought to bee taken for truely wise men and of ripe iudgement but they who knowe that all thinges in the worlde and vnder the sunne are onely vanitie as Salomon sheweth in his booke of the Preacher Therefore hee saieth thus I saide in mine heart Goe to nowe I will prooue thee with ioy therefore take thou pleasure in pleasaunt thinges and behold this also is vanitie I said of laughter thou art mad and of ioy what is this that thou doest But to goe forwarde with our matter let vs consider what delight and pleasure is so farre as men may enioy it in this life It is then a rest which the heart taketh in the enioying of some Good that it liketh euen as contemplation is the rest of the spirite after the discourse of Reason and Iudgement Now wee are to note that there is no delight and pleasure in any thing except there be some agreement betweene that part or power that receiueth pleasure and that which bringeth the same vnto it This agreement cannot bee without good proportion of the one with the other whereby there is some similitude and resemblance betweene them For this cause also the thing that bringeth delight must not exceede too much either in greatnesse or in smalnesse aboue the power which receiueth it in regarde of that part or instrument whereby the pleasure is receiued Heereupon when wee spake of the eyes and eares wee shewed that light was to bee
And as it is written in Genesis That he created nothing but that which was verie good so there was nothing made but it was very beautifull in his kinde Therefore as there is agreement between the body the soule so bodily beautie is as it were an image of the beautie of the soule and promiseth after a sort some good thing of the inwarde beautie For internall perfection breedeth the external Whereupon the internal is called goodnes and the external beauty which is as it were a floure of goodnes that is the seed It is true that this which we say doeth not alwayes fall out so but that oftentimes a man may see the cleane contrary whereupon wee haue this common prouerbe Proper fellowes at the gallowes and faire women in the stewes For ordinarily the goodliest mē such as are best furnished with the gifts of nature in the disposition of their body are most wicked and vicious more beautiful women are strumpets then foule womē at leastwise they are in greatest danger and haue much more a doe to keepe their chastitie For there is alwaies great strife betweene chastitie and beautie which is so much the more increased as beautie is the greater because it is so violent that oftentimes many desire willingly to die for the beautie of others and some are so tossed and tormented that they become senselesse and out of their wits being ouertaken with looking vpon a beautifull face which hath such prickes that they pearce euen to the liueliest part of their heart and soule Wherevpon it commeth to passe that poore silly louers are so tormented and ful of passions that they stand altogether amazed and are like to them that are rosted by a soft fire yea their soule is so subiected to their concupiscence and desire that she must obey them as if shee were some poore chambermaide and drudge Whereby wee may know what good there is in such beautie and what good commeth with it also what coniunction agreement it may haue with goodnesse and whether a man may not truely say according to our common prouerbe That beauty without goodnes is worth nothing But we are to consider what is the cause hereof For we speake not of that which is now done but of that which should be done if the nature of man had continued sound and of that which yet would most commonly bee put in vre were it not that euill education besides that naturall corruption which is already in euery one did infect euen that little good of naturall inclination which remaineth in man But howsouer it be bodily beautie doeth alwaies promise more good of the soule then deformitie doeth If it fall out otherwise it is because God will shew that all good things come from his onely grace and not from nature and therefore he doeth not alwayes followe one course and one selfesame order without any change Besides he commonly recompenceth in one thing that which is wanting in another so that he supplieth that in the spirite which is wanting in the body or in the body which is wanting in the spirite On the other side because many abuse that beautie of the body which God hath bestowed vpon them as they do all other his giftes hee letteth them fall oftentimes into great vices whereby they shew the deformitie of their soule which bringeth also their bodily beautie into great obloquie and shame For as beautie causeth vertue to appeare more faire when it is ioyned therewith so contrariwise it maketh vice more vgly and loathsome to looke vpon Therefore Socrates had reason to say that it was good for euery one to beholde himselfe in a glasse that they which sawe themselues faire shoulde bee the more afraide to blotte their beautie with vices and that they which were foule shoulde labour to beautifie themselues with vertues Nowe seeing we are entered into the causes why beautie draweth loue following this matter we woulde knowe of thee AMANA what other thinges are to bee considered heerein with the sundrie degrees and kindes of beautie and what is the proper effect of loue Of other causes why Beauty procureth Loue and of diuers degrees and kindes of Beauty howe it is the nature of Loue alwayes to vnite and what other effectes it hath howe Loue descendeth and ascendeth not what power it hath to allure and breed Loue. Chap. 50. AMANA Many amongst the Philosophers haue made three kindes of good or of good things namely that which is pleasant profitable and honest Hereupon forasmuch as Loue is a desire of good or goodly things or at leastwise of things so accompted they haue also made three kinds or fortes of Loue of which the first is towards delightful and pleasant things and such are those things which tickle and delight our senses being properly called the goodes of the body The second kinde of Loue is towardes profitable things as honours riches greatnesse and such other like things called externall goodes or the goodes of fortune The third kinde is towardes honest things as wisedome prudence and other vertues which are the goods of the soule As for the two first kindes of Loue wee may well place them amongst the perturbations of the soule because so many euill affections spring from them that al confusion proceedeth from them yea euery mans life is thereby made miserable But to loue and desire good and honest things is that which truely maketh a man famous For this loue maketh the chiefe part of his soule excellent euen that part whereby he is man and which is farthest remooued from bodily matter and from obscuritie and neerest to diuine brightnesse I meane the spirit and vnderstanding which of all the other partes and powers of man onely is voide of the blot of mortalitie The consideration of the diuers degrees and sundry sortes of beautie doth prepare the way whereby we may come to this laudable and honest loue For by them wee may ascend vp from the lowest to the highest and turne our corporall and earthly loues into spirituall and heauenly They that are most ignorant know that Loue is a desire of beauty and that Beauty draweth Loue. Yea some of the learned Heathens haue taught that it was Loue which mooued God not onely to create the world but also to create it beautifull and of so goodly a forme in euery part of it And the name whereby it is called yeeldeth testimony of the beauty of it For worlde signifieth as much as a goodly and well decked ornament Therefore seeing God hath created and framed it by loue no doubt but loue is dispersed and shedde throughout the whole world and is continually drawen and procured by beauty to the ende it might bee conformable and like to the fountaine from whence it came On the other side all beautie is as it were a beame of that infinite and diuine beautie that is in God and therefore as the diuine forme draweth
vnto it true and perfect loues so the image and similitude thereof draweth the images of loues And that loue whereby almightie God was mooued to create all things proceeded from his owne goodnesse Nowe forasmuch as beautie is a beame of that goodnes which is shed ouer all as the sunne spreadeth his light by his beames the goodlier any thing is so much the more amiable louely it is For the mother of Loue is goodnesse and the mother also of Beautie is goodnesse so that both of them are bredde and borne as it were of one mother And according to the diuersity of natures created by God so are there diuers kindes of beautie which are all as it were beames flames and lights of that heauenly and infinite beautie which is fountaine of al the rest The first chiefest and most excellent kinde of all is that beame of heauenly beauty whereby the spirit and minde is adorned and polished with vnderstanding and contemplation The secondis in that illumination whereby the soule receiueth knowledge Therefore the vnderstanding mounteth vp to those two first degrees of Loue which is drawen by such beauties and from thence proceedeth the loue of spirituall things The third kind which is as it were an other beame of diuine beauty appeareth in the effectes of lower degrees which are in that fruitfulnesse which God hath giuen vnto the creatures putting into them seedes to preserue and to encrease their kindes The last and lowest yea the most troublesome and earthly kinde is in corporall matters which are purtraited and painted with great varietie of formes and shapes And as the vnderstanding ascendeth vp to the two first degrees of which I haue already spoken so the imagination stayeth it selfe in the two last and from thence proceedeth the loue of the body and of bodily things and the affection to beget of that goodly thing thereby to drawe out a forme like to that beautie towardes the which a man is affectionated Nowe when wee shall consider aright of all these degrees and beames of beauty it is certaine that wee wil striue to ascend vp from the lowest to the highest whereas commonly wee descend from the highest to the lowest feeding our spirites with corporall and terrestriall loues which differ from their nature in steade of spirituall and celestiall loues which is their proper foode But we must note further that the greatest last and chiefest force of loue is of many and diuers things to make one and the same Therefore he that loueth our friend or doth him any good seemeth to do that to vs which is done to him and we esteeme of it as if we receiued it our selues For it is the nature of loue which way souer it turne alwayes to ioyne and knit vnto it selfe as on the contrary side hatred is of this nature that it will euermore disioyne and separate For this cause Iesus Christ prayed so earnestly for his vnto his Father to the ende saieth he that they all may be one as thou O Father arte in mee and I in thee euen that they may be also one in vs. And Saint Iohn saieth likewise of him that hee shoulde gather together in one the children of God which were scattered For seeing hee came to destroy the workes of the deuill as he saieth elswhere and seeing it is the nature of this enemy of mankind to scatter to disioyne and separat by reason of the enuy hatred which he beareth to God men it must needs be that Iesus Christ should gather together that which the deuil hath scattered and vnite in one that which he hath separated to the end that as man was one with God before he was seueuered by sinne through the enuy and malice of Satan so hee might returne into vnity and vnion with his Creator by the abolishing of sinne which is the cause of the seperation and by the likenesse of vertue with God through the meanes of Iesus Christ Therefore so great goodnes beneficence of God toward vs ought to enflame our loue towards him and moreouer to encrease the same when wee daily feele new benefits powred vpon vs which proceed come from his burning loue and charitie wherewith he loueth vs although he receiue no benefite thereby For we are to vnderstand that although he which hath receiued a benefit from another ought to carry greater loue towards him then hee that bestowed the benefite is bounde towardes the other to whome hee hath done a good turne yet the contrary oftentimes falleth out The cause whereof is because his loue that bestoweth a good turne proceedâ—th from his owne bountie and goodnesse whereas the loue of him that receiueth a benefite commeth of necessitie So that the one hath a great deale better foundation then the other For that loue which proceedeth of necessitie respecteth our selues because wee loue for the good which wee haue receiued and not in regarde of the person from whome the good commeth And this loue proceedeth from the loue wee beare to our selues so that it ought rather to be called Loue of concupiscence then true Loue. For as wee loue the person that doth vs good because of the good which wee receiue so we loue him and wish his good not so much for it selfe as for ourselues and for that profite which wee hope will come to vs thereby But after wee haue begunne with this kinde of Loue it serueth vs oftentimes as a steppe for to passe by afterwardes vnto true and perfect loue For acquainting our selues to loue them that doe vs good wee learne afterward to loue them not onely for loue of that good which they doe vnto vs but also because of themselues insomuch that we will not cease to loue them although it fall out so that they can doe vs no more good yea although they stand in neede of the like good at our hands againe Now when wee are come to this degree our loue is a great deale more pure yea then is it true loue which nowe loueth not the person beloued onely for loue of it selfe but for loue of him euen with the like loue wherewith it hath beene and yet is loued of him And as he that loueth is voide of true Loue if he loue onely in respect of the good hee receiueth so hee that doeth good loueth not with true loue if hee do it to receiue some profite thereby and with hope of recompence and not meerely for his loue to whome hee doth it For such a man respecteth himselfe more then him whom he pretendeth to loue Such is the loue of hypocrites towards God Therefore they honour and serue him as hirelings doe so long as hee vseth them wel and they see rewarde as Satan accused and slaundered Iob before God as though hee serued him for no other cause but for the benefites which hee receiued of his goodnesse Whereupon it pleased God to take trial of that loue which his seruant
to vs with beasts from reason groweth election which is proper to man and from the minde and spirite in which the image of the diuine essence is engrauen proceedeth the will As then sense knoweth none but sensible and corporall things so the appetite desireth only the same things and as the mind of it owne nature enclineth to the contemplation of spirituall and intelligible things so the will feedeth and contenteth it selfe onely with eternall and heauenly goods Now Man that is to say the soule by nature reasonable being placed as it were in the middest of these two extreames and sustaining wonderfull assaults and combates through the impression of these two contraries taketh part one while with the desires of this side an other while of that according as hee inclineth by his election either to this part or to that by stooping downe to the sense or by lifting vp himselfe to the minde But because of the darkenesse of errour which shadoweth his reason it is very necessary that the spirite of God worke mightily therein to this ende that by the power and vertue thereof the naturall affection of earthly things which offer violence to all the powers of the soule might be transported and lift vp to the desire of celestiall and eternall things Truely forsomuch as Good is the obiect of Loue good reason it is that wee should lift it vpward and separate it from the earth as much as we may For as so many rash affections which are the spring of all vices haue their beginning from earthly loue socōtrariwise celestiall and heauenly loue adorneth the soule with two excellent ornaments namely wisedome and vertue the ground of all true Beauty in which all good all contentation and felicitie consisteth And this loue which hath God for his ende and scope hath three great benefites among many others which are not to bee found in any other loue especially in that of concupiscence For first there is no good so excellent in the enioying of earthly things but it is mingled with some thing that may displease vs or some way harme vs. Whereupon taking it to be a lesse benefite and not altogether so good for vs wee are of this iudgement that it is the lesse to bee wished for of vs. But there is no such thing in God Therefore if the soule of man did beholde him by contemplation not such a one as hee is for that is impossible but as shee might contemplate him notwithstanding she is enclosed in this body shee woulde bee rauished in her loue with greater vehemencie then shee is stirred vp to embrace that which of all mortall and transitorie things shee iudgeth best and most certaine For she should know that God is a Good wherein there is nothing mingled that may breed yrkesomnesse or be hurtful but is altogether profitable and full of pleasure Although it can not be gainsaide but that the contrary seemeth to come to passe oftentimes when we see that they which loue God as they ought which by means of this loue are driuen forward induced to procure his honor and glory with all their might are commonly most visited with griefes losses and sorrowes Whereof it commeth to passe that many are alienated from this loue because they greatly dislike that troublesome estate But we must know that this humane and friuolous consideration proceedeth only of this that the price of loue is diuersly valued For there is one kinde of loue that is perpetuall and firme and another which is temporary according as the present motion of the heart pricketh one forward to followe any thing because at that instant it seemeth vnto him to be good or in regard of the profit which he seeth therein or of the appearance of good which he imagineth is in it As for example we know well that health is a greater good then is the swallowing downe of dainty morselles the pleasure whereof passeth away very quickely And yet it commeth often to passe that our appetite stirreth vs forward with such vehemencie that meere lickerishnes causeth vs to eate such meats as we know are contrary to our health The reason hereof is because we compare not the good that is in taste and in dainty fare which sodainely passeth away with that which is in health which is of a longer continuance or else because wee thinke there will not come so great hurt thereof as there may come or else we hope easily to remedy the same And thus is it with them that consider not what great good there is in God but forget him or els suppose that they cāeasily recouer that which they shal lose by folowing after a terrestriall and transitorie Good which causeth them to turne aside from God For if they thought well vpon it and knewe what losse they receiued they would neuer suffer themselues to be gouerned by their appetites and worldly desires But the bare imagination and consideration of honors and of earthly goods doth so dazell the eyes of their mind that they can not knowe the greatnesse and excellencie of celestiall goods which they forsake for those other Whereas contrariwise if they were not altogether blinde they should perceiue that this light affliction of good men which passeth away in a moment bringeth foorth in them an eternall waight of most excellent glory and maketh them partakers of God who is the perpetuall stedfast reward of their true and holy loue Now touching the second benefit which being in his loue is not to be foūd in the loue of creaturs we are to know that this latter is alwayes in feare and care for that thing which it loueth lest some euill should befall it So that notwithstanding any securitie that may be had yet there is alwayes some vexation in al loue towards men and towards mortall things But in that loue which is towardes God there is nothing but delight without care griefe or disquietnesse For we are very certaine that all things are most safe there full of ioy and lasting happinesse And for the third wee see that in the loue of concupiscence there is commonly enuy and euill iealousie which is one kind of it because many couet that which one alone would wholy possesse But it is cleane contrary in the true loue of the soule wherein is vprightnes and fellowship For he that loueth vertue and a vertuous man is so farre from being iealous that he would not onely haue many companions but wisheth that all the men in the worlde were like affected with him The same may be said of him that loueth God For he would haue al men his companions in that amitie iudgeth al those to be miserable wretched which are estranged from it As for that friend who would alone loue his friend hee loueth not perfectly but rather loueth some thing in him that is profitable to himselfe as namely to enioy alone whatsoeuer good he iudgeth to be in his friend
other as also we shall be altogither a great deale more conioyned with and in God For this cause Saint Paul had good reason to say that Loue doeth neuer fallaway though prophecyings be abolished or tongues cease or knowledge vanish away Wherefore in this respect hee concludeth that loue is the greatest of these three Faith Hope and Loue. But wee haue spoken enough of the nature of Loue for the subiect of our discourse of the naturall historie of man Nowe I thinke it will not bee vnprofitable if wee say somewhat of other affections that are neere neighbours vnto Loue and ioyned with it as of fauour reuerence honour and pitie which haue such good or ill qualities in man as the nature of that loue hath which bringeth them foorth as ASER will giue vs to vnderstand Of fauour reuerence and of honour of their nature and effectes of those outward signes whereby they shew themselues of pitie and compassion and how agreeable it is to the nature of man Chap. 53. ASER. I cannot marueile enough at the drowsines of many great spirits who are so delighted with the vaine dreames of their own fancies that they employ all the giftes and graces of their minde to lift vp euen vnto the heauens the pleasures that are receiued in the loue of humane and mortall things especially in the fruites of concupiscence and yet the least of them cannot be gotten without a thousand troublesome discommodities besides that they leaue alwayes in man an insatiable desire of them I would aske of them gladly when the most voluptuous man of them all hath not euen in the middest of his pleasures sighed and bene subiect to passions desiring some other thing besides or when there was euer founde betweene twaine that loued ech other corruptly that conformitie of wils that communication of thoughts those continual agreements that concord of life which is necessary in all true loue especially seeing it is a hard matter yea impossible to see a wicked man that is not daily at variance with himselfe insomuch that if he could leaue himselfe as two men forsake eche other there are many who vpon euery occasion woulde leaue themselues to take another body or another soule And as when one being very desirous to eate and thereupon falling asleepe dreameth that he is feeding and yet is not satisfied because it is not a dreame of meate that will content the sense and appetite which seeketh to bee appeased but substantiall meate it selfe euen so it falleth out when men dreaming in spirite which is as pernicious a thing as the sleepe of death giue themselues by a certaine natural inclination which they haue to the loue of Good to seeke for the beautie contentation delight thereof vpon earth when they are not to be found in the whole worlde As for their shadowes which in some sort appeare in corporall and earthly things and in those delights which proceede of them they doe not feede their mindes with sound and good thinges but rather abuse and deceiue them Therefore we ought to take great heed that wee set not our heart and affection rather vpon those miserable corruptible and deceiueable pleasures wherein worldlings and carnal men doe glory then vpon that great and infinite brightnesse of which the sunne is but a very small beame and vpon those singular blessed and heauenly trueths which the worde of life doeth teach vs and which are the onely true and solide meates that can content and satisfie our spirits eternally It is certaine that nature mooueth vs to set our affection chiefly vpon some one thing rather then vpon another forasmuch as loue is a gift bestowed by the Creatour vpon all natures at the time of their birth Nowe vnto Loue many other affections are ioyned among which Fauour commonly hath the first place This affection is a kinde of good will and liking which springeth from a iudgement conceiued of some Good so that wee may call it a loue begunne For in this iudgement of Good wee esteeme well of him towardes whome our fauour is extended and iudge him woorthie of some good thing and by this meanes wee beginne to loue him Wherefore although fauour may bee without true loue yet loue cannot bee without fauour Notwithstanding when wee fauour one before wee loue him euen then wee enter into the way that leadeth to loue him And for the least shadowe of loue in our heart towardes another wee fauour him as wee see it in those that are linked vnto vs by some degree eyther of consanguinitie or of affinitie or by meanes of some acquaintance and knowledge Now forasmuch as GOD loueth vs he beareth vs fauour also although not in the regarde or for the iudgement of any good which hee seeth in vs or in our corrupted nature but because of the loue hee beareth vs in Iesus Christ his welbeloued in whome by his grace hee hath made vs acceptable to himselfe Therefore this fauour bringeth with it the perfection of all Good vnto vs. For what can hee want that is fauoured of God who can doe all things This fauour which God beareth vnto vs is called grace and blessing in the holy Scriptures which comprehendeth all those benefites which wee receiue of his goodnesse For they proceede all of this fauour and this fauour of the loue hee beareth vs in Iesus Christ Reuerence also commonly accompanieth loue whereby we vnderstand an affection proceeding from the iudgement of some great good that hurteth vs not For if wee thought it woulde hurt vs there woulde bee feare ioyned with hatred and not true reuerence For although there is euermore in all reuerence some feare mingled with shamefastnesse neuerthelesse this feare bringeth no hatred with it This reuerence is bredde in vs by comparing the greatnesse of another with our smalnesse as if wee admired those excellent thinges that are in him For as the heart doeth enlarge it selfe through the consideration and opinion it hath of it owne greatnesse so doeth it restraine and close vp it selfe vpon the reputation and conceipt of another mans greatnesse so it bee good or at leastwise without hurt Therefore if wee compare our greatnesse with some other mans that is farre greater we know our owne smalnesse thereby Whereupon it commeth to passe that we doe not onely esteeme woorse but euen dislike and contemne our selues by which meanes wee become more humble whereas before wee were puffed vp with pride through the opinion of our greatnesse of which wee haue experience as often as wee compare our selues with GOD and lift vp our spirite euen to the consideration of his diuine maiestie comparing that with our basenesse For then beeing rauished with admiration of his highnesse and infinite greatnesse wee honour and reuerence him by reason of his power vnto which wee ioyne also his wisedome and goodnesse And according to that reuerence wee beare towardes him wee reuerence those also in whome wee see the same
heart and first of Reuenge Crueltie and Rage And because Reuenge is appointed to punish offences and euery vice findeth a Iudge within it selfe wee will speake also of the affection of Shame which commonly followeth euery vile acte It belongeth therefore to thee AMANA to intreate of this matter Of Reuenge Crueltie and Rage and what agreement there is among them what Shame and Blushing is and why God hath placed these affections in man and of the good and euill that is in them Chap. 58. AMANA If euery one might be a Iudge in his owne cause and execute his own decrees the malice of men doth declare sufficiently that there would be no iustice obserued in the world but robbery publikely put in practice insomuch as the strongest would alwayes carry away the spoile For that blind loue which euery one beareth towards himselfe causeth vs that we cannot see clearly either into our owne or or into other mens affaires so that wee are alwayes more ready to doe wrong to others then to depart from anie thing of our owne Euen so if wee might be suffered to reuenge those iniuries which oftentimes without cause wee suppose wee haue receiued it is certaine wee woulde obserue neither measure nor meane but suffering our selues to be guided by the passion of anger and wrath wee would fall into more then brutish crueltie and rage For as God hath reserued vengeance to himselfe and promised to recompense it so no man carrieth that minde to doe it iustly that is in him neither indeede can any because it is the spirite of a man that offereth iniury to an other whereas the body is but the instrument of the minde and as it were a sworde vnto it which the spirite manageth and causeth to cutte Whereupon it followeth that the party offended can not reuenge himselfe of his chiefest and greatest enemy For God onely is able to take vengeance of the soule and to throwe it together with the body into hell fire Moreouer when wee thinke to hurt the body of our enemy which is but the executioner of the euill disposition of his Spirite wee hurt our owne soule making it guiltie of the iudgement of God who forbiddeth vs all reuenge and commaundeth vs to possesse our soules in patience and neuer to requite euill for euill but to waite the Lordes leasure being assuredly perswaded that he will saue and deliuer vs. Nowe looke what the affection receiueth and embraceth the same doeth it desire to returne and send backe againe where it did receiue it whether it be good or euill Therefore as a good affection both wisheth and doeth well to him of whome it receiueth good will and beneficence so a naughty affection desireth to returne euill receiued vnto him of whome it hath receiued it For this cause when the heart is wounded with griefe by any one it desireth to returne the like to him that hath hurt it and to rebite him of whome it is bitten This affection is a desire of reuenge which being put in execution is reuenge accomplished namely when wee cause him that hath offended vs to suffer that punishment which in our iudgement he hath deserued This punishment is to damnifie him eyther in soule or in body or in his goodes yea sometimes by all the meanes that may bee And when power to reuenge is wanting there are some that fall into outrageous speeches into horrible and execrable cursings crying out for vengeance eyther at GODS hand or of some other that can perfourme it Euery offence therefore that ingendereth hatred anger enuy or indignation bringeth with it a desire of reuenge which is to render euill for euil and to requite griefe receiued with the like againe And when the offence is growen to that passe that nothing can asswage the extremitie thereof nor stay it from breaking foorth into reuenge and hurting by all the meanes that may bee then is this Reuenge turned into Rage For a man in such a case is not much vnlike to a madde dogge For because Reuenge can not take that effect which it woulde haue it vexeth and closeth vp as it were the hart bringing great griefe great torment to the whole body so that a man so affected is as if his heart body were ready to burst asunder Nowe when the heart is hardened with Reuenge it is turned into Crueltie which is a priuation of pitie and compassion For when Offence and Anger are set on fire they exclude all good thoughtes out of the minde and perswade to all kinde of Crueltie of which there are three degrees For there are some that procure it who neuerthelesse woulde not execute it themselues There are others that execute it Besides there is a third kinde of Crueltie when wee faile in perfourming our duetie towardes them that are in necessitie whome wee both ought and might helpe and succour whether this come of euill will or through negligence For thereby wee shewe that wee are without pitie and compassion Heereof followeth inhumanitie which is as if wee shoulde lay aside all humane affection and bee transfourmed into brute beasts Therefore wee may well conclude that all priuate Reuenge proceeding of enuy or of hatred or of anger is vicious and forbidden by God who commaundeth vs to render good for euill and not euill for euill For hee hath ordained the meanes whereby hee will haue vengeance execucuted among men Therefore hee hath appointed Magistrates to execute it according to his Lawe and following his ordinaunce not with any euill affection but with iust indignation proceeding from loue and from true zeale of iustice For to punish the wicked is a very acceptable sacrifice so that there be no intermingling of our own passions withall and that wee exercise not our enuies rancours and reuenges vnder the name and title of Iustice and of the glorie of God For if wee doe so wee cease to exercise the punishments and corrections of the Lorde and put our owne in practice Wee must therefore followe his example For hee suffereth not euill to goe vnpunished if men auoide not punishment by his grace and mercie and by those meanes which he hath appointed for the obtaining thereof Therefore it is often saide of the wicked in the Scripture that GOD will returne into their bosome the euill which they haue done and his children and seruantes desire him also to perfourme the same But when hee doeth it hee is not mooued with any euill affection but onely with the loue hee beareth to iustice and vertue and to his children and with pity and compassion towardes them in regarde of the iniuries done vnto them And as himselfe commeth in iudgement to take vengeance so hee woulde haue them that supplie his place among men vnto whome hee hath committed the sworde for the defence of the good and punishment of euill doers to followe his example But whether they doe so or no there is no sinne that can auoide
that obscure place it receiueth the goodliest and most perfect forme that can be imagined And who will not bee abashed to consider that out of that slymie seede of man there shoulde come bones sinewes flesh skinne and such like things so diuers one from another But yet it is a farre greater marueile to see all this great diuersitie of matter to bee framed in so many sundrie members and of so many sundry formes and that with such excellent beautie so profitable and so fitte for those offices that are assigned vnto them as wee haue learned in our former discourses Nowe as God did not create all creatures in one day although he coulde well haue done it if it had so pleased him so doeth he in the generation of men For albeeit that the members are fashioned all at once so that not one of them is framed before another neuerthelesse because there is great varietie betwixt them both in respect of their dignitie and of their strength nature their mother doeth not set them forwarde all alike For in displaying her power generally towards all the partes of the bodie it commeth to passe that her worke and the figure giuen vnto it appeareth sooner or later in some members more then in others Hereof it is that the greatest and chiefest members appeare naturally before the rest albeit they are not the first that are fashioned So likewise all the members are not beautified and made perfect at the same time but some after others according as they haue heate and nourishment Nature therefore obserueth this order that the worthiest partes and such as haue in them the beginning of motion shew themselues first and then those members that are profitable and seruiceable to the former and are created for their cause And according to this order the highest partes are seene sooner then the lowest and those within before them without and they that receiue their substance from the seed before those that haue it from blood These also amongest them that are most excellent are first notwithstanding many times they haue their accomplishment and perfection after the other as it appeareth in the Nauill For although the heart liuer and braine beeing the chiefest partes of the bodie haue their beginning before that yet is it the first amongest them all that appeareth perfect Nowe then after the Nauil with his pipe or passage is formed and fashioned within the first sixe dayes the blood and spirite are next drawen by those veines and arteries whereof we spake euen now to be sent to the seede and mingled therewith that the principall members might be figured as the liuer the heart and the braine which begin first like to little bladders and so consequently the rest which are fashioned by litle and litle according as they receiue nourishment For the veines whereby the burthen is nourished may well be likened to small rootes whereby plants are cherished as also the burden it selfe may bee compared vnto plants in this point as we haue alreadie learned So that the seed receiuing this forme alreadie spoken of in the first sixe dayes during which time it is called by no other name then seede nine dayes after that the blood is drawne thither of which the liuer and the heart receiue their forme so that after twelue dayes added to the former a man may discerne the lineaments and proportion of these two members and also of the braine albeit they are not then altogether fashioned At this time the burthen is called Faetus of the Latines and Embryon of the Greekes which is as much in our language as Sprouting or Budding Next after this within the space of other eighteene daies all the other members are fashioned and distinguished So that about fiue and fourty dayes after the conception the members receiue their perfect fashion and then doeth the burthen beginne to liue not onely as plants liue but also as other liuing creatures For it hath sense feeling about the sixe and thirtieth day and from that time forward it is called an infant But as yet it is voyde of motion For by and by after it is formed it is very tender vntill that by vertue of the heate it waxeth more dry and firme which is by reason that the moysture wherby it is made so soft and tender consumeth away by litle and litle so that the nayles beginne to take roote at the fingers endes and the haires in the head Now after the childe is come to the thirde moneth if it bee a male or to the fourth if it bee a female it beginneth to stirre it selfe according to the testimonie of Hippocrates because then his bones are more firme and somewhat harder But this is not alwaies alike in all women with childe For there are some that alwayes feele it stirre about the two and fourtieth day others neuer feele the same vntill the middest of the time from the conception to the birth Yea in the same woman the same time and order is not alwayes obserued For according to the strength and good complexion of the child and the nature and disposition of the mother these things change and not onely because of the sexe Neuerthelesse it is most ordinary and vsuall for male children to moue within three moneths or thereabouts as likewise to bee borne at the ninth moneth whereas females are commonly somewhat slower both in stirring and also at their birth the reason whereof is this because male children are naturally a great deale more hote then females Galen attributeth the cause of the generation of sonnes to the strength and heate of the seede and saieth that they are caried on the right side of the wombe as the daughters on the left which is the colder side as being farthest remooued from the liuer He yeldeth also this reason why some children are more like the father and some the mother because of the greater strength of seede which they haue either from the one or from the other And when it commeth to passe that the wombe receiueth seede at two sundry passages which it hath then are twinnes engendred either at one conception or at twaine so that the later bee not long after the former according to the opinion of the Philosophers and namely of Aristotle who rehearseth many examples thereof in his seuenth booke of the historie of liuing creatures saying that a whore was deliuered of two children whereof the one was like the father and the other like the adulterer But nowe wee are to consider of the childe-birth which is as wonderfull a woorke of God in nature as any other It belongeth then to thee ACHITOB to ende this dayes worke by a discourse tending to this purpose Of Child-birth and the naturall causes thereof of the great prouidence of God appearing therein of the image of our eternall natiuitie represented vnto vs in our mortall birth Chap. 72. ACHITOB. Men are of that nature that they cannot acknowledge what they
no more after that fashion so hee is in an estate that differeth much from the former So fareth it with man when hee is to depart out of the life of this worlde as if hee were to bee deliuered of it in childbirth for another life For hee dieth in regarde of this life to the ende he may liue another life which as farre excelleth this as this is better then the other which hee enioyed before in his mothers bellie yea it is so much the better of higher price in that the length of time of this second and blessed life shal be eternall and endles Moreouer as a childe commeth out when hee is borne so doth a man when he dieth And in comming forth both of them enter into a new and vnacquainted light into a place where they finde all things much altered and farre differing from those which they vsed to haue in their other kind of liuing For which cause both the one the other being troubled and scared with this nouelty are vnwilling to come forth of their clapper to forsake their closet were it not that they are vrged constrained thereunto by the arte lawes rights of nature wherby God hath better prouided for our affaires then wee our selues could conceiue or cōprehend both in our natiuity life also in our death The ignorance whereof causeth our spirit to abhorre the departure out of this life in regard of this great chāge that is therein because it knoweth not what good is brought to it thereby no more then the litle child knoweth wherefore he is borne into the world or what he shall finde there And therefore albeit nature presseth to come foorth neuerthelesse according to that sense which it can haue it weepeth by and by after it is borne as if it were fallen into some great inconuenience and that some great euil were fallen vnto it as we doe also at our death for the cause before alleged not considering that it is our second and better birth Thus you see what I haue thought requisite to be noted in the discourse of our generation and to morow God willing we must looke into the life and death of mans bodie But it shall not be without profite if first we speake somewhat of the causes why God created man naked and with lesse defence for himselfe then hee did other liuing creatures It belongeth then to thee ASER to speake of this matter The end of the ninth dayes worke THE TENTH dayes worke Why God created man naked and with lesse naturall defence then hee did all other liuing creatures how many wayes he recompenceth this nakednes of the generall beautie of the whole bodie of man ioyned with profit and commoditie Chap. 73. ASER As often as men shall consider in such sort as becommeth them that they are borne men and not brute beasts they wil be suffciētly admonished of the ciuil and sociable nature in which God hath created them of that humanitie for which he hath endued them with such a nature so that they wil keepe them selues from being transformed into sauage cruell beasts to hurt one another as commonly they do Truly it is not without some great and notable cause that among al liuing creatures there is not one to be found that hath a more delicate tender skin lesse furnished with couerings for the defence thereof then man hath considering that God himselfe created him as his principall woorke amongest all visible creatures and made him as it were Lorde of the whole worlde And yet hee is of that nature that the skinne wherewith he is clothed is not so sufficient a garment for him as is necessary to keep him from heat cold from other inconueniences that might happen vnto him except he be clad with some other couering then that which he bringeth frō his mothers belly For hee neither hath feathers as birds haue nor wooll as sheepe haue nor bristles as swine haue neither yet any skin or hide so hard nor so well couered and furnished with haire as foxes wolues beares bulls and other foure footed beasts haue Neither hath he any skales as fishes haue nor any shells as cockles sea creuisses tortoises and such other creatures haue But we haue foure things to consider of touching this point The first is that if man had not sinned after that God by creation had in great larges made him partaker of his heauenly giftes and graces he should not haue bene subiect to the want either of garments or of any such like thing whereunto he is nowe after a sort brought in subiection at leastwise he should haue had all these things without paine and griefe For this cause it is sayd in Genesis that after our first parents had transgressed the ordinance of God by eating of the forbidden fruite they knewe that they were naked and couered themselues with leaues And for a punishment of their offence it was sayd vnto them that they should eate their bread in the sweate of their face vnder which worde of bread was comprehended all things whereof they stood in neede for the maintenance preseruation of their life as we vnderstand it in that prayer which we dayly make to God when wee demaund of him our dayly bread The second point which we ought to note in this matter touching the nakednes of man is this that God would admonish him not onely by the whole frame and composition of his body and of all his members but also by his very skinne that he created him to liue in company and felowship and in peace with those of his owne kinde to helpe all and to hurt none Therefore hee did not create him with naturall weapons as he did other liuing creatures vnto whome he gaue all things necessary for their defence preseruation For some of them haue strength and weapons by nature to resist their enemies others wanting this haue swiftnes to conuey themselues out of all dangers and some wanting both these haue yet subtiltie places of refuge to defend themselues withall As for man God hath placed him in this world vnarmed and naked so that if men be disposed to hurt and to warre one vpon another they must deforme themselues and borowe weapons from others wherby they transforme themselues become monstrous as though they were transfigured into sauage beasts into monsters For they haue not as hath bene said hard strong hydes as some brute beasts haue neither prickles darts in them as Hedge-hogs and Porcupines haue Neither are their feete hands nailes like to the hoofes of Horses Asses Mules or to the tallents of birds that liue by praye or to the pawes of wild beasts neither yet are their teeth like to theirs God hath not giuen them sharp bils like to birds neither hath he armed them with stings or with venim as he hath done venimous beasts True it is that man hath
this corporall life consisteth in the preseruation of those instruments which the soule vseth in the body and that the chiefest of them is heate the second moysture agreeable to the heate which must needes haue something to feede it and keepe it in a moderate stay Lastly wee learned that the nourishing and cherishing of the heate is the preseruation of the moysture and therefore those liuing creatures that are best able to mainteine and keepe these two qualities within themselues are of longest continuance in life So that the chiefe naturall cause of the long continuance of life consisteth in euery mans composition namely if it be hot and moyst by due proportion both in the sinewes and in the marrow in the liquors and humors and in the spirits The second cause consisteth in the long continuance of this temperature which being interrupted and marred by diseases the instruments of life are thereby also spoyled so they failing life it selfe must needes cease Whereupon death ensueth euen as when the instruments and tooles of some handicraftes man are worne and faile him it cannot be but that his arte and occupation should also be at an ende So that death is a defect of those instruments of the soule whereby life is prolonged For the soule leaueth the body by reason of the defect of instruments and not for any disagreement that is betweene the body and it as may appeare by this that it was not any proportion or agreement that ioyned the soule and the body together For albeit a workeman vseth his instruments yet there is no proportion and agreement betweene him and them in regard of the matter and forme of him and of his tooles vnlesse peraduenture this proportion may be imagined 〈◊〉 be betweene the arte of the workeman as he is a workeman and betweene the aptnesse of the toole he vseth whereby it is made fit for the doing of that which the workeman hath in hand Seeing then all life consisteth both in heate as we haue already sayd and also in moysture requisite for the heate wee call that naturall death when heate faileth by reason that the moysture is dryed vp through the heate that drinketh it vp which heate also in the end vanisheth away euen as a lampe doeth when the oyle of it is consumed But that is called a violent death when through some accident either the moysture is drawne out of the body or the heate is put out and extinguished either by some inward or els some outward oppression and violence Internall violence is either by poyson or by gluttony and drunkennes or by such excesse as a when a lampe goeth out because there is too much oyle powred into it And if this oppression be done outwardly it is called externall as when the ayre and breath that refresheth the heart is shut vp and reteined either in the sharpe artery or in the mouth For it is as if a fire were suddenly couered and choked by some great heape of stones or of earth or of ashes layde vpon it We heard before that if the Lungs had no respiration by the mouth nostrils no man could breath but he should be choked by and by as we see it by experience in them that are strangled The reason hereof is because the pipe that reacheth from the Lungs to the throat is so closed vp that it is altogether stopr or at least so narrow and strait that there is not space enough for the ayre and breath to passe in and out by We see also dayly how this windpipe is troubled if whiles wee eate or drinke there fall into it a litle crumb of bread or meate or els a drop of water or of wine or of any other drinke yea although it were but a little drop of our owne spettle For the breath that ascendeth vp from the lungs by this pipe will not suffer any other thing to enter in thereat except it be as subtill and thinne as the ayre is but it driueth it vpward insomuch as when that happeneth to any man hee is in great paine and as it were stifeled for the time We see the like also in the cough For from whence proceedeth it but onely of those distillations that descend from the braine vnto the lungs by this pipe And truely the consideration of all this ought to be vnto vs in place of an other speciall testimony of the infirmitie of our nature that wee may alwayes learne the better by this to humble our selues For what an excellent gift is this life which God hath giuen to man and yet a matter of nothing will depriue him of it For let his breath onely bee taken away which is but a little winde and beholde hee is stifled and dead by and by And for the taking away of his breath and so of his life withall there needeth nothing else but the stopping of his mouth and nosethrilles or of his windepipe onely which is soone done and hee is dispatched presently without all help and remedy by man Therefore Esay hath a good speach depart saieth he from the man whose breath is in his nosethrilles for wherein is hee to be esteemed In a worde his meaning is that man is but as it were a little winde and blast as if hee had his life in his nosethrilles and as if it were as easie a matter to take away his life as his breath Moreouer the mixture and temperature of all the elementary qualities and of all the humours is so necessary for life as wee haue already heard that if anie one be wanting our life can not continue But the chiefest and most necessary of all are heate and moisture placed in the blood which is so necessary for the maintenance of life that after it is out of the body death followeth presently Concerning the members of the body it hath beene tolde vs already that there are som of thē without which the body can not keep life nor bee kept therein amongest which the heart is the chiefest of all for the reasons which wee haue already heard Nowe these things standing thus wee must consider what difference there is betweene the death of bruite beastes and that of man namely this that the soule of beastes perisheth vtterly in their death as doeth the vigour of mens senses in the death of man But the soule of man suruiueth after the death of his body and continueth alwayes in beeing and in life For considering that beastes doe in this life all that can bee done by them according to those giftes which they haue receiued of nature therefore they liue and die heere altogether hauing nothing bestowed vpon them for an other better life But forasmuch as GOD hath giuen vnto man a diuine and immortall spirite which hath heere great impediments and can not well exercise all his offices it is requisite that it shoulde haue an other life wherein it may display all the vertues it hath and
enioy whatsoeuer GOD hath prepared for it euen that which is most agreeable and proper to the nature thereof Wherefore wee may say that the death of man is a separation or a departure of the soule from the body wherein GOD propoundeth vnto vs a perfect image of our separation and departure from him which commeth by the meanes of sinne For wee see what becommeth of the body when the soule is gone from it and what it is during the time that it is ioyned therewith The difference is very great Let vs then propound our soule as if it were in the place of the bodie and imagine that God were insteade of the soule in it as wee fee the soule is in the body Then let vs consider what might be the estate of the soule both when it is ioyned with GOD and when it is separated from him For there is greater difference betweene the soule separated from GOD then betweene a body separated from his soule Forasmuch as there is no bodie so stincking nor so infected when it is separated from the soule as the soule is when it is separated from GOD if wee will compare spirituall things with corporall things And contrariwise wee may iudge of the estate thereof when it is ioyned with God by the estate of a body ioyned with his soule and by that difference which is betweene a dead body and a quicke Nowe if wee woulde well consider these things and compare the corporall death of the bodie with the spirituall death of the soule wee woulde abhorre sinne in greater measure then wee doe and bee more afraid of it then of anie thing that may come vnto vs. For there is nothing either in heauen or earth that can hurt vs but sinne as in deede nothing can bring dammage to vs but that which can hurt the soule But it is sinne onely that is able to hurt the soule because by it those meanes are taken away from the soule whereby GOD bestoweth spirituall life vpon it Therefore wee ought not to thinke that bodily death can anie way hurt the soule vnlesse it be in regarde of the euill life past It is true that seeing GOD hath created man to bee of such a nature as to be compounded of a bodie and of a soule and that his true and perfect estate consisteth heerein that they shoulde liue vnited and ioyned together it is very like that there is some euil in the seuering of thē asunder especially if any of them corrupt and perish and the euill may seeme to be doubled if both of them should corrupt perish as many epicures and atheists would haue it For if it be euill to haue but halfe a beeing the euill and imperfection is much more not to be at all seeing there is nothing more goodly or more excellent then to haue a beeing And if it be an excellent thing to bee then to bee well is a farre more goodly and excellent thing For therein consisteth the perfection and absolute felicitie of man Nowe there is no sound or perfect estate of anie man but onely that in which and for which GOD created him And although man bee fallen from that estate yet it hath pleased GOD not onely to restore him againe thereunto by his Sonne Iesus Christ but also to make it vnto him more entire and more perfect yea much more sure and stedfast then it was in the beginning For this cause if besides the benefite of creation wee consider also that of regeneration and of the restauration and repairing of man wee shall finde therein ample matter of true and sound consolation against death For wee knowe that this tabernacle of our body which is infirme faulty corruptible fraile and tending to putrifaction shall bee destroyed and as it were pulled downe to the ende that afterwardes it may bee restored vnto a perfect firme incorruptible and celestiall glorie Wee see that by death wee are called backe againe from a miserable exile to the ende that wee may dwell in our countrie euen in our heauenly countrie In a worde wee are assured by death to enioy such a blessed and permanent estate as the like whereof appeareth no where vpon the earth And if the brute beastes euen the insensible creatures as Saint Paul teacheth vs as wood and stone hauing some sence of their vanitie and corruption doe waite for the day of iudgement that they may bee deliuered from the same shall not wee bee very miserable hauing both some light of nature and also boasting that wee are inspired with the spirite of GOD if wee doe not lift vp our eyes aboue this earthly corruption when the question is concerning our beeing Shall wee not contemne and disdaine the vanitie of the worlde to aspire after the good beeing of the immortalitie to come Let vs knowe then that wee can not finde any true and sound consolation without this consideration and hope which is most assured to them that beleeue in Christ Iesus Therefore they that went not beyond the boundes of naturall Philosophie coulde neuer enioy anie true consolation either against the miseries of mans life or against corporall death And although they beleeued that together with the body whatsoeuer is in man was extinguished or otherwise that after the death of the body the soule remained immortall yet notwithstanding some haue done nothing else but mourne and complaine in this life insomuch as they haue laid violent handes as it were vpon Nature reuiling her and calling her the stepmother rather then the mother of mankind others haue doubted of their future estate and condition not being able to learne and knowe whether their soules should liue either in ioy and rest or els in paine torment but only by opinion Of which if we would discourse at large and consider particularly of their reasons we should be confirmed more and more in that true consolation that ought to bee in the heart of euery Christian against the honour of death Therefore I greatly desire ACHITOB to heare thee discoursing vpon this matter Of the chiefe consolations which the wisest amongst the Pagans and Infidels coulde drawe from their humane reason and naturall Philosophie against death of the blasphemies vsed by Atheists and Epicures against God and Nature what Nature is and who they bee that attribute vnto it that which they ought to attribute vnto God Chap. 76. ACHITOB. Trees haue their seasons in which they beginne to budde and afterwards do blossome which blossome in conuenient time taketh the forme and fashion of the fruite and after that it continueth growing vntill it becommeth ripe and beeing come to the greatest maturitie and ripenesse that it can haue it falleth down of it selfe and still consumeth more and more The same may bee saide of leaues But this happeneth not to all nor yet altogether after the self same maner to all those vnto whō it doth happen For some fruits perish euen in the very bud or els
it is so there is but one onelie Soule in euery liuing creatures body by which it doeth liue but yet this soule is distinguished according to the vertues and offices thereof Wherein it falleth out with the soule as it doeth with a man that hath many charges and offices or that exerciseth many Artes and occupations which hee practiseth in seueral places at sundry times and by diuers instruments and seruants Yea the very varietie of those instruments which the soule vseth and the repugnance that is betweene the actions thereof doe shewe manifestly that there is but one workemaster from whome the whole proceedeth and which gouerneth and moderateth all as a liuing creature ought to doe For there could not be so great agreement in such diuersitie if there were diuers workemen and so many soules as there are effects and actions in all the partes of man Besides if there were such diuersitie of kindes of all things as there is diuersity of effectes the number of them woulde bee infinite whereupon there woulde great confusion follow in the searching out of nature and of naturall things Therefore seeing there is but one soule in euery body we must learn whether it hath any certaine place and seate in the body or whether the whole body be the lodging for it Now as euery forme of each body is in the whole body so the soule is wholly in the whole body in which the true forme principall essence of man consisteth For if there were any part thereof that had no soule within it that part should haue no life as we see it by experience in a member that is dry or putrified or cut off from the body So that as an Husbandman hath his sundry instruments for the trimming of the ground and by them effecteth diuers works according to the vse of each seueral instrument so fareth it with the soule in the bodie For the husbandman worketh another woorke with his plough then hee doeth with his harrowes and otherwise with his spades and shouels then with the other aboue named instruments so that according to the diuersitie of his tooles he worketh diuers workes And yet all this while there are not so many husbandmen as there are sundry instruments but one alone vseth all these to serue his turne And hee that should demand in which of all his instruments the Husbandman were should he not thinke you mooue an impertinent question For hee may be both without his instruments also with them and when he vseth them he applieth them to himselfe and himselfe vnto them And to aske which of his instruments is the chiefest were not to speake very much to purpose For euery one of them is principall in his vse and for that worke whereunto it it is applied and so is it with the soule and with the instruments thereof For it can be both with them and without them in that maner that hath beene already declared And as the plough is the chiefe instrument which the Husbandman hath to cutte and diuide the grounde into furrowes and the pickaxe to digge in hard places so the eye is the chiefe instrument the soule hath for seeing the eare for hearing the brayne with the thinne cleare and bright spirits therein for all kinde of vnderstanding and knowledge and the heart for the fountaine of life Nowe because the soule hath so many sundry powers offices and actions it is also taken in diuers sences and significations but especially in the holy scriptures as God willing we shal learne hereafter In the meane time that vnion which it hath with the body is marueilous and ought to be diligently considered of vs. Wee are to know then that all things whatsoeuer are ioyned together in nature are alwaies so knit and vnited by some means which meane consisteth either in this that the essence of two extreames doe participate one of another ioyne together or els in the agreement of action and of worke Now as the bond of the first meane is between the elements themselues and also betweene them and that matter whereof bodies are compounded because there is betweene them an agreement and participation of nature euery one in his degree according as they are neerer or further remoued off one from another so we haue the bond of the second meane betweene the body and the soule namely the agreement of action and worke Let vs then consider of the coniunction and agreement that is betweene a workeman and his worke together with those instruments whereby he effecteth his worke For there is an agreement and coniunction betweene the painter and his picture by reason of the pensill wherewith hee woorketh And the like may be said of all other workmen Euen so the form and kinde of all things is as it were the Workemaster in regard of the matter and the qualities and fashioning of the matter are the instruments whereby the Species or kinde of any thing is vnited and knit vnto the matter Now the soule is ioyned to the body as light is vnto the aire For by reason of the coniunction of the aire and light together the aire is made cleare and lightsome and yet the aire and light remaine whole and perfect without any mixture or confusion of the one with the other For they are not mingled together as the elements are in naturall mixtures or as hearbes that are beaten together into powder or drugges of the Apothecary in a medicine that lie mingled and confused one within another But the vnion and bond of two substances ioyned together is a great deale more neere in other kinds and creatures then in the soule wherein it is remooued farther of by reason that the nature of corporall things admitteth of a neerer coniunction and agreement among themselues then there can be naturally betweene corporall and spirituall thinges So that the greater agreement of natures there is the straiter is the bonde and vnion-betweene them Nowe wee may knowe of what nature euerie kinde of thing is by the offices and actions thereof As if the question were touching the nature of that soule which heeretofore we called the Nourishing and Vegetatiue Soule it appeareth by the office and actions thereof that it is hote and that it taketh part as also all the actions thereof of the nature of fire which is the highest and purest element and that which approcheth neerest to the celestiall natures But that kinde of soule which wee called Sensitiue and Cogitatiue such as it is in brute beastes ascendeth yet higher and by agreement is linked neerer to the heauens and to the nature of heauenly bodies And therefore beasts haue not onlie sense but some kinde of knowledge also whereby they doe in some sort marke and perceiue the course of the heauens and heauenly bodies and doe seeme after a sort to vnderstande them For they haue knowledge both of the day and of the night of Winter and of Summer
yea they haue some sense and perseuerance of the alteration of seasons according as they fall out by the course of the spheres but yet not by any such knowledge and vnderstanding as is in man Nowe sense and knowledge cannot proceede of the power of the elements but is deriued from some higher thing For it is by meanes of a more celestiall power that beastes are distinguished from plants holding more of the excellencie of their Creatour declaring it a great deale more But man hee mounteth vp much higher For hee ascendeth vp aboue all the heauens euen vnto God and to those spirituall natures by meanes of reason and vnderstanding which make his soule capable of heauenly light and wisedome and of diuine inspirations Whereupon it followeth that the originall and birth of the Soule is celestiall And therefore in this diuersitie of the faculties and powers of the soule and life of man wee must note this that the lower kindes of the soule and life are not the Well-springs and fountaines of the highest as if those powers and faculties did first set these latter awoorking or as if the highest did spring of the basest and receiued their vertues from them but they are onelie certaine aydes and degrees of helpe whereby the highest and chiefest descende and ascende So that the Vegetatiue and nourishing life and vertue is not the originall of the sences and sensitiue vertue but onelie a degree by which the facultie of sense is deriued to the bodie and by little and little ascendeth vp to her powers and offices The like may bee sayde of the vnderstanding and of reason in regarde of the sensitiue facultie For euerie sort and kinde of life and euerie power of the soule hath beginning of it selfe and certaine boundes within which it is conteined Wherein we haue to consider a marueilous woorke and prouidence of GOD in that hee hath ioyned and linked togethet in man things that are so diuers For wee take this as graunted that the soule of man is a spirituall nature and not corporall that it is immortall and created for the contemplation of celestiall and eternall things On the other side wee see howe this so excellent and diuine a nature is ioyned to that part and power that is called Vegetatiue and Nourishing which seemeth rather to bee corporall then spirituall to bee more terrestriall then celestiall and to bee as it were the Kitchen of the bodies of liuing creatures and the Store-house and Originall of their generation So that there is no man of any sounde minde who knowing this marueilous coniunction of nature in thinges so diuers and considering that it cannot come to passe by happe-hazard and at aduenture but hee must needes bee rauished with great admiration and acknowledge an admirable prouidence of God the Creator and Lord of nature But they that are instructed in the holie worde and in the doctrine of the Church haue yet a further consideration of these thinges For they knowe well that albeeit this Kitchin of mans bodie shall haue no necessarie vse in the life to come neuerthelesse God hath established this order and woulde haue it thus ioyned to the soule and spirite to the ende that those beginnings of eternall life and of that true and perpetuall wisedome which hee hath put into vs shoulde bee kindled and inflamed in this mortall life For they shall not shine foorth in anie there who haue not heere had some beginnings but haue suffered those to bee cleane extinguished which they haue receiued of GOD. For this cause doeth the voyce of God and of his heauenly doctrine sounde in mens eares and to these endes hath hee ordayned that gouernement which ought to bee amongest them and hath bounde and fortified it with manie bondes and rampires Wherefore wee stande in neede of doctrine of instruction and discipline vnto which things the consideration of mans nature may greatly helpe vs. For there is no science or humane wisedome howe great soeuer it bee that is able to rehearse and comprehende the great profite which this consideration can affoorde to men euen so farre foorth as they may verie well learne and knowe And of this wee may the better bee resolued if we consider well of that which hath alreadie bene handled yea we may the better iudge hereof if wee perfectly vnderstand that diuision of man made by S. Paul and mentioned by vs in this discourse Therefore AMANA proceede you in the residue of this matter giuing vs first to vnderstand what is the nature and offices of those pure animal cleare and bright spirits which we saide were seruiceable to the soule for all kinde of vnderstanding and knowledge Afterwardes you may more easily instruct vs at large and teach vs what difference there is not onely betweenethe soule and the instruments thereof whereby it worketh but also betweene the instruments themselues and their nature and offices and which of them are nearest or remoued farthest from the soule Of the nature and varietie of the animall spirites and how they are onely instruments of the soule and not the soule it selfe of the nature of those bodies wherein the soule may dwell and worke of the difference that is not onely betweene the soule and the instrumenes by which it woorketh but also betweene the instruments themselues and their natures and offices and which of them are neerest or farthest of of the degrees that are in the vnion and coniunction of the soule with the bodie Chap. 78. AMANA It is requisite that workmen should haue instruments answerable to those works which they are to make and if they haue taken in hand but one single and simple worke they neede but one toole fitte for that purpose as to sawe timber there needeth but a sawe But they that are to make many workes or one woorke that is full of varietie stand in need of many instruments as painters ioyners carpenters masons and such like The same may bee saide of the soule and therefore it hath many members in the body that are giuen vnto it as instruments to serue for those woorkes which it hath outwardly to perfourme Moreouer the soule hath humours to preserue and vphold the members and to keepe them alwayes ready for their worke by those meanes which we haue heard already besides it hath vital spirits of which the animall spirites are bred which serue in steade of a light to garde and conduct it in the actions both of the external and the internall senses And as there is great force in a toole or instrument to cause a good or euil worke so is there in the humors spirites and members of the bodie whereby we are made fitte to exercise and to execute all actions whether they concerne life and sense knowledge and vnderstanding or will and affections For it fareth in this matter as it doeth in the disposition of the aire which the thicker and more obscure it is the lesse cleare will the light
of soule spirite and heart are taken with the causes wherefore Of the diuisions of man made in the holy Scriptures as well in respect of the soule as of the bodie in what significations the names of soule spirit and heart are vsed therein and the causes why of the intire sanctification of man howe the soule is taken for the life and for the members and instruments of nourishment and for nourishment it selfe Chap. 79. ARAM. Forasmuch as God so honoureth our bodies as to call them Temples of his holie spirite I thinke they cannot bee such in deede except they bee wholly dedicated and consecrated vnto him so that wee separate them from all filthinesse and pollution by giuing our selues to all kinde of sanctimonie and honestie of life For then is the body wholly sanctified when all the senses and members applie themselues onely to good and holy woorkes commaunded by God and when they abstaine from the contrarie Whereupon it commeth to passe that the eyes turne aside from beholding all vaine things and take pleasure onely in seeing that which may rauish man with admiration at the excellencie of the woorkes of God and induce him to well-doing The like may bee sayde of soundes of voyces of wordes in regarde of the eares And as for the tongue it is not polluted with vile speeches with lying slandering and blasphemie but prayseth God and rehearseth his works and woonders speaking alwayes with a grace to the edifying of all In like manner the mouth serueth man for the selfe-same vse as the stomacke also and the bellie with all the rest of the members that serue for the nourishing of the bodie are not defiled through gluttonie and drunkennesse So that the bodie liueth not to eate but eateth to liue and to make supplie to those necessities vnto which GOD hath made it subiect Therefore it obserueth sobrietie and is contented to minister to the naturall affections that God may bee serued in this life Neither doeth it abuse the members of generation to whoredome and villanie but conteineth them within their office and lawfull vse And as for the feete and hands with all the rest of the externall members it keepeth them also within the compasse of their duety But seeing the whole body all the members therof take from the soule all their actions and vses they cannot bee sanctified for the seruice of God and of holy things vnlesse the soule be first sanctified which giueth vnto them life motion and sense For this cause Saint Paul speaking of the sanctification which he wisheth to the Thessalonians before hee maketh any mention of that of the bodie hee beginneth with the Spirite and Soule as wee haue alreadie heard Now because the soule hath diuers powers he vseth two wordes the better to note them out especially the chiefest of them For as it hath beene alreadie declared vnto vs albeit the soule hath manie powers and offices in the bodie of man yet there are not so manie soules in the bodie as there are faculties and effectes thereof but one onely soule which doeth all that For this cause the name of soule is diuersly taken in the holy scriptures Sometime it is taken for that spirituall substaunce that is ioyned with the bodie to giue life vnto it and for all the powers thereof and sometime againe for one part of those faculties and powers The like may be sayd of the name of spirite and of heart and that for the same reason Thus doeth the Scripture sometimes diuide the whole man into two partes onelie namelie into bodie and soule as when Iesus Christ sayeth Feare yee not them which kill the bodie but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both soule and bodie in Hell And often also the same holie worde taketh the one of these two partes for the whole euen in that signification wherein wee take the name Person in our tongue For this cause wee reade so often in the worde All flesh and euerie soule for euery person Also Giue mee the Soules for giue mee the persons And all the Soules of the house for all the persons thereof Nowe because the vnderstanding and the will are the principall faculties and powers of the soule when the Scripture meaneth to set them downe distinctly and to expresse them together with the nature and vertue of the soule it taketh the spirite for the one and the soule for the other namely the spirite for the reason and vnderstanding the soule for the wil affections For otherwise how should euery man be entire souÌ„d vnles his thoughts were pure holy all his affections rightly ruled finally his whole bodie made obedient and seruiceable to euerie good woorke For wee haue hearde alreadie what Lordship is attributed to the reason and to the vnderstanding then howe the will and affections are in the middest to commaund and lastly the bodie to serue and obey So that a man is then altogether pure and sounde when he thinketh nothing in his minde desireth nothing in his heart neither executeth any thing with his members but that which pleaseth God Wee haue a place in Esay which teacheth vs verie clearely that the spirite and soule are so taken and distinguished as wee say The desire of our soule saith he is to thy name and to the remembraunce of thee With my soule haue I desired thee in the night and with my spirite within me will I seeke thee in the morning We see how first he attributeth desire to the soule thereby to declare the affection of the people towardes the Lorde Then hee maketh mention of the remembrance and memorie that hee hath of God which is in the minde So that it seemeth hee comprehendeth the vnderstanding and will in the first verse vnder the name of Soule Afteward in the verse following he distinguisheth them more specialy attributing desire to the soule then watchfulnesse and diligent inquisition to the spirit which is not without thinking and discoursing that appertayne to the minde Wherefore the Prophet minding to signifie how he was wholly addicted to the Lordè with all his senses and vnderstanding and with all his heart and will and that all his affection was towardes him hee vseth this distinction betweene the soule and the spirite Likewise wee finde these two names Soule and Spirite ioyned together in this signification in the Psalmes and I am perswaded that for the same reason the blessed Virgine ioyned them together in her song when she sayd My soule magnifieth the Lord and my spirit reioyâ—eth in God my Sauiour Nowe as the Scripture vseth this distinction the better to expresse the faculties and powers of the soule so Saint Paul sometimes distinguisheth them into three that they may the better bee knowen as when hee writeth to the Ephesians in these woordes This I say therefore and testifie in the Lorde
mainteineth that the vegetatiue and sensitiue soule is no other thing then the temperament of the liuer and of the heart which are assigned to be the seats and chiefe instruments of the nourishing and vitall power and vertue And as for the animall or reasonable power whose seat is commonly placed in the braine we haue alreadie shewed his opinion Now of this part there are many euen of them who greatly magnifie it that are not yet well resolued whether they ought to take it for the animal spirit or for the temperament or for an incorporeall nature that commeth elswhere then from the body Aristotle he calleth the soule by a new Greeke name that signifieth asmuch as a perpetuall motion and sayth that it proceedeth from a fift nature and beginning which he calleth Heauen But he speaketh not so plainly that a man may iudge by his words what he thinketh of the reasonable soule in man whether it be mortall or immortall Neuerthelesse he confesseth that there is great difference betweene that power of the soule which we call more specially by the name of spirite and betweene the other twaine which he calleth the Nutritiue and Sensitiue powers For he vseth this worde Powers and affirmeth that these two first proceede onely from the bodie and are bredde there and that the Vegetatiue soule and power is more in the seede and burden then the Sensitiue But as for the third hee saieth plainely that it onely commeth from without els-where and that this onely is diuine not communicating her action with any corporall action Thus we see sufficient agreement betweene the Philosophers and the Phisitions concerning the Vegetatiue and Sensitiue soule or power but there is not so good accord about the reasonable soule and power Yea many great Diuines Doctors agree with them in the two first points For this cause Occam saith plainly that there are two distinct soules in man the one reasonable the other sensuall the reason is because it is manifest that the Sensitiue soule hath no actions but instrumentall that is to say by meanes of those instruments whereby shee exerciseth her actions and from which she hath them Whereupon he concludeth that this sensuall soule seemeth to haue her originall and generation from the seede and that it is either the temperament or some facultie and power in the bodie He confirmeth this opinion by another argument taken from the contrarie appetites and desires of the reasonable and sensuall soule out of which he draweth this conclusion That it is very likely that these are two distinct substances because it seemeth inconuenient in one and the same nature not diuided or distinguished to place appetites so wholly contrary each to other Hee addeth farther that it is a thing very agreeable to nature that euery liuing creature shoulde beget his like therefore man begetteth man like himselfe at leastwise in respect of the Sensitiue soule if not of the reasonable soule Whereupon it followeth that the Vegetatiue and Sensitiue soule proceede from the nature of the seede The Platonicall Philosophers were of opinion that soules were bred in heauen and were taken out of the diuine nature as a portion thereof and that there they were instructed and adorned with sundry sciences with knowledge and vertue and that afterwarde beeing giuen of God they descended from thence into the bodies of men as into stinking filthy and contagious prisons Whereof it followed that through the infection of these prisons they were corrupted by euill affections as it were with the filthinesse of them So that they forgate all those gifts and celestial vertues where with they had been endued and adorned in their first birth and which they had brought with them And being thus detained as prisoners in this darke and filthy prison they could no more vse all those goodly gifts but onely so farre foorth as they were taught and instructed againe by doctrine which in respect of them may be compared to a light brought to prisoners kept in a darke dungeon to light refresh them For this cause those that were of this opinion affirmed that the knowledge of men is but a remembrance and calling againe to minde of that which their soules had learned and did know in heauen at their first birth before they entred into their bodies according as we heard euen now For being descended into this base and obscure prison and hauing forgotten that which they knew their memories are rubbed vp by doctrine and instruction bestowed vpon them which kindleth againe these celestiall sparkles of their mind and portions of the diuine fire by inflaming them and causing them to burne that were almost vtterly quenched Wherupon like Philosophers they conclude that soules so infected by descending and entring into their bodies cannot returne againe nor be receiued into heauen and into the place assigned for the blessed spirits vnlesse they returne pure and cleane decked with the selfe-same ornaments wherwith they were adorned at their first birth And this they say may bee wrought by good instruction by vertue by good workes or otherwise they say they haue sundry purgings being separated from their bodies Some diuines among the Grecians haue followed at least wise in some part the opinion of these philosophers by name Origen of whom S. August thus writeth But we may marueile much more that some beleeuing with vs that there is but one only beginning of all things that no nature which is not God can haue any being but from the Creator neuertheles would not beleue rightly and simply this point of the creation of the world that is so good and simple namely that God creating all those good thinges that were after him although they were not the same that God is notwithstanding they were al good But they say that the soules not being parts of God but made of God sinned in departing from the Lorde and so by sundrie degrees according to to the diuersitie of sinnes from the heauens vnto the earth haue merited sundry sortes of bodies to be as it were their chaines and fetters This say they is the world and this was the cause of making the worlde not to the ende that the good things might be created but that euill things might be stayed and repressed Of this opinion is Origen who is worthily to be blamed These are the very wordes of this great Doctor of the Church And by that which followeth in the same place hee plainely confuteth Origens errour who in his first booke of Beginnings writeth that things without bodies were first made of God and that amongst spirituall things our spirites or mindes were also created which declining from their estate and dignitie were made or named soules of which the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as it were to grow colde and to decline from a better and more diuine estate beeing so called because it seemeth that the spirite or mind is waxen cold fallen
reason For if the Angels and soules of men were of the proper substance and essence of God they should not bee creatures but Gods themselues equall in substance and essence with him as wee say of the Sonne begotten of the Father and of the holy Ghost proceeding from them both in the matter of the vnitie trinitie of the diuine nature which by this meanes shoulde bee diuided into partes and so nothing at all resemble the fountaine and substance from which they are drawen as I shewed euen nowe And albeit the Philosophers and Heathen Poets did not so well vnderstand this matter as Saint Paul neuerthelesse when they sayde that the soule of man was of the diuine nature and part thereof it is very likely they had regarde to the reasons touched by mee not meaning that it was of the very substance and essence of God I speake of them that were of greatest vnderstanding and that wrote best and namely of them that did best vnderstande the Philosophie of Plato For hee confesseth and testifieth plainly that the Angels themselues both good and bad whome in his language he calleth daeâ—ones as the other Grecians doe are creatures of another essence and substance then God is of and that they are not immortall of themselues but haue their immortalitie of God their Creator who both giueth it and preserueth them in it and could take it from them if hee would and dissolue them as well as hee hath made them Nowe if he supposed God to speake so to his Angels and to declare these things vnto them a man may easily iudge that hee placeth not the soules of men aboue the Angels whome hee taketh to be of a more excellent nature as he sheweth euidently by that which he hath written of them both In which writing wee may see manie things touching these matters which come neerer to the doctrine of the holy Scriptures and of true religion then in the writings of many others who yeelded no further then they were able to knowe and conceiue by naturall things without going any further For they doe not conceiue so well either of the nature of God or of that of Angels or of the soules of men as this Philosopher doeth Moreouer we are to know that Plato had other helpes and more light them from his natural reason whereby he attayned to the vnderstanding of that which others were ignorant of who busied themselues onely about nature and naturall things For hee conuersed with the Egyptians as Pythagoras did before him of whome they learned manie points touching diuine things which they should neuer haue learned of the Grecians nor out of their Philosophie For the Egyptians had great acquaintance and familiaritie with the people of Israel that dwelt in their land and with many of the ancient Patriarkes of whom they had learned manie things of the diuinitie and of the nature of soules But all they that haue beene destitute of the chiefe light of the spirite of God haue still mingled many dreames a middest their writings as we haue alreadie heard and shall heare more in the sequele of our speech Yet first we will note howe not onely manie amongst the Heathen Philosophers but also amongst the Christians haue imagined that the soules of men are the substance of God I omit to speake of the Heretikes as the Priscilianists and some others that haue been of this opinion but I wonder at Lactantius a man of a right Christian heart who seemeth to haue beene of this opinion And there haue beene some that reasoned after this manner that if it bee to bee vnderstood that of the breath issuing foorth out of the mouth of God the soule was created and inspired into the body of man then it followeth thereupon that it is of his verie substance and equall to that wisedome which sayeth I am come out of the mouth of the most High But that wisedome saieth not that shee was breathed out of the mouth of God but that shee came out of it Now as when we breathe we make a blast not of our nature whereby we are men but of this ayre rounde about vs which wee drawe in and out by breathing so the Almightie God made a blast not of his nature nor of this creature of the aire rounde about vs but euen of nothing Which was saide very fittely to haue beene inspired or breathed when it was created in the bodie of man by God who being himselfe incorporeall and not of a bodily substance made the soule also incorporeall but yet he beeing vnchangeable made the soule mutable because himselfe beeing vncreated made that a creature But let vs goe on with the Philosophie of the Platonists Wee haue heard their opinion touching the birth of soules their entrie into the bodie and the pollution which they receiue thereby namely that the soules of men are created long before their bodies but are afterwarde sent into them when they are begotten and borne in the worlde at which time they are defiled as hath beene declared But further according to the opinion of Pythagoras who is sayde to bee the first Authour thereof they imagined that after a soule was once entred into a bodie it neuer ceased to goe from body to body entring into one bodie out of another So that when it went out of one bodie it entred into another whether it were of a man or of a beast or of a plant For they put no difference betweene the bodies of any liuing creatures whatsoeuer but spake as if euerie soule were fitte for euerie bodie so that according as euerie soule guided and gouerned it selfe in that bodie in which it had liued before it was receaued into another bodie beeing such a one as it had deserued eyther by her vices or by her vertues Therefore those that had taken the way of vertue entered into humane bodies woorthie their vertue into such as had beene called to honourable offices and estates and as vertue had preuayled most with euerie one so were they more or lesse honoured in their bodies And if so bee they had ledde a brutish rather then a humane and reasonable life they passed into the bodies of plantes or of beastes whose nature resembled the life which they had ledde in their former bodies This Transmigration of Soules they called Regeneration because it was vnto them as it were a generation and newe birth in respect of their life and conuersation which before they ledde in the worlde Moreouer they accounted this regeneration to be a kinde of purgation and satisfaction because that by this meanes euery soule was punished or rewarded honoured or dishonoured according to her worthinesse or vnworthinesse and that so long vntill shee were reduced to her first and right estate There haue beene Heretikes of olde who following the opinion of the Platonists affirmed that no soule coulde bee fully purged and bee at rest and cease from passing out of one
but of some other thing before and aboue that or else farther off vnto which it tendeth We see this in all the senses both externall and internall which are common to vs with beastes For they know nothing else beside that which is of this nature which we see neither doe they ascend higher but our spirite not content with the sight and knowledge of the heauens starres and Angels themselues mounteth vp to God and being come thither can go no further What other thing els doeth this signifie and declare vnto vs but that the soules of beasts are engendered of this corruptible and mortall nature beyonde which they cannot lift vp themselues but that ours are produced of God aboue the power of this nature And so that may bee saide of our soule which is spoken of a spring water namely that it ascendeth as much vpwarde as it descendeth downeward but can goe no higher For when a man woulde carie the water of a spring any whither and would haue it mount vpwarde it will be an easie matter to bring it as high as the spring-head from whence it floweth but no higher except it bee forced by some other meane then by it owne course and naturall vertue Notwithstanding it will easily descend lower And so fareth it with our spirite For as it came from God so it is able to mount againe to the knowledge of him and no higher but it descendeth a great deale lower And as for our senses they remaine lower then the woorkes of nature and pearce not to the depth of them but are alwayes busied about the externall face of them Neither is it to bee doubted but that Moses meant to teach vs these things by that which hee rehearseth of the meanes vsed by God in the creation of man which differed from that hee kept in the creation of all other creatures either liuing or without life For we haue heard what deliberation and counsaile he vsed before he put hand to the worke how he fashioned the body and how he placed the soule therein by and by after Therefore in that the Prophet describeth the creation of the bodie apart and then that of the soule he giueth vs to vnderstand that wee must seeke for something more high and excellent in that of man then in that of beastes whose soules were created with their bodies and of the selfe-same matter with them Moreouer he teacheth vs this very plainly when he saith that God created man after his owne image and similitude which hee did not say of beasts as we haue alreadie heard Therefore there must needes be in the soule of man some other power and vertue then that by which it giueth life to the bodie and which is common to it with those of brute beastes So that as God gaue to this dead bodie taken out of the earth a soule that endued it with life motion and sense so hee imprinted and ingraued his image into this soule vnto which immortalitie is annexed Therefore when Moses sayeth that man was made a liuing soule no doubt but by the name of soule he meaneth another nature and substance then that of the bodie And in that he calleth it liuing hee declareth plainly that the bodie hath not of it self and of it owne nature that life wherewith it is endued but from the power of this soule And although hee there maketh not any speciall mention of the other vertues thereof it is because hee considered the capacitie of the people with whome he liued vnto whom he would frame himselfe being content to speake openly of that power of the soule which appeared best without and which the externall senses might most easily know perceiue by the effects thereof But I thinke it will not be vnfit for this matter if wee returne to that question which before we touched concerning the creation of the soule namely whether since it was created by God in the first creation of man it be still created after the same sort as it were by a new miracle in them that are daily borne in the worlde or whether it bee naturally created but yet of God by a certaine order appointed for that ende by him Nowe albeeit it bee very requisite that we should bee sober and not rash in this matter for the causes alreadie set downe notwithstanding we will here propound the opinion of some learned men grounded vpon that order which God hath accustomed to obserue in his workes and in his creatures For seeing he hath set a law in nature for all other creatures according to which he createth produceth them not by any new miracle it is more likely that he createth soules naturally and that he hath ordained a stedfast law for mankind but differing from that of beasts so much as his creation differed from theirs For hauing once established an order he vseth not to change it into a diuers or contrarie order but keepeth still the same except it bee that sometimes he vseth extraordinarie meanes by way of a miracle For although all his woorkes bee great miracles and chiefely man neuerthelesse wee call none by that name but onely those which he woorketh by supernaturall meanes not against but beside the common order of nature But that which I say derogateth nothing from the nature immortalitie of mans soule For although it be placed in that matter which is alreadie prepared and appropriated for the fashioning of the body yet he doeth this aboue the vertue of the matter and of the worke of nature by a lawe which he hath established to that effect For this cause he doeth not onely giue a soule to them that are begotten by lawfull marriage but to those also who are brought foorth in whoredome whether it be adultery incest or any other such like For although that honestie which is enioyned mankind by God be not kept in such a birth and generation but contrarieth the same yet it is not contrary to the lawe of generation ordayned by God as that generation is which is by buggerie wherein not only the Law of honesty is violated but also the law of nature We will conclude then that it is not only true that our soule is not brought forth by the power of nature but by the benefit of God only but also that it is expedient and very behoofefull yea necessary for mankind that it should be true and because it is behoofefull and necessary it is true also without all question For God hath omitted nothing that is agreeable to his glory and profitable and expedient for mankinde For seeing the soule is placed within the bodie not by the vertue of nature but properly and peculiarly by a speciall benefite of God man oweth the chiefest and best part of himselfe not to nature but to God Which is the cause why he should acknowledge him as the onely father of his spirite consecrate the same wholly to him alone not yeelding
firme and derideth the ignorance error and terrour of the senses correcting and reproouing them for the same We may then conclude from the euidence of these things that the death of the Spirite is contrary to the nature of it and therefore is afraide of it and abhorreth euen to thinke of it or to make any mention thereof But the senses care not but for this bodily life which the Spirite contemneth in regarde of the other whereby it appeareth that the death of the body doth affect touch it nothing at all but the body onely and those things that are ioyned vnto it as namely both the external and internal senses For this cause those men that are carnall and ledde most by their senses thinke little either vpon the one or the other except it bee when they see themselues in danger of corporall death For perswading themselues that they shall liue long in this worlde or at leastwise gathering to themselues as much hope thereof as they can they thinke nothing at all in a manner of death during the whole life no more almost then if they were borne immortall vntill such time as they see in good earnest that they must dislodge Then are they awaked out of their sleepe and if they be not altogether become brutish they are constrained to thinke both vpon the death of the body and the death of the spirite and the lesse they are prepared against them both the more astonished and amased they are in themselues Contrariwise good and iust men who of a long time yea all their life haue thought vpon both finde themselues lesse troubled a great deale because they are resolutely perswaded and assured of a better life Moreouer wee finde by experience that when the spirit is troubled with affections or cōfounded through fancies and imaginations or ignorant vicious prophane wicked without feare of God and voide of religion it is a great deale more mooued at the cogitation and remembrance of corporall death then if it be sound well disposed and setled quiet skilfull innocent religious and fearing God Whereupon we may consider learne which of these two iudgements is more certaine and true either that of a spirite that is troubled diseased ignorant euill without feare of God and voide of religion or that of a spirite which hath all those perfections rehearsed by vs contrary to these vices It is an easie matter to iudge Therefore if we attribute more as in reason wee ought to that Spirite whose iudgement is most true and certaine the conclusion that I haue made shal be confirmed thereby And as by the difference of desires we may easily iudge of the nature essence of mans soule so we may do the like by those delights wherein it taketh pleasure But I leaue thee ACHITOB to go forward with the discourse of this matter Of the argument that may be taken from the delights and pleasures of the soule to prooue the immortalitie thereof an argument to the same ende taken from the insatiable desires and pleasures of men euen from such as are most carnall of the testimony which they may find euen in their vices to prooue the immortalitie of their soule Chap. 92. ACHITOB. It hath beene a saying heeretofore that it belonged not to a vile person to deny God Which Prouerbe came of this that the nobilitie and gentlemen were so ill taught and so ignorant of true nobilitie that they reserued this occupation to themselues as proper to their estate turning it to their glory and endeuouring to bee feared by this meanes And surely these were faire Armes and goodly scutcheons to set foorth the Nobilitie of their estate by namely horrible and execrable blasphemies which the very Iewes and Turkes would neuer suffer among themselues I woulde to God wee might nowe say rightly that this was once but is no more and so likewise that there were not some among them that think themselues the greatest men who haue this in their thoughts if they dare not speake it openly that it belongeth not to men of courage to beleeue in God and in his word or to thinke that there is a iudgement to come at which men shall appeare but that this appertaineth to the simple and foolish not to these great and noble spirites which flie aboue the clouds and indeede know more then they ought to leade them into hell But as by the difference of appetites and desires wee haue shewed them that the soule cannot be mortall which concludeth a diuine prouidence and a second life as we declared before so it is an easie matter to prooue the same by those pleasures in which the soule taketh delight For by how much the more those things that bring delights do resemble the vertue of the soule that is delighted and the greater affinitie proportion and agreement they haue with it so much the greater sweeter and more pleasant are the delights as also more firme and of longer continuance Indeede it may be obiected vnto me that if we looke to this we shal find that the greatest part of men take more pleasure in those delights which they can receiue by their senses which are more earthy and brutish then in others that are more naturall to the spirit and more spirituall and heauenly and therefore the iudgement that we can gather from hence of the nature and essence of the soule may seeme not to agree to this we speake of It is very certaine that some men are of such a brutish nature that a man may well doubt whether they be men or no and whether they deserue not rather to be reckoned in the number of beasts to which they are more like then to men except it be for their face in which respect also a man may compare them with Apes For if they bee led by the same desires and lustes and satisfie themselues therein as brute beasts and goe no further wherein doe they differ from them and to what purpose serueth that which God hath bestowed vpon their soules more then vpon the soules of beasts if they content themselues with a brutish life pleasure as they do For where is the vse of reason vnderstanding which God hath bestowed vpon them more then vpon beasts And if they vse them no more then beasts doe that are altogether voide of them who can knowe whether they are partakers of them more then they And so consequently how shal that definition cōmonly giuen of man agree to them wherein he is called a liuing creature partaker of reson Therefore when we enquire of the nature and substance of the soule wee must followe that rule which is vsually propounded in searching out the nature and essence of all other things For when a man would haue true knowledge of them hee taketh not in ech kind of them that which may bee in some of the same kinde lesse perfect and monstrous As if there bee occasion to iudge of the nature of
iustice that men vse against malefactors be grounded Shall there be more iustice in men who are altogether iniustice themselues then in God who is the fountaine of all iustice yea iustice it selfe All this must be so or else we must confesse that all these things testifie vnto vs that God hath care ouer vs and that there is an other place and time of rewarding euery man according to his workes then in this worlde and heere in this life For this cause Saint Peter calleth the day of the last iudgement in which all shall appeare before God the time of the restauration of all things foretolde of God by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the worlde beganne For considering that al things are so confused and troubled in the worlde that it seemeth there is no difference betwixt the blessings and curses of God pronounced in his lawe and that all things are turned topsie turuy by the malice of men the Lord hath ordained a place and time in which hee will put an end to this disorder and wil restore al things to their right estate and good order Now if the Lord hath appointed that euery one shal be rewarded at that time and place it followeth that then and there also wee must search for the end for which man was created and that his soule shall liue there And if the soule then liueth and in that place it followeth well also that there is the end of it For we take the ende for that which is the last and most perfect in euery thing So that if the question be of the authoritie of men and multitude of witnesses for the confirmation of that which hath beene hitherto saide of the immortalitie of the soules of men wee shall haue for this purpose all those who from the beginning of the worlde amongest all people and nations haue beleeued and thought that there is a God that there is a Diuine nature and prouidence and consequently any religion yea euen those barbarous and sauage nations which were found out of late dayes in those new Ilands commonly called the new found world And if the qualitie of the witnesses is to be considered we shall still haue almost all on our side For if wee looke vnto the most barbarous and strangest nations that are the testimonie of nature which all of them carry in their hearts compelleth them to range themselues on this side And if we come to others that haue bin more ciuil better instructed we shall haue a greater aduantage Or if the question be of the greatest and of such as by the consent and testimonie of all were accompted and were indeede best learned and most vertuous we shal not only finde them to haue beene on our side but also that they haue condemned as ignorant men and vnworthy to liue them that haue beene of a contrary opinion betwixt which men and the other there is great difference For those among the Philosophers that denied the immortalitie of the soule were such as did abolish also all diuine nature and prouidence and all religion and such as placed the soueraigne good of men in pleasure which kinde of men were alwayes woorthily taken to be the vilest and most abiect and as it were the skumme and dregges of the professours of Philosophie For to the ende wee may the better vnderstand this by mine aduise we will consider of the best arguments that are alleadged by Philosophers to prooue the immortalitie of soules that they who will not credite the testimony of the holy Scriptures may feele themselues vrged in their conscience with the sayings of Ethnickes and heathen men who shall rise vp in iudgement against them to aggrauate their condemnation Now it belongeth to thee AMANA to followe this matter Of an other argument for the immortalitie of the soule taken from that naturall desire which men haue of knowledge of Aristoteles opinion touching the nature and immortalitie of the soule of other reasons of Philosophers to prooue that the spirite can not be of a corruptible and mortall nature and how iust men should be more miserable and should haue more occasion to feare and to eschew death then the vniust and wicked if the soule were mortall Chap. 94. AMANA There is in all men a naturall desire of knowledge and wisedome yea a man may perceiue that most barbarous men desire naturally to knowe vnto what Art soeuer they apply their spirite iudging the same to be commendable honest as contrariwise they accompt it vnbeseeming a man and dishonest to be ignorant to erre and to be deceiued From this desire the wisest and most famous among the Philosophers tooke a very good argument to prooue the immortalitie of the soule For seeing this desire is naturall and that in this worlde all the knowledge and wisedome that men can haue is very small and as it were nothing in respect of that which they want they conclude necessarily that there must needes be some other place and time then in this life wherein that which is heere begunne but slenderly is to be accomplished and made perfect The reason from whence they deriue their argument is that common saying that God and Nature the minister of God doe nothing without cause Wherefore seeing this desire of knowledge and wisedome is naturall in man it can not be in vaine neither is it giuen vnto him but that it should attaine to some end and perfection For to what purpose serued the corporal eies of liuing creatures and for what cause should they be giuen them if they could neuer see or were to liue alwaies in darknes So likewise why should the eies of the soule mind be giuen to men thereby to behold celestiall and diuine things which cannot be seene with bodily eies if they could neuer view them but in such darknes as they do heere behold them To what end also should man be naturally pricked forward with a desire to know the truth and to haue skill if he could neuer soundly enioy his desire but should remaine always in ignorance for the greatest part of those things which he desireth to know which are of so great waight that whatsoeuer he is able to vnderstand and know in this world is nothing or very little in regarde of that which yet remaineth behinde for him to knowe For not to speake of those things in which all humane philosophie must acknowledge her ignorance let vs come to that vnderstanding which wee may haue by the holie Scriptures reuealed vnto vs of God For although the knowledge wee haue by them surpasseth without al comparison all humane philosophie and science yet Saint Paul compareth it to a knowledge that is very obscure to a light that is seene through thicke and darke cloudes and to an image represented vnto vs in a glasse in comparison of that most high and perfect knowledge and vnderstanding which is reserued for vs in another life and whereof
is the Original of all mouing he must of necessitie bee firme and stable because otherwise he could not giue motion to others as we haue dayly experience hereof in our selues For if we would moue one of our feete the other must abide steddie and firme and both the one and the other must alwayes haue some stay whereby to take their motion Nowe because God cannot haue stay from any other hee hath it in himselfe in that manner which hath beene declared alreadie For as hee is alwayes one so all things are present to him yea hee is euery where by reason that hee is eternall and infinite without beginning and without ende Iudge of all and is iudged of none gouernour of all and gouerned by none Secondly we haue those spirituall natures and creatures which are a great Good but not the greatest and chiefest Good which cannot be found but in the Creator This second Good hath qualities because all things in it are not substantial It hath also motion but receiueth the same from the first Good of which it dependeth and then it giueth the same to others This motion is in time but without place and this Good both iudgeth and is iudged gouerneth and is gouerned The Angels and humane soules are this great Good and these spiritual natures which are spirites hauing all these things But there is betweene them that difference before spoken off namely that Angels are spirits which were created to liue an immortal life and not to bee ioyned vnto any earthly bodies and that the spirite of men are created to dwell in bodies and to giue them life Therefore I let passe Angels for this time and purpose to speake onely of the spirite of man which is not immutable as God is but may receiue change of qualities as wee see in that it beeing created good became bad and of euill may also become good by the grace of God But no such thing can befall God For hee cannot but bee good in the highest degree and the soueraigne good of euery creature because goodnes is not accidental to him as it is to a creature but substantial and essential And as God is the soueraigne mouer who giueth motion to all creatures in this great world so the soule and spirite of man giueth mouing to the whole body of man who is the little world and to all the members thereof neither hath it this motion from any other creature beside it selfe as the body receiueth the same from it but onely of the Creator Nowe although this motion bee made in time yet it is not made by any change of place For what motion soeuer there is in the spirite yet it abideth alwaies in his place so long as it dwelleth in the body which it gouerneth vnder God the great gouernour by whome also it is iudged as it selfe iudgeth the body and all that is vnder the same Lastly followeth the body which is another Good but not so great as the spirit This hath not only quality but quantitie also whereas the spirite hath onely qualitie without quantitie For to speak properly no nature hath quantitie except it be corporal Therfore the soule of a great man is not greater then the soule of a little man in regard of corpulency because it hath none as the body hath So that when we say that a man is of a great spirite we meane it not in regard of bodily quantitie as when we speake of a great body but wee consider in him the experience of giftes agreeable to his nature wherewith he is endued aboue others And in taking it so it will often come to passe that the least bodies shall haue the greatest spirites and the greatest bodies the least spirites And by the same reason we consider in a little infant euen as soone as he hath receiued mouing in his mothers bellie the selfe-same soule that is in all the ages that followe his infancie vntill his olde-age and in death it selfe But according as those instruments whereby it worketh during life are fitte for their offices and as afterwarde when they waxe olde they faile of their naturall force and vertue so the soule sheweth her powers and wonderful effects in them and by them continuing still one and the same in substance and nature as these things haue beene at large declared vnto vs. And as for the motion of the body it is made both in time and in place and is gouerned and iudged but it selfe neither gouerneth nor iudgeth Thus wee may see howe these two good things the spirite and the bodie of which the one is greater then the other are vnited and ioyned together in man as if he caried heauen and earth linked together Wee may learne also howe in this coniunction the spirite occupieth the middle betwixt God and the bodie and agreeth with them both Wee see also the admirable workes of the soule during this coniunction all which are so many testimonies of the wonderfull workes of God and of his prouidence ouer all nature Moreouer we behold a very goodly disposition and excellent order in all the powers and faculties both of soule and body Let vs then make our profit of all these things and of these instructions and lessons which God giueth vs in them to leade vs to the principall end for which man was created namely to know and to honour his Creator Wherefore we ought chiefly to consider that seeing God in the wonderful compositiō of our nature hath placed the heart between the head and the belly and the vital vertue of the soule betweene the animal and the nutritiue vertue and the will betweene the vnderstanding and the most sensual part that is in vs therefore the heart and will must alwayes looke vpward and not downeward to the end that they may ioyne themselues to the noblest and most diuine part and not to the basest most sensuall and earthly part For they are in mans body as if they were placed betweene heauen and earth so that as man holdeth the middle place between Angels and other liuing creatures by reason of that communication of nature which he hath with them both so fareth it with the heart and the will betweene the head and the belly and betweene reason with that part which is capable thereof and the sensuall part which is without reason Wherefore if the will of man be ioyned with reason which is celestial and diuine and followeth the same it will become like vnto it and shal be able easily to gouerne the sensual part vnderneath it to be mistresse ouer it and to compel it to obey But if the Will despise reason and the counsaile thereof and if instead of mounting vpward towardes the noblest part it desecendeth to the sensual part and ioyneth it selfe thereunto then shall the Will be made like to that and shal serue it in place of commanding it And by this meanes the Will shall become altogether brutish wheras contrariwise
it might make the sensuall and earthly part as it were celestiall and diuine by drawing it with it selfe if it woulde obey reason rather then the affections of the flesh and if it would looke more towardes heauen then towardes the earth as men commonly vse to doe For as they are in the middest betweene Angels and beastes if they woulde looke more towardes heauen from whence their soules haue their Originall then towardes the earth out of which their bodies are taken they should become celestial and diuine like to the Angels and finally like to God who hath created them after his owne image But if insteede of beholding the heauens vnto which their faces are lifted they looke downe to the earth as brute beasts doe hauing more care of that then of heauen they shall become altogether earthie and brutish like beastes Therefore it standeth euery one in hand to bethinke himselfe seriously which way he aymeth whither he desireth to come and whom he had rather resemble either the angels or beasts Let vs then consider wel of our nature and of that order which God setteth downe therein and follow the same and beware that we doe not peruert it Let vs learne to acknowledge the image of God in vs and to beholde his great wisedome therein as it were in a little world First let vs know by our soule which is a spirituall and no corporall nature that God is a spirite and of a spirituall nature which is not shut vp and inclosed in any place For neither our spirite hath any abiding in a place as if it were inclosed and shut vp therein notwithstanding that it remayneth in a place as it were in regarde of that coniunction which it hath with the bodie Neuerthelesse it is not so inclosed therein but that it is able not onliâ— to raunge through heauen and earth and throughout this whole visible worlde but euen higher and farther so that the whole world is not of sufficient bignesse to containe the same or to content and satisfie it but that it will goe beyond it What then shall wee thinke of GOD who hath created it And howe forgetfull shall man bee of himselfe if whereas the whole worlde is not great enough for his spirite hee content himselfe with a little angle of the earth and doe after a sort burie himselfe therein Likewise let vs knowe and beleeue that God is inuisible seeing our soule is so and cannot bee seen with bodily eyes For it is not painted with any colour neither hath it any corporal figure whereby it may be seene and knowen which is doen onely by the acts and deedes of it Let vs not seeke then to knowe the essence and nature of God by the eyes but onelie by the spirite For hee cannot bee seene by them but onelie by the eyes of faith neither can hee bee founde or conceiued by corporall senses Againe wee ought not onely to consider but euen to woonder howe hee hath ioyned our soule with the bodie and distributed the vertue thereof into all the partes and members of the same and howe hee doeth so excellently knitte together and conioyne so manie members so distant one from another euen from the one ende vnto the other all which receiue life and vertue from the soule according to their nature and office and are all gouerned by one and the same spirite Let vs consider then howe hee woulde haue that part of the soule which is partaker of reason to haue the principalitie and dominion ouer the part in which he hath placed the affections to the ende that the chiefest should commaund and the other obey as himselfe hath the Lordshippe and soueraigntie ouer all his creatures as they that must obey him Let vs not then suffer the spirite to bee brought into bondage by the perturbations of the affections neither let vs suffer them to bee so lifted vp against reason as to bee able to turne the vertue of the soule against it In like manner let vs remember how God worketh in our mindes in such sort as that the knowledge of those things which wee knowe first is not abolished by the vnderstanding of other things we learne after but they are all kept together very surely in the chiefe part of the soule and that in good order by meanes of the memorie without confusion one with another euen as if they were written and engrauen in a table or in a piller of brasse Wherefore we should be very vngratefull and brutish if any thing in the world cause vs to forget God and if we haue not his benefites towards vs in perpetual remembrance FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prou. 6. 6. 1. Cor. 12. Iob 33. 3. Psalme 12. 2. Prouer. 15. 28. and 16. 23. Gen. 1. 1 26. Psal 139. 13. Iob 10. 10 11. Rom. 1. 20. Psalm 139. 14. Isay 44. 2. Hebr. 11. 6. Act. 17. Rom. 1. 19. Psal 20. Act. 17. 27. Protagoras Diagoras Epicurus Lucianus Plinie Sen. Cassius Brutus Lucretius Pope Iohn 13. Pope Leo. 10. Frances Rabelais Iodellus A citizen of Angiers Isaiah 11. 9. 54. 13. Ier. 31. 34. Psal. 119. 71. Psal. 16. 1. Act. 19. 19 20. Matth. 15. 14. iohn 9. 39. Esay 29. 14. 2. tim 3. 13. 2. thes 2. 10 11 12. Rom. 1. 18 19. c. Matth. 24. Acts 2. 37. Psal. 19. 1. What we learne by the view of the world Psal. 8. 1. 4 5 6. Psal. 32. 9. Isai. 1. 3. Euery creature hath his proper motion and disposition The difference betweene the naturall and supernaturall desire of man to good 1. Cor. 2. 14. Isay 64. 4. Psal 16. 11. How we may see God How Plato came to the knowledge of God The knowledge of God and of our selues ioyned together Two books that reach vs to know God The necessitie of the word The name of God Exod. 3. 14. Steps to ascend vp by to the knowledge of God Gen. 1. 26. Three things to be considered in the creation of man Isa. 40. 13 14. rom 11. 34. Prou. 8. 22. c. The trinitie of persons in the vnitie of the godhead Gen. 1. 27. Gen. 〈◊〉 7. Gen. 3. 19. Mans body compounded of the 4. elements Of what element eâ—ery sence holdeth most The first matter the mother of all things An argument of all Atheists against mans creation Aristotles errour was that the worlde had no begâ—nning Nature commeth of the Latine word Nascor which signifieth to be borne How we must ascend vp to the knowledge of God by his creatures Gen. 2. 15 18. What great knowledge of naturall things was in Adam Man was created for societie The creation of woman and vse thereof In Hebrew Ish signifieth man and Ishah woman Ephes 5. 29. How Atheists scofle at the womans creation Genes 2. 21. Of the mvsterie of Christ and his Church in the creation of the woman Ephes. 5. 30. The opinion of naturall Philosophers touching the nature of women Genes 1. 27. 1. Cor. 11.
a lamp and mans body The causes of chirst and hunger Of physicke and the causes therof Instructions from the sense of taste The equality of heate and moysture preserueth life Of the inequality that is in the nature of the body A testimonie of the great prouidence of God What meate is fittest for infants From whence commeth the different substance of our members Men haue more varietie of drinks then beasts We must eate neither too much not too litle The chiefe end of foode Iohn 1. Vnthankful men are like to hogs Luke 12. 48. 1. Tim. 4. 4. Food must be receiued with thankeâ— giuing Some more like to madde dogges then men What beautie is and wherein it consisteth The nose is very seruiceable to the braine Why the sense of smelling is placed so neere to that of tasting Of the agreemeÌ„t of these two senses How men abuse these senses Iohn 12. 3. How the spirites are resâ—estâ—ed with sweete odours Of the diuers vses of the nose Of the matter of the nose How the nose is in steade of a spowt to the braine Of the nosethrils and of their parting asunder Of the spungie or siue-bone Of the muscles of the nosethrils and of the sinews of smelling Notable instructions for the soule Psal 16. 11. Of the vse of the externall senses Of the fupersluities that proceede out of the body Of the passages meete to purge the body by Of the pores in the skinne Of the spowts of the braine and head The face compared to a Limbeck Good instructions for all men The profite of care-waxe The diuersitie of faces is wonderfull The great variety of noses Varietie of countenance in one man The description of an angry visage Of an arrogant countenance Pride is seated vpon the eie lids Matth. 23 12. Luke 14. 11. The seate of shame Esay 48. 4. Ezech. 3. 8. Of the true Physiognomy Iob 10. 12. Genes 2. 7. Three sortes of faculties in man Of the animal power Of the sensitiue Of the motiue How we come to the knowledge of the soule The knowledge of the soule how necessary and excellent it is The knowledge of our selues very necessary The diuision of creatures Of creatures without life The celestiall bodies are immutable Of creatures hauing life Of the vegetatiue life Of the sensitiue Of the cogitatiue Of the reasonable soule The soule of man differeth from that of beasts in vnderstanding and immortality The soule is the proper inhabitant of mans body Two natures in man Two sorts of spirites The description of Angels Mens soules haue alwaies life in the. Matth. 10. 28. Luke 12. 4 5. The soule compared to a cunning workman To a musicion To an inhabitant The soule is the workeman the body the toole A glasse to see God in The world is not the body of God How the soule in the body resembleth God in the world The absurd collection of Atheists Of the Animall vertues Three bellies attributed to mans body Of the braine of the image of God therein The braine most resembleth the heauens Three kindes of knowledge Of the first kinde of knowledge common to all liuing creatures Of the second kind of knowledge Of the third kind of knowledge Of the naturall vertue and of the kindes thereof Of the Animal vertues and powers in the internal senses Of Imagination Of Memorie Of Fantasie and Common sense Of Reason and Iudgement The nature of the reasonable part in the soule is hard to be knowne Of the litle Bellies of the braine Of Dâ—â—a mater or the hard mother Of the skull Three vses of the hard Mother Eccles. 12. 6. Of Iia mater or the godly mother Of the braine and office thereof The diuision of the braine Of the presse and Vault in the head Of the Like worme and of his office Of the passage whereby the superfluities of the brain are voyded None can here attaine to a perfect knowledge of the essentiall power of the soule The mind cannot perfectly know it selfe God cannot deceiue nor be deceiued The testimony of the scriptures most firme Rom. 2. 15. Of the seate of voluntary sense and motion Of the Common sense and of his office Of Imagination and of Fantasie Dan. 2. 28 29. The giddinesse of Fantasie Fantasie is dangerous It is very subiect to the motions of good or ill spirites How sorcerers are deluded by the Diuell The deuill counterfaiteth the workes of God Of the force of imagination The strong fancie of women with childe Imagination preuaileth much in beasts Good counsaile for euery one Psal 119. 37. Beasts search only after corporall things belonging to this life Of the seate of reason and of his office Reason is the iudge of Fansie Of Memorie and of his office Dan. 2. Of the seate of memorie Causes of good and bad memories Of the agreement betweene all the senses The memorie is a spirituall eye Of the effects of Reason Of vnderstanding and contemplation A double discourse of Reason in man Memory compared to a picture What remembrance is The minde compared to the keeper of Rolles A good admonition to humble vs. Diuers kindes of madde folkes The imagination troubled Reason troubled The memory lost Dan. 4. How a man may â—â—dge of the â—eats of the senses Of such as are possessed with Deuilles The power of euill spirites Matth. 26. 4â— and 6. 13. Iob 7. 15. 1. Sam. 16. 14 15. 314. Good instructions for all men Psal 148. 8. Of contemplation and action The senses of â—â—â—serue for the good of his soule Contention betwixt the spirite and fantasie What is meant by the reasonable soule Proofe that the soule of beasts is mortall but of men immortal What is in plants aboue stones and in beasts aboue plants in men aboue beasts The end of mâ—nâ— being Only God knoweth the soule perfectly What actions men doe which beasts cannot How beasts discourse Ezech. 37. 1. Act. 10. 3 10 11. 2. cor 12. 2 3. Of the VnderstaÌ„ding and of Will The memory coÌ„pared to the rolles of Chancerie What degrees are betweene Iudgement and Will What knowledge we may haue of variable things In what things coniecture taketh place Of what things science or knowledge may be had In what things wisedome taketh place Ephes 1. 16 17 18. The author of wisedome Ephe. 3. 19. Much darknesse mingled with our natural light The cause of the diuersity of knowledge and of ignorance in men 2. Cor. 4. 4. Causes of the variety of mens opinions The manners of men follow the disposition of their bodies Two kindes of discourses Of the end of al discourses A comparison The seueral powers of the soule Of the office of Iudgement A sound iudgement is an excellent gift of God Two kindes of consents Agreement betwixt Beleefe and Science What Opinion is What doubting is Of saith in diuine things Of the light of faith Of the senses of faith Ephes 4. 30. 2. cor 1. 22. Ephes 2. Hebr. 11. The conclusions of faith are most true
and vnchangeable Incredulitie contrary to beleefe and opinion Of the diuers acceptions of this word Beleefe or Faith The description of Faith It is good for a man to knowe his owne ignorance 1. Cor. 2. 14. Foure meanes to knowe certainely those things that are to be beleeued Of generall experience Of the knowledge of principles Of the naturall knowledge of God in men The vse both of the naturall and of the written law Of natural iudgement Of the fourth meane of knowledge Hebr. 11. Of the image of God in man Ephes 4. 24. The difference betwixt soule and spirite Matth. 10. 39. rom 13. 1. Esay 40. 5 6. Iuc 3. 6. Rom. 8. 6. Genes 1. How God proceedeth in the creation of his workes How the powers of the soule manifest themselues How they haue their degrees in growth Luke 1. 80. The difference betwixt reason and iudgement and contemplation Why some haue preferred Philosophie before riches Of the benefits that commeth by the contemplation of diuine things Of the contemplation that is after this life When all men shall be of one iudgement The actiue life must be ioyned with the contemplaiue The obiect of the will is as large as that of the mind What great confusion is in our corrupt nature Of the desires that are in creatures Three kindes of appetites Of the Naturall appetite Of hunger and thirst Two kindes of Sense Of the seate of the naturall appetite Of the sensitiue appetite kinds thereof The vse of the sinewes Of the affections The ende of knowledge The best thingsin beasts are sensuall Beasts haue no Will. Matth. 5. From whence the desires of all creatures ought to be deriued What Will is and how it worketh How reason is set ouer the Will Diuers acceptions of the words Reason Will Psal 115. Matth. 6. The Will is the chiefest appetiteâ— The Wil aymeth alwaies at good The Will is free and vnconstrayned Of the image of God in the Will Good is alwayes the obiect of the Will Diuers degrees in the actions of Will How the Wâ— coÌ„mandeth the appetite The difference betwixt the natural and regenerated man What is the chief good that meere naturall men seeke after What good men are taught to ayme at by the heauenly light How we must cary our selues both in prosperity and aduersity Of the frailety of mans estate Of the power of the Will in all actions Why men preferre earthly things before heauenly Will sometime reiecteth all counsaile What freedome the Will hath in outward actions The neere coniunction of Reason and Will Euâ—â— spirites haue power ouer the Will The difference of mans obedience to God from that of other creatures Difference betwixt Knowledge and Affections Of the discord betweene the heart and the braine A comparison Rom. 1. 18. verse 21. How the Scripture taketh the word heart Matth. 22. 40. Of the agreement that ought to be betweene the minde and the heart Why the heart is taken sometime for the seate of reason Deut 29 4. Matth. 22. 37. 1. King 3. 12. Rom. 1. 24 25. Pleasure of it owne nature a gift of God The end of mans creation Of the second belly of the body Ezech. 27. 4. ionas 2. 4. matth 12. 40. Of the midriffe and of his vse Of the skinnes of the breast and of their vse Of the cawle of the heart Of the fashion of the heart Of the water in the cawle of the heart Of the office of the heart Of the lungs and of their vse How the lungs couer the heart How the heart agreeth with the heauens Of the arteries and their office How the vitall spirites agree with the aire and windes Of the double motion of the heart and the vses thereof An admonition to mutuall loue 1. Iohn 3. 20. Whereof the striking of the breast arose Of the substance of the heart The situation of the heart Of the counterpoize of the heart A good lesson for euery one Deuter. 5. ezech 20. Of the two voide places in the heart and of their vse What the vitall spirite is Of the great artery Aâ—example of â—utuall succour Of the veiny â—â—â—ery Of the doores and pipes of the heart Goodly instructions for al men Moderation is 〈◊〉 be kept in all things Superfluitie to be auoided in all things Good counsell for Princes Man was created not onely to be but also to be well What the affections are Two kindes of affections What affections goe before iudgement Agreement betweene the temperature of the body and the affections of the soule The affections can doe much with the body â—oy good for the body and Griefe hurtful to it How the agreement betweene the body and the soule may be discerned Naturall qualities breede diseases Men are more carefull for the health of their bodies then of their soules The affections breed the health or sicknes of the soule How the soule receiueth from the body in regard of the diuers temperatures thereof Agreement betweene corporall and spirituall Physicke Luke 21. 34. Rom. 13. 3. Ephes 5. 18. Act. 13. 2. Iudge 20. 26. Psal 69. 10. Esth 4. 16. The knowledge of physicke necessary for all Sinne is the cause of all disorder discases and of death Three things to be considered in the facultie of Knowledge How habâ—tes are bred in the minde Foure things to be considered in the Will and desires Of natural inâ—linations and affections Rom. 1. 30. 2. Tim. 3. 3. Leuit. 19. 18. matth 5. 43. Of the vâ—â—â—lines of our naturall affections 2. Tim. 3. 2. Rom. 1. Of true loue towards a manâ— selfe towardâ— his Gen. 22. Naturall inclinations are seeds of vertues or vices The originall of all diseases What a habite is Of the force of custome Sweat is Gentleman-vsher to vertue The cause and profite of an habite What affection is froÌ„ whence vertue and vice first spring The fountaine of morall philosophie Why the affections are giuen to the soule The affections compared to the windes Of commotions perturbations How 〈◊〉 the iudgement can preuaile ouer the affections The originall of violent motionâ— in the soule A similitude shewing the perilous motions of of the soule The effects of a prudent and wise man Of the variety of affections The cause of all motions in the â—oule Two kindes of punishments Of the generation nature and kindes of the afâ—ections How the affections are bred or brideled one of another Goodly similitudes The first motion of the heart is an image of the second Griefe or Ioy in all the affections Ioy appeareth in the face The effects of laughter in the face 2. Cor. 6. 11 12 What is meant by bowels in the Scripture 1. King 3. 26. Col. 3. 12 13 14. The true workes of a Christian 1. Ioh. 3. 17 18. Isay 58. 10. What ioy is How the heart chuseth euil for good What sorrow is Of melancholy The effect of sorrowe A commendable vse of teares Rom. 12. 15. A comparison Psa 34. 8 9 10. Vers 19. 21.
the prouidence of God herein that amongst them members giue by him to the body he hath created some of that nature that a man can in no wise liue without them and others so that albeit they be not necessary for life yet he can not liue at his ease and not receiue great hurt if he want them The members of the first sort are the braine the heart the lungs the liuer the splene the stomacke and such like that are the seates of the animal vital and natural vertues without which there could bee no stay of life For after these members are hurt or perished farewell life The other sort are the eies the eares the nose the tongue the feete the hands and such like For although a man loose some one or many of these members yet he doeth not therefore loose his life but hee shall surely feele the detriment which such a losse bringeth vpon him And as wee commonly say that the Oxe knoweth not the valow of his â—orne vntill the haue lost it so wee may with greater reason say that no man knoweth of what valew the partes of his body are vntill he want them or vntill they be so hindered that they cannot fulfill their office Wherefore we ought to pray to God to preserue them for vs whilest wee haue them and giue him thankes because he hath not created vs lame or maimed of any member And when we see any that were borne without them or that haue lost them since wee ought to be so much the more stirred vp to glorifie him acknowledging it to come from his grace in that he hath dealt better with ratheâ—r with them although we haue deserued no more then they Now because we do not so neither haue this consideration as we ought to giue him thankes and to vse them to his honour and glory therefore he depriueth vs of them many times to punish this ingratitude and to cause vs to know better the valew of these gifts after they are taken from vs and that wee haue lost them seeing we could not knowe it whilest wee had them nor yet him that gaue them vnto vs. And by the same meanes also he would admonish and put vs in minde of the dammage we receiue by the defects of our soule by those which wee feele by experience in our bodies Whereupon wee haue an other goodly point of the prouidence of God to note in that hee hath giuen vs almost all double members without which we could not liue but with great paine and trouble to the end that if we lost one wee might yet vse the other and in some sort supplie the losse of that which is wanting For this cause hee did not create onely one eye or one nosethrill one eare one arme one hand one legge or one foote but twaine This ought to bee well considered that wee might haue the better knowledge of the care that God hath ouer vs seeing hee hath so well prouided for all things that hee will not onely haue vs liue but also furnish vs with all necessary things whereby wee might liue more commodiously more easily and with lesse paine and trouble And when it falleth out that some one of these members or both are wanting God supplieth this defect by maruailous meanes For sometimes wee see that maymed folkes haue done many thinges with their feete or with their necke and head that others could hardly doe with their hands at least wise they haue done things without handes that would seeme altogether incredible to such as haue not seene them And many times wee see dumbe men whose handes stand them in steade both of tongue and eares For by the signes and gestures of their handes they signifie their meaning to others as if they themselues did speake and vnderstand the minde of others that make the like signes Yea there are some that conceiue what others say vnto them onely by seeing them open and mooue their lippes so that we must needs acknowledge it as a miracle of God Now hauing spoken generally of the senses of the body and specially of touching as also of their members and instruments wee must come to their particulars Therefore AMANA thou shalt discourse vnto vs first of the eyes which are as it were the principall windowes of this building which we haue vndertaken to pourtraite and set foorth Of the eyes and of their excellencie profite and vse of the matter and hâ—nors whereof they are made Chap. 10. AMANA It hath alwayes bin the opinion of the Stoics and Academics that the bodily senses did rather hinder then help to obtaine wisedome that no man could know or vnderstand anything that the senses were feeble and slowe that sensible things were so small that they could not be perceiued or els so subiect to motion that no certainetie coulde be found in them that our life is short and full of opinions and customes that all was compassed about with darkenes and hid and therefore that nothing could be perceiued or vnderstoode so that men were to professe that they woulde affirme or approoue of nothing Plato writeth in many places that wee must beleeue nothing but the vnderstanding which beholdeth that that is simple and vniforme and as it is indeede and that there is no science but only in those reasons discourses which the soule maketh wheÌ„ it is not troubled with bodily lets as with sight and hearing or with griefe plesure Eusebius disputing against this sheweth that the senses help much towards the obtaining of wisedome that when they are rightly affected and in their naturall habite they neuer deceiue the mind that it â—tentiue But wee shall knowe more at large what their profit is by continuing our discourses of the instruments of the senses Let vs knowe therefore that the eies were giuen of God to men to cause them to see and to be as it were their watch towers fentinels the guides leaders of the whole body as also they are as it were the chiefe windowes of the body or rather of the soule which is lodged within it For it is a most excellent worke of God whether we coÌ„sider the matter wherof they are made how diuerse or agreeable it is to the office that is assigned them or the beauty that is in their forme in the diuersity of their colours or the commodity vse of their motions and howe they are set in their places as it were goodly pretious stones laide in some curious piece of worke how they are inuironed and armed both aboue and beneath on the right hand and on the left with the eye-lids and the eye-browes not onely for their protection and defense but also to adorne and to make them shew more beautifully And surely it is not without cause that God hath put such great excellencie in them and hath created and framed them so artificially For first they are the chiefest members of all the