heauen in the glasse of the Trinitie and diuine vnitie here this is an Article of our faith vnderstood in the resurrection of the flesh and life eternall When there is any question of faith reason must be silent and yeeld and therefore S. Bernard coÌ„fesseth that when he thinks of the estate of the foule he thinks to see two things in it in a manner coÌ„trarie if he beholds it with his humaine discourse as she is in her selfe and of her selfe he can say nothing more certen but that shee is reduced to nothing c. Next it was affirmed that man was verie credulous to â—…uill incredulous to good suspirion turnes alwaies cun ningly to the worst part said an Ancient hee swallowes downe slanders and impostures sweetly and distrusts honest and vertuous things such is his miserie If he think that the immortalitie of the soule cannot be grownded sollidly vpon any humaine argument let him also thinke that there cannot instance be giuen to the contrarie which is not easily ouerthrowne so as he bring a spirit that is tractable not preiudicate And aboue all that hee doe not perswade him-selfe that he may see it or feele it as the smoake or heate going out of the fire so the soule going out of the bodie for it is a spirit and therefore not possible to be comprehended but by reason and vnderstanding which are spirituall operations but let vs answere him to euery point It seemes the Obiector takes an ill presage of the immortallitie of the soule for that she is fauourable as if it were not the nature of man if he be not brutish to court those things which are worthy excellent as the soule of man is aboue al the world All men applaude men in great authoritie we esteeme pretious things as siluergold Pearle what a sot or rather a madd man is he that will haue a concoit that the thing is not excellent because it is respected As for the 400. Prophets they spake vnto the King according to humaine sence and were found false Micheas according to the word of God reuealed vnto him and it was true The Obiector reasons according to carnall sence he shal be taxed with falsehoode Wee speake according to the spirit of God in his holy writ we shall be found true He desires in the end or makes a shew to desire it that wee should ballance our reasons I am content and I protest it will be to his confusion for the Father of light will not suffer Satan the father of lies to triumph ouer the truth For the first instance then we say that Huart doth not meane the soule by the vnder standing but the intellectual spirits whereof she hath need to argue and to vnderstand the things of this world and to write worthily and these intellectuall spirits holding of the vitall bodie it is not strange if they be more vigourous according to the estate of the body and contrariewise if they perish when the bodie perisheth for although they be of a celestial substance exceeding whâ—…t exceeding light and most substantiall that they may be more ready to serue the soule yet are they mortall but the soule in her substance receiueth no increase nor diminution since the moment of her creation infusion into the body at all times yea in all men she is equally perfect as complete in the Ideot as in the learned in the coward as the couragious these are the diuers instruments of the bodie whereof she makes vse which make her diuers in her effects these instrumeÌ„t 〈◊〉 diuerse for that they are diuersly mixt of the foure first humors Moreouer this Spanish Philosopher defines the immortalitie of the soule against Gallen which he calls a substantiall acte and forme of a humaine bodie Cap. 7. of his Examen of spirits Here the impostor doth impertinently confound mortall spirits with the immorall spirit and our reason grownded vpon this that the soule the bodie dying thinkes of the delightfull places in heauen and foretelles things to come with much certitude according to the opinion of Tully and our owne To the Second This generall submission of all menin all places and at times vnder a powerfull Maiestie shewes the natural bond which man hath to doe his homage by reason of the immortalitie of his soule and that he doth rather worship vaine ridiculous and abominable things then none at all doth not deface this bonde but confirmes it more yet shewing that he wanders in the darknes of this world and in steed of taking the way of the East to goe vnto heauen if he be not guided and directed from aboue he takes the contrarie way and wanders farre The which we yeeld but it is a terror answers he to keepe man in his dutie it is true therefore religion is not in vaine for without it for one disorder man would commit ten thousand it proceeds say you from nature and institution I answer it is from nature only that she takes her beginning education doth manure it better it but what doe you vnderstand by nature For the Philosophers haue beene accustomed to signifie 4. distinct things by the same name which yet symbolize together the lowest is the temperature of the 4. humors in the body of man The 2. is the soule which giues motion vnto the body The 3. is the ordinance and rule which God hath established in the world The 4. is God himself called by some in that regard nature naturant If the Obiector means that feare and religion proceed onely from the temperature of the 4. humors in the body of man hee is condemned of falsehood contradiction by his owne saying in that he attributes feare to other creatures the which he knower differ from man in the same temperature and in truth it is in the soule that the reuerence of the Deâ—…ie that is of God is graueÌ„ it comes from this vniuersall rulâ—… and whereas hee would inferre that in women great feare causeth great religion he must vnderstand that religion in man hath conscience for her chiefe foundation which applyes the naturall apprehension of a superiority to an acknowledgment there of and for accessories shee hath contemplation in the superior part and feare in the lower As for the principall foundation it is common to men and women the two others are diuers Contemplation is greater in men and feare in women Contemplation doth stirre vp the will to the seruice of God by two considerations the one is of the diuine power bounty to haue had wil and power to giue life when as wee dreamt not of it to haue drawne vs out of endlesse dangers and to haue continued the course of his graces notwithstaÌ„ding our ingratitude The other consideration is from the basenesse and weakenesse of man which makes him to feele his imperfections and to repaire vnto the fountaine of all good feare doth stirre vp to humilitie to contrition of heart to confession of mouth
so swiftly as no man can feele it For so was the will of the Eternall to the end that mortall man should bee alwayes ready to die and not delay when hee feeles it for it is insensible The second Obiection It is a vaine and pernicious thing to giue eare to Astrologers in their predictions The former discourse seemes to perswade a man vnto it It is therefore vaine and pernicious EXperience hath and doth dayly verifie that they which haue easily giuen credit to the predictions of future things are for the most part in the end deceiued Niceas King of Syracusa found it true to his cost for confidently beleeuing his diuines that his death was neere he wasted his treasure in all kinds of excesse and liued in want all the remainder of his life which did far exceed the terme of his prediction Aboue all the lamentable taking of Constantinople by the Turkes is memorable The Grecians bewitched with a certaine old prediction that the day would come when a mighty enemie shold seaze vpon most of the forts of Constantinople but being come to the great place called the brazen Bull he should be represt and driuen out by the Inhabitants who to resist him had seazed vpon this place The Constantinopolitanes giuing credit he eunto hauing abandoned their strongest defences retire into this place wher they attend the Turke but they falnt are put to flight slaine and sackt and so to the great preiudice of Greece the Imposture of their Prophecie was manifest Answer I grant the Maior of the proposition and doe confirme it by the Law of God Let no diuiner be among you vsing diuinations nor regarders of times nor any that vse predictions nor Sorcerer c. Whosoeuer vseth any such thing is abominable to the Lord. And what should not Christian Magistrats doe herein seeing they are forbidden by infidels Mecaenas speaking to Augustus the Emperor of the gouernment of the Common weale sayth That there ought not to be any Soothsaier in the Common weale for all such kinde of men in speaking sometimes truth most commonly lie and are the cause of Innouations and troubles The Turkes Empire obserue the like prohibition according to the Al◅aron which sayth that all kinde of diuining is vaine and that God alone knowes all secrets But according to this deposition I denie the Minor and add that in all my precedent discours there is not a word which tends any way to the maintayning of Astrologers to heare and beleeue them I did produce some Histories to proue that our dayes are so determined by God as they cannot exceed their bounds prescribed and this doctrine is true holy diuine Behold the Oracles Man borne of a woman is of a short life fall of cares c. His daies are determined thou hast the number of his moneths with thee thou hast prescribed his limits which he shal not passe And Dauid sayth vnto God My times are in thy hand and therefore Christ is dead and risen that he might cōmand both ouer the dead liuing sayth S. Paul Rom 14. 9. The Iewes would haue put Christ to death before his time but they could not they sought sayth the Gospell to lay hold of him but no man did it for that his houre was not yet come The time of Iesabels death and the ende of her wickednes was accompli shed the time of her death the place had bin foretold by the Prophet Elias Iehu was chosē to execute this decree he did it without any regard till after the euent He runnes furiously into the towne of Iesrehel where Iesabel was after whom he sought Iesabel thought to stay him with her painted face and with the charme of her affected looks which she cast from her chāber window but Iehu commanded they should cast her downe which was done and her bloud rebounded against the wall against her houses the Scripture addes being entred he did eate and drinke after sayd Go now and burie this cursed woman for she is the daughter of a king but they found nothing remayning but the skull the feete palmes of the hands whereof they made report to Iehu who said It is the word of the Lord which he had deliuered by his seruant Elias say ing that in the field of Iesreel the dogs shold eate the flesh of Iesabel And as God for the edification of his Church wold rayse vp Prophets to de clare his promses or threats so w◅uld he somtimes thurst on certen men to denounce his Iudgements to the world to make them amazed in their euents to these fortellers whensoēuer we finde in them the Propheticall zeale of the Lord we ought to giue credit as soone as they haue pronounced the word But to these latter spirits most commonly Lyars we must neuer giue any credit vntill after the euent of that which they haue foretold For the thing being past it is no more doubtfull we may then beleeue it but not before and this was the meaning of the former discourse Otherwise it is not lawful to inquire of doubtfull euents of any Magitian Astrologer Mathematician yet a wise and iudicious man may without scruple of cōscience by certen coniectures gathered from the reading of good books from the vse of things the obseruatiō of the like he may I say conceiue presume or suspect which way the destinie tends and what his ende is but fearefully without confidence not to make a profession of it God only can search the bottome of his decrees none other without his particular and expresse assistance no not the Angels neither good nor bad the determinatiō of our dayes is one of his decrees it can neither be knowne nor stayed by vs. Behold letters from heauen to the end we may doubt no more Man saith Solomon knowes his time no more then fishes which are taken in the net and birds in the snare so men are snared in the bad time when it falls suddenly vpon them In vaine therefore doe we feare that which cannot be corrected by vs. The third Obiection If the cause of death be euitatabl◅ the effect also shal be But the cause of death is euitable Ergo. IT is writtē that a wiseman shal rule the stars for that finding himselfe inclyned to some mortall disease by some malignant influence of the stars he will change the ayre correct that bad complexion that it impaire not We are also commanded to honor the Physition for necessities sake by reason of the Phisicke which he ministers for the preseruation of life Moreouer Gods prouidence hath not imposed any necessity in humaine actions whereof he is Lord and especially of those which depend of his free will as who can hinder a man from killing himselfe if he please as many haue done We reade also in the booke of truth that the periode of the ruine of Niniuie assigned to 40. daies was altered by their repentance also the execution of the
man is as the world aboue the Moone alwayes cleere and without clouds But what is this ioy it is saith Seneca peace concord greatnesse of spirit ioyned to mildnesse it is to bee content with things present whatsoeuer and to become a friend to his affaiers It is sayth D◅critus to haue his spirit free from feare and the religious Doctor Saint Ambrose will say That tranquillity of conscience and assured innocency make the life happy Finally Salomon will cry out than a ioyful spirit is a delightful banket and contrariewise a troubled minde thinkes alwayes of things which are distastfull mournfull Trust not to these mela◅cholie men to whom adu◅ choler makes white things seeme blacke those that are happy vnfortunate and to feare where there is nothing but subiect of assurance Life is as we gouerne it good or bad pleasant or displeasant and therefore Epictetus sayed f◅ly That euery thing had two ends and that by the one it was easie to beare by the other combersome If your brother saith hee hath done you wrong doe not consider of ◅t of that side that he hath done you wrong for then it is vneasie to beare but of the other as he is your brother that you haue beene nourished together and then you wil find it very tolerable Du Vair who like the industrious Be◅ hath gathered summarily together the flowers of the Stoicks writes that nature may say vnto vs as the Philosopher did vnto his Disciples What I present vnto you with the right hand you take with the left your choice tends alwayes to the worst you leaue what is good and imbrace the bad Let vs take things by the good end wee shall finde that there is subiect of loue in that which we hate For there is not any thing in the world but is for the good of man As for example you haue a sute with your neighbour when you thinke of him your sute coms to minde and then you curse him and are disquieted the reason is you take it by the bad end but take it by the other and represent vnto your selfe that he is a man like to you that God by a resemblance of nature calls you to a mutuall affection that he is in the same Citie in the same Temple and doth communicate in the same Lawes the same prayers and the same Sacraments with thee that you are bound to succour one another reciprocally Finally the Stoicks hold for a Maxime that a wise man is exempt from iniurie either to giue or receiue he cannot doe any being borne onely to ayde hee receiues none for that being grounded vpon vertue hee valiantly contemnes all reproch wrong so as hee is inuulnerable as Seneca saith not for that hee is not strooke but for that as hee saith hee cannot bee hurt Answer I know that the Stoicks with whose fethers our obiector decks himselfe haue sought to frame their wise man of that fashion that he should not be capable of any ill but continually possest of a sollide ioy but whatsoeuer they haue purtrayed was but a vaine picture without effect or truth like vnto the Chimeres and Centaures Who wil beleeue that a wise man put vpon the racke feeles no paine Who can say that the life of Metellus is not more to be desired then that of Regulus turned vp and downe in a pipe full of nailes and that they are equall fauours That a wise man will ioyfully holde his hand burning in the fire like vnto Mutius Scaeuola Finally that a wise man beeing burnt tormented and put in Phalaris burning bull will notwithstanding say O what a sweete life is this Let them do what they list I care not These and such like are the Paradoxes of these Philosophers who as Cicero saith carry admiration in their foreheads but beeing strip't naked they giue cause of laughter of themselues as Plutarke saith they confesse their absurditie and vanity And in truth who wold not laugh when among other things they say that only a wise man is truely a king rich beautifull yea though he were a slaue a begger or a Zopirus with his nose cut off c. But let vs answere punctually to the reasons obiected The Sarazin Abdala vnderstands that by some excellent relickes of thesoule man is admirable to the world but hee doth not touch his felicitie for hee hath nothing of that remayning since his transgressiō he is continually here below miserable in euery degree He had the gift of free will to haue enioyed his owne happynesse if hee had would but for that hee abused it he lost himselfe and his liberty saith S. Augustine He rules ouer all creatures but a miserable domination in the which the meanest subiect exceeds his Lord in felicitie and twise miserable in the which the Lord suffers more miserie then the most wretched of his subiects Reade Plutarke and then Homer but aboue all the Spirit of God in the holy writ who knowes what wee are and qualifies man with no other titles but of darkenesse and foolishnesse to thinke a good thought of himselfe a brutish man who comprehends not the things which are of the Spirit and cannot vnderstand them for they are spiritually discerned Finally hee shewes him to be weake sicke dead in his sinnes a vipers broode not able to doe any good thing for that he is bad and by consequence cannot take part but with Satan the prince of darkenesse and the father of lyes and all iniquitie Moreouer if Seneca and others to retayne men in life teach them what they ought to doe it is no argument that they diuert them from death when shee shall present herselfe vnto them but contrariwise Seneca doth in a manner generally protest That death hath no discommoditie that it is not onely without ill but without the feare of ill and that it is a foolish thing to feare it c. As for life hee calls it deceitful and vicious for that it is alwayes imperfect But see how vpon this question hee opens his heart to sorrowfull Martia for the death of her sonne O ignorant men saith he of their owne miseries which doe not commend death as the goodlyest inuention of nature For whether that she holds felicitie inclosed or excludes calamitie be it that shee ends the satietie and wearinesse of old age or that shee carries away youth in his flower in the hope of better things be it that shee calls vnto her the most vigorous age before that it hath mounted the roughest steps yet is she to all men their end to some a remedy to some a vow and those are more bound vnto her to whom she coms without calling He goes on but he cuts off his discourse to come to the end of his life which was cut off for being commanded by Nero to dye without any delay hee willed his Surgeon to open a veine in his foote holding it in a bason of warme
impossible that at the soules departure from the body there should be any great paine the soule leaues the body as the light doth the ayre which it doth inuest as Viues speakes after S. Augustine Wee must not then imagine heere a grosse tearing of the soule from the body as of a piece of cloth for the vnion of the soule with the body is spirituall and incomprehensible But of the pretended paine in death there is sufficiently spoken in the Obiection following As for the two other enemies it is true that the conscience presents vnto a dying man the foulenesse of his sinne and it is true that Satan tempts man to despaire to precipitate him into eternall perdition But for all this must a man that feares God feare death and feare to lose the battaile No but hee ought rather to assure himselfe of the victory and present himselfe boldly to the Combate as a valiant fortunate Champion against one that is weake and vnfortunate They that are for vs are stronger then they that are against vs God which hath begunne continues his worke in vs and ends it to his glory the faith which he hath prāted in vs wil quench the inflamed darts of the wicked spirit the full assurance of the remission of sins by Iesus Christ dead for our sinnes and risen for our iustification will pacifie the conscience and shew him Iesus Christ in heauen sitting on the right hand of God and stretching out his armes to him Thirdly the seales of the holy Ghost in vs for by it we are sealed to the day of Redemption Baptisme the Communion of the body of Christ and the Spirit of sanctification will terrifie Satan and make him flie Finally the good Angels which from our birth and throughout the whole course of our liues haue administred vnto vs guided and comforted vs will redouble their loue and courage in the like offices at our greatest need and at our last gaspe Let vs not feare seeing we haue such assurance in the Word of God which doth plainely witnesse that the Angells are administring Spirits sent to serue for their sakes that shall receiue the inheritance of saluation Here then is no subiect of desperate feare but rather of an assured resolution The 4. Obiection All paine is euill In dying there is paine EPicharmus by the testimony of Cicero sayd that he would not die but to be dead he cared not The reason is in my opinion for that he feared the passage of death not death it selfe which hee thought with vs had no paine There are many at this day of this opinion abhorring death like an internall gulfe for that they conceiue there is some sharp and violent paine which they endure before it comes and thereunto tends the prouerbe He is in bad case that dies And S. Augustine seemes to attribute I know not what sharpe feeling and force against nature in the diuulsion of the soule from the body which were vnited together Answere If death be terrible by reason of the paine we apprehend in it then life by the same reason should be more for in it some man endures more by the cholicke the stone the sciatica yea by the tooth ach and by many other infirmities without death then an other hath felt in dying And there is this aduantage in death that it comes but once wheras the aboue mentioned infirmities are often reiterated in life But to haue a perfect view if this paine bee so great as opinion a bad counsellor doth make vs beleeue let vs search with reason into the immediate cause of that which doth engender this paine in our bodies The pathes which leade man to death are infinite but all bend to one of these foure high wayes outward force subtraction of meate and drinke inward sicknesse and old age These foure kinds of death may happen to al men yea to wise men although by iniustice touching the first by some rare accident as touching the second concerning the third by ordinary corruption of humors and by an infallible defect of nature touching the fourth Paine according to the definition of learned Phisitions is the feeling of some thing that is offensiue and troublesome to the nature of the body for that it is contrary to the health thereof the which happens either by the dissoluing and cutting of his continued substance or by the alteration thereof which alteration proceeds from the intemperate heate or cold for as for humidity and drinesse they are rather passiue qualities then actiue whose operation is very slow and the paine in the member that is altered is suddaine not gentle as if you be exceeding cold and come to a very sensible paine cold settles his paine in disioyning heate in burning and it is to bee noted that any sence may be wounded yet little or nothing is his paine in comparison of that of touching the which is dispersed ouer the whole body from which no other vessell of the sences is exempt which is the cause that wee sometimes feele prickings in the eyes and shootings in the eares c. Let vs now come to the application Death which comes to man by extreame age can be no cause of paine there being nothing in him that tortures his body nothing that doth suddainely alter and change him by extreame cold or heate but his life goes out presently like vnto a Candle that wants tallow by the losse of his radicall humour deuoured by little and little since his birth by his naturall heate and although this heate doth yet striue as it hath formerly done to conuert the meate which is familiar and fit for the body into radicall humor to repaire his losse yet she can worke no more her vertue failes her euery agent hath his vertue limited what soeuer doth act suffers in acting through vse and in continuance of time this heate decayes dissolues is lost and death ensues So as it hath bene disputed in vaine whether life might bee continued this radicall humor being restored by some fit nutriment for that humor being at the first a certaine ayery onely portion of that seede which doth reside in all the sollide parts it is impossible that such an humour and so much as is needefull should be supplied in it's place The only fruite of the tree of life which was in Eden had this secret vertue by the diuine ordinance to make man immortal that shold eate therof and therefore according to the opiniō of the Fathers God suddenly after the sin chased Adam and Eue out of Eden least they should lay hold of that fruite and become immortally miserable with the diuells In processe of time there happens two notable changes to this radicall humour the one in the quality for that it degenerates by little and little of naturall becomes strange the other in the quantity for that it is wholy wasted whereunto man being once reduced he can suffer no paine if hee complaines
to heauen It is a constant opinion of the Stoickes sayth he that after all humor is consumed this world shall burne and Nature by whom this reuolution is made seemes to giue vs some notice in that the fields being burnt by the labourer or drowned by water as in Egypt as in pooles dried vp and when the sea is retired in that I say this earth remaining is found renewed fat and producing many Creatures yea great and perfect as they write namely of Nile after it is retired Now vnder the wings of these great personages I come to maintaine this combate and refell the reasons of the Obiector Wee haue in our Argument toucht two points simbolizing together although the one be Christian and the other Heathen the first is the Resurrection of the flesh which we extend to man only not of other Creatures And let vs say that he who of nothing could make all may easily ouerthrow the imagined difficulty and raise vp and restore to the same estate the bodies of dead men for he that can do more can do lesse without all controuersie and hee that could of nothing make that which was not may repaire that which was vndone But how shall this Resurrection bee made and what assurance shall wee haue Behold how In the presence of all the world of Angells of men and of diuells with vnspeakable ioy to the good and incomprehensible horror to the wicked the Lord shall come with a cry of exhortation and the voice of the Archangell and the Trumpet of God these are the very words of the text By the sound of this trumpet all the dead shall awake and rise out of their graues and they that shall liue and remaine at this comming shal be suddenly changed and of mortall shal be made immortall by his force and efficacy who can make all things subiect vnto him as the Apostle sayth The bodies of the children of God shall rise againe like the glorious bodie of Iesus Christ impassible spirituall and yet fleshly shining like stars subtil light transparent and full of all happines behold the letters of heauen We attend the Sauiour who will transforme our vile bodies and make them conformable to his glorious body We know sayeth Saint Iohn that after hee hath appeared wee shall bee like vnto him God will wipe away all teares from our eyes sayth hee death shall bee no more there shal bee no mourning cries nor labour The body sowne in corruption shall rise spirituall sayth S. Paul for that no sollide thing can hinder it it may without helpe or wings flye into remote places as Iesus Christ after his resurrection did manifest it more then sufficiently in his body finally hee shall bee spirituall for that hee shal be readily and willingly obedient to his glorified spirit In this flesh and not in any other shall I see my Sauiour sayth Iob c. 1. 9. For this mortal body must put on immortality sayth the Apostle Thirdly they which haue bin vnderstood sayth Daniel 12. shall shine like the heauens and they that bring many to Iustice shall glister like the starres for euer Also the glory of the Sunne is one the glory of the Moon another and the glory of the starres is also different euen so shall bee the resurrection of the dead whereby it followes that the bodyes raised again shal haue no grosse substance but shall be transparent like vnto glasse Fourthly beeing raised againe we shall bee taken vp into the clouds before the Lord and beeing ascended into heauen wee shall haue vnspeakeable ioy such as the eye hath not seene the eare not heard nor hath entred into the heart of man These are wonderfull things but what assurance the Spirit of God doth assure thee if thou beest of God for God doth seale vp an earnest penny of his holy Spirit in their hearts that are his as the Apostle teacheth Secondly If the soule be immortall the body must one day rise immortall to the end that this soule being created for the body may giue it life againe being reunited Moreouer as Saint Ambrose teacheth it is the order and cause of Iustice seeing that the work of man is common to the body and soule and what the soule doth fore-thinke the body effects and therefore it is reasonable that both should appeare in iudgement to receiue either punishment or glory Thirdly Iesus Christ is risen for vs and to assure vs that by the same diuine power that hath drawne him out of the graue we also shal be raised I proue the antecedent by aboue 500. witnesses which at one time haue seene Iesus Christ liuing after that he had beene crucified by the Iewes as the Apostle sheweth and Ioseph also who was a Iew doth witnesse it lib. 18. c. 2. 4. of his Antiquities He was seene precisely by women beleeued by the incredulous and for a ful assurance thereof hee would contrary to the nature of his body which aspired nothing but heauen conuerse forty dayes vpon earth Heere is reason sufficient in this matter of faith whereas reason should yeeld her selfe prisoner and yet to make it appeare visibly and to free all doubt God would both in the ancient and new alliance raise vp some that were seene and admired of the people So Lazarus being called out of his graue was beheld of all men and the malicious Pharisies tooke counsell to put him to death as well as Iesus Christ. The same God would manifest a plot of the future Resurrection to his Prophet Ezechiel when as he had transported him into a field full of drye bones which when hee had seene and prophesied ouer â—…em behold a motion the bones draw neere one vnto another and suddainely behold they had sinewes vppon them and flesh came and then the skinne couered it and in the end after a second dâ—…untiation of the word of God the spirit came and then appeared a great army of men As for this point which concernes an article of our faith the Resurrection of the flesh the Obiector dares not deny but there is matter sufficient in this world to furnish for the restoring of all the dead bodies not since an imaginary Eternity for we are now vpon tearmes of diuinity whereof wee must beleeue the principles and not question them but from the first man vnto the last that shall be Herein there is nothing that inuolues contradiction The other point was that suppose the eternity of the world after the reuolution of all things and the encounter of the same order in all points that is at this present there shall bee the same Superficies the same creatures and the same men that are at this present this also hath no implicity seeing we affirm not that all things the same creatures which haue bin shal be for euer shal be restor'd together at one instant but by degrees and euery one in his turne Behold how this first
man being borne and bred in the bottome of a darke caue thinks that he hath no facultie to see is he the therefore blinde the soule being buried in the darkenesse of a mortall body as in a graue sees not her immortalitie hath she therfore none Thirdly we doe not say that man is immortall for that he differs from beasts but for many reasons deliuered to be deliuered Fourthly the Philosophers aboue mentioned would see and touch the soule in her immortalitie she is not subiect to any sence S. Basile hath seene it in spirit written it with his hand The soule sayth he cannot be seene with eyes for that she is not illuminated by any colour nor hath any figure or corporal character Aristotle knew it whengoing out of the fabrike of corporall nature hee sayd that it was not the charge of a Physition to treat of all sorts of soules as is the intellectuall which hee pronounceth to differ from the sensitiue vegetatiue from which he sayth shee may separate her selfe as the perpetuall from the corruptible Gallen had his eyes fixed onlie vpon the body the subiect of Phisick and therefore hee sayd freely that it did not import him in his arte if hee were ignorant how the soules were sent into the bodyes or whether they past from one to an other But if it please Gallen leauing the limites of his arte to take the fresh ayre of diuine Philosophy presently his goodly conception is followed with these words The soule is distilling from the vniuerfall Spirit descending from heauen c. Which hauing left the earth recouers heauen and dwells with the Moderator of all things in the Celestiall places As for Hippocrates his words sound more of the immortalitie then of the death of the soule hauing this sence That the soule goes alwayes increasing vntil the death of the bodie But if you desire effects and not words what conceit could Aristotle Gallen and Hippocrates haue of the soule to bee mortall who by an immortall labour haue purchased such great same throughout the world and whose authoritie is the cause that they are now produced and maintained Finally that which he obiects of the soules thoughts fixed for the most part on the fraile things of this passing world it is no smal signe of the corruption of mankind but no argument that the soule is perishable seeing she retaines still the immortal seale which God hath set vpon her in her first creation The. 2 Obiection The container and that which is contained should entertaine themselues by a iust proportion The body and the soule are the container and contained IF the soule bee immortal seeing the body is mortall what proportion were there betwixt the soule and body How hath nature which doth all things by a iust weight number and measure ioyned things together which are so dislike It serues to no purpose to produce the birde kept in a cage which as soone as shee can get out flies away for he is kept there by force and not as forme in substance Answere Wee grant the whole argument and wee adde that it is sinne which came by accident that hath caused this great disproportion Otherwise man before sinne in his estate of innocency had his body immortall therefore Iesus Christ our Sauiour like a cunning Logitian drew the resurrection of the body from the immortality of the soule for that God was called the God of Abraham of Isaacke and of Iacob but God sayth hee is not the God of the dead but of the liuing So sayth Saint Augustine and Saint Bernard that the soule is so separated from the body as there remaines still a naturall inclination to resume it againe to minister to his body and this onely doth hinder her that shee is not affectionate towards God withal her vertue and force as be the Angells and therefore her blessednesse is imperfect For the soules ô flesh saith Bernard cannot without thee bee accomplished in their ioy nor perfect in their glory nor consummated in their felicity and in the same place hee distinguisheth their degrees or places for the soule in this life as in a Tabernacle before the resurrection in heauen as in a gallery and then after the resurrection in the house of God But you will say this answere is Metaphisicall I desire one that is naturall Answere This goodly order which you recommend in nature required this ordering that as there are some Creatures meerely spirituall others meerely corporall so there were some which were mixt both spirituall and corporall and that is man who in that smal forme represents all that is in the world and who by his senses doth communicate with the Creatures and by his vnderstanding with the Angells giuing his right hand to heauen and his left to the earth The 3. Obiection If reason loades vs to the immortality of the soule by the same meanes she shold guide vs to the resurrection of the body But that is not true I Proue the Minor by this knowne Maxime of reason That there is no returne from priuation to the habit nor by consequence from death to life no more then from starke blindnes to sight Wherefore they of Athens where one writes that the men are borne Philosophers hearing S. Paul discourse of many points of heauenly doctrine they gaue an attentiue heare vnto him but when hee came to the Resurrection of Iesus Christ they interrupted him mocking at him as one that doated Ans. I deny it that the resurrectiō of the dead is absolutely beyond the apprehension of nature The West-Indians who are without the Church of Christ beleeue it and practise it as well by the ceremonies of their interrements which aime directly at it as by the vsuall intreaties they make to the Spaniards digging for the gold of their Sepulchres that they should not take out carry away the bones to the end they may rise againe speedily as Benzo reports At Rome this Epitaph is yet to be read in Latine vpon a Pagans tombe The publike hath giuen a place vnto Aurelius Balbus a man of an vnspotted life I rest heere in hope of the resurrection But that which is most wonderfull and exceedes all credit if they that write it were not eye witnesses and worthy of credit that in Egypt in a place neere vnto Caine a multitude of people meete on a certaine day in march to bee spectators of the resurrection of the flesh as they say where from Thursday to Saterday inclusiuely they may see and touch bodies wrapt in their sheetes after the ancient manner but they neither see them standing nor walking but onely the armes or the thighes or some other part of the body which you may touch If you go farther off and then returne presently you shall finde these members to appeare more out of the ground and the more they change place the more diuers these motions appeare This admirable sight is written by
A Combat betwixt Man and Death OR A Discourse against the immoderate apprehension and feare of Death Written in French by I. Guillemard of Champdenier in Poictou And Translated into English by EDW. GRIMESTON Sargeant at Armes attending the Commons House in Parliament LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes. 1621. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL St. THOMAS RICHARDSON Knight Sargeant at Law and Speaker in the Commons House of Parliament And To all the Knights Citizens and Burgeses of that honourable Assembly Most worthily honour'd BOund by your many bounties to some publike seruice of acknowledgement and gratitude I could not in al my poore faculties finde any so neere fit for your graue acceptance as this last of my aged labours Which though a worke farre from all worth of receit and countenance of so many exempt and exemplarie Iudgements and learning for elocution and substance yet for the good suggestion of the subiect and obiect I presum'd you would not disdayne it euen your owne noble names inscriptions Good Motiues beget good actiues and the speedie way to proceede deaths victor in the contemplatiue man is to practise in the Schoole of the Actiue There is no such schoole as yours to teach the conquest of corruption and iniustice which euery man must first subdue before hee conquer their conquerour I suppose therefore I set all mens steps in the way to his conquest in shewing them your Olympus where all equall and Common-wealth Combats are consummate in my therefore bold dedication to you Besides when combats were anciently intended Hercules the Father and Fautor of combats was inuok't and all your vnited vertues composing one Hercules in exploring and extirpating all the priuie Thefts and violences of inhumane iniustice whose conquest is necessary Vsher to the Combats and conquest of death to whom but to your Herculean faculties could this Combat with so sacred decorum be consecrated And your still willing-to bee-well-employed old Seruant holding these humane readings and writings no vnfit contentions for his age to sweate in hee hopes your most honour'd and liberall imputations will allow him not to carry your club idlely nor for onely office or fashion But be this allusion held too light for your grauities My humble endeuour to serue you worthily I am sure is serious enough And therefore euen for the diuinitie of his President that accepted the Will in his weake seruant for the worke I thrice humbly implore your religious imitations resting Euer your most dutifull bounden ED. GRIMESTON The Preamble WEe reade of a certaine Philosopher called Egesias who had so great dexteritie to describe the mournefull face of this life and such grace in setting forth the smyling countenance of death as all men went ioy fully vnto it yea many rauished with the loue thereof did hasten their ends Such Philosophie at this day were very seasonable if euer these hideous Eclipses in the firmament these rainie cloudes in the ayre this contagious poyson dispersed ouer all that intestine alteration which doth silently murmure within the bowele of Christendome that thicke cloude of the East which threatens bourely to fâ—…ll vpon our decayed houses are so many defiances which Death sends to mortall men to summon them to the Combat All men must vndergoe it of necessitie no man can free himselfe by flight there is onely one remedie which offers it selfe vnto vs that speedily and without delay wee make a fayned Combat against death to haue some happy presage of victory As Alexander the Great did from a duell performed at pleasure conceiuing that he should get the victory of Darius for that the souldier which acted his person did vanquish him of Darius In like sort let vs trie at the least this triall will teach vs what wee can dâ—…e or rather what wee cannot to the end that after the knowledge thereof we may haue recourse to him who makes perfect his power in our weakenesse to the Eternall who alone can rescue vs out of the pawes of death Hee will teach vs moreouer how much many are to be blamed at this day which liue in the light of the Sunne of Iustice to bee so fearefull at the time of death when as poore Pagans were so resolute But you will say vnto mee What doctrine can wee expect from Pagans by whom mans life is not instructed but ruined as saith Lactantius and who are the Patriarkes of Heretickes as Tertullian doth witnesse I answere that if wee had put on Christ after the perfect stature of a Christian man this labour were in vaine But for this we may not vtterly condemne all humane Philosophie but the truth which it hath spoken must be pulled away as from an vniust detayner saith S. Augustine Moreouer long since the maximes of Aristotle and other Philosophers were allowed in the schoole of Christ namely in that which concernes naturall things in which ranke naturall death is Humane Philosophie in so much as she hath yeelded herselfe a seruant to diuine truth hath not beene reiected but imbraced of the first most cleere sighted fathers of Lactantius I say who hath written that Philosophie doth not hurt when as the spirit is seasoned with religion Of Clemens Alexandrinus who saith learnedly That although the Doctrine of our Sauiour be of it selfe sufficient seeing it is the power and wisedome of God yet by the doctrine of the Grecians if it bee not more fortified it is yet vnable to repell the insulting of Sophisters and to discouer their ambushes It is the bedge and rampar of the Lords vine These great spirits saith he in another place being free from passions are accustomed to ayme point blanke and hit the marko of trueth Thus he speakes and therefore Lipsius did not forbeare to call it the meanes and reconciler of diuine and humane Philosophie To conclude that great Diuine Nazianzene as if hee had vndertaken the ouerthrow of this present obiection teacheth that this Doctrine should not be basely esteemed for that it seemeth so to some But wee must hold them sinister and impertinent Iudges who desire to haue all men like vnto themselues to the end they might hide themselues with the multitude and auoide the censure of ignorance Finally wee confesse that in the mysteries of Christ he that will follow the opinion of Philosophers shall stumble continually But the first death whereof we treate is no mysterie of Christ but a thing as common as life What Ensigne-bearer then shall we follow in this Plato or Aristotle 〈◊〉 or Seneca both the one and the other but our owne aduice aboue all and aboue our owne aduice the holy Philosophie of the Word of God Ariadnes clue to guide vs in this labyriâ—…th Let Seneca vndergoe his owne Law I haue freed my selfe from all saith hee I carry no mans bookes I yeeld much to the iudgment of great personages so I attribute something to my owne Horace saith I am not bound to sweare to the words of any master whereas the gale of
my reason shall driue me there will I cast Anchor he speakes like a Poet in an extacie Seneca with a moâ—…e setled spirit will say That the election and direction we must take in this point is from perfect reason by the which we exceede bruite beasts and come neere vnto God â—…e might as well haue named the Euangelicall faith the true consuâ—…ation of reason but hee understood not the name But before I conclude I beseech you Gentlemen reade the whole Discourse and then giue your censures for as one Swallow makes no Summer but many flying in diuerse places and at seuerall times so if one reason shall not seeme sufficient vnto you many ioyned together will chase away the apprehension of death I meane not all apprehension but the excesse for it is the end of this Combat which tends to no other end but to reduce the extreame feare of death to a iust meane and to sweeten the imaginary bitternesse but wholly to pull this feare vp by the roote is neither possible nor profitable to the â—…nd that no man deceiue himselfe It is not possible for that man being naturally subiect to passion hee cannot disrobe himselfe vtterly of all passions but with his humanitie it is the worke of death why then should we feare it seeing that by the benefit thereof we cast away all feare Neither is it profitable during this life for as Architas saith Vertue springs from passions and prooceding from them dwels with them euen as the best harmony is composed of a sharpe Superius and a graue base euen so feare like to other passions being reduced to a mediocritie to the seate of true reason is conuerted into valour a vertue most necessary in a man Moreouer a wise and vnderstanding man must not cast himselfe rashly into dangers for hee cannot eclipse himselfe of this life but to the great preiudice not of himselfe but of the Church or Common-weale Finally I expect not herein to please all the world I haue bâ—…ene long of Solons minde that in a matter of importance it is a hard thing to please all men but I will adde impossible On the other side I know that Momus the Cynick will shoote against this butte the blackest arrows of his enuie and disdayne yet I entreate you Gentlemen not to beleeue his saying vntill that hee hath done better vpon this subiect otherwise as you know he is not to bee admitted in his opposition There are twelue houres in the day if this Discourse be forced to hide it selfe at the first it may be it will haue passage at the last and admit it should not happen that which one spake brauely I will protest freely It is enough if I haue few readers enogh if one enough if none at all for in this matter the aduice which Seneca gaue to his friend Serenus for a point of tranquillitie pleaseth me and I wâ—…ll depend thereon What neede is there saith hee to compose bookes which last whole ages wilt thou breake thy braine that posteritie may speake of thee Thou art borne to dye funerals without pompe are not so full of trouble wherfore if thou doest compose any thing let it be in a plaine stile to imploy thine iâ—…le time and for thine owne vse Euen so I haue ioyfully imployed my selfe according to my poore facultie to gather together the points of reason dispersed here and there against the feare of Death if it bee for no other then my selfe yet my labour shall not be in vaine and hauing done what I could I shall be acquited But I had almost forgot to defend my selfe from the iâ—…uectiue of some seuere Areopagite to haue produced the strongest obiections of the most â—…rofane against the immortalitie of the soule These are hee will say stinking irruptions of pestilent excrements which should be buried in the bottomlesse pit of hell and not infect the pure ayre of our Horizon To thiâ—… crimination I oppose foure reasons for my iustification the one is that the ayre of our Horizon is not pure but much infected with such contagion hee that doth not feele it nor heare it is a lepar and deafe There is one hath written aboue 20. yeeres since that impiety which before did but whisper in the eare and mutter betwixt the teeth presumed now to come into the Pulpit and to poure forth her blasphemies and doe wee not see and heare in this age which is much impaired that the most prophane are in most fauour and authoritie In this latter plague at Paris the chiefe Chirurgians of the Citie assembled in their Colledge where they published by writing all the poyson of this malignant disease and haue according to their Arte propounded counterpoysons to quench it who will blame them nay who will not thanke them The plague of the soules the damned doctrine of her death is propounded and refuted by sollide reasons who will repine at it The second is taken from the thing it selfe which is the immortalitie of the soule Truth will not be flattered nor disguised shee contents her selfe with her owne constancie and her naturall Ornaments shee is like the Palme tree which the more it is prest downe the higher it growes It is like gold the more it is tried the brighter it shines Hee that doubts of his cause likes not many questions we doubt not of the immortality of the soule the more she strikes against the stone of contention the more the fire of her immortall extraction will appeare The third reason comes from them that contradict the trueth if you suffer them alwayes to braue it in the end they will proclaime a triumph It is not the part of a braue soldier but of a coward to suffer his enemy to keepe the field he must chase him away and vanquish him if it bee possible Answere the foole according to his folly saith the wise man to the end hee esteeme not himselfe wise Finally the order of my disputation hath held me vnto it the equall Law of duels binds mee to withstand all the attempts which my aduersarie shall deuise to make against me I entertaynâ—… him in the chiefe charge of the feare of death I am bâ—…nd to doe it in the accessory of the immortality of the soule least I should be held a Preuaricatour a turnecoate and a perfidious dissembler of the cause But it may be some consor will reply You plant distrustfull thornes in the hearts of the simple which heretofore dia flie ioyfully vpon the wings of the immortality of their soules I answere That to pull vp the thornes which Satan and his adherents haue planted to resolue difficulties propounded by Sâ—…phisticall reasons is not to plant Moreouer simple soules whâ—…ch haue bin taught in the Lords Schoole the honour which they owe vnto him will not suffer themselues to bee dazeled nor deceiued with the illusion of carnall reasons Thirdly humane fragilitie is such that these which now saile happily in the sea of this world