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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17654	An excellent treatise of the immortalytie of the soule By which is proued, that the soules, after their departure out of the bodies, are avvake and doe lyue, contrary to that erronious opinion of certen ignorant persons, who thinke them to lye asleape vntill the day of iudgement. Set fourth by M. Iohn Caluin, and englished from the French by T. Stocker.; Psychopannychia. English.	Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564.; Stocker, Thomas, fl. 1569-1592.	1581 (1581)	STC 4409; ESTC S118888	80,056	216

other Are these dreames or fables But because they would haue some way to escape they make a parable of this story and say that whatsoeuer the trueth speaketh of Abraham the rich glutton and of Lazarus is but a fained thing This is all the reuerence they beare vnto God and to his word But I aske this of them let thē bring forth but one onely example out of the holy scripture where in a parable any man is called by his name I pray you tell me what is meant by these wordes There was a poore man named Lazarus c. Either must the word of God be a false lye or els this must needes be a very true story The auncient Doctors also had great regard to this For S. Ambrose sayth that it is rather a story then a parable because there is a name put in S. Gregory is of the same opinion Tertulyan Ireneus Origen S. Cyprian and S. Ierome doe take it for a history Emongest whom Tertulyan thinketh that by the Rich man is meant Herode and by Lazarus Iohn Baptist And see what Ireneus sayth The thinge which is recyted vnto vs by the Lord of the Rich mā of Lazarus is no fable And Cyrill aunswering the Arriās who out of this place made it their buckler for the refuting of the diuinitie of Christ refelleth not this as a parable but expoundeth it as an history But this is a greater mockery that for the strēgthning of their error the more they pretende the name of S. Augustine and because they might the better wrangle say that he yelded to the same opinion I thinke they doe it for this cause for that he hath sayd in an certein place that we must vnderstād by Lazarus Iesus Christ and by the Rich man the Pharysies and yet his meaning is none otherwise but that this story is to be transferred into a parable if the person of Lazarus be attributed to Iesus Christ and the persō of the Rich man vnto the Pharysies This is also the custome and manner of all such men as haue once conceiued an opinion of any thing to suffer themselues afterward violētly to be caryed away with the same For whē they see they haue no sure ground to stay on there shall not be so small a tittle of a letter which they will not laye fast hold on to wrythe and wrest it to serue their owne turnes Notwithstanding to the end they might not still groyne and grunt S. Augustine himselfe sayth in another place that he receiueth it for an History Let thē now go sell their coūterfett wares at noone day And yet shall they not be able to flye any whither but that they shall alwayes mashe themselues in these very snares For admit we did graunt it them to be a parable which they shall neuer be able to obtaine at our hands What other thing can they gather hereupon but that there is some shewe of trueth in this cōparyson Now if these great Diuines know not this let thē goe learne at the first principles of the Gramarians and they shall finde that a parable is a similitude taken from the truth For when we heare that a man had two sonnes vnto whome he diuided and lotted out their portions there must needes be a man sonnes an enheritaunce and a diuision of portiōs Moreouer this is alwayes the nature of a parable first we must conceiue of the bare matter as it is propounded afterward we are ledd to the end of the parable to witt to the thing it selfe whereunto the parable is applyed And herein let them follow Chrisostome as their Patron He alwayes thought this to be a parable and yet he oftētimes drewe out of it the truth As when he proueth out of it that the soules of the dead are in certayne places he sheweth how horrible hell fier is and the destruction that commeth of pleasures And least I should here lose much speach let common reason teach them if they haue any and they shall soone vnderstand what the strength and reason of a parable is And bycause we would gladly satisfy all men as much as in vs lyeth we will heere speake somewhat of the rest of Soules which are departed from the bodyes in an assured fayth of the promises of God and surely the holy scripture meaneth nothing els by the bosome of Abraham but this rest In the first place we call that rest which these waste diuines call sleape Neither would we refuse this tytle of sleape were it not that by their lying they haue wonderfully corrupted and almost vtterly defaced it Moreouer we vnderstand not by reast slouthfulnes or slumber or any such other lyke dronken thing as they attribute vnto the soules but tranquility and a good assuraunce of conscience which although it be alwayes ioyned with fayth yet is it neuer soūd or altogether perfect but after death The Church no doubt heareth from the mouth of God Isaiah 32.17 the blessinges of the faythfull being yet but as a straunger here on earth to witt My people shall walke in the beauty of rest and dwell in a peaceable habitation Isaiah 26.12 in the tentes of surety and in a plentifull peace And agayne geuing thankes she singeth blessings vnto the Lord Geue vnto vs O Lord peace For thou also workest all our workes in vs. When the faythfull haue receiued the Gospell they haue this peace when they see God to become their louing Father whom before they thought him to be their Iudge and in stead of children of wrath they see them selues to be the children of Grace that the bowels of God his mercy is poured vpon them so that they now looke for none other thing at the handes of God but all goodnes Iob. 7. and mercie But because that the lyfe of man is a warfare vpon earth they which feele the stings of sinne and the dregges of the fleshe must haue trouble in this world and be cōforted in God in this sorte they shall neuer be without an vnquiet troubled minde But when as they shall haue put of the fleshe and the lustes thereof who as home enemies doe trouble their peace and reast they shall in the end be at quiet and rest in the Lord For thus sayth the prophet Isaiah 57.1 The righteous pearisheth and there is no man that once thinketh of him in his hart good and godly people are takē away and no man considereth thereof for the righteous is conueyed away frō the wicked let peace come vnto him and let him rest in his bed which walketh in his wayes doth he not call them vnto peace But because they were at peace with God Ezechiel 1.27.28 whose peace was domesticall and at defiaunce with the world he bringeth them vnto the highest degree of peace And therefore Ezechiell and S. Iohn when as they would describe the throne of the glory of God Apoc. 4.3 they compassed it with the Raynebow which we know

when as he erred by ouer great vehemency in cōfuting the opinion of the Anthropomorphites But the Scripture can in no wise abide to be thus dallyed withall Wherefore because that no man might ordayne any such Image to be in the fleshe of man Moyses sayth that the body was first made of the slime of the earth and yet for all that in such sort as that it no wayes represented the Image of God For it is after sayd that lyfe was breathed into the body which was fashioned of the dust of the earth because that euen then the Image of God beganne to shine first in man when as he was fully furnished in all partes But it may be obiected and sayd what doe you thinke that this breath of lyfe is the Image of God No surely although I might very well say so aswell as a great many of others and it may be that I should not speake greatly amisse This obseruation vseth S. Hilary vpō the 63. psalme and S. Augustine in his boke of the spirite and the letter cap. 39 Basi Hex conges 8. For what hurt were it if I sayd that there is a difference set downe in the word of God whereby this breath of lyfe might be distinguished from the soules of beastes for from whence haue the soules of the rest of the liuing creatures their beginning Let the earth sayth God bring forth a liuing soule c. And lykewise let that which is of the earth returne agayne vnto earth But the soule of man is not of the earth but frō the mouth of the Lord and that by a secrett and hidd power Howbeit I will not I say stād vpon this because I would not haue them to stryue with me about it but this onely would I obtayne at their handes that the Image of God is without the fleshe For els it were no great commendation to man to be made after the Image of God which notwithstanding is so greatly commended and so often repeated vnto vs by the holy scriptures For what needed it I besech you to bring in God deliberating with himselfe and as it were sitting in counsell if he had gone about to haue made a common and ordinary thing For as concerning all other thinges he onely sayd let them be by and by they were made but when he came to this Image as if he had meant to shewe a singuler profe of his workemanshipp he called to counsayle his wisedome and power and was fully resolued in himselfe before he once set hand to the same Hath Moyses then so curiously to no purpose affected this maner of speach which being borrowed from the common vse of men according to their slender capacityes who are as it were very young children to set before vs the Lord God whose greatnes and wisedome no creature is able to cōprehend But hath he not rather in so speaking most gloriously commended the Image of God which shyneth in man And he is not satisfied with once speaking thereof but repeateth it oftentymes Now let the philosophers or els these tryfelers bring with them what doltish mockeries soeuer they will we are sure of this that nothing may beare the Image of God but that which is a spirite For in very deede God is a spirite We must not proceede here by coniectures and ghesses to enquier wherein this Image resembleth his soueraigne creator Colos 3.10 seing we may very easely learne that frō the Apostle who commaunding vs to put on the new man which is renued in knowledge according to his Image that hath created him manifestly declareth what the same Image is Ephe. 4.14 or wherein it consisteth And he sayth also in another place put you on the new mā who is created according to the Image of God in righteousnes and holynes of trueth All which thinges when as we will speake in one word we say that man according to the spirite was made pertaker of the goodnes wisedome Ecclesiasticus 17.1 Wisd 2 2● and righteousnes of God The Aucthor of the booke of Ecclesiasticus and the Aucthor of the booke of Wisdome haue also followed the same course The first deuiding man into two partes to witt the body made of the earth and the Soule which he lykeneth vnto the Image of God briefely comprehendeth that which Moyses hath made a long discourse of God sayth he made man according to his owne Image The second meaning to shew by declaration whereunto the Image of God was lyke sayth that man was made incorruptible as being created after the Image and lykenes of God I would neuer haue pressed our aduersaryes with these Aucthoryties had they not charged vs with them before Which notwithstāding we ought to thinke reuerently of although not as Canonicall yet at the least as autentique and holy and receiued by the cōsents of many But let vs there leaue them and hold this Image of God in man which can haue no abiding place but in the soule 1. Pet. 2.11.25 Howbeit let vs now heare what the scripture more manyfestly sayth of the Soule When S. Peter speaketh of the saluation of soules and sayth that the lustes of the fleshe doe fight agaynst the soule and commaundeth vs to cleanse our soules calling Iesus Christ the Byshopp of our soules what should he meane by it if there were not soules to be saued which should be assailed with wicked and vngodly desiers and should be clensed and gouerned by Christ their Byshopp Iob. 4.19 And we reade also in Iob. How much more thē●n them which dwell in houses of claye and whose foundation is nothing but dust which thing if we consider more narrowly must needes be vnderstoode to be spoken of the soule which dwelleth in this earthly body For he calleth not man an earthly vessell but sayth that he dwelleth in an earthly vessell as one that meant to say that the best part of man which is the soule was contayned within this earthly mansion 2. Pet. 1.13.14 Thus also sayth S. Peter I suppose this to be meete and iust that so long as I am in this tabernacle I styrre you vp by putting you in remembraunce knowing that shortly I must put of this my tabernacle Surely if we be not too too blockish we may vnderstand by this maner of speach that the tabernacle is one thing and that which is taken out of the tabernacle to be another thing The Aucthor of the Epistle to the Hebrewes setteth downe the lyke manifest distinction betwene the fleshe and the spirite Heb. 12.9 when as he nameth those our fleshly Fathers of whome we were begotten and calleth God the onely father of spirites And a little after calling God the father of the heauenly Ierusalem Heb. 12.23 he maketh the Angells and soules of the righteous the Citizens Neither doe I see how we can otherwise take this saying of S. Paul 2. Cor. 7.1 Since we haue these promises let vs clense our selues from all

to induce me to dedicate this my labor vnto you But the chiefest is this Because emongest these troubles of vaine opinions by which a cōpany of fantasticall braynes disturbe the quiet of the Church I se you most wisely and soberly abide stedfast and sound Orleans 1534. ❀ Iohn Caluin to all faythfull Readers greeting AS I perused this disputation I perceiued vpon the very point of the handling of the controuersie certen bitter and sharpe kinde of wordes which possibly may grieue and offend some delicate and fine eares But because I know that many good and godly men haue suffred some part of this sleape of the soules to enter and possesse their harts either by too too much lightnes of beliefe or els for want of knowledge of the scriptures which was in deede the cause why they were not vpon the soddaine throughly armed to withstand the same I would not haue them offended nor yet take so much occasion as they mought to be displeased with me because they fall not obstinately and malitiously herein And therefore I minde here purposely to geue warning vnto all such to the end they should not construe any thing that I haue sayd to be spoken as it were to put them in any heate But let them vnderstand thus much That so often as I boldly and freely speake that I direct my speach to that wicked and obstinate generation of Anabaptistes from whose springhead as I haue already sayd this poysonfull water run●eth and therefore doe I not so roughly deale with them as they deserue For I am determined so to behaue my selfe towardes them as that if they shall heareafter spurne agaynst me they spall finde me a constant defender of the trueth and although I be not all the greatest clearke yet dare I ●houldly by the grace of almighty God promise this that I will be found inuincible Neither haue I but in modest sort vttered my choller agaynst them for to say truely I still cease from outragious and spightfull wordes and haue almost in euery place so tempered my stile or vaine of wryting as that it is rather an apt order of teaching then a forcible drawing yet is it for all that such as may draw those which ●il not wilfully be caryed away For in deed my intent is to bring them back agayne into the right way rather then to moue and prouoke them to anger Wherefore I exhort and beseech all the Readers hereof in the name of God the Father and of his sonne Iesus Christ our Lord to bring with them to the reading of this Treatise a perfect and sound iudgement and also a right and pure hart as a seate ready prepared for the manifest receiuing of the trueth I know well enough what fauour the thing may haue for the pleasing of some mens eares Howbeit we are thus to thinke that there is but one onely voyce of lyfe and that in deede proceedeth from the mouth of the Lord. Wherfore our eares out of all doubt ought to harken vnto that voyce so often as there ariseth any question of the doctrine of saluation and not to listen to any other whatsoeuer Now the word of God is no new or straunge thing but such as hath bin from the beginning is now and shall be for euer And therefore they are very grossely deceiued who finde fault with the newnes of the word of God being now after long oppression or buriall through peruerse vsage and negligence brought to light and on their side in my opinion they offend as greatly who lyke Reedes suffer themselues to be caryed away with euery winde yea and more then that to be shaken and bowed with the least blast that may be Is this to learne Iesus Christ when as we will geue eare vnto all kindes of doctrine how true soeuer they be without the warrant of God his word For if we receiue the doctrine as from a mortall man shall not leasings also as easely preuaile and take place with vs And what bringeth man with himselfe but onely vanitie Now this is not to follow the example of those who after they haue once receiued the word of God deepely sound and search the scriptures to know whether it be so or no. This is then a good example if we would fellow it But we receiue the word I know not how negligently and coldly or rather contemptuously so that if we haue learned but three wordes of it we forthwith swell with an opiniō of wisedome and yet neuer burst thinking our selues by and by to be Princes and great rich men And vpon this imagination we shall finde a mighty number cry mainely out and keepe a great coyle agaynst the ignoraunce of all ages and yet themselues as ignoraunt as they agaynst whome they so proudely cry out But what shall a man say or doe to this geare They would be taken forsooth for Christians and so in deede are called because they haue had a lick at the wikes of the lips of some of the principal poynts or Articles of cōmō places And forsomuch as they thinke it a great shame to be ignoraūt in any thing they will shamelesly aunswere to euery matter as if they were all oracles which come out of their mouthes Wherefore from thence doe spring so many schismes errors and opinions such a number of offences and hardnes of our beliefe so that by this occasion the Infidels prostitute them and blaspheme the name and word of God And in the end which is the very ground worke of all mischiefe whenas they obstinately continue the maintenaunce of any thing which hath lightly passed their mouthes they fourthwith runne to defēd their error by the holy scriptures O good mercyfull God when they are once growen to this poynt what is it that they will not turne vpside downe what is it that they will not depraue or corrupt to make it yeld yea forcibly wring and wrest it to their mindes and purposes And therefore the Poet sayd very well that fury causeth contention and debate Is this I beseech you the way to learne to turne ouer the leaues of the scriptures to serue our fond appetits and be subiect to our mindes Was there euer a foolisher thing then this was there euer greater folly O most pernicious pestilence O dronklieu darnell the most certayne and sure enemy to mankinde which meaneth to ouergrowe and choake the good and true seede But yet let vs be abashed to see that so many sectes should come from those which first professed the Gospell receiued the word out of the dark Truely this threat greatly troubleth me where it is sayd The kingdome of God shall be taken from you and geuen to another nation that shall bring fourth the fruites thereof And here I meane to end my complaynt because my booke would be ouer great if I should make such a declamation as appertayneth to the froward dealing of these dayes Wherfore my brethren let vs after so many examples be

one dyeth so dyeth the other For they haue all one breath and there is no excellency of man aboue the beast For all is vanity All goe vnto one place and all was of the dust all shall returne to the dust Who knoweth whether the spirite of a man ascendeth vpward and the spirite of the beast descendeth downeward and to the earth What and if Salamon aunswered them here in a word Vanity of Vanities saith the preacher and all is but vanitie For what meaneth he hereby but to shew that the minde of man is vayne and vncertayne of all things Man seeth that he dyeth as the beastes doe that lyfe and death is with him as with the beastes and therefore he thus concludeth that his state and condition is lyke vnto the state conditiō of beastes And lyke as beastes haue nothing remayning after death no more doth man reserue any thing vnto him selfe after he is dead And thus we see what the spirite the reason and vnderstāding of man is For the carnall man perceiueth not the thinges of the spirite For they are to him foolishnes and can neither vnderstand nor know them For a man beholdeth with his carnall eyes looketh at present death and ascendeth no higher but considereth this after maner that the earth bringeth forth all things and shall lykewise returne to the earth and in the meane while neuer looketh to the soule And for this cause he addeth this saying who knoweth whether the spirite of man ascēdeth vpward So that when we come to the soule mans reason is dryuen to such a straight in it selfe as that it wil not vnderstād any thing that is sure or manifest be it that it stādeth meditateth or reasoneth Seing then it is so that Salamon sheweth the vanitye of mans minde because that in respect of the spirite it is changeable and wauering he no way fauoreth their error but strongly and soundely vpholdeth our fayth For the wisedome of God layeth wide opē telleth vs of that which surpasseth the capacitie and measure of mans vnderstanding to witt Gene. 9. That the spirite or minde of the children of men looketh vpward I will also propound another lyke thing out of the selfe same Author to the end I might somewhat bend plucke downe their stiffe neckes For thus it is sayd Ecclesi 9. ver 1.2.3.4.5 There is no man that knoweth by any outward thing the loue or hatred of God towardes men but all thinges are in an vncertayntie because that all thinges fall out a lyke vnto all The selfe and same estate is aswell to the Iuste as to the wicked to the good as to the euill to the pure as to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth as to him that sacrificeth not And therefore if all thinges be in an vncertaintie for that which is to come shall then a faythfull man vnto whome all thinges worke for the best enterpret that affliction is a signe of the hatred of God no not so For thus it is sayd vnto the faythfull you shall be oppressed in the world but in me you shall haue consolation And they trusting vpon this saying doe not onely reast themselues in a constant minde vpon whatsoeuer shall come vnto them but doe also glory in their troubles confessing with Iob That although he would slay vs yet will we put our trust in him How then are the things that are to come vncertayne Forsooth so farre forth as man can iudge they are so And yet for all that euery man that liueth is nothing els but vanity For he goeth on further and sayth this is an euill thing amongest all the rest that is done vnder the sunne that there is one condition vnto all and also the hartes of the sonnes of men are full of wickednes and madnes is in theyr life and after that they goe to the deade There is no man which liueth euer and hopeth therof For a liuing dogg is better then a dead Lyon For the liuing know that they shall dye but the dead know nothing at all neither haue they any more a reward For the remembraunce of them is cleane forgotten And speaketh he not all these thinges by reasō of the beastlynes of those which looke onely downe at theyr feete hauing no hope of the blessed life nor yet of the resurrection For although this were in deed true that we are nothing after we be dead yet notwithstanding there is a resurrection vpon hope whereof if they did cast theyr eyes they would neither be seasoned with the cōtempt of God nor yet filled with wickednes to the end I might ouerslippe all the rest And therefore let vs conclude with Salamon that mans reason is not able to comprehend all these thinges So that if we would haue any certaynty thereof Let vs runne vnto the lawe and testimony wherein is contayned the truth and wayes of the Lord. For see what is sayd in that place Eccle 12.7 vntill such time as the dust returneth to the earth whereof it was and the spirite returneth vnto God who gaue it And therefore whosoeuer hath heard the word of the Lord needeth not to doubt that the spirit of the children of men ascendeth vpward I do here simply take to ascend vpward is to consist and be immortall as to descend downeward is to tumble fall downe and perish As for their first argument they vomit it out with open mouth and strayne forth theyr wide wesauntes to the end to awake the sleapers out of theyr deepe and sound sleape For in it they think standeth the greatest part of theyr victorye And at what tyme they meane to deceiue and bleare their young schollers eies this is it that they chiefly lay holde on whereby to corrupt theyr fayth and sounde vnderstanding For say they there is but one iudgement by which euery one shall receiue his reward The good ones glory and the wicked ones hell fier And before this day come there is neither blessednesse nor yet misery apoynted For the scripture euery where beareth thereof witnes for thus it is said Mat. 24.31 And he shall send his Angels with the great sound of a Trompet and they shall gather together his elect from the fower wyndes and from the one end of the heauens vnto the other It is likewise sayd Math. 13. The sonne of man shall send forth his Angels which shall gather all offences out of his kingdome and they whiche haue wrought iniquity shall bee cast into the fiery furnace where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And then shall the iust men shine as the sunne in the kingdom of their Father Math. 25.34.41.46 Also it is sayd Then shall the king say to them that are on hys right hand come ye blessed of my Father inherite the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world And shall say vnto them on the left hand Depart from me ye curssed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the