efficient cause of Immortaliti But the soule is eleuated aboue all time and place IT is without all question that onely time ruines all things yet the vnderstanding is not subiect to time for the time past is present vnto it And therefore man shall see an act plaied before him and yet he shall haue another in his vnderstanding which was done 10. 20. or 30. yeares before and shall haue it so present in his minde as the spirituall intuition thereof will steale from his corporall eyes that which is presently acted before them So Scipio Affricanus sayed that he was neuer lesse alone then when he was alone why For that his actes past his armies led and his triumphes presented themselues vnto him in the most solitarie walkes of his garden Obserue a horse he doth not see seele nor thinke of any thing but the obiect that is before his eyes But contrarie-wise the soule is there where she stayes least she studies and calls to mind what is past becomes wise for the future before shee sees and of three times makes but one for that she is not subiect to time this is plainly seene in the Prophets to whom the future is reuealed in the spirit as it were present by him that hath made time And this is the true reason why the Prophets speak without lying of things to come as if they had bin done So Esay chap. 9. spake of Iesus Christ A child is borne vnto vs a child is giuen vs for hee saw him borne with his Propheticall eyes dead and risen againe I would insist vpon this Argument if it were not as plaine as it is firme As for the naturall place of the Soule she is not definite for she is all in the braine all in the heart all in the liuer all in the Matrix so of the other parts of the bodie not according to the totall of her vertue for she is one in the head an nother the feete another in the sight another in the hearing But she is thus diffused according to the totall of her essence which makes her in some sort infinite and by consequent immortall It is not then of her as of the moouer of a great wheele which touching one part makes all the rest turne Nor as a King who sitting in his Pallace stretcheth out his hands to the farthest confines of his kingdome But as God in the world who is in heauen on earth and all in all The first Obiection All that is distempered by heate and drought is perishable Such is the Soule GAllen thinking that the Soule burnes in the body by a burning feauer is lost with the great losse of bloud and that a strong poyson doth poyson it hee protests plainely that vntill that time hee had doubted what the substance of the Soule was but then growne wiser as well by practise as by age he durst boldly sweare that it was nothing but the temperature of the bodie And therefore calling Plato out of his graue hee demands of him how it is possible the soule should be immortall Answer The heate of a feuer and the corporall force cannot worke vpon the soule neither can she suffer and although the actions which the soule doth by meanes of the Organes of the body be depraued or interrupted by the deprauation and interruption of the Organes yet for all that the soule loseth nothing of her vertue nor of her habilitie He that euen now played excellently well on the Lute must not be held to haue lost his cunning if taking a Lute ill mounted and with 〈◊〉 stringâ—… hee play ill or if hauing no strings at all he ceaseth to play It is euen so of the spirit in the body for in the sinewes flowing from the braine there distills a certain vital spirit as a beame of the Sun of whose force the soule makes vse first to handle the sinewes and by them the Muscles which being afterwards moued reuiue euery member apart and altogether Now if any maligne disease come to depraue this subtile humor the functions of the soule feele it but not the soule Moreouer as certaine vncleane spirits remaining in some darke and filthy house by reason of the vapors agreeing with their dispositioÌ„ if it be clensed the doore windowes set open if a good aire a comfortable Sun and wholsome wind enter into it if it be inhabited by many who passe the time ioyfully and especially if they play vpon many Instruments these spirits quit the place So by a contrary analogie the soule is kept and entertained in the bodie by certaine spirituall qualities and fit for her exercises which comming in time to change to the contrarie they chase away the soule being glad vpon that occasion to dislodge from a place which was not to be held Thirdly if the temperament bee nothing but the Quintâ—…ssence of the mixtion of the foure elements whereof mans body is compounded as the harmonie is the fift sownd rysing from all the parts in Musicke and if Gallen meanes not to speake but of this soule which hee hath felt in the touching of the pulse in the Anatomie of the body I say of the vegetatiue and the sensitiue soule wee may yeelde vnto him But of the reasonable soule which contaynes these two within her compasse as the fift angle doth a triaÌ„gle quadrangle which makes vse of the temper to the bodie as of an instrument to rule and gouerne it as the Pilot doth the Helme to conduct his ship that cannot be for to confound the instrument with the principal agent the Pilot with the Helme were no reason In the actioÌ„s of a vegetatiue sensitiue life although there be a mature teÌ„perature required yet shall they neuer proue that this temper is necessary to vnderstand and contemplate seeing that out of all question the most exquisite contemplation consists in the sequestratioÌ„ of the soule from the communion of the body for that contemplation is the more certen the more it is sequestred from grosse circumstaÌ„ces of matter place and time things which with their accidentarie attires are perceiued by the seÌ„ses do often deceiue How often hath our sight and our hearing deceiued vs thinking to see heare one thing which proued another But the sciences as the Mathematicks which extract the Essences out of bodyes are neuer deceiued following their art and much lesse the Metaphisicke which coÌ„templates the pure spirits free from any contagion of matter But if the reasonable soule were nothing but the temperament of the body it could not bee but among a millioÌ„ of beasts which are in the world some one should bee found which had the same mixture of the the foure first humors which are in man and by consequence the same reasonable facultie and if any reply that the chiefe difference is in the braine I will answer that the Anatomy doth not shew any difference of the braine of men and beasts The 2. Obiection If the soule liued out of
it c. ANswere Neither Dauid nor Ezechias nor the other seruants of God feared death as it was death simply alone considered but for that God threatned them in regard of their sins by reason whereof it seemes they had some confused apprehension of hell which is the second death Doubtlesse my fault is great sayd Dauid but I pray thee saue mee by thy great bounty These are the words of God to Ezechias Dispose of thy house for thou shalt die shortly and shall not liue We must note that Ezekias heart was puft vp with glory God would humble him by the consideration of death wherewith he threatned him But these two and all other the seruants of God setting aside these threats being in the fauour of God haue with Saint Paul desired to die and to be freed from this mortal body to be with Christ with God Man here below should not apprehend any thing but the conscience of another life a life which dying without repentance grace leades to death eternall as that of Saul and Iudas who being desperate slue themselues quenching the match of a vicious life to kindle it in the fire of hell where there is a Lake of fire and brimstone As for the death of Christ the great difference it hath both in the cause and the effects from that of the faithful Christians makes it to differ a world The reason is Gods Diuine Iustice to reuenge the iniury which hath beene done him by the diuell in the nature of man the which not able to do in him without his totall ruine hee hath done in his surety in Iesus Christ his Son whom to that end hee sent into the world to take humaine flesh in the Virgins wombe It is he that was wounded for our offences broken for our iniquities censured to bring vs peace and slaine to cure vs as the Prophet speakes and the Apostles testifie The fruites first the glory of God is manifested in his loue in his bounty and in his mercy towards vs to haue so loued the world as to giue his owne Son to death for it to the end that whosoeuer did beleeue in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting as the same eternal Son doth witnes Secondly it is our saluation the redemption of the Church from sinne and death for it is the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world And these are the reasons why Iesus Christ was terrified in death feeling the wrath of God vpon him for our sinnes But the death of the faithfull is nothing like for in the greatest torments which Tyrants can inflict vpon them it mortifies the sence and takes away all paine by the abundance of his consolation as Ruffinus writes of Theodorus and as our Annales testifie of the smiling death of Martirs in the middest of burning fiers for God is satisfied the passage is open the venimous teeth of death are pulled out seeing that the Lord wrestling with her hath slaine her as S. Augustine speakes and like a most expert Phisition hath made a wholesome Treacle to purge our bodies of those corrupt burning stincking and deadly humors and to make it sound holy impassible and immortall The second Obiection Euery iust reward is proportionable to the paine The reward of Martyrsis great Therefore their paine is great THe holy Writ and the ancient Fathers vpon it beare witnesse of the honour and great triumph which the Martyrs obtaine in heauen if their conflict against death bee answerable to this triumph as equity requires it must bee exceeding great and therefore it is no easie thing to dye the which S. Augustine seemes to confirme Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non esset magna Martyrum fortitudo If saith hee there were no bitternesse in death the Martyrs valour should not be great Answer He is truely a Martyr who for the honour of God and for the loue of his neighbour doth constantly seale the contract of the alliance of God with his owne bloud and the true cause of Martyrdome is to suffer death for iustice and for the name of Christ as Christians and in doing well This bloud thus shed is the true seede of the Church the very Commentary of the holy Scripture the Trompet of Gods glory the true Victory of the cruelty and obstinacy of Gods enemies the holy Lampe to lighten and draw to the Kingdome of Christ those which are in the shaddow of death c. In consideration whereof these holy Champions of the faith are honored in heauen with a Crowne of gold clothed with white garments c. Vpon earth in the primi tiue Church vpon the day of their suffring which they called their birth-day the faithfull assembled vpon the place of their Martyrdome did celebrate their happy memory repeated their combates commended their resolution exhorting the assistants to doe the like if they were called to the like combate as well by reading of their bloody history as by the sight of the place where their blood was newly spilt It is that which Cyrillus in the epistle to Smyrne the Paraphrase of Rufynus doth teach vs wherein we may see that it was not the death but the cause of the death which made them to bee so recompenced and recommended And whatsoeuer they haue had in heauen shall bee giuen to all others which shall haue the like will to serue their master though not the effect the like Crowne nor the like garments To mee saith that great Martyr S. Paule the Crowne of Iustice is reserued which the Lord the iust Iudge shall giue mee in that day and not onely to me but vnto all those that shall loue his Comming And what Christian is it that desires not the comming of Christ It is also written that all the Armies which are in heauen wherein all the faithfull are followed the faithfull the true the Word of God vpon white horses clad in white Cypres Finally in this inestimable reward which God giues vnto Martyrs there is not so great a regard had to the merit and grieuousnesse of their death as to the most precious blood of his Sonne Iesus Christ and to his free promise wherefore this Obiection is to no purpose and if it were it doth incite men more to desire then to refuse death if it bee true that the enduring of the first death in the Saints is a freeing frō the second as Saint Augustine teacheth The third Obiection It is impossible but man should be toucht with a great apprehension of euery sharpe combate he is to endure Such is death MAn hath three cruell enemies which present themselues vnto him at his last farewell a sensible paine at the dissolution of the foule from the body sinne represents vnto him heauen gates shut and hell open and Satan tempts him and lets him see his criminall Inditement whereof he is ready to execute the sentence Answer It is
Olaus Magnus by certaine Venetian Ambassadors by a Iacopin of Vlmes others but I leaue the interpretation free to the iudgement of the reader Thirdly if it were a worke without the compasse of reasō Plutarque Herodotus nor Plato wold euer haue beene credited in writing that one Thespesius Aristeus and Erus were raised vp againe Plinie who beleeued nothing but what hee saw among many that were raysed vp he reports of a woman which was dead seuen dayes and raised againe and that one Gabienus a valiant souldier of Caesars being put to death by order of iustice and left vpon the publike place was found afterwards speaking and asking for Pompey who came vnto him and had much speech with him Melchior Flauian makes mention of a woman whom hee had seene whose name was Mellula neere vnto Damas in Syria raysed vp againe the 6. day after her death in the yeare 1555. God will bring such tokens to assure the world of a future and vniuersall Resurrection As for the Maxime that there is no returning againe to the habite it is abusiue not only to God who can do all but euen to nature and to the order of the world which hath his forces limited So in a little child whose teeth haue beene pulled out the vegetatiue vertue will bring vp new So we reade of a certaine Abbesse who being an 100. yeares olde grewe young againe had her monethly courses her teeth put forth againe her haire grew black the wrinckles of her face filled vp Finally shee became as fresh and as faire as shee had beene at the age of 20. yeeres And if wee may beleeue histories she was not alone but followed and preceded by many others The naturall vertue at a certaine time as trees in the Spring did renue her worke euen foure times as to that man seene in the yeere 1536 by the Viceroy of the Indies who examined it carefully and found out the truth Fourthly that which shewes an insenfible impression of nature of the future Resurrection is the earnest and generall care to burie the dead honorably yea to keep them from corruption by balmes and Aromaticall sents by images of brasse and nayles fastened in the bodies for that brasse hath a speciall vertue against corruption There are yet other deuices which the Egyptians haue and doe vse and particularly obserued by thē of Arran an insularie region whereas the bodyes hang in the ayre and rot not so as the families without any amazement know their Fathers Grandfathers and great-grandfathers and a long band of their predecessors Peter Martir of Milan writes the same of some West-Indians of Comagra Moreouer I deny that man may alwayes see the tayle of that wherof he sees the head the resurrection of the body seeing the immortality of the soule that he must needes see the consequent if he discouers the Antecedent for the one hiding it selfe the other appeares sometimes to the sight of the vnderstanding And to conclude I deny not but that it is true which mans reason cannot verifie vntill it hath found out why the Adamant doth so powerfully draw iron vnto it and holds it fast by an vnknowne vertue why forked sticks of Elder are proper to discouer veines of gold and siluer Why long aftrr a man is dead the bloud will gush out if the murtherer approcheth Why if some desperate man hang himselfe will there rise suddaine stormes and tempests Why the stone called the Amede drawes iron to it on the one side and reiects it on the other with infinite other secrets of Na ture The third Obiection We onely feare that which wee think should be hurtfull vnto vs. The soule feareth death Therfore the soule thinks death should be hurtfull vnto her SOme make a question how the soule can be immortall seeing she hath so great feare of death Men laugh at the attempt of little children be they neuer so in choler for that they cannot hurt them why should not the soule thē mock at death Doth she not in like manner see the immortality feele it in her selfe without giuing so great apprehension to the poore◅ body which of it selfe without her should neuer feare death no more then a bruit beast Why is not the power of death dissolued whereas the authority of immortality intercedes as Tertullian speakes in the first booke of the Trinity Answer This is a most euident signe not of the mortality of the soule but that man is degenerate and corrupt That her Port is no more so free and braue But casts her eye downe like a fearefull slaue He seeles in his Conscience that he is guilty of high treason to God that this voluntary offence must soon or late bring a necessary punishmēt he feels in this life some smal touch he fears not without reason if by faith repentance his pardon bee not inrowled and his absolution sealed that at the departure from this life the executioner of diuine vengeance should stand lurking behind death to take him by the throat and to punish him according to his merits Wherefore if corruption did not generally possesse al men she would suppresse this fear reuerence her Creator and do her duty vnto him and then she should see that by that respectiue feare to offend her God she should be fully deliuered from all other feare shee should see that fearing onely the death of the soule which is onely to be feared shee should not feare that of the body which is to be desired But for that most men as S. Augustine doth teach feare the separation of the soule from the body and not the true death which is the separation from God it happens that fearing that they fall often into this So the soule beeing willing to shake off this feare of the Creator she must needes feare euery creature euen the smallest frogs mice and flies which flying about awake him suddainely and many times trouble him much but in the end death is aboue all extreame feares the most fearefull And why is this if like vnto bruite beasts all dyed in him and if in death there were nothing to bee feared Wherefore Propertius saith The spirit is something death leaues it in store The palest shadowes scapes to the burning shore But to conclude The soule hauing beene too familiar with the flesh shee hath gotten a habite she hath drawne such corruption as being ignorant of the happinesse which attends her in heauen shee cannot leaue this valley of misery this obscure prison but with great griefe being like vnto the man which being carried away an Infant by a she wolfe was nourished by wolues did houle with them and did liue and would liue among them and if hee were taken by other men he would leaue them to returne to his wolues as the History makes mention of one verifying the Prouerbe That nourishment passeth nature The sixt Argument from the efficient cause of Immortalitie The eleuation aboue time and place is the
end insupportable and offensiue to all kind of people yea to himselfe For hauing his nose groueling to the ground like a hogge hee will neuer bee able to lift vp his eies nor his spirit to heauen where all perfect and assured contentment is to bee found If yeelding to all this you will aske me the meanes how to bee freed of this fearefull terror I will tell you that it is to know what Deathis as it is taught in the 13. 14. and 20. Arguments and not to rely vpon doubtfull and false opinions An Obiection Euery roote bringing forth fruits worthy repentance should be carefully preserued The feare of death bringeth forth fruits worthy of repentance Therefore the feare of death should bee carefully preserued WHatsoeuer thou sayest or doest remember thy end and thou shalt neuer sinne sayth the son of Syrach Answ. the continuall meditation of death to him that knowes it rightly helpes wonderfully vnto vertue And Seneca sayeth that man is neuer so diuine as when hee doth acknowledge himselfe to bee mortall Yea it auailes in Christian duties but that the feare of death is profitable to any thing I cannot comprehend I will not deny but that many haue bene wonderfully stirred vp to piety by the feare of death as among others the historie makes mentiō of Peter Vualdo in the yeare 1178. who in the city of Lyons sometime being assembled with many of the chiefe of the Citty to recreate themselues it so happened that one of them fell downe suddenly dead Vualdo a rich man was more mooued then all the rest and seized with feare and apprehension he addicted himselfe more to do penance and to meditate true piety But who doth not see that it is not properly death which causeth this inclination to pietie but the iudgement of God which wee discerne through death as through a glasse that it is the worme of Conscience which doth awaken vs by the contemplation of Death and stirres vp sinners to iustice sanctitie It is the ignorant confusion of the second death with the first which doth so strongly amaze men Finally it is a seruile feare and not commendable yea condemned of the Pagans themselues to forbeare to doe euill for feare of punishment Let vs conclude then That this first death which is naturall and common to all men seeing that her poyson hath beene quenched in the bloud of Christ as Tertullian speaks seeing that the Crosse of Iesus Christ hath pulled away her sting triumphed ouer her and giuen a counter-poyson for the poyson of sinne it is not euill but the greatest good that can arriue to mortall men and to feare to obtayne so great a good is a vice and no vertue before all vpright Iudges The Third Argument drawne from the Impossibility That onely is to bee feared that lyes in the power of man Death lyes not in the power of man Therefore not to be feared VIce onely should hee feared to be auoyded but nothing that is without the power of man is vice as Epictetus saith in his Enchiridion Moreouer that feare is good that can preuent an imminent danger but to that which can neither bee remedied nor foreseene feare serues but to aduance it Man may preuent and auoyd that which hee holds in his owne power and will as the approbation of vice the hatred of goodnesse and of true honour rashnes passions vnlawfull loue vnrestrained heauinesse excessiue ioy vaine hope damned despaire c. But all that which blinde man by his opinion doth affect or feare so much as wealth pouertie the honour or dishonour of the world life and death are not tyed to his will nor subiect to his scepter And therefore the Philosopher will rightly say that neither pouertie nor sicknesse let vs also adde death nor any thing that flowes not from our owne mallice are to bee feared let vs follow the Doctors of wisedome saith Heluidius in Tacitus which hold honest things onely to bee good and dishonest bad power nobilitie and whatsoeuer is without the spirit of man reputation riches friends health life and all things that depend of the free will of man flow necessarily perpetually from the decree of the Eternall and to seeke to hinder their course were to striue to stay the motion of the heauen and starres This prouidence of God dispersed throughout all the members of this Vniuerse hath infused into euery mooueable thing a secret immooueable vertue as Boetius saith by the which shee doth powerfully accomplish all things decreed in its time and place and order To seeke to breake the least linke of these causes chayned together were as much as to runne headlong against a rocke to ouerturne it I will that thou knowest the howre place of thy deceasse that to auoyd it thou flyest to a place opposite vnto it that thou watchest the houre yet shalt thou find thy selfe arriued and guided to the place at the houre appointed there to receiue thy death and that which is admirable thou thy selfe insensibly wouldest haue it so and diddest make choice of it To this force let Iulius Caesar oppose all his Imperiall power let him scoffe at Spurinus his prediction of the 15. of March the day being come hee must vnderstand from his Sooth-sayer who was no lyer that the day was not past he must come to the Capitoll and there receiue 23. wounds and fall downe dead at the foote of Pompeys statue Let Domitian storme for the approching of fiue of the clocke foretold yet must he die at the houre and for the more easier expedition one comes and tells him that it had strooke sixe he beleeues it with great ioy Parthenius his groome tells that there is a pacquet of great importance brought vnto him he enters willingly into the Chamber but it was to bee slaine at that very instant which hee feared most But if these histories seeme ouer worne with age who remembers not that memorable act at the last Assembly of the Estates at Blois of that Duke who receiued aduertisement from all parts both within and without the Realme that the Estates would soone end with the ending of his life euen vpon the Eue one of his confident friends discouered the businesse vnto him going to dinner he found a note written in his napkin with these words They will kill you To which he answered They dare not but they failed not Oh God how difficult is it to finde out thy wayes Let vs then cōclude that the houre of death appoynted by the immoueable order of God is ineuitable so that as one saith We shal sooner moue God then death So the Pagans who erected Altars to all their counterfeit Deities did neuer set vs any to death This firme decree of all things gane occasion to the Pagans to figure the three Destinies whose resolution great Iupiter could not alter no not to draw his Minion Sarpedon out of their bonds Let vs speake more properly God can
hydeous feare The king saw him among the rest and admired him and obseruing his pale colour he inquired of him the cause of his palenes and was informed of his disease the king thinking that by his cure his force and valour would increase caused his Physitions to recouer him but the effect prooued contrarie for the souldiar being cured had no other care but to liue and this care made him to feare euery thing yea the shadow of a leafe his furious humor was gone down to his feet to fly away Where fore we must therfore thinke of death know it and contemne it To this end the ancients did set dead bodies at the doores of their houses to be seene of passengers for the same reason the Egyptians did cause an image of death to be carried about in their bankets and set vpon the table not to strike terror into them but rather a disdaine by the frequent beholding of what it is And so it was at Constantinople in the election creation of a new Emperor they were wont to breathe into his heart vertue valour when as being set in his highest Throne of glorie a mason came neare to him and made a shew of an heape of stones of diuers formes to the ende hee might choose which did best please him to build his tombe It is the same reason why at the Coronation of the Popes when as he that is new called passeth before S. Gregories Chappell the master of the Ceremonies holding an handfull of flaxe at the ende of a drie reed setts fire to it and cries with a loud voyce Pater sancte sic transit gloria mimdi O I would to God that both they and wee did thinke seriously of this that remembring how lightly this life passeth away wee might make haste for feare to be sodainly surprized euery man to doe his dutie according to his vocation euen as they doe which liue at Court being set at the table make what haste they can in feeding least the meat be taken away before they haue dyned VVhy stay wee then Let vs make hast to attaine to that royall dignitie which hee deserues best that is most at libertie and hee is most that least feares death Behold what a tragical Poet sayth Hee is a King that conquers feare And th'ills that dèsperate bosomes beare That in his Towre set safe and free Doth all things vnderneath himsee Encounters willingly his Fate Nor grudges at his mortall state From those golden verses the golden memory of Heluidius an ancient Romain shal for euer shine who seeing the ancient liberty captiuated by Vespasian and being commanded by him that hee should not come into the Senate hee answered That whilest he was a Senator hee would come vnto the Senat Vespasian replyed Bee in the Senate and hold thy peace Heluid Let no man then aske my opinion Vâ—…sp But I must in honour demand it Heluid Then must I in iustice speake what my conscience commands me Vesp. If thou speakest it I will put thee to death Heluid You may do what you please and I what I ought Let this example bee alwayes before our eyes and especially to vs Christians that of the twelue Apostles who neuer yeelded to the cruell assaults of death but alwayes reioyced with an inuincible courage as the text saith to be held worthy to suffer reproach for the Name of Christ. Wherefore aboue all the world they haue purchased a most holy fame yea their twelue names are written in the twelue foundations of the celestiall and eternall City O what a worthy reward for so great valour in the contempt of death The eight Argument taken from the worke of God The reward wherewith the Eternall doth sometimes recompence them he fauors cannot be euill Death is that wherewith hee doth sometimes reward them he fauors Therefore Death cannot bee euill IF that be true which Silenus in Tully and others with reason report that the first degree of happinesse is not to be borne and not to fall into the dangers of the present life That the second is to die in being borne without all doubt the third must bee not to continue long in the miseries of the world but hauing beheld the workes of God the wandring couse of the stars the swift motion of the heauens the inuariable changing of day and night presently to die Say not that thou art taken in thy youthfull age that is a priuiledge which God giues thee to free thee from a thousand Combats of vice which thou shouldest endure or it may be thou shouldest be conquered as Salomon was by voluptuousnsse or as Nero by cruel ty Looke vpon the insolencie and corruption of that time it will appeare that thou hast more cause to feare then to hope in liuing longer sayed Seneca to Marullus epist. â—…00 If this were in those times what shall it be in this age which is as many times impayred as there haue since slowed yeares and daies And admit thou wert assured to continue alwayes vertuous and victorious yet shouldest thoube continually couered with dust altered with thirst full of bitternesse and old with anguish Enoch pleased God and was beloued of him he was rapt vp into heauen that the malice of the world should not change his vnderstanding sayeth the text c. 44. Cleobis and Biton religious and dutifull children for that they tooke the yoake and drew the Charriot of their deceased mother vp the hil for want of Mules and the houre of the interment pressing on they receiued the night following in recompence of their singular piety a happy death Marcellus Nephew to Augustus Caesar adopted by him Marcellus vpon whom the hope of all the Romaine Empire did depend dyed in the 18. yeare of his age a thousand others yea innumeraable haue bene cut off in their vigorous youth the most excellent as the ripest cheries are the first taken it happens to these timely wits as to the ripest fruit they fall first and Homer writes that the Heroes and Demigods neuer extended their dayes euen vnto the threshold of old age Seneca reports that his predecessors had secne an infant of great stature at Rome but they saw him die presently according to the opinion of euery man of iudgement whereupon hee addes that maturity is a signe of imminent ruine that whereas the increasings are consumed they desire the end Moreouer hee abuseth himselfe much which thinkes he hath liued long because hee hath past many yeares if he shew no other signes but his pale face and his gray head Behold what the wise man saith Man is not gray for that hee hath liued many yeares but for that hee hath liued wisely long age must bee measured by the honest conditions and manners not by the number of dayes It depends of another saith Seneca how long wee shall liue but of our selues how good we are the importance is to liue well and not long yet many times liuing well doth not consist
These are the differences which distinguish a liuing Creature from a plant the sensitiue life from the vegetatiue If sensible things perceiued by their sence were of themselues to bee desired without doubt the more excellent they were in their kind the more pleasing they should be yet contrariewise we see that the thing that is most sensible offends that sence most which is proper vnto it The fire burnes with touching and doth stupefie and takes from it his sensitiue vertue the thunderclap dulls the hearing troubles the braine and by a long continuance of a great noise makes him deafe and so of the other sences Moreouer if the reason of life consisted in the sences who would beleeue that man were the more perfect creature seeing that many exceed him in sence for the spider in the subtiltie of touching the Ape in the bountie of tast the Vulture in the force of smelling the Boare in the ventue of hearing and lastly the Linx in the seeing facultie exceeds him farre Thirdly these Organs of the sences are ordained only by nature for the vegetatiue life that is to say either for the preseruation of the Indiuiduum by eating and drinking or of the Species by generation It is true that man applyes them also to other ends then we haue obserued but those Creatures which haue nothing but the two first degrees of life whereof we treat imploy their sences to no other end but to entertaine themselues or for generation So the Lyon will start at the sight of a stag but it is for that he sees his preie prepared and not simply for that the stag hath such varietie of colors The Nightingale will answere with a melodious sound hearing another sing it is not for any delight it hath for in a true declaration it sufficeth not that the sence take pleasure in the obiect which is proper and proportionable vnto it but this proportion must also be inwardly apprehended cōceiued the which is neither found in the Nightingale nor in any other creature destitut of reason And whence then comes will you say the cause of this sodaine answer to the voice heard It proceeds from the complexion of the Nigh tingale to the point wherof it mounts when as the sound which beates the ayre strikes his eare and enters thereby into his head as we finde by experience in our selues whenas hearing any one yaune we are moued to doe the like hearing one sing we sing seeing the world runne we runne after it yet know not whither the Quaile by example wil be moued at the singing of the masle not for any delight shee takes but from the motion to generation which she feels kindled in her selfe The Dog will faune and leape vpon his master whom he had lost and yet this doth not proceed from any naturall instinct tends to no other end but to be kept defended and fed by his sayd master Finally hee that will duly obserue it shal finde that all the sences of vnreasonable creatures haue no other end but preseruation generation an end intimated in the vegetatiue life a life we saw had no sufficient reason to moue our desire how then shall the sensitiue haue Moreouer if reason and the desire of life consisted in the pleasure of the sences why haue they which were most giuen vnto it had wretched ends and ignominious liues the Emperour Vitellius Spinter thinking to find his felicitie in it incountred his ruine hee was giuen to lust and gormandize so excessiuely as at one supper hee was serued with 2000 sorts of fish and 7000 of fowle And what was the end of this life He was sodainely slaine pierced through with small darts drawne naked through the streets and cast into Tiber after the eight month of his Empire and before the sixtieth of his age To this wee will adde one in our fathers time Muleasses King of Tunis who although hee were banished from his Realme and had succours denyed by Charles the fift yet he was so drowned in the delights of sensualitie as hee spent a 100 Crownes for the sauce of a Peacocke and the more to bee rauished with musicke he caused his eyes to bee banded and to delight his smelling hee was continually perfumed with Muske What happened He was defeated in battaile by his own Sonne Aminda and as hee fled disguized he was followed by the sent of his perfumes discouered and taken and his eyes put out with a hot Iron by his owne Children O crueltie but a iust iudgement of God for his voluptuousnesse Then comes the sight so piercing and passionate after the faire faces of women and stayes not there onely but O shamefull sight it will see the bodies naked the which is condemned both by God and man Romulus condemned that man to death which suffered himselfe to bee seene naked by a woman how much more is that woman to bee condemned which layes aside all modestie with her smocke as Giges said in Herodotus The Emperours Valentinian Gratian Theodosius religious obseruers of chastitie did forbid vpon great penalties that none should shew themselues naked in publike but to Tiberius Caligula Heliogabalus others who tooke no delight but to defile their eyes and bodies with such shamefull spectacles God did shew his horrible Iudgements in their deaths Finally voluptuousnesse hath not only bene the cause of the ruine of men alone but of whole Estates Sybarides a Towne seated betwixt two riuers in old time strong and flourishing did rule ouer foure bordering people had vnder their obedience 25. Townes and could bring to field 300. thousand men armed yet by the dissolution of the Sybarites in two moneths ten dayes shee was spoiled of all her felicity and greatnes drowned and quite ruined The like excesse was the ouerthrow of that mighty Romaine Empire as wee may easily reade in them that haue written of that subiect As long as Curius and Fabricius led The Romaine Armies that for dainties fed On boiled turnops and the cresses were Amongst the Persians th' only delicate cheare In peace both led their liues retired still And fear'd in warre did with their Trophees fil Almost all earth But when of th' after seede Of Syrian Ninus Persians learn'd to feede On sugar delicacies and that Rome With pleasure of their bellies ouercome In Galba's Rule Vitellio's Nero's liuing No lesse for glory in their dishes striuing Then if in conflict they the field had won Of Mithridates and Alcides son All iustly saw themselues by nations spoy'ld That they long since had fought withall and foil'd Warning those Realmes that take their courses now Lest they their earth with equall ruines strow The Obiection The moderate vse of the sences in worldly things is pleasant and lawfull Therefore it is reason to desire life ANswer The word moderate shewes of it selfe that this reason is verie moderate and weake yea that there is contradiction in the adioinct as they say true pleasure admits no moderation it
some one returnes from market saith S. Augustin sound and lustie who falling breaks a leg whereof hee shall dye Who semes better assured then he that is set in a strong chaire yet vpon some troublesome newes hee may be disquieted fall and breake his necke Another laughing eating and drinking shal be suddenly surprized with an Apoplexie rising from some vnknowne cause and dye presently What receptacle seemes more safe and commodious for hunters that are wearie and full of sweat and dust then a cleane house with a good fire And yet a Prince with his traine thinking to retire him to such a place found himselfe in such dāger of death in the morning as he could not escape without the losse of his nayles that fell away by the vehemencie of his paine and two of his company found smotheredin the morning whence thinke you proceeded the cause of this strange Accident It was from the wall newly plastered which cast forth a virulent vapor which together with the smoake of a great cole fire fumed vp into the head dispersed his poyson throughout all the members of their bodies Who could haue foreseene this accident but too late Ammianus Marcellinus reports tho like to haue happened to the Emperour Iouinian who was found smothered in the mor ning by the like poyson And to conclude what seemes freer from breaking then a head lying in the shadow far from any house yet it hap pened that the Poet Aeschilus being so retired an Eagle flying in the ayre thinking his bald head had bene a flint stone let fal a Tortose to break it and to haue the meate but falling downe it brake the skull os poore Aeschilus The first Obiection That which shall not happen vnto vs is not to bee accounted among our miseries But these misfortunes shall not happen vnto vs c. THese miseries if it pleaseth God shall not befall vs but where is that warrant from heauen to assure vs The comicall Poet saith That man cannot be exempt from any humane accident No man liuing can say without warrāt This shal not happen vnto mee saith Menander What befalls to one thinke it may happen to thee saith Seneca for thou art a man and therefore retaine this and thinke of it not to be deiected in aduersity nor puft vp in prosperity but haue alwayes before thine eyes the liberty of fortune as being able to lay vpon thee all the miseries shee holds in her hand Man is in continuall warre vpon earth Is there not a course of warre ordayned for mortall men vpon earth saith Iob. If he be freed from his enemies abroad let him beware of some treacherous Synō at home Be alwaies ready sayd Iesus Christ for you know not the day nor the houre no man is no more assured against death then the bird is against the shot of a harquebuze God would saith S. Augustine that wee should watch continually But if changing thy tune thou thinkest that thy neighbour is not afflicted like thy selfe and that hee is much more happy thou art much deceiued Euery man feeles his owne griefe Herodotus hath seene it and written it saying That if all men liuing laden with their owne miseries had brought them together vpon one heape to exchange with them of their neighbours hauing well weighed them and viewed them euery man would willingly carry backe his owne Without doubt this present life is so full of miseries that in comparison thereof death seemes a remedy A long life is but a long torture saith S. Augustine And what other opinion can wee haue seeing that Iesus Christ who was giuen vs for a perfect president is neuer propounded vnto vs laughing but somtimes weeping as when hee approched the Tombe of his friend Lazarus and when as he wept vpon the ingratefull Citie of Ierusalem and therefore the Apostle saith That in the dayes of his flesh hee offered himselfe with great cries and teares to him who could saue him from death What is that but to shew vs that this life is not worthy of ioy but of lamentation not of laughter but of crying as the Philosopher Heraclitus doth esteeme it who alwayes with a weeping voice did lament the estate of this life The second Obiection It is a cowardly consideration not to be willing to die but to cease to liue This reason hath that consideration TO denounce death to end the miseries of this life is sayth one to pro pound a carnall end to the liking of sensuality Vpon death sayth another the priuation of thislife there is no Cataplasme but of a better life for the losse of earth but the enioying of heauen Answere Death is the corruption of the flesh and a priuation of all the sences to the end therefore that the remedy may be proportionable to the flesh it must also be fleshly sensible and palpable I grant that in retiring ourselues we must not think only to fly from humaine miseries but rather to draw neere to diuine fauours But betwixt doing and duty who doth not at this day see an infinite distance That elect vessell of the holy Ghost that great Apostle Saint Paul seeles a Law in his members fighting against the Law of his vnderstanding He complaines there was a thorne thrust into his flesh the angel of Satan did buffer him what is this but the relikes of sin of infirmity distrust what glosse soeuer they will set of it If Saint Paul were such a one what then are we poore dwarses wauering and staggering let vs not flatter and seduce our selues for our workes discouer vs O God fortifie vs and make thy holy Spirit to reigne in vs and attending the happy effect of diuine promises let vs meditate of the Testament sealed with the bloud of Christ. But if the horror of death which doth threaten vs of euery side comes to hinder our holy meditations let vs vanquish it by the darts of reason this may be done and it is that we ought to doe The Surgion which hath sercht a wounde hath applied a fit Cataplasime hath made his patient without passion or paine is to be cō-mended The Philosopher which hath examined the naturall death hath found o◅t the cause of the feare it giues hath accomodated reasons fit to take awaie this feare and to assure mans courage is not to be contemned I know well that hee which through death hath made vs see the life eternall hath done more but this worke is of God and not of men and if the sacred word of the eternall God doe it not no humaine voice can doe it But doe you say there is no Catap◅sme fit for the losse of a pleasant life but the hope of a better Answer You presuppose two suppositions heere which are not First that life is full of pleasures Secondly that in death wee haue a feeling of the losse against that which hath beene and shab be said to the which I will send
It is the excesse of the feare of death I striue to prune and root out shewing that vanity and corruption is so vnited to life that all which liue yea the greatest spirits wallow in this mire and therefore death which giues an end to this vanity and corruption should cause no feares to reply that it is the abuse and not the life we may answer againe that the abuse is generall since the fall of the first man no man can be exempt if hee be well obserued Let Diogenes go suddainely with a torch lighted into the most frequent market of Athens nay into the most famous royall Faire of France to search yet shal he not find one and I know not whether hee himselfe which could so taxe others will bee found without blame and whether he as it hath bene reproched vnto him did not more glory in his Tub then Alexander in his Empire Oh how easie it is to speake and lie Vertue consists in practise and action there will not any one be found in this age that is not tainted more or lesse with one of the aboue named vices or with all three wee can giue no instance All men suffer themselues to be led to some vaine hope which they attend from day to day which in the end deceiues them and death deliuers them from this deception why then should it be so terrible vnto them But represent one out of ten thousand who hath learned wherein the true end of life doth consist that is to say in the tranquillity of the mind in continuall action according vnto vertue yea according vnto piety as hee knoweth and striues to haue the spirit of a wise man whereof Seneca speakes epist. 60. that is like vnto the world aboue the Moone alwayes cleere Yet must he confesse that he is in a wondeful cōbate yea in insupportable paine being tossed with contrary windes of diuers passions which neuer leaue him no more then his body or flesh Sometimes the immoderate loue of transitory things stings him sometimes the hatred of eternall things sollicites him or prophane ioy or the melancholy of the minde layes hold of him and consumes him if vaine hope leaue him then furious despaire gets hold or boldnes thrusts him on to mischiefe or feare retires him from good and furious choller transports him beyond the bounds of reason so many passions so many cords to bind him so many assaults so many paines if it succeed not wel and most commonly it proues contrary to his proiect for this heauy flesh this sensuall concupiscence which hee is to incounter dawes him stil to the ground But harken how that great Apostle more vertuous then all the Philosophers together for that hee had the gift of the Spirit of God in a higher degree heare how in the like conflict he cries out Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death If this seruant of God liuing the life of Iesus Christ yet for the mortal assaults which he felt tearmes this present life death and were death a deliuerance what feare wee in death that wee do not salute it rather as the safe port from all the stormes and tempests of this life full of baites and snares as S. Augustine sayth Let vs feale vp this discourse with the ring of Seneca which is That the condition of all men imployed is miserable and that most miserable which attends no other thing but his imployments hee taxes the greatest part of men who like vnto Liuius Drusus from their infancy to their dying day giue themselues no truce alwayes in action in trauell of minde or body if they meete with any pleasure they passe it ouer lightly without taste if with displeasure they are toucht to the quicke Finally they run so swiftly as they looke not to their way they thinke not of their life and cannot say what it is all actions shall bee pleasant but that which is proper to man which is to haue the spirit purged giuen to Philosophy and to the meditation of that which concernes man in the world Let vs then say with reason O vanity of vanities this is nothing but vanity The 30. Argument taken from the restoring of mankind Whatsoeuer being lost shal bee powerfully restored to vs againe should not trouble vs in the losse Life being lost shal be powerfully restored c. IF thou beest a Christian Christ commands thee thy faith doth bind thee to beleeue the Resurrection of the flesh in the which by the powerfull voyce of the Creator raysing them vp which sleepe in the dust the life which thou hadst left shal bee restored vnto thee againe with most pretious interests But if depriued of the eyes of this faith thou canst not see the beginning of the creation of the world seeing that by faith as the Apostle doth witnesse wee vnderstand that the ages haue bene ordained yet as a miscreant thou doest beleeue the eternity and fatality of the world let vs admit this supposed truth to bee true know then that the limited reuolution of the heauens being ended and al the order of causes chained together returned to the same point in the which they hold all things ballanced in an equal weight know I say that this same concatenatiō of causes by a necessary reuolution wil restore thee to life yea to the same estate in the same place in the same positure thou art in at this present so as you which reade these things or heare them read shall be the same at the same time reading or hearing It is the true extraction which moued that great Zoroastres to assure that one day al men should take life againe Plato was of the same opinion saying That after the returne of the eight spheare which was in thirty six thousand yeares all things should in like manner returne The reason there is nothing made new vnder the Sun and there is nothing but what hath bene and may returne hereafter So the Sun withdrawing his quickning influence with his body from our Zenith the trees being withered remaine without fruit without any verdure without leaues If thou hadst not seene it the yeares past yet thou mayest in some sort beleeue that the Sun should returne and by his returne giue that vegetatiue vertue that springing sap sweete smelling spirit to herbes and trees which thou didst hold depriued of that power and so they were for this life which is in them in the beginning of Winter descends from the branches to the body and so to the roote but the same gracious Star which by his retyring had caused this death returning drawes backe by a wonderful regression and reuolution of nature this vegetatiue vertue from the earth to the roots to the body and to the branches and makes it to be seen and smelt by the buds blossomes leaues and fruites A dead man and one liuing is all one sayd Heraclitus hee that watcheth and the sleeper
matter perisheth not and is not reduced to nothing but flowes dayly vnder new formes This matter is bounded the starres and the heauen which roule about it make it to bring forth creatures continually and man sometimes but by some rare constellation as the Naturallists speake The heauens I say are bounded and their motions limited Wherefore I maintaine it is not impossible that in an eternity of time that which is limited and bounded and hath once met and is ioyned may yet againe meete and be reioyned if we consider that it is not by chance but by fatall necessity that this Vniuerse roules without ceasing as al they among the Pagans which haue had any vnderstanding haue acknowledged Yea one of them said that who so would demande proofes thereof must be answered with a whip but behold a most certaine proof all creatures euen those that haue no vnderstanding tend alwayes to their ends propounded and all encounter in one vniuersall end If there were not a certaine prouidence in the world which prescribes to euery creature that end which it knoweth not and makes it containe it selfe the world should not be a world that is to say a most excellent and well ordained composition but the greatest confusion that could be imagined Seeing then that the heauens in their motions the starres in their coniunctions the causes in their order euen vnto the last may encounter together so those things which wholly deâ—…d of them may bee redâ—… 〈◊〉 the same estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a maxime in Physicks that the matter and the Agent haue such power after the death and destruction of the creature as they had during his life what then can hinder it but by the position of the same causes and the same circumstances of time concurring the same effect may be repaired Moreouer the thing which is no more is no farther from being then that which hath not bene and there is no impossibility but that which hath had no being may come to light neither is ther any repugnancy but that which hath bene once liuing may come againe to life yea and who knowes whether that which is now hath not beene often heretofore I should beleeue it if I did giue credit to the eternity of the world As for the similitude of clay which the Obiect or not vnderstanding me doth presse so strongly it is very fit in this matter for the workeman which hath made a man and then hath wrought it to make a horse and then confounded it to make an ape and in the end an Eagle may if hee please returne and make the same man which he had made first and hauing vndone it may make a horse and so consequently one after an other in infinitum not that hee can make them all foure subsisting at one time therein the Obiector fights with his shadow and not with my saying And to demonstrate the power of Nature turning about her circle returning backe to the point where she had begun and passing ouer all the circumference of the circle to repaire that in place and time which she had dissolued shee would leaue for an earnest penny the Phenix the only bird of his kinde which is seene in Arabia and which the Egyptians in their Hierogliphicall letters painted to describe by his long continuance the immortality of the soule This goodly birde after many ages past to renew himselfe casts himselfe vpon a pile of stickes layd together the which hee doth so beate with his wings and with the helpe of the Sun which hangs perpedicularly ouer him as it takes fire and consumes the body out of which springs a little worme and of that a little birde which being couered with feathers in the end flies away and becomes the same Phenix You will question the truth hereof if the same Nature did not as much or more in the silke-worme whose egge is no bigger then a graine of millet it discouers a little woolly worme the which without dying transformes it selfe into a moth that changeth into a flie which hath scales and this becomes a butterflie which beating it selfe continually layes egges of these egges come little wormes and so consequently by an infinite circulation Wherefore these diuerse changes and formes happening in our bodies should not amaze vs but rather assure vs that hauing bin carried farre about they shall returne to their first estate seeing that their walkes and this Vniuerse haue their limits and bounds and seeing by the testimony of the wise man that which hath beene is now and that which is to come hath also beene God calling backe that which hath past that is to say as the Diuines expound it that God by his administration makes the Creatures succeeding one an other returne in their order as if they went about a wheele which kind of speech is taken from the celestiall Spheares which gouerne the seasons signifying that those things which happen by time are wheeled about with the reuolution of time which containes them These are the words of no vulgar Diuines whereby wee may see how much they yeeld to this opinion The end of the first Booke The Second Booke The first Argument taken from the Immortalitie of the soule That which is free from Death in the principall part should not feare it Man in his soule his principall part is freed frem death Therefore hee should not feare it IF all men could vnderstaÌ„d without doubting perswade themselues without wauering that their soules at the departure from their bodies are happilie immortall there is not any one without contradiction but would goe cheerefully and resolutely vnto death considering the miseries of this life and the heauie burthen of the bodie for it is the sepulcher of the soule as Plato saied The soule is a plant transported from heauen into a strange soyle into a body of earth where it sighs pines away and desires to depart The greatest thing in the world sayth Periander is contayned in a litle space Socrates maintained that the true man was that within which is lodged in the body as in an Inne S. Bernard exhorts the bodie to know it to intreate his guest which is the soule well The which Anaxarchus did apprehend who being beaten in a mortar did crie out couragiously to the tyrant Nicocreon Beat beate O hangman the flesh and boanes of Anaxarachus So M. Laeuius seeing Galba a great Orator with a deformed bodie sayd That great spirit dwels in a poore cottage But S. Paul shewes it better then all these If this earthly lodging be destroied if this bodie returne to ashes we haue a mansion with God And the body is the clothing of the soule the which Esop obiected to one who abused the beautie of his body He are my friend sayd he thou hast a faire garment but thou puttest it off ill Man is a caualier his body is the horse the spirit is the rider if the horse be lame blind
against Ramoth of Gilead were welcome but only Miche◅s who pronounced the contrary was put in prison and yet they were false and this true Let vs beware of the like least that fauour and grace deceiue vs in this matter Let vs take the ballance of equity and weigh the reasons propounded if they be good they wil weigh downe whatsoeuer shall be opposed and if they bee currant they will endure the touch let vs then try the first Huart a great Philosopher of Spaine maintaines that the vnderstanding hath his beginning his increase and his constitution and then his declining like vnto a man hee meanes his body for the vnderstanding is the most excellent part of man and like other Creatures and plants And for this cause hee that will learne at what age hi◅ vnderstanding is most strong and vigorous let him know that it is from 33. vnto fifty at what time the gravest Authors should be made if during their liues they haue had contrary opinions Hee that wil write bookes should compose them at this age neither before or after if hee will not retract or alter them Hitherto Huart which experience doth confirme for we see that as a man doth aduance in age he growes in wisedome and Iesus himselfe made true man aduanced in wisedome and stature Contrariwise age declining the spirit decaies in memory in quicknesse in vnderstanding so as man being very old hee becomes twice a child fumbling with his tong doating in minde As for that the Testators say that they are sound in minde it is to shew that neither age nor sicknesse hath as yet made them lose their spirits and therefore it is a true signe of their decay concluding contrary to the intention of the Author And whereas the labourer spake so diuinely it did not proceed from the neerenesse of death but from the alteration of the temperature of his braine growne whot in the first degree by the force of his infirmity so some women haue prophecied and spoke Latine yet neuer learned it by the same reason of the temperature required yet they die not suddainly in this estate To the 2. Religion proceedes partly from nature partly from institution from nature who to rule all Creatures to make them follow the traine of his order graues in them al a certaine terror indistinct apprehension The Creatures feare man and by this feare are contained in their duties man feares a hidden superiority and maintaines himselfe in society many times hee feares hee knowes not what nor wherefore and therefore it happens that women who are commonly more fearefull are more religious Yea they report of certaine bruite beasts which adore the deity as Elephants yet they do not say that their soules are immortall From institution for as vessells do long retaine the sent of their first liquor wherewith they are seasoned so children maintaine vnto the end the religion wherein they are bred and brought vp although it were the most fantasticke and strange in the world yea if in stead of sauing it should damme them as we may see if we will open our eyes in these times so fertill in religions To the 3. If the soule bee mortall it followeth not that nature hath made any thing in vaine if she hath hope or feare to be immortall it is to encourage it to vertue that is to say to the preseruation of that goodly order and to terrifie it from the infraction thereof if she dies her alteration of the immortality dries away Nature hath also giuen vnto the Bat a desire to see the light of the Sun yet this desire neuer takes effect Finally euery creature flies death and desires life not for a time but for euer and by consequent in their kind desire to be immortall and yet they attaine not to it To the 4. The heart beats continually and is immortal Dogs sleeping dreame and are mortall therefore the vnquiet and vncessant action of the soule can bee no certaine signe of her immortalitie To the Fift Iohn de Seres almost throughout the whole course of his history of France will answer That man findes no miserie but what he seekes The philosophers yea Diuines will say that felicitie proportionable vnto humaine nature consists in an vpright disposition of his will to carry himselfe according to the reason that is in him towards all things that shall present themselues to make his profit of al things not to trouble himselfe with any thing that can happen in this world and to nourish the seeds of vertue which are sowen in his mind To the Sixt Solon will answer that it is a hard matter to please all men some complaine of the shortnes of life if we obserue it these are such as haue prodigally consumed thēselus at cardes dice and haue not found it but toolate Others complaine of the length and cut it off before their time But Seneca wiser then either well say that wee must not be carefull to liue long but enough to liue long is a worke depending of destinie to liue enough is of the minde The life is long if it be full and it is full when the spirit affects her good and tranfers her power to her selfe O excellent speech hee that hath eares let him heare Let vs proceed certen creatures liue longer then man and which Rauens Stags the Phenix I doubt it much as for the Phenix it is a fabulous thing for Stags we know not any thing but by a writing which was found about a Stags necke Caesar gaue me this if it were the first Caesar it is long since but it might be some other whilest that the Emperours reigned in France and that is not long As for the Rauen a most importune and vnfortunate bird who hath tryed it But admit this were true there were but two or three excepted out of the generall rule of nature which is that man her chiefe worke liues longer then any other creature and it is her pleasure to except from the generall as we see else where ceasee then to blame that which you should commend and admire To the Seuenth and last simbolizing much with the second you must receiue the same answer And moreouer there is not found any generous instinct in the soule of man which appeares not as great in brute beasts for the preseruation and defence of their yong As for the confession pretended so easie of an offence committed the diuerse kinds of tortures invented to wrest it out in iustice belie it but you will say they are inwardly tormented how know you that who can see nothing but the exterior part Answere The doctrine of the humaine soule depends of a superior knowledge that is of the Metaphisicke whereof the rule is the Canon of the old and new Testament man must not presume to thinke he can fully comprehend it her perfect intelligence is reserued for vs exclusinely for euer when we shall behold it in