striuing and contention of the Soule which laboureth as much as she can to repaire that weake mortalitie of the body by the participation of eternall things vnto whose fruition she draweth him as much as she can She would willingly eternize his life being not able to performe it by Nature shee imployeth Art and Industry therein and procureth him by Glory and Fame a continuation of life in the memorie of men And therefore wee see her vsually bent and turned vpon time to come preuenting with thoughts the time that shall be after the death of the body as wee doe here the next day to that we liue in and prouiding her selfe of Praise and glory as of conuenient store for a happie and glorious life vnto which she aspireth It is too easie to iudge that if our Soule did not foresee certainly her future being shee would not trouble her selfe with any designes that aimed further then this corporall life and would not howsoeuer to obtaine them venture so freely this temporall life after which she could expect nothing Certainly those which lost their liues in such occasions and there hath beene infinite in all ages which haue in a manner sacrificed themselues vpon the Altar of Glory did in so despising death giue an excellent testimony of the immortalitie of the Soule Neither can any one imagine they haue so shortned their life to encrease their honour without they were sure to enioy it after their death nor that they haue so cheerefully forsaken the pleasures of this world without they had some good token of the recompence they expected in the other When the Soule comes to raise her selfe vpon the wings of a generous desire and she passeth from this darke and cloudie region that compasseth the Earth vnto that higher purer and cleerer that approcheth vnto heauen shee doth obserue in her selfe many faire markes of her being and streakes of her great Workeman which created her according to his Image and hath imprinted therein the figure of his Diuine Essence Which I doe say onely in regard I learned it from the Oracle of Truth but say it after them which learned it onely out of the booke of Nature her selfe For Plato and many before him and many others discoursing of the creation of the World and of his parts haue sayd indeed that other creatures were created by the lesser gods that is in my opinion the Angels as by second causes which being something remote already from the first being could not perfectly communicate it vnto them Because this communication is but a loane of their Vertue separated and dis-vnited from the first Masse and consequently somewhat imperfect But as for the Soule of man they confesse God alone created her and therefore depending without a meane from the perfect Being she is partaker of his perfection and is free from corruption in her substance and consequently from death And certainly it was very reasonable and conuenient for that great Architect that after hee had built this faire peece of worke of the world worthy to beare the the name of Beautie seeing hee withdrew himselfe from the sight of his creatures hee should leaue behind him his Image as a liuing Statue to conserue exact frō those that saw her the honour reuerence due vnto that soueraigne Architect and Lord of the Vniuerse Now it is needfull that an Image wrought by a good workeman should haue some relation vnto all the parts of the subiect it imitateth Wherein could she imitate the Eternitie of God but in the immortalitie of her Soule Seeing she cannot be altogether like that is to haue had no beginning how can shee resemble him but only in hauing no end that is being immortall For sithence God made the World with two seuerall parts the one Intelligible the other Sensible the one Corruptible the other Incorruptible there needed a middle peece to knit and gather them together which should be partaking of the nature of them both Man by an excellent art hath been made the middle peece and therefore the perfections of both parts Intelligible and Sensible concurre in him He hath by the meanes of the body the excellentest qualities that are in things Sensible and Corruptible and by the meanes of the Soule the excellentest conditions that are in the Incorruptible and Intelligible And though by this mixture that which is Celestiall in him is depressed and euen as kneaded with earth and weighed downe nay sunke by the burthen of the flesh neuerthelesse he sheweth by a continuall striuing and endeauour of his nature the place of his beginning his inclination and the end of his desire which is bent certainely euermore towards diuine Essence and to possesse euen from this present life the happinesse we obserue in God Assuredly he should neuer desire this diuine Being and should not aspire to it if he did not comprehend it and should neuer comprehend it if that wherewithall he apprehended it were mortall and perishable For what proportion should there be from Immortalitie to Mortalitie Now let vs see a little how much mans Vnderstanding comprehends of it how much of it his Will desireth and then any one whatsoeuer hee bee must needes confesse they are immortall Let vs consider a little I say from this low and thicke darkenesse of the World with our Owleseyes the light of diuine Nature Let vs consider the perfections wherewithall shee is endowed and by the which as by her garments we know her and obserue her Shall not wee see presently they are all things which man runneth after naturally and worketh continually to get them and hath no pleasure but in the possession and fruition thereof God is the soueraigne goodnesse What desireth man what doth he labour for but for that which is good If euer his affections be misled and apply themselues to euill they giue vnto it the name good and protest they seeke it not but in regard they deeme it to bee good Take away from a thing the name of good hee will make no reckoning of it so well hee knowes himselfe to be borne for that is good So that whatsoeuer will intice him must haue it either reall or in apparance God is the soueraigne wisedome Who is the man that desireth not to be held wise that shunneth not the reputation of a foole who gouerneth not himselfe with as much prudence as hee can Who seeketh not for order and disposition in all things that reioyceth not in himself when he can find it that praiseth not esteemeth and admireth not those which are plentifully endowed with this wisedome as approching neerest to the excellent end for the which man is borne God is the soueraigne power What doth man desire more then authoritie and command Euery one aspireth naturally vnto it and those which can doe it well are honoured amongst men as a kinde of Demi-gods sent hither for the conseruation and direction of the inferiour world God is the soueraigne Truth What is the vnderstanding
Apprenticeship of our Soules which after the Time and Labours that are prescribed vnto them shall be relieued from their Watching set at Libertie and restored to Eternall Rest which will affoord them wherewithall to satisfie that desire of Diuine being whereof they haue cast forth the first Sparkes through this heauie and cumbersome Flesh From her wee learne furthermore that after this Life our Soules doe not onely finde another more happie but euen our Bodyes rotting heere as Seede in the Ground shall spring into a new Fruit and shall be raysed vnto an Estate of Glorie and Perfection Therefore Diuinitie descending from Heauen mingled her selfe againe with Flesh to mould and kneade againe our Humanitie disfigured and defaced by Sinne ioyned her selfe to vs that shee might draw vs to her humbled her selfe to exalt vs quickned her Humanitie after death to make vs liue in the hope of that glorious Resurrection whereof shee was pleased to bee the First Fruites and by the which wee shall bee brought into the Inheritance of Glorie receiuing in Body and Soule the incomprehensible Splendour of Eternall Light But the passage to arriue thereunto is Death Desirable Death seeing it makes vs change Liues with so much profit Death not Death seeing it is the beginning of true Life and that wee are in this Body onely as the Chicken in the Shell which must bee broken ere it can be hatched or like the Child in his Mothers Wombe which must bee left ere wee can see the Day Let vs suffer them to feare it who thinke that all perisheth with the Body or them which expect after it the punishment of their Wickednesse And seeing wee haue so many Testimonies and so certaine Tokens of our future Life and being sure that dying here in the feare of God in the Faith of his beloued Sonne and trust in his Goodnesse wee shall liue againe aboue and enter into Glorie with him in the Throne of his Diuine Maiestie Let vs passe chearefully and lay downe the Burthen that hindereth and stayeth vs as wee would doe prophane Garments at the entrance of a holy Temple As for mee my Friends I feele my selfe almost in the Harbour with a great comfort of my Afflictions past and immediately for the Felicitie I expect I haue floated in the World in great and dangerous Stormes They tossed my Soule but they could not thankes bee to God ouerthrow it I know very well that the Condition of Humane Infirmitie hath put mee backe as shee doth all others from the perfection God requireth in vs but howsoeuer it neuer made mee loose the certaine and constant desire to aduance his Honour and Glory nor abate any thing of the good affection a good Subiect oweth vnto his Countrey My Conscience beareth mee this Witnesse and this Witnesse makes Death sweete and pleasant vnto mee I could wish euen at the last Gaspe I might doe the Publicke some Seruice but hauing no other meanes for it I will returne vnto you which are my best Friendes and it s too and for the last Office I can doe vnto this so holy Friendship I will coniure you that since you remayne heere to shut vp the end of a most Wretched Age you settle your Mindes by braue and constant Resolutions to withstand vndauntedly the Violence of the Tempest that threateneth this State and your particular Fortunes For all the Ages past haue seene fewe Miseries and Calamities but that you are like to see in your dayes The inside the outside of the kingdome great and small are like vnto mad men bent to its ruine and desolation You shall bee amazed one of these dayes when as you shall see the Lawes ouerthrowne the Gouernment altered all put into confusion those that shall haue the Gouernement beare the intent to loose both themselues and their owne Countrey and good men shall not bee suffered to open their Mouth and giue good and wholesome Counsell Remember then you are men and true hearted subiects vnto this crowne Let not your courage run away from you with your good Fortune Stand fast vpon Right and Reason and if the Waues and Billowes must carry you away let them ouerwhelme you with the Rudder in your hand still Behold the the time that you must present your brest against Fortune for the defence of the State and couer your countries body with your owne Certainely this ruine cannot bee auoyded without a great and generous courage of such as shall oppose themselues against it which all good men in my opinion are bound to doe Neuerthelesse you must qualifie by Prudence what an obstinate austeritie would but exasperate and make worse and follow Destinie without forsaking Vertue Doing well you shall shall runne into great hazards and shall suffer many iniuries but what can there happen so strange and horrible that the hope of the soueraigne good wherein I shall preuent you doth not aswage There is well-neere the same words that were vttered vnto vs by that great and wise Personage I rehearsed them vnto you against my Will knowing full well that the weakenesse of my Memorie and harshnesse of my Tongue would loose much of the weight of his Reasons and of the grace of his Discourse But if you had heard him himselfe with his sweete and pleasing fashion hee had kindled in your soules so liuely and ardent a desire of eternall felicitie that there is no affliction in the world the sense whereof hee had not taken away from you There Linus ended his speech and I beeing heartened and cheered vp sayd Certainly this was a very fine Discourse seeing that you who in all other things giue mee such satisfaction seemed vnto mee in the recitall of this to goe beyond your selfe I beleeue the Idea and remembrance of that great personage that is yet fresh and present in your Memorie for the honour and loue you bore vnto him quickned your tongue and inspired into you some thing more then humane Would to God this speech might continue as long as our miseries I am sure I should haue my Eares full of such Discourses and my Minde free from Sorrowes I sweare vnto you that since the time this Calamitie fell vpon vs I found nothing that made this Life more tolerable vnto mee then what I heard from you three these three last dayes but specially to day It is reported That Ptolomaus was forced to forbid Egesias the Cyrenian to discourse any more in publick of the Immortalitie of the Soule because the most part of those which heard him hastened their death with their owne hands That makes mee beleeue hee was ill acquainted with the Subiect hee handled For I beleeue there is nothing in the World giueth vs more courage to endure patiently our Miseries then the Reasons I learned euen now from you which in few wordes represented vnto vs what is the cause and the end of our Afflictions and what recompence our Patience findeth when wee can perseuer in it vnto the end Wherefore I could wish for the comfort of my poore distressed Countrey contrarie to that which was done to Egesias you should bee constrayned all three to continue in publicke such a Discourse But for as much as it is a thing I cannot hope for I am resolued to preserue carefully in my Memorie all that I learned from you about it and at my first leysure if our fortunate Studyes can get any set it downe in Writing to leaue it vnto Posteritie for to instruct in like occasions those that shall come after vs and let them know that in a most corrupted Age and amongst men strangely depriued of all Naturall Affection wee haue liued with a great compassion of the publicke Miserie and yet with a farre greater desire to bee able to helpe it FINIS
vpon vs conceiued great melancholy thereby insomuch that this sorrow ouercomming his health weakened already by age hee fell sicke vpon it During the time of his sicknesse hee was visited by the most famous men of the Towne and because I was his neighbour and that I loued and honoured him much I went thither often The day before hee died a great number of Learned men being about him and finding himselfe more at quiet then hee was wont to be many discourses and questions were mooued specially about the condition of good men that were called to great Places which is almost euer wretched their Vertue being rewarded with Rage and Enuy for the sweetest Recompences and Iniuries and Wrongs for the most vsuall Some one chanced to say That yet the Religion wee were brought vp in gaue vs much aduantage vpon the Ancients proposing to vs the remuneration of our Labours in the life to come and letting vs know that the best part of vs out-liueth our Body nay that euen our Body doth rot and putrifie to spring out and be renewed one day in a happier life wherein Vertue shal receiue the Crowne shee hath deserued Whether the others which had no knowledge but by the gloomie light of Nature could not reach nor stretch their hopes any further then Death nor consequently haue any other comfort but that of this World which certainely is very small This good Lord raysing his head from the Pillow and leaning on his Elbow I did quoth he entertaine my selfe some part of the Night with this Subiect and after long musing vpon it I concluded That the strongest and most certaine comfort wee can take is the assurance of a second and more happy Life And though our Faith giueth it vs and that the Spirit of God hath specially reuealed it vnto vs yet I doe not beleeue the ancient Philosophers haue beene ignorant of it and that so much Vertue as they had did want this consolation vnlesse they haue reiected it when as Nature with her owne hand hath offered it them And I thinke if I could rehearse vnto you all that ran in my minde this Night about it you would confesse it to bee so Then framing his countenance and speech according as hee was wont to doe when hee intended to continue a Discourse wee prepared our selues also with a great silence to heare him and hee proceeded much after this manner Amongst all the things of the World in the knowledge of whom wee may erre there is none whose ignorance is more pernicious and hurtfull then that of the estate of our Soules after this frayle and mortall life for thence is deriued a perplexed anxietie and miserable vnquietnesse which is the cause that men finding nothing happy in this world and looking for no certaintie after it thinke they are sent hither as to a fatall Torment wherein they must liue and die in griefe and calamitie They hate Life and feare Death and least they should fall into what they feare they take what they despise As Vlysses did in Homer who to saue himselfe from drowning embraced a wilde Figge-tree not for any loue hee bore vnto it but for feare that forsaking it hee should fall into Charybdis which hee saw vnder him Contrariwise those which are fully perswaded that the Soule is here but in Pilgrimage on the way to a more happy place trifle not away the time in complayning of Thornes and Brambles that scratch them as they goe by nor in gathering and making Nose-gayes with the Flowers they finde but being carryed away with a liuely ardour to finde such a resting place they rush through and neglect whatsoeuer they meete so much excepted as is needefull for their Voyage Now I will neuer beleeue that this ordinary power of God which is commonly called Nature which in all other things hath beene so propitious to men hath denyed them at any time the knowledge of that which was most necessarie for their good and to get the perfection of their being Rather I will thinke that those which denyed this immortalitie bee of that number which the Word of God pronounced by Saint Paul declareth inexcusable in regard they had the degrees of things visible sufficient and able to reach to the inuisible if they had not imployed them rather to descend then to ascend Ambitious people to their owne ruine which haue taken away force from the discourse which might haue made them happy to giue it vnto that which will make them vnhappy It seemeth vnto me it were enough to confound them to bring forth against them the common opinion of all the Nations of the World which what Age soeuer they liued in what part of the Earth soeuer they did inhabite what Manners and Customes soeuer they obserued haue layd this Beleefe for a foundation of all their Actions Ciuill Gouernments and Societies That their Soule suruiued their Bodyes and was not subiect to death Otherwise why should they haue Deified the most famous men amongst them and ordayned so many honourable Ceremonies to their Memories The Indians and Draides were esteemed the wisest of all the ancient Heathens which more deepely searched into the Bosome of Nature and purchased the highest Secrets of Wisdome They had so certaine a knowledge of this Immortalitie that they ran headlong vnto this corporall Death that is the entrance thereof and did chearefully embrace all honourable occasions that could bring them to it This Opinion hath wrought diuerse effects in diuerse Nations but euery one hath had it And if any may be excepted which beleeued the contrary when as they came to frequent and resort vnto others they held againe the same Opinion Which sheweth plainely that this Beleefe is bred with man and therefore it is naturall right and true For the Vniuersall Nature that is not corrupted by our particular Vice doth not put in our minde any other but sound and pure Opinions As shee guideth our Appetite and that of other Creatures onely to such Meates as are fit to nourish them so shee doth not incline our Vnderstanding to any thing else but to comprehend the Truth and to consent and yeeld vnto it as to his true Obiect and Foode which being represented to it accommodates it selfe presently euen as an Image is fitted to the Mould it was first cast vpon But for as much as those men despise for the most part Popular Iudgements and thinke Truth dwelleth not amongst the Vulgar and beleeue rather that Nature hath buried it very deepe in the ground where it must be found with the Diuine Rod of Philosophy and draw it out with the labour of a great and painefull Meditation let vs put backe whole Nations and bring forth onely such as haue got the glory in all Ages to be the wisest and most learned Pythagoras Solon Socrates Plato Aristotle and such a number of others that to name them all one had neede to haue as much time as it is since they liued haue not onely