malis vitam constitutam eos non pudeat beatam vocare when he is blind and deaf and dumb and cripled in his limbs and leprous in his flesh and tortured with the colick stone and gout and in a word is afflicted which such calamities that they all agree ought to persuade their Sapiens or wiseman fairly to kill himself that he may avoid those accidents I do not say evils for fear of offending the tender Ear of a Stoick and so to make a Way for himself out of this life Oh the Happinesse of this life when their Sapiens is forc'd fairly to dy O vitam beatam quae ut finiatur mortis quaerit Auxili um Si beata est maneaturin eâ Si verò propter mala ista fugitur ab eâ quomodo est beata c. that he may be rid on 't If it be so calamitous that their wiseman chuseth Death rather than such a life how is he then possess 't at the same time of the greatest happinesse Let me interrogate with St Augustine Did Cato the great Example of the Stoicks kill himself out of patience or out of Impatience He would never have done it unlesse he had born the victory of Caesar most impatiently Where then was his fortitude when he run away from that happy life wherein he boasted And why may not those things be accounted Evill that renders a Mans life so miserable as that he must avoid it by his own murder And therefore the Peripateticks and ancient Academicks whose Opinion Varro defends Utrum obsecro Cato ille patientiâ an potius impatientiâ se peremit Non hoc fecisset nisi victoriam Caesaris impatienter tulisset ubi est fortitudo nempe cessit succubuit usque adeo superata est ut ipsam beatam derelinqueret desereret fugeret c. Seneca de M. Catone sic megnis aetatum intervallis sapiens invenitur Neque enim magna exce dentia solitum vulgarem modum crebro gignuntur Caeterum M. Cato vereor ne supra nostrum exemplar sit lib. Quod in Sapientem non cadit Injuria speak more tolerably when they allow these calamities of life to be Evils and the greater Evils the longer they continue But still they hold the erroneous conclusion that their Sapiens may be happy in the midst of those Evils which that they may no longer continue they confessed reasonable that he should kill Himself But let me speak again with St Augustine Do they therefore call such a life happy because by a Voluntary Death they may withdraw themselves from it What if by the judgment of God they should be continued in this life and not permitted to dy nor ever suffered to be without these Evils in these Circumstances at least they would confesse their life to be miserable And this we assume that it is not therefore not miserable because it may be relinquisht Because it is a short misery it ought not therefore to seem none at all or which is more absurd because it is a short misery It ought not therefore to be called Happinesse An ideo beatam vitam dicis quia licet tibi ab his malis morte discede re Quâ—d si ergo in eis aliquo judicio divino tenereris nec unquam sine illis esse sinereris nempe tum saltem miseram talem diceres vitam Non igitur propterea misera non est quia cito relinquitut quandoquidem si sempiterna sit etiam abs teipso misera judicatur Non igitur propterea quoiam brevis est nulla miseria debetvideri aut quod absurdius quia brevis miseria est ideo etiam beatitudo appellari Magna vis est in eis malis quae cogunt hominem secundum ipsos etiam sapientem sibimet auferre quod homo est cum dicant vetum dicant hanc esse naturae primam quodammodo maximam vocem ut homo concilietur sibi propterea mo tem Naturaliter fugiat c. Vita igitur quaestorum tam tamque gravium malorum aut premitur oneribus aut subjacet casibus nullo modo beata diceretur si homines qui hoc dicunt sicut victi malis ingravescentibus cum sibi ingerint mortem cedunt infelicitati ita victi certis rationibus cum quaerunt beatam vitam dignarentur cedere veritati non putarent in ista mortalitate fine summi boni esse gaudendum ubi virtutes ipsae Cymbus hic certe nihil melius atque Utilius in homine reperitur Quanto majora sunt Adjutoria contra Vim peticulor laborum dolorum tanto fidelioria testimonia Miseriarum spe salvi spe beati facti sumus sicut salutem ita beatitudinem non jam tenemus presentem sed expectamus futuram Talis salus quae in futuro erit saeculo ipsa erit etiam finalis beatitude Quam beatitudinem isti Philosophi quoniam non videntes nolunt credere hic sibi conantur falsissimam fabricare quan co superbiore tanto mendaciore virtute Augustinus De Civitate Dei lib. xxx cap. 4. There must needs be a great power in those Evils that make a Mans valor guilty of his own Murder especially seeing that nothing is more Naturall then for a Man to love Himself to avoid Death and to desire to live in this very conjunction of Soul and Body St Augustin's conclusion therefore is and it is the Opinion of all good Christians that in this life which is oppress 't with so many and so great Evils and is subject to so many casualties perfect happinesse is not to be expected and therefore that if the Philosophers had been truly wise they would have left off to project to themselves the Enjoyment of the cheifest Good in this state of Mortality That the Morall vertues themselves then which Nothing is more excellent or profitable in human life are greater Testimonies of the miseries we are here subject to than assistances against them that they cannot give the happinesse designed by them and therefore that by how much the more these vertues are proudly boasted of by so much the more they are vainly belied But this is not all that may be spoken against Philosophy as the Wisdome of it is opposed to and compared with that of Christianity that it attaineth not its End nor maketh any one happy But it may be added that the Happinesse by them designed is but poor and Mean They winne not at their Game but if they did Si ergo virtus per seipsam beata non est quoniam in perferendis malis tota vis ejus est si omnia quae pro bonis concupiscuntur negligit si summus ejus gradus ad mortem patet quandoquidem vitam quae optatur à caeteris saepe respuit mortemque quam caeteri timent fortiter suscipit si necesse est ut aliquid a se magni boni pariat quia suscepti superati labores ad mortem usque sine praemio
to shew you that whatsoever new Opinions there are now the primitive Faith was otherwise St Cyprian or whoever was author of that Homily de Ascentione Christi that we find among his writings declareth to this purpose That the wicked shall be appointed to dwell in infinite torments That there shall be streames of Teares for ever but for ever to no purpose The flames there shall be utterly inextinguishable and the punisht Souls shall dwell immortally in those infernall furnaces and the most killing part of their torment shall be this that they shall all waies live in a despair of ever being redeemed thence God will no more have mercy then Then confession and Repentance shall be too late For Christ descended into Hell but once and shall returne thither no more to work any new Victory or make any new Redemption Prudentius addeth his suffrage against the Heresy of Origen in those verses Vermibus flammis discruciatibus aevum Immortale dedit Senio ne paena periret Non pereunte animâ His meaning is That both the Soul of the sinners and their torment also their flame and their worme by the appointment of God shall be eternall Athanasius concludes his creed thus Those that have done well shall go into everlasting life and those that have done evill into everlasting fire and he affirmes the same in diverse other of his writings St Hierom as he was a passionate Lover and admirer of Origens learning and Wit Felicibus ingeniis mirum dictu quantopere faverit adeo ut haereticos etiam laudibus ornaret libenter si licuisset fidei vitium eruditioni condonaturus Cum primis autem Origenis quem suum adpellat c. Erasmus in vita Hieronymi ubi narrat etiam ut Origenistae in suae sactionis consortium Hieronymum pertrabere nitebantur so possibly he might take his phancy of a Purgatory fire from Him and yet as well as he loved him he would not follow him in his heresy Diaboli saith he omnium negatorum impiorum dixerunt in corde non est Deus Deus credimus aeterna tormenta We believe that the Devils and Atheists and such as deny God in their hearts shall suffer eternall pains Hieron in c. ult Esaiae And let our Atheists take heed they do not one day find St Hieroms creed truer than their own It were endlesse to give you all the private Judgements of the Fathers dispersed up and down among their writings You may have a good Collection of the arguments anciently used against Origens Opinion in Justinians letter to Menna then Archbishop of Constantinople which letter is yet extant in the third Tome of Binius his Councels I shall therefore conclude the Authorities that affirme the pains of the damned in Hell to be everlasting with that peremptory decree of the sixt councell of Constantinople intended to condemne that very Opinion of Origen maliciously to the Ruin of all good manners now again renewed by the Atheists and Socinians of this loose and naughty Age. And let me tell our Lawyers who as they say begin too much to favor Mr Hobbes's errors that this decree which I shall now repeat was thought of so much use by the ancient Lawyers Vide Baisamon in Photii Nomo canon Tit. de Fide c. 2. l. 5. Basilicâ—â— Tit. 1. c. 1. resp 1. that they caused it to be embodied with the Imperiall Laws and esteemed the authority of it to bee the universall concern of the Empire The words of the decree are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in English thus V. Binius Concil loco citato If any one doth say or hold that the punishment of the Devils and Wicked men shall be but temporary and that after a season it shall come to an End or that there shall be a restoration of the wicked Angels and Wicked men to their former estates and Dignities Let him be accursed I am unwilling so severe a Censure of the Church should come against any man through my mouth Insteed therefore of that Let him be accursed I shall say let Mr Hobbes live and let him be reclaimed and let him not be ashamed to repent of and to disclaim his Errors as I have reason to believe Origen did his before his death And let the Socinians be indeed as Zealous encouragers of Vertue and Opposers of Vice as some of them pretend to bee and then I am sure they will leave off this their daubing with untemper'd Mortar See the lamentation of Origen Heu mihi doctori nec discipuli locum teneo volens alios illuminare mcipsum obscuravi Plangite me quia aeternis paenis condemnotus sum ve eor diem judicii qua in aeternâ poenâ damnatus sum Timeo paenam quia aeterna est c. Ita Origenes in threnois a B. Hieronymo latine redditis this which I may properly call in the phrase of Ezechiel their sowing pillows under every Arme-hole To conclude this then is the uniforme sense of the Catholick Church That the pains of Hell are great The Greatnesse of them is intimated in this that they are represented as the Torments of fire which is the worst sort of Torments by the Torments of a black and dark fire which is the worst sort of tormenting fires Other Circumstances that make this torment formidable are the perpetuity and continuity of it both affirmed by all orthodox writers primitive and Moderne And yet whether these Flames are visible and luminous or the Burnings are intensely great and dark as those of melted metals and Minerals and whether they are palpable or Immateriall are questions which with many others of like Nature are easier to be disputed than certainly decided For as the Joyes of Heaven are set forth unto us by visible and Materiall Emblemes and Representations of the greatest Happinesses that we can conceive and yet we believe them much greater and better though not properly such as those shadows represent So on the other side if we judge the expressions concerning the pains of Hell to bee metaphoricall and do not believe that they are formally such as they are described to bee when they are represented to our present Capacities which was I think the utmost of St Gregory Nyssenes Opinion yet then we must by the same Analogy believe that they are greater and higher miseries than those metaphoricall Expressions can really decipher Surely if there had been a greater kind of torment conceivable than that Torment of fire joined with that blacknesse of darknesse mention'd by St Jude the holy Ghost would have chosen to have made use of those for representations Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God Someanciently and some of late as Casaubon particularly have spoken of Greg. Nyssene as if he had been a Sectary of Origens heresy The chief place they note is the conclusion of his catechetick Oration But the summ of his discourse there is no more than this That as the
Brain and that in these folds Memory and reminiscence is performed Yet here the main Questions concerning Memory remain still unexplained Namely how notwithstanding the continued wasting of the parts of the Brain and the supply of fresh parts in their Room and notwithstanding the confluence of all the vast variety of new Impressions yet the memory of the same things continues so many yeares if there be nothing but a transient Elementary matter to be the subject of these Memories Secondly it neither is nor do I ever expect to see it explained how within those Folds Light or Air or Fire or any Elementary Body should be able to Remember or Recollect when neither Fire nor Air nor Light in any other place ever appear'd to have any Faculties in any particulars like those mention'd Wee believe there is a Soul of Man that goeth upward and the Soul of a beast that goeth downward But let none of our Materialists in Philosophy boast that they have demonstrated how either of these Souls can performe its meanest Operations if to speak in Opposition to the Elements it be not a Quintessence somewhat above these Materiall Natures His enim Naturis I must repeat Ciceroes words Nihil inest quod vim Memoriae Mentis Cogitationis habeat Another of Cicero's arguments is this Quod sapit Other old Arguments for the souls immortality from its simplicity causality of its own motions and longings after eternity divinum est To be wise implieth a high and noble Intellect and is a faculty fit not for a corporeall and Elementary but for an excellent pure and simple essence and if it bee not of an Elementary but of a pure and simple Nature it must consequently be eternall Dubitare non possumus quin nihil sit animis admixtum nihil copulatum nihil duplex quod cum ita sit certe nec secerni nec dividi dec discerpi nec distrahi potest Nec interi re igitur Est enim Interitus quasi discessus secretio direptio earū partiū quae ante interitum junctione aliqua teneban tur Cicero Tusc Quaefi lib. 1. It is not to be doubted saith he that the Soul is an incomplex't Being such a one as is not mixt nor join'd nor doubled in its composure Which being so the parts of it can never be divided or sever'd one from another and consequently it can never dye because Death is but a separation of those parts that before Death were in conjuncture Other Arguments he hath for the Immortality of the Soul as that the Soul is the principle of its own Motion and so moveth it selfe and therefore seeing nothing can be deserted of it selfe the soul can never dye nor cease to move as the Body doth which therefore dyeth because it is deserted of the Principle of its Motion which is the soul That the soul hath native Breathings and longings after Eternity implanted in it And that those Breathings and longings are not in vain since God and Nature made nothing in vain Such are the arguments that were anciently used on this subject And let no Man here object the Operations of beasts For it is demonstrable that they are of a kind vastly inferior to ours and therefore we judge their souls to bee so too And truly many considering Men will rather think the Souls of beasts somewhat above Elementary which we understand not and own with Socrates our imperfect knowledge than that such Operations as are performed by the Minds of Men should be the product of Elementary matter only For surely our modern Materialists who are the Philosophers in Fashion have been so far from shewing how the Operations of the Souls of Men may be performed by such matter that they have not given any sufficient satisfaction how it is possible that by such matter and locall Motion alone the actions of bruit beasts may be elicited But enough hath been said to make it evident beyond all contradiction That the doctrine of the Souls Immortality was not built upon the Daemonology of the Greeks but was received and continued from Reasons drawn from the consideration of its own Nature Motions and Operations And Mr Hobbes should do well to answer those Reasons and to shew the credibility of his own Hypothesis seeing He hath exceeded the Atheisme not only of the ancient hereticks in Philosophy but of all pretenders to it in this last and most Atheisticall Age. For he and those of his Clubbe make the human Soul to be little or Nothing but a Modus Entis at best a kind of Motion of some parts of an Organized Body somewhat like that Harmony of parts to which some compared the soul anciently and stand confuted for their pains by Plato and other Philosophers And as if it had been a small matter to corrupt Philosophy he hath done worse and hath shew'd his endeavor to abuse Divinity also when he levells the sense of Scripture to that of his own Philosophy and when he telleth us that the Soul in our Saviors words doth not signify any such distinct and immortall substance as the erroneous world believes it to bee but only the life that is in his sense the Motion of an organized Body that the Body and Soul when spoken of together signify the Body alive that is the Body in its Organicall Motions But all his Wit and Learning will never be able to draw the holy Scriptures to favor the impious Hypothesis of his Philosophy If there be no such thing as Spirit Mr Hobbes misinterprets the scripture which speaks of the soul as independent from the body or incorporeall substance that may informe us if the Soul so much spoken of be nothing but a Modus Entis the motion or harmony of the Body it was neither safe nor wise nor good advise that our Savior gave his Disciples when he commanded them thus Fear not them that kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell For if the Soul were only the Motion or Harmony of the Parts of the Body he that should kill the Body must needs spoil the Harmony or motions of it also and consequently must bee able to destroy the Soul too As he who breaks the Lute must needs spoil all its Musick for ever after It is plain therefore that our Savior speaks of the Soul as of a Being independent from the Body so likewise when his Body was upon the crosse and lay under the cruelty of his deadly Enemies he commended his Soul to God as that which was above their reach The like did his first Martyr St Stephen and all his holy Martyrs and all good Christians ever since have at their Death 's commended their souls to God as that which is distinct and independent from their perishing Bodyes And yet this doctrine concerning the Independence Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul was as I have shewed no peculiar doctrine