from all action and motion so the Syncope interrupts all motion and all the functions both of sense and life And that in this accident there is not any paine experience doth witnesse and the report of such as reuiue is to bee credited and serue for as good a testimony to the curious and incredulous as if they were â—…isen from the dead They depose and will depose that in the incursion of this death there is nothing but quiet rest so sound a sleepe as the naturall is nothing in comparison of this And in truth when my father was restored to his health and as it were returned to life againe hee was much amazed to see the company which came to succour him and his first words were What is the matter Be ing demanded if hee had felt no paine he answered No did not remember that hee had any accident so as all the time betwixt the first accesse of his disease and his separation was without his feeling or memory Thus if the body becomes so insensible that the soule although it be present suspends her action and agitation what shall it then be in death when being separated shee shall haue no communion with it how much more shall it bee without paine As for the bodies shaddow there are none but litle children that are afraid being not able for the weakenesse of their iudgement to know what it is But they that haue any vnderstanding and take a little leasure to obserue this obscure Image moouing at the shaking of their bodies finde that it is only a priuation of the light in the ayre opposed to their bodyes for the Sun the candle or any other thing that shines not able by his beams to pierce through a solid body is forced to fall vpon the Superficies so as it cannot lighten the ayre which is beyond the said body Wherevpon it remains obscure and without light and is fashioned according to the proportion of the body Man therefore being assured that death is nothing to the body but the priuation of life by reason of the leâ—… which happens in the light of life which is the soule the which notwithstanding no lesse then the Sun or a Candle doth retaine her life and remaine immortall Man I say being assured of this truth hee should not feare death no more then the shadow of the body for neither the shadow nor death haue any setling of any thing but onely a simple priuation of another The seuenteenth Argument taken from diuersity which is pleasant to man That wherein the nature of man is pleased should not displease the minde The nature of man is pleased in diuersitie c. WE proue the maior of our argument by the suffrages of many wise men No man can erre sayth Cicero that follows nature for his guide And againe To follow the conduct of good nature is to follow and obey God Chrysippus doth willingly heare nature according to the which wee must liue conformably sayth Laertius it is common nature and properly humaine whervnto Seneca wil giue his conseÌ„â—… Sen. de vit beat c. 8. Naturae rerum asseÌ„tior saith he Moreouer it is our intent to liue ac cording to nature for sayth he to liue according to it to be happy is the samething This common nature is interpreted by the Stoicks to be God as Clemens AlexaÌ„drinus doth witnes The Stoicks sayth he haue setled the end of man to liue according to nature changing the name of God into the beautie of nature Let the world sayth Philon consent and concurre with the Law and the Law with the world Let euery good man as soone as he is made a Cittizen of the world direct his actions according to the arbitrement and will of Nature by the which all this vniuers is gouerned We are afflicted saith Seneca with diseases but curable for Nature which hath made vs perfect if wee demande correction helps vs Wherefore S. Ierome saith that in our spirits there is a certen naturall sanctitie if we may so speake the which being president in the fortresse of the spirit exerciseth the iudgement of good and euill which is saith he in the same place that Law which by the testimonie of the Apostle is infused into al men and as it were written in the tables of the heart Wherefore the spirit of man should neuer part from the motions of this nature according to which all this world moues anâ—… 〈◊〉 entertayned But to come to the minor of our 〈◊〉 that nature is pleased in diuers chaÌ„ges we see that this world doth neuer subâ—…ist any moment of time in one estate not heauen nor the seasons much lesse the earth our common mother For Nature hauing with a varied loue Wounded the Heart Not able to remoue The formes of all the fauorâ—… to one part And at one time she takes into the heart Forme after forme so that one face embraces Forme by that Tract aâ—…ther forme defaces But aboue all there is no poulpe nor Proteus so changeable as maâ—… for what pleaseth him in the euening is in the morning distastful euery day he layes new foundations for his life sayth Senâ—… he reuiues new hopes at the end yea before the last periode of the thing hoped for he often changes aduice and turnes to the contrary of that which he pursued and therefore life is to many a very sport sayth hee No man knowes what he would haue and yet he is alwaies in quest still desirous to change place as if he might there plant his change sayth Lucretius And seeing that man delights so much in change seeing that his particular complexion leades him and forceth him vnto it seeing that the vniuer sall nature guides him to it as by the hand seeing that in this life a death rather then life he could not find his contentment but misery vpon misery why doth he not run ioyfully to the end of this life and seeke to finde a better Obiection Man cannot lose that which is pleasant vnto him without displeasure But life is pleasant to man c. IN this Theater of the world there is nothing so admirable as man sayth Abdala Sarasin he may if hee will take the part of God and bee happy and ioyfull in this world for by his free wil he may become wise and be in a good happy and pleasing estate as certaine Philosophers do shew I will not sayth Seneca to his Lucilius that thou euer want content I will that it grow in thy house which it shall doe if it dwell within thee other petty ioyes fill not the spirit but make smooth the brows they are light vnlesse thou wilt hold him ioyfull that laughes the spirit should be cheerefull assured and eleuated aboue all and presently after he sayth the ioy whereof I speake is sollid and the greater for that it is deepe in the heart And in another place the spirit of a wise
by the fauourable winde of diuine grace may to morrow str◅ke against the rockes of incredulitie haue a contrary winde and suff◅r shipwracke and so haue ◅eede of the answeres ◅ere set downe To conclude counterp◅ysons are not for the sound but for the sicke and infected these confutations are not for them which bee cleane in heart and sound in spirit but for such as irreligion and presumption of humane wisedome haue bewitched Othou the Cr◅ator of all things the Authour of our life the Inspirer of our soules the Father Sonne and holy Ghost one true and onely God I humbly beseech thee illuminate the eyes of my vnderstanding that I may plainely see the happy issue of fearefull death that it will please thee so to purifie the thoughts of my soule that shee may fully apprehend the true causes of her immortality that it will please thee so to fauour my penne that it may write worthily vpon so worthy a subiect that the worke finished thou mayest be glorified the Reader edified and my selfe fortified Amen The Combate betwixt Man and Death The first Argument taken from the Instrumentall cause of eternal life The only meanes to attaine to the perfection of that good which the world so much desireth should not giue any amazement to the world Death is the only meanes Therefore Death should not giue any amazement to the world THE first proposition of this Argument doth plainely iustifie it selfe for without exception all men desire the happinesse of life the perfection of Soueraigne good which is the beatitude of the holy Spirit called eternal life I except not ill doers for they erre in doing ill and either beleeue that it is good or the way which tends vnto it But there is but one way to attaine vnto this good which is death Now then to abhorre this death more then horror it selfe greedily to desire that good which only death can giue vs to desire health and reiect the potion whereby we may recouer it to affect the pleasures which they say are in those fortunate Ilands but without any figure in that heauenly Paradice to refuse to enter into that shippe which alone can bring vs thither were to mocke at himselfe Let vs proceed and come to the proofe of the 2. proposition for thereon is grownded the force of our Syllogisme That Death is the onely meanes to attaine vnto the perfection of life is manifest in that the perfection of euery thing is the enioying of the ends all the lines of our dessignes all the proiects of our enterprises all our sweating and toyle tend and aime at the end Who knowes not that death is the first end of life feeles not but that life in her greatest vigour driues him directly thither all men may see that life is vnited inseparably vnto death by the con tinuance of the same succession of times cōsider this time whereof the enioying is the life There are three parts that which is past the present and the future the presēt is the bond of that which is past and of the future and as this article of the present time runnes as violently towards the future as the Primum Mobile turnes in the heauē so doth ourlife run vio lently towards her end This life is a very way as soone as thou doest enter into it and makest but one step it is the first pace towards the end of the way towards the end of life which is death for the going out of the cradle is the beginning of the entry to the graue whether thou wilt or wilt not whether thou thinkest of it or not yet it is true yea as certaine as in an howre-glasse where the first graine of sand which runnes is a guide vnto the last to the end of the hower Euery day we passe carries away some part of our life yea as we grow life decreaseth this very day which we now enioy is deuided betwixt Death and vs for the first howres of the morning being past to the present in their flowing are dead to vs wherefore Seneca had often this sentence very fitly in his mouth Death hath degrees yet that is not the first Which diuides vs in twaine but of the death is the last And it is the very reason why that wise Tekohite sayd vnto Dauid in the present time For certaine we die and slide away as the waters which returne no more So many degrees as there are in life so many deaths so many beginnings of another life Let vs examine them and take speciall note of the first death to iudge of the latter for herein as in all the other workes of wise Nature the end is answerable to the beginning The first degree of mans life is when being fashioned and framed hee liues in the wombe of his mother this is a vegetatiue life a life proper to plants only wherein hee may receiue nourishment grow in this life he continues commonly but nine moneths at the end of which time hee dies but a happy death whereby he gaines the vse of the goodly sences of nature that is to say of sight hearing smelling tasting and touching behold then the first death when as the Infant by the force of nature is driuen out of that fleshie prison comming from which place he striues and stretcheth out himselfe hee is angry with nature and cries incessantly but he is ill aduised it is his good and the beginning of his perfection Now followeth the infantiue life not differing from that of beasts which extends vnto seuen yeares compleate of this life child-hood is the death which begins at eight yeares and retaines nothing of the Infancy As for the exterior of man which is the body not the flesh nor bones not the foure principall humors if that bee true which the Phisitions hold for a Maxime that our bodies change all their substance euery seuen yeares And in truth how could our sliding nature so long subsist if it were not maintained by drinke and meate the which by a certaine vertue infused into all the members of the body digested purged and applied doth transubstantiat it selfe into our very bodies proportionably as the substance decayes as appeares by the words in the booke of Wisedome cap. 5. Being borne wee suddenly desist from that being wherein wee were borne It is no more the first body which wee brought into the world that is dead wee haue an other in our child-hood the third degree of life which extends vnto 18. yeares at the end wherof his death encounters him in the which beginnes the 4. degree of life which goes vnto 22. and then dies but from this death riseth youth the 5. degree which florisheth vnto 30. yeares then his flower falls and his youth is lost but a rich losse seeing thereby man-hood the perfect age is gotten which being strong and vigorous climbes vnto 50. yeares and this is the 6. degree of life Then comes age the 7. degree of life and the
of man the deprauation of his will he wils not that which hee should and wils that which hee should not that which hee should do is conformable to nature to reason to vertue whereof the Law is written in his heart and the seed cast in his spirit Other creatures moue speedily and easily to that which is proper vnto them and seemely and contrariwise they go vnwillingly and by force to that which is repugnant to their nature But men they reioyce when they haue done euill they take delight in their impious works saith wife Salomon Man drinkes sinne as the fish doth water saith Iob. Yea the corruption is so generall as it is become a prouerb It is a humane thing to erre he thoght so who to excuse his sinne of adultery said The night loue wine and my yong age perswaded me vnto it c. Finally wil you see a great signe of great misery in the spirit of man which is that he is neuer content with his condition an other pleaseth him better Other creatures apply themselues easily to the course that is offered vnto them seeke no change it is the property of sicke persons to affect sometimes one thing sometimes an other to change beds hourely as if in the bed only consisted the remedy of their griefe they desire one kind of meate and are presently distasted Wee sayeth S. Gregory borne in the misery of this pilgrimage are presently loathed we know not what we should desire and a little lower In the end we grow into a consumption for that we are distasted of euery thing and we are wonderfully tired with the want of eating and drinkking Saint Chrysostome doth also sharpely censure this fitrious dainty for that euery man doth commonly complaine of that whereunto he is most bound as if it were an insupportable charge Homil. 60. Cleobulus in Plutarke obseruing the inconstancy and foolish demands of many sent them for answere to the mother of the moone On a time sayd he the moone intreated her mother to make her a little garment that might sit close to her body And how is it possible answe red shee seeing that sometimes thou doest encrease then thou art full and after decreasest If now from this most eminent part of the soule wee descend vnto the sensitiue how many men are borne blind or deafe and dumbe or lame or in some other part counterfeite and monstrous who although they were not so in the beginning yet are growne so how few be there but feele it in their old age Looke into other Creatures if you finde these defects In man that facultie of anger which was giuen him as a strong man at armes to repulse all that outwardly should offer to trouble him behold how it seeks to domineere ouer reason how it treads it vnder foote and turnes man into a madd dog to bite and into a Scorpion to flatter and sting and into worse then that Let vs proceede and leauing those naturall infirmities Let vs obserue the accidentall How many haue endured an vnspeakable torment by thirst which hath forced them to drinke their owne vrine yea that of others Then hunger which could not abstaine from humaine bloud but hath fallon vpon dead carcasses and liuing men not onely vpon strangers but euen mothers vpon their own children deuowring them cruelly and greedily whereof the sacred historie and Pagan is full Thirdly there is so great paine to maintaine this dying life that man in this world hath lesse rest then a Mill Asse Man is borne to labour as a bird to flie sayth the holy writ and the Eternall cries from heauen Thou shalt eate thy bread with the sweate of thy browes Doe not tell me that this is no generall Law it is for without exception hee that trauells not with his bodio trauels in minde thinke you that ambitious and voluptuous men yea theeues are not more troubled and vexed then handy-crafts men If you reply that at the least students are happie yea in com parison of them that are more miserable but being considered absolutely they haue their part of miserie by their sitting life which is necessarie to meditation they haue sooner filled their bodies with diseases then their soules with knowledge Moreouer he that adds know ledge adds torment sayth the wise man and yet most part of students haue no sooner learned the tongues the instruments of sciences nor the principles but they must leaue all eyther through death which cutsthem off or through age which tends vnto it which depriues them of all ablenes memorie industrie sight c. Wherefore one dying complaynes that when he began to know many things and to gouerne his life well he was called out of life Another beginnes his booke with these words Life is short the arte long the occasion hasty the experience dangerous the iudgement difficult as if he would say Miserable man who cannot possibly for his short continuance for his weeke iudgement for the slownesse of his flesh for the slippery estate of the world attaine vnto that knowledge which is so necessary for him But this is not all we haue yet but lightly runne ouer the miseries which man hatcheth in his bosome they which assayle him without are more violent Hee hath his God and Lord interessed and angry against him wee are all borne the children of wrath the whole world makes warre against him and what wonder is it seeing that hee that rules it is his enemy he is infe sted with the incursions of spiritual malices which dwelling in the most cloudy ayer are alwayes ready like carrion kites to fall vpon the prey of man Man is alwayes to man in al places a troublesome enemy and the ancient prouerbe sayeth That man is a wolfe to man and the more meanes he hath to hurt the more dangerous hee is and in truth neuer Tigers Onces or Lyons haue so torne men in pieces as the Phelares the Busines the first Emperors the Massachiers the Spaniards at the West Indies Fourthly there is not any little Creature which doth not shoote out the darts of his poore splene against man being grieued to see such a Tyrant reigne vpon the 〈◊〉 Fiftly the heauen fire ayre sea sand are armed against him dart out against him their wenimous influences lightening and hayle They shake him with their earthquakes they swallow him with there opening they drowne him they burne him If thou thinkest in fayre weather to walke into thy Garden to recreate thy selfe the Aspike attends thee in ambush vnder ome flower or herbe which thou doest intend to gather If thou doest enter into a strangers house the mastiue will take thee by the thigh if into thine owne yet art thou not without feare for thine owne dog may be madd byte thee and make thee mad Fynally that which exceeds all these miseries is that when thou shalt thinke thy selfe most safe a thousand vnexpected accidents may ouerthrow thee
death which was miserable which if we feare what is all the life said he but a path tending vnto death And S. Augustine aboue named means no other thing whilst they haue feeling they are yet liuing if liuing they are rather sensible before death then in death by whose comming all sense is lost The 25. Argument taken from the indignity That which is repugnant to one of the principall vertues is vnworthy of man The extreame feare of death is repugnant to fortitude one of the principall vertues WE meane not here to speak of bodily force but of that of the minde by the which Caesar but of a weake body did more braue exployts thē Hercules There is nothing more worthy of a man then Fortitude a vertue whereunto he should aime al the actions of his life for that alone doth neuer faile to yeeld a recompence either aliue or dead saith Seneca Epist. 81. and hee doth not perish that dies adorned with vertue saith another Saint Augustine confirmes this when he attributes the disdain of life and the contempt of death to the force of the minde The greater and more desperate the danger is the more doth magnanimity increase in a generous minde to free all difficulties that hee shall encounter And seeing that the end is better and more excellent then that which tends vnto it hee will conclude with reason That hee were better to lose his life then vertue But Fortitude one of the foure cardinall vertues besides the generall hath a particular reason why man should seeke to preserue it in her greatest perfection for by it hee enioyes the true tranquility of the minde the which as Cicero reports is nothing else but a quiet sweete and pleasing disposition of the soule in all the euents of life Which carries two Crownes patience in paine resolution in death By which the confirmation of the Minor is inferred there beeing nothing that doth more oppugne and in the end ouerthrow all force and resolution then the extreame feare of death Feare and especially that of death beeing destitute of reason iudgement wounds the soule with amazement alienates his right sense makes it idle and without action it doth waste him vndermine him and consume him as rust doth Iron and the worme an apple A man alwayes shaking with feare is without heart and courage but halfe a man such as histories report Claudius Caesar the 5. Emperour to haue beene whom nature had begun but not finished for that hee was base and faint-hearted Moreouer feare by the terrible obiect of death causeth the heate which is the chariot of force to retire into the bottome of the belly in stead of drawing it about the heart as courage doth so as the heart is alwayes panting and which is worse whereas it should extend it selfe by dilatation in his natural motion hee shrinkes himselfe vp against nature whereby there followes a great debility in all the members of the body and sometimes death as it happened to Lycas who vppon the very report of Hercules force was so terrified as beeing retired into the corner of an Altar dyed there But a generous man resolute to death will not feare any thing that shall present it selfe to crosse him in the course of his duty like vnto Anaxarchus whom Alexander threatning to hang he said Threaten thy Courteours who feare death for my part I care not whether I rot aboue or vnder the earth Socrates also beeing blamed by one for that hee did a thing which would cause his death he answered My friend thou art not well informed if thou thinkest that a man of honor shold apprehend danger yea death in his actions but only consider whether they bee iust or vniust good or bad Such was the courage of the Prophet Micheas when he resisted King Achas and told Israel of his sinnes being filled with vertue by the Spirit of the Eternal with iudgement and with force as he himselfe speakes Thirdly feare not onely hurts it selfe causing his arms to fall out of his hands and laying him open to his enemies darts but like vnto the plague it infects others And therefore King Agamemnon would not that a rich man and a fearefull should goe to the warres of Troy but to stay him he would haue sent him a distaffe if he would not eouer his shame honestly But on the other side a valiant man finds meanes to free himselfe in the greatest dangers So Aristomenes a Lacedemonian being taken prisoner and deliuered bound to two souldiers hee found meanes to burne his bonds and his flesh to the quicke then falling couragiously vpon his guardes hee slue them and so escaped It is a common saying among men That vertue hath no vertue if it be not in paine and the greatest paine in the opinion of man is when hee is at the point of death then should a valiant heart shew his inuincible courage to vāquish this terror of death It is this courage which made Saint Paule to say That if he did serue for an aspersion vpon the sacrifice seruice of faith hee was ioyfull It is the same Spirit that made Ignatius to say beeing condemned by Infidels to be cast to wild beasts I am the wheate of God I shall bee ground in the teeth of beasts to bee made pure and cleane bread If the Trumpet which sounds an alarme be pleasing to a valiant Souldier what shall death bee to a vertuous man when shee shall sound with her siluer Trumpet ordained by God to call the assembly the Church to heauen and to make men leaue the earth where they haue no a biding place what feare we They that haue the chollicke and the gout are not so much terrified with the returne of their paine and can vertuous men so much feare death which hath not so much paine no none at all seeing that what we feel whē death approcheth is of the re mainder of life not of death to what end serues this cowardly feare Fly an honorable death of the one side and a shamefull end will find thee of the other So Sisera left his Armie and fled into the house of Iahel but when he thought to take his rest Iahel came and draue a nayle of the Tabernacle into the temples of his head and slue him But to haue this courage and resolution to resist the terror of death it is not sufficient to speake in the time of health as Souldiers do of their valour at the table learned discourses sayth Seneca make no demonstrations of true magnanimity the most feareful will sometimes speak more boldly then they shold We must meditate seriously of death according to the obiects which are presented vnto vs and not make any difficulty to go and comfort our dying neighbours for it is better to enter into the house of mourning then of seasting sayth the wise man To offer ourselues to al dangers of death when our vocation doth call vs like
to heauen It is a constant opinion of the Stoickes sayth he that after all humor is consumed this world shall burne and Nature by whom this reuolution is made seemes to giue vs some notice in that the fields being burnt by the labourer or drowned by water as in Egypt as in pooles dried vp and when the sea is retired in that I say this earth remaining is found renewed fat and producing many Creatures yea great and perfect as they write namely of Nile after it is retired Now vnder the wings of these great personages I come to maintaine this combate and refell the reasons of the Obiector Wee haue in our Argument toucht two points simbolizing together although the one be Christian and the other Heathen the first is the Resurrection of the flesh which we extend to man only not of other Creatures And let vs say that he who of nothing could make all may easily ouerthrow the imagined difficulty and raise vp and restore to the same estate the bodies of dead men for he that can do more can do lesse without all controuersie and hee that could of nothing make that which was not may repaire that which was vndone But how shall this Resurrection bee made and what assurance shall wee haue Behold how In the presence of all the world of Angells of men and of diuells with vnspeakable ioy to the good and incomprehensible horror to the wicked the Lord shall come with a cry of exhortation and the voice of the Archangell and the Trumpet of God these are the very words of the text By the sound of this trumpet all the dead shall awake and rise out of their graues and they that shall liue and remaine at this comming shal be suddenly changed and of mortall shal be made immortall by his force and efficacy who can make all things subiect vnto him as the Apostle sayth The bodies of the children of God shall rise againe like the glorious bodie of Iesus Christ impassible spirituall and yet fleshly shining like stars subtil light transparent and full of all happines behold the letters of heauen We attend the Sauiour who will transforme our vile bodies and make them conformable to his glorious body We know sayeth Saint Iohn that after hee hath appeared wee shall bee like vnto him God will wipe away all teares from our eyes sayth hee death shall bee no more there shal bee no mourning cries nor labour The body sowne in corruption shall rise spirituall sayth S. Paul for that no sollide thing can hinder it it may without helpe or wings flye into remote places as Iesus Christ after his resurrection did manifest it more then sufficiently in his body finally hee shall bee spirituall for that hee shal be readily and willingly obedient to his glorified spirit In this flesh and not in any other shall I see my Sauiour sayth Iob c. 1. 9. For this mortal body must put on immortality sayth the Apostle Thirdly they which haue bin vnderstood sayth Daniel 12. shall shine like the heauens and they that bring many to Iustice shall glister like the starres for euer Also the glory of the Sunne is one the glory of the Moon another and the glory of the starres is also different euen so shall bee the resurrection of the dead whereby it followes that the bodyes raised again shal haue no grosse substance but shall be transparent like vnto glasse Fourthly beeing raised againe we shall bee taken vp into the clouds before the Lord and beeing ascended into heauen wee shall haue vnspeakeable ioy such as the eye hath not seene the eare not heard nor hath entred into the heart of man These are wonderfull things but what assurance the Spirit of God doth assure thee if thou beest of God for God doth seale vp an earnest penny of his holy Spirit in their hearts that are his as the Apostle teacheth Secondly If the soule be immortall the body must one day rise immortall to the end that this soule being created for the body may giue it life againe being reunited Moreouer as Saint Ambrose teacheth it is the order and cause of Iustice seeing that the work of man is common to the body and soule and what the soule doth fore-thinke the body effects and therefore it is reasonable that both should appeare in iudgement to receiue either punishment or glory Thirdly Iesus Christ is risen for vs and to assure vs that by the same diuine power that hath drawne him out of the graue we also shal be raised I proue the antecedent by aboue 500. witnesses which at one time haue seene Iesus Christ liuing after that he had beene crucified by the Iewes as the Apostle sheweth and Ioseph also who was a Iew doth witnesse it lib. 18. c. 2. 4. of his Antiquities He was seene precisely by women beleeued by the incredulous and for a ful assurance thereof hee would contrary to the nature of his body which aspired nothing but heauen conuerse forty dayes vpon earth Heere is reason sufficient in this matter of faith whereas reason should yeeld her selfe prisoner and yet to make it appeare visibly and to free all doubt God would both in the ancient and new alliance raise vp some that were seene and admired of the people So Lazarus being called out of his graue was beheld of all men and the malicious Pharisies tooke counsell to put him to death as well as Iesus Christ. The same God would manifest a plot of the future Resurrection to his Prophet Ezechiel when as he had transported him into a field full of drye bones which when hee had seene and prophesied ouer â—…em behold a motion the bones draw neere one vnto another and suddainely behold they had sinewes vppon them and flesh came and then the skinne couered it and in the end after a second dâ—…untiation of the word of God the spirit came and then appeared a great army of men As for this point which concernes an article of our faith the Resurrection of the flesh the Obiector dares not deny but there is matter sufficient in this world to furnish for the restoring of all the dead bodies not since an imaginary Eternity for we are now vpon tearmes of diuinity whereof wee must beleeue the principles and not question them but from the first man vnto the last that shall be Herein there is nothing that inuolues contradiction The other point was that suppose the eternity of the world after the reuolution of all things and the encounter of the same order in all points that is at this present there shall bee the same Superficies the same creatures and the same men that are at this present this also hath no implicity seeing we affirm not that all things the same creatures which haue bin shal be for euer shal be restor'd together at one instant but by degrees and euery one in his turne Behold how this first
and to satisfaction by works The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedom sayth the wise man Man then being raysed a degree higher then woman in contemplation if he doth vse his knowledge rightly submitting himselfe wholy to God hee shall be much more zealous to his seruice as it happened to S. Iohn the Disciple which Iesus Christ loued aboue the rest but for that they are oftē puft vp they abuse it for pride is a spiritual poyson which spoyles all as it happened to Belzebub therefore most of our learned men are not so religious as women ignorant people who being gouerned by a moderat contemplation doe husband with all humilitie their moderate knowledge of God the affection in this feminine sexe is commonly more zealous then in the other Finally by the reuerence which is stronger in him this sexe feares to offend God and to make the holy Ghost heauy by whom he is sealed vntill the day of redemption as S. Paul speakes it is not feare onely then that begets religion for then Deere Conies and other fearefull Creatures should bee more religious Moreouer it is no generall rule that women are more religious if it bee not at this time which is as barren in deuout men as it is fertill in many religions for wee shall finde as many men recorded for Martyrs as women and in the Catalogue of the Apostles the first Architects of the Christian Churches we shall not find the name of any womē they are not suffered to speake in the Church And if the Elephant doth therein seeme to imitate man they are but shewes and gesticulations hauing no deuotion in the heart which is the essence of religion and what hee doth is by the instinct of his owne temper which approcheth neere vnto that of man And what doth Aelian others report so memorable of him but that hee turnes vp his s◅out towards the Sun and Moone as if hee did worship them doth not the flower called Heliotropium more it being weighty turnes round about lightly as the Sunne goeth To the 3. The impostor sayth that the soule is kindled with a desire of immortality to the end it may bee stirred vp to vortue it is well spoken for true vertue in this world is the sole and true good of man which makes him worthy of the heauenly beatitude which layes hold of a vertuous soule but this vertue without this immortality is a poison to man keeping him from running headlong to all carnall and vicious pleasures so as they be delightfull and as many Philosophers and men of God as shall crie out against the riots of the flesh they are so many tormenters but the soule is immortal and vertue is or should be requested and therefore one sayd long ago That a man were better to cast himselfe headlong into the sea then to be tyrannized by vice And on the other side Plaustus wil say that there is no price so excellent as vertue that it marcheth before al things liberty health life goods kinsfolke country children are defended and maintained by it And Claudian sings that from a high Tower she laughes at mortal things for that she is certaine of her immortality Finally she is rightly painted treading death vnder her feete for she alone swims is assured to escape spoile shipwracke as the Philosopher Stilpon did fitly teach King Demetrius who enquiring of him if he had lost nothing in the warres No sayd he for that vertue which I esteeme aboue all thing is not subiect to pillage But beasts replies hee flye death also Answere To speake properly beasts flie not from death for they are wholly ignorant what it is they will see the knife made sharpe to cut their throates and not be moued but being endued with the sense of feeling as with the other senses they will crie struggle when they feele a pricking or cutting or any other paine Some beasts of pleasure some birds for delight are cunningly taken by men to bee nourished daintily the which in their taking will torment themselues more then if they had the stroake of death To the 4. he sayth that the hart let vs adde to helpe him milles clockes and such like are in continuall action which notwithstanding cease in the end of their motion but let vs answere that there is difference betwixt a naturall action or one that is artificially forced and that which flowes freely and voluntarily without intermission or rest such as is the action of the soule in her thoughts and desires which wee maintaine to bee a true signe of her immortality as for that which wee did alledge of her continuall Vigilancy whilest the body sleepeth when as by assured dreames shee falls vpon the time to come hee cannot reply any thing to this but that dogs dreame I deny it Their barking and the other actions they do sleeping as well as waking proceede from a certain temperature into which they fall as in our selues in the brutall part by the gathering together of certaine grosse humors about the heart being prest we are forced to cry out The obiection to the 5. is his confirmation for if man abused by his imagination seeking the good encounters that which is bad he is twise miserable in his dessignes in his euents True it is man is subiect to so many miseries in this life as at euery step hee meetes with a thousand if hee thinkes to haue found any pleasure it is suddainly drowned with a floud of teares this did the Comedian Plautus vnderstand saying that mans age is so composed as it hath pleased the gods that pleasure should haue care for companion yea if any good happeneth presently some discommodity followes in greater abundance And Ouid sayd it was a vertue to abstaine from a smiling pleasure Horace he bids chase away pleasure it cost too deere And this made Lucretius though an Epicure to blame men who were too greedy of this life in these words What is there here O man of such delight Whose want so ruthlesse seemes in her despight Thou fear'st O foole and shak'st at thought of death That through al tempest brings where blowes no breath Our aduersary goes on and presumes that man may liue happily in this world if he will Answere Without doubt he would for no man takes counsell if he shal be happy he neuer troubles himselfe to choose felicity but for the meanes to attaine vnto it as Aristotle sayth hee neuer desires any hurt but vnder a shew of good for that goodnesse is the proper obiect of the will the diuell chooseth our euill for his owne good holding it a great benefit vn to him if many perish Man then by this desires to bee happy if he may by the discourse of the aduersary how is it possible that no man in the world neither hath nor shall bee truely happy by his owne faculties The true felicity of man is to be
diuers course◅ How can he in his soule get wisedome so necessary for the conduct of life seeing that vse engenders it and memory brings it forth as Afranius saith if by a number of yeeres hee gets not the vse and experience of so many affaires inuolued in this world Also how can hee preserue his bodily heath or restore it beeing decayed if he haue not the knowledge of Phisicke seeing it is a long arte and life is short saith Hippocrates Lastly he lightly passeth ouer the last and strongest reason of conscience for that I assure my selfe his conscience did bely his pen and therefore hee will entertaine vs with a certaine instinct of the vnreasonable creatures which he cōcludes in a manner to be Conscience Answer Creatures without reason and without teaching are skilfull from their first being in that which is profitable vnto them to affect it seeke it and finde it and to abhorre and flye from that which is hurtfull and in that they are so couragious to defend their young proceedes from the blood of the arteries mooued with the hearing or sight of their aduersaries which they do naturally apprehend for then the blood beeing mooued it runs luddainly to the heart and doth quicken the power of choler and thrust him on to resist and reuenge all which proceedes from the temper of the beast But conscience is a diuine vertue ingrauen in the soule which S. Paule calls the spirit of vnderstanding Ephes. 3. which applyes the knowledge of our spirit to the worke witnessing for vs or against vs of that which wee know wee haue done or not done wherof growes the prouerbe That a mans conscience serues for a thousand witnesses shee withholds vs or thrusts vs on we as shal think the thing fit to be done or not Finally she doth excuse vs or accuse vs as wee shall iudge to haue done well or ill This quality or rather act is not found but in a reasonable soule and is a true signe of her immortality and of an other life where shee is to giue an accoumpt of all her actions And although that in a wicked and depraued man this inward and immortall worme bo so deeply hidden as they must sometimes haue outward tortures to draw it out yet this doth not argue but he hath it inwardly and that in the end it will appeare in despight of him when the apprehension of an ighominious punishment shall cease a little Yea most men confesse before they come to the torture and therefore what the Obiector hath opposed doth nothing infringe our reason The 2. Argument taken from the goodly order of Nature It is not possible that goodly iustice should faile in the principall point If the soule of man were mortall this goodly iustice of nature should faile in the principall point It is not therefore possible the soule of man should bee mortall EVEN as in this world there is no Catbuncle more glistering not vertue more eminent then iustice and as man is the goodliest piece in the world and containes in himselfe the modell of all the perfections of other Creatures it is reasons will that this Iustice should adorne and beautifie this head of the world and yet it is in him if wee well obserue it that shee is most obscure and blemished in all other things man only excepted shee shines and glisters The heauens and their Starres obserue the law of the Eternall inuiolably in their motions in their influences and in their alterations the Elements change themselues one into another to preserue the sundry kinds of plants and Creatures in the world and obey their Creator religiously Plants and vnreasonable Creatures haue alwayes effects and vertues concurring with the it proper essence It is that which moued Dauid to say That the heauen the Sun and all the host of heauen did declare the power and wisedome of God Psal. 19. And in the 148 the water fire trees and vnreasonable Creatures are stirred vp to praise the Lord the which being faithfully performed by them man should die with shame that hee alone is defectiue in his duty being most bound vnto it And hereof God complaines by Esay Harken you heauens and thou earth giue care for the Eternall hath spoken saying I haue nourished children and haue bred them vp but they haue rebel led against me The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his master crib c. And the Philosophers propound for an infallible Maxime That man is the most vniust of all Creatures and they searche out the causes the grossest precepts of iustice are to liue honestly to doe no man wrong to giue euery man his owne no man is ignorant hereof his naturall reason being more then sufficient to instruct him and yet who doth it Yea they are all made abominable and there is not any one that doth good sayeth the Oracle They are giuen ouer to the couetousnesse of their owne hearts to filthines to pollute their owne bodies sayth the Apostle If this complaint were true iust then it is a thousand times more at this present I call you to witnesse who trauelling haue past through Italy Spaine and France I say to witnes of the adulterie Incest Sodomie and filthynes you haue seene there or if your chast eyes could not endure the sight yet what you haue heard Then the robberies spoyles iniustice vnder the cloake of iustice which reigne now in this realme and their goodliest houses are built vpon these foundations But it is not at this time only but hath been in al ages for from the infancy of the Church there neuer wanted some swelling iniqui tie and a patient iustice saith S. Ierome As for murthers they were neuer so frequent to kill a man is but a sport great men make it their pastime But that which is worse they not only commit such iniustice but they also allow of it they fauour it they are aduanced to the highest dignities The mischiefe is cōmitted sometimes furiously when as blinde rage commands but the approbation proceeds slowly from a setled spirit and is much to be condemned so as S. Paul doth rightly make it the second degree of Iniustice But come and lift vp your eyes see and iudge who they be which hold the seate of iustice they are for the most most part the most disloyall the most impious the most vniust the most malicious among men It is not in this age alone that this Iniustice hath sprōg vp it hath beene in all seasons I haue seene sayth Salomon vnder the Sunne Impietie in the place of iudgement iniquitie in the feare of Iustice Offices be the reward of such as make straight things crooked sayth Terence Other Poets vsing the voyce of the people of their ages cry out that Pittie lyes desolate that the virgine Astraea that is iustice hath bin forced at the last to yeeld to Mas saores extortions vpon the earth This is not all
their carnall pleasures As for Sardanapalus hee hath also doubted whether he were a man since that hee tooke vpon him a womans habit among his Courtisans and handled a distaffe with them For my part I beleeue that he had the humour and spirit of a beast as Tully reports that Aristotle hauing read this Epitaphe sayd that they should haue written it vpon the pit of a beast not on the graue of a King The same answere shall serue for the like thing pretended at Brescia As for the third their ignorance and malice would force a beleefe of mortality of soules what others more honest and more wise haue done shall serue to confute them For the same antiquaries write that many caused to bee drawne vpon their tombes doores halfe open shewing thereby that their soules escaped from the tombe If one Philosopher would dispute of it there are others who to get fame haue questioned matters more apparent as Cardan the fourth Element of fire Copernicus the motion of heauen maintaining by the illusion of reason that it is the earth not the heauen that moues There haue beene alwayes and shall be such fantasticke humors who would make themselues famous with the preiudice of the truth As for the Empresse Barbara hee should haue added that shee was an insatiable Letcher therefore she had great interest not to giue an accoumpt of her dissolute life to perswade her self that al was extinguished in death Now followeth this depra ued age into the which as into the bottome of a sinke al the filth of precedent ages haue seemed to run yet there are God bee thanked who beleeue it in their hearts and deliuer it with ther mouthes that their spirit is immortal and they that speake it only with their mouthes it is sufficient that naturall shame will not suffer them to discouer the villany of thier hearts and this bashfulnesse an impression of God is sufficient to make them inexcusable in the great day of the Lord. Moreouer they that with a furious impudency haue beleeued that the soule died with the body haue for the most part in their miserable ends made knowne the iudgements of God who punished them for their frantike opinion as Lucian who was torne in pieces by dogs Lucre tius who grown mad cast him selfe downe a precipice Caligula who was cruelly slaine with infinite others Or else they haue shewed it in their confused and irresolute carriage the distemperature and trouble of their soules impugning their damnable opinion To conclude As for Theodorus and the swarme of his disciples who in a manner alone hold the chaires in all estates I will suffer them to be led in Triumph before the triumphant chariot of faith that which Du Bartas sayth in the beginning of the second song is sufficient to confound them The 4. Argument That which proceeds immediatly f◅om God is euerlasting Such is the soule I will prooue the consequēce of the Maior for the rest is plaine of it selfe whilest the Sun shall last he will cast fo◅th his beames whilest there is fire there will come forth heate whilest the heart beates in the body there remaines life for that the position of the sufficient cause very neere and immediate doth of necessity establish the effect the which continues as long as the cause if there happens no inpeachment But God is a sufficient cause neuer hindered in his effects he is the neere and immediate cause of the soule which hee breathes into the body as soone as it was disposed and fit to receiue that breathing hee is immortall and by consequent the soule is immortall So hee created the Angels the Angels shal subsist for euer so he made the heauen earth and they shall neuer perish If they reply that the heauēs shal passe that God wil cōsume them as a flaming pyle of wood as the Poet speakes after S. Peter The answer is That it is not to be vnderstood of the substance of the world but of the qualities which being vaine and corrupted by reason of man shal be changed and renewed by fire to shine more purely like refined gold They may againe obiect That God with his owne hands had moulded and fashoned the first man who not with standing is dead I answer that God was the efficient and immediate cause of man but not the formall nor the materiall his substance was the slime of the earth which might be dissolued his forme was his soule which might be separated But in the soule and of the soule of man God holds immediatly the foure kinds of causes the efficient for he hath made it of himselfe without any help the materiall not that it is of his essence but that hee hath created it of nothing as hee did the world the formall in like manner his continual inspiration retaines it as his continuall prouidence preserues the world from ruine and therefore Christ sayd my Father works hitherto and I with him Finally he is the finall cause for man liues to know and serue God If they reply againe that God being a voluntarie cause in his actions should not be numbred among the naturall causes which necessarily produce their effects if there be not some let that is most certen but where the word of God is euident we must not doubt of his will but it is apparent in the passages alledged that the soule is immortall And therefore we may profitably and safely conclude That if from the sufficient and neere cause the effect doth necessarilie flow and that this effect doth continue as long as the cause if there happen no lets that vndoubtedly the soule is immortal seeing that God her most sufficient cause and who feares no disturbance is immortall so as to denie this immortalitie is to deny the Deitie Obiection That which hath bin alwaies required to be sufficiently testified yet hath beene still denyed cannot be certaine The immortalitie of the soule hath beene alwayes required to be sufficiently testified yet hath beene still denyed NO great ioy doth at any time accompanie a deepe silence If the soule going out of the bodie felt it selfe immortall shee should feele it if she were so for going out of the body as out of a darke prison shee should haue the fruition of all her light if shee felt her selfe as I say immortall shee would witnesse it by some signe to the poore kinsfolkes that suruiue being desolate by reason of his departure to comfort fortifie and make them ioyfull And although the soules which are in heauen be there detained by a voluntarie prison hindering them from comming downe and on the other side those that are in hell are tyed there by a will that is captiue as one hath affirmed But the soules that goe out of the bodies which are yet on earth euen vpon the lips of them that die why haue they not instantly before they fly to heauen being so often required giuen some smalle proofe of
is vnknowne vnto vs. that we haue a soule sayth Seneca by whose commandement wee are thrust on and called backe all men confesse it but what this soule this Lady and Queene is no man can decide neither yet where shee abides Laertius or rather Heraclitus for him Let vs passe ouer the soule sayth hee for no man can finde it yea if hee should imploy his whole life so profound is the reason thereof Do not vrge that the eye seeth euery thing but it selfe for the eye seeth another eye but one soule knoweth not another soule yea the eye seeth it selfe not his image but his proper substance in the reflexion of his visuall beames by the meanes of the looking-glasse as for the soule al they that haue deliuered their opinions haue seemed to doate Varro hath sayd that it was an aire conceiued in the mouth purified in the lights made lukewarme in the heart diffusedly spred ouer the whole body Zeno that it was a fire kindled in our bodies by the celestiall fire Empedocles and Circias that it was nothing but the blood Hippocrates that it was a subtile spirit insinuated throughout the whole body Thales that it was a nature mouing of it selfe without rest Asclepiades a common exercise of the senses Hippoc. that she goes alwayes on vntill death 6 Epistle part 5. com 5. Finally if it were euer it is in this That so many heads so many opinions Answere The soule flowing from the diuine essence hath that common with God that we see many nega tions of her but few or no affirmations but we know with Aristotle that it is the perfection of a natural body which may haue life that it is the beginning of nourishment feeling motion and vnderstanding And yet more then that although wee cannot climbe so high the reason is that the knowledge which the soule hath of things is from the senses by meanes of the Ideaes but the soule cannot bee perceiued by the senses of her there are no Ideas nor by consequence any knowledge And as for this aire this fire these spirits such as they are fashioned in the braine they are but organes and vessells fit for the soule seeing that wee see them wast and consume euery moment without losse of life the which notwithstanding cannot subsist without the ministery of the soule Finally as for the different opinions of diuers men they shew that they know not what it is but withall they demonstrate that they know there is a soule which they striue to know but who is he that would study to know that which is not in nature vnlesse he were mad The second Obiection If the soule were endowed with a speciall motion she would expresse it by her body But she doth not expresse it IF the soule at the departure out of the body had her flight towards heauen she would giue some signe of it to the body stirring it with some speciall motion Simple Creatures mooue themselues in all sorts of motions differing from plants which without mouing from their place doe but grow vp and spread abroad for that their soules are diuers and why should not man who hath a speciall soule haue a speciall motion As for that he bounds and skips therein a goate or a cat hath more then hee neither is that the reasonable soule that doth it but rather the vegetatiue the mixture of the naturall fire which raiseth him wherfore as soone as a man breathes and exhales this fire hee falls from his leape but of any proper or particular motion of this flying soule hee feeleth nothing Answere Seruius vpon the 6. of Virgil will answer That the soule in the body is like vnto a Lyon shut vp in a streight cage which notwithstanding loseth nothing of his force although he cannot shew it but if he once escape you shal see him as strong as before so as a man would thinke his force had bene abated in his prison Moreouer some haue bene so actiue as they haue flowne as at Paris in the yeare 1551. there was one vndertooke to flie from the Tower of Nefle vnto the Louure the riuer being betwixt both the King expecting him and although hee could not get to the end of his enterprise yet hee got vp into the aire after such an admirable manner as hee came to the mid-way But the flying of the Creature doth not proue his essence immortall for then birds should be immortall And how then can the soules mount vp to heauen going out of the bodies If thou doest beleeue the holy Scriptures the Angells sent to serue them louingly which shall receiue the inheritance of saluation will carry them as the Angell did poore Lazarus Hereunto that good Father Macarius had regard There is a great Mistery saith hee accomplished in soules going out of the bodies for if they bee guilty of sinne troopes of diuells and bad angells flocking about them seaze vpon those soules as their slaues and carry them away c. But if they bee in good estate the companies of good Angells carrying them to a better life present them vnto the Lord yet wee will not deny but in the soule there is an intrinsecall vertue to climbe vp to heauen with a swiftnesse equall to her desire if that fire hath a secret force to mount vp to his proper place being a dead Element what then shall the soule separated do being so actiue and so quicke and whose proper Country is Heauen And although that heauen especially that which is the mansion of happy soules bee so many leagues distant as Astrologers which haue sought to take the height haue found millions being much amazed haue mounted neere to two thousād millions of leagues yet we must not beleeue that the soule is long in passing this great distance for that her motion not being continued but diuided like to that of spirits departing out of the body she is presently in heauen euen as in this corruptible bodie in a moment shee sends the beames of her sight and thoughts vp to heauen But wholy to stoppe the mouth of our aduersarie we say that the true knowledge of the soule in her immortalitie is no humaine inuention but a diuine reuelation as Iustine Martyr sayth and that since shee is fallen from her first integritie which fall hath so amazed dulled her as she knowes not truely what she hath beene what she is or where shee is nor whither she shall goe of whosesinne she is the subiect as Iron is of rust it hath wholie spoyled her dulled her quicknesse and weakned her vigour which is the cause that she stumbles in the way of health is blynde in the knowledge of the least things is interrupted in the course of her brauest discourses by a flye or any toye To conclude shee is so troubled as shee dreames of a thousand fancies in a manner mistakes euery thing The fift Obiection To alledge the desire of a morsell of fruit