for on that day thou shalt eate of it thou shalt die the death obserue the words from that day for he died not that day but liued long after but from that day being fallen from grace he dyed the spiritual death then what doth this Hebrew phrase to die the death mean but the principall death which is the eternall the second death But this death brought in by Sathan by sin by man hath no power ouer the children of God good men to whom this discourse is onely directed since that it was subdued bound and confined into hell by Iesus Christ our Sauiour as Athanasius hath wel obserued that as the waspe strikes violently against a stone but hurts it not by her incursion but rather bruzeth her selfe and looseth her sting euen so death incountring Christ furiously who is life she could not hold him in her bands but she hath lost her sting so as they whom shee terrified before insult ouer her now So then death simply the laying of the bodie into the ground there to be putrified the way to heauē is good to the good is giuen of God by nature life death are of the Lord sayth wise Ecclesi 11. vers 14. It is he that giues life and death that maks vs to descend into the graue to rise againe saith the Prophetesse Anna. 2. Sam. 2. It is then our good mother that calls vs to death let vs follow and obay her voice seeing we can receiue no harme and how can it bee hurtfull seeing it is the sepulcher of vices and the resurrection of vertues sayth S. Ambrose and how how can it bee dangerous seeing it is that Toad-stone which by his fecret vertue expels and rectifies all vncleane things And in truth as Toades when they are growne olde and heauy with a fat poyson are set vpon by an infinite number of Ants which sucke him and deuour him so as nothing remaines but the said stone which afterwards they may freely handle yea profitably So death hauing beene purged from sinne is now by the almighty power of the Eternall conuerted into a most souereigne remedy against sinne The second Obiection There is not any thing ingenerate in all Creatures by nature in vaine But the feare of death is ingenerate in all Creatures Therefore the feare of death is not in vaine FOr the proofe of this Argument shall suffice the approbation of all Creatures great and small which flye from death the same reason is for man whom the complexion of his flesh being proportionable to the quality of the Elements inclines him to loue the world he may be where he will yet his naturall disposition will draw him towards his countrey although in stead of some sweete liquor which he promised to himselfe hee should drinke wormewood So man beeing borne in the world and accustomed vnto it can hardly leaue it Answer The nature of man doth sometimes affect and abhorre one the same thing but for diuers considerations if he beholds death nakedly there is great feare as we may discouer in many but if he can haue the iudgement and patience to see her attired in her precious ornaments with vertue with heauen gates by the which onely we are brought in of the assured ioy and rest of the minde in the possession whereof shee sets the soule then doe wee affect it and desire it and this desire should be held more natural in man for that it is more proper vnto him seeing it proceeds from the true iudgement of reason which makes him man Moreouer for a more cleare solution of the argument we must distinguish the vniuersall nature from the particular vniuersall nature is that vertue that admirable investigable proportiō infused by God into the Vniuerse the proper Instrument of the principall agent of this soueraigne essence which hauing insinuated into this Chaos the first matter hath brought it in six dayes too this goodly ornament and hath preserued it many thousand of yeares of this nature we de nie that she plants in beasts the feare of that shee giues them that is to say death but as to shew vnto the beasts of the earth al the lights of heauen as well the fixed stars as wandring she turnes about the heauens so to shew vnto heauen all the Creatures she hath giuen the passage returning of life death else it were impossible if as in a tree the dry leaues falling giue place to green that spring so in beasts the first should not giue way to them that follow As for particular nature the very cōplexion of euery one to whom death is so terrible I say it is an ill ordered feare The Order is preposterous when as the particular doth not follow the Law of the generall and it is the ruine of States when as the priuate good is preferred before the publike The Romaine Empire did flowrish when as the Popilij Scipios Fabij and others did choose rather to be poore in a rich estate then rich in a poore estate Euen so is it in the societie of mankind taken in all ages euery one must dispose himselfe to follow this generall order of supreme nature and whosoeuer shall contradict it shall shew himselfe a bad Cittizen of this great Cittie of the world and opposing himselfe let him not therfore think to escape the inexorable destinie of his end but as the bird takē in the limetwig thinking to free her selfe by striuing is caught the faster so man which is ensnared by death the more furiously hee torments himselfe the more he shall aduance the obiect of his torment Let euery one therefore looke vnto his dutie to his children and to them that shall come after to prepare himselfe to giue them place here to tends that great desire the issue of particular nature to ingender that great care of fathers mothers in the nourishing preseruation education and bringing vp of their children to the end they may sucoted them and why then hauing prouided for all left yong oliue plants in our old stock hearing the bell sound a retre◅t wherefore I say should we shew our selues deafe vnwilling faynt hearted The fat all bird drawn by the sent of thy Carcase is perched ouer thy window art thou still restie doest thou not feele thy seditious guests with in thee which cōspireth thy infallible ruine Nature will haue it so she commands thee to depart feare not folthy good mother and thou shalt do well Let vs therfore conclude that although our particular nature our complexion makes vs to abhorre death yet wee must not beleeue her no more then the seruant of the house which is borne to obey It is the mistresse the vniuersal vertue of the world which commands vs to depart and to suffer others to enter let vs follow and obey all our trembling and horror is in vaine But to what ende is it will you say for me to haue flourishing children if in the meane time I become worms
certentime of the death passiō of our Sauiour Tertullian sayes that it was in the 30. yeare of Iesus Christ and the 15. of Tiberius but Ignatius and Eusebius witnes that it was in the 33. yeare of Christ and the 18. of Tiberius Onuph rius Mercator and other late writers will sweare that it was in the 34 yeare of Iesus Christ and if we yeeld some thing to antiquitie we shall beleeue that Iesus Christ was 50. yeeres old when hee was crucified and that it was not vnder Tiberius but vnder Claudius to this the Iewes discourse tended Thou art not yet 50. yeeres old and yet thou sayest thou hast seen Abraham If in this so holy a thing where there is not any cause of blind passion there appeares such apparent contrarietie what shall wee thinke of History where as the penne puft vp with passion and transported with flatterie or slander hath eyther aymed too high or too low at the white of truth the onely commendation of an historie And admit wee should find writers void of all passion the which seemes impossible if we except the secretaries of God who were guided with the holy Spirit yet their Histories should be vncertaine for the most part for that they haue not beene spectators of the times places and persons necessary circumstances in a History how can they know them seeing that many times that which is done in our owne Towne in the streete yea in our house is concealed from vs Nay the most exquisite and most certaine science is nothing but vanitie trouble of mind saith Salomon And if wee shall rightly obserue it we shall find the most learned most disquieted and the most vnlearned most at rest S. Augustine hath seene it and was amazed crying out with S. Paule The vnlearned rise vp and lay hold of heauen and we are plunged into hell with our learning It is the reason why Nicholas de Cusa hath written bookes of learned Ignorance where hee commends them that make not so great account to know and vnderstand many things as to doe well and liue well Knowledge then being for the most ignorance in this life cannot contayne any subiect to loue life And therfore wee will conclude That seeing in all the degrees of life there appeares no sufficient reason to desire it so vehemently that this desire is not commendable but to be blamed namely in man who being man for that hee hath a reasonable facultie should not will any thing much lesse affect it with passion but by a true iudgement of vnpassionate reason An Obiection All that is ordayned for the seruice of God is grounded vpon good reason Life is ordayned for the seruice of God ANswer That life is good which in all her motions actions and meditations seeks nothing but the humble seruice of her Creator but it it a chiefe point of their seruice that man liuing should doe that honour vnto his Lord to giue certaine credit vnto his oath and to the writings of his testament sealed with his bloud Verily I say vnto you that whosoeuer heares my words and beleeues in him that sent me hath eternal life the which is repeated in many other places Whosoeuer hath this certain assurance of faith in him what can he feare death nay rather desire it seeing that in heauen by this death which serues vs as a bridge to passe thither we shall be like vnto the Angels and shall doe the will of our heauenly Father obtayning the Petition which we should daily make vnto him by the expresse command of his Son in the Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen Let vs say the will is good which aimes directly at the honor of God so long as it shall please him to keepe it in his fauour but yet death is better which the Eternal sends to giue vs thereby a better life The 11. Argument taken from the description of Death No Cessation from a labour vnprofitably renewed is vnpleasing Death is a Cessation from a labor vnprofitably renewed THere is no neede of Eagles eyes to pierce into the truth of this argument the least attention will comprehend it For what is this life but a daylie weauing of Penelopes Webb it is finished in the euening but the night vndoes it in the morning we beginne againe with as great eagernes as if it had neuer beene The which made Seneca to poure forth these complaints When shal we cease to weaue daily one worke I rise and then goe to bed I hunger then fill my selfe I am a cold and then I warme me There is no ende the head and tayle hold fast together whereas the same things in their courses doe incessantly approch and recoyle againe It is day and night comes sōmer appears and winter doth aduance still they walke one rounde I neither see nor doe any thing that is new I doe but goe about this wheele sayth the same Philosopher If I be layed I say when shall I rise and when will night fill vp her measure to glut me with distemperatures vntill day sayth Iob Chap. 7. It is the true bodie of the infernall shadow of Ixion who tied vnto a wheele turnes about perpetually There is not any one so dul but sees this earthly Labyrinth and yet no man will leaue it Euen so they that are borne in a prison affect not their libertie so they that dwell among the Cimmerians in darknes desire not a cleere skie So the children of Israel would not leaue the house of bondage they quarrelled with Moses who spake vnto them they cursed him and being come forth they would haue returned often what was the cause custome which was become another nature feare to finde worse in their iorney ignorance a cruell beast No man will leaue this miserable earth fearing to fall into greater miserie so much doth the loue of the place custome retaine the inhabitants in their miseries saith Seneca Many floate miserably betwixt the torments of life the horrour of death they will not liue yet know not how to die like to Vlysses in Homer who tooke fast hold of a wild Fig-tree fearing to fall into bottomlesse Charybdis but yet ready to leaue it if the feare were past So Tiberius confest that hee held the Empire as a Wolfe by the eares the which if hee might without danger haue abandoned hee would willingly doe it So Seneca and so experience doth teach that many keepe themselues close in life like vnto them whom a violent torrent hath carryed into some rough and thornie places But let vs learne of a silly woman That death is the calme port for the stormes of this sea to the end that with her wee may take pleasure in it Monica speaking to her sonne S. Augustine vsed these words As for me my sonne I take no more any pleasure in any thing in this impure world what should I doe here longer in
certaine leaues fit to mortifie their lusts and Cicero will crie out to countenance thē that they must come chastly to the gods Yea Agam◅mnon will sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to pacific Diana Adrian in Egypt will sacrifice his Mignion Axtinons Vialerian will vse the superstitious custome to offer vp children the Hetrusci had that institution in their Countrey the ancient Gaules in Prouence in the City of Arles had two pillars erected and thereupon an altar of stone to offer humaine sacrifices The third is taken from the wise ordinance of nature which in many millions of things hath made nothing in vaine nothing that wauers or leanes sometimes of this side sometimes on that as Erasistratus said how then should it be in man her master-peece in the soule the principall part Hath she planted a vehement desire of immortality the chiefe point of her excellency hath shee giuen her a taste in this miserable life to leaue her altered for euer The fourth is from the continual action of the soule which neuer takes rest day nor night like vnto the Sun sleepe doth not shut her eies as it doth the bodyes neither by consequence death Consider it when as the body is in a found sleep without motion not in the beginning of his rest when as the vapours of his disgestion fuming vp into the braine trouble it but after mid-night and especially at the point of day Then when the soule her faculties holds free From seruing bodily variety Then when alone and dead to life in fort Sau'd from dayes waues she enters nights calme port It is then that being raised aboue time she reades in future which is present to her the things which God is ready to doe So Asti◅ges last King of the Medes in his dreame saw the stocke of a Vi◅e comming out of his daughters belly which couered all Asia with her branches The Interpreters being consulted with they answered that his daughter should haue a sonne which should enioy all Asia and dispossesse him of his Kingdome the euent fayled not notwithstanding all the opposition that Astiages could make Tertullian reports that the daughter of Polycrates dreamed that her father raised vp on high was washt by Iupiter and annoynted by the Sun The euent expounded her dreame soone after for that Polycrates being hanged the raine washt him and the Sun m◅ing his gr◅ase annoynted him But who is ignorant of Iosephs dreame of his future greatnesse of Pharaohs touching the fertility and famin which should follow in Egypt of Daniel touching the foure Monarchies of the world of ◅ilats wise vpon the false accusation of Iesus Christ the iust of infinite others yea and of our selues if we haue obserued them For what is he saith Tertullian so voyd of humanity that hath not sometimes felt in himselfe some faithfull vision Thus the Eternal doth vnto the good to assure them of the immortall action of their soules and to the wicked to terrifie them with his eternal iudgement send such dreames of future things to amaze or assure according to his good pleasure So hee spake by his Prophet Your sonnes and your daughters shall prophesie your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dreame dreames Let vs conclude with Tertullian That seeing sleepe the image of death cannot seaze vpon the soule that the soule being alwaies liuely and actiue can not fall in Veritatem mortis into the verity of death The fifth Man in this life is more miserable then any of the creatures and more capable of felicity then any of them they being all made for him who neuer heere vpon earth attaines vnto his soueraigne good which hee most desireth as Aristotle and Theophrastus haue acknowledged and as euery man is a good witnesse in himselfe Who will not then thinke but his true place is in heauen and in it his soueraigne good And what part of man can flie thither but his immortall soule which in a momēt not parting out of the body transports it selfe thither in Idea Tully in his Tusuculans and others The sixth complaint of Theophrastus of nature as of a step-mother seemes most iust to haue giuen a lōg life to no end to certain creatures and to haue denied it vnto man who might therby haue attained vnto wisedome the greatest good in this world if the soule dyed with the body for then onely we beginne to be wise when wee dye and many times were preuented by death But nature hath done nothing but most wisely and therefore shee hath satisfied this complaint another way The seuenth is drawne from mans conscience which being good makes Innocency to lift vp her head by the feeling of another life and to looke down for an offence by the apprehension of a future iudgement There is no light so cleere nor testimony so glorious as when truth shines in the spirit and the spirit is seene in truth saith Saint Bernard A good conscience is stronger then a brazen wall said Horace Let him speake boldly and confidently for himselfe that hath not offended saith Plautus and with the shaking of his chinne retort the false reports of a bad fame as Ouid speakes This did emboldē innocent Susanna against the two old men chusing rather to dye then to offend God This made Ioseph rather to leaue his robe with his mistresse then his heart Finally it is that which in the middest of many deaths gaue resolution vnto Cato Phocion and many other heathen as to Philip King of Macedon who beeing animated by some to take reuenge of such as spake dishonorably of him O no said he I will make them all lyars in doing well On the other side there is nothing that doth more terrifie and torment then a bad conscience Let the most resolute wretch that is come and I will make him confesse in some sort howsoeuer his crime committed in secret in the night without witnesses and without any accuser yea although he had his pardon or were acquite before men or were so aduanced as he were not iustifiable before any man yet he must needes confesse that hee is inwardly troubled and furiously tormented the Swallowes by their importune noyse will publish the parricide attempted by a cauterized conscience as hath hapned in old time Or imaginary flies wil buzze continually in the eares of the seruant that hath killed his master vntill the fact be reuealed Whence is the spring of this liuely feeling in the soul but from the apprehension of immortall paine Gods wil being that for the loue of iustice iudgement should rather go against the life of the body then that which is hidden should not come to light Obiection Counsell giuen by fauour vpon weake coniectures doth rather shake then support a right Such are these reasons THE steppes of such as bring good tydings are pleasing and welcome and they that bring bad distastfull and reiected So the 400. Prophets which promised victory vnto Achab
death of man-hood at what time the spirit is fortified and growes more ripe in good Counsell and wiser in his actions this life ascends vnto the decrepit age as they call it which begins at 70. yeares where rests the death of age and so runnes on vnto the graue all the remainder of his life and this is the 8. degree of life In the end succeeds in his turne the last principall and most to be desired death I say the principall for that it makes an end of all the other deathes that went before and feares no more the miseries of life I say to be desired for she alone doth crowne the actions of mortal life with glorious immortality it is the hand which sets vpon our heads the flourishing Diadem of eternall life It is the last staffe of the ladder manifested vnto Iacob by vision ordained by God to the end wee may thereby ascend vp into heauen It is that dun horse that is to say pale and mournefull to our opinions but yet wee must backe him to runne the carreere of death to passe vnto that most happy aboad Poore man thou tremblest at the shadow of death thou doest crie and howle when she layes hold on thee euen so thou diddest when thy mothers strength cast thee out of her wombe if then thou haddest had thy iudgement neate as now thou hast thou wouldest haue held thy selfe happy to haue left a most filthy prison within the circuite of that round Citty In like sort if now thou hadst thy vnderstanding and Spirit transformed and renewed as the Apostle speakes thou shouldest see plainely that what doth terrifie thee is that which should assure thee But yet if God hath not imparted vnto thee the light of his grace take aduice of humane reason call Seneca vnto thee who had but the eyes of a man and consider what he sayth thou shalt find that in it are no ambushes nor constraint it is onely pure and simple nature which speakes by reason it is an vndoubted Maxime that nature alwayes tends and attaines for the most part to the perfection of her worke Man is her Master peece all other Creatures are made for him the perfection of man is his perpetuity in a most happy life nature leads man by degrees to this perfection We see she failes not in the second degree seeing that the Infant borne is much more perfect then that which is newly ingendred in the wombe it failes no more in the third nor cōsequently to the eighth as I haue shewed Let vs conclude thereby that it is impossible she shold faile in the principall which is the ninth degree of life which shee must perfectly finish wee must iudge of the end of the worke by the beginning and progresse Finally if the study of Philosophy bee a kinde of death as Philosophers hold for that man is sequestred from the company of men and the vanities of the world to haue his spirit free and at liberty in his braue meditations and if in this estate man is more accomplished and more perfectly happy without comparison then they that trouble themselues continually with the affaires of this actiue life Oh what shall it bee when as the soule purged from the infection of the senses freed from all commerce with the body shall be wholly in it selfe ennobled with a supernaturall grace illuminated with a celestiall flame inspired with an vnspeakeable ioy how beautifull happy and ioyfull shall shee be To this death then let vs direct our vowes and our eies let vs take acquaintance and be familiar with her shee is our friend since that Iesus Christ did vanquish and subdue her for our sakes shee is prepared for vs as a way into which wee must of necessity enter to goe into our Countrey which is heauen It is the onely meanes ordained of God to go vnto that most blessed Mansion Let vs then stretch out our armes couragiously and with a smiling countenance when we shall see her turned towards vs making signe that shee will imbrace vs let vs receiue her for shee is a necessary gift to our cortupted nature which wee must not reiect but imbrace as Saint Chrysostome saith The first Obiection Euery end of a worke is not the finall cause therefore it followes not that death is the finall cause of life although it be the extreame end THere are three cōditions necessary to a finall cause the one is that it be the last point of the operation the other is that the worke bee finished for the loue thereof if the first bee found in death the second which is the principal falls seeing that the actions of life tend not vnto death as to their deare and best beloued Answer I said not that death was the finall cause of life but the way yea the onely way which leades vs vnto it and that for the loue of that great and foueraigne good which is ioyning to the gate of death we should desire it and not bee amazed at it after the example of S. Paule who writing to the Philippians desired to be dissolued and to be with Christ the which was farre better for him that he might bee crowned with a crowne of Iustice and enioy that vnspeakeable good as hee saith else-where But some Infidels will say I demand proofes hereof fauorable to my reason I answer that hee hath put the flame of reason into thy vnderstanding who doth illuminate euery man which commeth into the world hath presented his grace vnto thee in the Gospell to beleeue and there is nothing but the barre of thy sinnes that doth hinder thee neither is this Gospell concealed from any but such as haue the eyes of their vnderstanding blinded by the Prince of this world But if thy reason beeing blinded cannot apprehend the souereigne Good which is in death yet shall you plainly see a meere priuation from all miseries an absolute rest and a tranquility which cannot be interrupted and therfore if there were no other but this reason death should cause no amazement but rather giue contentment considering the estate of this life The second Obiection All demolishings carry deformity and cause horror Death is a demolishing of man therefore death causeth horror PAllaces Temples and other buildings yeeld a pittifull spectacle when we see them ruined and what shall man doe who exceedes in excellency all buildings yea the earth the heauen and all that we behold what can hee doe lying vpon the earth in death but perplexe our mindes To this I answer by distinction to the similitude and then I flatly deny the application I say therefore to the first proposition that there are two sorts of demolishings the one is necessary and wisely vndertaken for a better structure the other is preiudiciall and vndiscreetly done by reuenge for a totall ruine I confesse that this in its deformity should giue cause of horror but I cannot confesse that the like is in death in the
in liuing long saith the same Epist. 10â—… That the iniury of times doe anticipate and interrupt in shew the lawfull course of our dayes our apparent vertue will make our life more compleate Yea but God doth promise long life to them that shall honour their parents I answer That God doth promise prolongation of a happy life to them that shall obey him This happinesse is not in this world it is onely to bee found in heauen it is therefore of heauen whither his speech tends And although the literall sense be of the land of Canaan yet was it a figure of the mysticall and chiefe abode that is to say of he auenly Paradise which was the mould of this land flowing with milke and honey and all sorts of blessings And if any one against this probable reason will vnderstand the promise to be generall of the whole earth we may answer that God like vnto Physitions grants vnto men that haue sicke spirits not what is most profitable but what they importunatly and ignorantly desire Otherwise I will neuer yeeld that this life with what singular and extraordinary happinesse soeuer it be fauoured from heauen is better then the life eternall whereunto death doth infallibly leade the chil dren of God It is the onely cause why it pleased the Eternall to take iust Abel vnto him by death and would suffer cursed Caine to languish long It is also the reason why Iesus Christ doth not promise long life as the Lawe doth to those that shall honour him and follow him but the Crosse yea death it selfe Mat. 10. Mar. 13. It therefore remaines true that the Oracle saith Iust men are taken away from the euill enter into peace they rest vpon their bed c. And in like sort it is true that death cannot bee ill seeing it is the reward that God giues vnto his for their faithfull seruice or at the least it is the beginning if it be not the totall The Ninth Argument taken from the rule which should measure all the desire of man Man a reasonable Creature should not desire any thing but what is seasoned with reason The estate of this present life is not seasoned with good reason Therefore man should not desire the estate of this present life THe maior of this Argument cannot bee denyed by any reasonable creature to whom I speake the minor is iustified by the numbring of the three degrees of life vegetatiue sensitiue and intellectuall either of which being considered apart or all three together they haue no vaileable reason to mooue vs to loue them but let vs examine them in order In the vegetatiue life is chiefly obserued a facultie drawing retayning concocting and expulsing to nourish and make grow so as the chiefe end in the Indiuiduum is growing in this growing what reason of loue and in this what hath not a tree more then man yet no man desires to bee a tree yea should hee exceede in height that at the Indies which the Portugalls eye-witnesses sayling to Goa say to bee higher then a crossebow can shoote what auailes it man to be of a monstrous height but for a hindrance Witnesse Nicomachus the Smyrnean who growing to such a prodigious height that being but young hee could not remoue out of one place had continued an vnprofitable stocke if Aesculapius by strict dyets and violent exercises had not abated him In this then wee see no reason to desire life Let vs come vnto the sensitiue we perceiue in creatures fiue senses answering to fiue sensible obiects which are in the world And let vs obserue that the perfection of the sence is when it enioyeth his proper obiect as the perfection of the eye is to see colours of the eare to heare sounds of the nose to smell sents of the mouth to taste sauours of the hands yea of the whole body to touch tactible qualities The sight in colours obserues the sorting and mixture of diuers varieties the proportions and exact dimensions I deny not but man may take pleasure therein but it is a brutish vnreasonable pleasure if it bee not referred to the honour of the Authour of these colours if it bee religiously referred man will desire an increase of sight both of body minde the which he finds in himselfe to be obscure short and so weake that at the brightest colours it melts and is dispersed as the lightning This desire cannot bee perfect but in the new casting of the body by death and therefore Dauid said Turne away mine eyes lest they behold vanitie Psal. 119. they had seene it in Bersabee and elsewhere hee had beene almost lost But yet if in the sight lies the point of the reason of life why is not man another Linx to pierce through stone walls and to see without hindrance whatsoeuer is in the world The hearing in sounds distinguished conceiues a harmony which is no other thing but an aire beaten with many and diuers tunes followed with a iust proportion and happy incounter here vpon earth since that sinne was brought in by man Man of this Lute the world being speciall string All th' other nerues doth into discords bring And renders now for an enchanting aire A murmure so offensiue to the eare As Enion would amaze Enion the rude That th' ancient â—…arrs the Chaos made renew'd HEEre then there is no reason to desire life but rather the end to go and heare the mellodious sounds which are made in heauen diuine in their measured times and proportions which euen the poore Pagans haue acknowledged Smelling of sents seemes a certaine exhaling vapour tempered of heate and moisture but he is soone loathed bee it neuer so delightfull as of muske some cannot endure it but sound at the sent of it But besides all this there are in the world many pestiferous vapors which make man sicke yea die and therefore by consequence herein there is no more reason to desire life then death Tast feeles the sauours which are made by the seasoning of diuers liquors but in those man doth soone find a distast and repletion if he vse them without measure or discontinuance Where is then the true reason of mans good which must be taken without measure without interruption and without satiety the more it is taken the more it is desired and the more compleate it is the more it doth reioyce and content In the end comes touching the pleasure whereof cannot bee but in the feeling of smooth and polished bodies This pleasure as of the former sence if it be continued without intermission becomes very vnpleasant and the most excellent point thereof slides sooner away then it is perceiued this pleasure which the greatest hold to be so great at the very instant it passeth and giues to man two dangerous checkes one to the soule which it depriues of vnderstanding the other to the body which it driues into a falling sicknesse Aristotle doth witnesse the first Hippocrates the last
Queene of Nations falsesly held to be eternall where art thou destroied ruined burnt and drowned in vaine do they seeke thee for thou art not where thou were built And you Constantinople Venice and Paris your day will come and why not Seeing that whole Monarchies runne swiftly to their ruine the Assirian Persian Grecian and Romaine are perished You Turkes you florish for â—…lme but behold 〈◊〉 Scâ—…thians prepare to wrest the reines of the world out of your hands and what wonder if that riues which by nature is apt to tiue if that which is easie to melt melt if that which is corruptible decayes and if that which is of a mortall condition dies Without doubt if there be any thing to be amazed at it is how we are borne how wee subsist amiddest a thousaÌ„d deaths which reigne vpon vs we haue but one narrow entry into life but wee haue an infinite number to go out which are very large and slippery And yâ—…t o strange brutishnesse we wonder how we die and not how we liue Let vs then conclude with the Spirit of God That euery man is dust and shall returne to dust for such is his condition The 13. Argument taken from the benefit which the thought of death brings Whatsoeuer doth multiply life should be precious to them that loue life The Meditation of death multiplies life Therefore the meditation of Death should be precious to them that loue life A Great Philosopher obseruing the vncertenty of the time of death and finding that life must infallibly fall by a bullet by iron by a dart a stone a haire as Fabius the Pretor was choakt in drinking milke with a kernell as the Poet Anacreon with a flie as Pope Adrian 4. with a splinter be he neuer so well armed as Henry 2. the French King whom a splinter of Captaine Lorges lance flying into the beuer of his caske wounded in the head whereof he dyed by the rush of a doore as Iterenius the Sicilian in the Venerian act a ridiculous death as Gallus Pretorius and Titharius a Romane Knight who were smothered in the bed of lust By the holding of their breath without constraint as it happened to Comon by delight as to Chilon who hearing his sonne commended for that hee had wonne the prized the Olimpike games was so moued with affection as he dyed yea in laughing as old Philemon who hauing seene an Asse eate sigges vpon his table he commanded his seruant to giue him drinke whereat hee did so laugh as hee fell into a hickeâ—… and so dyed Yea life is ruined by the pricke of a needle as in Lucia the daughter of Marcus Aurelius who pricking her selfe dyed By the tooth of a combe like to Rufynius the Consull who combing himselfe hurt his head and ended his life That great Philosopher I say considering that so many accidents and ten thousand others not to bee foreseene might in an instant take away life gaue this wholsome counsell That wee must dispose of euery day in such sort as if it should close vp our life within the compasse of the twelue houres Consider saith hee how goodly a thing it is to consummate life before death and then to attend without care the time that may remayne and the better to induce vs thereunto let vs remember the aduice which Iesus Christ gaue vnto his Disciples of him selfe I must doe saith hee the workes of him that sent me whilst it is day the night comes and then no man can worke Ioh. 9. By the day hee signifies life by night death and his will is that whilst we liue we should doe our duties without any procrastination for that night is neere that is to say death But when a well setled soule saith the same knowes there is no difference betwixt a day and an age shee then beholds as it were from aboue the dayes and successe which shall follow her and laughs at the course and continuance of yeeres The same Seneca doth also make a pleasant discourse of Pacuâ—…ius the vsurper of Syria who being at night buried in wine as as if he had prepared his owne funerall caused himselfe to bee carryed from the table to his bed in the meane time his friends clapping their hands danced and sung He hath liued hee hath liued and there passed no day but this was done And the Authour addes what he did in an vnseemely manner let vs doe with reason that night approching and ready to lay vs in bed let vs sing with ioy I haue runne the course of my prefixed life and if God doth adde an increase of tomorrow let vs account it for gaine In doing so euery day shall bee a life vnto vs and by the multiplication of dayes our life shall be multiplyed and why not seeing that in what day soeuer we dye we dye in our owne proper day as the fame Seneca saith calling the present day that proper day seeing the dayes that are past are no more ours being so lost for vs as they can bee no more restored As for the future we cannot call them ours being not yet come and may bee wrested from vs in an instant by many accidents Moreouer what is there in an age that wee find not in one day the heauen the earth the inhabitants thereof the day and night by the reuolution of the heauens But you will say This pensiue thoght of death hammering continually in our heads doth hasten our death Answ. You are deceiued a wiseman thinkes quietly of it and in thinking of it aduanceth nothing no more then the marriner in seeing the sayles still and the wind to blow it is by the wind and sayles not by his looking that he is carried into the Port So by the waues of this life not by the meditation of death wee are carried to the graue Let vs then end with the saying of the Philosopher Musonius That he imployes not the day rightly who resolues not as if it were his last The 14. Argument taken from a Simile Euery sweete and sound sleepe is pleasing Death is a sweete and sound sleepe Ergo. A Naxagoras sayed there were two excellent instructions in Death the one in sleepe the other in the time going before our birth Let vs now consider of the first instruction We see that most of the heathen Philosophers haue saluted death with the name of sleepe Plato in the end of his Apologie of Socrates Tully in his booke de Senectute Obsenie fayth hee there is no thing so like vnto death as sleepe Homer faith that sleepe death are brother and sister twinnes Let vs obserue with Plutarque that Homer shewes their similitude terming them twinnes for they that are so doe most commonly resemble And in truth wee cannot denie but there is betwixt them great affinitie It is one of the causes of death the cold vapour vndigested and quenching the naturall heate a vapor which appeares vpon the superficies of the bodie which they also
〈◊〉 to say death iâ—… we take it as the argument giues it I answere That if there bee a great difference not to haue beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be he haâ—… the 〈◊〉 â—…nefit that is no more for hee hath this aboueâ—… the other that he hath enioyed life and the fruits thereof which the other haâ—… vnlesâ—… you will deny that hâ—… which hath bin admitted into the Kings Chamber 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…th not any 〈◊〉 abâ—…ue â—…im that hath not beene admitted at all and that hee which hath beene a Maior or a Consul in a free Citie is not more honored then hee which hath neuer beene But the Obiector supposeth one thing which is not That this life is adorned which most excellent gifts being full of most sharpe agonies as is iustified in the 18. Argument and theâ—…fore I deny the consequence of his Minor and to prooue the falsehood I produce that which Salomon saith Eccles. 4. that hee more esteemes the dead then those which bee liuing yea hee esteemes him that hath not beene more happy then the one or the other Secondly the losse of fight of sences of the habit of sâ—…iences is grieuous to a liuing man who hath enioyed them for a time for that he is capable of sorrow but to make it a conclusion to a dead man who should be more grieued to haue lost all this and life it selfe there is no consequence for that death is incapable of sorrow and mourning wherein the Prouerbe of Hesiodus may be verrified The moitie is more then the whole the losse of sences and reason are more grieuous and more to bee lamented then the priuation of life Thirdly I deny that man dying loseth any thing hee was but Vsufructuarie of life God the proprietarie demands it and he restores it what losse Thou art not angry if any curious sercher of the most exquisite rarities of the world if hauing suffered thee to see his Cabinet he afterwards drawes the curtaine thou wilt take it patiently how great soeuer thou art If the Seigneurie of Venice hath done theâ—… the honour to see their stately treasure haue dazled thine eyes with the glistering of those 14. Pearles of their Ducall Bonet of the 12. Crownes of gold and of other most rich ornaments wouldest thou not take it patiently to giue place after some houres Know then that it is reasonable that the Lord of Lords hauing brought thee into his house there to behold the golden studdes which adorne the firmament to obserue the diuers motions of the 7. Planets and among the rest of the Sunne the eye of the world to touch and comprehend the 4. Elements and other infinite goodly creatures if it be his pleasure and hee make signe vnto thee to giue place to others that suruiue it is reason thou shouldest dislodge and thanke the Lord for his fauour Finally I maintayne that the depth and horrour is as great to reason to liue perpetually here without end the same life which wee now breathe for our discourse is of this life as great I say and greater then to bee dead depth for who can perfectly comprehend a life without end horrour for who would alwayes liue with the feare of a hundred millions of horrible miseries which may happen in a hundred millions of yeeres not making mention of the vices and sinnes whervnto man is subiect which a good man should feare more then death As for the authoritie of S. Paul it is not nature only but the heauenly grace which makes him to speake so and they that shall be partakers of this grace in the same degree may braue death with S. Paule and say vnto him O death where is thy victory O graue where is thy sting And if S. Paule in this place did contemplate in spirit the excellent ornaments which hee had seene in the third heauen in his extacie and on the other side toucht to the quicke with the venemous sting of sinne he makes no mention but of the simple deliuerance as if it had beene sufficient for him O wretched man that I am sayth he who shall deliuer me from the body of this death Hee makes mention of deliuerance for that he felâ—… Coâ—…bate in himselfe and found himselfe prisoner to the Law of sinne as the verse going before doth declare But you will reply There is nothing to be compared to life it is a naturall desire and common to all men Ansâ—… Man desireth not only to be and to liue but to beeâ—…t ease else what is hee that like to Ixion in the Poet would alwayes liue to be fastened to a wheâ—…le Who would alwayes liue the damnable life of Satan and his angells in the middest of an vnquenchable fire but mad men and fooles And in truth the desire wee haue to roule on alwayes from day to day is that by an abusiue hope we promise vnto our selues some future pleasure and content The Apostles desire better ordered and grounded was to put off this mortall body and to put on one that was bâ—…essed and immortall not vpon earth where it is not to be found but in heauen and by a diuine and celestiall power But that doth contradict this assertion That man desires as much or more to end the miseries of this life as to continue this miserable life and therefore certaine wise men of the world did settle their resolution vnto death vpon this Dilemma saying Either we shal be happy in death if the soule escapes or else we shal be without paine or misery if all remaine No small aduantage doubtlesse seeing the greatest point of happinesse in this life is to beeleast vnhappy The 11. Argument taken from two resemblances of Death Sâ—…ounding is a kinde of Death and the shadow of the body is an Image of it But in swounding there is no paine nor in the shadow any amazement BY Syncope I vnderstand the strongest and most extended swounding not that which is gentle which happeneth sometimes at the opening of a veine in the which the patient neither loseth feeling nor speech but that which carries away all the forces of a man his natural I say and principally his vitall Sleepe is nothing to represent death in regard of this symptome for it is death it selfe only there is in this sometimes a returning to life and there none I haue seene it and obserued it in my father being an old man I haue conferred it with some that were apparantly dead yet could I not finde any difference he lay without any shewe of soule in any of his â—…ects notwithstanding that he was continually rolled vp and downe in a chamber his pulse was not to bee felt he was in a cold swet ouer all the extreamities of his body were exceeding cold And these are the very signes of a right Syncope by the which the truth of our Maior is iustified that to fall into the Syncope is to fall into death for as death is a cessation
some one returnes from market saith S. Augustin sound and lustie who falling breaks a leg whereof hee shall dye Who semes better assured then he that is set in a strong chaire yet vpon some troublesome newes hee may be disquieted fall and breake his necke Another laughing eating and drinking shal be suddenly surprized with an Apoplexie rising from some vnknowne cause and dye presently What receptacle seemes more safe and commodious for hunters that are wearie and full of sweat and dust then a cleane house with a good fire And yet a Prince with his traine thinking to retire him to such a place found himselfe in such dāger of death in the morning as he could not escape without the losse of his nayles that fell away by the vehemencie of his paine and two of his company found smotheredin the morning whence thinke you proceeded the cause of this strange Accident It was from the wall newly plastered which cast forth a virulent vapor which together with the smoake of a great cole fire fumed vp into the head dispersed his poyson throughout all the members of their bodies Who could haue foreseene this accident but too late Ammianus Marcellinus reports tho like to haue happened to the Emperour Iouinian who was found smothered in the mor ning by the like poyson And to conclude what seemes freer from breaking then a head lying in the shadow far from any house yet it hap pened that the Poet Aeschilus being so retired an Eagle flying in the ayre thinking his bald head had bene a flint stone let fal a Tortose to break it and to haue the meate but falling downe it brake the skull os poore Aeschilus The first Obiection That which shall not happen vnto vs is not to bee accounted among our miseries But these misfortunes shall not happen vnto vs c. THese miseries if it pleaseth God shall not befall vs but where is that warrant from heauen to assure vs The comicall Poet saith That man cannot be exempt from any humane accident No man liuing can say without warrāt This shal not happen vnto mee saith Menander What befalls to one thinke it may happen to thee saith Seneca for thou art a man and therefore retaine this and thinke of it not to be deiected in aduersity nor puft vp in prosperity but haue alwayes before thine eyes the liberty of fortune as being able to lay vpon thee all the miseries shee holds in her hand Man is in continuall warre vpon earth Is there not a course of warre ordayned for mortall men vpon earth saith Iob. If he be freed from his enemies abroad let him beware of some treacherous Synō at home Be alwaies ready sayd Iesus Christ for you know not the day nor the houre no man is no more assured against death then the bird is against the shot of a harquebuze God would saith S. Augustine that wee should watch continually But if changing thy tune thou thinkest that thy neighbour is not afflicted like thy selfe and that hee is much more happy thou art much deceiued Euery man feeles his owne griefe Herodotus hath seene it and written it saying That if all men liuing laden with their owne miseries had brought them together vpon one heape to exchange with them of their neighbours hauing well weighed them and viewed them euery man would willingly carry backe his owne Without doubt this present life is so full of miseries that in comparison thereof death seemes a remedy A long life is but a long torture saith S. Augustine And what other opinion can wee haue seeing that Iesus Christ who was giuen vs for a perfect president is neuer propounded vnto vs laughing but somtimes weeping as when hee approched the Tombe of his friend Lazarus and when as he wept vpon the ingratefull Citie of Ierusalem and therefore the Apostle saith That in the dayes of his flesh hee offered himselfe with great cries and teares to him who could saue him from death What is that but to shew vs that this life is not worthy of ioy but of lamentation not of laughter but of crying as the Philosopher Heraclitus doth esteeme it who alwayes with a weeping voice did lament the estate of this life The second Obiection It is a cowardly consideration not to be willing to die but to cease to liue This reason hath that consideration TO denounce death to end the miseries of this life is sayth one to pro pound a carnall end to the liking of sensuality Vpon death sayth another the priuation of thislife there is no Cataplasme but of a better life for the losse of earth but the enioying of heauen Answere Death is the corruption of the flesh and a priuation of all the sences to the end therefore that the remedy may be proportionable to the flesh it must also be fleshly sensible and palpable I grant that in retiring ourselues we must not think only to fly from humaine miseries but rather to draw neere to diuine fauours But betwixt doing and duty who doth not at this day see an infinite distance That elect vessell of the holy Ghost that great Apostle Saint Paul seeles a Law in his members fighting against the Law of his vnderstanding He complaines there was a thorne thrust into his flesh the angel of Satan did buffer him what is this but the relikes of sin of infirmity distrust what glosse soeuer they will set of it If Saint Paul were such a one what then are we poore dwarses wauering and staggering let vs not flatter and seduce our selues for our workes discouer vs O God fortifie vs and make thy holy Spirit to reigne in vs and attending the happy effect of diuine promises let vs meditate of the Testament sealed with the bloud of Christ. But if the horror of death which doth threaten vs of euery side comes to hinder our holy meditations let vs vanquish it by the darts of reason this may be done and it is that we ought to doe The Surgion which hath sercht a wounde hath applied a fit Cataplasime hath made his patient without passion or paine is to be cō-mended The Philosopher which hath examined the naturall death hath found o◅t the cause of the feare it giues hath accomodated reasons fit to take awaie this feare and to assure mans courage is not to be contemned I know well that hee which through death hath made vs see the life eternall hath done more but this worke is of God and not of men and if the sacred word of the eternall God doe it not no humaine voice can doe it But doe you say there is no Catap◅sme fit for the losse of a pleasant life but the hope of a better Answer You presuppose two suppositions heere which are not First that life is full of pleasures Secondly that in death wee haue a feeling of the losse against that which hath beene and shab be said to the which I will send
it c. ANswere Neither Dauid nor Ezechias nor the other seruants of God feared death as it was death simply alone considered but for that God threatned them in regard of their sins by reason whereof it seemes they had some confused apprehension of hell which is the second death Doubtlesse my fault is great sayd Dauid but I pray thee saue mee by thy great bounty These are the words of God to Ezechias Dispose of thy house for thou shalt die shortly and shall not liue We must note that Ezekias heart was puft vp with glory God would humble him by the consideration of death wherewith he threatned him But these two and all other the seruants of God setting aside these threats being in the fauour of God haue with Saint Paul desired to die and to be freed from this mortal body to be with Christ with God Man here below should not apprehend any thing but the conscience of another life a life which dying without repentance grace leades to death eternall as that of Saul and Iudas who being desperate slue themselues quenching the match of a vicious life to kindle it in the fire of hell where there is a Lake of fire and brimstone As for the death of Christ the great difference it hath both in the cause and the effects from that of the faithful Christians makes it to differ a world The reason is Gods Diuine Iustice to reuenge the iniury which hath beene done him by the diuell in the nature of man the which not able to do in him without his totall ruine hee hath done in his surety in Iesus Christ his Son whom to that end hee sent into the world to take humaine flesh in the Virgins wombe It is he that was wounded for our offences broken for our iniquities censured to bring vs peace and slaine to cure vs as the Prophet speakes and the Apostles testifie The fruites first the glory of God is manifested in his loue in his bounty and in his mercy towards vs to haue so loued the world as to giue his owne Son to death for it to the end that whosoeuer did beleeue in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting as the same eternal Son doth witnes Secondly it is our saluation the redemption of the Church from sinne and death for it is the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world And these are the reasons why Iesus Christ was terrified in death feeling the wrath of God vpon him for our sinnes But the death of the faithfull is nothing like for in the greatest torments which Tyrants can inflict vpon them it mortifies the sence and takes away all paine by the abundance of his consolation as Ruffinus writes of Theodorus and as our Annales testifie of the smiling death of Martirs in the middest of burning fiers for God is satisfied the passage is open the venimous teeth of death are pulled out seeing that the Lord wrestling with her hath slaine her as S. Augustine speakes and like a most expert Phisition hath made a wholesome Treacle to purge our bodies of those corrupt burning stincking and deadly humors and to make it sound holy impassible and immortall The second Obiection Euery iust reward is proportionable to the paine The reward of Martyrsis great Therefore their paine is great THe holy Writ and the ancient Fathers vpon it beare witnesse of the honour and great triumph which the Martyrs obtaine in heauen if their conflict against death bee answerable to this triumph as equity requires it must bee exceeding great and therefore it is no easie thing to dye the which S. Augustine seemes to confirme Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non esset magna Martyrum fortitudo If saith hee there were no bitternesse in death the Martyrs valour should not be great Answer He is truely a Martyr who for the honour of God and for the loue of his neighbour doth constantly seale the contract of the alliance of God with his owne bloud and the true cause of Martyrdome is to suffer death for iustice and for the name of Christ as Christians and in doing well This bloud thus shed is the true seede of the Church the very Commentary of the holy Scripture the Trompet of Gods glory the true Victory of the cruelty and obstinacy of Gods enemies the holy Lampe to lighten and draw to the Kingdome of Christ those which are in the shaddow of death c. In consideration whereof these holy Champions of the faith are honored in heauen with a Crowne of gold clothed with white garments c. Vpon earth in the primi tiue Church vpon the day of their suffring which they called their birth-day the faithfull assembled vpon the place of their Martyrdome did celebrate their happy memory repeated their combates commended their resolution exhorting the assistants to doe the like if they were called to the like combate as well by reading of their bloody history as by the sight of the place where their blood was newly spilt It is that which Cyrillus in the epistle to Smyrne the Paraphrase of Rufynus doth teach vs wherein we may see that it was not the death but the cause of the death which made them to bee so recompenced and recommended And whatsoeuer they haue had in heauen shall bee giuen to all others which shall haue the like will to serue their master though not the effect the like Crowne nor the like garments To mee saith that great Martyr S. Paule the Crowne of Iustice is reserued which the Lord the iust Iudge shall giue mee in that day and not onely to me but vnto all those that shall loue his Comming And what Christian is it that desires not the comming of Christ It is also written that all the Armies which are in heauen wherein all the faithfull are followed the faithfull the true the Word of God vpon white horses clad in white Cypres Finally in this inestimable reward which God giues vnto Martyrs there is not so great a regard had to the merit and grieuousnesse of their death as to the most precious blood of his Sonne Iesus Christ and to his free promise wherefore this Obiection is to no purpose and if it were it doth incite men more to desire then to refuse death if it bee true that the enduring of the first death in the Saints is a freeing frō the second as Saint Augustine teacheth The third Obiection It is impossible but man should be toucht with a great apprehension of euery sharpe combate he is to endure Such is death MAn hath three cruell enemies which present themselues vnto him at his last farewell a sensible paine at the dissolution of the foule from the body sinne represents vnto him heauen gates shut and hell open and Satan tempts him and lets him see his criminall Inditement whereof he is ready to execute the sentence Answer It is
coniecture proued true for presently an earthquake swallowed vp the lodging with this Mignion of Fortune and al them of the family euen in the sight of S. Ambrose being not yet farre off Prosperity the stepdame of vertue plants and waters whom shee pleaseth but is soone wearied by the inconstancy of her loue shee supplants them not without amazement shee applies her selfe vnto them for a time by some miserable happines but in the end shee crosseth them and ouerthrowes them and therefore Valerius Maximus sayd truely That greatnes riches were nothing but frailty misery and like vnto little childrens babies toies and what hope then is there in such things But some Idolatrous flatteror of Princes will perswade them that all things yeeld vnder their power and vndergo what yoake it shall please them to impose To this flattery I will oppose the sincere confession made by Canute a powerfull King of England who adds words to the effect for a memorable example to al the monarchs of the world Seeing the sea begin to flow he commanded his chaire to be set vpon the shore sate himselfe downe in it and still obserued the waues as they approched Then the Prince begaÌ„ this speech Stay ô sea the Land whereon I sit is mine thou art on it and in that respect thou doest belong to mee neuer yet any one gaine-sayd mee but was punished I forbid thee to mount any higher beware thou doest not touch nor wet thy Lords garments The sea had no more respect then eares but trembling at the voyce of a greater Monarke came on his course and did wet the Kings feete which was the thing he expected then hee added Let all the Inhabitants of the world know that the power of Kings is so weake as the least creature guided by the Almighty disdaines it Whereunto the embleme of Alcâ—… doth allude representing the Beetle a little weake animall yet banding against the Eagle findes meanes to reuenge himselfe for creeping into her feathers he is carried by her into her nest where he breakes her egs and doth extinguish the race We reade of Sapores King of Persia who hauing besieged Nifibis a Christian Towne hee was chased away by an Army of Hornets and Waspes which succors they did attribute to the prayers of Ieames the faithfull Pastor of that Church I omit the miserable Prelate of the Abbey of Fulden in Germany who was pursued in the end deuoured by rattes notwithstanding all his force and deuices whereof the Tower built in the middest of the riuer of Rhine beares witnesse Plinie makes mention of Conies which did vndermine ouerthrow a Towne in Spaine Moules ruined another in Thessaly Frogs made the Inhabitants of a certaine Towne in Gaule to abandon the place But it is well knowne to all men how God incountered the arrogancy of Pharao King of Egypt with armies of diuers smal beasts If the lâ—…ast wormes of the earth opposing against the great enterprizes of great men ouerthrow them and what hope then is there in this world What shall wee say more but with Lipsius That the most shining Diamond of constancy a vertue so necessary in the inconstancy of Fortune is not to bee transported with hope nor feare a supernaturall ornament neere vnto God which makes man free from passions exempt from the insulting of Fortune and makes him a free King subiect to God only whose seruice is to reigne as the wiseman sayeth The 29. Argument taken from the vnprofitablenesse of life The freeing from a most vaine vanity should not make man sad Death is a freeing from a most vaine vanity SAlomon a powerful King wise and rich hauing sought examined and tasted all that is excellent pleasant happy in this world yet in the end hee cried out with a true voyce in the booke of truth Vanity of vanities all is but vanity The Paraphrase vpon this Sermon doth teach vs that the end of it is to let the world know That they deceiue themselues to their great confusion which either within aboue or vnder the world hope to finde any thing so firme wherein there is assured contentment no sayeth hee there is nothing in the world but is inconstant without stay fraile most vaine And in truth when man hath past his youth and leaues his passions comming to a more perfect age his life promiseth felicity yet vpon condition that hee shall imploy himselfe with all his force either to heape vp store of riches or to purchase much credit or to wallow in voluptuousnesse but after that hee hath toyled turmoyled and killed both body and soule she leaues him empty lost finding her deceite too late For Had man of wealth such store That much still heap't vp more And held in his free hold A spring of liquid gold His coffers seeing fill'd With treasures still instill'd Pearles that best choises please Brought from the bloody seas And in rich labour could To breake his fruitefull mould A hundred Oxen yoke Yet would desire still choke His throate with thirst of more And yet of all the store His heart affects to haue Hee carries nothing to his graue Euen as Boetius exclaimes against sencelesse greedinesse for in truth all shee hath is nothing shee desires all shee hath not and that is infinite she gapes alwaies after gaine one lucre sommons another and she holds al lost that she cannot attaine vnto Finally Couetousnesse is the anuile whereon are forged the chaines of iniquity to binde and â—…ast couetous men headlong into hel these chaines are foure Impiety Inhumanity forgetfulnesse of Gods Iudgements and Distrust whereby we may inferâ—…e that in stead of happinesse there is nothing heere but misery Now comes the second Ambition which knowes no bounds and hath neither end nor meane if shee possesseth this day a whole Countrey to morrow shee will seeke to conquer a new Kingdome after this conquest she wold seaze vpon all the world and theÌ„ pierce through the earth to finde new words a strange thing as Valerius saith that man should thinke his glory hath too streighr a lodging in this world which notwithstanding was sufficient for al the gods but it is more strange that man should bee so tormented for the enioying of a handfull of earth who hath the fruition of the Sunne the heauen and of all the elements in regard wherof this earthly Globe is nothing for the Sunne alone by the iust computation of Philosophers is a 166. times bigger then the earth Why should a little portion of this little earth breed him so much care Hee that hath more should he care for lesse Man hath the common enioying of the principal of life of the sea heauen and stars and must he for a little point of earth depriue himselfe of the quiet enioying of al these things which be farre greater An ambitious man is alwayes shaken with feare and musâ—…led with enuy he feares continually the crosses of fortune
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
pit attend no more thy truth Answere These holy men haue neuer thought much lesse spoken that the soule was mortall but only that they whom death takes away do no more declare the glory of God to the liuing that a dead mouth cannot preach the wonderful workes of the Eternall And for proofe hereof Dauid doeth assure vs in another place where he sayth I shal not die but liue and declare the workes of the Eternal and If I descend into the pit what proffit shall there bee in my blood Shall the dust praise thee and preach thy truth By which words hee shewes that he meant not to speake but of the praises of God made by the mouth among the liuing As for Ezechias when hee deliuered these words hee had bene then assured to liue by Esay so as hee makes it knowne that whereas God prolonged his life it was to magnifie him in the world and to declare his mercy and yet that the Saints deceased sing the prayses of God in heauen appeares by many texts but that in the Apoc. is sufficient of the 4. beasts and the 24. Elders who sung a new song Moreouer those innumerable multitudes of all Nations Tribes people and tongues attired in long white robes and hauing branches of palme in their hands crying with a loud voyce Saluation to our God who is set vpon the throne and to the Lambe But some one will reply seeing the Saints in heauen sing most melodiously and holily the praises of the Lord how coms it that they alledge this reason to prolong this life that they may celebrate the name of the Eternall I Answer that the heauens haue no neede of these holy sounders out of the Lords praise that they haue from the beginning the Angells which sing continually Holy holy holy is he which-hath beene which is and which shal be and moreouer the faithfull deceased But the earth is altogether desert wherefore the children of God desire to remaine there the course of their prefixed age to the end they may publish the praises of God to the ignorant world and although it be to their losse yet the seruice of God and the glory of their Maister is more deere vnto them then their owne health as Moses and S. Paul among others haue witnessed The second Obiection If the soule being immortall had bene as they say infused into the body of man immediatly from God it is not possible but there shold remaine some knowledge But there remaines none IF the Soule be created immediatly by God and infused into the body from the very moment of this creation and infusion shee is perfect in her essence and therefore should haue a certaine knowledge but wee do not remember our birth nor our Baptisme by reason of the great imperfection of our nature in that age If then as those Infants of whom Aristotle makes memtion who spake as soone as they were borne we had had the temper of the braine requisite to the vnderstanding and memory we should then haue vnderstood and wee should now remember as well as those things which we haue seene within a yeare and since that time which brings al things to maturity hath ripened our nature But if the soule be immortal and not subiect to time and if from the beginning of her creation shee hath receiued her perfect stature how can time deface her vnderstanding and how is it that she remembreth not any thing no not in dreaming when shee was put into the body Some will reply That this sinfull mortall body is the cause of this misery but I may answere that the corporall cannot worke vpon the spirituall and that the Diuines hold that man by his offence hath lost all supernaturall guifts priuiledges which were freely giuen him but not such as were naturall conferred vpon him by the right of Creation and who doth not see but that to vnderstand to remember are naturall guifts Answere The soule of man is extracted immediatly from God and being once infused into the body shee receiues not in any age neither in her substance or forces any change alteration or increase Yet by vertue of the sentence of condemnation which God pronounced against Adam and al his posterity the Creator not confirming the soule in her excellency and innocency but leauing it to it selfe shee hath in an instant lost her dignity is become ignorant and vicious and the infection of carnall sences which shee hath suckt vp being in the body doth augment her deprauation so as she is not able to remember any thing of this actioÌ„ proceeding from God in her creation and vnion to the body So Adam and Eue not confirmed in their felicity as the Angells and Saints are now in heauen by the benefit of Iesus Christ as soone as they had committed the transgression were in an instant made mortall ignorant and vicious A plate of iron flaming in the fire hath no sooner felt the fresh ayre but it loseth his fiery colour Euen so the soule is no sooner gone out of the Eternallâ—… forge but shee loseth her colour and brightnes and the body is as cold water to the burning iron so as now the soule hath no knowledge in the body but what she gets by the sences and they that are deafe by nature are also naturally dumbe for being vnable to heare the words di stinguished neither can they lâ—…e them And they that are borne blinde cannot distinguish of colours c. Let vs conclude with S. Augustine That the spiritual light in the which man had beene created to know his Creator himselfe and things that are profitable for him was quenched by sinne Let vs add with Nicholas de Cusa That the soule of man sent in to a morrall bodie is like vnto 〈◊〉 infant which as soone as it was borne was carried into 〈◊〉 strang countrie wholy 〈◊〉 of inhabit aâ—… nourished by a she Wolfe being growne great he could in no forâ—… know the place of his birth 〈◊〉 his father mother 〈◊〉 had a conâ—…sed feeling of this truth writing that the soule which liued â—…appy and knowing in the coâ—…panie of the Gods being confined into this prison of the foule infected body to frame it giue it life hath in stantly lost â—…l her happines knowledge by reason of the bad temperature of the body The 3â—… Argument taken frâ—… the voyce of all the world The voyce of the people is the voyces of God and by consequent of the truth But the Soule is immortall according to the voyce of the people MAny writers haue collected the opinions of people and of ages vpon the iudgement of the soule as Macrobius vpon Scipioes Dreame Marsilius Ficinus others And among the Moderns Mons de Plessis Crepet the Celestin with others to whom I send the reader where he may see a woÌ„derful consent of men to conclude that the soule is immortall as holding it not from
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
pleasure of the sight to obserue the beauty of his celestial habitation whereas other creatures are sharpe sighted either to obserue their enemies to flie from them or to looke after their prey to deuour it not to heauen to obserue heauen and to send vp thither by the beames of their sight their most ardent vowes as man alone doth Moreouer this farre flying sight of man is a noble signe of his spirituall knowledge which vniting the time past to the presēt doth alwayes casts her goodly thoughts vpon the future The third is the reuerent maiesty of the whole face that sparkling fire of the eyes striking a colde feare into the fiercest creatures and a flying amazement which are eye-witnesses of some hidden nature very diuerse to that of beasts We reade of the Emperour Ma◅imilian I. who being detained a prisoner by them of Bruges entreated vnworthily reduced to extreame dangers and hourely ready to bee slaine yet nothing daunted nor abating the greatnes of his courage his cruellest enemies durst not behold him in the face the most mutinous did him reuerence and the beames of his eyes saith the History did amaze and pierce the consciences of the Rebels to the quicke We may say as much of the French King Francis I. taken prisoner at the battaile of Pauia for hee had no prison but a royall Court What cause was there of such amazement in their victorious enemies in regard of their prisoners if it were not that in them being in that estate apeared marks of their royall dignity of their spirituall vnction of their diuine Lieutenancie which did melt and co◅found the hearts of their aduersaries Let vs say the same of man for although he be a prisoner sold vnder sinne and slaue to Satan yet hath he in him the diuine character the breathing of the mouth of God the liuely Image of the liuing God who giues him a royalty ouer all creatures who terrifies them with his onely looke puts them to flight by his bare words and makes them obey and serue by his commandement And if at any time they make shew to reuenge themselues they are either prest on by famine or thrust on by feare to defend their liues or else God would haue it so by reason of the sinnes of man The fourth are his goodly words expressing the diuine cōceptions of the soule proper to man onely The speech is the Image of the soule he that shall mince and digest it shewes himselfe ◅o be an hypocrite See farther what Serres saith in the first of the signes Let no man obiect the speaking of parrots for these words found nothing of their intention but rashly giue againe the sound of the words which are tun'd into their eares without any vnderstanding As for Balaams Asse which spake with sence to her vniust master saying What haue I done that thou hast beaton me thrice am not I thine Asse haue I beene accustomed to doe so vnto thee shewing that there was some strong reason that forced her to stay It is so rare a miracle as it may bee neither before nor since the like hath not happened therefore Moses saith that the Eternall opened the Asses mouth or framed by his pow er a humaine voyce in the Asses mouth As for the Oakes of Done and the Oxen which drawing at Plough in the second Punike warre spake these words Beware Rome either it is fabulous or the Diuell spake by them But the most excellent words of man being set downe immortally in writing or flying eternally in memorie of men shewes that their spring is immortall as much as the effect can represent the cause Oh God how could this knowledge of the immortalitie this ardent desire thereof the expression of this desire by immortal words come into the thought of man and from man if all in him were mortall And to finish it wee may add the quicknes of hearing vnderstanding the singing of birds the musicke of voices and the harmomie of instruments Let no man obiect other creatures vnto me they heare the soūd but not the ac cord of tunes Moreouer this hearing of man is so perswaded by the charms of a diuine tongue speaking from a Pulpit of truth as she would willingly leaue the world to enioy the heauenly felicitie no small coniecture that the soule is capable of immortalitie seeing she hath such power ouer the eare her Organ to make it vnderstand desire at the declining of the dying body See moreouer what Iohn de Serres sayth in the 45. profe of the immortality of the soule The first Obiection Whatsoeuer is built vpon an vncertaine foundation is doubtfull and wauering The immortalitie of the soule is built vpon an vncertaine foundation IT seemes that the reason of the preaching of the soule in her exēption from the graue flowes originaly for that she vnderstāds immortal things that by the ioyning of time past with the present she infers the future wherein she is chiefely distinguished from beasts which are mortall but this ground-worke is not sollid Some one speaking of the soule to shew her immortalitie saith that they did not iudge her eternall for that no man could comprehend the Eternitie that is to say that long terme past without beginning If this be admitted the question is decided and the soule will be found mortall seeing that she cannot perfectly comprehend the immortalitie for it is as difficult to conceaue a continuitie to come without end as it is of that which is past without beginning More ouer the difference of a reasonable man hath no aduantage by his continuance ouer beasts seeing that continuance is but an accident and beasts are not longer liued then trees yea shorter yet are they are as much aboue trees as men are aboue beasts Thirdly they whom we wholy follow as Aristotle that myracle of the world Gallen the first fauorite of nature Hippocrates surnamed the diuine and others haue spoken doubtfully or denyed it flatly Gallen Aristoxenus and Dicearchus Aristotles disciples yea and Plutarke himselfe do witnesse that Aristotle denyed it Hippocrates sayd that the soule went alwayes on vnto death Finally if she be of heauen and immortall why doth she not participate of heauen immortalitie why are her thoughts fixt vpon earth and perishable things The plant retaines something of the soyle what hath the soule of heauen Answer Mans vnderstanding comprehends in a certen fashion a continuance without end and for proofe giue him a terme of an hundred Millions of yeares hee will extend his spiritual sight an hundred Millions beyond that and if you will as farre beyond it for that this visible force cannot be in any sort limited by time The heauens and starres in their substance shall continue without end yet in their quallities they must change but the soule doth well comprehend this continaunce Moreouer it is no good consequence to say Bulls feele not the vigour of their force therefore they haue none A
man being borne and bred in the bottome of a darke caue thinks that he hath no facultie to see is he the therefore blinde the soule being buried in the darkenesse of a mortall body as in a graue sees not her immortalitie hath she therfore none Thirdly we doe not say that man is immortall for that he differs from beasts but for many reasons deliuered to be deliuered Fourthly the Philosophers aboue mentioned would see and touch the soule in her immortalitie she is not subiect to any sence S. Basile hath seene it in spirit written it with his hand The soule sayth he cannot be seene with eyes for that she is not illuminated by any colour nor hath any figure or corporal character Aristotle knew it whengoing out of the fabrike of corporall nature hee sayd that it was not the charge of a Physition to treat of all sorts of soules as is the intellectuall which hee pronounceth to differ from the sensitiue vegetatiue from which he sayth shee may separate her selfe as the perpetuall from the corruptible Gallen had his eyes fixed onlie vpon the body the subiect of Phisick and therefore hee sayd freely that it did not import him in his arte if hee were ignorant how the soules were sent into the bodyes or whether they past from one to an other But if it please Gallen leauing the limites of his arte to take the fresh ayre of diuine Philosophy presently his goodly conception is followed with these words The soule is distilling from the vniuerfall Spirit descending from heauen c. Which hauing left the earth recouers heauen and dwells with the Moderator of all things in the Celestiall places As for Hippocrates his words sound more of the immortalitie then of the death of the soule hauing this sence That the soule goes alwayes increasing vntil the death of the bodie But if you desire effects and not words what conceit could Aristotle Gallen and Hippocrates haue of the soule to bee mortall who by an immortall labour haue purchased such great same throughout the world and whose authoritie is the cause that they are now produced and maintained Finally that which he obiects of the soules thoughts fixed for the most part on the fraile things of this passing world it is no smal signe of the corruption of mankind but no argument that the soule is perishable seeing she retaines still the immortal seale which God hath set vpon her in her first creation The. 2 Obiection The container and that which is contained should entertaine themselues by a iust proportion The body and the soule are the container and contained IF the soule bee immortal seeing the body is mortall what proportion were there betwixt the soule and body How hath nature which doth all things by a iust weight number and measure ioyned things together which are so dislike It serues to no purpose to produce the birde kept in a cage which as soone as shee can get out flies away for he is kept there by force and not as forme in substance Answere Wee grant the whole argument and wee adde that it is sinne which came by accident that hath caused this great disproportion Otherwise man before sinne in his estate of innocency had his body immortall therefore Iesus Christ our Sauiour like a cunning Logitian drew the resurrection of the body from the immortality of the soule for that God was called the God of Abraham of Isaacke and of Iacob but God sayth hee is not the God of the dead but of the liuing So sayth Saint Augustine and Saint Bernard that the soule is so separated from the body as there remaines still a naturall inclination to resume it againe to minister to his body and this onely doth hinder her that shee is not affectionate towards God withal her vertue and force as be the Angells and therefore her blessednesse is imperfect For the soules ô flesh saith Bernard cannot without thee bee accomplished in their ioy nor perfect in their glory nor consummated in their felicity and in the same place hee distinguisheth their degrees or places for the soule in this life as in a Tabernacle before the resurrection in heauen as in a gallery and then after the resurrection in the house of God But you will say this answere is Metaphisicall I desire one that is naturall Answere This goodly order which you recommend in nature required this ordering that as there are some Creatures meerely spirituall others meerely corporall so there were some which were mixt both spirituall and corporall and that is man who in that smal forme represents all that is in the world and who by his senses doth communicate with the Creatures and by his vnderstanding with the Angells giuing his right hand to heauen and his left to the earth The 3. Obiection If reason loades vs to the immortality of the soule by the same meanes she shold guide vs to the resurrection of the body But that is not true I Proue the Minor by this knowne Maxime of reason That there is no returne from priuation to the habit nor by consequence from death to life no more then from starke blindnes to sight Wherefore they of Athens where one writes that the men are borne Philosophers hearing S. Paul discourse of many points of heauenly doctrine they gaue an attentiue heare vnto him but when hee came to the Resurrection of Iesus Christ they interrupted him mocking at him as one that doated Ans. I deny it that the resurrectiō of the dead is absolutely beyond the apprehension of nature The West-Indians who are without the Church of Christ beleeue it and practise it as well by the ceremonies of their interrements which aime directly at it as by the vsuall intreaties they make to the Spaniards digging for the gold of their Sepulchres that they should not take out carry away the bones to the end they may rise againe speedily as Benzo reports At Rome this Epitaph is yet to be read in Latine vpon a Pagans tombe The publike hath giuen a place vnto Aurelius Balbus a man of an vnspotted life I rest heere in hope of the resurrection But that which is most wonderfull and exceedes all credit if they that write it were not eye witnesses and worthy of credit that in Egypt in a place neere vnto Caine a multitude of people meete on a certaine day in march to bee spectators of the resurrection of the flesh as they say where from Thursday to Saterday inclusiuely they may see and touch bodies wrapt in their sheetes after the ancient manner but they neither see them standing nor walking but onely the armes or the thighes or some other part of the body which you may touch If you go farther off and then returne presently you shall finde these members to appeare more out of the ground and the more they change place the more diuers these motions appeare This admirable sight is written by