hanc vitam recipiuntur That is Abrahams Bosome is the rest of the blessed poore whose is the kingdome of heauē whither after this life they are receiued So by the iudgement of Beda agreeing with the trueth Abrahams Bosome is the Kingdome of Heauen with Lazarus was caried Out of the same place also it is apparent concerning the Soules of the Wicked For the Rich Glutton is sayd on the contrarie to be carried downe into Hell Therefore the Soules liue after the Body 19. Luk. 23.43 Christ hanging on the Crosse said vnto the Thiefe This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise Now that Paradise is Heauen is prooued by Saint Paul in the 2. Cor. 12. 1 2 3 4. where he sayth He was taken vp into the third Heauen which hee calleth Paradise But the Thiefe could not be with Christ in Paradise in the Body because that was dead buried Therefore his Soule was with Christs in Paradise and so consequently the Soule liueth and is Immortall 20. Luk. 23.46 Father into thy hands I commende my spirit 21. John 16. Your ioy shall no man take from you 22. John 5.24 Hee that heareth my word and beleeueth in him that sent me hath euerlasting life shal not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life 23. Joe 6.54 Whosoeuer eateth my flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day 24. Joh. 11.26 Who soeuer liueth and beleeueth in mee shall neuer die 25. 1. Cor. 2. The eye hath not seene neither eare hath heard neither can it enter into mans heart what thinges God hath prepared for them that loue him 26. 2. Cor. 5.8 8 We loue rather to remoue out of the Body to dwell with the Lord Wherefore the Soules sleepe not as some Anabaptistes will haue them but inioy Immortall life celestiall glory with God 27. Phil. 1.23 I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ He speaketh of the rest and ioy which he should inioy with Christ But they who feele nothing what can their ioy or happinesse be Wherefore they also are refuted in this poynt that say That mens Soules sleepe and so withall denie the Immortalitie of the Soule 28. 1. Thes 4. So shall we euer be with the Lord. 29. Reuel 2. To him that ouercommeth will I giue to eate of the Tree of Life which is in the middest of the Paradise of God Be faythfull vnto the death and I shall giue thee the Crowne of life Reue. 3. Him that ouercommeth will I make a Pillar in the Temple of God and he shall goe no more out To him that ouercommeth will I graunt to sit with me in my seate 31. Reu. 4. The 24. Elders that sate on the Seates were clothed in White rayment and had on their heades Crownes of Gold 32. Reu. 7.15 16 17. 15 They are in the presence of the Throne of God and serue him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne will dwell among them 16 They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sunne light on them neither any heate 17 For the Lame which is in the middest of the Throne shall gouerne them and shall lead them vnto the liuely Fountaines of waters and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes 1. Cor. 15.19 If in this life onely we hope in Christ then are we most miserable of all men If Christians in this life onely do hope in Christ 1. If they hope of Christ for the blessednesse of this life onely and not of one to come then are they most miserable of all men But Christians are not most miserable of all men Ergo they do not looke or hope of Christ for the blessednesse of this life onely but also of the life to come and by a consequent they shall rise from the dead that they may be partakers of that blessednesse in an other life These testimonies of Scriptures doe teach and confirme most euidently that not onely in the Body before death and after the resurrection of the Body but also in the whole space and time comming betweene the Soules are liue feele vnderstand out of the Body though the manner of their operations be to vs vnknowne Wherefore also this gift of Immortalitie hath some similitude with God who alone is the onely fountaine of life hath Immortalitie as sayth Paul 1 Tim. 6.16 The Aduersaries of this Trueth the deare dearelings of the Diuell fighting with weapons of their graund Captaine Sathan euen as he in tempting our Sauiour Christ wrested the Scriptures to his purpose euen so they peruerting the true sense alleadge sundry places of the Scriptures to disprooue the Immortalitie of the Soule and to approoue their owne wicked assertion that the Soule is Mortall Of which hellish Champions and their vaine and wicked not reasons but wordes I with a reproofe will bring a double disproofe and so thereby giue our side a stronger approofe by enterpreating their false alleadged places according to the right sense and meaning 1. Gen. 2. In the day that thou eatest of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Euill thou shalt die the death Loe say they the death of Body and Soule both Answere interpreating the place The Lord in this Scripture doth not threaten to Man the destruction or extinguishing of his Soule but eternall Death that is the horrible feeling and terrour of Gods wrath and iudgement and to liue forsaken and cast off from God subiect to all miseries torments vnto the which eternall death the separation and parting asunder of the Soule and Body by temporall death is an adiunct which at that time through Gods mercie was deferred that that mankind might be saued For so was Adam dead while he yet liued in Paradise euen so soone as euer he had eaten the forbidden Fruite So in eternall death liue all the damned and reprobate whose Fire shall not be put out and their Worme shall neuer die So in the second to the Ephesians are they sayd To be dead through sinne that liue in sinne without repentance And Ephes 5. Hee who from sinne is reclaymed to God is willed to rise from the dead And Rom. 7.5 Paul saith That through the knowledge of sinne and the wrath of God hee was dead 2. Eccles. 3.19 19 The condition of the Children of men and the condition of Beastes are euen as one condition to them As the one dyeth so dyeth the other for they haue all one breath and there is no excellencie of Man aboue the Beast for all is Vanitie 20 All goe to one place and all was dust shall returne to the dust Therfore the Soule is not Immortall Answere interpreating Heere they are deceiued by a fallation taking that to be spoken simply which is but secundum quid i. in some fort or in some respect For the Preacher doth not simply say That Men die as Beastes and so doe vtterly perish for
she doe this willingly And if perforce she be compeld in Carcasse caue to lie Who doth constraine doth God himselfe then her he nought esteemes Nay what in Prison vile he puts to hate he rather seemes More of it selfe except it learne sith it doth nothing know And oftentimes forgetfulnesse the Minde doth ouerthrow Therefore they iudge it nothing is when Body heere doth die For learne it cannot senses dead which it knowes all thinges by Some other say that Soule there is in all the World but one Which giueth life to euery thing as Sunne but one alone There is that makes all eyes to see Eternall thinke they this Though Body die or eyes put out the Sunne eternall is These trifles fond it is not hard with Reason to disprooue But heere I longer am I feare then it doth mee behooue There shall not want that such demands shall answere once at full And all the doubtes therein assoyle and knots asunder pull O man of sharpe and pregnant wit thy prayse shall liue with mine Our labours doubt not shall commend the men of later time Thy famous workes attempt and seedes of Heauen on Earth goe sow This one thing will I more put to that euery man may know The Soule Immortall for to be and sprung of Heauenly grace If Senses and Affections all he will restraine a space If that despising worldly ioyes and earthly thought resignde With dayly labour he attempt to God to lift his minde Then perfect Wisedome shall he haue and thinges to come foretell A wake or else in heauie sleepe perceiue the same as well In this sort did the Prophets old the thinges to come declare The sober minde therefore doth come more neare to heauenly fare The farther from the flesh it flies and from the earthly care But like to Beastes the greatest sort doth liue as sense doth will And thinke none other good to be but flesh to haue his fill Hereof it comes that many thinke the Soule with Body dyes Because they see not thinges Diuiâ—e with weake and fleshly eyes But of the Soule this shall suffice Palengenius in Pisces ANd when escapt from mortall chaine the Soule hath passage straight Conueighing with her selfe these three that alwayes on her waite The Minde the Sense Moouing force vnto the Heauens hie Shall ioyfull goe and there remaine in blisse perpetually Matheus Dresserus libro de Anima A Confirmation of the Immortalitie of the Soule THe Sentence of the Soules immortalitie is twofold 1. Philosophicall 2. Theologicall What is the opinion of Philosophers touching the Immortalitie of the Soule Some affirme that the Soule doth die with the Body Others do hold that after the separation of the Body it remayneth aliue and immortall The Argument of Panaetius What soeuer is bred or hath a certaine beginning The same also dieth or hath a cetraine ending But the Soule is bred or hath a certaine beginning Therfore the Soule dieth or hath a certaine ending The Answere The Maior is to be distinguished for some thinges are bred or haue their beginning of the Elementes and doe die againe But others haue a Celestiall and Diuine originall as the Soule which doth not die Thinges that are borne bred or haue beginning are of two sortes Some are Elementarie some Celestiall The Elementarie doe die or perish But the Celestiall doe not die or perish But on the contrarie part Cicero Plato and Xenophon haue iudged the Soule to be Immortall and they prooue it thus 1. Because the originall and nature thereof is Diuine or as the Pythagoreans said the Soule is drawen from the vniuersall Heauenly minde Cicero in 1 Tuscul That which is Diuine that doth not die The Soule is Diuine Ergo The Soule doth not die 2 Because vnto the Soule there is nothing mixt nothing concrete i. the Minde and Soule is not compounded of the Elementes therefore it can not die with the thinges that are compounded of the Elementes Whatsoeuer is compounded the same is conflated or compounded of the Elementes But the Soule is not compound of the Elements Therefore the Soule doth not die 3 Because the workes or effectes of the Minde are Diuine and Celestiall as to perceiue and know thinges past and to come therefore the Minde it selfe also is Celestiall and Incorruptible As is the effect so is the cause But the effectes of the Soule are Diuine Therefore the Soule is also Diuine 4 Because the order of Diuine iustice doth require that rewardes be giuen to Iust and punishments to the Vniust But in this life there often chance no rewardes to the Iust nor punishmentes to the Wicked therefore after this life there remayneth another life wherein it shall goe well with the Godly and ill with the wicked 5 Plato in Exiocho saith Discessus ex hac vita est mutatio mali in bonum that is to say The departing out of this life is a changing of euill into good Therefore after death the Soule also liueth and somewhere remayneth aliue that it may enioy that so great a good Of the Place of the Soule after the separation from the Body SOcrates thought that the Soule when it departeth from the Body doth returne to Heauen from whence it is sprinckled strowed into mans Body But Philosophie doth plainely deny and is vtterly ignoraunt that the Soule shall be ioyned togeather to the Body at the vniuersall raysing againe of the dead Cicero also although he did excellently dispute many thinges of the Soules Diuinitie yet he confesseth that he is in very great doubt and staggering euen as the Shippe is tossed in the middes of the raging Seas And Atticus sayth That hee while he readeth Platos Phaedo doth truely Assent that is to say Approoue the Opinion of the Immortalitie of the Soule But when he had layde the Booke away and beganne to cogitate with himselfe then that Assent slided away Socrates when hee was going to his death sayth in Plato It is time for mee now to goe away from hence that I may die and you liue but whether is better God knoweth I thinke truely no man knoweth There was a Philosopher of great Authoritie who being called to end his life was verie sore vexed in minde doubting of the flitting or departure in what state his soule should be after death And when he found no other Hauen he sent for two Philosophers and bade them dispute of the condition of the Soule after the departure foorth of the Body saying Loe I must flitte hence away forsake this mortall life wherefore tell yee mee what shall become of mee whether my Soule shall liue when this Body is extinct or no for vnlesse this can be prooued vnto me and I therein perswaded with what minde can I depart out of this life Heere the Philosophers began sharply to contende about the Nature of the Soule and the one reason'd it to be Mortall and the other Immortall And when they had a long time disputed neither part preuailing
Iuno is called an Herbe and therefore I know not what Sonne of hers according to the Fable of the Greekes was called Heros which Fable hath a misticall signification because the Ayre is deputed to Juno where in they will haue Heroas to dwell for when the Poet Virgill described the Elisean Fieldes where they thinke the soules of the blessed Saintes doe dwell hee did not onely set downe that those do dwell there that haue been able to come thither by their owne merites but addeth also sayth Those also that by deseruing haue made others mindful of them that is to say who haue so deserued that by their deseruings they haue made others mindfull of them Moreouer as concerning the Greekes Histories doe make mention of two kindes of Philosophers One Italike of that part which in times past was called Magna Graecia The other Jonicke of that part which is now called Graecia The Prince chiefe of the Jtalke kind was Pythagoras of whom they say that Philosophie first tooke the name who was of such authoritie among the Auncients that by a preiudiciall opinion he couered and ouercame all others sentence and was sufficient enough for the confirmation of euery sentence whatsoeuer if so be any thing was taught to be that that he said For writinges doe testifie that Ferecides the Sirian sayd first that the mindes of men are sempiternall who was indeed an auncient man in the time that Oeneus raigned which opinion his Disciple Pythageras most greatly confirmed who in the time that Tarquinus superbus raigned came into that part of Italie which was called Magna Graecia wherein the name of the Pythagoreans flourished with such authoritie that a long time after no others seemed learned Of the Ionicke kind Thales Milisius was the Prince a man very notably well learned and wise and therefore so much the more admirable to his Schollers because he was able by the knowledge of Astrologie to foreshew the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone To whom succeeded Anaximander who left his Scholar Anaximenes the Maister of Anaxagoras and Dyogenes After Anaxagoras succeeded Archâ—laus his Scholar After Socrates arose who by the Oracle of Apollo was iudged the wisest of all men and left very many followers of his Philosophie whose studie was chiefly conuersant in the disceptation reasoning of Morall questions After him followed Plato who as Apuleius testifieth was first called Aristotle but afterward because of the largenes of his breast he was named Plato who was endued with such an excellencie of Philosophie and finenesse of Manners that as it were sitting in the throne of Wisedâ—me seemed by a certaine receiued authoritie to beare rule ouer all Philosophers both those that were before him and those that were after him Afterwarde arose his Disciple Aristotle a man verily of great Witte and Eloquence who farre excelling many succeeded Plate in the office of teaching for this man shined vnto men as the Morning starre and enlightened the world with manifold preceptes and sundry beames of Philosophie and the mist as it were being wiped away from the eyes repayred the mindes of men that the trueth for euer might be continued among them After the death of Plato there succeeded also in the Schoole which is called Accademia Pseusippus his sisters Sonne and Zenocrates and for this cause both they themselues and also their successours were called Academickes whom it pleased rather to follow Plato then Aristotle who instituted the sect of the Peripatetickes because that he was accustomed to dispute walking amongst whom was ennobled Plotinus Porphyrius and Apultius Afer and also many other of whom it is not deedfull for vs now to speake in singularitie All those therefore whom with others we doe see not vnworthily renowned for their fame learning and glorie haue sayd that the Soules of men doe obtaine the state of immortalitie which sentence Varro Seneca Salustius Tullius Boetius and Macrobus doe approoue Hereof Tullius in his Prologue Super somnum Scipionis sayth Omnibus qui patriam seruâ—uerunt aâ—xeruntque certum in calum defruitum esse locum vbi beati cuo sempiterno fruuntur First that for all those that haue saued and enlarged their Country there is a certaine place appoynted in Heauen where the blessed enioy euerlasting life Moreouer the Poets Virgil and Ouid thought the very same For in the fifth Booke of Metamorphosis Ouid sayth Morte carent animae semperque relicta Sedenouis domibus viuunt habitantque receptae That is to say From death are free the Soules of men and are immortall all Which when their roomes they do for sake and Corps doth dead downe fall Then habitations new they haue receiued by Ioues decree Wherein he will for euermore their dwelling place shall be All also that thinke that Gods are made of men or that men are translated to the fellowshippe of the Gods haue thought the same Did not Mercurius Trismegistus speaking of Esculapius Hermes and Osiris how they were deified and made Gods say The Idoles that you euery where worshippe were first of Egyptians called Holy liuing creatures and their Soules worshipped throughout all Cities to whom they were dedicated while they were aliue so that they are gouerned by their lawes and named by their names and in a maner al Sectes and Nations are Attlanticks as Libians Egyptians Frenchmen Romaines Spaniards Perseans Chaldiâ—s Did not the great King Cyrus as Tully doth witnes say vnto his Sonnes when he lay on his death-bed Doe not thinke ô my sonnes that when I shall depart from you I shall neuer be againe or be none at al for al the while that I haue been with you you neuer did see my Minde or Soule you saw nothing but this Body that I beare belieue therefore that I am and shal be although you shall not see mee Moreouer Galdisfa the Mahomet and the auncient elders of the Mahomets according to the traditions of their Law doe beleeue and preach that the dead shall rise againe and shall eate drinke delicate thinges and shall haue many faire Women which they shall embrace and vse at their pleasure For Marcus declaring the conditions of the East Countries sayth that the Tartarians doe so impudently deceiue themselues that if a Young man and a Mayde do die vnmaryed they cause them to be espowsed and that very solemnly before they be buried that so in the life to come they may more freely enioy their pleasures Touching Aristotle what he thought of the immortalitie of the soule many had rather doubt with the subtile Doctor then rashly to define seeing that amongst those things that are read of him whether they be those thinges that hee wrote him selfe or those thinges that others say that he spake his opinion can not easily be found out for almost in all places of his doctrine hee seemeth to fauour the immortalitie of the Soule For in his second Booke of the Soule after the definition of the Soule putting a difference betweene the partes of
abstract then the Substaunce from which it is sayd to flow Seeing then we doe prooue in our selues that the Soule existing in the bodie doth know many thinges which can not fall vnder our sense and that without the mediation or vsing the meanes of the body for wee prooue or finde by experience that it knoweth the relations following Nature and insensible relations of reason wee finde by experience that it assenteth to the complections without possibilitie of contradicting or erring many other things seeing therefore I say that these Actes haue no conueniencie neither can agree to other formes and thinges corruptible it is most like and agreeable to reason that these Actes are sufficient to prooue that the Soule is immortall Moreouer the Immortalitie of the Soule is prooued by certaine reasons of the Schoole Doctors First In whom there is power and virtue alwayes Proficere to profits in the same also there is power and virtue alwayes to bee Seeing that the subsistence of the Accident cannot be naturally without the Essence of the subiect But in the Soule there is alway power and virtue proficere to profits therefore there is in the Soule power and virtue alwayes to bee The Minor is euident by the saying of a certaine Wise man who sayth Cum consummauirit homo tunc incipit 1. When man shall make his ending then is his beginning And in an other place Multitudinem ingressus saepientiae quis intellexit Who hath euer knowne the multitude of Wisedomes entries Which speach seemeth to haue this sense that by the prosecting and increasing of Wisedome the entrance in vnto her is multiplyed because he seemeth more and more to enter in vnto her that more and more profecteth in her This Exposition is helped by the speach of the Prophet that saith to his Soule Post me ingredi non cessabis Thou shalt not cease to enter in after mee The Answere of Plato doth also further it For he being asked when a man can haue profited so much in Philosophie that there can remaine nothing for him to know more or when he can haue learned so much that there can be nothing left for him to learne Hee answered Hoc solum scio quod nescio 1. This onely I know that I know not As if hee should haue sayd Solum cognosco ignorantiam meam 1. I know onely mine ignorance This I thus confirme The perfections and dispositions that the reasonable Soule can acquire or get are not limitted therefore the life of the reasonable Soule or the existence thereof is not limitted and so by consequence it must needes be Immortall The Antecedent is plaine because the Soule cannot know so many things but it may know more The Consequence is plaine because it is vnpossible for the virtue and power of euerie subiect to be of those dispositions and perfections from the which the subiect is naturally prohibited For this mortall life cannot suffice naturally for the getting or participating of infinite perfections seeing that euery one of them requireth time A second Reason is this If the Soule should be corrupted and so mortall it should be either through the action of the contrarie or else through the corruption of the subiect But it is not corrupted by meanes of the action of the contrarie because it hath no contrarie Neither can it be corrupted by reason of the corruption of the subiect because nothing is corrupted in that wherein it consisteth by it owne perfection For these are contrarie mutations to witte of Corruption and Perfection But the Perfection of the Soule consisteth in a certaine abstraction from the Body for the Body waxing old in men liuing moderately and temperately the Soule is perfected according to the science and knowledge thereof and according to the virtues thereof According to the science and knowledge because in auncient old men is Wisedome and in much time is Prudence According to the Virtues because such men are temperate neither giue place to wicked Concupiscence nor haue any great difficultie in act But young men haue wicked Concupiscences and are delighted therein neither can they refraine them without great difficultie This Argument is confirmed by a double Reason The first is this That when the Body is weakened or some Organ thereof hath receiued some hurt the Soule is more fortified thereby and made more stronger and virtuous in the other senses and powers as though it were vnto them a more inward supply of those thinges that seeme to be taken away by the defect of the members Therefore when the Body dieth the Soule doth not die The Antecedent is knowne to be true by experience for a blind man is more sharpe quicke in hearing and in vnderstanding and in other senses then hee that is well sighted Whereof Guilermus Parisiensis sayth That a certaine Blinde man was so cunning and had so much prosited in experience that he could infallibly tell onely by the touching handling feeling or croping any peece of Monie of his owne Country coyne though there were neuer so many and sundry sortes of them And a certaine blind Boy in the fourteenth yeare of his age learned all liberall Artes knew and vnderstood all the sacred Scriptures and taught them and wrote most largely and amply vpon them as is mentioned in the Tripartue Historie The second Confirmation is thus As is the whole Body to the whole Soule so are the partes of the Body to the parts of the Soule But whē one part or some Organ of the Body is corrupted there is no part of the Soule corrupted nor hurt nor suffereth in it selfe but remayneth sound and perfect Therefore when the Body dyeth the Soule doth not die The Antecedent is plaine by the Philosopher Si senex haberet oculum neuenis videret vtigque vt iuuenis c. If an old man should haue the eye of a young man hee should see as a young man therefore when part of the Body is hurt the Soule is not hurt in it selfe although it be depriued of the act For when our Sauiour Christ restored sight vnto the blind he gaue not nor conferred vnto the Soule any strength or actiuitie but onely repaired the hurt or indisposition of the Organ Also the reasonable Soule by how much more it vnderstandeth and knoweth thinges intelligible by so much more perfect is it made and more disposed to vnderstand But the Soules of all mortall men by how much more they feele and exercise their operations by so much more are they weakened made vnfit for the exercising of their operations Experience doth teach both these to be true and so doth the Philosopher also where hee saith Excellens sensibile currumpit sonsum excellens autem intelligibile non corrumpit intellectum 1. The excellent sensible thing corrupteth the sense but the excellent intelligible thing doth not corrupt the vnderstanding Therefore there is another kind of the Soule from that which is corruptible and so by consequence it must needes be Immortall
heauenly life consisteth in this Science because that for Felicitie a man ought to be good and perfect But perfection according to the Sciences speculatiue doth not make a man absolutely neither good nor the best for many in such thinges may be perfect which are vnhonest and vicious A man vnhonest and full of vices may be very skilfull and perfect in speculatiue Sciences for the disposition to felicitie is made better by virtues Morall Heroicall and Diuine Whereof the Philosopher sayth in the 2. Booke of Ethicks That it is a very meere beast lines to say that we can be better then by virtues Heroicall Diuine Euen as Homer faigned that Priamus sayd of Hector That because he was so very good he seemed not to be the sonne of a mortall man but of a God Wherefore if it be so as they say that Gods be made of men because of the notable excellencie of their Virtues then such like habite shall be opposite to beastlinesse And in the 10. Booke of Ethicks the Philosopher doth teach That a man must so frame his workes and his life that all be directed to this end to witte to get Felicitie Vpon which Auerrhois sayth If God haue a care of Men as it is beleeued and as it is meete he should he reioyceth of the better and is delighted in those that doe well and it is meete and a worthy thing that he doe well vnto and reward those that loue him more then others or all thinges in the world and honour them and visit them often euen as it is the disposition of one friend with another therefore must wee doe our endeauour to become good This is thus confirmed First That then those men that giue themselues to Speculation or doe practise and exercise themselues in Speculatiue sciences howsoeuer they liued mortally and desormedly Virtuous should not be reputed blessed and happy nor rewarded for their Merites Secondly If so be that God haue a care of Men it is meete and most agreeable to reason that his delight concerning men should be of that thing which is the best in them and which is most knowne vnto him and most nigh and agreeable vnto him that is to say which is most like vnto God which is to liue virtuously according to the vnderstanding And also that he doe well vnto and reward those that doe loue him And bestow benefites on those that for his sake doe cast away contemne and neglect worldly wealth and delightfull pleasures and patiently sustaine and suffer Aduersitie and willingly abide all Miseries euen vnto the day of their death But he cannot sufficiently reward them in this life therefore the Soule is Immortall The Minor is plaine Because man is euen vnto death vexed with Miseries Pouertie and Aduersities The Maior is manifest by the Philosopher in the tenth Booke of Ethicks saying Seciendum intellectum autem operans et hunc curans c. Hee that worketh according to the vnderstanding and careth for it doth seeme to be the best of all disposed and to loue God most for if the Gods haue a certaine care of humaine thinges as they seeme to haue it shall then be most agreeable to reason that the Gods themselues doe reioyce and delight in that thing which is the best and the nighest of kinne vnto them c. Also it is thus confirmed Because if the Soule should be Mortall and there should be no life after this then infinite euils should remaine vnpunished and good deedes should not be rewarded Which doth seeme derogatorie to the equitie of Iustice and to the comlinesse and fairenesse of humaine ciuill gouernement For what paine punishment and miserie doth heere happen vnto those euill men who being giuen to delightes and pleasures doe continually euen vnto their death heape euils vpon euils Who I say shall punish and take vengeance of those Kings and Princes by whose decrees commaundement power and authoritie Common-weales are tossed turmoyled shaken and spoyled by so many plagues tormentes vexations violences iniuries and aduersities Who shall in this life be sufficiently able to punish those most grieuous sinnes that are done in secret euill mindes inward affections What punishment then I pray you and miserie shall there be of these euils Which if it be called the Priuation of blessednesse then shall all be equally punished which seemeth to be derogatorie to the equitie of Iustice Therefore it seemeth most agreeable to reason that there is a life of mans Soule after this wherein euery one shall receiue worthily as he hath done in this life whether it be good or euill Moreouer if mans Soule should not liue after this life in vaine then and to no purpose should we serue God heere seeing that in this life the worshippe of God and Religion is cruelly persecuted tormented afflicted and cruciated and then is there after this life no reward for it In this poynt it were better for the Soule and more profitable by much altogeather to denie God and wholly to giue it selfe to euery vanitie pleasure then to liue holily and iustly with so manie miseries and to worship the Creator with due honouring and deuotion Whereof the Apostle in the first Epistle to the Corinths the fifteenth chapter saith If in this life onely we hope in Christ then are wee of all men most miserable For if God hath no regard of his Seruantes and Worshippers where is his Power seeing that neither in this life for this thing he cannot be worsse neither in an other better seeing that after this there is not another But if he do not care nor haue any regard Where is his Wisedome his Goodnesse Wherefore he should seeme to be ignoraunt not to know or not to loue his louers and worshippers if there be not another life after this whereof the one destroyeth his Wisedome the other his Goodnesse Out of these thinges aboue declared is very easily enough disprooued the rash and erroneous opinion of Auerrhois putting humaine felicitie to consist in the euery way and Actuall coniunction or copulation with the Vnderstanding And that Vnderstanding he would haue to be but one of all men that all men haue but one vnderstanding as we haue afore sayd For he sayd That man is then happie and sufficiently rewarded when that Vnderstanding shall be euery way coupled vnto him Which hee affirmed to be done when a man shall actually haue all Vnderstandinges speculatiue But this is vnpossible because that then there should be togeather in acte infinitely infinite things in the Vnderstanding Moreouer we finde by experience in our selues that the Attention to one thing doth draw backe againe the perfect Attention about another thing Seeing therefore the Vnderstanding is of a finite vertue it shall neuer be able to be coupled perfectly and actually to all speculations Who I pray you is found at all times to be all one the same in one thing he was in another skilfull alike in all thinges Who so skilfull that
to be giuen vnto the most high GOD and Father of Mercies and to our Lord and Sauiour Jesus Christ who hath most certainely assured and fully perswaded his Faythfull ones in these things where vnto the most Wittie the best Learned men that euer were in all the World could not by the light of Naturall reason preuaile sufficiently to attaine to witte of the Last end of the reasonable Creature of the Resurrection of the Dead of the Immortalitie of the reasonable Soule and of the perpetuall Eternitic of the same And this hath that Almighty Lord most merciful Father so done in such sort that now it is not lawfull for vs neither is there any neede to doubt in these thinges or to flow out or run any where else to seeke for props or stayes of our Fayth in these matters Neither is it needfull from hence forward after this time of so great Grace reuealed to seeke or put to new reasons or probable perswasions because wee are most firmely holden without feare of the opposite or without any Ambiguitie to beleeue that the Good iust doe gloriously liue eternally with Christ And that the Euill are tormented perpetually with the Diuell his Angels according to that in the fifth of Iohn And they that haue done euill shall come foorth vnto the resurrection of Iudgement and they that haue done good to the resurrection of Life Which God shall giue to them which neuer change their Fayth from him Which God graunt vnto vs who is blessed for euer and euer Amen FINIS Of the Immortalitie of the Soule out of Palingenius in Capricorne BEcause thou shalt beleeue I will declare to thee By reason good the state of Soule Immortall for to bee For if that God in better thinges doth Cunning still expresse As Wisdome telles and as the good and virtuous must confesse Then doubtlesse must we iudge he gaue the Soules no time to die Since better farre it is for them to liue continually Then with the flesh to be extinct and feele a full decay Which thus I prooue If death do take from vs the Soule away If that we haue no other life but in this body heere Then God may be accounpted ill and shall vniust appeare For thousands euerie day wee see that florish prosperously In Ritches Substance and Renounce in Raignes and Empires hie Yet idle Lubbers naught vnlearnd that sinne at libertie And run the race of all their life in great prosperitie On th' other side we may behold the iust opprest to bee With spightfull chaunce a wretched life and pitious pouertie Thus either God vnrighteous is that doth this thing permit Or after death hath euery man as he deserueth fit Or else he doth disdaine the deedes of mortall men to know Besides what gratious minde in God what goodnes doth he show If this be all that he doth giue a life so short and vaine That swiftly runneth to an end and doth no time remaine The halfe whereof is spent in sleepe the rest in griefe and toyle And dangers great as fast doth fleete as Riuers swift in soyle Therefore goe to ō wretched men build gorgious Churches hie And let with costly Offrings great your Altars pestred lie Set vp your ioy full branch of Bayes your sacred doores about With pompe of proud Procession passe let Hymnes be ratled out Spend Frankincense and let the nose of God be stretched wide With pleasant smoke doe this and adde more honour much beside That he preserue your goodly life wherein doth you torment Somtime great cold and somtime heate now plague now famishment Now bloody warre now sicknesse great or Chance to sorrow at Sometime the busie Flie sometime the stinging Gnat The Chynch and Flea reioyce I say that heere you lead your life With thousand painefull labours great in trauaile toyle and strife And after in a litle space in paine you drop away And lumpish lie in loath some Vault to Wormes a gratefull prey O worthy life O goodly gift Man in this world is bred Among the brutish Beastes and fooles and knaues his life is led Where Stormes and flakie Snows Ice and Durt and Dust and Night And harmfull aire and clowds mistes and windes with hellish fight And griefe and wayling raignes where death beside doth worke his feat Is this our goodly Countrie heere Is this our happy seate For which we owe such seruice heere vnto the Gods aboue For which it seemeth meete with vowes the heauenly Saintes to moone And if none other life we haue then this of body vaine So frayle and full of filthinesse when Death hath Carcasse slaine I see not why such Prayses should of God resound in Ayre For why we should such honour giue to him in Temples fayre That hath vs wretches framed heere in this so wretched soyle That shall for euermore decay after so great a toyle Wherfore least God should seeme vniust and full of cruelnesse Shall well deseruing counted be we must of force confesse That Death doth not destroy the Soule but that it alwayes is None otherwise then Spirit in Ayre or Saintes in heauens blisse Both voyde of body sleepe and meate And more we must confesse That after death they liue in paines or else in blessednesse But let this reason thee suffice for if thou doe it show Vnto the wicked kind they laugh no light the blind doth know But thou beleeue for euermore and know assuredly For ground of sauing health it is that Soules doe neuer die Exempted from the Sisters power and fatall Destinie Palingenius in Libra We need not doubt but Soule proceedes and doth from loue descend And neuer dies whom he permits the World to comprehend What if so be the Atomies which some Wise men do fayne The Soule is rather thought to bee than body to maintaine All Bodyes be of quantitie and may deuided be But Soule is indiuisible and of no grosse degree And as a Centre doth she seeme where many Lines doe meete Which Senses all to her conuey as Floods to Seas doe fleete Wherefore I maruaile much at such as thinke a like decay And iudge the Soule no more to bee when Body fades away For if so be it might be prooude yet should it not be sayd Nor Publisht to the common sort nor euery way displayd For many wicked men and ill there are which if they thought Their Soules as nothing shall remaine when corps to graue is brought Nor that it feeles or suffers ought when it goeth hence away And that no punishment remaines for prancks that here they play A thousand mischifes would they doe take feare from them among And fall to euery vilonie confounding right with wrong Besides a number now that thinke in blessed state to bee When death hath them destroyd hope the face of God to see And euermore with him to ioy and therefore virtuously Doe seeke to passe their present life with godly modeslie If they shall see that after death
doe no rewardes remaine Amased all their virtuous workes shall cease and perish plaine So many stately Temples trimde so many Altars hie With Gold and Marble garnished and decked sumptuously Beside Religion Godly zeale Honour and worshipping Of God shall come to nought if after death remaine nothing That men may hope for if the Soule as Winde doth passe away Of wild and franticke common sort Religion must be stay And feare of smart for mischiuous and full of fraud their braine Is alwayes seene nor of themselues they well doe meane or plaine The common sort doe Virtue loath and euermore her hate Religion is the comlinesse and glorie of our state Which makes the Gods to fauour vs which we winne Heauen by No wise nor good man therefore dare attempt her openly To teach that Soule shal come to nought and so corrupt the mindes Of rude vnskilfull common sort that wauer like the windes Now must we teach by reason good that Soules shall neuer die But free from sting or dart of death doe liue eternally Which euery Christian man doth hold and Greshop eater Iew Who our foreskins abhorres beleeues which God that all thinges knew Would not haue made if he had thought they had been needlesse sure And Nations all besides do thinke that Soules shall aye endure For first the thing resembling most the mightiest Lord of all Of longer lasting life we count and perfecter must call For that which doth not long endure but shortly doth decay That it should be vnperfecter who is that will say nay And therefore do celestiall thinges a greater while endure Because they are more perfecter and more Diuine and pure But thinges that nearer are the earth and farthest off from skies Vnperfect since they are do fade and soonest euer dyes Shall then our Soule sith life in it and knowledge doth appeare Most like vnto the state Diuine be closde and shut vp heere With Body for to end Nor shall it heere haue longer place Then fading flesh Or shall it liue no more nor larger space Besides that Soules cannot decay this Reason witnesse shall Because it is of single state and voyde of matter all Adde this that when the Body fades the force of Minde doth grow As weake and aged Fathers old doe more good Counsell know Then youthful blouds of younger years and often he lacks wit That doth excell in strength and force for rare doth God permit Both strength and wit to any one Wherefore if force brought low By space and course of many yeares the Minde doth stronger grow Of Body doth it not depend but of it selfe consist Another thing and after Graue doth liue and death resist Doth not beside when foote doth ake the Minde iudge thereof plaine It is no doubt But how can griefe to towre of Minde attaine Doth it ascend from lowest partes as Smoke doth vpward flie No for many partes not foote alone if so should ake thereby Nor of the foote but of the part that nearest is to Minde The ake should grieue This shewes that Soule is not of Bodyes kind And is so free from death since it in distance needes no meane Adde this when we would call to minde the thing forgotten cleane Or else deuise some worthy fetch from Minde the Senses all It then behoues to gather vp whereby doth often fall That many better for to muse doe shut vp close their eyes Or else forsaking companie some secret place deuise Or whē the night with darksome cloude the earth doth ouer spread And creatures all with heauie sleepe do take their rest in bed They still do watch and silent all vpon their beds doe rest And light put out in darknesse whet their Minde with Body prest For Senses doe the Minde disturbe Affections it destroyes Amazing it with Dulnesse great and Blindnesse it annoyes None otherwise then Cloudes do hide the Sunne that clearely shines If therefore when it doth remaine within his owne confines And flying farre from Senses all and cares that Body bringes It wiser be then shall it know and vnderstand all thinges In better sort when it is free and from the flesh doth flie More perfect of it selfe it is and liues continually Againe sith Man as Meane consistes the Saintes and Beastes betwixt Some part with each he common holds with Beast his Body mixt And with the Saintes his Minde agrees one of these partes doth die Of th' other death can haue no power but liues continually Death therefore takes not all away for why his deadly dartes Doe neuer harme the Soule a whit when it from Body partes And more then this I haue to say if nothing doe remaine Of vs when Carcasse lyes in Tombe God shall be called plaine Vniust and one that fauour shewes to such as naughtie liue For such for tearme of all their life no Sorrowes do them grieue No Ritches lacke nor Pleasures great but happily reioyce Exalted with Promotions hie and with the Commons voyce On th' other side the Virtuous men a thousand Griefes molest now sore diseasd now plagu'd with need In fine alwayes opprest Therefore the Soule liues after graue and feeles deserued paynes And if it haue done iustly heere a Crowne of Glorie gaines By these and many other wayes I could declare no doubt That Soule of man doth neuer die and Body liues without But thi 's enough time bids me end Not ignorant am I That some the soule although vnapt doe tearme an Harmonie And as of sundry voyces mou'd proceedes a melodie Of sundry Compounds Medcine made which heale with soueraigntie So of the ioyned Elements by certaine meane and way Created of the Heauens eke the Soule to be some say A part whereof in Body dwels and part abroad doth lie As sight doth spring of outward light and virtue of the eye But this opinion is not true for if it should be so The Soule with flesh should neuer striue nor once against it goe But euermore in one agree As euery power doth show That wonted are of mixed thinges By spirit Diuine to grow As in the kind of Hearbes appeares and in the precious Stone Some thinke the Soule doth not remaine when flesh from it is gone Because the heauie sluggish sleepe the nearest thing that may Resembles Death and seemes to take both Sense and Minde away Or for because they see the Minde with sicknesse diuersly So vext and harmd that it cannot the place it hath supply And with the Body to encrease with which it eke decayes As well appeares in Children young and men of elder dayes Fond is the child the man discreete the old man doteth still For weake vnwealdie withered age doth Minde and Body spill And more say they if that the Soule of substaunce be Diuine And seuered from these fleshly limmes may lead a life more fine Then why should it in wretched flesh so seeke it selfe to place by whose defect so many illes and mischifes it deface But fond she is therefore if that
this sense cantradicteth other Scriptures But in two respectes the death of Men and the death of Beastes are like 1. Because Men must needes once die and depart out of this life because Men are not heere to continue for euer nor haue heere a setled place 2. Men die as Beastes that is In the sense and iudgement of the Wicked they seeme to perish 3. Psal 78.39 Hee remembred that they were but flesh yea a winde that passeth away and commeth not againe Ergo Mortall Answere By these and such like speaches is described and be wayled the frayltie of all humaine affaires that with God doe perish and come to nothing For as in this place they are likened to a Winde that soone vanisheth away so in Psal 103. they are compared to Dust Earth and Flowers of the field So Iob. 14. Man commeth vp as a Flower and is cutte downe Isa 40.6 All flesh is grasse 4. Psal 88.5 I am counted as slaine lying in the Graue whom thou remembrest no more Answere In these wordes the Psalmist doth not meane that either hee himselfe or the dead are exempted from Gods prouidence But hee complayneth that hee is forsaken of God euen as it seemeth to men that God careth not for the dead And therefore hee speaketh not according to the sense of Fayth but of his owne opinion weaknesse and miserie who iudgeth those thinges to be forsakèn and neglected of God whose deliuerie for a while he doth deferre But what Fayth in the meane season doth suggest and tell the Godly euen when they striue and wrastle with temptation he sheweth in the ii Psal and vers 2. The iust shall be had in an euerlasting remembrance 5. Psal 146.4 His Spirit departeth and returneth to his earth and then all his thoughtes perish Ergo. c. Answere Hee doth not heere say That the Spirit or Soule of men doth not die or vanish or is bereaued of sense But that it departeth to witte from the Body wherein it dwelleth and that not the Spirit but the Body returneth to earth which was made of earth And where he sayth That all his thoughtes perish he meaneth not that the Soule is after this life bereaued of Reason Iudgement and Sense of Gods mercie or wrath but that mans Purposes and Counsailes are made frustrate which in his life he had setled him selfe to bring to passe In which sense it is sayd in Psal 112.10 The desire of the Wicked shall perish 6. Psal 88. 10. Wilt thou shew a miracle to the dead Or shall the dead rise and prayse thee Whereunto we adde all such places as take away worshipping of God from the dead which must needes prooue the Soule not Immortall Answere In such speaches Death and Hell or the Graue haue two significations They who are spiritually dead whether before or after the death of the Body that is they that are depriued of Gods grace and forsaken and reiected of God and are in Hell that is in the place and tormentes of the Damned or else in this life despayring and destitute of comfort shall not prayse God at all neither in this life nor in the life to come But they who are dead not spiritually but corporally onely although they shall not prayse God while their Bodyes are in Hell that is in the Graue for which this word Hell is often vsed in the Scriptures yet in Soule they shall not ceasse to acknowledge and prayse God vntill when they haue receiued their Bodyes againe they shall magnifie him both in Soule and Body in the Celestiall eternitie But in the meane time sith God will be acknowledged and magnified of men in this life also therefore both the whole Church and euery one of the faythfull not onely pray that they may not fall into that forsaking and that sense of Gods wrath wherewith the Wicked are oppressed but also desire that they may be preserued and defended in this mortall life vntill the end thereof appoynted by God be expired for the Saintes doe not simply stand in feare of the bodily Death and Graue but that they may not be forsaken of God neither fall into desperation or destruction or their enimies insult against God when they are ouerthrowne This with dayly and ardent prayers and petitions they begge and craue continually 7. Psal 146. 2. I will prayse the Lord during my life as long as I haue any beeing I will sing vnto my God Heere hee restreyneth prayses to this life onely Answere This place maketh nothing to the purpose For he doth not limit prayses to this life but this he onely sayth that he will spend all the time of this mortall life in Gods prayses which notwithstanding in many other places he extendeth to continuall eternitie as Psal 34. I will prayse the Lord continually But often times this particle Vntill or As long signifieth a continuance of the time going before some euent without any excluding of the time following as 1. Cor. 15.25 Hee must raigne Vntill hee hath put all his enimies vnder his feete I thinke they will not say that when Christes enimies are put vnder his feete that then he shall raigne no longer 8. Job 10.20 Let him ceasse and leaue off from mee that I may take a little comfort before I goe and shall not returne Ergo the Soule is Mortall there is no Resurrection Answere In these wordes he denyeth that hee shall returne into this Mortall life and conuerse amongst men in this World But he denieth not that he in the meane season hath his beeing and doth liue vntill againe he see God in the flesh euen the same Iob who then was afflicted as himselfe sayth chap. 19.26 9. Iob. 3.11 Why died I not when I came out of the Wombe so should I haue lyen quiet and been at rest Answere Iob in these wordes doth not denie that the Soules after death doe liue feele and vnderstand but onely he sayth the Miseries of this present life are not felt Instance Iob would not wish for a bad change but if there be euils felt in the life to come hee wished for a badde change Ergo. c. Answere Iob wished not for the death of the wicked but of the godly Instance But Job maketh Kinges and Princes also which gather Gold vnto them vers 14.15 small and great good and badde vers 16 17 18 19. partakers of this rest Answere It plainely appeareth out of the whole processe and discourse of Jobs wordes that he doth not teach what is the state of men after this life but onely desireth to be ridde out of his present miserie And therefore through humaine infirmitie and impatience he compareth the sense and feeling of his present miseries with the death and state of the Dead whatsoeuer it be As they who are grieuously tormented with present Distresses and Calamities preferre any thing whatsoeuer before that which they suffer So also he sayth in the 7. chap. speaking as one despayring of deliuerie in this life Remember
that my life is but a winde and that mine eye shall not returne to see pleasure For so hee expoundeth himselfe when hee addeth vers 10. Hee shall returne no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more So likewise in the 17. chap. My breath is corrupt my dayes are corrupt the Graue is readie for mee They are wordes of one despayring of life saluation God being wroth and angrie 10. Job 34.14.15 14 If he set his heart vpon man and gather vnto himselfe his spirit and his breath 15. All flesh shall perish togeather and man shall returne vnto dust Answere Job doth not heere say that the Soule doth either sleepe or perish but that by the departure of the Soule from the Bodie the Bodie dieth and is dissolued yet not that the Body doth vtterly perish for so it should repugne other plaine places that warrant the Resurrection 11. Job 14.12 Man sleepeth and riseth not for hee shall not wake againe nor be raised from his sleepe till the Heauen be no more 12. Act. 7.60 And when he had thus spoken he fell asleepe 13. 1. Cor. 15.51 We shall not all sleepe but we shal be all changed 14. 1. Thes 4.13 I would not haue you ignoraunt concerning them which are asleepe In these places the dead are sayd to sleepe Ergo The Soule sleepeth Answere In these and such like places is vsed a figure of speach called Synecdoche translating that which is proper vnto the Bodie to the whole man For that this belongeth to the Body which is to be recalled from death to life as it were to awake from sleepe many places of Scripture declare As Iob. 7. Behold now I sleepe in the dust For not the Soule but the Body onely sleepeth in the dust or Graue 15. Mat. 24.46 Blessed is that Seruant whom his Maister when he commeth shall find so doing 16. Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdome 17. Mark 13.13 13 And yee shal be hated of all men for my names sake But whosoeuer shall endure vnto the ende the same shall be saued 27 And he shall then send his Angles and gather to geather his elect from the foure Windes 18. Dan. 12.1.2 1 And at that time my people shal be deliuered euery one that shal be found written in the Booke 2 And many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life c. These places doe plainely shew that Blessednesse and the Kingdome promised to the godly shall then first fall vnto them at the last day Ergo Soules go not presently to heauen after death of the Body Answere Those places doe not shew that But they shew that at the last day when the Bodies shal be raised vp againe the Soules that alreadie are in Heauen shall by being ioyned to the bodyes againe haue their felicitie and glory consummated and made absolute For so we pray Thy Kingdome come when yet now God also raigneth in vs. 19. 1. Cor. 15.19 If in this life onely we haue Hope we are of all men most miserable Of this place they reason thus Hee that is blessed and happy before the Resurrection is not without the Resurrection most miserable But wee without the Resurrection should be of all men most miserable Ergo wee are not before the Resurrection blessed and happie Answere To the Maior we answere That he is not miserable without the Resurrection who can not onely before it but without it also be blessed But we are in such wise blessed before it that notwithstanding without it following and ensuing we can not enioy that former blessednesse because that God with so inseparable a knot hath ioyned togeather the beginning proceeding and finishing or perfectiō of the Electes blessednesse that none can haue the beginning who must not come to the end and consummation thereof Wherefore we must rise againe or we must want also the Celestiall blessednesse before the Resurrection Rom. 8.11 If the spirit of him that raysed vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raysed vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall Bodies 20. Heb. 11.39 These all through Fayth are dead and receiued not the Promise Therefore they receiued not their Countrie Answere Although when they died they had not found their Countrie yet would it not follow of these wordes that they are not at all or haue no sense after death for he that is not or hath no sense seeketh not his Countrie Secondly it is not there spoken of the life after death which is ledde in the Celestiall countrie spoken of in 2. Cor. 5. from vers 1. vnto 10. but of this life in which the faythfull walking their pilgrimage sought for the Celestiall countrie not finding their Countrie on Earth 21. If presently after death the godly were blessed then iniurie was done vnto them who were called againe into this mortall life Answere It was not iniurions to them seeing God is debtor to no man God did raise them vp for the manifesting of his glorie Now what can happen better or more acceptable vnto the Godly then to serue for the manifesting of his glory either by life or by death Therefore there was no iniurie done vnto them Phil. 1. As alwayes so now Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by life or by death c. 22. The Soule hath neither sense nor action but by bodily instrumentes and therefore being naked of those instrumentes it is also destitute of sense motion and operation Answeré Although we graunt the Antecedent that the Soules action and sense is by the instrumentes of the Body while it is in the Body before this naturall or corporal death yet notwithstanding that it is not so with the Soule after death when it is freed from the Body both learned Philosophers doe confesse and the word of God testifieth 1. Cor. 13.9 Wee know in part and wee prophecie in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shal be abolished ¶ Thus I hope are sufficiently disprooned those wicked Aduersaries of this knowne and necessarie Trueth The Soule is Immortall And the Scriptures falsely by them alleadged rightly and fully interpreted according to their true sense By which reproofe of the Aduersarie and disproofe of their cause the trueth is more approoued and stronglier confirmed For contraries by their contraries are euer made more manifest God giue the Trueth a speedie victorie in the heartes of his people that Errours may be beaten downe Sathan confounded and all our Enimies vanquished that we may triumph with our Captaine that Lion of the Tribe of luda our Lord Jesus Christ Athenagoras an Athenian and a Christian Philosopher flourished in the time of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Commodus Emperours of Rome within two hundred yeares after Christ and in his Booke of the Resurrection he reasoueth thus REasons touching thinges belonging to Mankind are some drawne
companion in Holynesse and Martirdome so ought it also to haue like lot in Paine or Rewarde therefore the fame Body must arise againe For vnlesse there remained rewardes of the life to come Gods Prouidence and Iustice might be had in doubt yea and Man should be more miserable then bruite Beastes who for Religion Iustice sake depriueth himself of bodily delights hazardeth himselfe in innumerable daungers yea Virtue her selfe Religion and Lawes should be dotinges and detrimentes Vnlesse the Bodies rife againe Gods Iustice hath no place in the Soule and body Not in the Body because it should be vniust for the Soule to haue reward of those labours wherein the Body suffered a great part and cannot it selfe haue part in that reward Not in the Soule because it should be vniust for the Soule alone to suffer punishment for so many grieuous sinnes which of it selfe it had not committed if the Body had not been ioyned vnto it for thorow the meanes of the Body euen of necessitie Pleasure and Passion it abideth many sharpe showers or perturbations and sinneth very often Vices are not of the Soule only but are in the whole Man drawne from the wantes of the Body and prouoking of the same In like manner are Virtues in the Whole man for if the Soule had neuer come into the Body it should not haue needed Fortitude Continencie Sufferance Counsell in matters of affaires and the like Iustice Virtues then are infused from hence truly in the Soule but from thence in the Body because that all men doe confesse that Virtues at the leastwise those that are Morall are certaine inuringes of our Soule and Body Then it is not iust for the Soule alone to haue either the punishment of Vices or reward of Virtues The Lawes giuen from Heauen are not giuen to the Soule onely but to Man also For there was no need to affray the Soule from Adultry Man slaughter Theft and such like thinges which belong onely to the Bodie bodily vse The whole man then that is tyed to the Lawes must iustly either receiue reward for keeping of the Lawes or else punishment for omitting his duetie Seeing that all thinges euery one haue their proper endes according to the diuersitie of their Natures it must needes be that this Nature indued with Reason should also obtaine her proper end But this end is not lacke of paine for that is also common to other Bodies without life Neither againe is it a sensuall delight for that is common to bruit Beastes but it is rather somewhat agreeable to the proper and chiefe nature virtue and action thereof that is to say reasonable and intellectuall a precept wherein continually to rest and in which estate Virtue her selfe may enioy her rewardes Such like end in this present life we can neuer attaine therefore in the life to come But seeing there is an end of humaine life and actions and that this life and actions are common to the whole man it must needes follow that that end must needs belong to the whole man By the which consequence wee may surely know that there shal be a Resurrection especially because that our Heauenly workeman hath made all thinges for himselfe therefore hath he giuen vnto vs from the beginning Reason and Vnderstanding able to regard Heauenly things that we might contemplate him or behold him in his workes From whence is concluded that the contemplation of God is the firme and absolute end of Man These thinges haue we briefly spoken of the Resurrection not purposing hereby eloquently to set foorth al things that may hereof be spoken but euen a few such as are most fit for the time which the hearers may very easily learne FINIS A Booke of Xenocrates a Philosopher of Plato his sect concerning Death The speakers are Socrates Clinias and Axiochus VVHen I went vnto Cynosarges and was now come to Ilissum I heard ones voyce calling me by names And turning my selfe I saw Clinias the sonne of Axiochus running toward the Well Calliroe and togeather with him Damon the Musition and Carmides the sonne of Glancus of whom that same excellent cunning Musition was my very deare and especiall friend Therefore I thought good to goe backe againe and meete them that we might more leasurely and easily goe togeather But Clinias weeping said O Socrates the present time requireth that wee should shew foorth that Wisedome which you haue alwayes spoken of to vs for my Father is vexed with a sodaine and intollerable Disease and seemeth to be euen at deaths doore and to take it very vnpatiently although in times past hee was wont to mocke those that feared death as though they were afraid at the countenaunce of an imagined Spirit Come I pray you and blame him as you were wont that he may easily beare necessitie Goe therefore with vs and togeather with others doe a godly worke So. You haue made me very desirous O Clinias to do what I can to fulfill your request especially seeing the worke is holy which you craue to be done let vs therefore make hast for if the matter be so it is time to make hast Cli. So soone as he shall see you O Socrates he shall begin to recouer for it hath often hapned that he in some sort repented So. Then we went vnto him by the Walles thorow the Peritoman Fieldes for he dwelt night the Gates towardes the Amazones Pillar And we found him sound of limme and strong of body but weake in minde and greatly standing need of comfort and often times staying to take breath and fetching sighes and grones with many teares and clapping of his handes Which when I saw What now Axiochus said I Where is now that your old boasted Constancie Where are the perpetuall prayses of Virtues Where is your wonderfull magnitude and boldnesse of Minde For euen as an ill or sluggish Wrastler may in the wrastling Scoole appeare couragious till he come to try all so haue you fainted and yeelded in this conflict Why consider you not the order and course of Nature seeing you are so worthy a man and so well learned and if no other thing yet that you are an Athenian Remember you not that vulgar and old worne Sentence wherein it is sayd That this life is a certaine Pilgrimage that we ought to behaue our selues rightly with an equal minde as wanderers in a strange Countrie and so come to that thing which is due and necessarie not with a weake and feeble but with a ioyfull and merrie minde But this tender softnesse is more meete for Infancie then for riper age Axi These thinges O Socrates seeme rightly spoken But I know not how thorow imminent dangers these same most comfortable wordes of patient abiding doe sliely vanish away and are neglected yea there ariseth a certaine repugnant extreame feare which compasseth my minde on euery side Oh alas I shal be depriude of this light of these good thinges I shall lie
in darknesse Hauing lost my taste and sight I shall rot in the earth and be turned to Wormes and Dust So. Thou ô Axiochus doest ioyne Sense with priuation of Sense without the diligent examination of Reason and art contrary to thy selfe both in sayings and doinges Neither do you marke that you do both togeather complaine of the losse of your Senses and doe sorrow for rottennesse and losse of good thinges as though you being about to passe ouer into another life should rather flit into the priuation of euery Sense Priuation I say and that such a one as went before the time that you were borne For as in the Common-weale of Draco and Calisthenes no euill hath touched you for you were one that was not compassed with euill so after death nothing shall ouerthwart you for you shall not be he that may be inuironed with euill Driue away therefore from you all such like triflings and consider thus much that that being dissolued which was compounded and the Soule going vnto her owne place this Body that remayneth being earthly and without reason can by no meanes be Man for we are a Soule an Immortall liuing thing shut vp in a Mortall habitacle which Nature made vs as a shadow wherein to abide euill Whereunto those thinges that are sweete are Adulterous filthy naught vaine fading and mixed with many and sundry miseries griefes troubles vexations But those things that are grieuous vnto it are of their owne nature good whole sound and voyd of sweetnesse Vnto it doe happen hot Tumors and Swellings superfluitie of Humours decay of Senses and corruption of the Bowels Wherewith the Soule must needes be very much grieued and payned being diffused and spread abroad through all the pores and passages to bind and tie all thinges togeather Whereby it commeth to passe that it now desireth the life Celestiall and niest to it of nature and thirsteth thereafter and after the Quire supernall For the loosing or departing out of this life is a passage from an euill thing vnto a good Axtoc Seeing Socrates that you doe iudge this life to be euill why doe you tarry or abide in it especially seeing you doe most of all meditate on these thinges and are ateacher of others and doest excell all the rest in minde Godly virtues Soc. Axiochus you are no sufficient witnesse for me but do thinke esteeme as doe the people of Athens But I would very gladly and wish in my heart to haue the knowledge of these common thinges and not to know thinges superfluous and vaine Those workes which we spake of are the declamations of Prodicus the Wise-man some bought for sixe pence some two groates and some foure for verily he teacheth nothing of free cost and hath alwayes in his mouth that saying of Epicharmus Manus manum lauat dans aliquid aliquid accipe i. The one hand washeth the other giue some thing and take some thing Meaning that one Good turne asketh another On the former dayes when in the house of Callias the sonne of Hippomous he declaymed he brought in so many thinges against life that it wanted but a litle but I euen then ended my life and from that time forward ô Axiochus my Minde doth die continually Axt. What then are those things that he there sayd I will rehearse them all so farre foorth as my memorie will serue mee and thus he sayd What part of life is not full of euilles Doth not the Infant yet scarcely borne foorth-with waile and weepe and beginneth it life with sorrow neither is there any griefe wanting but cryeth and weepeth either for Parentes or want of necessaries or for cold or for heat or for hurtes He cannot yet in words tell what he ayleth he weepeth and cryeth with voyce onely voyce hath he without wordes as a signe of griefe which he endureth Now when he hath fulfilled the seauenth yeare of his age he is troubled and turmoylad with very many labours for then come vp Schoolemaisters and Teachers Alphabetaries and Gramarians with such others and doe beare rule ouer him none otherwise then a Tyrant Then when he is some-what more growen Censores of Arithmeticke Distributors of Geometrie and innumerable Maisters besides these doe beare rule ouer him And whē he is become a stripling then doth Feare circumuent him the Vniuersitie Prentiship Sceptres and the immoderate flowing and rage of euils doe dispossesse him of the pleasures wherein his heart delighteth All the time and course of his youth he is kept in holden vnder by the Censorers of Manners and abideth the sentence of most seuere and vncorrupted Iudges And when he is freed or loosed from their sentence then Care Consultations aduisements come creeping vpō him while he reasoneth discourseth within himselfe what path and course of life is best for him to follow so that by the comparison of the laboures and troubles that are to come those that are past doe seeme both light and onely to be feared of Infantes For then arise expeditions of Warre and Woundes and often Skirmiges Conflictes and Battailes At the length old wrinckled crooking Age creepeth vpon him vpon the which there altogeather floweth euery foule filthie and vncureable euill of Nature as a Banker looketh for aduantage Nature requireth her Pledges of this man Sight of that man Hearing of an other them both which if any doe restore then doth he dissolue waxe weake lame may med and impotent Many liue euen to the vtmost boundes of Old age but then they are in minde twise Children fond decrepite Wherefore God in prouiding for Mans matters doth in a short time call againe vnto himselfe those whom he loueth Therefore Agamedes and Triphonius when they went vnto the Temple of the God Apollo and had prayed for that thing which is the best of all other they straight way fell so fast asleepe that they neuer wakened after The same also happened vnto the Priestes of luno in the Citie Argos when their Mother had prayed for some good gift to be giuen to her Sonnes It should be prolixious and tedious to rehearse the sentences of Poets who in diuine heauenly Poesies doe deplore the Calamities of humaine life I will rehearse one notable and famous Poet that speaketh to this purpose in these wordes The Gods haue decreed that miserable mortall men should liue in perpetuall sorrow Neither is there any thing vpon the earth more miserable then man Therefore they say that Amphirarus was chosen of Iupiter and Apollo with a wonderfull great affect and yet notwithstanding he attained not to the age of an Old man And what dost thou thinke of him who biddeth him that is new borne to bewaile the miserie of his owne life But I will now leaue off least I should seeme to stray and wander wider and farther then my purpose was Who is there I pray you that doth not greatly complaine of that Studie Art Science Trade and Course of life which himselfe hath chosen
thinges and contemplating the hidden secrets of Philosophie not verily vnto the grace of the multitude or Theatre but to the obiect of perspicuous trueth Axio Your Oration hath drawne my Minde and mooued mee to affect the contrarie to that it did before I am now quite changed for I now doe not feare Death but doe wish it But as it is the manner of Rethoricians I also abounding will expresse some thing For now ô Socrates I am caried from hence vp on high and doe run thorow the Diuine circuite and heauenly Throne And being deliuered out of this Weakenesse I am renewed so that I am become altogeather new nothing that I was before Soc. I will also shew and declare vnto you if it please you what Gobrias the Magian did teach mee For sayd hee at that time when as Xerxes passed into Greece with an Armie his Grandfather Gobrias by name was sent into Delos to keepe the Ile werein there were extant two Gods where he sayd That of certaine Brasen Tables which Opis and Hecaergos brought out of the North partes that he learned that in the solution of the Body the Soule doth flit into a hidden place vnder the Earth wherein is the Kingdome of Juno not a straiter Haule of Iupiter because the Earth must holde the middle of the World that must be the sphericall heauen whose one Hemisphere the Gods and Saintes doe enioy The other the Inferiours partly Breathren of the heauenly Saintes partly the children of the Brethren But the places without are the Prouinces of Pluto which are bound and enuironed with Walles Rayles Barres and Chaynes of Iron First doth the Riuer Acheron part these places insunder and then the Riuer Cocytus doth separate them which when silly Soules haue passed ouer they must needes be brought before the vpright Iudges Minos and Radamanthus to wit into that Region which is called Veritatis Campus 〈◊〉 The Field of Trueth Where they sitte in Iudgement examining the life of euery one that commeth vnto them Heere no man can boulster or defend himselfe with lyes Whosoeuer then hath been ledde heere in this life by the good Spirit doe passe ouer into the place of the Godly where the Spring lasteth euer and aboundeth with Fruites of euery kind and floweth with Springs of most cleare and shining Waters and Meadowes moreouer very pleasant and bedecked with faire florishing Flowers of sundry colours and sweete smelling sauours Neither is there wanting the fellowship of Philosophers nor Theatre of Poets There are the companie of Singing-men and Quiristers There is Musicke Singinges and sweete Concentes Pleasant Bankets and Holy and often Meetinges inuiolable ioy of Drinkers and sweete liuing togeather There is no excesse of Heate or cold but the nature of the Ayre is holesome tempered with light beames of the Sunne Here are the Seates of purged Soules where they celebrate the Diuine mysteries What then hindreth but that there may be giuen vnto you first honour and reward seeing you deriue your originall from God Contrarily those that haue defyled their liues with wickednesse are of the Hollish furies sodainely snatched through Hell into Chaos and Herebus the deepest Pit of all where lyeth the Prouince of the Wicked and the vaine labours of the Daughters of Danaeus who in vaine doe labour to fill the Tunne with water out of whose sides filled full of holes the water runneth so fast as they put it in where is the thirst of Tantulus the bowels of Titius the perpetuall rowling Stone of Sisyphus Whereas raging wild Beastes byting Wormes and stinging Serpentrs doe inseparably fould about the Bodyes Where inextinguible Firebrandes that can neuer be put out doe burne vp their flesh Where wicked men are punished with all kind of tormentes and are for euer-more vexed with perpetuall paine These thinges I heard of Gobrias But you O Axiochus shall iudge of these thinges for I being constrayned by reason doe plainely and firmely know this onely that euery Soule remayneth Immortall and that that which goeth pure from these places doe liue without sorrowfulnesse Wherefore O Axiochus whether you goe vpward or downeward it can none otherwise be but you must needes be blessed if so be you doe liue holily and godlily Axi I am ashamed ô my deare friend Socrates and it abasheth mee to speake any further The feare of Death is so farre from mee now that I now doe most earnestly desire to die Your former speach as though it were a Celestiall and Heauenly Oracle hath so perswaded mee Now therefore I doe despise this life seeing that I am about to goe into a better more desired place Wherefore these thinges that are thus spoken I will quietly marke ponder and meditate by my selfe And you ô Socrates I pray you come againe vnto me at afternoone Soc. I will doe as you say But I will now returne againe vnto Cynosarges to walke there fore my recreation from whence I was brought hither vnto you Heere endeth Xenocrates Booke concerning Death Mecaenas good I â—raue of thee my Patron for to bee Gainst carping Zoilus cankred corps and censures bad of mee FINIS Imprinted at London by W. White for R. Bolton and W. White 1611.