oftentimes cruell death What comfort can such a bodie haue if hee thinke that there is no other rewarde after this life nor anie better estate for him then for the most wicked and abhominable person in the worlde And although none of all this shoulde euer happen to good men yet what contentation coulde they finde in all the rewardes which they shoulde receiue in this worlde for recompence of their vertue It is an easie matter to iudge by this that the memorie of the name and prayse of well-doing doeth not alwayes take effect neither is it alwayes due to them that haue it but oftentimes verie vniustly giuen But from thee ARAM wee shall receiue more full instruction touching this matter Of that praise and reward which wisedome and vertue may receiue of men in this world how miserable it is if there be no better prepared for them els-where how death would be more grieuous and lamentable to the best learned and wisest men then to the ignorant and foolish if the soule were mortall how the best and most certaine iudgement of men is for the immortalitie of the soule of them who not beleeuing the same say that it is good for men to be in such an errour Chap. 95. ARAM. If the Philosophers might draw many arguments of great waight from the natural desires of men to proue the immortality of soules this which we haue now to propound of the purpose reward which euery one naturally desireth is of great consideration touching this matter For it is very certain that the best most iust among mē albeit they could auoide all hurt from wicked men wherewith commonly they are rewarded from procuring their good yet they should not enioy any true and sound contentation in any of these rewardes which they might haue in this world as a recompence of their vertue But rather whilest they were expecting and hoping for them they should be euer in doubt and feare of missing them by reason of the inconstancie of men and of the vncertaintie of all humane things So that nature might well seeme to haue giuen vnto them this desire of praise and of reward if they should neuer enioy their desire els-where but in this present life Whereof wee may easily iudge by the reasons that are to be set downe For the first the memory of a mans name and the praise for wel doing doth not alwaies come to passe neither doth it fal out aright in regard of all but is for the most part very vniust For how often is glorie and honour attributed to vices yea to very execrable crimes and to the wicked whereas it ought to be giuen to vertue and to good men And if these haue sometime any commendation yet it is very sparing But it falleth out much woorse when vertue receiueth blame in stead of praise And when something is giuen to them vnto whom it appertaineth it cannot be stretched out farre by reason of the diuersity and contrarietie of natures of minds and of opinions of the manners of men and of people and nations For howe often commeth it to passe that some condemne and blame that which others approoue and prayse Yea manie times one and the same man will contradict himselfe through the inconstancie of his iudgement nowe dispraysing that which before hee had praysed and contrariwise On the other side albeit fame and commendation should be neuer so great yet it could not bee of any long continuance considering that time consumeth and bringeth an ende to all that is vnder the heauens Moreouer we see what great alterations are daily wrought by time and although praise were perpetuall among the liuing yet what could it profite the dead or what feeling can they haue of that more then of blame and infamie For the praise which good kings and Princes haue purchased by their vertues and the memorie they haue left behinde them among men can profit them no more in regard of the world then the memorie of that infamie and dispraise which tyrants haue left behind them can doe them any hurt For how wel or ill soeuer men speake and thinke one of another the dead haue no sense at all thereof Yea it is likely that they care not greatly for it and that they rest neuer the lesse at their ease for all that Therefore wee may well conclude that notwithstanding all the praise and reward which wisedome and vertue can receiue from men in this world yet they are still very miserable if there be no better prouided for them else where And if wise and vertuous men hope for another rewarde they must needes beleeue a second life in which they shall bee recompensed for their good and iust works But further when a learned and wise man hath by his spirite discoursed and gone through the heauens the planets and starres beasts men and through all nature yea hath reached to the Angels and euen to God himselfe the Creator and king of the whole worlde and hath passed through all histories both new old and hath gotten the knowledge of all things contained in them that haue come to passe in the world I pray you let vs consider what hee can be tolde of that wil be more grieuous more bitter and feareful vnto him then of death and what consolation can he receiue when hee shall vnderstand that his soule which hath seene and beheld so great riches so many goodly and excellent things and which hath beene as it were the storehouse and treasurie of them shall be wholly extinguished in the middest of such a goodly pleasaunt and wonderfull scaffold and theatre that is so excellently adorned with all kinde of beautie so that it shall neuer be againe at any time or in any place nor shal haue any more sense and feeling then the soule of a beast hath What is he who after such a consideration of death should not haue great cause to feare it in so great misery as may befall him in this life Doe we thinke that these men among the Heathen who haue heeretofore slain themselues to eschew the hands of their enemies and that shame and infamie which they feared to receiue among men and who haue accounted it an acte of great vertue and constancie to kill themselues in that maner for the auoyding of shame would haue done that which they did if they had not thought that there had beene another life besides this At leastwise Cato Vticensis for his part part testifieth this vnto vs who the same night in which hee had purposed to kill himselfe which he did because he would not fal into the hands and subiection of Iulius Caesar against whom he had taken Armes in that ciuil warre caused those Dialogues of Plato to bee read vnto him in which hee mainteineth and confirmeth the immortalitie of the soule according to the doctrine of his master Socrates We may then iudge by the contrarie what consolation it is to a
our Will to be seruiceable to him that hath bestowed it freely vpon vs as wee ought also to perfourme the like seruice vnto him with our minde and reason wherewith he hath endued vs for the ruling and direction of the Will But when our Will taketh any other obiect beside obedience to God it proceedeth from the same cause that blindeth our minde and reason namely sinne which reigneth in vs through the corruption of our nature as wee haue already touched it Neuertheles that which I haue said is alwaies true that the wil hath Good in such sort for her obiect that she cannot truly without dissembling Will that which is euil if it hath no shew or reason of some good But notwithstanding she hath free libertie yet is shee so ordeyned of God that shee cannot will that which is euill but onely that which is good whether it bee good in trueth or in opinion onely For if shee were not created and ordayned of GOD to desire and followe after good there woulde bee no cause why she shoulde loue or desire vertue more then vice or loue God rather then hate him But wee must consider diuers degrees in the actions of Will and in the freedome theereof For some there are whose heart and Will agree so together that there is no dissimulation neither any commaundement of the Will eyther towardes it selfe or towardes any other but it heartily desireth or refuseth that which it seeketh after or escheweth As we may say of an ambitious man that hee doeth truely and with all his heart desire honour and glorie as also a couetous man doeth riches But there are other actions of the Will wherein she commaundeth her selfe or els the inferiour powers that are subiect vnto her as wee see in a man infected with the dropsie who beeing verie drye and thirstie desireth greatly to drinke But this appetite that commeth from the senses of the bodie is restrayned by the Will that hath power ouer it which knowing what hurt would issue thereof to the sicke partie commandeth this appetite and appoynteth that hee shall not drinke The reason why she will haue it so is to the ende that the patient might auoyde greater euill then that which hee endureth knowing well that to drinke woulde hurt him more then helpe him because the thirstinesse woulde not bee taken from him but encreased Wherefore although the sensuall appetite putteth the patient in minde to desire drinke yet Will following the iudgement of Reason opposeth it selfe against this appetite and commaundeth it selfe to abstain also the outward members as namely the mouth not to drink and the handes not to giue it any drinke Now if it so fall out that the Will giue place to the appetite it is alwayes with her consent and that because shee agreeth rather vnto the sensuall appetite then vnto Reason Which agreement proceedeth of her impatiencie and incontinencie because she hath not patience to stay for the better but rusheth vpon that pleasure which at that present seemeth best vnto her and neerest at hand Therfore it is alwayes requisite that the grace of God should gouerne our minde and will to perswade them euermore to counsaile and to imbrace the best otherwise wee shall make choyce of the worst and of euill rather then of good Which we shall easily vnderstand if we consider what good things the wisest and most vertuous men guided only by the light of nature are able to propound to themselues and to follow and what difference in that poynt there is betwixt them and those whome God doeth guide and gouerne by his spirite The discourse then of this matter belongeth to thee ARAM. Of those good things which both men guided onely by the light of nature are able to propound to themselues and to follow and they also that are guided by the spirite of God of the power and libertie of the Will in her actions both externall and internall Chap. 35. ARAM. Among the heathen Philosophers there haue alwayes beene some great personages endued with excellent doctrine who seemed to haue bene led with a burning affection towards good and vertuous things this no man can deny But if we compare them that haue had none but naturall light with them who beleeuing the worde of life haue receiued that light which the spirite of GOD hath kindeled in their heartes and mindes wee shall finde very great difference betwixt them For they that followe the light of nature take not an infinite spirituall and eternall good which is God for the obiect of that good which they desire but a finite carnall and temporarie good and that also no farther then their reason and sense iudge it good for mankinde or for the societie of men or for themselues and those whome they loue The like respect they haue in eschewing euill which they iudge contrary to such a good And yet there are very fewe that goe so farre who giue not themselues to vertue rather for their owne profite or glorie then for the loue they beare to vertue or to the benefite of the common societie of men And surely I thinke that if glorie had not more mooued so many excellent men as haue beene heeretofore among the Grecians Latines and other heathen people and nations then their loue to vertue and to thinges profitable for the common wealth they woulde not willingly haue incurred so great dangers to effect so many valiant deedes as Histories specifie of them neyther woulde they haue set vertue at so high a price if no glorie or profite shoulde haue redounded to them in following her or at leastwise in seeming to seeke after her If any haue beene founde to haue done otherwise as wee reade of some it is to bee attributed to a speciall grace that God hath bestowed vpon them in their ignorance more then to others But yet all this would bee nothing or very litle seeing the good which the Will propoundeth to it selfe and pursueth in this sort is not the true and soueraigne good which of it selfe is able to make men blessed Wee are then to knowe that the wisest and most vertuous men guided onely by the light of naturall reason doe not propounde to themselues nor seeke after any other good then that which consisteth in ciuill honestie in worldly honour and glorie in this bodily life and in the commodities thereof and in those delightes and pleasures which their humane sense and reason desire according as some delight eyther in the knowledge of thinges or in ciuill and morall vertues or in honours or in riches and in such like thinges Yea the best that euer were among the Heathen and the wisest of this worlde that are like vnto them neuer went farther neyther in deede coulde For seeing they knowe not GOD truely they can neither loue him nor seeke after him either because they are not throughly perswaded that there is a God or if they bee sure of that yet
good and wise man against all the miseries that can befall him in this world if he knoweth and is assuredly perswaded that there is a resting place prepared for him not therein to be depriued of all sense of good and euill as they imagine who seeke for rest in death without all hope of another life but a place of happines for them that with a good heart and Will haue giuen themselues to vertue and holinesse which is appointed by God who is aliust almightie and algood For what rest can that thing find which is not at all So that if man bee no more after the death of the bodie then death cannot bring him any rest at all And therefore wee may say of this rest that as God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing according to the testimonie of Iesus Christ so rest is not for them that are not but for them that are For rest presupposeth a beeing because the thing it selfe must needes be as well as the rest that belongeth to it otherwise neither of them both should haue any being Thus then we may iudge after so many reasons taken from nature and hauing had so many testimonies as haue hitherto beene alleged from the authoritie and sayings of men on which side the truth is most certaine whether with them who haue all good and wise men on their side or with the other who haue none but foolish and wicked men Wee haue then in this matter which now wee follow the iudgement authoritie and sentence of all the greatest and most excellent men in the world with the greatest and chiefest part of all mankinde Vnto whose testimony we may further adde religion iustice holines and all vertues which are so grounded and laide vpon the immortalitie of mans soule that if this foundation bee taken from them they are altogether ouerthrowen For albeit they haue their chiefest foundation in God neuerthelesse he hath so ordained and ordered them that they cannot take place if there be no immortalitie of soules and that for the reasons alreadie declared It followeth then well that trueth is on their side For trueth will rather stande for them then for vices villanies and notorious wickednesse vnto which the mortality of the soule is more agreeable then the immortalitie And if all the Philosophers were not able to attaine to the knowledge of the soules nature nor define the immortalitie thereof wee ought not to bee greatly abashed if such as were most ignorant vile and abiect of them as they are called by some of the best of the Ancients abused themselues so grossely and spake so vnreuerently seeing many of the greater sort and of good account fell so shamefully and shewed themselues to be woorser then beastes in some things whereof a man may iudge by the outwarde senses For haue there not some beene founde who albeeit they sawe the snowe white yet they durst maintaine that it was blacke and that pepper was white and although they felt the fire hote and burning yet affirmed that it was colde But for this time let vs leaue the opinions of Philosophers and speake somewhat of them who although they doe not beleeue the immortalitie of soules nor yet all that is spoken of GOD or of religion say notwithstanding that it is good for the life of man that men shoulde bee of that opinion without which humane societie could not be kept inuiolable neither would men do any thing as they ought if they were not as it were with a bridle kept backe by this feare that there is another life after this and that there are gods to take vengeance of such as haue done euill And therefore they say that feare ws the first that made gods Heereof they conclude that religion is nothing but onely in opinion yea that it is nothing else but superstition which proceedeth from this foolish opinion But seeing this errour serueth for the benefit of mans life it is good say they to vpholde it and to confirme men therein And they that vse this speech are none of them that are taken to bee fooles and ignoraunt persons but of the greater and skilfuller sort of people yea of the wisest men of the worlde according to the iudgement of men For when wee speake of good men and such as are wise wee must iudge of them according to the matter which wee handle and according to the iudgement of God in his worde Therefore if according to this reason wee iudge of these men of whome wee nowe speake they shall be found to be the grosest and most blockish beasts that the earth beareth For all science wisedome and greatnes separated from vertue are not the things themselues indeed but brutishnesse rather and vile basenesse And if we iudge otherwise what is all the knowledge wisedome greatnesse that is in all men in respect of that which is in one Deuil onely For what want the deuils from being Angels like to those blessed Angels that continue still in their obedience vnto God If there be any question made for greatnesse of spirite they are all spirite If for such wisedome and knowledge as the cunning and wise men of this worlde haue of whome haue worldly wise men learned their skill but of them in comparison of whom they are but young schollers If the question bee for greatnesse what King or Prince in the worlde is so great as they For who is called the prince of this worlde by Iesus Christ the God of this worlde by Saint Paul principalities powers worldly gouernours and the princes of the darknesse of this worlde Are not the deuils so called who rule and gouerne the great ones of the whole worlde that are great indeede according to men but not according God What then doe they want of beeing celestiall Angels but vertue and goodnesse But because these men of whome wee speake nowe beleeue not that there are Angels or diuels wee will beate them with other arguments For of these men also there bee some that say wee must hue as the most doe but followe the opinion of the fewest Nowe then when they woulde haue men to bee perswaded to vertue and to doe their duetie by lying and errour namely by intertayning in them an opinion of religion and of a second life although there bee no such thing is not this a very proper meanes to call all trueth into question and to trample all vertue vnder foote For if any propounde the immortalitie of soules vnto men not as if it were a true matter but as a fayned and false thing which yet they would haue them beleeue as true to the ende that through the feare of Gods iudgement they might bee kept backe from euill and lead vnto goodnesse euerie one may guesse easily howe men will dispence with themselues when they once knowe that whatsoeuer is spoken and propounded vnto them is but as a scarre-crowe to make them afraide as wee vse to
French Academy as it is diuided into seuerall dayes workes and distinguished by Chapters The first dayes worke Pag. 15 OF the creation of the first man and of the matter whereof the body of man is made Chap. 1. 22 Of the creation of woman Chap. 2. 28 Of the simple or similarie parts of the body namely the bones ligaments gristles sinowes pannicles cords or filaments vaines arteries and flesh Chap. 3. 34 Of the compound parts of the body and first of the feete and legges and of the armes and hands Chap. 4. 41 Of the backbone of the marrow thereof of the ribs and of other bones of mans body Chap. 5. 47 Of the share bone and marrow of the bones of the bones in the head and of the flesh of the muscles and of their office Chap. 6. 52 Of the kernels in the body and of their sundry vses especially of the breasts of women of their beauty and profite in the nourishing of children and of the generation of milke Chap. 7. 57 Of the fatte and skins of mans body and of their vse of the haires thereof Chap. 8. The second dayes worke 62 Of the bodily and external sences especially of touching of their members instruments and offices Chap. 9. 67 Of the eyes and of their excellency profite and vse of the matter and humors whereof they are made Chap. 10. 73 Of the tunicles and skinnes of the eyes of their forme motions of their sundry coulors of the sinewes whereby they receiue sight and of other parts about the eyes Chap. 11. 79 Of the eares and of their composition office and vse Chap. 12. 85 Of the diuers vses of the tongue of the instrumēts necessary both for voyce and speach howe there is a double speach of the forme thereof how the spirite of man is represented thereby Chap. 13. 91 Of the agreement which the instruments of the voyce and speach haue with a payre of Organs what things are to be considered in placing of the lungs next the heart of the pipes and instruments of the voyce Chap. 14. 96 Of the tongue and of the nature and office thereof of the excellency profite of speach which is the art of the tongue what is to bee considered touching the situation thereof in the head and neare the braine Chap. 15. 103 Of the office of the tongue in tasting and in preparing meat for the nourishment of the body of the teeth and of their nature and office of the conduite or pipe that receiueth and swalloweth downe meates Chap. 16. The third dayes worke 108 OF the sence of tast giuen to the palal what tastes are good to nourish the body of the diuersitie of them of hunger and thirst and of their causes Chap. 17. 113 Of helps and creatures meete for the preseruation and nourishment of the body how God prepareth them to serue for that purpose of their vse Chap. 18. 119 Of the nose and of the sence of smelling and of their profit and vse of the composition matter and forme of the nose Chap. 19. 124 Of the vse briefly of all the outward sences of mans body namely in purging the superfluities and ordures of his nose of the diuersity that is in mens faces and of the image of the minde and heart in them Chap. 20. 130 Of the nature faculties and powers of mans soule of the knowledge which we may haue in this life and how excellent necessary it is into what kinds the life and soule are diuided Chap. 21. 136 Of the two natures of which man is compounded how the body is the lodge and instrument of the soule how the soule may be letted from doing her proper actions by the body and be separated from it and yet remaine in her perfection Chap. 22. 142 Of the braine and of the nature therof of the sundry kinds of knowledge that are in man of the similitude that is betweene the actions and workes of the naturall vertues of the soule and of the internall senses Chap. 23. 147 Of the composition of the braine with the members and parts thereof of their offices and that knowledge which ought to content vs touching the principall cause of the vertues and wonderfull powers of the soule Chap. 24. The fourth dayes worke 148 OF the seate of voluntary motion and sense of the office and nature of the common sense of imagination and of fantasie how light and dangerous fantasie is of the power which both good and bad spirits haue to mooue it Chap. 25. 158 Of reason and memorie and of their seate nature office of the agreement which all the senses both external and internall haue one with another and of their vertues Chap. 26. 164 That the internall senses are so distinguished that some of them may bee troubled and hindered and the rest bee safe and whole according as their places and instruments assigned vnto them in the body are sound or perished and of those that are possessed with deuils Chap. 27. 170 Of the reasonable soule and life and of vertue of the vnderstanding and will that are in the soule and of their dignity and excellency Chap. 28. 176 Of the variety and contrarietie that is found in the opinions deliberations counsayles discourses and iugdements of men with the cause thereof and of the good order and ende of all discourses Chap. 29. 182 Of iudgement and of his office after the discourse of reason and how beliefe opinion or doubting followe it of the difference that is betweene them Chap. 30. 187 Of the meanes whereby a man may haue certaine knowledge of those things which hee ought to beleeue and to take for true of the naturall and supernatural light that is in man and how they beare witnesse of the image of God in him Chap. 31. 192 How the vertues and powers of the soule shew themselues by litle and litle and by degrees of contemplation and of the good that is in it of that true and diuine contemplation which wee looke for after this life Chap. 32. The fift dayes worke 198 OF the appetites that are in all liuing creatures and namely in man and of their kinds and particularly of the naturall and sensitiue appetite Chap. 33. 203 Of will and of the diuers significations and vses of these words Reason and Will of the actions freedome and nature thereof of the power which reason may haue ouer her Chap. 34. 208 Of those good things which both men only guided by the light of nature are able to propound to themselues and to follow and they also that are guided by the spirit of God of the power and liberty of the will in her actions both externall and internall Chap. 35. 214 Of the distinction that ought to bee betweene the vnderstanding knowledge and the will and affections in the soule and betweene the scates and instruments which they haue in the body of the agreement that is betweene the heart and the braine Chap. 36. 219 Of the
and of the waters and cloudes contayned therein and in what perils men are 〈◊〉 why the soule and blood are put one for another of the temperature of the humors necessarie for the health and life of the body of the causes of health and of diseases and of life and death Chap. 65. 368 Of the vses and commodities of the humors ioyned with the blood and what vessels are assigned vnto them in the body and of their nature and offices and first of the cholericke humor and of the spleene then of the flegmaticke humor and of the kidneys and other vessels which it hath to purge by Chap. 66. 373 Of the names whereby the humors of the body are commonly called with the causes wherefore of the comparison betweene the corruption and temperature of the humors of the body and betweene the manners and the affections of the soule of the meanes whereby the humors corrupt and of the feauers and diseases engendred thereby of the sundry naturall temperatures in euery one Chap. 67. 379 Of the diuers temperatures and complexions of men according to the nature of humors that beare most sway in them of the disposition whereunto they are naturally mooued by them eyther to vertues or vices of the means to correct the vices and defects that may be in our naturall inclinations Chap. 68. 383 Of the restauration and reparation of all natures created by the generatiue power and vertue that is in them and namely in man what generation is and what the generatiue power of the soule is what the seede is and how generation proceedeth of strength and of infirmity Chap. 69. 388 Of the powers of the generatiue vertue and of their offices of the principall cause why God gaue to man the power of generation in what sence the reines are taken for the seate of generation how we ought rightly to consider of the generation of man Chap. 70. 393 Of the fashion of a childe in the wombe and how the members are framed one after another in the mothers belly of the time and daies within which a child is perfectly fashioned Chap. 71. 398 Of childbirth and the natural causes thereof of the great prouidence of God appearing therein of the image of our eternall natiuitic represented vnto vs in our mortall birth Chap. 72. The tenth dayes worke 404 WHy God created man naked and with lesse natural defence then he did all other liuing creatures how many wayes he recompenceth this nakednesse of the generall beauty of the whole body of man ioyned with profite and commodity Chap. 73. 409 Whether the life of the body can proceede eyter of the matter or of the composition forme and figure or of the qualities thereof or else of the harmony coniunction and agreement of all these whether any of these or al of them together can be the soule of the length and shortnes of the diuers degrees and ages and of the ende of mans life of death and of the causes both of life and death of the difference that is betweene naturall and supernaturall Philosophy in the consideration of things Chap. 74. 414 Of the causes generally of the length and shortnesse of bodily life of naturall and of violent death in what maner the life of man consisteth in his breath of the principall things required to life and without which it cannot be of the difference betwixt the life of men and the life of beastes of the image of the spirituall death in the corporall of the true comfort which wee ought to haue therein Chap. 75. 420 Of the chiefe consolations which the wisest among the Pagans and Infidels could draw from their humane reason and naturall Philosophy against death of the blaspemies vsed by Atheists and Epicures against God and nature what nature is and who they be that attribute vnto it that which they ought to attribute to God Chap. 76. 426 That there is but one soule in euery seuerall body that one and the some soule hath in it all those vertues and powers whose effects are dayly seene of the seate of the soule in the body and of the principall instrument thereof of the vnion of the body and soule of the diuers degrees of nature and of the excellency that is in it of the fountaines and bounds of all the powers and vertues of the soule Chap. 77. 432 Of the nature and varietie of the animal spirits how they are only instruments of the soule and not the soule it selfe of the nature of those bodies wherin the soule may dwell and worke of the difference that is not onely betweene the soule and the instrumente by which it worketh but also betweene the instruments themselues and their natures and offices and which of them are nearest or farthest off of the degrees that are in the vnion and coniunction of the soule with the body Chap. 78. 438 Of the diuisions of man made in the holy scriptures aswell in respect of the soule as of the body in what significations the names of soule spirit and heart are vsed therein and the causes why of the intier sanctification of man how the soule is taken for the life and for the members and instrumentes of nourishment and for nourishment it selfe Chap. 79. 444 What is meant by a liuing soule what by a sensuall and naturall body and what by a spirituall body how the name of soule is taken for all the desires of the flesh and for all things belonging to this life and not onely for the whole person aliue but also for the person being dead and for a dead 〈…〉 for the spirite sepâ—rate from the body Chap. 80. The Eleuenth dayes worke 490 WHether the soule of man is engendred with the body and of the same substance that the body is of or whether it be created by it selfe and of another substance whether it be needefull for vs to knowe what the soule is and what is the eâ—â—ence thereof or onely to knowe of what qualitie it is with the workes and effects thereof Chap. 81. 495 Whether there be any thing mortall in the soule of man of the distinction betweene the soule and the powers of it of the opinion of Philosophers and what agreement is betweene them touching the soule of brute beasts and the nature and substance of it of their opinion that deriue the soule of man and the soule of beasts from one souâ—taine of them that ascend higher and of their reasoâ—â— Chap. 82. 499 Of the opinion of Galen of Plato and of Aristotle touching the substance and nature of mans soule of the opinion of Occâ—m touching the vegetatiue and sensitue power thereof and of the distinction of soules he maketh in man of the sentence of the Platonists and of Origen touching the creation birth and nature of the soule of the coniunction of the soule with the body and the estate thereof in the same Chap. 83. 503 Of the opinion of the Platonists and some others touching the substance of mens
agreement might soone bee made if the word of God onely might be the iudge of true false religion For all that feare God and are carefull to doe nothing contrary to their duety that accompt the holy scriptures to be the true doctrine of the spirite of God and are assuredly perswaded that there is another life after this and a iudge before whome they must appeare they I say are not so hardly induced to peace and concord but that a man may hope well of them But they that feare nothing that call all things into question that esteeme all religion to be opinions only tormenting mens braynes they likewise that stifly resist euen the trueth it selfe whereof their owne consciences conuince them labouring as much as lyeth in them to extinguish not onely the light of God within them but that also which they learne in his word such monsters I say will trouble all Christendome more then the contentions about religion vnles the goodnes of God prouide some conuenient remedy for the same For they must be taught to beleeue one God one Iesus Christ the immortalitie of the soule the resurrection of the body a second euerlasting life full of ioy and happinesse for good iust men but full of griefe and paine for the wicked and vniust generally they must be taught to beleeue whatsoeuer we learne in the holy scriptures concerning the creation and end of euery nature These things being spirituall and heauenly cannot be seene nor comprehended without a celestiall and supernaturall light nor without spirituall eyes ioyned with the vertue and power of the spirite of God who onely is able to clarifie our eyes and to giue them sight For albeit God gaue spirituall eyes to man when hee endued him with a reasonable and vnderstanding soule yet they are euen blind through sinne if they alwayes haue not God that great and euerlasting Sunne to illuminate them with his diuine light as the eyes of the body remaine in darkenesse when bodily light is taken from them Hereupon they are called blind in holy scripture that haue not the true knowledge of God by the light of his word For although they that are most ignorant haue some little knowledge and sence of the diuinitie by that small remnant of naturall light which man receiued at his first creation neuerthelesse because this sparkle is so small in regard of that darkenesse which filleth the mind of man it is not sufficient to leade them to God and to the right way of saluation Therefore they soone goe astray and wander hither and thither and for the most part followe superstition in place of religion and lies in stead of trueth because it is an easie matter for the deuill to disguise his inuentions vnder a false shew of piety that they may not discerne betweene trueth and falsehood betweene that which God liketh and which he disliketh For seeing the sparke of naturall light in mans vnderstanding is so small there needeth no great troubling of the spirite neyther any great impediments to bee cast in his way to confound and amaze him and to take away or vtterly to ouerturne his iudgement whereby to makâ— him as vnable to iudge of the trueth as a blind man is to iudge of colours But they are in farre worse case that voluntarily separate themselues from all truth both naturall and supernaturall For they easily beleeue that which the Epicures long since taught against the immortalitie of soules and against the prouidence of God towards men insomuch that they hold this for most certaine that the soule perisheth as the body doth and that there is no God that intermedleth in the gouernment of humane affaires but that they are guided eyther by fortune or by prudence or by the folly of men according as matters fall out I quake to thinke that such monsters are to be found amongst them that berare the name of Christians and haue in former times receiued the markes and seales of Christianitie in the Church of Iesus Christ But my quaking is doubled when I consider that many of them that professe learning and humane philosophie and that are thought to haue most skilfull sharpe and subtill wits are not onely infected with this execrable Atheisme but professe it open a schoole thereof and know how to poyson many with it For as there was neuer yet opinion error or heresie so strange or monstrous in the world that hath not alwayes found men ynowe to receiue it so long as there were Authors and masters to set it abroach so these professours of Atheisme are neuer without great store of disciples because after this maner God punisheth the curiosity ingratitude and peruersenesse of men the contempt of his word and hatred of the trueth which is commonly in them as also the pleasure they take in vanitie and lies Therefore God by his iust iudgement giueth them ouer into a reprobate sense so that they cannot but alwayes reiect the trueth and imbrace error and lying as he often threatneth them by the mouth of his Prophets and Apostles Examples hereof wee see dayly in such as thinke themselues the wisest men who haue this in their cogitation if they dare not speake it openly that it belongeth not to men of wit to beleeue in God and his word but to such as are simple and foolish not to these great and noble spirits that flie aboue the clouds who in trueth know more then they should to bring them to that place of weeping and gnashing of teeth We are to liue my companions amongst such kind of men and I suppose that ye as well as my selfe haue heard some of them speake especially since of late times the seruice of Princes hath longer retayned vs neere vnto them then we were wont in our yong yeers when the study of good letters did wholy possesse vs. Therefore we ought to be very desirous to fortifie our selues dayly with strong and powerfull reasons against whatsoeuer wee may heare vttered by these scorners of all pietie not for feare that wee shall at any time bee deceiued by them for I am most assured of the graces and gifts which we haue receiued from God but that we may haue abundantly wherewith to resist the vaine and weake arguments of these deceiuers when wee light among them especially in the company of ignorant folks whom they may easily draw to their side if we should be silent Besides although we should not be able to confound them by reason of their obstinacy yet we shall at the least giue them occasion to thinke more seriously of their error I know well what small accompt they make of the testimonies of holy scriptures and how they esteeme of them but as of fables and dreames made by some doters and idle persons for so they call the Patriarks Prophets and Apostles As for the writings of Philosophers they will beleeue Epieurus Pliny Lucretius Lucian and others of their sect who deny all diuinitie and
themselues vnder the vale thereof to the end that men should not take theÌ„ for such as they are indeed as also that they might keepe company with the best But in their hearts amongst their companions they mocke laugh at al religion at al feare of God whatsoeuer els is taught vs by his word touching any other life theÌ„ this wherin ioy is prepared for the good and torments for the wicked Nowe if there were nothing els to doe but to conuince such men of errour lying the matter were easie for they cary all their witnesses and their condemnatioÌ„ with them but they are not so easily confounded For a man is conuinced when he is constrained to acknowledge in his conscieÌ„ce that he hath no reason wherby he is able to withstand gainsay that trueth which is shewed vnto him which condemneth him But if he be obstinate head-strong wickedly giuen fâ—oward he will neuer leaue kicking against the pricke but perseuere in his headinâ—sse and obstinacie in his maliciousnes and peruersenes For wheÌ„ reason faileth him he armeth himselfe with impudencie like to a bold murtherer or to a shamelesse harlot that will blush at nothing Therefore Chrysostome said not without reason that heretiks may wel be conuinced but not confounded For they do but wipe their mouth as Salomon speaketh of an harlot which presently after boasteth that she is an honest woman But howsoeuer wicked men striue to blindfold their vnderstanding to harden their heart against the iudgement of God yet it is neuer propounded vnto them but will they nill they they feele themselues pricked and pressed with some sence thereof True it is that it is not so with them as the childreÌ„ of God are touched as they of whom it is written that after they had heard the preaching of Saint Peter they were pricked in their hearts whereby they were led to true repentance because they had bin touched to the quicke by the word But it is said of the reprobate and of them that are hardened of which sort are all Atheists that God hath giuen them a pricking spirite by reason of their bitter hâ—â—â—t which causeth them alwaies to increase in bitternesse to fret and chafe against God when they feele themselues pressed by his word and by his iudgement Therefore I am of opinion my companions that for this cause and for those reason which ASER recited vnto vs we are now to call to memory all the testimonies that we can bring of God of his prouidence of his iudgement and of the immortalitie of mens soules by the consideration of the nature of man and of his parts the body and soule expecting when sometime hereafter God shall giue vs grace to contemplate the selfe same things in euery nature and in all this great visible world For no doubt but such kind of contemplation will furnish vs sufficiently with arguments to conuince all Epicures and Atheists to constraine them to acknowledge in their conscience a diuine iustice and an eternall life The heauens saieth the Prophet declare the glory of God the firmament sheweth the worke of his hands This hie ornament this firmament so cleare and face of heauen so sumptuous to behold is a thing full of greatnesse Therein we may behold the Master builder thereof clothed with the whole frame as with a garment which is a sure testimonie of his power and vertue He who cannot fall within the compas of mans grosse sences maketh himselfe as it were visible in his terrible workes This worlde is vnto vs a learned schoole wherein the praise of God doth preach it selfe It is a goodly large rich shop wherein this soueraigne and most excellent workman layeth open all his works to this end that he might be knowen by them It is a temple wherein there is no creature so little but it is as it were a similitude and resemblance of the creator thereof to shew and manifest him vnto vs. In a word it is a Theatre where the diuine essence his iustice his prouidence his loue his wisedome haue their working by a wonderfull vertue in euery creature euen from the hiest heauen vnto the center of the earth Aske the beasts saith Iob and they shall teach thee and the foules of the heauen and they shal tel thee or speake to the earth and it shall shew thee or the fishes of the sea and they shall declare vnto thee Who is ignorant of all these but that the hand of the Lorde hath made these But truly there shineth in man more then in all other creatures a beame of the diuinity a proportionable image and similitude of his nature in that God hath framed him of an immortal soule capable of vnderstanding of reason to make him partaker of his eternal glory and felicity O Lord saith the Psalmist who marueilous is thy name in all the wolde What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the sonne of man that thou visitest him Thou hast made him a litle lower then God and crowned him with glory and worship Thou hast made him to haue dominion in the works of thine hands thâ—â— hast put all things vnder his feete But withall as God hath more expresly created man after his owne image then any other visible nature and therefore more excellent then the heauens or the earth or any thing contayned in them so he hath singulerly bound him to know and to honour him in which thing he hath placed his soueraigne Good But man being exalted by God to that honour that he might attaine to so great felicitie could not conceiue or acknowledge it which is the cause that we see so many who following the corruption of mans nature are not onely become like to brute beastes but much more vnthankefull yea farre more forgetfull miserable then they are The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his masters crib but man will not know God his creator of whome he holdeth body soule and goods What a horrible shame is it that the Oxe the Asse which are such dull beasts should giue greater honor and obedience to man of whom they receiue their food then man doth to God of whom he hath and dayly doth receiue so many benefits Let vs make hast therefore my companions to go to the schoole of nature For if we profite well therein I doubt not but we shall easily come to the knowledge of the creator thereof and of the chiefe end of our being ARAM. All things created haue their proper motion which they follow according to that loue that euery one of them beareth to his natural disposition For the heauens continue alwayes constant in their naturall motions And as the fire and ayre naturally loue to be aboue and therefore drawe thitherward without ceasing so the water and earth loue to keepe below so that they alwayes bend that wayes So that none of the elements can find any
the soule attained to the vnderstanding of the diuine essence Aristotle also taking the same way in his 8. booke of naturall Philosophy sheweth that he knew God vnder the name of the first moouer who was perpetual and vnmoueable But we may attaine to the knowledge of God of our selues a great deale better then al the Philosophers could who were ignorant of the true beginning and end of things if we be guided by the word which is the light of the trueth and whereof al the humane philosophy of the wisest that were is but a liâ—â—e shadow Now then if vnder this heauenly guide wee feede our spirites with a doctrine that teacheth man to know himselfe well wee beginne at that science which of all other is most necessary profitable and pleasant I say necessary as that which guideth and leadeth vs as it were by the hand to find out God profitable because it bringeth a maruailous commoditie to this present life both in regarde of bodily health as also of ruling all our actions according to vertue and pleasant because a man may see therein as it were in a sacred temple all the images of the wonderfull workes of the world ACHITOB. I cannot but greatly commend those Philosophers that reprehended and condemned them who spent all their time only in the contemplation of heauen and earth and of the nature of other creatures and in the meane while descended not into themselues to know themselues and their nature but especially their soule For what will it profite a man to take so great paines as to measure the whole world and to compasse on euery side all the elementarie region to knowe the things that are contained in them and their nature and yet in the meane time hee can not measure or knowe himselfe being but alittle handfull of earth For although the knowledge of the rest of the creatures that are in this great visible worlde will greatly helpe to leade him to the knowledge of God the Creatour neuerthelessâ— he shall neuer be able to know him well if withall he know not himselfe Yea these two knowledges are so ioyned togither that it is very hard matter to seuer them For as a man can not know himselfe if he know not God so he cannot know God wel if in like sort he know not himselfe So that I take this for most certain that neither Astronomy Geometry Geography or Cosmography nor any other Mathematical science is so necessary for man as that whereby he may learne to know himselfe wel to measure himselfe wel by the measure of his owne nature that he may thereby know how to contayne himselfe within the limits thereof As for Mathematicians natural Philosophers Phisicions who bestow their trauaile in the knowledge of nature and natural things and in the meane time forget God and themselues whereas they ought to learne both the one and the other by that knowledge that God hath giuen them of his works I say they are not worthy to be taken for naturall Philosophers Phisicions or Mathematicians but rather for blockheaded beasts In my opinion they behaue themselues as if a man should be alwayes occupied in looking vpon his house and handling of his mooueables and houshold stuffe and in the meane time did not put them to those principall and speciall vses for which they ought to serue but were altogether forget full of himselfe of his wife and of his children Moreouer concerning Phisicions if their care to know their own soule with the nature and parts therof be not more to minister that food and phisicke which is necessary for it to liue wel and happily and that for euer then to know the nature of mens bodies that they may cure others it may worthly be said vnto them Phisicion heale thy selfe For if he be worthily derided that taketh in hand the cure of other men and cannot heale himselfe or at the least hath no care to doe it surely that man is well worthy to be had in greater derision that is more carefull not only of his owne but also of other mens bodies then he is of his owne soule whereby he differeth from brute beasts and is made partaker of an immortall nature Wherefore it is very requisite that all students in naturall philosophy should profit so well in the study thereof as to be able to turne it into true naturall diuinity whereby they may learne to know God their creator in that nature which he hath created to this end to make himselfe seene and knowen therein to all men We haue therefore good cause my companions to bestow al possible paines trauaile that we may proceede on in so necessary profitable a knowledge Wherfore we must lay before our eyes two bookes which God hath giuen vnto vs to instruct vs by and to lead vs to the knowledge of himselfe namely the booke of nature and the booke of his word which we must ioyne both together as also that doctrine which is set forth vnto vs in them concerning the knowledge of our selues especially of the soule which is the true man For the first booke would stand vs in small stead without the second as we see it dayly by experience yea euery one of vs hath trial thereof in himselfe Therefore God of his great mercy hath added the second booke vnto the first to supply the want that is in our nature through sinne For if man had not sinned this booke of nature would haue sufficed to haue kept him alwayes in the knowledge contemplation and obedience of God his creator For then he should himselfe haue caried the booke whole and perfect imprinted in his heart and mind neyther should his soule haue needed any teacher to know to selfe but in it selfe it should haue cleerely beheld and contemplated it selfe so long as she preserued â—er first light and aboad in that harmony wherein God had created her But now that she is in the body as it were some excellent picture of Apelles fallen into a sinke of mire couered and compassed about with thicke mists and obscure darknesse it is very needfull that we should haue another new light brought vnto vs from heauen which is not naturall as the first but supernaturall For this cause God hath farther giuen vs this second booke of which I spake euen now by means wherof and by the vertue of his holy spirit hee communicateth vnto vs as much celestiall and heauenly light as is needfull for the knowledge of our selues and of his high Maiestie Being therefore guided by the spirit of God whereby our spirit doth see and contemplate let vs read in these two bookes diligently note in them the parts and powers force and vertue aswell of the body as of the soule of man especially the immortality thereof whereby we shall make the way easie for vs to walke and sport our minds hereafter in the large and goodly fields of the whole world by discoursing of
his strength and power so that he is as a bodie whose bones are wholy broken and shiuered And when the Scripture woulde signifie the contrarie it saieth that their bones runne full of marrow and that they flourish like an hearb Nowe if we take the whole legge namely from the huckle bone vnto the endes of the toes it hath three great partes answerable to the three partes of the whole arme which part of the body reacheth from the shoulders vnto the endes of the fingers In the first place is the foote which is the nethermost part of the whole legge and it consisteth of three partes which also are answerable to the three partes of the hand The first is the heele which by a ioynt and conuenient knitting together vniteth the foote to that parte of the legge which reacheth from thence vp to the knee or gartering place The second is the sole and as it were the backâ— of the foote being long large and hollow in the middest to the ende it might be more fit to stand fast and to walke vpon The toes are the third part of the foote being set and placed in such wise as is most conuenient for that duetie of the foote For they differ much from the fingers not onelie in length but also in situation because the office of the hand and the foote is not all one Therefore as the fingers are longer then the toes so the thumbs are otherwise placed then the great toes For if the great toe were placed as the thumbe is it woulde hinder the foote in steade of helping it and the like may bee saide of the other toes The two other partes of the legge are first that which is from the knee to the foote which is commonly called the legge for want of an other proper name in our tongue next the thigh which is from the huckle bone vnto the knee And as this hath his ioynt and band to fasten him to the knee so the other by the like meanes is ioyned to the foote Therefore both the foote and the whole legge haue their necessary motions through the helpe of the sinewes and muscles as well to stretch it selfe out as to bowe and bend forward and backeward vpward and downeward as also to turne it selfe on the right hand and on the left and round about both to set forward and to retire to ascend and to descend and for all the motions that are meete and conuenient both for this member and for all the partes of it Thus much for the lowest foundation of the frame of mans body and for the pillers that holde it vp Nowe wee must consider of the other outward partes the armes and the hands As God hath giuen to man two legges and two feete to holde him vp and to carry him whithersoeuer hee woulde goe so hee hath giuen him two armes and two handes to dispatch all businesse which hee thinketh good Therefore the hand is rightly called by Aristotle â—he instrument of the instruments For there is no member in all the body nor instrument whatsoeuer that maketh moe or more sundry workes This instrument maketh all other instruments and setteth them a worke as wee see by experience And because man onely of all other liuing creatures is capable of Artes and knoweth how to vse them therefore hath God giuen to him onely this instrument to exercise them We see also that there is no worke which he cannot doe with his hands And what worke of God is there which hee doth not counterfaite as if he were some litle god vpon earth that had vndertaken to make an other visible worlde within this worlde created by God For if wee consider the Sciences and Aâ—tes of men and those excellent woorkes which they make by the meanes of their handes who will not be rauished with admiration That sentence of Anaxagoras may well be approoued wherein hee saieth that the hand is the cause of knowledge and wisedome although Plutarch doeth learnedly vnderstand experience by the hand For if it did not frame letters and figures nor made instruments requisite and necessary for all Sciences and Artes they could not in any wise be either taught or learned Therefore considering well that which we say man may bee called a second Creatour who taking patterne by the worke of God in the creation of the worlde hath endeuoured to make woorkes answerable vnto those which God hath giuen him in the worlde for a pattetne to imitate But there is great difference betwixt the workes of man and the workes of God especially in three pointes namely in the matter in the forme and in the life of them together with all those thinges which it bringeth with it For first man can not worke without matter which he cannot find in himselfe as God who made all things of nothing and made that to be which was not But man dealeth contrarily For hee can make nothing of nothing but must of necessitie haue matter meete for the worke he taketh in hand vnto which he is able to adde the forme onely And yet hee cannot giue it any fashion except hee first had the patterne thereof in the woâ—kes of God For although he can make very strange figures and such as the very like hath not beene seene in all nature nor amongst all the creatures yet hee cannot pourtraite any so new or so strange whereof he had not before some resemblance in the workes of God in sundrie creatures For hee taketh diuers pieces of many sundry figures with which afterward heaped together hee counterfaiteth one altogether newe and strange As for example neuer man sawe a mountaine all of golde yet a man may imagine one in his mind and frame an image thereof in his imagination For albeit he neuer sawe such a mountaine yet because hee hath seene both mountaines and also golde by ioyning these two together which hee knoweth he can frame the image of such a mountaine in his minde and then hauing in this sorte formed and conceiued it hee can counterfaite it with his hand But as God taketh not the matter of his woorkes without himselfe and without the treasures of his infinite power so hee needeth not to seeke else where for formes and patterns then in the treasures of his eternall wisedome and infinite knowledge Againe there is this besides which is chiefest of all that hee is able to giue not onely being but also life sense and motion to his workes yea such nature and properties as pleaseth him which man can not doe For hee can not change the nature of that matter vpon which hee worketh but it must stâ—ll continue the same in nature and disposition And although hee can drawe sundry effectes from those matters about which hee is occupyed according as hee may mingle and compound them together neuerthelesse hee altereth not their nature but they retaine it still according to their portion euerie one in his place Neither can hee giue to the
the partes and members of which the body of man is made that are not found in any of the other as wee haue sufficiently shewed in our former discourses vpon this matter Whereby God would teach vs that hee hath prepared and built this lodging for an other manner of inhabitant then he built the bodies of beastes euen for a soule that differeth farre from theirs For seeing he maketh nothing without good reason or that is without his profit he sheweth by the instruments prepared for the workeman whom he will set on worke what maner of one he ought to be what workes he hath to make And because hee hath appointed workes and offices for the soule of man which he woulde not haue in the soule of brute beastes hee hath giuen to man such members and instruments as hee hath not giuen to other liuing creatures As for those instrumēts which he hath common with beasts God hath otherwise disposed and placed in his bodie according to the office euery one hath as wee may learne by their discourses It is very euident that man is not onely this masse and lumpe of skinne flesh sinewes bones and of such other matter gathered altogether in one bodie whereof we haue spoken alreadie but that there is yet in him another nature whose substance is inuisible ouer and aboue this bodily nature which we see For experience sheweth vs what difference there is betwixt one and the same body when it is aliue and when it is dead When there is no life in it none of all those faculties and vertues whereof the former discourse intreated appeare within it as we see they doe so long as life dwelleth therein And yet then the body is not depriued of those members which it had before death but keepeth them still vntill such time as they corrupt and waste away of themselues and finally faile altogether for want of the soule and life that shoulde preserue and keepe them sounde In the meane time we see that they are without force and as vnfit for vse as if they were not at all because they want soule and life which giueth them vigour and setteth thē a working It is very cleere then by death that the body hath no life of it selfe nor any of those faculties and vertues which life bringeth with it but that it receiueth them from another nature then from it owne And this nature is called Soule hauing sundry offices in man as we haue alreadie vnderstood and will hereafter handle them more particularly and in order But in the meane time we must note that although the soule be not bodily neuerthelesse it vseth a bodily nature and instruments which it receiueth from that for the performance of those workes that are assigned vnto it which the soule coulde not doe without such instruments as are necessary thereunto For as we heard in the former speech that among the creatures of God some are spirituall others corporall so we are to knowe also that among the spirituall creatures there are two sortes of spirits of which some namely the Angels were created to liue a spiritual life agreeable to their nature approching neerer to the nature and life that is in God then any other not being vnited or conioyned to any bodies that belong vnto them vnto which they should giue life as if they were creatures compounded of body and spirite Therefore we call them not by the name of soules as wee doe the spirites of men which God hath created to dwell in bodies to giue them life and to be ioyned with them in one person made of two natures to wit of a spirite and of a bodie These spirites which are also called humane soules can liue wel enough and preserue themselues in their substance hauing life alwayes in them euen after they are separated from their bodies But the like cannot bee saide of the bodies which cannot liue nor be preserued in their substance without their soules and spirites Therefore Iesus Christ sayde Feare not them that kill the bodie and cannot kill the soule but rather feare him that can destroy both bodie and soule in hell Wherefore albeit wee cannot see the soule neyther when it entreth into the bodie and is ioyned vnto it nor when it dwelleth there nor yet when it departeth yet it followeth not therevppon that it is not at all or that it commeth to nothing For the effectes thereof shewe vs the contrarie so long as that life which it giueth to the bodie continueth therein And albeit wee see no more effectes of it when it is seuered by death yet it followeth not therevpon that the same thing shoulde befall it that doeth to the bodie and so corrupt therewith For it is so farre from corrupting with the bodie that it keepeth the same from corruption so long as it is therein And being separated no maruaile if it effect no more that which it did in the bodie by those instruments which it had because it hath them no longer Wherefore in this respect it is like to an excellent Woorkeman who cannot labour in his occupation without such instrumentes as necessarily belong thereunto Yet in the meane season the Woorkeman continueth alwayes in the same estate and hath no lesse knowledge and arte in him without his instruments then when hee hath them albeit hee vse them not when they are away And although hee enioyeth both his instrumentes and his arte yet can hee not well vse them nor perfourme those woorkes which hee hath to make if they bee not founde but corrupted or spoyled as wee see in an instrument of musicke For if the chaunter or Musicion bee very expert in his arte and handle his instrument as hee ought to doe yet can hee neuer deliuer those soundes tunes and harmonie which otherwise hee woulde if his instrument were good And yet that shall not hinder the Musicion from beeing alwayes as skilfull and expert in his arte as if his instrument were very good and sounde Likewise if a man dwell in a darke lodging hee cannot see so well and cleerely as in another that is very lightsome and yet hee shall not haue sundrie eyes but the selfe same in both places So that it followeth that his dimnesse of sight in the one lodging rather then in the other proceedeth not of any defect in his eyes but of the house and habitation wherein hee is The like may bee saide of the soule lodged in the bodie whose actions and woorkes therein are much hindered if it bee badly lodged if any part of the lodging bee not good or if it want those instruments and tooles that are necessary for it For although it hath the vertue of sight in it selfe yet it cannot without eyes see those thinges which by meanes of them it beholdeth And although it hath in it selfe the vertue to cause the handes and feete to mooue and to set them on woorke according to their office yet
it cannot doe those woorkes by a maymed and lame hande which it will doe by him that hath both his handes nor cause a lame creeple wanting a foote or legge or hauing some defect in those partes to walke as well as an other that hath all these sounde and perfect And a man may iudge of my speech by that which happeneth not onely to them that fall into an Apoplexie but also to such as haue some quaume about their heart so that they faint and sowne and are for the time as it were dead and yet afterwarde plucke vp their spirites and come againe to their former estate But before they be reuiued they seeme as though they had no soule in their bodies because it is not perceiued by the woorkes thereof as it is when the bodie is well affected And this is chiefly to be seene in a strong Apoplexie or falling sicknesse in which the patient looseth all motion and sense Wherevpon it hath come to passe oftentimes that many haue bene buried for dead in that case who were notwithstanding aliue and some haue recouered and done well afterward as wee haue many examples both in common experience and in histories olde and newe Nowe whilest the soule is thus letted from performing her actions by such inconueniences who would not iudge that she were cleane extinguished with the body Neuerthelesse afterward when she can vse her instruments shee sheweth plainely that the fault commeth not of her but of the instruments that faile her Therefore when we speak of the soule and of the body we must put the same difference between them that is betwixt a Workman and his tooles considering the nature of both and what they can doe both ioyntly and seuerally For an instrument hath neither knowledge nor force nor vertue of it selfe being able to doe nothing alone but onely so farre foorth as it is set on woorke by some Woorkeman But there is another reason in the Woorkeman For although hee cannot vse his arte without those instruments that are necessary thereunto yet hee hath alwayes abiding within him that arte power force and dexteritie whereby he woorketh So that when wee speake of the soule wee are to consider what shee can doe of her selfe and of her owne nature without the bodie and what shee cannot doe without it For we learne in the holy Scriptures that when Angels appeared to men because they are spirits and haue no speech like to that of men as being bodilesse and wanting instruments necessary for the framing therof therefore they tooke mens bodies to appeare and speake to men in and by them No marueile then if the soule which is created to vse the members of the body as instruments speaketh not without a tongue as it doeth with one and with the other Organs of voyce and speech Now forasmuch as wee know that the soule giueth life motion and sence to all the body and that it hath sundry instruments in the body in which and by which it perfourmeth those workes for which they were created of God we are now to consider what facultie power and vertue it hath in euery part of the body For albeit that we cannot assigne to the soule especially to the spirite and vnderstanding which is the most excellent part therein any certaine place of lodging as if it were inclosed within any one part or within all the partes of the body neuerthelesse we may iudge of the nature thereof by those instruments whereby it worketh and by their nature and by the workes it produceth And in this consideration we haue a goodly glasse wherein wee may contemplate God that is inuisible making him visible and knowne vnto vs by his workes euen as the soule is become as it were visible and sheweth it selfe to vs by the bodie in which it dwelleth and by the workes which it doeth therein Therefore let vs propound vnto our selues this whole visible world as it were one great bodie then all the partes as members thereof next let vs consider how the soule of all this great body namely the vertue and power of God worketh therein and effecteth all the workes that are done therein according to that order he hath set therein as the soule worketh in the bodie of man and in euery member thereof Thus doing as we know that there is a soule in the bodie and another nature beside that which is bodily and which worketh therein and this we perceiue by the effects thereof so let vs marke withall by the works done in this visible world that there is another nature that effecteth them which being inuisible differeth from all this world wee see as that which is farre more excellent which filleth the whole and by vertue and power is in all the partes thereof as a soule in a bodie But in propounding this glasse before our eyes we must take heede that we fall not into their dotage who haue thought and affirmed that the worlde is the body of God and that himselfe is the soule thereof For therevpon it would follow that God is mortall and corruptible in regard of his body and that some part or other thereof would alwayes corrupt as we daily see corporall things doe Againe if it were so God should not be infinite and incomprehensible as he is for the worlde doeth not comprehend and containe him but he all the world whereof he is the Creator and by whom the world is and consisteth Seeing then the soule is the image of God in man as the body of man is the image of this great world in which God worketh as the soule doeth in the body of man let vs cōsider how God hath distributed the powers vertues and offices of the soule in the body and in euery part thereof as he manifesteth his glory and vertue in all this visible world in all the partes of it For first they agree herein that as there is but one soule in one body which is sufficient for all the partes and members thereof so there is but one God in the world sufficient for all the creatures Next if we cannot conceiue howe the soule is lodged in the body or how it giueth life vnto it neither yet howe it worketh displayeth therein the vertues which it hath but onely so farre foorth as it testifieth the same by those diuers effects which we see and perceiue in euery part and member thereof no marueile then if wee cannot with our eyes discerne or comprehend how God is throughout all filling heauen and earth how he displayeth his power and vertue howe he worketh in all his creatures and how hee guideth gouerneth and preserueth them by his heauenly prouidence For if wee cannot comprehend the creature nor the nature thereof how shall wee comprehend the nature of the Creator And if it be not in our power to know the workes of God wrought in vs neither the woorkes of our owne soule how shall we know his works done
imagination and fantasie being neerer to the corporall senses draw the soule to those things that are bodily but reason and the spirite pricke it forwarde and cause it to lift vp it selfe to more excellent things For the spirite which the Philosophers expresse by Vnderstanding mounteth vp vnto those things that cannot be knowen nor comprehended of imagination and fantasie nor of any other sense Moreouer it keepeth fantasie brideled and bringeth it into the right way which otherwise wandreth farre wide and entereth into many turnings and windings Neither doeth the spirite wholly yeeld vnto euery present profite or decline the contrary but calleth things past to remembrance coniectureth and foreseeth things to come and searcheth out what is true and what false to giue iudgement thereafter and then to followe after or to eschew that which ought to bee followed or fledde from Thus you see what the reasonable soule bringeth to men which is not in beastes nor in their soule Besides from this vigour and nature of the spirite speech proceedeth which being his messenger is wanting vnto beastes because they are voyde of reason and vnderstanding in regard whereof speech is giuen as wee haue already hearde Therefore we vnderstand by the reasonable soule and life such a soule and life as hath counsaile iudgement and reason and which was created to this end that knowing God her Creator and louing him in respect thereof she might honour and serue him and finally by degrees attaine to immortall life and happinesse which is appointed for her ende For as nothing is more excellent then reason whereof God hath made man partaker so there is nothing more beseeming reason then to know loue and honour God seeing there is nothing greater more excellent or that may be compared vnto him Therefore as man differeth from brute beasts in respect of reason wherewith God hath indued him so he differeth from them in that he is capable of religion created and borne thereto which consisteth in the things alreadie touched But beasts are not capable of any kind of religion being altogether voyde thereof as on the other side there is no man but he hath some sense of it Whereby wee may gather a good argument that beasts are not onely voyde of reason but also that their soules are mortall and the soules of men immortall For the fountaine and fruit of the religion and seruice of God consisteth not in this mortall life and therefore it must needes bee in some other that followeth And for this cause Reason which is so great and excellent a gift of God in man is not bestowed vpon vs for things of so smal price and so transitorie as these are which we vse and enioy in this life and in which it is wholly busied much lesse for those whereby the life of beastes is preserued but in regarde of these thinges which I haue nowe declared Therefore as God hath not giuen such a life to stones as he hath giuen to trees and plants nor yet sense imagination and fantasie to trees and plants as he hath done to beasts so hee hath not graunted reason to beasts as he hath to men and that not without iust cause For as it is enough for stones in regarde of the perfection of their nature to bee heauie and such as they are and sufficient likewise for trees and plants to haue a Vegetatiue soule seeing they want not that which beastes haue more then they so beastes stand not in neede of that which men haue aboue them For it sufficeth for the preseruation and defence of their life and beeing that they haue some kinde of cogitation ioyned with imagination and fantasie although they want reason which is not necessary for them as it is for men for the causes already specified and chiefly because they were not created by meanes of the knowledge of God and of true religion to come to a better life then their brutish life is Therefore as man is created to the end that the light of the knowledge of God might shine in him and that God might communicate with him his wisedome and goodnesse so he would that the soule of man shoulde bee an euident testimonie of himselfe For this cause it was said in his creation that God made man after his owne image and likenesse as wee haue already heard Seeing then there are in the reasonable soule so cleere and excellent testimonies of God and that by it especially the difference appeareth betweene man beasts as also in the diuers gouernments of their liues it behoueth vs to conâ—ider thereof very diligently And albeit this glasse of God cannot be so euidently seen as those that are made of steele or of glasse and lead by the hand of man to represent the image of our bodies neuertheles the actions and works of the soule doe plainly shew that there is such a power and vertue in vs which God hath giuen vs more to vse for our benefite then to know it and that for the causes already touched by vs. For the true and perfect knowledge thereof belongeth to God onely who being aboue it hath created and giuen it and will cause vs to know it better when we shal be in that eternall light in which wee shal know those things that are nowe hidden from vs. In the meane time let vs in this life consider of and distinguish the actions and workes of the soule whereby we are seuered from beasts and which being very euident testimonies of God in vs gouerne the life of man and bring foorth all honest sciences and artes We haue spoken alreadie of the powers and vertues of the soule which by the vse of corporall instruments labour and manifest themselues but it appeareth euidently that there is in man another higher power because we haue many actions and doe many woorkes which beastes cannot performe nor imitate For man hath the knowledge of numbers and can reckon hee vnderstandeth not onely particular things but also generall and vniuersall things he discourseth that is gathereth and concludeth one thing of another and that very farre he inuenteth artes and disposeth them he iudgeth of his owne reasons and discourses and marking his owne faults he correcteth them he changeth his intents and purposes he discerneth vertues from vices honest things from those that are dishonest finally hee deliberateth by a long discourse of reason As for beastes they haue not these thinges common with vs as they haue the vse of the senses as of seeing hearing smelling tasting and other such like things wherein they oftentimes excell vs in many respectes For many of them haue these senses more sharpe then wee haue And although they haue some imagination fantasie and apprehension of thinges offered to their bodily senses yet that holdeth but for the present and in the place or fielde where the thinges are offered vnto them The like may bee sayde of those discourses of reason which many thinke are in
God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things And we see that repentance ordinarily followeth sinne and that a sinner can not but feele some heauinesse and griefe Yea nature it selfe teacheth vs when wee are displeased for some thing whereof we repent vs to strike our breast because the heart is within it as also to hang downe our eyes for shame But the vexation sadnesse and sorrowe which after the fault committed a man is striken with because of the hurt that taketh holde of him and the punishment he expecteth or endureth already serueth not but for a continuall torment vnto him as if hee were in a hell except he change his mind amend his fault and returne to God againe and so betake himselfe againe to that place and order of his which God had assigned him Beholde what good instructions we haue in our selues which ought to pricke vs forward to goodnesse and drawe vs backe from wickednesse especially our heart beareth vs certaine testimony of that which is acceptable in the sight of God Now as we haue heard that the forme thereof is aptest for the motion it hath so the substance matter whereof it is made is a kinde of flesh that hath none like it in all the other partes of the body For it is needful it should be so thicke and fast that it may the better discharge that office and duety that is laide vpon the heart On the other side it is so seated in the breast that the foundation and foote thereof is directly in the middest of it but the narrow end of it bendeth somewhat towards the left-side Which is done in regarde of two great commodities wherof the one is that it should not rush against the bones of the breast the other that it should heate the left side the more seeing the right side is holpen by the heat of the liuer which is on that side And although the left part of the heart be very bigge and hard and consequently more heauy then the right which is more subtile thinne and soft and therefore lighter neuerthelesse God hath giuen it such a counterpoize that both sides are of equall waight so that although there be no ligameÌ„t or band to tie it vnto the other parts that are neere about it yet without inclining or bending any one way more then other it hangeth in the middest of the vessell and skinne that compasseth it round about For the left part which of it owne nature is heauiest containeth in it a lighter matter namely the vitall spirite and the right side that is not so heauy hath in it a more heauy matter which is the blood Whereby wee see howe the prouidence of God hath so well framed the counterpoize that both partes are equall like to an euen and iust paire of ballance From whence also we may take a good lesson concerning the vprightnesse that ought to be in our heart and wil and in al our affections with what heart we ought to folow the ordinaÌ„ces of God that way which he showeth vs in his word how we should continue and abide stedfast therein and turne neither to the right hand nor the left as wee are often commanded in the holie Scriptures Moreouer forasmuch as the skin that coÌ„passeth the heart hath the bones of the breast on the one side the lungs on the other it was requisit that it should be of a matter so wel teÌ„pered that it might receiue no harme by the hardnes of the bones on the other side shuld not be so hard as to be able to hurt the lungs which are of as soft teÌ„der a flesh as any is in al the body Which teacheth vs sufficiently that the prouidence of God hath forgotten nothing in any respect But we must further know that there are two capacities or holow places in the heart distinguished one from another by a partition the one being on the right side the other on the left That place on the right side serueth to receiue the blood that commeth from the liuer to the heart by veines both for the nourishing of it selfe and of the lungs and for the generation of the vitall spirites whose forge and shoppe is in the other void place on the left side where the hart doth exercise his chiefe office which is to ingâ—nder the vitall spirites of the finest and thinnest blood which resolueth it selfe there as if it came of the sweate that proceedeth out of the right capacitie Now the vital spirit is as it were a most bright and liuely flame like to the celestiall nature which carrieth heat life to the whole body and is the instrument of the chief actions works therof In this left hollow place there is a great artery which is as it were the stocke of al the arteries in the body which a litle from the heart diuideth itselfe into two branches whereof the one ascendeth vpward to carry the vitall spirite into the vpper partes of the body the other which is some what bigger descendeth downeward By meanes of these arteries which are as it were the pipes of the heart the greatest benefite of all is communicated to all partes of the body Now because the arteries and veines haue neede one of an others help they meet one another are so linked and ioyned together that the arteries are seldome alone without the veines For the arteries being ioyned vnto the veines doe giue them aire and spirite which through the vitall heate stirreth the blood and helpeth to bring it to perfection and to preserue it In like manner the arteries sucke some small quantitie of blood out of the veines whereby the vitall spirite is carried sprinckled and increased Wherein wee haue againe a notable example and goodly paterne of that mutuall communicating that ought to be among men without which neither nature nor humane societie can be preserued the like also heereof wee see betweene the heart and the lungs in which there are pipes that passe from the one to the other for their mutuall helping and succouring one of an other For the Arteriall veine that proceedeth out of the right side of the hearâ— carrieth the blood to the lungs to nourish it and the veiny artery which commeth out of the left side of the heart carrieth ayre vnto it from the lungs to refresh it For after it is brought to the lungs by the artery or wind-pipe the lungs communicate the same vnto the heart Likewise by that same veiny artey the ouer-heated ayre and fumes are carried from the heart and serueth besides to carry the spirite and the arteriall blood vnto the lungs to heate them Therefore this artery is not altogether so thicke as the rest are nor so thinne as the veines to the ende it may easily enlarge or straiten it selfe or giue and receiue the ayre and that through hardnesse it hinder not the motion of the lungs as also
which is the nature of the loue of concupiscēce that looketh inwardly to it self But true friendship looketh outwardly vpon him whom it loueth insomuch that he which loueth doth die by litle and litle in himselfe but that which he loueth liueth in him Wherfore S. Paul not only knowing the nature of true loue but also hauing felt by experience the vehemencie therof saith I liue yet not I now but Christ liueth in me For he that truly loueth careth no more for himselfe but for that thing which he loueth This degree of loue may be rightly called Rauishing in which the louer is so rapt out of himselfe that he sorgetteth himselfe altogether being wholly in him whom he loueth and he whom he loueth being in him But as we said in the beginding of our speach Good is loued so far forth as it is knowen as we can vnderstand what it is therfore it is necessary that the knowlege of it should be so great that it be sufficiēt to draw loue which encreaseth by thinking often of that thing which is beloued For thereby it is planted rooted more deeply in the heart Wherefore there is nothing more contrary to loue then forgetfulnes the mother of ingratitude especially in our loue towards God For the more we thinke of him the more do we call to minde his goodnes towards vs whereupon also our loue doeth encrease is inslamed in vs towards him And the greater and more burning our loue is the nearer are we vnited linked vnto him Therfore we may well conclude that we loue God according to that measure of knowledge which we haue of him and of his benefits and according as we consider and remember them and if we want these things we loue him not as we ought Now whē we are ioyned vnto the thing that is deare vnto vs according to the end of loue we know it a great deale better because we behold it neerer and then are we said to enioy it Hereupon we may note two kinds of knowledge in loue the one first the other last By the first we beleeue that thing to be good which we do know by the last we haue experience of it which is of great force in al loue because the fruit thereof is the fruition of the thing beloued This enioying is the action of delight and of pleasure which is not onely of the will but also of the vnderstanding as it is in GOD. And if wee take it so Loue shall be as the meane betweene the first knowledge which is onely begunne and the last which is full and perfect which consisteth in the vnion of him that loueth with him that is beloued and wherein the desire that is in loue and which afflicteth and tormenteth the party louing is alwayes abolished not the loue it selfe but being vnited the greater number and the more excellent it findeth the goods in regarde of those which the first knowledge affoorded the more is it encreased and inflamed Heereof it is that we put a difference betweene Loue and the Desire that is in loue because when wee loue a thing wee desire therewithall the fruition and possession thereof And if there be delaie made so that wee cannot enioy the thing so soone as wee woulde this delay tormenteth vs by reason of the desire which presseth and pricketh vs forward to get the possession of it But this torment commeth not of Loue then which there is nothing more sweete and pleasant but of that desire which endeth in the vnion and fruition of the thing beloued In the meane time as long as this desire lasteth the loue from whence it proceedeth causeth the torment to be abated yea it is not without some pleasure especially when there is some hope that at length it may bee obtained and brought about And the more confident this hope is the greater solace yea the greater delight and pleasure it bringeth withall For as loue hath great delight in vnion and fruition so is it not small in hope because it propoundeth vnto vs the enioying of the thing as being present euen as if our imagination had already led vs vnto it Therefore forasmuch as the hope of Gods children is certaine they are nowe beeing in this worlde as it were blessed in heauen although the desire which they haue of greater goodes hoped for yet and to be enioyed in that full vnion and coniunction which they shal haue with God in the life euerlasting causeth them to groane and to sigh continually with all the creatures waiting for their full and perfect deliuerance from all corruption and from this miserable life So that wee can not doubt but that our loue towardes GOD will bee farre greater and much more vehement when as wee shall haue this full fruition of God our soueraigne Good and when wee shall bee perfectly vnited vnto him by true Loue not seeing him obscurely in a glasse onely or knowing him in part as we do nowe but beholding him face to face and knowing him as we haue bin knowen of him For the knowledge which we haue nowe of him is yet but begunne in respect of that which we shall haue fully and wholly in that glorious and immortall life And then also wee shall be wholly swallowed vp with his loue By the same reason we may wel beleeue that the loue and charitie which the godly beare one towardes another in this mortall life and pilgrimage shall be a great deale more enflamed in the other life then euer it was in the holiest and most perfect that euer was amongst them in this world For the better men friends are the more stedfast and firme is their friendship which among good men is alwayes of long continuance but contrariwise with the wicked And to speake properly there is no friendship betwixt them but onely some familiaritie and fellowship or to speake better a conspiracie against right and common peace Howsoeuer it be whether familiaritie or fellowship it is very short and weake because it hath no good foundation Wherefore they can not long continue vnited and knit together We haue daily testimony heereof in worldly and carnall men who hauing made for a time profession of very great friendship vpon a Yea or a Nay assault one another euen vnto death But wee are not greatly to maruaile at it For seeing their amitie and vnion is ill grounded as it cannot be of long continuance so they can receiue no great ioy or delight But it is contrary in the friendship of good men as that which hath a farre better foundation namely God and his word Wherefore if the better men that friendes be the greater their friendship is and more firme euen in this world no doubt but it will be greater more burning and constant in that blessed and eternall life which wee expect where we shal be much better men and more perfect then wee are heere better linked one with an
belonging to the sight are of which bring the facultie and vertue of seeing vnto the eyes as likewise it is of the same temperament with the coats and humors of which the eyes are compounded being diuided and distributed to eche sundrie part by a naturall propertie inherent in them The like is done in the eares and in other members and instruments of the corporal senses and in all the other partes of the body euen to the very nailes and haires thereof Wherein truely wee see wonderfull alterations and a most admirable woorke of Gods prouidence whether it bee considered in the whole earth and in this great world or in man who is the litle world Now for the sequele of our speech before wee come to speake of the speciall offices and effectes of the three humours ioyned with the blood of which wee haue heere spoken wee are to consider besides this distribution made of the nourishment by meanes of the veynes as it hath beene tolde vs of another meane by which these humours and especially the flegmatike ascend vp vnto the braine whereby it commeth to passe that in man as well as in the great world there are waters aboue and belowe which are the cause that mans life swimmeth in the middest of a great danger Also wee are to knowe why the soule and the blood are often taken eche for other and to be instructed in the temperature of the humors necessarily belonging to the bodie for the health and life thereof as likewise to consider of the causes of health and sicknesse and of life and death But this shall bee for to morowe when thou ASER shalt vndertake the discourse of these things so farre foorth as is requisite for vs to know The end of the eight dayes worke THE NINTH dayes worke Of the vapours that ascend vp to the braine and of the waters and cloudes conteined therein and in what perils men are thereby why the soule and blood are put one for another of the temperature of the humors necessary for the health and life of the body of the causes of health and of diseases and of life and death Chap. 65. ASER It is the saying of an ancient Philosopher that they which saile vpon the water are not aboue two or three fingers breadth distant from death namely so farre off as the thicknes of the plankes and timber of the ship is in which they are caried into the Sea For if that timber were taken from vnder them they cannot auoyd drowning vnlesse they can swimme like fishes But not to saile on the sea or vpon a lake or riuer to approch neere to death we haue it a great deale neerer vs when we cary about vs infinite causes and meanes whereby we are euery houre in danger of stifling and as it were of drowning and that both waking sleeping eating and drinking within doores and without at all times and in al places whersoeuer we become Insomuch that of what estate and disposition soeuer men are we are oftentimes astonished to heare tydings of a mans death sooner then of his sickenesse whom wee saw not long before mery cheerefull and in good health Now we may learne some chiefe causes hereof by this dayes handling of that matter Subiect which was yesterday propounded to bee discoursed vpon And first we must know that besides the distribution of all the humours together with the blood into all parts of the bodie by the veines and that for the causes before learned there is yet another meane whereby these humors especially the flegmatike humour which is of the nature of the water ascend vp vnto the braine by reason of vapours arising vpward out of the stomacke like to the vapour of a potte seething on the fire with liquor in it and like to vapours that ascend vp from the earth into the ayre of which raine is engendred Now when these vapours are come vp to the braine they returne to their naturall place and into the nature of those humours of which they were bred as the vapours that are held in the aire turne againe into the same nature of water of which they came Therefore as the waters are contained within the cloudes in the region of the aire allotted vnto them so is it with our braine which is of a colde nature and of a spongie substance fitte for that purpose So that we alwayes carie within it as it were cloudes full of water and of other humours that distil and runne downe continually by the members and passages which God hath appointed to that ende as wee haue alreadie hearde And these places albeit they serue especially to purge seuerall humors as hath beene tolde vs yet oftentimes they voide them altogether both by reason of their mingling and coniunction as of their ouer great abundance Yea many times they are so plentifull namely the flegmatike humour that because the braine cannot sufficiently discharge it selfe of them by the ordinary way these humors ouerflowe on all sides wheresoeuer they can finde any vent and issue euen as when a thundering cloude bursteth asunder So that the water runneth not downe as it were a milde and gentle raine but as a mighty flood that bringeth great ruines with it or as a riuer passing his ordinary course breaketh downe both banke and wall and ouerfloweth euery where Therefore we may well say that many times we haue floods of water enclosed within our heads and braines when wee neuer thinke of it nor yet consider in what danger we are Which the more secrete and vnknowen it is vnto vs the more perillous it is and greatlier to be feared especially considering it is so neere vs and that wee haue fewer meanes to auoyde it as wee haue daily examples in many who being in health and mery are sodainely choked by catarrhes which like to floods of waters runne downewards as the very name deriued from the Grecians doeth import as much or by some sodaine Apoplexie how healthy soeuer before they seemed to bee Others also there are who if they be not presently choked with such floods from the brain yet they are taken with palsies lamenesse and impotencie in all their members or at leastwise in some of them as if some waterflood had caried them away so that nothing had beene saued but the bare life and that more fraile and miserable then death it selfe I speake not of gowtie persons who although they be not assaulted with such great and vehement floods of waters and with euill and superfluous humours so that some few droppes onely of which they are so called fall vpon some partes of them yet are they greatly tormented constrained to crie out and that oftentimes in extreme distresse Which consideration ought to stirre vs vp to know wherein our life and preseruation thereof consisteth and of whom we holde it And on the other side although we had no examples of floods and inundations of waters of earthquakes and such other
mans flesh haue testified that no flesh or meate whatsoeuer approcheth neerer in taste or is more like it then the flesh of a Hog And if we consider the inward members and parts there is no beast if we will giue credite to them that haue had the experience thereof that hath them liker to those in man then the Hog hath both for substance disposition forme and figure Contrariwise wherein doeth the Elephant resemble man either for forme or composition of body or of the members both internal and external in comparison of a Hog And yet there is no beast more teachable then the Elephant or that approcheth neerer to the sense and vnderstanding of man as on the other side there is no beast further off in this respect nor more hard to be taught and more brutish then is the Hog And if any man thinke that the industry and docilitie of an Elephant proceedeth either from the greatnesse of the matter whereof it is made or from the abundance of the qualities ioyned vnto the matter or from the harmony coniunction and concorde that is betweene them or lastly from the composition forme figure of his body and of the members thereof wee will oppose vnto him the Ant which is one of the least among the creatures of the earth as the Elephant is the greatest of all as farre as we know The like may be said of the Bee For are there many creatures although greater in substance that yet haue such industrious ingenious natures as these litle beasts haue that are to be reckoned among the smallest of them And by this it appeareth plainly that the soule of beasts is of some other substance nature then their bodies notwithstanding there is great difference betwixt the soule of beasts the soule of mē But we haue further to note touching the soule of man that the spirit doth not only not folow the nature of the body but which is more gouerneth carieth recarieth it whither it pleaseth yea it withstandeth the affections which approch neerest to the corporal terrestrial nature And as for the facultie of sense of the senses it is a vertue that surpasseth all bodily power and vertue all things depending of the body so that there is no facultie of the body that is able to expresse the actions thereof What shall we say then of the vertue of vnderstanding which is the highest and most soueraigne facultie that is in man Which wee cannot say is a body compounded of matter and forme For that thing is the fountaine and original of life which first mooueth a liuing creature to the works belonging vnto life So that when wee inquire what this fountaine and spring is then doe we seeke to know what the soule is Nowe we may soone know by that which hath bene spoken what the soule is not but as yet we cannot perceiue what the proper substance and nature thereof is And in deede it is not that which wee haue to speake of at this time hereafter we may say somewhat of that matter Let it suffice for this present that we know that the true cause of the life of the body in regard of second causes is in the soule next vnto God who is the first and principall cause of all things Therefore it is hee that hath ordained and limitted to euery liuing creature his appointed time wherein to liue and to grow and next to decrease and to dye and as it pleaseth him either to prolong or to abridge their life so doeth he dispose of the second causes and meanes whereby hee will haue it brought to passe Wherefore although euery one hath his certaine bounds and terme of life set him yet none but God onely can attaine to the knowledge thereof For all come not to the last age which hee hath appointed to be the ordinarie end of euery ones life following those degrees into which it is diuided according to that diuision which we make of dayes and yeeres For the infancie of man may be resembled to the morning and to the spring time of the yeere mans age to midday and to the sommer olde-age to the Euening and to Autumne and death to night and to winter Therefore Iob sayth very well speaking of man the number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot passe Nowe if it be demaunded what is the ordinarie terme of life appointed by God we are to know that nature by the ordinance of God appropriateth the matter being in the forme of members vnto the soule that is to giue life vnto the whole body Nowe when the soule is entred into it and hath taken possession thereof by little and little it prepareth and maketh fit the internall instruments vntil at length it hath brought them to that perfection which the qualitie constitution and composition of the matter is able to receiue and to beare And after these instruments are come to their greatest perfection by vsage they waste and consume away returning by little and little vnto their first nature so in the end wholy corrupt and dye Thus you see how the members are appropriated in the belly of the mother howe the spirits and humors are fitted in the time of infancie after which the flower of age in youth is as it were the vigor and vse of the perfection of the instruments and olde-age is the decreasing age wherein they decay continually become worse and worse euen vntill they come to their corruption which is death And this death we call naturall when following this course it attaineth without violence to these bounds Nowe although this bee no long course yet there are but very fewe that hold out to the vttermost end thereof in regard of them that stay by the way of whome some are cut off euen before they haue begunne their course others presently after they haue begun it and some in the midway and that through so many sortes of sicknesses with other inconueniences and accidents that a man cannot possibly comprehend or conceiue them all Therefore Moses sayd long since that the time of our life is threescore yeeres and ten and if they be of strength foure score yeeres yet their strength is but labour and sorowe for it is cut off quickly and we flee away And after hee hath compared man to a streame of water caried violently away to a Morning dreame to the grasse that florisheth and groweth in the Morning and in the Euening is cut downe withereth he giueth the reason of all this saying for we are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled Thou hast set our iniquities before thee and our secret sinnes in the light of thy countenance for all our dayes are past in thine anger we haue spent our yeeres as a thought Iob also agreeth well with Moses in this point when hee sayeth Man that is borne of a
enioy whatsoeuer GOD hath prepared for it euen that which is most agreeable and proper to the nature thereof Wherefore wee may say that the death of man is a separation or a departure of the soule from the body wherein GOD propoundeth vnto vs a perfect image of our separation and departure from him which commeth by the meanes of sinne For wee see what becommeth of the body when the soule is gone from it and what it is during the time that it is ioyned therewith The difference is very great Let vs then propound our soule as if it were in the place of the bodie and imagine that God were insteade of the soule in it as wee fee the soule is in the body Then let vs consider what might be the estate of the soule both when it is ioyned with GOD and when it is separated from him For there is greater difference betweene the soule separated from GOD then betweene a body separated from his soule Forasmuch as there is no bodie so stincking nor so infected when it is separated from the soule as the soule is when it is separated from GOD if wee will compare spirituall things with corporall things And contrariwise wee may iudge of the estate thereof when it is ioyned with God by the estate of a body ioyned with his soule and by that difference which is betweene a dead body and a quicke Nowe if wee woulde well consider these things and compare the corporall death of the bodie with the spirituall death of the soule wee woulde abhorre sinne in greater measure then wee doe and bee more afraid of it then of anie thing that may come vnto vs. For there is nothing either in heauen or earth that can hurt vs but sinne as in deede nothing can bring dammage to vs but that which can hurt the soule But it is sinne onely that is able to hurt the soule because by it those meanes are taken away from the soule whereby GOD bestoweth spirituall life vpon it Therefore wee ought not to thinke that bodily death can anie way hurt the soule vnlesse it be in regarde of the euill life past It is true that seeing GOD hath created man to bee of such a nature as to be compounded of a bodie and of a soule and that his true and perfect estate consisteth heerein that they shoulde liue vnited and ioyned together it is very like that there is some euil in the seuering of thē asunder especially if any of them corrupt and perish and the euill may seeme to be doubled if both of them should corrupt perish as many epicures and atheists would haue it For if it be euill to haue but halfe a beeing the euill and imperfection is much more not to be at all seeing there is nothing more goodly or more excellent then to haue a beeing And if it be an excellent thing to bee then to bee well is a farre more goodly and excellent thing For therein consisteth the perfection and absolute felicitie of man Nowe there is no sound or perfect estate of anie man but onely that in which and for which GOD created him And although man bee fallen from that estate yet it hath pleased GOD not onely to restore him againe thereunto by his Sonne Iesus Christ but also to make it vnto him more entire and more perfect yea much more sure and stedfast then it was in the beginning For this cause if besides the benefite of creation wee consider also that of regeneration and of the restauration and repairing of man wee shall finde therein ample matter of true and sound consolation against death For wee knowe that this tabernacle of our body which is infirme faulty corruptible fraile and tending to putrifaction shall bee destroyed and as it were pulled downe to the ende that afterwardes it may bee restored vnto a perfect firme incorruptible and celestiall glorie Wee see that by death wee are called backe againe from a miserable exile to the ende that wee may dwell in our countrie euen in our heauenly countrie In a worde wee are assured by death to enioy such a blessed and permanent estate as the like whereof appeareth no where vpon the earth And if the brute beastes euen the insensible creatures as Saint Paul teacheth vs as wood and stone hauing some sence of their vanitie and corruption doe waite for the day of iudgement that they may bee deliuered from the same shall not wee bee very miserable hauing both some light of nature and also boasting that wee are inspired with the spirite of GOD if wee doe not lift vp our eyes aboue this earthly corruption when the question is concerning our beeing Shall wee not contemne and disdaine the vanitie of the worlde to aspire after the good beeing of the immortalitie to come Let vs knowe then that wee can not finde any true and sound consolation without this consideration and hope which is most assured to them that beleeue in Christ Iesus Therefore they that went not beyond the boundes of naturall Philosophie coulde neuer enioy anie true consolation either against the miseries of mans life or against corporall death And although they beleeued that together with the body whatsoeuer is in man was extinguished or otherwise that after the death of the body the soule remained immortall yet notwithstanding some haue done nothing else but mourne and complaine in this life insomuch as they haue laid violent handes as it were vpon Nature reuiling her and calling her the stepmother rather then the mother of mankind others haue doubted of their future estate and condition not being able to learne and knowe whether their soules should liue either in ioy and rest or els in paine torment but only by opinion Of which if we would discourse at large and consider particularly of their reasons we should be confirmed more and more in that true consolation that ought to bee in the heart of euery Christian against the honour of death Therefore I greatly desire ACHITOB to heare thee discoursing vpon this matter Of the chiefe consolations which the wisest amongst the Pagans and Infidels coulde drawe from their humane reason and naturall Philosophie against death of the blasphemies vsed by Atheists and Epicures against God and Nature what Nature is and who they bee that attribute vnto it that which they ought to attribute vnto God Chap. 76. ACHITOB. Trees haue their seasons in which they beginne to budde and afterwards do blossome which blossome in conuenient time taketh the forme and fashion of the fruite and after that it continueth growing vntill it becommeth ripe and beeing come to the greatest maturitie and ripenesse that it can haue it falleth down of it selfe and still consumeth more and more The same may bee saide of leaues But this happeneth not to all nor yet altogether after the self same maner to all those vnto whō it doth happen For some fruits perish euen in the very bud or els
it is so there is but one onelie Soule in euery liuing creatures body by which it doeth liue but yet this soule is distinguished according to the vertues and offices thereof Wherein it falleth out with the soule as it doeth with a man that hath many charges and offices or that exerciseth many Artes and occupations which hee practiseth in seueral places at sundry times and by diuers instruments and seruants Yea the very varietie of those instruments which the soule vseth and the repugnance that is betweene the actions thereof doe shewe manifestly that there is but one workemaster from whome the whole proceedeth and which gouerneth and moderateth all as a liuing creature ought to doe For there could not be so great agreement in such diuersitie if there were diuers workemen and so many soules as there are effects and actions in all the partes of man Besides if there were such diuersitie of kindes of all things as there is diuersity of effectes the number of them woulde bee infinite whereupon there woulde great confusion follow in the searching out of nature and of naturall things Therefore seeing there is but one soule in euery body we must learn whether it hath any certaine place and seate in the body or whether the whole body be the lodging for it Now as euery forme of each body is in the whole body so the soule is wholly in the whole body in which the true forme principall essence of man consisteth For if there were any part thereof that had no soule within it that part should haue no life as we see it by experience in a member that is dry or putrified or cut off from the body So that as an Husbandman hath his sundry instruments for the trimming of the ground and by them effecteth diuers works according to the vse of each seueral instrument so fareth it with the soule in the bodie For the husbandman worketh another woorke with his plough then hee doeth with his harrowes and otherwise with his spades and shouels then with the other aboue named instruments so that according to the diuersitie of his tooles he worketh diuers workes And yet all this while there are not so many husbandmen as there are sundry instruments but one alone vseth all these to serue his turne And hee that should demand in which of all his instruments the Husbandman were should he not thinke you mooue an impertinent question For hee may be both without his instruments also with them and when he vseth them he applieth them to himselfe and himselfe vnto them And to aske which of his instruments is the chiefest were not to speake very much to purpose For euery one of them is principall in his vse and for that worke whereunto it it is applied and so is it with the soule and with the instruments thereof For it can be both with them and without them in that maner that hath beene already declared And as the plough is the chiefe instrument which the Husbandman hath to cutte and diuide the grounde into furrowes and the pickaxe to digge in hard places so the eye is the chiefe instrument the soule hath for seeing the eare for hearing the brayne with the thinne cleare and bright spirits therein for all kinde of vnderstanding and knowledge and the heart for the fountaine of life Nowe because the soule hath so many sundry powers offices and actions it is also taken in diuers sences and significations but especially in the holy scriptures as God willing we shal learne hereafter In the meane time that vnion which it hath with the body is marueilous and ought to be diligently considered of vs. Wee are to know then that all things whatsoeuer are ioyned together in nature are alwaies so knit and vnited by some means which meane consisteth either in this that the essence of two extreames doe participate one of another ioyne together or els in the agreement of action and of worke Now as the bond of the first meane is between the elements themselues and also betweene them and that matter whereof bodies are compounded because there is betweene them an agreement and participation of nature euery one in his degree according as they are neerer or further remoued off one from another so we haue the bond of the second meane betweene the body and the soule namely the agreement of action and worke Let vs then consider of the coniunction and agreement that is betweene a workeman and his worke together with those instruments whereby he effecteth his worke For there is an agreement and coniunction betweene the painter and his picture by reason of the pensill wherewith hee woorketh And the like may be said of all other workmen Euen so the form and kinde of all things is as it were the Workemaster in regard of the matter and the qualities and fashioning of the matter are the instruments whereby the Species or kinde of any thing is vnited and knit vnto the matter Now the soule is ioyned to the body as light is vnto the aire For by reason of the coniunction of the aire and light together the aire is made cleare and lightsome and yet the aire and light remaine whole and perfect without any mixture or confusion of the one with the other For they are not mingled together as the elements are in naturall mixtures or as hearbes that are beaten together into powder or drugges of the Apothecary in a medicine that lie mingled and confused one within another But the vnion and bond of two substances ioyned together is a great deale more neere in other kinds and creatures then in the soule wherein it is remooued farther of by reason that the nature of corporall things admitteth of a neerer coniunction and agreement among themselues then there can be naturally betweene corporall and spirituall thinges So that the greater agreement of natures there is the straiter is the bonde and vnion-betweene them Nowe wee may knowe of what nature euerie kinde of thing is by the offices and actions thereof As if the question were touching the nature of that soule which heeretofore we called the Nourishing and Vegetatiue Soule it appeareth by the office and actions thereof that it is hote and that it taketh part as also all the actions thereof of the nature of fire which is the highest and purest element and that which approcheth neerest to the celestiall natures But that kinde of soule which wee called Sensitiue and Cogitatiue such as it is in brute beastes ascendeth yet higher and by agreement is linked neerer to the heauens and to the nature of heauenly bodies And therefore beasts haue not onlie sense but some kinde of knowledge also whereby they doe in some sort marke and perceiue the course of the heauens and heauenly bodies and doe seeme after a sort to vnderstande them For they haue knowledge both of the day and of the night of Winter and of Summer
yea they haue some sense and perseuerance of the alteration of seasons according as they fall out by the course of the spheres but yet not by any such knowledge and vnderstanding as is in man Nowe sense and knowledge cannot proceede of the power of the elements but is deriued from some higher thing For it is by meanes of a more celestiall power that beastes are distinguished from plants holding more of the excellencie of their Creatour declaring it a great deale more But man hee mounteth vp much higher For hee ascendeth vp aboue all the heauens euen vnto God and to those spirituall natures by meanes of reason and vnderstanding which make his soule capable of heauenly light and wisedome and of diuine inspirations Whereupon it followeth that the originall and birth of the Soule is celestiall And therefore in this diuersitie of the faculties and powers of the soule and life of man wee must note this that the lower kindes of the soule and life are not the Well-springs and fountaines of the highest as if those powers and faculties did first set these latter awoorking or as if the highest did spring of the basest and receiued their vertues from them but they are onelie certaine aydes and degrees of helpe whereby the highest and chiefest descende and ascende So that the Vegetatiue and nourishing life and vertue is not the originall of the sences and sensitiue vertue but onelie a degree by which the facultie of sense is deriued to the bodie and by little and little ascendeth vp to her powers and offices The like may bee sayde of the vnderstanding and of reason in regarde of the sensitiue facultie For euerie sort and kinde of life and euerie power of the soule hath beginning of it selfe and certaine boundes within which it is conteined Wherein we haue to consider a marueilous woorke and prouidence of GOD in that hee hath ioyned and linked togethet in man things that are so diuers For wee take this as graunted that the soule of man is a spirituall nature and not corporall that it is immortall and created for the contemplation of celestiall and eternall things On the other side wee see howe this so excellent and diuine a nature is ioyned to that part and power that is called Vegetatiue and Nourishing which seemeth rather to bee corporall then spirituall to bee more terrestriall then celestiall and to bee as it were the Kitchen of the bodies of liuing creatures and the Store-house and Originall of their generation So that there is no man of any sounde minde who knowing this marueilous coniunction of nature in thinges so diuers and considering that it cannot come to passe by happe-hazard and at aduenture but hee must needes bee rauished with great admiration and acknowledge an admirable prouidence of God the Creator and Lord of nature But they that are instructed in the holie worde and in the doctrine of the Church haue yet a further consideration of these thinges For they knowe well that albeeit this Kitchin of mans bodie shall haue no necessarie vse in the life to come neuerthelesse God hath established this order and woulde haue it thus ioyned to the soule and spirite to the ende that those beginnings of eternall life and of that true and perpetuall wisedome which hee hath put into vs shoulde bee kindled and inflamed in this mortall life For they shall not shine foorth in anie there who haue not heere had some beginnings but haue suffered those to bee cleane extinguished which they haue receiued of GOD. For this cause doeth the voyce of God and of his heauenly doctrine sounde in mens eares and to these endes hath hee ordayned that gouernement which ought to bee amongest them and hath bounde and fortified it with manie bondes and rampires Wherefore wee stande in neede of doctrine of instruction and discipline vnto which things the consideration of mans nature may greatly helpe vs. For there is no science or humane wisedome howe great soeuer it bee that is able to rehearse and comprehende the great profite which this consideration can affoorde to men euen so farre foorth as they may verie well learne and knowe And of this wee may the better bee resolued if we consider well of that which hath alreadie bene handled yea we may the better iudge hereof if wee perfectly vnderstand that diuision of man made by S. Paul and mentioned by vs in this discourse Therefore AMANA proceede you in the residue of this matter giuing vs first to vnderstand what is the nature and offices of those pure animal cleare and bright spirits which we saide were seruiceable to the soule for all kinde of vnderstanding and knowledge Afterwardes you may more easily instruct vs at large and teach vs what difference there is not onely betweenethe soule and the instruments thereof whereby it worketh but also betweene the instruments themselues and their nature and offices and which of them are nearest or remoued farthest from the soule Of the nature and varietie of the animall spirites and how they are onely instruments of the soule and not the soule it selfe of the nature of those bodies wherein the soule may dwell and worke of the difference that is not onely betweene the soule and the instrumenes by which it woorketh but also betweene the instruments themselues and their natures and offices and which of them are neerest or farthest of of the degrees that are in the vnion and coniunction of the soule with the bodie Chap. 78. AMANA It is requisite that workmen should haue instruments answerable to those works which they are to make and if they haue taken in hand but one single and simple worke they neede but one toole fitte for that purpose as to sawe timber there needeth but a sawe But they that are to make many workes or one woorke that is full of varietie stand in need of many instruments as painters ioyners carpenters masons and such like The same may bee saide of the soule and therefore it hath many members in the body that are giuen vnto it as instruments to serue for those woorkes which it hath outwardly to perfourme Moreouer the soule hath humours to preserue and vphold the members and to keepe them alwayes ready for their worke by those meanes which we haue heard already besides it hath vital spirits of which the animall spirites are bred which serue in steade of a light to garde and conduct it in the actions both of the external and the internall senses And as there is great force in a toole or instrument to cause a good or euil worke so is there in the humors spirites and members of the bodie whereby we are made fitte to exercise and to execute all actions whether they concerne life and sense knowledge and vnderstanding or will and affections For it fareth in this matter as it doeth in the disposition of the aire which the thicker and more obscure it is the lesse cleare will the light
recouery neither was any knowen that hath returned from the graue For we were borne at all aduenture and wee shall be heereafter as though wee had neuer beene for the breath is a smoke in the nosethrilles and the woordes as a sparke raised out of our hearts Which being extinguished the body is turned into ashes and the spirite vanisheth as the soft ayre Our life shall passe away as the trace of a cloude and come to naught as the mist that is driuen away with the beames of the Sunne and cast downe with the heate thereof Our name also shall be forgotten in time and no man shall haue our woorkes in remembrance For our time is as a shadowe that passeth away and after our ende there is no returning for it is fast sealed so that no man commeth againe Come therefore let vs enioy the pleasures that are present and let vs cheerfully vse the creatures as in youth Let vs fill our selues with costly wine ointments and let not the floure of life passe by vs. I omit other speeches of a voluptuous wicked vniust life which they purpose to lead exercising al iniustice violence cruelty without al regard had to any right or iustice either to poore or rich yong or old but chiefly against the seruants of God who approue not their kind of life but reproue condemne it Therefore it is said after al the discourse that they imagined such things and went astray For their owne wickednes blinded them They do not vnderstand the mysteries of God neither hope for the reward of righteousnes nor can discerne the honor of the soules that are faultlesse For God created man without corruption and made him after the image of his owne likenesse Neuerthelesse through enuy of the deuill came death into the world and they that hold of his side proue it But the soules of the righteous are in the hands of God and no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeared to die and their end was thought grieuous and their departing from vs destruction but they are in peace Wee see then that these men go no farther then they can see with their bodily senses and because they see that man liueth by breathing and cannot liue without and that hee dyeth when his breath faileth they thinke that the soule of man is but a litle winde and breath and so is scattered and vanisheth away as it were winde and breath or as a cloude in the ayre The same iudgement they are of in regard of the blood because life leaueth the body with the blood as if it had no other soule but the blood or breath And forasmuch as the eye discerneth no difference betweene men and beasts in death they iudge also that there is no difference betweene their soules But if they be resolued to giue credit to nothing but to their corporall senses and in death consider only what difference there is betweene men and beasts they wil not beleeue that either beasts or men haue any soule at all that giueth them life because they see nothing but the body onely And then by the like reason we must conclude that not onely the whole man is no other thing but this body which we see but also that there is nothing in all the world but that which may bee seene by the eyes and perceiued by the other senses and so all that which we haue not seene and knowen by them shal be nothing Which being so men shal differ nothing from beasts as indeed we can say no better of these men For beastes thinke of nothing but that which they beholde and perceiue by their senses and goe no further which is so farre from all science and discipline and from all iudgement of man as nothing can be more Therefore they that beleeue nothing but their corporall senses deserue to be compared not onely to little children or to fooles who when they see pictures or their face in a glasse suppose they are liuing men because they goe no farther then they see but euen to the brute beastes who haue lesse sense and vnderstanding then children It is woonderfull to consider howe men take such great pleasure paines to become brutish For if they doe but see a smoke come out of a place they will iudge that there is some fire within although they behold it not and if they smell any ill sauour their nose will tell them that there is some place infected or some carion lying not farre off albeit they see it not What is the cause then that when by their senses they perceiue somewhat more in men then in beastes they are not induced thereby to thinke that of necessitie there must be some what within them which causeth them to differ much from beasts Which is not by reason of the bodie but of the soule that is not seene but onely by her actions workes and effects Whereupon it followeth that if their actions differ from the actions of that soule whereby beastes liue the cause also from which they proceed must needes differ and so consequently that there is great difference betwixt the soule of men and the soule of beastes For let them consider onely the diuersitie of artes which man exerciseth with his hands and the varietie of so many wittie and woonderfull workes as are wrought by him which cannot proceede but from a great spirite and from a passing excellent nature the like whereof is not to bee seene in beastes or in anie thing they can doe Besides doe they not see how the spirite of man discourseth throughout all nature what reason is in him and howe his speech followeth reason which are such things as haue a certaine vertue and the image of a diuine spirite shining in them Wherefore albeeit wee shoulde make man wholly like to a beast by reason of his bodie both in regarde of his birth and death yet wee must needes confesse that hee is of a farre more excellent nature in respect of that great and manifest difference which wee see is in his soule If then the soule of man bee mortall as well as that of beastes to what purpose serue those graces which it hath aboue the other and from what fountaine shall wee say they flowe in it and to what ende were they giuen vnto it But for this time I will leaue these Atheists hoping that to morowe wee will not leaue any one naturall reason able to vrge them in their demnable opinion which shal not bee laide out at large And I demaund of them that haue anie taste of the holy Scriptures and yet seeme to doubt of the immortalitie of the soule or at leastwise are not fully resolued therein howe man is said to be created after the image of God if he shall be altogether dissolued and brought to nothing and where shall we then seeke for this image in him It is certaine that this is not in
are to search chiefly for those testimonies which God hath giuen vs in nature touching th'immortality of the soule euen the actions and effects therof by meanes of which we come to the knowledge of hidden and secret causes from whence they proceed Therefore consider Amana what you mind to speake vnto vs of this subiect Of naturall reasons whereby the immortalitie of soules may be proued against Epicures and Atheists and first of the argument taken frō the facultie of knowledge which the soule hath and from that knowledge of eternitie which is in it how it appeareth that it is not begottē of this corruptible nature because it ascendeth vp vnto God and how by a special benefit of God it is daily created not by the vertue of nature Cha. 90. AMANA Seeing Epicures Atheists giue credit to natural Philosophy in things whose causes it proueth by their effects they haue no reason to refuse it in the consideration of the nature of mens soules Now it is verie certaine that if we will take this course besides the testimonies of God in his word touching the immortalitie of the soule which way soeuer we turne our eyes whether aboue vs or beneath vs on the right hand or on the left we shall finde euery where arguments and reasons concluding the same For we haue nature and the necessitie of causes proportion and similitude life the excellent dignitie of man the goodnes of God and the profit of mankind proceeding from his bountifulnesse which with one common consent and as it were all with one voyce teach vs and crie out that the soule cannot bee mortall First then we obserue that the true naturall essences of all things are not knowne of vs by themselues but continue hidde in the secret closets of euery one of them vnto which our minde being burthened with this masse of the body and ouerwhelmed with the darkenesse of this life is not able to reach Therefore we must enquire by the accidents adhering vnto them and principally by their actions whereby our reason discourseth and concludeth of euery thing what it is and of what qualitie For euery thing hath his actions and workes according to it owne substance and nature and by them declareth and maketh it selfe knowne so that if wee consider the actions of the soule we shall by them know the nature and immortalitie thereof Let vs then consider her first and principall action which is to know and this importeth also to vnderstande to comprehende and to conceiue Whereupon we haue to note that there is no power of Knowing that can attaine to the knowledge of any thing but it hath some agreement and proportion with the nature of the same thing because knowledge is as it were the image of things which is imprinted in the soule as in a glasse Now it is certaine that a looking glasse cannot represent the image and similitude of a spirituall thing because it selfe is a corporall thing which hath no agreement in nature with that which is spirituall Likewise it cannot represent any thing belonging to the other senses but onely that which concerneth the sight and therfore it cannot represent either soundes smelles or tastes because the vse thereof is onely for the eyes neither doeth it agree with any of the other senses but onely with the sight And as for our externall senses they cannot perceiue those things that haue neither quantitie nor bodily substance because they themselues are corporal Neither yet can they perceiue things that are absent And the internall senses as the fantasie the imagination cannot perceiue spiritual things as namely either God or Angels but onely the spirite of a man doeth perceiue know and comprehend them which power and facultie no other creature vnder heauen hath For if it were otherwise it could not in any wise comprehend a thing that surmounteth it with an infinite greatnes and with which it hath no agreement at all For further confirmation of that which I say let vs consider of Eternitie as it is whole and entire in it selfe then let vs diuide it into that which was since the creation of the worlde and finally into that which followed the same and which shall be for euermore When our spirite entereth into the consideration of that which was before the creation our thought is not able to comprehend it so that it is ouerwhelmed with the greatnesse thereof but wee doe well vnderstand and comprehend that part of eternitie which shall followe vs heereafter throughout infinit ages Whereby it appeareth that this first consideration of it is too great for our soule as hauing no proportion therewith nor yet agreeing thereunto but it is otherwise with the soule in the consideration of that other eternitie for the fruition whereof it was created For the soule is not eternall as God is as though it had no more beginning then he had and therefore it hath no agreement with him in this respect The soule then entereth into a bottomlesse gulfe when it discourseth of an eternitie of which it is not partaker but it hath agreement with the eternitie of God as angels haue in that it is created immortall to liue an eternall life with him which appeareth in that it is able to comprehend the same Therfore Saint Iohn in the beginning of his Gospel leadeth vs euen to the gates of this first eternitie but forasmuch as it is a gulfe in which we shall be swallowed vp if we enter farther into it hee proceedeth not forward but stayeth vs there and calleth vs presently vnto the means whereby God manifested himselfe telling vs how he did this by his eternall worde and first by the creation of the worlde then by those other meanes which hee setteth downe afterwarde all which our soule comprehendeth well and so cannot the soule of beasts do Wherfore when we consider God in his essence and nature before the creation of the world the time that was before that wee are then ouerwhelmed therewithall see no whit at all into it But if we enter into the consideration of the times after the creation of the world into those which shal follow stil after vs vnto all eternity wee looke into it more cleerely and are not so much dazeled therwithall because our soule is more capable of this consideration then of the other which was before all creatures From hence wee may conclude that the soules of beasts and plants that haue not in them this cogitation or apprehension of eternitie are produced and taken out of the power and vertue of that matter of which they are engendered but the spirit of man is more specially bredde in the bodie by God aboue all the powers of the matter and nature of the same For nothing ariseth higher or passeth beyond that thing of which it receiueth essence and beeing and those powers and strength that it hath for if it did then should it not receiue being from thence
but of some other thing before and aboue that or else farther off vnto which it tendeth We see this in all the senses both externall and internall which are common to vs with beastes For they know nothing else beside that which is of this nature which we see neither doe they ascend higher but our spirite not content with the sight and knowledge of the heauens starres and Angels themselues mounteth vp to God and being come thither can go no further What other thing els doeth this signifie and declare vnto vs but that the soules of beasts are engendered of this corruptible and mortall nature beyonde which they cannot lift vp themselues but that ours are produced of God aboue the power of this nature And so that may bee saide of our soule which is spoken of a spring water namely that it ascendeth as much vpwarde as it descendeth downeward but can goe no higher For when a man woulde carie the water of a spring any whither and would haue it mount vpwarde it will be an easie matter to bring it as high as the spring-head from whence it floweth but no higher except it bee forced by some other meane then by it owne course and naturall vertue Notwithstanding it will easily descend lower And so fareth it with our spirite For as it came from God so it is able to mount againe to the knowledge of him and no higher but it descendeth a great deale lower And as for our senses they remaine lower then the woorkes of nature and pearce not to the depth of them but are alwayes busied about the externall face of them Neither is it to bee doubted but that Moses meant to teach vs these things by that which hee rehearseth of the meanes vsed by God in the creation of man which differed from that hee kept in the creation of all other creatures either liuing or without life For we haue heard what deliberation and counsaile he vsed before he put hand to the worke how he fashioned the body and how he placed the soule therein by and by after Therefore in that the Prophet describeth the creation of the bodie apart and then that of the soule he giueth vs to vnderstand that wee must seeke for something more high and excellent in that of man then in that of beastes whose soules were created with their bodies and of the selfe-same matter with them Moreouer he teacheth vs this very plainly when he saith that God created man after his owne image and similitude which hee did not say of beasts as we haue alreadie heard Therefore there must needes be in the soule of man some other power and vertue then that by which it giueth life to the bodie and which is common to it with those of brute beastes So that as God gaue to this dead bodie taken out of the earth a soule that endued it with life motion and sense so hee imprinted and ingraued his image into this soule vnto which immortalitie is annexed Therefore when Moses sayeth that man was made a liuing soule no doubt but by the name of soule he meaneth another nature and substance then that of the bodie And in that he calleth it liuing hee declareth plainly that the bodie hath not of it self and of it owne nature that life wherewith it is endued but from the power of this soule And although hee there maketh not any speciall mention of the other vertues thereof it is because hee considered the capacitie of the people with whome he liued vnto whom he would frame himselfe being content to speake openly of that power of the soule which appeared best without and which the externall senses might most easily know perceiue by the effects thereof But I thinke it will not be vnfit for this matter if wee returne to that question which before we touched concerning the creation of the soule namely whether since it was created by God in the first creation of man it be still created after the same sort as it were by a new miracle in them that are daily borne in the worlde or whether it bee naturally created but yet of God by a certaine order appointed for that ende by him Nowe albeeit it bee very requisite that we should bee sober and not rash in this matter for the causes alreadie set downe notwithstanding we will here propound the opinion of some learned men grounded vpon that order which God hath accustomed to obserue in his workes and in his creatures For seeing he hath set a law in nature for all other creatures according to which he createth produceth them not by any new miracle it is more likely that he createth soules naturally and that he hath ordained a stedfast law for mankind but differing from that of beasts so much as his creation differed from theirs For hauing once established an order he vseth not to change it into a diuers or contrarie order but keepeth still the same except it bee that sometimes he vseth extraordinarie meanes by way of a miracle For although all his woorkes bee great miracles and chiefely man neuerthelesse wee call none by that name but onely those which he woorketh by supernaturall meanes not against but beside the common order of nature But that which I say derogateth nothing from the nature immortalitie of mans soule For although it be placed in that matter which is alreadie prepared and appropriated for the fashioning of the body yet he doeth this aboue the vertue of the matter and of the worke of nature by a lawe which he hath established to that effect For this cause he doeth not onely giue a soule to them that are begotten by lawfull marriage but to those also who are brought foorth in whoredome whether it be adultery incest or any other such like For although that honestie which is enioyned mankind by God be not kept in such a birth and generation but contrarieth the same yet it is not contrary to the lawe of generation ordayned by God as that generation is which is by buggerie wherein not only the Law of honesty is violated but also the law of nature We will conclude then that it is not only true that our soule is not brought forth by the power of nature but by the benefit of God only but also that it is expedient and very behoofefull yea necessary for mankind that it should be true and because it is behoofefull and necessary it is true also without all question For God hath omitted nothing that is agreeable to his glory and profitable and expedient for mankinde For seeing the soule is placed within the bodie not by the vertue of nature but properly and peculiarly by a speciall benefite of God man oweth the chiefest and best part of himselfe not to nature but to God Which is the cause why he should acknowledge him as the onely father of his spirite consecrate the same wholly to him alone not yeelding
of the moule and of other such like beasts Therefore if the Good that is proper and peculiar to the nature of man consist not in this eternitie and celestiall immortalitie of which wee speake to what purpose is his head lift vpward and his eies looking towards heauen especially seeing God hath ioyned these things with a soule that is partaker of reason and vnderstanding For among the beasts we find one fish that hath the eyes set in the top of the head and therefore it is called by the Graecians Vranoscopos which signifieth as much as a Beholder of heauen or looking towards heauen But because it is not partaker of vnderstanding and reason more then other beasts are and seeing the soule of it differeth not from theirs we may easily iudge that the eies of it were not set in that place for the same reason that man hath his lifted vp towardes heauen Shall wee say then that God hath created man and endewed him with so many graces and singular properties to make him more wretched then beastes in this life who otherwise is so miserable and compassed about with so many euilles on euery side For whereto serueth the disposition of his nature but to torment him the more by looking vp towardes heauen and by that knowledge which hee hath more then beasts haue thereby encreasing in him a vaine desire of such a happinesse as hee can neuer enioy And which is woorse the more noble spirite that any one hath the more learned and vertuous hee is or the more and longer oppressed he is with the miseries of this life the more woulde this vaine desire pricke and torment him And if there bee some who like beasts passe ouer al these things without any sense and feeling this befalleth them either because they are of a heauy sleepie and blockish spirite or else because they are drunken with that which is commonly called Fortunes fauour namely with the honours riches and pleasures of this world So that wee must conclude vpon this speech that because beasts do here all that they haue to do according to those powers and gifts that are naturally in them therefore they liue and die heere but because the Spirite giuen to man can not doe heere according to his naturall disposition it followeth necessarily that as it is borne in an other place so it must haue another place wherein to effect that which it hath to do And contrariwise if the soule of man be mortall all that hee hath to doe is in this life as it is with beasts and then also it followeth that hee was created in vaine and without cause For God created nothing but hee propounded to himselfe the ende for which hee created it and that such an ende as is agreeable to the nature and dignitie of euery one of his woorkes else all things shoulde haue beene created in vaine by him Nowe if he created man onely to liue in this worlde as hee did other creatures then did he not in his creation propound to himselfe an end beseeming the excellencie of such a nature Which thing the greatest Philosophers amongest the heathen haue after due consideration bin constrained to confesse And if man for whose sake the whole visible worlde was created and who only can will and knoweth how to vse all things contained therein was created and receiued this life in vaine what shal we think of al other things that wee created because of him and for his sake Shall not the whole worke of creation be in vaine and vnworthy the infinite maiestie and wisedome of God the Creator and hee that is the Gouernour of the world shall hee not be spoiled of all prouidence Who ought not to abhorre the very cogitation of such a thing And yet the religion of God his prouidence and the immortalitie of our soule are so fast linked and ioyned together and depend in such sort one vpon an other that they can not be separated neither indeede is it lawfull to separate them For he that abolisheth the one shaketh also that faith which wee ought to holde of the rest because if our soules be not immortall there is neither punishment nor reward either for vertue or vice or for the good or ill deedes of men For wee see euidently howe all things are mingled and confused in the course of this present life that they are turned into a common robbery that the woorst men make themselues Masters and Lordes of the worlde as if it were created onely for them that they might bee in it as gods vpon the earth and contrariwise that good and iust men may seeme to haue beene created onely for a pray to the wicked and to be lesse accompted of them then the brute beasts Which if it were so then shoulde God haue no care of men and if hee haue no care of them howe shall hee be their GOD and Creator and why shoulde they rather then beasts call vpon him and honor him For if it were so what hath hee done or what doeth hee yet more for them vnto whome he hath giuen his lawe and commandement to call vpon him to honour and serue him then he doeth for beasts to whome hee hath giuen no such lawe or commaundement and who do not call vpon him nor honour him according to the same as men doe And what may wee accompt all religion all feare and reuerence of God to be all holinesse honestie and vertue but superstition and a vaine and foolish opinion and fancie of the mind of man Notwithstanding there hath alwayes beene a common testimonie and consent of religion among all nations euen amongest the most barbarous and rudest people that euer werefound Neither euer were any so ill taught but they haue put some difference betweene vertue and vice and betweene honestie and dishonestie It can not be then but that religion and vertue naturally engrauen in the heart of man are good things yea farre better then their contraries Whereas if God had no more respect to the one then to the other were not to iudge thereof to what purpose serueth this difference which men make betweene them and what profit shall they reape to themselues by esteeming better of that which is good then of euil Good men should not only receiue lesse profit by vertue then by vice but further they should be damnified by the same wicked men should euer haue the better yea they should be rewarded insteade of being punished For the best and iustest men are commonly a pray vnto the wicked And who shall deliuer them out of their hands seeing for the most part they are the strongest and haue in a maner the gouernement of the worlde in their power so that the most innocent persons are at their mercie as it were except God should let them haue iustice either heere in this worlde or in some other And if God shoulde faile in doing iustice vpon what right should the
and that hath moe or so many reasons as this whereof wee dispute at this present Howe many things doe these fellowes beleeue according to naturall Philosophie for which they haue not so many nor so euident reasons And howe many things shoulde bee doubted of except so many arguments coulde bee brought for their proofe and confirmation as wee haue alleadged and as might yet bee found out for this matter Nowe what can they alleadge on the contrary side For if they beleeue nothing but what they see and whereof they haue experience I demaund of them howe many things there are in humane Philosophie where of they are throughly resolued and yet haue no experience at all in them neither can haue any certainetie but onely as they giue credite to such as haue written of them who yet are deceiued themselues oftentimes so haue deceiued others And yet they are not so hardly brought to beleeue their reasons as to giue credite to them that maintaine the immortalitie of soules which is a matter of so great consequence and waight And as Spiders turne into poison the sweetest liquors they sucke so they maliciously gather the reasons testimonies and places not onely of Poets Philosophers and others but also of the holie Scriptures which they thinke will serue to confirme them daily more and more in their errours and in their false and wicked opinions howe little likelihoode soeuer they seeme to haue and howe flenderly soeuer they make for them In the meane season they dissemble and make shewe that they see not all the other reasons that fight directly against them which being in number infinite are so cleere and so certaine as nothing can bee more There are many of them that haue no other reason but their opinon who can alleadge no other thing but this It is not so or I beleeue it not or I doubt of it or Peraduenture it is otherwise And in trueth none of them all in a manner haue any reasons of greater shewe or that can vrge them that haue neuer so little iudgement as wee may easily iudge by the examination of one of their cheefe Maisters and strong Pillers I meane Pliny by whome we may iudge of all the rest For if hee who is so much esteemed among them shewed himselfe to be such a grosse and blockish beast and so farre from reason in that which hee wrote touching this matter a man may soone guesse what can bee in the others who are no body in respect of him or at leastwise haue not gotten so great credite and authoritie But let vs heare the reasons of this venerable Doctor First he derideth all that men haue spoken or written of the beeing of soules after the death of the bodies accompting all this to be but toyes and dreames and then hee propoundeth his resolution that there remaineth no more of a man after his corporall death then there was of him before hee was conceiued and borne After that he laugheth at the vanitie of men in that they are so foolish as at the very time of their death voluntarily to flatter and beguile themselues in promising to themselues life euen after life some by the immortalitie of the soule others by the transfiguration thereof and a third sort by attributing sense to the dead and by honoring their soules and making a god of that which hauing beene a man is now nothing at all I maruaile not if Plinie mocked at many foolish opinions that were among the Heathen touching this matter and namely the fooâ—eries of the Pythagoreans and Platonists which I doubt not but hee meant by the transfiguration of soules whereof hee maketh mention For Plato was so farre from yeelding that the soule of man was mortall that hee will not confesse the soule of beasts to bee so because according to his opinion of the creation of soules hee thinketh that there is but one kinde of soule for all sortes of bodies that haue life and that soules passe and repasse from one to an other as wee heard vntill that being well purged they come to the place of the blessed Likewise this Authour of the naturall historie had reason to deride the follie and vanitie of men in deifying them that died and in making them immortall gods that had beene before but mortall men But from these fond opinions he had no reason to conclude that if soules did not passe and repasse from bodies to bodies and if men coulde not become gods after their death therefore they ceased to be men any longer and nothing remained of them but their ashes so that their soules also perished as well as their bodies But what reasons hath hee to vpholde this conclusion For the first hee alleadgeth that men breathe not otherwise then beasts doe because hee seeth nothing of the soule of either of them and goeth no further then to the externall senses as if the soule of men as well as of beasts were nothing else but a breath Wherby we see what a grosse beast he sheweth himselfe to be We may say the same of him in that he requireth both the internall and externall senses after the death of a man and the same offices which the soule performed in the bodie when it dwelled therein concluding that without these things there could be no good for maÌ„ after death Then he taketh this for an other argument that there are many other things in the world which liue a great deale longer then man doth and yet we attribute no immortality vnto them After he demandeth whither maÌ„ goeth after death what lodging he hath and what a multitude of soules there should be in the world from the time it hath bin a world if al they shuld liue that haue bin so concludeth that they should be but as it were so many shadows We haue sufficiently answered all these goodly arguments before when we spake of brutish men who rest only in the witnes of their senses and go no further then beasts doe Besides what an argument is that for so great a man to say that we attribute not immortalitie to many things that out-liue men and therefore why should wee rather beleeue it of mens soules There are not only many beasts whose life is longer then the life of men but also many trees and therefore wee must aske of man why we should think that he is rather capable of reason and more excellent then other creatures are that he hath a soule of another nature more noble then they But I will further vrge these arguments against himselfe according as we made answere to the complaint of som Philosophers who accused nature because she had graÌ„ted loÌ„ger life to many beasts then to meÌ„ seeing it was so necessary for them For seeing Nature hath endued man with so many goodly gifts and so excellent wherewith she hath not adorned beasts certainly she should be a stepmother and no true mother or if she were a
mother yet shee should be a very cruel mother if she had giuen longer life to beasts then to men had not reserued a better a longer for them But this reason would not greatly moue Pliny who is the man himselfe that gaue these goodly titles to nature vnder which name he blasphemed God whom he knew not Neuertheles this argument wil be of force with them that waigh it aright considering the prouidence and goodnesse of God towards mankinde He addeth further that this fantasticall opinion is entred into mens braines because they woulde neuer faile but be eternall But this pretended reason is so far from confirming his opiniō that contrariwise it greatly weakneth the same in that it agreeth with the argument for the immortalitie of soules that was taken from this natural desire which God hath not giuen to men in vaine as hath bin shewed vnto vs by good reasons Moreouer he iudgeth it great follie to keepe bodies in hope that they shall liue and rise againe according to the vaine promise of the Philosopher Democritus who did not rise againe himselfe But I maruel not if Pliny spake so of the resurrection of bodies seeing he held that opinion of the mortalitie of soules seeing those Philosphers who maintained the immortalitie of soules did not so much as once dreame of the resurrection of bodies except this Democritus only at whom I much more woonder then at all this which Pliny writeth of the mortalitie of soules For it seemeth that Democritus could not learn this of reason and of natural philosophy vnles it were so that he builded his doctrine vpon the same foundation that he took from his Motes cōcerning the matter of which all things are made For according to this opinion hee taught that all the essences that euer were shoulde in time haue their beeing againe by the meeting together of those matters of which they had beene compounded Surely a very fond opinion for a Philosopher so that Pliny may well derde it although the argument hee maketh against him is not strong enough to ouerthrowe his imagination For hee woulde haue had Democritus to haue confirmed his opinion by his owne resurrection But his Philosophie did not insinuate so much that it shoulde haue beene done so quickely but after the reuolution of many Ages which Pliny shoulde haue stayed for before hee coulde haue euicted Democritus of his foolish opinion if hee had no better argument to ouerthrowe it Nowe if this Philosopher did not lay this ground for his opinion which I haue mentioned I woulde haue thought that hee might haue vnderstoode the same by some speech come to his eares of the doctrine of the holie Patriarkes and of the Hebrewes touching this matter by meanes of the Aegyptians amongest whome those good Fathers long dwelt because they that wrote the liues of the Philosophers put Democritus in the number of them that descended into Aegypt to learne the wisedome of that people as Pythagoras Plato Orpheus Socrates and Pherecydes with others did the same But let vs returne to Pliny and heare his other reasons such as they be He accounteth it great follie in men to thinke that by death a man may enter into a second life and thereupon breaketh foorth into an exclamation as if men were out of their wits so to thinke But he would haue found it no lesse impossible that generation shoulde come of corruption and that of seede which is but as it were a little slime a man coulde be engendered or a beast if experience had not taught the fame And because hee hath not seene a soule liue after the death of the bodie nor a dead man risen againe therefore hee concludeth that there is neither immortalitie of the soule nor resurrection of the bodie But wee may call to minde that which was vttered to this purpose when wee spake of the similitude that is betweene our first and second birth I omit that which he saieth of the rest and quietnesse taken away for euer from men that are borne if that diuision of the soule separated from the body which some Heathen Philosophers made shoulde take place namely when they so diuided it that the sence of soules remained aboue and their shadowes beneath among the dead for all this is but fopperie Neuerthelesse the argument taken from the common consent of men touching the immortalitie of soules remaineth still and is confirmed euen by Plinie himselfe in this place although peraduenture hee neuer thought it Let vs then come to the finall conclusion which hee maketh of this whole matter Hee calleth it deceit of woordes and foolish credulitie whatsoeuer men speake or beleeue of their immortalitie and accompteth it as a poison that destroyeth the chiefe good of Nature which as hee sayeth is death adding further that by this meanes death shall doubled or as some reade it the greefe of him that is to die shall be doubled when hee shall thinke vpon that which is to come For if it bee a sweete and pleasant thing to liue to whome can it bee pleasant to thinke that hee did once liue Therefore hee setteth this downe for his last resolution that it is more easie and certaine for euery one to beleeue himselfe and that whereof hee hath experience in himselfe then to trust any other and to fetch his assurance from that which a man was before hee was borne Thus wee see howe hee laboureth to perswade that no man can bee blessed in the life to come because the cheefe good thing hee can haue in nature is taken from him except hee bee wholly like to beastes in his death and except hee beleeue that there remaineth no more of him after death then there was before his conception and natiuitie And to confirme and assure himselfe in this opinion hee woulde haue euery one to fetch an argument and proofe heereof from the similitude of that estate in which hee was before hee was conceiued or borne to compare it with that which followeth his death that a man may iudge of the one by the other But what reason is in that For is there the same reason from not beeing to beeing that is from beeing to not beeing Wee knowe well howe man is come from not beeing to beeing but can wee heereby bee so assured that hee shall bee no more after hee hath beene as we knowe hee hath beene after a time wherein he was not And whereas hee woulde haue vs giue more credite to our owne experience in our death then to all that can bee saide by others I woulde demaund of him what that is of which wee haue experience and whether wee ought to conclude that wee die wholly as beastes doe because to the sence of man wee see no difference betwixt their deaths and the death of man It seemeth this is his meaning But as they of his coate aske who euercame from the dead to testifie that soules are immortall so we may aske of him
of soules Mark 6. 3. matt 13 55 56 iohn 6. 42. Mala. 4. 5. Iohn 1. 21. Matth. 11. 14. and 17. 12 13 Luke 1. 15 16 17. Numb 11. 25. 1. Cor. 12. 11. The fountaine of Gods graces diminisheth not 2. King 2. 9. Esay 29. 14. 2. tim 3. 2 3. 2. thes 2. 10 11. The Pythagoreans of our time Of the true transmigration of soules Of the creation and generation of soules How God rested the seuenth day Actes 17. 28. Another opinion of the creation of the soule Gen. 2. 7. The nature of the soule is not curiously to be searched after How the soule is stained with sinne Rom. 5. 12 15. Verse 19. Humane philosophie is blinde The causes of errours Three faculties vnder the vegetatiue vertue Two parts of the sensitiue vertue How the Astronomers referre the powers of the soule to the starres Powers proper to the â—easonable soule Of speech Of speech Of the speculatiue and actiue vertue Of the politike vertue The kindes of it Of the heroicall vertue Against the astronomicall influence of vertues Philosophers esteeme too highly of mans nature What iustice God approoueth Foure contemplatiue vertues according to the Platonists Howe those agree in some sort to foure christian vertues Why men encline to lies rather then to the trueth The diuelish infection of Atheisme Reasons to proue the immortalitie of the soule Why men beleeue not the immortalitie of the soule Wisd 2. 1 2 c. The sayings of Epicures Verse 21 c. Wisd 3. 1. The corrupt opinion of Atheists and Epicures Atheists may wel be compared to beasts Reasons to shew the soule of men to differ from that of beasts The image of God is to bee sought in the soule An answere to an obiection A reason of Atheists confuted by a similitude Luke 16. 26. marke 16. 14. Math. 28. 9. luke 24. 36. iohn 20. 19 20 act 1. 2 3 10. 1. Cor. 15 6. Exod. 3. 6. mat 22. 32 33. mar 12. 26. luk 20. 37 38. The resurrection of the dead proued 2. Thess 1. 6 7. How we know the hidden things in nature An argument taken from the knowledge of the soule to proue it immortall Eternitie considered diuerâ—ly A speciall difference betweene the soule of man and 〈◊〉 beasts A firme proofe of the soules immortalitie A fitte comparison Gen. 1. 26. Why man was saide to be a liuing soule How God dayly createth soules What a miracle is Buggery violateth the law of nature God is the onely father of our spirite Three things vnseperable The desire of perpetuitie an argument of the soules immortalitie Another desire which is to continue our memory for euer Another desire of perpetuitie appearing in funerals An obiection The answere to it Of the true immortalitie An argument taken from the apprehension of death to prooue the immortalitie of soules Of the ende of good and euill men The right Armes of Machâ—auâ—llian Nobilitie An argument of the pleasures of the soule to shew the immortalitie thereof Some more like to beasts then men How we must iudge of the nature of the soule Of the true pleasures of the soule An argument from insatiable pleasures for the immortalitie of the soule A corrupt spirite taketh the shadow of things for the things themselues An argument taken from vices for the immortalitie of the soule How God punisheth vicious deâ—ires Esay 38. 12. 2. Pet. 1. 13 14. 2. Cor. 5. 1 2. Hebr. 13. 14. An argument taken from the frame of mans body to prooue the immortalitie of his soule Another argument taken from the motion and rest of the soule Of a fish called Vranoscopos Except the soule be immortal man is created in vaine The immortalitie of the soule is linked to the religion prouidence of God An argument taken from the consent of all people Other reasons to the same end Actes 3. 21. What the endâ— of a thing is Of the multitude and qualitie of witnesses to prooue the immortalitie of the soule What kinde of Philosophers Atheists and Epicures were An argument taken from the desire of wisedometo prooue the immortalitie of the soule 1. Cor. 13. 12. An obiection made by some Philosophers The answere Aristoteles opinion touching the immortalitie of the soule How the vnderstanding commeth to the knowledge of outward things by the senses Howe the outward senses looke vpon things How the internal senses receiue the same things How the Spirite receiueth them from the internall senses Other reasons for the immortalitie of the soule The soule can not be diuided Other reasons for the immortality of the soule Prou. 10. 24. Euery one naturally desireth life Reasons taken from reward and praise to proue the immortality of the soule The dead haue no feeling of praise Death most lamentable to the best men if the soule were not immortal Cato beleeued the immortality of the soule What comfort it is to beleeue a place of rest after this life What store of testimonies stand for the immortality of the soule Of such as say it is good to keepe men in this opinion of the immortalitie of the soule and yet themselues beleeue it not How wee must iudge of a wise man Ioh. 12. 31. 2. cor 4. 4. Ephe. 6. 12. The inconueniences which follow the former opinion of perswading men to goodnesse by false meanes That which corrupteth the spirit is contrary to the nature of it The difference betwixt conuincing and conâ—ounding a man Internal testimonies of the immortality of the soule The cause of true ioy in the spirite Where God is said to be especially The true cause of grief torment How men cary about them the matter of two fires Deut. 4. 24. heb 12. 29. Esay 66. 24. matth 22. 13. 25. 30. A sure argument in the wicked of their future torment in another life Naturall reasons to proue the immortalitie of mens soules The naturall knowledge of good and euill an argument of our immortality The nature of loue and hatred The necessitie of another life after this Gen. 4. 6 7. A similitude Sorow euer followeth sinne What conscience is Why it is called Synteresis Of the Philosophers Anticipations Ephes 4. 19. Atheists compared to drunkards and madde folks A sit similitude The wicked alwaies condemne themselues Foure offices of the conscience The more wicked a maÌ„ is the greater is his feare The Deitie prooued by that feare which is naturally in men The greatest persons liue in most feare The Atheists prouerbe that feare made gods turned against themselues The difference betwixt the feare in men and in beasts Strong reasons against Atheists Feare is a natural testimonie of a diuine essence What this worde Animal signifieth Atheists are reasonable beasts Atheists sitly resembled to Spiders Plinies brutish opinion touching the immortality of the soule Plato his opinion of the creation of soules Plinies reasons against the immortalitie of the soule Plin. lib. 7. ca. 55. Pliny blasphemed God vnder the name of Nature Democritus beleeued the resurrection of bodies What Philosophers went into Egypt to learne wisedome The conclusion of Plinie touching this matter The iudgement of God in Plinies death Plin. Nep epist ad Oâ—â— Taâ— The absurd consequents of Plinies opinion Mat. 28. 12 13. Against them who say that the soule can not be knowen to bee immortall according to nature Of them that alleadge Salomon against the immortalitie of the soule Eccles. 3. 18 19 20 21. Eccles 12. 7. Chap. 12. 1. The iudgement of God vpon Lucian and Luâ—retius two Arch-Atheists Euseb Hier. Crin de Pâ—â—at The doctrine of Epicurus commended by Lâ—cretius Epicures thinke themselues kings and gods The blasphemie of Atheists The absurdities that follow the opinion of the Atheists Of the force of arguments alleaged before for the immortalitie of the soule The summe of this whole book The world compared to mans body and God to his soule Against such as say that God is the soule of the world The image of God in mans soule Iohn 3. 12. Of that coniunction which is betweene God and his creatures Of God the first greatest Good Mal. 3. 6. Of spirituall natures which are the second Good The spirit of a man moueth not in place Of the body which is the 〈◊〉 Good The right end of our creation Mans will must looke vp to the head not downe to the bellie Man is a middle creature between Angels beasts A spirite is not shut vp in a place It is inuisible The coniunction of our soule and body is a wonderful work of God