with my God that being in me a Fountaine of water springing vp into life euerlasting it may cause in me merits to ascend thether wheras I hope to liue for euer Not without cause did the Son of God say If you then being naught knowe how to giue good guifts to your children Luk. 11 how much more will your Father in heauen giue the good spirit to them that aske him And he saith not that he will giue bread cloathes wisdome charity or life euerlasting but the good spirit for in it al things are conteyned Cease not then O my soule daily to admonish the Father of the promise of his son saying with great deuotion assured hope to obtaine O holy father not in mine owne iustification doe I pray vnto theâ— but in the promise of thy onely begotten Sonne For he hath said vnto vs How much more will your Father in heauen giue the good Spirit to them that aske him Surely thy Sonne is the Truth he deceaueth vs not Fuifill therefore the promise of thy Son who hath glorified thee vpon earth Ioh. 17 Phil. 2 and was obedient to thee vnto death euen the death of the Crosse Giue the good â—pirit to them that aske it of thee Giue the spirit of thy loue and feare that thy seruant may loue nothing but thee his neighbour in thee nor feare but onely to offend thee Create a cleane hart in me O God Psal 50 and renew a right 〈…〉 in my bowells Cast me 〈…〉 from thy face and thy holy spirit take not from me Render vnto me the ioy of thy saluation and confirme me with a principall spirit Now I come to the resemblance which Fountaines of water haue with God Cap. 6 for from them also may the minde be eleuated to consider his wonderfull workes And not without cause is God called in holy scripture A Fountaine of life Psal 35 Eccle. 1 And A Fountaine of liuing water And that he is the Fountaine of Being Hier. 2 We gather by these wordes of God to Moyses I am which am Exod. 3 he which is hath sent me to you All which the Apostle seemeth to haue included when he saith Act. 17 In him we liue and moue and be For in him we are as in a Fountaine of being In him we liue as in a Fountaine of life And in him we mooue as in a Fountaine of Wisdome Wisd 7 because Wisdome is more moueable then all moueable things reacheth euery where because of her cleannesse as it is said in the booke of Wisdome A fountaine of water with vs hath this propertie that Riuers spring from it and when they cease to flowe from their fountaine they are soone dried vp but the fountaine dependeth not of the riuers for it receaueth not water from them but from it selfe and giueth it vnto others This is a true resemblance of the diuinitie For God is the most true fountaine of Being because he receaued his Being from no other thing but all thinges receiued their being from him God receaued his being from no other thing because his essence is to be and his being is his existence so that it cannot be conceaued or caused but that God hath beene alwayes and alwayes shall be Other thinges may be for a time and for a time not be because existence doth not necessarily belong vnto their offence For example It belongeth to the essence of a man to be a reasonable creature and therefore he cannot be a man vnlesse he be a reasonable creature and if existence belonged also to the essence of a man he should then alwayes exist but because it belongeth not to his essence therefore hee may exist and not exist God then is the Fountaine of Being because his essence includeth actuall existence for euer as is signified by those wordes I am Which am Exod. 3 That is I am essence it selfe and receaue not my Being from any other thing for to me onely my essence is my existence Therefore eternitie and immortalitie is proper vnto God onely as the apostle saith To the king of the worldes immortall 1 Tim 1 1 Tim. 6 onely God And who onely hath immortalitie For all other things receaue in such sort their essence from God that vnlesse they doe alwaies depend one him and be preserued by him they presently cease to be Wherevpon the same Apostle saith Heb. 1 Who carieth all thinges by the word of his power Therefore O my foule admire and reuerence the infinite goodnesse of thy maker who maintaineth and preserueth all thinges so louingly although he needeth not their seruice Admire and Imitate also the patience of thy sayd maker who is so mercifull vpon the vnkinde and the euill Luke 6 that he feedeth and preserueth those which blaspheme him and deserue to be brought to nothing Let it not therefore seeme much vnto thee to beare sometimes with the infirmities of thy brethren and as thou art commanded to doe good to those that hate thee But the being a Fountaine doth not onely consist in not receauing being from an other Fountaine and in giuing being vnto other things For the water both of Fountaines and Riuers with vs is of the same kinde and albeit that fountaines receaue not their water from other fountaines yet they haue a cause of their being to wit vapours which also haue other causes successinely vntill we come vnto God the first cause But God thy maker my soule is not of the same kinde with creatures but infinitely surpasseth them in dignitie nobilitie and excellencie He also is truely and properly the Fountaine of Being because he doth not onely not receaue his being from an other fountaine of being but also for that he hath no cause at all A Fountaine of created water as is said is not deriued from any other water but from an other cause but the increated Fountaine of Being hath not my thing before himselfe dependeth not of any thing wanteth not any thing nor can he hurt by any thing but all thinges depend of him 2 Mach. 8 and he can Destroy the whole world with a becke as saith the valiant Machabaeus Admire this eminencie O my soule this beginning without beginning this Cause without Cause this essence that is infinite vnlimited immense and absolutely necessary in comparison wherof all other things are but casuall And of this perhappes the Truth said But one thing is necessary Luk. 10 Adhere therefore to him onely serue him onely and delight in his loue onely Despise all other thinges for his sake or els be not troubled with too much care about many thinges since one thing is necessarie which onely is enough for thee and al others but let thy care be neuer to fall from his grace studying alwaies and euery where how to please him God also is most truely called a Fountaine of life Cap 7 because he hath life in himselfe and is life eternall it selfe
He is the true God 1 Ioh. 5 and life eternall saith St. Iohn and all thinges that liue receaue life from that fountaine which when it shall cease to giue them life They shall fayle Psal 103 and shall returne into their dust as the holy Prophet Dauid saith It is proper vnto liuing creatures to beget their like God also begott a Sonne most like vnto himselfe Ioh. 5 For us the Father hath life in himselfe So he hath giuen to the Sonne also to haue life in himselfe as St. Iohn witnesseth in the Gospell But the Father hath life in himselfe because he is the fountaine of life and the Sonne hath life in himselfe because the Father hath giuen him the same life which he hath wherby the Sonne also is the fountaine of life yet the Fountaine of life of the Fountaine of life as God of God and light of light Who can declare or conceaue what the life of God is and what this Fountaine of life is from whence all thinges that liue in heauen or earth drawe drops of life The life which we in this banishmēt know is no other but The internall beginning of Motion For those things we say liue which mooue themselues after some manner And therefore the water of Riuers is commonly called running or liuing water because it seemeth to moue of it selfe And the water of Ponds standing or dead water For that it is not mooued but by the Windes or some other externall force Thy God O my soule most truely liueth and is the Author and Fountaine of life For often doth he in holy Scripture inculcate this saying Num. 14 Liue I saith our Lord And the Prophets often repeate The Lord liueth the Lord liueth And in Hieremie God complaineth of the people saying Hier. 2 They haue forsaken me the Fountaine of liuing Water and yet he is not moued either by himselfe or by any other I am God saith he and am not changed And againe Hier. 16 Malae 3 Num. 23 God is not as the sonne of Man that he may be changed We sing also very often in the ecclesiasticall hymne O God which dost preserue the strength of things thy selfe being vnmoueable dost successiuely diuide the day and night c. So that if God beget a sonne he begetteth him without mutation and if he see heare speake loue pardon or iudge he doth all without mutation And if he create and preserue or destroy and dissipate and againe renue and change yet he worketh resting and changeth without being changed How then doth he liue if he moue not And how doth he not liue if he be the Fountaine and author of life This knot is easily vntyed For to liue it is absolutely enough that the thing which liueth worke of it selfe and be nor moued by an other But life for the most part in Creatures is the Internall beginning of motion because Creatures are vnperfect haue need of many things to performe the actions of life But God is Infinite perfection and hath neede of nothing without himselfe and therefore he worketh of himselfe and is not moued by any other Creatures neede mutation to ingender and be ingendred because they ingender without themselues and the thing ingendred must be changed from a not being to a being But God begot a sonne within himselfe And within himselfe produceth the holy ghost neither ought the Son or the holy Ghost to be changed from a not being to a being because they receaue that being which was alwaies and they receaue it not in time but from eternitie Creatures need the Motion of Augmentation because they are borne vnperfect but God the Sonne is borne most perfect and God the Holy ghost is breathed and produced most perfect Creatures need the motion of alteration to attaine diuers qualities which they want but God wanteth nothing for his essence is of infinite perfection Creatures neede locall motion because they are not euery where but God is wholy euery where Moreouer Creatures need many things to see heare speake and worke because their life is poore and vnperfect but God needeth nothing without himselfe to see all heare all speake to all and to worke all For he as is said is life it selfe and the Fountaine of life And that we may put an example in ihe action of seeing A man to see needeth a seeing power which is distinct from the soule which properly seeth he needeth an obiect that is a coloured body distant from him he needeth the light of the Sunne or of some other bright body he needeth a Medium that is a perspicuous body he needeth a sensible Species or forme to be caried from the obiect to the eye he needeth a corporall orgā to wit an eye furnished with humors fleshy tunicles he needeth sensitiue spirits and opticke synowes by which those spirits must passe he needeth a proportionable distance And lastly he needeth the Application of the seeing powre or facultie Behold how many thinges men and other liuing Creatures want to performe one action of life But God who truely hath all life in himselfe needeth nothing His infinite essence doth include power forme obiect light and all other things God of himselfe by himselfe and in himselfe seeth all thinges which are haue bin or shall be and euedently knoweth all thinges which may be And before the world was made God sawe all things so that by the creation of things there came nothing but was before knowne vnto him What then shalt thou be my soule when thou shalt partake of that life Is it much that God commandeth thee when he would haue thee spend this corporall animall poore and vnperfect life for himselfe and thy brethren to obtaine life eternall And if he commaund not much when he commandeth this life to be contemned how light and little ought it seeme to thee when he commandeth thee to bestowe thy dead riches vpon the poore to abstayne from lust to renounce the Deuill and his pompes and with true deuotion of hart to sigh after that life which onely is true life But it is time now to Ascend as we may vnto the Fountaine of Wisdome Cap. 8 A Fountaine of Wisdome the word of God on high saith Ecclesiasticus Eccle. 1 And he saith On high because the Fountaine of Wisdome doth plentifully flowe vpon the holy Angels and blessed soules in heauen but vnto vs that inhabite this Desert and Pilgrimage Wisdome her selfe descendeth not but a certaine vapour or shadow thereof Wherefore my soule seeke not after higher thinges then beseemeth thee Prou. 25 Doe not search the Maiestie least thou be oppressed of the glory Admire his Wisdome of whom the Apostle speaketh Rom. 16 To God the onelywise Congratulate those blessed spirits which drinke of the fountaine of Wisdome And although they doe not comprehend God which onely is proper vnto God yet they beholde the face of God without Vtyle or interposition and being irradiated
will set downe three differences betweene the washing of the one and the other The created water doth wash away corporall spotts yet not all for many it cannot wash away vnlesse it be holpen with soape or some other meanes The increated water doth wash away alâ— spotts for so we reade in the place aboue â—ited And you shall be cleansed from all your Contaminations The created water doth seldome so wash away spots but that some little signe of them remayneth The increated water doth wash in such sort that the thing washed becommeth more white and cleane then before it was contaminated Thou shalt wash me saith Dauid and I shall be made whiter then Snowe Psal 50 And our Lord saith by Isay If your sinnes shall be as Scarlet they shall be made white as Snowe Isay 1. and if they be red as vermition they shall be white as Wooll Also the created water doth wash naturall spottes which resist not the washing the increated water doth wash voluntary spotts which cannot be cleansed vnlesse the soule consent thereunto And so admirable is the vertue of this water that it sweetly entreth into hardened hartes and is not refused because as St. Augustine doth truely teach It selfe is the cause that it is not refused Lib. de praed ss c. 8. Who can conceaue O Lord how thou giuest faith vnto the vnfaithfull humilitie vnto the proude and charitie vnto thine enemies that he who once breathed forth threates and slaughter and persecuted thee in thy Deciples being changed on the sodaine most willingly suffered for thee and thy Church threates and persecutions Farr be it from me to diue into thy secrets for I had rather seele then search after the force of thy grace And because I knowe that water of thine to be A voluntary raine Psal 57 separated to thine inheritance as the Prophet sayd Therefore I humbly beseech thee let me be found in thy inheritance and let the dwe of thy grace descend into the earth of my hart that it remaine not like earth without water to thee for so barren it is that of it selfe it can thinke no good But to proceede Water quencheth fire Cap. 2 and the heauenly Water that is the grace of the holy ghost doth strangely quenche the fire of carnall lust Fasting and bodily afflictions auayle much also if they be vsed as instruments of grace otherwise of themselues they are of small force For loue is the cheife among the affections and perturbations of the minde which ruleth all and is obeyed by all Loue will not be forced and if it be stopped one way it breaketh out an other way Loue feareth nothing dareth any thing and vanquisheth all thing Lastly Loue yeeldeth onely vnto greater lone So flâ—shly loue which followeth the wealth and pleasures of the world yeildeth onely to the louâ— of God and the water of the holy ghost distilling into the hart of man quickly cooleth the heate of concuâ—â—scence Witnesse St. Augustine who being long accustomed to lust thought it vnpossible to want the company of a woman yet beginning to taste the grace of the holy ghost he cryed out in the ninth booke of his confessions 9 Cons c. 1. Quam suaue c. O how sweet was it to me on the sodaine to want the pleasures of trâ—flles and what before I feared to loose I now reioyced to firsake For thou the true aâ—d chiefest Happinesse didst cast them from me Thou didst cast them from me and didst enter for them more sweet then any pleasure but not to flâ—sh and blood more brigh then any light more inward then any secret more high then any honour but not to those that are high iâ— themseâ—ues Water also quencheth thirst Cap. 3 and onely the water of the holy ghost can quench the manifold and almost endlesse desires of mans hart So the truth speaking to the Samaritan woman plainely taught Euery one saith he that drinketh of this water Ioh 4 shall thirst againe but he that shall drinke of the water that I will giue him shall not thirst for euer Indeede so it is The eye is not filled with seeing neither is the eare fulfilled with hearing For the minde of man is capable of infinite good and all creatures are finite But he that beginneth once to drinke of this diuine water wherein all things are seeketh after no more And of this we haue spoken before were we treated that the rest of our soules is in God onely as in their proper center Water ioyneth diuers things together Cap. 4 as many graynes of corne to make one loafe and many peeces of earth to make one bricke But more easily and more vnsepeperably doth the Water of the holy Ghost make Act. 4 many men to be of one hart and one foule as we read in the Acts of the Apostles of the first Christians Act. 4 vpon whom the holy ghost did next after the Apostles descend And our Lord being to Ascend to his father commendeth that vnitie which the water of the holy gost causeth saying Ioh. 17 And not for them onely do I pray but for them also that by their word shall beleâ—ue in me that they all may be one as thou Father in me and I in thee that they also in vs may be one And a little after That they may be one as we also are one I in them and thou in me that they may bee consummate in one To which vnitie the Apostle also exhorteth vs in his Epistle to the Ephesians saying Be carefull to keep the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace Ephe. 4 One body and one spirit as you are called in one hope of your vocation O happy vnion which maketh many men one body of Christ 1 Cor. 10 1 Cor. 6 gouerned by one head participating of one bread drinking of one Cup and liuing by one spirit of God is made one spirit with him What can his seruants more desire then to participate not onely of all their masters goods but also by the vnseparable bond of loue to be made one with the Almighty All which is wrought by the grace of the holy Ghost when as liuing water it is deuoutly receiued and diligently kept in the hart Lastly the water ascendeth as high as it descendeth lowe Cap. 5 And as the holy ghost came from heauen to earth so that hart in whom he is receaued Ioh. 4 Is made a fountaine of water springing vp into life euerlasting as our Lord said to the Samaritan woman that is man borne againe of water and the holy Ghost who hath the same spirit dwelling within him causeth his merits to ascend from whence grace did descend Therefore my soule being taught and incited by these passages of Scripture say often to thy heauenly Father with deepe sighes Giue me this water which washeth cleane all spotts quencheth all fire of Lust colleth all heat of thirst and maketh me one spirit
with the brightnesse thereof they iudge truely of all things not searing in that Meridian light of Wisdome the darkenesse of errors blindenesse of ignorance or clowde of opinions Seeke after that happinesse and that thou mayst assuredly attaine to it loue our Lord Iesus Christ withall thy hart Col 2 In whom be all the treasures of the Wisdome and knowledge of God For he hath said in his Gospell Ioh. 14 He that loueth me shall be loued of my Father and I will loue him and will manifest my selfe to him And what meaneth I will manifest my selfe to him but that I will manifest to him the treasures of Wisdome and knowledge which are in me Truely euery man doth naturally desire knowledge and although carnall concupiscence doth now in many lull as it were this desire a sleepe Yet when this corruptible body shall be laid aside which now dulleth the soule then will the fire of this desire breake forth more then any other How great will thy Happinesse be then my soule when as thy Louer and beloued Christ shall shew thee the treasures of the wisdome and knowledge of God But lest thou be frustrated of so great hope endeauour to keep the commandements of Christ Ioh. 14 For he said If any loue me he will keepe my word and he that loueth me not keepeth not my wordes And in the meane while haue thou that Wisdome which holy Iob describeth saying Iob. 28 The feare of God that is wisdome and to depart from euill vnderstanding And what goodnes soeuer thou seest in Creatures acknowledge it to be deriued from God the fountaine of goodnesse that heere in the Riuers of Creatures thou maist begin to tast of that Fountain as St. Frauncis did Whereof read St. Bonauenture in the life of St. Francis the ninth Chapter THE FIFT STEPP From the Consideration of the ayre THe element of Ayre may be to men a notable document in manners Cap. 1 if the nature therof be considered For it not onely teacheth them Morall Philosophy but also declareth the mysteries of Diuinitie and eleuateth the minde vnto God when as the manifold commodities therof are pondered which by Gods Ordinance it affoordeth vnto mankinde First therfore the Ayre serueth for aspiration or breathing and thereby preserueth the life of man and of terrestriall liuing Creatures Secondly it is so necessarie for sight hearing and speach that without it though nothing els were wanting none could see heare or speake Lastly without ayre there could be no Motion among men and other terrestriall liuing creatures so that all artes and sciences must needs cease and haue end Let vs begin with the first part If men would vnderstand that the soule needeth her Aspiration or breathing as much as the body many should be saued which now perish The body needeth continuall breathing because the naturall heate wherewith the hart boyleth is so tempered by the longues which drawe in the coole ayre and cast out the hott that life is thereby preserued without which it could not be Whereupon it is commonly said That those thinges which breath doe liue And those things which breath not liue not And thou my soule that thou maist by Gods grace liue a spirituall life dost also want thy continuall breathing which is performed by sending forthe warme sighes in thy prayers to God and receauing from God new grace of the holy ghost For what els doe those words of the Lord import It behoueth alwayes to pray and not to be weary Luk. 18 But that thou must alwaies sigh and receaue a new spirit that the spirituall life be not quenched in thee Which thing he repeateth when he saith Watch therefore praying at all times Luke 21 And the Apostle confirmeth the same in his first Epistle vnto the Thessalonians saying 1 Thes 5 Pray without intermission With whom agreeth St. Peter the Apostle in his first Epistle when as he writeth 1 Pet. 4 Be wise therefore and watch in prayers For true wisdome willeth vs to aske Gods help at all times which at all times we stand in neede of Our heauenly Father knoweth indeede what we want and is ready to giue vs abundantly especially if it belong to our eternall saluation but he will giue it vs by meanes of prayer for that is more to his honour and our proffit then if he should giue vs all thinges when as we sleepe and doe nothing Therefore our most liberall Lord doth exhort and vrge vs to aske when he saith Luk. 11 Aske and it shall be giuen you Seeke and you shall finde knocke and it shall be opened to you For euery one that asketh receaueth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened And what is chiefely to be asked and what without doubt shall be granted he declareth a little after saying If you then being naught knowe how to giue good giftes to your children how much more will your father from heauen giue the good spirit to them that aske him This good Spirit therefore is chiefly to be daily asked which doubtlesse will be giuen vs if it be well asked whereby we may breath in God and by breathing in him preserue our spirituall life So did holy Dauid who said in the psalme Psal 118 I opened my mouth and drewe breath That is I opened my mouth crauing with vnexplicable sighes And I drew the most sweete breath of Gods spirit which hath cooled the heate of my concupiscence and strengthned me in euery good worke which being so who can say that they liue to God who in whole dayes monthes and yeares sigh not after him nor breath in him Not to breath is an euident signe of death therefore if to pray be to breath it is an euident signe of death not to pray The spirituall life wherby we are made the sonnes of God consisteth in charitie See saith St. 1 Ioh. 3 Iohn in his Epistle what manner of Charitie the Father hath giuen vs that we should be named and be the sonnes of God And who is there that loueth but desireth to see the thing he loueth who desireth any thing and asketh not when he knoweth that for asking it shall be giuen him Therefore who so doth not dayly pray to see the face of his God desireth not to see him if he desireth not to see him he loueth him not if he loueth him not he liueth not What then followeth but that we account them dead to God although they liue to the world which doe not giue themselues to prayer And yet such are not said to pray and thereby to breath and liue which with their corporall voyce pray onely For prayer is defined by the learned to be an eleuation of the minde vnto God and not of the voyce into the ayre Therfore my soule deceaue not thy selfe thinking thou dost liue to God vnlesse thou seeke God withall thy hart and sigh after him day and night Say not that
that made them By which words the infinite power of God is signified who did in a moment produce and cause to worke bodies so great and beautifull And to shine to him with cheerefulnesse that made them is with such readinesse to obey their maker as if in obeying him they were greatly pleased and delighted And surely it is a thing much to be meruayled that the starres moouing so speedily and continually and some performing their course so slowely and some so swiftly in their seuerall orbes yet they alwayes keepe such measure and proportion together that from it ariseth a most sweete and pleasing harmonie Wherof God speaketh in the booke of Iob when he saith Iob. 38 Who shall declare the manner of the heauens and the harmony of heauen who shall make to sleepe This is not the harmony of voyces or soundes heard with corporall eares but the harmony of proportion in the motions of the starres heard onely with the eare of the Hart. For all the starres of the firmament passe with the like speede about the whole compasse of heauen in foure and twenty houres And the seauen Planets or wandring starres are mooued some swifter some slower So that the starres of the Firmament seeme to beare the plaine song to speake after the vulgar manner and the Planets to modulate a sweet and continuall kinde of Descant But these thinges are aboue vs and this Harmony is heard onely by them that are in Heauen and vnderstand the reasons of these motions The starrs also keepe a iust measure alwayes in turning â—ound and therefore they seeme to daunce continually in â—eauen like honest virgins skilfull in that art But thou my soule ascend a little higher if thou canst and by the great brightnesse of the Sunne the beauty of the Moone the multitude and varietie of the other lightes the admirable harmony of heauen and delightfull dauncing of the starrs Thinke what it will be to beholde God aboue heaven to wit That Sunne that inhabiteth light 1 Tim. 6 not accessible to behold the virgin Queene of heauen who being faire as the Moone reioyceth the Cittie of God To behold the quires and orders of Angells which being more in number and brighter then the starres adorne the Emperiall heauen To behold the soules of Saintes among the companies of Angels as Planets among the starres of the Firmament And lastly to heare the songes of prayses and that eternall Alleluia with concording voyces most sweetly to resound in the streetes of that Cittie Then shall it come to passe that neither the beauty of heauen will seeme great vnto thee and the thinges belowe heauen which are small short and of no value will be reiected and contemned THE EIGHT STEPP From the Consideration of the reasonable Soule WE haue hetherto passed onely through corporall things Cap. 1 whiles we intended from the contemplation of creatures to ascend vnto the Creator And now we finde the soule of Man surpassing the dignitie of all bodies to be in the lowest ranke of spirituall substances betweene whom and God there are no other but the Hierarchies and Orders of Angells The soule of man carrieth such a resemblance with God the maker thereof that truely I knowe no way more easie for a man to ascend vnto the knowledge of God then from the consideration of his owne soule And therefore he is vnexcusable before God if he knewe not God since from the knowledge of his owne soule he may by Gods assistance without difficultie attaine thereunto First therefore the soule of Man is a spirit for so the holy Fathers expound those wordes of Genesis Gen 2 Our Lord God formed Man of the slâ—me of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life And that of Tobias Command my spirit to be receaued â—ob 3 And Ecclesiastes Let thedust returne into his earth Eccl 12 and the spirit returne to God who gaue it For albeit the word spirit agree also to the winde whereof it is said in the psalme The spirit of stormes Psal 148 Ioh. 3 And in the Gospell The spirit breatheth where he will and thou hearest his voyce Yet there is no doubt but that the Spirit of stormes is a body which by reason of the exceeding raritie thereof doth neerer immitate a Naturall spirit then any other body whatsoeuer but the soule of man is a true spirit not a body neither is it produced out of matter but created of God Whereof among Catholiques there is no controuersie Heere then beginneth the excellencie of the soule and her resemblance with God For God is a spirit saith our Sauiour and they that adore him Ioh. 4 must adore in spirit and veritie But although God is a spirit and the soule of man is also a spirit yet God is a spirit vncreated the soule a spirit created whereupon it followeth that there is an infinite difference between that spirit which is the soule and that spirit which is God As therefore the soule may reioyce for being a spirituall substance excelling thereby the heauens and starres in nobilitie of Nature so ought she also to be humbled vnto God her Maker because she is made of nothing and without him of her selfe is nothing Secondly Cap. 2 the soule of Man is a simple spirit and therefore immortall for it hath nothing within it selfe that can dissolue it or cause it to dye but as it hath this priuiledge aboue the soules of brute beastes which dye with the bodie so it ought likewise to admire and reuerence the excellencye of the Creator who is not onely immortall but also eternall For there was a time when the soule of man was not and by the will of God onely it tooke beginning and may likewise if God so please be reduced to nothing although in it selfe it hath no cause of corruption Therefore the Apostle said of God â— Tim. 6 Who onely hath immortalitie for he onely can by no power chance or reason be dissolued because he is the Fountaiâ—e of life Thirdly Cap. 3 the soule of Man hath the light of vnderstanding for it not onely decerneth colours senttes tastes soundes hot cold hard soft and other such like thinges which lye open to the senses of the body But also iudgeth of substances and of generall and vniversall Notions as well as of particular Neither knoweth it onely thinges present but also coniectureth of thinges to come and mounteth by discourse aboue the Heauens penetrateth the depth searcheth out causes by effectes and from causes runneth backe to effectes Lastly by the light of reason it ascendeth vnto God who Inhabiteth Light vnaccessible And of this Light St. 1 Tim. 6 Iohn saith in the Gospell Ioh. 1 It was the true Light which lightneth euery man that commeth into the World Psal 4 And Dauid in the Psalmes The Light of thy countenance O Lord is signed vpon vs. And Psal 31 Doe not become as Horse and Male which haue