filthynes of the fleshe and of the spirite For it very well appeareth that he maketh no difference there betwene the fleshe and the spirite as he is wont to doe els where when as he attributeth filthynes to the spirite by which title he meaneth in other places meere purity I wil yet bring in another place although I see that they which meane to wrest will forthwith fall to their gloses 1. Cor. 2.11 For when it is sayd what man knoweth the thinges that are in man but the spirite of man which is in him Agayne no man knoweth the thinges of God but the spirite of God It may well be sayd that man knoweth the thinges which are in himselfe but he meaneth in one word that part wherein the power of the thought and vnderstanding consisteth And also Rom. 8.16 when he sayeth that the spirite of God beareth witnes to our spirite that we are the children of God vseth he not the very same proper kinde of speach But what I coulde conuince them euen in a word For we know how many tymes Christ him selfe by his owne voyce condemneth the error of the Saduces Math. 22.23 a part of which error was that there was no spirite as S. Luke wryteth in the Actes The wordes are these The Saduces say that there is neither resurrection Angell nor spirite Acts. 23.8 but the Pharysies coÌ„fesse all these thinges I feare me that they will goe about to cauill and say that these thinges are to be vnderstood of the holy ghost or els of the Angels Which obiection is easely aunswered For he hath placed the Angells aparte by themselues and it is certayne that the Pharysies had skarcely any knowledge of the holy ghost And they which vnderstand the Greeke tonge know this best For S. Luke sayd spirite without putting to any Article which thing without doubt he would haue added if he had spoken of the holy ghost Now if this stop not their mouthes I know not by what meanes they may be drawne or ledd without it so fall out and say that the opinion of the Saducies is not condemned in that they deny a spirite nor the opinion of the Pharysies allowed which say the coÌ„trary Howbeit the very words of S Luke do mete which this Cauill For after he hath set downe the confessioÌ„ of S Paul that he was a Pharisy he addeth this opinion of the Pharisies We must then say either that S. Paul vsed a subtill and wicked dissimulation which ought not to be receiued in the confession of fayth or els that he was of the same opinioÌ„ with the Pharysies touching the spirite Now if we must beleue histories this was as certaine and sure emongest the Apostles Ecclesiast History 10. 4. c. 13. as the resurrection of the dead or any other Article of our faith I will not be ashamed to bring in here the words of Polycarpe a man who both in his words and doings in very deede looked for Martyrdome In the same c. 19. being also a disciple of the Apostles and so sincerely taught others that which he learned of them as that he would neuer suffer any Leauen to be mingled emongest it This holy man then amongest many excellent wordes which he spake in the middest of the fier sayd that the same day he should be present in spirite before the face of God In those dayes also Melito Byshop of Sardis a man of lyke sinceritye In the same c. 24. wrote a booke of the Body and of the Soule which if we had had at this day I needed not now to haue taken payne in this matter This opinion was so notably receiued in this blessed tyme In the same of the resurrection of the flesh that Tertullian put it euen emongest the common and chiefest conceites of the minde which nature commonly taketh hold of And although we haue already brought in many reasoÌ„s which are able as I think to conuince that which they straue about to witt that the Soule or spirite of man is a substance distinguished from the body yet that which we will add forthwith shall make the same a great deale more certayne For I come to that which I did set downe in the second place to witt that the soule lyueth after that the body is dead hauing both sence and vnderstanding Now whosoeuer thinketh that I doe heere affirme any other thing then the Immortalytie of the soule is greatly deceiued For they which confesse that the soule liueth and therewithall take from her all her senses doe imagine a soule which hath no parte at all of a soule or els deuise a soule of their owne heds considering that her nature without which she can no way stand is to moue her selfe to feele In the same of the flesh of Christ to haue streÌ„gth to vnderstaÌ„dt as Tertullian sayth that the sence is the soule of the soule Let vs therefore learne this Immortalytie of the soule out of the holy scriptures When our Sauior Christ exhorteth his disciples not to feare them which kill the body Math. 10.18 Luke 12.5 haue no power ouer the soule but to feare him who after he hath slayne the body is able also to send the soule into hell fier doth he not meane that the soule lyueth after that the dody is dead And truely God hath very louingly dealt with vs herein that he hath not suffred our soules to be at the disposition of those which would so soone kill them or at the least though they cannot yet doe their best The Tyrantes torment cut in peeces burne and hang but it is the body onely for God onely hath power ouer the soule to cast it into hell fier So then eyther the soule abideth after death or els this must needes be an vntrueth That Tyrantes haue no power ouer the soule Vnto this they auÌ„swere as I heare that the soule truely is slaine for the tyme when as the body is dead but that it pearâ—â—heth not because that in tyme to come iâ— shall ryse againe Now if they thinke to goe away with this they must and graunt that the body pearisheth not for somuch as it shall rise agayne And because that they are both reserued vntill the day of IudgemeÌ„t therefore neither of â—oth peâ—risheth And yet our Sauiour Christ confesseth that the body is slayne and testifieth that the soule abideth whole and sound Iohn 2.19 This maner of speach he vseth of his owne death when he sayth destroy ye this TeÌ„ple and in three dayes I will rayse it vp agayne But this he spake of the Temple of his body by which reason he tooke the soule out of their power which also as S. Luke wryteth and as Dauid foretold Luke 13.46 Psal 30.6 when he drewe neare vnto his death he commended into the handes of his Father S. Stephen lykewise after the same maner saith Actes 7.59 Lord Iesus Christ receiue my spirite Haue they
withall I would haue them to answere me simply and playnely what hope they haue of the resurrection Colo. 1.18 Apoc. 1.5 1. Cor. 13.20.21 without it be that Christ rose agayne For he is the first borne of the deade and the fyrst fruites of those that rise agayne For as he dyed and rose agayne so also must we dye and rise agayne in him For since it hath so fallen out that by death he hath ouercome death wherunto we were ordayned it is very certayne that he dyed of the same death as we dye and hath suffered in the same death whiche we doe suffer The trueth of the scripture maketh this manifest vnto vs whenas it calleth him the first borne of the dead and the first fruites of those which ryse agayne And it hath so taught vs that the faythfull might acknowledge him for their guide euen in the middest of death when they behold their death sāctified by his death they need not to feare the cursse thereof which is the thing that Saynt Paule meaneth when he sayth Phil. 3.10.11 that he is made like vnto his death vntil such time as he might come vnto the resurrection of the dead For this cōformity he prosecuted whiche he beganne in this world by the crosse vntill the time that he had by his death fulfilled it And now you my maisters the sleapers examine your harts awhile and consider with your selues how Christ Iesus dyed Do you in your cōscience think that he slept when as he waked for your saluation He speaketh not thus of himselfe Iohn 5.26 As the Father sayth he hath life in himselfe so also hath he geuen to hys sonne to haue life in himselfe And he that hath the power of life in himselfe how it is possible for him to lose it And I trust they wil not say that this belongeth to the deity For if it be geuen to him that hath it not it is then geuen to his humanity to haue life in it selfe and not to his deity For seing that Iesus Christ is the sonne of God and man that which is by nature as God the same is by grace as man to the end we might al receiue of his fulnesse grace for grace when men do heare that life is in God what hope may they conceiue thereof whenas they may also very well know that their sinnes do set a cloude betwixt God and them But here is the onely true great comfort that the Father hath annointed his Christ with the oyle of gladnes aboue all the rest of his fellowes That Iesus Christ as man hath receiued of his Father gyftes in mē to the end we might finde life in our nature And for this cause we read that the multitude glorifyed God after that the childe was raysed vp agayne forsomuch as he had geuē such power vnto men And this knew Cyrill right well who agreeth with vs in the explaning of this place Now whē we say that Iesus Christ hath life in himselfe in that he is man we doe not say that he is the cause of life to himselfe but onely this that the heauenly Father hath poured all fulnes of life in the manhood of his sonne Iesus Christ whiche thing might be geuen vs to vnderstād by a familiar similitude The fountayne from which all men do draw water and from which the small Creekes and Armes doe runne and flow is sayd to haue water of it selfe yet commeth not as of it selfe but from the spring which dayly feedeth it and from the flowing streames and is sufficient for all men to draw out of Euē so then Iesus Christ hath life in himselfe to wit the fulnes of life wherewith he lyueth and quickeneth his and yet hath he it not as of himselfe as he wytnesseth in an other place that he liueth because of hys Father And whenas he had life in in himselfe as God yet when he tooke vpon him the nature of man he receiued this gift of his Father that he might also haue life in that behalfe in hymselfe These thinges do most certainly assure vs that Christ could not be destroyed by death no not as he was man And although he was truely and naturally put to death whereof we must all dye yet held he alwayes this gift of his Father This was a true death and a true seperation of the Body and Soule yet the Soule neuer lost her life which being commended vnto his Father could not choose but be saued And this is the meaning of the wordes of S. Peter his sermon by which he affirmeth that it was impossible for Iesus Christ to bee holden downe with the panges of death Acte 2.24.27 that the scripture might be fulfilled saying Psal 16.10 Thou shalt not leaue my soule in graue nor yet suffer thine holy one to see corruption In which prophecie although we graunt that the soule is taken for lyfe Christ asketh and looketh for two thinges at his Fathers hand that he would not leaue his lyfe to destruction nor yet suffer him to come to corruption which was fulfilled For his soule was sustayned by an heauenly power that it should not be destroyed and his body was kept whole and sound vntill he rose agayne S. Peter hath knit vp all these thinges in a worde when he sayth that Christ could not be held downe by death to witt that he could not be subiect to the gouernement of death neither come vnder the power of death either yet be ouercome of death When as S. Peter in this sermon let the disputation of the soule alone and followed onely the incorruption of the body He did it because he would make the Iewes to see that they were vanquished euen by their owne testimony that this prophesie appertayned nothing at all to Dauid whose sepulcher was emongest them and they very well knew that his body was rotted neither could they deny the resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ Ionas 2.12 We haue also another Argument of the Immortalitye of his soule when as he ordayned Ionas to be a figure of his death in that he was three daies within the Whales belly For so must he likewise be three dayes three nightes in the bowells of the earth Now Ionas cryed vnto the Lord out of the belly of the Fishe and was heard This belly is death his soule thē was saued in the middest of death Gene. 22.10 so that he might cry vnto the Lord. Isaack also who was a figure of the Lord and being saued from death Hebr. 12.17 19. was deliuered vnto his father openeth vnto vs as the Apostle witnesseth the trueth in a figure by the manner of the rising agayne For after he was layd vpō the Aultar as an oblation and sacrifice prepared for the purpose and bound vpon it he was soone after vnboūd by the commaundemēt of the Lord and the Ramme that was tyed by the hornes in the bushe was layd in Isaack his place What
is now meant by this that Isaack was not put to death but because that the sonne of God hath made the soule which is proper to man Immortall And the Ramme which is a beast without reason and that was layd in his roome is the body And in that Isaack was bound the same representeth the soule which maketh an open shewe of one dying in the death of Iesus Christ and sheweth it also dayly in the common death of men wherein all thinges in the opinion of men doe pearishe and yet for all that the soule of Christ was losed out of bonds and so shall ours also be losed before they come to pearishe Come off now some of you my maisters the sleapers which are voyd of all shame and bragge that the death of the our Lord Iesus Christ was but a dreame or els let him take part with that deuilishe heretique Appollinaris Surely this good Lord Iesus waketh so long as he so willingly bestoweth himselfe about your saluation But you sleape your sleape and being o-ouerwhelmed with the cloude of blindenes can not heare those which keepe watch Moreouer this doth not onely comfort vs that the sonne of God our head is not perished in the shadow of death but his resurrection also doth assure vs that he is apointed to be Lord ouer death Colos 3.3 and hath raysed vp so many of vs from death as haue any part or portion in him Gala. 2.20 in somuch that S. Paul hath not sticked to say that our lyfe is hid with Christ in God And in another place he sayth I lyue yet not I now but Christ in me What can be sayd more of them except they cry with open mouth that Christ sleapeth in these soules that sleape For if Christ hath liued in theÌ„ he is the selfe and same which dyeth in them If the lyfe of Iesus Christ be ours he then which would haue our lyfe to end by death violently plucketh the sonne of God from the glorious right hand of his father putteth him to a second death But if it be possible for him to dye then vndoubtedly must we dye But if his lyfe hath no end surely our soules which are ingraffed into him caÌ„dy no death But what needeth vs to take all this payne Are his wordes straunge when he sayth Iohn 14.19 because that I lyue you also shall lyue If we lyue because he lyueth then if we dye Iohn 6.56 he shall no longer lyue Is his promise straunge when he sayth that he which shall be knit vnto him by fayth shall dwell in him he in him Let vs then clearely dismember the Lord Christ if we will take away their lyues froÌ„ them 1. Cor. 15 22. This is our confession which we haue well fenced with his weapoÌ„s to witt that we are all truely dead in Adam but yet we lyue â—n Iesus Christ S. Paule handâ—eth these thinges with an honorable style in the Epistle to the Romaines to witt Rom. 8.10 that if the spirite of Iesus Christ dwelâ—eth in vs that the body is surely dead by reason of sinne but the spirite liueth because it is iustified Rom. 7.23.24 He calleth the body a Lumpe of sinne which from the natiuitie of the fleshe remaineth in man And the spirite that part of maÌ„ which is spiritually regenerate Wherefore as a litle before he lamented his misery by reason of the dregs of sinne which remained in him he desiereth not simply to be taken out of this world and to be nothing so that he might escape this great misery but also desiereth to be deliuered from the body of death to witt that the Masse of sinne might be abolished in him to this end that the spirite being cleansed might be at peace with God openly declaring hereby that the best parte of him was kept captiue through the bondes of his body and that it should be deliuered out of it by death I would to God we were able to vnderstand with a true fayth what the kingdome of God is Which is emongest the faythfull euen whiles they liue here in this world and to taste thereof in good earnest for it should be very easy withall to vnderstand lyfe euerlasting already begonne He which can not deceiue vs hath made vs this promise for thus he sayth Iohn 5.24 He that heareth my wordes hath euerlasting lyfe and commeth not to condemnation but passeth froÌ„ death to lyfe If a way be made to euerlasting lyfe why hinder they it by death And in another place Iohn 6.49 46. This is the will of my Father that whosoeuer beleueth in the sonne shall not pearish but hath euerlasting lyfe and I will raise him vp againe at the last day He sayth furthermore in the same place Iohn 5 5â— 57. Whosoeuer eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe and I will rayse him vp agayne in the last day Not as your Fathers eate Manna and dyed but he that eateth this bread shall lyue for euer Brag not heere of your goodly gloses coÌ„cerning the last day He promiseth vs two things lyfe euerlasting and this blessed resurrectioÌ„ Although you heare two thinges yet onely embrace you but one of them There is also another saying of Iesus Christ which is yet more agaynst you when he sayth I am the resurrection and the lyfe Iohn 11.2 he that beleueth in me yea although he were dead yet shall he lyue And whosoeuer lyueth and beleueth in me shall neuer taste of death For the sonne of God meant not onely to shew this but also that it might neuer come to passe that they should dye He sayth in another place he that keepeth my word shall neuer see death This is an inuincible Argument agaynst them that whosoeuer keepeth the word of God shall neuer see death And this alone might be sufficient for Christians throughly to arme their fayth agaynst the peruersenes of these sleapers We beleue this and we looke for it But as for these men this is it that they must looke for euen to sleape a sound sleape vntill such time as they be wakened by the sound of the trumpet which shall sodainly come vpon these sleapers as a theefe in the night And if God be the lyfe of euery faythfull soule as the soule is the lyfe of the body what is the meaning that the soule all the while it is in the body causeth it to moue and is neuer so idle nor her streÌ„gth so weakened but that she doth her duety some maner of way and shall God leaue his busines vndone as if he were wery of working If there be so great power in the soule as to support moue and dryue on this masse of earth how great in respect shall the power of God be in the soule which by nature is liuely and very apt and ready to styrre and moue it And yet there are some which dare say that the soule vanisheth away and others that
after it is seperated from the body that it vseth not her power and strength How then will they aunswere vnto the psalme of Dauid where he describeth the beginning middest and end of the life of the blessed For there he saith They shal goe frō vertue to vertue and shall see the God of Gods in Sion or according to the Hebrew from aboundaunce to aboundaunce And if they continually beleue vntill the tyme they come to see God and by this beliefe passe to the sight of God how do these men bury thē in a slomber of drunkenesse and deepe idlenesse The very selfe same thing doth S. Paule also more manifestly witnesse so that if they would euen burst yet shall they neuer be able to resist the spirite of God 2. Cor. 5.6 7. Heare what he sayth Surely we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building with God an euerlasting habitation in heauen which is not made with man his hand And therefore we groane desiring to be cloathed with our heauenly mansion that we might be foūd cloathed not naked And in very deede we that are in this tabernacle do groane being burthened because we desire not to be vnclad but to be cladde to the end that this mortality might be swallowed vp of life And a little after wherefore we are alwayes of good cheare and in good hope and do know that so long as we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walke by fayth and not after the outward shewe neuerthelesse we are of good comfort and had a great deale rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Here they finde a starting hole and say that the wordes of the Apostle are to be referred to the day of iudgement wherein we shal be cladde and wherein mortallyty shall be swallowed vp of life Wherfore the Apostle say they concludeth thus that we must all appeare before the iudgement seate of the sonne of God But wherefore referre they this cloathing rather vnto the body thē vnto the blessings which are plentifully bestowed vpon vs after death who forceth thē to take this word life for resurrectiō seing that the meaning of the Apostle is easy and playne to witte we desire to be deliuered out of this prison of the body but not to the end to wander vncertaynely without houseroome For there is a farre better house and a more blessed dwelling which the Lord hath made ready for vs alwayes prouided that he findeth vs clad and not naked Ephe. 6.10 For Iesus Christ is our cloathing Psal 45.12.13.14 and that strong armour wherewith S. Paule armeth vs. And it is written that the king shall desire the beautye of his spouse who is mighty in giftes glorious within his closet Moreouer the Lord hath set a marke vpon his whom he will acknowledge both in death and in the resurrection Wherefore looke they not rather to that which he had before spoken and whereunto he hath adioyned this saying Although our outward man sayth he be corrupted yet is the inward man renued from day to day But that the Apostle addeth this conclusion to appeare before the iudgement seat of the sonne of God bindeth thē more straightly where he had before said that whether we be present or absent we earnestly striue both at home and abroad to doe the thing that might best please him Seing that at home is meant the body what is signified by abroad To the end then that we put nothing to the wordes them selues without any expositor say thus much that we doe our best to please the Lord both within the body and also without the body and besides that we shall feele the presence of the Lord whenas we shal be seperated from this body Then shall we no more walke by fayth but in open sight because that this masse of earth wherewith we be oppressed seperateth vs very farre of from our God But these sleapers babble cleane cōtrary and say we shall be a great deale farther of from God by death then whiles we are here in this life For of whom is this written Psal They shall walke O Lord in the light of thy countenaunce Likewise The spirite it selfe witnesseth vnto our spirite Rom. 8.16 that we are the children of God And many other suche like sayinges They take away from them the light of Goddes countenaunce and the testimony of the Spirit So that if this be true then are we blesseder now then when we be dead For although we liue now vnder the Elementes of this world yet notwithstanding our dwelling and abyding place is in heauen according to the saying of Paule Phil. 3.20 But when that Lethergy and forgetfulnes of all thinges shall by death take away the soules they then lose whatsoeuer sweetnes they haue of spirituall taste Howbeit the holy Scriptures do teach vs a great deale better Wise 9 That the body whiche is corruptible maketh the soule worsse and the earthly tabernacle holdeth downe the sēse thinking many thinges Now then if the body be the prisō of the soule and the earthly habitation a manacle to bind it sure What shal become of the soule when it is deliuered out of this prison and losed from these bands Is she not then set at liberty and as a man would say at her owne choyse In so much that it may well be sayd that looke how much she decreaseth the body so much encreaseth she her self Will they nill they this is out of all doubt that whē we haue cast of this burthen of the body that the fight which is betwixt the spirit the flesh betwixt the flesh and the spirite is at an end And besides the mortifiyng of the flesh is the quickning of the spirite Therefore whenas the soule hath voyded these excrementes she is then in deede spirituall and yeldeth her obedience vnto the will of God neither feeleth shee the tyranny of the flesh resisting her but reposeth her selfe in this quietnes thinking vpon none other thing but vpon God And thus forsooth may a man well say that she sleapeth when as she is able to rayse vp her self without being pressed down with any wayght and that she slombreth whenas she is able to vnderstand many thinges both by feeling and thinking without any let This doth not onely bewray the error of these fātasticall fellowes but also theyr malice agaynst the workes and power of God which the scriptures testifye vnto vs that he worketh in his holy and faythfull ones We acknowledge god to be as it were borne in his chosen and still to grow vp frō day to day Pro. 4.18 which thing Salomon teacheth vs when he sayth The way of the righteous shineth as the light and shineth more and more vntill the perfect day Phil. 2. And S. Paule also affirmeth the same saying he that hath begonne a good worke in
is so quickened as that it causeth the spirituall body to consume al corruption and not to feare any separation To be short albeit I graunt vnto them all thinges concerning a liuing soule vpon which title as I haue before sayd I stand not yet that seat of the Image of God remayneth whole and sound be it that they terme it by the name of soule or spirit or by some other title Neither is it a harder matter to refell that saying which they bring out of the 37. Chapiter of Ezechiell where the Prophet describing the order of the resurrection calleth the spirite from the foure windes that it might blowe life into the dry boanes Whereupō they verily think it a very good consequent that the soule of man is none other thing but a mouing power without substaunce which power vanisheth away in death but is receiued agayne in the generall resurrection As if it were not likewise lawfull for me to inferre after the same manner to witt that the spirite of God is a winde or vanishing motion seing that Ezechiell in the first visiō nameth winde or breath in stead of the eternall spirite of God But it shall be an easye matter for any man without he be too too blockish to resolue this doubt which these Gallauntes can neither marke nor perceiue as learned and sharpewitted as they are For in both these places hath bene set downe the very same thing which the prophets very often haue set down who figure out spirituall thinges that are beyond mans reach and reason by corporall and visible signes And therefore Ezechiell entended liuely to set before our eyes as by a vision liuely pictured aswell the spirit of God as also the spirites of men and because the same was contrary to the spirituall nature he hath borrowed a similitude from corporall thinges which was as it were an Image or paterne thereof The second obiection whiche they make is this for although say they the soule was endued with immortallity yet notwithstanding because it sinned it hath through that sinne lost her immortality And this punishment was ordayned for sinne and denounced to our first Parents Gen. 2. where it is sayd You shall dye the death And S. Paule sayth Rom. 6. That death is the reward of sinne The prophet also cryeth out and sayth Eze. 18. That the Soule which sinneth shall dye And these and such other like places these drowsy sleapers alleadge for that purpose But in the first place I aske them was not the Deuill also payd with the same reward for sinne And yet for all that he is not so dead but that he waketh cōtinually compassing here and there seeking whom he may deuour still busiyng himselfe emongest the children of vnbelief Moreouer I aske them whether this death shall haue an end or not If there be no end thereof as in deede they must needes so confesse these then howsoeuer they are dead shall feele notwithstanding euerlasting hell fire and the worme whiche neuer dyeth These thinges therefore playnely shew vs that although the soule be dead yet it is immortall whiche wee graunt them and say that it feeleth both good and euil and that this death is an other manner of thing then that whiche they would haue to witt that it should turne to nothing Neither haue the scriptures forgotten this and that they should haue found if they had bestowed their minde and applied their wit vnto them rather then arogātly and after a proud maner to stand to that whiche their drunken sleapy brayn hath told them For when God pronounceth this sentence agaynst a sinneful man and sayth thou art dust and into dust shalt returne to wit sayth he any other thing but that that which is taken framed out of the earth shall returne vnto the earth And what becommeth then I beseech you of the soule Goeth it into the graue to become rotten stincking But we will handle these thinges hereafter a little more playnely Why doe they then goe thus about the bushe we haue already heard that that which is of the earth must goe agayne to the earth Nowe is there any reason that we should plunge the soule of mā vnder the earth It is not sayd that man shal returne vnto the earth But the thing which is dust shall return into dust And the thing that was made of the slime of the earth is thys dust It is that forsooth that shall returne into dust and not the soule which God gaue vnto man as a thing taken from els where thē from the earth After this sort we read in the booke of Iob Iob. 10.9.12 Remember O Lord that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou turne me into dust agayne He speaketh there of the Body and a litle after he speaketh of the soule and sayth thou hast geuē me life and grace and thy visytation hath preserued my spirit And therfore this life shall not turne into dust For the death of the soule is farre otherwise to wit Gods dreadfull iudgement the burden whereof the poore soule is no way able to beare but must be vtterly confounded and destroyed as by the scriptures we are taught as they whom God hath liuely touched haue by experience most fearefully felt And to the end we might beginne at Adam who first obtayned this gentle reward let vs somewhat consider what hart he had or to speake more properly what was in him at all whenas he heard this terrible voyce Adam where art thou This is a thing easelier thought of thē spoken Although in very deed a mā can not think of it except he eftsoonnes feeleth the same And like as the mightynesse and excellēcy of the Maiesty of God can not in wordes be expressed so also can not the terriblenes of his wrath be declared how greuous it is to those vpon whome it lighteth For they very wel see the anger of God and because they would auoyde it they are ready euen to plounge thēselues ouer head and eares in a thousand bottomlesse depthes and yet are no way able to escape it And who is he that will not graunt this to be a death in deede Agayne I say that a few wordes will serue them who haue bene seared with the hoate yron of conscience And therfore let them which haue not had experience thereof heare what the scriptures say whenas it is sayd Deut. 4. Our God is a consuming fier who whē he speaketh in iudgement killeth And such one knew they him to bee which sayde Exod. 20. Let not the Lorde speake vnto vs for feare we dye Wilt thou then knowe what the death of the soule is It is euen this whenas it is without God and that he forsaketh it leaueth it vnto her self For since God is the light thereof she loseth her life whenas she loseth his presence And to the end we might shewe that by particularityes whiche haue bene sayd in generall since it
An excellent treatise of the Immortalytie of the soule by which is proued that the soules after their departure out of the bodies are awake and doe lyue contrary to that erronious opinion of certen ignorant persons who thinke them to lye a sleape vntill the day of Iudgement * ⎠* Set fourth by M. Iohn Caluin and englished from the French by T. Stocker AT LONDON Printed by Iohn Daye dwelling ouer Aldersgate An. Do. 1581. Cum Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis ¶ To the right honorable Phillip Earle of Arundell Baron Matrauers and Clune The God of all glory and consolation graunt â—ncrease of all heauenly and spiritual giftes â—owardes the aduauncing of his glory and maintenaunce of his Church together encrease in true honor of right nobilitie here in this lyfe and in the end perfect blisse and felicitie in his heauenly kingdome through Iesus Christ our Lord. BEing now about a yeare passed Right honorable in coÌ„pany with a godly Gentleman my good friend wâ—o entring into some speach with me concerning the loosenes and dissolutenes of this age in the end after long dispute and reasoning betwene vs â—e concluded and verely thought that a â—reat part euen of such as beare the name of Christians doth suppose the soules of men to be mortall and thereupon wished me to take the paynes to translate into English this pamflet of M. Iohn Calvin treaâ—â—ng of the IMMORTALITIE OF THE SOVLE which he beleâ—…ed to be most necessary to be vnderstood of the greater number of our Countreymen whereupon after I had perused it and throughly considered thereof his iudgement seemed to me to be both good and sound For at the tyme that Maister Caluin wrote this booke it should seeme by his preface ensuing that there were many greuously infected with this monstrous opinion That the Soules of men dyed together with the bodies Which soule and hellish error I feare hath possessed and poysoned at this day the hartes and mindes of a great number here at home within this land not onely of the godlesse and ignoraunter company but euen of too too many of some of those which make a great and glorious glittering outward shew of being fauourers oâ— the glorious Gospell of our Sauiour and redeemer Christ Iesus as by their monstrous pride detestable Ambition miserable couetousnes cruell extortions filthy gluttonies cankred malices and most beastly vncleanes now reigning manifestly appeareth Wherefore seing this pamflet was aâ— that tyme necessary to be published for the confuting of all such Atheistes Epicures and belly Gods as then lyued I thinke iâ— in my poore opinion that this present mosâ— necessary and needefull But here me thinketh I heare some men say that it is impossible for any in so great light of the Gospell to be of this minde whome I feare I may with griefe of hart iustly aunswere that there are too too many such For if a man throughly looke into the lyues and coÌ„uersation of the multitude yea and that euen of the outward pretended professors of the Gospell for I doe not see how they are to be more fitly termed we shall then finde it to be ouertrue of which detestable hipocrysie the Lord God in the fulnes of tyme will without all doubt be terribly and fearefully aduenged if it be not spedely and earnesty repented of and all peruerse and crooked wayes eftsoones reformed and amended And questionles seing Satan in those dayes so lustely bestyrred him selfe surely he now most terribly roareth and rageth to deface the word of the Lord which as the Apostle witnesseth is the power of Saluation to all those that in trueth beleue it And he in very deede the earnestlyer and busilier trauelleth herein because he perceiueth that his lease is by many yeares neerer at an end then at that tyme it was and therefore goeth about hand ouer head as we commonly say to make hauock of his Lordes enheritaunce as vsually all wicked leasees doe a little before the expiration and full terme of their yeares wherefore right honorable at the godly motion of that my friend I tooke vpon me to english this Treatise for the benefit I trust of all those my Countreymen of this our English nation which shall diligently reade the same And for somuch as I am of necessitie enforced to seeke for ayde of such a Patron as I might assure my selfe to be of some singuler towardnes of perfect wisedome I meane not of such wisdome as worldlinges dreame of but of that true wisedome which is the knowledge and obedience of and to the Maiestie of the word of God whereby this Argument might finde such one as were of power able in knowledge wise in zeale and affection willing and forward to withstand the aduersaries of this pestilent Doctrine in which wisedome coÌ„sisteth the very streÌ„gth of the young men and the right vnderstanding and honor of the aged I haue at this present takeÌ„ bouldnes to choose your Lordship out from amongest the residue of the Nobilitie of this noble realme of England to addresse this my poore trauell vnto assuring my selfe that you will be most willing to suffer the same to march vnder your ensigne agaynst all the enemies thereof And therefore if the worthynes of the matter herein conteyned and handled by Maister Caluin may so excuse the vnworthynes of my simple stile in the translating hereof as that your honor vouchsafe to accept the one with the other and beare with the one for the other your noble curtesie shall the rather confirme all the true professors of the Gospell in that vndoubed opinion which they haue already conceiued of you by reason of the good beginnings of your godly proceedings already in this behalfe in the â—ewe and open sight of the world manifestly declared and geue theÌ„ occasion continually to glorify God for so vertuous and gratious Nobilitie and incessauntly pray vnto his Maiesty for the good encrease long prosperitye of all such and I my selfe also hauing good cause to thinke my trauell most blessedly bestowed will acknowledge my duety alwayes bound vnto your good Lordship for the same And besides there is no doubt but that he which hath begonne this good worke in you will lykewise performe it vntill the day of Iesus Christ so that your perseueraunce therein will afourd you a most firme and sure ground worke for the vpholding and continuing of your noble house in a prosperous and florishing successe without the which perseueraunce vnto the end and in the end there is no acceptation with the Lord of all our doings whatsoeuer For as it is sayd in the 18. of Ezechiell his prophesie and 26. verse When a righteous man continueth not in his righteousnes but turneth away from it and committeth iniquitie he shall euen dye for the same he shal euen dye in his iniquitie which he hath done Thus humbly crauing pardon least I haue troubled your Lordship ouerlong I leaue you to the protection of the most high London the second of Iune
admonished or at the least yet in the end become wise And let vs wholy depend vpon the mouth of God and still looke vnto his word neither let vs add or entermeddle any thing of our owne to or with his wisedome to the end our Leauen marre not the whole lumpe and make the salt that is in vs vnsauery But let vs shew our selues to be such obedient subiects to our God as he would haue vs be to witt humble simple and playne not cleauing to our owne wisdome very zealous to learn yet let vs know nothing or be willing to learne any thing saue onely that which he shall teach vs And besides let vs flee whatsoeuer is straunge and not conteined in his law as a deadly poyson I will meete also with those kinde of men who would faine finde fault with my meaning and say that I rayse vp terrible styrres and controuersies about a matter of nothing decyding these quarrels with cruell dissentions For I am sure there are great store of these people who will not stick thus to deale with me And therefore I aunswere them thus That seing the word of God is of set purpose obstinately assayled that the least iotte thereof is by no meanes to be abidden to be dryuen to the wall and this is not a matter of nothing or of so light regard to see the light of God thus furiously put out through Satans obscuritie and darkenes Moreouer this cause is of farre greater waight then many take it to be But by the way he that cannot away to see the errors and foolishe opinions of others is not therefor as they enterpret it by and by to be sayd that he opinatiuely disagreeth euen to the effusion of bloud For I reproue nothing els but the foolish curiositie of such as striue about these questions which are nothing els in very deede but a tormenting and vexing of the minde Neuertheles after they had reuiued this dounghill opinion it was meete their rashnes should be reproued to the end they should not preuaile agaynst the trueth Now I knew not whether I was able to doe it or no yet my will was very good whatsoeuer goodnes is in it I haue also with good will deliuered it Wherefore if there are any others that can better deale in it Let them in Gods name bestow their trauell to the common benefite of their poore Brethren Basile 1536. OF THE IMMORTALITIE OF THE SOVLE †What the state and lyfe of soules is after this present lyfe AS I will bestow no great paine and coste finely and curiously to handle this disputation Euen so lykewise wil I take such a good order as that the readers may simply and playnely vnderstand what my entent and purpose is And surely whatsoeuer he do that will take vpon him to dispute vpon any matter although in very deede it greatly aâ—â—â—…eth that the thing which is to be dealt withall be very substantially vnderstode of him that shall write thereof and so many festly and easely deliuered vnto the Render to the end that the first man passe not his boundes and made farre from the matter or that the other straye and erre not in the selfe same fielde of the disputation without keeping any sure and certayne course yet notwithstanding this in all coÌ„trouersies ought most chiefely and diligently to be obserued considering that the care which here I haue is not onely to instruct but I haue also to deale with such an aduersary who out of all doubt as it is the coÌ„mon dispositioÌ„ of most men will in no wise but agaynst his will yelde himselfe vanquished neyther yet will he graunt himselfe ouercome so loÌ„g as he may haue any thing wherwith wranglingly quarrellingly and shiftingly pleasantly to make sport and feede his owne humor And therfore the best way to shut him cleane vp that he be not able to escape is this to haue the principall poynt of the controuersie so clearely manifested and opened as that he may be brought hand to hand to the Combate as it were euen at the first chop The controuersy then which now we haue in hand is of the soule of man which some in deed doe grauÌ„t to be somewhat But yet they thinke that after a man is dead that the soule sleapeth vntill the day of Iudgement at which tyme it shall awake out of sleape without either memory vnderstanding and feeling whatsoeuer Others there are which graunt nothing lesse then that it is a substaunce but say that it is onely a power of lyfe which is ledd by the mouing of the pulses or of Lunges lytes and because it caÌ„not be without a body therefore they faine that it dyeth and pearisheth together with the body vntill such tyme as the whole man be raysed vp agayne Howbeit we say and maintayne the soule to be a substaunce and that it liueth in very deede after the body is dead hauing sence and vnderstaÌ„ding both which we are very able to proue by euident testimonies of the scriptures Let vs leaue all mans wisedome which imagineth very many thinges of the soule and yet vnderstaÌ„deth neyther rightly nor yet truely thereof Let vs also leaue the Philosophers who as they are wonted almost to disagree in all thinges hauing neither measure nor end in their controuersies so lykewise stryue they one agaynst another herein in somuch that we shall hardly finde two of theÌ„ to agree together of whatsoeuer opinioÌ„ a man would be satisfied and resolued And as touching the powers of the soule Plato in very many places hath notably treated but aboue all the rest Aristotle hath most cunnigly disputed thereon Howbeit if a man would know of theÌ„ and of the whole companye of those wise men what the soule is and whence it hath her beginning he shall but lose his labor albeit in very deede they haue a more pure and sound opinion hereof then these Roysters which boast them selues to be the disciples of Iesus Christ But before we goe any further they must cutt of all occasion of stryuing about these wordes which we indiffereÌ„tly call the spirite the soule and whereupon at this tyme standeth our question at which they may if they will snatch and catch for we do oftentymes speake of them distinctly as of sondry thinges And it is an vsuall thing in the scripture to take these wordes diuersly wherein many are deceiued For they regarding not the diuersitie of the significatioÌ„s snatch at that which first commeth in their braine and defend it obstinately Oftentymes they haue read this word soule for the lyfe and this opinion they haue that it ought to be alwayes so taken and doe bitterly vpholde it But if a man obiect this saying of Dauid vnto them Psal 49.19 Their soule shall be blessed in lyfe Will they interpret it That lyfe is blessed in lyfe Also if a man alleadge vnto theÌ„ that place of Samuell By thy lyfe 2. Sam. 11.11 and by the lyfe of thy
soule Wil they they say that there is nothing meant by these words we know then that this word Soule is oftentimes taken for lyfe as in these places Psal 119 Nun. My soule is in my handes Also Wherefore teare I my fleshe with my teeth and carry my Soule in my handes Iob. 13.14 Likewise Math. 6.25 Is not the soule farre more precious then meate Also Thou foole Luke 12.20 this night shall thy Soule be taken from thee and such other like which these Soule murderers haue euer in their mouthes And yet for all that they haue nothing wheron greatly to brag For they must consider that this word Soule is taken there by the figure Metanomia for the lyfe for somuch as the Soule is the cause of the lyfe and that the lyfe is vpholden by the Soule and this figure euen yoūg boyes doe learne emongest their rudimentes in the Schoole But who would not maruell to see the foolish arrogancye of these roysters who are fully perswaded of some great matter in thēselues and would haue others make great accompt of them yet they must be taught their figures and formes of speaking We also know by an other lyke reason as it were that the soule is taken for the will and desier because it keepeth the seate of the will desier 1 Sam. 18.1 And in this sence it is sayd That the Soule of Ionathan was fast knit to the Soule of Dauid Gene. 34.6 and that Sichem his Soule longed sore for Dina Iacob his daughter Acts. 4.32 Saint Luke also sayth And the multitude which beleued were of one hart and of one soule Moreouer who seeth not that there is great strength in these Hebrew phrases Psal 115. 104. Luk. 1. My soule blesse thou the Lord my soule doth magnify the Lord say vnto my soule I am thy sauing health For by these is somewhat more expressed thē if it had bene simply spoken without addition As blesse the Lord I magnify the Lord say vnto me I am thy health Sometymes it is simply taken for a man that hath a Soule Gene. 19. As When it is sayd that threescore and sixtene Soules went downe with Iacob into Egipt Ezech. 18.4 Leuit. 20.6 2.6 Lykewise The soule which hath sinned shall dye Also The Soule which shall goe after Coniurers and Southsayers shall dye the death c. Many tymes it is taken for the breath which geueth breath vnto man wherein resteth the liuely motion of the body As I take these places 2. Sam. 2. Heauines and sorrow haue taken hold on me Acts. 20. although my whole soule remayneth in me Also his Soule is in him And agayne That the soule of the Childe returned into his body Moreouer 1. King 17.22 the scripture vseth this maner of speaking that the soule doth depart whereas we commonly say he yeldeth vp the ghost As when it is sayd of Rachell Gene. 35.18 And at the departing of the soule for Rachell dyed she called the name of the child Benom We know also that this word spirite emongest the Latines is called breath winde which we may likewise see by the word that the Grecians vse We know that it is taken in the prophesie of Isaiah for a vayne and tryfling thing Isaiah 26.18 We haue bene with childe sayth he and suffered payne as if we had brought forth winde And many tymes it is taken for that which the spirite of God regenerateth in vs. For when Saint Paule sayth Galat. 5.17 That the spirite lusteth cōtrary to the fleshe he meaneth not that the Soule sighteth agaynst the fleshe or reasō against Lust but that the Soule it selfe in somuch as it is gouerned by the spirite of God fighteth agaynst it selfe because as yet she is voyd of the spirite of God and geuen ouer to her owne lustes Moreouer we know that whē these two words the Soule and the Spirite are ioyned together that by the Soule is ment the will and by the Spirite the vnderstāding Isaiah 26.9 For thus sayth Isaiah My soule hath longed for thee all the night and I will seeke thee early in the morning with my Spirite which is within me 1. Thes 3.13 And thus doth Saint Paule vnderstand it When he beseecheth the Thessalonians to haue their whole Spirite Soule and body kept blamelesse in the cōming of our Lord Iesus Christ For he meaneth to haue all their thoughts and willes sound and not to geue ouer their members as instrumentes of iniquitye to sinne Heb. 4.12 And that which the Apostle wryteth to the Hebrewes must be taken in the same sence That the word of God is quick and mighty in operation and sharper then any two edged sword which entreth through euen vnto the deuiding asonder of the Soule and spirite of the ioynts and the marow discerneth the thoughtes and intentes of the hart Neuerthelesse some there are which in this last place had rather vnderstand by the spirite this being wherein doe consist reason and will and which we are now disputing of and by the Soule the vitall motion and the senses which the Philosophers call Superiors and Inferiors But seing that both the one and the other doe signify in many places an Immortall essence which causeth the lyfe of man let them not take any occasiō to striue about the words but let them take the thing as it is by what name soeuer it be called and meant And presently we will shew how true the same is Now we will beginne at the first creation of man wherein we shall right well perceiue what maner of one he was made from the beginning The holy history telleth vs what the determinatiō and councell of God was before he created man in making him after his owne Image and lykenes These words cā no way be meant of the body wherein although a wonderfull worke of the Lord God appeareth aboue all the rest of the bodyes which he created yet we se not any Image of God to shine in him Gene. 1.26 For what is he which thus sayth Let vs make man after our owne Image and lykenes It is euen God himselfe who is a spirite who cannot be represented by any bodyly shape For lyke as a bodyly image which representeth vnto vs the face of a man ought liuely to set before vs all his lyneaments and proportions that by the coūterfaiting or engrauing we might conceiue whatsoeuer might be sene in him which the same representeth Euen so this Image of God must through the same lykenes set before our senses a certaine vnderstanding of the knowledge of God And I right well know what a number of them prattle saying that the Image of God is lykened vnto the rule and gouernemēt which is geuen vnto man ouer the lyuing creatures because that therein man is somewhat lyke vnto God who hath dominion ouer all things Into the which error Chrisostome him selfe fell
when as he erred by ouer great vehemency in coÌ„futing the opinion of the Anthropomorphites But the Scripture can in no wise abide to be thus dallyed withall Wherefore because that no man might ordayne any such Image to be in the fleshe of man Moyses sayth that the body was first made of the slime of the earth and yet for all that in such sort as that it no wayes represented the Image of God For it is after sayd that lyfe was breathed into the body which was fashioned of the dust of the earth because that euen then the Image of God beganne to shine first in man when as he was fully furnished in all partes But it may be obiected and sayd what doe you thinke that this breath of lyfe is the Image of God No surely although I might very well say so aswell as a great many of others and it may be that I should not speake greatly amisse This obseruation vseth S. Hilary vpoÌ„ the 63. psalme and S. Augustine in his boke of the spirite and the letter cap. 39 Basi Hex conges 8. For what hurt were it if I sayd that there is a difference set downe in the word of God whereby this breath of lyfe might be distinguished from the soules of beastes for from whence haue the soules of the rest of the liuing creatures their beginning Let the earth sayth God bring forth a liuing soule c. And lykewise let that which is of the earth returne agayne vnto earth But the soule of man is not of the earth but froÌ„ the mouth of the Lord and that by a secrett and hidd power Howbeit I will not I say staÌ„d vpon this because I would not haue them to stryue with me about it but this onely would I obtayne at their handes that the Image of God is without the fleshe For els it were no great commendation to man to be made after the Image of God which notwithstanding is so greatly commended and so often repeated vnto vs by the holy scriptures For what needed it I besech you to bring in God deliberating with himselfe and as it were sitting in counsell if he had gone about to haue made a common and ordinary thing For as concerning all other thinges he onely sayd let them be by and by they were made but when he came to this Image as if he had meant to shewe a singuler profe of his workemanshipp he called to counsayle his wisedome and power and was fully resolued in himselfe before he once set hand to the same Hath Moyses then so curiously to no purpose affected this maner of speach which being borrowed from the common vse of men according to their slender capacityes who are as it were very young children to set before vs the Lord God whose greatnes and wisedome no creature is able to coÌ„prehend But hath he not rather in so speaking most gloriously commended the Image of God which shyneth in man And he is not satisfied with once speaking thereof but repeateth it oftentymes Now let the philosophers or els these tryfelers bring with them what doltish mockeries soeuer they will we are sure of this that nothing may beare the Image of God but that which is a spirite For in very deede God is a spirite We must not proceede here by coniectures and ghesses to enquier wherein this Image resembleth his soueraigne creator Colos 3.10 seing we may very easely learne that froÌ„ the Apostle who commaunding vs to put on the new man which is renued in knowledge according to his Image that hath created him manifestly declareth what the same Image is Ephe. 4.14 or wherein it consisteth And he sayth also in another place put you on the new maÌ„ who is created according to the Image of God in righteousnes and holynes of trueth All which thinges when as we will speake in one word we say that man according to the spirite was made pertaker of the goodnes wisedome Ecclesiasticus 17.1 Wisd 2 2â— and righteousnes of God The Aucthor of the booke of Ecclesiasticus and the Aucthor of the booke of Wisdome haue also followed the same course The first deuiding man into two partes to witt the body made of the earth and the Soule which he lykeneth vnto the Image of God briefely comprehendeth that which Moyses hath made a long discourse of God sayth he made man according to his owne Image The second meaning to shew by declaration whereunto the Image of God was lyke sayth that man was made incorruptible as being created after the Image and lykenes of God I would neuer haue pressed our aduersaryes with these Aucthoryties had they not charged vs with them before Which notwithstaÌ„ding we ought to thinke reuerently of although not as Canonicall yet at the least as autentique and holy and receiued by the coÌ„sents of many But let vs there leaue them and hold this Image of God in man which can haue no abiding place but in the soule 1. Pet. 2.11.25 Howbeit let vs now heare what the scripture more manyfestly sayth of the Soule When S. Peter speaketh of the saluation of soules and sayth that the lustes of the fleshe doe fight agaynst the soule and commaundeth vs to cleanse our soules calling Iesus Christ the Byshopp of our soules what should he meane by it if there were not soules to be saued which should be assailed with wicked and vngodly desiers and should be clensed and gouerned by Christ their Byshopp Iob. 4.19 And we reade also in Iob. How much more theÌ„â—n them which dwell in houses of claye and whose foundation is nothing but dust which thing if we consider more narrowly must needes be vnderstoode to be spoken of the soule which dwelleth in this earthly body For he calleth not man an earthly vessell but sayth that he dwelleth in an earthly vessell as one that meant to say that the best part of man which is the soule was contayned within this earthly mansion 2. Pet. 1.13.14 Thus also sayth S. Peter I suppose this to be meete and iust that so long as I am in this tabernacle I styrre you vp by putting you in remembraunce knowing that shortly I must put of this my tabernacle Surely if we be not too too blockish we may vnderstand by this maner of speach that the tabernacle is one thing and that which is taken out of the tabernacle to be another thing The Aucthor of the Epistle to the Hebrewes setteth downe the lyke manifest distinction betwene the fleshe and the spirite Heb. 12.9 when as he nameth those our fleshly Fathers of whome we were begotten and calleth God the onely father of spirites And a little after calling God the father of the heauenly Ierusalem Heb. 12.23 he maketh the Angells and soules of the righteous the Citizens Neither doe I see how we can otherwise take this saying of S. Paul 2. Cor. 7.1 Since we haue these promises let vs clense our selues from all
other Are these dreames or fables But because they would haue some way to escape they make a parable of this story and say that whatsoeuer the trueth speaketh of Abraham the rich glutton and of Lazarus is but a fained thing This is all the reuerence they beare vnto God and to his word But I aske this of them let thē bring forth but one onely example out of the holy scripture where in a parable any man is called by his name I pray you tell me what is meant by these wordes There was a poore man named Lazarus c. Either must the word of God be a false lye or els this must needes be a very true story The auncient Doctors also had great regard to this For S. Ambrose sayth that it is rather a story then a parable because there is a name put in S. Gregory is of the same opinion Tertulyan Ireneus Origen S. Cyprian and S. Ierome doe take it for a history Emongest whom Tertulyan thinketh that by the Rich man is meant Herode and by Lazarus Iohn Baptist And see what Ireneus sayth The thinge which is recyted vnto vs by the Lord of the Rich mā of Lazarus is no fable And Cyrill aunswering the Arriās who out of this place made it their buckler for the refuting of the diuinitie of Christ refelleth not this as a parable but expoundeth it as an history But this is a greater mockery that for the strēgthning of their error the more they pretende the name of S. Augustine and because they might the better wrangle say that he yelded to the same opinion I thinke they doe it for this cause for that he hath sayd in an certein place that we must vnderstād by Lazarus Iesus Christ and by the Rich man the Pharysies and yet his meaning is none otherwise but that this story is to be transferred into a parable if the person of Lazarus be attributed to Iesus Christ and the persō of the Rich man vnto the Pharysies This is also the custome and manner of all such men as haue once conceiued an opinion of any thing to suffer themselues afterward violētly to be caryed away with the same For whē they see they haue no sure ground to stay on there shall not be so small a tittle of a letter which they will not laye fast hold on to wrythe and wrest it to serue their owne turnes Notwithstanding to the end they might not still groyne and grunt S. Augustine himselfe sayth in another place that he receiueth it for an History Let thē now go sell their coūterfett wares at noone day And yet shall they not be able to flye any whither but that they shall alwayes mashe themselues in these very snares For admit we did graunt it them to be a parable which they shall neuer be able to obtaine at our hands What other thing can they gather hereupon but that there is some shewe of trueth in this cōparyson Now if these great Diuines know not this let thē goe learne at the first principles of the Gramarians and they shall finde that a parable is a similitude taken from the truth For when we heare that a man had two sonnes vnto whome he diuided and lotted out their portions there must needes be a man sonnes an enheritaunce and a diuision of portiōs Moreouer this is alwayes the nature of a parable first we must conceiue of the bare matter as it is propounded afterward we are ledd to the end of the parable to witt to the thing it selfe whereunto the parable is applyed And herein let them follow Chrisostome as their Patron He alwayes thought this to be a parable and yet he oftētimes drewe out of it the truth As when he proueth out of it that the soules of the dead are in certayne places he sheweth how horrible hell fier is and the destruction that commeth of pleasures And least I should here lose much speach let common reason teach them if they haue any and they shall soone vnderstand what the strength and reason of a parable is And bycause we would gladly satisfy all men as much as in vs lyeth we will heere speake somewhat of the rest of Soules which are departed from the bodyes in an assured fayth of the promises of God and surely the holy scripture meaneth nothing els by the bosome of Abraham but this rest In the first place we call that rest which these waste diuines call sleape Neither would we refuse this tytle of sleape were it not that by their lying they haue wonderfully corrupted and almost vtterly defaced it Moreouer we vnderstand not by reast slouthfulnes or slumber or any such other lyke dronken thing as they attribute vnto the soules but tranquility and a good assuraunce of conscience which although it be alwayes ioyned with fayth yet is it neuer soūd or altogether perfect but after death The Church no doubt heareth from the mouth of God Isaiah 32.17 the blessinges of the faythfull being yet but as a straunger here on earth to witt My people shall walke in the beauty of rest and dwell in a peaceable habitation Isaiah 26.12 in the tentes of surety and in a plentifull peace And agayne geuing thankes she singeth blessings vnto the Lord Geue vnto vs O Lord peace For thou also workest all our workes in vs. When the faythfull haue receiued the Gospell they haue this peace when they see God to become their louing Father whom before they thought him to be their Iudge and in stead of children of wrath they see them selues to be the children of Grace that the bowels of God his mercy is poured vpon them so that they now looke for none other thing at the handes of God but all goodnes Iob. 7. and mercie But because that the lyfe of man is a warfare vpon earth they which feele the stings of sinne and the dregges of the fleshe must haue trouble in this world and be cōforted in God in this sorte they shall neuer be without an vnquiet troubled minde But when as they shall haue put of the fleshe and the lustes thereof who as home enemies doe trouble their peace and reast they shall in the end be at quiet and rest in the Lord For thus sayth the prophet Isaiah 57.1 The righteous pearisheth and there is no man that once thinketh of him in his hart good and godly people are takē away and no man considereth thereof for the righteous is conueyed away frō the wicked let peace come vnto him and let him rest in his bed which walketh in his wayes doth he not call them vnto peace But because they were at peace with God Ezechiel 1.27.28 whose peace was domesticall and at defiaunce with the world he bringeth them vnto the highest degree of peace And therefore Ezechiell and S. Iohn when as they would describe the throne of the glory of God Apoc. 4.3 they compassed it with the Raynebow which we know
thou hast geuen me Let vs then hold this fayth which is grounded vpon all the prophecies vpon the trueth of the Gospell and vpon Iesus Christ himselfe to witt that the spirite is the Image of God vnto whose lykenes it hath strength and vnderstanding and is euerlasting and so long as it is in the body it sheweth the powers and when it is deliuered out of this prison it goeth from thence vnto God the feeling of whome in the meane while it enioyeth whiles it resteth in the hope of the blessed resurrection and this reast is to it a paradise But as for the spirite of the reprobate whiles it looketh for the terrible iudgement vpon it selfe it is tormented with this looking for which the Apostle therefore hath called fearefull And to make any father search is to plunge it selfe ouer head eares in the bottomles depth of the secrets of God considering that it is ynough to learne that which the holy ghost who as a a very good Schoolemaister is contented to teach it who sayth thus harken vnto me and thy soule shall lyue How wisely is this spokē in respect of the vayne arrogancy of these men The soules of the iust are in the handes of God and the torment of death shall not touch them They seeme to the eyes of the foolishe to be dead but they are in peace c. This is the end of our wisedome which as it is sober and subiect vnto God euen so also knoweth it very well that they which labor to goe beyond it doe fall full lowe Let vs now pull of those cloutes and ragges wherein they haue swadled vp these drowsy and sleapy soules and mingle and lickour the Poppy which they haue made them to soupe to lull them a sleepe They carry about with them certein places of scripture which as they thinke doe fauoure this sleape and soone after as if this sleapines were clearely proued they thunder them agaynst those which forthwith will not yelde vnto their error First of all they sett downe that God hath placed none other soule in man but such as is common to all other beastes For the scripture attributeth to al equaly a liuing soule as when it is sayd Gene. 1. God created the great whales euery liuing soule also there wet Gene. 7. of all flesh which had any lyfe in it by couples into the Arke of Noah And such other lyke places And although the holy scriptures had neuer made mention hereof yet are we clearely admonished by S. Paule that this liuing soule differeth nothing frō this present lyfe whereby the body receiueth strength and force Se what he sayth That which is sowē in corruptiō 1. Cor. 15.42.43.44.45 shall ryse agayne in incorruption that which is sowen in weakenes shall ryse agayne in strength That which is sowne in a fleshely body shall rise againe a spiritual body for as it is written The first man Adā was made a lyuing soule and the last Adam a quickening spirite Now I confesse in deede that the liuing soule is not onely attributed vnto beasts alone be cause they also liue For their lyfe is another manner of lyfe thē the lyfe of men The soule that liueth in man maketh him to haue sence wisedome reason and vnderstanding and the soule that liueth in beastes geueth them onely mouing and feeling Seing then it is so that there is reason vnderstanding and will in the soule of man which vertues are not tyed to the body it is no maruell if it subsist without a body and pearisheth not lyke the soule of the beastes whose soules haue nothing but a bodely feeling For which cause Paule was not ashamed with the heathen Poet to call vs the generation of God Wherefore then let them now as they list communicate vnto a lyuing soule with man Actes 17.28.29 seing that as touching the body beastes lyfe is all one to men and beastes yet can they not hereupon make vnto thēselues a degree to confound the soule of man with the beasts neither yet must they thrust that saying of S. Paule vpon vs which is rather with vs then against vs. The first man Adam was made a liuing soule and the last Adam a quickening spirite For this aunswere was obiected to them which could not be perswaded of the resurrection For looke vpon the obiection which they made how shall the dead ryse agayne In what body shall they come The holy Apostle to meete with this obiection frameth his Argument thus If we learne by experience that the seede which lyueth groweth and bringeth fruite was first dead why thē may not the body which was dead ryse agayne as well as the seede And if the bare and dry corne bring forth greater plenty of fruite after it is dead and that by a wonderfull power which God hath put into it Why then may not the body by the selfe same heauenly power be raysed vp agayne in a farre better maner then wherein it dyed And to the end thou mightest not still maruell how is it possible that mā should lyue without he were fashioned into a liuing soule Notwithstāding although this soule moueth and vpholdeth the waite of the body for a tyme yet maketh it not Immortall or inccorruptible And whiles also that it putteth forth her strength yet is she not able as of her selfe to doe it without the helpe of drinke meate and sleape which are tokens of corruption neither maketh it the body to abide in a firme constant condition but that it is enclyned assoone to one thing as to another But when the sonne of God shall take vs with himselfe into glory Tertullian so sayth and S. August also in his 3. Epist to Fortunatus it shall not be onely a body with a soule or quickened with a soule but a spirituall body such a one as our minde cānot conceiue nor our toung expresse We see then that we shall be none other thing in the generall resurrection but yet much otherwise if by your leaue I may so say And these thinges are spoken of the body wherunto the soule administreth life vnder the elements of this world But when the figure of this world shall passe away the participation of the glory of God shall lift it vp aboue nature Hereby we see what the true and naturall sence of the Apostle is And S. Augustine seeing himselfe deceiued euen as these men now are in the exposition of this text acknowledged afterward his fault corrected it amōgest his retractatiōs a great deale more manifestly in other places Chap. And here I thinke it good to set downe some part of his wordes It is very true sayth he that the soule liueth either in a carnal or spirituall body and yet notwithstanding it liueth not nor is not quickened vntil such time as it hath cast off the corruption But in the spirituall body when it is made a quickening spirite perfectly cleauing vnto the Lord it
is so that there is no light without God which lighteneth our night it is most certayne that the soule being buried in her darckenesses must needes be blinde And then is she domb seing she cannot confesse that vnto saluation which she beleued to righteousnesse Deafe also she is because she heareth not this liuely voyce Lame likewise she is and that which is worsse she is not able to stand vpright when as shee hath not to whome shee may say thou hast held me by the right hand and guided me according to thy will and finallye she doth nothing wherein is life For heare what the Prophet sayth Baruc. 3.14 whenas he will shew that the spring and fountayne of lyfe wholy resteth in God Learne where is wisedome where is strength where is vnderstanding that thou mayst also knowe from whence commeth long continuaunce life and where the light of the eyes and peace is What wouldest thou els more desire to come vnto death And to the end we shoulde not here stay in this godly way let vs consider with our selues what life it is that Iesus Christ hath brought vs and it will put vs in minde with what kinde of death he hath redeemed vs. Ephe. 5. S. Paule teacheth vs both the one and the other For thus he sayth Awake thou which sleapest and arise frō death Christ will enlighten thee He speaketh in this place vnto dust but yet vnto such as being wrapped vp in their sinnes cary with them both hell and death And in an other place he sayth Colo. 2. And you when you were deade through sinne he hath quickened you together with Christ forgeuing you all your sinnes And like as according to the saying of S. Paule Rom. we dye vnto sinne whenas lust is quenched in vs Euen so dye we vnto God whēas we subiect our selues vnto our lust which liueth in vs. But to speake all in a word in liuing we dye which thing S. Paul speaketh of the widdow which liueth in pleasures to wit 2. Tim. 5. we are immortal vnto death For although the soule keepeth her vnderstanding yet is a gilty conscience as it were a verye blockish and vnfeeling vnderstanding Nowe therefore whatsoeuer this death of the soule was yet for all that it is farre of that the death which Christ dyed for vs is such one For he hath accomplished by his death whatsoeuer the prophets haue promised of his victory agaynst death For thus haue the prophets sayd Isaiah 25. he will destroy death for euer It is likewise sayd I wil be thy death O death hel Oseah 13. I will be thy sting Also Hebr. 2. Death shal go before his face The Apostles likewise declare the things already done for thus it is sayde he hath ouercome death 2. Tim. 1. Rom. 5. But hath enlightened life by the Gospell For if by the offēce of one death raigned through one much more shall they which receiue the aboundance of grace and of the gifte of righteousnesse raigne in life through one that is Iesus Christ Let them now abide and withstand these lightenigs if they can For since they say that death came by Adam which we also confesse but not in such sort as they imagine but as we haue before said whereinto the soule fell we on the contrary part say that lyfe came by Christ which they are neuer able to denye so that the poynt of the whole controuersy cōsisteth betwene the comparison of Adam and of Iesus Christ And therefore they must first of all reconcile this with that saying of S. Paule that whatsoeuer was onely lost by Adam hath bene also restored by Iesus Christ But looke howe farre the power of grace hath surpassed sinne euen so of a more farre passing greater power hath Ie-Christ bene in making restitution thē Adam was in the losse For he playnely teacheth that the gift is farre greater then the sinne although not vpon many men yet most plentifully vpon those vpon whom it aboundeth And nowe let them aunswere if they will that it aboundeth not because it hath geuen life more aboundantly but because it hath blotted out many sinnes seing the onely sinne of Adam is it which hath brought vs to destruction And this is the thing which I demaund Moreouer seing he teacheth in another place that sinne is the sting of death what death is it that can sting vs since his sting is rebated yea altogether consumed And so he handleth none other thing in many Chapiters of the Epistle to the Rom. But playnely declareth that sinne is wholy abolished because it hath no longer dominiō ouer the faithfull Rom. 8.1 Wherefore if the lawe hath power ouer sinne what other thing then do our sleapers who kill those that liue in Iesus Christ but draw them into the cursse of the law which is cleane dead And therefore the Apostle boldly sayth that there is no condemnation with them that are in Iesus Christ who walke not after the flesh but after the spirite Surely they pronounce a fearefull sentence agaynst those whom S. Paule freely acquiteth of condemnation whenas they say ye shall dye the death What is then become of grace whenas death raigneth as yet amongest Gods chosen Nowe according to the saying of S. Paule sinne raigneth in deed to death but grace Rom. 6.7 vnto euerlasting life and therefore if grace surmounteth sinne there remaineth no place for death Wherefore as by Adam death entred raigned euen so doth life also now raigne by Iesus Christ Now then we know that Iesus Christ being raysed agayne from the dead dyeth no more neither hath death any more power ouer him For in that he dyed vnto sinne he dyed onely once for all But in that he lyueth he lyueth vnto God And hereby we may see that they themselues refute their error with their owne weapons For when as they say that death is the punishment of sinne they forthwith graunt that if man had not sinned he had bene Immortall For that which began to be was not sometymes and that cōmeth through punishmēt and not by nature Contrarywise S. Paul that sinne is swallowed vp of Grace so that it hath nothing to doe with the children of God And so we haue gotten this poynt of thē that Gods chosen are now such as Adam was before he sinned And as he was created incorruptible Euen so are they now who are by Iesus Christ framed a newe into a better nature And that saying of the Apostle is not agaynst this 1. Cor. 15.54 That the written word shall be accomplished death is swallowed vp into victory For if they say it is so that the word shall be made then can it not be denyed but that to be made must also be taken to be accomplished For whatsoeuer is now begonne in the soule shall be accomplished in the body or rather whatsoeuer is onely begone in the soule shal be accōplished together both in
body soule For this generall death wherof as by the common necessitie of nature we all dye is a naturall way for the elect to come to the souereigne degree of Immortalitie Augustine in his 43. Chap. of the difference betwene the lyfe of maÌ„ the lyfe of brute beastes rather then to any euill or punishment And as S. Augustine sayth It is nothing els but a finishing of the fleshe which consumeth not the thinges that are fast ioyned and knit together but maketh a partition of them when as it bringeth both the one and the other to their first originall The third thing which they alleadge Acts. 7. is that which they so often speake of those which are dead Iohn 11.11 2. Thes 4.3 Kings 11 21.43 to witt That they sleape As it is sayd of S. Stephen That he sleapt in the Lord. Lykewise Lazarus our friend sleapeth Also sorrow not for them that sleape And this saying is so often repeated in the bookes of the kinges as that a man shall scarcely finde any phrase of the scripture more familyar and common But chiefely aboue all Iob. 14.7.11 they vrge and make a great reckoning of the saying in the booke of Iob where it is sayd There is hope of a tree if it be cut downe that it will yet sproute and the braunches thereof spring but when a man is dead what is become of him As the waters passe froÌ„ the sea and as the flood decayeth and dryeth vp euen so a man after he be a sleape ryseth not agayne neither shall he wake out of his sleape vntill such tyme as the heauen be not Now if we beleue that the soules sleape because that death is called a sleape In the first place the soule of Iesus Christ was possessed with the very same sleape Psal 3.5 For Dauid so speaketh of him selfe I layd me down and sleapt and rose vp agayne for the Lord susteyned me His enemies also vsed this wicked speach towardes him Psal 41.8 Shall he that sleapeth rise any more agayne Wherefore if it bee not lawfull to thinke so basely and vily of the soule of christ as heretofore hath largely bene handeled we ought not to stand in doubt that the scripture had onely regard vnto the outward shape of the bodye neither yet hath deryued and fetcht this sleape from the consideration of men For these two manner of speaches he sleapt with his fathers and he was layd or buried with his Fathers we take indifferently And yet by the way the soule is not layde or buryed by the soules of the Fathers But the body is caryed to be layd in the graue of the Fathers Samuell lykewise in the story of the Kinges attributeth this sleape vnto the Faythlesse kinges as may be seene in the two last bookes of the kings as also in the bookes of the Cronicles And therefore when thou hearest it sayd that a wicked man sleapeth thinke thou not once of the sleape of the soule which can not haue a worse hangman to torment and vexe it then an ill and guilty conscience what becommeth then of this dreamer or sleaper who is thus vexed and distressed Isyiah 57. ver 20.21 For the wicked are lyke vnto the raging sea which can not calme it selfe when it lusteth whose flowing surges cast vp filth and stinking badgage There is no peace sayth the Lord vnto the wicked Neuerthelesse Dauid meaning to set forth the sharpe pricking sting of the coÌ„science Psal 13. ver 3. sayth O Lord my God lighten mine eyes that I sleape not in death Thus we see that the bottomles depth of hell holdeth wretched man besieged and the streÌ„gth of sinne tormeÌ„teth him and yet he sleapeth yea he doth more then sleape because he abideth all these thinges And therefore these simple and ignoraunt fondlinges must be set agayne to their A. B. C. seing they haue not as yet learned that part is sometymys taken for the whole and sometimes the whole for parte which figure is so oftentimes vsed in the scriptures Neither would I haue any man beleue me except I strst bring forth certaine places which playnely shew that so often as this saying sleaping is taken for death Iob. 7.21 it is spoken by a figure called Synecdoche For when Iob sayth Behold I sleape now in the dust and if thou seekest me in the morning I shall haue no more being Is it to be thought that his soul should be ouercome with sleape Now therefore the soule is not to be turned into dust Iob. 21. v. 2.6 nei is it to sleape in the dust As also it is sayd in another place They shall sleape both in the dust and the wormes shall couer theÌ„ Psal 88. ver 5. And when Dauid sayth Lyke the slayne lying in the graue Art thou of the opinion that Iob and Dauid by these sayings haue put out the soules to be eaten of wormes Isaiah 14. ver 7.8 The prophet likewise teacheth vs eueÌ„ the very selfe same thing who meaning to describe the destruction of Nebuchadnezer saith after this maner Isaiah 14. Verses 18.19 The whole world is at rest and is quiet The firre trees also reioyced of thee and the Cedars of Lybanon saying Since thou sleapst none hath rysen vp to come agaynst vs. And anon after it is sayd All the kings of the nations euen they all sleape in glory euery one in his owne house but thou art cast out of thy graue All which thinges are spoken of a dead body so that to sleape is to be layd down as they are which sleape Horace in his â—des who are layd vpon the earth The very pagane Poets were able to geue instructions of this manner of speaking And therefore haue in the olde tyme called the place which was appoynted to burye the dead a Churchyard which signifieth asmuch as a dorture or a place of sleape and rest Not meaning thereby that the soules were there layd to reast them selues but the dead bodies I trust now by this tyme that the smokes of these our Gallants are already well vanished wherein they haue wrapped the sleapy soules since it hath ben proued that in the whole volume of the scripture there cannot be found that this word Sleape so often as it is set downe for death is attributed vnto the soules and spirites And besides we haue els where more at large handled the reast of the soules For their fourth obiection they take great hold of the saying of Salamon as if thereby they had some great matter to thunder out agaynst vs Where it is sayd in the booke of Ecclesiastes or of the Preacher Ecclesi 3. ver 18. I considered in mine hart vpon the state of the children of men that God had purged them yet to see to they are in themselues lyke vnto beastes For the condition of the children of men and the condition of beastes are euen as one condition vnto them For as the
the kingdome as yet And therefore the soules of the faythful are at peace after they are dead seeing they are gâ—ttâ—â— out of the thraldome of their enemy For they are in the midst of all ritches and as it is sayd They shall goe from plenty to plenty But when as the heaueÌ„ly Ierusalem shall be lifted vp on hye in her glory and the true Salomon who is the Lord Iesus euen the king of peace shall be honorably placed in his Iudgement seate the true Israelites shall raigne with their true king and prince And therefore if we will borrow and fetch a similitude from worldly thinges we haue warre agaynst an enemy so long as we haue to fight agaynst fleshe and bloud Euen then doe we ouercome our enemy when as we are spoyled of this sinfull fleshe so that we be altogether with God We shall triumph and enioy the fruite of the victory when as out head shall be lifted vp in very deede aboue death to witt when death shall be swallowed vp into victory And this is our limit and end whereof it is written I shall be filled when as I shall be awaked through the sight of thy glory Now all they who haue learned to obey God and heare hts voyce may soone learne these thinges out of the holy scriptures All they also who haue reuerently and discretly handled the misteries of God haue taught vs these thinges and as it were geuen them vs from hand to hand For the auncient Doctors haue bene bolde to say thus much Tertullian in his boke of the resurrection of the flesh that the soules are verely in paradise and in heauen and notwithstanding haue not as yet receiued their glory or rewarde For thus sayth Tertullian Both the reward daunger hang vpoÌ„ the comming of the resurrection And yet for all this he teacheth that the soules without all doubt are with God and doe lyue in God before this comming And in another place why should we not vnderstand the bosome of Abraham to be taken for a thing to receiue the soules of the faythfull wherein is pictured out the Image of fayth and the manner of both Iudgementes clearely shewed Ireâ—eus also sayth after this sort Seing the Lord hath passed through the middest of the shadow of death Ireneus in his ninth booke agaynst heresies where the soules of the dead were and soone after was bodily raysed vp agayne and after his resurrection lifted vp into the heauens it is most certaine that the soules of his disciples for whose loue the Lord hath wrought all these things should go into an inuisible place which the Lord had appointed for theÌ„ And that they should there remaine vntill the resurrection looking for their owne resurrection taking agayne their bodies vpon them and perfectly ryse vp agayne to witt bodely and as the Lord rose agayne euen so should they also come before the presence of God For no Scholler is aboue his Maister c. Chrisostome also sayth vnderstand what and how greaâ— a thing this is that Abraham is placed And the Apostle S Paule also when then shall this be accomplished that they mighâ— receiue their reward For if wâ— come not to that the Fatheâ— hath foretold that we shall noâ— haue the reward For he dealeth much lyke for as a good father that loueth his children very well sayth vnto the children that are worthy of commendation and doe their dueties well that he will not geue them their meate vntill such tyme as the other brothers be also come But art thou sorrowfull because thou receiuest it not all this while what shall become of Abell theÌ„ who hath ouercome this long since is not yet crowned although he be placed What shall Noah doe And what shal the rest doe that were in those dayes For we may see that they all taryed and so must also the rest â—â—â—â—y which shall come after thee And anon after it is sayd They â—â—…e preuented vs in the conflictes but they shall not goe before vs in crowning For there is but one setled time for those that shall be crowned And S. Augustine maketh a description in many places of the secret receptacles where the soules of the faythfull continue vntill such tyme as they receiue the crowne and glory But in the meane while the reprobate are punished looking for the iust payne of iudgement And in an Epistle which he wryteth vnto S. Ierome he sayth The soule after the body is dead shall be at reast and in the end shall receiue the body into glory Neuertheles he reacheth in an another place that after the ascention of Iesus Christ the soules which lâ—ue in Christ 2. Pet. 2.4 ascend into heauen And yet he is not contrary to himselfe Iude. For although it be true that the wicked spirites are euen now tormented as S. Peter affirmeth yet is this fier wherunto the reprobate shall be cast at the day of Iudgement sayd to be prepared for the Deuill S. Peter hath made mention both of the one and of the other when as he sayth They are reserued vnder euerlasting chaynes vnto the great day of Iudgement In which place by this speach of reseruation he meaneth the payne which yet they feele not and by the chaynes is meant the paynes which they presently feele And S. Augustine himselfe so handleth it in another place when he sayth Thy last day cannot be farre of therefore make thy selfe ready for it For as thou passest out of this life such one shalt thou be found in the life to come And thou shalt not be after this life by and by where the sayntes shal be vnto whom shal be sayd come ye blested of my Father inherite the kingdome which is prepared for you from the foundations of the world And who knoweth not that thou shalt not be there as yet But thou mayst very well be there where the rich proud man being in the middest of hys tormeÌ„ts seeth that poore wretch sometyme still of fores and blaines in rest and peace a great way from him And thou being taken vp into this rest certaynly lookest most assuredly for thys great day of iudgement wherein thou shalt agayne receiue thy body and be chaunged and made like vnto the Angels Neither doe I mislike of that which S. Augustine in another place for Instruction sake dealeth withall so he may meete with a sound and modest Interpretor to wit that there are many degrees of the soule The first is the quickening of life or life it selfe The second vnderstanding The third arte The fourth power The fift quietnes The sixt entraunce And the seuenth contemplation Or if any man had rather say thus The first is from the body The second to the body The third about the body The fourth vnto it selfe The fift in it selfe The sixt vnto God The seuenth in God I haue not thought it a misse to bring in here these wordes to the end to shew the meaning of this
holy man herein â—…ther theÌ„ strayghtly to binde any much lesse my selfe to the necessity of this distinction For S Augustine himselfe as I thinke wisheth it not but meant to shew as plainly as he could that there is a going on of the soule which it shall neuer fully attayne vnto vntill the day of iudgement Finally for this day of iudgement with which they so greatly deÌ„fend themselues there is an argument come to my minde which may plucke this error cleane vp by the rootes For in our creed which is the very effect of all our beliefe we confesse the resurrection of the flesh and not of the soule Neither is there any place left for their wrangling whenas they will tell vs that by this word flesh is meant the whole man We graunt theÌ„ that it is sometymes so taken but in this place we flatly denye it them whereas wordes which are very playne and easy to bee vnderstood are set forth vnto the rude and ignoraunt people In very deed the pharysies who were stout defenders and and mayntayners of the resurrection and who had alwayes this word resurrection in theyr mouthes did not yet notwithstaÌ„ding many tymes beleue that there was a soule Yet do they still lay hold on vs and force vs to sticke vnto this daungerous rock For they now alleadge the wordes of S. Paul wherein he telleth vs that we 〈◊〉 miserabler then all men if the dead did not rise agayne And thus they frame their Argument what needeth say they any resurrection if we be blessed before the resurrectioÌ„ But that which is more what is that great misery of christians which surpasseth the misery of all men if this be true that they are at rest whiles the residue are so greeuously tormented and after so wonderfull a manner And here I geue them warning that if I meant to dally and shift as they goe about none other thing but to abuse the ignoraunt people I would finde sufficyent passage enough to escape For who shall let me from following of other good men that haue disputed not of the last generall resurrection in which after the corruption of our bodies we shall receiue agayne incorruptible bodyes but of the lyfe which remayneth for vs after this mortall life for it is an ordinary and common maner in the scripture to let vs vnderstaÌ„d by this speach of the resurrection what the blessed and euerlasting life is For when we heare it spoken that the Saduces denyed the resurrection it is not referred to the body but is simply spoken accordyng to theyr opynyon that after a man be dead there is no memory left of hym And hereof is a probable Argument that whatsoeuer wherewith S. Paule helpeth himselfe to streÌ„gthen that which he hath sayde should be ouerthrowen in one word if it were aunswered that it is very true that the soules liue and that the bodyes whiche shall turne to duste can by no meanes ryse agayne Let vs now then come to examples first as touching this saying they which are dead in Iesus Christ are lost this might the philosophers haue easely coÌ„futed who haue mightely and constantly defended the immortality of the soule And as for this saying What shall they doe who are baptised for the dead It is very easely aunswered For the soules liue after death And to this which followeth wherefore are we also continually in danger It may be auÌ„swered that we lose this fraile lyfe to recouer Immortall lyfe wherein we shall lyue a great deale better We haue already bestowed many wordes whereof the teachable haue had no neede For the Apostle himselfe sayth that we are miserable if our hope in Iesus Christ stretched it selfe no farther then vnto this present life which thing Psal 73. ver 2.3 euen by the testimony of the prophet is out of all doubt who confesseth that his feete had almost foultred and his steppes had well nye slipt when he saw the prosperitie of the proud and wicked And to say truely if we looke but downe vnto our feete we wil say those to be blessed which haue all thinges come to passe as they would wishe But if our eyes looke farther of we will call them blessed who haue the Lord for their God in whose hand is the issue of death Howbeit we will bring some thing which shall be a great deale more certaine by which we will not onely repulse their obiections but also declare the true and natural meaning of the Apostle be glad without stryfe of wordes to as many as would meekely and curtisly learne For if there be no resurrection of the body the faythfull may of very right be called accursed yea were there none other reason but this that they are so often vexed hurt beaten and violently handled and doe suffer in their bodies such extreame wantes all which they thinke to be appoynted and ordayned for an euerlasting blessednes because they are disapointed of this hope For is there any thing I say not more miserable but rather more ridiculous theÌ„ to see and beholde the bodies of those who all the lyue long day doe nothing els but sport and laugh in the fulnes of all delightes and pleasures and contrarywise to see the bodies of feeblished Christians dead through hunger and colde and pressed with all kindes of violences if the bodies both of the one and the other pearished alyke For this thing could I very well confirme by the wordes of the Apostle which he setteth downe anone after when he sayth wherefore are we continually in daunger I dayly suffer death for your glory c. Let vs eate and drinke for to morrowe we shall dye It were a great deale better for vs sayth he that this saying should take place in vs as to say Let vs eate and drinke if these tormentes and shames which we suffer in our bodies be not changed into the glory which we hope after which thing should neuer be without it were in the resurrection of the body Furthermore although I should passe ouer this defence yet could I bring in another reason that we are more miserable then all men if there were not a resurrection For although we be very blessed before the resurrection yet is it no blessednes without the resurrection For we say that for the same cause the spirites of the Saintes and of the faythfull are very blessed for so much as they reast in the hope of the blessed resurrection and therefore if there were no such thing all this blessednes should turne to nothing wherefore the saying of the Apostle is most true that we are more miserable then all men if there be no resurrection And this doctrine is not agaynst these wordes that the spirites of the Saintes are more blessed before the resurrectioÌ„ but yet it is by reason of the resurrectioÌ„ They laye before vs also that percell of scripture which is writteÌ„ in the Epistle to the Hebrewes of the aunci Fathers where it is sayd All these
displeasure of God so that it is sayd of them from whome God estrangeth himselfe and whome he throweth downe by his Iudgemētes and bruseth by his hand that they goe downe into hell or dwell in hell For to speake properly hell signifieth not the pit or graue Isaiah 5.14 but destruction or confusion as in this place Hell hath enlarged it selfe and swallowed vp many It is also sayd in another place Math. 11.25 And thou Capernaum which art lifted vp into heauen I tell thee truely thou shalt be brought downe into hell And although this figuratiue speach be found throughout all the holy scriptures yet is it most chiefly vsed in the psalmes as in this psalme Psal 55.15 Let death seze vpon them let them goe downe quicke into hell or into the graue Lykewise Psal 28.1 O my God be not deafe toward me least if thou aunswere me not I be lyke vnto them that goe downe into the pit Psal 30.3 And agayne O Lord thou hast brought vp my soule out of hell or out of the graue thou hast reuiued me from them that goe downe into the pit Psal 9.17 Also the wicked shall turne into hell and all nations that forget God Lykewise If the Lord had not holpen me I had almost dwelt in hell Psal 94.17 or in silēce Also our bones lye scattered at the graues mouth Psal 141.7 Item He hath smitten my lyfe downe to the earth Psal 143.3 he hath layd me in the darknes as they that haue bene dead long agoe It is also written in S. Luke Luke 16.23 speaking of the wicked rich man And lifting vp his eyes when he was in hell in tormentes c. Lykewise in S Mathew Math. 11.25 And thou Capernaum which art lifted vp into heauen thou shalt be brought downe to hell In all these places by this word Hell the place is not so greatly vnderstoode of as the state of those whome God hath condemned and adiudged to banishment And that is the confession which we make in our Creede That Iesus Christ descended into hell that is to say That his Father plunged him into all the sorrowes of death for our sakes that he suffred all the tormentes of death and all the afflictions terrors and feares thereof and was in very deede afflicted although it is sayd before that he was buried Contrarywise they that feele the mercy and louing kindenes of the Lord are sayd Psal 133.3 That they lyue and shall lyue For there the Lord appoynted the lyfe and blessing for euer Psal 33.19 Lykewise To the end he might deliuer their soules from death and to preserue them in famine Psal 52.5 Also God shall plucke thee out of the tabernacle and roote thee out of the lād of the liuing Lykewise Psal 56.13 That I mighr wallke before god in the light of the liuing Psal 116. Also I will geue thankes vnto the Lord in the land of the liuing But now that we may make an end let vs content our selues with one testimony which so naturally describeth both the one and the other as that although we should say neuer a word yet layeth it forth our meaning very notably The wordes are these Psal 49.6 7.9.10.14 Who trust in their Goods and boast themselues in the multitude of their riches Yet a man can by no meanes redeeme his brother he cannot geue his raunsome to God although he take neuer so great paynes and liue neuer so long Shall not he see the pitt whē as he seeth the wise do dy The foolishe and ignoraunt shal both pearish They are layd into the graue lyke sheepe and death deuoureth them And the righteous shall haue dominion ouer them in the morning their Glory also shall consume and the graue shall be their house But God shall deliuer my soule from the power of the graue when he hath receiued me The somme and effect hereof is this That they which put their trust in riches and in the strength of them in the end doe by and descend into the graue For the rich and the poore the foole and the wise doe all pearish But he which trusteth in the Lord shall be deliuered frō the power of hell Now I say and defend it that these wordes death and hell which they haue layd before vs in the verses of the psalmes aforesayd and in the song of Ezechiah can no otherwise be taken And I further say and affirme that this may very well be proued by certaine and sure Argumentes For be it that Iesus Christ the sonne of God who is the head of all the faythfull and be it that the Church which is the body of Iesus Christ speaketh in these verses wilt thou shewe miracles vnto the dead c. And lykewise what profite is in my bloud c. That death is to be abhorred as a detestable feareful thing she fleeth it as much as is possible and prayeth that it might not be layd vpon her Which thing also Ezechiah desiereth in his song Wherefore then feare they to heare onely the name of death if they are thus certayne that God is mercifull and fauorable vnto them Is it because they should be no more any thing But they would eskape out of this world that is full of troubles full of greuous temptations and of all disquietnes to come vnto a soueraigne and blessed reast And because they should be no more any thing they should feele no more any euill which is neither prolonged by their death nor yet set forward by their lyfe Let vs now turne our selues and looke vpon the examples of the rest of the Saintes and see if the lyke matter hath fallen so out vnto them First when Noah dyed he bewayled not his estate Gene. 49. Nei did Abraham once make any sorrow Iacob also reioyced amidst his last sithes in that he looked for the sauing health of the Lord. Iob wept not Moyses hearing his last houre to be at hand was no whit troubled And for any thing that may be seene they all embrased death very couragiously and willingly we also very oftē heare these aunsweres of the faythfull when the Lord called them Loe here I am Lord. And therefore it cannot be chosen but that there was some other thing which enforced Iesus Christ and his faythfull to make such complayntes Neither must me stand in doubt that when Iesus Christ offred himselfe to suffer punishmēt for vs but that he fought agaynst the power of the Deuill agaynst all the tormentes of hell and the sorrowes of death all which thinges should haue bene ouercome in our fleshe that they might haue lost that right which they had in vs. Seing then it is so that in this conflict he satisfied the rigour and seueritie of the Iustice of God and fought agaynst hell death and the Deuill he besought his Father that he would not forsake him in the middest of so great distresses
nor deliuer him into the power of death crauing none other thing at his Fathers hand but that our weakenes which he bare in his body might be deliuered from the power of the Deuill and death And this is the fayth whereupon we must now stay our selues that the punishmeÌ„t of sinne coÌ„mitted in our fleshe which was to be payd in the selfe same fleshe for the satiffying of the righteousnes of God hath bene discharged and payd in the fleshe of Iesus Christ which was ours And therefore Christ neuer fledd the death but this horrible feeling of the seueritie of God which required that he should be chastised with death for the sauing of vs. Wilt thou know from what affection and minde this voyce came I know not which way better to expresse it but euen by another speach comming from himselfe when as he sayd My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He calleth then these dead and buryed and those that were carryed into the land of forgetfulnes the forsaken people of God After this manner the saints who were taught by the spirite of God vsed not these speaches to dryue death away to thrust God back that called them but to the end they might â—schew the Iudgement wrath and seuerity of God by which they felt Gods chastisement with death And because they shall not thinke that I make this of mine owne head I aske this question to witt whether a â—aythfull man calleth a simple and naturall death the wrath and terror of God I thinke our sleapers are not so shameles as to dare to affirme this And yet the Prophet thus interpreteth this death in these places Psal 88.16 Thine indignations goe ouer me and thy feare hath troubled me He addeth besides many other thinges which apperteyne to the wrath of God Another place also there is which sayth For his anger lasteth but a while Psal 30.5 but in his fauour is lyfe But I exhort the Readers to run vnto the booke To the end they might haue a farre surer beliefe of these two whole psalmes and of the song of Ezechiah For by this meane they shall not be deceaued and I eftsoones shall get credite with those parties who reade them with a good and sound Iudgement And therefore thus I conclude thaâ— death in these places is to feel the wrath and horrible Iudgement of God and to be feareâ— and troubled with the feeling thereof Euen so Ezechiah seing that he must leaue the Realme tâ— be put out for a spoile to the enemies and that he leaft no children of whome might descenâ—… the hope of the Gentiles his soule was troubled with thesâ— thinges which were signes and tokens of Gods anger and punishment and no signes of the feare of death For in deede hâ— afterward dyed without desiering to be deliuered from death To be short I confesse thaâ— death of it selfe is euill because it is the curse and punishment for sinne For on the one side iâ— is of it selfe full of feare and desolation and on the other side it driueth those who feele that God sendeth it them in his anger for their punishment eueâ— to the very last cast of desperation And there is but one seasoning which is able to mittigate or ease this so great sharpnes of death and that is to know in the middest of the anguishes thereof that God is fauorable and a mercifull Father and hath Christ for his guide and companion Now as many as are not thus seasoned death is to them confusion and euerlasting destruction Wherefore it is impossible for them to prayse God in death And as for this verse The dead prayse thee not c. Is a conclusion of the prayses of the people geuing thankes vnto God because he defended them from daunger by his mighty power This is then the meaning If the Lord had suffered vs to be ouercome and that we had fallen vnder the power of ouer enemies They would then haue lifted themselues vp agaynst his Maiestie and gloryed in them selues that they had ouercome the God of Israell But now after the Lord had suppressed and abated their pride and after that he had deliuered vs from the cruelty of our enemies through a mighty hand and an outstretched arme the Gentiles could not say where is now their God who shewed himselfe in very deede to be the liuing God Neither can his mercy come euer in questioÌ„ which he so notably hath manifested And here they whome God hath forsaken and whose power and louing kindenes they haue not felt are called dead As if he had forsaken his people through the crueltie and vnmercifulnes of the wicked This saying is fully confirmed by the prayer that is set downe in the booke of the prophet Baruck There it is sayd O Lord open thine eyes Baruck 2.17.18 and behold for the dead that are in the graues and whose soules are out of their bodies geue vnto the Lord neither prayse nor righteousnes But the soule that is vexed with the greatnes of sinne and he that goeth crookedly and weake and the eyes that fayle and the hongry soule wil geue thee praise and righteousnes O Lord. In this place without doubt a man may very well see that vnder the name of the dead are comprehended all these which are afflicted and throwne downe by the hand of God and fallen into destruction and that a sorrowfull rent and torne soule is such a one as being voyde of her owne power and not staying it selfe vpon her owne confidence runneth vnto the Lord calleth vpon him and looketh for helpe at his handes If any man would take all these thinges as it were by the discribing of a person he may soone haue an easy order to come to the manifest laying of them opeÌ„ because that in persons the deed is taken and when we heare this saying of the dead in this sence is meant death For the Lord winneth no commendatioÌ„ for his mercy goodnes when as he afflicteth punisheth and destroyeth although the punishmentes be iust But euen then createth he a people vnto himselfe to sing and celebrate the prayse of his goodnes when he deliuereth those who are afflicted cast downe and fallen into despayre and lifteth them agayne into hope But because these sleapers might not wrangle and say that we runne into crooked figures I auÌ„swere that these thinges may also be taken without any figure In the second place I haue sayd that there might be a naughty and false conclusion of these places that the sayntes after they are dead are no body and doe no longer prayse the Lord. But I say agayne that they rather prayse him which is they tell fourth and declare the benefites of God vnto others who doe prayse him And these wordes doe not onely beare this sence but doe also requier it For to declare and tell fourth and that the father geueth his children knowledge is not to conceiue the glory of God in spirite and vnderstanding