Dauid my soule is in mine handes meaning his life 2 a desire so the soule of Dauid was ioyned to the soule of Ionathan 3. the whole man consisting of bodie and soule so 76. soules descended with Jacob into Aegipt 4. a blast or breath Saule said to the Amelakite I pray thee come vpon me and slay me for anguish is come vpon me anxietas apprehendit me etiamsi anima mea adhuc in me est because my Soule is yet within me And it was said of Eutychus which fell downe dead for sleeping at S. Paules Sermon anima eius est in ipso his soule is yet in him that is there is yet breath in his bodie that he may bee reuiued againe 5. It is also taken for nothing so said the Prophet we haue conceaued and bin in Trauell and wee haue brought foorth a soule poperimus spiritum that is nothing because the soule or spirit although it bee some thing a most excellent thing yet because it is not visible nor any sensible thing he calleth it nothing 6. It is taken for that which is regenerate by the spirit of God so sayth the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit lusteth against the flesh that is the spirit as it is guided by God doth striue and wrastle with it selfe 7. when the soule and the spirit doe concur together in the same sentence the soule signifieth mans will and the spirit his vnderstanding so the Apostle saith I pray God that your whole spirit and soule and body may be kept blameles c. But last of all and in this place it is that which is defined by Aristotle Actus corporis organici in potentia vitam habentis an acte or perfection of the body which giueth vnto the bodie life sense motion vegetation c. And of this signification of the soule we are to dispute in this place Concerning the originall of the soule which I proposed in the second place it is agreed vpon by the best Diuines and Philosophers that since the first Sabaoth God ceased from creating any more visible things but y t he doth Quotidie noues animas creare create new soules querie day houre momēt for asmuch as euerie moment young Children are quickned in their mothers wombes and that Anima hominis creando infunditur et infundendo creatur mans soule is in one moment infused by creation and created by infusion of it into the bodie But Optatur desireth to bee resolued by S. Augustin concerning this doubt of the originall of the soule vtrum animae vt corpora propagà tione nascantur sintque ex illa vna anima quae primo homini creata est vel Deus sine vlla propagatione animas nouas faciat singulis proprias Whether euerie mans soule is made out of Adams souie as euery mans bodie is made out of Adams bodie that so by propagation a soule should come out of a soule as a bodie commeth out of a bodie or whether God doth especially create to euery mans body a newe soule proper onely to that bodie He answereth that in the same manner as God made Adams soule of nothing so hee made all mens soules of nothing and he proueth it thus 1. When Adam saith of Eue flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone hee dooth not say soule of my soule 2. If any man holde that the soule of man commeth of man hee must shewe that as one light is kindled of an other and one fier lighted of an other without diminishing of their former light and heate so the soule must proceede out of an other soule the same soule out of which it proceedeth being not diminished which cannot bee expressed how it might be by the wit of man And besides saith hee it is dangerous to holde so least ye fal into the error of Tertullian which deemed the soule to be a bodie and not a spirit for so it must be borne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of seede as the bodie is If they speake of semen incorporeum a spirituall seede infused inuisibly into the body at the time of mās conception suppose that which is often seene that that which is conceaued doth prooue an obortiue and vntimely fruit when it is Embrio or non homo not a perfect man not fully shaped in the wombe that spirituall seede must either returne whence it came which it cannot doe or perish with the bodie and then wil follow this absurditie that an immortall soule is borne of corruptible mortall seede Tolet the Iesuit sheweth that mans soule cannot come ax traduce by any Propagation for these causes 1. No naturall agent can produce and bring foorth that which is aboue it selfe but the soule of man is aboue nature because it comprehendeth supernaturall thinges The maior is plaine because no naturall agent can worke but it must worke vpon matter the action must bee a materiall action whereas the soule is immateriall 2. Euerie natural agent as I haue shewed doth work vpon matter and the matter is capable of diuision but the soule of man is indiuisible 3. God hath created soules in the same manner as hee created Angells but the Angells were created of nothing therefore mens soules were created of nothing And because I haue entred into this discourse concerning the soule that I may leaue the Atheist for a little season handle one point for the instruction of the Diuine The question ariseth vppon this discourse how the soule commeth to bee infected with sinne Pope Gregorie the great disputeth in this manner Si anima oriatur cum carne ex substantia Adae cur non simul moritur eum carne si cum carne non nascitur cur peccato obligatur The soule is either borne together with the bodie of the substance of Adam or else it is onely infused from aboue if it be borne with the bodie of the substance of Adam then should it also die with the body if it be infused of God how can it being newly created and immediately comming from God which is perfectly righteous be originally and naturally sinfull as is the flesh which originally descendeth from a sinfull man Optatus desireth to be instructed how when and where the soule which of it selfe is pure beginneth to take infection S. Augustin answereth that hee is not able to giue him full satisfaction therein Pelagius obiecteth against S. Augustin in this manner If the flesh onely descended from Adam then is the flesh onely polluted with sinne and not the soule quia iniustum est vt hodie nata anima non ex Adae massa tam antiquum peccatum portet alienum quia nulla ratione conceditur vt Deus qui propria peccata dimittit vnum imputet alienum because it cannot stand with the iustice of God that the soule which is newly borne and not descended of Adam and therefore hauing no sinne of her own shold beare the sinne of an other man namely of
stand with sence reason that three should be one and one should be three First let the Atheist take example by Olimpius the Arrian which washing himselfe in the Bathe contempteously asked how this might be but was suddenly distroyed by three fierie dartes sent from heauen and the pointes of these three ioyning all in one to teach others by his example howe it is necessarie to beleeue but no way safe to make a doubt of the principles of Diuinitie and to call into question such deep misteries of our faith and yet to shew that three might be one and one three Secondly the number of three are one number yet three vnities in Arithmetic a triangle is three angles and one figure in Geometrie three gimballes compacted together are one ring yet three as they be disioyned and concerning these things do doubt is made So you see by familiar examples how one may be three and these three notwitstanding one Thirdly in the Sunne which shineth in the firmament there are the bodie of the Sunne the brightnes which proceedeth from the body and the heate which procedeth from them both So in the Trinitie there is the Father from whome all thinges are the Sonne which is the brightnes of his Fathers glorie and ingrauen forme of his person and the holy Ghost which is the heate and loue of them both Fourthly in the fire there are light flame heate the fier cannot be deuided neither can the Trinitie Fiftly there are three powers and faculties of the soule of man the memorie the vnderstanding and the will these three are seuerall faculties yet the soule is one All these three doe comprehend one another For man remembreth that he hath memorie will and vnderstanding The vnderstanding likewise comprehendeth al three for man vnderstandeth that he hath vnderstanding will and memorie The will comprehendeth all three for man is willing that he shall will vnderstand and remember So the Father comprehendeth him selfe the Sonne the holy Ghost the Sonne comprehendeth himselfe the Father and the holy Ghost the holy Ghost comprehendeth himselfe the Father the Son Sixtlye that which vnderstandeth that which is vnderstood are all one when the minde reflected vpon it selfe vnderstandeth it selfe So God the Father from euerlasting vnderstanding himselfe begat his Sonne coeternall with himselfe as a vninitie is not of any other but of it selfe and yet begetteth a vnitie of it selfe so God the Father which is of none yet vnderstanding of himselfe alierum se non aliud generat begetteth of himselfe an other not in nature but in person from himselfe which yet is all one with himselfe Againe that which vnderstandeth and is vnderstood is all one with that which is beloued when the vnderstanding doth loue it selfe and then it is one and the selfe same thing which loueth and is beloued and there is the holy Ghost all one with the Father and the Sonne And so as it were in the glasse of nature is represented a liuely image of that essential loue and vnderstanding by which the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost doe loue and vnderstand each other from all eternitie Last of all in euery thing which is made and framed by the arte of man there be necessarilie three thinges and yet these three make one matter shape and order by the matter is represented the Father by the shape the Sonne which is the Image of his Father by order the holy Ghost which ordereth and disposeth all thinges I conclude with St. Augustin Te patrem ingenitum te filium vnigenitum te spiritum paracletum ab vtrisg procedētem colimus veneramur we praise worship thee ô God the Father vnbegotten the Sonne onely begotten the holy Spirit the comforter proceeding from them both Chapter 6. That there is but one God DAuid sayth that the God of Gods euen the Lorde hath spoken and called the earth euen from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe therof In which wordes notwithstanding he doth not intimate that there be many Gods but one for he called the other Gods so by a figure called Ironia or Sarcasmus as God did by Adam when he said Beholde Adam is like one of vs when he ment nothing lesse Such Gods are but creatures as I haue shewed by nature they are not Gods Such Gods were the Idols of the nations of which S. Paule saith they turned the truth of God into a lye and worshipped the creature for the creatour Such Gods were Dagon Remphan Astoroth the Gods of the Philistines Moabites Sidonians But euen as Aarons rodde deuoured the Serpents of the sorcerers so the God of the Philistines Dagon fel down before Arke the of the couenant where the true God was present to shewe that such Gods were but counter faite Gods and vaine like them which put their trust in them Of such Gods saith S. Augustin Nec ideo Troiaperijt quia Mineruam perdidit quid enim ipsa prius Mincrua perdidit vt periret an forte custodes suos hoc sane verum est quippe illis coesis potuit auferri neque homines a simulachro at simulacrum ab hominibus sernabatur Quo modo ergo celebratur vt patriam custodiret et ciues quae suos non potuit custodire custodes Troy was not therfore ouerthrowne because it lost the idoll of the Goddesse Minerua but tell I pray you what the Idol did loose first that itself shold be also lost you will say shee lost her keepers and ye say the truth for when the keepers of her Temple were slaine it was no masterie to steale the Goddesse away for it was not the idoll that kept the man but the man did keepe the Idoll How absurde a thing therefore was it to worshippe such a Goddesse as a defendour and keeper of the Cittie which was not able to keep her selfe nor the keepers of her Chappell whereas Virgill sayth Victosque Deos paruumque nepotem suosque tibi commendat Troia penates Si autem Virgilius tales deos victos dicit et vt vel victi quo quo modo euaderent homini commendatos que dementia est existimare his tutoribus Roman sapienter fuisse commissam nisi eos amisissat non potuisse vastari Imo Deos victos tanquam defensores colere quid aliud est quam non numina bona sed daemonia mala Non Roma perijsset si illi perijssent sed illi multo antea perijssent nisi eos Roma seruasset Hector in Virgill sayth his God was conquered and hee commendeth them to the tuition of Aenaeas But what madnesse was it to imagin that Rome was wisely committed to the protection of such Gods as were conquered and had neede their selues of mans protection and that Rome could not bee sacked so long as these Gods were in safetie Nay to worship conquered Gods as patrons of the Citie is not to serue blessed Gods
of Aaron the Priest and as Cyrillus speaketh The Kings daughter hath a Coate of diuers colours yet one garment Colligitis flores ad spirituales texandas coronas sed ex omni flore spiritus sancti spirat fragnantia Whereas if man had written not beeing guided by the holye Ghost they would haue differed as much one from the other as a Mulberrye Tree doth from a Mirtle as Iohn the Baptist did from Ieremye and Christ from Iohn the Baptist as the Iudges of Susanna or the witnesses which made reporte of our Sauiour Christ A third proofe is the stile and manner of writing the olde Testament being written in Hebrue because it was written to the Iewes The newe in Greeke because it was written to the Gentiles to whome that language was most familiar and best vnderstood although they were not Grecians that did write it And yet the tongues in which the olde and newe Testament were written so differing one from the other the same idiotisme and proprietye of speach in both Testaments vsed continuall Hebraeismes aswell in the newe as in the olde doe shewe that they were written by one and the selfe-same spirit that still God might speake like vnto him selfe The languages also being more fitte for the worde of God to be written in then other tongues as more significant more copious and indeed no other language being capable enough of that sacred storye as Benedictus Arias Montanus verye learnedly hath obserued For first sayeth hee Eorum qui transferunt duplex est consilium alij enim student perspicuitati alij proprietati quorum vtrumque vnà opera prestari non potest quum tamen vtrumque sit in archetypo eodem opera a spiritu sancto demandatum suggestum neutrum vllo modo praetermissum These saith he which translate the Bible some of them endeauour to be perspicuous others to keep the proprietye of the tongue but neither can performe both that is to obserue the propriety of the tongue and yet be perspicuous whereas the holy Ghost in the originall hath obserued both Secondly Ea the nata quae carent punctis varie legi possunt secundum varias GraÌ„maticae regulas quae autenpunctis distincta sunt varias admittunt significationes quae tamen Spiritue Dei exsua sapien ianobis ambigua tradidit vt omnia quae varietas illa complectitur intimis sensibus reponamus Eadem autem vox quae in archetypo ambigua est non potest alia lingua reddi ambigua si vero ambigua reddi non possit vt est in archetypo fit vt illa sententia non reddatur integra sed manca quam Spiritus sanctus de industria ambiguaÌ„ tradidit vt in vtramque partem interpretaremur Those Hebrue rootes which are without prickes may be read and coâ—stered diuers wayes according to the Gramatticall rules they which are distinguished with prickes are also ambiguous which notwithstanding the holy Ghoste did vpon set-purpose deliuer thus ambiguous vnto vs of his infinite wisdome that wee might vnderstand and conster them diuers wayes But the word which is thus ambiguous in the Hebruew or Greeke cannot bee fitted by a worde in latine or any other language which shall bee answerable to it in ambiguity and because it cannot bee ambiguous in the interpreter as well as in the Originall it is deliuered vnto vs maymed and as it were defectiue which the holy Ghost would haue to be more full and perfecte containing this varietie of senses by reason of the ambiguitie And therefore all tongues sauing the Greeke and Hebrue in comparison of them are vnworthie of that great maiestie of the holy Ghost For example the word Barac in the Hebrue tongue signifieth both to blesse and to curse the worde is vsed in the storie of Iacob which called his Children before him as he lay in his death-bed prophecied to them in which Prophecie some hee blessed and some hee cursed Now the translation hath Benedixit he blessed thus their Father spake vnto them euery one of them blessed he with a seuerall blessing Ieroms translation hath it in this manner Haec loquutus est eis pater suus benedixitque siagulis benedictionibus proprijs Now it cannot be a perfect translation wheÌ„ it is thus translated He blessed them al. For he curssed some Neither yet had it beene well translated in this manner He curssed them all For he blessed some Because therefore there is no worde answerable to Barac which signifieth both to blesse and to cursse no tongue is so capable of this storye as the Hebrue As for Reuben when he saide vnto him Thou wast light as water thou shalt not be excellent because thou wentest vnto thy Fathers bed then didst their defile my bed thy dignitye is gone It was no blessing And when he said vnto Simeon and Leui Bretheren in euill the instruments of crueltye are in their habitations into their secret let not my soule come my glorye bee not thou ioyned with their assemblye for in their wrath they slewe a man and in their selfewill they digged downe a wall curssed be their wrath for it was fierce their rage for it was cruell I will deuide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel These wordes were not such wordes as might importe anye blessing Therefore saith he Ideo visum est Deo scripturas hac potissimum lingua exaratas voluisse qui simplici sua inimensaque sapientia omnia inuenit vt multa etiam consilij sui mysteria vnica voce declararet It pleased God which by his single and infinite wisdome sound out and deuised all thinges to deliuer the Scriptures in this tongue aboue others that so in one simple worde he might declare many mysteryes vnto vs. The Greeke tongue goeth before the Latin because it is more copious significaÌ„t For example this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by some traÌ„slated incredulitye by others disobedience and it signifieth both But the translator could finde no Latin worde which may include both disobedience and incredulitye But as for the Hebrue it goeth farre beyond it maiestate pondere numero significatione in maiestye weight number signification witnes the Sonne of Syrach in the very prologue before his booke Likewise besides the two tongues Hebrue Greeke wherein the Bible is written and the idiotisme or propryetye of the Hebrue onelye in both to shewe that the same spirit writte both that God whether hee spake Hebrue or Greeke vnto vs still he might speake after one manner and so be like none but him selfe the verye simplicitye of the style not fauouring of humane eloquence and the verye discretion which is vsed in euerye booke concerning the style still applyed to the capacitye of them who especiallye and aboue others were written vnto doe argue that men could not be the authors of these books If we doe examine the wordes the sentences the arguments the matter forme we shall finde many times that there is difficultye in
worship For as much therefore as the bookes of Moses are more auncient then all other bookes therefore that religion is the truest which is contayned in them and because there can be but one true Religion the onely truth is in them therefore they are the word of God And as for the other bookes of the Bible which were written long since they handle the same subiect they holde the same doctrine as the bookes of Moses and are but all partes and members which make one body of the Bible written by the same Spirit and of the same nature and therfore are also the word of God and there is no other written booke of God but the Bible In the seauenth place I could alleage for witnesse that the Bible is Gods word the great multitudes of Martyrs which haue dyed in the defence of the Bible and sealed the same with their owne bloud both before and in and after the times of the ten bloudy persecutions to whome God gaue the gift of patience to suffer death willingly for the testimony of the worde Neither could so manye of them haue suffered in such manner vnlesse God had strengthned them in so good a cause But because this argument is not so forcible to perswade Atheists as it is to exhort christians I passe it ouer Last of all the testimonye of the Gentiles proueth the Bible to be the worde of God For because God the Father had eternally decreed to send his Sonne to take flesh for the saluation both of Iewes and Gentiles and vnlesse they beleeued in him there could be no saluation purchased by his death neither for Iewe nor Gentile That he might be receiued by the consent of each people it could not seeme good vnto his heauenly wisdome vnlesse he did long before our Sauiour should come publish his comming both to the Iewes and Gentiles And therfore Christ was published to the Iewes many wayes as the Apostle speaketh by dreames visions Angels but especially by their owne Prophets Dauid Esay Ieremye Moses Daniell and the rest which were Iewes in that respecte called their owne Prophets that they might giue the more credit vnto them To the Gentiles also he was made known by the heathen Prophets and Prophetesses Baalam Mercurius Trismegistus Hidaspes and especiallye the tenne Virgins called Sybils the heathenish Prophetesses of which we may read at large in the workes not onely of the heathens but also of the Fathers and Ecclesiasticall writers of the Primatiue Church Now forasmuch as the Gentiles were vnacquainted with Moses the Iewish Prophets and not accustomed to read the Canonicall writers and destitute for the most part of the Bible and therefore would giue no credit to the testimonyes cyted out of these bookes and yet were to be conuerted to the Fayth by vertue of the Commission giuen to the Apostles Math 28. where our Sauiour said Goe Preach and baptize all Nations The Apostles and Disciples in the Primitiue Church at their first Preaching to the Gentiles prooued the Bible by the testimonye of heathen writers the Sybils Hydaspes Mercurius as St. Origin and Lactantius declare at large In such sorte did S t Paul deale with the Inhabitants of Creet alleaging for authoritie the verse of their owne Poet Epimenides which Cicero and Lacrtius doe reporte to haue beene a kinde of Prophet or Diuiner among them And therfore St. Paul saith a Prophet of their owne said of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cretians are alwayes lyers foule beastes slowe bellyes Likewise to the Greekes he alleageth the testimonye of a Greeke Poet Menander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euill wordes corrupt good manners And to the Scholers at Athens the testimonye of the Poet Aratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are his generation meaning God And for this cause the heathens called the Christians Sybillistes because Christian religiō was most of all proued out of the Sybils Oracles which writ more playnly and plentifully then all other heathen writers And as Clemens Alexandrinus writeth S. Paul in one of his Sermons saide vnto the people Libros quoque Graecos sumite agnoscite Sybillam quo modo vnum Deum significet ea quae sunt futura take in hand your Greeke authors read Sybil see how she teacheth that there is one God and fore-telleth thinges to come Hydaspen sumite legite inuenietis De filium multo clarius apertius esse scriptum Doe but vouchsafe to read Hydaspes ye shall finde in him a cleare and euydent testimonye of the Sonne of God And because the Christians were so frequent in alleaging of the Sybils Oracles for confirmation of Christian Fayth vnto the Gentiles and conuerted so manye vnto Christ by these bookes as Iustin Martyr writeth Proclamation was made that vpon payn of death no man should read them any longer nor Hydaspes his writings yet the people would not refrayne from reading them And againe Gods prouidence did wonderfully appeare in the perseruation of the Sybills verses for the behoofe of the Gentiles as of the Bible for the Iewes in that they were verie faithfully kept in the Capitoll of Rome and that being once loste by a mischance when the Capitol was burned yet by publik edicte of the Senate diligent search and inquirie was made for all coppies that could be gotten that so an other booke was newly written and kept in recorde being duely examined corrected and purged of all faultes that might else haue escaped And to that purpose commission was giuen to diuers learned men fitte to bee imployed in such a seruice which was performed with all dilligence and the booke was layed vp in the capitol againe euē as the bookes of Moses were kept in the Arke of the couenant So when the Christians labored the conuersion of the Romans they were not onely furnished with proofes of their Doctrine out of the Sibilles to cōuince the Romans and their idolatrie but also they were freed from suspition of corrupting those bookes or any clause in them contayned because whatsoeuer was by them alleaged was consonant agreeable to their own Coppie which they kept in their Tower or Capitoll or treasure house which was the chiefest place of their recordes Now for as much as nihil est iam dictum quod non fuit dictum prius there can bee no newe or strange inuention now which hath not bin thought of before as the wise man speaketh I cannot finde any way to disprooue the Atheists better then that which the Apostles vsed to disproue the infidels that is by the testimonie and witnesse of heathen Authors For if they will neither stand to arguments drawen from reason neither yet to authoritie neither Diuine nor Humane then they reiect all the Topics of Aristotle and places whereby they should be confuted they renounce the lawes of Schooles and order of disputation by a consequent they shew themselues meerily ignorant and contra indoctos non