CHAP. I. How many wayes the words Soule and Spirit are synonima, and the one promiscuè taken for the other.

THe words anima, and animus, in their origi­nall etymologie, are thought of many to bee deriued of the Greeke worde [...] [...]ignifying a blast, or Spirit,Arist. de mun­do. according to that of Aristotle, [...], Anemos, is nothing but much [Page] aire flowing hard together which is also called a Spirit. The hebrew word ne­phesh for the soul, [...] & ruach for the spirit, are accounted in their originall sense, to signifie also one thing, to wit, a breath, or blast. The Greeke word for the soule, [...] is deriued of [...] re­frigero, because breath is let in to coole things naturally hote, and is therefore the same in meaning with [...] spiri­tus, of [...] spiro. The like is in the La­tine tongue, wherein as the word spiri­tus is taken often for winde, and breath,Virg. Aenead. as in the Poet, Boreae cum spiri­tus alto insonat Aegeo. And of the Queen of the South, when she came to Salo­mon, and sodainly sawe his exceeding glorie and Maiestie, it is said of her being amazed,1. Reg. 10.5. non erat ampliùs in ea spi­ritus, there was no more breach in her. So vsually in the best approued Latine Authors, the word anima is also taken for winde,Cicero de V. muersit. and breath. Tully saith, inter ignē et terram Deus aquam animamque po­suit, Betwixt the element of fire, and the earth, God hath placed the water and the ayre. Geta in Terence, telleth [Page 2] Antopho, how by hearkening and liste­ning,Terent. in Phorm. he had found out the parents of Phanium; accessi, astiti, animam compressi, aurem admoui: I came neere, stood close, held in my breath, and listened. And in Plautus, the fault of the breath is cal­led faetor animae. Plautus in A­sinaria. Philenium said to Demae­netus, dic amabò, anfaetet anima vxoris tuae? As in the three chiefest languages the etymologie of the wordes, vsed for soule and spirit, do import one force and nature, so in the three principall significations, and purposes, where­unto they are most commonly appli­ed, in the description of the parts, and faculties of man, they haue as large a priuiledge, the one as the other. For, first they are taken generally, for the spirit of life in euery liuing creature: As in Genesis it is said,Gen. 7.15. Venerunt ad Noa­chum bina ex omni carne in qua erat spiritus vitae. There came 2. & 2. of al to Noah, Tulli. de senec tute in whō was the spirit of life, Tul. extolleth those olde men, quorum ad extremum spiritum prouecta est prudentia, whose wis­dome encreaseth, euen vnto the ende of their life. Aenaeas promiseth to bee [Page] mindful of Dido, Vir. Aeneid. 4—dum spiritus hos regit artus, while life doth last.

This bodily life is called often in the Scripture, by the worde of anima: Reuben said to his brethren concer­ning Ioseph: Gen. 37.21. Non percutiamus eum in ani­ma: Let vs not strike him in soule, that is,Exod. 21.23. let vs not kill him. The law of retri­bution is, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, animam pro anima, life for life.Psal. 59.4. Dauid praieth to be deliuered from those bloud-thirstie men, which laid waite for his soule. Our Sauiour commaundeth vs not to be solliciti pro anima, Math. 6.25. carefull for the life, what we shal eate or drinke, nor for the body, what raiment we shall put on. The Angell bad Ioseph to take the babe and his mother, and to returne out of Aegypt into Iury, because they were dead, qui petebant animam pueruli, Math. 2.20. which sought the childes life. Qui vult animam suam seruare (saith our Sauiour) hee which will saue his life,Luk. 9.2 [...]. shall loose it, and hee which will loose his life for my sake, shall finde it.Ioh. 10.11 A good sheapherd lay­eth downe his soule for his sheepe, [Page 3] that is, his life:Ioh. 3.16. as hee laid downe his soule for vs, so should wee lay downe our soules for our brethrē, that is, our liues. The Poet Iuuenal, reprouing the greedy couetousnes of marchāts, saith

Secondly the word spirit, and soule, are in an equall degree taken vsually for the affections of man, either good or euill.Gal. 6.1. 1. Cor. 4. v. vlt. The Apostle doth exhort vs to instruct one another with the spi­rite of mildnesse.Psal. 51.10. The Psalmist pray­eth God, to renew a right spirit with­in him, that is, holy motions of the mind.Esay. 29.10 The Prophet Esay telleth the stiffe-necked people, that God had cast vpon them, a spirit of slumber.Greg. in mor. spiritus carna­lis mollia, spi­ritus mundi vana, spiritus malitiae sēper amara loqui­tur. Psal. 27.12. So may proud & couetous affections be called the spirit of pride, and the spirit of couetousnesse. So is the word soule often vsed for the affections of the heart. The Prophet Dauid sath, ne tra­das me animae hostium meorum, deliuer me not to the soule, that is, the wicked desire of my enemies, for false witnes­ses [Page] are risen vp against me. Anima Si­chem ad haesit Dinae filie Iacobi, Gen. 34.8. the soule of Sichem, that is, the affection of his hart did cleaue vnto Dina, the daughter of Iacob. The Lord saith by Ezekiel, that he had giuen vp the Israelites animae o­dio habentium eos, Ezech. 16.27 to the soule, that is, the will and affections of them that hated them. So of good and louing affections, it is said in the Actes of those first conuerts, in the primitiue Church,Act. 4.32. there was amongst them cor vnum et anima vna, one heart, and one soule, that is, their counsels did all a­gree, and their willes and affections were faithfully ioyned.Eph. 4.3. The like doth the Apostle Paul exhort vs to, when he biddeth vs hold the vnitie of the spi­rit, in the bond of peace. When the affections of our Sauiour Christ are expressed, they are set out, sometimes by the word spirit, and sometimes by the word soule.Ioh. 13.21 Saint Iohn saith, tur­batus est spiritus, his spirit was trou­bled, when he said, one of you shall betray me:Luk. 10:21. and as it is in Saint Luke, exhitauit Iesus spiritu, Iesus reioyced in [Page 4] spirit; when hee said, I thanke thee O Father, Lord of heauen and earth, that thou hast hid these thinges from the wise and prudent, and reuealed them to babes, euen so was thy good plea­sure. In Saint Marke he said,Mark. 14.34 tristis est a­nima vsque ad mortem, my soule is sor­rowful vnto death, tary here & watch. And in Saint Iohn, anima mea turbata est, Ioh. 12.27 my soule is troubled, and what shall I say, Father saue me from this houre.Aug. in Ioh S. Augustine doth expound these places to signifie his infinite loue towardes mankind, and saith, caput nostrum susce­pit membrorum suorum affectum: Our head vouchsafed to take vpon him­selfe the affections of his mystical bo­die.

Thirdly, the word soule and spirit, do in as full maner, the one as the o­ther, point out vnto vs the principall part of man, that rationall soule and vnderstanding spirit, which beeing part of mans substance here, doth re­maine still immortall, when the bodie is extinguished. Of that is meant that speech of the wise man,Eccles. 12.7 when earth [Page] goeth to earth, the spirit goeth to God which gaue it. That did the first Martyr Saint Stephen yeeld vp into the hands of Christ,Act. 7.59 when he said, Lord Ie­su receiue my spirit. Of that speaketh the Apostle to the Hebrewes,Hebr. 12:9 if wee haue reuerenced the Fathers of our flesh, when they haue corrected vs, much more shall wee bee subiect to the Father of our spirites and liue. Of that doth our Sauiour speake, in the yeelding vp of his soule,Luk. 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit: For as he tooke truly mans flesh, so tooke hee also a humane soule, and was per­fect man,Hebr. 4, 15 like vnto vs in all thinges, sinne onely excepted. Saint Peter saith, ye were all as sheepe going astray,1, Pet. 2, 25 but ye are returned to the sheapheard and Bishop of your soules:Ver, 11. And in the same Chapter againe, abstaine from fleshly lustes, which fight against the soule.

Hee calleth by the name [...] a­nima, Iam, 1.21 the spirit and principall part of man. So doth Saint Iames, when he willeth vs to receiue with meeknes the [Page 5] word of God, which is able to saue your soules, so doth our Sauiour Christ when hee biddeth vs not to feare them which kill the body,Mat 10.28 and haue no power to kill the soule, but to feare him that hath power to kill both body and soule, and to cast both into hell fire.Mat. 11.28. Heb. 13.17 1. Pet. 1.9. 1. Pet. 4.39. And in the Chapter fol­lowing, learne of me that I am meeke and lowlie in heart, and you shall find rest vnto your soules:Hieron. aduer. Iouinian. lib. 2 of this speaketh S. Hierom, Anima in aurigae modum reti­net fraena sensuum currentium, The soule as a Wagoner doth holde and go­uern the bridle of the running senses.Aug. quaest. super Numer. lib. 4. cap. 18. And Augustine, Humana natura constat corpore & spiritu, quem etiam animam di­cunt, The nature of man doth consist of a body and a spirit, which spirit is called also the soule. And Bernard, Bernard, super cant. se. m 59. gemit anima deuota Christi absentiam: A deuoute soule doth grone and sigh, when it feeleth Christ absent, or lon­geth for the comming of Christ. The other significations of the wordes soule and spirit, as whē soule is taken,Gen. 14.21. Rom. 13.1. either for the whole person of man, [Page] yet liuing,Numb. 21, 1 Numb. 6.6. or for the body of man being dead, and the spirit taken for a Phantasma, or Ghost appearing in some visible shape, as Theophilact doth expound that place in S. Luke, Luk, 24.37▪ where it is said, that the Apostles, when our Sauiour appeared to them, did think that they had seene a spirit, and were afraid, but our Sauiour did cheare thē vp, why are ye troubled? touch mee and behold, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see mee haue. These and sundry other acceptations of the wordes soule and spirit I omit as im­pertinent to the question now in hand, and doe thinke it more fit (the aequiualency of the words being thus briefly laid open) to passe vnto that which in order ought next to follow, to wit, the definition of anima, what it is first generally in al liuing creatures, and then more particularly what is the soule of man.

CHAP. II. What is the soule or anima, and how the soule in man doth differ from anima in o­ther creatures.

WHat that anima is, that is the life of all animalia, of all liuing creatures, it is a question much disputed amongst auncient Philo­sophers. Some doe make it a bodily thing, some a nature incorporeal, and some onely the temperature of the body. The Stoickes taught,See these opi­nions more at large in the beginning of the 7. chapter ammam esse vitales spiritus in sanguine, that the soule was onely the vitall spirites in bloud. If it be a corporall thing, then must it needes be like either the aeri­all or the fiery element. The significa­tion of the worde doth import rather an aerial nature: but Democritus called it, Igneam naturam of a fiery nature: some called it a harmony, or (as Empe­docles) a friendship of the elementes and humors: Heraclitus accounted in [Page] a certaine force, flowing from the ce­lestiall bodies into the terrestrial, vn­to which opinion the Poet seemeth to allude,Virg. Igneus est illis vigor & caelestis origo Aristotle defineth it to be [...],Tully Tusc. 1 the continued motion (as Tully doth interprete it) of a naturall organicall body, hauing life in power: some doe reprehend that interpretatiō of Tully, & do think that it should be expoun­ded rather perfectiō, because [...] signifieth perfect.Plato de leg. Arist. 3, Physic. & in lib. de gener. anim. at, l. 2, de ani. ait, inima est principium, quo vluimus, sentimus & mouemur. But Plato vseth the word [...], for iugiter & continuè, & certaine it is, that Aristotle doth vse often promiscuè, the wordes [...], and [...], for an efficiency and working motion: many hold it to be all one with [...], a continuall a­gitation, as in the Prouerbe, [...], a drippe alwaies dropping, doth harden the hard rocke, and the Wiseman sayeth [...],Eccl. 30.1. He that loueth his sonne, doth continually adde correction to him. When anima is called a continued a­gitation, wee must not vnderstand an [Page 7] accidentall motion, but a substantiall and habituall agitation, stirring vp actions. Hippocrates nameth it [...], the naturall heat, or the spirite in bloud, and hee addeth, Cum haec a­nima inflammatur, pereunt & corpus & ani­ma, because when the heat and spirits doe not keepe a iust proportion, thē all liuing creatures are thereby extin­guished. In the holy scriptures, the word anima is giuen to the bloud, Car­nem cum sanguine ipsius, qui anima ipsius est ne comedite, Gen. 9.4. Eate not the flesh with the bloud of it, which is his life, tantum­modò non comedas vllum sanguinem, Deut. 12. [...]3 quia sanguis cuiusque est eius anima, ideo non com ede vllius animam cum ipsius carne, Eate no bloude, for the bloude of euery thing is the life, therefore eate not the life together with the flesh. Here­vpon is the word anima also giuen to euery liuing creature, Quaecunque ani­ma viuebat in mari, mortua est, Apoc. 16.3. Euerie soule that liued in the sea, that is eue­ry liuing creature. Adam called by name, omnem animam viuentem, Gen. 2, 20. euery li­uing soule, that is euery liuing crea­ture, [Page] omnis anima viuens quae repit, euery creeping soule,Ezech. 47.9 that is, creeping crea­ture. In most authors, the worde bloud is taken for life, because of the spirits of life proceeding of the bloud▪ when the Poet describeth a man slain, he vseth this phrase, ‘Purpuream vomit ille animam,’ He cast out his purple-red soule,Virg. Aenead. that is his life together with his bloud:Gal. de vsu partium lib. 6 cap. 17. Ga­len defineth animalem spiritum esse exha­lationem quandam sanguinis benigni, the a­nimall spirit to be a certain exhalati­on of the best part of bloud.Ibid, lib. 9. c. 4 And af­terward sheweth how this animal spi­rit is engendered of the vitall: the thinnest and purest portion of the vi­tall spirits engendered in the heart, & arteries, is carried vp to the ventricles of the braine, and there wrought into an animall spirit, and from thence by the sinewes, doth exercise his force in euery part of the body:Gal. de placi­tis [...]p, & Plat. l. 7. c. 8. the braine doth purge superfluous vapours, but this animall spirit it doth retaine as familiar vnto it selfe: and although naturally all spirits doe ascend, and [Page 8] not discend, yet these animall spirites being gouerned of the soule, are car­ried downe euen into the feet, and to euery part of the body, for this diffe­rence doe the Galenistes make be­twixt anima & spiritus: Spiritus ita se ha­bet ad animam, vt ad ignem scintilla, The spirit is in respect of the soule,Galen de placitis. Hipp. & Plat. lib, 7 as the sparkle in respect of the sire, or (as in some places Galen doth speake) the anima or soule dwelleth in the body of the braine, as the workman, primū autem eius organum tū ad vniuersos sensus tum ad motus voluntarios esse animalem spiritum, and that her chiefest instru­ment both for all senses, and for all voluntarie motions, is the animal spi­rites. What the substance of anima is,Gal. lib. de faetus format. & lib de anim. & corp. tempe ramētorum mutua conse­quutione. hee confesseth often, that hee is igno­rant of it He enclineth sometimes to the opinion of them, which make a­nima to be [...], a temperature of the elementes, especially of the fiery and aeriall. But most vsually for the speciall kindes and powers of it, hee followeth very often the diuision of Plato, who maketh three animae specu [...] [Page] in man,Gal. ibid, & in lib. 9. de pla­cit. Hippo. & Plat. the first, he calleth, [...], or [...], the principall gouernour or rationall soule, hauing the sent in the brain, and working by senses, vo­luntary motions, imaginations, me­mory, vnderstanding and iudgement. The second, [...], the irascible soule, hauing seat in the heart, and working by vitall power by affections and perturbations.

The third [...], the appetitory or cōcupiscible soules, hauing sent in the liuer, and working by nourish­ing, increasing procreation, and what soeuer operations of nature.

The faculties of the first are called Animall, the second vitall, the third naturall: to the first, do serue the si­newes; to the second, the arteries; and to the third,Gal. de natur. facult. l. 1. c. 1. the veines, the vegetatiue life in plants is called by Galen rather natura then anima, the naturall force of increasing and propagating. The anima sensitiua, or sensible soule giuing sense and mouing, is common to mā with brute creatures: but the ratio­nall soule which Plato thought to [Page 9] proceed from God,Gal, lib. 9. de placicis Hip. [...] & Platonis. and Aristotle ac­counted not to come by the genera­tion of man, but [...] ourwardly by the gift of God,Arist, lib, 2, de gener, animal cap, 3. and Hippocrates ac­knowledged not to bee nourished with meates and drinkes,Hipp. lib. 1, d [...] victus ratione and [...], not able to be altered by them, and therefore immortall, that is indeed the essentiall difference of man, whereby hee is distinguished frō other creatures voyde of reason. It was thus defined by Alcmaeon Cratoni­ades one of the schollers of Pythagoras, Plato in Phaedro: (as Plato sheweth) anima est substantia, similis aeternis essentiis, semper mobilis motu illo, qui conuenit naturis caelestibus, The soule is a substance, like to the eternal essences, alwayes moueable with that motion, which agreeth to hea­uenly natures. Augustine saieth,August, in lib, de defini­tione anim. A­nima est substantia creata inuisibilis, incor­porea, immortalis, Deo simillima, imaginem habens creatoris sui. The soule is a sub­stance created, inuisible, in corporeal, immortall, most like vnto GOD, and bearing the image of her Crea­tor.

Melancth. de [...] anima, pag, 19 Melancthon defineth the soule to be an intelligent spirite, the second parte of mans substance, and yet so, that being seperated from the body, it remaineth still immortall.

Athanas. tom. 4. in tractatu de definitioni­bus ecclesiasti­cis. Athanasius, although hee account the essence of the Soule to be such as that it cannot bee knowne of man: for the saieth, Tria sunt, quae secundum essentiam hominibus sunt incognita, Deus, Angelus, & anima, quae soli Deo secundum essentiam cognita sunt, yet afterward in the same place, hee endeuoureth by a comparison to resemble the same vnto vs. As the Sunne beames (saieth hee) doe enter into the house, and possesse one place, and yet do lighten the whole house, euen so the soule, though it haue a seat in the heart, and also in other principall partes of the head and body, yet doth it further di­stribute her vitall power to euery part of the body. This similitude was vsed before by the auncient Philoso­phers.Curaeus in Physic. Plato and Aristotle speaking of that principall part of man, called [...], or [...], the one doth compare [Page 10] it to the Sunne: and the other to the light, because sundry beames are spread from it vnto all such partes of the body, as are capable thereof: The lowest beame is called of Aristotle, [...], radius animae passiuus, vel pa­tibilis, This suffering beame is spred into all the powers of the sensitiue soule, and euen into the faculties of the outward senses, and is ioined with them, & doth furnish them with that power, that they may bee able to bee conuerted and reflected into them­selues, otherwise they should be like vnto bees, making curious workes, and yet not iudging of that which they haue made. But in man by the communicating of the rational soule, the senses doe reflect and comprehēd themselues. There is an other beame of the rationall soule, called [...], intellectus, radius agens, the actiue or wor­king beame, which doth discourse of matters, and sometimes doth vse the helpe of the inferior powers, the ima­gination, and the senses & sometimes, doth returne into his own essence. A­boue [Page] both these beames there is mens pura & [...], the mind pure and without passiō, not mingled with the bodily powers, nor vsing them for her knowledge, but plainely inorganical. It hath a respect and consideration of the body, but it doth therewith re­turne into her selfe and regarde her own chief patterne.Andreas Laurent. lib. de Melanch. Hy­pochondr. A famous Phi­sition of our age, to shadow out the soule of man, doth vse an other simi­litude, drawn from the forme of a iu­diciall court: he calleth imagination the preferrer of the bils or promoter: reason the examiner and iudge: and memory the Custos rotulorū, or Regi­ster. First, imagination, by the com­mon sense, and by the outward senses (which shee doth vse as spies) doth take hold of many matters, and exhi­bite them to the vnderstanding. And as many times captaines being drawn on by the errour of their spies, do at­tempt some exploits, which redound to their great harme: so reason being beguiled with the errour of imagina­tion, doth fall into folly and rashnes. [Page 11] The Greeke Philosophers doe erre a­bout the imagination of mā, some of them doe make it to bee all one with the common sense, & some make the imaginatiō in man, & in brute beastes to be both alike: but both the asserti­ons are erronious, for the common sense or inwarde sense, dooth in the same moment of time together with the outward senses, perceiue those things which do fall vnder sense, and when the obiect is remoued, the actiō of the cōmon sense doth vterly cease, but the imaginatiō, although the bo­dies be taken away, yet it doth retain the formes, and of diuerse things can make one, as of a mountain and gold can make a golden mountaine. Again the common or inwarde sense doth only perceiue those things which are brought vnto it by the benefite of the outward senses, but imaginati­on goeth further, and doth put forth her power in high and lofty matters. At the first sight of a wolfe the sheepe doth flie away, and yet cannot that sagacity be attributed to the outward [Page] senses, neither can we say, that the i­magination in brute beastes is the same that it is in man: for in beastes it is occupied wholy in appetites, in seeking those thinges wherewith it is delighted, & in flying frō those things which they imagine will bring harm. But mans imagination doth beholde many thinges very farre remoued frō affections and appetites, and when imagination hath conceiued many things, and by the exhibiting of thē as it were, rowsed reason out of sleepe, then doth reason ponder & discourse of the matters, proceeding to & fro from the effectes▪ to the cause, & doth thereupon inferre conclusions, and determine vpon resolutions.Caluin Instit. l. [...]. cap. 15. The commō sense is as it were a receptacle, in­to the which by the outward senses, (as by instrumentes) all maner of ob­iectes are infused. Phantasie dooth iudge of those thinges which bee ap­prehended by common sense; Reason hath an vniuersall iudgement, farre beyond those thinges which doe fall vnder sense. And aboue them all that [Page 12] which is called Mens the minde, doth with a quiet and fixed contemplation behold those thinges whereof reason hath discoursed. The three faculties called cognitiuae the cognitiue or know­ing faculties of the soule,Caluin ibid. haue other three appetitiue faculties, answering vnto them. Ʋoluntas the wil, doth pro­perly desire that which the mind and reason do propound. Vis irascendi the courage, doth catch at those thinges which are reached out by reason and fantasie. And vis concupiscendi the con­cupiscence, doth desire and appre­hend such things as are obiected by fantasie and sense. How all these should be rightly vsed, it is thus defi­ned by an ancient Father,Gregor. Mag, in Prologo, in 7. Psalm. poenitent. Caro qua­tuor constat elementis: anima tribus ve­getatur naturis: est enim rationalis ad dis­ceraendum; concupiscibilis ad virtutes appe­tendum; irascibilis ad vitia aduersandum, The flesh consisteth of fower elemēts, and the soule is quickned in three na­tures: for it is either rationall to dis­cerne; or concupiscible to desire ver­tue; or irascible to abhorre sinne. [Page] Some doe make in the soule three be­ginnings of actions,Calu. Instit. l. 2 cap. 15. sense, vnderstan­ding & appetite. Some do more briefly bring it into a Dichotomy, making onely two parts of the soule, to witte vnderstanding and will: vnder vnder­standing▪ they do comprehend sense, and in will they include appetite: vn­derstanding doth discerne & decree, and the will doth make choise of that which reasō hath prescribed, & refuse what she hath disalowed. The appetite if it do obey reasō, & natural instinct, it is called [...] an earnest desire, but if it do shake off the yoke of reason, it is [...] a sodain and rash perturbatiō, which is rather a corruption & infir­mity, thē a natural faculty of the soule. The Orator (or tather in that booke the Philosopher) doth thē accoūt the apetite to be a right force of the soule when it obeyeth reason, Duplex est vis animorum, Tul. lib. 1. off. vna pars in appetitu posita, alte­ra in ratione, quae docet & explanat quid faciendum, fugiendumque sit, ita vt ra­ [...]io praesit. But our Christian faith geeth further, and dooth teach [Page 31] vs, that all our reason, our thoughts,Rom. 8.7: 2, Cor, 3, 5. 1, Cor, 2, 14. Gen, 8, 21. Phil, 2.13, Eph, 4, 23. Ioh. 1, 9, 2, Peter, 1, 19 2, Cor, 4.4. 1, Tim, 5, 6. Greg. in Ezech hom, 17, our knowledge, our appetites, our wil, our wisedome, and the very spirites of our mind, are blinde, darke, and euen dead, vnlesse they be lightened by the beames of Gods word, and quickened by his sanctifying Spirit. It was well said of Gregorie, Anima in corpore vita est carnis, Deus autem qui viuificat omnia, vita est animarum. The soule in the bodie, is the life of the flesh; but God, which quickeneth all things, is the life of our soules. And of Augustine, Aug. de ver­bis dom. in Math: Cap. 8 sicut expirat corpus cum animam emittit, ita expirat ani­ma cum Deum amittit: Deus amissus mors animae, anima emissa mors corporis, As the body dieth, when it sendeth out the soule, so doth the soule dye, when it loseth God: the seperation from God, is the death of the soule, euen as the parting of the soule, is the death of the body. This is opus animae, regere infe­riorem, et regia superiore, August, lib, 6, mu [...]i. cap, 5, the proper of­fice of the soule is, to gouerne man, and to be gouerned it selfe of God.

CHAP. III. Whether anima vegetatiua, sensitiua, et rati­onalis, the vegetatiue, sensitiue, and ratio­nall soules bee three seuerall formes of soules, or but diuers faculties of one soule.

WHen the vegetatiue force, the sensitiue life, and the rational soule, are conside­red in themselues, and in their owne nature, they must needs be accounted three distinct kindes: be­cause the first is in plants, & all things growing on the earth: The second is common both to bruit beast and man: And the third is proper to man onely. But when they are all ioyned together in man, then the question is, whether they are to bee reckoned three sortes of animae, or but only three distinct powers of one soule. Galen doth in diuers of his bookes, followe still the positions of Plato, and as there are three principall parts of man, the heart, the brayne, and the liuer, so hee teacheth expressely, that their seueral [Page 14] sortes of anima, tres animae sunt species, Gal. lib. de a­nimi et corporis tempera­ment mutua consequutio­ne. G [...]l. de placit Hipp. et Plat. lib. 9. saith he, there are three kinds, or sorts of soules, and addeth presently the partition of Plato. And againe, plures sunt animae species, et triplici sede collocatae, there are three maners and formes of the soule, and placed in three seuerall seates: he citeth againe, the diuisi­on made by Plato. Aristotle, Vide Peucer. Pag. 601. although in some places hee maketh but one [...], gouerning all, yet when hee giueth to the vegetatiue, sensitiue, and rationall soule, three seuerall times of beginning, and seuerall efficient and materiall causes, and seuerall maners of working,Arist. de generat animal. lib 2. Cap. 3. he seemeth verie euident­ly to make three distinct sortes of ani­mae. For he teacheth plainely those a­nima, or soules, whose actions are cor­porall, doe not come from outward, but do growe in, and with the bodie, Nec simul fieri animatum et faetum: It hath a vegetatiue force to growe in the wombe, euen before it is endued with sense.Ibid. But of the minde hee addeth [...] [Page] [...], Onely the mind doth come from out ward, and is only diuine. For the powers and ope­ations of the bodie, doe not commu­nicate with the operations thereof.

Melanch de anima pag. 21 Melanchthon doth not condemne the arguments of Occam, wherein hee en­deuoured to demonstrate, that the ra­tionall and sensitiue soule, are distinct things in man: His reasons are, be­cause the rationall and sensitiue appe­tites are contrary one to another, and it is vnpossible that in the selfe same indiuisible nature, there should bee at the same time contrarie appetites. A­gaine, if man beget man, it must needs be with life and sense. It seemeth a grosse thing to imagine that other ba­ser creatures should naturally procre­ate and bring forth issue of their owne kinde, with life and sense, and that man being so farre a more excellent creature, should not in procreation yeeld so much as sense and life.The reasons of thē which defend three seuerall kinds of soules in man. How­soeuer the rationall soule, the vnder­standing and mind, commeth not ex tr [...]duce frō the seed of the parents, but [Page 15] is inspired and giuen of God, yet the vegetatiue and sensitiue power (as he saith) cannot but come by naturall propagation, if in bruite beasts, much more in man, the more noble crea­ture. Moreouer, after their opinion, the rationall soule differeth from the other in continuance and eternitie: For whereas she is immortall and per­petuall, the others, to wit, the vegeta­tiue and the sensitiue, as they haue their beginning with the bodie, so haue they their end also. For their actions are wholy organical, neither haue they any power or beeing, when the bodily instruments do fayle. The sen­sitiue power is corporall, and diuisi­ble, but the mind or soule, is a spirit incorporall, and therfore indiuisible, and is indeed the only essentiall diffe­rence betwixt man and bruitish crea­tures. Whiles she is vnited with the bodie, she gouerneth all the powers of the bodie, and imparteth her efficacy, to euery part of it, according as it is, found capable thereof. As the Sunne in the great world, doth come to [Page] some partes with his beames, and to other parts onely with his efficacie, e­uen so in this microcosmus the little world man, the diuine spirit, the soule, doth on some partes cast the beames of her light, and impart vnto other, the power of her quickening spirit, and is indeed both the foun­taine of life in this world, to the body being made capable by the vegetatiue and sensitiue faculties, the good tem­peratures of the first qualities: and af­ter this life, when the vegetatiue and naturall forces shall cease, the bodie being by glorification, made eternal­ly capable, it shall minister to it a life that neuer shall haue end. A man doth sustaine no iourney, if at the same time wherein he expecteth the payment of a debt, (though the debt be not paid) yet his comming for it, doth by occa­sion sodainly yeeld him such prefer­ment, as whereby he shall neuer stand in neede of that debt so expected. And euen so it is no abasing vnto mā, not to haue that debt of nature, sensi­tiue life (which all liuing creatures [Page 16] haue) when at the same time, in stead of that which should haue come from parents God doth inspire a far better, euen a liuing soule, performing al, & a thousand times more then the other could haue done. I therfore hold their opinion to be soundest,Peucer. de di­uinat cap de physiog. which do at­tribute vnto man but one soule, com­prehending and gouerning al the po­wers in man. The vegetatiue and sen­sitiue faculties, are but bodily tempe­ratures, or corporall agitations, ha­uing their motions according to the good disposition of the instruments, and also their continuance according to their continuance. But the mo­uing spirit which moueth all, and ru­leth all, and quickeneth all, is that one soule of man,Chrysost. ad populum An­tioch. hom. 19 of which Chrysostome speaketh, omnia duplicia naturae nostrae de­dit Deus, binos oculos, binas aures, binas ma­nus, binos pedes, animam autem vnam, quam si perdiderîmus, quid superest quorum in vi­ta maneamus: God hath giuen all o­ther things double vnto vs, that if one be hurt, the other may stand vs instead, eies, eares, hands & feet double▪ [Page] But he hath giuen vs but one soule, which if we destroy, what is there in the world, whereby we may hope for any life?Isidor, in ety­molog. And Isidore, anima dum viuificat corpus, anima est; dum vult animus est; dum scit mens est; dum reco­lit memoria est; dum rectum indicat ratio est; dum spirat spiritus est; dum aliquid sentit sensus est. The soule is one, but is cal­led by seuerall names, according to her seuerall and manifold operations:Vide Curaei Physic. Some holding the opinion of Plato, that there bee three distinct soules in man, do conclude that to be the cause of apparitions of ghostes, because Plato taught that the sensitiue soule doth remaine a while after death, as a garment & couering to the rationall. But I omit that as a playne dreame. Iohannes Philoponus, Philopon, Grammat. a Grecian Philo­sopher, and yet a christian, said that he could not conceiue how the wicked should be punished after this life, vn­lesse the sensitiue soule doe continue. No doubt as the souls of them which dying in the Lord, are alreadie blessed and with Christ in Paridise, beholding [Page 17] the Lambe,Apoc. 22, 5. howsoeuer they want the bodily eye, and haue no light of the Sun, but the Lord God is their light for euer: so the rich glutton his soule,Luk, 1 [...] & the souls of as many, as are alreadie damned with him, do endure the tor­ments prepared for the diuell and his angels. Howsoeuer the bodies being not yet raised vp, they cannot be said to haue their corporal senses. The ma­ner of the ioies & punishmēts after this life (for the arme of Gods mercy, and the arme of his iustice are both of one length) is incomprehensible and vnspeakable, such as no eie can see,1. Cor, 2. [...] no eare can heare, neither can it enter in­to the hart of mā. But it is many waies apparant, that howsoeuer in the day of iudgement the body shal be ioined to the soul, as in society of either blisse or torment, yet is that immortal & in­uisible creature of it selfe inorganical, sufficiently able for all her actiōs, mo­tions, and operations, without the bodily instruments, humors, qualities, powers, agitations, temperaments, or any corporall faculties whatsoeuer.

CHAP. IIII. Whether anima the soule bee a medium, a meane or middle thing betwixt the spirit and the bodie.

DIuers late writers set it downe for a firme position,Dorn, in claue pag 138, & 142: anima est medium inter spiritum et corpus: The bodie and spi­rit are so contrarie one to another, that they cannot be ioyned together, but by a middle or meane: now the meane to ioyne them is the soule, and one expoundeth what that soule is, a­nima est corporis motrix, Ibid pag. 136 Fol 141 it is the mouer of the bodie, and after he saith, anima duobus constat, motu scilicet et sensu, the soule doth consist of two things, to wit, mouing and sense. And afteward he addeth a third thing, to wit appe­tites,Fol 145: odit animam in corpore qui fraenat ap­petitus, he hateth his soule in his body, which doth bridle his appetites. And in another place defineth it to bee the life,Fol 137 anima est vita corporis, et substantia media inter animam, et corpus [Page 18] participans de animo, et corpore, the word anima signifieth the life of the bodie, and is a middle substance betwixt the mind and the bodie, and taketh part of both. By which places his mea­ning seemeth to be, that the worde a­nima should comprehend whatsoeuer is betwixt the principall part of mans soule, and the grossenesse of the bodi­ly substance, and that the immortall inuisible substance, is by it, as by a se­cond middle substance, vnited to the bodie. In these his assertions hee is first iniurious to the worde anima, which (as I haue shewed alreadie) hath as large a signification, as hath the word spirit, for the immortall soule of man, and hath beene alwayes so vsed in all ages amongst Philosophers, and approued Latine Authors, and espe­cially amongst the most religious Fa­thers of the Church, in all their ser­mons, and discourses: and further in as many as haue translated the holy Scriptures vnto vs. As it is taken sometimes for the inferiour faculties, so is also the worde spirit, and there­fore [Page] there is no reason, why the one should bee restrained strictly to an in­feriour baser substance, more then the other.

Marsil, Ficin. de vita caeli­ [...]us compara­da lib, 3, cap, 3The excellent interpreter of Plato, Marsilius Ficinus, maketh spiritus to be the medium betwixt corpus and anima. His words are, inter animam et corpus in nobis spiritus necessariò requiritur tanquam medium, quo anima diuina et adsit corpori crassiori, et vitam eidem penitùs largiatur, Betwixt the soule and the bodie a spi­rit is of necessitie required in vs, as it were a middle or meane whereby the soule being diuine, may be present to the body, being more grosse, and tho­rowly bestow life vpon it. And a little after, Scimus viuentia omnia tàm plantas quàm animalia per quendam spiritum viuere et generare sui simile: lapides sui similes non generant, quia spiritus iniis crassiori materia cohibetur: Wee knowe that all liuing things, as well plants as sensible crea­tures, do liue by a certaine spirit, and thereby get their like: But stones doo not bring forth their like, because the spirit in them is holden backe by the [Page 19] grossenesse of their matter.

The meaning of Ficinus, doth not much differ from Dorne, but that which the one calleth anima, the other calleth spirite, because indeede the wordes are aequivalent, and both of them equiuocall: And therefore to take away ambiguitie, the best had beene for either of them to haue ad­ded to the worde the difference, as to haue said that the vegetatiue and sen­sitiue soule, is the middle betwixt the rationall soule and the bodie, or that the spirit of life is the middle betwixt the vnderstanding spirit of man and the bodie. But Dorne in calling that vegetatiue and sensitiue facultie, a third substance doth seeme to haue drawne his position out of Origen, Origen super Leuit. Hom, 2. who doth directly set it downe, that anima is in such sort a medium betwixt the spirit & the bodie, that the soule may be damned, and yet the spirit saued, and one of his proofes is,Origen in Ma­thaeum hom. 30, Fol, 96. because it is said in the Gospell, that God can cast both bodie and soule into hell fire, ex eo quod nihil de spiritu dixit, euidenter often­ditur, [Page] quòd spiritus cum anima peccatrice non simul punitur: quí enim peccauit, diuidi­tur, et pars quidem eius cum infidelibus puni­tur, quod autem non cius, reuertitur ad De­um qui dedit eum, Seeing hee speaketh nothing of casting the spirit into hell, it is euidently shewed that the spirit is not punished together with the sin­full soule: The person that sinned, is di­uided, and part is punished with the Infidels, and that which is not his, but Gods that gaue it, must returne to God that gaue it.

A very grosse errour is this, as are likewise many other opinions, which the said Origen doth hold, as concer­ning the soule: as the omnes animae e­rant in initio simul creatae, all soules were created in the beginning all together: which heresie of his, is at large confu­ted by Aquinas: Tho, Aquinas, 1. parte sūmae theologiae and animam saluatoris fu­isse antequam nasceretur à Virgine, et in re­stitutione omnium animas Christianorum Iu­daeorum et Gentilium vnius conditionis fore, et ex Angelis fieri animas, et rursus ex animis Angelos, That the soule of our Sauiour Christ was before hee was [Page 20] conceiued of the Virgine, and that in the restoring of all things, the soules of Christians, Iewes, and Gentiles, shall bee all of one estate and conditi­on, and that of Angels are made soules, and againe of soules Angels. All which absurde opinions of Origen are condemned by Saint Hierom. Whatsoeuer therefore may be gathe­red (as is by some) out of Origen, Hierom. in A­pologi [...] aduersus Ruffinum. to proue anima to be a third substance in man, wee see by these his assertions, what little account may iustly bee made thereof. But say they, there are many places in the holy Scriptures, wherein the worde soule and spirit are both ioyned together in such sort, that they seeme apparantly not to sig­nifie one thing. Indeede when they are ioyned both together, all the Fa­thers of the Church, generally doe make a difference betwixt them, but not such a difference as they doe ima­gine: as when the Apostle saith,1, Thes, [...], 23 the God of peace sanctifie you, who by that your spirit being perfect, & your soule and bodie may bee kept vnbla­mably [Page] vntill the cōming of our Lord Iesus Christ: the meaning is not that there shuld be a perfect coniunctiō of the Spirit to the bodie by the soule as a meane or middle, that so the spirit & the bodie might the better continue long together, but the praier of the A­postle is, that the spirit of the Thessa­lonians, that is, their reason & vnder­standing, & their soul, that is their wil and affections: and thirdly their body should be kept vnblamably vntill the cōming of Christ. These significations of the words I haue proued at large in my first Cha. And althogh they being named here together haue seueral sig­nifications,Pe [...]a piscater. I [...]wellus & a­lii in hunc lo­cum: yet can we not thereupon conclude, that they are seueral substā ­ces. But as the body and flesh are but one body, so the spirit & soule are but one soule. Aqui. saith vpō tht place, ad peccatū tria concurrūt, ratio, sēsualitas, et exi equutio corporis, Aquinas in 1 Thess, 5, 23: optat vt in nullo horū sit pec­catū. Three things in man may offend, reasō, sensuality & the body: he praieth that none of these maybe defiled with sinne. The ancient Fathers Augustine [Page 21] and Hierom doe expounde this place in an other sense,Folio 21. and yet nothing fa­uouring the opinion of Dorne: v. 19. for by the spirit they vnderstand the graces of Gods spirit, and so to bee all one with that which goeth a little before, Spiritum ne extinguite, Quench not the spirite: they make the meaning to be that both one soule, and the giftes & graces of Gods spirit bestowed vpon it,Hieron, epist. 150. ad 12. quest. Hedi­biae. might be kept perfect vntill the cō ­ming of Christ. Alii ex hoc loco triplicē affirmare volunt substantiam spiritus, quo sentimus animae qua vinimus, & corporis quo incedimus, Some (saith S. Hierom) would out of this place to the Thessaloni­ans, proue a threefolde substance in man, &c. Nos autem accipimus gratias donationes (que) spiritus sancti, But we by the first, by the word spirite do vnderstād the graces and giftes of the holy spi­rite. The like affirmeth S. Augustine: Aug. de eccle­siast. dogmat. cap. 20. tom. [...] Non est tertius in substantia hominis spirities sicut Didimus contendit, sed spiritus ipsi est anima, quae prospirituali natura, vel pro eo quod spiret in corpore, spiritus appellatur; a­nima veró ex eo vocatur, quod ad viuendū [Page] & viuificandum aenimet corpus, Tertinm autem, cum anima & corpore coniunctum spiritum, gratiam spiritus sancti esse intelliga mus, quam orat Apostolus, vt integra per­seueret in nobis, The spirit is not a third substance in man (as Didimus woulde haue it,) but mans spirite is his soule, which for the spiritual nature, or be­cause it breatheth in the body, is cal­led a spirit, and it is called Anima, be­cause it quickneth the body, and gi­ueth vnto it a quickning force: but the spirit which is in this place ioined by the Apostle with the soule and bo­dy, wee must vnderstand it to bee the grace of the holy Ghost, which the A­postle doth pray, that it may perse­uere and continue in vs.

The late Writers Beza, Piscator and others, do in the sense of this place differ from the Fathers, but all doe geneally conspire against a third sub­stance to be framed out of it. Aquinas holdeth two Axioms very strongly, first,Aquinas in 1. parte suae summ. Theol. quest. 76, & 3, lib. sen [...]. distinct. 1. that Forma substantialis vnitur im­mediaté materiae, the substantiall forme of a thing is immediately, or without [Page 22] any medium vnited with the matter:Aquinas in 1. parte suae summ. Theol. quest. 70. & sentent. lib. 2, dist. 12. and the second, that non est possibile plu­res formas substantiales simul esse in eodem corpore, It is not possible that two sub­stantiall forms should be at one time in the selfe same body. Writing also vpon that place of S. Paule, 1▪ Cor. 15.44 Est corpus animale, & est corpus spirituale, there is a naturall body, and there is a spiri­tuall body: where the Apostle see­meth to giue the word body both to anima and spiritus, Aquinas in 1. Cor. 15. he expoundeth the naturall body corpus animale to be that which in this world is troubled with naturall functions, for feeding, in­crease, generation and such like; and the spirituall body to bee that which abs (que) aliquo impedimento & fatigatione in­cessanter seruiet animae ad spirituales opera­tiones eius, & hoc per Christum spiritum, id est, non solùm animam viuentem vt Adam, sed viuentem & viuificantem, without all impediment and wearines continual­ly serue the soule for her spirituall o­perations, and that by the power of Christ, being a spirite, not onely a li­uing spirit as Adam, but a liuing and [Page] also a quickning spirite. And that this is the very sense of the place, it is most euident by the wordes last go­ing before, and by that which imme­diately followeth, for in the verse be­fore, hee compareth our body in this life with our body that shall be in the resurrection: It is sowen in weaknes, it doth rise againe in power, it is sown Copus animale, it shall rise againe cor­pus spirituale. And when he hath said there is an animall body, and there is a spirituall: hee addeth, as it is writ­ten, the first man Adam was made a liuing soule, and the second Adam, that is Christ Iesus, was made a quick­ning spirit. The Animal body is that which the posterity of Adam haue in this life,Rom. 8. v. 11 and the spiritual body is that which shall be raysed with the quick­ning spirit of Christ in the resurrectiō.

Aug. de Ciui­tate Dei, lib. 13. cap. 20. Augustine sayeth, that that is called a spirituall body, which Spiritui sum­ma & mirabile facilitate subdetur, omni molestia sensu, omni corruptibilitate & tar­ditate detracta, shall obey the spirite with admirable facility, all sense of [Page 23] trouble being taken away, and all corruption and slownesse remoued. And in an other place,Aug. de fide, & symbolo, cap. 6. tom. [...] Spirituale cor­pus intelligitur omnifragilitate & labe ter­rena in coelestem puritatem & stabilitatem mutata & conuersa, That is vnderstood to bee a spirituall body, wherein all frailty and earthly pollution is con­uerted and changed into heauenly purity and stedfastnes: Anselmus, Anselm. in 1. Cor. 15 Titleman in 1. Cor. 15 and after him Titleman, and other schoole­men doe interprete that to be an ani­mal body, which hath need of meats, drinkes, and other cherishing, & that to bee a spirituall body, which shall not neede any of these, but liue for e­uer by the quickning spirit of Christ. To call a body spirituall, and to say that the spirit is a body, are speeches very much different.Col. 2. v. [...] S. Paule sayeth that the fulnes of the Godhead doth dwell in Christ bodily, but wee can not thereupon inferre that the God­heade is a body.Rom. 7.14. The law is called spirituall, the law (sayth the Apostle) is spirituall, and I am solde vnder sin, who will thereupon inferre that the [Page] law is a spirit?Rom. 8.7. It is sayd, the wisedom of the flesh is enmity against God: is the flesh therefore a thing rationall? Paule will haue the body of sinne de­stroyed,Rom. 6. v. 6 is therefore sin a thing cor­poreall?2▪ Cor. 4.16 He sayeth, though the out­ward man doe perish, the inward man is renewed daily, is therfore the soule of it selfe a person? Aquinas writing v­pon that place,Aquinas in 2. Cor. 4. condēneth an heresie of Tertullian, Hic Tertulli­ani error dā ­natur etiam ab Augustino Epist, 157 who taught, that because S. Paule doth call the Soule an inward man, therefore the Soule no doubte had a bodily shape, but hee frameth him this answere: Vnumquod (que) dicitur illud esse, quod est in eo principalius, Any thing may beare the name of that which is most principall in him: secun­dum veritatem & iudicium principalius in homine est mens, sed secundum apparentiam principalius est corpus exterius cum sensibus suis, According to true iudgement the principall part of man is the minde, but according to the outward appea­rāce, the principal part is the body & the sēses thereof, therfore it is, that the one is called the outward mā, & [Page 24] the other the inward. S. Hierom shew­eth, that some in his time to proue that the spirite and soule are seuerall substāces,Hierom. epist, 150. ad 12. quaest. Hedi­biae. In adiectione ad Dan. v. 86. did alledge that in the song of the three children, O yee Spirites & Soules of iust men praise the Lord. But hee putteth it downe as an vsual answere, that that chapter is of the Apocrypha, and he addeth, Non vti­ (que) sunt tot substantiae, quot nomina, We must still imagine so many substances, as we finde names. The Apostle to the Hebrewes,Heb. 4. v. 12. calleth the worde of God such a two edged sworde as doth en­ter to the deuiding of the soule and spirite, we may not conclude thereby two seuerall substances, but by the soule is meant (as most do expounde it) the affections, and by the spirit the reason an vnderstanding.Aquinas in Heb. 4. Aqui­nas saith, spiritus est illud per quod commu­nicamus cum essentiis spiritualibus; anima est illud per quod communicamus cum bru­tis; anima operatur cum corpore; sciritus sine corpore, That part of the soule which doth communicate with spirituall substances is called a spirit; but that [Page] faculty which is common to brute beastes, is called anima, the one wor­keth with the body, and the other without the body. Others make, that to the soule do appertaine those thinges which are agreeable to na­ture: and to the spirit, those thinges that are aboue nature, but still mea­ning the faculties of one soule, and not seuerall substances. It is no a­basing of the soule of man, to haue some thinges common with brute beastes, as it is no disgrace to the mightiest prince in the world, to haue some things common with the vilest and basest subiect of his kingdome, to witte, eating, drinking, sleeping & such other naturall functions. All Creatures haue their seuerall degrees of this anima, some haue onely the na­tural degree, as haue trees and herbs, some haue further a vitall degree, as haue wormes, some besides the vital, haue also a sensuall degree with some feeling of feare and ioy, as haue brute heastes, and some besides the naturall, vitall and sensuall, haue also [Page 25] an intellectuall, as hath man to dis­course, ponder and iudge, and stil the higher includeth his inferior, and the highest and most soueraign compre­hēdeth all in one. Some to derogate from the word anima, doe alledge that speech of Athan. Athanasius tom. 4. in tractatu de definitionibus ecclesiasticis Nemo existimet quod ille spiritus, quē in hominē inflauit factus sit ani­ma, absit, Let no mā think that the spirit which God did breath into man, was made a soule, God forbid wee should think so: wherupō they conclude that in Athan. his iudgemēt, the spirit & the soule are two distinct substāces: most certaine it is, that Athanasius in that place, doth not speake of spirite, as of any essentiall part of man, but of that Spirite, wherewith God created all thinges of which it is sayde in Gene­sis, Spiritus Dei incubabat superficiei aqua rum, The spirite of God did hatch v­pon the waters, and in the Psalms, by the word of the Lord the heauēs were made, & all the army of them,Gen 1, 2, Psal. 33.6. Spiritu oris eius, by the breath of his mouth. This working & creating spirite did God breath into mā, [...]en, 2.7, & by it man was [Page] made a liuing soule without any ele­mentary matter: now that efficient & al-creating spirite which God did breath into mā, let no mā think (saith Athana,) that it self was made a soule, God forbid: for then anima esset nimirū de Dei essentia, Our soule should be of the very essence of God. Sed spiritus ille perficit animā, But that spirite which is of Gods essence, doth make the soule of man, and all the powers ther­of: by which wordes following, Atha­nasius doth so plainely expounde his owne meaning, that no doubt can be left thereof: I conclude therfore, that the soundest course is, (when we take vpon vs to determine what anima is) to giue it the same properties and the same signification, as hath been euer giuen to it by the holy Scriptures, by the auncient Fathers, by the wisest of the Philosophers, and by all the best approued authors that euer haue written, and if in any place, either in the booke of God, or in the writinges of learned Diuines, if be ioined together with the word spirit, thē to giue it no [Page 26] other sence thē is the scope and drift of the places. In all the places which are alledged, the purpose of the origi­nall text is not to shew how the soule should bee vnited to the body, but how al the powers of the soule should be ioyned vnto God.

CHAP. V. In what place of the body the Soule doth possesse his seat.

THe vulgar and common ax­iome that anima rationalis est tota in toto, & tota in qualibet parte, The rationall soule of man is whole in whole, and whole in euerie part (which some do attribute to Augustine, and some to other late schoolemen, but in Melancthon his iudgement, it is no speech of Plato, Melancth. de anima, pag, 34 A­ristotle, or of any ancient Philosopher) may best bee expounded of the pow­er and efficacy of the soule: for the soule being a spirituall essence, as it is indeuisible, so is it locall and fi­nite, [Page] it doth choose a certaine place to it selfe (or rather hath a place al­lotted vnto it of God) and doth work so far, and with such distance, as is ap­pointed vnto it. There is a great con­trouersie betwixt the Greeke and A­rabian Phisitians,Andr. Laurēt. tract. de Me­lancth. Hypo­chondi. in what part of the head the soule of mā is situated: for whether it be in the head or no, they make no question. The Grecians doe thinke that it doth possesse the whole braine without any distinction of pla­ces, and they doe so ioyne imaginati­on & memory with reason, that they doe thinke them not possible to bee diuided by distance of place, nor yet scarsely so much as in thought. As in the similar partes of the body, they make in euery part the fower natural faculties, the attractiue, the retentiue, the digestiue, and the expulsiue, not to be distinguished in place, but to possesse the whole part, as aboue, or such like: so they make the imaginati­on, the memorie, and the reason to be in the same order in the whole brain. But the Arabian Phisicians doe attri­bute [Page 27] to euery one of these three facul­ties a proper and peculiar seate. First because nature hath made nothing in vaine, therefore seeing there are three seueral ventricles of the braine,Rationes 5. Arabum, citat. a Laurentio. it is most likely that they doe serue for se­uerall seats, for the three chiefe facul­ties of the soule, the first to be the seat of imagination, the second of reason,Rati 1. a to [...] perieventri­culorum. & the third of memory. They ascribe the former ventricle to imagination, because being in the foreparte, it is most fit to receiue obiectes, and ther­fore they say, it is softer then the rest, as most fit to receiue impressions, and memory to the hinder part as an in­ward chamber or closet, somewhat dryer and more firm thē the ventricle before. And the middest being most temperate, they account the fittest seat for reasō. Secondly they endeuor to proue it by Physiognomy, because they whose head is made high vp be­hind, haue cōmōly good memories, & they which haue high foreheads, haue ready imaginatiō & capacity. Thirdly they aledge that probleme of Aristotle [Page] that when we would deeply consider of a matter, we do cōmonly draw to­gether the browes & (the foreheade being cōtracted) we do lift vp our coū ­tenance, but whē we haue forgotten a thing, we do cōmonly rub the hinder part of the head. Fourthly they rest v­pō experience, because they say it oftē falleth out that vpon a woūd receiued in the hinder part of the head, the memory is wholy destroied. And also it is often seen, that the one faculty being depraued, the other may remain soūd. Phrentike & Melancholike persons, may haue their imagination become vaine & erronious, & yet in some mat­ters dispute with good reason: & ma­ny that are forgetfull of thinges past, wil yet conceiue very wel things pre­sent. And last of al, they think that the fittest place for the reasō & the mind, being the principal part of the soule, is the middle ventricle of the braine, frō which she may both easily receiue all formes of obiects, from the for­mer ventricle, & also readily require and exact of memory those thinges [Page 28] which she hath almost forgottē. These arguments though they are somwhat probable and haue indeede allured many men to giue assent vnto them, yet because they are but onely proba­bilities, gesses, and coniectures, and no certain demōstrations,Vide Andr. Laurentii tract de melanchol. it is accoū ­ted by many, more safe to rest vpon the sincere ground, laid down before of the Greciās.Gal. lib, 2 de motu muscu­lorum, Galen sheweth that the imaginary faculty of the soule doth also remēber: for when the impressions are deeply conceiued in the imagina­tion, he calleth that memory, & when the imagination doth receiue the im­pressions but lightly & superficially & not oftē enough conceiue them more deeply, he nameth that forgetfulnes, he placeth principatū anime, Gal. de pl. ci [...]is Hipp. & Plat. lib. 8. cap. 1. the chiefe part of the soule to be where is the beginning of sinewes, & that he maketh to be generally in the braine, and he wil haue the animal spirits, which are the first instrumēts of the soule to bee contained not only in the three ven­tricles,Gal de vsu parti [...]m lib. 8. but also in the whole body of the brain, because for the gouerning [Page] of the whole body, there hath need to be multus animalis spiritus, great plenty of animal spirits. Many Philosophers haue determined the seat of the rati­onall soule and vnderstāding to be in the hart of mā, of which opiniō were Zeno the Babilonian, Diogenes, & Chry­sippus. Gal. lib. 2. de placitis Hipp. & Plat. Galen declareth that their chief­est proofe was this, Sermo est mentis nun­tius, The speech of man is the messēger of the mind, and therefore from what part of the body the speech commeth, there lyeth the vnderstanding: now the speech commeth not from the braine, but out of the breast by the aspera arteria, the winde-pipe, and therefore in the breast, and about the heart, is the seate of the minde. To which he aunswereth, that the minde doth in a momēt moue all the instru­ments of the body, bee they neuer so far off, if they be capable of motion, Nihil impedimenti ad celeritatem ex inter­uallo recipit, It receiueth no impedimēt to hinder speedinesse by any distance of place: for as when a part of mans body is wounded, there is no sensible [Page 29] time, betwixt the wound beig giuen, and the smart receiued thereby. So there is no apparant distance betwixt our will of breathing and speaking, and the verie action it selfe, which de­pendeth vpon the wiill: howsoeuer therefore the voyce doth proceed out of the winde-pipe, yet that doth no­thing hinder, but that in the brayne may bee the cause which moueth that arterie. The speech doth proceede from the mind, not as from a place, but as from a mouing & ruling cause, commaunding and gouerning all those instruments about the throate, whereby the voyce is framed. Galen proueth this by a forcible argument, there are (saith hee) three things pas­sing betwixt the heart and the braine, and as it were knitting the one to the other, to wit, sinewes, arteries, and veines, If about the outward part of the necke, the sinewes onely be cut, straight way doth the partie become dumbe, al other actions being left vn­hurt. If onely the arteries therea­bouts be cut, or tyed hard with a band, [Page] (being first with an instrument pluc­ked outward) the partie doth not be­come dumbe, but all the parts aboue the band or wound do loose the vse of the pulses, and the parts downewards towards the heart, do yet afterwardes retaine the pulses, but vpon the cut­ting or intercepting of the veines, there is none of the said functions a­bolished. Whereby it appeareth, that neither the heart hath neede of the brain to the beating of the pulses, nor yet the braine hath need of the heart, that it may rule senses and motions, according to the command of reason and will. Againe daily experience doth shewe vnto vs, that in learning & studying about matters, there is no apparant motion in the heart, but in the head: as on the other side in all perturbations the motion is in the heart, and not in the head, the heart panteth and is troubled, but the head is not greeued, vnlesse by a sympathie. Hereof Galen concludeth that the ra­tionall facultie of the soule,Ibid. lib, [...]. de Plaut, [...] hath seate in the brayne, and irrationall in the [Page 30] heart. Auerrhoes obiecteth against Calen, that wormes haue a voluntarie motion, and yet not by sinewes mo­uing the muskles, for they want them, and therfore voluntarie motions may be without any such sinewes and mus­kles. But he should haue considered, that wormes are insecta, et imperfecta ani­malia, vnpecfect craatures, as are flies, gnats, and such like, & therefore there is no argument to bee drawne from them, to more perfect creatures, that because they doe reare vp and stand without bones, purge melancholie without spleane, and moue voluntarie without sinewes and muskles, there­fore more perfect creatures, as beastes and foules, must doe all these thinges by the same meanes that they doe it. Neither doth it follow, because bruite beasts haue their motions by anima sensitiua, the sensitiue soule, that there­fore man (being so much more excel­lent then they, & many degrees more, they are better then vermine) should of necessitie haue the same fountaine of motions, that is in those bruitish, [Page] creatures. Another reason hath A­uerrhoes, when we breath in sleepe, the letting in, and sending out of the breath, is by the helpe of the muscles and sinewes. And yet at that time there is no will nor power of the rati­onall soule to gouerne it, therefore the fountaine of motion is from the heart. But there is in man a twofolde will, the one [...], ab electione, by election, and the other, [...], ab instinctu, by instinct of nature. In the time of sleepe, there is the later, though not the former. There are also such passages, bands, & mutual helps betwixt the braine and the heart, that Hippocrates doth not sticke sometimes to make the heart the dwelling place of vnderstanding,Hipp. in libel­lo de corde his wordes are, [...], Mans rati­onall soule is in the least ventricle of the heart, it is not nourished with meates and drinks, but with the pure and cleare aboundance arising out o [...] [Page 31] the seuering of the bloud. Some cō ­menting vpon that place, say that hee speaketh after the vulgar opinion, o­thers thinke that by the soule he mea­neth that calidum, that naturall heate,Laurent. in A­nat. which is the instrument of the soule.

The vitall spirit (which Hippocrates and Galen do often leaue at our liber­ty,Gal. lib. 5. de placit. Hipp. et Plat. et in a Aph. 14. et in libro contra Lyrum. whether we will call it calidum or by the name of spiritus) though it bee placed in the heart, yet is it also from it by the arteries communicated to all the bodie. And the bloud, whereof the spirits do come,Gal. in. lib. do vsu et vtil. re­spirationis. and which is the same to the spirits, as in the lampe the oyle is to the flame: although the na­turall facultie of the working of it bee placed cheifely in the liuer,Hippo. lib. de alimento. yet is it al­so in the veines, which haue their be­ginning of radication and distributi­on frō the liuer.Atha. in initio tractatus de definitionibus ecclesiasticis. Hereupō cōmeth that speech of Atha. habet anima sua sedem in corde, in posteriori parte capitis quae caua vo­catur, et in basilicis venis. In istis tribus partibus amma sedem habens, in totum copus vitalem suam potentiam distribuit, The soule hath her seat in the heart, in the [Page] hinder hollow part of the head, and in the basilicall veines. And hauing her abode in these three places, shee doth distribute her vitall power into all the bodie. The Prophet Dauid saith,Psal. 7.10. thou Lord art the searcher of the heart and reines. The best inter­preters doe by the heart expound co­gitations and thoughtes, and by the reynes our affections. Hee saith fur­ther,Psal. 16.7. my reynes do instruct mee in the night season, that is, my will and my studies beeing guided by the spirit of God, for in the same verse hee giueth to God humble praise, as to the au­thor of that Instruction. In sundrie places of the Scriptures,Exod. 12.11, Leuit. 3.4. Hieron. super Nahum. 2. Greg. 11. mor. 9. Aug. super. Psal. 72. Tremel. in Psa 139.13. the worde reynes is expounded by the Fathers to signifie lust, as beeing instruments seruing to lust. But the Psalmist doth apply it generally to all the inward fa­culties, as when he saith, Thou Lord doest possesse my reynes, that is, as the best do interpret it, quicquid in me latet, whatsoeuer lyeth hid within me. The reines are placed by Physicians in the middle proportion of heate, as are [Page 32] likewise the liuer and veines, and all those chiefe inward receptacles of heate, bloud and spirits, by meanes of veines and arteries passing thorowe them, haue a mutual societie one with another. And if of humors and grosse things, that bee true which Hippocrates writeth [...] foras et intro est spirabile totum corpus, Hipp. epid. 6 Thes. 6. Aph. 1 all the body hath passages breathing out and inspired frō one part to another,Gal. lib. 3. de natural. facult and that which Galen saith, [...], euery part doth drawe out of euery part, and send againe into euery part, and there is one confluxe and conspiration of al parts: Then much more may this bee said of spirits, which are far more sub­till and more fit for passage. And if experience doe teach that either a veine or an arterie being opened, may thorowly euacuate both the one and the other,Hipp. in Coa­cis praenotio­nibus. Laurent. in A­natom. and that there is such a [...] (as the Physicians do call it) such a transition of humors from the veines to the sinewes, and from the si­newes [Page] to the veines, that a disease in one may be dissolued and auoyded by the other, as Hippocrat. sheweth, [...] a crampe or convulsion of sinewes com­ming within the first three daies, doth often dissolue a feuer, why should not then the faculties and powers, to wit, the animall in the braine, and the vi­tall in the heart, & the naturall in the liuer, bee thought mutually to cōspire and worke together, to vpholde the whole bodie, and euery part and por­tion thereof. I conclude therefore, that howsoeuer the anima or soule is said in respect of her chiefe animall fa­cultie, to haue seate in the braine, and by her vitall facultie, to haue place in the heart, and by her naturall facultie to possesse the liuer: yet the first by sinewes, and the second by arteries, and the third by veines, doe with such societie, harmonie, and neere con­iunction, worke continually together in all the bodie, that the soule it selfe (which ruleth and gouerneth them al) may bee said in, and by them, to bee [Page 33] present in all the bodie, although in her owne essence and substance, shee hath her proper place appointed by God, & being the chiefest part of mā, it is most likely that she hath it in that part which is the chiefest beauty, & as it were the very maiestie of this earth­ly creature.

CHAP. VI. Whether the soul do come ex traduce by gene­ration and conception from the parents, as doth the bodie.

WHether the soule of man be created of God or no, it is a matter that was ne­uer called in question in the Church of God, for al the faithful haue euer acknowledged, that as the body is created of God, so also the soule. But sundrie doubts haue been often made by many, in what sort and maner the soule is created. Some haue thought it to be a corporal thing, and to come by propagation from the bo­dies of the parēts: others haue on the [Page] other side, so much extolled it, as that they wold haue it to be created of the very substance of God. A third sorte there haue bin, which haue defended the soule to be a spiritual substāce, but yet to come by propagation, the soule from the soule, as the bodie from the body.Origin his o­pinion of all soules created together at the creation of the world, is touched Chap. 4. August. Epist. 157. tom. 2. Others wil haue it to be created of nothing: others that it is created, but yet of the substāce of that immor­tall soule which was giuen vnto Adam. S. Augustine saith, that if we keepe our selues frō the two first grosse heresies, then Origo animae sine periculo latet, it is no danger to vs, to bee ignorant how the soule hath her beginning. The first as­sertion, which was the errour of Ter­tullian is at large confuted in that Epi­stle of Augustine. The two chiefest rea­sons of Tertullian are these,Gen. 46.26. first because it is said in Gen. that there came three score and sixe soules out of the loines of Iacob, & secondly because, whē God made Adam, Gen. 2.7. it is said that God did breath into him, & hee was made a li­uing soule, but when Eue was made, there is no mētion made of any soule [Page 34] inspired into her, & therefore she had hers from Adam. To the first it is answered that the word soul signifieth some times the person,Gen. 14.21. as Gen. 14. giue mee the souls, take thou the goods, when the king of Sodom desired to haue his people againe: & S. Paul biddeth euery soul be subiect to higher powers, that is, euery person, & sometimes it is takē only for the body,Aug. epist 157 tom. 2. as S. Aug. sheweth in that Epistle, & as I haue laid open here in my first Chap. As for the ensāple of Eue, it was sufficiēt to haue the inspi­ring of the soule once named, but no doubt she had also her soule giuen her of God, as Adā did acknowledge whē he said, this is now flesh of my flesh,Gen. 2, 23. & bone of my bone, he did not say soule of my soule, & therfore did confesse it to be giuen of God. The second opi­nion which was of the Manichees, & renewed of late time by Seruetus, that because the Apostle saith,Act: 17.28. In God wee liue & moue, & haue our beeing (mea­ning indeed of the qualities gifts and graces, which God hath bestowed on vs) therefore our soule is made of the [Page] very essence of the God-head, it is so grosse a collection, that it needeth no cōfuting. It is most absurd & impious once to think that the soule of man being so many waies stamed & polluted, and so full of inconstancies, & vaine i­maginations, should be in substance a portiō of the most pure & sacred God head. As for them which thinke that it commeth of the essence of mans soul, some do holde that in procreation it floweth out cum semine. Aug. epist. 15 [...] But Aug. doth thinke that to be incredible, because multa fluunvirrita sine conceptibus semina, and if the semen animae be mortall, how shuld then the soule it selfe be immor­tall? Others are of opiniō that no part of the soule issueth out with the seede, but as one candle doth light another & lose no part of it selfe thereby, so the soule of the parents doth giue a soule to the naturall heate, & good tempe­rature of that which is conceiued, and yet not diminish thereby any portion of it selfe. But the most generall opi­nion now holdē in the church, is that the soules are created of God, & from [Page 35] outwardly by his diuine power inspired into mā at the time of giuing life. Whether created of the soule of Adā (as some in times past haue thought) or created of nothing, as in the first creation, I account it a question need­lesse, seeing the word of God hath re­uealed no determining thereof, but that it is created of God, and also cre­ated in another maner then is the bo­dy, that seemeth to be apparātly declared in the holy scriptures. The Apostle saith to the Hebrewes, if we haue had fathers of our flesh to correct vs,Heb. 12.9. & we haue reuerenced thē, how much more shall wee be in subiection to the father of our spirits and liue? What can bee more apparant to shew that the body and the soule do not come both vnto vs after one maner? God is our creator in respect of our bodies, but hee hath made them by meanes, by the parents of our flesh, but hee is called the father of our soules, [...] by a certaine excellency and peculiar preheminēce, because he hath made them himselfe alone, and in the creatiō of our spirits [Page] hath gone beyond the course & helpe of natural meanes. The like speech we haue in the Preacher,Eccl. 12.7. when earth (saith he) goeth to earth, the spirit goeth to God which gaue it. No doubt God giueth also the body (as the Psalmist cō ­fesseth,Psal. 139.13 thou Lord hast couered me in my mothers wombe, I will praise thee, for that I am wonderfully made) but he is by a singular & proper preroga­tiue, called the giuer of spirits, because they come not as the body by means, but immediatly frō himself. Hereunto hath S. Peter respect,1. Pet. 4.39. when he willeth vs to commit our soules vnto God, as a faithful creator: & Dauid, whē he saith the Lord doth fashion the harts of mē.Psal. 33.15. Hereupon is it, that the Lord himselfe saith by the Prophet Esay, that he hath made the soules:Esay. 57.16. & to this worke may wel be applyed the speech of our saui­or,Ioh. 5.17. pater operatur, et ego operor, my Father worketh still, & I worke. The incorpo­rall & immortall spirit, the soule of mā is of greater dignitie & worth, thē that it may be said to bee produced out of the facultie or power of any materiall [Page 36] thing. It is also inorganicall, howsoe­uer for a time it do gouerne the Instruments of the body, yet doth it oftē re­flect into it selfe, & without all help of bodily instrumēts, it doth discourse, number, gather principles, vnderstād things, both particular & vniuersall; & therefore it is not likely that an essēce so spiritual, & inorganical shuld haue her beginning only by an instrumētall maner & meanes. Further it is euidēt, that incorporal & spiritual substances are not diuisible. If the soule shuld be traducted frō the soule of the parents, then must it needs bee, that either the whole soule of the parēts is traducted, or some part & portiō: if the whole, thē must it needes bring the death & de­structiō of the parēts, if but a part, thē must it needs follow that simple & spiritual essēces are partible, & diuisible, & that it may receiue a compositiō of parts, as part frō the soul of the father, & part frō the mothers: which conse­quēces do seeme absurd & contrary to the groūds of reasō. Obiection. 1 Gen. 2. Some obiect that which is said in Gen. that God in the [Page] seuenth day did rest frō the creatiō of al his works, & therefore God doth not as yet still create newe soules. S. Augu­stine answereth,Aug. de Gen. ad literam lib. 4. cap. 10. tom. 3. that God did cease à condendis generibus creaturae, from making new kindes of creatures, but for con­tinuing those kindes which he hath at the first created, that doth still take place,Aug. Epist. 28 Ioh. 5.17. which is saide in the Gospel Pa­ter meus vsque nunc operatur. And in ano­ther place, the same Augustine saith ve­rie well, that God doth worke nowe, non instituendo quod non erat, sed multipli­cando quod erat, not in creating that which hath neuer beene, but in multi­plying that which hath beene. Some obiect that it is not likely that God wold giue a lesse priuiledge vnto man then he hath giuē vnto bruit beasts. If they beget issue wholy like vnto them selues, why shuld not the same be per­formed in man? I answere that those argumēts often do not followe, which be drawne frō the more vnperfect cre­atures, to thē that are more perfect. If I should reason thus, because wormes do reare vp without bones, they purge [Page 37] melancholy humor without a splean, they are moued volūtary without muscles: therefore an iniury is done vnto man, that he cānot also do the like: or because the black flies, called Beetles, and other vermine do breed of dung, without any helpe of male or female, therefore an iniury is done to birds & beastes, that they cannot also do the like, who wold account these argumēts to be of any force? The more perfect that any creature is, in the more noble maner is the forme giuen vnto it. If in steede of a poore priuiledge a far greater, & indeede a very royall priuildge be granted, then must it not be accou­ted an iniury, but rather great fauour, mercy, and bountie, as I haue shewed more at large in the third Chapter. Some affirme, that one soule doth bring forth another, as one seede of wheate doth bring forth ano­ther, because euery seede hath in it quiddam aeternum, some thing eternall and perpetuall. Saint Augustine doth answeare this argument,Aug. epist. 157. tales animas non spiritus sed corpora esse contendunt, such [Page] men do make the soules not to be spi­rituall, but bodily essences, quo peruersi­us quid dici potest? then which opinion what can be counted more absurd? In corporall thinges the corruption of one is the generation of another: That which thou sowest (saith S. Paul) is not quickned,1. Cor. 15.36 except it dye first: but who will imagine such corrupti­on in spirituall essences? Corporall thinges doe grow and increase, but these incorporall and spirituall essen­ces haue at the first their perfection, and do not grow in respect of quanti­tie or substance, onely they haue need of Gods grace to renew their decaied qualities, and of fit instrumentes for them, that they may put forth their power and strength: but (say they) if the soule be created of God, and gi­uen from heauen, not produced from the parents, how is it then guilty of originall sinne? or how can wee bee accounted by nature, to bee the chil­dren of wrath?Eph. 2.3. This obiection hath bred sundry errors amongst many. Some haue affirmed, that the soules [Page 38] are indeed created of God pure, but that they are polluted at the very first when they come to man by the act of generation. These are sufficiently confuted by the Apostle to the He­brewes, pronouncing mariage to bee honourable,Hebr. 13.4. and the bed therein to be vnpolluted and vndefiled. And againe, if originall sinne should come that way, then should wee by nature haue onely the sin of lust, but we haue naturally all other sorts of sinne, En­uy, wrath, pride, and what not: others haue taught, that God indeede doth create the soule, but that he hath ther­fore created it with these spots, that it might bee a fit soule for man, as hee hath giuen to other creatures a life fit for them; to an Asse, a life fit for an Asse; and to a dog a life fit for a dog: so to man he hath giuen a soule fit for him (that is) to a damned man, a dam­ned soule. This is a wicked and damnable opinion, to make God the author of euill, who is wholy good & perfectly good, & so good, that there is no end of his goodnes: who is (as [Page] the Psalmist saith,Psal 5.4. Deus non volens ini­quitatem, A God that willeth no ini­quity. But for the comming of ori­ginall sinne. I take their assertion to be best and soundest, which as they acknowledge the soule to be created of God pure & holy (as all his works are good) so they do also affirme that it is not created with that strength of persisting in good,Gen. 1.32. and resisting euil, & many such excellent graces which it should haue had, if Adam had not transgressed the commandement of God. Hauing therefore in it selfe, though a purity, yet also a weakenesse and imbecility, it is no sooner ioyned to the body of man, but it is presently infected with the pollution thereof, euen as the purest spirite of wine or best quintessence that can be made in the world, if it be powred into a filthy poisoned and vnsauory vessel, it doth in a moment become partaker of the corruptions thereof: yet we must not imagine the soules to haue for some time a being before they bee vnited with the bodies, for at one and the [Page 39] selfe same time, the soules are both created and also vnited to the bodies as it is said,Gen. 2.7. Hee breathed in his face the spirit of life. Neither must wee thinke, that they haue onely imbeci­lity and weakenes in resisting corrup­tions; but that they haue also many other defects of mind and will, they are destitute of spirituall light, & are therefore blinde, and not inclined to such desires and actions, as the law of God requireth. God bestowed his giftes and graces vpon Adam on this condition, that hee would giue them also to his posterity, if hee himselfe would by obedience keepe them, but would not giue them to his seed, if he by his vnthankfulnes should cast them away. Now Adam hauing by diso­bedience lost them God in iustice (as a iust punishment inflicted vpō Adams sinne) doth bereaue his posterity of them.

Now these defects and the inclina­tions corrupted by these defectes, are sins, as they are drawne by men sin­ning, vpon themselues and their po­sterity, [Page] and as they haue from them and their seed their beginning, and as they are causes also, that man nei­ther is, nor can bee conformable to the law of God. It is not a doctrine so strange (as some would make it) that the soule being created pure, should bee polluted by the body, see­ing that the soules of our first parents were created most pure, and yet after­ward depraued, and though the bo­dies of their posterity bee of them­selues sencelesse, yet that doth not proue, but that (vpon the curse laid on our first parentes) they may be prone to ill, and no fit instruments for any goodnesse: neither is it against the goodnesse of God so to ioine his pure creature to the body, that it must needes bee polluted thereby, seeing that as hee hath therein shewed his iustice in punishing sinne, so hee doth thereby set forth his infinite mercy, ordaining for it a remedy by the re­demption of Christ Iesus. God could haue made the soules of our first parents in such manner that they [Page 40] could not possibly fall away, but it was not expedient that they should be so made, because then the obedi­ence of man should haue beene as it were forced, and therefore not so ac­ceptable vnto God. So God could haue made the soules of his posterity with such strength and stedfastnesse, that they could not possibly bee pol­luted, but it was more expedient that they should be so made, that it might be knowne, both what wee are by na­ture, and what we are by grace. The goodnesse and mercy of God doth more shine by the redemptiō of Christ Iesus, then it should haue done, if man had neuer fallen into miseries, & although in the iust iudgement of God, the soule bee made in such sort as it must of necessity be polluted by the vniting of it with the body, yet is it not thereby to be excused from the guilt of sinne, for though it bee of ne­cessity, yet is it not of any compulsiō. A stone let downe into the water, go­eth downe of necessity, yet not with compulsion: bodies depriued of food [Page] doe faint of necessity, and flesh doth in time putrifie of necessity, yet nei­ther doth the one faint, nor the other putrifie by any compulsion. God of necessity is good, and the Diuell of necessity euill, yet cannot we say, that eyther goodnes in God, or iniquity in the Diuell do proceed of compul­sion. The soule being ioined to the body is of necessity sinnefull, yet not by compulsion, but willingly and of her owne accord. But some may say, the faithfull are regenerate, and born a new, and are in Christ become a holy people,2. Pet. 2, 9. how can it then bee that their seed should not be sanctified? or how can their posterity be originally sinnefull either in body or in soule? To that it is annswered, that man can giue nothing to his posterity, but what hee hath by nature, for that which cōmeth to him by grace, must come to his posteritie by grace also. Our new birth commeth not by any naturall meanes, wee are borne (as it is in the Euangelist) not of bloud,Ioh. 1.13. nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will [Page 41] of man, but of the will of God. If we winnow wheat neuer so perfectly and purge it throughly frō the eares,Comparatio Petri Mart. ex Aug. chaffe and drosse, yet if that wheat be sowne againe, it will not bring forth winnowed or clensed wheate, but to­gether with the stalke, huskes and such other thinges as must afterward be seperated from it. It can giue no­thing to the corn that must grow of it, but what it had by nature, what it had by art & industry, that must the graine next growing haue by the same meanes againe: Euen so the faithful, though they be washed, iustified, and sanctified, yet they cannot giue to their children these giftes which they haue receiued of Gods grace, they can giue to their children no more then what they haue had by nature, and by nature they haue nothing else but to bee children of wrath.Eph. 2.3.

Here now ariseth another doubt, if from our parents wee bee Children of wrath, it should seem that the chil­dren are punished for the parents trespasse, how can this agree with the [Page] iustice of God,Ezech. 18.26. to afflict one for, the fault of another? This doubt is ea­sily resolued, if these fower positions bee duely considered. First, that the most excellent graces which were at the first bestowed on man, were giuen on this condition, that if he did loose them, he should loose thē both from himselfe, and from his posterity. Se­condly, that children doe proceede out of the masse or substance of their parents, and therefore must needes be accounted as a part of their parēts according to that in the epistle to the Hebrewes,Heb. 7.10 The Tribe of Leui (being fower generations after Abraham) was yet in the loines of Abraham, if then the whole nature of man bee corrup­ted, then must needes euery portion be guilty of the same corruptiō, vntill by some singular grace and fauour, it doe obtaine remission.Rom. 5.12. Thirdly, that seeing the body proceeding from sin­full parents, is one part of man, and found guilty in and by the parentes, it standteh well with the iustice of God to bee offended with whole [Page 42] man, and thereupon so to withdraw his graces from the other parte, that both together may fall into ma­lediction. Fourthly that though God doe thus punish sinne with sinne, yet hee doth it in that maner, that hee is no way the author of sinne,Aug. de gra­tia, & lib, arbit. cap. 21 as Saint Augustine saith, Deus operatur in cor­dibus hominum ad inclinandum voluntates eorum quocunque vult, siue ad bona prosua misericordia, siue ad mala pro ipsorum me­ritis, iudicio vtique suo aliquando aperto, aliquando occulto semper iusto, GOD doth worke in the heartes of men, to encline their willes which way soeuer his pleasure is, eyther to good thinges according to his mercy, or to ill according to their owne desert, and that by his iudgement some­times manifest, sometimes secret, but alwayes iust. A weake house must needes incline, and also fall, when the vnderproppers are remo­ued, darkenesse must needes ensue, when the Sunne is departed away: Those bright beames of all light, which were giuen to our first pa­rentes [Page] are remoued, and other gifts and excellent graces of God, are in his iust iudgement so long withhol­den from our soules, vntill by his ho­ly spirit,Act. 26.18. Eph. 1.18. Act. 5 10 Heb. 13.21. as the worker, and by his ho­ly worde, as the instrument, God in his good time doe lighten the eyes of our heartes, purifie them by faith, and confirme and strengthen vs to euery good worke.

CHAP. VII. Of the immortality of the Soule.

Marsil. Fici­nu [...]m Theol. Platonis pag. 361. MArsilius Ficinus sheweth fiue sundry opinions of the Phi­losophers concerning the soule of man, but of Chri­stians, which truely hope for immor­tality▪ he wisheth the fower first asser­tions to be vtterly reiected, and the first onely fit to be receiued and em­braced. The first sort of Philosophers were they which made the soule to be a certaine thinne body infused into a thicker, a more subtle bodily sub­stance [Page 43] infused into a grosser. And of these some made it to bee fiery, as Democritus, Leucippus and Hipparchus. Some to bee an ayre or an aeriall bo­dy, as Anaximenes, Diogenes and Cri­tias: some to bee a watery substance, as Hippias, some earthly as Hesiodus, some of fire and ayre as Epicurus, and some of water and earth as Xenophan­tes. The second sort of Philosophers, was of them which thought the soule to bee no bodily substance, but some quality thereof dispersed through the body, to wit, either a heate, or a com­plexion, as was defended by Zeno, Cleanthes, Antipater, and Possidonius.

A third sort iudged the soule to be no whole quality, but some bright point of qualitie remaining in some beter part of the body, and qualities, to wit, in the braine or heart, and from thence gouerning the body, their authors especially were Chrysip­pus, Archelaus & Heraclides. The fourth sect were they which taught the soule to be a certaine point or pricke, or indiuisible thing, not fastened to any [Page] part, but secluded from all set place, & wholy present to euery part of the body, but yet such as it dependeth of the body, either because the com­plection of the body did beget it, or because it came of seede, or of some proportion of matter, and addicted to the matter, as to her natural birth­place, the chiefe broachers of this o­pinion were Xenophanes, Colophonius, As­clepiades, Aristoxenus & Critolaus: To some of them, the soule was nothing but a nimble force of mouing: to o­thers, a harmony of corporall partes. Others thought it a perfection of the senses; others a conspiring of the Ele­ments, others a swarm of atomes. The first and best sort of Philosophers, Fi­cinus maketh to be those which defēd the soule to be a certain diuine & in­deuisible essence, wholy ruling euery part of the body, produced of an in­corporeal author, & depending who­ly on the vertue & power of the wor­ker, & not vpon the beginning or ca­pacity, or vertue of any material thing. Thus thought Zoroaster, Mercurius, Py­thagoras, [Page 44] Plato, and amongst these also he numbreth Aristotle. It was a thing that mightily perswaded Plato that the soules both came frō God, and were also immortal, whē he cōsidered that her functions did not depend so vpon bodily instruments, but she could per­forme all her chiefest actions without thē, & as he saith in Phaedo, Ratiocinatur optimé quādo nihil eāperturbat, Plato in Phae­done. ne (que) auditus neque visus, neque dolor, neque voluptas, she doth reason and discourse best when neither hearing, nor sight, nor griefe, nor pleasure do hinder her. In age, when the body groweth weake, yet is oftē her iudgement ripest, & though many sicknesses do bereaue the body of strēgth, yet the vigor of the soule is not thereby diminished, she flieth be­yond all the powers of the sēses more swift then the lightning from the east to the west: shee can passe the seas (as Plato saith in Axiochus) in a moment,Sort. in Axi­ocho Plato­uis. she can calculate the course of Sunne, moone & stars, shee can discourse of things past, & foresee things to come, in ambiguous matters she can first [Page] doubt, and then chuse, and all these without the help of any bodily instru­mēnts, in knowledge she doth not on­ly passe through humaine arts by de­fining, deuiding, dissoluing, cōpoun­ding, but she doth euē pierce the skies; shee cōprehendeth the knowledge of God, she conceiueth God & his An­gels to be essences immortal: if brute beasts shold cōceiue reasō, they shold be then accounted reasonable.Calu. Instit. lib. 1. cap. 15. sect. 2. This conceiuing of immortality, & hauing recourse to the fount aine of life, is an euident argumēt that the soule is not a vanishing vapour, but a diuine essēce. How chearefully went Socrates to his death,Platonis A­polog. when in his conscience he was perswaded, that death was nothing els but (as he said) a flitting vnto ano­ther place, where he should enioy the cōpany of the Gods, & where vndoubtedly, the dead were in better estate then the liuing.Plato in Axi­ocho. Hee made this to bee the definition of the death of thē that liued wel, Discessus é vita est mali cuiusdā in bonū cōmutatio, the departure out of this life is nothing els but the chāging [Page 45] of ill into good. To the wicked hee confessed it to bee an entrance into some kindes of torments, but to the wise and vertuous he thought it to be nothing but a chāging of sorrows into all ioy & happines, what they were, he could not define, but of this he made no question,Plato in Phae­done. Socrates to Simmias. [...], To good soules it was surely better, and to ill soules worse.Philo. Iudacus It em Bruson. lib. 4. cap. 10. When Crito one of Socrates his friendes asked him at the time of his death, in what maner he would be buried, he cryed out, O my frendes, I haue spent a great deale of labour in vaine, I haue not yet perswaded Crito, that I shall flie away, & leane no parte behind, but Crito (said he) if thou canst ouertake me, bury me how thou wilt: his meaning was, that the minde or soule is the man, & that the body was but an instrumēt or cotage, or prison. Anaxurchus the Philosopher whē being taken by Nicocreon tyrant of Cypres, Idem lib. 2. cap. 1. ex Plutarcho. he was knocked with iron hammers, hee said, Tunde, tunde probé Anaxarchi, carnes & ossa, tunde Anaxarchi follē, Anaxarchū [Page] nequaquàm laedes, knocke, knocke hard­ly, the flesh and bones of Anaxarchus, knocke his bellowes the instrument of his winde, but Anaxarchus himselfe thou canst not hurt.Ibid. Theodorus the Macedonian philosopher, when Lysi­machus threatned to hang him, answe­red, haec aulicis tuis minitare, mea enim non refert humine an in cruce putrescam, threa­ten these things to thine owne Cour­tiers, as for me it is all one with mee, whether I doe putrifie on the ground, or on the gibbet. Theramenes the La­cedemonian,Plut. in Nicia Val. Max. lib 3 cap. 2. when being condemned by the Ephores, he was going to exe­cution, he laughed and carried in his countenance all signes of ioy, one of them therfore said vnto him, what do­est thou contemne the lawes of Lycur­gus our law-giuer? Hee answered no, but I giue them thanks, that they doe appoint me such a punishment, as I may pay without borrowing on inte­rest. Infinite such examples haue beene in all ages, of many valiant hearts, despising death, aswell in war, as in peace, & this couragious contēpt [Page 46] of death, is a very euident token that is in the heart, some expectatiō of another life, when this former is well en­ded. Tully saith,Tul. lib. 1. Tulc. that it is vnpossible to finde the originall of the soule in earth, nihil est in animis mistum aut concre­tum, aut humidum, aut flabile, aut igneum, there is no mingled nor compound thing in the soule, no moist thing nor windie, nor fierie, for none of these things can vnderstand, remember, or by things past collect things future. These things must needes be acknow­ledged diuine. And although the soule be not of these mixt things, yet doth she hold all these contrarieties in peace and vnion, which is also a plaine proofe of the diuine power of the soule, that she holdeth all contraries, heate, colde, moisture, and drought, in mutuall amitie and concord, Sene­ca being fallen into the consideration of that desire which man hath natu­rally to know some God (for there is no coūtrey so barbarous, which doth not in heart confesse that there is a God) saith, quemadmodum radii solis con­tingunt [Page] quidem terram, Seneca lib. ad Gallione de breuitate vi­tae. ad Lucil­ium. sed ibi sunt vnde mit­tuntur, ita animus magnus, et sacer conuer­satur quidem nobiscum, sed haeret origini suae, As the Sunne beames do come to the earth, but they are there from whence they are sent: euen so a great and ho­ly mind is conuersant with vs, but it doth cleaue and sticke there where it hath the first beginning. Mors quam pertimescimus, intermittit vitā non eripu, ve­niet iterum qui nos in lucemreponet dies, but that he speaketh chiefely vpon some hope of resurrection.

Alphonsus the King of Arragon ac­counted this as a great strengthening of his faith touching the immortalitie of the soule,Panormitan. lib. 4. de rebus pestis Alphonsi. because he sawe dayly the elder that men grew in yeares, and the more that the strength did decrease, the more they excelled in wisedome, and the more did the powers of their mind encrease. Strength is an effect of youth, if the soule in the middest of bodily weakenes, or worldly trouble, do gather strength, as Chrysostom saith, anima reiuuenescit inter angustias, Chrysost. de resurr. serm. 1. the soul by troubles doth waxe more youthful [Page 47] then must it needes follow, that it is of it selfe an essence immortall. But some do say, the simplicitie of children, and the do [...]age of many old men, do shew that the mind is like affected with the bodie, and therefore the body wholy failing, the mind must needes faile al­so. I must needs confesse, that when the senses and formes of things are al­together disturbed (as in a frensie) or when there is a great distemperature in the braine (as in children by too much moisture, and in crooked olde age by too much drinesse) then for want of good tooles the worke-man is as it were idle, and for want of fit windowes the ghest that is within vs, doth not take so good a view of mat­ters, as otherwise shee would. But it doth not thereby follow, but that she shall fully exercise her operations a­gaine when she is deliuered both of windowe and closet, and hath no o­ther functions to execute, but what she can perfectly performe without a­ny helpe of instruments. The clouds shadowe the light of the Sunne from [Page] vs, but the brightnesse of the Sunne it selfe is nothing thereby diminished. As the Sunne of the little world, mans soule hath seuerall faculties, so hath she seuerall times when shee doth in highest degree exercise and vse them.

The vegetatiue power hath his mightiest force in the wombe, the sen­sitiue hath his chiefest time in the course of this life, and the intellectuall doth flourish most after this life. The prodigious dreames which haue been in all ages,Calu. Iustit. lib. 1. cap. 15. Sect. 2. doe plainely conuince and proue what agility and vigour may be in the mind, when the senses are all bound. In the warre with the Latins the two Romane Consuls, at that time Generals in the field, did in one night dreame one, & the selfe same dreame, a ghost appeared vnto them, and told that it was agreed by the gods, that on the one side the Generall should dye, and on the other side the whose armie: The two Generals, to wit, Deri­us, and Manlius Torquatus, when they had compared their dreames toge­ther, did resolue like valiant comman­ders, [Page 48] that they should rather one of them yeeld vp their liues as a sacrifice, then that the whole armie should pe­rish. The agreement was made, that whether soeuer of them had his wing or troupes first beginning to faile, the Generall of that part of the armie, should presently cast himselfe into the thickest of his enemies, and sell his life as deare as he could. It fell to Derius his lot, his wing began first to shrinke, and thereupon hee beeing gallantly mounted, did presently make a breach vpon the armie of the enemie, fought fiercely, slew many, and although hee was at the last slaine himselfe, yet hee brought thereby happy deliuerance vnto his countrey.

Sophocles the Tragedian,Peucerus de diuinatione pag. 456. when on a certaine night a robberie was euen then in committing at Athens, did the very same time dreame so often and so ap­parantly of it, that he arose and went to the offïcers, the Areopagites decla­ing his dream vnto thē, and the maner of the manifest appearing therof. The Areopagites thereby found out the [Page] fact, and inflicted vpon the offendors condigne punishment. Infinite such like ensamples haue beene, which doe aboundantly declare vnto vs, that whē the senses & bodily powers are cast a­sleepe, the mindes haue beene farre sharper and seene much more then a­ny way they could haue seene by the instruments of the bodily senses. Fur­ther, if the soule were not a distinct es­sence from the bodie, why should the holy Scripture vse so often these and such like kindes of phrases, that wee dwell in houses of clay,Iob. 4.19. that our bodie is as a house and tabernacle to the soule,2. Cor. 5. V. 1.2.6. that while we liue here, wee are at home in the bodie, but absent from the Lord? These doe instruct the same to vs, which the Philosopher sawe by the light of reason,Tul. Tusc. 5. that corpus est quasi vas anim & quoddam receptaculum, the bodie is but as it were, a vessell for the soule▪ and a receptacle for a time. Againe, if the soule were not a substāce of it selfe, why should the Apostle saint Peter call the end of our faith the saluation of our soules,1. Pet. 1.9. 1. Pet. 2.11. or bid vs ab­staine [Page 49] from lustes, which fight against our soules. Or the Apostle to the Hebrewes,Heb. 1 [...].17. call the labour of Mini­sters a watching euer soules, as they which must giue an account of them: with sundrie other such exhortations, as are set downe here in my first chap­ter.Heb. 10.17. Or how could there be a terrour and trembling of conscience in the wicked, when by the guiltinesse of their sinne, they finde in themselues a fearefull looking for of iudgement, and violent fire to consume the ad­uersarie? It is not a motion, but an essence which doth pierce vp to the tribunall seate of God, and from thence strike terrour into it selfe. This sting of conscience, as it is a spirituall punishment, and not corporall, so it falleth not vpon the body, but vpon the soule. For the immortalitie of this spirituall essence, what is reuealed by the holy scriptures, I shall haue occasi­on to declare more at large in my four last chapters: only my chief drift hath beene here to shew what the wise Phi­losophers of the world haue cōceiued [Page] thereof, by the light of naturall reasō, and to let vs see what a shame it is for vs, not to make so much vse of deepe meditations as they did. When Socra­tes did but consider, that the minde doth thē discourse best, when nothing doth trouble it, neither hearing, nor seeing, nor griefe, nor pleasure (as wee see when the senses are stopped, the vnderstanding doth most deepely me­ditate) he could gather thereby an ar­gument of immortalitie.Seneca epist. 111. When Sene­ca sawe that the greater and more he­roicall mind was in man, the more it did despise these base worldly things, and the lesse it feared to depart out of the bodie, he would say straight, maxi­mum est argumentum animi ab alitiori veni­entis sede, It is the greatest argument that can be of a mind comming from heauen, and therefore of a heauenly and eternall nature. To conclude, e­uen the Poets when they considered the diuine gifts bestowed on the soul of man,Phoeylides. could not but confesse that, [...], Th' immortall soule stil yong, lasteth for aye.

And Pythagoras a Poet, but much more a Philosopher.

CHAP. VIII. How in the soule the image of God shal be re­newed.

OF those words in Genesis,Gen. 1.27. that God made man after his owne image & likenes, there haue beene amongst many, sundry applicatiōs, and sundrie opinions, some plainely heretical, and others more tolerable. The heresie of the Anthopomorphitae is dānable, which maketh God to be a bodily substance like vnto man: for the scriptures doe shew vs abundantly,Ioh. 4.24. 2. Cor. 3.17. that God is a spi­rit inuisible, and incomprehensible, [Page] he appeared sometime visibly to the Patriarkes,Exod. 33.20. Ioh. 6.46. Gen. 16.10. Exod. 2.2. Esay. 6.1. and his holy seruants, but that was not according to his essence, (which is infinite) but according to certaine representments, or (as Atha­nasius speaketh) maiesties, farre inferi­or to that which he is of himself, & ap­plied to the capacity of man. And cer­taine it is, that in Genesis that image of God, which is said to bee in man, was not in respect of the bodie, which was made of the slime of the earth: but in respect of the spirit, which was giuen vnto man,Gen. 2.7. whē God did breath into him, and hee was made a liuing soule. Osiander made the image of God to signifie Christ, which in the preordināce of God was for to come, and to take mans nature vpon him: & hee taught that then doth the soule beare the image of God, when it hath the very righteousnesse of Christ Iesus as an inherent quality. He had it from the Manichees, & groūded his opiniō especially vpon that place of the Apo­stle,2. Cor. 3.18. we all with open face beholding the glory of God as in a glasse, are trāsformed [Page 15] into the same image frō glory to glorie, as by the spirit of God. Those wordes are spoken especially of the Apostles and Ministers (of whome Saint Paul doth in that place in­treat) and doe import thus much, that they in the glasse of Gods worde be­holding the glorie of God are trans­formed into the same image, to bee lights vnto others (as our Sauior said,Math. 5.14. ye are the lights of the world) and to light them, not onely in doctrine, but in going before them in sanctification of life. The righteousnesse of Iesus Christ, is imputed to vs (as the Apostle doth often declare) when wee put on Christ by faith,Rom. 4.9.10. Rom. 4.22. Gal. 3.27. 1. Cor. 1.30. Phil. 3.9, and are clothed with the righteousnesse of Christ. But that perfect righteousnesse it self, such as is able to stand before the iudge­ment of God, neither is, nor euer was an inherent quality, residēt in any but only in the manhood of Christ Iesus. It may and ought to suffice vs, to receiue of the fruit, and to let the tree & roote remaine where it should.2. Cor, 5.21, The Apostle sheweth that in the same manner as [Page] Christ was made sinne for vs, so we are made the righteousnes of God in him. Now he was made sinne by imputati­on, when all our sinnes were laid vpō him,Pet, 2, 24, and as Saint Peter saith, hee bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree, so likewise his righteousnesse (as of one that hath vouchsafed to become our head) is imputed to all the true mem­bers of his mysticall body, for as Adā was as no priuate mā, but the fountain and welspring of mankind, & therfore most iustly,Rom, 5, 12, as in him we all sinned, so in him we all died. So the second Adā, our Lord Iesus, is not to be considered as a priuate mā, but as the head of the church, & what was wrought by him, is wholy benificial to al the faithful. If by the husband, as being the head, a debt be answered, how iustly thē is the wife discharged? The church is called the spouse of Christ,Eph. 5, 27. & although it be said to be without spot, or wrinckle, yet must it not be vnderstood, that it is void of all sin (for why should it then be taught by our Sauiour to pray con­tinually, for forgiuenes of trespasses?) [Page 52] but we are said to bee without spot or wrinckle, as we are clothed with the iustice of Christ, and as the Lord doth behold vs not in our selues, but in, & and through his sonne Christ Iesus,Math. 3, 17, in whome only he is well pleased. How the righteousnes that is in the faithful and such as are sanctified, is called the image of God, shall be shewed hereaf­ter: Let this suffïce here to condemne that dreame of the Manichees, and Osiander, who by the image of God in man, did imagine a perfect vpright­nesse, righteousnesse, and holinesse, in­herent in the powers of man, making him in this life voide of all blemish or imperfection, either in body or soule. A third opinion, or rather an applica­tion by the way, how the soule is the image of God, is that of Saint Augu­stine, making our soule to be an image of the blesied Trinitie. In the soule there is, memoria intellectus, voluntas, haec tria potes numerare, non potes separare, Aug. de ver­bis domini. Serm. 63. Memorie, vnderstanding, and will, you may number these three, but you cannot seperate them: So the [Page] three persons in the Trinitie, you may number them, but you cannot diuide them, as the one is but one soule, so the other but one Godhead. Yet in another place he correcteth himselfe, and saith,Aug, epist. 102. that this is similitudo dissimilis, an vnlike similitude, because the me­morie, the vnderstanding, and the will, are in the soule; but wee cannot say that euery one of them is the soule, but the Trinitie it selfe is God, and euery person God.

Fourthly, the making of man after Gods image, hath beene expounded by some to signifie the soueraigntie which God gaue vnto him ouer al his earthly creatures, to bee a similitude of his heauenly prouidence, gouer­ning all things: and therefore when it is saide, that God made man after his owne image, there followeth in the next verse, the commaundement of God,Gen. 1, 27, ver. 28, giuing Adam power to rule ouer all beastes, and fishes, and foules.

This is the interpretation of Chryso­stome, and although it be condemned [Page 53] by some,Calu. in Psycopan. yet I doe not see but it may stand very well to bee a part of the i­mage of God, seeing the Apostle speaketh directly (speaking of prehemi­nence in gouernmēt.1. Cor. 11.7) The man ought not to couer his head, for as much as he is the image of God, but the wo­wan ought, because shee is the image of the husband. But this is not the i­mage of God which wee are in this place to seeke out: wee must finde such an image as shall be common to both sexes, for as the Apostle saith,Gal. 3.28. In Iesus Christ there is neither Iew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male nor fe­male, but all is one.

A fift description of the image of GOD,Calu. Instit. lib. 2. cap. 12. sect. 6. is of them which make it to be that high perfection, which God gaue first to Adam, to conuerse with God, and to bee ioined vnto GOD, which perfect integrity was also gi­uen to the Angels, being therefore called the sonnes of God: for to be­hold the countenance of God, requi­reth a similitude with God, and it is saide,Mat. 22.30 that the glorified in the [Page] life to come shall bee like the Angels of God. This Angelical perfection was giuen to our first parents, but for their disobediance and vnthankful­nes both they and wee were iustly de­priued of it: for man hath receiued naturally fower woundes, whereby this image of God is defaced in him. The first is a iudiciall wound,Heb. 7.10. wherby man being shut vp in the loines of Adam, and therefore sinning in A­dam, is iustly condemned as guilty of the same trespasse with him, and stan­deth by nature as a mā before a iudge condemned, and for a time repriued. This confessed the kingly Prophet, when hee sayde,psal. 51.5. In sinne was I born, and in iniquity my mother conceiued mee.

The second wound is called priua­tiue, to wit, a depriuing of all those excellent gifts, which were at the first bestowed on Adam▪ when in a corpo­ration, the liberties are shamefully a­bused, or when Subiects doe rebell a­gainst their Soueraigne, it is accoun­ted iustice to depriue the posteritie of [Page 54] the one of their priuileges, and the whole of spring of the other of their inheritance: much more when the heauenly graces of God are rebelli­ously cast off, they are in right and e­quitie most iustly plucked away from the generation ensuing. Man is ther­fore naturally depriued, first of al po­wer of doing good, so that none can come to Christ,Ioh. 6, 44. vnlesse the heauenly Father drawe him,Luke 15.5, none can truely come home vnlesse (as the lost sheep) hee bee laid vpon the shouldèr of the mercifull shepheard, to wit our Saui­our, and be brought home to repen­tance. Wee are therefore accounted naturally as dead. The Apostle saith,Rom 6.13. Giue your selues vnto God, as they which of dead are aliue, you which were dead hath he quickned againe,Col. 2.13. forgiuing you all your sinnes. Se­condly, wee are depriued not onely of power, but also of will,Phil. 2, 13 Aug. in En­chirid. ad Laurentium. as Augustine obserueth well, Libero arbitrio male vtens homo, & se perdidit & ipsum, Man by abusing free will, lost both him­selfe and it. As (saith he) a man that [Page] wilfully murdereth himselfe, hath neither life nor power to raise vp him selfe againe: so when free will was abused vnto sinne, and ouercome by sinne, it lost his freedome and fell in­to slauery and dondage: wee are fur­ther depriued of all ability of think­ing well,2, Cor, 3, 5 so that of our selues we can­not thinke a good thought, euery fra­ming or cogitation of the heart of man,Genes. 6, 5. is onely ill continually: moreo­uer our knowledge is gone,1, Cor. 2.14, naturall man cannot conceiue the thinges of God.Act. 16, 14 Lydia cannot so much as mark the wordes of Paul, vntill God doe o­pen her eyes: wee are nothing of our selues in respect of spirituall know­ledge,Eph. 5, 8 Eph. 4, 18 but meere darknes and blinde­nesse, yea those thinges which are thought most excellent of vs, haue neede to bee remoued: the very wise­dome of the flesh is enmity against God,Rom. 8, 7. Eph, 4, 23, and the Apostle requireth, that wee be renewed euen in the spirite of our mindes.psal. 51, 10. Dauid praieth God to create in him a new heart, and a new spirit, and being created to guide thē [Page 55] still with his grace, not to take his ho­ly spirit from him, or els hee well per­ceiued there was no power in him­selfe to yeeld obedience to the will & commaundement of God.

The third wound is caled Positiue, whereby wee are by nature enclined vnto all euill, as by the former we are depriued of all powers, and faculties of doing good, so by this wee are na­turally prone to vngodlines, and ini­quitie. The Apostle saith,Eph. 2.3. wee be na­tura filii irae, by nature the children of wrath. The Pelagians, and of late the Anabaptists say, that wee are sin­full from our parents, but they say, it is by imitation or by imputation, but the Apostle maketh no such begin­inges of sinne: hee pronounceth flatly the vnregenerate to bee by na­ture children of wrath: Iob sayeth,Iob. 11.1 [...] that a new borne babe is as an vnta­med and vnbroken Colt, apt by na­ture to all vntowardnes: Infantes haue the seedes of anger, way warde­nesse, pride and vanity, howsoeuer (as the serpent sometimes is so frozen in [Page] winter, that it may bee handled with­out danger, not because it hath no poyson, but because it hath no power to put it out: so little children doe for a time not shew forth manifest ef­fectes of these sins, not because they haue not the venome, but because they are not able to send it forth. If a whole vessell be poysoned, how can a­ny droppe therof be sound or wholesome? the whole stocke of mankinde is poisoned with the sinne of Adam. Gen▪ 5, 3, It is saide Adam begat issue after his owne likenesse, as Adam was sinful, lustfull, vnthankfull, disobedient, so the branches bee of the same nature with the stocke and roote.

The fourth wound is called tran­sitiue, whereby, as by a wound, which is deeper growne and of long conti­nuance commeth at the last a Fistula, yeelding most filthy mater, so of these former woundes do proceede actuall sinnes, and custome of sinning, wher­by all actions and operations both of body and soule are repugnant to the will of God. And those things which [Page 56] by nature we should haue done with­out sinne (had Adam not offended) those things wee performe now with a thousand imperfections: for as a man that hath the palsey, hath a mo­uing of head and handes, as hee had before, and as wee see also other men haue, but his mouinges are now alto­gether irregular, and full of infirmi­ties: so all those affections of mind, loue, desire, reioycing, and all naturall functions, eating, drinking, sleeping, and such like, which wee should haue performed without sinne, if Adam had not transgressed, are now become plainely irregular, and full of infinite blemishes and corruptions. Thus many wayes by nature is the image of God blotted out in the vnregene­rate, but in them which are born a­new by the grace and spirite of God, and do by a true and sound faith take holde of the merites and satisfaction of Christ,1, pet. 2.21 by whose stripes we are hea­led, and are liuely members of that Chruch,Esay 30.26, vnto which the Redeemer was promised to binde vp their brea­ches, [Page] and to heale the stroke of their woundes:Ezech. 3 [...].16, In them all these sores & hereditary diseases aforenamed, are so farre cured,Luk. 10.19 that nothing shall bee able to doe them harme, their pow­ers are so farre strengthned, as that by the helpe of the grace of our Lord Ie­sus, and by the merite of his passion they do performe those things which are acceptable vnto God.phil. 4, 13. I can doe all thinges (sayth the Apostle) in him that doth strengthen me.phil. 2, 13 God doth worke in vs both to will and to per­forme: so likewise for the thoughts, the heart is purified by faith,Act. 15, 9. for the knowledge,1, Cor. 2, 14 Eph, 5, 8 the spirituall man discer­neth all thinges, ye were once darke­nes, but now yee are all light in the Lord,Iames 1, 5 for wisedome, hee giueth it to the askers that vpraideth no man, & for the spirit of the minde, that is per­formed in them, which the Apostle nameth to the Thessaloniās,1. Thes. 5, 21. euen the God of Peace doth sanctifie them, throughout, that their perfect spirite and soule and body, shall bee blame­les,phil. 3, 12, vntill the comming of our Lord [Page 42] Iesus Christ. That spirit is accounted perfect, which doth aime still at per­fection, and labour continually more and more to attaine vnto it,Phil. 3, 14. 2. Chron. 15.17. going on in singlenesse and soundnesse of heart without hypocrisie, endeuou­ring by all meanes to bee the same before God, as it would seeme to be before men,Psal. 119.6. and hauing respect as much as may bee to all the comman­dementes of God, and yet seeking especially that perfect blessednesse,Psal. 32. [...] which doth consist in the couering of imperfections.

That happy couering of sinnes, (spoken of by the Prophet Dauid) is atributed by Saint Paule to iustificati­on by faith,Rom. 4.5.7. taking hold of the righ­teousnes and satisfaction of Iesus Christ: if these thinges bee perfor­med with deuoute and holy zeale, then doth the soule and spirit in some measure put on againe the image of God.Aug. de Gen. ad literam l. 6. cap. 1 S. Augustine sheweth that it is the soule and minde of man, where the image of God is to bee sought: when God first created him, & made [Page] him after his likenesse, it was non se­cundum corpus, sed secundum intellectum, not in respect of the body, but in re­spect of the vnderstanding: Quan­quam in corpore habeat quandam proprie­tatem quae hoc indicet, quòd erecta statura factus sit, vt admoneretur sibi non esse terre­na spectanda, Although hee hath al­so in body a certaine property, which sheweth the very same, to witte, his stature with the face lifted vppe, that hee might bee admonished not to set his mind on earthly thinges.

There bee fiue especiall thinges re­quired to the renewing of the image of God in vs. The first is knowledge of diuine misteries, as the Apostle saith,Col. 3.10. Put on the new man renewed vnto knowledge, according to the i­mage of the Creator. The Psalmist doth pronounce him blessed which doth meditate and pōder day & night in the law of GOD.Psal. 1.2.

The second thing is righteousnes, as the Apostle exhorteth, Put on the new man,Eph. 4.2 4 which after God is created in righteousnes and true holinesse. [Page 58] Dauid saith,psal. 145.17. God is righteous in all his wayes, and holy in all his workes. To put on Gods image in righteous­nes, is not onely to abstaine from in­iuries, vniust dealing and oppression, but to bee good vnto all men to the vttermost of our power: for those who did feed the hungry, giue drinke to the thirsty, and visite them which were sicke or in prison, are called iust: the other to wit, they on the left hand shall goe into euerlasting paine, but these righteous into life eternall.

The third, true holinesse:Mat. 25.40 Leuit. 19.2 1. Pet. 16. Eph. 4.24▪ The com­maundement is often giue, bee holy as I am holy. The Apostle to the Ephesians, doth as by righteousnes point out all duties towardes our neigh­bour, so by holinesse he doth signifie especially our duties towardes God, that wee carry our selues religiously in the seruice of God, that our praiers be no matters of custome,psal. 25.1 but liftings vp of our soules vnto God,psal. 63.5. that our soules be filled with marrow and fat­nes, when we prayse God with ioyfull lippes,psal. 69.9 that the zeale of the Lordes [Page] house doe eate vs vp,Deut. 28.58 that wee feare God, and dread his glorious & fear­full name, the Lord our God, and that wee loue the Lord with all the powers of heart, mind, soule and strength.

The fourth thing required for the i­mage of God, to be renewed in vs, is truth, not onely true deuotion in the seruice of God (which the Apostle cal­leth true holinesse) but as he addeth in the verse following,Eph. 4.24.25 to speake eue­ry man the truth one to an other, for wee are members one of another. The nearer man approcheth vnto truth, the more doth hee put on the image of him,Tit. 1.2 that is truth it selfe, and is cal­led a God that cannot lie, and the more that man is giuen to falshoode and deceit, the more doth hee cast off the image of God, and put vpon him­selfe the vizard of Satan, who is the Father of lies,Iohn 8.4 and was a lyer from the beginning.

The fift necessary part of the repai­ring Gods image in vs, is that all our affections which by nature were cor­rupted, be sanctified and gouerned by [Page 59] the grace atd power of Gods spirite: as the Apostle doth in the next verse giue an instance of anger,Eph. 3.2 6, Bee angry (saith hee) and sinne not. It is not re­quired that affections should be clean rooted out: for affections were euen in our Sauiour Christ, It is said in S. Marke, Mar. 3.5. that when hee looked vppon the Pharises, he did with anger grieue that their hart was so hardened.Iohn 11, 35 And in S. Iohn, that when they wept for La­zarus, Iesus wept also. The Apostle bid­deth vs couet to prophesie,1. Cor. 14.39, and in an other place reioyce with them that reioyce,Rom. 12.15. and weepe with them that weepe. The prophet Dauid saith,Psal. 139.2 [...] Doe not I hate thē O Lord that hate thee? yea I hate them with a perfect hatred. There is a very good vse of affections in man: anger addeth a spurre to for­titude, hatred of sinne addeth a spur to iustice, griefe addeth a spurre to mercy. If the heart should bee with­out affections, then should the soule bee like to a shippe be calmed in the Sea, when shee hath no wind, shee can make no way, neither can the soule [Page] gouerne well the matters of this life without affections: onely it is re­quired, that they be sāctified by Gods grace and made more and more cō ­formable to the will of God. If thus the image of God be dayly more and more renewed in vs, then doth our estate receiue a most comfortable al­teration:Rom, 5, 1 Eph. 2.3, Rom. 6.20. Rom. 7, 14 for whereas by nature wee were enemies to God, children of wrath slaues of sinne, carnall, & solde vnder sinne,Ezech. 16, 6 filthy and wallowing in our owne bloud,Eph. 2.19. and strangers from the common wealth of Israell, we are now by grace made the friendes of God,Iohn 3.29 Iohn 15.14 the Spouse of Iesus Christ, the children of Abraham, sons and heires of God,Eph. [...] 32 a chosen generation, a [...]oy­all priesthood,Rom. 4.16. a holy nation, a peculiar people,Rom. 8.16. washed in Christ his bloude,1. Pet 2.9 and made kinges and priests to God our father.Apoc. 1.6

CHAP. IX. What wee may conceiue of the soule by the conscience of man, and how the conscience is a heauen or hell to the soule in this life.

THere are very well made of S. Bernard, fower seuerall kinds of consciences: wher­of onely one doth stand a­gainst the immortality of the soule, there is Quieta mala, and quieta bona, Power sundry kindes of consciences. turbata mala, and turbata bona, A qui­et ill conscience, and a quiet good, A troubled il, and a troubled good: A quiet ill conscience is when man sleepeth securely in sinne,Eph. 4, 19, Rom. 5, 1. and hath no sense nor feeling of sinne: A qui­et good is,Act. 1, 18 when being iustified by faith, hee is at peace with God, a troubled ill, when a man is swal­lowed vppe in the gulfe of dispaire, and a troubled good,Mat. 11.28, when labou­ring and groning vnder the burthen of sinne, hee desireth to be eased and refreshed by Iesus Christ. The first conceiueth little of immortality, be­cause [Page] indeed man continuing in it, is transformed as it were into a brute beast: for as a troubled good con­science, is sitte for men of infirmities, and a troubled ill maketh them like to the diuels, so a quiet good doth make them after a sort angels, and a quiet ill doth reduce them to the e­state of brute beasts, & depriue them of vnderstanding and reason. The A­postle caleth the Cretiā, slow bellies, euil beasts.Tit. 1, 1, Dauid saith of thē that are drowned in worldly honour,psal. 49, 20 man be­ing in honor hath no vnderstanding, but is like to the beasts that perish: & in an other place biddeth vs not to be like horse and mule in whom there is no vnderstanding.psal, 32, 9 Of the Philoso­phers, such as onely delighted to wal­low in pleasures, were called Epicuri de grege porci, hogs of the heard of E­picure,Horat. lib. 1 Epist. 2 Fruges consumere nati, only born to deuoure the fruites of the earth. The prophet Hosea saith,Hos. 4.11 Whoredom and drunkennesse doe take away the heart of man, that is, they make him to haue no sense nor feeling of sins, [Page 19] but to reioyce in that which indeede he should lament, and to bee, though aliue in the bodie, yet dead in the soule, as saith Bernard, Bern. lib. 1. de considerat. quis magis mortu­us eo qui portat ignem in sinu, peccatum in conscientia sentit, nec excutit, nec expauescit? Who is more dead then hee which ca­rieth fire in his bosome, sinne in his conscience, and doth neither feele it, nor shake it out, nor tremble at it? The cause of this quietnesse is, because Satan hath gotten a peaceable posses­sion. Our Sauiour saith, when a strong man doth possesse all, then all is qui­et. Diabolus eos pulsare negligit, Greg. 14. moral. 12. quos quieto iure possidere se sentit, The diuell is care­lesse of assaulting them, of whome hee hath iustly gottē a quiet possessiō. Of this quietnesse Bernard speaketh, wri­ting vpon that place of Ezekiel, Ezech. 16.42. my wrath and zeale is departed from thee,Bern, super Cantica. serm, 42. Vides quòd tunc magis irascitur Deus cùm non irascitur, hanc misericor diam ego nolo, supra omnem iram est miseratio ista, you may see that God is then most an­grie, when he is not angrie. The quiet ioy that wicked men haue, seemeth to come of mercy, but I wold wish none [Page] of that mercie: that mercy is aboue al the wrath that can be.

Howsoeuer bruitish man hath no hope of immortalitie, nor feare of Gods iudgements, yet is his case ther­by no whit the better, but rather much more grieuous: hee is euen as the stall-fed Oxe, who still feeding to the full, and neuer conceiuing any foresight of his death, is yet neuer the better for it: A sodaine death will bring the greater feare. Nay, he is in­finite thousand times worse, for the beast is fed but to perish temporally, and he is fed to perish eternally.

The second kinde of ill conscience called turbata mala, a troubled ill cons­cience, though it haue no apprehensi­on of Gods mercy, yet doth it con­ceiue it selfe to be a spirituall essence, endangered to the iudgement of eter­nall punishment. This sting of cor­rupt conscience, is called often in the Scriptures,Esay. 66.24. Mark. 9.44. 1. Tim. 4.2. Esay. 57.20. Heb. 10.27. a worme that neuer dyeth: It is named a searing with a hote iron, a sea that alwaies rageth, a terrible looking for of iudgement, and violēt [Page 62] fire to deuour the aduersarie.Esay. 48.22. When the wicked feele no peace in them­selues, but that in the middest of all their ioyes and pleasures,Eccl. 41.5. they haue often a bitter remembrance of death and condemnation, so that as the wise man saith, euen in the laughing,Prou. 14.13 the heart is sorrowful, and the mirth doth end in heauinesse: What doth this ar­gue, but that the soule is a spirituall substance, such as can flye vp to the tribunall seate of God, and there both accuse her selfe, and also pleade guilty for her selfe? In iudiciall handling of matters before men, there are sun­dry persons to performe seueral func­tions, some doe accuse, others witnes, others condemne, others torment: but an euill conscience is of it selfe all in one. It is to bad men (as the scrip­tures shew) both their accuser & wit­nesse, and iudge, and tormentor. Their accuser (as saith the Apostle) their own conscience accusing, or excusing.Rom. 2.15. Where Saint Iohn declareth, that at the time of Gods iudgements,Apoc. 20.12 the bookes shall be opened. Chrysostome sheweth [Page] what those billes are, conscientia est co­dex in quo quotidiana peccata scribuntur. The conscience of man, is the booke wherein his dayly sinnes are written. Secondly it is the witnesse, according to that of Paul, Rom, 2, 15. their owne thoughtes bearing witnesse:Wis, 17, 10, And of the wisemā, it is a fearefull thing when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie, and a conscience that is touched, doth euer forecast cruell things. For feare (saith he) is nothing else, but a bea­traying of the succours which reason offereth, this saw the heathen wisemā. ‘Thales Miles,Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time,’ If thou attempt any filthy thing, feare thy selfe, without any further witnes: And the Oratour,Quint, decl, 9 conscientia mille testes, the conscience is as good as a thou­sand witnesses, So Pythagoras. ‘ [...],’ Of all men in the world stand most in awe of thy selfe. [...], Ioh, 3, 20, Thirdly it is the iudge as Saint Iohn saith, if our heart con­demne vs, God is aboue the hart. And Saint Paul, speaking of the heretike that sinneth against his own cōscience [Page 63] saith, that he sinneth damned of him­selfe. Se ipsum vnusquisque, Ambro. epist. ad Constant. et animum suum seuerum iudicem sui vltorem criminis habet. Euery man hath in himselfe and his owne heart, a seuere iudge and re­uenger of his wickednesse. Fourth­ly it is also the tormenter,1. Tim. 4.2. Esay. 66.24, Heb. 10.27. 1, Tim, 6, 10, in which re­spect it is called a burning with a hote iron, a worme gnawing still vpon the heart, a violent fire, consuming Gods enemies, and such as pierceth man thorowe with many sorrowes. The heathen Oratour could say, conscientia graue pondus, a mans conscience,Tul, [...]. de na­tura deorum if it be ill, is a heauy burden. It will make him to grieue at the losse of that which he neuer loued, for vertue hath this triumph ouer vice, that they which hate her most shall bee grieued at her absence. ‘Vertulem vi videant intabescántque relicta,’ That though they loue not vertue, yet they shall see it, and pine away with the losse of it.Luke, 16, 23 When it is said that the damned rich man did see Lazarus in Abrahams bosome, no doubt it is sig­nified to vs, that this doth, and euer [Page] shall greatly augment the punishmēts of the wicked, to perceiue and see frō how blessed an estate they are fallen.

These effects in the consciences of the vngodly, doe euidently declare the soule to be a spirituall essence, and apprehending much more then those things which concerne this life. Whē Kaine said,Gen, 4, [...], my sinne is more then can be forgiuen, I shall be a vagabond and a runnagate,Gen. 27, 38. Gen. 9, 27. when Esau wept for the losse of his birthright: When Pharao seeing Gods fearefull iudgement, cry­ed out God is iust, and I and my peo­ple are wicked: When Ecebolius the Philosopher of Constantinople (be­cause in the time of Iulian the Apostata hee had as a time seruer denied his faith in Christ) threw himselfe downe before the Church,Socr, lib, 3. cap, 11, and said calcate me salem insipidum, treade vpon me vnsaue­rie salt. VVhen Francis Spaera for the like fault said to the Bishop Vergerius that he could wish to lye ten thousand yeares in hell, so that once hee could hope of remission and deliuerie from eternall punishment, what was this [Page 64] but that their owne consciences did both accuse them, and also condemne and torment them! This testimony of conscience made Iosephes brethren to shake with feare,Gen, 50, 15. when they remembred their crueltie against their yong brother, it made Adam to creepe into the thickets,Gen. 3, 10, when he heard the voyce of him whome hee had vnthankfully despised. This made Faelix to trem­ble, when hee heard Paul preach of righteousnesse and temperance,Act. 24, 2 [...], and of the iudgement to come. This made Caligula, that wicked Emperour in times of thunder and lightning, to creepe vnder the beds, and into cor­ners. This made that famous, or ra­ther infamous Medea, sitting at sessiōs within her selfe, her owne heart being the foreman to accuse her selfe, and condemne her selfe;

Yet such is the force of a corrupted and confounded conscience, that it [Page] maketh the dead to see me aliue again. Herod when he heard of the fame and miracles of our Sauiour Christ,Mark. 6, 14 said surely, this is that Iohn Baptist whome I haue beheaded, he is risen from death to life againe: Iohn was dead and bu­ried, he was dead to other men, but he was aliue to Herod. As it is recorded by a certaine Pythagorean Philoso­pher, that when he came to a house to pay a little debt, [...]ra [...]m. lib. 6, apoph. and at the very same time his creditor was new dead, and he perceiued (by hearing the wil read) that there was no mention made of that debt, he reioyced and went away carrying his money backe againe: But when he sawe that it was a dayly sting to his conscience, and that hee could neuer be in quiet for it (for an euill conscience is like vnto a strait bed, where mā can take no rest) he brought the money backe againe to his credi­tors house, and threw it to his Execu­tours, speaking these words vnto him selfe, tibi viuit, aliis mortuus est, he is aliue vnto thee, although he bee dead vnto others.

The two other kindes of conscien­ces, to wit, turbata bona, and quieta bona, a troubled good conscience, and a quiet good conscience, I make no o­ther difference of them, but the one to be as it were the beginning and en­trance into the other: for none can truly attaine vnto a heauenly ioy in his conscience, vnlesse he haue first beene brought downe to hell by the consi­deration of his sinnes. None can bee truly refreshed in Christ, vnlesse hee haue first with griefe and sighing,Ma [...], felt the burthen of his sinnes. Saint Au­gustine acknowledgeth, that a man non potest coronari nisi vicerit, Aug. in Psal. 60, nec potest vincere nisi certauerit, nec potest certare nisi inimi­cum, et tentationes habeat, Hee cannot be crowned vnlesse he ouercome, nei­ther can he ouercome vnlesse he striue, neither can he striue vnlesse he haue an enemy & temptations. But when these tēptations are so ouercome that sin shal not raigne in our mortal body,Rom. 6.12. then cōmeth in the sweetest comfort that euer can come to the soule of mā in this like: thē as the Apostle speaketh [Page] our conuersatiō is in heauen,Phil. 3.20. then do we feele in our heartes that peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding,Phil. 4.7. then are our soules possessed with vn­speakable ioy, according to that of Sa­lomon, Prou. 15.14 A good conscience is a cōtinuall feast. For as there is no greater world­ly ioy to a man, that hath trauelled a long iourney abroad, then when hee commeth home, to find his wife, chil­drē and whole family in good health and quiet: so there cannot bee a more excellent spiritual ioy in this life, then when a man doth descend into the home of his owne conscience, that he doe finde there all so reconciled vnto God, that al be in good peace & quietnes,Esay. 59.2. & to perceiue that the thraldome of sin (which maketh diuision and se­peration betwixt the soule and God) is abrogated or subdued. This doth the Apostle call his chiefest reioycing: Our reioycing is the testimony of our conscience,2. Cor. 1.12. that we haue had our con­uersation in simplicity and godly purenes. This hath vpholden the hearts of so many thousand blessed Martyrs, [Page 66] and made them to reioyce in the mid­dest of al their torments, because they had a testimony within themselues,1. Pet. 2.19 that for their cōscience towards God, they suffered griefe vndeserued. This hath made so many Saints of God, to depart so cherefully out of this world as Hierom writeth of the death of Ne­potiā, Intelligeres eum non mori sed migrare, Hierom ad Heliodor. 3. you might wel perceiue that his death was no death, but a flitting to a better place. And this hath brought comfort, not onely to the faithful,Heb. 10.22. whose harts are by the bloud of Christ sprinkled from an euil conscience, & purged frō dead workes to serue the liuing Lord.Heb. 9.14. But euen the heathen men also by fol­lowing & obeying the law of nature, did in the testimony of their cōscience receiue exceeding ioy: as the Oratour said, writing of the comforts of olde age, conscientia bene actae vitae, Tul. in Cato­ne mai. et multorum benefactorum recordatio iucundissima, A conscience of a life well led, and a re­membrance of deedes well done, are the most pleasant things that can bee. Periander being asked what was the [Page] best libertie,Scob. serm. 22. answered, a good consci­ence:Greg. epist. 9. vnto which I thinke Gregorie doth allude, when hee saith, liber est quem conscientia non accusat. Bias beeing asked what thing in the world is most free from feare, answered a good con­science. This is taught by the hea­uenly wisedome:Prou. 28.1. The wicked (as Sa­lomon saith) doth flie, no man pursuing him, but the iust is confident as a Li­on. The Oratour accounted this a most principall comfort in all distres­ses and calamities.Tul, ad To [...]q, fam, lib. 6. Conscientia rectae vo­luntatis maxima consolatio est rerum incom­modarum, A conscience of a mans hart well enclined, is the chiefest con­solation in all aduersities. And in a­nother place, nullum theatrum virtuti conscientia maius, Tul, lib, 2, Tusc. There is no theater that vertue doth more desire then a mans owne conscience: Whereby he meant, that good and vertuous men did not so much in their actions re­spect the sight of men, or desire the prayse of man, as they sought to keep that conscience sound, which they were perswaded they had receiued [Page 67] from heauen,Cicero pro Cluentio. as hee affirmeth else­where, Conscientiam à diis immortalibus accepimus quae à nobis diuelli non potest, Wee haue receiued a conscience from the immortall gods, which cannot bee plucked away, but doth alwaies at­tend and waite vpon man.Epictetus. And ano­ther said well, that as parents do com­mit children to bee gouerned and kept in awe by tutors, so God doth commit men to be ruled and ordered by their conscience, which more vigi­lant then any tutor doth continually attend on man,Isid, in syn. according to that of I­sidore, omnia fugere poterit homo praeter cor suum, A man may flie from any thing better then hee can flie from his owne heart.

The heathen men did not know a­right that God, which is the Iudge of the conscience,Psal, 7, 10. and the searcher of the heartes and reines: But neuer was there any Nation so barbarous, neuer any Countrey so wilde and sauage,Tul, de nat. Deorum. but that it had this fastened and set­led in the heartes of the people, that there is a God, and that he is a protec­tour [Page] of the good, and a reuenger of them that doe ill, which made honest minded men to come forth boldly, and the wicked to feare euen their owne shadowe,Sene. epist, 98 as Seneca said, bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici, ipsas ne­quitia tenebras timet, A good consci­ence appeareth boldly in the sight of men, but naughtinesse doth feare the darkenesse it selfe,Sene, epist: 43, etiam in solitudi­ne est anxia et sollicita, and euen in soli­tarinesse, being alone, it is fearefull and pensiue.

CHAP. X. Of the estate and condition of the Soule after this life, against the Catabaptists.

THe ioy of the elect of God is called such a ioy,Iohn, 16, 22, as shall neuer be taken from them, it is an endlesse and perpe­tuall ioy. It doth not onely vphold their hearts in all the troubles and mi­series [Page 68] of this worlde, making light to shine in the middest of darkenesse,Psal, 112, 4, Ioh. 16, 20. and turning all their pensiuenesse in­to gladnesse, but it conceiueth an as­sured hope of a better, to wit, an e­uerlasting life in the ioyes of heauen, and that so soone as the soule is deli­uered from the bodie. The Apostle Paul did account his loosing from this prison to bee a present beeing with Christ: I desire (saith hee) to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ,Phil. 1.23. hee was assured that his remouing from this tabernacle, should bee a present dwelling with the Lorde, as hee saide, wee had rather remoue out of the bodie,2. Cor. 5.8. and dwell with the Lord. Stephen prayed in faith and as­surance, that his soule should pre­sently bee receiued into the hands of God, Lord Iesus receiue my spirit.Act, 7.59, In the Reuelation of Saint Iohn, Aopc. 14.13 such a blessing and such a rest is promised to them that dye in the Lorde,August, in Psa 102. that their good workes may followe after them, that is, that God may crowne his giftes in them. Our Sauiour [Page] saith to the repentant thiefe vpon the Crosse,Luk. 23.43, This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise. The soule of Laza­rus beeing departed,Luk. 16.22. was carried by Angelles into Abraham his bo­some. Polycarpus that holy Disciple of the Apostles, amongst many ex­cellent speeches, at the time of his martyrdome added this,Eccl. hist. lib. 4 cap. 13. Hodiè repre­sentabor coram Deo in spiritu, This day I shall be in soule represented before the Lorde. The Wise man saith of the death of all the faithfull, When earth goeth to earth,Eccl, 12.7, the spirit go­eth to God which gaue it. When the Prophet Dauid saith,Psal. 16, 10. that God will not leaue his soule in hell, nor suffer his holy one to see corruption: No doubt hee prophesieth of the resur­rection, as it is expounded by Saint Peter, Act. 2.29. but hee includeth in that resur­rectiō of Christ, the life also of his own soule, hee called Christ his soule. I liue (saith the Apostle) & yet not I,Gal. 2.20. but Christ liueth in me, & especially in the resurrection of Christ, our life is hid with Christ,Col. 3, 2, therfore Dauid beleeueth [Page 69] that seeing his soule,Vido Gen. 42 38. & Iob, 14.13. de signifi­catione infer­ni. Psal. 16.11 and the life of his soule Christ Iesus shall not bee left in the graue, he shall vndoubtedly be brought to the presēce of God, which hee calleth in the next verse, a fulnesse of ioy and pleasures for euermore.

The hope of the Apostle Paul is to be made conformable to the death of Christ,Phil. 3.10 vntill he come to the resurrec­tion of the dead: now as his death was no extinguishing of the humaine soule,Ion. 2.3. Mat, 12.39 but like the being [...]f Ionas in the Whales belly, his soule being stil safe, and yeelded vp into the hāds of God, as hee saide, Father into thy handes I commend my spirite,Luke 23.46 and like the sacrificing of Isaac, wherein the soule remained vntouched, so also by his quickening power,Iohn 4.17. hee giueth to all his elect, that well of water that springeth vp to eternall life. The Ram which was offered in steed of Isaac, may well signifie our body, & our ir­rationall part that dieth, but the soule though it be a while boūd to the bo­dy (as Isaac was bound) yet as soone as the bandes are loosed, it mounteth [Page] vp to the place of al blisse and perpe­tuall blessednes. Our Sauiour saith, Quia ego viuo, vos viuetis, Because I liue,Iohn 14.19 Iohn 6.56 you shal liue: I liue by the father, and hee that feedeth on me shall liue by me:Iohn 5.24. Hee that heareth my wordes, hath life eternall, and shall not come into condemnation, but hath passed from death to life.Eccle. hist. lib, 6. cap. 26. Aug. lib de heres. c. 83 In decret. distinct, 2. de Iohanne. Vide Gerson, in sermone paschali. Hereby are con­demned two grosse heresies, the one deuised first by the Arabians, and af­ter renewed by Iohn Bishoppe of Rome, and of late defended by certain Ana­baptistes, to wit, that the soule doth sleepe or dye with the body, and that both are raysed vp againe together in the last day. And the other of the Romish Catholikes, confessing indeed that the soule liueth after death, but yet that the soules of the children of God,Their vsuall buls and indulgences goe for thou­sāds of years, doe and must remaine so many yeares, or so many thousand yeares in Purgatory, before they can be ad­mitted to the ioyes of heauen. For the former, to wit, such as defēd both body and soule to dye together, and both at the last day to be raised toge­ther, [Page 70] they are cōdemned (as you haue heard) by the manifest testimonies of the holy Scriptures: you may adde if you please those wordes of our Saui­our: Feare not them which kill the body,Luke 12.5 and haue no power to kill the soule: if the Soule dye as well as the body, and together with the body, how can it bee said, that tyrants doe kill the one and not the other?2. Cor 5.1, 4 How can the Apostle Paul desire no longer to be a Pilgrime from the Lord, by re­maining here in the body, but rather to bee absent from the body, and to bee present with the Lord, vnlesse the soule remaine after death? with what is God saide to bee present, if both soule and body bee ouercome with death?v. 1 or how can the Apostle say in the same place, that when this earth­ly tabernacle is destroyed, wee haue a building or house, not made with hands, but euerlasting in heauen, vn­lesse the soule do continue to possesse that heauenly habitation? Our Saui­our Christ doth promise eternall life & resurrection, as two distinct things, [Page] and the one taking place before the other.Ioh. 6.39.40. This (saith he) is the will of the Father, that whosoeuer beleeueth in the sonne, should not perish but haue euerlasting life, and I will rayse him vp in the last day.Iohn 6.54. And againe, hee that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud, hath euerlasting life, and I will rayse him vp in the last day. And afterward,Iohn 11.2. I am the resurrection and the life, whosoeuer beleeueth in me, though hee were dead, yet hee shall liue, and hee addeth, hee that liueth and beleeueth in me, shall not dye for euer.

The Saduces denyed not onely the resurrection, but also the immortality of the soule: Our Sauiour doth by one argument confute both their he­resies,Mat. 22, 32 Exod. 3.6. God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Ia­cob, God is not a God of the dead, but of the liuing, therefore Abraham, I­saack and Iacob doe now liue,Rom, 14.8.9, and all the Saintes shall liue for euer. S. Paul saith, whether wee liue, wee liue vn­to the Lord, or whether wee dye, wee [Page 71] we dye vnto the Lord, whether wee liue therfore or dye, we are the Lords: for Christ therefore dyed and rose a­gaine, and reuiued, that he might bee the Lord both of the dead, and of the quicke. How can our sauiour bee said, to be the Lord and gouernour of the dead, vnlesse some part of them doe remaine aliue to be subiect to his dominion. Gouernement & rule, do of necessity import, that there be also some to yeeld obedience and submis­sion. The Apostle sheweth,Heb. 12.22.23 who bee the subiectes of that heauenly king, to wit, the angels and the spirites of iust and perfect men, and hee sheweth there the great dignity of a Christian, who is ioyned as it were to the An­gels and spirites of iust men, when he embraceth that religion which they doe continually reuerence. But (say they) if the soule doe already enioy eternall blisse in heauē, what needeth then a day of iudgement? If it be iu­dged already, to what purpose should there bee any further sentence? The day of iudgement is ordained of [Page] God for the vniting together both of body & soule, that as the elect haue serued God both in body and soule, so they may receiue euerlasting ioy & blisse both in body and soule, and as the wicked haue serued the Diuell both in body & soule, so they receiue eternall tormentes both in body and soule. And for this cause we are taught to belieue as an article of our faith, the resurrection of the body, wee do not say the resurrection of the soule, (for the soule doth not dye) but the resurrection of the flesh, or the resur­rection of the body. The soules of thē which haue dyed in the Lord,August. in Iohn tract. 49. doe al­ready enioy perfect and happy rest. Nothing is wanting to the perfection of their ioyes, but only the company of their bodies, and the company of their brethren: for this cause (as some expounde it) the soules of the Mar­tyrs attired with white robes,Apoc. 6.10. Anselmus in Apoc. Calu. in psy­chopanychia doe cry out in the Reuelatiō, How long Lord, holy and true? as thirsting and lon­ging for the comming of Christ, to their full accomplishment. If in this [Page 72] world a glorious sight doe delight vs neuer so much, yet is our ioy increa­sed when our friend doth behold the same together with vs. And no doubt this is as it were an accomplishing of the ioyes of the soules, already recei­ued into the presence of Christ in the celestiall paradise, when they shall re­ceiue the company of their bodies, & the societie of their fellow-brethren. An other argument doe the Anabap­tists make,Gen. 2.17 Rom. 6.23. Ezec. 18, 4 20. drawn from the reward of sinne. The stipend of sinne is death, therefore (say they) seeing the soule hath sinned, the soule must needes dye: but death is in the scripture ta­ken sundry wayes, sometimes for the separation of the soule from the bo­dy: sometimes for the separation of God from the soule,1. Tim 5.6. as when the A­postle calleth the widow liuing in wanton delightes dead, though shee liue that is aliue in the body, but dead in the soule, sometime for the horror of condemnation, as the Diuell did receiue the reward of sinne, and yet was not so extinguished, but that hee [Page] doth watch and goe about continu­ally,1. Pet. 5. [...]. seeking whome to deuoure. In respect of the Saintes of God, death is saide to haue lost her sting, and to be­come as a drone bee, as the Apostle speaketh,1. Cor. 15, 56 O death where is thy sting? It was prophesied of our Sauiour Christ by the Prophetes, Praecipitabit mortem in aeternum, Esay 25.8 Hee shall throw death headlong for euer. O Death I will be thy death, O hell I will bee thy destruction. They obiect fur­ther, that the death of the saintes is called a sleepe.Act. 7, 60 Ioh. 11.11 2. Thes. 4.13 Stephen when he dyed fell a sleepe. Lazarus being dead, was said to sleep: the Apostle biddeth not to mourne for them that sleepe, that is, be dead. If death bee a sleepe, thē can there not be in the soule any con­ceiuing of ioyes, vntill that sleepe bee awakened by the resurrection. It is very apparant, that in that Phrase by a Synechdoche, that is giuen to the whole, which agreeth but to one part: when Iob saith, Ecce nunc in puluere dor­mio, Iob 7.21 Behold I shall sleepe now in the dust, and if you seeke mee in the mor­ning [Page 73] I shall haue no being: did Iob thinke that when hee dyed, his soule should lye in the dust? that were too grosse to bee once imagined. It is very apparant then, that hee meaneth onely that his body shall sleepe in the dust, and that figuratiuely, hee doth attribute that to the whole, which a­greeth but to a part. That which they alledge out of Salomon, that man and beast haue both one end,Eccl. 3.21: who know­eth whether the spirite of man shall ascend vpward, or the spirite of beast descend downe into the earth? is an­swered by those wordes which Salo­mon doth so often repeat in that book;Eccl. 1.2 Eccl. 2.11. Vanity of vanities, and all is but vani­ty: hee sheweth often in that Booke, what are the speeches of vaine men,Eccl. 9.4 as after when hee sayeth: Better is a liuing dog then a dead Lion, for the liuing know that they shall dye, but the dead know nothing at all: wee must not think that Salomon speaketh this as of himselfe, but to shew the af­fections of worldlinges, who are led by vanity of vanities, and by nothing [Page] but vanity.Tertul. lib, de resurr. carnis. Irenaeus lib. 9 aduersus hae­resi Chrysost. hom, 28. in [...]1. ad Hebr. August. lib, 12 de Ciuit. Dei, cap. 9 When the Fathers doe sometimes affirme, that the soules are not crowned vntill the day of resur­rection, they mean of the perfect tri­umph, they deny not but that the soules of the Saints are in peace and happy rest, but the perfect triumph & crown of glory they made to be then, when the bodies being againe vnited to the soules, death should be vtterly swallowed vp in victory. The argu­ment which some doe alledge out of the Apostle, that because he saith, If the dead rise not againe,1. Cor. 15.19 we are of all men most miserable,v. 32 therefore before the resurrection, there is no ioy, nor felicity is of no force at all: for hee saith after, what will it profite mee to fight with the beastes at Ephesus, if the deade bee not raysed vppe? the bodies of the Saintes in this life suf­fer many iniuries, reproches, and of­ten martyrdomes. Now vnlesse these bodies bee hereafter to be ad­uanced to glory, we are of all mē most miserable, and againe: although the soule do enioy blessed rest, yet a great [Page 74] part of the happinesse doth consist in the assurance of the expected resur­rection.Caluin in Phychopany­chia, haec tra­ctat, 1, vber­rime. It is further obiected by them out of the Apostle to the He­brewes, all these dyed not receiuing the promises, but saluted thē a far off. The Apostle speaketh there of the posterity of Abrahā, Heb, 11.13 who liued a long time as Pilgrims in strange countries and did receiue and possesse that land flowing with milke and hony, promi­sed vnto Abraham, that they might bee thereby taught to seeke a better country in heauen, & although they had the types and figures of Christ,v. 40 yet they had not Christ in their time exhibited in the flesh, because (as hee saith after) God had prouided a bet­ter thing for vs, that they without vs shold not be made perfect, if they had had the flourishing land of Canaan, & Christ also in their time come in the flesh, then should they haue seemed to bee made perfect without vs. But God did prouide better for vs: as hee gaue vnto them that glorious figure of our rest in Christ: so in our time in this [Page] last age of the world, hee did exhibite the truth, euen the cōming of Christ himselfe to performe the worke of our redemption. They say further, that if the soules of the departed bee in heauen,Act. 9.36.40 then S. Peter should seeme to doe wrong to that good and cha­ritable Tabitha, to raise her vp againe from death, and so to bring her from a blessed life with God, into a sea of all mischiefes: but it is euidēt that the mercy of God is shewed not onely in time of glorification,Phil. 2.25 but also in time of sanctification. S. Paul accounteth that Epaphroditus did obtaine mercy, when being sicke, he was recouered a­gaine. And of himselfe he saith, that life was to him a losse,Phil. 1▪22. & [...].21. and death an aduantage, yet is he cōtent to remain longer in this life, so that Christ may be magnified in his body. In that ray­sing vp of Tabitha, God was glorified in the miracle, the poore were bene­fited by the preseruing of so charita­ble a woman full of almes and good workes, & Tabitha her selfe had a lar­ger time in this life to set forth the [Page 75] paise of God, which was a thing that the saintes of God haue sought for with earnest praier▪ Psal, 6.4, psal. 30.9. Esay 38.18 psal. 88.11. psal. 115.17. when the saints of God do pray in the scriptures for the lēgthning of their daies in this world; & do giue this the reason of their pe­tition, because the dead cānot praise God, nor magnifie his name, we must not imagine that they thought that their soules in death should perish, or haue no power to praise God, but their meaning was, that the deade could not in this world by their good exāple draw others to magnifie God, & that publike glorifying of God to the edifying of their brethren was the thing which in desiring long life they principally respected: but Dauid (say they) doth plainly affirme,psal. 146.4. that when mās breath goeth out & he returneth to the earth, then all his thoughts pe­rish: by those thougetes hee meaneth such imaginations▪ & deuises as they practised in this life, and in an other place he saith, The desires of the vn­godly shall perish, & Esay, Esay 33. the Lorde doth scatter the counsels of the Gen­tiles. [Page] The Prophet Dauid whē he hath shewed the iudgements of God vpon the wicked,Psal. 49.14 that they lie in the graue, death gnaweth vpon them, he addeth in the next verse,v. 15. but God shall deli­uer my soule from the power of the graue, for he shall receiue me. And let this suffice against the opinion of the Catabaptists.

CHAP. XI. Of the future aestate of the soule against the Romanistes.

THe Church of Rome is an other way iniurious to the soules of the departed, they acknowledge that they liue after death, but yet that there is no passage for them into ioy & rest, vntil such paines haue been suffered, as their Purgatory doth require. This assertion is so plentifully confuted by so many euident and plaine testimo­nies of the scripture, set down in the beginning of the tenth chapter, that I hope I shall not need to stand long vpon it. There is none vnlesse hee bee [Page 78] wilfully obstinate) but he must needs acknowledge, that it is a doctrine wholy iniurious and repugnant to the mercy and iustice of God, and doth blasphemously derogate frō the me­rite of Christ his passion. It standeth best with the infinite mercy of God to grant a sound and perfect benefit, as to forgiue the guilt of our sinnes, so also to remit the punishment. It can in no wise agree with the iustice of God to forgiue our debts in Christ, & yet to exact the penalties thereof. And what is there, that can more ob­scure and annihilate the most no­ble price of our redemption, then to make it a ransome from the fault or blame, and no ransome from punish­ment, That which Christ bare vp­pon the Crosse is taken away from vs. Now he bare the punishment of our sins as S. Peter saith.1. Pet. 2.24 He bare our sins in his body vpon the tree, and by his stripes we are healed. It is therfore the stripe & plague due for sin, that is, re­moued frō vs, & the paines & griefes which depend vpon sin, for a wounde [Page] is not healed, vntil the griefe thereof be mittigated or abolished,Aug. de verbis domini super Lucam. serm 37. very well saith S. August. Christus suscipiendo poenā & non suscipiendo culpā, & culpā deleuit & poenam, Christ by taking vppon him our punishmēt, & not taking vpō him our fault, hath taken away both fault and punishment: when sins are forgi­uen, there may yet some afflictions remain to the children of God, as there did to Adam and Dauid, 2. Sam. 12.14. and do daily to Gods elect, but those afflictions are fatherly instructions, corrections, and trials of their faith, they are [...], such as proceede from the loue of God,Eph. 1.7. they are not [...], punishmentes of vengeance, nor [...], punishments of ran­som. Al those tribulations which we suffer after remission of sinne, are like Cicatrices, signa vulneris curati non curandi, they are as scarres rather signes of a wounde cured, then of a wound to bee cured, they differ as far frō punishments of vengeance as loue doth differ frō hatred, (for they proceed of loue,Heb. 12.6 whō the Lord loueth [Page 76] hee doth correct) and they differ as farre from punishments of ransome, as East is from the West. There is no ransome able to satisfie the iustice of God against sinne, but onely the death and passion of Iesus Christ: If any thing in man could haue satisfied for sinne, the Sonne of God had not dyed.

The punishment of corrections and instructions, haue their place then on­ly when there is time of repentance, and that is onely in this life, as Saint Hierom noteth vppon these wordes of Esay, seeke the Lord while he may bee found, call vpon him while he is night, that is, saith he, Dum estis in corpore, Hierom. in E­say. 55. V. 6. dum datur locus paenitētiae, et quaerite non loco sed fide, while ye be in the bodie, & while place is granted for repentance, and seeke him not in place but in faith.

The ransome of Christ is so suffici­ent to all those which with true faith take hold of it, that, as the Scriptures doe shewe vs plainely,Psal. 32.2. Rom. 8.33. Rom. 8, [...]. Esay, 4 [...]. 25. Micha there is no im­putation of sinne, no accusation, no condemnation, & no remembrance, [Page] and therefore (as vpon these foure be­nefits doth necessarily followe) they haue a perfect deliuerance both from fault and punishment. The faith of Dauid was,Psal. 51.7. that when he is washed of the Lord, hee is become whiter then snowe: And Saint Iohn appointeth this onely purgrtorie for the Church of God,1, Ioh, 1, 1, the bloud of Iesus Christ to purge vs from all sinne, If their pur­gatorie fire should appertaine to the Church, it must needes be either to the Church militant, or to the Church triumphant (for there are but these two parts of the Church, as the Apo­stle saith,Col, 1, 20, that Christ hath reconciled and set at peace by the bloud of his Crosse, both the things in earth, and the things in heauen) but it appertai­neth not to the Church militant (for then it should be on earth) nor to the Church triumphant (for then it should be in heauen) therefore indeed it ap­pertaineth to no part of the Church of God.

There are but two kindes of ioyes and torments, the one temporall, the [Page 77] other eternall: the temperall are al of this life, the eternall are those which followe after this life,2. Cor, 4, 18, as the Apostle saith, the things which are seene are temporall, the thinges which are not seene are eternall.

The ordaining of a temperall ioy, or a temporall punishment, after this life, is a thing that the Scriptures doe no where acknowledge. Our Sauiour Christ, and likewise Iohn the Baptist, Luke, 24, 47 Mark, 1, 4, did preach repentance for forgiuenesse of sinnes, whereby they plainely shewed, that where there is no place for repentance, there is rhere no place for for­giuenesse of sinnes:Math, 25, 10, 1, Cor, 9, 14, but after this life there is no place of repentance, for then the gate is shut, and the race of this life is already run, Cyp. saith, quādo istinc excessus fuerit nullus paenitentiae totus, Cyprian cōtra Demetri. &c. When man is departed out of this life, there is then no place of repen­tance: therefore to them which dye without repentance, there is after this life no hope of forgiuenesse of sinnes. Bee faithfull (saith Christ) vnto death,Apoc. 2.10. and I will giue to thee the crowne of [Page] life.Rom. 10, 14, Faith commeth by hearing, and hearing by the word preached: where there is no place of hearing, there can there not be any place of increase of faith.Aug. in Psal, 3 It was well aduised by Saint Augustine, tuus certè vltimus dies longè abesse non potest, ad hunc te praepara, qualis e­nim exieris ex hac vita, talis redderis illi vi­tae, thy last day cannot be farre off, pre­pare thy selfe vnto it, for in what ma­ner thou shalt depart out of this life, in the same estate thou shalt bee resto­red to the life to come,Aug, ad, Hesy, 1 p [...]t, 80. Qualis in die isto moritur, talis in die illo indicabitur, as man dieth in this world, so shall he be iud­ged in the world to come.

They obiect that which is saide of Saint Peter, that Christ going did preach vnto the Spirits which were in prison, once disobedient when the mercy of God did waite in the dayes of Noah. 1, Pet. 3, 12, The purpose of the Apostle is there to shew that Christ did al­wayes in all ages shew his diuine po­wer, as namely when by Noah he prea­ched to those disobedient spirites, which are now in prison, that is in hel, [Page 78] as likewise in Saint Iohn, Apoc. 2, [...].7 the word pri­son is taken for hell: and if they take it for purgatorie, they are two wayes condemned by their owne doctrine: for first they confesse that not purga­torie but hell, is the place for such as are infidels and rebellious, and no members of the true Church. Nowe Saint Peter sheweth, that not the fami­ly of Noah (which did represent the Church of God) but the other disobe­dient and vnfaithfull people, were cast into this prison, and therefore by the prison must needes be meant that place which appertaineth not to the Church of God.

Secondly some of them seeme to teach, that the Fathers in the olde Te­stament were in a Limbo patrum, but in no purgatorie, and that purgatory on­ly tooke place after the comming of Christ. If that be their meaning, little reason then haue they to drawe vnto purgatorie those thinges which are spoken of the people in the olde Te­stament, and much lesse to make such contrarie maners of the remitting of [Page] sinne. The Apostle sheweth euident­ly,1. Thes. 4.17 that in the end of the world, at the second comming of Christ, they which shall be then found aliue, shall bee so­dainly catched vp to meete the Lord, and remaine euer with the Lord. The tenour of Gods iustice is alwaies one, and the same against sinne, and there­fore it is no wayes likely, that in so many seuerall ages of the world, there should be such farre differing estates of soules departed. They alledge the fact of Iuda, 2. Mach. 12.14 who (when some of his mē being slaine in the battell, were found to haue vnder their garmēts, little re­liques of Idolatrie) did send two thousand groates to Ierusalem to offer for them, and this acte is called a holy and godly cogitatiō, because he made an expiation for the dead, that they might bee loosed from their sinnes. This may be answered with the same answere which Saint Augustine maketh against the Donatists, who vrged out of the Machabees, that it is lawfull for a man to kill himselfe, because when Rhasis killed himselfe,Mach. 14.2 42, 43. he is there twise [Page 97] commended to dot it generosè or virili­ter, nobly and manfully. Saint Augu­stine telleth them that that is a Scrip­ture recepta ab ccclesia non inutiliter si so­briè legatur, Aug. contra. 2. Gaudentii epist, cap, 23, [...] receiued of the Church not vnprofitably, if it be soberly read: It is then soberly read, when no newe doctrine is collected out of it, against the lawe and the Prophets. The law appointed no such vse of offerings to offer for them which perished in Ido­latrie: how damnable the sinne was, it may well appeare by the grieuous pu­nishment of Achan. Iosua. 7.24. But wee may an­sweare rather with the iudgement of that ancient expositio symbols, attributed to Cyprian, that those bookes of the Machabees, are no Canonicall scrip­ture. The words of the Author of those bookes doe plainely declare it,2. Mach. 15.39 If I haue done well (saith he) it is as I would, but if I haue done slenderly & barely, it is as I could: What more ap­parant proofe can wee desire, to shewe that those books were not penned by the spirit of God? They seeke some defence by the wordes of of our Saui­our, [Page] that he which sinneth against the holy Ghost,Math. 12.32. Luk. 11.10. shall neither be forgiuen in this worlde, nor in the worlde to come, therefore (say they) there is some place of forgiuenes to some sins after this life. But our Sauiour spea­keth there of the fault or blame, and not of the punishment, and his mea­ning is, that it shal neuer be remitted, neither in this life, which is graunted to sinners for repentance, nor in the world to come, when God shall by his Angelles seperate the sheepe from the goates. They rest further vpon that precept,Math. 5.25. Agree with thy aduersarie quickly, whilest thou art in the way with him, least the aduersary giue thee to the Iudge, and the Iudge to the Sergeant, and the Sergeant cast thee in­to prison, verily I say vnto thee, thou shalt not come our, vntill thou haue paid the vttermost farthing.Sic exponit Chrysost. de vsitato circe­re magistratu. The mea­ning of the place is, that wee must in time cut off all occasions of suites and contentions, But they wresting it to an allegory, make the prison to bee purgatorie, the Iudge to be God, the [Page 80] Sergeant to be his angels, and the ad­uersarie to be the diuell. This can­not possible be the true interpretati­on of the place: for then must the wordes, agree with the aduersarie, be expounded, agree with the Diuel: and the paying the vttermost farthing in the prison, must erect such a Pur­gatorie, as leaueth nothing at al to be performed by our Sauiour Christ. Besides it can make nothing for them, for they teach satisfaction to be made vnto God, but in that text satisfacti­on is not required to the Iudge: again who seeth not that lying in prison is not a satisfying of the debt?

So likewise they wrest that place of Saint Paul, The fire shall trie euery mans worke, of what sorte it is,1, Cor, 3, 13. some (as he hath said before) do build vpon the foundation gold, siluer, precious stones, timber, hay, or stubble, but e­uery mans worke shall bee manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be reuealed by the fire, and the fire shall trie euery mans worke. The meaning of the Apostle is, that God [Page] in his due time, by the examination of his word and spirit, shall trie the doc­trines of all that doe build any thing vpon the foundation, some build sound doctrine, signified by the gold, siluer, and precious stones: others build curious and friuolous mat­ters, signified by the word hay & stub­ble, God will by his worde and spirite make manifest, and cōfirme the good and sound, but the more vaine he will consume and burne, and yet so, that the vnskilfull builder shall bee saued, but as by fire. This maketh nothing for the confirmation of their purgatorie: For first the Apostle speaketh of matter to be tried in the fire, and not the persons, hee saith, that which the builders haue builded shall bee tried. Secondly hee saith, that euery mans worke shall be tried in that fire, euen the gold and precious stones, the doc­trines of the Apostles themselues, and therefore cannot bee meant of their purgatory, which they themselues do make not to be a place for the perfec­ter sort. Thirdly the Apostle speaketh [Page 81] of a trying fire, and not of a purging fire. We reade of a trying fire, as the Wise man saith, the fining pot is for siluer, and the furnace for golde,Prou. 17.3. but the Lord trieth the hearts. We reade also of a fire to consume vices in man, as the Lord saith by the Prophet, what is chaffe to wheate?Ierem. 23.29. Is not my worde as fire, and like the hammer that brea­keth the stone? And so afflictions are an instrument whereby God doth mortifie sinne in vs, and as with fire consume it. Dauid saith,Psal. 66.12. hee passed thorowe fire and water, meaning the afflictions of this life: But of a pur­ging fire, and that after this life, there is none such mentioned in the holy Scriptures. Fourthly, it is most cer­taine, that whether the fire be of triall or purging, it is meant in that place of a fire in this life, because the Apostle saith, is shall reueale and make mani­fest euery mans worke: Hee speaketh no [...] of a purgatorie in some farre re­moued center, but of such a place where euery mans work shall be made manifest. Fiftly, when at the last hee [Page] commeth to the persons, he saith, that the builders which builded hay and stubble, yet because they held the foū ­dation, they shall be saued, but as by fire, he saith, not by fire, but tanquam per ignem, as it were by fire, because they shall not onely bee examined by the examination of the holy spirit (of­ten compared to fire) but shall suffer the losse and consuming of their vaine doctrines, and therefore bee saued as by fire.Ambr. in Psal 118. serm. 20 Aug. de ciuit. dei lib. 10. cap 25. I deny not but some of the ancient Fathers haue expounded this fire, to be meant of a purging fire in the life to come, but they haue named it to be onely that fire which shall bee at the end of the world: They taught that by it God wold make a consum­mation of all thinges, to burne the drosse, and to make the pure more perfect, they thought it to bee such a fire,Ambr. in Psal 118. as oportet omnes transire, siue sit ille Io­hannes Euangelista, siue Petrus, all men must passe thorowe it, whether it bee that Iohn the Euangelist, or Peter. This opinion of the Fathers doth nothing fauour the Romish Catholikes.

The like may be said of that pro­phesie of Malachie, who may endure when he shall appeare,Malach. 3, v, 2 for he shali bee like a purging fire, and like fullers sope, he shall trie the siluer, and fine the sonnes of Leui, and purifie them as golde, that they may bring offerings to the Lord in righteousnesse. The prophesiyng in the next verse before of the comming of Christ, and of his messenger Iohn the Baptist, and the na­ming of the end of this purging fire, to be, that the people should bring ac­ceptable offerings vnto God, as their faithfull predecessors had done, doe plainely shewe that the Prophet doth in that place speake of the power of Christ at his first comming, when hee shal baptize with his spirit,Math. 3.11. hauing his fanne in his hand, and purging his floore, gathering the wheate into his barne, but burning the chaffe with vn­quenchable fire.

Augustine doth expound it of the ge­nerall fire,Aug. de ciuita te dei. lib. 20. cap. 25, at the second comming of Christ, but doth neuer apply it to any purging fire, taking place betwixt the [Page] departure of the soule out of this life, and that finall day of iudgement.

Similitudes (as you see) are easily drawne into sundrie expositions. But it was well said of Aquinas, Aquin. opus­culo septua­gesimo siue super Roetiū de trinitate. though in words somewhat barbarous, symbolica theologica non est argumentatiua, when for pointes in Diuinitie there are no o­ther proofes but similitudes and me­taphors, they rest vpon slender argu­ments. Another such figuratiue speech, they alleage out of the Apostle that at the name of Iesus euery knee must bowe,Phil. 2.10, both of things in heauen, and of things in earth, and of thinges vnder the earth: there by the thinges vnder the earth, they vnderstand the soules in purgatorie. But the Apostle there setteth downe a generall doc­trine, that all creatures whatsouer, are subiect vnto Christ, the good to bee gouerned by his spirit, and the bad to be bridled by his power. The bowing of the knee in Esay, Esay, 45.23. signifieth the wor­shipping of God, and the bowing of the knee in the Epistle to the Romās,Rom. 14.10, is taken for the appearing of all be­fore [Page 83] the tribunall seate of Christ, where shall also bee iudged euen the diuels,Iude. V. 6. who (as Saint Iude saith) are re­serued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse, vnto the iudgement of the great day.

The like maner of speech wee haue in the Reuelation, where it is said, that euery creature in heauē, and in earth,Apoc. 5.13. and vnder the earth, and in the sea, did ascribe honour, and glorie, and power to him that sate vpon the throne, and vnto the Lambe, that is, so submit themselues to God, that either his mercy or iustice might bee glorifi­ed in them. So to the Philippians, the Apostle speaketh of the soueraigne power of Christ ouer both elect and reprobate, as it was foreshadowed in the kingdome of Salomon, whereof the Prophet saith,Psal. 72.9. his enemies shall licke the dust.

CHAP. XII. The Conclusion concerning the twofold estate of soules once loosed from their bodies.

WHen the soule is by death separated from the body, it is either receiued into e­ternall happinesse, as was the soule of Lazarus, Luk. 16.22. or else it entreth into eternall torments, as did the soul of the vnmercifull rich glutton. Saint Augustine, although in some places he call the bosome of Abraham onely se­cretum quietis eius, Aug. de genes, ad liter, lib, 12, cap, 23, the secret of his rest, into which the Fathers were gathered (for as in the newe Testament, Saintes departing are said to bee gathered to their head Christ: so in the former times they were said to be gathered to Abraham the Father of the faithfull) yet elsewhere doth Augustine at large define what this bosome is,Aug, quest. E­uang, lib. 2. cap, 38, tom, 4 sinus Abra­hae est requies beatorum pauperum, quorum est regnum caelorum, in quo post hanc vitam recipiuntur,

The bosom of Abraham is the rest of those blessed poore in spirit,Mar. 5.3, to whom is promised the kingdome of heauen, into which kingdome they are recei­ued when this life is ended: but the hel, which was possessed by the rich glutton, he saith is that Paenarum pro­funditas, quae superbos & immisericordes post hanc vitam vorat, That very depth of all punishments, which doth swallow vp the proud and vnmercifull after this life. Gregory affirmeth the very same,Gregor. in E­uangel. homil. 40. Quid Abrahae sinus nisi secretam requiem significat patrum: de qua veritas dixit, multi venient ab oriente & occidente, &c. What doth the bosome of Abraham signifie, but that secret rest of the fathers, of which our Sauiour speaketh,Mat. 8.11. Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit downe with Abrahā, Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen. They doe both interprete the bosome to bee the kingdome of heauen, and both also consent in this that there are but two wayes for the soule after this life, Augustine sayeth,Aug. de verbi▪ Apost. serm. 18 Duae quippe habitationes sunt, vna in igne [Page] aeterno, altera in regno aeterno, There are but two habitations, one in an euer­lasting fire,Aug. lib. 5. Hypognost. and the other in an eter­nall kingdome: and againe, Primum fides catholica diuina authoritate reg­num esse credit coelorum secundum gehen­nam, tertium ignoramus: imo nec esse in scripturis sanctis inuenimus: First the catholike faith by the authority of Gods word beleeueth, that there is a kingdome of heauen, and secondly, a hell,Greg. in 7 cap. Iob. lib. 8. cap. 8. a third place wee know not, nei­ther doe wee finde in the holy scrip­tures, that there is any. Hereto a­greeth Gregory, Cum humani casus tem­pore, siue sanctus, siue malignus spiritus egre­dientem animam claustro carnis acceperit, in aeternum se cum sine vlla permutatione re­tinebit, vt nec exaltata ad supplicium pro­ruat, nec mersa aeternis suppliciis vltra ad re­medium ereptionis ascendat: when in the time of mans fall or death, eyther a good Angel or an euill Angell shall receiue his soule going out of the pri­son of his body, it doth hold it for e­uer (as it is holden it selfe) without a­ny change, so that if it bee exalted, it [Page 85] cannot fall into punishment, neither can it ascend vnto any remedy of de­liuerance, if it bee once drowned in eternall punishmentes.Mat 12.32 The scrip­ture maketh mention of two worlds, this world & the world to come, Da­mascene sheweth, what is that worlde to come, Aeterna vita, Damascene de fide Orthodoxa, lib. 2. cap. 1 aeternū supplicium seculum futurum, The world to come is either euerlasting life, or euerlasting punishment.

Bernard likewise acknowledgeth but two places,Bernard. in sentent. cap. 9 when the soule hath left the earth: Tria sunt loca, coelum, terra, infernus, coelū habet solos bonos, terra mixtos infernus solos malos, There are three pla­ces, heauen, earth and hell; heauen conteineth onely the good, the earth hath good and bad mingled toge­ther, and hell hath onely the bad.Aug. de vera religione, cap 38. Au­gustine saith, Omnia temporalia transeun­tia mundus iste concludit, This worlde is the place that containeth all tem­porall & transitory things, the things of the life to come,2 Cor. 4.18 whether ioyes or paines, are not temporall but eter­nall. But some may say, how commeth [Page] it then to passe, that Augustine praied for his mother Monica being depar­ted, and Ambrose prayed for Theodo­sius, and diuers others of the auncient Fathers made rehearsall of the deade in their praiers and supplications: if eyther the departed bee in torments vnrecouerable, or in blisse immuta­ble, what neede there any prayers to bee made to God for them.

Those auncient fathers did pray for the departed, not as hauing any conceit of Purgatory or temporall punishments, endured by the soules departed, but as hauing an eye to the resurrection, which was yet to ensue, and neyther to be hastened, nor to be deferred by any prayers, and yet they prayed to testifie their hope, as S. Paul praied for Onesiphorus, 2. Tim. 1.18 that the Lorde would graunt vnto him, that hee may find mercy with the Lord in that day, meaning (as some expound it) the day of resurrection, hee had a further re­spect in his praier, then eyther to his life, or to his death, and so had the fa­thers a further respect, then to the [Page 89] present estate of the soules: for as for their present estate, they did not doubt of their happy rest. Augustine, when hee prayed for his mother said, Credo quodiam feceris quod te rogo, Aug. confess. lib. 9 cap. 12 sed voluntaria oris mei approbo Domine, non re­spondebit, illa se nihil delere, sed respondebit demissa debita sua ab eo, cui nemo reddet, quod pro nobis no debens reddidit, I beleeue that thou hast already graunted what I request, but good Lord accept the voluntary wordes of my mouth, shee shall not say that she oweth nothing, but shee will answere that her debtes are forgiuen of him, to whome no man can recompence that which hee hath freely done for vs. And so like­wise although Ambrose prayed for Theodosius, yet hee doubted not but that he was in eternal glory,Ambros. de obitu Theod. for so he affirmed Absolutus crimine fruitur nunc Theodosius luce perpetua tranquilitate diu­turna, sanctorumque caetibus gloriatur, The­odosius hauing his sinne remitted, doth euen now enioy perpetuall light, and a lasting rest, and doth triumph in the company of the saints: by the name [Page] of prayers were oftē signified thanks­giuings,2. Tim. 2.22 psal. 14.4 as indeed calling vpon the name of God, is taken often in the scriptures for the whole seruice of God. They had their commemorati­on of the dead, especially at the mini­stration of the Lords supper, which they tooke to bee Eucharistia, a sacra­ment of thanksgiuing, and as Chryso­stome noteth, what was done for the dead, was done most in Hymnes, doe testifie their ioy and thankfulnesse, Quid sibi volunt Hymni? nonne glorificamus Deum, Chrysost, ad popul. Anti­och. hom. 70 & gratias illi agimus, quia iam de­functum coronauit? haec omnia sunt gauden­tium? What meaneth Hymnes or songes? doe wee not glorifie God and giue thankes vnto him, that hee hath already crowned a soule departed? Al these are effectes of hearts reioycing. And further in the commemoration of the dead, there was especially a re­hearsing of the resurrection of our Sauiour by himselfe, and all the Saints by him, to shew that that was the time which they most respected, and if they praied for forgiuenes of the sinnes of [Page 87] the departed, the meaning of their petition was, that their sinnes should not be imputed vnto them in the re­surrection.Vide August. in Io. tract. 49 How lawfully they might make that praier. I will not now dis­pute. It sufficeth here to haue shewed that they did not acknowledge any temporall tormentes after this life, appertaining to such as haue ended their dayes in the faith of Christ, and that the secret rest which they placed in Abrahams bosome, did not signifie vnto them a sleepe or idle rest, but a place of ioy and happinesse,Ioh, 8, 56 that as it was Abraham his ioy in this world to see the dayes of Christ, so it is a farre more infinite felicity to him and his faithfull seede, this transitory life be­ing ended, to behold and fully to en­ioy the presence of our Redeemer in the eternall kingdome of heauen. S. Augustine sayth, that hee doth fully belieue that his sweet friend Nebridi­us is in Abrahams bosome,Aug. confess, lib. 9. hee sheweth presently what that is, Pomt spirituale os adfontem tuum, & bibit quantum potest sapientiam pro auiditate sua sine fine foelix, [Page] He setteth his spirituall mouth to thy fountain O Lord, and drinketh wise­dome to the full, according to his chiefest desire, being happy without end.

This happy estate of the soules of Gods saintes is at large laid open by the manifold testimonies of the holy scriptures in the beginning of my tenth Chapter, as likewise in the whole course of that and the chapter following. By the word of God, as by the touchstone of all truth, the ancient fathers doe desire that their writings should bee examined, what is agreeable thereto, to be receiued, and what not, to be reiected. Augustine sayeth,Aug. in psal. 57. Auferantur é medio chartae no­strae, prodeat in medium codex Dei, Let our writings bee laide aside, and let place bee giuen to the booke of God. Hee also nameth the olde and new Testa­ment, Duo vbera Ecclesiae, The two breastes of the Church, out of which all sound and perfect truth must bee drawne and deriued vnto vs. In them wee finde but onely these two places [Page 88] or habitation, for the soules once se­parated from the bodies, to wit, for them which dye in carnall security (as did the rich glutton) hell torments, those which are spoken of in Deute­ronomie, fire is kindled in my wrath,Deut. 32.24. and my wrath doth burne to the bot­tome of hell: those which are called by Salomon, the Chambers of death, & by Esay a tophet prepared deepe and large,Esay 30.33 the burning whereof is fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord a fire of brimstome to kindle it, and by our Sauiour vnquenchable fire, where the worme neuer dyeth,Mar. 9.44 & the flame neuer goeth out, And in the Reuelation. A lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death of those torments:Apoc. 21. [...]. Abraham said to the rich man,Luke 16. [...], There is such a gulfe and di­stance placed betwixt them, and the ioyes of the godly, that there is no hope of passage from one to an other, whereby is signified, that the paines are vnrecouerable, easelesse, endlesse, and hopelesse. But for them which [Page] close vppe their eyes in a true faith, & vnfained repentāce,Iohn 16.22. there are prepa­red eternall ioyes in the kingdome of heauen, where the knowledge, will, integrity, and all the powers of the soule,Luke 20.36 shall haue such a corresponden­cie and conformity to the wil of God that they shall bee equall with the blessed Angels, and where wee shall haue the fruition of Gods presence, wherein doth consist the fulnesse of ioy. For as the Apostle doth make this as greatly to augment the venge­ance that is shewed on them, which shall bee punished with euerlasting perdition,2. Thes. 1.9 because it shall bee from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, so on the other side, this is named as a high degree in our heauenly felicity, that as here we see in a glasse,1. Cor. 13, 12. so there we shall see face to face, and as here wee know in part, so there we shall know euen as we are knowne. It was well saide of an an­cient Father, In hac vita multa videmus quae non habemus, Greg. 1 9. moral. 2. in alia idem est videre quod habere, In this life wee see many [Page 49] thinges which wee haue not in pos­session, but in the life to come, to see and to possesse are both one.Aug. in psal. 26, Au­gustine saith. Quicquid praeter Deum est, dulce non est, quicquid mihi vult dare Dominus meus, auferat totum, & se mihi det, Whatsoeuer is besides God, that cannot bee pleasant, whatsoeuer God would bestow on mee, let him take it away all, and giue himselfe vnto mee. In that enioying the presence of God in the life to come, there is all suffici­ency of delightes, as is taught in the Reuelation of S. Iohn, Reuel. 21.22. That Citty hath no neede of the Sunne, nor Moone to shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lambe is the light thereof. And there is also all conti­nuance and eternity,Reuel. 21.4 as is saide in the same Prophesie, There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor paine, but the Lord shal wipe away all teares from our eyes, vnto the which glori­ous and eternall rest,1. Pet. 2.24. the Lord Iesus (who bare our sinnes in his body on the tree, and is the shepheard and Bi­shoppe [Page] of our Soules) bring both our bodies and soules happily and speedily,Apoc. 22, 20, euen so come Lord Ie­sus. Now vnto the king e­uerlasting, immortall, in­uisible,1. Tim. 1.17. vnto God onely wise, be honor & glo­ry for euer and euer.