A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE Soul and Spirit of man.. Wherein is described the essence and dignity thereof, the gifts and graces wherewith God hath endued it, and the estate thereof, aswell present as future. And thereunto is annexed in the end a bipartite instruction, or exhortation, concerning the duties of our thankfulness towards God. Written by SIMON HARWARD. LONDON Imprinted by JOHN WINDET. 1604. ILLUSTRISSIMO omnique virtute ornatissimo Domino Georgio Moor, Equiti aurato bonarum literarum Mecanati benignissimo, prospera omnia & foelicia precatur. QVemadmodum apud priscos Philosophos (vir amplissime) quamplurimae de anima humana disputationes sunt literis mandatae, à nonnullis quidem in dialogis (ut a Platone,) ab aliis in tractatu continuato (vtab Aristotele,) A quibusdam sermone soluto, ab aliis oratione numeris constricta, ab his fusiùs, ab illis magis succinctè, ab his ornatiùs, ab illis stilo magis humili, magisque crassa (quòd aiunt) Minerva: Sic hodierno tempore non (uti spero) videbitur à ratione alienum, si pro ingeniorum varietate eodem pergatur cursu, ut quàm multiplices sunt animae dotes, tam variae etiam sint illorum librorum formae quibus natura & vi●es animae describantur. Sicut enim non omnes pisces una capiuntur esca, nec uno vultu omnes prori, ita nec omnium hominum corda eodem scribendi genere alliciuntur, necomnium aures eadem loquendi phrasi delectantur. Si qui sint, qui politiora scripta expetant, ea velim perlegant, quae de cognitione dei in libro non ita pridem praelo commisso acutè admodum et copiosè Ampl. tua demonstrauerit. Est enim Dei agnitio tàm essentiae, quàm virium animae planè certissimum argumen tum. Quòd si qui peomata magis evoluere percupiant, Davyesum Orphea Anglum audiant de noticia animae suaviter modulantem. Hoc sum ego tantummodo in codicillo meo conatus, ut quae ab antiquis & optimis tam theologis quàm Philo sophis in aliis linguis pertractata viderim, ea (ut possem) in exiguum reducerem compendium, & (ut bonum esset, quo communius, eo melìus) in idioma nostrum vernaculum illa traducerem. Visum autem est mihi (vir clarissime) hoc meum qualecunque scriptum tuae potissimùm Ampl. consecrare, quia apud omnes satis constat, eiusmodi esse tuum in his arduis quaestiunculis judicium, ut si tractatus hic meus (licèt im politus) sub nominis tui patrocinio in lucem prodeat, non est quòd verear alicuius Momilinguam virulentam, nec est quòd de bonorum omnium approbatione quicquam omninò dubitem. Conciones duas à menuper Camerwellae praedicatas in operis exitu adieci, partim, quia à disputatione de divinis animae dotibus non multum viderentur dissentire: (Nullo enim modo se satis novit anima, nisi se suo creatori summè devinctam gratissimè agnoscat;) & partim, quia erant coram illo habitae, quem omnibus palàm innotescit, te non vulgari amplecti amore, & cui non possum non acceptum referre, quòd mihi tui favoris spes certissima affulgeat; quódque patronum adeò praestantem hoc exiguum sit nactum opusculum. Deus Opt. Max. te multis verbi divini ministris solatium, atheis obstaculum, Suriaeque non mediocre decus, sanum, laetum, honoratum quàm, diutissimè viwm conseruet, vitáque defuncto caelestes tibi sedes largiatur justorum animis in aeternum repositas. Tanridgiae ultimo Decembris, Anno 1603. Ampl. tuae devotissimus, SIMON HARWARD. The Contents of the BOOK. The Arguments or brief Sum of the twelve Chapters following. 1 THe first Chapter showeth, that the words soul and spirit are so generally synonimas, that in all principal uses concerning man, the one is promiscuè taken for the other. 2 The second, what the soul of man is, and how the soul of man doth differ from that anima, which is in other living creatures. 3 The third, whether anima vegetativa, sensitiva, & rationalis, the vegetative, sensitive, and rational souls be three several forms or substances of souls, or but divers faculties of one soul. 4 The fourth, whether anima the soul, be a medium, a mean or middle substance betwixt the spirit and the body. 5 The fift, in what part of the body the soul doth possess her seat. 6 The sixth, whether the soul do come ex traduce by propagation from the parents, or us. 7 The seventh, that the soul is an immortal essence, and that according to the opinion of heathenish Philosophers. 8 The eight, how in the soul the image of God may and aught to be renewed. 9 The ninth, what we may conceive of the soul of man, by the conscience of man, and how the conscience is either a heaven or hell to the soul in this life. 10 The tenth, of the estate and condition of the soul after this life, against the heresy of the Catabaptists. 11 The eleventh, of the future estate of the soul being separated from the body, against the Romanists. 12 The twelfth, the conclusion concerning the twofold estate of souls once loosed from their bodies. Errata. Folio 8. (b) for feat, sent twice, fol. 20. (a) who by, wholly fol. 21. (a) one, our. fol. 21. (a) geneally, generally. fol. 30. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 32 (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 58. (a) often given fol. 74 (a) and did not possess fol. 99 (b) if we cast of, if we taste of, Fol. 48. Decius A DISCOURSE concerning the Soul and Spirit of man.. CHAP. I. How many ways the words Soul and Spirit are synonimas, and the one promiscuè taken for the other. THe words anima, and animus, in their original etymology, are thought of many to be derived of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●ignifying a blast, or Spirit, Arist. de mundo. according to that of Aristotle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Anemos, is nothing but much air flowing hard together which is also called a Spirit. The hebrew word nephesh for the soul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & ruach for the spirit, are accounted in their original sense, to signify also one thing, to wit, a breath, or blast. The Greek word for the soul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refrigero, because breath is let in to cool things naturally hot, and is therefore the same in meaning with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritus, of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiro. The like is in the Latin tongue, wherein as the word spiritus is taken often for wind, 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 Solomon, and suddenly saw his exceeding glory and Majesty, 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 usually in the best approved Latin Authors, the word anima is also taken for wind, Cicero de V muersit. and breath. Tully saith, inter ignem et terram Deus aquam animamque posuit, Betwixt the element of fire, and the earth, God hath placed the water and the air. Geta in Terence, telleth Antopho, how by hearkening and listening, Terent. in Phorm. he had found out the parents of Phanium; accessi, astiti, animam compressi, aurem admovi: I came near, 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 uxoris tuae? As in the three chiefest languages the etymology of the words, used for soul and spirit, do import one force and nature, so in the three principal significations, and purposes, whereunto they are most commonly applied, in the description of the parts, and faculties of man, they have as large a privilege, the one as the other. For, first they are taken generally, for the spirit of life in every living 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 all to Noah, Tulli. de senec tute in whom was the spirit of life, Tul. extolleth those old men, quorum ad extremum spiritum provecta est prudentia, whose wisdom increaseth, even unto the end of their life. Aenaeas promiseth to be 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 word of anima: Reuben said to his brethren concerning joseph: Gen. 37.21. Non percutiamus eum in anima: Let us not strike him in soul, that is, Exod. 21.23. let us 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. David prayeth to be delivered from those blood-thirsty men, which laid wait for his soul. Our Saviour commandeth us not to be solliciti pro anima, Math. 6.25. careful for the life, what we shall eat or drink, nor for the body, what raiment we shall put on. The Angel bad joseph to take the babe and his mother, and to return out of Egypt into jury, because they were dead, qui petebant animam pueruli, Math. 2.20. which sought the child's life. Qui vult animam suam servare (saith our Saviour) he which will save his life, Luk. 9. 2●. shall lose it, and he which will lose his life for my sake, shall find it. joh. 10.11 A good shepherd layeth down his soul for his sheep, that is, his life: joh. 3.16. as he laid down his soul for us, so should we lay down our souls for our brethren, that is, our lives. The Poet Juvenal, reproving the greedy covetousness of merchants, saith I nunc, et ventis animam commit dolate Confisus lígno, digitis à morte remotus Quatuor aut Septem. Secondly the word spirit, and soul, are in an equal degree taken usually for the affections of man, either good or evil. Gal. 6.1. 1. Cor. 4. v. vlt. The Apostle doth exhort us to instruct one another with the spirit of mildness. 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 stiffnecked people, that God had cast upon them, a spirit of slumber. Greg. in mor. spiritus carnalis mollia, spiritus mundi vana, spiritus malitiae semper amara loquitur. Psal. 27.12. So may proud & covetous affections be called the spirit of pride, and the spirit of covetousness. So is the word soul often used for the affections of the heart. The Prophet David saith, ne tradas me animae hostium meorum, deliver me not to the soul, that is, the wicked desire of my enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against me. Anima Sichem ad haesit Dinae filie jacobi, Gen. 34.8. the soul of Sichem, that is, the affection of his heart did cleave unto Dina, the daughter of jacob. The Lord saith by Ezekiel, that he had given up the Israelites animae odio habentium eos, Ezech. 16.27 to the soul, that is, the will and affections of them that hated them. So of good and loving affections, it is said in the Acts of those first converts, in the primitive Church, Act. 4.32. there was amongst them cor unum et anima una, one heart, and one soul, that is, their counsels did all agree, and their wills and affections were faithfully joined. Eph. 4.3. The like doth the Apostle Paul exhort us to, when he biddeth us hold the unity of the spirit, in the bond of peace. When the affections of our Saviour Christ are expressed, they are set out, sometimes by the word spirit, and sometimes by the word soul. joh. 13.21 Saint john 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, exhitavit jesus spiritu, jesus rejoiced in spirit; when he said, I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes, even so was thy good pleasure. In Saint Mark he said, Mark. 14.34 tristis est anima usque ad mortem, my soul is sorrowful unto death, tarry here & watch. And in Saint john, anima mea turbata est, joh. 12.27 my soul is troubled, and what shall I say, Father save me from this hour. Aug. in Ioh S. Augustine doth expound these places to signify his infinite love towards mankind, and saith, caput nostrum suscepit membrorum suorum affectum: Our head vouchsafed to take upon himself the affections of his mystical body. Thirdly, the word soul and spirit, do in as full manner, the one as the other, point out unto us the principal part of man, that rational soul and understanding spirit, which being part of man's substance here, doth remain still immortal, when the body is extinguished. Of that is meant that speech of the wise man, Eccles. 12.7 when earth goeth to earth, the spirit goeth to God which gave it. That did the first Martyr Saint Stephen yield up into the hands of Christ, Act. 7.59 when he said, Lord jesus receive my spirit. Of that speaketh the Apostle to the Hebrews, Hebr. 12: 9 if we have reverenced the Fathers of our flesh, when they have corrected us, much more shall we be subject to the Father of our spirits and live. Of that doth our Saviour speak, in the yielding up of his soul, Luk. 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit: For as he took truly man's flesh, so took he also a human soul, and was perfect man, Hebr. 4, 15 like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. Saint Peter saith, ye were all as sheep going astray, 1, Pet. 2, 25 but ye are returned to the shepherd and Bishop of your souls: Ver, 11. And in the same Chapter again, abstain from fleshly lusts, which fight against the soul. He calleth by the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima, jam, 1.21 the spirit and principal part of man. So doth Saint james, when he willeth us to receive with meekness the word of God, which is able to save your souls, so doth our Saviour Christ when he biddeth us not to fear them which kill the body, Mat 10.28 and have no power to kill the soul, but to fear him that hath power to kill both body and soul, 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, learn of me that I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls: Hieron. adver. jovinian. lib. 2 of this speaketh S. Hierom, Anima in aurigae modum retinet fraena sensuum currentium, The soul as a Wagoner doth hold and govern 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 soul. And Bernard, Bernard, super cant. se. m 59 gemit anima devota Christi absentiam: A devout soul doth groan and sigh, when it feeleth Christ absent, or longeth for the coming of Christ. The other significations of the words soul and spirit, as when soul is taken, Gen. 14.21. Rom. 13.1. either for the whole person of man, yet living, 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 Saviour appeared to them, did think that they had seen a spirit, and were afraid, but our Saviour did cheer them up, why are ye troubled? touch me and behold, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. These and sundry other acceptations of the words soul and spirit I omit as impertinent to the question now in hand, and do think it more fit (the aequivalency of the words being thus briefly laid open) to pass unto that which in order ought next to follow, to wit, the definition of anima, what it is first generally in all living creatures, and then more particularly what is the soul of man. CHAP. II. What is the soul or anima, and how the soul in man doth differ from anima in other creatures. WHat that anima is, that is the life of all animalia, of all living creatures, it is a question much disputed amongst ancient Philosophers. Some do make it a bodily thing, some a nature incorporeal, and some only the temperature of the body. The Stoics taught, See these opinions more at large in the beginning of the 7. chapter ammam esse vitales spiritus in sanguine, that the soul was only the vital spirits in blood. If it be a corporal thing, then must it needs be like either the aerial or the fiery element. The signification of the word 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 elements and humours: Heraclitus accounted in a certain force, flowing from the celestial bodies into the terrestrial, unto which opinion the Poet seemeth to allude, Virg. Igneus est illis vigour & caelestis origo Aristotle defineth it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Tully Tusc. 1 the continued motion (as Tully doth interpret it) of a natural organical body, having life in power: some do reprehend that interpretation of Tully, & do think that it should be expounded rather perfection, because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth perfect. Plato de leg. Arist. 3, Physic. & in lib. de gener. anim. at, l. 2, de ani. ait, inima est principium, quo uluimus, sentimus & movemur. But Plato useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for iugiter & continuè, & certain it is, that Aristotle doth use often promiscuè, the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for an efficiency and working motion: many hold it to be all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a continual agitation, as in the Proverb, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a drippe always dropping, doth harden the hard rock, and the Wiseman sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Eccl. 30.1. He that loveth his son, doth continually add correction to him. When anima is called a continued agitation, we must not understand an accidental motion, but a substantial and habitual agitation, stirring up actions. Hypocrates nameth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the natural heat, or the spirit in blood, and he addeth, Cum haec anima inflammatur, pereunt & corpus & anima, because when the heat and spirits do not keep a just proportion, them all living creatures are thereby extinguished. In the holy scriptures, the word anima is given to the blood, Carnem cum sanguine ipsius, qui anima ipsius est ne comedite, Gen. 9.4. Eat not the flesh with the blood of it, which is his life, tantummodò non comedas ullum sanguinem, Deut. 12. ●3 quia sanguis cuiusque est eius anima, ideo non come ede ullius animam cum ipsius carne, Eat no blood, for the blood of every thing is the life, therefore eat not the life together with the flesh. Hereupon is the word anima also given to every living creature, Quaecunque anima vivebat in mari, mortua est, Apoc. 16.3. Every soul that lived in the sea, that is every living creature. Adam called by name, omnem animam viventem, Gen. 2, 20. every living soul, that is every living creature, omnis anima vivens quae repit, every creeping soul, Ezech. 47.9 that is, creeping creature. In most authors, the word blood is taken for life, because of the spirits of life proceeding of the blood▪ when the Poet describeth a man slain, he useth this phrase, Purpuream vomit ille animam, He cast out his purplered soul, Virg. Aenead. that is his life together with his blood: Gal. de usu partium lib. 6 cap. 17. Galen defineth animalem spiritum esse exhalationem quandam sanguinis benigni, the animal spirit to be a certain exhalation of the best part of blood. Ibid, lib. 9 c. 4 And afterward showeth how this animal spirit is engendered of the vital: the thinnest and purest portion of the vital spirits engendered in the heart, & arteries, is carried up to the ventricles of the brain, and there wrought into an animal spirit, and from thence by the sinews, doth exercise his force in every part of the body: Gal. de placitis ●●p, & Plat. l. 7. c. 8. the brain doth purge superfluous vapours, but this animal spirit it doth retain as familiar unto itself: and although naturally all spirits do ascend, and not descend, yet these animal spirits being governed of the soul, are carried down even into the feet, and to every part of the body, for this difference do the Galenistes make betwixt anima & spiritus: Spiritus ita se habet ad animam, ut ad ignem scintilla, The spirit is in respect of the soul, Galen de placitis. Hipp. & Plat. lib, 7 as the sparkle in respect of the sire, or (as in some places Galen doth speak) the anima or soul dwelleth in the body of the brain, as the workman, primum autem eius organum tum ad universos sensus tum ad motus voluntarios esse animalem spiritum, and that her chiefest instrument both for all senses, and for all voluntary motions, is the animal spirits. What the substance of anima is, Gal. lib. de faetus format. & lib de anim. & corp. tempe ramentorum mutua consequutione. he confesseth often, that he is ignorant of it He inclineth sometimes to the opinion of them, which make anima to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a temperature of the elements, especially of the fiery and aerial. But most usually for the special kinds and powers of it, he followeth very often the division of Plato, who maketh three animae specu● in man, Gal. ibid., & in lib. 9 de placit. Hippo. & Plat. the first, he calleth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the principal governor or rational soul, having the sent in the brain, and working by senses, voluntary motions, imaginations, memory, understanding and judgement. The second, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the irascible soul, having seat in the heart, and working by vital power by affections and perturbations. The third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the appetitory or concupiscible souls, having sent in the liver, and working by nourishing, increasing procreation, and what soever operations of nature. The faculties of the first are called Animal, the second vital, the third natural: to the first, do serve the sinews; to the second, the arteries; and to the third, Gal. de nature. facult. l. 1. c. 1. the veins, the vegetative life in plants is called by Galen rather natura then anima, the natural force of increasing and propagating. The anima sensitiva, or sensible soul giving sense and moving, is common to man with brute creatures: but the rational soul which Plato thought to 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 Hypocrates acknowledged not to be nourished with meats and drinks, Hipp. lib. 1, d● victus ratione and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not able to be altered by them, and therefore immortal, that is indeed the essential difference of man, whereby he is distinguished from other creatures void of reason. It was thus defined by Alcmaeon Cratoniades one of the scholars of Pythagoras, Plato in Phaedro: (as Plato showeth) anima est substantia, similis aeternis essentiis, semper mobilis motu illo, qui convenit naturis caelestibus, The soul is a substance, like to the eternal essences, always movable with that motion, which agreeth to heavenly natures. Augustine saith, August, in lib, de definitione anim. Anima est substantia creata invisibilis, incorporea, immortalis, Deo simillima, imaginem habens creatoris sui. The soul is a substance created, invisible, in corporeal, immortal, most like unto GOD, and bearing the image of her Creator. Melancth. de●● anima, pag, 19 Melancthon defineth the soul to be an intelligent spirit, the second part of man's substance, and yet so, that being separated from the body, it remaineth still immortal. Athanas. tom. 4. in tractatu de definitionibus ecclesiasticis. Athanasius, although he account the essence of the Soul to be such as that it cannot be known of man: for the saith, Tria sunt, quae secundum essentiam hominibus sunt incognita, Deus, Angelus, & anima, quae soli Deo secundum essentiam cognita sunt, yet afterward in the same place, he endeavoureth by a comparison to resemble the same unto us. As the Sun beams (saith he) do enter into the house, and possess one place, and yet do lighten the whole house, even so the soul, though it have a seat in the heart, and also in other principal parts of the head and body, yet doth it further distribute her vital power to every part of the body. This similitude was used before by the ancient Philosophers. Curaeus in Physic. Plato and Aristotle speaking of that principal part of man, called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the one doth compare it to the Sun: and the other to the light, because sundry beams are spread from it unto all such parts of the body, as are capable thereof: The lowest beam is called of Aristotle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, radius animae passiws, vel patibilis, This suffering beam is spread into all the powers of the sensitive soul, and even into the faculties of the outward senses, and is joined with them, & doth furnish them with that power, that they may be able to be converted and reflected into themselves, otherwise they should be like unto bees, making curious works, and yet not judging of that which they have made. But in man by the communicating of the rational soul, the senses do reflect and comprehend themselves. There is an other beam of the rational soul, called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, intellectus, radius agens, the active or working beam, which doth discourse of matters, and sometimes doth use the help of the inferior powers, the imagination, and the senses & sometimes, doth return into his own essence. Above both these beams there is mens pura & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the mind pure and without passion, not mingled with the bodily powers, nor using them for her knowledge, but plainly inorganical. It hath a respect and consideration of the body, but it doth therewith return into herself and regard her own chief pattern. Andrea's Laurent. lib. de Melanch. Hypochondr. A famous Physician of our age, to shadow out the soul of man, doth use an other similitude, drawn from the form of a judicial court: he calleth imagination the preferrer of the bills or promoter: reason the examiner and judge: and memory the Custos rotulorum, or Register. First, imagination, by the common sense, and by the outward senses (which she doth use as spies) doth take hold of many matters, and exhibit them to the understanding. And as many times captains being drawn on by the error of their spies, do attempt some exploits, which redound to their great harm: so reason being beguiled with the error of imagination, doth fall into folly and rashness. The Greek Philosophers do err about the imagination of man, some of them do make it to be all one with the common sense, & some make the imagination in man, & in brute beasts to be both alike: but both the assertions are erroneous, for the common sense or inward sense, doth in the same moment of time together with the outward senses, perceive those things which do fall under sense, and when the object is removed, the action of the common sense doth utterly cease, but the imagination, although the bodies be taken away, yet it doth retain the forms, and of diverse things can make one, as of a mountain and gold can make a golden mountain. Again the common or inward sense doth only perceive those things which are brought unto it by the benefit 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 wolf the sheep doth fly away, and yet cannot that sagacity be attributed to the outward senses, neither can we say, that the imagination in brute beasts is the same that it is in man: for in beasts it is occupied wholly in appetites, in seeking those things wherewith it is delighted, & in flying from those things which they imagine will bring harm. But man's imagination doth behold many things very far removed from affections and appetites, and when imagination hath conceived many things, and by the exhibiting of them as it were, roused reason out of sleep, then doth reason ponder & discourse of the matters, proceeding to & fro from the effects▪ to the cause, & doth thereupon infer conclusions, and determine upon resolutions. Caluin Instit. l. ●. cap. 15. The common sense is as it were a receptacle, into the which by the outward senses, (as by instruments) all manner of objects are infused. Phantasie doth judge of those things which be apprehended by common sense; Reason hath an universal judgement, far beyond those things which do fall under sense. And above them all that which is called men's the mind, doth with a quiet and fixed contemplation behold those things whereof reason hath discoursed. The three faculties called cognitivae the cognitive or knowing faculties of the soul, Caluin ibid. have other three appetitive faculties, answering unto them. Voluntas the will, doth properly desire that which the mind and reason do propound. Vis irascendi the courage, doth catch at those things which are reached out by reason and fantasy. And vis concupiscendi the concupiscence, doth desire and apprehend such things as are objected by fantasy and sense. How all these should be rightly used, it is thus defined by an ancient Father, Gregor. Madge, in Prologo, in 7. Psalm. penitent. Caro quatuor constat elementis: anima tribus vegetatur naturis: est enim rationalis ad disceraendum; concupiscibilis ad virtutes appetendum; irascibilis ad vitia adversandum, The flesh consisteth of four elements, and the soul is quickened in three natures: for it is either rational to discern; or concupiscible to desire virtue; or irascible to abhor sin. Some do make in the soul three beginnings of actions, Calu. Instit. l. 2 cap. 15. sense, understanding & appetite. Some do more briefly bring it into a Dichotomy, making only two parts of the soul, to wit understanding and will: under understanding▪ they do comprehend sense, and in will they include appetite: understanding doth discern & decree, and the will doth make choice of that which reason hath prescribed, & refuse what she hath disallowed. The appetite if it do obey reason, & natural instinct, it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an earnest desire, but if it do shake off the yoke of reason, it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sudden and rash perturbation, which is rather a corruption & infirmity, than a natural faculty of the soul. The Orator (or tather in that book the Philosopher) doth them accounted the appetite to be a right force of the soul when it obeyeth reason, Duplex est vis animorum, Tul. lib. 1. off. una pars in appetitu posita, altera in ratione, quae docet & explanat quid faciendum, fugiendumque sit, ita ut ra●io praesit. But our Christian faith geeths further, and doth teach us, 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. joh. 1, 9, 2, Peter, 1, 19 2, Cor, 4.4. 1, Tim, 5, 6. Greg. in Ezech hom, 17, our knowledge, our appetites, our will, our wisdom, and the very spirits of our mind, are blind, dark, and even dead, unless they be lightened by the beams of God's word, and quickened by his sanctifying Spirit. It was well said of Gregory, Anima in corpore vita est carnis, Deus autem qui vivificat omnia, vita est animarum. The soul in the body, is the life of the flesh; but God, which quickeneth all things, is the life of our souls. 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 soul, so doth the soul die, when it loseth God: the separation from God, is the death of the soul, even as the parting of the soul, 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 soul is, to govern man, and to be governed itself of God. CHAP. III. Whether anima vegetativa, sensitiva, et rationalis, the vegetative, sensitive, and rational souls be three several forms of souls, or but divers faculties of one soul. WHen the vegetative force, the sensitive life, and the rational soul, are considered in themselves, and in their own nature, they must needs be accounted three distinct kinds: 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 only. But when they are all joined together in man, than the question is, whether they are to be reckoned three sorts of animae, or but only three distinct powers of one soul. Galen doth in divers of his books, follow still the positions of Plato, and as there are three principal parts of man, the heart, the brain, and the liver, so he teacheth expressly, that their several sorts 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 souls, and addeth presently the partition of Plato. And again, plures sunt animae species, et triplici sede collocatae, there are three manners and forms of the soul, and placed in three several seats: he citeth again, the division made by Plato. Aristotle, Vide Peucer. Pag. 601. although in some places he maketh but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, governing all, yet when he giveth to the vegetative, sensitive, and rational soul, three several times of beginning, and several efficient and material causes, and several manners of working, Arist. de generat animal. lib 2. Cap. 3. he seemeth very evidently to make three distinct sorts of animae. For he teacheth plainly those anima, or souls, whose actions are corporal, do not come from outward, but do grow in, and with the body, Nec simul fieri animatum et faetum: It hath a vegetative force to grow in the womb, even before it is endued with sense. Ibid. But of the mind he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Only the mind doth come from out ward, and is only divine. For the powers and opeations of the body, do not communicate with the operations thereof. Melanch de anima pag. 21 Melanchthon doth not condemn the arguments of Occam, wherein he endeavoured to demonstrate, that the rational and sensitive soul, are distinct things in man: His reasons are, because the rational and sensitive appetites are contrary one to another, and it is unpossible that in the self same indivisible nature, there should be at the same time contrary appetites. Again, if man beget man, it must needs be with life and sense. It seemeth a gross thing to imagine that other base creatures should naturally procreate and bring forth issue of their own kind, with life and sense, and that man being so far a more excellent creature, should not in procreation yield so much as sense and life. The reasons of them which defend three several kinds of souls in man. Howsoever the rational soul, the understanding and mind, cometh not ex traduce from the seed of the parents, but is inspired and given of God, yet the vegetative and sensitive power (as he saith) cannot but come by natural propagation, if in bruit beasts, much more in man, the more noble creature. Moreover, after their opinion, the rational soul differeth from the other in continuance and eternity: For whereas she is immortal and perpetual, the others, to wit, the vegetative and the sensitive, as they have their beginning with the body, so have they their end also. For their actions are wholly organical, neither have they any power or being, when the bodily instruments do fail. The sensitive power is corporal, and divisible, but the mind or soul, is a spirit incorporal, and therefore indivisible, and is indeed the only essential difference betwixt man and brutish creatures. Whiles she is united with the body, she governeth all the powers of the body, and imparteth her efficacy, to every part of it, according as it is, found capable thereof. As the Sun in the great world, doth come to some parts with his beams, and to other parts only with his efficacy, even so in this microcosmus the little world man, the divine spirit, the soul, doth on some parts cast the beams of her light, and impart unto other, the power of her quickening spirit, and is indeed both the fountain of life in this world, to the body being made capable by the vegetative and sensitive faculties, the good temperatures of the first qualities: and after this life, when the vegetative and natural forces shall cease, the body being by glorification, made eternally capable, it shall minister to it a life that never shall have end. A man doth sustain no journey, if at the same time wherein he expecteth the payment of a debt, (though the debt be not paid) yet his coming for it, doth by occasion suddenly yield him such preferment, as whereby he shall never stand in need of that debt so expected. And even so it is no abasing unto man, not to have that debt of nature, sensitive life (which all living creatures have) when at the same time, in stead of that which should have come from parents God doth inspire a far better, even a living soul, performing all, & a thousand times more than the other could have done. I therefore hold their opinion to be soundest, Peucer. de divinat cap de physiog. which do attribute unto man but one soul, comprehending and governing all the powers in man. The vegetative and sensitive faculties, are but bodily temperatures, or corporal agitations, having their motions according to the good disposition of the instruments, and also their continuance according to their continuance. But the moving spirit which moveth all, and ruleth all, and quickeneth all, is that one soul 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 unam, quam si perdiderîmus, quid superest quorum in vita maneamus: God hath given all other things double unto us, that if one be hurt, the other may stand us instead, eyes, ears, hands & feet double▪ But he hath given us but one soul, which if we destroy, what is there in the world, whereby we may hope for any life? Isidor, in etymolog. And Isidore, anima dum vivificat 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 soul is one, but is called by several names, according to her several and manifold operations: Vide Curaei Physic. Some holding the opinion of Plato, that there be three distinct souls in man, do conclude that to be the cause of apparitions of ghosts, because Plato taught that the sensitive soul doth remain a while after death, as a garment & covering to the rational. But I omit that as a plain dream. johannes Philoponus, Philopon, Grammat. a Grecian Philosopher, and yet a christian, said that he could not conceive how the wicked should be punished after this life, unless the sensitive soul do continue. No doubt as the souls of them which dying in the Lord, are already blessed and with Christ in Paridise, beholding the Lamb, Apoc. 22, 5. howsoever they want the bodily eye, and have no light of the Sun, but the Lord God is their light for ever: so the rich glutton his soul, Luk, 1● & the souls of as many, as are already damned with him, do endure the torments prepared for the devil and his angels. Howsoever the bodies being not yet raised up, they cannot be said to have their corporal senses. The manner of the joys & punishments after this life (for the arm of God's mercy, and the arm of his justice are both of one length) is incomprehensible and unspeakable, such as no eye can see, 1. Cor, 2. ● no ear can hear, neither can it enter into the heart of man. But it is many ways apparent, that howsoever in the day of judgement the body shall be joined to the soul, as in society of either bliss or torment, yet is that immortal & invisible creature of itself inorganical, sufficiently able for all her actions, motions, and operations, without the bodily instruments, humours, qualities, powers, agitations, temperaments, or any corporal faculties whatsoever. CHAP. FOUR Whether anima the soul be a medium, a mean or middle thing betwixt the spirit and the body. divers late writers set it down for a firm position, Dorn, in clave pag 138, & 142: anima est medium inter spiritum et corpus: The body and spirit are so contrary one to another, that they cannot be joined together, but by a middle or mean: now the mean to join them is the soul, and one expoundeth what that soul is, anima est corporis motrix, Ibid pag. 136 Folly 141 it is the mover of the body, and after he saith, anima duobus constat, motu scilicet et sensu, the soul doth consist of two things, to wit, moving and sense. And afteward he addeth a third thing, to wit appetites, Folly 145: odit animam in corpore qui fraenat appetitus, he hateth his soul in his body, which doth bridle his appetites. And in another place defineth it to be the life, Folly 137 anima est vita corporis, et substantia media inter animam, et corpus participans de animo, et corpore, the word anima signifieth the life of the body, and is a middle substance betwixt the mind and the body, and taketh part of both. By which places his meaning seemeth to be, that the word anima should comprehend whatsoever is betwixt the principal part of man's soul, and the grossness of the bodily substance, and that the immortal invisible substance, is by it, as by a second middle substance, united to the body. In these his assertions he is first injurious to the word anima, which (as I have showed already) hath as large a signification, as hath the word spirit, for the immortal soul of man, and hath been always so used in all ages amongst Philosophers, and approved Latin Authors, and especially amongst the most religious Fathers of the Church, in all their sermons, and discourses: and further in as many as have translated the holy Scriptures unto us. As it is taken sometimes for the inferior faculties, so is also the word spirit, and therefore there is no reason, why the one should be restrained strictly to an inferior base substance, more than the other. Marsil, Ficin. de vita caeli●us comparada lib, 3, cap, 3 The 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 divina et adsit corpori crassiori, et vitam eidem penitùs largiatur, Betwixt the soul and the body a spirit is of necessity required in us, as it were a middle or mean whereby the soul being divine, may be present to the body, being more gross, and thoroughly bestow life upon it. And a little after, Scimus viventia omnia tàm plantas quàm animalia per quendam spiritum vivere et generare sui simile: lapides sui similes non generant, quia spiritus iniis crassiori materia cohibetur: We know that all living things, as well plants as sensible creatures, do live by a certain spirit, and thereby get their like: But stones do not bring forth their like, because the spirit in them is holden back by the grossness of their matter. The meaning of Ficinus, doth not much differ from Dorne, but that which the one calleth anima, the other calleth spirit, because indeed the words are equivalent, and both of them equivocal: And therefore to take away ambiguity, the best had been for either of them to have added to the word the difference, as to have said that the vegetative and sensitive soul, is the middle betwixt the rational soul and the body, or that the spirit of life is the middle betwixt the understanding spirit of man and the body. But Dorne in calling that vegetative and sensitive faculty, a third substance doth seem to have drawn his position out of Origen, Origen super Levit. Hom, 2. who doth directly set it down, that anima is in such sort a medium betwixt the spirit & the body, that the soul may be damned, and yet the spirit saved, and one of his proofs is, Origen in Mathaeum hom. 30, Folly, 96. because it is said in the Gospel, that God can cast both body and soul into hell fire, ex eo quod nihil de spiritu dixit, evidenter oftenditur, quòd spiritus cum anima peccatrice non simul punitur: quí enim peccavit, dividitur, et pars quidem eius cum infidelibus punitur, quod autem non cius, revertitur ad Deum qui dedit eum, Seeing he speaketh nothing of casting the spirit into hell, it is evidently showed that the spirit is not punished together with the sinful soul: The person that sinned, is divided, and part is punished with the Infidels, and that which is not his, but Gods that gave it, must return to God that gave it. A very gross error is this, as are likewise many other opinions, which the said Origen doth hold, as concerning the soul: as the omnes animae erant in initio simul creatae, all souls were created in the beginning all together: which heresy of his, is at large confuted by Aquinas: though, Aquinas, 1. part summae theologiae and animam salvatoris fuisse antequam nasceretur à Virgin, et in restitutione omnium animas Christianorum judaeorum et Gentilium unius conditionis fore, et ex Angelis fieri animas, et rursus ex animis Angelos, That the soul of our Saviour Christ was before he was conceived of the Virgin, and that in the restoring of all things, the souls of Christians, jews, and Gentiles, shall be all of one estate and condition, and that of Angels are made souls, and again of soul's Angels. All which absurd opinions of Origen are condemned by Saint Hierom. Whatsoever therefore may be gathered (as is by some) out of Origen, Hierom. in Apologi● adversus Ruffinum. to prove anima to be a third substance in man, we see by these his assertions, what little account may justly be made thereof. But say they, there are many places in the holy Scriptures, wherein the word soul and spirit are both joined together in such sort, that they seem apparently not to signify one thing. Indeed when they are joined both together, all the Fathers of the Church, generally do make a difference betwixt them, but not such a difference as they do imagine: as when the Apostle saith, 1, Thes, ●, 23 the God of peace sanctify you, who by that your spirit being perfect, & your soul and body may be kept unblamably until the coming of our Lord jesus Christ: the meaning is not that there should be a perfect conjunction of the Spirit to the body by the soul as a mean or middle, that so the spirit & the body might the better continue long together, but the prayer of the Apostle is, that the spirit of the Thessalonians, that is, their reason & understanding, & their soul, that is their will and affections: and thirdly their body should be kept unblamably until the coming of Christ. These significations of the words I have proved at large in my first Cha. And although they being named here together have several significations, Pe●a piscater. I●wellus & alii in hunc locum: yet can we not thereupon conclude, that they are several substances. But as the body and flesh are but one body, so the spirit & soul are but one soul. Aqui. saith upon that place, ad peccatum tria concurrunt, ratio, sensualitas, et exi ecutio corporis, Aquinas in 1 Thess, 5, 23: optat ut in nullo horum sit peccatum. Three things in man may offend, reason, sensuality & the body: he prayeth that none of these maybe defiled with sin. The ancient Fathers Augustine and Hierom do expound this place in an other sense, Folio 21. and yet nothing favouring the opinion of Dorne: v. 19 for by the spirit they understand the graces of God's spirit, and so to be all one with that which goeth a little before, Spiritum ne extinguite, Quench not the spirit: they make the meaning to be that both one soul, and the gifts & graces of God's spirit bestowed upon it, Hieron, epist. 150. ad 12. quest. Hedibiae. might be kept perfect until the coming of Christ. Alii ex hoc loco triplicem affirmare volunt substantiam spiritus, quo sentimus animae qua vinimus, & corporis quo incedimus, Some (saith S. Hierom) would out of this place to the Thessalonians, prove a threefold substance in man, etc. Nos autem accipimus gratias donationesque spiritus sancti, But we by the first, by the word spirit do understand the graces and gifts of the holy spirit. 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 vivendum & vivificandum aenimet corpus, Tertinm autem, cum anima & corpore coniunctum spiritum, gratiam spiritus sancti esse intelliga mus, quam orat Apostolus, ut integra perseveret in nobis, The spirit is not a third substance in man (as Didimus would have it,) but man's spirit is his soul, which for the spiritual nature, or because it breatheth in the body, is called a spirit, and it is called Anima, because it quickeneth the body, and giveth unto it a quickening force: but the spirit which is in this place joined by the Apostle with the soul and body, we must understand it to be the grace of the holy Ghost, which the Apostle doth pray, that it may persevere and continue in us. The late Writers Beza, Piscator and others, do in the sense of this place differ from the Fathers, but all do geneally conspire against a third substance to be framed out of it. Aquinas holdeth two Axioms very strongly, first, Aquinas in 1. part suae sum. Theol. quest. 76, & 3, lib. sen●●●●. distinct. 1. that Forma substantialis unitur immediaté materiae, the substantial form of a thing is immediately, or without any medium united with the matter: Aquinas in 1. part suae sum. 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 substantial forms should be at one time in the self same body. Writing also upon that place of S. Paul, 1▪ Cor. 15.44 Est corpus animale, & est corpus spirituale, there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body: where the Apostle seemeth to give the word body both to anima and spiritus, Aquinas in 1. Cor. 15. he expoundeth the natural body corpus animale to be that which in this world is troubled with natural functions, for feeding, increase, generation and such like; and the spiritual body to be that which absque aliquo impedimento & fatigatione incessanter seruiet animae ad spirituales operationes eius, & hoc per Christum spiritum, id est, non solùm animam viventem ut Adam, sed viventem & vivificantem, without all impediment and weariness continually serve the soul for her spiritual operations, and that by the power of Christ, being a spirit, not only a living spirit as Adam, but a living and also a quickening spirit. And that this is the very sense of the place, it is most evident by the words last going before, and by that which immediately followeth, for in the verse before, he compareth our body in this life with our body that shall be in the resurrection: It is sown in weakness, it doth rise again in power, it is sown Copus animale, it shall rise again corpus spirituale. And when he hath said there is an animal body, and there is a spiritual: he addeth, as it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul, and the second Adam, that is Christ jesus, was made a quickening spirit. The Animal body is that which the posterity of Adam have in this life, Rom. 8. v. 11 and the spiritual body is that which shall be raised with the quickening spirit of Christ in the resurrection. Aug. de Civitate Dei, lib. 13. cap. 20. Augustine sayeth, that that is called a spiritual body, which Spiritui summa & mirabile facilitate subdetur, omni molestia sensu, omni corruptibilitate & tarditate detracta, shall obey the spirit with admirable facility, all sense of trouble being taken away, and all corruption and slowness removed. And in an other place, Aug. de fide, & symbolo, cap. 6. tom. ● Spirituale corpus intelligitur omnifragilitate & labe terrena in coelestem puritatem & stabilitatem mutata & conversa, That is understood to be a spiritual body, wherein all frailty and earthly pollution is converted and changed into heavenly purity and steadfastness: Anselmus, Anselm. in 1. Cor. 15 Titleman in 1. Cor. 15 and after him Titleman, and other schoolmen do interpret that to be an animal body, which hath need of meats, drinks, and other cherishing, & that to be a spiritual body, which shall not need any of these, but live for ever by the quickening spirit of Christ. To call a body spiritual, and to say that the spirit is a body, are speeches very much different. Col. 2. v. ● S. Paul sayeth that the fullness of the Godhead doth dwell in Christ bodily, but we can not thereupon infer that the godhead is a body. Rom. 7.14. The law is called spiritual, the law (saith the Apostle) is spiritual, and I am sold under sin, who will thereupon infer that the law is a spirit? Rom. 8.7. It is said, the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God: is the flesh therefore a thing rational? Paul will have the body of sin destroyed, Rom. 6. v. 6 is therefore sin a thing corporeal? 2▪ Cor. 4.16 He sayeth, though the outward man do perish, the inward man is renewed daily, is therefore the soul of itself a person? Aquinas writing upon that place, Aquinas in 2. Cor. 4. condemneth an heresy of Tertullian, Hic Tertulliani error damnatur etiam ab Augustino Epist, 157 who taught, that because S. Paul doth call the Soul an inward man, therefore the Soul no doubt had a bodily shape, but he frameth him this answer: unumquodque dicitur illud esse, quod est in eo principalius, Any thing may bear the name of that which is most principal in him: secundum veritatem & judicium principalius in homine est mens, sed secundum apparentiam principalius est corpus exterius cum sensibus suis, According to true judgement the principal part of man is the mind, but according to the outward appearance, the principal part is the body & the senses thereof, therefore it is, that the one is called the outward man, & the other the inward. S. Hierom showeth, that some in his time to prove that the spirit and soul are several substances, Hierom. epist, 150. ad 12. quaest. Hedibiae. In adiectione ad Dan. v. 86. did allege that in the song of the three children, O ye Spirits & Souls of just men praise the Lord. But he putteth it down as an usual answer, that that chapter is of the Apocrypha, and he addeth, Non utique sunt tot substantiae, quot nomina, We must still imagine so many substances, as we find names. The Apostle to the Hebrews, Heb. 4. v. 12. calleth the word of God such a two edged sword as doth enter to the dividing of the soul and spirit, we may not conclude thereby two several substances, but by the soul is meant (as most do expound it) the affections, and by the spirit the reason an understanding. 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 soul which doth communicate with spiritual substances is called a spirit; but that faculty which is common to brute beasts, is called anima, the one worketh with the body, and the other without the body. Others make, that to the soul do appertain those things which are agreeable to nature: and to the spirit, those things that are above nature, but still meaning the faculties of one soul, and not several substances. It is no abasing of the soul of man, to have some things common with brute beasts, as it is no disgrace to the mightiest prince in the world, to have some things common with the vilest and basest subject of his kingdom, to wit, eating, drinking, sleeping & such other natural functions. All Creatures have their several degrees of this anima, some have only the natural degree, as have trees and herbs, some have further a vital degree, as have worms, some besides the vital, have also a sensual degree with some feeling of fear and joy, as have brute hests, and some besides the natural, vital and sensual, have also an intellectual, as hath man to discourse, ponder and judge, and still the higher includeth his inferior, and the highest and most sovereign comprehendeth all in one. Some to derogate from the word anima, do allege that speech of Athan. Athanasius tom. 4. in tractatu de definitionibus ecclesiasticis Nemo existimet quod ille spiritus, quem in hominem inflavit factus sit anima, absit, Let no man think that the spirit which God did breath into man, was made a soul, God forbidden we should think so: whereupon they conclude that in Athan. his judgement, the spirit & the soul are two distinct substances: most certain it is, that Athanasius in that place, doth not speak of spirit, as of any essential part of man, but of that Spirit, wherewith God created all things of which it is said in Genesis, Spiritus Dei incubabat superficiei aqua rum, The spirit of God did hatch upon the waters, and in the Psalms, by the word of the Lord the heavens 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 spirit did God breath into man, ●en, 2.7, & by it man was made a living soul without any elementary matter: now that efficient & al-creating spirit which God did breath into man, let no man think (saith Athana,) that itself was made a soul, God forbidden: for than anima esset nimirum de Dei essentia, Our soul should be of the very essence of God. Sed spiritus ille perficit animam, But that spirit which is of God's essence, doth make the soul of man, and all the powers thereof: by which words following, Athanasius doth so plainly expound his own meaning, that no doubt can be left thereof: I conclude therefore, that the soundest course is, (when we take upon us to determine what anima is) to give it the same properties and the same signification, as hath been ever given to it by the holy Scriptures, by the ancient Fathers, by the wisest of the Philosophers, and by all the best approved authors that ever have written, and if in any place, either in the book of God, or in the writings of learned Divines, if be joined together with the word spirit, them to give it no other sense than is the scope and drift of the places. In all the places which are alleged, the purpose of the original text is not to show how the soul should be united to the body, but how all the powers of the soul should be joined unto God. CHAP. V In what place of the body the Soul doth possess his seat. THe vulgar and common axiom that anima rationalis est tota in toto, & tota in qualibet part, The rational soul of man is whole in whole, and whole in every part (which some do attribute to Augustine, and some to other late schoolmen, but in Melancthon his judgement, it is no speech of Plato, Melancth. de anima, pag, 34 Aristotle, or of any ancient Philosopher) may best be expounded of the power and efficacy of the soul: for the soul being a spiritual essence, as it is indevisible, so is it local and finite, it doth choose a certain place to itself (or rather hath a place allotted unto it of God) and doth work so far, and with such distance, as is appointed unto it. There is a great controversy betwixt the Greek and Arabian Physicians, Andr. Laurent. tract. de Melancth. Hypochondi. in what part of the head the soul of man is situated: for whether it be in the head or no, they make no question. The Grecians do think that it doth possess the whole brain without any distinction of places, and they do so join imagination & memory with reason, that they do think them not possible to be divided by distance of place, nor yet scarcely so much as in thought. As in the similar parts of the body, they make in every part the four natural faculties, the attractive, the retentive, the digestive, and the expulsive, not to be distinguished in place, but to possess the whole part, as above, or such like: so they make the imagination, the memory, and the reason to be in the same order in the whole brain. But the Arabian Physicians do attribute to every one of these three faculties a proper and peculiar seat. First because nature hath made nothing in vain, therefore seeing there are three several ventricles of the brain, Rationes 5. Arabum, citat. a Laurentio. it is most likely that they do serve for several seats, for the three chief faculties of the soul, 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 forepart, it is most fit to receive objects, and therefore they say, it is softer than the rest, as most fit to receive impressions, and memory to the hinder part as an inward chamber or closet, somewhat drier and more firm than the ventricle before. And the midst being most temperate, they account the fittest seat for reason. Secondly they endeavour to prove it by Physiognomy, because they whose head is made high up behind, have commonly good memories, & they which have high foreheads, have ready imagination & capacity. Thirdly they allege that problem of Aristotle that when we would deeply consider of a matter, we do commonly draw together the brows & (the forehead being contracted) we do lift up our countenance, but when we have forgotten a thing, we do commonly rub the hinder part of the head. Fourthly they rest upon experience, because they say it often falleth out that upon a wound received in the hinder part of the head, the memory is wholly destroyed. And also it is often seen, that the one faculty being depraved, the other may remain sound. Phrentike & Melancholic persons, may have their imagination become vain & erroneous, & yet in some matters dispute with good reason: & many that are forgetful of things past, will yet conceive very well things present. And last of all, they think that the fittest place for the reason & the mind, being the principal part of the soul, is the middle ventricle of the brain, from which she may both easily receive all forms of objects, from the former ventricle, & also readily require and exact of memory those things which she hath almost forgotten. These arguments though they are somewhat probable and have indeed alured many men to give assent unto them, yet because they are but only probabilities, guesses, and conjectures, and no certain demonstrations, Vide Andr. Laurentii tract de melanchol. it is accounted by many, more safe to rest upon the sincere ground, laid down before of the Grecians. Gal. lib, 2 de motu musculorum, Galen showeth that the imaginary faculty of the soul doth also remember: for when the impressions are deeply conceived in the imagination, he calleth that memory, & when the imagination doth receive the impressions but lightly & superficially & not often enough conceive them more deeply, he nameth that forgetfulness, he placeth principatum anime, Gal. de pl. ci●is Hipp. & Plat. lib. 8. cap. 1. the chief part of the soul to be where is the beginning of sinews, & that he maketh to be generally in the brain, and he will have the animal spirits, which are the first instruments of the soul to be contained not only in the three ventricles, Gal de usu parti●m lib. 8. but also in the whole body of the brain, because for the governing of the whole body, there hath need to be multus animalis spiritus, great plenty of animal spirits. Many Philosophers have determined the seat of the rational soul and understanding to be in the heart of man, of which opinion were Zeno the Babylonian, Diogenes, & Chrysippus. Gal. lib. 2. de placitis Hipp. & Plat. Galen declareth that their chiefest proof was this, Sermo est mentis nuntius, The speech of man is the messenger of the mind, and therefore from what part of the body the speech cometh, there lieth the understanding: now the speech cometh not from the brain, but out of the breast by the aspera arteria, the windpipe, and therefore in the breast, and about the heart, is the seat of the mind. To which he answereth, that the mind doth in a moment move all the instruments of the body, be they never so far off, if they be capable of motion, Nihil impedimenti ad celeritatem ex interuallo recipit, It receiveth no impediment to hinder speediness by any distance of place: for as when a part of man's body is wounded, there is no sensible time, betwixt the wound being given, and the smart received thereby. So there is no apparent distance betwixt our will of breathing and speaking, and the very action itself, which dependeth upon the will: howsoever therefore the voice doth proceed out of the windpipe, yet that doth nothing hinder, but that in the brain may be the cause which moveth that artery. The speech doth proceed from the mind, not as from a place, but as from a moving & ruling cause, commanding and governing all those instruments about the throat, whereby the voice is framed. Galen proveth this by a forcible argument, there are (saith he) three things passing betwixt the heart and the brain, and as it were knitting the one to the other, to wit, sinews, arteries, and veins, If about the outward part of the neck, the sinews only be cut, strait way doth the party become dumb, all other actions being left unhurt. If only the arteries thereabouts be cut, or tied hard with a band, (being first with an instrument plucked outward) the party doth not become dumb, but all the parts above the band or wound do lose the use of the pulses, and the parts downwards towards the heart, do yet afterwards retain the pulses, but upon the cutting or intercepting of the veins, there is none of the said functions abolished. Whereby it appeareth, that neither the heart hath need of the brain to the beating of the pulses, nor yet the brain hath need of the heart, that it may rule senses and motions, according to the command of reason and will. Again daily experience doth show unto us, that in learning & studying about matters, there is no apparent 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 grieved, unless by a sympathy. Hereof Galen concludeth that the rational faculty of the soul, Ibid. lib, ●. de Plaut, 〈◊〉 hath seat in the brain, and irrational in the heart. Auerrhoes objecteth against Calen, that worms have a voluntary motion, and yet not by sinews moving the muscles, for they want them, and therefore voluntary motions may be without any such sinews and muscles. But he should have considered, that worms are insecta, et imperfecta animalia, unpecfect craatures, as are flies, gnats, and such like, & therefore there is no argument to be drawn from them, to more perfect creatures, that because they do rear up and stand without bones, purge melancholy without spleen, and move voluntary without sinews and muscles, therefore more perfect creatures, as beasts and fowls, must do all these things by the same means that they do it. Neither doth it follow, because bruit beasts have their motions by anima sensitiva, the sensitive soul, that therefore man (being so much more excellent than they, & many degrees more, they are better than vermin) should of necessity have the same fountain of motions, that is in those brutish, creatures. Another reason hath Auerrhoes, when we breath in sleep, the letting in, and sending out of the breath, is by the help of the muscles and sinews. And yet at that time there is no will nor power of the rational soul to govern it, therefore the fountain of motion is from the heart. But there is in man a twofold will, the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ab electione, by election, and the other, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ab instinctu, by instinct of nature. In the time of sleep, there is the later, though not the former. There are also such passages, bands, & mutual helps betwixt the brain and the heart, that Hypocrates doth not stick sometimes to make the heart the dwelling place of understanding, Hipp. in libello de cord his words are, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Man's rational soul is in the least ventricle of the heart, it is not nourished with meats and drinks, but with the pure and clear abundance arising out o● the severing of the blood. Some commenting upon that place, say that he speaketh after the vulgar opinion, others think that by the soul he meaneth that calidum, that natural heat, Laurent. in Anat. which is the instrument of the soul. The vital spirit (which Hypocrates and Galen do often leave 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 be placed in the heart, yet is it also from it by the arteries communicated to all the body. And the blood, whereof the spirits do come, Gal. in. lib. do usu et util. respirationis. and which is the same to the spirits, as in the lamp the oil is to the flame: although the natural faculty of the working of it be placed chiefly in the liver, Hippo. lib. de alimento. yet is it also in the veins, which have their beginning of radication and distribution from the liver. Atha. in initio tractatus de definitionibus ecclesiasticis. Hereupon cometh that speech of Atha. habet anima sua sedem in cord, in posteriori part capitis quae cava vocatur, et in basilicis venis. In istis tribus partibus amma sedem habens, in totum copus vitalem suam potentiam distribuit, The soul hath her seat in the heart, in the hinder hollow part of the head, and in the basilical veins. And having her abode in these three places, she doth distribute her vital power into all the body. The Prophet David saith, Psal. 7.10. thou Lord art the searcher of the heart and reins. The best interpreters do by the heart expound cogitations and thoughts, and by the reins our affections. He saith further, Psal. 16.7. my reins do instruct me in the night season, that is, my will and my studies being guided by the spirit of God, for in the same verse he giveth to God humble praise, as to the author of that Instruction. In sundry places of the Scriptures, Exod. 12.11, Levit. 3.4. Hieron. super Nahum. 2. Greg. 11. mor. 9 Aug. super. Psal. 72. Tremel. in Psa 139.13. the word reins is expounded by the Fathers to signify lust, as being instruments serving to lust. But the Psalmist doth apply it generally to all the inward faculties, as when he saith, Thou Lord dost possess my reins, that is, as the best do interpret it, quicquid in me latet, whatsoever lieth hid within me. The reins are placed by Physicians in the middle proportion of heat, as are likewise the liver and veins, and all those chief inward receptacles of heat, blood and spirits, by means of veins and arteries passing thorough them, have a mutual society one with another. And if of humours and gross things, that be true which Hypocrates writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foras et intro est spirabile totum corpus, Hipp. epid. 6 Thes. 6. Aph. 1 all the body hath passages breathing out and inspired from one part to another, Gal. lib. 3. de natural. facult and that which Galen saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, every part doth draw out of every part, and send again into every part, and there is one conflux and conspiration of all parts: Then much more may this be said of spirits, which are far more subtle and more fit for passage. And if experience do teach that either a vein or an artery being opened, may thoroughly evacuate 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 humours from the veins to the sinews, and from the sinews to the veins, that a disease in one may be dissolved and avoided by the other, as Hippocrat. showeth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cramp or convulsion of sinews coming within the first three days, doth often dissolve a fever, why should not then the faculties and powers, to wit, the animal in the brain, and the vital in the heart, & the natural in the liver, be thought mutually to conspire and work together, to uphold the whole body, and every part and portion thereof. I conclude therefore, that howsoever the anima or soul is said in respect of her chief animal faculty, to have seat in the brain, and by her vital faculty, to have place in the heart, and by her natural faculty to possess the liver: yet the first by sinews, and the second by arteries, and the third by veins, do with such society, harmony, and near conjunction, work continually together in all the body, that the soul itself (which ruleth and governeth them all) may be said in, and by them, to be present in all the body, although in her own essence and substance, she hath her proper place appointed by God, & being the chiefest part of man, it is most likely that she hath it in that part which is the chiefest beauty, & as it were the very majesty of this earthly creature. CHAP. VI Whether the soul do come ex traduce by generation and conception from the parents, as doth the body. WHether the soul of man be created of God or no, it is a matter that was never called in question in the Church of God, for all the faithful have ever acknowledged, that as the body is created of God, so also the soul. But sundry doubts have been often made by many, in what sort and manner the soul is created. Some have thought it to be a corporal thing, and to come by propagation from the bodies of the parents: others have on the other side, so much extolled it, as that they would have it to be created of the very substance of God. A third sort there have been, which have defended the soul to be a spiritual substance, but yet to come by propagation, the soul from the soul, as the body from the body. Origin his opinion of all souls created together at the creation of the world, is touched Chap. 4. August. Epist. 157. tom. 2. Others will have it to be created of nothing: others that it is created, but yet of the substance of that immortal soul which was given unto Adam. S. Augustine saith, that if we keep ourselves from the two first gross heresies, then Origo animae sine periculo latet, it is no danger to us, to be ignorant how the soul hath her beginning. The first assertion, which was the error 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 six souls out of the loins of jacob, & secondly because, when God made Adam, Gen. 2.7. it is said that God did breath into him, & he was made a living soul, but when Eve was made, there is no mention made of any soul 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. give me the souls, take thou the goods, when the king of Sodom desired to have his people again: & S. Paul biddeth every soul be subject to higher powers, that is, every person, & sometimes it is taken only for the body, Aug. epist 157 tom. 2. as S. Aug. showeth in that Epistle, & as I have laid open here in my first Chap. As for the ensample of Eve, it was sufficient to have the inspiring of the soul once named, but no doubt she had also her soul given her of God, as Adam did acknowledge when he said, this is now flesh of my flesh, Gen. 2, 23. & bone of my bone, he did not say soul of my soul, & therefore did confess it to be given of God. The second opinion which was of the Manichees, & renewed of late time by servetus, that because the Apostle saith, Act: 17.28. In God we live & move, & have our being (meaning indeed of the qualities gifts and graces, which God hath bestowed on us) therefore our soul is made of the very essence of the Godhead, it is so gross a collection, that it needeth no confuting. It is most absurd & impious once to think that the soul of man being so many ways stamed & polluted, and so full of inconstancies, & vain imaginations, should be in substance a portion of the most pure & sacred God head. As for them which think that it cometh of the essence of man's soul, some do hold that in procreation it floweth out cum semine. Aug. epist. 15● But Aug. doth think that to be incredible, because multa fluunvirrita sine conceptibus semina, and if the semen animae be mortal, how should then the soul itself be immortal? Others are of opinion that no part of the soul issueth out with the seed, but as one candle doth light another & lose no part of itself thereby, so the soul of the parents doth give a soul to the natural heat, & good temperature of that which is conceived, and yet not diminish thereby any portion of itself. But the most general opinion now held in the church, is that the souls are created of God, & from outwardly by his divine power inspired into man at the time of giving life. Whether created of the soul of Adam (as some in times past have thought) or created of nothing, as in the first creation, I account it a question needless, seeing the word of God hath revealed no determining thereof, but that it is created of God, and also created in another manner than is the body, that seemeth to be apparently declared in the holy scriptures. The Apostle saith to the Hebrews, if we have had fathers of our flesh to correct us, Heb. 12.9. & we have reverenced them, how much more shall we be in subjection to the father of our spirits and live? What can be more apparent to show that the body and the soul do not come both unto us after one manner? God is our creator in respect of our bodies, but he hath made them by means, by the parents of our flesh, but he is called the father of our souls, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a certain excellency and peculiar pre-eminence, because he hath made them himself alone, and in the creation of our spirits hath gone beyond the course & help of natural means. The like speech we have in the Preacher, Eccl. 12.7. when earth (saith he) goeth to earth, the spirit goeth to God which gave it. No doubt God giveth also the body (as the Psalmist confesseth, Psal. 139.13 thou Lord hast covered me in my mother's womb, I will praise thee, for that I am wonderfully made) but he is by a singular & proper prerogative, called the giver of spirits, because they come not as the body by means, but immediately from himself. Hereunto hath S. Peter respect, 1. Pet. 4.39. when he willeth us to commit our souls unto God, as a faithful creator: & David, when he saith the Lord doth fashion the hearts of men. Psal. 33.15. Hereupon is it, that the Lord himself saith by the Prophet Esay, that he hath made the souls: Esay. 57.16. & to this work may well be applied the speech of our saviour, joh. 5.17. pater operatur, et ego operor, my Father worketh still, & I work. The incorporal & immortal spirit, the soul of man is of greater dignity & worth, than that it may be said to be produced out of the faculty or power of any material thing. It is also inorganical, howsoever for a time it do govern the Instruments of the body, yet doth it often reflect into itself, & without all help of bodily instruments, it doth discourse, number, gather principles, understand things, both particular & universal; & therefore it is not likely that an essence so spiritual, & inorganical should have her beginning only by an instrumental manner & means. Further it is evident, that incorporal & spiritual substances are not divisible. If the soul should be traducted from the soul of the parents, then must it needs be, that either the whole soul of the parents is traducted, or some part & portion: if the whole, them must it needs bring the death & destruction of the parents, if but a part, them must it needs follow that simple & spiritual essences are partible, & divisible, & that it may receive a composition of parts, as part from the soul of the father, & part from the mothers: which consequences do seem absurd & contrary to the grounds of reason. Objection. 1 Gen. 2. Some object that which is said in Gen. that God in the seventh day did rest from the creation of all his works, & therefore God doth not as yet still create new souls. 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 kinds of creatures, but for continuing those kinds which he hath at the first created, that doth still take place, Aug. Epist. 28 joh. 5.17. which is said in the Gospel Pater meus usque nunc operatur. And in another place, the same Augustine saith very well, that God doth work now, non instituendo quod non erat, sed multiplicando quod erat, not in creating that which hath never been, but in multiplying that which hath been. Some object that it is not likely that God would give a less privilege unto man than he hath given unto bruit beasts. If they beget issue wholly like unto themselves, why should not the same be performed in man? I answer that those arguments often do not follow, which be drawn from the more unperfect creatures, to them that are more perfect. If I should reason thus, because worms do rear up without bones, they purge melancholy humour without a splean, they are moved voluntary without muscles: therefore an injury is done unto man, that he cannot also do the like: or because the black flies, called Beetles, and other vermin do breed of dung, without any help of male or female, therefore an injury is done to birds & beasts, that they cannot also do the like, who would account these arguments to be of any force? The more perfect that any creature is, in the more noble manner is the form given unto it. If in steed of a poor privilege a far greater, & indeed a very royal privildge be granted, then must it not be accouted an injury, but rather great favour, mercy, and bounty, as I have showed more at large in the third Chapter. Some affirm, that one soul doth bring forth another, as one seed of wheat doth bring forth another, because every seed hath in it quiddam aeternum, some thing eternal and perpetual. Saint Augustine doth answer this argument, Aug. epist. 157. tales animas non spiritus sed corpora esse contendunt, such men do make the souls not to be spiritual, but bodily essences, quo perversius quid dici potest? then which opinion what can be counted more absurd? In corporal things the corruption of one is the generation of another: That which thou sowest (saith S. Paul) is not quickened, 1. Cor. 15.36 except it die first: but who will imagine such corruption in spiritual essences? Corporal things do grow and increase, but these incorporal and spiritual essences have at the first their perfection, and do not grow in respect of quantity or substance, only they have need of God's grace to renew their decayed qualities, and of fit instruments for them, that they may put forth their power and strength: but (say they) if the soul be created of God, and given from heaven, not produced from the parents, how is it then guilty of original sin? or how can we be accounted by nature, to be the children of wrath? Eph. 2.3. This objection hath bred sundry errors amongst many. Some have affirmed, that the souls 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 Hebrews, pronouncing marriage to be honourable, Hebr. 13.4. and the bed therein to be unpolluted and undefiled. And again, if original sin should come that way, than should we by nature have only the sin of lust, but we have naturally all other sorts of sin, Envy, wrath, pride, and what not: others have taught, that God indeed doth create the soul, but that he hath therefore created it with these spots, that it might be a fit soul for man, as he hath given to other creatures a life fit for them; to an Ass, a life fit for an Ass; and to a dog a life fit for a dog: so to man he hath given a soul fit for him (that is) to a damned man, a damned soul. This is a wicked and damnable opinion, to make God the author of evil, who is wholly good & perfectly good, & so good, that there is no end of his goodness: who is (as the Psalmist saith, Psal 5.4. Deus non volens iniquitatem, A God that willeth no iniquity. But for the coming of original sin. I take their assertion to be best and soundest, which as they acknowledge the soul to be created of God pure & holy (as all his works are good) so they do also affirm that it is not created with that strength of persisting in good, Gen. 1.32. and resisting evil, & many such excellent graces which it should have had, if Adam had not transgressed the commandment of God. Having therefore in itself, though a purity, yet also a weakness and imbecility, it is no sooner joined to the body of man, but it is presently infected with the pollution thereof, even as the purest spirit of wine or best quintessence that can be made in the world, if it be powered into a filthy poisoned and unsavoury vessel, it doth in a moment become partaker of the corruptions thereof: yet we must not imagine the souls to have for some time a being before they be united with the bodies, for at one and the self same time, the souls are both created and also united to the bodies as it is said, Gen. 2.7. He breathed in his face the spirit of life. Neither must we think, that they have only imbecility and weakness in resisting corruptions; but that they have also many other defects of mind and will, they are destitute of spiritual light, & are therefore blind, and not inclined to such desires and actions, as the law of God requireth. God bestowed his gifts and graces upon Adam on this condition, that he would give them also to his posterity, if he himself would by obedience keep them, but would not give them to his seed, if he by his unthankfulness should cast them away. Now Adam having by disobedience lost them God in justice (as a just punishment inflicted upon Adam's sin) doth bereave his posterity of them. Now these defects and the inclinations corrupted by these defects, are sins, as they are drawn by men sinning, upon themselves and their posterity, and as they have from them and their seed their beginning, and as they are causes also, that man neither is, nor can be conformable to the law of God. It is not a doctrine so strange (as some would make it) that the soul being created pure, should be polluted by the body, seeing that the souls of our first parents were created most pure, and yet afterward depraved, and though the bodies of their posterity be of themselves senseless, yet that doth not prove, but that (upon the curse laid on our first parents) they may be prone to ill, and no fit instruments for any goodness: neither is it against the goodness of God so to join his pure creature to the body, that it must needs be polluted thereby, seeing that as he hath therein showed his justice in punishing sin, so he doth thereby set forth his infinite mercy, ordaining for it a remedy by the redemption of Christ jesus. God could have made the souls of our first parents in such manner that they could not possibly fall away, but it was not expedient that they should be so made, because then the obedience of man should have been as it were forced, and therefore not so acceptable unto God. So God could have made the souls of his posterity with such strength and steadfastness, that they could not possibly be polluted, but it was more expedient that they should be so made, that it might be known, both what we are by nature, and what we are by grace. The goodness and mercy of God doth more shine by the redemption of Christ jesus, than it should have done, if man had never fallen into miseries, & although in the just judgement of God, the soul be made in such sort as it must of necessity be polluted by the uniting of it with the body, yet is it not thereby to be excused from the guilt of sin, for though it be of necessity, yet is it not of any compulsion. A stone let down into the water, goeth down of necessity, yet not with compulsion: bodies deprived of food do faint of necessity, and flesh doth in time putrefy of necessity, yet neither doth the one faint, nor the other putrefy by any compulsion. God of necessity is good, and the Devil of necessity evil, yet cannot we say, that either goodness in God, or iniquity in the Devil do proceed of compulsion. The soul being joined to the body is of necessity sinful, yet not by compulsion, but willingly and of her own accord. But some may say, the faithful are regenerate, and born a new, and are in Christ become a holy people, 2. Pet. 2, 9 how can it then be that their seed should not be sanctified? or how can their posterity be originally sinful either in body or in soul? To that it is annswered, that man can give nothing to his posterity, but what he hath by nature, for that which cometh to him by grace, must come to his posterity by grace also. Our new birth cometh not by any natural means, we are borne (as it is in the Evangelist) not of blood, joh. 1.13. nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God. If we winnow wheat never so perfectly and purge it thoroughly from the ears, Comparatio Petri Mart. ex Aug. chaff and dross, yet if that wheat be sown again, it will not bring forth winnowed or cleansed wheat, but together with the stalk, husks and such other things as must afterward be separated from it. It can give nothing to the corn that must grow of it, but what it had by nature, what it had by art & industry, that must the grain next growing have by the same means again: Even so the faithful, though they be washed, justified, and sanctified, yet they cannot give to their children these gifts which they have received of God's grace, they can give to their children no more than what they have had by nature, and by nature they have nothing else but to be children of wrath. Eph. 2.3. Here now ariseth another doubt, if from our parents we be Children of wrath, it should seem that the children are punished for the parent's trespass, how can this agree with the justice of God, Ezech. 18.26. to afflict one for, the fault of another? This doubt is easily resolved, if these four positions be duly considered. First, that the most excellent graces which were at the first bestowed on man, were given on this condition, that if he did lose them, he should lose them both from himself, and from his posterity. Secondly, that children do proceed out of the mass or substance of their parents, and therefore must needs be accounted as a part of their parents according to that in the epistle to the Hebrews, Heb. 7.10 The Tribe of Levi (being four generations after Abraham) was yet in the loins of Abraham, if then the whole nature of man be corrupted, then must needs every portion be guilty of the same corruption, until by some singular grace and favour, it do obtain remission. Rom. 5.12. Thirdly, that seeing the body proceeding from sinful parents, is one part of man, and found guilty in and by the parents, it standteh well with the justice of God to be offended with whole man, and thereupon so to withdraw his graces from the other part, that both together may fall into malediction. Fourthly that though God do thus punish sin with sin, yet he doth it in that manner, that he is no way the author of sin, Aug. de gratia, & lib, arbit. cap. 21 as Saint Augustine saith, Deus operatur in cordibus hominum ad inclinandum voluntates eorum quocunque vult, sive ad bona prosua misericordia, sive ad mala pro ipsorum meritis, judicio utique suo aliquando aperto, aliquando occulto semper justo, GOD doth work in the hearts of men, to incline their wills which way soever his pleasure is, either to good things according to his mercy, or to ill according to their own desert, and that by his judgement sometimes manifest, sometimes secret, but always just. A weak house must needs incline, and also fall, when the underproppers are removed, darkness must needs ensue, when the Sun is departed away: Those bright beams of all light, which were given to our first parents are removed, and other gifts and excellent graces of God, are in his just judgement so long withholden from our souls, until by his holy spirit, Act. 26.18. Eph. 1.18. Act. 5 10 Heb. 13.21. as the worker, and by his holy word, as the instrument, God in his good time do lighten the eyes of our hearts, purify them by faith, and confirm and strengthen us to every good work. CHAP. VII. Of the immortality of the Soul. Marsil. Ficinu●m Theol. Platonis pag. 361. MArsilius Ficinus showeth five sundry opinions of the Philosophers concerning the soul of man, but of Christians, which truly hope for immortality▪ he wisheth the four first assertions to be utterly rejected, and the first only fit to be received and embraced. The first sort of Philosophers were they which made the soul to be a certain thin body infused into a thicker, a more subtle bodily substance infused into a grosser. And of these some made it to be fiery, as Democritus, Leucippus and Hipparchus. Some to be an air or an aerial body, as Anaximenes, Diogenes and Critias: some to be a watery substance, as Hippias, some earthly as Hesiodus, some of fire and air as Epicurus, and some of water and earth as Xenophantes. The second sort of Philosophers, was of them which thought the soul to be no bodily substance, but some quality thereof dispersed through the body, to wit, either a heat, or a complexion, as was defended by Zeno, Cleanthes, Antipater, and Possidonius. A third sort judged the soul to be no whole quality, but some bright point of quality remaining in some better part of the body, and qualities, to wit, in the brain or heart, and from thence governing the body, their authors especially were Chrysippus, Archelaus & Heraclides. The fourth sect were they which taught the soul to be a certain point or prick, or indivisible thing, not fastened to any part, but secluded from all set place, & wholly present to every part of the body, but yet such as it dependeth of the body, either because the complexion of the body did beget it, or because it came of seed, or of some proportion of matter, and addicted to the matter, as to her natural birthplace, the chief broachers of this opinion were Xenophanes, Colophonius, Asclepiades, Aristoxenus & Critolaus: To some of them, the soul was nothing but a nimble force of moving: to others, a harmony of corporal parts. Others thought it a perfection of the senses; others a conspiring of the Elements, others a swarm of atoms. The first and best sort of Philosophers, Ficinus maketh to be those which defend the soul to be a certain divine & indevisible essence, wholly ruling every part of the body, produced of an incorporeal author, & depending wholly on the virtue & power of the worker, & not upon the beginning or capacity, or virtue of any material thing. Thus thought Zoroaster, Mercurius, Pythagoras, Plato, and amongst these also he numbereth Aristotle. It was a thing that mightily persuaded Plato that the souls both came from God, and were also immortal, when he considered that her functions did not depend so upon bodily instruments, but she could perform all her chiefest actions without them, & as he saith in Phaedo, Ratiocinatur optimé quando nihil eamperturbat, Plato in Phaedone. neque auditus neque visus, neque dolour, neque voluptas, she doth reason and discourse best when neither hearing, nor sight, nor grief, nor pleasure do hinder her. In age, when the body groweth weak, yet is often her judgement ripest, & though many sicknesses do bereave the body of strength, yet the vigour of the soul is not thereby diminished, she flieth beyond all the powers of the senses more swift than the lightning from the east to the west: she can pass the seas (as Plato saith in Axiochus) in a moment, Sort. in Axiocho Platovis. she can calculate the course of Sun, moon & stars, she can discourse of things past, & foresee things to come, in ambiguous matters she can first doubt, and then choose, and all these without the help of any bodily instrumennts, in knowledge she doth not only pass through humane arts by defining, dividing, dissolving, compounding, but she doth even pierce the skies; she comprehendeth the knowledge of God, she conceiveth God & his Angels to be essences immortal: if brute beasts should conceive reason, they should be then accounted reasonable. Calu. Instit. lib. 1. cap. 15. sect. 2. This conceiving of immortality, & having recourse to the fountain of life, is an evident argument that the soul is not a vanishing vapour, but a divine essence. How cheerfully went Socrates to his death, Platonis Apolog. when in his conscience he was persuaded, that death was nothing else but (as he said) a flitting unto another place, where he should enjoy the company of the Gods, & where undoubtedly, the dead were in better estate than the living. Plato in Axiocho. He made this to be the definition of the death of them that lived well, Discessus é vita est mali cuiusdam in bonum commutatio, the departure out of this life is nothing else but the changing of ill into good. To the wicked he confessed it to be an entrance into some kinds of torments, but to the wise and virtuous he thought it to be nothing but a changing of sorrows into all joy & happiness, what they were, he could not define, but of this he made no question, Plato in Phaedone. Socrates to Simmias. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To good souls it was surely better, and to ill souls worse. Philo. judacus It 'em Bruson. lib. 4. cap. 10. When Crito one of Socrates his friends asked him at the time of his death, in what manner he would be buried, he cried out, O my friends, I have spent a great deal of labour in vain, I have not yet persuaded Crito, that I shall fly away, & lean no part behind, but Crito (said he) if thou canst overtake me, bury me how thou wilt: his meaning was, that the mind or soul is the man, & that the body was but an instrument or cottage, or prison. Anaxurchus the Philosopher when being taken by Nicocreon tyrant of Cypress, Idem lib. 2. cap. 1. ex Plutarcho. he was knocked with iron hammers, he said, Tuned, tuned probé Anaxarchi, carnes & ossa, tuned Anaxarchi follen, Anaxarchun nequaquàm laedes, knock, knock hardly, the flesh and bones of Anaxarchus, knock his bellows the instrument of his wind, but Anaxarchus himself thou canst not hurt. Ibid. Theodorus the Macedonian philosopher, when Lysimachus threatened to hang him, answered, haec aulicis tuis minitare, mea enim non refert humine an in cruse putrescam, threaten these things to thine own Courtiers, as for me it is all one with me, whether I do putrefy on the ground, or on the gibbet. Theramenes the Lacedaemonian, Plut. in Nicia Val. Max. lib 3 cap. 2. when being condemned by the ephors, he was going to execution, he laughed and carried in his countenance all signs of joy, one of them therefore said unto him, what dost thou contemn the laws of Lycurgus our lawgiver? He answered no, but I give them thanks, that they do appoint me such a punishment, as I may pay without borrowing on interest. Infinite such examples have been in all ages, of many valiant hearts, despising death, aswell in war, as in peace, & this courageous contempt of death, is a very evident token that is in the heart, some expectation of another life, when this former is well ended. Tully saith, Tul. lib. 1. Tulc. that it is unpossible to find the original of the soul in earth, nihil est in animis mistum aut concretum, aut humidum, aut flabile, aut igneum, there is no mingled nor compound thing in the soul, no moist thing nor windy, nor fiery, for none of these things can understand, remember, or by things past collect things future. These things must needs be acknowledged divine. And although the soul be not of these mixed things, yet doth she hold all these contrarieties in peace and union, which is also a plain proof of the divine power of the soul, that she holdeth all contraries, heat, cold, moisture, and drought, in mutual amity and concord, Seneca being fallen into the consideration of that desire which man hath naturally to know some God (for there is no country so barbarous, which doth not in heart confess that there is a God) saith, quemadmodum radii solis contingunt quidem terram, Seneca lib. ad Gallione de brevitate vitae. ad Lucilium. sed ibi sunt unde mittuntur, ita animus magnus, et sacer conversatur quidem nobiscum, sed haeret origini suae, As the Sun beams do come to the earth, but they are there from whence they are sent: even so a great and holy mind is conversant with us, but it doth cleave and stick there where it hath the first beginning. Mors quam pertimescimus, intermittit vitam non eripu, veniet iterum qui nos in lucemreponet dies, but that he speaketh chiefly upon some hope of resurrection. Alphonsus the King of Arragon accounted this as a great strengthening of his faith touching the immortality of the soul, Panormitan. lib. 4. de rebus pestis Alphonsi. because he saw daily the elder that men grew in years, and the more that the strength did decrease, the more they excelled in wisdom, and the more did the powers of their mind increase. Strength is an effect of youth, if the soul in the midst of bodily weakness, or worldly trouble, do gather strength, as Chrysostom saith, anima reiwenescit inter angustias, Chrysost. de resurr. serm. 1. the soul by troubles doth wax more youthful than must it needs follow, that it is of itself an essence immortal. But some do say, the simplicity of children, and the do●age of many old men, do show that the mind is like affected with the body, and therefore the body wholly failing, the mind must needs fail also. I must needs confess, that when the senses and forms of things are altogether disturbed (as in a frenzy) or when there is a great distemperature in the brain (as in children by too much moisture, and in crooked old age by too much dryness) then for want of good tools the workman is as it were idle, and for want of fit windows the guest that is within us, doth not take so good a view of matters, as otherwise she would. But it doth not thereby follow, but that she shall fully exercise her operations again when she is delivered both of window and closet, and hath no other functions to execute, but what she can perfectly perform without any help of instruments. The clouds shadow the light of the Sun from us, but the brightness of the Sun itself is nothing thereby diminished. As the Sun of the little world, man's soul hath several faculties, so hath she several times when she doth in highest degree exercise and use them. The vegetative power hath his mightiest force in the womb, the sensitive hath his chiefest time in the course of this life, and the intellectual doth flourish most after this life. The prodigious dreams which have been in all ages, Calu. justit. lib. 1. cap. 15. Sect. 2. do plainly convince and prove what agility and vigour may be in the mind, when the senses are all bound. In the war with the Latins the two Roman Consuls, at that time Generals in the field, did in one night dream one, & the self same dream, a ghost appeared unto them, and told that it was agreed by the gods, that on the one side the General should die, and on the other side the whose army: The two Generals, to wit, Derius, and Manlius Torquatus, when they had compared their dreams together, did resolve like valiant commanders, that they should rather one of them yield up their lives as a sacrifice, then that the whole army should perish. The agreement was made, that whether soever of them had his wing or troops first beginning to fail, the General of that part of the army, should presently cast himself into the thickest of his enemies, and sell his life as dear as he could. It fell to Derius his lot, his wing began first to shrink, and thereupon he being gallantly mounted, did presently make a breach upon the army of the enemy, fought fiercely, slew many, and although he was at the last slain himself, yet he brought thereby happy deliverance unto his country. Sophocles the Tragedian, Peucerus de divinatione pag. 456. when on a certain night a robbery was even then in committing at Athens, did the very same time dream so often and so apparently of it, that he arose and went to the offïcers, the Areopagites declaing his dream unto them, and the manner of the manifest appearing thereof. The Areopagites thereby found out the fact, and inflicted upon the offenders condign punishment. Infinite such like ensamples have been, which do abundantly declare unto us, that when the senses & bodily powers are cast asleep, the minds have been far sharper and seen much more than any way they could have seen by the instruments of the bodily senses. Further, if the soul were not a distinct essence from the body, why should the holy Scripture use so often these and such like kinds of phrases, that we dwell in houses of clay, job. 4.19. that our body is as a house and tabernacle to the soul, 2. Cor. 5. V 1.2.6. that while we live here, we are at home in the body, but absent from the Lord? These do instruct the same to us, which the Philosopher saw by the light of reason, Tul. Tusc. 5. that corpus est quasi vas anim & quoddam receptaculum, the body is but as it were, a vessel for the soul▪ and a receptacle for a time. Again, if the soul were not a substance of itself, why should the Apostle saint Peter call the end of our faith the salvation of our souls, 1. Pet. 1.9. 1. Pet. 2.11. or bid us abstain from lusts, which fight against our souls. Or the Apostle to the Hebrews, Heb. 1●. 17. call the labour of Ministers a watching ever souls, as they which must give an account of them: with sundry other such exhortations, as are set down here in my first chapter. Heb. 10.17. Or how could there be a terror and trembling of conscience in the wicked, when by the guiltiness of their sin, they find in themselves a fearful looking for of judgement, and violent fire to consume the adversary? It is not a motion, but an essence which doth pierce up to the tribunal seat of God, and from thence strike terror into itself. This sting of conscience, as it is a spiritual punishment, and not corporal, so it falleth not upon the body, but upon the soul. For the immortality of this spiritual essence, what is revealed by the holy scriptures, I shall have occasion to declare more at large in my four last chapters: only my chief drift hath been here to show what the wise Philosophers of the world have conceived thereof, by the light of natural reason, and to let us see what a shame it is for us, not to make so much use of deep meditations as they did. When Socrates did but consider, that the mind doth them discourse best, when nothing doth trouble it, neither hearing, nor seeing, nor grief, nor pleasure (as we see when the senses are stopped, the understanding doth most deeply meditate) he could gather thereby an argument of immortality. Seneca epist. 111. When Seneca saw that the greater and more heroical mind was in man, the more it did despise these base worldly things, and the less it feared to departed out of the body, he would say strait, maximum est argumentum animi ab alitiori venientis sede, It is the greatest argument that can be of a mind coming from heaven, and therefore of a heavenly and eternal nature. To conclude, even the Poets when they considered the divine gifts bestowed on the soul of man, Phoeylides. could not but confess that, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Th' immortal soul still young, lasteth for aye. And Pythagoras a Poet, but much more a Philosopher. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Pythag. in aureis carmini. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, If soul and mind as wagoners rule all, Then when thou leaving body comest to skies, With God thou shalt be ever immortal, And taste no more of death nor miseries. CHAP. VIII. How in the soul the image of God shall be renewed. OF those words in Genesis, Gen. 1.27. that God made man after his own image & likeness, there have been amongst many, sundry applications, and sundry opinions, some plainly heretical, and others more tolerable. The heresy of the Anthopomorphitae is damnable, which maketh God to be a bodily substance like unto man: for the scriptures do show us abundantly, joh. 4.24. 2. Cor. 3.17. that God is a spirit invisible, and incomprehensible, he appeared sometime visibly to the patriarchs, Exod. 33.20. joh. 6.46. Gen. 16.10. Exod. 2.2. Esay. 6.1. and his holy servants, but that was not according to his essence, (which is infinite) but according to certain representments, or (as Athanasius speaketh) majesties, far inferior to that which he is of himself, & applied to the capacity of man. And certain it is, that in Genesis that image of God, which is said to be in man, was not in respect of the body, which was made of the slime of the earth: but in respect of the spirit, which was given unto man, Gen. 2.7. when God did breath into him, and he was made a living soul. Osiander made the image of God to signify Christ, which in the preordinance of God was for to come, and to take man's nature upon him: & he taught that then doth the soul bear the image of God, when it hath the very righteousness of Christ jesus as an inherent quality. He had it from the Manichees, & grounded his opinion especially upon that place of the Apostle, 2. Cor. 3.18. we all with open face beholding the glory of God as in a glass, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the spirit of God. Those words are spoken especially of the Apostles and Ministers (of whom Saint Paul doth in that place entreat) and do import thus much, that they in the glass of God's word beholding the glory of God are transformed into the same image, to be lights unto others (as our Saviour said, Math. 5.14. ye are the lights of the world) and to light them, not only in doctrine, but in going before them in sanctification of life. The righteousness of jesus Christ, is imputed to us (as the Apostle doth often declare) when we 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 righteousness of Christ. But that perfect righteousness itself, such as is able to stand before the judgement of God, neither is, nor ever was an inherent quality, resident in any but only in the manhood of Christ jesus. It may and aught to suffice us, to receive of the fruit, and to let the tree & root remain where it should. 2. Cor, 5.21, The Apostle showeth that in the same manner as Christ was made sin for us, so we are made the righteousness of God in him. Now he was made sin by imputation, when all our sins were laid upon him, Pet, 2, 24, and as Saint Peter saith, he bore our sins in his body on the tree, so likewise his righteousness (as of one that hath vouchsafed to become our head) is imputed to all the true members of his mystical body, for as Adam was as no private man, but the fountain and wellspring of mankind, & therefore most justly, Rom, 5, 12, as in him we all sinned, so in him we all died. So the second Adam, our Lord jesus, is not to be considered as a private man, but as the head of the church, & what was wrought by him, is wholly beneficial to all the faithful. If by the husband, as being the head, a debt be answered, how justly then is the wife discharged? The church is called the spouse of Christ, Eph. 5, 27. & although it be said to be without spot, or wrinkle, yet must it not be understood, that it is void of all sin (for why should it then be taught by our Saviour to pray continually, for forgiveness of trespasses?) but we are said to be without spot or wrinkle, as we are clothed with the justice of Christ, and as the Lord doth behold us not in ourselves, but in, & and through his son Christ jesus, Math. 3, 17, in whom only he is well pleased. How the righteousness that is in the faithful and such as are sanctified, is called the image of God, shall be showed hereafter: Let this suffïce here to condemn that dream of the Manichees, and Osiander, who by the image of God in man, did imagine a perfect uprightness, righteousness, and holiness, inherent in the powers of man, making him in this life void of all blemish or imperfection, either in body or soul. A third opinion, or rather an application by the way, how the soul is the image of God, is that of Saint Augustine, making our soul to be an image of the blesied Trinity. In the soul there is, memoria intellectus, voluntas, haec tria potes numerare, non potes separare, Aug. de verbis domini. Serm. 63. Memory, understanding, and will, you may number these three, but you cannot separate them: So the three persons in the Trinity, you may number them, but you cannot divide them, as the one is but one soul, so the other but one Godhead. Yet in another place he correcteth himself, and saith, Aug, epist. 102. that this is similitudo dissimilis, an unlike similitude, because the memory, the understanding, and the will, are in the soul; but we cannot say that every one of them is the soul, but the Trinity itself is God, and every person God. Fourthly, the making of man after God's image, hath been expounded by some to signify the sovereignty which God gave unto him over all his earthly creatures, to be a similitude of his heavenly providence, governing all things: and therefore when it is said, that God made man after his own image, there followeth in the next verse, the commandment of God, Gen. 1, 27, ver. 28, giving Adam power to rule over all beasts, and fishes, and fowls. This is the interpretation of Chrysostome, and although it be condemned by some, Calu. in Psycopan. yet I do not see but it may stand very well to be a part of the image of God, seeing the Apostle speaketh directly (speaking of pre-eminence in government. 1. Cor. 11.7 ) The man ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image of God, but the wowan ought, because she is the image of the husband. But this is not the image of God which we are in this place to seek out: we must find such an image as shall be common to both sexes, for as the Apostle saith, Gal. 3.28. In jesus Christ there is neither jew 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 gave first to Adam, to converse with God, and to be joined unto GOD, which perfect integrity was also given to the Angels, being therefore called the sons of God: for to behold the countenance of God, requireth a similitude with God, and it is said, Mat. 22.30 that the glorified in the life to come shall be like the Angels of God. This Angelical perfection was given to our first parents, but for their disobediance and unthankfulness both they and we were justly deprived of it: for man hath received naturally four wounds, whereby this image of God is defaced in him. The first is a judicial wound, Heb. 7.10. whereby man being shut up in the loins of Adam, and therefore sinning in Adam, is justly condemned as guilty of the same trespass with him, and standeth by nature as a man before a judge condemned, and for a time reprieved. This confessed the kingly Prophet, when he said, psal. 51.5. In sin was I born, and in iniquity my mother conceived me. The second wound is called privative, to wit, a depriving of all those excellent gifts, which were at the first bestowed on Adam▪ when in a corporation, the liberties are shamefully abused, or when Subjects do rebel against their Sovereign, it is accounted justice to deprive the posterity of the one of their privileges, and the whole of spring of the other of their inheritance: much more when the heavenly graces of God are rebelliously cast off, they are in right and equity most justly plucked away from the generation ensuing. Man is therefore naturally deprived, first of all power of doing good, so that none can come to Christ, joh. 6, 44. unless the heavenly Father draw him, Luke 15.5, none can truly come home unless (as the lost sheep) he be laid upon the shouldèr of the merciful shepherd, to wit our Saviour, and be brought home to repentance. We are therefore accounted naturally as dead. The Apostle saith, Rom 6.13. Give yourselves unto God, as they which of dead are alive, you which were dead hath he quickened again, Col. 2.13. forgiving you all your sins. Secondly, we are deprived not only of power, but also of will, Phil. 2, 13 Aug. in Enchirid. ad Laurentium. as Augustine observeth well, Libero arbitrio male utens homo, & se perdidit & ipsum, Man by abusing free will, lost both himself and it. As (saith he) a man that wilfully murdereth himself, hath neither life nor power to raise up himself again: so when free will was abused unto sin, and overcome by sin, it lost his freedom and fell into slavery and dondage: we are further deprived of all ability of thinking well, 2, Cor, 3, 5 so that of ourselves we cannot think a good thought, every framing or cogitation of the heart of man, Genes. 6, 5. is only ill continually: moreover our knowledge is gone, 1, Cor. 2.14, natural man cannot conceive the things of God. Act. 16, 14 Lydia cannot so much as mark the words of Paul, until God do open her eyes: we are nothing of ourselves in respect of spiritual knowledge, Eph. 5, 8 Eph. 4, 18 but mere darkness and blindness, yea those things which are thought most excellent of us, have need to be removed: the very wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God, Rom. 8, 7. Eph, 4, 23, and the Apostle requireth, that we be renewed even in the spirit of our minds. psal. 51, 10. David prayeth God to create in him a new heart, and a new spirit, and being created to guide them still with his grace, not to take his holy spirit from him, or else he well perceived there was no power in himself to yield obedience to the will & commandment of God. The third wound is called Positive, whereby we are by nature inclined unto all evil, as by the former we are deprived of all powers, and faculties of doing good, so by this we are naturally prone to ungodliness, and iniquity. The Apostle saith, Eph. 2.3. we be natura filii irae, by nature the children of wrath. The Pelagians, and of late the Anabaptists say, that we are sinful from our parents, but they say, it is by imitation or by imputation, but the Apostle maketh no such beginnings of sin: he pronounceth flatly the unregenerate to be by nature children of wrath: job sayeth, job. 11. 1● that a new borne babe is as an untamed and unbroken Colt, apt by nature to all untowardness: Infants have the seeds of anger, waywardness, pride and vanity, howsoever (as the serpent sometimes is so frozen in winter, that it may be handled without danger, not because it hath no poison, but because it hath no power to put it out: so little children do for a time not show forth manifest effects of these sins, not because they have not the venom, but because they are not able to send it forth. If a whole vessel be poisoned, how can any drop thereof be sound or wholesome? the whole stock of mankind is poisoned with the sin of Adam. Gen▪ 5, 3, It is said Adam begat issue after his own likeness, as Adam was sinful, lustful, unthankful, disobedient, so the branches be of the same nature with the stock and root. The fourth wound is called transitive, whereby, as by a wound, which is deeper grown and of long continuance cometh at the last a Fistula, yielding most filthy matter, so of these former wounds do proceed actual sins, and custom of sinning, whereby all actions and operations both of body and soul are repugnant to the will of God. And those things which by nature we should have done without sin (had Adam not offended) those things we perform now with a thousand imperfections: for as a man that hath the palsy, hath a moving of head and hands, as he had before, and as we see also other men have, but his movings are now altogether irregular, and full of infirmities: so all those affections of mind, love, desire, rejoicing, and all natural functions, eating, drinking, sleeping, and such like, which we should have performed without sin, if Adam had not transgressed, are now become plainly irregular, and full of infinite blemishes and corruptions. Thus many ways by nature is the image of God blotted out in the unregenerate, but in them which are born anew by the grace and spirit of God, and do by a true and sound faith take hold of the merits and satisfaction of Christ, 1, pet. 2.21 by whose stripes we are healed, and are lively members of that Church, Esay 30.26, unto which the Redeemer was promised to bind up their breaches, and to heal the stroke of their wounds: Ezech. 3●. 16, In them all these sores & hereditary diseases aforenamed, are so far cured, Luk. 10.19 that nothing shall be able to do them harm, their powers are so far strengthened, as that by the help of the grace of our Lord jesus, and by the merit of his passion they do perform those things which are acceptable unto God. phillip 4, 13. I can do all things (saith the Apostle) in him that doth strengthen me. phillip 2, 13 God doth work in us both to will and to perform: 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 spiritual man discerneth all things, ye were once darkness, but now ye are all light in the Lord, james 1, 5 for wisdom, he giveth it to the askers that upraideth no man, & for the spirit of the mind, that is performed in them, which the Apostle nameth to the Thessalonians, 1. Thes. 5, 21. even the God of Peace doth sanctify them, throughout, that their perfect spirit and soul and body, shall be blameless, phillip 3, 12, until the coming of our Lord jesus Christ. That spirit is accounted perfect, which doth aim still at perfection, and labour continually more and more to attain unto it, Phil. 3, 14. 2. Chron. 15.17. going on in singleness and soundness of heart without hypocrisy, endeavouring by all means to be the same before God, as it would seem to be before men, Psal. 119.6. and having respect as much as may be to all the commandements of God, and yet seeking especially that perfect blessedness, Psal. 32. ● which doth consist in the covering of imperfections. That happy covering of sins, (spoken of by the Prophet David) is attributed by Saint Paul to justification by faith, Rom. 4.5.7. taking hold of the righteousness and satisfaction of jesus Christ: if these things be performed with devout and holy zeal, then doth the soul and spirit in some measure put on again the image of God. Aug. de Gen. ad literam l. 6. cap. 1 S. Augustine showeth that it is the soul and mind of man, where the image of God is to be sought: when God first created him, & made him after his likeness, it was non secundum corpus, sed secundum intellectum, not in respect of the body, but in respect of the understanding: Quanquam in corpore habeat quandam proprietatem quae hoc indicet, quòd erecta statura factus sit, ut admoneretur sibi non esse terrena spectanda, Although he hath also in body a certain property, which showeth the very same, to wit, his stature with the face lifted up, that he might be admonished not to set his mind on earthly things. There be five especial things required to the renewing of the image of God in us. The first is knowledge of divine mysteries, as the Apostle saith, Col. 3.10. Put on the new man renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of the Creator. The Psalmist doth pronounce him blessed which doth meditate and ponder day & night in the law of God. Psal. 1.2. The second thing is righteousness, as the Apostle exhorteth, Put on the new man, Eph. 4.2 4 which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. David saith, psal. 145.17. God is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. To put on God's image in righteousness, is not only to abstain from injuries, unjust dealing and oppression, but to be good unto all men to the uttermost of our power: for those who did feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and visit them which were sick or in prison, are called just: the other to wit, they on the left hand shall go into everlasting pain, but these righteous into life eternal. The third, true holiness: Mat. 25.40 Levit. 19.2 1. Pet. 16. Eph. 4.24. The commandment is often give, be holy as I am holy. The Apostle to the Ephesians, doth as by righteousness point out all duties towards our neighbour, so by holiness he doth signify especially our duties towards God, that we carry ourselves religiously in the service of God, that our prayers be no matters of custom, psal. 25.1 but liftings up of our souls unto God, psal. 63.5. that our souls be filled with marrow and fatness, when we praise God with joyful lips, psal. 69.9 that the zeal of the lords house do eat us up, Deut. 28.58 that we fear God, and dread his glorious & fearful name, the Lord our God, and that we love the Lord with all the powers of heart, mind, soul and strength. The fourth thing required for the image of God, to be renewed in us, is truth, not only true devotion in the service of God (which the Apostle calleth true holiness) but as he addeth in the verse following, Eph. 4.24.25 to speak every man the truth one to an other, for we are members one of another. The nearer man approacheth unto truth, the more doth he put on the image of him, Tit. 1.2 that is truth itself, and is called a God that cannot lie, and the more that man is given to falsehood and deceit, the more doth he cast off the image of God, and put upon himself the vizard of Satan, who is the Father of lies, john 8.4 and was a liar from the beginning. The fift necessary part of the repairing God's image in us, is that all our affections which by nature were corrupted, be sanctified and governed by the grace atd power of God's spirit: as the Apostle doth in the next verse give an instance of anger, Eph. 3.2 6, Be angry (saith he) and sin not. It is not required that affections should be clean rooted out: for affections were even in our Saviour Christ, It is said in S. Mark, Mar. 3.5. that when he looked upon the pharisees, he did with anger grieve that their heart was so hardened. john 11, 35 And in S. john, that when they wept for Lazarus, jesus wept also. The Apostle biddeth us covet to prophesy, 1. Cor. 14.39, and in an other place rejoice with them that rejoice, Rom. 12.15. and weep with them that weep. The prophet David saith, Psal. 139. 2● Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee? yea I hate them with a perfect hatred. There is a very good use of affections in man: anger addeth a spur to fortitude, hatred of sin addeth a spur to justice, grief addeth a spur to mercy. If the heart should be without affections, than should the soul be like to a ship be calmed in the Sea, when she hath no wind, she can make no way, neither can the soul govern well the matters of this life without affections: only it is required, that they be sanctified by God's grace and made more and more conformable to the will of God. If thus the image of God be daily more and more renewed in us, then doth our estate receive a most comfortable alteration: Rom, 5, 1 Eph. 2.3, Rom. 6.20. Rom. 7, 14 for whereas by nature we were enemies to God, children of wrath slaves of sin, carnal, & sold under sin, Ezech. 16, 6 filthy and wallowing in our own blood, Eph. 2.19. and strangers from the common wealth of Israel, we are now by grace made the friends of God, john 3.29 john 15.14 the Spouse of jesus Christ, the children of Abraham, sons and heirs 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 blood, 1. Pet 2.9 and made kings and priests to God our father. Apoc. 1.6 CHAP. IX. What we may conceive of the soul by the conscience of man, and how the conscience is a heaven or hell to the soul in this life. THere are very well made of S. Bernard, four several kinds of consciences: whereof only one doth stand against the immortality of the soul, there is Quieta mala, and quieta bona, Power sundry kinds 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 sin, Eph. 4, 19, Rom. 5, 1. and hath no sense nor feeling of sin: A quiet good is, Act. 1, 18 when being justified by faith, he is at peace with God, a troubled ill, when a man is swallowed up in the gulf of despair, and a troubled good, Mat. 11.28, when labouring and groaning under the burden of sin, he desireth to be eased and refreshed by jesus Christ. The first conceiveth little of immortality, because indeed man continuing in it, is transformed as it were into a brute beast: for as a troubled good conscience, is sit for men of infirmities, and a troubled ill maketh them like to the devils, so a quiet good doth make them after a sort angels, and a quiet ill doth reduce them to the estate of brute beasts, & deprive them of understanding and reason. The Apostle caleth the Cretian, slow bellies, evil beasts. Tit. 1, 1, David saith of them that are drowned in worldly honour, psal. 49, 20 man being in honour hath no understanding, but is like to the beasts that perish: & in an other place biddeth us not to be like horse and mule in whom there is no understanding. psal, 32, 9 Of the Philosophers, such as only 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 devour the fruits of the earth. The prophet Hosea saith, Hos. 4.11 Whoredom and drunkenness do take away the heart of man, that is, they make him to have no sense nor feeling of sins, but to rejoice in that which indeed he should lament, and to be, though alive in the body, yet dead in the soul, as saith Bernard, Bern. lib. 1. de considerate. quis magis mortuus eo qui portat ignem in sinu, peccatum in conscientia sentit, nec excutit, nec expavescit? Who is more dead than he which carrieth fire in his bosom, sin in his conscience, and doth neither feel it, nor shake it out, nor tremble at it? The cause of this quietness is, because Satan hath gotten a peaceable possession. Our Saviour saith, when a strong man doth possess all, than all is quiet. Diabolus eos pulsare negligit, Greg. 14. moral. 12. quos quieto iure possidere se sentit, The devil is careless of assaulting them, of whom he hath justly gotten a quiet possession. Of this quietness Bernard speaketh, writing upon that place of Ezekiel, Ezech. 16.42. my wrath and zeal 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 angry, when he is not angry. The quiet joy that wicked men have, seemeth to come of mercy, but I would wish none of that mercy: that mercy is above all the wrath that can be. Howsoever brutish man hath no hope of immortality, nor fear of God's judgements, yet is his case thereby no whit the better, but rather much more grievous: he is even as the stall-fed Ox, who still feeding to the full, and never conceiving any foresight of his death, is yet never the better for it: A sudden death will bring the greater fear. 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 kind of ill conscience called turbata mala, a troubled ill conscience, though it have no apprehension of God's mercy, yet doth it conceive itself to be a spiritual essence, endangered to the judgement of eternal 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 worm that never dieth: It is named a searing with a hot iron, a sea that always rageth, a terrible looking for of judgement, and violent fire to devour the adversary. Esay. 48.22. When the wicked feel no peace in themselves, but that in the midst of all their joys and pleasures, Eccl. 41.5. they have often a bitter remembrance of death and condemnation, so that as the wise man saith, even in the laughing, Prou. 14.13 the heart is sorrowful, and the mirth doth end in heaviness: What doth this argue, but that the soul is a spiritual substance, such as can fly up to the tribunal seat of God, and there both accuse herself, and also plead guilty for herself? In judicial handling of matters before men, there are sundry persons to perform several functions, some do accuse, others witness, others condemn, others torment: but an evil conscience is of itself all in one. It is to bad men (as the scriptures show) both their accuser & witness, and judge, and tormentor. Their accuser (as saith the Apostle) their own conscience accusing, or excusing. Rom. 2.15. Where Saint john declareth, that at the time of God's judgements, Apoc. 20.12 the books shall be opened. Chrysostome showeth what those bills are, conscientia est codex in quo quotidiana peccata scribuntur. The conscience of man, is the book wherein his daily sins are written. Secondly it is the witness, according to that of Paul, Rom, 2, 15. their own thoughts bearing witness: Wis, 17, 10, And of the wiseman, it is a fearful thing when malice is condemned by her own testimony, and a conscience that is touched, doth ever forecast cruel things. For fear (saith he) is nothing else, but a beatraying of the succours which reason offereth, this saw the heathen wiseman. Thales Miles, Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time, If thou attempt any filthy thing, fear thyself, without any further witness: And the Orator, Quint, decls, 9 conscientia mill testes, the conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses, So Pythagoras. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Of all men in the world stand most in awe of thyself. ●, Ioh, 3, 20, Thirdly it is the judge as Saint john saith, if our heart condemn us, God is above the heart. And Saint Paul, speaking of the heretic that sinneth against his own conscience saith, that he sinneth damned of himself. Se ipsum unusquisque, Ambro. epist. ad Constant. et animum suum severum judicem sui ultorem criminis habet. Every man hath in himself and his own heart, a severe judge and revenger of his wickedness. 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 hot iron, a worm gnawing still upon the heart, a violent fire, consuming Gods enemies, and such as pierceth man thorough with many sorrows. The heathen Orator could say, conscientia grave pondus, a man's conscience, Tul, ●. de natura deorum if it be ill, is a heavy burden. It will make him to grieve at the loss of that which he never loved, for virtue hath this triumph over vice, that they which hate her most shall be grieved at her absence. Vertulem vi videant intabescántque relicta, That though they love not virtue, yet they shall see it, and pine away with the loss of it. Luke, 16, 23 When it is said that the damned rich man did see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, no doubt it is signified to us, that this doth, and ever shall greatly augment the punishments of the wicked, to perceive and see from how blessed an estate they are fallen. These effects in the consciences of the ungodly, do evidently declare the soul to be a spiritual essence, and apprehending much more than those things which concern this life. When Kaine said, Gen, 4, ●, my sin is more than can be forgiven, I shall be a vagabond and a runagate, Gen. 27, 38. Gen. 9, 27. when Esau wept for the loss of his birthright: When Pharaoh seeing Gods fearful judgement, cried out God is just, and I and my people are wicked: When Ecebolius the Philosopher of Constantinople (because in the time of julian the Apostata he had as a time server denied his faith in Christ) threw himself down before the Church, Socr, lib, 3. cap, 11, and said calcate me salem insipidum, tread upon me unsavoury salt. When Francis Spaera for the like fault said to the Bishop Vergerius that he could wish to lie ten thousand years in hell, so that once he could hope of remission and delivery from eternal punishment, what was this but that their own consciences did both accuse them, and also condemn and torment them! This testimony of conscience made josephes' brethren to shake with fear, Gen, 50, 15. when they remembered their cruelty against their young brother, it made Adam to creep into the thickets, Gen. 3, 10, when he heard the voice of him whom he had unthankfully despised. This made Faelix to tremble, when he heard Paul preach of righteousness and temperance, Act. 24, 2●, and of the judgement to come. This made Caligula, that wicked Emperor in times of thunder and lightning, to creep under the beds, and into corners. This made that famous, or rather infamous Medea, sitting at sessions within herself, her own heart being the foreman to accuse herself, and condemn herself; Video meliora probóque, Deteriora sequor, I see and like well what is right, But follow wrong with all my might. Yet such is the force of a corrupted and confounded conscience, that it maketh the dead to see me alive again. Herod when he heard of the fame and miracles of our Saviour Christ, Mark. 6, 14 said surely, this is that john Baptist whom I have beheaded, he is risen from death to life again: john was dead and buried, he was dead to other men, but he was alive to Herod. As it is recorded by a certain 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 perceived (by hearing the will read) that there was no mention made of that debt, he rejoiced and went away carrying his money back again: But when he saw that it was a daily sting to his conscience, and that he could never be in quiet for it (for an evil conscience is like unto a straight bed, where man can take no rest) he brought the money back again to his creditor's house, and threw it to his executors, speaking these words unto himself, tibi vivit, aliis mortuus est, he is alive unto thee, although he be dead unto others. The two other kinds 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 attain unto a heavenly joy in his conscience, unless he have first been brought down to hell by the consideration of his sins. None can be truly refreshed in Christ, unless he have first with grief and sighing, Ma●, felt the burden of his sins. Saint Augustine acknowledgeth, that a man non potest coronari nisi vicerit, Aug. in Psal. 60, nec potest vincere nisi certaverit, nec potest certare nisi inimicum, et tentationes habeat, He cannot be crowned unless he overcome, neither can he overcome unless he strive, neither can he strive unless he have an enemy & temptations. But when these temptations are so overcome that sin shall not reign in our mortal body, Rom. 6.12. then cometh in the sweetest comfort that ever can come to the soul of man in this like: them as the Apostle speaketh our conversation is in heaven, Phil. 3.20. then do we feel in our hearts that peace of God which passeth all understanding, Phil. 4.7. then are our souls possessed with unspeakable joy, according to that of Solomon, Prou. 15.14 A good conscience is a continual feast. For as there is no greater worldly joy to a man, that hath traveled a long journey abroad, then when he cometh home, to find his wife, children and whole family in good health and quiet: so there cannot be a more excellent spiritual joy in this life, then when a man doth descend into the home of his own conscience, that he do find there all so reconciled unto God, that all be in good peace & quietness, Esay. 59.2. & to perceive that the thraldom of sin (which maketh division and separation betwixt the soul and God) is abrogated or subdued. This doth the Apostle call his chiefest rejoicing: Our rejoicing is the testimony of our conscience, 2. Cor. 1.12. that we have had our conversation in simplicity and godly pureness. This hath upholden the hearts of so many thousand blessed Martyrs, and made them to rejoice in the midst of all their torments, because they had a testimony within themselves, 1. Pet. 2.19 that for their conscience towards God, they suffered grief undeserved. This hath made so many Saints of God, to departed so cheerfully out of this world as Hierom writeth of the death of Nepotian, Intelligeres eum non mori sed migrare, Hierom ad Heliodor. 3. you might well perceive that his death was no death, but a flitting to a better place. And this hath brought comfort, not only to the faithful, Heb. 10.22. whose hearts are by the blood of Christ sprinkled from an evil conscience, & purged from dead works to serve the living lord Heb. 9.14. But even the heathen men also by following & obeying the law of nature, did in the testimony of their conscience receive exceeding joy: as the Orator said, writing of the comforts of old age, conscientia bene actae vitae, Tul. in Catone may. et multorum benefactorum recordatio iucundissima, A conscience of a life well led, and a remembrance of deeds well done, are the most pleasant things that can be. Periander being asked what was the best liberty, Scob. serm. 22. answered, a good conscience: Greg. epist. 9 unto which I think Gregory doth allude, when he saith, liber est quem conscientia non accusat. Bias being asked what thing in the world is most free from fear, answered a good conscience. This is taught by the heavenly wisdom: Prou. 28.1. The wicked (as Solomon saith) doth fly, no man pursuing him, but the just is confident as a Lion. The Orator accounted this a most principal 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 man's heart well inclined, is the chiefest consolation in all adversities. And in another place, nullum theatrum virtuti conscientia maius, Tul, lib, 2, Tusc. There is no theatre that virtue doth more desire than a man's own conscience: Whereby he meant, that good and virtuous men did not so much in their actions respect the sight of men, or desire the praise of man, as they sought to keep that conscience sound, which they were persuaded they had received from heaven, Cicero pro Cluentio. as he affirmeth elsewhere, Conscientiam à diis immortalibus accepimus quae à nobis divelli non potest, We have received a conscience from the immortal gods, which cannot be plucked away, but doth always attend and wait upon man. Epictetus. And another said well, that as parents do commit children to be governed and kept in awe by tutors, so God doth commit men to be ruled and ordered by their conscience, which more vigilant than any tutor doth continually attend on man, Isid, in sin. according to that of Isidore, omnia fugere poterit homo praeter cor suum, A man may fly from any thing better than he can fly from his own heart. The heathen men did not know aright that God, which is the judge of the conscience, Psal, 7, 10. and the searcher of the hearts and reins: But never was there any Nation so barbarous, never any Country so wild and savage, Tul, de nat. Deorum. but that it had this fastened and settled in the hearts of the people, that there is a God, and that he is a protector of the good, and a revenger of them that do ill, which made honest minded men to come forth boldly, and the wicked to fear even their own shadow, 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 naughtiness doth fear the darkness itself, Seen, epist: 43, etiam in solitudine est anxia et sollicita, and even in solitariness, being alone, it is fearful and pensive. CHAP. X. Of the estate and condition of the Soul after this life, against the Catabaptists. THe joy of the elect of God is called such a joy, john, 16, 22, as shall never be taken from them, it is an endless and perpetual joy. It doth not only uphold their hearts in all the troubles and miseries of this world, making light to shine in the midst of darkness, Psal, 112, 4, joh. 16, 20. and turning all their pensiveness into gladness, but it conceiveth an assured hope of a better, to wit, an everlasting life in the joys of heaven, and that so soon as the soul is delivered from the body. The Apostle Paul did account his losing from this prison to be a present being with Christ: I desire (saith he) to be dissolved and to be with Christ, Phil. 1.23. he was assured that his removing from this tabernacle, should be a present dwelling with the Lord, as he said, we had rather remove out of the body, 2. Cor. 5.8. and dwell with the Lord. Stephen prayed in faith and assurance, that his soul should presently be received into the hands of God, Lord jesus receive my spirit. Act, 7.59, In the Revelation of Saint john, Aopc. 14.13 such a blessing and such a rest is promised to them that die in the Lord, August, in Psa 102. that their good works may follow after them, that is, that God may crown his gifts in them. Our Saviour saith to the repentant thief upon the Cross, Luk. 23.43, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. The soul of Lazarus being departed, Luk. 16.22. was carried by Angels into Abraham his bosom. Polycarpus that holy Disciple of the Apostles, amongst many excellent speeches, at the time of his martyrdom added this, Eccl. hist. lib. 4 cap. 13. Hodiè representabor coram Deo in spiritu, This day I shall be in soul represented before the Lord. The Wise man saith of the death of all the faithful, When earth goeth to earth, Eccls, 12.7, the spirit goeth to God which gave it. When the Prophet David saith, Psal. 16, 10. that God will not leave his soul in hell, nor suffer his holy one to see corruption: No doubt he prophesieth of the resurrection, as it is expounded by Saint Peter, Act. 2.29. but he includeth in that resurrection of Christ, the life also of his own soul, he called Christ his soul. I live (saith the Apostle) & yet not I, Gal. 2.20. but Christ liveth in me, & especially in the resurrection of Christ, our life is hid with Christ, Col. 3, 2, therefore David believeth that seeing his soul, Vido Gen. 42 38. & job, 14.13. de significatione inferni. Psal. 16.11 and the life of his soul Christ jesus shall not be left in the grave, he shall undoubtedly be brought to the presence of God, which he calleth in the next verse, a fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore. The hope of the Apostle Paul is to be made conformable to the death of Christ, Phil. 3.10 until he come to the resurrection of the dead: now as his death was no extinguishing of the humane soul, jon. 2.3. Mat, 12.39 but like the being ●f jonas in the Whale's belly, his soul being still safe, and yielded up into the hands of God, as he said, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit, Luke 23.46 and like the sacrificing of Isaac, wherein the soul remained untouched, so also by his quickening power, john 4.17. he giveth to all his elect, that well of water that springeth up to eternal life. The Ram which was offered in steed of Isaac, may well signify our body, & our irrational part that dieth, but the soul though it be a while bound to the body (as Isaac was bound) yet as soon as the bands are loosed, it mounteth up to the place of all bliss and perpetual blessedness. Our Saviour saith, Quia ego vivo, vos vivetis, Because I live, john 14.19 john 6.56 you shall live: I live by the father, and he that feedeth on me shall live by me: john 5.24. He that heareth my words, hath life eternal, 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 johann. Vide Gerson, in sermone paschali. Hereby are condemned two gross heresies, the one devised first by the Arabians, and after renewed by john Bishop of Rome, and of late defended by certain anabaptists, to wit, that the soul doth sleep or die with the body, and that both are raised up again together in the last day. And the other of the Romish Catholics, confessing indeed that the soul liveth after death, but yet that the souls of the children of God, Their usual bulls and indulgences go for thousands of years, do and must remain so many years, or so many thousand years in Purgatory, before they can be admitted to the joys of heaven. For the former, to wit, such as defend both body and soul to die together, and both at the last day to be raised together, they are condemned (as you have heard) by the manifest testimonies of the holy Scriptures: you may add if you please those words of our Saviour: Fear not them which kill the body, Luke 12.5 and have no power to kill the soul: if the Soul die as well as the body, and together with the body, how can it be said, that tyrants do kill the one and not the other? 2. Cor 5.1, 4 How can the Apostle Paul desire no longer to be a Pilgrim from the Lord, by remaining here in the body, but rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord, unless the soul remain after death? with what is God said to be present, if both soul and body be overcome with death? v. 1 or how can the Apostle say in the same place, that when this earthly tabernacle is destroyed, we have a building or house, not made with hands, but everlasting in heaven, unless the soul do continue to possess that heavenly habitation? Our Saviour Christ doth promise eternal life & resurrection, as two distinct things, and the one taking place before the other. joh. 6.39.40. This (saith he) is the will of the Father, that whosoever believeth in the son, should not perish but have everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day. john 6.54. And again, he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day. And afterward, john 11.2. I am the resurrection and the life, whosoever believeth in me, though he were dead, yet he shall live, and he addeth, he that liveth and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. The Saducees denied not only the resurrection, but also the immortality of the soul: Our Saviour 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 jacob, God is not a God of the dead, but of the living, therefore Abraham, Isaac and jacob do now live, Rom, 14.8.9, and all the Saints shall live for ever. S. Paul saith, whether we live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we we die unto the Lord, whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lords: for Christ therefore died and rose again, and revived, that he might be the Lord both of the dead, and of the quick. How can our saviour be said, to be the Lord and governor of the dead, unless some part of them do remain alive to be subject to his dominion. Government & rule, do of necessity import, that there be also some to yield obedience and submission. The Apostle showeth, Heb. 12.22.23 who be the subjects of that heavenly king, to wit, the angels and the spirits of just and perfect men, and he showeth there the great dignity of a Christian, who is joined as it were to the Angels and spirits of just men, when he embraceth that religion which they do continually reverence. But (say they) if the soul do already enjoy eternal bliss in heaven, what needeth then a day of judgement? If it be judged already, to what purpose should there be any further sentence? The day of judgement is ordained of God for the uniting together both of body & soul, that as the elect have served God both in body and soul, so they may receive everlasting joy & bliss both in body and soul, and as the wicked have served the Devil both in body & soul, so they receive eternal torments both in body and soul. And for this cause we are taught to believe as an article of our faith, the resurrection of the body, we do not say the resurrection of the soul, (for the soul doth not die) but the resurrection of the flesh, or the resurrection of the body. The souls of them which have died in the Lord, August. in john tract. 49. do already enjoy perfect and happy rest. Nothing is wanting to the perfection of their joys, but only the company of their bodies, and the company of their brethren: for this cause (as some expound it) the souls of the Martyrs attired with white robes, Apoc. 6.10. Anselmus in Apoc. Calu. in psychopanychia do cry out in the Revelation, How long Lord, holy and true? as thirsting and longing for the coming of Christ, to their full accomplishment. If in this world a glorious sight do delight us never so much, yet is our joy increased when our friend doth behold the same together with us. And no doubt this is as it were an accomplishing of the joys of the souls, already received into the presence of Christ in the celestial paradise, when they shall receive the company of their bodies, & the society of their fellow-brethrens. another argument do the Anabaptists make, Gen. 2.17 Rom. 6.23. Ezec. 18, 4 20. drawn from the reward of sin. The stipend of sin is death, therefore (say they) seeing the soul hath sinned, the soul must needs die: but death is in the scripture taken sundry ways, sometimes for the separation of the soul from the body: sometimes for the separation of God from the soul, 1. Tim 5.6. as when the Apostle calleth the widow living in wanton delights dead, though she live that is alive in the body, but dead in the soul, sometime for the horror of condemnation, as the Devil did receive the reward of sin, and yet was not so extinguished, but that he doth watch and go about continually, 1. Pet. 5. ●. seeking whom to devour. In respect of the Saints of God, death is said to have lost her sting, and to become as a drone be, as the Apostle speaketh, 1. Cor. 15, 56 O death where is thy sting? It was prophesied of our Saviour Christ by the Prophets, Praecipitabit mortem in aeternum, Esay 25.8 He shall throw death headlong for ever. O Death I will be thy death, O hell I will be thy destruction. They object further, that the death of the saints is called a sleep. Act. 7, 60 joh. 11.11 2. Thes. 4.13 Stephen when he died fell a sleep. Lazarus being dead, was said to sleep: the Apostle biddeth not to mourn for them that sleep, that is, be dead. If death be a sleep, them can there not be in the soul any conceiving of joys, until that sleep be awakened by the resurrection. It is very apparent, that in that Phrase by a Synecdoche, that is given to the whole, which agreeth but to one part: when job saith, Ecce nunc in pulvere dormio, job 7.21 Behold I shall sleep now in the dust, and if you seek me in the morning I shall have no being: did job think that when he died, his soul should lie in the dust? that were too gross to be once imagined. It is very apparent then, that he meaneth only that his body shall sleep in the dust, and that figuratively, he doth attribute that to the whole, which agreeth but to a part. That which they allege out of Solomon, that man and beast have both one end, Eccl. 3.21: who knoweth whether the spirit of man shall ascend upward, or the spirit of beast descend down into the earth? is answered by those words which Solomon doth so often repeat in that book; Eccl. 1.2 Eccl. 2.11. Vanity of vanities, and all is but vanity: he showeth often in that Book, what are the speeches of vain men, Eccl. 9.4 as after when he sayeth: Better is a living dog then a dead Lion, for the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing at all: we must not think that Solomon speaketh this as of himself, but to show the affections of worldlings, who are led by vanity of vanities, and by nothing but vanity. Tertul. lib, de resurr. carnis. Irenaeus lib. 9 adversus haeresi Chrysost. hom, 28. in ●1. ad Hebr. August. lib, 12 de Civit. Dei, cap. 9 When the Fathers do sometimes affirm, that the souls are not crowned until the day of resurrection, they mean of the perfect triumph, they deny not but that the souls 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 again united to the souls, death should be utterly swallowed up in victory. The argument which some do allege out of the Apostle, that because he saith, If the dead rise not again, 1. Cor. 15.19 we are of all men most miserable, v. 32 therefore before the resurrection, there is no joy, nor felicity is of no force at all: for he saith after, what will it profit me to fight with the beasts at Ephesus, if the dead be not raised up? the bodies of the Saints in this life suffer many injuries, reproaches, and often martyrdoms. Now unless these bodies be hereafter to be advanced to glory, we are of all men most miserable, and again: although the soul do enjoy blessed rest, yet a great part of the happiness doth consist in the assurance of the expected resurrection. Caluin in Phychopanychia, haec tractat, 1, uberrime. It is further objected by them out of the Apostle to the Hebrews, all these died not receiving the promises, but saluted them a far off. The Apostle speaketh there of the posterity of Abraham, Heb, 11.13 who lived a long time as Pilgrims in strange countries and did receive and possess that land flowing with milk and honey, promised unto Abraham, that they might be thereby taught to seek a better country in heaven, & 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 he saith after) God had provided a better thing for us, that they without us should 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 have seemed to be made perfect without us. But God did provide better for us: as he gave unto them that glorious figure of our rest in Christ: so in our time in this last age of the world, he did exhibit the truth, even the coming of Christ himself to perform the work of our redemption. They say further, that if the souls of the departed be in heaven, Act. 9.36.40 than S. Peter should seem to do wrong to that good and charitable Tabytha, to raise her up again from death, and so to bring her from a blessed life with God, into a sea of all mischiefs: but it is evident that the mercy of God is showed not only in time of glorification, Phil. 2.25 but also in time of sanctification. S. Paul accounteth that Epaphroditus did obtain mercy, when being sick, he was recovered again. And of himself he saith, that life was to him a loss, Phil. 1▪ 22. & ●. 21. and death an advantage, yet is he content to remain longer in this life, so that Christ may be magnified in his body. In that raising up of Tabytha, God was glorified in the miracle, the poor were benefited by the preserving of so charitable a woman full of alms and good works, & Tabytha herself had a larger time in this life to set forth the poise of God, which was a thing that the saints of God have sought for with earnest prayer▪ 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 lengthening of their days in this world; & do give this the reason of their petition, because the dead cannot praise God, nor magnify his name, we must not imagine that they thought that their souls in death should perish, or have no power to praise God, but their meaning was, that the dead could not in this world by their good example draw others to magnify God, & that public glorifying of God to the edifying of their brethren was the thing which in desiring long life they principally respected: but David (say they) doth plainly affirm, psal. 146.4. that when man's breath goeth out & he returneth to the earth, than all his thoughts perish: by those thougetes he meaneth such imaginations▪ & devices as they practised in this life, and in an other place he saith, The desires of the ungodly shall perish, & Esay, Esay 33. the Lord doth scatter the counsels of the Gentiles. The Prophet David when he hath showed the judgements of God upon the wicked, Psal. 49.14 that they lie in the grave, death gnaweth upon them, he addeth in the next verse, v. 15. but God shall deliver my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. And let this suffice against the opinion of the Catabaptists. CHAP. XI. Of the future aestate of the soul against the Romanistes. THe Church of Rome is an other way injurious to the souls of the departed, they acknowledge that they live after death, but yet that there is no passage for them into joy & rest, until such pains have been suffered, as their Purgatory doth require. This assertion is so plentifully confuted by so many evident and plain testimonies of the scripture, set down in the beginning of the tenth chapter, that I hope I shall not need to stand long upon it. There is none unless he be wilfully obstinate) but he must needs acknowledge, that it is a doctrine wholly injurious and repugnant to the mercy and justice of God, and doth blasphemously derogate from the merit of Christ his passion. It standeth best with the infinite mercy of God to grant a sound and perfect benefit, as to forgive the guilt of our sins, so also to remit the punishment. It can in no wise agree with the justice of God to forgive 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 ransom from the fault or blame, and no ransom from punishment, That which Christ bore upon the Cross is taken away from us. Now he bore the punishment of our sins as S. Peter saith. 1. Pet. 2.24 He bore our sins in his body upon the tree, and by his stripes we are healed. It is therefore the stripe & plague due for sin, that is, removed from us, & the pains & griefs which depend upon sin, for a wound is not healed, until the grief thereof be mitigated or abolished, Aug. de verbis domini super Lucam. serm 37. very well saith S. August. Christus suscipiendo poenam & non suscipiendo culpam, & culpam delevit & poenam, Christ by taking upon him our punishment, & not taking upon him our fault, hath taken away both fault and punishment: when sins are forgiven, there may yet some afflictions remain to the children of God, as there did to Adam and David, 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 proceed from the love of God, Eph. 1.7. they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, punishments of vengeance, nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, punishments of ransom. All those tribulations which we suffer after remission of sin, are like Cicatrices, signa vulneris curati non curandi, they are as scars rather signs of a wound cured, then of a wound to be cured, they differ as far from punishments of vengeance as love doth differ from hatred, (for they proceed of love, Heb. 12.6 whom the Lord loveth he doth correct) and they differ as far from punishments of ransom, as East is from the West. There is no ransom able to satisfy the justice of God against sin, but only the death and passion of jesus Christ: If any thing in man could have satisfied for sin, the Son of God had not died. The punishment of corrections and instructions, have their place then only when there is time of repentance, and that is only in this life, as Saint Hierom noteth upon these words of Esay, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is night, that is, saith he, Dum estis in corpore, Hierom. in Esay. 55. V 6. dum datur locus paenitentiae, et quaerite non loco sed fide, while ye be in the body, & while place is granted for repentance, and seek him not in place but in faith. The ransom of Christ is so sufficient to all those which with true faith take hold of it, that, as the Scriptures do show us plainly, Psal. 32.2. Rom. 8.33. Rom. 8, ●. Esay, 4●. 25. Micha there is no imputation of sin, no accusation, no condemnation, & no remembrance, and therefore (as upon these four benefits doth necessarily follow) they have a perfect deliverance both from fault and punishment. The faith of David was, Psal. 51.7. that when he is washed of the Lord, he is become whiter than snow: And Saint john appointeth this only purgrtorie for the Church of God, 1, Ioh, 1, 1, the blood of jesus Christ to purge us from all sin, If their purgatory fire should appertain to the Church, it must needs 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 blood of his Cross, both the things in earth, and the things in heaven) 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 heaven) therefore indeed it appertaineth to no part of the Church of God. There are but two kinds of joys and torments, the one temporal, the other eternal: the temporal are all of this life, the eternal are those which follow after this life, 2. Cor, 4, 18, as the Apostle saith, the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal. The ordaining of a temporal joy, or a temporal punishment, after this life, is a thing that the Scriptures do no where acknowledge. Our Saviour Christ, and likewise john the Baptist, Luke, 24, 47 Mark, 1, 4, did preach repentance for forgiveness of sins, whereby they plainly showed, that where there is no place for repentance, there is there no place for forgiveness of sins: 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, quando istinc excessus fuerit nullus paenitentiae totus, Cyprian contra Demetri. etc. When man is departed out of this life, there is then no place of repentance: therefore to them which die without repentance, there is after this life no hope of forgiveness of sins. Be faithful (saith Christ) unto death, Apoc. 2.10. and I will give to thee the crown of life. Rom. 10, 14, Faith cometh 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 advised by Saint Augustine, tuus certè ultimus dies longè abbess non potest, ad hunc te praepara, qualis enim exieris ex hac vita, talis redderis illi vitae, thy last day cannot be far off, prepare thyself unto it, for in what manner thou shalt departed out of this life, in the same estate thou shalt be 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 judged in the world to come. They object that which is said of Saint Peter, that Christ going did preach unto the Spirits which were in prison, once disobedient when the mercy of God did wait in the days of Noah. 1, Pet. 3, 12, The purpose of the Apostle is there to show that Christ did always in all ages show his divine power, as namely when by Noah he preached to those disobedient spirits, which are now in prison, that is in hell, as likewise in Saint john, Apoc. 2, ●. 7 the word prison is taken for hell: and if they take it for purgatory, they are two ways condemned by their own doctrine: for first they confess that not purgatory but hell, is the place for such as are infidels and rebellious, and no members of the true Church. Now Saint Peter showeth, that not the family of Noah (which did represent the Church of God) but the other disobedient and unfaithful people, were cast into this prison, and therefore by the prison must needs be meant that place which appertaineth not to the Church of God. Secondly some of them seem to teach, that the Fathers in the old Testament were in a Limbo patrum, but in no purgatory, and that purgatory only took place after the coming of Christ. If that be their meaning, little reason then have they to draw unto purgatory those things which are spoken of the people in the old Testament, and much less to make such contrary manners of the remitting of sin. The Apostle showeth evidently, 1. Thes. 4.17 that in the end of the world, at the second coming of Christ, they which shall be then found alive, shall be suddenly catched up to meet the Lord, and remain ever with the Lord. The tenor of God's justice is always one, and the same against sin, and therefore it is no ways likely, that in so many several ages of the world, there should be such far differing estates of souls departed. They allege the fact of juda, 2. Mach. 12.14 who (when some of his men being slain in the battle, were found to have under their garments, little relics of Idolatry) did send two thousand groats to jerusalem to offer for them, and this act is called a holy and godly cogitation, because he made an expiation for the dead, that they might be loosed from their sins. This may be answered with the same answer which Saint Augustine maketh against the Donatists, who urged out of the Maccabees, that it is lawful for a man to kill himself, because when Rhasis killed himself, Mach. 14.2 42, 43. he is there twice 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, ● received of the Church not unprofitably, if it be soberly read: It is then soberly read, when no new doctrine is collected out of it, against the law and the Prophets. The law appointed no such use of offerings to offer for them which perished in Idolatry: how damnable the sin was, it may well appear by the grievous punishment of Achan. josua. 7.24. But we may answer rather with the judgement of that ancient expositio symbols, attributed to Cyprian, that those books of the Maccabees, are no Canonical scripture. The words of the Author of those books do plainly declare it, 2. Mach. 15.39 If I have done well (saith he) it is as I would, but if I have done slenderly & barely, it is as I could: What more apparent proof can we desire, to show that those books were not penned by the spirit of God? They seek some defence by the words of of our Saviour, that he which sinneth against the holy Ghost, Math. 12.32. Luk. 11.10. shall neither be forgiven in this world, nor in the world to come, therefore (say they) there is some place of forgiveness to some sins after this life. But our Saviour speaketh there of the fault or blame, and not of the punishment, and his meaning is, that it shall never be remitted, neither in this life, which is granted to sinners for repentance, nor in the world to come, when God shall by his Angels separate the sheep from the goats. They rest further upon that precept, Math. 5.25. Agree with thy adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, lest the adversary give thee to the judge, and the judge to the Sergeant, and the Sergeant cast thee into prison, verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not come our, until thou have paid the uttermost farthing. Sic exponit Chrysost. de usitato circere magistratu. The meaning of the place is, that we must in time cut off all occasions of suits and contentions, But they wresting it to an allegory, make the prison to be purgatory, the judge to be God, the Sergeant to be his angels, and the adversary to be the devil. This cannot possible be the true interpretation of the place: for than must the words, agree with the adversary, be expounded, agree with the Devil: and the paying the uttermost farthing in the prison, must erect such a Purgatory, as leaveth nothing at all to be performed by our Saviour Christ. Besides it can make nothing for them, for they teach satisfaction to be made unto God, but in that text satisfaction is not required to the judge: again who seethe not that lying in prison is not a satisfying of the debt? So likewise they wrist that place of Saint Paul, The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is, 1, Cor, 3, 13. some (as he hath said before) do build upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, timber, hay, or stubble, but every man's work shall be manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by the fire, and the fire shall try every man's work. The meaning of the Apostle is, that God in his due time, by the examination of his word and spirit, shall try the doctrines of all that do build any thing upon the foundation, some build sound doctrine, signified by the gold, silver, and precious stones: others build curious and frivolous matters, signified by the word hay & stubble, God will by his word and spirit make manifest, and confirm the good and sound, but the more vain he will consume and burn, and yet so, that the unskilful builder shall be saved, but as by fire. This maketh nothing for the confirmation of their purgatory: For first the Apostle speaketh of matter to be tried in the fire, and not the persons, he saith, that which the builders have builded shall be tried. Secondly he saith, that every man's work shall be tried in that fire, even the gold and precious stones, the doctrines of the Apostles themselves, and therefore cannot be meant of their purgatory, which they themselves do make not to be a place for the perfecter sort. Thirdly the Apostle speaketh of a trying fire, and not of a purging fire. We read of a trying fire, as the Wise man saith, the fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, Prou. 17.3. but the Lord trieth the hearts. We read also of a fire to consume vices in man, as the Lord saith by the Prophet, what is chaff to wheat? jerem. 23.29. Is not my word as fire, and like the hammer that breaketh the stone? And so afflictions are an instrument whereby God doth mortify sin in us, and as with fire consume it. David saith, Psal. 66.12. he passed thorough 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 certain, that whether the fire be of trial or purging, it is meant in that place of a fire in this life, because the Apostle saith, is shall reveal and make manifest every man's work: He speaketh no● of a purgatory in some far removed centre, but of such a place where every man's work shall be made manifest. Fiftly, when at the last he cometh to the persons, he saith, that the builders which builded hay and stubble, yet because they held the foundation, they shall be saved, but as by fire, he saith, not by fire, but tanquam per ignem, as it were by fire, because they shall not only be examined by the examination of the holy spirit (often compared to fire) but shall suffer the loss and consuming of their vain doctrines, and therefore be saved as by fire. Ambr. in Psal 118. serm. 20 Aug. de civit. dei lib. 10. cap 25. I deny not but some of the ancient Fathers have expounded this fire, to be meant of a purging fire in the life to come, but they have named it to be only that fire which shall be at the end of the world: They taught that by it God would make a consummation of all things, to burn the dross, and to make the pure more perfect, they thought it to be such a fire, Ambr. in Psal 118. as oportet omnes transire, sive sit ille johannes evangelista, sive Petrus, all men must pass thorough it, whether it be that john the Evangelist, or Peter. This opinion of the Fathers doth nothing favour the Romish Catholics. The like may be said of that prophesy of Malachi, who may endure when he shall appear, Malach. 3, v, 2 for he shali be like a purging fire, and like fullers soap, he shall try the silver, and fine the sons of Levi, and purify them as gold, that they may bring offerings to the Lord in righteousness. The prophesying in the next verse before of the coming of Christ, and of his messenger john the Baptist, and the naming of the end of this purging fire, to be, that the people should bring acceptable offerings unto God, as their faithful predecessors had done, do plainly show that the Prophet doth in that place speak of the power of Christ at his first coming, when he shall baptise with his spirit, Math. 3.11. having his fan in his hand, and purging his floor, gathering the wheat into his barn, but burning the chaff with unquenchable fire. Augustine doth expound it of the general fire, Aug. de civita te dei. lib. 20. cap. 25, at the second coming of Christ, but doth never apply it to any purging fire, taking place betwixt the departure of the soul out of this life, and that final day of judgement. Similitudes (as you see) are easily drawn into sundry expositions. But it was well said of Aquinas, Aquin. opusculo septuagesimo sive super Roetiū de trinitate. though in words somewhat barbarous, symbolica theologica non est argumentativa, when for points in Divinity there are no other proofs but similitudes and metaphors, they rest upon slender arguments. Another such figurative speech, they allege out of the Apostle that at the name of jesus every knee must bow, Phil. 2.10, both of things in heaven, and of things in earth, and of things under the earth: there by the things under the earth, they understand the souls in purgatory. But the Apostle there setteth down a general doctrine, that all creatures whatsoever, are subject unto Christ, the good to be governed 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 Romans, Rom. 14.10, is taken for the appearing of all before the tribunal seat of Christ, where shall also be judged even the devils, jude. V. 6. who (as Saint Jude saith) are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgement of the great day. The like manner of speech we have in the Revelation, where it is said, that every creature in heaven, and in earth, Apoc. 5.13. and under the earth, and in the sea, did ascribe honour, and glory, and power to him that sat upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, that is, so submit themselves to God, that either his mercy or justice might be glorified in them. So to the Philippians, the Apostle speaketh of the sovereign power of Christ over both elect and reprobate, as it was foreshadowed in the kingdom of Solomon, whereof the Prophet saith, Psal. 72.9. his enemies shall lick the dust. CHAP. XII. The Conclusion concerning the twofold estate of souls once loosed from their bodies. WHen the soul is by death separated from the body, it is either received into eternal happiness, as was the soul of Lazarus, Luk. 16.22. or else it entereth into eternal torments, as did the soul of the unmerciful rich glutton. Saint Augustine, although in some places he call the bosom of Abraham only secretum quietis eius, Aug. de genes, ad litter, lib, 12, cap, 23, the secret of his rest, into which the Fathers were gathered (for as in the new Testament, saints departing are said to be gathered to their head Christ: so in the former times they were said to be gathered to Abraham the Father of the faithful) yet elsewhere doth Augustine at large define what this bosom is, Aug, quest. Evang, 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 poor in spirit, Mar. 5.3, to whom is promised the kingdom of heaven, into which kingdom they are received when this life is ended: but the hell, 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 up the proud and unmerciful 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, etc. What doth the bosom of Abraham signify, but that secret rest of the fathers, of which our Saviour speaketh, Mat. 8.11. Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven. They do both interpret the bosom to be the kingdom of heaven, and both also consent in this that there are but two ways for the soul after this life, Augustine sayeth, Aug. de verbi▪ Apost. serm. 18 Duae quip habitationes sunt, una in igne aeterno, altera in regno aeterno, There are but two habitations, one in an everlasting fire, Aug. lib. 5. Hypognost. and the other in an eternal kingdom: and again, Primum fides catholica divina authoritate regnum esse credit coelorum secundum gehennam, tertium ignoramus: imo nec esse in scriptures sanctis invenimus: First the catholic faith by the authority of God's word believeth, that there is a kingdom of heaven, and secondly, a hell, Greg. in 7 cap. job. lib. 8. cap. 8. a third place we know not, neither do we find in the holy scriptures, that there is any. Hereto agreeth Gregory, Cum humani casus tempore, sive sanctus, sive malignus spiritus egredientem animam claustro carnis acceperit, in aeternum se cum sine ulla permutatione retinebit, ut nec exaltata ad supplicium proruat, nec mersa aeternis suppliciis ultra ad remedium ereptionis ascendat: when in the time of man's fall or death, either a good Angel or an evil Angel shall receive his soul going out of the prison of his body, it doth hold it for ever (as it is holden itself) without any change, so that if it be exalted, it cannot fall into punishment, neither can it ascend unto any remedy of deliverance, if it be once drowned in eternal punishments. Mat 12.32 The scripture maketh mention of two worlds, this world & the world to come, Damascene showeth, what is that world to come, Aeterna vita, Damascene de fide Orthodoxa, lib. 2. cap. 1 aeternum supplicium seculum futurum, The world to come is either everlasting life, or everlasting punishment. Bernard likewise acknowledgeth but two places, Bernard. in sentent. cap. 9 when the soul hath left the earth: Tria sunt loca, coelum, terra, infernus, coelum habet solos bonos, terra mixtos infernus solos malos, There are three places, heaven, earth and hell; heaven containeth only the good, the earth hath good and bad mingled together, and hell hath only the bad. Aug. de vera religione, cap 38. Augustine saith, Omnia temporalia transeuntia mundus iste concludit, This world is the place that containeth all temporal & transitory things, the things of the life to come, 2 Cor. 4.18 whether joys or pains, are not temporal but eternal. But some may say, how cometh it then to pass, that Augustine prayed for his mother Monica being departed, and Ambrose prayed for Theodosius, and divers others of the ancient Fathers made rehearsal of the dead in their prayers and supplications: if either the departed be in torments unrecoverable, or in bliss immutable, what need there any prayers to be made to God for them. Those ancient fathers did pray for the departed, not as having any conceit of Purgatory or temporal punishments, endured by the souls departed, but as having an eye to the resurrection, which was yet to ensue, and neither to be hastened, nor to be deferred by any prayers, and yet they prayed to testify their hope, as S. Paul prayed for Onesiphorus, 2. Tim. 1.18 that the Lord would grant unto him, that he may find mercy with the Lord in that day, meaning (as some expound it) the day of resurrection, he had a further respect in his prayer, then either to his life, or to his death, and so had the fathers a further respect, then to the present estate of the souls: for as for their present estate, they did not doubt of their happy rest. Augustine, when he 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 believe that thou hast already granted what I request, but good Lord accept the voluntary words of my mouth, she shall not say that she oweth nothing, but she will answer that her debts are forgiven of him, to whom no man can recompense that which he hath freely done for us. And so likewise although Ambrose prayed for Theodosius, yet he 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 having his sin remitted, doth even now enjoy perpetual light, and a lasting rest, and doth triumph in the company of the saints: by the name of prayers were often signified thanksgivings, 2. Tim. 2.22 psal. 14.4 as indeed calling upon the name of God, is taken often in the scriptures for the whole service of God. They had their commemoration of the dead, especially at the ministration of the Lords supper, which they took to be Eucharistia, a sacrament of thanksgiving, and as Chrysostome noteth, what was done for the dead, was done most in Hymns, do testify their joy and thankfulness, Quid sibi volunt Hymni? nun glorificamus Deum, Chrysost, ad popul. Antioch. hom. 70 & gratias illi agimus, quia iam defunctum coronavit? haec omnia sunt gaudentium? What meaneth Hymns or songs? do we not glorify God and give thanks unto him, that he hath already crowned a soul departed? All these are effects of hearts rejoicing. And further in the commemoration of the dead, there was especially a rehearsing of the resurrection of our Saviour by himself, and all the Saints by him, to show that that was the time which they most respected, and if they prayed for forgiveness of the sins of the departed, the meaning of their petition was, that their sins should not be imputed unto them in the resurrection. Vide August. in Io. tract. 49 How lawfully they might make that prayer. I will not now dispute. It sufficeth here to have showed that they did not acknowledge any temporal torments after this life, appertaining to such as have ended their days in the faith of Christ, and that the secret rest which they placed in Abraham's bosom, did not signify unto them a sleep or idle rest, but a place of joy and happiness, Ioh, 8, 56 that as it was Abraham his joy in this world to see the days of Christ, so it is a far more infinite felicity to him and his faithful seed, this transitory life being ended, to behold and fully to enjoy the presence of our Redeemer in the eternal kingdom of heaven. S. Augustine saith, that he doth fully believe that his sweet friend Nebridius is in Abraham's bosom, Aug. confess, lib. 9 he showeth presently what that is, Pomt spirituale os adfontem tuum, & bibit quantum potest sapientiam pro aviditate sua sine fine foelix, He setteth his spiritual mouth to thy fountain O Lord, and drinketh wisdom to the full, according to his chiefest desire, being happy without end. This happy estate of the souls of God's saints 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 do desire that their writings should be examined, what is agreeable thereto, to be received, and what not, to be rejected. Augustine sayeth, Aug. in psal. 57 Auferantur é medio chartae nostrae, prodeat in medium codex Dei, Let our writings be laid aside, and let place be given to the book of God. He also nameth the old and new Testament, Duo ubera Ecclesiae, The two breasts of the Church, out of which all sound and perfect truth must be drawn and derived unto us. In them we find but only these two places or habitation, for the souls once separated from the bodies, to wit, for them which die in carnal 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 burn to the bottom of hell: those which are called by Solomon, the Chambers of death, & by Esay a tophet prepared deep and large, Esay 30.33 the burning whereof is fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord a fire of brimstone to kindle it, and by our Saviour unquenchable fire, where the worm never dieth, Mar. 9.44 & the flame never goeth out, And in the Revelation. 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 gulf and distance placed betwixt them, and the joys of the godly, that there is no hope of passage from one to an other, whereby is signified, that the pains are unrecoverable, easeless, endless, and hopeless. But for them which close up their eyes in a true faith, & unfeigned repentance, john 16.22. there are prepared eternal joys in the kingdom of heaven, where the knowledge, will, integrity, and all the powers of the soul, Luke 20.36 shall have such a correspondency and conformity to the will of God that they shall be equal with the blessed Angels, and where we shall have the fruition of God's presence, wherein doth consist the fullness of joy. For as the Apostle doth make this as greatly to augment the vengeance that is showed on them, which shall be punished with everlasting perdition, 2. Thes. 1.9 because it shall be 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 heavenly felicity, that as here we see in a glass, 1. Cor. 13, 12. so there we shall see face to face, and as here we know in part, so there we shall know even as we are known. It was well said 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 we see many things which we have not in possession, but in the life to come, to see and to possess 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, Whatsoever is besides God, that cannot be pleasant, whatsoever God would bestow on me, let him take it away all, and give himself unto me. In that enjoying the presence of God in the life to come, there is all sufficiency of delights, as is taught in the Revelation of S. john, Revel. 21.22. That City hath no need of the Sun, nor Moon to shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And there is also all continuance and eternity, Revel. 21.4 as is said in the same prophesy, There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor pain, but the Lord shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, unto the which glorious and eternal rest, 1. Pet. 2.24. the Lord jesus (who bore our sins in his body on the tree, and is the shepherd and Bishop of our Souls) bring both our bodies and souls happily and speedily, Apoc. 22, 20, even so come Lord jesus. Now unto the king everlasting, immortal, invisible, 1. Tim. 1.17. unto God only wise, be honour & glory for ever and ever. FINIS. TWO SERMONS OF THE DVties of our thankfulness towards GOD: Preached at Camerwell in Surrey, the xxii. of May, 1603. BY SIMON HARWARD. And now by him published, as not unfit for this time, wherein GOD hath so graciously visited us, and so plentifully powered down his blessings upon us. LONDON Imprinted by john Windes 1604 TO THE RIGHT worshipful, Sir Edmond Bowyer Knight, one of the King his majesties justices of Peace, in the County of Surrey, and to the virtuous Lady, the Lady Katherine Bowyer, his loving wife many joyful and happy years. ALthough (Right worshipful) at my last being with you, the principal cause, why I chose that text of thanksgiving (being a part of the Psalm which was read in the church that Sabbath) was to stir up our minds to render hearty praise unto God, as well for the peaceable, happy, and joyful entrance of our most Gracious Sovereign Lord the King his Majesty into the possession of these his Realms and dominions, as also for the assured hope which we may every way conceive of having the truth of the Gospel of Christ, by his Grace's religious care, to be most firmly established amongst us, and likewise to declare by that text, what duties we own unto the Almighty, for these and all other his inestimable benefits: yet seeing I do now commit to Press a little Treatise concerning the Soul and Spirit of Man, and that it is for the gifts and graces of the soul, for which we are bound especially to render praises unto God, I have therefore thought it not impertinent to add to the end of my Description of the Soul those two Sermons, which I lately preached at Camerwell, as a fit conclusion of the Discourse before penned. In setting them down in writing, I have (as near as I could) delivered the very same which then I spoke. Only I have thought it best for the ease of the reader, to place in the margin the places and verses of the texts and authorities, which in the uttering of them, I did think it more convenient usually to name, that such as were present and stored with the Scriptures might the better make some profitable use thereof. In the publishing of these Sermons I have endeavoured (according to the talon granted to me) generally to benefit my Country. In consecrating them particularly as a small token of my dutiful affection towards your Worships, my purpose only is to show some thankful remembrance of your late savour and kindness, in affording me your good assistance concerning a motion made by my best well-willers for the benefit of me & mine. The praises and thanksgivings which are due unto God, do nothing disannul that thankfulness which we own unto men, as instruments appointed of God for our good. Nay, rather by a human gratitude as by a hand God doth lead us to the performance of that which is due to his divine Majesty. For very well may be framed of it, the self same argument which the Apostle doth make concerning love: 1. joh. 4.20. He which is not thankful to man whom he seethe, how can he be thankful to God whom he hath not seen? It is recorded of Thales the Miletian, one of the seven wise men of Greece, Stob. Serm. 78 that when studying Astronomy, and looking up towards the stars, by for getting himself, he fell into a ditch, a foolish & simple maid could tell him, that it was a just reward for such a one as would so contemplate upon the heavens, that he should in the mean time forget his own feet. To avoid the danger of this reproof, in the midst of these my meditations of our heavenly & spiritual thankfulness towards God, I have endeavoured somewhat to keep myself from falling into the pit of human ingratitude, & to present unto you this little pledge of my dutiful remembrance, which although being two Sermons, they might well have borne to either of you a several Dedicatory, yet for as much as they were both made at one time, when I came to congratulate your worships for the late favours worthily bestowed upon your deserts, and do both of them contain one matter, being parts one of another, and as it were, not two, but one body; I do here present them jointly unto you, nothing doubting but that you will yield the same approbation to them being Printed, as you vouchsafed to give unto them when they were first before you uttered, or as you have usually afforded to such other Treatises as I have heretofore published under your names. God grant your Worships long to remain either a happy comfort to the other in this life; and in the end accomplish your long felicity with an eternal bliss in his kingdom. From Tanridge this 31. of December. 1603. Your Worships to be commanded, SIMON HARWARD. THE FIRST SERMON of Thanksgiving. PSALM. 107. V 21. Let them celebrate before the Lord, his goodness, and his wonderful works before the children of men. Ver. 22. And sacrificing the sacrifice of praise, let them tell forth his doings with gladness. THis most Divine Psalm (Right Worshipful and beloved) doth very notably describe unto us the providence of God, in the government of the world, and doth on the other side put us in mind what thankfulness is required in man, for whose benefit and comfort, the works and affairs of this world are in such wonderful manner managed and ordered. The Psalmist delivereth five especial examples of God's providence. V 4. First of exiles and pilgrims, when as they do wander in deserts, and are in most extremities, hungry, and thirsty, and their souls fainting in them, the Lord doth often hear them when they cry unto him, & bring them to a city where they may dwell. The second example is of captives, who when for their sins, V 10. they lie fast bound in miseries and irons: if they earnestly call for God's merciful aid, the Lord doth bring them out of darkness & the shadow of death, and break their bands asunder. V 17. The third proof of God's provident mercy is, when foolish men are by some sickness plagued for their iniquities, when their soul doth refuse all food and sustenance, and that they are now at deaths door, if in their misery they cry unto the Lord, the Lord doth send forth his word & heal them, and deliver them from the pit of corruption. The fourth spectacle of God's goodness is in shipmen, V 23. who go down into the Seas, and occupy their business in great waters, when they are in most peril, mounting up to heaven, and falling down again to hell, when they stagger, and be at their wit's end, if then they cry unto the Lord in their troubles, then sendeth he a gracious calm, and bringeth them to the haven where they would be. The fift, as it were a theatre of God's providence, is in the altering and changing, not only of dumb creatures, bringing some times rivers into dry deserts, V 33. & sometime, dry grounds into springs or ponds of water: sometimes making a fruitful land barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein: and sometimes so blessing the land, V 40. that men may sow and plant to yield them fruits of increase: but also in altering the estates of men: sometimes pouring out contempt upon princes, and sometimes lifting up the poor out of his misery, and making him households like a flock of sheep. The Verse which now I have chosen to entreat of, is called versus amaebaeus, a verse that doth answer by turns, because in the end of the four first histories, it is added still as a conclusion of the history, to show unto us what use we must make of God's gracious deliverances, not to pass by them as it were with closed eyes, but to stir up both ourselves and others to magnify the name of God, for these his unspeakable mercies. The Psalmist may seem to direct this his Psalm, only to a thankfulness for corporal benefits, but no doubt in the same, he doth include also the spiritual blessings of God. When he speaketh of the miseries of man, he showeth the causes to be their sins, as speaking of captives lying in misery and iron: V 11. he saith, it was because they rebelled against the word of the Lord, & lightly regarded the counsel of the most high. And after of sickness, foolish men are plagued (saith he) for their wickedness & iniquities. V 17. And after of barrenness of soil, A fruitful land (saith he) he maketh barren, V 34. for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. As than he noteth the cause of all calamities to be sin: So when he celebrateth God his gracious deliverance, he doth undoubtedly include the removing of the cause as well as the effect, & doth exhort us to praise God for the remission of our transgressions. If the Israelites were bound to praise God for their deliverance from the thraldom of Egypt, and generally all others, which are the redeemed of the Lord, as it is here said in the second verse, whom he hath redeemed from the hands of the oppressors, how much more ought they to be thankful, which are delivered from the tyranny of the devil, Rom. 16, 2● when the God of glory and peace doth tread down Satan under our feet? If they did owe thanks, which from wandering in the wilderness were brought to this happiness, to have at the last cities to dwell in, what thanks is required of us, who from wandering in the by-paths of sin and error, are by our heavenly josua Christ jesus brought home to be citizens with the Saints, Ephe. 2.19. & of the household of God in this life, and heirs by hope of the celestial jerusalem in the world to come? Apoc. 21.2. If prisoners give all humble praise, when they are delivered from their darkness, misery and irons, how much more than ought we to be thankful, when by the glorious triumph of our Saviour Christ, Osea. 13.14. 1. Cor. 15.55 we are delivered from the dungeon of the grave, hell, death, & damnation? If they have great cause of thankfulness, which have escaped the dangers of sickness and infirmities, then much more are they to be grateful, who by the heavenly Physician our Lord jesus, are cleansed and cured of their sins, which are indeed the original causes of their diseases and maladies. For this deliverance doth the kingly Prophet David, Psal. 103.3. first & principally praise Gods holy name, because he forgave all his sins, and healed all his infirmities. By temporal benefits the weakness of our nature is taught to rise up to the consideration of spiritual blessings, and (if we be not wilfully blind) we may easily and plainly conceive, that if corporal gifts are to be acknowledged to be the free blessings of God, as we are taught to pray, give us our daily bread, then much more must we confess all spiritual benefits to be the free gifts of God, bestowed upon us by the mercy of God, in, & through his son Christ jesus. If we cannot merit things needful for the body, much less can we merit the ransoming of the soul. If we are bound to praise God for deliverances appertaining to the body, then by good reason, as much as the soul is more precious than the body, so much more ought we to be thankful for the soul than the body. The Psalmist in this Amaebaean verse so often repeated in this Psalm, doth upon every particular deliverance from either banishment, or prison, or sickness, or tempest, still exhort the party delivered, that he will thereby rise up to a general consideration of the goodness of God, & of all his wonderful works, which he hath wrought for mankind. In these two verses which I have red unto you, there are two especial things offered to our consideration. The division of the text. First for what we are to celebrate & magnify the name of God, to wit, for his goodness, & for his wonderful works. Secondly how we must show our thankfulness, to wit, first both before the Lord, and before the children of men: & secondly by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and telling forth his works with gladness. The goodness of God (as is taught by our Saviour) is the first fountain of our salvation. joh. 3.16. So God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. In the causes of our redemption, we must not begin at ourselves, or at our own merits, nay, we may not begin at the death and passion of Christ jesus, but we must begin at the eternal love of God, who sent his only begotten Son, and therefore bless that good God, Ephe. 1.4. which hath chosen us to be saved before the foundation of the world was laid. The goodness of God in our redemption appeared to be greater towards mankind, than it was to the very Angels. When the Angels fell from God, they were never restored, but (as S. Jude saith) they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgement of the great day: but when man was fallen, jude. v. 6. the Lord of his goodness gave a comfortable promise of the seed of the woman, Gen. 3 15 which should bruise the power of Satan. The Angels which continued steadfast, do continually praise God, & are ready to execute his will, Psal. 103.21 but of God's goodness, they are yet ministering spirits to serve for their use, that shall be heirs of salvation. Heb. 1.14. And therefore David, Psal. 34.7. when he hath said, that the Angels of the Lord do pitch round about them that fear him, he addeth in the next verse, O taste & see how good the Lord is, blessed is the man that putteth his trust in him. A blessing it is to be guarded by men, a greater blessing to be guarded by Princes, but what exceeding favour is this, when God doth vouchsafe to guard us with his holy and blessed Angels? Though in some respects David doth acknowledge man to be somewhat inferior to the Angels, yet in this he saith, Psal. ●. 5 that God hath crowned man with glory and worship, in that he hath made him an Emperor over all his works, & put all things in subjection under his feet, not only the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, & whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas, but as he saith before in the same Psalm, even the heavenly Creatures: when I consider the heavens, v. 3. the work of thy fingers, the moon & the stars which thou hast ordained, them say I, O Lord, what is man that thou art so mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou so regardest him? This use we must make of all God's Creatures, so to behold in them the goodness of God towards mankind that we be thereby stirred up to praise Gods holy name. The horse & mule can behold the heavens to be high, bright and lightsome. The hog seethe the earth to be a place to walk upon, the so to feed upon. The Peacock conceiveth a glorious show in his variable coloured feathers: many dumb Creatures do exceed man in the sharpness of smelling, when we behold either the glistering azured sky, or the beautiful flowers and fruits of the earth, if we go no further than seeing, smelling and tasting, them are we no better than the brute & unreasonable creatures: but we must in all those things go further: we must behold therein the mighty power of God, that we may be stirred up to fear him, and the infinite goodness of God, that we may learn to love him, and then are we endued with true spiritual wisdom, as David concludeth in the end of this psalm: Psal. 107.43 Who so is wise will consider and ponder these things, & he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. The goodness of God doth many ways shine out in the creation of man. He made him (as Zorastes said) Pulcherrimum naturae spectaculum, the most beautiful spectacle of nature, not going grovelong towards the earth, but with his face lifted up to heaven, to signify that his mind should always be on heavenly things: He gave unto him a soul endued with understanding, & made after his own image: He framed him to be as it were a little world, and an abridgement of all his creatures, whereupon some have given him the name of Microcosmus, some of Omnigena Creatura, because he taketh part of all, and containeth the principal parts of all: He hath substance, as have stones, life as have plants, sense as have beasts, and understanding as have angels. When the Roman Pollio would have drowned one of his slaves in a fury, because he had broken a fair Crystal glass, Augustus did well forbid him, and said, Homo cuiusuis conditionis, si nulla alia ratione, nisi quia est homo, totius mundi vitris preciosior, A man of any poor estate whatsoever, if it be for no other cause, but only because he is a man, is far more precious than all the glasses of the whole world: but especially the goodness of God did appear in the renewing of our hearts, by his grace and holy word. 1. Pet. 1.3 That doth S. Peter call the abundant mercy of God: Blessed be God the father of our Lord jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Christ jesus. That doth S. Bernard call a greater work than the Creation of us, Bernard in Cantic. or of the whole world. When God made the world only, he spoke the word, and it was done. Let there be a light, Gen. 1.3.9. and there was light; let the waters be gathered into one heap, and they were gathered, whereby was made the sea, and the dry land was called earth: Let there be two great lights in the firmament, and there was straightway a Sun to rule the night. Bern. But quam multa dixit? quàm multa fecit? quàm multa perp●ssus est? How many things hath God spoken? how many things hath God done? how many things hath he suffered to renew the heart of man? If we should receive the creatures ordained for the sustenance of our bodies, and not be renewed and fed inwardly in our souls, our estate were infinite thousand times worse than the estate of brute beasts: For they are fed to perish temporally, but we should be fed to perish eternally. The seed of our new birth, 1. Pet. 1.23. to wit, the word of God is by an earnest acclamation, pronounced by the Psalmist, to be one of the greatest tokens of God's favour and goodness towards his elect. For when he hath declared that God gave his word unto jacob, Psal. 147.20. his statutes and ordinances unto Israel, he crieth out; He hath not dealt so with every nation, neither have other people the knowledge of his laws. There are two especial properties which do greatly extol and magnify the goodness of God. First, that it is free, not in respect of our deserts: but in respect of Gods abundant mercy. Secondly, that it is endless and perpetual. Esay. 43.25. The freeness thereof is set out by the Prophet. I, even I, am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine own sake, and will remember thy sins no more. And again a little after: Esay. 48.9. V 11. For mine own sake I will be gracious, & for mine own glory, I will refrain mine anger, and will not destroy thee. Propter me, propter me faciam; It is for myself, and mine own sake that I will do this for thee. There was no cause in the jews, that God should choose them as elect vessels, to carry the treasure of his word, and to pass by so many other nations more rich, and more populous. Neither is there any cause in us, that we should have the Gospel in peace and quietness preached unto us, which blessing is denied to many mighty nations about us. The cause is only in the free goodness of God, wherewith he embraceth his elect and chosen: and therefore we may well say of our nations, as Esay said of the jews of his time; Isai. 1●. If the Lord had not left unto us a remnant, we had been as Sodom and Gomorrha. Such is our unthankfulness for God's manifold blessings, such is our carelessness and dullness in prayer, such is our disobedience, and contempt of God his holy word, that unless there were a remnant of God his elect people amongst us, it could not have been but long before this time, we should have had the judgement of Sodom, and the cities adjoining, in full measure powered upon us. But God hath a remnant of his elect amongst us, and in respect of his free love towards them, he doth still continue his goodness towards us. God be eternally praised for that remnant of his elect, God grant us to be of that number, God increase them daily, God so continue and multiply them, that the truth of his holy Gospel may still remain to us, and to our posterity for ever. A good hope we have in the second property of God's goodness, to wit, in the continuance and perpetuity thereof. Saint james doth teach us, jam. 1.13. that with the Lord there is no change nor shadow of change. If we cast off the kindness of men, we can yet have no full assurance of the continuance of their benefits, because the hearts of men are variable. Math. 21.8. They which this day do cut down bows to strew in the way, may to morrow cry, away with him, and crucify him. But with God, (with whom there is no change, nor shadow of mutability) every experience of God's goodness, is a sufficient argument of the perpetuity thereof, as the king & Prophet saith, Psal. 61.3. Thou Lord hast been my refuge and strong tower against the enemy, therefore I will dwell in thy tabernacle for ever, and seek my succour under the shadow of thy wings. Whom God doth love, john. 13.2. Rom. 11.27. he doth love to the end, and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. It is his own voice by the Prophet. Isay. 54.8. In a moment of time have I hid my face from thee, but in mine everlasting mercy will I gather thee again, saith the Lord thy redeemer. When David doth in thankfulness of mind, extol the goodness of God, Psal. 136. he doth principally praise and magnify the perpetuity thereof. And therefore in his Psalm of thanksgiving, as never sufficiently satisfied with the consideration thereof, he doth still in every verse repeat, the mercy of God endureth for ever. Many causes we give for the abbridging and withholding thereof: but the Lord being patiented long suffering, Esay. 30.18. doth still wait for our repentance. Why will ye die, O ye house of Israel? Thus saith the Lord, I will not the death of a sinner, Ezech. 18.31. but if he repent he shall live: We have many ways offended, but God his goodness doth yet still enlarge itself towards us: We are all as dry stubble, yet the Lord doth not burn us up: we are barren trees, yet the Lord doth not cut us down: we are all unfruitful ground: yet the Lord doth make his Sun to shine, and rain to fall upon us. We have often deserved God's loving countenance to be turned from us, but we may thankfully say with the Prophet: Misericordia est Domini, Ier●m. jam. 3.22. quòd non consumimur: It is the mercy of the Lord, that we are not consumed. This perpetuity of God his goodness, is our chiefest comfort in all afflictions and distresses. For thereby though we be killed all the day long, yet with the Apostle, we are assured, that neither life, nor death, nor principality, nor power, Rom. 8.38. nor any other thing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ jesus. Though God punish us, yet we do cheerfully with job bless the name of God, assuring ourselves, that whom the Lord doth love, he doth correct, Hebr. 12. ●. and scourgeth every son whom he doth receive. If we be thankful only in prosperity, we love not God, but we love the prosperity: but herein appeareth the trial of our love, when we say with job, job. 1●. 15. Although God kill me, I will put my trust in him: And do with the Apostles, rejoice that we be accounted worthy to suffer any rebuke for the name of Christ jesus. Act. 5.41. It is good for me (said David) that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Before I was afflicted, Psal. 119.71. & 67. I went astray, but now, O Lod, I learn thy commandments. Psal. 112.4. Unto the godly (saith David) there doth arise up light in darkness. In the midst of all troubles they have a sweet feeling of God's goodness. If sickness or any grievous calamity do happen unto the wicked, all their joy and comfort is utterly driven away. The candle of the wicked (as Solomon doth call it) is soon put out. Prou. 24.20. But the godly and faithful, though they be often overwhelmed with darkness and misery: yet their light doth still arise, joh. 16.22. the sweet feeling of the mercy of God in Christ, doth never departed from them. They are assured that all things will work for the best to them that love God, Rom. 8.28, they acknowledge that all their sorrows and sicknesses are nothing so great as their manifold follies and trespasses have deserved, and as the palm-tree, the more weight is hanged upon it, the better it is said to prosper, so the greater calamities they endure, the more their faith doth flourish, and the more zealous they are in prayer: as the Psalmist here affirmeth: Psal. 107. Ve. 19 They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivereth them out of their distress. O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare his wonderful works before the children of men. The second thing for which the Prophet doth here exhort us to praise God, is the effect of his goodness, to wit, his wonderful deliverances in the midst of all distresses. Ve. 20. He saith in the verse going before, that God sendeth forth his word and healeth them, and delivereth them from all their corruptions. That word (whereof he speaketh) is the providence of God, wherewith God doth command the creatures to be good unto us. For it is not the meat that nourisheth, nor the clothes that give warmth, nor the plants and herbs that give health: but the power of God working by them. Our Saviour allegeth the doctrine in Deuteronomy, Mat. 4.4. Deut. 8.3. Man liveth not by bread only, but by every word of the mouth of God: meaning that providence of God, whereby God doth bless the means, and command the sustenance to be comfortable unto us. By this word God made men stronger, and of longer life before the flood, when they did feed upon herbs and fruits, than they were in the ages ensuing, Gen. 1.29. Gen. 9.3. when they had the use of flesh and stronger nourishments. Num. 6.3. By this word Samson, though he were a Nazarite (and therefore did abstain from wines and strong drinks (was yet by weaker food the strongest man in all Israel. By this word Daniel and the three young men, Dan. 1.12. though they were homely fed with pulse to eat, and water to drink, were yet in better plight than all the Nobles in the Court of Nabuchadnezar. joh. 6.5. Math. 14.16. By this word our Saviour Christ did ordinarily sustain his disciples, and sometimes miraculously relieve others by loaves made of barley, which is acknowledged by Galen to be a grain of very small nourishment, Hieron. in Ezech. cap. 4. and Saint Hierome doth call it iumentorum cibum, A thing in that country given most usually to cattle. By this word God doth continually bless his creatures to the benefit of them that fear him, and give unto them that staff of bread and strength of nourishment which he threateneth in his law, Levit. 26. Agge. 1.6. that he will take it away from the wicked: and doth then indeed take it away, when (as the Prophet saith) they eat and are not filled, they drink and are not satisfied, they cloth themselves, and have no warmth: and what wealth they get, it is put in a broken bag: by that hole in the bag he meaneth God's curse in the bottom, whereby in shall be at last vainly wasted, that as it never came from God, so it shall run all to the Devil. No further comfort can we expect by God his creatures, but as he doth vouchsafe to bless them to our uses, and therefore our principal care and endeavour ought to be, not so much to obtain the creatures themselves, as to procure the good favour of God, which may bless all unto us. And when are any way helped and relieved, 2. Chro ●● not to attribute our recovery to the outward means (as was Asa his fault in the disease of his feet, to attribute more to the help of physic then to God) but to give the glory to God, and with a thankful heart to celebrate before the Lord his goodness, and to declare his wonderful works before the sons of men. The Psalmist doth here call it a wonderful work, when the Lord doth at those times send help, when the matter doth seem to be even past help in the judgement of man. For in all his Histories he showeth the extremity of the dangers before the Lord doth set to his helping hand. God preserveth exiles and strangers, when wandering in the desert, they are hungry and thirsty, Psal. 107.5. and their soul fainting in them. He delivereth prisoners when they are brought to such misery, V 12. that they have none to help them. Ver. 38. He healeth the diseased, when they are passed receiving any sustenance, when (as the Psalmist speaketh) their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they are even at deaths door. He helpeth such as are tossed in tempests, Ver. 26. when the billows lift them up to heaven, and throw them down again to hell, so that they stagger like drunken men, and be at their wit's end. Thus still doth the Prophet make the goodness of God most to shine, when men being fallen into succourless distresses, God with his outstretched arm doth then presently work a wonderful deliverance. Gen. 21.17 When Abraham at the commandment of God had sent away Agar with bread and a bottle of water, she being come to Beersheba, wanting water, & her bottle being spent, she cast her young child under a tree, and went a bows shoot off, because she would not see if die, but it is said there, that God heard the voice of the child, and said to the mother, Arise, I will make of him a great nation, and God opened her eyes to see a well, whereby both she and her child were relieved; the child being an infant, had no understanding to pray, yet it is said, that the Lord heard the voice of the child; when things come to extremity, Psal. 46.1. God is (as David sayeth) a present help in time of trouble, and as he speaketh himself by the prophet Esay, ●say 65.24. ● Before they call I will answer, before they cry, Psal. 105.18 I will say, here am I. joseph was not only in prison, but his feet hurt with the stocks. jon. 2 jonas in the Whale's belly, & covered with waves: Daniel in the Lion's den closed with a stone, Dan. 6.17 Act. 12.6.10. and surely sealed up: Peter, when he was imprisoned, had chains about his body, soldiers to watch him, and an iron gate to enclose him, yet all those and many thousands in such like cases, were by the mighty hand of GOD miraculously delivered: what hope by any reason of flesh and blood could the Israelites have, Exod. 14.8 when they were pursued with all the chariots and horsemen of Egypt? before them was the red sea, behind them Pharaoh with a terrible army, on either side hills not able to be passed over: No way was there to humane reason, how they could escape: but GOD in his divine wisdom saw a way, he divided the red sea, that the people might safely pass through it, and when the Egyptians did attempt to do the like, v. 27. their whole army was overwhelmed in the depth of the sea. And may not the like of late be said of us in this Realm of England? what full account did the enemies make very shortly to swallow us up? how far were they grown to such insolency, that no law could repress them? what pains did many take to gad into foreign Countries, to work some invasion or subversion? what little hope was there in most of our rich men, when giving over hospitality for fear of alterations, they sought only to furnish themselves with wealth, and made wicked Mammon their staff and strength? what great despair was in many valiant young sons of Gentlemen and Yeomen, when scorning to take pains in any honest vocation, they chose rather to live either in open thievery, or in idle dispersing of rumours, hoping that shortly the day would come, when the poorest should live of the spoil of the richest, and the best sword should most prevail. Amongst all these despairs of men ill minded, it pleased God when we were bereaved of our most Gracious Queen, (whose memory be blessed for ever) to send us according to the expectation and hearty desire of the faithful, a most noble, religious, wise and virtuous King, and with him such an assured hope of an established succession, that we are never able sufficiently to magnify his inestimable goodness and mercies. And the more to testify that it was his own handy work, it was the good pleasure of God, that when at the first (our Sovereign King, being far absent from the chief seat of his Realms) authority could not of a sudden be presently established, In that time (as it were) of magistracy sleeping, all parts were found so quiet and obedient, that the most simple in the world might see, such a governor now to be placed over us, as whom God doth untertake to protect with his own right hand. When in the Ark of Noah the ravening birds, Gen. 7.2. the Hawk, Gripe, and Vultur lived quietly with the Dove, and tamer fowls, & when the Wolf, Lion, and Leopard, remained in peace with the simple sheep and heifer, than it appeared evidently that this agreement was not ordinary, but a very wonderful work of the finger of Gods own hand. And even so wonderful of late was the providence of God, in repressing the cruel affections of them, which had before ill will against Zion. The Lord make us so truly thankful for these his unspeakable benefits, that his graces and favours may still be multiplied towards us. And the Lord so still extend his miraculous preservations, that by our noble king and by his most royal issue, the holy Gospel may be continued to us and our posterity for ever. The second thing that is to be observed in this text, is the manner how we must show our thankfulnsse, to wit, first both privately and openly both before the Lord, and before the sons of men: and secondly with offering the sacrifice of praise, & telling Gods works with gladness. To celebrate God's goodness before the Lord, is to do it religiously & zealously as in God's presence. joh. 4.24. God is a spirit, & they which worship him, must do it in spirit and truth. David in his thanksgiving doth principally encourage his soul to praise God. Psal. 103.1. Praise the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name. In the time of God's service, our mind must still carry in self as now talking with God. When the word is preached unto us, Aug. Serm. 112. i'd temp. God speaketh to us, when we pray or give thanks we speak unto God: Cypr. lib, 2. ●p. 2. if then in those holy exercises our hearts be carried away with worldly or vain cogitations, it is an evident token that Satan doth then endeavour to steal our heart from God, & that our outward profession is nothing but mere hypocrisy. Of such serving of God, the Lord himself doth pronounce by the Prophet Esay, This people doth draw near unto me with their mouth, Esay. 29. 13● and honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me. That we may give thanks in soul & spirit, it is altogether requisite, that the heart of every particular man do understand the sense and meaning of the words which are uttered: 1. Cor. 14.8. for (that I may use the comparison of the Apostle) unless the trumpet do give a certain sound, that the army may plainly understand when is sounded the alarm & when the retreat, how shall the soldier order himself aright in the battle? Even so in the service of God, unless the people do understand when they pray, & when they give thanks, for what they pray, & for what they give thanks, how can they in heart join with the Pastor? how can they serve the Lord in zeal & spirit, Psal. 103.1. & every thing within them praise Gods holy name. 1. Cor. 14. 1●. I had rather (saith S. Paul) speak five words with understanding to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a strange language. Objection. The Romanists have a slender shift and evasion, that the Apostle should speak of the preaching of the word, because in that Chapter he nameth sometimes the instructing of others, and the edifying of others. The confess that preaching must needs be in a known language, but as for prayer and thanksgiving, & such Psalms & hymns, as are song unto God, they say, that all these may be in Latin, although it be either in them, or before them which understand not the Latin tongue. Resp. But it is more clear than the Sun, that the Apostle doth speak, not only of preaching, 1. Cor▪ 14.15. but also of all manner of prayer and thanksgiving in the Church of God. He saith in the fifteenth verse, I will pray with the spirit (that is, with the strange language, which was then the extraordinary gift of the spirit) but I will pray also with understanding, I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing also with understanding. He willeth therefore not only preaching of the word, but also all prayers, hymns, songs, and anthems whatsoever, to be in that tongue, which may be understood by them, by whom they are presented to God. I think that every good Christian ought to be persuaded that when the minister doth publicly utter either prayer or thanksgiving, the whole Church either doth or aught to join with him in the offering of that spiritual sacrifice unto God. But in the verse following, V 16. the Apostle doth put the matter out of all controversy, he saith, if thou shalt bless with the spirit, he which occupieth the place of the unlearned, how shall he say Amen to thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou hast said? Thou truly dost give thanks well, but the other is not edified. It is therefore a thing necessary to thanksgiving, as well as to prayer or preaching, that the heart do understand what is uttered before the Lord. If an unknown tongue had no place in the Apostles time, where was the miraculous gift of God's spirit? much less may it challenge any place now, when it is gotten more unperfectly, and by more ordinary means. If in that primitive church not only the latin or greek, Acts. 2.9. or hebrew, but also all languages under heaven, were vouchsafed to be powered down by the holy ghost, then why should not every tongue be equally sanctified to give thanks unto God, Phil. 2.11. & to confess that jesus is Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Thanksgiving must be done with joyfulness (as here David showeth) now the old saying is true, ignotinulla cupido, Psal. 107.22. There is neither hearty desire, nor true joy, in that whereof the mind is unskilful and ignorant. All things in the Church of God ought to tend to the edifying one of another. As preaching aught to edify: so also thanksgiving. The Apostle doth condemn it, 1. Cor. 14.17 when thou dost so give thanks that thy brother is not edified The Prophet and Psalmist doth here require such a thanksgiving unto God, that his works may be declared before the children of men. That cannot be counted a declaring of God's works, which is published in that tongue, whereof the assembly hath no knowledge. As in prayer the heart should be touched with the want of that thing which it desireth: So in thanksgiving the heart should acknowledge and feel the joy of that for which it giveth thanks. And all must be done to the glory of God, Rom. 15.6. which is then best performed when the whole Church doth with one heart and one voice glorify God the Father of our Lord jesus Christ. The more publicly the thanksgiving is understood, the more evidently thereby is the glory of God set forth. And the more we declare God's works before the children of men, the more acceptable do we offer our praise unto God. David vowed this thankefulnsse unto God, when he said, Psal. 22. 2●, I will declare thy name amongst my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing praise unto thee. He accounted it his chiefest joy, Psal, 42. ●. to lead the people to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving. Psal. 122. v. 1. And in another Psalm, I am glad (saith he) when any say unto me, let us go to the house of God. As in the other duties of our life, so also in the service of God, 1. Cor. 6.20. we must glorify God both in body and soul, for they are Gods. When Satan tempted our Saviour, he offered to him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory thereof, Math. 4.8. if he would but fall down and worship him, he seemed to be content with the bodily worship only. So his eldest son Antichrist, when he cannot draw Christian princes to admit his damnable idolatry, nor yet by any means stir up sufficient powers to overthrow them, than his last refuge is, to grant to his reconciled vassals a dispensation to go to the church and Sacraments in body, so that they keep their souls still faithful unto him, he is then contented only with the soul. But the eternal God requireth of us an entire worship and service both in body and soul. Seeing he made both body and soul, and Christ jesus redeemed both body and soul, and both body and soul must live for ever in the world to come, we are commanded & bounden to keep ourselves from all pollution, as well of flesh as of spirit, 2. Cor. 7.1. and to glorify God both in body and soul, for they are Gods. When the Israelites were by the captivity of Babylon, removed from that public place of God's service, where they were wont both in body and soul to praise God, they wept by the waters of Babylon, & said, Psal. 137.4. Dan. 6.11. how can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Daniel chose rather to be cast into the lions den, then that his body should be withholden only three days from the open praising of God. God abhorreth all hypocrisy, when men shall in his worship pretend one thing and do another, he calleth hell by a proper and peculiar name, Math. 24.31. the portion of hypocrites, Rom. 2●. 1 he requireth of us a whole sacrifice both of body and soul: he will have both the one and the other, all or none, whole, or no part. The common translation doth interpret this text, as declaring unto us, to whom we must offer our thanksgiving, to wit, unto God. O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness. If we take the words in that sense, they may very well agree with the whole argument of this Psalm. For certain it is, that in all distresses and dangers, the Prophet will have us both only to fly to God for succour, and only to praise him for gracious deliverance. He meaneth here sundry calamities, banishment, imprisonment, sickness, tempestuous weather, immoderate drought, unseasonable rain, but still he ascribeth unto God the deliverance, and therefore to him only must be rendered all thanks and praise. In the Church of Rome, for every several disease or peril, they have a several Saint to call upon. Petronella for the Ague, Roch for the plague, Valentine for the falling-sickness, Otilia for the eyes, Apollonia for the teeth, our Lady and Saint Margaret for women in childbirth. They make Christopher to be their patron against sudden death, Agatha against fire, Hubert against the biting of a mad dog, Scholastica against thunder, Anthony for their swine, Loy for their horses, Wendeline for their sheep, Luke for their Kine. They make several patrons and defenders, not only for every country: as Peter and Paul for Italy, Denis for fance, George for England, Andrew for Scotland, Patrick for Ireland: but also in a manner particularly for every vocation and trade, as Ivo for Lawyers, joseph for Carpenters, Lucas for painters, Gutman for cobblers? what was this else but to rob God of his honour: and to ascribe that to the creature, which is due to the Creator only, whose name be blessed for ever and ever? for all troubles, & all people whatsoever the commandment of God is general by the Psalmist. Psal. 50.14. Call upon me in the time of trouble, and I will hear thee, and thou shalt glorify me. God is a jealous God, he will not give his glory to any creature. In ascribing somewhat to their Saints, they think that thereby they honour them, but they do them the greatest dishonour that may be, when they make them means to rob God of his honour. The Saints of God do by their own examples in the Scriptures abundantly instruct us, to whom we are to ascribe all divine praises and worship. August. de sancta virg. cap. 3. The blessed Virgin (blessed in bearing Christ by conception in her body, but more blessed in that she bore him also in the heart by faith) doth acknowledge God to be a Saviour as well as all believers, & therefore she praiseth God with these words. My soul doth magnify the Lord, Luc. 1.46. & my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour. When john would have fallen down to have worshipped the angel, Apoe. 22.9. he was straightly forbidden: The Angel said, take heed that thou do it not, I am a servant as thou art, worship God. Much less may men admit divine worship in men, whom the Psalmist doth call in this place the sons of Adam. And in which respect Saint Peter denied to be worshipped by Cornelius, for when he was fallen down at his feet, to reverence him, the Apostle took him up saying, Stand up, Act. 10.26 for I myself am also a man. When we are exhorted here to celebrate before the Lord his goodness, and his wonderful works before the children of men, we are put in mind of a notable effect of thankfulness, which is both in ourselves and in others, to conserve a memorial of God his loving kindness, and that not only among ourselves, but as much as we can, even unto all posterities for ever. In Exodus, Exod. 13, 14 the father is commanded to declare to his children for ever, the mighty deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt, David saith, Psal. 88 we will show the praise of the Lord to the generations to come, his strength and wonderful works that he hath done. True thankfulness hath not only a regard of things present before the eyes, but it calleth also to remembrance, the benefits of former times. Thankful must we be for this our present happy government under such a mighty Monarch, and most Christian Prince, and yet still not forget the singular benefits which we have heretofore also received under her, who being assisted by God's mighty hand, did in time of greatest dangers deliver us from the thraldom of blindness and idolatry, and by whose godly care every village of this Realm hath been seasoned in some measure with the knowledge of God his truth. David maketh this an excellent property of true gratitude, not to forget the former blessings of God: Praise the Lord O my soul, Psal. 103.2. ● & v. 7 & forget not all his benefits: he made his ways known to Moses, & his deeds to the children of Israel. It was a miserable ingratitude in that people of Israel, Psal. 106.7. when (as it is said in an other psalm) they considered not God's wonderful works, neither were mindful of his manifold mercies, but were disobedient at the sea, even in the red sea: when the red sea was like two walls on either side of them, even in the red sea, they forgot the mercies of God, and had not the goodness of the Lord in remembrance. And such (I am afraid) is our unthankfulness in this realm of England. In this most happy & joyful time, & in the midst of God's great favour & loving kindness, we consider not only Gods wondered works, neither are we so mindful as we ought to be of his infinite mercies and goodness, Basil. ad jullitam Martyrem. we are like those eyes, which (as Basil saith) when things are set close & hard to them, they do not discern nor behold them. The nearness of God's benefits doth as it were shut our eyes, & cast us into a slumber of security, we are more ready to talk of our safety against all foreign foes, than we are to give humble praise unto God, & to testify our thnakfulnes by amendment of life: the like that Senator of Rome, Messala corvinus, who grew so far overwhelmed with oblivion, that at the last he forgot his own name, we forget our own name, we forget that we are the soldiers and servants of Christ, we forget that spiritual warfare whereunto we are called to set all the powers of body & mind against sin, we consider not duly the end, whereunto all Gods blessings are directed, nor yet the right and holy use which ought to be made thereof: when God sendeth troubles, he trieth our patience, when he sendeth deliverance, he trieth our thankfulness; Chrysostome in psal. 9 Chrysostome saith very well, that then when we have most need, of God● providence, when we are delivered from adversities, and then we have most cause of fearing, when we are freed from dangers: for as he maketh his comparison, like as we do much more fear the Lion or Leopard, being let lose, then when they are chained up, so our untamed affections, when by prosperity they are let lose, are much more to be feared, then when they were tied up, and bound by dangers & afflications. Let us therefore learn, how to carry ourselves, when we have escaped any perils: Psal. 30. let us not say in our prosperity, we shall never be removed, because God hath made our hill so strong, let us not be like the Heifer, jer. 31, 1●. which running in good pastures forgetteth to undergo the yoke: let not our worldly happiness be like that rankness of soil, which by overmuch moisture destroyeth the good plant: let not outward joys draws us headlong into iniquities, Gen. 19.35 as Lot being drunken, committed incest: but rather let every blessing of God, be a good encouragement to us, to stir us up to a more earnest zeal of rendering thanks to the Almighty. Let us love God, for he loved us first: 1. john 4. 1●. let us (as the Psalmist saith here) praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works before the children of men. Then shall we not only escape those grievous punishments, wherewith God doth usually plague and punish the unthankful, to wit, the taking away of his blessed word, and the giving of it to an other nation, Mat. 21. 4● that shall bring forth the fruit of it: the sending of that fearful famine, Amos ●. 11 not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but a famine of the word of God, when men shall go from North to the East, Esay 5.6, from one sea to another, to seek the word of God, and shall not find it, the taking away of the hedge and fencing of his vineyard, that it may be wasted and trodden down, the overwhelming of men with a spiritual blindness, Esay 6, 10. when their heart shall wax fat, and their ears heavy, and their eyes closed up, that they should not believe nor be saved, Luke 14.24 that seeing they have unthankfully despised grace offered by Christ, they should therefore never be partakers of his supper: But also on the other side we shall have all the blessings and favours of God more and more plentifully powered upon us: Bern, de contempt. mundi. for as unthankfulness (according to Bernard) Est ventus vrens' siccans fontes pietatis & fluenta gratiae, is a parching wind drying up the fountain of mercy, and the rivers of grace, so thankfulness for one benefit is a step to the receiving of an other: then we may be well assured, that if we be found thankful for benefits received, he which hath begun a good work in us, Phil. c, 16 will finish the same even until the day of Christ. He will continue his Gospel to us and to our posterity for ever: He will so carefully protect us, that he which toucheth us, shall touch the very apple of his eye: Zach. 2, 8 He will bless us both prince and people in this life, and in the world to come, crown us with everlasting life with our heavenly king Christ jesus, where we shall for ever yield such praises unto God, as shall never wax weary, never cease, never have end: we shall perpetually join with them in that joyful song, Holy, holy, Apoc. 4, 8.11 holy Lord God Almighty, thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory, honour and power, for thou hast created all things & by thy will they are have been created, worthy is the Lamb that was killed, Apoc. 5.12 to receive power and riches & wisdom, and strength and honour, and glory, and praise: Of which celestial thanksgiving he make us all partakers that died for us all, even that Lamb Christ jesus, to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost, be all glory, Majesty, honour, and praise now & for ever Amen. The End of the First Sermon. THE SECOND SERmon of Thanksgiving. PSALM 107. V 21. And sacrificing the sacrifice of praise, let them tell forth his doings with gladness. COncening that which hath already been spoken in the forenoon, as well of the general argument of the Psalm, as also of the particular handling of the former part of my text, I purpose not now (right Worshipful and beloved) to make any repetition thereof, partly because it was so lately uttered, and partly because (as some of you know) I must of necessity hasten to another place. It remaineth only now that I proceed somewhat further with the fruits and effects of thankfulness (which then I began to speak of) and to interpret the verse following, of our offering the sacrifice of praise, and telling forth his works with gladness. The sacrifices which here the Psalmist speaketh of, are not propitiatory, but eucharistical, not for ransom of sin, but for rendering of thanks. The propitiatory sacrifices of the old Testament, Heb. 10.1.8. were types and shadows of the passion of Christ: The truth being come, those shadows are vanished away. The last altar was the Cross, the last sacrifice was the body and blood of Christ, Heb. 7, 17, and the last sacrificing priest was Christ jesus himself, a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck. The order of Aaron had successors which did often offer sacrifices, because they were unperfect. But the order of Melchizedeck is to have no successor. Christ offered a perfect sacrifice, and therefore without any need of repeating it, he offered himself once for all. Heb. 10.14. No mortal man, nor yet any angel of God was fit to offer this sacrifice, but only Christ jesus himself, who was holy, pure, Heb 7.26. blameless, and higher than the heavens, he offered himself once for all. Heb. 9.26. He ordained the sacrament of his body and blood, not to be an altar, 1, Cor, 10.21. but a table, not to offer, but to receive, not to be a sacrifice, 1, Cor, 10, 16 but a heavenly supper: wherein our souls do feed upon the body and blood of Christ, and do enjoy a communion or common partaking thereof, not to be a propitiatory act, but eucharistical, as that sacrament was called in the primitive Church eucharistia, a solemn and public thanksgiving unto God for all the benefits which we receive in and through his Son Christ jesus. The sacrifice was offered by Christ himself. It is sufficient for us by faith to feed upon it, and thankfully to acknowledge that all is ours, 1. Cor, 3, ●2, as we are Christ's, and Christ is Gods. Phil, 1, 17, Without this faith all our thanksgivings are but dead sacrifices, as were the offerings of Kaine, Gen. 4.3. who did offer to God as well as Abel, but not with the faith of Abel. Luk, 1●, 11, And as were the speeches of the Pharisie, Lord I thank thee that I am not as other men, when he sought more to exalt himself, then to give glory and praise unto God. Be there never so good a proportion of a body in the outward lineaments, yet if the life be absent, it is not a body but a carcase: even so be there never so good words in prayer and thanksgiving, yet if the soul be absent (for the life and soul of God his service is faith in the blood of Christ) then is our honouring of God but only a mere shadow ad carcase, howsoever it do carry an outward show of holiness. The good Christians of the primitive Churches, did not think it sufficient in God his great deliverances, to testify their joy with bonfires, ringing of bells, revel, and belly-cheer, but they showed their thankfulness by a general and solemn receiving of that sacrament which they called Eucharistia, the sacrament of thanksgiving, to wit, Cyprian in serm. de orat. Dom. the Supper of the Lord, by the often and zealous receiving whereof, they did both testify their thankfulness unto God, and acknowledge also by whom they hoped that their prayers and praises should be graciously received. Apoc. 8.3.4. Christ only it is that hath the golden censer to offer up the prayers of the Saints before the throne of God, and with the smoke of the odours, that is, with the sweet savour of his oblation the prayers of the Saints, go up to the presence of God. David when he hath called to mind the manifold blessings of God, Psal. 116, 13, can find no other way to be thankful, but only by receiving the cup of salvation, and calling upon the name of the Lord, V 17 by paying his vows unto God, and offering unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. True thankfulness requireth that our heart should love God, our lips praise God, our body and soul obey God, and our goods, with all that we have, serve for the glory and honour of God. And each of those duties is accounted in the holy Scriptures to as it were a sacrifice offered to God. For the heart, the Lord saith by the wisdom of Solomon: Prou. 23.26. My Son give me thy heart, and let thine eyes mark diligently my ways. The sacrifice of the Lord (saith David) is a contrite spirit, a contrite spirit and a broken heart, Psal. 51.19. ● O Lord thou wilt not despise. In the sacrifices of the old Testament, the Israelites did first behold the wrath of God against sin, that the reward of sin was death (for the Ram, Rom 6.23. Heifer, and such like being sacrificed, did plainly show unto them what they had deserved) and thereby they conceived a grief for sin, and a loathing of sin. Secondly it was unto them a lively figure of the passion of Christ, joh. 8.56. whereby they were stirred up to love the Lord for his goodness, and to rejoice in the beholding of the days of Christ. And thirdly the sacrifice was as it were a vow of amendment of life. They vowed, that as that beast was slain upon the altar, so they would from thence forth slay & mortify the wicked corruptions of their sinful nature. In which respect God doth call it a covenant, Psal. 50.5. when he saith, they make a covenant with me by their sacrifice. If these things, to wit, the grief for sin, the love of God, and the full purpose to amend were wanting, then was the sacrifice before God abominable. To him will I look (saith God) even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, Isay. 66.2. and that trembleth at my words, otherwise he that killeth a bullock, is as he that slayeth a man, and he that sacrificeth a sheep, is as he that cutteth off a dogs neck, and he that offereth an oblation, is as he that offereth swine's blood, and he that remembreth incense, is as he that blesseth an Idol, such are these which have chosen their own ways, and whose soul doth delight in their own abominations. 2● Cor. 5.14. Then do we give the heart unto God, when we say with the Apostle, the love of Christ constaineth us, or when we perform that of the Psalmist. Love the Lord all ye Saints of his, Psal, 31.24 for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plenteously rewardeth the proud doer. The old Verse is true, Non clamans sed amans cantat in aure Dei, Not he that crieth out, but he that loveth doth sing in the ears of God. David when he would give thanks for his victories, said, I will love thee O Lord my strength, Psal. 18.1, or as travelers do translate it ex intimis visceribus te diligam, I will love thee from my inward bowels, Racham. futur e●chomca. O Lord my strength, for so indeed the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signify. Heb. 13.15▪ Osea. 14.8. Another sacrifice of thanksgiving, is to offer the fruit of our lips confessing unto his name, that is, with our tongue to praise God. David doth call his tongue his glory, because thereby he did principally set forth the glory of God to the edifying of others. Awake (saith he) my glory, Awake, Lute and Harp, Psal. 57.9. I myself will awake right early. And in an other Psalm, psal. 30.13, Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness, therefore my glory shall sing unto thee, that is, my tongue a principal member made for thy glory. The Apostle doth command us generally, Col. 3.17. that whatsoever we do in word or deed, we should do all in the name of the Lord jesus, giving thanks to God the Father: That is indeed to consecrate our tongue wholly to the glory of God, not now with the mouth to praise God, and by and by with the same mouth to dishonour God, but every where, and in all our speeches to have an eye to that, for which our tongue was made, to wit, 1. Thess. 5.11. the glory of God, & the edifying one of another. Above all things (saith the Apostle) swear not, jam. 5.12. Eph. 4.25. put away lying, and speak every man the truth one to another, v. 29, for we are members one of another. Let no rotten or filthy communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to edify, withal that it may minister grace unto the hearers, V 31 let bitterness and railing be put from you, and blasphemy, and all maliciousness. Otherwise, howsoever we do with the tongue sometimes praise God, if we do with the same tongue in our other speeches dishonour God, it doth then evidently argue that our praising of GOD was nothing but mere hypocrisy: for so saith Saint james, jam 3.9 with the tongue we bless GOD the Father, and with the same tongue we curse men made after God's image, this cannot be: Can the same fountain send forth both sweet water and bitter? and how then can there come out of one mouth both blessing and cursing? This (saith the Apostle) ought not to be. The people of Israel when God had showed his infinite favour towards them, in delivering them from bondage, in sending them a pillar of cloud, Deut. 8.3.4. for the day, and for fire for the night to guide them in the desert, in giving them water out of the stony rock, and feeding them with food from heaven: 1. Cor. 10.10. Numb. 14.37, in so protecting them that for forty years, their garment did not wax old, neither did their foot swell, They were so far from giving praise unto God, that they fell to the clean contrary, that is, to murmur against God: But for this their wretched unthankfulness they were plagued some with leprosies, some with fiery serpents, some the earth swallowed up, some perished with the pestilence, that of above six hundred thousand, there came but two of them into the land of promise. A fearful judgement of GOD against such as refused to offer to God the calves of their lips, Osea 14.8. confessing unto his name. another sacrifice of thanksgiving is, in the whole course of our life, to consecrate our bodies and souls to the obedience of God his holy will, Rom. 12, 1 I beseech you (saith the Apostle) for the tender mercy of GOD, that you offer up your body and Soul, a lively sacrifice holy and acceptable unto GOD which is your reasonable serving of God, 1. Cor. 6.20 & fashion not yourselves like to this world. In an other place, he giveth the reason why we must offer this sacrifice both in body and soul to glorify God, to wit, because they are Gods: God made them, Christ jesus redeemed them, whatsoever is bought from us, is none of our own, ye are bought saith the Apostle, with a price, Christ gave his body and blood for us, that he might purchase us unto himself, Tit. 2.14 that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purge us to be a peculiar people unto himself: zealous of good works▪ whosoever therefore yieldeth any part of his body, or mind to commit sin, he doth therein commit sacrilege, he robbeth the Lord jesus of that, which in duty should be offered to him. The word sacrificing doth import a kill or slaying, Rom. 8, 13 The Apostle showeth what we must slay, to wit, our own vices and corruption: if ye mortify the deeds of the flesh by the spirit, ye shall live: mortify your earthly members, Cos. 3.15. fornication, uncleanness, covetousness. This mortification must especially take place in those sins, whereunto we are either by nature or by age most inclined: what great thing is there performed of the riotous young man, if he avoid covetousness? or of the old man, if he avoid the wanton lusts of youth? But if the old man do subdue anger, niggardly care, waywardness, and such other crimes, whereunto the nature of his age is most inclined, or if the young man can by prayer and the power of God's spirit mortify those filthy lusts whereunto he findeth himself most endangered, then do they offer unto God a very acceptable sacrifice: for this sacrifice doth highly please God when every man shall examine his own conscience, and when he hath found to what vice he is most bend, doth then strive to mortify that sin by earnest prayer, and by the assistance of God his spirit: Gal. 5.24 if we do not seek by all good means to slay sin, before it of itself doth forsake us, if the young man will not abandon his lusts, until age do of necessity pluck it from him, than he forsaketh not sin, but sin forsaketh him, and that is not to offer a sacrifice unto GOD, if our strong and youthful times be consecrated unto pleasures, and we only purpose either in sickness or in old age to repent of our follies, imagining that at the last gasp, one word will be sufficient, Mal. 1.13, then are we like to those jews, whom the Prophet Malachi doth condemn, for that having whole and sound cattle, they kept them to themselves, and offered unto GOD the sick and maimed: Eccl. 12 But the wise man doth exhort us to remember our Maker in the days of our youth, even thy best and most flourishing time, thou must consecrate the same unto God: do not give thy good wine of thy best years unto pleasures, and the dregs of thy infirmities unto God, but saith he, remember thy maker in the days of thy youth. God made us after his own image, and that image of his must we offer unto him again. Our Saviour saith, Give unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, Math. 22, 23. and unto God those things which are Gods. Augustine by that speech inferreth, Deus exigit ab homine imaginem suam ab homine, sicut Caesar suam in nummo, Aug. epist. 45 God requireth of man to receive his own image in man, as Caesar doth require to receive his own image in his coin. Eph. 4.24. That image of God is (as the Apostle teacheth) to put on the new man created after God in righteousness & true holiness, & to be renewed in the spirit of our minds: our affections must first be sanctified before they can be fit to offer the sacrifice of praise. Look to thy feet, Eccls, 4.17 saith the wiseman, when thou interest into the house of God, & be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools, Chrysost, for as in the making of a garland, it is not sufficient that the flowers be sweet & clean but the hand that maketh them, must be clean also: even so in prayer & thanksgiving, it is not sufficient that the words be pure and holy, but the heart that offer them, must be holy also. Psal. 26.6 David saith, I will wash my hands in innocency, & so will I compass thy altar. 1, Tim, 2 8 Paul willeth men in prayers to lift up pure hands without wrath, & without contention: As the h●rt must be charitable in respect of our neighbour, so must it be pure from filthy lusts in respect of the carriage of ourselves. Rom. 12.2. jam. 2.27. In these two points doth S. james conclude the very sum of that which is called our reasonable serving of God. Pure Religion (saith he) and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widow in their adversity, and to keep a man's self unspotted of the world, if compassion of heart & love be absent, our other offerings can not please God, although I should as the Apostle speaketh, 1. Cor. 13.3 give all my goods to the poor, & even give my body that I be burned, yet if I want love, I am nothing. And if we be not sanctified in regard of our own lives, than the wisdom of God doth reject our sacrifices. Prou. 15.8. The sacrifice of the wicked (saith Solomon) is an abomination to the Lord. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law of God, his prayer is abominable. Prou. 28. ●. Let our thankfulness then appear by the fruit of good life. Pliny lib. 18 cap. 14. Let benefits be that to our hearts, which Pliny writeth of pulse, beans, and lupines, Non exhauriunt agrum, they do not pill the ground, but they make the soil the more fruitful, and the more that we taste of God's blessings and favours, the more, Phil, 2. 11● let us be filled with the fruits of righteousness, to the glory and praise of God: otherwise our outward show of thanksgiving, is nothing but mere hypocrisy, like theirs of whom Paul doth pronounce, Tit. 1. 1●. they profess that they know God, but by works, they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate. Furthermore our sacrifice of thanksgiving, must extend to the right use of our goods: first, that we joyfully yield a portion thereof, to the maintenance of God his honour and service. David when the King of Arauna or Orna would have given him a plot of ground, a threshing flower to build an Altar upon it, and wood also for the sacrifice, would not take it of gift, but would needs pay for it, and said, that he would not offer unto God that which cost him nothing. 2. Sam. 24.24. And when he had given towards the building of the temple 3000. talents of gold, and 7000. talents of silver, besides many vessels of gold, silver, and brass, 2. Chro. 29, 9 it is said that the heart of David rejoiced exceedingly, and that he accounted it but as a chief rent for that which he held every whit of God in capitie: V 12. they are thine (saith he) O Lord, to thee they are due? what are we that we should thus offer unto God? The earth is the Lords, Psal. 24, 1. & all the same contained, whatsoever we have, we hold of him in chief, and this is that which he requireth for our tenor, to wit, that partly we be cheerful in maintaining his service, & partly bountiful in relieving our needy neighbour. To do good (saith the Apostle) and to distribute forget not, for with such sacrifice God is pleased. Nothing ought to make us to be more forward in alms deeds, then to call to mind that God doth account it a sacrifice that is offered to himself (for sacrifices are offered unto God) and that Christ will account as done to himself? Whatsoever is done to the least of his brethren. Prou. 10 He that giveth to the poor (saith the wiseman) dareth unto the Lord, and whatsoever he layeth out, he shall be paid again. The prayers & the alms of Cornelius went up in remembrance before God. 1, Pet. 4, Saint Peter showeth that our prayers must have as it were two wings, that they may mount up to heaven on the one side sobriety, in respect of our selves, on the otherside fervent love, in respect of our neighbour. They must first have life, for if they be dead, they cannot pierce the heavens. Now the life of our prayers & thanksgivings is faith, without faith, no man can please God. When they have the life of faith, that they be a living sacrifice, then must they also have the wings of temperance and alms deeds, as had the prayers of Cornelius: whereby they went up in remembrance before God. The free gift of God is first taken hold of by faith, and then good works do follow, as a fruit of our thankfulness. First the Saints are blessed of the Father, to receive a kingdom not purchased by their alms deeds, Math, 25, 34, but prepared for them before the foundation of the world was laid, and thereof doth proceed their works of charity, as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and yet those works also the gift of God, Aug, in Psal. 102. as Augustine saith, Deus coronat in nobis dona sua. God doth crown his own gifts in us. Good works must be always done to a good end. 2. Sam, 15, 2, When Absalon called the poor unto him, and did help to right their causes, he seemed to have an upright and charitable mind. But when he sought thereby to steal away the hearts of the subjects, and to stir them up to rebellion against his Sovereign Lord and Father, than was his show of justice nothing but damnable hypocrisy. And the like account must be made of all charitable deeds whatsoever, if they be done to a sinister end, to wit, to ascribe merit unto them, and thereby to derogate from the sacrifice and passion of our Saviour Christ. Let us then endeavour to the uttermost of our power to obey the will of God, but let our intent and purpose be only thereby to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, to glorify God our Creator, Christ jesus our Redeemer, and the holy Ghost our Sanctifier, 1, Pet, 1, 10 to make our election and calling more sure unto ourselves, Mat. 5.16 & by the light of our good works to cause others to glorify our father in heaven. Of the manner, how our sacrifices ought to be offered, to wit, with singing and joyfulness of mind, as here the Prophet exhorteth us to tell forth God's works with gladness, or (as some interpret it) with singing, I shall (God willing) speak at some other convenient time. God of his infinite goodness grant us grace so with thankful hearts, joyful lips, and virtuous lives to glorify his holy name in this life, that we may be glorified to him for ever in the life to come, & with the blessed Angels sing perpetual praises in heaven to him, Apoc. 4, 11, who is worthy to receive glory, and honour and power, To this invisible and eternal Lord, three persons and one God, be ascribed all majesty, praise and dominion now and for ever Amen. Why in right there should be no refusing to come now to our Church. WHereas you requested me the other day to set down a brief note of the chiefest arguments, which may induce and persuade a Recusant to come to the Church, and to resolve you particularly of this one point, in what respect prayer in the Church is more acceptable unto God, than prayer made in fields or private houses: I have thought good to return this unto you for an answer: that there are six special reasons, for which it must needs be better pleasing to God, to frequent Churches and public places of prayer, then to be addicted only to the exercises of our private mansions. First it is a dutiful obeying of God his holy ordinance, who hath commanded not only private prayer, 1. 〈◊〉, 11, 2.8. and prayer in every place: but hath also appointed by his law, that there should be a public place consecrated for his service. ●eut, 12, 5. In that place (saith he) which the Lord your God shall choose amongst all your tribes, to set his name there, in that his habitation ye shall seek unto him. To have it in the same place where the jews had it, is not commanded to us, 〈◊〉, 4.21. but the equity of the Law doth still remain, to wit, that there should be always a house of God wherein the people may be assembled. As likewise to have the same Sabbath which the jews had, the Apostles did not think it requisite, but the equity of the Law, to wit, to have one day amongst the seven to be allotted for the public service of God, that they thought altogether necessary. And the chose the first day in the week, because in that Christ rose again from death, which was therefore called dies Dominicus the Lord his day. In the Lord his day john was rapt in the spirit, and heard a voice. Apoc, 1, 10. In that first day of the week, Act, 20, 7, the Apostles in the Acts did minister the holy Sacrament, and in the same first day they made collections for the poor. 1. Cor, 16, 2, Secondly, by frequenting the public place of God his service, God is most glorified. We must glorify God both in body and soul, 1, Cor, 6, 20, for they are gods. The Prophet Daniel chose rather to be thrown into a den of Lions, Dan. 6.11, then that he would have his body but only three days to be debarred from honouring God. He honoured him as he might, because there was no public place permitted. But where there is a public place assigned for the service of God, there must especially our zeal incline unto it, and the more public the place is, the more is God glorified thereby. The Prophet David saith, I will praise thee o Lord in the great congregation, Psal, 35.18. in much people I will give thanks unto thee. Psal, 40, 11. Psal, 22, 22, And again I will declare thy righteousness in the great congregation, behold, I will not refrain my lips, and that Lord thou knowest. In another place, I will declare thy name amongst my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing praise unto thee. And again, I was glad when they said unto me, Psal, 122.1. We will go into the house of God. And when he was by his enemies driven away from that public place of God his service: although he prayed and sang hymns unto God, in the mountains and caves, & other places of his exile: yet that loss of the public place of God his worship, did grieve him more than the loss of his native soil, of his acquaintance, of his kindred, of his goods, or any other joy or treasure whatsoever. psal, 27.4. One thing (saith he) one thing especially I have desired of the Lord, and I will still require it, that I dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to visit his holy Temple: He grieved that he could not do (as he had done in times past) even to lead the people into the house of God. Psal. 42.2. My tears (saith he) hath been my bread day and night, because I had gone with the multitude, and lead them to the house of God: His wish was rather to be a doorkeeper in the house of God, Psal. 84.11, then to dwell in the tents of ungodliness. Thirdly, it is a comfortable apprehending of the promise of Christ, who hath pronounced, Math. 18, 20, that, Where two or three are assembled in his name, he is in the midst of them, and that whatsoever they, ask, they shall receive. Although he name two or three (because the Church is indeed a little flock in respect of the great multitude of the wicked:) yet it is evident, that our Saviour speaketh not there of private conventicles: but of the Church of God, as may appear by the often naming of the Church in the verses last going before. Now there is the place of the Church where the word of God is taught, and the Sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, and public prayer and thanksgivings offered unto God: Teach all nations (saith Christ) and Baptize them in the name of the Father, Math, 28, 19 and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost, then followeth the promise, I will be with you to the end of the world. The Apostle when he hath made mention of the Church, 1. Cor, 11. 1● 20.23. and public place of the assembly, when ye come together in the Church, V 23, when ye come together into one place, etc., he addeth, that which I received of the Lord, that have I delivered unto you, how the Lord jesus in the same night that he was betrayed, took bread, V 33, etc. and after, when ye come together one tarry for another. He requireth of the Romans', Rom. 13.6, that they all with one heart, and one mouth glorify God, and to the Ephesians, that praises be given in the Church through Christ jesus, Eph. 8.21. unto all generations for ever: Math, 28.20. where is the word and Sacraments, there is especially the ero vobiscum usque ad consummationem seculi. Fourthly, the alloting of the place amongst Christians, must needs be in the power of the supreme magistrate, and of such laws as are confirmed by him. jos, 6.6. & Ios. 11. If josua being Duke, did take order for matters in the Church: 1. Chro. 23.6. 2. Chro. 3.14. 1. Reg. 2.35. If David and Solomon did set the courses of the Priests and Levites, remove the bad, and place better in their room: 2. Chro. 17.8. 2. Chro. 19, 8, If jehosaphat did send Elithama and jehoram Priests to instruct the people, and set the Priests and Levites for the judgement of the Lords cause: 2. Chro. 31, 4, If Ezechias did not only appoint the courses, but also prescribe to every one their portions and stipends: If Asa, 2, Chro, 29, 1, 2, Reg, 23, 4, josias, and other godly Kings of juda, did account it their chiefest charge to purge the Church from Idolatry, then why might not Constantinus, Theodosius, and other Christian Emperors imitate their godly ensample? And when now our Christian, most noble King, doth enjoin or establish orders for the public service of God? Why should not all good subjects obey, not for fear, but even for conscience sake? Where Princes do command Idolatry, Rom, 13, 5, or any thing directly against the word of God, there the subjects may say with S. Peter and the Apostles, Act. 5, 29, we must rather obey God then man. Yet in no wise may they rebel, Eccls, 10, 17, Rom. 13.1. nor in heart wish the subversion of God his anointed. But (God his holy name be praised we have no need to fear any such edicts▪ we may of all people under heart, most willingly submit ourselves to that obedience, where goalinesse and loyalty may both meet together, Psal. 85.10, and righteousness and peace may kiss each other. Fiftly, in respect of the prayers themselves, great cause we have had (and no doubt shall have still) most carefully to frequent them, the prayers being all (even in the conscience of the adversary) most godly and needful for all good gifts and graces requisite both for Prince and people, and all made through our only mediator Christ jesus, 1. Tim. 2, 5. There is one God (saith Paul) and one mediator betwixt God and man, even the man Christ jesus. 1. joh. 2.2. If any man sin (saith Saint john) we have an advocate with the father jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. Aug. in Psal. 108. Oratio quae non fit per Christum, non solum non potest delere peccatum, sed & ipsa fit peccatum The prayer which is not made through Christ, doth not only not put away sin, but even itself is made sin. And further it must needs be a great comfort to the unlearned, and a joy generally to all, when the prayers are made in that usual known language, wherein the whole Church may join together with one heart, and one voice to praise God. The Apostle saith, I will pray with the Spirit, 1. Cor, 14.15. V 16. I will pray with understanding also. He which occupieth the place of the unlearned, how can he say Amen to the giving of thanks, when he understandeth not what thou sayest? I had rather in the Church speak five words to the instructing of others, than ten thousand in a strange language: V 19 If there were in our Churches blasphemous prayers maintained, or Idolatry erected, than we should with Sidrach, Misach and Abednego, choose rather to die, then to yield so much as the body to prostrate itself before them. But otherwise, for every small abuse or corruption (which is crept into the Church) we are not to take occasion thereby to refuse the place of God his service. There were corruptions when there was buying and selling in the Temple of the jews: Luc, 19.45, Luc. 2.22, Luc. 19.47. Act. 3.1. yet joseph and Mary did present themselves to the oblations in that Temple, Christ refused not to teach daily in it, the Apostles refused not to pray in it, Luc. 2, 37, and Anna the ancient widow is commended for that in her fasting and prayer she served God day and night in that Temple. Sixtly, our intent in coming to the Church, is not to judge the faith of other men, but every one to examine his own faith. Paul saith: Let a man prove and examine himself, 1, Cor, 11.28 31. and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup: If we would judge ourselves, 2, Cor. 13.5, we should not be condemned: Try and examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, or no. If any do come unworthily in a wrong faith, or without repentance, the Apostle denounceth of him, 1. Cor. 11.29, that he eateth and drinketh his own damnation. He cannot condemn others, he damneth but himself. It was said to him that had no wedding garment, Friend how camest thou hither, not having a wedding garment? Math. 22, 12, he was himself cast into utter darkness, he did not condemn the rest of the guests, which were clothed with faith, working through charity. Gal. 5.6. The Apostles knew that judas was a traitor, our Saviour had before certified them of it, Math, 26.21.22. yet they refused not to receive the Sacrament with him. judas received his own damnation, he could not condemn the rest of the Disciples. If the time employed in the Church be not for the Sacraments or prayers, but for the preaching of the word, our assured preservation against all error, is to clean to the holy Scripture, the old and new Testament. Aug, in Psal. 57 Saint Augustine saith, Auferantur de medio chartae nostiae, prodeat in medium codex Dei. Away with our writings, and let the book of God be brought forth. Aug. contra Petilianum Donat cap. 16. Vtrum ipsi Ecclesiam teneant non nisi divinarum Scripturarum canonicis libris ostendant Whether we or they have the true Church, let it be showed no other way but by the Canonical books of the divine Scriptures. We must imitate the people in Beraea, Act. 17, 11, who did search out and examine the Scriptures alleged. In the interpretations of the Scriptures the Apostle liddeth us, 1. Thes. 5.21. to try all, and to hold that which is good. That is best, which best agreeth with the grounds of faith, and with the general course of God his holy word. To condemn that which we neither hear nor know, must needs be within the compass of rash judgement. Thus our intent in frequenting the Church, must be to obey the ordinance of God, who hath appointed a public place for prayer and thanksgiving, for the Sacraments, & for the hearing of his holy word. Our intent must be so to worship God, that God may be publicly glorified and our brethren by our ensample edified. Our intent must be to obey God his Vicegerent upon earth, our Christian governor. Our intent must be to judge ourselves, to amend ourselves, and to humble ourselves. Otherwise, if we attribute a holiness to the soul, or stone, or timber, as though our prayers should be better accepted for them, then do we incur a manifest idolatry. So likewise in fasting, if it be undertaken, as making one meat more holy than another, as though fish were more holy or more meritorious than flesh, or the egg more holy than the Pullet, or the milk more holy than the Heifer, or as though wines, fruits, and junkets were more holy than other kinds of nourishments? what is it else but a damnable superstition, 1. Tim. 4.1. & as the Apostle doth call it) the doctrine of devils? But to fast, Psal. 33.14. to subdue our corrupt nature, and to humble our souls (as is not done by those fasting meats) or to fast to make us more fit for prayer, Act. 13.3. Act. 14.23. 2. Chro. 20.3. 2. Sam. 12.22. when we would either crave some great blessing of God, or divert some heavy judgement, it is an exercise very acceptable and agreeable to the will of God. And in political orders for the sustenance of a Common wealth, a good subject is bound to order his diet according to the laws under which he liveth. But either in fasting or in altering of diet, to account our meat more holy, or more meritorious than another, it is a very evident and detestable superstition. So is it with the places of God his service: If we ascribe holiness or merit to the earth, stones, timber, or to any form or fashion of building, it is a plain derogating from the merits of the passion of Christ, and to travel to them with that mind, is a kind of Idolatry. The place wherein God spoke to Moses, Exod. 3.5. is called holy earth, the place (saith God) wherein thou standest is holy ground. But this holiness was by means of the presence of God: who vouchsafed at that time there to be present. Psal, 99.5. The footstool of God (that is the very pavement of the Temple) is called by the Psalmist holy (according to the interpretation of some) yet was it holy in respect of the presence of God, by his Ark and Testament. Many things in the old Testament were named holy, as Sacraments, and types and figures of Christ and his Church. Heb. 10.1. Col. 2.16. But (the truth being come, and those types and shadows being vanished away) we acknowledge now no other Sacraments than those which our Saviour Christ himself hath ordained, neither do we attribute any merit to any thing: but only to the obedience and satisfaction of Christ jesus. If our Temples were as gloriously furnished as was that Temple at Jerusalem: or our meats as good as that Manna which fell from heaven, or our garments as holy, Exod. 25.7. and as precious as was Aaron his Ephod: yet neither our buildings, nor our food, nor our vestments can set one foot into our salvation, but all must be ascribed wholly and entirely to that free justification, Rom, 3, 24, 1. joh. 1.7. Heb, 9, 14, which we have by the redemption of Christ jesus. Our coming to the Church, must be to humble ourselves in it, and not to seek merit or ransom by it. We must obey God his holy ordinance, and yet when we have done all we can do, we must say still we are unprofitable servants. Luc. 17.10. When our Saviour Christ doth command us to shut the door of our closet, Math. 6, 6, and to pray in secret, his meaning is not to oppose private prayer against his public ordinance, but he doth oppose it against the pride of the pharisees, who by praying in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, sought to exalt themselves: and therefore were justly rejected of God. And yet did the proud Pharisie not refuse to pray in the same Temple with the sinful Publican. Luc. 18.10, And therefore they which refuse to come to our public place of prayer, must needs acknowledge, that either in want of charity, they make us worse than Publicans, or else that in abundance of pride they are themselves worse than pharisees. For the Pharisie and Publican came both together to the Temple to pray. He would not eat with him, nor converse with him privately: and yet he would not forsake the Temple, because the other came to it. This action had been (no doubt) acceptable unto God. If the Pharisie had not had a proud conceit of his own merit, and a scornful contempt of his neighbour. Nothing is more requisite for the composing of this controversy, then that we be first thoroughly prepared with that true humility of heart (whereof the Apostle speaketh) every man to think another better than himself, Phil. 2.3. which God grant us all, to whose grace and protection I commit you now and ever. From Tanridge this 31, of December. 1603. Your assured, S. H. FIFIS.