The Governance of Virtue, Part 2 · Section 35
Against them that deny the immortalitie of the soule.
IF Sathan or any of his, tempte thee to liue at thy pleasure, labouring to perswade the …y sophi sticall reasons of carnal imaginations y• the soul of man is but as the breath of other beastes, & that after the dissolutiō of the body it is nothing, nether liueth afterward, but hath an end with the bodye, take hede that thou geuest no place to such wicked and most damnable doctrine, but enarme thy selfe a gainst it wt these authorities of the holy Scripture
☞ Sentences out of the olde Testament.
GOd created man in his owne image,Gen. 1 in ye image of god created he him, male and female created he them.
The Lord god shope man euen dust frō Gen. 2.the ground, and breathed in his nostrels the breathe of life, and Adam was made a liuing soule.
I should vtterly hauehave fainted, but that…salm. 27 I beleue verely to s… the goodnes of ye lord in the land of the liuing.
Like as the harte desireth the water brookes, so longeth my soule after thee O god. My soule is a thirste for god, yea euen for the liuing god, when shal I come to ap peare before the presence of god?
The bodye shalbe turned againe vntountoEccles. … earth, from whence it came, and the spirit that is the soule shall returne vntounto God whiche gaue it.
God made man to be vndestroyed, thatSap. 2. is to say immortall, yea after the image of his own likenes made be him. The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God, and the pain of death shall not hurt them. In the sight of the vnwisethey seme to dy, and their end is taken for very destructiō, but they are in rest.
The hope of the faithful is ful of immortalitie.
The righteous shall liue for euermoreSap. 5. their reward also is wt the Lord, and their remembrance with the highest. Therfore shall they receiue a glorious kingdome, & a bewtiful crowne of the Lordes hand. Read the third, fourth and fift Chapiters of the boke of Wisedome.
We are the children of holy men, and looke for the life whiche God shall geue vntounto them, that neuer turne their faythe from him.
Examples out of the olde Testament.
THe holy scriptur testifieth, that EhoreNum. 16 and his complices went downe quicke vntounto Hel, and the earthe couered them, so that they perished. By this it is euident, that the soules of the wicked are immortall, and liue in the paines of hel fire.
If Saule had not beleued bothe the resurrectionReg. 28. of the body, and immortalitie of the soule, he wold neuer hauehave gone about to hauehave had Samuel raised vp.
When Dauid saw that his childe was…. Reg. 12 dead, he wept no more, but said, I shall go vntounto him, he shal not come again vntounto me
Helias prayed for the rasing vp againe… Reg. 17 vntounto life of his hostes Sonne, sayinge: O Lord my God, I beseche thee let the soule of this Childe come into him againe. And he reuiued.…ob. 2
When Tobias was laughed to scorne of his elders and kinssolkes, which said vn to him: here is thy hope for the which thou hast done almose and buried the dead. He rebuked them and sayde: say not so, for we are the children of holy men, and looke for the life which god shall geue vntounto thē that neuer turne their faith from him.
Againe he prayed vntounto god on this maTobi. 3 ner. Now O Lorde, deale with me according to thy wil, and commaund my spirite to be receiued in peace. For more expediēt were it for me to dye, than to liue.
Sentences out of the new Testament.
FEare not them whiche kil the bodye,Math. 10 but are not able to kil the soule. But rather feare him, whiche is able to destroy both soule and body in hel.
Ther is no man that hath forsakē house,Luke. 18 eyther father or mother, either brethren or wyfe, or children, for the kingdom of Gods sake, which shall not receiue muche more in thys worlde, and in the worlde to come lyfe euerlasting.
Thys is the wyll of hym that sent me,Iohn. 6 that eueryevery one which seeth the sonne, and beleueth on him, hauehave euerlasting life, and I wyll raise him vp at the last day.
My shepe heare my voyce, and I knoweIohn. 10 them, and they followe me, and I geue vn to them euerlasting lyfe, and they shal neuer peryshe, neyther shall anye man pluck them oute of my hand.
I am the resurrection and the lyfe. HeIohn. 11 that beleueth on me, yea though he were dead, yet shal he liue, and whosoeuer liueth and beleueth on me, shal neuer dye.
Let not your hart be troubled. Ye beleueIohn. 14 in God, beleue olso in me. In my fathers house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would hauehave told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I goe to prepare a place for you, I will come agayne and receiue you euen vntounto my selfe, that where I am, there may ye be also.
Father I wyl that they which thou hast…oh. 17. geuen me, be with me where I am, that they maye see my glory, whiche thou hast geuen me.
We knowe that if our earthy mans…on…. Cor. 5 of this dwelling were destroyed, we hauehave a building of God an habitation n…t made with handes, but euerlasting in heauen. Reade forth the Chapter.
When soeuer Christe our lyfe shall appeare,Col. 3 then shall you also appeare with him in glory.
The lorde hymselfe shall come downe…. Thes. 4. from heauen wyth a shoote and the voyce of the Archaungel and tromp of God. And the dead in Christ shall arise first, then we whiche shall lyue (euen we which shall remayne) shalbe caught vppe with them also in the clouds, to mete ye Lord in the ayre & so shal we euer be with the lorde. Therefore comfort your selues one another with these wordes.
The spirite or soule is before God a precious thinge and much set by.
Christ was killed as pertaning to the flesh,1. Pet. 3. but was quickened in the spirit. In which spirite he also went and preached vntounto the spirites that were in prison. &c. Here it is manifest that the spirites or soules of men are immortal, and liue either in glory or in payne after they be losoned from the body.
Examples out of the new Testament.
WHen the Sad…ces denied the resurrecMath. … tion of the body, and the immortaliti of the soule, Christe aunswered thē saying hauehave ye not reade what is wrytten? I am the God of Abrahā, the God of Isaac, and the God of Iacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the liuing. By this testimony of the holy scripture Christ declareth that though Abraham, Isaac, Iacob, and al other of the faithful be dead, as concerning theyr bodyes, yet their soules liue with God, and are immortall.
The history of the pore mā Lazarus & ofLuke. 16. the rich vnmercifull gloton, proueth euidentlye that the soules dye not with the body, nor yet slepe vntil the day of iudgement (as the vngodly Anabaptists dream) nether are they cast into purgatory, as the papistes teach, but that the soules of the faythfull goe immediatly after their departure from the body, vntounto eternal glory, and the soules of the vnfaythfull, vntounto euerlasting damnation: so that the soules of al men are immortall and liue for euer, either in heauen or in hel, in glory or in payne.
The parable of the vnrighteous steward setteth forthe also the immortality of the soule, as these words of Christ do declare, Make you frends, sayth he of the wicked Mammon, that when ye shal depart hence, they may receiue you into euerlastig dwel ling places.
The soule came agayne to the widowes…uke. 7 son, to the rulers doughter, to Lazarus, to them that after Christes resurrection came out of their graues, to Dor…s, to Eu tichus. &c. Which thing declareth ma… festlye that the soule dyeth not with the bo dy, but stil liued and remayned immortall.
The thiefe that hanged one the crosseLuke. 23 with Christ, sayde vntounto him. Lord remember me, when thou shalte come into thy kingdome. Christe aunswered verelye I saye vntounto thee, this daye shalt thou be with me in paradise. The body of the thiefe dyed shortly after, and was committed to the earth. The soule of the thiefe was in paradise with Christ. The soule therfore liueth and remaineth immortall, or els muste Christ be a liar. But let God be true, and all heretikes liars.
Sainct Stephen being at the pointe ofAct. 7 death, prayed, saying: lorde Iesu take my spirite.
Sainct Paule wisshed to be losoned outPhil. 1 of his bodye and to bee with Christ. I saw vnderunder the aulter, saith Sainct Iohn, the souls of them that wer killed for the word of God, and for the testimony whiche they had, and they cried with a loude voyce, saiing: howe long tariest thou O lord, bolye and true, to iudg and to auenge our bloud on them that dwel on the earth? and longe white garmentes were geuen vntounto eueryevery one of them. And it was sayde vntounto them, that they should rest for a little season vntyll the number of their felowes and brethren, and of them that should be killed as they were, were fulfilled.