The Portraiture of the Image of God in Man, Part 1 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Of the Immortalitie of the Soule.
THat the Soule of man is immortall, Reaſon. 1 it is proved by theſe reaſons.
Firſt, the Soule when it underſtandeth any thing, it abſtracts from the things which it underſtands, all quantity, qualitie, place and time, changing it into a more immateriall and intelligible nature; which is univerſalitie, and loſeth the particular and individuall nature: as our ſtomackes when they receive meate; change and alter the outward accidents of the nouriſhment to the owne nature, whereby it becomes fleſh and bloud. So the Soule when it conceiveth of a thing, it ſeparateth all theſe dregges of particular circumſtances from the body, and conceives it univerſally in the minde. When a man looketh upon a horſe, hee ſeeth him of ſuch quantitie, of ſuch a colour, and in ſuch a place; but when hee is conceived in the minde, then it is an univerſall notion agreeing to all horſes. As the thing conceived in the minde is not viſible, becauſe it hath no colours, it is not audible, becauſe it hath no ſound, it hath no quantitie, as bigge or little: So the ſoule it ſelfe muſt be of this nature, without all theſe; quantity, quality, time, and place; and therefore cannot be corruptible.
If the Soule were mortall, then it ſhould follow, Reaſon. 2 that the naturall deſires ſhould be fruſtrate, but the naturall deſires (which are not ſinfull in the Soule) cannot be fruſtrate, Naturanihil facit fruſtra, Nature doth nothing in vaine; it ſhould be in vaine, if there were not ſomething to content it, which being not found upon earth, muſt be ſought for in heaven; therefore the ſoule is immortall. A ſinfull deſire cannot be fulfilled: as if one ſhould deſire to be an Angell; but naturall deſires, (as the deſire to be happy and to be free of miſery) cannot be fulfilled in this life; therefore it muſt be fulfilled in the life to come: naturally every man deſires to have a being after his body is diſſolved; hence is that deſire which men have to leave a good name behind them, and ſo the deſire that they have that their poſterity be well, and that their friends agree, and ſuch: and from this natural deſire, come theſe ambitious deſires in men who are deſirous to erect monuments and ſepulchers after their death, and, to call their lands after their name, Pſal. 49.12. So Abſolon for a memoriall of himſelfe, ſet up a pillar in the Kings dale, 2 Sam. 18.18. And the pooreſt tradeſman hath his deſire when he can reach no higher, hee will have a ſtone laid upon him, whith his marke and name upon it; this very ambitious deſire in man is a teſtimony in his minde that hee acknowledgeth the immortalitie of the Soule.
Queſt. Diſt. 44.9 2.Scotus moves the queſtion here, how ſhall wee know that theſe naturall deſires are agreeable to reaſon, and that they muſt be fulfilled becauſe they are naturall.
Anſw. He anſwers, that this deſire of the immortalitie of the Soule is naturall, becauſe it longeth to have man a perfect man; for man is not a perfect man, while he hath a Soule and a Body joyned together after they are ſeparate, ſo that this deſire cannot be a ſinfull deſire, becauſe it is from the God of nature. Things without life ſeeke their preſervation, ſecundum numerum, in their owne particular being, and reſiſt thoſe things which labour to diſſolve them; beaſts againe deſire the continuance of their kinde ut nunc, onelyonly for the preſent, they deſire not the continuance of their kinde perpetually; but man naturally deſireth eſſe abſolutum ſuum, his perpetuall being, included within no bounds.
The Soule is no bodily thing, Reaſon. 3 therefore it is not corruptible; if it be a body, it muſt be finite, and conſequently cannot have an infinite power; but the power of the Soule is in a manner infinite in underſtanding, comprehending not onelyonly ſingular things, but the kindes of all things, and univerſalitie; therefore the underſtanding ſtanding cannot be a Body, and conſequently mortall.
Object. But it may ſeeme, that the Sunne and fire which are bodies, may multiply things to an infinite number; and therefore bodily things may have power in infinite things, as well as intellectuall.
Anſw. The fire may conſume ſingular things, by adding continuall fewell to it; it cannot conſumere ſpecies rerum, the kinds of things. But this is the perfection of the underſtanding, that it conceiveth not onelyonly ſingular things, but alſo all kinds of things, and univerſall things, (that in a manner are infinite) and ſo where the underſtanding receiveth theſe things, it is not corrupted by them, neither corrupts them, but is perfected by them.
Every corruptible thing is ſubject to time and motion; Reaſon. 4 but the Soule is neither ſubject to time nor motion; therefore the Soule is not corruptible: that the Soule is not ſubject to motion, it is cleared thus; motion hindereth the Soule to attaine to the owne perfection, the ſoule being free from motion and perturbation is moſt perfect, and then it is moſt fit to underſtand things; as the water the more cleare it is, it receives the ſimilitude of the face more clearely. Therefore it was that Eliſha when he was to receive the illumination of prophecie, he called for a Minſtrell, 2 King. 3.14. to play ſad muſicke to ſettle his affections.
Theſe things that are true, Reaſon. 5 have no neede of a lye to further them; but to uſe the immortalitie of the Soule as a middle to further us, to the duties which wee are bound to doe, were to uſe a lie, if the Soule were not immortall; for many religious duties which wee are bound to performe, require the contempt of this life, as the reſtraining of pleaſures, which a man could not doe if hee had not hope of immortalitie, in which he findeth the recompence of his loſſes. This perſwaſion of immortalitie, made the heathen undergo death for the ſafetie of their countrey; and if our laſt end were onelyonly in this life, then all that we doe ſhould be for this laſt end, to ayme at it, to procure it, and never to croſſe it: it were great madneſſe in men, to undergoe ſo many hard things as they doe, if they had not a perſwaſion in their hearts of this immortalitie, if we hope onelyonly in this life, Then of all men wee are moſt miſerable, 1 Cor. 15. and if the Soule were not immortall, Chriſt would never have commended him, who hated his owne Soule in this world, that he may gaine it in the life to come. Marke 8.35.
The Soule is immortall becauſe God is juſt; Reaſon. 6 for God being the Iudge of all, Gen. 18.23. it behooveth him to puniſh the wicked, and to reward the juſt; but if God did not this in another life, he ſhould never doe it; for in this life, the wicked flouriſh, aad the juſt are afflicted, Pſal. 37. therefore as God is juſt, there remaines another life; wherein the ſoules of the godly are rewarded for wel-doing: the Prophet ſaith, Ier. 12. concerning every mans reward, O Lord thou art just when I plead with thee, yet let me talke with thee of thy judgements, why doth the way of the wicked proſper, and why goeth it well with them that doe wickedly. To the which objection he anſwereth; (that he may defend the juſtice of God) Gather them together as a flocke to the ſacrifice; whereby hee ſignifieth that after this life, they ſhall ſmarte in the life to come, howſoever they have eſcaped in this life. So Chriſt in the parable, Luk 16. bringeth in Abraham defending the juſtice of God againſt the rich glutton, Matth. Reaſon. 7 Chap. 22. Verſ. 32.33. God is the God of the living and not the God of the dead. As Chriſts proves out of this place, the reſurrection of the body; ſo hence is clearely proved the immortalitie of the Soule: for when God makes a covenant with his owne, it is a perpetuall covenant, therefore it is called a covenant of ſalt, to note the perpetuity of it, Num. 18.19. If theſe with whom God makes his covenant exiſte not, then the covenant muſt of neceſſity ceaſe; but the covenant of God indures for ever; therefore theſe with whom he makes the covenant muſt live for ever. God calling himſelfe the God of the Patriarches after their death, Exod. 3.6. then the ſoules muſt be immortall after the ſeparation from the body.
It is ſaid of Ioſias, although he was ſlaine in the battle, Reaſon. 8 yet, Hee was gathered in peace to his fathers, then hee muſt be gathered to the ſpirits of his fathers who enjoy peace, for he was not gathered in peace in his body; For hee was ſlaine, 2 Chron. 35. it is ſaid of Abraham onelyonly that he was gathered to the body of Sarah, Gen. 25.10. but of the reſt ſimply it is ſaid, they were gathered to their fathers; that is, their Soules were bound up in the bundle of life, 2 Sam. 25.29. Which being well marked, is a good argument for the ſoules immortality, and that it was knowne under the old Teſtament; by the fathers here, are meant, the ſpirits of the juſt men made perfect, Heb. 12.23.
The heathen moſt of them were perſwaded of the immortalitie of the Soule. Cicero cited out of Socrates, Reaſon. 9 Queſt. 1. Tuſc.that the Swanne was dedicated to Apollo, becauſe ſhee ſang ſweetly before her death, like the children of God, who ſing ſweetly before they dye; being perſwaded of this immortality, die pleaſantly, ſinging their laſt moſt joyfull ſong. And the Romans when their great men died, and when their bodies were burnt to aſhes, they cauſed an Eagle flee and mount on high, to ſignifie that the ſoule was immortall, and periſhed not with the body.
Object. If the ſoule be immortall, how is it ſaid to die:
Anſw. The ſoule of man hath a twofold life, one abſolute, another relative. The abſolute or eſſentiall life of the ſoule is never looſed, Duplex vita, abſoluta & foreign ſeu relativa.for the eſſence of the ſoule is Metaphyſicall, having a beginning but no end, having no corruption within it; the ſecond ſort of life which the ſoule hath is relative, having relation to God, and getting grace from him, this life may be loſt, for it is not of the eſſence of the ſoule; this laſt ſort of life in the ſoule, which to us is relative, to Chriſt is perſonall and cannot bee loſt. Some perhaps may thinke that this diſtinction may be more ſhortly expreſſed, and more plainely by the life of nature, and the life of grace: but they are miſtaken, for both theſe ſorts of lives, as well eſſentiall as relative, were naturall to Adam before his fall.
Our ſoules are immortall ſubſtances, Conſequence. as the Chaldeans ſay, in eodem cretere temperatas eſſe animas noſtras cum coeleſtibus, our ſoules are tempered in the ſame mortar with the heavenly ſpirits; therefore wee ſhould be their ſervants, neither ſhould wee meaſure our condition by our weake bodies; but remember that we have ſpirits onelyonly ſubject to him, who is the Lord of our Spirits, Revel. 22.6.
The ſoule is immortall; A collation betwixt the firſt Adam, and old Adam.the Sadduces held, that the Soule was mortall, Act. 23.8. and they ſayd, Let us eate, let us drinke, to morrow we ſhall die; and the Apoſtle, 1 Cor. 18, 23. hath it in the preſent tenſe, morimur, we die, to note the beaſtlineſſe of theſe wretches, who thought they ſhould be quite extinguiſhed, both in ſoule and body preſently, like beaſts knockt on the head, and if any man aske them, why then ſtudy you to keepe the Commandements of God, ſeeing yee beleeve not the immortality of the Soule? they anſwered, that it might goe well with them in this life; but men now, who profeſſe the immortality of the ſoule, yet ſtudy not to keepe Gods Commandements, that it may goe well with them in the life to come. Auguſtine profeſſed, if he were perſwaded, that the ſoule were mortall, then of all ſects hee would make choyſe to bee an Epicurean.