Most Certain Salvation After the Death of his Body. The Tenth Sermon
Are men do confess that the reasonable soul of man hath affinity or likeness with spirits; neither is there any wise man, as I think, which doth deny that the knowledge of the reasonable soul of man, whereof the scripture teacheth so many things, and that too so diligently, is most wholesome and necessary to all the godly. The order therefore, the profit, and the very necessity also of things do require, that I speak ~ somewhat likewise of the reasonable soul of man: wherein I will follow the plainness of the scripture and of the interpreters thereof, leaving physical or natural points unto them to be expounded unto whom it belongeth by duty and profession; saving that we will so far deal in them as we cannot want them in this discourse of ours. The holy scripture and the interpreters thereof neither move curious questions of the soul of man; neither do they satisfy curious heads, when they desire to know those things which cannot be declared,
[3 Erasmus’ translation.] Rather, The order of things therefore, profit, and very necessity. ]]
or, if they could, yet it would always seem unto them that nothing were unto them more aptly spoken; for they always stagger, they are always learning and yet doubt, they never come to the knowledge of the truth with a quiet mind, they never abide in the plain truth when it is found, they search after other and many more and subtiler matters than they understand. But we know that all things which are necessary and for our salvation are simply and plainly delivered in the holy scriptures, and that we must simply, godlily, and religiously rest in them: therefore those things that are not delivered in them touching the matter of our salvation, we know that they are not to be sought after of us, and that they hinder not our salvation if we be ignorant of them.
The word anima, which we call soul, is diversely taken we 1ῃ the holy scripture. First of all anima, the soul, is taken for every living thing; for Moses bringeth in the Lord speaking, “Let the earth bring forth living creature! after his kind, cattle, worm, and beast of the earth after his kind.” For who knoweth not that there are reckoned three kinds or parts (give me leave so to speak for instruction’s sake) or three principal powers of the soul? For there is the soul vegetative which worketh in plants; there is the soul sensitive, which is not without the soul vegetative, and it giveth life to brute beasts and other creatures endued with life and feeling?; there is also the reasonable soul wherewith men are endued, which is furnished with many powers or abilities, and comprehendeth both the other. Hereof anima, the soul, is taken in the scripture for breath which men draw in and let go again, and also for the life of man, or of a living creature. Thus we read, Anima ejus &e., “His life is in xxvi. him 2” and, “I will do thee no more harm (saith Saul to David), because (anima mea) my life was precious in thine eyes this day.” The Grecians call anima, the soul, ψυχὴν, as it were ἀναψυχὴν, because by drawing breath it refresheth. The Hebricians call it Newphesch, of comforting. Again, “anima, the soul, is taken in the scriptures for the thing itself that hath life, yea, even for any, or rather for the whole man. For it is said in the law: “The soul that worketh with a
[1 animam viventem, Lat.] [2 and other—feeling, not in Lat. ] A [3 a refocillando, Lat. ] ἢ]
spirit, or that is a soothsayer, shall die.” Likewise in Paul we read: “Let every soul be subject to the higher power.” And again, in Genesis, the king of Sodom saith to Abraham: “Give me the souls, and take the substance or goods to thyself.” For the scripture is wont to name the whole by a part: for as by the soul he means the whole man, rehearsing the nobler part, so by flesh also he signifies the whole baser part. Moreover since man and also other living creatures have an appetitive or desiring soul, soul is used in the scripture for affection, will, desire, or lust. For Ezekiel saith, “They shall not satisfy their souls” (in Dutch, Sy werden iren glust nit bussen), “neither shall their bellies be filled.” Lastly, anima, the soul, signifieth the reasonable soul of man: whereof we will entreat (God assisting) at this present. Yet here I cannot dissemble, that among very famous writers there is controversy de anima, et animo, about the soul and the mind, whether they are one and the selfsame, or diverse; and that there are reasons on both sides. They that make a difference between them say, that by the soul we live, and that with the mind we understand: which thing Lactantius saith in his 18th chapter de Opificio Dei. 1 know that all the best and most approved writers use them both indifferently, and take the one for the other.
For we must not think that there are two souls in man. For very well have the school definitions defined, uttering these words in the fifteenth chapter: “We do not say that there are two souls in one man, as Jacobus and certain of the Syrians write; one natural, whereby the body hath life, and is mingled with blood; the other spiritual, which ministereth reason: but we say there is one and the selfsame soul in man, + which both quickeneth the body with his fellowship, and ordereth himself by his own reason” Therefore we do not
[[ Sequitur alia et ipsa inextricabilis queestio: Idemne sit anima et]
[animus; an vero aliud sit illud quo vivimus, aliud autem quo sentimus]
[et sapimus.—Lactant. de Opif. Dei. cap. 18.] [5 definitiones ecclesiastics, Lat. ] [6 Neque duas animas esse dicimus in uno homine, sicut Jacobus]
[et alii Syrorum scribunt; unam animalem, qua animetur corpus et im-]
[mixta sit sanguini, et alteram spiritalem, quee rationem ministret: sed]
[dicimus unam esse eandemque animam in homine, que et corpus sua]
[societate vivificet, et semetipsam sua ratione disponat.—August. de]
[Eccles. dogm. cap. 15. Opp. Tom, 1m. fol. 42. col. 4.]]
think that there is any consideration to be had of them which altogether deny that there is a soul; for these are as mad as they which deny that the sun shineth. For all of us do see and feel the sun: as also we live by the benefit of the soul. What the Furthermore, what the reasonable soul of man is, the wise heads of this world could not as yet with one agreement define. For they so differ that a man shall hardly find two which say one thing; and there are opinions not a few contrary between themselves. What, do not the old interpreters of the scriptures doubtingly proceed in defining the soul? Lactantius, in his book de Opificio Dei, denieth that man can attain to the reason and nature of the soul’. Therefore nothing at all did they err from the truth, which thought the soul could be comprehended in no absolute definition, wherein his nature might be expressed throughly and at the full; yet that the nature or disposition of the same might after a sort be shadowed out, and that by the works or actions thereof, and by such qualities as the scripture doth attribute. There are some therefore which have said, that the soul is the spirit of life, created after the image of God, and breathed into the body of man. One there is which describes it thus: The soul is a spirit, whereby the body to which it is coupled doth live, made apt to the knowledge of God through love, and hereby meet to be joined with him unto everlasting blessedness. Another defineth it after this sort: A reasonable soul is an understanding spirit, one part of the substance of man; neither dieth it when it is departed from the body, but is immortal. Cassiodore defineth it: The soul of man is created of God, a spiritual and peculiar substance, which quickeneth the body whose own it is, reasonable indeed and immortal? We will set down a description fetched from the scripture, to be weighed and considered upon of the godly, and to direct and rule this our whole discourse. The soul is a spiritual substance, poured of God into man’s body, that, being joined thereunto,
[1 Quid autem sit anima, nondum inter philosophos convenit, nec i]
[unquam fortasse conveniet. Etenim alii sanguinem esse dixerunt, alii]
[ignem, alii ventum, &c.—Lactant. de Opif. Dei. cap. 17.] 2 [2 Anima hominis est a Deo creata, spiritalis propriaque substantia,]
[sui corporis vivificatrix, rationabilis quidem et immortalis.—Cassiodor.]
[Opp. de Anima. p. 286. Par. 1579.]]
it might quicken and direct the same; but being dissevered from the body, it should not die but live immortal for ever.
Some deny that the soul is a substance; for they contend that it is nothing else than the power of life in man, and indeed? a certain quality. But the holy scripture acknowledgeth that the soul is a subtance subsisting; for the Lord in the gospel witnesseth, that a soul may be tormented in hell: which forthwith by the selfsame authority of the gospel is shewed as it were to be viewed with our eyes, in the soul of the rich glutton. The same Lord which cannot lie said to the thief, “To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise:” which words cannot be expounded of any other part in the thief than of the soul; for his body was nailed, and did hang on the cross. Whereupon also the apostle and evangelist saw “under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God.” He heard them “crying with a loud voice, and saying: How long tarriest thou, Lord, which art holy and true, to judge, and to avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” The same John saw long white garments given to every one of the souls, these words being therewithal spoken of the Lord: “Rest yet for a little season, until your fellow-servants, and your brethren that shall be killed as ye are, shall be fulfilled.” All which verily agree not to qualities, but to substances which have their being: therefore the souls of men are substances, Which thing that they might most plainly and pithily express, certain ecclesiastical writers, I think, have set down that the souls of men are bodily, that is, substances of their kind, having their proper being. Neither do I think, dearly beloved, I shall be tedious unto you, if 1 recite word for word that which St Augustine hath reasoned of this matter on both parts in his epistle to St Hierome, which is in order. the twenty-eighth, saying: “That the soul is bodiless, though it be hard to persuade it to the duller sort, yet I confess that I am so persuaded. But that 1 may not move controversy about a word to no purpose, I will willingly be silent; because where there is no doubt of the thing, there is no need to strive about the name. If every substance or essence be a body, or if that which after some sort is in itself is more aptly called something, then the soul is a body. But if you
[3 adeoque, Lat.; and so.] 24 [BULLINGER, IIL]]
will call that only a bodiless nature, which is altogether unchangeable and is wholly everywhere, then the soul is a body, because the soul is no some such thing. Furthermore, if nothing be a body but that which with some length, breadth, and height resteth, or is moved in space of place, that the greater part thereof taketh the greater room and the lesser part the lesser room, and be less in part than in the whole, then the soul is not a body. For that which giveth the power of life unto the body is stretched through the whole body, not by local spreading of itself, but by a certain lively extending of itself. For the whole soul is present in all and every part of the body at once, and not lesser in the lesser parts nor greater in the greater parts; but in some places more vehement and quick, in some more remiss and faint, and in all it is the whole and in every part the whole. For that whole soul which in some parts of the body feeleth not, in some other parts where it feeleth it doth wholly feel in itself, and not only in some part of itself. For where any part of the quick flesh is pricked with a sharp thing, although that place be not only not of the whole body, no, not so much almost as seen in the body, yet the whole soul feeleth that pricking; and yet is not that pain that is felt dispersed over all the parts of the body, but is only felt where it is. How then cometh that by and by to the whole soul, which is not felt but in one place of the body, but because that the whole soul is there where the smart is felt, and yet leaveth not the other parts of the body that it might be there wholly and all in all? For those parts of the body live also by the presence of the soul, where no such thing is done. If it were so that the grief were in more places than one at once, it should be felt by the whole soul in each place. Therefore the whole soul could not be both in all and in every part of the body, whose own it is, all at once, if it were so spread through those parts as we see bodies are by spaces of places, their lesser parts taking the lesser room and their greater parts the greater room. Wherefore if the soul be to be termed a body, surely it is not such a body as is in substance like the earth, or like the water, or the air, or the celestial bodies. For all such bodies are greater in greater places and lesser in lesser places, and nothing of them is wholly in any some part of theirs; but as the parts of the
places be, so are they filled with the parts of the bodies. Whereupon the soul is perceived, whether it be a body or whether it is to be called bodiless, to have a certain proper nature, created of a more excellent substance than all the elements of the earthly mould: which cannot be conceived by any phantasy or imagination of bodily shapes which we attain unto by the senses of our flesh, but is understood in the mind and felt in the life!.” Thus far have I rehearsed Augustine’s words.
[[! Incorpoream quoque esse animam, etsi difficile tardioribus per-]
[suaderi potest, mihi tamen fateor esse persuasum. Sed ne verbi con-]
[troversiam vel superfluo faciam, vel merito patiar; quoniam cum de]
[re constat, non est opus certare de nomine: si corpus est omnis sub-]
[stantia vel essentia, vel si quid aptius nuncupatur id quod aliquo modo]
[est in seipso, corpus est anima. Item si eam solam incorpoream placet]
[appellare naturam, que summe incommutabilis et ubique tota est,]
[corpus est anima, quoniam tale aliquid ipsa non est. Porro si corpus]
[non est, nisi quod per loci spatium aliqua longitudine, latitudine, alti-]
[tudine ita sistitur vel movetur, ut majori sui parte majorem locum oc-]
[cupet et breviore breviorem, minusque sit in parte quam in toto, non]
[est corpus anima: per totum quippe corpus quod animat, non locali]
[diffusione, sed quadam vitali intentione porrigitur. Nam per omnes]
[ejus particulas tota simul adest, nec miner in minoribus et in majori-]
[bus major, sed alicubi intensius, alicubi remissius, et in omnibus tota]
[et in singulis tota est. Neque enim aliter quod in corpore etiam non]
[toto sentit, tamen tota sentit. Nam cum exiguo puncto in carne viva]
[aliquid tangitur, quamvyis locus ille non solum totius corporis non sit,]
[sed vix in corpore videatur, animam tamen totam non latet; neque id]
[quod sentitur per corporis cuncta discurrit, sed ibi tamen sentitur ubi]
[fit. Unde ergo ad totam mox pervenit, quod non in toto fit, nisi quia]
[et ibi tota est ubi fit, nec ut tota ibi sit cetera deserit? Vivunt enim]
[et illa ea presente ubi nihil tale factum est. Quod si fieret, et utrum-]
[que simul fieret, simul utrumque totam pariter non lateret. Proinde]
[et in omnibus simul et in singulis particulis corporis sui tota simul]
[esse non posset, si per illas ita diffunderetur, ut videmus corpora dif-]
[fusa per spatia locorum minoribus suis partibus minora occupare et]
[amplioribus ampliora. Quapropter si anima corpus esse dicenda est,]
[non est certe corpus, quale terrenum est, nec quale humidum aut]
[aéreum aut sethereum. Omnia quippe talia majora sunt in majoribus]
[locis et minora in minoribus locis, et nihil eorum in aliqua sui parte]
[totum adest, sed ut sunt partes locorum, ita occupantur partibus cor-]
[porum. Unde intelligitur anima, sive corpus sive incorporea dicenda]
[est, propriam quandam habere naturam, omnibus his mundanse molis]
[elementis excellentiore substantia creatam; quee veraciter non possit]
[in aliqua fantasia corporalium imaginum, quas per carnis sensus per- 24. 9]
. 372 THE FOURTH DECADE. [sERM. The scripture also aimeth chiefly at this mark?, to teach that the soul is bodiless; for advisedly and expressly it calleth the same a spirit. For the Lord in the gospel after John saith: “I will put my life from me, and I will take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I put it away of myself.” And in the same evangelist you read: “And Jesus sald, It is finished: and when he had bowed his head, he gave up the ghost.” For he crieth out in another evangelist: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” And Matthew saith: “And Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” Whereunto doubtless may be referred that which we read in the Acts of the Apostles of the first martyr, Stephen: And they stoned Stephen, calling on and saying, Lord Jesu, receive my Spirit.” But by these things I cannot more plainly and pithily express? what manner of substance the soul of man is, which I believe to be a spirit, having indeed a substance created of God proper and peculiar to itself. For Augustine, whose words I alleged a little before, saith yet again, 1 cap. de Quantitate Anime: “1 cannot name the substance of the soul, for I do not think the same to be of these usual and known natures which we touch with the senses of our body. For I think that the soul consisteth not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire, neither yet of all these joined together, nor of any one of them. The nature of the soul may be called simple, because it consisteth not of other natures” Which words of Augustine Cassiodore willing to rehearse and express by imitation saith: “The soul of man created of God is a spiritual and peculiar substance” Therefore I simply affirm
[cipimus, cogitari, sed mente intelligi vitaque sentiri.—August. Ep. 28.]
[Hieronymo de Natura et Origine Animarum. Opp. Tom. 11. fol, 19. col.]
[4 Par. 1532.] [1 huc maxime inclinat, Lat.] [2 His vero significantius, Lat.; more expressively than these texts. ] [5 Substantiam vero ejus (anim) nominare non possum: non enim]
[eam puto esse ex iis usitatis notisque naturis quas istis corporis sen-]
[sibus tangimus. Nam neque ex terra, neque ex aqua, neque ex aére,]
[neque ex igni, neque ex his omnibus, neque ex aliquibus horum con-]
[junctis constare animam puto. Simplex anime natura dici potest,]
[quia ex aliis naturis non est.— August. de Quant. Anime. Opp. Tom. 1.]
[fol. 122. col. 4.] [6 See above, p. 368, n. 2.]]
that the soul hath a singular, yea, a certain more excellent substance, and differing from other spirits, having his true being and working always from his Creator”; but such as we in our speech cannot compass, neither are able to utter.
In the meanwhile we do not allow of them who, minding to express what manner of substance the soul is, say that the soul is God, or else surely a part or portion of Godf For the scripture reproveth them both. For truly the soul is a creature, and is drowned in variableness and sins: but a creator, and clean of itself, it 1s not. And because God the Creator is immutable and indivisible, the soul cannot be a portion of God. Therefore elegantly and truly Aurelius Prudentius in his Apotheosis, after he had in many words confuted these filthy errors, gathering at length all the meaning of the truth, saith:
To say the soul is God, or part of him, “Tis folly great, and too absurd a thing: Since chief and heavenly joys it tastes, which swim from always fresh and everlasting spring. Now it obeys, anon it falls to sin; One while in joy, another while in pain: For due desert such guerdon it doth win: Now punish’d’tis, anon’tis free again?
To the end that we might overthrow this error, and discern the soul from other spirits and spiritual substances, we added in our description; That the soul of man is poured into the body of man by God:” whereby every man understandeth without any ado, that it is created, and also is a spirit, not angelical, but human, that is, breathed into man’s body by God, of his own essence and nature.
Where again a new question touching the original of souls doth offer itself to us to be expounded. For it is wont to be asked, from whence souls come? When or how they enter into their bodies? St Hierome is the author, that in
[5 a creatione sua, Lat.; from its creation.] [6 Manicheeorum, delirio—quod rursus hac state invehere tentavit]
[Servetus.—Calv. Instit. Lib. 1. cap. 15. 5.] [7 Absurde fertur Deus aut pars esse Dei; que Divinum summumque benum de fonte perenni Nunc bibit obsequio, nunc culpa aut crimine perdit; Et modo supplicium recipit, modo libera calcat. Prudent. Apoth. 952—955.]]
time past there were many opinions, and those same most contrary between themselves, touching the original of souls. For he, writing to Marcellinus and Anapsychias, saith: “1 remember your question, nay rather forsooth, the question of the church, touching the state of the soul: whether it fell from heaven, as Pythagoras the philosopher, and all Platonists and Origen do think: or whether it be of the proper substance of God, as the Stoics, Manicheus, and the heresies of Priscillianus of Spain do suppose: whether they be counted in God’s treasury, long since laid up there, as certain churchmen foolishly persuaded think: whether they be daily made of God and sent into bodies, according to that which is written in the gospel, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work:” or whether, ez traduce, that is, by the generation of the parents, as Tertullian, Apollinarius, and the greatest part of the west churches conjecture; that as a body is born of a body, so a soul is born of a soul, and hath his being after the like state as brute beasts have.” But all those opinions are confuted of ecclesiastical writers with sound arguments. That opinion is received and avouched for the truest which holdeth, That the soul is created of nothing, and poured of God into the body, when the child is made perfect in shape and in every part of his body in the womb of his mother. For thus the ecclesiastical definitions do declare: “We say that the Creator of all things doth only know the creation of the soul; and that the body only is sowed by (carnal) copulation in marriage; that by the true appointment of God it thickeneth in the matrice, becometh a substance and receiveth shape; and that when the body is
[1 Super anime statu memini vestree queestiuncule; imo maxime]
[ecclesiasticee queestionis: Utrum lapsa de ceelo sit, ut Pythagoras phi-]
[losophus, omnesque Platonici et Origines putant; an a propria Dei]
[substantia, ut Stoici, Manicheeus, et Hispana Priscilliani heeresis sus-]
[picantur; an in thesauro habeantur Dei, olim conditze, ut quidem ec-]
[clesiastici stulta persuasione confidunt; an quotidie a Deo fiant, et]
[mittantur in corpora, secundum illud quod evangelio scriptum est,]
[Pater meus nsque modo operatur, et ego operor; an certe ex traduce,]
[ut Tertullianus, Apollinaris, et maxima pars Occidentalium autumant;]
[ut quomodo corpus ex corpore, sic anima nascatur ex anima, et simili]
[cum brutis animantibus conditione subsistat.—Hieron. Epist. 78. (al.]
[82.) ad Marcellin. et Anapsych. Opp. Tom. 1v. Pars 2. col. 642. Par.]
[1706.]]
x] OF THE REASONABLE SOUL OF MAN. 375 fashioned, the soul is created and poured into it2” Whereupon St Hierome also to Pammachius, disputing against the errors of John, bishop of Hierusalem, after he had rehearsed divers opinions touching the original of the soul, he saith: “Whether truly God createth souls daily, in whom his will is his work, and never ceaseth to be a creator of them? Which is an ecclesiastical opinion, according to the opinion of our Saviour, The Father worketh hitherto, and I work; and according to that of Esay, Which formeth the spirit of man in him; and in the Psalms, Which fashioneth their hearts in every one of them?” Thus far he.
The scripture truly in express words doth teach, that the soul hath not original out of earth, neither that it is created before the body; but it proceedeth out of the mouth of the Creator, to wit, from the secret power of God, and that it is poured into the body when it is fashioned. For Moses, describing the creation of God our Father4, doth first make mention, that the body of Adam was fashioned and made, and that afterwards the spirit of life was breathed into his body being perfectly made and fashioned. “The Lord God,” saith he, “made man of the clay of the earth, and breathed upon his face or into his nostrils the breath of life, and man was made a living soul.” For the breath of life doth signify the living and reasonable soul, that is to say, the soul of man, which thou seest breathed or poured into the body when it is fashioned. And when the same Lord created the woman of Adam’s rib, he took not life from Adam, or out of his soul, and put it into Eve, but of his goodness and power he poured the same into her body when it was perfectly made. And
[2 Sed dicimus creationem anime solum creatorem omnium nosse,]
[et corpus tantum per conjugii copulam seminari, Dei vero judicio coa-]
[gulari in vulva et compingi atque formari, ac formato jam corpore ani-]
[mam creari et infundi.— August. de Eccles. Dogm. Opp. Tom. 111, fol.]
[42 coll. 3. 4. Par. 1532.] [3 An certe (quod ecclesiasticum est secundum eloquia Salvatoris,]
[Pater usque modo operatur, et ego operor; et illud Isaize, Qui format]
[spiritum hominis in ipso; et in Psalmis, Qui fingit per singulos corda]
[eorum;) quotidie Deus fabricatur animas: cujus velle fecisse est, et]
[conditor esse non cessat >—Hieron. ad Pammach. ady. error. Johan.]
[Jeros. Ep. 38. Opp. Tom. 1v. Pars 2. fol. 318.] [1 Formationem patris nostri, Lat.; rather, the creation of our]
[father, i. e. Adain.—God, is the translator’s addition. ]]
that we are no otherwise created of the Lord at this day, than that the soul may be poured into the body when it is fashioned, Job is a witness sufficient, saying: Thy hands, O God, have made me and fashioned me round about. Hast thou not poured me as it were milk, and turned me to curds like cheese? Thou hast covered me with skin and flesh, and joined me together with bones and sinews.” Lo, thou hast here in these words both the conception and also the fashioning of man’s body in his mother’s womb most excellently described. And touching the soul, it followeth in Job immediately: “Thou hast given me life and grace, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.” Behold, life,” that 15, the soul, is by God poured into the body after it is shapen. “Thou hast given me life,” saith he, “and grace.” He addeth grace or mercy to life: for it is a marvel the child should live in the mother’s womb, seeing it is wrapped within so many coverings; therefore a singular benefit of the mercy of God sheweth itself in this. But it followeth by way of interpretation: “And thy visitation,” that is, thy providence and preservation, “hath kept or preserved my spirit.” For now he calleth that spirit,” which first he had called “life;” that is to say, the soul. Wherefore we rightly hold and according to the scriptures, that the souls of men are created of God, and poured into the bodies when they be already fashioned in the womb; though we touch not every point and particular matter of this cause, and (as the saying is) hit the nail on the head.
Now it resteth to see what the soul worketh in the body of man. We comprehended that briefly in the description, saying that, being joined to the body, it giveth life to man and directeth him. For the reasonable soul comprehendeth the powers vegetative and sensitive, and thereby it giveth life to the body. Moreover the soul hath two parts, distinguished in offices, not in substance; namely, Understanding and Will; and thereby it directeth man. For by the understanding, which is called both the mind and reason, it conceiveth, judgeth, and knoweth things that are to be understood, and discerneth what to follow and what to avoid. But by will or appetite he chooseth that which he knoweth, following one thing and refusing another. Which things again stretch very far. Therefore I will handle every part more largely.
First of all the soul by his presence giveth life to this mortal and earthly body; it knitteth it together, and with a wonderful embracing keepeth it, and suffereth it not to grow out of order or pine away; it equally distributeth the food throughout the members, giving to every one sufficient; it preserveth a comely form and measure therein not only in beauty, but also in making and growth. But all these things may seem also common to plants, as well as to man: for we see and confess, that they also live; and that every one of them is preserved in his kind, nourished, increased, and engendered. Therefore let us see what the soul is able to do, and what it worketh in the senses, where a more perfect view of life is perceived. The soul sheweth itself in the sense of feeling, and thereby knoweth and discerneth the things that are hot, cold, rough, smooth, hard, soft, light, and heavy. Moreover, the soul determineth the innumerable differences of tastes, savours, sounds, and shapes, by the senses of tasting, smelling, hearing, and seeing. And among all these things it chooseth and coveteth those things which are according to the nature of the body whereunto it is joined, and refuseth and shunneth the contrary; and also consenteth not only to the procreation of children, but to the cherishing, defending, nourishing, and preserving of them. But all these things again no man denieth but the life which is in beasts may do also. Let us therefore consider what is the proper force of the soul of man. And here weigh with me the wonderful power of understanding and reasoning, and not a common memory as is in brute beasts, but a remembrance of innumerable things commended unto us, and kept in mind by signs and deep consideration: consider with me so many devices of craftsmen, tilling of lands, building of cities, manifold wonderfulness of sundry buildings and devices; the inventions of so many forms in letters, in words, in gesture, in sound, in pictures, and feigned shews; so many tongues of nations, so many things ordained, so many new things, so many things reformed; such a number of books, and of such like monuments for the maintenance of memory, as having a care of them which come after; the orders of offices, powers, honours and dignities, either in families, or in the common weal in peace or in war, either in profane or in holy matters. Weigh with me the marvellous force and virtue of devising
the rivers of eloquence, the variety of verses in poetry, a thousand-fold devices and merriments to move pleasure and pastime, skilfulness in playing on instruments and in singing, cunning in measuring, readiness in numbering, conjecturing of things past and things to come by things present!”
These verily are great powers or operations in the soul of man, but they are common to the good and bad. Therefore the true goodness and praise, which riseth from the powers of the soul unto man, aud which are found in the godly only, do follow. The soul is bold to prefer itself before the whole body, and to think that the goods of the body are not his, but rather to despise them; and thereby how much the more he delighteth himself, so much the more he withdraweth himself from filthiness, and cleanseth himself
[1 Corpus hoe terrenum atque mortale preesentia sua vivificat (an-]
[ima), colligit in unum atque in uno tenet; diffluere atque contabescere]
[non sinit; alimenta per membra wequaliter, suis quibusque redditis,]
[distribui facit; congruentiam ejus modumque conservat, non tantum]
[in pulchritudine, sed etiam in crescendo atque gignendo. Sed hee -]
[omnia homini etiam cum arbustis communia videri queunt: hac enim]
[etiam dicimus vivere, in suo vero quidque illorum genere custodiri,]
[ali, crescere, gignere videmus atque fatemur..Intendit se anima in]
[tactum, et eo calida, frigida, aspera, lenia, dura, mollia, levia, gravia,]
[sentit atque discernit. Deinde innumerabiles differentias saporum,]
[odorum, sonorum, formarum, gustando, olfaciendo, audiendo, vide-]
[doque dijudicat. Atque in his omnibus ea que secundum naturam]
[sui corporis sunt asciscit atque appetit, rejicit fugitque contraria:..]
[feetibus quoque non jam gignendis tantummodo, sed etiam fovendis,]
[alendis, atque conservandis conspirat.. Sed hac rursus omnia posse]
[animam etiam in bestiis nemo negat… Cogita memoriam non consue-]
[tudine inolitarum, sed animadversione atque signis commendatarum]
[ac retentarum rerum innumerabiliumj tot artes opificum, agrorum]
[cultus, extructiones urbium, variorum edificiorum ac moliminum]
[multimoda miracula; inventiones tot signorum in literis, in verbis, in]
[gestu, in hujuscemodi sono, in picturis atque figmentis; tot gentium]
[linguas, tot instituta, tot nova, tot instaurata, tantum librorum nu-]
[merum et hujusmodi monumentorum ad custodiendam memoriam,]
[tanquam curam posteritatis; officiorum, potestatum, honorum, digni-]
[tatumque ordines, sive in familiis, sive domi militizeque in republica,]
[sive in prophanis, sive in saeris apparatibus; vim ratiocinandi et ex-]
[cogitandi fluvios eloquentize, carminum varietates, ludendi ac jocandi]
[causa milleformes simulationes, modulandi peritiam, dimetiendi subti-]
[litatem, numerandi disciplinam, preeteritorum ac futurorum ex pree-]
[sentibus conjecturam.— August. de Quant. Anime. cap. 33. Opp. Tom.]
[1 fol. 130. coll. 1, 2. Par. 1532.]]
wholly by faith and the Holy Ghost, and strengtheneth himself against all things which go about to put him by from his good intent, and maketh great account of fellowship or society, loveth men tenderly, and willeth nothing to another which he would not have happen to himself. For he followeth the word or doctrine of God, and believeth that by this God speaketh unto him: he is joined by the Holy Ghost and faith with God himself, in whom he delighteth and liveth in true felicity, bringing forth all kind of virtues. In this so excellent a study of the soul there is yet great labour. For the soul fighteth fiercely with the world and the flesh, and is never safe and at rest from the assaults or invasions of Satan: but being strengthened by the Lord, he goeth away with notable victories and triumphs. The souls therefore (I mean, of saints and holy men) work all manner of holy works; for the souls of the wicked commit heinous sins of all sorts. There are many other operations of souls, which I cease to rehearse, lest I should be longer than were meet.
Hitherto I have entreated of the soul of man as yet joined to the body: in which discourse the wonderful goodness of God appeareth, the most bountiful Creator of the soul, yea, of the whole man; from whose grace we worthily account it received, whatsoever praise is given to the soul. Now I will speak of the soul separated from the body.
The soul, being separated from the body, ceaseth not to be that which it was; but, the body being dead, the soul abideth alive in his own essence, altogether immortal, and void of all corruption. For the death of man is not the extinguishing or destruction of the soul, but only a separation or departure from the body. Thou takest a candle out of a lantern; thou hast taken the light from the lantern, but thou hast not put out the candle. The lantern truly, because the candle is taken away, remaineth full of darkness; but the candle feeleth so little hurt by removing of it, that, being taken away from the lantern, it then shineth more clearly, and casteth forth the beams of his light more at large. So truly the soul, being separated from his earthly or slimy body, doth so little feel any discommodity, that, being delivered from the trouble and burden of the body, it liveth more at liberty, and worketh more effectually. But the common sort understand not this. They see the body only
among the dead, spoiled of the soul; and because this wanteth all feeling and moving, yea, and rotteth away, they think that the whole man perisheth, Neither is the world without some shameless and ungodly wretches who have in their mouth, that no man ever returned from death or from below, who by his return proved that the souls remain alive when the body is dead. But maliciously they lie, dissembling that they know not that which certainly they know. For who knoweth not that Christ the Son of God died, and was buried, and the third day was raised again from the dead, the very self-same soul returning into his body, which before death gave his body life and ruled it? Who knoweth not that Christ with his true body and with his reasonable and natural soul ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, that he, laying down there as it were a most assured pledge, might testify unto the whole world that both our own proper souls and our own proper bodies shall one day be translated thither? Who knoweth not that so many which were dead, being raised from death to life, received not new souls, but those their old souls? Which should not have come to pass, if by the death of the body the souls of men were extinguished.
They object, that the scripture itself maketh mention of “the death of the soul. I confess no less indeed. For the soul of man 15 both mortal and immortal, after a certain manner of his own. For the soul is not all manner of ways immortal as God is, of whom it is said that he only hath immortality. And truly the death of the soul in the holy scripture is to be remembered; but the same is referred to the state and condition, not to the substance, of the soul. For if God be the life of the soul, surely to be forsaken of God, and to be left unto thyself, is the death of the soul. But nevertheless the reasonable soul liveth in his proper essence or being, so that, when it liveth miserably, a miserable life is in very deed called death. But desperation also is the very death of the soul; for by hope we live: and Paul saith, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Therefore they that are destitute of faith are dead, and they that have faith live. St Augustine, cap. 10, De Fide et Symbolo, saith:
[1 genuina, Lat.]
“The soul, as it may be called corruptible by reason of sin and wickedness, so it may be called mortal. For the death of the soul is the revolting or falling from God; which first sin of the soul was committed in paradise, as is declared in the holy scriptures?” And the same Augustine again, Lib. de Trinitate, 14, cap. 4, saith: “The soul also hath his death, when it lacketh a blessed life, which is to be named the true life of the soul. But for this cause it is called immortal, for that, whatsoever life it liveth, yea, though it be most miserable, yet it never ceaseth to live.” We therefore freely confess, that the souls of men, separated or taken out of their bodies, do not die, but live immortal for ever; the faithful in everlasting joy and felicity, but the unbelievers in eternal damnation.
Which thing I will now go on to confirm by some substantial testimonies of scripture. But first take this with you, that testimonies of scripture in this case are far more lively than man’s reasons framed out of philosophy. For these testimonies are fetched from the very mouth of the living God himself, which preserveth us in life; who, since he is true, cannot lie, and who, since he giveth life and is life itself, is able to witness most certainly above all other touching life. Neither is it doubtful that the Spirit of God worketh jointly with the word of God; of whom unless the hearts of men be touched, the reasons of philosophy, how manifest soever they be, shall prevail nothing, especially in the danger of death and in other temptations. They are fleshly therefore and brutish altogether, which are not ashamed to say, That they cannot be persuaded or brought to believe the immortality of souls by the scriptures only. Nay, which is more; that shall never be stedfast and stable in temptations, which shall proceed from flesh and blood. We will therefore add some certain testimonies, and those too most manifest.
David, the most puissant and happiest king in the world,
[2 Potest enim et anima, sicut corruptibilis propter morum vitia,]
[ita etiam mortalis dici. Mors quippe anime est apostatare a Deo,]
[quod primum ejus peccatum in paradiso sacris literis continetur.—]
[August. de Fide et Symb. cap. 10. Opp. Tom. 1m. fol. 32. col. 3. Par.]
[1532.—Works of Coverdale, ed. P. S. Remains, p. 201.] [3 Habet quippe et anima mortem suam, cum vita beata caret,]
[que vera anime vita dicenda est. Sed immortalis ideo nuncupatur,]
[quoniam qualicunque vita, etiam si miserrima est, nunquam desinit]
[vivere.—Id. de Trin. Lib. x1v. cap. 4. Opp. Tom. 11. fol. 91. col. 2.]]
comprising in one verse both the immortality of souls and the resurrection of bodies, saith: “Thou, O Lord, shalt not leave my soul in hell: neither shalt thou suffer thine Holy one to see corruption.” Man consisteth of body and soul. The body rotteth away when it is dead, and is turned into dust; but it shall not therefore perish: for as the body of Christ which was buried did not rot, but rose again the third day; so in the day of judgment shall our bodies be raised up, and by Christ be delivered from corruption. And our soul goeth not into hell there to remain!: but as the soul of Christ returned from the nether parts unto his body, and ascended into heaven in his body which he had taken again; even so shall our souls also live by Christ, they shall not die.
Salomon, the son of David, excelling all kings and mortal men in wisdom, in one verse likewise expounding the provixii. dence of God touching the soul and the body, saith: The dust shall be turned again unto earth, from whence it came; and the spirit shall return unto God, who gave it.” Salomon calleth man’s body dust, because it is said in Moses that God made it of the dust of the earth. Therefore the body turneth again unto dust; for it putrefieth and is resolved into that which first it was, even until the judgment-day, as the Lord saith: For dust thou art, and into dust shalt thou be turned again.” But the spirit, that is to say, the reasonable soul, dieth not with the body: it is not resolved into dust, because it is not taken out of the dust; neither is it scattered into the air, because it doth not consist of air; but returneth alive from death unto God. And therefore it returneth unto God, because God gave the soul, and after a singular manner made man after his own likeness and image, breathing into his face the spirit of life,—of life I say, that is, of lively power, not the spirit of death. Therefore the soul cannot perish, because it receiveth immortality from God; who, since he is life, is able to preserve that breath of life which he hath made.
The Lord Jesus, the true and very Son of God, the life and resurrection of the faithful, saith plainly in the gospel: “Fear (ye) not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy
[1 there to remain; not in Lat
both body and soul in hell.” If when the body being slain by tyrants the soul is not killed, then it remaineth alive after the body is destroyed; and so assuredly it remaineth, that, having put off the body, it should be cast of the most just God into hell, there everlastingly to burn for his unfaithfulness. For in the same gospel the Lord saith again, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it:” again, “whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it.” For not he only loseth his life or soul, which bridleth it from the pleasures of the world and liveth most temperately; but he also who offereth himself into the bloody hands of tyrants to be slain for the confession of christian faith. And he findeth his life or soul which he lost. Therefore the souls of men, even after the death of the body, remain alive and immortal.
In the gospel according to St John the Lord saith: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is escaped from death unto life.” Thou hast in these words of the Lord the death of the body. But forthwith afterward he witnesseth, that we “escape unto life:” therefore men’s souls remain alive after death. For now he speaketh nothing of the raising again or of the salvation of the body, but of the life of the soul after death. In the same gospel the Lord saith again: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” But it is evident that all men are ordained once to die, namely, with bodily death: therefore the soul liveth after the death of the body. For it must needs be that a faithful man shall never see or feel death, unless he told a lie who affirmeth with an oath that which he spake. For in every other place? he addeth an cath, saying, “Verily, I say unto you;” that we should not doubt of the immortality of souls. There are very many testimonies, and those most evident, of Christ the Son of God in the same gospel, as in the sixth and eleventh chapters: to which we will join one or two out of the writings of the blessed apostles of Christ.
St Peter, speaking of the souls of the fathers which were dead a great while ago, saith, that the gospel was preached also to the dead, that they should be judged like other men
[2 utrobique; Lat. in both places
in the flesh, but should live before God! in the spirit.” Spirits are souls of the blessed fathers, whose bodies being buried a great while ago do wait for the universal sentence of that general and last judgment: that is, that their flesh may be raised up again and be judged with other men in the last day; but in the meanwhile their souls live with God. So that men’s souls are alive, though their bodies were rotten a great while ago.
St Paul in his epistle to Timothy saith, that life and immortality is made manifest and brought by Christ. The same Paul everywhere doth so plainly avouch the immortality of souls, that he must needs be blind which seeth it not.
St John, the apostle and evangelist, saw under the altar in heaven (that is, under the protection of Christ who is the sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of the world) living souls lying and crying: How long tarriest thou, Lord, to revenge our blood?” He saw them clothed with white garments, and enjoying everlasting rest. But these souls were the souls of the martyrs of Christ, whose bodies died, being murdered on the earth under tyrants and persecutors of the christian faith. Therefore the souls of men are immortal.
Most true therefore, yea, and undoubted, are those words which are read in the book of Wisdom, uttered in this manner: “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they appeared to die, and their end is taken for a misery, and their departing from us to be utter destruction; but they are in rest. For though they suffer pain before men, yet is their hope full of immortality. They are punished but in few things; nevertheless in many things shall they be well rewarded. For God proveth them, and findeth them meet for himself. As gold in the furnace doth he try them, and receiveth them as a burnt-offering: and when the time cometh, they shall be looked upon. They shall shine and run through, as the sparkles among the stubble. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.”
Wherefore most truly and according to the canonical
[1 juxta Deum; Lat. and Erasmus. [2 manifeste vitam et immortalitatem per Christum esse repa=]
[ratam; Lat.]]
scripture do the ecclesiastical definitions pronounce, cap. 16: “We believe that man only hath a substantial soul, which, having put off the body, liveth and keepeth his senses and disposition lively. It doth not die with the body, as Aratus affirmeth; nor a little while after, as Zenon saith; because it liveth substantially. But the souls of beasts and other mortal creatures are not substantial, but are born with their flesh through the life of their flesh, and with the death of their flesh are at an end and do die.”
Furthermore, that truth touching the immortality of souls, as it were by the law of nature, is written and imprinted in the minds of all men. Whereupon it is no marvel that all the wise men among the Gentiles could never abide that the soul should be called mortal. For the consent of all, which is thought the voice of nature, specially of the chiefest, declareth that souls are immortal. And M. Tully also affirmeth that, saying: “As by nature we think there are Gods, and by reason we know what they be, so we hold opinion with the consent of all nations, that souls do still continue.” All the ancient writers therefore, and all that followed them, have said that souls are everlasting or immortal; as Trismegistus, Museus, Orpheus, Homerus, Pindarus, and Pherecydes the Syrian, the master of Pythagoras, and his scholar Socrates. Plato himself, who to learn the opinions of Pythagoras sailed into Italy, was not only of the same opinion that Pythagoras was of, touching the immortality of souls, but brought reasons also to confirm the same. These reasons, as Tully witnesseth, are many, that he which readeth his book cannot seem to desire any thing further”. Seneca so plainly affirmeth and proveth the immortality of souls, that nothing can be more plain. And Epicte-
[3 Solum hominem ecredimus habere animam substantivam, qua]
[exuta corpore vivit, et sensus suos atque ingenia vivaciter tenet.]
[Non cum corpore moritur, sicut Aratus asserit; neque post modicum]
[intervallum, sicut Zenon dicit; quia substantialiter vivit. Animalium]
[vero anime non sunt substantivee, sed cum carne ipsa carnis vivacitate]
[nascuntur, et cum carnis morte finiuntur et moriuntur.—August. de]
[Eccles. Dogm. 16. Opp. Tom. 11. fol. 42. col. 4. Par. 1532.] [4 Cic. Tusc. Quest. Lib. 1. cap. 16.] [5 Τά. ibid.] [6 Id. ibid. cap. 17.] [7 Tot autem rationes attulit (Plato), ut velle ceteris, sibi certe]
[persuasisse videatur.—Ciec. ibid. cap. 21.] [8 Senec. Epist. 117.] 25 [BULLINGER, 11]]
tus, a famous philosopher, who lived in the time of Seneca, hath done no less’. If as yet there be any light-headed men to whom the immortality of the soul seemeth doubtful, or which utterly deny the same, these truly are unworthy to have the name of men; for they are plagues of the commonwealth, and very beasts, worthy to be hissed and driven out of the company of men. For he lacketh a bridle to restrain him, and hath cast away all honesty and shame, and is prepared in all points to commit any mischief, whosoever believeth that the soul of man is mortal. place 1 shewed that souls? by death being separated from their bodies do not die, but remain alive: it resteth now behind that I teach you, where the souls, when they are destitute of the dwelling-place, their bodies, lead their life and are conversant. While they were coupled to the bodies, they used them as their dwelling-houses; so that, though they be said not to be limited in place, yet they do not wander out of their bodies, but they are as it were shut up in them as in prisons? until the time they be dissolved and set at liberty. Those same souls therefore being now dissevered from their bodies, since they retain their sound senses, their nature or disposition, and their whole substance in lively manner, albeit they are said, no, not even now to be limited in place, yet are they not let loose and run astray, having their abiding in no place; but being compact and set fast in their own essence or being are in some place again, having no new bodies, (for the souls are free even till the judgment-day, when they shall be joined again to their bodies:) howbeit certain abiding-places are prepared for them of God, wherein they may live. Although other, by my lieve, very subtilly and wittily do reason, how spirits are contained in place or not contained: I simply affirm with the scripture, that souls separated from bodies are taken up either into heaven itself, or else are drowned in the depth of hell; and that their being and abiding is even so there, that when they are here they are not elsewhere. For the Lord most plainly and pithily saith in the gospel, that the soul of beggarly Lazarus was carried into Abraham’s bosom, and the soul of the rich glutton was cast down into hell. But
[1 Simplicii Comment. in Epicteti Enchirid. cap. 39.] [2 hominum, Lat. omitted; of men.] [8 ergastulis, Lat.]]
that more is, it forthwith followeth in the history: “Between us and you” (for the blessed and cursed souls talk together) “there is a great gulf stedfastly set; so that they which would go from hence to you cannot, neither can they that would come from thence to us.” And Paul also desireth “to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.” We are dissolved by death: for when the soul departeth, the body is dissolved and dieth; the soul flieth unto Christ. Dut the scripture sheweth us that Christ is in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Now where heaven is, there is none but can tell; and we elsewhere have largely entreated of that matter4.
In the gospel after St John the Lord himself calleth the conversation of souls, which is prepared for the souls after they are separated from the bodies, both a place and mansion, and habitation or dwelling; adding these words thereupon, “I will receive you (even) unto myself, that where I am, there may ye be also.” And therefore St John saw souls in heaven, abiding and taking their rest under the altar or protection of Christ: for thither, when they departed from their bodies, he had gathered them unto himself. Hereunto belongeth that notable place of the apostle Paul, marvellous fit for this purpose, written in the second to the Corinthians in these words: “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were destroyed, we have a building of God, even an habitation not made with hands, but eternal in heaven,” &ec. Lo, while our souls were joined to our bodies, they inhabited and dwelt in them as in their houses; but after our corruptible house is destroyed, God hath builded another better and of longer continuance, heaven I mean itself, into the which he lovingly receiveth our souls departing out of our bodies. For that manner body which we now have he calleth the house of this tent or tabernacle. For as tents for a time are made of light stuff, and pitched without any strong foundation, and a while after are pulled down, or do fall of their own accord; so a mortal body is given to men as a ruinous cottage, wherein they inhabit a few days, and immediately pack away again. St Peter used the like allegory. Against this (tent) he opposeth a building of everlasting continuance, heaven I mean itself: for when he had said that we have
[4 See Vol. 1. page 145.] [5 contubernium, Lat
25—=2
“a building of God,” he addeth by interpretation, (even) an “habitation not made with hands;” and yet more plainly, “eternal in heaven.” Neither doth that which by and by followeth hinder this, or import another meaning: for therefore sigh we, desiring (upon our clothing) to be further clothed with our house which is from heaven.” For “from heaven” signifieth as much as if thou wouldest say, heavenly. Therefore the house of the soul is heavenly or heaven itself, a place, 1 say, appointed for blessed spirits. For verily the but faithful soul shall dwell in heaven even unto that day, wherein the Lord shall judge the world with that his general judgment: then at the length the soul shall return to the body again being raised up, that after judgment the whole man, both soul and body, may live for ever with God. For iv. thus witnesseth the apostle St Paul: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven in a shout, and in the voice of the archangel, and in the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which live, which remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord,” namely, in the heavens which are above us where the clouds are seen. Therefore, omitting vain speculations and curious disputations, let us believe that there is a house prepared by the Lord in heaven for souls being separated from their bodies, into the which the faithful may be received; and again, that there is everlasting fire prepared, whereunto all the souls of all infidels or unbelievers may be cast.
We have taught, that heaven is the seat or habitation to. prepared of God to receive souls being separated from their bodies. It remaineth behind, that we shew after what manner and what time they should be translated thither after death. Touching the manner, I can say nothing else but that it is fully known unto God; and that, so far forth as seemeth sufficient for us, it is shadowed out in the scriptures; namely, that it is brought to pass by angels carrying up our souls with a most swift flight or moving. For the Lord saith in the gospel, that the soul of Lazarus was carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom: of which thing also we spake before when we preached of God’s angels’. But what man-
[1 de angelis bonis, Lat.; of good angels, ed, 1577. See above,]
[p- 335.)]
ner of moving this is, whether natural or supernatural, I mean not to make search. I believe that what God promiseth, the same he performeth and accomplisheth; and he promising saith, “He is passed from death to life.” Again, he said to the thief, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise,” comprehending that his passage as it were in a moment. Hereunto we also necessarily add this, that it must be attributed to the merits of Christ that we are taken up into heaven; for he is the door and the way.
But at what time souls should be carried up into heaven, or cast down into hell, seemeth to be a question at this present not only profitable, but by all means necessary to be discussed; for in this our age there are evil-disposed persons who have corrupted the pure simplicity of this matter. For you shall find some will say, that the souls departing from the bodies go not by and by the right and ready way to heaven, but that, being as it were taken with a slumbering lethargy, they sleep until the last day of judgment? You shall find other some contending, that souls cannot come into heaven unless they be perfectly purified with cleansing fire, which they call purgatory; as though they were intercepted by pirates and robbers in the midst of their journey, and cast into torments, until either they themselves make satisfaction, or other for them have paid as it were the debt which they had elsewhere borrowed. But both of these things do I deny, and utterly deny: and I affirm that souls do not sleep, neither are they purged by any torments after the death of their body; but are waking and alive, and are forthwith after the death of the body, and even in a moment, either carried into heaven, being freed from all kind of torments, or otherwise cast down into hell.
These sleepy-heads have nothing to allege for this their lethargy or imagination of the sleep of the soul, but that the scripture oftentimes, describing the death of the saints, maketh mention of sleeping and laying to sleep; as, “he fell asleep, and was gathered unto (or laid by) his fathers; “and Paul
[2 Bullinger. adv. Anabapt. Lib. 1v. cap. 10.] [3 Canones Concil. Trident. Sess. xxv. decret. de Purgatorio. ] [ Dormitantii, Lat. See Jerome’s play on Vigilantius’ name.—]
[Hieron. Opp. Tom. 1v. Par. 11. pp. 280, &c. Par. 1706. and Gilly’s Vi-]
[gilantius and his times, pp. 349, 392. Lond. 1844.]]
saith, speaking of those that die, “I would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep.” But even as souls, when they were joined to these frail bodies, never slept, neither could sleep: so being delivered from the burden of the body, they are much less to be thought to sleep. To the body therefore is sleep to be referred. For whosoever dieth in a true faith, he sleepeth in the Lord. And as they that sleep, when their limbs are therewith refreshed, do immediately awake, rise, and labour; even so the body is not altogether extinguished by death, that it should not live again any more, but now verily it 15 received into rest, and at the day of judgment 10 riseth again and liveth. And for this cause holy men are said in the scriptures to sleep, not to die, that thereby the mystery of the resurrection of our flesh may be signified. Which thing these gross-headed men understand not: whereupon they attribute that to the soul which is proper to the body. Other arguments which they bring to confirm their madness are unworthy to be rehearsed: for either they violently wrest the scripture from the natural sense; or else by their corrupt reasoning they gather falsehood out of those things that are false.
But they do err and are no less deceived than these re sleeping doctors, which think that souls departing from their bodies go not by and by the right and ready way into heaven, but are caught in the midst of their journey, and carried into that purgatory fire, wherein they may be purged from the filthy spots of sins which they have gotten in the flesh; and that after they be purged, they are carried by angels into the presence of the most holy God. For either the souls are purged with that purgatory fire from the filth of their sins, or else they are washed and cleansed through the pain and grief of torments which there they do suffer. If sins be purged by virtue of that fire, then it followeth, that sinners are not sanctified by the only blood of the Son of God. But by what scriptures have they proved unto us that this power of purging is given to the fire? Hath God altered his mind and purpose, and set this fire instead of Christ to work our sanctification? Fie for shame! But if for our sufferings and torments’ sake sins are forgiven, then it followeth that we are not purged by the cross and passion of Christ only. Let them teach us out of the scripture, that such worthiness is
attributed by God to our sufferings. But by the only blood and passion of Christ all those are sanctified that be sanctified, whosoever they be. Therefore purgatory is a wicked device of the devil, which darkeneth, yea, and maketh void the cross and merits of Christ. Tor what other thing do they account purgatory but a satisfaction for sins made by the souls separated from their bodies? In the gospel of John there is a question moved by the disciples of John the Baptist, touching the purifying of souls; and John Baptist declareth that the faithful are through Christ purified by faith; which thing he is believed to have testified also by the holy baptism. Moreover, the most excellent apostles do expressly witness, that all the faithful are cleansed by the only blood of Christ, and by his only passion and most sufficient merits. For Peter, who saith in the Acts, Neither is there salvation in any other: for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved;” he, I say, hath written in his first canonical epistle: “Ye know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the immaculate Lamb.” John the apostle also saith: The blood of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, cleanseth us from all sin.” And he again: Christ loved us, and washed us from our sins by his own blood.” And Paul, both to the Ephesians and to Titus, sheweth that we are purified by the only blood of the Son of God. Unto the Hebrews he saith: “By himself hath he purged our sins, and sitteth on the right hand of God in the highest places.” It was not without signification that he said, “By himself,” that he might thereby exclude all other means. For elsewhere he saith thus: “If righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain.” For after the same manner we also do reason: If we be cleansed by purgatory fire, then in vain did Christ shed his blood to purge us; for what needed he to have suffered most grievous punishment, if we could have been cleansed by purgatory fire? Moreover, the whole scripture teacheth us, that Christ is our only satisfaction and propitiation: which thing we have at large shewed in other places!. And therefore souls make no satisfaction in purgatory, unless we will confess that men have no need of Christ.
[1 See Vol. 1. pages 136, 167, Vol. page 200.]
These men do further feign, that the power to purge is given to the fire of purgatory by grace, or by the blood and merits of Christ, and that this fire purgeth not by his own virtue, but by the power of the Son of God!. But they have also forged this most wickedly. For the scripture in every place (as we also said even now) sendeth us back to the Son of God and the price of his blood and cleansing, whereof it teacheth that we are made partakers, while we live in this world, by faith and the Holy Ghost: but of purgatory it speaketh not a word in any place; neither saith it in any place that we by the grace of God are purged in another world. Therefore they steal away the glory which is proper unto the Son of God, and give it to a fire which is altogether forged and blasphemous. I’urthermore, they appoint another time of grace out of this world, which is altogether strange unto the scriptures. For our Lord crieth in the gospel: 41 “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work.” And St Paul saith: “Let us do good,” that is to say, let us be bountiful and liberal towards the poor, while we have time.” Which saying he seemeth to have taken out of Solomon’s book of xi. the Preacher, saying: “When the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth: and when the tree falleth, whether it be toward the south or north, in what place soever it fall, there it remaineth.” He useth two allegories or dark speeches, by the which he teacheth the rich to be liberal. The first is taken from the clouds. The clouds from the earth do gather up vapours, which being thickened are immediately, as out of a sponge, pressed out and poured upon the earth to water it. Let rich men do the like, distributing again among men such riches as they have gotten among men. The second is taken of trees, which being felled lie in the same places in which they fall. The wise man therefore warneth us to do that in due season which we ought to do; for when we are departed from hence, there is no place of repentance. And in the gospel a tree is oftentimes put for a man; where also the right hand is put for heaven or the place of blessedness, as the left hand for hell or the place of damnation. Therefore this is his meaning: When thou art dead, thou shalt remain for ever either in damnation or blessedness. Men’s testimonies are
[1 Alexander Hales. Sum. Theol. Par. quest. 8.]
agreeable to the heavenly. For St Cyprian against Demetrianus saith: When we shall be departed hence, there is then no place of repentance, satisfaction is of no value. Here life is either lost or gotten. Here is provision made for eternal salvation, by the serving of God and the fruit of faith.”
They object again, that souls when they depart from the body are purged indeed by the blood of the Son of God, but not fully; for there remains some filth to be washed away in purgatory? For they depart out of this world not having a full and perfect faith, and therefore they be not altogether good: and again, since they have some faith, they be not altogether evil: and because they are not perfectly good, they cannot enter into heaven; again, since they are not altogether evil, they cannot be damned: and therefore there remaineth a middle place, wherein they may be fully tried? and at the length being purified may be presented into the sight of God. But these men after their manner feign what they list. But we have shewed by the holy scriptures, that the souls of the faithful are purged by the only blood of the Son of God through faith, and not by purgatory. Now will I also shew in that which followeth, that the sins of all men are purified fully, that is to say, most absolutely, by the only sacrifice of Christ; and further, that by the grace of God in the blood of Christ is forgiven in the very instant of death whatsoever infirmity and remnants of sin are behind in the souls of the faithful departing from the body. For the Lord saith in the gospel, “He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” Behold he saith, “He is clean every whit;” that is, washed by the grace of Christ, so that the foulness of the feet, that is to say, the infirmity and imperfection which remaineth after regeneration, cannot bring him again into the number of those that are unclean. Tor the Lord saith again in the gospel, “And for their sakes sanctify I myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” The Lord gave up himself to be a sacrifice for our sins, to the end that we might be sanctified, that is,
[2 See above, p. 114.] [3 Bellarmin. Controv. v1. Lib. 1, cap. viL. col. 1358. Cranmer’s]
[Remains, ed. Parker Soc. p. 181.] [4 excoquantur, Lat.]]
purged from our sins truly, that is to say, fully and most per- fectly. For Paul saith, “For with one offering hath he made perfect for ever them that are sanctified.” Mark, I pray you, the apostle’s words: “Christ with one oblation” (lo, he saith, with one) “hath perfectly sanctified all that are sanctified,” and are made heirs of eternal life. Hereupon we gather: If by the one sacrifice of Christ once offered for us all souls are purified, and that indeed perfectly purified, so that there is nothing wanting to their purifying; what, I pray you, findeth purgatory to purify? Therefore it is a shameless forgery and horrible blasphemy against the merit of the purifying of Jesus Christ the Son of God. If there seem any thing to be diminished or wanting unto the soul now departing, Christ by his grace performeth and maketh it up whilst it is yet in the world. It is a wicked speech and unworthy to be heard among christian people, that by our sufferings in purgatory that is fulfilled which was not as yet fully satisfied! with the blood and passion of Christ: as if our sufferings were better and more effectual than the passion of the Son of God.
These men object unto us the weakness of faith in them that die: and we on the other side object unto them the mercy of God, fully pardoning his faithful people. The father of the lunatic mentioned in the gospel, requiring help of the Lord, heareth: “If thou canst believe” (to wit, that I am able to heal thy son), “all things are possible to him that believeth.” And albeit he felt his faith not altogether perfect, but that therein remained much weakness, yet the help of God was not hindered by the weakness thereof: for because he humbly submitted himself unto the mercy of the Lord, beseeching and saying, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief;” the Lord by and by succoured him, and without delay healed his son. So there is no doubt that the most merciful Lord will fail his faithful people, to whom he hath promised most full forgiveness, acknowledging their weakness in the hour of death, and therefore also calling for the mercy of God; but that upon the instant of the going out of the soul he forthwith perfectly sanctifieth it with his Spirit for Christ’s sake, and beautifieth it with all kind of graces, that, being truly purged from all the filth of sins, it may flee up, and deserve to appear in the presence of God. And this should
[1 expiatum, Lat.]
be beaten into the heads of them that are a dying. For there are extant most large promises of God; there are extant examples of many holy men dying and calling upon God.
~ Furthermore it is certain by those things which we have already alleged, that the death of Christ hath made full satisfaction for sins; so that now there remaineth nothing further to be cleansed with the fire of purgatory. Souls, after the death of the body, do flee the right and ready way into heaven, taking nothing away with them which needeth purging. Therefore that fire of purgatory is nothing else in very deed than a traffic or merchandise of most covetous men, whereby craftily and cunningly they purge the purses, not the souls, both of rich and poor2.
These men by and by under-prop their purgatory building, which is a falling, with two posts. The first is this: They of old (say they) prayed for the salvation of souls separated from the body; therefore there is a purgatory. or since in heaven they have no need of prayers; surely in hell prayers do no good, since in hell is no redemption; truly there is a middle place left wherein souls are kept, unto whom the prayers of the living do good: that place is purgatory#. Thus indeed they reason, howbeit imagining all things of their own heads, without the authority of the scriptures. But this is that they have to say, that they of old prayed for the dead. I know what Augustine, that famous doctor of the church, what Chrysostom, that golden-mouthed man, and other ancient and notable men have left written touching this matter. But I ask the question, Whether that which they did were well done? For not all things which the holy fathers said and did (who oftentimes have suffered something of man’s invention) are absolutely to be allowed or followed. Those things are not to be allowed and followed, which are set down by them against the decrees of the scripture, (which thing they themselves unfeignedly confess;) but those things only which
[2 Tyndale’s Exposit. ed. Parker Soc. pp. 161-163. Answer to More,]
[p-146. Doctr. Treat. pp. 244, 303, 318. Sermons of Latimer, p. 50.] [3 ex inferis, Lat.] [2 Thomas Aquinas contra Gentiles. Lib. 1v. cap. 91. Bellarmin.]
[disput. de Controversiis, Lib. 1. cap. 5. Controv. vI.] (> See Confutation of Unwritten Verities. Cranmer’s Remains, &ec.]
[ed. Parker Soc. chap. 11. pp. 22-36.]]
are uttered and confirmed by the authority of holy scriptures, which largely and plainly contain whatsoever is necessary to be known in the doctrine of godliness. But thou canst find nothing in them of prayer for the dead. For that which some allege out of the second book of Maccabees proveth nothing; for that book is not canonical: which thing it behoved them to have learned long since even out of Hierome!. They add, That prayer for the dead is an unwritten tradition of the apostles? 1 hear them; but I know well enough that the unwritten traditions of the apostles are not contrary to their written doctrines. I know well enough that the written doctrines of the apostles no where command prayers for the dead, and in no place allow them. When Paul the apostle exhorted the Thessalonians to moderation in lamenting 1Thess.iv. for the dead, the time being then very fit and most convenient to give commandment concerning offering of prayers for the souls of the dead, if he had thought them any whit profitable and necessary; yet notwithstanding he maketh no manner mention of them, yea rather, he simply teacheth what they ought to believe touching the souls of the faithful being separated from their bodies, namely, that they live in everlasting blessedness with Christ, waiting and looking for the resurrection of their bodies’. But who cannot see that this certainty and plainness of the apostle’s doctrine is entangled and perilously shaken with this feigned apostolic tradition? For if we believe in Christ, let us believe his words and promises. He himself said that he is the resurrection and life of the faithful, and that the souls of the believing even immediately upon the death of the body do escape and pass into life. Τῇ (I say) we believe these most true words of the Lord, why then do we, as yet being careful for the salvation of the souls of the dead, pray and make
[1 Machabzeorum libros legit quidem ecclesia, sed inter canonicas]
[scripturas non recipit.—Hieron. Pref. in Prov. Solom. Opp. Tom. 1.]
[fol. 939. Par. 1693. See also Bp. Cosin’s Scholast. Hist. of Canon of]
[Script. Chap. vi. ὃ 71. p. 72. Lond. 1683. Fulke’s Defence, &ec. ed.]
[Parker Soc. p. 24. Remains of Abp. Grindal, p. 23.] [2 Bellarmin. Controv. 1. Lib. 1v. cap. 7. col. 164. Controv. vi.]
[Lib. 11. cap. 16. col. 1404. Jewel’s Defence of Apology, ed. Parker]
[Soe. p. 559.] [3 mortem suorum, Lat.; the death of their brethren.] [1 Cf. Sermons of Abp. Sandys, ed. Parker Soc. p. 163.]]
supplication for them, as though they had not yet obtained salvation? ΒΥ these our prayers truly we give a manifest proof that we doubt of our faith, and hope not after that, as concerning the salvation of our souls, which we do both profess with tongue, and which also the words of Christ and the apostles command us to hope after. The stedfast faith truly and assured hope of those that believe and stay themselves upon the promises of Christ do forbid us here to take and wear black mourning-garments in offerings for the dead, whose souls we believe to have already put on white garments: they forbid us to give occasion either to unbelievers, or to weaklings in faith, of reprehending us worthily, because we mourn and lament for them who we say do live with God, as if they were cast into hell-fire, and busily set ourselves awork with making humble prayers unto God to deliver the miserable souls out of torments; that is to say, because the faith, which we profess with tongue and voice, we condemn by the testimony of our heart and mind, yea, and of our outward works. If we go on after this sort, truly we are double-dealers in our hope and in our faith, The things which we speak seem to be dissembled, false, and feigned. For it availeth nothing in words to vaunt of virtue, and with deeds to destroy truth. Therefore let him that will receive this tradition (as they call it) of the apostles, touching the offering of prayers for the faithful departed: as for me, I mean to receive nothing repugnant to true faith and disagreeing from the apostles’ doctrine, neither do I persuade any man to receive such vanity.
This also I cannot choose but tell you, that that which they call the tradition of the apostles St Augustine calleth the tradition of the fathers received of the church. For in his sermon, de verbis Apostoli, 32, he saith: “This which the fathers delivered the whole church observeth; to wit, that prayers should be made for them in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, when they in their own place are rehearsed at the very sacrifice, and the same is mentioned to be offered for them also%.” And again, de Cura pro Mortuis gerenda, cap. 4,
[5 in ignes, Lat.; hell, not in Lat.] [6 Hoc enim a patribus traditum universa observat ecclesia, ut pro]
[eis qui in corporis et sanguinis Christi communione defuncti sunt, cum]
[ad ipsum sacrificium loco suo commemorantur, oretur, ac pro illis]
he saith: Supplications or prayers for the souls of the dead are not to be neglected, which the church hath received to be made for all that be departed in the christian brotherhood; not rehearsing them by name, but in a general remembrance of them altogether!” Thus far he: who though in some place he stretch the traditions of the apostles very far, yet by these words this seemeth more expressly to be his meaning; that this rite or order of praying for the dead was delivered to the church by the fathers, and doubtless many years after the apostles’ time was received of the church. The same Augustine defendeth in more places than one, that the receiving of the eucharist, or sacrament of the Lord’s supper, is as necessary for infants being new come forth of their mother’s womb to the attaining of salvation, as the sacrament of baptism. The chief and notable places, wherein he handleth that matter, are in his first book against Julianus Pelagianus, &c., and in his first book de Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione, against the Pelagians? Neither doth he urge that opinion with less earnestness than the tradition, because that was received and very usual in the church in that age. But who at this day receiveth that ceremony as apostolical? Who seeth not that those good fathers, otherwise most faithful pastors, in that thing suffered some invention of man? The written doctrine of St Paul deserveth at this day more to be esteemed than that ancient tradition of the church. Paul writeth: “Let every man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup.” Whereby all men understand that the eucharist, or sacrament of the Lord’s supper, is for them to receive that are of perfect age, and not for infants. For that cause it was lawful for our elders to forsake that tradition, and to draw more near to the seripture. Let them therefore in this matter give us leave also to depart from the uncertain tradition of the fathers, and to cleave to the most assured faith and doctrine of the apostles.
[quoque id offerri commemoretur.—August. de Verbis Apost. Serm.]
[xxx11. Opp. Tom. x. fol. 84. col. 1. Par. 1532.] [1 Non sunt preetermittendse supplicationes pro spiritibus mortu-]
[orum, quas faciendas pro omnibus in Christiana et catholica societate]
[defunctis, etiam tacitis nominibus quorumque sub generali commemo-]
[ratione, suscepit ecclesia.—Id. Tom. 1v. fol. 200, col. 2.] [3 Id. Tom. vin. fol. 192, &c., and fol. 134, &e. Par. 1532.]]
But Arius (say they) was condemned for this cause, for that he believed prayers were unprofitable for the dead. ΠΥ know indeed that Zrius was condemned, neither do 1 take upon me to defend him, whom Phylastrius, Epiphanius, and Augustine do make mention to have been an Arian, and a man polluted with other foul errors’. But touching prayers for the dead, whether they be profitable or unprofitable, there is no doubt that they are catholics and not heretics, who believe that which is delivered and set down in the Apostles’ creed: for according to the tradition of this creed we believe the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of this flesh, and life everlasting. They which believe these things obtain undoubtedly whatsoever they believe. For the Lord said to the Centurion: “Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.” Therefore whosoever believeth forgiveness of sins and life everlasting hath obtained forgiveness of sins, and surely he shall live in everlasting life. Which thing, if that be true, as it cannot be false, which is delivered unto us in the Apostles’ creed, what place, I pray you, shall prayers have for the dead? For the dead have their sins forgiven them: therefore all lets and delays unto life are taken away, and so they live with God. But they which have not believed have retained and kept their sins still, and, being cast down into the bottomless lake, stick fast in the mire of hell. Which things since they are so of a certainty, truly there is no use of praying for the dead, neither before God, nor among the faithful. Hereunto are annexed so many examples of the saints in both the Testaments, which are to be preferred both before traditions and condemnations of men. Which, I pray you, of the holy fathers ever prayed for their dead? Did Adam pray for his Abel? Did the sons pray for their father Adam? What prayers did Abraham offer to God for the soul of his father Thare, or for the soul of his most dear wife Sara? What prayers poured Esau and Jacob forth for their father Isaac when he died? the twelve sons of Israel for Jacob? Salo-
[3 Bellarmin. Controv. vi. Lib. 1. cap. 2. col. 1325.] [ S.Philastrii Lib. de Heres. p. 491. 44. Vet. Pat. Biblioth. Tom.]
[vil. Ven. 1670. Epiphan. adv. Heres. Lib. mr. Tom. 1. ὁ 1. p. 905.]
[Opp. Tom. 1, Par. 1622. August. Opp. Tom. v1. fol. 6. col. 1. Par.]
[1532.]]
mon for David? In the new Testament John Baptist is beheaded of Herod, Stephen stoned of the Jews, James his head is cut off by the shoulders at the commandment of Agrippa; their disciples bury their bodies, and do all things religiously belonging to their burials: but in so many funerals there is no mention made of prayer for the souls of the dead; for they believed that they forthwith after death were carried into everlasting life. Who then after so many notable examples, and after so clear profession of the catholic and sincere faith, can tie us to the necessity of praying for the souls of the dead? Who can say hereafter that we are heretics, who fulfil that in work which we profess in profession of faith or confession of the mouth; yea, which do no other thing than the most excellent worshippers of God of both Testaments have done before us?
The last post, wherewith they underprop their purgatory, lest it should fall, is the appearing of spirits. For Rabanus, a bishop, sheweth out of the testimonies of pope Gregory and reverend Beda, that the souls of dead men have very often appeared, and taught that oblations and prayers do profit them very much? But I wonder that men of learning would ground their work upon so rotten and ruinous foundations; for the Lord in the law forbiddeth to ask the truth of the spirits or souls of the dead. In the Prophets we are sent i from such oracles to the law and the testimony. In Luke the rich glutton crieth in torments, and saith: “I pray thee, father Abraham, that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, that he may witness unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” But he heareth: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” But when the rich glutton had answered, “No, father Abraham; but if one come unto them from the dead, they will believe and repent; he heareth again, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe,
[1 Bellarmin. disput. de Controversiis. Controv. v1. Lib. 1. cap. 7. Ϊ]
[coll. 1361, 2, 1375, 1384, 1590. Magdeb. Centur. Cent. ν πὶ. cap. 13.]
[col. 498. Vol. 11. Cent. X. cap. 14. col. 385. Cent. x11. cap. 13. col. 886.]
[Vol. nr. Basil. 1624.] [2 Rabani Mauri de Instit. Cleric. Lib. 1m. cap. 44. Tom. vr. fol. Ϊ]
[27 col. 1. Col. Agrip. 1626.] [3 believe and, not in Lat.] i]
if one rise from death.” Therefore it is most certain, and confirmed by the authority of the gospel, that blessed souls? are not sent of God unto us to teach us any thing, Who, I pray you, would give ear to wicked and condemned souls? The gospel of Christ sendeth us all to the canonical scripture. Whereupon it followeth, that the testimonies which are fetched from oracles or appearings of the spirits of the dead are of no weight, but most deceivable and full of lying.
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