Part II, chapters 4–6: Testimonies out of the vvorde of God, that neither the soules of the faithfull; and following chapters

CHAP. IIII. Testimonies out of the vvorde of God, that neither the soules of the faithfull, nor of infidels, do vvalke vppon the earth after they are once par[…]ed from their bodies.

NOw yt the soules neither of ye faithful nor of infidels do wāder any lōger on ye earth, whē they be once seuered from the bodies, I wil make it plain & euident vnto you by these reasons folowing. First certain it is, yt such as depart hēce, either die in faith, or in vnbeléef. Touching those yt go hēce in a right beléef, their soules ar by & by in possessiō of life euerlasting, & they yt depart in vnbeléef, do streight way becō partakers of eternal damnation. The souls do not vanish away & die wt the body, as ye Epicures opinion is, neither yet be in euery place, as som do imagin: touching this matter I wil allege pithie & manifold testimonies out of the holy scripture, out of which alone this question may & ought to be tried & discussed. Our sauior Christ Iesus which could well iudge of these misteries, in the .3. of Iohn saith: So God loued the world, yt he wold giue his only begottē son, yt who so beleueth on him, shold not perish, but haue life euerlastīg. For god sēt not his son into ye world to cōdemn ye world: but yt ye world by him might be saued. He yt beleueth in him is not cōdemned, & he yt beleueth not is cōdemned alredy, bicause he beleued not in ye name of ye only begottē son of god. And in ye .5. of Iohn he saith: Uerily verily I say vnto you: he yt heareth my word, & beleueth on him yt sent me, hath euerlasting life, & shal not come into iugemēt or cōdemnation, but hath passed alredy frō deth to life: he doth not say yt his sins shold first be purged in purgatorie. And in ye .6. cha. he saith: This is ye wil of him yt sent me, that euery one yt séeth the son, and beléeueth on him, should haue life euerlasting. and I will raise him vp at the last day againe: verily I say vnto you, he that beleueth on me hathe life euerlasting. In ye .14. of Iohn also our Lord & sauior Christ Iesus saith, yt he wil take vs vp to himself, yt where he is, there shuld we be also. &c. When Christe sent forth his disciples to publish his gospel in ye .x. of Math. he said vnto thē: Go ye into ye whole world, & preach the gospel to euery creature: he yt beleueth & is baptized, shalbe saued, and he yt beleueth not shalbe cōdemned, & in ye 5. ch. of ye 2. to ye Corin. ye apostle S. Paule saith: we knowe yt if the earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed, we haue a building of god, yt is, a house not made wt hāds, but eternal in ye heauēs. &c. By these places it may be euidently gathered, yt the soules of ye faithfull are taken vp into eternall ioy: & the soules of ye vnfaithfull assoone as they are departed frō their bodies are condēned to perpetual tormēt. And yt this is done streightway after death, may be perceyued by ye words yt Christ spake to the théefe on the crosse, when he hoong on his right hand: This day shalt thou be wt me in paradise. And in the 14 chap. of ye apocalips it is writtē, & I hard a voice yt said vnto me write blessed are ye dead yt dye in ye lord [non-Latin script] .i. amodo, as ye old trāslatiō redeth, yt is by & by, out of hād without delay. Steuē in ye very point whē he loked to be stoned, cried, lord Iesu receiue my spirit. He douted nothing, but was assuredly persuaded yt his soul shold straightway be trāslated to eternal ioy. Paule in ye .j. chap. of his epist. to ye Philip. sayth: I desire to be losed, or I couet to depart hence, & to be with Christ. Here is no mētiō at al made of purgatory, in which ye soules shold be first purged. If thou wilt here obiect yt the persons afore aleged wer saints & martirs, we say farther ye Paradyse was opened also to the théef, assoone as he became repentant. And that the soules both of the faithfull & vnfaithful, which presently after their death are translated to heauē or hel, do not returne thence into the earth before the day of the last iudgement, may wel be perceiued by ye parable of the rich man clothed in purple, & Lazarus, as we read in the .xvj. of Luke For whē the rich man prayed Abraham that he would sende Lazarus vnto him, to coo[…]e his tong, Abraham gaue him this aunswer: Betwixt thée and vs, there is a great gulfe set, so that they which wold goe hence (from Abrahams bosome) to you (in Hell) can not: neyther can they come from thence to vs. And when he be sought him, that he would sende Lazarus to his fathers house to admonishe his fiue brethren, least they also should come into that place of torment: he sayd vnto him: They haue Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. And again: If they heare not Moyses & the Prophets, neither wil they beleue though one rose agayne frō the dead.

CHAP. V. Testimonies of the auncient fathers, that deade mens soules parted from theyr bodyes, dooe not vvander here vpon earth.

THis matter was also thus vnderstoode by the holy and auncient Fathers. For Augustine in his .xviij. Sermon De verbis Apostoli, hathe, that there bée two mansions, the one in euerlasting fyre, the other in the euerlasting kyngdome.

And in his .xxviij. chapter of his first booke, De peccatorum meri[…]is & remissione contra Pelagianos, in the seuēth tome of his works, he sayth: Neyther can any man haue any middle or meane place, so that he maye be any other where than with the diuell, who is not with Christ.

And in his notable worke de ciuitate Dei, the .xiij. booke and .viij. chapter he sayth: The soules of the godly so soone as they be seuered from their bodies be in rest, & the soules of the wicked in torment, vntill the bodies of the one bée raysed vnto lyfe, and the other vnto euerlastyng deathe, which in scripture is called the second death.

Iustine also an auncient father, writeth in Responsione ad Orthodoxos quest. 75. that the difference of the iust & vniust, doth appeare euen as soone as the soule is departed from the body. For they are caried by the angels into such places as are fit for them: that is, the soules of the iust are brought vnto Paradyse, where they haue the fruition of the sighte and presence of Angels, and Archangels: and moreouer the […]ight of our sauior Christ, as it is conteined in that saying, whiles we are straungers from the body, we are at home with God. And the soules of the vnrighteous on the other side, are caried to Hell, as it is sayde of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: Hell is troubled vnder thée, being ready to méete thée. &c. And so till the day of resurrection and rewarde, are ethy reserued in suche places as are méetest for them.

Saint Hillarie in the ende of his exposition of the second Psalme writeth: that mens soules are straight way after death, made partakers of rewards or punishments.

And touching the soules of the old Patriarks, that dyed before the natiuitie of Christ, Austin, Hierom, Nazianzen, and other holy Fathers teache, that God in certain places by him chosen out for that purpose, hath preserued the soules of all those that are departed from this lyfe in the true faith of the Messias to come, in suche sort that they feele no gréefe, but yet are depriued of the sight of God. This place they call Abrahams bosom, and hell (for Hell doth not always betoken a place of tormente, but also generally the state that soules are in after this lyfe.) And that our lord Iesus Christ did visite and release them, and when he ascended, caried them with himselfe into heauen. Albeit certain of the fathers, as Ireneus, Tertullian, Hilarie, & others, think that they shal at the last day ascend to heauē. Some also there be of our tyme which maintaine this fonde opinion, that the soules sléep, vntil ye day of the last iudgement, in which they shalbe again coupled with their bodies: but this assertion hath no groūd in holy scripture, of the which point diuers haue entreated. But especially Iohn Caluin that worthy seruaunt of God in a proper treatise that hée wrote of the same matter, in which he doth learnedly confute their reasons that maintein the contrary opinion.

Wherfore sith holy scriptures, as the Fathers vnderstand & interprete them, teache that the soules of men, as soone as they departe from the bodies, do ascende vp into heauen if they were godly, descende into hell if they were wicked and faithlesse, and that there is no thirde place in which soules should be deliuered, as it were out of prison, & that soules cā neither […]e reclaimed out of heauen or hell. Hereby it is made euident, that they cānot wander on the earth, & desire aide of mē. For first the soules of the blyssed néed no aide or help y[…] men cā giue them: & on the other side, the damned sort can no way be releued: the which S. Ciprian the martir in his oration against Demetriā, dothe plainly witnesse in these words: whē we be once departed out of this world, ther is afterward no place left for repē tāce, no way to make satisfactiō: here life is either woon or lost, & so forth. Albeit ye testimonies alredy alleged on this point of doctrin, may wel suffise those that loue the truth, & are desirous to come to the knowledge therof: yet to increase the nūber, I wil recite other testimonies also out of ye fathers, to proue manifestly, yt the soules departed, do not again return, & wander on the earth, so that all they which haue not yet stopped their cares that the truth myght not pierce & enter into them, may euidētly perceiue, that those ancient tymes taught a far better doctrine of those spirits & ghosts, than other later tymes vnder poperi[…] haue cōmended & allowed. Tertullian a very auncient writer, in the end of his booke De anima, sayth, the soules do not any longer abide on the earth, after they be once loosed from their bodies: & that neither by their own accord, nor other mens cōmandement, they do wāder at all after they haue descended into hel, but he sayth, that euil spirits do vse this kinde of deceyt, to fayne themselues to be the soules of suche as are deceassed. And that Hell is not open to any soule, that it should afterward at any time depart thence, Christ our Lord in the parable of the poore man that was in rest, and the riche glutton that was in torment, doth playnely ratifie vnder the person of Abraham, that there can be no mā sent back to shew or tel ought of the state of hell. And albeit the fathers haue noted certain errors and scapes in Tertullian, yet ther was neuer any that reproued him for this opinion. Athanasius in his booke of questiōs the .xiij. question, doth giue a reason wherfore God wil not suffer y[…] any soul decessed, shuld return vnto vs, & declare what the state of things is in hel, & what great misery is there: hereby (saith he) many errors wold easily spring vp among vs: for many diuels might so take on them the shape of men, & be trāsformed into the likenesse of the dead, & say, that they arose frō the dead, and so publish many lying tales, & false opinions of things there don, therby to seduce and hurt vs. Weigh these words of Athanasius I pray thée.

Sainct Chrysostome in his nynetéenth Homilie on the eight chapter of sainct Mathews Gospell, hath in maner the same woordes, for hée moueth thys question: Why suche as were possessed with Spirites, lyued in graues? Therefore (sayeth he) they abode there, to put this false opinion in mens heads, that those persons soules whyche by violent death departed, were turned into Dyuels, & so dyd seruice vnto witches and soothsayers. The which opinion the diuell first broughte in, thereby to diminishe the Martyrs prayse and glorie, that so the Sorcerers mighte […]lea those persons, whose wicked trauell & help they vsed, & those matters saith he, ar far from truth. For he proueth by the Scripture, that the spirites of the godly are not vnder the power of the Diuels, nor yet do stray abroade after deathe: then that they woulde retourne vnto theyr owne bodyes, if they myghte wander whether they lusted. And further if they dydde any seruice too theyr Murderers, by that meanes they should at their handes receyue a reward for an yll déede and displeasure. By natural reason also it can not come to passe, that a mās body should be turned into an other body, and therfore also the spirite of a man can not be chaunged into a deuill.

But among other things which proprely belong to our purpose, he sayth: If we heare a noyse that sayth, I am suche a soule, we muste thus thinke, that thys talke procedeth of some sleight and subtiltie of the deuill, and that it is not the soule of the dead body that speketh these things, but the Deuill that deuiseth them to deceyue the hearers. And by and by he sayeth, that these are to be counted olde wiues words, or rather doting fooles toyes to mocke children withall. For the soule when it is parted from the body cannot walke any longer in these parties. For the soules of the iust are in the hands of God. And on the other side, the soules of the wicked after their departure hence, are straightway lead aside and withdrawne frō vs, which may euidently be séene by Lazarus & the rich man. And in another place also the Lorde sayth: This day will they take thy soule from thée, wherefore the soule cannot here wander when it is departed from the body.

A little afterwarde he addeth, that it may be proued out of many places of scripture, that the soules of the iust doo not here wander after death. For Steuen saide, Lorde receiue my Spirit, and Paule desired to be loosed and to departe hence, and to be with Christ.

Also the scripture, as touching the patriarks death, vseth this phrase, he is layde vnto his fathers, growen vp vnto a good olde age. And that the soules of sinners and wicked men cannot after their departure here abide any longer, we may learne by the riche mans words, if we will wey and consider with our selues what he demaunded & coulde not obteine. For if after death mens soules might any longer haue their conuersation here on earth, no doubte the riche man him selfe woulde haue retourned as his desire was, and certified his friends of hell torments. Out of which place of scripture it is most cleare, that soules immediatly vpon their departure from their body, are caried vnto a certein place, whence they cannot of themselues returne, but néeds must wait there for that terrible daye of iudgement.

Also in his secōd homily of Lazarus, amōg other things he saith, It is most playne not only by that we haue before rehearsed, but also by this parable, that soules parted from the body, haue their abiding here no longer, but are forthwith lead away. For it came to passe (saith he) that he died, and was caried away by the Angels. And not only the soules of the iust, but of the vniust and wicked are hence lead away, & caried to their proper places, which doth euidently appeare, by another rich man, of which mē tion is made in the 12. of Luke, to whome the Lorde said: Thou foole this night will they take thy soule from thée.

And in hys fourthe homily of Lazarus he plainly teacheth that we should giue more credite to holy Scripture, than to one that came from the dead, or an Angell from Heauen. Herewithall he also sheweth that the dead do not only make no apperance vnto men liuing, but yeldeth reasons wherfore they do not returne hither, in these words. If god had knowen that the dead being raised might haue profited the liuing, he would neuer haue let passe so great a benefite, who otherwise dothe giue and prouide vs all things profitable.

Furthermore he addeth, that if it were requisite still to raise vp dead men, to make relation vnto vs of such things as there are done, this no doubt in continuaunce of time would haue bin neglected: and so the Diuell very easily would haue broched and brought in damnable opinions into the world. For he might often haue made counterfeit sights or suborne suche as should fayne their selues to be dead and buried and by & by to present themselues before men, as if they had bin in déede raised from death, and by suche manner of persons might so haue bewitched simple soules, that they would beleue whatsoeuer he would haue. For if now when there is in déede no such thing, the vayn dreames as it were of men decessed, that haue bin shewed to mē in sleep, haue deceyued, peruerted & destroyed many: surely much sooner wold the same haue fallen out, if it had bin a thing truly done, & this opiniō had preuailed in mens heads. For if many dead persons had retourned backe again into this life, the wicked spirit the diuell would easily haue deuised many sleights & wiles, & brought in much deceit into ye life of mā. And therfore god hath cleane shut vp this dore of deceit, & not permitted any dead mā to returne hither & shewe what things be done in ye other life, least ye diuell might gredely catch this occasion to plant his fraudulēt policies. For whē ye prophets were, he raised vp false prophets: when the Apostles were, he stirred vp false Apostles: and whē Christ appeared in flesh, he sent hither false Christs or Antechrists: And when sincere & sound doctrin was taught, he brought into ye world corrupt & damnable opiniōs, sowing tares whersoeuer he came. And therfore although it had come to passe, that dead mē shold return again, yet wold he haue counterfeited ye same also by his instruments, by some fained raising of the dead through the blinding & bewitching of mens eyes: or otherwise by suborning of some whiche should feine themselues to be dead (as I said before) he would haue turned al things topsituruie and vtterly haue confounded them. But god who knoweth all things, hath stopped his way, that he should not thus deceyue vs, and of his great mercy towards vs, hath not permitted that at any time any shold returne frō thēce & tel vnto mē liuing, such things as there are done, héerby to instruct vs that we shold be of this opinion & iudgemēt, yt the scriptures oughte to be beleued before other things whatsoeuer, bycause that God in them hath most clerely taught vs the doctrine of the last resurrection. Further, by them he hath conuerted the whole world, banished error, brought in truth, and cōpassed al these things by vile & base fishers, and finally in them hath giuē vs euery where plentifull argumentes of his diuine prouidence. &c.

S. Cyril in his .xi. booke & .36. chap. vpon S. Iohns gospell saith: We ought to beleue, yt when the soules of holy men are gone away from the bodies, they are commended vnto the goodnesse of God, as into the handes of a most déere father, & yt they do not abide in the earth, as some of the heathens beleued, vntil such time as they abhorred their graues: neither that they are caried as the soules of wycked men, vnto a place of excéeding tormēt, which is hel, Christ hauing first prepared this iorney for vs, but that they rather mount vp aloft into their heauenly fathers hands. &c.

And in the Popes canon law, causa. 13. quaest. 2. Fatendū, we read, that many do beleue that some come from ye dead to the liuing: euen as on the other side holy Scripture doth witnesse that Paule was caught vp from the liuing into paradise. Uppon these words the glose saith that some doe in dede so beleue, but falsly, sith they be but fansies & vayne imaginations, as it is in causa. 26. quaestione. 5. Episcopi.

What farther may be saide to those men that knowe these things, and neuerthelesse do beleue that soules stray in ye earth, I knowe not: & yet that I may lay out al things plainly, I wil here confute their chiefest arguments.

CHAP. VI. A confutation of those mennes argumentes or reasons, vvhiche affirme, that dead mens soules do appeare: And firste that is aunsvvered vvhiche certaine doe alleage, to vvitte, that God is omnipotent, and therfore that he can vvoorke contrary to the ordinary course of nature.

FIrst our aduersaries do lay against vs, yt by the vsual & cōmon course of things, the souls of the godly abide in heauē, & the soules of the wicked in hell, vntil ye last day, & do not walk at all: but yet yt god may dispence wt them to appere here somtimes, therby to instruct & admonish vs: And then Samuel did appere after his death vnto king Saule: & Moses also which forsooke this life many yeres before: Likewise Elias, who was taken vp into heauen in a fyrie charet, appered vnto Christ our sauior & his iij. disciples, whō he toke wt him at his transfiguratiō in ye mount. Lazarus also of Bethanie, returned from death into ye earth, and many other also wer raysed from death by Christ, his apostles, and prophets.

Farther they alledge this, yt Christs apostles beleued, yt the spirit or soule either of Christ, (as some of the fathers vnderstand it) or of some other person did appere vnto thē. Besides to proue this matter, they alledge places out of ye fathers, decrées of councels, & the cōmon report yt hath ben bruted of those yt returned frō the dead. To al these resons by Gods assistance, we will briefly and orderly answere.

As touching y[…] first obiection, yt al things are possible vnto God, we denie it not. We graunt then that God can bring soules out of heauen or hel, & vse their trauaile & seruice to instruct, cōfort, admonish & rebuke men. But for yt no text or example is found in holy scripture, that euer any soules came from ye dead, which did so scoole & warn men: or yt the faithful learned or sought to vnderstande any thing of the soules deceassed, we cānot allow ye sequele of their reason. We may not of gods almightie power inferre cōclusions to our plesure. For this is a principle holdē in scholes, yt the reson doth not truly folow, yt is set frō the power of doing, to the dead done. For God doth nothing against himself, or his word writē, to warrāt their reson: they shold first haue proued, that it was gods wil, y[…] soules shold return into the erth: for so do holy fathers intreat of gods almighty power.

Tertulliā against Praxias saith: Truly I neuer thought that any thing was hard to be done of God, we may faine of God what wée liste, as if he had done the same, bicause he is able to doo it. But we must not beléeue that God hathe therefore done all things, because he is able to doo them. But first we ought to make inquirie whether he hath done them.

S. Ambrose in his sixte booke of epistles and 37. epistle writeth vnto Cromatius in this wise: Therefore what is there vnpossible vnto him? Not that thing whiche is hard to his power, but that which is contrary to his nature. It is vnpossible for him to lye, and this impossibilite in hym procedeth not of infirmitie, but of vertue and maiestie. For truth receyueth no lye, neither doth the vertue of God enterteine the vanitie of errour. Reade farther that whiche followeth in the same place.

Hierom writing to Eustochia of the preseruing of hir virginitie, saith: I will boldly auouch this one thing, that though God can do all things, yet can he not restore a virgin after hir fall.

Augustine in the tenth chapter of his fifth booke De ciuitate dei hath: That God is saide to be omnipotent in doing that he will, and not in doing that he will not. Againe he addeth: Gods power is not herby any whit diminished, when we say, that god cannot die or be deceyued. And immediatly, therefore he cannot do some things bycause he is omnipotent &c.

Thodoret also teacheth vs, that it may not absolutely without exception be pronounced, that all things are possible vnto God. For who so doth precisely affirme thys, dothe in effecte say this muche, that all things both good and bad are possible vnto God &c. Wherefore féeble is that obiection of theirs: God can sende soules vnto men to teache and admonish them: therefore these spirits that praye ayde be soules that come out of Heauen or Hell. In the meane time we do not denie the power of God, as some do maliciously report of vs: but we wold not haue the same made a denne or couert of errours.

Heare what the Lorde our God in the .18. of Deuteronomie speaketh: When thou shalte come into the lande whiche the Lorde thy God giueth thée, doo not thou learne to doo after their abhominable rites, and vsages of those nations. Let none bée founde among you, that maketh hys sonne or his daughter to passe through the fire: nor a diuiner that dooth forshew things to come, nor a Sorcerer, nor a witche, nor a charmer, nor one that consulteth with spirits, nor an inchanter, nor a Magitian, nor one that raiseth vp the dead. For the Lorde dothe abhorre all that doo such things: and bicause of these abhominations the Lord thy God hath caste them out before thée. Be thou therfore sound and perfecte before the Lorde thy God: and by and by he promiseth to send them that great Prophet whome they shoulde heare.

In the .viij. of Esay, it is written: If they say vnto you, inquire of them which haue a spirite of diuination, whiche whisper and murmure softely in youre eares to deceyue you. Should not euery people or nation enquire at their God? what shall they go from the liuing to the dead? Let them goe vnto the lawes testimonie, suche as haue no light, should they not speake according to this word, which who so should contemne shal be hardened and hunger. &c. Héereby we do vnderstand, that vnder a greate penaltie God hath precisely forbidden, that we shoulde learne and searche out any thing of the dead. He alone woulde be taken for our sufficient schoolemaster. In the Gospell wée read: They haue Moses and the Prophets, let them heare them. Unto these may be added testimonies out of the Apostles writings, that God doth not send vs soules hither to informe vs. The common and ordinarie way whereby it pleaseth God to deale with vs, is his word. Therwithal should we content our selues, and not wayte for newe reuelations, or receyue any thing that dooth not in all pointes agrée therwith. But as touching this matter, we wil speake more in his proper place.