Book I.

Of i he Immortality of the Soul ,
N
How far we may leik into Cods [cents.
Rom. xi.
/ « f.j
x eor. i J.
flow jj [halt be raifed.
A fmile from fanning.
A Simile from the nature of things.
A Phoenix h a type of the re* [urreftioth
their induftryand endeavour is not to be difallowed, who bring fober rcafons, whereby they may root out of home mens minds that errour, who defpife the tefiimeny of Scripture, and will not believe the Immortality of the Soul, and the Reiurre&ion of the Body. I think it not good in other things to feek too curioufly in¬ to Gods Secrets ^ and the Scriptures do retrain humane rafh- nefle, that would venture to fearch out fuch things God hath con¬ cealed, and to enter fo deep, from whence they cannot eafily re¬ turn. joby EfdraSy and chiefly Pauly have given us rules concerning this, who was gone fo far, that he was forced t q cry out ; Q the depth of the riches of the wifdome and knowledge of God 1 how unfe arch- able are hts “judgments , and his wayes pajt finding out ! for who hath known the wind of the Lord l or who hath been hts Counftllour I for by hirrty and through him , and to him are all things.
Moreover that no man might fuller himfedf to be drawn off from this folid foundation , on which all man’s hope refts, and the ftrength of hisfalvation turns upon it, Paul doth ft ifly urge and in¬ culcate the relurre&ion, which both comprehends the immorta¬ lity of the Soul, and exprefleth the beliefc, certainty, reafon, and manner of it, borrowing a fimilitude from the nature of things. For Nature, the Artificer of all things, which cannot be imitated, and that no man can exactly exprefie or refemble the force of it, doth bring forth, and make many things which fhew Gods omni¬ potence in all things, and declare his venue and power in framing and fafhioning the images of things. And if nun admire a man forfome rare pi dure drawn by him, or fome curious piece of work, as he of Gades did, when he had ended Lizy his Hiftory : how much more reafon is there to admire and adore him, who hath fet fuch wonderfull rarities before our eyes, which wc can neiiher number, nor underftand ? For that the refurredion of mans body may be proved by the fmalleft things in Nature 5 who hath not obferved that when a Grafhoppcr is grown old, and hath call his skin, a lively new fhril infed wil come forth of ir,from a dying and lluggifh Caterpillar comes out a painted and flying Butterfly, from Ants a winged flie ? What doth the Silk-worm that weaves Silk, doth it not give us to underftand the Refurredion, when as being dead it revives again ?
The PhoenixjthatX^H^r/w writes in praife ©f, doth it not by reviving, fhew us an example of our nfing again? Doth not the pleafantneftc of the Spring, and the acceptable return of the year, reprefent the Refurredion ? andraifeour minds to hope for im¬ mortality ? Who is not delighted to fee the nature of the Earth ? Which when fhe hath received the feed Town, and the rain bath foftned it, firft it muft be harrowed, then it grows warm, and by the vapours and foftering of the ground, it grows up into a green blade, which being fed by the fibres of the roots, grows up by degrees, and lifting up a knotted ftalk, begins to be fhutup in the cods, as growing nearer to be ripe, and when it comes forth of them, it feads forth corn in full eats, which is defended from fmall
birds
Ctiap. 14. and certainty of the Refurreftion.
birds wicn a knee of ears. I pafle over the force of all things that gro v out ot the earth, for from a little kernel of a Fig, from a Grjpcttone, and from the (mailed feeds of other plants, we fee huge Trte^ and boughs, and roots, to grow: Do not fprigs, plants, roots, branches, fciences, buds, do that which will make the Rwfurrcdion of mans body feetn to be no abfurdity? Cbryfo- ftotneat cT luiiy dot 1 wonderfully enlarge upon this admirable fer e of N iture, and Highly commends the Earth, that is the Mo¬ ther of all tilings. For the life of all things is from the rhoyfture of the E irth : Herbs, Trees, all forts of flowers, admirable in their kinds, fur f-nell, and light, proceed onely, and are nourifhed by the fruitfulncfleof ci e ground. Thick Ayre turns to water, which falling u, on toe Earth from above, waters the earth, the Sunt heat again rarities ir, and turns it to Ayre ; and there are ma¬ ny muta ions of that kind that will make a man admire as much as rt t rdurr dtondoth. For example, the Vine oUt'of the moyiturcot cot Eartn bringsforch noc onely branches and tendrels that are ol lowrciaif, but alio fweet juice, and pleafant Grapes. The Date tree is a rugged baiky tree, and produces (wecc dates full ot juyee and liquur like W inc.Alfo the feed from whence a man is nude, how comes it to produce and trame ears, arms, hands, heart, l ings, nervs, arteries, flula, bones, grides, membrcties, whatman can underhand t iis ? there are lomany differences and varieties in mans body or qualities, humours, forces, venues, fun&ions, „ all proceeding from the Idc d onely. Do you not think it Arange how a tote and nioilt t umour dioul.d congeal to be a bard cold bone? how meats ihouU be changed into ifefh red bloud? and the food ihou Id turn into veins, arteries, nerves, mufcles, liga¬ ments, tendons *, Since therefore nature daily doth fo many things that the mind of man cannot comprehend j who can deny but that the God of nature can do as much in railing dead bodies 5 as na¬ ture that is but Gods inilrument doth daily in foftering and pre¬ paring of the feed that is corruptible. You may fee the corn when icis moitlned grow up again, into a feemly plant, and to bring forth thick leaves j and will you not believe that a man buried in the earth may rile again, and return to his former luflre? There¬ fore Cyprian, who is fa id to have made the Creed, by ‘Pauls exam¬ ple lllullrates our Creed by the nature of feed ♦ For faith he if any min mingle divers kinds of feeds together* and fows them im¬ parted, or calls them eve ry where into the earth, will noc every feed alter i s kind fpring up again in its proper feafon, and have a ftalk proper to its own form and kind ? So the fubftance of flefh, though ic be dive illy flattered here and there when God pleafcth, (hall revive agam in the fame fhape it was when it died ♦ andfoii comes to p 1 111* chat not any confuted or flrange body fliall be redo* red to the feveral fouls, but to every foul the fame body it had be¬ fore, that by conlequcnt, according as they lead their lives here a good body may be crowned, or an ill body be tormented with its own foul. Wherefore I think that Paul could not better fee
forth
5S
Plants renew - ing,(htw a re - fumftion .
I Thef. 4. Horn. 7.
The earth next after God the Parent of thing!.
Natures work
Ah example from the (Iru - Stare of Matt.
Nature bodt bijhument.
Examples of the Rcfurre(ti“ an out of Cipii- »n.
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54
Of the Immortality of the Soul ,