monster. Uncle [6665]Pliny, lib. 2. cap. 7. nat. hist. and lib. 7. cap.
55, in express words denies the immortality of the soul. [6666]Seneca
doth little less, lib. 7. epist. 55. ad Lucilium, et lib. de consol. ad
Martiam, or rather more. Some Greek Commentators would put as much upon
Job, that he should deny resurrection, &c., whom Pineda copiously
confutes in cap. 7. Job, vers. 9. Aristotle is hardly censured of some,
both divines and philosophers. St. Justin in Peraenetica ad Gentes,
Greg. Nazianzen. in disput. adversus Eun., Theodoret, lib. 5. de curat.
graec. affec., Origen. lib. de principiis. Pomponatius justifies in his
Tract (so styled at least) De immortalitate Animae, Scaliger (who would
forswear himself at any time, saith Patritius, in defence of his great
master Aristotle), and Dandinus, lib. 3. de anima, acknowledge as much.
Averroes oppugns all spirits and supreme powers; of late Brunus
(infelix Brunus, [6667]Kepler calls him), Machiavel, Caesar Vaninus
lately burned at Toulouse in France, and Pet. Aretine, have publicly
maintained such atheistical paradoxes, [6668]with that Italian
Boccaccio with his fable of three rings, &c., ex quo infert haud posse
internosci, quae sit verior religio, Judaica, Mahometana, an
Christiana, quoniam eadem signa, &c., from which he infers, that it
cannot be distinguished which is the true religion, Judaism,
Mahommedanism, or Christianity, &c. [6669]Marinus Mercennus suspects
Cardan for his subtleties, Campanella, and Charron's Book of Wisdom,
with some other Tracts, to savour of [6670]atheism: but amongst the
rest that pestilent book de tribus mundi impostoribus, quem sine
horrore (inquit) non legas, et mundi Cymbalum dialogis quatuor
contentum, anno 1538, auctore Peresio, Parisiis excusum, [6671]&c. And
as there have been in all ages such blasphemous spirits, so there have
not been wanting their patrons, protectors, disciples and adherents.
Never so many atheists in Italy and Germany, saith [6672]Colerus, as in
this age: the like complaint Mercennus makes in France, 50,000 in that
one city of Paris. Frederic the Emperor, as [6673]Matthew Paris records
licet non sit recitabile (I use his own words) is reported to have
said, Tres praestigiatores, Moses, Christus, et Mahomet, uti mundo
dominarentur, totum populum sibi contemporaneum se duxisse. (Henry, the
Landgrave of Hesse, heard him speak it,) Si principes imperii
institutioni meae adhaererent, ego multo meliorem modum credendi et
vivendi ordinarem.
To these professed atheists, we may well add that impious and carnal
crew of worldly-minded men, impenitent sinners, that go to hell in a
lethargy, or in a dream; who though they be professed Christians, yet
they will nulla pallescere culpa, make a conscience of nothing they do,
they have cauterised consciences, and are indeed in a reprobate sense,
past all feeling, have given themselves over to wantonness, to work all
manner of uncleanness even with greediness, Ephes. iv. 19. They do know
there is a God, a day of judgment to come, and yet for all that, as
Hugo saith, ita comedunt ac dormiunt, ac si diem judicii evasissent;
ita ludunt ac rident, ac si in coelis cum Deo regnarent: they are as
merry for all the sorrow, as if they had escaped all dangers, and were
in heaven already:
[6674]———Metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.
Those rude idiots and ignorant persons, that neglect and contemn the
means of their salvation, may march on with these; but above all
others, those Herodian temporizing statesmen, political Machiavellians
and hypocrites, that make a show of religion, but in their hearts laugh
at it. Simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas; they are in a double fault,
that fashion themselves to this world, which [6675]Paul forbids, and
like Mercury, the planet, are good with good, bad with bad. When they
are at Rome, they do there as they see done, puritans with puritans,
papists with papists; omnium horarum homines, formalists, ambidexters,
lukewarm Laodiceans. [6676]All their study is to please, and their god
is their commodity, their labour to satisfy their lusts, and their
endeavours to their own ends. Whatsoever they pretend, or in public
seem to do, [6677]With the fool in their hearts, they say there is no
God. Heus tu—de Jove quid sentis? Hulloa! what is your opinion about a
Jupiter? Their words are as soft as oil, but bitterness is in their
hearts; like [6678]Alexander VI. so cunning dissemblers, that what they
think they never speak. Many of them are so close, you can hardly
discern it, or take any just exceptions at them; they are not factious,
oppressors as most are, no bribers, no simoniacal contractors, no such
ambitious, lascivious persons as some others are, no drunkards, sobrii
solem vident orientem, sobrii vident occidentem, they rise sober, and
go sober to bed, plain dealing, upright, honest men, they do wrong to
no man, and are so reputed in the world's esteem at least, very zealous
in religion, very charitable, meek, humble, peace-makers, keep all
duties, very devout, honest, well spoken of, beloved of all men: but he
that knows better how to judge, he that examines the heart, saith they
are hypocrites, Cor dolo plenum; sonant vitium percussa maligne, they
are not sound within. As it is with writers [6679]oftentimes, Plus
sanctimoniae, in libello, quam libelli auctore, more holiness is in the
book than in the author of it: so 'tis with them: many come to church
with great Bibles, whom Cardan said he could not choose but laugh at,
and will now and then dare operam Augustino, read Austin, frequent
sermons, and yet professed usurers, mere gripes, tota vitae ratio
epicurea est; all their life is epicurism and atheism, come to church
all day, and lie with a courtesan at night. Qui curios simulant et
Bacchanalia vivunt, they have Esau's hands, and Jacob's voice: yea, and
many of those holy friars, sanctified men, Cappam, saith Hierom, et
cilicium induunt, sed intus latronem tegunt. They are wolves in sheep's
clothing, Introrsum turpes, speciosi pelle decora, Fair without, and
most foul within. [6680]Latet plerumque sub tristi amictu lascivia, et
deformis horror vili veste tegitur; ofttimes under a mourning weed lies
lust itself, and horrible vices under a poor coat. But who can examine
all those kinds of hypocrites, or dive into their hearts? ]f we may
guess at the tree by the fruit, never so many as in these days; show me
a plain-dealing true honest man: Et pudor, et probitas, et timor omnis
abest. He that shall but look into their lives, and see such enormous
vices, men so immoderate in lust, unspeakable in malice, furious in
their rage, flattering and dissembling (all for their own ends) will
surely think they are not truly religious, but of an obdurate heart,
most part in a reprobate sense, as in this age. But let them carry it
as they will for the present, dissemble as they can, a time will come
when they shall be called to an account, their melancholy is at hand,
they pull a plague and curse upon their own heads, thesaurisant iram
Dei. Besides all such as are in deos contumeliosi, blaspheme, contemn,
neglect God, or scoff at him, as the poets feign of Salmoneus, that
would in derision imitate Jupiter's thunder, he was precipitated for
his pains, Jupiter intonuit contra, &c. so shall they certainly rue it
in the end, ([6681]in se spuit, qui in coelum spuit), their doom's at
hand, and hell is ready to receive them.
Some are of opinion, that it is in vain to dispute with such
atheistical spirits in the meantime, 'tis not the best way to reclaim
them. Atheism, idolatry, heresy, hypocrisy, though they have one common
root, that is indulgence to corrupt affection, yet their growth is
different, they have divers symptoms, occasions, and must have several
cures and remedies. 'Tis true some deny there is any God, some confess,
yet believe it not; a third sort confess and believe, but will not live
after his laws, worship and obey him: others allow God and gods
subordinate, but not one God, no such general God, non talem deum, but
several topic gods for several places, and those not to persecute one
another for any difference, as Socinus will, but rather love and
cherish.
To describe them in particular, to produce their arguments and reasons,
would require a just volume, I refer them therefore that expect a more
ample satisfaction, to those subtle and elaborate treatises, devout and
famous tracts of our learned divines (schoolmen amongst the rest, and
casuists) that have abundance of reasons to prove there is a God, the
immortality of the soul, &c., out of the strength of wit and philosophy
bring irrefragable arguments to such as are ingenuous and well
disposed; at the least, answer all cavils and objections to confute
their folly and madness, and to reduce them, si fieri posset, ad sanam
mentem, to a better mind, though to small purpose many times. Amongst
others consult with Julius Caesar Lagalla, professor of philosophy in
Rome, who hath written a large volume of late to confute atheists: of
the immortality of the soul, Hierom. Montanus de immortalitate Animae:
Lelius Vincentius of the same subject: Thomas Giaminus, and Franciscus
Collius de Paganorum animabus post mortem, a famous doctor of the
Ambrosian College in Milan. Bishop Fotherby in his Atheomastix, Doctor
Dove, Doctor Jackson, Abernethy, Corderoy, have written well of this
subject in our mother tongue: in Latin, Colerus, Zanchius, Palearius,
Illyricus, [6682]Philippus, Faber Faventinus, &c. But instar omnium,
the most copious confuter of atheists is Marinus Mercennus in his
Commentaries on Genesis: [6683]with Campanella's Atheismus Triumphatus.
He sets down at large the causes of this brutish passion, (seventeen in
number I take it) answers all their arguments and sophisms, which he
reduceth to twenty-six heads, proving withal his own assertion; There
is a God, such a God, the true and sole God, by thirty-five reasons.
His Colophon is how to resist and repress atheism, and to that purpose
he adds four especial means or ways, which who so will may profitably
peruse.
SUBSECT. II.—_Despair. Despairs, Equivocations, Definitions, Parties
and Parts affected_.
There be many kinds of desperation, whereof some be holy, some unholy,
as [6684]one distinguisheth; that unholy he defines out of Tully to be
Aegritudinem animi sine ulla rerum expectatione meliore, a sickness of
the soul without any hope or expectation of amendment; which commonly
succeeds fear; for whilst evil is expected, we fear: but when it is
certain, we despair. According to Thomas 2. 2ae. distinct. 40. art. 4.
it is Recessus a re desiderata, propter impossibilitatem existimatam, a
restraint from the thing desired, for some impossibility supposed.
Because they cannot obtain what they would, they become desperate, and
many times either yield to the passion by death itself, or else attempt
impossibilities, not to be performed by men. In some cases, this
desperate humour is not much to be discommended, as in wars it is a
cause many times of extraordinary valour; as Joseph, lib. 1. de bello
Jud. cap. 14. L. Danaeus in Aphoris. polit. pag. 226. and many
politicians hold. It makes them improve their worth beyond itself, and
of a forlorn impotent company become conquerors in a moment. Una salus
victis nullam sperare salutem, the only hope for the conquered is
despair. In such courses when they see no remedy, but that they must
either kill or be killed, they take courage, and oftentimes, praeter
spem, beyond all hope vindicate themselves. Fifteen thousand Locrenses
fought against a hundred thousand Crotonienses, and seeing now no way
but one, they must all die, [6685]thought they would not depart
unrevenged, and thereupon desperately giving an assault, conquered
their enemies. Nec alia causa victoriae, (saith Justin mine author)
quam quod desperaverant. William the Conqueror, when he first landed in
England, sent back his ships, that his soldiers might have no hope of
retiring back. [6686]Bodine excuseth his countrymen's overthrow at that
famous battle at Agincourt, in Henry the Fifth his time, (cui simile,
saith Froissard, tota historia producere non possit, which no history
can parallel almost, wherein one handful of Englishmen overthrew a
royal army of Frenchmen) with this refuge of despair, pauci desperati,
a few desperate fellows being compassed in by their enemies, past all
hope of life, fought like so many devils; and gives a caution, that no
soldiers hereafter set upon desperate persons, which [6687]after
Frontinus and Vigetius, Guicciardini likewise admonisheth, Hypomnes.
part. 2. pag. 25. not to stop an enemy that is going his way. Many such
kinds there are of desperation, when men are past hope of obtaining any
suit, or in despair of better fortune; Desperatio facit monachum, as
the saying is, and desperation causeth death itself; how many thousands
in such distress have made away themselves, and many others? For he
that cares not for his own, is master of another man's life. A Tuscan
soothsayer, as [6688]Paterculus tells the story, perceiving himself and
Fulvius Flaccus his dear friend, now both carried to prison by Opimius,
and in despair of pardon, seeing the young man weep, quin tu potius hoc
inquit facis, do as I do; and with that knocked out his brains against
the door-cheek, as he was entering into prison, protinusque illiso
capite in capite in carceris januam effuso cerebro expiravit, and so
desperate died. But these are equivocal, improper. When I speak of
despair, saith [6689]Zanchie, I speak not of every kind, but of that
alone which concerns God. It is opposite to hope, and a most pernicious
sin, wherewith the devil seeks to entrap men. Musculus makes four kinds
of desperation, of God, ourselves, our neighbour, or anything to be
done; but this division of his may be reduced easily to the former: all
kinds are opposite to hope, that sweet moderator of passions, as
Simonides calls it; I do not mean that vain hope which fantastical
fellows feign to themselves, which according to Aristotle is insomnium
vigilantium, a waking dream; but this divine hope which proceeds from
confidence, and is an anchor to a floating soul; spes alit agricolas,
even in our temporal affairs, hope revives us, but in spiritual it
farther animateth; and were it not for hope, we of all others were the
most miserable, as Paul saith, in this life; were it not for hope, the
heart would break; for though they be punished in the sight of men,
(Wisdom iii. 4.) yet is their hope full of immortality: yet doth it not
so rear, as despair doth deject; this violent and sour passion of
despair, is of all perturbations most grievous, as [6690]Patritius
holds. Some divide it into final and temporal; [6691]final is
incurable, which befalleth reprobates; temporal is a rejection of hope
and comfort for a time, which may befall the best of God's children,
and it commonly proceeds [6692]from weakness of faith, as in David when
he was oppressed he cried out, O Lord, thou hast forsaken me, but this
for a time. This ebbs and flows with hope and fear; it is a grievous
sin howsoever: although some kind of despair be not amiss, when, saith
Zanchius, we despair of our own means, and rely wholly upon God: but
that species is not here meant. This pernicious kind of desperation is
the subject of our discourse, homicida animae, the murderer of the
soul, as Austin terms it, a fearful passion, wherein the party
oppressed thinks he can get no ease but by death, and is fully resolved
to offer violence unto himself; so sensible of his burthen, and
impatient of his cross, that he hopes by death alone to be freed of his
calamity (though it prove otherwise), and chooseth with Job vi. 8. 9.
xvii. 5. Rather to be strangled and die, than to be in his bonds.
[6693]The part affected is the whole soul, and all the faculties of it;
there is a privation of joy, hope, trust, confidence, of present and
future good, and in their place succeed fear, sorrow, &c. as in the
symptoms shall be shown. The heart is grieved, the conscience wounded,
the mind eclipsed with black fumes arising from those perpetual
terrors.
SUBSECT. III.—_Causes of Despair, the Devil, Melancholy, Meditation,
Distrust, Weakness of Faith, Rigid Ministers, Misunderstanding
Scriptures, Guilty Consciences, &c._
The principal agent and procurer of this mischief is the devil; those
whom God forsakes, the devil by his permission lays hold on. Sometimes
he persecutes them with that worm of conscience, as he did Judas,
[6694]Saul, and others. The poets call it Nemesis, but it is indeed
God's just judgment, sero sed serio, he strikes home at last, and
setteth upon them as a thief in the night, 1 Thes. ii. [6695]This
temporary passion made David cry out, Lord, rebuke me not in thine
anger, neither chasten me in thine heavy displeasure; for thine arrows
have light upon me, &c. there is nothing sound in my flesh, because of
thine anger. Again, I roar for the very grief of my heart: and Psalm
xxii. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, and art so far from my
health, and the words of my crying? I am like to water poured out, my
bones are out of joint, mine heart is like wax, that is molten in the
midst of my bowels. So Psalm lxxxviii. 15 and 16 vers. and Psalm cii. I
am in misery at the point of death, from my youth I suffer thy terrors,
doubting for my life; thine indignations have gone over me, and thy
fear hath cut me off. Job doth often complain in this kind; and those
God doth not assist, the devil is ready to try and torment, still
seeking whom he may devour. If he find them merry, saith Gregory, he
tempts them forthwith to some dissolute act; if pensive and sad, to a
desperate end. Aut suadendo blanditur, aut minando terret, sometimes by
fair means, sometimes again by foul, as he perceives men severally
inclined. His ordinary engine by which he produceth this effect, is the
melancholy humour itself, which is balneum diaboli, the devil's bath;
and as in Saul, those evil spirits get in [6696]as it were, and take
possession of us. Black choler is a shoeing-horn, a bait to allure
them, insomuch that many writers make melancholy an ordinary cause, and
a symptom of despair, for that such men are most apt, by reason of
their ill-disposed temper, to distrust, fear, grief, mistake, and
amplify whatsoever they preposterously conceive, or falsely apprehend.
Conscientia scrupulosa nascitur ex vitio naturali, complexione
melancholica (saith Navarrus cap. 27. num. 282. tom. 2. cas. conscien.)
The body works upon the mind, by obfuscating the spirits and corrupted
instruments, which [6697]Perkins illustrates by simile of an artificer,
that hath a bad tool, his skill is good, ability correspondent, by
reason of ill tools his work must needs be lame and imperfect. But
melancholy and despair, though often, do not always concur; there is
much difference: melancholy fears without a cause, this upon great
occasion; melancholy is caused by fear and grief, but this torment
procures them and all extremity of bitterness; much melancholy is
without affliction of conscience, as [6698]Bright and Perkins
illustrate by four reasons; and yet melancholy alone may be sometimes a
sufficient cause of this terror of conscience. [6699]Felix Plater so
found it in his observations, e melancholicis alii damnatos se putant,
Deo curae, non sunt, nec praedestinati, &c. They think they are not
predestinate, God hath forsaken them; and yet otherwise very zealous
and religious; and 'tis common to be seen, melancholy for fear of God's
judgment and hell-fire, drives men to desperation; fear and sorrow, if
they be immoderate, end often with it. Intolerable pain and anguish,
long sickness, captivity, misery, loss of goods, loss of friends, and
those lesser griefs, do sometimes effect it, or such dismal accidents.
Si non statim relevantur, [6700]Mercennus, dubitant an sit Deus, if
they be not eased forthwith, they doubt whether there be any God, they
rave, curse, and are desperately mad because good men are oppressed,
wicked men flourish, they have not as they think to their desert, and
through impatience of calamities are so misaffected. Democritus put out
his eyes, ne malorum civium prosperos videret successus, because he
could not abide to see wicked men prosper, and was therefore ready to
make away himself, as [6701]Agellius writes of him. Felix Plater hath a
memorable example in this kind, of a painter's wife in Basil, that was
melancholy for her son's death, and for melancholy became desperate;
she thought God would not pardon her sins, [6702]and for four months
still raved, that she was in hell-fire, already damned. When the humour
is stirred up, every small object aggravates and incenseth it, as the
parties are addicted. [6703]The same author hath an example of a
merchant man, that for the loss of a little wheat, which he had over
long kept, was troubled in conscience, for that he had not sold it
sooner, or given it to the poor, yet a good scholar and a great divine;
no persuasion would serve to the contrary, but that for this fact he
was damned: in other matters Very judicious and discreet. Solitariness,
much fasting, divine meditation, and contemplations of God's judgments,
most part accompany this melancholy, and are main causes, as
[6704]Navarrus holds; to converse with such kinds of persons so
troubled, is sufficient occasion of trouble to some men. Nonnulli ob
longas inedias, studia et meditationes coelestes, de rebus sacris et
religione semper agitant, &c. Many, (saith P. Forestus) through long
fasting, serious meditations of heavenly things, fall into such fits;
and as Lemnius adds, lib. 4. cap. 21, [6705]If they be solitary given,
superstitious, precise, or very devout: seldom shall you find a
merchant, a soldier, an innkeeper, a bawd, a host, a usurer, so
troubled in mind, they have cheverel consciences that will stretch,
they are seldom moved in this kind or molested: young men and middle
age are more wild and less apprehensive; but old folks, most part, such
as are timorous and religiously given. Pet. Forestus observat. lib. 10.
cap. 12. de morbis cerebri, hath a fearful example of a minister, that
through precise fasting in Lent, and overmuch meditation, contracted
this mischief, and in the end became desperate, thought he saw devils
in his chamber, and that he could not be saved; he smelled nothing, as
he said, but fire and brimstone, was already in hell, and would ask
them, still, if they did not [6706]smell as much. I told him he was
melancholy, but he laughed me to scorn, and replied that he saw devils,
talked with them in good earnest, Would spit in my face, and ask me if
1 did not smell brimstone, but at last he was by him cured. Such
another story I find in Plater observat. lib. 1. A poor fellow had done
some foul offence, and for fourteen days would eat no meat, in the end
became desperate, the divines about him could not ease him, [6707]but
so he died. Continual meditation of God's judgments troubles many,
Multi ob timorem futuri judicii, saith Guatinerius cap. 5. tract. 15.
et suspicionem desperabundi sunt. David himself complains that God's
judgments terrified his soul, Psalm cxix. part. 16. vers. 8. My flesh
trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments. Quoties
diem illum cogito (saith [6708]Hierome) toto corpore contremisco, I
tremble as often as I think of it. The terrible meditation of hell-fire
and eternal punishment much torments a sinful silly soul. What's a
thousand years to eternity? Ubi moeror, ubi fletus, ubi dolor
sempiternus. Mors sine morte, finis sine fine; a finger burnt by chance
we may not endure, the pain is so grievous, we may not abide an hour, a
night is intolerable; and what shall this unspeakable fire then be that
burns for ever, innumerable infinite millions of years, in omne aevum
in aeternum. O eternity!
[6709]Aeternitas est illa vox,
Vox illa fulminatrix,
Tonitruis minacior,
Fragoribusque coeli,
Aeternitas est illa vox,
—meta carens et orta, &c.
Tormenta nulla territant,
Quae finiuntur annis;
Aeternitas, aeternitas
Versat coquilque pectus.
Auget haec poenas indies,
Centuplicatque flammas, &c.