CHAP. I.
The opinion or beliefe of the Gentiles, Iewes, and Turkes,
concerning the estate of Soules seperated from their bodies.
N the second part of this booke we haue to consider, what those things be which (as wee haue before shewed) are both heard and séene, in the day time and in the night, whether they be the soules of dead men or no: also what the olde writers haue iudged of them, and what the holy scriptures, do teach vs herein.
Platos opinion.
Plato doth think, that Heroicall and excellent soules, as being of the pure sort, do mount aloft: but that other base and viler soules, that are defiled with the pleasures & lustes of the bodie, do wander below on the ground, and the same he déemeth to be those spirits which are eftsoones séene.
Also other heathen and prophane writers say, they are heereby mooued to thinke that the soules of men doo liue after death, for that it is most cleare and euident, that many spirits wander and raunge hither and thither, and are oft times heard and séene, and founde to talke with men: Tertullian. for they suppose that most of these are mens soules. Tertullian a very auncient writer, in his booke De anima, saith, that the wise Heathens, which did define the soule to be immortall, (for some of them, as namely the Epicures, thought that the soules died with their bodies) thought that the soules of the wise, if they departed from their bodies, hadde their abiding on high: but the rest were throwne downe into Hell.
Furthermore, the Heathen thought the Soules should stray continually abroade before they founde rest, vnlesse the bodies from which they were seuered, were rightly buried in the earth. Wherefore (as we may reade in Poets) it was a gréeuous crime to caste foorth any bodie vnburied. Homer. Hector in Homere, besought Achilles that he woulde not cast foorth his carcasse to be deuoured of Dogs and birds, but that he would deliuer the same to be enterred by olde Priamus his father, and Hecuba his mother. Patroclus appeared in a vision by night after his deathe vnto Achilles, and requested him to bestowe vppon him all funeral solemnities. For otherwise he saide the soules of those that were buried, woulde thrust him backe, that he should not be able once to enter in at Hell gates. Which example Tertullian aledgeth, and therwithal cōfuteth this Virgil. vaine opinion of the heathen. Palinurus in Virgill, besought Æneas, that he woulde cast earth on him, when he was dead, and erect vnto him an hearse, for so did they call those Monuments of the deade, in whiche albeit no man was layde, yet were they vsed in the honour of the deceassed. Virgill writeth, that Deiphobus his Ghost wandred abroade, vnto the whiche Æneas erected an Horse.
For the Gentiles were of suche an opinion in those dayes, that they thought an emptie and counterfeyted buriall profitted very much. Moreouer the heathen were perswaded that the soules which dyed before their naturall time (especially of those whiche perished by violent death, whom they call βιοθανάτους, as by hanging, drowning, or beheading, &c.) did straie abroade so long time as they should haue liued, if they had not bin slain by violent death. Which opinion Tertullian also confuteth. Plato. Plato in his ninth booke De legibus, writeth, that the soules of those which are slain, do pursue their murtherers so farre, that they do hurt them: the which, except it be vnderstood by way of a Metaphor, is likewise to be reiected.
The Iewes opinion.
The Catholike faith amongst the Iewes was, that the soules of the dead did not returne into this earth, but either were at rest, which was when they died in the faith of the promised Messias, or were cōdemned if they departed hence in their sinnes without repentance. Iob.7. For Iob in his seuenth Chapter saith: Euen as the cloude vanisheth and fadeth away, so he that goeth downe to the graue shall come vp no more, nor returne into his house, &c.
Psal.31.
Eccle.12.
Wisd.3.
But if thou wilt say that Iob was an Ethnicke, it may be alleaged of Dauid, that when he was in very great danger, and death euen present before his eyes, he praied in the 31. Psalme. Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit. The Preacher also in his 12. Chapter saith: The spirite shall returne to God that giueth it. In the booke of Wisedome (which of olde writers is attributed to Philo Iudeus) the third Chapter thereof, it is written: the soules of the righteous are in the hande of God, and no torment shall touch them. And on the other side, the soules of the wicked Psal.49. go downe into hell. In the 49. Psalm it is written of those wealthie worldlings, which for lucres sake, depart from God and his Commaundements: They are laid as shéepe in Hell, Death shall consume them, and Hell is their habitation, &c.
If the Iewes had beléeued, that the soules after this life were tormented in Purgatorie, no doubt amongst so many diuers kinds of sacrifices, which they offered for the sinnes of the liuing, they would at least haue some one kind of sacrifice whereby to redéeme soules, or in some part to assuage and mitigate their paines. And that soules do returne after death, do offer themselues to be séene and beheld of men, and require aide of them, we finde no where in the old Testament, 2. Samu. 12. but rather the contrary. In the 2. of Samuel 12. Dauid speaketh this of his yoong childe, that he begat by Bersaba, that he could not bring him into life againe, that hee would go to him, and the childe should neuer returne vnto Eccle. 38. him againe. And Iesus the sonne of Syrach, in his 38. chapter saith: There is no returning from death. Of the vision which was shewed to Samuel, we will straightway speake in his proper place.
And that in latter ages, long after Christ came in flesh, there were some amongst the Iewes, who thought that the soules separated from their bodies, did straie and raunge abroad: it may hereby be gathered, for that certaine of the Rabbines write, that the soule of Naboth (which was slain, because he would not sell his Vineyard to Achab) was that spirit that promised his helpe to seduce Achab, being as it were one that coueted his death.
The Turkes opinion.
The Turkes also beléeue that the soule is immortall, and that assoone as they are loosed from the bodie, they come either into a place of rest, or of torment. But whether that they did thinke, that soules returned againe into the earth, and roue there too and fro, I could finde no plaine mention thereof in their Alcaron.