In the Wombe of the Earth

[The

Bell

rings out; the

pulse

thereof is changed; the

tolling

was a

faint

, and

intermitting pulse

, upon

one side; this

stronger

, and argues

more

and

better

life

. His

soule

is gone out; and as a Man,

who had a lease of 1000.

yeeres

after the expiration of a short

one, or an inheritance after the

life

of a man in a

consumption

, he is now entred into the possession of his

better estate

. His

soule

is gone;

whither?

Who

saw it

come in

, or who saw it

goe out? No body

; yet

every body is sure, he

had one

, and

hath none

. If I will

aske meere

Philosophers

, what the

soule

is, I shall

finde amongst them, that will tell me, it is nothing, but the

temperament

and

harmony

, and

just and equall

composition of the Elements in the body

, which produces all those

faculties

which we ascribe to the

soule

; and so, in it

selfe is

nothing

, no

separable substance

, that overlives

the

body

. They see the

soule

is nothing else in other

Creatures

, and they affect an

impious humilitie

, to

think

as

low

of

Man

. But if my

soule

were

no more than the soul of a

beast

, I could not thinke so; that

soule

that can reflect upon it selfe,

consider

it selfe,

is

more

than so. If I will aske, not meere

Philosophers,

but

mixt men, Philosophicall Divines,

how

the

soule

, being a

separate substance

, enters into

Man

, I shall finde some that will tell me, that it is by

generation

, and

procreation

from

parents

, because

they thinke it hard, to charge the

soule

with the guiltiness of

originall

sinne, if the

soule

were infused into a

body

, in which it must necessarily grow

foule

, and

contract

originall sinne

, whether it

will

or

no;

and I shall finde some that will tell mee, that it is by

immediate

infusion from God

, because they think it hard, to

maintaine

an

immortality

in such a

soule

, as should be begotten,

and derived with the

body

from

mortall parents

. If I

will aske, not a

few men

, but almost

whole bodies, whole

Churches

, what becomes of the

soules

of the

righteous

, at the

departing

thereof from the

body

, I shall bee told by some,

That they attend an

expiation, a purification in a place of torment

; By some, that

they attend the fruition of the sight of

God, in a place of

rest; but yet, but of expectation

; By some,

that they passe

to

an immediate possession of the Presence of

God. S. Augustine

studied the

nature

of the

soule,

as much as anything, but the

salvation of the soule

; and he

sent an expresse

Messenger

to Saint

Hierome

, to consult

of some things concerning the

soule:

But he satisfies himselfe

with this:

Let the departure of my soule to salvation be evident to

my faith, and I care the lesse, how darke the entrance of my

soule, into my body, bee to my reason

. It is the

going

out

, more than the

comming

in

, that concernes

us. This

soule

, this Bell tells me, is

gone out;

Whither?

Who shall tell mee that? I know not

who it is;

much less

what he was

; The condition of the man, and the course

of his life, which should tell mee

whither

hee is gone, I know

not. I was not there in his

sicknesse

, nor at his

death;

I saw not his

way

, nor his

end

, nor can aske them, who

did, thereby to

conclude

, or

argue

, whither he is

gone. But yet I have one neerer mee than all these; mine owne

Charity

; I aske that; and that tels me,

He is gone to

everlasting rest

, and

joy

, and

glory:

I owe him a

good

opinion

; it is but

thankfull charity

in mee,

because I received

benefit

and

instruction

from him when

his

Bell

told: and I, being made the fitter to

pray

by

that disposition, wherein I was assisted by his occasion, did

pray

for him; and I

pray

not without

faith

; so I

doe

charitably

, so I do

faithfully

beleeve, that that

soule

is gone to everlasting

rest

, and joy, arid

glory. But for the

body

, how poore a wretched thing is

that?

wee cannot expresse it

so fast

, as it growes

worse

and

worse

. That

body

which scarce

three

minutes

since was such a

house

, as that that

soule,

which made but one step from thence to

Heaven

, was scarse

thorowly content, to leave that for

Heaven:

that

body

hath lost the

name

of a

dwelling house

, because none

dwells in it, and is making haste to lose the name of a

body,

and dissolve to

putrefaction

. Who would not bee affected, to

see a cleere and sweet

River

in the

Morning

, grow a

kennell

of muddy land water by

noone

, and condemned to

the saltnesse of the

Sea

by

night?

And how lame a

picture

, how faint a

representation

is that, of the

precipitation of mans body to

dissolution! Now

all the parts

built up, and knit by a lovely

soule

, now but a

statue

of

clay

, and

now

, these limbs melted off, as if that

clay

were but

snow

; and now, the whole

house

is

but a

handfull

of

sand

, so much

dust

, and but a

pecke of

rubbidge

, so much

bone

. If

he

, who, as

this

Bell

tells mee, is gone now, were some

excellent

Artificer

, who comes to him for a

clocke

, or for a

garment

now? or for

counsaile

, if hee were a

Lawyer?

If a

Magistrate

, for

Justice? Man

, before

hee hath his

immortall

soule

, hath a

soule

of

sense

, and a

soule

of

vegetation

before that:

This

immortall

soule

did not forbid other soules, to be

in us before, but when this

soule

departs, it carries all with

it; no more

vegetation

, no more

sense:

such a

Mother

in law

is the

Earth

, in respect of our

naturall

mother

; in her

wombe

we

grew

; and when she was

delivered of us, wee were planted in some

place

, in some

calling

in the

world

;] In the wombe of the

earth,

wee

diminish

, and when shee is

deliverd

of us, our

grave opened

for another, wee are not

transplanted

, but

transported

, our

dust

blowne away with

prophane

dust

, with

every wind.