ii4 A TREATISE 



be in : and fo flic is one part of a wholej which from its weaker part 

 ij determined to be a body. 



Againe, feeing that the matter of any thing, is to bee prepared, 

 before the end is prepared, for which that matter is to ferve v accor- 

 ding to that Axiome.^^orf^ vrimttmininteKti>>ne t eft ultimumi* 

 execution we may not deny, but that the body is in being , fbme 

 time before the fbule : or at the lesft, that it extfteth as foone as fhe 

 doth : and therefore, it appeareth wholy unreasonable, to fay,thac 

 the (bule was firftmadeoutofthe body, and was afterwards thruft 

 into it ; feeing that the body was prepared for the foule before, or 

 at theleaftj as foone as (he had any beginning : and fo we may con- 

 clude, that of neccilky the foule muft be begunne,. layed, hatched* 

 and perfected in the body. 



And although it bee true , that fuch foules, as are feperated from 

 their bodies, in the firft inttant of their being there, are notwithi 

 ftanding imbued with the knowledge of all things 5 yet is not their 

 longer abode there in vaine : not onely, because thereby the fpe- 

 cies is multiplyed; (for nature is not content with barely doing 

 that, without addition of fome good to the (bule it (elfe ) but as we 

 ' for the wonderfull , and I may fay infinite advantage* that may 



thereby accrew to the foule, if (he make right ufe of it : for, as any 

 a& of the abftra&ed foule is infinitjn comparifon of the afts which 

 men exercife in this life, (according to what we have already (hew- 

 ed) fo by confcquence, muft any increafe of it s be likewife infinite : 

 and therefore we may conclude, that a long life well fpent, is the 

 greatcll and moft excellent giftj which nature can bcttow upon a 

 man. 



8. The unwary reader may perhapps have difficulty .at our often re-' 



That the mi- peating of the infelicity of a miferable foule ; finceweefay that it 

 jery of the proceedeth out of the judgements, (hee had formerly made in this 

 next world ^ e ; w ^' lctl without all doubt were falfe ones : and neverthelefle, 

 proceedeth ' it is evident, that no falfe judgements, can remaine in a foule , after 

 out of inequa- (h is feparated from her body , as we have above determined. How 

 lule, and not then can a foules judgements, be the caufe of her mifery ? But the 

 of faliny of more hcedefull reader, will have noted, that the mifery which wee 

 v-m" 8U " put in a foule, proceedeth out of the inequality, not oat of thefal- 

 fity, of her judgements : for if a man bee inclined to a lefler good, 

 more then to a .greater., he will in ac>ion betake himfelfe to the lefler 



good,* 



