Testimonies out of the word of God, that neither the soules
of the faithfull, nor infidels, do walke vpon the earth after
they are once parted from their bodies.

NOw that the soules neither of the faithfull nor of infidels do wander any longer on the earth, when they be once seuered from the bodies, I wil make it plaine and euident vnto you by these reasons following. First, certaine it is, that such as depart hence, either die in faith, or in vnbeliefe. Touching those that go hence in a right beliefe, their soules are by and by in possessio of life euerlasting, and they that depart in vnbelief, do straightway becom partakers of eternal damnatio. The souls do not vanish away & die with the bodie, as y? Epicures opinion is, neither yet be in euery place, as som do imagin: touching this matter I wil alleage pithie & manifold testimonies out of the holy scripture, out of which alone this questio may and ought to be tried & discussed. Our Sauiour Christ Iesus which could well iudge Iohn 3. of these misteries, in the 3. of Iohn saith: So God loued the world, y? he wold giue his only begotten son, y? who so belÉeueth on him, shuld not perish, but haue life euerlasting. For god sent not his son into y? world to codemn y? world: but that y? world by him might be saued. He y? belÉeueth in him is not codemned, & he y? belÉeueth not, is codemned alredy, because he belÉeued not in y? name of y? only begotten son of god. And Iohn 5. in y? 5. of Iohn he saith: Verily verily I say vnto you: he that heareth my word, & belÉeueth on him y? sent me, hath euerlasting life, & shall not come into iudgemet or codemnation, but hath passed alredy fro death to life: he doth not say y? his Iohn 6. sins shuld first be purged in purgatorie. And in the 6. cha. he saith: This is y? wil of him y? sent me, that euery one y? seeth the son, and beleeueth on him, should haue life euerlasting, and I will raise him vp at the last day againe: verily I say vnto you, he that belÉeueth on me hath life euerlasting. Iohn 14. In the 14. of Iohn, also our Sauior Christ Iesus saith, that he wil take vs vp to himselfe, that where he is, there should we be also. &c. When Christ sent forth his disciples to publish Mat.10. his gospel in y? 10. of Mat. he said vnto them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach y? gospel to euery creature: he y? belÉeueth and is baptized, shalbe saued, and he y? beleeueth 2.Cor.5. not shalbe codemned: & in the 5. cha. of y? 2. to y? Cor. y? apostle S. Paul saith: we know y? if the earthly house of this tabernacle be destroied, we haue a building of God, y? is, a house not made [tw] hands, but eternal in y? heuens, &c. By these places it may be euidently gathered, y? the soules of the faithful are take vp into eternal ioy: and the soules of the vnfaithful assoone as they are departed fro their bodies are condemned to perpetual torment. And y? this is done straightway after death, may be perceiued by the words y? Christ spake to the thÉefe on the crosse, when he hoong on his right hand: This Luke 23. Apo.14. day shalt thou be with me in paradice. And in the 14. cha. of the Apoc. it is written, And I heard a voice y? said vnto me, write, Blessed ar y? dead y? die in the lord, ?pa?t? amodo, as the old traslatio redeth, y? is by & by, out of hand, without delaie. Steue in the very point whe he looked to be stoned, cried lord Iesu receiue my spirit. He douted nothing, but was assuredly persuaded y? his soul shold straitway be translated to eternal ioy. Paul in the 1. chap. of his epist. to the Philip. saith: I desire to be losed, or I couet to depart hence, and to be with Christ. Here is no mentio at all of purgatory, in which the soules should be first purged. If thou wilt here obiect that the persons afore alleaged were saints and martirs, we say farther, that paradice was opened also to the thÉef assoone as he became repentant. And that the soules both of the faithful & vnfaithful, which presently after their death are translated to heaue or hel, do not return thence into the earth before the day of the last iudgement, may wel be perceiued by the parable of the rich man cloathed in purple, and Lazarus, as we read in the 16. of Luke. For when the rich man praised Abraham that he would send Lazarus vnto him, to coole his toong, Abraham gaue him this answere: Betwixt this and vs, there is a great gulfe set, so that they which would go hence (from Abrahams bosome) to you (in Hell) cannot: neither can they come from thence to vs. And when he besought him, that he would send Lazarus to his fathers house to admonish his fiue brethren, least they also should come into that place of torment: he saide vnto him; They haue Moses and the Prophets, let them heare them. And again: If they heare not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they belÉeue though one rose againe from the dead.

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