Weigh these wordes of =Athanasius=, I pray thée. [Sidenote: Chrisostome.] Sainct Chrysostome in his nyneteenth Homilie on the eight chapter of sainct Matthewes Gospell, hath in maner the same woordes, for hee moueth this question: Why suche as were possessed with Spirites, liued in graues? Therefore (sayeth he) they abode there, to put this false opinion in mens heads, that those persons soules whiche by violent death departed, were turned into Diuels, and so did seruice vnto witches and soothsayers. The which opinion the diuell first broughte in, thereby to diminishe the Martyrs prayse and glorie, that so the Sorcerers might slea those persons, whose wicked trauell and help they vsed, and those matters saith he, are far from truth. For he proueth by the Scripture, that the spirits of the godly are not vnder the power of the Diuels, nor yet do stray abroade after death: then that they woulde retourne vnto theyr owne bodies, if they mighte wander whether they lusted. And further if they didde any seruice too theyr Murtherers, by that meanes they should at their handes receiue a reward for an ill déed and displeasure. By naturall reason also it cannot come to passe, that a mans bodie should be turned into an other bodie, and therefore also the spirit of a man cannot be changed into a diuel. But among other things which properly belong to our purpose, he saith: If we heare a noyse that saith, I am such a soule, we must thus thinke, that this talke proceedeth of some sleight and subtiltie of the diuel, and that it is not the soule of the dead bodie that speaketh these things, but the diuell that deuiseth them to deceiue the hearers. And by and by he saith, that there are to be counted old wiues words, or rather doting fooles toyes to mocke children withall. For the soule when it is parted from the bodie cannot walke any longer in these parties. For the soules of the iust are in the hands of God. And on the other side, the soules of the wicked after their departure hence, are straightway ledde aside and withdrawne from vs, which may euidently be séene by Lazarus and the rich man. And in another place also the Lord saith: This day will they take thy soule from thée; wherefore the soule cannot heere wander when it is departed from the bodie. A little afterward he addeth, that it may be proued out of many places of scripture, that the soules of the iust do not here wander after death. For =Steuen= said, Lord receiue my spirit, and =Paule= desired to be loosed and to depart hence, and to be with Christ.