Considerations of the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul, with the recompences of the future state for the cure of infidelity, the hectick evil of the times / by William Bates ...
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Title
Considerations of the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul, with the recompences of the future state for the cure of infidelity, the hectick evil of the times / by William Bates ...
Author
Bates, William, 1625-1699.
Publication
London :: Printed by J.D. for Brabazon Aylmer ...,
1676.
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Subject terms
God -- Proof.
Immortality.
Soul.
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"Considerations of the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul, with the recompences of the future state for the cure of infidelity, the hectick evil of the times / by William Bates ..." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/a26782.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 20, 2024.
Pages
CHAP. X.
The moral Arguments for the Souls
Immortality. The restless desire of
the Soul to an intellectual eternal
happiness, argues it survives the
Body. The lower order of Crea∣tures
obtain their perfection here.
It reflects upon Nature, if the more
noble fails of its end. That wick∣ed
Men would choose annihilation, is
no proof against Mans natural de∣sires
of Immortality. The neces∣sity
of a future state of recompences
for moral actions, proves the Soul
to be immortal. The wisdom of
God, as Governor of the World, re∣quires
descriptionPage 182
there be Rewards and Pu∣nishments
annext to his Laws. Eter∣nal
Rewards are only powerful to
make men obedient to them in this
corrupt state. Humane Laws are
no sufficient security of Vertue,
and restraint from Vice.
2. I Will now consider the mo∣ral
Inducements to confirm
our belief that God will preserve
the Soul in its being and activity
hereafter. And of this we have
sufficient evidence by internal
light, the natural notions of the
Deity, and by many visible testi∣monies
in his Government of the
World.
1. The restless desire of the
Soul to an intellectual and eternal
Felicity not attainable here, is a
strong argument that 'tis reserv'd
to a future state. The Understand∣ing
descriptionPage 183
is inclin'd to the knowledge
of Truth, the Will to the fruition
of Goodness; and in what de∣grees
soever we discover the one,
and enjoy the other in our present
condition, we are not content. As
one that is burnt up with such a
Thirst that onely an Ocean can
quench, and has but a little stream
to refresh him. God is the only
satisfying Object of the rational
faculties, and here our concepti∣ons
of him are so imperfect, that
we approach nearer the Truth by
denying what is inconsistent with
his Nature, than in affirming the
proper Perfections of it. And the
communications of his Love to
us inflames the Soul with new de∣sires
of fuller enjoyment. This
desire of Happiness is essential to
Man, as Man. Now 'tis universal∣ly
acknowledged that Nature is
descriptionPage 184
not a vain Principle, it produces
no superfluous inclinations in any
sort of Creatures, much less in
Man, and in that which is most
proper to him, and in order to
the raising him to his Perfection.
The natural motion of a Stone
has a center where to rest; Plants
arrive to their full growth and
beauty; the Beasts have present
satisfaction, and are happy Ani∣mals.
But Man, in whom the two
lower lives and the Intellectual
are united, is here only in his way
to happiness, his best endeavours
are but imperfect essays towards
it.
Now if the Soul does not sur∣vive
the Body, and in a separate
state obtain its desires, it will re∣flect
upon Nature for imprudence
or malignity, in dealing worse
with the most noble order of vi∣sible
descriptionPage 185
Beings. The Beasts excel
Man in the quickness and vivacity
of the powers of Sense, being their
perfection, and in him subordi∣nate
faculties, and are more ca∣pable
of pleasure from sensible
things; and Reason, his eminent
Prerogative, makes him more lia∣ble
to misery. For Man ardently
aspiring to a Spiritual Happiness,
that here he cannot enjoy, much
less hereafter if the Soul perish, is
under a remediless infelicity. His
Mind is deceived and stain'd with
Errors, his Will tormented with
fruitless longings after an impossi∣ble
Object. But if we unveil the
face of Nature, God appears (who
is the Author of our being, and of
this desire so proper to it) and we
cannot suspect, without the high∣est
Impiety, that he would make all
Men in vain, and deceive them by
descriptionPage 186
a false appearance. But he gives
us in it a faithful presage of things
future, and indiscernable to sense,
to be injoyed in immortality.
This Argument will be the more
forcible, if we consider that holy
Souls, who excel in Knowledge
and Vertue do most inflamedly
long for the enjoyment of this
pure felicity. And is it possible
that the Creatour should not on∣ly
endow Man with rational po∣wers,
but with vertues that exalt
and inlarge their capacity to ren∣der
him more miserable? to ima∣gine
that he cannot, or will not
fully and eternally satisfie them is
equally injurious to his perfecti∣ons.
It therefore necessarily fol∣lows
that the Soul lives after
Death, and fully enjoys the hap∣piness
it earnestly desir'd whiles in
the darkness of this earthly Ta∣ber••••cle
descriptionPage 187
Add further, that Man alone of
all Creatures in the lower World
understands and desires Immor∣tality.
The conception of it is
peculiar to his Mind, and the de∣sire
of it as intrinsick to his Nature
as the desire of Blessedness. For
that Blessedness that ends, is no
perfect Blessedness, nor that which
every one desires. Man alone
feels and knows that his Nature is
capable of excellent perfections
and joys. Now if he shall cease
to be for ever, why is this know∣ledge
and desire but to render
him more unhappy, by grief for
the present shortness of life, and
by despair of a future Immortali∣ty?
In this respect also the condi∣tion
of the Beasts would be bet∣ter
than of Men. For though they
are for ever deprived of Life, yet
they are uncapable of regret, be∣cause
descriptionPage 188
they cannot by reflection
know that they possess it, and are
without the least imagination or
desire of immortality. They are
alive to the present, but dead to
the future. By a favourable ig∣norance
they pass into a state of
not being, with as much indiffe∣rence,
as from watching to sleep,
or from labour to repose. But
to Man that understands and va∣lues
Life and Immortality, how
dark and hideous are the thoughts
of annihilation? let him enjoy
all possible delights to sense, or
desireable to the powers of the
Soul, How will the sweetness of
all be lost in the bitterness of that
thought that he shall be deprived
of them for ever? How frightful
is the continual apprehension of
an everlasting period to his being,
and all enjoyments sutable to it?
descriptionPage 189
After that a prospect of Eternity
has been shown to him, how tor∣menting
is the thought that he
must die as the stupid Ox, or the
vilest Vermine of the Earth, and
with him the fallacious instinct of
Nature that inclin'd him to the
most durable happiness? If it
were thus, O living Image of the
Immortal God, thy condition is
very miserable! What the Ro∣mans
wisht in great anguish for
the loss of Augustus, that he had
not been born, or had not died, is
more reasonable in this case: it
were better that the desire of eter∣nal
Life had not been born in
Man, or that it should be fulfilled.
If it be objected that many Men
are not only without fear of anni∣hilation,
but desire it, therefore Im∣mortality
is not such a priviledg
that thereasonable Creature, natu∣rally
aspires to.
descriptionPage 190
I answer; the inference is very
preposterous, for the reason of
their choice is, because they are at∣tentive
to an object infinitely
more‖ sad and afflictive, that is, a
state of everlasting torments,
which the guilty conscience pre∣sages
to be the just recompence
of their crimes. So that enclosed
between two evils, an eternal state
of not Being, and an Eternity of
misery, 'tis reasonable to venture
on the least, to escape the greater.
But supposing any hopes of fu∣ture
happiness, they would de∣sire
immortality as an excellent
benefit. As one that has lost the
pleasure and taste of Life, by con∣suming
sickness, and sharp pains,
or some other great calamities,
may be willing to die, but sup∣possing
a freedom from those
evils, the desire of Life as the most
descriptionPage 191
precious and dear enjoyment
would strongly return. And that
the desire of Immortality is na∣tural,
I shall add one most visi∣ble
testimony. For whereas the
lower sort of Creatures that final∣ly
perish in Death are without
the least knowledg of a future
estate, and are therefore careless
of leaving a memorial after them:
on the contrary, Men are solici∣tous
to secure their names from
oblivion, as conscious of their souls
surviving in another World. This
ardent passion not directed by
higher Principles, excites them to
use all means, to obtain a kind of
immortality from Mortals. They
reward Historians, Poets, Ora∣tours
to celebrate their actions.
They erect Monuments of durable
Brass and Marble to represent the
Effigies of their faces: They en∣deavour
descriptionPage 192
by triumphal Arches, Py∣ramids,
and other works of Mag∣nificence,
to eternize their Fame,
to live in the eyes, and mouths,
and memories of the living in all
succeding times. These indeed
are vain shadows, yet argue the
desire of immortality to be na∣tural.
As 'tis evident there is a na∣tural
affection in Parents to pre∣serve
their Children, because
when they are depriv'd of their
living presence, they dearly value
and preserve their dead Pictures,
though but a poor consolati∣on.
2. The necessity of a future
state wherein a just retribution
shall be made of rewards and pu∣nishments
to Men according to
their actions in this life, includes
the Souls Immortality. For the
proof of this I shall lay down
descriptionPage 193
such things as certainly establish
it.
1. The first Argument is drawn
from the Wisdom of God in go∣verning
the reasonable World. In
the quality of Creator, he has a su∣pream
title to Man, and conse∣quently
is his rightful Governor,
and Man his natural subject. Now
Man being endowed with free fa∣culties,
the powers of knowing
and choosing, is under a Law clear∣ly
imprest on his Nature by the
Author of it, that strictly forbids
moral evil, and commands moral
good. And to enforce the Au∣thority
of this Law, the Wisdom
of the Lawgiver, and the temper
of the Subject requires, that wil∣ling
obedience should be attended
with certain rewards, and volun∣tary
disobedience with unavoid∣able
punishments. For Man be∣ing
descriptionPage 194
so fram'd as to fore-see the
consequences of his actions, the
inward springs of hope and fear,
work and govern him according∣ly.
And these necessary effects of
Vertue and Vice must be so great,
as may rationally induce Man to
reverence and observe the Law of
his Maker, in the presence of the
strongest Temptation to the con∣trary.
Now if we consider Man
in this corrupt state, how averse
from good, and inclin'd to evil,
how weak his directive faculty,
how disordered and turbulent his
Passions, how many Pleasures are
pressing on the senses, to precipi∣tate
his slippery disposition into a
compliance, it is very evident, that
besides the rules of Morality, eter∣nal
Reasons are necessary to pre∣serve
in him a dutiful respect to
God. Take away the hopes and
descriptionPage 195
fears of things hereafter, what An∣tidote
is of force against the poi∣son
of inherent Lusts? what can dis∣arm
the World of its Allurements?
how can Man void of Innocence,
and full of Impurity, resist the de∣lights
of Sin, when the inclinati∣ons
from within, are as strong as
temptations from without? how
greedily will he pursue the advan∣tages
of this mortal condition, and
strive to gratifie all the sensual ap∣pitites?
The Romans when the
fear of‖Carthage, that aspired to a
superiority in Empire, was remo∣ved,
presently degenerated from
Military Valor and Civil Vertues,
into Softness and Luxury. So if
Man were absolv'd from the fear
of Judgment to come, no restraint
would be strong enough to bridle
the impetuous resolutions of his
depraved will. If there were no
descriptionPage 196
evil of punishment after Death,
there is no evil of Sin but will be
continued in, till Death. And Man,
that by nature is incomparably
above, by Vice would be incom∣parably
beneath the Beasts: inso∣much
as joyning to their natural
brutishness, the craft and malice
of wit, he would become more
monstrously (that is, designedly
and freely) brutish. Now is it
conceivable that God, to keep his
subjects in order, should be con∣strained
to allure them with a
beautiful deceit, the promise of a
Heaven that has no reality, or to
urge them by the feigned terrors
of a Hell, that is no where? This
is inconsistent with his Wisdom,
and many other Attributes.
If it be objected, That humane
Laws are a sufficient security of
Vertue, and curb from Vice.
descriptionPage 197
I answer, This is apparently
false: For,
1. Soveraign Princes are ex∣empted
from temporal penalties,
yet their faults are of the greatest
malignity by the contagion of
their examples, and the mischief
of their effects. Their Actions are
more potent to govern than their
Laws. Innumerable perish by the
imitation of their Vices. Now to
leave the highest rank of Men un∣accountable,
would cause a great
disorder in the conduct of the rea∣sonable
Creature, and be a spot in
the Divine Providence.
2. Many Sins directly opposit
to Reason, and injurious to the
Divine Honour, are not within
the compass of Civil Laws. Such
are some Sins that immediately
concern God, the disbelief and un∣dervaluing
his Excellencies; and
descriptionPage 198
some that immediately respect a
Man's self, as Sloth, Luxury, &c.
And all vicious Principles that se∣cretly
lodge in the heart, and in∣fect
it with deep pollutions, and
many sins that break forth, of
which the outward acts are not
pernicious to the publick.
3. Many eminent vertues are
of a private nature, as Humility,
Meekness, Patience, a readiness
to forgive, Gratitude, for which
there are no encouragements by
civil Laws: so that they are but a
weak instrument to preserve In∣nocence,
and restrain from Evil.