The immortality of the soul asserted, and practically improved shewing by Scripture, reason, and the testimony of the ancient philosophers, that the soul of man is capable of subsisting and acting in a state of separation from the body, and how much it concerns us all to prepare for that state : with some reflections on a pretended refutation of Mr. Bently's sermon / by Timothy Manlove.

THE Immortality of the SOUL ASSERTED, &c.

CHAP. I. The contrary Hypothesis laid down; with an Account how far it agrees, or disagrees with the Philosophy of Epicurus, Lucre∣tius, Hobs, &c. The Method of the following Discourse.

THE Principles of sound Philosophy well tried and digested, do great∣ly improve Humane Understandings; the Reasoning Faculty is cultivated, and ad∣vanced by Exercise; by accustoming our selves to think, we learn in time to think better, and to more purpose; and every Truth which we meet with, and really

make our own, prepares us for the disco∣very of some further Truth which is an∣nexed to it, and depends upon it: And as our Knowledge increaseth, so will also the sense of our Ignorance.

Hence it is easy to discern the Reasons why, amongst so many Pretenders, there are so few that deserve the name of Phi∣losophers.

Some take the knowledge of Words, Terms of Art, and commonly received Forms of Expression, for the knowledge of Things; and these they swallow without chewing, and upon all occasions bring up again, as raw as they took them in, and play with them, as Boys do with Bubbles, till Wise men laugh at them.

Others there are, near a-kin to the for∣mer, who suck in Opinions, as the wild Asses do the Wind, without distinguishing the wholsome from that which is cor∣rupt.

Others can go no further than they are led by the Nose. These are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of a slavish Nature, and he that can so far get the Ascendent over them, as to insi∣nuate himself into their esteem (which is no hard matter to do) may command their Understandings, because they them∣selves never knew how to use them.

Others have Imaginations so little used to government, that they cannot six their thoughts upon a serious enquiry after Truth, but they quickly give them the slip, and go to play with Impertinencies. Some are so dull that they cannot appre∣hend any thing that lies out of the com∣mon Road, and is not plain, and obvious. Others are so sloathful, that they grow weary before they have half accomplish'd their search. And others so foolishly con∣ceited, that they think it below them to alter their present Sentiments.

But the great hinderance of useful Knowledge, is an in-bred, radicated En∣mity in Corrupt Nature against those Truths which have a nearer tendency to the reformation of ill Manners, and the exercise of serious Religion.

Hinc origo mali—

And the Age in which we live, affords many unhappy Instances of the Predomi∣nancy of this Corruption, which makes a Learned Gentleman thus to reflect upon it, viz.

That we are fallen into an Age declining from God, in which ma∣ny are fond of those things which lead us farthest from him, and seem most to secure us against him; and the Rabble

of Atheistical Epicurean Notions which have been so often routed, and have fled before the World, are now faced about, and afresh recruited, to assault this present Generation. Sir Ch. Wolse∣ley's Unreasonableness of Atheism, pag. 37.

A like Complaint we have in a late Judicious Philosopher, who speaking of the Excellency of the Platonick Doctrine, because it draws off our Minds from pe∣rishing Transitory things, to the contem∣plation of more noble Intellectual Beings, further adds, Quâ quidem in re infinitum propè momentum est, &c. i. e. which is a matter of infinite moment; for we are over∣whelmed with a Rout of Philosophers, who contend that nothing but Bodies can be understood. Du Hamel de consens. Vet. & Nov. Philos. Praefat. The like you may find in Ludovic. Viv. de Veritat. Fidei, lib. 1. pag. 145.

The Knowledge of Atheists, saith Van Helmont, wholly depends on a Brutal Be∣ginning, and they are unapt to under∣stand those things which do exceed sense; for that is the cause, why they exclude themselves from the Intelligible World, pag. 348.

And I find that the late Ingenious E. of Rochester came at last to the same Apprehension, viz. that,

That absurd

and foolish Philosophy, which the World so much admired, propagated by the late Mr. Hobs, and others, had undone him and many more. See his Funeral Ser∣mon, pag. 26.

How far these Observations are perti∣nent to the matter in hand, you shall see more by and by: For my part, I desire not to make any man's Opinions seem worse than they are; much less to charge Atheism, or Infidelity upon a Gentleman, who in appearance▪ disowns them. You shall therefore hear him speak for him∣self.

The Opinion which he undertakes to maintain is this, viz. That the Humane Soul is a material Spirit, generated, growing, and falling with the Body, and rising again with it at the sound of the voice of the Arch∣angel, and the Trump of God, pag. 1.

Hereupon he endeavours to persuade us, that the Soul is nothing else but the inflamed glowing Particles of the Blood, called Spirits; which are, says he, the Active Principle of Life, Motion, Sense, and Understanding in Man, and Beast, pag. 10. And hence he infers, That the Soul can∣not subsist, act, or suffer any thing in a state of Separation from the Body, but that by Death the man's Faculty of think∣ing is certainly destroyed, pag. 2, 3, 14,

15. And yet he owns the Article of the Resurrection, and the last Judgment ap∣pointed of God for the distributing of Recompences, according to the behaviour which men have used in passing through the Trials and Temptations of this World, pag. 6.

You have here such a medly of Epicu∣rean Dreams and Christian Doctrines mixt together, as is not commonly to be met with. The one part of his Hypothesis is below the common Reason and Senti∣ments of Mankind; the other above the reach of the greatest Philosophers, with∣out the help of Supernatural Revelation, I mean, the Doctrine of the Resurrection, at the sound of the Voice of the Arch∣angel, and the Trump of God.

The truth is, Our Author hath advan∣ced so far into the Tents of Epicurus, Lu∣cretius, Hobs, and others of our trifling Atomists, that it is a wonder he went no further; and who knows but he may yet be within call, or, at least, that we may prevent others from being infected with the like Contagion?

Let us now see how far these Philoso∣phers and he are agreed; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. The Soul, says Epicurus, is certainly a Body consisting of thin subtil par••s, and at our dissolution is dissipated,

and hath no longer the same Faculties, no motion, nor sense, Diog. Laert. in Epicur. pag. 281, 282. The same you have over again in Gassendus's Syntagm. Philos. Epicur. pag. 136.

And moreover, pag. 137. Exortum ergo Anima habet, à quo usque ut adolescit, vi∣gescit que cum corpore, sic tendat oportet ad In∣teritum, cum eodem senescens, ac sensim defi∣ciens. That is, The Soul riseth, grows, de∣cays, and falls with the Body. It is needless to tell the Learned, how much Lucretius, and Hobs, &c. have endeavoured to cul∣tivate, and recommend this sort of Philo∣sophy. See Hobs of the Kingdom of Dark∣ness, Leviath. part. 4. chap. 44. and Gas∣sendus himself hath too much encouraged it. Thus you see how far they are agreed.

Nevertheless there are not wanting in our Author's Book some Concessions, which I think will be sufficient to over∣throw all that part of his Hypothesis, which savours more of the Epicurean than the Christian: As for Example.

1. He would not be taken for one who de∣nies that there are any Spiritual Substances, pag. 6. but rather supposeth that the An∣gels are Immaterial, Intelligent Spiri•••• pag. 15. and in this I must acknowledge he is more refined than Mr. Hobs, who cannot

endure to hear of any Substances, but corporeal, and explodes the rest as mere Phantasmes, and Idols of the Imagination, Leviath. part. 3. cap. 34. pag. 208. and so did his Master Epicurus, see Diog. Laert. in Epicur. pag. 282. where he endeavours to make us believe, that nothing can be un∣derstood as incorporeal, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ex∣cept a Vacuum, an Inanity, or Empty Space for Bodies to move in; and therefore, says he, they who say the Soul is incor∣poreal, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, talk vainly. Now, thus far our Author agrees with him, that the Humane Soul is corporeal, but yet he de∣nies not the Angels to be immaterial. And this, I say, is somewhat odd, if we consider that the Soul of man is made to know, love, and delight in God as the Angels themselves are, (and indeed what can they do that is higher than this?) yet our Author supposeth them to be Immate∣rial, but the Soul to be no better than corruptible matter. Surely it is much more rational to say, Ex operationum similitudine colligi potest similitudo essentiae: Anima autem vim intelligendi, & volendi cum Angelis ha∣bet communem, ergo & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 essentiae, as Alsted observes, from the likeness of Ope••••••ion we may gather the likeness of Esse••••e, &c. which Consideration will weigh the more with those, who consider

at how great a rate the Soul of man was redeemed by him, who took not upon him the Nature of Angels. And there∣fore I must take leave to conclude with Mr. B. Nulla mihi obvia est ratio, quae pro∣hibere videtur, ne Naturam totam mentalem, nobis notam, Angelorum scilicet & Hominum, ad unam speciem in sensu generaliore, quasi in classem unam, benè redigam. Meth. Theol. part. 1. cap. 4. pag. 134.

2dly, He owns the Being, and Perfe∣ctions of the Deity, and speaks with Re∣verence of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ.

3dly, He speaks well of the Holy Scrip∣tures, and cites several passages out of them, which he thinks make for his purpose, and moreover is willing that the Point of the Soul's Immateriality should be tried by their Authority, pag. 19. And there∣fore I must say, (sans ceremonie) if he re∣fuse to submit to the determination of the Scripture as to the Soul's Immortality, the Appeal which he hath made is no bet∣ter than trifling Prevarication, ill becom∣ing a Philosopher, and worse a Christian. And besides, if he imagine that he can prove the Article of the Resurrection, as laid down in his Position, without ••••e help of Scripture, I think he would do well to give the World a Specimen of his

Transcendent Sagacity in that matter; but if he fly to Scripture-Authority where it is on his side, it will justly be accounted a piece of Partiality and Impiety too, if he yield not to it, where it makes against him. In a word, If the Scripture may be Judge in the case, it will be easy enough to disprove the former part of his Asser∣tion, viz. That the Soul falls, or dies with the Body: And again, If he renounce the Scripture, he will never be able to prove the latter part of it, viz. That the Body riseth again at the voice of the Arch-angel. So that the two parts of his Hypothesis seem to mix together like Oyl and Wa∣ter. They want a tertium quid to unite them, which yet must be neither Reason, nor Scripture.

These things being premised, what I have to say, at present, upon this occa∣sion, shall be digested into the following Method.

• First, I shall evince by plain Scripture-proof, That the Soul of man is immortal, and doth not fall, dye, or perish with the Body.
• 2dly, I shall prove the same by the Light of Natural Reason, for the convi∣ction of such as will not submit to Scrip∣ture-Authority.
• ...

• 3dly, I shall shew, That the most con∣siderable amongst the Ancient Philoso∣phers did assert and maintain the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality.
• 4thly, Our Author's Objections shall be considered.
• 5thly, Something shall be said to the point of materiality, and immateriality which our Author harps so much upon.
• 6thly, Some Directions shall be given to such as question the Soul's Immorta∣••ity, that they may arrive at a certainty in this matter.
• 7thly, I shall shew how those, who believe the Immortality of the Soul, ought to improve so momentous a Do∣ctrine.

CHAP. II. The Immortality of the Soul proved by Scripture.

SO full and clear is Scripture-Evidence in this matter, that he who owns the Authority of those Sacred Records, and yet denies the separate subsistence of the Soul after Death, seems to be as incon∣sistent with himself, as those Philosophers against whom Aristotle disputes, Metaph. Lib. 4. who affirmed, That a thing might be, and not be, at the same time.

I shall therefore under this Head make it appear, That the Scriptures do fre∣quently speak of the Soul as a Substance distinct from the Body, and capable of subsisting, acting, and suffering in a state of separation from it; and do further assure us, That the Souls of good men shall be happy when so separate, even before the general Resurrection, and final Judg∣ment, and the Souls of wicked men mi∣serable. For the proof of these things, let us take a view of the following places of Scripture.

We will begin with the Account of man's Creation at first.

Gen. 1.26. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let ••hem have dominion, &c. Verse 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female crea∣ted he them. Chap. 2.7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Where you may observe,

First, That man was the Master-piece of God's Workmanship; or the most excellent Crea∣ture of all this lower World. And therefore when all things were prepared for his happy Subsistence, a Council, as it were, is held about his Creation, to shew us how much the Wisdom of God is dis∣played, and shines forth in such a Crea∣ture, who is an Epitome of all the World besides.

2dly, He was made in the image of God, after his likeness. Let us therefore consider wherein this Image may reasonably be supposed to have consisted; and where shall we seek for it but in the Soul, which is the noblest part of man, and therefore most fit to be the Subject of the Divine likeness? And there you may find it, part∣ly in the spiritual, intellectual, Immortal na∣ture of the Soul; and partly in the holy

rectitude of its Faculties. The former was the natural, the latter the moral, or holy Image of God in man. This was the health, and perfection of his Nature, some way due to it, considering the end for which he was made, though not insepa∣rable from it. The Fall defaced it, Grace repairs it again, Ephes. 4.24. Col. 3.10.

It is therefore absurd to suppose, that the words should be interpreted of either of these, viz. the Natural, or Moral, so as to exclude the other. A Soul made of corruptible perishing Matter, is not fit to be called an Image of the Immortal God; neither is it a capable Subject of those Divine and Holy Qualifications, which all speak an Immortal Nature in which they are implanted, and point at a glori∣ous Immortality as their end.

There is another part, also, of the Image of God in Man, and that is the Image of his Supereminence or Majesty, in that Dominion which God gave him over the Creatures. But this need not stop us being altogether distinct from the former (which are principally intended) and mentioned as such. Man was first crea∣ted in the Image of God, and then had this Dominion given him. Let us mak•• man in our image, — and let him have do∣minion.

The gross Conceits of the Anthropomor∣phites I pass by, though the Epicurean is as stupid as they, who would Circumscribe the Deity with the finite Figure of a Man. See Creech's Notes on Lucret. page 4.

I only add, If it be Treason to impair or debase the King's Coin which hath his Image, and Superscription upon it; let them look to it, who are not afraid to vilify, and cast dirt upon the Reasonable Soul, which was created after the Image of him, who accepteth not the persons of Princes.

3dly, It is observable, that the original of the Soul was different from that of the Body. The one was formed out of pre-existent (created) Matter, the Dust of the Ground, and so was a dead, unactive thing, till the other, viz. the Spirit of Life (or Lives, as it is in the Hebrew) was breathed into it by the Almighty. This was not edu∣ced ex potentiâ materiae, but rather created immediately, to actuate, and inform the Body which God had prepared for it. This is Divinae particula aurae, something nobler than the purest Spirits of the Blood, and therefore under no necessity of pe∣rishing, or being dissipated with them. Which will further appear from the Ac∣count which Solomon gives of man's Dis∣solution

by Death; Eccles. 12.7. Then shall the dust return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it; who is elsewhere styled the Father of Spi∣rits, and the God of the Spirits of all flesh. These places do mutually illustrate each other, and confirm the Truth which I am inferring from them.

There are many other places which speak of the Soul as a Substance distinct from the Body. Job 14.22. His flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn; though Aristotle (as cited by our Author, pag. 2.) counts it a great im∣propriety of speaking, to say the Soul is sor∣rowful. 2 Cor. 4.16. Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. It seems then that they do not both perish together in the end, for if so, they would both together tend alike to perishing in the way. We find also the Soul distinguished from the Spirit, Heb. 4.12. To the dividing asunder of soul and spirit; and elsewhere we find these two distinguished from the Body, 1 Thess. 5.23. And I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body, be preserved blameless, &c. If you look narrowly, and impartially into these places, perhaps you may find not only a•••• Intellectual Spirit, and a Body, but also the material Soul, or Spirits which you

talk of, that are the vinculum unionis be∣tween them, and the nearer Instruments of the nobler Spirit's Operations. But I proceed.

Matth. 10.28. Our Blessed Saviour as∣sures us, That they which kill the Body are not able to kill the Soul. But our Au∣thor would persuade us, That the Soul falls, perishes, dyes with the Body, pag. 1, 14, 15. How these will be reconciled, I am utterly at a loss; Ipse viderit.

2 Cor. 12.1, 2, 3. The Apostle speak∣ing of the Revelations which had been made to him, viz. That he was caught up into Paradise, or to the Third Hea∣ven, and heard unspeakable words which it was not lawful, or possible, for a man to utter; tells us withal, twice over, That whether he was, at that time, in the body, or out of the body, he could not tell. Whence it is plain, that the Apostle supposeth the Soul capable of subsisting, and acting out of the Body, or else he would never have questioned whether it was not his own case. But how easily could our Author have solved this difficulty, and told the Apostle, Sir, You need not question but your Soul was in the Body, for it cannot act without bodily Organs. It cannot see with∣out the Eye, &c. pag. 2. nor probably do or suffer any thing at all, pag. 3. So true it

is, That vain man would be wise, that is, be accounted so, Job 11.12. I wonder not that some of the Predecessors of these Philosophers encountred the Apostle, and some said, What would this babler say? Acts 18.17, 18.

I might further add, That the Apostle here doth not only suppose that the Soul can subsist, and act separate from the Bo∣dy, but that it can act very nobly too; which will appear, if we consider what Objects were like to be presented to him in the Third Heaven, whither he was caught up, and what deep impressions he received from them, retaining the memo∣ry of those things when he was in the Bo∣dy, which, for ought he knew, were discovered to him when he was out of it.

Phil. 1.21, 22, 23, 24. The Apostle tells the Philippians, that he was in a strait be∣twixt two, having a desire to depart, (or to be dissolved) and to be with Christ, which (says he) is far better; i. e. it was more for his present personal advantage. And this departing he opposeth to abiding in the flesh, which was more needful for them, viz. that they might be farther edified by his Ministry. Now if the Soul die with the Body, I demand, what doth the Apo∣stle mean by departing, and being with Christ? Did he not enjoy more communion with

Christ before his death, than he can be supposed ever to have enjoyed since, if his Soul and Body perished together? And why doth he say, That to dye is gain (verse 21.) if by dying he mean sinking into an unactive state? And why doth he op∣pose departing, and being with Christ, to living, or abiding in the flesh, if his Soul could not live out of the flesh, nor sur∣vive his Body? Again, I ask, Why the Apostle was in so great a strait, as not knowing what to chuse in this matter? Had he so little regard to the Honour and Interest of his great Master, so little love to the Service of Christ, and the Souls of men, as to question whether he should chuse to live for the edification of the Church, or fall down into a dead un∣activity? Will you say, that the Troubles and Persecutions which he met with made him weary of his Life and Work? The Answer is easy, Himself tells you, that none of those things moved him; that he fainted not; yea he calls them light Afflictions, and had learnt to rejoice in Tribulations. So that in short, you may turn and wind which way you will; either what the Apostle says here hath no tolerable sense in it, or your Hypothesis of the Soul's dying with the Body is absurd, and unchristian.

A parallel place we have 2 Cor. 5.1, 2, 3, to the 9th, where the Apostle speaks of the dissolution of the earthly tabernacle; and moreover, verse 6. While we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; and v. 8. We are confident, and willing ra∣ther to be absent from the body, and to be pre∣sent with the Lord. And v. 4. He com∣pares Death to uncloathing. What say you to this? Cannot a man live when his Clothes are put off, and laid aside? even so may the Soul when separate from the Body, else the Apostle's Confidence in this matter was vain. What did you mean to appeal to the Scripture, or so much as to name it?

The same Truth further appears in the Parable of the rich Sensualist, and Laza∣rus, Luke 16.19, &c. whence you may learn the different States of separate Souls after Death.

Object. But this is no History, but a Pa∣rable, and therefore it is absurd to draw any Arguments from it.

Answ. I readily grant, that there are many Circumstances in Parables which must not be too far strained, and particu∣larly in this. But yet, I say, it was de∣signed to instruct, and not to deceive them.

Let it therefore be considered, that either it was the common Opinion amongst the Jews, (the Sadducees excepted, who were a despised Sect) that the Souls of good men are happy, and of bad men misera∣ble, when separate from their Bodies, or it was not their common Opinion. If not, it seems not a thing worthy the Wis∣dom of our Lord to establish his Parable upon an Hypothesis contrary to the com∣mon belief of the Jews. For this would be more likely to prejudice them against his Doctrine, as built upon false, and ex∣travagant Opinions, than to gain upon them.

But if it really was their Opinion, that the Souls of men do subsist, and are hap∣py, or miserable when separate from their Bodies, &c. then, I say, either this Opi∣nion was true, or false; if true, it was what I am pleading for; if false, this Pa∣rable was like to confirm them in their Error, and so you reflect upon him that spoke it. I mention not the Conceit of Tertullian, who will have Herod and John the Baptist pointed at in it.

Deut. 34.5, 6. We read that Moses died, and was buried; and yet long after, Mat. 17. we find that Moses and Elias appeared upon the Mountain talking with our Sa∣viour, when he was transfigured; There∣fore

something of Moses was alive, and capable of acting, though his Body was buried.

Again, Exod. 3.6. God stiles himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, long after they were dead. And yet our Lord tells the Sad∣ducees, Matth. 22.32. That God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; i. e. their Ruler, Benefactor, and Felicity; a Rela∣tion which the Dead are not capable of, as Mr. B. observes. See his Notes upon the place. Therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were in some sense living, viz. as to their Souls, though their Bodies were dead. And besides, you must take notice, that the Sadducees denied not only the Resurrection of the Body, but the Im∣mortality of the Soul, as Dr. Hammond observes, and that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifieth not only the rising of the Body, but our li∣ving after this Life, when the Body is dead: And so the force of our Saviour's Argument is very discernible.

Again, Luke 23.46. our Lord com∣mends his self-resigning Soul into his Fa∣ther's hands, having before told the Pe∣nitent Thief, To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise; and Stephen dying, prays, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. Pray be so kind as to give the World some satisfactory inter∣pretation

of those places, and reconcile them to the Notion of the Soul's dying with the Body: For I do assure you, most Christian Interpreters put another sense upon them; and it would be a piece of Charity to undeceive them, if you know how; and when your hand is in, pray write down that the Apostle meant, where he speaks of the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb. 12.23. If by perfection you mean sleep, dissipation, death, or perishing, you must make us a new Dictionary, which may also tell us what your Notion of Blessedness is, that so we may know how to interpret those words of St. John, Rev. 14.13. Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord— and their works to follow, or rather accom∣pany, them, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Vide Pol. Synops. And also what Solomon means, Prov. 14.32. The righteous hath hope in his death.

It is easy to produce much more Scripture-proof to establish the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality, or to en∣large more upon what hath been al∣ready offered. But thus much may suf∣fice for those who are ready to submit to the Rules and Authority of Scrip∣ture, and to be tried by them, and with open arms to accept, and embrace the

Truth, as our Authour speaks, pag. 19. But there is no Truth so sacred, no Evi∣dence so clear, which perverse Wranglers will not seek to evade, and wrest, though they do it to their own destruction. What can be more clear against the obstinate Jews than that memorable Prophesy, Gen. 49.10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And yet they have no less than Twenty six Answers for it. See Taylor's Liberty of Prophecying, pag. 80. Thus the late Infamous Mr. Hobs every-where abuseth the Scripture, with a Profanation not inferior to the denying of it. And so do those of the Church of Rome, Socinians, Enthusiasts, and others. See John 3.20, 21.

CHAP. III. The Immortality of the Soul proved by such Arguments as are drawn from the light of Natural Reason, and the common Sense and Experience of Mankind. The First Ar∣gument.

WE come now to the proof of the Immortality of the Soul, by such Arguments as are proper for the convi∣ction of those Persons, who will not ac∣knowledge the Authority of the Scrip∣ture; and they are drawn either from those Faculties and Powers wherewith the Soul is endued; or from the gross and dangerous Absurdities that flow from the contrary Opinion. Under each of those general Heads of Argument several parti∣culars will be necessarily comprehended.

Argum. I. The noble Faculties, and Capa∣cities of the Soul, argue that its Original is higher than our Author is willing to allow of, and that its Nature is immortal. The ex∣cellency of any Substance must be known by the Faculties, Virtues, or Powers radi∣cated in it, and the excellency of those Faculties by the Acts proceeding from

them, which connotes, or takes in the Objects about which those Acts are con∣versant. Talis est cujusque rei Natura qualis est ejus Operatio, or, if you will, Operari sequitur esse, the being of things is the root of their working. As they are more or less noble, so are their Acts; and the Natures of all things are suited to the Ends and Uses for which they are design'd by the All-wise Contriver. Thus from the In∣fluences, Operations, and Effects of the Sun, we boldly conclude, that its Nature is more noble than that of a Clod.

First, It is manifest that the Nature of the Soul is very vigorous and sprightly. Its vi∣tal, active Power worketh ad intrà, both in the Operations of the Intellect, and Will; and ad extrà, as excited by the Im∣perium of the Will. How quick are the flights of our Thoughts into the uttermost Regions of the Earth? How speedily do they compass Sea, and Land, and, not content with such a Circuit, soar aloft, and lose themselves in forming Notions of imaginary Spaces beyond the Coelum Empyraeum it self, and by and by are got as low as the very Centre of the Earth? And all this in the twinkling of an Intelle∣ctual Eye? With what facility, and brisk∣ness can it turn it self from one Object

••o another; and instead of being weary, delights it self in these sportful Vagaries, which are as agreeable to its active Na∣ture, as it is for Matter to lie still, in a drooping senseless, unactive State? Inso∣much that some good Philosophers think that the Soul is constantly in action, without which they suppose the cessation of its Essential form would be inferred.

And it is a great question, whether the nature of Habits (which has puzled so many thinking men) lies not much in some unobserved Acts, which the Soul hath intrinsecally, and in the depth of it, of which we are not conscious, till some further Acts proceed from them, which take in more of Corporeity, and Animal Spirits.

However, we are sure, that when the use and exercise of our Senses are inter∣rupted by natural Sleep, the Soul is often at work, and its Reasonings sometimes as lofty, and solid in Dreams, as when we are awake, and, it may be, more. Whence an Ancient Philosopher thought, that mens dreaming when asleep, was an intimation that they should live when dead. And the Peripateticks (as Aelian tells us, Var. Hist. lib. 3 cap. 11.) suppo∣sed that the Soul was more sagacious, and its. Apprehensions more Prophetick in

Dreams, than in the day-time when ta∣ken up with serving, and caring for the Body. And the Stoicks, of old, thought, that Sleep was familiare, & domesticum Oraculum.

However, 'tis evident from all this, that the Nature of the Soul is very active. Hence Porphyry argues, That for the Soul to die, is for life it self to die, or for that which is, per essentiam, life to cease to be what it is. And Cicero Tusc. quaest. lib. 1.336. Nulla est celeritas quae possit cum animi celeritate con∣tendere; and from this Consideration, amongst others, concludes it must needs be immortal.

But there is one thing more under this Head which I must not pass by, viz. That strength, and solidity of Judgment which is many times observable in dying Per∣sons, notwithstanding the languishing of their material Animal Spirits; now here I demand, If the Soul be nothing else but the purer parts of the Blood separated, inflamed, and made lucid in the Brain, how comes it to pass, that when the Senses grow dull, and the Spirits low, Reason doth not always equally decline with them? If any of those Material Spirits be more pure, and volatile, and so apter to be dissipated than the rest, one would think it should be the reasoning part, and

therefore that the decay should always be∣gin there. But we find quite contrary, that the Rational workings of the Soul are, many times, rais'd above the usual pitch, when the Animal Spirits are almost dissipated and gone, or however ex∣tremely enfeebled. Which made Heraclitus say, That the Soul goes out of the Body as Lightning out of a Cloud, because it is many times clearest in its conceptions, when taking its flight from this Prison.

This helped to perfect the late Earl of Rochester's Persuasion of the Soul's Immor∣tality, viz.

When Sickness had brought him so near Death, and his Spirits were so low and spent, that he could not move nor stir, and did not think he should live an hour; yet he obser∣ved that his Reason and Judgment were so strong and clear, that from hence he was fully perswaded that Death was not the Spending or Dissolu∣tion of the Soul, but only the Separa∣tion, of it from Matter. See his Life, page 20, 21.

And, it may be, that which we call a Lightning before Death, ariseth from some sprightly efforts of the Soul (finding it self loosening from Matter) shaking off its Fetters, and hastening to be quite disen∣tangled.

But this brings me to a second Particular.

2dly, The Understanding is a very noble▪ Faculty, eager in its pursuits after Knowledge, searching into Objects far enough remote from Matter, and above the Sphere of Sense. It has a natural Bias and inclination to Truth as its object, and embraceth it with unspeakable delight when it hath found it. Contemplative Persons know this to be true, which makes them so un∣wearied in their Studies, and pleased with any discoveries they can make for the advancement of Knowledge. This made divers of the Ancient Philosophers travel into remote Countries, that they might converse with Learned Men, and glean up any Fragments of Knowledge where-ever they could find them. So did Apollonius, Plato, Pythagoras, Thales, &c. and the Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost Parts of the Earth, to hear the Wisdom of Solomon. Seneca thought that Man buried alive who lived without Books. And Lipsius thought himself on the top of Olympus, when he read Seneca▪ Aristippus thought a Man had better be a Beggar than unlearned, Laert. in Arist. 50. And what unaccountable delight had Julius Scaliger in Lu•••••• who ••••ought

twelve Verses in him better than all the German Empire? So ravishing are intelle∣ctual Pleasures.

Impressions from without are made up∣on the Organs of Sense, various, accord∣ing to the variety of Objects, and hence correspondent Ideas are formed in the Imagination, and laid up in the Memory. But there is something higher, which sports it self with these Phantasms, com∣pounds, and divides them at pleasure, and makes new ones out of them, as of Centaurs, Syrens, little Boys with Wings, and what the Painter pleaseth, which have no pattern in rerum natura, to an∣swer them. What is it which, abstracting from the individuating Circumstances of singular Beings, forms universal Noti∣ons, entia Rationis, inadequate Concepti∣ons of those beings, and so rangeth the World of Entities under the several Spe∣cies to which they belong, by observing wherein they agree or differ from each other, and considering their mutual Ana∣logies and Respects? What is that which withdraws the Imagination from attend∣ing the Organs of Sense, insomuch, that a Person intent upon his Studies, is some∣times as if h•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in a Dream, though awake, 〈…〉〈…〉 not what you say to hi•• 〈…〉〈…〉 the Time goes on,

though the Clock strike near him? What is it that from suitable Premises infers certain Conclusions, and thus argues it self into a firm assent to many things above the discovery of Sense, yea and contrary to sensible appearance? Of which more here∣after.

And what say you to Mathematical Spe∣culations? how far are they beyond the reach of Sense or Imagination? The Inge∣nious Descartes, in his Sixth Meditation de Primâ Philosophiâ, sets himself to examine the difference betwixt Imagination, and pure Intellection, and thus proceeds; I can imagine a Triangle, as distinctly as if I saw it, and with some more difficulty a Pen∣tagone; but when I come to consider a Figure with a thousand, or ten thousand Angles, I can form no such distinct Idea of it in my Imagination, and yet I can easily understand that such a Figure there may be, as well as either of the other; and so he goes on. Thus you see how soon the Imagination is jaded, and tired out, but the Understand∣ing can demonstrate the Properties of those several Figures, and argue it self into a satisfactory assurance of many Mathema∣tical Truths, which at first seem extrava∣gant, and unreasonable. And ho••e it spends upon its own 〈…〉〈…〉 and deaves Sense, and Imag•••••••• 〈…〉〈…〉 it

and many of the Precepts of Geometry are utterly unimitable in the purest mat∣ter that Phansy can imagine: And yet with what unspeakable satisfaction doth the Mind acquiesce in these Demonstra∣tions so abstract from matter, and incom∣petible to it? And when it hath thus by abstraction (as it were) unbodied them, it takes them for its own, and hath a per∣fect understanding of them, and makes both Sense and Imagination know their distance; and if they will be too busy, it silenceth and controlls them by its Sove∣reign Power; and pursues its search with so much earnestness, that it knows not how to give over. Hence the Mathe∣matical Sciences are called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Purifications of the Reasonable Soul. Ar∣chimedes was so intent upon it, that when the City was taken, he observed it not; and when the Soldier (that killed him) came into the Room where he was busy at it, he bids him have a care of disorder∣ing his Figure.

It were easy to enlarge much on this Particular; but I am very confident, that no Mathematician, who seriously consi∣ders what hi•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••s, when intent up∣on Demons•••••••• 〈…〉〈…〉 possibly persuade himself 〈…〉〈…〉 a piece of folly, as 〈…〉〈…〉 ••••••••le Wheat-meal,

in two or three days time, should become capable of such Speculations as these. It were every jot as irrational, as to con∣clude with the Comedian, That if the Blood of an Ass was transfused into a Virtuoso, there would be small difference between the Emittent Ass, and the Recipient Philo∣sopher. Shadwell.

But follow me a little further, and you shall see yet greater things than these. The Understanding is not satisfied with the knowledge of lower, or less impor∣tant Truths, but it riseth up from visible Effects to the invisible Causes, and Springs of Action, and resteth not till it come to the Ens Entium, the Cause of Causes, the Fountain of Being, and so contemplates him who is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, One, and Truth it self, as Plato speaks, Crit. pag. 57. It considers its Relation to God, its De∣pendence upon him, its Duty to him. It understands moral Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Vertue and Vice, which fall not under the Laws of Matter and Mo∣tion. It studies the Nature of Spiritual Substances, ad intimas rerum Spiritualium quidditates penetrat, aut penetrare contendit. Scheibler's Metaph. ••••b. •• ••••g. 272. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. 〈…〉〈…〉 of the Un∣derstanding differ 〈…〉〈…〉 sensible Objects, as the I 〈…〉〈…〉 ••om

Sense, Max. Tyr. Dissert. 1. pag. 9. We have many abstracted Notions and Idea's of immaterial things, which depend not on Bodily Figures: And in what Subject can these Notions be lodged, but in one that is Immaterial? Therefore, I say, Si renunciatur tanto bono Immortalitatis, &c. If we renounce the Immortality of the Soul, so great a good, we must also renounce our Wit, Reason, and Mind, by which we are Im∣mortal, Lud. Viv. de ver. Fidei. Lib. 1. pag. 147.

And now let the whole Herd of our Epicurean Novelists (who cry up the un∣conceivable power of Matter, and Motion) muster up their Forces, and fairly deduce from the Principles of their Hypothesis, a rational, intelligible account of those Opera∣tions of the Intellect, which are so spiritual, and abstract from Matter. What say you? Can Matter and Motion contemplate the Glorious Attributes of God? Can a Spi∣ritual Object be apprehended without a Spiritual Act? And can such an Act be produced without a Spiritual Power? And can such a Power be radicated in meer Matter ••••••••••••r modified, or mo∣ved? Must 〈…〉〈…〉 be an Analogy be∣tween the 〈…〉〈…〉 the Object? Can any Eye 〈…〉〈…〉 ••••••h is spiritual, and In•••••• 〈…〉〈…〉 ••ho is a Spirit, and

Invisible? Can Matter and Motion con∣template that Perfection, which excludes all Corporeal Imperfection? Is not this to act extra Sphaeram? Does not Aristotle himself (in whose supposed Authority you seem to glory) tell you, That the Under∣standing is made one with the Object un∣derstood? which yet must be interpreted cum grano salis. No wonder if those who have gross material conceptions of their own Souls, be suspected of Atheism it self, as Epicurus was; of whom Cicero saith, he did nomine poncre, re tollere, Deos, in word confess, but in effect deny a Deity.

And why do you not answer Dr. Stil∣lingfleet's Demands, Origin. Sacr. pag. 416.

Can Atoms dispute whether there be Atoms or no? And whether the Soul be corporeal or no? Can Atoms frame Syllogisms in Mood and Figure? Can meer Matter argue pro and con, whe∣ther it be Matter, or something else?

Or if these Questions be too hard for you, why do you not accept the Chal∣lenge which Scaliger, Sennertus, and others have given you, and tell the World how Matter and Motion can produce even Sense it self, which is 〈…〉〈…〉 ••••ior Nature? What poor cont•••• 〈…〉〈…〉 ••ork do Lu∣cretius, Gassendus, 〈…〉〈…〉 ••••e rest of your Tutors mak•• 〈…〉〈…〉 to

solve these Phaenomena in a Mechanical way? Nil dat quod non habet.

3dly, The self-determining power of the Will, its Acts and Objects, do further argue that the Soul is of a Spiritual and Immortal Nature. This is that Faculty which chu∣seth, refuseth, or suspends its Acts, as Objects appear, and are estimated good, or evil, or of doubtful consideration. This renders a man capable of moral Govern∣ment by Laws, with their annexed San∣ctions, Promises, Threatnings, &c. This Faculty is the first Subject of Moral Good or Evil. The whole Frame of Govern∣ment. All Legislation, Judgment and Execution, Rewards and Punishments de∣pend upon it. And as the Understand∣ing pursues Truth, so doth the Will Good∣ness; and if at any time it willeth Evil, it is sub ratione boni, under the appearance or notion of Good, in some respect or other. An inclination to Happiness is es∣sential to its Nature; neither can it be satisfied with sensible, material; corruptible Objects, but mounts higher, and reacheth forth after Spiritual and Divine things, and can never rest till it centre upon the Infi∣nite Good, the Blessed God himself. Fecisti nos ad te, O•• ••••••equietum est cor nostrum do∣nec requies•••• 〈◊〉〈◊〉, August. Confess. lib. 1.

cap. 1. Thou hast made us for Thy self, and our heart is restless till it rest in Thee. So, Lib. 4. cap. 10. Quaquaversùm se vertit Anima hominis, ad dolores figitur alibi, prae∣terquam in Te. Which way soever the Soul of man turns, it can meet with nothing but grief, till it rest in God.

Hi motus animorum, at que haec certamina. —

Now I would ask those Philosophers (for so they yet affect to be called) with whom I have to do, How they will explain the Liberty of the Will by the Laws of Matter and Motion? (of which more under another Head.) And if the Soul be nothing else but the purer Spirits of the Blood, meer perishing matter, how comes it to pass that material, corruptible Objects will not sa∣tisfy its Desires? There is in every thing so great a tendency to union with its like, that 'tis become even a Proverb, like to like, simile gaudet simili, Earth to Earth, Water to Water, &c. And if the Soul be made of corruptible, perishing Matter, how is it, that it so stretcheth it self be∣yond its compass, and will not rest in Objects like it self, but must needs be as∣piring after Immortality, and will not be satisfied with the Sphere which they have assigned to it, but is for ••••••••••rsing with

the invisible World of Spirits, and cannot rest, but in the Infinite, Eternal Good. Certissimum est signum, &c.

It is (says one) a most certain sign that the Na∣ture of the Soul doth excel all perishing things, because none of those things can be found which will not in time grow vile, and insipid to it: Alsted. Its Divine Tendencies and Flights speak its Extraction and Duration too.

4thly, The Power which the Soul hath of reflecting upon its own Acts, both as to their Nature and Morality, is a further proof of its Spiritual, Immortal Being. It not only un∣derstands, but knows that it does so. It contemplates and reflects upon its own Contemplation. It can form Arguments, and then examine and weigh the strength of them. It can sift its own Notions, and consider what may be objected against them, and fortify it self against these Objections. Thus it improves it self in the knowledge of Truth, and then reflects upon the improvements which it has made. It can retire from its com∣merce with external Objects, and take a view of its own essential Powers and Virtues. And indeed we cannot know what our Souls are, but by these 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, their circular and reflex Motions, and converse with themselves, which on∣ly

can steal from them their own Secrets, as a Learned Man observes, —Smith, of the Immortality of the Soul. And if any doubt of this reflective Power, his very doubt∣ing is enough to prove it, for he could not doubt, but by Reflection upon him∣self, as Dr. Stillingfleet.

And what say you to the mighty power of Natural Conscience, which re∣flects upon our Acts under a Moral Consi∣deration; compares them with the Law, accuseth or excuseth, raiseth Storms, or speaks Peace, and so is in part an Executioner, as well as a Witness, and a Judge. How bit∣terly doth Tiberius complain of the lashes it gave him, as Tacitus imforms us? and so doth Suetonius, and Dion Cassius. The like may be said of Otho, Jugurtha, and many more:

— Prima est haec ultio, quod se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur. Juv.

Thus you see how Conscience gives Men a foretast of what's like to come after, whether they will or no. Insomuch that the greatest pleasures of the Soul, and its most piercing troubles, are from Moral Causes. And, what have Matter and Motion in them, that can rationally be supposed adequate to such effects as these,

yea, or so much as to the production of a thought? Debate this Point impartially and closely with your own Faculties, and (I had almost said) think so meanly of the Soul if you can.

Is it possible that any Man in his wits should believe, that the Notions of Moral Good and Evil, the remorse of a bad Conscience, and the joys of a good one, should proceed from nothing else, but the shufflings and cuttings of the spiritu∣ous Parts of the Blood up and down the Cavities and Ventricles of the Brain? No∣thing can be imagined more absurd, un∣less it be that the World also was made by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms, which is the height of Nonsense and Extrava∣gancy.

5thly, The Soul hath a power of rectify∣ing those mistakes to which an over-credulous regard to Sense and Imagination too often be∣trays us. Thus Reason boldly concludes, that the Oar is straight, though, when part of it is under Water, it appears crooked, because of the Refraction of Rays through a double Medium of un∣equal Tenuity; and that Snow is white, though when the Eye is affected with bi∣lious Humours in the Jaundice, it seems yellow; and that the Heads of our Anti∣podes are as erect as our own, whatever

our imagination obstinately suggests to the contrary. Now, if the Mind was of the same nature with the corporeal Facul∣ties, their Judgment would be uniform. Therefore, how much soever Matter and Motion may be concerned in these erro∣neous Impressions which are made upon our Senses and Imaginations, it must needs be some nobler Principle in us which supplies these defects, and corrects the Errors which proceed from them. Can Matter and Motion make such gross mi∣stakes, and rectify them when it has done? This is to act above it self, to do and undo, and is altogether unconceiva∣ble and incredible to those, who will not be imposed upon by an empty sound of words. If you cannot explain the man∣ner of Sensation it self by meer Matter and Motion, how will you solve those Phaenomena which transcend the power both of Sense and Imagination? What is that in Man which will not form its judgment of things according to the rude Votes of the Senses, but consults some clearer Principle within it self? Speak to the, purpose or not at all.

6thly, The Soul has a Power of restrain∣ing and controlling the inordinate Efforts of the material Animal Spirits; which argues that it is a Substance distinct from them. The

frequent Conflicts between Reason, and the sensitive Appetite, fully prove, that there is in Man a Power superior to that of Matter and Motion.

The material Animal Spirits are much concerned in the disorders of Passion and Concupiscence. But, what is that Regent Predominant Principle which condemns and checks these unruly Motions of the brui∣tish Appetite, and chuseth sometimes the most distastful things to Sense, yea, and can give the Body to be burned for high and weighty Reasons, notwithstanding all the Recoils and Tumults of the Material Animal Spirits, and useth the Body as its Instrument to serve its own Will and Pleasure? What can this be, but the Ra∣tional Intellectual Spirit, which is capable of subsisting without the Body, or else would never so consent to its Destru∣ction?

But on the other hand, when the Soul of a Man is so immers'd in Sensuality, that it lets loose the Reins to Lust and Appetite, and forgets its own. Dignity and Prerogative, we justly say the Beast rules, and not the Man. And I believe it will prove at last, that the Soul must be accountable to its Maker for such mis∣management, and so gross a neglect of its Duty.

To conclude this Argument. If both the Sensitive and Intellectual Powers arise from no higher a Spring than Matter and Motion, How come these Material Spi∣rits so to struggle one with another, and one part of them side with Reason, the other fight against it? If you think all this is nothing else but the striving of the am∣bitious Particles of Matter for superiority and pre-eminence, you may think so still for me. I am not at leasure to fight with Shadows.

7thly, There is in the Soul a natural ap∣prehension of its own Immortality; and by this God rules the World, who needs not, will not rule it in a way of deceit. The belief of the Souls capacity of subsisting in a state of Separation from the Body, is so apt to insinuate it self into the minds of Men, and hath been so generally re∣ceived and entertain'd in the World, that it may justly be reckoned amongst the Notitiae Communes, or natural Notions, which are imprinted upon the minds of Men by the Author of Nature. 'Tis a Notion which hath endured the Test of all Ages, and still prevailed. Good Men believe and rejoyce in it. Bad Men can∣not shake off the fears of it. Those that are of contrary Factions, Opinions, and Interests in other respects, are yet agreed

in this, That the Soul is Immortal. The illiterate Vulgar, who are guided by the more simple Dictates of Nature, have more deep impressions of this great truth, than some of the Learned themselves, who by their laborious trifling have di∣sputed themselves into greater Ignorance, and raised Devils, which they have not the Wit or Honesty to lay again. Not only the Civilized Greeks and Romans, but the Barbarous Scythians, Indians, &c. have believed it: And what Salmasius says up∣on another account, [de Comâ] is as ap∣plicable to the matter in hand. Quanto magis Barbari, tanto felicius faciliusque Na∣turam Ducem sequi putantur. Eam detor∣quent, aut ab eâ magis recedunt politiores Gentes.

The most Eminent of the Philosophers (who have taken pains to cultivate their Understandings, and to rescue them from the mistakes which Education, Example, or Inconsiderateness had betrayed them to) have still seen Reason to stand up for this great Truth, except a few self-conceited Epicure••ns (who have been the scorn and by-word of all the rest) and the Sad∣ducees, whom the Jewish Writers reckon among them. Cicero observes, that there is in the minds of Men, Quasi saeculorum quoddam augurium futurorum, Tusc. Qu.

lib. 1.331. A kind of presage of a future World.

Moreover, these Persons who have en∣deavoured to run down the Notion of the Soul's Immortality, have not been able to avoid the force of it in their own Breasts, nor to secure themselves from the fear of what might befal them in a State of Separation from the Body, finding something within themselves, which bore witness to the Truth, in de∣spight of their stupid Opposition. And what Seneca saith of Atheists, may be ap∣plied to these Men, viz. That though in the day-time, and in company, they may with some shew of confidence deny the Immortality of the Soul; yet in the Night, when they are alone, sibi dubitant, they are full of doubts about it.

The Giant, Epicurus, of whom Lucre∣tius saith, He was the first man who durst fight against Heaven, Lib. 1. de Natura rerum, was himself as fearful, as any man, of those things which he denied were to be feared, viz. Death, and the Deity. As Cicero observes, de Natur. Deor. Lib. 1. and so you find him arguing in Laertius, That Death is not a thing to be jested with, Vid. Laert. in Epicur. 297. Whence the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet observes, How hard it is for an Epicurean to silence

his Conscience, after he has prostituted it; for (whatever there be in the Air) there is (says he) an Elastical power in Con∣science, that will bear it self up, not∣withstanding the weight that is laid upon it, Orig. Sacr. 365.

And 'tis very observable, that our Au∣thor himself, though pag. 15. he says posi∣tively, That by Death the man's Faculty of thinking is certainly destroyed; yet else where he speaks more dubiously, pag. 3, 11, 12.

The Minds of such Persons (says my Lord Bacon) are always wavering, and unsatisfied, never able to smother the in-bred consciousness of their Im∣mortality, so as not to have continual suggestions of fear and scruple.

Have you not heard of some such Per∣sons who durst not be alone in the Night? of others, who durst not go to sleep with∣out a Candle burning by them?

And it is further observable, how de∣sirous men are that their Names should be had in remembrance when they are dead, which is but the degeneracy of that nobler Inclination which the Soul has to Immor∣tality it self. Thus Epicurus appointed in his Last Will, that his Birth-day should be celebrated every Year, (Laert. pag. 271.) pleasing himself with a vain shadow of Immortality, while he despised the thiag it self.

Now I ask, If the Soul be nothing but some of the more spirituous parts of the Blood, and must die, perish, or fall with the Body; how comes it to pass that it hath such forcible Apprehensions, such an indelible Consciousness of its own Immor∣tality? How comes this Notion to be so general, as you have heard; if it proceed not from the common Dictate of Reason, acting alike in all Mankind, though they know not one another's minds? and if it be from Nature, how can it be vain or false?

How come these little Particles in the Brain to dance themselves into a Notion so foreign to their Nature? yea, or so much as to start a Question about it? How comes that, which according to our Author's Notion (pag. 10.) was no better than Wheat-meal, or Malt the other day, to phansy it self immortal to day? surely it is well improved in a very little time. Si in nobis nihil esset nisi corporeum, & cadu∣cum, unde orta esset nobis ea dubitatio, aut omnino cogitatio de aeternis & incorporeis, ma∣gis quam belluis? Omnis enim cogitatio (N.B.) aut ab objectis orta est, aut interiì••s ex nobis ipsis suppullulat, Vallesius de sacrà Philos. pag. 74. But this brings me to the Se∣cond General Argument.

CHAP. IV. Argum. II. Drawn from the many gross Ab∣surdities which follow from the Opinion of the Soul's dying with the Body.

Arg. II. THERE is such a monstrous Train of Absurdities which follow our Author's Opinion, as renders it altogether incredible. If it were true, nothing but Truth could rationally be in∣ferred from it. Ex vero nil nisi verum. There is a concatenation of Truths. They are linkt one to another, and so are their Contraries. But I come to Particulars.

First, If our Author's Hypothesis be true, no man is the same this year (not to say this Week) that he was the last. Individuation, Personality, Rewards, Punishments, Rights and Properties, are strangely overthrown.

The Matter of the Body is in a continual flux, daily dissipated by insensible Tran∣spiration, &c. (of which see Dr. Glisson, Charlton's OEconomia, and especially San∣ctorii Medicin. Static.) and still recruited by fresh supplies from the nourishment we take in: And the like may be said of the Material, Animal Spirits; these are con∣tinually

spending, and new ones made of new Blood: So that according to this Notion, our Author hath not the same Soul this Week that he had the last, nor perhaps the least particle of Matter about him the same that it was twenty years ago. If he say he was born Heir to any part of his Estate, I must tell him, he is not the same Person, either Soul, or Bo∣dy, that was born Seventy years since, therefore he may either relinquish his Opinion, or his Right to his Estate, whe∣ther he pleaseth. Some more permanent thing than Matter, and Motion, must be fixed on, to make the Man the same. If you say, That some of the more solid parts of the Body, as Bones, Cartilages, &c. may have remained all the while, and so fix the Principle of Individuation there. I answer, It's pity the World was not ac∣quainted with so improving a Notion sooner, for we have not yet learned to call the Bones the Man.

How much better were it to say with the Platonists, Anima cujusque est quisque, as Marsilius Ficinus argues in his Comment upon Plato's Convivium. Quis usque adeo demens erit, ut hominis appellationem in nobis firmissimam corpori fluenti semper, & undique permutato, potius quam animo stabilissimo, tri∣buat? pag. mihi 264. And to the same

purpose speaks Cicero, Tusc. Qu. lib. 1. Cum igitur, nosce te, dicit, hoc dicit, nosce animum tuum, nam corpus quidem quasi vas est, aut aliquod animi receptaculum: Ab ani∣mo tuo quicquid agitur, id agitur à te, pag. 340. And to this Descartes agrees, Meditat. Quart. de primâ Philosophiâ, Natura cogitans quae in me est, vel potius, quae ego ipse sum, pag. 22. So the Scripture speaks of the Soul as the Man, and of the Body as its Cloathing, 2 Cor. 5.4. It was a notable Speech of Heraclitus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.

A man cannot enter twice into the same River, expressing thereby the constant flux of Matter.

The Applica∣tion is easy. But I proceed.

Only one thing more I would add un∣der this Head; If the Soul be only the material Spirits separated from the Blood, and refined in the Brain, and these Spi∣rits be daily evaporating, and new ones coming in their room; how comes it to pass that our Memories are not quite de∣stroyed and confounded by those new Spi∣rits which come in to fill up that vacuity which was made by the departure of the old? Can the new Spirits know what the old were, or did, which went before them? why do you not answer Plotinus, who tells you, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. This new Stranger-like Soul would▪ always be ignorant of what the

other before it knew. And especially tell me whence it is that Old men, after so many changes of their material Spirits, and so vast a number of Idea's which have been imprinted upon their Imaginations, will yet better remember some little Acti∣ons of their Childhood, than many later Passages of their more manly years, which are better worth remembring?

To this purpose argues Dr. More.

The last Faculty (says he) that I will con∣sider, is Memory, which is also necessa∣rily joined with the rest in the com∣mon Percipient; of which not only the fluidity of parts, but also their dissipa∣bility, makes the Animal Spirits utter∣ly uncapable. For certainly, the Spi∣rits, by reason of their Subtilty, and Activity, are very dissipable, and in all likelihood remain not the same for the space of a Week together; and yet things that one has not thought of for many years, will come as freshly into a man's mind, as if they were trans∣acted but yesterday. See his Immortality of the Soul, pag. 87.

2dly, If our Author's Opinion be true, there can be no such thing as Moral Good or Evil among men: For the natural liberty of the Will is destroyed. If there be no superior

Principle in Man to correct the Irregula∣rities of the Material Spirits, and their motions, Man is not a capable Subject of being governed by Laws in a moral way; and where there is no law, there is no transgres∣sion. The freedom of the Will can never be reconciled to, or explicated by, the rigid Laws of Matter and Motion; but all our Actions must either arise from the fortui∣tous dances and friskings of Atoms up and down the Brain and Nerves, or else be necessitated by the irresistible impulse of some Superior Cause, and so there is a fatal determination which sits upon the Wheels of these Corporeal Motions. And thus Mr. Hobs will have it,

That our Volitions are necessitated by Superior or Natural Causes, as much as any mo∣tion in a Clock or Watch; and that it is unconceivable that any Act, or mode of Act, can be without a necessitating Efficient Cause. Thus he also affirms a certain connexion betwixt all our Thoughts, and a necessary Fate in all things.

If this be true, we must no more say, that the Will cannot be compelled, but rather, that it is always so; and by consequence, the man that kills another is no more blame-worthy, than the Sword wherewith he kills him, both their Mo∣tions being alike necessitated; and the

Dog acts philosophically when he bites the Stone, but considers not the Hand that threw it. Neither is it to any more purpose to persuade men to Virtue, than it would be to make a Learned Discourse of Harmony to a Lute, instead of putting it in Tune. As you like these Conse∣quences, you shall have more of them at another opportunity. If you say your Opi∣nion is not so gross as that of Mr. Hobs's, I answer, it had ill hap to be so like it. Your words are, (pag. 2.)

We see in a Musical Organ every Pipe has its pro∣per sound, and function, and the same Breath acts them all, and therein ap∣pears a great effect and power of Mat∣ter and Motion rightly fabricated and acted by the hand of Artists; and what then may not God do with them, and by them, when he pleaseth?

So that if our Material Spirits be inordinate in their motions, you are in a ready way to make God the Author of sin, by your Philo∣sophy.

It were much better to say with Cicero [Sentit animus se moveri; quod cum sentit, illud únà sentit, se vi suâ, non alienâ, moveri; nec accidere posse ut ipse unquam à se desera∣tur; Ex quo efficitur aeternitas, &c. Tusc. Qu. lib. 1.341.] so be it, we overlook not the Universal concourse of the First

Cause with his Creatures, but in a way suitable to their Natures.

3dly, If the Hypothesis which I am writing against, be true, no man can rationally believe a Future State of Retribution. You have heard already how Individuation and Persona∣lity are overthrown by it, and by conse∣quence there can be no just room for Re∣wards and Punishments hereafter, because the Person when he died had not the same Soul that he had a month before; and why should one Soul be punished for another's Crimes, and that other go free?

Our Author indeed owns the Articles of the Resurrection, and Future Judg∣ment ('tis likely to serve a turn); but what he builds up with one hand, he pulls down with the other. He says, That Soul and Body, as they fall together, so shall rise again together. Whereupon Judgment, Re∣wards and Punishments shall ensue, according as men have behaved themselves in this present world, pag. 6.

But the difficulty returns upon him; Why should that Soul, which, according to his Hypothesis, was no better than a little Wheat-flower, Malt, or, it may be, some Cordial Julap or other, a few days before the man died, be judged and pu∣nished for all the Faults which were com∣mitted

long since? Will you say that all the rest are past by? and that he is only accountable for the Sins of the last Week, or ten Days of his Life? This would be to turn the Solemnity of the Resurrection and Final Judgment into a meer piece of Pageantry.

Moreover, the Doctrine of the Resur∣rection cannot be known but by Super∣natural Revelation, and therefore 'tis an Article of meer Belief. There is much in it above the reach of Natural Reason, and therefore I ask, What must the poor Hea∣thens do, who know not that God has revealed any such thing? Are they obli∣ged to believe, and prepare for a Future State, or no? If you say they are not, they themselves will contradict you; and so will the Scripture too, which makes them inexcusable for their neglects, Rom. 1.20. and that they could not be, if there lay not upon them an obligation to the con∣trary Duties.

If you say they are so obliged, you will be ill set to prove it according to your Hypothesis. For if the Soul die with the Body, and the Resurrection cannot be proved by Natural Reason, how shall they believe without Objective Evidence? 'Tis true, they commonly assert a Future State of Retribution, and ground their belief

of it upon the Immortality of the Soul, which, if your Opinion be admitted, is an unsound Foundation. Whence it ap∣pears, that Natural Light taught them bet∣ter things, than you have learnt from Su∣pernatural and it together. And whatever uncertain hints may be found in any of their Writings, as to the Resurrection (de∣rived perhaps by Tradition from the Jews, or inserted afterwards by the pious Frauds (as they call them) of some well-mean∣ing Christians) we are sure they speak so∣lidly, and distinctly concerning the Soul's Immortality.

4thly, Our Author's Hypothesis makes such a sudden descent from the Angelical Spirits, to meer matter and motion, (denying all the active Natures that are between) as is absurd, and not to be endured: Such Jumps as these are not usual in Nature, which is wont to act by due and orderly Gradations, and not to take precipitous leaps from one extream to another. He would not be thought to deny that there are Immaterial, Intelligent, Angelical Spirits, pag. 6, 15. And how un∣reasonable is it to suppose, that there are no other Spirits, or active Natures, infe∣rior to the Angels, and differing in their several kinds and degrees of Perfection and Virtue from each other, answerable to the

several Operations whereunto they are designed by the Author of Nature? But that all the great and wonderful Phane∣mena, which we daily behold, must be reduced to, and solved by the supposed power of Matter and Motion.

How much doth the Wisdom of God shine forth in that admirable variety which is observable in the visible Corporeal World? And are not spiritual or active Natures as noble as Bodies? Why then should there not be a proportionable va∣riety in the Spiritual, Invisible World? Especially when we observe such Vistigia or Images of the higher Natures, in those that are lower. Thus there is something in Plants like Sense, and in Bruits like Reason, and in Men there is somewhat which resembles the Deity. Must we therefore say, that God and the Creature are all one? Or must we confound the inferior Orders of Creatures with those that are Superior, and deny those active Natures which animate the visible World, and distinguish one Species of Creatures from another? While we cry up the meer sound of Matter and Motion. Dubium quidem nullum est immaterialem Mundum essentiarum varietate intelligibilium, aequè admirabilem & augustum esse, atque mun∣dum corporeum videmus; sed in quo illa con∣sistat

Diversitas nobis indicio certo non per∣cipitur; says a Modern Metaphysician. Ritschel Metaph. pag. mihi 43. See also Mr. Glanvill's Sadducismus Triumphatus, page 78. Our Author has told you what Dr. More and Mr. Baxter have said in this matter, but for reasons best known to himself, says not a word to answer their Arguments. And it is no contemptible Observation of the Platonists, which a late Author takes notice of, viz.

They ob∣serve, That the Unity of the World is so closely combined in all its parts, that between the Superior and Inferior Species there are middle Natures wherein they meet, that no Vacuum might interpose in the Series of things. And to Man they give the name of Horizon, as uni∣ting the Superior and Inferior Natures together; in some respects nearly allied to the Bruits, in others to the Angels.

5thly, If our Author's Opinion be true, the best Men are most wretchedly deceived and befooled. The wiser and holier any Man is, the more firmly he believes and re∣joyceth in the consideration of the Soul's Immortality. Such will not be perswa∣ded, that they shall ever be deserted of that Free, Divine Goodness and Grace, which hath so often embraced them, but

firmly believe that Almighty Love where∣by they live, to be stronger than Death, and more powerful than the Grave. They cannot imagine that their Souls which have been so often blest with the Irradiations of Divine Light, and the Warmth and Vigour of Divine Love, shall ever fall down into a dead unactive State. Hence many of them have died trium∣phantly, with raised expectations of en∣tring immediately into a glorious and blessed State. How chearfully Socrates, that Philosophical Proto-Martyr, received the Summons of Death, you shall hear by and by:

Seneca tells Lucilius with what pleasure he thought on a future State; and that when the Soul takes a view of the Amplitude and Glory of the heavenly Regions; contemnit prioris domicilii Angustias: It contemns the strait∣ness of its former Habitation.

And Cicero brings in Cato crying out,

O praeclarum diem, &c. O excellent, happy day! When I shall go to that Assemby of Divine Souls, and depart from this Rout and Confusion here below.

Plotinus talks Sera∣phically upon this Subject, Ennead. 4. lib. 7. ch. 10. where he tells us,

That purified vertuous Souls differ but little from An∣gelical Essences, and that little is their present Inhabitation in the Body; and

if Men were of this divine and raised Temper, they would not in any sort disbelieve the Souls Immortality.

More of this kind you may find in Plato; Hie∣rocles, Epictetus, Antoninus; not to menti∣on the Raptures of many dying Christi∣ans, Martyrs, and others, lest it should be called Canting, according to the Dia∣lect of this prophane Generation. And now, what think you? Is it rational to imagine that Men of the most unspotted Integrity, Wisdom, and Vertue, in all Ages, have so wretchedly been de∣ceived in a matter which so nearly con∣cern'd them, while a few dreaming, sen∣sual Epicureans have been in the right? Credat Judaeus Apella. If you think that Goodness and Purity naturally lead Men to such self-deceiving hopes of Immorta∣lity, which Death will quickly defeat; you confound the Natures of Good and Evil, and contradict your self in the same breath. Ni ita se haberet ut animi immor∣tales essent, haud optimi cujusque animus ad immortalem Gloriam niteretur, Cic. de senect. pag. 202. Equidem efferor studio patres vestros quos colui, & delexi, videndi. Ex vitâ istá discedo, tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex domo, commorandi enim Natu∣ra Diversorium nobis, non habitandi, dedit. Ibid.

Validiora sunt Divinorum virorum praesa∣gia quam aliorum, Plato, Ep. 2.

6thly, If this Hypothesis be true, Nature hath dealt worse with Mankind, than with the Beasts themselves, by leading them into such mistakes as the inferior Creatures are not obnoxious to. I have shewed you before, how natural it is to the Soul of Man to apprehend it self to be Immortal; and if this be a mistake, it is so far better with the Bruits, which are not misled by any such fallacious Instinct. They are alive to the present, but dead to the future. They may play and sport themselves, and enjoy the Objects that are grateful to their Senses, without being abused with the hopes, or disturbed with the dread of what may befal them in a future State. While poor Mankind are divided be∣tween fruitless desires, and groundless fears of what can never happen to them, if the Soul perish with the Body. The Swan may die singing, while the pensive Emperor cries out, Animula vagula blan∣dula quae nunc abibis in loca! Poor wan∣dring Soul, whither art thou now going? Unhappy Reason! which deals so ill with those that possess and admire it, and worst with those who take most pains to improve it. Thus you must agree with

Cotta, That God did Man a mischief by making him Rational, Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. 3.

7thly, This Hypothesis cannot stand, but upon the supposition of a continued course of Miracles to make it good, which is very absurd and unphilosophical. Take his Opi∣nion in his own Words, page 10.

Eve∣ry days experience shews, That Corn ground and made into Bread, is one of the strongest supports of Life, both for Man and Beast; that concocted in the Stomach, is converted into Blood in the Liver, purified in the Heart, sent thence by the Arteries into the Head and Brain, where becoming a Spirit, inflamed and lucid, it acts in all the Organs the powers of Life, Motion, Senses, and Understanding.

And this is his material Soul. In like manner, page 12.

It seems one may venture to conclude, that Corn may be converted into a living and rational Activity, as being a proper nourishment for Man and Beast, and for their Bodies and Souls, one as well as the other; as be∣ing so for the Man who is a Contexture of both.

To this I answer,

• 1st, 'Tis observable, that his Anatomy and Philosophy are all of a piece: In that he assigns the Office of Sanguification to the Liver; from which Modern Anatomists have upon very good grounds discharged it.
• 2dly, If this Opinion hold good; the Grass in the Fields, and the very Dust and Mire in the Streets which we tread upon, may af∣ter several refinings become a Rational Soul, and prove as wise as our Philosopher himself, and discourse as subtily of what it once was, when it lay trodden under foot in the Streets. That which the other day was no better than Wheat-flower or Meal, may now be making Syllogisms, reflecting upon its own Acts, contemplating the highest Majesty, aspiring after a glorious Im∣mortality. These things I must confess sound a little aukwardly, but he has a ready way to solve all, page 18. With God all things are possible; and it seems he who made Matter out of nothing, can make any thing out of Matter. And to the same purpose, page. 14. he enumerates several Miracles; As of Aaron's blossoming Rod, the staying of the Waters of Jordan, the mul∣tiplication of Loaves and Fishes, &c. Thus you see he is so conscious of the weak∣ness of his own Hypothesis, that he is forced to fly to a miraculous Power to

• uphold it. This is a ready way of ex∣plaining the Phaenomena of Nature. But I reply,
  • 1st, Is not the same Almighty Power able to uphold the Soul in a State of Subsistence se∣parate from the Body?
  • 2dly, Are the ordinary works of God in Nature, and his extraordinary miraculous Works to be confounded?
  • 3dly, Is it a valid way of arguing from the Power of God, to his Will? I readily grant, That he can do all things which are Works of Power. He can do all things which his infinite Wisdom sees fit to do; he can do all things that he will do. But doth it therefore follow that he will do all things that he can do? Is it not horrid prophaneness to prostitute the Doctrine of the Divine Power, to serve the ends of every trifling Hypothesis, falsly called Philosophy? Do we not know, that ordi∣narily God works upon, and by his Crea∣tures, in a way agreeable to the Natures which he has given them? And what is there in a little Wheat-meal suitable to the production of Sense, or Reason, or Religion? It is the part of a Philosopher humbly to contemplate what God hath done, and to admire his Perfections shi∣ning forth in his Works, and not to lay

• ...
  • down Hypotheses contrary to the com∣mon Sense and Reason of Mankind, and then to tell us that God can, if he please, make these Suppositions good. Thus you see, that our Author's Philosophy, Ana∣tomy, and Theology, are all alike ab∣surd; and that he hath made Miracles so common, as will render them in a great measure useless for those extraordinary purposes whereunto they have mostly been designed; and that he owns his Philosophy to be weak and impertinent, when he is forced to have recourse to a supernatural miraculous Power to sup∣port it.

CHAP. V. Some subservient Considerations for the further establishment of the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality.

BEsides the forementioned Arguments, there are several other Particulars, which may justly render the Opinion of the Soul's dying with the Body odious to all Men, who have either the due use of Reason, or any sense of Religion.

1st, This Opinion is highly injurious to Hu∣man Nature, carrying in it a vile Depression of that whole Species, or rank of Beings to which we belong. What an unnatural thing is it for a Man to abuse his Reason, in vilifying and degrading the reasonable Nature it self; as if he repented that God had made him a Man, and was am∣bitious to herd himself among the more ignoble Animals? Praeclarum autem nescio quid adepti sunt, qui didicerunt se, cum tem∣pus mortis venisset; totos esse peritos, Cic. Tusc. lib. 1.339. This is to bid defiance to the Common Interest of Humanity, and such a Person should be looked up∣on as a Traytor against the Prerogative

and Dignity of all Mankind. And (which is more) it is contrary to that Obligation and Duty which we owe to the Common Parent and Author of our Beings; an ungrateful contempt of that Power, Wis∣dom, and Goodness, which hath given us so excellent a Nature; a casting Dirt upon the Master-piece of the visible Creation, and so a robbing God of that Honour which belongs to him upon the account of so noble a Production. Let us therefore be more just to our selves, more thankful to our Great Creator, than so bruitishly to abandon our hopes of Immortality, and basely desert the Common Interest and Honour of Hu∣mane Race.

2dly, The whole frame of this unmanly Philosophy is built upon the most precarious, unsatisfying Principles imaginable. They beg the Question all along, and then pre∣tend they have solved the Phaenomena of Nature. Cicero told their Predecessors long ago, That they assigned Provinces to Atoms without proof. And Gassendus is fain to confess that Objection to be true. And Dr. Willis himself (in whose Autho∣rity our Philosopher seems so much to acquiesce) rejects the Atomical Hypothesis,

because it supposeth its Principles with∣out

proof, and is not suited to the So∣lution of Natural Appearances: See his Book, de Fermentatione.

But because these are but General Charges, we will descend to Particulars, and shew briefly what a knack they have at Philosophizing upon difficult Points.

If you ask them how the Soul comes to be so quick and active in its Operati∣ons, and to turn it self with such won∣derful vivacity and readiness from one Object to another: Democritus, Epicurus, and after them, Lucretius will tell you, That the Atoms prepared for this purpose are of a smooth Spherical Figure, (See Diog. Laert. in Democ. & Epicur. & Lucret. lib. 3. de Natura rerum) and so (you know) they must needs be very fit for quick mo∣tion. If you desire an account of Sensa∣tion according to their Hypothesis, they will tell you of a vis Mobilis, Motus sensi∣feri, and something else (which they con∣fess they know not what to call) from whence it proceeds.

If you would have the Liberty of the Will explained, they tell you, It aris∣eth from a Motion of Declination, whereby the Atoms always moving downwards by their own weight towards the Center of the World, are carried somewhat obliquely towards some Point different from it. And this you

must know is the Clinamen Principiorum, as Lucretius calls it. Ac nos ideo conati sumus declinationem motuum asserere Atomis, ut deduceremus, qui posset fortuna humanis. rebus intervenire, ac illud quod in nobis est, sive Liberum arbitrium, minime pe∣riret.

In a word, if you ask what the Soul is; they can tell you,

It is Efflorescentia Materiae, and compare it to the Spirit of sweet Oyntment, or that it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, some sort of Spirit, they know not what.

Nihil enim est apud ipsos quod non Atomorum turba conficiat, Cic. Tusc. Quaest. lib. 1.

Such nonsensical Gibberish as this, they call Philosophy, and pretend to ex∣plicate the great Works of Nature by it, and would needs (forsooth) be account∣ed Wits into the bargain, when they have amused their inconsiderate Admirers, by such an empty sound of unintelligible words.

But can any Sober, Impartial Enquirer be satisfied with such Answers as these? And must we let go the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality, that we may fall down and worship that Image of Philoso∣phy which these Men have set up? No, surely we ought rather to be affected with a generous resentment of so vile an

Indignity done to the Nature of Man, and with just abhorrence to oppose such wild and impertinent Extravagancies.

3dly, Such absurd Notions as these, ex∣pose Philosophy it self to the scornful Reproaches of every capricious Enthusiast. You take the way to render it contemptible, and to open the Mouth of self-conceited Ig∣norance against all Humane Literature in General, because you make so bad an use of a very small Part of it. There is nothing more common than for confident Ignorance to get into the Chair, and to pass Sentence without hearing what may be said on the other side, and so Learn∣ing shall be condemned as an airy Phan∣sy, and those that want it will be ready to run it down, lest they should be run down themselves for want of it. I know the best things are liable to the greatest abuses; but some cannot, some will not distinguish between the use, and the abuse of them. You shall meet with some that will tell you, That not only yours, but all other Philosophy is vain; and if an impar∣tial Stander-by ask them how they prove it, They will alledge the vanity of yours, and infer an Universal Conclusion from a particular Instance. This (say they) is your Philosophy, which teacheth us,

that we have every Week a new Soul, and that at length Soul and Body dye to∣gether. But if these Reflections fall into the hands of any such Persons, I must take the liberty to tell them, That they do not argue fairly in the Case; neither must they suppose that all Philosophers are Vertiginous, because (perhaps) in some the Material Spirits in the Brain have a Circular Motion. Neither is Philosophy to be worse thought of, for the phan∣tastick Dresses which these Men put up∣on it.

4thly, This impious Hypothesis opens a Door to Atheism, Infidelity, and all manner of Licentiousness. Our knowledge of the Spirits above us, must arise from the knowledge of our own Souls. Hence the first part of Wisdom is truly to know our selves, that so we may understand our Duty, Interest, and End. And it is in our own Souls, as in a Glass, that we must behold the Image of God, which should lead us to its great Original; and the rea∣son why we know God no better, is, be∣cause we are so ignorant of our selves. Hence the Doctrine of the Soul is the most useful part of Natural Philosophy, and so nearly connected with Divinity, that it may justly be reckoned a part of it also.

Therefore they who can once persuade themselves, that all those noble Operations of the Soul (whereof we have been speak∣ing) proceed from no higher a Principle than matter and motion, are in a ready way to deny the Deity; or however, to enter∣tain very gross and unwarrantable Con∣ceptions of it, as the Epicureans did; and to conclude with them, that the World was made by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms, and that God regards not the Actions and Affairs of Mankind, nor is either pleased with Virtue, or displeased at its contrary, as Lucretius, &c.

Omnis enim per se Divûm Natura necesse est, Immortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur, Semota à nostris rebus, sejunctaque longe, Nec bene promeritis capitur, nec tangitur irâ.

And so said his Master Epicurus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. The Blessed and Im∣mortal Being hath neither any business of his own, nor creates any to others; and is neither angry nor pleased with any man, Laert. in Epicur. A Notion more befitting Sardana∣palus than a Deity, as Max. Tyr. observes. No wonder that Ill men are fond of such Opinions as these, which so much be∣friend their Wickedness.

And as for Death, they say it is no∣thing to us, because all Good and Evil lies in Sense, of which Death is the priva∣tion: And such Apprehensions as these must make our Lives pleasant to us, and take away the desire of Immortality, Laer. ibid. And further, They would persuade us, that the Fears of Punishment after Death arise only from Old Wives Fables, Ibid.

Moreover, the Immortality of the Soul is so clearly held forth in the Gospel, that to deny the one, is implicitly to deny the other. And he who pretends to evade the Evidence produced out of the New Testament (besides the Old) for the proof of this Truth, is in a proximate disposition to disown all the great Fundamentals of Christianity, which are establish'd up∣on the same Authority. And verily it is a gross reproach to our Holy Religion, when Persons, that profess it, maintain such bruitish Principles as Socrates, Plato, Seneca, and abundance more of the Hea∣thens would have been ashamed of. Which makes a great Divine suppose, That in this Age it is one of the Devil's chief Designs to assault Christianity by false Philosophy.

And pray consider, What can such Opinions, or any that border upon them, lead men to, but Sensuality, and Debau∣chery,

though (I verily believe) you de∣sign not so? Are any men more likely to live as Brutes, than such who think they shall die alike? You may tell them of a Resurrection, and Future Judgment as long as you will, 'tis ten to one but they reply, as the tree falls, so it lies; and if once they can so far stifle Reason, as to disbelieve the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality, after so much Natural, and Supernatural Evidence for it; I do not see why they may not, far more plausi∣bly, deny the Article of the Resurrection, and then they will let loose the Reins to Lust, and Appetite, and become the Plagues of Humane Society. And indeed 'tis ob∣servable, that many of those who main∣tain these beastly Opinions, commonly live up to them, and are not of the best Reputation in point of their Morals. And 'tis no thanks to their corrupt Principles, if they be not all alike scandalously vicious, 1 Cor. 15.32. Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we die. A Proverb familiar among the Epicureans, or a reflection upon them in their own Language, as Grotius, and others observe. And therefore I must say, That those Persons who propagate such Conceits, do discourage Virtue, but incou∣rage Vice and Wickedness, which is con∣trary to the publick Peace, Tranquility,

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and Felicity of Mankind: And let them tell us, if they can, what good purpose can be pretended for the establishment of such an Hypothesis, which can in the least compensate for those Mischievous Effects and Influences upon the Lives of men, which it has a manifest tendency to produce. Let the matter be well weigh∣ed on both sides.

Indeed 'tis not to be wondred at, that wicked men should put the Evil day as far from them as they can; even as the De∣vils would not be tormented before the time. But that any good man (except un∣der the power of Melancholy, or Temp∣tation) should be fond of such Opinions as these, is hardly to be supposed. What? Shall we fear to be made happy too soon? Shall a dead unactivity be preferr'd be∣fore Communion with God in a state of sinless Perfection? But those that are after the flesh savour not the things of the spirit, Rom. 8.5. A Turkish Paradise seems more suitable to the humour of such Persons, than the heavenly Jerusalem. And their pleading against a more speedy admission thither, argues their unfitness to be ad∣mitted at all.

5thly, Our Author's Hypothesis is directly contrary to the avowed Doctrine of the Church of England. Which I the rather mention, because he professeth himself to be a Member of that Church, and looks upon those that dissent from it as mistaken persons, pag. 17. Need I prove that the Church of England asserts the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality? See the Order for the Burial of the Dead, where, among many other Expressions to the same ef∣fect, you find these words. Almighty God, with whom do live the Spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the Souls of the Faithful, after they are delivered from the burthen of the Flesh, are in joy and felicity, &c. Nothing can be more express for the Immortality of the Soul, and its separate subsistence. Now, I say, no ho∣nest man, who believes that the Soul dies with the Body, can declare his unfeigned Assent and Consent to, or heartily join with that Church in this part of the Bu∣rial Office which I have mentioned. And as for those whom he calls Dissenting Brethren, if our Author's Opinion be true, they ought to dissent from that Church more than they do.

In a word, he will find it hard to men∣tion any point of difference between sober Dissenters, and the Church of England, so important as that wherein he himself dif∣fers from them; or which tends so much to induce or encourage to an ill Practice, or Course of Life. See more of this in the Book of Homilies, Sermon the 9th, against the fear of Death.

CHAP. VI. The Testimony of the Ancient Philosophers pro∣duc'd for a further confirmation of this great Truth.

THough the Persons, with whom I have now to do, are commonly so full of themselves, and overfond of their own Conceptions, that the Sentiments or Authorities of others are not much re∣garded by them; yet since our Author has thought meet to mention the names of Aristotle, Dicaearchus, and Pliny, as suppo∣sing them to be of his Opinion, I must say something to confront what is alledg∣ed from them, that his Reader may not be amused with a meer shew of Anti∣quity.

This Point was often weighed in the Schools of the Philosophers, the Academy, Peripatum, Stoa, &c. They thought it worth their most serious enquiry, because the common Interest of Mankind was so nearly concerned in it.

Pherecydes is mentioned by Cicero (Tusc. Quaest. lib. 1.) as one of the first of the Ancient Philosophers, upon record, who de∣fended the Doctrine of the Soul's Immor∣tality,

(though he doubts not but others were of the same Opinion before him.) And Pythagoras was so taken with his Dis∣courses about it, that thereupon he turn∣ed Philosopher, who was before an Ath∣leta, as St. Augustin observes, Epist. 3. ad Vollusianum. But now (says he) we all see Assyrium Amomum vulgò nascitur, refer∣ring those words of Virgil to the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality, brought from Syria, or Assyria into Greece by Pherecydes, Vid. Menag. Not. in Diog. Laert. pag. 41.

Pythagoras was of the same mind with his Master; and the name of the Pytha∣goreans was so famous for many Ages af∣ter, that none else seemed learned but they, as Cicero observes, ubi supra.

These Philosophers were wont to call the higher Region of the Soul 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and the lower 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The one the Divine, the other the beastly part. 'Tis reported of Plato, that he travelled into Italy to converse with them; and how well he and they agreed in this Point, you shall see more by and by.

Thales was of the same mind, as may be seen in Laertius. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

I mention not Zoroaster, nor the Ora∣cles of the Magi in Chaldaea, who were his Followers, of which the Platonists take

notice; nor yet what is wont to be al∣ledged from Hermes Trismegistus, because these Fragments of Antiquity are by some reckoned suppositious, by others, at least, dubious. But give me leave however to add what a great Philosopher of our own says,

So if what's consonant to Plato's School, (Which well agrees with Learned Pythagore, Aegyptian Trismegist, and th' Antique Roll Of Chaldee Wisdom, all which time has tore; But Plato, and deep Plotin do restore) Which is my scope, I sing out lustily. If any twitten me for such strange lore, And me all blameless brand with infamy. God purge that man from fault of foul malignity. Dr. More's Psychozoia, pag. 2.

Tertullian also, in his Book de Anima, supposeth that Plato derived his Sentiments from the Writings of Trismegist in Egypt.

Come we therefore to that Divine Phi∣losopher, and his Master Socrates, concern∣ing whom we have more certain know∣ledge; and in comparison of them, and their Followers, Cicero looks upon all other Philophers as Plebeian (Tusc. Quaest. lib. 1.341.) And brings in his greatest Encomiums of Aristotle, with a (Platonem semper excipio) pag. 226. And St. Augustine

agrees with him in it. Augustinus Plato∣nem caeteris Philosophis Gentium longè lateque praefert, says Lipsius Manuduct. ad Stoicam Philosoph. pag. 19. But we will first begin with Socrates.

What this Great Man thought, may be learned from his Admirer, and Disciple, Plato, who in his Phaedo, and elsewhere, brings him in strongly disputing for, and asserting the Soul's Immortality. Where he shews, That as Death is the separation of Soul and Body; so the Soul can subsist of it self, when so separate, pag. mihi 84. And that the readiest way to attain to knowledge, in this life, is to abstract our minds as much as possibly we can from commerce with the Body, till God set us free from it, and then we shall have a more pure and sincere under∣standing of the Truth, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, à corporis insipientâ liberati, as Ficinus renders it, pag. 89. He derides the Childish fears of those who think the Soul is dissipated when the Body dies, as if they apprehended it should be blown away, especially if they dye when the Wind is high, pag. 110. 'Tis impossible, says he, that the Soul should perish by Death, ex∣cept that can die which is immortal, pag. 164. And smiles at his Friend Crito for asking him how he would be buried. I cannot, says he, persuade thi•• ••••i••o, that I, who

now dispute, am Socrates, but he thinks that Carcass, which he shall see by and by, is I: But I tell you, I shall go to a blessed State af∣ter I have drunk this poison, and this I speak to comfort both you, and my self. Do not say, when you see my Body laid out, burnt, or buried, that it is Socrates. Thus that Venerable Old man conquered the Fears of Death by the hopes of a Blessed Im∣mortality; and drank the fatal Potion without any observable disturbance of Mind, or change of Countenance, pray∣ing for an happy passage out of this Life into a better. But I must not translate the whole Dialogue.

Plato speaks often of the punishments of Wicked men after Death, and tells us in his Timaeus, That the Soul of a good man shall be kindly received by his Creator, but the Soul of a wicked man shall be cast into Hell.

The truth is, the Platonists have impro∣ved the Doctrine of the Soul's Immorta∣lity better than many of our own Writers (notwithstanding their greater helps) have done; though sometimes they speak too high, as if they would even deify the Soul, as do some of the Stoicks.

Plotinus discourseth excellently upon this Subject, and shews, that if we would se∣riously view the Soul in its own naked es∣sence; we shoul•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 doubt of its Immor∣tality.

Let a man (says he) contem∣plate himself in his own pure, and truly Intellectual Nature, divesting it of all that is alien to it, and he will certainly know that it is immortal. He will then observe, that his Understanding is not properly directed to things sensible, and mortal, but by an eternal Virtue doth contemplate Eternal, and Intelligible Ob∣jects, and becomes, as it were, an Intel∣ligible lucid World to it self.

And again he tells us,

That by how much the Soul is more abstracted from the Senses, by so much it reasons bet∣ter; so that when it shall be wholly separate from the Body, it will know intuitively, without elaborate Ratioci∣nations: That now it deliberates when it doubts, it doubts when 'tis hindred by the Body, but will neither doubt nor deliberate when free from the Bo∣dy, but will comprehend the Truth without any hesitation. See his En∣neads, and elsewhere.

Maximus Tyrius, Dissertat. 41. handles that Question, viz.

Whether the Dis∣eases of the Soul or Body be more grievous; and tells us, That degenerate Souls are buried in their Bodies like In∣sects in their Holes, and are in love with those lurking Places▪ p. 495.

And

withal,

That the health of the Body is but uncertain, and temporary, that of the Soul solid and immortal, pag. 491.

It were easy to mention more of the Platonists, who all, to a man, maintain the Immortality of the Soul. But I pro∣ceed.

The Stoicks say, That the Souls of Good men separated from their Bodies are He∣roes, as Laertius informs us in Zenon.

Plutarch says, That they call all separate Souls Heroes promiscuously, and so distin∣guish Heroes into good and bad. De placi∣tis Philosophorum, lib. 1. cap. 8.

Epictetus calls the Soul of man 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, near a-kin to God.

Antoninus styles the Soul, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. And in his 9th Book, Sect. 39. — Wilt thou say to thy mind, thou art dead, or become like a Beast?

Seneca speaks too high. Quid aliud vo∣cas, &c. What will you call the Soul but a Deity dwelling in an Humane Body? And perhaps such boldness was one Original of Heathen Idolatry. And elsewhere —Ani∣mus si propriam ejus Originem aspexeris, &c. The Soul, if you consider its true Original, descends from that heavenly Spirit. Sursum Animum, &c. Its beginnings call it up∣ward,

there Eternal Rest remains for it. And comforting Martia concerning her dead Son, Ipse quidem aeternus, he is Eter∣nal, and in a better State now, than he was before. The Body is the Prison of the Soul. The Soul it self is sacred, and eternal. Happy is thy Son, O Martia, who being dead, knows such things as these. — Nec est Ratio aliud quam in corpus pars Divini Spiritùs mersa. Idem.

Plutarch says, That the Providence of God, and the Immortality of the Soul, are so connected, that the one necessarily follows the other; de serâ Numinis vindictâ. And therefore, by the way, Epicurus made thorough-work in denying both.

Come we now to Cicero, a moderate, middle-way Philosopher. He disputes at large for the Immortality of the Soul, in the First Book of his Tusc. Quaest. de contemnen∣dâ Morte, as also in his Dialogue de Sene∣ctute, &c. I will cite some Passages out of him, to the shame of those Christians who stand in need of such Instructions from an Heathen.

Tu cum tibi, sive Deus, &c. Wilt thou (when God, or Nature hath given thee a Soul, than which nothing is more excellent and Di∣vine) so debase thy self as to suppose that there is no difference between thee and a Beast? Cic. Paradox. pag. 217.

Ii vivunt qui, &c. These Men live who are escaped from the Prison of the Body, but that which you call Life is Death, De Somn. Scip. 233. Haec Coelestia semper spectato, illa Humana contemnito, Ibid. Reckon with thy self that thou art not Mortal, but only thy Body; the Mind is the Man, and not that Bodily Figure which you can point as with your Finger, Ibid.

And to the same purpose he brings in that of Cyrus, mention'd by Xenophon: I could never perswade my self that our Souls live in the Body, and dye when they go out of it. Nec vero tum animum esse insipientem cum ex insipienti corpore eva∣sisset, sed cum omni admistione corporis libe∣ratus, purus & integer esse caepisset, tum esse Sapientem. This is purely Platonick, De Senect. 211.

Except God deliver you from this Prison of the Body, you can never come to Heaven. Idem.

And elsewhere he argues, from the Worship which was paid to their departed Heroes, That the Souls of all Men are Im∣mortal, but the Souls of good Men Divine, de Legib.

Also Tusc. lib. 1. Ipsi illi Majorum Gen∣tium Dii, qui habentur, hinc à nobis perfecti in Coelum reperientur, pag. 329.

And so infinitely fond is he of this Opinion, that he thus concludes, de Senect. pag. 213. Quod si in hoc erro, &c. If in this I be mistaken, that I believe the Souls of Men immortal, I am willingly mistaken. Nor will I suffer this Error, in which I am delighted, to be extorted from me as long as I live. But if after Death I shall have no Sense, as some diminutive Phi∣losophers think, I fear not lest those dead Philosophers should deride my Er∣ror.

In a word, both Cicero, Seneca, and se∣veral of the Platonists and Stoicks, speak of the Soul, as if it were an Incarnate Deity. That it has many bright Resemblances of God stampt upon it. Deum te scito esse, Somn. Scip. Because as the Great God rules the World, so thy Soul rules and governs thy Body, as an inferior kind of Deity.

It must indeed be acknowledged, that Aristotle speaks sometimes dubiously, and is not consistent with himself in this mat∣ter. But his greatest Admirers have ge∣nerally believ'd it. And some of them take it ill that any should question, whe∣ther their Master was of the same mind.

However the Authority of that Philo∣sopher needs not much to move us, since

he is also inconsistent with himself con∣cerning the Deity, as Lactant. observes. And again, Aristoteles Deum nec coluit, nec curavit. See more to the same purpose in Lips. Manuduct. ad Stoic. Philos. lib. 1. pag. 18.

Nevertheless there are not wanting, even in him, some fair acknowledgments of this great Truth in his lucid Intervals. He confesseth the Soul is something di∣stinct from the Elements, and makes it to be quintam quandam Naturam. And the like they speak concerning the matter of the Heavens, which yet the Peripate∣ticks look not upon as corruptible.

In his Book, de Generatione Animal. lib. 2. cap. 3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. It re∣mains, that the Rational or Intellectual Soul only enter from without, as being only of a nature purely Divine; with whose Actions, the Actions of this gross Body have no Communication. Here he speaks like an Orthodox Scholar of his excellent Master Plato, to whose footsteps the closer he keeps, the less he ever wan∣ders from the Truth. Dr. More Immort. Soul, page 115.

Elsewhere he says, That the mind is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, an impassible thing.

Xenocrates is fully of the same mind, That all Souls are Immortal, and that he

who lives piously and holily on Earth, shall certainly be blessed in a future State, and shall enjoy more pure pleasures, than he was capable of in this Prison of the Body.

Antisthenes, from whom were derived both the Cynicks and Stoicks, tells the A∣thenians, glorying, That they sprung from the Earth; that they were no more noble than Snails and Locusts. He exhorts to Piety and Justice, as the way to Immor∣tality. — Ejusmodi sibi viaticum dicebat comparare oportere, quod Naufragium faci∣enti simul enatare posset. And amongst ma∣ny other things, he wrote 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning the Invisible State, Laert. in Antist.

I mention not the Gymnosophists, Brach∣mans, Druids, &c. What the Poets, both Greek and Latin, held in this matter, is obvious even to School-Boys. The Ely∣sian Fields, the Infernal Judges, the Torments of Hell, whereof they speak, are so ma∣ny Attestations to this great Truth.

Thus you see how generally the belief of the Immortality of the Soul obtain'd among the Ancient Ethnicks; and shall any one who professeth to believe the Go∣spel, deny it? Who would not say, Sit anima mea cum Philosophis: I mean, rather than with such Christians as these.

Object. Some of the Philosophers whom you mention, as Cicero, Seneca, and even Socrates himself, speak sometimes doubt∣fully concerning the Immortality of the Soul.

Answ. So much the more reason have we to be thankful for that clearer light, by which Life and Immortality are so plain∣ly set before us. But yet you must re∣member, it was only a certainty which these Philosophers professed to want, and not a probability, or Opinion that it was true. As for Cicero, he says he dares swear the Soul is Divine, Tusc. lib. 1.343. Se∣neca often asserts its Immortality. And so did Socrates, when he had to do with such as were capable of receiving and un∣derstanding that Doctrine, as has been already proved. And besides, such was the modesty of that Philosopher, that he was not wont to be positive in his Asser∣tions, but still, upon all occasions, to ac∣knowledge his Ignorance.

As for the Epicureans, Cicero tell us, That all Learned Men contemned them. And Austine says, Quod ipsi Philosophi Epicu∣rum Porcum nominaverunt.

Eusebius declares, That Lucretius wrote his Poems in the Intervals of Madness.

Your Friend, Dicaearchus, is particularly derided by Cicero himself, Tusc. 335.

I might easily mention many more of the Sayings of Ancient Philosophers, which further hold forth their belief of the Soul's Immortality.

Anaxagoras was so intent upon his Phi∣losophical Contemplations, that he re∣garded not the Affairs of the Publick; and when one asked him. — 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; Have you no care of your Country? Yes, (said he) the greatest care of all, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 — Pointing towards Heaven, Laert. pag. 34.

Thraseas said, Nero might kill him, but could not destroy him. And the like said Socrates long before, concerning his Ac∣cusers.

Anaxarchus told the Tyrant, You may break in pieces the Prison of Anaxarchus, himself you cannot hurt, Laert. 252.

Epicarmus, as cited by Clemens Alexan∣drinus, says, If thou be a good Man, Death cannot hurt thee. Thy Spirit will live happi∣ly in Heaven.

CHAP. VII. Our Author's Objections considered and an∣swered.

THAT our Philosopher may not think himself slighted, I am obli∣ged, in civility, to take some notice of his Objections, (such as they are) though sufficiently answered in what hath been already said.

Object. 1. The Brutes act sensibly and knowingly by a Material Spirit; ergo, Man may perform all his Natural Functions by the means of a like Spirit, page 2.

Answ. 1. As for the Nature of Matter, I shall shew you by and by, how little it is understood by the wisest of you all; and that while you are talking so confi∣dently concerning it, you do but wran∣gle in the dark about you know not what.

2. I cannot but observe, how poorly you shift off the most difficult part of your Work. In the first Page we are en∣countered with a daring Assertion, viz. That the Soul falls with the Body. But if we seek for proof, (as 'tis all the reason

in the world we should) there is scarce so much as a shadow of it. — Parturiunt Montes.— Not one of the Arguments which have been used both by Ancient and Modern Philosophers, and Divines, is answered. Perhaps they were not worth taking notice of by so transcendent a Genius. Did you expect that your bare Word must pass for an Answer? or that any Man of Brains would be amused with two or three obscure Quotations out of Aristotle and Pliny? You were not born soon enough, thus to impose upon Man∣kind. Ipse dixit is quite out of doors.

3. As for the Souls of Brutes, you say, they are Material, and take it for grant∣ed that they are Mortal; from whence you would infer that the Soul of Man is so too. But have you well considered the Answers which have been given to this Objection by many great Philoso∣phers? If not, you are not fit to write about these Controversies. If you have, you ought to give some satisfactory Reply, and not to put it off by saying, Dr. W. thinks that such Arguers deserve not an Answer. This is but a mean way of Phi∣losophizing.

Some of the Platonists assign to the Brutes Souls Immaterial, Beings diverse from the Body. And the Peripateticks say, They

have Substantial Forms distinct from Mat∣ter. And Porphyry is peremptory for their Immortality. Besides what is said of an Anima mundi.

But however these Controversies be de∣termined, I think 'tis easy to demonstrate, that the Souls of Brutes are much more noble than the Material Spirits of their Blood. But the Immortality of our own Souls depends not upon such Speculations as these. We need not run to the Brutes for Arguments. Let them do so, whose Principles require it.

If you think you can fairly answer the Reasons which I have given from Scripture and Natural Light in this Point; and when you have so done, undertake to prove, (I do not say meerly to assert) That the Souls of Brutes are Material and Mortal, and by consequence that the Souls of Men are so too: Begin when you please, I hope I shall not be unpro∣vided for you. But till then, I am not obliged to incumber my Defence of the Soul's Immortality with needless Contro∣versies.

4. Though it should be granted, That the Souls of Brutes are both Material and Mortal, we are still sure that the Humane Soul is much more excellent than they; as appears by those Operations in us,

which are not descernible in them. I think it is ill done of those Philosophers, who debase or deny the Sensitive Faculties of Beasts, and make them meer Machines; and I deny not, that there is something in them which looks like Reason. But, what then? These higher Operations of the Souls of Men, which have a more immediate and direct reference to Immortality, are such as we see no appearance of in the Infe∣rior Creatures. They know not God, they love him not; they have no apprehensions of a Future State, no sense of Moral Good or Evil, as Man hath; and this is enough to distinguish us from them, and to shew, that our Natures are made for higher Ends than theirs; as the Poet, speaking of Religion, says,

—Seperat haec nos, A Grege Brutorum,—

And therefore to argue from the Mor∣tality of the Souls of Brutes, against the Immortality of the Souls of Men, is (eve∣ry way) to beg the Question.

5. And thus again, you carry the Con∣troversy into the dark, (as the manner of such Philosophers is) and plead Uncertain∣ties, against those things which are Cer∣tain, not knowing the premises while you

will needs hold the Conclusion, and so abuse your Reason, and lose the Truth and your Labour both together. This method may indeed serve the ends of perverse Wranglers, but is not the way to make any man wiser.

There is a great deal observable both in the Souls of Men and Brutes, which the best Philosophers do not comprehend. Must we therefore deny what's plain, be∣cause we are not agreed about more re∣mote Difficulties? This is the way to in∣troduce Scepticism, and unthankfully to reject what God hath made known to us, because he hath not laid open all the rest.

The words of Tertullian, in his Trea∣tise de Animâ, are very remarkable in the present Case. Quis enim revelabit quod Deus texit? unde sciscitandum est? — prae∣stat per Deum nescire, quia non revelaverit, quam per hominem scire, quia ipse praesumpse∣rit, pag. mihi. 342.

Your Masters have not yet satisfied the Learned World, in any Account they have given of Sensitive perception and Ap∣petite, by reducing them to the Laws of Matter and Motion. You must lay your Foundation better before you build so much upon it. But Cicero, and Laertius tell us, That the Epicureans abandoned

Logick, and so do their Abettors. If sup∣posing would serve instead of proving, there would be no great difference between an Ideot, and a Philosopher.

Obj. 2. But Thinking, Arguing, &c. which you ascribe to the Soul, belong to the whole Compositum, or contexture of Soul and Body, which is the efficient proper cause of them, pag. 2, 4.

Answ. According to your own Hypo∣thesis, each part of the Compositum is not alike concerned in these Acts, but (espe∣cially) the Animal Spirits, and the Brain, which you suppose to be a materia cogita∣tiva; but these are not the whole Composi∣tum; so that you must first reconcile your Philosophy to it self, and then answer what I have said, against the Capacity of these Material, Corruptible Spirits, for the production of such Acts, before this Objection be at all valuable.

They very use which the Soul now makes of Corporeal Organs and Instruments, plainly evinces, That it doth exert some Action wherein they assist it not; for it supposeth an operation upon them ante∣cedent to any operation by them — When therefore the Soul makes use of a bodily Organ, its Action upon it must

needs, at last, be without the ministry of any Organ, unless you multiply to it Bo∣dy upon Body in infinitum, as a Reverend Author observes, Blessedness of the Righte∣ous, pag. 205.

Nullam vim, virtutem, aut aptitudinem ad ipsum intelligendi aut volendi actum, purum, formalem in se, à spiritibus aut à sensu ani∣mus recipit. Quomodo enim inferius, & vilius & passivum, virtutem activam nobilem Naturae superiori, praestantiori, & activae communi∣care potest, Method. Theol. part. 1.162.

Obj. 3. Matter and Motion may do much, as appears by a Musical Organ in the hand of a good Artist, page 2.

Answ. The Instrument is not conscious of the Harmony produced by it, as the Soul is of its own Acts; and therefore your Similitude is far from running upon all four.

Obj. 4. Matter has a self-moving Power; for, if it be reduced to a fine Powder, part of it will rise up into the Air like a thin Cloud, pag. 7. 13.

Answ. The Air is a fluid body, in which those little Particles are moved, as Sticks or Straws are in the Water, accord∣ing to its motion, and not by a self-mo∣ving Power of their own. Though, as

our Author (not observing how he almost confutes himself) tells you in the very next words, that they are apt to be moved with every little breath. I believe indeed they are very susceptible of impressions from without, but have no self-moving power within them. If the Dust in the Streets fly into you Eyes, will you therefore say it has a self-moving power? stop it but close up in a Bottle where Wind and Air can∣not disturb it, and I will be bound for its good behaviour.

As for the nature of Fire, you have light and heat, as well as motion, to give an account of, which I fancy will put you hard to it.

Neither know you whence the Wind comes, nor whither it goes, nor what it is that puts it in motion; and so we are not at all edified by your Assertion concerning it.

Obj. 5. The Spirit of the Egyptian, whom David found at Ziklag in the field famished, came to him again after they had given him Fruit and Water, pag. 11.

Answ. No wonder that his Material, Animal Spirits were refresh'd by suitable Nourishment; but that proves not that he had no nobler Principle in him: Neither do

I deny that these Spirits are the immediate Instruments of the Soul's Operations in its state of union with the Body: But this is only ad modum, not ad formam actus; and therefore to say the Soul cannot subsist nor act in a state of Separation from them, is an Argument à Bactdo ad Angulum: And yet it is no wonder, if it leave the Body, when these Spirits are no longer fit to be a vinculum of vital union be∣tween them.

Obj. 6. It cannot be conceived how the se∣parate Soul should think without the Brain, see without an Eye, &c.

Answ. The Infant in the Womb hath no conception of these Actions which it shall perform when it is come into the World, and grown up to maturity. The Cases are much alike.

To conclude, Except we better under∣stood what the Soul is, and how it acts while united to the Body, 'tis meer fro∣wardness to deny its. Capacity of a sepa∣rate Subsistence, because we understand not what will be the mode of its Opera∣tion in that State. But some men love to argue ab ignoto ad ignotius.

Mihi quidem naturam animi intuenti, mul∣to difficilior occurrit cogitatio, multoque ob∣scurior qualis animus in corpore sit, tanquam alienae domi, quam qualis, cum exierit, & in liberum coelum, quasi in domum su∣am, venerit. Cic. Tusc. Quaest. lib. 1. pag. 339.

CHAP. VIII. Of Materiality, or Immateriality, as they are ascribed to the Soul.

THAT which our Author seems most to trust to, in the present Controversy, is the supposed Materiality of the Soul; and this it is which he thinks gives him so great an advantage against his Adversary, that (as the man∣ner of some is) he triumphs before the Vi∣ctory; and yet all this Dust which he rais∣eth about Matter, is an easily dissipated, as the Apostle shook off the Viper from his hand; which will appear by the following Par∣ticulars.

1. Many great Philosophers and Di∣vines have earnestly contended, that the Soul is immaterial, and have laid great stress upon this for the proof of its Immor∣tality. The Reasons which they offer should have been well weighed, and an∣swered by our Author, before he had set up for a new Discoverer. 'Tis an end∣less piece of work to write against those persons who will take no notice of what has been said before.

How little alliance is there between a Thought, and any bodily thing? The more strictly you consider this, the more rea∣son you will see to conceive of the Soul as a substance distinct from, and far more noble than Matter.

The Notions which we have of a Mind, i. e. something within us that thinks, ap∣prehends, reasons, discourses, wills, nills, af∣firms, denies, doubts, &c. are mightily dif∣ferent from any Notions which we can fasten upon a Body. And yet our Author thinks that Corn may be converted into a rational activity, pag. 12. But to that I have said enough already.

2dly, Others say, that the Soul is material, and yet are as great Asserters of its Immorta∣lity as the former. Many of the Ancient Fathers of the Church were of this Opi∣nion. Tertullian, in his Treatise de Amimâ, disputes hotly for it. Augustine says, that the Soul, if compared to God, is corpo∣real; and so doth Damascene. See many more in the Appendix to the Reasons of the Christian Religion, where you will find that they took the Angels themselves for more sublime purer Bodies. And the Learned Zanchy agrees with them in his Treatise de Angelis, chap. 3.

Neither will it follow that the Soul is ••••••al, if it should be acknowledged ma∣terial. Aristotle himself supposes it to be a certain Quintessence distinct from the four Elements, analogous to the matter of the Heavens, which yet the Peripateticks suppose incorruptible. And it can never be proved that so simple and pure a Sub∣stance as the Soul is, hath any natural tendency to dissolution, or separation of parts, but on the other hand the noblest Natures incline most to union; neither is it to be feared lest God should annihi∣late or destroy it, since he has given it a Nature fitted for Immortality, which shews that he has design'd it thereto.

Quid multa? Sic mihi persuasi, sic sentio. Cum simplex animi Natura sit, neque habeat in se quicquam admistum, dispar sui, & dis∣simile, non posse cum dividi; quod si non possit, non posse interire, Cic. de Senect. pag. 210.

3dly, The Nature of Matter is not so well understood, as that the determination of the present Controversy shou'd be supposed to de∣pend upon it. The Accidents and Modes of Matter are obvious to our Senses, but how little know we of its intimate Es∣sence?

Sensus infra Naturae opera subsistunt. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 que intima illius penetrant, sed in ext•••••••• semper facie versantur, Lud. Viv. de Ver. Fid. 151.

Rerum omnium verae germanaeque Essentiae ipsae per se non cognoscuntur. A nobis abditae latent. In penitissimis cujusque rei, quò mens nostra, in hujus corporis mole & tenebris vitae, non penetrat. Idem.

And to the same purpose Dr. More, Antid. against Atheism, pag. 15. As for the very Essence, or bare Substance of any thing whatsoever, he is a very Novice in Specula∣tion that does not acknowledge that utterly un∣known. But for the Essential, and insepara∣ble Properties, they are as intelligible and ex∣plicable in a Spirit, as in any other Subject whatsoever.

And shall we in the midst of all this darkness talk confidently about materia∣lity, and immateriality, and dispute our selves into Atheism or Sadducism, by wrangling about we know not what? Can you tell whether Matter be divisible in infinitum, or no? Take which side of the Question you please, (and the distin∣ction of mentally or really divisible into the bargain) and make your best of it. If it be not infinitely divisible, then eve∣ry part of Matter is not Matter, as not

having extension, or trinal dimension. If i•• ••e, then a Grain of Mustard-seed may be divided into as many parts as a Moun∣tain. And shall the Immortality of the Soul be supposed to stand upon so lubri∣cous a Foundation as this is? No such matter. Answer honestly and fairly the Arguments which I have produced from Scripture and Reason, or else tell us plainly which of these two you renounce, but do not think to shift it off by quibbling up∣on the word immaterial, unless you bet∣ter understood what Matter is. For this would be to run into the dark, that you might not be seen to blush, while you talk against Light it self.

The formal Vertues of Spirits are bet∣ter known to us by their Acts, than their Substances, yea and better, perhaps, than the naked Essence of Matter it self is. Some great Philosophers have affirmed that the Soul is more knowable than the Body. See Descart. princ. Philos. pag. 3. and his Meditat. de prima Philos. pag. 4.

To conclude, The substance of our Souls differs so much from any corporeal thing that we are acquainted with, that ••t may well enough be called immaterial; though we know not wherein the diffe∣rence of Spirits from the finest Matter

consists, excepting their formal Vertues, and unspeakable Purity.

Mihi quidem sufficit, dum aliorum ausi∣bus nihil oppono, nec contradico, ex virtute formali in substantiâ purissimâ fundatâ (sine compositione) Spiritum à materiâ passivâ di∣stinguere: Qui plus praestare potest praestet. Method. Theol. par. 1.142.

CHAP. IX. Directions to such as are in suspense as to the Immortality of the Soul, shewing how they may arrive at a certainty in that matter.

THough I have already said so much as I think may suffice to satisfy such Persons as are willing to do their own Souls right, yet all are not alike disposed for the reception of plain Evidence when set before them. Recipitur ad modum recipien∣tis; and therefore it will not be alien to the Design which I have in hand, to lay down some Directions which will tend to make all that hath been already spoken, more effectual. And they are such as these.

Direct. 1. Be impartial in your Enquiries about this matter, and take special care that your Understandings be not byassed by the In∣terest of your Lusts, which will dispose you to hate even Reason it self, and to shut your eyes against the Light.

Socrates, discoursing concerning the Im∣mortality of the Soul, warns his Hearers to take care that they be not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, haters

of Reason, than which a greater mischief could not befall them, Phoedo, pag. 133.

Atheistical Inclinations in mens Wills and Affections do commonly set their Un∣derstandings on work to frame Principles suited thereto, and to defend and main∣tain those Principles; and a Mind thus depraved, is like a Corrupt Judge, who will hear nothing against the Party that has bribed him. When the Soul has so far degraded it self, as to become a Slave to the Sensual Appetite, the consciousness of its own guilt makes it willing to sup∣pose it self no nobler a Substance than those Material Spirits which have led it captive all the while, that so it may die with the Body, and not be called to an account for its unnatural self-abasement. Alii deliciis immersi ac voluptatibus omnia cu∣perent cum illis paritèr concidere, hoc est, cum corpore, nec esse ullum Judicem qui vitae hujus rationem à nobis reposceret, Lud. Viv. de Ver. Fid. lib. 1.145.

It is worth your while to examine, whether something of this nature be not the Spring and Fountain of these brutish Principles; and if so, you have reason to suspect them, as proceeding from so vile an Original.

It is also possible, that some thinking Persons of a sober conversation, may

have an Ingenium Haereticum, and affect singularity in Opinions to make them∣selves more taken notice of, and admired by such who have not Wit enough to detect their Sophistry. But ordinarily 'tis Mens love to their Lusts and sensual Plea∣sures, their neglect of God and Religion, their wilful despising the Concerns▪ and Interests of a future State, which dispo∣seth them to wish their Souls were Mor∣tal, for fear of what may come after, and then to believe (though not without a great deal of wavering and hesitation) that they are so. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Hierocles. A wicked Man would not have his Soul to be Immortal, lest he should be pu∣nish'd for his wickedness, yet he antici∣pates the Sentence of his Judg, condem∣ning it to Death before-hand. Malunt extingui quam ad supplicia reparari, Minut. Felix.

Direct. 2. Be not overfond of your present Conceits. It becomes you to suppose that you may be mistaken, because many (as wise Men) have been so before you. He knows little of the weakness of Hu∣mane Understandings, not of the unsearch∣able depths of the Works of God, who sees not how necessary a qualification

Modesty, and a promptitude to suspect his own Judgment, must needs be in a Phi∣losopher. And though this must not be so far strained as to make us turn Scep∣ticks, yet it ought to restrain us from an over-forwardness to vent uncouth Opini∣ons, and from passing an hasty judgment on things, before we have well weighed what may be said on both sides. These things which appear difficult to you, may perhaps be easy to another; and those things which you look upon as Demon∣strations, to a more discerning Person will, it may be, appear no better than Dreams; and Self-conceit will make you slight the weightiest Reasons which are brought to awake and undeceive you. Some of you value your selves upon the account of a natural quickness of Wit, with some acquired Scraps of Philosophy; but take care that this do not make you set too high an esteem upon your little crude Notions, which a small time may discover to be meer trifles, and Death will terribly confute for ever.

Direct. 3. Let your Diligence and Serious∣ness in these Studies be answerable to the weight and consequence of those Truths you en∣quire after. 'Tis a matter that nearly con∣cerns you, to know whether the Soul be

Immortal or no. If after all the pains you have taken to make your self believe, that the Soul dieth with the Body, you should at last find your self mistaken; where are you then? What will you do when Death hath drawn aside this Vail of Ignorance, and placed you in the Society of wretched Spirits, forsaken of God, and past all hopes of recovery? Will not this be a dreadful disappointment? If I saw a Man cut a little too deep when he was pairing his Nails, perhaps I might laugh at him for his rashness; but if I see him attempting to Stab himself, that's no laughing matter, and I am guilty of Murther, if I do not endeavour to pre∣vent it; and therefore I say again, be se∣rious. Let me tell you from a Person of as comprehensive a Genius, and as high a Station as the best and greatest of you all, (the great Cardinal Richlieu)

That the Soul is a serious Thing, and must be ei∣ther sad here for a moment, or sad for ever.

'Tis an easy matter to get some crude, undigested Notions, and Terms of Art to play withal; but solid and satisfactory Knowledge must be the fruit of Industry; and hard impartial Study: And you have reason enough to question all those Opi∣nions which are the Off-spring of un∣thinking

sloathfulness, though none are usually more confident than such Triflers, who like drunken Persons boast of their Wit to the increase of their shame. The best way to know that the Soul is Im∣mortal, is to keep its noblest Faculties in∣due Exercise, and then they will speak for themselves.

Direct. 4. See that your Ends be right in these Studies, i. e. suitable to the tendency of those Truths you search into. Study the Dig∣nity of Humane Nature, that you may walk as becomes Men, worthy the Facul∣ties of that Rational Immortal Spirit which God hath given you. Right ends will help you in the use of means; but if you study these things meerly to please your Phansy, this is but a more refined sort of Sensuality, and then 'tis no won∣der if you miss of the Truth, nor indeed any great matter whether you find it or no, for any great good it's like to do you.

An honest manly Design in these Stu∣dies, will prepare you for the entertain∣ment of the Truth. Indeed 'tis a noble Employment to enquire into the Works of God, and especially into our own Souls, that we may know him, and love him better, and discharge our Duty to∣wards

him more faithfully; and in so doing, we may humbly expect some such Afflatum divini Numinis; (as our Author speaks, page 15.) which may enlighten our Understandings, and lead us into those Truths which we seek after. Other∣wise 'tis to small purpose to talk of the Immortality of the Soul to such Persons, who are resolved to gratify their Lusts, though they lose their Reputations and Souls too in the Adventure. Thus Bias the Philosopher, being asked by some vain Fellows, What that Piety he talked of meant? Answered, It was to no purpose to speak to a Man of those things which he never intended to practise. See Laert. 22.

Direct. 5. Proceed orderly in your Studies; and do not begin at the wrong end. Lay down the most plain and certain Truths first, and so ascend gradually to those that are more difficult. Try those things that are uncertain, by (and do not plead them against) those that are clear and cer∣tain, unless you have a mind to bewilder your selves, and to know nothing, because you cannot know all. There are many Questions concerning the Origine of the Soul, its Union with the Body, its moving of it, and Direction of the Spirits, its diffe∣rent

Mode of Operation when it shall be se∣parate from the Body, its Reunion with the Body at the Resurrection, &c. which will puzzle you when you have done your best, and peradventure yea, peradventure no, is very often the wisest Answer you can give to them: To such matters the sayings of Xenophon in Varro, is pertinent, Hominis est haec opinari, Dei scire. God only knows them, and we conjecture. But must we therefore renounce or undervalue that Knowledge which is attainable? What if I know not how the Child is formed in the Womb, (after all that Dr. Needham hath said, de formato Foetu) must I therefore deny that the Child is formed there at all? This were ridiculous. You may easily apply it. Remember that which is greater, cannot be comprehend∣ed by that which is less. The Soul fet∣ter'd in the Body, is in some respect less and weaker than it self; as Duplessis observes. Shall we quarrel with the Almighty, be∣cause he hath hidden some of the Secrets of his Workmanship from us? Or (like froward Children) cast away what is gi∣ven us, because we may not have all we would desire, though never so unfit for us. Plurimorum enim infelicium ingeniorum inde orta est ruina, quod dum nota & neces∣saria plane negligunt, ant sensualitate & viti∣orum

mole obruunt, & absconditis inutilibus enixè student, idque ingenio superbiente, cali∣ginis suae non satis conscio, quando frustrà se non patefacta quaesivisse comperiunt; fati∣gati & desperantes, de certis etiam, & ne∣cessariis dubitant, & ipsam animorum im∣mortalitatem negant. In tanta scilicet mala stultos, perversus studiorum ordo praecipitat. Method. Theol. Part 1. pag. 155.

In order therefore to your satisfaction in this Point, give me leave to recom∣mend to you the following Method.

1st, Digest well those Arguments which demonstrate the Being and Perfections of the Deity. That there is a God, and that the Souls of Men are Immortal, are Truths so nearly link'd together, that he who denies the one, may justly be sus∣pected of a Disposition to deny the other. Atheism and Sadducism spring from the same Root, and must both be attacqued together.

The invisible Things of God are clearly seen by the things that are made, even his Eter∣nal Power and Godhead. What think you? Can there be an Effect without a Cause? Could this glorious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth be rear'd by Chance? Could the Sun, Moon, and Stars, have any Light, but from the Father of Lights? Could the

Earth be hung upon nothing, but by him who upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power? Is it not demonstrable that some∣thing must needs have been Eternal? If you should suppose a time or space (call it what you will) in which there was nothing, will it not necessarily follow that there never could have been any thing, because nothing could have pro∣duc'd nothing?

Moreover, there can be no excellency in the Effect, which is not some way or other in the Cause; and therefore, since so much Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, shines forth in the Greatness, Order, and Usefulness of the several Parts of the Crea∣tion, and their Aptitude and Tendency to the Beauty, and Perfection of the whole; and so much that is unsearch∣able in the meanest Creature; and since in the Enumeration of Causes, 'tis absurd to run in Infinitum, you must needs come up to a first Cause, Eternal, and of In∣comprehensible Perfection, who has more Excellency than all subordinate Causes put together; for they have none but what he gave them, and it is not possible any Creature should be so perfect as he that made it.

2dly, Study well the Doctrine of Divine Providence, and consider what full and clear Evidence we have, that the World is order∣ed and govern'd by it. Epicurus denied, That God was the Creator of the World. Eximendum imprimis est à sollicitudine, ac labore Mundi extruendi Divinum Numen, Gassend. Syntag. Philos. Epicur. 72. And upon the same account he denied Provi∣dence. Non enim cum felicitate congruunt negotia, sollicitudines, irae, gratiae, &c. 78. The like you have in Laert. pag. 285. In Epicur. & pag. 300. And Lucretius treads in the same Steps. Now, this is, in ef∣fect, to deny the Being and Perfections of the Deity, or to measure his Perfecti∣on by our Imperfection, and to leave both the Creation and Government of the World to blind Chance, or to that empty Nothing, which they call Nature. And yet they speak contemptibly of Fortune too, though they say the World was made by Chance, Gassend. Syntag. 49, 50. So ill do the Principles of this Philosophy hang together. How much better is it to say with Cicero, Deo nil praestantius, ab eo igitur necesse est mundum regi. De Natur. Deor. And again, Whoever doubts of Pro∣vidence, may as well doubt, whether the Sun shine or no, Ibid. 'Tis all one to a Being

of Infinite Perfection, to regard the Mo∣tions and Actions of every Creature, as if he had but one to mind. God has not made a World greater than himself, and it is dishonourable to him to sup∣pose, that he is only an unconcerned Spectator of the Affairs and Transactions of his Creatures. Besides, 'tis Nonsense to think that the Creatures can either Subsist or Act without him. His Name is I A M, and all created Beings compared with him, are but Non-Entities, as Plato observes, Id solum esse quod est aeternum, & immutabile, caetera potius non esse, quam esse. In Timaeo.

And 'tis observable how Nature it self prompts us to look unto him for relief and help in Exigences, and to lift up Hands and Eyes to Heaven when we know not what to do. Thus it bears witness to the Divine Providence.

And the Checks of Conscience for se∣cret Sins, in like manner evince, That there is an All-seeing Eye upon us. And so Natural Light prepares for Superna∣tural.

3dly, See that your Souls be possest with awful Apprehensions of so great a Majesty. This or nothing will make you serious, and restrain your Thoughts from those

masterless Vagaries, in which Irreligious Philosophers are wont to indulge them∣selves to their own Destruction. Dare you take his Name in vain? Or vilify his Works to his dishonour? Doth not his Excellency make you afraid, and his dread fall upon you? Look up to the Heavens which are higher than you. The Sun in its Meridian brightness, is but a shadow of him who is LIGHT, and in whom there is no Darkness at all. Millions of Angels continually adore him: The whole Host of Heaven is at his beck; should he give Commission but to one of his Angels to destroy ten thousand such as you, how quickly would it be done? His Power is Omnipotent: His Wisdom Infinite. Who would set Thorns and Briars in array against him? He would pass through them, and consume them. How much better is it to lay hold of his Strength, that you may be at peace with him? Be not deceived, God is not mocked. You may flatter and befool your selves for a while, but what will you do in the end thereof? When your mournful Friends stand about you, and your Physicians give you up, as past hope of recovery? How dismal will the thoughts of Eternity then be? How se∣verely will Conscience pay you home for all the Tricks and Abuses you have put

upon it? And whither will you fly to avoid it? Do you think your dreaming Philosophy will then stand you in stead? Will it secure you from the amazing Ap∣prehensions of what is like to come af∣ter? Or will you not rather curse the Day that ever you became acquainted with these brutish Principles? Well, if none of these things move you, The Lord have mercy on you, for all good Men are deeply affected with them. However re∣member you were fairly warned of your danger.

4thly, Abstract your Minds as much as possibly you can from things Corporeal, that you may converse more intimately with your own Souls. Divest your Spirits of all that's foreign to them, that you may better be∣hold their naked Beauty and Perfection. Let sensible Objects keep their distance, and suffer not any tumultuous Passions to interrupt your more calm, retired thoughts, or to raise Mists before you. And then you will quickly find, that the more deeply you contemplate the noblest Acts of your own Souls, the greater evidence will appear of their Spiritual, Immortal Nature.

All those Discourses, which have been written of the Soul's Heral∣dry, will not blazon it so well as it self

will do, as a Learned Man observes. When we turn our Eye in upon it, 'twill soon tell us its Royal Pedigree and Noble Extraction, by those Sacred Hie∣roglyphicks which it bears upon it self. Smith's Discourses, page 66.

Many Philosophers have spoken well of this Abstraction of our Minds, and re∣tiring into our selves; but none more di∣vinely than the Platonists, and Plotinus in particular.

This made them say, That Philosophy is Mortis Meditatio; because that as in Na∣tural Death the Soul is actually separated from the Body, so in these Philosophical Contemplations we must abstract it from coporeal Commerce as much as we can. And though this saying is commonly (and particularly by Plutarch) ascribed to Plato, yet St. Jerom tells us Pythagoras was the first Man who said, Philosophiam esse me∣ditationem Mortis quotidie de carcere corporis nitentem educere Animae libertatem. See Lyp∣sii Manuduc. ad Stoic. Philos. And this (says Clemens Alexandrinus) Pythagoras meant by the five years silence which he enjoyned his Disciples. Ut scilicet à rebus sensilibus aversi nudâ mente, &c. However Plato discourseth excellently about it: See his Phaedo, where he brings in Socrates telling his Friends,

That of all Men

Philosophers should not be unwilling to dye, who have been endeavouring all their lives long to abstract themselves from their Bodies as much as they can. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, atque ad ani∣mam se convertere. And should they therefore be unwilling to be set free from those Bodies which have been such an hinderance to them in their searches after Truth?

And thus he sums up the matter, page 89. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.

If while we are in the Body, we can discern nothing purely, it must either follow that we shall never attain to knowledge, or that we shall do it after Death; for then, and not before, the Soul will subsist without the Body, and while we live here, the less commerce we have with it, the nearer approaches we make to knowledge.

Antisthenes being asked what good he had got by Philosophy? Answer'd, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, He learnt by it to converse with himself, Laert.

Aristotle himself owns the necessity of this Abstraction, and makes it the pecu∣liar Priviledge of some Men, more ab∣stracted than others from Corporeal Commerce, to improve their Under∣standings in the steddy Contemplation of Truth.

And so doth Cicero in those excellent Words, Magni est ingénii revocare mentem à sensibus, & cogitationem à consuetudine ab∣ducere, Tuse. Quaest. lib. 1.333. and again 350.

And to the same purpose speaks Van Helmont, page 342. though in a Dialect almost peculiar to himself.

And so Descatres (how ingeniously so∣ever he talks elsewhere of Matter and Motion) when he comes to consider his own Soul, thus he begins, (See Meditat. 3. de prim. Philos.) Claudam nunc oculos, au∣res obturabo, avocabo omnes sensus, meque solum alloquendo, &c.

Wonder not that I insist so largely up∣on this, for the Life of Philosophy (I had almost said of Religion too) consists in it.

But when all is done, those Persons who have long suffered their Minds to be immerst in things Corporeal, must take a great deal of pains before they can ex∣tricate them from those unhappy Complica∣tions, which have betrayed them to so many mistakes, and kept them so igno∣rant of their more noble Faculties and Powers.

5thly, So live, that you may not be afraid of the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality. I have shewed you already, that the Inter∣est

of men's Lusts will strangely biass their Judgments, and therefore keep the Sensitive Appetite at an under: Yield not to its extravagant demands. Accu∣stom it to be frequently controlled, and let it feel that you have something no∣bler than Material Spirits within you. The Soul never more forgets its own Dignity, than when it suffers Sense and Appetite to turn Dictators, and carry all before them. This disposeth it to terrene and sordid Conceptions concerning it self. Vicious Inclinations are the Root of corrupt Principles: Men will hardly love those Doctrines which Prophesy no good con∣cerning them, but evil.

On the other hand, If you so live that your Consciences cannot upbraid you with an Atheistical Contempt or Forget∣fulness of him that made you: If you contemplate his Excellencies, and delight in him as the chiefest Good, and pay that Homage which is due to him in your Religious Worship and Attendances upon him, such Exercises as these will soon con∣vince you, that your Souls are no such Earthly Material Things, as you are ready to imagine. The thoughts of a glorious Immortality will be refreshing to you, and you will have some Anticipations of it in the serenity of a vertuous Mind,

and the testimony of a good Conscience. You will quickly see that Vice and Wick∣edness debase the Soul, and that Goodness and Piety are things too noble to be sub∣jected so meanly as in a few corruptible, perishing, material Spirits. If your Souls have once the Image of the Divine Holi∣ness imprinted upon them, it will dispose you to discern and acknowledg that Natu∣ral Image of the Spiritual, Immortal Deity, which is antecedent to the other, because there must be an agreeableness between the Faculty and the Object, and such Di∣vine Qualities must be seated in a Subject suitable to them.

6thly, Take notice of that certain and full evidence, which we have of a world of Spirits. How near many of them are to us, and how oft concerning themselves about us. The Books which have been written about Witchcrafts, Possessions, Apparitions, &c. do all prove, That there are multitudes of Ma∣lignant Spirits, which seek the Ruin and Destruction of Mankind, and carry on a Warfare against the Interest of God and Religion in the World. They know well enough that the Souls of Men are Im∣mortal, elfe they would not take so much pains to destroy them. I need not name the Authors who Treat of those things,

Fernelius, Wierus, Glanvill, More, Baxter, and many more.

And on the other hand, Ambrose, Law∣rence, Zanchy, &c. will shew you, That there are benign Spirits, which guard and watch over good Men, and Minister for them. If you disbelieve all the Testimo∣nies which these Learned Persons have given in the Case, you forfeit your own Credit, and cannot reasonably expect that any Man should believe you.

As to the Matter of Apparitions, even about Monuments and Sepulchres, Socra∣tes makes mention of them. Phaedo 117.

and supposeth them to be the Souls of bad Men in a State of punishment for the wickedness of their Lives, 118.

and Cicero in his Tusc. Quaest. takes notice of such Apparations, Visis quibusdam saepe mo∣vebantur, hisque maxime nocturnis, ut vide∣rentur, ii qui vita excesserant, vivere.

St. Austine makes mention of one Gen∣nadius, a Physician, and an excellent Na∣tural Philosopher, and withal very chari∣table to the Poor, who falling into doubt concerning the Immortality of the Soul, was instructed concerning it in a Dream by a conspicuous young Man that ap∣pear'd to him.

The famous Story of Evagrius the Philo∣sopher, who appear'd to Synesius the Bi∣shop

after his Death, you may find in Baronius's Annals, ad Annum 412. where he also relates the Story of Michael Mercatus and Marsilius Ficinus, intimate Friends, and both addicted to the Platonick Philo∣sophy. Who after many Debates about the Immortality of the Soul, and a Fu∣ture State, mutually agreed, That whe∣ther soever of them died first, should, if the Laws of the Invisible World would admit of it, appear to the Survivor, and give him an account of these things. Thus, says Baronius, they swore to one ano∣ther. Not long after Marsilius dies; and appears to his Friend, and tells him, those things were true, which the Christian Faith taught concerning the Immortality of the Soul. This Baronius says he had from the Grand∣son of the fore-mentiond Mercatus. And the same is reported by many other Wri∣ters.

A like account you have of the Appa∣rition of Major George Sydenham to Capt. William Dyke, (who had made such an agreement as the former) telling him, That there was a God, and a very just and terrible one, and that (if he did not turn over a new Leaf) he will find it so. See Glanvill's Sadduc. Triumph. 408. But those that regard not the Sacred Records, will not be convinc'd, tho one come to them from the load.

However, such passages as these have been believed by wise Men in all Ages, and by Persons as capable of discerning Truth, and distinguishing it from Impo∣stures, as any of the Pretenders of this pre∣sent Generation, who care not for hear∣ing any news from the Invisible World.

7thly, If your Genius incline you to Philosophy, you may easily find nobler things than Matter and Motion to enter∣tain your selves with, if you will but con∣sult the Writings of Plato, Plotinus, Epicte∣tus, Cicero, Seneca, Antonine, &c.

But above all, if you believe that God regards the Affairs and Actions of Man∣kind, then look unto him for Direction and Light in this matter, and he that so seeks after the Truth will hardly miss of it in its more weighty and important In∣stances.

CHAP. X. Directions to such as believe the Immortality of the Soul, shewing how they ought to im∣prove so important a Doctrine.

THUS far I have proved that the Soul is Immortal, and laid down some Directions for those that hesitate in the Matter, in order to their better receiving of the proof that has been given. But since there are many who profess to be∣lieve this great Truth, and yet live as if they believ'd it not, and so encourage those of the contrary Opinion, and hard∣en them in their Impiety; I must not let go this point, till I have drawn some more practical Inferences from it, which if those that believe it would live up to, 'twould conduce more effectually to the Conviction of the Irreligious sort of Phi∣losophers, than the most accurate Reason∣ings are like to do. There is somewhat in an holy Life which commands Awe and Reverence from the worst of Men. Thus Herod feared John the Baptist, know∣ing that he was a just Man and an holy, Mark 6.20. Good Examples many times prove more powerful, than either Doctrines or Precepts.

What will it avail any Man to believe well, and to live ill; to be Orthodox in his judgment, and Scandalous in his pra∣ctice; to own the Dignity of Humane Nature, and yet live as if Man was only a more subtil kind of a Beast to rule the rest?

To this purpose you have a very observable passage in the Preface to Mr. Baxter's Reasons, &c.

I oft think what one told me, That an Infidel answer'd him, when he asked him, How he could quiet his Conscience in such a desperate State? saith he, I rather wonder how you can quiet your Consci∣ence in such a common careless course of life, believing as you do? If I be∣liev'd such things as you do, I should think no care, and diligence, and holi∣ness could be enough.

And the late E. of Rochester told an in∣timate Acquaintance of his,

There was nothing that gave him, and many others, a more secret encouragement in their ill ways, than that those who pretended to believe, lived so that they could not be thought to be in earnest, when they said it. (See his Life by Dr. Burnet pag. 120).

For he was sure Religion was either a meer Contrivance, or the most important thing that could be: So that if he once

believed, he would set himself in great earnest to live suitably to it. Ibid.

Therefore that you may not destroy your own Souls, and contribute so much to the ruin of others, even while you pro∣fess to believe the Immortality of the Soul; take these following Directions:

Direct. 1. If you believe that the Soul is Immortal, let it be your great care to secure your Eternal Interest. If there was no more than a bare probability that the Souls of Men must be for ever either happy or miserable, it would yet be a point of the highest Wisdom to take the safest side, and to prepare for Eterni∣ty, as much as possible. But when there is so full evidence, both Natural and Su∣pernatural, as puts the case beyond pro∣bability, and makes it certain, it must needs be the most stupendious folly to neglect the Interest of our Souls, which are daily hasting to their Eternal State.

If the Soul be Immortal (says Socrates) we had need to take care of it, and the danger is dreadful if we neglect it, Phaedo, 167.

And here let me ask you, Do you not know that the Life of Man is short and uncertain? That the deceitful pleasures of the Flesh will soon be at an end; and

that the more delightful your accommo∣dations are here below, the more unwil∣ling ('tis likely) you will be to leave them? —Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori. And can you chuse but fear what will follow after Death? Do you not know that the time of this present Life is given us to prepare for another? And what are you in pursuit of, that can justify so stu∣pid a neglect of your greatest concerns, or that will make amends for the loss of your Immortal Souls? Have you not sometimes thoughts of repenting hereaf∣ter? Why, in so thinking you implicitly own the Necessity of Repentance; and is it not the height of madness to delay the doing of that which must be done, or you are undone and lost for ever?

In a word: Are you not doing violence to your own Consciences all this while, and putting away far from you that which most nearly concerns you? Be persuaded therefore at length with a manly Resolu∣tion to lay aside every weight, and the Sins that do so easily beset you, and run with Pati∣ence the Race that is set before you. And if you be so resolved, you may proceed as follows:

1st. Labour to understand what it is that must make your Souls happy, if ever they be so. You may know by the acts of

your Understandings and Wills, as before described, what Felicity and Perfection your Souls are fundamentally capacitated for: Nothing but the highest Truth, and the chiefest Good can satisfy them. You may divert them for a while with variety of lower Objects, but they quickly grow weary, and run from one thing to another; which may shew you that they are not yet got to their Centre. You may charm them with the Delights of Sense and Ap∣petite, and some more refined Speculations too; and yet you do but degrade them all the while, and so they will tell you, if you take them apart, and freely converse with them. Suffer them to act according to their nobler Tendencies, and you will soon find them conversing with the World of Spirits, to which they are so nearly allyed; and reaching forth towards Im∣mortality as a thing suitable to their Na∣ture, and design'd for them by its Author. They will be looking to their great. Ori∣ginal, and he will meet them with the Attractive Influences of his Grace. This is the way to ennoble them indeed: This is something worthy the Nature of a Man. These are delights which you may justify, while the sordid pleasures of the Flesh leave a sting behind 'em.

The Life which I am exhorting you to, hath something in it not only manly, and rational, but also Divine, viz. To exercise your selves in contemplating and admi∣ring the Perfections of the Deity, till cor∣respondent impressions be wrought upon your own Spirits, transforming them into the same image from glory to glory, 2 Cor. 3.18. And when once you have learnt to relish these spiritual, intellectual Pleasures, you will look down with a generous dis∣dain upon those Husks which you were once fond of. You will scorn those empty Notions, which before you were in love with, and have a clear testimony of your Immortality within your selves. You will detest being so prophane as to sell your Birth-right for a morsel of unsatisfy∣ing, transitory Pleasures. You will then be fully convinced that true Holiness (which consists in separating our selves from that which is common, and unclean, that we may be devoted to the Love and Service of God) is perfective of Humane Nature, and essentially necessary to its Happiness; and that it is a perfect con∣tradiction for an unholy Soul to be truly blessed, because nothing but knowing, and delighting in God, can make us so, and in these consists our Holiness.

And what is there that can justly of∣fend you in such a Life as this? Can you be better, or more honourably employ∣ed? Do not even the worst of men, when they come to die, wish they had thus lived? and the best bewail that they have fallen so much short? Lord, pardon mine Omissions (said Bishop Usher.) Can you be too diligent and serious in the Service of him who hath done all the good that ever was done for you? and must do all that ever shall be done to make you happy? He needs not you: The loss is your own, if you turn your backs upon him. Consider how much patience he hath already exercised towards you. O do not slight the offers of his Mercy and Grace, and then think to complain of him as unmerciful in destroying you. Thus did that wicked and slothful servant, Matth. 25.24.

I know indeed that the carnal mind is enmity against God, and prejudiced against these things which lead towards him; but I know also that this is the disease of Corrupt Nature, which, where-ever it is, must be cur'd, or the Party is ruin'd for ever.

Neither is it sitting still, and complain∣ing, that will cure it, much less pleading it as an excuse against our Duty. A wil∣lingness

to be healed, is in this Case a great step towards it. But I proceed.

2dly, Humble your selves for the gross ne∣glects you have hitherto been guilty of. What have you done since you came into the World that's worthy the Nature and Ca∣pacities of a man? Have you not been making provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof, while the Immortal Spirit has been almost starved for want of its proper Food, viz. Knowledge and Vertue. Nascitur enim ex prudentiâ sapere, ex tempe∣rantiâ sobrium esse, & pietate Deum colere. Hae sunt cibi animae propiè, quae idonea est ad sugendum, &c. Philo Judaeus. 127.

Is it a light matter that you have de∣based so noble a Nature all this while, and at once sacrilegiously robbed God of that Honour which was due to him from the Rational Creature, and unnaturally set your Souls to sale for every trifle? What if he (whose you are, whether you serve him or no) should demand of you an account, what you have done with his Creature, how you came to prosti∣tute your Souls (which are more his) at so vile a rate? What if he had long since, in the midst of your carnal Security, cal∣led you out of that Flesh in which you breathe, and sent you into a Place where

the Immortality of the Soul, the weight of Divine Wrath, and the evil of Sin, are better known? Are you not ashamed to live as if you were meer Impertinences in the Creation? while the Inferior Crea∣tures round about you answer the Ends of their respective Beings. Can you suppose that you were born for no higher purposes, than to eat, drink, sleep, sport, talk, and make an appearance for a while up∣on the Stage of the World, and then go off with satisfaction, as if you had very well perform'd your part?

If you would be ashamed to own such monstrous Conceits as these, live not as if you did own them.

Consider seriously (for you can think, and think again about matters that less concern you) how wretchedly you have been befool'd, and led Captive all this while by the great Deceiver, who has carried on his design against you under∣board (though you observ'd him not;) and when you are past hope, will readily let you know, that you have lost, and he has got the game. Let me conclude this Head with the words of a most Excel∣lent Poet,

In cooler thoughts consider what you've done, And think that each of you hath kill'd a man, Stabbing with murd'rous hands That noble Reason by which Mortals are Most like their Maker, and do bear Their great Creator's Superscription.

Think lastly on the World's great Doom, When guilty Souls must to an Audit come; A far more heavy reckoning than e're You met with here, More true by far, and yet far more severe. Think on all this, and think on't soberly, And then perhaps you'll say, as well as I, Your mirth is madness, Wine a poison fell, Your Paradise is Bedlam, if not Hell.

3dly, Trifle no longer, lest death overtake you unprepared for it. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Which words, though encouraging to true Penitents, yet carry in them an awful intimation of the ne∣cessity of being speedy in our Repen∣tance, and that because the time is com∣ing when God will not be found, when they shall call, and he will not answer, Prov. 1.28.

The longer you delay, the more will your Guilt be increased, the habits of Sin strengthened, the Spirit of God griev'd; beside the hazard you run of pe∣rishing in the mean time before you are aware. And if hereafter you should be awaken'd to think of repenting, and pre∣paring for another World, 'tis ten to one, but he who hath abus'd you so long, will then tempt you to believe it is too late. Methinks the Consideration of Eternal Misery should even overwhelm you, and make you tremble at that Justice which you can neither resist nor escape.

Bear with this plainness. Your Case makes it necessary. If Complements and smooth words would serve the turn, you should have them. But alas! while I am writing, and you reading, Time is run∣ning on, and Eternity is almost upon us, though we too little consider it.

How little a part of Time can you call your own? The time past is no longer yours. Of the time to come you are ut∣terly uncertain. And as for the present time, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 'tis gone while you are naming it, and Philosophers are not 〈◊〉〈◊〉 greed to call it a part of time, because of its indivisibility. What shall I say? O that I knew but how to persuade you; how joyfully would I do it, though I lost

Estate, Liberty, yea, or Life it self in the Action. But 'tis sad to think that I should leave you under greater guilt than I found you. The Lord pity you, and teach you to pity your selves.

And here I will take liberty to tran∣scribe the words of a Reverend Person, so well suited to the present Occasion.

The State of the Case speaks it self, that there is no sitting still here. This is no Condition, Soul, to be rested in, unless thou be provided to encounter the Terrors of Eternal Darkness, and endure the Tortures of Everlasting Burnings. And yet am I not unap∣prehensive how great a difficulty a car∣nal Heart will make of it to bestir it self in order to any redress of so deplo∣rable a Case. — They esteem our strongest Reasonings (as Leviathan does Iron and Brass) but as Straw, and rotten Wood, and laugh at Divine Threat∣nings as he doth at the shaking of the Spear. Yea, and when we have con∣vinc'd them, yet we have done no∣thing; though we have got their Judg∣ments and Consciences on our side, and their own, their Lusts only reluctate and carry all. Mr. How's Blessedness of the Righteous, pag. 344, &c.

4thly, Understand aright wherein the Life and Power of Religion doth consist. 1 Cor. 4.20. The Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. We read of Persons that have a name to live, and yet are dead, Rev. 3.1. And, among the Monsters of the last Times, some are mention'd that have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, 2 Tim. 3.5. And now let us en∣quire seriously what this power of Godli∣ness is.

It cannot be supposed to consist mere∣ly in an adherence to this or that Party. Nay, it is so far from consisting in this, that 'tis scarce consistent with a dividing, cen∣sorious, uncharitable Frame and Disposi∣tion. Siding into Parties, judging and despising one another, and crying out, —Who is on my side, who? hath long been the shame of Christians, and one of the greatest Obstructions to the Interest of our common Lord. This Temper began early to shew it self, even among the Disciples themselves, Mark 9.38, 39. —Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followed not us; and we forbad him, &c. From a like Disposition you find ver. 34. they had been disputing among themselves who should be the greatest; and when our Lord question'd them

about it, ver. 33. they were afraid to tell what they had been talking of.

How quickly shall we all be asham'd of our childish Wranglings? Is this to become as little Children in a Scripture sense? Is this to demonstrate that we are his Disci∣ples, by loving one another? Or is it not rather to proclaim to the World, that we know not what manner of Spirit we are of?

Tertullian in his Apology, cap. 39. pag. 47. glories in that Love and Unity which was among those Primitive Christians, and which the Heathens observ'd, crying out with Astonishment.— Vide ut invicem se diligant, & pro alterutro mori sunt parati. See how they love one another, and are ready to dye one for another. Hence he takes oc∣casion sharply (as his manner is) to up∣braid the Heathens, that they hated one another, and were more ready to destroy one another.

The Learned Grotius mentioning this passage of Tertullian, makes the following Reflection upon it.—

Quid nunc illi dice∣rent, &c. What would those Christians now say, if they saw our times? If they saw not merely sharp Contentions; but even cruel Wars amongst Christians; & quas ob reculas? for what trifles? If they heard all other marks of the Church

brought in with a great deal of clamour, rather than that (viz. Loving one ano∣ther) which was assign'd by its Ma∣ster.

Neither can the power of Godliness be supposed to consist in a customary Atten∣dance upon the publick Worship of God. Herod heard John gladly, and did many things. The Pharisees made long Prayers, and Fasted often. And the Prophet speaks of some, Ezek. 33.31, 32. who came and sat before him as God's people; yea, they would hear his words, but not do them. With their Mouth they have shew'd much love, while their Heart run after their Covetous∣ness.

Moreover a Man may be able to Dis∣course very well of Religion; may be very just in his dealings; very charitable to the poor; quiet and peaceable among his Neighbours, free from gross and scan∣dalous pollutions; be no Extortioner, Adul∣terer, unjust Person, Luk. 18.11. and yet be a stranger to the Life and Power of Christianity all the while. I know this will go ill down with those who have built their hopes of Salvation upon no better grounds than these. But there is no helping them without undeceiving them.

In a word therefore, these following places of Scripture (if you be willing to learn) will shew you wherein the pow∣er of Religion consists.

Luk. 13.24. Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Matt. 22.37, 38. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first, and great commandment. Chap. 10.37. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: or, as Luke has it, cannot be my disciple. Rom. 8.9. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 2 Cor. 5.17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Eph. 2.10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Tit. 2.14. —Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Col. 1.2. Giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet to be parta∣kers of the inheritance of the saints in light. 2 Cor. 5.5. Now he that has wrought us for the self-same thing, is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the spirit.

Think not that I have here pickt toge∣ther a few places of Scripture meerly to serve a turn; I tell you the whole Strain of the Gospel runs this way; and if it be hid, its hid to them that are lost.

Now if this Gospel be true, certainly the Nature of Christianity is little under∣stood, or considered, by multitudes that yet affect to be called Christians. 'Tis no such easy matter to be a Christian indeed, as too many are apt to imagine. Running, Striving, Wrestling, taking the Kingdom of Heaven by Violence, do all imply that we have many difficulties to conflict withal, and must either be in good Earnest, or else lose all our labour.

'Tis further observable, that there must be a mighty change wrought upon us by the Spirit of God, else Christ will never own us as his Members.

And 'tis as clear, that this great change consists in turning our Hearts from the love of the Creature, to the Predominant love of God, and Holiness. This is the Life, the Soul of the new Nature, which must animate all our other Graces, and be in us a continual Spring of holy Obe∣dience.

In a word; In this consists our fitness for Heaven; and without it Heaven would not be Heaven to us, were it possible we

could be admitted thither. These things are so plain, that I need not further en∣large upon them, unless it be to bring them nearer to your own case, and help you to try your selves by them.

Let us therefore ponder the matter a little. Can that Man be said to make Religion his business, who will not be persuaded soberly to exercise his Reason about it? Nor so much as to put the questi∣on to himself, — What was I Created and Redeemed for? What shall I do to be saved? Degenerate Souls! To what end was your Reason given you? Was it, think you, only to enable you the better to care, and plod, and provide for the Flesh? Alas! that you should know your selves no bet∣ter!

Can that Man be supposed to love God with all his Heart and Soul, who cares not how little he thinks upon him? has no delight in his Service, but is glad when 'tis over? No Zeal for his Honour and Glory in the world; no concern when his Name is blasphem'd and prophaned by the ungodly? who allows himself in a course of wilful Rebellion against him, and will not be persuaded to renounce his Lusts, nor to set up the Worship of God in his Family and Closet, how plainly soever the Scripture enjoins it. In a word; who

could be willing enough to continue on Earth for ever, might he but enjoy Fleshly prosperity, fulness, and ease, though he should never know more of God, nor love him better than now he doth, which is next to none at all.

And what shall we say of those who turn Religion into matter of ridicule and contempt? whose heart riseth against any thing that's serious? They set their Wits at work to put Nick-names upon it, and yet the Wretches have the front to usurp the Christian name. Prodigious Insolence!

Is that man regenerate, think you, who, if you ask him what Regeneration means? what it is to be a new Creature? to be led by the Spirit of God? cannot answer you three words of sense about it? nay; perhaps, knows not that there are any such Ex∣pressions in the Bible.

Or can it be imagin'd, that a Person whose heart is set upon the world, and has no relish, nor savour of better things, but is quite out of his Element when imploy'd in any thing that has a nearer Relation, and tendency towards Heaven; can such an one (I say) be imagin'd meet for that Inheritance, or to have any treasure there, where his heart is not?

I could wish to know what Notion such Men have of Heaven; What think you?

How are the Saints and Angels employ'd there? Do they love God or no? Are they not wrapt up in admiring his Excel∣lencies and Perfections? and filled with continual Emanations, and Influences of Light and Love from him, and even transformed by that blessed Intuition? While the impure Spirits of the wicked are doom'd to a blacker Region, and plac'd in the Society of the Devils that deceived them. And can you believe two States so vastly different hereafter, and yet not consider that there must be some suit∣able preparation while we are here? some∣thing in the very disposition of our minds which may point out to us whither we are going? And since your Eternal Happiness lies upon it, is it not worth your while to enquire, whether your Spirits are formed to any such temper, as comports with the de∣scription of Heaven which has been set before you, and which you must be for∣ced to allow of, unless you will renounce both Reason and Scripture?

And yet I deny not but the best of Men may have many Infirmities; Who can understand his errors? If we say we have no Sin, we deceive our selves. But still you must observe, the sinful weaknesses of good Men are matter of continual grief to them: They watch and pray, and strive

against them, and heartily desire to be rid of them, and long for that blessed State, in which they shall be perfectly so, Rom. 7.24.

But on the other hand, wicked men love their Lusts; plead for them, endea∣vour to extenuate them, cannot endure to think of parting with them, would rather have them gratified than mortified (as Austin confesseth of himself before his Conversion): so that they are under the power of Sin, and Strangers to that Life of Grace which would make them see and feel the evil of it.

However, this consideration should make religious persons the more circum∣spect, because others are so apt to take encouragement from their failings.

These are no Singularities of Opinion, nor Fanatick, Enthusiastical Notions, but words of Truth and Soberness, in which all judicious good Christians (of what deno∣mination soever) are fully agreed. Would to God the serious consideration of them, and a suitable practice, did more gene∣rally obtain among us, and then we should quickly see our little differences vanishing as smoak, and the Churches of God in these Nations become a praise in the whole earth.

5thly, Study carefully the Reasons of the Christian Religion, as they are excellently set forth in a Book which bears that Title; where I dare be confident to affirm (rin∣gentibus licet viri celeberrimi adversariis) you will find such a complication of Learning, Perspicuity, and Piety, as all the Atheists, Infidels, Sadducees, and Epicureans in the world, will never be able to withstand.

The light of Reason indeed, well em∣ployed, may help you far in discovering your Nature, Faculties, Duty, Interest, and End. But when you have done your best; many things will remain (appertaining to these already mention'd), as to which you will still be in the dark, without the assi∣stance of supernatural Revelation. For in∣stance, How the nature of man came to be so universally vitiated, and depraved; as we certainly find it is, and the Pagans themselves have often acknowledged: How Divine Justice may be satisfied, and yet offending Sinners pardon'd, and receiv'd into favour: How humane Nature must be purified, restor'd, and fitted again for its proper use and end. Quae quidem Purga∣••io, (saith Porphyry) omni homini adeo neces∣saria est, ut fieri non pessit quin Deus universa∣lem aliquam purgandi humani generis rationem procuràrit. This indeed is high; but you must

remember he was a Philosopher, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, of the sacred Succession, out of the School of Ammonius at Alexandria.

But that of Plato is yet more wonderful. Alcib. 2. Sect. 11. where he brings in So∣crates instructing Alcibiades concerning Prayer: And after he had shew'd how little we know what's fit for our selves, and how dangerous it is to pray for things unsuitable for us, at last tells him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.

'Tis necessary that you wait, till ONE come, who will teach you how to behave your self both towards God and man. When will that be (says Alcibiades), and who shall this Teacher be? For I would gladly know him whoever he is. 'Tis he, re∣ply'd Socrates, who careth for thee. But to me it seems that, as Homer tells us, Minerva took away the mist from the eyes of Diomedes that he might discern God from man: So the darkness must be ta∣ken from thy mind.

At that day, says Alcibiades, will I make Offerings, and it will come e're long; let him take off the mist from mine eyes, or what else he pleases, for I am prepared to omit no∣thing which he shall command (who∣ever he be) so that I may be made better.

The poor Heathens were sensible of the need of supernatural Revelation, which made them so fond of their Oracles, and of the Books of the Sybills, and the several ways of Divination that obtain'd among them: And those of them who had great affairs in hand still pretended to take in the special help of some supposed Deity, or other. Thus Numa makes shew of con∣sulting with the Nymph Egeria; Lycurgus, Minos; Solon with Jove: And the like is reported of that great Man Scipio Africanus: Caligula with Castor and Pollux; and after all, Mahomet pretends to receive his Instru∣ctions from the Angel Ga••••iel.

Look therefore into all the pretences that have been made to supernatural Re∣velation, and see if you can find any, which may stand in the least competition with these sacred Records which we have in the holy Scriptures.

The Fragments of Zoroaster, the Chaldaean Oracles, the Books of the Sybills, the Alchoran of Mahomet, will all appear uncertain, or frivolous if compared with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Never was any Doctrine so suited to the raising of mens minds above this Earth, and fitting them for Glory and Immortality, as the Christian Doctrine is. Our way and our end are here plainly set before us: And the very design and ten∣dency

of the Gospel may tell you its Author.

It could not be the Invention of wicked men, or Devils, for it every where de∣claims against Sin, yea, even these inward Corruptions, which are not discernible to the eyes of men.

It could not be a meer contrivance of good men or Angels, for they would never have dared to arrogate to them∣selves a Divine Authority, or to father their Writings upon God; and there∣fore it must needs be from him who hath own'd it with Success, confirm'd it by Miracles, and preserv'd it in despite of the subtilty and malignity of its ene∣mies to this day, and still makes it his power to the Salvation of Sinners. The better any man is, the nearer he comes up to the Rules of Christianity; and had the Gospel been a lye, or device of deceivers, the God of Truth would ne∣ver have made it an Instrument of so much good in the world, as he hath done.

Direct. 2. If you believe that the Soul is Immortal, be not over-fond of the Bo∣dy. Keep it under; bring it into sub∣jection; use it as a Servant to the Soul, that both the one, and the other

may be fitter for the Service of him that made them. Keep it not so high as to make it Masterless, nor so low as to unfit it for duty. A Servant when he ruleth is one of the things which the Earth cannot bear: The Body is a good Servant, if well managed, but a bad Ma∣ster. Keep your Minds as much as you can above the power of Corporeal Impressi∣ons: Let not the Objects of Sense and Appetite prevail too much upon you. These two will quickly plead prescription, and put in for Sovereignty, if too much indulged: They have ever been dispo∣sed to rebel, since our First Parents gave them that fatal advantage; and the sway they bear over their degenerate Posterity carries in it the mark, and brand of that first Apostacy. 'Tis this which threatens our ruin a second time: And shall we split upon the same Rock again, after so dreadful a warning? Suspect all those pleasures in which the Body is much con∣cern'd, lest the Spirit be debased by them, and begin to put too high a va∣lue upon them, and so contract a ter∣rene, sensual disposition, and disrelish those noble delights which are perfective of its Nature. Make not your Prison too strong: Think how quickly this Flesh must be laid aside as useless and

offensive. Why then will you cherish it, and make an Idol of it, a•• if you thought you must never leave it? What relief will it be to your miserable Souls to remember, that in this Life you had your good things? Or if it were reasona∣ble to suppose, (as some have done) that the Souls of the wicked hover about the places of their Bodies Interment, what satisfaction would it be to such a Soul to think, Here lies Dust, which while I studied to pamper, I forgot, and lost my self? A cutting Reflection to a deso∣late forlorn Spirit, stript of all those Va∣nities which before inveigled it, and de∣stitute of those Virtuous Principles, which would have enabled it, to mount aloft into a purer Region.

It is therefore a great point of Wis∣dom to sit loose to the accommodations of this present Life: And if at any time we find our Minds disposed (as they are too apt to be) to an over∣great pleasure in our worldly enjoyments, 'tis fit that we remember, this is not our home; our highest Interests are above; and the Relation which we bear to the world of Spirits, whither we are going, should make us look more shily upon these temporary, perishing things, as fo∣reign,

and extrinsick to us, and no way suitable for the Immortal Spirit to rest in: And if the least thought should in∣sinuate it self,—That it is good for us to be here; we ought to reject it with dis∣dain, and turn our Minds to nobler Ob∣jects, till the powerful sense of them hath awak'd us out of our dream, and shew'd us the vanity and emptiness of it.

Neither should we be over-much con∣cern'd at any crosses or disappoint∣ments which may meet us in our pas∣sage through this world. Do not give them the way; suffer them not to come too near you, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. Epictet. Enchir. Cap. 10. It is not the things themselves which trouble men, but their Conceits and Opinions about them: At least they grow heavier by weigh∣ing, and so we create, and multiply troubles upon our selves, by our an∣xiety and sollicitude about these things, which to a calm serene temper, would have been but light afflictions.

Are your Circumstances low and mean in the world? you are less in danger of growing in love with it, and so being ensnared and undone by it: Besides, Nature is content with a little, though mens Lusts are insatiable.

Are Friends and Relations unkind, sel∣fish, unfaithful, or otherwise unsuitable to you? Who bad you over-value them, or promise your selves too much from them, or repose too great confidence in them? you may thank your selves in this case (as in most others) if you be answer'd according to your Idols.

Is your Body afflicted with pain, sickness, or languishing? you knew it was mortal before, and to what purpose have you liv'd all this while, if not to prepare for such a time as this?

Are you vilify'd and reproach'd by men (as it oft falls out) for keeping close to your Duty? You ought no more to stop at it, than a man, in a race for his Life, should be daunted at the braying of an Ass, or the gagling of Wild-geese.

Our Life on Earth is but a dream: It passeth away as a vision of the night: Men are startled at phansied dangers, but not duly apprehensive of real ones. 'Tis not amiss sometimes to suppose (as Mar∣silius Ficinus directs) forsitan haec non vera sunt, forsitan in praesentiâ somniamus; and as there is more of truth in such a sup∣position, than most men consider; so it will prevent our being over-much lifted

up with prosperity, or dejected with ad∣versity, since they are both alike parts of a dream, and the invisible World of reali∣ties is so very near us, whither, when we are once arrived, we shall think as con∣temptibly of the far greatest part of the Transactions of this world, as men are wont to do of their dreams, after they are well awake.

The CONCLUSION.

THUS I have endeavoured to prove, That the Soul is Immortal; and laid open the Absurd and Mischievous Conse∣quences of the opposite Hypothesis, and withal I have shewed what improvement ought to be made of so important a Do∣ctrine. A great deal more might have been said on this occasion, but what some will think too little, others will think too much; and therefore, to prevent misun∣derstandings on both hands,

I shall only add Two or Three parti∣culars more.

1st. If any say, That I have undertaken a needless piece of work, and that such a Dis∣course deserved not to be answer'd but with scorn and contempt: I must tell them, That the degeneracy of this Atheistical Age, is a sad, but sufficient Apology for what I have done. It can never be unseasonable to put men in mind of a Future State, much less now: And though I look upon our Author's Cause to be stark naught, yet his manage∣ment

of it (perhaps) is not so contemp∣tible as some may think: However, I am sure the effects of it upon others are not so.

2dly, Others, it may be, will think I have been too severe in the Remarks which I have made, considering the Quality of the person with whom I have to do: To which I answer, I hope they will not accuse me of any rude personal Reflections; and as for his Opinion, to answer it, is to expose it. He has publickly debased all Mankind, and himself among the rest, and therefore ought not to think much at any rational endeavours to right both him, and them.

And the figure he bears in the world makes an answer so much the more ne∣cessary. When a person of considerable Note, a sober Life, and one that has the reputation of a studious thinking man, shall vent such Opinions as these, the In∣fection is like to spread so much further. Nullis Aconita bibuntur Fictilibus.

Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet, quanto Major, qui peccat habetur.

3dly, Some perhaps will object, That I have not laid stress enough upon the Immateriality of the Soul in the present Controversy. I would have such to consider, that over-do∣ing

is undoing; and to argue à minus notis, is not the way to defend the Truth, but to open the Mouths of its Adversa∣ries. If I have proved that the Soul is no such perishing, corruptible Matter, as our Author supposeth, this is what I under∣took; and if the use of the word Mate∣rial will please him, let him take it, for me, so long as he draws no bruitish Con∣clusion from it: And as for those that have more refined Notions of Immaterial Sub∣stances, I envy not their improvements; let them rejoice in their greater Light, provided they take not up with Arbitrary Conceits instead of solid Knowledge; nor in∣jure more plain, and certain Truths, by pretending to know these things, which, to a Soul in Flesh are hardly, if at all, in∣telligible, how true soever.

It seems clear to me, that our Author hath over-shot himself, by pretending to prove the Soul Mortal, because he fan∣cied it was hard to prove it immaterial, and this he thought gave him the advantage; but (to use his own phrase pag. 12.) I judge he hath taken a wrong Sow by the ear.

And tho' I desire not to contend with any man, yet if he himself, or any of those who have espoused his Sentiments, shall think it convenient to Answer what I have written, they may expect a Reply if

they deserve it. For, as on the one hand, I think not my self obliged to fol∣low any one, who impertinently rambles from the matter, and seeks sorry little Shifts and Evasions, to avoid the force of plain evidence: So on the other hand, I think it worth my while, to allot a con∣siderable part of my remaining Life (if just occasion be given me) to the Defence of the Soul's Immortality, and the run∣ning down of these unmanly Notions, which ought to be exploded and hiss'd out of the World by the meanest of Human Race.

FINIS.