unequal clearness Sweet things taste bitter to one in a Feaver but the mind knows that the bitterness is not in the things but in the viciated Palat. Moreover how many things are collected by Reason that transcend the power of fancy to conceive nay are repugnant to its conception What corporeal Image can represent the immensity of the Heavens as the Mind by convincing arguments apprehends it The Antipodes walk erect upon the Earth yet the Fancy cannot conceive them but with their Heads downward Now if the Mind were of the same nature with the corporeal Faculties their judgment would be uniform 5. The Senses suffer to a great degree by the excessive vehemence of their Objects Too bright a light blinds the Eye Too strong a sound deafs the Ear. But the Soul receives vigor and perfection from the excellence and sublimity of its object and when most intent in contemplation and concenter'd in its self becomes as it were all Mind so that the operations of it as sensitive are suspended feels the purest delights far above the perception of the lower faculties Now from whence is the distemper of the Senses in their exercise but from matter as well that of the Object as the Organ And from whence the not suffering of the Mind but from the impressing the forms of Objects separated from all matter and consequently in an immaterial faculty for there is of necessity a convenience and proportion as between a Being and the manner of its operations so between that and the subject wherein it works This strongly argues the Soul to be immaterial in that 't is impassible from matter even when it is most conversant in it For it refines it from corporeal accidents to a kind of spirituality proportioned to its nature And from hence proceeds the unbounded capacity of the Soul in its conceptions partly because the forms of things inconsistent in their natures are so purified by the Mind as they have an objective existence without enmity or contrariety partly because in the workings of the Mind one act does not require a different manner from another but the same reaches to all that is intelligible in the same order 6. The Senses are subject to languishing and decay and begin to die before Death But the Soul many times in the weakness of Age is most lively and vigorously productive The intellectual Off-spring carries no marks of the decays of the Body In the approaches of Death when the corporeal faculties are relaxt and very faintly perform their functions the workings of the Soul are often rais'd above the usual pitch of its activity And this is a pregnant probability that 't is of a spiritual Nature and that when the Body which is here its Prison rather than Mansion falls to the Earth 't is not opprest by its ruines but set free and injoys the truest liberty This made Heraclitus say that the Soul goes out of the Body as Lightning from a Cloud because it 's never more clear in its conceptions than when freed from matter And what Lucretius excellently expresses in his Verses is true in another sense than he intended Cedit item retro de Terra quod fuit ante In Terram sed quod missum est ex Aetheris oris Id rursus Coeli fulgentia Templa receptant What sprung from Earth falls to its native place What Heav'n inspir'd releast from the weak tye Of flesh ascends above the shining Sky Before I proceed I will briefly consider the Objections of some who secretly favour the part of impiety 1. 'T is objected That the Soul in its intellectual operations depends on the Phantasms and those are drawn from the representations of things conveyed through the senses But it will appear this does not enervate the force of the Arguments for its spiritual nature For this dependence is only objective not instrumental of the Souls perception The first images of things are introduc'd by the mediation of the senses and by their presence for nothing else is requisit the mind is excited and draws a Picture resembling or if it please not resembling them and so operates alone and compleats its own work Of this we have a clear experiment in the conceptions which the mind forms of things so different from the first notices of them by the Senses The first apprehensions of the Deity are from the visible effects of his Power but the Idea in which the understanding contemplates him is fram'd by removing all imperfections that are in the Creatures and consequently that he is not corporeal For whatsoever is so is liable to corruption that is absolutely repugnant to the perfection of his nature Now the common Sense and Fancy only powerful to work in Matter cannot truely express an immaterial Being Indeed as Painters by their Colours represent invisible things as Darkness the Winds the Internal affections of the heart so that by the representations the thoughts are awakn'd of such objects so the fancy may with the like Art shadow forth Spiritual Beings by the most resembling forms taken from sensible things Thus it imagins the Angels under the likeness of young Men with Wings to express their vigor and velocity But the Mind by its internal light conceives them in another manner by a Spiritual form that exceeds the utmost efficacy of the corporeal Organs so that 't is evident the Soul as intellectual in its singular and most proper operations is not assisted by the ministry of the Senses 2. 'T is objected that the Soul in its superiour operations depends on the convenient temper of the Body The thoughts are clear and orderly when the Brain is compos'd On the contrary when the predominancy of any humour distempers it the Mind feels its infirmities And from hence it seems to be of a corporeal nature depending on the Body in its being as in its working But this if duly consider'd will raise no just prejudice against its Spiritual Immortal Nature For 1. The sympathy of things is no convincing Argument that they are of the same Nature There may be so strict a union of Beings of different natures that they must necessarily be subject to impressions from one another Can any Reasons demonstrate that a Spiritual substance endowed with the powers of understanding and will cannot be united in a vital composition to a Body as the Vegetative Soul is in Plants and the Sensitive in Beasts There is no implicite repugnance in this that proves it impossible Now if such a complex Being were in Nature how would that spiritual Soul act in that Body that in its first union with it excepting some universal Principles is a rasa tabula as a white Paper without the notices of things written in it Certainly in no other imaginable manner than as Man's Soul does now Indeed if Man as compounded of Soul and Body were a sensitive Animal and only rational as partaking of the Universal Intellect bent to individuals for a time and retiring at Death to
its first Being as Averroes fancied there would be no cause of such a Sympathy but the Soul as intellectual is an informing not assisting form And it is an evident proof of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator by this strict and sensible union to make the Soul vigilant and active to provide for the convenience and comfort of the Body in the present state and that notwithstanding such a discord in Nature there should be such a concord in inclinations 2. Though the mental operations of the Soul are hindred by the ill habit of the Body yet the mind suffers no hurt but still retains its intellectual power without impairing A skilful Musitian does not lose his Art that plays on an harp when the strings are false though the Musick is not so harmonious as when 't is justly tuned The visive faculty is not weakned when the Air by a collection of gross vapours is so thick that the eye cannot distinctly perceive distant objects When by the heats of Wine or a Disease the Spirits are inflam'd and made fierce and unruly and the Images in the Fancy are put into confusion the mind cannot regularly govern and use them When the fumes are evaporated the Brain is restor'd to its temper and fitness for intellectual operations but the mind is not cur'd that was not hurt by those Distempers Briefly the Deniers of the Souls Immortality resemble in their arguings some who oppos'd the Divinity of our Saviour For as Apollinaris and Eunomius from Christ's sleeping so profoundly in a storm instead of concluding that he was a real Man falsly inferr'd that he was not God Because sleep is not the satisfaction of a Divine appetite the Deity is incapable of it But they consider'd not his more than humane Power in rebuking the Winds and the Sea with that Empire that was felt and obeyed by those insensible creatures so those whose interest inclines them to believe that Man is entirely mortal alledg that he acts as a sensitive Creature for he is so but consider not that he has also more noble faculties to understand objects purely spiritual and God himself the most perfect in that order which no material principle though of the most subtile and finest contexture can reach unto Besides the more 't is disengaged from Matter and retir'd from the senses the more capable it is to perform its most exalted operations and consequently by an absolute separation 't is so far from perishing that it ascends to its perfection For the manner how it acts in the separate state 't is to no purpose to search being most secret and 't will be to no purpose to find as being of no influence to excite us to the constant and diligent performance of our duty 'T is therefore a fruitless curiosity to inquire after it But to imagine that because the Soul in the present state cannot understand clearly without the convenient disposition of the Body therefore it cannot act at all without it is as absur'd as to fancy because a man confin'd to a Chamber cannot see the objects without but through the Windows therefore he cannot see at all but through such a Medium and that when he is out of the Chamber he has totally lost his sight CHAP. IX The acts of the Will consider'd It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The Spiritual operations of the Soul may be perform'd by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick argumeut that man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible Immortal and perishing 2. THe acts of the Will that imperial faculty prove it to be of a higher order of substance than the sensitive Soul The Brutes are acted by pure necessity their powers are moved and determined by the external application of objects 'T is visible that all kinds of sensitive Creatures in all times are carried in the same manner by the potent sway of Nature towards things sutable to their corporeal faculties But the rational Will is a principle of free election that controuls the lower appetite by restraining from the most pleasant and powerful allurements and choosing sometimes the most distastful things to sense Now from whence arises this contention If the rational Will be not of a higher nature than the sensual appetite why does it not consent with its inclinations How comes the Soul to mortifie the most vehement desires of the body a part so near in Nature so dear by Affection and so apt to resent an injury And since 't is most evident that sensitive Creatures always with the utmost of their force defend their Beings from whence is it that the rational Soul in some cases against the strongest recoile and reluctance of Nature exposes the body to Death If it depended on the body for subsistence it would use all means to preserve it Upon the sight of contrary motions in an engine we conclude they are caused by diverse springs and can such opposite desires in Man proceed from the same principle If the rational Soul be not of a sublimer order than the sensitive it follows that Men are Beasts and Beasts are Men. Now 't is as impossible to be what they are not as not to be what they are But do the Beasts reverence a Divine Power and at stated times perform acts of solemn Worship Is Conscience the immediate rule of their Actions will Lectures of temperance chastity justice arrest them in the eager pursute of sensual satisfactions Do they feel remorse in doing ill and pleasure in doing well Do they exercise the Mind in the search of Truth have they desires of a sublime intellectual good that the low sensual part cannot partake of have they a capacity of such an immense Blessedness that no finite Object in its qualities and duration can satisfy Ask the Beasts and they will tell you Their actions declare the contrary But the humane Soul has awful apprehensions of the Deity distinguishes of things by their agreement or disconformity to his Laws It s best and quickest Pleasures and most piercing wounding Troubles are from Moral Causes What colour what taste has Vertue yet the purified Soul is inflam'd by the views of its most amiable thô not sensible beauty and delighted in its sweetness How often is it so ravish'd in contemplation of God the great Object of the rational Powers as to lose the desire and memory of all carnal things What stronger Argument and clearer Proof can there be of its affinity with God than that Divine things are most sutable to it for if the rational Soul were of the same order with the sensitive as it could not possibly conceive any being more excellent than what is corporeal so it could only relish gross things wherein Sense is conversant The Sum of what has been discourst of
of that Fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth and to full Age and a decrepit state and back again so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God The impressions of Nature are infallible That the most Men are practical Atheists that some doubt and deny God in words is of no force to disprove his Existence There are no absolute Atheists Nature in extremities has an irresistible force and compels the most obdurate to acknowledg the Deity Chap. 6. Page 22. The belief of the Deity no Politick Invention The asserting that 't is necessary to preserve States in order is a strong proof of its truth No History intimates when this belief was introduc'd into the World The continuance of it argues that its rise was not from a Civil Decree Princes themselves are under the fears of the Deity The multitude of false Gods does not prejudice the natural notion of one true God Idolatry was not universal The Worship of the only true God is preserved where Idolatry is abolished Chap. 7. pag. 105. The duties of understanding Creatures to the Maker of all things Admiration of his glorious Perfections visible in them This is more particularly the duty of Man the World being made eminently for him The Causes why the Creator is not honour'd in his Works are Mens ignorance and inobservance Things new rather affect us than great An humble fear is a necessary respect from the Creature to the Divine Majesty and Power Love and Obedience in the highest degrees are due from men to God in the quality of Creator Trust and Reliance on God is our duty and priviledge Chap. 8. pag. 146. The Immortality of the Soul depends on the conservative influence of God Natural and Moral Arguments to prove that God will continue it for ever The Soul is incapable of perishing from any corruptible principles or separable parts It s spiritual nature is evident by the acts of its principal faculties The Understanding conceives spiritual objects is not confin'd to singular and present things Reflects upon it self Corrects the errors of the sense Does not suffer from the excellency of the object Is vigorous in its operations when the Body is decayed which proves it to be an immaterial faculty An Answer to Objections against the Souls spiritual nature That the first notices of things are conveyed through the senses does not argue it to be a material faculty That it depends on the temper of the Body in its superior operations is no prejudice to its spiritual nature Chap. 9. pag. 170. The Acts of the Will considered It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The spiritual operations of the Soul may be performed by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick Argument that Man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible immortal and perishing Chap. 10. pag. 181. The moral Arguments for the Souls Immortality The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual eternal happiness argues it survives the Body The lower order of Creatures obtain their perfection here It reflects upon Nature if the more noble fails of its end That wicked men would choose annihilation rather than eternal torments is no proof against Mans natural desire of Immortality The necessity of a future state of Recompences for moral actions proves the Soul to be immortal The Wisdom of God as Governour of the World requires there be Rewards and Punishments annext to his Laws Eternal Rewards are only powerful to make men obedient to them in this corrupt state Humane Laws are no sufficient security of Vertue and restraint from Vice Chap. 11. Page 198. The Justice of God an infallible Argument of future recompences The natural notion of God includes Justice in Perfection In this World sometimes Vertue and Vice are equally miserable Sometimes Vice is prosperous Sometimes good Men are in the worst condition The dreadful consequences of denying a future state Gods absolute Dominion over the Reasonable Creature is regulated by his Wisdom and limited by his Will The essential beauty of Holiness with the pleasure that naturally results from good actions and the native turpitude of Sin with the disturbance of the mind reflecting on it are not the compleat recompences that attend the Good and the Wicked Chap. 12. Page 223. Two Arguments more to prove future recompenses 'T is not possible for civil Justice to despense rewards and punishments according to the good and evil actions of Men. All Nations agree in the acknowledgment of a future state The innocent Conscience is supported under an unjust Sentence by looking to the superior Tribunal The courage of Socrates in dying with the cause of it The guilty Conscience terrifies with the apprehension of Judgment to come Tiberius his complaint to the Senate of his inward tortures An Answer to the Objection that we have not sensible evidence of what is enjoyed and what is suffered in the next life Why Sin a transient act is punished with Eternal Death Chap. 13. Page 257. What influence the Doctrine of the future state should have upon our practice It must regulate our esteem of present things And reconcile our affections to any condition here so far as it may be an advantage to prepare us for the better World The chiefest care is due to the Immortal part The just value of Time and how it should be improved 'T is the best Wisdom to govern our whole course of Life here with regard to Eternity that expects us FINIS There is lately Reprinted a Book entitled The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work By W. Bates D. D. Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhil * Epicuri de Grege Porcum Hor. Chap. I. * Vitruv. praef lib. 6. Boet. * Obliquitatem ejus intellexisse est rerum fores aperuisse Plin. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Chap. II. * Ne sylvae quidem honidiorque naturae facies Medicinis caret sacra il a parente rerum omnium nusquam non remedia disponente homini ut Medicina fieret ipsa solitudo Plin. ‖ Est igitur id quo illa conficiuntur homine melius Id autem quid potius dixerimquam Deum Tull. de nat deor * His muniendo aculeis telisque armando remediis ut tuta salva sint Ita hoc quoque quod in iis odimus hominum causa excogitatum est Plin. l. 22. ‖ Quid est in his in quo non naturae ratio intelligentis appareat Tull. †Quis non
the highest parts to which no other Waters arise would be unfruitful Now the Winds are assigned to all the quarters of the World and as the Reigns are slack or hard they guide the Clouds for the advantage of the lower World The separation of the Sea from the Land and containing it within just bounds is the effect of Almighty Wisdom and Goodness For being the lighter Element its natural situation is above it And till separated 't was absolutely useless as to habitation or fruitfulness 'T is now the convenient seat of terrestrial Animals and supplies their Provisions And the Sea is fit for Navigation whereby the most distant Regions maintain Commerce for their mutual help and comfort The Rivers dispers'd through the veins of the Earth preserve its beauty and make it fruitful They are always in motion to prevent corrupting and to visit several parts that the labour of cultivating may not be in vain And that these Waters may not fail the innumerable branches spred through the Earth at last unite in the main body of the Sea What they pour into it through secret chanels they derive from it by a natural perpetual circulation not to be imitated by Art In this we have a clear proof of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator That the Earth is not an equal Globe but some parts are rais'd into Hills and Mountains others sunk into deep Valleys some are immense Plains affects with various delight and is useful for excelent ends not onely for the production of Minerals of Marble and Stones requisite for Buildings but for the thriving of several kinds of Grain and Plants that are necessary for Food or Medicine for some love the Shade others the Sun some flourish best on Rocks and Precipices others in low moist places some delight in Hills others in Plains Thus by the unequal surface of the Earth is caused a convenient temperature of Air and Soil for its productions Add further The Wisdom of the Creatour is discovered by observing the league of the Elements from whence all mixt bodies arise Of how different qualities are Earth Water Air Fire yet all combine together without the destruction of their enmity that is as necessary to preserve nature as their friendship Can there be imagin'd a greater discord in the parts of the Elementary World and a greater concord in the whole To reduce them to such an aequilibrium that all their operations promote the same end proves that there is a Mind of the highest Wisdom that has an absolute Dominion over all things and tempers them accordingly If we come to Plants and Flowers Who divided their kinds and form'd them in that beautiful order who painted and perfum'd them how doth the same Water dye them with various Colours the Scarlet the Purple the Carnation what causes the sweet Odors that breath from them with an insensible subtilty and diffuse in the Air for our delight from whence proceed their different vertues These admirable works of Nature exceed the imitation and comprehension of Man 'T is clear therefore they proceed from a Cause that excels him in Wisdom and Power That some Plants of excellent vertue are full of prickles in their stock and leaves to protect them from Beasts that would root them up or trample on them an Atheist acknowledg'd to be the effect of Providence The same Wisdom preserves the Seed in the Root under the flower and prepares the numerous Leaves of Trees not only for a shadow to refresh living creatures but to secure their Fruits from the injuries of the weather Therefore in the Spring they shoot forth always before the fruits are form'd And tender delicate fruits are cover'd with broader and thicker leaves than others of a firmer substance In Winter they cast their leaves are naked and dry the vital sap retiring to the root as if careless of dying in the members to preserve life in the heart that in the returning Spring diffuses new heat and spirits the cause of their flourishing and fruitfulness The season of Fruits is another indication of Providence In Summer we have the cool and moist to refresh our heats in Autumn the durable to be preserved when the Earth produces none If we observe the lower rank of Animals their kinds shapes properties 't is evident that all are the Copies of a designing Mind the effects of a skilful Hand Some of them are fierce others familiar some are servile others free some crafty others simple and all fram'd conveniently to their Natures How incongruous were it for the Soul of a Lion to dwell in the body of a Sheep or that of a Hare to animate the body of a Cow It would require a volume to describe their different shapes and fitness to their particular natures Besides creatures meerly sensitive are acted so regularly to preserve themselves their kind that the reason of a superiour Agent shines in all their actions They no sooner come into the World but know their enemies and either by Strength or Art secure themselves They are instructed to swim to fly to run to leap They understand their fit nourishment and remedies proper for their Diseases Who infused into the Birds the art to build their nests the love to cherish their young How are the Bees instructed to frame their Hony-combs without hands and in the dark and of such a figure that among all other of equal compass and filling up the same space is most capacious The consideration of their Art and Industry their political Government and Providence and other miraculous qualities so astonish'd some great Wits that they attributed something divine to them Esse Apibus partem divinae mentis haustus Aetherios dixere some there are maintain That Bees deriv'd from a Coelestial strain And Heavenly race What moves the Swallows upon the approach of Winter to fly to a more temperate Clime as if they understood the Celestial Signs the Influences of the Stars and the Changes of the Seasons From whence comes the fore-sight of the Ants to provide in Summer for Winter their oeconomy fervour their discretion in assisting one another as if knowing that every one labour'd for all and where the benefit is common the labour must be common their care to fortifie their receptacles with a banck of Earth that in great rains it may not be overflowed have made them the fit emblems of prudent diligence This is excellently described by Virgil. Ac veluti ingentem formicae farris acervum Cum populant Hyenis memores tectoque reponunt It nigrum campis agmen praedamque per herbas Convectant calle angusto pars grandia trudunt Obnixa frumenta humeris pars agmima cogunt Castigantque moras Opere omnis semita fervet So when the Winter-fearing Ants invade Some heaps of Corn the Husbandman had made The sable Army marches and with Prey Laden return pressing the Leafy-way Some help the weaker and their shoulders lend Others the
Order of the March attend Bring up the Troops and punish all delay How could they propound such ends and devise means proper to obtain them 'T is evident from their constant and regular actings that an Understanding above man's who often fails in his designs signs imprest their unerring instincts and directs their motions CHAP. III. The Body of Man form'd with perfect design for Beauty and Usefulness A short description of its parts The fabrick of the Eye and Hand admirably discovers the Wisdom of the Maker The erect stature of the Body fitted for the rational Soul Man by speech is fitted for society How the affections are discovered in the Countenance The distinction of Persons by the face how necessary The reasonable Soul the image of a wise and voluntary Agent I Will now briefly consider Man with respect to both the parts of his compounded nature wherein are very clear evidences of a wise Maker The Body is the most artificial of all perishing things in the World 'T is justly called the store-house of proportions 'T is equally impossible to add any thing but what is superfluous or to take a-away any thing but what is necessary How many internal parts diverse in their qualities and figures are dispos'd with that providence that all operate according to their proper Natures and not one can be I do not say better but tolerably in any other place as well for its special as the common benefit All are so justly ordered with that mutual dependence as to their being and operations that none can be without the whole nor the whole without it So that if with attentive Eye we consider this it might seem that in making the Body the design was only respecting convenience and profit But if we turn our thoughts from that which is within this unparallel'd Piece and regard the various forms and structure of the outward parts the graceful order that adorns them we might imagine that the Maker only designed its regular visible beauty As Phavorinus comparing the Writings of two famous Orators observed that if one word be taken from a sentence of Plato you spoil'd the elegance if from Lycias the sense So the taking away the least considerable part from the Body spoils its comliness or usefulness Two great Philosophers have left excellent Discourses of the parts of the Body justly esteemed among their most noble works Galen after an exquisit observation of the Symetry of this Fabrick challeng'd the Epicureans to find but one of all the numerous parts that compose it the least Vein or Fibre that was not serviceable for its proper end or might be better if chang'd in its form temperature or place and he would embrace their opinion that Chance was the Authour of it And for this reason he says that by describing the use of the parts he compos'd a true Hymn in praise of the wise Maker What knowledg is requisit to describe all that is wonderful in it the contempering the differing humours in just weight and measure the inviolable correspondence establisht between all the parts for the performance of natural vital and animal operations To touch upon a few things The Stomach that by an unknown virtue prepares the nourishment the Heart and Liver the two Seas of blood the one more gross the other more refin'd and spirituous the Veins and Arteries their inseparable companions that diffuse themselves into innumerable rivolets and convey the blood and spirit of Life the Nerves the secret channels that from the Brain derive the spirits of sense and motion the Muscles that give it various motions the fleshy parts of different substance and quality according to their various Offices the Membrans in that diversity some finer some thicker weav'd according to the quality of the part they cover the inward fat that preserves the warm Bowels from drying up the Marrow wherewith the instruments of motion are oiled and made nimble and expedite the Bones that support the building of such different forms proportions qualities and so fitly joyn'd these are a full conviction that a Divine Mind contriv'd it a Divine Hand made and fashion'd it I will more particularly consider the curious fabrick of the Eye and Hand The Eye is a work of such incomparable Artifice that who ever understands it hath a sufficient proof of his Skill that form'd it This is most evident by dissecting it and representing the parts separate one from another and after reuniting them and thereby discovering the Causes of the whole Composure and of the Offices proper to every part That that may be understood without seeing it is that there is no member in the whole Body compos'd of more parts nor more different nor ordered with more exact wisdom between themselves in one frame Their situation is so regular and necessary that if any of them be never so little displac't the Eye is no more an Eye It includes three Humours that are transparant and of different thickness the one resembling Water the other Glass the other Chrystal and from them borrow their names to vary the place the distance the less or greater thickness the figure that is peculiar to each of them would render the Eye altogether useless for seeing for the refractions of the light that enters through the pupil would be disordered and the rays not be united in a point to paint in the Retina the images of visible objects which is the last disposition from whence the act of seeing follows Several tunicles involve it one of which is perforated as much as the little Circle in the middle that is called the pupil to give open passage to the images flowing from their objects The Muscles by their agency raise or cast down turn or fix it The Nerves fasten'd to the Brain convey a supply of spirits for the sight and transmit the representation of all visible objects without confusion to the internal senses If we consider the Hand by the most exact rule of proportion 't is evident that its substance and shape are most conducive to beauty and service If the Fingers were not divided and separately moveable but joyn'd together with one continued skin how uncomely how unuseful would it be Of an hundred effects ninety would be lost All that require variety of motion subtilty of art or strength could not be perform'd But the Fingers being disjoyn'd 't is fit to do whatever the mind designs or necessity requires It works intirely or in parts it brandishes a Sword or manages a Pen strikes on the Anvil with a Hammer or uses a delicate File rows in the Water or touches a Lute T is fit for all things adapting it self to the greatest and least all which advantages the Philosopher expresses with admirable brevity In divisione manus componendi facultas est in Compositione dividendi non esset Suppose the Fingers were of equal length and bigness great inconveniencies would follow And in this the Divine Wisdom is eminent
rage and it retires respecting the bounds set by the Creator What then will be our guilt if we are regardless of his Majesty and Authority who are enlightned with Reason to understand his Will when the most rebellious and unteachable things in Nature readily and constantly obey Him He is present every-where the whole compass of Heaven and Earth is but an inch of his Immensity He sees all observes all is more intimate with our Hearts than we are our selves and dare Man trample on his Laws before his face Who can by resistance or flight escape from inevitable punishment that offends him He can bind the most stubborn enemies hands and feet and cast them into utter darkness As he made all things by the meer act of his Will so without the least strain of his Power he can destroy them What does not a mortal man arrogate to appear terrible and make his Will to be obeyed when he has but power to take away this short natural life The proud King of Babylon commanded the numerous Nations under his Empire to prostrat themselves like Brutes in the lowest adoration of the Image he set up and when the three Hebrew young Men refused to give Divine Honour to it he threatned If ye worship not ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery Fornace and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands This is the language of a Man poor Dust that can heat a Fornace with Fire and has a Squadron of Souldiers ready upon the least intimation of his pleasure to throw into it any that disobey'd as if no Power either in Heaven or Earth could rescue them from him 'T was impious folly in him thus to speak But God can give order to Death to seize on the stoutest Rebel and cast him into an eternal Fornace and say in truth Who shall deliver out of my hands His Power reaches beyond the Grave Tiberius intending to put to death by slow and exquisit torments one who kill'd himself cry'd out in a rage Carnulius has made an escape from me But no Sinner can by dying escape God's Justice for Death it self takes the Condemned and delivers them to endless Torments There are no degrees of fear can be equal to this cause the Wrath of the great Creator Is there any pleasure of sin so sweet but this if considered would make it to be as Poison or Gall to the taste Is any Joy so predominant but this would instantly make it die in the carnal heart The due apprehension of Almighty Anger is sufficient to subdue the most vicious insuperable passions that so violently transport to sin But O Astonishing stupidity The most of Men without fear provoke the living God as if he were like the Idols of the Heathens a dead stock or stone insensible and powerless so that the Spiders made their Webs on the Beard of Jupiter and the Birds their Nests in his Thunder Where is their Reason where is their self-love to challenge so dreadful an Adversary who is able in the very act of Sin to strike them with Death Temporal and Eternal Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there is none to deliver 3. Love and Obedience in the highest degree are due to the Author of our Beings and all things for our use and profit What motion is more according to the Laws of Nature than that Love should answer Love and so far as the one descends in benefits the other should ascend in thankfulness If we consider the first and fundamental benefit with all its circumstances in the pure order of Nature that we are Men consisting of a rational Soul and a Body admirably prepar'd for its convenient habitation and in this regard the most wonderful work of God can a humane Breast be so hard and flinty as not to be softned and made receptive of impressions by this effect of his pure goodness Is it possible that any one should be of such a stupid savage temper so void of all humanity nay of the sentiments of the lower Nature as not to be toucht with a grateful affection to the Author of his life when Lions and Tigers the most untractable Beasts of the Forest are by an innate principle so tenderly inclin'd to their Dams It unspeakably enforces our obligation that beside the inherent excellencies of Nature he made us by priviledg above all Creatures in this sensible World and furnish'd it with innumerable objects excellent in their beauty and variety that are not meer remedies for necessity but for the delight of this present life And having tasted the good of being and the fruits of his magnificent Bounty can we be coldly affected to our great Benefactor The Moralist advises as the best expedient to make a person grateful encompass him with thy benefits that wherever he turns something may recal his fugitive memory and render thee visible to him This cannot be done by Men. But where ever we turn our thoughts or fix our eyes either on our persons or comforts on the present state or the future for he has given Eternity to our duration we find our selves incircled with innumerable and inestimable benefits from God 'T is impossible we should ever forget them without the greatest guilt Every minute he renews our lives and all our enjoyments For the actual influence of his Power is as requisit to preserve our being as at first to produce it The Creature has nothing of its own but a simple non-repugnance of coming into act How frozen is that Heart that is not melted in love to so good a God Let us look into the depth of our native nothing that we may understand the heighth of the divine Love in raising us from the pure possibility of being into act and that meerly for his Sovereign pleasure and most free benignity There was no necessity that constrain'd him to decree the making the World or Man in it for 't is a plain contradiction that there should be a superior Power to determine a Being of infinite Perfections And for that Reason also he gives all his Benefits without the least possible advantage to himself 'T was commended as a miraculous Vertue in Theodosius the Emperor that he was bountiful meerly to satisfie his own Goodness But 't is the propriety of God's Nature Is He not then worthy of all our thoughts all our affections for his most free and admirable Favours If there be but a spark of Reason we must judge that the immense Liberality of God to us without respect to his own interest is so far from lessening that it increases our duty to correspond in all possible thankfulness Consider further that which adds to the greatness of the Gifts we receive is the greatness of the Giver The price of a benefit rises in proportion to the worth of the person that bestows it A small gift from a
understanding conceives spiritual Objects is not confin'd to singular and present things Reflects upon it self Corrects the errors of the sense Does not suffer from the excellence of the Object Is vigorous in its operations when the body is decay'd which proves it to be an immaterial faculty An answer to objections against the Souls spiritual Nature That the first notices of things are conveyed through the senses does not argue it to be a material faculty That it depends on the temper of the Body in its superior operations is no prejudice to its spiritual Nature HAving dispatch'd the consideration of the prime fundamental Truth that there is a most Wise and Powerful Creator of all things I shall next discourse of the Immortality of the humane Soul and the Eternal recompences in the future State In treating of the Souls Immortality I shall not insist on nice and subtile Speculations that evaporate and leave nothing substantial for conviction or practice but consider those proofs that may induce the mind to assent and work upon the will to make its choice of objects with respect to their endless consequences hereafter And first it must be premised that Immortality is not an inseparable perfection of its nature for 't is capable of annihilation What ever had a beginning may have an end God only hath immortality in an absolute sense and communicates it according to his pleasure The perpetual existence of Souls is a priviledge that depends on his sustaining vertue without which they would relapse into a state of not Being His Will is the measure of their duration I shall therefore consider such things as strongly argue that God will not withdraw his conservative influence that is necessary to their Immortality The Arguments are of two sorts Natural and Moral The first prove that God has made the Soul incapable of Death by any Internal Causes of perishing from its Nature and in that declares not obscurely that he will ever preserve it The second sort are drawn from the Divine Attributes the visible Oeconomy of Providence in the government of the World that are infallible and will produce a sufficient conviction in minds equally inclin'd 1. The Soul is incapable of Death by any Internal Causes of perishing in its Nature The dissolution of things proceeds from the corruptible principles of which they are compounded and the separable parts of which they consist and into which they are resolved Therefore all mixt and material Beings are subject to dissolution But the humane Soul is a spiritual substance simple without any disagreeing qualities as heat and cold moisture and driness the seeds of corruption The essences of things are best discover'd by their peculiar operations that argue a real distinction between them and from whence arise the different notions whereby they are conceived The soul of a Brute performs the same vital acts as the soul of a Plant yet 't is visibly of a more elevated nature because it performs the functions of the sensitive life that are proper to it The rational Soul performs the same sensitive acts as the soul of Brutes but that it is of a higher order of substances appears by its peculiar objects and immediate operations upon them The two principal faculties of the humane Soul are the Understanding and the Will and the Actions flowing from them exceed the power of the most refined matter however modified and transcend any Principle that is only endowed with the powers of sense and imagination confin'd to matter To proceed orderly I will first consider the Mind with respect to the quality of its objects and manner how it is conversant about them 1. The conception of things purely spiritual God Angels separate Souls the Analogies the differences and various respects of things argue it to be of a spiritual nature For 't is and evident principle there must be an Analogy between the Faculty and the Object A material Glass cannot represent a Spirit it has no receptivity to take into it an object without figure colour and diversity of parts the affections of matter A spiritual object can only be apprehended by a spiritual operation and that can only be produced by a spiritual Power The being of things is the root of their working Now rarifie matter to the highest fineness reduce it to imperceptible Atoms 't is as truly Matter as a gross Body For lightness and tenuity are as proper Attributes of matter as weight and density though less sensible If a Beast could apprehend what discourse is it were rational The Soul therefore that understands the Spirituality of things is Spiritual otherwise it should act extra sphaeram The intellectual eye alone sees him that is Invisible understands the reasons of Truth and Justice looks beyond the bright Hills of Time into the Spiritual Eternal World so that 't is evident there is an affinity and likeness in Nature between them 2. Material faculties are confin'd to the narrow compass of singular and present things but the Mind abstracts from all individuals their pure Nature and forms their Universal Species The Eye can only see a colour'd object before it the Mind contemplates the nature of Colours It ascends above all the distinctions of Time recollects what is past foresees what is to come no interval of space or time can hinder its sight Besides the swift flight of the thoughts over Sea and Land the soaring of the Mind in a moment above the Stars as if its essence were all vigour and activity prove that 't is not a material Power 3. Sense only acts in a direct way without reflecting upon its self or its own operations 'T is true there is an experimental perception included in vital and sensible acts but 't is far below proper reflection The Eye doth not see the action by which it sees nor the imagination reflect on it self for that being conversant only about representations transmitted through the senses cannot frame an Image of it self and gaze upon it there being no such resemblance conveyed by the mediation of the outward organs But the rational Soul not only contemplates an object but reflects on its own contemplation and retir'd from all commerce with External things views it self its qualities and state and by this gives testimony of its Spiritual and immortal Nature 4. The Mind rectifies the false reports of the Senses and forms the Judgment of things not according to their impressions but by such rational evidence of which they are not capable When the Object is too distant or the Medium unfit or the Organs distemper'd the Senses are deceived The Stars of the brightest magnitude seem to be trembling sparks of light but the Understanding considers that the representations of things are imperfect and less distinct proportionably to their distance and conceives of their magnitude accordingly A straight Oar appears crooked in the Water but Reason observes the error in the refractions when the Image passes through a double medium of
is this that by considering the different operations of Man and of Brutes we may clearly discern the different powers of acting wherewith the rational Soul is endowed in the one and the sensitive in the other The Soul in Beasts performs no operations independent on the Body that serves it either as an instrument or matter of their production such are the use of the Senses Nutrition Generation all the internal work and the preparing the Phantasms without which they would be far less serviceable to Man 'T is not strange therefore that it perishes with the Body there being no reason for its duration in a separate state since 't is fit only to act by the ministry of the Body But the Soul of Man besides the operations that proceed from it as the form of the body it animates such are all common to man with Plants and Animals understands discourses reflects on it self that are acts proper to its nature and included in its true conception whereby 't is distinguished from that of Brutes Indeed the exercise of sensitive operations depends so absolutely on its union with the body that they cannot be perform'd nor conceived as possible without its presence and the use of corporeal organs But the more excellent operations that proceed from the higher faculties wherewith 't is indowed not as the form of a material Being but as a spiritual substance such as subsist for ever without any communion with Bodies so entirely belong to it by the condition of Nature that for their production 't is sufficient of it self The Understanding and Will are Angelical Powers and to know and will and to be variously moved with pleasure or greif according to the qualities of objects sutable or disagreeing are proper to those Natures that have no alliance with Bodies It follows therefore the Soul in its separate state may contemplate and delightfully injoy intellectual objects or torment it self with reflection on things contrary to its will Nay it understands more clearly and is affected more strongly than before For these operations during its conjunction are not common to the Body but produc'd by it in the quality of a mind and are then most vigorous and expedite most noble and worthy of it when the Soul withdraws from all sensible things into it self and is most rais'd above the manner of working that is proper and proportion'd to the body And from hence 't is reasonable to conclude that it survives the Body not losing with it the most noble faculty the mind that is peculiar to it nor the necessary instrument of using it For as the universal Providence of God supports the lower rank of Creatures in their natural Life so long as their faculties are qualified for actions proper to that life we may strongly argue that his conservative Influence will not be withdrawn from the humane Soul that is apt and capable in its own nature to exist and act in a separate state In short the understanding and elective powers declare its descent from the Father of Spirits whose image is ingraven in its nature not as in brittle glass but an incorruptible Diamond I shall add to the natural arguments an observation of the Platonists that of all other Philosophers approach nearest the truth in their discourses of God and the Soul of the Majesty of the one and the excellence of the other They observe that the unity of the World is so closely combin'd in all its parts the several beings that compose it that between the superiour and inferiour species there are middle Natures wherein they meet that no vacuum may interpose in the series of things This is evident by considering that between inanimate bodies and living insensible and sensible there are some beings that partake of the extremes and link them together that the order of things not being interrupted the mind by continual easie degrees may ascend from the lowest to the highest in perfection And from this just and harmonious proportion that is proper to essences the intelligible beauty and musick of the World arises that is so pleasing to the considering mind Now what band is there to joyn the two ranks of Beings intelligent and sensible but Man that partakes of Sense common with the Beasts and Understanding to the Angels For this reason they give him the mysterious name of Horizon the ending and union of the two Hemispheres the superiour and inferiour the two orders of Natures immortal and that shall perish CHAP. X. The moral Arguments for the Souls Immortality The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual eternal happiness argues it survives the Body The lower order of Creatures obtain their perfection here It reflects upon Nature if the more noble fails of its end That wicked Men would choose annihilation is no proof against Mans natural desires of Immortality The necessity of a future state of recompences for moral actions proves the Soul to be immortal The wisdom of God as Governor of the World requires there be Rewards and Punishments annext to his Laws Eternal Rewards are only powerful to make men obedient to them in this corrupt state Humane Laws are no sufficient security of Vertue and restraint from Vice 2. I Will now consider the moral Inducements to confirm our belief that God will preserve the Soul in its being and activity hereafter And of this we have sufficient evidence by internal light the natural notions of the Deity and by many visible testimonies in his Government of the World 1. The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual and eternal Felicity not attainable here is a strong argument that 't is reserv'd to a future state The Understanding is inclin'd to the knowledge of Truth the Will to the fruition of Goodness and in what degrees soever we discover the one and enjoy the other in our present condition we are not content As one that is burnt up with such a Thirst that onely an Ocean can quench and has but a little stream to refresh him God is the only satisfying Object of the rational faculties and here our conceptions of him are so imperfect that we approach nearer the Truth by denying what is inconsistent with his Nature than in affirming the proper Perfections of it And the communications of his Love to us inflames the Soul with new desires of fuller enjoyment This desire of Happiness is essential to Man as Man Now 't is universally acknowledged that Nature is not a vain Principle it produces no superfluous inclinations in any sort of Creatures much less in Man and in that which is most proper to him and in order to the raising him to his Perfection The natural motion of a Stone has a center where to rest Plants arrive to their full growth and beauty the Beasts have present satisfaction and are happy Animals But Man in whom the two lower lives and the Intellectual are united is here only in his way to happiness his best endeavours are but
where I can only live happily On the contrary a plain flowry carpet Way is bad that leads me from it Now since the present life conveys us to another Poverty or Riches Sickness or Health splendor of Name or Obscurity an high or a low Condition become good or evil to us and accordingly are eligible as they prepare us for our last and blessed End or divert us from it If the clearness of this principle be obscur'd we shall stumble every step and wander from the way of life But duly considered it makes us judg of things as they are not as they appear This unravels the doubts of the intangled Mind corrects the mistakes of the erring Eye levels the greatest Difficulties clears all the Objections against Providence and makes an afflicted state not only tolerable but so far amiable as it promotes our supream Happiness Let us consider the two Worlds the visible wherein we are and the invisible to which we are going and impartially compare what is proper to the one and the other The present and the future the sensible and divine the apparent and real the transitory and perpetual happiness And what reference these two Worlds have to Man the one serves him only as a Passage the other is his ever blessed Country Therefore what-ever the present state has of sweet or bitter whatever is desir'd or fear'd as it passes with Time should little move us Who is there unless disorder'd in his Mind that when the Sun is present in its full lustre before his eyes rejoyces to have or is sorry that he has not a Candle that he may see more clearly And this Life to Eternity is not so much as a spark of Light to the Sun and accordingly the Prosperity or Adversity of it should not transport us to an excess of Joy or Sorrow but with an equal temper of Mind and calm Affections we should receive the dispensations of Providence 3. How just is it that the Soul should have the preeminence in all respects above the Body The one is the fading off-spring of the Earth the other of an heavenly extraction and incorruptible nature When Pherecides the Assyrian first taught among the Grecians the doctrine of the Souls Immortality his discourse so prevail'd on Pythagoras of Samos that it chang'd him from an Athleta into a Philosopher He that before wholly attended upon his Body to make it excel in strength or agility that he might contend victoriously in the Olympick Games then made it his business to improve and advance his Soul in Knowledg and Vertue And if the glimmering appearances of this great Truth were so powerful upon him how much more should the clear and certain discoveries of it be operative to make us chiefly regard the interest of our immortal part The state of Nature requires that Reason should have the supremacy in Man and Sense should obey but if the lower part tyrannises over the superiour and that which was so offensive to Solomon to see Servants on horseback and Princes walking on foot be verified in a more ignoble sense 't is the greatest degeneracy and vilification of the humane nature Now the predominant Object discovers what is the ruling faculty If sensual things have the superior esteem and love Sense reigns And what a contumely is it to Man when the Understanding that was made to contemplate Objects of a spiritual sublime nature is principally exercised for the acquiring of earthly things and the Affections that are capable of enjoying heavenly delights run with a full stream in the channels of Concupiscence As if the reasonable Soul were not for higher ends than to be the slave of the Body to be imployed to digest the confused Chaos of Meats and Drinks wherewith 't is fill'd to give it a quicker perception of its pleasures keep it from corruption for a time If sensual Wretches could obtain what the unclean Spirits desir'd of our Saviour when dispossest of the man in the Gospel they would request in their last hour when they are ready to be cast out of the Body permission to enter into the Swine and wallow in mire and filthiness This is an indignity equally dishonourable and pernicious As 't was said of Caligula Nec Servum meliorem nec deteriorem Dominum while a Subject none more obedient but when advanc'd to the Throne he became the Reproach of the Empire and Plague of the World So while the Body obeys the sanctity and sovereignty of the Mind 't is an useful Instrument but if it usurp the Government the Spirit is deprest in the most ignominious Captivity and Man becomes like the Beasts that perish Briefly the common fountains of Temptation are Pleasure and Pain that affect the outward senses and ' til the Soul has an establish'd dominion over the Body 't is continually expos'd to ruin by fleshly lusts that war against it The proper business of Man is to purifie his Spirit from all Pollutions to adorn it with all Graces in order to its everlasting Communion with the Father of Spirits And though in this state of union with flesh he cannot be always contemplative nor exercised in the highest and noblest work but must relax his intense thoughts by refreshing intermissions yet all that is allowed the Body must be only to make it more ready disposed for the service of the Mind But alas the Soul that should be incomparably dearest to us in respect of its preciousness and danger is neglected as the only despicable or safe thing belonging to us Of the twenty four hours in the day how much is wasted on the Body how little is given to the Soul as if all the time were lost that is spent on it when 't is truly gain'd What an unequal division is this Can there be imagin'd a more hurtful and monstrous profuseness and covetousness in the same persons If the Body be shaken with Diseases what are they not willing to do or patiently to suffer to recover lost Health Long and rigorous Diets to overcome some obstinate Humours Potions distasteful to the Palat and painful to the Stomack Sweatings Bleeding the Knife and the Fire to cut off the gangreen'd part and sear the vessels and many more sharp Remedies 't is counted prudence to suffer to preserve the life of the Body And can that be preserved always No. All this is done not to escape but to delay Death for a time If we are so sollicitous that the mortal Body may dye a little later shall we not be more diligent and careful that the immortal Soul may not die for ever 4. This should make us set a just value upon time and consecrate it to those things that are preparatory for the future state of blessedness Indeed the present Life though spun out to the utmost date how short and vain is it But as 't is the price of Eternity and our wel-being hereafter depends upon it 't is above all esteem precious When
seen unless sought for so there are some unnatural Enormities that conscious how execrable they are conceal themselves in secret and dare not appear in open view And of all others no impiety is so monstrous and fearful of publick discovery as Atheism But The fool saith in his heart there is no God He secretly whispers in contradiction to Nature Reason Conscience Authorities there is no supream invisible Power to whom he is accountable And having thus concluded in the dark he loses all reverence of the Divine Laws and is only govern'd by the vicious rule of his carnal Appetites That many in our times even of the great Pretenders to Wit and Reason are guilty of this extream folly is sadly evident They live as absolute Atheists only refuse the title for fear of infamy or punishment It will therefore not be unseasonable to revive the natural notion of the Deity Now to establish this Truth no Arguments are more convincing than what are level to all understandings And those are I. The visible frame of the World and the numerous natures in it all model'd by this supream rule the good of the whole II. The Evidences that prove the World had a beginning in time III. The universal sence of the Deity imprest on the minds of Men. 1. The first Reason is clear and intelligible to all for 't is the inseparable property of an intellectual Agent to propound an End to judg of the convenience between the Means and it and to contrive them in such a manner as to accomplish it Now if we survey the Universe and all the beings it contains their proportion dependence and harmony it will fully appear that antecedently to its existence there was a perfect mind that design'd it and disposed the various parts in that exact order that one beautiful World is compos'd of them The Philosopher conjectured truly who being shipwrackt on the Island of Rhodes and come to the shore spying some Mathematical figures drawn on the Sand cryed out with joy Vestigia hominum video I see the foosteps of men and comforted his dispairing companions that they were not cast into a Desert or a place of Savages but of Men civil and wise as he discover'd by those impressions of their minds And if we observe the frame of the World the concatenation of the superior with the middle and of the middle with the lower parts whereby 't is not an accidental aggregation of bodies but an intire universe if we consider the just disposing them conveniently to their nature and dignity the inferiour and less noble depending on the superiour and that so many contrary natures with that fidelity and league of mutual love embrace and assist each other that every one working according to its peculiar quality yet all unite their operations for one general end the preservation and benefit of the whole must not we strongly conclude that 't is the work of a designing most wise Agent Pulchrum pulcherrimus ipse Mundum mente gerens similique ab imagine formans To make this more evident I will produce some Instances The Sun of all coelestial Bodies the most excellent in beauty and usefulness does in its situation motion effects publish the glory of a most wise Providence 1. In its situation The fountains of all his benefit to Nature are heat and light with respect to its heat the Sun may well be call'd the Heart of the World wherein all the vital Spirits are prepar'd and 't is so conveniently plac't as to transmit more or less immediatly to all even the most distant parts of that vast body by perpetual irradiations the influences necessary for its preservation It cannot be in another place without the disorder and injury of Universal Nature If it were rais'd to the Stars the Earth for want of its quickning heat would lose its prolifick vertue and remain a carcass The Air would be fill'd with continual oppressing vapours the Sea would overflow the Land If it were as low as the Moon as dangerous effects would follow The Air would be inflam'd by its excessive heat the Sea boyling the Rivers dryed up every Mountain a Vesuvius or Aetna the whole Earth a barren mass of Ashes a desert of Arabia But seated in the midst of the Planets it purifies the Air abates the superfluity of Waters temperately warms the Earth and keeps the Elements in such degrees of power as are requisit for the activity of mixt bodies depending on them Besides there is a sensible proof of a wise Director in its Motion from whence so many and various effects proceed The Diurnal Motion from East to West causes the Day The Sun is the first spring and great original of Light and by his presence discovers the beauties of the most of visible Objects From hence all the pleasant variety of Colours to which Light is the Soul that gives vivacity Without it the World would be the Sepulcher of it self nothing but silence and solitude horror and Confusion The Light guides our Journeys awakens and directs our Industry preserves mutual Conversation And the withdrawing of the Sun from one Hemisphere to another is as beneficial to the World by causing Night For that has peculiar advantages It s darkness inlightens us to see the Stars and to understand their admirable Order Aspects Influences their Conjunction Distances Opposition from which proceeds their different effects in all passive Bodies Now what can be more pleasant than the Ornaments and Diversities of these Twins of time Besides by this distinction of the Day and Night there is a fit succession of labour and rest of the Works and Thoughts of Men those proper to the Day active and clear the other to the Night whose obscurity prevents the wandring of the mind through the senses and silence favours its calm contemplations And the constant revolution of Day and Night in the space of twenty four hours is of great benefit If they should continue six entire Months together as under the Poles though their space would be equal in the compass of the Year as now yet with publick disadvantage The shining of the Sun without intermission would be very hurtful to the Earth and to its Inhabitants And its long absence would cause equal mischeifs by contrary qualities For the nature of Man and other living Creatures cannot subsist long in travail without repairing their decays by rest Now the succession of Day and Night in that space fitly tempers their labour and repose After the toilsom service of the Day the Sun retires behind the Earth and the Night procures a truce from business unbends the World and invites to rest in its deep silence and tranquillity And by sleep when the animal operations cease the Spirits that were much consum'd in the service of the senses are renewed and united in assistance to the vital faculties the Body is restored and at the springing Day made fresh and active for new labour So that the wisdom of
the Creatour is as visible in the manner of this dispensation as the thing it self And 't is an observable point of Providence in ordering the length and shortness of Days and Nights for the good of the several parts of the World Under the Equinoctial Line the Earth being parcht by the direct beams of the Sun the nights are regularly twelve hours through the Year fresh and moist to remedy that inconvenience On the contrary in the northern parts where there is a fainter reflection of its Beams the Days are very long that the Sun may supply by its continuance what is defective in its vigour to ripen the fruits of the Earth The annual course of the Sun between the North and South discovers also the high and admirable wisdom of God For all the benefits that Nature receives depends on his unerring constant motion through the same Circle declining and oblique with respect to the Poles of the World 'T is not possible that more can be done with less From hence proceeds the difference of Climates the inequality of Days and Nights the variety of Seasons the diverse mixtures of the first qualities the universal Instruments of natural Productions In the Spring 't is in conjunction with the Pleiades to cause sweet showers that are as milk to nourish the new-born tender plants that hang at the breasts of the Earth In the Summer 't is joyn'd with the Dog-Star to redouble its force for the production of Fruits necessary to the support of living Creatures And Winter that in appearance is the death of Nature yet is of admirable use for the good of the Universe The Earth is clensed moistened and prepar'd so that our hopes of the succeeding Year depends on the Frosts and Snows of Winter If the Sun in its diurnal and annual motion were so swift that the Year were compleated in six Months and the Day and Night in twelve hours the fruits of the Earth would want a necessary space to ripen If on the contrary it were so slow as double the time were spent in its return the Harvest but once gather'd in the twenty four Months could not suffice for the nourishment of living Creatures 'T is also a considerable effect of Providence that the sensible World do's not suddenly pass from the highest degrees of heat to the extremity of cold nor from this to that but so gradually that the passage is not only tolerable but pleasant Immediate extreams are very dangerous to Nature To prevent that inconvenience the Spring interposes between the Winter and Summer by its gentle heat disposing living bodies for the excess of Summer And Autumn of a middle quality prepares them for the rigour of Winter that they may pass from one to another without violent alteration To attribute these revolutions so just and uniform to Chance is the perfection of folly for Chance as a cause that works without design has no constancy nor order in its effects If a Dy be thrown a hundred times the fall is contingent and rarely happens to be twice together on the same square Now the Alternate returns of Day and Night are perpetual in all the Regions of the Universe And though neither the one nor the other begin nor end their course twice together in the same Point so that their motion appears confused yet t is so just that at the finishing of the Year they are found to have taken precisely as many paces the one as the other In the amiable Warr beween them though one of the two always gets and the other loses the hours yet in the end they retire equal And the vicissitudes of Seasons with an inviolable tenor succeed one another Who ever saw the various Scenes of a Theater move by hazard in those just spaces of time as to represent Palaces or Woods Rocks and Seas as the subject of the Actors requir'd And can the lower World four times in the circle of the Year change appearance and alter the Seasons so conveniently to the use of Nature and no powerful Mind direct that great work frequent discoveries of an end orderly pursued must be attributed to a judicious Agent The Psalmist guided not only by Inspiration but Reason declares The Day is thine the Night also is thine thou madest the Summer and Winter But this I shall have occasion to touch on afterward CHAP. II. The Air a fit medium to convey the Light and influences of the Heavens to the lower World T is the repository of Vapours that are drawn up by the Sun and descend in fruitful Showers The Winds of great benefit The separation of the Sea from the Land the effect of great Wisdom and Power That the Earth is not an equal Globe is both pleasant and useful The League of the Elements considered Excellent Wisdom visible in Plants and Fruits The shapes of Animals are answerable to their properties They regularly act to preserve themselves The Bees Swallows Ants directed by an excellent mind THe Expension of the Air from the Etherial Heavens to the Earth is another testimony of Divine Providence For 't is transparent and of a subtle Nature and thereby a fit medium to convey Light and Celestial Influences to the lower World It receives the first impressions of the Heavens and insinuating without resistance conveys them to the most distant things By it the greatest numbers of useful objects that cannot by immediate application to our faculties be known are transmitted in their images and representations All colours and figures to the Eye sounds to the Ear. T is necessary for the subsistence of Animals that live by respiration It mixes with their nourishment cools the inward heat and tempers its violence Besides In the Air Vapors are attracted by the Sun till they ascend to that height to which its reflection does not arrive and there losing the soul of heat that was only borrowed by degrees return to their native coldness and are gathered into Clouds which do not break in a deluge of waters that would wash away the seed but dissolving into fruitful showers fall in millions of drops to refresh the Earth so that what is taken from it without loss is restor'd with immense profit The Air is the field of the Winds an invisible generation of Spirits whose life consists in motion These are of divers qualities and effects for the advantage of the World Some are turbid others serene and chearful some warm and refreshing others cold and sharp some are placid and gentle others furious and stormy some moist others dry They cleanse and purifie the Air that otherwise would corrupt by the setling of vapors be destructive to the lives of Animals They convey the Clouds for the universal benefit of the Earth for if the Clouds had no motion but directly upwards they must only fall on those parts from whence they ascended to the great damage of the Earth For moist places that send up plenty of Vapours would be overflowed and
it would be greater folly to believe that the natural course of things should be the same this Year as in former times than to assert that a Gamester should to day throw the Dice in the same order and with the same points uppermost as he did yesterday 'T is evident therefore that the Epicurean Doctrine having not the least shadow of Reason had never been receiv'd with applause but as 't is joyn'd with impiety 2. Some attribute the rise and course of things in the World to the sole necessity of Nature To this it may be replied 1. 'T is true there is an evident connexion of Causes and Effects in the Celestial and Elementary World whereby times and seasons are continued and the succession of mutable things is preserv'd so that Nature always consuming remains intire Though all vegetive and sensitive beings dye yet the species are immortal For the living are brought forth to succeed in the place of the dead But the inquiring mind cannot rest here for 't is impossible to conceive a train of Effects one caused by another without ascending to the first Efficient that is not an Effect For nothing can act before it exists The order of Causes requires that we ascend to the Supream which derives being and vertue to all the intermediate Thus Nature produces things from seminal Causes that depend on things already in being The Seed of Flowers and Trees suppose the Fruits of the Earth before growing but the first Tree could not be so produc'd To fancy an infinite succession of Causes depending one upon another without arriving to a first can only fall into the thoughts of a disordered mind How came this Horse that Lion in Nature 'T is by generation from another and that from another and so infinitely How came this Man into the World 'T is because he was begotten by such a Father and he by another and so infinitely Thus Atheism that rejects one truly Infinite Cause is obliged to admit an Infinity in all things an Incomprehensibility in all things 'T is therefore evident the efficient principles in Nature are from the sole power of the first and independent cause They could not proceed from themselves and that a most wise and powerfull Being is the original of all things is as evident Is it conceivable that the insensible Mass that is called Matter should have had an eternal being without original whereas there is not the least imaginable repugnance in the Attributes of the first and highest Being in whom all those Perfections concur which as proper to the Deity are form'd in the mind in the idea of it as his spiritual Nature Eternity Immensity Wisdom Omnipotence c. of which 't is equally true that no one either absolutely or relatively considered involve a contradiction that make it impossible for the Supream Being to possess it Is it not perfectly inconsistent to attribute to Matter the lowest and most contemptible of all Beings the highest and most noble Perfection an Independent Existence One may assert it in words but not seriously without the utter deserting of Reason Man incomparably excels this Matter he understands it and that understands not him yet he has a derived being in time 'T is therefore necessary that that should have some cause of its being But supposing the self subsistence of Matter from Eternity could the World full of innumerable Forms spring by an Impetus from a dead formless Principle T is equally impossible that a blind Cause casual or fatal should give being and order to the Universe Besides all subordinate Causes are sustained in their Beings and Powers by fresh influences from the first and directed in their operations To attribute the manifold Effects in the World to Second Causes working in a blind manner without an Universal Intellectual Mover that disposes tempers and governs them is as unreasonable as to attribute humane Works to the common Instruments of Art without the direction of the Understanding that uses them The Hand or Pencil has not skill to do any thing but as it obeys the Mind that gives it the impression of Art and regulates its Motion The Earth knows not the various Fruits that spring from it nor the Sea its living Productions And the Sun though a more specious is not a more intelligent and artificial Agent Nature under another name is the ordinary Power of God that by its intimate concourse with Second-Causes produces and supports things And 't is one of the considerable Wonders of his Providence that the stream of perishing things always emptying is always full there being a supply from the Fountains of continual Productions of what is lost in the dead Sea so that the World is always the same and always new And from what hath been argued we may judge how unreasonable it is to doubt whether there be a Principle in Nature of excellent Wisdome because not seen in his own Essence for if Reason compel us to acknowledg that the works of Art wrought by manual Instruments proceed from an unseen mind that directed their motions according to the idea framd in it self we ought more strongly to conclude there is a Divine Mind though invisible to mortal eyes that contriv'd at first and with knowledg performs all the works of Nature To deny the Existence of a Being not subjected to our outward Senses is equally of no force in both the instances By the same Reason St. Austin confounds the Atheist objecting that he could not see the Deity To whom he propounds this question That since his Body was only visible and not his Soul why should it not be buried And upon the reply That the quickning presence of the Soul was evident in the actions of Life perform'd by the Body he truly infers if a vital principle imperceptible in its self is discover'd by vital actions the Deity though by the perfection of his Nature undiscernable to our senses is clearly seen by the light of his effects And those who are wilfully blind if God should by any new sensible effects make a discovery of himself yet would remain inconvincible For the arguments of his presence from extraordinary effects are liable to the same exceptions pretended against the ordinary CHAP. V. The beginning of the World proved from the uninterrupted tradition of it through all ages The invention of Arts and bringing them to perfection an argument of the Worlds beginning The weakness of that fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth and to full Age and a decrepit state and back again so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God The impressions of Nature are infallible That the most Men are practical Atheists that some doubt and deny God in words is of no force to disprove his Existence There are no absolute Atheists Nature in extremities has an irresistible force and compels the most obdurate to
and in true comparison infinitely excells all the allurements of Sin 2. 'T is true that as natural actions that are necessary to preserve the Species or the Individuals are mixt with sensible pleasures as an attractive to the performance of them so there is joyn'd to actions of Vertue that are more excellent a present complacency of a superiour Order to all carnal pleasures But 't is a frigid conceit that this is the entire reward For first besides the inward satisfaction that naturally results from the practice of Vertue there is an excellent Good that is properly the reward of the supream Governor of the World We have an Example of this in humane Justice which is an image of the divine For those who have been eminently serviceable to the State besides the joyful sense arising from the performance of Heroick Actions for the Good of their Country are rewarded by the Prince with great Honours and Benefits 2. This inward Joy is not here felt by all Holy Persons In this militant state after vigorous resistance of carnal Lusts they may change their Enemies and be assaulted with violent Fears and instead of a sweet calm and serenity fall into darkness and confusion The Soul and Body in the present conjunction mutually sympathize As two things that are unisons if one be touch't and moves the other untouch't yet moves and trembles The ‖ cause is from the Vibrations the sound makes in the Air and impresses on solid Bodies moving them according to the harmonious proportion between them Thus the Soul and the Body are two strings temper'd to such a correspondence that if one be moved the other resents by an impression from it If the Body be Sanguin or Cholerick or Melancholy the Soul by a strange consent feels the motion of the humors and is altered with their alterations Now some of excellent vertue are opprest with Melancholy Others are under strong pains that disturb the free operations of the mind that it cannot without Supernatural strengih delightfully contemplate what is a just matter of content The Stoical Doctrine that a wise Man rejoyces as well in torments as in the midst of pleasures that 't is not in the power of any external evil to draw a sigh or tear from him that he is sufficient in himself for happiness is a Philosophical Romance of that severe sect an excess unpracticable without Cordials of a higher nature than are compounded by the faint thoughts of having done what is agreable to Reason All their Maxims are weak supports of such triumphant Language 'T is true in a Body disorder'd and broken with Diseases and Pains the mind may be erect and compos'd but 't is by vertue of Divine Comforts from the present sense of Gods favour and the joyful hopes of eternal felicity in his presence hereafter 3. Those who suffer the loss of all that is precious and dear in the World and with a chearful confidence submit to death that singly consider'd is very terrible to nature but attended with torments is doubly terrible and all to advance the Glory of God cannot enjoy the satisfaction of mind that proceeds from the review of worthy actions if their being is determined with their life Now that love to God exprest in the hardest and noblest service should finally destroy a Man is not conceivable To render this Argument more sensible let us consider the vast multitude of the Martyrs in the first times of Christianity more easie to be admir'd than numbred It would be a History to describe the instruments of their cruel sufferings invented by the fierce wit of their persecutors the various torturs to destroy Life with a slow death such as were never before inflicted on the guiltiest Malefactours All which they willingly endured with an invariable serenity of countenance the sign and effect of their inward peace Nay with triumphant expressions of Joy Now to what original shall we attribute this fortitude of Spirit were such numbers of all conditions ages sects induc'd by rash counsel by frenzy of passion by a desire of vain-glory or any like cause to part with all that is precious and amiable in the World for Swords and Fire and Crosses and Wheels and Racks to torment and destroy their Bodies No humane Reasons neither the Vertue nor Vice of Nature Generosity nor Obstinacy could possibly give such strength under such Torments This was so evident that many Heathen Spectators were convinc'd of the Divine Power miraculously supporting them and became Proselytes of Christianity and with admirable chearfulness offered themselves to the same punishments Now this is an extrinsick testimony incomparably more weighty than from a bare affirmation in words or a meer consent of judgment that there is an unseen state infinitely better and more durable than what is present the hopes of which made them esteem the parting with all sensible things measur'd by time not to have the shadow of a loss And this was not a meer naked view of a future blessedness but joyned with an impression of that sweetness and strength that consolation and force of Spirit that it was manifest Heaven descended to them before they ascended to Heaven From hence they were fearless of those who could only kill the Body but not touch the Soul As the breaking a Christal in pieces cannot injure the light that penetrated and filled it but releases it from that confinement So the most violent Death was in their esteem not hurtful to the Soul but the means to give it entrance into a happy immortality Now is it in any degree credible that when no other principle was sufficient to produce such courage in thousands so tender and fearful by nature that the Divine hand did not support them invisible in operation but most clearly discovered in the effects And can it be imagined that God would encourage them to lose the most valuable of all natural things life it self and to their great cost of pains and misery if there were not an estate wherein he would reward their heroick love of himself with a good that unspeakably transcends what ever is desirable here below 2. Though Vice in respect of its turpitude be the truest dishonour of Man and be attended with regret as contrary to his Reason yet there is a further punishment naturally due to it Malefactors besides the infamy that cleaves to their crimes and the secret twinges of Conscience feel the rigour of civil Justice And if no Physical evil be inflicted as the just consequent of Vice the viciously inclin'd would despise the moral evil that is essential to it as an imaginary punishment And when the remembrance of Sin disturbs their rest they would presently by pleasant diversions call off their thoughts from sad objects 2. Supposing no other punishment but what is the immediate effect of Sin the most vicious and guilty would many times suffer the least punishment For the secret Worm of Conscience is most sensible when vice is
Body or Mind or Estate as if we were the Architects of our own felicity is a sacrilegious usurpation Yet vain Man foments a secret pride and high opinion of himself as if by his own prudence and conduct he might acquire an happiness till experience confutes his pleasing but pernicious error The truth is were there no God whose powerful Providence governs all things and has a special care and respect of Man he were of all creatures the most miserable So that besides the wickedness we may clearly discover the folly of Atheism that deprives Man of his chiefest Comfort at all times and his only Comfort in the greatest exigencies For in this mutable state he is liable to so many disasters and wretched accidents that none can have an assurance of prosperity one day How frail and uncertain is Life the foundation of all temporal Enjoyments It depends upon so many things that 't is admirable it subsists for a little time The least vessel in the Body that breaks or is stopt interrupting the course of the Blood and Humours ruines its oeconomy Sometimes in its vigorous consistence when most distant from Sickness 't is nearest to Death A little eruption of Blood in the Brain is sufficient to stop the passages of the Spirits and deprive it of motion and life And the changes of things without us are so various and frequent so great and suddain that 't is an excess of folly a dangerous rest to be secure in the enjoyment of them The same person sometimes affords an example of the greatest Prosperity and of greater Misery in the space of a few hours Henry the fourth of France in the midst of the triumphs of Peace was by a blow from a sacrilegious hand dispatcht in his Coach and his blody Corps forsaken by his Servants expos'd to the veiw of all so that as the Historian observes there was but a moment between the adorations and oblivion of that great Prince All flesh is Grass and the glory of it as the flower of the Grass What ever disguises its imperfections and gives it lustre is but superficial like the colour andornament of a Flower whose matter is only a little dust and Water and is as weak and fading Who then can possess these things without a just jealousie lest they should slip away or be ravisht from him by violence And in this respect Man is most unhappy for besides the affliction of present evils Reason that separates him from other Creatures and exalts him above them is the fatal instrument of his trouble by the prevision of future evils Ignorance of future miseries is a priviledge when Knowledg is ineffectual to prevent them Unseen evils are swallow'd whole but by an apprehensive imagination are tasted in all their bitterness By fore-thoughts we run to meet them before they are come and feel them before they are truly sensible This was the reason of that complaint in the Poet seeing the prognosticks of misery many years before it arrived Sit subitum quodcunque paras sit caeca futuri Mens hominis fati liceat sperare timenti Let the Evils thou preparest surprize us let us not be tormented by an unhappy expectation of them let the success of future things be concealed from our sight let it be permitted to us to hope in the midst of our fears Indeed God has mercifully hid the most of future events from humane curiosity For as on the one side by the view of great Prosperity Man would be tempted to an excess of Pride and Joy so on the other as we are more sensibly touch'd with pain than pleasure if when he begins to use his Reason and apprehensive faculty by a secret of Opticks he should have in one sight presented all the Afflictions that should befal him in the World how languishing would his life be This would keep him on a perpetual Rack and make him suffer together and at all times what shall be endured separately and but once But though the most of future things lie in obscurity yet often we have sad intimations of approaching evils that awaken our fears Nay how many Tempests and Shipwracks do Men suffer in Terra firma from the suspicion of Calamities that shall never be Imaginary Evils operate as if real and produce substantial Griefs Now how can such an infirm jealous creature in the midst of things that are every minute subject to the Laws of Mutability be without inward trouble What can give him repose and tranquillity in his best condition but an assurance that nothing can befall him but according to the wise Counsel and gracious Will of God And in extream Afflictions in the last Agonies when no humane things can afford relief when our dearest Friends are not able to comfort us but are miserable in our miseries what can bear up our fainting hope but the Divine Power a foundation that never fails what can allay our sorrows but the Divine Goodness tenderly inclin'd to succour us Our help is in the Lord who made Heaven and Earth The Creation is a visible Monument of his Perfections The Lord is a Sun and a Sheild He is al-sufficient to supply our wants and satisfie our desires As the Sun gives Life and Joy to all the World and if there were millions of more kinds of beings and of individuals in it his light and heat are sufficient for them all so the Divine Goodness can supply us with all good things and ten thousand Worlds more And his Power can secure to us his Favours and prevent troubles or which is more admirable make them beneficial and subservient to our felicity He is a sure refuge an inviolable Sanctuary to which we may retire in all our streights His Omnipotence is directed by unerring Wisdom and excited by infinite love for the good of those who faithfully obey him An humble confidence in him frees us from anxieties preserves a firm peaceful temper in the midst of Storms This gives a superiority of Spirit a true empire of mind over all outward things Rex est qui posuit metus Occurritque suo libens Fato nec queritur mori What was the vain boast of Philosophers that by the power of Reason they could make all accidents to contribute their happiness is the real priviledge we obtain by a regular trust in God who directs and orders all events that happen for the everlasting good of his Servants In the worst circumstances we may rejoyce in Hope in a certain and quiet expectation of a blessed issue In Death it self we are more than Conquerers O Lord God of Hosts blessed is the Man that trusts in thee CHAP. VIII The Immortality of the Soul depends on the conservative influence of God Natural and Moral Arguments to prove that God will continue it for ever The Soul is incapable of perishing from any corruptible principles or separable parts It s spiritual Nature is evident by the acts of its principal faculties The