how doth it consist with that overflowing goodness of the Deity that we were let to lye in a long state of silence and insensibility before we came into these bodies This seems a pressing difficulty but yet there 's hopes we may dispatch it Therefore 1 Had we been made impeccable we should have been another kind of creatures then now since we had then wanted the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or liberty of will to good and evill which is one of our essential Attributes Consequently there would have been one species of beings wanting to compleat the universe and it would have been a slurre to the divine goodnesse not to have given being to such creatures as in the idâ— were fairly possible and contradicted no other Attribute Yea though he foresaw that some would sin and make themselves miserable yet the foreseen lapse and misery of those was not an evill great enough to over-ballance the good the species would reap by being partakers of the divine goodnesse in the land of the living Therefore however 't was goodnesse to give such creatures being But it will be urged upon us If Liberty to good and evil be so essential to our natures what think we then of the blessed souls after the resurrection are not they the same creatures though vvithout the liberty of sinning To return to this I think those that affirm that the blessed have not this natural liberty as long as they are united to a body and are capable of resenting it's pleasures should do well to prove it Indeed they may be morally immutable and illapsable but this is grace not nature a reward of obedience not a necessary annex of our Beings But will it be said why did not the divine goodnesse endue us all with this morall stability Had it not been better for us to have been made in this condition of security then in a state so dangerous My return to this doubt will be a second Answer to the main objection Therefore Secondly I doubt not but that 't is much better for rational creatures that this supream happiness should be the Reward of vertue rather then 〈◊〉 upon our natures For the procurement of that which we might have mist of is far more sensibly gratifying then any necessary and unacquired injoyment we find a greater pleasure in what we gain by industry art or vertue then in the things we were born to And had we been made secure from sin and misery from the first moment of our Being we should not have put so high a rate and value upon that priviledge 3 Had we been at first establisht in an impossibility of lapsing into evill Then many choise vertu's excellent branches of the divine Life had never been exercis'd or indeed have been at all Such are Patience Faith and Hope the objects of which are evill futurity and uncertainly Yea 4 Had we been so fixt in an inamissible happinesse from the beginning there had then been no vertue in the world nor any of that matchlesse pleasure which attends the exercise thereof For vertue is a kind of victory and supposeth a conflict Therefore we say that God is good and holy but not vertuous Take away a possibility of evill and in the creature there is no morall goodnesse And then no reward no pleasure no happinesse Therefore in summe 5ly The divine goodnesse is manifested in making all creatures sutably to those Idâ—as of their natures which he hath in his All-comprehensive Wisdome And their good and happinesse consists in acting according to those natures and in being furnisht with all things necessary for such actions Now the divine Wisdome is no arhitrary thing that can change or alter those setled immutable idaea's of things that are there represented It lopps not off essential Attributes of some beings to inoculate them upon others But distinctly comprehending all things assigns each Being it's proper nature and qualities And the Divine goodnesse according to the wise direction of the eternal intellect in like distinct and orderly manner produceth all things viz. according to all the variety of their respective ideaas in the divine wisdome Wherefore as the goodness of God obligeth him not to make every planet a 〈◊〉 star or every star a sun So neither doth it oblige him to make every degree of life a rational soul or every soul an impeccable Angell For this were to tye him to contradictions Since therefore such an order of Beings as rational and happy though free and therefore mutable creatures were distinctly comprehended in the divine Wisdome It was an effect of God's Goodness to bring them into being even in such a condition and in such manner as in their eternal idaeas they were represented Thus then we see it is not contrary to the infinite plenitude of the divine goodness that we should have been made peccable and lyable to defection And being thus in our very essential constitutions lapsable 't was no defect in the goodnesse of our Maker that he did not interpose by his absolute omnipotence to prevent our actual praevarication and Apostacy Since his goodnesse obligeth him not to secure us upon any terms whatever but upon such as may most promote the general good advantage And questionless 't was much better that such as would wilfully depart from the laws of their blessed natures and break through all restraints of the divine commands should feel the smart of their disobedience then that providence should disorder the constitution of nature to prevent the punishment which they drew upon themselves Since those apostate spirits remain instances to those that stand of the divine justice and severity against sinners and so may contribute not a little to their Security And for that long night of silence in which multitudes of souls are buried before they descend into terrestrial matter it is but the due reward of their former disobedience for which considering the happy circumstances in which they were made they deserv'd to be nothing for ever And their re-instating in a condition of life self-injoyment after so highly culpable delinguencies is a great instance of the over-flowing fulnesse of the divine compassion and benignity Thus then we see That Gods making us lapsable and permitting us to fall is no prejudice in the least to the infinite faecundity of his goodness and his making all things best So that mine Argument for Praeexistence bottomn'd on this Foundation stands yet firm and immoveable notwithstanding the rude assault of this objection From which I pass to a fourth CHAP. IX A 4th Objection against the Argument from God's goodness viz. That it will conclude as well that the World is infinite and eternal Answered The conclusion of the second Argument for Praeexistence THerefore fourthly it will be excepted If we may argue from the divine goodness which always doth what is best for the Praeexistence of Souls then we may as reasonably thence conclude that the world is both infinite and eternal since an
determined as long as we pass not the bounds that he hath set us Adam therefore was yet innocent though he joyed in his beloved Spouse yea and was permitted to feed upon all the fruits of this Paradise the various results of corporeal pleasure as long as he followed not his own will and appetites contrarily to the divine commands and appointments But at length unhappily the delights of the body betray us through our over indulgence to them and lead us captive to anomy and disobedience The sense of what is grateful and pleasant by insensible degrees gets head over the apprehension of what is just and good the Serpent and Eve prove successful tempters Adam cannot withstand the inordnate appetite but feeds on the forbidden fruit viz. the dictates of his debaâ—chea will and â—sual pleasure And thus now the body is gotten uppermost the lower faculties have greater exercise and command then the higher those being very vigorously awakened and these proportionably shrunk up and consopited wherefore by Axiom 3. and 5. the soul contracts a less pure body which may be more accommodate to sensitive operations and thus we fall from the highest Paradise the blissful regions of life and glory and become Inhabitants of the Air. Not that we are presently quite divested of our Etherial state as soon as we descend into this less perfect condition of life for retaining still considerable exercises of the higher life though not so ruling and vigorous ones as before the soul must retain part of its former vehicle to serve it as its instrument in those its operations For the â—herial body contracts crasiness and impurity by the same degrees as the immaterial faculties abate in their exercise so that we are not immediately upon the expiring of the highest congruity wholly stript of all remains of our celestial bodies but still hold some portion of them within the grosser vehicle while the spirit or higher life is in any degree of actuation Nor are we to suppose that every slip or indulgence to the body can detrude us from our athereal happiness but such a change must be wrought in the soul as may spoil its congruity to a celestial body which in time by degrees is effected Thus we may probably be supposed to have fallen from our supream feliciâ—ie But others of our order have made better use of their injoyments and the indulgences of their Maker and though they have had their periga's as well as their Apoge's I mean their Verges towards the body and its joys as well as their aspires to nobler and sublimer objects yet they kept the station of their natures and made their orderly returns without so remarkable a defection And though possibly some of them may somtimes have had their slips and have waded further into the pleasures of the body then they ought to have done yet partly by their own timely care and consideration and partly by the divine assistance they recover themselves again to their condition of primigenial innocence But we must leave them to their felicity and go on with the History of our own descent Therefore after we are detraded from our â—therial condition we next descend into the Aerial The Aerial State NOw our bodies are more or less pure in this condition proportionably to the degrees of our apostaâ—y So that we are not absolutely miserable in our first step of descent but indeed happy in comparison of our now condition As yet there may be very considerable remains of vertue and divine love though indeed the lower life that of the body be grown very strong and rampant So that as yet we may be supposed to have lapst no lower then the best and purest Regions of the Ayre by Axiom 2 3. And doubtlesse there are some who by striving against the inordinacy of their Appetitites may at length get the victory again over their bodyes and so by the assistance of the Divine Spirit who is alwayes ready to promote and assist good beginnings may re-enkindle the higher life and so be translated again to their old celestial habitations without descending lower But others irreclaimeably persisting in their Rebellion and sinking more and more into the body and the relish of its joyes and pleasures these are still verging to a lower and more degenerate state so that at the last the higher powers of the Soul being almost quite laid a sleep and consopited and the sensitive also by long and tedious exercises being much tyred and abated in their vigour the plastick faculties begin now fully to awaken so that a body of thin and subtile ayre will not suffice its now so highly exalted energy no more than the subtile Aether can suffice us terrestial animals for respiration wherefore the Aerial congruity of life expires also and thus are we ready for an earthly body But now since a Soul cannot unite with any body but with such only as is fitly prepared for it by principle 3. and there being in all likelyhood more expirations in the Ayre then there are prepared bodyes upon earth it must needs be that for some time it must be destitute of any congruous matter that might be joyned with it And consequently by Principle 3d. 't will lye in a state of inactivity and silence Not that it will for ever be lost in that forgotten recess and solitude for it hath aâ—ptness aptness and propensity to act in a terrestrial body which will be reduc'd into actual exercise when fit â—atter is prepared The souls therefore that are now laid up in the black night of stuipdity and inertnesse will in their proper seasons be awakened into life and operation in such bodyes and places of the earth as by their dispositions they are fitted for So that no sooner is theâ—e any matter of due vital temper afforded by generation but immediatly a soul that is suitable to such a body either by meer natural congruity the dispositi on of the soul of the world or some more spontaneous agent is attracted or sent into this so befitting tenement according to Axiom 2 and 3. Terrestrial State NOw because in this state too we use our sensitive faculties and have some though very small reliques of the higher life also therefore the soul first makes it self a vehicle out of the most spiritous and yielding parts of this spuâ—ous terrestrial matter which hath some analogy both with its â—therial and aerial state This is as it were its inward vest and immediate instrument in all its operations By the help of this it understands reasons and remembers Yea forms and moves the body And that we have such a subtile aery vehicle within this terrestrial our manifest sympathizing with that element and the necessity we have of it to all the functions of life as is palpable in respiration is me thinks good ground for conjecture And 't is not improbable but even within this it may have a purer fire and ather to which it is united being some
little remain of what it had of old In this state we grow up meerly into the life of sense having little left of the higher life but some apish shews and imitations of reason vertue and religion By which alone with speech we seem to be distinguisht from Beasts while in reality the brutish nature is predominant and the concernments of the body are our great end our onely God and happiness this is the condition of our now degenerate lost natures However that ever over-flowing goodness that always aims at the happiness of his creatures hath not left us without all means of recovery but by the gracious and benigne dispensations which he hath afforded us hath provided for our restauration which some though but very few make so good use of that being assisted in their well meant and sincere indeavours by the divine spirit they in good degree mortifie and subdue the bodie conquer self-will unruly appetites and disorderly passions and so in some measure by Principle 7. awaken the higher life which still directs them upwards to vertue and divine love which where they are perfectly kindled carry the soul when dismist from this prison to its old celestial abode For the spirit and noblest faculties being so recovered to life and exercise require an aetherial body to be united to and that an aetherial place of residence both which the divine Nemesis that is wrought into the very nature of things bestoweth on them by Principle the second But they are very few that are thus immediatly restored to the celestial paradise upon the quitting of their earthly bodies For others that are but in the way of recovery and dye imperfectly vertuous meer Philosophy and natural reason within the bounds of which we are now discoursing can determine no more but that they step forth again into aerâ— vehicles that congruity of life immediately awakening in them after this is expired In this state their happinesse will be more or lesse proportionably to their virtues in which if they persevere we shall see anon how they will be recover'd But for the present we must not break off the clue of our account by going backwards before we have arriv'd to the uâ—most verge of descent in this Philosophical Romance or History the Reader is at his choice to call it which he pleaseth Wherefore let us cast our eyes upon the Most in whom their Life on earth hath but confirm'd and strengthned their degenerate sensual and brutish propensions And see what is like to become of them when they take their leave of these terrestial bodies Only first a word of the state of dying infants and I come immediately to the next step of descent Those therefore that passe out of these bodyes before the terrestrial congruity be spoyl'd weakened or orderly unmound According to the tenour of this Hypothesis must return into the state of inactivity For the Plastick in them is too highly awakened to inactuate only an aerial body And there being no other more congruous ready and at hand for it to enter it must needs step back into its former state of insensibility and there wait its turn till befitting matter call it forth again into life and action This is a conjecture that Philosophy dictates which I vouch not for a truth but only follow the clue of this Hypothesis Nor can there any danger be hence conceiv'd that those whose congrâ—ityes orderly expire should fall back again into a state of silence and intertnesse since by long and hard exercises in this body the plastick life is well tamed and debilitated so that now its activity is proportion'd to a more teâ—uious and passive vehicle which it cannot fail to meet with in its next condition For 't is only the terrestrial body is so long a preparing But to The next step of Descent or After State TO give an Account of the After State of the more degenerate and yet descending souls some fancy a very odd Hypothesis imagining that they passe hence into some other more course and inferior Planet in which they are provided with bodyes suitable to their so depraved natures But I shall be thought extravagant for the mention of such a supposition Wherefore I come to what is lesse â—bnoxious When our souls go out of these bodies therefore they are not presently discharg'd of all the matter that belong'd to this condition but carry away their inward and aerial state to be partakers with them of their after fortunes onely leaving the unlesse earth behind them For they have a congruity to their aery bodies though that which they had to a terrestrial is worn out and defaced Nor need we to wonder how it can 〈◊〉 have an aerial aptitude when as that congrâ—ity expired before we defended hither If we consider the reason of the expiration of its former vital aptitude which was not so much through any defect of power to actuate such a body but through the excesse of invigoration of the Plastick which was then grown so strong that an aerial body was not enough for it to display its force upon But now the case is alter'd these lower powers are worn and wearied out by the toylsome exercise of dragging about and managing such a load of flesh wherefore being so castigated they are duly attemper'd to the more easie body of air again as was intimated before to which they being already united they cannot miss of a proper habitation But considering the stupor dulness inactivity of our declining age it may seem unlikely to some that after death we should immediately be resuffitated into so lively and vigorous a condition as is the aerial especially since all the faculties of sence and action are observed gradually to fail abate as we draw nearer to our exit from this Stage which seems to threaten that we shall next descend into a state of less sâ—upor and inertnesse But this is a groundless jealousie for the weaknesse and lethargick inactivity of old age ariseth from a defect of those Spirits that are the instruments of all our operations which by long exercise are at last spent and seattred So that the remains can scarce any longer stand under their unweildy barthem much lesse can they perform all functions of life so vigorously as they were wont to do when they were in their due temper strength and plenty However notwithstanding this inability to manage a sluggish stubborn and exhausted terrestrial body there is no doubt but the Soul can with great care when it is discharg'd of its former load actuate its thin aery vehicle and that with a brisk vigour and activity As a man that is overladen may be ready to faint and sink till he be releived of his burthen And then he can run away with a cheerful vivacity So that this decrepid condition of our decayed natures cannot justly prejudice our belief that we shall be crected again into a state of life and action in aerial bodies after this congruity
reascend the Thrones they so unhappily fell from be circled about with unexpressible felicity Butthose that for all this follow the sameways of sensuality and rebellion against their merciful deliverer they shal besure tobe met with by the same methods of punishment and at length be as miserable as ever Thus we see the Ayr will be re-peopled after the conflagration but how the Earth will so soon be restored to Inhabitants is a matter of some difficulty to determine since it useth to be furnisht from the Aerial regions which now will have none left that are fit to plant it For the good were deliver'd thence before the conflagration and those that are newly come from underthe fiery lash and latter state of silence are in a hopeful way of recovery At least their aerial congruity cannot be so soon expired as to fit them for an early return to their terrestriall prisons Wherfore to help our selves in this rencounter we must remember that there are continually multitudes of souls in a state of inactivity for want of suitable bodyes to unite with there being more that dye to the aery state then are born into this terrestrial In this condition were myriads when the general Feaver seiz'd this great distemper'd body who therefore were unconcern'd in the conflagration and are now as ready to return into life and action upon the Earth's happy restauration as if no such thing had hapned Wherefore they will not fail to descend into fitly prepared matter and to exercise all the functsons proper to this condition Nor will they alone be inhabitants of the Earth For all the variety of other Animals shall live and act upon this stage with them all sorts of souls infinuating themselves into those bodys which are fit for their respective natures Thus then supposing habitable congruous bodyes there is no doubt but there will be humane Souls to actuate and informe them but all the difficulty is to conceive how the matter shall be prepared For who shall be the common seedsman of succeding Humanity when all mankind is swept away by the fiery deluge And to take Sanctuary in a Miracle is unphilosophical and desperate I thinke therefore it is not improbable I mean according to the duct of this Hypothesis but that in this renewed youth of the so lately calcined and purified Earth there may be some pure efflorescences of balmy matter not to be found now in its exhausted and decrepit Age that may be proper vehicles of life into which souls may deseend without further preparation And so orderly shape and form them as we see to this day several sorts of other creatures do without the help of generation For doubtlesse there will be great plenty of unctuous spirituous matter when the most inward and recondite spirits of all things shall be dislodg'd from their old close residences and scatter'd into the Ayre where they will at length when the fierce agitation of the fire is over gather in considerable proportions of tenuous vapours which at length descending in a chrystalline liquor and mingling with the finest parts of the newly modified Earth will doubtless compose as genital a matter as any can be prepared in the bodys of Animals And the calm and wholesome Ayre which now is duly purged from its noxious reeks and vapours and abounds with their saline spirituous humidity will questionlesse be very propitious to those tender inchoations of life and by the help of the Sun 's favourable and gentle beams supply them with all necessary materials Nor need we puzzle our selves to phancy how those Terrae Filii those young sons of the Earth will be fortified against the injuries of weather or be able to provide for themselves in their first and tender Infancy since doubtlesse if the supposition be admitted those immediate births of unassisted nature will not be so tender and helplesse as we into whose very constitutions delicacy and effeminatenesse is now twisted For those masculine productions which were always exposed to the open Ayr and not cloyster'd up as we will feel no more incommodity from it then the young fry of fishes do from the coldnesse of the water they are spawn'd in And even now much of our tendernesse and delicacy is not natural but contracted For poor children will indure that hardshp that would quickly dispatch those that have had a more careful and officious nurture And without question we should do many things for self-preservati on and provision which now we yield no signes of had not custome prevented the endeavours of nature and made it expect assistance For the Indian Infants will swim currently when assoon as they are born they are thrown into the water And nature put to her shifts will do many things more then we can suspect her able for the performance of which consider'd 't is not hard to apprehend but that those infant Aborigines are of a very different temper and condition from the weak products of now decayed nature having questionlesse more pure and serviceable bodies senses and other faculties more active and vigorous and nature better exercised so that they may by a like sence to that which carrys all creatures to their proper food pursue and take hold of that nutriment which the free and willing Earth now offerd to their mouths till being advantaged by Age and growth they can move about to make their choice But all this is but the frolick exercise of my pen chusing a Paradox And 't is time to give over the pursuit To make an end then we see that after the Conflagration the earth will be inhabited again and all things proceed much what in like manner as before But whether the Catastrophe of this shall bee like the former or no I think is not to be determined For as one world hath perish't by water and this present shall by fire 't is possible the next period may be by the Extinction of the Sun But I am come to the end of the line and shall not go beyond this present Stage of Providence or wander into an Abysse of uncertainties where there is neither Sun nor Star to guide my notions Now of all that hath been represented of this Hypothesis there is nothing that seems more extravagant and Romantick then those notions that come under the two last Generals And yet so it falls out that the main matters contained under them one would think to have a strange consonancy with some expressions in the Sacred Oracles For clear it is from the divine Volumne that the wicked and the Devils themselves are reserved to a further and more severe judgement then yet afflicteth them It is as plainly declared to be a vengeance of fire that abides them as a compleatment of their torments And that the Earth shall be burnt is as explicitly affirmed as any thing can be spoken Now if we put all these together they look like a probability That the conflagration of the Earth shall consummate the Hell of the wicked And those other expressions of Death Destruction perdition of the ungodly and the like seem to show a favourable regard to the State of silence and inactivity Nor is there less appearing countenance given to the Hypothesis of Restitution in those passages which predict New Heavens and a New Earth and seem to intimate onely a change of the present And yet I would have no body be so credulous as to be taken with litle appearances nor do I mention these with an intent that they should with full consent be delivered to intend the asserting any such Doctrines But that there is shew enough both in Reason and Scripture for these Opinions to give an occasion for an Hypothesis and therefore that they are not meer arbitrary and idle imaginations Now whatever becomes of this perticular draught of the Souls severall conditions of life and action the main Opinion of Praeexistence is not at all concerned This scheame is onely to shew that natural and imperfect Reason can frame an Intelligible Idea of it And therefore questionlesse the Divine Wisdome could forme and order it either so or with infinitely more accuracy and exactness How it was with us therefore of Old I know not But yet that we may have been and acted before we descended hither I think is very probable And I see no Reason but why Praeexistence may be Admitted without altering any thing considerable of the ordinary Systeme of Theology But I shut up with that modest conclusion of the Great Des Cartes That although these matters seem hardly otherwise intelligible then as Ihave here explained them Yet neverthelesse remembring I am not infallible I assert nothing But submit all I have written to the Authority of the Church of England and to the matured judgements of graver and wiser men Earnestâ— desiring that nothing else may be entertained with credit by any persons but what is able to win it by the force of evident and Victorious reason Des Cartes Princ. Prilos lib. 4. ss CVII FINIS
bodies as will presently desile them deface his image pervert all their powers and faculties incline them to hate what he most loves and love what his soul hateth and that without any knowledge or concurrence of theirs will quite marre them as soon as he hath made them and of dear Children render them rebells or enemies and in a moment from being like Angels transform them into the perfect resemblance of the first Apostates Devils Is this an effect of those tender mercies that are over all his works And 2 Hath that Wisdome that hath made all things to operate according to their natures and provided them with what ever is necessary to that end made myriads of noble Spirits capable of as noble operations and presently plunged them into such a condition wherein they cannot act at all according to their first and proper dispositions but shall be necessitated to the quite contrary and have other noxious and depraved inclinations fatally impos'd upon their pure natures Doth that wisdome that hath made all things in number weight and measure and disposed them in such exact harmony and proportions use to act so ineptly And that in the best and noblest pieces of his Creation Doth it use to make and presently destroy To frame one thing and give it such or such a nature and then undo what he had done and make it an other And if there be no such irregular methods used in the framing of inferiour Creatures what reason have we to suspect that the Divine Wisdome did so vary from its self in its noblest composures And 3 Is it not a great affront to the Divine Justice to suppose as we are commonly taught that assoon as we are born yea and in the Womb we are obnoxious to eternal wrath and torments if our Souls are then immediately created out of nothing For To be just is to give every one his due and how can endless unsupportable punishments be due to innocent Spirits who but the last moment came righteous pure and immaculate out of their Creators hands and have not done or thought any thing since contrary to his will or Laws nor were in any the least capacity of sinning I but the first of our order our General head and Representative sinned and we in him thus we contract guilt as soon as we have a beeing and are lyable to the punishment of his disobedience This is thought to solve all and to clear God from any shadow of unrighteâ—sness But what ever truth there is in the thing it self I think it cannot stand upon the Hypothesis of the souls immediate Creation nor yet justifie God in his proceedings For 1 If I was then newly created when first in this body what was Adam to mee who sinned above 5000 years before I came out of nothing If he represented me it must be as I was in his Loins that is in him as an effect in a cause But so I was not according to this Doctrine for my soul ownes no Father but God its immediate progenitour And what am I concern'd then in his sins which had never my will or consent more then in the sins of 〈◊〉 or Julius Caesar Nay than in the sins of Belzebub or Lucifer And for my body 't is most likely that never an Atom of his ever came at mee or if any did he was no cause on 't Besides that of it self is neither capable of sense sin guilt nor punishment or 2 Admitting that we become thus obnoxious assoon as in the body upon the account of his default How doth it comport with the divine Justice in one moment to make such excellent creatures and in the next to render them so miserable by thrusting them into a condition so fatally obnoxious especially since they were capable of living and acting in bodies more perfect and more accommodate to their new undesiled natures Certainly could they have been put to their choice whether they would have come into being upon such termes they would rather have been nothing for ever And God doth not use to make his creatures so as that without their own fault they shall have cause to unwish themselves Hitherto in this second general Arg. I have dealt against those that believe and assert the original depravity of our natures which those that deny may think themselves not pinch't by or concernâ—d in Since they think they do no such dishonour to the divine Attributes while they assert that we were not made in so deplorable and depraved a condition but have so made our selves by our voluntary aberrations But neither is this a fit Plaister for the sore supposing our souls to be immediately created and so sent into these bodies For still it seems to be a diminutive and disparaging apprehenâ—on of the infinite and immense Goodness of God that he should detrude such excellent creatures as our souls into a state so hazardous wherein he seeth it to be ten thousand to one but that they will corrupt and defile themselves and so make themselves miserable here and to eternity hereafter And certainly be we as indifferent naturally to good and evill as can be supposed yet great are the disadvantages to virtue that all men unavoidably meet with in this state of imperfection For considering that our infant and growing age is an age of sense in which our appetites and passions are very strong and our reasons weak and scarce any thing but a chain of imaginations 't is I say great odds but that we should be caryed to inordinacy and exceed the bounds the divine laws have set us So that our lower powers of sense and passions using to have the head will grow strong and impetuous and thus 't is an hundred to one but we shall be rooted in vice before we come to the maturity of our reasons or are capable of the exercise of virtue And wofull experience teacheth us that most men run so far before they consider whither they are agoing that the care and diligence of all their lives after will scarce reclaim them Besides the far greatest part of the world are led into wickednesse and all kinds of debauchery by corrupt and vitious education And 't is not difficult to observe what an inormous strength bad education hath to deprave and pervert well dispos'd inclinations Which things consider'd this way also methinks reflects a Disparagement on the Divine Attributes Since by creating souls daily and putting them into such bodies and such parts of the world as his infinite Wisdome sees will debauch them and pervert them from the ways of righteousnesse and happinesse into those of vice and misery he deals with them lesse mercifully then a parent among us would with his Off-spring And to suppose God to have lesse goodnesse then his degenerate creatures is to have very narrow apprehensions of his perfections and to 〈◊〉 him of the honour due to his Attributes 3 It hath been urged with good probability by great and wise Sages that
't is an unbecomming apprehension of the Majesty on high to suppose him assistant to unlawful and unclean coitions by creating a soul to animate the impure foetus And to think It is in the power of brutish lust to determine Omnipotence to create a Soul whensoever a couple of unclean adulterers shall think fit to join in their bestial pleasures is methinks to have a very mean apprehension of the divine Majesty and Purity This is to make him the worst of Servants by supposing him to serve his creature's vices to wait upon the vilest actions and to engage the same Infinite Power that made the world for the perfecting what was begun by dissolute wantons This Argument was used of old by pious and learned Origen and hath been imployed in the same service since by his Modern defendents But I foresee an evasion or two that possibly with some may stand for an answer the removal of which will clear the businesse It may be pretended that God's attending to create souls for the supply of such generations is but an act of his justice for the detection and consequently punishment of such lawless offenders which therefore will be no more matter of disparagement then the waiting of an Officer of justice to discover and apprehend a Malefactour But this Subterfuge cannot elude the force of the Argument for it hath no place at all in most adulteries yea great injustice and injury is done many times by such illegitimate births the child of a stranger being by this means admitted to carry away the inheritance from the lawful off-spring Besides God useth not ordinarily to put forth his Almighty power to discover secret miscarriages except sometimes for very remarkable and momentous ends but leaves hidden iniquiâ—es to be the objects of his own castigations And if discovery of the fault be the main end of such creations methinks that might be done at a cheaper rate that should not have brought so much inconvenience with it or have exposed his own innocent and harmlesse off-spring to undeserv'd Reproach and Infamy But further it may be suggested that it is no more indecent for God to create souls to furnish those unlawful Generations then it is that a man should be nourisht by meat that he hath unlawfully come by or that the Cattle which he hath stoln should ingender with his own But the difference of these instances from the case in hand is easily discernable in that the nourishment and productions spoken of proceed in a set orderly way of natural causes which work fatally and necessarily without respect to morall circumstances And there is no reason it should be in the power of a sinful creature to ingage his Maker to pervert or stop the course of nature when he pleaseth But in the case of creating souls God is supposed to act by explicit and immediate Will the suspending of which in such a case as this is far different in point of credit and decorum from his altering the setled Laws he hath set in the Creation and turning the world upside-down I might further add 4ly That it seems very incongruous and unhandsome to suppose that God should create a souls for the supply of one monstrous body And of such prodigious productions there is mention in History That 's a remarkable instance in Sennertus of a Monster born at Emmaus with two hearts and two heads the diversity of whose appeâ—ites perceptions and affections testified that it had two souls within that bi-partite habitation Now to conceive the most wise Maker and Contriver of all things immediately to create two souls for a single body rather then suffer that super-plus of matter which constitutes the monstrous excrescence to prove effoete inanimate is methinks a derogatory apprehension of his wisdome and supposeth him to act more ineptly in the great and immediate instances of his power than in the ordinary course of nature about less noble and accurate productions Or if it be pretended that Souls were sent into them while the bodies were yet distinct but that after wards they grew into one This I say will not heal the breach that this Hypothesis makes upon the divine Wisdome it â—acitely reflecting a shameful oversight upon Omniscience that he should not be aware of the future coalescence of these bodies into one when he made souls for them or at least 't is to suppose him knowingly to act ineptly Besides that the rational soul is not created till the body as to the main stroaks of it at least is framed is the general opinion of the Assertours of daily creation So that then there is no roome for this evasion And now one would think that an opinion so very obnoxious and so lyable to such grand inconveniences should not be admitted but upon most pressing reasons and ineludable demonstrations And yet there is not an argument that I ever heard of from reason to inforce it but only such as are brought from the impossibility of the way of Traduction which indeed is chargeable with as great absurdities as that we have been discoursing of 'T is true several Scriptures are prest for the service of the cause but I doubt much against their intent and inclination General testimonies there are to prove that God is the Father and Creatour of Souls which is equally true whether we suppose it made just as it is united to these bodies or did praeexist and was before them But that it is just then created out of nothing when first it comes into these earthly bodies I know not a word in the inspired Writings that speaks it For that saying of our Saviour My Father worketh hitherto and I work is by the most judicious understood of the works of preservation and providence Those of creation being concluded within the first Hebdomade accordingly as is exprest in the History that God on the seventh day rested from all his works Nor can there an instance be given of any thing created since or is there any pretended but that which hath been the subject of our inquiry which is no inconsiderable presumption that that was not so neither since the divine way of working is not pariâ— colour or humoursome but uniform and consonant to the laws of exactest wisdome So that for us to suppose that God after the compleating of his Creation and the laws given to 〈◊〉 things for their action and continuancâ— to be every moment working in a quitâ— other way in one instance of beings thaâ— he doth in all besides is methinks a somâ— what odd apprehension especially wheâ— no Reason urgeth to it and Scripture silent For such places as this the 〈◊〉 of the Spirits of all flesh the Father 〈◊〉 Spirits The spirit returns to God 〈◊〉 gave it The souls which I have madâ— We are his off-spring Who formeth 〈◊〉 spirit of man within him and the like signifie no more but that our souls 〈◊〉 a nearer relation to God then our bodies as being his immediate
the soul hath to exert in a body would have been idle and to no purpose But 1 the most that can be argued from such like objections is that we know not the manner of the thing and are no Arguments against the assertion it self And were it granted that the particular state of the soul before it came hither is inconceivable yet this makes no more against it then it doth against it's after-condition which these very objectors hold to be so as to the particular modus But a Why is it so absurd that the soul should have actuated another kind of body before it came into this Even here 't is immediately united to a purer vehicle moves and acts the grosser body by it And why then might it not in its former and purer state of Life have been join'd only to such a refined body which should have been suitable to its own perfection and purity I 'me sure many if not the most of the Antient Fathers thought Angells themselves to be embodyed and therefore they reputed not this such a grosse absurdity But an occasion hereafter will draw our pen this way again and therefore I pass it to a third return to this objection 3 Therefore though it were granted that the soul lived afore-times without a body what greater incongruity is there in such a supposition then that it should live and act after death without any union with matter or any body whatsoever as the objectors themselves conceive it doth But all such objections as these will fly away as mists before the sun when we shall come particularly to state the Hypothesis And therefore I may be excused from further troubling my self and the Reader about them here Especially since as hath been intimated they prove nothing at all but that the objectors cannot conceive vvhat manner of state that of Praeexistence was which is no prejudice to the opinion it self that our souls were extant before these earthly bodies Thus then I hope I have clearly enough made good that all souls might have been created from the beginning for ought any thing that is made known either in the Scriptures or our reasons to the contrary And thereby have remov'd those prejudices that would have stood in the way of our conclusion Wherefore we may now without controul from our proof of That it may be so pass on to enquire whether indeed it is so and see whether it may as well be asserted as defended And truly considering that both the other ways are impossible and this third not at all unreasonable it may be thought needlesse to bring more forces into the field to gain it the victory after its enemies are quite scattered and defeated Yet however for the pomp and triumph of truth though it need not their service we shall add some positive Arguments whereby it may appear that not only all other ways are dangerous and unpassable and this irreproveable but also that there is direct evidence enough to prove it solid and rational And I make my first consideration of this kind a second Argument CHAP. VI. A second Argument for Praeexistence drawn from the consideration of the Divine Goodnesse which alwaies doth what is best 2 THen whoever conceives rightly of God apprehends him to be infinite and immense Goodnesse who is alwaies shedding abroad of his own exuberant fulnesse There is no straightness in the Deity no bounds to the ocean of Love Now the divine Goodnesse referrs not to himself as ours extends not unto him He acts nothing for any self-accomplishment being essentially and absolutely compleat and perfect But the object and term of his goodnesse is his creatures good and happinesse in their respective capacities He is that infinite fountain that is continually overflowing and can no more cease to shed his influences upon his indigent dependents then the sun to shine at noon Now as the infinite Goodnesse of the deity obligeth him alwaies to do good so by the same reason to do that which is best since to omit any degrees of good would argue a defect in goodnesse supposing wisdome to order and power to execute He therefore that supposeth God not alwaies to do what is best and best for his Creatures for he cannot act for his own Good apprehends him to be lesse good then can be conceived and consequently not infinitely so For what is infinite is beyond measure and apprehension Therefore to direct this to our purpose God being infinitely good and that to his Creatures and therefore doing alwaies what is best for them methinks it roundly follows that our souls lived and injoy'd themselves of old before they came into these bodies For since they were capable of living and that in a much better and happier state long before they descended into this region of death and misery and since that condition of life and self-enjoyment would have been better then absolute not-being may we not safely conclude from a due consideration of the divine goodnesse that it was so What was it that gave us our being but the immense goodnesse of our Maker And why were we drawn out of our nothings but because it was better for us to be then not to be Why were our souls put into these bodies and not into some more squallid and ugly but because we are capable of such and 't is better for us to live in these then in those that are lesse sutable to our natures And had it not been better for us to have injoy'd our selves and the bounty and favours of our Maker of old as did the other order of intellectual creatures then to have layn in the comfortless night of nothing till 'tother day Had we not been better on 't to have lived and acted in the joyful regions of light and blessednesse with those spirits that at first had being then just now to jump into this sad plight and state of sin and wretchednesse Infinite Power could as well have made us all at once as the Angells and with as good congruity to our natures we might have liv'd and been happy without these bodies as we shall be in the state of separation since therefore it was best for us and as easy for our Creatour so to have effected it where was the defect if it was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not this to 〈◊〉 his goodnesse and to straight-lace the divine beneficence And doth not the contrary Hypothesis to what I am pleading for represent the God of Love as lesse good and bountiful then a charitable mortall who would neglect no opportunity within his reach of doing what good he could to those that want his help and assistance I confesse the world generally have such narrow and unbecomming apprehensions of God and draw his picture in their imaginations so like themselves that few I doubt will feel the force of this Argument and mine own observation makes me enter the same suspicion of its successe that some others have who have used it 'T is only
so much or no I leave to the indifferent to determine I think he that will say it doth not can bring few proofs for any thing which according to his way of judging will deserve to be called Demonstrations CHAP. XI Great caution to be used in alledging scripture for our speculative opinions The countenance that Praeexistence hath from the sacred writings both of the old and new Testament Reasons of the seeming uncouthnesse of these allegations Praeexistence stood in no need of Scripture-proof IT will be next expected that I should now prove the Doctrine I have undertaken for by Scripture evidence and make good what I said above That the divine oracles are not so silent in this matter as is imagined But truly I have so tender a sense of the sacred Authority of that Holy volume that I dare not be so bold with it as to force it to speak what I think it intends not A praesumption that is too common among our confident opinionists and that hath ocsion'd great troubles to the Church and disrepute to the inspired writings For for men to ascribe the odd notions of their over-heated imaginations to the spirit of God and eternal truth is me thinks a very bold and impudent belying it Wherefore I dare not but be very cautious what I speak in this matter nor would I willingly urge Scripture as a proof of any thing but what I am sure by the whole tenor of it is therein contained And would I take the liberty to fetch in every thing for a Scripture-evidence that with a little industry a man might make serviceable to his design I doubt not but I should be able to fill my Margent with Quotations which should be as much to purpose as have been cited in general CATECHISMS and CONFESSIONS of FAITH and that in points that must forsooth be dignified with the sacred title of FUNDAMENTAL But Reverend ASSEMBLIES may make more bold with Scripture then private persons And therefore I confesse I 'me so timerous that I durst not follow their example Though in a matter that I would never have imposed upon the belief of any man though I were certain on 't and had absolute power to injoyn it I think the onely way to preserve the reverence due to the oracles of Truth is never to urge their Authority but in things very momentous and such as the whole current of them gives an evident suffrage to But to make them speak every trivial conceit that our sick brains can imagine or dream of as I intimated is to vilisie and deflowre them Therefore though I think that several Texts of Scripture look very fairly upon Praeexistence and would encourage a man that considers what strong Reasons it hath to back it to think that very probably they mean some thing in savour of this Hypothesis yet He not urge them as an irrefutable proof being not willing to lay more stresse upon any thing then 't wil bear Yea I am most willing to confesse the weaknesse of my Cause in what joint soever I shall discover it And yet I must needs say that who ever compares the Texts that follow with some particulars mention'd in the answer to the objection of Scripture-silence will not chuse but acknowledge that there is very fair probability for Praeexistence in the written word of God as there is in that which is engraven upon our rational natures Therefore to bring together here what Scripture saith in this matter 1. â—e lightly touch an expression or two of the old Testament which not improperly may be applyed to the businesse we are in search of And me thinks God himselfe in his posing the great instance of patience Job seems to intimate somewhat to this purpose viz. that all spirits were in being when the Foundations of the earth were laid when saith he the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy By the former very likely were meant the Angels and 't is not improbable but by the latter may be intended the blessed untainted souls At least the particle All me thinks should comprize this order of spirits also And within the same period of discourse having question'd Job about the nature and place of the Light he Adds I know that thou wast then born for the number of thy days are many as the Septuagint render it And we know our Saviour and his Apostles have given credit to that Translation by their so constant following it Nor doth that saying of God to Jeremias in the beginnning of his charge seem to intimate lesse Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before thou camest out of the womb I gave thee wisdome as reads a very creditable version Now though each of these places might be drawn to another sense yet that onely argues that they are no necessary proof for Praeexistence which I readily acknowledge nor do I intend any such matter by alledging them However I hope they will be confest to be applicable to this sense and if there be other grounds that perswade this Hypothesis to be the truth 't is I think very probable that these Texts intend it favour which whether it be so or no we have seen already 2. For the Texts of the New Testament that seem to look pleasingly upon Praeexistence I shall as briefly hint them as I did the former And me thinks that passage of our Saviours prayer Father Glorifie me with the same glory I had with thee before the world began sounds somewhat to this purpose The glory which he prays to be restored to seems to concern his humane nature onely for the divine could never lose it And therefore it supposeth that he was in his humanity existent before And that his soul was of old before his appearance in a Terrestial body Which seems also to be intimated by the expressions of his comming from the Father descending from Heaven and returning thither again which he very frequently makes use of And we know the Divinity that fils all things cannot move to or quit a place it being a manifest imperfection and contray to his Immensity I might add those other expressions of our Saviour's taking upon him the forme of a servant of rich for our sakes becomming poor and many others of like import all which are very clear if we admit the doctrine of Praeexistence but without it somewhat perplex and intricate since these things applyed to him as God are very improper and disagreeing but appositely suit his Humanity to which if we refer them we must suppose our Hypothesis of Praeexistence But I omit further prosecution of this matter since these places have bin more diffusely urged in a late discourse to this purpose Moreover the Question of the Disciples Was it for this mans sin or for his Fathers that he was born blind and that answer of theirs to our Saviours demand whom men said he was in that some said he was John the Baptist some
senses Now what is thus trâ—e in respect of acts and particular exercises 〈◊〉 as much so in states and habits Moreover 't is apparent that the Plastick is then most strong and vigorous when our other faculties are wholly unimployed from the state of the womb For 〈◊〉 when she is at her Plastick work cealâ—th all other operations The same we may take notiâ— of in silk worms and other insects which lie as if they were dead and insensible while their lower powers are forming them into another appearance All which things put together give good evidence to the truth of our Axiom I 'le conclude this with one Remark more to prevent mistake Therefore briefly As the Soul alwayes acts by the body so in its highest exercises it useth some of the inferiâ—r powers which therefore must operate also So that some senâ—ces as â—ghs and somwhat analogous to hearing may be imployed in considerable degree even when the highest life is most predominant but then it is at the command and in the services of those nobler powers wherefore the sensitive life cannot for this cause be said to be invigourâ—ed since 't is under servitude and subjection and its gusts and pleasures are very weak and staccid As this is the reason of that clause in the principlo as to their proper exercises Having thus laid the Foundation and 〈◊〉 the Pillars of our building I now come to advance the Superstructure CHAP. XIV A Philosophical Hypothesis of the Souls â—aexistence THe Eternal and Almighty goodness the blessed spring and rooâ— of 〈◊〉 things made all his 〈◊〉 in the best happiest and most perfect condition that their respective natures rendred them capable of By Axiom the first and therefore they were then constituted in the inactuation and exercise of their noblest and most perfect powers Consequently the souls of men a considerable part of the divine workmanship were at first made in the highest invigouration of the spiritual and intellective faculties which were exercised in virtâ—e and in blissful contemplation of the supream Deity wherefore now by axiom 6 and 7 the ignobler and lower powers or the life of the bâ—ily were languid and reiâ—iss So that the most teâ—uious pure and simple matter being the fiâ—test instrumens for the most vigorous and spiritual faculties according to Principle 2 4 and 5. The soul in this condition was united with the most 〈◊〉 and athereal matter that it was capable of inacting and the inferior powers those relating to the body being at a very low ebb of exercise were wholly subservient to the superiour and imployed in nothing but what was serviceable to that higher life So that the sences did but present occasions for divine love and objects for contemplation and the plastick had nothing to do but to move this passive and â—asie body accordingly as the concerns of the higher faculties required Thus then did wee at first live and act in a pure and aethereal body and consequently in a place of light and blessedness by Principle 3d. But particularly to describe and point at this paradisaical residence can be done only by those that live in those serene regions of lightsom glory Some Philosophers indeed have adventured to pronounce the place to be the Sun that vast Oâ—b of splendor and brightness though it may be 't is more probable that those immense tracts of pure and quiet aether that are above Saturn are the joyous place of our ancient celestial abode But there is no determination in matters of such lubricous uncertainty where ever it is 't is doubtless a place and state of wonderful bliss and happiness and the highest that our natures had fitted us to In this state we may be supposed to have lived in the blissful exercise of virtue divine love and contemplation through very long Tracts of Duration But though we were thus unconceivably happy yet were we not immutably so for our highest perfections and noblest faculties being but finite may after long and vigorous exercise somewhat abatâ— and remit in their sublimest operations and Adam may fall a sleep In which time of remission of the higher powers the lower may advance and more livelily display themselves then they could before by Axiom 7 for the soul being a little slackt in its pursuits of immaterial objects the lower powers which before were almost wholly taken up and imployed in those high services are somewhat more releast to follow a little the tendencies of their proper natures And now they begin to convert towards the body and warmly to resent the delights and pleasures thereof Thus is Eve brought forth while Adam sleepeth The lower life that of the body is now considerably awakened and the operations of the higher proportionably abated However there is yet no anomy or disobedience for all this is but an innocent exercise of of those faculties which God hath given us to imploy and as far as is consistent with the divine laws to gratifie For it was no fault of ours that we did not uncessantly keep our spiritual powers upon the most intense exercises that they were capable of exerting we were made on for purpose defatigable that so all degrees of life might have their exercise and our maker designed that we should feel and taste the joyes of our congenite bodies as well as the pleasures of those seraphick aspires and injoyments And me thinks it adds to the felicity of that state that our happiness was not one uniform piece or continual repetition of the same but consisted in a most grateful variety viz. in the pleasure of all our faculties the lower as well as the higher for those are as much gratified by suitable exercises and enjoyments aâ— â—hese and contequently according to their proportion capable of as great an happiness Nor is it any more derogation from the divine goodness that the noblest and highest life was not always exercised to the height of its capacity then that we were not made all Angels all the Planets so many Suns and all the variety of the creatures form'd into one Species Yea as was intimated above 't is an â—astance of the divine benignity that he produced things into being according to the vast plenitude of Forms that were in his all knowing mind and gave them operations suitable to their respective natures so that it had rather seemed a defect in the divine dispensations if we had not had the pleasure of the proper exercise of the lower faculties as well as of the higher Yea me thinks 't is but a reasonable reward to the body that it should have its delights and gratifications also whereby it will be fitted for further serviceableness For doubtless it would be in time spent and exhausted were it continually imploy'd in those high and less proportion'd operations Wherefore God himself having so ordered the matter that the inferiour life should have its turn of invigouration it can be no evill in us that that is executed which he hath so
and the higher congruity of life being yet but imperfectly inchoated they would be detained prisoners here below by the chains of their unhappy natures were there not some extraordinary interposure for their rescue and inlargement wherefore when we contemplate the infinite fertility of the divine goodness we cannot think that he will let those seeds of piety and vertue which himself hath sown and given some increase to to come to nought or the honest possessors of them fatally to miscarry But that he will imploy his power for the compleating what he hath begun and the deliverance of those who have relyed upon his mercies But for the particular way and method how this this great iransaction will be accomplisht Philosophy cannot determine it Happy therefore are we who have the discoveryes of a more certain Light which doth not only secure us of the thing but acquaints us with the way and means that the Divine wisdome hath resolv'd on for the delivery of the righteous So that hereby we are assured that our ever blessed Redeemer shall appear in the clouds before this fiery fate shall have quite taken hold of the Earth and its condemned inhabitants The Glory of his appearance with his Caelestial Legions shall raise such strong love joy and triumph in his now passionately enamourd expectants as shall again enkindle that high and potent principle the spirit which being throughly awakened and excited will melt the grossest consistence into liquid Aether so that our bodyes being thus turned into the purest flame we shall ascend in those fiery Chariots with our Glorious Redeemer and his illustirous and blessed Attendants to the Caelestial habitations This is the Resurrection of the just and the Recovery of our antient blessedness Thus have some represented this great transaction But I dare warrant nothing in this matter beyond the declarations of the sacred scripturs therefore to proceed in our philosophicall conjectures However the good shall be delivered be sure the wicked shall be made a prey to the Scorching element which now rageth every where and suffer the Judgement threatened But yet the most degenerate part of mankind if we consult meere Reason and the Antient Eastern Cabbals who are detained prisoners in the now inflamed Almospheare shall not for ever be abandon'd to misery and ruin For they are still pretended to be under the eye and tender care of that Almighty goodness that made and preserveth all things that punisheth not out of malice or revenge and therefore will not pursue them to their utter undoing for ever But hath set bounds to their destruction and in infinite Wisdome hath so ordered the matter that none of his creatures shall be lost eternally or indure such an endlesse misery then which not Being it self were more eligible Wherefore those curious contemplators phancy that the unsupportable pain and anguish which hath long stuck to those miserable creatures will at length so consume and destroy rhat insensible pleasure and congruity that unites soul and body that the thus-miserably cruciated spirit must needs quit it's unfit habitation and there being no other body within its reach that is capable of a vitall union according to the tenor of this Hypothesis it must become senselesse and unactive by Axiom 4. And so be buried in a state of silence and inertness At length when these greedy flames shall have devoured what ever was combustible and converted into a smoak and vapour all grosser concretions that great orb of fire that the Cartesian Philosophy supposeth to constitute the centre of this Globe shall perfectly have recovered its pristine nature and so following the Laws of its proper motion shall fly away out of this vortex and become a wandring comet till it settle in some other But if the next Conflagration reach not so low as the inmost regions of the earth so that the central fire remains unconcern'd and unimploy'd in this combustion this Globe will then retain its wonted place among the Planets And that so it may happen is not improbable since there is plenty enough both of fiery principles and materials in those Regions that are nearer to the surface to set the Earth into a Lightsom flame and to do all that execution that we have spoken of Some conceive therefore that the conflagration will not be so deep and universal as this opinion supposeth it But that it may take beginning from a lesse distance and spendit self upwards And to this purpose they represent the sequel of their Hypothesis The Generall Restitution Those thick and clammy vapours which erstwhile ascended in such vast measures and had fil'd the vault of heaven with smoak and darknesse must at length obey the Laws of their nature and gravity and so descend again in abundant showres and mingle with the subsiding ashes which will constitute a mudd vegetative and fertile For those warm and benign beams that now again begin to visit the desolate Earth will excite those seminal principles into action which the Divine Wisdome and goodnesse hath mingled with all things Wherefore they operating according to their natures and the dispositions which they find in the restored matter will shoot forth in all sorts of flowers herbs and trees Making the whole Earth a Garden of delight and pleasure And erecting all the Phaenomena proper to this Element By this time the Ayre will be grown vitall again and far more pure and pleasant then before the fiery purgation Wherefore they conceive that the disbodyed soules shall return from their unactive and silent recesse and be joined again to bodyes of purified and duly prepared Ayre For their radaical aptitude to matter still remained though theyfell asleep for want of bodies of fit temper to unite with This is the summ of the Hypothesis as it is represented by the profoundly Learned Dr. H. More with a copious and pompous eloquence Now supposing such a recess of any souls into a state of in activity such a Restitution of them to life and action is very reasonable since it is much better for them to Live and operate again then to be uselesse in the universe and as it were nothing for ever And we have seen above that the Divine goodnesse doth always what is best and his wisdom is not so shallow as to make his creatures so as that he should be fain to banish them into a state that is next to non-entity there to remain through all duration Thus then will those lately tormented souls having smarted for their past iniquities be recovered both from their state of â—rtechednesse and insensibility and by the unspeakable benignity of their Maker placed once more in such conditions wherein by their own endeavours and the divine assistance they may amend what was formerly amiss in them and pursue any good Resolutions that they took while under thelash of the fiery tortures which thos that do when their good inclinations are perfected and the Divine Life again enkindled they shall in due time
ridiculous just like the common people who judging all customes and fashions by their own account those of other nations absurd and barbarous 'T is well for those smiling Confuters that they were not bred in Mahumetism for then without doubt they would have made sport of Christianity But since they are so disposed let them laugh at the opinion I have undertaken for till they understand it I know who in the judgement of wise men will prove Ridiculous It was from this very principle that the most considerable truthes that ever the world was acquainted with were to the Iews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness and 't was such a spirit as reigns in these children of self-confidence that call'd S. Paul a babler And methinks till these narrow scul'd people could boast themselves infallible and all their opinions an unerring Canon common modesty and civility should teach them better manners then at first dash to judge that a ridiculous absurdity which the greatest and wisest sages that inlightned the antient world accounted so sound and and probable a Conclusion Especially it being a matter not determin'd against but rather countenanc't in Scripture as will appear hereafter But opiniative ignorance is very weak immoral And till those slight and vulgar decerners have learn't that first principle of true wisdome To judge nothing till they throughly understand it have weighed it in the ballance of impartial Reason 't is to no purpose to spend ones breath upon them Courteous Reader in the Authours absence you are desired to correct the Printers Errours Lux Orientalis CHAP. I. The opinions proposed concerning the original of Souls IT hath always been found a matter of discouraging difficulty among those that have busied themselves in such Injuiries To determine the Soul 's original â—nsomuch that after all the contests and disputes that have been about it many of the wisest Inquisitors have concluded it undeterminable or if they have sate down in either of the 2 opinions viz. of it's immediate Creation or Traduction which of later ages have been the only competitors they have been driven to it rather from the absurdities of the opposite opinion which they have left then drawn by any rational alliciency in that which they have taken to And indeed if we do but impartially consider the grand inconveniences which each party urgeth against the others Conclusion it would even tempt one to think that both are right in their opposition and neither in their assertion And since each side so strongly oppugns the other and so weakly defends it self 't is a shrewd suspicion that they are both mistaken Wherefore if there be a third that can lay any probable claim to the truth it deserves to be heard to plead its cause and if it be not chargeable with the contradictions or absurdities either of the one or other to be admitted Now though these later ages have concluded the matter to lye between immediate Creation and seminal Traduction yet I find that the more antient â—imes have pitcht upon Praeexistence as more likely than either For the platoâ—nists Pythagoreans the Chaldâ—an Wise men the Jewish Rabbins and some of the most learned and antient Fathers were of this opinion Wherefore I think we owe so much at least to the Mentory of those grave Sages 〈◊〉 to examine this Doctrine of theirs and if neither of the later Hypotheses can ease our anxious minds or free themselves from absurdities and this Grey Dogma fairly clear all doubts and be obnoxious to no such contradictions I see no reason but we may give it a favourable admittance Till something else appear more concinnous and rational Therefore let us take some account of what the 2 first opinions alledge one against another and how they are proved by their promoters and defendants now if they be found unable to withstand the shock of one anothers opposition we may reasonably cast our eies upon the third to see what force it brings to vouch its interest and how it will behave it self in the encounter CHAP. II. Daily creation of Souls is inconsistent with the Divine Attributes THe first of these opinions that offers it self to Tryal is that God daily creates humane souls which immediately are united unto the bodies that Generation hath prepared for them Of this side are our later Divines and the generality of the Schoolmâ—n But not to be born down by Authoritys Let us consider what reason stands against it Therefore 1 If our Souls came immediately out of the hands of God when we came first into these bodies Whence then are those enormously brutish inclinations that strong natural proclivity to vice and impiety that are exstant in the children of men All the works of God bear his image and are perfect in their kind Purity is his nature and what comes from him proportionably to its capacity partakes of his perfections Every thing in the natural world bears the superscription of his wisdome and goodness and the same fountain cannot send forth sweet waters and bitter Therefore 't is a part of our alleagiance to our Maker to believe that he made us pure and innocent and if we were but just then framed by him when we were united with these terrestrial bodiâ—s whence should we contract such degenerate propensions Some tell us that this impuâ—ity was immediately deriv'd from the bodies we are unired to But how is it possible that purely passive insensible Matter should transfuse habits or inclinations into a Nature that is quite of an other Make and Quality How can such a cause produce an effect so disproportionate Matter can do nothing but by motion and what relation hath that to a moral contagion How can a Body that is neither capable of sense nor sin infect a soul as soon as 't is unied to it with such vitious debauched dispositions But others think to evade by saying That we have not these depravities in our natures but contract them by custome education and evill usages How then comes it about that those that have had the same care and industry used upon them and have been nurtured nuder the same d scipline and severe oversight do so vastly and even to wonder differ in their inclinations How is it that those that are under continual temptations to vice are yet kept within the bounds of vertue and sobriety And yet that others that have strong motives and allurements to the contrary should violently break out into all kinds of extravagance and impiety Sure there is some what more in the matter than those general causes which may be common to both and which many times have quite contrary effects 2 This Hypothesis that God continually creates humane souls in these bodies consists not with the honour of the Divine Attributes For 1 How stands it with the goodness and benignity of that God who is Love to put pure and immaculate spirits who were capable of living to him and with him into such
a delusion and submit so impotently to the first temptation He may please to consider that the difficulty is the same supposing him just then to have been made if we grant him but that purity and those great perfections both of will and understanding which orthodox theology allows him Yea again 4 I might ask What inconvenience there is in supposing that Adam himself was one of those delinquent souls which the divine pitty and compassion had thus set up again that so so many of his excellent creatures might not be lost and undone irrecoverabiy but might act anew though upon a lower stage in the universe A due consideration of the infinite foecundity and fulnesse of the divine goodnesse will if not warrant yet excuse such a supposition But now if it be demanded What Adam's standing had been to his posterity had he continued in the state of innocence and how sin and misery is brought upon us by his Fall according to this Hypothesis I answer that then among many other great priviledges he had transsmitted downwards by way of natural generation that excellent and blessed temper of body which should have been like his own happy crasis So that our apprehensions should have been more large and free our affections more regular and governable and our inclinations to what is good and vertuous strong and vigorous For we cannot but observe in this state how vast an influence the temper of our bodyes hath upon our minds both in reference to intellectual and moral dispositions Thus daily experience teacheth us how that according to the ebb or flow of certain humours in our bodies our witts are either more quick free and sparkling or else more obtuse weak and sluggish And we find that there are certain clean and healthy dispositions of body which make us cheerful and contented others on the contrary â—orose melancholly and dogged And 't is easie to observe how age or sicknesse sowres and crabbs our natures I might instance in allmost all other qualities of the mind which are strangely influencâ— and modifyed according to the bodie 's constitution But none will deny so plain a truth and therefore I forbear to insist further on it Nor need I mention any more advantages so many and such great ones being consequent upon this But our great Protoplast and representative falling through his unhappy disobedience besides the integrity and rectitude of his mind he lost also that blessed constitution of Body which would have been so great a priviledg to his off spring so that it became now corrupt weak and indisposed for the nobler exercises of the soul and he could transmit no better to us then himself was owner of Thus we fell in him and were made miserable by his transgression We have bodies convey'd to us which strangely do bewitch and betray us And thus we all bear about us the marks of the first apostacy There are other sad effects of his defection but this may suffice for my present purpose Thus we see how that the derivation of original depravity from Adam is as clear in this Hypothesis as can be pretended in either of the other And upon other Accounts it seems to have much the advantage of both of them As will appear to the unprejudiced in what is further to be discours'd of Finally therefore If the urgers of the Letter of Genesis of either side against this Hypothesis would but consider That the souls that descend hither for their praevarication in another state lye in a long condition of silence and insensibility before they appear in terrestrial bodies each of them then might from the doctrine of Praeexistence thus stated gain all the advantages which he supposeth to have by his own opinion and avoid all those absurdities which he seeth the other run upon If the Assertours of daily Creation think it clear from Scripture that God is the Father of Spirits and immediate maker of souls they 'l find the same made good and assented to in this Hypothesis And if they are unwilling to hold any thing contrary to the Nature of the soul which is immortal and indiscerpible the Doctrine of Praeexistence amicably closeth with them in this also And if the Patrons of Traduction would have a way how sin and misery may be propagated from our first Parent without aspersing the divine Attributes or affirming any thing contrary to the phaenomena of Providence and Nature this Hypothesis will clear the businesse It giving us so fair an Account how we all dye in Adam without blotting the Wisdome Justice or Goodnesse of God or affirming any thing contrary to the Appearances of Nature I have been the longer on this Argument because 't is like to be one main objection And we see it is so far from prejudicing that it is no inconsiderable evidence of the truth of Praeexistence And now besides this that I have named I cannot think of any Arguments from Scripture against this Doctrine considerable enough to excuse a mention of them However if the candid Reader will pardon the impertinency I 'le present to view what I find most colourable Therefore 2 It may be some are so inadvertent as to urge against our souls having been of old that Sacred writ says We are but of Yesterday which expression of divine Scripture is questionlesse to be understood of our appearance on this stage of Earth And is no more an Argument against our Praeexistence then that other phrase of his Before 〈◊〉 go hence and Bee no more is against our future existence in an other state after the present life is ended Nor will it prove more the business it is brought for then the expression of Rachels weeping for her Children because they were not will inferre that they were absolutely nothing Nor can any thing more be made 3 Of that place in Ecclesiastes Yea better is he than both they meaning the dead and living which hath not yet been since besides that 't is a like scheme of speech with the former it seems more to favour then discountenance Praeexistence for what is absolutely nothing can neither be worse nor better Moreover we comming from a state of silence and inactivity when we drop into these bodies we were before as if we had not been and so there is better ground in this case for such a manner of speaking then in meer non-appearance which yet scripture phraseth a Not being And now I cannot think of any place in the sacred volume more that could make a tolerable plea against this Hypothesis of our souls having been before they came into these bodyes except 4 Any will draw a negative Argument from the History of the Creation concluding that the Souls of men were not made of old because there is no mention there of any such matter To which I return briefly That the same Argument concludes against the being of Angells of whose creation there is no more say'd in the first story then of this inferiour rank
in a contrary belief when as others are as fatally set against these opinions and can never be brought favourably to resent them Every soul brings a kind of sense with it into the world whereby it tastes and relisheth what is suitable to its peculiar temper And notions will never lye easily in a mind that they are not fitted to some can never apprehend that for other then an Absurdity which others are so clear in that they almost take it for a First principle And yet the former hath all the same evidence as the latter This I have remarkably taken notice of in the opinion of the extension of a spirit Some that I know and those inquisiâ—ve free and ingenuous by all the proof and evidence that is cannot be reconciled to it Nor can they conceive any thing extended but as a Body Whereas other deep and impartial searchers into nature cannot apprehend it anything at all if not extended but think it must then be a mathematical point or a meer non-entity I could instance in other speculations which I have observ'd some to be passionate Embracers of upon the first proposal when as no arguments could prevail on others to think them tolerable But there needs no proof of a manifest observation Therefore before I goe further I would demand whence comes this meer notional or speculative variety were this difference about sensibles yea or about things depending on the imagination the influence of the body might then be suspected for a cause But since it is in the most abstracted Theories that have nothing to do with the grosser phantasmes since this diversity is found in minds that have the greatest care to free themselves from the deceptions of sense and intanglements of the body what can we conclude but that the soul it self is the immediate subject of all this variety and that it came praejudiced and prepossest into this body with some implicit notions that it had learnt in another And if this congruity to some opinions and averseneâ—e to others be congenial to us and not advenient from any thing in this state 't is me thinks clear that we were in a former For the soul in its first and pure nature hath no idiosynerasies that is hath no proper natural inclinations which are not competent to others of the same kind and condition Be sure they are not fatally determin'd by their natures to false and erroneous apprehensions And therefore since we find this determination to one or other falshood in many if not most in this state and since 't is very unlikely it is derived only from the body custom or education what can we conceive on 't but that our souls were tainted with these peculiar and wrong corruptions before we were extant upon this stage of Earth Besides 't is easie to observe the strange and wonderful variety of our geniusses one mans nature inclining him to one kind of study and imployment anothers to what is very different Some almost from their very cradles will be addicted to the making of figures And in little mechanical contrivances others love to be riming almost as soon as they can speak plainly and are taken up in smal essays of Poetry Some will be scrawling pictures and others take as great delight in some pretty offers at Musick and vocal harmony Infinite almost are the ways in which this pure natural diversity doth discover it selfe Now to say that all this variety proceeds primarily from the meer temper of our bodys is me thinks a very poor and unsatisfying Account For those that are the most like in the temperayr complexion of their bodys are yet of a vastly differing Genius Yea they that havebeen made of the same clay cast in the same mould and have layn at once in the same natural bed the womb yea whose bodies have been as like as their state and fortunes and their education usages the same yet even they do not unfrequently differ as much from each other in their genius and dispositions of the mind as those that in all these particulars are of very different condition Besides there are all kind of makes forms dispositions tempers and complexions of body that are addicted by their natures to the same exercises and imployments so that to ascribe this to any peculiarity in the Body is me seems a very improbable solution of the Phaenomenon And to say all these inclinations are from custom or education is the way not to be believed since all experience testifies the contrary What then can we conjecture is the cause of all this diversity but that we had taken a great delight and pleasure in some things like and analogous unto'these in a former condition which now again begins to put forth it selfe when we are awakened out of our silent recess into a state of action And though the imployments pleasures and exercises of our former life were without question very different from these in the present estate yet 't is no doubt but that some of them were more confamiliar and analogous to some of our transactions than others so that as any exercise or imployment here is more suitable to the particular dispositions that were praedominant in the other state with the more peculiar kindnesse is it regarded by us and the more greedily do our inclinations now fasten on it Thus if a Musitian should be interdicted the use of all musical instruments and yet might have his choice of any other Art or profession 't is likely he would betake himselfe to Limning or Poetry these exercises requiring the same disposition of wit and genius as his beloved Musick did And we in like manner being by the fate of our wretched descent hindred from the direct exercising our selves about the objects of our former delights and pleasures do yet assoon as we are able take to those things which do most correspond to that genius that formerly inspired us And now 't is time to take leave of the Arguments from Reason that give evidence for Praeexistence If any one think that they are not so Demonstrative but that they may be answered or at least evaded I pray him to consider how many demonstrations he ever met with that a good wit resolv'd in a contrary cause could not shuffle from the edge of Or let it be granted that the Arguments I have alledged are no infallible or necessary proofs yet if they render my cause but probable yea but possible I have won what I contended for For it having been made manifest by as good evidence as I think can be brought for any thing that the way of new creations is most inconsistent with the honor of the blessed Attributes of God And that the other of Traduction is most impossible and contradictious in the nature of things There being now no other way left but Praeexstence if that be probable or but barely possible 't is enough to give it the victory And whether all that hath been said prove
move to what is suitable to their natures This in sensibles is evident in the motions of consent and sympathy And the ascent of light and descent of heavy bodies must I doubt when all is done be resolv'd into a principle that is not meerly corporeal Yea supposing all such things to be done by the Laws os Mechanicks why may we not conceive that the other rank of beings spirits which are not subject to corporeal motions are also dispos'd of by a Law proper to their natures which since we have no other name to express it by we may call congruity We read in the sacred History that Judas went to his place And 't is very probable that spirits are convey'd to their proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a 〈◊〉 descends The placeâ—ifts would have the Soul of the world 〈◊〉 be the great Inforâ—ment of all such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also of the phenomina that â—e beyond the powers of â—asser And 't is no unlikely 〈◊〉 But I have 〈◊〉 need to ingage further about this 〈◊〉 not yet to speak more of this first part of my Principle since iâ— so nearly depends on what was said in be behalf of the former maxiâ— Yet of the 〈◊〉 we need a would or two When therefore we cannâ— give Accounâ— of things either by the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 or concenâ—able 〈◊〉 as likely some things relating to the States of Spirits and immaterial beings can be resolv'd by neither I say then we may have recourse to the Arbitrary managements of those invisible Ministers of Equity and Justice which without doubt the world is plentifully stored with For it cannot be conceived that those active spirits are idle or unimploy'd in the momentous concerns of the universâ— Yea the sacred volumne gives evidence oâ— their interposals in our affairs I shall need mention but that remarkable instance in Daâ—iel of the indeavours of the Prince of Persia and of Grecia to hinder Michael and the other Angel that were ingaged for the affairs of Fâ—les Or if any would evade this what think they oâ— all the apparitions of Angels in the olâ— Testament of their Pitching their Tents about us and being Ministring Spirits for our good To name no more such passages Now if those noble Spirits will ingage themselves in our trifling concernments doubtlesse they are very sedulous in those affairs that tend to the good and perfection of the Universe But to be brief Iadvance The Fourth Pillar 4 The Souls of men are capable of living in other bodies besides Terarestial And never Act but in some body or other FOr 〈◊〉 when I consider how deeply 〈◊〉 this state we are immersed in the body 〈◊〉 can â—ne thinks searce imagine that presently upon the quitting onâ—e we shall â—e stript of all corporetry for this would â—e such a jump as is seldome or never made in nature since by almost all iâ—ances that come under our observation his manifest that she â—seth to act by due â—nd orderly gradations and takes no precipition leaps from one extream to another T is very probable therefore that 〈◊〉 our immediately next state we shall â—ave another vehicle And then 2. 〈◊〉 that our Souls are immediately 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 more 〈◊〉 and sâ—bile body 〈◊〉 then this grosse outside T is 〈◊〉 thinks a good presumption that we shalâ— not be stripâ— and divested of our inmarâ— stole also when we leave this dull eartâ— behind us Especially 3. if we take noticâ— how the highest and noblest faculties and operations of the Soul are help'd on by somewhat that is corporeal and that iâ— imployeth the bodily Spirits in it's subliâ— mest exercises we might then be perswaâ— ded that it alwayes 〈◊〉 some body oâ— other and never Acts without one Anâ— 5. since we cannot conceive a Soul to Live or Act that is insensible and sincâ— we know not how there can be sencâ— where there is no union with matter we should me seems be induc'd to think thaâ— when 't is 〈◊〉 from all body 't is 〈◊〉 and silent For in all seâ—sations there is corporeal motion as all Philosophy and Experience testifies And these motions bâ— come sensible representations by virtue of the union between the 〈◊〉 and it's confeder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that when it is loosâ— and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from any body whatsoever it will be unconcerned in all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and â—o sence or perceptions will be convey'd by them Nor will it make any thing at all against this Argument to urge that there are 〈◊〉 and purely unembodyed Spirits in the Universe which live and act without relation to any body and yet these are not insensible For what they know and 〈◊〉 they know we are very incompetent judges of they being a sort of Spirits specifically distinct from out order And therefore their faculties and operations are of a very diverse consideration from ours So that for us to deny what we may reasonably argue from the contemplation of our own â—atures because we cannot comprehend the natures of a species of creatures that are far above us is a great mistake in the way of reasoning Now how strange soever this principle may seem to those whom customary opinions have seasoned with an other â—e lief yet considering the Reasons I have alleged I cannot forbear concluding it very probable and if it prove hereafter serviceable for the helping us in some concerning Theories I think the most wary and timerous may admit it till upon good grounds they can disprove it The Fifth Pillar 5 The soul in every state hath such a body as is fittest for those faculties and operations that it is most inclined to exercise 'T Is a known Maxime That every thing that is is for its operation and the contriver and maker of the world hath been so bountiful to all beings as to furnish them with all suitable and necessary requisites for their respective actions for there are no propensities and dispositions in nature but some way or other are brought into actual exercise otherwise they were meer nullities and impertinent appendices Now for the imployment of all kinds of faculties and the exerting all manner of operations all kinds of instruments will not suffice but only such as are proportion'd and adapted to the exercises they are to be used in and the agents that imploy them 'T is clear therefore that the soul of man a noble and vigorous agent must be fitted with a suitable body according to the Laws of that exact distributive justice that runs through the Universe and such a one is most suitable as is fittest for those exercises it propends to for the body is the souls instrument and a necessary requisite of action Whereas should it be otherwise God would then have provided worse for his worthiest creatures then he hath for those that are of a much inferior rank and order For if we look about us upon all the creatures of God that are exposed to our Observation
is expired But if all alike live in bodies of air in the next condition where is then the difference between the â—nst and the wicked in state place and body For the just we have said already that some of them are re-instated in their pristiâ—e happiness and felicite and others are in a middle state within the confines of the Air perfecting the inchoations of a better life which commenc'd in this As for the state and place of those that have lived in a continual course of sensuality and forgetfulness of God I come now to declare what we may fancie of it by the help of natural light and the conduct of Philosophy And in order to this discovery I must premise some what concerning the earth this globe we live upon which is that we are not to conceive it to be a full bulky mass to the center but rather that 〈◊〉 somwhat like a suckt Egg in great part an hollow sphear so that what we tread upon is but as it were an Arch or Bridge to divide between the upper and the lower regions Not that this inward â—llowness is a meer void capacity for there are no such chasms in nature but doubtless replenisht it is with some â—uid bodies or other and it may be a kind of aire fire and water Now thiâ— Hypothesis will help us easily to imagine how the earth may move notwithstanding the pretended indisposition of its Bulk and on that account I beleeve it will be somewhat the more acceptable with the free and ingenious Those that understand the Cartesian Philosophy will readily admit the Hypothesis at least as much of it as I shall have need of But for others I have little hopes of perswading them to any thing and therefore Il'â— spare my labour of going about to prove what they are either uncapable of or at first dash judge ridiculous And it may be most will grant as much as is requisite for my purpose which is That there are huge vast cavities within the body of the earth and it were as needless as presumptious for me to go about to determine more Only I shall mention a probability that this gross crust which we call earth is not of so vast a profoundâ— as is supposed and so come more press to my business 'T is an ordinary observation among them that are imployed in mines and subterraneous vaults of any depth that heavy bodies lose much of their gravity in those hollow caverns So that what the strength of several men cannot stir above ground is easily moved by the single force of one under it Now to improve this experiment 't is very likely that gravity proceeds from a kind of magnetism and attractive virtue in the earth which is by so much the more strong and vigorous by how much more of the attrahent contributes to the action and proportionably weaker where less of the magnetick Element exerts its operation so that supposing the solid earth to reach but to a certain and that not very great distance from the surface and 't is obvious this way to give an account of the Phoenomenon For according to this Hypothesis the gravity of those bodies is lesse because the quantity of the earth that draws them is so whereas were it of the same nature and solidity to the center this diminution of its bulk and consequently virtue would not be at all considerable nor in the least sensible Now though there are other causes pretended for this effect yet there is none so likely and easie a solution as this though I know it also is obnoxious to exceptions which I cannot now stand to to meddle with all that I would have is that 't is a probability and the mention of the fountains of the great deep in the sacred History as also the flaming Vulcanoes and smoking mountains that all relations speak of are others Now I intend not that after a certain distance all is fluid matter to the ceâ—ter For the Cartefian Hypothesis distributes the subterranean space into distinct regions of divers matter which are divided from each other by as solid walls as is the open air from the inferiour Atmosphear Therefore I suppose only that under this thick outside there is next a vast and large region of fluid matter which for the most part very likely is a gross and faâ—lid kind of air as also considerable proportions of fire water under all which there may be other solid floors that may incompass and cover more vaults and vast hollows the contents of which 't were vanity to go about to determine only 't is very likely that as the admirable Philosophy of Des Cartes supposeth the lowest and central Regions may be filled with flame and aether which suppositions though they may seem to some to be but the groundless excursions of busie imaginations yet those that know the French Philosophy and see there the Reasons of them will be more candid in their censures and not so severe to those not ill-framed conjectures Now then being thus provided I return again to prosecute my main intendment Wherefore 't is very probable that the wicked and degenerate part of mankindare after death committed to those squallid subterraneous habitations in which dark prisons they do severe penance for their past impletyes And have their sences which upon earth they did so fondly indulge and took such care to gratifie now persecuted with darknesse stench and horror Thus doth the divine justice triumph in punishing those viâ—e apostatet suitably to their delinquencyes Now if those vicious souls are not carried down to the infernal caverns by the meer congruity of their natures as is not so easie to imagine we may then reasonably conceive that they are driven into those dungeons by the invisible Ministers of justice that manage the affairs of the world by Axiom 3. For those pure spirits doubtless have a deep sence of what is just and for the good of the universe and therefore will not let those inexcusable wretches to escape their deserved castigations or permit them to resicle among the good lest they should infect and poyson the better world by their examples Wherefore I say they are disposed of into those black under-Abysses where they are suited with company like themselves and match't unto bodies as impure as are their depraved inclinations Not that they are all in the same place and under the like torments but are variously distributed according to the merits of their natures and actions some only into the upper prisons others to the Dungeon And some to the most intollerable Hell the Abysse of fire Thus doth a just Nemesis visit all the quarters of the universe Now those miserable prisoners cannot escape from the places of their confinement for 't is very likely that those watchfull spirits that were instrumental in committing them have a strict and careful eye upon them to keep them within the confines of their goal that they roave not out into the