divers other great things here named And in these Sayings I am at Agreement with him without believing these things are done by the Soul alone but by the Person in Composito chiefly acted therein by the Faculty and Power of its Reason Here he quotes an Author that says Homo solus est animus corpus autem hominis opus instrumentum animus intelligentiam exercet sine ullo corporis instrumento In English thus The Soul only is the Man and the Body is but the Souls Organ or Instrument and the Soul can exercise its Faculty of Vnderstanding without any Assistance of the Bodily Organs But this Quotation proves no more to me than that there are other Men who are of Mr. W's Opinion and think as he doth which there was no need at all to prove because I stand convinc'd that the World of Men in general are so But let Mr. W. prove that those Words of his Author are true and then Erit mihi magnus Apollo I will give up the Cudgels to him and confess him Victorious in this Dispute For I am agreed with Aristotle in the beginning of his Book de Anima That if the Soul ever was known to do or can be proved able to do any thing without assistance of the Body and its Organs such Proof will be Evidence enough to Convince considering Persons that she hath a Nature and Subsistence of her own wherein she can act in a state of Seperation from the Body But of this Power I find no more Proof but the Saying recited in this Quotation P. 42. Mr. W. says If the Soul will the Feet walk the Hands work and so for the Motion of the Eyes and other like things All which I pass as before for a Mistake mendable by saying If the Man will the Feet walk and the Hands work and the like Further in his Fifthly he saith The Soul is Vitally united with the Body and by virtue of that Vnion enlivens and acts it Thereunto I say That the Spirit of Life in Man or the Body make but one Person who whilst he lives moves directs and acts himself and uses his Intellective Voluntary and Memorative Powers and Faculties with full Liberty according to his own liking and pleasure naturally He speaks here of a Vital Union between the Body and the Soul which Expression I do not Approve because they both together make but one Person as two Ingredients which make but one Compositum not as two different things that are united and joyned together but as Ingredients may be totally mixed and a new Product arise out of them all so as that if any of them be wanting in the Composition the Product cannot truly be the same it was before P. 43. He says That to tell you what the Soul is so as to make it an Intelligible Notion is not so impossible a thing as some have conceiv'd it to be Thereto I say that by such Descriptions as he hath before made of the Soul and all that he hath hitherto spoken thereof I am not able to understand or believe any more coneerning his sort of Soul than I did before I began to peruse his Treatise The Repetition of those things which he saith he hath performed I pass over as finding no Proving Force among them I find no more Chapters in this Treatise than those Four which have before been Examined but that here Mr. W. begins to alter his Method and to divide the rest of his Treatise by Arguments to the Number of Eighteen of which he Treats distinctly and severally in his following Discourse and I purpose to follow him therein and use the same Method in my Observations The First Argument PAge 44. Mr. W. Says That upon Gods breathing into Adam He is in the Text called a Liveng Soul a Denomination taken from the more excellent Part of Man his Soul This Expression seems to Agree with what I have formerly spoken That here the Words a Living Soul signifie and intend a Living Person putting the more noble Part or Ingredient to signifie the whole Person so as it passes in his Judgment for a Figurative Expression P. 46. Mr. W. Says When God Breathed which he properly doth not there is something else meant which can be nothing else but a special Act of Creation by which he made the Spirit or Breath of Life which he breathed into Man I Answer That in the Text there is no express mention of a Creation either of Breath or Spirit P. 47. He Says By the Breath of God is meant that Act of Divine Power by which God made Man and gave Life to him I am not willing to differ from Mr. W. and therefore agree to this Expression He quotes Ps 33.6 By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth The later of them alluding to God's Power shewed in the Creation of Adam but thence he infers This Breathing into Adam must be look'd upon as the Creating somewhat But I find no strength at all in this Inference nor that it proves with any strength of Cohersion the Creation of any thing save Adam's Body at the time when God made Man And I grant that then whatsoever was Created besides his Body was a Creature But I do not herein find any manner of Proof that God then Created a Soul for Adam Here Mr. W. Repeats his former Argument concerning the signification of the Hebrew Word which our Translators have rendred by the Term of Breath and says That the same Word doth also sometimes signifie Spirit To this I say That our Translators thought it not fit to render it by the Term of Spirit in this place and I value their Judgment before those of Mr. W. or Mr. Buxtorf and therefore take that Word to signifie most properly in this place the Breath of Life P. 48. He pretends the words should run thus God breathed or created in Man the Breath of Life or that Spirit or Soul of Life And in truth if the words had run so they would have run much better for the maintainance of his Opinion than now they do but I do not perceive by what Authority he takes upon him so to Correct or as some may take it Corrupt the Text. The Breathing which he says discover'd a New Created Spirit to be there I say detected only a Spirit of Life to be there which was tinded and kindled in the Spirits of the Blood and Humours then fitted and ready for that Operation by the moderate fanning of that Breath which God or his Agents then breathed into Adam's Nostrils and this was the humane Spirit of Life tinded and kindled by that Breath of Life and from that time to this time it is and must be continually kept Flaming or Glowing by the constant respirations and fanning of this Breath by want of which this Flame would be Extinguished in a short time or a very few moments of it
OBSERVATIONS UPON Mr. WADSWORTH's BOOK OF The Souls Immortality and his Confutation of the Opinion of the Souls Inactivity to the Time of General Resurrection 80. Printed London 1670. IN his Epistle to the Reader Page 2. he says There are certain sober Professors of Christianity who tho they deny the Existence of the Soul separate from the Body yet they maintain the Resurrection of the whole Man at the Last Day to receive Recompences according to their deservings in this life and thereupon asks the Question Is not that sufficient to uphold Religion and a due Reverence of God in the World In answer to which Question he says There are some Professors among us who deny the Resurrection of the Body as some of the Quakers are said to do but yet believe the Returning of the Spirit to God who gave it and then concludes That between one of these Opinions and the other all Recompences future to this life may come to be discredited and exploded Upon which his manner of arguing I observe That he seems to set up if not invent the Opinion of Denying the Resurrection of the Person and yet believing that Humane Spirits return to God who gave them Concerning which Opinion I say I never heard of the like before which makes me think it may be an Invention and the rather because he gives no better Confirmation of the Truth of it then that some of the Quakers are said to hold it whereas I rather apprehend the truth to be that neither the Quakers nor any other Christians ever did or do deny the Resurrection of the Dead and further I conceive that no reasonable man who reads and believes the Scriptures can deny or very much doubt the truth of that Prime Article of our Faith The Resurrection of the Dead and further I conceive That if the Souls Immortality had any thing near a like clear proof in Scripture that we find in it for the Resurrection of the Dead both I and all other Doubters of such Immortality would be ready to assent and submit to that Opinion whence I apprehend he pretends to set up that which he calls the Quaking Opinion on purpose to discredit and deâ—ery the Practice of mens setting up their rest and expectation upon the clear and undeniable Article of the Resurrection of the Dead But that Article is too well founded and too clearly evidenced by the Scripture to be shaken or brought in question by any Inventions of Men whatsoever Page 4. Mr. W. says Having sometimes found my own mind hopled and troublesomely intangled with the perplexity of conceiving how my Soul could possibly exist in a separate state from my Body to which I 〈…〉 so strictly united and with which I found it by experience so much so sympathize in this its union Thus he conâ—â—â—â— himself to have doubted of the Humane Soul 's Separate Subsistence adding That he believed divers others might be troubled with the like doubtings and his intent in writing this Book was to propound to them such Arguments as had satisfied the doubts of his own mind Hereupon I observe That this Author was by Profession a Minister of the Gospel as appears by the Title Page of his Book that he was a man of great Reading Wit and Industry as plainly appears in the tenour and course of his Writing that he was a true and sincere Professor of the Christian Religion and knew very well as in some places of this Book he testifies that the Primitive Christians and later Churches both Romish and Reformed the Mahometane Churches the Heathen Priests Poets and Philosophers and a great number of the Jews and Proselytes of that Church have professed with a great Unanimity and Universality to hold and believe the Natural Subsistence of the Humane Soul in a State of Separation from the Body and yet the Natural Evidences of the strict Union betwixt the Soul and Body and the necessary Assistance which the one of them gives to the other for the production of Life and Action in the Person appear'd so strong to the Rational Mind or Faculty of this Writer as they had power to make him doubt of the possibility or at least the probability of the Souls Natural Subsistence in a State of Separation from the Body and hence I am apt to infer that if a Man framed de meliori luto so munited and assisted as this Writer was did fall into doubts concerning the Natural Subsistence of the Humane Soul in a state of Separation from the Body it seems nothing strange or wonderful that other persons less fortified should fall into the like doubts and scruples that he did without falling from the sincere Profession of the Christian Religion because perhaps they may recover from those doubts and errours wherein they are now involved and next because such Errour as may be in this Opinion seems meerly Speculative and to have little or no influence upon the Lives and Practices of Men however some may put a higher value thereupon then perhaps the thing it self may deserve for that it commonly seems to affect more the terror of the dying than the restraining evil persons from sinning and even at mens deaths it seems to lay more terrour upon the weak and fearful than upon the most sinful and wicked persons and in the practices of men it seems provable and granted by all parties that what will make a happy Immortality will likewise make a happy Resurrection and what will make the one miserable will make the other so too because the Tree lies as it falls and as Death leaves us so shall Judgment find us and therefore I conclude that if men do happen to fall under such scruples and do even doubt the Natural Subsistence of the Humane Soul in a state of Separation from the Body and for obtaining better satisfaction thereupon do declare such doubts and scruples to the world with the reasons and grounds upon which the same is founded they may not for their so doing really deserve to be black'nd with the Names and Titles of Epicure Sadducee Deist Atheist and other odious Epithets which men of eager Spirits do frequently use to bestow upon others who differ from them in any sort of Opinions which may be controverted amongst them and seems to be a practice very much opposing Charity and the Doctrines of the Gospel Page 5. Mr. W. saith His Mind in this Treatise is to confirm the faith of those who believe the Souls Immortality or to raise up those that are fallen into the doubts and scruples before mentioned of which sort he was informed there are not a few among the otherwise serious Professors of Christianity in England who notwithstanding such scruples might pass with our Author for good Christians who are to stand and fall by their Masters Judgment in such Cases without being subjected or subjecting themselves to the sharp Censures of other violent or uncharitable persons He says Besides such doubters there are other
confident in the Merit of their Actions who I think make the greater Number of People in the World his Opinion of the Souls Immortality and the immediate passing from Death to Judgement and fiery Condemnation of ill deserving People gives Terror and Affrightment rather than Comfort and Support to by far the greatest part of People in the World and if the Tenet be not true and cannot be sufficiently proved to the Understandings and Consciences of Men it may then pass for a Scare-Crow to the Bad and a Staff of Reed to such good People as may put their Confidence in it Mr. W. further demands Can any hearty Lover of the Lord Jesus think of the Interruption of his Communion with him from Death to Judgment without great Regret and Trouble of Mind And he says He is sure the Generation of the Righteous think it much otherwise To this I Answer That the Generation of the Righteous may think some one thing and some another and thereupon I conceive that divers of them will be very well contented with such a Portion of Happiness as the Spirit in the Revelation tells us they shall enjoy in the Words Yea saith the Spirit they rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them and at the end of that Rest shall overtake them and be joined again to them at the end and time of their intended Resurrection P. 5. He further demands Is this enough to quiet the fervent Longings of the Divine Nature in us after Immortality and to satisfie our lively Hope of an Eternal Life with God and the Lamb Away says he This is but to trifle with the greatest Concernments of the Lords People To which I Answer This seems but a Rhetorical Flourish without any true Substance in the matter of it It seems a kind of Cant which I do not well understand when he speaks of quieting the servent Longings of the Divine Nature in us after Immortality This may perhaps seem plain to Men of his Kidney and Constitution but to me it looks like a Riddle me what is this For I know of no Divine Nature in one man more than in another and I do not conceive it natural for Men to be troubled with such Longings after Immortality as he pretends here to describe I think Men do sometimes long for things which they do desire and have a likely and very strong Hope to obtain but those who entertain no Hopes of an Intermediate State betwixt Death and the Resurrection must be very weak in their Rationals if they trouble themselves with any Longings after such a State or receive any Disappointment upon their going without it P. 6. Mr. W. enters into somewhat a long Discourse wherein he largely Censures and Condemns such as maintain the Souls Extinguishment at the Dissolution of the Humane Person I will spend no Time in giving particular Answers thereunto but content my self with only saying thereupon that it all wants Proof and passes with me for a Non sequitur which hath no strength of Argument in it concerning that Question about which we now differ P. 7. Mr. W. quotes that Prophecy which gives A Woe to those who make the Hearts of the Righteous sad whom the Lord hath not made sad and Applies those Words to those who oppose his Opinion of the Souls Immortality And thereupon this seems to be the Case those who maintain a Point of Doctrine contrary to Truth which may make the Righteous sad the Woe pronounced by this Prophet pertains to that Maintainer whence if the Souls Extinguishment at the Death of the Party be not true it may probably make the Hearts of some Righteous People sad whom God hath not made sad and then our Prophets Woe may justly be imposed upon such Maintainers But if otherwise it should so fall out that this Opinion be True and that of the Souls Immortality be an Error Then those whose Hearts are made sad by that Doctrine which I conceive are by far the greatest Number of People in the World are so sadned by an Erroneous Tenet deliver'd without a sufficient Warrant from God And in this manner the Hearts of such People will be made sad whom God hath not made sad And thereupon I conclude that if the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality be not True the Woe delivered in this Prophecy will as justly take hold of the Maintainers of it as it will do upon their Opposers if they maintain an Errour altho' they may think themselves to have the Right in this Point P. 7. He pretends that we have or may have once learn'd to know that God hath framed us for an uninterrupted perpetuity of living I say to this I am assured in my self and both can and do assure my Reader that if I did know or believe what he says in this Place to be true I would readily submit to his Dictator-ship in it without any further proceeding in a Dispute of this Nature But I do neither know nor believe the Truth of what he says in this Place conceiving it still more probable that the Soul extinguisheth at the Death of the Person and is neither Immortal nor Intelligent having no other Place of Subsistence but in the Body CHAP. II. PAge 8. Mr. W. says That he will enquire into the divers Acceptations of the Word Soul in Scripture or what is there usually intended by that Term and says in Scripture there are five Significations thereof First he says The Soul is there taken for the whole Person of Man Secondly Soul is there taken for the Body of Man only Thirdly Soul is taken for the Life of the Body Fourthly he says Soul is taken for the dead Carcass of a Man Fifthly The Word Soul is taken for the Rational Soul of Man whereby he stands in a kind of Level with Angels By which I suppose he intends the Humane Soul producing Life and Action in the Person which he says is Immortal and labours to prove it so and therefore brings Instances out of Scripture to shew the Truth and Practice of these Significations And hereupon I observe That his first Acceptation of the Word Soul for the whole Person of Man constituted of Soul and Body is very common throughout the whole Course of the Scripture well proved by the Instances which he gives to which Hundreds more might be added if any need should arise for the so doing But the Instances of his Second Signification seem not to prove what he intends by them for that the Iron entering into Joseph's Soul seems not to be intended only of his Body but of his Person for that his Body without a Soul could not be sensible or capable of suffering thereby His next Instance is of sending Leanness into the Souls of those that eat the Quails It seems the Word Soul here doth also intend the whole Persons of the Eaters for that Bodies cannot eat or be nourished without their Souls Concerning his Third Saying That Soul is taken
you may be there also Here the Time when Christ would receive his Chosen to himself and to be where he is is declared to be the second time with his coming to Judgment Joh. 5.27 God the Father hath given Authority to the Son to execute Judgment also because he is the Son of Man Ver. 22. Christ says The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son Ver. 28. Mervail not at this that the Father hath given Authority of Judgment to the Son because he is the Son of Man for the time is coming in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Here Christ because he is the Son of Man is made by his Father the Judge of Quick and Dead all the World shall hâ—ar his Voice and come to Judgment before him and if the Father judge no Man but have committed all Judgment to Christ because he is or as he is the Son of Man What room is there left for intermediate Judgments oâ— the 〈◊〉 going to God for Judgment at the Death of every 〈◊〉 as is pretended from Solomons transient 〈…〉 returns to God that gave it 〈…〉 of the Soul to God 〈…〉 intermediate judgment 〈…〉 going before 〈…〉 and seeking to be united again to Him as Men have thought it drew its Original from him Joh. 6. Ver. 39 40 44 54. In the Four Verses quoted and marked out of this Chapter our Lord declares both to his own Disciples and to the Jews That whoso doth his Will and keep his Commandments he will raise them up at the last day and give them Happiness and great Rewards without mention of an intermediate State between Death and that Resurrection Luke 14.13 14. Our Lord himself directs When thou makest a Feast call the Poor the Maimed the Lame and the Blind and thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompence thee for thou shalt be recompenced at the Resurrection of the Just. And so Heb. 11.35 After a large Catalogue of the Saints Sufferings the Apostle says That they would not accept of Deliverance because they expected a better Resurrection The same Apostle 1 Cor. 15.32 says If after the manner of Men I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus What advantageth it me if the dead rise not Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die And there is an end of us As if he had said the Sufferings of Christians for the Name of Christ shall avail them nothing if there be not a Resurrection of the Dead and I demand some one Text of Scripture to be produced which expresses or with any Clearness says That any Man or Men ever did or suffer'd any thing to the Intent or with Expectation of having their Soul or Souls carried into Abraham's Bosome after the Death of their Persons To our Fore-quoted Texts may be added the Testimony of St. Peter 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoice inasmuch as ye are made Partakers of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding great Joy So Chap. 5.1 he says I who am also a Partaker of the Glory which shall be revealed exhort you that are Elders of the Church to do the Duties faithfully and when the Chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory which sadeth not away He doth not say Have Patience unto to the Time of your Death and then your Souls shall be transported into a place of Bliss and Happiness 1 Joh. 2.28 That Apostle says And now Little Children abide in Him Christ that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming Jam. 5.7 That Apostle says Be patient therefore Brethren unto the coming of our Lord which he saith draws nigh without mentioning of any Reward after Death unto the coming of our Lord. Jude 17. Says The Lord cometh with Ten Thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all the Vngodly amongst Men. And thus I have quoted a great Cloud of very knowing Witnesses viz. our Lord Himself and all his writing Apostles which are come to our Hands for the undeniable Proof of this Point viz. That the Faithful dy'd and suffered many great things in assured Hope and Expectation of great Rewards to be given and Punishments to be inflicted at the Time of our Lord's second Appearing of the Resurrection and of the Last Judgment without finding any foot-steps of the Souls Immortality it 's Seperate Subsistence from the Body or any Rewards or Punishments to be bestowed upon it in the space of time intermediate between Death and our Lord's Second Appearing I now return to a further Consideration of our Author's Quotations who Pag. 14. goes on and quotes 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's Which I think intends no more than if it had been said Glorifie God in your selves or in your whole Persons which are God's Then he quotes Mat. 10.28 Men that can kill the Body are not able to kill the Soul We shall hear this Objection more fully offered in another Place and thither I refer my Reader for an Answer to it He next quotes 1 Cor 7.1 where the Words are Dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit Here by the Terms Flesh and Spirit the Apostle intends Man's Sensual Afâ—â—ctions and Appetites by the Term Flesh and the Rational Mind or Faculty of Man by the Term Spirit And this Tropical sort or manner of expressing himself I conceive to be very much used in this Apostles Writings Next he quotes Gal. 5.17 which says The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other This I think to be another of this Apostles Expressions to be taken in the same intent and meaning with the former as a Conclusion to the Texts before quoted He says he could quote more Texts to prove that wide Difference which he pretends to be between the Soul and Body I say to this that if he knew of more Texts very pertinent to this Purpose I think he ought not to have spared his Pains in the Quotation of them But saith he The Texts which I have already quoted are abundantly sufficient for the Proof of my first Proposition Which first Proposition I think to have been That the Soul was of a quite different nature from the Body viz. That the Soul was an Immortal Intelligent Spirit which can subsist by it self and in a state of seperation from the Body and the Body it self but a Compositum of Dust and Ashes into which it shall be again resolved soon after the Death of the Person The Later Part of this Proposition he neither hath offered to Prove nor needed to do it because it
is a Truth granted on both sides but his labour hath been to prove That the Soul is a seperable intelligent Spirit and of a quite different Nature from the Body But I think he hath here given very little Proof to that Purpose so far from being abundantly sufficient as that I think it scarce touches upon the Verges of his intended Proposition but how sufficiently he hath thereof acquitted himself I do freely and willingly leave to the Judgment of such Persons as may happen to peruse our Writings P. 15. Mr. W. delivers his second Proposition which he says is this That the Soul and Body are not only Two in number but that they are two Beings of a very different Nature His second Proposition seems to be so near of kin to his first that the Difference between them is not very evident and the Proof which he gives of this second Proposition seems to be coincident with the Proofs which he gave of the former for he says here That the Soul was immediately created by God Which Supposal he had before laid down as a Proof of his first Proposition and I have given it before such an Answer as satisfies my own Understanding And therefore I shall need to say no more of it here but that it passes with me for an unsound and fallacious Opinion whence I think fit to reject without further Examination all the Inferences and Arguments which he may pretend to draw from so unweak and unsound a Supposition He quotes for a Proof of it Gen. 2.7 which was before examined and in this place I shall say no more of it He says further The Body and all its Parts are but lifeless senseless things in themselves And herein I grant he says true and so are the Three Elements of Fire Air and Water and yet the two former are of so Active a Nature that they are always in Motion like those Particles which we call Motes in the Sun and therefore may justly have the Reputation of self-moving Principles And Water hath a propensity to Motion so natural that give it but a declivity and it can have no rest till it come to a place so even as it may stand in an Equilibrium free from the Impulse of any declination whatsoever It seems then that upon rinding and kindling the pullulent steams of Old Adam's Blood and Humours ready for that purpose that Breath which God then breathed into his Nostrils became the Breath of Life to him by kindling the Flame of Life in those Steams of his Blood and Humours which God had made ready for that Operation and this Flame or glowing of the Blood was immediately catch'd and disperss'd into the Vital and all other Parts of the Body putting them all in Motion and Attendency to perform all those Operations for which God had made them and we may conceive were intended to be produced in the Person then Created and in all other Persons which should after be Generated by Him Whence it seems that what is called the Breath of Life to Adam the same Breath or ambient Air became the Breath of Life to all Posterity For by this Medium sucked in by the Lungs the Flame of Life first kindled in the Body is fann'd and kept glowing in the Blood and Humours thereof And thus the Flame of Life must be continually fann'd maintain'd and purified by the Breath and by the Vigor and Activity of this Inflammation the Blood and Humours are kept in perpetual Motion and in a durable and endless Circulation so long as the Parts of the Body are able to endure the Activity of such Motion and until by Age or Decay of some of the Bodily Parts Corruption or Stagnation of the Blood or by some Accident this Flame of Life happen to be totally extinguish'd throughout every Part and Member of the Body and such total Extinguishment of the Vital Flame I esteem to be the Death of the Person Finding and believing That the Breath of Man and Beast is so necessary in them for maintaining the Flame of Life that by a short stoppage of the same by a Halter a Bow-string a piece of Phlegm or by a Fly sticking in ones Throat stopping the Mouth and Nostrils with a Cloth as Hazael served his Master Benhadab or any like Accidents both Man and Beast soon die and therefore such Means are often used for doing Execution upon them and the Reason thereof seems to be the Suffocation and Stifeling of this Vital Flame which can no longer by Natural Means be maintained without the fanning of this Breath of Life drawn from the ambient Air which passing through the Lungs is thence communicated to all the Entrails of the Body And from these Grounds I Argue That tho the Blood and Humours be but Matter and unintelligent in themelves as well as the Flesh Bones and other gross Parts of he Body yet God's great Wisdom hath so framed the Microcosm or Person and so organiz'd the Bodies of them as that every Part is fitted and ready for those Acts for which they were intended and these Organs rightly moved and acted by the Spirits inflamed and Humours of the Body do in a right Mixture one with another and by the working of such Spirits among and upon the Organs produce or effect thelocal Motions Senses and such Intelligence as pertain to Men and Beasts and are produced acted and performed in the several Species of them so long as those Spirits and Humours are maintained in the Body by a due Refection and Nourishment and so long as this Vital Flame continues to be fanned by the due Respirations both of Man and Beast And this I give for an Answer to the second Proof of his second Proposition concerning the vast Diversity as he calls it of the Nature of the Soul from that of the Body Mr. W. goes on to a Third Proof of this Diversity and saith The Body is often tired and spent and indisposed to Action when at the same time the Soul hath a Will and is bent to Action Which I thus Paraphrase The Man his Mind Affections or Will may be strongly bent to Action when his Bodily Members may be very weary and his Spirits spent And thus express'd I grant and know that what he says may be true viz. That the Spirits working in his Brain and moving his Affections and Will may continue their Working and Vigour in that Part longer than in the outward and more remâ—t Parts of the Body And this is that which our Lord I think intended when he said The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak P. 16. Mr. W. goes on and says The Body is very frequently 〈◊〉 a very sick weak languishing Condition when the 〈…〉 as good a plight and sometimes better than when the 〈…〉 most healthy and strong surely if their Natures did not vâ—â—â—ly differ they would be sick and well together Here I prosess to differ from our Author in a Point of Fact
He says The Soul and Body are not sick and well together Whereas I profess to think they are sick and well together and that they have both one common Sense of Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting Feeling and that they both together or the Person hath the same Perception Fancy Judgment Will and Memory and they both have or which is the same thing the Person hath the same Affections or Passions of Ambition Covetousness Lust Wrath and Fear These all are naturally ingrafted in the Person and are natural Incidents to the Compositum of Soul and Body and that this Union is the most amicable friendly and pleasing that Men know to be enjoy'd in our Earthly World and that the Body is so far from being a Prison or Cage for the Soul that there is no other Place in the World wherein the Soul delights or wherein it can subsist but in the Body nor is there a Seperation which we know in the Earthly World that is more grievous or afflictive than the Seperation of Soul and Body is commonly found to be to the Person who is a Compositum of them both Upon which Considerations I stand inclined to Affirm That the Person who is a Compositum of Soul and Body and those his Two Constituent Parts are generated together are born live and grow together are sick and well together and so are pleased and displeased and love and hate together are joyful sorrowful and fearful together are honoured and shamed together they decline and decay together and yet the Out-ward Part somewhat sooner and faster than the Inward and so they grow impotent and helpless together that they die together and that lastly they shall rise together in that Universal Resurrection which shall be effected at the second Appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST when he shall come to Judge the World Mr. W. here quotes 3 John 2. as serving to prove his Purpose where St. John saith to Gains I wish above all things that thou maist prosper and be in health even as thy Soul prospereth It is a common Practice for Men in their Letters to wish Health and Prosperity to their Correspondents and this the Apostle practises in this Text and the Words Even as thy soul prospereth seem to intend Even as Gains himself prospereth in the Faith and Profession of the Gospel He quotes again for his Purpose Rom. 7.23 where St. Paul says I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind Which Text I conceive intends no more than the War which the Sensual Affections and Passions make against the Opinions and Dictates of the Rational Faculty or Mind of the Man which is visibly known and perceived to continue in the Person from the Cradle to the Grave and prove no more a War betwixt the Soul and the Body than Love and Hatred Sorrow and Joy or any other contrary Affections of the Man may do He quotes further for his Purpose 1 Pet. 2.11 Abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul Here the Word Soul seems to intend the Man himself or the Rational Faculty or Mind of the Person Then he concludes That the Soul and Body as they are Two Beings distinct in Number so are they in Nature And thereupon I say how well he hath proved what he saith he hath proved shall be left to the Readers of our Books to Judge His Third Proposition Affirms That the Soul is a Being seperable from the Body which he says he intends to prove and to that Purpose P. 17. he quotes 2 Cor. 5.1 where he says St. Paul calls our Bodies our Earthly House which the Text does not expresly do but says We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God a House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens I do not here perceive a necessity of taking these Words Our Earthly House of this Tabernacle to signifie our Bodies but find as much or more Reason to conceive that by those Words our Apostle did intend the whole Fabrick of the Earth in which or upon which the Men of that Age then lived and we still do live We find sufficient Scripture Testimony to prove That our Earthly House of this Tabernacle shall in the end be dissolved and for the shortning of the time when this shall be done and the speedy coming of our Lord to Judgment was a great Subject of the Saints Prayers at that Time and I think divers good Men of that Time held Opinion That possibly they might live to the second coming of our Lord and however did not expect that He should have so long delay'd His Coming as we find by Experience He hath done if we take Our Earthly House of this Tabernacle to signifie the Earth upon which we live that seems to Agree well with the following Words We have a Building of God not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Pet. 3.7 The Heavens and the Earth which are now are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and Perdition of ungodly Men and then the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness He doth not say If you expect your seperate Souls going to Heaven you must live after that manner but if you expect the fiery Dissolution of that Earth upon which ye now live you have great reason to act as he there directs Nevertheless we according to his Promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Wherefore Beloved seeing ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Thus he says they must practise a Holy Life in consideration and expectation of those things which were not to happen till Christ's second Appearing but then were expected and hoped for by the Saints and Church of those Times And of these New Heavens and Earth St. Paul seems to speak when he says We have a Building of God a House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens Such a House as the Hands of Men cannot make the Pattern whereof is now in Heaven and shall descend hither to be our Habitation at our Lord's second Appearing And these are the things which he saith are not seen and yet are Eternal but when that Change shall happen they shall be both Visible and Eternal And for this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with this House of ours which is from Heaven Ver. 4. We that are in this Tabernacle of the Earth upon which we live do groan being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed or not desiring that our Persons should be dissolved by Death but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up
of Life This shews that he did not desire Death in hope of his Souls immediate going to Heaven but rather he longed for Christ's second Appearing when all these things shall be performed and those which at that time are found alive upon Earth shall not die but be changed in a Moment or twinkling of an eye and so cloathed with their Houses which are from Heaven and by that means their mortal Bodies shall put on Immortality fulfilling our Apostles Words in this Text Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life And this Change seems to be the cloathing upon which he both intended and desired and it was a Practice of the Church of those Times as before is said to pray for the speedy Coming of our Lord Jesus and Consummation of the Mysteries of the Gospel And thus I conceive I have better Expounded our Apostles Text and given a truer Meaning thereof than Mr. W. will be found to have done and conclude thereupon That this Text can give but a feeble Support to the Opinion of the Souls seperate Subsistence P. 18. He further quotes Ver. 6.7 Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord and walk by Faith not by sight and therefore we are willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. The Meaning of which may be that we cannot be present with the Lord in our Fleshly Bodies which are subject to Corruption whil'st they continue in their Natural State and therefore he desires the Change or Translation of such Earthly Bodies into that of Glorious or Heavenly Bodies which shall be done when we are cloathed upon with our House or Houses which are from Heaven by changing our Earthly Bodies into Heavenly which shall be performed to the Saints that live upon Earth at the Time of our Lord's second Coming and tho' they be absent from the Lord in their Earthly Bodies yet they shall then be present with Him in their Heavenly ones And our Apostle proceeding says Ver. 9. We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of Him And then closes his Discourse Ver. 10. with that which seems to be the Reason of all his Desire and Endeavour viz. Because We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Earthly Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Which intends the Last and General Judgment without any Pretence or Apprehension that an Intermediate Judgment is at all meant or consider'd in that Expression Mr. W. quotes further 2 Pet. 1.13 I think it meet so long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up knowing that shortly I must put off this Tabernacle viz. I will endeavour that after my Departure c. It seems that Peter by the Term Tabernacle did intend his own Fleshly Body which with Propriety enough may signifie that Humane Body which is the Receptacle and Tabernacle of Life to every Man And Death is commonly amongst us call'd a Departure out of this World of such Persons as lately before were living Members of it and therefore I do not perceive what Force there is in these Texts of Proving the Soul's Seperate Subsistence Nor do I perceive that Mr. W. lays any proving Weight upon the Sense of the Texts as they are here quoted but endeavours rather to enforce a Meaning from the Greek Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he says Signifies After my going out viz. Out of my Tabernacle although our Translators have render'd it After my Departure Which I think to be a Translation which he cannot mend and if so they had render'd it by After my going out I should have sooner have taken it to signifie An Extinguishment of the Vital Flame in his Body than the Departure of an Intelligent Substantial Soul out of it And therefore I think the Enforcement of this Argument which he would derive from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but trifling P. 19 He Appeals to all Mens Judgments that are not prejudicate whether the Apostles do not by the quoted Texts intend That Mens Souls are of such a Nature as can subsist in a State of Seperation from their Bodies I doubt not but if I or any other Man shall declare our selves to think other ways he will Reply we are Prejudicate and that is all the Fruit that can be expected of such a needless Appeal He says further If these Apostles had believed the Soul and Body to die together they would never have used such ensnaring Metaphorical Expressions as these that do so clearly hold forth a Seperability of the one from the other To this I Reply That if at all they hold forth this Opinion it is in a Dark-Lanthorn with the Light Side towards him and the Dark towards me But I rather conceive that if they had known the Being of a Substantial Intelligent Seperately Subsisting Soul in Man and that those of the good went to Heaven presently after the Death of the Person they would probably and even certainly have preached and declared the same And we should have found it so plainly and clearly delivered in some of their Writings which are come to our hands and the not finding it so delivered in any of their Writings gives us great cause to doubt the Truth of that Opinion Mr. W. for a further Proof of his Opinion quotes 2 Cor. 12.1 where that Apostle relates a Trance or Vision which he had and wherein he could not tell whether he was in the Body or out of the Body and thereupon he quotes the Assembly of Divines which sat in the Rump-Parliament Time and that they say the Apostle doubted whether God framed the Representation of these Heavenly things in his Soul in a State of Union with the Body or whether God Seperated the Soul from the Body and transported it into Heaven And thereupon P. 20. Mr. W. says That many Philosophers and some Divines affirm That Paul 's Rational Soul might be seperated from the Body and yet Paul not dead professing himself partly to be of the same Opinion And if by being out of the Body the Apostle doth not mean such a Separation he would be told what is meant by those Words Being out of the Body He was Conscious to himself of a common and I think a sufficient Answer thereunto given viz. That St. Paul was wrapt in a Trance or Extasie of his Mind wherein those things which he saw and heard were so lively represented to his Perceptive Faculties and so throughly imprinted upon his Memory as they could not be more perfectly perceived or better remembred if he had truly perceived them by the Use of his Bodily Organs so as he could not certainly know whether he was really wrapt into Heaven in his whole Person or whether the same was only a Trance and Rapture of his Mind Mr. W. intending to prevent this Answer says It is not enough for Men
to offer that Answer to his Question And more to entangle the Matter he propounds a New Question demanding If it were an Extasie what was the Nature of that Extasie I Reply I pretend not to be able to tell him the Nature of any Extasie Trance or Vision which may happen to Men because I suppose them to be super-humane Actions inexplicable from the known or common Principles of Humane Nature And therefore without farther Answer to his Question about the Nature of an Exâ—asie I profess to Believe that the Answer before given viz. That St. Paul was in a Trance at that time is enough notwithstanding his saying That it is not enough and that it will pass for a good Answer and Solution of his first Question upon which all the rest depends I do not pretend to make such Interpretations of difficult Scriptures as are likely to satisfie all Perusers but count it enough if thereupon I can satisfie my own Understanding As to my best Judgment I have done upon this Text without being afraid of Mens Censures of losing the Meaning of such a Dark Scripture instead of Interpreting it Mr. W. proceeds to say Till I hear a better Sense given of this Text of St. Paul than I have here given of it I will conclude from hence that the Apostle Paul doth imply that his Soul and so all other Mens Souls are whil'st in the Body of such a nature as may be seperated from the Body To this I Reply Our Author hath Power to take this Text of St. Paul in what Sense he pleases or thinks most reasonable as all other Readers may do and may thence Infer and Conclude as their Judgments or Affections or Prepossessions shall perswade them But I profess my self to conceive they build upon sandy Ground who draw that Inference from the Relation of St. Paul's Trance or any other Text quoted to prove Mr. W's Third Proposition That the Soul can subsist in a State of Seperation from the Body Because I judge the Evidences by me produced and my Constructions upon his Texts do more clearly prove the contrary Mr. W's Fourth Proposition is that the Scriptures affirm That when the Body dies the Soul is actually seperated from it In Proof of which he quotes Eccl. 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it Upon which he says It is most clear that by Dust is here meant the Body and by Spirit the Soul of Life in Man In which Construction I do not much differ from him but do easily Agree That by Dust here is meant the Body and that by Spirit is intended the Spirit of Life in Man And thereupon I Observe That these Words of Solomon are a single and transient Expression concerning a Subject not mention'd in the rest of the Chapter either before or after and without a particular Occasion given or offer'd to speak of the State of Souls after Death and seems to have something of a Chance in the delivery of it And as I find no Introduction to this Expression nor Occasion given to speak of a Rational or Intelligent Soul in Man so I do not perceive that they do either mention or intend the Spirit of Man to be such a Soul as Mr. W. pretends it to be Solomon was here treating concerning the Decays of Man's Life and recounts by what degrees Death makes its Approaches till at last it prevails over the Person and then the Dust returns to the Earth as it was and the Spirit returns to God who gave it And the Question upon this Text seems to be what is meant by the Term of the Spirit and what is meant of its Return to God who gave it Our Author says That by the Spirit is intended the Soul of Life And I think I differ not far from him when I say That by the Word Spirit is intended the Spirit of Life We know that Solomon had a careful Education under a pious Father and was endued with a strong Inclination to search out the Natures of Things and thence we may certainly Conclude that he had carefully perused the Patriarchal Book of Genesis and the other Mosaical Writings and there had found written Gen. 9.4 Flesh with the Life thereof which is the Blood thereof shall ye not eat and surely the Blood of their Lives will I require at the hand of every Beast will I require it and at the hand of Man at the hand of every Man's Brother will I require the Life of Man Whoso sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed for in the Image of God made he Man Also Deut. 12.23 Thou mayest kill of thy Herd and of thy Flock in any of thy Gates only be sure that thou eat not the Blood for the Blood is the Life and thou mayest not eat the Life with the Flesh And Moses says cause that was the Life of the Creature There hath before been quoted God's breathing the Breath of Life into Adam's Nostrils and the breathing the Breath of Life into Adam's Nostrils and the breathing a like Breath into the Persons raised out of Ezekiel's dry Bones which caused Life in them all Gen. 6.7 God says I will destroy Man whom I have created from the face of the Earâ—h both man and beast Chap. 7.22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life upon the dry land dyed in the flood both Man and Beast were suffocated and drowned in the Waters of the Flood by stopping those Passages through which this Breath of Life should other ways have enter'd Dan 5 23. Thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold but the God in whose hand thy breath is thou hast not glorified Intending God in whose hand thy Life is such a Life as through the Power of God is produced and maintained by Breath and Breathing These Quotations seem to prove that the Spirit of Life in Man is a Compositum of Parts as well as his Body and that the Composition of such Spirit of Life required is of Blood and Breath The Blood and Humours of their Bodies and their Spirits are absolutely necessary for the Life of Man and Beast by maintaining and nourishing the glowing and yet lambent Flame of Life which acts their Organical Bodies and causes a continual Circulation of their Blood to that Purpose and no less necessary for the producing and maintaining of Life is that Breath which God first breathed into Adam and since hath communicated and continued to all his Posterity which have been procreated from that Time to this There passes a Principle of Life in Semine which by Fimentation Fermentation and Coagulation in loco idoneo arrives in its appointed time to a Vegetation and perhaps lives without Breath or Breathing or with very little Assistance thereof until Nature drive it forth into the open Air where after it hath once taken Breath it can by no means be kept alive for many Moments
weakly proves the Seperate Subsistence of Souls or their receiving Rewards or Punishments before the Second Coming of our Lord to Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead P. 24. Mr. W. closes up his Fifth Proposition with these Words Having cleared up the five Propositions from diverss Scriptures he wonders at the Confidence of such Men as dare pretend to perswade People that we have no clear Scripture to found the Belief of the Souls Immortality on I Answer That his Confident Sayings which prove not I willingly pass by and from the woes Pronounced against his Opposers and Shield my self by the Words of Solomon The Woe 's pronounced without good cause or the Curse cause less shall not come Chapter IIII. PAge 26. Mr. W. says A Man may be truly said to know God I Reply If he thereby mean the knowings of God is or Quod sit Deus I grant it but if he mean it of the Quid sit Deus or that Man knows what manner of Being God is I then deny it He thinks if he can describe the Properties or Attributes of a Soul from which we feel the Operition of Life spring in us he shall thereby give us sufficiently to know what the Soul of Man is I Reply That Men ascribe Attributes and Properties to God upon the Certainty or Knowledge that they have or may have from divers clear Topicks that there is such a Being as God in the World but the like manner of Proceeding will not serve to prove the Being of such a Soul in the World as he describes and therefore I do require of him or any other who undertakes this Province first to prove that really and truly there is such a sort of Soul in the Humane Person as he pretends and if that be not first done they can but ascribe what Attributes and Properties they please to they know not what or to such a thing as they cannot prove to have any Being at all which is quire otherwise in the Case put by him before concerning God P. 27. Mr. W. says The Soul is not the Breath of Man Thereby it seems intending That the Word Breath is not Equipollent to the Word Soul of Man and this I grant him That the Breath of Man is not his Soul because I conceive there goes more parts to make up the Soul or Spirit of Man's Life The Five Inferences which he pretends to draw from the Soul 's being the Breath I pass over as not greatly material P. 28. Mr. W. says Secondly That as the Soul of Man is not the Breath so it is not the Blood and then infers That if Blood be the Soul of Man all the Food it hath to live upon is the Bread that Perisheth I Reply That all the Food that Man hath to live upon Naturaly is the Bread that Perisheth or is the nourishment which he duly obtains to that purpose and thereby is the Spirit of his Life daily supported and upon the failure or not obtaining thereof the Man must Languish Consume and Die and he and his Spirit of Life or Soul go out of the World and be Extinct together Further I conceive The Man his Spirit of Life or Soul hath no other Natural Nourishment but Viands of the kind before-mentioned His following Expressions seems to be altogether Figurative He offers That if Blood were the Humane Soul Lectures out of Galen and Hippocrates would be more proper to Purge away Sin and bring Souls to Christ then Sermons out of the Bible Here I suppose by Souls he intends Persons or begs the Question now in dispute between us Seeing he well knows I give no credit to the Being of such a Soul as he very positively asserts And this being premised I say That Purifying and Purging the Blood may very much help and better the Humane Understanding and Sermons out of the Bible may be very good helps and directions to the Man in the government of his Affections and the performing of his Duty to God P. 29. Mr. W. Argues and Says If the Soul be the Blood then that a Man of Sixty Years of Age has not the same Soul he had at Fifteen and then how can you think this Old Man can be guilty of the Sins of his Youth I Reply That a Man's Soul is always of the same Nature and Kind and tho the material parts of it do not always remain the same yet the Man remains always the same Person from Four to Fourscore and liable to answer for the Faults which he had long before Committed Then he tells me that which I still profess not to believe tho' he doth tell it me That the Soul is of a different Nature from the Body and doth neither grow with it in Youth nor Decay with it in Age but remains in one same State and Power during all the State of our Lives P. 30. He pretends to prove this by a Similitude which I think to be foreign to our Question and adds nothing to the Proof of his Assertion and the like I think may be said of his letting of Sheeps and Man's Blood into one another reciprocally and therefore I pass them both over P. 31. He says further That as the Soul of Man is neither his Breath nor Blood so it is not God or any part of his Divine Essence In all which I am ready to agree with him having before declared and described what manner of thing I think the Spirit of Life in Man to be and that in its cohabitation with the Body it partakes of Growth and Decay Health and Sickness Strength and Weakness Joy and Sorrow and receives in the end an Extinguishment at the Death of the Person or that Extinguishment it self is Death Mr. W. says The Soul of man is guilty of Inadvertency Rashness Folly I do not agree with him in this Expression But if he had said The Person or the Man is subject to these Infirmities I should soon have agreed with him in that because I have often said I have no Conception of a Man without a Soul or of a Soul without a Man but think that to act or suffer any thing they must be both together And I Appeal to the Intelligent World whether by such Experience as Men can attain therein they do not find it so P. 32. Mr W. says The Soul is a Spirit created of God and indued with Sense and Reason and a Power of actuating an Humane Body by Vital Vnion therewith P. 33. For the prooving of a Spirit to be a Substance and that a Humane Soul is such a Substance he refers his Readers to all that he hath said or shall say to prove the Soul is a Being independent on the Body I Reply That as far as I am able to judge all that he hath hitherto said seems very insufficient for that Purpose and what he will or can shew to perswade the Belief of that Opinion Time must shew P. 34. he says We feel in our
have done conceiving it was intended by the word Spirit in this Place to signifie the Spirit of Life in Man which is one of the two Constituent Parts of his Person and by the ordinary figure of Synecdoche setting one Part for the Whole the word Spirit here seems to intend the whole Person So as under this Term of Spirit the Petitioners intended to recommend themselves or their whole Persons the one into the hands of his Father under whose Custody his Body as well as his Soul viz. his whole Person remained and was preserved without seeing Corruption until the Time and Hour of his Resurrection And I conceive St. Stephen's Prayer was made in a like Sense and to the same Purpose that our Lord 's was Mr. W. says further He does not know of any such Phraesed Petitions as these are put up by either of them or any other Person in Prayer but just at the Moment of dying I will therefore refresh his Memory by quoting to him and our Readers Psal 31.6 where the very same Words are used Into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth For any thing that appears the Psalmist was in Health at the uttering of this Petition but withal in a state of great Trouble as the foregoing Verses testifie And it thence seems somewhat Clear to my Understanding that by these Words our Prophet did not intend to recommend to God's Protection his Spirit of Life or Seperative Soul only but that rather in those Words he intended to recommend to God's Care and Protection his whole Compositum of Soul and Body his Person or himself without having any particular or singular Respect to his Spirit of Life or Soul whatsoever the same might be Which seems may be somewhat moâ—e Cleared by a short Paraphrase Into thy hands O God I commend my self for thou hast redeemed me This I take to be the true Meaning of David's Words and I take the Prayers of our Lord and St. Steven to be of the same Import and that they have no such other Emphatical Signification as Mr. W. in this place endeavours to put upon them P. 80. he says If his Interpretation of those Words be true they clearly express the Souls Immortality I do not deny this but withal conceive that his Interpretation of these Words is not true as my fore-going Answers testifie and then I think no man can believe that they are a good Proof or any Proof at all for the Souls Seperate Subsistence P. 82. he says The Word Spirit here intends Seperate Soul and if it doth not mean so he desires to know what it doth mean And I have said before that it intends the whole Person of the Petitioner as it is a Compositum of Soul and Body Mr. W. farther demands What the word Spirit here means and whether it mean the Life of the Body Here I am at a loss what he means by the Life of the Body and if he doth not mean the Life of the Person he means that which hath no good Sense in it for the Body quatenus tale or divided from the Person hath no sort of Life in it as St. James tells us A Body without a Spirit is dead And therefore to mention the Life of the Body without a Figurative Intent inclines to the Nature of a Bull in such manner as if one should speak of the Life of a dead thing He then demands What Is it the dead Carcass the whole Mâ—n Body and Soul Putting them together as if the dead Carcass was the whole Man Body and Soul intending to confound these Terms and give to each of them an equipollent Signification as if the dead Carcass and the whole Man Body and Soul signified the same thing whereas I must divide them and say The dead Carcass signifies one thing and the whole Man Body and Soul or the Person signifies another thing and tho' the Carcass shall go to the Dust as it was yet the Person shall be preserved the good sleeping in Christ and the bad remaining under the Knowledge and Disposal of God until the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord and the Trumpet shall sound and all Persons who have lived shall be raised and summoned to the Judgment of the Great Day And therefore from the Words as I have Expounded them I think the direct contrary to what he says that no good Argument can be raised from our first quoted Texts for proving his Opinion of the Souls Seperate Subsistence The Ninth Argument PAge 83. Mr. W. quotes Rom. 10.11 And if Christ be in you the Body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteosness and if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you And he says upon this Text Methinks this Truth of the Souls Immortality doth very clearly shine in the Evidence of this Scripture I Answer That what shines so clearly to him I do not at all discover P. 84. Mr. W. proceeds in a long Discourse which I think rather confounds and misleads than opens and declares the Meaning of St. Paul's Words and yet I have no Intent to implicate my self with him upon that Subject especially in many Words P. 85. He raises an Exception out of St. Paul's Doctrine but I think it is out of his own Brain and Invention not perceiving that Paul thought of such an Objection nor that he makes or intends any Answer to it But Mr. W. himself both tells the Tale and gives the Answer And there he says further If you ask How comes the Soul thus to over-live the Body He Answers by a perplex'd Repetition of some other Words in the Chapter which he pretends to Expound as by an Old Rule Mala Expositio corrumpit Textum and then he draws out of that Exposition what I do not find in the Text but will not particularize for avoiding of Length and Confusion P. 86. Here he Propounds another Objection to St. Paul's Doctrine and says The Apostle was well aware of it and therefore gave it an Answer But I think he is mistaken in both not finding by the Text that St. Paul ever thought of it and therefore did not design to give it an Answer and specially such an Answer as Mr. W. in this Place hath done He proceeds and raises a Third Objection against St. Paul's Doctrine but doth not say the Apostle was aware of this or made any Answer to it but Mr. W's Invention and Construction are ready to give it a full Answer but not such an one as I am willing to Consent unto P. 87. Mr. W. says Having thus cleared up the Text by giving you its Meaning I proceed now to lay down my Argument to prove that the Soul of Man dieth not with the Body I Answer some
Body containing therein such Blood Humors and Organs as are needful for the production and perfection of Life and all the Faculties and Powers of a humane Person whose Blood and Humors will then be apt for kindling into a Flame or glowing of the Blood by such a moderate Breath as Ezekiel was directed to call for to come from the four Winds and breath upon these newly formed Persons that they may live which done the newly formed Persons are thereby made living able to hear the Voice of the Son of God and at his Call to come out of their Graves and deliver themselves from the strong Bands of Death and such I conceive the rising of the Dead will be not a partial but a total Resurrection of the Person not first the Body rais'd and then an Intelligent Soul be injected thereinto for the Body cannot rise or come out of its Grave without a Spirit of Life or such a sort of Soul as is natural suitable and fitted for that Performance I do therefore reject the expression by him used viz. the Resurrection of the Body because it is no where used in the Scripture and because there is no such thing in Nature as that a Body should rise and live without a Soul what rises therefore is not only the Body but the Person which was dead a very like or his very same Person which before had died Mr. W. in the Conclusion of this Objection says to his Opposers that it is a strange Inference ye draw from this Text That because it is certain that Christ is risen that therefore the Souls of Men are mortal I reply This would be a very strange Inference indeed if his Opposers either said so or thought so but they profess to do neither the one nor the other but this they do say and believe that if the Resurrection of Christ and the General Resurrection of the Dead be not both true then all those who are fallen asleep tho' never so good are perished and consequently that the Souls of Men have not a Seperate Subsistence after the death of the Person and thus I finish my Reply to Mr. W's Answer given to this Objection and proceed to the giving concurrent Evidences from the Texts before quoted for strengthning the force of this my Eighth Objection Our Apostle having finish'd this Text goes on in the same Chapter to Vers 32. And there says If after the manner of Men I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the Dead rise not Let us eat and drink for too Morrow we die Which sayings I think may be thus rightly Paraphrased Whatsoever Sufferings I undergo for Christ's sake in this World they will advantage me nothing if the Dead rise not and then we need no more in this World but to eat and drink and die and there 's an and of us And if this Saying be true and the very meaning of our Apostle in this Text I think it gives a fatal blow to the Seperate Subsistence of Souls and yet our Apostle proceeds further in this Chapter to Verse 52. Where he says The Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be rais'd uncorruptible and we who are then alive shall be changed and the last Verse of this Chapter he adds Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know your Labour is not in Vain in the Lord for I have given you as certain Proofs as Faith can desire that there shall be a General Resurrection of the Dead at which time all People shall be rewarded or punished according to their Works Heb. 11.35 The Saints indured great Persecutions and Torments not accepting Deliverance from them because they expected a better Resurrection Luke 14.14 When thou makest a Feast do not only bid thy Friends and rich Neighbours who are likely to make thee a Recompence but bid also the Poor the Maimed the Lame and the Blind who cannot Recompense thee and therefore for thy so doing thou shalt be Recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just And now I demand one Text of Scripture to be produced where it is said That Men for their good Works done in this World shall be Recompensed at or soon after their Deaths I know of no Text that declares this to us or from which it can with clear Reason be collected and therefore I say that the Reason given us why our Labour shall not be in Vain in the Lord is because there shall certainly be a Resurrection from the Dead and after that a Judgment wherein every Person shall be rewarded according to his Works and upon these Grounds I am ready to conclude that this my Eighth Objection strongly batters and assaults and even overthrows the Opinion of the Souls Seperate Subsistence A Ninth Objection against Mr. W's Opinion I raise from 1 Thess 4.13 Where St. Paul says I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them that are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him and so goes on describing the manner and effects of the Resurrection of the Dead adding Comfort one another with these Words I offer this for you Comfort that there shall certainly be a Resurrection of the Dead wherein your dead Friends also shall rise again and I would have you make this a Comfort to you concerning both your dead Friends and your dying Selves advising you to repose your hopes thereupon and to comfort your selves and one another with your Discourses and Communications concerning it Our Apostle appears here comforting the Hearts of his Correspondents against the sufferings of Death either by their Friends or by themselves and takes his ground of Comfort in such Cases from our assured Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead and thereupon I observe that he doth not ground and Hope or Comfort upon the Souls Seperate Subsistence or its going to Heaven immediately after Death which gives me a firm ground of perswasion that he either did not know of this Opinion or he did not believe it for if he had believed this Doctrine to be true I think he could not have forgotten or forborn to give his Disciples Comfort from that Topick because such Comforts would have been much nearer than those which he derived from the Doctrine of the Resurrection and would have been both a more short and sure way to that Salvation and future Happiness which Men desire and therefore if St. Paul had believed this Doctrine to be true I think he could have no reason for his balking it in this place but in congruity of Reason must have said Brethren comfort your selves against Sorrows for your Friends Deaths and the fear of your own by considering the happy State of those which die in the Lord for that their Spirits or Souls immediately
even down to latter times and the same Conception seems to have a Being and Substance in the Minds of some learned Persons until this time My Discourse concerning this sort of Spirit hath been deliver'd with intent to discover and evince That Solomon's Spirit returning to God who gave it was spoken and meant by him concerning this last sort of Spirit and I intend to recite some Arguments for the proving of this Construction First I Argue from the words or terms of the Text it self and say That it Solomon intended such a Soul as Mr. W. has described the Text it self seems not to be properly worded because I think nothing can be properly said to return to another thing except it had been a part or concomitant of that other thing before but Mr. W.'s sort of Soul seems never to have been a part or concomitant of God before its being put into the Body for the enlivening and acting of the Person I do not therefore well perceive how such a â—oul can be properly said to return to God but the Expression therereunto properly belonging should have been worded The Spirit goes to or goes before God with expectation to receive his Judgment and Sentence according to the demeanour of its Person upon Earth and I do not perceive how this Souls going to God for Judgment can be properly call'd a return to God who gave it Secondly I Argue I find not so much as one Text in Scripture which says the Souls of dying Persons go presently to God for Judgment nor any Text from whence this Opinion may be drawn by a rational Inference and that which makes nearest approaches to it of any that I know is the Parable of Dives where it is said the Begger died and was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom I know my Opposers will think it needless to ask them what is intended by the words The Begger was carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom and doubt not but they will soon make a bold Answer It neither was nor could be the Begger himself that was so carried in his whole Person Body and Soul into Abraham's Bosom and yet the Words of the Text seem to import that his whole Person Soul and Body was carried thither But if we shall grant their gloss upon this Text to be true that his Soul only was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom we may draw these inferences from that Relation either that his Soul was so ignorant as it knew not how to find a way to that Habitation or else was so weak and impotent as it was not able to pass thither without the Support and Ministry of Angels How then can we conceive that such a Soul as this should make its return to God presently upon the Death of its Person without mention of any other Assistance to be given it We hear nothing of Dives in the Parable but that being in Hell he lift up his Eyes and saw Lazarus in another place without mention of the means by which he came there and if we shall follow the common Conjecture that as Lazarus was carried to one place by Angels so Dives was hurried to the other by Devils it will appear very unlikely that Mr. W.'s sort of Soul is able to make its way and return to God at its Pleasure And here we Read the Begger 's Soul was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom without mention of its being carried or returning to God at all whence it seems probable that when Solomon speaks of the Souls returning to God he doth not intend such a Soul as Mr. W. hath described but rather such a Spirit as had first been a part oâ— parcel of the â—pirit of Nature or of God sent out for the enlivening and acting of a particular Person upon whose Death that Spark or Parcel of the Deity returns with a strong inclination to God who sent it out from himself for the enlivening â—nd acting of that particular Body and joyn'd it self again to its Totum as Water presently incorporates with Water and the particles of Air neither will nor can be seperated from the incorporating one of them with an other Thirdly I Argue That if Solomon had intended by the Words Returns to God who gave it a going of the Soul to God or before God for receiving the Doom of his intermediate Judgment it seems a matter of such great Moment as required a more full Discourse upon the same and giving us more Light in it than his very few words there do afford us And however it is very probable that he would not have immediately subjoyned to his Discourse which intimates an intermediate Judgment a Declaration and Description of the General Judgment for that would have been playing Judgment upon Judgment which must needs have past for false Heraldry We find in this Chapter that as soon as Solomon had writ the Words The Spirit returns to God who gave it he ceases to speak any further concerning the State of Man after Death till he come to the 14th or last verse of the Chapter where he sayes as a conclusion of his whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil I think it not reasonable to conjecture that Solomon by his Returning of the Spirit to God who gave it did intend such a returning to God to be a going to him or before him for an intermediate Judgment for that if he had so intended he would not have immediately have mentioned and related the Certainty and Effect of the General Judgment as in this we see plainly he hath done and thus I leave Solomon's Words and the descant upon them to the further Consideration and Judgment of the Intelligent Reader Mr. W. goes on to quote Eccl. 3 20. Where he saith Solomon affirms that the Spirit of a Man goeth upward when he dieth adding that Solomon brings it in with an Intrrogation Who knoweth Not as if he doubted it for he cannot be said to doubt it since he delivered it most positively in the other verse intending as I conceive the Text last before quoted out of his 12th Ch. Hereupon I again declare I am no way satisfied with the manner used by our Author in his Quotations of Scripture The Text which in this place he quotes says thus Who knoweth the Spirit of Man that goeth upward and the Spirit of the Beast that goeth downward to the Earth Which to my understanding hath the same signification as if he had said Who knows the certain Truth of this Opinion That the Spirit of Man goeth upward and the Spirit of the Beast goeth downward to the Earth Or who knows whether this difference between the Spirits of Men and Beasts be real and true or not And further it seems to me that this Interrogation is Pregnant with a Negative and seems to have the same sense as if had said
Soul a Power of Thinking which being thus worded I deny my Assent thereunto But had he said That a Man feels or finds a Power of Thinking in himself I should have easily agreed with him in it He says The variety of Thoughts or Acts of Willing are the Soul's Motion I say They are Motions or Actings in the Mind of Man effected by acting the inflam'd Spirits of the Blood working in the Kepheline Organs in the which the Great Artificer GOD framed and placed them and to that Purpose gave them sufficient Power to perform such Actions when He created the Fabrick of the Humane Body and breathed into its Nostrils the Breath of Life whereby the Spirits of the Blood and Humours became inflamed for acting in a Body to such Purposes and by such an Excellent and Artificial Composition always to be continued by Respiration God's excellent Wisdom and Power did in the beginning produce these Workings amongst such Kepheline Organs and gave them in this Compositum Power to produce Perception Fantasie Judgment Will Memory Affections Local Motions and all other Powers or Faculties of the Humane Mind or Person whatsoever I know that upon reading of this Discourse Mr. W. and his Party will all cry out How can these things be That unintelligent senseless Materials working amongst or together with one another should be able to produce Life Sense Affections Perception Intellect Memory in the Person demanding of me on Account or Declaration how such things can with any Probability be effected by the working together of such Materials And I Answer That the Quomodo of such an Operation is a Speculation too sublime and curious for the Wit of Man to compass or obtain The Artifice of the Humane Machine cannot be throughly penetrated or discovered by the sublimest Wits amongst Men witness the doubtings both of Solomon and Aristotle discover'd in their Discourses upon the Points now in Question That God hath Wisdom and Skill sufficient to produce Intelligence by means of Material Operations seems true and something clear to my Understanding and but few of our Opposers do deny somewhat a like Artifice and Operation in the Brutal Nature They seem ready to Agree That God by his Wisdom and Skill used in the Fabrication of the Brutes hath in the beginning produced and doth still produce Life Motion Sensations Affections inward Perceptions Phantafie Choice and Memory by the Medium before described viz. The moving and acting of such Spirits of the Blood in the Kephaline and other Organical Parts of their Bodies without such an entire intelligent Spirit as Mr. W. will needs suppose to be in Man Daily Experience convinceth us That the Life Motions Sensations and Affections of the Brutes are as true strong vigorous and active as they are in Men altho' their inward Perceptions Phantasie Choice and Memory fall short of the like Faculties in Men by divers degrees or gradations which I think may very probably come to pass by the difference in their Kephaline Organs which are framed more aptly for such Purposes in Men than in Beasts Whence we may suppose the difference between them in this Point rises not so much from the diversity of the Spirits which move and act them as from the difference and degrees of Perfection amongst their Organs which are so to be acted For Illustration of which Position we may farther consider the Fabricks of their Bodies and thereupon we must find that Humane Bodies have Advantage above the Brutal in two Particular Members viz. their Hands and Tongue of which Members and their Activity if Humane Bodies were deprived they would be much more like the Beast that perish than now they are and yet Men do not use to Argue from these Bodily Advantages that their Flesh Blood Bones or Breath have a different Nature or Constitution from those of Beasts But People are generally content to say with Solomon That the Corporeal Constitutions of Man and Beast are of a Similar Nature and Constitution one of them with the other Whence it seems to me probable That although the Spirits Act with greater Perfection the Heads and Brains of Men than they do among Beasts yet that hinders not but that they may all be acted by Spirits of a Similar Nature one of them to another And thus Arguing I pretend to have shewn that the Minds of Men are more likely to be Acted by the Inflamed Spirits of the Blood and Brain than by an Intelligent Spirit created by God for that Purpose and yet it is still apparently true that Men are not able to give an Account of the Mode or Manner of the Production of such Powers in the Mind of Man by the Motions or Actings of those Spirits in his Brain that I conclude to be the Arcanum Opificis and that none other can tell or find out how the same is perform'd And hereupon I incline to rebut upon my Opposers with their own Argument and to demand of them How or by what means or after what manner their Intelligent Soul can or doth Move and Act the Body and the several Organs and Members thereof having found them all hitherto confessing that themselves do not know and therefore cannot declare to others the certain or likely Mode or Manner of that Performance and for their Souls being Tota in toto tota in qualibet parte I pass it for an Aenigma or Riddle conceiving there is no apparent Sense in that Expression nor any clear Truth to be drawn out of it P. 34. Mr. W. says That his the Soul can look upon one thing and think upon another of a quite different nature and that she can be in the noise of an Army and yet in a profound and blessed Peace She can cool the Blood in its greatest fervour of Lust P. 35. So that it is evident she hath an absolute Empire over the Body and all its Parts and is not constrain'd in her Motions by them but they are all at her Command and move by her Direction Hereunto I Reply That so much as is true of what he says the Soul can do may be most properly predicated of the Man and not of the Soul which alone can do no such things as he speaks of Next for the absolute Monarchical Power which he ascribes to the Soul over the Person I think he is in an Errour about it Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. Ver. 17. And that it is not I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Ver. 18. To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do and it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me I delight in he Law of God after the inward Man but I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind
I think that the purity and force of such Spirits may be very conducing to the perfect performance of the Faculty and yet can act no farther than the Bodily Organ is in its own State and Nature capable of whence there is a dependance of the Faculty both upon the Spirit and upon the Organ But I think that the Differences which we find amongst Mens Faculties of this Nature wherein there are great Degrees of Perfection and Imperfection do more depend upon the soundness and fitness of the Organ than upon the different Degrees of Activity amongst the Spirits of them And if we shall ascend to the consideration of the Humane Intellect we may find that the acting and perfection thereof lies in and by the Brain and that the Phantasie lies principally or only in the fore-part of the Head the Judgment or Esteemative Faculty in the middle of it and the Memory in the back part thereof whence if there happen any defect or crasiness in any of these Faculties or Powers of Intellect Physicians both do and ought to apply their Medicines for the recovery of them to the Organs or parts of the Head which are the proper Instruments of such Faculties If the Phantasie be disordered the Remedies thereof must be apply'd to the fore-part of the Head or the Fore-head if the Judgment be craz'd such Remedies must be apply'd to the middle part of the Head and if the Memory fail application for the Recovery thereof must be made to the back part of the Head and if Medicines for the Recovery of the Phantasie be apply'd to the back part of the Head they will be ineffectual to that purpose and so e contra if Men will apply Remedies to the back part of the Head for recovering the disorders of the Phantasie Men of indifferent Skill can make shrewd guesses concerning the largeness and perfection of those Faculties by Seeing Feeling and perusing the Dimensions and Fashonings of Mens Heads If Mens Fore-heads be large and high they may reasonably be thought to be of large Phantasies and Inventions and if the back part of the Head be likewise large and something protuberant in the lower parts of it tending towards the Neck we may guess the Owner of that Organ to have a capacious and strong Memory and concerning the Judgment we may think that the largeness of the whole Head if it be well fill'd and without any empty Spaces in it is a great sign of a good and sound Judgment in those Persons to whom God hath given such an Organ and from these Topicks I am ready to inferr that the perfections of the Intellect depend more upon the Soundness and Gapacities of the Organs than upon the Excellencies and Perfection of the Spirit which acts them and yet the Power and Purity of such Spirits must be still admitted to have a great effect in the Production and in the Degrees of Perfection in this Operation If we shall particularly consider the Nature of that we call the Spirit of Life in Man we may perhaps find it subject to divers Diseases and Infirmities as well as we know the Body and the Organs to be and of what sort soever we shall imagine this Spirit of Life to be daily Experience may assure us that it oftentimes finds help and remedies against the Disorders and Diseases thereof by good Air wholsome and regular Diet good Company Musick or Harmony freedom from Cares and other Easements and Satisfactions to the Minds of Men as well as by Medicines and Helps administred by the Physicians in divers Cases And thus have we run through and considered divers weighty particulars concerning the Bodily Organs and the Minds of Men with intent to apply the same to the two sorts of Souls or Spirits which are now in dispute between us and have shewed that the Perfections of Humane Powers both Sensitive and Rational do more depend upon the Aptitude and Capacity of the Bodily Organs than upon that Spirit which gives Life and Motion to them and next that the Humane Mind or Spirit of Life in Man is capable of Melioration and Detriment by many such Accidental Things as I have before enumerated and express'd and from all these Premisses I am very apt to collect that if the Spirit of Life in Man were an Intelligent Seperable and Extraneous Being things could not reasonably fall out in the Nature of Man as they have before been declared commonly to do but if this Spirit which gives Life to Man be taken for a Fire yet Material and Unintelligent Spirit all that hath before been spoken concerning the Bodily Organs and the Spirit or Mind of Man will fall out to be very agrecable and homogenious to the Nature of such a Spirit and to the whole composition of the Humane Person And hence I take upon me to infer that the Spirit of Life in Man is more likely to be Material and Unintelligent than to be such a sort of Intelligent and Self-subsisting Spirit as Mr. W. and his Party maintain the same to be A Third Objection against Mr. W's Opinion I take a Simily and raised from Mens Experience and the common Consideration of the Brutal Nature Our daily Experience assures us that by whatsoever Spirits the Brutes are acted they fully enjoy the Powers of Life and Sense and some such measures of Intellect as gives them a Sagacity sit to attain and accomplish the ends of their Beings altho ' in the Degrees thereof they fall very much below such Perfections of them as are found in Men by Vertue and Power of the Vital Spirits in Brutes working in and among the Organs of their Bodies their Animal Nature attains to as great a Perfection as the Humane Nature doth as far as concerns the Vegitation and Sensation of them both For the Brutes live as well and as naturally and as much as the Men do And next their Motions are as strong vigorous and active as those of the Men are in both the sorts of Motions which are common to them First their I ward Motions of Heart Lungs Bowels and other their Principal and Vital Entrals which Sort of Motion we may term Involuntary because the Men or Beasts can give no stoppage to them but waking or sleeping in sickness and in health such Motions are natural and needful for maintaining Life in the Creature in whose power it is not to stop or alter them And this sort of Motion is needful for and as active amongst Beasts as Men. The other sort of Motion is that which Men call Local or Voluntary such as that of the Hands Feet Head and other Members of the Body which the Creature can use or not use at its own liking and pleasure and we find that the Motions of Brutes in this kind are as vigorous nimble and strong as those of the Men are Then if we proceed to the power and practice of their outward Senses as of Seeing Hearing Feeling c. Experience will