ador'd by the limited qualification of humane Understanding Others have so lower'd the Divinities they celebrate as by their Commixtures with Mankind they either give 'em the Title oâ— Demy-godships as has been precedently observ'd or they express 'em in resemblance to humane Bodies and not only knowing of the Infirmities and Depravations of Mankind but in the worst conception Actors themselves which polutions of Heaven must have been politickly and for Interest devis'd and complicated with Beliefs that such as were so devoted might with more assurance hope for pardon from their Deities whom they judg'd no less than Men notoriously sinful These Particulars I thought previously necessary to inculcate here because they have affinity to the various Extravagancies that some Persons by their Doctrines undertake to defend in reference to the Immortalising of the Soul after this Life The first is That the humane Soul consists of a Spiritual Essence and that it is by the excellency of its substance likewise Immortal But how can these Dogmatizers of Religion according to this Notion of theirs not vent an Absurdity of the highest Nature For if the Soul of Man be essentially a Spirit and that they hold as they would be thought to do the God they adore a Spirit also Do they not in effect dâ—ifie the animating part of Mankind after death it being impossible to distinguish by any rational Discussion how much one Spirit is essentially purer than another On which ground it follows that whâ—t is spiritually Immortal may be allow'd to be Infinite So little distinction is there by this Doctrine betwixt the Soul of Man and the Deity they worship and yet 't is well known to all of us how numerous a part of the World assert this Tenent as the first Maxim of their Creed Others affirm That the purest Substance or ghostly Form of Life when separated by Death is represented by a shadow of the Body which some pretend to have beheld in that Figure as ocular Witnesses that the Soul of Man do's in thâ—t manner outlive the Body And this your Grecian Poets to whose Inventions your Prieâ—thood is not a little beholding with their fanciful Glosses undertake â—o deliver But of what credit their Auâ—hority is I need not debate who in being Poeâ—â— must be granted Divulgers of fabulous Contrivances And what can be a greater Solecism to Reason than a Position so vainly extravagant nay how is it possible to câ—nceive that a Shadow do's not imply the presence of the Body if it appears as its Shadow aâ—d consequently that the Soul has no such separative existence after bodily death Besides all which the Absurdities are innumerable that redound from this Tenent for if every Body of Mankind were by its Soul to be shadow'd or liken'd it must follow that every Man and Womans Soul are commensurable and therefore differenc'd in breadth and length and likâ—wise in substance as one Shadow may be proportionably finer than another or have more likeness to the Body it appertain'd to Notwithstanding I confess that whosoever was the first Author of this dark conceit that the Soul did survive as an umbrage of the Body after life comes nearer the confines of Sense than the precedent Opinion in respect that as the animating Faculty of Mankind do's furnish in due proportion every Member that it actuates and informs whilst it resides within the Body so it should remain after Corporeal Life in some kind of similitude to its operation within the composition of humane Nature when the Life of the Body was determin'd by Death The third Tenent of the Soul's Immortality appears more terrene and therefore not less familiar to the apprehension and this depends upon believing that the Soul of all things is essentially the same and differenc'd only in its being in variety of Bodies as Men Beasts Plants and whatsoever has life and motion This Opinion has had no less Vogue in the World than long acceptation with persons held of profound discâ—rnment in the universal Series of Nature to which purpose they infer that the continuation of the Universe or at least of all corporal Beings within the compass of the sublunary World depends upon a perpetual course of Generation and Corruption from one individual Being to another and consequently that whatsoever dies by corruption do's tend to the generation of some other corporeal Being And this Position is so far apparently certain insomuch as Life in one kind or other is incident to Matter as it convertibly depends on whatsoever is generated and consequently alter'd into a corporeal Being differently animated to what it was before On which Philosophical Evidence added the Fidefendon do's consist the ancient opinion of not a few learnedly Famous who maintain'd the Transmigration of Souls when separated from their precedent Mansions by death and that they pass'd into other Bodies The Speculation however naturally passable do's in a high degree lessen the dignity of the humane Soul by reason that in such a method of progression from Body to Body it must at one time or other animate an ignobler Creature than Man which gives cause of Reproof to the Assertion Another Doctrine there is and much insisted on by some which I shall but touch because it seems more extravagant or opposite to the ordinary progress and course of Nature than any I have precedently mention'd and this undertakes to assert That the humane Soul is immortally generated which in plain words is to affirm That one immortal Thing begets another or that the Soul of the Father do's animate an Eternity in begetting the Soul of the Son which conceit is so fictitiously absurd as it is repugnant to the total method of the causes and effects of Generation However to repel these Contradictions the Abettors of this Doctrine assure us by an unintelligible method That the Soul is divinely infus'd from above and spiritually commix'd with the Act of Generation But how a Spirit as has been argu'd before can mix with a corporeal Substance is a Riddle fit to be left to such Authors to explain The last Opinion that remains to be expos'd to a free judiciary Determination is That Soul and Body of every Individual of Mankind is restor'd to an immortal Perfection and Union after Death Which Doctrine has gain'd a very plausable Reception with many Nor can it be thought ungrateful to the beautiful of both Sexes if the excellency of their Features and Proportions accompany them to a future Life which wonderful Receptacle of the Persons of Men and Women after Death not a few of you Grecians said the Fidefendon call the Elysium or another World in which Mankind shall have Being by a miraculous Restauration after Living here and where they shall be more or less happy or unhappy how long they have not certainly determin'd after made Survivors in their future Abodes But should it be ask'd of any of these wonderful Tutors what possible Assurance they have that the Persons of Mankind shall be
our Understandings by the undeniable allowance of all our Senses as Seeing Hearing Tasting Smelling Touching these assure us of a Providential Being How remote soever or absconded the Modality of its Existence is from our Apprehensions Like to some admirable Structure from whose Composure Furniture Parts and Proportions I admire the perfect Abilities of the Architect and Founder though unknown to me the superlative Skill and Materials that compleated the Fabrick And I cannot but reiterate That there is nothing more fallible or absurd than positively to affirm That in allowing of a Supreme Cause they must necessarily grant a spiritual Existence it being very possible that such an Efficient howsoever superlative allow'd in its Essence may be no Spirit as some undertake to define nor of bodily substance in any corporeal Sense or Attribute that can be apprehended by us And in Speculation we may acknowledge that an extraordinary Cause may be notionally understood to be of a refin'd Nature yet not therefore term'd Spiritual no more than the Notion of a distinct fifth Essence which Philosophers attribute to the Aetherial Bodies of the Sun and Stars does imply a spiritual Being or contrarily any Similitude of Subsistence if likened to Elementary Composition If the World did explain by any Work or Thing the Cause of its own Original or any Creature that subsists in it we could not be destitute of knowing nay seeing of it as perfectly as we do our selves Though we must not conclude from thence that the total Compass of the World doth not diffuse the Cause of its Being And it were a very groundless and improper Notion to imagine that any such Original Cause should have an Existence beyond the vast Extent of the Universe which were no less absurd than to imagine that something may subsist where there is nothing For I take it as granted by all of us that the capacity of the World above and below must be large enough to include its supreme Cause We ought therefore to conclude that the Reason why it cannot be discern'd is because it is absconded by its effectual conduct and manner of Operation in order to the conservation of the Universe For if it animate all things or be diffus'd as a Soul of which every individual Being participates as was precedently mention'd it cannot be perceptible in whole or in part no more than the human Soul is to be discern'd in its Figure or Proportion that gives Life and Motion to the Body All which does sufficiently manifest that a Supreme Cause may be visibly existent in the Effects it produceth yet so as not to be otherwise defin'd or apprehended On which grounds we of this Island of Astreada adore Providence without giving to it the name of Deity or obliging our selves to give a denomination to a Being or Essence that we cannot intelligibly express and so be necessitated to devise an equivalent Term or Notion of Divinity at a Venture Whereas we conceive that we are pertinently devout if sensible of its Effects however obscure its Being if we pay our Adoration in that method for the Benefits we receive And that as an undiscernible Foreseer Provider and Disposer of all things for the Glory of it self and humane preservation and subsistence we celebrate Providence not with less reverence than such as would be thought strictly to worship and implore what they think fit to deifie 'T were more tedious than necessary should â— entertain you who are Strangers to our Climate with an elaborate Repetition of our Forms of Prayer and manner of Devotion which in sums is no other than that we reverence on our Knees the ineffable Disposer and Giver of the Blessings we receive like to a Man that should have a Bounty convey'd to him by an unknown hand and who in that Case would not think himself tacitely oblig'd to return his acknowledgment though he was ignorant of the Motive Nature and Dignity of the Person that was the Bestower On what account the Tenents and Superstructures of others not to reflect on their notorious Frauds and Devices have hood-wink'd the understandings of Men that are not united to us by the sensible method of our Persuasion I leave concluded the Fidefendon to your judicious Examination The Philosopher observing that his Countryman Priest was somewhat troubled to reply or ruminating of what Argument waâ— fittest to be insinuated in defence of his Persuasion spoke to the Fidefendon in these words I am apt to grant both as a Philosopher and as far as Reason ought to convince me that there is an implicit Reverence as you have judiciously maintain'd due to the sensible operations of Providence all which I do as clearly perceive as that the Sun has warmness in his Beams and that Day and Night have a reciprocal management as they beneficially vary and commode the several Climates of the Universe or that Mankind and every Animal and Vegetive is nourish'd and supported by operations of a Cause predominately absconded To which I likewise condescend That you aptly give the denomination of Providence without undertaking to define its Essence as he that sees Light feels the effects of the Suns heat is capable of understanding what he intends by either of the words but not therefore apprehensive of the composition or essential nature of the substance from whence they proceed Neither can I dissent from you as you celebrate under the Notion of Providence the Devotion you apply in respect that what I am rationally oblig'd to admire as an ineffable Supporter and Disposer of all things I may undoubtedly worship in a general Sense without other definition to explain which the Reasons you have precedently alledg'd are so many and perspicuous as they need no Illustration So that as a rational Man and a Philosopher I readily concede that the Belief you Astreadans profess is both Natural and Philosophical neither can any other religious Proposal however reputed divine or inspir'd deter me from allowing my highest Admiration and Reverence to the methods of that Persuasion that is evidently familiar to my Soul and Senses in the same manner as you deduce your Creed from the conduct of Providence and why the Devotion of the World should not be universally united in that primitive one entire and obvious meanâ— of Worship is not easily understood To which the Fidefendon readily answer'd â—elling the Philosopher that he had proceeded ingeniously in his Concession relating to what had been discuss'd And that he concluded with a very considerable mark on the deplorable Folly of Mankind in being so absurdly divided by their Beliefs considering that as the World is one so there can be but one true Proposition or Motive in order to worship As in the Instance that has been given of Providence if that be clearer to the apprehension as it must be because sensibly perceiv'd than any Notion different from it that ought to be made the Proposition that should generally unite and terminate humâ—ne Worship And I
Laws and publick Constitutions And I doubt not said the Priest looking earnestly on the rest that our sacred Office may claim as sublime Reputation if not more considering the dignity of our Function To conclude We do not undertake to prove with the same evidence of Sense as you do the operations of Providence that by whomsoever our Precepts were originally convey'd on which were first founded our Priestly Qualifications and Capaciâ—ies that he was either inspir'd or convers'd with a Deity But rather affirm that he ought in one kind or other to be so reputed in respect of the credit and value allow'd to the Principles of Worship convey'd by him After this manner the titular Grandeur of heroical and excellent Persons receiv'd divine Names and Epithites not that they in nature were so near of Kin to Heaven as to be half way deified as of old some were entitled but from the admiration paid to their actions and endowments that highly tended to the benefit of others And since the World will not be easily persuaded that there ought to be such a sensible Worship as you propose which I confess was to be wish'd Particular Nations will stand upon the Credit of their Priests and what they receive from their Instructions nay hold themselves oblig'd to support and defend as much as in them lies the esteem of one sort of Priesthood above another Moreover when we assert a Proposition in Religion that is not demonstrative as by declaring in what manner the Deity is represented or personated or how operative on Men by way of Inspiration It ought to be receiv'd as our way of speaking whereby we teach Men more superlatively to reverence the Doctrines we deliver which could not be receiv'd with plausible respect and admiration if not suppos'd to have proceeded from a Divine Founder Insomuch that the Poâ—emicks of Nations on which depend their controverted Creed have no other Original than which of them ought to be prefer'd as they relate to the celebrated Qualifications of their first Proposers The Athenian Senator observing that the Priest his Associate was more perplex'd and obscure in vindicating of his Tenents than he expected from his Undertaking gravely told him that he thought it would be no advantage to his Creed to debate it farther And turning to the Fidefendon gave him thanks for the Explanation he had given them of his Astreadan Persuasion adding withal That it would be no less grateful to him and the Philosopher his Countryman if he pleas'd to deliver what waâ— the Doctrine receiv'd in that famous Island tending to the Immortality of the Soul and the Condition of Mankind after this Life The Fidefendon soberly reply'd That by his precedent Discourses he doubted not but it was apparent to all of them that Religion was clearly the Object of Sense and convey'd by universal Providence on which account all particular Beliefs and singular Perâ—uasions whereby this or that People annex'd â—heir Creeds on pretence of Divine Inspiraâ—ion revealed by written Records or Relaâ—ions of Men tending to that purpose were Notions no less absurd than impossible because no Miracle written or related is an equivalent proof of a Miracle in Fact so â—hat if a Man do's not palpably discern what he is told or reads it cannot be hiâ— actual Conviction Neither can any Man be otherwise persuaded but he must particularize and limit Providence as he supposeth that it has convey'd his profession of Faith in a partial Bounty as â—t respects one sort of Men or Nation more than the generality of Mankind This obvious Reflection plainly discovers the erronious and contradictory grounds of such as would be thought singularly illuminated in order to their Forms of Worship All which â— thought fit previously to instance as being necessary to the explaining of our Opinion of the World which you Grecians call the other If humane Understanding has no actual Evidence by what means or fact the Earth we tread on or the Globe of the Universe which our eyes with admiration behold was produc'd how is it possible that the Intellect of Man should display any sufficient Notion of an undiscernable World And whereaâ— Providence has given us a sensible assurance as has been already prov'd of its Operations in the Universe we inhabit we have no such Conviction of any other And it were no less then a Contradiction to affirm that this World is sensibly perceiv'd but not that which some term the t'other and consequently that thiâ— only was providentially dispos'd in order to the conviction of our Senses which must render Providence defective and opposite to it self or visible here but an invisible Guide as to our Perception by its means of another World And whosoever shall assert a Tenent oâ— this unintelligible Extent do's in effect affirm the existency of two distinct Deities that by a dissimulary Conduct govern thiâ— and t'other mundane Place and Situation For if the Order and Operations of the Supreme Power be perciptible only in such Objects as are familiarly apparent to our Understandings and Senses as has been already the Being of another World must be totally different from this as also the nature and effects of the Omnipotent Cause by which it is actuated and preserv'd in no kind of similitude to the Rule and Disposition of the Universe we inhabit or that there is a spiritual World and Being ordain'd for the Reception of the humane Soul as they conceive it an immortal Spirit Neither can any sufficiently alledge Divine Inspiration as has been observ'd by me to corroborate a Doctrine so opposite to humane discernment because no one Man can explain to another by what means he was inspir'd or how he was illuminated by a spiritual Conversion It being widely impossible to Reason that he who sensibly understands not the existency of a Spirit should apprehend the possibility of a spiritual Dialogue betwixt God and Man The most ancient Recorders of the delusory and various Beliefs of the World were either Poets or Priests or both none of your Grecians can deny as is manifest from the esteem you give to their Traditions and Writings Yet the most anciently celebrated of these as were Orpheus Hesiod and the like taught Men to believe that Gods did beget one another as their Deities of both Sexes were suppos'd to engender A Notion as absurd as monstrous because it implies that one Infinite thing can beget another Infinite or one spiritual Being procreate its like in Essence which Doctrine however extravagant must be conceded by all that attribute the denomination and nature of Spirit to the Deity and grant that it may communicate its substance in any respect And I very much fear that in the Worship by which many would be thought most devoted to an Omnipotent Power that they render iâ— impossible to be reverenc'd in the method they propose unless they can prove as instanc'd before how an undeterminate or infinite Being can be a sensible Object and comprehensively
remov'd after the manner they determine from the visible corporeal World to another whose place they are not able to demonstrate otherwise than by an implicit Belief that goes farther with them than real Proof I cannot apprehend what Answer they 'd return unless they would ingeniously confess that they do not know nor can I guess on what they ground their Notion of transporting the Persons of all after death from one World to another pretended unless it be that they believe the compass of this World is not spacious enough to receive the vast numbers of both Sexes that is to say all that have and shall enter the Confines of Mortality by Death And I grant that it may be some Question whether the Terrestrial Globe be sufficiently large to give entertainment to all of humane Composition after living here or if room enough for them to move or stand foot by foot together But whether moving sitting standing or lying be the general suppos'd posture of such as by future Life shall reside in the Elisium Abodes is not derermin'd by your Grecian Dogmatists But as for the personal â—ppearance of every Individual of humane kind there I conceive they allow them to pass thither as naked as they first came to their Graves and Sepulchres And if they grant that bodily Organs are restor'd to both Sexes as they survive again I do not see how they can deny our corporeal Sense and Appetites in the Elisium they ordain Neithâ—r do I doubt but their Tenent is so indulgent to Beauty as to concede to Men and Women such a Renovation as may best refine the Splendors of their Youth and Features And who can question but this pleasant Imagination has proselited not a few especially the most delicate of both Sexes in all Ages Some I confess affirm That both Soul and Body shall not be only renovated but purified from the natural Passions and Affections that were theirs when earthly Inhabitants But how they can presume that humane Composition is capable of such a cleansing or refining in similitude to the practical effects of Fire or Water I do as little understand as they are able to inform me In sum concluded the Fidefendon We are not averse to any of the before recited Doctrines on the account that we would be thought to pretend to greater assurance by any Notions of our own that relate to future living in another World Be pleas'd therefore to take notice that we of this Island are no such Bigots for any Assertions of Belief that are rather problematical and discussive than evident to the understanding nothing being more fundamentally repugnant to our Creed than to intermix any dubious Conjectures with Maxims of our Faith much less impose thâ—m on others a precipitate hazard or Crime for which too many Religions are at this day accountable If Providence our familier and visible Director as has been enough instanc'd do's not perspicuously guide our Assents as far as the cursory Doctrines of others extend 't is they that dissent exorbitantly fâ—om us and not we from them and whosoever do's undertake to deliver Maxims of Faith less sensibly proceeding from the undoubted manifestation of Providence or less ocularly and rationalâ—y certain than the order and conduct of â—he Universe in all respects must grant his Propositions as palpably deficient if compar'd with ours as the shadows of Night are to the Illuminations of the clearest Light And yet there is no Article of â—heir Worship that is evident to Sense nor any distribution of moral Virtue or sincere esteem of pious Conversation and Life that is not entirely embrac'd by us True it is that in the punishment nature and qualifications of Sin there may be some diversity betwixt their Tenents and the integrity and certainty of ours and the Reason is because they prescribe farther than their Understandings can accompany their Creeds Let this briefly be the Example We do not deny that after Death according to every desert of humane kind there shall be future Reward to the good in whatsoever excellency of Being the providential Disposer of all things has determin'd as likewise Infliâ—â—ions on the evil Deeds and Impieties of others Which Doctrine is not asserted by us as a manifest Article of our Faith but as our comfortable hope and expectation of Felicity to come after our periods of living here But not having the same familiar and open prospect of Providence whereby we as palpably apprehend the place and manner of future Life as perspicuously as we behold the actual conduct and existence of the Universe in which we inhabit we do not dogmatically impose after their Model the belief of another World nor can any affirm that they have the emphatical and visible asâ—urance by any providential Operation or Object of a subsequent Being reserv'd â—or Mankind either in Soul or Body or in both conjoin'd to possess Neither do we said the Fidefendon as â— even now express'd in any kind reâ—ect the comfortable Opinion of future Felicity though we hold it not as equally convictive as we are sensible of the Providence that we are demonstratively oblig'd to reverence here in doing of which we do not infer that a Tenent may not be useful for Contemplation and Encouragement in order to the attaining of humane Perfection though it has no intelligible note or known assurance from proof However we are indubitably confirmed that all Wickedness is arraign'd by the discerning Tribunal that Conâ—cience does erect in every requisite understanding besides the publick and outward Ignomy that Laws inflict on enormous and presumptuous transgressions of Life and where there is sufficient capacity the sting of Sin must needs be grievous in the sense of the Offender as â—his inward Punishment and cause a deploring of his Guilt suitable to the naturâ— of his Crime But on the contraty where invinciblâ— Ignorance to scupidity prevails that thâ— Sinner is neither considerate or duly capacitated to penetrate his Offence hâ— may be notwithstanding held a legal Offender and punish'd as an Inconveniencâ— and Scandal to civil Society according tâ— his Fact but cannot be deem'd intelligent of his Crime because every Sâ—â— ought to proceed from the guilt anâ— cause of the understanding To preveâ—â— which Imbecillity and want of Considâ—ration in the Soul we Fidefendons anâ— publickly ordain'd to stir up in the heaâ— a suitable inspection of Sin as also thâ— most thankful and devout returns to thâ— Supreme Providence from whose Benignity and merciful Effects we enjoy the comforts of Soul and Body And this is thâ— Summ of our Astreadan Belief and Worship The Philosopher told the Fidefendon thaâ— he had nothing to object against the natural and manifest way of Devotion whicâ— he had deliver'd as the common Persuasioâ— of his Nation And turning to the Astreadaâ— Jussinedos or Magistrate there present he requested him to inform them briefly By what Political Rules or Measures the Government of that Island hath been so long happy in not