immediately after our Death It seems to be too great a Leap for so very imperfect a Soul as every good Man's is in this Life to enter upon so great a Glory forthwith upon its being dislodg'd from the Body We see nothing like this in Nature all Creatures being wont from mean Beginnings gradually to creep on to the Height of their Perfection in a leasurely way by very slow and easy Steps And we have the more reason to think it should be so in the present Case because good Men in this World are not wont to improve very fast in the Divine Life but still they have many Imperfections adhering to them And one of the greatest Signs of their Growth is to be deeply sensible of the Remainders of Corruption which do still hang about them If the Scriptures be laid aside 't is hardly to be supposed that a Soul which has been so long in so muddy and defiled a Vessel can be drawn off from the Body so very clear as to carry no Dregs along with it but that it will need to pass through a great many Purgations before it be thoroughly refined And who can tell how severe and how long a Trial it must endure before it be qualified to receive and fitted to bear so great a Weight of Glory The wisest of the Heathens have thought that none but those who have been perfectly * Socrates in Platonis Phoedone p. 80 113 114. Plat. Gorgias p. 526. purged in this Life can go straightway to Heaven But as for others it would require a very considerable Time to cleanse them from that Dross that sticks to 'em before they can be prepared to enter into it They have fancied that several departed Souls did first wheel and roll about the Earth for †Tully's Somn. Scip. many Ages That some of 'em when deliver'd out of the Body are like poor ‖ Tusc Qu. l. 1. Prisoners who having lain in Irons for a long while can't presently feel their Legs and hardly know how to walk when their Shackles are off Plato was so Extravagant in his Conceits as to affirm that many of them could not recover their * In Phoedro p. 248 249. Wings in a less Space of Time than Ten Thousand Years But the Pinions of some Philosophical Spirits who were Lovers of Wisdom and beautiful Boys would grow considerably faster so that in the Compass of Three Thousand Years they would be capable of flying upwards Tho' as Eusebius * Praep. Evang. l. 13. c. 16. hath well observed we have nothing but his bare Word for all this and herein as well as in many other Points he did notoriously Contradict himself For at another time he makes Socrates tell us They who have committed great Sins but yet curable ones according to the Nature of their Crimes are cast into several Rivers of Fire where they lie for a †In Phoedone p. 113 114. Year according to the Tradition of their Poets and then come to a certain fenny marish place where they pray to those whom they have injured that they may come forth and be received into the Mansions of the Blessed And if their Prayers prevail with these Men they presently are drawn out but otherwise they must lie by it Hermagoras * In Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 2. c. 17. a Platonist tells us Guilty Souls are punish'd for infinite Ages before they are deliver'd out of Tartarus and then when they are sufficiently purged they return to Heaven And Virgil saith according to the Platonick Notion that some dirty Souls are hung up a drying †Aliae panduntur inanes Suspensae ad ventos aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igne c. Aeneid l. 6. v. 740. and bleaching in the Wind others which are very foul are rinsed and scoured in the Water but some must be cast into a scorching Fire before their Spots can be clean got out and they be fitted for a Walk in the Elysian Fields to cool and refresh themselves There is one Saying of Socrates that is very fit to be applied to all these Fooleries which Plato makes him deliver even at the end of that very place where he speaks more soberly of this Subject than any-where else as far as I have observed t is this It may be O * In Platonis Gorgiâ p. 527. Callicles these may seem to thee to be Old Wives Fables and thou wilt despise them And it would not be strange if they were despised provided that by all our Search we could any-where find what is better and truer This is not to be found any-where but by Divine Revelation whereby we know and are sure that as soon as ever Good Men die they cease from their Labours When they are absent from the Body they are present with the Lord. It is but departing and being with Christ Angels receive the dislodging holy Soul to convoy it into the Seat of the Blessed How far it is thither and how long an Angel may be in Wafting a holy Soul to that Place is uncertain tho' we may judge the time is but short This Day says Christ to the Penitent Thief when the Day was already far spent shalt thou be with me in Paradise And we find that the Angel Gabriel Dan. 9.21 who at the Beginning of Daniel's Prayer had a Divine Order to fly to him made so great a Dispatch as to be with him about the Time of the Evening-Oblation Now suppose that Prayer of Daniel's to begin early in the Morning for I will allow him to have been up very betimes at his Devotions especially on a solemn Fast as this seems to be yet from thence till Three in the Afternoon which was about the Time of the Evening-Oblation is but a very few Hours The Compass of Time is but very short before a holy Soul enters into the Heavenly Paradise after it has left the Body and it may be it usually arrives there long before the forsaken Carkase is lodged in the Grave without the trouble of any tedious Delays or the Hazard of any new Trial or the Severity of any further Discipline V. § V Mere Natural Light and Reason cannot Certify us what Persons shall enjoy all this Happiness If we were left to the wild Guesses of our own dim-sighted Reason we might well suppose that so great a Glory should be confined to a very few special Favourites and not lie open for All. Some shall be excluded And every Man that knows himself would have been apt to suspect Am not I one of that unhappy Number And especially these three Sorts of Persons would 1. Those that have been very great Sinners either as to the Heinousness of their Crimes or the Time of their continuing Impenitent under them The fabulous and idle Poets indeed have placed the Dog the Bear and the Dragon in the Heavens and succeeding Astronomers have left them in the
he hath not only the Kindness of an Ordinary Man but his Humane Nature was filled with a Spirit of Love and Compassion and therefore he who hath so strictly commanded us to deal forth our Bread Isa 58.10 and draw out our Souls to the hungry will be much more ready to do it himself The Woman of Samaria tho' none of the best Temper or Character who denied him a Draught of Common Water might have had the Water of Life from him if she had but seriously asked it of him Joh. 4.10 And tho' the Hearts of his Country-men the Jews were full of Malice against him yet from a Custom that had obtained among them of bringing Water from Siloam to the Temple and pouring it out there he takes Occasion to intimate to them that He was the Fountain of Saving-Grace and gives them an Universal Invitation saying If any man tho' he be never so poor Joh. 7.37 or hath been never so wicked yet if he thirst let him come to me and drink And assures them that they should not repair to him in vain For he adds He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive as St. John the infallible Commentator adds And there are several Circumstances of this Speech of his which the Evangelist mentions and are worthy of our Observation In the last Day that great Day of the Feast Jesus stood and cried saying If any man thirst c. 'T is the Feast of Tabernacles that is here meant one of the three on which all the Males in Israel were to appear at Jerusalem the First and the Last Days whereof were Great Days and in a Special manner to be observed as a holy Convocation wherein it was not Lawful for them to follow their Worldly Employments And consequently this being a Day of Leisure there was the greater Confluence of the People And it being the Last Day and they on the Point of departing to their several Homes just as they were going he utters these Words that so they might stick and abide by them as mens last Speeches are wont to do And then 't is added that Jesus stood up The usual way among the Jews was for those who taught the People to do it Sitting but here we find our Saviour chose the other Posture that his Voice might reach the further And he did not faintly Whisper but he Cried that every one there might be sure to hear him and that by the Loudness and Fervency of his Delivery he might make the greater Impression upon their Souls So earnestly did he desire to draw Men to him for their Spiritual Advantage And as a Sanative Vertue was sent forth from the Body of Christ here on Earth for the Curing the Natural Distempers of all those who resorted to him and believed on him so shall Influences of Grace flow forth from him in Heaven for the healing the Spiritual Diseases of those who seek to him and depend upon him He will do as great Miracles and Cures on Mens Souls as ever he did on their Bodies Open the Eyes of them who were Born blind quicken them who are dead in Trespasses and Sins restore their Feet to them that are Lame cleanse them that are Lepers and cast out the unclean Spirits from those who have been possessed by them And to remove all Jealousies and Obstructions he hath given us such a Description of the Gracious Nature and Will of God as is most worthy of him and most proper to incline us to return to him to awaken the Negligent and encourage the Doubting He hath clearly inform'd us of his Holiness Justice and Omniscience as a Remedy against the vain and fatal Imaginations of those who are secure in Sin and are apt to fancy him like a drowzy Judge on the Bench who neither hears nor regards how Causes go He hath as fully display'd before us the Riches of his Grace that awaken'd Sinners might not despair and so prove obstinate and irreclaimable It was the Reproach of the Israelites Ps 106.20 that they changed the Glory of God into the Similitude of an Ox that eateth Grass 'T is of a more pernicious Consequence to transform him into the Likeness of a roaring Lion thirsting after Mens Blood and greedy to devour their Souls Our Blessed Saviour in pursuance of his great Design which is to recover Men from Sin hath given us quite other Representations of him That he is desirous to be at Peace and ready to give forth of his Grace Luk. 11.11 12 13. That the most tender-hearted Father can't be half so ready to give Bread to his Starving Child as God is to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him And to cut off all Objections to this purpose viz. how can God consistently with his Holiness Justice and the Honour of his Government bestow so rich a Blessing on us the Scriptures further tell us it was one End of his Death to purchase Saving-Grace for us It was part of the Prize for which he ran a Branch of that Joy that was set before him Heb. 12.2 as an Encouragement to him to endure the Cross and despise the Shame and Pain of it He knew he should have a Seed and see the Travel of his Soul Isa 53.10 11. and be satisfied with the blessed Fruit thereof And when he ascended up on High Ps 68.8 he received Gifts for Men indefinitely of all Sorts and Ranks yea even for the Rebellious also Acts 5.31 and was exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and Forgiveness of Sins Yea saith the Apostle to those Men whose Hands were yet reaking in the Blood of Christ and who therefore one would think should never have been applied unto or if they had of all Men living they should have been the Last that ever should have heard such glad Tidings yet on the contrary Unto you First saith he Acts 3.26 God having raised up his Son Jesus hath sent him to bless you in turning not a few only but every one of you from his Iniquities Considering the Nature of the Gospel the Representation therein given of God the Temper of Christ his tender Love to the Souls of Men which drew him down from Heaven his Carriage on Earth his Death Ascension Exaltation and the Ends of them which he who did not stick at the hardest Command of his Father that of laying down his Life will be sure punctually to answer and his own Honour which is so deeply engaged the Glory of a King consisting so much in the Multitude of his Subjects Prov. 14.28 we have the highest Reason to believe that nothing is more Grateful to him than the lifting up a perishing Sinner out of the Pit and the helping a strayed Soul in its Return to God The CLOSE I
Importance of any that can be mentioned viz. The Pardon of Sin while we are in this World and our Future State when we leave it and pass into the next And in treating on both of them I shall compare Reason and Revelation set one against the other and endeavour to demonstrate against the Deists of the present Age That if we have no other Guide than the Former we must needs be at a dreadful Loss and remain covered with the Shadow of Death Psal 44.19 but if we follow the Later we shall have such a clear and satisfactory Account of both of them as will be comfortable as the Light of Life unto our Souls John 8.12 A PRESERVATIVE AGAINST DEISM CHAP. I. Of Pardon of Sin WHenever we are Serious and Retired our own Hearts will tell us That God is justly and highly displeased with us for our Sins and that this Displeasure of his will end in our total Ruin if it be not removed Conscience indeed is not always sensible of our Guilt but 't is soon awaken'd by any very sharp Affliction As the Seeds of some Distempers floating in a man's Blood upon the Change of Weather are apt to drop down into a tender and sensible Part causing most acute Pains in the languishing Patient No man therefore can have any rational and lasting Peace and Comfort of Mind who is not well informed about the Forgiveness of Sins which the Christian alone by the help of his Bible can attain unto but the Deist must be greatly bewildred about who hath no other Instructor than the Light of Nature and Reason For I. § I That cannot fully assure us that there is Forgiveness of Sin with God If this could be Certainly known by meer Reason it must be gathered either from the Essential Goodness of God or else from the visible Effects of his Bounty and Kindness From the Former of these it can't be Assuredly inferr'd For tho' Forgiveness of Sin hath its Rise and Spring in the Infinite Benignity of God yet it doth not flow thence by Necessity of Nature but 't is a free Act of his Will and the Work of his Soveraign Grace and Pleasure And therefore the Argument of the Apostle is very strong and clear 1 Cor. 2.11 As no man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him even so these things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God and he to whom he is pleased to Reveal them A shrewd Man may guess at the secret Thoughts and Resolves of his fellow-Creature but he can't certainly know them much less can we in affairs of This nature penetrate into the Mind of God That Eye which is too weak to reach to the bottom of a shallow Stream can never pierce to the lowest Depths of the Ocean Sinners are worthy of Punishment and 't is not inconsistent with Goodness to inflict a deserved Punishment on an Offender God hath a Right to inflict and who can assure us that he will remit his own Right unless he himself declare his willingness to part with it God neither will nor can exercise one Attribute of his to the Prejudice of another He will not raise the honour of his Goodness on the Ruins of his Holiness and Justice or the Contempt of his Authority and Government And how to reconcile these with the Pardoning of Sinners is a puzzling Difficulty in which Reason cannot help us And tho' it could yet he is infinitely Just and Righteous and therefore at least he may resolve to punish the Offender for ought that he knows so that at the best it would be with our Souls as 't is fabulously reported to be with Mahomet's Body in his Iron Coffin that hangs in the Air between the upper and the neather Load-stone so should we be in Suspence between encouraging Hopes and uneasy Fears which must needs create a mighty Torment in our Minds this being a matter whereon our Welfare in both Worlds doth so intirely depend The Scriptures tell us and tho' that will have no weight with a Deist yet it will with those who own their Authority that notwithstanding the immense Goodness of God yet Devils who were originally more noble Creatures than we remain bound in Chains of Guilt as well as Darkness and are reserved to the Judgment of the Great Day And that there should be Forgiveness for fallen Man when there 's none for Apostate Angels who can assure us Nor can this be Certainly inferr'd from the visible Effects of Divine Bounty and Goodness Men perceive indeed that God is Kind but withal they frequently feel to their Cost that he is Just and know within themselves that 't is Righteous in him to render Tribulation and Anguish to every evil-doer He doth do it in some terrible Instances in this World and for ought that meer Reason can tell us he may do the like in the other World too tho' he may defer it for a Season as long as this present Life doth last and fill mens Hearts with Food and Gladness for a Time to reward those broken Mixtures of Good that may be in them or as a Recompence for some useful Service they may do tho' his Glory be not designed by them therein or to employ them as the Instruments of his Providence for the relieving or vexing of others or for some other wise Ends that may be past our finding out A Malefactor may know that his Prince is very good and kind who for wise Reasons of State which he can't penetrate into gives him an uncertain Reprieve sine Die keeps him in an airy Prison and feeds him there very plentifully at the Publick Charge Yet this is but a very slender Argument that therefore he shall undoubtedly be pardon'd Especially if he know him to be a very Just and Righteous Governor who greatly hates and detests the foul Crimes he hath been guilty of And most of all if the Prisoner enter into new Conspiracies and Rebellions against him while he is so lovingly treated Which is the case of all Mankind with reference to God who are daily provoking him while they live every moment on his Bounty The utmost that can be solidly gather'd from the common Patience and Goodness of God is but some loose and faint Hopes which may encourage Sinners to hearken out and enquire after a way of Reconciliation with God The Ninivites carried this matter as far as any can by meer natural Light and Reason Jonah 3.9 when they said Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from the fierceness of his Anger that we perish not But then on the other hand nothing being so suspicious as a Guilty creature especially when he hath to do with a Holy and a Jealous God he may as well say Who can tell but that God will Not turn nor repent nor turn away from the fierceness of his Anger and then we must perish and there is
rationem Plato nullam afferret vide quid homini tribuam ipsâ Auctoritate me frangeret Tot autem rationes attulit ut velle caeteris sibi certè persuasisse videatur Tusc Quaest l. 1. p. 1057. is very observable who having spoken of those little Philosophers who affirmed that Death was the total destruction of the whole Man adds Nothing doth occur to me to make me think the contrary Opinion of Pythagoras and Plato is not true For tho' Plato should produce no Reason at all see what Deference I pay to the Man his Authority would quite bear me down But he hath produced so many Reasons that he seems Willing to persuade others however doubtless to persuade himself So that in his Opinion he was little better than a Well-wisher to the Cause Let 's see whether He himself can do better He had as sharp an Eye as most Men ever had and yet he introduces his Discourse on this Argument with words to this effect I am not going to utter * Tusc Quaest l. 1. p. 1053. Explicabo nec tamen ut Pythius Apollo certa ut sint fixa quae dixero c. Oracles nor give Demonstrations but inconsiderable Man that I am among many others I will give you my Guess as to what is likely For I can go no further than Probabilities Let those talk of Certainties who profess themselves to be Wise Then he reckons up the several Opinions of the Philosophers Some think the Soul is extinguish'd with the Body others that 't is presently dissipated after it hath taken its leave of the Carkase others that it remains in being a long while and others that it lasteth always c. Now saith he God knows which of these Opinions is true and which of them is most probable is a great Question And afterwards having rejected the Opinion of Dicoearchus * Id. p. 1054. that the Soul is nothing at all saith he the Opinions of the rest give us HOPE if this be pleasing to you that it is POSSIBLE that Souls when they depart from their Bodies may go to Heaven as to their own House To this his Friend who discourses with him replies I am very desirous it should be so and if it be not yet I would fain be persuaded of it And upon the recommending Plato's Treatise of the Soul to him his Friend replies I assent to what he says * Tusc Qu. l. 1. p. 1054. I know not how while I am reading it But when I have laid the Book aside and I begin to think with my self of the Soul's Immortality all my Assent to it slides away from me Indeed the ARguments which Plato brings on this Occasion and which Tully hath but too much honoured by transcribing from him are almost all of them so weak and trifling that I wonder how Cleombrotus when he heard him discoursing on that Subject could be induced to leap from him into the Sea that he might presently be in the other State Had I been his Hearer unless he could have produced stronger Proofs and given a better Account of the matter than he hath done in his Dialogue of the Soul I should much rather have thrown Him than my self over-board and have sent him into the other World that so he might thoroughly have informed himself about the Subject he pretended to treat but was so far from being a Master of He talks so weakly on this Head that I think no man but one who is Non compos mentis would ever have brought in poor Cleombrotus as a Felo de se for Drowning himself And in another place Tully brings in Cato after a long Discourse on this Subject winding up the whole in these Words * De Senectute at the end p. 1265. If it be an Error that the Souls of Men are Immortal I am pleased to err and I will never as long as I live be beaten out of it But if when I am dead as some little Philosophers think I shall perceive Nothing I am not afraid lest the Philosophers who are dead should deride this Error of mine But if we are not Immortal yet it is desirable for a Man in his proper time to be extinguish'd This cannot be excused by a Pretence that Tully speaks it not in his own Person but in Cato's And that when a Man doth personate another he must speak agreeably to his Character tho' it be never so contrary to his own real Sentiments For he himself tells us in * De Amicitiâ in the beginning p. 1265. another place that he brings in Cato disputing of Old Age because he did not know a fitter Person and that this manner of Writing in the borrowed Person of Ancient and Illustrious Men hath he knows not how more of Weight in it And therefore saith he when I read my OWN Writings I am sometimes so affected with them as tho' they were not my Sayings but really Cato ' s. So that under the Covert of another's Name he plainly writes his own Opinion And a little after in the same Book having spoken of the speedy Return of the departed Souls of very Excellent Men to Heaven he can't forbear adding IF * Id si ita est ut optimi cujusque animus in morte facillime evolet c. Sin autem illa veriora ut idem interitus sit animorum corporum nec ullus Sensus maneat ut nihil boni est in morte sic certè nihil mali Id. p. 1267. this be so then Scipio 's Soul to be sure is got thither But IF it be TRUER that Body and Soul do utterly perish together and there be no remaining Sense at all then as there is no Good in Death so there is no Evil in it Seneca when he was dangerously Sick labours to Comfort himself against the Fears of his Dissolution with this sorry Consideration That Death * Ep. 54. would put him into the same Condition he was in ere he was born that Men are like a Candle which is in no worse State after 't is put out than before it was lighted At another time saith he I was pleased in enquiring into the Soul's Eternity †Ep. 102. or rather to Believe it For I did easily believe the Opinions of Great Men who were better at promising what was very grateful to me than at proving it When he would comfort ‖ Ad Marciam Ch. 19. Marcia for the Loss of her dear Son saith he That may be Good or Evil that is Something but that which is Nothing and reduceth all things into Nothing delivers us up to no Fortune nor can he be Miserable who no longer is at all And again upon the same Occasion saith he to another It may be he * Epist 63. the last words is gone before IF what Wise men have said be true and there be a Place to receive us after Death But this is poor Consolation cold as the Grave wherein a
man's Friend is laid Plutarch speaks no more confidently when he endeavours to comfort * Consol ad Apol. Edit Xylandri p. 109 c. Apollonius upon the untimely Death of his very promising Son he adopts that Saying of Socrates That Death is like a deep Sleep or a long Travelling into a foreign Country or else 't is a total Destruction of Body and Soul and speaks to the last as well as the two other that he may demonstrate Death to be no Evil. This was one of the Ingredients he uses to make a Plaister to heal the Sore of his distressed Friend And the best that he could say was IF the Saying of the Ancient Poets and Philosophers be true †P. 120. as 't is Probable that it is that Good men are advanced when they die and some of them as 't is reported more highly than others and there be a certain Place appointed for pious Souls in which they live you have reason to hope well concerning your Son that he is got among ' em As for Death saith * Antoninus l. 7. §. 32. Antoninus whether it be a Dissipation of the Elements or a Reduction into Atoms or an Annihilation it is either an Extinction or a Transmigration Or as others read it it is either †Gataker in locum p. 273. a Dissipation of the Elements Resolution into Atoms Annihilation Extinction or Transmigration A Saying that much resembles that of Seneca ‖ Contemnite mortem quae vos aut finit aut transfert Seneca de Provid ch 6. Despise Death which either ends or translates you He that would see more of Antoninus's Uncertainty let him turn to the Places * Lib. 3. §. 3. l. 4. §. 14. 21. l. 6. §. 24. l. 7. §. 50. l. 8. §. 25. 58. l. 10. §. 58. l. 12. §. 5. cited in the Margent To these Philosophers I will add the famous Historian †Vita Agricolae ad finem Tacitus who speaking in very affecting Terms concerning the Death of his Father-in-Law Agricola drops this Passage IF there be any place for the Ghosts of Good men IF as Wise men define the Souls of Great Persons die not with the Body in Peace maist thou rest c. Of the same Strain is the Speech of that noble Roman Lady Veturia a Woman of an admirable Wit and Address and whose Spirit was altogether as great as her Quality who among other Arguments with which she diverted her Son Coriolanus from ruining his own Country when it was entirely at his Mercy makes use of this That if she could but succeed in her Enterprize of prevailing with him to lay aside his she should not only gain Immortal Honour here upon Earth but also IF there be a place saith she * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys Halicarn l. 8. p. 522 523. Edit Wichelii for the Reception of Humane Souls after they are dismiss'd from the Body mine shall go not to a subterraneous and dark one where 't is SAID that miserable Wretches are lodg'd nor to the Plains of Lethe as they are called but to the High and Pure Aether where 't is REPORTED that they who are descended from the Gods do lead a blessed and happy Life I am not without some Grounds of Jealousy that the Whole of her Speech whereof these Words are a part as 't is set down was made for her by Dionysius according to the usual custom of most Historians who are wont to put Words into the Mouths of those Persons whose Actions they relate and don 't so much tell us what They spake as what Themselves would have said had they been to have made a set Oration under the same Circumstances wherein they frequently over-do make them talk much finer than it can rationally be supposed They are capable of doing lay on so much Paint that it easily appears to an observing Eye to be the work of Art and not of Nature But be it the Incomparable Veturia or the Grave Dionysius 't is not very material 'T is evident the Person that spake was very doubtful about a Future State Now if it were thus with the most Learned and Sagacious Men with the most Elevated and Exalted Souls how sad in all likelihood must it needs be with the Body of Mankind If they who had got the Higher Ground above the Heads of the Common People and had the Advantage too of standing on one another's Shoulders could see such a little way before 'em what shall we think of the little Creatures that sate below In short we do not find that Everlasting Life in the other State was in any Heathen Nation an Article of Religion established by Law It was but slightly touch'd on by Philosophers when ever they did name it which was but seldom as a Motive to excite Men to the Practice of Vertue Other Arguments they use and trust to which they did better understand and it is Prudence for a man not to urge those Reasons which are strongest in themselves but rather fight with that Weapon which he is a Master of and knows how best to manage And 't is a shrewd Observation of * St. August de Civit. Dei l. 4. c. 22. l. 6. c. 9. St. Austin That tho' the Heathens had abundance of Gods to whom they did particularly apply themselves to one for one Blessing to another God for another Favour and therefore the Knowledge of the Gods was necessary that they might direct themselves to them aright and not ask Water from the God of Wine c. Yet Varro himself who was very well skill'd in the matter hath not mentioned so much as one God whom they were to pray unto for Eternal Life 'T is true indeed we who have been taught from our very Infancy by the Gospel that there is such a Place as Heaven and so glorious a Reward for the Righteous in the other State may be apt to think that we have hit upon it by the Exercise of our own unassisted Reason or that it was very easy so to have done But herein it fares with us as oftentimes it doth with a Studious Man who having familiarly convers'd with good Authors doth verily think some of those Notions and Expressions too which he hath learnt from them are the genuine Off-spring of his own Mind and Thought Just as Corn that springs up in some places seems to the Husbandman to be the natural Product of the Ground he having never sowed it with that sort of Grain the Seeds of which in Reality were taken up by the Wind from another Field whereto they did originally belong and invisibly dropt down there I can't better express my Sense of this than in the Words of a modern Author who herein speaks very well tho' judging by the main Design of his Book I take him to be a very Singular Unitarian seeing he cuts off all the necessary Articles of our Faith excepting that of the Belief of
Terms only which was but a Cover for their Ignorance and those too not very lofty and towring ones He that is afraid of Death saith * De Seipso l. 8. §. 58. Antoninus either fears the utter loss of all Sense or else that he shall have a Sense of a different Kind from what he now hath But if there be none left then thou shalt have no Perception of any Evil at all And that I think is unquestionable But he adds If thou hast another Sort of Sense then thou shalt be another Kind of Animal and shalt not cease to live Emperors are not at leisure to answer every poor Enquirer else any Man that hath any Sense at all would presume to ask his Imperial Majesty what Sort of Animal he shall be and what Manner of Life he shall lead And so much the rather because many of the Learned Philosophers tell us that departed Souls do enter into Brutes And as wild and unaccountable a Paradox as this may seem to be yet it hath been a very Ancient Opinion and spread very far especially among the Wise men of the East where * Burnet's Archaeol l. 1. cap. 2. It. in Appendice p. 353. still it doth greatly obtain to this very day Pythagoras and his Followers on this Account are reported to have forborn all sorts of Flesh whether of Birds or Beasts And allowing them their Principle none could justly blame their Abstinence For 't is but an Odd thing for a Man to sit down to his Meat when for ought he knows he may Chop up his Father or Swallow down his Mother yea a mans beloved Wife for any thing he can tell may become nearer and more intimate with him after her Death than ever she was in her Life She that lay in his Bosom may descend into his Entrails turn into Nourishment and in a Literal Sense become One Flesh with him And these Philosophers are so very particular as to tell us what Sort of Brutes departed Souls enter into Some into Bees * Socrates in Platonis Phoedone p. 81 82. Tim. Locr. de Anima p. 104. Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. ch 9. others into Asses c. Now tho' a Man could reconcile himself to the drudging laborious Life of the one yet it would go very much against the Grain to bear the cruel Stripes and heavy Loads of the other Nor should I very heartily join in * Bayles Dict. in Hali Beigh out of Rycaut p. 18. that Man's Prayer That my Soul after Death should have the Honour of entring into a Camel as Sober and Patient and Sweet an Animal as it is For 't is a Laborious Life those Creatures lead and a long Way they travel with a Pack of Drugs from the East much bigger than the Bunch on their Backs Plutarch in his Consolatory Epistle to his Wife on the Death of her little Daughter saith She is †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consolat ad Uxorem p. Oporum 611. gone to a place where there is no Sorrow But he hath no better Proof of it than the Customs and Laws of their Ancestors which forbad them to use those Funeral * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. p. 612. Rites in behalf of Infants which they were wont to employ about Grown Persons For this saith he would be unlawful seeing they are translated into a better and a more Divine Place By the manner of arguing one would think this were the Speech of the little Child before her Departure not the Language of her Grave Philosophical Father But these are but General Words let 's come a little to Particulars Cluverius †De Antiquâ Germ. l. 1. c. 32. p. 222. tells us that it was a Custom among the Celtae the Galls and the Albani which he proves out of Diodorus Siculus Valerius Maximus and Strabo to bury some Pieces of Money with the deceased Party and send some by him to their Friends in the other State for their Use there and to lend their Acquaintance Money to be repaid them there and that this is a very common Custom among many Heathen Nations to this day As also to * Hody of the Resurrection p. 6 32 33 46. kill Camels on their Graves Horses Concubines and Butlers and burn their Garments and other Attire or bury them and Houshold-Stuff and Arms with them for their Use when †Lucian de Luctu p. 432. Edit Bened. they came thither and they could have no very Extraordinary Apprehensions of the Happiness of Souls there who were guilty of such a Practice as this But these were Barbarous People as the Greeks in their abundant Civility to the rest of Mankind were wont to call all the World besides themselves tho' they were Originally beholden to other Nations for all the Learning and Knowledge on which they so much Valued themselves Let us therefore see what these Sons of Wisdom have to say to the Point in hand Homer may challenge the Privilege of being heard first because of his Great Antiquity and his being the first Discoverer of the Elysian Fields He brings in Proteus thus speaking to Menelaus The Gods shall send thee to the Elysian Fields which lie on the utmost parts of the Earth * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Odyss l. 4. v. 564. where thou shalt live safe and happy there being neither too great a Quantity of Rain or Snow or too long a Winter but the blessed Inhabitants are continually refresh'd with the gentle Breathing of cool Breezes that come from the Ocean A good dry and warm place comfortable enough for a naked Soul or one that hath at best so thin and slight a Cloathing as that of Aether must be supposed to be But a good Seat is not very desirable without suitable Sports and Diversion And Virgil will inform us what they are Some spend their time in Wrestling * Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris Contendunt ludo c. Virgil Aeneid l. 6. v. 643. One would think he was describing other Fields which I am loth to mention and not those of Elysium Others in Singing and Dancing the Happiness of a Stage or a Play-house The Warlike Souls having put off their glittering Armor in a very peaceable manner are refreshing themselves and their unbridled Steeds The Launces that were wont to be cruelly run through the Sides and Hearts of their Enemies are Mercifully stuck into the Ground only And they behold their Chariots with as much Pride and Pleasure as ever they rode in 'em when they drove them over the Carkases of their fallen Enemies For tho' they have left their Bodies behind 'em they have carried along with 'em the same * Secundùm illum Virgilium res quoque leviores quas viri exercuerant etiam post Corpus exercent Quae gratia Curruum c. Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. cap. 9. Humors they had whether
nec suum nec sui quicquam à quoquam censeri volebant Stoici Gataker in Annot. in Antonin p. 423. Edit Cantabrigiae 1652. Hody of the Resurrection p. 23 24 25. Men have proved that herein he was mistaken He speaks of the utter Extinction of the Soul by Death And the Answer he gives to this stabbing Question is That if it be so you must know for certain they would have order'd it otherwise if it had been just and possible and natural and ought to have been otherwise managed And yet at another time he propounds this Question * Antoninus l. 4. §. 21. If Souls do continue how will the Air contain 'em all especially considering they have been from Eternity Which he answers by propounding another How the Earth is able to contain all the Carkases which for so very long a space of time have been buried in it And then adds As the Carkases of Men when they have been for some time in the Earth are changed and dissolved so as to make room for others so Souls being translated into the Air after they have abode there for some time * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Id. Ib. are changed burnt melted down like the Metals of a Founder I suppose and so run into the common Soul of the World and thereby make way for others to come into their places and because Men die very fast I conceive this must be very quickly done lest the Place be crouded and separated Souls be stifled for want of Room and Breath tho' in the midst of the Air it self Were it not that he adds these Words That thus a Man would answer on this Hypothesis †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. that Souls do supervive their Bodies I would say that to reconcile this with the Passage which I but just now cited out of him would be as difficult as 't is to make the two Poles to meet and kiss each other He reels and staggers to and fro and knows not what Opinion to be of If he had not a more steady hand in Government than he had in Reasoning and Philosophy he would have made but a very indifferent Ruler Others of the Stoicks believed that after Death the Soul lasted as long as its Body did continue And the Egyptians were of the same Opinion and that was the reason of their embalming the Bodies of the Dead For this we have the Authority of Servius * Ad Aeneid l. 3. p. 664. which the most Learned Gataker indeed puts a Slur upon saying I don't †Unde habeat nescio Gataker Annot. in Anton. p. 140. know whence he had it Nor I neither but he who lived so many hundred years ago might have met with it in some of their Books which have not been transmitted down to us nothing being more common than 't is for Learned Men as much to bewail the Loss of many Ancient Writings as their nearest Relations could do the Death of the Authors of ' em Nor is that other Reflection of that Great Man whereby he would discredit this Testimony of Servius of any great Weight viz. as tho' the * Quasi sc à Stoâ dogma istud arripuerint Aegyptii sc Id. ib. Egyptians had borrowed this Opinion from the Stoicks For 't is very likely that Servius's Author might so misrepresent it as if the Egyptians had taken it from the Stoicks whereas in truth the latter stole it from the former according to the known humour of the Greeks who did vainly arrogate to themselves those Inventions which 't is very plain they borrowed from their Neighbours And some tell us this was the true * Hody of the Resurrection p. 12. Reason why the Egyptians were wont to keep the Carkases of their Friends in their Houses and Closets and set 'em at Table as formal Guests believing they had there the Whole Man not only the Body but the Soul too Tho' such Company I suppose would not very much support the Discourse nor greatly enflame the Reckoning Other Stoicks thought that it was with Human Souls as 't is with †Gatak Annot. in Antonin p. 140. It. 301. Material Beings there was some solid Substance at the bottom which did always remain and from which in process of time new Souls did spring when the Old ones were dissolved somewhat like new Mill'd Money produced from the old Coin that was so miserably clipt and debas'd Others of them thought Souls did last till the Universal * Id. p. 139. Conflagration which they put at a very considerable distance from the Age wherein they lived Cleanthes said All Souls did so but Chrysippus and some †Arius Didymus in his Account of the Stoical Philosophy as quoted by Euseb Praep. Evang. l. 15. c. 20. p. 822. Edit Paris Others say only those of Good Men. But then they were to cease from being individual Beings any longer and to be refunded into the Elements of the World or that Universal Soul whence they were Originally taken Which a Learned Man ‖ Huetii Concordia Fidei cum Ratione p. 159. thus very aptly represents 'T is as if a Man should fill a Vessel with Water taken out of the Sea and then some time after should break the Vessel and let the Water run again into the Ocean wherein it is as it were lost being mingled and incorporated with the mighty Mass tho' it be not annihilated And this was the Opinion of Pythagoras too and his Followers and * Id. 160. Heraclitus also the Author and Founder of a Sect of Philosophers who bore his Name But others of them did not think that Souls tho' they took them for pretty durable Beings did last altogether so long They fancied that they did †Stoici usuram nobis largiuntur tanquam cornicibus diu mansuros aiunt animos semper negant Tully Tusc Qu. l. 1. p. 1060. perish at length after they had worn out several Bodies with which from time to time they were cloathed as with so many new Suits of Apparel And herein they did agree in the main with the Pythagoreans and Platonists who held the Transmigration of Souls either into Brutes or other humane Bodies or both successively which as we observed in the foregoing Section was a most Catholick Opinion of whole Nations in the East as also it * Cluverius de Germ. Antiq. l. 1. c. 32. Hody of the Resurrection p. 6 7 8. Dr. Jackson Vol. 3. p. 424. was of the Egyptians and the Druids too and the Ancient Germans in the West How often the Soul might be a Widower and with how many Bodies it might successively Marry I do not know nor think it worth the while to enquire But herein some at least of the Stoicks did differ from others that at last they thought the Soul it self did drop away and crumble into nothing Hence Dionysius Halicarnassaeus reflecting on the unhappy Death of the brave and
For the proposing vast Recompences for very slight and trivial Matters betrays great Want of Judgment in not setting a true value upon things either upon Rewards or Services or both Now by the Law of our Creation we owe God all possible Duty and Obedience a great deal more than the best of us do yield to him And should God have exacted it on the Account of his Sovereign Authority over us without promising us any thing at all much less any great Matters we had been indispensably obliged to it And our best Actions stand in need of Pardon so far are they from deserving to be Crowned Nothing in us or done by us can bear the least Proportion to the Heavenly Glory And therefore that besides a Pardon God should promise us Eternal Life as the Reward of what we do for him is what can hardly enter into our Thoughts But now Revelation does relieve us in this Matter The Scriptures tell us That Christ by his perfect Obedience and Death in our room and stead hath highly Glorified God and his Government and not only redeemed us from Hell and Destruction to which we were liable but also merited Everlasting Glory for us And that the Design of this whole Affair is to magnify the Riches of God's Grace and show the vast Regard he has to the Death and Intercession of his own Son that on his Account he offers such an unspeakable Reward to us Rom. 5.12 That as Sin has reigned unto Death so might Grace reign through Righteousness to Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not for any Works of Righteousness that we have done or can do it is not because of their Intrinsick Worth that such great Things are given to us Heaven is the Purchase of Christ's Blood it is for His Sake we are accepted and rewarded And so upon our Faith and Obedience we freely receive the Blessings which he hath merited And the more we abound therein the greater is our Reward not because of our Merits but because of God's gracious Promise and Respect to the Blood of his Son for which he assigns us different Degrees of Glory in Proportion to our different Measures of Holiness and Obedience VII § VII I shall add one Consideration more which will equally reach both this and the foregoing Head viz. Natural Light and Reason cannot assure us where Grace is to be had to enable us to perform the Terms on which the Pardon of Sin and the Enjoyment of the Heavenly Glory is suspended Whosoever consults himself the Vanity of his own Mind the Corruption of his own Heart the Turbulency of his Passions the unruliness of his Appetite the Strength of Temptations the Weakness of his Resolutions and the Force of Evil Examples will quickly see an absolute Necessity of a Divine Power to turn him into and keep him in the Paths of Holiness Some Ingenious Men tell us very strange and surprizing Stories of the mighty Strength of Wheels and Pullies and Screws that 't is possible by the Multiplication of them to pull up an Oak by the Roots with a single * Bishop Wilkin's Archimedes p. 96. Hair of a Man's Head lift it up with a Straw or blow it up with ones Breath So that by these Contrivances one of Sampson's Locks when shaven off would have had far greater Strength and done greater Wonders than he himself when all of them were on As Extravagant as this may seem to be yet 't is much more easy and likely than for any Man by his own feeble Arm to pluck up those inveterate Evil Habits which Time and Custom have settled in him and made natural to him Now what well-grounded Confidence can we have from the meer Light of Nature of Divine Help for the accomplishing this great and necessary Work Whether any shall ever enjoy it seeing the same Sins that make us need it render us most unworthy of it Or in what Proportions it shall be given forth and how long it shall be continued Whether the Spirit of God shall be like those Periodical Winds which in some Parts of the World do annually blow to help the Mariner forward in the pursuit of his gainful Voyage or whether it shall only be like that bright Minute which Astrologers tell us of that comes but once in the whole Compass of a Man's Life and which if he lazily let slip he shall never have such another but is doom'd to Misery by a Fatal Necessity all the remainder of his Days But the Christian Institution is peculiarly called the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 c. as contra-distinguish'd from the Judaical one tho' that also had God for its Author so small a Portion of it was given forth under the one like little Drops of the Dew from Heaven which just wets the Ground in Comparison of what is bestowed under the other like a plentiful Shower of Rain from above that abundanly Waters it It was in the New Creation as in the Old The cold and dark Evening went before the warm and bright Morning and God appointed the lesser Light to Rule the Night and the greater one to govern the Day The Jewish Dispensation like the Moon had its Glory and its Influence on these lower Bodies But the Gospel is like the Sun who may with more reason than any thing which some Ancient Philosophers dreamt of be called the Soul of the World whose bright and warm Beams give a new Life and Being to all things here below awaken the sleepy and drowsy Spirit in every Creature and cause the Fruits of the Ground to Spring up and flourish and Crown the Year with an abundant Increase Therefore our Blessed Saviour stiles himself the Light of the World Joh. 8.12 a Title which he doth deserve because of the Objects that he hath informed us of having set those Old Truths which before were but darkly apprehended in a full and clear Light and acquainted us with those New ones which had it not been for him we had for ever remained Igrant of And he doth deserve it no less because of that Vital Influence with which his Heavenly Doctrine is accompanied without which all Knowledge in our Minds would be but like decayed Drugs which tho' taken into our Bodies having lost all their Virtue never operate upon them nay Men could not act worse if they verily believed or knew those Doctrines to be false than they do now they believe and know them to be true Joh. 1.4 Ephes 5.14 His Light is the Life of Men Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light And by the Scriptures we are certified that God hath appointed his own Son to be his High Almoner to distribute this Royal Gift of his among us his needy Creatures That being God and Man he hath the Infinite Goodness of the one and the tender Bowels of the other united in him And
Maker But how bold soever he may be with him he is very civil to the Female Sex in providing Husbands for 'em from among the Page 190. Angels tho' what he further saith on that Subject for two Pages Page 191 192. together I shall not transcribe because I will not stain my Paper nor pollute the Mind of my Reader And yet this wretchedly unconstant Man quickly after tells us That a Woman is the most lovely Page 191. at the Bottom BRUTE of the Universe A Flight this is which I hope LINDAMOUR as the Writer of Mr. Blount's Life and Death calls himself will not forget the next time he pays his Devotions to the Divine Image as he words it of the Honourable and Divine HERMIONE for whom this Deist tho' to be sure he is no Idolater has so great a Veneration that he talks of Sacrificing Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Blount p. 1 2. his own Life for her with his own Hands as Mr. B. did for Astrea his Brother's Wife This Lindamour defends and applauds as an Heroical Action in Philander with this remarkable Saying out of Almanzor I my self am King of me tho' how this is consistent with the third Fundamental of A. W's Religion viz. That 't is our Duty to Worship and Obey God as our Creator and GOVERNOR I leave to his Consideration As also how he will reconcile Mr. Blount's Practice with these Words of his in his Discourse against the Surrenderers of Charters viz. Page 178. He that commits Murder with the Sword of Justice aggravates his Crime to the Highest Degree As these Gentlemen would have done in making the Government Felo de se and Accessary to its own ruin Tho' it be not a matter of so great Moment as the rest which I have already mention'd yet I can't but observe that Mr. B. Page 128. accuses Sir H. Savil that he hath so far Complemented the Jewish as to Rob the English World of the fifth Book of Tacitus 's History by omitting any Part of it in his Version and yet he himself is guilty of the same Fault and besides the mis-translation of what he gives us hath kept back a Considerable part of Tacitus's Account But I suppose he thought that wherever there is a Jew 't is fit there should be somewhat of Circumcision I 'le add but one more tho' I could produce several others The Deist sometimes bears up very briskly about Repentance 'T is the true and only Expiation of Sin and is so agreed upon by all Men in all Ages and of all Religions wherefore take it for an Page 200. Undoubted Truth and this not revealed but innate and a part of Natural Religion Sure by his Confidence he looks on this as Full Payment And yet a little after 't is but a little part of Composition-Money but 't is all we have Repentance is what we can answer Page 209. to an Atonement and therefore we may reasonably assert 't is all God will expect from us 'T is but as a Thousand Pounds when a Man owes a Million and the Creditor can have but All. And as pert as Mr. B. is yet sometime his Heart fails him For the highest he can go is but Vero-simile est similem Deo à Deo Page 90. non negligi 'T is likely that he who is like God is not neglected of God Not to be Neglected of God is but a very faint Expression A Man may be not neglected of God and yet be but in very low Circumstances And yet even this too is but likely which is but very cold Comfort All these Flowers I have gather'd out of one Garden tho' from several Beds The Passages are written some by one Author some by another but we may look upon them as the Sense of the Party Mr. Blount hath affixed the Seal of the Company to all these Papers and publish'd them all together as Oracles of Reason He I am sure was answerable for them and so is the Writer of his Life who thus highly commends them after having spoke very Contemptibly of other Writings as Trifles and their Authors as Whiffling Scribblers Account of Mr. Blount 's Life p. 2. But the Subjects and Compositions of these following Sheets left no room for either of these i. e. Apology or Abstract Their Merit took away all Occasion of Apology and the Majesty and Consequence of their Design all pretence to Abstracts Those that desire to see these Sacred MONUMENTS must be more nice Considerers than to be satisfy'd without attentive OBSERVATION They are TRUTHS of too great Importance to be Slightly run over of too great Beauty not to hold our Eyes some time on them to take a thorough Survey of their various Perfections I have look'd attentively into these MONUMENTS and think that Lindamour would do well to put in for what he speaks Ib. of the next Verger's Place that falls at Westminster which if he can get he cannot then point to any Tomb that is fuller of Stench and Rottenness than the Papers which in his Preface he hath so highly extolled On the whole I believe the Reader will incline to my Opinion That some Men run down Christianity because 't is Religion rather than because 't is Revealed FINIS THE CONTENTS In the Epistle to the Reader THE Necessity of opposing Desism § 1. Serious Piety in General the Best Defence against it § 2. And Humility in Particular § 3. The Rational Grounds of the Christian Faith § 3. An Account of the following Treatise § 4. In the Preface SOme Things we are in the Dark about and may contentedly be so But not as to Pardon and a Future State In the Book CHAP. I. PArdon a Matter of great Importance p. 1 Natural Light can't Assure us that God will forgive p. 2 Nor if he will how far Pardon shall extend as to Persons or Crimes p. 10. Nor of the Terms upon which p. 18 The Pleas that it will assure us of Pardon upon meer Repentance considered à p. 18. ad p. 45. Nor When God will Pardon p. 45. Nor how often p. 49 The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the Sih meant in Heb. 6.4 and ch 10.26 p. 51 Nor to what Degree God will forgive p. 63 Under each of which Heads is shewn what Assurance we have from Revelation CHAP. II. A Future State of Happiness a Point of great Importance p. 72 Natural Light can't Assure us there is such a State p. 80 The Heathens uncertain of it p. 81 Nor of the Greatness of it p. 119. The wretched Notions of the Heathens about it p. 120 Nor of its Eternity and Unchangeableness p. 149 The Sentiments of the Heathens about this p. 150 Nor that we shall enjoy it immediately after Death p. 168 The Fancies of the Heathens about this p. 170 Nor who shall enjoy it p. 175. The Opinions of the Heathens about this p. 177 Nor the Terms of it p. 183. Nor where Grace is to be had to enable us to perform the Terms on which Pardon and Future Happiness are suspended p. 187 Under each of which Heads is shewn what Satisfaction we have from Revelation The CLOSE CHrist and his Gospel to be loved and adhered to p. 201. We should be careful we don't fall short of Pardon and Heaven p. 205. and clear up our Right to 'em p. 206. Directions for our so doing Ib. In the Appendix A. W 's Logick like his Religion p. 213. His Objection against Revealed Religion That it hath not and could not be Universally known p. 214. The Reasons of so large an Answer to it p. 215. The Case of Men different from that of other Creatures p. 216. The Gospel Preach'd to Adam and Noah p. 217. Mens own Fault that it did not from them descend to All in every Age Ib. God not obliged to spread it by Miraculous Methods p. 226. Preach'd to Abraham and the Jews tho' other Nations not excluded thereby from the Means of Grace p. 228 The Fault of Christians and Heathens that the Gospel is not further Spread p. 234. A. W 's Promise challenged p. 235. Heathens left to God p. 236. But certainly in a better Case than Deists among us p. 237 No want of Evidence for Christianity but somewhat else in them p. 238 Their Hopes from Infinite Mercy vain p. 244. Sacrifices not meerly Symbolical nor Repentance an Expiation much less the only one in the Opinion of all Men p. 246. The Contradictions and gross Blunders of our Modern Deists p. 254.