Paul fully shews Hebr. the 4th where he proves also that the promised Rest was not that which Joshua gave them in Caanan Farther yet 't is not improbable that God should conceal this Important Truth from the Jewish Fathers to the end their Faith might be more Illustrious for the less of Evidence the greater is the Excellence of Faith as St. Paul pursues at large through the 11th Chap. to the Hebrews in the many noble Acts of Faith recorded of the Jewish Worthies and particularly of the Patriarchs he expounds it that they saw the Promises a far off and that they were only as Strangers and Pilgrims upon the Earth seeking another Country which was heavenly Now if they who had but such a saint glimmering or dawning of a future State should live in such a constant dependance upon God's Providence with such exactness of Moral Justice and with such indifference for the Things of this Life in respect of God's Commands was a thing infinitely more Noble than if they had had future Rewards within a near prospect for then Self-Interest might seem to have been their Motive whereas now all their Obedience was resolv'd into the Will and Pleasure of their Almighty Sovereign and therefore 't is that Abraham's Faith is so highly recommended to us in this Chapter For in his readiness to sacrifice his Son he actually sacrific'd all the Affections of Nature and the considerations even of his Reason in his chearfull compliance with God's Commands Many are the noble Acts of Faith recorded of these famous Men of old who yet received not the Promises God having provided some better things for us that they without us should not be made perfect In short the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality being taught by Jesus Christ and the divine Authority of Jesus Christ being evidently deduc'd from the Writings of the Old Testament it follows also that this Doctrine was therein contain'd as to its Causes like as an Embryo in the Womb which though invisible for a while was in its due time to be brought forth and be made manifest to the World Another Objection from Scripture against the Immortality of the Soul may be grounded upon that Passage of Genesis the 9th whereby God speaking of Man said Gen. 9th Surely the Blood of your Lives will I require at the Hand of every Beast will I require it c. what our Translation renders Life is by the Vulgar rendred Soul or the Blood of your Souls and therefore Levit. 17. 't is said that the Life or Soul of all Flesh is the Blood thereof and for that Reason 't was that Blood was prohibited as being the Life or Soul of every living Creature Now if the Life or Soul be the Blood or in the Blood as the Phrase is us'd promiscuously it follows that proportionably to the effusion of Blood the Soul also is effusible and consequently divisible and Mortal To this 't is answer'd that Scripture Phrases are not to be taken according to the strict Notions of Philosophy but according to the Apprehensions and customary Speech of those they are directed to For so it is that whilst we see Life departing leisurely upon the effusion of Blood we say commonly that the Soul departeth with it forasmuch as the Spirits which are the great Instruments of the Soul are recruited by the Blood which upon this consideration also may be said to be the Vehicle of Life but cannot be said to be Life it self but in an improper sense for though upon an Evacuation of the Blood the Soul or Life departeth so the Soul or Life may depart also the Blood still remaining in the Body without any notable diminution or alteration The next Prejudice against the Immortality of the Soul is grounded upon the Birth Growth Progress and Decays we observe usually of its operations conformable to the several Stages of Life Reason we see does begin to disclose it self in Child-hood and although some Men have a greater share of it than others yet upon the main it seems to borrow its Improvements from the different Tempers and Dispositions of Men and the several Methods of Education nay some Countries have an Influence upon the Genius's of Men more than others and inclines them to more Man-like and regular Thoughts and render them quicker Witted and subtle If the Soul of Man were endow'd naturally with such excellent Gifts why does it not manifest the same without so much cultivation and Expense without so much diligence and study and as fast as we acquire the knowledg of some things we forget others so that all the Productions of the Mind are rather the effects of Art than of Nature We see also when the Body is most Athletick the Mind also is most vigorous and as the Body decays by Age or Sickness so the Functions of the Soul languish also and by all the Experiments we can make are totally suppress'd by Death Besides if the Soul of Man were Immortal how comes it to pass that it has naturally such a horrour of Death whereas it should rather rejoice at its approach as the only means of its deliverance from that Obscurity and Restraint it is subject to in the Body from which being once releas'd 't is said to enjoy a perfect and unchangable State of Bliss To the latter part of this Objection 't is answer'd that the Fears which seize usually on dying Men is the best Argument in the World to prove the Soul's Immortality For dying Men could never have such a fear had they not Apprehensions of a future State as also of its Duration and Immutability so that these Considerations being incident to Men of all Conditions Ages Countries and Perswasions prove sufficiently that they are inherent and natural to the Soul as Gravity Levity and such like Inclinations of Bodies do demonstrate there is another Region without them to which they naturally tend were the Soul of Man as well as his Body extinguishable by Death to dye would be no more than to close up all the Labours of a tedious Life in one found and eternal Sleep a thing which all Men naturally would rather covet than abhor But when a departing Soul feels an inward Agony and labours betwixt Hopes and Fears it shews it is approaching towards a future state of Happiness or Woe the apprehension whereof cannot choose but fill it with some amazement and distraction As to the other part of this Objection viz. That the Powers of the Soul do rise and fall proportionably to the Improvements and Delays of Nature therefore they must perish with it I answer this does by no means follow A Candle burns brighter or dimmer as the Glass or Lanthorn which contains it is more clear or cloudy and yet the Light would not be extinguished though the brittle Case were broken but on the contrary it would appear with a fuller Lustre and diffuse its Beams without confinement When we see one of those floating Castles of the Sea
other Christians are in of being reduc'd under the Slavery of this Mortal and common Enemy so that how prosperous soever the Christian Arms are or have been we are still in greater danger than ever of being ruin'd by the Legions of these Infidels not those of their Spahi or Janizaries but by those of another Order far more mischeivous forasmuch as they fight under our own Colors and pretend to be of our Party such Enemies are ever look'd upon as the most dangerous for they are rarely discover'd till they have given the Mortal Blow Now these are the Socinians a Sect which though exploded the World above a thousand Years ago under the appellation of Arians are in these our days risen again from the Grave and like Spectrums appear every where in the Dark In denying therefore the Divinity of Jesus Christ they do with the Mahometans not only deny the Trinity the Doctrine of Justification or the Merits of Christ's Satisfaction but also Baptism in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost together with the Doctrine of Original Sin So many fatal Errours do follow one upon the Neck of another by denying that one Fundamental Truth which Christ himself is pleas'd to call the Basis of his Church viz. That glorious confession of St. Peter Thou art Christ the Son of the living God The Socinians we all know are a Mungril Brood half Christians half Turks and for this Reason 't is that they swarm so much in Poland Hungary and Transylvania and are found at this day to fight openly for the Crescent against the Cross This Argument is too great and weighty to be discours'd upon under the Method I am engag'd to it would require a Volume though we cannot but hope that as the Pens of pious and learned Men will not be wanting to pursue and stab their Errours so the Sword of the Magistrate will not fail to find out their Persons CHAP. XXVII Of the Immortality of the Soul THe Immortality of Man's Soul is a point of high concernment and comes next to be consider'd of for as much as all our reliance upon God's Providential Order as also all the hopes and rewards which depend upon our Faith with whatsoever else relates to our Christian Practice are all built upon this Persuasion viz. That the Soul of Man which is the Principle or Source of all his Actions is of an incorruptible Nature and survives the Body But before we proceed to Proof 't is necessary to clear some doubts which seem to obstruct us in the Prosecution of this Argument The first grand difficulty is from the Old Testament for if the Immortality of the Soul be so great a Truth and so necessary to be believ'd how comes it to pass we find no mention of it in all the Jewish Writers of Old In all the Books of the Old Testament there is no place to be found where there is so much as mention made of the Kingdom of Heaven â—â— of a future 〈◊〉 after Death Had the Patriarchs and Prophets believ'd any such thing they must needs have mention'd it some time or other as being a thing of the greatest concern to them and the best support against the Misfortunes of the World and the Terrour of Death And above all David must needs have taken notice of it having such frequent occasions given him for it from the whole course and variable occurrences of his life Nay even at his Death his Discourses with Solomon were very copious about setling the Temporal Affairs of his Kingdom but not a Word of the place where he was going to nor do we find that Abraham Jacob Moses Samuel or any of the Patriarchs and Prophets to whom God so largely and familiarly reveal'd his Will ever touch'd upon this important point at the hour of their Death only we read that they slept with their Fathers and were gather'd to their People and there was an end And though we read oft times of the Soul and of Hell in the Old Testament yet 't is plain that by Hell is understood nothing but Death or the Grave as by the Soul also is understood no more but the animal Life and sometiâ—es the Heart and Affections A Resurrection of the Body is indeed mention'd by Job and Daniel but that 's another point but no proof can be produc'd which speaks of the Soul as of an immaterial and spiritual substance subsisting after Death To this I answer First that the Scripture is not so silent touching the Soul's Immortality but that there is ground enough even from Scripture to make the matter dubious For most Divines are of Opinion that 't was Samuel's real Soul which God suffer'd the Witch to raise the Night before Saul's Death which could not be had it not surviv'd the Body And even in Ecclesiastes which Book seems even in a manner to determine Man's felicity in Temporal Enjoyments upon the summ of the matter we are told by Solomon that the Body shall return to the Dust but the Spirit to God that gave it though much either way cannot be concluded from the Passages of this Book which seems to be no other than a Collection of Observations made by Solomon under his two Capacities Natural and Divine or a Miscellany of Aphorisms as they were dictated by the Natural Man and Wisdom But whatever it be this is certain that if the Books of Tobit and of Wisdom be of any Credit with us as I know not but they should there is enough for our purpose being told Cap. 2. and 3. of Wisdom that God created Man to be Immortal and that the Souls of the Righteous are in the hands of God and there should no Torment touch them and a little after he says that though they be punish'd in the sight of Men yet is their Hope full of Immortality Tobit also in his Prayer Cap. 3. desires of God that he might be deliver'd out of his Distress and go into the everlasting place In the next place 't is notwithstanding probable that God thought fit to conceal the clear knowledge of this as also of other Important Mysteries of Religion such as the Doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation with some Truths of this Nature from the Generality of the Jews to render the Preaching of the Gospel more glorious by the new Discoveries it was to bring along with it and this is what Saint Paul tells us expresly 2 Tim. c. 1. viz. That Jesus Christ had abolish'd Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel though 't is pious also to believe That many of the Holy Patriarchs and Prophets under the Mosaical Institution had some secret dawnings of this Light even by the Shadows it reflected Their wandrings in the Wilderness represented their Instability Hardships and Errours of Life all which were to end in Caanan the place of everlasting Rest Their Jubelees also and Sabbaths were Types also of the same Everlasting Rest as St.
great Usurper in suppressing the Senate in whom the Government had so long continued yet the Senate themselves having confirm'd this Alteration for so many Ages and through so many Successions by infinite Decrees and Acts testifying their Submission here was a real Abdication or Resignation on their part And although they were at first brought to this by Conquest yet so many subsequent and voluntary Acts by which as it were step by step they divested themselves of their Authority settled an indubitable right of Government in the Heirs and Successors of Caesar Had Cato Cassius and the Bruti with others of the Republican Party prevailed after that bold blow they gave in the Senate they would have had not only Statues but also Altars and Temples erected to them But Octavian and his Party getting the better by many illegal Methods no less violent and sanguinous than those of his Predecessors the Form of the Government I say was chang'd and submitted to by the Senate themselves and those brave Men who endeavour'd to preserve and retrieve their Countries Liberty were stigmatiz'd with the black Character of Conspirators and Parricides So much does Success give Credit and Authority to Tyrannical Attempts Now where there is an Authority or Government of such continuance and so universally submitted to by the former Lords and Masters as the Roman Empire was at the time St. Paul wrote this Epistle then will it be pertinent to cite this Passage but when nothing of this appears an Argument taken from a State so settled and submitted to as the Roman Empire was is little to the purpose The same Answer serves to that place of St. Peter 1. Ep. cap. 2. As also that of our Saviours paying Tribute or giving to Caesar the things that were Caesar's for this was spoken about the Sixteenth Year of Tiberius and Seventy Years after the death of Julius so that in all these Cases there was no visible Right or Title which stood in competition with the Possession of the Empire Hitherto I have spoken to the Testimonies of Scripture in the Explication whereof the Rule is most safe and Orthodox viz. to interpret Scripture by Scripture and to understand it in such a Sense as shall not contradict a greater Evidence and Testimony of Scripture and not to do as some who when they are press'd with the pernicious Consequences of their Interpretation presently shelter themselves under God's unsearchable Wisdom crving out Who art thou O man who prescribest Rules to thy Maker with such Nonsensical Stuff as though God's Omnipotence could not be declared but by obtruding on him horrid Impieties and the most gross Absurdities By the same Capacity or Absurdity rather by which they endeavour'd from Scripture Testimonies to prove National Revolutions procur'd by wicked Means to be the peculiar and proper Work of God's Providence or that such Tyrannical Powers once introduc'd have God's Authority to warrant and defend them upon the Score of his Providential Prerogative I say by the same Logick we may prove from Scripture also that God has no Providential Care over the World at all Forasmuch as we read 2 Cor. chap. 4. That the God of this World viz. Satan hath blinded the Minds of Men so that the Dominion of Satan in his Government of this World is absolute and that of a God Now if the Devil rules in this World as Prince or God what Province to assign to God Almighty's Inspection is hard to imagine 'T is apparent therefore from hence That all such Scriptures are not to be understood literally but analogically and with reference to God's Attributes and to the Articles of our Christian Faith Where by the way we may also observe Calvin's perverse Interpretation of that place of 2 Thes chap. 2. where God is said to send them a strong delusion that they should believe a Lye that they all might be damn'd who believ'd not the Truth when yet from this place of the second to the Corinthians chap. 4. the blinding of the Minds of those who believe not is ascribed to the Devil to the Devil by the way of Counsel and Execution to God by way of Permission For we cannot ascribe this Spiritual Execution to God and Satan too in one and the same Sense without manifest Impiety But to return to the Temporal and greater Transactions of the World what can be more absurd than that all violent acquisitions all the Usurpations and Oppressions all the Blood Sacrilege Rapine and wicked Practices by which many Kingdoms and Empires through all Ages have been raised up propagated and enlarg'd I say that all such Kingdoms thus supported should be God's Ordinances and that they who do not acknowledge this are in a State of Damnation Hence it will follow that all the Christians who have groaned under the Turkish Slavery should they by adhering to Christian Princes endeavour to recover their former Fortunes and Liberties which they were Tyrannically deprived of in doing this they would resist the Ordinances of God and incur Damnation Nay 't will follow also that the power of Supremacy which the Pope is said to usurp is also of God or God's Ordinance And truly if Duration can give a Title this of the Pope's has been of longer continuance than any other Title now in Europe or perhaps in the whole World It has been challeng'd for above a Thousand Years and actually submitted to by a great many Nations But it may be said perhaps that the Popes Usurpations are Spiritual and that in Spiritual Matters we are to obey God rather than Man This Objection does not dissolve but rather knit the Knot faster For the Text saith There is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God so that all Power without exception falls under a Notion of God's Ordinance And truly if God take such a care for Temporal Administration much more for Spiritual if a Sparrow falls not to the Ground without his Will he must needs be morè concern'd for so great a Body of Men the Church being that which he himself with his own Right Hand hath planted in sending his only Son to purchase it by his Incarnation and suffering death upon the Cross The Spiritual Capacity is his Kingdom more peculiarly and tho' the Papal Power were an Usurpation that 's no matter it being once possess'd by the Bishop of Rome and that for so long a time it becomes a settled Government and an Ordinance of God They therefore who in the first Reformation did resist this Power did according to these Mens Doctrine resist the Ordinance of God and are liable for so doing to Damnation And thus have they found out a new Argument to justifie the Pope's Authority such as never any Jesuit nor the Pope himself yet dream'd of Nay the Dominion and Power of Antichrist according to their Doctrine must be an Ordinance of God's also For whether the Pope be Antichrist or whether he be yet to come certain it
imploring the Mercies of Heaven notwithstanding all their Efforts become a Prey to Impiety being either Sacrific'd to the Exactions of Usury or trampled on by the Voluptuous and Proud or perhaps Plunder'd at the Will and Pleasure of a Tyrant or exhausted by the methods of a tedious process of Sickness or blasted by Defamations and Slanders or afflicted with an unfortunate Family with many such like Miseries and Disasters Upon which Account when one told Diagoras Thou who dost believe that the Gods neglect Mens safety dost thou not observe the contrary from the many Pictures or Votive Tables hung upon their Temples by those who escap'd Shipwrack Very true reply'd Diagoras for there are no Pictures of those who perish'd In Answer to this Calumny and all the Parts and Members of it First Good men may not be successful in what they pray for because they do not use the Means The Husband-man in the Fable finding his Waggon stuck in the Dirt lays down his Whip and calls on Hercules for help to whom the God made answer Rise Fool and use thy Whip and put thy Shoulders to the Wheels and then call on Hercules and he will succour thee God does not work Miracles to supply the Sloth of men Secondly though men may use their best Endeavours for attaining what they pray for they may be unsuccessful nevertheless by proposing undue Ends. This man asks for Riches that he may pass the remainder of his Life in softness and delight that man sues for Honour and the Grace and Favour of his Prince that he may shew a Grandure in Commanding others and receiving Marks of Homage and Obedience Thirdly Tho' the thing we pray for may be Honest and the End Good yet God may refuse to grant it because it may not be Beneficial or if of present Benefit yet of future and durable Inconvenience which made the Heathen cry out Nam pro jucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt Dii The Gods instead of what seems pleasant may answer us another way by giving us what is fitting and useful But if the Subject of mens Prayers be the Preventing of some Evil which threatens us or perhaps the Removal of something which afflicts us yet may we be unsuccessful without any Reproach to Providence upon these two Considerations First The Evil which we deprecate may be design'd only for Correction and Amendment this is no more strange than to see the Surgeon whose help we implore to remove a Pain instead of giving present ease to fall a-cutting and burning and perhaps dismembring Secondly God may lay Calamities and Afflictions upon men that they may produce Nobler Acts of Virtue The Stock from which the Husband-man expects the choicest Fruit is prun'd most and must often bleed by suffering his Luxuriant Branches to be cut away whereas Common Trees have been suffer'd to grow at random and to spread wide their Arms that they may afford more Fuel for the Fire This the Heathens understood perfectly in the Temple which they built to Honour which was so plac'd that there was no entrance to it but by that of Virtue whose Nature consists in Fortitude and whose Object is Difficulty and Danger Aeneas is Figur'd as a Pattern of Heroick Virtue whilst he is expos'd to Burnings and Tempests toss'd from Shore to Shore and always made to feel the strokes of an incens'd Deity all which serv'd but to render him more firm and resolute in his Actions being like the Armour he wore which was made impenetrable by being wrought in the Fire by being forg'd and beaten upon the Anvil and dipt in the Stygian Lake Further yet Divine Providence may suffer Good men to be a long time under Disgraces and Afflictions to render restor'd Comforts more dear and affecting The longer men have lain in Chains and Captivity the greater is the Jubile by which they are restor'd to Liberty 'T is like a Pardon upon the Point of Execution where the Fears of Death yield stronger Fuel and Vigour to Life How sweetly does a man who is deliver'd from the sharp Assaults of the Gout taste the Pleasures of Health how thankful is he for the Benefit and what esteem has he for the Means by which he was restor'd In the last Place Though Divine Providence should never withdraw the Misfortune under which we groan yet is this no Argument that we are neglected by it on the contrary it is the best Argument in the World to support us under it it being utterly inconsistent with the Nature and Goodness of God to suffer Innocence to be oppress'd without a due Reward which because it is not found in this Life it remains that there is a future State after Death where Virtue shall be Crown'd But this I shall wave at present as being founded upon the Soul's Immortality a Point which by the method of this Argument may be discours'd upon hereafter for at present I shall decline all Topicks taken from the Truth and Doctrines of the Christian Religion till I shall arrive to it by the Course and Progress of Reason Upon this Prospect which the wiser Heathens had of a future State after death they bravely endur'd the Insults of Fortune and triumph'd over the Cruelty of those by whom they suffer'd Theramenes being Condemn'd by the Thirty Tyrants of Athens took the fatal Cup into his Hand and drank to Critias who was the most active man amongst them to pronounce the Sentence Brave gallantry in him to behold Death with an undaunted Countenance and drink his Enemies Health in his own Poison Socrates not long after was by the Command of his Judges Condemn'd to the same Prison and to drink of the same Poisonous Cup which being about to take off he discours'd after this manner I have great hopes my Judges it will be well with me that I am condemn'd to die for one of these two Things are certain either that Death shall extinguish all Sense or Translate us into another Place if all Sense be extinguish'd Death certainly is but like a sound sleep which is then most pleasing and natural when it is not interrupted by the Fantasms of a Dream Good God! How great Profit is it for me to die or who can be more Happy than I But if it be true as men say that Death is nothing but a Migration into those Regions which men Inhabit after this Life thou art yet more happy since thou shalt be deliver'd from them who would now be accounted Judges that thou maist go over to those who are Judges indeed such as Minos Rhadamanthus Aeacus and Triptolemus and there Converse with those who have liv'd Justly What would you not give to discourse with Orpheus Musaeus and Homer Truly I would die often if it were possible that I might Experiment the Truth of these things nor would such of you amongst my Judges who declar'd me Innocent fear to die For no Evil can happen to a good man whether living or Dead nor can his
proudly sailing when we observe how easily 't is turn'd about and how regular it is in all its Motions and yet of that force as to resist the blustring Winds and the raging Ocean we are easily persuaded that there is some one within who animates this great and curious Machine who though he be no part or Member of the same yet all the Effects he works depend upon the good disposition and frame of the Ship for if it be old leaky or any way disabled in the Hulk Rigging or any of its subservient Instruments the Pilot though never so knowing will appear very defective in all his Endeavours nay though the Pilot knows himself to be of a more durable and excellent Frame than the Vessel which carries him yet he fears a Wreck and labours what he can to save his Ship from the Apprehensions he has of the uncertain State to which he shall be expos'd when the Vessel which now covers him shall fall to pieces how apposite this Emblem is to illustrate our present Argument is obvious to all As to the Operations of Man's Soul I confess much must be allow'd to the force and Methods of Education and to the Temper of the Climate in which Men live and yet we may observe that the grossest Peasants have naturally all these Gifts which the wisest Men by all their Arts and Study can arrive to The laborious Husbandman though he cannot dicourse of the Dimensions Beauty and Motion of the Heavens understands well enough the Criticisms of every Season and knows also the Virtue and Temper of the Earth he cultivates much better than the inquisitive Philosopher and accordingly takes his Prospect and makes his profitable Returns he is cautious and subtle in making his little Bargains as the greatest Statesman can pretend to be in his Contracts and Measures of Government and what is yet more observable as he has a greater dependance upon Providence so naturally he shews a greater submission to the Will of Heaven and bears his Losses and Disappointments with greater patience than those who have been studied in the Schools of Vertue so that much still is to be attributed to the Genius and Fabrick of the Soul the natural Source of all his Actions We may observe also of many Bruits that they are endued with a natural Sagacity great Docility and with a greater quickness of Sense than what any Man can pretend to and yet one who is born Deaf and consequently Dumb though he be thus defective in that Sense of Hearing which is so essentially requisite for the attainment of Understanding and by which all Instruction finds a Passage to the Soul I say such a Man by the help of Art as daily Experience does evince in Mutes may be brought to have an accurate and correct Conception of things to be most apprehensive of what is said or done and by the least Hints and Motions of the Body to understand the Minds of those he does converse with and by an extraordinary quickness in the motion of his Hands and Eyes to communicate his own Thoughts a thing which Bruits though never so subtil and prone to Imitation and though most accute and attentive in all their Senses and though instructed with the greatest diligence can never arrive to in any degree considerable which shews sufficiently that there is a vast difference betwixt the Nature and Capacity of the Animal and those of the Rational Soul That force of Judgment and Reason which we observe frequently in Men under the decays of Nature whether by Age or Sickness is not I confess such a satisfactory Proof of such a perfection of the Soul as is now discours'd of since we find that even habits of Exercise acquir'd in our younger Years as of Dancing or Instrumental performances continue to some considerable degree in Men maugre all the Indispositions and Decays of the Body much more then may those Habits of the Mind which were acquir'd by Discipline and Study continue vigorous in a languishing Constitution though they were admitted to spring from an Elementory mixture But for all this we may frequently observe in dying Men some sudden Sallies and Transports of Joy some extraordinary Efforts of Mind which were not the effects of Education and above all in dying Children whose tender Age never yet arriv'd to any such Inclinations we may oftentimes observe strange Illuminations and quietness of Spirit a little before their departure which I say can never proceed from what they never yet acquir'd but from the innate Propensities and Genius of the Soul But whatsoever that dependence be which the Soul has upon the Body and though it should be granted that it receiv'd all its Improvements from it yet this is no Argument against the future and independent State of the Soul after death An Embryo we see is form'd and nourish'd by the Womb and yet when the just appointed time for its departure happens it is so far from ceasing to be what it was before that it acquires a nobler Degree of Life by being separated from its Matrix and arrives to the perfection of a living Creature endued with Sense which before only was of a vegetative Nature so it is with the Soul which though nourish'd or cherish'd by the Ministry of these Corporeal Organs when once it is deliver'd from them assumes yet a higher degree of Perfection and Life and is capable to subsist and act of it self by Methods far more Noble and Spiritual than those by which it was employ'd when it was in Union with the Body Having thus given a summary Reply to such Observations as seem'd most prejudicial to the Soul's Immortality let us now proceed to prove this Doctrine by such natural Medicines as shall yet give farther satisfaction to the foregoing Doubts as well as establish the truth of our present Assertion Now the general Arguments by which this Truth is demonstrable are taken 1. From the Operations of the Soul 2. From the natural Inclinations of the Soul 3. From the Justice of Divine Providence And lastly from the Testimonies of the wisest Heathens First as to the Operations of the rational Soul though the first Rudiments we have of things be borrowed from the Impressions made upon our outward Senses yet the Reductions and Inferences we make of things which are the Works properly of Reason are of a much sublimer Nature so that the Organs to Sense are but like the Candles to the Soul which discover indeed the Object in some respect whilst the discerning Faculties is of an extraction far more spiritual and pure With what fixt and constant Applications does the Mind of Man bend it self with all its Instruments upon its Object and through how many Labyrinths of Doubts and seeming Contradictions does it wind it self in the pursuit of it whether it be matter of Judgment and Practice or of Speculation only and Knowledg With what order silence and readiness does every Faculty stand prepar'd how quick and diligent
are they in their Reports and how capacious and indefatigable is the Mind in receiving them Cogitation never wearies it though the Animal Powers grow tir'd often and require repose What an infinite variety of Objects occurr to the Mind at once what numberless Idea's and Images of things hover always over it and how quick are its transitions from one thing to another seeming as it were in one Point or Instant of time to view all Persons Things and Places which ever made an impression upon the Sense The Mind passes in a moment from the dark Centre of the Earth to the utmost surface of the World and there surveys this vast Fabrick From thence it flies through that immense or imaginary space which is incomprehensible and infinite and which surrounds the whole Creation It fathoms the Nature of Things so that whatsoever has an Existence falls under its consideration it does not only take in present and past Things but it extends its Power to future Objects whether possible or such as really shall come to pass and by a just balancing of what is past with what may happen it frames excellent Rules for the government of Life it leaves us Precepts also how to moderate our Passions by a right use of them and by these means teaches us the Divine Art of Wisdom and true Felicity How many Conceptions are there which hourly offer themselves to our Thoughts when we retreat a little within our selves Of these some are simple Apprehensions only of particular things others by way of Composition are the results of divers Images amidst which great multiplicity some there are which at the first sight seem plausible and attractive which yet upon farther examination of Reason are found to be superficial only and fallacious Others again seem abstruse and useless which upon a strict Enquiry are found to be most beneficial and sollid and accordingly they are committed to the Store-houses or several Apartments of Memory there to be conserv'd and reveiw'd at leisure and to be produc'd for service towards our farther acquisition of Knowledg or for our better conduct in the Occurrences and Affairs of Life all which Conceptions and Inferences of Reason are of that vast extent and of that spiritual and subtil Nature as cannot but tell us that their Spring is pure and inexhaustible Contemplation is another intellectual Act of a Rational Soul and indeed the highest and most Seraphick for by this the Mind is elevated above all sensible Forms and many times deserts the habitation of the Body it seems to break Prison and feels an ineffable Agility and Pleasure in being unconfin'd whilst the Body lies senseless and as it were inchanted with the soft Chains of Sleep And when the Mind recovers it self out of the Ecstasie in which all the inferiour Powers are sometimes drown'd what languors are there in the Soul what struglings to return to the same state of separation whilst it nauseats all earthly Objects whatsoever which shews that the Soul thirsts after another State independent on the Body and by consequence must survive it In the last place if we reflect a little upon the Will the other great Faculty of a humane Soul we shall find its Operations to be so free and magisterial as cannot but tell us that the Soul of which it is a Branch is independent on all Animal Inclinations whatsoever for so it is that we have a Power of Election and of Rejection of Objects contrary all the dictates of Sense and Passion We see every day how Men choose Imprisonment rather than Liberty Poverty and Disgrace rather than Wealth and Honour and even Death it self rather than Life and can bid an eternal Adieu to all sensual Enjoyments which Nature can induce them to and all upon future Considerations so that the current of voluntary Actions mounts much higher we see than the Level of Nature and must issue therefore from a higher Spring Therefore Conscience which is nothing but that Impartial Judgment which every Man makes within the Tribunal of his own Breast by reflecting on what he has done or on what he is about to do how quick and impartial is it in recalling on Memory such things as many times we would willingly forget how inexorable is it in condemning the Man himself and how severe in inflicting condign Punishments more powerfull than all the Tortures of the Rack and of the longest continuance and as ghastly as the Horrors of Hell being such as no Methods of Reason no Arts of Education no Charms of Sense no Worldly Fruition no Spirits of Wine no Physick no good Company nor Musick and finally no Decays of Body can lay a Sleep and on the other hand when a Man has the Testimony of a good Conscience on his side though he expects no Rewards from the World nay though he expect Discomforts as also loss of Friends Liberty Estate and good Name and even of life it self how does he rejoice within with what chearfull Countenance does he meet the Menaces of Fortune and in the midst of Tempests finds serenity Now whence can this proceed but from the pretensions the Soul has of a future Judgement it must undergo after Death which cannot be were the Soul Material and Mortal With these and infinite other things is the Mind continually employ'd without Obstacle or Danger without Rest or Interruption so that when all the Senses and Faculties of the Body are actually suspended as in Sleep yet is the Soul still vigilant and active which shews plainly that 't is of a Nature far more durable and perfect than any Animal Capacity whatsoever whether Dreams be an effect of the Animal Faculty or of the Mind rather is not yet determin'd 't is more probable that they are deriv'd from the latter 'T is true the Discourses which we seem to make whilst we are a sleep how rational soever they appear to Men in this Circumstance are found very trivial and many times ridiculous when our Senses are full a wake yet this proves not that these Thoughts of the Night are deriv'd from some other Principle inferiour to the Mind it being most evident that the gross Conceits with which the thoughts of sleeping Men are fill'd are nothing but the Operations of the Soul deprav'd and clouded with such Vapours as fill the Brain in the time of Sleep and which do not only suffocate the Senses for a time but by their spissous fumes fill all the Bells of this upper Region of the Mind so that all its Operations receive a kind of fuliginous Tincture from them And hence we find also that in Men who are perfectly awake and whose Brains are fill'd with adust and scorching Vapours as in a Fever and many other Distempers all the Actions of the Mind seem like Dreams and all Objects occurr to fancy full of Terrour Agony and Distraction by reason of those burning Particles which fume from distemper'd Blood The second general Argument for the Soul 's Immortatily
and present Enjoyments Who would scruple to enrich himself by Fraud Robbery and Murder or to gratifie his Lusts by Rapes Adultery or any other Enormity were he sure there were no Punishnent to be met with after Death The consequence of which disorders could be no less than the subversions of all Property and Civil Government Upon these and such like Considerations we may in the last place observe that the wisest and most learned Men through all Ages and Countries of the World believ'd the Soul's Immortality such as Hermes and Pythagoras who by the few Fragments Hermes in Paenrand cap. 1. that are extant of him in Ancient Writers was of the same Belief Socrates at his Death adher d to this Belief also and resisted the Strength and Malignity of his Poison by this Antidote that his Soul shortly should enjoy the Society of the Vertuous and Blessed in the other World This Doctrine was much improv'd by Plato and his Followers especially Platinus who was the most learned of that Sect and who wrote ex professo divers learned Books upon this Argument the summ of which is that the Soul of Man is not deriv'd from the Nature of the Parents but immediately from God that though it subsist in the Body yet its Operations are independent on it Forasmuch as the Soul the more it withdraws it self from all sensible Objects the more distinct and clear is Ratiocination From whence we conclude that when it shall totally be separated it shall apprehend things in an instant by Intuition without the helps of reasoning by Ratiocination is nothing but a Combat of the Mind to evince something of which it doubts which doubtings spring from the gross and cloudy Suggestions and Obstacles of the Body from which being once deliver'd there will be no place left for Doubt and Hesitation As for the Stoicks their Doctrine seemed to lead them to a different persuasion since they plac'd all the Felicity of Man in the Practice of Vertue with regard to no other reward So that our Moral Actions ceasing as certainly they do after Death all is at an end And this Doctrine of theirs though it carried with it a great many of noble Sentiments yet it failing in the true end of Man's Felicity it oblig'd them to maintain a great number of Paradoxes in its defence whereas had they understood the Immortality of the Soul and future Rewards after Death that had been sufficient to have supported them in a vertuous course of life maugre all the disasters that might assault them and which these Philosophers endeavour'd to oppose by so many noble Precepts of their Doctrine Seneca in some places seems dubious yet in his Consolatory Epistle to Mercia upon the Death of his Son he is altogether Divine Epictetus also a Stoick and the Glory of his Sect and Age asserts every where the Soul's Immortality But above all Tully the Flower of Roman Tuscul Quaes lib. 1. Eloquence and himself a Philosopher of Plato's School is every where most Copious and Ravishing when he comes to speak of the Capacities and Future State of the Soul Many says he think the Eternity of Souls to be incredible because they cannot comprehend the essence and qualities of a separated Soul but can they let me ask them define what a Soul is even in the Body of what form it is what its dimensions are and what is the place of its abode And a little after for my own part when I seriously reflect upon the Nature of the Soul it seems to be much more difficult and obscure to know what the Soul is whilst it is in Conjunction with the Body where it seems to be lodg'd as in a foreign Inn than to understand the same when it quits the Lodging in which it sojourns and takes its Journey home-wards to Heaven the place of its constant Habitation For if we cannot understand that which we never saw we may as well disown all knowledge of God as of a separated Soul but Spirits are to be understood and known only by Spirits And by and by he concludes whatsoever that thing is which perceives which understands which wills which is always Vigorous and Masculine must needs be Celestial and Divine and therefore Eternal for we can form no other Notions of God but as of a Mind abstracted from all material Concretion understanding all things moving all things and being it self ended with an Eternal Activity All which the same Divine Oratour prosecutes most copiously in his Book de Senectute telling us that it was not the Itch of Disputation which drew him to this Persuasion but having built his Belief upon the Authorities of Pythagoras and Socrates he declares farther that such is the celerity of the Soul's Thoughts so great its Memory of past and foresight of future things so many are its Arts Sciences and other Inventions that 't is inpossible that the Nature which comprehends such excellent things should be Mortal and therefore since the Mind is always a working and has this principle of Motion from it self and knows also no period of its Motion because it can never divide from it self and serve the nature of the Soul is void of all Mixture and Allay and contains nothing heterogenious to it self he concludes that it must be indivisible and uncapable of Dissolution following as he says the Doctrine of Plato in this particular To Conclude he says that if I do err in this Belief of the Soul's Immortality I do err willfully nor will I ever retract this beloved Errour whilst I live or if it should be possible that being dead I should be void of all sense as some Minute Sophisters do fancy I shall not fear to be reproached by them Nor was this Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality the constant Belief of the wisest Greeks and Romans only but also of the Persians too as appears by the excellent Discourse of dying Cyrus upon this subject recorded by Xenophon And as for the Poets they universally tell us of a future State after Death wherein the Wicked shall be punish'd and the Just rewarded and what their sense was in this matter we may read in Lucan in that noble Description he makes of Pompey's Apotheosis From all which Considerations we have a most undeniable proof of its Eternal Verity It being impossible that a Doctrine established upon all the Principles of Reason of such an universal consent and believ'd by the wisest best and most learned Men of all Ages in opposition to all humane Interests and sensual Suggestions whatsoever should be the effect only of uncertain Conjecture or of a premeditated Collusion CHAP. XXVIII Of Natural Religion as a means to Salvation HAving shewn in the precedent Chapters of this Discourse that the wiser Heathen had not only a knowledge of the true God as the Creator and Preserver of the Universe but a knowledge also of the Immortality of the Soul and of a future State where good Men should receive