and in true comparison infinitely excells all the allurements of Sin 2. 'T is true that as natural actions that are necessary to preserve the Species or the Individuals are mixt with sensible pleasures as an attractive to the performance of them so there is joyn'd to actions of Vertue that are more excellent a present complacency of a superiour Order to all carnal pleasures But 't is a frigid conceit that this is the entire reward For first besides the inward satisfaction that naturally results from the practice of Vertue there is an excellent Good that is properly the reward of the supream Governor of the World We have an Example of this in humane Justice which is an image of the divine For those who have been eminently serviceable to the State besides the joyful sense arising from the performance of Heroick Actions for the Good of their Country are rewarded by the Prince with great Honours and Benefits 2. This inward Joy is not here felt by all Holy Persons In this militant state after vigorous resistance of carnal Lusts they may change their Enemies and be assaulted with violent Fears and instead of a sweet calm and serenity fall into darkness and confusion The Soul and Body in the present conjunction mutually sympathize As two things that are unisons if one be touch't and moves the other untouch't yet moves and trembles The ‖ cause is from the Vibrations the sound makes in the Air and impresses on solid Bodies moving them according to the harmonious proportion between them Thus the Soul and the Body are two strings temper'd to such a correspondence that if one be moved the other resents by an impression from it If the Body be Sanguin or Cholerick or Melancholy the Soul by a strange consent feels the motion of the humors and is altered with their alterations Now some of excellent vertue are opprest with Melancholy Others are under strong pains that disturb the free operations of the mind that it cannot without Supernatural strengih delightfully contemplate what is a just matter of content The Stoical Doctrine that a wise Man rejoyces as well in torments as in the midst of pleasures that 't is not in the power of any external evil to draw a sigh or tear from him that he is sufficient in himself for happiness is a Philosophical Romance of that severe sect an excess unpracticable without Cordials of a higher nature than are compounded by the faint thoughts of having done what is agreable to Reason All their Maxims are weak supports of such triumphant Language 'T is true in a Body disorder'd and broken with Diseases and Pains the mind may be erect and compos'd but 't is by vertue of Divine Comforts from the present sense of Gods favour and the joyful hopes of eternal felicity in his presence hereafter 3. Those who suffer the loss of all that is precious and dear in the World and with a chearful confidence submit to death that singly consider'd is very terrible to nature but attended with torments is doubly terrible and all to advance the Glory of God cannot enjoy the satisfaction of mind that proceeds from the review of worthy actions if their being is determined with their life Now that love to God exprest in the hardest and noblest service should finally destroy a Man is not conceivable To render this Argument more sensible let us consider the vast multitude of the Martyrs in the first times of Christianity more easie to be admir'd than numbred It would be a History to describe the instruments of their cruel sufferings invented by the fierce wit of their persecutors the various torturs to destroy Life with a slow death such as were never before inflicted on the guiltiest Malefactours All which they willingly endured with an invariable serenity of countenance the sign and effect of their inward peace Nay with triumphant expressions of Joy Now to what original shall we attribute this fortitude of Spirit were such numbers of all conditions ages sects induc'd by rash counsel by frenzy of passion by a desire of vain-glory or any like cause to part with all that is precious and amiable in the World for Swords and Fire and Crosses and Wheels and Racks to torment and destroy their Bodies No humane Reasons neither the Vertue nor Vice of Nature Generosity nor Obstinacy could possibly give such strength under such Torments This was so evident that many Heathen Spectators were convinc'd of the Divine Power miraculously supporting them and became Proselytes of Christianity and with admirable chearfulness offered themselves to the same punishments Now this is an extrinsick testimony incomparably more weighty than from a bare affirmation in words or a meer consent of judgment that there is an unseen state infinitely better and more durable than what is present the hopes of which made them esteem the parting with all sensible things measur'd by time not to have the shadow of a loss And this was not a meer naked view of a future blessedness but joyned with an impression of that sweetness and strength that consolation and force of Spirit that it was manifest Heaven descended to them before they ascended to Heaven From hence they were fearless of those who could only kill the Body but not touch the Soul As the breaking a Christal in pieces cannot injure the light that penetrated and filled it but releases it from that confinement So the most violent Death was in their esteem not hurtful to the Soul but the means to give it entrance into a happy immortality Now is it in any degree credible that when no other principle was sufficient to produce such courage in thousands so tender and fearful by nature that the Divine hand did not support them invisible in operation but most clearly discovered in the effects And can it be imagined that God would encourage them to lose the most valuable of all natural things life it self and to their great cost of pains and misery if there were not an estate wherein he would reward their heroick love of himself with a good that unspeakably transcends what ever is desirable here below 2. Though Vice in respect of its turpitude be the truest dishonour of Man and be attended with regret as contrary to his Reason yet there is a further punishment naturally due to it Malefactors besides the infamy that cleaves to their crimes and the secret twinges of Conscience feel the rigour of civil Justice And if no Physical evil be inflicted as the just consequent of Vice the viciously inclin'd would despise the moral evil that is essential to it as an imaginary punishment And when the remembrance of Sin disturbs their rest they would presently by pleasant diversions call off their thoughts from sad objects 2. Supposing no other punishment but what is the immediate effect of Sin the most vicious and guilty would many times suffer the least punishment For the secret Worm of Conscience is most sensible when vice is
Body or Mind or Estate as if we were the Architects of our own felicity is a sacrilegious usurpation Yet vain Man foments a secret pride and high opinion of himself as if by his own prudence and conduct he might acquire an happiness till experience confutes his pleasing but pernicious error The truth is were there no God whose powerful Providence governs all things and has a special care and respect of Man he were of all creatures the most miserable So that besides the wickedness we may clearly discover the folly of Atheism that deprives Man of his chiefest Comfort at all times and his only Comfort in the greatest exigencies For in this mutable state he is liable to so many disasters and wretched accidents that none can have an assurance of prosperity one day How frail and uncertain is Life the foundation of all temporal Enjoyments It depends upon so many things that 't is admirable it subsists for a little time The least vessel in the Body that breaks or is stopt interrupting the course of the Blood and Humours ruines its oeconomy Sometimes in its vigorous consistence when most distant from Sickness 't is nearest to Death A little eruption of Blood in the Brain is sufficient to stop the passages of the Spirits and deprive it of motion and life And the changes of things without us are so various and frequent so great and suddain that 't is an excess of folly a dangerous rest to be secure in the enjoyment of them The same person sometimes affords an example of the greatest Prosperity and of greater Misery in the space of a few hours Henry the fourth of France in the midst of the triumphs of Peace was by a blow from a sacrilegious hand dispatcht in his Coach and his blody Corps forsaken by his Servants expos'd to the veiw of all so that as the Historian observes there was but a moment between the adorations and oblivion of that great Prince All flesh is Grass and the glory of it as the flower of the Grass What ever disguises its imperfections and gives it lustre is but superficial like the colour andornament of a Flower whose matter is only a little dust and Water and is as weak and fading Who then can possess these things without a just jealousie lest they should slip away or be ravisht from him by violence And in this respect Man is most unhappy for besides the affliction of present evils Reason that separates him from other Creatures and exalts him above them is the fatal instrument of his trouble by the prevision of future evils Ignorance of future miseries is a priviledge when Knowledg is ineffectual to prevent them Unseen evils are swallow'd whole but by an apprehensive imagination are tasted in all their bitterness By fore-thoughts we run to meet them before they are come and feel them before they are truly sensible This was the reason of that complaint in the Poet seeing the prognosticks of misery many years before it arrived Sit subitum quodcunque paras sit caeca futuri Mens hominis fati liceat sperare timenti Let the Evils thou preparest surprize us let us not be tormented by an unhappy expectation of them let the success of future things be concealed from our sight let it be permitted to us to hope in the midst of our fears Indeed God has mercifully hid the most of future events from humane curiosity For as on the one side by the view of great Prosperity Man would be tempted to an excess of Pride and Joy so on the other as we are more sensibly touch'd with pain than pleasure if when he begins to use his Reason and apprehensive faculty by a secret of Opticks he should have in one sight presented all the Afflictions that should befal him in the World how languishing would his life be This would keep him on a perpetual Rack and make him suffer together and at all times what shall be endured separately and but once But though the most of future things lie in obscurity yet often we have sad intimations of approaching evils that awaken our fears Nay how many Tempests and Shipwracks do Men suffer in Terra firma from the suspicion of Calamities that shall never be Imaginary Evils operate as if real and produce substantial Griefs Now how can such an infirm jealous creature in the midst of things that are every minute subject to the Laws of Mutability be without inward trouble What can give him repose and tranquillity in his best condition but an assurance that nothing can befall him but according to the wise Counsel and gracious Will of God And in extream Afflictions in the last Agonies when no humane things can afford relief when our dearest Friends are not able to comfort us but are miserable in our miseries what can bear up our fainting hope but the Divine Power a foundation that never fails what can allay our sorrows but the Divine Goodness tenderly inclin'd to succour us Our help is in the Lord who made Heaven and Earth The Creation is a visible Monument of his Perfections The Lord is a Sun and a Sheild He is al-sufficient to supply our wants and satisfie our desires As the Sun gives Life and Joy to all the World and if there were millions of more kinds of beings and of individuals in it his light and heat are sufficient for them all so the Divine Goodness can supply us with all good things and ten thousand Worlds more And his Power can secure to us his Favours and prevent troubles or which is more admirable make them beneficial and subservient to our felicity He is a sure refuge an inviolable Sanctuary to which we may retire in all our streights His Omnipotence is directed by unerring Wisdom and excited by infinite love for the good of those who faithfully obey him An humble confidence in him frees us from anxieties preserves a firm peaceful temper in the midst of Storms This gives a superiority of Spirit a true empire of mind over all outward things Rex est qui posuit metus Occurritque suo libens Fato nec queritur mori What was the vain boast of Philosophers that by the power of Reason they could make all accidents to contribute their happiness is the real priviledge we obtain by a regular trust in God who directs and orders all events that happen for the everlasting good of his Servants In the worst circumstances we may rejoyce in Hope in a certain and quiet expectation of a blessed issue In Death it self we are more than Conquerers O Lord God of Hosts blessed is the Man that trusts in thee CHAP. VIII The Immortality of the Soul depends on the conservative influence of God Natural and Moral Arguments to prove that God will continue it for ever The Soul is incapable of perishing from any corruptible principles or separable parts It s spiritual Nature is evident by the acts of its principal faculties The
unequal clearness Sweet things taste bitter to one in a Feaver but the mind knows that the bitterness is not in the things but in the viciated Palat. Moreover how many things are collected by Reason that transcend the power of fancy to conceive nay are repugnant to its conception What corporeal Image can represent the immensity of the Heavens as the Mind by convincing arguments apprehends it The Antipodes walk erect upon the Earth yet the Fancy cannot conceive them but with their Heads downward Now if the Mind were of the same nature with the corporeal Faculties their judgment would be uniform 5. The Senses suffer to a great degree by the excessive vehemence of their Objects Too bright a light blinds the Eye Too strong a sound deafs the Ear. But the Soul receives vigor and perfection from the excellence and sublimity of its object and when most intent in contemplation and concenter'd in its self becomes as it were all Mind so that the operations of it as sensitive are suspended feels the purest delights far above the perception of the lower faculties Now from whence is the distemper of the Senses in their exercise but from matter as well that of the Object as the Organ And from whence the not suffering of the Mind but from the impressing the forms of Objects separated from all matter and consequently in an immaterial faculty for there is of necessity a convenience and proportion as between a Being and the manner of its operations so between that and the subject wherein it works This strongly argues the Soul to be immaterial in that 't is impassible from matter even when it is most conversant in it For it refines it from corporeal accidents to a kind of spirituality proportioned to its nature And from hence proceeds the unbounded capacity of the Soul in its conceptions partly because the forms of things inconsistent in their natures are so purified by the Mind as they have an objective existence without enmity or contrariety partly because in the workings of the Mind one act does not require a different manner from another but the same reaches to all that is intelligible in the same order 6. The Senses are subject to languishing and decay and begin to die before Death But the Soul many times in the weakness of Age is most lively and vigorously productive The intellectual Off-spring carries no marks of the decays of the Body In the approaches of Death when the corporeal faculties are relaxt and very faintly perform their functions the workings of the Soul are often rais'd above the usual pitch of its activity And this is a pregnant probability that 't is of a spiritual Nature and that when the Body which is here its Prison rather than Mansion falls to the Earth 't is not opprest by its ruines but set free and injoys the truest liberty This made Heraclitus say that the Soul goes out of the Body as Lightning from a Cloud because it 's never more clear in its conceptions than when freed from matter And what Lucretius excellently expresses in his Verses is true in another sense than he intended Cedit item retro de Terra quod fuit ante In Terram sed quod missum est ex Aetheris oris Id rursus Coeli fulgentia Templa receptant What sprung from Earth falls to its native place What Heav'n inspir'd releast from the weak tye Of flesh ascends above the shining Sky Before I proceed I will briefly consider the Objections of some who secretly favour the part of impiety 1. 'T is objected That the Soul in its intellectual operations depends on the Phantasms and those are drawn from the representations of things conveyed through the senses But it will appear this does not enervate the force of the Arguments for its spiritual nature For this dependence is only objective not instrumental of the Souls perception The first images of things are introduc'd by the mediation of the senses and by their presence for nothing else is requisit the mind is excited and draws a Picture resembling or if it please not resembling them and so operates alone and compleats its own work Of this we have a clear experiment in the conceptions which the mind forms of things so different from the first notices of them by the Senses The first apprehensions of the Deity are from the visible effects of his Power but the Idea in which the understanding contemplates him is fram'd by removing all imperfections that are in the Creatures and consequently that he is not corporeal For whatsoever is so is liable to corruption that is absolutely repugnant to the perfection of his nature Now the common Sense and Fancy only powerful to work in Matter cannot truely express an immaterial Being Indeed as Painters by their Colours represent invisible things as Darkness the Winds the Internal affections of the heart so that by the representations the thoughts are awakn'd of such objects so the fancy may with the like Art shadow forth Spiritual Beings by the most resembling forms taken from sensible things Thus it imagins the Angels under the likeness of young Men with Wings to express their vigor and velocity But the Mind by its internal light conceives them in another manner by a Spiritual form that exceeds the utmost efficacy of the corporeal Organs so that 't is evident the Soul as intellectual in its singular and most proper operations is not assisted by the ministry of the Senses 2. 'T is objected that the Soul in its superiour operations depends on the convenient temper of the Body The thoughts are clear and orderly when the Brain is compos'd On the contrary when the predominancy of any humour distempers it the Mind feels its infirmities And from hence it seems to be of a corporeal nature depending on the Body in its being as in its working But this if duly consider'd will raise no just prejudice against its Spiritual Immortal Nature For 1. The sympathy of things is no convincing Argument that they are of the same Nature There may be so strict a union of Beings of different natures that they must necessarily be subject to impressions from one another Can any Reasons demonstrate that a Spiritual substance endowed with the powers of understanding and will cannot be united in a vital composition to a Body as the Vegetative Soul is in Plants and the Sensitive in Beasts There is no implicite repugnance in this that proves it impossible Now if such a complex Being were in Nature how would that spiritual Soul act in that Body that in its first union with it excepting some universal Principles is a rasa tabula as a white Paper without the notices of things written in it Certainly in no other imaginable manner than as Man's Soul does now Indeed if Man as compounded of Soul and Body were a sensitive Animal and only rational as partaking of the Universal Intellect bent to individuals for a time and retiring at Death to
its first Being as Averroes fancied there would be no cause of such a Sympathy but the Soul as intellectual is an informing not assisting form And it is an evident proof of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator by this strict and sensible union to make the Soul vigilant and active to provide for the convenience and comfort of the Body in the present state and that notwithstanding such a discord in Nature there should be such a concord in inclinations 2. Though the mental operations of the Soul are hindred by the ill habit of the Body yet the mind suffers no hurt but still retains its intellectual power without impairing A skilful Musitian does not lose his Art that plays on an harp when the strings are false though the Musick is not so harmonious as when 't is justly tuned The visive faculty is not weakned when the Air by a collection of gross vapours is so thick that the eye cannot distinctly perceive distant objects When by the heats of Wine or a Disease the Spirits are inflam'd and made fierce and unruly and the Images in the Fancy are put into confusion the mind cannot regularly govern and use them When the fumes are evaporated the Brain is restor'd to its temper and fitness for intellectual operations but the mind is not cur'd that was not hurt by those Distempers Briefly the Deniers of the Souls Immortality resemble in their arguings some who oppos'd the Divinity of our Saviour For as Apollinaris and Eunomius from Christ's sleeping so profoundly in a storm instead of concluding that he was a real Man falsly inferr'd that he was not God Because sleep is not the satisfaction of a Divine appetite the Deity is incapable of it But they consider'd not his more than humane Power in rebuking the Winds and the Sea with that Empire that was felt and obeyed by those insensible creatures so those whose interest inclines them to believe that Man is entirely mortal alledg that he acts as a sensitive Creature for he is so but consider not that he has also more noble faculties to understand objects purely spiritual and God himself the most perfect in that order which no material principle though of the most subtile and finest contexture can reach unto Besides the more 't is disengaged from Matter and retir'd from the senses the more capable it is to perform its most exalted operations and consequently by an absolute separation 't is so far from perishing that it ascends to its perfection For the manner how it acts in the separate state 't is to no purpose to search being most secret and 't will be to no purpose to find as being of no influence to excite us to the constant and diligent performance of our duty 'T is therefore a fruitless curiosity to inquire after it But to imagine that because the Soul in the present state cannot understand clearly without the convenient disposition of the Body therefore it cannot act at all without it is as absur'd as to fancy because a man confin'd to a Chamber cannot see the objects without but through the Windows therefore he cannot see at all but through such a Medium and that when he is out of the Chamber he has totally lost his sight CHAP. IX The acts of the Will consider'd It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The Spiritual operations of the Soul may be perform'd by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick argumeut that man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible Immortal and perishing 2. THe acts of the Will that imperial faculty prove it to be of a higher order of substance than the sensitive Soul The Brutes are acted by pure necessity their powers are moved and determined by the external application of objects 'T is visible that all kinds of sensitive Creatures in all times are carried in the same manner by the potent sway of Nature towards things sutable to their corporeal faculties But the rational Will is a principle of free election that controuls the lower appetite by restraining from the most pleasant and powerful allurements and choosing sometimes the most distastful things to sense Now from whence arises this contention If the rational Will be not of a higher nature than the sensual appetite why does it not consent with its inclinations How comes the Soul to mortifie the most vehement desires of the body a part so near in Nature so dear by Affection and so apt to resent an injury And since 't is most evident that sensitive Creatures always with the utmost of their force defend their Beings from whence is it that the rational Soul in some cases against the strongest recoile and reluctance of Nature exposes the body to Death If it depended on the body for subsistence it would use all means to preserve it Upon the sight of contrary motions in an engine we conclude they are caused by diverse springs and can such opposite desires in Man proceed from the same principle If the rational Soul be not of a sublimer order than the sensitive it follows that Men are Beasts and Beasts are Men. Now 't is as impossible to be what they are not as not to be what they are But do the Beasts reverence a Divine Power and at stated times perform acts of solemn Worship Is Conscience the immediate rule of their Actions will Lectures of temperance chastity justice arrest them in the eager pursute of sensual satisfactions Do they feel remorse in doing ill and pleasure in doing well Do they exercise the Mind in the search of Truth have they desires of a sublime intellectual good that the low sensual part cannot partake of have they a capacity of such an immense Blessedness that no finite Object in its qualities and duration can satisfy Ask the Beasts and they will tell you Their actions declare the contrary But the humane Soul has awful apprehensions of the Deity distinguishes of things by their agreement or disconformity to his Laws It s best and quickest Pleasures and most piercing wounding Troubles are from Moral Causes What colour what taste has Vertue yet the purified Soul is inflam'd by the views of its most amiable thô not sensible beauty and delighted in its sweetness How often is it so ravish'd in contemplation of God the great Object of the rational Powers as to lose the desire and memory of all carnal things What stronger Argument and clearer Proof can there be of its affinity with God than that Divine things are most sutable to it for if the rational Soul were of the same order with the sensitive as it could not possibly conceive any being more excellent than what is corporeal so it could only relish gross things wherein Sense is conversant The Sum of what has been discourst of
Popilius by order of the Roman Senate required Antiochus to withdraw his Army from the King of Egypt and he desired time to deliberate upon it the Roman drew a Circle with his Wand about him and said In hoc stans delibera give a present Answer before you move out Thus Eternity whose proper Emblem is a Circle a Figure without end presents to us Life and Death that after a short time expects all men and here we must make our choice And shall a mortal coldness possess us in an affair of such importance We cannot so fast repair the ruines of the Body but that every day Death makes nearer approaches and takes away some spoils that cannot be recovered and will shortly force the Soul to leave its habitation and shall we not secure a retreat for it in the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality Can any make a Covenant with Death Is it to be overcome by the strength of the young or appeased by the tears and supplications of the old 'T is equally invincible and inexorable The greenest Age is ripe for dying the Fruit that does not fall is pluck'd and gathered Every one is under the same sentence and so far equally disposed to dye None can assure himself the continuance of a day and shall we be desperately careless of our main Concernment shall we waste this unvaluable Treasure in idleness or actions worse than idleness shall we spend it to purchase transient vanities The gaining the whole World is not worth the expence of this light of Life 'T was given us for more excellent ends to work out our own Salvation to secure our everlasting Interest How should we redeem every hour and live for Heaven This is our chief and indispensible affair and the neglect of it for a day is of infinite hazard Our season is short our omission irreparable If we could clip the wings of Time and stop its flight there might be some pretence for delay but the Sun drives on apace we cannot bid it stand still one hour Our diligence in improving Time should be equal to its swift motion We should speedily draw from it what 's necessary as from a rapid Torrent that will quickly be dryed up 'T was a wise Answer to one that ask'd why the Lacedemonians were so slow in passing Capital Judgments why so many Examinations taken so many Defences permitted to the Accused and after Conviction Sentence such a space of time before Execution The reason of it is because an errour in that case is incorrigible They might kill the Living but could not revive the Dead Now since after Death is inflicted on the guilty Soul 't is lost for ever how should it stop Men in the voluntary and precipitate Condemnation of themselves by the wilful rejecting of the Grace that is offered to them upon their present acceptance To draw to an end it follows from what has been discours'd that 't is the most necessary and highest point of Wisdom to conduct our Lives with a respect to the Tribunal above that will pass a righteous and unchangeable Sentence upon Men for all the good and evil done here The Consequence is so manifest and palpable that nothing but perfect Madness can deny If there be a spark of Reason a grain of Faith the Mind must assent to it For if Prudence consist in the choice and use of means to procure the Good we want and in preventing the Evil we justly fear certainly according as the Good is more noble and difficult or the Evil more dangerous and destructive the more eminent is the Wisdom in obtaining our end Now what is the chief Good to which all our desires should turn and our endeavours aspire What are Crowns Scepters Robes of State splendor of Jewels Treasures or whatever the Earth has in any kind or degrees of good They are only the little entertainments of the Body the viler part of Man But the perfect and perpetual Fruition of God is the Blessedness of the Soul and infinitely excels the other And proportionably 't is not the loss of temporal things that is the greatest Evil but the losing Heaven and the immortal Soul is above all degrees of valuation Now 't is strange to amazement that those who profess to believe these things should live in a constant opposition to their belief How vigorously do they prosecute their secular designs they build Estates and make Provisions tanquam semper victuri as if they were eternal Inhabitants here But how remiss and cold are they in order to Heaven and to escape the Wrath to come Libertines are uniform and regular according to their Principles they are Infidels and live as Infidels there 's no contradiction between their thoughts and actions The remembrance of Death rather inflames than checks their Appetites to sinful pleasures as the sprinkling Water does not quench the Fire but makes it more fierce They know they shall continue here but a short time and resolve to make the best of it for carnal purposes But infinite numbers of those who in title are Citizens of another World and declare their belief of a future state yet are as careless to prepare for it as if the great Judgment and the dreadful Eternity that follows were Romantick Fables They are Believers in their minds and Infidels in their lives From whence comes this monstrous Composition of two Extreams so contrary and difficult to be united as the Sun and Darkness or Fire and Water in their actual forms For Men to believe there is a Heaven and to be in love with the Earth to believe an everlasting Hell shall be the reward of Sin and yet to go on in Sin O the sottish Folly of Men What enticing Sorcery perverts them 'T is because that temporal things are sensible and present and eternal things are spiritual and future But how graceless and irrational is this Has not the Soul perceptive faculties as well as the Body are not its objects transcendently more excellent Is not its union with them more intimate and ravishing Must the sensual Appetites be heard before Reason and the Soul be unnaturally set below the respects of the Body If the most splendid temptations of the flesh are but dross to the happiness of the Spirit is it not true Wisdom to distinguish and despise them in the comparison For this end God has plac'd us in the World that with equal Judgement we may ballance things and preferring the great and solid Good before a vain appearance our choice may be unconstrain'd and his mercy take its rise to reward us And how foolish is it to neglect eternal things because they are future Is it not a common complaint that Life is short that it flies away in a breath and if Death be so near can Eternity be so distant Besides do Men want an understanding to foresee things to come In their Projects for this World how quick-sighted and provident are they to discover all probable
in Surgery But he desirous first to cure his Brain and then his Shoulder told him that his Art was needless in that case for according to your own opinion this Bone in the dislocation either was where it was or where it was not and to assert either makes the displacing of it equally impossible Therefore 't was in vain to reduce it to the place from whence it was never parted And thus he kept him roaring out with pain and rage till he declar'd himself convinc'd of the vanity of his irrefutable Argument Now if according to the vanity of Atheists there is no God why do they invoke him in their adversities If there be why do they deny him in their prosperity there can no other Reason be assign'd but this that in the state of health their minds are disperst and clouded with blind folly in sickness they are serious and recover the judgment of Nature As 't is ordinary with distracted persons that in the approaches of Death their Reason returns because the Brain distemper'd by an excess of heat when the Spirits are wasted at the last is reduced to a convenient temper CHAP. VI. The Belief of the Deity no Politick Invention The asserting that 't is necessary to preserve States in order is a strong proof of its truth No History intimates when this belief was introduc'd into the World The continuance of it argues that its rise was not from a Civil Decree Princes themselves are under the fears of the Deity The multitude of false Gods does not prejudice the natural notion of one true God Idolatry was not universal The Worship of the only true God is preserved where Idolatry is abolish'd II. 'T Is objected that the belief of the Deity was at first introduc'd by the special invention of some in power to preserve the civil Sate and that Religion is onely a politick curb to restrain the wild exorbitance and disorders of the multitude This admits of an easie refutation 1. Those corrupted minds that from pride or sensuality presum'd to exempt Men from the Tribunal of Heaven yet affirm'd that a City might rather be preserved without Fire and Water the most necessary Elements than without the religious belief of a God Egregious lovers of mankind and therefore worthy of esteem and credit since they divulge that Doctrine that if believed the World must fall into dreadful confusion by their own acknowledgment But such is the Divine force of Truth that its enemies are constrain'd to give Testimony to it For is it conceiveable that an error not in a light question but in the Supreme Object of the Mind should be the root of all the Vertues that support the Civil State and Truth if discovered should have a fatal consequence on Government subvert all Societies and expose them to the greatest dangers How can they reconcile this with their declared principle that the natural end of Man is the knowledge of Truth It were less strange that the constant feeding on deadly Poyson should be requisit to preserve the natural life in health and vigour and that the most proper food should be pernicious to it So that the objection if rightly consider'd will confirm the Religious belief of a Deity Indeed 't is evident that all Civil Powers suppose the notion of a God to be an inseparable property of humane nature and thereby make their authority sacred in the esteem of the People as derived from the Universal Monarch 2. They can give no account of what they so boldly assert What Historian ever recorded that in such an age such a Prince introduc'd the belief of a Deity to make obedience to his Law 's to be a point of Religion 'T is true Politicians have sometimes used artifice and deceit to accomplish their ends Lycurgus pretended the direction of Apollo and Numa of the Nymph Egeria to recommend their Laws to the People Scipio and Sertorious made some other God to be of their Council of Warr to encourage their Souldiers in dangerous interprises But this mask only deceived the ignorant The more intelligent discern'd the finess of their politick contrivance 3. Is it conceiveable that the belief of the Deity if its original were from a civil decree should remain in force so long in the World False opinions in Philosophy adorn'd with great eloquence by the inventors and zealously defended for a time by their followers though opposit to no Mans profit or pleasure yet have lost their credit by further inquiries And if the notion of a God were sophisticate Gold though authorized with the Royal stamp could it have endured the Touchstone and the Fire for so many ages without discovery could it have past the test of so many searching Wits that never had a share in Government can we rationally suppose that in such a succession of time no discontented person when the yoke of Government was uneasie should disclose the arts of affrightment and release the People from imaginary terrours that with courage they might resume their liberty 'T is a true observation no single person can deceive all nor be deceived by all Now if there be no God one person has deceived all by introducing the general belief of a God into the World and every one is deceived by all believing so from the Universal Authority of Mankind 4. The greatest Princes are under the awful impressions of the Deity Those rais'd to the highest Thrones are not free from inward anxieties when the guilty Conscience cites them before his dreadful Tribunal Of this we have their unfeigned Declarations in the times of their distress Now 't is unconceivable they would voluntarily preplex themselves with a fancy of their own creating and dread that as a real Being which they know to be feigned This pretence therefore cannot without an open defiance of Reason be alledged 3. 'T is objected that the consent of mankind in the acknowledgment of a God is no full conviction of his existence because then we must believe the false Gods that were adored in the World 1. The multitude of Idols created by superstitious fancies is a strong presumption that there is a true God For all Falshood is supported by some Truth Deceit is made credible by resemblance The Heathen Worship though directed amiss yet proves that a religious inclination is sound in its original and has a real object to which it tends otherwise Idolatry the corruption of it had not found such a facility and disposition in Men to receive it 2. Idolatry hath not been universal in all Ages and Nations The first causes of it and motives that preserved it are evident The Nation of the Jews was freed from this general Contagion for we may as rationally argue from their own Histories concerning their belief and practice as from the Histories of other Nations And when a veil of darkness was cast over the Heathen World some were inlight'ned by true Reason to see the folly of the superstitious vulgar that
stood in awe of their own imaginations The Philosophers privatly condemn'd what in a guilty compliance with the Laws of State they publickly own'd Nay even the lowest and dullest among the Gentiles generally acknowledged one Supreme God and Lord of all inferior Deities As Tertullian observes in their great distresses guided by the internal instructions of Nature they invok'd God not the Gods to their help 3. That the belief of one God is a pure emanation from the light of Nature is evident in that since the extinction of Idolatry not a spark remaining in many parts of the World 't is still preserv'd in its vigor and lustre in the breasts of Men. Since the plurality of Gods have been degraded of their Honour and their Worships chased out of many Countries and the ideas of various ancient superstitions are lost the only true God is served with more solemn veneration Time the wise discerner of Truth from Falshood abolishes the fictions of fancy but confirms the uncorrupted sentiments of Nature To conclude this Discourse what rational doubt can remain after so strong a witness of the Deity External from the Universe Internal from the frame of the humane Soul If we look through the whole compass of natural Beings there is not one separately taken but has some signature of wisdom upon it As a beam of light passing through a chink in Wall of what figure soever always forms a circle on the place where 't is reflected and by that describes the image of its original the Sun Thus God in every one of his Works represents himself tanquam Solis radio scriptum But the union of all the parts by such strong and sweet bands is a more pregnant proof of his omnipotent mind Is it a testimony of great military skill in a General to range an Army compos'd of divers Nations that have grat antipathies between them in that Order as renders it victorious in Battel And is it not a testimony of infinite Providence to dispose all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth so as they joyn successfully for the preservation of Nature 'T is astonishing that any should be of such a reprobate mind as not to be convinc'd by the sight of the World a visible Word that more gloriosly illustrates the perfections of the Creator than the sublimest Eloquence that conceals what it designs to represent When Sophocles was accused by his ungrateful Sons that his Understanding being declin'd with his Age he was unfit to manage the affairs of his Family he made no other defence before the Judges but recited part of a Tragedy newly compos'd by him and left it to their decision whether there was a failure in his Intellectuals upon which he was not only absolved but crown'd with Praises What foul ingratitude are those guilty of who deny the Divine Wisdom of which there are such clear and powerful demonstrations in the things that are seen Abhor'd impiety worthy of the most fiery indignation and not to be expiated with a single death None except base stupid spirits that are laps'd and sunk below the rational Nature as a noble Philosopher justly censures them are capable of such prodigious folly and perversness Yet these are the pretenders to free reason and strength of mind and with a contemptuous smile despise the sober World as fetterd with servil Principles and foolishly soften'd by impressions of an unknown uncertain being and value themselves as more knowing than all others because they contradict all Ridiculous vanity as if a blind Man in a crowd sometimes justling one sometimes another should with impatience cry out Do ye not see when he is under a double blindness both in his eyes and understanding not seeing himself and reproaching those that see for not seeing In short this great Truth shines with so bright an evidence that all the sons of darkness can never put out and can only be denied by obstinate Atheism and absurdity CHAP. VII The duties of understanding Creatures to the Maker of all things Admiration of his glorious perfections visible in them This is more particularly the duty of Man the World being made eminently for him The Causes why the Creatour is not honour'd in his Works are mens ignorance and inobservance Things new rather affect us than great An humble fear is a necessary respect from the Creature to the Divine Majesty and Power Love and Obedience in the highest degrees are due from men to God in the quality of Creator Trust and reliance on God is our duty and priviledg LEt us now briefly consider the indispensible Duties of rational Creatures with respect to the Maker of all things And those are 1. To acknowledg and admire the Deity and his perfections that are so visible in his Works For there must be a first Cause from whom that receives being that cannot proceed from it self In all the forms of things there are some Characters stampt of the Divine Wisdom that declare his Glory some footsteps imprest of his Power that discover him some lines drawn of his Goodness that demonstrate him And so much praise is justly due to the Artificer as there is excellence of Art and Perfection of workmanship appearing in the Work This Duty is especially incumbent on Man because the World was made with a more eminent respect for him than for Angels or Animals For if we consider the diversity of its parts the multitude and variety of sensitive Natures of which it consists and the Art whereby 't is fram'd according to the most noble Idea and design of highest Wisdom 't is evident it was principally made for Man there being an adequate correspondence between them with regard to the faculties and the objects 'T is true the Angels understand more perfectly than Man the union order and beauty of the World an incomparable proof of the Makers perfections but they are not capable of knowledg or pleasure by tasts smels sounds which are only proportion'd to make impressions on material Organs And is it agreeable to Wisdom that an Object purely sensible should be chiefly intended for a Power purely Spiritual Neither are the Beasts fit spectators of the Divine Works For the material part to which sense can only reach is the least notable in the frame of Nature and the oeconomy of the World They cannot discover the dependance between Causes and Effects the Means and End nor the Wisdom that ordered all These are only for the vision of the mind which they want The volume of the World to them is like a fair printed Book compos'd of sublime matter and style but opened to one that sees the beauty of the Characters without understanding the Language it speaks and the Wisdom it contains An Eagle by fixing its eyes on the Sun cannot measure its greatness nor understand the ends of its motion The World would be lost if only for them But the wise Creator united these two distinct natures in Man and plac'd him in this
where I can only live happily On the contrary a plain flowry carpet Way is bad that leads me from it Now since the present life conveys us to another Poverty or Riches Sickness or Health splendor of Name or Obscurity an high or a low Condition become good or evil to us and accordingly are eligible as they prepare us for our last and blessed End or divert us from it If the clearness of this principle be obscur'd we shall stumble every step and wander from the way of life But duly considered it makes us judg of things as they are not as they appear This unravels the doubts of the intangled Mind corrects the mistakes of the erring Eye levels the greatest Difficulties clears all the Objections against Providence and makes an afflicted state not only tolerable but so far amiable as it promotes our supream Happiness Let us consider the two Worlds the visible wherein we are and the invisible to which we are going and impartially compare what is proper to the one and the other The present and the future the sensible and divine the apparent and real the transitory and perpetual happiness And what reference these two Worlds have to Man the one serves him only as a Passage the other is his ever blessed Country Therefore what-ever the present state has of sweet or bitter whatever is desir'd or fear'd as it passes with Time should little move us Who is there unless disorder'd in his Mind that when the Sun is present in its full lustre before his eyes rejoyces to have or is sorry that he has not a Candle that he may see more clearly And this Life to Eternity is not so much as a spark of Light to the Sun and accordingly the Prosperity or Adversity of it should not transport us to an excess of Joy or Sorrow but with an equal temper of Mind and calm Affections we should receive the dispensations of Providence 3. How just is it that the Soul should have the preeminence in all respects above the Body The one is the fading off-spring of the Earth the other of an heavenly extraction and incorruptible nature When Pherecides the Assyrian first taught among the Grecians the doctrine of the Souls Immortality his discourse so prevail'd on Pythagoras of Samos that it chang'd him from an Athleta into a Philosopher He that before wholly attended upon his Body to make it excel in strength or agility that he might contend victoriously in the Olympick Games then made it his business to improve and advance his Soul in Knowledg and Vertue And if the glimmering appearances of this great Truth were so powerful upon him how much more should the clear and certain discoveries of it be operative to make us chiefly regard the interest of our immortal part The state of Nature requires that Reason should have the supremacy in Man and Sense should obey but if the lower part tyrannises over the superiour and that which was so offensive to Solomon to see Servants on horseback and Princes walking on foot be verified in a more ignoble sense 't is the greatest degeneracy and vilification of the humane nature Now the predominant Object discovers what is the ruling faculty If sensual things have the superior esteem and love Sense reigns And what a contumely is it to Man when the Understanding that was made to contemplate Objects of a spiritual sublime nature is principally exercised for the acquiring of earthly things and the Affections that are capable of enjoying heavenly delights run with a full stream in the channels of Concupiscence As if the reasonable Soul were not for higher ends than to be the slave of the Body to be imployed to digest the confused Chaos of Meats and Drinks wherewith 't is fill'd to give it a quicker perception of its pleasures keep it from corruption for a time If sensual Wretches could obtain what the unclean Spirits desir'd of our Saviour when dispossest of the man in the Gospel they would request in their last hour when they are ready to be cast out of the Body permission to enter into the Swine and wallow in mire and filthiness This is an indignity equally dishonourable and pernicious As 't was said of Caligula Nec Servum meliorem nec deteriorem Dominum while a Subject none more obedient but when advanc'd to the Throne he became the Reproach of the Empire and Plague of the World So while the Body obeys the sanctity and sovereignty of the Mind 't is an useful Instrument but if it usurp the Government the Spirit is deprest in the most ignominious Captivity and Man becomes like the Beasts that perish Briefly the common fountains of Temptation are Pleasure and Pain that affect the outward senses and ' til the Soul has an establish'd dominion over the Body 't is continually expos'd to ruin by fleshly lusts that war against it The proper business of Man is to purifie his Spirit from all Pollutions to adorn it with all Graces in order to its everlasting Communion with the Father of Spirits And though in this state of union with flesh he cannot be always contemplative nor exercised in the highest and noblest work but must relax his intense thoughts by refreshing intermissions yet all that is allowed the Body must be only to make it more ready disposed for the service of the Mind But alas the Soul that should be incomparably dearest to us in respect of its preciousness and danger is neglected as the only despicable or safe thing belonging to us Of the twenty four hours in the day how much is wasted on the Body how little is given to the Soul as if all the time were lost that is spent on it when 't is truly gain'd What an unequal division is this Can there be imagin'd a more hurtful and monstrous profuseness and covetousness in the same persons If the Body be shaken with Diseases what are they not willing to do or patiently to suffer to recover lost Health Long and rigorous Diets to overcome some obstinate Humours Potions distasteful to the Palat and painful to the Stomack Sweatings Bleeding the Knife and the Fire to cut off the gangreen'd part and sear the vessels and many more sharp Remedies 't is counted prudence to suffer to preserve the life of the Body And can that be preserved always No. All this is done not to escape but to delay Death for a time If we are so sollicitous that the mortal Body may dye a little later shall we not be more diligent and careful that the immortal Soul may not die for ever 4. This should make us set a just value upon time and consecrate it to those things that are preparatory for the future state of blessedness Indeed the present Life though spun out to the utmost date how short and vain is it But as 't is the price of Eternity and our wel-being hereafter depends upon it 't is above all esteem precious When