only in Contexture with the Body and the Delights here the Advers speaks of are only agreeable to his own Fancy and such as adhere to his Opinion who may with him fancy themselves conversing with Spirits or the like fruits of their own Imaginations which Men easily give themselves up unto who are apt to follow the Dictates of their own Fancy P. 136 He exhorts his Followers to exercise themselves in the Contemplation of a Deity 'till correspondent Impression be wrought upon their own Spirits transforming them into the same Image The Observer thinks he gives his Followers a piece of dangerous Counsel to imitate the high Extasies of St. Paul in his Extraordinary Raptures and Revelations For that they catching at the Words without understanding the true sense and meaning of them or the design of their Delivery are apt to run into great Errors of Fancy and pretending to make themselves like God become in such Applications more extravagant and vain than the more sagacious sort of Beasts that perish not understanding what they say or whereof they affirm And as one of that sort the Advers shall here be left The Blind to lead the Blind till both fall into the Ditch P. 138 He says The Immortal Spirit may be starved for want of Food The Observer says The Souls of Men may be so for want of their Meal Malt or their other Nourishment which it is every Man's Duty to provide for them to their Power in due Seasons and Distances of Time which may require the same The Advers says further What if God e're this had sent you into a Place where the Immortality of the Soul is better known The Observer says He ought to have named his Place and proved that there is such a Place in rerum Natura before he pretend his Immortal Soul is better known in any Place than it is here But it seems his Place and his Soul are both of a Piece subsisting more in Imagination than in Reality We may consider the use of such a Place If truly such a Place there be wherefore should it have been provided Dr. Sherlock in his Book of the Last Judgment has well proved That the Devils are not yet in Hell The Advers himself says That the Malevolent Spirits wander in the World and sometimes converse with the People in it Which is Evidence That they are not presently in Hell St. Peter and St. Jude tell us That the Devils expect their Punishment after a Condemnation at the Last Judgment which they believe and tremble at The Revelations express That there was War in Heaven Michael and his Angels fought there with the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels but they were vanquished and cast out of Heaven Which was done but a very short time before the Consummation or Last Judgment Whence it seems reasonably inferrible That the Devils are yet not only out of the Verges of Hell but that they are at some Liberty in the World and make sometimes their Progress unto Heaven Whence there seems no need of a present Hell for the Punishment of Devils and for the Separate Souls of Wicked Men There is as little present need of it for that in Truth there seems to be no such Thing in the World as a Humane Soul subsisting in a State of Separation after the Death of the Body Whence if there should be at present such a Place as Hell it must remain utterly unfurnished empty and void which would not be a natural way of Proceeding Quia natura nihil facit frustra So as the Discourses of Separate Souls going to Hell seem rather a Bugbear than a Verity But to this Men reply If there be no fear of Punishment before the Resurrection bad Men mill grow more bold in their Wickedness This the Observer does not grant but believes That they who will not care for the dread of a cursed Resurrection will not be perswaded by the pretence of an immediate Immortality a Truth which daily Experience confirms to us The Distance of Time between Death and the Resurrection how great so ever the same may appear to Living and Sensible Persons is not accounted of by the Dead nor is any Thing dead more Sensible of its passing than the Urn or Stone is wherein the Dead Man's Ashes or Dust are inclosed Whence they rise as but newly fallen asleep without any Sense or Perception of what has passed over them So that Sensibly and Effectually to them no Time has passed over them at all But their Death and Resurrection follow one another immediately without their perceiving that any intermediate Time has passed at all between them But after the Resurrection and Last Judgment past at the Creation of the New Heaven and Earth we read There shall be a Hell also contrived Isa 66.22 23. After God had made the New Heavens and the New Earth those raised to a Happy State shall go forth and look upon the Carcasses of the Men that have transgressed against me For their Worm shall not die neither shall their Fire be quenched So Revel 20.24 Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them and every Man was judged according to his Works and Death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire and every one that was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire Viz. Such as were Condemned at the Last Judgment At which time God creates a New Heaven and a New Earth without a Sea but with a Hell for the Punishment of Condemned Creatures Chap. 21.14 Blessed are they who stand acquitted at that Judgment for that they may enter in through the Gates into the City and have right to the Tree of Life For without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whore-mongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a Lye And such as follow the old Satanical Rule Audacter calumniare aliquid haerebit Among which number the present Adversary shall have a prime Place given him by the best and truest Judgment which the Observer can make in this Case Pag. 140 the Adversary quotes a Poet some of whose Verses are fit for this Place Think lastly on the World 's great Doom When guilty Souls must to an Audit come A far more heavy Reckoning than e'er You met with here P. 142 The Adversary says Men of the best Reasons will esteem our strongest Reasonings as the Leviathan does Iron or Brass but as rotten Straw and rotten Wood. The Observer grants he is very much in the Right in this Expression but when he adds If he should happen to convine them of which there is little likelihood he thinks their Lusts would prevail against his Arguments and their Convictions In this the Observer says he is True Blew and continues very uncharitably and malevolently Censorious P. 143 The Power of Christianity is scarcely consistent with a dividing censorious uncharitable Frame and Disposition Hence the Observer inferrs That the
obtaining of an End which he design'd in it He Quotes in this Chapter the Words of the Prophet Zechariah saying Tell ye the daughter of Sion behold thy King cometh unto thee meek and sitting upon an asse and a colt the foal of an asse His Quotation shews that this Place of Zechary was known to him and his own Relation of the Story seems to Prove That he intended to make our Saviour's Fact in this Place agree punctually and in terminis with those Words of Zechary which he had before Quoted And the Observer conceives it somewhat likely that he has erred in like manner in delivering the Words our Saviour us'd in the Doctrine before-mentioned where our Lord Teaches his Disciples to Fear God rather than Men And to give a further strength to this Conception he Quotes Matth 28. which delivers many Circumstances concerning our Lord's Resurrection viz. In the end of the sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher And behold there was a great earth-quake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow And for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men And the angel answered and said unto the women Fear not ye for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified He is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and behold he goeth before you into Galilee there shall ye see him lo I have told you And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word And as they went to tell his disciples behold Jesus met them saying All hail And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him Comparando with this Relation he Quotes John 20. where the Words are The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher Then she ran to Peter and John and saith unto them They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher and we know not where they have laid him And the two Apostles were so affected with this Relation that they arose and ran to the Sepulcher to make themselves Eye-Witnesses of the Truth of this Fact And coming to the sepulcher they went into it and saw the linnen cloths used at his Burial but the Body was clean gone Then the disciples went away again unto their own home But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher and seeth two angels who ask'd the cause of her VVeeping She answered Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him Then turning her self back she saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was he Jesus saith unto her Woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou she supposing him to be the gardiner saith unto him Sir if thou hast born him hence tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away Men that well examine these two Relations will find a great difference and even an incompatibility between them For that if Mary Magdelene had seen the Angel Discours'd of in the Text of St. Matthew and heard such Tidings from him and soon after had seen and spoken with our Lord himself it opposes the common Reason of Mankind to conceive she should so behave her self upon this Occasion as the Relation of St. John has described to us It seems somewhat clear to this Observer That there is error in one of these two Relations and he thinks That the Relation made by S. John is more credible and that the error lies on the side of St. Matthew because St. John was Pars magni facti He tells us what himself saw and knew whereas it is probable That St. Matthew's Discourse was rather grounded upon Relations of some of the frighted Women than proceeding from any thing of his own certain knowledge These two Instances Prove That all the Relations we find in St. Matthew are not Infallible Truths but some of them have need to be searched by Humane Sagacity and the comparing of them with other Scriptures The Observer inclines to take his Wording our Saviour's Doctrine against the over great fear of Men to be like one of the two former Instances and that it may stand in need to be compared with its parallel Text in the Gospel of St. Luke and to be Examined by it But he is resolved to leave this Point to the further Consideration of Mr. M. In this Chapter also he Quotes many other particular Texts of Scripture which he thinks may Prove or Strengthen his Assertion But the Observer finds not one among them whose Proof is so full or so clear as that before Quoted out of St. Matthew All his other Texts except the Parable of Dives and that of the Thief upon the Cross seem to arise from Collections upon Inferences and some accidental Expressions or Forms of Words in Places of Scripture which do not Teach any thing concerning the future State of Mankind nor are spoken in those Places with intent to Teach concerning it In which rank he places Solomon's short Saying The spirit returns to God who gave it He does not wonder that Mr. M's Quotations seem to him such clear and evident Proofs as he pretends they do For the reason thereof may be and very likely is because he Reads and Considers them with the Mind already satisfied and assured That the Soul is Immortal and capable of Subsisting in a State of Separation from the Body But to a Man that is otherwise perswaded the much greater Part of his Quotations will seem to be of very little force for the Proof of that Opinion which he produces them for The Observer can and does inform him That there is not one of them which is not mentioned and discussed in that larger Treatise of the Observer's which is before-mentioned He has no mind in this Place Acta agere but rather chuses to refer Mr. M. in this Point to that Treatise which he has a strong Inclination and Intent to Publish if God please to lengthen the feeble Thread of his Life and give him Opportunity so to do Chap. 3d. He directs Men to expect Proofs of the Soul's Immortality by Arguments and Rules derived from Nature and Reason without enough considering That before he determin'd concerning the Adjuncts he should endeavour to Prove the real Substance of that Subject to which they must belong It seems he has attentively Perused his Pamphlet entituled Observations upon Mr. B's Sermon but does not think fit to take Notice what is there demanded by
Immortality or confirmed him therein But their Opinions weigh not much with the Observer who in his Pamphlet upon Mr. B's Sermon propounds to decide this Controversie by the sole assistance of Scripture and Reason The Adversary pretends to flourish with Names and Quotations of many Author rather to create an Opinion of his own Reading than because they were needful or useful in this Disputation a Practice purposely avoided by the Observer as being apt more to perplex and lengthen the Argument than to shorten or come close up to it and the Particulars of it The Adversary says If you believe that God regards the Affairs and Actions of Mankind then look unto him for light in this matter and he that so seeks after the Truth is in a very likely way to find it The Observer Replys Physician Cure thy self If thou had'st heartily pursued the course here directed it is very probable That God might have preserved thee from uttering and publishing such false and slanderous Calumnies as are inserted in thy Treatise levelled and discharged against an Innocent Person whom thou knowest not not ever hast heard any Man speak so of him much less that thou art able to prove any one of those Slanders which thou hast heap'd upon him and for which he leaves thee to the lashes of God and thine own Conscience and to the judicious and Rational Censure of thy Readers Chap. X P. 131. To the beginning of this Chapter the Observer thinks fit to annex an old English Proverb Let the Geese beware when the Fox Preaches For that although many of these Things which he says may be true according to the practice of an Old Father Obscuris vera involvens yet they are all spoken with intent to perswade and induce the Belief of an Erroneous Doctrine P. 132 The Advers says If I believ'd such Things as the Soul's Immortality I should use the greatest care and diligence to be Holy The Observer applys this to the certain and firm Doctrine of the Resurrection which all Christians do profess to believe He says This Doctrine requires as great Endeavours and striving by way of Preparation for it as that of the Soul's Immortality can do and is much better founded and assured than that is and therefore he advises all Christians to take it more into their Considerations than they formerly have done The new Doctrine of the Immortality has in a great measure shouldred out that of the Resurrection And indeed if the former were certain and true there wou'd be little need of the latter among Christians Persons after the Resurrection are likely to live upon the New Earth and under the New Heaven which will doubtless be a very happy State but if it be compared to the Heaven of Heavens and Throne of God whether they say Good Souls repair at the Death of the Person the Joys of the Earth can come in no Competition with the Joys of Heaven which those separate Souls must then forsake and come to live upon Earth again in their Bodies though Glorified plainly such a Change as those Souls must make at the Resurrection of the Persons is more likely for the worse than for the better Whereas the Doctrine of the Resurrection intends a compleating of the Happiness of Man and bringing it to its highest degree and Perfection as has always been expected and desired by the Church as the highest Happiness the Nature of Man is capable of For Proof of this he quotes Joh. 6. our Lord there four times over says Those that believe and serve him shall be raised up at the last day And at his Departure he tells his Disciples I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am ye may be also Without saying any thing of an intermediate State It runs through all the Gospels that at the Resurrection the Angels shall come and sever the Good from the Bad preserving the one sort and destroying the other Our Lord in Judgment says Come ye Blessed inherit the Kingdom prepared for you and Go ye Cursed into Everlasting fire Not return ye Blessed to Heaven from whence ye came nor return ye Cursed to the Flames of your former Fire But they are both to go to new Places where they had not been before 1 Cor. 15.1 1 Thess 4. Paul in both these Chapters Treats professedly concerning the future State of Man after Death and builds the whole strength of future Recompences upon the Doctrine of the Resurrection only without mention of or pointing to any Thing concerning the Soul's Immortality So Hebr. 11.35 Christians then suffer'd chearfully in expectation of a better Resurrection He also prays that Onesephorus might find mercy in the Last Day And tells Timothy That a Crown of Glory was laid up for him against that Day And so for all other true Christian Believers And the Observer saith That of all the Texts of Scripture quoted for the Immortality not one of them is delivered in a Place where the future State of Man after Death is particularly discoursed of or intended to be taught except what the Parable of Dives may have of that Nature Hence the Observer concludes That the Doctrine of the Resurrection is the main and Rocky Foundation upon which the Expectation of future Recompences can safely be builded and therefore he leaves the Immortality to those who think they find better Ground for it than he hath yet been able to perceive or attain to P. 133 The Advers says If you believe your Souls to be Immortal take care to secure your eternal interest by a good course of life The Observer says If you hope for a happy Resurrection you must take the same Course and to his other Saying and Quotations here the Observer applys them all to the Resurrection which is most certain whatsoever the other may be P. 134 He asks What will make amends for the loss of their Immortal Souls The Observer asks What will make amends for their unhappy Resurrection and Condemnati-at the Last Judgment The Advers says further You must labour to understand what it is must make your Souls happy if ever they be so The Observer says They are never like to be happy or miserable without the Body and therefore labour to obtain a safe and happy Resurrection of them both P. 135 He says That mens souls will tell them something if they take them apart and freely converse with them The Observer wishes he had told us some matter of Fact concerning himself or some other Man who had taken his Soul apart and so conversed with it without which all he says here is but Amusement intending to make Men suppose Their Souls may be taken apart from their Bodies which wou'd truly be the Destruction of them both for that the Person only consists in the Contexture of them both Further the Advers says That the Immortality is suitable for the Nature of the Soul The Observer denies That the Soul has any Nature except