another and to calumniate his Holiness which consists in the Harmony of them all I adore his Omnipotency and tremble at the Thought of calling in Question the Power that made All things of Nothing Yet I think it my Duty to be wise as well as Devout and to speak rightly as well as reverently of his Divine Perfections As his word is the Rule of my Faith so his Providence is the Pole-Star of my Reason And in the Scrutiny of his Works do not so much enquire what he is able to dâ— as what he uses to do Being assured thaâ— as nothing is to him Impossible so he has stated the Being Actions Passions Qualities and Circumstances of all Things ordering them iâ— exact Number Weight and Measure So that à posse Dei ad esse Rei non valet Consequentia He has fix'd the Laws of Loco-motion in Corporeaâ— Substances and ty'd up the Primum Mobile it self to a certain Proportion of Time and Distance which it can no more exceed than the smallest Wheel of a Watch. Such prodigious Whirligigs as the Heavenly Bodies must needs be in the Ptolomaick Hypothesis makes me giddy to think on 't and I believe they were troubl'd with a Vertigo that first reel'd upon the Notion Or they lâ—bour'd under the Deception of those at Sea who sailing within Sight of the Shore and not being able to perceive the Motion of the Vessel that carries them are apt to phancy the Neighbouring Cliffs Towns and Trees were under Sail and steering a contrary Course since they so appear to do For not less silently do I believe the Earth moves constantly round on her Axis thus making the Natural Day and Night without putting the whole Frame of the Universe into an unconceivable Hurry The Planet Jupiter is discover'd by the Telescope to make the same Circulation in 10 Hours Mars in 23 and the Sun himself in 28 Days These are no Chimaera's or Dreams of Poets no Metaphysical Speculations of Nut-shell Brains but Real Truths demonstrable by Art and Ocular Experience And methinks it is a more Vniform Idea if we suppose the Earth to be a Planet like the Rest and to take its Turn in the Septenary Dance round the Sun who is plac'd in the Centre of this Vortex and is the true Apollo to whose Musick the whole Planetary System keeps Time I fear not the Lash of Maurolycus nor the Scourge of his bigotted Brethren If Copernicus was by â—hem thought Scuticâ Flagello dignus for inâ—ovating on the Doctrines of Ptolomy What was Ptolomy himself worthy of who entrench'd on â— greater Antiquity and undermin'd the Phiâ—osophy of Aristarchus Samius who taught the Motion of the Earth above four hundred years â—efore Ptolomy was an Infant For my Part I â—hink it no Treason against the Common-wealth â—f Learning to say I prefer Galileo's Tube to â—tolomy's Spectacles and the Discoveries of our English Royal Society to the blind Conjectures â—f the Peripateticks and the wild Speculations â—f Athenâ— When I was first inform'd that there were â—iscover'd four new Stars moving about Jupiter and three about Saturn I was as well pleased as they who received the earliest News of Columbus's landing in America I am so far from being of Alexander's Humour that instead of weeping I should heartily rejoyce could I be credibly satisfied That there are ten Thousand more Worlds than are already discover'd I am naturally Melancholy and the weighâ— of this leaden Complexion does so depress my Spirits That all the Race of Mankind or Earth seems too small to afford Variety enougâ— for a Relief This makes me the more willinâ— to believe what my Reason suggests to be true That the Planets are Inhabited It is a lively as well as a Rational Notion and since the are Dark Opake Bodies like the Earth wâ— tread on having no other Light but what theâ— borrow from the Sun and seem in all otheâ— Circumstances to be adapted for Habitations see no Solaecism in Philosophy nor Heresâ—â— against the Faith to believe they are really Iâ—habited as is this Globe That they have Suâ—cession of Day and Night and their Satellites â—â— Moons to give them Light by Night even aâ— we is demonstrable to the Eye by the help oâ— the Telescope But there would in my Opinâ—on be little need of all this were there â—â—rational Inhabitants in those Coelestial Globes â—â— is a fastidious Pride in Man to phancy all thâ— Glittering Furniture above was only made foâ— Ornament or for Shepherds to gaze on in thâ— Night or for some other Inferior uses of thâ— Sons of Adam And 't is a narrow Conceiâ— to imagine that tho' this Globe be plentifully Inhabited by all sorts of Animals not a Turf of Land nor a Puddle of Water being without its Tenants yet all those ample and glorious Bodies above should lye empty and vacant tho' some of them be far bigger than our Earth and for ought we know may be ten times more commodious for Habitation Those Passages in St. Paul's Epistles to the Philippians 2.11 Ephes 1.9 10. Colos 1.16 seem to be calculated for the Inhabitants of those Heavenly Bodies And his Emphatical words in Ephes 3.9 seem to be but a Transcript of the Revelations he receiv'd and of the Things he saw when he was Rapt into the Third Heaven viz. That there are some in those Heavenly Places even Principalities and Powers to whom the manifold Wisdom of God in Christ was made known and that they were not only Created by Him but for Him and that they and we are all of one Family or Descent These may be some of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which that Holy Apostle speaks of in 2 Cor. 12.4 Words and Mysteries which could not be utter'd And for ought I know those Beings which he calls Principalities Powers Mights Thrones and Dominions may be no other than the several glorious Colonies of the Coelestial Family dwelling in the Stars who all believe in the same Eternal Jesus even as we do and through his Mediation make their Approaches to God the Father This may be the farther Fellowship of the Mystery of God hid from the Beginning This the untraceable Riches of Christ which put St. Paul to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depth of his Wisdom O the Superlative Greatness of his Power But whether the Planets be Inhabited or no this I am assured of and can produce an Hundreâ— Authentick Witnesses that they are Dark Bâ—dies like the Earth we tread on and thaâ— they have no Light but what they receive from the Sun which also they do but partially enjoy like us by Successive Hemispheres having their Day and Night measur'd out to them proportionate to the Time they take up in moving round their Centers When I have tyred my self with following these visible Motions of Nature I retire Home again thinking to take Sanctuary in my self and find a Rest in the Contemplation of my own Soul But there I do but commence a
kind Physician who when nothing else in the Divine Pharmacopaea could be sound available for so great a Cure applies his own Body to heal the Distempers of our Souls and his Blood to restore the Spoyls of Humane Nature None but the Favourites of the King of Heaven are admitted to this Immortal Banquet None but such as have the Wedding Garment on can have Access to this Table of Delicacies this Repast of Royal Dainties Many indeed and too many 't is to be feared are licensed to come into the Kings Anti-Chambers and to sit down in the Church and taste the outward Elements but it is the Priviledge of his Saints only to enter his Cabinet and be Regal'd with the costly Entertainment of his Secret Table and to partake in the New Wine of the Kingdom of Heaven A Serious Christian once told me that if ever he was like Paul taken up into the Third Heaven it was when he first sat down at the Lords Table The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is the nearest and visiblest Communion that can be had with God and Christ upon Earth Here are the greatest revivings and the sweetest refreshings that a Pious Soul is capable of on this side Heaven it self Other Duties seem to be our work this our meat and wages other duties are but preparative to this Baptism Praying Preaching Hearing Meditating Conferring are all ordained but to sit us for this High and Mysterious Ordinance Here you have all the benefits of the Covenant of Grace folded up in one Rite Here is the whole contrivance of Salvation represented in a little Bread and Wine whereby God invisibly seals up an assurance of his Everlasting Love upon our Hearts It is grown even to a Proverb saith Acosta among the poor Indians that have entertained the Faith that Qui Eucharistiam semel susceperit c. He must never more be unholy that hath once received the Holy Communion As to the Posture of Receiving I am not scrupulous being willing to conform to the Custom of those with whom I communicate I can receive on my Knees without Danger of Idolatry or Sitting without the Guilt of Contempt This latter I esteem of greater Antiquity it being the Posture wherein Christ Communicated to his Disciples at the last Supper unless it be said they lay along according to the Mode of the Eastern People in those Days However I do not think the Position of the Body but the Preparation of the Soul is required to render one a Worthy Commun icant in these Holy Mysteries I censure not the Primitive Christians not those more Modern ones who Communicate frequently yet I should be timorous to approach these Holy Mysteries too often lest I should incur the Judgment which St. Paul has pronounced on those who eat and drink unworthily I have Charity for others who Celebrate this Sacrament Monthly Weekly or Daily but I should have little for my self should I receive this tremendous Mystery of Life with less Preparation than were requisite to fit me for Death It being in the Number of those Medicines which either Kill or Cure according to the Constitution to which they are applyed If we examine the Books of Physicians those Registers of Humane Frailty and Mortality we shall find no less than Six Thousand Diseases on the Score to which Man's Body is liable And 't is to be feared the Distempers of the Soul come not short of the Account What is Pride but a Tympany Lust but a Feaver Drunkenness but a Dropsie Envy and Malice but the Consumption of the Soul To obviate these and innumerable more Spiritual Maladies God has as a Token of his Infinite Bounty given His Ministers Commission to dispense to the Sons of Men the Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a Divine Catholicon or Cure for all the Diseases which are incident to our Souls but with this Condition That he who partakes of these Holy Mysteries unworthily instead of being healed does but increase his Malady work it up to a dangerous Crisis if not to a desperate Paroxism which affords no Hopes but a fearful Expectation of Judgment to come Cyprian tells us two remarkable Stories that one coming to the Sacrament after the Minister had given him the Bread and he going to eat it it stuck in his Throat Gladium sibi sumens non cibum saith he he received his Bane instead of Bread the other came and took the Bread into his Hand and when he went to eat it there was nothing but Ashes in his Hand This Apprehension I ingenuously declare has had such Influence on me as to restrain me long from approaching the Holy Table I tremble at the Thought of Eating and Drinking my own Damnation and of trampling under-foot the Blood of the Eternal Testament I love not to humour my Spleen or gratifie my Hypocondria by inveighing against the Luxury of the present Age as if it were worse than those of old and that our Fore-fathers did not Eat and Drink to Excess as well as we The present Intemperance of Mankind is but the Transmigration of the Former And our Posterity shall but act o're the Patterns we set them Drunkenness is as old as Noah 's Flood and Epicurism begun with Adam The one had no sooner escaped the Universal Inundation of Water but he had like to have been drown'd in a Deluge of Wine And the Other not content with the large Indulgence and Commission God had given Him to eat of the Fruits of Paradice must needs leap the Fence which guarded the Forbidden Tree and wheâ— he might have Banquetted without Satiety or End on the Varieties which would have given him Life and Immortality he plays the Glutton and Surfeits Himself with the Plant of Death and Damnation His Children soon learn'd to tread in their Father's Steps and Gluttony was equally propagated with Mankind And tho' that Repairer of Adam's almost Shipwrackt Progeny could he abstemious when he might have furnisht his Table with all the Beasts of the Earth and Fowls of the Air at one Meal yet he could not refrain from the tempting Fruit of the Vine His Ebriety was also catching and the Incestuous Off-spring of Lot ow'd their Original to the Blood of the Grape Before the Flood Men were busied in Banquetting and Riot so they have been ever since and so they will be to the End of the World Men are great Followers of Antiquity in the Practice of these Vices For my Part I envy not the Board of Vitellius that at one Meal was covered with two Thousand Fish and double that Number of Fowls Neither do I covet the more Expensive Feasts of Heliogabulus The refin'd Luxury of Cleopatra seems to me less Sordid tho' more Prodigal who at one Draught swallow'd down a King's Ransom It was not her Palate she gratify'd in that Rich Potion but she humour'd the Gust of her Ambition which is a Sublimer sort of Vice and may not unfitly be call'd the Gluttony of the Soul
while it Revels on the Breath of Fame and Epicurizes with a Chamelion-like Appetite on the Air of Honour Intemperance is the Blind side of Mortals it is our soft Place where we suffer our selves to be stroak'd and tickl'd to Death by the flattering Serpent This made Isaac mis-place his Blessing for a Piece of Venison and his Son to sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage The Italian Proverb hits the Glutton Home when it says He digs his Grave with his Teeth and cuts his Throat with the Knife that carves his Meat Rioting and Drunkenness were formerly esteemed the National Sin of Germany only but I believe other Nations may put in for a share in the Charter It is the Epidemick Vice of the whole World Men fall passionately in Love with it as if they were of Mucaus the Poet's Opinion who held That perpetual Drunkenness was the only Reward of Merit and Vertue The very Mahometans themselves who are expresly forbidden by their Law to taste of Wine being told by Mahomet that there is lodg'd a Devil in every Grape are sworn Votaries to Bacchus and the greatest Drunkards on Earth For my own Part I could be content with the Diet of Johannes de Temporibus who when he had lived three Hundred years being asked by the King of France What method he took to preserve his Life to so great an Age Replied Intus Melle extra Oleo I say I could be content with his Diet not so much for the sake of Spinning out my Life to Centuries of years which yet I believe were not altogether impracticable in one of my Constitution as that by a constant and habituaâ— Desuetude of merely Animal Enjoyments 〈◊〉 might the more closely and vigorously attenâ— the Operations of my Soul and be always awake to the Superiour Faculties of my Mind and Intellect Anima Sicca est Anima Sapiens was a true Maxim of the Philosopher And the Sons of Minerva experience it I abhor the Superstitious Cant and Discriminating Shibboleth of Enthusiasts who must needs take upon them to alter the Form of sound Words as if the Dialect of the Primitive Church were grown obsolete or that the Apostles understood not the Orthography of Christian Faith I like not those Spiritual Bouteseus who take a great Deal of Pains to breed a Quarrel between Religion and Nature and set those two Twins together by the Ears as if we could not be good Christians unless we deny our Sense and Reason Certainly it is not the Business of Religion to Supplant and Extirpate Nature but to prune and rectifie it Religion is that which polishes and smooths the Roughness of laps'd Humanity pares away the Vicious Knobs which grow up with us from our tainted Embryo and by various Instruments of Grace forms and squares us into sit Materials for God's Holy Temple The Work of Regeneration seems in some manner to copy that of Creation The Holy Ghost at his first Visit finds us in our corrupt state but a meer Chaos a confused Heap of Passions and Sensual Appetites our Reason that Light of our Souls lyes Dormant smother'd as it were by our Animal Faculties Darkness covers the Face of this Microcosm till he give the Word Fiat Lux and by a forcible Energy strike some Divine Sparks out of our Flinty Hearts Thus separating the Coâ—lestial Parts from the Terrestrial and Sublimating us into the Simiâ—itude of his own glorious Essence Enduing â—s with Faith without destroying our Reason â—nd inspiring us with Charity without exterminating our Passions Thus I can believe the most transcendent Mysteries of our Religion â—nd yet not be guilty of an implicite Credulity â—nd blind Devotion And I can practise Chriâ—â—ian Moderation tho' I cou'd never learn the â—toical Apathy I highly value the Sacred Scripture as the Oracle of Divinity and Rule of Faith Yet I â—steem them not a System of Philosophy or 〈◊〉 Pandect of natural Science They are able â—o make us Wise unto Salvation and perfect 〈◊〉 the Knowledge of God through Faith in Christ Jesus but they instruct us not in Munâ—ane Curiosities nor acquaint us with the Theory of all his Works That frightful Cauâ—â—on of the Apostle Beware of vain Philosophy no Bug-bear to my Studies nor can it startle my harmless Enquiries into the Secrets of the Elements I will not be afraid of prying into the Circumstances of the Earth since Jâ—â—â—â— has told us it is hang'd upon Nothing nor â—â— casting my Eyes up to the Heavens and examining the Motions Influences and Operâ—tions of the Sun Moon and Stars since tâ—e same Holy Patriarch was posed with this â—strological Question by God himself Caâ— Thou restrain the sweet Influence of the Pleiadâ—â— or loose the Bands of Orion There are maâ—â— Natural Observations in the Bible which mâ—â— serve as Hints or Spurs to more accurate Dâ—â—quisitions But in no Place that I know oâ— does it set a Non Ultra to those Sober Enquâ—rers who by making a Modest and Judicioâ—â— Search into the Works of the Creation are câ—â—pable of returning a more exact and consummate Praise to the Eternal Architect Indeeâ— most if not all the Manual Trades in thâ— World are but the several Species of Practâ—cal Philosophy While the Mechanick puâ— in Execution the Theory of the Student aâ— what the One dictates from the School of â—â—ture the other Experiments in the Shop â—â— Art Neither would Men know how to keâ—â— themselves in Action or maintain Commercâ— were it not for the Sake of Philosophy Tâ— this are owing all the Advances and Progresâ—ons that Ingenious Men have made in the Callings and Occupations And every Smitâ— Carpenter Mason c. that makes an Improvement in his Craft or Mystery deserve the Titâ—e of Virtuoso and to be number'd among tâ—e Philosophers Among all the Sciences there is none to which had I leisure I could be more devoted than to Astronomy and for this Reason I cou'd raise a Pyramid to the Inventors of the Telescope That Happy Midwife to new Discoveries in the Heavens and think my Self no less oblig'd to Him that first found out the Motion of the Earth Both have Enfranchis'd me from the Slavery of Prepossession and taught me to unthink the Sentiments of my greener Years Methinks I owe no Allegiance to Ptolomy and am perfectly wean'd from the Magisterial Dictates of the Stagyrite I cannot so readily believe that the Sun moves above two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Miles every Minute of Time as that the Earth moves Eighteen Miles in that space And that the Planet Saturn moves ten and the fixed Stars a Hundred Times faster and farther than the Sun in the same space which must be the Consequence of the Earth's standing still and the Suns Motion It seems no good Divinity to me to expect that from Gods Infinite Power which is repugnant to his equal Wisdom and the Laws of Motion which he has Establish'd in the Universe This were to make one of his Attributes Clash with
new Fatigue and am hurried about in a perpetual Circle by an invisible Energy within me I think speak and act with infinite Variety yet know not how I perform these different Operations I know my self to be an Incorporeal Substance and can easily feel out my own Independency on the Body I look on this House of Clay I carry about with me to be only my Prison But how I am confin'd to this Prison I that am but a poor Scintillation or Spark of the Eternal Sun is a Riddle which I cannot solve I can better imagine how a Beam of our Visible Sun may be united to a Marble Statue than that a pure Thought should be fastned to a Clod of Earth from which it cannot free it self but by Death though it can pervade all the Vniverse beside What Cement is it that thus closely tyes together two such incompatible Essences as Heaven and Earth Light and Darkness Spirit and Body This is a Knot must be left for Elias to untye and is indeed one chief Argument of the Shipwrack of Humane Reason since not only all other Things are obscure to us but we are so to our selves the nearest Objects even our own Domestick Operations are as incomprehensible to us as those that are farthest off The Things that touch us nay the very Faculties by which we touch see understand c. are as distant from us as the Ninth Sphere we are as much strangers to our selves as to the Inhabitants of Terra Incognita There wou'd be nothing more welcom to me than a History of my Original for I do not compute my Age or Family by the short Chronology of the Parish-Register nor do I think my self much the older by my Mother 's Additional Record of Nine Months I liv'd in her Womb. I esteem her Reckoning from my Conception but the Tragick Memories of my Death and those which by most are accounted the Chambers of Life and Shops of Generation are no better in my Judgment than the Receptacles of the Dead Seminaries of Corruption the Graves of Souls defunct to the Higher World For I believe I was then Born when the Morning Stars Sang together and when all the Sons of God shouted for Joy I time my Infancy with that of the Universe and esteem no Man older or younger than my self no not the Angels themselves believing that all Spiritual Substances were Created together in the Beginning I will not with some accuse Moses of scantiness in his History of the Creation because according to the Letter he seems to take but little notice of Immaterial Beings The Hebrew Cabbala with the Commentaries of their Learned Rabbins and some of the Primitive Fathers of the Christian Church do sufficiently evince That there are greater Mysteries contained in the Three first Chapters of Genesis than the bare Letter or Vulgar Translations seem to exhibit There is a Sacrament in that Holy Language which whosoever partakes of can be no stranger to the Natural and Divine Truths couch'd under it To such an One the History of the Terrestrial Adam's Happy State in Paradise and his Banishment from thence will be an Hieroglyphick of the Original Beatitude of the Immaterial World and the Degeneracy of humane Souls their Descent from the Aetherial Mansions and Consinement to Houses of Clay as well as of the Fall of Angels I seem to my self not without Reason to embrace the Doctrine of the Praeexistence of Souls since it was among the Credenda of many Antient Sages a peculiar Tradition of the Jews and the general Opinion of all the East That Question which was put to our Saviour concerning the Man that was born Blind whether it was for his own sins or those of his Parents seems clearly to imply That he was in a Condition or Capacity of sinning before his Birth which how it could be without supposing the Praeexistence of his Soul is past my Divinity or Philosophy to unriddle The various Conjectures also which the Jews made of Christ according to the Report of his Disciples when some said he was Elias others that he was one of the Prophets a third sort that he was John the Baptist risen from the Dead are evident Arguments That the Doctrine of Praeexistence and a Metempsychosis was establish'd as part of the Creed of that Nation Of which also that passage in the Wisdom of Solomon is no obscure hint where the Author says Or rather being a good Spirit I came into a Body pure and undefiled Neither am I startled because I find not Christ or any of his Apostles asserting or so much as mentioning any such Doctrine St. John's Hyperbole in the last verse of his Gospel satisfies me that I must not expect to find all that our Saviour did and said register'd by the Evangelists And St. Paul's frequent Exhortation to hold fast the Traditions that he had imparted to them whether by Word or Epistle convince me That it is not unreasonable to conclude That he deliver'd many Doctrines in his Sermons which he had no occasion to mention in his Letters to the Churches Among which this might be one However it is a sufficient Warrant to my Belief That I no where in all the Scriptures can find this Doctrine reprehended Which had it been an Errour cou'd not have escaped the censure of Christ and his Apostles it being the Universal Tenet of all sorts of Jews except the Sadduces When I consider also that Origen and Ammonius taught it in the Schools of Alexandria Plotinus himself learning it from the latter and that all the Primitive Fathers who were Platonists asserted it not only as a Philosophical but also as a Divine Truth I look upon it as an Effect of Gothick Barbarity and Ignorance which afterwards overspread all Christendom That neither this nor hardly any other Point of Platonism were countenanced in the Christian Schools but only the Dictates of Aristotle and his Ghost Averroes In fine that elegant Flourish of St. Augustine Infundendo creatur creando infunditur is no Rule of my Faith in this Point since it fastens so many irreverend Consequences on God Almighty neither can I believe the Soul to be ex Traduce because it carries in its Front so many Inconsistencies in Philosophy besides the Indignity that is done to the Soul thereby which amounts to a true Scandalum Magnatum since 't is levell'd at the whole Order of immaterial Beings I must therefore believe That I had a Being long before I came into this Body and yet not resolve the Manner of my Existence into a meer Potentiality or an unactive slumber in the Bosom of my Causes as if I were then but a Seminal Idea in the Blood of my Fathers or a Metaphysical Dream of my present self I believe I was in a State of greater Activity before I was conceiv'd by my Mother than since she bore me and for ought I know have â—â—rang'd all the Boundless Tracts of the Vniverse been Naturaliz'd in the
of the Uniâ—erse shall be subject to the Action of Fire such as the Earth we tread on with the other Planetary Bodies but that the purest Aetheâ— shall remain for ever untouch'd unchang'd the Sanctuary of the Bless'd the Habitatioâ— of the Spirits of Just men made perfect I aâ— also confirmed in this Belief by somethiâ—â— more Sacred and Authentick than natural Phâ—losophy For when the Royal Psalmist in thâ— Divine Rhapsody calls upon the Heavens 〈◊〉 Heavens and the Waters which are above tâ—â— Heavens to praise God he gives this for â— Reason viz. Because he spake and the were made he commanded and they werâ— created He establish'd them to Eternitâ— and for Everlasting Ages He fix'd a Decree which he will not disannul Then he calls upoâ— the Earth and all Creatures therein to joyn iâ— the same Act of Praise but not for the samâ— Reason not because the Earth shall enduâ—â— for ever but because the Name of God alonâ— is exalted and his Honour above Heaven anâ— Earth Which Distinction seems to me aâ— evident Argument of the unalterable Stabiliâ—â— of the Coelestial and Aetherial World whatâ—â—ever Mutations and Changes the Terrestiâ—â— may be subject to That those immense Tracts of quiet and iâ—passible Aether shall be the Seat of the Bless is very consistent with Philosophy and 〈◊〉 ways repugnant to Divinity However leâ— the Place be where it pleases God we arâ— assured that the Entertainment and Joys â—â— far surpass all humane Comprehension Yeâ— tho' we cannot have adequate Conceptions of Supream Felicity there are some Land-marks by which we may take imperfect Measures of that Region of Promise The Dim-Light of Natural Reason may afford us a Glimpse or faint Prospect of those Superlative Joys and the Opticks of Faith will improve the View We shall have the same Nature and Faculties there as here but free from the least Alloy of Frailty and Imperfection Our Souls shall display the radiant Brightness of their Immortal Essence with stronger Vibrations than the Sun having no internal Scum of Concupiscence boyling out from the Center of a depraved Will or erroneous Understanding to blemish and stain those unspotted Orbs of Light nor a terrene gross Body to Eclipse and shut up their Splendors But being ever Bright and Serene they shall shine through their Glorified and Spiritual Bodies as the Sun does through the â—ervious Air or at least as he does on a Bright Cloud which drinks in his Beams to reflect them abroad with a more sensible Glory We shall then see not by receiving the Visible Species into the narrow Glass of an Organized Eye we shall then hear without the distinct and curious Contexture of the Ear. The Body shall then be all Eye all Ear. All Sense in the whole and every Sense in every Part. In a word it shall be all over a common Sensorium and being made of the purest Aether without the Mixture of any lower or grosser Element the Soul shall by one undivided Act at once perceive all that Variety of Objects which now cannot without several distinct Organs and successive Actions or Passions reach our Sense From this Superlative Tenuity and Claritude of our Bodies will arisâ— that ineffable Delicacy in the Sensation of the Soul which will transport it with Delighâ— infinitely transcending the Heighth of Mortâ—â— Voluptuousness nay and even those more exalted Pleasures which the Vertuous sometimeâ— enjoy here on Earth as Foretasts of their futurâ— Beatitude in Heaven What here excites buâ— an Ordinary Emotion of Joy in the Soul wiâ—â— there produce all Raptures and Ecstasies We shall be always in Paroxisms of Love such are the transcendent Beauties of that admirable Place and such the divinely amorous Bent of the Soul We shall be always languishing yet ever enjoying what we languish for Neither suffering the least Pain through the Want of Fruition nor through any Satiety that shall attend it But through the Vigour of an Immortal Activity we shall have ever freshly kindleâ— Desires and new Enjoyments being dissolv'd in a Circle of Beatitude without Measure or End Here on Earth Men generally strive to Monopolize Pleasure to themselves there being few of so generous a Temper as to be sensibly touch'd with Delight that another shou'd partake with them in that which they esteem Felicity This is the peculiar Advantage of the Bless'd in Heaven that even in the Heighth of the Affairs of Immortal Love and Empire where they possess Eternal Crowns and unfading Beauties there is no such Thing to be found as a Rival or Competitor but every one's Joy is enhanc'd by the Enjoyments of another Every one loves all and all love every one Neither wou'd their Felicity be Perfect cou'd any Member of that Happy Society be suppos'd not to have his full proportion and share of Beatitude So communicative is the Love and Joy of those Holy Souls that they must cease to love and enjoy themselves shou'd they desist from loving and rejoicing in the Happiness of their Fellow-Citizens And if we may take our Measures of their Joys from our Common Experiences here on Earth it will be no small Augmentation of their Complacency to find those very Friendships which they had contracted here below translated to the Mansions above when they shall both see and know those whom they once loved on Earth how to be made Denizens with them in Heaven with what Ardours will they caress one anoâ—her With what Transports of Divine Affection will they mutually embrace and vent those Innocent Flames which had so long lain smothering in the Grave How passionately Rhetorical and Elegant will their Expressions be when their Sentiments which Death had Frozen up when he congeal'd their Blood shall now be Thaw'd again in the warm Airs of Paradise Like Men that have escap'd a common Shipwrack and swim safe to the Shore they will congratulate each other's Happiness with Joy and Wonder Their first Addresseâ— will be a Dialect of Interjections and short Periods the most Pathetick Language of Surprize and high wrought Joy And all their after converse eveâ— to Eternity will be couch'd in the highesâ— Strains and Flowers of Heavenly Oratory wiâ—â— Allelujahs intermix'd It much sweetneth the thoughts of Heaveâ— to me to remember that there are a multituâ—â— of my Friends gone thither to think such â— Friend that died at such a time and such a 〈◊〉 at another time O! what a number of thâ—â— cou'd I name and that all these I shall meet â—gain 'T is true it 's a question with some whethâ—â— we shall know each other in Heaven or no bâ—â— 't is none with me for surely there shall â—â— Knowledge cease which now we have bâ—â— only that which implyeth our Imperfectioâ— and what Imperfection can this imply Indeâ—â— we shall not know each other after the flesh nâ—â— by Stature Voice Colour or outward Shapâ— nor by Terms of Affinity and Consanguiniâ—â— nor by Youth or Age nor I think by Sex buâ— by the Image of
our Desires and VVishes the true Pandoras that alone can satisfie our longing Appetites and fill us with Gifts and Blessings in them we live before we breathe and when we have tasted the Vital Air 't is but to die an amorous Death that we may live more pleasantly in them again They are the Guardians of our Infancy the Life and Soul of our Youth the Companions of our Riper Years and the Cherishers of our Old Age. From the Cradle to the Tomb we are wrapt in a Circle of Obligations to them for their Love and good Offices And he is a Monster in Nature who returns them not the Caresses of an Innocent Affection the Spotless Sallies of Vertue and Gratitude Loue is the Soul of the World the Vital Prop of the Elements 't is the Cement of Humane Society the strongest Fence of Nature Earth would be a Hell without it neither can there be any Heaven where this is absent Yet I am no Advocate for those general Lovers who not content to let this active Passion run within the lawful Channel of chast Marriage swell it up with irregular Tides and wanton Flouds of Lust till it wash away the Banks of Reason and Morality find out new Passages and Rivulets encroaching on other Mens Possessions or at least dilating on the general waste of the weaker Sex who ought to be as Gardens enclos'd or holy Ground not to be prophan'd by the Access of every bold Intruder I approve not the Incestuous Mixtures of the Chinese where the Brother Marries the Sister or next a-kin nor the Sensual Latitude of the Mahometans who allow every Man four VVives and as many Concubines as he can maintain But above all I detest the wild and Brutal Liberty of that Philosopher who in his Idea of Humane Happiness conceiv'd a promiscuous Copulation ad Libitum to be a necessary Ingredient of our Bliss On the Other side My Regards to that Sex are not circumscrib'd within such narrow Limits as to exclude any from our Conversation and Friendship that by any warrantable Title can lay a Just Claim to it I wou'd have our Commerce with Females as General as is their Number that deserve it whose Knowledge and Vertue will be a sufficient security from criminal Familiarities and from the Scandals of the World There are among that Sex as among Men Good and Bad Vertuous and Vicious and a Prudent Man will so level his Choâ—ce as not to stain his Reputation or hazard his Integrity 'T is no small Point of Discretion I own to regulate our Friendships with Women and to walk evenly on the Borders and very Ridge of a Passion whose next Step iâ— a Precipice of Flames not kindled from thâ— Altar of Vertue However 't is not impossible to conserve Innocency on the Frontiers of Vicâ— There is no Difference of Sex among Souls and Masculine Spirit may inhabit a Womans Bodâ— It is disingenuous to rob Vertue of the Advaâ—tages it receives from Beauty which make 〈◊〉 appear like Diamonds enchac'd in Gold aâ—â— gives it a greater Lustre Reason it self will â—â—pear more Eloquent in the Mouth of a fair Maâ— than in that of the most Florid Oratour Anâ— there are no Figures in all the System of Rhetorick so moving and forcible as the peculiaâ— Graces of that Sex I am of Opinion that Meâ— can boast of no Endowments of the Mind which Women possess not in as great if not a greater Eminency There have been Musâ—â— as well as Amazons and no Age or Nation buâ— has produced some Females Renowned for their Wisdom or Vertue Which makes me conclude that the Conversation of Women is no less useful than pleasant and that the Dangers which attend their Friendships and Commerce are recompensed by vast Advantages But whatever may be adduced against the Friendships we contract with Women there is not in all the Magazine of Detraction any Weapon of Proof against the mutual Intimacies of our own Sex the generous Endearments of Souls truely Masculine and Vertuous united by Sympathies and Magnets whose Root is in Heaven No Panegyricks can reach the Worth of these Divine Engagements since they admit not of any Mediocrity but derive their Value only from their Excess I have been always slow and cautious in contracting Amities lest I should run the Risque of his Mistake who while he thought he had an Angel by the Hand held the Devil by the Foot But where I have once pitch'd my Affection I love without Reserve or Rule I never entertain without suspicion the warm Professions of Love which some Men are apt to make at first sight Such Mushroom-Friendships have no deep Root and therefore most commonly wither as soon as they are form'd Yet I deny not but that there are some secret Marks and Signatures which Souls ordain'd for Love and Friendship can read in each other at a Glance by which that Noble Passion is excited that afterwards displays it self in more apparent Characters This is the silent Language of Platonick Love wherein the Eye supplies the Office of the Tongue 't is the Rhetorick of Amorous Spirits wherein they make their Court without a Word There are some lasting Friendships which owe their Birth to such an Interview but their Growth and Fastness proceeds from other Circumstances being cherish'd by frequent Conversation repeated good Offices and an inviolate Fidelity which are the only proper and substantial Aliment of Love 'T is impossible to fix a durable Friendship where-ever we place a Transient Inclination because of the insuperable Necessities which divide particular Men from each Others Commerce or Knowledge after they have begun to Love In the Orb of this Life Men are like the Planets which now and then cast friendly Aspects on each other en Passant But following the Motioâ— of the Greater Sphere of Providence theâ— are again separated their Influences dissolv'd and new Amours commenc'd But I would have my Friendship resemble the Fixed Staâ—â— and Constellations who in the Eternal Revolution never part Company or Interests I have ever look'd on those Men to be buâ— one step differenc'd from Beasts whose Love is confined only to their own Families or Kindred Such a narrow Affection deserves not to be rank'd in the Praedicament of Humanity My Love is communicative it makes a large Progress and extends it self to Strangers it takes in Men of different Humours and Complexions Customs and Languages it refuses none that have the Face of Men but with wide-open'd Arms embraces all that bear the stamp of Humane Nature And I have this peculiar in my Temper that I find not the least Reluctancy in loving and doing Good to my Enemies That which costs others so much Labour and Toil to perswade themselves to is to me as familiar and easie as to laugh at a ridiculous Object and I esteem it not so properly a Vertue in my Self as a Gift of Nature the Effect of my Constitution Yet I cannot pretend to such an universaliz'd Spirit as