prone to follow blindly and when once our great Opinion of their Learning and Piety has placed them in the Chair of Infallibility the first false step they make at once subverts our Faith and taking all before for granted which they deliver'd to us we now dispute the Verity of those Doctrines we had inbib'd from them Bad Presidents are always very prevalent Contagions amongst our Equals but when we find our Pastors or our Parents our Masters our Governours or our Princes infected with any manner of Vice we quickly become their Apes and readily excuse our selves because we do but imitate those whom we imagine to know better than our selves Thus many Men have had their Faith stagger'd by a View of the Profaneness and Impiety of Learned and Great Men by the dissolute Lives of the Gentry and Nobility in the Countries where they live as if these by their vitious Practices cou'd alter the Nature even of Good and Evil or if it was possible that Men immerst in Matter tho' never so profoundly skill'd in Science cou'd regulate their Lives by the Laws of God whilst they contemn the Divine Aid and regard not his Assistance Instead of this 't is become the Fashion of the Town to ridicule Vertue and render Vice as amiable as they can and if they find it possible to prevail upon some simple Clergy-man who is naturally as loose as themselves to be Drunk to Whore to Game to Curse and Swear profanely there are many Men so extravagantly proud of such a Conquest over an hypocritical Sinner as to think they give hereby a fatal stroke to all true Piety as if the very Essence of God the Condition of the Soul and every other Sacred Truth were by such trivial and childish Instances to be obliterated or wiped out I have premis'd this by way of Anticipation or to Caution you how requisite it is before you set up for a Libertine to go upon sure grounds for undoubtedly 't is unbecoming any Pretender to Reason to run a hazard especially one of this Consequence or to declare himself either openly or privately for the Cause of Atheism till he hath positively assur'd himself beyond contradiction that there is no Superintendent Power takes notice of his Actions or if there shou'd that he is above the reach of his Justice and that his last Breath will carry all into perpetual Oblivion for if he goes not farther than probability that Matters may be so yet if there remain the least doubt that they may not he forfeits at once both his Reason and Security and 't will be a pitiful Satisfaction that the greater part of the World have involv'd themselves with him in the same Misery It is the less admirable that Men shou'd so very easily give up the Cause of Religion who never examin'd their first Principles whose Faith is no otherwise founded than on the Custom of their Country the Credit of their Ancestors or the Example of those under whose Guardianship and Tutelage they have been brought up And truly in one sense what the Poet remarks is a certain Truth By Education most have been misled So they believe because they so were bred The Priest continues what the Nurse began And thus the Child imposes on the Man He who never considers the Why or Wherefore nor so much as once ever rightly weigh'd the Motives of his Belief becomes a perfect Weather-Cock every Blast of a new Doctrine carries him to and fro till at length being unsetled he despiseâ— all This is what I have thought necessary by way of Introduction to my Discourse of the Immortality which I intend the subject of this present Letter for having in the two former endeavour'd to establish those two great Truths of the Divine Being and his Providence Order requires that I take notice how far we are concern'd if we concede or admit the foregoing Propositions For if we lye under no Obligation to or have no future Dependance upon God or his Providence it is a Matter purely indifferent whether we believe them or not what Advantage can I have by my belief in God if I am secure that he has left me to my own disposal and inspects not any of my Actions or why should I deny my self the Satisfaction of my Desires how exorbitant soever they may be since I know the worst and that if Death will at length come and put an end to my Delights it will likewise finish all my Trouble and Disquiet However I may resign up my own Reason or betray the Weakness of my Judgment I must confess to you that when I have very often seriously reflected upon this Subject and once admitted a Supream Intelligent and Powerful Cause of all Things I presently found my self under a kind of irresistible Necessity to believe our Souls must be Immortal and the Supposition of a down right Necessity that it should be so without any respect to Arguments either Sacred or Profane that it is so does at this time overcome me for however short of Demonstration they may prove we must take up with the most notorious Absurdity imaginable if we perswade our selves that there can be an All-wise Just and Omnipotent God and yet notwithstanding that Thefts Rapines Murthers and all other the most egregious Vices shou'd go unpunish'd both here and hereafter However this be the Result of my own Thinking and a Consequence which it 's possible you may not allow I speak it not by any means to prepossess your Judgment neither do I desire you shou'd look upon the same either as Matter of Fact or so much as Rational Evidence It will add little to the Illustration of my present Task that you are inform'd at large with the Opinion of the Ancients concerning the Humane Soul let it suffice you to understand that as some of them affirm'd the sâ—me to be a Substance existing of it self and Immortal so there were others who deny'd that it had any Substance but was only an accidental Form The Platonists and Pythagoreans opin'd that the Souls of all living Creatures were a part of the Soul of the Worldâ— that they were immerged in Bodies as in a Sepulchre and that when the Bodies died they were by a various 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inhabitants or Guests to other Bodies sometimes to those of Men at other times to those of Beasts The Manichâ—es supposed that all Souls in general were taken out of the Substance it self of God that they actuated Teâ—restrial Bodies and going from hence again return'd into God himself The Originists That all Souls were created from the beginning of the World at first to subsist of themselves then as occasion serv'd that Bodies being form'd they enter'd into them actuated them during Life and at length return'd into their primitive and singular Substances Oâ—hers have affirm'd That the Soul of Man does arise up of her own accord from power only of Matter rightly dispos'd making her to be no more
no Reason assign'd why iâ— shou'd be otherwise but because there is more of the sensible Nature in one part than there is in another but how can there be more or less when the whole feâ—ls both wherefore if there are degrees of Pain in the Sentient Parts if we câ—n feel pain in this part and none in the other and can at once feel several distinct Pains in several distinct parts then the Soul must either feel by parts which an Indivisible cannâ—t or Sensation must belong to another Principle whose Properties are Extension and Divisibility and if those Properties do not belong to Body or can belong to Spirit we have no Notion either of Body or Spirit Whoever throughly considers this Argument will find that the Judgment of most Learned Physician concur with this Opinion of the Corporiety of the Souls of Brutes and that the same is plainly hinted in those places of Scripture which relate to the Jewish Prohibition of Eating Blood because the same contained the Life or Soul For as our Animal Spirits 〈◊〉 off by what we call the insensible Transpiration we are sensibly enfeebled and grow unactive till there are new ones maâ—e out of the Arterial Blood which Blood must be again sâ—pâ—ly'd by Corporeal Nourishment Thus we see Bodies unâ—â—â—ustom'd to hot Countries in those places their Poâ—es are so much open'd as to cause the Spirits flying away in such quantities that the Life would soon expire without the assistance of spiâ—â—tuous Liquors which give a speedy supply of Spirits On the other hand we find Dormice will sleep whole Months without the help of Food but if you observe those Creatures in their sleep they are stiff and cold their Pores are so contracted that the Life cannot fly off and therefore they want no Recruit but when warmth awakens them whereby their Pores are opened they can fast no longer than other Creatures therefore if the Animal Life flies off by parts which are again renew'd by Corporeal Nourishment it is a clear Evidence that the Soul of Brutes or Animal Life is Corporeal and by this we come to a plain and true Notion of Death that it is not as usually defin'd a Separation of the Soul and Body which is but a Consequence of Death but an absolute Extinguishment of the Animal Life or Vital Flame For to suppose that meer Animals are a Compound of Matter and Spirit and that Death is only a Separation of them is to ridicule all the Natural Arguments for Man's Immortality by making them hold as strong for the Immortality of Brutes which is both against Divinity and Common Sense And indeed the reason why some Physicians who of all Men should admire most the wonderful Works of Creating Wisdom have been Atheistically inclin'd is because they are able to demonstrate that Sense is made by Matter and Motion and therefore have carelesly concluded Reason to spring from the same Principle and all our Actions to be accounted for by Mechanism and those Men help much to the Confirmation of this Opinion who assign the Office of Sensation to the Rational Soul and allow Reason to other Animals there is no Adversary to Religion but will readily grant the Animal Life and Rational Soul to be the same thing and that all Animals are Rational but then he subjoyns that the Animal Life is Corporeal and therefore concludes that Rationality is no Argument either of Immateriality or Immortality My Lord Bacon upon this Subject delivers his Opinion in the following words The sensible Soul or the Soul of Beasts must needs be granted to be a Corporeal Substance attenuated by Heat and made invisible let there be therefore made a more diligent Enquiry touching this Knowledge and the rather for that this Point not well understood bath brought forth superstitious and very contagious Opinions and most vilely abasing the dignity of the Soul of Man of Transmigration of Souls out of one Body into another and lustration of Souls by Periods of Years and finally of the too near affinity in evey point of the Soul of Man with the Soul of Beasts This Soul in Beasts is a principal Soul whereof the Body of the Beast is the Organ but in Man thâ—s Soul is it self an Organ of the Soul Rational Having made this Enquiry into the Soul of Brutes and given I hope sufficient proof that the same is Corporeal we shall next inform our selves what Knowledge they are endow'd with and enquire whether or no there is a Principle of Reason in the most subtil of their Actions Our common Observation may assure us That all the Actions of meer Animals are either the Effects of a bare Sensitive Nature which in various degrees is common to all or of Sensitive Creatures as they are fram'd of this or that peculiar Species or Kind for what those Creatures act according to the Nature common to all is plainly the Effect of bare Sensation We see Ideots do as much who have no use of Reason they distinguish who feeds them and fear who beats them Outward Objects must affect the Animal Spirits the Animal Spirits must make Traces in the Brain and lodge those Idea's and so far Will and Reason have nothing to do And altho' the Actions of meer Animals as they are of this or that peculiar Species or Kind seem somewhat agreeable to Reason yet they prove only a wise Author of their Beings and that the more strongly because 't is visible that those Actions are not the Effects of a reasoning Principle in those Creatures for Actions that are constantly agreeable to Reason must be somewhere directed by Reason but they are not the Effect of Reâ—son in those Creatures In earthly created Beings we find Reason is improv'd by degrees from a Series of Observations or from Information Men cannot conclude or reason about any thing but a Posteriori from the operation and effects of things but meer Animals act according to their Nature immediately and without observation which are so many Demonstrations that they are instructed by a secret Instinct and not by Reason or a Knowledge of what they do for they ever act according to their Natures when by plain and visible Accident they act against the most apparent Reason One wou'd think a little very little Reason wou'd instruct Creatures that they cou'd not eat when their Mouths are sewed up at least a trial might learn them that knowledge yet stitch up the Mouth of a Ferret day after day and for all that he 'l as warmly pursue the Rabbits for his food as if his Jaws were at liberty Farthermore Meer Animals must act according to their kind when so acting is visibly their certain ruin Take a Bull-dog and muzzle him throw him Bones that he may find he cannot open his Mouth â—â—t after that shew him a Bull and he shall as boldly attack the Bull as if he had no Muzzle on Again It is certain that young Birds bred in Trees will
of the Humane Soul and whatever else belongs to the Science of Metaphysics which teacheth us to abstract from all Matter and Quantity Nay I presume it will not be accounted Paradoxical in me to affirm that Immaterial Objects are most genuine and natural to the Understanding especially since Cartes hath irrefutably demonstrated that the knowledge we have of the Existence of the Supream Being and of our own Souls is more certain clear and distinct than the knowledge of any Corporeal Nature whatever according to that Canon of Aquinas Nulla res qualiscunque est c. The Moral Considerations usually brought in defence of the Soul 's Incorruptibility are principally three 1. The Universal Consent of Mankind 2. Man's inseparable Appetite of Immortality 3. The Justice of God in rewarding good Men and punishing evil Men after Death Now as Cicero judiciously observes Omni in re consentio omnium Gentium Lex naturae putanda est and thus the Notion of the Soul's Immortality is so implanted in the Nature and Mind of Man that whoso denies it doth impugn his own Natural Principles As for that common Objection the Alteration observable in Infancy and old Age we may answer with the great Master of Nature at least one so esteem'd by some Innasci autem Intellectus videtur substantia quaedam esse nec corrumpi nam si corrumperetur quidem id maxime fieret ab habitatione illa quae in Senectute contingit nunc autem res perinde fit ac in ipsismet sensuum instrumentis si enim Senex Occulum Juvenilem reciperet non secus ac ipse Juvenis videret unde Senectus non ex eo est quod quidquam passa Anima sit fed quod simile aliquid ac in Ebrietate morbisque eveniat ipsaque intelligendi contemplandi functio propter aliquid aliud interius corruptum marcescit cum ipsum interim cujus est passionis expers maneat Which words consider'd we have good reason to affirm that all that Change which the Epicurean would have to be in the Rational Soul or Mind during the growth of the Body in Youth and decay of it in old Age doth not proceed from any Mutation in the Soul it self but some other Interiour thing distinct from it as the Imagination or Organ of the common Sense the Brain which being well or ill affected the Soul it self suffereth not at all but only the Functions of it flourish or decay accordingly for as the Philosopher remarks if it were possible to give an old Man a young Eye and a young Imagination his Soul would soon declare by exquisite vision and quick reasoning that it was not she that had grown old but her Organs and that she is capable of no more Change from the impairment of the Body than is usually observed to arise pro tempore from a fit of Drunkenness or some Disease of the Brain so that it is evident from hence that whatever Change Men have thought to be in the Soul by reason of that great decay generally attending old Age to not really in the Soul but only in the Imagination and the Organs thereof which are not so well dispos'd as in the Vigour of Life In like manner are we to understand that the Soul when the Members grow cold and mortify'd doth then indeed instantly cease to be in them yet is not cut off by piece-meal or diminisht and gradually dissipated but the whole of it remains in so much of the Body as yet continues warm and perfused by the Vital Heat until ceasing longer to animate the principle Seat of its Residence whether the Brain or Heart it at length bids adieu to the whole and withdraweth it self entire and perfect so that Death is an Extinction of the Vital Flame and not of the Soul which as Solomon calls it is the brightness of the Everlasting Light the unspotted Mirror of the Power of God and the Image of his Goodness and being but one she can do all things and remaining in her self she maketh all things new The like may be said with relation to those failings observable in swooning fits which fall not upon the Soul but on the Vital Organs at those times render'd unfit for the uses and actions to which they were framed and accommodated and if the Causes of such failings shou'd happen to be so violent as to bring on a sudden Death then the Soul must indeed depart yet not by reason of any dissolution in its Substance or imbecility in it self but for want of those dispositions in the Organs of Life by which she was enabled to enliven the Body Now if saith this Author in such a Thesis or Proposition which is not capable of being evinced by Geometrical Demonstration there can yet be expected such substantial and satisfactory Reasons Physical or Moral as may suffice to the full establishment of its Truth in the Mind of a reasonable Man If this be granted I thence argue that the Soul is an Immortal Substance and that its Immortality is not only credible by Faith or upon Authority Divine but also demonstrable by Reason or the Light of Nature To be convinc'd of our Immortality and satisfactorily perswaded whether or no there is any thing in us which shall not perish with the Life we are shortly to lay down is of so great and so important Consequence that I can readily expect your forgiveness if I trespass upon your Patience and inlarge a little farther upon this weighty Argument That there is somewhat in us essentially differing from distinct and superior to other Animals or that the Rational Soul of Man bears no Analogy with the Souls of other Creatures is farther elegantly toucht upon in these words of Dr. Willis The Eminency of the Rational Soul above the Brutal or Corporeal shines clearly by comparing either both as to the Objects and to the chief Acts or Modes of Knowing As to the former whenâ—â— every Corporeal Faculty is limited to sensible Things the Object of the Humane Mind is every Ens whether above or sublâ—mary material or immaterial true or fictitious real or intentional The Acts or Degrees of Knowledge common to either Soul are vulgarly accounted these three to wit Simple Apprehension Enunciation and Discourse How much the power of the Rational excels the other which is Corporeal we shall consider 1. The knowing Faculty of the Corporeal Soul is Phantasie or Imagination which being planted in the middle part of the Brain receives the sensible Species first only impressed on the Organs of Sense and from thence by a most quick irradiation of the Spirits deliver'd inwards and so apprehends all the several Corporeal Things according to their Exterior Appearances which notwithstanding as they are perceived only by the Sense which is often deceived they are admitted under an appearing and not always under a true Image or Species for so we imagine the Sun no bigger than a Bushel the Horizon of the Heaven and the Sea to meet
cum dividi quod si non pâ—ssit non pâ—ssit interire There is a very remarkable Account I have somewhere read of one whom we might reasonably believe if he had ever heard of such a thing as Priestcraft was above the reach of its Infection and too well acquainted with the Knowledge of Material Powers at least in his own Conceit to admit or suffer an Imposition upon his Reason not to keep you in suspense 't is Aristotle I mean of whom Averroes one of his Commentators gives this Encomium Complevit Artes Scientias nullus corum qui secuti sunt cum usque ad hoc tempus quod est mille quingentorum Annorum quidquam addidit nec invenies in ejus verbis Errorem alicujus quantitatis talem esse vertutem in Individio uno Miraculosum Extraneum existit haec Dispositio cum in uno Homine reperitur dignus est esse divinus magis quam humanus In another place he speaks thus Landemus Deum qui seperavit hunc Virum ab aliis in perfectione appropriavitque ei ultimam dignitatem humanam quam non omnis Homo potest in quacunque aetate attingere Again saith he Aristotelis Doctrina est summa veritas quoniam ejus Intellectus fuit finis humani Intellectus quare bene dicitur de eo quod ipse fuit creatus datus nobis ut non ignoremus possibilia sciri Yet this wonderful Philosopher if we may credit this Character who has set so many Learned Men contesting about his Principles and diving into his Opinion of the great Soul of Man notwithstanding he had thought of all the subtil Subterfuges his Wit could devise to evade acknowledging its distinct Subsistence and amongst others had invented for he owns himself its first Broacher that impossible Notion of the Worlds Eternity yet is it reported of him that he was so fully convinc'd of the separate Being of his own Soul that immediately before his Exit he is said earnestly to have cry'd out to this purpose En dubitans vixi moriensque Animae quid accidet sum ignotus Tu ergo Domine Essentiarum 〈◊〉 Miserere mei I hope now the preceding Passages will in some measure convince you of this great Truth That it has been not only the Opinion of particular Men but a kind of Universal Belief in Mankind that their Soul's wou'd survive their Bodies and that the very Ethnicks themselves who were capable of an abstracted Speculation and thoroughly acquainted with the Powers of their own Minds have by Evidence from Natural Light subscrib'd this Confession either openly in words or secretly by their apparent Doubts and Fears of a Life to come To conclude Let me request you when your Soul is the least ruffled with Anxiety or Perturbation and your rational Faculties with Sensual Delights and Satisfactions when your Mind is most serene most Calm and Lucid to divest your self but for some few Moments of all gross Ideas and material Images and perhaps by the free and considerate Exercise of some Reflex Act that Intuitive Knowledge may so inlighten your Understanding as I hope to convince you that the Rational and Thinking Part of you which enjoys this great Prerogative must be infinitely above the Powers of Matter under whatever Modification and that your Capacity to know things by this kind of Reflection which have no manner of Relation to Material Idea's neither yet are represented in the Brain by any Corporeal Image is perfect Demonstration that there are Beings of a Spiritual Incorporeal Nature that your Superiour or Rational Soul is of this Class infuâ—â—â—â—â— thereinto by the Almighty Author of all Things I remain my very good Friend most affectionately Yours London Jan. 30. 1691 POSTSCRIPT THat the preceding Discourse may be the more entertaining I have here taken an opportunity of presenting you with an Epitomy of the Sentiments of two famous Men. The Hypotheses are both new or at least were never as I have heard deliver'd to us before in such Regular Systems the First is that of Monsieur Malebranch where discoursing of our Sensations he endeavours to establish the following Notion That they are neither such as we have all along accounted them nor do they at all reside in those Parts we have supposed or to speak more intelligibly That our Sense whether of Heat Colours Tasts Sounds c. is nothing real in the Object nor yet in the Part which is believ'd the Sentient To instance in one of these that upon the approach of your Hand to the Fire the Heat you apprehend is neither in the Fire nor in your Hand but a pure Modification of your Soul it self which is thus variously modefy'd by the Supream Being at the presentment of the several Objects In his Explaining this he takes notice to us that in this approach of the Hand to the Fire there is nothing but an invisible Motion in the Fire or Hand in the former by the continual Expulsion of igneous Particles against the Fibres of the Hand and in the Hand a Motion or Division of the same Fibres by the intrusion of the fiery Particles And thus saith he that we may not neglect the Care and Preservation of the several Parts of our Bodies it hath pleased the Almighty Maker of them to new modifie our Souls after so wonderful a manner that when any Danger approaches which wou'd prejudice their make or structure we shou'd apprehend our Pains and Disorders and feel them as it were in those places where the Danger lyes without conceiving at the same time the Modification of our Souls and this will hold in every of our Sensations which are nothing real any where unless in the Soul it self This may now inform us that we should be very cautious in giving Credit to the Testimony of our Senses which do for the most part involve us in most of our Mistakes for these are not given us to inform us of the Truth of Things but only as they stand related to the Preservation of our Bodies That this Argument may be enforced with a farther Perspicuity here is another signal Instance of the general Errors into which amongst the other Senses our Sight betrays us in reference to Light and Colours When we have lookt upon the Sun for some time this is what passes in our Eyes and in our Souls and these are the Errors we fall into Those who know the first Elements of Dioptricks and any thing of the admirable Structure of our Eyes are not ignorant that the Rays of the Sun are refracted in the Crystaline and other Humours and that they meet afterwards upon the Retâ—â—â— or Expansion of the Optic Nerve which as it were furnishes with Hangings all the bottom of the Eyes even as the Rays of the Sun which pass through a Convex Glass meet together in the Focus at two three or four Fingers breadth distant in proportion to its convexity Now Experience shows that if one
great footing in the World and that the Doctrine of the Divine Grace shou'd be redicul'd by them and esteemed little otherwise than as a sensless Notion the Opinions of these Men run so smooth to the sense of the Natural Understanding that so long as Men are careless and unwilling to look farther they are constrained to make their Reason the positive and adaequate Rule both of their Morality and Divinity But for my own part I shou'd not so much dispute with them this Mysterious Co-operation or Divine Concurrence provided they cou'd but show me any true Practical Christian one who is so in Deeds as well as Words who has espoused their Opinions I may be free to say I know nothing like one nor do I think it possible to meet with a sincerely devout Convert or Regenerate Person who is not ready to acknowlege that of himself he was able to do nothing as he ought and that the Renovation or happy Change of his Mind was purely owing to the Adeption of a new Principle or to a Union with the Divine Spirit of Jesus Christ. 'T is true amongst the Followers of Pelagius and Socinut there are those who understanding the Verity of their Opinions would be measur'd by their Practises have been more than ordinarily exemplary in their Conversation with the World and their Self-denial of some Temporal Enjoyments Men who have kept themselves to a constant attendance upon Religious Worship and set those about them an extraordinary Pattern for the practise of private Duties and all these we may readily grant the possibility of their attaining by the meer strength of their Natural Faculties or the Powers of their own Souls independent of the Divine Grace these however necessary were never lookt on by considerate Men for more than the Introduction or Outside of true Religion but altho' there are amongst them Persons so very circumspect in their Deportment or Behaviour yet the greatest part of them are such as wholly devote themselves to disputation in mixt Companies where they continually gain Proselytes among loose People such who as they never cou'd reconcile themselves to the practise of Religion are very glad to find the same resolv'd into Matter of Speculation by which means every Man may have an opportunity to raise a suitable Theory to his own Inclinationâ— Now I must confess that which has principally induc'd me to dissent from the Principles of these Men is a consciousness I have had that it is not only possible but certain that Men may have an Historical Faith and that they may believe or assent to the Truth of the Revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and yet at the same time to show themselves as if wholly unconcerned in their Lives and Practises whether the things deliver'd in that Gospel be true or not which I think is hardly reconcileable even to our own Reason nor can be otherwise ascribed than to the want of that Supernatural and Divine Aid I plead for Upon the other Extream as these we were just now speaking of many of them at least will not allow any such Doctrine as that of the Divine Grace so there have been those who have affirmed that a Person may by Philosophy and Contemplation attain such a Degree of Union with the Divine Being as to know and understand things by a Contactus or Conjunction of Substance with the Deity The Passages saith my Author which occur in Plotinus Porphirius Jamblicus and Proclus all great and famous Platonists of such a tendency are numerous and need not to be here transcribed This Imagination was espoused by the Arabian Philosophers and had it been entertained by the Contemplative Heathen only we might have taken the less notice of it but it was imbibed and that very timely by Origen himself and from him the Ferment or Leaven thereof was derived to the ancient Monks from all or some of these it spread amongst the Romish Monasticks such of them as are called Mystick Theologues nothing more frequent with that sort of Men than a Tattle of an intime Union with God whereby the Soul becomes Deify'd and from them the Weigelians and Familists borrowed their Magnificent Language of being Godded with God and Christed with Christ. The adventurous Determinations of the School-men concerning the beatifical Vision smell rank of the same blasphemous nonsensical Figment for by their contending that the Divince Essence is immediately united as an intelligible Species to the Intellect of the blessed and that this Species and the glorify'd Understanding do not remain distinct things but become identify'd they do in effect affirm the Soul to be transubstantiated into God and to be really deify'd and seeing it 's a Matter of easie Demonstration that the Knowledge which we shall enjoy of God in Heaven differeth only in degree from that which we possess here otherwise it is both altogether unintelligible and uncapable of Rational Explication it will follow by a short Harangue of Discourse either that Believers have no Knowledge of God at all in this Life or else that their Soul 's become Deify'd and Essentially united to God by knowing him I shall not name here the admired Nonsence and high-flown Cantings of some Modern Enthusiasts which carry a broad-fac'd Aspect this way 't is easie for us to instruct our selves from what Springs these with the like Visionaries have drawn the putrid Conceits which they propine to the World 'T is enough for us that we believe the Person of Christ and the Persons of Believers to remain distinct after all the Union that intercedes between them Let us be thankful for the Influences of his Grace and for the In-dwellings of his Holy Spirit but let us detest those swelling Words of Pride and Ignorance of being Christed and Deify'd for whatsoever be the nature and kind of the Union between Christ and Christians that the same shou'd by Hypostatical cannot without Blasphemy be imagined And thus my Friend I hope I have with no unpardonable Prolixity gone over these very weighty Subjects I pray God we may all of us have right Notions of them fixed on our Hearts and that they may be attended with the Fruits of a sincere Repentance and Amendment of our Lives I shall endeavour to conclude all with the most suitable Advice I can and in order to the same wou'd wish and desire you to think often and seriously upon the certainty of your Death for whatever you may think of an Immortality hereafter 't is manifest you can obtain none here consider what Thoughts will be most likely to intrude upon you what Business you will principally be employ'd about shou'd you have time allotted you for such a purpose the Conflicts and Consternation you must encounter the Confusion of your last Minutes the Agony of your Soul in the moment of its flight For let me tell you however you may please your self in this time of Health and Vigour that an approach of a privation of your
to let the Hair alone and to stay till the Juices of the Body have resolv'd or consum'd it or some other favourable Accident have remov'd it than like a passionate and transported thing oppose it like a Fury with such a blind violence as instead of ejecting the Hair expels the Life of him who was troubled with it How the care and wisdom of Nature will be reconciled to so improper and disorderly a proceeding I leave her Admirers to consider but it will appear very reconcileable to Providence if we reflect upon the lately given Advertisement for in regard of the use and necessity of deglutition and in many cases of coughing and vomiting 't was in the general most convenient that the part ministring to those Motions shou'd be irritated by the sudden sense of things that are unusual tho' perhaps they wou'd not be otherwise dangerous or offensive because as we formerly noted 't was fit that the Providence of God shou'd in making provision for the welfare of Animals have more regard to that which usually and regularly befalls them then to extraordinary Cases or unfrequent Accidents 2. Now the difficulty we find to conceive how so great a Fabrick as the World can be preserved in order and kept from running again to a Chaos seems to arise from hence That Men do not sufficiently consider the unsearchable Wisdom of the Divine Architect or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Scripture stiles Him of the World whose piercing Eyes were able to look at once quite through the Universe and to take into his prospect both the beginning and the end of time so that perfectly foreknowing what wou'd be the consequence of all the possible Conjectures of Circumstances into which Matter divided and moved according to such Laws cou'd in an Automaton so constituted as the present World is happen to be put there can nothing fall out unless when a Miracle is wrought that shall be able to alter the course of things or prejudice the Constitution of them any farther than He did from the Beginning foresee and think fit to allow And truly it more sets off the Wisdom of God in the Fabric of the Universe that He can make so vast a Machine as the Macrocosm perform all those many things which he design'd it shou'd by the meer contrivance of brute Matter manag'd by certain Laws of local Motion and upheld by his ordinary and general concourse than if He imploy'd from time to time an intelligent Overseer such as Nature is fancy'd to be to regulate assist and controul the Motion of its parts For as Aristotle by introducing the Opinion of the Worlds Eternity did at least in almost all Mens Opinions openly deny God the Production of the World so by ascribing those admirable Works of God to what he calls Nature he tacitly denys him the Government of the World Now those things continues he which the School Philosophers ascribe to the Agency of Nature interposing according to Emergencies I ascribe to the Wisdom of God in the Fabric of the Universe which He so admirably contriv'd that if He but continue his ordinary and general Concourse there will be no necessity of extraordinary Ineterpositions which may reduce Him to seem as it were to play after-games all those Exegencies upon whose account Philosophers and Physicians have devised what they call Nature being foreseen and provided for in the first Fabric of the World So that meer Matter thus order'd shall in such and such Conjunctures of Circumstances do all that Philosophers ascribe on such occasions to their almost Omniscient Nature without any knowledge what it does or acting otherwise than according to the Catholick Laws of Motion For when it pleaseth God to over-rule or controul the establisht Course of Things in the World by his own Omnipotent Hand what is thus perform'd may be much easier discern'd and acknowledg'd to be miraculous by them that admit in the ordinary Course of Corporeal things nothing but Matter and Motion whose powers Men may well judge of than by those who think there is besides a certain Semi-Deity which they call Nature whose skill and power they acknowledge to be exceeding great and yet have no sure way of estimating how great they are and how far they may extend And give me leave to to take notice to you on this occasion that I observe the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles pleaded by Christians on behalf of their Religion to have been very differently look't upon by Epicurean and other Corpuscularian Infidels and by those other Unbelievers who admit of a Soul of the World or Spirits in the Stars or in a word think the Universe to be govern'd by Intellectual Beings distinct from the Supreme Being we call GOD For this latter sort of Infidels have often admitted those Matters of Fact which we Christians call Miracles and yet have endeavour'd to solve them by Astral Operations and other ways whereas the Epicurean Enemies of Christianity have thought themselves obliged resolutely to deny the Matters of Fact themselves as well discerning that the Things said to be perform'd exceeded the Mechanical Powers of Matter and Motion as they were managed by those who wrought the Miracles and consequently must either be deny'd to have been done or be confest to have been truly miraculous Thus far Mr. Boyle I must confess my self extreamly taken with the Thoughts of this great Man which are every where so weighty and withal so modest that I know of no Author I have as yet consulted who hath so pertinently handled in a few words this noble Theme or afforded me so much Content and Satisfaction I have been formerly like your self very familiar with Fate and Fortune Time and Chance with Destiny and other empty Notions and which was the farthest of my Flight when I knew how to talk of Real Qualities and Substantial Forms when I conceiv'd the Archaeus or Plastic Power as a kind of Agent or Intelligent Being disposing and ordering the Seminal Principles choosing or selecting fit Materials designing and drawing out as it were the first Rudiments of Life and delivering to each Part a Capacity to discarge its Office or proper Function Lastly When I could resolve all with much ease into the ambiguous term of Nature I thought my self arriv'd at a Ne plus ultra till the Result of a more serious Consideration which I was put upon by a Converse with the Writings of this Divine Philosopher obliged me to conclude thus and to take for granted That however all the Phaenomena or each several Event we have or ever shall see come to pass may be accounted the immediate Off-spring of Matter as variously modify'd by local Motion Yet notwithstanding this Concession we must mediately recur to the Divine Providence not only for some Author of this Motion who did in the beginning establish its Laws or prescribe those general Rules 't is govern'd by but also for a Power by whose Co-operating Influence the same
are still maintain'd and without which these second Causes by too many only taken notice of wou'd be depriv'd of their Energy There is nothing Sir will hely you to evade this unless it be the sorry Refuge of the Worlds Eternity which in my former Letter was proved to be taken up with any shadow of Reason or Probability a most precarious Assertion which being deny'd can never be prov'd A Contradiction to the Universal Tradition of Mankind which hath always attested that the World had a Beginning It is an Assertion against the current Testimony of all History which traceth the Original of Nations and People the Invention of Arts and Sciences and which sheweth that all have hapned within the space of less than Six thousand years according to the most probable if not certain Calculation which cou'd not be if the World or Man had been Eternal 'T is therefore with much reason that your beloved Lucretius thus wittingly argues upon this Topic But grant the World Eternal grant it knew No Infancy and grant it never now Why then no Wars our Poets Songs employ Beyong the Siege of Thebes or that of Troy Why former Heroes fell without a Name Why not their Battles told by lasting Fame But 't is as I declare and thoughtful Man Not long ago and all the World began And therefore Arts that lay but rude before Are publisht now we now increase the store We perfect all the old and find out more Shipping's improv'd we add new Oars and Wings And Musick now is found and speaking Strings These Truths this Rise of Things we lately know But I have endeavour'd likewise to demonstrate that the Supposition of Eternal Matter is ogregiously absur'd and that Motion is by no means to be accounted of the Essence of Matter but extra-advenient thereunto yet supposing that hath Motion and Matter were Eternal without a powerful and wise Providence to direct the Particles of Matter and give Laws to Motion there could never have been any thing else than an Eternal Jumble nor so much as one regular Structure wou'd ever have been produc'd This I am perswaded is an Apodictical or Self-evident Truth altho' for its Illustration I will enlarge in Mr. B 's words There are indeed but few productions which are not Mechanical but the Powers of Mechanism as they are entirely depâ—â—â—â—â—â— on the Deity so they afford us a very solid Argument for the Reality of his Nature If we consider the Phaenomena of the Material World with a due and serious attention we shall plainly perceive that its present Frame and Constitution with its establisht Laws are constituted and preserved by gravitation alone that is the powerful Cement which holds together this magnificent Structure of the World without that the whole Universe if we suppose an undetermin'd Power of Motion infus'd into Matter wou'd have been a confused Chaos without Beauty or Order and never stable or permanent in any Condition Nevertheless this Gravity the great Basis of all Mechanism is not it self Mechanical but the immediate Fiat or Finger of God and the Execution of the Divine Law for there is no body that has this Power of tending towards a Center either from it self or from other Bodies so that tho' we do believe and allow that every Particle of Matter is endow'd with a Principle of Gravity whereby it wou'd descend to the Center if it were not repell'd upwards by heavier Bodies yet are we fully perswaded and certainly convinc'd that this Gravity must be deriv'd to it by nothing less than the Power of God If we consider the Heart which is supposed to be the first Principle of Motion and Life and mentally divide it into its constituent Parts its Arteries and Veins and Nerves and Tendons and Membranes and the innumerable little Fibres that these secondary Parts do consist of we shall find nothing here singular but what is in any other Muscle of the Body 't is only the Site and Posture of these several Parts and the Configuration of the whole that give it the Form and Functions of a Heart now why should the first single Fibres in the formation of the Heart be peculiarly drawn in spiral Lines when the Fibres of all other Muscles are made by a transverse Rectilinear Motion or what cou'd determine the fluid Matter into that odd and singular Figure when as yet no other Member is supposed to be formed that might design the Orbit of its Course Let Mechanism here make an Experiment of its Power and produce a spiral and turbinated Motion of the whole moved Body without an External Director 'T is true when the Organs are once framed by a Supernatural and Divine Principle we can willingly enough admit of Mechanism in many Functions of the Body but that the Organs themselves shou'd be mechanically form'd is as impossible as inexplicable I shall now flatter my self with hopes that what I have here alledg'd will be lookt upon by you to be but little short of Demonstration not only that there is a God which was the Subject of my first but that He governs the World at least by keeping up his establisht Laws of Motion or by the general Concourse of his Providence which is manifestly conspicuous in his maintaining this mighty System of the World and in the Efficacy deriv'd from Him unto Secondary Agents or those which are more frequently term'd Natural Causes What remains of this Argument which is by much the more intricate and difficult part relates to the special Providence upon which is founded as I conceive our Belief of these two Propositions 1. That God Almighty or the First and Supream Being in his Government of the World has not so indispensably confin'd Himself to those general Laws of Motion He at first setled in the World but that He has reserved to Himself a power of Dispensing with the same and does deviate from these Rules by Suspending the Laws of Motion or by a particular Intervention and Interposition of his Power so often as it pleaseth Him to act miraculously or to bring to pass a Supernatural Effect 2. That all the several Changes Revolutions or whatever else befals us from the Womb even to our Graves are by the special Providence of God allotted for us As to what respects the first of these viz. God Almighty's deflecting or at some times deviating from his usual and general Laws it is impossible we shou'd ever Convince any obstinate Infidel of any such Matter of Fact unless he were an Eye-witness when the Business was transacted and so as it were compell'd to acknowledge the Effect to be Supernatural or surmounting the Power of Secondary Agents We have indeed a sort of Men in the World so wonderfully conceited of their own Acquirements and so strangely opinion'd of the Extension of their own Minds as to imagine there can be no such thing as an inexplicable Event but that all may be fairly and intelligibly resolved without that pusillanimous
2. That there is no need of any farther Revelation And lâ—stly That the said Book shuts up all Revelation with it self so that none other is to be expected beyond it I grant saith he that it is as possible in it self for God to reveal himself at some time hereafter as it was for him to have revealed himself heretofore but he that will assert the Futurity of this must have more to prove it than a Possibility It is certain that God has revealed himself and that the Gospel was by Revelation from him but there is nothing of the like Certainty for a Revelation after the Gospel or in after times of the Gospel as there is that the Gospel it self was of Divine Revelation so that altho' I am not positive but that there may be some particular Revelation or Inspiration with respect to some especial Case yet it may arise for ought we know from bare Imagination and if not attended with the greatest Caution and Circumspection may end in the Whims and Frensies of a Bridget a Catharina or a Mother Juliana and what not nay it may proceed to the disanulling the Gospel it self and to the preferring their own private Inspirations as they will have it above it If we consider the Evidence which was given to the Gospel Revelation we shall find there needs on other Evidence to be given to that Revelation for want of Evidence in this Our Saviourâ—s Life was a Life of Miracles as well as Innocence and wherever he wâ—â—â— the Divine Power went along with him which he extended â—herever he came and as occasion served to the Confusion if not the Conviction or Conversion of his Adversaries and all which at last concluded in his own Resurrection his Ascension into Heaven and the Effusion of the Holy Ghost which began on Pentecost but like a Torrent ran through the Apostolical Age and bore down all manner of Competition and what then can any Revelation pretend to beyond it or where can there be any that can be supposed to produce the like Evidence for its Veracity But again The Scriptures conclude all with this Revelation and because we have none other besides that written Revelation we cannot suppose any Revelation beyond it and much less derogatory to it or that shall direct us to any other way by which we are to be saved then that we have already received and is therein recorded As to the Case of Personal and Occasional Revelation which may be conceived only to serve to a more spiritual Manifestation of the Revelation already made I wou'd not altogether deny this because I know not how far some Persons may in some Cases be inlightened by a Spirit of Prophecy nor what particular directions they may receive in an extraordinary way in some special Cases with respect to themselves to others and to the Church of God which may be like a special Providence to some particular Persons but now as a Man must govern himself by the general Rules of Divine Providence and not by particular and because he has sometimes met with Deliverances Supplies and Directions beyond all his own foresight and reasoning must not forsake his own Reasonings and Care and wholly rely upon the Extraordinary so it is to be here 'T is not impossible but a Person may have some occasional Revelation some Divine Inspiration at an especial Season or in some special case but if he forsakes the ordinary to depend upon the extraordinary expects a Revelation in every case because he has had it in some Particulars he will as much be subject to Errour and err no less dangerously than if he wholly rely'd upon Divine Providence and forsook all other means whatever and truly this is a way much liable to be abus'd to mislead Persons and is very suspicious as also dangerous It is a Case liable to Imposture and Abuse forasmuch as those that are under the Influence of such a conception are not always if at all capable of making a certain Judgment of it for it is all transacted within and the Imagination may be so much influenc'd by the Body and by an Agitation of the Blood and Spirits from an Enthusiastical and even Devout Temper by prepossessions and fore-conceived Principles and by the Circumstances of Life that it may be wholly Natural as natural as Dreams or the Deliriums of a Fever which proceed from an Ebullition of the Humours and such like ordinary Causes It is very certain that abundance of Persons have been imposed on and taken the Effect of Imagination for Inspiration and Divine Illumination I am far from condemning all the Instances of this kind of Hypocrisie and a Design to Deceive like Maria Vesitationis in Portugal I will rather think more charitably that very often they have thought themselves thus moved and acted by the Spirit of God and yet notwithstanding all their pretences and the opinion others have had of them it has been afterwards evident that all has been far short of Divine Infusion or Illumination What shall we think of Teresa whose Life is full of her Visions and Revelations and indeed if we did but alter the place and for the Nunnery conceive her to be in an Hospital we might take it to be what the Author in a transport sometimes calls it a Frenzy What a Legend of Dreams wou'd the World be furnisht with if the Visions and Revelations of these kind of People were bundled up together as the Miracles of reputed Saints have sometimes been But they are truly much to be suspected also of Imposture and that because we read so little of this way in Scripture even in the Apostles times and nothing to encourage us in the expectation of it afterwards We read nothing there of the Union of the Soul to the Divine Essence of its being absorpt and drown'd over head and ears and ingulphed in the depth of Divinity so that it became one and the same with God by a true Deification We read there sparingly of some Extasies as one of St. Peter one or two of St. Paul but with how much reserve doth the holy Apostle speak and with how much modesty when he comes to Visions and Revelations of the Lord when he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a Man to utter 2 Cor. 12.1 c. Now what can be greater if these of Teresa be true and where might we expect to be more entertained with the Relation of such Rapâ—s than in the Gospel so that when they are there so unusual and here so frequent that even Societies are embody'd from them and formed it is very much to be suspected and the rather seeing that which is the proper means of judging and of distinguishing Imagination from Revelation is laid aside which is Reason and when all is resolved into the Persons single Testimony We are required in all Cases to search and try which doth suppose the free Exercise of our Reason and where this
our Souls may operate and be capable of Pleasure and Pain when separated from Body For if the Soul were no more than a Crasis of the Body it wou'd be capable of no other Distemper than what arises from the Compression or Dilatation of Matter or from the Obstruction and Turgescency of Humors Since therefore we find it subject to Maladies which spring meerly from Moral Causes and which are no more curable by the Prescripts of Physicians than the Stone or Gout are to be remov'd by a Lecture in Philosophy we have sufficient Cause to believe it of an Incorporeal Nature Farther The Essences of Things are best known by their Operations and the best guess we can make of the Nature and Condition of Beings is from the Quality of their Actions while therefore by contemplating our selves we find that we do elicite Actions which do exceed the Power of Matter and the most subtil Motion of Corporeal Particles we have all imaginable ground to think that we are possessed of a Principle Immaterial as well as Intellectual He who considers that there is not one perfect Organ in the Humane Body but the Parallel of it is to be met with in the noblest sort of brute Animals and yet that there are divers Operations performed by Men that no Beast whatever is capable of doing the like must need apprehend that the Rational Soul is not a Corporeal Faculty nor a Contexture of Material Parts To prove this we have already instanc'd in the Acts of Intellection viz. 1. The Acts of simple Apprehension 2. Acts of Judgment 3. Acts of Ratiocination 4. Acts of Reflection 5. Acts of Correcting the Errours and Mistakes of the Imagination And lastly Acts of Volition or those whereby we choose and refuse by a Self-determinating Power according as things are estimated remaining exempt from all Coaction and Necessitation by the Influence of any Principle foreign to it All these are impossible to Matter because that acts always according to the swing of Irresistible Motion nor can it be courted or solicited to Rest when under the forcible Impulse of a stronger Movent So that whatever insensibility you may fancy of a Soul divested of Corporeal Organs you will experience that as the Body is unconcern'd in any thing but Sensation there will remain a Power of Exerting those Superiour Acts and Faculties which have no relation thereunto and consequently a Capacity to suffer Pain or Pleasure the Rewards and Punishments of a well or ill spent Life for it is not Sense but Reflection that wounds the Conscience Sense it 's true may divert the Pain but can never make it and when Death puts an end to sensible Diversions the never-dying Worm may lash without controul In fine if bad Men were sure to undergo no other Pains or Horrors and if the good were sure to receive no more Joys or Pleasures till the Resurrection than proceed out of the Heaven or Hell they carry with them and from the certain and constant Expectations of another that might be sufficient if well consider'd to deter Men from Vice and to encourage them to Righteousness but the Scriptures intimate more and plainly inform us that the Souls of bad Men are immediately upon Death translated to a place of Torment and the Souls of the Good to a place of Joy and Happiness whether those Places are what we generally understand by Heaven and Hell or whether or no the Completion of our Happiness or Misery shall precede the ultimate Judgment will not certainly be determined till we make the Experiment Thus Sir having given you my own together with the more weighty Opinions of other Men as to the Business of Religion I hope the Light set up in your Understanding will put you upon Embracing what upon a serious attention to the same you find unquestionable I am far from insinuating the Necessity of an implicite Faith or perswading you to shut your Eyes and leave the rest to your Guide God Almighty has made you a reasonable Creature and if you make a right use of that Divine Prerogative you need not fear a secure Passage into the Harbour of solid Happiness What pains soever some may take absolutely to exclude Reason from having any thing to do in Divinity or however lightly they may esteem it this will be found certain that we have no surer Pilot when we first set out to keep us from the Rocks of Atheism on the one side and from Superstition Polytheism and Idolatry on the other or indeed any other Director to secure us from making Shipwrack of our Faith than the pure Acts of our unprejudiced Understandings which I call right Reason A Superficial Knowledge may raise some unhappy Doubts and a light smattering especially in some kinds of Philosophy may draw us into the danger of Infidelity with respect to our Immortality but all this we may be freed from by the Exercise of a true Judgment and a solid Enquiry in Physicks or after the Nature and true Causes of Things will with no other difficulty more than serious attention and application help us to dispel those Errors of our Intellects It is not enough what some Men think that a Man is able to account for some of the Appearances in Nature by the Aristotelian Doctrine of Qualities and Forms or the Cartesian of Geometrick Principles and then in a foolish Exultation to cry out Inveni or boast that there is nothing so abstruse but will admit of a Mechanic Explanation To give an Instance 'T is not sufficient that out of a Lecture upon the Opticks we explicate the manner of Vision by saying that the Figure and Colour of a visible Object make the Base of an imaginary Cone which is composed of a multitude of visual Rays and instantly convey'd through a lucid Medium to the Superficies of the Beholders Eye where a Section of the Apex of that Cone is refracted by the several Waters and Tunics and the Figure of the said Object being inverted by the Crystalline Humour is in the same posture lodged in the Retina from whence it is convey'd into the common Sensory Again It suffices not that in hearing we judge that different Percussions do beget infinite Spheric Figures of Aerial Motions which every where spread themselves till they meet with some harder Body that makes resistance which suppose to be the Ear in the Cavity of which the foresaid Figures of Aerial Motions suffer several reverberations and then make a percussion upon the Tympanum or Drum a nervous and pellucid Membrance of exquisite Sense and from thence are convey'd into the Brain However consentaneous these Conjectures may be to the Truth they are all I say too short of Satisfactory or Compleat Accounts there are yet insuperable Difficulties behind and we must expect perpetual Disputes about the Matter and Modification both of the visible and audible Species But admitting these also were fairly decided that Light Colours and Images are the same