it would be greater folly to believe that the natural course of things should be the same this Year as in former times than to assert that a Gamester should to day throw the Dice in the same order and with the same points uppermost as he did yesterday 'T is evident therefore that the Epicurean Doctrine having not the least shadow of Reason had never been receiv'd with applause but as 't is joyn'd with impiety 2. Some attribute the rise and course of things in the World to the sole necessity of Nature To this it may be replied 1. 'T is true there is an evident connexion of Causes and Effects in the Celestial and Elementary World whereby times and seasons are continued and the succession of mutable things is preserv'd so that Nature always consuming remains intire Though all vegetive and sensitive beings dye yet the species are immortal For the living are brought forth to succeed in the place of the dead But the inquiring mind cannot rest here for 't is impossible to conceive a train of Effects one caused by another without ascending to the first Efficient that is not an Effect For nothing can act before it exists The order of Causes requires that we ascend to the Supream which derives being and vertue to all the intermediate Thus Nature produces things from seminal Causes that depend on things already in being The Seed of Flowers and Trees suppose the Fruits of the Earth before growing but the first Tree could not be so produc'd To fancy an infinite succession of Causes depending one upon another without arriving to a first can only fall into the thoughts of a disordered mind How came this Horse that Lion in Nature 'T is by generation from another and that from another and so infinitely How came this Man into the World 'T is because he was begotten by such a Father and he by another and so infinitely Thus Atheism that rejects one truly Infinite Cause is obliged to admit an Infinity in all things an Incomprehensibility in all things 'T is therefore evident the efficient principles in Nature are from the sole power of the first and independent cause They could not proceed from themselves and that a most wise and powerfull Being is the original of all things is as evident Is it conceivable that the insensible Mass that is called Matter should have had an eternal being without original whereas there is not the least imaginable repugnance in the Attributes of the first and highest Being in whom all those Perfections concur which as proper to the Deity are form'd in the mind in the idea of it as his spiritual Nature Eternity Immensity Wisdom Omnipotence c. of which 't is equally true that no one either absolutely or relatively considered involve a contradiction that make it impossible for the Supream Being to possess it Is it not perfectly inconsistent to attribute to Matter the lowest and most contemptible of all Beings the highest and most noble Perfection an Independent Existence One may assert it in words but not seriously without the utter deserting of Reason Man incomparably excels this Matter he understands it and that understands not him yet he has a derived being in time 'T is therefore necessary that that should have some cause of its being But supposing the self subsistence of Matter from Eternity could the World full of innumerable Forms spring by an Impetus from a dead formless Principle T is equally impossible that a blind Cause casual or fatal should give being and order to the Universe Besides all subordinate Causes are sustained in their Beings and Powers by fresh influences from the first and directed in their operations To attribute the manifold Effects in the World to Second Causes working in a blind manner without an Universal Intellectual Mover that disposes tempers and governs them is as unreasonable as to attribute humane Works to the common Instruments of Art without the direction of the Understanding that uses them The Hand or Pencil has not skill to do any thing but as it obeys the Mind that gives it the impression of Art and regulates its Motion The Earth knows not the various Fruits that spring from it nor the Sea its living Productions And the Sun though a more specious is not a more intelligent and artificial Agent Nature under another name is the ordinary Power of God that by its intimate concourse with Second-Causes produces and supports things And 't is one of the considerable Wonders of his Providence that the stream of perishing things always emptying is always full there being a supply from the Fountains of continual Productions of what is lost in the dead Sea so that the World is always the same and always new And from what hath been argued we may judge how unreasonable it is to doubt whether there be a Principle in Nature of excellent Wisdome because not seen in his own Essence for if Reason compel us to acknowledg that the works of Art wrought by manual Instruments proceed from an unseen mind that directed their motions according to the idea framd in it self we ought more strongly to conclude there is a Divine Mind though invisible to mortal eyes that contriv'd at first and with knowledg performs all the works of Nature To deny the Existence of a Being not subjected to our outward Senses is equally of no force in both the instances By the same Reason St. Austin confounds the Atheist objecting that he could not see the Deity To whom he propounds this question That since his Body was only visible and not his Soul why should it not be buried And upon the reply That the quickning presence of the Soul was evident in the actions of Life perform'd by the Body he truly infers if a vital principle imperceptible in its self is discover'd by vital actions the Deity though by the perfection of his Nature undiscernable to our senses is clearly seen by the light of his effects And those who are wilfully blind if God should by any new sensible effects make a discovery of himself yet would remain inconvincible For the arguments of his presence from extraordinary effects are liable to the same exceptions pretended against the ordinary CHAP. V. The beginning of the World proved from the uninterrupted tradition of it through all ages The invention of Arts and bringing them to perfection an argument of the Worlds beginning The weakness of that fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth and to full Age and a decrepit state and back again so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God The impressions of Nature are infallible That the most Men are practical Atheists that some doubt and deny God in words is of no force to disprove his Existence There are no absolute Atheists Nature in extremities has an irresistible force and compels the most obdurate to
understanding conceives spiritual Objects is not confin'd to singular and present things Reflects upon it self Corrects the errors of the sense Does not suffer from the excellence of the Object Is vigorous in its operations when the body is decay'd which proves it to be an immaterial faculty An answer to objections against the Souls spiritual Nature That the first notices of things are conveyed through the senses does not argue it to be a material faculty That it depends on the temper of the Body in its superior operations is no prejudice to its spiritual Nature HAving dispatch'd the consideration of the prime fundamental Truth that there is a most Wise and Powerful Creator of all things I shall next discourse of the Immortality of the humane Soul and the Eternal recompences in the future State In treating of the Souls Immortality I shall not insist on nice and subtile Speculations that evaporate and leave nothing substantial for conviction or practice but consider those proofs that may induce the mind to assent and work upon the will to make its choice of objects with respect to their endless consequences hereafter And first it must be premised that Immortality is not an inseparable perfection of its nature for 't is capable of annihilation What ever had a beginning may have an end God only hath immortality in an absolute sense and communicates it according to his pleasure The perpetual existence of Souls is a priviledge that depends on his sustaining vertue without which they would relapse into a state of not Being His Will is the measure of their duration I shall therefore consider such things as strongly argue that God will not withdraw his conservative influence that is necessary to their Immortality The Arguments are of two sorts Natural and Moral The first prove that God has made the Soul incapable of Death by any Internal Causes of perishing from its Nature and in that declares not obscurely that he will ever preserve it The second sort are drawn from the Divine Attributes the visible Oeconomy of Providence in the government of the World that are infallible and will produce a sufficient conviction in minds equally inclin'd 1. The Soul is incapable of Death by any Internal Causes of perishing in its Nature The dissolution of things proceeds from the corruptible principles of which they are compounded and the separable parts of which they consist and into which they are resolved Therefore all mixt and material Beings are subject to dissolution But the humane Soul is a spiritual substance simple without any disagreeing qualities as heat and cold moisture and driness the seeds of corruption The essences of things are best discover'd by their peculiar operations that argue a real distinction between them and from whence arise the different notions whereby they are conceived The soul of a Brute performs the same vital acts as the soul of a Plant yet 't is visibly of a more elevated nature because it performs the functions of the sensitive life that are proper to it The rational Soul performs the same sensitive acts as the soul of Brutes but that it is of a higher order of substances appears by its peculiar objects and immediate operations upon them The two principal faculties of the humane Soul are the Understanding and the Will and the Actions flowing from them exceed the power of the most refined matter however modified and transcend any Principle that is only endowed with the powers of sense and imagination confin'd to matter To proceed orderly I will first consider the Mind with respect to the quality of its objects and manner how it is conversant about them 1. The conception of things purely spiritual God Angels separate Souls the Analogies the differences and various respects of things argue it to be of a spiritual nature For 't is and evident principle there must be an Analogy between the Faculty and the Object A material Glass cannot represent a Spirit it has no receptivity to take into it an object without figure colour and diversity of parts the affections of matter A spiritual object can only be apprehended by a spiritual operation and that can only be produced by a spiritual Power The being of things is the root of their working Now rarifie matter to the highest fineness reduce it to imperceptible Atoms 't is as truly Matter as a gross Body For lightness and tenuity are as proper Attributes of matter as weight and density though less sensible If a Beast could apprehend what discourse is it were rational The Soul therefore that understands the Spirituality of things is Spiritual otherwise it should act extra sphaeram The intellectual eye alone sees him that is Invisible understands the reasons of Truth and Justice looks beyond the bright Hills of Time into the Spiritual Eternal World so that 't is evident there is an affinity and likeness in Nature between them 2. Material faculties are confin'd to the narrow compass of singular and present things but the Mind abstracts from all individuals their pure Nature and forms their Universal Species The Eye can only see a colour'd object before it the Mind contemplates the nature of Colours It ascends above all the distinctions of Time recollects what is past foresees what is to come no interval of space or time can hinder its sight Besides the swift flight of the thoughts over Sea and Land the soaring of the Mind in a moment above the Stars as if its essence were all vigour and activity prove that 't is not a material Power 3. Sense only acts in a direct way without reflecting upon its self or its own operations 'T is true there is an experimental perception included in vital and sensible acts but 't is far below proper reflection The Eye doth not see the action by which it sees nor the imagination reflect on it self for that being conversant only about representations transmitted through the senses cannot frame an Image of it self and gaze upon it there being no such resemblance conveyed by the mediation of the outward organs But the rational Soul not only contemplates an object but reflects on its own contemplation and retir'd from all commerce with External things views it self its qualities and state and by this gives testimony of its Spiritual and immortal Nature 4. The Mind rectifies the false reports of the Senses and forms the Judgment of things not according to their impressions but by such rational evidence of which they are not capable When the Object is too distant or the Medium unfit or the Organs distemper'd the Senses are deceived The Stars of the brightest magnitude seem to be trembling sparks of light but the Understanding considers that the representations of things are imperfect and less distinct proportionably to their distance and conceives of their magnitude accordingly A straight Oar appears crooked in the Water but Reason observes the error in the refractions when the Image passes through a double medium of
unequal clearness Sweet things taste bitter to one in a Feaver but the mind knows that the bitterness is not in the things but in the viciated Palat. Moreover how many things are collected by Reason that transcend the power of fancy to conceive nay are repugnant to its conception What corporeal Image can represent the immensity of the Heavens as the Mind by convincing arguments apprehends it The Antipodes walk erect upon the Earth yet the Fancy cannot conceive them but with their Heads downward Now if the Mind were of the same nature with the corporeal Faculties their judgment would be uniform 5. The Senses suffer to a great degree by the excessive vehemence of their Objects Too bright a light blinds the Eye Too strong a sound deafs the Ear. But the Soul receives vigor and perfection from the excellence and sublimity of its object and when most intent in contemplation and concenter'd in its self becomes as it were all Mind so that the operations of it as sensitive are suspended feels the purest delights far above the perception of the lower faculties Now from whence is the distemper of the Senses in their exercise but from matter as well that of the Object as the Organ And from whence the not suffering of the Mind but from the impressing the forms of Objects separated from all matter and consequently in an immaterial faculty for there is of necessity a convenience and proportion as between a Being and the manner of its operations so between that and the subject wherein it works This strongly argues the Soul to be immaterial in that 't is impassible from matter even when it is most conversant in it For it refines it from corporeal accidents to a kind of spirituality proportioned to its nature And from hence proceeds the unbounded capacity of the Soul in its conceptions partly because the forms of things inconsistent in their natures are so purified by the Mind as they have an objective existence without enmity or contrariety partly because in the workings of the Mind one act does not require a different manner from another but the same reaches to all that is intelligible in the same order 6. The Senses are subject to languishing and decay and begin to die before Death But the Soul many times in the weakness of Age is most lively and vigorously productive The intellectual Off-spring carries no marks of the decays of the Body In the approaches of Death when the corporeal faculties are relaxt and very faintly perform their functions the workings of the Soul are often rais'd above the usual pitch of its activity And this is a pregnant probability that 't is of a spiritual Nature and that when the Body which is here its Prison rather than Mansion falls to the Earth 't is not opprest by its ruines but set free and injoys the truest liberty This made Heraclitus say that the Soul goes out of the Body as Lightning from a Cloud because it 's never more clear in its conceptions than when freed from matter And what Lucretius excellently expresses in his Verses is true in another sense than he intended Cedit item retro de Terra quod fuit ante In Terram sed quod missum est ex Aetheris oris Id rursus Coeli fulgentia Templa receptant What sprung from Earth falls to its native place What Heav'n inspir'd releast from the weak tye Of flesh ascends above the shining Sky Before I proceed I will briefly consider the Objections of some who secretly favour the part of impiety 1. 'T is objected That the Soul in its intellectual operations depends on the Phantasms and those are drawn from the representations of things conveyed through the senses But it will appear this does not enervate the force of the Arguments for its spiritual nature For this dependence is only objective not instrumental of the Souls perception The first images of things are introduc'd by the mediation of the senses and by their presence for nothing else is requisit the mind is excited and draws a Picture resembling or if it please not resembling them and so operates alone and compleats its own work Of this we have a clear experiment in the conceptions which the mind forms of things so different from the first notices of them by the Senses The first apprehensions of the Deity are from the visible effects of his Power but the Idea in which the understanding contemplates him is fram'd by removing all imperfections that are in the Creatures and consequently that he is not corporeal For whatsoever is so is liable to corruption that is absolutely repugnant to the perfection of his nature Now the common Sense and Fancy only powerful to work in Matter cannot truely express an immaterial Being Indeed as Painters by their Colours represent invisible things as Darkness the Winds the Internal affections of the heart so that by the representations the thoughts are awakn'd of such objects so the fancy may with the like Art shadow forth Spiritual Beings by the most resembling forms taken from sensible things Thus it imagins the Angels under the likeness of young Men with Wings to express their vigor and velocity But the Mind by its internal light conceives them in another manner by a Spiritual form that exceeds the utmost efficacy of the corporeal Organs so that 't is evident the Soul as intellectual in its singular and most proper operations is not assisted by the ministry of the Senses 2. 'T is objected that the Soul in its superiour operations depends on the convenient temper of the Body The thoughts are clear and orderly when the Brain is compos'd On the contrary when the predominancy of any humour distempers it the Mind feels its infirmities And from hence it seems to be of a corporeal nature depending on the Body in its being as in its working But this if duly consider'd will raise no just prejudice against its Spiritual Immortal Nature For 1. The sympathy of things is no convincing Argument that they are of the same Nature There may be so strict a union of Beings of different natures that they must necessarily be subject to impressions from one another Can any Reasons demonstrate that a Spiritual substance endowed with the powers of understanding and will cannot be united in a vital composition to a Body as the Vegetative Soul is in Plants and the Sensitive in Beasts There is no implicite repugnance in this that proves it impossible Now if such a complex Being were in Nature how would that spiritual Soul act in that Body that in its first union with it excepting some universal Principles is a rasa tabula as a white Paper without the notices of things written in it Certainly in no other imaginable manner than as Man's Soul does now Indeed if Man as compounded of Soul and Body were a sensitive Animal and only rational as partaking of the Universal Intellect bent to individuals for a time and retiring at Death to
its first Being as Averroes fancied there would be no cause of such a Sympathy but the Soul as intellectual is an informing not assisting form And it is an evident proof of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator by this strict and sensible union to make the Soul vigilant and active to provide for the convenience and comfort of the Body in the present state and that notwithstanding such a discord in Nature there should be such a concord in inclinations 2. Though the mental operations of the Soul are hindred by the ill habit of the Body yet the mind suffers no hurt but still retains its intellectual power without impairing A skilful Musitian does not lose his Art that plays on an harp when the strings are false though the Musick is not so harmonious as when 't is justly tuned The visive faculty is not weakned when the Air by a collection of gross vapours is so thick that the eye cannot distinctly perceive distant objects When by the heats of Wine or a Disease the Spirits are inflam'd and made fierce and unruly and the Images in the Fancy are put into confusion the mind cannot regularly govern and use them When the fumes are evaporated the Brain is restor'd to its temper and fitness for intellectual operations but the mind is not cur'd that was not hurt by those Distempers Briefly the Deniers of the Souls Immortality resemble in their arguings some who oppos'd the Divinity of our Saviour For as Apollinaris and Eunomius from Christ's sleeping so profoundly in a storm instead of concluding that he was a real Man falsly inferr'd that he was not God Because sleep is not the satisfaction of a Divine appetite the Deity is incapable of it But they consider'd not his more than humane Power in rebuking the Winds and the Sea with that Empire that was felt and obeyed by those insensible creatures so those whose interest inclines them to believe that Man is entirely mortal alledg that he acts as a sensitive Creature for he is so but consider not that he has also more noble faculties to understand objects purely spiritual and God himself the most perfect in that order which no material principle though of the most subtile and finest contexture can reach unto Besides the more 't is disengaged from Matter and retir'd from the senses the more capable it is to perform its most exalted operations and consequently by an absolute separation 't is so far from perishing that it ascends to its perfection For the manner how it acts in the separate state 't is to no purpose to search being most secret and 't will be to no purpose to find as being of no influence to excite us to the constant and diligent performance of our duty 'T is therefore a fruitless curiosity to inquire after it But to imagine that because the Soul in the present state cannot understand clearly without the convenient disposition of the Body therefore it cannot act at all without it is as absur'd as to fancy because a man confin'd to a Chamber cannot see the objects without but through the Windows therefore he cannot see at all but through such a Medium and that when he is out of the Chamber he has totally lost his sight CHAP. IX The acts of the Will consider'd It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The Spiritual operations of the Soul may be perform'd by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick argumeut that man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible Immortal and perishing 2. THe acts of the Will that imperial faculty prove it to be of a higher order of substance than the sensitive Soul The Brutes are acted by pure necessity their powers are moved and determined by the external application of objects 'T is visible that all kinds of sensitive Creatures in all times are carried in the same manner by the potent sway of Nature towards things sutable to their corporeal faculties But the rational Will is a principle of free election that controuls the lower appetite by restraining from the most pleasant and powerful allurements and choosing sometimes the most distastful things to sense Now from whence arises this contention If the rational Will be not of a higher nature than the sensual appetite why does it not consent with its inclinations How comes the Soul to mortifie the most vehement desires of the body a part so near in Nature so dear by Affection and so apt to resent an injury And since 't is most evident that sensitive Creatures always with the utmost of their force defend their Beings from whence is it that the rational Soul in some cases against the strongest recoile and reluctance of Nature exposes the body to Death If it depended on the body for subsistence it would use all means to preserve it Upon the sight of contrary motions in an engine we conclude they are caused by diverse springs and can such opposite desires in Man proceed from the same principle If the rational Soul be not of a sublimer order than the sensitive it follows that Men are Beasts and Beasts are Men. Now 't is as impossible to be what they are not as not to be what they are But do the Beasts reverence a Divine Power and at stated times perform acts of solemn Worship Is Conscience the immediate rule of their Actions will Lectures of temperance chastity justice arrest them in the eager pursute of sensual satisfactions Do they feel remorse in doing ill and pleasure in doing well Do they exercise the Mind in the search of Truth have they desires of a sublime intellectual good that the low sensual part cannot partake of have they a capacity of such an immense Blessedness that no finite Object in its qualities and duration can satisfy Ask the Beasts and they will tell you Their actions declare the contrary But the humane Soul has awful apprehensions of the Deity distinguishes of things by their agreement or disconformity to his Laws It s best and quickest Pleasures and most piercing wounding Troubles are from Moral Causes What colour what taste has Vertue yet the purified Soul is inflam'd by the views of its most amiable thô not sensible beauty and delighted in its sweetness How often is it so ravish'd in contemplation of God the great Object of the rational Powers as to lose the desire and memory of all carnal things What stronger Argument and clearer Proof can there be of its affinity with God than that Divine things are most sutable to it for if the rational Soul were of the same order with the sensitive as it could not possibly conceive any being more excellent than what is corporeal so it could only relish gross things wherein Sense is conversant The Sum of what has been discourst of
where I can only live happily On the contrary a plain flowry carpet Way is bad that leads me from it Now since the present life conveys us to another Poverty or Riches Sickness or Health splendor of Name or Obscurity an high or a low Condition become good or evil to us and accordingly are eligible as they prepare us for our last and blessed End or divert us from it If the clearness of this principle be obscur'd we shall stumble every step and wander from the way of life But duly considered it makes us judg of things as they are not as they appear This unravels the doubts of the intangled Mind corrects the mistakes of the erring Eye levels the greatest Difficulties clears all the Objections against Providence and makes an afflicted state not only tolerable but so far amiable as it promotes our supream Happiness Let us consider the two Worlds the visible wherein we are and the invisible to which we are going and impartially compare what is proper to the one and the other The present and the future the sensible and divine the apparent and real the transitory and perpetual happiness And what reference these two Worlds have to Man the one serves him only as a Passage the other is his ever blessed Country Therefore what-ever the present state has of sweet or bitter whatever is desir'd or fear'd as it passes with Time should little move us Who is there unless disorder'd in his Mind that when the Sun is present in its full lustre before his eyes rejoyces to have or is sorry that he has not a Candle that he may see more clearly And this Life to Eternity is not so much as a spark of Light to the Sun and accordingly the Prosperity or Adversity of it should not transport us to an excess of Joy or Sorrow but with an equal temper of Mind and calm Affections we should receive the dispensations of Providence 3. How just is it that the Soul should have the preeminence in all respects above the Body The one is the fading off-spring of the Earth the other of an heavenly extraction and incorruptible nature When Pherecides the Assyrian first taught among the Grecians the doctrine of the Souls Immortality his discourse so prevail'd on Pythagoras of Samos that it chang'd him from an Athleta into a Philosopher He that before wholly attended upon his Body to make it excel in strength or agility that he might contend victoriously in the Olympick Games then made it his business to improve and advance his Soul in Knowledg and Vertue And if the glimmering appearances of this great Truth were so powerful upon him how much more should the clear and certain discoveries of it be operative to make us chiefly regard the interest of our immortal part The state of Nature requires that Reason should have the supremacy in Man and Sense should obey but if the lower part tyrannises over the superiour and that which was so offensive to Solomon to see Servants on horseback and Princes walking on foot be verified in a more ignoble sense 't is the greatest degeneracy and vilification of the humane nature Now the predominant Object discovers what is the ruling faculty If sensual things have the superior esteem and love Sense reigns And what a contumely is it to Man when the Understanding that was made to contemplate Objects of a spiritual sublime nature is principally exercised for the acquiring of earthly things and the Affections that are capable of enjoying heavenly delights run with a full stream in the channels of Concupiscence As if the reasonable Soul were not for higher ends than to be the slave of the Body to be imployed to digest the confused Chaos of Meats and Drinks wherewith 't is fill'd to give it a quicker perception of its pleasures keep it from corruption for a time If sensual Wretches could obtain what the unclean Spirits desir'd of our Saviour when dispossest of the man in the Gospel they would request in their last hour when they are ready to be cast out of the Body permission to enter into the Swine and wallow in mire and filthiness This is an indignity equally dishonourable and pernicious As 't was said of Caligula Nec Servum meliorem nec deteriorem Dominum while a Subject none more obedient but when advanc'd to the Throne he became the Reproach of the Empire and Plague of the World So while the Body obeys the sanctity and sovereignty of the Mind 't is an useful Instrument but if it usurp the Government the Spirit is deprest in the most ignominious Captivity and Man becomes like the Beasts that perish Briefly the common fountains of Temptation are Pleasure and Pain that affect the outward senses and ' til the Soul has an establish'd dominion over the Body 't is continually expos'd to ruin by fleshly lusts that war against it The proper business of Man is to purifie his Spirit from all Pollutions to adorn it with all Graces in order to its everlasting Communion with the Father of Spirits And though in this state of union with flesh he cannot be always contemplative nor exercised in the highest and noblest work but must relax his intense thoughts by refreshing intermissions yet all that is allowed the Body must be only to make it more ready disposed for the service of the Mind But alas the Soul that should be incomparably dearest to us in respect of its preciousness and danger is neglected as the only despicable or safe thing belonging to us Of the twenty four hours in the day how much is wasted on the Body how little is given to the Soul as if all the time were lost that is spent on it when 't is truly gain'd What an unequal division is this Can there be imagin'd a more hurtful and monstrous profuseness and covetousness in the same persons If the Body be shaken with Diseases what are they not willing to do or patiently to suffer to recover lost Health Long and rigorous Diets to overcome some obstinate Humours Potions distasteful to the Palat and painful to the Stomack Sweatings Bleeding the Knife and the Fire to cut off the gangreen'd part and sear the vessels and many more sharp Remedies 't is counted prudence to suffer to preserve the life of the Body And can that be preserved always No. All this is done not to escape but to delay Death for a time If we are so sollicitous that the mortal Body may dye a little later shall we not be more diligent and careful that the immortal Soul may not die for ever 4. This should make us set a just value upon time and consecrate it to those things that are preparatory for the future state of blessedness Indeed the present Life though spun out to the utmost date how short and vain is it But as 't is the price of Eternity and our wel-being hereafter depends upon it 't is above all esteem precious When
of that Fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth and to full Age and a decrepit state and back again so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God The impressions of Nature are infallible That the most Men are practical Atheists that some doubt and deny God in words is of no force to disprove his Existence There are no absolute Atheists Nature in extremities has an irresistible force and compels the most obdurate to acknowledg the Deity Chap. 6. Page 22. The belief of the Deity no Politick Invention The asserting that 't is necessary to preserve States in order is a strong proof of its truth No History intimates when this belief was introduc'd into the World The continuance of it argues that its rise was not from a Civil Decree Princes themselves are under the fears of the Deity The multitude of false Gods does not prejudice the natural notion of one true God Idolatry was not universal The Worship of the only true God is preserved where Idolatry is abolished Chap. 7. pag. 105. The duties of understanding Creatures to the Maker of all things Admiration of his glorious Perfections visible in them This is more particularly the duty of Man the World being made eminently for him The Causes why the Creator is not honour'd in his Works are Mens ignorance and inobservance Things new rather affect us than great An humble fear is a necessary respect from the Creature to the Divine Majesty and Power Love and Obedience in the highest degrees are due from men to God in the quality of Creator Trust and Reliance on God is our duty and priviledge Chap. 8. pag. 146. The Immortality of the Soul depends on the conservative influence of God Natural and Moral Arguments to prove that God will continue it for ever The Soul is incapable of perishing from any corruptible principles or separable parts It s spiritual nature is evident by the acts of its principal faculties The Understanding conceives spiritual objects is not confin'd to singular and present things Reflects upon it self Corrects the errors of the sense Does not suffer from the excellency of the object Is vigorous in its operations when the Body is decayed which proves it to be an immaterial faculty An Answer to Objections against the Souls spiritual nature That the first notices of things are conveyed through the senses does not argue it to be a material faculty That it depends on the temper of the Body in its superior operations is no prejudice to its spiritual nature Chap. 9. pag. 170. The Acts of the Will considered It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The spiritual operations of the Soul may be performed by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick Argument that Man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible immortal and perishing Chap. 10. pag. 181. The moral Arguments for the Souls Immortality The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual eternal happiness argues it survives the Body The lower order of Creatures obtain their perfection here It reflects upon Nature if the more noble fails of its end That wicked men would choose annihilation rather than eternal torments is no proof against Mans natural desire of Immortality The necessity of a future state of Recompences for moral actions proves the Soul to be immortal The Wisdom of God as Governour of the World requires there be Rewards and Punishments annext to his Laws Eternal Rewards are only powerful to make men obedient to them in this corrupt state Humane Laws are no sufficient security of Vertue and restraint from Vice Chap. 11. Page 198. The Justice of God an infallible Argument of future recompences The natural notion of God includes Justice in Perfection In this World sometimes Vertue and Vice are equally miserable Sometimes Vice is prosperous Sometimes good Men are in the worst condition The dreadful consequences of denying a future state Gods absolute Dominion over the Reasonable Creature is regulated by his Wisdom and limited by his Will The essential beauty of Holiness with the pleasure that naturally results from good actions and the native turpitude of Sin with the disturbance of the mind reflecting on it are not the compleat recompences that attend the Good and the Wicked Chap. 12. Page 223. Two Arguments more to prove future recompenses 'T is not possible for civil Justice to despense rewards and punishments according to the good and evil actions of Men. All Nations agree in the acknowledgment of a future state The innocent Conscience is supported under an unjust Sentence by looking to the superior Tribunal The courage of Socrates in dying with the cause of it The guilty Conscience terrifies with the apprehension of Judgment to come Tiberius his complaint to the Senate of his inward tortures An Answer to the Objection that we have not sensible evidence of what is enjoyed and what is suffered in the next life Why Sin a transient act is punished with Eternal Death Chap. 13. Page 257. What influence the Doctrine of the future state should have upon our practice It must regulate our esteem of present things And reconcile our affections to any condition here so far as it may be an advantage to prepare us for the better World The chiefest care is due to the Immortal part The just value of Time and how it should be improved 'T is the best Wisdom to govern our whole course of Life here with regard to Eternity that expects us FINIS There is lately Reprinted a Book entitled The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work By W. Bates D. D. Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhil * Epicuri de Grege Porcum Hor. Chap. I. * Vitruv. praef lib. 6. Boet. * Obliquitatem ejus intellexisse est rerum fores aperuisse Plin. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Chap. II. * Ne sylvae quidem honidiorque naturae facies Medicinis caret sacra il a parente rerum omnium nusquam non remedia disponente homini ut Medicina fieret ipsa solitudo Plin. ‖ Est igitur id quo illa conficiuntur homine melius Id autem quid potius dixerimquam Deum Tull. de nat deor * His muniendo aculeis telisque armando remediis ut tuta salva sint Ita hoc quoque quod in iis odimus hominum causa excogitatum est Plin. l. 22. ‖ Quid est in his in quo non naturae ratio intelligentis appareat Tull. †Quis non
Considerations OF THE Existence of GOD AND OF THE Immortality of the Soul With the Recompences of the future state For the Cure of INFIDELITY the Hectick Evil of the Times By William Bates D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Phileb LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1676. THE PREFACE THE usual Method whereby the Enemy of Mankind trains so many into his bloody snares is by enticing the lower Faculties the Senses the Fancy the Passions to prevail upon the Will and Mind and accordingly his motives are pleasure or pain that affect us from sensible things But on the contrary the great Lover of Souls first inlightens the Understanding to discover what is the most excellent Good what the most pernicious Evil and by that discovery moves the Will to pursue the one and fly from the other and so descends to work upon the Affections and Senses that with readiness they follow the direction and command of the Superior Powers in Man These Objects being Spiritual and future and therefore rais'd above the highest Regions of Sense are only apprehended and become effectual by the evidence of Faith As the Spartan in Plutarch after trying many ways to set a Carcass upright in a living posture and finding that all his Endeavours were vain it was so suddenly discompos'd the head sinking into the bosom the hands falling and all the parts in disorder concluded something was wanting within that is the living Soul without which the Body has no strength to support it self Thus the most convincing Reasons prest with the greatest vehemence of Affection all the Powers of the World to come are of no Efficacy upon those who have not Faith the vital Principle of all Heavenly Operations We live in an Infidel Age wherein wickedness reigns with Reputation The thoughts of the Mind are discovered by the current of the Actions Were there a serious belief of the great Judgment and the terrible Eternity that follows it were not possible for Men to sin so freely and go on in a War so desperate against God himself Sensuality and Infidelity are Elements of a Symbolical quality and by an easie alteration are chang'd into one another Fleshly Lusts darken the Mind and render it unfit to take a distinct view of things Sublime and Spiritual They hinder serious consideration especially of what may trouble the Conscience by their impetuous Disorders And which is the worst effect the corrupt Will bribes the Mind to argue for what it desires 'T is the interest of Carnalists to put out the eye of Reason the prevision of things Eternal that they may blindly follow the sensual appetite Thus Epicurus with his herd as one of them stiles that Fraternity denied the Immortality of the Soul consonantly to his declared principle that the Supreme Happiness of Man consisted in the delights of Sense And 't is as natural that the disbelief of another state hereafter should strongly incline Men to follow their Licentious Pleasures If the Soul according to the impious fancy of those Infidels described in the Book of Wisdom be a spark of Fire that preserves the vital heat for a little time and gives motion to the Members Vigor to the Senses and Spirits for the Thoughts but is quench'd in Death and nothing remains but a wretched heap of Ashes What preeminence has Man above a Beast It follows therfore in the progress of their Reason 't is equal to indulge their Appetites as the Beasts do If what is immortal puts on mortality the consequence is natural Let us eat and drink for to morrow we must die Now though supernatural Revelation confirm'd by Miracles and the continual accomplishment of Prophecies has brought Life and Immortality into that open light that the meanest Christian has a fuller and more certain evidence of it than the clearest spirits of the Heathens ever had yet because the weight of Authority is of no force with Libertines 't is necessary to argue from common Principles which they cannot disavow Indeed the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit are our best Defence in the Holy War but with the use of equal Arms Reasons against Reasons the cause of Religion will be victorious 'T is the design of the ensuing Treatise to discover by the light of Nature invisible objects viz. that a Sovereign Spirit made and governs the sensible World that there is an Immortal Soul in Man and an Eternal state expects him hereafter There is such a necessary Connexion between these Supreme Truths The Being of God and future Recompences to Men that the denial of the one includes the denial of the other 'T is uncertain which of the two is the first step whether Men descend from the disbelief of the future state to Atheism or from Atheism to Infidelity in that point Some excellent Persons have imployed their Talents on this Subject from whom I have received advantage in compiling the present Work I have been careful not to build upon false Arches but on substantial Proofs and to perswade Truth with Truth as becoms a sincere Counsellor and well-willer to Souls And if the secure Person will but attentively and impartially consider he must be convinc'd that 't is the only true Wisdom to believe and prevent and not venture on the tryal of things in that state where there is no other mending of the error but an everlasting sorrow for it Those whose Hearts are so irrecoverably depraved that no motives can perswade to examine what so nearly touches them with calmness and sobriety and their minds so fatally stupified that no Arguments can awaken must miserably feel what they wilfully doubt of whom the Light does not convince the Fire shall OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. CHAP. I. Atheism is fearful of publick discovery Three heads of Arguments to prove the Being of GOD. 1. The visible frame of the World and the numerous Natures in it exactly modelled for the good of the whole prove it to be the work of a most wise Agent The World consider'd in its several parts The Sun in its situation motion and effects declare the Providence of the Creator The diurnal motion of the Sun from East to West is very beneficial to Nature The annual course brings admirable advantage to it The gradual passing of the sensible World from the excess of heat to the extremity of cold an effect of Providence The constant revolutions of Day and Night and of the Seasons of the Year discovers that a wise Cause orders them IN the managing the present subject I shall first propound such things as clearly discover that a Soveraign Spirit rich in Goodness most wise in Counsel and powerful in Operation gave being to the World and Man in it This part of my work may seem needless because there are very few if any declared Atheists As Monsters remain where they are born in the desert sands of Africa not
imperfect essays towards it Now if the Soul does not survive the Body and in a separate state obtain its desires it will reflect upon Nature for imprudence or malignity in dealing worse with the most noble order of visible Beings The Beasts excel Man in the quickness and vivacity of the powers of Sense being their perfection and in him subordinate faculties and are more capable of pleasure from sensible things and Reason his eminent Prerogative makes him more liable to misery For Man ardently aspiring to a Spiritual Happiness that here he cannot enjoy much less hereafter if the Soul perish is under a remediless infelicity His Mind is deceived and stain'd with Errors his Will tormented with fruitless longings after an impossible Object But if we unveil the face of Nature God appears who is the Author of our being and of this desire so proper to it and we cannot suspect without the highest Impiety that he would make all Men in vain and deceive them by a false appearance But he gives us in it a faithful presage of things future and indiscernable to sense to be injoyed in immortality This Argument will be the more forcible if we consider that holy Souls who excel in Knowledge and Vertue do most inflamedly long for the enjoyment of this pure felicity And is it possible that the Creatour should not only endow Man with rational powers but with vertues that exalt and inlarge their capacity to render him more miserable to imagine that he cannot or will not fully and eternally satisfie them is equally injurious to his perfections It therefore necessarily follows that the Soul lives after Death and fully enjoys the happiness it earnestly desir'd whiles in the darkness of this earthly Taberâ—â—cle Add further that Man alone of all Creatures in the lower World understands and desires Immortality The conception of it is peculiar to his Mind and the desire of it as intrinsick to his Nature as the desire of Blessedness For that Blessedness that ends is no perfect Blessedness nor that which every one desires Man alone feels and knows that his Nature is capable of excellent perfections and joys Now if he shall cease to be for ever why is this knowledge and desire but to render him more unhappy by grief for the present shortness of life and by despair of a future Immortality In this respect also the condition of the Beasts would be better than of Men. For though they are for ever deprived of Life yet they are uncapable of regret because they cannot by reflection know that they possess it and are without the least imagination or desire of immortality They are alive to the present but dead to the future By a favourable ignorance they pass into a state of not being with as much indifference as from watching to sleep or from labour to repose But to Man that understands and values Life and Immortality how dark and hideous are the thoughts of annihilation let him enjoy all possible delights to sense or desireable to the powers of the Soul How will the sweetness of all be lost in the bitterness of that thought that he shall be deprived of them for ever How frightful is the continual apprehension of an everlasting period to his being and all enjoyments sutable to it After that a prospect of Eternity has been shown to him how tormenting is the thought that he must die as the stupid Ox or the vilest Vermine of the Earth and with him the fallacious instinct of Nature that inclin'd him to the most durable happiness If it were thus O living Image of the Immortal God thy condition is very miserable What the Romans wisht in great anguish for the loss of Augustus that he had not been born or had not died is more reasonable in this case it were better that the desire of eternal Life had not been born in Man or that it should be fulfilled If it be objected that many Men are not only without fear of annihilation but desire it therefore Immortality is not such a priviledg that thereasonable Creature naturally aspires to I answer the inference is very preposterous for the reason of their choice is because they are attentive to an object infinitely more sad and afflictive that is a state of everlasting torments which the guilty conscience presages to be the just recompence of their crimes So that enclosed between two evils an eternal state of not Being and an Eternity of misery 't is reasonable to venture on the least to escape the greater But supposing any hopes of future happiness they would desire immortality as an excellent benefit As one that has lost the pleasure and taste of Life by consuming sickness and sharp pains or some other great calamities may be willing to die but suppossing a freedom from those evils the desire of Life as the most precious and dear enjoyment would strongly return And that the desire of Immortality is natural I shall add one most visible testimony For whereas the lower sort of Creatures that finally perish in Death are without the least knowledg of a future estate and are therefore careless of leaving a memorial after them on the contrary Men are solicitous to secure their names from oblivion as conscious of their souls surviving in another World This ardent passion not directed by higher Principles excites them to use all means to obtain a kind of immortality from Mortals They reward Historians Poets Oratours to celebrate their actions They erect Monuments of durable Brass and Marble to represent the Effigies of their faces They endeavour by triumphal Arches Pyramids and other works of Magnificence to eternize their Fame to live in the eyes and mouths and memories of the living in all succeding times These indeed are vain shadows yet argue the desire of immortality to be natural As 't is evident there is a natural affection in Parents to preserve their Children because when they are depriv'd of their living presence they dearly value and preserve their dead Pictures though but a poor consolation 2. The necessity of a future state wherein a just retribution shall be made of rewards and punishments to Men according to their actions in this life includes the Souls Immortality For the proof of this I shall lay down such things as certainly establish it 1. The first Argument is drawn from the Wisdom of God in governing the reasonable World In the quality of Creator he has a supream title to Man and consequently is his rightful Governor and Man his natural subject Now Man being endowed with free faculties the powers of knowing and choosing is under a Law clearly imprest on his Nature by the Author of it that strictly forbids moral evil and commands moral good And to enforce the Authority of this Law the Wisdom of the Lawgiver and the temper of the Subject requires that willing obedience should be attended with certain rewards and voluntary disobedience with unavoidable punishments For Man
out the proper uses of this Doctrine as Gold from the Mines by digging into the bowels of the Earth but the Consequences are clear and sensible to all that will duly consider things If in the next World there are good things and evil things great as the possessing or losing an infinite Felicity and lasting as Eternity and distant from us no farther than Death is from Life that is then a Candle from being blown out that is exposed to all the winds 't is absolutely necessary to regulate our selves in the present state by a continual respect to the future As the Travellers in the Desart of Arabia that is all Sand movable by every blast so that no visible path remains to prevent their wandrings observe the Stars to direct them in their Journy to the place they intend Thus we must look not to the things that are seen but to things that are not seen eternal above to conduct us safely thorow this material mutable World to Felicity More particularly 1. This should regulate our Judgment of all temporal things Worldly happiness is but a Picture that seen by Sence the false light of the present time has an alluring appearance but if look'd on by Faith the true light of Eternity it is discovered to be a disfigur'd and unamiable confusion of spots This unbinds the Charm and discovers the vanity and illusion of what ever is admirable in the eyes of flesh Can any carry the least mark of Honour one farthing of their Treasures any shadow of their Beauty one drop of their Pleasure with them to another World As in the Night all Colours are the same the Crimson cannot be distinguish'd from Black nor Purple from Green when the light is withdrawn that gave them life they cease to be visible and are buried in the same indifferent obscurity So in the state after Death the most remarkable differences of this World are no more And is that worthy of our esteem that attends us for a little time and leaves us for ever Can that be our happiness that when we die and cease to be mortal ceases to be ours If Man did only live to die and there were an absolute end of him present things were more valuable in the quality of an earthly Felicity as being his All but if he dies to live in another World and all that in the language of the Earth full of Improprieties and moral Soloecisms we call ours must be left at the gates of Death the entrance of Eternity they cannot be the materials of our happiness Seneca contemplating the beauty and greatness of those Orbs of Light above cast down his Eyes to find out the Earth hardly visible at that distance and breaks forth in a Philosophical disdain Is it this to which the great designes and vast desires of Men are confin'd Is it for this there is such disturbance of Nations Wars and shedding of Blood O folly O fury of deceived Men to imagine great Kingdoms in the compass of an Atome to raise Armies to divide a point of Earth with their Swords 'T is just as if the Ants should conceive a Field to be several Kingdoms and fiercely contend to inlarge their borders and celebrate a Triumph in gaining a foot of earth as a new Province to their Empire And from hence he excites Men to ascend in their thoughts and take an intellectual possession of the material Heavens as most worthy of their minds But the Soul that raised by Faith looks beyond the Starry Heavens how much more justly is it fill'd with noble wonder at the Divine and truly great things in the Spiritual World and looks down on the lower Scene of things and all that has the name of felicity here as sordid and vile The foresight that within a little while this World shall be dissolv'd and time shall be no more makes it not seem to be in the Eyes of a Believer that great thing as 't is represented to the rest of Men. He looks upon those who shine in Pomp and flow in Pleasure and think themselves happy to be as a Beggar in a Dream that thinks himself rich in treasures for present things are only colour'd with the appearence of felicity and are as vanishing as the fictions of fancy While carnal Men will believe nothing but what they see feel and enjoy by their Senses and embrace meer shadows as solid felicity he considers them with compassion For 't is with them as with one that in the rage of a Fever laughs sings triumphs Tell him that he is not himself he thinks you are mad for saying so Tell him when his fiery spirits shall be wasted and that heat of Blood that makes him so lively and strong shall decline and cool he will be in extreme danger of Death he replies he was never in better health But who envies him that happiness which he seems to enjoy none but one that is a mad-man like him Nay a Father a Brother a Friend look on him with a mourning Eye and Heart For he is only happy in his own conceit and that conceit proceeds from his distraction Thus the power of Truth is victorious in sober men does not suffer them to be cheated with the false shew of good that respects the Body No credit is given to the appearance of Sense when Reason discerns the Deception and judges otherwise And thus the clear infallible light of Faith directs the Judgment of things present with respect to the eternal Interest of the Soul This makes a Believer prefer severe Wisdom before the sweetest Follies unpleasing Truth before all the dear Deceits of sensual Persons In short Faith removes the thick Curtain of sensible things that intercepted the Eye of the Mind and its first Effect is to shew the incomparable disproportion between what is present and what is future and this is as great as between the living of a few years and an incorruptible state between the wretched enjoyment of things that cannot satisfy the Senses and the enjoyment of a universal Good that can fill all the desires of the Soul as between a inch of Time and entire Eternity between Nothing mask'd with a false appearance and infinite Felicity 2. The consideration of the Souls immortality should reconcile our affection to all things that may befal us here so far as they are preparatory for our wel-being in the future state The original Principle from whence are derived all Rules for practice and of main influence upon our Comforts is that Man is created for a supernatural happiness hereafter and that present things are to be chosen or refused with respect to our obtaining of it For the means what-ever they are in their absolute nature yet consider'd as such in order to an end are qualified and become either good or evil as conducive to it or unprofitable and prejudicial A Way that is thorny or dirty or steep or stony is good if it leads me to my Country
inconveniencies afar off and lay the Scene to avoid them And is Reason only useful in the affairs of the Body and must Sense that cannot see an hands-breadth beyond the present be the guide of the Soul Well though the most powerful Reasons the most ardent Exhortations and stinging Reprehensions cannot prevail with the Sons of the Earth now to be apprehensive of the Evils that threaten them but they live in a blind manner regardless of the Soul yet in a little while Extremities will compel them to open their eyes When they are departing hence with one foot upon the brink of Time and the other lift up to enter Eternity how will they be astonish'd to see the distance between this World and the next which seem'd to them so wide to be but one step The present Life that in their imaginations would never end and the future that would never begin so intent were they for the provisions of the one and neglectful of the other behold the one is gone and the other come Time is at their back with all its vanities and Eternity before their faces with its great realities How are their thoughts and discourses changed in that terrible hour that will decide their states for ever they did foolishly for themselves but then speak wisely for the instruction of others How piercing and quick are their apprehensions then of Heaven and Hell which before were neglected as unworthy of regard or onely toucht the surface of their Souls what amazement what dejection of Spirit to find themselves in a sad unpreparedness for their great Account the remembrance that for the poor advantages of time they forfeited Eternal Glory and ventur'd on Eternal Misery cuts more sorely than the pangs of Death But suppose they harden their hearts to the last minute of life and are more stupid than the Beasts that tremble upon a precipice at the sight of extream danger yet a minute after Death O the heavy change when they shall feel themselves undone infinitely and irrecoverably What fierce and violent workings will be in the mind what a storm of passions rais'd But then Repentance will be with perfect sorrow without the least profit There are no returns to the possibility of mercy I will conclude this Discourse with a passage from the most humble and excellent St. Austin He bewails in his Confession his long bondage under Sin His carnal lusts adher'd as closely to him as the Ivy twines about the Oak that there can be no separation without eradicating it and plucking the Bark off the Tree He felt an inward continual Combat between the Flesh and Spirit He often shook the Chain wherewith he had voluntarily bound himself but had not the resolution to break it And thus for a time his Judgment abhor'd what his Affections were enclin'd to and he was neither victorious nor vanquish'd But when God was pleas'd by his omnipotent Grace to set him at liberty the last and most violent Assault of the Flesh and that which made his Conversion most difficult was this His Youthful Lusts presented themselves to his Imagination and as that impure Mistress did with chast Joseph shook the Garment of his Flesh and whisper'd Will you renounce us shall there be a divorce between you and your ancient Loves for ever shall not this or that desire of the Senses be contented for ever And what was that for ever it only signified the short remainder of his time after thirty three years which was then his Age. And this is the most effectual hinderance of the reclaiming of Sinners still They will not be induc'd to make an irrevokable unreserv'd dedication of themselves to God and firmly to resolve never to taste forbidden sweets more but always abhor the relish of them But if it be so hard and intolerable always to abstain from unlawful pleasures and much more to suffer pain in the short space the moments of this Life that it seems an Eternity to corrupt Nature what will it be in the true Eternity to be depriv'd of all Good and tormented with all Evils despairing of release or quenching one spark of that terrible Fire O that Men were wise to consider their latter end and the consequences of it their Mortality and Immortality FINIS THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS Chap. 1. pag. 1. ATheism is fearfull of publick discovery Three heads of Arguments to prove the Being of a God 1. The visible frame of the World and the numerous Natures in it exactly modelled for the good of the whole prove it to be the work of a most wise Agent The World considered in its several parts The Sun in its scituation motion and effects declare the Providence of the Creator The diurnal motion of the Sun from East to West is very beneficial to Nature The Annual course brings admirable advantage to it The gradual passing of the sensible World from the excess of Heat to the extremity of Cold an effect of Providence The constant Revolutions of the Day and Night and of the Seasons of the Year discovers that a wise Cause order them Chap. 2. pag. 19. The Air a fit medium to convey the Light and Influences of the Heavens of the lower World 'T is the repository of Vapours that are drawn up by the Sun and descend in fruitful showers The Winds of great benefit The separation of the Sea from the Land the effect of great Wisdom and Power That the Earth is not an equal Globe is both pleasant and useful The League of the Elements considered Excellent Wisdom visible in Plants and Fruits The shapes of Animals are answerable to their properties They regularly act to preserve themselves The Bees Swallows Ants directed by an excellent mind Chap. 3. pag. 34. The Body of Man form'd with perfect design for Beauty and Usefulness A short description of its parts The fabrick of the Eye and Hand admirably discovers the Wisdom of the Maker The erect stature of the Body fitted for the rational Soul Man by speech is fitted for Society How the Affections are discovered in the Countenance The distinction of Persons by the face how necessary The reasonable Soul the image of a wise and voluntary Agent Chap. 4. pag. 51. The vanity of Epicurus's Opinion of the Worlds original discovered from the visible order in all the parts of it Chance produces no regular effects The constant natural course of things in the World proves that 't is not framed nor conducted by uncertain Chance The World was not caused by the necessity of Nature In the search of Causes the mind cannot rest till it comes to the first Second Causes are sustain'd and directed in all their workings by the first The Creator though invisible in his Essence is visible in his effects Chap. 5. pag. 71. The beginning of the World proved from the uninterrupted Tradition of it through all Ages The Invention of Arts and bringing them to perfection an Argument of the Worlds beginning The weakness
is this that by considering the different operations of Man and of Brutes we may clearly discern the different powers of acting wherewith the rational Soul is endowed in the one and the sensitive in the other The Soul in Beasts performs no operations independent on the Body that serves it either as an instrument or matter of their production such are the use of the Senses Nutrition Generation all the internal work and the preparing the Phantasms without which they would be far less serviceable to Man 'T is not strange therefore that it perishes with the Body there being no reason for its duration in a separate state since 't is fit only to act by the ministry of the Body But the Soul of Man besides the operations that proceed from it as the form of the body it animates such are all common to man with Plants and Animals understands discourses reflects on it self that are acts proper to its nature and included in its true conception whereby 't is distinguished from that of Brutes Indeed the exercise of sensitive operations depends so absolutely on its union with the body that they cannot be perform'd nor conceived as possible without its presence and the use of corporeal organs But the more excellent operations that proceed from the higher faculties wherewith 't is indowed not as the form of a material Being but as a spiritual substance such as subsist for ever without any communion with Bodies so entirely belong to it by the condition of Nature that for their production 't is sufficient of it self The Understanding and Will are Angelical Powers and to know and will and to be variously moved with pleasure or greif according to the qualities of objects sutable or disagreeing are proper to those Natures that have no alliance with Bodies It follows therefore the Soul in its separate state may contemplate and delightfully injoy intellectual objects or torment it self with reflection on things contrary to its will Nay it understands more clearly and is affected more strongly than before For these operations during its conjunction are not common to the Body but produc'd by it in the quality of a mind and are then most vigorous and expedite most noble and worthy of it when the Soul withdraws from all sensible things into it self and is most rais'd above the manner of working that is proper and proportion'd to the body And from hence 't is reasonable to conclude that it survives the Body not losing with it the most noble faculty the mind that is peculiar to it nor the necessary instrument of using it For as the universal Providence of God supports the lower rank of Creatures in their natural Life so long as their faculties are qualified for actions proper to that life we may strongly argue that his conservative Influence will not be withdrawn from the humane Soul that is apt and capable in its own nature to exist and act in a separate state In short the understanding and elective powers declare its descent from the Father of Spirits whose image is ingraven in its nature not as in brittle glass but an incorruptible Diamond I shall add to the natural arguments an observation of the Platonists that of all other Philosophers approach nearest the truth in their discourses of God and the Soul of the Majesty of the one and the excellence of the other They observe that the unity of the World is so closely combin'd in all its parts the several beings that compose it that between the superiour and inferiour species there are middle Natures wherein they meet that no vacuum may interpose in the series of things This is evident by considering that between inanimate bodies and living insensible and sensible there are some beings that partake of the extremes and link them together that the order of things not being interrupted the mind by continual easie degrees may ascend from the lowest to the highest in perfection And from this just and harmonious proportion that is proper to essences the intelligible beauty and musick of the World arises that is so pleasing to the considering mind Now what band is there to joyn the two ranks of Beings intelligent and sensible but Man that partakes of Sense common with the Beasts and Understanding to the Angels For this reason they give him the mysterious name of Horizon the ending and union of the two Hemispheres the superiour and inferiour the two orders of Natures immortal and that shall perish CHAP. X. The moral Arguments for the Souls Immortality The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual eternal happiness argues it survives the Body The lower order of Creatures obtain their perfection here It reflects upon Nature if the more noble fails of its end That wicked Men would choose annihilation is no proof against Mans natural desires of Immortality The necessity of a future state of recompences for moral actions proves the Soul to be immortal The wisdom of God as Governor of the World requires there be Rewards and Punishments annext to his Laws Eternal Rewards are only powerful to make men obedient to them in this corrupt state Humane Laws are no sufficient security of Vertue and restraint from Vice 2. I Will now consider the moral Inducements to confirm our belief that God will preserve the Soul in its being and activity hereafter And of this we have sufficient evidence by internal light the natural notions of the Deity and by many visible testimonies in his Government of the World 1. The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual and eternal Felicity not attainable here is a strong argument that 't is reserv'd to a future state The Understanding is inclin'd to the knowledge of Truth the Will to the fruition of Goodness and in what degrees soever we discover the one and enjoy the other in our present condition we are not content As one that is burnt up with such a Thirst that onely an Ocean can quench and has but a little stream to refresh him God is the only satisfying Object of the rational faculties and here our conceptions of him are so imperfect that we approach nearer the Truth by denying what is inconsistent with his Nature than in affirming the proper Perfections of it And the communications of his Love to us inflames the Soul with new desires of fuller enjoyment This desire of Happiness is essential to Man as Man Now 't is universally acknowledged that Nature is not a vain Principle it produces no superfluous inclinations in any sort of Creatures much less in Man and in that which is most proper to him and in order to the raising him to his Perfection The natural motion of a Stone has a center where to rest Plants arrive to their full growth and beauty the Beasts have present satisfaction and are happy Animals But Man in whom the two lower lives and the Intellectual are united is here only in his way to happiness his best endeavours are but