other Christians are in of being reduc'd under the Slavery of this Mortal and common Enemy so that how prosperous soever the Christian Arms are or have been we are still in greater danger than ever of being ruin'd by the Legions of these Infidels not those of their Spahi or Janizaries but by those of another Order far more mischeivous forasmuch as they fight under our own Colors and pretend to be of our Party such Enemies are ever look'd upon as the most dangerous for they are rarely discover'd till they have given the Mortal Blow Now these are the Socinians a Sect which though exploded the World above a thousand Years ago under the appellation of Arians are in these our days risen again from the Grave and like Spectrums appear every where in the Dark In denying therefore the Divinity of Jesus Christ they do with the Mahometans not only deny the Trinity the Doctrine of Justification or the Merits of Christ's Satisfaction but also Baptism in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost together with the Doctrine of Original Sin So many fatal Errours do follow one upon the Neck of another by denying that one Fundamental Truth which Christ himself is pleas'd to call the Basis of his Church viz. That glorious confession of St. Peter Thou art Christ the Son of the living God The Socinians we all know are a Mungril Brood half Christians half Turks and for this Reason 't is that they swarm so much in Poland Hungary and Transylvania and are found at this day to fight openly for the Crescent against the Cross This Argument is too great and weighty to be discours'd upon under the Method I am engag'd to it would require a Volume though we cannot but hope that as the Pens of pious and learned Men will not be wanting to pursue and stab their Errours so the Sword of the Magistrate will not fail to find out their Persons CHAP. XXVII Of the Immortality of the Soul THe Immortality of Man's Soul is a point of high concernment and comes next to be consider'd of for as much as all our reliance upon God's Providential Order as also all the hopes and rewards which depend upon our Faith with whatsoever else relates to our Christian Practice are all built upon this Persuasion viz. That the Soul of Man which is the Principle or Source of all his Actions is of an incorruptible Nature and survives the Body But before we proceed to Proof 't is necessary to clear some doubts which seem to obstruct us in the Prosecution of this Argument The first grand difficulty is from the Old Testament for if the Immortality of the Soul be so great a Truth and so necessary to be believ'd how comes it to pass we find no mention of it in all the Jewish Writers of Old In all the Books of the Old Testament there is no place to be found where there is so much as mention made of the Kingdom of Heaven â—â— of a future 〈◊〉 after Death Had the Patriarchs and Prophets believ'd any such thing they must needs have mention'd it some time or other as being a thing of the greatest concern to them and the best support against the Misfortunes of the World and the Terrour of Death And above all David must needs have taken notice of it having such frequent occasions given him for it from the whole course and variable occurrences of his life Nay even at his Death his Discourses with Solomon were very copious about setling the Temporal Affairs of his Kingdom but not a Word of the place where he was going to nor do we find that Abraham Jacob Moses Samuel or any of the Patriarchs and Prophets to whom God so largely and familiarly reveal'd his Will ever touch'd upon this important point at the hour of their Death only we read that they slept with their Fathers and were gather'd to their People and there was an end And though we read oft times of the Soul and of Hell in the Old Testament yet 't is plain that by Hell is understood nothing but Death or the Grave as by the Soul also is understood no more but the animal Life and sometiâ—es the Heart and Affections A Resurrection of the Body is indeed mention'd by Job and Daniel but that 's another point but no proof can be produc'd which speaks of the Soul as of an immaterial and spiritual substance subsisting after Death To this I answer First that the Scripture is not so silent touching the Soul's Immortality but that there is ground enough even from Scripture to make the matter dubious For most Divines are of Opinion that 't was Samuel's real Soul which God suffer'd the Witch to raise the Night before Saul's Death which could not be had it not surviv'd the Body And even in Ecclesiastes which Book seems even in a manner to determine Man's felicity in Temporal Enjoyments upon the summ of the matter we are told by Solomon that the Body shall return to the Dust but the Spirit to God that gave it though much either way cannot be concluded from the Passages of this Book which seems to be no other than a Collection of Observations made by Solomon under his two Capacities Natural and Divine or a Miscellany of Aphorisms as they were dictated by the Natural Man and Wisdom But whatever it be this is certain that if the Books of Tobit and of Wisdom be of any Credit with us as I know not but they should there is enough for our purpose being told Cap. 2. and 3. of Wisdom that God created Man to be Immortal and that the Souls of the Righteous are in the hands of God and there should no Torment touch them and a little after he says that though they be punish'd in the sight of Men yet is their Hope full of Immortality Tobit also in his Prayer Cap. 3. desires of God that he might be deliver'd out of his Distress and go into the everlasting place In the next place 't is notwithstanding probable that God thought fit to conceal the clear knowledge of this as also of other Important Mysteries of Religion such as the Doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation with some Truths of this Nature from the Generality of the Jews to render the Preaching of the Gospel more glorious by the new Discoveries it was to bring along with it and this is what Saint Paul tells us expresly 2 Tim. c. 1. viz. That Jesus Christ had abolish'd Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel though 't is pious also to believe That many of the Holy Patriarchs and Prophets under the Mosaical Institution had some secret dawnings of this Light even by the Shadows it reflected Their wandrings in the Wilderness represented their Instability Hardships and Errours of Life all which were to end in Caanan the place of everlasting Rest Their Jubelees also and Sabbaths were Types also of the same Everlasting Rest as St.
Paul fully shews Hebr. the 4th where he proves also that the promised Rest was not that which Joshua gave them in Caanan Farther yet 't is not improbable that God should conceal this Important Truth from the Jewish Fathers to the end their Faith might be more Illustrious for the less of Evidence the greater is the Excellence of Faith as St. Paul pursues at large through the 11th Chap. to the Hebrews in the many noble Acts of Faith recorded of the Jewish Worthies and particularly of the Patriarchs he expounds it that they saw the Promises a far off and that they were only as Strangers and Pilgrims upon the Earth seeking another Country which was heavenly Now if they who had but such a saint glimmering or dawning of a future State should live in such a constant dependance upon God's Providence with such exactness of Moral Justice and with such indifference for the Things of this Life in respect of God's Commands was a thing infinitely more Noble than if they had had future Rewards within a near prospect for then Self-Interest might seem to have been their Motive whereas now all their Obedience was resolv'd into the Will and Pleasure of their Almighty Sovereign and therefore 't is that Abraham's Faith is so highly recommended to us in this Chapter For in his readiness to sacrifice his Son he actually sacrific'd all the Affections of Nature and the considerations even of his Reason in his chearfull compliance with God's Commands Many are the noble Acts of Faith recorded of these famous Men of old who yet received not the Promises God having provided some better things for us that they without us should not be made perfect In short the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality being taught by Jesus Christ and the divine Authority of Jesus Christ being evidently deduc'd from the Writings of the Old Testament it follows also that this Doctrine was therein contain'd as to its Causes like as an Embryo in the Womb which though invisible for a while was in its due time to be brought forth and be made manifest to the World Another Objection from Scripture against the Immortality of the Soul may be grounded upon that Passage of Genesis the 9th whereby God speaking of Man said Gen. 9th Surely the Blood of your Lives will I require at the Hand of every Beast will I require it c. what our Translation renders Life is by the Vulgar rendred Soul or the Blood of your Souls and therefore Levit. 17. 't is said that the Life or Soul of all Flesh is the Blood thereof and for that Reason 't was that Blood was prohibited as being the Life or Soul of every living Creature Now if the Life or Soul be the Blood or in the Blood as the Phrase is us'd promiscuously it follows that proportionably to the effusion of Blood the Soul also is effusible and consequently divisible and Mortal To this 't is answer'd that Scripture Phrases are not to be taken according to the strict Notions of Philosophy but according to the Apprehensions and customary Speech of those they are directed to For so it is that whilst we see Life departing leisurely upon the effusion of Blood we say commonly that the Soul departeth with it forasmuch as the Spirits which are the great Instruments of the Soul are recruited by the Blood which upon this consideration also may be said to be the Vehicle of Life but cannot be said to be Life it self but in an improper sense for though upon an Evacuation of the Blood the Soul or Life departeth so the Soul or Life may depart also the Blood still remaining in the Body without any notable diminution or alteration The next Prejudice against the Immortality of the Soul is grounded upon the Birth Growth Progress and Decays we observe usually of its operations conformable to the several Stages of Life Reason we see does begin to disclose it self in Child-hood and although some Men have a greater share of it than others yet upon the main it seems to borrow its Improvements from the different Tempers and Dispositions of Men and the several Methods of Education nay some Countries have an Influence upon the Genius's of Men more than others and inclines them to more Man-like and regular Thoughts and render them quicker Witted and subtle If the Soul of Man were endow'd naturally with such excellent Gifts why does it not manifest the same without so much cultivation and Expense without so much diligence and study and as fast as we acquire the knowledg of some things we forget others so that all the Productions of the Mind are rather the effects of Art than of Nature We see also when the Body is most Athletick the Mind also is most vigorous and as the Body decays by Age or Sickness so the Functions of the Soul languish also and by all the Experiments we can make are totally suppress'd by Death Besides if the Soul of Man were Immortal how comes it to pass that it has naturally such a horrour of Death whereas it should rather rejoice at its approach as the only means of its deliverance from that Obscurity and Restraint it is subject to in the Body from which being once releas'd 't is said to enjoy a perfect and unchangable State of Bliss To the latter part of this Objection 't is answer'd that the Fears which seize usually on dying Men is the best Argument in the World to prove the Soul's Immortality For dying Men could never have such a fear had they not Apprehensions of a future State as also of its Duration and Immutability so that these Considerations being incident to Men of all Conditions Ages Countries and Perswasions prove sufficiently that they are inherent and natural to the Soul as Gravity Levity and such like Inclinations of Bodies do demonstrate there is another Region without them to which they naturally tend were the Soul of Man as well as his Body extinguishable by Death to dye would be no more than to close up all the Labours of a tedious Life in one found and eternal Sleep a thing which all Men naturally would rather covet than abhor But when a departing Soul feels an inward Agony and labours betwixt Hopes and Fears it shews it is approaching towards a future state of Happiness or Woe the apprehension whereof cannot choose but fill it with some amazement and distraction As to the other part of this Objection viz. That the Powers of the Soul do rise and fall proportionably to the Improvements and Delays of Nature therefore they must perish with it I answer this does by no means follow A Candle burns brighter or dimmer as the Glass or Lanthorn which contains it is more clear or cloudy and yet the Light would not be extinguished though the brittle Case were broken but on the contrary it would appear with a fuller Lustre and diffuse its Beams without confinement When we see one of those floating Castles of the Sea
are they in their Reports and how capacious and indefatigable is the Mind in receiving them Cogitation never wearies it though the Animal Powers grow tir'd often and require repose What an infinite variety of Objects occurr to the Mind at once what numberless Idea's and Images of things hover always over it and how quick are its transitions from one thing to another seeming as it were in one Point or Instant of time to view all Persons Things and Places which ever made an impression upon the Sense The Mind passes in a moment from the dark Centre of the Earth to the utmost surface of the World and there surveys this vast Fabrick From thence it flies through that immense or imaginary space which is incomprehensible and infinite and which surrounds the whole Creation It fathoms the Nature of Things so that whatsoever has an Existence falls under its consideration it does not only take in present and past Things but it extends its Power to future Objects whether possible or such as really shall come to pass and by a just balancing of what is past with what may happen it frames excellent Rules for the government of Life it leaves us Precepts also how to moderate our Passions by a right use of them and by these means teaches us the Divine Art of Wisdom and true Felicity How many Conceptions are there which hourly offer themselves to our Thoughts when we retreat a little within our selves Of these some are simple Apprehensions only of particular things others by way of Composition are the results of divers Images amidst which great multiplicity some there are which at the first sight seem plausible and attractive which yet upon farther examination of Reason are found to be superficial only and fallacious Others again seem abstruse and useless which upon a strict Enquiry are found to be most beneficial and sollid and accordingly they are committed to the Store-houses or several Apartments of Memory there to be conserv'd and reveiw'd at leisure and to be produc'd for service towards our farther acquisition of Knowledg or for our better conduct in the Occurrences and Affairs of Life all which Conceptions and Inferences of Reason are of that vast extent and of that spiritual and subtil Nature as cannot but tell us that their Spring is pure and inexhaustible Contemplation is another intellectual Act of a Rational Soul and indeed the highest and most Seraphick for by this the Mind is elevated above all sensible Forms and many times deserts the habitation of the Body it seems to break Prison and feels an ineffable Agility and Pleasure in being unconfin'd whilst the Body lies senseless and as it were inchanted with the soft Chains of Sleep And when the Mind recovers it self out of the Ecstasie in which all the inferiour Powers are sometimes drown'd what languors are there in the Soul what struglings to return to the same state of separation whilst it nauseats all earthly Objects whatsoever which shews that the Soul thirsts after another State independent on the Body and by consequence must survive it In the last place if we reflect a little upon the Will the other great Faculty of a humane Soul we shall find its Operations to be so free and magisterial as cannot but tell us that the Soul of which it is a Branch is independent on all Animal Inclinations whatsoever for so it is that we have a Power of Election and of Rejection of Objects contrary all the dictates of Sense and Passion We see every day how Men choose Imprisonment rather than Liberty Poverty and Disgrace rather than Wealth and Honour and even Death it self rather than Life and can bid an eternal Adieu to all sensual Enjoyments which Nature can induce them to and all upon future Considerations so that the current of voluntary Actions mounts much higher we see than the Level of Nature and must issue therefore from a higher Spring Therefore Conscience which is nothing but that Impartial Judgment which every Man makes within the Tribunal of his own Breast by reflecting on what he has done or on what he is about to do how quick and impartial is it in recalling on Memory such things as many times we would willingly forget how inexorable is it in condemning the Man himself and how severe in inflicting condign Punishments more powerfull than all the Tortures of the Rack and of the longest continuance and as ghastly as the Horrors of Hell being such as no Methods of Reason no Arts of Education no Charms of Sense no Worldly Fruition no Spirits of Wine no Physick no good Company nor Musick and finally no Decays of Body can lay a Sleep and on the other hand when a Man has the Testimony of a good Conscience on his side though he expects no Rewards from the World nay though he expect Discomforts as also loss of Friends Liberty Estate and good Name and even of life it self how does he rejoice within with what chearfull Countenance does he meet the Menaces of Fortune and in the midst of Tempests finds serenity Now whence can this proceed but from the pretensions the Soul has of a future Judgement it must undergo after Death which cannot be were the Soul Material and Mortal With these and infinite other things is the Mind continually employ'd without Obstacle or Danger without Rest or Interruption so that when all the Senses and Faculties of the Body are actually suspended as in Sleep yet is the Soul still vigilant and active which shews plainly that 't is of a Nature far more durable and perfect than any Animal Capacity whatsoever whether Dreams be an effect of the Animal Faculty or of the Mind rather is not yet determin'd 't is more probable that they are deriv'd from the latter 'T is true the Discourses which we seem to make whilst we are a sleep how rational soever they appear to Men in this Circumstance are found very trivial and many times ridiculous when our Senses are full a wake yet this proves not that these Thoughts of the Night are deriv'd from some other Principle inferiour to the Mind it being most evident that the gross Conceits with which the thoughts of sleeping Men are fill'd are nothing but the Operations of the Soul deprav'd and clouded with such Vapours as fill the Brain in the time of Sleep and which do not only suffocate the Senses for a time but by their spissous fumes fill all the Bells of this upper Region of the Mind so that all its Operations receive a kind of fuliginous Tincture from them And hence we find also that in Men who are perfectly awake and whose Brains are fill'd with adust and scorching Vapours as in a Fever and many other Distempers all the Actions of the Mind seem like Dreams and all Objects occurr to fancy full of Terrour Agony and Distraction by reason of those burning Particles which fume from distemper'd Blood The second general Argument for the Soul 's Immortatily
is drawn from its Natural Inclinations which are such as are still aspiring towards higher degrees of Perfection The Mind is never satiated with Knowledge but still thirsts after new Discoveries our perception of one thing does naturally lead us into the enquiry of another which having once obtained our Soul takes a farther prospect still till at length being arriv'd to the first origine of all things it dwells on it and enquires also into the Nature and Perfections of it as far as its own limits will allow and deserves to be united with it for ever Now this shews sufficiently that in this life 't is only in a tendency to that Perfection and Rest which cannot be attain'd to but in another The descending stone if any thing obstruct its Motion does by its resisting weight tell us that by Nature it would go farther and the nearer it comes to its centre it presses still with greater weight and if no obstacle occurr it is still more impetuous in its Motion till it falls at last to that point of Rest from which 't will not be remov'd but with greater difficulty In like manner we observe also how the Flame mounts upwards and the more pure and subtile 't is the quicker in its Motion which still encreases the higher it rises till at last 't is swallow'd up and incorporated in that immense Region of Aether to which it was design'd by Nature Thus fares it with the Soul of Man which does enlarge its desires far beyound the Enjoyments of Life the more t is fill'd the greater still is its appetite which discovers plainly that it is not yet arriv'd to its place of Rest but is only in the way towards it which since it can never find whilst it is in union with the Body it remains that there must be a future State where it shall meet with a suitable content which cannot be unless the Soul by Nature were Incorruptible and Immortal So that whosoever shall but make a Reflection upon himself and consider the Frame and Temper of his own Mind must needs observe it to be of a Nature more active and diffusive than Fire and more quick and penetrating than Lightning and as to its comprehensive Power most capacious and such as Labour cannot exhaust nor Age make feeble On the contrary the longer it endures it still grows more Vigorous and requires something more than finite to fills its Dimensions from all which we may well conclude that 't is of a Spiritual and Angelick Nature and such as must survive all the decays and changes of the Body And indeed were it corruptible and mortal it must be some of these ways First by the Action of its Contrary as we see mixt Bodies are corrupted by some Excess or Irregularity in their first qualities which interchequing with one another cause a dissolution but this cannot be the case of the Soul which is of a Nature most pure and unmixt Another way by which things are destroy'd is by Division and Separation of its parts thus by daily experience we see how things Natural and Artificial are always wasted and broke to peices but the Soul being without Extension of parts cannot be dissolv'd by divisibility A third way by which we observe Bodies to perish is by a deficiency of their Aliment thus a Tree dies for want of Moisture and a Lamp is extinguish'd for want of Oyl to feed it but 't is not so with the Soul of Man for though it subsist in the Body as the flame of a Lamp in the Viol yet has it not its Illumination from it 'T is true it receives many Informations by the outward Organs of the Senses but these Images being simple and common bear no Analogy to the workings of the Mind besides we find the Soul subsisting and acting when all sensitive assistence is withdrawn That then on which the Mind of Man feeds and improves it self is that infinite variety of Objects whether visible or intellectual which we meet with perpetually both in Heaven and Earth together with those noble Speculations and Conclusions of Reason which though compounded of a few naked Notions and capable of being multiplied into as great a number as that of Words which yet are but the Productions of a few simple and Alphabetick Sounds variously mixt and set together Now since the Multitude and greatness of mental Objects can never be exhausted by the Soul it follows that the Soul of Man can never perish through want of a suitable Aliment and Supply indeed all sensible and material things cannot so properly be said to perish as to be corrupted by being chang'd into something of another Nature which Transmutation or Corruption of things is at the most nothing but a resolution of them into their Elements from whose implace new bodies do rise but the Soul of Man is uncapable of all such Alterations It is not resolvable into any Elements as being of a Nature more unmixt and pure than any Element whatsoever it is not changeable into another Soul or capable of being other than what it is but by Annihilation which yet is not consistent with the Nature of God who having once created a thing is never known to have reduc'd it to its first nothing And therefore as the third General Argument the Immortality of the Soul is yet farther demonstrable from the Justice of God's Providence We have observ'd in the precedent Chapters that as to the Comforts and Blessings of this Life wicked Men generally have the upper hand whilst Innocent and Vertuous Persons are oft-times expos'd to unjust Sentences Calumnies Oppression Torments Imprisonments Confiscation of Goods and sometimes to Death it self How many a poor and honest Christian is there in the World who suffers by Sickness Cold Hunger and all courses of Poverty and yet lives always in an humble Resignation of his Will to that of Almighty God and is thankfull too for the small Comforts of life he receives from him by the Ministry of his own laborious Hands whilst some rich Glutton lies Batning amidst his Wealth and swelling with Pride and Fatness of Bread abandons himself to ease and all manner of disorders both of Body and Mind Whose Religion indeed consists only in having some young formal Chaplain for State rather than for Devotion thinking his Equipage defective unless he has some one in the Ecclesiastick Livery to wait upon him Now how these and infinite such Indecencies can consist with the Justice of God's Providential Government is a difficulty which can never be answered were there not a Future State where unfortunate Vertue should be crown'd and prosperous wickedness be chastis'd which yet can never be unless the Soul of Man survive the Miseries and Dissolution of the Body The Truth of it is take away the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality and we destroy all Morality For morally speaking who would deny his Soul the Contents and Pleasures of his Appetite were all Felicity determin'd in sensual
and present Enjoyments Who would scruple to enrich himself by Fraud Robbery and Murder or to gratifie his Lusts by Rapes Adultery or any other Enormity were he sure there were no Punishnent to be met with after Death The consequence of which disorders could be no less than the subversions of all Property and Civil Government Upon these and such like Considerations we may in the last place observe that the wisest and most learned Men through all Ages and Countries of the World believ'd the Soul's Immortality such as Hermes and Pythagoras who by the few Fragments Hermes in Paenrand cap. 1. that are extant of him in Ancient Writers was of the same Belief Socrates at his Death adher d to this Belief also and resisted the Strength and Malignity of his Poison by this Antidote that his Soul shortly should enjoy the Society of the Vertuous and Blessed in the other World This Doctrine was much improv'd by Plato and his Followers especially Platinus who was the most learned of that Sect and who wrote ex professo divers learned Books upon this Argument the summ of which is that the Soul of Man is not deriv'd from the Nature of the Parents but immediately from God that though it subsist in the Body yet its Operations are independent on it Forasmuch as the Soul the more it withdraws it self from all sensible Objects the more distinct and clear is Ratiocination From whence we conclude that when it shall totally be separated it shall apprehend things in an instant by Intuition without the helps of reasoning by Ratiocination is nothing but a Combat of the Mind to evince something of which it doubts which doubtings spring from the gross and cloudy Suggestions and Obstacles of the Body from which being once deliver'd there will be no place left for Doubt and Hesitation As for the Stoicks their Doctrine seemed to lead them to a different persuasion since they plac'd all the Felicity of Man in the Practice of Vertue with regard to no other reward So that our Moral Actions ceasing as certainly they do after Death all is at an end And this Doctrine of theirs though it carried with it a great many of noble Sentiments yet it failing in the true end of Man's Felicity it oblig'd them to maintain a great number of Paradoxes in its defence whereas had they understood the Immortality of the Soul and future Rewards after Death that had been sufficient to have supported them in a vertuous course of life maugre all the disasters that might assault them and which these Philosophers endeavour'd to oppose by so many noble Precepts of their Doctrine Seneca in some places seems dubious yet in his Consolatory Epistle to Mercia upon the Death of his Son he is altogether Divine Epictetus also a Stoick and the Glory of his Sect and Age asserts every where the Soul's Immortality But above all Tully the Flower of Roman Tuscul Quaes lib. 1. Eloquence and himself a Philosopher of Plato's School is every where most Copious and Ravishing when he comes to speak of the Capacities and Future State of the Soul Many says he think the Eternity of Souls to be incredible because they cannot comprehend the essence and qualities of a separated Soul but can they let me ask them define what a Soul is even in the Body of what form it is what its dimensions are and what is the place of its abode And a little after for my own part when I seriously reflect upon the Nature of the Soul it seems to be much more difficult and obscure to know what the Soul is whilst it is in Conjunction with the Body where it seems to be lodg'd as in a foreign Inn than to understand the same when it quits the Lodging in which it sojourns and takes its Journey home-wards to Heaven the place of its constant Habitation For if we cannot understand that which we never saw we may as well disown all knowledge of God as of a separated Soul but Spirits are to be understood and known only by Spirits And by and by he concludes whatsoever that thing is which perceives which understands which wills which is always Vigorous and Masculine must needs be Celestial and Divine and therefore Eternal for we can form no other Notions of God but as of a Mind abstracted from all material Concretion understanding all things moving all things and being it self ended with an Eternal Activity All which the same Divine Oratour prosecutes most copiously in his Book de Senectute telling us that it was not the Itch of Disputation which drew him to this Persuasion but having built his Belief upon the Authorities of Pythagoras and Socrates he declares farther that such is the celerity of the Soul's Thoughts so great its Memory of past and foresight of future things so many are its Arts Sciences and other Inventions that 't is inpossible that the Nature which comprehends such excellent things should be Mortal and therefore since the Mind is always a working and has this principle of Motion from it self and knows also no period of its Motion because it can never divide from it self and serve the nature of the Soul is void of all Mixture and Allay and contains nothing heterogenious to it self he concludes that it must be indivisible and uncapable of Dissolution following as he says the Doctrine of Plato in this particular To Conclude he says that if I do err in this Belief of the Soul's Immortality I do err willfully nor will I ever retract this beloved Errour whilst I live or if it should be possible that being dead I should be void of all sense as some Minute Sophisters do fancy I shall not fear to be reproached by them Nor was this Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality the constant Belief of the wisest Greeks and Romans only but also of the Persians too as appears by the excellent Discourse of dying Cyrus upon this subject recorded by Xenophon And as for the Poets they universally tell us of a future State after Death wherein the Wicked shall be punish'd and the Just rewarded and what their sense was in this matter we may read in Lucan in that noble Description he makes of Pompey's Apotheosis From all which Considerations we have a most undeniable proof of its Eternal Verity It being impossible that a Doctrine established upon all the Principles of Reason of such an universal consent and believ'd by the wisest best and most learned Men of all Ages in opposition to all humane Interests and sensual Suggestions whatsoever should be the effect only of uncertain Conjecture or of a premeditated Collusion CHAP. XXVIII Of Natural Religion as a means to Salvation HAving shewn in the precedent Chapters of this Discourse that the wiser Heathen had not only a knowledge of the true God as the Creator and Preserver of the Universe but a knowledge also of the Immortality of the Soul and of a future State where good Men should receive
own Passions His own dangers and difficulties were the least part of his Trouble the wellfare of others was that which fill'd his Mind with an Apostolick Solicitude Let any Man judge of a Person in his circumstances and who held such a vast correspondence with all parts of the new converted World which was then oppugn'd every where what infinite Letters and Addresses must be made to him from all places to all which he was oblig'd to answer whether they concern'd Cases of Conscience amongst those especially of the Circicumsion or whether they concern'd Church Doctrines and Constitutions or the behaviour of the Primitive Christians under so many Temptations and Difficulties as occurr'd every where What continuances of Adversaries Spiritual and Temporal what Sollicitations from Friends what vast designs for the Eternal wellfare of Mankind employ'd his Thoughts and fill'd all the spacious Rooms and secret Recesses of his Soul What triumphing over the blandishments and discouragements of the World over Crowns and Empires over Honours Riches Strength Wisdom and Eloquence with whatsoever else might influence a wordly Genius he erects the Standard of the Cross declaring openly to the Learned and Illiterate to the Noble and Obscure that he came not with the Artifice of enticing Words nor the Inventions of humane Knowledge but with simplicity of Conceptions and Expressions to Preach Christ crucified This he demonstrated with an undoubted Courage in his Defence or Apology for the Christian Faith at Caesarea as also against the Defamations of the high Priests and the chiefest of the Jewish Nation though strengthned with the plausible Insinuations and virulent Invectives of their Orator Tertullus All which things were transacted in a most publick Audience before Felix Festus and King Agrippa and after many difficulties of a dangerous Voyage he had the honour in the last place to plead his Cause more than once before the Terrour of Mankind the most bloody Nero from whom also as a just Reward of his cause and courage he received a Lawrel far more noble than what adorn'd Caesar's Brow even that glorious one of Martyrdom His defence doubtless was much the same with what he made before Festus and Agrippa however it has pleased Almighty God to suffer such a noble Monument of Primitive Glory to be lost as are also many other Illustrious Transactions of the holy Apostles Nevertheless divers of his Epistles which by God's good Providence are deliver'd to us by the Church shew sufficiently with what a Spirit he was animated They are Argumentative and profound in the Doctrinal part His precepts carry the Majesty of Oracles and yet do they flow every where with the sweet Streams of Tenderness and Compassion like Lightning melting the Steel within even the resisting parts or the most obdurate heart without hurting the Body we find him every where glorying with a Seraphick Charity more chaste and lasting than any Vestal Fire and more sacred than the Flames of Altars burning always without being consum'd In short we find him carying always in a mortified Body the Characters of a crucified Christ but of a glorified Jesus in the elevation of his Spirit which he every where discovers both in the perpetual Activity and if I may speak it without a Solecism in the perpetual Tranquillity also of his Mind The same divine Vertues which adorn'd the Apostleship of St. Paul are remarkable also in St. Peter and in the rest of Christ's Disciples whose Conquests we are in the next place to consider in respect of the Pagan World As for the Romans whose Government at the time of Christ's appearance comprehended all the known and civiliz'd World let us see in what a State and Posture they then stood Their Empire was then at the highest Pitch and in its greatest Power Extent and Lustre and greater far than ever any Empire before or since Rome the capital City of this vast Body upon a Survey made by Claudius call'd a Lustrum containd no less than six Millions nine hundred forty four thousand Souls as Tacitus reports Humane Tacit. Lib. 11. Hist Arts and Learning then flourish'd most then liv'd the acutest Philosophers and the greatest Bigots of Heathenism Their Augurs and Flamines with such like Instruments of their superstitious Worship fill'd an infinite number of Colleges and abounded every where There was neither Power nor Zeal wanting in the Emperours and Senate to defend their Rites neither was their Torments wanting to be inflicted on those who should oppose them in a word never were the Powers of Earth or rather of Hell in a better posture for combat In opposition to this great and formidable Armado they appear on the other side a few despicable Fishermen and Illiterate Mechanicks mere Idiots in the eye of the World and destitute of Friends Learning and Policy without Arms or Money in their Scrips without change of Apparel and with a staff only in their Hands half naked and forlorn This at first appearance looks more fabulous than a Romance but that the Case thus stood is clear and indisputable Now that such a few humble and ill accounted Champions should enter the Lists against such Enemies as are now describ'd was a Prodigy beyond Example and yet they did so and with what success we shall see presently Twelve poor Disciples with a few Converts did attack this great and adverse party not by keeping themselves united into a close body but by scattering themselves through all quarters of the Universe They erected their Standard the ever glorious Banner of the Cross even in Rome it self the centre of Pagan Rites and this too in the Reign of the most debauch'd and bloody Tyrant that ever sate on the Throne They preach'd up Jesus who was crucified and buried and was with-drawn from them as to all sensible appearance They taught that the way to Happiness was by Suffering to be Glorious by enduring Ignominy to be Rich by selling all to obtain Liberty by Bonds and Imprisonments and to be Conquerours by being Subdu'd and Persecuted They taught also That Men were as accountable for their sinfull Thoughts as for their Actions and that every extravagance of desire was to be resisted To all which they were to join Fastings and Watchings Alms and Prayers and that Cold Nakedness Hunger and Thirst Persecutions and even Death it self were to be endur'd cherafully and all this and much more for the sake of that Jesus who was Crucified and from whom also they were to expect their Reward in another Life Such Doctrine deliver'd from such a sort of Men one would think to be mighty plausible to convince the proud Philosophers as also the haughty and imperious Romans who breath'd nothing but Conquests and Triumphs And still the undertaking seems more impossible if we consider with what Arms and Weapons the Romans made their Defence viz. with Swords and Crests with Mines and Prisons with wild Beasts and Racks and with all the Artillery of Subtilty and Cruelty And yet notwithstanding
proudly sailing when we observe how easily 't is turn'd about and how regular it is in all its Motions and yet of that force as to resist the blustring Winds and the raging Ocean we are easily persuaded that there is some one within who animates this great and curious Machine who though he be no part or Member of the same yet all the Effects he works depend upon the good disposition and frame of the Ship for if it be old leaky or any way disabled in the Hulk Rigging or any of its subservient Instruments the Pilot though never so knowing will appear very defective in all his Endeavours nay though the Pilot knows himself to be of a more durable and excellent Frame than the Vessel which carries him yet he fears a Wreck and labours what he can to save his Ship from the Apprehensions he has of the uncertain State to which he shall be expos'd when the Vessel which now covers him shall fall to pieces how apposite this Emblem is to illustrate our present Argument is obvious to all As to the Operations of Man's Soul I confess much must be allow'd to the force and Methods of Education and to the Temper of the Climate in which Men live and yet we may observe that the grossest Peasants have naturally all these Gifts which the wisest Men by all their Arts and Study can arrive to The laborious Husbandman though he cannot dicourse of the Dimensions Beauty and Motion of the Heavens understands well enough the Criticisms of every Season and knows also the Virtue and Temper of the Earth he cultivates much better than the inquisitive Philosopher and accordingly takes his Prospect and makes his profitable Returns he is cautious and subtle in making his little Bargains as the greatest Statesman can pretend to be in his Contracts and Measures of Government and what is yet more observable as he has a greater dependance upon Providence so naturally he shews a greater submission to the Will of Heaven and bears his Losses and Disappointments with greater patience than those who have been studied in the Schools of Vertue so that much still is to be attributed to the Genius and Fabrick of the Soul the natural Source of all his Actions We may observe also of many Bruits that they are endued with a natural Sagacity great Docility and with a greater quickness of Sense than what any Man can pretend to and yet one who is born Deaf and consequently Dumb though he be thus defective in that Sense of Hearing which is so essentially requisite for the attainment of Understanding and by which all Instruction finds a Passage to the Soul I say such a Man by the help of Art as daily Experience does evince in Mutes may be brought to have an accurate and correct Conception of things to be most apprehensive of what is said or done and by the least Hints and Motions of the Body to understand the Minds of those he does converse with and by an extraordinary quickness in the motion of his Hands and Eyes to communicate his own Thoughts a thing which Bruits though never so subtil and prone to Imitation and though most accute and attentive in all their Senses and though instructed with the greatest diligence can never arrive to in any degree considerable which shews sufficiently that there is a vast difference betwixt the Nature and Capacity of the Animal and those of the Rational Soul That force of Judgment and Reason which we observe frequently in Men under the decays of Nature whether by Age or Sickness is not I confess such a satisfactory Proof of such a perfection of the Soul as is now discours'd of since we find that even habits of Exercise acquir'd in our younger Years as of Dancing or Instrumental performances continue to some considerable degree in Men maugre all the Indispositions and Decays of the Body much more then may those Habits of the Mind which were acquir'd by Discipline and Study continue vigorous in a languishing Constitution though they were admitted to spring from an Elementory mixture But for all this we may frequently observe in dying Men some sudden Sallies and Transports of Joy some extraordinary Efforts of Mind which were not the effects of Education and above all in dying Children whose tender Age never yet arriv'd to any such Inclinations we may oftentimes observe strange Illuminations and quietness of Spirit a little before their departure which I say can never proceed from what they never yet acquir'd but from the innate Propensities and Genius of the Soul But whatsoever that dependence be which the Soul has upon the Body and though it should be granted that it receiv'd all its Improvements from it yet this is no Argument against the future and independent State of the Soul after death An Embryo we see is form'd and nourish'd by the Womb and yet when the just appointed time for its departure happens it is so far from ceasing to be what it was before that it acquires a nobler Degree of Life by being separated from its Matrix and arrives to the perfection of a living Creature endued with Sense which before only was of a vegetative Nature so it is with the Soul which though nourish'd or cherish'd by the Ministry of these Corporeal Organs when once it is deliver'd from them assumes yet a higher degree of Perfection and Life and is capable to subsist and act of it self by Methods far more Noble and Spiritual than those by which it was employ'd when it was in Union with the Body Having thus given a summary Reply to such Observations as seem'd most prejudicial to the Soul's Immortality let us now proceed to prove this Doctrine by such natural Medicines as shall yet give farther satisfaction to the foregoing Doubts as well as establish the truth of our present Assertion Now the general Arguments by which this Truth is demonstrable are taken 1. From the Operations of the Soul 2. From the natural Inclinations of the Soul 3. From the Justice of Divine Providence And lastly from the Testimonies of the wisest Heathens First as to the Operations of the rational Soul though the first Rudiments we have of things be borrowed from the Impressions made upon our outward Senses yet the Reductions and Inferences we make of things which are the Works properly of Reason are of a much sublimer Nature so that the Organs to Sense are but like the Candles to the Soul which discover indeed the Object in some respect whilst the discerning Faculties is of an extraction far more spiritual and pure With what fixt and constant Applications does the Mind of Man bend it self with all its Instruments upon its Object and through how many Labyrinths of Doubts and seeming Contradictions does it wind it self in the pursuit of it whether it be matter of Judgment and Practice or of Speculation only and Knowledg With what order silence and readiness does every Faculty stand prepar'd how quick and diligent