extort this Confession from all Men That there is a Being incomprehensibly Excellent which formed so excellent a Creature as our humane Nature is In Discoursing then upon this Subject I shall endeavour to shew these Two things 1. First Wherein the Excellence of humane Nature does consist 2. Secondly That this Excellence was derived not from the casual Modification of stupid Matter but from the Agency of an intelligent Cause that is eminently and absolutely Perfect 1. First Touching the Excellence of our humane Nature By our humane Nature is understood strictly the intellectual thinking and rational Thing within us which we call the Soul And when I spake of its Excellence I mean its essential Perfection before Vice comes to deprave and hurt it And I spake too of a comparative Perfection not meaning that it is Excellent in such a sublime Degree as a Deity is supposed to be but Excellent in its Kind and in comparison of the other Parts of this visible World Now that every rational Soul is thus Excellent will appear both from its Nature and Faculties In its Nature it is 1. First Immaterial For it is a distinct thing from Matter and the Properties of it are quite different from the Properties of Matter It is of the Nature of Matter to be locally extended as a Wall is part by part and one part by another in a palpable Series of Contiguity to move as a Stone does as it is moved forcibly by some other Agent and to communicate its Motion to a corporeal Substance by strokes imprest upon it to be wholly passive to external Violence to be in an utter state of Rest when Force is not offered to be as Senseless as a Stone and as void of Cogitation and when it is stirred and agitated to be destitute of all Apprehension which way or in what manner or to what end it moves These and the like dull Properties essentially and necessarily belong to Matter There is as much difference between them and the Attributes of the rational Soul as between Death and Life Because this is a busie Thing prone and ready to enquire into the qualities of Objects to discover their Natures to apprehend Ideas to commit Notions to Memory for a long time to discern and distinstuish between Truth and Falshood and between Right and Wrong to infer Conclusions from Premises to spin Opinions out of a train of Thoughts to judge what is to be Received and what is to be Rejected to exert an Appetite towards that which is Good and to rest with Complacency and Delight in the Enjoyment of it Nay besides all this to be also in its operations Self-active and Self-determining is Essential to it For the Soul of Man is not pulled or forced dragged or drawn or thrust on like a Machine No the Principle of its Actions is within its self nor can any thing move it but by its own consent and voluntary compliance Indeed outward Objects make Impressions upon it and such as do affect it and incline it to act according as things appear to be either desirable or hurtful But this is not done by any violent necessitating Impulse like the Force imprest upon a common Engine but in a Moral way by perswasion and allurement and by the intervening use of Reason which judgeth of the Object whether it may be chosen or refused and accordingly dictates and directs So that when the Soul resolves upon Actions and comes to exert its Power it determines it self being sollicited thereunto by Temptations and Arguments from the inviting Appearance of an Object but not driven to it by irresistible Violence For in many Cases we do resist Offers though they be very Tempting because the Motives for our compliance are not so strong as the Reasons which are against it And when the Reasons on each hand seem equally fair the Soul is unresolved and in suspence hanging in doubt in aequilibrio like Scales that are exactly even till some Grains be added some more Arguments offered on the one side which outweigh all on the contrary and so turn and cast the Scale and bring the Soul to a Determination Of these things every Man hath daily Experience in his own Breast We all feel in our selves this our native Liberty and determining Power And hence it follows That after all the Disputes about the Substance of the rational Soul what it is we may certainly conclude what it is not It cannot be any material corporeal Substance though you suppose it to be never so fine and thin because its Operations are quite different from the Motions of the most subtile Body They proceed not from any necessitating Cause nor are they carried on after a necessitating Manner nor are they brought to any necessary Result as the Motions of Matter are these are still imprest upon it by some necessitating thing which is without and foreign to it But the Soul of Man hath a Principle of Freedom and voluntary Activity within it self and in its Nature whereby it is apt to begin and order and govern and perfect its own Actions as its own Reason directeth and as it self judgeth to be most convenient and best 2. And because it is immaterial it must follow that its own Nature it is immortal also which is the Second Argument of its Excellence if compar'd with all the other parts of this visible World That this thing may be rightly understood we must consider that there is a two fold Life in Man 1. The Life of the Compositum as they call it or the Life of the whole Man that Life which results from the Vital Union between Soul and Body This cannot be thought immortal because we see it every Day destroy'd by the separation of those two Substances Soul and Body from each other 2. There is the Original Life of the Soul it self consider'd singly and separately as a distinct thing from the Body This Life is I conceive a state of Vigour and Activity and a state which is peculiar and proper to the Soul Now this is immortal that is though the Body turns to Dust and Ashes yet the Soul continues a living Being still or subsisteth on in a state of Vigour so that the Nature of it is not subject to Mortality For by Mortality is meant a proneness or tendency in a Being to a Dissolution of it upon the failing of that Principle of Activity within it which we call Life And three things are requisite to render a thing Mortal as we see by every Day 's Experience in all Creatures which naturally consume away and die 1. There must be a Mixture of contrary Qualities as Heat and Cold and the like 2. There is a corruptibility of Humours upon the Prevalence and Predominancy of one Quality over the others 3. And Thirdly a Divisibility of the Parts upon and after the over-powering the Faculties and Temperament of Nature So that 't is Matter that is liable to Death nor can Death be incident
of the thing produced As for instance Moses is said to have turned his Rod into a Serpent and then the Waters into Blood and then to have brought up Frogs out of the River and are not the Magicians said to have done so too Where then is the difference in the works And if there be no visible difference in them how doth it appear that there was a difference in the Powers which produced them And so why may not all be concluded an Imposture and consequently no substantial Evidence of the Existence of a God This now brings me to the second Enquiry How we may know and discern a true Miracle from a pretended one 1. For the clearing whereof it is First granted That they are not distinguishable by the visible quality of the works themselves unless it be in some particular Instances as the raising of the dead the giving Eyes to one that was born blind the multiplication of a few Loaves and the like In those cases the very Nature of the Works shew the singer of God for none but an Almighty Power could produce them nor could any created sinite Power pretend ever to have done the like But where one Wonder resembles another and seems to answer another there 2. Secondly The difference is discoverable chiesly from the Necessity and Tendency of the Operations Indeed their Circumstances and Manner of Production may go a great way to shew the singer of God or the working of Satan but I conceive a true Miracle may be most easily and best distinguish'd from a false one 1. By the Importance of the Reasons which make a Miracle necessary 2. By the End and Scope to which it tendeth 1. First When there is a true Necessity for Miracles As 1. When a man pretends to come from God with special Authority and Commission for some extraordinary Service in that case a Miracle is necessary to give evidence of his Commission and that he may be believed Such extraordinary Power must be back'd with extraordinary Works to attest it for otherwise people could not have sufficient Arguments to own it and 't is inconsistent with the Divine Nature to require mens Submission and not justify or set his Seal to that Authority which he binds them to submit unto but to leave them in a state of Guilt for rejecting that which he gave them not sufficient reasons to receive 2. Miracles are necessary when extraordinary Alterations are to be made in the world As when a solemn peculiar Form of Divine Worship is to be first set up or when a peculiar Form that was establish'd by Miracles is to be removed and taken down to make room for a different Form For these things are of such vast importance that in cases of this nature Men cannot be deceived without running the greatest hazards and nothing under a Miracle can keep them from being impos'd on Now when in these necessary cases Signs and Wonders are shew'd we may conclude them to be Divine Miracles but if there be no need at all of extraordinary Operations upon these accounts such as are pretended ought to pass for works Diabolical because God is not wont as they say to set his Seal to a Blank nor is it consistent with his Majesty and Wisdom to use his Omnipotence in vain 2. True Miracles may be distinguish'd from false ones by their scope and tendency The Works of God are Glorious not only for those signatures of Power they carry with them but also for that admirable Goodness and Wisdom which is discernable in them all because they always drive at the best and most important ends And so we must reckon such Miracles Divine as tend to confirm Truths which come by Divine Revelation For as such Truths cannot be consirmed but by the God of Truth that Reveals them so neither would they be attested by the Father of Lies the Devil did it lye in his Power to work a Miracle for the confirmation of them because nothing is more cross then Truth is to his interest in the world 2. Such Miracles are to be accounted Divine as tend to draw People off from the practice and love of Sin For as such Miracles are glorious manifestations of the Holiness of the Divine Nature so they serve to transform the Spirits of Men into the Divine Image and consequently can be wrought only by the Finger of God 3. Such Miracles as tend to preserve the true Worship of One God by acts of singular Love and Reverence and with an entire Resignation of Heart and Soul because this is the great end of God's whole Oeconomy and that which all Impostures hitherto have been intended to Defeat and Bassâ—le 4. In short Those are to be looked upon to be true Divine Miracles which tend to the utter destruction of the Devil's Power and Works These cannot possibly be thought Diabolical operations for if Satan rise up against himself and be divided he cannot stand but hath an end Mark 3. 26. All these things carry their own light with them and by that light we may very easily discern and distinguish true Miracles from those Impostures which have gone under that name in all times both Ancient and Modern Next after Moses Jesus Christ was the only Person publickly owned to have come from God upon an extraordinary Message to the world And in regard he intended to repeal the Mosaical Ordinances and instead thereof to enact more Spiritual Laws it was necessary for him to work Miracles to shew his Authority for the founding of his Church as Moses had shewed his for building of the Tabernacle And these were the noble ends of all Christ's Miracles to seal the Truth of his Doctrines that how Mysterious soever some of them might seem they might be believed for which reason he did no one Miracle before he began to Preach to reclaim Mankind from all manner of Vice and Immorality or whatever is contrary to God's Nature or reproachfel to their own to establish Piety and Honesty in the world to teach men to lead Sober Righteous and Godly Lives in this world to direct them how to Worship the only True God in Spirit and Truth and to deliver not only the Bodies but the Souls of all People from the Tyranny and Power of the Devil whose business was to Captivate all Mankind that they might walk on still in darkness and blindness of Heart which being the reasons and ends of the Lord Jesus his Miracles we may be sure that those reasons having been once answer'd and the ends sufficiently served by himself and his first Disciples there was no further need of Miracles And therefore whatever Signs and Wonders have been shewed supposing they were really effected either by some Pagans immediately following the time of Christ or by some Romanists in latter Ages they are not to be reckoned Divine Operations but so many Workings of Satan and his Instruments which are so far from justifying or giving credit to their Ways
of the Palsey and the like Difficult and Inveterate Distempers 3. Such Effects as have been done by the use of Means but yet such a sort of Means as were indispos'd for those Operations nay were utterly uncapable of themselves to produce those strange Effects As the Dividing of the Sea with a Rod the Separating of Waters by smiting them with a Mantle the Curing of a Leprosy by washing in a Common River the Sweetning of a Bitter Fountain with a Piece of Wood the giving Sight to the Blind by the application of Clay and Spittle the Restoring of the Deaf and Dumb by putting a Finger into the Ear the Healing of many Infirmities with a Touch with the Hem of a Garment with an Handkerchief with a Word with a Shadow of a Man passing by and the like All these Extraordinary Occurrences are above the Powers of all Art and Nature The first sort in respect of the Quality of them the rest in respect of the Manner of their Production No Creature can stop the Course of the Sun any more than he can pull all the Stars out of the Firmament No Creature can form an Eye or any Integral part of it any more than he can extinguish the Light of the Day No Creature can recover the Dead any more than he can mould an Humane Soul and Body out of the dust Nor can any Creature do one Wonder though it be only a Wonder in Nature or to outward appearance either without means or by means indisposed incompetent and insufficient any more than he can frame a World or govern the Universe by his Beck The Nature of these things and the Power that is requisite to bring them to pass sets them above all the reach of Natural Finite Limited Agents and therefore when they are done they are plain Demonstrations of a Superior Power Arguments of an Uncontroulable Hand Proofs of an Almighty Agent that is of the Existence of a God 1. For first None but an All powerful Being can alter the Establish'd Course and Order of things Every part of the World is under some peculiar Law which it regularly and constantly observes Though here and there Nature may commit some slight Error in its Specifick Operations yet the great Laws of the Universe stand and hold against all Natural Agents and every Creature yieldeth Obedience to them Therefore when the setled Course of the Creature is altered as it always is when a True Miracle is wrought it is an undeniable Argument of a Superior Hand which gave every thing its Law Never to be changed but by the same Power which fix'd it and against which no Law can possibly hold when that Sovereign Being hath a mind to dispose of a Creature into a different Course As for instance 'T is a Law which the Waters are under That they shall perpetually consist of fluid parts by means whereof they naturally run into and maintain an inviolable state of mixture and co-adunation 'T is a Law the Heavens are under That the Lamps thereof shall be Day and Night in motion 'T is a Law every Man is under That the Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto him that gave it According to these Laws doth the Course and Order of all these things hold never to be broken or changed by the natural force of any of their Fellow-Creatures Now when it so happens that either an Heavenly Body is arrested in its progress or that the Sea is thrown up and consolidated into standing heaps or that a man's Soul which had escaped out of its Prison is sent back again out of the other world and remanded into its Cold Earthly and Ruinated Lodgings it is impossible with Reason to ascribe this to any other Cause but the Omnipotence of a Transcendent Being who governs and disposeth all things in Heaven and Earth of his own good pleasure And it shews that the first sort of Miracles viz. such as have been done without the operation of any Second Causes nor could have been done by them are clear Attestations of the Existence of a Deity under whose Hand and Power all other Beings are 2. And then Secondly Touching the other sorts of Miracles such as have been wrought instantly and without means sufficient of themselves as the Curing of Diseases in a moment by a Word or a Touch they are the productions of things out of nothing which cannot be attributed to any thing less than a Deity For in these Cases there is an utter indisposition both in the Means and in the Object about which those Means are used and consequently such a Miracle is a kind of Creation which nothing but Omnipotence can produce There is little if any difference as to the Power between raising things out of no pre-existent Matter and forming things out of Matter that in it self is quite uncapable of that formation in each Case an Almighty Power is necessary and where that Power is it is the same thing to it in effect to bring Perfections out of utter Incapacities as to bring Habits out of Privations or Substance out of Non-entity Which is an evident Proof That granting those Miracles were really done which we find recorded of the Prophets in the Old Testament and especially of our Saviour and his Apostles in the New they must be acknowledg'd to have been wrought by a Divine Power or by the hand of an Omnipotent Being and consequently that such an Omnipotent Being doth Exist Hence it is that True Miracles are always destructive of Insidellty so that where-ever they have been shew'd all Teachable Men have been convinced of the particular Providence of an Almighty God over that People When Naaman the Syrian found himself healed of his Leprosy by washing in Jordan at the instance of Elisha it extorted that Confession from him Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel 2 Kings 5. 15. When that Nobleman John 4. saw what a Miracle was wrought on his dying Son the Text saith That himself believed and his whole house V. 53. When Sergius Paulus saw what a Miracle was done for the punishment of Elymas the Sorceror he believed being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord Acts 13. 12. In which three Instances means were used such as they were In the first the application of Water in the two latter the speaking of a few words only and yet each Miracle was as convincing as if God had displayed his immediate hand because the means being of themselves insufficient for the production of such astonishing Events argued plainly that an Omnipotent Virtue went along with them which supplied their natural insufficiency and shewed that the Excellence of the Power was of God What I have said upon this Point doth suppose that these and the like Miraculous Works have been actually done and if so then the Inference will be necessary and unavoidable That there is a God But to evade the
The Fancy then is the highest and most perfect Faculty of the Animal Soul as the Understanding is of the Rational An imagining directing Power in every sensitive Creature carrying in its Acts some faint resemblances of humane Reason though it be quite destitute of it and much inferiour to it It s Seat is in the Brain and its Uses are so great and necessary that without it no Animal can answer the Inclinations and Purposes of its Nature By this Faculty the Creature receives within it the Idea's and Representations of exteriour Objects perceives so much of their Qualities as exerts its Appetites and in some sort after an obscure imperfect manner and in an unreflecting way judgeth of things whether they be Pleasant or Painful Convenient or Disagreeable Beneficial or Destructive in short whether they be for its Enjoyment or for its Hurt And according as those Impressions are which are thus made upon the Fancy so does the Creature act either craving for the Object or declining it either embracing or abhorring either pursuing or avoiding it and either gratified with the Fruition or grieving under the Pain which the Object affords So that as the Heart is the Spring of all vital Motion so is the Fancy the Spring of all animal Motions both inward and external Now Can any reasonable Man believe that this so useful a Faculty came accidentally into the Soul meerly by nonsensical Combination of undesigning Atoms Does it not rather shew that the Animal was endued with it by a wise Agent that constituted and aimed at its Preservation Especially if it be considered that as it is a distinguishing Faculty in every Individual whereby it perceives the difference between what is Good for it or Injurious to it so in every Species of Animals it is various and yet notwithstanding that variety works in every one of the same kind after an uniform Manner For that Object which is delightful to one sort of Animals another is averse to and whether it be desired or refused by one Individual it is alike desired or refused by all of the same Species which is a plain Argument that it was not Chance but Divine Reason which formed that Internal Sense the Fancy In the next place let us take some though it be but a transient view of the Instruments which are assistant and ministerial to transmit Impressions from without to that Organ of the Soul where this distinguishing Power the Fancy is plac'd Those Instruments are of two sorts Nerves and Spirits The Nerves or Sinews resemble so many hollow winding Pipes thro' which all Idea's and Notions of things abroad are convey'd to the Sense within The original Complication and Bed of the Nerves is in the interiour Fabrick of the Brain dividing there that soft artificial Structure of Nature into divers Cells or Apartments whence the great Branches of those Instruments of Sensation are extended outwardly thro' the Head by Pairs That in each Ear serves to open a Passage to the Fancy for all sorts of Sounds according to the various Motions and Modifications of the Air. That Nerve in each Eye serves to let in the Idea's and Shapes of all visible Objects Those which extend toward the lower parts of the Face are to admit all kinds of Smells and by variety of Ramifications to govern the Taste to move the Tongue in all its Vibrations to assist the Lips the Jaw and all the Organs there which help towards Nutrition Others Divarications are into the Lungs and Wind-pipe to preserve Respiration to modulate the Voice and to serve for the Ejection of whatsoever is offensive to that sensible Fabricature Others strike down into the Stomach and Heart to promote all Motions and Operations there Others run lower to be serviceable to the Bowels and Mesentery that they may discharge their Functions Others to the Liver to the Reins and to all the parts in their Neighbourhood And others down the Neck to the exteriour parts of the Body so that by innumerable streight circular and oblique Branches all over the Body to the very Soul of the Foot they are insinuated into all the Muscular Formations which serve to move every Limb Member Joynt and Particle And yet all this wonderful Plexure of Nerves would be of no real use without the help of active lively Spirits to invigorate all And for the Extraction of these out of the Blood provident Nature hath prepar'd tho' not by any Providence of its own peculiar Elaboratories in the Brain As those Spirits which serve directly for the Ends and Uses of Life and are therefore call'd Vital are produced in the Region below so are those Spirits which serve for Sense and Motion and are therefore call'd Animal Spirits chymically prepar'd in that Supreme Region which is the Seat of Sensation the great Organ and Original of all those Motions which are in the several parts of the Body There those Ministers of Nature are continually imployed in their various Ranks and Functions nay in their several Cells too that they may not disturb or interfere with one another in their respective Operations And there like Centinels about a Garison they are upon the Watch to give the Fancy notice from their several Divisions and Districts of whatever may prove either grateful or offensive to Nature Those in the Optick Tubes in the Eyes convey all lucid Idea's to the Fancy Those in the Hollow and about the Drum of the Ear all sorts of Sounds Those in the Palate and Nostrils every Taste and Odour and those dispersed about in Nerves and Fibres over all the Body serve to convey the Sense of all Pain or Pleasure besides the manifold stupendendious and unaccountable Office they do both for the exterior parts in order to all Muscular and local Motion and for all the inward Vessels in order to vitality And here I cannot well omit what an inquisitive Author hath observed Disput de Deo P. 479. touching that mutual Relation and necessary Commerce which is between the Brain and those inferiour parts which are for the Ends and Operations of Life For though every Part by it self be form'd with most exquisite Art for the Offices and Functions it is to perform yet no part can answer its Ends without the subservient Ministery and Assistance of others Thus unless the Heart supply the Head with Blood it is impossible for the Brain either to produce Animal Spirits or to sustain it self Again If the Brain did not pay a Tribute of Spirits to the Heart 't were impossible for the Heart to prepare that Blood Again Neither can the one prepare Blood nor the other Spirits unless the Stomach provides Chyle and the Lungs Nitre Nor again can either Lungs or Stomach perform their Offices unless both parts receive from Heart and Brain Blood and Spirits Since therefore in the whole Labyrinth of this Contexture there is such admirable Excellence and Curiosity of Contrivance each part so exquisitely form'd in it self and all so
to any thing but Matter nay to corruptible Matter nor can any corporeal Substance be Immortal till this Corruptible hath put on Incorruption If then a Being be immaterial or destitute of Bodily Parts it must be in its own Nature immortal too A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones and Blood as every Humane Body hath and consequently it cannot be liable to those jarring Elements whereof our Bodies do consist nor can it of it self be capable of Corruption or Dissolution of Parts as our Mortal Bodies are seeing it is supposed to have no Parts at all to be divided Therefore since the Rational Soul is a Spirit or such a Being as is incorporeal and immaterial as I have now shew'd it is it must follow that it is not naturally subject to Mortality as the Body is because it is utterly void of all Natural Principles of Mortality and is incorruptible in its Essence and therefore it must by the ordinary Necessity of its own Nature as well as by the Will and Pleasure of a Superiour Being survive the Body to receive Rewards or Punishments in another World according to the Quality of its Actions in this 2. Having thus briefly consider'd the Nature of every Humane Soul let us Secondly take some Account of its Excellence in respect of its Faculties and Powers in order to prove the Existence of a God as the only Cause that could give this Soul a Being There are some Faculties in a Man which are common to Brute Creatures also As 1. Sense or the power of perceiving Idea's imprest from outward Objects upon the Organs of Sensation the Eye Ear c. 2. Phansie or a power of apprehending the seeming Suitableness or Unsuitableness of an Object to its Nature 3. Memory or the power of retaining for some time the Idea's and Shapes of things sensible 4. Appetite or a power of moving according as an Object appears either agreeable or hurtful being allur'd by the one or frighted and dampt by the other But these several Powers are nothing in comparison of those noble faculties peculiarly belonging to the Rational Soul as any Man may perceive that will but search into himself and observe what he finds and feels there For 1. First We find that we have a Power to Think and Consider I mean to examine those Objects which are presented to our outward Sense to employ our Minds conversantly about them to take notice of their Proportions Forms and Qualities to compare one thing with another to discover the Causes and Effects of them so that we may penetrate into the inside of them and dive into their Natures Now this no Brute Creature doth or can do The ox indeed knoweth his owner and the ass his masters crib that is they come to both being invited and moved thereunto by the appearance of things which are wont to gratifie the Eye and Palate But in this there is no such thing as Consideration nothing that can properly be call'd Thought because such Creatures are not capable of enquiring in themselves Who or what their Feeders are or What the Substance of their Fodder is or What produced it or How it was provided or To what End it serves and For what Reason it is proper and good to be used Acts of this kind are too high for Animals which are meerly Sensitive Their Phancies go no further than the Crib They are well satisfy'd with the bare enjoyment of that which is before them The Considering part belongs to Man To observe the natural difference between Things and Things to examine their distinct Causes Properties Dispositions and Uses and so to look into their intrinsick Essences and Natures this is the peculiar work and business of a Soul that is Rational 2. We find in our selves that we have a power to understand also that is a Faculty and Ability to comprehend the Reason and Condition and Philosophy of Matters nay to know many things which are not directly obvious to our outward Senses That Perception which is in Animals Irrational is an Idea in the Phancy deriv'd from those Efsluvium's Rays and Images of external Objects which are imprest upon the Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting or Feeling-Faculty and so convey'd through the Nerves into the Brain These are sensible Phantasms and the possessing of an Animal with them is properly called Sensation because the Creature is affected with a sensible Object meerly by the use of its Senses But Sensation is one thing and Intellection or Understanding is another This properly is when a Man's Mind is so possest and enlightned with Intelligible Notions or with such Idea's as are not subject to corporeal Sense and therefore such as cannot be stampt upon the Mind by Motion or Pressure from Bodies without us but such Idea's as spring out of the Mind it self by an active exerting Power that is native to it There are many kinds of such intelligible Notions as do not fall under external Sense and yet are very clear and evident to us As several Certainties in Mathematicks which appear from Demonstration divers Truths in Natural Philosophy which we are convinced of by pure Reason several Moral Verities which we are assured of from the immutable Natures of Vice and Virture several Doctrines in Theology which our Minds yield us from the Contemplation of the Divine Attributes and Perfections Besides divers such common Notions as these wherein all Mankind are agreed of themselves That what hath not any Being cannot act That things which agree in one Third agree among themselves That the Cause is in order of Nature before the Effect That Equals added unto Equals do make Equals That Nothing can produce it self out of Nothing and the like These are eternal Truths which depend not upon Sense but upon natural certain Reason for they would be Truths though there were not any Sensitive Creatures in the World Now this is a noble Power in the Soul which sets it infinitely above the Souls of Irrational Creatures in that it can act within it self abstractedly from Matter and without using the Bodily Senses can speculate and understand those leading Truths and necessary Notions which are in order to the greatest Undertakings and inable the Mind of Man to search into all the Secrets of Nature to open the Mysteries of the Creation to invent Arts to improve Sciences to prescribe the most commendable Rules of Life and in short to govern the World All which I shall shew is an Argument of the Existence of an absolutely perfect Mind or a God that formed the Rational Soul with Divine Faculties and Powers to act under him 3. Thirdly We find in our selves a Power to deduce one thing out of another by way of Inference and by comparing Notions with Notions and by sifting them narrowly to gather and conclude in the End that this is True and that False this is Right and that Wrong and so to go on still drawing of Consequents out of Antecedents which is usually call'd Ratiocination or
have Memory to be nothing but the decaying remainder of Motion like the sound about a Bell when it has done ringing And every act and determination of the Will they would have to be Clinamen Principiorum or a declination of Atoms from a kind of perpendicular Line in which they suppose them to have hung before So that according to these Men every Operation of the Soul lieth in Atoms and is derived from Atoms which Whimsies deserve Laughter rather than any grave or sober Confutation For is it possible for Men of true solid Reason to believe that Atoms can be a bubling Fountain of Thoughts That they can study contemplate perceive argue form Opinions resolve Doubts discover Truth find out the different Natures of Good and Evil direct our Actions tell us what we must Do and what we must Avoid promise Rewards or threaten us with Punishment Nay inflict Punishment presently and plague wicked People with the intolerable Smart that attends an evil Conscience They may as well say that Atoms can write Books that the whole material World is an Academy of all manner of Learning and that the Motes which we see dancing in the Sun-beams are so many Historians Orators Philosophers and Divines The truth is 'T is not Reason that is the Ground-work of those wild Conceits but a sad Necessity they bring upon themselves of running to the most monstrous Absurdities to avoid all Thoughts of a God whose Existence they have disowned For it there be such a thing as a rational Soul distinct from Matter and Body it must inevitably follow that there is also a Deity who gave it its Being because nothing but a Deity could give it Therefore they who have the Front to deny the Being of a Deity are forced to deny the immateriality of the Soul of course And yet that the Soul is immaterial its excellent Powers Faculties and Operations will convince any one that will but lay his Hand upon his Heart and give himself leave to think soberly For if the Soul be Matter How came Men to dispute about its Immateriality How had the Mind any Notion of it How did the Mind get it at first since it is infinitely too high for Matter Nay since the Notion of Incorporiety is so contrary and repugnant to the Nature and Notion of Matter If the Soul be Matter How comes it to judge of material Representations and to discover those Impostures and Cheats which Matter many times puts upon the Imagination As for instance The Sun is found to be vastly bigger than the whole Earth though it appears to the Eye and Fansie to be but a Foot wide There are a thousand other Errors wherewith our Senses and Imaginations are apt to be deluded And how could the Mind look through all those Errors into the Truth and Reality of things if it were not a nobler Being than Matter that measures sensible Objects by intelligible Ideas of its own which are the proper Criterions of Truth If the Soul were Matter How could it be capable of Reflecting within it self Or how could it Recollect so many things done long ago in the Days of ones Minority and Recover so many fugitive Ideas as we find it doth Command and this by a native Power of its own purely by the strength of thinking Matter cannot act upon Matter but by some impulse from without it much less can it act upon it self as the Soul does by a peculiar Faculty it has of casting about and of rouling Thoughts within the Minds and therefore it must be a noble Being distinct from Matter that hath a Principle of Activity and an Empire within it self If it were Matter How could it command the Body in every Instance and make it obey at Pleasure Nay how could it command it self to think on this Subject or that as it listeth To go on a Meditating or give it over To resolve upon that Action or another without controul How could it forsee deliberate or advise How could it entertain any inward Pleasures and Joys impressions which Matter can no more receive than Rocks can dance How could it contemplate so excellent a Being as a Deity Or discourse of Eternity and another World Or possess wicked Wretches with such Fears as they can never quite rid their Mind of Or fill good Men with comfortable Hopes of a Reward The natures of Good and Evil and the Ideas of Divine Justice and Benignity are too Sublime to fall under Sense nor can they be incident to Matter and he must have the most ridiculous Conceptions in the World of his own Frame who thinks that the Operations and Perfections of his Soul are no higher or better than what Clay or Pebbles or Chips would be capable of were their Particles but otherwise modified Hence we infer That the rational Soul is of far higher Extraction than what Stone or Timber can pretend to That it is infinitely of a more noble Nature than Atoms of Dust And that its Operations and Perfections are vastly different from the Properties of Matter how fine soever you suppose it to be And therefore it will follow either that these Operatiosn and Perfections sprang from Nothing or that there is a Being of the most eminent and absolute Perfections from whom they are derived which indeed is the only true and satisfactory Account that can be given of the Nature and Faculties of a rational Soul I have hitherto argued from Reason only because they who deny the Existence of a Deity are constrained by necessary Consequence to deny Divine Revelation too and the Authority of the Holy Scriptures However we may ex abundanti observe what Moses tells us Gen. 1. 27. God created man in his own image in the image of God created be him And what St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 11. 7. That a man is the image and glory of God Which places of Scripture though they are to be understood partly of that Dominion Authority and Power which God hath given Man as his Vicegerent and Representative over all things here below yet do they I conceive speak also and perhaps chiefly of that Similitude and Resemblance which the Soul of every one of us does in its Frame bear of the Divine Nature and Perfections which will a little further shew its Excellence and consequently the Existence of a super-eminent Being whose Stamp and Impress it carries as far as the Capacities of a Creature can admit it We find how volatile and nimble our Thoughts are how soon they reach the very ends of the Earth how quickly they compass Sea and Land with what Facility they mount to Heaven how speedily they take a view of the whole Frame of Nature as it were at once and with what Celerity the Mind does gather and comprehend within it self so many different Ideas And what is this but an imperfect Representation of the Omnipresence of that God Who is said to fill heaven and earth Jer. 23. 24. Nay Whom the heaven and