so faint as that in such Persons there need no Nutriment in a long time for restoring the waste of Blood in such Persons but in ordinary ways of living our Experience assures us that if the daily waste of Blood be not supplied by Nourishment sutable to the Consumption thereof the Person must diminish in his Strength and Vigor and finally perish and die for want of such sustenance as should restore the stock of the wasted Blood and furnish the several parts with such moisture and refreshment as thereunto shall be absolutely needful and required We find an Instance of this Condition in David's Acts when he came to Ziklag his Servants found an Egyptian in the Field starved and at the next Door to Death for he had neither eaten nor drink in three Days and Nights before but upon administring fresh Sustenance to his wasted Spirits they became restored in great measure to their former Activity which I conceive happen'd to him as it may do in the case of a Lamp whose Oyl is spent and exhausted the Light will first grow dim and be ready to fail and be extinguished but being refreshed by more Oyl administred to it it will soon recover the Flame and Light which it had before The Text says When this Man had eaten the Spirit came again to him In like manner it is related of Sampson his being ready to die for thirst but as soon as he had drank of the Water which issued from his Jaw-bone that Text says his Spirit came again and he revived I conceive those Places to be parallelled with that Text of 1 Kings 17.22 Where in raising the Widows Son Elijah prayed Lord let this Childs Soul come into him again and the Spirit of the Child came into him again and he revived I conceive that the coming again of these three Spirits as they are express'd in very like words so they were all of a like nature the Spirits of the two former were not quite extinguished as that of Elijah's Child was but upon the revival of them all it is said their Spirits came to them again which I think may signifie the rekindling or recontinuing of that Flame of Life in their Blood which we call the Vital Flame and whereby the Humane Machine or Microcosme is put in motion and acted so long as it pleases God to continue Life unto it in the Case of the Egyptian at Ziklag we may perceive that presently upon the coming of his Spirit to him again the Activity and Use of all his Sensations returned instantly to him so as he could not only move hear see c. but his Understanding and Memory became apt and ready for Service as before whence I think we may reasonably collect that the Original of Acting and Understanding may proceed from the Activity and Motion of the Blood and the inflamed particles thereof which together with Life and Motion produce the Sensations Affections Understandings and Memories of Men. And having thus propounded and in some measure proved that Blood Breath and Nutriment are all absolutely necessary for continuance of the Life of Man so as he cannot long abide in Life without the continual assistance of every one of them I pretend to apply them to those different sorts of Spirits about which we are now disputing and therein if we shall proceed and make application of them to the Extraneous telligent and Seperate Spirit which Mr. W. maintains to be the Spirit of Life in Man I think we must find that all these three Natural Incidents to the life of Man have no coherence at all with such a Spirit but are very incongruous with the Being and Nature of it because that forasmuch as we know concerning the nature of such a Spirit Nutriment seems not to be necessary for the Subsistence thereof and much less do Breath and Blood or the Spirits of it seem pertinent or appliable to the nature of such an Intelligent Spirit and therefore if such a Spirit were truly the Spirit of Life in Man the three materials before mentioned as natural and inseperable Incidents to the continuance of Man's Life should not be so absolutely necessary for that design as by daily Experience they are found to be but if we shall now turn to the other side and make Application to that Superfine yet Material and Unintelligent Spirit which before hath been described we must find that there will be a true and real necessity of the three before-named Natural Incidents for the Support Supply and Continuance of its Activity and of Life its self so as by this Hypothesis the Phaenomena of nature in Man are more clearly answered and may be better solved than can be done by applying these Natural Incidents to a Seperable Intelligent and Extraneous Spirit in Man and I therefore conclude it more probable that the Spirit of Life in Man is rather Material and Unintelligent than that it is an Intelligent and Seperable Spirit such as Mr. W. and his Partakers maintain the same to be A Second Objection from Nature against Mr. W's Opinion I raise from the further Consideration of the Humane Person and more particularly from the Bodily Organs thereof and say thereupon that God or Nature hath so framed and fitted every one of them as they are wonderfully apt for those Offices which they were intended to perform of which for Example we may name the Eyes and Tongue which are admirably framed and fitted for their several Offices so as the Spirit of Life is by means of these Instruments able to perform such Actions as Nature intended them for and yet the Perfection or Defects in those performances seem not so much to depend upon that Spirit which informs and acts them as upon the structure soundness and perfection of the Organs themselves Without such Organs the Man can neither see nor speak but when the Organs are sound and perfect the owner can use them as perfectly as any other can ordinarily do but if there be any Obstruction in the Optick Nerves or in those which act the Tongue the Spirit of Life in the Owner can act them no otherways than they are still capable of for the Tongue will lisp stammer stop struggle and blutter do the Man and his Spirit of Life what they can for the rectification of such Infirmities and so will the Eyes be purr-blind double or treble sighted weak dim and blindish do the Owner and his Spirit of Life what they can for the Recovery and rectifying of them so as the Spirit of Life can act the Organ to no higher a Degree of perfection than the soundness and rectitude of the Organ it self will bear nor act it in other manner than it is fit and capable at that time to be acted and I conceive that the principal perfection of the faculties of Secing and Speaking lies more in the sound State and activity of the Organ than in the power and energy of that Spirit which acts them and yet
without the requisite Refreshment of Respiration which perpetually must fan the Flame of Life for maintaining the same in a State of Purity Vigor and Activity And thus the Spirit of Life in Man and Beast appears to be a Compositum of the Breath of Life and the Blood of our Lives acting by inflamed Spirits of the Blood the whole Motion and Power of the Body and iâ—s Organs as well in Motions local as in the sensitive rational and affective Operations and Powers of the Person So as these Two Principles of Breath and Blood Material and Unintelligent tho' they be seem to effect and produce in the Creature both Life it self and all the Powers and Faculties thereunto belonging And this sort of Spirit in Composito is all the Spirit of Life which yet I am able to perceive to be in Man or Beast and this causes me to apprehend it must be Mortal And that as it was procreated and born with the Body so it must cease at death with the Being of the Person and be therewith raised again at the General Resurrection of the Dead Notwithstanding the Evidence which I have produced for the maintaining this Opinion I rest assured my Opposers will maintain That there must be another sort of Soul or Spirit in Man for producing and managing his super-excellent Faculties of Intellect and Memory because they cannot perceive or understand the Quomodo or Manner how this Material Soul compounded of Breath Blood and the Spirits of it acted by the Circulation thereof can possibly produce the Effects and Operations last specified I do not perceive that they very much boggle at the Opinion That these Ingredients may possibly produce Life Motion sensitive Faculties and Affections because they cannot with any good Face of Reason and therefore do not deny That by such a Material Compounded Spirit of Life the Brutes and all their Powers are daily and certainly enlivened acted supplied and supported And I think they are not well able to deny That the Spirit of Life by me propounded is the Causa sine qua non of Intellect Memory and whatsoever other Supream Faculties there are found in the Constitution or Nature of the Humane Person And thererfore I will not say much in the Proof thereof which our daily Experience sufficiently demonstrates our Sense of Seeing often proving to us that Men and Beasts by hanging strangling drowning or by other Suffocations or Stoppings of their Breath are soon delivered over to the Dominion of Death and thereby the Words of David are verified When thou takest away their Breath they die And therewith shall be finish'd my present Argument Whence I go on to enquire after Solomon's Meaning in the Words of this Text The Spirit returns to God who gave it I dare not and thefore I do not Affirm That Solomon intended this sort of Spirit which I have described to be truly that Spirit which he says Returns to God who gave it and with intent to give a Reasonable Account thereof I think fit to Premise that there are Two other Sorts of Souls or Spirits commonly taken notice of in the Learned World The First of which and the most taken notice of is that Sort Soul which is often spoken of and described by Mr. W. and his Party and which they say is an entire compleat intelligent Spirit acting the Organical Body whil'st it therein remains and specially the Kepheline Organs thereof producing eminently therein the high Faculties of Perceiving Understanding Judgment Will and Memory and they sâ—y that after the Departure of this Soul from the Person who thereby is dissolved it can subsiâ—t by it self in a Seperate State and therein move it self and have full Enjoyment of the fore-named Powers of Reasoning Acting and Thinking and that very soon after its Seperation from the Body it goes to God or before His Tribunal to receive his Intermediate Judgment upon the Acts done by the Person in his Life Time and that pursuant to the Sentence therein given such Souls are either accepted into Heaven and Happiness or that they are cast down to Hell to be there made Partakers of Eternal Sufferings and that they have Sense and Perception enough to take a full Taste of these great Differences To which the Romish Church Annexes That besides the Souls that go to these Two Places there are other Souls which are sent some to Limbus's Paterum aut Puerorum other to Paradise or Abraham's Bosom and others of which they think there are a great Number into the scorching Flames of a Purgatorial Fire where they must undergoe great yet Temporal Sufferings for expiating the Crimes of their Dead Persons and Purging away that Dross which they had contracted in the Bodies of their Persons upon Earth The Second sort of Soul whereof notice is taken by the Learned is supposed to have a different Original rising from an Opinion very antient in the World which was That the whole World it self was one immense Living Creature or Machine animated or acted by one universal Soul Spirit or Being which the old Philosophers termed some of them the Soul of the World and by others it was called the Spirit of Nature which they so both described as they appeared to intend an universal or infinite Spirit from whence or from whom all the Life and Motion found in the World was derived Some of those Learned said That all the Life of Grasses Flowers and Plants was derived from that Spirit or Being and that upon their Dying that Vegitable Spirit which before was in them return'd again to the Spirit of Nature from whence it first proceeded Others went not so deep but contented themselves to say That the Spirit of Life in all those Creatures which had spontaneous Motion proceeded from this Soul of the World or that universal Spirit or Being which Animated or Acted the same and they conceived that when such Creatures were duely fitted for the receipt of Life this universally knowing Spirit was moved by a Natural Congruity in the thing to emit from it self such Sparks and Particles as were parts of it 's own Being for the communicating and giving such a Spirit of Life to those Creatures as their Natures required and that when such Living Creatures Dyed those Sparks or Parcels of the Spirit of Life which they had before received return'd immediately back to the universal Spirit of the World as to the Fountain from whence they issued or as to that Totum of which themselves were but the small Sparks or Particles to which they were again joyned and were received into it as true and real Parts and Particles of the same This apprehension hath been of a long continuance in the World coming down from the Discourses of Ancient Philosophers to the time of the Divine Plato by whom it was Cultivated and Confirmed so as all his Doctrines and Writings seem to have reference thereunto and taste very strongly of that Opinion and all his Scholars were much addicted thereunto
Soul a Power of Thinking which being thus worded I deny my Assent thereunto But had he said That a Man feels or finds a Power of Thinking in himself I should have easily agreed with him in it He says The variety of Thoughts or Acts of Willing are the Soul's Motion I say They are Motions or Actings in the Mind of Man effected by acting the inflam'd Spirits of the Blood working in the Kepheline Organs in the which the Great Artificer GOD framed and placed them and to that Purpose gave them sufficient Power to perform such Actions when He created the Fabrick of the Humane Body and breathed into its Nostrils the Breath of Life whereby the Spirits of the Blood and Humours became inflamed for acting in a Body to such Purposes and by such an Excellent and Artificial Composition always to be continued by Respiration God's excellent Wisdom and Power did in the beginning produce these Workings amongst such Kepheline Organs and gave them in this Compositum Power to produce Perception Fantasie Judgment Will Memory Affections Local Motions and all other Powers or Faculties of the Humane Mind or Person whatsoever I know that upon reading of this Discourse Mr. W. and his Party will all cry out How can these things be That unintelligent senseless Materials working amongst or together with one another should be able to produce Life Sense Affections Perception Intellect Memory in the Person demanding of me on Account or Declaration how such things can with any Probability be effected by the working together of such Materials And I Answer That the Quomodo of such an Operation is a Speculation too sublime and curious for the Wit of Man to compass or obtain The Artifice of the Humane Machine cannot be throughly penetrated or discovered by the sublimest Wits amongst Men witness the doubtings both of Solomon and Aristotle discover'd in their Discourses upon the Points now in Question That God hath Wisdom and Skill sufficient to produce Intelligence by means of Material Operations seems true and something clear to my Understanding and but few of our Opposers do deny somewhat a like Artifice and Operation in the Brutal Nature They seem ready to Agree That God by his Wisdom and Skill used in the Fabrication of the Brutes hath in the beginning produced and doth still produce Life Motion Sensations Affections inward Perceptions Phantafie Choice and Memory by the Medium before described viz. The moving and acting of such Spirits of the Blood in the Kephaline and other Organical Parts of their Bodies without such an entire intelligent Spirit as Mr. W. will needs suppose to be in Man Daily Experience convinceth us That the Life Motions Sensations and Affections of the Brutes are as true strong vigorous and active as they are in Men altho' their inward Perceptions Phantasie Choice and Memory fall short of the like Faculties in Men by divers degrees or gradations which I think may very probably come to pass by the difference in their Kephaline Organs which are framed more aptly for such Purposes in Men than in Beasts Whence we may suppose the difference between them in this Point rises not so much from the diversity of the Spirits which move and act them as from the difference and degrees of Perfection amongst their Organs which are so to be acted For Illustration of which Position we may farther consider the Fabricks of their Bodies and thereupon we must find that Humane Bodies have Advantage above the Brutal in two Particular Members viz. their Hands and Tongue of which Members and their Activity if Humane Bodies were deprived they would be much more like the Beast that perish than now they are and yet Men do not use to Argue from these Bodily Advantages that their Flesh Blood Bones or Breath have a different Nature or Constitution from those of Beasts But People are generally content to say with Solomon That the Corporeal Constitutions of Man and Beast are of a Similar Nature and Constitution one of them with the other Whence it seems to me probable That although the Spirits Act with greater Perfection the Heads and Brains of Men than they do among Beasts yet that hinders not but that they may all be acted by Spirits of a Similar Nature one of them to another And thus Arguing I pretend to have shewn that the Minds of Men are more likely to be Acted by the Inflamed Spirits of the Blood and Brain than by an Intelligent Spirit created by God for that Purpose and yet it is still apparently true that Men are not able to give an Account of the Mode or Manner of the Production of such Powers in the Mind of Man by the Motions or Actings of those Spirits in his Brain that I conclude to be the Arcanum Opificis and that none other can tell or find out how the same is perform'd And hereupon I incline to rebut upon my Opposers with their own Argument and to demand of them How or by what means or after what manner their Intelligent Soul can or doth Move and Act the Body and the several Organs and Members thereof having found them all hitherto confessing that themselves do not know and therefore cannot declare to others the certain or likely Mode or Manner of that Performance and for their Souls being Tota in toto tota in qualibet parte I pass it for an Aenigma or Riddle conceiving there is no apparent Sense in that Expression nor any clear Truth to be drawn out of it P. 34. Mr. W. says That his the Soul can look upon one thing and think upon another of a quite different nature and that she can be in the noise of an Army and yet in a profound and blessed Peace She can cool the Blood in its greatest fervour of Lust P. 35. So that it is evident she hath an absolute Empire over the Body and all its Parts and is not constrain'd in her Motions by them but they are all at her Command and move by her Direction Hereunto I Reply That so much as is true of what he says the Soul can do may be most properly predicated of the Man and not of the Soul which alone can do no such things as he speaks of Next for the absolute Monarchical Power which he ascribes to the Soul over the Person I think he is in an Errour about it Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. Ver. 17. And that it is not I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Ver. 18. To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do and it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me I delight in he Law of God after the inward Man but I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind
convince us that divers Brutes attain to as great Perfection in the use of such Senses as the Generations of Men do and some Brutes exceed the Humane Powers in the Practice and Use of some of these Senses And if we then consider the Humane Affections of Lust Wrath and Fear we may find that the Brutal Nature is as full of these Affections as the Humane and that the Beasts have them in as great vigor violence and perfection as Men have them And lastly if we rise to consider the Power of Intellect we may find that Brutes injoy the true and real use of Phantasie Choice and Memory so far as is Needful for the well being of their Natures tho' in a weak measure and very low degree if we compare such Faculties of theirs with such as may be found in that kind amongst the highest ranks of Men or such of them as have attain'd to great degrees of Improvement in their Faculties of that kind It may be that if we shall compare the most Stupid amongst Men with the most Sensitive amongst Brutes as with the Elephant Ape Horse Dog and Fox it may be found that some of these Creatures are more docible and may be made more knowing than some of the most stupid amongst Men so that by their Teachers Eye or Continuance or their Voices they have been made to act and perform divers things which caus'd Admiration in the Beholders and such as it would be hard to teach the stupidest Persons amongst Men to perform in such manner as Beasts have been known to do them There appears between the Brutal and Humane Nature and Composition very great differences and that the Men have many advantages above the Beasts in those Parts and Members which appear outwardly to the Eye First in the Members of their Hands and Tongue and the genuine and natural uses of them both and next in the natural and upright posture of the Humane Body and the placing of the Head thereupon all which give great advantages to the Humane above the Brutal Bodies and gives them such capacities of acting as are deny'd to all Brutes whatsoever and it seems we may reasonably suppose that there may be the like great advantages in the inward Organs of Humane above those of the Brutal Heads and whereby the Humane are made more capable of performing the great Duties of their Intellect then the Brutal Creatures have Capacities to do and yet we find these Differences do not hinder the persons of Men from being ranked amongst the Animal Kind the prime Ingredients into whose Composition are the same Flesh Blood Bones Breath Nerves Arteries Veins Joynts Sinews and Members which go to the Composition of them both And Experience may convince us that the Lives of them all are in their Blood or that Blood is the life of them and by the particles of such Blood inflamed called the Spirits of their Blood they are all inlivened and acted alike altho' by the Structure of their Bodies and the Perfection of their Organs to some purposes the Humane Nature have very great advantages above the Brutal and these are the main Differences which I have yet been able to find between the two Natures before-mentioned and I am hence so far convinced as to conceive that there is no such great and apparent Differences between that sort of the Spirit of Life which acts the Brutes and that sort of Spirit which acts the Men as heretofore hath generally been believed but the Spirits which act Life in them both are of a more similar Nature than Men have formerly imagined them to be and from this Argument I am ready to conclude that the Humane Spirit of Life hath a great agreement with that of the Brutal and therefore I think it more probable to be a Material Unintelligent Spirit than that it should be an Intelligent created extraneous Spirit made by God for each Man at the time of his Procreation and injected into the Embrion at some incertain or unknown time which yet remains unperceived or undeclared to us and which if it shall be made better known may deserve to be further examined amongst us Upon these three last Arguments drawn from the Animal Nature and Humane Experience my first doubtings concerning the Seperate Subsistence of souls were founded after I had held out in the old Opinion until my Age of Sixty Three-Years and my doubting caus'd me to search the Scriptures concerning that Point and there I found no Concurrence of Scripture Texts which were brought as Evidences thereof and not so much as one Text that was clear in the affâ—mâ—nce of it except that of St. Matthew's saying Are not able to kill the Soul Next that neither that Saying nor any other Text produced for proof of that Point had a principal 〈…〉 teach or prove the Souls Seperate Subsistence 〈…〉 the Texts produced for the proof of that Opinion 〈…〉 livered in a collateral manner and are brought â— by without Mens being able to make it appear 〈…〉 of the Texts produced to that purpose did 〈…〉 tend to declare or prove the now questioned 〈…〉 the Souls Seperate Subsistence I found also that all their Texts from whence the consequential proofs which they make are drawn might receive reasonable and I think sufficient Answers which I have endeavour'd to apply to them in this Treatise and have satisfy'd my own Understanding in them all and how far they will appear reasonable to the Readers thereof I am willing to leave to such Experimental Tryals as may be made upon the Judgments of such Persons as may happen to peruse the Treatise and to the Candor and Indifferent Censure of such Readers I am willing to submit my self and all that I have spoken in this Treatise and concerning this Subject AFter Mr. Wadsworth 's finishing the Treatise before considered he super-adds thereunto and subjoyns to it a Declamatory Discourse which he intitles Faith's Triumph over the Fears of Death which is not much less in bulk than his Treatise before answered Vpon the Perusal thereof I find his Triumphal Arch principally founded the one end of it upon the Souls Seperate Subsistence and the other end upon the Souls going to Heaven immediately after Death both which I conceive to be Precarious Assumptions I am sure not granted by his Opposers and I believe not sufficiently proved by his Arguments I find that in this Discourse he repeats a third time the four Texts of Scripture which he thinks do most strongly prove his Opinion viz. Solomon's return of the Spirit to God who gave it St. Matthew's Are not able to kill the Soul St. Luke 's Parable of Dives and his Relation of the Thiefs Conversion on the Cross I acknowledge my self averse from making often Repetitions of the same things and therefore do refuse to follow his Example or Practice in this Point but rather make choice to refer my Reader to such Answers as are before given to these Arguments in those
places where he hath twice before propounded them I do not find that in this Discourse he hath added any new Arguments to those which are produced in his former Treatise so as there are no new Proofs propounded in this Triumph whence I am apt thereupon to surmise that he doth Triumphum canere ante Victoriam and because his Triumphal Building seems to be principally founded upon the two before-named Assertions I collect that if the rain descend violently upon it the winds shake it the floods happen to beat upon it this Triumphal Edifice will be more likely to fall than to stand because the ground upon which it is raised seems over soft and sandy for the support thereof and for that the foundations of it are not digged deep enough by such a Search into the Scriptures as might make it appear that the Doctrine is built upon a strong Stream or clear Current of Scripture Testimonies somewhat apparently or clearly attesting the Truth thereof in some such places where there was a Design of Teaching concerning the Future State of Men after Death I do not conceive that there was a Design of speaking of such a Future State in any of the four Texts last before quoted of Solomon St. Matthew and St. Luke and therefore I do not find any great strength of Conviction in them I shall therefore pass over these and all the rest of Mr. Wadsworth 's Discourse of Faith's Triumph without speaking any farther thereunto because it seems not greatly material towards the farther proof of that Question which is now disputed between us resolving here to finish my Observations upon this Author with a hearty Bene valeas to my Intelligent Reader FINIS OBSERVATIONS UPON Dr. CHARLTONS TREATISE INTITULED The Immortality of the Humane Soul demonstrated by the Light of Nature In Two Dialogues 4to London Printed 1657. HIS first Dialogue and a good part of the second are imployed and spent in Introduction and Ceremony which last and continue till Page 78. of his Book and there he says That the Considerations which he intends to alledge for proving the Souls Immortality shall be either Natural or Moral his first Argument is this he says The reasonable Soul of Man is Immaterial and therefore it is Immortal P. 85. To prove the Souls Immateriality he says The Actions of Man as a Cogitative and Intellectual Essence are of so noble and divine a strain as that it is impossible they should be performed by a meer Material Agent or Corporeal Substance however disposed qualified or modified To this I answer it is the common Objection against the Souls Materiality viz. Men do not understand the quomodo how the Abstract Actions of the Mind and the Reflex Actions of it upon it self can be performed by Matter and Motion never so fitly Modified and Organized And therefore our Doctor in this Place walks in the common Trod and pretends to supply the want of Power in such Matter and Motion by the Introduction of an Intelligent Self-subsisting Spirit into the Person for the effecting of such Operations in Man not enough considering the Wisdom and Power of God the great Architect of the Microcosm who can by Matter and Motion fitly Organized Modified and Moved produce such Acts and Powers as Men are not able to comprehend the quomodo of and therefore to their Reason such things may seem impossible to be done which by the Wisdom and Power of God may be easily effected and performed without the Agency of such Intelligent Spirits as Men have commonly used to imagine P. 88. The Doctor says by Discourse of Reason we soon come certainly to know that the Magnitude of the Sun is at least 160 times greater than that of the Earth and here I pretend to doubt the Certainty of the Doctor 's knowledge concerning this Point from this Page to Page 100 the Doctor argues Whether the Intellect can work without the assistance of the Phansie a Question propounded by Aristotle in the beginning of his Book de Anima but both there and here that Question is left undetermined P. 102. The Doctor says the Intellect doth frequently reflect upon it self and understand its own Intelligence This I do not permit to pass for a Truth if we take the Intellect for a distinct thing from the Man conceiving that the Intellect as well as the Phantasie are Powers and Faculties of the Man and that neither of them can do any thing of themselves but that all which either or both of them do are Acts of the Person in whom they reside and that they are both of them submitted to the Guidance and Government of the Person and the Totum of that Power of which they are but a part so as to speak properly and truly we must say that the Man can considerately reflect upon the Acts and Powers of his Intellect Phantasie Judgment and Memory which is a thing which I shall easily grant but that which I think lies upon the Doctor and his Party to prove is the bare Intellect separated from the Person can reflect upon it self or do any other Action whatsoever P. 108. The Doctor says That whatsoever can frame abstracted Notions and form Universals must be above Matter and be Immaterial but the Soul and Mind of Man can act in this sort Ergo this Soul must be Immaterial In this Argument I deny his Major and say that the Man himself who is a Material Agent can form Abstractive Notions and from Singulars and Generals can extract and frame Universals and that the Intellect without the Man can perform no such Matters nor be nor act in any kind whatsoever P. 112. Here he quotes a Book written by Hieronimus Rorarius a Learned Prelate as a Collection of Arguments commonly urged to prove that many Brute Animals have the use of Reason as well as Man himself hath P. 116. Here it is affirmed That Men do not know the Intimate Nature of so much as the smallest Plant which grows upon the Ground and therefore I say we are like to fall much short of the true Nature of the Humane Soul with such Certainty as were to be desired P. 118. The Doctor says the Intellect is conversant about Spiritual Beings both of good and other Spirits and therefore is Immaterial I answer as before the Intellect can do nothing but as it is a Power and Faculty of the Person without which I do not agree that it hath either Being or Action P. 123. The Doctor here says that the old Philosophers obtained a certain Knowledge that there were Spirits by the Regular Motions of the Heavenly Bodies which they thought could not be maintained without the Assistance and Government of Intelligent Immaterial Spirits but I think they were as much deceived in their own Opinion as our Doctor seems to be in his Opinion of the Souls Immateriality P. 123. It is objected against the Doctor that when the Phansie is disturb'd the Intellect cannot act with Strength or
you may be there also Here the Time when Christ would receive his Chosen to himself and to be where he is is declared to be the second time with his coming to Judgment Joh. 5.27 God the Father hath given Authority to the Son to execute Judgment also because he is the Son of Man Ver. 22. Christ says The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son Ver. 28. Mervail not at this that the Father hath given Authority of Judgment to the Son because he is the Son of Man for the time is coming in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Here Christ because he is the Son of Man is made by his Father the Judge of Quick and Dead all the World shall hâ—ar his Voice and come to Judgment before him and if the Father judge no Man but have committed all Judgment to Christ because he is or as he is the Son of Man What room is there left for intermediate Judgments oâ— the 〈◊〉 going to God for Judgment at the Death of every 〈◊〉 as is pretended from Solomons transient 〈…〉 returns to God that gave it 〈…〉 of the Soul to God 〈…〉 intermediate judgment 〈…〉 going before 〈…〉 and seeking to be united again to Him as Men have thought it drew its Original from him Joh. 6. Ver. 39 40 44 54. In the Four Verses quoted and marked out of this Chapter our Lord declares both to his own Disciples and to the Jews That whoso doth his Will and keep his Commandments he will raise them up at the last day and give them Happiness and great Rewards without mention of an intermediate State between Death and that Resurrection Luke 14.13 14. Our Lord himself directs When thou makest a Feast call the Poor the Maimed the Lame and the Blind and thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompence thee for thou shalt be recompenced at the Resurrection of the Just. And so Heb. 11.35 After a large Catalogue of the Saints Sufferings the Apostle says That they would not accept of Deliverance because they expected a better Resurrection The same Apostle 1 Cor. 15.32 says If after the manner of Men I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus What advantageth it me if the dead rise not Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die And there is an end of us As if he had said the Sufferings of Christians for the Name of Christ shall avail them nothing if there be not a Resurrection of the Dead and I demand some one Text of Scripture to be produced which expresses or with any Clearness says That any Man or Men ever did or suffer'd any thing to the Intent or with Expectation of having their Soul or Souls carried into Abraham's Bosome after the Death of their Persons To our Fore-quoted Texts may be added the Testimony of St. Peter 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoice inasmuch as ye are made Partakers of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding great Joy So Chap. 5.1 he says I who am also a Partaker of the Glory which shall be revealed exhort you that are Elders of the Church to do the Duties faithfully and when the Chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory which sadeth not away He doth not say Have Patience unto to the Time of your Death and then your Souls shall be transported into a place of Bliss and Happiness 1 Joh. 2.28 That Apostle says And now Little Children abide in Him Christ that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming Jam. 5.7 That Apostle says Be patient therefore Brethren unto the coming of our Lord which he saith draws nigh without mentioning of any Reward after Death unto the coming of our Lord. Jude 17. Says The Lord cometh with Ten Thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all the Vngodly amongst Men. And thus I have quoted a great Cloud of very knowing Witnesses viz. our Lord Himself and all his writing Apostles which are come to our Hands for the undeniable Proof of this Point viz. That the Faithful dy'd and suffered many great things in assured Hope and Expectation of great Rewards to be given and Punishments to be inflicted at the Time of our Lord's second Appearing of the Resurrection and of the Last Judgment without finding any foot-steps of the Souls Immortality it 's Seperate Subsistence from the Body or any Rewards or Punishments to be bestowed upon it in the space of time intermediate between Death and our Lord's Second Appearing I now return to a further Consideration of our Author's Quotations who Pag. 14. goes on and quotes 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's Which I think intends no more than if it had been said Glorifie God in your selves or in your whole Persons which are God's Then he quotes Mat. 10.28 Men that can kill the Body are not able to kill the Soul We shall hear this Objection more fully offered in another Place and thither I refer my Reader for an Answer to it He next quotes 1 Cor 7.1 where the Words are Dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit Here by the Terms Flesh and Spirit the Apostle intends Man's Sensual Afâ—â—ctions and Appetites by the Term Flesh and the Rational Mind or Faculty of Man by the Term Spirit And this Tropical sort or manner of expressing himself I conceive to be very much used in this Apostles Writings Next he quotes Gal. 5.17 which says The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other This I think to be another of this Apostles Expressions to be taken in the same intent and meaning with the former as a Conclusion to the Texts before quoted He says he could quote more Texts to prove that wide Difference which he pretends to be between the Soul and Body I say to this that if he knew of more Texts very pertinent to this Purpose I think he ought not to have spared his Pains in the Quotation of them But saith he The Texts which I have already quoted are abundantly sufficient for the Proof of my first Proposition Which first Proposition I think to have been That the Soul was of a quite different nature from the Body viz. That the Soul was an Immortal Intelligent Spirit which can subsist by it self and in a state of seperation from the Body and the Body it self but a Compositum of Dust and Ashes into which it shall be again resolved soon after the Death of the Person The Later Part of this Proposition he neither hath offered to Prove nor needed to do it because it
and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin in my Members In this Text St. Paul as I conceive declares the true State of the Person and says That he in his Mind or Rational Faculty was convinc'd that such Actions were good and that he ought to do them and therefore had a will to do them but that at the same time there was a Law of Sin in his Members which withstood the good Inclination and Will of his Rational Faculty and against the Will and Power of his Rational Faculty bringeth him into Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members If I might Paraphrase this Text I would do it thus Our Apostle was convinc'd in his Understanding that such Actions were good and ought by him to be done and therefore he had a Will to do them but his Sensual Affections and Lusts strongly opposed the Performance thereof and had such Power over the Person as to prevail against the Dictates of his Reason and the Inclination and Bent of his Will and bring him under such a Submission to the Law of Sin as he neither did nor could do that which his Reason told him was his Duty to do but brought him under such a State of Captivity to the Law of Sin as to make him do that which in his mind he condemned and was contrary to his own Understanding the Dictates of his Reason and the Bent of his Will And the course of Proceeding deliver'd by St. Paul in this Text is undeniably verified by the daily Experience of Men and with so much Advantage on the side of our Sensual Affections that where we find one Man guided and govern'd by the Dictates of his Rational Mind we may find perhaps an Hundred who suffer themselves to be hurried by the Bent of their Affections and Lusts into such Actions and Practices as their own Understandings and Reasons disapprove and condemn and sometimes seek to resist tho' more often in vain than otherways So as we may say of these two Faculties in Man as Men use to do of Presumption and Despair The Reasonable Faculty of Man governs its Thousands and the Sensual Affections their Ten Thousands And I think it is made appear by this Argument that the Power of Reason in Man is neither Absolute nor Monarchical but rather is a Power Co-ordinate with that of the Affections and Passions and generally so unsuccessful in its Contests with them for Government that where one Man is truly govern'd by the Dictates of his Reason perhaps an hundred are hurried and let away by the Attempts and over-ruling Power of their Affections and Passions against the clear Dictates and often against the Will or Rational Desire of the Person And I think this Proves what hath before been said that the Regiment of Reason in Man is not Monarchical but Co-ordinate and Swasive only It is able to Perswade powerfully but not to Compel Obedience to its Directions and therefore I conceive Mr. W. was mistaken when he said That the Power or Regiment of Reason in Man was both Monarchical and Absolute P. 35. He discourses much concerning the Nature and Essence of a Spirit and the Life of it amongst which there are Sayings which I do not well understand Nor doth all his Discourse make me understand what is the Nature of a Spirit a thing which I am apt to conside himself did not know and because I think it gives little light in our present Question it shall here be pass'd over P. 36. He pretends here That the Soul hath Life in her self as a Spirit before he hath proved to my Understanding that there is such a Soul in Man I think it needs no proving that a thing which is not neither hath nor can have Accidents Adjuncts or Attributes and the Being of his sort of Soul which is neither granted nor proved cannot be conceived to have Life in it self Mr. W. says Thirdly That a Spirit hath a Power of penetrating or gliding through the hard solid Bodies of Marble or Iron without finding or making any Cleft Chink or Cranny therein I doubt he delivers in these Words that which he doth not know to be true or is otherways able to prove He delivers other things in this Place concerning Spirits which I think other Men are not resolved of P. 37. He says The Jews could not keep Peter in such a Prison as the Angel which deliver'd him could not penetrate Whereas the Text doth not declare whether the Angel came into the Prison through the Walls or by opening the Doors but I count it certain that the Doors were opened for Peter to go out and therefore likely might so be at the coming in of the Angel also and as the Iron-Gate was that led them into the City He adds The Soul of a Man is truly a Spirit as an Angel is How truly is now in Dispute He says The Soul manifests her Presence more eminently in the Brain than in any other part of the Body And I Answer That the Rational Faculty is not only more eminently in the Head and Brain than in any other Part of the Body but that it resides and acts in the Head only without being communicated to any other Part of the Body because all the Organs of Understanding and Reason are by God the Creator placed only in the Head without any other Member having a share therein P. 38. He raises a Dispute Whether Light be a Body and compares it to the Penetration of a Spirit But I pass it over as little pertinent to our present Question Mr. W. further says That a Spirit and his sort of Soul is indivisible or indiscerptible not subject to Blows or Wounds nor to be consumed by the fiercest fire I think he should here have express'd how it can be tormented by fire and yet have no Parts or Particles of it consumed by the fervent Heat or by the violent Pain and Torment which it suffers P. 39. He quotes St. Matthew's Are not able to kill the Soul which is indeed the strongest Refuge of his Opinion referred here by me to a future Answer P. 40. Mr. W. says His sort of Soul must either be God or a Creature And thereupon I am apt to deny that it is either the one or the other and to pretend as I have often before done that there is no such thing or sort of Being in the World and therefore cannot be endued either with Sense or Reason as by saying he would perswade us it is He says That the Soul is the proper and immediate Seat of Sense And I Reply as I have often before It is not the Soul but the Person that is so P. 41. He says The Soul is endued with Reason and Vnderstanding I say that it is not the Soul alone but the Man that is so He says Reason is the most Noble Faculty of the Humane Nature by means of which we Men know God and hold a Communion with Him and do
He quotes again Annotations of the Assembly of Divines in the Rump-Parliament time for his purpose without telling us what they say upon it and for want of their Annotations I know not what they say of it And if I did I should not be much moved by their Authority except they give better Reasons for their Opinion than Mr. W. hath yet done P. 49. Mr. W. Arguing says The Soul of Man or the Spirit or the Breath of Life in Man Liveth in and with the Body and yet Dieth not with the Body And this he says needs Proof And so do I say too And he offers to prove it by saying That whose Life dependeth not on the Body must not Die when the Body Dieth but the Souls Life depends not on the Body Therefore it must needs not Die when the Body Dieth And the Reason why he says the Souls Life depends not upon the Body is because God made it a Spirit of Life to give Life to the Body and not to receive any Life from it I Answer If this Arguing be not that which Men call Petitio Principii or begging the Question I know not what is We are now disputing Whether Adam had an Intelligent Soul Created for him at first or not and whether such a Soul have a Seperate Subsistence after the Death of the Person And in both these Points he maintains the Affirmative and pretends to prove the Seperate Subsistence by its being a Created Intelligent Spirit made by God for Adam at the first And thus proves one Controverted Point by another as highly Controverted as it self and which I conceive his offers in this Argument do very weakly and insufficiently prove P. 50. He observes out of Moses's Text That it says nothing of the Body's Life before God breathed into him a Spirit or Soul of Life as Mr. W. will have it tho' the words of our Bible expresly call it The Breath of Life And I so far agree That Adam's Body had not Life till this Breath of Life or this Breath causing Life was breathed into it but that from thence he began to Live and became a Living Person Thus far we are at Agreement His next two or three Pages are spent in Proof of the Souls Immortality drawn from the two before-mentioned Topicks viz. That the Soul is an Intelligent Spirit and was newly Created by God for Adam and next that it is such a Spirit as can subsist in a State of Seperation from the Body And thereupon I say That if he or any that is of his Opinion can convince with some clearness That God Created such an Intelligent Soul for Adam as can Subsist Act and Suffer in a State of Seperation from the Body he shall need to make no further Proof to me of the Souls Immortality because if the former be true I have no Inclination or Intention to dispute the later And therefore I pass over what he says to that purpose and shut up my Observations upon this Argument with the fore-mentioned Conclusion That Mr. W.'s Arguments therein produced to prove the Creation of an intelligent Soul or Spirit for Adam at the first are infirm invalid and little convicning to such understanding as I have been able to imploy in the perusal of them Second Argument PAge 54. Mr. W. quotes The History of Saul's going to the Witch of Endor Relating the words spoken to her by him I pray thee divine to me by the familiar Spirit and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee And she desiring to know who that Him was which she should bring up Saul told her it was Samuel Upon this Text Mr. W. thus Comments That Saul by this demand must need intend the bringing up of Samuel's Soul to Discourse with him and from thence Collects That the Jews of that Age held the same Opinion which he now maintains concerning the Souls Seperate Subsistence after the Death of the Person To which I Reply That this Collection seems in a great part to arise from his own Inclination to have it so and his Imagination thence arising that it is so for if I were imploy'd to Collect from this History I should conceive That Saul's Head was other ways imployed at that time than to consider what that was which he desired to be brought up whether it should be a Spirit a Body or a Person or an Appear-Dance only and not a real Being I conceive his Head was not troubled about such Speculations but his whole Design was by the Witches means to get knowledge what the success of his Affairs should be in a time when he was greatly distressed It seems to have been the Practice of divers Ages to fore-tell Actions past and future Successes by raising up and consulting with the Dead and from this Practice they had amongst other Titles the Name of Necromancer bestowed upon them This Practice of Magicians and Witches hath been long taken notice of in the World and it seems by Saul's Demand made to the Woman he had heard or otherwise knew something thereof and desired by the Witches means thus to consult the Dead and particularly Samuel as the most knowing amongst them and from such a Collection I conceive it doth not appear what Saul or the Jews of his time thought concerning the Seperate Subsistence of Souls We meet with divers Relations of Appearances made and contrived by the Art of Magicians of later times but never yet heard of raising an Argument from thence to prove the Estate or Condition of departed Souls nor do I conceive this Argument hath any strength in it to that purpose and therefore I pass over Mr. W.'s other Expressions used in this Argument with this further Observation that he raised the Argument out of this History with intent to reach as high a time as was possible for producing any sort of Evidence or raising any manner of Argument which might be brought or drawn to touch the Seperate Subsistence of Souls and this as the highest pitch of time that he could reach he chose to make use of for that purpose fulfilling therein the Old Proyerb Willing Persons will rather play aâ— small game then sit out The Third Argument PAge 57. He says He is struck with wonder to hear Men assert That the Soul and Body of a Man Die together and are both Buried in one Grave My Opinion is somewhat otherwise worded expressing I think it probable that when Respiration fails and the Person dies the Flame of Life is Extinguished which doth not intend a being Buried or a Going any whither not finding cause to agree with Solomon's Expression of going upward or downward and if Mr. W. doth really wonder at this conception I make no Argument of it and shall only thereunto Answer I cannot help it P. 58. The Soul or Breath of Man was Breathed into Adam by an act of Creation This I have all along deny'd and continue to do so because I think Mr. W. hath hereto
Written was the most Learned amongst the Apostles and of a Sublime Natural Genius But there appears no likelihood that they were of St. Matthew's Opinion in this matter of the Souls Seperate Subsistence which if our Lord had mentioned in this Doctrine I conceive they would not have failed to take great notice of it because it was a Subject of high Speculation not fit to be let fall to the Ground without notice and delivering of the same to the Christians of that time If our Lord's Doctrine worded as it is by St. Matthew were truly the same as that Evangelist hath reported it And upon these grounds I am apt to conceive that St. Matthew's Words Are not able to kill the Soul are likely to have sprung from his own Opinion of the thing and are not otherways the very true Expressions and Words wherein our Lord delivered this Doctrine to his Disciples And therefore I am apt to Appeal from the Text of St. Matthew to that which is reported to us in the Text of St. Luke's Gospel Thirdly I conceive that the Text of St. Luke wordded at it is doth more fully express our Lords meaning as in this Doctrine than the Text of St. Matthew's doth For Luke says That after Men have Killed they have no more that they can do or can do no more harm to the Killed Person or can Bring no more Sufferings upon him by any thing that they can do I think St. Matthew's Words Are not able to kill the Soul do not so well or fully express our Lords meaning as St. Luke's do For that those who maintain the Souls Seperate Subsistence do say all that it retains the Faculties of Intellect and Memory as the Natural Powers thereunto properly belonging Whence it seems Inferrible that they may and do remember such Relations and Friends as they left behind them on Earth and are likely to be so much concerned for them as to rejoyce at their Well-fare and be grieved at their Sufferings For of this we are informed from the Parable of Dives if it have a Power of Proving or Teaching in such cases for Dives tho' Wicked and in Torments yet had so much good Nature in him as to remember his Relations upon Earth and have care to prevent those Sufferings which they was otherwise likely to fall under and prays Lazarus may be sent out to obviate by his Instructions the Calamity which was like to befal them and make some Addition to those Sufferings under which himself now lay and from hence we may Collect that Men who have Killed can still make some Additions to the Sufferings of the Dead by Tormenting or persecuting their Relations or Friends upon Earth which possibility is quite taken away by the Words of St. Luke's Text After Killing the Person Men have no more that they can do they can do no more harm to the Dead Person who is now gone quite out of the reach of any but God and I doubtingly conceive there is neither Soul nor Body left of him for Men or Devils to prey upon And from what is before delivered I am ready to conceive That St. Luke's Words do more fully and properly express our Lord's meaning than those of St. Matthew do and consequently that it is probable our Lords Doctrine was deliver'd in the Words of St. Luke's Gospel rather than in those Words which St. Matthew hath Recorded and if this prove a truth it will utterly remove the proving force of St. Matthew's Text which is otherways the Principal Foundation upon which the Opinion of the Souls Seperate Subsistence is Built Hereupon I do not doubtingly but fully conceive That Mr. W. and his partakers will openly exclaim against my proceedings in offering or pretending to prove or conceive that any sort of Scripture Words or Expressions can be Erroneous and yet it seems both clear and common that Words Sayings and Texts of Scripture have been often and are Daily brought and alledged for the Proof of Erroneous Opinions and Doctrines I confess my self not so much to Idolize the Words and Expressions of Scripture as to receive for an Oracle every Saying or Sentence which I find Written in the Bible or to believe every such Saying or Sentence to be an irrefragable truth and the very Word of God 1 John 4.1 Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God I conceive there is no other way to try Mens Pretences to the Spirit of God but either by the miraculous Works of such Persons as pretend to it or by the Fruits of the Spirit which appears in their Works and Actions amongst Men and the Tryals by either of these means proceed upon grounds of Humane Understanding and the results thereof as a Parable and Paraphrase to St. John's Text I conceive it may be said Believe not every Saying and Sentence which ye find Written in Scripture But try first whether that Saying or Sentence be the Word of God or no. And in this Tryal it seems there are but two ways or means to be used The first is by comparing it by other Scriptures or Texts or the Analogy Current or Stream of Doctrine which runs and continues through the whole Scriptures from the Beginning to the End thereof And if any particular Sentence oppose the Analogy or Stream of Doctrine which runs through the whole Scriptures Men may rest assured that Saying or Sentence neither is nor can be the Word of God Next if we meet with Sayings or Sentences of Scripture which are opposed by other Sayings or Sentences thereof it seems we may have good Reason to doubt on which side the truth stands and by the most fair and easie Constructions that we can use bring them to such an Agreement as by workings of Reason they can be brought unto And I am apt to infer That if by Constructions of Reason they cannot be made stand together in such manner as both them may be true I think it a reasonable Result of such Tryal to think as it must needs be that there is Error or Mistake in one of them The other means for trying the Truths of the Scripture Sayings or Sentences proceeds from the grounds of Natural Principles viz. The common Sensations and Reasons of Men radicated in their Natures and confirmed unto them by certain and often Experiences And it seems that if Men meet with such Sayings or Sentences in Scripture as are opposite to Natural Principles and the common Sense and Reason of Mankind confirmed to them by Practice and Experience we may with assurance enough conclude that such Sayings or Sentences ought not to pass among us for the Word of God And yet I am apt to believe that my Opinion in this Point will not find an easie acceptance amongst those who practice the Reading and Magnifying of the Scriptures which is also without doubt a very Beneficial and Laudable Practice And yet I think I may justly apply thereunto the common Proverb of Omne
as feasible as to make a Camel go through the eye of a Needle With Men and to their Understandings all such things are impossible but not with God I think it impossible for the Art or Industry of Man to make and give Life to a Mouse a Flie a tuft of Grass or a Flower The Art of the whole World hath never yet been able to produce such Creatures and to put Life into them and how then dare such weak Writers compare their Knowledge and Skill with that of the Great Creator and pretend to say That he who made all things out of nothing cannot make what he will out of any Matter which he will make use of and tho' I will not be so humorous as to think it possible for Men to make a Sensible House or any other Sensible or Living Creature whatsoever yet I am certain that God hath made an Infinite number of Sensible Creatures unto whom I think Mr. W. will not think fit to communicate Souls of the same sort with those which he bestows upon Mankind P. 135. Thirdly Mr. W. recounts to us divers particulars concerning the Memory and says that Men are not able to give an account of the mode or manner of its acting and I agree Mens Inabilities so to do well but then says he If you cannot tell me the manner of such Actions by the spirits of the Blood in the Brain I wlll conclude it is done by the Power of an Intelligent Spirit I reply That if he will do so I cannot help but I refuse to bear him Company in that mistake unless he can give me a better account how his Spirit accounts Memory in the Brain and after what manner the same is performed than I can give him concerning the Spirits of Blood acting the Brain to that purpose I am ready to confess my Ignorance in the later and I shall think him as Ignorant in the former until he shall give us a better account thereof then hitherto hath appeared in the World P. 136. Fourthly Mr. W. argues That the Soul must needs be Immortal because Men have a Rational Faculty whereby they can act abundance of things here by him enumerated and which seem to be beyond all Capacities in the Nature of Matter it self and all the Advantages which Humane Art or Industry can give it To this I Answer as before That altho' the nature of Matter be not proper in it self for such Productions nor can be made to serve such purposes by the Art or Industry of Men yet the Wisdom Skill and Power of God are able to produce such Effects out of Matter and Motion as Men are not able rationally to conceive nor it seems by Mr. W's Discourse are willing to believe That he ascribes all these Powers to his sort of Soul which are truly in and proper to the Person must pass for his Common Error and is perhaps incurable in him because I find it so lasting as to reach from the one end to the other in refutation whereof I think there has been enough already spoken and therefore I pass over much that he hath said in this place to the same Purpose Mr. W's Immoralities consequent upon the Doctrine of the Souls Mortality P. 139. He says That it lets Men loose to Immoralities and gratifies bad Men and their Actions I answer That for the space of Thirteen Years last past I have conceived this Opinion to be the more probable of the two and yet have not found that it had any effect at all upon my Manners or the other Opinions which I before held concerning God and his Worship and therefore I am not apt to believe that it will have bad effects upon other Persons who may likewise conceive this Opinion to be the more probable Next he says This Opinion creates contemptible Thoughts of Mens Souls I Answer That the Conception of the not being of any thing can breed no contempt of that which Men think hath not a Being or not such a Being as other Men imagine I also say That those who think their Beings to be composed of no other things but Elemementary Matter may yet justly have a great Esteem of themselves as the Skilful Workmanship of God after his own Image and endued with more excellent Faculties and Powers than any other Animal or Earthly Crateures whatsoever P. 140. Secondly Mr. W. says Belief of the Souls Mortality keeps the minds of wicked Men from fearing the Torments which others expect to succeed the very time of their Deaths I Answer That these Apprehensions do more commonly terrifie the Good and Weak than the Bold and Wicked both in the time of their Lives and at the day of their Deaths and whether it do more good or hurt in these Respects I pretend to question Mr. W. says That the Doctrine of the Resurrection and the Last Judgment may be of Consideration sufficient to terrifie wicked Persons and yet it seems not that he is so well satisfi'd therewithal as I am but would have the Belief of the Souls Separate Subsistence super-added thereunto and I should therewith be contented if the same could be any thing near so well proved as the Doctrine of the Resurrection may be Thirdly Mr. W. says The Opinion of the Souls Extinguishment is troublesome to the Souls of good Men a mode of speaking which I would correct and say it is troublesome to good Men themselves whose Hearts are in Heaven whilst they are on Earth to whom it is grievous to think of any delay between Death and their going to God to live in Vnion with him I Answer that tho' by Error in their Belief they may be disappointed of that expected Happiness yet it seems they shall fare never the worse for it nor know how much they were deceived till the time of the Resurrection and then their Works which follow them will be sure to overtake them and they will receive no Detriment by that delay which they may find in their going to God because the distance between Death and the Resurrection is of no consideration at all to the dead Person who shall rise as if he were then but newly fallen asleep and be utterly unknowing and unperceiving what time hath passed over him since his Death and whether any time hath passed over him at all or not Mr. W. hath used divers high and some tragical Expresons against his Opposers and their Opinion in his Discourse upon this Head which I pass over as not greatly significant in this Dispute Ancient Testimonies both of the Jews and Primitive Christians proving the Souls Immortality P. 142. Thereupon Mr. W. says That his ancient Testimonies and the Vniversal Belief of the Christian Church is no small Evidence of the Truth of that Opinion And I agree this to him that these are great Evidences of the Truth thereof and I think them the strongest Evidences which he hath yet produced and yet I do not conceive that they have in them