its first Being as Averroes fancied there would be no cause of such a Sympathy but the Soul as intellectual is an informing not assisting form And it is an evident proof of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator by this strict and sensible union to make the Soul vigilant and active to provide for the convenience and comfort of the Body in the present state and that notwithstanding such a discord in Nature there should be such a concord in inclinations 2. Though the mental operations of the Soul are hindred by the ill habit of the Body yet the mind suffers no hurt but still retains its intellectual power without impairing A skilful Musitian does not lose his Art that plays on an harp when the strings are false though the Musick is not so harmonious as when 't is justly tuned The visive faculty is not weakned when the Air by a collection of gross vapours is so thick that the eye cannot distinctly perceive distant objects When by the heats of Wine or a Disease the Spirits are inflam'd and made fierce and unruly and the Images in the Fancy are put into confusion the mind cannot regularly govern and use them When the fumes are evaporated the Brain is restor'd to its temper and fitness for intellectual operations but the mind is not cur'd that was not hurt by those Distempers Briefly the Deniers of the Souls Immortality resemble in their arguings some who oppos'd the Divinity of our Saviour For as Apollinaris and Eunomius from Christ's sleeping so profoundly in a storm instead of concluding that he was a real Man falsly inferr'd that he was not God Because sleep is not the satisfaction of a Divine appetite the Deity is incapable of it But they consider'd not his more than humane Power in rebuking the Winds and the Sea with that Empire that was felt and obeyed by those insensible creatures so those whose interest inclines them to believe that Man is entirely mortal alledg that he acts as a sensitive Creature for he is so but consider not that he has also more noble faculties to understand objects purely spiritual and God himself the most perfect in that order which no material principle though of the most subtile and finest contexture can reach unto Besides the more 't is disengaged from Matter and retir'd from the senses the more capable it is to perform its most exalted operations and consequently by an absolute separation 't is so far from perishing that it ascends to its perfection For the manner how it acts in the separate state 't is to no purpose to search being most secret and 't will be to no purpose to find as being of no influence to excite us to the constant and diligent performance of our duty 'T is therefore a fruitless curiosity to inquire after it But to imagine that because the Soul in the present state cannot understand clearly without the convenient disposition of the Body therefore it cannot act at all without it is as absur'd as to fancy because a man confin'd to a Chamber cannot see the objects without but through the Windows therefore he cannot see at all but through such a Medium and that when he is out of the Chamber he has totally lost his sight CHAP. IX The acts of the Will consider'd It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The Spiritual operations of the Soul may be perform'd by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick argumeut that man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible Immortal and perishing 2. THe acts of the Will that imperial faculty prove it to be of a higher order of substance than the sensitive Soul The Brutes are acted by pure necessity their powers are moved and determined by the external application of objects 'T is visible that all kinds of sensitive Creatures in all times are carried in the same manner by the potent sway of Nature towards things sutable to their corporeal faculties But the rational Will is a principle of free election that controuls the lower appetite by restraining from the most pleasant and powerful allurements and choosing sometimes the most distastful things to sense Now from whence arises this contention If the rational Will be not of a higher nature than the sensual appetite why does it not consent with its inclinations How comes the Soul to mortifie the most vehement desires of the body a part so near in Nature so dear by Affection and so apt to resent an injury And since 't is most evident that sensitive Creatures always with the utmost of their force defend their Beings from whence is it that the rational Soul in some cases against the strongest recoile and reluctance of Nature exposes the body to Death If it depended on the body for subsistence it would use all means to preserve it Upon the sight of contrary motions in an engine we conclude they are caused by diverse springs and can such opposite desires in Man proceed from the same principle If the rational Soul be not of a sublimer order than the sensitive it follows that Men are Beasts and Beasts are Men. Now 't is as impossible to be what they are not as not to be what they are But do the Beasts reverence a Divine Power and at stated times perform acts of solemn Worship Is Conscience the immediate rule of their Actions will Lectures of temperance chastity justice arrest them in the eager pursute of sensual satisfactions Do they feel remorse in doing ill and pleasure in doing well Do they exercise the Mind in the search of Truth have they desires of a sublime intellectual good that the low sensual part cannot partake of have they a capacity of such an immense Blessedness that no finite Object in its qualities and duration can satisfy Ask the Beasts and they will tell you Their actions declare the contrary But the humane Soul has awful apprehensions of the Deity distinguishes of things by their agreement or disconformity to his Laws It s best and quickest Pleasures and most piercing wounding Troubles are from Moral Causes What colour what taste has Vertue yet the purified Soul is inflam'd by the views of its most amiable thô not sensible beauty and delighted in its sweetness How often is it so ravish'd in contemplation of God the great Object of the rational Powers as to lose the desire and memory of all carnal things What stronger Argument and clearer Proof can there be of its affinity with God than that Divine things are most sutable to it for if the rational Soul were of the same order with the sensitive as it could not possibly conceive any being more excellent than what is corporeal so it could only relish gross things wherein Sense is conversant The Sum of what has been discourst of
is this that by considering the different operations of Man and of Brutes we may clearly discern the different powers of acting wherewith the rational Soul is endowed in the one and the sensitive in the other The Soul in Beasts performs no operations independent on the Body that serves it either as an instrument or matter of their production such are the use of the Senses Nutrition Generation all the internal work and the preparing the Phantasms without which they would be far less serviceable to Man 'T is not strange therefore that it perishes with the Body there being no reason for its duration in a separate state since 't is fit only to act by the ministry of the Body But the Soul of Man besides the operations that proceed from it as the form of the body it animates such are all common to man with Plants and Animals understands discourses reflects on it self that are acts proper to its nature and included in its true conception whereby 't is distinguished from that of Brutes Indeed the exercise of sensitive operations depends so absolutely on its union with the body that they cannot be perform'd nor conceived as possible without its presence and the use of corporeal organs But the more excellent operations that proceed from the higher faculties wherewith 't is indowed not as the form of a material Being but as a spiritual substance such as subsist for ever without any communion with Bodies so entirely belong to it by the condition of Nature that for their production 't is sufficient of it self The Understanding and Will are Angelical Powers and to know and will and to be variously moved with pleasure or greif according to the qualities of objects sutable or disagreeing are proper to those Natures that have no alliance with Bodies It follows therefore the Soul in its separate state may contemplate and delightfully injoy intellectual objects or torment it self with reflection on things contrary to its will Nay it understands more clearly and is affected more strongly than before For these operations during its conjunction are not common to the Body but produc'd by it in the quality of a mind and are then most vigorous and expedite most noble and worthy of it when the Soul withdraws from all sensible things into it self and is most rais'd above the manner of working that is proper and proportion'd to the body And from hence 't is reasonable to conclude that it survives the Body not losing with it the most noble faculty the mind that is peculiar to it nor the necessary instrument of using it For as the universal Providence of God supports the lower rank of Creatures in their natural Life so long as their faculties are qualified for actions proper to that life we may strongly argue that his conservative Influence will not be withdrawn from the humane Soul that is apt and capable in its own nature to exist and act in a separate state In short the understanding and elective powers declare its descent from the Father of Spirits whose image is ingraven in its nature not as in brittle glass but an incorruptible Diamond I shall add to the natural arguments an observation of the Platonists that of all other Philosophers approach nearest the truth in their discourses of God and the Soul of the Majesty of the one and the excellence of the other They observe that the unity of the World is so closely combin'd in all its parts the several beings that compose it that between the superiour and inferiour species there are middle Natures wherein they meet that no vacuum may interpose in the series of things This is evident by considering that between inanimate bodies and living insensible and sensible there are some beings that partake of the extremes and link them together that the order of things not being interrupted the mind by continual easie degrees may ascend from the lowest to the highest in perfection And from this just and harmonious proportion that is proper to essences the intelligible beauty and musick of the World arises that is so pleasing to the considering mind Now what band is there to joyn the two ranks of Beings intelligent and sensible but Man that partakes of Sense common with the Beasts and Understanding to the Angels For this reason they give him the mysterious name of Horizon the ending and union of the two Hemispheres the superiour and inferiour the two orders of Natures immortal and that shall perish CHAP. X. The moral Arguments for the Souls Immortality The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual eternal happiness argues it survives the Body The lower order of Creatures obtain their perfection here It reflects upon Nature if the more noble fails of its end That wicked Men would choose annihilation is no proof against Mans natural desires of Immortality The necessity of a future state of recompences for moral actions proves the Soul to be immortal The wisdom of God as Governor of the World requires there be Rewards and Punishments annext to his Laws Eternal Rewards are only powerful to make men obedient to them in this corrupt state Humane Laws are no sufficient security of Vertue and restraint from Vice 2. I Will now consider the moral Inducements to confirm our belief that God will preserve the Soul in its being and activity hereafter And of this we have sufficient evidence by internal light the natural notions of the Deity and by many visible testimonies in his Government of the World 1. The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual and eternal Felicity not attainable here is a strong argument that 't is reserv'd to a future state The Understanding is inclin'd to the knowledge of Truth the Will to the fruition of Goodness and in what degrees soever we discover the one and enjoy the other in our present condition we are not content As one that is burnt up with such a Thirst that onely an Ocean can quench and has but a little stream to refresh him God is the only satisfying Object of the rational faculties and here our conceptions of him are so imperfect that we approach nearer the Truth by denying what is inconsistent with his Nature than in affirming the proper Perfections of it And the communications of his Love to us inflames the Soul with new desires of fuller enjoyment This desire of Happiness is essential to Man as Man Now 't is universally acknowledged that Nature is not a vain Principle it produces no superfluous inclinations in any sort of Creatures much less in Man and in that which is most proper to him and in order to the raising him to his Perfection The natural motion of a Stone has a center where to rest Plants arrive to their full growth and beauty the Beasts have present satisfaction and are happy Animals But Man in whom the two lower lives and the Intellectual are united is here only in his way to happiness his best endeavours are but
where I can only live happily On the contrary a plain flowry carpet Way is bad that leads me from it Now since the present life conveys us to another Poverty or Riches Sickness or Health splendor of Name or Obscurity an high or a low Condition become good or evil to us and accordingly are eligible as they prepare us for our last and blessed End or divert us from it If the clearness of this principle be obscur'd we shall stumble every step and wander from the way of life But duly considered it makes us judg of things as they are not as they appear This unravels the doubts of the intangled Mind corrects the mistakes of the erring Eye levels the greatest Difficulties clears all the Objections against Providence and makes an afflicted state not only tolerable but so far amiable as it promotes our supream Happiness Let us consider the two Worlds the visible wherein we are and the invisible to which we are going and impartially compare what is proper to the one and the other The present and the future the sensible and divine the apparent and real the transitory and perpetual happiness And what reference these two Worlds have to Man the one serves him only as a Passage the other is his ever blessed Country Therefore what-ever the present state has of sweet or bitter whatever is desir'd or fear'd as it passes with Time should little move us Who is there unless disorder'd in his Mind that when the Sun is present in its full lustre before his eyes rejoyces to have or is sorry that he has not a Candle that he may see more clearly And this Life to Eternity is not so much as a spark of Light to the Sun and accordingly the Prosperity or Adversity of it should not transport us to an excess of Joy or Sorrow but with an equal temper of Mind and calm Affections we should receive the dispensations of Providence 3. How just is it that the Soul should have the preeminence in all respects above the Body The one is the fading off-spring of the Earth the other of an heavenly extraction and incorruptible nature When Pherecides the Assyrian first taught among the Grecians the doctrine of the Souls Immortality his discourse so prevail'd on Pythagoras of Samos that it chang'd him from an Athleta into a Philosopher He that before wholly attended upon his Body to make it excel in strength or agility that he might contend victoriously in the Olympick Games then made it his business to improve and advance his Soul in Knowledg and Vertue And if the glimmering appearances of this great Truth were so powerful upon him how much more should the clear and certain discoveries of it be operative to make us chiefly regard the interest of our immortal part The state of Nature requires that Reason should have the supremacy in Man and Sense should obey but if the lower part tyrannises over the superiour and that which was so offensive to Solomon to see Servants on horseback and Princes walking on foot be verified in a more ignoble sense 't is the greatest degeneracy and vilification of the humane nature Now the predominant Object discovers what is the ruling faculty If sensual things have the superior esteem and love Sense reigns And what a contumely is it to Man when the Understanding that was made to contemplate Objects of a spiritual sublime nature is principally exercised for the acquiring of earthly things and the Affections that are capable of enjoying heavenly delights run with a full stream in the channels of Concupiscence As if the reasonable Soul were not for higher ends than to be the slave of the Body to be imployed to digest the confused Chaos of Meats and Drinks wherewith 't is fill'd to give it a quicker perception of its pleasures keep it from corruption for a time If sensual Wretches could obtain what the unclean Spirits desir'd of our Saviour when dispossest of the man in the Gospel they would request in their last hour when they are ready to be cast out of the Body permission to enter into the Swine and wallow in mire and filthiness This is an indignity equally dishonourable and pernicious As 't was said of Caligula Nec Servum meliorem nec deteriorem Dominum while a Subject none more obedient but when advanc'd to the Throne he became the Reproach of the Empire and Plague of the World So while the Body obeys the sanctity and sovereignty of the Mind 't is an useful Instrument but if it usurp the Government the Spirit is deprest in the most ignominious Captivity and Man becomes like the Beasts that perish Briefly the common fountains of Temptation are Pleasure and Pain that affect the outward senses and ' til the Soul has an establish'd dominion over the Body 't is continually expos'd to ruin by fleshly lusts that war against it The proper business of Man is to purifie his Spirit from all Pollutions to adorn it with all Graces in order to its everlasting Communion with the Father of Spirits And though in this state of union with flesh he cannot be always contemplative nor exercised in the highest and noblest work but must relax his intense thoughts by refreshing intermissions yet all that is allowed the Body must be only to make it more ready disposed for the service of the Mind But alas the Soul that should be incomparably dearest to us in respect of its preciousness and danger is neglected as the only despicable or safe thing belonging to us Of the twenty four hours in the day how much is wasted on the Body how little is given to the Soul as if all the time were lost that is spent on it when 't is truly gain'd What an unequal division is this Can there be imagin'd a more hurtful and monstrous profuseness and covetousness in the same persons If the Body be shaken with Diseases what are they not willing to do or patiently to suffer to recover lost Health Long and rigorous Diets to overcome some obstinate Humours Potions distasteful to the Palat and painful to the Stomack Sweatings Bleeding the Knife and the Fire to cut off the gangreen'd part and sear the vessels and many more sharp Remedies 't is counted prudence to suffer to preserve the life of the Body And can that be preserved always No. All this is done not to escape but to delay Death for a time If we are so sollicitous that the mortal Body may dye a little later shall we not be more diligent and careful that the immortal Soul may not die for ever 4. This should make us set a just value upon time and consecrate it to those things that are preparatory for the future state of blessedness Indeed the present Life though spun out to the utmost date how short and vain is it But as 't is the price of Eternity and our wel-being hereafter depends upon it 't is above all esteem precious When
understanding conceives spiritual Objects is not confin'd to singular and present things Reflects upon it self Corrects the errors of the sense Does not suffer from the excellence of the Object Is vigorous in its operations when the body is decay'd which proves it to be an immaterial faculty An answer to objections against the Souls spiritual Nature That the first notices of things are conveyed through the senses does not argue it to be a material faculty That it depends on the temper of the Body in its superior operations is no prejudice to its spiritual Nature HAving dispatch'd the consideration of the prime fundamental Truth that there is a most Wise and Powerful Creator of all things I shall next discourse of the Immortality of the humane Soul and the Eternal recompences in the future State In treating of the Souls Immortality I shall not insist on nice and subtile Speculations that evaporate and leave nothing substantial for conviction or practice but consider those proofs that may induce the mind to assent and work upon the will to make its choice of objects with respect to their endless consequences hereafter And first it must be premised that Immortality is not an inseparable perfection of its nature for 't is capable of annihilation What ever had a beginning may have an end God only hath immortality in an absolute sense and communicates it according to his pleasure The perpetual existence of Souls is a priviledge that depends on his sustaining vertue without which they would relapse into a state of not Being His Will is the measure of their duration I shall therefore consider such things as strongly argue that God will not withdraw his conservative influence that is necessary to their Immortality The Arguments are of two sorts Natural and Moral The first prove that God has made the Soul incapable of Death by any Internal Causes of perishing from its Nature and in that declares not obscurely that he will ever preserve it The second sort are drawn from the Divine Attributes the visible Oeconomy of Providence in the government of the World that are infallible and will produce a sufficient conviction in minds equally inclin'd 1. The Soul is incapable of Death by any Internal Causes of perishing in its Nature The dissolution of things proceeds from the corruptible principles of which they are compounded and the separable parts of which they consist and into which they are resolved Therefore all mixt and material Beings are subject to dissolution But the humane Soul is a spiritual substance simple without any disagreeing qualities as heat and cold moisture and driness the seeds of corruption The essences of things are best discover'd by their peculiar operations that argue a real distinction between them and from whence arise the different notions whereby they are conceived The soul of a Brute performs the same vital acts as the soul of a Plant yet 't is visibly of a more elevated nature because it performs the functions of the sensitive life that are proper to it The rational Soul performs the same sensitive acts as the soul of Brutes but that it is of a higher order of substances appears by its peculiar objects and immediate operations upon them The two principal faculties of the humane Soul are the Understanding and the Will and the Actions flowing from them exceed the power of the most refined matter however modified and transcend any Principle that is only endowed with the powers of sense and imagination confin'd to matter To proceed orderly I will first consider the Mind with respect to the quality of its objects and manner how it is conversant about them 1. The conception of things purely spiritual God Angels separate Souls the Analogies the differences and various respects of things argue it to be of a spiritual nature For 't is and evident principle there must be an Analogy between the Faculty and the Object A material Glass cannot represent a Spirit it has no receptivity to take into it an object without figure colour and diversity of parts the affections of matter A spiritual object can only be apprehended by a spiritual operation and that can only be produced by a spiritual Power The being of things is the root of their working Now rarifie matter to the highest fineness reduce it to imperceptible Atoms 't is as truly Matter as a gross Body For lightness and tenuity are as proper Attributes of matter as weight and density though less sensible If a Beast could apprehend what discourse is it were rational The Soul therefore that understands the Spirituality of things is Spiritual otherwise it should act extra sphaeram The intellectual eye alone sees him that is Invisible understands the reasons of Truth and Justice looks beyond the bright Hills of Time into the Spiritual Eternal World so that 't is evident there is an affinity and likeness in Nature between them 2. Material faculties are confin'd to the narrow compass of singular and present things but the Mind abstracts from all individuals their pure Nature and forms their Universal Species The Eye can only see a colour'd object before it the Mind contemplates the nature of Colours It ascends above all the distinctions of Time recollects what is past foresees what is to come no interval of space or time can hinder its sight Besides the swift flight of the thoughts over Sea and Land the soaring of the Mind in a moment above the Stars as if its essence were all vigour and activity prove that 't is not a material Power 3. Sense only acts in a direct way without reflecting upon its self or its own operations 'T is true there is an experimental perception included in vital and sensible acts but 't is far below proper reflection The Eye doth not see the action by which it sees nor the imagination reflect on it self for that being conversant only about representations transmitted through the senses cannot frame an Image of it self and gaze upon it there being no such resemblance conveyed by the mediation of the outward organs But the rational Soul not only contemplates an object but reflects on its own contemplation and retir'd from all commerce with External things views it self its qualities and state and by this gives testimony of its Spiritual and immortal Nature 4. The Mind rectifies the false reports of the Senses and forms the Judgment of things not according to their impressions but by such rational evidence of which they are not capable When the Object is too distant or the Medium unfit or the Organs distemper'd the Senses are deceived The Stars of the brightest magnitude seem to be trembling sparks of light but the Understanding considers that the representations of things are imperfect and less distinct proportionably to their distance and conceives of their magnitude accordingly A straight Oar appears crooked in the Water but Reason observes the error in the refractions when the Image passes through a double medium of
imperfect essays towards it Now if the Soul does not survive the Body and in a separate state obtain its desires it will reflect upon Nature for imprudence or malignity in dealing worse with the most noble order of visible Beings The Beasts excel Man in the quickness and vivacity of the powers of Sense being their perfection and in him subordinate faculties and are more capable of pleasure from sensible things and Reason his eminent Prerogative makes him more liable to misery For Man ardently aspiring to a Spiritual Happiness that here he cannot enjoy much less hereafter if the Soul perish is under a remediless infelicity His Mind is deceived and stain'd with Errors his Will tormented with fruitless longings after an impossible Object But if we unveil the face of Nature God appears who is the Author of our being and of this desire so proper to it and we cannot suspect without the highest Impiety that he would make all Men in vain and deceive them by a false appearance But he gives us in it a faithful presage of things future and indiscernable to sense to be injoyed in immortality This Argument will be the more forcible if we consider that holy Souls who excel in Knowledge and Vertue do most inflamedly long for the enjoyment of this pure felicity And is it possible that the Creatour should not only endow Man with rational powers but with vertues that exalt and inlarge their capacity to render him more miserable to imagine that he cannot or will not fully and eternally satisfie them is equally injurious to his perfections It therefore necessarily follows that the Soul lives after Death and fully enjoys the happiness it earnestly desir'd whiles in the darkness of this earthly Taberâ—â—cle Add further that Man alone of all Creatures in the lower World understands and desires Immortality The conception of it is peculiar to his Mind and the desire of it as intrinsick to his Nature as the desire of Blessedness For that Blessedness that ends is no perfect Blessedness nor that which every one desires Man alone feels and knows that his Nature is capable of excellent perfections and joys Now if he shall cease to be for ever why is this knowledge and desire but to render him more unhappy by grief for the present shortness of life and by despair of a future Immortality In this respect also the condition of the Beasts would be better than of Men. For though they are for ever deprived of Life yet they are uncapable of regret because they cannot by reflection know that they possess it and are without the least imagination or desire of immortality They are alive to the present but dead to the future By a favourable ignorance they pass into a state of not being with as much indifference as from watching to sleep or from labour to repose But to Man that understands and values Life and Immortality how dark and hideous are the thoughts of annihilation let him enjoy all possible delights to sense or desireable to the powers of the Soul How will the sweetness of all be lost in the bitterness of that thought that he shall be deprived of them for ever How frightful is the continual apprehension of an everlasting period to his being and all enjoyments sutable to it After that a prospect of Eternity has been shown to him how tormenting is the thought that he must die as the stupid Ox or the vilest Vermine of the Earth and with him the fallacious instinct of Nature that inclin'd him to the most durable happiness If it were thus O living Image of the Immortal God thy condition is very miserable What the Romans wisht in great anguish for the loss of Augustus that he had not been born or had not died is more reasonable in this case it were better that the desire of eternal Life had not been born in Man or that it should be fulfilled If it be objected that many Men are not only without fear of annihilation but desire it therefore Immortality is not such a priviledg that thereasonable Creature naturally aspires to I answer the inference is very preposterous for the reason of their choice is because they are attentive to an object infinitely more sad and afflictive that is a state of everlasting torments which the guilty conscience presages to be the just recompence of their crimes So that enclosed between two evils an eternal state of not Being and an Eternity of misery 't is reasonable to venture on the least to escape the greater But supposing any hopes of future happiness they would desire immortality as an excellent benefit As one that has lost the pleasure and taste of Life by consuming sickness and sharp pains or some other great calamities may be willing to die but suppossing a freedom from those evils the desire of Life as the most precious and dear enjoyment would strongly return And that the desire of Immortality is natural I shall add one most visible testimony For whereas the lower sort of Creatures that finally perish in Death are without the least knowledg of a future estate and are therefore careless of leaving a memorial after them on the contrary Men are solicitous to secure their names from oblivion as conscious of their souls surviving in another World This ardent passion not directed by higher Principles excites them to use all means to obtain a kind of immortality from Mortals They reward Historians Poets Oratours to celebrate their actions They erect Monuments of durable Brass and Marble to represent the Effigies of their faces They endeavour by triumphal Arches Pyramids and other works of Magnificence to eternize their Fame to live in the eyes and mouths and memories of the living in all succeding times These indeed are vain shadows yet argue the desire of immortality to be natural As 't is evident there is a natural affection in Parents to preserve their Children because when they are depriv'd of their living presence they dearly value and preserve their dead Pictures though but a poor consolation 2. The necessity of a future state wherein a just retribution shall be made of rewards and punishments to Men according to their actions in this life includes the Souls Immortality For the proof of this I shall lay down such things as certainly establish it 1. The first Argument is drawn from the Wisdom of God in governing the reasonable World In the quality of Creator he has a supream title to Man and consequently is his rightful Governor and Man his natural subject Now Man being endowed with free faculties the powers of knowing and choosing is under a Law clearly imprest on his Nature by the Author of it that strictly forbids moral evil and commands moral good And to enforce the Authority of this Law the Wisdom of the Lawgiver and the temper of the Subject requires that willing obedience should be attended with certain rewards and voluntary disobedience with unavoidable punishments For Man
of that Fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth and to full Age and a decrepit state and back again so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God The impressions of Nature are infallible That the most Men are practical Atheists that some doubt and deny God in words is of no force to disprove his Existence There are no absolute Atheists Nature in extremities has an irresistible force and compels the most obdurate to acknowledg the Deity Chap. 6. Page 22. The belief of the Deity no Politick Invention The asserting that 't is necessary to preserve States in order is a strong proof of its truth No History intimates when this belief was introduc'd into the World The continuance of it argues that its rise was not from a Civil Decree Princes themselves are under the fears of the Deity The multitude of false Gods does not prejudice the natural notion of one true God Idolatry was not universal The Worship of the only true God is preserved where Idolatry is abolished Chap. 7. pag. 105. The duties of understanding Creatures to the Maker of all things Admiration of his glorious Perfections visible in them This is more particularly the duty of Man the World being made eminently for him The Causes why the Creator is not honour'd in his Works are Mens ignorance and inobservance Things new rather affect us than great An humble fear is a necessary respect from the Creature to the Divine Majesty and Power Love and Obedience in the highest degrees are due from men to God in the quality of Creator Trust and Reliance on God is our duty and priviledge Chap. 8. pag. 146. The Immortality of the Soul depends on the conservative influence of God Natural and Moral Arguments to prove that God will continue it for ever The Soul is incapable of perishing from any corruptible principles or separable parts It s spiritual nature is evident by the acts of its principal faculties The Understanding conceives spiritual objects is not confin'd to singular and present things Reflects upon it self Corrects the errors of the sense Does not suffer from the excellency of the object Is vigorous in its operations when the Body is decayed which proves it to be an immaterial faculty An Answer to Objections against the Souls spiritual nature That the first notices of things are conveyed through the senses does not argue it to be a material faculty That it depends on the temper of the Body in its superior operations is no prejudice to its spiritual nature Chap. 9. pag. 170. The Acts of the Will considered It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The spiritual operations of the Soul may be performed by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick Argument that Man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible immortal and perishing Chap. 10. pag. 181. The moral Arguments for the Souls Immortality The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual eternal happiness argues it survives the Body The lower order of Creatures obtain their perfection here It reflects upon Nature if the more noble fails of its end That wicked men would choose annihilation rather than eternal torments is no proof against Mans natural desire of Immortality The necessity of a future state of Recompences for moral actions proves the Soul to be immortal The Wisdom of God as Governour of the World requires there be Rewards and Punishments annext to his Laws Eternal Rewards are only powerful to make men obedient to them in this corrupt state Humane Laws are no sufficient security of Vertue and restraint from Vice Chap. 11. Page 198. The Justice of God an infallible Argument of future recompences The natural notion of God includes Justice in Perfection In this World sometimes Vertue and Vice are equally miserable Sometimes Vice is prosperous Sometimes good Men are in the worst condition The dreadful consequences of denying a future state Gods absolute Dominion over the Reasonable Creature is regulated by his Wisdom and limited by his Will The essential beauty of Holiness with the pleasure that naturally results from good actions and the native turpitude of Sin with the disturbance of the mind reflecting on it are not the compleat recompences that attend the Good and the Wicked Chap. 12. Page 223. Two Arguments more to prove future recompenses 'T is not possible for civil Justice to despense rewards and punishments according to the good and evil actions of Men. All Nations agree in the acknowledgment of a future state The innocent Conscience is supported under an unjust Sentence by looking to the superior Tribunal The courage of Socrates in dying with the cause of it The guilty Conscience terrifies with the apprehension of Judgment to come Tiberius his complaint to the Senate of his inward tortures An Answer to the Objection that we have not sensible evidence of what is enjoyed and what is suffered in the next life Why Sin a transient act is punished with Eternal Death Chap. 13. Page 257. What influence the Doctrine of the future state should have upon our practice It must regulate our esteem of present things And reconcile our affections to any condition here so far as it may be an advantage to prepare us for the better World The chiefest care is due to the Immortal part The just value of Time and how it should be improved 'T is the best Wisdom to govern our whole course of Life here with regard to Eternity that expects us FINIS There is lately Reprinted a Book entitled The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work By W. Bates D. D. Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhil * Epicuri de Grege Porcum Hor. Chap. I. * Vitruv. praef lib. 6. Boet. * Obliquitatem ejus intellexisse est rerum fores aperuisse Plin. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Chap. II. * Ne sylvae quidem honidiorque naturae facies Medicinis caret sacra il a parente rerum omnium nusquam non remedia disponente homini ut Medicina fieret ipsa solitudo Plin. ‖ Est igitur id quo illa conficiuntur homine melius Id autem quid potius dixerimquam Deum Tull. de nat deor * His muniendo aculeis telisque armando remediis ut tuta salva sint Ita hoc quoque quod in iis odimus hominum causa excogitatum est Plin. l. 22. ‖ Quid est in his in quo non naturae ratio intelligentis appareat Tull. †Quis non
is necessary they move now from whence is the principle of their motion from an internal form or an external Agent If they will be ingenuous and speak true they must answer thus from whence soever they have it they have it for if they did not move their Opinion cannot proceed a step further But supposing their motion to be natural what powerful Cause made them rest how are they so firmly united have they Hooks that fasten or Birdlime or Pitch or any glutinous matter that by touching they cleave so fast together They must grant something like this otherwise they cannot unite and compound and then the Epicurean Opinion is presently dissipated Supposing them triangular circular square or of any other regular or irregular figure yet they can make no other compound then a mass of Sand in which the several grains touch without firm union So that 't is very evident whether we suppose motion or rest to be originally in the nature of matter there must be a powerful Efficient to cause the contrary Besides by what art did so many meet and no more and of such a figure and no other and in that just order as to form the World a work so exact that by the most exquisite skill it cannot be made better Add further how could these minute Bodies without sense by motion produce it this is to assert that a Cause may act above the degree of its power Can we then rationally conceive that a confused rout of Atoms of divers natures and some so distant from others should meet in such a fortunate manner as to form an intire World so vast in the bigness so distinct in the order so united in the great diversities of natures so regular in the variety of changes so beautiful in the whole composure though it were granted that one of their possible conjunctions in some part of Eternity were that we see at present Could such a strict confederacy of the parts of the Universe result from an accidental agreement of contrary principles 'T is so evident by the universal experience of Men that regular Effects are caused by the skill of a designing Agent that works for an end that upon the sight of any such effects there is not the least shadow of a suspicion in the mind that it proceeded from blinde and counselless Chance If we should hear one make a plea for a Cause with such reasons as are most proper to convince and perswade his Judges to decide for him can we doubt whether he understands what he speaks or casually moves the organs of speech And yet if he did move them by Chance one of the casual motions equally possible with any other would be that he perform'd at present If a thousand brass Wheels were thrown on a heap would six or eight meet so fitly as by their conjunction to organize a Clock that should distinguish the hours or is a skilful hand requisite to joyn them and direct their motion And did the Planets those vast bodies by Chance ascend to the upper part of the World and joyn in that order as to measure the time exactly for so many past Ages Who ever saw a dead Statue form'd in the veins of Marble or a well proportion'd Palace with all Rooms of convenience and state arise out of a Quarry of Stones without a Sculptor to fashion the one and an Architect to frame the other Yet Marble and Stones are more dispos'd to make a Statue or a Building that are the materials of them and only require skill and workmanship to give them form than Atoms mixt together are to make the World Indeed Pliny faintly tells a story of a fabulous Ring of Pyrrhus in which an Agat was set distinctly representing not by Art but pure hazard Apollo with his Harp in the midst of the nine Muses The first Reporter was defective that he did not oblige us to believe that the sound of his Harp was heard in consort with the Muses It would have been a fine Miracle and the belief as easie that a Stone might be a Musitian as a Painter Now if the effects of Art are not without an Artificer can the immense Fabrick of the World be other than the work of a most perfect Understanding Who fixt the foundations of the Earth who laid the beautiful Pavement we tread on who divided and adorn'd the Chambers of the Spheres who open'd the Windows to the light in the East who encompass'd it with the immense vault of the starry Heaven hanging in the Air and supporting it self Could artless Chance build it No man unless totally deserted of Reason can possibly have such a fancy Let Reason judg how could the World be otherwise then 't is supposing it fram'd by a designing Cause all things are dispos'd divinely that is by perfect Wisdom as publick necessity and ornament require What the Psalmist observes concerning the Heavens is equally true of all the other parts of Nature Their line is gone out to signifie the exactness of their proportion If this be the effect of Chance what is the product of Design Can Reason distinguish between things artificial wherein the felicity of Invention appears and things rude not done by rules in the works of the Hands and can it not discover the manifest prints of Wisdom in the order of the Universe How much more Skill is evident in the frame of the World than in all the effects of humane Art so much the less folly would it be to attribute the most curious works of Art than the production of the World to Chance Add further The establisht order of the parts of the World is an argument that excludes all doubt that 't is govern'd and was at first fram'd by unerring Wisdom For if they were united by Chance would they continue in the same manner one day Is it not most likely that one of the innumerable possible combinations should succeed different from the same tenor of things that is but one especially if we consider that the parts of the World are never at rest The Heavens the Elements mixt bodies are in perpetual motion If Chance rul'd is it within the confines of probability that the Sun that runs ten or twelve thousand Leagues every day should be now in the same part of the Heavens where it was in former years in such a day when there are so many other places wherein by Chance it might wander Would the Stars keep a perpetual course regularly in such appearing irregularities Nec quicquam est tanta magis mirabilemole Quam ratio certis quòd legibus omnia parent Nusquam turba nocet nihil illis partibus errat Manil. lib. 1. Astrom Or would the sowing of Seed in the Earth certainly produce such a determinate sort of Grain for the other possible mixtures are so vastly numerous that it would be ten thousand to one but some other thing should spring up than what does According to this Hypothesis