and Salvation at the General Day of Judgment Thirdly Concerning the Prayers or Cries of these Souls for Vengeance upon their Persecutors Mr. W. and I are hotb agreed that they made no other Cry in this Text then the Blood of Abel made to God for Vengeance on his Murtherer and I conceive there was no real Prayer or Cry in either of these Cases but that God himself had taken special Notice in both these Cases and that whensoever they came before him hy Remembrance or any sort of Re-presentation his Intention always continued firm to take Vengeance for those Facts upon all those who had therein acted and continued in such wicked Practices without Saving Repentance until the time of their Deaths I have Inclinations to think that this Exposition of our proving Text is more sound and true than that which Mr. W. hath before made of it and hence I think the Consequence will be very clear That Mr. W's Argument drawn from this Text is not a sufficient nor a good Argument to prove the Separate Subsistence of Souls The Eighteenth Argument PAge 118. Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them P. 119. Mr. W. says By Blessedness in this Text must needs be meant Happiness and all Happiness implies Joy and all Joy implies Life and when he has rais'd Blessedness in this manner he infers from the Word henceforth that it must Commence presently upon the death of the Person wresting the signification of the Words from Henceforth which do properly signifie from the time of that Prophesie to signifie the time of every Man's Death which I do not find to be mentioned or intended by the Text And he adds The meaning of the Text being thus opened he seems to direct his following Discourse only to those who will accept the true Sense of the Text to be as he hath opened it and to them he thus argues If the Dead in the Lord do from the time of their being dead commence a Blessedness not only in resting from their Labours but likewise in being rewarded for their Works then do they continue to live in some part of them which is their Spirits and consequently their Spirits die not with their Bodies but are Immortal P. 120. Mr. W. offers to us That this Blessedness is said by the Spirit to be given from the time of Mens Deaths this he collects from the signification of the Words from Henceforth as if that intended from the time of their Death's whereas it appears in this Text to intend no more but that from the time of this Prophesie the Dead which die in the Lord shall have a blessed Rest and their Works do follow them P. 121. Then Mr. W. pretends That the dead Saints do not only enjoy a blessed Rest but that they also enter upon and enjoy Rewards for their Works as soon as they are dead but I find no Ground for this Opinion in the Text but conceive he thought it was there because he had a great Mind it should be there as a thing that would have done him more Service than any thing that he can find in the Text besides Mr. W. says further If no Rewards of active Happiness and Joy followed immediately after Death it would be wonderful the Spirit of God should pronounce a Blessedness on such as die in the Lord above those who live on Earth in the Lord and this would be contrary to the Sense of all God's People and specially to the Sense of such as Administer Comfort to dying Persons from this Topick by telling them that immediately after Death their Souls shall by Angels be transported into Heaven or Paradise or Abraham's Bosome or some such Place where they shall not only be at rest but have present Joys and Happiness conferr'd upon them and I grant that if such Doctrine prove otherwise than true many Persons may have been deceived of their confident Expectations and more may still in future happen so to be And therefore I think it needful to take further Consideration and so make a stricter Scrutiny concerning the Truth of this Doctrine than in former Times and Ages hath been commonly done amongst Men. Mr. W. says He thinks there are none of God's People who would not rather chuse to live upon Earth tho' under Persecution then to die and be buried in the Earth He says it is evident That from the time of dying the Saints are blessed with Rewards for their Work as well as from their Labour I reply I am very sorry that I am not able to find in this Text an Argument or any of his former the thing which he says is so evident intending I presume to himself and some such other Persons as may be strongly fixed in his Opinion and Belief touching this Point concerning which and this Text I intend to make a little more large Examination The Words therefore are And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them I do not find in this Text any Words which signifie or import that Men shall be rewarded for their Works presently after Death otherwise than by a Blessed Rest from their Labours It is said indeed That their Works do follow them but there is no time mention'd when they shall overtake them And I desire Mr. W. and his Party from henceforth that they will cease from perverting the Sense of the Word from Henceforth in this Text by applying its Energy to the time of Mens Deaths whereas in the words of our Text it stands clearly apply'd to the time when this Prophesie was revealed to St. John and whereas Mr. W. says That none of Gods Saints upon Earth would willingly embrace Death but rather chuse a longer Life upon Earth altho' under a state of great Persecution if they did not expect Heavenly Rewards presently upon the death of their Persons and he says You shall never perswade People to a contented departure out of this World by telling them they shall presently enjoy a blessed Rest in the Lord and therefore they must be told of and perswaded to expect Glorious Rewards in Heaven presently after their passing out of this World I confess thereupon that Mens mistakes upon this Account may be very great and very universal but do by no means believe the first part of his Assertion viz. that there are no Saints or People upon Earth who are willing to accept of Death whensoever God shall appoint it to come upon them under a great contentment of Mind and the Satisfaction which they may receive from this Text That they shall have a blessed Rest in the Lord safe from all the Temptations and Tribulations of this World and from the Power and Malice of wicked Men
He says The Soul and Body are not sick and well together Whereas I profess to think they are sick and well together and that they have both one common Sense of Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting Feeling and that they both together or the Person hath the same Perception Fancy Judgment Will and Memory and they both have or which is the same thing the Person hath the same Affections or Passions of Ambition Covetousness Lust Wrath and Fear These all are naturally ingrafted in the Person and are natural Incidents to the Compositum of Soul and Body and that this Union is the most amicable friendly and pleasing that Men know to be enjoy'd in our Earthly World and that the Body is so far from being a Prison or Cage for the Soul that there is no other Place in the World wherein the Soul delights or wherein it can subsist but in the Body nor is there a Seperation which we know in the Earthly World that is more grievous or afflictive than the Seperation of Soul and Body is commonly found to be to the Person who is a Compositum of them both Upon which Considerations I stand inclined to Affirm That the Person who is a Compositum of Soul and Body and those his Two Constituent Parts are generated together are born live and grow together are sick and well together and so are pleased and displeased and love and hate together are joyful sorrowful and fearful together are honoured and shamed together they decline and decay together and yet the Out-ward Part somewhat sooner and faster than the Inward and so they grow impotent and helpless together that they die together and that lastly they shall rise together in that Universal Resurrection which shall be effected at the second Appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST when he shall come to Judge the World Mr. W. here quotes 3 John 2. as serving to prove his Purpose where St. John saith to Gains I wish above all things that thou maist prosper and be in health even as thy Soul prospereth It is a common Practice for Men in their Letters to wish Health and Prosperity to their Correspondents and this the Apostle practises in this Text and the Words Even as thy soul prospereth seem to intend Even as Gains himself prospereth in the Faith and Profession of the Gospel He quotes again for his Purpose Rom. 7.23 where St. Paul says I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind Which Text I conceive intends no more than the War which the Sensual Affections and Passions make against the Opinions and Dictates of the Rational Faculty or Mind of the Man which is visibly known and perceived to continue in the Person from the Cradle to the Grave and prove no more a War betwixt the Soul and the Body than Love and Hatred Sorrow and Joy or any other contrary Affections of the Man may do He quotes further for his Purpose 1 Pet. 2.11 Abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul Here the Word Soul seems to intend the Man himself or the Rational Faculty or Mind of the Person Then he concludes That the Soul and Body as they are Two Beings distinct in Number so are they in Nature And thereupon I say how well he hath proved what he saith he hath proved shall be left to the Readers of our Books to Judge His Third Proposition Affirms That the Soul is a Being seperable from the Body which he says he intends to prove and to that Purpose P. 17. he quotes 2 Cor. 5.1 where he says St. Paul calls our Bodies our Earthly House which the Text does not expresly do but says We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God a House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens I do not here perceive a necessity of taking these Words Our Earthly House of this Tabernacle to signifie our Bodies but find as much or more Reason to conceive that by those Words our Apostle did intend the whole Fabrick of the Earth in which or upon which the Men of that Age then lived and we still do live We find sufficient Scripture Testimony to prove That our Earthly House of this Tabernacle shall in the end be dissolved and for the shortning of the time when this shall be done and the speedy coming of our Lord to Judgment was a great Subject of the Saints Prayers at that Time and I think divers good Men of that Time held Opinion That possibly they might live to the second coming of our Lord and however did not expect that He should have so long delay'd His Coming as we find by Experience He hath done if we take Our Earthly House of this Tabernacle to signifie the Earth upon which we live that seems to Agree well with the following Words We have a Building of God not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Pet. 3.7 The Heavens and the Earth which are now are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and Perdition of ungodly Men and then the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness He doth not say If you expect your seperate Souls going to Heaven you must live after that manner but if you expect the fiery Dissolution of that Earth upon which ye now live you have great reason to act as he there directs Nevertheless we according to his Promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Wherefore Beloved seeing ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Thus he says they must practise a Holy Life in consideration and expectation of those things which were not to happen till Christ's second Appearing but then were expected and hoped for by the Saints and Church of those Times And of these New Heavens and Earth St. Paul seems to speak when he says We have a Building of God a House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens Such a House as the Hands of Men cannot make the Pattern whereof is now in Heaven and shall descend hither to be our Habitation at our Lord's second Appearing And these are the things which he saith are not seen and yet are Eternal but when that Change shall happen they shall be both Visible and Eternal And for this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with this House of ours which is from Heaven Ver. 4. We that are in this Tabernacle of the Earth upon which we live do groan being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed or not desiring that our Persons should be dissolved by Death but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up
of Life This shews that he did not desire Death in hope of his Souls immediate going to Heaven but rather he longed for Christ's second Appearing when all these things shall be performed and those which at that time are found alive upon Earth shall not die but be changed in a Moment or twinkling of an eye and so cloathed with their Houses which are from Heaven and by that means their mortal Bodies shall put on Immortality fulfilling our Apostles Words in this Text Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life And this Change seems to be the cloathing upon which he both intended and desired and it was a Practice of the Church of those Times as before is said to pray for the speedy Coming of our Lord Jesus and Consummation of the Mysteries of the Gospel And thus I conceive I have better Expounded our Apostles Text and given a truer Meaning thereof than Mr. W. will be found to have done and conclude thereupon That this Text can give but a feeble Support to the Opinion of the Souls seperate Subsistence P. 18. He further quotes Ver. 6.7 Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord and walk by Faith not by sight and therefore we are willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. The Meaning of which may be that we cannot be present with the Lord in our Fleshly Bodies which are subject to Corruption whil'st they continue in their Natural State and therefore he desires the Change or Translation of such Earthly Bodies into that of Glorious or Heavenly Bodies which shall be done when we are cloathed upon with our House or Houses which are from Heaven by changing our Earthly Bodies into Heavenly which shall be performed to the Saints that live upon Earth at the Time of our Lord's second Coming and tho' they be absent from the Lord in their Earthly Bodies yet they shall then be present with Him in their Heavenly ones And our Apostle proceeding says Ver. 9. We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of Him And then closes his Discourse Ver. 10. with that which seems to be the Reason of all his Desire and Endeavour viz. Because We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Earthly Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Which intends the Last and General Judgment without any Pretence or Apprehension that an Intermediate Judgment is at all meant or consider'd in that Expression Mr. W. quotes further 2 Pet. 1.13 I think it meet so long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up knowing that shortly I must put off this Tabernacle viz. I will endeavour that after my Departure c. It seems that Peter by the Term Tabernacle did intend his own Fleshly Body which with Propriety enough may signifie that Humane Body which is the Receptacle and Tabernacle of Life to every Man And Death is commonly amongst us call'd a Departure out of this World of such Persons as lately before were living Members of it and therefore I do not perceive what Force there is in these Texts of Proving the Soul's Seperate Subsistence Nor do I perceive that Mr. W. lays any proving Weight upon the Sense of the Texts as they are here quoted but endeavours rather to enforce a Meaning from the Greek Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he says Signifies After my going out viz. Out of my Tabernacle although our Translators have render'd it After my Departure Which I think to be a Translation which he cannot mend and if so they had render'd it by After my going out I should have sooner have taken it to signifie An Extinguishment of the Vital Flame in his Body than the Departure of an Intelligent Substantial Soul out of it And therefore I think the Enforcement of this Argument which he would derive from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but trifling P. 19 He Appeals to all Mens Judgments that are not prejudicate whether the Apostles do not by the quoted Texts intend That Mens Souls are of such a Nature as can subsist in a State of Seperation from their Bodies I doubt not but if I or any other Man shall declare our selves to think other ways he will Reply we are Prejudicate and that is all the Fruit that can be expected of such a needless Appeal He says further If these Apostles had believed the Soul and Body to die together they would never have used such ensnaring Metaphorical Expressions as these that do so clearly hold forth a Seperability of the one from the other To this I Reply That if at all they hold forth this Opinion it is in a Dark-Lanthorn with the Light Side towards him and the Dark towards me But I rather conceive that if they had known the Being of a Substantial Intelligent Seperately Subsisting Soul in Man and that those of the good went to Heaven presently after the Death of the Person they would probably and even certainly have preached and declared the same And we should have found it so plainly and clearly delivered in some of their Writings which are come to our hands and the not finding it so delivered in any of their Writings gives us great cause to doubt the Truth of that Opinion Mr. W. for a further Proof of his Opinion quotes 2 Cor. 12.1 where that Apostle relates a Trance or Vision which he had and wherein he could not tell whether he was in the Body or out of the Body and thereupon he quotes the Assembly of Divines which sat in the Rump-Parliament Time and that they say the Apostle doubted whether God framed the Representation of these Heavenly things in his Soul in a State of Union with the Body or whether God Seperated the Soul from the Body and transported it into Heaven And thereupon P. 20. Mr. W. says That many Philosophers and some Divines affirm That Paul 's Rational Soul might be seperated from the Body and yet Paul not dead professing himself partly to be of the same Opinion And if by being out of the Body the Apostle doth not mean such a Separation he would be told what is meant by those Words Being out of the Body He was Conscious to himself of a common and I think a sufficient Answer thereunto given viz. That St. Paul was wrapt in a Trance or Extasie of his Mind wherein those things which he saw and heard were so lively represented to his Perceptive Faculties and so throughly imprinted upon his Memory as they could not be more perfectly perceived or better remembred if he had truly perceived them by the Use of his Bodily Organs so as he could not certainly know whether he was really wrapt into Heaven in his whole Person or whether the same was only a Trance and Rapture of his Mind Mr. W. intending to prevent this Answer says It is not enough for Men
Christian Churches continued throughout the World and therefore Men must have very strong Arguments if they hope to prevail in rejecting this Opinion I answer and grant that this Argument is good and strong for the proving of his Opinion and seems to be of more Power and Strength than all that he hath said before for the maintaining of it but yet I do not perceive that Strength in it which may be able to support his Tenet against those Reasons and those Scriptures which may be brought against the Rationality and Truth of it and of which I intend to make a short detail when I come to his following Head where he makes and delivers Objections against his own Doctrine P. 152. Mr. W. begins to relate certain Sayings or Speeches of Reformed Martyrs who it seems died in the Opinion of the Souls Seperate Subsistence which may be admitted to add some small Strength to his former Arguments drawn from the Opinion of the more Ancient Fathers I do not find it strange that Men should retain to the end of their Days divers Opinions which they had before imbibed in their Youth and by their Education hath been radicated in them especially such as do not appear to have an evil effect upon their Practices And I think that divers Learned Men of most high Esteem even in the Primitive and Apostolical Churches have delivered some Doctrines to their Disciples which upon strict examination may be found inconsonant to the stream or current of Scripture and the natural reason of Mankind which Doctrines I conceive the Writers of them did believe to be true upon the ground of such Tradition as they had received and which by Education and Custom had obtain'd an absolute assent of their Minds in such Cases And tho' I shall here name only the Millenary Opinion yet if I thought fit here to digress to that purpose I could add divers other particulars thereunto P. 153. Mr. W. proceeds to make farther Proof of his Opinion by some Representations in Dreams and others in Shades or Shadows of Persons departed unto which I have in a former Treatise made Answer that I do not deny there may be verity in divers of those Relations and yet I do not conceive any thing of that kind hath ever been performed by departed Souls thinking it probable that there are no such Beings in the World but I am willing to ascribe such Actions to the Powers and Performances of inferiour Spirits without pretending to determine whether good or bad and that they jussu aut permissu superiorum do represent and act according as the occasions wherein they are imploy'd may require P. 158. Mr. W. produces divers Objections which he says are made against the Souls Seperate Subsistence amounting to the Number of Fourteen divers of which I a gree not to be very material and tho' I intend to mention each of them that I may not seem to disregard any thing that he hath Written yet very little shall be said concerning them my Design being only to insist upon those which I think material and to add unto them such other Objections as Mr. W. in his Catalogue hath omitted P. 158. Mr W's first Objection says That what of the first Adam it was that sinned that of Adam died but both the Soul and Body died therefore c. To this he Answers That he must not take Life and Death here in their proper Sense but that the word Death here only intends a miserable Life which however he doth not deny to be Life and I do not conceive how Death and Life can stand together in the same subject and therefore I think his Description of Death by a miserable Life is not reasonable nor allowable in this Case conceiving it agreeable to Reason that the Curse pronounced against Sin should extend to the Person that sinned and accordingly the Persons which sinned did both die for it or after it without any appearance of leaving Souls to survive after the Death of their Persons P. 159. Mr. W. will not agree that their Souls did die as well as their Bodies because God says That Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return Then he assumes the Soul was not made of Dust which is a thing before disputed between us I pretending there was no such Soul made as he says there was I say my sort of Soul is material and may return to the Dust and Air as it was which he will deny and thereupon we must examine all that has been spoken which neither of us can design to do in this place but leave this Objection to be farther discussed Mr. W's second Objection from Eccles 3. where Solomon compares Men with Beasts P. 161. He pretends that Text says The Spirit of Man goes upward and the Spirit of a Beast downward which I think it doth not say but makes a doubt whether the truth of the thing be so or no it seems Solomon speaks more deliberately concerning Mens Souls in this Text than he does in his Twelfth Chapter and yet I pass this Objection lightly over without laying any great weight upon it P. 162. Mr. W. raises a third Objection from Matth. 26.38 where our Lord says My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death from whence some Men may pretend to inferr that his Soul might die I profess to be none of those who make this Objection for I conceive that Christ by the word Soul intended his Person or himself in the same Sense as if he had said I am sorrowful unto Death and therefore I pass this over as a weak Objection against Mr. W's Opinion P. 164. Mr. W. raises a fourth Objection against himself from Acts 2.27 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thy Holy one to see Corruption Here he says some will have Christ's Intellectual Soul to be meant and by Hell or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grave to be meant I profess to be none of those some who would have Christ's Intellectual Soul to be here meant but I do rather conceive that by my Soul in this place is intended my Person or my Self and as if he had said thou wilt not leave me in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Grave without intention to speak of an Intellectual Soul or any other Soul at all and therefore I pass this over as a very light Objection against Mr. W's Opinion P. 169. The fifth Objection which Mr. W. brings against his own Opinion is raised from 2 Cor. 5. Where Paul speaks of being cloathed upon with his House from Heaven I have said before that this Expression respects that Translation of their Bodies which the Saints who are alive upon Earth at Christ's coming shall receive when they shall be disrobed of their Earthly Bodies and have them chang'd into Heavenly or Spiritual Bodies and yet I do not find any great Strength in this Objection against Mr. W's Opinion but pass it away as a very weak one without
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
of his Death and Burial was derived or how the Jews might come to know that he so died and was buried Deut. 3.27 Goe get ye up into the Top of Pisgah and take a view of the Land And Chap. 34. says Moses went up from the Plains of Moab to the Top of Pisgah and died there The Words of both Texts seem to intend that Moses went up alone into the Top of this Mountain and told the Jews before his going up that he was to die there and they never saw or heard more of him after that time whence they might according to the common course of the World in such Cases reasonably enough conjecture that he died there and was buried according to the Custom of the World without finding any Evidence or Truth of such a Burial Whence I conceive his being buried was but a Conjecture of the Jews because they could not find what was become of the Body altho' probably they made a great Search for it Whence I Collect that his dying in the Mount and his being buried thereabouts was but a Collection or Conjecture of the Jews from his own not returning to them and their not being able to find his Body by their most diligent Search And Collecting from these Premises I am ready to infer as a Probability that Moses was translated and therefore neither dead nor buried and yet was never seen or heard of after nor could they by search find any place of his Burial or what other ways was become of him and I offer his Appearance at Mount Tabor as the best ground I have for this Conjecture conceiving that it might please God the Jews might not know of that Translation for that if they had known of his immediate going to Heaven they might have been apt to direct Prayers thither to him to intercede with God for their Nation as he often successfully did whil'st he was here upon Earth I have said before that Mr. W's Opinion of Moses's appearing at Mount Tabor in Soul only cannot be proved by any Text of Scripture is but his or at the most a humane Conjecture And I grant that his appearing in Person at Mount Tabor is also a humane but I think a more reasonable Conjecture And to this whole fifth Argument drawn from Mens Collections and Conjectures thereupon I Answer That Men expect more Clear and Assertory Proofs of the Soul 's Seperate Subsistence than this or such like Arguments can afford them The Sixth Argument PAg. 67. Mr. W. founds his Sixth Argument upon that which is delivered to us in the Parable of Dives And first he grants that Relation to be a Parable and not a real Story adding That Parables are shadows of Discourse by which are set forth things that are real and substantial And I grant they may be Instructive concerning those Matters for whose Illustration they were purposely delivered and yet even in those things I do not take them to be proving Mr W. says further That Tertullian Augustine and the rest of the Fathers did much build their Faith of the Souls Immortality and of Mens Happiness or Misery immediately after Death before the Judgment of the Great Day upon this Scripture I observe he avoids calling it this Parable I know not whether what he says concerning the Fathers building their Belief of such things upon this Parable be true or not but conceive that if this Parable was really the principal Foundation of that Belief it had but a very soft and sandy Foundation so as the building thereupon erected will not be enough able to resist the Storms Rains and Floods which may happen to assault it He further quotes Ireneus and relates the gross Errours which he and Tertullian fell into by following this Parable too closely viz. so far as to think That a Seperated Soul has a Shape Eyes Mouth and other like Members of a Humane Body He repeats his Concession again That this Similitude of Dives and Lazarus is not Historical but Parabolical P. 68. Mr. W. says By Abraham's Bosome is meant a Place of great Pleasure and Happiness reserv'd for the Righteous when they have finish'd this Life And hereupon I observe a Variance between being carried to this Place of Pleasure and a going before God to an intermediate Judgment and conceive that the being carried to this Place stands in Opposition to the Text of Solomon The Spirit returns to God who gave it for Lazarus in this Parable neither went to God for Judgment nor return'd to Him by a natural Bent or Power of its own but was carried to this unknown Place by the Ministry of Angels P. 70. Mr. W. raises a Question Whether the Words and Sense of this Parable do speak of and import a State of Persons presently after their Death or such a State as shall overtake them at the Resurrection and the last Judgment And he spends divers Pages and Arguments in Proving That the Import of this Parable points to a State presently succeeding the Parties Death and not to that State which shall follow low upon the Resurrection but his Labour to this Purpose is needlessly bestowed upon me or others who may think as I do That the Sense of this Parable intends a State presently succeeding the Parties Death Here Mr. W. says Our Lord by this Parable intended to set forth an immediate state of Happiness for the Godly and of Misery for the Wicked I Reply to this That there appears no Evidence in the Context of our Lord's Intent how to Teach by this Parable There is no Discourse in any Part of the Context which might lead our Lord to speak of the State of Persons after Death but the Context immediately fore-going doth plainly intimate and prove the special Intent of our Lord in this Parable was to Illustrate and Confirm a Sentence which himself had lately before uttered viz. That there are things highly esteemed among men and yet are an Abomination in the sight of God And to this Purpose he describes the state of Dives with such Circumstances as make it highly esteem'd and desired amongst Men and sets Lazarus so low and in a Condition so miserable as one can hardly devise a worse Condition amongst Men notwithstanding whereof the Sequel of the Parable declares That the state of Dives though highly esteemed amongst Men was in the whole of it abominable to the sight of God and Lazarus's state tho' abominated by Men was in the whole more blessed than that of Dives was And I conceive thereupon that our present Parable was delivered by our Lord with special Intent to illustrate this Doctrine without any apparent Intent to teach concerning the State of People after Death and yet I do Agree this Parable to set forth or prove that the common Opinion of the Jews at that time was correspondent to the Descriptions made in this Parable but I conceive withal that divers Particulars therein specified prove it to be a Jewish Conception of that
writ this Epistle because the Apostle says there were things in Heaven reconciled by the Blood of the Cross But there are no such things in Heaven reconciled by the Blood of the Cross except they be the Souls of some Holy Men that went hence Then he expresses a Desire to know what Men can say to this Argument And therefore I say to it That by his own Expression it appears he says he knows not what for he says He knows not that there are any other things in Heaven which need Reconciliation to God by Christ except Men will take these things to be the Souls of departed Persons But if Men will not accept of this Meaning then he knows not what the Apostle can mean by things in Heaven reconciled to God by Christ Which intends no more than that he doth not otherways know what the Things in Heaven reconciled to God by Christ may mean Which I take for a Confession That he doth not know what Paul meant by these things in Heaven Secondly I conceive he doth not know that there are any Souls in Heaven because if he did he should be able to make such a Demonstration or Description of their Being and of their being there as other Men who are willing might be able to understand and conceive He hath taken Pains to write this Treatise and therein hath already produced Thirteen Arguments in Proof of this Tenet but very unsuccessfully as those who peruse these Observations will easily discover The Perusers of this Argument will I think easily find That Mr. W. must have Two Things granted him before he can pretend to prove any thing by this Argument First That there are no things in Heaven which need Reconciliation to God unless Men will admit that Humane Souls are there And therefore Secondly he would perswade Men to admit of his Position That there are Souls in Heaven But I think fit to reject both these Proposals and say First That there may be other Things in Heaven besides Souls which may need a Reconciliation to God by Christ And Secondly to conceive that possibly or even probably there are not nor ever were any Humane Souls in Heaven nor in any other Place in the World except in their own proper and peculiar Bodies Here Mr. W. puts another slight Objection against his own Opinion and answers it P. 102. Mr. W. demands If there be any things else in Heaven besides the Souls of Men which need a Reconciliation to God What are those things I Answer I do not know what those things are and alike Confession of his Ignorance concerning this Subject would better have become Mr. W. than his groundless Guesses at what is meant in this Text by St. Paul's Expression of Things in Heaven and the supplying his Ignorance therein by a bold but Erroneous Guess That by Things in Heaven St. Paul intended the Seperate Souls of Men of which the Text makes no mention at all and his Supposal that there were Seperate Souls hath no better Foundation than his own Supposal which hath very little Power to convince intelligent Persons That Humane Souls have any sort of Subsistence in a state of Seperation from the Body The Fourteenth Argument PAge 102. Heb. 12.23 We are come to the Spirits of just Men made perfect Mr. W. begins this Argument with somewhat a long Comparison between the Law and the Gospel which makes little to our Point and therefore I pass it over P. 104. Mr. W. says as he is very apt to do That the Souls or Spirits of Men are Immortal and therefore it is a very great Truth that they are Immortal And adds Those Souls which the Gospel reveals to be alive out af their Bodies are thereby proved to be Immortal but the Gospel reveals that the Souls of just Men are alive out of their Bodies therefore the Souls of Men are alive out of their Bodies therefore the Souls of Men are Immortal Mr. W. says The Gospel revealeth that the Spirits of just Men are alive out of their Bodies Because the Text says they were made perfect and there is no Perfection in Death P. 105. He says We have a Right to the Society of those Spirits of just Men mude perfect which we shall have in possession when we depart hence But I find neither such Words nor Things in his Text viz. That we shall come to that Society when we depart hence so as I must repute it his own Addition to the Words of the Text which doth not appoint the Time for our coming to that Society I find Mr. W. has only quoted so much of this Text as seemeth most to support his own Opinion and therefore I intend to quote it somewhat more largely Heb. 12.22 Ye are come unto Mount Sion and to the Heavenly Jerusalem or City of God to the Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first Born and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Ver. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh whose Voice at the giving of the Law shook the Earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven and this signifies the removal of those things which are shaken and that we shall receive a Kingdom which cannot be removed The Words of our Text thus fully quoted do by no means import That Men or their Souls shall come to the enjoyment of those things at their Deaths as Mr. W. hath erroneously suggested but the words of the Text run in the present Tense Ye are come to the things which I here report to you viz. Ye are come to the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem to the Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the First Born when not only the Earth shall be shaken but also Heaven and the things so shaken shall be removed I conceive that the Description here made doth very properly denote the Time of the Resurrection and the great Day of Judgment For at that time we are instructed by the Scripture to expect the things here mentioned God and Christ attended by the Angels and the Church of the First Born consisting of Just Men made perfect both in their Spirits and in their Bodies to the City of God or the New Jerusalem which St. John tells us Shall come down from God out of Heaven as a Bride adorned for her Husband at or after the time of the Resurrection after Heaven and Earth have been shaken and are removed This I conceive to be the Time pointed at in this Text and I think these Descriptions are not applicable to any other Time nor hath Mr. W. mentioned any other Time for their Accomplishment saving that at Mens Death and for which he hath no Warrant from any words of this Text and as to the words in present Ye are come to these Glories I think
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
Freedom and the Doctor confesses it to be true and that the Soul as Immaterial as he supposes her cannot act without Material Assistance of the Phansie Memory and other Sensitive Powers and apparent it is neither the Man nor the Soul can act any thing without the Spirits of the Blood P. 126. The Doctor sets down three Moral Arguments proving the Souls Immateriality and Immortality 1. The Universal consent of Men to this Opinion 2. Man's Innate and Inseperable Appetite of Immortality 3. The Justice of God in rewarding good Men and punishing the Evil after Death Upon the first Argument he quotes Cicero's saying Omni in re Consensio omnium gentium lex naturae putanda est to this Rule I answer that if it should be admitted for a Rule yet there are many Exceptions to be made out of it and therefore I cannot admit it to have a binding force in this Case and to the Doctor 's Assertion of Universal Assent to the Souls Immortality by which he would prove it a Conception Natural to the Mind of Man I answer that a Conception so proving must be as Universal in Time as in Places or Persons but we do not Read or find that the Opinion of the Souls Immortality had a Being in the World or was known amongst Men before the Writings of Solomon because that in the Thousands of Years before his time we meet with no mention of that Opinion neither amongst the Patriarchs nor the Mosaical Writings nor any of the Prophets before Solomon's time nor do Job or David make any mention thereof We Read God laid great Punishments upon Cain for his Murther which was of great Importance in that time of the World and a very atroceous Fratricide and yet we do not Read of so much as a Threat against the Soul of Cain or any thing there spoken concerning Punishments future to this Life but all the Punishments denounced to him for that Fact were only Temporal and of this World nor do I find any Punishments future to this Life denounced against Sinners until the Books of Solomon became extant in the World save what was taken from the invention of some Poets which might be received in the World somewhat before his time And hence I infer That the Notion of the Souls Immortality is not Natural because for some Thousands of Years from the Worlds beginning that Notion was not received or known amongst Men. P. 131. The Doctor 's Opposer says the Opinion of the Souls Immortality is very Useful in Government for that audacious Malefactors who are not moved by the whole Arm of the Civil Magistrate will yet tremble at the Finger of Divinity P. 133. It is possible and Experience shews it frequent that an Opinion may be Universal possessiing the Minds of all Men for many Ages together without Dispute which yet at length may be Discovered to be False and Absurd as hath been Experienc'd in the Opinion of the Antipodes and the Circumvolution of the Earth both which till of late Years were held Unreasonable and Phantastical and perhaps this of the Souls Eternity may have the same Fate P. 134. Our Doctor says That to prove an Opinion derived from Nature there is required an Assent of all Ages from the beginning of the World To this I say The Opinion of the Souls Immortality hath not such a Consent and that such a Consent neither hath been or can be proved and that therefore the Opinion it self is not proved derivable from Nature or the Instinct thereof The Doctor says further That from the Antiquity Universality and Perpetuity of any Opinion we may safely conclude upon the Verity of it Hereunto I answer That the Opinion of the Suns Diurnal Motion about the Earth had a greater Antiquity and as great an Universality and hath still as strong a Perpetuity as that of the Souls Immortality either ever had or yet hath notwithstanding all which the Learned World begins now to perceive that it was always and is still an Error P. 138. Here the Doctor begins to produce and urge his second Moral Argument for the Souls Immortality from the Desires Men have of Perpetuity and Living after their Deaths either in their own proper Beings or in the Memories of such as survive their Departures To this I answer That if they desire a Perpetuity of their own Being after Death it seems they desire that which they cannot attain as all Men may and do desire a Perpetual Youth Health and Prosperity Nature and Reason both assure us that no Man doth or can desire a perpetual or a long Life under great Pains and Sufferings but a Life with Happiness is very acceptable to all Men and therefore they do not desire Life alone but as it is joyn'd with expectation or hope of Happiness and hence I collect that the much greater part of Mankind which the sinful World knownly are do not desire a future State of Life after Death but rather that there were no Being for them after this Life and would very much wish to be forgotten both by God and Men and therefore a Perpetuity of Being is not desired or so much desirable as our Doctor pretends it to be whence I conceive the Doctor 's Argument drawn from this Topick hath but little Force or Cohersion in it and not Strength enough to compel or even to draw Men to a Coherence with the Doctor in his Opinion of the Souls Immortality P. 145. Here the Doctor propounds his Third Moral Argument for proving the Souls Immortality and raises it from God's Divine Justice and his Equitable Dealings with Men and says it is commonly observ'd wicked Men prosper better in this World than the Righteous usually do and consequently that such Men are not rewarded according to their Works whilst they live and therefore God's just dealing with Men cannot be defended without allowing and believing a State of Rewards and Punishments after Death and from hence saith the Doctor it must unavoidably follow that Rewards and Punishments will be distributed to Men after their departures out of this Life To this I answer That I agree to all that the Doctor hath here delivered the Doctor replies if you so do you must likewise agree to the Doctrine of the Souls Immortality or the Seperate Subsistence of it for the Body after Death is not capable of receiving Reward or Punishment it must therefore be the Soul alone unto which such Rewards and Punishments can be applied Our Doctor not once mentioning or appearing at all to think upon the last Articles of our Creed I believe the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life Everlasting which seems to my Understanding a sort of Proof that he and the greatest part of those who believe and maintain the Souls Immortality are very little mindful of our quoted Article The Resurrection of the Dead insomuch as the Conceit of this Immortality seems to have eaten up and devoured the Article before-named with the Use and