and bears an equal weight in the Verse with that of Zacharias our Inquirer doth not Argue from that as he doth from the other because he could not but see that this Instance of Abel would ruine his Proof of a Revolution for Two Reasons 1. Because the vast Multitude of the Jews upon whom the Blood of Abel as well as Zacharias and others was charg'd could not live in Abel's time when all Mankind made up but Four Persons 2. Because his Master Van Helmont allots to every Man only 1000 Years in the World to undergo his 12 Revolutions in whereas this Punishment threatned the Jews befel them 4000 Years after Abel's Murther What a stand then are we at By the Helmontian Doctrine unless the Murderer of Abel be Born again to have the same Measure meted to him the Justice and Truth of God cannot be salv'd and yet you see 't is beyond the Power of this Expedient called a Revolution to bring him down low enough to suffer with the Jews for it So that hereby instead of defending the Dispensations of Providence which they pretend to aim at they expose it by making it liable to all those Absurdities and Contradictions this Doctrine doth run them into Qu. 5 What may be the meaning of the Prophet Ezekiel 16. 55. When thy Sister Sodom and her Daughters shall return to their former estate and Samaria and her Daughters shall return to their former estate then thou and thy Daughters shall return to your former estate that is Jerusalem and her Daughters Seeing it plainly appears that they were Dead and gone how is this possible to come to pass that they should return to their former Estate without being born a new into this World Answ The Prophet here useth an exalted manner of Denying Sodom and Samaria were â—â—…tage he will bring to his Cause for who can read such Expressions Generation goeth and Generation cometh Age goeth and Age cometh Year goeth and Year cometh and thereby apprehend that the very same Generation Age or Year goeth and cometh If Solomon had meant any such Sense as there would have been a necessity of his expressing himself in a different form of Speech from what he hath done so who can doubt but that he was able enough to do it Qu. 7 What may be the meaning of these words in 1. Peter Chap. 3. ver 18 19 20. For Christ also hath once suffered for Sin the Just for the Unjust that he might bring us to God being put to Death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison in Greek to the same Spirits which were sometimes disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is Eight Souls were sav'd by Water Were not these the same Souls that were living in Bodys of Flesh again at the time of Christ and his Apostles on Earth that so they might have his Death and Resurrection preached to them Else what benefit could these men have had of the Death of Christ had they not liv'd and had the Grace and Favour of our Lord Jesus Christ tenderd to them according to what is written he tasted Death for every Man Answ The force of the Inquirer's Argument is this That the Disobedient Persons in the times of Noah must afterwards be born again or else Christ could not by his Spirit Preach to them as he is here affirmed to do But I see no necessity at all of forcing such a Conclusion from these words a Signification may be allow'd them that is more natural which is that Christ by his Spirit in Noah who was styl'd a Preacher of Righteousness did once Preach to that Generation of Rebellious Sinners who liv'd before the Floud whose Spirits at the time the Apostle speaks of them were in Prison i. e. in Hell for their former Disobedience The Inquirer's Interpretation will not stand for these Reasons 1. Because he takes the Prison here mention'd for Humane Bodies which tho' it be agreeable to the Platonick Philosophy to call the Body the Prison of the Soul and to say that it is thrust into â—…ther it can find any Countenance from Reason OUR Inquirer discovers to us his Notion of this Revolution from some Instances which he lays down of a rich Man that bears himself to the Poor in an Unmerciful way He informs us that if this Text of Scripture be true The same measure c. that then 't is necessary that this rich Man should be born again and become Poor and know hunger and want as he made the poor man to know that he which killeth with the Sword shall be killed with the Sword c. But tho' in these and the like Cases punishments in the same kind will hold yet we shall find upon a little Consideration that it must fail in a Thousand instances for Pray how is it possible for Nero who destroy'd the Christians by more than a Hundred kind of Deaths to suffer Death in so many kinds himself tho' we should with Helmont grant him Twelve Revolutions These Revolutioners say that the design of their Hypothesis is to clear the Justice of God in such matters Let us suppose this bloudy Tyrant to have taken away the life of Ten Thousand Men only it cannot consist with God's Justice to let either of these Murthers to go unpunish'd and if Nero should live Twelve times and be killed as often the measure would be abundantly too short the Bloud of 9988 would still remain calling for Vengeance and if we should allow Nero as many Births and violent Deaths 't would not only contradict the Helmontian Doctrin but lay a necessity on God to prolong the World 200000 years allowing but 20 years to a Revolution before Nero can have all these measures of Murther meted to him that he hath meted to others but I 'le change the Instance What is to be done to a Man that makes himself Drunk or Murthers himself must he not be born again and exercise the same upon himself again If a Man commits a Rape he must according to this Doctrine be born a Woman and suffer the like Did Wat Tiler and Jack Straw raise Rebellion against their Prince Wo be to ' em for they must be born again and be Princes to have Rebellion committed against them He that abuses a Beast by Sodomy must be born a Beast or else he cannot have the same kind of measure meted to him II. God would be the Author of Sin Whatsoever God hath order'd to come to pass must make a large Breach in this Helmontian Hypothesis VI. If Men that live now have liv'd divers lives before Either they do remember what was done in their former lives or they do not If they do not remember to what purpose is it for Men to be born again to suffer for Faults which they cannot recollect or have the least
some information to prevent that Error and Confusion such a strange way of Numera 8 But to cut my Work shorter instead of amassing more Arguments of this kind I will make use of one sensible Demonstration which I will desire leave here to lay down out of its proper place But that the force of it may be better understood 't will First be necessary for me to give you an account of as much of the Hypothesis of Van Helmont as will be needful for my purpose and this I will do out of a Book sent me by the Inquirer call'd A Letter concerning the Revolution of Humane Souls In that we are told pag. 10 11 12. That every Man lives a 1000 years on the Earth in which time he undergoes 12 Revolutions in the same Body In all which time the Soul is absent from the Body 333â…“ Years and if these 12 times of Absence are computed one with another the distance between every parting and meeting again of the Soul and Body will be 27 Years 10 Months and 2 Days Now I will shew the Impossibility of the Reunion of these parts in the time that this Philosopher hath assign'd for it and the Reason I do it by is obvious viz. The testimony of our Senses That the Bodies of departed Souls are not reassum'd by them in a much longer space 'T is so intolerably ignorant to think that our Bodies do within the compass of 28 years corrupt small enough to be drawn into the Womb at every new imaginary Birth that the Plea of Dotage which commonly attends old Age will not be sufficient to excuse it For whose Faculties can be so much impair'd as not to know That ordinarily in dry Graves the Bones will appear entire and in some Vaults the Flesh will not be all consum'd in that time Many Persons now living who saw Bishop Braybrook's Body taken up out of a Vault in St. Paul's Church about 20 Years since in which he was laid about 200 Years before can testify That there remain'd not only a firm Connection between the Bones but that also the outward Skin that cover'd them and some Entrails within tho' dry'd like Parchment were not consum'd The Romanists do shew abundance of Bones as Relicks which tho' most of them did never belong to those ancient Persons they are ascrib'd to yet they have amongst them Loads of such as are about 1000 Years Old These are not can not be attracted into the Womb and yet the Men in whose Contexture they once were cannot make their Revolutions without them unless the Helmontians believe that a Man may be made up like a Collar of Brawn all Flesh and no Bone But if you desire Instances that are more General I would carry your Thoughts as far as Egypt Judea and indeed to all the East where anciently that curious way of Embalming dead Bodies prevailed or to old Rome and many other Nations who burnt their dead Bodies and by an Artful way they had separated the Ashes of the Body from that of the Fuel and then put them into Pots Now were I an Helmontian there is nothing I should hate more than these ways of preserving Bodies for they are so ordered that the Magnetism of the Soul hath afterward no power to draw them towards a Revolution I will send these curious Inquirers no farther than the University of Oxford where they may see Instances of both these Sorts of preserving There is a Body Embalm'd of which there are undeniable Tokens that it must be 2000 Years old and their Urns are but little under that Age but 't is not to be doubted but if the Vessels which contain this Humane Dust could last so long but that they would remain till the last Trump shall call them to Reunion Well then if the Souls to which these Bodies did belong have not fetch'd them away in all this time there is then no Ground for this Unphilosophical Position That the Soul after a few Years spent in a state of Separation from the Body should joyn with its old Companion again Lastly This Doctrine if believ'd would lead Men into Security For if they cannot recollect that they ever had any Life besides the Present they must conclude that they have XI more behind and on that Account would defer the trouble of living well till their Last Revolutions That Men if they had liv'd at all before would remember it I prove 1. From Pythagoras who positively affirms it Now his Testimony in this Case ought to be deciding because He first taught this Doctrine to all the Eastern Nations and therefore must better understand his own Opinion than his late Disciples the Helmontians 2. Because the Body decay'd by Age would be repair'd at every new Birth and therefore the Soul would exercise memory and all its other Functions in it better than before 3. The Rich Man in the Gospel Luk. 16. 25 27. is represented as remembring his Family 4. Unless we retain in another Life a memory of this we cannot give an Account of it in the day of Judgment as we must do Rom. 14. 14. 5. The Worm that never dies Mar. 9. 44. is an evil Conscience reflecting in the next World upon Sins committed in this But if I should not insist on this but yield that Men cannot remember this Consequence against Religion will still follow For since they declare that every one must have XII Revolutions granting that a Man cannot come to know whether he be at the First or Last of them yet he is sure that 't is XI to one but that he shall have another Revolution which is odds enough on the Sinners side And if Men are apt now to delay their Repentance whilst they are under the Perswasion that this Life is the only time of Tryal how wicked will they be when they come to believe as so great a probability must make them do that they shall live again at least one Age more on the Earth The Inquirer concludes thus Now if any Man will put Pen to Paper to deny the Return of Souls I would put my Hand to Paper to prove that That Man does deny there is any God but what he hath fondly conceiv'd But if Men will only exclaim against and call it Damnable Doctrine as I hear some do I would thereupon ask this Question Whether it be not a Duty incumbent on Teachers to refute this Damnable Doctrine if they are able that Men might not run into it But seeing many Books containing this Doctrin have been Printed in divers Languages and divers Countries and no Man that we can hear of hath hitherto written against it therefore I think it altogether impossible for them to confute it If any One will undertake to Answer these Questions I mean any Teacher of one of the divers Congregations and send his Answer to me it shall be kindly receiv'd I have offer'd my Queries to some of the Clergy of the Church of England and I could not find that they were willing to medle in the Matter I have also sent them to the Learned amongst the Presbytereans but if I receive no Answer from them nor any other of the divers Congregations to whom they are propos'd I shall conclude that they are altogether unable to Answer what I have Written W. C. Here he forgets what Modesty becomes One who pretends to be seeking about after the Truth and insults upon all that differ in Opinion from him He swaggers like Goliah before he enters the List and Challenges out the Army of separate Teachers but in a manner that bespeaks him a foul Adversary for if they will not Answer him he concludes 't is because that they are Ignorant and Unable but if they will Answer him then he will charge them with Atheism I know there are some amongst the Persons he provokes that are Men of good Learning and who could had they not despis'd This Cause and the Defenders of it easily have corrected the Opinion the Inquirer and his Master have of themselves and let them understand what little Creatures they really are Toleration hath lately brought forth Three unshapely Sons at a Birth the New-Jerusalem-Man the Barker and Revolutioner But of the Three the last is the weakest Brother as having only instead of Reason a hard Fore-head where with to defend himself That I may not be too tedious I 'le put a stop here and conclude my self SIR Your Most Affectionate Friend and Servant J. H. Mat 16. 2â— * 〈…〉 8 1. 4 Job 〈…〉 * See a Letter concerning the Revâ—lution of Humane Souls p. 10. * â— Pet. 2 5 Rom. 8. 11. 1 Cor. 15. 5. 22. See a Letter concerning c. p. 25. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Iamb cap. 14.
knowledge that ever they were guilty of them and how can they be hereby made sorry and Repent for their Offences seeing upon the strictest Search they can make they cannot tell when against whom in what nor how they have Offended and how shall they or others take warning by these Punishments since they can never guess for what it is they are punished God forbid that we should think that the great Judge of Heaven and Earth should ever establish such a senseless manner of Inflicting punishments If they do remember how useful may such Men be to the World in supplying the Defects and desiding the Differences amongst Historians reporting the Facts of dark and Fabulous Ages And that we may know whether the Enquirer be able in this kind to become a Benefactor to the Publick let him shew the length of his memory in the more easy task of recounting in what Countries he receivd his various Births who were the Princes or Governours there what Profession or Trade he might be of in each life and whether many or one Religion serv'd his turn how many Wives and Children he hath had in all times of his Revolutions and in what Registers I may find their names But if to excuse himself from this trouble it be said that our Inquirer hath not yet undergone his Second Revolution then indeed he will not be brought into either part of this Dilemma as it now stands but if this present Life will become future then I shall bring him within the compass of it and that too with great advantage to himself if this be his Opinion and he in earnest with it for I do hereby make him this Offer that on condition that he will now deliver me 100l I will give him the best security he can desire to pay 2000l when he comes a second time into the World and by the leave of the Government I must be allow'd to say that this is an Encouragement beyond the Lottery-Act which provides only for the present Life for by this means an old Helmontian that hath done with the Enjoyments â—â—…tion c. cannot in any tolerable Sense be true if this Opinion be III. This interferes with the Doctrine of the Resurrection for allowing this Opinion what St. Paul delivers of it would not hold so much as generally true He that rais'd up Christ from the Dead shall quicken your mortal Bodies Now all Bodies are Mortal and therefore All are to rise for as in Adam all dy even so in Christ shall all be made alive But if these Pretenders to Inspiration should not think St. Paul's Authority Great enough take that of our Saviour himself in Joh. 5. 28 29. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation So that All must Rise and All come to Judgment Wherefore Van Helmont seeing that He could not drive his Revolution this way unless he would fall on these and many other passages of Scripture of the like Importance takes the other end of the Staff and affirms that the same Soul is joyn'd to the same Body again and being so united do make up the same Person that liv'd before If you would know the manner of this Union read his 123 and 124 Queries where you are inform'd That the Soul in each Revolution when it receives the first beginning of the Body in the Womb doth by a Magnetick Vertue attract to it self the Particles of its former Body as the Load-stone doth the Particles of Iron-dust so that there is a Revolution of the same Bodies as well as of the same Souls Now if the Inquirer will follow his Master in accounting thus learnedly for our beginning in the World he will upon a little better Consideration find that it must force him if not to do greater Violence to Scripture yet certainly to offend more against Reason and Philosophy than if he had taken the former way and held that the Soul is united to a new Body For first to consider the manner of this re-union 't is impossible for what is immaterial as the Soul is to attract in a way Real and Natural as t is here affirm'd to do for whatsoever doth so attract doth do it by sending out of Particles or Qualities which nothing but what is Corporeal or a Body can do because no Beings besides Corporeal ones do harbor such Qualities or Particles in them and whatsoever is Corporeal doth consist of divisible parts and what V. But if I should be so kind to these Helmontians as to grant that this is a proper Generation let us then sit still and consider what will follow from it They tell us that this same Person that is now born did live perhaps before in the World divers times at this rate 't will fall out that a man may beget his own Grand-Father and Grand-Mother which is one of the most ridiculous Paradoxes in the World Let me explain my self in the instance of Adam and Eve They after their first Death could be born of none but their Grand-Children and if they were born of them 't will unavoidably follow that these Grand-Children begot the very same Persons that begot their Father and Mother And if Adam had dy'd young and had according to Helmont's Hypothesis come to his Second Revolution within a little more then 27 Years he must have been Born of his own Children and so Cain or Seth whom he begat must have done as much for his Father in begetting him again Hence too must follow that our First Parents were the mediate causes of themselves that they were Born and Created too that they were Polluted with original Sin and yet liv'd in a state of Innocence That Adam was in Paradise was Tempted did Fall that he Knew Eve his Wife and yet he knew her not but was born long after all these things were done If Riddle and Banter can recommend any Doctrine to the World I know none that deserves better Esteem than this VI. This will bring Confusion and Obscurity upon the Geneology of Adam and the imputation of Ignorance or Falshood on St. Jude for he reckons Enoch the Seventh from Adam which 't is impossible he should be if Adam made his first Revolution in due time and if Seth too receiv'd his next Birth in his own Line there can be but 5 Persons from Adam to Enoch tho' Moses also reckoneth up 7 in the Fift Chap. of Gen. And if Adam and Seth were born again and under new Names reckoned amongst the 7 are not these inspir'd Men more likely to know it then the Inquirer or his Master And if they knew it can we believe them such Sophisters as to reckon up 7 Persons for 5 to amuse us with new Names instead of new Men Would it not have well become the Ingenuity of such pious Men by