Anima mundi, or, An historical narration of the opinions of the ancients concerning man's soul after this life according to unenlight[e]ned nature / by Charles Blount, Gent.

Anima mundi, or, An historical narration of the opinions of the ancients concerning man's soul after this life according to unenlight[e]ned nature / by Charles Blount, Gent.

Table of contents

Title page

To the Reader.

Anima Mundi: OR, AN Historical Narration OF THE HEATHENS Opinions of Man's SOUL after this Life. I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.

XLIII.

§

§

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ANIMA MUNDI: OR, AN Historical Narration OF THE Opinions of the Ancients Concerning MAN'S SOUL After this Life: According to unenlightned Nature▪

By CHARLES BLOUNT, Gent.

Qui Iovem principem volunt, falluntur nomine, sed de unâ potestate consentiunt. Min. Fel.

London: Printed, and are to be sold by Will. Cademan, at the Pope's Head in the Lowerwalk of the New-Exchange in the Strand. 1679.

To the Reader.

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MEthinks I already behold some haughty Pedant, strutting and looking down from himself as from the Devils Mountain upon the Universe, where amongst several other inferiour objects, he happens at last to cast his eye upon this Treatise; when after a quibble or two upon the Title, he falls foul upon the Book it self, damning it by the name of an Atheistical, Heretical Pamphlet: and to glorifie his own Zeal, under the pretence of becoming a Champion for Truth, summons Ignorance and Malice for his Seconds: But such a Person understands not wherein the Nature of Atheism consists, how conversant soever he may otherwise be in the Practice of it. It were Atheism to say, there is no God; and so it were (though less directly) to deny his Providence, or restrain it to some particulars, and exclude it in reference to others. Such are Atheists, who maintain such Opinions as these: and so are those Hereticks, who erre in Fundamentals, and continue obstinately in such errour's. But the ignorant Vulgar people (whose Superstition is grounded upon the assimulating God with themselves) are apt to think that every one they Hate, are God Almighty's Enemies; and that whosoever differs from them in Opinion, (though in never so trivial a matter) are Atheists, or Hereticks at least: Not rightly considering the words of St. Peter, That in every Nation, he who feareth the Lord and worketh Righteousness, is accepted with him. And Minucius Felix says well [Page] to the same purpose, He is the best Christian, who makes the honestest man. Heresie is an act of the Will, rather than Understanding; a Lye, rather than a Mistake: and thus St. Austin expresses it, saying, Errare possum, Haereticus esse nolo. Heresie and Schism, (says the ingenious Mr. Hales) as commonly now used, are two Theological Scare-Crows, with which they who uphold a Party in Religion, used to fright away such as making an enquiry into it, are ready to relinquish and oppose it, if it appear either erroneous or suspicious. For as Plutarch reports of a Painter, who having unskilfully painted a Cock, drave away all the Cocks and Hens he could find, that so the imperfection of his own Art might not appear, by comparing it with Nature: so Men for some ends, not willing to admit of any fancy but their own, endeavour to hinder all enquiries by way of Comparison, that so their own deformity may not appear. Therefore if any man blames me for comparing Christianity with Paganism, it shews nothing but his unworthy distrust of the sufficiency of that Religion he professes.

There are two sorts of Iudges unto whom all Writers are obnoxious, viz. the Ignorant, and the Iudicious. As for the Ignorant, they are such men as I before was speaking of, than whose Approbation I dread nothing more: Simili simile gaudet, is a maxim that holds true as well in all other things, as Physick; and there is nothing would make me have so ill an opinion of my self, as to hear one of them commend me. But the other Iudge, viz. the man of [Page] Learning and Iudgment, is the He I fear, and before him only will I arraign my self. Non-age is the general Plea for the First-fruits of Young men, but that I disown; for he that thinks himself old enough to write a Book, can hardly excuse the folly that is in it, by calling himself Child: Nor have I ever seen a Piece that was written by one of 16 years of age, which was fitting for one of 17 to read; such Writings being commonly like Poems that were made by men when they were half drunk, unintelligible to any persons but such as are in the same condition. Therefore waving all such frivolous excuses, I shall first disclose those things which are most liable to censure, and then clear my self as well as I am able.

Perhaps there may be these three Exceptions taken against this Treatise, viz. my numerous Quotations, or Latine Sentences, my rambling from my Subject, and my uneloquent Stile.

First then, as for my many Quotations, whether in Latine or English, the Nature of the discourse requires it. Were it a bare Moral Essay, wherein I made use of none but my own Fancy, there to come in with a dixit autem Dominus, or other such scraps of Latine, were to render my self ridiculous: But this being a discourse of other mens Opinions, they would be thought my own, though father'd upon the Ancient Heathens, did I not cite my Authorities from the Authors themselves; so that I am enforced to play the Pedant even in my own defence. And yet notwithstanding, I have had some Enemies, who were so disingenuous, as to cast that Reproach upon me when [Page] they saw this discourse but in Embryo: so ridiculous as well as uncharitable, were their Censures. A man that with diligent search and care should collect together the Statues or Pictures of divers eminent Persons, and expose them in some publick place to the view of all Spectators, would not thereby procure to himself the repute of a good Painter or Statuary; and yet certainly this Act of his were laudable, and in some measure obliging: but it would render him most immodestly arrogant, if among the Pourtraictures of those eminent men, he should erect his own. Now this would be my case, if while I present you with the conceptions of great Philosophers concerning the Infinite Being, I should vent any part of my own inconsiderable fancy among theirs: Wherefore expect it not, for I neither have vanity nor ability sufficient to erect an Opinion of my own; but acknowledge my self totally subdued under the commands of that Government, whereto Providence hath assign▪d my Life. Besides, in this Tract is comprehended a Relation of various Sects contradictory the one to the other, so as I cannot be said to hold them all: Neither (as I know of) have I any where shew'd my self the least partial; but if one had stronger Arguments to justifie their Opinion, than the other, blame not me who deliver them but recitativé, and am as it were their Amanuensis, without ever concerning my self with the intrinsick value of their Doctrines.

As to the second exception, that charges me with rambling from my Subject, if this be an errour, it is an errour on the right hand, wherein I am but better [Page] than my word. Constancy is not so absolutely necessary in Authors, as in Husbands: And for my own part, when I have my Pen in my hand, and Subject in my head, I look upon my self as mounted my Horse to ride a Iourney, wherein although I design to reach such a Town by Night, yet will I not deny my self the satisfaction of going a mile or two out of the way, to gratifie my senses with some new and diverting prospect. He that always keeps at home, and never goes so far as to the end of his own Parish, only once a year in Procession, may be call'd a good Husband, but God deliver me from such a Companion. I confess I cannot but love both Men and Books of a Rambling Fancy, for even their very Extravagancies are diverting: Now he that is of this humour, will be sure to give me his voice. However, in this I have honour to imitate (though imperfectly) the great Montaigne, whose umbrage is sufficient to protect me against any one Age of Criticks.

Now for the third and last exception, against my Stile; I was never so well accomplish'd as to study the Iingling and Cadences of words, the happy expressions, the more soft or harsh toned Syllables how to place them right; nor had I ever the modishness to search in the Looking-glass which words gave the most graceful motion to the Lips: No, I confess my only endeavour is to write and speak so as to be understood; and as for Rhetorick, I leave that to those who delight more in the study of Words, than Nature of things. Rarely have I seen Orations full of Fancy, for Orators bring matter to words, and not words to matter; [Page] besides, the gravity of Philosophy would as ill become fine Language, as the Philosopher himself fine Cloaths.

These are the main Exceptions which I conceive may be urged against me: but if I have omitted any other, it proceeds from the abhorrence I have to read over that thing twice, which I my self have written. This Piece I am sensible cannot be altogether exempt from the evil Censures of some disaffected and interested persons; as for instance, the Fanaticks and others who pleaded a Call from God to do the Work of the Devil, cutting off their Soveraigns Head, and are herein exploded for it; also all manner of Hypocrites, who counterfeiting the true Religion, are as much Traytors to Heaven, as those who counterfeiting Coyns, venting false Metal for true, are Traytors to the King. By such persons as these I expect to be condemn'd; but the Ingenious Reader (if impartial) will not esteem it less worthy, for its sufferings under their Iudgments: since by the same Reason, he must also raise an outcry against the most sacred part of Philosophy, because Socrates suffer'd under it. There is nothing so virtuous or pious, which a contrary Faction will not decry: as on the other side, there is nothing so mean or base, which has not from some Interested persons receiv'd Adoration; even an Ape it self has not wanted Aegyptian Syllogisms to back him, so long as thousands lived by extolling him. Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. But not to persecute you with too long a Scotch Grace, before so short a Meal; pardon your coarse Entertainment, and you are welcome.

Anima Mundi: OR, AN Historical Narration OF THE HEATHENS Opinions of Man's SOUL after this Life.
I.

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AS the lustre of an Oriental Diamond is more clearly perceiv'd, when compar'd with counterfeit Stones; so Christianity appears in its greatest glory and splendor, when compar'd with the obscurity of Paganism; the deformity of the one, serving but as a foyl to the beauty of the other. Nor doth the Divinity of our Scriptures ever better appear, than when compar'd with the follies of the Talmud, the Alchoran▪ or the Constitutions of Heathen Law-givers; which is an infallible sign of their Excellency, that they so well bear the Test of comparison. Now upon these considerations, Arnobius, Minucius, Clemens, Lactantius, [Page] Origen▪ Tertullian▪ and other Ancient Fathers of the first Centuries, undertook to vindicate their Religion to the Heathens; which is also the design of this Treatise: and if any one resents it otherwise, his want of Charity betrays his Irreligion, and shews him to be none of the best Christian, who thus whips the Fathers upon my back. Some men there are whose Fancies, like weak Stomachs, turn the most wholesom food into corruption; and these are the Enemies I expect. In this Discourse I undertake only to declare the absurd and monstrous Doctrines of the Heathenish Superstition concerning this subject, as far as may shew the blind conjectures which meer Nature presented to their Philosophers, yet not to all of them, but to those only which have been the most considerable. And here I have not omitted to produce the most powerful Arguments, which they made use of to justifie their Vanities: partly, as unwilling to fight against a shadow; and partly, as knowing our Religion scorns to have them betray'd by a weak and dis-ingenuous representation of either their Lives or Doctrines, Christianity being of it sell able to foyl them, even in their richest dress.

II.

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To begin then with the Original of their Superstition: It did certainly proceed from some crafty discerning person, who having observed what is most dear to Mankind, thought by pretending himself able to assist in the preservation of that one particular, (whether he were so or no) he might thereby procure an esteem and credit in the World: which having once obtain'd, it would not be difficult under the pretence of other peoples good, to advance his own. Thus observing that in this World the Body is every mans chief Favourite, a wise Hippocrates comes and pretends to know what will conduce to its health: being assur'd that Mankind, that sets so high a value upon life and ease, would be largely bountiful to him who should be able to prolong and preserve either; and from hence arises the Physician. In the same manner the Law-giverPrimus in orbe Deos fecit Timor. observing a notion of some future Being implanted in every mans heart, pretended to have some extraordinary way reveal'd to him from an invisible Power, whereby he was able to instruct the People how to make that future estate happy, if they would but pursue his directions▪ and the better to countenance such a Revelation; [Page] they have absented themselves from the World some time before they divulg'd it. Thus Minos having for twelve years led a retired life in a Cave, at last came forth, and pretended to have spent all that time in conversing with Iove, whose Son he feign'd himself to be; also that he had received from his mouth those Laws which he divulged to the People. Also Numa Pompilius, after he had for some time concealed himself in a Wood, appear'd in publick, and prescrib'd those Laws to the Romans, which he pretended to have been deliver'd him by the Nymph Aegeria. A like Stratagem was made use of by Pythagoras, who after two years retirement in a Den, feign'd himself to be risen from the dead, preaching up Rewards and Punishments in another life, to the great terrour of the People, who very much confided in his Doctrine, because he had told them of all things which had happen'd amongst them during the time of his absence: A thing very easie for him to do, after he had been informed of the same from his Mother and Wife. Also Zamolxis (whom Laertius and Herodotus call, Pythagoras his Disciple, though Suidas and others oppose it) deliver'd those Laws to the Scythians, which he pretended to have [Page] receiv'd in a certain Cave, where he had been conversing with the Gods. Nor did Epimenides get himself less reputation, by his pretence of having slept fifty years. And last of all, Mahomet having in the same manner retir'd himself into the Mountains of Arabia, did there by the assistance of Sergius and two Iews, compose that fabulous Law which he after divulg'd unto the World, as coming from the Angel Gabriel, with whom he pretended himself very familiar. And thus we see with what Arts each Law-giver endeavoured to establish their Laws among men, thinking thereby to purchase that immortal Fame, which their Ambitions so much desir'd: For as one of the Ancients well observ'd, Amari, coli, diligi majus imperio est. But oh the Impiety of these Heathens, who father'd all their Follies upon their Gods! not considering, that whosoever speaketh in the name of the Gods, intituleth them to whatsoever he publisheth, and consequently if his Doctrine be false, (as that of theirs must needs be, by reason of the absurdities found therein) intituleth the Deities to false Doctrines.

III.

The next thing I shall insist upon, is their impious Opinions concerning the [Page] Deity; which deserve the same reproof that a late ingenious and noble Writer gave a rigid Predestinarian, affirming that God delighted in the death of Mankind; Speak worse of the Devil if you can: For there was hardly any thing so mean or base, as was not by some of them rever'd for a Deity; nor any Vice so great, but some of their Gods were guilty of it. Wherefore Origen speaking of the Aegyptians, says thus to Celsus: When you approach their Sacred places, ye shall meet with stately Groves, Chappels and Temples with magnificent Gates; also with variety of mysterious Ceremonies; but when once you are entred and got within their Temples, ye shall behold nothing but a Cat, or an Ape, a Crocodile, Goat, or Dog, whereto they pay the most solemn veneration. But of this I shall treat more at large in my discourse concerning Sacrifices, and therefore now will return to that subiect which the Title of my Book promises to treat of.

IV.

In the first place, to discover the foundation of their Opinion concerning the Soul, it was this, Iovis omnia plena; and of the World, Mens agitat molem: They held God to be all in all, to be Infinite, [...]. and therefore but One; thinking that if [Page] there could be found any real thing, (though but an Atom) which were no part of God, or any place wherein God were not, then they could not esteem him to be Infinite, and every-where present, but thence excluded, and consequently limited, upon which account they denied a Vacuum. Hence also they did not conceive the World (as some now do) to be a great Body by it self, set apart from theEuripides. Horat. Infinite God, but to be signified under that name, whose Being was in part visible and expos'd to our senses, and partly invisible as in its Spirituality, not perceptible by our gross corporeal Organs, otherwise then in its outward effects and productions: and that therefore no more of theRom. 1. 19, 20. invisible things of God was known unto them, then what seem'd of clear inference from the visible: that in plain meaning, the Spiritual part of the World was not by them discovered, further then was evidenc'd by its acting on the Corporeal part, whereof though in the common form of speaking, when they said God, they meant only the Spirit of God; and when they said World, they meant grosly the material Globe: Yet the more knowing sort of Heathens did by the World mean all corporeal Beings, both above and below, not [Page] allowing plurallty of Worlds, but only one infinite Body, govern'd by the Divine Spirit, acting all in all. Spiritus intus alit. So as when they mention'd Gods in the plural number, they meant only divers faculties, which their Soul of the World (viz. God) had infus'd into several Creatures peculiar to them. Hence they call'd every particular a Microcosm, or Little World, in some sort the Progeny, or imperfect Copy of the Universe, as consisting of Body and Spirit; some more perfect, as Man, and all animated Creatures; others less, as Plants, Minerals and Stones: according as their several mixt bodily Temperaments were prepared to receive a more or less pure degree of the Anima Mundi: not allowing more Souls then one, although men gave them divers names, according to the various kinds of Creatures so animated. And this some held too Spiritual, to be any more defiled by any diseas'd, nasty, or wicked Body, wherein it dwelt, then the Sun-beams by shiniug into a Dungeon or Pest-house.

V.

Now this Doctrine of the Soul seem'd but ill to provide for Justice, either in this life or another, however they allow'd it Immortality in general, but undertook [Page] not for its▪ disposal in any peculiar way; only that it lives here, as long as it hath vigour enough in it self to draw and digest to its own support, fit and sufficient Nutriment out of the great World. But when its Organs are either enfeebled, or by some accident disorder'd, that it can no longer prey on the great World, then that preys upon it, and at death receives back its Body and Spirit into it self: by which alternative Emanation of the Universe into particulars, and their Restitution into the Universe, (without any annihilation) the World (say they) enjoys a perpetual rejuvenescency. They did by daily experience see composita dissolvi, and in their dissolution nothing perisht but that which was made up of the conjunction of those parts. As when by death the Body and Soul were parted, the Man they thought was gone, but the Spirit remain'd in its Original, and the Body in its Earth from whence it came: and they when wrought again by Nature separately into new mixtures, entred into a new state of Being▪ which they supposed no way concern'd or related unto the former, as we may see by the lines of the Poet:

[Page]Et si jam nostro sent it de corpore, postquam

Lucretii lib. 3.

Distracta est animi natura animaeque potestas

Nil tamen hoc ad nos, coitu, qui, conjugioque

Corporis atque animae consistimus uniter apti.

Nec, si materiam nostram conlegerit aetas

Post obitum, rursumque redegerit, ut sit a nunc est:

Atque iterum nobis fuerint data lumina vitae:

Pertineat quicquam tamen ad nos id quoque factum,

Interrupta semel cum sit retinentia nostri.

Et nunc nihil ad nos de nobis attinet, ante

Qui fuimus, &c.——

But only thought themselves assured, and held for an eternal verity, that there never was, nor could be in Nature any Annihilation: however gross people when things disappear'd, consider'd not that they were dissolved into their first Principles, but suppos'd them turn'd into Nothing: whereas if Nature did admit of any Annihilation, the World, says Ocellus Lucanus, had long ago vanish'd. Aristotle, Xenophon, Cicero, Averroes, and others, make the World eternal, and void of all corruption: for not being able to comprehend whether the Egg or the Bird were first generated, since no Bird could be [Page] without an Egg, nor Egg without a Bird, therefore they conceiv'd that the World, and the beginning of every begotten thing, together with the end thereof, must be by perpetual revolution sempiternal. So that this not admitting of any Annihilation, caus'd their opinion of the Worlds Eternity. And the Stoicks who believ'd a final Conflagration, did not believe any Annihilation, any more then of a Faggot, when it was burnt: but that there should be a new Heaven and a new Earth, or rather that the Almighty Wisdom would produce some new Fabrick unconceivable by us, who are not able to conceive any thing whereof we have no experience.Euripides, as the Translator renders him.

Genitum nihil emoritur,

Sed transpositum ultro citroque

Formam priorem alterat.

For say they, as Nature cannot create by making something out of nothing, so neither can it annihilate by turning somethingHackwell's Apol. lib. 1. cap. 4. into nothing: From whence (says Dr. Hackwell) it follows▪ by consequence, that as there is no access, so can there be no diminution in the Universe, no more then in the Alphabet, by the insinite combination and transposition of Letters, or [Page] in the Wax by the alteration of the Seal stamped upon it. Ocellus Lucanus upon this subject writes, That if any should conceive the World to have been made, he would not be able to find into what it is corrupted and dissolved, since that out of which it was made, was before the Universe, as that into which it shall be corrupted, will be after the Universe.

As for those things which are contain'd in the World, they have communion with the World; but the World hath communion with nothing else besides it self: for all other things have not such a nature as is sufficient of it self, but stand in need of communion with other things, as living Creatures, need respiration; the Eye, light; and the other Senses, their several objects: Plants need the juice of the Earth, for their growth: Nay the Sun,Ocell. Lucan. lib. 1. Moon, Planets, and fixed Stars, require a certain portion of the Universe; only the Universe stands in need of no other thing but it self. Now as Fire which is able to give heat to other things, is of it self hot; so that which is the cause of safety and perfection to other things, must of it self be safe and perfect. Again, if the Universe be dissolved, it must be dissolv'd into something, or nothing: not into something, [Page] for the Universe would not then be totally corrupted, for something must be the whole Universe, or a part of it: nor will it be annihilated, sor (says Ocellus) it is impossible that something should be made of nothing, or reduced into nothing. Dr. Hackwell hath well observ'd, that no Prophets ever foretold the end of the World would ensue till many years after their own deaths, being sure not to be proved Lyars: according to the Epigram,

Cur mundi sinem propiorem non facis? ut non

Owen upon Napier.

Ante obitum mendax arguerere? sapis.

For they who prophesie the Worlds destruction, are upon sure grounds, viz. that till it comes to pass, it may be expected. Iosephus speaking of the Greeks and other Nations, affirms, that every State and Kingdom have reported him that was the first Founder of them▪ to be the first of the World: each Nation reckoning their Antiquity but from some great change which happen'd among them. And thus we are to understand the Original of the Greek History from Inachus the Argive; not that he was the Original thereof, as some make him; but because a most memorable alteration did then happen, some were so [Page] ignorant as to make that construction thereof. For my own part, I who believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God, do in this point, as in all others, resign up my poor Judgment to that sacred Oracle; but if I did not, Iosephus his Arguments would prove altogether uneffectual unto me. For after he hath Ioseph. cont. Appion. in his discourse against Appion, spent many lines in magnifying his Countreymen the Iews, that they were the first Inhabitants of the Earth; He at the last does in a manner confess, that he dares not nevertheless compare the Monuments of the Iews, with those of the Aegyptians, Chaldees and Phoenicians, who dwell in such Countroys as were not so subject to the corruption of the Air, and have carefully preserv'd the Records of their Countrey. Which is as if he had said, that for as much as no other Nations but the Aegyptians, Chaldees and Phoenicians, have cortain Records of their Originals, therefore I will not with them contend for Antiquity, but only with such as have no Records to shew. Also in the same Treatise Iosephus makes use of Manethon, when it is for his advantage, and to justifie the Iews Antiquity, but in othermatters that are [Page] to his disadvantage he rejects his Authority. But to return to the Heathen Opinion of the Soul.

VI.

The most plausible Arguments they had to justifie their wicked Opinion of the Soul's mortality, or unrewarded condition, proceeded from their contemplation of Man, whose Body when he dies, they plainly saw was by putresaction mingled with the Body of the World, from whence it was: And by the same reason they were so credulous as to believe his Soul mingled with the Soul of the World, from whence that was. Their Priests also agreeing herewith, (though in another form of words) taught, that in death the Soul went to God who gave it, and the Body to the Earth of which it was composed: therefore as when the Sun-beams shine into a dark room, and enlighten it, you may easily exclude it from shining into the room, but can never intercept or cut those beams off from their original, the Sun: the like relation they conceiv'd the Soul of Man had to the Soul of the World, whereto it ever hath an inseparable conjunction: the same also they held to be in all other Creatures, according to their several degrees of animation from one and [Page] the same general Spirit, and that by reason of its spirituality such passage could be no more hindred, then the Walls of a Castle can hinder you from thinking what is within.

VII.

Ebencora an Arabian Philosopher, observing that Nature makes no sudden transition from one extreme to another, and ever by some preparative degrees fitting them to be invested into one another; so he willing to advance the Soul into a more coelestial condition, pretends that when it leaves the gross carnal Body, it first mixes with some more subtil Body, (perhaps the Air) and so by being more and more refined, receives a gradual capacity of a coelestial condition; not considering that the Spirit, when it is in any thing, is much more spiritual then Air. But Hippocrates went further then this, who living in a Republick, and so perhaps having his Philosophy infected with their kind of Government, gives the Soul of all things a kind of reciprocal preferment and recidivation, by rarefaction and condensation of its corporeal nature. For he observing the dissolution of gross Bodies to be wrought by fermentation intrinsick, which looses and ratisies them; as also that they [Page] are compacted by condensation, whereby the Soul becomes wrought again into another gross Body, and that the spiritual doth ever act and govern the corporeal: He (I say) from these Operations conceiv'd a kind of alternative reign in Nature, saying after his obscure manner, Lux Iovi Tenebrae Plutoni, Lux Plutoni Tenebrae Iovi: which much agrees with the LondonVirtuosi in Sir Hugh Platt's time, who writes, that they held no Original difference of things but thick and thin, not discerning that [...], Divinum aliquid, or Spiritual Nature, which Hippocrates observ'd to be in all things.

VIII.

Many old Philosophers of great eminency, especially the Platonists in their airy discourses of Humane Souls, first in savour of their own, plac'd them in an higher form then those of ordinary persons, and other Animals: pretending that by frequent Philosophical meditation, they so far refined themselves, as that after death they remain'd in a kind of Astral, or (as term'd by later times) Angelical condition. As if bare thinking could cause any real effect, in a subject [Page] with whom all its thoughts vanish. But those of the Vulgar, especially if vicious, they also acknowledged to be immortal, however to remain more or less grieving, for the loss of that beatifical fruition, according as they had led on Earth a life more or less vicious.

Which Opinion (meer Nature, and unenlightned Reason being Judge) can't acquit it self of many errors: First, they did not explain themselves, how they could be capable of a confin'd locality; nor where, nor in what subjects those Souls should remain, when they left their Bodies. Moreover, all their operations here seeming to be Organical, they wondred how men could be supposed to see, when their Eyes are gone; or to grieve, rejoyce, or think, when the Brain, the medium of thinking, is turn'd to dirt. Further, they grosly asserted, that those departed Souls could have no knowledge of particulars, for that they are not discernable, but by our bodily senses, which represent them unto us; but they pretended their knowledge to be only of Universals, whereas there are no such things really in Nature, they being only meer aggregate terms, devised by our selves for conveniency of discourse, to save the labour of enumerating particulars. [Page] As when we say, Mankind is mortal, that in effect signifies no more, but that Iohn such-a-one, Thomas, Robert, Peter, &c. one by one, each particular man living is mortal: but for as much as we cannot nominate all those particulars, we are constrain'd to include them in one term, Mankind: whereas if every particular Man, Woman and Child were dead, there would be no such thing as Mankind left, no not so much as notionally in imagination, because there would not then remain one man alive to conceive such a notion.

IX.

Others of later times, not taking the truly wise advice of St. Paul, to beware of vain Philosophy, have adventur'd to uphold the knowledge of Humane Souls after death, not by Faith and the Scriptures, whose sacred Authority were the most proper support of that belief, but out of the presumption of their own sufficiency, by the meer light of Natural Reason; and because this appears not easily intelligible, they endeavour to illustrate it by terms to Nature as unintelligible, telling us of the separate Souls intuitive knowledge, [Page] and that without help of the imaginative part, which is acknowledg'd to perish with the Brain, its seat and Organ. But Divinity is too sublime a thing to be tryed by the Test of our imperfect Reason, for that were to try God by Man, and in these matters may it justly be call'd Folly before God. 'Tis usually observ'd, that those who vent Doctrines which they are not able to evince, muffle them in obscure terms, as one may call a kind of Canting, like Aristotle's Entelecheia, which no body understood but himself. Thus this term of Intuitive Knowledge, without the help of senses or imagination, is utterly unconceivable to us, who in knowing make use of both. There is nothing that more betrays the Souls infinity, than Thought; as when in one minute a man can think of the Northern and Southern parts of the World, and in one moment run over many thousand Leagues both of Sea and Land: but the chief Argument this point of their Philosophy relyes upon, is a reflex knowledge, which we have in perceiving our selves to know: and this they will have to be done without help from the imaginative Representation; wherefore they say, the Soul may know, although [Page] that part be lost. But if we confidently mark this inward perception of our knowledge, it may perhaps be nothing but the inward experience, which our imaginative faculty gives us of what we know, and doth no more evince any separable faculty of the Soul, (as Lucretius observes) than the reflex and intrinsick perception of smart, which a man's Foot gives him in a Fit of the Gout.

X.

Now the Ancients thinking the Spirit of the World to be universally diffus'd through all things, not only Animals, but such as we call Inanimates, consider'd it so as that the various actings thereof, might not be unfitly compar'd to the Musick of a pair of Organs, where all the wind comes from the Bellows, which being distributed into several Pipes, makes Musick so long as it remains in them, but so soon as it is passed through the Pipes, the wind of each Pipe mixes with that of the others again, and then the Musick ceases: Thus they foolishly conceived to be infused into all Creatures, each of their Spirits from that of the World, and so to act according to the various temperaments [Page] of those several Bodies, which they possess as long as they remain therein; but immediately when they pass through them, they mingle again promiscuously with one another into the Spirit of the World, from which they were sent, and thus their former ways of acting ceased.

Others there were that look'd upon the Soul to be to the Body, as we see Gunpowder is to the Gun, (if I may fitly illustrate an Ancient opinion, by a Modern comparison) and that a Body without a Soul, is but a piece of Ordnance uncharg'd, useless to the operation Nature assign'd it. Therefore when men run mad through over much wit, knowledge or learning, they may not improperly be said to be over-charg'd: as on the contrary, the reason why men vasto corpore are generally more heavy, dull and half witted, may proceed from their being under-charged. As we see the same quantity of Powder which gives a Report in a Pistol, gives little or none in a Cannon, the disproportion of the Gun diversifying the effects.

XI.

[Page]

Some of the Ancient Philosophers having a vain ambition of getting eternal Fame, by raising some particular Sect of Philosophy, which might generally take amongst men, set up for one of these ways: either to please the Voluptuous, who care for nothing, but delighting their senses without any further regard: or by pretending to Futurity and Eternity to make a more glorious noise, and thereby thought to prevail more powerfully and universally, as over-awing the timorous, and alluring the ambitious: in which way they adapted eternal terrours to evil doers, and everlasting glory to the virtuous. This they not improbably hoped would make their Sect to be admitted and cherish'd by Princes, as commodious to Government. Also this latter sort to compass their end, were necessitated to wrest their Doctrines of the Soul so far from meer illuminate Nature, as one of the Ancients said, They deliver'd things more like Dreams, or Old Wives Tales, than Truths: and at length Posterity following their Ancestors like Carriers Horses in a track, without seeking [Page] out any new or better way, they receiv'd such frenzies from one another, and improved them with such dotages of their own, as surpass'd all Poetick Fictions, and instead of taking with the Vulgar, grew ridiculous. For in truth they needed as much and as weak credulity, as ever any vulgar Superstition did: but were not so craftily fitted to draw vulgar capacities to honesty, or terrifie them from vice, as other Superstitions were. Their news of separate Souls in coelestial Joys, or infernal Agonies, Enumerus theSext. Empir. Atheist says most impiously, were as hard to prove as the Elysian Fields, Acheron or Styx, or Pluto with his Infernal Guard. All this would do little or no good upon the prophane Rabble, for they would say within themselves, if this be all, we will not for such Metaphysicks forbear any manner of pleasure or profit, how base soever. On the other side, should you hear Mahomet assuring the people, that if they would lead a pious, religious and obedient life in this World, they should hereafter live for ever in most pleasant Gardens, with variety of delicious Fruits, beautiful Women, and high affections, with abilities renew'd eternally: but if they led an irreligious life, and were disobedient [Page] unto his Doctrine, they should hereafter be deliver'd up to horrid Devils, who would for ever torment them in a Lake of material Fire and Brimstone: this Doctrine, when once by education, and the solemnity of publick Authority, implanted and upheld in the minds of men, proves far more prevalent with them, than the sublime notions of Plato, how well grounded soever: and as to an exact proof before natural reason, clear and not prepossess'd, perhaps Plato would not have much the odds of Mahomet; Nihil est infelicius homine cui sua figmenta dominantur.

XII.

Many good Moral men, and some of the Fathers, as Tertullian, Lactantius, &c. held the Soul to be ex Traduce from Father to Son, and that for these reasons: First, if every man hath a new Soul infus'd into him at his birth by God, and not lineally descended to him from Adam to Eve, how then can they be guilty of, or suffer for Original sin? 2. What means that place Exod. 1. 5. where 'tis said, All the souls that came from the loins of Iacob, were seventy souls? Also another place, [Page] Gen. 46. 26, 27. to the same purpose. 3. If the Soul be not ex Traduce, then Man the most perfect of all Creatures, were worse than a Beast, who begets both matter and form. 4. Every like doth not then beget his like, an error in Philosophy it self. 5. All that have Seed in themselves, do not propagate their kind. 6. Gods Command, viz. Gen. 1. the Creatures to increase and multiply, would be useless and of none effect. 7. God would infuse a Soul to be punish'd here and hereafter for anothers sin, viz. Adams. 8. God seems to concur to the act of Fornication, or Adultery, in that he furnishes their unlawful Issue with a Soul; and if a Man lye with a Beast, and beget a Monster half a Man and half a Beast, God will be thought to infuse a Soul into that unnatural conception, and it is a Quaere what will become of that Soul hereafter? 9. If the Soul be infused, nothing is begotten; for the Body can't generate per s [...], any more than one House can of it self beget another, both the Body and the House being of themselves but dirt, Generation is not without the Soul. Lastly, Man begets not whole Man, for he consists of Body and Soul joyntly. These absurdities they inferred from that [Page] opinion of Gods infusing the Soul immediately into every man at his first Creation. This opinion of the Souls being ex Traduce (like the Body) from the Parents, is illustrated by the simile of lighting one Candle by another▪ and that according to Holy Writ, God first lighted Adam, from whom Posterity receiv'd their light, without diminishing one another thereby, any more than one Torch is diminish'd by lighting another. In a Candle if you observe it closely, you may plainly perceive how the flame, as it melts and draws in the Tallow into little bubbles, turns them into flame, which shines for a while, till its uppermost part having spent its oyly moisture, vanishes into Smoak and Air, the flame still renewing not in identity, but by successive renovation. In resemblance whereof, some thought the Soul out of the bodily Nutriment to make the Chyle, and turning that into Bloud, out of that to make the animal Spirits, and of them th [...] diseursive Soul, which in an humane temperature seem'd refin'd to a greater purity, than in the grosser constitutions of other Animals; likewise in them more than in Plants, to a greater or lesser perfection or duration, according to their [Page] different Temperaments more or less prepar'd to receive it: and they that held this Opinion, laid down for an infallible maxim, that Quicquid recipitur, recipitur admodum recipientis; and from hence (say they) it comes to pass, that some men are more ingenious, others more stupid. But generally they held, that men were more clearly rational, whilst other Animals are stupid and dull, yet all from one and the same original Spirit, varying only according to its different fuel. Just as Lamps, some shine brighter and some more dim, according as their Oyl or Wi [...]k is better or worse. From hence (say they) it proceeds, that we often see as much difference between Men and Men, as there is between Men and Beasts, only as stupidity is most prevalent in Brutes, so is frenzy in Men. Nor did the Heathens perceive any considerable difference betwixt us and other Creatures, than what is occasion'd by speech and use of Letters, whereof they being ignorant, could only think of objects, noises, and what they felt, heard or saw, but could hold no mental discourses, as Men did who had the use of Letters. Let us hear what Mountaign says on this subject.Mount. Ess. lib. 2. c. 12. That defect which hindreth communication [Page] between them and us, why may it not be in us, as well as in them? for we understand them no more than they do us; by the same reason therefore may they despise our ignorance, as well as we theirs: And we may as well think the Chineses Beasts, because we do not understand them. When I am playing with my [...]at, (says he) who knows whether she hath more sport in dallying with me, or I in playing with her? We entertain one another with mutual Apish tricks; and if I have my hour to begin, or to refuse, so hath she hers. As we hunt after the tamer sort of Beasts, so do the wilder hunt after us: and therefore as Sheep or Oxen are made for Men, so (if you will credit Mountaign) are Men after a sort made for Lions, Bears, Wolves, Tigers; the weakest for the strongest. Such as keep or entertain Beasts, (as he goes on) may rather be called their Servants, than they theirs. Democritus was of the opinion, that Men have learnt most of their Arts from dumb Creatures: as that the Spider taught us to weave, the Swallow to build, the Nightingale to sing, and divers Beasts the Art of Physick. St. Austin in his dispute with the Manichees, seems to give Beasts the use of Reason. [Page] Campanella gives them some senses which we want: What (says he) makes the Cock to discover midnight and morning, as it appears he doth by his crowing? what teaches a Hen, before she hath had any experience, to fear an Hawk, and not a Goose, or Peacock, far greater Birds? what makes the young Chickens more afraid of a Cat, than a Dog? and to strut and arm themselves more against the mewing of the one, than the barking of the other? what instructs Wasps, Emmets and Mice, to chuse the best Fruit and Cheese, without having tasted them before? and what teaches the Dog when he is sick, to flee to the Grass, and the Stag, Elephant and Serpent to certain Herbs, when they are wounded, for cure? how many ways speak we to Dogs, and they understand us? what discipline may we learn from the Bees? what prudence from the Ants, in laying up provision before-hand? or from the Swallows, who at the approach of Spring search up and down, and pry about the corners of the Houses, not without judgement and discretion, and from a thousand places select that which is most convenient for them to build with? and in that pretty, cunning contexture of their Houses, would [Page] Birds chuse rather a round than a square form, did they not know the conveniency of it? what makes them take first Clay, and then Water, unless they guess'd the moisture of the one, would mollifie the hardness of the other? would they floor their Apartments with Moss, did they not know, how much more soft and warm it would be for themselves and young ones? what makes them shelter themselves from stormy weather, building their Cabbins toward the East, but that they know some winds are more healthful than others? why doth the Spider spin her artificial Web thicker in one place than another, using sometimes one, sometimes another knot, had she not an excellent contrivance? Let us now consider Man, who (as Mountaign saith) is the only out-cast and forsaken Creature, naked on the bare Earth, having nothing to cover and arm himself withal, but the spoil of others; whereas Nature herself hath cloath'd and fortified all other Creatures with skins, hair, wool, stings, horns, scales, feathers, talons, claws, hoofs, teeth, &c. instructing them in every thing requisite for their own preservation, as to swim, r [...]n, creep, fly, &c. but Man alone can neither feed, [Page] speak, nor shift for himself, unless taught by others.

Tum porrò, puer ut saevis projectus ab undis

Lucret. l. 5. p. 222.

Navita, nud [...] humi jacet infans, indigus omni

Vitali auxilio, cùm primùm in luminis or as

Nexibus ex alvo matris Natura profudit,

Vagitu (que) locum lugubri complet, ut aequum est

Cui tantum in vita restat transire malorum.

At variae crescunt pecudes, armenta, feraeque

Nec crepitacula eis opus est, nec cuiquam adhibenda est

Almae nutricis blanda, atque infracta loquela:

Nec varias quaerunt vestes pro tempore coeli.

Denique non armis opus est, non moenibus altis

Queis sua tutentur, quando omnibus omnia largè

Tellus ipsa parit, Naturaque Daedala rerum.

Some Authors are of an opinion, that Man is nothing but an Ape cultivated; others think, that as he is superiour to Brutes in some things, so is he inferiour in other. By the Law sin first came into the World, saith the Holy Scripture; wherefore if Man be the only Creature that hath knowledge of God, then (say they) he is the only Creature that sins against that God whom he knows: what [Page] Brute doth a worse thing than Man, when he goes into Foreign Wars, and for 4 pence or 6 pence a day murders men that never did him wrong? Birds quarrel with one another either for meat, or females; and Men for Superstitions, or for somewhat that doth not at all concern them; and now which is the most rational dispute? St. Ierom forgetting that it is said, Not a Sparrow falls to the ground, without Gods knowledge, doth in his Exposition upon Habakkuk seem to limit Gods Providence, and make it not extend to Beasts, but only unto Men: also Cicero writesDe Nat. Deorum, lib. 1. c. 3. to the same purpose, Magna Dii curant parva negligunt. But this was only to complement the Great ones: For as St. Austin says, Deus est maximus in minimis: and as the excellency of the sight appears in discerning the smallest object; so did he think the beauty of Providence most appear'd in governing regularly the smallest Atom. But to return to our subject.

XIII.

Mens natural passions and fears, when not enlightned by judicious and calm consideration, nor repressed by a sober temper [Page] of mind, did ever so tyrannize over them, that some (as now with us) dare not lye alone, or go in the dark, for fear of Sprites; but this timorousness was more venial in the ignorant Heathens, than in us, who believe that Man bears the image of the Almighty; for what can be more absurd, than to think that the Devil when he pleases to make sport, can invest himself in the same shape with the Almighty's Favourite? But however, such reports have given some men an opportunity of shewing the power of their zeal, to lay those Spirits which never were raised. The good Daemon of Socrates was no other than his extraordinary prudence and wisdom, which ever dictated to him in all his undertakings, both what to do, and what to avoid; nor did this good Genius fail him, save in the choice of his Wife Xan [...]ippe, at which time, if Matches were made in Heaven, he had certainly no Friends there. 'Tis thought there is a decep [...]io visus wherewith timorous people are possess'd, that oft-times make them believe they s [...]e things, which they do not: and he that believes there are such things, hath half seen them, and wants only Brutus his waking dream, to see such another Apparition, who instead [Page] of seeing what he is reported to have seen in a dream, did only dream that he saw it, which very much differ.

The ingenious Dr. Brown is zealous for Apparitions, and in a Reply to that shrewd Objection, That the Devil only appears to silly weak people, he says, That the Devil will not appear to the wicked, for fear of converting them: but if this Argument held, he must never appear to any, for certainly his appearing can never advance his Kingdom, but rather the contrary. However, that God can raise up such things, no man I think will question; but that he doth, so often as men report, no man is obliged to believe. Nor shall I be so dogmatical as to assert the contrary, since there is an aërial Creation, and for ought we know every place is full of invisible Spirits, which like the Wind are unseen, yet visible in their effects and operations. Th [...]s opinion of Spirits hath ever been received in the World, as we may learn from all Histories both Ancient and Modern, and therefore I shall not be so positive in my assertion as to give all Antiquity the lye. When I read of a Sceleton that appear'd in chains to Athenodorus the Philosopher; and the same of Cleonice, that tormented [Page] Pausanias (who had slain her) as long as he liv'd; as also the Ghost of Agrippina did her Son Nero. Alexander ab Alexandro Lib. 5. cap. 23. tells us of several Houses in Rome, that were uninhabited on this occasion: but particularly one of his own, wherein both himself and his daring Companion, were severely srightned by an Apparition. Also Cardan (whom Causabon stiles, Homo ventosi ingenii) was for this very reason call'd Mendacissimus. He (though incredulous enough in other things) yet here seems too easie, for he not only believ'd such Apparitions, but affected to tell strange things concerning them: which made his great Friend Nodaeus, (who extoll'd him in other things,) to decry him in this. Suetonius also tells of a Spirit, that appear'd in Caesar's Camp, just before his passing the Rubicon, and in the form of an handsom young man, snatching a Trumpet out of the hands of one of the Trumpeters, therewith threw himself in o the River, and swam over, sounding a March all the while: (Although men may question, whether this were not a Stratagem us'd by Caesar to encourage his Men to proceed, the supposed Spirit being perhaps only a young man that could swim well, and [Page] sound a Trumpet.) Therefore I shall not too confidently oppose a Doctrine, which hath been so long entertain'd in the World. But in all these matters it is good to be neither too sceptical, so as to need burning before we are convinc'd that the fire is hot; nor too credulous, as those who see nothing but what is invisible, and believe nothing but what is incredible.

XIV.

Again, others whose Ideas were more chearful and vigorous, did frequently cast away their lives, in hopes of being wrapt above the Skies; as the Negroes of Guiney use to do, who upon any dislike of their condition, (thinking their Being no longer to be preserv'd than it is a Well-being) do often make-away themselves, in hopes to go dance with their deceased Friends beyond the Mountains. The prodigious power of such waking dreams, have produc'd such horrid effects in minds dark and susceptible of them, especially when they represented Ideas of Terrour. As at this time we frequently see poor old silly Women confess, and really imagine that they have convers'd with evil Spirits, in the shape of black Dogs, or have [Page] flown in the Air, and so have suffer'd for Witches, when perhaps Bedlam had been much fitter for them. Nor is a man that is incredulous in the point of Witches, without some reason on his side. The ingenious Bergerac in his Satyrs saith thus: I have never heard any story of Witches, but it was said to be acted above an hundred miles from the place it was told me; the laying the Scene at which distance, made me suspect the Relators aim'd to render it impossible for the curious to inform themselves of the truth; also that they were in the shapes of Cats, found in the midst of a Field. Without many witnesses; the testimony of one person alone ought to be suspected in things miraculous: Near a Village; it was easier to cozen the Clowns: Twas a poor old Woman; Necessity might make her lye, to get money: She was old; Age weakens Reason, and makes talk too much; or else she hath invented this Fable to entertain her Neighbours withall: Age decays the sight; she took a Hare for a Cat: Age makes fearful; she thought she had seen fifty for one. And 'tis much more probable, that any one of these things may happen, which are [Page] every day seen, than such an extraordinary accident. Again, the party thought to be a Witch, being some ignorant old Country-woman, hath not wit to disintangle her self from the intricate Questions which are put to her, whose understanding is so stupified with the imminent danger, that she is rendred uncapable of making any pertinent answer to justifie her self; which if she doth, men conclude the Devil speaks in her; if she saith nothing, they believe she is convinc'd by a guilty Conscience, and so she is presently condemned: Or for the better evidence whether she be a Witch or no, they cast her into the Water, where if she sinks, she is drown'd; and if she swims, she is convicted for a Witch. But would the Devil be such a Fool? He that could at another time give her the form of a Cat, can he not now give her the form of a Fly to escape in? No, say they, Witches lose their power when they are in the hands of Justice: But this is ill contrived, for it is not the way to encourage others to serve the Devil, for him thus to abandon his servants in time of need, the old Serpent should be wiser than so. Besides it may be observ'd, that all these [Page] reputed Conjurers and Witches are generally beggarly and poor: Therefore is it probable that any persons should expose themselves, upon the hope to continue poor and odious, to misery both in this World, and that which is to come? How can it be admitted withMontaign. reverence to the Divine Nature, that Prophecy should cease, and Witches so abound, as seems by their frequent excursions; which would make one think, the strongest fascination is incircled within the ignorance of the Judges, malice of the Witnesses, or the stupidity of the poor parties accused. These are the things which are urged against this Opinion.

XV.

Others have in haste to their imaginary Joys in another life, neglected or destroy'd this. Several of Hegesia's Auditors have been found, and others have upon reading Plato's Book of Immortality, kill'd themselves, and so made more haste than good speed to enjoy those Pleasures. Proh, mira stultitia & incredibilis audacia! spernunt tormenta praesentia, dum incerta metuunt & futura, & dum mori post mortem timent, interim mori non timent, ita illis pavor & fallax [Page] spes solatio redivivo blanditur. Whereby it appears, that in things which Nature hath not made our Reason capable of foreseeing, (as is the Souls future estate) there strong belief is not alway a sign of Truth: For in some cases who so bold as blind Bayard? There never was any Sect so sottish and false, but may boast of its Martyrs. Let this be understood of corrupt, unenlightned Nature, that we may not confound Christianity with Paganism. Many good men have died to justifie, what Vaninus died madly to oppose; so contrary are mens perswasions. Some of the Aegyptians died fighting for the Deity of Garlick, others for the Deity of Onions; so that a mistaken Martyrdom rather betrays the easiness of the Party, than the truth of his Cause. For to believe otherwise, were to do too great an honour to those Atheists or Hereticks, who have suffer'd for their Irreligion under the Laws of Christianity. The Apostles suffer'd for the truth of what they saw with their own eyes; whereas many of the Heathens did but like Knights of the Post, affirm the verity of things they knew not, only had receiv'd [Page] by a Traditional hear-say from others, whose vain Opinion of their great knowledge fill'd them with pride, as being the only men which knew the secrets of Heaven: like Aesop's Conjurer, they pretended to know all things which were done in Heaven and Earth, but was ignorant that his own House was on fire at home.

XVI.

The two primitive Essentials which constitute all compounded things, were by the Ancient Greeks term'd Psyche and Hyle, that is, Spiritus and Materia, Soul and Body▪ Both these they held, as consider'd in their single Natures, to be from all Eternity, and to continue to Eternity, which together united in one Infinite, they held to be God, whom they believ'd to be Maker of the World. Not by operation from without, as a Cook makes a Pye of several materials, which he hath gather'd together, and being no part of him, can after it is made subsist without him: but by inoperation rather, resembling the Soul in a living Creature, which by its intrinsick, plastick vertue, forms the Animal with all its faculties and parts, both internal and [Page] external, not being able to subsist without that Spirit which did first animate and inform it: however perform'd with no less trouble and concern to the Anima Mundi, than the hairs of our head are to us: and to this inoperation of the Divine Nature Virgil alludes, saying,

Principio Coelum ac Terras, camposque liquentes

Lucentemque globum Luna, Titaniaque astra

Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus

Mens agitat molem, & magno se corpore miscet.

This, I say, was an opinion generally receiv'd among the Heathens, only the wiser sort (so reputed) asserted, that God made all things of nothing but Himself; whom they acknowledge to be Infinite, and therefore could not imagine that there were any other real things besides him: supposing that if there were, then God must have been but one eminent thing among many others; which to speak or think, might be esteem'd as great and sottish a blasphemy in Philosophy, as Religion: and to this purpose Lucan speaks,

‘Iupiter est quodcunque vides, &c.—’

Also Ovid,

‘Praesentem (que) refert quaelibet herba Deum.’ [Page] But the absurdity of this Opinion is already by several ingenious Pens made known unto the World: As,

1. If every thing be God, or a portion

The Answer to Mr. Hobbs Creed, p. 12, 13.

of God, some parts of the Deity must perceive what others do not.

2. Several parts of the Deity (as Stones, Metals, &c.) must be void of understanding.

3. Idolatry were no crime, but only an amicable officiousness in one part of the Deity toward another. To which purpose Athenagoras writes, saying, If God and Matter be the same thing under various appellations, then were it no less than Impiety in us, to deny Divine honour to Stones, Trees or Metals.

Lastly, there would be no such thing as Virtue or Vice, Pain or Pleasure, unless you will make God to commit the one, and suffer the other.

XVII.

Now they who held this vain Opinion, term'd every Creature (especially Man, who is esteem'd the most excellent of all others) a Microcosm, or little World, as composed of Psyche and Hyle. Also Moses hath been thought to intimate as [Page] much, in saying, That in the beginning of the Creation, the Spirit moved upon the Waters; for so the Rabbins and Cabbalists expound him. They say it was the Ruah Elohim, viz. the Spirit of God, which moved upon the Waters. Hippocrates seems likewise to agree with this Doctrine, asserting the beginning of Sublunary things to proceed from Fire and Water: But Moses, who was skill'd in all the Aegyptian Learning, alludes perhaps to their Hieroglyphicks, wherein the figure of an unit, signified God; as a Cypher, stood for a Non-entity, i. e. for Nothing; the character of Ten, did signifie the World: and in the old Hebrew Characters, as in our modern Figures, of a different shape, the figure of an unit placed before a Cypher, signified Ten, by which was meant the World, as I said: and hereby they express'd that God made the World of Nothing. And perhaps in further conformity herewith, he is said to make Man more excellent than other Creatures, after his own Image; that is, not in outward Effigies, or Features of face and limbs, but as the Universe composed of Spirit and Body. And so they held the World to be consisting of a Being partly corporeal and visible, and [Page] partly spiritual and invisible: the visible or material part, by reason of its more or less gross and solid corporeity, is of it self more or less unfit for motion, but properly capable to receive the impulses of the more active spiritual part: And thus in the little World of Man, as long as his Spirit remains in him, it quickens his gross Body, carrying it up and down from the remotest parts of the Earth, contriving many projects, and working great things, however in a moment after that Spirit is gone, the Body is left a dull putrid piece of Earth, and all his Thoughts perish.

XVIII.

But here give me leave to Montaignize, and so far to digress from my subject, as to acquaint you with a great dispute, which happen'd among the Ancients concerning Motion; for although, as I lately told you, there were some who thought the material part of the World unfit for motion, yet there were others of a contrary sentiment; and from hence arose the dispute concerning the motion of the Earth. Aristotle, Ptolomy, and Tycho Brahe, h [...]ld that it was immovable, [Page] (especially the two former;) because they saw the Sun rise in one place, and set in another, as also their Houses stand in the same place to day, as they did yesterday, they thought it an infallible truth that the Sun danced about the Earth, whilst that stood still to receive its Salutation. In opposition to this Doctrine there have risen up several men, both Ancient and Modern, who have affirm'd the contrary; it hath been disputed for above these 2000 years. That the Globe of the Earth moved, was of old the opinion (if not of Orpheus) of Thales, Aristarchus, and Philolaus the Pythagorean, and is maintain'd by Copernicus, Kepler, Zongomontanus, Origanus, &c. They held that the Sun, like the Heart of Man, is plac'd in the midst of the Body of the Universe, as the most convenient seat to heat and animate the whole, and that the Earth mov'd about it: For (say they) we do not place a1 Candle in the corner, but in the midst of the Room, when we would have it give most light. Besides, the circular motion2. of the Planets round about the Sun, seems to argue that the Earth doth the same, and the Sun stands still. Further,3▪ it is more reasonable to believe, that the [Page] Earth which hath need of light and heat, should go to seek what it wants, than that the Sun should go to seek what it wants not: The Fire doth not turn before the Roast-meat, but the Roast-meat before the Fire. Again, 'tis urged, Rest4. and Immobility is a more noble condition than Motion, wherefore more proper for the Sun a type and resemblance of God. And then they observ'd, heavy5. things were kept up in the Air, only by virtue of motion, as a Stone mounted in the Air by a Sling; and therefore how do we know (say they) but that the Earth, like a Child's Humming-Top, may be kept up by its own motion, and the swiftness of that motion, like that of the Tops, might make it seem immovable. They who deny the motion of the Earth,6. must also deny it to hang in aequilibrio, which were an absurdity. Lastly, it may7. seem much more credible, that the Earth moves five Leagues in a minute, than that the eighth Sphere in the same time8. moves above fourty millions; which it must do, if it be true that the extent of the Heavens be infinite: so that to have all the Heavens move round in twenty four hours, were to measure an infinite by a finite.

XIX.

[Page]

But to return to our Anima Mundi: The dullest sort of the Vulgar People used this word Soul, as we do that of Materid Prima, or the Philosophers Stone; they thought it be some strange excellent Thing, but had no particular form'd Notion thereof: And so did not conceive of being Alive in any thing, beside their living Body; and as soon as that was in the Grave, Actum est, they were at an end. To which effect Seneca speaks, ‘Post mortem nihil est, ipsaque mors nihil, &c.’ There were another sort clean contrary to them, as holding the Soul to be the Man; considering it, as inhabiting this Tabernacle of Clay, or cloath'd with this Mortal Body, which in death they shed, as the Stag doth his Horns, or the Snake her Hackle.

Sed magis ire foras, vestemque relinquere ut

Lucre [...]. lib. 3.

Anguis

Gauderet, praelonga s [...]nex aut cornua Cervus.

Whereupon the more easie sort advised with their Heathen-Priests, to learn what kind of Renovation they should have, when the time came. Which Priests aiming at their own Gain, and to render themselves [Page] necessary, did ever invent some Tale agreeable to that purpose: As Varro himself ingenuously confesses, That it is convenient, that the Vulgar should be ignorant of many Things that are True, and believe others that are False. Quum veritatem qua liberetur inquirat: credatur ei expedire, quod fallitur. Nay, and Plato himself, in his Republick, acknowledges, That for the Benefit of Mankind, it is often necessary to deceive them: So as it seems, their Religion serv'd but as a Curb, wherewithal to ride the Commonalty. From whence we may observe, that the Religion of Nature, when corrected only by a Temporal Interest, doth but like Antimony prepared and made Stitium, become more Poisonous by its Correction and Preparation. The Pseudo-Fathers of their Church, being such as brought Religion to their Interest, and not Interest to their Religion; fulfilling that Verse of the Poet's, ‘Atque ipsa utilitas justi prope Mater, &Horat. Aequi.’ Nevertheless, there were others among them, who being more opinionated of their own Abilities, would not so easily suffer themselves to be imposed upon; [Page] but using their own Reason, consulted Nature upon that point; and in so doing, took into our more usual way of searching Knowledge, à Notioribus ad Ignotiora: When finding their present Souls not to be kept in any separate Immaterial Estate, but all their Life long, to have been very agreeably lodged, and entertain'd in a bodily Subject, did conceive it probable, that they might in like manner be disposed of here-after.

XX.

Now this last sort of Men, as well in former Ages as at this day, are thought to be the most numerous, and greatest part of Mankind; that is, the People that believe the Transmigration of Souls from one Body to another; which is by some restrain'd within the same Species, by others not: The Soul of a Tyrant, they thought after his death would go into a Lyon, Tyger, or some other Beast of Prey; because they equally thirst after Blood: and by the same Reason, the Soul of a Poet, into a Grashopper, who sings till he starves. Pythagoras writes of himself, That he was first Euphorbus, then Callidus, then Hermotimus, then Pyrrhus; and last of all, Pythagoras. This Doctrine, as we may learn [Page] from the Holy Scriptures, and Iosephus, Ioseph. de Bel. Iud. lib. 2. 7. had tainted not only the Pharisees, but Herod himself, and almost the whole Nation of the Jews; as appears, in that they held Christ to have been Elias, or one of the antient Prophets. Nay, some of the Apostles themselves, (as St. Cyril observes) were misled by this Errour, as is evidentIn Graec [...] Catenâ. by their Question, touching the Man that was born blind; Master, Who did sin, this Man or his Parents? For, How couldJoh. 9. 2. they conceive, that he could sin before he was born, unless in some other Body, which his Soul actuated before in another Life? But, what was more strange, many of the Iews thought Christ to be St. Iohn Baptist, who had not then been dead full three Years. So as by this it may appear, that the Transmigration of a New Soul, was by them supposed to be, not only at the time of ones Birth, but sometimes in ones Li [...]e also; and this Conceit perhaps they might receive, from observing how strangely Men are often-times changed, either for better or worse, both in Mind and Body, from what they were before.

XXI.

This Progress of the Soul seem'd to many, to be better disposed for Reward and Punishment, when not restrain'd into any [Page] one species, but of more free Dissolution, and more suitable to that variety wherein Nature delights, as better befitting, and more approaching to its Infinity: And by this Liberty, they thought it often pass'd from a Man to a Beast, from thence to a Plant, and next to a Stone, if the Circle were in the Descendent: But if in the Ascendent, then its Progress was from more gross Subjects to more Spiritual ones; for, God is able of Stones, to raise up Children unto Abraham. They thought, that in Nature there was no such thing as Quies, the very hardest Stone in time mouldring into Dust; only by a circular Motion, from Rarefaction to Condensation, and from Condensation to Rarefaction again; as the Poet in these follwing Verses describes it:

—Resoluta (que) Tellus

Ovid. Met. lib. 15.

In liquidas rarescit aquas, tenuatur in auras,

Aëraque Humor habet, dempto quoque pondere rursùs

In superos aēr tenuissimus emicat ignes.

Indè retrò redeunt, idemque retexitur ordo,

Ignis enim densum spissatus in aëra transit,

Hinc in aquas Tellus glomeratâ cogitur undâ.

The course which Nature takes in Governing [Page] the World, is by one Contrary prevailingOcell. Luc. cap. 2. over another: Thus the Moisture in the Air prevails over the Driness of the Fire, the Coldness of the Water over the Heat of the Air; the Driness of the Earth over the Moisture of the Water; and so the Moisture of the Water over the Driness of the Earth; the Heat of the Air over the Coldness of the Water; and the Driness of the Fire over the Moisture of the Air: And thus the various Alterations are made and produced out of one Extream into another, Alternativè.

XXII.

The most ingenious of this Sect (as if they had met with some blind Hint of the Evil Angels, cast out of Heaven) supposedCicero Nat Deor. Expiandorum scelerum caus [...]. two Creations: The first to have been Spiritual, and that the Fall of those Evil Angels, occasion'd our Corporeal Creation; that so there might be Bodies of divers Tempers, and duration, in whom those wicked Spirits (their Souls) should be, for expiating their Guilt included, and according to their Merits, rendred sensible of more or less Pain and Grief; whereof, in their Spiritual Condition, not cloath'd with Flesh and Blood, they were uncapable, as they conceived: For, as the Body hath no Sense without a Soul; so they [Page] believ'd, the Soul could have no Sense without a Body: And this they grounded upon Erroneous Observations; as ex. gr. If, say they, you take out your Eye-balls, you have as much Soul in you as you had before, but cannot see for want of those Organs; and the Soul will be devested of all its other Powers in operating, as well as in that of seeing, when it wants its Eyeballs. Which Errour proceeded from their not understanding of how much a Diviner Nature and Power the Soul is, than the Body.

XXIII.

Now, by Men of this vain Opinion, our Sublunary Orb was esteem'd the only Hell; they thinking this World more proper, and better proportion'd to the Offences and Capacities of the wicked Soul, in our passionate and momentary Condition, than the Tradition of everlasting Torments, for acting those Vices which their Nature prompted them to: or, as a learned Gentleman of our own Nation expresses it, for not being sound, when we are created sick. An Excuse so unlikely to procure our Pardon with God, that it should prove uneffectual with one of us, if a Man that had robbed and wounded us, should tell us, He was prompted thereunto by [Page] his Nature or Inclinations.

I do not find by their Writings, that they believ'd evil actions so much to proceed from the Devil, as their own corrupt Natures; ‘Format enim Natura priùs nos intùs, &c.’ Horat: And therefore many of them thought that the only evil Spirits which hurried men to ruine, were their own passions, Love, Fear, Anger, Ambition, Revenge, Lust, &c. which passions are generally the causes of mens destruction, both in lives and fortunes. That Passion is an enemy to the knowledge of the Truth, both in discourse and writing, we our selves experience. God came not in the Earthquake, nor Whirlwind, but in the still Voice: and we shall never hear Reason deliver'd in Passion. But that which chiefly induc'd the Heathens, to impute all their Vices to their own corrupt Natures, was this, because they could hardly believe, that God would suffer a declared Enemy so far to prevail against him, as when he would have all men saved, the Devil should so far over-rule, as through his instigation a thousand men should be damn'd, for one that is saved; which would happen, if all vicious persons [Page] were denied Salvation. But this objection of theirs will be rendred vain, if we consider the Devil as God's Executioner, having no power but from above.

XXIV.

As for the aforementioned Doctrine of Transmigration, it abounds much at this day in China and both the Indies, especially the East, where the great swarms of Mankind live; besides vast numbers in America and Africa. As for the Mahometans, (who are no small part of Mankind) although they have a Religion, so craftily fitted to vulgar capacities, as 'tis thought to be the most politick, and likely to spread and last, that ever was invented: Yet even among them they have a Sect or Heresie exceeding numerous, call'd by the Arabians Altenasack, which signifies those that hold Transmigration of Souls; and the whole Mahometan Superstition, (although it gives not the Soul a new Body in this life) allows departed Souls new Bodies, fresh & lusty, in the life to come, without which it could not enjoy their sensual Paradise, which the Alchoran promises them. But it still censures those of the Altenasack for Hereticks, chiefly because they can't believe the everlasting and merciless Hell, esteeming it a thing that would rob God of [Page] his Attribute of Mercy, which they hold were not infinite (as all his Attributes must be) if in no measure it extended to the most wicked and wretched Creatures. Not considering how short soever a mans life is, it matters not, for he hath an offer made him, either of eternal happiness or misery, and he might chuse either which he pleases: Nor is Eternal misery more disproportionable to a vicious life, than Eternal happiness to a vertuous, so that he plays but upon the square either way.

Now amongst those Heathens there were a third sort of men, whose fancy (as they themselves thought) was of very obvious experience, but seem'd to be stifled and suppressed, as neither suiting to the wishes of men, nor conducive to the governing of them: And these are those which conceiv'd a man to be neither Soul nor Body, but only the Result of their Conjunction, which vanishing, he was for ever unconcern'd and lost. Because that which in its best estate was esteem'd but a shadow upon Earth, they ignorantly supposed, must on the parting of the Body, whose shadow it was, be for ever lost. Yea, and as I shew'd before out of Lucretius, they held that if the same Body could return upon Earth again, and be reunited to it, that [Page] might constitute a new man, but of no concern to the former; no more than my shadow which I shall have next year, will be to my this years shadow, although I have the same body next year, as I have this. And this Chimaera of theirs is by one of their own Writers compar'd to Clouds gathering together, under the representation of various shapes, as of a Castle, Gyant, Mountain, or the like: In which appearances they often produce real effects, as Thunder, Lightning, Winds, Rain, &c. till by their separation the Gyant, Castle or Mountain vanish; as also the real effects soon pass away, but still the same Clouds remain, though in new Conjectures and Appearances: which vain opinion is express'd in these verses.

As Clouds in shape of Men dispers'd by Wind,

The vanish'd Men do leave the Clouds behind:

So's Man of Soul and Body made in one,

Which sever'd, each have Being, but he none.

Pure Natures mix, and part without decay,

But what from them results, quite fades away.

Thus in sad earnest, true th'old Proverb's found,

A man betwixt two Stools doth fall to th'Ground.

XXV.

In answer to this wicked opinion, I shall [Page] only recite that ingenious Argument which Tertullian long since us'd upon the same occasion. ‘O man that makest this objection to me, think what thou wast before created; thou wast nothing, for if any thing thou couldst not but remember it. Thou then that wast nothing before thy Creation, and when ceasest to live shalt return to nothing, why canst thou not once again be brought out of nothing, by the will of the same Creator, who at first created thee of nothing? Will there come any new thing unto thee, seeing he made no difficulty to create thee what thou wast not? thou oughtest not to suspect, but that he can as easily re-make thee what thou wast. We see every day, the light after it hath lost its darkness, reassumes it; the Stars lose their light, and recover it again: Time begins at the same term it finished: Fruits drop off from the Trees, and yet come again in their season: The Corn after its bea [...]d is grown long with age, falls to the ground and corrupts, but it wants not its Resurrection; therefore why should we think, that Man should be less worthy of another life, then any of these things which are made but for his service?’ Although we cannot Mathematically demonstrate the same, any more then they can [Page] the contrary, yet the belief of the Resurrection, is I am sure more for the Honour of God, and safety and happiness of Man.

XXVI.

Now these kind of Heathenish Souls, seem too Airy to raise any foundation whereon to build the Principles of Vertue, or Moral honesty. One Motive which induc'd them to believe mens Souls to be such Phantomes, was their observing men to be so much delighted, and obstinately taken with the Fictions and santastical Inventions of Poetry and Superstition: which have neither truth, or so much as possibility in them, and therefore no fit food for any thing that hath a real Being, but their waking Dreams are far from deserving credit upon this pretence, unless that be a sufficient Reason, which an ancient Writer delivers in these words, Credibile quia Impossibile, according to that old saying, Quanto absurdius, tanto melius.

XXVII.

Epicurus perceiving the number of Sensual men, to exceed by far that of the more Spiritual, laid the foundation of his Sect in sensual Pleasures, and held a Corporeal Soul the better to fit it for those Corporeal Pleasures; and then to secure this Anima against those severe after-reckonings, the [Page] apprehensions whereof he perceived God and Nature had implanted in the hearts of all men, he gave it a Quieta est, by pretending that the Soul is extinct in death, or at least to vanish into an eternal insensibility, as unconcern'd as if it had never been. The finer sort of wits, unwilling to fall so low, could not admit of this total mortality of the Soul, however they were so weak as to acknowledge, that his Reasons seem'd very powerful to assert it. As first, to behold the Soul in its Infancy very weak, and then by degrees with the Body to grow daily more and more vigorous, till it arrives to its perfection, from which estate together with the Body it declined, till the decrepitude of the one, and dotage of the other, made it seem to them probable, that they should both likewise perish together.

—Gigni pariter cùm corpore & unà

Eucret. lib. 3.

Crescere sentimus, pariter (que) senescere mentem.

As also that the many abominable passions of mans Soul, seem'd to be its diseases, and to argue its mortality, as plainly as bodily diseases do that of the Body: and that the imputing them only to the irascible or concupiscible parts, thereby hoping to keep the rational part safe, was, say they, as if one [Page] should fancy that an Ulcer in the Heart or Liver, could not by consequence destroy the Brain.

—Mentem sanari corpus ut agrum

Ibid.

Cernimus, & flecti medicina posse videmus.

Moreover, that in old age men felt their minds oppress'd with cares, to faint into a kind of despondency, and as fit for a Grave, as one that is tired with a long and wearisom Journey, is for a Bed: and even in its strongest estate, a Fever, Apoplexy, or little bite a of mad Dog, destroys all its most glorified, scientifical faculties.

—Corpoream naturam animi esse necesse est,

Lucret▪ lib. 3.

Corporeis quoniam telis, ictuque laborat.

The last Argument they held, was as vain as any of the rest, viz. They could not apprehend how two things of so different natures as mortality and immortality, Body & Soul, should mix and associate together so long.

Quippe etenim mortale aeterno jungere & unà

Ibid.

Consentire putare, & fungi mutua posse,

Desipere est, &c.—

By these and such like symptoms, they suspected [Page] the Soul to be of a mortal condition, although of a Divine off spring: and as at the Seige of Troy, Sarpedon Iupiter's own Son was knock'd on the head, as well as the ordinary Trojans; so they ignorantly thought the Soul (though of a Diviner extraction then the corporeal parts) might in such base company be crush'd,—Simul aevo fess [...] fatiscit. But these and the rest of their Arguments are soon answered, in laying all the fault on the corporeal Organs, which being by Age or other disorders made to fail, caused a proportionable failing in the faculties. Whereupon they conjectur'd, that in a total failing of the Organs, occasion'd by death, there must consequently follow an equal failing, as they thought, of the faculties; as it fares with a Watch, which if it happens by fall or other accidents, to have a Wheel broken, however the Spring remain intire, yet it becomes useless, and the Motions cease. These were the most plausible Arguments for their vain Opinion of the Souls mortality, which deserve rather the name of blind Conjectures, then convincing Arguments.

XXVIII.

The Nature of the Soul is so obscure, that the most discerning Philosophy could not tell what to make of it, some holding it to [Page] be Fire, others Water; some one thing, some another: and if they were so divided in the Nature of the Soul▪ how much more uncapable were they to judge of the Souls future estate? Erasmus concerning the Immortality of the Soul, saith, Hoc mihi persuasit non humana Ratio sed Fides. However, I think there may be much more said for the Immortality of the Soul, than can be urged against it. There is not any opinion in the World, hath been more generally receiv'd in the hearts of men, than this of the Souls future estate: and how should it have been so long rooted in our minds, were there nothing of truth in it? Nature which makes nothing in vain, hath implanted in Man a desire of Immortality, which desire is vain if he be not capable of it. Nothing is corrupted but by its contrary, and therefore that which hath no contrary (as the Soul) must be free from corruption. The Harmony of the World, which permits not things to pass from one extreme to another without some mean, requires, that as there are pure Spirits and Intelligences, which are immortal, and Substances corporeal and mortal; so there is a middle nature between these two, Man, call'd by the Platonists on this account, the Horizon of the Universe, because he serves for a link and [Page] medium to unite the Hemisphere of the Intellectual Nature, with the inferiour Hemisphere of the Corporeal Nature. Also since the Soul can know all sorts of Bodies, it must be consequently exempt from all corporeal Entity. As the Tongue to judge aright of sapours, must it self have none; the same may be said of the eye, to discern well of colours. To say that the Soul is mortal, because it acts only by the help of its Organs, were to draw a conclusion from an uncertainty, it being never yet prov'd, that the Soul cann't act of it self without its Organs. The Law of all Nations is the Law of Nature, and the belief of the Souls Immortality is a dictate of it: But the opposers are as rare as Earth quakes, which (if there were no other Reasons) would be a miserable Argument to prove the motion of the Earth. Remorse of Conscience, and Gods Justice not punishing all sins in this life, presupposes another. Pomponatius under pretence of defending the Souls Immortality hath sought against it: and professing himself a Peripatetick [...] ▪ hath in this particular embraced the sentiment of Epicurus, saying, [...]. that although the Soul of man should be mortal, yet Vertue would sufficiently recompence it self, thereby designing to render the belief of the Immortality of the [Page] Soul unnecessary. But supposing this to be true of Vertue, yet would it not be equally true of Vice that they which addict themselves thereunto, are sufficiently punished by doing so. Nor was there ever yet such a Law-giver heard of, that established a constitution to punish a man for Robbery, by forcing him to commit Adultery. Cyrus on [...]. [...]. [...] his death bed declared to his two Sons, that he could never believe, that the Soul all the while it is contain'd in this mortal Body, should live, and afterwards die and be senseless, but rather after death the Soul is most wise. An excellent speech, and worthy of himself. If in the behalf of this Article my Arguments prove not so effectual as at first I design'd them, my excuse may be the same as Plato made for himself upon the like occasion, viz. 'tis sufficient if any speak but probably in so difficult a subject.

XXIX.

There is an ancient Maxim in Philosophy, viz. Nihil est in Intellectu, quod non prius fuit in Sensa. All our knowledge arises out of the Experience which our Senses give us: and therefore a man born throughly deaf, can have no apprehension of Musick. But the Soul is of a spiritual nature, and so in it self utterly imperceptible by our senses; the [Page] Soul it self alone, can reflect on its own acts and conceptions. 'Tis indeed very unsafe, any farther than it can be made appear we are guided by the clue of Divine Revelation, to guess and discourse overboldly concerning the nature of the Soul, or peremptorily to determine of its future condition: Wherein among all the Ancients, Pliny hath been esteemed the most cautious, who to direct our Prognostication therein, calls us back to observe the time past, and from thence to conjecture, what will become of us hereafter: According to that of the Trag [...]dian, Quae [...]is quo j [...]ceas post obitum loco? Quo non na [...]a j [...]cent. As if the wheel went rather round, than forward. As Seneca the Philosopher, who blindly surmis'd the Doctrine of future [...]oys to be magis optantium, quam doc [...]m; and by the same reason, the T [...]rours of the Infernal Lake to be magis [...], quam probantium. But every man's Conscience tells him another tale, & surdo verbere caedit, objecting, the terrour of a Judgment to come.

XXX.

Yet for as much as in all Ages there were sound some Monsters of Men▪ who having no sense of Divine Goodness, or Natural Ju [...]tice, would confound all Humane Society, [Page] as not having in themselves any restraint, either from Nature or Religion. For such the Heathen Law-givers did wisely provide a Pluto, a Whip and a Gallows; of all which the Gallows prov'd most effectual on those that were debauched, beyond all fear of punishment hereafter, so they could but escape in this life. And even among us, where the Light of the Gospel shines so bright, and where there is such excellent Preaching, a man that frequents the Sessions-house, will soon find how great a share of our preservation we owe to the Publick Executioner.

XXXI.

The Heathen Philosophers (as I shew'd you) were much divided in their Opinions concerning the Souls future estate, some held it mortal, others immortal. Of those that held the mortality of the Soul, the Epicureans were the chief Sect, who notwithstanding their impious Doctrines, yet some of their lives were vertuous. Cardan had so great a value for their Moral actions, that he appear'd in Justification of them.

It appears (says he) by the Writings of Cicero and Diogenes Laertius, that the Epicureans did more religiously observe Laws, Piety, and Fidelity among men, than either the Stoicks [Page] or Platonists: and I suppose the cause thereof was, that (as Galen tells us) a man is either good or evil by custom, but none confideth in those, that do not profess sanctity of life. Wherefore they were compelled to use greater Fidelity, thereby the better to justifie their prosession: from which reason it likewise proceeds, that at this day few do equallize the fidelity of Usurers, notwithstanding they are most base in the rest of their life. Also among the Iews, whilst the Pharise [...]s that confess'd the Resurrection, and the Immortality of the Soul, frequently persecuted Christ: the Sadduces who denyed the Resurrection, Angels and Spirits, meddled not with him above once or twice, and that very gently too. Thus if you compare the L [...]ves of Pliny and Seneca, (I do not mean their Writings) you shall find Pliny with his mortality of the Soul, did as far exceed Seneca in honesty of manners, as S [...]a excels him in Religious discourse. The Epicureans observ'd honesty above others, and in their conversation were usually found in offensive and vertuous, and for that reason were often employ'd by the Romans, when they could perswade them to accept [Page] of great Employs; for their fault was not any want of ability or honesty, but their general desire of leading a private life, easie and free from trouble, although inglorious. For where Immortality is not own'd, there can be no ambition of posthumous Glory, such as excited Tyrants to commit those follies, which the Poet derides in these two lines:

—Idemens & saevas curre per Alpes

I [...]ven. Sat.

Ut pueris placeas, & declamatio sias.

Now such as these were none of the Epicureans, but they instead of those bloody Scenes of Gallantry, undertook to manage carefully the Inheritances of Orphans; breeding up at their own charge the Children of their deceased Friends, and were counted good men, unless it were in point of Religïous worship: For they constantly affirm'd there were no Gods, or at least such as concern'd not themselves with humane affairs, according to that of the Poet, ‘Nec benè promeritis capitur nec tangitur irà.Lueret.’ Neither (as he goes on) doth the hopes [Page] of Immortality conduce to Fortiude, as some vainly suggest, for Brutus was not valianter then Cassius, and if we will confess the truth, the deeds of Brutus were more cruel then those of Cassius: For he used the Rhodians that were his Enemies far more kindly, then Brutus did those amicable Cities which he govern'd. In a word, though they both had a hand in Casar's murder, yet Brutus was the only Parricide. So that the Stoicks which believ'd a Providence, liv'd as if there were none, whereas the Epicureans who denyed it, liv'd as if there were.

This is that which Cardan urges (perhaps with an impious intent) in favour of the Epicureans, which is not at all convincing, nor will it serve to wipe off the deserved reproach cast upon them. I esteem the Epicurean Philosophy like Gaming, even when manag'd with the greatest Art and cunning, to be but a rational kind of madness.Cum ra [...]ione insanire. Besides, however there might have been found some few good men of all Sects, how absurd soever, yet that must not go for a ruled case that the Sect is so. That Opinion which conduces most to the good of Mankind, is to be incouraged. If these led such vertuous lives, while they were under the obscurity of [Page] Paganism and a wrong perswasion, how much more eminent would they have been, had they been guided by a true Light? Besides, all Historians agree not that Seneca was so vicious, and Epicurus himself so vertuous, neither Dion nor Laertius being altogether infallible.

XXXII.

The next Sect to the Epicureans in point of incredulity concerning the Soul, I conceive to be the Scepticks, who were by some esteemed not only the modestest, but the most perspicacious of all Sects. They neither affirm'd nor denyed any thing, [...]ut doubted of all things; Omnia in rebus Min. Fal. humanis dubia, incerta, suspensa; magis omnia verisimilia, quam vera. They thought all our knowledge seem'd rather like truth, then to be really true, and that for such like reasons as these.

1. They denied any knowledge of the Divine Nature, because, say they, to know adaequately is to comprehend, and to comprehend is to contain, and the thing contain'd must be less than that which contains it; to know inadoequately, is not to know.

2. From the uncertainty of the Senses, as ex. gr. our Eyes represent things at a distance to be less than really they are: A [Page] straight stick, in the water seems to be crooked; the Moon to be no bigger than a Cheese; the Sun greater at Rising and Setting, than at Noon: The Shore seems to move, and the Ship to stand still; square things to be round at distance; an erect Pillar, to be less at the top. Neither do we know (say they) whether objects are really so as our eyes represent them to us; for the same thing which appearsSir W. Raleigh out of Sext. Emp. white to us, seems yellow to him that hath the Jaundies, and red to a Creature that hath red eyes; also if a man rubs his eyes, the figure which he beholds seems long or narrow: and therefore it is not improbable, but that Goats, Cats, and other Creatures, which have long pupils of the eye, may also think those things long which we call round: For as Glasses represent the object variously according to their shape, so it may be with our eyes: And so the sense of Hearing deceives: Thus the Eccho or Trumpet sounded in a Valley, makes the sound seem before us, when it is behind us. Besides, how can we think that an Ear, which hath a narrow passage, can receive the same sound with that which hath a wide one? Or the Ear whose inside is full of hair, to hear the same with a smooth Ear? Experience teacheth [Page] us, that if we stop, or half stop our Ears, the sound cometh not in the same manner, as when the Ears are open. Nor is the Smelling, Tast or Touch less subject to mistake: For the same scents please some, and displease others; and so in our Tasts, to a rough and dry tongue that very thing seems bitter, (as in an Ague) which to the moist tongue seems otherwise; and so is it in other Creatures. The like is true of the Touch: For it were absurd to think, that those Creatures which are covered with Shels, Scales, or Hairs, should have the same sense in touching with those that are smooth. Thus one and the same object is diversly judged of, according to the various qualities of the Instruments of Sense, which conveyeth it to the Imagination; from all which the S [...]eptick concludes, that what these things are in their own nature, whether red, white, bitter or sweet, he cannot tell: for, says he, why should I prefer my own conceit in affirming the nature of things to be thus, or thus, because it seemeth so to me? when other living Creatures perhaps think it otherwise. But the greatest fallacy is in the operation of our inward senses: for the fancy sometime is perswaded, that it hears and sees what it doth not; and our Reasoning [Page] is so weak, that in many disciplines scarce one demonstration is found, though this alone produces Science. Wherefore it was Democritus his opinion, that Truth is hidden in a Well, that she may not be sound by men. Now although this Doctrine is very inconsistent with the light of Christianity, yet I could wish Adam had been of this perswasion, for then he would not have mortgaged his Posterity as he did, for the purchase of a Twilight Knowledge. Now from these sinister observations it was, that they esteemed all our Sciences to be but Conjectures, and our Knowledge but Opinion. Whereupon doubting the sufficiency of humane Reason, they would not venture to affirm or deny any thing of the Souls future state, but civilly and quietly gave way to the Doctrines, & Ordinances under which they lived, without raising or espousing any new Opinions. And in those times all the great Innovations and Embroilments among men, were set up by the Stoicks and Platonists, who were highly possess'd with the desire of Immortality and Glory. Which thing being observed, did great violence in those days to the belief of the Souls Immortality, making men the less willing to censure those for Atheists [Page] who doubted or denyed it, but sociably to admit them into business, and Trusts of the highest importance. The Chineses have a Religious Sect call'd the Nantolines, who preach up publickly the Souls Mortality. Also at this day in the EastIndies, (where the greatest swarms of Man-kind live, and those of many Sects and Religions,) it is found by our Merchants trading thither, that not only the far greatest number are of those which believe no other rewards or punishments for the Soul, except what it shall after death meet with, in a new Body upon Earth; but also they find by Commerce with them, that they are the most eminently remarkable for their honesty, above any of the other Sects. From whence Postellus observes, that few men can debauch Nature in themselves to such a degree, as to commit all the wickedness they were capable of, notwithstanding they believ'd no reward or punishment hereafter: For, says he, you must either acknowledge Superstitions unnecessary, or else defile your own Natures, and consess men to be worse then Beasts, who can live without those terrours, and yet not devour one another unless in cases of necessity.

XXXIII.

[Page]

Thus if you seriously recollect the Heathen Opinions concerning the Souls estate after death, we shall find that the most inquisitive among them, had but a slender conceit of the Souls eternal condition, or at best they thought (as Bernier says the Inhabitants of [...] believe,) that it would mix with the Soul of the World again: like Water taken out of the Ocean in a Bottle, and swims therein for a while, till by some accident or other being broke, it returns back to the Sea from whence it was taken; or else passing from one Body to another, and then in either case, its condition, whether good or bad, would be of no concern to its former Owner. Which made Seneca so little value his future state, as to speak of it with a Quid mihi curae erit Transfuga? So that upon what I can find, they look'd upon Man to be made up of Soul and Body together; not Body without Soul, nor Soul without Body, but Man to be the Result of both, viz. Soul and Body. With whom (according to their vain Opinion) it fares after death, as with a Parliament after Dissolution, which being made up of three Estates, Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal, and Commons, remain a Parliament whilst [Page] the King pleases to grant them his Fiat: But when the King gives his word to Dissolve it, the three Estates remain still, but the Parliament is gone. And thus they held Man to be the Result of Soul and Body, till God pleases to command his dissolution, after which the Soul and Body remain in a separate Being, only that the Man as well as the Parliament is lost in the Dissolution. And to proceed further with this comparison, as the Parliament represents the Kingdom, of which they are a smaller part, so did the Heathens believe that Man in some kind represents the Almighty, of whom he is a portion. So as by this we may see the effect of all their impious Tenents, concerning the Souls future estate, was, that Man is but a Passenger in this life, and the World his Inne, till sickness brings up the Reckoning, and Death comes in with an All is paid.

XXXIV.

These were the most considerable Opinions of the Heathen Philosophers; yet for as much as there was never any Sect but had some defect either in Theory or Practice: Some have thought it best not [Page] to espouse any, but to imitate the Bee' and to gather what is good out of each Which was the way of Potamon of Alexandria, who (as Diogenes Laertius records) sounded a Sect called Elective, which allow'd every one to chuse what was best in all Philosophies. When I seriously reflect upon many of these gross erroneous Tenents, recited in this discourse, I cannot but acknowledge with Cicero, That there is no Doctrine, how absurd and foolish soever, which hath not had some Philosopher sor its Champion; not that I have so mean an opinion of Philosophy it self, (which is indeed the true knowledge of causes and effects,) especially the Moral part of it, as to believe it altogether unnecessary in the Government of Mankind. Some there be that have damn'd all other Philosophers for Epicurus his sake, as thinking them no Friends to Religion. But such persons do ad pauca re [...]picere, and theresore judge accordingly: For though a lawful acquaintance with Events and Phaenomena that appear on this Theatre of the World, would contribute much to free mens minds from the servitudeLu [...]r. lib. 1. propè fin. of Superstition, Arctis Religionum animos nodis exsolvere; yet it would breed a sober [Page] and amiable belief of the Deity, as it did in the Pythagoreans, Platonists, and other Sects of Philosophers, if we may take their own word for it. He is a superficial Philosopher who adheres to Atheism, as a Noble Philosopher speaks to this purpose: Philosophy and Religion being like two wheels in a Watch, though they move contrary, yet are both conducive to the regular motion and government of Mankind.

XXXV.

Now to all these various Opinions, there have been opposed various Objections: As first, If the Soul be a portion of the Divine Spirit, inseparable from that its Original, and acted thereby, men would then indulge themselves, by thinking all the Evil they committed would go upon Gods Score, rather than their own: Et mallant emendare Deum, quam seipsos: That all Industry were discourag'd, all blame or praise taken away. Therefore Tully calls this Ignava Ratio: Who blames the Sword for a murder, and not the hand that imployes it? Nay, in Creatures sensible, if a Lion or a Serpent kills a man, they but act according to their Natures. To all which their usual Answer was, by a constant allowing unto the Soul of Man a freedom of Will, not subject to be forced out of [Page] its own Conduct; Wherefore men are said to be tempted into vicious courses, but not dragg'd or compell'd. And besides this freedom, Nature (saith the Philosopher) hath implanted in the heart of man, before he debauches himself by evil customs, a harmless and kind disposition, not willing to destroy or hurt other men, unless it be upon an absolute Necessity, for his own Preservation: and then, when enforced by such Necessity, though he choose to do it, as of two evils the least, yet he cannot act it without regret, unless by evil Converse he hath poison'd that inbred Goodness which he brought with him into the World. And upon such, one may observe the Justice of Divine Vengeance; the courses these vitiated Spirits take, end in Poverty, or some other misery, and so brings them either to a Prison, Hospital, or Gallows at home, or else to be slain in a Foreign War, wherein they ought not to have concern'd themselves. And thus we see Punishment was ever judg'd due to all free Agents, for depraving of their Natural Tempers, so true is that saying, When Man lost his Innocence, he lost his Happiness; and that of the Poet is no less,

——Semita certè

Iuven. Sat. 10.

Tranquillae per Virtutem patet uhica vitae.

[Page]So that others, who according to their natural Goodness led harmless and industrious Lives, enjoy'd a sweet calmness of mind, free from those Terrours which daily torment rapacious men; whereby, say they, it appears, that admitting their Tenent of the Souls mortality were true, though nothing is less so, yet this were enough to deter men from Impieties, I mean the Punishment that attends the Wicked, and reward of the Good even in this life, unless obstructed by their own folly. But of this I have spoken before.

XXXVI.

Another objection wherewith the Philosophers were much perplex'd, (as indeed they had reason to be) was their want of Assurance that the Soul should meet with future Justice, demanding withal, how then in this Life could the baser sort of Spirits be deterr'd from gainful Villanies, as might be acted in secret, and so never like to be discover'd, but to escape the Punishment of the Laws, and hatred of men, such as Perjuries, unsuspected Murders, concealing dead mens Trusts, and the like? especially those who by Stupidity and Immortallty, have quite extinguish'd the Light of Nature in their minds. In answerMont. Ess. lib. 2. c. 12. thereunto (Reason for the most part [Page] being like a Pitcher with two ears, that may be taken on either side) the Philosophers have adventur'd in this Subject, to take the Pitcher by the left ear, and rather than not justifie their Opinions, have (against all Reason) adventur'd to reply upon the things objected, with such fallacious Arguments as these:

1. They seem to question whether any Villany could be so secretly acted, as might not admit some hazard of being discover'd; and if so, then the danger of that might terrifie them into honesty. But grant (say they) that Vices may be carried on with such secrecy, as no mortal eye could discover; yet we find by a long and sad experience, that in those places, where by publick institution men are taught to expect Divine Justice after death, as some of us from Aeacus: Nevertheless such dull and debauch'd Persons, have seldom their minds so clear and sedate, as to weigh and regard those future accounts; or if they do, it is not till at the point of death, when they are past doing any more mischief, and that then the Apprehensions of Elysium, or the Stygian Lake, produces as little good to the Publick, as to themselves; Vice first leaving Them, and not they Vice. Moreover,ibid. say they, if such persons would betimes [Page] recollect themselves, they might easily find, that no Humane wit could sound the depth of Nature; and therefore how can men assure themselves, but that God who hath sound out this way of immersing a Spirit into flesh and bloud, thereby to make it smart and grieve, which otherwise, in its pure Nature, it could not have done, according to their Opinions: How therefore (say they) do men know, but that the same Almighty Wisdom, even without a miracle, may use it so again? or take it into millions of other wayes as natural to chastise it in a more afflicting manner, especially seeing this way hath so little purified it. These and many other blind Surmises, instead of Arguments, were they fain to make Use of, rather than acknowledge the belief of Immortality necessary; but no Argument is more fallacious than this of theirs, which flies from Gods Power to his Will: For, à posse ad esse non valet consequentia; and he who believes a thing only because it may be true, may as well doubt of it because it may be otherwise. Besides, the very Heathen Laws themselves, as recorded by their own Historians, shew how much inferiour their Vertues were to ours. Which Law is more perfect, that which says, Thou shalt not kill; or that which [Page] 'says, Thou shalt not be angry? That which forbids Adultery; or that which turns the eyes from the object? That which forbids evil actions; or that which forbids evil Speakings? That which commands us not to wrong others; or that which permits us 'not to revenge a wrong done to our selves▪ Vos scelera admissa punitis, apud nos & eogitare peccare est, sayes Minucius Felix to the Heathens. And with the same Arguments a modern most ingenious Poet, brings in St. Catharine vindicating Christianity from Paganism.

'Tis true your Vertues are the same we teach,

St. Cath.

But in our Practice they much higher reach,

You but forbid to take anothers due,

But we forbid even to desire it too.

Revenge of Injuries, you Vertue call;

But we Forgiveness of our wrongs ex [...]ll.

Immodest deeds you hinder to be wrought;

But we proscribe the least immodest Thought.

So much your Vertues are in ours refin'd,

That yours but reach the Actions, ours the Mind.

By which we may see, how much more perfect our Laws are than theirs, how crooked they appear compar'd with our straight Rule; and those unripe Vertues they had, were meliorated by the Influence of Christianity.

XXXVII.

[Page]

Another grand objection to those Philosophers, who denied the Souls Immortality, and by consequence, all future entertainment according to a vertuous or a vicious life, was grounded on their frequent observing of men eminent for Vertue, to live and dye in misery: whereas others notorious for Vice, lived and died in great prosperity. This put as well Philosophers, as also Saints to their wits end, till the latter took Haven at the Heavenly Ierusalem, and there shelter'd themselves against all fears: (but they are not within the reach of this discourse, which meddles with nothing but the vain conceits of men, who had not that Port to friend.) In answer to this unanswerable objection, some of them, especially the Stoicks, would make us believe that Poverty, Contempt, a Dungeon, Nakedness, Ulcers, and rotting in the Streets, are not really evils, especially to a noble mind that can defie Fortune. But these Bravado's become only Mad men, and whosoever is conversant in such Writings, doth only study to make himself a Fool: and perhaps the French have respect hereunto, when they call a learned Ass Un Philosophe. Such a mans Character is ingeniously given us by Horace, in these three lines:

[Page]Cum septem studiis annos dedit, insenuitque

Libris & curis statuâ taciturniùs exit,

Plerumque & populum risu quatit.—

Horat.

But to return to our Objections: There have been offer'd better Solutions than those of the Stoicks, (though not at all convincing to any Rational man:) As first, they surmise, That peradventure those Vertues which we take for sincere, may be counterfeit and mistaken, proceeding perhaps from some wicked motive. Thus the Souldier whose courage we admire for scaling a Wall, it may be (say they) he is moved by malice to murder some particular Enemy of his, or he knows not of a Mine ready to spring under him. Thus also when a Woman is prais'd for Chastity, perhaps either it is for want of Opportunity, Casta quam nemo rogavit, or from some natural Defect in her Constitution, as Frigidity and Flegm, or else for fear of Conception, and from an unwillingness to have her Reputation lie at the mercy of a loose young mans tongu [...]. Again, (say they) if you see an Officer refuse a Bribe, consider if he be not one of a plentiful Fortune, that covets Vulgar applause more than a Superfluity of Riches: Or consider whether the Bribe [Page] were not small and inconsiderable, because many will hazard their Reputation for Pounds, who will not for Pence: Or observe whether the time was secret and convenient, wherein the Bribe was offer'd: or, last of all, whether it was not refus'd out of a prospect of some greater Advantage, when he could not possibly receive both. As the Banditi will let pass a single Passenger, rather than by assaulting him miss the Booty of a whole Caravan. In which cases their Honesty proceeds à metu, non moribus. Nor is there any thing more frequent, than to see the wickedest of men highly to act Religion;

Zeal stands but Centry at the Gate of Sin,

Whilst all that have the Word pass freely in.

Thus in our late Civil Wars, all the Villany which the Godly Party (as they nam'd themselves) committed, was by them call'd the Work of the Lord; and that Curse which the Scripture pronounces against them that do the Work of the Lord negligently, they pronounced against all such as refused to assist them in cutting off their Sov [...]reigns head. So the Anabapti [...]ts of Germany chose rather to wrest the Sense of Gods holy Word, than want a Text to justifie the Evil they committed: [Page] For in the minority of their Power, they had alway in their mouths that humble Sentence of our Saviours, If men strike you on one cheek, turn the other; if they take your Cloak give them your Coat also. But when they were grown an hundred thousand strong, then they fell to doing the Work of the Lord diligently, (as they called it) making Use of another of Christs sayings, Blessed are the meek (meaning themselves) for they shall inherit the Earth; and thus singing to the Lord a new Song, they plunder'd all Germany. Now these are they who do the greatest mischief to Religion: These are they whom the Lord Bacon calls the greatest Atheists, for that they are ever handling Holy things without feeling; and these are they that in a perverted sense fulfill that saying of the Scriptures, Godliness is great gain: For by reason of their Imp [...]ety, seeing they can expect to receive little Benefit from our Saviour in the next World, they resolve to make what advantage they can of him in this. Like Jugglers, they carry only their coal of zeal in their Mouths, not being heated themselves, with what they go about to inflame others. But as it addeth deformity to an Ape, to be so like a man; so the near resemblance that Hypocrisie bears to Religion, renders [Page] it the more deformed. By which you may see, how little we can judge of Religion by outward appearance, Now in such like cases, when the searcher of hearts afflicts them in this Life, we, who see the outside only, do foolishly question Divine Justice.

XXXVIII.

Another Reply which the Philosophers made to the aforesaid Objection, was this; That admitting the Vertues which men so highly extoll, were not hypocritical, but in earnest, yet (say the Philosophers) for ought we know, they are not in the ballance of Nature of such weight and Value as men esteem them; but that it may fare with them as Coyn made of Copper or Leather, which though by Proclamation it goes at a high rate in one Country, it will not do so in another, for want of intrinsick Value. A wise Roman did not guess much amiss at the gifts that were most prevalent with Heaven, when he declar'd to the Senate, Non votis neque supplicationibus muli [...]bribus auxilia Deorum parantur, Vigilando, Agendo, benè consulendo prosperè omnia cedunt. Ubi socordiae tete, atque igna [...]iae tradideris, nequicquam Deos implores. By which excellent words he seems to mark out two above all other qualities of Mankind, as the most prevalent with God to obtain his Blessing, [Page] viz. Wisdom and Industry: for without Wisdom Industry is but Labour in vain; and without Industry, Wisdom is but a bare thinking; and thoughts, though never so wise, unless put in execution, are but dreams, which produce no real effect. Therefore when Aesop's Clown having his Cart overthrown, desir'd aid of Hercules, to set it upright again; the Daemon bids him set his shoulders to the Wheel, and lift at it, and then much might be done. Also to the same purpose Lucian tells us, that Iupiter being often troubled with the impertinent Requests and Petitions of Princes, and Generals on both sides for Victory, to prevent any further Trouble of that kind, hath for the future decreed, That whenever two Armies meet, the greater number [...]hall overcome the smaller, provided the Conduct, Discipline, and Courage of both be the same. Furthermore, says the Heathen, if you observe the several kinds of misery among men, and the Causes from which they proceed, you shall for the most part find the want of Wisdom, Industry, or both, to have been the cause. As for instance, when men are taken with horrid Diseases, they usually come from an excess in eating or drinking, or from such things as with a careful observation, they might easily have [Page] perceived to be disagreeable with their health. Some are put to death for siding with a weak Faction; others are beggar'd by Gaming, and spending beyond their Revenue, or by not keeping a vigilant eye over it, but leaving the managery thereof to careless or false Servants. Again, others have been ruin'd by being bound for their dear Brethren over a Glass of Wine: among these may be reckoned Princes, who are ever ruined by their Favourites, unless the Prince has the good fortune to ruine them first, being, like Actaeon, subject to be slain by their own Hounds. These and a million of other follies produce the ruine of most men, who still owe their fall to want of Wisdom: Insomuch, as the Ancients had an opinion, that the Gods before they brought any calamity upon a man, would first unwit him, as to some particular occasion, and then punish his oversight; Perdere quos vult Iupiter, hos priûs dementat. Whereupon, when Persons esteem'd pious and good natur'd, are upon these or the like Errours cast into Prisons, or other misfortunes, the fear lest at another time the like may befall us, breeds a compassion which takes more notice of the misery, than the folly which occasision'd it. Hereto some may rejoyn, That they have observed several that for the greatest [Page] part of their Lives have been unblest, and poor, who by their Neighbours have been ever esteem'd pious, industrious, and of good Understanding. To which it is answered, It doth not often happen to be so: But whensoever it doth so fall out, if we narrowly mark their courses of life, it will not be difficult to perceive some notable foolish errours, which like Maw-worms destroy a man without any great outward appearance of Evil. Or else peradventure if they would enter scrutiny with their own hearts, they might find they had relied upon themselves or others, more than upon that Almighty goodness, which made and preserves all things, being the only root of all prosperity; who by this desertion, having as much as in them lies, cut themselves off from that root of Divine Providence, they become like Boughs set in a Chimney, which soon wither: And last of all, (say they) if Sicknesses and Afflictions are sent us because of our Sins, what makes Brutes subject to the same?

These are the chief Arguments that I find any where recorded by the Heathens, in defence of their wicked Opinions, which are answer'd by the impulses of every mans own heart; for the belief of a future state [Page] is implanted in every ones Nature, and this appears as well by the progress of Idolatry and Superstition, as of the true Religion: For no Religion of what kind soever, whether false or true, could have gotten so general a possession in the hearts of men, or have been so long entertain'd in the World, had there not been in Nature some sense of a future Being, which hath from the beginning made the generality of men so apt to receive Religious Instructions of any kind whatsoever, without which foundation to work on, even Solon, Lyeurgus, and Numa might soon have abrogated their own Laws in despair.

XXXIX.

But to proceed, without any relation to the Souls future account, I find by some of the wisest of the Ancients, that they thought they could never have too high an opinion of Gods goodness, or too base of mans wickedness; whose Vices nevertheless (since Nature doth nothing in vain) they esteem'd not altogether unnecessary to the well-governing of Mankind: For, sayes one of them, ‘If from History, or Experience, you but observe any one Age, you shall find it hath much the resemblance of a wellwrought piece of Tapestry, wherein is represented [Page] some great Action, as a Battel, which must not wholly consist of Generals or Commanders, but also of many common Souldiers; some cutting of Throats, others slain or wounded, and trampled under Horses feet:’ and yet notwithstanding, these miserable wretches, nay and the very Horses too, are as skilfully wrought, and made of as good Silk as the Generals themselves:‘but the Truth and Harmony of the Story requires this great inequality of Particulars, whose condition is fram'd with such regard to them, as may best serve to compleat the whole. Therefore (sayes he) in weighing the seeming unequal conditions of men in this Life, it betrays a narrowness of Fancy, as well as Injustice, to judge of their Atomlike Merits or Demerits apart from the Universe, wherein they have their portion. And much to this Purpose Arnobius speaks.’

XL.

Now to recollect and conclude these Observations, I cannot but wonder that the Heathens (who being directed only by the Light of Nature, and not acknowledging any future Reward▪ or Punishment) should be endowed with such Piety and Veneration toward God, as in all their Writings it appears [Page] they had, whose Providence though they doubted for the life to come, yet they plainly perceived in this, and Intitled him Deus Optimus Maximus. Some indeed when they mentioned him, chose rather to use the word Numen, than Deus, as unwilling to make him either Male or Female like one of themselves, for they rever'd him as the Sole, Infinite, Eternal Preserver of all things.

XLI.

As for the manner of their Worship, and the places wherein they celebrated their Heathenish Rites and Ceremonies, that being a Subject unnecessary in this Discourse to trouble you with; I shall only give you this short Account of it, which I find already collected to my Hands by that Learned Satyrist Cornelius De Vanit. Scient. Agrippa. ‘As for the Gentiles (saith he) there were some very eminent for the Structures of their Temples; but others there were who never made Use of any: Of which number was Xerxes, who is Reported to have burnt all the Temples about Asia, at the request of his Magicians, esteeming it no less than Impiety to inclose the Gods in Walls. To the same purpose Zeno Cittious disputed [Page] in these words: To build Churches and Temples (saith he) is no way necessary, for nothing ought to be accounted Sacred by right, or esteemed Holy, which men themselves erect; neither among the Persians of old, nor among the Primitive Hebrews, were there any Temples Dedicated to Divine Service, till at last one was Founded by Solomon, in which if any think God can be included, he is reproved by the Prophet▪ Isaiah, Heaven is my Throne, the Earth my Foot-stool, therefore what is the House thou buildest for me? and Stephen the Protomartyr adds, Solomon built an House, but the most High inhabits not in places made with Hands. Also St. Paul himself exhorts the Athenians to the same effect, telling them that God dwells not in Temples made with Hands, for being the Lord of Heaven and Earth, he is not served by mens hands, he wants not their help. Furthermore, Origen in his Writings against Celsus, saith, that for a long time after Christ's Death, there were no Churches, built; and so far goes Agrippa.’ But I conceive, that however the Pagans did some of them refrain from erecting [Page] Temples out of Superstition, yet the Primitive Christians did it upon another account, viz. the Persecutions wherewith they were then oppressed. But afterward, when they had gotten Kings for their Nursing-Fathers, and Queens for their Nursing-Mothers, to favour their Righteous Couse, they either erected publick Houses commodious for Devotion, or converted those Magnificent Structures, the Stately Temples Dedicated to Juno, Venus, Apollo, with the rest of their Gods and Goddesses, to the Service of the true God: and indeed most of the Christian Churches, (as the Musk-melon from the Dunghill) were raised out of the filthy Corruption and Superstition of Paganism.

XLII.

The next thing I shall touch upon, is the Politick Institution of the Heathen Ceremonies in times of their Publick Devotion. There is nothing hath a greater Influence over the Generality of M [...]n, (especially the Vulgar) than their Passions, and over their Passions, than Ceremonies which have a great Influence▪ upon their minds. What is the pleasure of a Lord Mayors Show, Horse- [...], Play or the like, but only the P [...]p and [Page] Solemnities wherewith they are▪ attended? Who would be ambitious of seeing the Lord Mayor without any Attendants? Of seeing two Horses run against one another, with no other Company but the Grooms that ride them? Would any Person give Money, and stay in a Croud for three or four hours together with empty Stomachs to see any of these Sights? Or would a man rise at four of the Clock in a Winters morning, riding seven or eight hours together in the cold, for the uncertain expectation of seeing nine or ten couple of Dogs, run barking after a Fox, without any other Company than theirs? Who would buy such small pleasures at so dear a rate, were they not attended with other Ceremonies? and yet as they are now performed, we see people almost mad upon them. Which shews how prodigious an Influence they have over our Affections in all kind of Pleasures. Nor are they less prevalent in matters of Grief and Affliction, as well for the expelling as heightening of it. All thoughts of the future Cares and Inconveniences of a married Life are drown'd in the Sackpossdt, and for that time banished by the Ceremonie of Company, Feasting and [Page] Musick, which are but the gilding of the Pill. Also in Death, what makes it so terrible, (but as the Lord Bacon well observes) the Solemnity of Friends weeping and mourning about the Death-bed? According to that saying, Pompa mortis magis terret, quàm mors: ipsa. Now this being observed by the Ancient Lawgivers, (viz. how great an Influence such Pageantries have over the minds of Men) it made them under pretence of decency of Worship, introduce all those vain superstitious Rites wherewith their Devotion was fill'd. Thus Numa Pompilius first instituted Ceremonies among the Románs, thereby to induce a rude, harbarous People that had acquired a Kingdom by Violence, to the love of Piety, Justice and Religion. Thus he erected the Order of Vestal Virgins to preserve the Fire in the Temple, and to do Sacrifice to the Goddess Vesta. Also he instituted twelve men of an Order called the Salii, who in painted Garments were to sing Verses in praise of God Mars. Besides other Priests call'd [...]eciales, who were to punish offenders, and sacrifice unto the Goddess Bona Dea. And the like course were the rest of the Law-givers fain to take in other Countries, and all little enough to uphold their [Page] Superstitions. Whereas true Religion, like true Beauty, appears best in la [...] undress; and so doth Christianity, especially the Reformed Religion. But the ancient Hea [...]enism, and Mahumetanism, are all one Broth, as the Italian Proverb expresses it: Both of Humane Invention, and disparag'd with like Absurdities. Yet let us not in shunning Charybdis, fall into Scylla, and for fear of Idolatry, shew our ill Breeding in Divine Worship, a crime whereof too many are guilty, who pay much greater respect to their Landlord than their God.

XLIII.

But to hasten to a Conclusion; Many of them were not a little over-aw'd by that old [...]verse of E [...]nius, Desine fata Deum flecti sp [...]are preoando: and this more evidently appears from these sacred lines of Iuvenal to the same purpos [...].

Nil ergo optabunt homines? si consilium vis,

Iuven. Sat. 10.

Permi [...]es ipsis expendere Numinibus, quid

Conve [...]iat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris.

Nam pro jucudis aptissima quae (que) dabunt Dii.

Charior est illis homo quam sibi. Nos animorum.

Impulsu, & caeca magna (que) cupidine ducti

[Page]Conjugium petimus, part [...]mque Uxoris, at illis

Notum qui Pueri, q [...]alis (que) futura fit Uxor.

And in another Place, ‘—Nocitura petuntur.’ By which we may see, that the Devotion of all of them did not consist much in Prayers, further than Thy will be done; and that rather by way of Acquiescence, than Petition: But all other enlargement of request they declined; partly because they thought not the Deity flexanimous, to be won by intreaty, or br [...]bed by Sacrifice; and partly because they held it a Presumption in Man to direct God what to do, and what to forbear, thinking that such a boldness would be but slende [...]ly excused, by an additional clause of submission to his Will. And this made Cardan (who favour'd the worst Opinions of the Heathens) to symbolize with them in this; Deum non [...] precibus, esset enim quasi unus [...] nobis passionibus & doloribus obnoxius. But certainly no Christian can write or speak in behalf of this Opinion, without his Conscience flying in his face. For what can be greater relief to a man, and comfort [Page] to him in affliction, than to have a God to flee to in his distress? The gretest ease in sorrow, is to have a Friend to break our mind to; and if so, how much greater relief and satisfaction must it be to an afflicted man, to have a God who is so well able to counsel, direct and assist him, for his Friend, to communicate his case to? And therefore saith Tertullian, A Christian while he is at his Prayers with his hands lift up to God, is unsensible of all Punishment, Besides, the very thoughts that we have a Providence at all times to flee to, animates us with a new Spirit of boldness and resolution, which is no small assistant to our success: As for example, Take a Dog and mark what courage he assumes when he finds himself maintain'd by a man, who (as my Lord Bacon saith) is to him as a God, or Melior Natura. And of the same Use is Confidence in God, for it animates us with that assurance as ever renders us successful. Neither were the Heathens (I mean the best and wisest of them) against all manner of Prayer, as we may learn from that Verse of the Poet;

[Page] ‘Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.’

But the chief and most commendable part of their Piety, consisted in a total and willing Resignation of themselves and their Concerns, unto that infinite Majesty, Almighty and All-wise Goodness, whereof they had continual experience.

Quin damus id superis——

Pers. Sat.

Compositum jus, fasque animo, sanctosque recessus

Mentis & incoctum generoso pectus honesto.

They conceiv'd, if they should presume to search into the Souls future Estate, the knowledge whereof they thought God had reserved to himself, they should speed like Ixion, who making it his Request to lie with Iuno, found himself deceiv'd, having in his Embraces only an empty Cloud. As for their apprehensions of Death, it appears, many of them were more fearful of Dying, than of being dead: Like one that fears to draw his Tooth, yet wishes it was drawn. And to this purpose Cicero speaks in his Tusculan Questions, Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum nihil existimo. Alleaging this reason [Page] for his Opinion, Cur mortem malum tibi videri dicis, quae aut beatos nos efficiet animis manentibus, [...]ut non miseros sensu earentes? But this is a very fallacious Argument, which supposes our Souls must be either happy or senseless, the reason is obvious▪ Therefore others of them gave a more ingenious account, why they so little fear'd death, which was this: They look'd upon themselves to be like Dogs, who having a loving Master, and hearing him call them forth, immediately with chearfulness leave the House and follow him, not distrusting the goodness of that Ma [...]er, who had ever before used them so kindly, still expecting the like Entertainment, although they knew not what it should be. Thus did they esteem death to be Gods call unto them, to come out of this mortal Body; which they obey'd with much assurance of the Divine goodness, that had kept and provided for them all their Lives long. And as at their En [...]rance into this Life, God had not made them capable of knowing how he would here provide for them, and yet they found by Experience he did; so they hoped it would fare with them in their Future condition, although [Page] in some new way whereof they had n [...]t yet any experimental knowledge The sum of which Opinion is deliver'd in this Copy of Verses.

Pul [...]malis Anima, & nequ [...]ens fulcire Ruinam

Pythagoras Moriens.

Imperii [...] ex [...]ussa s [...]is, sibi [...] Exul:

Libertate datâ redeuntibus in sua Regna.

Congener [...]m res qu [...]que fib [...] co [...]sortia quaerit,

Blandaque deserit [...]r vit [...] dis [...]orsque Tyrann [...].

Ut I [...]bar exclusum foedo cui illuxerat Antro

In Solem resilit, per quem [...]bratur in Orbem.

Sic tandem rediens divinae partic [...]ela Aurae.

Progeniem factura novam cum Numine fertur,

Irrequiesque alia ex aliis in [...]ata vocatur.

Ast Infinitus Deus omnia in omnibus U [...]s

Induit in formas sese quasi Proteus omnes.

Aeternoque aeterna manent sua membra, per [...] nil,

Sed fit per veteres Mundo nova Scena Tragoedos.

Nos pa [...]ca angusti sapimus, nostratia tant [...]m

[Page]Experti; reliquis sua cur s [...]nsoria rebus

Remur abesse, qu [...]bus pateat nova gloria Mundi

Exibo intrepidè Canis ut Venaticus [...]

Agnoscens Domini vocem, quae protinùs illum

Evocat in campos▪ somnoque Domoq [...] relictis,

Assilit excurritque alacris: sic Te Pater Alme,

Expertus fidensque sequar, Quo duxeris ibo.

And this was the Faith of the most v [...] tuous and prudent of the Heathens concerning Death. But others being neither thus wise, nor thus good, were either transported with some vain Sect of Philosophy, or else weakly surrendred all their Reasons to the delusion of their Priests: who notwithstanding their fictitious Pretences, knew no more of Heaven than the meanest of the People, as it evidently appears to any one, that shall compare their Devotion with Christianity. But their Philosophers, without any pretence of Inspirations extraordinary, adventur'd to address their Doctrines to humane Reason, as aiming altogether at vain-glory; whose Arguments must needs seem so empty and irrational to all discerning [Page] Judgments, that instead of becoming glorious, they rendred themselves ridiculous. And thus such as would not modestly repose themselves in the ignorance of the Souls future state, which God had been pleas'd for the most part to conceal from them, became vain in their Imaginations, distracted between Philosophy on the one side, and Superstition on the other: And so had only this choice, whether they would be cheated by themselves, or other men.

Prudens futuri temporis exitum

Caliginosâ nocte premit Deus.

FINIS.

Information about this book

Title statement

Anima mundi, or, An historical narration of the opinions of the ancients concerning man's soul after this life according to unenlight[e]ned nature / by Charles Blount, Gent.

Blount, Charles, 1654-1693.

Edition statement

1679

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Date

2004-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A28430

ID [STC]

Wing B3298A

ID [STC]

ESTC R18935

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

12258358

ID [OCLC]

ocm 12258358

ID [VID]

57640

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A28430)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 57640)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 168:7)

Source

— Anima mundi, or, An historical narration of the opinions of the ancients concerning man's soul after this life according to unenlight[e]ned nature / by Charles Blount, Gent., Blount, Charles, 1654-1693..

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[11], 109 p.

Printed, and are to be sold by Will. Cademan ...,. London :: 1679.. (Identified in reel guide as Wing B3298.) (Reproduction of original in Yale University Library.)

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