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 2] 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.

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 4] 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 5] 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.

The next thing I shall insist upon, is their impious Opinions concerning the [Page 6] 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.

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 7] 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 8] 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.

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 9] 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:

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 11] 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.

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 12] 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 13] 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,

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 14] 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 15] to his disadvantage he rejects his Autho­rity. But to return to the Heathen Opi­nion of the Soul.

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 16] 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.

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 17] 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.

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 18] 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 19] 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.

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 20] 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 21] 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.

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 22] 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.

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 24] 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 25] 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.

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 26] 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 27] 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 28] 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 29] 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 30] 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 31] 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 32] speak, nor shift for himself, unless taught by others.

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 33] 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.

Mens natural passions and fears, when not enlightned by judicious and calm con­sideration, nor repressed by a sober tem­per [Page 34] 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 35] 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 36] 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 37] 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.

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 38] 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 39] 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 40] 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.

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 41] 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 42] 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.

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 43] 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,

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 44] 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.

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 45] 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 46] 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.

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 47] (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 48] 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.

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.

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 50] 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 51] 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.

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 52] 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.

This Progress of the Soul seem'd to ma­ny, to be better disposed for Reward and Punishment, when not restrain'd into any [Page 53] 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:

The course which Nature takes in Govern­ing [Page 54] 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.

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 55] 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.

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 56] 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 57] 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.

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 58] 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 59] 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.

In answer to this wicked opinion, I shall [Page 60] 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 61] the contrary, yet the belief of the Resur­rection, is I am sure more for the Honour of God, and safety and happiness of Man.

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.

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 62] 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.

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 63] should fancy that an Ulcer in the Heart or Liver, could not by consequence destroy the Brain.

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.

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.

By these and such like symptoms, they sus­pected [Page 64] 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.

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 65] 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 66] 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 67] 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.

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 68] 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.

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 69] 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.

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.

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 73] 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.

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 74] 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 75] 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 76] 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 77] 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.

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 79] 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.

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 80] 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 81] 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.

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 82] 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,

[Page 83]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.

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 84] 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 85] 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 86] '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.

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.

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:

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 89] 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;

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 90] 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 91] 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.

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 92] 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 93] 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 94] 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 95] 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.

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 96] 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.’

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 97] 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.

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 98] 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 99] 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.

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 100] 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 101] 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 102] 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.

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 [...].

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 104] 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 105] ‘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.

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 106] 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 107] 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.

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 109] 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.