The Immortality of Mans Soul, Treatise
SIR,
I Have Reaſon to judg you no Stranger to ſuch Addreſſes as theſe: and therefore have adventured more boldly to apply my ſelf to you. Others would, it may be, rigedly cenſure this Attempt; but your more Chriſtian Temper will induce you, I hope, to judg more charitably, did you but underſtand with what reluctancy I undertook this task.
I have had many Diſputes with my ſelf, whether or no I ſhould ſtifle theſe Doubts, or ſeek Satisfaction. Shame to own ſuch Principles bid me do the firſt; but the weight of the Concern obliged me to the laſt. For I could not with any chearfulneſs, or with that vigor I thought did become me, purſue thoſe unſeen Subſtances, thoſe Objects of Faith Religion holds forth, except I did really believe their exiſtence, and my own capacity of enjoyning them.
I thought at firſt to ſatisfie my ſelf in the certainty of the things I did believe; to confirm and eſtabliſh my Faith by theſe Studies, that I might be able to render a Reaſon of the hope that is in me: but inſtead of building up, I am ſhaken; and inſtead of a clearer evidence, I am invironed with uncertainties.
Unhappy that I am! I had better have taken all upon Truſt, could I ſo have ſatisfied my Reaſon, than thus to have involved my ſelf in an endleſs Study. For ſuch I am afraid it will prove without help: for that I may not in this Concern reſt without ſatisfaction; and yet the more I conſider, and weigh things, the more are my doubts multiplied. I call them only doubts, not to palliate any opinions; for I have not yet eſpouſed any; but becauſe they have not yet attained ſo much maturity or ſtrength, as to take me off thoſe things, my doubts being ſatisfied, I ſhould conclude of indiſpenſable neceſſity; they are but yet in the Womb: aſſiſt to make them Abortives.
I have not been wanting to my ſelf, but in the uſe of all means to me known, have ſought ſatisfaction, both by Prayer, Reading, and Meditation. I have weighed and conſulted things according to my Capacity. I have been as faithful to my ſelf in all my reaſonings, as I could, and void of prejudice, have paſſed impartial Cenſures on the things in debate, ſo far as that light I have would enable me; and what to do more, I know not, except this courſe I now take, prove effectual, you inclining to aſſiſt me, that I know have ſtudied theſe things.
My requeſt to you therefore is, If your more publick Studies will permit you, That you would condeſcend to ſatisfie me in the Particulars I ſhall mention. I aſſure you, I have no other deſign, but to know the Truth: which in things of ſuch moment, certainly cannot be difficult, tho to my unfurniſhed Head they have proved ſo: I hope my ſhaking may prove my eſtabliſhment.
That I may therefore put you to as little trouble as I can, I will firſt tell you what I do believe, and then what I ſtick at.
Firſt, therefore, I do really believe, and am very well ſatisfied, That there is a God, or a firſt Cauſe that hath created all things, and given to every thing its Being. For I am not acquainted with any independent Being. I know not any thing that is able to ſubſiſt without the Contribution of its Fellow-Creatures. I am conſcio…s to my ſelf, when ſickneſs invades me, and death ſummons my Compound to a diſſolution, I can do nothing to the preſervation of the Being I enjoy. And if I cannot preſerve my ſelf as I am, much leſs could I make my ſelf what I am: For when I was nothing, I could do nothing. And Experience and Senſe tells me, As it is with me, ſo it is with others; as there is none can preſerve their Beings, ſo there is none could acquire to themſelves the Being they have; and if none, then not the firſt man. And indeed that was it I enquired after, from whence every ſpecies had at firſt their Beings; the way, how, and means by which they are continued. I know not any Cauſe of the Being of any thing, of which again I may not enquire the Cauſe: and ſo from Cauſe to Cauſe, till through a multitude of Cauſes, I neceſſarily arrive at the firſt Cauſe of all Cauſes, a Being wholly uncauſed, and without Cauſe, except what it was unto it ſelf.
My next Enquiry was into my ſelf; and my next buſineſs, to find what Concern I have with my Creator: which I knew no better way to attain, than by ſearching the bounds of humane Capacity. For I concluded it reaſonable to judg thoſe attainments I was capable of in my Creation, I was deſigned for. Now if man is nothing more than what is viſible, or may be made ſo by Anatomy or Pharmacy, he is no Subject capable of enjoying, or loving God, nor conſequently of a life of Retrobution.
In this Enquiry I found Man conſiſted of ſomething viſible and inviſible; the Body which is viſible, and ſomething elſe that inviſibly actuates the ſame. For I have ſeen the Body, the viſible part of man; when the inviſible, either through indiſpoſition of its Orgains, or its ſelf, or being expelled its Manſion, hath ceaſed to act (I ſpeak as one in doubt): the Body hath been left to outward appearance the ſame; it was yet really void of Senſe, and wholly debilitated of all power to act: But then what this inviſible is, what to conclude of it, I know not: Here I am at a ſtand, and in a Labyrinth, without a Clue: For I find no help any where. Many have, I acknowledg, defended the Souls Immortality; but none have proved the exiſtence of ſuch a Being, and a life of Retrobution,Here … wha… wan… … the … Cop… and that copiouſly enough; but none have proved a Subject capable of it. I know all our Superior Faculties and Actings, are uſually attributed to the Soul; but what it is in man they call ſo, they tell us not. To ſay it is that by which I reaſon, or that now dictates to me what I write, is not ſatisfactory: For I look for a definition, and ſuch an one, as may not to ought elſe be appropriated. Is it therefore a real Being, really different from the Body, and able to be without it? or is it not? If not, whatever it be, I matter not. If it be, is it a pure Spirit, or meerly material? If meerly material, and different only from the Body gradually, and in ſome few degrees of ſubtilty, it is then a queſtion, whether or not that we call Death, and ſuppoſe a ſeparation of the Compound, be not rather a Concentration of this active Principle in its own Body, which through ſome indiſpoſition of the whole, or ſtoppage in its Orgains, through groſs Corporeity, hath ſuffocated its actings. If it be a pure Spirit, I would then know, what is meant by Spirit? and whether or no all things inviſible, and imperceptable to Senſe, are accounted ſuch? If ſo, it is then only a term to diſtinguiſh between things evident to Senſe, and things not. If otherwiſe, how ſhall I diſtinguiſh between the higheſt degree of material, and the loweſt degree of ſpiritual Beings, or know how they are diverſified, or be certain the Being of the Soul is rightly appropriated. For to me, an immaterial and ſpiritual Being, ſeems but a kind of Hocus, and a Subſtance ſtript of all materiality, a ſubſtantial nothing. For all things at firſt had their Origine from the deep dark Waters: witneſs Moſes Philoſophy, in the 1ſt of Geneſis, on which the Spirit of God is ſaid to move. I am far from believing thoſe Waters ſuch as that Element we daily make uſe of; but that they were material, appears by thoſe multitudes of material Productions they brought forth. And if thoſe Waters were material, ſuch were all things they d…d produce, among which was Man, of whom the Text aſſerts nothing more plain; for it ſaith, God created man of the duſt of the earth; the moſt groſs part and ſedement of thoſe Waters, after all things elſe were created. Now the Body only is not Man; for Man is a living Creature: it is that therefore by which the Body lives and acts, that conſtitutes the Man. Now the Apoſtle mentioneth Man to conſiſt of Body, Soul and Spirit. My Argument then is this, God created man of the duſt of the earth.
But Man conſiſts of a Body Soul and Spirit:
Therefore Body, Soul and Spirit are made of the duſt, &c. and are material.
The major and minor are undeniable; and therefore the concluſion. Yet do I not therefore conclude its annihilation: for I know all matter is eternal; but am rather perſwaded of its concentration (as afore) in its own body.
But of its real Being, purely ſpiritual, and ſtript of all materiality, really diſtinct from its body, I doubt.
Becauſe that by ſeveral accidents happening to the body, the man is incapacited from acting rationally, as before; as in thoſe we call Ideots, there is not in ſome of them ſo much a ſign of a reaſonable Soul, as to diſtinguiſh them from Bruits: Whereas were the Soul ſuch as repreſented, it would rather ceaſe to act, than act at a rate below it ſelf. Did it know its Excellencies, ſuch as we make them, it would as ſoon deſert its being, as degrade its ſelf by ſuch bruitiſh acts: It is not any defect in its Organs could rob the Soul of its Reaſon, its Eſſential Faculty. Tho the Workman breaks his Tools, his hands do not loſe their skill, but ceaſeth to act, rather than to do ought irregularly: ſo likewiſe would the Soul then act contrary to its own nature.
Secondly, Becauſe all the ſpecies both of the Mineral, Vegitable, and Animal Kingdoms, appear to me, but as the more eminent Works of a moſt excellent Operator, as Engines of the moſt accurate Engineer; they all live, and have a Principle of Life manifeſt in their growth and augmentation, and ſo far as they are living weights, as I can perceive from the ſame ſource. But then comes in thoſe Natures and Faculties whereby each is diſtinguiſhed from other, even like ſeveral pieces of Clock, or Watch-work: the one ſhews the hour of the day, and no more; the next ſhews the hour and minutes, another ſhews both the former, and likewiſe the Age of the Moon; another hath not only the three former motions, but an addition of the riſe and fall of Tides; yet all this, and many more that in that way are performed, are ſeveral diſtinct motions, ariſing all from the ſame Cauſe, the Spring or Weight, the Principle of motion in them. So among living Weights, the firſt do only grow and augment their bulk, and have no poſſibility in nature to augment their kind; the next, to wit, Vegitables, do not only grow and increaſe their bulk, but likewiſe have a power of propagating their like: the third Family, I mean the Animal Kingdom, do not only live and encreaſe their kind, but likewiſe are made ſenſative. And laſtly, we our ſelves that are not only poſſeſt of all the former, but of ſomething, I know not what, we think more excellent, and call Reaſon, and all this from the ſame ſource; namely, that we live; which if we did not, we could not perform any of theſe acts. For life in us is the ſame as the Spring or Weight in the Watch or Clock, which ceaſing, all other motion ceaſeth, as in a Watch or Clock, the Spring or Weight being down.
As Life therefore is the Cauſe of all Motion, and all natural Operation and Faculties; yet thoſe multifarious Operations and Faculties, manifeſt in, and proper to the particular ſpecies of the Three Kingdoms, requires not divers Principles of Life, no more than divers motions ſpecified in a Watch or Clock, requires divers Weights or Springs. And as the diverſity of motion in Watch or Clock, ariſeth not from diverſity of Weights or Springs, but rather from other means: ſo thoſe diverſities of Natures and Faculties, manifeſt throughout the Three Kingdoms, ariſe not from divers Principles of Life, but from one Principle of Life, manifeſting its power in Bodies diverſly organized. So that a Tree or Herb that only vegitates and propagates its kind, hath no other Principle of Life than an Animal that hath Senſe, and more eminent Faculties. The difference only, as I conceive, is, this Principle of Life in the vegitable, is bound up in a Body organized to no other eud, by which Life is hindred exerting any other power: but in the Animal it's kindled in a purer matter, by which it's capacitated to frame more excellent Orgains, in order to the exerting more eminent Acts. For the Principle of Life can no more act rationally in matter capable of naught but vegitation (for it acts in matter according to the nature thereof, advancing it to its utmoſt excellency), than a man can ſaw with a Coult-Staff, or file with an Hatcher, or make a Watch with a Betle and Wedges.
I am apt to believe thoſe rare Endowments, and eminent Faculties, wherewith men ſeem to excel meer Senſatives, are only the improvement of Speech, wherein we have the advantage of them, and the reſult of reiterated Acts, until they become habits. For by the firſt we are able to communicate our Conceptions and Experiments each to other; and by the other we do gradually aſcend to the knowledg of things. For is all the knowledg either in the acts, Liberal or Mechanical, any more than this acts reiterated, until they become habits; which when they are, we are ſaid to know them? And what is all our reaſoning, but an Argument in Diſcourſe toſſed from one to another, till the Truth be found, like a Ball between two Rackets, till at laſt a lucky blow puts an end to the ſport? We come into the World hardly men; and many whoſe natures want cultivation, live, having nothing to diſtinguiſh them from Brutes, but the outward form, ſpeech, and ſome little dexterity, ſuch as in Apes or Monkeys, in the things they have been taught, and the Affairs they have been bred to. And could we imagine any man to have lived Twenty or Thirty years in the World, without the benefit of Humane Converſe, What would appear then, think you, of a rational Soul? which the wiſe man well ſaw when he aſſerted the Condition of Men and Beaſts to be the ſame what a meer Ignorant hath; Moſes himſelf made of Adam, that in his ſuppoſed beſt ſtate, knew not that he was naked: but I believe the Nine Hundred and Thirty years Experience of his own, and the continual Experiments of Poſterity, in that time communicated to him, might quicken his Intellect. So that he died with more Reaſon than he was created, and humane nature in his poſterity. The next Generation was imbelliſhed with his attainments, to which their own Experiences ſtill made a new addition. The next Generation built on their Foundation, and the next on their; and ſo on: and we are got on the ſhoulders of them all. So that it's rather a wonder, that we know no more, than that we know ſo much. So that what we have, ſeems rather times product, through the means aforeſaid, than what our Natures were at firſt enricht with.
The which appears likewiſe in thoſe whoſe memory fails, and in whom the veſtigia of things is wore out; the habits they had contracted, and manner of working in their ſeveral acts being forgotten, what ſilly Animals are they? Whereas were the Soul ſuch as repreſented, who could rob it of its Endowments? It's true the debilitating of a hand, may impead a manual labour; but raſe what hath formerly been done out of the Memory, and you render Man a perfect Bruit, or worſe: for he knows not how to give a ſignification of his own mind.
And indeed, I know not any thing wherein Man excels the Beaſts, but may be referred to the benefit of Speech and Hands, capable of effecting its Conceptions; nor find any better way to attain a right knowledg of our ſelves, but by beholding our ſelves in Adam, and enquiring, what Nature had endued him with, which will fall far ſhort of what we now admire in our ſelves.
But now ſuppoſing all this anſwer'd, what will it avail us to a Life of Retrobution, if all return to one Element, and be there immerged as Brooks and Rivers in the Sea? If we loſe our Individuation; and all the Souls that have exiſted, be ſwallowed up of one, where are the Rewards and Puniſhments of each individual. And we have reaſon to judg it will be thus, rather than otherwiſe, becauſe we ſee every thing tends to its own Centre, the Water to the Sea, and all that was of the Earth to the Earth, from whence they were taken. And Solomon ſaith, The ſpirit returns to God that gave it. Every thing then returning to its own Element, Ioſeth its Individuation. For we ſee all bodies returning to the earth, are no more individual bodies, but earth: Have we not reaſon then to judg the ſame of Spirits returning to their own Element? And what happineſs then can we hope for, more than a deliverance from the preſent calamity? or what miſery are we eapable of, more than what is common to all?
The ſame is more evident in the body with which we converſe, and are more ſenſibly acquainted with, ſeems wholly uncapable of either, &c. For all bodies are material, and matter it ſelf is not capable of multiplication, but of being changed. Therefore Nature cannot multiply bodies, but changeth them; as ſome bodies ariſe, others periſh. Natures expence in continual Productions being conſtantly ſupplied by the diſſolution of other Compounds: were it otherwiſe, her Store-houſe would be exhauſted; for its by continual Circulations, Heaven and Earth is maintain'd; and by her even Circular motion, ſhe keeps her ſelf imployed on the ſame ſtock of matter, and maintains every ſpecies. There is no body the ſame to day it was yeſterday, matter being in a continual flux; neither immediately on the diſſolution of a Compound, and Corruption of the body, doth the earth thereof retain any ſpecifick difference of that body it once was, but is immediately beſtowed by Nature, and ordered to the new production of other things. That part of matter therefore which conſtituteth a humane body, in a ſhort time is putrified, and made earth, which again produceth either other inferior Animals, or Graſs, or Corn, for the nouriſhment of Beaſts and Fowl, which again are the nouriſhment of men. Thus circularly innumerable times round, Nature continually impreſſing new forms of the ſame matter. So that that matter that now conſtitutes my body, it may be a thouſand years ago was the matter of ſome other mans, or it may be of divers mens, then putrified; which in this time hath ſuffered infinite changes, as it may be ſometime Graſs, or Corn, or an Herb, or Bird, or Beaſt, or divers of them, or all, and that divers times over, before my body was framed; who then can ſay, why this matter ſo changeable, ſhould at laſt be reſtored, my body rather than his, whoſe formerly it was, or the body of a Bird, or other Animal? For by the ſame Reaſons that the body of man is proved to ariſe again, may, I think, be proved the Reſtoration of all other bodies, which is equally incredible to me (if underſtood at one time). For Natures ſtock of matter being all at firſt exhauſted, ſhe could not employ her ſelf in new Productions, without deſtroying ſome of the old; much leſs can ſhe at once fabricate out of the ſame quantity of matter, all the bodies that ever were, are, or ſhall be; which yet, notwithſtanding could ſhe, they could not be ſaid to be the ſame bodies, becauſe all bodies ſuffer ſuch alteration daily, that they cannot be ſaid to be the ſame to day they were yeſterday; how then can they be capable of Reward or Puniſhment?
Theſe are now my doubts; but are they the fruits of Diligence? and am I thus rewarded for not believing at a common rate? A great deal cheaper could I have ſate down, and believed as the Church believes; without a why, or a wherefore, have been ignorant of theſe Diſputes, and never have emerged my ſelf in this gulf, than thus by Reflection to create my own diſturbance. Had I been made a meer Animal, I had had none of theſe Doubts nor Fears that thus torment my mind; for doubting, happy Bruits happy, far more happy than my ſelf! With you is none of this; with you only is ſerenity of mind, and you only void of Anxieties; you only enjoy what this world is able to accommodate with, and it may be too have thoſe Careſſes we know not of, while we, your poor purveyors, go drooping and diſponding, doubting, fearing, and caring about, and our whole lives only a preying on one another, and tormenting our ſelves. You have the carnal content and ſatisfaction; we nothing but the ſhell, a vain glorious boaſt of our Lordſhip over you, with which we ſeek to ſatisfie our ſelves, as Prodigals, with husks, while the truth is, we are afraid to confront our Vaſſals, except we firſt by craft and treachery beguile them from whom likewiſe we flee, if once enraged: and what a poor comfort is this? Is this a Priviledg to boaſt of? Is this all Reaſon advanceth to, only a Purveyor to Beaſts, and to make my life more miſerable, by how much more ſenſible of miſery! Well might Solomon prefer the dead before the living; and thoſe that had not been, before both; intimating thereby, that being beſt, leaſt capable of miſery; that is, of Trees, of Herbs, of Stones, and all inanimates, which wanting ſenſe, are inſenſible of miſery. Better any thing than man therefore, ſince that every brute and inanimate ſtock or ſtone, are more happy in that meaſure: they are leſs capable of miſery. What the advantage then, what the benefit that occurs to us from them, or what preheminence have we above them, ſeeing as dieth the one, ſo dieth the other, and that they have all one breath?
Pardon this Degreſſion; the real ſenſe and apprehenſion I have of things, extort it from me. For I, as Job, cannot refrain my mouth, but ſpeak in the bitterneſs of my Spirit, and complain in the anguiſh of my Soul, Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghoſt when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breaſts, that I ſhould ſuck? I had then been among Solomon's happy ones: I ſhould now have lain ſtill and been quiet; I ſhould have ſlept, and been at reſt: whereas now I am weary of life. For tho I ſpeak, my grief is not aſſwaged; and tho I forbear, I am not eaſed; but now he hath made me weary, and made deſolate all my company: he hath filled me with wrinkles, which is a witneſs againſt me; and my leanneſs riſing up in me, beareth witneſs to my face, God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hand of the wicked, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. I ſaid, I ſhall die in my neſt, and ſhall multiply my days as the ſand, when my root was ſpread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night on my branch; when my glory was freſh, and my bow was renewed in my hand: but I find while my fleſh is upon me, I ſhall have pain, and while my ſoul is in me, it ſhall mourn. Have pity upon me, O my friend! for the hand of God hath touched me. The wicked live, and become old; yea, they are mighty in power, their ſeed is eſtabliſhed in their ſight with them, and their off-ſpring before their eyes; their houſes are ſafe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them, &c. they are planted, and take root, they grew; yea, they bring forth fruit, yet God is never in their mouth, and far from their reins. In vain then do I waſh my hands in innocency, ſeeing all things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that ſacrificeth, and to him that ſacrificeth not: as is the good, ſo is the ſinner; and he that ſweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
I have now done (tho I hardly know how), leſt I too far trouble you; and only beg your peruſal of theſe lines, and two or three in anſwer of them by this Bearer, who ſhall at your appointment wait on you for the ſame. Let me farther …eg theſe two things of you: firſt, That you would conſider you have not to do with a Sophiſtick Wrangler, or with one that would willingly err, but with one that deſires to know the Truth. Let therefore your Anſwer be, as much as you can, void of Scholaſtick Terms, or Notions that may lead me more into the dark. And then, as Job did beg, That God would withdraw his hand far from him, and that his dread might not make him afraid; ſo I. And further, That you would not awe me with his greatneſs, nor ſuppreſs my Arguments with his Omnipotence. Then call thou, and I will anſwer; or let me ſpeak, and anſwer thou me. Thus begging the Divine Influence to direct you, and enlighten me, I ſubſcribe my ſelf,