The Reasons of the Christian Religion Part 1, Conclusion
THE CONCLUSION, Defending the Soul's Immortality againſt the Somatiſts or Epicureans, and other Pſeudophiloſophers.
THough in this Treatiſe I have not wilfully balked any regardable objections, which I thought might ſtick with an intelligent Reader, about the truth of the things here delivered, yet thoſe which are proper to the Somatical irreligious ſect of Philoſophers, I thought fitter to put here as an Appendix by themſelves, that they might not ſtop the more ſober in their way.
As to the Subject and Method of this Diſcourſe, it conſiſteth of theſe four parts: 1. The proof of the Deity, and what God is. 2. Of the certain obligations which lie upon man to be holy and obedient to this God. 3. The proofs of a life of Retribution hereafter, where the holy and obedient ſhall be bleſſed, and the unholy and diſobedient puniſhed.Si vis Deorum ſpeciem apprehendere, proprietates Animae rationalis ultimae cogita, & oppoſitas in perfectione Diis attribue. Jamblit. de Myſter. per Fici…. 4. The proofs of the verity of the Chriſtian faith.
For the firſt of theſe, (that there is a God) though I have proved it beyond all rational contradiction, yet I have diſpatched it with haſte and brevity: becauſe it is to the mind as the Sun is to the eye, and ſo evident in all that is evident in the world, that there needeth nothing to the proving of it, but to help the Reader to a rational capacity and aptitude, to ſee that which all the world declareth. The common argument, from the effects to the cauſe, in all the entities and motions in the world, is undeniable. Whatſoever any Being hath, and hath not originally from it ſelf, or independently in it ſelf, it muſt needs have from another: and that other cannot act beyond its power, nor give that which it hath not either formally or eminently: Therefore he that findeth in the world about him, ſo much entity and motion, ſo much Intellection, Volition and Operation, and ſo much Wiſdom, Goodneſs and Power, muſt needs know that all theſe have ſome cauſe, which formally or eminently, or in a way of tranſcendency, hath more it ſelf than it giveth to others. I meaſured my endeavours about this ſubject, according as the occaſions of my own ſoul had led me: among all the temptations which have at any time aſſaulted me, I have found thoſe ſo contemptible and inconſiderable as to their ſtrength, which would have made me doubt of the being of a God, that I am apt to think that it is ſo with others. And therefore in the review of this diſcourſe, I find no reaſon to ſtand to anſwer any mans objections, againſt the Being, or eſſential Attributes or Properties of God.
And for the ſecond point, (that we all owe to this God our abſolute Reſignation, Obedience and Love, and ſo that Holineſs is naturally our duty) it doth ſo naturally reſult from the Nature of God and Man compared, that I can ſcarce think of any thing worthy of a confutation which can be ſaid againſt it, but that which denieth the Nature of God or Man; and therefore is either confuted under the firſt head, or is to be confuted under the third.
*When Machumet had taken Conſtantinople, and demanded of the Patriarch an account of the Chriſtian ſaith, Georg. Scholarius, alias Gennadius, then Patriarch, wrote that brief ſummary which you may find in Mart. Cruſius his Turco Graec. l. 2. Hiſt. Eccleſ. p. 10, &c. which very well openeth the myſtery of the Trinity, and of Chriſtianity, with ſeven reaſons of it.As for the fourth particular, contained in the ſecond Tome, (the truth of the Goſpel) I find not any reaſon to defend it more particularly, nor to anſwer any more objections than I have done: for in proving the truth, I have proved all the contradictory aſſertions to be falſe; and I have anſwered already the greateſt objections: and after this, to anſwer every ignorant exception of unſatisfied perſons, againſt the ſeveral paſſages of the Scripture, would be tedious, and not neceſſary to the end of my deſign. And indeed I perceive not that any conſiderable number are troubled with doubtings of the truth of the Chriſtian faith, in a prevalent degree, who are well convinced of thoſe antecedent verities of the Deity, and of the natural obligation and neceſſity of Holineſs, and of the Immortality of the ſoul, or of a future life of reward and puniſhment; and that live in any reaſonable conformity to theſe natural principles which they profeſs. For when natural evidence hath ſufficiently convinced a man, that he is obliged to be holy, in abſolute obedience and love to his Creator, through the hopes and fears of another life; he is very much prepared to cloſe with the deſign and doctrine of the Goſpel, which is ſo far from contradicting this, that it doth but confirm it, and ſhew us the way by which it may moſt certainly be brought to paſs.
And therefore my obſervation and experiences conſtrain me to think, that there is no point which I have inſiſted on, which ſo much calleth for my vindication, as the third, about the Life to come.
I know there is a ſort of over-wiſe and over-doing Divines, who will tell their followers in private, where there is none to contradict them, that the method of this Treatiſe is perverſe, as appealing too much to natural light, and over-valuing humane reaſon; and that I ſhould have done no more but ſhortly tell men, that All that which God ſpeaketh in his word is true; and that propria luce, it is evident that the Scripture is the Word of God; and that to all God's Elect he will give his Spirit to cauſe them to diſcern it: and that this much alone had been better than all theſe diſputes and reaſons: but theſe over-wiſe men, who need themſelves no reaſon for their Religion, and judge accordingly of others, and think that thoſe men who reſt not in the authority of Jeſus Chriſt, ſhould reſt in theirs, are many of them ſo well acquainted with me, as not to expect that I ſhould trouble them in their way,Tr… Plat… and Ariſtotle were of one opinion abode the Soul, Mirandula and Marſ. Ficinus upon Priſcians …heophraſtus, de Anima, have largely laboured to evince. or reaſon againſt them, who ſpeak againſt reaſon; even in the greateſt matters which our reaſon is given us for. As much as I am addicted to ſcribling, I can quietly diſmiſs this ſort of men, and love their zeal, without the labour of opening their ignorance.
My task therefore in this concluſion, ſhall be only to defend the doctrine delivered in this fore-going Treatiſe, of the Life to come, Galen is known to ſpeak many objections againſt Plato, and the Soul's immortality: but in other places he ſpeaketh doubtfully. And if really Ne…eſius had thoſe words out of ſuch a book of Galen, as he citeth, de Ani. c. 2. p. 481. he would then ſeem to have thought better of the Rational Soul.or the Soul's Immortality, againſt ſome who call themſelves Philoſophers. For of men ſo called, it is but a ſmall part who at all gainſay this weighty truth. The followers of Plato the Divine Philoſopher, with the Pythagoreans, the Stoicks, the Cynicks, and divers other Sects, are ſo much for it, that indeed the moſt of them go too far, and make the ſoul to be eternal both à parte arte, and à parte poſt: and Cicero doth conclude from its ſelf-moving power, that it is certainly eternal and divine: Inſomuch that not only Arnobius, but many other ancient Chriſtians, write ſo much againſt Plato for holding the ſoul to be naturally immortal, and aſſert themſelves, that it is of a middle nature, between that which is naturally immortal, Plotinus his laſt words were (as Porphyry ſaith in his life) [I am now returning that which is Divine in us, to that which is Divine in the Univerſe.]and that which is meerly mortal, that he that doth not well underſtand them, may be ſcandalized at their expreſſions, and think that he readeth the Philoſopher defending the ſouls immortality, and the Chriſtian oppoſing it. And though Ariſtotle's opinion be queſtioned by many, yet Cicero, who lived in time and places wherein he had better advantage than we to know his meaning, doth frequently affirm, that he was in the main of Plato's mind; and that the Academicks, Peripateticks and Stoicks differed more in words than ſenſe; chiding the Stoicks for their ſchiſm or ſeparation, in ſetting up a School or Sect as new, which had almoſt nothing new but words. Not only Fernelius (de abditis rerum cauſis) but many others have vindicated Ariſtotle, however his obſcurity hath given men occaſion to keep up that controverſie. And if the book de Mundo be undoubtedly his, I ſee no reaſon to make any more queſtion of his meaning; much leſs if that book be his which is entitled, Myſtica Aegypt. & Chald. Philoſ. which Aben Ama Arabs tranſlated out of Greek into Arabick, which Franc. Roſeus brought from Damaſcus, and Moſes Rovas Medicus Haebr. tranſlated into Italian, and Pet. Nicol. Caſtelinus into Latine, and Patricius thinketh Ariſtotle took from Plato's mouth.
It is only then the Epicureans, and ſome novel Somatiſts that I have now to anſwer, who think they have much to ſay againſt the ſeparated ſubſiſtence and immortality of mans ſoul, which I may reduce to theſe objections following.
I. Matter and Motion, without any more, may do all that which you aſcribe to incorporeal ſubſtances or ſouls: therefore you aſſert them without ground. II. To confirm this, the bruits have ſenſe, imagination, thought and reaſon, by matter and motion only, without immortal or incorporeal ſubſtances: therefore by ſenſe, imagination, thoughts or reaſon, you cannot prove that man hath more. III. Forms are but Accidents, that is, Qualities, or the mode of matter, and not Subſtances different from matter: therefore it is ſo with humane ſouls. IV. The ſoul dependeth upon matter in its operations, and acteth according to it, and not without it: therefore it is material, and conſequently mortal. V. No immaterial ſubſtance moveth that which is material, or is the principle of its operations: but the ſoul moveth the body as the principle of its operations: ergo. VI. If in our dreams the thoughts do operate only according to the accidental irregular motion of the ſpirits, and ſometime be ſo unactive, that we do not ſo much as dream, then the ſoul is nothing but the ſaid active ſpirits, or ſome material corruptible thing: but, &c. ergo. VII. Senſe is a more perfect apprehenſion than Reaſon: therefore Bruits, which have ſenſe, have as noble and perfect a kind of ſoul as man; or at leaſt reaſon is no proof of the immateriality of ſouls. VIII. Senſation and Intellection are both but Reception, and and the ſoul is but a patient in them: Ergo, it is not a ſelf-moving, and ſo not an incorporeal ſubſtance. IX. Nothing is in the underſtanding but what is firſt in the ſenſe: Ergo, the underſtanding can reach no further than to ſenſible things: Ergo, it is it ſelf of no higher a kind. X. Corporeal objects move the ſoul: Ergo, it is corporeal. For things material cannot work upon that which is immaterial. XI. If the ſoul were incorporeal, it would know it ſelf to be ſo: but it is not only ignorant of that, but hath no true notion, but meerly negative, of immaterial beings. XI. That which is generated is corruptible: but the ſoul is generated, as is proved by Senertus, and many others. XIII. Quicquid oritur interit; that which is not eternal as to the paſt duration, is not eternal as to the future duration: but all Chriſtians maintain, that the ſoul is either created or generated, and not of eternal duration, as to what is paſt: and all the Philoſophers, or moſt who took it to be eternal as to future duration, went on that ground, that it was ſo antecedently. XIV. You give us none but moral arguments for the ſoul's immortality. XV. Nay, you confeſs, that the ſoul's eternal duration cannot by you be proved by any natural evidence; though you think you ſo prove a life of Retribution. XVI. The ſoul and body are like a candle, where oyl, and week, and fire, (which are all) are in flexu continuo, and as there is not the ſame individual flame this hour as was the laſt, ſo neither have we the ſame individual ſouls: Ergo, they are uncapable of a life of Retribution hereafter. XVII. If the ſoul be a durable ſubſtance, (as we muſt confeſs no ſubſtance is annihilated) it is moſt likely to come from the anima mundi, or ſome univerſal ſoul of that orb or ſyſtem of which it is a part, and ſo to return to it again, as the beams to the Sun; and ſo to ceaſe its individuation, and conſequently to be uncapable of a life of Retribution. XVIII. The Platoniſts who hold the ſouls immortality, (and ſome Platonick Divines too) have ſo many fopperies about its vehicles, regions and tranſmutations, as maketh their principal doctrine the leſs credible. XIX. If the ſoul ſhould continue its individuation, yet its actings will be nothing like what they are in the body; nor can they exerciſe a memory of what they did in the body, as having not the material ſpirits and nerves, by which memory is exerciſed: and therefore they can have no proper retribution, eſpecially puniſhment, for any thing here done. XX. The belief of the immortality of the ſoul doth fill men with fears, and take up their lives in ſuperſtitious cares for a life to come, which might be ſpent in quietneſs, and in publick works: and it fills the world with all thoſe religious ſects and controverſies, which have ſo long deſtroyed Charity and Peace.
Theſe are the Objections which I have here to anſwer.