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in a generous Soil, where 'tis cherish'd by the Rays of the Sun, and nourish'd by the Dew of Heaven, according to the Custom and the Order of Nature; and the Strength and Virtue that he finds in fuch a Plant, he will reckon to belong to its Species, and to be proper and natural to all the Kind. Thus if any one would difcover the Luftre and Worth of a Diamond, he will not examine it rough, as they call it, and clouded with the adherent Filth of the Soil where it grew, but will view it cut, and smooth'd, and polifh'd; and what the Worth of it then is, what Luftre it darts, what Virtue it emits, all that he will attribute to the Force of its Nature, and from thence set an estimate upon its Value:

As for what relates to the second Point, if there either are or have been any learned Men or Philofophers who deny a future State, 'tis plain that they are of the Number of those who acknowledge nothing in Nature befides Matter; or at least of those who allow no natural Distinction in the Affairs of Mortals of Juft and Unjuft, Worthy and Vile. The former, that is, the Materialists, fhall be refuted in the following Chapter; and for what relates to the latter, if we have already prov'd from the Nature of God, that there have been, from all Eternity, Diftinctions between Good and Evil, we have already overthrown the Error on which that Opinion depends; and we have shewn in

the

the fame Piece, and in the fame Thread of Difcourfe, that a future State is infeparably joined with the Nature of God, and with the Nature of Things. That I may fay all in a Word, the Whole of the Matter lies here: If there is a God, there is likewife a future State; and they who acknowledge the former, are in vain industrious to root out the latter from the Minds of Men.

HITHERTO we have trod in the Paths that the Light of Nature difcover'd to us; but a brighter Light fhines forth from the facred Oracles, which fhew a future Life clearly and openly to the Eyes of all the World. I must confefs, that in the Jewish Difpenfation eternal Life was placed in Shadows, and defcried only by the Glimmering of a doubtful Light; but in the Christian Religion, the Sun fhews nothing at Noon more clearly, than the facred Authors discover Immortality. That I may fay nothing in this Place particularly of the Doctrine of the Refurrection, or of the last Judgment, 'tis plain that Chrift and his Apoftles have every where distinguish'd the prefent Life from a future, and the whole Hinge of the Christian Religion turns upon that Distinction. What will it profit a Man, fays Chrift, if he gains Mat. viii. the whole World, and lofes his own Soul. The 3. Soul that is profperous to the utmost of its Wishes in this World, cannot be loft or be miferable unless in another. And Christ fays in another Place, Make

your felves Luke xvi. Friends 9.

Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness,
that when you fail, they may receive you
into everlafting Habitations.
And in ano-

Mat. x.28. ther Place, Fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell. And in another Luke xii. Place, He that denieth me before Man, fhall be denied before the Angels of God. And, EMat. xix. very one that hath forfaken Houses, or Bre

9.

29.

thren, or Sifters, or Father, or Mother, or Wife, or Children, for my Name fake, shall receive an Hundred Fold, and shall inherit eternal Life. In these, and numberless other Places, Chrift diftinguishes the present from a future Life, and treats of them as Things oppofite and very different from each other Nor does he do this only when he speaks plainly and openly, but dwells upon the fame Subject in his Parables; as in that of Dives and Lazarus; in that of the Pearl of ineftimable Value; in that of the Wheat and the Tares; and in feveral others. He has done the fame Thing in his Sermon on the Mount, when he fpake to the People; the fame in his daily Conversation with his Disciples: In all Places and at all Times he proclaims aloud, that the good and evil Things of this Life are to be utterly contemn'd, in refpect to future Mifery or Felicity. Laftly, by his Refurrection from the Dead, and his vifible Afcenfion into Heaven, he has not only verbally taught us, that

there

there is a Life to come, but has fet it really before our Eyes.

19.

THE Apostles walk'd in the fame Path that their Mafter did before them, every where afferting that the Soul has two very different Lives, and two very different States. If in this Life only we have Hope in Chrift, 1 Cor. xv. fays St. Paul, we are of all Men the most miferable. But we know, fays he in ano- 2 Cor. v. ther Place, that if our earthly House of this 14 Tabernacle were diffolv'd, we have a Building of God, a Houfe not made with Hands, eternal in the Heavens; for we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burthen'd; not for that we would be uncloathed, but cloathed upon, that Mortality might be fwallow'd up of Life. In the fame Manner St. Paul fays to the Romans, that all Nature, together with us, does groan being burthen'd, and afpiring to a certain Immortality: For Rom. vii. I reckon, fays he, that the Sufferings of 13, 19. this prefent Time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us: For the earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifeftation of the Sons of God. To be fhort, every Page in the Apoftolick Writings proclaims a future State and eternal Life; at once the Foundation and Recompence of our Faith: and Chrift is faid to have brought, by his Gospel, this Immortality to Light, that is, he explain'd it more clearly, and more efficaciously, than either Mofes in his Laws, or the Philofophers in their Schools.

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CHA P. II.

That the human Soul is an immortal Subftance, diftinct from the Body, and from all Mat

ter.

IT

T being once granted that Men are to enjoy a future Life, it neceffarily follows that the human Soul is immortal. But fome are of Opinion, that its Immortality is foreign from its Nature, and only granted to it as an Advantage by divine Favour: Others are of Opinion, that it was created immortal; and that 'tis by its own Nature exempt from Diffolution. The facred Writings manifeftly testify, that 'tis immortal either one Way or the other, as we have just now seen, when they treat of eternal Life, of the Refurrection of the Dead, of the last Judg ment, of future Rewards and Punishments, of Heaven and Hell, and other Things that relate to them; all which fuppofe, that the Soul exifts after the Death and Diffolution of the Body, that it lives and enjoys both Senfe and Thought. However, I am of Opinion, that it will be worth while, in a few Words, to enquire, whether, befides the extraordinary Favour of God, whatever that is, the Soul is not immortal and incorruptible, by the Force and Principles of its original Na

ture,

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