t flutters and hangs its wing, and is forced to descend. But when the soul fix es its thoughts on an eternity to come, how readily does it apprehend how that shall proceed without end? with what pleasure does it 10ll over millions of ages in it? The reason of this difference is, because the soul itself is not from eternity, but has a beginning; whereas it will endure to eternity, and have no end; there is Cicero says, though he knows not how it is, inherent in the minds of men, a sort of an augurim, soothsaying, divination, or foresight of future ages; and which chiefly and most easily appears in the greatest minds, and in the most exalted geniuses. There is in men a natural notion of futurity, a desire after it, and an expectation of it; which are things not in vain implanted in it; and would not appear if the soul was not immortal; it has knowledge of things past, present and future; which proves its immortality.-3. The knowledge which the mind and understanding of man has of things in the present state, is very imperfect, through the brevity of life; and therefore it may be reasonably concluded, that there is a future state, in which the soul will exist, and its knowledge of things be more perfect: it has been a constant and continual complaint of the sons of learning and science, ars longa, vita brevis; art is long, and life is short; man has not time enough to cultivate the knowledge he is capable of. It has been said, that it would require a man's whole life-time, and that not sufficient, to get a thorough knowledge of that single mineral antimony: let a man employ all his time and studies in any one branch of literature, any particular art or science, or language, yet would his knowledge be imperfect,' and room would be left for those that come after him to improve upon him: arts and sciences have been cultivating many thousands of years, and in some ages great improvements have been made, and especially later ones; and yet there is room for further improvements still: the knowledge of the best things, which good men have, as of God, of Christ, and of the mysteries of grace, is now very imperfect; those that know most, know but in part, and see through a glass darkly but there is a state in which their souls will exist, when they shall see God face to face, see him as he is, and know as they are known; when their minds will be employed on more noble and interesting subjects than now, and have perfect knowledge of them. 4. The knowledge the mind of man has of things now, is not in proportion to the powers that he is possessed of. How many are there that die in infancy, and as soon as they are born, whose reasoning powers are never called forth into act and exercise? and how many in childhood and youth, before these powers ripen, and are brought to any maturity? and how many are there that even live a long life, and yet, either through want of education, or through their situation, circumstances, and employment in life, have not their faculties exercised in proportion to the capacities they are endowed with? Now can it be thought these powers are bestowed upon them in vain? There must be then an after-state, in which the soul exists, when its Tuscul. Quæst. T. 1. Basilius Valentinus apud Boyle's Nat. Hist. p. 13. die -5. powers will be employed in greater things, and to nobler ends and uses. — 5. Let a man know ever so much in this present life, he is desirous of knowing more let his acquisitions of knowledge be ever so large, after a life of studious search and enquiry, he is not satisfied, he still wants to know more; and what he has arrived urto, is only to know this, that he knows but little: Now this desite of knowledge, is not implanted in man, by the author of nature, in vain; wherefore the soul must remain after death, when it will arrive to a more perfect knowledge of things; this was the argument Socrates used, to prove to his scholars the immortality of the soul. But with respect to truly good men, the argument receives farther strength; they that know most of God, of Christ, and of divine things; they desire to know more, they follow on to know, they make use of all means to encrease their spiritual knowledge, and after all, find it imperfect; and therefore are unsatisfied, and long after a future-state, when all darkness and imperfection will be removed, and they shall see all things clearly. Now these gracious and earnest desires are not implanted in vain by the God of all grace, as they would be, if the soul was not immortal. 11. The will of man is another faculty of the soul, the object and actings of which shew it to be immortal. 1. The will has for its object universal good. It naturally desires complete happiness, which some place in one thing and some in another, but it is not perfectly enjoyed by any; some place it in riches, but find themselves mistaken in them, not do they give the satisfaction expected from them; some in the gratification of carnal pleasures, but these soon pall and perish with the using, and new ones are sought after; some in enjoying posts of honour, and in the applause of men; but these depend, the one on the pleasure of princes, by whom they are set in high places, and which become slippery ones; the other on popular breath, which is as variable as the wind; some place it in wisdom, knowledge, learning and science; which, as they are not only imperfect, but attract the envy of others, and, as Solomon says, are vexation of spirit, and cause grief and sorrow; now there must be a future state, in which true happiness will be attained, at least by some, or else the actings of the will about it will be in vain. 2. God is the summum bonum, the chief good, the will of man rightly pitches upon, nor can it be satisfied with any thing less; good men choose him as their portion; and which is the foundation of their faith, hope, love, peace and joy; but then he is not perfectly enjoyed as such in this life: their faith and expectations are, that he will be their portion for ever; nor will they be fully satisfied until they enjoy him as such in another world; wherefore in order to this the soul must remain after death, and be immortal. 3. The will has its desires, and which desires, even the best, are not satisfied in this life; whatever it has it is desirous of more, it is never satisfied; its de sires of knowledge, as we have seen, are not gratified to the full; nor its desires after happiness in general, nor even after God himself, the chief good, of whom the truly good man says, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is noge upon earth that I desire besides thee, Psal lxxiii. 25. which desires, unless there - t is a future state in which the soul exists after death and is immortal, are no fully satisfied, and so far in vain. -4. The actions of the will are free, no forced by any creature; no creature has any power over it to force it, nor destroy it; its acts are independent of the body, it can operate without it in willing, nilling, choosing and refusing; and it can subsist and live without it, and when that is dead. 5. The will is not weakened, nor indeed any of the powers and faculties of the soul, impaired by sickness and approaching death; though the outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day; how clear is the understanding? how active and vigorous the will when on the verge of eternity as appears by its willingness or unwillingness to die, to be freed from present pains and agonies, either by a restoration to health, or by a removal by death; particularly by a good man's choosing rather to depart and be with Christ, and even by his longing to be gone, saving, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, yea, when the body is become speechless and near expiring, the faculties of the soul are in exercise; a man understands clearly what his friends about him say, and can by a sign, by the lifting up of his hand, signify his faith, hope, joy and comfort; all which shew that the soul sickens not with the body, nor becomes languid as the body does, nor dies with it, though it may be cramped by it. II. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the light of nature and reason. 1. From the consent of all nations. Cicero says, that as we know - by nature that there is a God, so we judge by the consent of all nations, that souls remain after death, and are immortal; and in every thing, he says, the consent of all nations is to be reckoned the law of nature: so Seneca' calls it, a public persuasion, or belief; and observes, that the consent of men, either fearing hell, or worshipping God, is of no small moment to persuade unto it. This was, no doubt, the original belief of men, discoverable by the light of nature; but as that became more dim, and men more degenerate, they lost sight of truths, and of this among the rest. Thales the Milesian, who lived about six. hundred years before Christ, is said to be the first who taught it; though others say Pherecydes was the first who asserted it, who was contemporary with him; some ascribe the first knowledge of it to the Chaldeans and Indian-Magi ";; and others to the Egyptians; who, it may be, received it from Abraham; and from them Plato had it. However, it has been embraced by the wisest among the heathens; by the best of their philosophers, as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Seneca, Cicero, and others; and by the best of their poets, as Homer, Phocy-j lides, Virgil, Ovid, &c. and though denied by some, these were such that werė, of the worst sect of them; and though by some among among the Jews, as by the Sadducees, yet these were but few, and the most irreligious sect among them.: Indeed, this doctrine has been received, not only among the more religious sects. of the heathens; as the Brachmans among the Indians, and the Druids with us, and among the more civilized nations; but among the more savage and ignorant, even the wild Greenlanders: as appears by the accounts lately published concerning them. 2. This may be concluded from an extinction of man, soul and body, being abhorrent to man, as it is said to be to the people last mentioned: the death of the body, though nature is reluctant to it; yet, in many instances there has been a voluntary and chearful submission to it; many good men have not loved their lives unto death, to serve their country; others have not counted their lives dear to themselves, but have freely departed with them for the sake of religion and truth; and others have chose rather to depart this life, and to be with Christ; death to them has been more eligible than life; but a total extinction, to have no being at all, nature starts at it! which must be the case if the soul dies with the body.—3. It may be argued, from the natural desire in men to be religious, in some way or another; this is so natural to men that some have chose rather to define man a religious, than a rational animal. All nations have had their gods they worshipped; professed some religion or another, and have kept up some kind of worship; even the most blind and ignorant, barbarous and savage; but why are they concerned to worship God, and be solicitous about religion, if there is no future state, and the soul remains not after death, but as it perishes with the body? there is nothing can be a greater damp to religion an morality, than the disbelief of the immortality of the soul; for then one may encourage another in all vicious practices; and say, Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die, and it will be all over with us; nothing more discourages virtue, and encourages vice. Yet, 4. There is a consciousness of sinning in men; guilt arises in their consciences, on account of sin: even in the very heathens there is a conscience bearing witness to their actions, good or bad; and their thoughts, the mean while, accusing, or else excusing one another, on account of them; from whence arise, fears of the displeasure and wrath of incensed deity, and of divine judgment; all which shew that there is a future state, in which souls remain immortal; and are accountable to God for their actions. And which still more appears, 5 Not only from the stings of conscience, but from the horrors and terrors, dread, trembling, and panic fears, wicked men are sometimes seized with, as Feliz was on hearing of judgment to come: and if these fears, as some say, were the effect of education, which could not be the case of Felix, and many others, it is strange that these fears should be so general and extensive as they are; and more strange, that none have been able to shake them off entirely; and stranger still, that those who have run the greatest lengths in infidelity and atheism, should not be able to free themselves from them. These things not only shew that there is a divine Being, to whom men are accountable for their actions: but that there is a future state after death, ia which men exist, when they shall be either in happiness or in misery.6. The belief of this may be farther argued, from the providence of God concerned in the distribution and disposal of things in this life, which is oftentimes * Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. 1. b. 3. €. 5. p. 2016 - very unequal; wicked men prosper, and enjoy a large portion of ease and plen tv; and good men are greatly afflicted with a variety of troubles, which has been sometimes a sore temptation to good men, and difficult to them to account for¡ which difficulty can only be solved by the supposition of a future state, the immortality of the soul, and its existing after death; when such who have been wicked, and in their life-time received good things, and good men evil things, the latter will have their comforts, and the former the torments; otherwise good men, if they were to have hope in this life only, they would be of all men the most miserable, 1 Cor. xv. 19.-7. The immortality of the soul may be concluded from the justice of God; who is the judge of all the earth who will do right; for righteous is the Lord, though his judgments are not so mani. fest in this life: it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that trouble his people, and to fulfil the promises he makes to his saints; at present, the justice, faithfulness, and veracity of God, are not so clearly seen in bestowing favours and blessings on good men, according to his promises; and in punishing wicked men, according to his threatenings: it seems therefore reasonable to believe, that the souls of men are immortal, and that their bodies shall rise from the dead; and that their shall be a future state, in which good men will be happy, and wicked men miserable. 8. It seems not agreeable to the wisdom of God, to create man in his image and likeness, and give him dominion over the whole brutal creation, and constitute him lord over all; make the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, for his sake and use, and yet he and they should have the same exit; the one die and perish, and be totally extinct as the other: this does not comport with the wisdom of God. -9. Between the spirits of men, and those of brutes, there is a difference; the one at death go upwards to God that made them, and gave them to men, and live for ever, either in a state of bliss or woe; and the other go downward to the earth, and die, and live no more, Eccles. iii. 21. 10. If the soul is not immortal, but dies with the body, the brutes, in many things have the advantage of men; and their state and condition in this life, is, in many respects, superior to theirs; they are not so weak and helpless at first coming into the world as men are, and who are so for a long time; nor subject to so many diseases as they are; in some the senses are quicker than in men, and they have more pleasure in the exercise of them; as in their sight, hearing, taste, and smell; some animals excel men in one or other of these: the brutes have no fearful apprehensions of danger beforehand; and when in any, their only concern is for the present, to get clear of it; and when it is over, they are in no dread of its return: they know nothing of death, are in no expectation of it, nor fear about it; but men know that they must die, and expect it; and through fear of it, are subject to bondage, and attended with great anxieties, and therefore if the soul dies with the body, their present condition is worse than that of brutes. III. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the sacred scriptures; both from lain and express passages of scripture; as from Eccles. xii. 7. where, |