OBSERVATIONS upon a Short Treatise, Written by Mr. Timothy Manlove: Entitled, The Immortality of the Soul Asserted; and Printed in Octavo at London. 1697.  
AS an Introduction to these Observations, and in nature of a Preface to them, the Observer thinks fit to set down and deliver a true Narrative of his Proceed in the Enquiry after the Nature of the Humane Soul.  
Divers Years ago, the Observer fell into some doubt concerning the Nature of this sort of Soul, and thereupon began to inquire after the true Constitution of it: And finding himself strongly inclined to think it perishable, and extinguishable at the Death of the Person; he had several Disputations with himself, and others, concerning the truth of that Surmise, all which concluded in the Opinion, or Judgement, That the extinguishment of it at Death, was more probable, than the separate Subsistence of it after the Death of the Person.  
After having stood sometime thus inclined, He enterprised to deliver his Thoughts in Writing concerning the same, and in the space of Six Months had Composed a Treatise concerning it, comprised in the space or compass of Fifteen Sheets of ordinary Paper; which being finished, he did willingly offer to be Perused by as many as usually frequented his Company, and whom he conceived capable of giving him Advice thereupon: But he found very few that were willing to take the trouble to examine his Disquisition; and but one, a Neighbour-Minister, who did undertake to Dispute and Argue this Point against him. The performance of which Argument passed in Writing betwixt them, and continued for the space of about a Year.  
That Minister offered to the Consideration of this Observer, all those Places of Scripture mentioned in the Treatise of Mr. M. and all those Reasons which in the said Treatise are comprised, with some accumulate Additions of each kind. To all which, the Observer returned his distinct Answers, which did not satisfy the Judgement of his Opponent; but seemed sufficient to the Judgement of this Observer. Finally the Minister was rather tired than satisfied by this Encounter, and gave notice to the Observer, That Mr. Bently had lately Printed a Sermon concerning this Subject, which might tend to give him some Satisfaction or Light concerning it.  
Upon this Notice, the Observer, procured and Perused Mr. Bently's Sermon, Entitled, Matter and Motion cannot Think. An Argument in the very Point, about which they were then Disputing; and therefore the Observer forsook for a small space, those Searches about which he was then employed, That he might Write some Observations upon that Sermon, which he did, and Comprised them in a Quarto-Pamphlet of Two Sheets and a half of Paper; and this Pamphlet is become the Subject of Mr. M's present Treatise, now to be Examined: The intention of those Observations, was to excite Mr. B. to the communicating his fuller Thoughts to the World concerning this Subject. He promised in the beginning of that Sermon, to prove what now Mr. M. has undertaken to perform, viz. That the Humane Soul is in its Nature Immortal, and that it does so subsist by itself, in a State of Separation from the Body.  
This Assertion, the Observer believed was not well Proved by Mr. B. in that Sermon. And therefore he designed by that Pamphlet, to Summon and Provoke the said Mr. B. to a better and more full Performance of that Promise and Undertaking; expecting from Mr. B's further progress, thereupon to gain some further knowledge and insight into the Being and Nature of a Humane Soul.  
But Mr. B. perhaps taken up with Occasions of more Concernment, or neglecting the Summons of so short a Pamphlet, and so unknown an Author; it seems forbore to prosecute any further the Performance of that Promise made in the beginning of his Sermon; because we hear no further of any thing Published since by him upon that Subject.  
After the Printing of the aforesaid Observations upon Mr. B's Sermon, the Observer returned to the pursuit of his former Inquiries concerning the Soul: And set down in Writing the Heads of those Objections which the aforesaid opposing Minister had made for the Refutation of his  Conceptions, annexing unto them his own Answer in that largeness wherein before they had been delivered.  
After which Performance, another Neighbour-Minister in a Visit made to the Observer; gave him Notice, That he had lately met with a Book which gave him great satisfaction upon this Point; by making a strong Proof of the Soul's Immortality: And he was so kind as to bring the Book itself with him, and leave it with the Observer to be Perused at his greater leisure.  
The Title of this Book was, The Soul of Man, and Written by Mr. Flavel late Minister of Dartmouth, whom the Observer found by his Perusal, to be a Man of very considerable Learning, and that he had diligently amassed together all those Arguments for the Soul's Immortality which the Observer had before met with in other Books, and Places; and had drawn Inferences from them as Rationally as he conceived the Argument would bear.  
The Observer, Therefore thought it not his part to let this Book pass under his Perusal, without such Answers as he was able to make to every Argument and proving Parcel of it; and this he pretends to have performed in his  Treatise, of which he has made that Examination a Part.  
After which Performance the Observer considered, That what he had hitherto done upon this Subject amounted to no more than a Negative Proof, and that it might reasonably be demanded of him to give some Positive Proof concerning the Extinguishable Nature of his sort of Soul: For which purpose, he has in the close of his forecited Treatise Quoted divers Texts of Scripture, and some Natural Reasons, tending to prove the Veracity, or at least the Probability of his present Conceptions. Which Three Parcels of his before-quoted Treatise, amounted in bulk to other Fifteen Sheets of Paper, in which he intended to finish his said Treatise: But the same lying by him the space of many Months, he light upon some Thoughts concerning the same Subject, which he thought fit to set down in Writing, and to add them to the aforesaid Treatise; which increased the bulk of it to the number of Twenty Sheets more, whence the forecited Treatise amounts to the bulk of Fifty Sheets of Paper. This Treatise lay by the Observer some Months after these Additions were finished, and then he sent it to London for a Publication of it by the Press; surmising such a Publication might be obtained from Men of that Profession, without the Author's charging himself with any further Cost or Trouble about it. But therein he found himself very much mistaken, for his Correspondent informed him, That no Man would undertake the Charge and Hazard of such a Publication of the Work of a Nameless Author, or that however, was like to pass under a Name unknown and very obscure; but that such a Publication was like only to past at the sole Expense and Charges of the Author, and could not be procured at less Charge than that of Fifty Pounds.  
This brought to the Observer's remembrance an old Athenian Story, viz. That a Philosopher of that City much Enamoured upon a Courtesan there, made her a Civil Visit, and after some Discourse, desired to know the Price of her last Kindness? To which she replied, That no Man ever obtained that Favour under the Price and Charges of One hundred Pounds. This Rate so surprised the Philosopher, that after he had sat a while, musing upon it; he risen up, and giving the Lady thanks for her Civil Reception of him; he told her, That her Price was too high for him, and that he would not purchase Repentance at so dear a Rate. This the Observer applied to his own present Condition, he looked upon Fifty Pounds as a very considerable Sum of Money, and that might do many better Services other ways. He pondered with himself concerning the Fruits which might arise through the expense of that Money, and found them most likely to be evil Surmises of Men possessed with the contrary Opinion, and their hard Speeches, and Reproaches, likely to ensue upon such a Publication; and found his Inclinations thereupon somewhat averse from purchasing those and the like Persecutions at so dear a Rate. He therefore gave order to his Correspondent, that he should procure a shallow Box suiting the Dimensions of that Treatise, that he should put his Writings into that Box, and Writ upon it, The Treatise of such a Man concerning the Humane Soul. Which Directions he has since been cerifyed, are carefully and duly performed. And in this Condition has his  Treatise continued for the space of divers Months Elapsed since that time, and might likely have continued for a much longer time, and even during the short space of the Observer's Life, if no new or accidental Occasion, had called for the Publication of it. It is a received Axiom, That he who ordains the End, ordains the Means. As we Read, That God who by the Prophet Jeremy, had foretell the return of his People from the Babylonish Captivity, by the Direction and Power of Cyrus; did in his appointed time, stir up the spirit of that Monarch to the fulfilling of that Prophecy: And did the like by Josiah King of Judah, while he was yet Young, to the fulfilling of what was foretold he should do to the Altar and High-places erected at Bethel by Jeroboam: Also that upon the defection of Solomon from God's Service, he stirred up the spirit of Hadad the Edomite to raise war against him, and that God also then stirred up against him another Adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah to make war also against him, upon the same Account. And this also the Observer applies to his present Condition, finding the Spirit of Mr. M. stirred up against him upon his former Observations upon Mr. B's Sermon; which in the sequel lays upon him a Provocation and a kind of necessity for the Publishing of his forementioned Treatise; which very probably may prove such strong Arguments, as may break the bond of his former Frugality and links of Fearfulness, and bring to Public View, that Treatise which he has before so often mentioned, and which it seems Mr. M. is so well prepared to Encounter, as that if in the same there be found any thing that may appear any way Infectious, or Poisonous; there will be always an Antidote ready at Hand, from the Judicious Labours and Powers of Mr. M. who has promised to employ his uttermost Industry, Labours, and Learning, to that purpose. And herewith shall be concluded the Preface or Introduction, to those Observations which the Writer intends to make on Mr. M▪ s present Treatise.  
The Frontispiece of this Treatise speaks it Printed in Anno 1697, and yet a printed Copy of it came to the Observer's Hand in the beginning of Decem. 1696. The Observer will make no further Inquiry what the Reason of that mistake may be; but go on to observe, That Mr. M's Treatise is ushered in, by a Preface to which are subscribed the Names of Jo. How, and Matthew Sylvester: The reason of which Proceeding is not certainly known to the Observer. But because he hears that Mr. M. is Minister to a Congregation of Dissenters, he is apt to imagine, that these two Persons may be his Elders, and Assistants in the government of that Congregation, and that their assent to his Enterprise may be alleged in justification of this Undertaking. But howsoever that may fall out to be, the Observer at present Captus Oculis, having caused the Preface; and Treatise to be distinctly Read before him, finds so much agreement between the Matter and the Phrases of these Two Pieces, as persuades him confidently to believe, That they are both Woven in the same Loom, and that the same Head, Hand, and Spirit, runs through them both. The truth of which Conception he willingly leaves to be determined by the Judgement of others, who shall happen to Peruse the same.  
The Observer does not find in this Preface a Design to Prove; but passes it rather upon the account of a Declamation, or Harangue, proceeding principally upon a grand Mistake, viz. That he who denies the Immortality of the Soul, denies effectually the Being and Providence of God, and the full expectation of Recompenses to be distributed after this Life, according to the Actions which dying Persons have Practised through the Race of their Mortality. The certainty of a Resurrection and Last Judgement, is so fully, and clearly evidenced, by a strong Current and agreement in the Gospel; that it seems as True, Evident, and well Proved, as the Truth of that Text is, which tells us, That Christ Jesus came to save sinners: Although Mr. M. his Elders and Churches, and many others, take too little notice of them, and make mention of them accordingly.  
Forasmuch, as concerns the hard Speeches, passing under the Name and colour of those Elders, the Observer is resolutely bend to take no notice at all of them: For that when he began to Treat upon this Subject, he intended to follow our Lord's Direction; He sat down and counted the cost of such an Undertaking; and found the least sort of its Effects to be evil Surmises, hard Speeches, and Reproaches of Men prepossessed (who are likely to be in a manner, all those who should come first to the Perusal of his Writings) against all whose Verbal Violence, he hoped a resolute Patience would be a very good Defence, and such a Buckler as would shield him from all the fiery Darts of that kind; which he could reasonably expect would be shot against him. And he farther considered, That his Opinion upon this Point, was either an Error, or a Truth; and if it prove to be an Error: Admonitions, Reproofs and hard Speeches, were but due Recompentes, and proportionable to his Deservings, 1 Pet. 2.20. For what glory is it, if when ye are buffeted for your faults ye take it patiently. Duty binds Men to suffer patiently what they know they have deserved, and there is no thanks, or commendations to be expected for their so doing: But if there happen to be much Truth in this Opinion, he may add to his Patience Hope, and some measure of Joyfulness: For the Apostle there adds, If ye do well and suffer for it patiently, this is acceptable with God, and Chap. 3.14. If ye suffer for the truth's sake, happy are ye. James 1.2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, viz. of this kind: And so the Hebrews took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods, which was perhaps a greater degree of Persecution, Matth. 5.11. Blessed are ye when Men shall revile you, and persecute you for the truth's sake. But this measure of Joyfulness which belongs to a Reviling for Truth's sake, shall by the Observer be put off and deferred till the Point here in Question shall be more fully Examined, and Discussed.  
And therefore his Intention is to sit down with the Practice of our Lord's Rule, In your patience possess ye your Souls; without making any other return to these Elders, or Ministers, than by repeating to them the Motto of the Garter, viz. HONI SO IT QVI MAL Y PENSE, with Advice to remember our Lord's own Prediction, viz. With what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. Although the Observer never intends to make them any Return of that nature.  
Hence we proceed to the Treatise itself, which Mr. M. has divided into Ten Chapters: Upon each of which the Observer intends to make some short Observations, That it may appear he has Perused and gone through them all.  
Upon Chap. 1. p. 2. He observes, That Mr. M. well understands the Powers Men may obtain, by getting such an Ascendant over their Proselytes, and attaining such an Esteem amongst them, as that he may be able to Command their Understandings; because, perhaps he may say true, That they themselves never knew how to use them.  
Secondly, p. 8. Mr. M. says many things concerning the Soul, which the Observer agrees with him in, Mutatis mutandis, viz. by changing his Name of Soul into the Terms of the Rational Faculty, or Mind of Man, which has given vim Intelligendi & Volendi cum Angelis, and yet be Acted by such Materials as God has Appointed and Form in Man for those Purposes.  
P. 9 Mr. M. says, The Soul of Man was Redeemed by the Sufferings of Christ. By which he seems plainly to intent, Such a Soul as is Intelligent in itself, had once a Being separate from the Body, is during Life conjoined to the Body, and after Death shall Live, Act, and Suffer in a State of Separation from the Body: And then the Observer utterly denies the truth of his Proposition; and says, The true End of Christ's Coming into the World, was to Save Sinners, the Persons of them, both Souls and Bodies.  
It is an usual Practice of the Scripture, both in the Old and New Testament, to intent and design the Humane Person, by the Term and Name of Soul; and the same is also sometimes done by the Name of Body, though nothing so often: And this is done by the common Synecdoche of Pars pro toto. For the Proof of which, two Instances of each kind are here intended to be produced,  
First, Gen. 3.7. God form man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living Soul. The Observer, Asserts, That Soul in this Place, must intent the Person of Adam, and be so understood, as if it had been said, Man became a Living Person. It has been commonly supposed to intent, That the Breath which God breathed into Adam's Nostrils became a Living Soul: But this surmise is plainly Confuted by the Grammatical Construction of it: For the Words which would have suited to that intent, should have run thus: God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, and that, or it, viz, That Breath became a Living Soul. But Moses was so cautious in this Point, that he chose to use something of a Tautology in this Place, rather than that his Readers should be so mistaken in his meaning: He says, God made man, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life, and man became a living soul, or Person. He would not suffer them to think, That Breath became a Living Soul; but prevents that Conceit, by saying, That it was the Man that became the Living Soul, or Person. Whence this Observer, concludes, That by the Soul in this Place, the Person of Adam was somewhat clearly intended by this Great Prophet and Lawgiver of the Jews. His next Quotation for this use, shall be Isaiah 53.10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. The Observer says, That by Soul in this Place must needs be intended, the Person of Christ, whose Body as well as Soul was made an Offering for Sin, that was Bound, Whipped, buffeted, Spit upon, Crowned with Thorns, Loaded with his Cross, Nailed to it, and Expired upon it, to obtain Redemption for Sinners, and the whole Race of Mankind. Whence he concludes, That by Soul in this Place, Is intended the whole Person of Christ, as well Body as Soul.  
He proceeds in two like Instances, for the Body. The 1st. He takes from Heb. 10.5. Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldst not; but a Body hast thou prepared me, ver. 7. Lo, I come to do thy will O God, ver. 10. By the which Will, we are Sanctified, through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ, once for all. The Observer says, By the Word and Term of Body in this Place, is intended the whole Person of Christ; whose Soul was sorrowful even unto Death, and his Mind and Intellects so afflicted, as to wring Drops of Blond out of his Body, and reduce him to that bitter Exclamation upon the Cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? All which do sufficiently Prove, That by the Word Body in this Text, the whole Person of Christ is comprehended and intended.  
His next Text is, Luke 12.4. where the Words are, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. He says, That the Word Body in this Text, must needs intent the Person, or whole Compositum of Body and Soul; for that a Body without a Soul is Dead, and therefore cannot be Killed. By which Instances and Arguments, he thinks it well Proved: That though the Redemption be called of the Soul in divers Texts of the Scripture; yet all those Places do intent, the Redemption of the Person, and that there never was any such Redemption intended, or performed as Mr. M. has in this Page Asserted, viz. Of the bare naked Soul separated from the Body, asbefore has been Collected and Specified. Hence we proceed to his Second Chapter.  
Chap. TWO p. 14. Mr. M. says, That a Soul made of corruptible perishing Matter, is not fit to be called an Image of the Immortal God. But the Observer, says, That Man made as he is, of corruptible perishing Matter, was yet made after the Image of God, and is so accounted to continue at this Day; and for that Purpose He has joined the Soul and Body together in a strict Union, which cannot be Dissolved. but by Death.  
P. 15 Mr. M. says, That the Reasonable Soul, was Created after the Image of God. Which the Observer denies, and says, That the Reasonable Soul is but one Constituent Part of the Man, and his Body is the other; that the Soul therefore is not the Man, any more than a Part can be equal to the Whole; and that it was the Man, that was made after the Image of God, and not any other Part or Parcel of that Compositum. And Mr. M. goes on here, and calls that which Moses calls the Breath of Life, the Spirit of Life. Which difference perhaps the Hebrew may bear, as the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does in that Language. He says of this Spirit, or Breath, That it was Created by God at Adam 's Creation. Which is more than Moses' Text does Warrant him to say: For the Text of Gen. speaks of no other Creation there, than that of the Man; without saying, that God then Created either the Spirit, or the Breath; nor is there any other Creation there spoken of, save that of the Man. The rest he passes as the Invention of Mr. M. who like some other Scholars, may desire an Enterprise to be better than his Book.  
In this Chap. he has Collected many Texts of Scripture, which seem to maintain his Assertion, amongst which there is nothing new to this Observer; save the great use he pretends to make of St. Paul's Rapture, which he sets down p. 17. from whence he pretends to Prove, That St. Paul conceived, his Soul was really divisible from his Body; and capable of a Subsistence without it. As if he agreed with Dr. Moor's Opinion, who Teaches, That the Humane Soul may, and sometime does forsake its Body, and wander about in the Airy Region, and other Parts of the World, and make its return to the Body again at convenient times, or upon some sudden Occasions. But the Observer denies, That St. Paul was of any such Opinion, and takes the sense of St Paul's Words, in the body, or out of the body, to be no other; but that he was wrapped up into the third Heaven, and there saw, and heard, as perfectly and distinctly as if he had done it with his Bodily Organs, and remembered it as well: So that he could not certainly know, whether these Bodily Organs were employed in that Rapture, or not; or whether that Vision was only a Rapture or Ecstasy of his Mind. We find a parallel Place to this in the History of the Kings, where Micaiah the Prophet, says to Ahab, I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by him, on his right hand, and on his left. And there further relates, what he heard and saw in that Vision. And it is thereupon probable, That he was not certainly knowing, whether it was made in his whole Person of Soul and Body, or whether it was only a Rapture and Ecstasy of his Mind and Intellect. He thinks this Case very like that of St. Paul's, and that the Words of his Rapture must prove exceeding weakly the separate Subsistence of Souls after Death.  
Amongst all the Texts of Scripture he has Quoted, there is no more than one, which clearly maintains his Assertion, viz. that of St. Matth. 10.28. Cited by him p. 17. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. These Words the Observer grants, do with clearness Prove, That Souls may have a separate Subsistence after the Death of the Person. And therefore he will take upon him here, memoriter Collecting the Sum and Substance of that which he has said more at large in his  Treatise upon this Subject. Where in opposition to the force of this Text, he Quotes Luk. 12.4. where the Words of our Lord are, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; but fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. The Observer believes, That these two Texts of Matth. and Luke do intent to relate one same Fact and Doctrine of our Saviour. And this Text of St. Luke does not prove, That Souls have a separate Subsistence after the Death of the Body, nor make any mention of the Soul at all. And that upon these two Texts, the Question must needs arise, Which of them have truly related the Expressions which our Lord used at the delivering of this Doctrine? Upon which Question, may be considered the Persons and Qualities of these two Writers. St. Matthew was indeed, an Apostle; but his former Profession and Practice was that of a Publican; an Office very hateful to those of the Jewish Nation; and so much, that no Person of Quality would undertake it, nor willingly Converse with those that Practised it. And hence the Observer Collects, He was not likely to be furnished with any great stock of Humane Learning; but might easily be carried away by the common Opinion of that Time, believing the Humane Soul was Immortal and capable of Subsistence in a State of Separation from the Body; and that therefore he might, and probably did, deliver this Part of our Saviour's Doctrine, in Words and Terms suiting his Conceptions of the Things. And that, on the contrary, St. Luke was a Knowing and Learned Physician, and wrote from the Mouth of St. Paul, who was the most Knowing and Learned amongst all the Apostles, and who it seems was not possessed with the Opinion of the Soul's Immortality, or the separate Subsistence of it after the Death of the Person; and therefore has delivered this Doctrine in Terms very different from those of St. Matthew, and for the further strengthening of this Apprehension, the Observer Quotes, Matth. 21.1. where the Words are, Jesus sent two Disciples, saying, go into the next village: and there ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: lose them, and bring them unto me: And they went accordingly, and found the ass and the colt, and brought them to Jesus, and put on them their , and sat him thereon. This Relation plainly Intends, That they brought two Beasts to Jesus, and set him upon them both at one time; which is an unusual, and very unlikely sort of Riding, incongruously, and somewhat untruly related: For that the other three Evangelists are clearly against him in it; for each of them relate this Fact of our Lord, and mention but one Ass in the Case, which truly was a Colt the Foal of an Ass. And this Error of our Evangelist, seems not a bare, but a willing mistake, for the obtaining of an End which he designed in it. He Quotes in this Chapter, the Words of the Prophet Zechariah, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. His Quotation shows, that this Place of Zechary was known to him; and his own Relation of the Story, seems to Prove, That he intended to make our Saviour's Fact in this Place, agree punctually and in terminis, with those Words of Zechary, which he had before Quoted. And the Observer, conceives it somewhat likely, that he has erred in like manner, in delivering the Words our Saviour used in the Doctrine , where our Lord Teaches his Disciples, to Fear God, rather than Men: And to give a further strength to this Conception, he Quotes Matth, 28. which delivers many Circumstances concerning our Lord's Resurrection, viz. In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week; came Mary Magdalene, and the other Marry, to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples, that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him, lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre, with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came, and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Comparando with this Relation, he Quotes, John 20. where the Words are: The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seethe the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she ran to Peter, and John, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. And the two Apostles were so affected with this Relation, that they arose and ran to the Sepulchre to make themselves Eye-Witnesses of the Truth of this Fact: And coming to the sepulchre, they went into it, and saw the linen , [used at his Burial; but the Body was clean gone.] Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seethe two angels. who asked the cause of her Weeping? She answered, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. Then turning herself back, she saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was he. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? she supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast born him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.  
Men that well examine these two Relations, will find a great difference, and even an incompatibility between them: For that if Mary Magdelene had seen the Angel Discoursed of in the Text of St. Matthew, and heard such Tidings from him, and soon after had seen and spoken with our Lord himself; it opposes the common Reason of Mankind, to conceive, she should so behave herself upon this Occasion, as the Relation of St. John has described to us. It seems somewhat clear to this Observer, That there is error in one of these two Relations; and he thinks, That the Relation made by S. John is more credible, and that the error lies on the side of St. Matthew; because St. John was Pars magni facti. He tells us what himself saw and knew; whereas it is probable, That St. Matthew's Discourse was rather grounded upon Relations of some of the frighted Women, than proceeding from any thing of his own certain knowledge. These two Instances Prove, That all the Relations we find in St. Matthew, are not Infallible Truths; but some of them have need to be searched by Humane Sagacity, and the comparing of them with other Scriptures. The Observer inclines to take his Wording our Saviour's Doctrine against the over great fear of Men, to be like one of the two former Instances; and that it may stand in need to be compared with its parallel Text in the Gospel of St. Luke, and to be Examined by it. But he is resolved to leave this Point to the further Consideration of Mr. M.  
In this Chapter also, he Quotes many other particular Texts of Scripture, which he thinks may Prove or Strengthen his Assertion: But the Observer finds not one among them, whose Proof is so full, or so clear, as that before Quoted out of St. Matthew: All his other Texts, [except the Parable of Dives, and that of the Thief upon the Cross] seem to arise from Collections upon Inferences, and some accidental Expressions or Forms of Words in Places of Scripture, which do not Teach any thing concerning the future State of Mankind; nor are spoken in those Places, with intent to Teach concerning it. In which rank he places Solomon's short Saying, The spirit returns to God who gave it. He does not wonder that Mr. M's Quotations seem to him, such clear and evident Proofs as he pretends they do: For the reason thereof may be, and very likely is; because he Reads and Considers them with the Mind already satisfied and assured, That the Soul is Immortal, and capable of Subsisting in a State of Separation from the Body. But to a Man that is otherwise persuaded; the much greater Part of his Quotations, will seem to be of very little force for the Proof of that Opinion, which he produces them for. The Observer can, and does inform him, That there is not one of them, which is not mentioned and discussed in that larger Treatise of the Observer's, which is . He has no mind in this Place Acta agere; but rather chooses to refer Mr. M. in this Point, to that Treatise, which he has a strong Inclination and Intent to Publish if God please to lengthen the feeble Thread of his Life, and give him Opportunity so to do.  
Chap. 3d. He directs Men to expect Proofs of the Soul's Immortality by Arguments and Rules derived from Nature and Reason; without enough considering, That before he determined concerning the Adjuncts, he should endeavour to Prove the real Substance of that Subject to which they must belong. It seems he has attentively Perused his Pamphlet, entitled, Observations upon Mr. B's Sermon; but does not think fit to take Notice, what is there demanded by a great Naturalist, viz. What kind of Matter, or Thing, is the Soul apart from the Body? Where lies the Cogitation which she hath? What doth she apart by herself, without the assistance of Bodily Organs.  
Mr. M. in this Chapter ascribes to his sort of Soul, a great number and variety of Actions and Powers; but he does not so much as affirm, that any of them are Used or Acted without the assistance of the Bodily Organs. P. 25. he ascribes Noble Faculties and Capacities to the Humane Soul, which he does not say ever appeared to the World; saving in, and by its Conjunction with the Body. He says, The excellency of a Substance, must be known by the Powers Radicated in it. It seems he should first have proved, or said something concerning the Substance of his Soul separated from the Body, or that really there is such a Substance; before he had ascribed such Excellencies to it. The Observer ascribes all those Excellencies to the Person; agreeing, that they do belong especially to the Rational Faculty, or Mind of Man; which Mr. M. neither does, nor can maintain to have a separate Subsistence after the Death of the Body. P. 26. Mr. M. says, It is manifest that the Nature of the Soul is very vigorous and sprightly. He should first have Proved, That a Soul considered separate from the Body has a Nature, and discovered something to us concerning it. But he did well to forbear the pretending to that Performance, which the Observer believes is far beyond his Ability; but seeing he has not done it, the Observer conceives, That all his following Structure and Arguments proceed ex non concessis, and therefore make no good Proof of those things which they have been alleged for: But that all those things which he has ascribed to the Soul, are really belonging to the Person; but are principally Performed by the Rational Faculty, or Mind of Man. P. 27. Mr. M. says, When we are asleep the Soul is often at work, in causing divers Dreams and Apprehensions in the Night. And thus he ascribes to the Soul, those Operations which properly belong to the Imaginations of Men; and which never was known to proceed from a Soul separately considered. Mr. M. says further, That a Philosopher thought, That Men's Dreaming when asleep, was an intimation, that they should Live when Dead. Which Thought is here past by the Observer, for a Philosopher's Dream. P. 28. Mr. M. says, It is evident from his Collections here, That the nature of the Soul is very active. Whereas it does not yet appear, That the Soul has any Nature at all, if it shall be separately considered from the Body. He says further, That the vigour of the Mind in dying Persons, appears sometimes as strong, or rather stronger, than it did in their better health. This Case the Observer thinks to be very rare, and that when it happens; it may reasonably be ascribed to such Obstructions as hinder the passage of those Spirits, to and through the other Parts of the Body; which forces them to a close and more full residence in, and about the Brain, than in their former State they used to have.  
P. 29 Mr. M. says, That when the E. of Rochester was very near his End, his Body very weak in all the other Parts of it; his Reason and Judgement was still so strong and clear, as that be became thereby more strongly persuaded of the Soul's Immortality. To which the Observer Replies, That the Earl might possibly be mistaken, as well in the strength of his Reason and Judgement; as in that of his Soul's Immortality: He might have a better Opinion of his Reason and Judgement at that time than perhaps there was cause for; but if that Opinion of his was true: The Observer says, That the Spirits might then be more plentiful in his Brain, because they had little Employment in the other Parts of his Body; and because they are better preserved in the Head from all assaults of Nature, by the strength and fortification of the Dura mater, and the Pia mater, and the strong Efforts of Nature to preserve the Head; for whose Defence the other Members of Man's Body, are apt and ready to expose themselves. P. 30. Mr. M. says, That the Understanding is a very Noble Faculty, eager in its pursuits after Knowledge. And then goes on to Prove this by divers Instances, but without any need for his so doing; because all that he has said here agrees well with the Observer's Opinion, and is not opposed by him.  
P. 13 Mr. M. asks, What it is that compounds and divides things at pleasure, and raises invented Being's of them? The Observer Answers, It is the Imagination of Man. He makes several Demands, What it is produces several like Effects. Answered, It is the Mind of Man, or his Rational Faculty, which dies and perishes with the Person.  
P. 32 M. M. says here, That there is a difference betwixt Man's Imagination, and his Understanding: Which the Observer thinks consists more in Terms and Notions, suited to Men's Conceptions and Discourses; than in the essential or real Differences amongst the Things, or Powers. He says further, That the Imagination is jaded and tired: Which the Observer takes liberty to deny: For that if the Eye can be satisfied with Seeing, or the Ear with Hearing; yet the Imagination is never tired with Conceiving, or Thinking in general; although it may be glutted with Thinking very long of one Subject. P. 33. Mr. M. goes on here to magnify the Power of Humane Understanding from many Topics, all which it seems conduce little to the Proof of this Point; for that in all this he never observes, or affirms, That it Acts in any thing separated from the Body, nor without the assistance of Bodily Organs; nor has any Man ever affirmed, nor does himself say, That the Humane Understanding survives after the Death of the Person. Mr. M. says further, That Men cannot imagine, that a little Wheat-meal in two or three Days should become capable of Mathematical Speculations. By which Words it appears clearly to the Understanding of the Observer, That Mr. M. is very much mistaken in the State and Case of this Argument: For the Observer has never said, intended, or maintained, That Wheat-meal in Two or Three Days time, or at any time, is, or can be capable of understanding any thing at all, and it shows want of ordinary Apprehension in Mr. M. if he ever has, or does now conceive there was such an Error in that Pamphlet which he undertakes to Answer. And therefore to clear up the Clouds of his Understanding in this Point: The Observer will take pains to inform him, That the State of the Case in this Question, stands thus: He conceives and affirms, That God Created the Body of Man, and put it into such a State of Perfection, so filled with Blond and Humour, and set them into such a State of Pullulation and Fermentation; that the Steems thence arising became fit and capable of being tinded and kindled by the fanning of a competent Breath, or Wind, which God caused to be Breathed into him, or according to the usual Expression, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. This Breath tinded the fresh Steems of the Blood and Humour, and kindled in Adam the Flame of Life: And that was continued and maintained in his Body, by the continual fanning of that Breath of Life: And whensoever that Breath is stopped, such Flame must needs be extinguished, and that Extinguishment is the very Death of the Person. Now tho' this gentle Flame (when the Body is well conditioned) is not uritory, but lambent; yet thereby, and by continual Motion of the pure Blood [which Daily supplies inflamed Spirits for Actuating and Enlivening the several Parts of the Humane Body] upon that account, it suffers a considerable and Daily waste and consumption; for supply of which, a little Wheat-meal, or something of that Nature, is often required, and Daily necessary. Our Daily Experience teaches us, that an active and lively Spirit may be Extracted from a Decoction of the Grains of Wheat, or Malt, or Flesh, or any like sorts of Nourishment, which by Comminution, is fitted for a more easy Concoction; after which, the fitting result, is converted into Chyle; and that after is changed into Blood, and is then sent up to the Heart for a Purification; and thence departing, is fanned and made glowing by the Breath, and those inflamed Particles pass up through the Arteries into the Head and Brain; where meeting with Organs, prepared by God for that purpose; they cause and maintain such Life, Power, and Activity as are suitable to those Purposes for which God at the first Created and Intended them. And by such their Motion Activity and Energy, amongst those Capital Organs, are produced the Affectionate Sensitive, Perceptive, Imaginative, Estemative, Memorative, and Voluntary, Powers and Faculties of the Humane Head or Brain: And such Stock of Spirits, as are found redundant in that Receptacle; descend from thence by the Nerves, and are by them Communicated to every Part and Member of the Body; to which they Communicate Life, Sense and Motion, but no understanding; because there are no other Organs in the Body capacitated for that Performance, but only in the Head: These Spirits and the Blood of which they are form, give Life, Strength and Motion, to every Part and Member of the Body, and therefore are called Vital Spirits; and yet these Spirits and the Blood, out of which they are form, have neither Sense nor Life: For if a Vein be opened, and the fresh Blood be suffered to spurt into the Fire; neither the Blood nor the Party will be sensible of Pain by the so doing. Whence it appears, That these Blood and Spirits cause that Sense and Life in the Body, which they themselves have not, when separated from it: And the like we say for the Inflamed Spirits, which ascend up to the Head, and actuate the Organs there found: We say, that the Kephaline Organs deprived of such Spirits are not intelligent, but a dead and stupid Matter. And that the Inflamed Spirits [though of great Metle and Activity] are neither Intellective, nor Sensitive; but that by acting the Kephaline Organs, they cause and produce Life, Sense, Reason, and Activity in the Person, and thereby are performed such Actions, and they produce such effects as God intended, should commonly be produced in the Persons of Men. And this may be much illustrated and proved by an Argument; a Simile taken from the Structure of a Musical Organ, the Fabric of which consists of a great number of Pipes well ordered and put together; every of which Pipes is made to render a Singular and Particular Sound of Treble, Mean, Tenor or Bass: All which together well Constituted, and rightly Ordered by the Skill of the Artificer, employed by an Active Hand; send forth such Pleasing and Harmonious Sounds as are both delightful and admirable to the Considerate Hearers; and yet all this Fabric is but a dead and stupid Matter, and can do nothing of itself without being supplied with a suitable Spirit from another Agent, the Bellows: But upon receiving from thence a suitable Breath or Spirit, for putting all its Powers and Capacities into Action; it makes the most excellent Harmony of any Instrument in the World; which is a Proceeding well known unto Men by daily Experience, and whereby it clearly appears, That the Fabric of the Organ by itself, or the Inspiring Breath or Wind of the Bellows can make no Musical Sound at all, but are each of them singly utterly incompetent for that purpose: The Wind proceeding from the Bellows, has no such Sound in itself; but by entering into the Pipes and acting them, receives such a Modulation and Conformation of Sounds, as the Artificer who made the Organ intended should be produced. And by this Simile it plainly appears, That neither the Wind by itself, nor the Fabric of the Organ by itself, can perform any part of that Harmony, which by the Design of the Artificer was intended to be effected: So as the Wind coming from the Bellows which has no Sound at all, does by its Passage into the Fabric and Pipes thereof, and the acting of them; produce Sounds so melodious, as affect the considerate Hearers with Delight and Wonder. And now the Observer does apply this Simile to Teach and Demonstrate the great Art and Skill shown by the great Artificer of the World in contriving the Body, and especially the Head of Man, in such wonderful manner, as it might be continually Enlivened and Acted by such a Material Spirit as he intended for it, to be continually supplied from the Blood, which was also to be supplied by Daily Nourishment provided by God, and given to Man for that purpose, and was always to be fanned and thereby continued in a lasting Flame, so long as the Life of the Person should endure. This Similitude Proves, That a Material Spirit Acting in fit Organs, may produce such Operations as the Spirit alone, or the Organs alone, have not the like Capacity to Perform, & quae non prosunt singula, juncta juvant. The inflamed Spirits of Blood have neither Affections, Senses, nor Intellect, nor have the Kephaline Organs these Powers, of, or by themselves; but the Spirit Acting those Organs, as the Wind does in the Organ-Pipes; there is produced in both the Fabrics in Statu Composito; by those Powers and Faculties so Acted, that which is in no measure is found in the Constituent Parts of such a Compositum, considered in a State of Separation from one another. And upon this whole Discourse, the Observer thinks it very clear, That Mr. M. either did not understand the Intent of that Pamphlet he pretends to Answer, and the Forms of Expressions there used; or else he intended to Impose upon his unwary Readers, and Ridicule them by his witty Expression here used: If the former, he seems thereby Convicted of great Ignorance and Misapprehension; if the latter, it seems he Disingenuously intended to Amuse his Readers and lead them into a false Apprehension concerning the Meaning and Expressions of that Pamphlet: But whether of these two Imputations he best deserves, shall here be left to the Sense and Judgement of his Readers.  
Mr. M. P. 36. Demands an Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Arguments; which the Observer having presently Perused, finds Mr. M's Arguments much Transcribed out of that Book and Place; and conceives, That his present Discourse is a good Answer to them both: For that neither that Dr. nor Mr. M. in this Chapter does really touch, or come very near the true State of this Question; which is not, What the Soul, or Mind of Man can do in a State of Composition with the Body: The Observer does easily agree, That those things which here the Doctor and Mr. M. mentions, in this Chapter may be done, and are done by the the Soul, or Mind of Man, in a State of Conjunction with the Bodily Organs: But he says, That their manner of Proving the Point which they Maintain; aught to have been founded upon Arguments asserting and declaring, What the Soulever has done, or can do in a State of Separation from the Body; or as it may be considered in such a Separate State abstracted from the Body. The Observer has granted, That is Statu concreto, the Person can Act and Perform all those Things, which they have ascribed to the Soul of Man. Aristotle is Quoted in the former Pamphlet, where he concludes it improper to say, That the Soul is Wise, Learned, Sorrowful, or the like; because properly speaking, it is the Man, and not the single Soul that is so. And Mr. M. in his Treatise, repeats that observation without offering to Answer, or Confute it. The Observer takes it for a very true Rule, very agreeable to the State and Nature of Mankind; and conceives, That the Question now in Dispute, is not, What Man's Understanding can do, or what his Soul can do in Statu concreto with the Body? But whether, There be a Soul in Man which has a Capacity of Living and Acting in a State of Separation from the Body; and that those who would Prove such a Subsistence of the Soul, by Instances of what it can do; aught to produce Instances, which Prove the Power of its Living and Doing, in such a State of Separation; or if they think themselves able, to make a clear Notional Abstraction of the Soul from the Body, which they can render Intelligible to other Men: Their proving Instances ought to be derived from such a State of Separation, or such an abstracted Consideration, as they can Reasonably offer to the Minds of others; and not from Instances of what Man's Understanding can do, or his Soul can do in Statu concreto with the Body; for that these will be utterly unconcluding in the State and Management of this Question. This Chapter of Mr. M's abounds with Instances of the latter sort, and has not one amongst them, that reaches to the Nature of the former; and therefore he thinks, There is no need of Disputing any of them; but is ready to agree them and accept them all for true: But then he conceives them all to be parum ad rem, and not at all Proving that Part of the Question which he pretends to maintain; and therefore howsoever true they may be, they are utterly unconcluding in this Argument: For which Reason, the Observer, who denies not the Truth of them, does yet pass them for Tasteless and Insipid, and thinks, they may very well be compared to the Herb John in the Pottage, which does neither good nor harm.  
P. 37 Mr. M. says, Nil dat quod non habet. And to this, the Observer opposes his clear Instance given in the Musical Organ, and which is equally true in all Wind-Instruments, from the Bagpipe, to the Cornet and the Trumpet. Mr. M, says further, That the self-determining Power of the Will, its Acts and Objects, do argue, that the Soul is Immortal. The Observer Replies, That the Will has not such a self-determining Power: But says, That in all its Inclinations and Operations deliberately Performed; it depends upon, and follows the Directions and Conclusions of the Judgement, which it Obeys, Executes and follows with as great Promptitude and Natural Inclination, as Water runs from higher Places, to lower Grounds: Not overruled by Power of the Judgement; but by a Free and Natural Propensity inclining in to Execute those Directions. And if the Judgement do never so suddenly, or unexpectedly change its Resolutions, the Will Tacks about as suddenly, and follows with Execution the late stoor last Resolution of the Judgement; and is comparable to the Sails of a floating Vessel, which may be subject to some constant Winds of Inclinations, and sometimes to the stormy Winds of Passion, the fresh Breezes of Reason, and other Circular or Accidental Motions of the Watery Element: And in all such Cases, the Sails are ordered by the subservient Mariners, who stand and Work according to the Pilot's Directions; and have no Power at all to dispose of themselves, but as they shall be Appointed by the Power of such a Director; expect in such Storms of Sea and Winds as take away all Government and Order in the Vessel. The Will is by divers called, caeca potentia, and follows Naturally the Direction of the Judgement, as before has been said; and therefore has no Determinate Power, over, or of itself. And this may serve for an Answer to Mr. M's Assertion concerning such Proof as may be made from the Determinate Power of the Will over itself. Mr. M. says further, That if at any time the Will chooses a thing, it is, Sub Ratione boni. Whereupon the Observer demands, What Faculty of the Mind it is that can truly discern what is the Good and Evil of an Action, Choice, or Resolution; or by what means, or after what manner the Will can discover such Qualifications of Things, or Actions? Seeing there are no Natural Appearances, that any other Faculty in Man's Mind can make a clear and true Distinction, or Difference in such Actions or Cases; but the Man's Estimative Power, or Judgement. P. 38. Mr. M. Quotes St. Augustine, in whose Text the Observer conceives, That the Word Anima, is put pro Homine; and must intent which way soever Man turns himself, he can meet with nothing but Grief till he rests in God. Qui haeret in Littora, haeret in Cortice. Mr. M. further demands, Why the Soul cannot be satisfied till it rests in God? To which the Observer Replies, by demanding, Why the Mind and Understanding of Man, which cannot Act without the Bodily Organs, cannot choose but Act and Desire accordingly? He thinks the Reason to be; because Man's Reason and Judgement do conceive and believe, That God is the most Excellent Object of Man's Knowledge and Love; and that to Adore and Obey him, is likely to be the most beneficial to their Nature, by obtaining such future Rewards, as Men believe, are promised and expected in a future State: All what he says more of the Soul in this Place, the Observer applies to the Mind and Understanding of Man in Statu concreto.  
P. 39 Mr. M. offers an Argument of the Soul's Immortality, from the Reflection in can make upon its own Conceptions and Opinions. The Observer Replies, That it is a Rational Power of the Mind or Understanding of Man, to make such Reflections upon itself, and its own Conceptions and Conclusions; whereby it is enabled to change and alter them as often as it sees cause, and the Change of Occasions may require. Further, Mr. M. says, That indeed, we cannot know what the Soul is; but by these Circular and Reflex Motions. To which, the Observer Replies, That then indeed we can have no certain Knowledge of it at all: We do not doubt concerning a Reflecting Power in the Mind of Man; but cannot perceive, That it gives Men any more true Knowledge of the State of their Souls, than they had before they considered this Reflecting Power. And if Mr. M. knew how this Consideration might make them know more of their Souls than they did before; he should have assisted them with Directions, to attain such Knowledge of it as they are very desirous to obtain. P. 35. Mr. M. says, Let the Herd of Materialists muster up their Forces, and give us a Rational Intelligible Account of those Operations of the Intellect, and how they can arise from the Effects of the Power of Matter and Motion? As if in other Words, he should ask, After what manner the Animal Spirits do, or can produce Reason and Intellect in the Heads of Men. Also P. 36. he demands, How Matter and Motion can produce even Sense itself? To this Demand, the Observer Answers, That he acknowledges his Ignorance how such things are Acted in the Persons or Heads of Men: But he conceives this Demand ought not to have been made by Mr. M. until he had Answered those other Demands which the Observer had before made to Mr. B. concerning his sort of Soul, viz. That he should Prove quod sit, quid sit, unde oritur quando ingreditur, ubi residot; quomodo operatur, quo avolat: To any of which Propositions Mr. M. has made no Answer, altho' without so doing; he can with no good Face Demand of the Observer to solve his quomodo operatur. Concerning the Material Soul, the Observer says, He has given, and can give a Rational Account of his sort of Soul in the Things beforenamed, viz. of the quod, quid, unde quando, ubi, quo; but confesses his Ignorance concerning his Quomodo: But things, That those who can Prove none of those Things  concerning their sort of Soul, do very unfitly reproach the Ignorance, of the Observer in this only Point, concerning the Quomodo; and that their so doing suits well with our Lord's Expression concerning the Practice of pulling Motes out of another Man's Eye, whilst they have Beams in their own. First let them pull the beams out of their own Eyes, before they undertake to charge their Brethren, with dat Failings than may be found in themselves.  
First, Let them account for their quod, quid, etc. before they charge their Opponent for his Ignorance in the Quomodo, which he esteems to be the Arcanum Artificis, and Inscrutable by any Humane Power: And things it Reasonable, That before they urge him to an Account for the Quomodo in this Question; they should make some progress upon Questions of a like, but lower Nature, which occur to them in the World. Let them First walk into their Gardens and Orchards, and in the first consider the Herbs and Flowers which they may find there, of which there may be a wonderful Variety and Diversity, and then inquire within themselves, and confer with others concerning the Quomodo of their Production, and what the Particular and Special Causes are, of their difference in Bulk, Height, Fashion, Colour, Lustre, Scent, and the Quomodo of all their Productions; the Particulars of which the Observer things to be Inscrutable. In general, Men know there is Root, Stem, and Skin enough for these Productions; and that there is Spirit and Sap enough drawn from the Earth, for the Enlivening and Growth of them: But what the Modifications are of such Matter or Spirit, or both of them together; and which produce among them so great a Variety or Diversity, the Observer conceives was never yet found out, nor undertaken by any Man, who has given an Account of his Success to the World. And the like Question the Observer propounds concerning the Trees of the Orchard. Men find amongst them a sufficient Matter, of Root, Bole, Bark, Branches, and Twigs: Also a plentiful Spirit, or Sap, ascending mostly between the Bark and the Tree, enlivening it and fructifying the uttermost Twigs of it; and causing the Production of Leaves, Blossoms and Fruit; but the Quomodo of this Performance he holds also to be Inscrutable. And before Mr. M. demand an Account of the Quomodo the Spirits produce Intellingence in the Head of Man; let him first account to the Observer, or the World, for the Quomodo of an Oaken Leaf, by what means, and after what manner the Spirit and the Matter work together for the producing of it: And then consider and account for the great variety of Wood, Leaves, Blossoms, Seed and Fruit; from what particular Compositions or Modifications of Matter or Spirit such Things, Varieties and Differences do proceed. From these lower Inquiries, let him ascend to the Consideration of the Brutal Nature; and consider by what sort of Operations, or Contexture of Spirit and Matter, the Powers and Actions of that Nature are derived. Men know that there passes a Spirit in the Seed of those Creatures into Receptacles fit for the Fermentaion, Fomentation and Coagulation of them; and that from those Principles the Bodies and Souls of Beasts do proceed, and being afterwards brought to Perfection, then to the World, in their several Forms and different Structure of Body, they live, are nourished and grow to their several Perfections; and that in their Natural State they enjoy, and use Strength and Activity, Local Motions, Affections, Desires, Passions, Sensations, Perceptions, Fancies and Memories. Men see that they have Matter suitable for those purposes, Flesh, Bones, Nerves, Sinews, Muscles, Arteries Veins, Fibres, and divers other necessary Parcels of their Material Bodies, and that these are enlivened and acted by the Spiritual, and yet Material Powers of Blood and Breath. Out of the Mass of Blood purified, and heated in the Hearts of such Creatures, there arise pure Particles of Blood, fit and ready to be inflamed and which presently are kindled, and tinded by fanning of the Breath in the same or like manner, as has been before described in relating the State and condition of Man in such Cases; and by the Matter before described, Organised; and the Material Spirits of the Blood before specified, acted together in a fit and suitable Contexture one with another; it is evident, all the Powers and Actions of the Brutes are thus derived: But concerning the Quomodo from what sort of Contexture, and manner of Mixture; with what sorts of Spirits and sorts of Organs; and what Quantity and Purity are thereunto required: Also, the how after what manner (Applicando activa passivis) the Bestial Powers and Actions proceed from them; the Observer esteems to be the Arcanum Opificis, and this Mr. M. himself confesses to be so. How then can he without some measure of Effrontery, demand an Account of the Observer concerning the Quomodo, or manner of proceeding in Efficiency of Perception, Intellect and Memory, by Motion and Operation of the Spirits in the Heads of Men. Quae Supra nos, nihil ad nos. It is not in the Power, or Intellect of Man to proceed so far in the Scrutinies of Nature; but rather it seems Men must let that alone for ever; and leave that Mystery undiscovered and untouched, to rest in the deep Fountain of God's Knowledge and Wisdom. It seems also to be worthy of further Observation, That all Men who have received and believed the Opinion, that there are separate Intelligent Spirits in the World, which Act and Perform divers things that exceed the ordinary Capacity of Humane Power; it is ordinary for such Men to Apprehend (upon sight of any strange thing done, the Quomodo of which they cannot Investigate, or find out the Reasons of it) That those Things, or Actions, are the Performances of such Intelligent Spirits. So Plato, Apprehending the Souls of Men, to exceed the ordinary Capacity of Man's Understanding, framed this Imagination concerning them, That they did Pre-exist before their coming into the Bodies of Men, even before the Existence of our present World; That in a former World, they had displeased God by their Misbehaviours; and that upon Creation of our present World, they were doomed and put into Bodies of Clay, as into Cages, or Prisons, and to pass in way of Drudgery from one Body to another, for their Punishment and Purgation, until some of them might attain such Degrees of Purity, as to ratise themselves above the Lower Regions, and attain to the Places of their former Stations: And that other Ordinary Souls not so Purified, must still continue in the Works of their Drudgery, and so pass from Prison to Prison, till the time Appointed for the Duration of this World, be fully Passed, Finished, and Ended. Aristotle conceived, That each of the Planets was fixed in a several Orb, which had a continual Orbicular Motion. And when he could not invent for them a Rational, or likely Cause of such Motion, he satisfied himself with pretending, That those Orbs were moved each by its particular Angel; whom he was pleased to call by the Names of Intelligences. We Read of some strange Fabrics made by the Hands of Artificers, as Tripodes in the Temple of Vulcan made by Daedalus, which would remove of themselves from one Place to another without any visible assistance: And Architas' Pigeon, made at Tarentum, which would Fly high into the Air, and there make divers Doubles and Turns, and then return to the Place from which she parted. The first of these passed for a Miracle done by the Power of the God Vulcan, and the second for the Act of a Daemon enclosed in the Fabric of the Pigeon. In our Times, Namely, of King Hen. VIII. lived Regiomontanus a great Artist of this kind, who at a Royal Reception of the Emperor into Nuremburg, caused an Eagle of Wood covered with Feathers, to meet the Emperor upon the Road, and return with him to the City; hover over that Royal Head, or near it, until he came to the Gate of it; which all the Spectators took for a Miracle: But when they understood it was an Artificial Fabric, they said, no Man could effect such a thing by Natural Means; but the Motion must needs be made by an enclosed Daemon, or Intelligent Spirit. From which Aspersion of Necromancy the Artist could never reclaim the People; especially, because that some Years after, he made a Fly, whose Matter and Substance was all of Iron, which at a solemn Feast made by that Emperor, crept from the Sleeve of the Artist (who sat at the lower end of the Table) and rising thence she Flew up along one side of the Table, before the Guests Faces; then crossed it at the end before the Emperor, and flew in like manner down the other side of the Table to the lower end; where the Artist put forth his Hand and received her, and she crept again under his Sleeve to her former Station. This made a great noise and cry in the World against the poor Artificer; whom the Emperor did with difficulty defend against the Violences and Exclamations of the People; though he showed and demonstrated his Works and Devices made in the Bodies of these Machine's: For the People (who could not understand, that such things could possibly be done by Humane Art) said, Those things were but pretended to make a show of Artificial Working; whereas the Truth could not be otherwise, than that such Motion or Action must needs be Performed by the Force and Power of a separate Intelligence: And the Case now Disputed seems very like this: Our Opponents will not believe, That the Skill and Power of God, can Act the Fabric of Man's Body by the Force and Energy of a Material Unintelligent Spirit; but that in the Acting of Humane Powers, he must needs employ a separate subsisting and Intelligent Spirit. And this is the Case which is now Disputed amongst us. The Observer Maintains, That God can Animate and Act the Humane Fabric, and cause to be Performed all the Actions and Powers of Man, by the Force and Energy of a Material Unintelligent Spirit: And this was the Issue in the very Point Disputed betwixt this Observer and Mr. B. whose Sermon, p. 27. positively delivers in these Words, Omnipotence itself cannot Create a Cogitative Body; not that there wants Power in God so to do; but that the reason of his not being able so to do, arises from the incapacity of the Matter, and because the Ideas of Matter and Thought are incompatible. The Observer in his Pamphlet of Observations upon this Sermon, Flatly denies the Truth of this Assertion, and argues against it both by Reasons and Instances in that Pamphlet: To which, Mr. M. in this Treatise professes to Answer, and yet he is pleased to slip over this Point, without taking any Notice, or making any mention of it. The reason of which his pretended Negligence, is clearly this, He durst not undertake to maintain Mr. B's Assertion, and was very unwilling to own, that it was an Error; or that the Observer had the better of him in any thing. The Laws of True and Fair-dealing, required of him to take Notice of this Question, which was mainly Disputed by the Observer against Mr. B. in that short Pamphlet; and either to have Maintained Mr. B's Assertion, or confessed, That it was an Error. And his avoiding so to do, testifies against his Ingenuity, and the faithfulness of his Dealing in this Treatise.  
It is true, That if upon Trial, the Verdict shall pars upon the Observer's side against Mr. B's Assertion; and, That God can Act the Person of Man in all his Natural Faculties and Powers, by the Activity and Energy of a Material Unintelligent Spirit: There will still remain another Question behind, Whether God has done so, or has otherwise provided for it? But till the first Question be Determined, there is neither need nor Reason to Dispute upon the second; for if God cannot Act the Persons of Men and all their Faculties, by such a Material Spirit; than it is certain, He has not done so. And then there is no need at all for Disputing the second Question. P. 40. Mr. M. Discourses upon that which he calls a Natural Conscience; which the Observer thinks he is mistaken in: For that Conscience seems not Emanant from Nature, in such manner as his Natural Affections and Inclinations are; not as his desire of Food, or Venery, both comprehended under the Name of Lust; nor as his Covetousness, Ambition, Wrath, or Fear; nor as divers other Things are, which proceed from a Savage, as well as a Cultivated Nature. But to create a Conscience in Man, there must some Law first be given him, and accepted by him; and by which he believes, his Actions acd Behaviour ought to be Governed. For that, where there is no Law, there is no transgression: So that if Man has never Accepted, or Submitted to any Law, whereby he thinks his Actions ought to be Ruled; he can never be capable of any Stings of Conscience: For that those Stings arise from the Persuasion Convincing him, That he has Offended against a Law which he ought in Duty to have Obeyed. For all Conscience, whether he call it Natural, or Acquired, must grow out of several Originals: Accordingly, First, There must be a Law, next, There must be an Action, upon which two, the Memory must act and represent to the Judgement, both the Law and the Action: The Judgement must compare and consider them, one with another, and whether the Action be a Breach of the Law, or not: If it be not, there follows an Acquittance by the Judgement; but if a Breach be found, than it is considered, How far that Breach extends, Whether it be wide and large, or narrow and small. And the Stings and Lashes of the Conscience are greater or lesser, according to these Proportions: So that he thinks Conscience to be no more than the Conviction of a Man's Judgement, That he has Acted against his Rule: And whether that Rule be grounded upon Verity and Sound Truth, or upon Falsity and Error; yet after a a Man has received it for a Rule, and submitted his Mind to the Observance of it; the Stings and Lashes of the well-grounded Conscience, and of the erroneous Conscience are alike: But such Mistakes and Confusions are not incident to Properties and Faculties Naturally Emanant from the Constitution of Nature itself. He agrees, The Lashes of Conscience, or Self-condemnation, may be very great; but thinks they are rather derived from Institution, than Nature. He has spoken somewhat largely to this Point in his  Treatise, and therefore will Descant no more upon it in this Place; because it will there be found, and because it is a Subject, that neither can be, nor aught to be handled in few Words. P. 41. Mr. M. Demands, Is it possible, that any Man should believe, That the Notions of a Moral Good and Evil, the Remorse of a bad Conscience, and the Joys of a good one, should proceed from nothing else, but the shufflings and cuttings of the spirituous Parts of the Blood up and down the Ventricles of the Brain? To this the Observer Answers, The possibility of Acting such Things as he specifies, by the inflamed Particles called Spirits in the Brain; Depends upon the Question before Answered, Whether God can Act the Humane Person and all his Faculties by those Material Spirits? For if so He can do; then these Actions and Faculties are not derived barely by the Motions and Actings of such Spirits; but from the Wisdom, Skill, and Power, of the Great Artificer. He that looks upon a Pair of Bellows and sees and feels the Wind which proceeds from them, and knows no more of the Composition of an Organ, than what he can conceive by the Bellows and their Breath; could by no Arguments be persuaded, That the Wind which proceeds from them, should cause such Excellent Harmony in that Instrument, as our Daily Experience Proves may be Performed. The Skill and Power of God has fitted and prepared suitable Organs in the Head for such Performances, and such as being acted, moved, and filled by these Spirits, can with, and by then Produce Sense, Conception, Intellect, Memory, and all other Powers and Faculties whatsoever, which are by God intended to be Performed in the Brain and the Ventricles thereof.  
Concerning this Scbject, we find in Mr. Lock's's Essay concerning Humane Understanding, Fol. 310. his Opinion touching this Matter, where he says, We have the Ideas of Matter and Thinking, and possibly shall never be able to know, Whether any bare Material Being Things, or no; it being impossible for us by Contemplation, without Revelation, to discover, Whether Omnipotence has not given Power to some Systems of Matter (fitly disposed) to Perceive and Think; or else, That he has joined and fixed to Matters so disposed, a Thinking Immaterial Substance. He thinks it possible for God to put Matter so together, as that it may be capable of Perception and Thought. Men cannot by Reason find out the Grounds of Sensation in Bodies, or Matter, but must Attribute that Power only to the good Pleasure of God. We must allow, That God has annexed Effects to Motion, which we can no way conceive it able to produce. Whence the Observer infers, That Perception, Reason and Memory, may be produced in the Organs of an Humane Head, by the Activity and Motion of such Animal Spirits; although we can no way conceive the manner how such Actings and Motions are, or can be able to produce them. P. 43. Mr. M. says, The frequent Conflicts between Reason and the Sensitive Appetite fully prove, That there is a Power Superior to that of Matter and Motion, and that there is in Man a regent predominant Principle, which sometimes chooses the things most distasteful to Sense, and uses the Body as its Instrument to serve its own Will and Pleasure. And this Power. says he, must needs be the Rational Intellectual Spirit in Man. To this the Observer Answers; By denying that there is such a Regent Predominant Power in Man as he supposes: For that daily Experience shows us, that the Affections and Passions do far more often prevail over the Rational Inclinations and Desires of Men, and hurry the rational Powers along with them to act all Uncleanness with Greediness; then that such Rational Powers are able to restrain and govern those Affections and Passions; and to keep or bring them within that Compass and Order which they may desire to do. And the odds seems to be at least Forty to One on the side of the Affections and Passions, against the Forces and Powers of the Rational Intellect: So as the Observer cannot discover that Monarchical and Regent Power in Man's Intellect, which Mr. M. pretends to be there: But rather conceives, That the Powers of the Intellect and Reason in Man, are  with the Powers of Sense and Affection, and have not such a Command over them as Mr. M. supposes; because these Faculties are always in Contention one with another, from the Cradle to the Grave; and are seldom if ever totally Subjugated one of them to another: Insomuch that Aristotle compares their Struggle to a Game at Ball, where sometimes one side prevails, sometimes the other; so as that no Man can guests with certainty whether Party shall have the total Victory or Conquest, till the last Stage of the Humane Life be run out and the last Scene thereof finished. Whence the Observer concludes, That the Powers of Sense and Intellect in Man are , and adds, that both of them are ready to submit to the Vegetative Power, against the Inclinations and Desires of them both, when the great Occasions, and pressing Necessities of the Microcosm do so require. And from all these Premises he concludes, That there is no such Monarchical or Regent Power in the Microcosm as Mr. M. has surmised; nor such an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit as he has pretended: But that the Bodily Organs, and especially those of the Head and Brain are so fitly made, suited and ordered by their Great Artificer, and are so apt for the Execution of those Offices for which they were Ordained; that all those Effects may be perfectly produced amongst them, by the Intervention and Energy of the Superfine, yet Material Unintelligent Spirits of the Blood: And consequently Mr. M's Arguments on this Topick, are not sufficient to maintain his part of the Question. And for the account which he says is to be made for men's misbehaving themselves in this World; the Observer conceives, That it can be truly expected at the last Judgement only; as he thinks Dr. Sherlock in his late Book well Proves. And he does not remember or know, there is any Scripture-Proof of an Intermediate Judgement, between Death and the last Judgement, but desires Mr. M's Directions for finding out some Scripture-Proof of that Point, which is no other ways investigable or subject to a Rational Enquiry.  
P. 44 Mr. M. says, That there is in the Soul or Mind of Man a natural apprehension of its own Immortality, which the Observer says, he does not agree or grant; but does conceive that Opinion to be no elder in the World than the time of Pherecydes; as Mr. M. in this Treatise after affirms. He says, That Pherecydes lived in the time of Cyrus the first Persian Monarch; in the beginning of whose Reign the Jews returned from their Babylonish Captivity, and laid the Foundation of their second Temple. And ' says further, That from the beginning of Genesis till that time, we meet with no mention of the Soul's Immortality, except Solomon's short Expression; The Spirit returns to God who gave it. The Books of Moses make no express mention of the Soul's Immortality, or of any other Future State after Death; which seems to the Observer a strong Argument, that the Apprehension of the Soul's Immortality, is not naturally grafted in the Minds of Men, but acquired and raised from other Seeds, which have been sown amongst them; which from the time of Pherecydes, spread that Opinion far and Wide over the Face of the whole Earth, and was greedily received and cultivated amongst Men, and was communicated also to the Weaker Sex: So that Mothers and Nurses were able to Sow it in the tender Minds of Children from their first Infancies, which Fathers and Tutors increased amongst their Children and Disciples, till it became generally accepted amongst Men, and spread it Pelf amongst all the World; Error as it was.  
In like manner as the Opinion of the Sun's Course about the Earth in Twenty four Hours was received. Also as the Doctrine and Practice of Idolatry, possessed and overspread the World, from the Time of the Flood until the present Time. Of the Ancient Practice thereof we read much, and of our present Time, we have certain evidence, that it continues to be practised in India, Tartary, China, Japan, Africa, and amongst the Gentiles of America, and amongst the whole Grecian and Romish-Christian Churches. So as by the Argument of Mr. M. It seems Men may as well conclude, That the Doctrine and Practice of Idolatry is Natural to Mankind.  
It is not the far spreading and long duration of an Opinion, that can certainly Prove it to be Natural. But that which is truly Natural must have been from the Beginning, and have a continuance amongst Men, so long as their Natural State shall endure; as an Incident to the whole Kind, and Race, who attain to the common perfections of Parts and of Degrees, as Effluxes of their Natural Constitutions. Of which sort he does not conceive that any Opinion can be: For Opinions in their Natures are mutable, & Naturalia non mutantur; and therefore God did not leave Man to learn the Knowledge of himself from any Natural Power, Instinct, or Inclination. But himself Instructed their First Father and divers others of his Progeny, down to the Time of Noah and his Sons, in the Knowledge and Fear of God. And when these Rules became Obliterated in the general Race of Men; he chose out Abraham from amongst them, and communicated to him a greater measure of Knowledge concerning God, and his Will, than any Man since the time of Noah had received before him. After which, he Revealed to Moses many more Particulars concerning himself, his Attributes and his Will. Afterwards he declared the same to Samuel, and after to all the Degrees, of Prophets down to Zechary and Malachy: And these Prophets have delivered many Revelations in their Books. Amongst all which, there is not one Sentence, or Saying, That the Soul of Man is Immortal; except what may be Collected by Construction from the forequoted Sentence of Solomon, transiently delivered by him.  
Whence it appears, That this Opinion was not from the Beginning, and therefore not Natural, as Mr. M. supposes. And if from hence we pass to the New Testament, we find not in it any Text; which says, The Soul of Man is Immortal. It is true, That St. Matthew's Cannot kill the soul, seems somewhat strongly to infer, the Soul's Subsistence in a State of Separation; altho' it does not appear thereupon, That our Lord did not principally intent to Teach the Nature of the Soul, in that Place. But concerning this Text, we must refer to what has been before spoken with intent to diminish the Credit and Power of it. The Parable of Dives agrees something with this Opinion; but we take it not for Proof; because it was but a Parable, spoken (as we conceive) to a quite other Intent; and without Design to Teach any Thing concerning the State of Man after Death. Neither of these two Texts do Assert positively the Soul's Immortality. And there is not another Text in the New Testament which speaks with any manner of clearness concerning it. But Men are forced first to Collect from them by Constructions, and then to draw Inferences from such Collections for Proving their Opinion of the Soul 's Immortality.  
When our Lord Discourses with Martha concerning her Dead Brother; neither he nor she, taketh notice or makes mention of his Soul; but pass that Particular as a Thing not known to them; or deserving, their particular Examination; and yet they both Discourse of his Future State. Our Lord says, Thy brother shall rise again. She Replies, I know he shall rise again at the Resurrection of the last day. The Observer pretends (by as good a Right as his Opposer does) to Collect and Infer from this Discourse, That neither of these Parties knew the Soul of Lazarus to be Immortal; for that such Knowledge would have occasioned them to mention something concerning it in this Discourse.  
And further, the Observer says, That in all the rest of the New Testament there is no clear Mention or Declaration made concerning this supposed Truth; nor is it any where so much as said, The Soul of Man is Immortal. How then can this Opinion pass for Natural amongst Men of common Understanding and Reading, when it is so little mentioned, and with so little certainty, and so great obscurity, throughout both the Books of the Old and New Testament. And upon this Argument, it shall be left to the Reader to conceive what he thinks fit concerning the Naturalness of this Opinion. Mr. M. says further, That God Rules the World, by the Force and Virtue of this Opinion of the Soul's Immortality. To this the Observer Answers, That if his Mind were set upon making sharp Returns, here were a fair Field, and a fit Occasion for putting that Design, in Execution: But he will here content himself with the abhorring the grossness of Mr. M's Opinion in it, and to Attest against him, That God makes no use at all of this Opinion in his Government of the World; but grounds his Government of it upon his own Goodness, Wisdom and Power; without having any regard to the Opinions of Men, whether they be True, or False. Mr, M. says, God need not, will not Rule the World in a way of Deceit. The Observer agrees this Assertion, and thence concludes, That in such his Government, he has no regard to this Opinion at all.  
P. 45 Mr. M. says, That the illiterate Vulgar, who are guided by the mere simple Dictates of Nature, have more impression of this great Truth, than some of the Learned: Which the Observer would have mended by altering it to many of the Learned; and then he takes it for one of the truest Things which Mr. M. has said; and applies to it the Old Rule which says, That Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion The truth of which, is well proved, by the Effects it produces amongst the Romish Proselytes, and those of other Sects and Parties in the Church. P. 47. Mr. M. says, That the Author himself, [P. 15. of his mentioned Pamphlet] says, That by Death the Man's Faculty of Thinking is certainly destroyed: Yet elsewhere, he speaks more dubiously, viz. P. 3, 11, 12. of that Pamphlet. Whence he pretends to Infer, That the Minds of such Persons are always wavering and unsatisfied.  
The Observer upon this Charge consulted his said Pamphlet in the 3, 11, 12, Page's before Quoted; and found not in any of them any sort of Doubt concerning the Point before Quoted; nor could others whom he employed to that purpose, find there any Doubt upon that Point. Which Proves Mr. M. in his last Quotations, and that whatsoever he builds thereupon is a Fallacy. And it seems doubtful, whether this Misquoting were accidental, or intentional; because Mr. M. in some other Quotations has miscarried accordingly, viz. P. 23. of his Treatise, where he Quotes, Rev. 14.13. Reciting it in this manner, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, and their works do follow, or rather accompany them. Whereas the very Words of that Text, are these, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. Hence it appears, That Mr. M. has altered this Text, both by taking from it, and adding to it. He takes from it the Words, That they may rest from their labour, and adds to it, the Words, or rather accompany them. Apparently intending to disguise the true Sense and meaning of it. For the true Words themselves seem clearly to import, That the Blessedness here intended, was a resting from the Labours and Troubles of the World, and that their Works do not accompany, but follow them, and that in due time, [viz. The Resurrection and Judgement] they may be beneficial to them. This Sense he pretends to pervert, by turning that into Heavenly Enjoyment, which the Text calls here, a rest from their labours; and making those Works accompany them, which the Text says, do follow them. And this he Designingly does, with intent to maintain his side of the Argument, beyond what, the Truth, or Text can allow of.  
Likewise, P. 75. he Quotes 1 Cor. 15.32. Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die. The true Words of that Text, are these; If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rife not? Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die. Here Mr. M. suppresses the Words, if the dead rise not; and by that mutilation, or falsification, intends to make his Reader believe, that St. Paul intended to declare, That if the Soul was not Immortal, Men might Eat and Drink, and Die, without any Hope or Fear of future Recompenses after this Life. Whereas, the express Words of this Text, and the whole Tenor of this Chapter, do plainly declare, That there shall be a Resurrection, and do lay the whole Expatiation of future Recompenses upon that Ground, and the Promises of Christ declared in the Gospel concerning it; without mentioning the Immortality of the Soul, or taking any manner of notice of it: So as in this Place Mr. M. has suppressed those words, to which his quoted Expression is by the Speaker applied, for which the Observer believes he deserves a sharp Censure; and that however, from the Mis-quotations before Cited, his Readers ought to be wary how they confide upon his Fidelity in Cases of the like Nature; in which they may do to trust him no farther than they see him, or can search the Truth of what he delivers: It being apparent, he is so much possessed with his Opinion of the Soul's Immortality; than like the Bilious Eyes he has before mentioned, he thinks he sees Arguments for it in those Places of Scripture, which bend very strongly against it. Mr. M. further says, That all Men, and Epicurus himself, desire an Immortality. Whereas the Instance which he there gives, Proves no more; but that they desire to be remembered after their Death, with good Thoughts, and a Kindness amongst Men: As if he could not distinguish between such a Remembrance, and Immortality.  
P. 48 Mr. M. Demands, Whence, and how, the Opinion of the Immortality came to the Minds of Men? And if you cannot tell him this, he will conclude, That it sprang from the Inclination of Humane Nature. To this the Observer Answers, That the apparent Original of this Opinion, grew from the Conception, or Apprehension, of his Named Philosopher Pherecydes, in a late Age of the World in comparison of the Times which were passed before him: That this Opinion offered by him to the World, seemed to gratify and comply with one of the chief Humane Affections viz, Ambition, and was quickly improved to be an useful Instrument of Government amongst Men: It was therefore desirously Received and Cultivated, First by Mothers and Nurses to their Infants; next by Fathers and Tutors; and at last by Priests and Princes; and a strong support of Virtue and Government amongst the People of those Times; to whom the Promise of the Resurrection were not Revealed, and who therefore had no Conception, or Knowledge of it: But was no more a Product of Nature, than the Opinion of the Sun's Course about the Earth; or diators, which was the first Ground of Idolatry, and Supports it in the World, to this very Day.  
Chap. IU. p. 49. Mr. M. says, Ex vero, nil nisi, verum. And this the Observer agrees to be true. Mr. M. says further, That if the Material Opinion be true, no Man is the same this Year, or Week, that he was the last. This the Observer denies, and says, That the changes of Matter, whether Bodily, or Spirituous, do not effect a change of the Person; though it be a Contexture of them both: For that there is always in the Person, a like Contexture of Matter and Spirit; producing in the Person, the like and the same Powers, by a continual succession of Matter and Spirit, of one same Nature; the succeeding Particles of Blood, and Parts of Matter being always of a Similar Nature in their Renovation, with those which Daily and Hourly may be consumed. P. 51. He Quotes a Saying of Heraclitus, That no Man can enter twice into the same River; because [says he] the Man will not be the same at his Second coming, that he was at the first. Say we, It is because the River was not the same at his second coming that it was at the first; because those Waters which were there at his first coming, are passed far downwards and other Waters succeeded in their Place. We say also, That a Tree, after it has stood, grown and decayed for Three or Four hundred Years, is still the same Tree; altho' Yearly and Weekly great Changes befall it: We can say, nor think not otherwise of it, but that it is still the same Tree; because all its Changes and Alterations are Acted by a Similar Spirit and Matter; all of the same Nature one of them with another. Whence if it belonged to Mr. M. to Day, he will call it and think it his own Forty Years hence; if he has not otherwise disposed of it. And therefore whatsoever Mr. M. may tell the Observer concerning his Estate; it will find no more Credit with him, than his Assertion of the Soul's Immortality does. Daily Experience assures, That if a Child, or Man be Spirited, Lost, or has Traveled into Remote Parts, or willingly absents himself from his Relations; yet if after many Years Absence he return, and that by certain Marks upon his Body, or other clear Evidence it do appear, That the Party returning was one the same; no Enquiry shall be made concerning his Immortal Intelligent Spirit: But the Jury will be bound upon their Oaths to find such a Sameness of the Person, as will give him a clear Right to any of his Ancestors Lands, tho' Deceased long before that time.  
P. 51 Mr. M. comes again to his former Argument, a Quomodo, and Asks moreover, If the new Spirits know what the old were, or did? And to this, the Observer returns his former Answer, That neither the old Spirits, nor the new, know any thing at all, of what they do in the Head. And for the Quomodo of the Memory, and its concerns; let Mr. M. first give us some Account how his Intelligent Soul works in it; and by what sort of those Operations that comes to pass which he desires to know, viz. Why Old Men remember Things long passed, better than those Things lately come to their Knowledge?  
P. 53 Mr. M. says, If there be no Superior Principle in Man, to Correct the Irregularities of the Material Spirits, and their Motions, Man is not a capable Subject of being Governed by Laws in a Moral Way. The Observer Answers, That the motion of such Material Spirits well constituted in the Brain, are no more Irregular, than that of the Wind is in the Organ: For they both Execute the Appointments of God and Nature, in their several Instruments, or Places, and go always to Work after the same manner; Performing their Offices according to the Institutions of Nature, which never altars, or Errs in such Cases.  
Further, Mr. M. says, The Will must either be free, or else be necessitated by the irresistible Impulse of some Superior Cause. The Observer Answers as before, That as free as the Will is; it is in all deliberate Actions Directed by the Judgement and moves the Loco-motive Pours accordingly; and that it can not more deny Obedience to such Results of the Judgement, than Water can cease to run from the higher to the lower Places: This the Water does freely, not necessitated by any External Force or Power; but led by its Natural Propensity; and so the Will follows in its full Natural freedom, the Dictates and Directions of the Judgement, without being necessitated by any outward Force, or other than its own proper Inclination.  
Whence the Will, has a full Natural Freedom, and yet follows the Dictates and Directions of the Judgement concerning Truth and Falsehood, Right and Wrong, Beneficial and Dangerous, and all other such like Points of Choice whatsoever: And Mr. M's shufflings and cuttings upon those Points, seem more uncertain and Erroneous, than those of the Spirits in the Head and Brain, which he pretends so much to Ridicule.  
As to what he charges Mr. Hobbes with, the Observer is utterly unknowing whether it be true, or no; nor dare he give full Credit to Mr. M's Quotation thereupon, nor is willing to take the trouble of searching after the truth of it.  
P. 54 Mr. M. says, That if the Material Spirits be inordinate in their Motions, you are in a ready way to make God the Author of Sin. No more, says the Observer, than by making him the Author of Man, or any other sinning Creature.  
We have before said, That there are no inordinate Motions in those Spirits, any more than there is in the Wind by which the Organ-pipes are Acted: Neither of those sorts of Motions are voluntary, but necessary, and follow the Guidance of Nature; which does not usually Err in her Productions. Mr. M. here Quotes Cicero, sentit animus se moveri, & sentit se, vi sua non aliena, moveri.  
The Observer denies the truth of Cicero's Assertion, and desires Mr. M. in his next Treatise, to make some Proof that it is true, without passing it upon Cicero's Ipse dixit. Mr. M. agrees, That we ought not to overlook the Concourse of the First Cause, or his Acting with his Creatures in a way suitable to their Natures. The Observer says, That if he had kept himself close to this Duty, he would not have needed the Invention, or Opinion of Man's being Acted by a separate Intelligent Spirit; but rather would have given God the true Glory of Framing and Acting the Persons of Men, by such Art and Skill of Natural Productions, and Agents, as men's Minds may well Admire; but never attain to the knowledge of that Skill, by which these strange Things are wrought amongst us continually.  
P. 55 Mr. M. says, If the Materiality be true, no Man can Rationally believe a Future State or Retribution; because the Person when he dies, is not the same that he was a Month before. The Observer Answers, That the Man when he dies, is the same Person that he was 40 Years before, if he has Lived so long, and the very same Person that came out of his Mother's Womb, in common Account, Understanding, and Reasoning. If Mr. M. should Buy a Horse, and Toll him in a Market, and after he has had him a while, another should come and challenge him for his; Mr. M. must Prove his lawful change of Property, by Testimony upon Oath, That this is the same Horse which he Bought, and entered there into the Toll-book. But this it seems Mr. M. cannot safely induce any Man to Swear, because the Horse has suffered many Alterations [according to his Doctrine] between the time of the Tolling, and that of the Challenge. It seems Mr. M. would be loath to lose his Horse upon so nice and frivolous a Scruple, and yet if he should prove so vain; the Observer would by no means follow such a Precedent. But durst himself Swear, and produce others to do so, That this is the same Horse which he Bought and Tolled in a Market Two Years ago. And so for Proof of a Marriage made 40 Years ago, That these Two are the same Persons whom Witnesses saw Married at the same time and Place. And so for Trees, Rivers and Mountains, tho' they are always under divers Alterations and Changes; yet Men often do, safely may, and for testifying the Truth ought to Swear, That they have always during their knowledge, stood in such Places, or run in such Courses, the same Hills, Trees, or Rivers that they now are. Mr. M. says, Nay, none of those Things are the same that they were a Week ago, because of the changes of their Particles, in every short space of time. And it shall thereupon be left to the Reader to believe which of us he pleases.  
P. 55 Mr. M, says, That the Observer owns a Resurrection and Future Judgement ('tis likely to serve a turn.) The Observer Replies, That this Parenthesis contains a very Impudent and False Assertion: For it must Assert one of these two Things, That either the Doctrine itself is a pretended Doctrine, set up amongst Men to serve a Turn generally: Or else, That the Observer owns the belief of it with intent to serve a Turn, his particular Turn in this Dispute, or in other the like Cases.  
It seems Mr. M. should not have a Face so well steeled as to pretend, That the Doctrine of the Resurrection, is, or can be pretended to be set up to serve a Turn generally in the Church; because it is so throughly and undeniably Proved by a clear and forcible Current of the New Testament, passing through all the Gospels, and other Parts of it to the end and conclusion of the Revelations. And, that the Observer sets it up for a particular End of his own, can by no means be known to Mr. M. unless he pretend to the knowledge of those men's Thoughts he never saw, or that the Spirit had communicated the same unto him. He does not declare, That he had this knowledge by either of these means, nor by what other means he attained to it. But if he should pretend the Revelation of the Spirit for it; the Observer is able faithfully to assure him, and does assure him, That it was a Lying Spirit, and that it never entered into the Observer's Heart, to make such a false Pretence in the Face of Heaven, and of the World: And he does not know, or believe that lie was, or ever intends to be guilty of such a false Design; nor [he hopes] of any Crime in that kind, that may equal it. He expects therefore, That Mr. M. shall either make better Proof of this Assertion in a future Treatise, or else acknowledge, That he has wronged the Observer, by this False and Injurious Charge; against the Observer's own Knowledge, and beyond any sort of Proof Which Mr: M. can make, for justifying of the same. Mr. M's Arguments concerning the Knowledge of Individuation and Personality, may be paralleled by a short Story. A Young Student, coming home from the University, was at Supper with his Father and Mother, and there were two Eggs for them all: The Father wished there had been three Eggs, so that each of them might have had one: The Son Replies, He could make them three; and taking up one Egg, showed there was one still in the Dish: Then put in the other Egg again, and said, Now there are two Eggs, and then, one and two are three: The Father thereupon took up one Egg for himself, and gave the other to his Wife, and bad the Son take the third for himself; and thus by plain Sensation confuted the Son's pretended Sophistry.  
Mr. M. pretends; That all the certainty of Humane Personality arises from the unchangeableness of the Intelligent Soul. But that [says the Observer cannot be seen, perceived, or known by any Powers of Humane Nature, nor is by himself believed,] He says; That the Tree and the Horse, have each of them a Soul, or Spirit of Life, as well as the Man; the Tree a Vegetative; the Horse a Sensative, the Man a Rational one; yet none of these Souls can be known in particular from others of their Kind: But the certainty of their Individuations must arise from outward Signs, Testimonies and Tokens, which are subject to be discerned by the Sensations of Men. And this he thinks is enough to Convince the Reader, That the Absurdity, which Mr. M. pretends to raise from this Topick is sufficiently Answered, and Confuted.  
P. 56 Mr. M. says, There is much in the Resurrection above the reach of Natural Reason. The Observer says the same concerning the Immortality of the Soul; and further, That it is not only above, but also opposite to the Sensations of Man. Mr. M. asks, What must the poor Heathens do, to whom the Resurrection has not been revealed? Upon which, the Observer asks, What must such poor Heathens do, to whom the Mystery of Christ's coming in the Flesh has not been Revealed?  
P. 57 Mr. M. says, That the Immortality of the Soul, was commonly and naturally known to Men. To this the Observer has spoken before, and now adds a Request to Mr. M. That he would produce some Evidence of such Knowledge [besides Solomon's short Saying] before the time and Doctrine of Pherecydes; or else he ought not to be believed, That his Opinion has any thing of Natural in it.  
Further, Mr. M. here says, That the Observer world not be thought to deny, That there are Immaterial Intelligent Spirits. The Observer Answers, That if he did deny them either in Word, or in Thought, he would not seek a Pretence to be thought not to deny them: If he very much feared the Censures of Men's Opinions, he would not (as he now does) maintain the Humane Soul's Materiality.  
Mr. M. supposes [as himself says, very unreasonably] That the Observer does deny the being of a Superiority and Order in the Invisible World. But therein Mr. M. is very much mistaken: For that the Observer does Profess to Allow and Believe, That there are great Differences and Degrees in the World of Intelligent Spirits; the lowest of which are often conversant upon Earth, and sometimes with the Inhabiters of it. P. 58. Mr. M. says, There is something in Plants like Sense, in Brutes like Reason, and in Men like Spirits. [The Observer says] something like the Inferior Intellectual, Spirits, viz. Apprehension, Reason, and Intellect, which is as great a Participation with the lower Degree of separate Spirits; as the Brutes have of the Rational, or the Plants have of the Sensitive Nature. The Observer, further agrees with Mr. M's Metaphysical Author. P. 59 Mr. M. Quotes the Observer's Saying concerning Dr. Moor and Mr. Baxter, who say, That the Souls of Brutes have separate Subsistence after the Death of their Bodies; and there he says, That Dr. Willis, did not think this Opinion merited the trouble of his Confutation. And both there, and here, the Observer is of the same Judgement, That this Opinion neither deserves, or needs any other, or further Refutation, than the repugnancy which it will find in the common Sensations of every ordinary Reader; except such only, as can swallow and digest the Pythagorical Opinion of the Transmigrations of Souls. Pythagoras was the Disciple of Pherecydes, and from him received the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality, and raised out of it the Doctrine. of the Metempsychosis, Teaching from thence, That the Soul's of Men departed, sometimes entered into Infants, and sometimes into the Whelps and Cubs of Beasts, and reciprocally, That the Souls of Beasts, Transmigrated into, and Animated the Bodies of Humane Infants, or of Beasts; as it might happen to fall out. To Pythagoras, Plato succeeded, and held also a Transmigration of Souls; but more restrained than that of Pythagoras; imagining, That Souls of Men had in a former World, been separate and Intelligent Spirits; and that for their Offences then committed, they were Doomed to Inhabit and Actuate Bodies of Clay, in our present World, in Nature of a Penalty, and as means of Purgation, of, and for the Offences by them committed in the former World, and that as soon as they were dislodged from one Person, they must wait for opportunity to enter into another Person, or Embryon of Mankind. This Doctrine of Plato bounded the Transmigration of Souls within the Compass of Mankind; excluding the Bestial Race from such a Communication with Men: Concerning which Doctrine, Mr. Lock Dict. Lib. fol. 189, says, Taking (as we ordinarily now do) the Humane Soul for an Immaterial Substance, independent upon Matter; there would be no Absurdity to suppose, That the same Soul may at different times, be united to different Bodies, and in each make up a Man. This Doctrine therefore of Transmigration of Souls from one Man to another, seems to him a Rational Deduction from the Nature and Subsistence of such a Soul, and accordingly the Opinion of such a Transmigration spread itself far and wide over the Face of the Earth; so as the Christian Platonists accepted of it, and Origen and some others of the Fathers, were of that Opinion. The  and British Druids maintained it, and the most gross part of it, viz. The Transmigration Reciprocal from Man to Beasts, is still believed among the Gentile Indians, Tartarians, Chinese and Japanners, in our own Times; grounding it upon the Opinion of the Soul's complete Subsistence in a State of Separation from the Body.  
The Observer says, That if he had to deal with such Men as these; he would deal with them as with Dr. Moor and Mr. Baxter, by endeavouring to persuade them, and offering to them such Proofs as he could produce [as he does to this present Opponent] That the Soul of Man is not an Intelligent Substance, nor capable of subsisting in a State of Separation from the Body; and if thereof he should be able to Convince them, that Conviction would be a sufficient and perfect Cure for all these Errors of theirs, and all other like Opinions concerning the same.  
He further says, The wiser and holier any Man is, the more firmly he believes and rejoices in the Consideration of the Soul's Immortality. Other Proof of this Assertion he gives none; so that we have but his bare Word for it, in the truth of which, the Observer has no great Confidence; and he believes, That Mr. M. is therein much mistaken. Mr. M. says, Men will not be persuaded, that, That Divine Goodness, which has so often embraced them, mill ever desert them: But that God is Stronger than Death, and more Powerful than the Grave, and that they cannot believe, That their Souls shall ever fall down into a Dead unactive State; because they have been Irradiated by the Divine Light and Grace.  
The Observer Answers, Here are Two Assertions, First, they will not believe, That God who has embraced them with his Goodness, will ever desert them; but that God will preserve and deliver them from the Grave. This Assertion the Observer willingly grants. The Second Saying is, That men's Souls can never fall down into a Dead unactive State. This the Observer denies, and says, That if by Souls he does not mean Persons; his saying, That they are irradiated by God's Grace, in any sort, or way, abstracted, or removed from the Body; his Assertion here, is Erroneous and Deceitful: For that he never has Proved, nor can Prove; That God ever bestowed any thing upon a single Soul in a State of Separation from the Body. But all his Graces and Favours, Corrections and Punishments, are applied to the Person in Statu Composito, and not to either of his Constituent Parts in a State of Separation of the one from the other. P. 60. Mr. M. says, That many good Men have died with raised Expectations of entering immediately into a Blessed State. This the Observer believes to be true, and that Men Die with many other Conceptions and Errors about them besides this, and yet receive no harm or hindrance by any of them. Mr. M. here, further Repeats divers like mistakes amongst the Philosophers.  
P. 61 Mr. M. says, He will not mention the Raptures of many Christian Martyrs at the time of their departing, grounded upon this Expectation. The Observer thinks, That such Examples of this, as he can find among the Primitive Martyrs, would deserve his Quotation. Mr. M. says further, That it may justly seem a great wonder, that many of the best Men have erred in this Point of great concernment, and a very few Men, and those of mean Parts and Credit, should be in the right of of it,  
The Observer Answers, That this (among other like Accidents) is not so strange as true. Whilst the Learned World, thought the Earth to be the Centre of the Planetary Circumvolution, some very few there were, that ascribed that Place to the Sun; and they at last are proved to be in the Right. Did not the Learned World (and particularly the Governors of the Church) absolutely deny the Being of Antipodes; which is now as apparent and clear a Truth, as that there are Countries called by the Names of China and Japan. Do not all true Proselytes of the Romish Church profess firmly to believe, That there is no Salvation for any who Die excluded from the Communion of that Church? And do not all Sectaries, and Dissenters, and the very Quakers profess absolutely to believe, That their ways and modes of Worship, are the most Excellent that are to be found among the Christian Churches, or any other Assemblies in the World; and are they not ready to expos themselves to Dangers and Death, for the Maintenance and Advancement of their Profession? Errors as they are. Was not the Truth of Religion justled into a very narrow room, when it was all comprised in one single Family, Despised, Hated and Persecuted, by the Learned Chaldeans on the one side, and their Equals the Egyptians on another side; whilst the vast compass of the Earth besides, was muffled up in the dark Clouds of Ignorance; and neither knew any thing of God, or else applied themselves to him by Devils, or Daemons, or other dumb shows of Idolatrous Figures; for maintenance of whose Vain Services, they were ready to spend their Blood, and put to Death all those who durst affront them. Of which Truth, Mr. M's Proto-Martyr Socrates is an undoubted Evidence, who suffered Death, for daring to deny that, which the World at that time undoubtedly believed for a certain Truth.  
In these Pages Mr. M. Repeats the Words (wretchedly deceived) many times over.  
The Observer grants, and believes, That a vast number of very good Men have Died in the Opinion (Erroneous as it is) of the Soul's Immortality. But that was no more hurtful to them, than an holding either part of the Questions concerning Predestination, Original Sin, or the Procession of the Holy Ghost, or any other Speculative Opinions of that Kind: And that if the Observer's Opinion of the Materiality be true; the Persons Dying in the belief of the Immortality, shall never find or know, that they were deceived in it.  
That Faith, and those Manners, which will serve them at an Intermediate Judgement, will serve them as fully at the Last Judgement; their Works do follow them, and will serve them as well at the one Judgement as at the other: They will not be lost or diminished by the largest Account of Time which may pass between their Deaths and the Resurrection: As the Persons rising shall be perfect and known, yea, and the very same that Died, tho' they have suffered far greater Alterations than Mr. M. has before pretended. The Faith and Works of such Dying Persons, shall then also appear to be the same, which they were at their several Deaths. The Resurrection and Last Judgement are certain, and clearly Provable by a strong Current of Scripture: But the Intermediate Judgement, is neither likely, nor Provable, by any clear Assertory Text of Scripture whatsoever. The Observer, Advises Men therefore to build their Expectations of future Recompenses upon the rocky and sure Ground of the Resurrection; rather than upon the soft and sandy Ground of an Intermediate Judgement.  
The Observer conceives it a very improper, and something absurd Course to bring a Man to Judgement whilst the is asleep; without first wakening him out of it. And we know that every where the Scripture calls Death a Sleep. St. Stephen (stoned to Death) fell asleep. Those who sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him. We that are alive shall not prevent them that are asleep. If there be no Resurrection, than all those that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. All Dead Persons are said to sleep with their Fathers, and all Men Naturally do know, that Death is a sound Sleep, and has the common Reputation of something beyond it; but certainly it is that, at the least. We know further this Effect of a sound Sleep, that whether a Man sleep Four Hours, or Forty Hours, when he awakes he can find no difference, nor know any thing of the degrees of Time which have passed over him; and so for Forty thousand Days, 4000 Years. When the Person shall be awaked, he can have no sense or perceiving of any time that is passed over him; but rises perfectly, as if he had but fallen asleep a short time before, and then shall find himself the same that he was when he fell asleep, and as able to Account for what he has done in the Flesh, as he was in the best time of his Life: So as they who have no other Impediments, but their erroneous Tenet in this Point, shall not find themselves deceived to their prejudice; but shall receive those full and real Recompenses which belong to their Faith and Manners.  
Mr. M. here further Quotes his good Friend Cicero, whose Words make plainly for his Opinion; but are of little force for the convincing of the Observer, who attributes as much to the Bp. of Worcester's Thoughts, as he does to those of Cicero; but concludes, amicus Cicero, amici Doctores, sed magis amica veritas. Mr. M. pretends to offer a Sixth Absurdity arising from the Opinion of the Materiality, which has little that needs Answer in it, and to that which needs it, a sufficient Answer has been given it in the foregoing Pages.  
P. 64 Mr. M. takes Exceptions at the Observer's Anatomy, for his placing the Power of Sanguification in the Liver. He allows therein, That the Observer agrees with the Ancient Anatomists; but says, That the later Anatomists differ in this Point from the former upon good Grounds; denying, that this performance is made in the Liver. But he says not what other Part or Place the later Anatomists have assigned for this Office of Sanguification; and till they agree amongst themselves about that Point, it seems the Observer may be justly excused, for following the Ancient Anatomists in this Expression.  
Mr. M. goes on to a Secondly, which in the first Part of it needs on Answer, till he comes to his Repeating the Observer's Quotation of Miracles, in his Observations upon Mr. B' s Sermon. Where the Case stood thus: Mr. B. has Asserted in that Sermon, That Omnipotence itself, could not produce Thought or Intelligence, out of mere Matter, by any Skill or Power he could used. The Observer there absolutely denies this Assertion, and maintains the contrary, both by Reasons and Examples; inferring from God's making Matter out of nothing, That he can make whatsoever he pleases out of any Matter: And shows by Examples, That God has done such Wonderful Things upon other Occacasions, as give no less difficulty to the Minds of Men to conceive; than the Act of producing Intelligence out of Matter may do. Whence it seems, he did not produce those Miraculous Examples out of Levity; but for a very just Cause. P. 65. Mr. M. Asks, Is not God able to uphold the Soul in a State of Separation from the Body? The Observer Answers, He is able so to do; and when he declares he has so done, or will so do; the Observer is ready to believe it.  
2dly. Mr. M. Asks, Are God's ordinary Works in Nature, to be confounded with his Miracles. The Observer Answers, No.  
3dly. Mr. M. Asks, Is it a good way of Arguing, from the Power of God to his Will? And is Answered, No. And further, Mr. M. here grants as by his enumeration of Particulars, That God can make Matter Cogitative, if he pleases to do it; without acknowledging, That therein he departs from Mr. B's Assertion, which the Observer had before opposed. Here Mr. M. goes on, Repeating his Expressions formerly used, and Answered. He says, That it is the part of a Philosopher, to admire the Works which God has done. The Observer says so too; but not such Works as Mr. M. says he has done, unless he make better Proof of his doing of them.  
Mr. M. Will not allow the Observer to lay down Hypotheses contrary to the Sense and Reason of Mankind, and then to tell us, God can make those Suppositions good.  
The Observer Answers, That he neither has done so, nor ever intends to do it; but that this Suggestion Savours of that Spirit which has hitherto much Acted in his Treatise.  
Chap. V Mr. M. gins at P. 67. and from thence to P. 68 may pass for a Peroration, little to the purpose of Proving any thing concerning the Question now in Dispute. He declaims against the debasing, the Humane Prerogative to the Degree of Brutes. The Observer Answers, That Prerogatives ought to be justly discerned; and all those granted, which of right aught to be so: And whatsoever is not so, (tho' never so loudly claimed) is not to be granted, but denied. He ought to remember his own Rule, de vero, nil nisi verum, and therefore if it be true, That the Humane Soul is Material; it is but a just and righteous Act, to deny and reject such Prerogatives as have been unduly Arrogated for it, and without good reason have been ascribed to it. P. 68, 69. Mr. M. Discourses concerning the Atomical Doctrines, and raising Bodies from their Motions and Cohesions, accidentally without the Direction and Assistance of God's Wisdom and Power: With which Imagination the Observer has nothing to do.  
P. 70 Mr. M. says, Atomists tell us, That the Soul is a Material Spirit extracted to a wonderful fineness; reaching to an invisibility. The Observer agrees, That Dr. Willis delivers that Opinion, and says, That the Particles of Blood, inflamed in the Lungs, and made lucid in the Brain, are such Spirits; and that, he says, may be demonstrated to the Sensations of Men, viz. by the strength of Natural Faculties, or the powers of Sense and Reason united.  
And thus much the Materialists pretend they know, and can demonstrate, concerning their sort of Soul. But Mr. M. and those that join with him in maintaining the Intelligent Soul, neither know, nor can demonstrate any thing concerning it, nor any particular matter about it; neither the Quod, nor the Quid, unde, quando, ubi, quomodo, nor quo. But because they cannot imagine, some of them, how God can, others of them, how God does so Act the Humane Organs by these Spirits, as to produce in them, and by them together, Life, Sense and Intellect; they think he must needs have recourse to the means and assistance of an Immaterial Spirit: According to the course of men's common Conceptions, who, when they see wonderful Things performed by great Artists; the true Reasons of which they do not understand, either because those Artists will not declare them, or being declared, such People will not believe them, or cannot comprehend them; therefore presently impute them to the Effects of an Immaterial Spirit. The rest of Mr. M's Words here need no Answer, being voces & praeterea nihil. P. 71. Mr. M. says, That the maintaining the Soul to be Material, is a reproach to Philosophy, and all sorts of Humane Learning, and will be a likely means to bring them into contempt and hatred. The Observer Answers, That the Terms of Philosophy and Humane Learning, are both of them equivocal, and each of them may be taken in several Senses. Humane Learning may be employed about good Things, or bad Things; and there are Arts Teaching to deceive and falsify, as well as to Teach real Faculties and Truths: And the Term of Philosophy may be used in divers and different Senses.  
Mr. M. in this Chap. has given us some Instances of it, where he says, That the Epicureans framed and defended a Scheme of the World's Production, by the Fortuitous Concourse of Atoms: Which he calls, Nonsensical gibberish, and an empty Sound of unintelligible Words. Which the Observer thinks, do intent the same thing with Canting, as it is now commonly understood among us. Mr. M. further says, That we must not let go the Opinion of the Soul's Immortality, that we may fall down and Worship that Philosophy, which those Men have set up. The Observer does not know who are meant by the Term of those Men, whether the Epicureans, or Materialists; each by themselves, or both of them together: If he mean the first alone, no opposition shall be made to him in it; if the second alone, than all that has been before spoken, may be used for his Conviction in it; and if he mean a mixture of both together; the old Rule shall be applied to him, dolus versatur in universalibus, and he makes this mixture only to misled his Readers.  
P. 72 He mentions a like Philosophy, which Teaches, That we have every Week a new Soul, and that at length Soul and Body Die together.  
The Observer says, That Mr. M. here seems to imitate an Old Father, who used in his Oracles to mix Truth and Falsehood together, so that one of them might make passage for the other. He has met indeed with a mean Scholar, to whom he applies the Term of Philosopher, whom the Truth which he discovers in that Tenet, enables to maintain the Affirmative of his latter Tenet, viz. That the Extinguishment of the Soul, is the Death of the Person: But for the former part of it, viz. That Man has every Week a a new Soul; he lays and leaves it at M. M's own Door, as an Imp and Product of his own Brain.  
The Observer has sufficiently shown, That his sort of Soul is always as much the same, as a River, or the Sea, or Blood, or Sap of a Tree are the same: Tho' they are always in Motion and Alteration, yet they continue always the same things; the Supplies of them being of the selfsame Nature of that which is spent or altered: And Mr. M's Metaphysical Arguments to the contrary, are but like the Scholars making Three Eggs out of Two; and may well pass for parts of vain Philosophy, which ought rather to be Condemned than Approved amongst Men; and notwithstanding all the Daily Changes of this Soul, mentioned by Mr. M. it is, and ever will be as much the same, as the Persons raised at the General Resurrection shall be so.  
The Observer, does not design to follow the Tract of searching into divers Modes of Vain Philosophy, or Science, falsely so called, because Error est multiplex; but rather, to give Mr. M. and the Reader an Account what he thinks, to be true Philosophy. It gins with the Capacities of tender Age, Teaching to Speak and Writ truly, their own Mother-Tongue, and so to proceed in others, especially the Learned Languages, and this is commonly termed, the Art of Grammar: After which, it Teaches to Speak, and Writ Elegantly, Floridly, Teachingly and Passionately, and this is called the Art of Rhetoric: From Words, it proceeds to Teach the Arts of Things and Thinking, to Form Notions, or abstracted Ideas, and to Divide, Compare, Compound, Collect, Propose and Infer; also to direct distinct Places and Repositories for Things of different Natures, and to rank them in fitting Orders for the support and assistance of the Memory, and this Art is called Logic; as directing the Mind, in the Ordering and Disposition of Things: Thence Men proceed to the Arts Mathematical, of Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Harmony; which help to fix men's wand'ring Appetites and Notions, to the Apprehension of known and certain Objects, and the Comprehension of them.  
Next we go on to the general Contemplation of Nature, and all Things that have known and certain Being's in the World, and this is called Physica; and proceeds to examine the Nature both of Heaven and Earth, the Heavenly Bodies, and the four Elements, and all their Inhabitants, and things pertinent to them; the divers sorts of Earth, Minerals, Metals and Stones: So rising to the Surface of it, and there examining the Grasses, Herbs, Flowers and Plants; proceeding to the Infects, Fishes, Fowls, Brutes and Men, examining their formerly called Specific Forms and Qualities; lately changed for the Terms, of Capacities and Powers, without a great difference of their significations. For the better effecting such Examinations, Men Daily make the best use they can of their Sensations, viz. of their Five Senses, assisted (as they must be) by their Rational Faculties, able and ready to Correct divers Mistakes which the Sensual Faculties are Naturally liable unto. Thus men's Senses furnish the Mind with suitable Objects for its Examination, and searching Men make Trial of them all, and whatsoever belongs to them; the Parts of which they are Composed, the Causes and Effects of them, their several manners of Working, and whatsoever by their Senses can be found out concerning them: They ponder and ruminate upon them, and divide, compare, compound, and collect from them, frame Propositions concerning them; and thence Infer, as to themselves seems most Reasonable. Then they communicate their Opinions to other Men, whom they think capable of Judging in such Cases, and Dispute and Argue the same with such Persons, as their present Occasions may require; sometimes extending such Conferences to Foreign Regions and far distant Places: They examine the Traditions of their Forefathers, and what our Ancestors have said and thought concerning them. They Read and Study the Books which have been Written upon such Subjects from the earliest Times which they can attain unto, and thus they Cultivate and every their Understandings, by storing up in their Written Collections and Memories, the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge, derived to them from the beginnings of Time, and the most remote Parts of the Earth; grounded upon the Testimonies of many Sensations and Experiments, which do not easily or frequently deceive the Expectations of such as ground themselves upon them. The Observer Designs to apply this to the Question now in Dispute, and says, He had passed the 62d. Year of his Age under the apprehension and belief of the Soul's Immortality; and that then solitarily, and unmoved by any Discourse or Writing; the Consideration of this Question, fell upon him. He was Convinced or Persuaded by his Sensations, That the Constitution of Man's Body, was made up of Matter and Spirit, as those of all other Sublunary Creatures were. The Grass, Flowers, and Plants, have Matter and Spirit; which appears plainly to the searching Inquirers. The Infects have Matter of a light and weak Composure, and an Humour analogous to Blood and Spirit. The Fishes are watery, yet have some Blood, and some of the greatest sorts of them, have it in great quantities. The Fowls are light and Airy; their Matter being Flesh and Bones, and their Spirits of Blood, which some of their greatest sorts, as Geese and Turkeys have in considerable quantities. The Matter and Spirits of Brutes are very well known amongst us, and it is visible and palpable to us, That the Life of them is in their Blood, and that they never do, nor can Live without it; and that Breath is as necessary to them; and upon the same reason, that it is to Men. And Solomon Disputing upon this Question Ecclesiastes the 3d. speaks concerning the Similar Natures of Men and Beasts, they are generated alike, have need of a like Blood and Breath, and their Bodies return to the like dust, and who knows what difference there is concerning their Spirits? He leaves that undetermined, which is now the Subject of the present Question. But that the Life of both is in the Blood, Moses declares, and Experience verifies: For if one draw out of a Beast its whole Blood, and at another Orifice let into its Body the Blood of another Beast sufficient for its repletion: the latter Beast must Die by the loss of its Blood, but the first Beast may Live, by the newly received Blood; and be affected with no perceivable harm by such a change. And the same also befalls Men: If we let out all the Man's Blood at one Orifice, and in the mean while intromit the Blood of a Calf, or a Sheep into that Man's Body at another Orifice; the Beast must Die, but the Man will Live, without any clear sense of the loss of his own Blood: Nor will he only live or move, by the Virtue of his new received Blood, but he will have the use of all his Senses, Speech, Intellect and Memory, as he had before; and which without such fresh supply of Blood, would have been utterly lost.  
The Observer further considered, That by a failure of any of the sensitive Organs, the Man may, and often does lose the use of that Sense; so as the Spirit cannot act the Sense, but only in its proper Organ, and both of them must be sound for the production of it: The Spirit also can Speak by the Tongue, but not without it; it can Imagine in the forepart of the Brain, but no where else; it can Estimate and Judge in the middle-part of the Head, and Remember only in the backpart of it. If the Blood and Spirit be over Thin and Watery, Phlegmatic, Scorbutic, or too Hot and Fevescent, too Salt or Sharp; the Brain may be ill affected from any of these, or the like Causes; which Physicians intent to remedy by Purging, or restoring to a right State the Stomach, Liver, or other Parts where the Sanguification is made. If the Imagination be tainted, they apply Fomentations, Blood-letting, or Plasters to the forepart of the Head; if the Judgement be crazed, they apply to the middle-part of the Head; if the Memory fail, they do so to the hind-part of the Head; and divers times with very good success, performing divers Cures thereupon. He further Considered, That in Distempers of the Brain, and failures of the Understanding, Physicians do Advise, and Men Practise with good success the changes of Air, Diet, Company, fresh or sweet Smells, Mirth, Jollity with a Cup of good Wine; and good Effects have followed all these Prescriptions and Practices. The Observer pondered and conceived within himself, That all these were Natural and proper Remedies for correcting the Distempers of the Blood, and restoring the imbecilities of the Organs, or removing such Obstructions as hindered the Operation of them; but neither any of them, nor altogether, were likely to effect or work any thing at all upon an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit. Men tell us, That this Spirit Acts and Works all that it does, by Intervention of the Material Spirits of the Blood; but they give us no other Proof of what they say, than that the Bodily Organs are not, cannot be Acted, but by means of these Spirits. That we grant, and say, That there neither is, nor needs an Intelligent Spirit, for the Acting of them; but that they of themselves do Act, and are enough to Act the Bodily Organs, Daily supplied as they are with Food and Nourishment, from the Ambient World; as a River is supplied from its Fountains, and Plants, with Sap extracted from the Earth. If the Root cannot extract that, the Plant must die; if the Fountains fail, the livers dry up; and if the Sensitive Creatures want nourishment, their Spirits fail, and their Limbs and Bodies whither, consume and die for want of such Supplies gas are suitable to their Natures.  
These Considerations wrought upon the Observer, to make a further search into this Disquisition: He ruminated long upon it, and then propounded it to other People whom he thought capable of it; but found not one amongst them, who had a compliance for it, but maintained the contrary. The main Argument that they relied upon for the defence of it, was the largeness of it spread in the World, and amongst the Divines and Doctors of it, whence it was become so radicated; that if it was an Error, it was become irremediable, and that the endeavouring to remove it out of men's Minds might do more harm to the Peace of the Church, than the Planting of a new Opinion (tho' true) could do good by the Truth of it. This Argument à Commodo did not enough prevail with the Observer to give over and desert his Design and Search concerning this Point; but he still Ruminated, Conferred, and Read, as Opportunity served him: He searched the Scriptures and Read them many times over, and Noted upon a Paper whatsoever he there met with concerning this Subject: He procured all Books that Treated of it, and which he could attain by Buying or Borrowing, and gave them an attentive Perusal, and then Writ down his own Thoughts, and Collections upon them, and Published that Pamphlet how opposed by Mr. M. in such a manner, as the Observer cannot tell in what manner to Reply to it. Mr. M. has so twisted and complicated together his Rhetoric, Logic and Metaphysic, that it is not easy to distinguish which of his Expressions belongs to one, which to another, and delivered what he says in such an Athletic and Domineering Style; that he has sometimes attracted a Sympathising return from the Observer, different from the usual course of his Nature: He apprehends that Mr. M. intended with Alexander to cut in sunder the Gordian Knot of this Question, by his sharp and piercing Style: But he thinks, he is therefrom well Defended by the Shield and Buckler of Faith and Patience, the Faith and Belief, That he holds the Truth in this Point, and a Patience supported with a knowledge, That New Truths are not to be maintained without an apparent Consequence of Suffering. Prov. 26.4, 5. Solomon gives a double Direction in this Case, one in direct Words contrary to the other; and the Observer has happened to follow the Direction of both Places, sometimes of the one, sometimes of the other, according as it happened, and (perhaps) as Solomon intended.  
The Observer did Incite Mr. B. to Writ an Answer to his Pamphlet, expecting from him such an one, as would be Knowing, Solid, and Temperate; instead of which, Mr. M's Treatise is Printed with little of the first Requisite in it, and nothing at all of the other two; as tho' he did not design to draw a Sinner from the Error of his way, but weakly, Triumphum canere ante Victoriam. He says, Men will be apt to censure all Philosophy, for the ill use the Observer has made of it in his Pamphlet. The Observer says, That there are ill uses made by Mr. M's Metaphysical Arguments, produced concerning the uncertainty of men's Persons, happening by the Alterations pertaining to their Bodies and Souls, and such other like Parts of his Treatise: But those that consider the Scheme of Philosophy that the Observer has now laid down, cannot without contradiction to their own Sensations, pretend a probable Reason of Quarrel to it: If that Herd amongst which Mr. M, Officiates, shall happen to make any Quarrel to it; it will but prove the state of their own Ignorance, and that they Err in so doing; as perhaps, they may be found to do in divers other Things.  
The Observer did ever, and does still desire a sober knowing and Canvas of his Opinion. The Primitive Greek Churches, Disturbed and Divided by the Heresies of Sabellius, Arius, and divers others, called upon Eleutherius then Bishop of Rome to stand up for the Catholic Doctrine, and the Peace of the Christian Church: So the Observer is desirous to incite and stir up the present Bishop of Worcester, whose Light is now great in the Church, that as he has lately Written excellently well concerning the Trinity; so he will take upon him to Treat fully and purposely concerning this Question, if his Age and Infirmity will permit; Conferring thereupon with his most able Brethren, and communicating to some of them his Labours as they are Written in single Sheets, during the course of his Progress, which may have a double Advantage. 

First, That any thing therein found amiss, may be more easily amended, or Transcribed.  
Secondly, A prevention of its passing forward with a communicative Tincture in any of those Sheets that may follow it.    
Our Lawyers are very cautious in their Proceed upon Questions of great Moment: If the great Counsellors differ amongst themselves in a Point in Law, the Matter is brought to Trial by Process in one of the Courts at Westminster, where it is Argued before the Judges of it; and if they also differ upon the Point, it is carried by Process, into the Chequer-Chamber, to be there Tried before all the Judges of England, who sit and hear it Argued before them by the ablest Lawyers on either side, three, four, or five times, at several considerable Distances, Spaces, or Terms; that there may be time enough given for the full Inspection, or Consideration of it: And after they have heard what can be spoken on either side, than the Judges themselves Argue the Point as largely as they please; each declaring his own Opinion thereupon: And then, if there be a considerable number of Dissenters against the major Opinion, they Adjourn the Case yet further, propter difficultatem, to further Days and Times, having sufficient intervals; such as map still give more leisure for a fuller Consideration: And in fine, if the dissenting Party still hold to be very considerable; they Adjourn the Case before the Upper-House of Parliament, and there it is again Argued by Counsel on both sides, as often as the Lords think fit to Appoint: Then the Judges Argue again, and deliver their Opinions with the Reasons thereof; then such of the Lords as please, speak to it, and it is at last finally Determined, by the Majority of Voices in the Lord's House; after which, it passes for Law in all the Courts of Westminster, and throughout the whole Kingdom of England, and stands for a Rule in the Case Disputed; and in all other like Cases.  
The Observer further says, That if the Forenamed Learned Bishop will take the pains to Examine the particulars alleged by him in this and his former larger Treatises, and give such Answers to them, as upon Conference he shall think fit to do: And let the Staff fall which way it will, he will hereafter be silent without publicly Disputing or Writing against the said Bishop's declared Opinion, so delivered and confirmed as aforesaid. He knows that the said Bishop has Defended the Opinion of the Immortality, in his Writings: But he takes the Bishop for a Person of great Integrity, and that he is a Old, and likely as near Death as himself: He knows of himself, That the whole Kingdom of England offered him, to give a false Verdict in this, or the like Case, would be utterly despises by him: And he conceives full as well of the Bishop; and therefore dare remit the Point now in Dispute, to his Determination, as aforesaid. P. 63. Mr. M. says, The Material Opinion cannot stand, but upon the supposition of a continual Course of Miracles to make it good; which is very Absurd and unphilosophical.  
The Observer Replies (granting the Rule) That to Prove by Miracles is unphilosophical; and that he holds it convenient in this Place to Examine which of the Two Opinions now in Dispute, stand the most in need of Miracles to Prove the Truth of it, and which of the opposite Parties, make most use of that sort of Argument. The Material Opinion, he says, has only one wonderful Work in it, viz. The great Effect of God's Wisdom and Power, in producing Life, Growth, Motion, Affection, Sensation, Perception, Imagination, Judgement, Memory, all sorts of Thinking, by his Skilful contexture of Matter and Spirit together; which our Opponents are pleased to express by the Terms of Matter and Motion. Mr. B. denies, That the Skill and Power of Divinity can in that manner produce these Effects. But Mr. M. obiter or transiently grants, That the Skill and Power of Omnipotence, can Effect such Things if he pleases, by Natural means, applicando activa passivis; as we see he gives the vast Body of the Sea a Motion with divers variations; which Men cannot yet comprehend: So has he given the Planets, Stars and other Heavenly Bodies, a perpetual Motion, generally regular, but with such variations, as Men cannot comprehend or understand: Plants and Trees Flourish and Decay, alternately, they shoot out Leaves, Blossom and Fruit, in a wonderful variety, the next Causes of which Men cannot find out: Fowls and Brutes, Live, Grow, Move, use their Senses and Affections, and such low degrees of Fantasy, Memory, Estimation or Choice as they have by the Virtue and Activity of the Spirits and Blood , without men's being able to apprehend the Quomodo of it: And so we may say, concerning the activity of the Wind amongst the Organ-pipes, a thing which we every Day see with our Eyes, hear with our Ears, and handle with our Hands, and yet are not able throughly to discuss and resolve the Quomodo of all those Actions and Varieties which are Performed by it. The foregoing Instances have been produced to Prove a Simile that such like Things have been made and done by God, and are still continued and subject to our view in the World; as Wonderful Effects of the great Skill and Power of God, and which Men are not able to comprehend or understand. We proceed to the Immaterial Intelligent Spirit, and require of Mr. M. and other Immortalists, some sort of Proofs maintaining their Opinion, tho' they should be but a Simile. We desire them to produce at least some one Instance in Nature where God acts Matter by an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit: And the Observer considers, they cannot produce any one Instance of such a Conjunction out of the whole Book of Nature, except this one, which they have invented, concerning the Constitution of Man; and therefore it is no wonder that they are put to the coining of Miracles for the maintaining of the same. Two of which shall here be examined. The Wits of Men have never been able to conceive any more ways for the production of the Soul of Man, but these Three, viz. by Generation, by Pre-existence, or new Creation of such Souls upon every Procreation of a Body. Mr. M. and his Aids reject the very true way of producing Mankind, viz. That of Generation; being convinced, that whatsoever is Generated, grows, decays and is corruptible. Orig. Sacr. P. 432. our Learned Bishop says, Nothing in the World produced by Generation, can be incorruptible. To avoid therefore this Rock of producing the Soul by Generation (tho' it be never so true) Pherecydes the Invenrer of the Immaterial Opinion, with his Scholars and Successors Pythagoras, and Plato, and those who came after them, pretended another sort of Original of the Soul. The more Ancient held, That men's Souls did Pre-exist long before they came into the several Bodies, and had been Existent in a former World, before the present World, and for Offences given to God in their former Stations, they were Doomed to inhabit Bodies of Clay in this World, sometimes of Men and sometimes of Beasts; as a Purgatorial Punishment upon them; that they lived in such Bodies, as in Cages and Prisons, desiring continually to be delivered from them, and to escape thence into the open Air. But the latter and Christian Platonists, amongst whom, some of the Fathers say, They Believed, That God at the Creation of the World, made a vast number of Humane Souls, enough by coming, going and removing, to Actuate and Inhabit all such Humane Bodies as should after be Generated in the World; and that all men's Souls are still of that Pre-existent Nature. But Mr. M. and his present Aids (upon divers inconveniencies found in this Opinion) have utterly rejected this sort of Original of Humane Souls; and give themselves up to maintain this sort of Original of them, viz. The Opinion of God's new Creation of a Soul, for every new Procreation of a Humane Body, be the same never so foul and Beastly, in Adultery, Incest, or the Conjunction of Men with Beasts: If the Product fall out to be of Humane shape, God (say they) is ready at every such Procreation to make, and does Create a new, clean and spotless Said, to Actuate and Inhabit such a newly Procreated Body.  
The Observer hereupon conceives, That all Creations are the Miraculous Works of God They do not tell us whether their sort of Creation be out of Matter, or Ex nihilo; but which soever of those ways it be, it is however a Miraculous Work of God: And by this course such Miracles must be multiplied continually over the Face of the whose Earth; and through the Minutes of Time which pass through the Ages of it. Another Miracle necessary for the maintenance of the Immaterial Doctrine, and flowing from such new Creation of Souls, is this, That these new Created, Pure, Innocent Souls, are put, thrust, or cast into the Seminal Matter not exceeding perhaps the bigness of a Nutt, derived and coming from the Loins of Adam, and tinctured (like an unsavoury Cask) with a foul Ingredient of Original Sin: This unhappy Intelligent Spirit, presently infected with that abominable Poison, and going on to increase in Conjunction with such a Body, is by no Natural force, able to shake off this Deplorable Corruption; but it goes on increasing together with the Body and the Soul, till they both together Taste deeply the ill Effects of it in this Life; and when separated, this, at first Pure and Innocent Soul, in the Natural Course of it, falls or is carried to be a Companion of Devils, and a fellow-sufferer in the Torments of Hell: And this is a second Miracle, necessary for the maintenance of the Soul's Immortality. They are both of them extremely improbable and very little agreeable with the Goodness and Glory of God. To these a Third Immaterial Doctrine shall be added necessary for the maintenance of that opinion, viz. That Souls of Dying Persons go immediately before God, and receive a a Judgement and Doom from him within a short time after their Deaths. The Observer has said in his larger Treatise, and repeats it here in this Place, That if the Immaterialists can by Reason or Scripture make a clear Proof of any one of these Three Tenets which are all necessary for the maintenance of their Doctrine, viz. Of this new Creation of Souls: This sort of infecting them with Original Sin: Or, that there is an intermediate Judgement betwixt men's Deaths and the Resurrection: If they can make a good clear Proof of any one of these Points, from Reason and Scripture, or from either of them; the Observer will be ready to submit to their Judgement in the main Point of the Immortality.  
P. 72 Mr. M. says, The knowledge of the Spirits above us must arise from the knowledge of our own Souls.  
The Observer denies this Assertion and says, That the knowledge of Superior Spirits has two other Originals, viz. Sensation and Revelation, and we do plainly know and perceive more concerning Immaterial Spirits, by the effects of their Operations and such Revelations as the Scripture makes of them; than either is Revealed to us, or can be perceived by us, of such an Immaterial Spirit as Mr. M. pretends to be in us. Mr. M. says further, That the knowledge of our own Souls must necessarily go before the knowledge of God. The Observer says, That both by Reason and Revelation, we may, and do attain to a more large knowledge of God, and a greater certainty of his Being and Actions, than Men yet ever have had, or are ever likely to have of the Immaterial Intelligent Soul of Man. P. 73. Mr. M. Quotes a saying of Epicurus, That God is not angry, or pleased with any Men. Which, he says, is a Notion more befitting Sardanapalus than a Deity. This Comment of Mr. M. upon his Quotation, speaks him (in the Observer's Judgement) a Man of a narrow Capacity; and therefore he will endeavour to enlarge his Thoughts upon this Subject. It passes for an accepted Rule, That if the Words of a Speaker or Writer, may fairly and easily be taken in a good Sense, it is a sign of ill Nature, at least, to take them in a bad one.  
To understand the Words of Epicurus, both in a true and a good Sense, Men must reflect with great Observation upon such an Idea as the Scriptures have Revealed, and Reason Teaches to Believe concerning the Being of God. Job 23.3. O that I knew where I might find God, he works round about me, but I cannot perceive him; with what words shall one speak of him? Surely if one speak of him, he that doth so shall even be swallowed up and confounded. We cannot order our Words concerning him, nor have we an Order of Words that can reach him: He has no particular Faculties, Powers, or Parts; but being One and entire, is All in One. Concerning him, Job 40.5. once have I spoken, but I will not Answer, yea twice, but I will proceed no further. This Transcendent Immensity, having no Parts; contained in no Place; affected with no Time; touched with no Passion; filling, and in himself containing all Places and Things; Guiding without Care; Working without Labour; Commanding without Speaking; Compelling without Force; Rewarding without Inclination; Punishing without Provocation; Knowing, Supporting; Supplying and Governing all Things, in all Times and Places at once, with less Motion than that we call nutu aut intuitu; this One, this All, in whom all Things are, what is his Name, and what is his Son's Name?  
Mr. M. has set forth and magnified the Vigour, Velocity and Extent of Man's Imagination and Intellect; but they can by no means extend to utter true and adequate Conceptions concerning this Being: Concerning whom Jobs Friends say, If thou art wicked, what harm dost thou to him? thy righteousness may profit a man like thyself; but it can by no means affect that high Majesty. Man's Goodness or Badness, cannot raise in God either Joy or Grief, Pleasure or Displeasure: He has no more Affections than he has Parts: He's free from all Disturbances, Passions, or Inclinations, acting Justice and Goodness through the whole space of his unconceivable Dominion, resting in his own Clearness, Constancy and Serenity: He distributes throughout the whole Created World those Orders which among us upon Earth, are the effects or products of Pleasure or Displeasure, and distributes Rewards and Punishments without the incitements of Wrath, but by the due and infallible directions of his Justice, Wisdom and Goodness. Men do not choose, or suffer mortal Judges that are inclinable to Wrath, Fear, Pity, Love, or any other Affections: And he that is the Judge of all the World does absolute Right among his Creatures, without Affection, Passion, or Inclination, or any thing like that we call Pleasure or Displeasure amongst Men. P. 75. Mr. M. says, You may tell Men of a future Resurrection and Judgement as long as you will, but if they can stifle Reason so far as to disbelieve the Soul's Immortality; they may far more plausibly deny the Article of the Resurrection: As if he thought the Proof of the Immortality was stronger than that of the Resurrection. To which the Observer Answers, That there is no comparison in the clearness of the Proofs of the Resurrection, and of the Immortality: For that those of the Resurrection are clear and strong throughout? the whole New Testament; but those of the Immortality, are neither positive nor firmly concluding.  
Mr. M. says, Others will say, as the Tree falls so it lies. And the Observer agrees in the Truth of it, that so it must do until the Resurrection, That there is no Device nor Counsel in the Grave; nor any sort of alteration after Death, or between that and the Resurrection; but as the Tree falls so it lies, until that Time, and as Death leaves us so Judgement shall finds us. P. 76. Mr. M. Demands, What good purpose can there be in over-throwing the Immortality, and establishing that of the Resurrection?  
The Observer Answers, The purpose is, to establish Truth, and reverse Error, and to plant Expectation of future Recompenses upon Sound and Rocky Ground, viz. The Doctrine of the Resurrection, which is irrefragable to any that believe the Scriptures.  
Whereas, such an Expectation built upon the sandy Ground of the Immortality, may be overthrown by dint of Reason, and other Scriptures, and therewith, all must fall which has been built upon it, and great will be the fall of it; endangering the whole Doctrine of future Recompenses after the Death of the Person.  
P. 77 Mr. M. says, That the Opinion of the Materiality is directly contrary to the avowed Doctrine of the Church of England. And for Proof thereof, he Quotes Expressions of a Prayer used in the Office of Burial, and those of a Homily, dilating upon the Parable of Dives; neither of which is a positive Proof of our Church's Opinion in this Point, nor so strong a Proof of it, as if it had been asserted amongst the Thirty nine Articles, or in the Church-Catechism, or in their Book of Canons: But he does agree, That it is a good presumptive Proof of the Church's Opinion about it; and he doth also agree, That the general Opinion of the Divines of this Church does stand with, and support the Belief of the Soul's Immortality.  
Mr. M. says, That no honest Materialist, can declare his unfeigned consent to that Prayer Quoted out of the Office of the Burial. And this shall be agreed to him, but proves no more, than that in this particular, the said honest Man may hold his peace at the reciting of that Prayer, and not join with the rest of the Company in it. And Mr. M. says further, That if the Material Opinion be true, the Dissenters from the Church of England should be more in the right, if they scented in this Point also, from the Tenet of our Church. This also shall be agreed to him. Mr. M. says, P. 78. There is no Point of Doctrine wherein the Dissenters differ from the Church of England, so important as this of the Soul's Materiality. To this also the Observer agrees, and says, That he believes all the particular Points of Doctrine wherein the Dissenters differ from the Church of England, are Things of very small moment in themselves, but are blown up by the Wind of Fantasy to the show of a great appearance in the dazzled Eyes of the Dissenters only, and are truly of no real importance to Religion. They seem to ground their Offence upon our Church's observing such outward Modes of Worship, as have too near a compliance and accommodation with those used by the Whore of Babylon: Which Opinion if they will follow in Doctrine as well as Discipline, they must forsake the Opinion of the Immortality; because the Church of Rome do strongly maintain that Opinion, and it has been by a General Council Ordained to be de fide amongst them. Our Church of England does nor require so strict an Adherence to the Points of Doctrine or Discipline maintained by it, as the Church of Rome does; but opens the Bowels of her Compassion to her weak Children dissenting from some particular Parts of her Doctrine or Discipline; provided, they be still willing and ready to acknowledge Her for their Mother, and submit to Her Orders generally, or in Things wherein they have not particular Reasons to the contrary, and especially when they profess a readiness to appeal to Her most considerate Judgement, for the Hearing, or Determining, such Doubts and Scruples, as at sometimes may fall upon them.  
The Observer has already called upon the Bishop of Worcester, assisted by the most Knowing Persons of his Faculty, to produce their Reasons, and give their Judgements in this Point; and if he, and they, shall at present wave the delivery of their Opinions in this Point: He Appeals further to a National Synod, or Convocation, to which he is ever ready to submit his Opinion; with this caution, not to be Determined by a bare Majority of Voices, nor by a less Majority, than Two third Parts of the whole Assembly: As is reasonably observed in the Roman Conclave, and as was pretended to be observed in the Trent-Council, where they said, They did not Determine Points of Doctrine, if a great, or considerable Number of Voices did refuse to consent to the Agreement of the Major Part: But our Dissenters on the contrary, like Froward and very Illnatured Children, do utterly Reject the Authority of their Mother the Church. She like a tender Parent extends her Arms to receive them, sets open the Doors of her Oratories, and calls them to her kind and wont Embraces; exhorting them to enter again into her Communion, with a readiness to forgive all that is past and an inclination to heal or even to bear with their Weaknesses and Infirmities, and their errors of Opinions, in Doctrine or Discipline: Whilst they like Wasps (better furnished with Stings than Honey) seek rather to destroy than cultivate the Hives and Stocks wherein they have been preserved and nourished. They repudiate and disown their own Natural Parent, because they think they discover some spots and wrinkles in the Ornaments of her fine Linen, pudet hoec opprobia vobis, & dici potuisse, & non potuisse refelli.  
Chap. VI P. 79. Mr. M. repeats the Names of Aristotle, Dicearchus and Pliny, mentioned by the Observer in his Quoted Pamphlet, not as a Proof of the Materiality; but to show there was need of better Proof of the Immortality, than Mr. B. had given of it. Mr. M. here further mentions Pherecydes as the first among the Philosophers, who Defended (or Invented) this Doctrine of the Immortality, as before has been observed, and shall here be granted. P. 80. Mr. M. Quotes Pythagoras as Pherecydes' Scholar, and next maintainer of the Immortality. The Observer will mind the Reader of the effect of this Opinion, held by the latter and Learned, from the former, viz. That their sort of Soul had a perfect Pre-existence, before it came into the Body of a Man, and held that same existence after the departure from the Body, whereby it was capable of Animating another Man, Horse, Camel, or Dog, Fish, Fowl, or any other living Creature; and that Souls did continually undergo such changes of Habitations, throughout the World from the beginning of it. This Opinion therefore, the Observer says; aught to be rejected, quia ducit ad absurdum.  
Mr. M. says, Plato Travelled into Italy, to gather Learning out of the School of Pythagoras there, and gathered from thence his Opinion of the Pre-existence of Souls, which he after changed so far, as to conceive, That the Transmigration of Souls was not common to Men and Beasts; but that they went only from one Man to another, and were put into Bodies for Pennances and Purgatories, and were enclosed in them as in Cages or Prisons, which they were desirous to leave with the first opportunity. An Opinion convinced of Falsity and Error by every Man's Daily Experience: Which Proves to us, That there is no Union in the World more Natural, pleasing and desired, than that of Soul and Body, nor whose separation is more grievous than theirs.  
Mr. M. Quotes Dr. More's Verses P. 81. of which no more shall be said; but like Lips, like Lettuce. Mr. M. here further Quotes Plato and Cicero, both which we give up to him as Gross and Erroneous Immortalists. P. 82. He pretends to Quote Socrates, when his Quotation is only what Plato puts into Socrates' Mouth, who in this feigned Dialogue, makes Socrates say what he pleases.  
Mr. M. here gives us Plato's Opinion to the same effect, and near in the same Terms, that the common Opinions of Men now hold it, and hence it seems the Christian Platonists derived it, and delivered it to the Scholars of their Schools, who spread the same accordingly, supported by St. Matthew's Words of cannot kill the Soul: Wording our Saviour's Doctrine according to that Tenet which he believed, and was then common in the World. P. 83. Here he goes still on to deliver such Words as Plato is pleased to put into the Mouth of Socrates. He further Quotes Plotinus' Saying, If we could see the Soul in its own naked Essence, we should not doubt of its Immortality. And this is agreed by the Observer; who therefore desires Mr M. to show us this Soul in its own naked Essence, or tell us by what search we may come to such a Sight of it. His following Words are unpracticable. P. 84. He Quotes Maximus, whose Words shall be left to the World to consider, not believed by the Observer. P. 85. Mr. M. Quotes the Stoics, who say, The departed Souls are turned into Hero's, some good, and some bad. Believe them who list.  
Then he says, out of Seneca, The Humane Soul is a Deity dwelling in a Humane Body. Mr. M. says, This is too high an Expression. (he might as well have said, he knew it to be false.) P. 86. Is Quoted Seneca, who calls the Body the Prison of the Soul. Like a right Platonist, and deriving his Opinions from them. The Reader may consider, Plutarch was an Heathen Philosopher, and likely knew nothing concerning the Resurrection of the Person. Mr. M. here further says, That such Christians may be ashamed, who stand in need of Instructions from a Heathen, concerning the Soul's Immortality. The Observer says, That rather such Christians have reason to be ashamed, who derive their Opinion of the Immortality from Thoughts of Heathen Idolaters, and follow their Instructions concerning it. P. 87. Mr. M. delivers, That the Opinion of the Immortality, was the ground of their Worshipping their departed Hero's. Which was their Idolatry, and one very bad effect of their conceited Immortality. P. 88 Cicero's Words here Quoted, seem fit to be put into Mr. M's own Mouth. If I be mistaken in this Point of the Immortality, I will still maintain it, Error though it be, nor will I be drawn out of this Error as long as I live; because it pleases me, and I am delighted with the apprehension of it. He says further, That the Platonists and Stoics (the earliest maintainers of this Doctrine) speak of the Soul, as if it were an Incarnate Deity. But it is to be hoped, Mr. M. will confess, That they Erred very grossly in it: As the Observer thinks they did in the whole Point of the Soul's Immortality. P. 89. Xenocrates, held, There are future Rewards and Punishments; and that the Soul is imprisoned in the Body. In the First, his Opinion is true; in the Second false.  
P. 90 Mr. M. has before taken hold of the Opinions of Philosophers, believing the Immortality, and thence deriving, their Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls, and the Idolatrous Worship of their departed Hero's: And here he prays Aid of the Poets also, and their Elysium and Barathrums, Old Charon and his Boat, all imagined to be in the Bowels of the Earth: And from such Fables and Fictions, endeavours to support his Opinion of the Immortality; as if it were a sinking Cause that needed support, by catching hold of those Osiers which grow upon the Banks of Cocytus. Mr. M. Demands, Shall any who believe the Gospel, deny the Immortality of the Soul? Yes, says the Observer, any Man who firmly believes the Resurrection of the Person and the last Judgement, may do it: And perhaps, will not be unlikely to fall into a disbelief of this Heathen Immortality. P. 91. Mr. M. Confesses, That Socrates, Cicero and Seneca, his Three great Maintainers of the Soul's Immortality (and he might have said the same of his Master Plato himself) That each of them at divers times did doubt the Truth of this their Doctrine, concerning the Immortality, and were never able to arrive at a certainty or constant Resolution in this Point. And how then can their Disciples hope to do it? He Names Dicaearchus, as derided by Cicero; but he is very highly commended by Pliny, and like a true Disciple of his Master Aristotle, was a strong Defender of that Master's Opinions, and a constant Declaimer against the Soul's Immortality; as was also Hypocrates the most Learned Physician. P. 92. Anaxarchus calling the Body the Prison of the Soul, shows, that therein he Erred with the Platonists.  
For Epicharmus' Saying, it came from the School of Plato, and the Doctrine, That the Souls of dying Men were turned into Hero's, which Mr. M. will not deny to be a false and fallacious Opinion.  
Mr. M. in this Chapter has gone no higher in the derivation of his Opinion, than to the time of Pherecydes, who lived after the return of the Jews from their Babylonish Captivity; which time was less than 600 Years before our Lord's Incarnation, and 1000 Years after the Birth of Moses the Prophet and Lawgiver of the Jews; from whose Writings the Observer pretends to Derive and Prove his Opinion of the Soul's Materiality: Taking the said Soul and Life of the Creature to lie and reside in the Blood of it; as being the Spirits of such Blood, inflamed and glowing, which rise first from the Heart to the Head; where being made lucid, they act the Brain and the Cephaline Organs, and thence are conveyed by the Nerves, Fibres, and Tendons, to all the Muscles, Joints, Members and Parts of the Body: All which, are invigorated and Acted by such glowing Blood, and the Spirits of it, so knownly and apparently; as that where the passage of this Blood is obstructed, so that it cannot arrive at any Part or Member of the Body; that Part withers and becomes useless to the Person, till such Obstructions be removed: And then it may, and often does recover; sometimes to the wonder of those who effect such Cures. We have said before, That the Blood of a Beast cast by Transfusion into the Body of a Man, will Act the Person and all his Faculties of Motion, Sense, Speech and Understanding, in the same manner that his own Blood performed it before, and without any great, or even perceivable difference: Also if the Blood be totally corrupted, or exhausted; the Person must certainly Die, beyond all hope of help or recovery by Humane Art or Knowledge whatsoever: And with this Doctrine, the Text of Moses seems fully to agree, Levit. 17.11. The Life of the Flesh is in the Blood. And I have given it to you upon the Altar, to make an Atonement for your Souls; for it is the Blood that maketh an Atonement for the Soul (or Person) Ver. 13. He that hunts and kills a Beast, or Fowl, shall pour out the Blood thereof, and cover it with Dust; for it is the Life of all Flesh; the Blood of it is for the life thereof: Therefore ye shall eat the Blood of no manner of Flesh; for the life of all Flesh is the Blood thereof. This Doctrine is Registered in a History more Ancient than Moses' time by 500 Years, Gen. 9.4. But flesh with the life thereof which is the blood thereof shall ye not eat; and surely your blood of your Lives will I require at the hand both of man and beast. Whosoever sheds this blood of the life of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the Image of God made he man. And thus we find it Proved by the highest Antiquity, and greatest Wisdom that has been in the World, That Blood is the Life of Man and Beast; so as the Life is conveyed with and by the Blood, to every Part and Member of the Body: Where it comes, it enlivens; and the Part where it cannot come withers and dies: If the Spirits of it fail, the Person grows feeble, and not able to perform any great matter, either Active or Contemplative; till by rest or nourishment, or both, they shall be again restored or recruited: And this is testified by Daily Sensation and Experience. We know these Spirits can Act in this manner Daily and every Day, if thus they be recruited; and if such Recruits fail, the Person waxes feeble and can do nothing, but grow more feeble still to Death, in a short time, for want of Nourishment. What these Spirits do, we are sure they can do, without knowing they have, or need assistance from an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit. Quod fieri potest per pauciora, non debet fieri per plura, & Natura nihil facit frustra.  
Conclude then, we may, That the Blood is the Life of Man; and the inflamed Particles of it, are those admirable fine Spirits, which Act the Person and all his Powers: And when this Flame of Life extinguishes, Man Dies without remedy or possible recovery by Humane Power.  
Chap. VII. P. 93. Mr. M. says, He's obliged in his sort of Civility, to vouchsafe the taking notice of the Observer's Argument. Which he does in a manner suitable to his former Expressions, and perhaps, to his Education and Nature.  
He goes on (according to his usual Civility) and tells the Observer, That he wrangles in the Dark, about he knows not what: Without pleasing to Teach him what he does not know. He says further, That the Observer does not Prove in his Pamphlet, the Soul's perishing with the Body; but say it only.  
The Observer Answers, That the Saying in that Place, was enough to excite Mr. B. to a better Proof of his Assertion of the Soul's Immortality: And for his Ancient and Modern Arguments, which he says are unanswered; the Saying shows, That Mr. M. did not understand the Subject, or Design of that Pamphlet, which he pretends to Answer; there appearing in it no intent to Dispute with Mr. B. but only to excite in him a desire and endeavour better to Prove what he had before Asserted. Mr. M's following Words express no more, but his own Nature and Civility. P. 94. Mr. M. says, That the Observer does not prove the Mortality of the Souls of Beasts. The Observer replies; This was no part of his Undertaking either there, or here, nor does he think it needful to be done any where; because he yet never met with any Man who maintained the Opinion that Brutal Souls have any subsistence after the death of their Bodies; if Mr. M. pretend to think that they so do; he shall here be pointed to Psal. 49.12, & 20. where David compares Men, as good as Mr. M. to the Beasts that perish [utterly.] And his Son Solomon, Eccl. 3.21. seems to know, That the Spirit of a Beast goes downward to the Earth, and he suspects there, that the Spirit of a Man may do so too; allowing little or no difference betwixt Man and Beast in this Point; nor does the Observer know any other difference between them in this Case, save that to Mankind there are certain and faithful Promises and Predictions made of a future Resurrection, at the time of our Lord's coming to Judgement; without mentioning the Beasts, or foretelling any such matters concerning them. Page 95. Mr. M. says, He thinks 'tis easy to demonstrate, That the Souls of Brutes are much more noble than the material Spirits of their Blood.  
The Observer is ready to say, beshrew his Heart for being so unkind as to forbear or neglect, doing the World and the Observer that great Favour which he says might so easily be done, and which the Observer would have accepted as a greater Civility, than any which Mr. M. has hitherto showed him. But Mr. M. it seems is resolved to deny him that Courtesy which he thinks he could so easily have performed. Then Mr. M. proceeds to say, That he is not obliged to encumber his Defence of the Soul's Immortality with such needless Controversies. The Observer replies, That if the Question be needless, why does he quote or argue it? But if very material and needful (as the Observer thinks it to be) why does Mr. M. forsake it in this Place, without driving it through to some such sort of Determination, as he was able to make of it? Mr. M. says further, We are sure that the Humane Soul is much more excellent than the Brutal, because Man can perform more Excellent Things, than the Brutes can do. The Observer says the fame concerning men's Bodies, That they have a more excellent Structure, and apt Organs of Intellect than any sort of Brutes, which together with their extraordinary Instruments of Hands and Tongues, make them able to perform Things, that far exceed the Capacities of Beasts: But if such Hands and Tongues were withdrawn from the Humane Body; some Beasts might equal, or exceed, the Race of Men, in making Provision for their natural Subsistence and Defence, and some other occasions belonging to each of their Natures. Thus Men are advantaged in the Mode and Structure of their Bodies above the Beasts; and yet these Abilities do not prove, That their Flesh, Blood, Bones or Breath, do materially differ from those of the Brutes.  
Whence we argue, That though men's intellectual Faculties do far exceed those of Brutes; yet that advantage does not convincingly prove, That the Spirits which Act them are of a different kind and nature from those Spirits which act the Brutes; but rather, That the different Organs in their Head, where such Things are acted, are the true Causes of those Excellencies wherein Mankind exceed the Brutes.  
P. 96 Mr. M. says, That the Natures of Men are made for higher ends than Beasts, and this the Observer grants to be true. Further Mr. M. says, You carry the Controversy into the Dark. The Observer says, It is his Part to bring it again into the Light, which he pretends all this while to have been doing; but has not yet performed it to his own Satisfaction. Mr. M. tells the Observer, That he abuses his Reason, and will lose the Truth and his Labour together; which Words, the Observer says, may with a more sharp Point be retorted upon Mr. M. himself. P. 97. Mr. M. asks, Must we deny what is plain, because we are not agreed about more remote Difficulties? The Observer Answers No; but desires Mr. M. to make the Soul's Immortality plain, and then there will be no Controversy between them about it. He quotes a Saying out of Tertallian, forbidding Men to inquire into the Secrets of God. The Observer prays Mr. M. to apply this to his many Demands and Questions concerning the Quoniodo, or how Sense and Reason are Acted in Man and Beast, by the intervention and Operation of the Material Spirits in the Heads of either Kind. The Observer has said, That Quoniodo is a Secret yet reserved in the Store-House of God's Knowledge, and hitherto unrevealed to the Sons of Men. Further Mr. M. says, There is yet no satisfactory account given of the Sensitive Perception and Appetite, by reducing them to the Laws of Matter and Motion.  
The Observer requires therefore Mr. M. to give some Satisfactory account of the Production of Sense and Appetite, by the means or intervention of his supposed Intelligent Spirit, which if he do, this Controversy will easily be determined. P. 98. Mr. M. says, That the Animal Spirits and the Brain are principally concerned in the Acts of the Intellect, and therefore the whole Compositum is not concerned. The Observer denies this Consequence, and says, That the whole Compositum is concerned, in Acts of the Intellect as well as in those of the Senses: Prick or Cut the end of the Finger or Toe, the whole Compositum instantly feels the smart, by contiguity of the Spirits and quickness of their Communication. So for the Eye, the Ear, the Taste and the Smell; the whole Compositum is instantly affected, by their pleasing, or disagreeable Objects: So as a quick Smart, a horrid Sight, a piercing Sound, a strong Smell, or a very ill Taste, breed an instant alteration in the whole Compositum; and by any of these the Operation of the Intellect may be disturbed or quite put out of order. Whence it appears, That though the Spirits and the Brain are the Principal Agents for acting the Reason and Intellect; yet the whole Compositum is concerned in every most ordinary Action of the Person; which cannot be performed, or ever was performed, without such a contexture of Soul and Body, as has been before specified. Mr. M. farther says, You must answer all that I have written against the Capacity of these material Corruptible Spirits for the production of such Acts. The Observer replies, That he cannot find where Mr. M. has said any more against the Capacities of such a Contexture, but that he assures himself and believes, That such a Contexture cannot have those Capacities. Whereas the Observer conceives, They have sufficient Capacity to produce and perform all Humane Actions, and Powers, according to the Ordination of God, and the Constitution which he has appointed in the Creation and Fabric of a Man. Mr. M. says further, That his sort of Soul does exert some Actions, without assistance of any corporeal Organs, and that it works upon these Organs, antecedent to any Operation by them. His Assertion, that it works without them, and works upon them seems not at all coherent in itself; for that if it work upon them, and without them, it cannot work by them at the same time. But the Observer does constantly deny, That there is any such Soul as he pretends, viz. an immaterial intelligent Spirit in the Body of any Person naturally: So as he must suppose or beg the Question that there is such a Thing, before he can persuade any Man, that it does, or works any thing at all. P. 99 Mr. M. quotes a Latin Author who took the Immortality of the Soul for granted, but with those that deny the Immortality, his Assertion has no Consequence or Credibility at all. Mr. M. says further, The musical Organ is not conscious of the Harmony produced by it, as the Soul is of its own Acts, (he should have said as the Man is of his own Acts) for if he intent this of his immaterial intelligent Spirit he knows it to be constantly denied by the Observer, who affirms, There is no such Spirit naturally in Man; and concerning the material Spirits, has asserted, That they have no Knowledge or Understanding of what themselves do. So as it is not the Spirits alone, or the Organs alone that can by themselves do any Thing; any more than the Organ-pipes can make Harmony without the Wind, or the Wind of the Bellows without the Pipes; sound and well ordered, in their proper Places where the Artificer has ranked them.  
Further, Mr. M. affirms, That in the Pamphlet which he intended to Answer, the Observer had said, That Matter has a Self-moving Power, and gave instance in some light Earth pulverised and made so apt for Motion, as that it might become near a kin to the Atoms, which Men way perceive moving up and down in the Air continually.  
Mr. M. Does not deny the Propensity which such fine Atoms have to be moved by any gentle touch of Air, or Breath; so as falling into a drop of May-dew, they will rise up in the mixture of that moisture to the very tip of a Grass-Pile, and be ready to drop from it again; as the weight and activity of the moisture shall carry it. Thus the red Earth of which Adam was Created, Pulverised by the Art of the great Machinist, was made apt to be moved, and acted by the inflamed Particles of the Blood, tinded and maintained, by a continual fanning of the Breath: So as this attenuated Dust acted by the Wind and Fire, was then capable by the Ordinance of God, to act all that he has appointed to be done in or by the Persons of Men; all which three Ingredients still act in Humane Persons, all that really can be done by them.  
Page 100 Mr. M. mentions the movable matters of Wind and Fire, but says nothing concerning them that requires or deserves a Reply. Further, Mr. M. says, He does not deny that the inflamed Particles of Blood called Spirits, are the immediate Instruments of the Soul's Operations in its State of Union with the Body. The Observer has oft-ten and constantly denied, That there is such an Intelligent Soul in Man as Mr. M. supposes; and yet he will still go on to suppose that which is still denied, without bringing any full and convincing Proof of the Truth of it. A Thing and Proceeding which the Observer can by no means help: But his Arguments drawn from such Premises have very little Force. P. 101. Mr. M. says, The Observer has objected, That the Soul cannot operate in a separate State; but he quotes no Page of the Pamphlet where he finds this Objection; or in truth, is this Objection to be found in any Part of the foresaid Pamphlet, but is the Progeny of Mr. M's. own Brain; intending to set it up like a Man of Straw, that he may have the battering of it down again at his Pleasure.  
Mr. M. Concludes, That except we better understood what the Soul is, and how it acts whilst united to the Body; we ought not to deny its Capacity of acting in a separate Subsistence. The Observer thinks he should have said, Except we had more certain Knowledge, that there is an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit in the Person, it is mere lost labour to trouble our Heads with the Notions of what such a Soul does do, or can do, in statu concreto, vel separato.  
Chap. VIII p. 103. Mr. M. says, 'Tis an endless work to write against those who will take no notice of what has been said before in the Controverted Point. The Observer replies, That if M. M. knew any Thing that has been said before concerning this Point, that he thinks to be very Material or Convincing; he ought by the Duty of his Undertaking, to make the Observer, and the World (whom he pretends to instruct) acquainted with such material Points of Knowledge; that they might either conform themselves thereunto, or be driven to make such Answers to them, as they shall be able. But we find in this Place an apparent failing in Mr. M. in the precise Point of this Duty. P. 104. Mr. M. would have us strictly to consider, How little Alliance there is betwixt a Thought and any Bodily Thing: He might as well have bidden us consider, How a Horse that eats and drinks, and evacuates every Day for a Year together, should at the Year's end be still the same Horse. The Observer, bears no inclination to trouble his Head about Mr. M's Metaphysical Notions or Proportions, and therefore refuses to consider the Thing propounded, or any of the like Notions. Mr. M. says, That the Notions which we have of the Mind, i. e. something within us that thinks, Reasons and Wills; are mighty different, from any Notions we can fasten upon a Body, i. e. from Mr. M's Notions concerning such Things. But the Observer thinks, There is no such Thing in the Person, as thinks, reasons wills, etc. but says as before with Aristotle, That it is the Man, who thinks, reasons, wills, etc. and that the whole Compositum is concerned in such Actions. Mr. M. says further, That divers who assert the Soul's Immortality, do likewise assert its Materiality, and that divers of the Fathers were of that Opinion. Pag. 105. Mr. M. says, It can never be proved, That so pure, an Essence, as the Soul is, has any natural tendency to Dissolution: He, ought withal to have remembered, That they who deny the Being of such a Soul as he supposes, will never trouble themselves about Arguments, whether it be Corporeal and Mortal, or the contrary. Mr. M. quotes Cicero, who Men have reason to believe was of he same Opinion with himself, and serves him instead of the Proverb ask a Man's Fellow, etc. P. 106. he tells us out of Vives, That Men are ignorant of the Essences of Things, which is granted, and Mr. M. says thereupon, That the nature of Matter is not so well understood, as that the determination of the present Controversy should be supposed to depend upon it. This the Observer is also willing to grant, tho' he does not well understand what the Effects of it may be in this Controversy. He asks further, Shall we talk confidently, about Materiality, or Immateriality, and dispute ourselves into Atheism? The Observer replies, We may talk with a reasonable confidence concerning Materiality and Immateriality without disputing ourselves into Atheism or Sadducism; for the Sadducees denied the Resurrection, and future Recompenses after the Death of the Person, and so do Atheists. So as the Observer is unjusty pointed at as one of their Tribes, tho' he maintain the important Doctrine of the Resurrection; the Happiness of which, and the Dread of it, are to be prepared for, in the time of this Life, by the same means that are required for the obtaining the Happiness of a Blessed Immortality, and avoiding the Pains, and Penalties of a cursed one. Mr. M. endeavours to puzzle his Readers by propounding a hard Question, Whether Matter be divisible ad infinitum, or not? Which the Observer says is nothing to the present Point in question, and therefore he leaves the choice to Mr. M. which side of the Question he will maintain in a Dispute which here makes nothing to the purpose. He asks further, Shall the Immortality of the Soul stand upon so lubricous a foundation, as this is? no such matter. The Observer answers, It has not a foundation so good as this might prove, nor any firm foundation at all either in Reason, or in Scripture, and therefore may be rejected as a vulgar Error. Mr. M. forbids to shift off the Question upon the Words material or immaterial. The Observer answers, He pretends to no such matter, as appears by what he has already said, in answer to Mr. M's Scriptures and Reasons; the only Weapons which he pretends to use in this Controversy, and which are used more at liberty in his  larger Treatise. Mr. M. says, Some great Philosophers have affirmed, That the Soul is more knowable than the Body: He ought to have given us their Reasons, means and manner of attaining such Knowledge, or to have produced something of his own to that purpose; that the Readers might make some judgement concerning the verity of this Assertion. And because he has failed in so doing, his Saying proves very impertinent. He says further, The Substance of our Souls differs so much from any Corporeal thing, that it may well enough be called immaterial. This he has Brass enough to say in the Face of a Man who he knows utterly denies, That it has any Substance at all. And places it as an ens rationis, whose Substance and Existence consists in Notion, and Opinion only; and this he does without proving or offering to prove, any thing concerning the quod sit, or the quid sit of it. The last Words of this Chapter may justly be put into the Mouth of Mr. M. qui plus praestare potest praestet. There is great need of some other men's Labours to supply the weak Pretences and performances of Mr. M. in this Chapter.  
Chap. IX Seems not directed to the Observer or those who go upon the Grounds of Scripture or Reason, but to Persons of vicious Practices, so powerfully as to be overruled in their Judgements by their own bad Inclinations which may happen too often; but are a mistake and uncharitable Censure, in this case; if they be intended to prove any thing in the present Question, and upon the Party now maintaining his part of the Question in this Treatise disputed. Pag. 110. Mr. M. says, The design of those Men who oppose the Soul's Immortality, is to persuade themselves and others that it dies with the Body, and shall not be called to an account for its unnatural self-debasement. The Observer answers, That the Soul single and separate shall not be called to an Account, he believes for no other end, but because he thinks it to be the very Truth, and without any other design, but that only of maintaining the certainty of a future Account, and Judgement, wherein every Man shall give and yield a full reckoning of his Stewardship, and the Talents which were committed to his Administration, wherein his smallest Actions shall be considered, and an Account given for every offensive and idle Word; many of which may possibly arise to magnify Mr. M's Account, from the Records of his present Treatise. He quotes Vives, again, who makes every jot as much for the Observer, as for himself. Mr. M. says further: Some thinking Persons of a sober Conversation, may so far affect singularity in Opinions to make themselves more taken notice of, as to maintain the Mortality of the Soul upon that Account. The Observer thinks it enough in him to deny this Charge, being well assured of the error and falsehood of it, and that Mr. M. can never bring a shadow of Proof by which it may be annexed to the Person or Intent of the Observer. Whence the Reader may cast it upon Mr. M. as a bold, and unproved Calumny. P. III. He says, Men would not have their Souls to be immortal, for fear of a future Punishment for their Crimes. The Observer answers, They are apt to deny a Resurrection for the same reason. Mr. M. says further, Be not overfond of the present Conceits, it becomes you to suppose that you may be mistaken, because many (as wise Men) have been so mistaken before you. The Observer turns the point of this Direction upon Mr. M's own Face, and bids him follow that Direction which he gives to others. P. 112. Mr. M's Direction in this Page is very good, and deserves to be well followed by himself; who has no other advantage to exempt him from it but the commonness of his own Opinion, which is no certain Proof of the Truth of it; for that some like mistakes have long since prevailed in the world, to as great an Universality. Mr. M. further says, 'Tis a matter nearly concerns you to know whether your Souls be immortal, or no? The Observer agrees it to be a matter of great concernment for Men to think right in this matter, lest their Expectations should be deceived on either side; and therefore he has pursued the Search of it, to the best of his Abilities, and writ this Pamphlet which Mr. M. now pretends to answer with Design to excite Mr. B. to the performance of his Promise, to prove the Soul's Immortality; hoping to draw some light from his Writings concerning the certainty and truth of it. Mr. M. has thrust himself into this Dispute, pretending in this Treatise, to make a good performance of Mr. B's Promise in fully proving such an Immortality. Whether he has well performed his Undertaking or not, shall be left to the Judgement of such as read, and consider what thereupon has been said on both sides. And Lord give us Understanding well to consider, and resolve according to Truth in this Question. P. 113. Mr. M. says, If after all this pains you have taken to make yourself believe the Mortality of the Soul, you find yourself mistaken. The Observer answers, He has taken no pains at all to make himself believe it so, and yet after the Search he has made he is convinced that most probably it is so, and has no Fears upon him from it being otherwise: For that he makes the same Provision for a happy Resurrection, as he would do for a happy Immortality, and puts no difference between them in respect of humane Endeavours; believing that which will gain the one, will gain the other, and what will lose the one, will lose the other: But he thinks the Resurrection to be far better proved, more undoubted and certain than the Immortality is, that therefore the first is founded upon a Rock, and the other but upon Sand, or bare Ground at the best: And therefore he builds his Faith, and reliance upon the Resurrection, and believes concerning the Immortality, That it is an Error, or a Possibility so uncertain, as no Man reasonably should rely upon it. P. 114. Mr. M. says, The best way to know that he Soul is Immortal, is to keep its Noblest Faculties in due Exercise. The Observer replies, That he has endeavoured as much as in him lay so to do; but found an Effect thereof quite contrary to Mr. M's Assertion, viz. That the more he read, laboured and pondered thereupon; the more he has been hitherto confirmed in the Opinion of the Soul's Mortality; and even the weak Arguments Mr. M. has produced in this Treatise of his, for the Proof of the contrary, have added some strength to that Opinion, which he had before received, as the Effect of his former Endeavours in this kind. P. 115. Mr. M. says, We should seek Truth for its own sake, and to be thereby better enabled for the service of God: And then he says, We may better expect Afflatum divini numinis. The Observer says, He has done the one, and hopes he has received some measure of the other, so as Mr. M's rash and indiscreet Censures make no Impression at all on him; nor he hopes will do upon any Intelligent Readers of his present Treatise thus answered. Further, Mr. M. directs to lay down the most plain and certain Truths first, and so ascend gradually to those that are more difficult; trying those Things that are uncertain, by those that are clear and certain. The Observer may here justly reproach Mr. M. for his not observing the Rules which he has here laid down; for that in his pretences of proving the Soul's Immortality, he has not produced so much as one Experiment or Rule, that is clear and certain; which the Observer thinks he did not omit through negligence, but because he could find no Experiment, or certain Rule, from whence he could raise Arguments, for the proof of his Immortality. Mr. M. says further, There are many puzzling Questions concerning his sort of Soul, viz. concerning its unde, its Union with the Body, its moving of it, and direction of the Spirits, its different mode of Operation in a separate State and its reunion at the Resurrection. The Observer replies, That all these Questions become frivolous to those that accept the Opinion of the Soul's Extinguishment at the Death of the Person, which fully silences them all, and proves them needless, and somewhat ridiculous; and that is the best and surest Solution that can be given of them altogether. Mr. M. says further, We must not deny the Formation of a Child, because we know not how 'tis made. The Observer agrees this; because Sensation and Experience, prove there is a Child. Let Mr. M. prove by Sensation, Experience, or other Ways, That there is such a Soul in Man, as he pretends to, and then he shall have leave to dispute, de modo formationis, as he pleases: But to dispute de modo of a Thing which is not granted, or proved to have a Being; must pass for a Dispute, de lana caprina, or as of a Thing not extant in the World. He says further, The Soul it Fettered in the Body. But this the Observer utterly denies, and avers, That the Contexture of the Soul and Body, is naturally and ordinarily the most amicable, and pleasing Conjunction in the World, and their Separation is ordinarily one of the most terrible Actions that befalls Mankind, and that it was a most gross Error in Plato, and those that follow him, to think otherwise. P. 117. Mr. M. says, Atheism and Sadducism spring both from the same Root, and must be attacked together. The Observer answers, That his tacking Atheism, and Sadducism together, prove, That they who believe the Resurrection, are neither the one nor the other; whatsoever Mr. M. may fancy. Mr. M's Demands concerning the Making and Governing the World, are very frivolous and needless in this Question, or to be demanded of the Observer, who has often ascribed the Creation of Man, and all other Creatures to God, and has acknowledged his Providence upon all Occasions; so as those Questions, and those which follow them, are left by the Observer, as a Fruit of Mr. M's florid Speaking, but in our present Dispute somewhat insipid, and of no concernment at all. P. 119. Mr. M. says, That Epicurus and his Followers, said, That the World was not Created by God, nor Governed by his Providence. The Observer demands, Quorsum haec? & quorsum sic? What makes all this to the Immortality of the Soul? or the Observer's Opinion concerning it? It shall therefore be passed as nothing to the purpose, nor deserving any Answer, nor needing any, as it is produced upon this Occasion. P. 121. Mr. M. demands, Dare you take God's Name in vain, or vilify his Works to his dishonour? You may flatter and befool yourself for a while; what will you do in the end thereof? How dismal will the Thoughts of Eternity be to you in the last Hour? How severely will Conscience pay you home for all the Tricks and Abuses you put upon it? The Observer replies, That if a Man should judge Mr. M. by those Expressions it seems they might judge him the very Spaun of Satan, whose proper Office it is to bring false Accusations against the Servants of God, and slander them with such Things as they were never guilty of, or intended to be so. His Demand, Dare you take God's name in vain? Or vilify his Works to his dishonour? Seems pregnant with an Affirmative, That the Observer dare do such Things. And if it be so taken, it is a slanderous Surmise, and as false as any Thing that his Father could suggest to him. The Devil himself was more fine in his Suggestions against Job, which procured that Holy Man a severe Conflict, and a terrible Trial. Upon which the Observer will make no other return, than that which the Angel made to Satan, in the case of Joshua, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; the Lord that hath pleasure in the prosperity of his Servants, rebuke thy lying lips, and thy deceitful tongue: What reward shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Even mighty and sharp arrows, with hot burning Coals, who puttest forth the horns of a Lamb, but speakest with the voice of a Dragon. P. 122. He goes on with divers such Calumnious, Questions pointing at the Observer, who utterly denies all the Charges laid against him in those Pages, and says, They are false and feigned, and defies his false Accuser, demanding the Proof of any one of them, which if this vile Railer cannot, or do not produce; the Observer hopes he will pass among his Readers, for a false Slanderer, and Condemner of the Innocent. P. 123. He talks of turning our Eyes in upon our Souls. The Observer demands of him, whether he ever did so, and that he will tell the World what evidence of his Soul followed upon his so doing: It seems just none at all, or else he's very faulty in not declaring the same to the World. He says, That as the Soul is separated from the Body by Death; so in Contemplations we must abstract it from Corporeal Commerce. The Observer says, This must needs pass for Gibberish and Nonsense, with one who denies the Subsistence of Souls, in a State of separation from the Bodies. Here he Quotes Pythagoras, pretending Men should desire Death, That their Souls might be delivered from the Prisons of their Bodies, and some in those times killed themselves, that their Souls might the sooner obtain their Liberty: And thus this apprehension became a Doctrine of Devils, and it seems the present Opposer now thinks it cannot well be maintained without the Practice of Devils, viz. lying and slandering. P. 124. He says, Their Bodies are an hindrance to them in searching after Truth. The Observer says, Souls can make no Searches after Truth at all, nor do any other Thing without their Bodies; nor can he, or any other Man prove, That they ever did so, or can do so. He says; After Death and not before, the Soul will subsist without the Body. Here he denies what some of his Partakers affirm, That the Soul sometimes wanders from the Body, and after some time returns to it again. But all with a great probability of Falsehood, both in the one case, and in the other: It seems he matters not how meanly he begs the Question, when he uttered his last Position as it were ex Cathedra; pronouncing that as an undoubted Truth, which he well knows his Opponent fully denies, and how weakly himself has, offered at the poof of it. P. 126. He says further, That if men follow the practice of a good Life they will soon be convinced, that their Souls are Immortal, and not such earthly material Things, as you are ready to imagine. The Observer Replies, That the Evidences of a good Life, are well known to himself, and as evident to the World, as any thing Mr. M. can produce for himself; and yet he does not find himself the more persuaded of the Truth of the Soul's Immortality, nor believes it, ever the whit the more, for the false Suppositions and Pretensions, which are made for it by Mr. M. in this Treatise: But rather is confirmed in the contrary Opinion by those deceitful, and false Courses, which the Opponent is driven to use, for the support and maintenance of his Opinion. P. 127. The Opposer speaks Of Divine Raptures and Anticipations of the Soul's Immortality while they are in this World. All which the Observer thinks to be as well founded as Castles in the Air, which are only Products of Fantasy, and vanish with the mere change of the Apprehension. The Adversary says further, That if your Fantasy be right placed, you will be apt to acknowledge the Natural Image of the Deity, which is antecedent to the Knowledge of God. The Observer Answers, That the Image of God in Man, is not in any single Part or Portion of him; but that the whole Man is the only Image of God; for that in the Image of God made he Man, without any more respect to his Soul than his Body, which are both together the wonderful Work of God; and so great a Wonder to Immortalists, as they can by no means believe, That God has Wisdom and Power enough, to produce Sense and Understanding in the Humane Person, by the Energy and Activity of Material Spirits; but that of necessity he must be driven, to use the subservience of an immaterial Intelligent Spirit for those purposes: And this shall be left upon them as a very gross Mistake and Error of their Minds. Our Adversary says further, That there are a World of Spirits Malignant, and such at seek the ruin of mankind, and carry on a Warfare against God, and his Interest and Religion in the World. That such Spirits there are, the Observer does not deny, and that prompted by the malignity of their own Natures, they carry on a War against true Religion, and the Happiness of Man, he grants; but that they do War against the Interest of God, or can do it, he confidently denys, and says, That they have no power to act or effect any thing, without the Permission, Licence, or Direction of that Omnipotent Being, known to us by the Name and Term of God. The Adversary says, Those Spirits know well enough, that the Souls of men are Immortal, Cujus Contrarium, the Observer says, est verum, and saith farther, The Evil Spirits take no pains at all to destroy the Soul, but the Man, of whose contexture the Soul is but Part, and such a Part as extinguishes at the Death of the Person. P. 128. The Adversary says, you may read from divers Authors there named, that there are good Spirits which watch over Men, for their guidance and preservation. The Observer says, This needs no Proof from his named Authors, for that the Scriptures do testify abundantly for the Truth of it. P. 129. The Adversary discourses concerning Apparitions of dead Persons, and delivers divers Historical Relations upon that Subject. The Observer does not deny, That divers such like Apparitions may have been, jussu, aut permissu superiorum, and that such Apparitions have taken upon them the Image or likeness of the dead Persons: But he places all that sort of Apparitions, to the account of inferior separate Spirits, ready to execute what shall be appointed them in that kind. What is in this Place quoted out of Baronius, the Observer imputes either to mere Invention, or otherwise conceives it to have been a lying Relation of one of those Malignant Spirits. What he relates there from Glanvil, concerning a Major and a Captain, may better pass for a Truth; because the tenor of it agrees with what the Observer has before said concerning such Things, who always Established, That such Apparitions are not acted by the Souls of Men already dead; but by inferior separate Spirits, subsisting by themselves, and which never were united to the Persons of Men. P. 130. The Adversary says, Men may find nobler things in the World than Matter and Motion to entertain themselves with. This Assertion the Observer thinks to savour strongly of Ignorance and Falsehood; especially, because he mentions no Particulars of such Things, of which he ought to have given some Instances, and for want thereof, the Observer concludes him true to his Principles of Boldness and Ignorance. He quotes here the Names of Authors, as Plato, Plotinus, Epictetus, Cicero, Senecae, Antoninus, which it is likely may have drawn him to the Belief of the Soul's Immortality, or confirmed him therein: But their Opinions weigh not much with the Observer, who in his Pamphlet upon Mr. B's Sermon, propounds to decide this Controversy by the sole assistance of Scripture and Reason. The Adversary pretends to flourish with Names and Quotations of many Author, rather to create an Opinion of his own Reading, than because they were needful, or useful in this Disputation; a Practice purposely avoided by the Observer, as being apt more to perplex and lengthen the Argument, than to shorten, or come close up to it, and the Particulars of it. The Adversary says, If you believe that God regards the Affairs and Actions of Mankind, then look unto him for light in this matter, and he that so seeks after the Truth is in a very likely way to find it. The Observer Replies, Physician Cure thyself: If thou hadst hearty pursued the course here directed, it is very probable, That God might have preserved thee from uttering and publishing such false and slanderous Calumnies as are inserted in thy Treatise, leveled and discharged against an Innocent Person, whom thou knowest not, not ever hast heard any Man speak so of him; much less that thou art able to prove any one of those Slanders which thou hast heaped upon him, and for which he leaves thee to the lashes of God and thine own Conscience, and to the judicious and Rational Censure of thy Readers.  
Chap. X P. 131. To the beginning of this Chapter the Observer thinks fit to annex an old English Proverb, Let the Geese beware when the Fox Preaches: For that although many of these Things which he says may be true, according to the practice of an Old Father, Obscuris vera involvens; yet they are all spoken with intent, to persuade and induce the Belief of an Erroneous Doctrine.  
P. 132 The Advers. says, If I believed such Things as the Soul's Immortality I should use the greatest care, and diligence to be Holy. The Observer applies this to the certain and firm Doctrine of the Resurrection; which all Christians do profess to believe. He says, This Doctrine requires as great Endeavours and striving by way of Preparation for it, as that of the Soul's Immortality can do, and is much better founded, and assured than that is; and therefore he advises all Christians to take it more into their Considerations than they formerly have done. The new Doctrine of the Immortality has in a great measure shouldered out that of the Resurrection: And indeed, if the former were certain and true, there would be little need of the latter among Christians. Persons after the Resurrection are likely to live upon the New Earth, and under the New Heaven, which will doubtless be a very happy State; but if it be compared to the Heaven of Heavens, and Throne of God, whether they say, Good Souls repair at the Death of the Person; the Joys of the Earth can come in no Competition with the Joys of Heaven; which those separate Souls must then forsake, and come to live upon Earth again in their Bodies, though Glorified; plainly such a Change as those Souls must make, at the Resurrection of the Persons, is more likely for the worse, than for the better: Whereas the Doctrine of the Resurrection intends a completing of the Happiness of Man, and bringing it to its highest degree, and Perfection; as has always been expected and desired by the Church as the highest Happiness the Nature of Man is capable of. For Proof of this he quotes Joh. 6. our Lord there four times over, says, Those that believe and serve him, shall be raised up at the last day. And at his Departure he tells his Disciples, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, ye may be also. Without saying any thing of an intermediate State: It runs through all the Gospels, that at the Resurrection the Angels shall come and sever the Good from the Bad; preserving the one sort, and destroying the other. Our Lord in Judgement says, Come ye Blessed, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, and Go ye Cursed into Everlasting fire. Not return ye Blessed to Heaven, from whence ye came; nor return ye Cursed to the Flames of your former Fire. But they are both to go to new Places, where they had not been before, 1 Cor. 15.1. 1 Thess. 4. Paul in both these Chapters, Treats professedly concerning the future State of Man after Death, and builds the whole strength of future Recompenses upon the Doctrine of the Resurrection only, without mention of, or pointing to any Thing concerning the Soul's Immortality. So Hebr. 11.35. Christians then suffered cheerfully in expectation of a better Resurrection. He also prays that Onesephorus might find mercy in the Last Day. And tells Timothy, That a Crown of Glory was laid up for him against that Day. And so for all other true Christian Believers. And the Observer saith, That of all the Texts of Scripture quoted for the Immortality, not one of them is delivered in a Place where the future State of Man after Death is particularly discoursed of, or intended to be taught, except what the Parable of Dives may have of that Nature. Hence the Observer concludes, That the Doctrine of the Resurrection is the main and Rocky Foundation, upon which the Expectation of future Recompenses, can safely be builded, and therefore he leaves the Immortality to those who think they find better Ground for it, than he hath yet been able to perceive or attain to.  
P. 133 The Advers. says, If you believe your Souls to be Immortal, take care to secure your eternal interest by a good course of life. The Observer says, If you hope for a happy Resurrection, you must take the same Course; and to his other Saying and Quotations here, the Observer applies them all to the Resurrection, which is most certain, whatsoever the other may be.  
P. 134 He asks, What will make amends for the loss of their Immortal Souls. The Observer asks, What will make amends for their unhappy Resurrection and Condemnati-at the Last Judgement. The Advers. says further, You must labour to understand what it is must make your Souls happy, if ever they be so. The Observer says, They are never like to be happy or miserable without the Body, and therefore labour to obtain a safe and happy Resurrection of them both.  
P. 135 He says, That men's souls will tell them something if they take them apart, and freely converse with them. The Observer wishes he had told us some matter of Fact concerning himself, or some other Man, who had taken his Soul apart, and so conversed with it; without which, all he says here, is but Amusement, intending to make Men suppose, Their Souls may be, taken apart from their Bodies, which would truly be the Destruction of them both; for that the Person only consists in the Contexture of them both. Further, the Advers. says, That the Immortality is suitable for the Nature of the Soul. The Observer denies, That the Soul has any Nature, except only in Contexture with the Body; and the Delights here the Advers. speaks of, are only agreeable to his own Fancy, and such as adhere to his Opinion, who may with him fancy themselves conversing with Spirits, or the like fruits of their own Imaginations, which Men easily give themselves up unto who are apt to follow the Dictates of their own Fancy.  
P. 136 He exhorts his Followers to exercise themselves in the Contemplation of a Deity, till correspondent Impression be wrought upon their own Spirits, transforming them into the same Image. The Observer thinks he gives his Followers a piece of dangerous Counsel to imitate the high Ecstasies of St. Paul, in his Extraordinary Raptures, and Revelations: For that they catching at the Words without understanding the true sense and meaning of them, or the design of their Delivery; are apt to run into great Errors of Fancy, and pretending to make themselves like God, become in such Applications, more extravagant and vain, than the more sagacious sort of Beasts that perish; not understanding what they say, or whereof they affirm: And as one of that sort the Advers. shall here be left, The Blind to lead the Blind, till both fall into the Ditch.  
P. 138 He says, The Immortal Spirit may be starved for want of Food. The Observer says, The Souls of Men may be so for want of their Meal, Malt, or their other Nourishment, which it is every Man's Duty to provide for them (to their Power) in due Seasons, and Distances of Time, which may require the same. The Advers. says further, What if God  this had sent you into a Place where the Immortality of the Soul is better known. The Observer says, He ought to have named his Place, and proved that there is such a Place in rerum Natura, before he pretend his Immortal Soul is better known in any Place, than it is here. But it seems his Place, and his Soul, are both of a Piece, subsisting more in Imagination, than in Reality. We may consider the use of such a Place: If truly such a Place there be, wherefore should it have been provided. Dr. Sherlock in his Book of the Last Judgement, has well proved, That the Devils are not yet in Hell. The Advers. himself says, That the Malevolent Spirits wander in the World, and sometimes converse with the People in it. Which is Evidence, That they are not presently in Hell. St. Peter and St. Judas, tell us, That the Devils expect their Punishment, after a Condemnation at the Last Judgement, which they believe and tremble at. The Revelations express, That there was War in Heaven, Michael and his Angels fought there, with the Dragon, and the Dragon fought and his Angels, but they were vanquished, and cast out of Heaven. Which was done but a very short time before the Consummation, or Last Judgement. Whence it seems reasonably inferrible, That the Devils are yet not only out of the Verges of Hell; but that they are at some Liberty in the World, and make sometimes their Progress unto Heaven. Whence there seems no need of a present Hell for the Punishment of Devils, and for the Separate Souls of Wicked Men: There is as little present need of it, for that in Truth there seems to be no such Thing in the World, as a Humane Soul subsisting in a State of Separation after the Death of the Body. Whence if there should be at present such a Place as Hell, it must remain utterly unfurnished, empty and void, which would not be a natural way of Proceeding, Quia natura nihil facit frustra. So as the Discourses, of Separate Souls going to Hell, seem rather a Bugbear than a Verity. But to this Men reply, If there be no fear of Punishment before the Resurrection, bad Men mill grow more bold in their Wickedness. This the Observer does not grant, but believes, That they, who will not care for the dread of a cursed Resurrection, will not be persuaded by the pretence of an immediate Immortality; a Truth which daily Experience confirms to us. The Distance of Time between Death, and the Resurrection, how great so ever the same may appear to Living and Sensible Persons; is not accounted of by the Dead, nor is any Thing dead more Sensible of its passing, than the Urn or Stone is, wherein the Dead Man's Ashes, or Dust are enclosed: Whence they rise as but newly fallen asleep, without any Sense or Perception of what has passed over them. So that Sensibly and Effectually to them, no Time has passed over them at all. But their Death and Resurrection follow one another immediately, without their perceiving that any intermediate Time, has passed at all between them: But after the Resurrection and Last Judgement past, at the Creation of the New Heaven, and Earth, we read, There shall be a Hell also contrived, Isa. 66.22, 23. After God had made the New Heavens, and the New Earth, those raised to a Happy State, shall go forth and look upon the Carcases of the Men that have transgressed against me: For their Worm shall not die, neither shall their Fire be quenched. So Revel. 20.24. Death and Hell, delivered up the Dead which were in them, and every Man was judged according to his Works; and Death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire; and every one that was not found written in the Book of Life, was cast into the Lake of Fire. (Viz.) Such as were Condemned at the Last Judgement. At which time God creates a New Heaven, and a New Earth without a Sea; but with a Hell, for the Punishment of Condemned Creatures. Chap. 21.14. Blessed are they who stand acquitted at that Judgement, for that they may enter in through the Gates into the City, and have right to the Tree of Life: For without are Dogs, and Sorcerers, and Whore-mongers, and Murderers, and Idolaters, and whosoever loveth, and maketh a Lye. And such as follow the old Satanical Rule, Audacter calumniare & aliquid haerebit. Among which number the present Adversary shall have a prime Place given, him by the best and truest Judgement which the Observer can make in this Case.  
Pag. 140 the Adversary quotes a Poet, some of whose Verses are fit for this Place: 
Think, lastly, on the World's great Doom,  
When guilty Souls must to an Audit come,  
A far more heavy Reckoning than e'er  
You met with here.   
P. 142 The Adversary says, Men (of the best Reasons) will esteem our strongest Reasonings, as the Leviathan does Iron or Brass, but as rotten Straw and rotten Wood The Observer grants he is very much in the Right in this Expression; but when he adds, If he should happen to convince them (of which there is little likelihood) he thinks their Lusts would prevail against his Arguments and their Convictions. In this the Observer says he is True Blue, and continues very uncharitably and malevolently Censorious.  
P. 143 The Power of Christianity is scarcely consistent with a dividing, censorious, uncharitable Frame and Disposition. Hence the Observer infers, That the Adversary has very little of the Power of Christianity in him; for that the latter Part of his Treatise is full of censorious, uncharitable Expressions, without any Truth in there, or Provocation to them, but proceeding rather from his own natural Inclination and Practice, perfectly Pharisaical; which was, to dignify and magnify themselves by vilifying and despising other Men. Upon which Practice, Meekness itself was whetted to use sharp Expressions. Our Lord says, Mat. 23.33. Ye Serpents, ye Generation of Vipers, how can ye escape the Damnation of Hell? Ch. 12.36. I say unto you, That every idle World that Men shall speak, they shall give Account thereof in the Day of Judgement. What then is like to become of the Adversary at that Day, concerning his many idle, uncharitable, censorious, false Expressions, purposely delivered in this Treatise, without any just Provocation given him for so doing. May not our Lord's Words be reasonably applied to this Person, Thou Serpent, thou Generation of a Viper, how canst thou escape that Damnation of Hell which, after the Day of Judgement, shall be made ready to receive, not the Souls of condemned Persons, but their Souls and Bodies together, into everlasting Burn, where the Worm dyeth not, and the Fire is not quenched. If Practice has made this Course so habitual to thee, as that thou canst not forbear the Usage of it; yet oughtest thou to be careful to confine it to thy own Flock or Herd, who probably are much used to it, illa te carcere regnare, sit tibi satis. Be thou therefore advised to follow thine own Trade within the proper Sphere of its Activity, and be guided by the old Rule, Ne suitor ultra crepidam. Solomon directs Men to take care of their own Flocks and their own Herds; and St. Paul forbears to judge them that are without: And yet if the Adversary thought himself obliged to contend for the Truth against those who are without his Precinct, he ought however to have done this modestly, tho' earnestly; and therein to have avoided those contumelious Expressions which he has frequently used; especially all Injuries and false Aspersions laid upon his Opponent, contrary to the clear Truth and the Civility of Manners which ought to be used by Men of his Profession, not to name his Calling; for that it does not appear whether he has any, or no.  
P. 144 The Observer demands of the Adversary, Is this Course, which he has followed, to imitate the Innocence of little Children? Is this to demonstrate we are Christ's Disciples, by loving one other? Or is it not rather to proclaim to the World that he knows not what Spirit he is of? May his Readers not have a just Cause of Suspicion, that such Fruits are earthly, sensual and Devilish. The Adversary says further, That the Love born to one another is the best Badge of Christianity, acting thereupon like Rowers in a floating Vessel, who look one way and row another.  
P. 145 He speaks of such who would hear God's Words, but not do them. What shall then his Judgement be who will speak, but neither the Words of God nor those of civil Persons amongst Men. The Adversary speaks of many good Duties Men may be able to perform; to which he should have added, That wise and good Men are able to bear patiently with other Men, who may fall into such Oversights as they may think to be Weaknesses and Errors without reproaching and reviling them upon those Accounts; remembering St. Paul's Admonition, Take heed to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.  
P. 146 he quotes divers Texts of Scripture, good in themselves, without any of his Comments upon them. We read Matt. 4. Texts of Scripture used by the old Serpent in his Temptation of Christ; and we meet with like Things in divers other Places of Scripture; and that Satan can change himself, and is apt to change himself, into an Angel of Light, thereby to deceive and misled such as he can persuade to hear and follow him.  
P. 147 He says, It is no easy Matter to be a Christian indeed. The Observer grants it; and that the Adversary's present Treatise is a good Proof of it.  
P. 149 He says, (meaning it is likely, concerning his own Congregation) That there are many who know not what Regeneration means, nor the other ordinary Duties belonging to the Christian Religion; and if they be asked concerning them, cannot answer Three Words of Sense about them. The Observer replies, That in the Catechism of the Church of England the Doctrines necessary for the Salvation of Men are well delivered and specified, and that all devout Members of that Church are taught and required to learn the same Memoriter, and are daily taught in their Churches the Sense and Meaning of those Articles and all other Doctrines, contained especially in the New Testament; So as that if there be not great Fault and Defect, either in the Teachers or the Hearers, either one or both of them; the People of our Church cannot be so ignorant as he pretends Men commonly are, so as not to know the Water of Baptism is the Laver of Regeneration; the Catechism teaching them, That by Baptism they are regenerated and engrafted into the Church of Christ, and are thereby directed and enabled for dying to Sin, and to be Partakers of a new Birth unto Righteousness; the Benefits of which are, to be made a Member of Christ, and an Inheriter of the Kingdom of Heaven: And in Prosecution of that Design, Men are thereby directed to forsake the Devil and all his Works, believe the Articles of the Christian Faith, and keep God's Holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the same all the Days of their Lives.  
P. 150 The Advers. does here wish to know many fine and curious Questions and Things concerning Angels and the future State of separate Souls. The Observer thinks all his Conceit and Fancy thereupon to be vain and unedifying, or else to be frivolous and false. What he talks of the Angels, is vain and utterly unknown to him; what he pretends to know of Souls, is false and frivolous. He demands further, Can ye believe two States so vastly different hereafter (as a happy or cursed Resurrection) and yet not consider there must be some suitable Preparatiens made whilst we are here, for avoiding the one and obtaining the other. The Observer assures himself, There are very few Men who believe in that manner, except they may be such as are of the Advers. own Education. The Advers. says He has set a Description of Heaven before his Reader; meaning, it seems, such a Heaven as men's Souls go to presently upon the Death of the Person. The Observer replies, That he finds no Description of that or any sort of Heaven in this his Treatise; and for Souls going thither at the Death of the Persons, he, and all they who read our Writings, cannot but know that it is the very Point in Question: And for him to think that any Body will be led away, by his presumptuous taking his Part of the Question for granted Truth; seems to be a Folly and Vanity suitable to the rest of his Deportment throughout this Treatise.  
P. 152 The Advers. says, In many Things we shall be in the Dark, without the Assistance of supernatural Revelation. The Observer says, There is a Sufficiency of supernatural Revelation in the Scriptures of God for the bringing Men a happy Resurrection, and a blessed State after it: But for our better Illumination the Advers. citys a Sentence out of Porphyry, who was as great an Opposer of Christianity as any he could have named; being a bare Platonist, and no more: To this he adds the Names of Plato and Socrates, pretending to collect thence a more lofty Strain for his Imaginations to work upon, than those which are delivered in Holy Writ; and spares not to quote the Devil's Oracles in Confirmation of his own fantastical Ideas, nor the Sibylline Verses dictated usually by a Spirit of the like nature. The Advers. says, That the great Heathen Lawmakers pretended to take Help of Spirits and Daemons for the Inventing and Establishing their Laws. From which Example, perhaps, he may intent to derive a Confirmation of his Opinion, That there are other supernatural Revelations to be expected at this Day, for men's Guidance and Direction in their Religion, than those that are delivered us in Holy Scripture. Which is an Opinion rejected by the Observer, and not received by the Reformed Christian Churches. After this Train of Heathen Oracles and Spirits, the Adversary returns again to the Holy Scriptures, as if he pretended to add some Credit or Authority to them, by the Testimony of his Commendations; which they neither need, nor can his Credit any way extend to the advancing of their Reputation; Men knowing it is rather a Disgrace than an Advantage, to be praised or commended by a slanderous Tongue. But those Records are so Sacred, that they can suffer no Disadvantage by any Man's Commendations or Discommendations, but stand fixed and firm as Pillars and Foundations of the Christian Faith; not enduring to be compared with the Fictions of idle Oracles, Philosophic Daemons, or Poetical Inventions, nor with the Miracles or Enthusiasms of the Romish, Mahometical or Fanatical Imaginary Revelations. There can be no reasonable Comparison of such Vanities with the Text of Holy Scripture; and therefore whatsoever the Advers. pretends to say to that Purpose, seems a great Piece of Vanity in him, and an idle Employment of his Time.  
P. 155 The Advers. says, If you believe, that the Soul is Immortal, be not overfond of the Body. The Observer replies, If you believe the Resurrection and the Last Judgement; be not so fond of the Body, or any thing else, as thereby to be drawn out of the way of endeavouring to make your Calling and Election sure, 2 Pet. 3.10. The Day of the Lord shall come as a Thief in the Night, in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great Noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat; the Earth also, and the Works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness; looking for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwells Righteousness. Wherefore seeing ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in Peace, without Spot, and Blameless. St. Paul, 1 Thess. 4.13. directs, That they should not sorrow for their dead Friends, as if they were without Hope, concerning them. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again; so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him, and they shall be raised at the Sound of the Trumpet, and the Voice of the Archangel. He does not tell his Proselytes, That their Friends Souls are gone to Heaven, as any Comfort or Ease of their Sorrows; but he builds their Comforts upon the strong Rock of the Resurrection. And thus have we both Peter and Paul, to sound and credible Witnesses, in this Case, directing to a good Life and a strong Comfort in Death, from a firm Hope of a future Resurrection, in due Time, without one Word concerning the Soul's Immortality, or drawing any Comfort or Help from thence at all.  
P. 156 The Advers. says, Make not your Prison too strong; as if he assented to the false Platonic Imagination, That the Body was made by God for a Prison to the Soul. Which every Man's daily Experience contradicts, and proves certainly to us (as has been before said) That the Conjunction of the Soul and Body is the most amicable of any thing in the World, and their Separation most grievous and terrible; and, That the Body's being a Prison to the Soul is an Opinion both false and foolish, tho' it seems very well fitted for the Adversary's Part. He goes on and says, Think how quickly this Flesh must be laid aside. He should have added, And this Spirit extinguished; and then there will be no miserable or happy Soul to take notice of.  
P. 157 the Advers. demands, What Relief will it be to your Souls, to remember that in this Life you had your good Things? The Observer does not believe, that before the Resurrection there will be any such Soul or Remembrance. It is true, that in the Parable of Dives, Abraham says to him, Son, Remember that in thy Life-time thou hadst thy good Things. But the Parable no where, makes mention of a Soul, but in all Places it applies to the Person. Lazarus died, and was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom: And Dives died, and being in Hell, he lift up his Eyes, and saw Lazarus afar off in Abraham's Bosom. It seems fit to be considered how Dives could see a Soul at so great a Distance, and speak audibly to Abraham afar off, without a Tongue. Men do usually imagine, This Discourse and Proposal should be applied to the Souls of these two Persons. But the Observer thinks there's no Necessity to take it in that Sense, but either to let it pass as a bare Similitude, or Parable invented; or that it may as well or better be intended concerning the Persons mentioned in the Text before quoted; and the rather, because Abraham calls Dives, Son, Remember. This Term of Son cannot be applicable to a separate Soul, because that Term is properly applied to the Person, and also because, (if our Adversary say true) such a Soul could not be descended from Abraham, but was newly created by God upon the Begetting of the Body of Dives. Whence it seems still, That the Relation concerning these Person is but a bare Similitude or Parable, and proves nothing: Or must be applied to the State of these two Person considered in the Contextures of their Bodies and Souls together. The Adversary seems to doubt whether Souls go to appointed Places, or hover about those Places where their Bodies are interred. The Observer says, It is no Wonder that Men of his Opinion have many Doubts concerning their sorts of Souls, Quod, quid, unde, quando, ubi, quomodo, quo, in none of which Points they ever yet came to an agreed Resolution; nor can they make any tolerable Demonstration concerning any one of those Queries that may give a Reasonable Satisfaction to a diligent Enquirer after them. He says, That if his Soul had not been hindered by vicious Courses, it would have mounted aloft into a purer Region. Which Doctrine is pure Platonic and Heathenish, not provable in any Part of Scripture, or Dictate of Reason. The Parable of Dives says, Lazarus was carried by Angels into a Place of Rest, intending likely his Person; but clearly he was carried, and did not mount aloft of himself into any more pure Region. He speaks of a Relation we have to a World of Spirits whither we are going. The Observer denies we have any Relation to those Spirits, after our Deaths; or that any of us go to them, or have a Subsistence amongst them: Whence the Adversary should better have proved what he here delivers, or have been less magisterial and positive in the Delivery of it.  
P. 159 He advises Men to think, they do but dream of Afflictions, Sufferings and Pains, when they lie under them, and are sensible of them. This way of amusing himself the Observer thinks is fallen upon the Advers. whilst he sits musing and inventing with himself, concerning the Being, Nature and Actions of his immortal Soul. For if he conceive Men may imagine real Pains and Sufferings but to be Dreams, well may his Imaginations concerning Immortal Souls be reputed Dreams by those who nearly and impartially shall examine them.  
P. 160 He speaks still of Adversity and Prosperity, as if they were but Parts of a Dream. Which Opinion really is yet a most manifest Error, and which he shall never be able to persuade intelligent Persons to consent to. He speaks of our Arrival at the invisible World of Realities which it seems he believes but as if we was in a Dream, which the Observer conceives he has been in, during the greatest Part of that Time wherein he wrote this Treatise. First, he has dreamed, That there is such a Soul in Man as is an Intelligent Spirit, and shall subsist in a State of Separation after the Death of the Body: And that after its Departure out of the Body, it shall go to an invisible World of Realities to abide among them. Where, or how, he neither does nor can tell; but he still dreams forward, That his Soul, and those of whom he has a good Opinion, shall be in some sort of Happiness, but what sort of Happiness himself yet is no way resolved; whether in Heaven, Abraham's Bosom, or in the Air, or in Alcinous's Garden, the Fortunate Islands, or the Elysium Fields; or that with the Americans they shall live dancing and singing beyond certain high Mountains; or in Mahomet's Paradise, shall sit by Rivers of Milk, Honey, Oil and Wine, and fulfil their lustful Appetites as often as they please. Take all these sorts of States of Souls, after Death, they are all but Dreams of a suitable sort, and Nature, fit Subjects for Men of Fancy to be employed about: And to such Pleasing Imaginations the Adversary shall be left, whilst the Observer sets up his Rest upon what the Scripture teaches plainly, and proves, concerning the Resurrection of the Dead, and last final Judgement, and a blessed or cursed State after them; finding by divers clear Natural Experiments, That the Life of Man is maintained by Blood and Breath, and acted by the inflamed Particles of Blood called the Spirits, which must daily be renewed and refreshed with Nourishment and Rest; that when these are spent, the Person languishes and decays; and when they are restored and refreshed the Person is vivid and active: If Nourishment fail, or the Breath be stopped, the Person dies, beyond all Remedy, and the total Extinguishment of that Flame of Life, which is nourished in the Blood, is the Death of the Person, and cannot be rekindled in it by less than a Divine Power who first kindled and tinded it in the Body of our Grandfather Adam: And the same Death which dissolves the Contexture between the Soul and the Body, destroys the Persons of Men as well as the Contextures of Beasts, without any other Difference between them, save that of the Resurrection. This is foretold, promised and threatened to Mankind, and the World of Humane Persons; without that there are any such Prophecies, Promises and Threaten delivered concerning the Beasts; and therefore David rightly calls them the Beasts that perish utterly. And as by natural Experience we find that maintains the Life of Man; so if we search into the Beginning of his Nature and Composition, ab ovo, as Men use to speak, we may find one Man does not less perfectly beget another, than a Horse or any other Animal begets Creatures of a like Species with themselves: There passes a Vital Principle in their several Seeds, which being coagulated in loco idoneo proceed to a Fermentation; and being there fomented in their proper Receptacles, they arise and grow by degrees to a Vegetation: This Vital Spirit, still operating in the Mass, now vegetated, it proceeds to the Formation of the several Parts and Organs of the Body, extending and spreading itself throughout the whole Mass, and therein working till all the Parts and Organs of the Body are fully formed and perfected. And thence this Vital Spirit proceeds to the Production of Sense in the newly formed Embryon; which perfected, it brings with it into the World the two forenamed Faculties of Vegetation and Sense, which remain with the newborn Infant as its only proper Powers for some time after its Arrival in the World; till that by degrees the Bodily Organs become so dilated and strengthened, and the Spirits of the Blood so vivid and active, that they produce in the Infant some low degrees of Thinking and Knowledge; such as we find in the Brutes, what Diet pleases them, and to distinguish such for their Friends as give them Food, Ease and Pleasure; and to avoid such Things and Persons as are terrible and strange to them. And thus they live and grow till their Bodily Organs increase and grow in Capacity and Strength, till the Stomach, Liver, and other sanguificial Parts, are able more strongly to concoct the Nourishment, and to prepare and rectify the Blood to a higher Degree of Purity and Vigour: And thence the Spirits ascending to the Brain, and finding there the Organs or Instruments still more enlarged and apt to perform the Duties of the Rational Faculty; they act therein to such Purposes as God has there appointed and ordained to be performed. And thus the Vital Spirits and Bodily Organs proceed and grow together, until they both obtain their Perfection of Degrees; such Blood and Spirits acting throughout the whole Body, and in every Parcel and Member of it, those Powers and Activities which the great Artificer intended them for: And by the Continuity and active Motions of those Spirits, spread over the whole Body; it comes to pass, that the least Wound in the end of a Finger or Toe is immediately felt over the whole Body; and so by Sight, Hearing, Smelling or Tasting, the whole Person is immediately perceptive and affected therewithal; like the String of an Instrument (how long soever the same may be) if touched to a vibration in any Part of it, the whole String answers to that Vibration, and sounds accordingly: And this seems to be the Reason of the wonderful Velocity of Sensation and Perception in the Persons of Men, and therewithal the Brutes may well be conceived to have a great Affinity upon a like Account. This Spirit is not incaged or incarcerated in the Body, but maintains as amicable a Conjunction with it, and with as much Liking and Kindness to each other as any known Things in the World can do: And the Athanasian Creed tells us, That as the Body and Soul are one Man, so God and Man are one Christ; whence the Union of the former seems as amicable and kind as that of the latter, tho' using a joint Contexture, one of them with another; this sort of Spirit acting in and by the Bodily Organs and Members, they together effect in the Person all those Motions, Faculties and Powers which the great Artificer intended and designed to be produced in the Humane Person, be they those of Vegetation, Sensation, or Rationality; all which Powers and Faculties they continue to maintain so long as their said Contecture has a Conrinuance: Whence the whole Person, both Spirit and Members, are all alike affected, one of them with another, and never contrarily or differently one of them affected against another. It is true, that divers great Variances do often happen between the two different Faculties or Powers of Sense and Reason; which Differences are as durable and lasting as the Life itself: And these two Faculties St. Paul often calls by the Name of Flesh and Spirit, which must pass in his Writings for tropical and figurative Expressions. Upon which, and divers other Accounts, St. Peter says, there are some Things in St. Paul ' s Writings which are hard to be understood. Our Experience teaches us, That there are no real Differences between the Bodily Organs and Members, and this sort of Spirit of which we are now speaking; but that they live and act together, during the Time of their Contexture, in the greatest Amity and Sympathy that can be imagined: They are pleased and displeased, rejoice and mourn together, as two constituent Parts of the same Person; they grow together to a State of Perfection, are sick and well together, decay and decrease in like manner: And where Men live to the uttermost Age, their Perceptions, Understandings and Memories fail oftentimes before their Tasting and Feeling, which continues with them the whole Extent of their Lives: Then the Person consisting of such Flesh and Spirit dies together, the Flesh and Members turning to Dust, and the Spirit, which is the Flame of Life, extinguishing at the Time of that Separation: And at the Time of the Resurrection, the Body shall again be raised with such a Temperature of the Blood, as shall then again be tinded and kindled into such a Flame of Life as the Person had enjoyed in his former State, as St. Paul declares, 1 Cor. 15. whereby there shall arise and accrue to the same Person the same Sensation, Perception, Understanding, Memory and Conscience that he had before in the Time of his former Life. So as Mr. Lock seems to be in the right, when Fol. 183. of his said Book he teaches, That it is the same Consciousness which at the Resurrection makes the same Person; such a sameness as St. Paul declares by his Similitude of Grains of Corn, as much the same as Grains are of the same Nature which spring one out of another. Thus united again by the Resurrection, the Flesh and Spirit in a like Contexture as they were before, shall come to Judgement at the last Day before the Tribunal of the Lord Christ, and shall there receive Judgement, Sentence and Doom according to their Works, and shall thence departed to Places of Joy and Happiness, or to those of Sorrow and Misery; as by that Sentence and Judgement shall be appointed for them. Thus from Experience it seems provable, That there is such a Soul or Spirit in Man, as has been before specified: That the same consists in the Spirits of the Blood inflamed and made lucid and glowing: That the Original of this Spirit proceeds from a Vital Principle in the Seed. The visible quando of its Operation appears with the first Commencement of Vegetation in the Embryon: The Vbi of its Residence is every Part and Member of the Body, through which the same is contiguously spread, or rather is one continuate Spirit mixed with the Flesh throughout the whole Body: As to the Quo, and what becomes of this Spirit at the Death of the Person, it has been declared to go out by Extinguishment. The only Point which the Observer professes Ignorance in, is that of the Quomodo operatur: He professes not to know how these Spirits of the Blood work in the Stomach a right and healthful Concoction and due Separation; how in the sanguifical Parts the Chyle is converted into Blood; how the Breath fans, maintains and communicates such Vigour and Flame to Particles of the Blood which ascend to the Head; how those Particles of Blood working in the Head and Brain produce there Sensation, Perception, Imagination, Understanding, or Memory; how passing thence by the Nerves into the rest of the Body, they cause Motion, Activity, Strength and Vigour; all obedient to the Will of the Person, and subjected to the Dictates of his Judgement. Those are some of the chief Ways of God with Man, and are most evident Proofs of his Divine Skill and Power; concerning which, and other-like Divine Operations, Solomon says, Eccles. 8.17. Man cannot find out the Work that is done under the Sun; because, tho' a Man labour to find it out, or the Wise among Men endeavour to come to the Knowledge of it, yet shall they not be able to find it. In this Ignorance therefore the Observer is contended to be a Partaker with the rest of the World, without herding himself amongst those, who, because they cannot find out the Quomodo of this Performance; are easily persuaded to believe, That God has not Skill or Power enough to perform this; and is therefore driven, and must be driven to act those Things in Man by an immaterial intelligent Spirit which they fancy therefore is newly created by God upon every fruitful Coition of Man and Woman, or Man and Beast, where the Form of the Product happens to be Humane; and that this new Soul which comes from his Hand innocent and pure, should presently be thrust by him into an impure Body, at the best, contaminated by Original Sin, which presently communicates that Tincture to that pure, innocent, but unfortunate miserable Soul so newly created by him. These Absurdities following upon and flowing from this Error, prove the Opinion from whence they arise to be erroneous. And from this, and from all that has been spoken before on this Subject; the Observer concludes, That the Opinion of Man's being acted by an immaterial, intelligent Spirit, capable of subsisting in a State of Separation from the Body, is an Error; and that it is much more probable, That the Person of Man is a Contexture of Matter and Spirit both rising from the seminal Agitation, and both mortal; and that the sound Foundation, for the Expectation of Recompenses future to this Life, aught to be grounded upon the rocky Foundation of the Resurrection. And herewithal shall be finished the present Observations upon this Treatise.  
FINIS.