A Search after Souls and Spiritual Operations in Man.  
SOLOMON was a great Searcher after Knowledge, a Power or Faculty in Man, capable of being employed about all Created Being's and Things, and of making Inquiries into their Natures and Actions: and the Qualities, Modes, and Orders of them. Eccles. 7.25. He says, That he applied his heart to know, and to search and to seek out Wisdom, and the Reason of Things; and there is everlasting Employment for all People in this Design: Chap. 8.17. For Man cannot find out the Work that is done under the Sun, and though a Wise Man intent to make the Search, yet shall he not be able to find it. But men are not to be thereby totally discouraged from making Inquiries into the Works and Natures, amongst which they converse: for he tells us, Prov. 2. That men ought to seek Knowledge as Silver, and search for her as for hid Treasures, and that shall lead thee to understand the Fear of the Lord; and to find the Knowledge of God: viz. As that is discovered in the Greatness, Exactness Order and Variety of his Works: And though a General Search into Nature, and an Enquiry into Omne Scibile, be a task over large for any Humane Nature, perhaps a Single Search, stinted to a particular Subject (however sublime the same may be) will not be taken for a hopeless, or impossible Project: But that by Divine Assistance (without which nothing comes to pass) there may be something found out concerning our present Subject, which may open more fully, or more clearly, the Genuine Nature of its Being and Working amongst us, and help to clear up Doubts thereupon depending; by propounding them in the World, and giving occasions to Men (who are able, or think they are so) for the clearing and maintaining of that which (concerning the same) appears to their Judgements, most reasonable, and most true.  
In all Material Searches, there seem to be three Degrees of Application requisite: 

First, That it be diligent, whence the Woman in who lost one of her ten pieces, lighted up a candle, swept the house, and searched diligently, and she found and rejoiced accordingly.  
Seondly, The Search must be with a great desire to find; Luke 22.15. Our Lord says, With desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you. He grealy desired, and obtained it; and so did the Prodigal Son return to his Father with unexpected Success.  
Thirdly, The Search aught to be importunate and solicitous; the Syrophenician Woman searched eagerly, and found our Lord, and prevailed, by crying after him, and pleading to him: so did the importunate Widow upon an unjust Judge, who neither feared God nor regarded Man: We would not have it seem strange, if our Search have a participation with all these Qualifications, although the over diligence may prove tedious, the over great desire to find be offensive, and the importunate pressure somewhat unmannerly and injurious; and it seems most of these inconveniencies, or even all of them, are incident to such Inquiries; and they cannot likely be prosecuted without them, to any great degree of Satisfaction.    
And as in the Search, so in the Subject of it, there are three special Requisites; 

First, That certainly there be the thing in Rerum Natura; or else it can never be found: but there never was doubt concerning the Being of a Soul in Man: therefore we may be certain that such a Soul there is, and then our Labour in the Search after it, is not likely to be in vain.  
Secondly, The Subject of our Inquiry ought to be of such worth and value, as the finding it may be a convenient satisfaction and recompense for all the Study, Time, and other Expenses and Troubles, which may likely be undergone in the Prosecution of a difficult Search; and made more so, by a complication with Worldly Interests, and the power and prejudices of former and radicated Opinions thereupon.  
Thirdly, That the Subject of our Search be placed at such a convenient distance, as we may not have cause to demand, Who shall bring it to us from Heaven or Hell, or from beyond the Sea? But our Subject is near us, in our Mouth and in our Heart, in our Hand, and in our Head.    
Having in mind, revolvendo, some Thoughts concerning the State of Souls, as arrived to David's Period of Man's Age, or very near it, there happened to come to hand, a Book entitled Richard Baxter's Dying Thoughts, a second Edition in 8vo. printed Lond. 1688. There, in his Contents, the very first line, he resolves, That Souls departed, go immediately to Christ; then the necessity of believing this. It seemed an over great morsel to swallow all this together, totidem verbis, without such a rumination as might comminute and separate every part of it from the other; that being so used, it might be made of easier concoction and of sounder nourishment. I found the Author speaking himself of 67 years of Age at the writing it; and that for the space of above 43 years, he had been a Practical Minister of the Gospel, much followed and applauded, though he says it, who perhaps should not; then in the very first page of his Book, he stumbles upon a block, which Solomon had long since cast in the way to his Tenet: Eccles. 3.19. he desires God's manifestation to Men, that they may see that they themselves are Beasts; that things fall out alike to Men and Bests; as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath, all go to one place; all are of the Dust, and all turn to Dust again: Who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth upward, and the Spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the Earth? Our Author is too deliver and active, to stumble at this Block, but passeth as lightly over it as if were but a Straw, by saying, that Solomon here speaks only of the Time and Things of this World. There are no words in the Text that mention, or that (it seems) do intent the Author's Sense; for the Text mentions the Spirits departed, both of the one and of the other, with a Query upon the places to which they go, and that cannot pass for a matter of this Life only: this Text therefore stands still in his way, as much as at first it did, and as if he had said nothing against it; because his allegation upon it may not pass for true, but for an Answer feigned out of his own Brain, and with some impeachment to the credit of his Word, for the future.  
Pag. 2. The Author tells us, If our immediate going to Christ, upon out Deaths, be not sound (seems fully) believed, a Man must Live besides, or below the end of Life, and must have a false end; and yet says, he knows it may be objected, That if I make it my end to please God, to Love, Serve, Worship, and Obey him, and to do all the good I can for my Neighbour; and that I trust God with my Soul, and future Estate, as a faithful Creator, who will not suffer his faithful Servants to go unrewarded, and therefore hath promised the Resurrection, inserted into all our Creeds: Now though I be not certain of my immediate departing to Christ, at my dissolution; yet I have an end intended, which will make me Godly, Charitable, Just and Happy, so far as I am made for Happiness: supposing that to please God is the right end of all. To this he replies, We must desire to please God better than we can do in this Life. This I do not grant, for neither Nature, nor Scripture do teach, or require such desires. Secondly, He says, It's own Felicity is so necessary to the Soul of Man, as a desire to please God cannot stand without it. This is denied; but yet we do believe God to be a beatifying Rewarder of them who diligently seek him, yet not of Debt, but of Grace; and so the Articles of the Resurrection do prove: being assurances of future rewards and punishments. Pag. 4. He says, If a man have not his aim levelled at the reward, he can have no certain end of his endeavour; as if a design and intention to please God, and serve to his Glory, were to little or no purpose, without a profitable consequent reward, Pag. 5. He says, Men use not to serve God for nought, and specially not to their loss, and yet, I say, it is the duty of all Creatures so to do; to please God, and serve to his Glory, without other reward or intention to obtain it; and yet the Resurrection is for reward and punishment: and they are Lawful, but neither the only, nor the principal Considerations of Man's obedience to God: And says, If sin overspread the World, notwithstanding the hopes and fears of a Life to come; what would it do if there were no such things in that case? I say, Still it could but overspread the World, and yet I do agree, that hopes and fears are well grounded upon the Article of our Resurrection. Pag. 6. He says, No Blessing of God can be rightly esteemed and used, but by him who sees it leads to a better Life. I say, Divers Blessings may be rightly esteemed and used, without farther references, than the thankful receiving them as God's Favours, beneficial to Men in this Life. He says, No wonder if Unbelievers be unthankful; no nor that Believers are so too; nor that he and his Proselytes take every Blessing and prosperous Success here, for an assurance of God's Love and Acceptance, and that their ways and do are pleasing to him; and an earnest penny of Eternal Glory, which they earnestly covet, and for which they slavishly serve, as their Teachers direct them: and without which hopes neither he, nor they, pretend to serve, or honour God, or to perform any other Duties of their Christian Religion: And he exclaims against the Miseries of this Life, not to be abidd'n, but for the hopes of a future Glorious Life; not considering that this later Life was not revealed to the World till our Lord Discovered it, not 1700 Years ago; and yet Men lived as happily in the World before that time, as they have done since; and submitted to their several Conditions, and Circumstances, with as much quietness, and content of mind, as Christians do at this Day; serving God under enjoyment and expectation of Temporal rewards, propounded by Moses, and many other Lawgivers of the World: But he (it seems) found himself apt to murmur against God upon account of Cares, and Worldly Griefs, and the fears of Death, and future Events, but that was his infirmity at the best, and perhaps a perverse humour in him: for he might remember that Moses Laws revealed from Heaven, Propounded no Rewards beyond the Happiness of this World; nor Punishments, but of the same nature; and yet that People lived often very Happily under them, and might always have done so, by being Obedient to them. Pag. 7. But to his Proposal Concerning the Behaviour of his good Old Women; I say the part which they Acted upon the Stage of this World was very convenient for their Circumstances, which require of them to take upon Trust, and the Credit of their Teachers, and other Informers, the Rules both of their Faith, and Manners; (and likely it is) no more will be required of them at the Day of the Great Audit: But their constancy in their Opinions, and the sure expectation of Heaven and Happiness at their Deaths, Creates no manner of Assurance that they were in the Right, or were not deceived in their most assured expectations; for Ages, and the present World abound with Evidences that false Tenets, and very Gross Errors are believed and maintained by misguided and deceived People, with as much assurance, and established Confidence, as the very Truth itself can by any means be. Men, Women, and Children, have died bravely in maintenance of gross mistakes, and evident untruths: And few Turks are found at this Day, who will not rather part with Life, and all other Worldly Comforts, then renounce their Mahomet, and his Koran. Arrians were Anciently, and (some of them) in our times, so resolute in their Opinion, as to submit to Death rather than to recant it: Indian Idolaters daily offer their Lives in honour of their Idols, as the most assured means of obtaining a Blessed and Happy State immediately upon their Dissolution, with as little doubt as any of our Authors Old Women could possibly attain unto: Hence the Author may persuade himself, that seeing the Old women's Confidence is no certain Evidence, that they were not in an Error, and that their Ignorance was more excusable than his would be; it becomes him better to inquire after the direct and attainable truth of things, and particularly concerning Souls, and whether they have a separate subsistence after Death of the Body, or not, than to sit down contented with his own present conceit, or apprehensions concerning the same, without making such farther search as he is able, into the truth and certainty of such Opinions. Pag. 8. He says well, That a Faith not upheld by such Evidence of Truth as reason can discern and justify, is joined with such doubting, as though Men dare not open, yet they do not therefore overcome; and this doubting may likely prove prejudicial both to their Faith and Performance. Pag. 10. And things it too much trouble to consider how Souls out of the Body do Subsist and Act: But that the Soul of Man doth subsist separately from the Body, and Act in that State, he takes upon him to prove. Pag. 11. To that intent he undertakes to define what a Humane Soul is, and says, It is a Spiritual, Pure, Invisible Substance, naturally endowed with the Power, Virtue, or Faculty, of Vital Action, Intellection, and Volition, not destroyed by separation of Parts, or loss of Power, Species, Individuation, or Action; and therefore it is an Immortal Spirit. He says (in proof that it is a Substance) that which is nothing, can do nothing; but the Soul doth move, understand, and will; for that is done by something in us; and that is some Substance, and this we call the Soul; it is not nothing, and it is within us. Thus he tells us, a Humane Soul is an Immortal Spirit. That being denied, he neither proves it, nor offers to do it, but instead thereof, he offers Proof that it is a substance; for, says he, it moves and acts within us, and it is not nothing. This we grant, but take it for no proof at all of the separated subsistence of a Soul; for the Heart, Brain, Blood and Spirits and Breath, are continually moving and acting within us, and each of them are substances, but have no subsistence in their Motions separate from the Body, but all Die with it; and so may that which is called by the names of Soul, or the Form of a Humane Body, or the Vital Principle of it. Pag. 14. He Confesses, That God is the continued First Cause of all Being's; and that the Branches and Fruit depend not (as effects) so much upon their Causes, the Roots, Stocks, and Branches; as the Creature doth upon God: whence it seems clear, That God can make an Automaton moving and living, by ways which Men may not be able to find out, or understand; and perhaps the Life and Actings of Animals may be such a Secret: and because Men cannot find out, how the Blood, Spirits, Nerves, Arteries, Veins, Muscles, and other Vital Parts, are acted or moved, nor the adequate or precise manner how they are all Excited and Actuated by that Flame and Glowing, of that which is called the Flammula Vitalis (not quite extinguished in Animals, but with the Life;) how by the Unctuous Spirits rising from the Blood, Urine, and Humours of the Body, this Flame is perpetually nourished and maintained, and fanned and kept alive by continual and lively respiration: nor how the Spirits raised and kindled in and about the Heart, mount continually to the Head, where in the Brain, and the Ventricles of it, and Motion or Conveyance of the Arteries thereunto belonging, the Common Sense is furnished, and excited to Act upon all Objects presented, and to Lodge them in the Fantasy and the Memory, whence they may be recalled and presented again to the common Sensorium, or Judicial Power, that it may consider them better, or work with them, or upon them, as far as its own Capacity, or Intellect, can advance itself in the Powers and Practices of Arts and Sciences. Such things we find are transacted and done in the Brain and Body of Man, and we cannot pervestigate with any exactness how by the Vital Parts and Spirits of the Body, such effects are particularly and properly Produced; and this is more hard to be done, because Men can never Compass the sight of a Dissected Body in the full Life, Vigour, and Motion of the Blood, Spirits, Humours, Parts and Members of it, but must be content with the view of them all Dead, Cold, Clammed; whence they may have good pretences to conclude it very unlikely, that the Powers of Sense, Fantasy, Intellect, and Memory, should be Actuated by such Materials, or the Conjunction, or Operation of them; not enough considering, that the Flamula Vitalis, which is the Actor, and Life of them all, is extinguished before the beholders can be admitted to the sight and consideration of the Vital or Principal Parts of a Dissected Body. And yet it seems, from this want of Conception, how the Parts and Spirits of the Body do, or after what manner they can, Act after, and in performance of the Faculties of Sense, Motion, Intellect, Fantasy, Memory, etc. Men take their Principal, or even only Reason, to Introduce, or Invent a Foreign Government and Governor for every Animal, or at least Humane Body, viz. a Spiritual Substance (as our Author calls it) Pure, Invisible, Immortal, others add Indiscerptable; and it will not be Difficult for Men to add and ascribe to it whatsoever their fancies happen to Invent, in Cases where we can never expect to have any likely Trial of the Truth, but this savours: of expounding Obscurum per Obscurius; or the stopping one Hole, and making many. Wherefore, as to our not conceiving how the Animal Parts can Work and Act all those Parts which we know are performed amongst us, we seem to have ground enough to refer them to the Power and Will of our Creator: That he can by such means effect all men's performances, no Man makes doubt, and to many and learned Persons it seems likely that he hath done so, and for those who (merely upon the forenamed reason) will take the boldness to impose a Super-Humane, or Spiritual Empire upon the Bodies of all Men, we request them to take (as the Actor or Imposer ought to do) upon themselves the Onus Probandi, and that they first prove to us, concerning the Power intended by them to be Introduced amongst and over us, which they call an Immortal, Spiritual, Substance; 

1. Quod sit.  
2. Quid sit.  
3. Quale sit.  
4. Quando Ingreditur.  
5. Vbi residet.  
6 Quomodo gubernat & agit, viz.   That there is in Nature such a Humane Soul, able to subsist in Separation from the Body. 

2. What it is in its own Nature, and whether it do pre-exist, a Mundo condito, or be derived ex Traduce from the Seed of the Parents: or that Infundendo Creature, be Created by God's Power upon every Fruitful Copulation.  
3. With what Qualities such Souls are endowed, whether they are all well inclined, or some ill, or meeterly? Whether all are of like Power, or some more, others less potent? Whether they may cause, or can help, or hinder any Bodily Pains, or Diseases? Whether they can leave their usual place of Residence, and go into other Parts of the Body, or go quite out of it, a wand'ring in the World, and yet return to it again? Whether they feel share of the Bodies Maladies, and will not willingly consent to have Limbs cut off, or to take strong Purges or Vomits, for fear of being disturbed in their places of Residence? Whether they are more pleased, or have a greater desire to be in the Body, or out of it? Whether the Body be as a Prison to Souls, and they be confined to it, or that they choose to be there, and leave it unwillingly? And if they be there confined, by what Power or means are they so? and what other Qualities of Souls they think fit to communicate to us?  
4 When it is, that the Soul enters into the Body? Whether before or after the Births; and if before, then how long after the Conception? Whether it enter in its full Dimensions, or grows larger as the Child grows, or suffer detriment by sickness of the Body, or its Consumption or Age? Also when it leaves the Body finally? Whether its leaving do kill, or that it stay till the Flamula Vitalis be quite extinct, and the Body dead? Or, If this Flame be suddenly extinct by the violent motion of a blow upon the Head? Whether doth the Soul strive to re-kindle this Flame, or goes suddenly away in a fright?  
5. Whether the Soul have a peculiar Place of Residence in the Body, and where that is; And if that part be ill affected, and unfit for her, can she change it, and go to reside in another? Or whether is there more places, or another place in the Body, that can be fit, or can make room for her to reside and act in, or that she is Tota in qualibet parte.  
6. How doth she Act, can she do any thing by herself, or her own peculiar Power, without the Ministry of the Animal Spirits, and other Parts of the Body? Can she amend any thing that is amiss in the Body, or know any thing without such Ministry of the Senses? By what force doth she move the Bodily Spirits, or can she inflict Pain or Punishment for their Disobedience? Can she Govern the Passions by an absolute Sway, or how far can she do it, and by what Means? And so for the Affections, and whether is not she rather subjected often to their Power, and how far and by what means that comes to pass?   How, or by what means and ways doth she Imagine, Judge, Understand or Remember? Or can any better, or more Inteliligible Account be given that she doth, and how she doth such things? Then how the Spirits, Brain, and other Organical Parts of the Body do them; actuated thereto by the Impulse of Nature, and that Flammula Vitalis, which pervades every part of the Body, and most powerfully Operates in the Heart, and Head, stimulating, and stirring them, in, and to the performance of Duties, and Powers entrusted to them and Imposed, or Imprinted upon them by Nature, and the Contriver, who made them for such purposes, and hath appointed their Employment, and the Order and Power by which it seems they may be, and are continually easily and naturally performed. When the Introducers and Maintainers of a Spiritual Self-subsisting Soul in Man, have opened their Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge so largely, as to satisfy the Curious Inquirers concerning these and the like particular Queries, they may then with better confidence deny the possibility of the Animal Spirits, Blood, and Organical Parts of the Body, their performing such Actions, and producing such Effects, as are daily done by us, and are continually visible amongst us; and thence derive their pretentended necessity of introducing within, upon, and over us, such a Foreign Commander, and Government, as that of a Perfect, Substantial, Immortal, and Self subsisting Spirit; but withal, we must desire them to declare, why they do allow the boisterous Affections and Passions in Man, viz. his Ambition, Covetousness, Lust, Wrath, and Fear, to be ungovernable by this Imperial Spiritual Power, set over Man, and his Actions; but that such riotous Actors will oppose, and overrule this Spiritual Power, and hurry this precious Soul and Potent Governor (whether she will or not) into very bad and wicked Actions, such as herself doth not only resist and condemn, but even detest and abhor: These Affections and Passions our Spirit-imposers do commonly grant, have their Rise and Growth from the Animal Spirits, Propensities and Parts of the Body; but they have not yet set forth any more rational Account of the Manner how, or the Power by which such Effects are performed or produced, than they say can be done for those of the Senses, Phantasie, Intellect, or Memory. They ascribe indeed the Faculties of the Head and Brain to the Spiritual Power and Government; and the Affections and Passions they place in the Heart, and suffer their Product and Power to remain with Flesh and Blood; but they show us no Reason of the Difference, nor how it comes to pass, and by what Mediums, Flesh, Blood, Spirits, and Animal Parts, do or can produce one sort of these Faculties in Man, and not the other: It is true, that after the Notion of a Living Spirit, enlivening and ruling in Man is admitted and taken for true, we do then easily conceive and believe the Faculties of the Brain are more suitable to that Nature; and the Affections and Passions which sure not therewithal, but are apt to resist and overrule that Government, Men do forwardly ascribe to the Production, Actuating, and Government of Flesh and Blood; but perhaps more rightly to the same Flame and animal Spirits which act also in the Head, but more refined there; and meeting with fit Matter, and Organs adapted, intended by the Artificer, and by him appointed for more Noble Purposes. And our Experience tells us, That Blood which produces Barking in a Dog, will by Transfusion cause Baaing in a Sheep, and likely Bleating in a Calf, Grunting in a Hog; and so will the Sheep's Blood by Transfusion produce Speaking and Singing in a Man, according to the Matter and Organs which the Spirits arising from that Blood find in the Places adapted for such Productions. This farther Piece of Work being cut out for our Spirit-imposers, it shall here be left upon them to perform, before they be permitted (as a reasonable Course) to go on in their Pretences, That because Men are not able so fully to understand the Course of Natural Proceed in the Head and Brain, as to give a rational and satisfactory Account thereof, that therefore Things cannot be done there, as they are, without such a Spiritual Power as Men have invented to substitute, rather than confess in this Case the Truth of their Ignorance, and that God's Works are (in this Case particularly) past finding out. But if they shall give us as rational and satisfactory an Account of the Things concerning the Soul they speak of, as they require other Men to give of the Acts performed in the Head, by the Brain, and the Membranes, Arteries, and other Parts to the same belonging, and continually supplied by Animal and Subtle Spirits from the Heart, and quickened and acted by the Flammula Vitalis: Nay, except they do give a better Account of their Soul, and its Power and Manner of Acting, than Men can do of the Manner of Acting in the Head and Brain, by the Animal Spirits, and other Natural Parts and Powers of the Body, it seems they are not to be believed, or admitted to impose upon-Men their Doctrine of a Spiritual and Self-subsisting Soul, as a Distinct Being from that of the Body; and, it seems, they may as well devise Souls for the Beasts upon the same Grounds: viz. For that they cannot give a rational or satisfactory Account how, and by what particular Means and Powers many of their Actions are framed, guided and performed; As how they come every one of them to know wherein their Prime Forces of opposing others and defending themselves do consist. The Dog in his Teeth, the Beasts Sheep, Goats, Deer, in their Horns; the Boar in his Tusks; Cocks in their Bills and Spurs; Porcupines in their Quills, and the like; and how every Species are taught and guided to use their several. Weapons the most dexterously, and most to their Advantage; by what Power, Order or Means, the Subtleties of Hares, Foxes, and other-like pursued Creatures, are invented and acted; and the like for Apes and Elephants, and their Docility; and that of Horses and Dogs; and the very Infects, Wasps and Serpents know their Powers to Hurt, and use them accordingly; without that any Man is, or ever was able to give a full and true Account of the Means, Power, and next Natural Causes of such Actions, or by what direct Mediums they are performed. Shall we then go about to cover our Ignorance of the Immediate Powers and Actings in men's Heads and Brains, by inventing for him an unknown and unprovable Spiritual Being residing in him, we know not where, coming into him we know neither when nor from whence, guiding and ruling we know not how, sitting perhaps in Majesty in the Head, but rejected or overpowered in the Heart by the Natural Inhabitants, the Affections and Passions of it. Solomon was wiser than so to be entangled, Prov. 20.12. says, The hearing, Ear and the seeing Eye, the Lord hath made, even both of them; seems a  Confession that he knew not how: and, Eccles. 8 17. makes an open Confession, that Man cannot find out the Works of God; not those which are of thy; World, the wisest of Men cannot do it: And my Lord Bacon (amongst the wisest of our Naturalists) tells us, in his Advancement of Learning, Pag. 200. that a Rational Account of the Soul cannot be expected from Philosophy, because the thing is Supernatural and Inspired. Whence it seems we seek in vain to know what it is, or whence it is, or where it is, or why it is, since we cannot know that it is, but from the Divine Fountain of Faith and Revelation, in his Opinion. But (says he) Man hath a Sensible Soul, as the Organ to his Rational, which may rather be called a Spirit; being a Corporal Substance, attenuated by Heat, and made Invisible, of a Flamy, Airy Nature, nourished, part by an Oily, and part by a Watery Substance, spread all over the Body, and repaired continually by Spirituous Blood. We may perceive why he forbears to describe or discourse farther of the Self-subsisting Soul, because it is not Natural but Inspired; and of which, a Reason therefore cannot be required, to give any tolerable Account, seems tantamount, to saying he did not understand the thing, nor would make any farther Inquiry into the Truth of it, but was content to accept of the Opinion, as of a Notion which had long gone for currant in the World, and was grown the General, if not the Universal Opinion amongst Christians of the later Ages. But, if we credit Baxter (our Author) he tells us, Pag. 72. That some think the Soul to be Material, of a Purer Substance than Things visible, and that the common Notion of its Substantiality, means nothing else but a Pure (as they call it) Spiritual Materiality. And thus thought not only Tertullian, but almost all the old Greek Doctors of the Church (or Fathers) that writ of it, and most of the Latin, or very many of them; and there are few of the Old Doctors (or Fathers) who thought that the Soul was not some ways Material. And now (say I) upon what new Reasons or Revelations, is that Opinion of the Old Fathers of the Church come to be changed? Why should not we think now of the Soul, as the Fathers and Primimitive Church and Christians thought of it? It seems we neither pretend any New Revelation for it, nor have found out any either Scriptures or Reasons which were not known to them. It may be not unaptly surmised, that from the Time of Gregory the first (called the Great) Bishop of Rome, in the end of the Sixth, and beginning of the Seventh Century, there risen a Conceit in his Church (from a Story told to that Pope by the Bishop of Centum Cellae) that Christian Souls were put to Penances and Sufferings, after Death of the Body, for expiating of Sins committed whilst they were in the Flesh; whence Prayers were made for them, first out of a Charitable Design; and then Alms came to be distributed likewise on their behalf; then the Clergy and Poor People began to be hired, and have Money distributed and given to them for such Purposes: And in time there came a Place to be assigned where such Penances were thought to be performed; or Penalties for Purging of Sins were supposed to be suffered; and this Opinion became beneficial to the Poor, and profitable to the Clergy of that Church, and went on (like such kind of Projects) increasing, till it grew up to a perfect Purgatorial Fire, over which his Holiness took the Supreme Command, which he hath been reputed to enjoy for the space of some Hundred of Years last passed, to the great Enlargement of his Reputation and Revenues, and the Benefit of his Sons and Servants, the Clergy and Ministers of his Church: And this hath now continued for about the space of Eleven hundred Years, time enough to radicate and fix the Belief of a Self-subsisting Soul, in all Believers deriving under that Church, or that have been subjected thereunto. But whatsoever the Cause hath been of the present Christians declining and swerving from that of the Primitive Fathers in this Point, it seems the State of this Question deserves to be diligently reviewed and considered.  
Our Author undertakes to prove this Self-subsisting Spiritual Substance in Man, from Three Topics or Grounds, viz. 

1. From Reason or Nature.  
2. From Moral Congruity.  
3. From Express Places and Texts of Scripture.   How concise and short he is, both in the Words and Sense of his Reasoning in this Point, any who will bestow the pains of perusing him, will evidently and easily perceive: All that he says in proof from this Topick hath been truly related before, and without farther Descant thereon, it seems less can hardly be said; than Id aliquid nihil est, and he leaves his important Undertaking, proving such a Soul in Man, from Reason or Nature, with turning himself about to Matters and Things, or rather to Conceits and Fantasies of very small Value; as, Page 13. Whether the Soul be an Individual Spirit, or be an Act or Emanation of God, or of some Universal Soul, in the Body of Man? Pag. 15. Whether the Soul be annihilated by Death, and then, whether it shall be destroyed by the Dissolution of its Parts? Pag. 17. Then whether Souls subsisting after Death do sleep (as the Body doth) till the Resurrection? Pag. 21. Whether Souls subsisting after Death, and not sleeping, shall continue distinct Being's, or fall into one Common Soul, or be united to God, and so lose their Individuation and Separated Being? Upon this Question, Pag. 22. he citys S. Austin de Anima, putting the Question, Whether Souls are all but one, and not many? But that he utterly denies. 2. Whether they are many, and not one? And that he could not well digest. 3. Whether they were (at once) both one and many? And though this might seem ridiculous, yet he was most inclined to the Belief of it. Hence we may perceive that our Author, instead of proving by Reason, or from Nature, That the Humane Soul is an Immaterial Self-subsisting Spirit, is turned about to vain Jangling, and with a wilful Blindness (such as will not see) he balks the known and ancient Opinion of the Primitive Fathers of the Church, before cited by himself, viz. That the Humane Soul was a Material Spirit, kindled by our Creator in the Body of Man, when he breathed into Adam 's Nostrils the Breath of Life, and thereby made him a Living Soul. We read, that when Prometheus had framed and made a perfect Humane Body, he could not enliven it for want of Heavenly Fire, which he therefore stole from Jupiter, and was condemned to have his Heart eternally torn and devoured by the incessant Gripes, and endless Voracity of a Vulture or Raven. Whether this shadow to us Lucifer's Offence in such Attempt, we dispute not; but apparent it is, that this is the adequate Emblem of a guilty and tormenting Conscience, for a Crime of the highest Nature and Provocation that possibly can be committed. Ezek. 37. we meet with an Adumbration of such an enlivening Breath; God directs his Words: Say to the Wind, thus saith the Lord, Come from the four Winds, O Breath, and breath upon these Slain, that they may live. And the Bodies arose, and they lived accordingly. 1 Cor. 15.44. There is a Natural Body, and there is a Spiritual Body. The first Man Adam was made a Living Soul, and the last Adam a Quickening Spirit. For the truer Understanding of what is meant by the Term, Living Soul, parallel Expressions of Scripture shall be cited to that Intent. Gen. 7.22. All in whose Nostrils was the Breath of Life upon the dry Land, died in the Flood. For the Use of the Word Soul, Levit. 17.11. Ye shall have a holy Convocation, and ye shall afflict your Souls, viz. yourselves. 1 Sam. 10. Hannah was in bitterness of Soul, and prayed, and wept: she was sore afflicted. Ch. 2.16. Take as much as thy Soul desireth, viz. as much as you will. Ch. 18.1. The Soul of Jonathan was knit with the Soul of David, and he loved him as his own Soul; viz. his Affection was knit to him, and he loved him as himself. Ch. 25.29. A Man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy Soul. viz. pursue thy Person, and seek thy Life. Ch. 30.12. When the Egyptian taken at Ziklag had eaten, his Spirit came again to him; viz. his Vital Spirit. 2 Sam. 30.39. The Soul of David longed to go forth unto Absalon, Next Verse, David 's Heart was towards Absalon, seems, the Heart, Affection, Life, Person, used to be expressed, by the Term Soul. Job 12.10. In God's Hand is the Soul of every living thing, and the Breath of all Mankind. Ch. 16.4. If your Soul were in my Soul's stead, viz. if you were in my Case. Ch. 21.4. Why should not my Spirit be troubled? viz. why should I not be grieved? Ch. 30.15. Terrors pursue my Soul, viz. me. And my Soul is poured out upon me, viz. I am exceedingly afflicted.— Ch. 33.30. To bring back his Soul from the Pit, to the Light of the Living; viz. save his Life. Ch. 34.14. If God gather to himself Man's Spirit and his Breath, he shall turn to his Dust. We have proceeded thus far of the Bible, to collect Texts to our Intent; and should we go through the Psalms and forward, it would be hard to recite the Collections; and it seems the Texts cited are enough to establish the Sense of our Expression: Man became a Living Creature, or Person. And thus, by the Breath of Life derived from Heaven, was the Flammula Vitalis, the Promethean Fire, enkindled in the Blood, Spirits and Parts of Man's Body; and by Breath it hath ever since been refreshed and maintained; and when God takes this from us, we die, and are turned to our Earth, and all our Thoughts perish; our Fancies, Intellects and Memories, our Learning and Abilities, as well as our Love and our Hatred, our Passions and Affections.  
The Vital Flame kindled in the first Man, passing intermixed with the Seminal Substance and Prolific Virtue, and received in Habitacles fitting and proper for its Fomentation and Nutriment, is first fermented by the Prolific Energy, or Internal Principle of Inclination to be coagulated, and knit one Part of it to the other, and by Fomentation is strengthened; whence arises a Power of assimilating to itself such Nourishment as comes within the narrow Sphere of its Activity; which being, by its own Tendency to Heat, and the Natural Warmth and Fomentation of its Receptacle, compacted to, and settled in a terminated Consistency, and somewhat a fixed Unity of Coherence, the Formation of Parts doth consequently commence; and as Men have by a daily Observation found it in Eggs under a Hen, it likely doth proceed, viz. Two harder Accrescencies are principally framed and compacted, viz. the Primum Vivens, and Vltimum Moriens, the Triangle of our Hearts, and the Circular or Globular, and Chief Member of our Bodies, the Head; and these are presently knit together, first, by small Ligatures, Strings and Films; and from those two Parts, as Principal Pillars and Fountains of Life, Motion, and Action, there are extruded and produced first the Fibres and Nervous Parts and Ligatures of the Body; then the Arteries, Veins and Muscles; and lastly the Flesh and Bones, and such Blood as may be required in an Embryo State, or a Chile analogous thereunto, proper to nourish, and apt to be converted into Blood, and to catch and maintain the Vital Flame, which shall be kindled upon the first: Breath and Fanning of the Ambient Air, at its coming into the World.  
And like to this is the common Fate and Form of all other Animals, and the Production of Living Bodies whatsoever, if we shall examine them; and begin with Vegetables; and take for Standards the Acorn and the Mustardseed, they, and whatsoever other Seed it be, if it fall upon unnatural, or barren and unhospitable Places, viz. into Waters, barren and dry Sands, upon bare Rocks, or salt Marshes, or the like; the Seed missing and failing of a Suitable Receptacle, and agreeable to its Nature, cannot be expected to, fructify according to its Natural Inclination and Power, but must needs prove abortive, unfruitful and improlifick. But where Seeds fall into good and tolerable Grounds, agreeable to their Seminal Virtues, Inclinations and Powers; and wherein they may meet with a Nutritive Reception, there they are first somewhat melted or softened, and then they ferment; and finding a suitable Fomentation in their Recipient, they germinate and sprout; and as the Sprouts bear upwards, so from the other end of the Acorn proceed Fibres, or thin very small Strings, moist and somewhat glutinous or clammy Threads, impregnated not only with its proper Juice, but endued with a catching and penetrating Quality, enabling it to fix and fasten itself in its hospitable Recipient; where finding still a friendly and benign Fomentation and Acceptance, it may yet draw a Plastic Power from the Seed, enabling it to assimilate to its own Parts and Nature such Particles as are agreeble to its Constitution, and lie within the Compass and Reach of its Activity, till the whole Substance or Plastic Power of the Seed be spent: Thence rises the Frutex from the Mustardseed, the least amongst Seeds, in whose Surcrease the Birds of the Air may lodge: And thence the Oaks of Bashan, and the no less large or useful ones of our own naturally-happy Country. We know farther concerning such Vegetables, that they have Roots, which draw and extract Radical Nourishment out of the Earth, each for its proper Plant, and that their Sap is sent up for Nourishment, betwixt the Bark or Skin and the Bowl or Stalk; and that in the Wood or Stalk there are Pores, which receive Nutritive Moisture, both for its own Support and Growth, and the better Nutriment also of the Plant; and thus we know, in gross, many Natural Parts and Materials, by whose Powers and Means things are acted and done amongst Plants: But all these things that we named and that we know, are Parcels of Matter, which our Philosophising Opposers will flatly deny, can move themselves. Whence they must and do say, all this Motion and Activity can come no otherwise but from a Spirit; and if they mean a Natural and Material Spirit, extracted from the Earth, and percolated in the Root, and alimbecked in its Ascent towards the Branches, where the Leaves and Fruit are expected and produced; we grant them there is such a Spirit as this in Plants, which Philosophers have dignified with the Title of a Soul, calling it by Name of the Vegetable Soul. But I would seek with a Lantern amongst them for a Man so wise, that he could apply the Powers and Working of Plants to their proper Productions, applicando activa passivis, and make Men comprehend how it comes to pass (from Intelligible Causes) that Appletrees or other Fruit-trees, do bear different Sorts of Apples or Fruits, the same Trees the same Fruits; whence the thing comes not by Chance, but of Nature. We desire them to show the Reason and next Causes of this Difference; nay, let them declare to us the true and next Causes of the Contexture of a Leaf; how, and by what Means, and by what Causes, or Agent, the middle Stem of it is thrust out into a straight Line, stiffened and made strong for Support of the Fabric? Whence come, or how are form the small Ramuli of such a Leaf, fixed in the middle Stem of it? Whence all the inferior and little Fibres and Turn in it, plainly wonderful to behold, when the upper Case and Covering is worn off? And what is the next Cause or Material of the upper Covering of such Leaves, and the Nitor or Gloss of many of them; and whence comes their Shape and Figure, so divers one from another? Our Blessed Lord informs us, That if a Man sow Corn, and sleep, and wake; or rise Night and Day, by turns, to watch it, yet it will still grow up he knows not how; first the Blade, than the Ear, and then the full Corn in the Ear. We know that in Nature there are Materials to do all this; and that there is a Natural and Material Spirit operating, which, we conceive, may and doth effect them. But to find out the proper Materials, and next Causes, and their Differences from one another, and why, and how, these things, and many more, are done amongst and in them, shall pass for a Task too hard for the Forces of any who require to have Men declare by what Mediums, the how, and the why Men do and can use their Senses, Memories, Fancies and Intellects, by the Material and Organical Parts of their Natural Constitutions and Bodies.  
From Vegetables we may proceed by ascending to the Degree of Animals in the World distinct from Men, who also are Animals, but something more and above the Ordinary. Of the Beasts, Moses says, God made the Beast of the Earth after his Kind. This imports, he furnished them at the same time with the Breath of Life: For Solomon tells us, that Men and Beasts have all one Breath. And this agrees with our own Knowledge and Experience, and puts the thing beyond all Question or Doubt; although though Moses do not relate the Manner how it was done, as he did in the Case and Creation of Man. But the Beast created and inspired with this Common Breath, proceeds in the Generating its Like, as hath been before expressed concerning Man If the Seed fall (like that of Onan the Son of Judah) into an improper or inhospitable Place, whatsoever Fervour of Spirit, or Prolific Power there may be in it, all is lost and comes to no Effect, for wart of a fit Recipient, where it may find Natural Support by a due Fomentation and Nutriment. But where the Recipient is proper for such Purposes, the Seminal Matter and Power proceeds to act, as before hath been said of Man, the Prolific Spirit fomented, ferments the Matter, and levens or seasons it till it arrive to a Coagulation, and then to a Consistence, which assisted by Fomentation of its Receptacle, and working of its own Natural Heat and Spirit, is first determined in Quantity or Bulk, than made more solid, and then follows the Formation of Parts, and, lastly, of Members, Flesh, Bones, and such sort of Blood or Chile, of a Mixed Temperature to it; and all endued with an Inclination and Power of Assimilating to itself such Particles as come within its Reach, and are proper for its Increase or Nutriment, till it come into the World and take in the Vital Breath and Air; whose Fanning kindles the Flamnula Vitalis, in the Blood, Humours, and Spirits of the Body, carrying Life and Motion into every the most remote Part of it: which, upon the total Extinguishment of the Flame, dies, and can never he re-inkindled without fresh Fire from Heaven, an Act of Divine Power and working of a Miracle: A violent Blow upon the Head we know will work this Effect, without inflicting a greatly visible Wound, done by the Concussion and fierce Motion procured and following upon the Blow; and whereby we perceive the hardest Stones in Nature may be broken. And in all these Particulars, the Nature of Man and Beast seem to be at perfect Accord, and to have a very near degree of Similitude and Affinity one of them unto the other; and so (it seems) in their Natural Duration or Continuance. Strong Spirits, or but that of Wine, never cease flaming, after they are once kindled, till either the Matter be all spent, or that by some Violence from without, it be extinguished; or that by some inward Obstruction, Nutriment be hindered and cut off; or that by some ill Mixture that Nutriment be vitiated and made improper and insufficient for Nourishment of the Flame once kindled: as by putting Water, or a like unsuitable Mixture, into the Spirit of Wine, or to Oil, or other Spirits, proper for nourishing the once kindled Flame, so long as the Materials shall be able to last or endure; and that, in Men and Beasts, is their old and decrepit Age, and the utter Expense of that Humidum Radical, whereby their Flammula Vitalis might be nourished and maintained, or that it be corrupted and vitiated by other noxious Humours, and thereby rendered improper for the Purposes to which it was designed. In Men and Beasts, it seems, there is a Material Spirit kindled and inflamed, and thereby attenuated to so great a degree of Subtlety as to become Invisible; and so asserts My Lord Bacon, in the Place before quoted: And so our Author, Pag 72. says, Some think that the Soul is Material, yet of a purer Substance than things visible: and thus thought Tertullian, and almost all the Old Greek Doctors of the Church that writ of it; and so most of the Latins, or very many: Some thought the Soul an Igneous Body, such as we call Aether or Solar Fire, or rather of a higher, purer Kind; and that Sensation and Intellection are those Formal Faculties which specifically difference it from inferior, mere Fire, or Aether: And there are few of the Old Doctors (or Fathers) who thought it not some of these ways Material. And to all this we do willingly subscribe and agree, believing as the Primitive Fathers of the Church, both Greek and Latin, have (by our Author's own Testimony) thought and taught before us. And we conceive that the Beasts have a like Material Spirit inflamed lambently: but whether altogether so fine and subtle as that in Humane Bodies, we find not Ground enough to assert or determine. But Solomon tells us, what befalls Men befalls Beasts; As one dies, so dies the other: Yea, they have all one Breath; and a Man hath no Pre-eminence above a Beast, their Bodies go all to one Place, they are of the Dust, and turn to it again, and who knows the Difference of their Spirits; that of a Beast goes downward to the Earth, viz. dies with the Body, and turns to Dust; and who knows that the Spirit of a Man doth not do so, but goes upward? Hence it seems there was an Opinion at that time amongst the Jews, that the Souls of Men did not die with their Bodies like the Beasts. And we find Solomon, in the Close of this Book, saying, upon a Man's Death, The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it. Now whether he was better resolved in the Point at this time, or that he used this Expression to comply with the Opinion of his Country, we will not pretend to determine. But it seems plain, that amongst Men and Beasts there is a great Congruity in their Parts, Frame, and Composition, as that all have different Members acting suitable to their Kind's, as Head, Feet, Back, Belly; and Inward Parts, as Heart, Liver, Lungs, Spleen, Brain, and all the Organs of Sense; and Nerves, Veins, Arteries, Ventricles, Muscles, Joints, and the same Nature of Flesh, Bones, Blood and Breath, which shall be left here, and changed for the Consideration of their Internal Powers of Sense, Motion, Fancy, Memory, Intellect; and of their Affections, Passions, and Powers of Perception, Utterance, and the like Faculties.  
Concerning such Faculties, we begin from the Senses, and do find the Beasts have all the same with those of Men, and that they can make as accurate and beneficial Use of them as any Men can do; and in the Perceivance by them, divers Beasts do excel Men, some in the Use of one Sense, and some of another; and every Beast and Bird have Voices, Tones and Notes, all serving to warn and direct their Young ones, to call for their Food, or complain for the Want of it; to give warning of Wether or Danger, to call for Company of their own Kind, to threaten and terrify their Inferiors in Strength; the Birds also to vie with one another in Melody, delighting therewith the Ears of other Creatures that can perceive the Suavity and Variety of them. The Affections and Passions in Beasts are the same with those in Men. We have named five Principals of them, viz. Ambition, Covetousness, Lust, Wrath, and Fear; the three last of which are altogether as eminent and active in Beasts as in Men. Ambition is not so; and yet Beasts and Birds of all Kind's will fight, without giving quite over, until there be an acknowledged Mastery amongst them; the Stronger will compel the Weaker to give Way, and to follow and observe him. Nor is Covetousness in Beasts any thing comparable to that in Man; some of them do hoard up Provision for their Support in Winter, and others, for whom it is proper, will steal it from them; or fight for it if there shall be an Occasion. So as, in Beasts, these Affections are but very feeble, in comparison to what they are in Man: Whereas Lust, Wrath, and Fear, are equally potent and prevalent in the one Kind, as in the Other: And for Proof that Beasts have Fantasies, their Dreams are Evidence, in which sometimes they are vehemently agitated and affected: and that they have Perfect Memories is proved by a Horse's learning to know a Way but once gone, and sooner than ordinary Passengers do; by a Cows returning to the Place where her Calf was parted from her, although she be driven away many Miles from it; by the Docility of Horses, Camels, Dogs, Apes, Elephants, most knownly, but truly of many other Creatures. And there seems to be no sufficient Doubt of finding all other Powers that are in Man, resident in some Beasts, except that of his Intellect, which he can employ in framing many Notions or Propositions, and drawing Consequences and Conclusions; such we do not know that any Beasts can do, nor have they Means of making them known to us. Sometimes we light upon Effects which carry a great Semblance of Proceeding from such Causes, as in Dogs their Kindness to the Bodies of their dead Masters, and discovery of their Murderers: That of Sabinus supported his Master's dead Body in the Tiber till he sunk with it; Alexander's Elephant, who would never take Food after the Royal Harness was taken from him and put upon another, but starved and died upon it. Androgeo and his Lion are reported and made famous in divers Roman Histories; and other-like Effects are related, that might serve to this Purpose, but too long and circumstantial to be here related. But from the Docility of Creatures, Beasts, we may with some certainty collect that they have an Intellect of simple or single Notions, what, and when, and how their Directors will have them to act. And Hares and Foxes do (it seems) invent Means to deceive and baffle their Pursuers. But of Complex Notions, Discourse or Reasoning in their Minds, we do not perceive that any Beasts are capable; although they are notable Observers of their Master's Eyes, and can perceive their Pleasure or Displeasure in them, and act according as by them directed: Yet that they are capable of a Judgement arising from a Discourse in their own Minds, we do not perceive, and therefore will agree, that Men in the Discursive Part of their Intellect, are very much beyond and above the Beasts; and so do the Humane Bodies much excel the Beasts in the Instruments and Operations of their Tongues and Hands: And yet as these Advantages of their Bodily Organs doth not set their Bodies in so much a superior Orb to the Beasts, as to exempt them from the common Diseases and Death belonging unto both their Kind's. So, it seems, the Advantage which they have over Beasts in Strength of Intellect and Discourse in their Minds, may not be taken for a firm and assured Argument, that there is in the one a Soul spiritually different from the other; but that perhaps this Difference in Intellect may be but gradual, and proceed from the greater Subtlety and Tenuity of the Spirit acting: The Copiousness and Fineness of Matter in the Head and Brain of Man, and the Largeness and Aptitude of the Organs, which create the Difference, and give the Superior Quality and Advantage to the Intellect of Man; as we know it to be in the Body by Aptitude in the Organs of the Hands and Tongue. Amongst those who argue for the Being of an Immaterial Self-subsisting Soul in Man, some avoid the Defending their Principle by Arguments drawn from Reason or Nature, by confessing the thing cannot be so proved, because it is not made of any Mundane Thing, but inspired, as my Lord Bacon is before cited to have expressed it. And Sir Kenelm Digby, in his Treatise of the Soul, Fol. 394. tells us, If you ask me by what Artifice a Man is able to perform the Rational and Discursive Actions of the fantasy, Intellect, Memory, & c.? I will answer, that they are done in an Admirable and Spiritual Manner: But if you demand what the Manner is, and how produced? I must answer, It is done, I know not how, by the Power of the Soul: show me a Soul, and I will tell you how it works. It seems we want some such Evidence for its being what our Arguers affirm it is. He offers at some parcels of Proof from Effects, but they are long, not fit for this Place, and how firm the Perusers must judge each for himself. Our Author, Pag. 161. confesses he knows not whether Souls do pre-exist; and if so, Whether they are Individuate in their Pre-existence, or shall be so after separating from the Body; and whether the Semen in Generation is animated, and how the animated Semina of two make one? and if animated, than what becomes of the Anima Seminis Perditi, or of an Abortive? Whether the Body be animated as Vegetative or Sensitive, before the Entrance of the Rational Soul? What is an Act or Habit in the Soul, or how, not acting or habited, it differs from itself acting or habited? How its Acts are Many, and yet but One, or its Faculties at least; and some other Riddles concerning the Souls of his Mode? All these Three Assertors of the Immaterial, Self-subsisting Soul confess, They know neither the Quid, Quale, Quando, Vbi, or Quomodo of their Sort of Soul, and wave the Proving it from Reason or Nature, or make but some weak Offers upon that Account, without pretending to a full Conviction of such as shall peruse their Writings upon this Point. But Dr. More, in his Book of the Souls Immortality, 8o. Printed Lond. 1659. offers to make irrefragable Proof from Reason and Nature, That there is in Man, an Immaterial and Self-subsisting Soul; and grounds all his Arguments for that Purpose, upon a Natural Necessity of the Thing. For that (says he) without such a Soul, it would not be possible in Nature, for Men to use their Senses, Affections, Fantasies, Intellects, Memories, and Motions, as they do, if they had not such an Immaterial Substance and Spirit within them, for the actuating, directing, and governing of them, and giving to every Part and Organ, that Life and Vigour, that may suffice to perform the Duty and Function to each of them belonging. And because his Design is our proper Subject in this Place, his own Assertions and Words shall be quoted, for the better Assurance of that he hath thereupon delivered. First, he determines, That if in Man there be not such a Spirit, than there can be nothing in him but Matter. And Pag. 125. says, Matter is utterly uncapable of such Operations. And we find there is but one same thing in us, which hears, sees, and tastes, and perceives all the Vanity of Objects presented to us; and that which is the Common Sense, judging of outward Objects, must likewise imagine, remember, reason, and be the Fountain of Spontaneous Motion, and of the like Faculties and Powers in Man. Pag. 133. Matter is not affected by any Perception, but of Corporeal Impression, by the bearing of one Body against another: But the Seoundae Notiones, or Mathematical and Logical Conceptions, cannot be seated in Matter, but must be in some other Substance distinct from it. Pag. 154. says, I have plainly proved, that neither the more Pure Intellectual Faculties, nor those less pure, of Memory and Imagination, are compatible to mere Bodies; and have convincingly demonstrated, That not so much as what we call External Sense, is compatible unto the same. Pag. 227. To the Nature of Sensation and the other Operations, the Animal Spirits are not sufficient of themselves, nor the Soul, of herself, without the Assistance of the Spirits. Pag. 205. Yet the Soul hath not any Power, or exceeding little, of moving Matter, but only of determining Matter in Motion. Pag. 298. But the immediate Instrument of the Soul are those Tenuous and Aerial Particles, called the Spirits, by which the Soul hears, sees, feels, imagines, remembers, reasons, and by moving which, or directing their Motion, she moves likewise the Body, and helps to form it in the Womb: but till the Body is finished, the Soul flutters betwixt it and the Spirit of Nature, or Soul of the World. Pag. 329. The Souls most subtle and most intellectual Operations depend upon the Fitness of Temper in the Animal Spirits; and it is the Fitness and Purity of them that invites her, and enables her to love and look after Divine and Intellectual Objects. And the Souls Nature is such, as she cannot act, but in Dependence upon Matter. Pag. 330. It is a very wild Leap in Nature, that the Soul of Man should skip from the impure Body, newly turned to a dead Carcase, and ascend thence immediately to the highest Heaven, and to the Presence and Company of God and Angels. From these Quotations Dr. More's Opinions concerning the Soul may easily be collected, and those which are desirous particularly to consider of his Arguments at large, may consult his Book, which is but of a small Bulk. But here Notice only shall be taken of his Principal Foundation, viz. That no Matter, or Thing consisting of Matter, can have a Principle of Motion or Activity in itself, or of moving any other Matter whatsoever. It, seems when he made this gross Mistake, he did not remember that there was an Element of Fire in the World. For we suppose he could have no doubting but that Fire was Matter; nor that wheresoever it is found, it shows itself to be a Self-moving and an Active Principle in Nature; so violent as to disdain Resistance from any thing: Fortresses and Castles are ordinarily and easily overthrown by it, Rocks and Mountains cannot enough resist the Force of it. But it can shake the solid Globe of Earth, making Resistance to the Violent Force of its Motion and Activity: How extreme easy must it then be for a Principle of such Mettle and Vigour, to move and actuate, and to enliven and quicken the adapted Parts, Members and Organs of an Animal or Humane Body, wherein those Parts and Organs are fitted, by a wise Creator, to those Motions and Purposes, and for those Offices, in their first Formation intended. It seems an Opinion of so little Doubt or Question, as scarce leaves Matter or Occasion for any farther Dispute about the Verity of the Thing. We have spoken before of the Spirits inflamed to a Tenuity, so rare as it attains to a Degree of Invisibility: And our Dr. (Pag. 149.) tells us of the Intense Heat that is about the Heart of Man; such as that his Blood there, is in a manner scalding-hot. So, Pag. 203. says, The Aetherial Matter is that Fire which Trismegist affirms is the Vehicle of the Mind, and which the Soul of the World doth most certainly use in all her Acts and Procreations. Pag. 212. The Spirits [thus fine and active] move like Light, as that of the Sun to our Sight, the Motion is propagated, not by Degrees, but at once. Pag. 214. If one part of the Blood he more Fiery and Subtle than another, it will be sure to reach the Head. From these Assertions it appears our Dr. was not ignorant of the Principle of Fire, and its Activity in the Body and Mind of Man; nor did he forget it. Why then did he not mention and answer the Objection thence arising against. his Position, That Matter can neither move itself nor any other Matter? there seems no Account or Reason to be given. Our Author Baxter takes notice, Pag. 21. That Life, Intuition, and Love, are Acts as Natural to the Soul, as Motion, Light, and Heat are Quoad actum to the Fire. This Testifies his Opinion, That Fire is a a Self-moving Principle, and that it is evident and eminent in the Composition of the Body and Mind of Man, is too well proved and apparent to be doubted.  
Upon all these Quotations and Arguments, it seems we may say, as we have done before in the Case of Plants, that in Animals Men do find a proper and sufficient Original in their Seed, and the Fomentation and Nutriment of it, and of its Growth and Tendency to the Perfection of its Kind, that there are naturally produced the Parts belonging to such Bodies, viz. inward, as Heart, Liver, Lungs, Bowels, Brains, Spleen, Kidneys, Bladder, etc. And outward, as Head, Feet, Hands, Arms, Shoulders, Neck, etc. Also those which under one Name contain many Particulars, as the Muscles, Nerves, Veins, Fibres, Arteries, Films, Membranes, Tunicles, etc. Lastly, such as go through the Composure, and every Part of it, viz. Flesh, Bones, Blood, and Breath. God, by his Handmaid Nature, and that Wisdom described, Prov. 8. framed this Compositum at first, out of the Dust of the Earth: Of which David gives a true Character, when he says, I am fearfully and wonderfully made: and making, he endowed it with a Generative Power, to be practised and used for the Continuance of their Species, till Time and Place shall fail for such Productions; and hath made such Performances, the most pleasing and delightful Actions of their Lives, to the intent the Species of Animals might never fail in the World, or be extinguished. When their Bodies were perfectly framed, and fully finished, furnished with Blood and Humours fit to be enkindled by the Promethean or Heavenly Fire, He breathed (says Moses) into Man the Breath of Life: which (though Moses doth not express it) was given and granted to the Beasts of the Field also, and to the Heirs and Posterities of them all, and by the first Blast and Fanning of this Breath, were the pregnant Steems of the newly-created and pullulant Blood and Humours of the Body enkindled and inflamed, with a Fire of Heavenly Product, Natural and Lambent, like those sometimes found in Ancient Urns and Sepulchers, ever burning or shining, without Consuming or Perception of Consuming their Materials. This Fire, Flame, or Glowing, pervades the whole Body, and every Part and minute Particle and Member of it, whither the Blood and Humours can and do come, enlivening and actuating the whole and every Part of the Body, to perform those Purposes for which by Nature they were intended. But the Power of this Vital Heat and Fire is most apparent in and about the Heart, where the Blood is most heated, rarified and refined, to a Spirit of that Pureness and Subtlety, that like a rorid Steem they become thin to an Ivisibility, ascending continually from the Heart to the Head, as the Sap doth in Plants, and the Vegetative Spirit from the Root to the Branches: arriving in the Head, they replenish the Brain and the Ventricles thereof, acting, and stirring, and enabling all Parts and Organs to and in the Performance of those Parts and Duties for which, by Nature, they were intended. Our Dr. before-quoted, P. 298. tells us, That by these Spirits the Soul hears, sees, feels, imagines, remembers, and reasons, and can do nothing without them. And, Pag. 329. The Souls Intellectual Operations depend upon these Spirits, and it is the Fitness and Purity of them that invites and enables her to love and look after Divine and Intellectual Objects. But we do not perceive more need of such a Soul in the Animal, than there was before in the Plant; there we found Materials and proper Organs for the Nourishment of it, and a Natural Vegetative Spirit or Soul to enliven it, to stir and actuate the Sap, causing it to ascend and to spread itself in all Places, even to the uttermost Branches and Twigs of the largest Trees, where it produceth Leaves and Fruit according to its own proper Nature; and why not the Blood, Humours, and Animal Spirits circulating in the Body of an Animal? The Blood and Humours, actuated with the Flame of Life, and the attenuated Spirits actuating and applying to fit Matter and Organs of the Body, made proper for their several Purposes, and moving and stimulating to act accordingly, and acting with them and in them, why may not these act in the Natural Course of a Sensitive Animal, without an Immaterial Self-subsisting Soul? Our Dr. says, Because you can show me no Way how things can be by such Means acted and done in the Senses or Understanding, but so as I can make such Exceptions against your Deductions, as you are not able to give clear Answers unto, nor can you make plain to Reason the particular Mode of the Operation of the Senses: less concerning the Imagination, Memory, Intellect, and Affections. We will not stick to grant all this, and yet reply, by repeating what we have said. Let the Dr. or any for him, show the particular Reasons, and Causes, and Manner of Working; how, and why Appletrees bring forth Apples of such different Kind's, yet constant each to his own Kind? And why, and how a Pear-tree is terminated to her Sort and Sorts in like manner; Why, and how a Thorn must needs bear Haws, and a Vine Grapes, & c.? Why, and how some Plants and Flowers are sweet, others stinking, or without Smell? Let them answer to the Queries before made concerning a Leaf, and so as Men cannot make material and just Exceptions to their Deductions; and then they may more reasonably pretend to bring in a Self-subsisting Soul to the actuating of the Senses in Animals, and the Guiding and Conduct of their other Faculties: And till then, it is to be hoped they will allow Men to think, that the Animal Spirits of a Sensitive Animal may have Activity, Mettle, and Power enough in them, to move and employ the Brain, the Senses, the Body, and all their Organs or Instruments whatsoever, without the Government or Assistance of a Self-subsisting Soul, or any Extraneous Spirit whatsoever.  

Notice must needs be taken of an Objection which our Dr. himself makes or frames against his own Opinion. Pag. 238. (says he) There will be an envious Objection cast in our Way, (Observe, his Epithet is very sharp; but the Strength of the Objection was the Occasion) viz. Men will say, that all our Demonstrations are mere Sophisms, because some of them, and the not of the least Validity, do prove that Souls of Brutes are Substances Incorporeal and Self-subsisting, after Death of the Body; and consequently, That they have a Pre-existence before their coming into the Body; and that the Souls of Men have also the same Pre-existence. Pag. 240. The Dr. owns these Opinions, and says they are all true. Pag. 241. And that the Deriving Souls, ex traduce, viz. from Seed of the Parents, is a plain Contradiction, and so impossible, for a Body to beget an Immaterial Spiritual Substance. The third Conceit, That God creates Souls to supply every Adulterous, Incestuous, Buggering, successful Coition, or for Monstrous, Deformed Productions, is too Indignous to be imposed upon his Majesty. And there are but these Three Ways for Production of Souls; and therefore they must pre-exist, à Mundo Condito, when many Miriads of Souls were created to serve in all Future Ages. Pa. 447. Of this Opinion (says the Jews Cabbala) was Moses. And he names here Seventeen more Ancient Philosophers who were of this Opinion; and adds, Origen and later Writers. Pag. 245. says, That all Philosophers of Note, in all Ages, who have held the Soul of Man Immortal and Incorporeal, have likewise held the Pre-existence of it; and this must hold for Beasts as well as for Men. Pag. 266. As the Souls of Men pre-existing, slide down out of the Air into fitly prepared Matter, so do the Souls of Brutes also. Pag. 271. The Souls of Men and Brutes inhabit Air in a Terrestrial Vehicle. Pag. 302. Hence Men will say, the Souls of Brutes will live and enjoy themselves after Death. To which our Dr. dares boldly answer, That it is a thousand times more reasonable that they should be believed to do so, than that the Souls of Men do not. Pag. 304. There is no Reason to think Brutes cease to be alive after they are separated from their Bodies. Our Author Baxter, following (it seems) our Dr. holds the like Opinion, and perhaps doubting to prejudice the Opinion of a Humane Soul's Self-subsistance. Pag. 20. He says, Chambre and some others make Brutes a lower Rank of Rationals, and Man a higher Rank. Pag. 38. Though it be but an Analogical Reason that Brutes have, yet the Difference betwixt Man and them, it more in the Objects Tendency and Work of Reason, than in our Reason itself, as such. Pag. 201. Men conclude basely of the Souls of Brutes, as if they were not an enduring Substance, without any Proof or Probability. Pag. 303. Some think too basely of Sense, because they find it in lower Creatures; they might accordingly deny Substantiality to Spirits, because Brutes are Substances. Pag. 380. The Sensible Souls of Brutes are Substance, and therefore are not annihilated after Death. It seems this Tenet of the Maintainers of a Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul, is calculated for the Solution of an Objection which they foresaw would arise, from that Power which Beasts evidently have and exercise in the Use of their Senses, Affections, Fancies, Memories, and Intellect of Simple Notions, whereby their Actions may be and are directed. How sufficient the Effect of this Tenet will prove, for the solving or opposing an Argument drawn from this Ground, will best appear when the Argument itself shall have been produced: in which we shall proceed as we have done before in the Case of Trees, Plants, and other Vegetative Creatures.  
We say then, That the Beasts are endowed with the like Faculties and Powers that are found in Men: they have a Local Motion as Strong, Vigorous, and Swift, as Men; and so for every Limb, Joint, Muscle, Nerve, and Sinew of their Bodies; acting as Spontaneously therein as can be done by Men: They use and govern the same Five Senses that are in Man, and enjoy and act them to as great Perfection and Effect, as Men ordinarily do: and some of them exceed Men in the Natural Effect, Use, and Vigour, of some of those Senses: They have the same Affections and Passions reigning in their Minds, Inclinations, and Bodies, as those that appear in Men; and their Lust, Wrath, and Fear, are as Strong, Vigorous, and Vehement, as they are in Men. They have very apt and tenacious Memories, and have signs of Active and Moving Fantasies; the full truth, operation, and extent whereof we are not able to discover, for want of Dialect in the Beasts to discover them to us; an Intellect also the Beasts are evinced to have, by their perceiving men's temper of displeasure or kindness in their Eyes, Looks, or Gestures; by their slinking out of sight, crouching, and dejected Looks or Behaviour, when they have done a Mischief; a sign they use reflection upon themselves, and so much of judgement as to be under Fear and Expectation of Punishment for the same: even as we find the Servile People amongst Men will do: a Vivacity also of their Intellect shows itself, in their Docility, enabling them to practise such Postures and Actions as some more stupid People could hardly or never attain to perform, to their degrees of Perfection; in the knowing, understanding, observing, and obeying of a Sign, a Nod, a Gesture, a Look, the Moving of an Eye, or by an angry or pleased Composure of a Man's Countenance: Things, which dull, or unbred People do not well perceive, or understand. Our Author Baxter Pag. 38. is so moved with the Considerations, as he there says, That in their own low, Concerns, a Fox, or a Dog, nay even an Ass, or a Goose, have such Actions as we know not well how to ascribe to any thing below some kind of Reasoning, or Perception of the same importance: Whence he infers, That the Difference betwixt Men and Beasts is rather in the Objects and Work of our Reason, than in our Reason itself, as such: and that therefore the old difference of Man from Beast in the Word Rationale, should be changed into Religiosum. That Man's Genus shall be Animal still, but his Characteristical Difference should be changed from Rationale to Religiosum. We say further, That in the Beasts there is a Sensitive Soul of a Flamy Airy Nature, a Material Spirit extracted from the Blood and Humours of the Body, actuated by Natural Heat and that Flammula Vitalis, which pervades their whole Bodies, and every part, member, and parcel of them; passing with their blood into all places whither that can come: This Spirit it is that directs and actuates the Motions; works by the Senses, forms the Voices; imagines, remembers, and understands in the Head; inlivens and moves the Heart, and by which all other Faculties of the Beasts are stirred, actuated, put upon, and supported in their Natural Employments and Duties, performed according to the Natural Operations of Spirits, with great Mettle, Quickness, and Imperceptibility: and this seems to be the State and Composition of the Beasts. Whence we argue, That all that is thus found in Beasts, and by them performed, springs from the motions and actings of a Material Spirit, and the force and power of a Natural Flame: What hinders then, but that a Material Spirit in Man, may as well perform the same productions in Body and Mind, of those of his Kind and Species; both his Motions, Senses, Affections, Imagination, Memory, and Intellect, and all his other Faculties, with some more advantage in the degrees of them, by how much the Spirits are more pure and subtle in the Humane Bodies; the matter more fine and copious, the receptacles of them large, and the Organs every where properly fitted and terminating the product and performance, to the Effect for which by the Creator they were intended and appointed; and we conclude in Affirmative, that it is likely to be so in very deed.  
But in answer thereunto, our Opposers bring in their lately delivered Assertion, calculated (as we have said) and set on foot for such a time as this: Viz. That Beasts do not perform their Functions of the Senses, Affections, Phantasie, Memory, and Intellect, their Local Motion, or any of them, by the acting or energy of a Material Spirit: But they soberly say, Beasts are endowed with, and actuated by, an Immaterial Self-subsisting Spirit, which pre-existed before it came into the Body of the Beast, and shall subsist by itself after the death and corruption of its Body. They do but say this, without making, or offering any Proof at all of it. And one of their Associates in Opinion, pinched with this Argument of what the Beasts can, and do, perform in this Kind, takes quite another way and manner of evading from under the force and pressure of it. Sir K. Digby (to show us there are more ways to the Wood than one) takes a Course directly contrary to that of our forecited Authors; for he, fol. 205. and thence to 210. would persuade us, and demonstrate, as he says, That Beasts are not to be esteemed so much as Voluntary Agents, or that they have so much as the knowledge of what they do, or why they do it; but that they act stupidly, by a natural sense of Heat and Cold; and the density and rarity of their Blood and Members: that they are mere Automata, without so perceiving by their senses, as to distinguish one thing from another. He tells us, That in his youth he saw two Machine's, the one at Toledo, for raising Water to a great height, the other at Segovia: (both set on work by the Current of a River.) This was used for the Coining of Money, and of these Machine's he gives us there the Description; and then he compares all sorts of Plants, both great and small, to his Water-Engine at Toledo; and all Sensible Living Creatures, to his Machine at Segovia. They move and work as that Machine doth, and they do things that are very proper and useful for their Natures, and contrive, and act things sometimes very artificial and curious; as he says, we see in Spider's Webs and Birds Nests. But the Animals know not what it is they do, but are prompted so to act by a temperament in their Bodies, which makes them uneasy and restless until they do act, and employ themselves according to a propensity which they have in Nature; but they have as little choice or perceiving, either why or what they do, as his Machine at Segovia.; of which he relates many Useful and Artificial Practices, continually performed, without sense or knowledge of any thing that it did: and this seems the single Truth of his forecited Assertions. But he proceeds upon a like Design to many more folios. It seems evident that these two Opinions of our Opposers are directly contrary, one of them to the other; and yet, are intended both for one same purpose; viz. to invalidate such an Argument, as might be raised from the Nature, Power, and Practice, of a Sensitive Soul, that might persuade to the belief of what hath been before asserted by us; of the Rational Faculties and Duties being possible, and likely to be acted and performed by a Material Spirit; if either of the forecited Opinions were true, it were enough to rebate the edge of such an Argument, and to invalidate the force of it: but with those who do not believe the truth of either of them, they will be of no force at all to the purpose: We confide there is no need to labour in the Confutation of either of them; for that they will hardly be acccepted or agreed to, by Men of Reading and Reason: and that therefore our repeated Argument will be of force and continue unimpeachable by either of these Allegations.  
Whence we are at liberty to proceed in our farther Inquiries concerning the Soul. We find that Aristotle (who lived about Two thousand years ago, wrote a Treatise entitled, Of the Soul, divided into Three Books, and those into Chapters; the First Book into Nine, and the other Two each into Twelve; and he treats therein (as we have done) of all the Three Known Souls: viz. The Vegetative, the Sensitive, and the Rational; and calls his Work, A History of the Soul; and in the very entrance thereunto, the First Chapter of it, he tells us, It is extreme difficult to detect the Essence of any thing, or the Quid sit: Yet that is the most sound Principle of Knowledge, if it can be attained unto: but the ordinary means of attaining it, is by Searching into all, or the most of the Accidents unto the same belonging; and so searching, we know not how to find any Affections or Accidents a Soul hath that are proper or peculiar to herself. Commonly we find she neither does nor suffers any thing without Copartnership of the Body: The Intellect seems her most peculiar; and yet if that be a sort of Fantasy, or cannot be performed without the Fancy, certainly it cannot be acted without the Body neither. Hence he collects and asserts, That if in the Soul there be any Operation or Affection which is properly peculiar to its self, viz. it's own Nature, it may then be reasonably taken to have a Separate Subsistence, disjoined from the Body; but if it have no Operations or Affections so peculiarly proper to its own Nature, then is it not capable of Subsistence in a State separated from the Body: Also that which is never found or perceived without a Body, may well pass for inseparable from a Body: Also in all our Affections the Body joins and operates with the Soul; for if they were totally or principally from the Soul, they would act in a like manner, upon all like or equal occasions: But we find that Men will sometimes bear very great Provocations, or Appearances of great Danger, without any great emotions of Anger or Fear; and at another time they are apt to fear upon far less occasions; and to be wrathful and angry accordingly: This shows the Humours of the Body have a great Share and Power, in producing these Affections, and that they are Rationes Materiales, Effects of a Material Soul [of which Men say, Dispositio Animae sequitur Temperamentum Corporis] nam Ratio est forma Rei: Concluding upon the Question, That the Affections of the Animal are inseparable from the Natural Matter and Composure of it. This is a Summary of the First Chapter of Aristotle's Book. He questions (as Solomon had done before him) Whether Souls do subsist in Separation from their Bodies, or not? And argues, If they have proper Operations or Accidents of their own, it is likely they do subsist so: and if they have not such, than they do not so subsist: for Natura nihil facit frustra: And if they neither have Action nor Passion properly belonging to them, their Subsistence would be Frustra: and therefore, we have no reason to admit or allow of a Separate Subsistence of Souls, unless we can prove they have some Operation, Affection, or Accidents so properly belonging to them, as that they are certainly known to exercise or use them without any assistance of Body or Matter. We have before quoted our Doctor, Pag. 227. to this Point, saying, The Soul is not sufficient of herself to act, without the Animal Spirits. And P. 298. These are the immediate Instruments of the Soul, by which she sees, hears, feels, imagines, remembers, reasons, and moves the Members and the Body; and if they be spent, she can act no more. But neither Aristotle nor the Doctor here, find any properly peculiar Operation, or Accidents of the Soul. Aristotle says indeed, That Intelligere is the most so of any thing, Videtur to be the most so of any other thing; but he was not convinced that Intelligere was so proper to the Soul, as could give title to a Separated Subsistence after the death of the Body: nor doth he absolutely conclude to the contrary, but hath left us in the open road towards it; and with fair and forcible Reason so to do.  
This way of quoting Aristotle's Book, seems like that of the Israelites when they compassed the Land of Edom, their Soul was discouraged with the Prospect and Contemplation of the length of it. But as we find Weariness grow upon us, long Strides or Skips may happen to be made before the finishing of so venturous an Undertaking.  
Cap. 2. Aristotle proceeding in his History, citys to us all the Opinions that he knew to be delivered concerning the Soul by Eminent Grecian Philosophers before his time. First, He states the special Differences betwixt the Animata and Inanimata, or the Animals and Things that are not so, to lie in Motion and Sense: All Animals have those two things, and none but Animals have them; and that Motion is the Prior and Superior Faculty: therefore the First Observers began from thence, believing, That which could not move itself, could not move another thing. Whence Democritus collected, That the Soul was a certain Degree of Heat or Fire, which he took to be kindled and maintained in the Body by such Atoms, flying about in the Air, as are of a Globular Figure; which he took to be of a Fiery Nature: such they observed to be in the Air, never resting, but always in Motion; though the Wind and Air were never so calm and quiet: these entering into the Body, with the Breath, acted in it, and acted it; every breathing supplying fresh Atoms, and by that means continuing Life and Motion in the Body: but on stoppage or failure of Breath, the Animal dies, for want of fresh Atoms, to heat, move, and actuate the same: [Men were put to it for the finding a way to kindle this Fire in the Animal Bodies, for want of Moses' History, and takeing the Promethean or Heavenly Fire, but for a Fable] with Democritus' Opinion Leucippus also agreed: The Pythagorean School, Some said the Soul was of these Atoms, others, it was of that which moved these Atoms; and divers more held the Soul to be an Active Principle, which first moved itself, and then acted every thing about it; for nothing can move another thing, that is not first moved itself. Anaxagorus was of the like Opinion; and so were all they who had principal respect to the Motion of Animals: but other Philosophers there were who principally respected the Sensitive and Scientifical Performances of the Soul, and they conceived the Soul to be a Compositum or Temperament of the Elements; and of this Opinion was Empedocles, and Plato in his Timaeo: this Compositum they drew out into Four Principles, after a Mathematical Pattern: the first as a single Unite or Point: and this they said was the Intellect: then they drew out a Line terminated by two Unites, and that they called the Number Two; and this they said was Science; of Lines they produced a Planum, and that they said was Opinion; and thence they founded and made a Solid Body, and this they said was the Sense, or Sensitive Power; and that all things were judged and terminated, part by the Intellect, part by Science, part by Opinion, and part by Sense: and having reduced the Self-moving Soul to Numbers, they gave it the Term of a Self-moving Number: but those who compounded it of the Elements, made Fire Principal in that Composition, it consisting of the most Subtle and Incorporeal Parts, prompt to and in Motion, and a Prime Mover of other Things. Diogenes thought the Soul to be Air, as the most Subtle Principle, and easily moved: And Heraclitus called it an Exhalation, Incorporeal, always moving. Almaeon said, The Soul was Immortal, like other Immortal Being's, who are always in Motion, as the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Heaven itself. Other impertinent Philosophers, as Hippo, said, The Soul was Water, from the Prolific Faculty. And Critius said, It was Blood, because that is the Prime Instrument of Sense. But all agree in the Prime Requisites of it, viz. Motion, Sense, and Incorporiety. Anaxagoras only, says It is impassable, and hath nothing common with any other thing. But if so it be, neither he nor any else tells us, [can tell us] how or by what Means it should come to the Knowledge of any thing. We may observe all these Philosophers, except Three, content themselves with a Subtle, Moving, Material Spirit. Of the Three, Heraclitus, it seems, aims at the Spirit formerly by us described. Anaxagorus is not believed by Aristotle, and is but a Negative Description. The Third, viz. Almaeon, seems the sole positive Assertor, That the Soul is Immortal, and like other Immortal, viz. Spiritual Being's: The Man's Name is not otherwise Famous; but his Opinion hath had the Fortune to spread itself in the World, beyond all those whom Aristotle in this Chapter hath nominated to us; and to be come near the Universal of the present Time: Jews and Gentiles, Mahometans and Christians, professing themselves to be of the same Faith or Belief: but the more Considerate of them declining a Dispute and reasonable Examination of the same, the Soul being a Supernatural, Spiritual, and Inspirited Substance, which Flesh and Blood cannot reveal, no nor understand. And all this I do willingly agree unto; but do say, We are now, within the Lists of Humane Reason, entered into against our Author Baxter, and his Associate Dr. More, who have undertaken, and made Challenge, to prove Man's Soul must needs be an Immaterial Self-subsisting Spirit, and that upon Grounds of Nature and undeniable Reason. We are thus far on of our Way in that Argument, and God send us a good Deliverance.  
Chap. 3. Arist. confutes some of the forecited Opinions. And, 

First for Motion, says, It seems not essential to the Soul, but that Motion is rather per Accidens, and according to the Body's Motion, and it may move the Body without being moved itself. [as Light directs without its own Motion.] The Body's Motion doth carry the Soul about with it: but that is not a proper Motion of the Soul. Nothing can move naturally that is not in some Place; but the Soul is the Form of the Body; and Forms are properly not in Place, but in their proper Matter: not like Accidents in Bodies, which are not there as Forms to Bodies, or Participants of their Motion.  
Secondly, That which can move Naturally, may be compelled to move by Force; but the Soul cannot be so compelled. Ergo,  
Thirdly, If the Soul were properly moved, it would not be accidentally so; but it is principally moved by the Sensible Objects. Ergo,  
Fourthly, That which moves, leaves its former Place or Qualification. And if Motion were Essential to the Soul, it so moving must recede from its Essence. Ergo, Motion is not of its Essence.  
Fifthly, Democritus thought the Soul, moving itself, did thereby move the Body, as the Universe moved from the Motion of the Celestial Orbs; but they never rest: therefore the Soul doth not so move the Animal: but by its Intellect and Choice, the Animal moves or rests.  
Sixthly, Plato compared the Soul to the Heavenly Orbs or Circles, first differenced into two Sorts, and then others, and those divided into seven of the Planets. But hence the Soul must needs be Bulky, and so capable of Division; and that it is not. But is as the Intellect or Mind, which, though it reflect upon itself, is not thereby made Circular any more than the Sense or Appetite, which do not so reflect. Though the Soul have not a Bulk, yet it is One, first in Number, next by its Indivisibility, for it hath no Parts: but all that have Bulk have Parts. Also the Motions, viz. that of a Soul and that of a Circle are quite different: That of a Soul is Intellection, employed about Objects or Things; that of a Circle is bare Rotation without End. But the Soul moves rationally to a Design, or End, whence the Soul hath a Tendency, as well to Rest and Settlement as to Motion.  
Seventhly, If Motion were of the Essence of the Soul, it could never rest, like the Celestial Orbs: if not essential to it, continual Motion would be tiresome to it, and it were better be out of the Body. And many say the Case is truly so with it, and so (for the most part) it is believed: Those who will rightly treat of the Soul, must join therewithal the Consideration of the Body also; because of the close Connexion that is between them; so as one can neither act nor suffer without the other: and they are so knit and apted for one another, that a Man's Soul cannot fit a Beast, nor that of a Beast suit with the Body of a Man; and the Pythagorical Tenet was but a Fable.   We may observe, that Aristotle treats here of the Soul, as if it were some Self-subsistent Principle, a Thing that was entire; not as if it were a Material Spirit, residing chief in Vital Parts, and thence diffused over the whole Body: it seems rather that he did not so apprehend of it, but rather that it was partible from the Body: For else it could not be considered, whether it should be better out of the Body or in it. He says, That then many thought it better to be out of the Body, than in it. And we are told some Men of those Times killed themselves to enjoy that Immunity the sooner: And yet it is not throughly clear, whether when he speaks of the Souls being out, and in, that be not intended according to the common Opinion of his Time: For that he knits Soul and Body so together, as if they were but one same. Let it be called Animal or Essential Being, which both do and suffer the same, without any rationally perceivable Difference, although it be easy for posted Fancy to create Differences: if the Soul be the Material Spirit before described, the Reason of this Sameness in doing and suffering is evident and clear: But if the Soul and Body be Separate Subsistences, a Modification of this Sameness in doing and suffering, is yet to be excogitated.  
Chap. 4. Some hold Opinion, That the Body being compounded of contrary Ingredients, viz. the Four Elements, that Reasonable Proportion, and Equal Temperament which disposes and preserves all these in their fittest Quantities, Qualities, and Agencies in the Body, and in their best Consistencies and Agreements, one of them with the other; that Agent they called by the Name of Harmony, and counted it for the Soul. This, Aristotle says, cannot be so: For that this Harmony hath not a Power of Motion, which all agree to be in the Soul. Nor can Men by this Harmony explicate the Affections and Operations of the Soul. 2. This Harmony is neither a Mixture of Ingredients, or a Composition of Parts or Members in the Body, as all other Proportions are in their Kind's; and therefore not properly Harmony. They gave the Amicableness of the Ingredients a Part in this Work of Operation by Harmony. But whether it be the same Thing, or one different from it, they do not declare, nor doth Empedocles their Author discover. Now if the Soul be not this Reasonable Proportion and Temperature of the Mixture in Bodies, why doth it appear to be taken away together with the Body? and what is it that perishes at the Souls Departure, if this sort of Harmony be not the Soul? Yet concludes it is not the Soul. The Soul may be moved by Accident, and can move itself so, viz. by moving the Body; but a Local Motion the Soul of itself hath not. This of Local Motion must be intended whilst in the Body, or is fully contradicted by our Doctor, Pag. 266. and so to 296. And we may observe that Aristotle seems to bear much with this Opinion of the Harmony, though he doth not allow of it; and though it fall short of the Truth, yet it seems to have a good Share of the Truth in it.  
Chap. 5. Because that to Rejoice, Grieve, or Discourse, are Motions, and Men use to say, The Soul Rejoices, is Grieved, or doth Ruminate or Study; it therefore is so moved. One might as well say the Soul Hews Timber, or Weaves: nor is it proper to say the Soul Learns, or Reasons in Discourse, but that the Man doth so by the Power of his Soul. Not that the motion is in the Soul, but in some Cases it comes to her, as in Using the Senses; and in some comes from her, as in Using the Memory; and so for the Intellect, which hath a nearer Relation to her than the Memory; also is a tore Substantial Faculty, and is less decaying, or subject to be spoiled: The Decays of Age do not reach or spoil it [so soon as it doth the Senses, Memory, or other Faculties.] The Soul suffers not by Age, but the Body wherein she is; as in Cases of Drink or Sickness, Intellect and Contemplation will fail also with the Bodily Materials failing; but the Soul herself is Impassable. And if an Old Man should obtain a Young Eye, he would be able to see as well as if he were Young. To Love, Hate, or Remember, are not Works of the Soul, but of him that hath it; and they are Qualities and Powers common to the Soul and Body, and perish with the Dissolution. Perhaps the Intellect may be a more Divine Thing, and Impassable. Finally, the Soul can neither be moved, nor move herself, [but by Accident.]  
We may observe, That where Aristotle says the Intellect is a kind of Substance, I render it a Substantial Faculty, more so than the Memory. It seems intended by the following Words, that Intellect doth also fail Men in their Age, but not so early as Memory; and so Experience confirms to us. For his (perhaps the Intellect) here intended Soul (but not so before) perhaps it is a Divine Thing, and Impassable. We say, that what perhaps may be, perhaps may not be, and compare it with Solomon, who knows, it is left by both as an uncertain Thing; and we are left to seek for a firmer Fixation of what they in these Places have not determined.  
Chap. 6. Aristotle rejects their Opinion, who thought the Soul to be a Number which had Power to move itself, and says 'tis an Impassable Tenet. His Arguments seem plain, and therefore need not be repeated: but we remark or observe that he says, Plants and Animals seem to be endowed with the same Soul, Spirit, or Specifical Soul. Also whether you call Democritus his round Atoms, Unities, or Minutest Points, they will create that which is Quantum, and then there will be something that moves, and something that is moved, as there must be in all Magnitudes, though never so small; and every Unity must have its Motor, so it cannot be Anima, for that is Motor, and is not moved [but by Accident.]. They who call the Soul Number, are like them who call it a sort of a subtle Body, consisting of Parts of a like Nature. But if the Soul be over, or in, all the Sentient Body universally, and that which enlivens it, here would be two Bodies one within another. Observe we may, concerning this Subtle Part, which he calls a sort of a Body, it may intent the Immaterial Spirit before explicated; and then the having one such Body within another Dense Body, is but an Exception to the Wording of the Thing, and doth not reach to the Denial of the Matter intended.  
Chap. 7. Mentions Three Definitions of the Soul. 

First, That is, Id quod maxim vim habet movendi, and therefore is a Self-Motor. Second, That it is a Body consisting of the most Subtle Parts, and more Incorporeal than any other Body or Thing.  
These Two are past.  
The Third is, That the Soul is a Compositum of the Elements, and which therefore can perceive and know them, and all that is made of them.   This Knowledge (says Aristotle) cannot rise from the Composition of Elements in the Soul, unless the Proportions of the Composition in Things, and their Way and Manner of Compounding, be also in the Soul: but not compounded Substances can be in the Soul, nor Quantity, Quality, or other Accidents. Empedocles thought the Elements, with their Concord and Discord, composed not only the Humane Soul, but that they and their Concord made up the Divine Intellect, excluding Discord. Whence (says Aristotle) God knew less than Men: but the Elements (says he) are Material, and that which by compounding them, makes the Soul, must be of more Value than the Soul. And what Thing can that be? Impossible it is that there should be any thing more excellent than the Soul, or superior to it, especially to its Prime Faculty, the Intellect: For most agreeable to Reason it is, that this highest Faculty of the Soul be accounted of the greatest Antiquity, and the highest Dominion or Power, according to Nature. No; (says Empedocles) for the Elements are the First of Being's; and if the Soul were not from the Elements, she could not attain to the Knowledge of them. And here Aristotle lets this Dispute fall, and says no more to any purpose in this Chapter. We may observe, that Aristotle repeats here again the Opinion of the Souls consisting of Material but most Subtle Parts, more Incorporeal or Spiritual than any other Material Thing. He gave no other Answer to this before, but by his Clinch, That this would be to conceit two Bodies one within another. To this may be said, one is a Spiritual Body, or a Celestial Spirit, kindled by the Breath of Life. But withdraw its Pabulum some few Days, or stop the Fanning, Air from it, but for some few Minutes, this Flaming Spirit is certainly extingushed, this Material Spirit can act no more for ever, without a Miracle, Fire from Heaven to re-enkindle it: but for want of this Subtle Body within, the Gross Body without dies and corrupts, and turns to that Dust out of which it was first extracted. This either was the Opinion of Heraclitus, before specified, or very like it.  
Chap. 8. Orpheus and Thales thought that there was a Soul of the Universe, resident every where, and so in the Elements. But Aristotle asks how that can be, that Air or Fire should have a Soul, without being an Animal? Orpheus held that Soul which was in the Air to be more Excellent and Immortal than that which was in Animals. But their Tenet seems absurd, to say that Fire or Air are Animals; or that, having Souls, they are not Animals: They said Animals lived by the Air, in which they breathed, and, in Breathing, attracted the Air, which being animated, caused Life in Animals: but the whole Air is of the same Species and Nature with every Part of it; therefore the whole Air is animated. In Souls (says Aristotle) there are dissimilar Parts or Degrees [viz. Reason, Sense, and Vegetation,] but the Air consists of Similar Parts only: whence Soul and Air cannot comport together, nor can the Soul be in every Part of the Universe, unless she do consist of Similar Parts: Concludes, The Soul cannot be known from its Consistence of the Elements, nor can it be knowingly or truly said that she is moved. We may observe, as the Occasion of this Argument, that some Old Philosophers held the World to be animated, and that the Soul of the World gave to every Nature its ultimate Perfection, that made heavy things descend, and light to rise upwards; and was the Cause that Animals had Life. So says Virgil, Jovis omnia plena: And Infusa per Artus, Mens agitat Molem, & magno se Corpore miscet: But this Opinion Aristotle doth disallow, and argues against it, by this Chapter.  
Chap. 9 By Powers of the Soul, Men have Knowledge, Sense, and Opinion, can Consult, and Desire, and use their Appetites and Local Motion at their own Liking; and from Her comes their Growth, Continuance, and Diminution: and from Her our Understanding, and the Use of our Reason, and so all other Powers, and all that we do or suffer. But Men have doubted, Whether each of these and their like, do flow from Virtue of the whole Soul, or some from one Part of it, and some from another? Also, What causes Life in Animals, whether one or more Parts, or what other Cause it hath? also, What Part of the Soul Understands, and what Part Desires? For (says he) some have thought, that with one Part of the Soul Men did the one, and with another Part the other: So as the Soul was partible. And if so, (says Aristotle) What is it that keeps her Parts together? Not the Body; for that is kept together by the Soul: for upon her leaving it, ensues Corruption and Dissolution. Plato thought that there were divers Souls in a Man. Aristotle still proves all is but One Soul. Against this, some alleged, That some Infects cut in Pieces, each Piece will move for a Time. This he denies to come from a Partition of the Soul, and says, The Principle of Life in Plants is a sort of Soul, and it is common to them with Animals; and nothing hath Sense, which hath not that. We may observe the Subject of this Book to be his History of the Soul, declaring the Former Opinions amongst Philosophers concerning it, annexing his own Confutations, and not absolutely approving any one of them.  
Lib. II. Chap. I. The Word Substance is a common Genus of such Things as have a real Subsistence or Being, whose consistent Parts are Matter and Form; whence results the Compositum consisting of them both united. The Matter is a Power [or Capacity] of receiving Formation, or being informed: but the Form is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Active Vigour, or Principle of Life, and Activity in the Compositum: and this (in Humane Souls) is distinguished by the Terms of Science and Contemplation. Bodies compounded of such Matter and Form, seem to be the Prime Substances in Nature. Of these, some have Life, and some not. Life consists in Nutrition, Increase, and Diminution; growing from their own Natural Powers: whence every Natural, Living Body is a Substance compounded of Matter and Form: and of these the Form is most properly Substantial, as having Life in itself; whereas the Matter hath only a Capacity, Fitness, and Inclination to receive that Life which the Form can communicate: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. This Active Principle is the Active Principle of the Body. This he changes a little, saying, The Soul is the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, first Prime Act of a Living Organical Body: Takes Plants to have Organical Bodies: thinks it not proper to say, That the Body and Soul are one. For that, Things may be said to be, and to be One, after a very multifarious Manner: says, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is the Souls proper Term, or Principal Act, or Actor of the Compositum: and yet he hath not done with it; An Essence consisting in a fitting or reasonable Proportion: The Soul is such an Essence; and this is the Thing wherein the Top of its Perfection lies: and this the Forms of Dead Things, as of an Axe, or other Tools, cannot have; but it belongs only to Things which have in them a Natural Principle of Motion. If we shall suppose the Eye to be an Animal, the Sight would be the Soul, Essence, or Form, and the Eye but the Matter; and without the Form the Eye would be useless. And as it is, in the Parts, it is in the whole, the Anima Vivens, or Sensitiva to the Compositum, that hath Life or Sense: and as the Eye consists of the firm Pulp and Sight, so the Animal of Soul and Body: therefore the Soul is not separable from the Body, or such Parts of it as remain together, and act after the Separation of other Parts from them. The Eye may lose its Sight, or be pulled out; so the Hand its Feeling, or be cut off: For such Faculties are not general, viz. of the whole Body. Whether the Soul can be parted from the Body, he seems not to determine: but if she may be so, he thinks she is but in the Body as a Pilot in a Ship. We may observe, he says, as his last and best Definition of a Soul, That it is an Essence or reasonable Proportion, viz. animating the Body by such a Proportion of the Natural Heat and Radical Moisture: Whence, the more reasonable, just, and adequate this Proportion is, the more excellent is the Constitution of the Compositum like to be: And if he mean thus, it is no wonder he says, The Soul is no more separable from the Body, than Sight is from the Eye. In Separation neither can subsist, but are thereby extinguished, unless (as he says) we shall think the Soul to be in the Body, but as a Pilot is in a Ship, who having brought it to Shore leaves it.  
Chap. 2. The Soul is amongst those things which are called Principles, having the special Faculties of Nutrition, Sense, Reason, and Local Motion: but there is doubt whether all these proceed from the whole Soul, or that they are separated Parts of it: and if separated, then whether in Place, or only in Imagination, the Vegetative Soul will act in Slips and Branches, and enable them to grow: but the Soul of Man seems to be of another Sort; and that this only is capable of a Separation from the Body, as that which is Eternal, may be separated from that which is subject to Corruption; but all other Parts of the Soul, except that which is purely Contemplative, are inseparable from the Body. The Soul is that Principle by which we have Life, Sense, and Understanding, as from our proper Form and Ratio; and this is not the Body, but belongs to it: she is not the Body, nor can she be without it. In a Body therefore she is, and such an one as is suitable to her Operations, and is her proper Matter; whence she is the Active Principle, bearing a reasonable or natural Proportion to the Matter which is to be informed by her, or to her Body. We may observe how warily or uncertainly Aristotle handles the Separate Subsistence of Souls; saying first, That the Soul of Man is the only Sort that seems capable of it: and that it doth seem capable of a Separate Subsistence, as an Eternal Being. But this is spoken without Addition of Reason, or farther Dilucidation, or Confirmation of the Thing; as if in Compliance with Vulgar Opinion: and then presently subjoins, The Soul is not the Body, but belongs to it; nor can she be without it: In a Body therefore she is, and likely cannot be without it. Farther, it may be observed, that in this Chapter we begin to enlarge our Strides, and omit all such things which do not properly belong to Souls, or is Declarative of their Natures or Properties: and this Course will be followed in our future Progression in this Author.  
Chap. 3. Where there is Sense there is Appetite, viz. Lust, Wrath, and Will: also Pleasure and Pain, or that which is Pleasing and Troublesome. Lust desires that which is Pleasant; and Animals are nourished by Dry and Moist Things, and by Hot and Cold Things. Hunger and Thirst belong to Lust: Hunger desires the Dry and Warm Things, and Thirst the Cold and Moist. Man hath a Discursive Understanding, or if there be any thing in Nature above that, Man hath it. Creatures in the lowest Degree Rational, have all things pertaining to Animation, Sense, Appetite, Motion, etc. and yet they all perish in Death. Of the Contemplative Intellect, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, seems there may other Things be spoken or conceived. We may observe here the same cautelous Expressions of Aristotle, concerning Subsistence of a Rational Soul, in a State of Separation from the Body, that hath been usual with him.  
Chap. 4. It is one of the properest and most natural Qualities of all Living Creatures, perfect in their Kind's, to generate such another as themselves are: and the first able Effect of a Soul arrived to Perfection, and the most universal, is to generate its Like, and support its Species: Whence the Souls first Denomination may be Generativa, except from her first Acts she should be called Nutritiva. The Soul is the first Principle and Cause of Life in the Body, and first of Motion, both as to the what, and why: She is the very Essence of the Body, or the Causa cur sit: and the Life of Living Bodies is the very Being of them; and this is of the Soul: and all Natural Bodies are Instruments of the Soul. Empedocles thought Plants had their Nourishment from the Earth below, which was carried up by a Power of Heat and Fire. Says Aristotle, Earth and Fire are Contraries, What keeps them then in an amicable Temper? This is the Soul, and therefore this is the Prime Cause of Nutrition: Yet the Fire or Natural Heat is a Concomitant Cause; not yet so Principal as the Soul, which bounds the Force of the Fire; knowing otherwise no Bounds. Nothing can take Food or Nourishment, (that is not an Animated Body) so as such Bodies do; therefore these Actions come from the Soul: therefore the Soul is such a Principle as hath suitable Faculties to preserve the place of her Abode. If that have no Aliment, it cannot subsist; and therein are Three Particulars, viz. 

1. What must be nourished?  
2. With what?  
3. What effects the Nouriture? and that is the Soul.   The other Two are the Body and the Aliment: and all Aliment must be digested, and all Digestion is effected by Heat; therefore all Living Things have Heat. We may apply what Aristotle says here of Generation, as the most Natural Action, viz. to generate another Creature of his own Likeness and Kind: This imports a Generation of the whole Matter and Form, Body and Soul, according to Natural Inclination and Power of all other Living Creatures.  
Chap. 5. Treats of the Senses, and the Objects of them. The first Motions towards Sense grow from the Seminal Power; then that which is procreated obtains Sense, natural to Sensitive Creatures, as Science and Contemplation is to Man. But Objects of the Senses are external Things, and those of Science (as Things Universal) are inward, and within Compass of the Soul itself; and it can understand when it will; not use the Senses without their proper exterior Objects; not hear without a Noise.  
Chap. 6. Each Sense judges of its proper Object, without being deceived in it [the Distance and Medium being fit, and the Organ found.] But Motion, Rest, Number, Figure and Bulk, are not peculiar to any one Sense: to the peculiar Object, the Essence of the Sensible Power applies itself.  
Chap. 7. Light is, as it were, the Colour of the Perlucid Body, when enlightened by Fire, or the Heavenly Luminaries: but Light is not Fire, nor clearly a Body, nor the Effluction of a Body; for than itself would be a Body: But it is the Presence of Fire, or other Lucid Thing, in the Perlucidum. We may say, the Presence of that Habit which expels Darkness, is Light; and of that Habit, Darkness is the Privation. The Perlucid Body hath no proper Colour, whence it cannot be seen, as Air, or can hardly be seen, as Water. The Motive to discern Colours is the Perlucidum enlightened; but the Act of discerning is from the Light. Fire may be seen both in the Dark and Light, for that it enlightens the Darkness.  
Chap. 8. All Sounds occasion Echoes, though not perceptibly; even as all Light hath its Reflection, which causes the Light where the Sun doth not shine, or in the Shade. The Air seems to be an inane or void Space, fit for Sounds. The Terms of Acute, and Obtuse or Slack, is derived from Sounds. A Voice is the Natural Sound of an Animal, and no Inanimate Thing hath it: All Animals have it not, as Fishes, and such other Creatures as do not draw Breath, the Instrument for which is the Throat; and as the Tongue serves for Speaking and Tasting, so the Throat for Breathing and Use of the Voice. The Breath or Air hath, by Power of the Soul, acting in those Parts, a Faculty to strike that which is there called the Artery; and this Collision is, or acts the Voice. Every Noise there, is not a Voice, not a Cough, but it must be with an Animal Intent, and may be mixed also with Fancy: whence a Voice is a Sound of some Signification. Whilst Men draw their Breath they cannot speak; for, that which holds the Breath, is the Instrument of Speech. Thinks Fishes do neither breath, nor that they have Throats.  
Chap. 9 A Man hath but a weak Sense of Smelling in comparison of some other Creatures, and smells nothing without Offence or Pleasure. But Man hath the Sense of Feeling above all other Creatures, and such Men as have the Finest and Quickest Touch, are counted and found to be the most Ingenious Persons. Birds have quick Sense of Smelling, and it seems Fishes also do smell. It is peculiar to Men, not to smell without Respiration, viz. when he draws Breath, not when he breathes out or stays his Breath. Smell arises from dry Things, as the Taste from Moisture.  
Chap. 10. No Taste is made without Touching. When the Tongue is over-dry, or over-moist, there cannot be any Taste. The Prime Species of Taste, are those of Sweet, and Bitter, than the Fat Taste, than the Salt, then Sharp and Austere, than the Acid.  
Chap. 11. It is doubted, concerning Touching, what is the proper Instrument for it? Whether the Flesh? or, in other Creatures, that which is in Place of Flesh [as in Fishes.] But the Prime Sense of Touching, must be an Internal Principle. Each Sense hath its Objects by Contraries: as for the Sight, White and Black: for the Hearing, is the Acute, or Slow Sound: the Taste hath Sweet and Bitter: but the Touch hath many Contrarieties, as Hot and Cold, Dry and Moist, Hard and Soft, and the like. It seems, Flesh is the Medium for Touching; but such a Medium as also can judge; and not as Air is, for Sight or Sound.  
Chap. 12. All Senses are capable of the Sensible Species in an Immaterial Manner; and the Sensible Object acts upon the Sense, and one must be Proportionate to the other: And if the Object of Sense be too small, it is not perceived; and too great, it spoils the Sense: a vast Noise makes deaf, and the Sun's Splendour blinds, but a Proportionate Measure and Medium is requisite in the Performances of Sense. Air that hath Smell, hath in it a Passive Manner, and is thereby Sensible.  
Lib. III. Cap. I. There are but two Simple Bodies Mediums of Sense, viz. Air and Water. The Pupil of the Eye is Waterish, but Hearing is of the Air; the Smell is of both: Fire is common to all, for nothing is Sensitive without Heat: but Earth to none, except that of Touching. The Senses and their Objects concur in Act, but their Essences are different.  
Cap. 2. A Point in the Centre is but one in Nature; but in Reason it gins all the Lines that are drawn to the Circumference: So the Common Sense in the Animal is but One, to which, as to the Centre of Judgement, Lines are drawn from the outward Instruments of Sense, for a final and true Determination.  
Cap. 3. Cites Empedocles and Homer. They and other Ancients, thought that Intelligere was as Corporeal a Quality as Sentire. Sense is a true Judge of its proper Objects, and belongs to all Animals: but in Reasoning, Men are often deceived, and none but Reasonable Creatures can use Reason. fantasy is different both from Reason and Sense, yet cannot be without Sense, no more can Opinion: yet fantasy and Opinion are different things. fantasy doth not Please or Affright Men to any great Degree, but Opinion hath a great Power over us in that Kind. There is a Likeness betwixt Science, Prudence, and Opinion; and yet they are all different Things. Men may order and alter their Fantasies at their Pleasure, but cannot deal so with their Opinions [and less with their Science.]  
Cap. 4. As Intelligere is different from Sentire, the fantasy and Opinion are Borderers to both: but our Faculties of Discerning are Sense, Opinion, Intellect, and Science; from all of which the fantasy is different: for the Senses, Intellect, and Science, rightly constituted and informed, are always true, and so the same: but Fantasies are various and often false: nor can it be Opinion, though that may be false: but that hath a Belief always joined, or a Confidence of the Verity of the Thing; and this no Beasts have, but many of them have Fancies. Opinion is a Belief, and that persuades rationally, and Beasts have not Reason, but bare Fancy. fantasy is neither Sense nor Opinion, nor a Conjunction of them, but is a Motion or Movement arising from the Senses, and may be acted by them; and none can have it but those who have Sense: and from the Fancy proceeds a large Sphere of doing and suffering in the World: it depends not upon any one Sense or Act, but often arises from several Senses at once. And concerning Motions and Bulks, and other things wherein the Senses may be much deceived, and specially at great Distances: and Animals act much according to Fancy, as proceeding from Sense, and being like it; Beasts because they want Reason, and Men because their Reasons are under Perturbations, as Diseases, Drunkenness, or other like Inconveniences.  
Cap. 5. From that Part of the Soul by which Men understand and know, they are said to act prudently: and whether this Part, which he calls the Suffering Intellect, be capable of a State of Separation really or notionally, he means here to consider: Sesse, This Intellect is impatible, but apt to receive the Species presented to it: and as the Senses are to Sensitive Objects, so the Intellect is to Intellectual Objects, and are both Powers, or in Potestate, till the Objects are received, and then are Acts; because it is to receive and understand all things, the Intellect itself must be without Tincture or Mixture. That Intellect by which the Soul doth argue and judge, cannot reasonably be said to be mixed with the Body; for that then it must needs partake with it, and be hot or cold accordingly; or might be used by the Soul as its Instrument: the Body might be so used, but the Body is no Instrument at all of the Soul. They say well, who call the Soul the Receptacle of the Species; not actually, but potentially so. The Sense suffers more in the Perception of its Objects, than the Intellect doth in the like Case: For if the Object of Sense be over-extream or vehement, it spoils the Sense or its present Action; but so it is not with the Intellect: And this Difference grows from the Mixture which Sense hath with the Body, whereas the Intellect is separable from the Body: and then when it hath obtained Knowledge, (that being Actu in the Soul, which before was there but Potentially) the Intellect can understand itself, and by itself; the Difference made betw●●● Thing, and the Essence of that Thing, is but notional; for ●●…hing is thereby changed substantially. [Plato placed Intellect in the Brain, Senses in the Heart, and the Vegetative Power in the Liver. This was an Error of putting the Thing in one place, and the Essence of it in another; whereas Aristotle makes the Difference amongst those Faculties but Notional and not Real, as the different Places would make them.] And as things that are Real may by Conception be abstracted from Matter, and made Notional; so may the Intellect be separated. It is still a Doubt, whether the Intellect be a Simple and Impassable Thing or not: seeing that Intelligere est pati quiddam: for in Understanding there is something common between the Intellect and that which it apprehends. It seems if the Intellect can understand itself, it should always be so employed. We may observe Aristotle continues still in his former Doubt concerning the Subsistence of a Soul in a State of Separation from the Body: Either it hath something common with the Body, or it hath not; or it uses and needs the Body, or not: and if it neither use nor need the Body, nor have any Common with it, itself may subsist in a State of Separation: not so, if it have Need or Use of the Body, or have any thing common with it.  
Cap. 6. Because that universally in Nature there is always something like the Matter or Subject, and another thing which hath the Force of Efficiency, and works as the Cause of what is produced; like as the Case stands betwixt Art and Matter (it seems) in the Soul there must be the like different Principles. [Hence he devices a Difference in the Intellect or Soul itself, viz. that there is an Intellectus Agens, and an Intellectus Patiens: of the Suffering Intellect he spoke in the preceding Chapter.] Calls it here, the Means whereby Acts are produced: But the Active Intellect is the Force Impulsive, why Acts are produced, in nature of an Habitual Activity, as the Light causes or produces Colours. This Active Intellect (he says) is separable from the Body, is an Act Essential, not mixed, but pure and impatible: For the Efficient is ever of more Value than the Patient, and the Active Principle than the Material: Where Power towards an Act, and the Act itself are, in uno, in one Subject or Being, there the Power must precede, as to Time: but if they be not respected as in uno, the Power hath no Precedence at all of the Act, not so much as in Time, but is every way Inferior to the Act. This Act or Active Intellect being separated from the Body, [all that can be said of it is] it is that which it is: and that only [is] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Immortal anti Eternal: but because this Intellect is impatible it cannot have Memory: For the Patible Intellect (without which the Active Part could not understand) [Worldly Matters] perishes in B● We may observe (what is common in the World) Men confess God in their Words, but in their Works they deny him. So Aristotle seems to do with the Intellect, or the Soul. First, he divides it (according to the Old Rule) Divide & Impera: then he appropriates all Ways and Means of Knowing or Knowledge, to the Suffering Part of it: and this Part, together with the Senses, Affections, Fantasies, and Memory, do all perish in Death. What is there then left to subsist in a State of Separation after Death? Why, there is still left an Active Intellect, Essential, Pure, Impatible, Immortal, and Eternal. If you inquire what manner of Thing this is? He answers, I can tell you no more of it, but it is that which it is, and nothing else: and this only which is so, is Immortal and Eternal. This which hath neither Sense, Affection, fantasy, Memory, nor Means of Understanding: this, for which he knows neither Name nor Nature, that can neither remember nor account for any thing; that is impatible and can suffer nothing, nor feel or desire any thing: this unintelligible Spark of Activity, is the only thing which is in Man, capable of Separate Subsistence after his Death, and is his only Immortal and Eternal Part or Principle.  
Cap. 7. Simple Apprehensions of the Intellect are commonly true: but in Compounding them, the Verity and Falsity is soon attendant: and if the Time of Things be considered, it adds to the Composition, and to Compositions Falsehood is commonly Incident. That which compounds and makes one Proposition out of many Parts, is the Intellect. A Thing may be Individuum, potentially or actually: that which is Actu individuum, may be considered in an Individual Time: but, if actually divided, it hath a double Consideration, and a like Time, unless a Compositum be made of them. That which is Individuum, by Reason of its Natural Form, without Respect to its Bulk, is understood in Individual Time, and by an Individual Part of the Soul, [viz. the Intellect.] Things Naturally Indivisible, as a Point, are known, as Privations are known, viz. by their Contraries, ut malum, ex privatione boni. Now that which can so understand, viz. one Contrary by another, must be one in itself, and have both the Contraries potentially in it, [and must be the Suffering Intellect, for that only hath Knowledge of the other Contrary, and is potentially all that can be known.] Apprehensions of the Intellect are not all true: yet where it apprehends Simple Objects, it seldom fails, but often in Compounds; just as it fares with the Senses in like Cases. We may observe Aristotle divides his Individuum into Three Kind's, viz. the Bulkily so, the Formally so, or so by their Indivisibility. Little we meet with here that concerns the Souls Being, Nature, or Operations, and might have spared much of this Chapter.  
Cap. 8. To be Perceiving by Sense, is a Simple Act, and is in Truth; but so to perceive with pleasure or trouble, is like an Affirmation or Negation; and induces to follow or fly from the Object: or to feel Pleasure or Pain, is only to be drawn by Sensible Means towards Good or Evil, and to pursue or fly accordingly. And like to such Sensible Objects, are the Phantoms of the Rational Soul; and this sort of Soul never understands without assistance of the Phantasmata. The Common Sense is but One, and that which terminates the Five; and they by this Proportion and Unity, are made agreeable in One: So doth the Intellect deal with the Species amongst the Phantasmata, and thence makes her Judgement what to seek and what to avoid: And though the Senses have not perceived the things, yet if they rise and grow up in the Fantasy, or may be collected from what appears to the Senses, the Intellect is moved and affected accordingly. Men see a Flaming Brand, their Sense tells them this is Fire; then they see it waved, and know (from Custom of that time) the Enemies attack the City or Place; so calling for aid. So from Fancies or Conceits of the Mind, it discerns, reasons, and consults, concerning Future Events, by considering of what is (at present) before it; and thence takes resolution to follow it, avoid it, delay, or prevent it. The Intellect hath a Power also of considering Things or Actions, abstracted from Matter in a Mathematical Manner; as that Art considers Punctum, Linam, & Superficiem, abstractedly; and it is the Active Intellect which so understands: but whether this Intellect understand any thing of Spiritual Being's, when as itself is not separated from Bulk or Matter, or cannot do so; he leaves to a future Consideration, but never touches that Point again; but lets it rest, as in this place he left it. We may observe, this Active Intellect is here left by Aristotle in a State of Connexion with the Body, that which he before styled Immortal and Eternal, is here left not separated from the Body: and whether it can subsist in such a State of Separation, or not, is undetermined.  
Cap. 9 Knowledge depends upon the Senses, and gins there; and one who hath not his Senses, can neither learn, nor understand: And Fancy to the Contemplation, is like Sensible Objects; only the Phantasmata are Immaterial. The first or simple Conceptions of the Intellect, seem not from Fancy, and yet if so they be not, they are however, not without the Fantasy: so as Fancy to the Intellect, is as Sensible Objects to the Common Sense.  
Cap. 10. The Soul of Animals hath been defined chief from two Qualifications; viz. It's Discerning Judgement, and its Power of Local Motion: Its Judgement is guided and acted, by Sense and Reason, as hath been showed. For Motion, it is doubted whether acted by the whole Soul, or by a part, or parts of it. If we pretend to divide the Soul into parts, we shall not only find in it the Rational, the Wrathful, and the Lustful Faculties; into which some have divided it; or into parts which have Reason, and those which have not (as others have said.) But there may be other Differences found, infinitely; and some which differ more than those : as the Nutritive, general to all Living Things; the Sensitive, which Men cannot say are participant of Reason, nor yet that they are without it: thirdly, the Fantasy, which differs from the two former essentially: Then is there the Appetite, different from all the rest. Local Motion is always to some intent, and commonly, to obtain or to avoid something liked or disliked. But he doth not allow the Intellect to be the next Cause of such Motion, nor the Senses, nor the Appetite: for Men may and do resist these Powers, and do not move as these may command, or persuade.  
Cap. II. He sets down the Intellect and the Appetite to be both the Causes of Local Motion; then adds the Fantasy, as another Cause; for that many, in their Motions, follow their Fancies more than tha● their Reasons: and Beasts have only Fancy, and Reason; and the Inclination of the Appetite, moves the Intellect, but this can move little, without the Appetite: the Appetite of the Intellect is called the Will, but the Sensual Appetite moves without Reason. The Intellect moves well, but the Appetite and Fantasy move well, or ill, as it happens; but always the thing desired is the first Motor, and that either is really good, or seemingly so: yet seems often good to the Appetite, which doth not seem so to the Intellect. The Thing that seems good, moves without its own Motion, but by being apprehended of the Intellect or Fantasy. In Motion there are three Observables, 

1. That which moves.  
2. To what it moves.  
3. That which is moved.   The first, or that which moves, is twofold, The one , and that is the Intended Good; the other is both the Moving and Motion, and that is the Appetite, which moves in Inclination; and being acted, is the Motion or Act itself. The third, viz. What is moved, is the Animal. The Proper Organ of Local Motion, is a Corporeal Thing, and common both to Soul and Body. Shortly to speak of it, it is like the Hinge of a Door, consisting of a Convex or round rising in one part, and a Concave or Hollow in the other part of it, well fitted the one unto, or into the other; one of these rests, whilst the other is moved; whence one is called the Beginning, and the other the End of the Motion: and these two are different part, and yet they make but one Hinge or Connexion of Bones, in the Joints and Parts of the Body. All Motion in the Body is made by Dilatation, which hath an Impulsive Force; or by Contraction, which compresses again, where such Motions are perpetually in the Body, circularly, and sin fine, in some part or other. The Animal Motion thus grows from Appetite, and there is no Appetite without Fantasy; and this is Rational or Sensitive: the Sensitive Fancy is in Beasts, but the Deliberative is only in Men. To consider if one shall do this or that, or not do, is a Point of Reason; yet of many things that are in choice, one only can be done at once; whence it seems Appetite is not allowed to have Opinion; it not being Appetite till terminated: and therefore hath not Power of Deliberation. But the Appetite and the Will, are often at Contest, and sometimes one prevails, sometimes the other, not unlike a Game at Tennis: Naturally the Nobler should be prevalent, but there are three diversities; 

1. A Contest between the Appetite and the Will.  
2. The Victory of the Will.  
3. The prevailing Power of the Appetite.   Reason can prevail upon the Will, and excite it by Argument: viz. You desire Health, therefore use a Physician, he advises, Let Blood, Cut off an Arm. This Reason may obtain of the Will to consent unto, and to desire the Fact for ease or preservation: though the suffering be certain and present, and the benefit future and uncertain. We may observe Aristotle hath here finished the Examen of those four Faculties of the Soul. viz. The Vegetative, Sensitive, Intellective, and Loco-motive, which he propounded, Lib. II. cap. 3.  
Cap. 12. Nature makes nothing in vain, and whatsoever lives, hath a Soul, endued with a Nutritive Faculty. No Simple Body hath Sense, and therefore is no Animal; nor can any thing be so, which is not fit and apt to receive the Species and Forms of Things, without the Things themselves. Also, No Body which hath an Intellectual Soul, can be without Sense: viz. No Generated or Mortal Body; [he thought Heaven had a Soul, and that, and Celestials, might have Intelligent Souls, without Sense] but Sense is indispensably necessary for all Animals; especially those of Touching and Tasting: these are necessary to the Being of the Creatures; the other three Senses, to their Wellbeing: for the Animals can live without them, but not so well. Vehement, excessive Objects of other Senses do only destroy the present Act, or at most but the Organ: But such Objects of the Touch may kill, as vehement Heat, Cold, Hardship. Smell or Taste can also kill: but that comes from their Touches; and such Power as an Aspect may have to that Purpose, is by Power of what touches. Prov. 2.4. Solomon directs, Seek Knowledge and Truth as Silver, and search for them as for hid Treasures. And thus have we ransacked the Treasures of this Philosophical Treatise and Storehouse, the best furnished towards the present Purpose of any Magazine which by Art or Nature we know to have been collected: there hath no Part of it been left without our closest Scrutiny, by which we seem to have found that the Philosopher had made a like Search to this very Purpose, in the Times, Ages, and Writings of those who had lived before him: and by such Search had found that Orpheus and Thales held Opinion, That the whole World was Animatum, and that there was in it an Universal Soul: from whence the particular Souls were sent out to animate and inform all that were in Capacity to receive, both the Vegetative, Sensitive, and Rational; upon whose future Dissolution, the Form, Soul, Virtue, or Active Principle returned back to the Universal Soul, or Spirit, or Power, and mixed therewithal, as the Drops of Water returning, are received and incorporated into their Ocean or Element. And if this were true, there must thence follow a Subsistence of Souls after Dissolution of the inspirited Bodies, but not in their Individuations or Particulars. Next came Pythagoras, and he taught an Individuation of Souls, That every Animal had its particular Form, or Soul; and the Souls of Men and Beasts were all of a Mode, and transmigrated sometimes into Men, and sometimes into Beasts, according to their Deserts, or as it happened, or there was Need in the World. This Opinion maintains and requires a Separate Subsistence of Souls after Death of the Body, and that in every Particular, or in their Proper Individuations; and necessarily supposes a Pre-existence of Souls: And there must be a great Stock, Magazine, or Provision of Souls, whence all who have need may abundantly be supplied. Likewise it supposes an Immortality in the Souls, or else in length of time they might come to be clean spent and worn out. Then came Democritus, and he and Leucippus were of another Mind: For they thought that upon the Aptitude and Fitness of the Body for the Receipt of a Soul, the Vital Heat required and obtained a Respiration, and therewithal the Globular or Fiery Atoms which fly about in the Air are drawn in at each Breathing: and they give continual Supply to such Atoms as were in the Body before. So long therefore as Animals breath, and draw in such Atoms, they may live, but no longer, for want of fresh Atoms or Fire for a continual Supply of their Souls: This Opinion makes a Soul created by the Congregating of Globular Atoms, not capable of a Separate Subsistence as a Soul, but is again dissolved into its Atoms, upon Death of the Body. Then the Philosophers who more regarded Rational and Knowing Faculties in the Soul than its Vital and Moving ones: such as Empedocles and Plato: They thought the Soul to be a Compositum of the Elements, amongst which Fire was most eminent and potent: that all being wrought into an amicable Inclination, and mixed in a suitable Proportion; there risen from that Mixture a Spiritual Flame which they called a Harmony of them all, during whose Continuance the Animal lives and hath Vigour in a like Proportion; but in Death it ceases. And if this be not the Soul, which then leaves the Body, what can Men think to be that Soul that then leaves it? But if in truth this be the Soul, which in Death leaves the Body: then, first, it hath a Beginning, but together with the Body: and this is taken also away with Death of the Body: for that there doth not come to Humane Perceivance or Knowledge of any other sort of Soul departing at Death, but this only Flame, by them called Harmony. Other Opinions of Anaxagoras, Heraclitus, Almaeon, Diogenes, Hippo, and Critias, are also cited before. And it seems, the Opinion generally current was, That the Soul was a distinct Principle from the Body, and had a separate Subsistence after Death: so strongly conceited, as some killed themselves, to enjoy Soul-felicities the sooner. And this Ancient and General Conceit had so much Power, even over Aristotle himself, as to induce him to discourse of the Soul generally after the Mode of his Time, viz. as of a Self-subsisting Principle, and to affirm, that a Part of it, the Prime and Contemplative Part of it, the Intellect actu, is Self-subsisting, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Immortal and Eternal: And, to prevent any Bodies demanding what this Soul is? he says, It is that only which it is, and that only is Immortal and Eternal. But he gives no manner of Confirmation from Reason, or offers any Dilucidation, or any farther Discourse upon the Thing. But on the contrary, whensoever he comes to argue from Reason, upon this Point, of Subsistence of the Soul, in a State of Separation from the Body: all his Arguments conclude against such Subsistence of a Soul in that Separate State; for that it hath nothing to do wherein the Body joins not with it; nor can do any thing, not so much as move itself, but by the Body; nor act any thing in the Body but by the Animal Spirits; cannot go out of the Body, nor alter any thing in it; cannot command the Passions, Affections or Appetite, but struggles with them after a Natural Manner, and uses sometimes Natural Means, both outward and inward, to obtain Victory: cannot punish a rebellious Opposer, nor make a Hair White or Black, or diminish or increase the Stature: can finally do nothing, but in a Natural Way, and by Natural Means, by the Organs bodily, and the Animal Spirits: and therefore in all his Arguments and Collections from Particulars or Experience, the Soul seems to be a Natural Agent, acting in, and by the Body, and employing chief the Heart as Vital, and the Head as Sentient and Intellectual, and all other Parts in Passions, Affections, Appetites and Motions. And yet, as this Life of the Soul is, according to Nature, the same Strength of Reason may seem to conclude for her a suitable Exit, such as may best agree with a Natural or Material Spirit.   

Des Caries, in his Philosophical Principles, Part 4. Sect. 197. mentions thus much (shall we say) or thus little, of the Soul: he says, We do well enough comprehend how by the Bulk, Figure, and Motion of one Body, divers Motions and Changes may be excited in another Body [and such as have great Power to affect the same] by acting upon the Senses. But (says he) we cannot at all understand, by what Mode these Bulk, Figure, and Motion do produce, or effectually Work upon other Things that are of a Different Nature from themselves, viz. in those Things which Men call Substantial Forms, and Real Qualities [or Qualifications] which (many persuade themselves) are resident, and to be found in the Nature of Bodies [or Things.] Nor how such Substantial Forms or Qualities have the Force and Power to excite Local Motion in other Bodies. We know it (says he) to be the Nature of our Souls, that different local Motions are enough for the Stirring and Excitation of all our Senses; and that Bulk, Figure and Motion act upon our Sensual Organs: and this Act or Motion passes from them to the Brain: and in external Objects we do not perceive any thing but the various Disposition of the Objects, which affect our Nerves, in various Modes or Manners. All this seems to import no more concerning the Soul, but that Men have a Substantial Form called by the Name of Soul. My Copy of Des Cartes is in 8o. printed Lond. 1664. and contains his Principles, and dioptics, his Meteors, and De Passionibus. We proceed to his De Methodo: There, Sect. 4. P. 21. he draws in somewhat abruptly, a farther Consideration concerning the Soul. Pag. 22. He derives his Knowledge thereof from his own prime Invention of Cogito: ergo sum, viz. Existo: And no wonder that he thence derives his Knowledge of the Soul, since he dare pretend to derive from thence the Knowledge also which he hath of God: As if the Four Rivers of Paradise might competently be expected to flow from the Narrow and Shallow Fountain of his Cogitation. But intending to fix his Anchors upon this Axiom, as on a Rock. He pretends to overthrow (by his bare Authority, his Ipse dixit) all the Ancient Grounds of Humane Sense and Nature, by believing that he hath no Body: (for the feigning, without believing it, would be but a Dream, and unfit for his, or for any Purpose.) Then by believing that there is no World, or Place for a Body to be in: why cannot I as well feign or believe that I have not a Being, as that I have not a Body, or that there is neither Place nor World? You cannot do it (says he) so long as you are thinking: but if you slacken the Reins, and give over Thinking, but for one Moment, you can have no Reason to believe your own Existence, during the time of your Vacation from Thinking, how short or long soever that Time may be. And hence (says he) I know myself to be a Substance whose whole Nature and Essence consists in Thinking. Whence he seems to collect, that this Thinking Substance hath no need of Place, nor Dependence upon any other Material Thing. Upon this I demand how he knows or can demonstrate, that he could think at all without a Body and the Spirits and Organs thereof: this he hath not attempted to do, and I take it for an Impossibile upon him. And till that be done, I hold it fit and reasonable to reject his utterly unproved Assertions, viz. That the Soul is plainly distinct from the Body, more easy to be known than the Body is, and would be the same that she is if she had not a Body. These, as they are barely asserted by him, are as easily rejected and denied by me, with a Cujus Contrarium Verum. He proceeds to declare by what Degrees he derives the Knowledge that God is, and what he is, from the Fundamental Rock of his own Cogitation. My Design is not Opposition to him or his pretended Alterations or Modes of Learning, but only in Things concerning the Soul: and therefore what he delivers concerning God, and his Cogitative Knowledge of that Tremendous Majesty, we will not offer to examine; therefore we go over him, till he return again to the Soul, which he doth. Pag. 25. He pretends to tell us the true Reason why many persuade themselves, that the Existence of God, and the Nature of Humane Souls, are Things very difficult to be known. The Reason (says he) is this: those Men do not separate their Minds from their Senses, nor raise them enough above Corporeal Things, believing the Old Philosophical Maxim, viz. Nothing can come into the Intellect, but by the Passages of the Senses; by which Passages, neither God nor the Soul are ever like to get into the Intellect: whence it need be no Wonder that they are no better or more easily understood. We grant his Reason to be good, viz. That because God and Spirits come not ordinarily by the Senses into the Intellect: therefore they are Things very difficult to be apprehended and understood by Men: but that Men shall be able, by forsaking the Assistance of their Senses, and giving themselves up to unguided and random Cogitations, to obtain a more full or true Knowledge of God or men's Souls, I must take leave to deny. We are told how God first instructed the first People to know, obey, and worship him: He conversed with our first Parents in the Garden, and drove them thence by an Angel. He gave Commands for Worship and Obedience, suitable to the Patterns imprinted upon Man's Reason at his Creation: he reproved Cain sensibly, and so translated Enoch; directed Noah, saving him, and drowning all others, in a visible, miraculous Manner: and so was Sodom destroyed: so Abraham called and supported: Isaac and Jacob chosen and supported: Joseph sent into Egypt: Moses preserved: and what was done at Sinai, and the Journey out of Egypt, filled that Nation and all their Borderers with Acknowledgements, Wonder, and Terrors: the Works and Wonders done for Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, for Nabuchadnezzar, Belteshassar, and Daniel, for Cyrus, Alexander, and the Foretellings of their Actions: Then the Angelical Preparatives for our Lord's Coming, his Extraction, Miracles, Resurrection, Ascension, Mission of his Spirit to the Eyes and Ears of many Nations resident in Jerusalem, and Witnesses each to their own People. Then all the Apostles, the Seventy Disciples, the Seven first Deacons and their Disciples, were inspired to prophesy, speak with Inspired Tongues, cast out Devils, and to do miraculous Cures: These Acts testifying a Superior and Supernatural Power to the Senses and Perceiving of Mankind, suited to the Doctrines therewith delivered, filled the Earth with the Knowledge of God as the Waters cover the Sea. Now to the contrary, where shall Men find so much as one single Person before Socrates, who attained to so true a Knowledge of God, as to determine, That he was but One. All the roving Cogitations of Mankind never attained to so much Truth concerning God, as this one most plain and single Assertion, except in those Families, or People, where God by miraculous Means had made himself perceptible to the Senses of Men, and by them made himself Way to Humane Understanding and Intelligence: And from these things (all true and irrefragable) it seems we may conclude, that to know God, or any Spirit, are things of very great Difficulty: None knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. And God revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloe, by the Word of the Lord, without such Revelations of God as are miraculous, or are derived from that Original, it seems so extreme hard to find out God, as that no Man by Force of Natural Wit, or Intellect, can have the Power to do it: and if the Soul of Man be an Immaterial Spirit, it will fall under a like Difficulty.  
Pag. 30. He supposes (Cogitando as it seems) that God had made a Complete Body of a Man, without inspiring him with a Rational Soul, but placing about his Heart an enkindled Heat, or inlucid Fire: This, like the Fuming of moist Hay, or the heated Steems of working New Wines, would (says he) effect in the Bodies of Men all that can now by Men be performed, except only their Power of Cogitation; and that without the Co-operation of any Soul at all. And the like (he supposes) may be done also in the Bodies of Beasts: but he found not in his Cogitations, that this was enough to produce Reason in Man, but he dreamed that the same was fully supplied to Man, when God had created for him a Rational Soul, and had joined it to his Body, after a certain Manner, such as the Author had invented for him. Pag. 34. The Animal Spirits are like the most subtle Winds, or more like the purest Flames, which continually and plentifully ascend from the Heart to the Brain, and by these are the Bodily Members moved. Pag. 36. Says, The Automata made by Man, must all fall short in two Points: 

1. Nothing can be made to answer properly to unforeknown Questions.  
2. Nothing can be made to act Motions beyond what were specially intended.   Not to answer accidental or all occasional Motions. He says, That Beasts cannot speak, comes not from Defect of Organs in them: witness Magpies and Parrots: (But we do not admit these Witnesses for Proofs.) But (says he) Men who are Deaf and Dumb will find and learn Signs to express their Minds, a plain Sign that Men have Reason, and Beasts have not: And we allow the Sign, and grant the Thing. And he grants some Beasts excel others of their own Kind in Sagacity, Apprehension and Docibility: and so some Kind's excel other Kind's in such Qualities: This (say I) seems a clear Proof that Beasts are not Machine's, but have Perceptive Souls, and are Voluntary Agents, knowing both what they do, and having an Intent and Design in the doing of it. Pag. 37. Says, The Humane Soul cannot be Ex traduce, or grow out of Matter, but must needs be created. Then says, That the Soul is a thing of great Concernment, and the Error, which is great, next to the Denial of a God, is the Belief that the Souls of Men and Beasts are of the same Nature; and consequently that nothing is to be hoped for, or feared, after this Life, no more than for Flies or Pismires. It seems the Man's Cogitations upon this Subject were extremely erroneous, and as much deceived as his Senses ever were, or ordinarily can be, in any competent Sphere of their Activity; as a Christian and Learned. It seems not to be imagined, but that he had perused S. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, and had in the 15th Chapter thereof found written, what that Apostle there delivers concerning the Resurrection of the Dead: and (without the Mention, or least Hint, of a Soul Separately Subsisting) he puts the whole Weight of Christian Religion upon the Belief of a Resurrection of the Dead. The Apostle says, Such Resurrection is as certain as it is, that Christ is risen: And if that be not true and certain, nothing in Christian Religion is so: But our Preaching is vain, and your Faith is also vain: Nay, and we are evinced 〈◊〉 be false Witnesses, and you are yet in your Sins, and can have no Benefit at all by Christ: and all who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished: If men's only Hope in Christ were in this Life, they were most miserable: but the thing is not so, for Christ is risen, as the first Fruits, and at the last Trumpet the Dead shall be raised. And he tells us how and with what Bodies: and concludes, Abound in the Work of the Lord, as knowing your Labour shall not be in vain: for most certainly this Resurrection shall come. So, Matth. 24. Ver. 30. and to 33. Mark 13.24. Luk. 21.28. And when that comes, then do you (Christians, and of the Good) look up and lift up your Heads to the Clouds, and above them. So, 1 Thess. 4.14. Those who are asleep in Jesus will God bring with him: and the Dead in Christ shall rise first, and then shall be ever with the Lord. Mat. 25.31. shows us the Method and Proceeds of the Last Judgements, and the Rewards and Punishments then to be expected, without Word or Mention of a Separate Self-subsisting Soul, or any thing concerning the same. We need not take the Pains to try our Author's Cogitations by these Texts of Scripture, because the Clearness and Wideness of the Difference needs no Dilucidation, but are apparent at the first View.  
We proceed to his Treatise De Passionibus, in the very Entrance to which, we take for observable, That what God hath put together, viz. the Soul and the Body, whilst they are in Composito, our Author Des Cartes endeavours to separate and pull in sunder, taking all Sorts of Cogitation from the Body: and because there is a Body of very great Motion and Heat, viz. Fire, therefore he will take all Heat and Motion from the Soul and bestow it upon the Body; both which Assertions or Propositions we do utterly reject, and do say, That the Soul doth not, nor cannot understand, nor consider without the Animal Spirits, and Organs of the Body: nor hath the Body Heat or Motion without the Soul, and the Energy and Efficiency thereof; nor can have them without that Assistance and Conjunction. Artic. 5. Says, Men have thought that Heat and Motion depended upon the Soul: and yet he shows no Reason to think otherwise, and therefore Men may think so still, and, it seems, will do it. Art. 6. He says, Death never comes by any Defect in the Soul. I say, That is more than he knows, though it should be an Immaterial Spirit: but if a Material one, than it certainly may cause Death by its Deficiency. Art. 8. Says, There is a continual Heat about our Hearts as long as we live, and this Fire is the Corporeal Principle of Motion in the Body. And we say the same of the Animal Spirits, and Corporeal Flame, which is the Material Spirit. Art. 9 is granted. Art. 10. Says, That the Animal Spirits are most subtle Bodily Particles, extreme rare, and thin, moving most swiftly, and like the Flames of Fire, and never are at rest: these rise in great plenty, from the Heart to the Brain, where they are in continual Action: and they pervade the whole Body and all its Members, and move every Part of it, as Occasion may require: And for this, we are at Agreement with him. Art. 11. We do not well understand, nor so, as to say, he is right or wrong in it. Art. 12. and 13. We observe in the 13. that he says, The Motions of the Brain do excite divers Senses in the Soul. This I deny: and he offers no Proof of any thing that he says, but goes on, and says, That besides exciting Senses in the Soul, these Spirits can, without the Soul, move the Muscles and Members of the Body. He offers our Winking in Proof of this: but I deny his Assertion, and judge his Proof very insufficient. Art. 16. Says, All our Motions, which are common to us with Beasts, may be done by us without the Soul, by a common Temperament of the Body, and the Members and Organs of it, acted by the Animal Spirits, derived from the Heart, and directed in the Brain. All this I grant: and do take these to be the main Ingredients for the Frame of a Material Spirit. Art. 17. Says, He hath now left nothing for the Soul, save only Cogitare-Cogitations he divides into two Sorts, one of Actions, the other of Passions or Affections: the Actions are, what the Soul wills to do; the Passions are a sort of Perceptions or Apprehensions found in us, which the Soul doth not make, but receive from Representations of outward Things. All these Cogitations of our Author we do reject; and say, That whilst the Man continues to be so, the Soul and Body neither do, nor can act, or suffer Separately, but always in Conjunction one with the other. Art. 18. and 19 He divides his Cogitative Wills and Perceptions as he pleases. Art. 20. and 21. And so for his Sorts of Imaginations; and so on to Art. 25. There he says, The Perceptions or Passions of Joy, Fear, Anger, and the like, are referred only to the Soul, either not considering, or not enough rembering that these Passions are as fully visible in Beasts as in Men; and if they be referrable only to the Soul, than such a Soul as Beasts have, may serve well enough for the Subsistence and Acting of them. Art. 28. Says, No other Perceptions do so much agitate and shake the Soul as these Passions do; but Beasts are as much transported by them as Men. Art. 30. That the Soul is united to every Part of the Body, and to all Parts of it. Conjunction is granted. And how this is done, in the Case of a Material Soul, is plain and easy, but not how done in an entire Spiritual Substance: for that is not yet declared by our Author; and we know not that it is Intelligible. For he says truly, Such a Soul cannot be conceived by Parts, nor what Extension it hath, or consequently, where it is, and where it is not. Art. 31. But yet he says, There is a Special Part in the Body, where the Soul doth exercise her Functions more perceivably than in all the rest of the Body. Some have thought this Place to be the Heart, and others to be the Brain: but our Author, upon accurate Examination, evidently knows it not to be in either of these; but that it is in one Part of the Brain only, viz. the Middle or most Inward Part of it. There, says he, is a very small Glandula or Kernel, seated in the Middle of the Brain, hanging in the very Channel or Course of the Animal Spirits, so as the smallest Motions of this Kernel can do much in altering the Course of these Spirits; and the Mutations of the Soul, by the Courses of the Spirits, do help much to change the Motions of this Kernel: Parturiunt Montes. We see here what our Authors vast Cogitations concerning the Soul hath brought forth, viz. a Glandula admodum parva, a very small Kernel, to be the Chair of State, or the Prime Seat of Judgement for his Imagined Soul. This seems to fall far short of our Flammula Vitalis, which with the Blood pervades the whole Body, and actuates the Heart, the Brain, and every other, and most minute Parts of it, living with, and in the Animal, and not quite extinguished, but with our latest and last Breath. He offers us not one Word concerning the Immaterial Soul; of which, if he had any thing to say, though but out of his own Cogitations, this were the proper Place, and this Time his Cue to produce them: but his Silence gives consent to an Assertion, That he knows nothing of it, neither Quod sit, Quid sit, Quando, nor Quomodo, to the Vbi only. He offers this Guests under the Terms of his believed evident Knowledge. His Friend Dr. More doth profess to disbelieve him in it, and places the Seat of the Soul in the Fourth Ventricle of the Brain, by divers Arguments, which I (who believe neither of them) will not spend Time to examine. Art. 34. Now let us imagine, says he (as his Mode of Cogitation) that the Soul hath her Seat principally in this Kernel, and thence sends forth her Rays to all the rest of the Body, by Activity of the Animal Spirits, [hence, whatsoever the Soul herself may be, her Rays are not an Immaterial, but Material Spirits, and one would think her Rays should he like herself.] Well, but says he, This Kernel, which is the Principal Seat of the Soul, can move these Spirits, and can be moved by the Soul, which is of such a Nature that she can receive into herself various Impressions, viz. she may have so many Perceptions as there can be various Motions made in this Kernel. Art. 35. The Animal having two Organs for Seeing and Hearing, and two Hands, Arms, Legs, and Feet; the two Organs for Sense receive each the Object, which goes double towards the Brain till they come to this Kernel, and there they join in one, and the Kernel working immediately in the Soul, shows it the Figure as now it is become one Object. All this seems to show no more but the Products of his own Imagination, led by the Affection which now he bears to this Kernel, as the Embryo of his own Brain and Invention. Art. 36. If the Objects perceived show Danger, they excite the Passion of Fear in the Soul. Upon this I demand where Fear is excited in the Beasts which have not such Souls, and by what other Means than it is excited in Men? Art. 38. By Motion of this Kernel, Fear is induced into the Soul, and though the Legs may run away without Knowledge of the Soul, yet this violent Motion of them makes another Motion in the Kernel, by whose Help the Soul is made acquainted with its Body's running away. Behold the Natural and Remarkable Effects of Dividing the Soul from the Body, and ascribing some Actions to the one, and some to the other separately, and without Concurrence of the other. Art. 40. The Principal Effect of Passion in Man is to incite and dispose him for Self-preservation, either by Fight or Flight. [He might have omitted the Words in Man, for the Case is the very same with Beasts.] Art. 44. The Soul, by Help of his Kernel, can move the Tongue and Lips: So as this Kernel must be like a Hand to the Soul, without which it can do nothing of moment. Art. 45. The Soul cannot excite or remove Passion by its own Power or Will, but is put to contest with it by Arguments and other Natural Helps. And we know that oftentimes Passions prevail over the Powers of Reason, as if they grew but out of the same Root both, viz. the Activity, Life and Motion of a Material Spirit. Art. 47. In the Contest between Sense and Reason in Man: Here, says he, the Kernel may be driven by the Soul on the one side, and then by the Animal Spirits violently set on the other side; or some Spirits may present to the Kernel, what they can offer for the Passions; others may do the like on behalf of the Soul, and what it advises and desires; and whither the Kernel inclines, that side prevails over the other. And if the Case be so, our Author puts Mankind under the Government of an Unknown, Immaterial, but confessedly a very Silly Soul, that must apply itself upon all Occasions to a pitiful small Lump of Matter, a Kernel, without whose Kindness and Inclination it must always become subject to the Slavery of Sensuality and Passion. Art. 48. One would think, here, that he would say all Souls are not alike, but some are weaker, and some stronger: he hints it plainly, yet without positive Assertion. And if Souls be Immaterial Spirits, then, a recipiunt magis, & minus, who knows. Art. 50. Every Motion of the Kernel seems naturally to be knit to every one of our Thoughts from the beginning of our Lives; and Words which (not naturally, but only by Institution are significant) can excite Motions in the Kernel. Says, It is observable in Beasts, that though they want Reason, and perhaps all Cogitation, yet they have all the Motions of their Animal Spirits, and their Kernels, whose Motions excite Passions in them as well as ours in us, tending to the same End of preventing Harms to them. But these he will not call Affections in the Beasts, but Motions of the Nerves and Muscles; which produce the same Effects in Beasts, that those which he calls Affections in Men, use to do in them. Whence, it seems clear, he grants the same Nature in men's Passions and those of Beasts, before needlessly and bootlessly denied by him. His Title to this Article pretends to show how men's Souls may get the Mastery of their Passions: but all that he directs upon that Point is, That well-taught Spaniels are learned to curb their Passions, and to sit, though they have a mind to run. You see (says he) the Thing is feasible, even by Beasts, and therefore Men may do it more easily and effectually. But I doubt of that. 

1. Whether Humane Power can do it?  
2. Whether Beasts may not as easily and fully be brought to it as Men?   Art. 51. It is plain, (says he) that the next Cause of Passions in the Soul, is no other but the Motion by which the Spirits do stir this Kernel, which is in the Middle of the Brain. He sets down his own Cogitation, or Fiction, as if the Thing were to pass for a Granted Truth, That this Immaterial Spirit must rule or be ruled by this Diminutive Kernel. Art. 122. He says, When that Fire which is in the Heart becomes extinguished, we die beyond Remedy. Art. 137. Love and Hatred, Joy and Sorrow, Lust, Fear, etc. are all Naturally referred to the Body, and belong not to the Soul, but as it is joined to the Body. Art. 138. The Beasts direct their Lives no otherwise than by such Corporal Motions as Men usually do follow, and would draw the Soul along with them, and have her Consent to such Actions. Art. 139. He says, We ought also to consider these Passions as they belong to the Soul. But he hath before denied, they do naturally belong to the Soul: And here he doth not show that they do depend upon it. And these are all the Particulars we find in this late Philosopher concerning the Soul.  
And we observe upon them, That all the Particulars which he applies and refers to the Soul of Man, are applicable to, and agreeable with the Rational Faculty of his Material Soul. And all those Things, Actions or Passions, which he applies and refers only to the Body of Man, are applicable to, and agreeable with the Sensual Faculty of the Material Soul and Spirit of Man; in both which Faculties, and in the Vegetative, the Body is equally concerned, and so is the whole Soul and all its Faculties, in all things that pertain or happen to the Body: and there is no Separation made, or to be made, betwixt the Soul and Body of Man during his Natural Life: And all, which our Author says of the same, is feigned out of his own Heart, or is a Fiction of his own Cogitation, utterly to be rejected, as before hath been said. And we do not find that he hath said any thing Material, for Proof of an Immaterial Soul of Man, or that deserves or requires a more particular Reply, or any farther Consideration.  
Hieronimus Zanchius was a Reformed Divine of Strasbourgh, in the later End of our K. H. 8. and writes upon the Creation, and Gods Works then made: his Books are in Quarto, Printed Newstadt, in Anno 1602. His Design led him to treat of Animals, and Souls. And Lib. 7. cap. 2. Sect. 12. he says the Life of Animals is in their Blood; as Moses says also; and that all Men agree, it subsists by Heat and Moisture. Sect. 15. pag. 595. Says, God's Creation ceased not with the First Week, but he still daily creates Humane Souls, and forms the Bodies of Animals. Pag. 598. Every Animal hath an Organical Body, and a Soul with Vegetative, Motive, and Sentient Faculties. Pag. 599. The Quadrupedes are the next Sort to Mankind, both for the Parts of their Bodies, and the Strength and Genius of their Minds or Souls, endowed with Senses both outward and inward, as Men are, and use the like Actions both as to Life, Sense, and Motion.  
Pars 3. Lib. 1. Pag. 603. He says, The Breath which God breathed into Adam was a created, but incorporeal Thing; but the Food then granted to Men and Beasts was alike. And he citys Gen. 7.15. The Beasts went into the Ark, and all Flesh wherein was the Breath of Life. Yet gives no Answer to it; nor shows how this Breath, and that breathed into Man, did differ. Yet he would have us learn hence, Pag. 617. That our Souls are not from our Parents, per traducem, but only from God, who breathed into Adam's Nostrils; id est, says he, God made him respire by his Nostrils; and that is not opposed. Pag. 618. Again, This Breath was created, not out of God, but out of some other Invisible Thing: and he then created and gave it, viz. gave the Soul in that Visible Sign. Shows Plato made a Difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Nostram, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but gives no Aswer to it. Says, Plato, Origen, and many Hebrews, held Opinion, the Adam's Soul and all other Souls did, and do pre-exist, and are thence called down as new Bodies require, viz. from Superior Regions: But this (he says) is both false and absurd. And, to prove this by Reason (he says) Pag. 619. citys Aristotle, That the Soul is Actus Corporis Organici, and therefore the Soul cannot be before the Body. To this we easily assent, and add, That when the Body dies, this Actus Corporis must cease, for the same Reason. He argues also, That the Soul is a Spiritual Substance; and it was not needful or proper to put that up at the Nostrils: and that seems true; but makes against his former Assertions. Still there rises a new Difficulty, viz. Whether this Soul, if then created, were created first within the Body, or first without the Body, and then was breathed or blown in? The Text favours the later, but the Author favours the former, to the Intent that Men may not think Souls are still, first created, and then infused; but think rather (as he doth) that Souls are created in their Bodies: and to this end he approves Lombard's Invention of Creando infunditur. Cites Essay 2.22. Cease ye from Man, Cujus Anima in Naribus ejus est; which we read, whose Breath is in his Nostrils. Pag. 620 The Soul of Man came to him from without, although created within him. He will have from without to signify, of another Nature, or kind of Thing, and not proceeding from the Body, as the Beasts do. But this he only says, without offer of Proof for it. Says, The whole Soul comes together, viz. Vegetative, Sensitive, and Rational; whence it must come into the Body at the first Original of Life: and there seems no doubt but there is a Vegetative Power and Principle in the Seed, and likely for the Sensual, and there appears no Reason against a like Course in the Rational: these three being all Faculties of the same Soul, from which none of them are separable. Pag. 621. The Word signifying Spiraculum Vitarum, is used as well concerning Beasts as Men. Pag. 624. Souls of Brutes are sometimes called Spirits in Scripture, but never said to return to God. Pag. 625. As God breathed into Adam's Body the Breath of Life, who thereupon risen from the Earth where he lay, so shall his Breath effect Life in Bodies which shall rise at Sound of the Last Trumpet. And as we read, Ezek. 37. Pag. 667. Cites Gen. 1.28. God blessed the Man and Woman, and said, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the Earth: as Ver. 22. he had said to other Creatures. This seems to import, Men do generate their Like as the Beasts do; and the Creation of Souls for every fruitful Coition, by Adultery, Incest, or Buggery, is but a Fiction, and not a likely or reasonable Contrivance.  
Lib. 2. Cap. 1. Pag. 683. Man's Life consists in Heat and Moisture, not simply, but in Temperament with Cold and Dry, and from the Four Elements The Four Complexions of Phlegm, Sanguine, Choleric, and Melancholy, Health and Sickness, Life and Death consist in a good and fit Temperature of these Humours; and the Soul uses these as Instruments for Conservation of the Compositum, the General Parts are Bones with their Nerves, knitting them together, and the Flesh with its Veins, through which the Blood returns; and Arteries, through which the Vital or Animal Spirits have their Courses: and God hath given to Men a more delicate Flesh, and more Nice and tender Skin than to Beast. Pag. 685. And the Temperament and Complexion of their Bodies are much finer. Pag. 686. There are Three Principal Faculties of the Soul, viz. Vegetation, Sense, and Motion. 3. Intellect. The Two later, viz. Sense and Intellect, are chief placed and acted in the Head; and thence grow the Nerves, passing to every Bone and Member. Pag. 687. All Anatomists confess, That in an Humane Body there are Innumerable Parts and Things which Men cannot find out, and which are known only to God. Pag. 689. The Common or Internal Sense cannot act without the Animal Spirits; and the Soul uses these Spirits, both for Understanding, and for its other Actions which are to be performed in the Head: and the Nerves which serve both for Sense and Motion through the whole Body, have their Original from the Brain, and are fixed in it, or to it: There the Soul reigns most effectually; and who can express the various Instruments which God hath there provided for her Use. Pag. 693. The Heart is the Original and Prime Instrument of Vegetation and Life, which it communicates to the whole Body, by its Intense Heat, Motion, and Rarefaction of the Blood; and specially it communicates to the Head the Animal Spirits, whereby Motion, Sense and Cogitation are received and acted. Thirdly, The Heart is the Seat, Fountain, and Cause of all the Affections; and there are two Principal Motions in it, viz. that of the Systole and Diastole, or of the Pulse, effecting and Declaring Life: the other Motion is of the Affections, following the Conceptions or Intellect, either with extraordinary Dilatation in the whole Body, as in Accidents pleasing and joyous, or with a like Compression or Contraction in Case of Accidents sorrowful or dspleasing. Whence, as Motion, Sense and Intellect have their Original and Activity from, and in the Brain and Head. So Life and all the Affections are derived and acted from, and in the Heart. And betwixt the Heart and Head there is a wonderful Correspondence and Agreement, to the Good and Benefit of the whole Compositum. From the Heart, Vital Spirits ascend to the Brain, where they become Animal Spirits; and by these, Intelligence, Cogitations and Notices of Things arise in the Mind, from whence again, such Cogitations and Notices strike upon the whole Heart, exciting and stirring there the Affections, and other Vegetative and Natural Motions, which are either pleasing or displeasing, tending to or towards Joy or Sorrow; the one a great Help to, and Supporter of Health and Life: and the other great Hindrance to, or a Destroyer of them both. Pag. 694. The Liver is the Fountain of all the Veins, and the Arteries, through which the Vital Spirits do pass, are always and in all Places conjoined with the Veins; and upon them depend the Life and Motion of the Animal; and the Soul uses the Blood and Spirits to such Purposes: The Liver communicates Blood to the Heart, and that again Vital Spirits to the, Liver. Pag. 195. And as Blood is never in the Veins without some Spirits, so neither do the Spirits flow through the Arteries without some thin Rivage of Blood with them; and as the Veins have need of the Arteries to stir the Blood in them; so the Arteries of the Veins for Nourishment of the Spirits. Pag. 696. Spirits of the Body are Vital or Animal; and the Spirit is a Vapour drawn by Heat and Concoction of the Heart out of the purest Parts of the Blood, and then in kindled [or inflamed] first for Conserving of Life, and next for being a Principle of Motion in the Animal, extending to every Member and Part of it, stirring them up and enabling them to the Performance of those Duties for which they were by God intended and ordained. The Vital Spirit is Flammula quaedam, bred in the Heart out of the purest Blood, and thence by Vital Heat communicated and conveyed to the rest of the Members, imparting Power and Activity to them by their Natural Heat and Motion, and stirring them to act and perform those Duties for which by Nature and Creation they were, ordained and made. The Organs for conveying this Vital Spirit into all Parts and Members of the Body, are the Arteries. The Animal doth not otherwise differ from the Vital Spirit, save that in being transferred to the Brain, that hath Power to rarify and make it more Lucid and Subtle, and then, being from thence infused into the Nerves, it incites and enables them to exercise their Faculties, Powers and appointed Offices of Sensation and Motion: And by both these sorts of Spirits, the Principal Actions of Animals, and even of Humane Bodies are effected: Namely, Life is preserved; and thence proceed Nutrition, Generation, Sense, Motion, Cogitations, and Affections. Hence it hath come to Pass, that some have thought these Spirits to be the very Soul itself, or at least the immediate Instruments to it, by which the Body both lives and moves. Hoc postremum (says our Author) verum est: To which we do not assent, but rather hold with the former.  
Lib. 2. Cap. 2. Pag. 697. Treats Ex Professo de Anima, and citys out of Tully, That Dicaearchus [a Peripatetic Philosopher, and Scholar to Aristotle] held there was no more Soul in Man than in Beasts. This, (says our Author) though it should be the Opinion of all Philosophers, we ought not to follow or believe them in it, because the Scriptures (says he) are against it. Pag. 69●. He takes it, pro confesso, as agreed on all hands, that Souls of Beasts do die with their Bodies, without a Principle of separately Subsisting, after Death of the Body: but there are many Disputes concerning Humane Souls. 

1. What a Humane Soul is.  
2 Concerning its Nature [and Operations.]  
3 Concerning its Original, Whether by continual New Creations, or that it grow Ex traduce, from Generation, [or be pre-existent]   And, if newly created, then whether first created and then infused, or be created within the Body: Whether the Vegetative, the Sensitive, and the Rational be all one same Soul in Man; or that they be so distinct, as that the two first may die, and the third only be that which can separately subsist: but the Question of the Souls Nature, est per Difficilis, & per Obscura. Tertullian, S. Austin, and Greg. Nyssen, have written of it largely; and Pomponacius, and Simon Portius, two famous Italian Philosophers, have since taught, That Aristotle held the Soul to be Mortal, and that its Immortality cannot be proved by any sufficient Reasons. But Men must be left to the Evidence of Faith for that Point: and many there are who think there is not enough Evidence to be a sufficient Ground for that Faith. Pag. 699. He therefore proposes his first Enquiry, viz. What is the Nature and Essence of the Soul? Upon this Query he propounds the Definitions made of the Soul, by three Ancient Philosophers and very learned Men, viz. Plato, Aristotle, and Galen (the great Latin Physician:] but none of them come up to this Point, and therefore he rejects them all, especially that of Galen, who says, The Soul is but a Temperature, and suitable Proportion of the Parts and Humours, whereby the Animal hath Life, and the Use of all its Faculties. And this Opinion he took from his Master Hippocrates, and endeavours to confirm it with divers Reasons: and of this Opinion was then Dynarchus the Philosopher, and Simmias, and divers others. The Author brings three Arguments against this Opinion, but they are rather Sophistical than Solid. He rejects also those of Plato and Aristotle. But in lieu of them all, he gives us one of his own. Pag. 705. viz. A Humane Soul is a truly Spiritual Substance, Incorporeal and Immaterial: Upon this last Word he lays a great Stress: For (says he) the Souls of Beasts are Essential Forms, but drawn out of Matter, from which they cannot be separated: And there are those who think the Soul, which is the Form to our Body, to be neither Accident, nor Body, and that yet it is Material, so as to depend upon Matter, from which it cannot be separated, and therefore must extinguish with Death of the Body. Upon this therefore the whole Stress of the Question lies, concerning the Mortality or Immortality of the Soul. Whence (says he) this our Definition ought to be well and fully proved. Says, Humane Souls have the same Essence with Angelical Spirits; their only Difference being, that the one is Form to a Humane Body, and the other not.  
His Proofs he gins from Texts of Scripture, but we yet in the Bounds of Nature and Reason, will pass them over, Animo revertendi, and consider here his Arguments from Reason only, to which he comes. Pag. 709.  
1. He says, The Soul governs the Body, and resists the Passions: Complexion excites and begets Passions. Here is the Soul contending against Passions, and Natural Inclinations supporting them: Ergo, here is a Substantial Soul. In Answer, I say, The Soul hath no greater Share in the Resisting, than in the Exciting of Passions. But that the Soul is the living and moving Principle, in every Part and Member of the Body, understanding and perceiving, and remembering in the Head, affecting and passionate in the Heart, feeling and moving in the whole Body, and in every member of it. The Souls Regard and Care is for the whole Compositum, to choose the beneficial, and to avoid the hurtful Things. Hence Intellect and Passion are not one of them of the Soul, and the other not the Soul, but both are Faculties of the same Soul. The Heart desires one thing, as vitally Good, or abhors it as Harmful. The Intellect, from common Sense and Understanding, often opposes such Desires, or Fears, from Considerations more percipient and duly weighed; and the Contest rises most often from the Nearness or Distance of what they contend about, viz. Present or Future: one Faculty affixing chief upon the Enjoyment, and the other contemplating the Consequence withal. Now, if the Soul did govern the Body, as our Author faith it doth, the Contest could not be maintained against it by the Passions, which should naturally be ordered to yield an easy Submission to it: whereas it is too evident, that the Passions do often overpower and overrule the Intellect: And (as Aristotle hath told us) their Contest is more like a Game at Tennis than a Government: sometimes one of them prevails and sometimes the other. So they look not like a Governor, and a Governed, but rather like Equal Competitors, sharing in the Command and Government; and this, sine fine. The Contest hath no Determination but by Dissolution of the Compositum; and this proves the Thing to be of Nature, and so doth the Universality of it; there being not a Humane Soul rightly constituted, wherein this Contest is not fully evident. Our Author hath well foreseen, that his Definition of the Souls being a true Spiritual, Incorporeal Substance, would be easily granted: But his Word Immaterial was that which would make the Boggle: and therefore he promised diligently to prove the same: but in this Argument we meet not with any Mention of that Quality, and therefore conclude, we are not at all pressed by it. Pag. 710.—  
He propounds Three Rules upon Material Forms. 

1. That they act not but when they are Forms of some Body.  
2. They are that Principle by which the Compositum is acted; and do not work to Effect, but by the Compositum.  
3. They are limited in their Extent, not reaching farther than the Subject in which they are.   And to these we do also agree. He argues, the Humane Soul is not only the Cause that the Man doth understand, but such Soul doth understand by herself. For this he citys Arist. De Anima. Lib. 3. Cap. 4. I have searched that Chapter, but do not find it there, and however do not grant or believe the Thing to be true.  
2. He argues, The Senses take Harm by an over-vehement Force of their Objects; but the Intellect doth not so. This he hath from Aristotle. Hence he concludes the Soul to be Immaterial, which we pass for an apparent non sequitur.  
3. He argues, The less our minds are employed in External Things, the more apt and ready they are to work. This I deny, and say, the more exercised and practised, the more apt and ready they are for those Things, be they Worldly or Contemplative.  
4. He argues, The Soul understands and knows itself, its Powers and Actions, and that it is a Substance differing from the Body. All this I deny.  
5. Argues, The Intellect can apprehend all Finite Things, but if it were Material it could not discern one Matter from another, nor know their Differences. This I say the Beasts do easily perform.  
6. Argues, The Intellect perceives Abstracted Things, and Immaterial; as God, Angels, Universals, and Mathematical Notions, therefore it is Immaterial. We answer, Universals and Notions are derived from Particulars, and Materials; and what Men know of God and Angels, comes from Revelation and Sense; of all which, a Material Spirit acting in and with fit Organs, is enough capable.  
7. Argues, Quicquid recipitur, fit ad Modum recipientis: but the Intellect turns all into Universals, and Immaterial Notions. This I deny: can do it, I grant. It is capable both of Particulars and Universals: seems alike capable; not one more Natural▪ than the other: whence the Modus recipiendi is first of the Particular, by observing and Correction of which, Rules are framed and Notions raised, by ordinary Proceeding in a Rational Intellect, not needing, or [to me] proving an Immateriality of the Soul.  
8. Argues, The Outward Senses convey the Species of their Objects to the common Sense; that transmits' them to the Fantasy; thence there must be Organs to convey them to the Intellect; but once come thither, the Intellect order them, and judges of them without Help of any Organs at all. This, if he can maintain by good Proof, Erit Apollo, and shall have the Garland; but till that be done, we are where we began.  
9 Pag. 713. His Ninth Argument seems to be a Ramble. Pag 716. His Tenth Argument is taken, ex non Concessis.  
11. Argues, God is the Souls Chief Good: Therefore the must necessarily have Means to attain to him: but that she cannot do, whilst she is in the Body, obstructed by Sensual Powers, therefore she must have a Subsistence out of the Body, in which she may arrive to that Enjoyment I answer; this begs the Question, or presumes the Case determined, that there is such a She as our Author promised to prove, and now brings her to stand upon a bare Supposal, with as little Firmness as when he began his Argument. The Subsistence in Separation is continued to be denied, and, till that evinced to be Erroneous, this Argument is very Vanity.  
12. Argues, That which doth really move and act itself, must be Immaterial. But men's Souls do so, and have a free Will and Choice, to do, or not to do. I demand if these Things be not in Beasts? He says the Elements do not move because they are Material. I demand how he disposes of the Fire, which the World takes to be always in Motion and that Naturally. He says the Beasts can make no Resistance to their Appetites, but must needs follow them: yet every day affords us Proofs that Beasts can, and do resist their Appetites: A Setting-dog hath a great Desire to run, and his Mouth will work, and his Chaps water, and yet he contains himself, and sits still, in sight of his Game, for a long time together.  
13. Argues, Pag. 717. Men have Power to choose Loss of their Blood and Lives; and that shows their Souls Superior, and not dependent upon their Bodies. And we agree the Soul to be all that, and that the Intellect hath a swasive Power over other Faculties, and sometimes prevails with them to suffer Pains, and Present Death, in expectation of believed future Rewards: and this by a Power of Discretion in the Intellect, without Dependence upon the body or Immateriality in the Soul. Pag. 718. Says, If the Soul were Material, it would languish with the Body, suffer in its Sickness, feel its infirmities, and weaken as the Body grows weak. And all this we say it doth, Sequitur Temperamentum Corporis, and that is a Proof of its Materiality. He says, men's Minds in Sickness, and at Death, are more lively sensible of their Sins than in Health [that grows from Tear of approaching Danger of being taken away in a State of Sin, for which Punishment is undoubtedly to be awarded at the Resurrection, without Means or Hopes of any Alteration in the Space intermediate betwixt Death and that; and not from a Quickness of Mind more than, or above ordinary; but from the nearness and greatness of the Concern.] He says, When Men forsake Worldly Business, they are made more apt for Contemplation: And it is agreed that there are outward Helps, as Abstinence and Retiredness, which may advance the Intellective Faculty of the Soul, and strengthen it against the Passionate and Sensual Faculties; and so it may be assisted by Purging, Bleeding, or other Physic; so by good Air, good Company, and even by good News; which all are Tokens of the Souls Participation with the Body, and induce to apprehend its Material Subsistence with, and in the Body. Our Author concludes, he hath enough proved the Souls Immateriality: but we still deny that he hath enough done it; and how much he hath done towards it, shall be left to common Judgement. Pag. 719. He recites his Objections against his Tenet.  
1. Men observe Children, born like their Parents, not only in their Bodies, but their Minds: and this seems to grow, ex traduce, from the Seed; and therefore the Soul grows from that Root as well as the Body. To this he answers, It is not always so, but often otherwise, and quite contrary: and that it is so, comes from the Temperament and Humours of the Body, not from the Soul [unless that be also of Material Parts.] Or if (says he) the Soul have Part in that Substance, it comes from Bodily Tinctures, with which the Soul is closely united. [perhaps he might have said inseparably.]  
2. Object. Tertullian says the Soul is Material, and propagated from the Parents. He answers, If Tertullian did think so, he was deceived, as he was also in some other Things.  
3. Object. If the Soul be Self-subsistent, it must have two Natures; one as Forma informans, of the Body, a chief Part of the Compositum Man: another Nature, viz. Angelical, subsisting and acting as like Spirits do: whereas the Soul taken to be Forma Humana, cannot subsist in that Nature out of the Compositum: her other, yet unproved Nature, will not be granted, nor assented to. He answers: Grants, Man is not a Body, nor a Soul, but, a Compositum of both; and that neither Part is the Man; and yet when the Body is dead, and the Soul subsisting, this may in some respect be counted for the Man; as being his Principal Part, and all that now remains of him. But if we deny that to remain of him, his Answer is of no Force.  
Pag. 721. The Soul hath three Faculties or Powers, Vegetative, Sensitive, and Intellective; sometimes called Parts of the Soul, Essential or Substantial: by others Potential Parts: To these, others have added the Powers Loco-motive, and Appetative. Thinks the Vegetative comprehends the Appetative; and the Sense● of the Local Motion: these two may be admitted as Powers, but not as Essential Parts: whence he makes five Powers in the Soul, and but three Parts. Pag. 724. The Vegetative hath three Prime Faculties, viz. Nutrition, Augmentation, and Generation. Page 725. Says, Generation or the Power of it, is Vere Divinum; so as we are thereby Quodam Modo Creators of other Men.  
Pag. 728. The Sensitive Part of the Soul is substantial, and therefore not annexed to Matter, or to the Body, and so for the Vegetative, and they are Self-subsistent as well as the Intellective Part, and Immaterial and Immortal. We may perceive by this, the Author is resolved not to stick at Straws, but rather to swallow Camels. Pag. 729. Prime Sensitive Faculties are the Powers of Perception and Motion. The Senses (he says) are External or Internal: the External are Five, the Internal are Three, viz. the Common Sense, the fantasy, and the Memory, whose Organs are placed in the Seat of the Soul, known to us only by Reason, or Collection. Pag. 733. These apprehend and judge of Objects conveyed to them by the outward Organs, but can perceive nothing that hath first been brought to them from the outward Senses. In the Internal is also the Vis Motrix; thence the Appetites and Passions are excited [although such Emotions are principally felt about the Heart, and therefore have been thought to grow from thence, and to reside there.] We agree to our Author in this Assertion. Pag. 736. As the Middle Part of the Brain is more or less firm, or better or worse tempered, in tanto, Men have more or less Ingenuity and Apprehension; and the like for other Animals. So as this Power of fantasy depends upon the Organs, to which it is affixed, as the other Sensitive and Vegetative Powers also are, although they are Parts of a Humane Soul, they must not be said to depend upon the Body or its Organs: We say this last Caution is utterly Vain, and to no Effect or Purpose. The fantasy hath Three Offices, to receive Perceptions from the Common Sense and to conserve them. 

2. To collect the Dispersed Ideas or Imaginations.  
3. To judge of them and discourse upon them.   And we see, (says he) Dogs and other Animals greatly moved in their Sleeps, by Dreams arising from such Causes. Pag. 737. That which Reason doth in the Mind, that doth the fantasy in the Sensitive Faculty, and it comes very near to Intellect itself, and supplies to it the Matters to be thought upon and considered of. And as the fantasy is by its Organ inclined to Vice or Virtue; so is the Mind [or Soul] easily drawn to give her consent accordingly. The Tincture or Seasoning of the fantasy or Imagination is of great Force and Power: for from thence rise all our Affections, Love, Joy, Wrath, Fear, Grief, Envy, Jealousy, and the like. Pag. 737. Memory is the third Internal Sense. This he divides into Sensitive and Intellective, and says, That (living the Man) these are so joined or knit together, that they cannot well be discerned or distinguished, one of them from the other, except Men will distinguish them from their different Objects: as that Memory Intellective deals in Vniversals; but the Sensitive in Particulars; or if it do hit upon Vniversals, it is but by Accident: and by this Means a Separated Soul must always retain its Intellective Memory. To this I say, this Distinction or Dividing of Memory seems a Device of our Author's own Coining, on purpose to serve the State of his Separated Souls. Arist. De Anima, Lib. 3. Cap. 6. where he sets the Soul highest; Says, That when separate from the Body, it cannot have Memory: for if it so had, there must be a Patibility in it. And we know Memory is but an Impress of the Species received, and returned thence to the Intellect, importing a Patibility and an Organical Operation; and the first Chapter of Aristotle's Book agrees fully therewithal: and the Author citys no Authority agreeing with him in this Dicothomy or Division of the Memory; and therefore we do by no means admit of the same, but take the Memory for an entire Faculty, which must all stand or fall together; and that the Memory is not capable of Universals except by Accident, we deny. He says, When the fantasy delivers over to Memory, Conceptions of Things, as de Futuro, the Memory retains them not as Future Things, but as bare Conceptions de Futuro: And this we agree; or else it cannot not be a true Record: Whence (says he) the Senses apprehend only Things Present, the Memory records only Things Past; but the fantasy considers Things Present, Past, and to Come; and makes Provision accordingly, and according to the Temper of the Organ: for Heat and Cold, Dryness and Moisture the Memory is strong and apt, or weak and insufficient: and so it is, Pag. 738. with all the Senses both Internal and External: their Excellency depends upon the good Temperature of the Body and its Organs. He says, Beasts have Memory, but not Remissness, a Power to recover and recall things obliterated in their Memories by help of other Circumstances of Time, Place, or Persons, etc. This we leave as doubtful.  
Pag. 740. There are in Animals Three Sorts of Motion. 

1. Vital.  
2. Commanding or Stimulating.  
3. Prosecuting or Endeavouring.   That Commanding. Force is in the Sensitive Appetite, from whence all our Affections do arise; and they reign and command in Animals, Beasts, and Men as Animal, and act to Motion, the whole Body, or the several Members of it.  
The Prime Vital Motion is that of the Pulse, placed in the Heart, the Seat of Life and Vital Motion, acted by the Soul. Pag. 741. The Actors in this Motion are the Inward Heat and Spirits, viz. the Vital Spirits. When this Motion ceases, all Animals die, and the Vital Spirits vanish. But (says he) it doth not therefore follow that the Soul dies. If he had proved, or shall prove, that there is a Soul in Man, which did ever live, doth live, or can live, in Separation from the Body, we will admit of this Caution of his, and not infer Death of such a Soul by the Ceasing of this Vital Motion in the Body: Palpitations of the Heart, agitated by the Affections, and the Faculty of Respiration, are also Vital Motions.  
Appetive commanding Motion, Pag. 724. is Vegetative, Sensitive, and Intellective: It consists in prosecuting things liked, and avoiding things disliked, with Passion, or at Leisure; citys Matth. 15. They all proceed from the Heart, and have their Rise from the Affections: although many Causes may work in, and upon them, viz. Complexion of the Body, Education, Conversation, Examples, Doctrines, etc. their general Aspect is upon Pleasure or Pain, to follow or avoid: the Vigour of their Motion grows from Lust, Wrath, and Fear, or present outward Sense, greatly affected, the Affections are not ill in themselves, but useful, helpful, necessary; for nothing is from God, or Nature which is not Good: the Evil which they produce is but by Accident. Pag. 744. The Prosecutive Power lies in Local Motion, This hath its Root in the Brain, whence the Nerves and their Power and Motion are derived, animated, and enlivened, by Spirits from the Heart. This, (says he) Galen teaches, who is in that Point to be preferred before any other Testimony. But (it seems) both he and Hippocrates his Master, were mistaken concerning Man's Compages of Body and Soul, if our Author fall out to be right.  
The Powers moving the Nerves, and in them, are the Vital and Animal Spirits, and thence Motion is derived to the Muscles, Bones, Joints, and every Member: These Spirits, which are partly Corporeal, and partly quasi Incorporeal, [or Spiritual] excited by the Soul, [omitting how or by what Means] these Spirits move and guide the Nerves, which are like Reins to the whole Body; and they quicken and guide the Muscles, and the small Cords or Strings which reach to them: By these are the Bones, Joints and Members of the Body moved: And thus the moving Power of the Soul prosecutes the Mandates of the Appetite and Affections: this seems a weak or foolish Sort of Soul, that will or must use its Motive Powers to satisfy those Affections, which drive to Action against the Will and Dictates of the Soul itself. Whence we conclude it more likely, that all these Motions are Natural and Animal; that Intellect or Reason is one Natural Faculty in Man, and that it is Chief, and hath a Priority of Order and Power in him; that Sense and the Affections are another Natural Faculty in Man; and that Vital Inclinations and Powers of Vegetation are another Natural Faculty in him, not divided by so many Souls, but that one Soul serves all these Faculties, viz. that Flaming Spirit or Principle of Life, Motion and Action, first breathed into Man by his Creator, and once quite extinguished, can never be again rekindled but from Heaven by miracle. A Vital Spark or Origine of this Fire (likely) may be kindled in Heat of Coition, lodged in the Matter by Ordinance of Nature and her Director. This hath its appointed Natural Times and Means, first of Vegetation and Motions, then of Sense and Affections, and lastly of Intellect and Reason. The Matter, Shape, and Organs of the Body, do by Degrees enlarge themselves, and grow; and they increase the Blood and Humours, which nourish continually the Vital Active Flame: whence the Increaseof Body and Soul goes on together, till they arrive to their Fullness of Stature, Proportions and Activities; and in Ordinary Course of Nature, they grow, stand, and decay together. This Active is the Motive Principle, enlivening and quickening all Man's Faculties to act according to their Natural Powers, Propensities and Appointments. If any Organ or Part of Matter be out of Order, this Active Power (not being Rational, but in the proper Place for that Faculty) cannot remedy that Want, but can only put on to Action, all that is in the Body fit for it; inclining and helping them to and in the Actions that are proper or peculiar to them; in the Heart, the Primum Vivens, and most Vital Part of the Body. This Flame and Heat is most Predominant and Intense; there the Blood is purified, and ratified, and refined; there the Vital Spirits are generated, and thence they are dispersed to several Parts of the Body, but chief to the Head. In the Heart therefore we place the Chief Seat of Life and Vegetation, for whose Defence each other Part will be ready to expose itself; knowing and feeling that the Loss of that Fort destroys the Microcosm. The Place of next Value to this (but of much greater Activity) is the Head: for there reside the Senses both Internal and External; and there resides also the Rational Faculty, viz. the Intellect and the Judgement: so as these two Faculties of Sense and Reason are very close and near Borderers upon one another; and although our Author go with the Stream, of deriving men's Affections all from the Senses, therein seems to be an apparent Mistake: for as we do allow to the Intellect a Will, as well as to the Senses an Appetite; so there must be allowed to Reason a Power of making and gaining the Affections, of equal or greater Potency and Might, then that which is attributed to the Senses. Whence, in Contests betwixt Reason and Sense, or Will and Appetite, that Part which prevails upon the Affections must be Victor over the other: for the Affections stirred and gained, excite, move, and sway the Heart, which is drawn and bend by them to resolve and execute accordingly; and there appears no such Difference between the Prevalency of either of these Faculties, as that Men can determine which doth oftenest prevail, or which of them is naturally endowed with the most strong and prevalent Power: each have a Power in some Persons more than in others, and in all Persons more at one Time, or upon one Occasion, then upon another. In no Persons naturally doth the Stream run one Way: but, as S. Paul says, 'Tis not of willing, or running, but God gives the Victory perhaps often. But we cannot confide that so it shall be always, nor can by Nature be expected often. He who thinks he stands, may be nearer a Fall than he is ware of. These two Faculties have a natural and durable Contest from Sunrising to Sunsetting, from the Cradle to the Grave; sometimes one prevails and sometimes the other, according as Moses' Hands are held up or let down: whence the Inference seems both easy and strong, That there is no likelihood of a Rational, immaterially Spiritual Power or Government in Man: For it seems such a Power or Government would easily and speedily put an End to such Contests, and not suffer them to continue men's whole Lives; nay, and from Generation to Generation, and in all Ages. Aristotle compares the Contest to a Game at Ball, for the Uncertainty of its Event; and so we find it still; the Case is nothing altered: which is a plain Argument the Thing is Natural; for Naturalia non Mutantur. We do not hold fit to make strong or positive Conclusions in Things of much less Moment and Doubt than the present Question, and therefore shall leave Perusers to draw out of the Premises such Conclusions as themselves think reasonable.  
Pag. 742. Our Author goes on, and says, There is a very near Likeness betwixt the two Faculties, Sensitive and Intellective: so as the Old Philosophers have called the Intellect by Name of the Internal Sense; so did the Platonics and Peripatetics: And thence our Author collects such a Similitude between them, that he resolves so to divide the Intellective Powers, as he had done the Sensitive. Thus we see the Ground upon which he goes, in groping out a Means to say what he pleases of the Intellect. He says, The Intellect hath two Parts or Faculties, viz. the Aprehensive and the Motive: in the first it joins with the Memory, in the other with the Will; and these two, Apprehension and Motion, are necessary in all Animals. Pag. 745. There is a twofold Force in a Humane Intellect: one, that it hath Power to understand Intelligible Things; the other is the actual and effectual understanding of them: This Difference seems Airy: for Nature doth not act frustra: but if it give a Power, it always provides an Act or Effect of it. He means by Intelligible Things, Abstracted Substances, and Universalities, [the same Things which he spoke of at the Beginning,] Pag. 746. under the Name of a Double Intellect, viz. Agentis & Patientis, understood a Double Power, by one of them it understands; by the other it doth re-act and judge of its own Understanding. Pag. 747. Says, The Passive Intellect is a Part of the Intellect, that it neither needs nor has any Material Organ. Yet he allows the Intellect and all its Powers are in the Body, but not affixed to any Organ, or using any. [I demand how doth he know, or can prove that?] Says he, (By way of Reason) If it were any way tied to Organs, it would perish and extinguish with those Organs. This I grant, and partly believe that it doth so. But says he farther, If the Case were so, then as the Organ grows old and infirm, the Intellect's Operations should fail accordingly; which we see (saith he) it doth not. Which we see (say I) it doth evidently. I grant it lasts as long as any other Faculty, and longer than the most of them do. Arist. De Anima, Lib. I. Cap. 5. hath it both Ways. First, he says, The Intellect is not spoiled by Age: and therefore that if an Old Man had a Young Eye, he would see as well as when he was Young: of which there is little Certainty. Then it follows in the same Chapter, Intellect and Contemplation (its Prime Part) do decay, [in Man] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by the Failing or Corruption of other inward Parts; as is clear and apparent in such as live to extreme Age; and till their Organs or Spirits are by such Age either wasted or corrupted. In Fools and Madmen, he grants, the Fault grows by Defect or Disorder of the Organs: But this (says he) is only in the fantasy, and that the fantasy is a necessary Organ for the Soul to work by, whilst she is in the Body: And it doth not yet appear that she hath any other State; nor that by her own (any thing) Being, or Power, without Bodily Organs, she either understands herself or any other Thing, although the Author doth here make bold to assert all this without other Proof than just before mentioned and answered.  
Pag. 748. The Active Intellect (our Author says) is the Splendour of the Soul, creating Intellectual Power; as Light enables Men to judge of Colours. Then he citys Aristotle's high Expressions concerning this Part of the Soul; and yet he refuses to agree with Aristotle, that this Part only of the Soul is Immortal: but he will have the Suffering Part also to be Immortal; being resolved it cannot possibly be so by halves, let Aristotle say what he will; but for Reasons he gives none, relying upon what he had said before. Pag. 749. Divides the Intellect into Practical and Speculative: Says, God (when he creates a Soul) puts two Principles or Sorts of Notions into it; one, a Power to discern and distinguish Good from Bad; the other, a like Power of discerning Truth from Falsehood. But we neither consent to his imagined Creation of Souls; nor that there are such distinct Powers or Principles in it; but do conceive both these Abilities of Distinguishing, to arise indifferently out of the Humane Faculties of Common Sense and Reason.  
Pag. 720. He says, There is a Memory peculiar to the Intellect, and not fixed or placed in any Organ, nor of any Material Nature. But for maintaining this Dogma, he neither gives Reason, nor citys Authority; therefore it may pass with us for a Figment of his own Brain, and without any more Consideration. He says, The Will is the Intellectual Appetite, not fixed or placed in any Organ: And says, That even the Sensual Appetite is not without Reason for its Guide; and Men have Reason for Guide of all their Actions: And to this we agree: but do say, that in the Intellect resides the Reason; or the Intellect is the Humane Reason, or Rationality residing in the Head, and amongst the Organs of the Brain, assisted by the Common Sense, fantasy, and Memory, fixed in the same Region, and amongst the same Organs used by them: That the Power which it hath amongst them is not Compulsory, but Swasive, or, at the highest, but Judicial. There seems in the Faculty of Reason to be a Judicial Power, and that both Will and Appetite (if that be any real Distinction): are attendant upon this Power; and that neither of them do, or can move towards Execution before they have obtained a Sentence from the Judgement upon their Side. The Affections, principally Ambition, Covetousness, Lust; and the Passions, Anger and Fear, and all their Dependants plead for their Satisfactions, and offer their Reasons and their Violences, and Dissatisfactions and Desires in Evidence for obtaining Sentence from the Judgement upon their Sides, or some of them: against which, the Reason or Intellect offer their Evidence and Arguments for obtaining Sentence of the Judgement upon their Side: and this Sort of Pleading may depend before Bar of the Judgement for a longer or shorter Time, and as the Case is less or more pressing: but before a Judgement be passed, there can be no Execution in the Microcosm: for both Will and Appetite (which seem to differ but in Name and Objects, being really both but the same Thing) but they are both: or that Faculty is estopped from moving in Execution, until the Judgement have passed Sentence, and given Direction thereupon. To this Sentence the Voluntary Faculty is naturally, and therefore easily and continually obedient; setting all instruments at work for intended Performance of such Resolutions, until the Judgement depart from such Decrees and change them, as many times it comes to pass; and presently the Voluntary Faculty shifts its Course accordingly, like Ezekiel's Wheels, as if the Spirit that is in the Judgement, were also in the Voluntary Faculty: and this, by a Law of Nature, which can by no Art or Endeavour be altered. And hence we may discharge much of that Load which is commonly cast upon men's Affections and Passions; they are doubtless ill Persuaders and Solicitors, but they can effect nothing without they do first prevail upon the Judgement, to gratify them in passing Sentence on their Behalf: for that sets the Voluntary Part at work, and that excites and directs the Bodily Members and Organs to at accordingly; and casts the real Gild, arising from all Crimes, upon the Man in his best and highest Faculty, viz. that of his Judgement. We have a Maxim in Law, viz. Now est Reus, nisi Mens sit Rea: and thence if a natural Fool, or real Madman, do rob, beat, ravish, kill, the Law will not condemn him for it, because his Mind cannot be Criminal: He is without Reason, which only can give him a Mind, [and yet, by the Way, if an Immaterial Soul there be in Men, it seems such Men have that; but the Law looks upon Reason as the Mind of Man, and will not condemn one who acts necessarily without it.] It seems, if Affections could drive to Actions, without Consent of the Judgement. it might be alleged in Diminution of the Crime; but the Case looks otherwise: for the Judgement may be reluctant in its Consent; but it must consent, and so become come guilty, or no Execution can follow. And the Voluntary Part seems to be at no Liberty; but necessarily attached to the Decrees of the Judgement: For what that Judges best for the whole Man (all things then appearing in Judgement considered) the Judgement will decree, and the Voluntary Part must apply it self towards the Execution of that Decree, as all Things are done in Nature, and Creatures, by an easy Inclination and Propensity, free from any Violence or Compulsion: all being acted by the same Spirit, different Faculties and Inclinations, but all under the Rules of one Judgement, which seems to be supreme in the Government, and hath that one Rational Faculty for Advice or Counsel, one Voluntary Faculty for Execution, by moving the Nerves as the Fountains and Reins of Motion: and though divers Senses have double Organs, and there be divers Passions, and many Affections, not easy to be governed; yet is there but one Common Sense, one Organ or Place of fantasy, and but one Memory: and though Passions and Affections at divers Times are very Violent, yet are they not able by themselves to bring any thing into Execution, without first obtaining a Sentence or Consent of the Judgement or Judicial Faculty, which hath yet no Arbitrary or Tyrannical Power, but acts under the Law and Rule imposed by Nature, of decreeing only that which appears best for the whole Compositum, the Man, under such Circumstances as then come under present Survey of the Judgement. It is true, that the Judicial Faculty is very liable to Mistakes, and to be misguided by the Power and Violence of Passions or Affections, as well as by its own Ignorance and Infirmity. For better setting out of which, we may consider an Example or two. S. Peter, we find, was a true Servant of his Master, and professed with Sincerity a Resolution rather to die with Christ than to deny him: and yet, when (soon after) he was snapped by a sudden Demand, If he were not one of his Lord's Disciples, his Passion of Fear risen up against the Truth of his Affection; and that Passion offered at the Bar of his Judgement, That if a true Confession were made, the Appearance was likely and strong, that he should be made a Co-sufferer with his Master, and then it would certainly go very hard with the whole Compositum. The Judgement decrees (for the Avoiding of this Suffering) as best for the Man, all things then in Prospect considered; the Voluntary Power than sets upon Execution, it moves the Nerves of the Tongue (the properest Instrument) directing first to deny, and then to forswear the Truth in that Particular. But presently again, upon a Review of what he had done, and the Fault committed, the Judgement disapproved and changed its overhasty Decree, and its Executive Power, the Will, directs Motions of Grief, and sends plenty of Water into his Eyes, as a clear Testimony that his Change and Repentance was not feigned but real. The Case of Judas was not unlike: his Covetousness prevailed upon his Judgement to decree it best for the Man to earn the desired Wages of Iniquity; the Voluntary Power acts in Execution accordingly: it moves the Feet to go, the Tongue to declare his Design, and his Hands to receive the desired and promised Reward, and to perform his Bargain: and yet, presently, as soon as he saw Christ was condemned, he found his Faultiness, and grieved, and repent, and brought back the Money; Judgement decreeing, and Will executing, and finding none that would receive it, he by like Powers acted, threw the Money down with Indignation: then ghastly Fear, and Horror of Conscience tormenting and instigating the Feebleness, Ignorance and Error of his Judicial Faculty, induced it to decree, That it was best for the Man in, that Estate to shorten his own Life; and the Attendant Mill, moves his Hands to tie and fasten fit Materials, then to put his Head into the prepared Noose, and the Execution was performed accordingly. And there seems to be nothing done in Man, or by him voluntarily, and as a free Agent, but what first passes the Judgement with its Approbation. And yet these Passages cannot appear to men's Feeling or Sense, except there be a considerable Time allowed for Rumination; for then the Debate and Resolution are somewhat perceivable. But in short or sudden Cases and Occasions, all pass within us after a Spiritual Manner, and unperceived. The Spirits acting are Thin and Pure, to an Ivisibility and Imperceptibility, quick as the Flame; or even as Lightning. So as the Dispatch of these Proceed may be made in a Moment of Time, and without any Perceivance in the Person. Thus by Occasion of our Author's Dividing of Memory upon a novel and singular Fancy of his own, there hath been set forth a Model of the Microcosm, somewhat different from what Men have formerly conceived of it. But we now return again to our Author.   

Pag. 750. He calls the Will the Vis Motrix, and the Spirits, Nerves, Muscles, and Members, the Vis Prosequens, [or rather should be the Vires Prosequentes.] He calls the Voluntary Faculty, the Queen in the Body: and we have given her such Part in our Constitution of Government, as a Queen at Chess acts in the Regulation and Effects in that Game.  
Pag. 753, Says, The Humane Soul, at every Conception, is created, ex Nihilo: that the Vegetative Soul extinguishes in the Sensitive when it comes, and the Sensitive in the Rational when it comes; and thinks the two former may be generated.  
Pag. 757. Questions how Men differ from Brutes? Averro answers, In the Cogitative Faculty, which acts by Organs. The Author replies, This is a Sensitive Power, and doth not really differ from the fantasy: for that which is a more simple and dull fantasy in the Brutes, is a more acute fantasy in Men, and is called Cogitation in them.  
Pag. 759. The Doubt concerning the Original of Souls, is a difficult Question, and always was so: And Three Prime Points in it. 

1. The Efficient, or Causa ex qua, whether they are ex nihilo, or ex Re praejacente.  
2. When they were made, whether in the Beginning, from the First Creation, and so do pre-exist, or in Future Times.  
3. Whether they are made before or after the Formation of the Body, or at one same time with the Body.    
Some thought Souls were communicated to Men from the Soul of the World, of like Matter to Heaven and the Stars, and therefore Incorruptible and Immortal, created at first to a certain vast Number, and remain in Repositories, till called by the Formation of their destined Bodies. And this was the Opinion of Pythagoras, Plato, and most of the Academic Philosophers: And this infers a Transmigration of Souls into several Bodies. Origin thought that Souls were so created, but in time, after the World created; and that they were by God sent down, or did of their own accord descend into Bodies fit for them, in due time; and some other Divines were of that Mind.  
Some thought Souls were part of God himself, others that they were by Angels made of Fire and Air: Others that God made only the Soul of Adam, and that all future Souls, are derived by Propagation from him; and that as Men have their Bodies from his Body, so their Souls from his Soul, radically; but yet Immortal. Some who so believed, thought the Soul Corporeal, and therefore generated. Others thought it a Spirit, and propagated from the Generators Soul, as one Light kindles another. This last Opinion, Apollinaris and many other Bishops did hold, and especially the Western Churches.  
Others thought God created New Souls, as there was Occasion for them; so St. Jerom, who says, the Church of his time did so believe. St. Austin would not condemn either of these two last Opinions; he inclined rather to the Creation of New Souls, but confessed he knew not how to prove it from Scripture. Those who hold the New Creation of Souls, differ; some think it created in the Body, and some without the Body, and some that Infundendo creature.  
Cites three sorts of Spirits, P. 761. viz. God, who always was, and shall be; then Souls of Brutes, which neither were, nor shall be always: then Angels and Souls of Men, which were not, but shall be always. Cites this out of Ficinus. P. 762. The Author argues against Origins Opinion of Pre-existent Souls; says, The Soul is Man's proper Form, who consists of a Soul and Body; and it is natural to this Form to be united to its proper Matter or Body; and against Nature to be separated from it: and it is Praeter Naturam, that a Humane Soul separated from the Body, should so remain till the Resurrection: and therefore it would be Praeter Naturam, that Souls should pre-exist, by a Creation of all at once: Whence this is repugnant to the Wisdom of God and the Course of Nature. It is natural, and per se, that the Soul should be with the Body, and against Nature, that it should be out of it; seeing it is the Bodies proper Form [so much as it cannot be said to be there in loco, as Arist observes] and it is there, as in its proper Being. The Soul of Adam sinned not without the Body, nor have other Souls done so; and therefore have not deserved to be punished without it.  
P. 763. says, That Opinion of the Souls being derived from Generation, as well as the Body, held by Tertullian and the Western Church, is much followed and strongly defended: for the more rational deriving the Gild of Original Sin, upon all Mankind: for that unless men's Souls be propagated from Adam, as well as their Bodies, by what means should Original Sin come to be attached to the Souls of all Men. For if Souls be of new created, and out of nothing; they must be either created sinful by God, or how else should sin come upon them in their Mother's Bellies; where they cannot commit Sin, nor be contaminate by Lust of the Parents, who do not generate the Soul: Nor can its Contiguity with a Corrupt Body, defile it: Also that Conjunction is the Act of God. Those Fathers therefore held it necessary to believe the Generation of the Soul as well as of the Body, to the intent they might have a sufficient ground of Casting he Gild of Original Sin upon all People. And for this respect Austin and those of his time, would not reject or condemn this Opinion held by Tertullian, Apollinaris, and the Western Churches; Ausi non fuerint damnare: and citys to the same purpose Eucherius and Gregory the First Bishop of Rome, P. 765. our Author means to prove, That Humane Souls are New Creations, made by God out of Nothing.  
1. Because Adam's Soul was so created, our Bodies are of the Earth, like his; and likely our Souls like his, by Creation. I say to this, We do not find a Creation of Adam's Soul, but that God breathed into him the breath of life; gave him breath or respiration; this kindled in his Blood and Humours (than ready) the Flame of Life: till that is again quite extinguished, the Man lives, and nourishes that Flame by the like respirations; but that Flame extinguished, the respiration ceases, and the Man dies beyond all Humane Power to help in such Cases. The Soul parts, together with the Breath and Flame of Life, and never was found but together with them in any Body, or other Place, or Manner whatsoever. It seems this Flame and its Active Powers, is not only inseparable from the Soul, but that most likely itself is that Soul, as well as it is in the Beasts: With it, and by it, they live, move, and act: With its Extinguishment they die and turn to immediate Corruption, and, Gradatim, to their Original Earth and Dust: So was it with Adam and his Soul and Body, and from his Time hath so continued, without Exception, save in Enoch and Elijah, by Divine Power, or Miracle, manifested in reviving Lazarus and some other dead Bodies, by rekindling in them the extinguished Flame of Life.  
2. He doubts not but that Eve's Soul was like Adam's; and if his were created, so was hers. And this we grant; as well the one as the other.  
3. Adam did not speak of her Soul, but owned her Body of his: therefore he knew not her Soul, or what, or whence it was. Whence 'tis not likely her Soul was made out of his, but was a Creation from nothing. I grant her Soul was not made out of his, but made like his. The Body, Blood and Humours, being prepared and fit, the Flame of Life was kindled in her by the Divine Power: and after her first Breath, she lived by Respiration as Adam did, so long as that Flame of Life continued unextinguished, and she was made, and so long she continued a Living Soul, or rather a Living Compositum both of Body and Soul.  
4. If the Soul were generated, there would be a subject Matter, out of which it grew: And then Solomon could not properly say, it returned to God that gave it: but it should rather return into such Matter as it was raised from. He says Austin applied this Saying of Solomon only to Adam's Soul, or the Original of Souls: for that he would not oppose the Generation of Souls. But the Author says, it must doubtless be understood of all Souls. Concerning this, I say, it appears as clearly, that Solomon was not resolved concerning Humane Souls, whether they went upward or downward, or what became of them, upon a Solemn Consideration and Argument: Yet he doth after, and without Argument, summarily say, the Spirit returns to God who gave it. In both Places our Translators use the Term of Spirit, and not of Soul. The Breath, Spirit, and Life, which is in Man, goes not (perceivably to Sense) any whither. Likely it is, the common Opinion of his Time was for a Separate Subsistence of Souls. For we read, Saul applied himself to the Witch, for bringing up of Samuel, intending his Separately Subsisting Soul: And the Devil favours this Opinion, in pretending to be Samuel's disquieted Soul. In these few Words of Solomon, it may be conceived, that, unresolved in himself, he thus expressed himself, in Compliance with the Common Opinion of his Time and Country: Also what is intended by Spirit, Whether Breath and Life, or Soul, seems not very clear? David says, When God takes away men's Breath, they die and are turned again to their Dust; Psal. 104. But if he let his Breath go forth, Men are made, and the Face of the Earth renewed. This Informing Breath, first breathed into Adam, leaves the Body at Death, returns (says Solomon) to God who gave it. But elsewhere says, he knows not what to think of it, whether it go upward or be extinguished with the Life, as those of the Beasts are.  
5. and 6. Pag. 766. He citys Isa. 57 Zach. 12. Exod. 21. That God makes the Souls: And what Austin answers thereunto: That it is by God, that they come from the Parents. He citys Theodoret: That the Foetus in the Womb, is first an unformed Embryo: then becomes form into the Perfect Shape of a Body, and after That it first obtains a Soul. Pag. 767. And if so, How can the Soul rise out of the Seed, or from Generation? If (says he) you will say, that in the Seed there is Vis Animae Parentis, out of which the Infant's Soul arises in due Time. This he refuses by any means to admit of: but why, he doth not say: because it is against Reason or Nature. But because then it would follow, that the Soul must be Corruptible and Mortal. And to this Conclusion (which he maintains with divers Arguments) we do easily agree. Pag. 771. See the same.  
7. The Soul of Christ was not from Generation. Ergo▪ other men's are not so. I say, It seems Christ was born from the Seed of David, and was the Seed of the Woman: and being by Operation of the Holy Spirit upon her, might be made and born in all things like to us, except Sin: For what he took by Generation from the Holy Spirit could not partake of Sin. And it seems Temerity to, affirm any thing concerning Christ's Soul, which is not revealed (as this Point is not:) for that neither the Manner nor the Matter, can be traced or found out by the Powers of Humane Reason, or the Dependence of Natural Causes; to all which Proceed this Birth is an absolute Mystery.  
P. 769. He says, both these Opinions, viz. that of a continual New Creation of Souls, and that of Propagating them by Generation, have had great and many Abettors and Defenders in the Church, For the New Creation of Souls, he enumerates Greg. Nyssen, Theodoret. S. Jerom, Leo I. a Bishop of Rome, S. Ambrose, Hilary: Sesse, Flesh generates the Flesh, but the Soul is the Work of God. I say this is no absolute Denial of the Souls being generated, as Austin hath said, by God's Power and Providence: For the Souls being generated with the Body, held Tertullian. Pag. 770. S. Augustin, Greg. I. a Bishop of Rome, he omits here Apollinaris and most of the Fathers of the Western Church before remembered.  
The Opinions differed upon two Difficulties: some would have a New Creation, for that Generation concluded Souls to be Mortal: others would have Souls generated with the Bodies, because whole Man is involved in, and put under the Gild of Original Sin, which if his Soul were Newly created by God, can have no sound and reasonable Derivation upon it. Our Author means to show how New created Souls may be taken within the Gild of Original Sin.  
Pag. 772. He gins with Philosophers who have highly extolled the Soul, and said it came from God.  
Pag. 773. 1. Says, Souls and Angels are of the same Nature, Kind and Substance, alike subsisting of themselves: and as one Angel doth not generate another, so it is for Souls, they generate not. I say this Parallel of Souls and Angels is bold, but never granted.  
2. Says, The Soul can understand and will without the Body or its Organs, and therefore subsist without it. I grant both alike, and one as much as the other.  
3. The Soul is an Immaterial Spirit, and cannot be propagated, no not from another Soul: and if it rise from another Soul, it cannot be Immortal. All but its Immateriality is granted.  
4. The Opposers say the Body cannot infect a New created Soul with Original Sin, much less (says he) can it generate such a Soul; nor can such a Substantial Immaterial Spirit proceed from Flesh and Blood, a Spirit which needs not any Bodily Organs, but can act alone, and by its own single Power: and if one Soul could produce another, yet that cannot be done by Efficiency of Seed or Corporeal Generation.  
5 The Soul is Immortal and Self-subsistent, neither dies nor decays with the Body, and therefore is not generated by it, or proceeds from it. I say, these two Arguments proceed ex non concessis: the Inferences are reasonable, but the Foundations fail, and are not granted, nor enough proved.  
6. P. 775. If the Soul be propagated from the Seed, it is but as Trees and Beasts are: and if the Seed be Corporeal, the Spirit thence arising must be Material: for that which is of the Flesh is Flesh: whence the Soul must be Corruptible and Mortal. I grant his Arguments, which (he says) cannot be easily refuted, except by such as will reject his Principles of the Soul's Immateriality and Self-subsistence, as we have done from the Beginning, and yet continue to do.  
Pag. 775. Now he comes to his Case of how his New created Souls may be justly involved in the Gild of Original Sin? and he gins (as commonly Men do in such Undertake) to prove Obscurum per Obscurius, viz. the Thing proceeds from God's Decree, that so it should be. I ask how doth he know that? He doth not pretend particular Revelation for it. No, but (he Pays) God did Decree to join these New created and pure Souls with Bodies conceived in Sin, although he knew that thence it would follow, those Souls should thereby become infected with Sin: But not one Word of Proof, neither of the Decree, nor how the New Soul is infected, nor that it is so infected. And we dare not take his Word for all this: but he goes on. First, (says he) God decreed to permit Sin: but he proves not that, and yet it seems to stand in great Need of proving. Then he decreed, the Gild and woeful Effect of Adam's Sin should be derived upon all his Posterity. Still he needs Proof of a Decree of God in this Point. Then God (says he) decreed the Redemption of the Elect by Christ, and reprobating all the Residue of People. Hence (says he) it comes, that many Things are by God done, and permitted against our Rules of Justice and Goodness, which are in his Power easily to hinder or alter: And because he doth do or permit such Things, we must conceive that Things so done or suffered to be done, are certainly agreeable to Justice and Goodness, (he says) in respect to God's Order and Decrees: I say, in respect to his Nature and Being. But we both agree, Men do not know how to reconcile Things so done or permitted, with the Common Rules of Morality amongst Men. And it seems it had been no ill Course for our Author in this Case to have said, Souls must be thus infected with Sin, by God's Decree, although it be above our present State to know, either the Manner how, or the Reason why.  
Pag. 776, & 777. Says, God made Man in his Image, just and upright, and so might his posterity have continued. I say, If God had not (as our Author says) otherwise decreed it. Well, but by Adam's sin, all was lost, both to him and his posterity; for as Levy paid Tithes to Melchizedeck in Abraham, so all Men sinned in Adam. I say this Comparison seems apt enough, deeming Levy's payment in Abraham but Notional or Putative; and alleged Argumentative: (Says our Author) Adam 's Sin was not more actual to him, than it was original to all his posterity: There followed a propensity to sin in Adam, and thence a Corruption in the Nature of all his Posterity, called, Original Sin, as a Penal consequence of that Offence; Adam 's disobedience being imputed to all his Offspring, to bring the New created Soul under the guilt of this Original. The Author denies to say that properly, and really, the Body doth work upon the Soul, and so infect it; but he doth say, That in the instant when God joins the Soul (newly by him created) to the Body, conceived in Sin, the Compositum, becomes Man, and then, and thenceforth, Adam 's Sin is imputed to this Compositum existing in the Womb. He says, Some take Original Sin, only for a Corruptness in Man's Nature, or a Propensity to Sin. This he avoids, as making it harder to show, how this can come into a New created Soul, over which the Body cannot have power; nor will God (it seems) endow, or infect it, with this evil inclination; nor will there be any other likely means for this to arise in the Soul, save only by Propagation.  
Pag. 778. But yet he will find a means to do this; and (he says) It arises from the just appointment of God, that all Adam 's Offspring shall have such a Corrupted Nature in them, taken from Adam, as their Fountain end Original; and this should reach to the Soul, as well as to the Body, under the Name of Natural Corruption. So it grows not from the Bodies infecting the Soul, but by the Will and Appointment of God. To this I say, The Words or Intent that Adam's Offspring should be corrupted, can reach no farther than to what comes from him by Generation; which Souls (our Author says) do not: And the Soul Principal in Man, who upon breath given him, became a Living Soul: And therefore an Appointment that Newly created Souls (as he says all are) should all be necessaly corrupted, and inclined to sins continually; for one Offence of the Old Adam; with whom they never had any relation or affinity, nor any derivation from him; (Our Author entitles it just) but it seems to me very incongruous and hetorogenial to Rules of Equity and Reason. He doth not prove such Appointment of God, nor offer to maintain by Reason, that the thing would be justifiable by the ordinary Rules of Equity or Reason. We therefore take it all for his Fancy, and that he is under a mistake in the main of this Argument; and that what is true in, and concerning the guilt of Original Sin, is much more maintainable by those who raise Souls, as well as Bodies, from Adam by Generation: then by those who do believe that God creates new Souls for the supply of every successful Humane Coition; not to speak of those betwixt Man and Beast, where the product is of a Humane Shape.  
Pag. 779. Now he comes to defend the Justice of God's Proceeding in this Case, and says, Though God put the Infected Body and the Pure Soul together, God doth not instill or put the Evil Qualification into the Soul; nor cause it to be infected by the Body; but the Corruptiin of the (Pure Newly created and much to be pitied) Soul, grows upon it only by accident. If Adam had not sinned, God would yet have been always making New Souls, as he is all the World over; and he joins Souls and Bodies per se, but the Souls are infected per accidens. All are Words and Fancy, without showing the difference betwixt per se and per accidens, in this Case, or Answer to what he said before that the Original of this Corruption in the Soul, is God's own Appointment: whence he makes New, Clean, Pure Souls, and appoints them to be corrupted, and to be made wicked, and fall (for exceedingly the greatest Part) into everlasting Burn: those who are persuaded may believe what he says. Pag. 780. Says again, Adam was the Root and Foundation of Man and Sin; and this Natural Contagion descends from him upon all his Posterity: as well upon their New created Souls as their propagated Bodies, by the special Ordinance of God. But some (says he) will except, How can Adam 's Sin be imputed to men's Souls, if they be not generated? for else they were not in the Loins of Adam when he sinned. He answers, The Soul and Body make the Man, and you must not divide them in Examination of this Matter. Souls or Bodies are not born apart, nor come from Adam singly: nor is Sin imputed to the Soul before it be joined to the Body: It is Men, that come from Adam, not their Souls or Bodies; and the whole Person is called Son of Adam, and the Son of Man. We say so too: All are Sons of Adam, and of Man, Souls and Bodies. And when he divides them, and brings one from Creation singly, and the other from Propagation singly, he offends, Male dividendo. God puts them together, they live together; so they are born, and it seems they are generated together; and we may apply to them, 2 Sam. 1.23. Saul and Jonathan were lovely in their Lives, and in their Death they were not divided, but fell together.  
Pag. 781. He says, Christ is called the Seed of David, and Son of Man; and yet his Soul was not generated. This is neither proved nor granted: For he was like to us in all things, (as Man) Sin only excepted; and that Manhood he took from his Mother, a Daughter of David, and a very Woman: he took all that was Man from her, and as much as other Men take from their Parents. Pag. 782. He says, The Soul comes not from the Parents, but is created by God, but its Principle of Existence comes from the Parents: for that it did not begin to be or subsist, but in the Body disposed and prepared for it: [And this makes him hold, that the Soul is created in the Body disposed to receive it.] Whence (says he) the Soul may be said in a manner to be generated by the Parents. It seems this Sort of Argumentation is mere Trifling: For, the truth is, either the Soul is generated as well as the Body, or it is not. That Man is generated, is according to Nature, and agrees with Scripture: But, That his Soul is a New Creation at every fruitful Coition, is not revealed in Scripture, is against the ordinary Course of Nature, and seems a mere and bare Humane Invention and Fiction, introduced for the better maintaining the supposed Being of an Immaterial Self-subsisting Soul in Man, and is of no other Use, nor hath any other Foundation or Ground, but an Intent and Desire to fortify and maintain that Opinion; and thence, and for that only End it is, that our Author hath bestowed so much Labour about it, with what Success, must be left to Judgement. He citys Contarenus and Ficinus, That the Production of Souls is in, and by a Medium betwixt Creation and Generation, and that the Animal Spirits (which are a Medium betwixt Soul and Body), do knit and unite the Soul and Body together: He catches at any Saying that sounds towards a Solder for knitting and strengthing of his Precarious Assertions; for these Say make as much against as for his Opinion.  
Pag. 782. He gins to put Objections against his own Opinion to the Number of Nine, and gives Answers to them: the Main of which Answers is grounded in non concessis, viz. That Christ was perfectly generated from Mary, and yet he took not his Soul from her. Therefore (says he) Parents do generate others perfectly like themselves, although their Souls be not generated. We have said, All that was Man in Christ, viz. Soul and Body, came from the Virgin (for any thing appearing.) And we do say, That if Souls be not generated as well as Bodies, the Parents do not generate others perfectly like themselves, nor near like themselves, but Carcases rather, or Bodies that have no Life in them, not a Man: for that, Forma dat esse Rei.  
Pag. 784. Respondendo, Repeats, The Soul is created pure; then of that and the generated Body, Man is made: then God fastens Adam 's Sin upon the Soul and Body, or the Man, by Imputation: and thence the Person yet in the Womb, becomes involved in the Gild of Original Sin. This he said before, and it is the main Ground he stands upon, but not granted nor proved, no nor probable, that God should use a Pure, Young, Innocent Soul in that manner, and make the Number of such Souls, decreed and intended for eternal Torments, so exceeding great, in Comparison of those intended to be saved. That God should do this to Pure, Innocent Souls of his own immediate Creation; we cannot, dare not believe it, without most undeniable Evidence: And yet he gives us none, but his own bare Word for it, or his Opinion, possibly his Conceit, which we find no sufficient Reason to follow.  
P. 786. Says, Hilary thought that the Soul was first form, and before the Body generated: and this (says he) would serve our Turn well, to prove a Separate Subsistence of Souls: but that thereupon would follow other absurd Consequences: Others think the Soul is form after the Body: of which some think it first created and then infused, which also proves it Self-subsistent: But (says he) the most received Opinion is that of the Schools, viz. That the Soul is created in the Body now form and ready for its Reception, Infundendo creature.  
He says, The Generative Formation of the Body, is first from a Milky Substance, then changed into a Bloody one, and then into Flesh, Bones, etc. and lastly, to a perfect Formation: And so for the Soul: first, there is in the Seed, not a Soul, but the Vigour of a Soul; whence rises in the Body a Vegetative Soul; whence the Embryo lives: shortly after which, there is by a like Vigour in the Seed, a Sensitive Soul produced, and the Vegetative is extinguished: then Sensitive Soul extinguishes, and the Rational Soul succeeds thereunto, but not by the Seminal Vigour, but by the sole Creation of God, out of nothing. And thus his Tenet sets God at continual Employment to create a Number of Souls every Day, all the World over, without Warrant of Scripture or Reason, or the general Consent of Antiquity. And he says: Thus Man, by Generation, prepares for God a Body into which God may introduce a Soul of his own Creation.  
Pag. 787. Here he places the chief Seat of the Soul, not in the Head, but in the Heart, that it may be in the Middle of the Body; and calls the Soul a Part of Humane Nature, not perfect without its Body, and therefore desiring a Reunion; all contrary to his former Assertions.  
Pag. 788. Says, The Body doth nothing without the Soul, Nec ferè Anima sine Corpore. Pag. 793. Says, The Soul is not Tota in qualibet Parte, nor in any Part, nor affixed to any Organ, no nor Tota in toto, and yet the Essence of the Soul is Tota in toto, & in qualibet Parte, as Light is in the Air, both Light and Heat appear in different Degrees, in divers Places, and yet their Influence reaches to the whole Horizon. Pag. 794. That which is Indivisible, Totum est, Ubi est; and this holds in the Soul: And so God is in the World, and every Part of it; and as Soul and Body united are yet distinct Soul and Body. So, Pag. 798. the End of Reason, and a Humane Soul, is to know and love God: but the Intellect is like clean White Paper without any Character upon it, and cannot perceive but by the Senses, nor work without Bodily Organs, and those must have Life or else they could not have Sense, and Life must have Nourishment: whence there is in the Soul a Nutritive Faculty for Support, Augmentation, and Procreation; then a Sensitive Faculty, being a Power of Perceiving External Objects, for Benefit and Safety of the Animal; next, a Power to retain and preserve the Species or Ideas of what was perceived; and then a Power of offering them to the Intellect, for obtaining a Judgement upon them.  
Pag. 799. The Humane Soul, though it work in the Body, yet it doth not work by Organs of the Body, and therefore its Actions are not common with the Body, applying this particularly to the Intellect: And That, (he says) is endowed with certain Gifts or Impressions, by God, at the Creation of the Soul; that by Help of them, Men may better comprehend all other Things: And that there are such common Innate Notions, Experience doth manifest. Calls these the Sparks and Seeds of Knowledge in Man: But this, he confesses, is rejected by Aristotle, which yet he would make some kind of Argument for Souls being created; and therefore prefers the Platonic and Stoical opinion before that of Aristotle, and therefore will not admit of the Rule of nothingh being in the Intellect, which came not thither throug the Senses, to be absolutely true; but only, that for the most part it is so; though he have repeated and granted this Rule, without Exception, several times before.  
Pag. 800. Says, That for all these Impressions made by God upon Souls, yet the Intellect is still as a White Paper without Writing or Character upon it; and therefore must seek to obtain its Knowledge from without itself; and this it seeks from the Senses, and from God, by his Word and Spirit. How the Intellect should be as fair White Paper, and yet have Characters imprinted upon it, I do not conceive, nor divers other Things late before delivered by our Author.  
Our Author seems to have pursued this Argument concerning the Soul, through all the known Particulars that may be belonging to it, and yet hath not throughly satisfied himself thereupon, and therefore he gins again with it, Pag. 802. and runs descant upon it all over again, unto Pag. 851. repeating and confirming his former Arguments. First he quotes Texts of Scripture, to Pag. 809. and there quotes the Opinion and Consent of the World to his Opinion.  
Pag. 810. He gins with Say of Philosophers, Pythagoras and Plato, who held Pre-existence of Souls, and consequently their Separate Subsistence: then Alcmaeon and Anaxagoras, who held their Spirituality: then the Stoics. Pag. 812. He comes to Aristotle, and says that he had no Will to declare his Opinion concerning the Soul, but did on purpose speak obscurely about it. But yet, (says he) Aristotle did not say it was Material or Mortal. And for Proof of this he quotes 14 Places out of Aristotle's Writings, which was not needful on our Behalf; for that this Assertion was before agreed by us: This reaches to Pag. 820. and there citys Turks, Tartars, Persians, he might have said Mahometans, agreeing to his Tenet; and so other Barbarous Nations. Pag. 821. He comes to Reasons, first upon Moral Congruity, that there must be future Reward and Punishment, which he thinks cannot be, without a Separately-subsisting Soul, and goes on, to 12 Arguments, reaching to Pag. 827. Pag. 828. Says; If the Soul come from Generation, it must be Elementary and Material. Pag. 829. Brings Arguments from the Souls own Actions and Motions. Pag. 830. Adds a 13th Argument to his former 12: and thence to Pag. 834. he makes up his Arguments to 20. And he citys Euseb. Hist. Lib. 6. Cap. 36. where we do find, that in Origin's Time there arose in Arabia, Authors of a Pernicious Doctrine, who taught that Souls died here with their Bodies, and that at the Resurrection they risen again together: and a great Synod was summoned upon that Account, and Origin sent for unto it; and he so discoursed and disputed, that he purged their seduced Minds from this foul Error cited by our Author, Pag. 804. It seems the Opinion was condemned in that Synod by Origin's Assistance, but that also the Thing is not such a Novelty, as (without his Testimony) it might seem to be.  
Pag. 835. Our Author comes to cite and confute Arguments made against his Tenet. 1. We see nothing part at Death of a Body, but a vanishing Breath, nor can perceive, and hardly conceive, what a Soul is, or should be, without a Body. Hence (he says) Men must doubt of God and Spirits. Pag. 837. Arg. 4. The Soul cannot operate without the Body, and therefore doth not so subsist. He says, The Soul Both Understand and Will without the Body, Pag. 838. and the Intellective Memory remains in a Separated Soul, and so Love, Joy, and their like, in an Intellectual Manner, Pag. 839. Arg. 5. In great Weakness of the Body, the Souls Operations are alto feeble. The Sum of his Answer to this, is a Denial of the Thing; and whether true or not, is left to Judgement and Experience. Pag. 840. The Soul parts unwillingly from the Body: this argues, she doth not apprehend the going to a more perfect State, but rather to Corruption or Extinguishment; and Christ would have avoided this Cup; and yet he knew that was his Way to a Resurrection and future Happiness. To this he makes a long Answer, not to be summed in few Words. Pag. 841. Arg. 7. The Soul is troubled with divers Afflictions; but Spirits or Immaterial Substances are not subject to Mortal Perturbations; therefore the Soul is not such a Spirit. He answers: The Body's Contrariety to the Soul is the Soul's great Affliction: and if Angels were so knit to Bodies they would be as much troubled: and in Man this Perturbation is one Effect of Sin. Pag. 843. He compares Dying to the Child's Leaving the Womb, which he fancies the Child is very unwilling to do, just as Men are to die. And he proposes 10 Similitudes in this Supposition, which seem not well grounded nor weighty. Pag. 845. Quotes Texts of Scripture, urged against his Tenet, and answers them; but Three in all. Then he comes to the Opinion, that Souls departed do sleep till the Resurrection, void of all Operation till the Resurrection: and then the Bodies rise from Death, and the Souls from their Lethargy: This Sleep (says our Author) is plain Death, as that of the Body is called Sleep. Pag. 846. He says, Sure it is, good Souls separated, do go into Heaven and enjoy the Vision of God: and the evil do go into Hell: but they are not completely Happy or Unhappy till the Resurrection. But from whence he takes this Rule he shows not, nor offers Proof of it. It is an absurd Thing, and against God's Wisdom, That the Form of any Body should alway subsist separately from that Body: I say, if this be absurd, it is very near of Kin to Absurdity, That it should subsist at all without its Body. It was objected to him, That if Souls went to Heaven at the Death, what need was there then of a Resurrection? He answers, The Form or Soul could not always subsist without the Body. Why not, say I, as well as do so for Hundreds or Thousands of Years? Says he, It would be absurd and against God's Wisdom. I do perceive this Consequence, and he doth not offer to prove it; therefore I think it no more absurd in the one Case than in the other. Pag. 847. Says, The Separation of the Soul and Body is by Violence; and Nullum Violentum est Perpetuum. I say, nor Diuturnum. Cites 1 Cor. 15.19. If there be not a Resurrection, Christians are of all Men most miserable. How can that be, if good Souls go to Heaven at the Death, and there behold the Face of God. He answers; This Saying concerns only the Bodies of Christians, and not their Souls. Their Bodies (says he) would be most miserable. Not more miserable, say I, than the Bodies of other Men, and therefore not of all others the most miserable. He citys Psalm 146.4. When the Breath of Man goeth forth, he shall turn again to his Earth, and that very day all his Thoughts perish. So Psal. 78.39. Man's Spirit as a Wind, passeth away, and comes not again. Pag. 848. He will not allow Spirit in these Places to signify the Soul; but in Places making for him, it must do so: as when Stephen says, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit. Cites Psal. 115 17. and in other Places: The Dead praise not thee, O Lord, nor all they that go down into the Silence: But the Living do it. So, Isa. 38. he answers, Souls after Death do praise God: proved, Rev. Chap. 5. and Chap. 19 and opposes this Trance to the other Texts. Pag. 849. Cites. Job. 17.16. Also in the Grave the Weary are at rest and fear no Oppressor: Therefore bad Souls not punished.  
Pag. 850. He closes his Treatise of the Soul, with a long Definition of it, according to his Mode, and, with all the particular Qualifications which he hath before designed for it. We may, now observe, in short, upon this Author, that he was very much inclined and bend to maintain the Immateriality of the Soul, as a thing without which there could not be a future Reward or Punishment: a Mistake wherein all are involved (or pretend to be involved) who maintaintain his Opinion. We see he hath been very laborious about it, hath read all that he could find written of it, and studied; and delivered to us a Multitude of Arguments about it; and hath showed Learning, Judgement, and Industry, to a high Degree, joined with Integrity, or a good Meaning and Belief that he did well, and bestowed his Pains upon a Subject that deserved them; and that it was a very Needful Truth which he supported: But with what Success he hath done it, must be referred to Judgement, after Perusal of the Answers which have been offered to his Arguments, upon the Differences arising between the Opinions of the Author and the Answerer, upon many Occasions or Particulars: and because we have very much studied and affected Brevity, in both our Observations and Answers, it need not be doubted, but that those who are desirous of a more full Satisfaction upon this Point, will think our Author worthy of their own Perusal concerning this Subject, and many others.  
Franciscus de Oviedo, a Jesuit, wrote a Body of Philosophy, and in it, Of the Soul, Printed in a large Folio, at Lions, Anno 1640. and therein, Fol. 6. N. 17. He joins with others in finding Fault with Aristotle's Definition of the Soul, because he doth not tell us, Quid sit Anima, but Cujus sit. Our Author offers to mend that of Aristotle, by a Definition of his own, viz. The Soul is the Constituent Act, or Moving Power of a Compositum, that is able to exert or exercise Vital Actions. I say, this seems a Difference without a Diversity, or but one pretended: and it may be collected, that a Soul hath no proper Genus, or such Specifical Difference of its own, whereby it can be defined or known; nor that it can be conceived otherwise than as it is a Constituent Part of a Compositum, by the Conjunction of a Soul and a Body. Whence we pretend to infer, That the Soul, in its Nature, is not a Substance subsisting by itself, or in Separation from its Body; nor can be otherwise defined or understood, than by its Reference and Relation to a Body. Both our Definitions call it the Actus Primus of the Compositum, or of an Organical Body: so as we have no Conception of it at all, save by the Relation which it hath to the Body, or to the Man, and without that it is to us unintelligible: and thence, it seems, a Separate Subsistence cannot be Natural to it, or at least to our Conception or Knowledge of it.  
Fol. 8. N. 2. He says, There is no Degree of Reason in Brutes, and but some Degrees of Sense: and in Brutes we find no Degree of Intellect, or Sign of it, but all they do, is by Instinct. To the contrary of this, we have said before, that Beasts do know by single Intellect, and are taught to remember Duty, and deny their Appetites, and obey their Teachers and other Men, in Things which they have learned, and use both Obedience, and a Rational Subtlety in them. He says every Soul is the Act of a Mortal Body; that an Angel is a Simple Complete Substance, but the Soul is an Incomplete Substance, ordained to be totally Compounded with the Body, with which it is united, that by Means of the Material Organs, it may produce Sense and Intelligence in such Bodies as have them. This I take well enough to agree with a Material Soul.  
Fol. 10. N. 15. He says it is objected, The Humane Soul doth so communicate itself to Matter, as that still it keeps its own Subsistence. He answers, This Soul is the very Form, and though it have its Proper Subsistence, yet it doth totally communicate itself to Matter, because its Nature is Essentially united to Matter: and for the Form to communicate with the Matter, is totally to be united to it. He says, Humane Souls are produced by Creation, other Souls by Generation: but the very Being of a Form is its Union with the Subject. Yet, not to depend upon it, Objectors say, the Humane Soul works without any Dependence upon its Subject [or the Bodily Organs] and therefore is not a true Form. He answers, by granting it works so in a State of Separation, but denies it doth so in a State of Union with the Body: and in this, he contradicts our next preceding Author, who will have the Soul work without help of the Body or its Organs, even whilst it is in a State of Union with the Body. And our Author agrees with Aristotle in this, That the Souls not working in a State of Union without the Bodily Organs, is an Evidence that a State of Separation is not Natural to the Soul: For Aristotle puts the Matter upon this Trial, and our Author agrees the Evidence demanded.  
Fol. 11. Nu. 4. Divers have thought the Soul to be Material: as Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, and many of the Stoics: and so Apollinaris of Alexandria, and Tertullian. Nu. 5. Many Old Heretics thought the Soul to be a Spark of the Divinity, or a Particle of God: so Philojudaeus. Fol. 12. Nu. 6. Origen thought the Soul not distinguishable from Angels. Nu. 7. The Luciferians said, It was propagated from the Seed. Nu. 9 Origen taught that Souls were Angels, who after having sinned, were for their Punishment put into Bodies, as into Prisons. Nu. 10. Others said the Soul was in the Body, as Light is in the Air, a Directive Qualification: and this, divers do say, was Aristotle's Opinion. Nu. 16. Cites the Lateran Council, under Leo X. saying, It is as certain that the Soul is Immaterial, as that it is Immortal: and that it is Immortal, is de Fide.  
Fol. 13. Nu. 17. He argues, The Soul as a Natural Form, is not capable of knowing Spiritual Being's, nor or of making Collections, or Universals, or Reflex Discourses; concerning all which, we have before spoken. Nu. 19 Angels know by Intuition; but a Soul only by Apprehension, Composition, Discourse, Perceivance Internal, and the Outward Senses. Nu. 22. The Soul is Form to the Body, therefore it must be produced in Union with it, and cannot naturally be produced in time before the Body.  
Fol. 14. N. 27. The Soul, as Rational, is united with the Body, because it exercises all Acts of Reason in the Brain, upon the Disposition of which, it doth depend, for such Purposes: and if the Organs there do fail, or are obstructed, the Soul cannot act Reasonably, as appears in Distracted Persons, or Furious, or otherwise disordered. Nu. 29. and 30. Cites Cajetan and Ferrara, who do not allow the Soul, as Rational, to be the Natural Form of the Body, or united to it as such; but would have it placed in a Superior Degree to the Body; which our Author doth not allow.  
Fol. 18. N. 7. He argues, a Material fantasy offered to the Intellect, produceth therein a Species impressed upon it, or expressed in it, the Action which is here productive of this Spiritual Species received in the Soul, depends upon the Fancy, which is a Corporeal Thing: Whence a Thing that is Spiritual may depend upon one that is Material.  
Fol. 19 Nu. 11. He denies the Mode of the Union betwixt Soul and Body to be Spiritual. And I say, it seems not Miraculous, but Natural. However, many of our Authors conceive miraculous New Creations and Unions, upon Fruitful Coitions, Lawful or Unlawful. Fol. 20. N. 16. Seems to believe, that in the Union of Soul and Body, there is a Penetration and Mixture of both. Nu. 17. And that a Spiritual Thing may consist of Parts. Nu. 18. Says, The Soul is not compounded of Essential Parts, viz. Matter and Form, Nu. 21. nor of Integral Parts; but is an Indivisible Entity. Fol. 21. Nu. 26. This Soul (is objected) may inform, or be in divers Parts of the Body; therefore it may be in many more Parts; and, though Indivisible, may inform a very great Bulk of Matter. He answers, The Soul is fitted for a Humane Body, and terminated in it, and is neither too great or too little for it. I say this needs Proof, and yet hath none. Fol. 22. Nu. 28. The Soul can inform but one Heart and Head, and such other Parts as are in Connexion with them, or unseparated: but no Proof offered. And what shall be said of one Joint-Body to the Navel, and thence to both Bodies and Heads, of which divers Examples have been. Fol. 24. Nu. 14. Says, The Material Soul, as in Beasts, may be Indivisible into Integral Parts.  
Fol. 25. Nu. 1. Says, Certain it is, that Souls in the Body do act diversely in divers Parts of that Body: it Sees in the Eyes, Hears in the Ears, etc. Fol. 27. N. 19 and they are acted by the Soul, in, and according to the Aptitude and Power of the several Parts and Organs of the Body, and as God hath appointed them to be performed and done. And to this I agree.  
Fol. 28. N. 1. Some hold, that all Souls of one Sort or Kind, are Unequal one to another: Contra: Others say, there can be no Vnequality amongst them: In this must be observed, That to be Equal, is one thing, and to be Alike, is another thing: nor are they the same with Agreeable or Disagreeable. Fol. 35. N. 33. One Man may have more perfect Accidents than another; and so for Operations, by reason of Accidental Advantages or Disadvantages: and so one same Person may be accidentally more or less Perfect at Times. But this proves not an Inequality amongst Souls. N. 34. Not proving a Natural either Inequality or Dissimilitude, he proposes a Prudential one: For, (says he) the Affirming that Judas had a Soul equal to that of Christ or his Mother, would be harsh and imprudent: and therefore we may say, Souls existing, may be both Unlike and Unequal. And even from the Ground laid in Generation, Degrees of Qualification may arise. Fol. 36. N. 1. Each Living Creature hath a Soul, and but one. Fol. 37. N. 7. The Vegetative and Sensitive are formally included in the Rational Soul, for that is the Formal Principle of Humane Life and Sense. And I do agree, them and Reason, to come all from one Principle. Fol. 41. N. 1. Wit can either be separated from Knowledge, or it cannot. [We have said it cannot.] N. 3. He citys an Opinion, from Ariaga, that Life or Living is Real or Intentional; the Real Worldly, must have a Nourishment, as in Plants, Brutes, and Men, the Life Intentional hath Principles of Knowledge and Appetite, comprehending God, Angels, and all that have Life. Whence, says he, Plants live only on the Gross or Real Life: Animals that have Sense, viz. Brutes and Men, live Really and Intentionally; God and Angels, Intentionally: this, says our Author is a feigned Invention.  
Fol. 50. N. 3. Says, The Soul doth concur, both effectually and immediately, in the Exercising of its own Operations. The Soul deserves well or ill, according to the good or ill Will, and the Effects of it: whence it is, the Soul that it free [and not the Will.] Merit and Demerit grows from a Liberty to do, or suffer, or not; and therefore this Liberty belongs immediately and principally not to the Will, but to the Soul: so the Soul in truly free, and hath Power to determine its own Efficiency and Operations; agreeing with what we have before spoken concerning it. N. 5. The Will is Coeca Potentia, and cannot work, but as it is determined by Knowledge; and the Knowing Principle is that which is free formally.  
Fol. 52. N. 7. Says, The Soul hath no Parts, but the whole concurs to every Vital Action in Hand, Head, Feet, etc. This I say, is the inconvenient Result of Framing the Soul to be an Immaterial Substance, and impartible. Hence follows our Author's Assertion, That the whole Soul must be undividably acting in all Parts at once, and wholly in every Part, which to unprejudiced Persons, looks very like unintelligible. N. 11. The Soul is the formally intelligent Principle. Fol. 53. N. 14. He says, The Senses in Man are subjected in Matter, as the proper Subject where it is inherent. That the Soul is not a proper Subject for its Inhesion: for Material Accidents cannot be produced out of a Spiritual Subject. Matter united to a Sensitive Soul, is not therefore Sensitive; nor for being united to a Rational Soul, is it Rational: but the whole Compositum is by Force and Power of its Form, Sensible or Rational. N. 17. And the Material Sensations are united to the Soul, which is the Principium Sentiens, and yet may not be a Recipient of the Sensations. N. 17. For the Soul informs Matter in which it is not inherent, but united to it. N. 19 Though a Form be united to a Subject without being inherent in it: yet no Form can be inherent in a Subject to which it is not united; and therefore Sensation received in Matter and united to the Form, must be likewise united to the Matter.  
Fol. 54. N. 21. Sensations of Brutes are both subjected and united in their Souls: but Sensations of Men are only united to their Souls, [because that is here taken for an Immaterial Spirit, whence Material Agencies cannot arise Productive.]  
Fol. 54. N. 1. It is (says he) a great Question amongst the Learned, Whether the Faculties, such as Nutrition, Generation, Sense, Intellect, be really distinct from the Soul or not? Some say that they are not; and some that they are: Others, that the Vegetative, viz. Nutritive and Generative, are really the same with that sort of Soul; but that the Sentient and Intelligent Faculties are really distinguished from those Souls. N. 3. The Will, if divided from the Soul or Intellect, cannot have Knowledge, and therefore not Freedom of Acting: nor is any thing essentially Subsisting of itself: N. 4. but dependently upon the Intellect or Judgement; and that is most knowng and free, and by that Voluntary Faculty is determined.  
Fol. 56. N. 11. Gins to cite Arguments for proving that the Faculties or Powers are distinct from the Soul, and answers them.  
Fol. 58. N. 1. He raises another Question, viz. granting such Faculties really Identified, or to be really undistinguished from the Soul; Whether then they be not formally distinguished from it? N. 2. He says they first are formally distinguished from one another; and than that every one of them is so distinguished from the Soul, at least inadequate. Fol. 59 N. 9 Questions if there can be an Intellective Faculty without the Voluntary attending it.  
Fol. 65. N. 1. Anatomists do find, that from the outward Organs of the Sense there go Nerves which lead to the Brain, by which the Vital Spirits represent the Images received, unto the common Sense, or inward Faculty, that can discern. Dog's cannot bark without Sensation: thin (in their Sleep) cannot be outward: therefore they do so by Force of their Sense Internal. N. 2. Says, There is in Man a Sensual Appetite, besides his Will: And if so, (says he) there must be also a Knowing Principle or Power to guide it. And this, he says, is the Common or Inward Sense. But to this I do not agree: but say, The Contest doth not seem to be betwixt the Will and the Appetite, but betwixt Reason, and the Affections, and Passions, each endeadeavouring to incline the Judicial Faculty to pass Sentence on their behalf. And the Passions, as Wrath and Fear, do even strive by their Violence, to overpower and compel the Judgement to pass its Sentence on their Side, that the Compositum may obtain a present Quiet, which without giving some Degrees of Satisfaction to those rebellious and potent Contestors, it is not likely to do: But upon a Consent obtained, the Voluntary Power (call it Will or Appetite) is readily subservient to such Agreement of the Judgement, and hath no Power in Nature to resist such a Decree, its Dependence being upon the Judgement, as upon its Natural Guide and Director; without whose Consent, she neither will, or naturally can act: so as there is no need to make the Intellect Guide to the Will, and the Common Sense Guide to the Appetite; but the one Guidance of Judgement will serve them both; or there is, in truth, no real Difference between them. Fol. 65. N. 3. There are divers Acts of the Sense or Senses Internal. 

1. It is Perceptive of the Objects delivered by the Senses; and thence is called the Common Sense.  
2. It conserveses the Species so delivered, Revolvendo, and is called the Imagination.  
3. It can know them and distinguish them one from another, and thence is called the Affirmative Power.  
4. It can compound and join these Species together, with what Coherence or Incoherence it pleases, or as may happen; and this is called the fantasy.  
5. It records and remembers such Objects, and conserveses Things apprehended for Future Times and Uses; and this is called the Memory.   Doubt may be, whether a Power or Faculty shall be constituted for Performance of every one of these Offices, or that one Common Power shall be said to perform them all? Our Author defends, There is but one Common Internal Sense acting in all these Performances, (if in truth they be distinct or several) they all may proceed from one Power, and it is not reasonable to multiply Powers more than is needful, especially for Men of his Judgement; which was, That there were no Powers in the Compositum, which were really distinct from the Soul: And in all this I am at Agreement with him, viz. That there are no Powers or Faculties so really distinct from the Soul, as that they can act to Effect, without the Excitation and Assistance of the Soul. Hence the Soul moves the Hand, Foot, Heart, and all Members; sees in the Eyes, hears in the Ears, expresses in the Voice, perceives in the Common Sense, compares and compounds in the fantasy, records in the Memory, reasons in the Intellect, and judges in his Supreme Seat or Power: it desires in the Affections, excites and acts in the Passions; moving all to the intended Preservation, Propagation, Good, and Advantage of each of those Faculties, to which they most properly belong; intending withal to the Good of the whole Compositum. Hence the Affections and Passions do derive from the Soul, as well as the Reason and Intellect, and one of them is not naturally subjected unto the other: but each of them hath its Faculties and Powers, formally distinguished from one another, but all identified in the Soul, so as they act freely and without Dependence of one upon another. Thus the Affections and Passions (as Products of the same Soul, with the Reason and Intellect) are naturally at like Freedom, and not the Former under Cohersion of the Latter. The Seat of Judgement we place Supreme in the Microcosm, endowing that Power with Knowledge, and Discretion, to the Measure of that Compositum wherein it is. This, we say, sways in the Government, which is Monarchical and Legal; and the Judgement cannot be corrupted or beaded to act otherwise than appears to be for the most Safety, Good, and Benefit of the Compositum, all things (then offered or appearing) considered: without Consent of this, the Will or Voluntary Power cannot move, or proceed to Execution; and yet the Judgement often doth consent, with great Measures of Reluctancy, pressed thereunto by the Furies and Force of Passions, viz. Wrath and Fear; or by the extreme troublesome and vexatious Importunities of Affections, viz. Ambition, Covetousness, and Lust, divided into that of Nutrition and Generation: and these do so far, ofttimes, importune and press the Judgement for its Consent to their Satisfaction, as that upon the overlong Delay, or utter rejecting of their Suit by the Judgement, or their final Opposition from outward Obstacles: they are able to drive the whole Compositum along with them into Frenzy, Despair, Diseases, and other ruinous Calamities, as we have before quoted in the Case of Judas; in which the Judgement consented to a Violent Death, rather than bear the Stings and Torments of his Passions. But this abates or takes away the Wonder, upon the judgement's Consenting with Reluctancy, to Execution of those Actions which itself doth not approve. Thence we often do what we would not, and do not what both Reason and Judgement desire to do. And though S. Paul call this Sin in us, I take leave to think it is Nature in us, and that it was in Adam before Sin, and was the Original of Sin in him and his Wife as well as in us. For when the Woman saw that the Fruit was Good for Food, and Pleasant to the Eyes: here was her Lust tempted and prevailed upon. And that it was to be desired, to make one Wise: here was her Ambition tempted and prevailed upon. And these prevailed upon her Judgement, which consenting, the Voluntary Power moved the Hands to take, and Chaps to grind and devour, that which (from S. Paul's Authority) Christians have ever since believed to be the Root of Original Sin, and bad Inclinations in Men: although by this they seem to grow from a higher Original, viz. Nature in Man; in which we do not place the Affections or Passions under the Regiment of Reason Naturally, but take them for Powers , excited and acted by the Soul, and set under Direction and Government of the Judgement, upon which the Voluntary Power is Attendant. And we say (with this our former Author) That the Souls Operations are assisted or hindered, by the Fitness of Matter and Aptness of Organs in the Body: If the Matter be of good Temper, and the Organs apt and fit, the Soul's Operations are more Vigorous and Effectual: If the Matter or Organs be indisposed, the Soul's Operations are more infirm and feeble; and if the Instruments be corrupted or spoiled, the Soul cannot operate at all by them: as, if the Eyes be out, the Soul cannot see; if the Memory be spoiled, it cannot remember; if the Intellect be crazed, the Soul cannot reason; if the Seat of Judgement be corrupted, the Government fails, and all goes out of Order. Also the Judgement may be more Able and Firm in some than in others, according as the Materials are tempered, and the Organs apt and fit: And Degrees of Perfection or Imperfection come upon it by good or ill Education, Custom, Company, and other Accidents, to which that, and all other Faculties, Powers, Members; and Organs of the Soul and Body are subject. And they will be better and worse in the same Person at divers Times, and upon several Accidents and Occasions; all which, seem to evince a Mutual Dependence of the Soul and Body, one upon another. The Body without the Soul is but a Dead Body, void of Motion, Sense, and Life; and the Soul without a Body, hath no Place where it can lay its Head, or set down its Foot: the Body is its Natural Receptacle, and there only it seems to be at Home, enlivening the whole Body, inciting each Member, Organ and Faculty, to the Performance of those Duties and Operations, for which (by God and Nature) they were intended and appointed; and acting in them, and by them, all that hath been before particularly mentioned. All this (we say) is performed by that Flame of Life kindled from Heaven in the Bodies, Blood, and Humours of Adam and his Wife, and by them propagated to all Future Generations: this Flame passing in and with the Blood throughout, and into every small Part and Member of the Body, may (it seems) be easily conceived to act in all the Members and Organs of the Body, and the Vital, Sensitive, and Intellectual Faculties thereunto joined, and in, and by its Organs performed; working, per My, and per Tout, all that is acted in the Body, and in every Part and Parcel of the same; because this Soul is spread and diffused over all. But how things should in this Manner be performed by an Immaterial and Indivisible Spirit or Spark of a Soul, that its whole should be, and act, in every Member and Organ of the Body, and yet be but one for, and in, the whole Body; this is so far from me conceivingly to believe, as that I rather incline to think it an unintelligible Thing. As we have said, the Soul acts in every Organ of the Body, and the Inward as well as the Outward. So (it seems) it cannot act to its special Purposes, but in those Places and Organs, to those Purposes specially appointed by Nature. It Sees in the Eyes, and Hears in the Ears; but it cannot See or Hear without them, nor by any other Member or Instrument: It cannot perceive but in the Common Sense, nor frame ideas but in the fantasy, nor remember but in and by the Organ of Memory, nor understand but in the Intellect, nor determine but in the Judgement, viz. cannot act, but in and by its proper Organs of the Body, and as they are by Nature and Primary Creation appointed to be thereunto qualified, attendant and sufficient, each for their proper Performances: so as, although the Soul do enliven and quicken the whole Body, and act, in, and by every Part and Member of it, yet without the Body (it seems) it cannot subsist, nor in the Body can act but by the Bodily Organs, and according to their Aptitude and Powers, and the Strength or Weakness which it finds in the Bodily Organs. And this seems to evince (with some Clearness) the strict and necessary Union of the Body and Soul; and that they cannot act, or even subsist, but in and by the Dependence which] they have one upon the other.  
Fol. 66. Nu. 8. Our Author says, The Seat of Common Sense is in the Brain, as Galen hath showed. Fol. 67. Nu. 3. He says, There is but one Internal Knowing Power in Man, and therefore but one Appetite in him. N. 4. And this (he says) resides in the Head: against the Opinions both of Aristotle and Galen, who place it in the Heart. Fol. 72. N. 2. Says, The Distinction of the Intellect into Active, and Passive, seems not real, but only formal; the same Faculty appearing Active, in order to some things, and Passive, in order to other things. Fol. 73. N. 3. It's Agency lies, 

1. In taking a View the Ideas in the fantasy.  
2. In putting them into an Intelligible Frame.  
3. In collecting a Result from them.   Fol. 75. N. 2. Those who do not distinguish betwixt the Soul and the Intellect, do say [as they must needs] that the Intellect resides in the whole Body: but (says he) the Intellective Faculty is not in the whole Body: for the Soul hath not Sense in the Bones, nor doth it understand in the Foot: and it is by Organs that the Soul acts the Intellect, and in it. And this (says he) proves the Dependence which the Soul hath upon Matter, for the Exercising of its Operations; and therefore the Soul unites to itself the Intellect in that Part of the Body in which it finds the proper Dispositions which are suitable and expedient, for the Exercise of that Power or Faculty: and therefore that Faculty is in the Brain, and not in the whole Body. Some Folio's raises and answers Objections concerning the Intellect.  
Fol. 82. N. 1. Divers Philosophers (he says) and most Divines, do say, That there is an Intellective Memory; Others say, Memory doth properly belong to the Common Sense only, and to the Intellect but improperly. Others say, It doth properly belong to the Intellect: for that the Act of Memory doth more properly belong to the Powers of the Intellect than to those of the Common Sense. N. 2. But for himself (who doth not realy distinguish betwixt the Faculties and the Soul itself) he doth likewise not distinguish between the Intellect and the Memory, any otherwise than is distinguished amongst the Senses, Fancy, Will, and like other Faculties, not really but formally. Fol. 85. N. 16. The Soul whilst united to the Body, uses the Intellect in Perception of Objects dependently upon the fantasy and the External Senses, and perceiver more clearly Things which have come from the Senses to the fantasy, than those which are framed by the fantasy itself.  
Fol. 86. N. 1. Many hold, That the Intellect doth first apprehend Vniversals, and then Singulars; and as many hold, That Singulars are first understood, and then Vniversals. Fol. 92. N. 9 The Intellect and Will, in Creatures existing, are radically but the same things, and differ only in Name and Opinion. And yet some Things are understood, in order to be desired or avoided, and require Execution to be followed by the Will accordingly: other Things may be also understood, which neither excite nor incline the Will, one Way or another; so pass in the Intellect, without Need or Use of a Voluntary Faculty.  
Fol. 103. N. 1. Acts of the Intellect, are Apprehension, Judgement, and Discourse: by Apprehension the Object is only perceived and known; Judgement is a Sentence passed upon the Object, grounded upon such Knowledge. Fol. 142. N. 1. It is (says he) a certain Rule, That the Act of the Will depends upon the Knowledge [or Judgement.] But it is doubted whether this Dependence be only for its Illumination, or both for that, and its Efficacy or Operations. And he says it is only directed by the Judgement, to which it hath a Moral Application, not determined by it. N. 2. The Will depends upon Knowledge as its Guide, for that itself is but a Blind Power: but the Concurrence of the Knowing Powers, seems not of Necessity for its Operations. N. 5. And yet the Will is specificated from the Sorts of Knowledge whereby it is guided. N. 1. Nihil Volitum quin Praecognitum; the Will follows not an Unknown Object, but is directed by Knowledge; and grows from the same Intrinsic Principle with Knowledge: Whence the Will cannot naturally be otherwise but dependent upon Knowledge [or Judgement.] And this (he says) is an undoubted Rule. Fol. 144. N. 4. It is morally impossible for a sober Person, and not surprised, willingly to fall into Ways or Means of Execution, fir doing or obtaining any Thing, without a Judgement preceding upon that Thing, both concerning the Beneficialness, Fitness, and Feasibleness of the Thing, which is intended to be effected. Fol. 145. N. 5. There is no other Act of the Intellect required, for setting the Will on work, besides the Apprehension or Judgement: N. 7. whose Empire he is not willing to extend so far, as to take away all Freedom from the Will. And I do not see how that Conclusion is, or can be avoided, viz. That the Freedom often applied to the Will, is Originally and Really in the Judgement, upon whose Guidance and Government the Will is Dependent. Fol. 146. N. 7. This is apparently to take away all Freedom from the Will, and to put the Reins (say I) into the right Hands and Power. N. 8. There is no Act of Empire in the Intellect, other than the Judgement. Yet he will not grant to the Thomists, That the Empire of the Judgement, is of such Nature as to take away all Liberty from the Will; but says it is rather a Guide to the Will, than a Predeterminer of it. And we do not pretend to a Violence of Power or Empire in the Judgement, but to a Natural or Easy Power, where the Sway and Guidance is such, as it determines according to Nature, without imposing upon the Will any Restraint or Constraint, obeyed freely by the Will, to which it leaves all the Liberty and Freedom which is Natural to it.  
Fol. 155. N. 1. He says, Acts of Natural Power or Command, though they are Efficacious in their Nature, yet they do not infringe the Liberty of the Powers acted by them, or that act under them. This he quotes as a more late Opinion. Fol. 156. N. 2. Cites those who do not agree to this. N. 3. He disputes this Point. Fol. 174. N. 23. Says, The Will depends upon Knowledge, both in its Executions and Omissions. Fol. 195. N. 4. The Will intending to Execute, cannot compare the Mediums by which it shall work, make its own Choice of them: but the Intellect must compare the Mediums, by which Execution may be made: And then it seems doubted, whether still the Will may choose which Medium it will use in the Execution: Although that chosen, seems to the Intellect less accommodate to the Execution intended. Cites many Opinions, that it cannot so choose; and many other Opinions, N. 5. that it can. Fol. 197. N. 14. Cites Tho. Aquinas, saying, The whole Reason and Power of Election lies in the Intellect or Judgement; because that can only distinguish the Reason of things, what is fit and likely, and what not; also which is more or less fit and apt: and therefore the Will is determined to the Mediums of Execution as well as to the Acts of it. And to this I agree, intending that in both Cases it obeys the Judgement, and is determined by it.  
Fol. 200. N. 1. ad 6. Asserts a Liberty in Mankind to act freely, he passes it under the Term of Free Will, which we continue to express by Name of a Liberty of Judgement; intending both Judgement and Will to be Powers or Acts of the Intellect: but the Will (of itself without Knowledge) depends for its Direction upon the Resolution of the Intellect, which is the Judgement: All are acted by the same Spirit, and therefore they cannot contest or disagree with one another. And (it seems) the Links are thus knit and fastened; the Soul in the Head incites or stirs, assists and acts in the Organs there placed, fitted and intended by God and Nature, for the Exercise and Performance of Perceiving, Reasoning, Judging, and Willing, and all other Acts, to a Humane Intellect belonging. The Activity proceeds from the Soul; but the Degrees of Perfection in Acting, depends much upon the Matter of the Animal Spirits, and fit Frame of the Organs found in that Region: for if they be faulty, the Soul cannot amend them, nor act otherwise than according to their Capacities, and to a greater or less Perfection accordingly. We place the Judgement in the Supreme Degree of Government, and may term it the Result of the Rational Faculty, upon which the Inclinations and Will are dependent, and by which (it seems) they are naturally led and guided. This Judgement is more or less perfect, as the Animal Spirits are more or less pure and rectified, and the Materials fine and plentiful, and the Organs sound and sit: and is capable of being advanced by outward or accidental Additions, as by Education, Learning, Examples, Experience, and Practice; and may be disadvantaged by the ill Temper of the Spirits, or Paucity or Superfluity of them; by a Discomposure or Distemper in Matter, or by Unsoundness or Unfitness of any of the Natural and Necessary Organs to such Operations belonging: also from outward Distempers and Diseases, from ill Accidents, as Education, Examples, Company, Practice, and like Unhappinesses. If the Soul were an Immaterial Spark or Spirit, it would seem more strange that it should be affected, helped, or hindered by outward Accidents, as Infancy, Diseases, Old Age, Learning, Example, Company, and the like; or that it should be opposed and overruled in Government by Affections and Passions, which are believed to proceed from Flesh and Blood. If the Intellect and all its Offices and Powers proceed from the Soul, acting in the Regions and Organs appointed and proper for the Production of all its Performances; and the Affections and Passions proceed from the same Soul, acting in the Animal Parts or Inferior Regions, and in the Organs appointed for the Production of such Faculties: if both Sorts, viz. Intellect and Affections, be actually proceeding from the same Soul, and equally radicated in it, this Wonder must needs be the less, That the continual Contest between them should be maintained in the Condition which we find it is, sometimes one Sort prevailing, and sometimes the other, under the Natural Actings of a Soul which is equally productive of them both, and doth not or cannot favour one of them more than the other: and they seem planted in Man by Nature (which is the Appointment of God) as Opposite Powers, swayed by the Judgement, after a Paternal Regiment, sometimes yielding to the Affections, sometimes pacifying them, and sometimes crucifying them, and to such Degrees as to sacrifice the Body, its Life and Members, to the rigorous Resolution of the Judgement, which Men have used to call a Wilfulness; but it seems of a Will guided and ruled by the Judgement: and yet at its full and natural Freedom, naturally determined by the Result of the Judgement. Our Author says, Freedom is a Power, which having ready all Requisites for Acting, may act, or not act, at its Pleasure. Now, upon weighing this Definition, I do not find in Man such a Freedom (by way of Regiment) as will be thereto agreeable: The Judgement is indeed at a full natural Freedom, but it is not natural to the Judgement to act in Matters of Moment without a Consult of Reason in such Cases; and than it cannot go from that which appears best for the Compositum, all things (then appearing) considered. It is true, that in Trivial Matters, which do not need or deserve a Consideration, the Act may be so free as to be very incertain, and to pass rather under the Name of Chance than Choice.   

Fol. 205. N. 2. Some say, the Liberum Arbitrium is a Moving Power distinct both from the Intellect and the Will. Fol. 207. N. 12. He says, It is a Power of Acting freely, and able to determine itself. This (we say) agrees fully to the Judgement, and gives all Natural Liberty (by that Medium) to the Will.  
Fol. 235. N. 8. The Brutes are capable of Habits and Actions that are not Natural to them, and yet may be acquired and made easy to them by Exercise. N. 9 The Cogitative Power may be cogently set at work by the Empire of Reason [or Judgement] and be determined by it. [The same which I have said for the Will. Fol. 257. N. 1. Substances so Simple, as that they do not consist of Matter and Form, as Heaven, Angels, a Humane Soul, and the Materia Prima, because they cannot be produced by any Creature, they have no Rules for their Specification, or Things of a Specifical Nature with them.  
Fol. 262. N. 2. Says, The Soul must needs be Immortal, for that else there could not be future Rewards and Punishments, the great Inducements to a Holy and Civil Life; and granting the Soul to be Immortal, the Substance of it in a Separate State is Consequential. This last I grant, but not the first. Fol. 259. N. 5. Cites the Lateran Council held by Leo X. where all are condemned who say the Soul is Mortal: and it is commanded to all Masters in Philosophy, That they answer and solve all Arguments which may be alleged against this Tenet of the Immortality. N. 7. He says, Let the Learned search into the Reasons and Grounds of this Immortality, which all confess to be taken principally from God's Special Providence, for Rewarding the Good, and Punishing the Wicked, in a Future State. N. 8. Goes on upon the same Ground. N. 9 Mentions only, that some do reason for it, from Man's Capacity to apprehend Eternal Things, and to desire and expect them; but doth not insist upon such Arguments, or so much as say that they are firm. N. 1. He discourses concerning Powers and Acts of Souls Separated, with little Assurance, and says, They have an Innate Inclination and Appetite, again to inform, and to be united to their proper Matter.  
Upon this our Author, we may observe, a Love and Inclination to Truth, somewhat constrained by the Duties of his Obedience and Profession, and the Place of his Abode and Conversation: but in Things not forbidden him, he seems congruous enough to the Natural Truth and Reason of Things.  
I met with a Pamphlet printed 1645. in English, entitled, The Prerogative of Man, or, The Souls Immortality: the Author not named, but learned; full of Quotations concernining our present Point. Page 9 He says, The Old and Great Philosophers have agreed a Separate Subsistence of Souls. And this I do not deny. He citys Cicero, Permanere Animos arbitramur. But what they then are, and whither they go, we are yet to learn. Pag. 13. Cites Marcus Aurelius Emperor: As Bodies dying are turned to Earth and Dust by Degrees, so Souls carried into the Air, are liquified, and conjoined to the great Soul of the World, which (says the Author) is nothing but God. Cites Tacitus, In Vita Agric. If to Good Spirits there may be any Place remaining, if Great Souls extinguish not with their Bodies; may'st thou rest in Peace! Cites Macrobius, who after reciting sundry Opinions touching the Nature of the Soul, concludes, That the Opinion, that it was Incorporeal and Immortal, had prevailed over all the other Opinions. And this we do easily grant. Page 10. He grants Aristotle did not declare himself in this Point, but thinks he forbore so to do, because he knew not how to dispose of such Souls after Death. Page 14. He says, It imports little, that Dicoearchus, Aristoxenus, Pherecrates, Tertullian, Sextus Empericus, and some other Learned Men, have thought the Soul to be Mortal: for that some Philosophers have held very odd Opinions. (He says) The Term of Soul is taken for an Exhalation of the Purer Blood; sometimes for a Ruling Spiritual Intellect; and sometimes for the Immaterial Immortal Part of Man. Page 15. He says, Increase or Diminution of Knowledge grow from the Difference, Advantage or Alteration in the Organs: and thence a Man understands better than a Child, a Learned than an Illiterate, and a Diligent better than a Negligent Person. And this we agree to, with this Addition, That the Soul or Flame of Life hath its Vicissitudes as well as the Body and its Organs. Page 16. He says, Some Acts of the Soul are Independent of the Body, and wholly Inorganical, as divers Learned Authors have showed. This shows like an open Blot in his Tables: for this Thing is the most precise Point in Issue: Prove this, and carry the Cause. And, that in this Point he should shuffle us off, without offer of one Quotation, or one Reason, in Proof of his Assertion, infers, he could find nothing to say in it that was satisfactory to his own Reason, or likely to satisfy other Inquisitive People. P. 17. Says, An Immortal Soul cannot be generated: And therefore it is not dependent upon Matter or the Being of a Compositum: And this would be true, if the Thing were so, viz. that Man's Souls were Immaterial: but that still wants Proof, and so the Argument proceeds, ex non concessis. He citys an Argument against his Opinion, viz. The Anatomies of Men and Beasts show their Bodies to be alike; and their Senses, Affections, Memories, Fantasies, are found to be alike; and they have each an Intellect and Common Sense, some more and some less Perfect: whence then can such Difference arise between them in Nature, that the Souls of Beasts must be Mortal, and those of Men Immortal? And this carries the Sense of our former and main Objection; and being put by our Author upon himself, it seems he should make a Substantial Answer to it: but all the Answer he gives is this, viz. We do collect from the Operations of the Souls of Men and of Beasts, That there is not only a Gradual, but an Essential Difference between them, and that their being like doth not prove them the same. The last we grant: and for what he will collect, it may be what he pleases, but need be no Rule to others. But here is no Reason shown why or wherefore he makes such a Collection, nor how that must needs, or can be so done. P. 18. He offers, as some Proof the Difference between the Faculties of men's Sensual Affections and their Reasons. Yet he doth not say a Man hath two Souls, and that Affections proceed from one of them and Reason from the other; but pretends an Essential Difference between the Faculties of the same Soul; which seems absurd in Nature: and he might with as good Reason say, that Love and Hatred in Man should infer a Specifical Difference in his Soul.  
Pag. 25. He affirms, Generation cannot produce a Humane Soul: but argues ex non concessis, supposing it Immaterial; and than what he says is true. But it begs the Point in Question; and which will not be granted him. P. 26. Says Reason cannot be generated, no more can Sense: But the Organs of both may be so, and the Powers and Spirits that actuate them. I, but says he, Reason and Judgement can, and do (at times) act Inorganically. This hath been said before; but neither then, nor now, was, nor is proved, or offered to be so, and therefore is not believed.  
Pag. 26. Says, Generation is not performed by Acts of Wit or Understanding, but those of Vegetation and Sense; and a Soul doth not generate a Soul: still supposing a Non supponendum, that a Soul is Immaterial, and separately subsisting: but taking it for a Material Spirit, the producing it by generation is easy and natural, Pag. 27. It follows (says he) that because a Man doth not generate with his Mind, but his Body, therefore his Body is Corruptible, and his Mind or Soul is Immortal. It seems this needs no Answer. Pag. 28. says, The Learned Sennertus (a famous Physician) was moved by certain Reasons which he could not overcome, to think the Soul is generated, and that the Seed itself is animated with a Humane Soul [as in the Case of the Beasts] but this Physician and Justus Lipsius, called before the Divines, and told, the Consent of Divines was to the contrary; they declared their Resolutions to obey the Order of the Divines, as was the most safe for them to do. He names on this Page 21 Authors who maintain the Separate State and Immortality of Souls; and I confess, I never met yet with any Writer who did not profess and maintain that Opinion; and therefore do easily grant that this Opinion is undoubtedly Catholic, in the plain and full Sense of that Word; qualified as the Broad Way and the Wide Gate, which is the general Passage appointed for the World; not intending it to be of that dangerous consequence or effect: but to show that the general acceptation of an Opinion, is not an undoubted Security against its possibility of being an Error: and that is delivered 1 Esdras 4.38. is still effectual, viz. That Truth endureth, and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore. P. 3. He confesses, That at the Resurrection a complete recompense may be made both to Soul and Body, though they both should be extinguished for a time. P. 34. Cites Aureolus, The Souls Immortality is to be held as a common conception of the Mind, evident in itself; though to give a reason for it, is no easy thing [is it possible to give one that is convincing or sufficient.] P. 35. says, Generation procreates the Man, or the Compositum, but not all his parts: viz. not his Soul. I say then, neither the Compositum, nor the Man, whose Chief Constituent Part, the Soul is. Well (says he) but if all the parts must be generated, whether are these parts simple or compound Entities? If simple, they cannot be generated, but must be created: If compound, then if they must be generated, the parts also of which those parts are made, must in like sort be generated; and so in infinitum, or till we come to some parts which are simple, and so ingenerable: Whence (say he) it follows, that no parts at all, Corporeal, nor Spiritual, neither in Man nor Beasts, do receive their Being by Generation. To this (I say) the absurdity of this Consequence, shows his Argument to be a Fallacy: And we do not demand more than what he cannot deny, and therefore grants, That the Whole Man is generated, and so for the Beasts: and they are a Compound of Parts, both Essential and Integral; and if either of the Essential Parts be wanting, viz. Soul or Body, the Man or Beast is not generated, nor can be; and the Charge given, Gen. 1.28. Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the Earth, should be utterly void, and of no effect at all. P. 36. He insists, A Man (producing another like himself, by only composing and uniting his two Essential parts, viz. Soul and Body) makes that a Man which before was none; and doth truly generate, though he no more produce the Soul, than he doth the Matter of which the Body is made. This I grant, no more the one than the other; and he doth not deny the one to be generated as much as the other. Thus we are at Agreement, viz. Something is generated, a Man is generated, that cannot be without a Soul; and the Soul as much generated as the Matter of the Body: but that it is Radically in the Seed, as both in Plants and Beasts, the Vegetative and Sensitive Soul, as well as Body. He nor any other, do show when, nor how, nor even why, or whence the Superior, or more Intense Degree of Rationality in a Soul, or a Compositum, should so alter the Nature or Power of Generation, and the very Intent and Design of it, as to make it Ineffectual for the Production of a Man, and the Continuance of that Species of Creatures in the World, contrary to the Design of Generation; which Aristotle hath observed to be Ordained for Immortalising the several Species of Creatures in the World; and which God took care to continue by a Miraculous Provision for them in the Ark: The Species were intended to be continued by a Natural Means, viz. that of Generation; and Men have by that Means been continued from the Creation till this day naturally; and without needless and even Frivolous Multiplication of Miracles; by the Creation of new Souls every hour, and perhaps every moment, viz. upon every Fruitful Coition, though never so unlawful, wicked, or bestial. Pag. 37. He says, That which is not wholly Mortal, doth not wholly Generate; and therefore neither Man nor Beast doth generate wholly, yet a Beast more wholly than a Man: My Answer to this is, That I do not wholly understand him; and for as much as I do understand, I am wholly of another opinion: But he insists, you say, whole Man is generated by Man; therefore all his Parts both Soul and Body: And he grants, Whole Man is generated by Man, and that both Soul and Body are made Parts of Man by Generation, and so Man generates his like: But that Soul and Body have their Entities or Being's given them by Procreation; he denies, not only as false, but as absurd. Pag. 38. Well, but how doth he prove this? Even by an Example. He says, A Whole Horse is generated, both Matter and Form, and yet his Matter did not receive any Being by Generation. I Answer, There was in the Seed a Vigorous Principle of Vegetation, Impregnated with a Nutrative Power, Effective of Augmentation, till the Creature arrive to its full Perfection of Parts, and after of Degrees; the same which we evidently perceive in Plants and Trees: whose vast Bowls and Branches Rise, and Grow from a very small Principle in their Seeds; and thus the Matter of the Horse did receive a Commencement or Principle of Being from Generation, though not a present Perfection of Being, which future Nutriment will bring it unto: The Form of the Horse, He grants, is as truly, and as much generated as his Matter, and both go on and Increase together, to their full Perfection of Age, and of Degrees: Now says he, Why should the Form be more necessarily Generated then the Matter; I say so too, and therefore that it is not more necessary, but both alike; and that he says true, viz. that the Form is not more generated than the Matter, the Soul than the Body; but that the Principles of them both are in the Seed. Which David tells us day by day are Form out of that, which at the first was none of them: It seems they take Life together, and so Increase and Grow, they rejoice and suffer together, are grieved with Pains, and Sickness, and are so released and extinguished by Death, for any thing that our Writer hath said to the contrary. Pag. 39 He says, That Men do Receive their Souls by force of Generation, although they be not generated; and so might the Soul of Christ be the Seed of the Woman, although not Procreated from her: These are his Affirmative Say, but hath more wit then to offer at Proof of either of them, and others more, then to believe him upon his bare word. He says, That before Infusion of the Soul, there is Life in the Embryo by sole Virtue of the Seed; and that it is a Vegetation holding upon the Part of the Matter only, and hath in it no Performance of the Office of a Soul; and yet it fashions an Organical Body, to make it fit for the Reception of a Soul. To which I answer, There is nothing of this either proved or granted. P. 40. He tells us what Dr. Sennertus says in his Books, viz. he holds it probable, That the Soul proceeds from Procreation, and that from the first Instant of the Conception the Seed is animated with a Rational Soul. Also, That nothing created is Immortal by a Principle of Nature, but only by the Free Will and Gift of God. Also, That by Force of God's Direction, and the Words, Increase and Multiply, there was given Power to every Soul to Multiply another. To the first of these Positions, our Writer says, That, by the Doctor's Leave, it infers the Soul's Mortality: for whatsoever is generated is Corruptible, and must go out as it came in. And this is easily granted him. To the next, he says, It is neither true, likely, nor Philosophical; for by this, a Fly may be as Immortal as a Soul. And this is also granted him.  
As to the Seeds having in it the Principle of producing a Reasonable Soul, the Writer demands, P. 41. what becomes of all those Souls contained in misspent Seed, or ineffectual Coitions. Innumerable Souls (says he) must so be lost and perish. He might as well have said Bodies also; for there is no Soul till there be a Body: they are both equally in the Seed, and but potentially: But they rise and grow together out of the same Root and Power, and together; and if their Principle, the Seed perish, nothing is lost but itself, any more than Men can say, when a Swine eats Acorns, that he hath eaten up so many Oaks. Then he demands, Why doth the Soul departed from the Body, but because it leaves to be Organical? I may as well ask, Why the Body departs from the Soul? And we do not find that either doth departed from the other, until Death them departed, and that they cannot help it; Durum Telum Necessitas: and that is the Common or only Cause why the Soul and Body are parted, or rather do cease to be. And it seems not likely, that when they are parted, there remains any more a Soul than a Body. The Man is departed, the Body is turned to a Carcase, and what becomes of the Soul, no Man naturally can tell, unless it extinguish with the Vital Flame, and Spirits of the Body. Thus many Thousands Years are passed in the World's Age, and yet Men are but as wise as Solomon left us, in that Point; and as Men had been from the Beginning to his Time. For if former Times had known it, he could not have doubted as he did. Aristotle, who lived about 700 Years after Solomon, and doubted, and searched in this Point, as that Wise King did; yet he could not resolve, but hath left Posterity under the same Doubts that Solomon did. Who knows the Difference, or that there is a real Difference between the Natures or Souls of Men and Beasts, in Point of their Separate Subsistences after Death. Our Writer tells us, It is the Father's Office to provide a Body for his Child's Soul; which he performs by his Deputy Seed. For my part, I should rather have thought this to have been (more properly) the Office of the Mother. But he goes on, and tells us how this is Naturally Performed. The Seed (says he) hath a Natural Strength and Cunning to frame a Body for the Child's Soul, done by the Form of the Seed, without any Animation of it with a Soul: and so doth an Akron by Virtue derived from the Tree upon which it grew, and the Forming Virtue is the Seeds own Form, excited and assisted by the breeding and connatural Warmth of the Maternal Body, and works as the Seed of the Cock impregnates the Egg with a Chicken: And yet (says he) is it probable, that in so small a Seed as comes from the Cock, the Soul or Essence of a Cock should be resident. Why not (say I) as well as the Vegetative Soul, and Essence of an Oak, in an Akron? And to what he last before affirmed, That the Father provides a Body for his Child's Soul, he offers no Proof: and (for aught appears) he may as truly prepare a Soul for the Body, as a Body for the Soul. He says, The Forming Virtue is the Seeds own Form. I say, the Quickening Virtue is as properly in the Seed, as the Forming Virtue; and nothing can Naturally enliven the Body but the Soul, and therefore both Soul and Body proceed Equally and Naturally from the Generation and Efficiency of the Parents, without any need of New Creation of Souls in such Cases. P. 42. Our Writer agrees the Effect of Sennertus' Assertion, upon the Words Increase and Multiply; but not by deriving the Younger Souls from the Elder; but by the doing of some Act, out of which such Forms should connaturally flow. As Material Forms (he says) they grow by Resultancy; but the Immaterial by Creation, from a higher Cause, which Creation is to follow, and is due, by a Regular Ordination and Existence of Nature; and so they may be truly generated, viz. given and communicated, though not made, by the Force of Generation. (I say) This Act done, out of which the Humane Form should connaturally flow, or follow, must be the Natural Coition of the Man and the Woman: and the Form of the Child being (by this Tenet) Immaterial, must be created as a Thing due by regular Ordination, and Exigence of Nature, to such Fact of Coition. I demand from what Original he hath copied out the Regular Ordination here delivered? He quotes no Authority in the Point, nor offers any Reason for the maintaining it. Therefore we take it for a bold Romance, invented by himself for Supporting his Tenet of the Souls Immateriality: the Dissenters from which, have no need of this Conceit, agreeing, That the Essential Parts, Constituent of the Man, viz. his Body and Soul, are generated, and take Growth together, till they attain to their Perfection of Degrees, and then decline, decay, and perish accordingly, maintaining a strict Union and Copartnership both in Weal and in Woe, till Death dissolve and finish their Association. Men thus persuaded, have no need of our Friend's invented Regular Ordination, or Exigence of Nature, but may reasonably fix upon it the Terms of a bare and a needless Fiction.  
P. 42. He tells us that Sennertus argues, If the Parents do not give the Form, viz. the Soul, than they do not generate the Man: but they do generate the Man, and therefore they do give the Soul also; and unless they do communicate the Soul, it cannot be truly said, that Like doth generate its Like.  
Our Friend answers, The Parents do give and communicate both Form and Matter, but without producing either of them: certain it is, they give the Matter, and as certain that they do not produce it: and the same may be said for the Form, viz. the Soul; the Parents give it, but they do not produce it. This Answer seems clearly Concessive, that the Parents generate the Soul as much and as effectually as they do the Body; and more than that is not required by Sennertus or any other.  
But our Friend insists, Learn (says he) the Effects of Generation from those of our Dissolution: our Death doth dissolve the Union of our Parts, but it doth not destroy those Parts, but only the Man: whence, as by Generation we become Men, by Dying we cease to be so. This also grants, that all which perishes in Death was generated by the Parents. The Body had a Time to get Life and grow; and so it hath to putrify and consume; and the Soul began with Life in the Embryo, and in the Body, and it seems to extinguish in Death of the Body, naturally; or we desire to be yet scientifically instructed, from Reason or Nature, what it is, and where it is, or at least, that it is, and hath a Separate State and Subsistence of its own?  
P. 43. He recites another Argument of Sennertus, viz. If the Seed be not animated from the first Instant, and then the Progenitor happen to die before the Time of Animation, it might be truly said, that a Dead Man did Genenerate. He answers, This Case is like one who puts Sparks of Fire amongst Fuel, then leaves it, and the Fire doth not take hold and burn till a good while after: yet this Man is said to have made the Fire. And we do agree the Similitude to be apt enough in this Case; and that it seems to import, The Seed is as much the Efficient of the whole Child, as the Sparks put into the Fuel are of the Fire: more than which, hath not been demanded. Our Friend says, he hath chosen to contest this Point against Sennertus, because that Doctor was a Man of great Worth and Substance: (And says) he magnified his Wisdom greatly, in Submitting his Opinion to the Divines; worthy to be imitated herein by all other Men: But that before hath been delivered, doth sufficiently evince, that there is a great Latitude and Difference of Opinions in the World.  
Concerning this Writer of An. 1645. we may observe, he had the Advantage of the Wren in the Fable, who sat upon the Back of the Eagle, and was carried by her into the Clouds, and coming to the full Extent of the eagle's Height, she put herself to the small Stretches of her own Wings, and mounted above the Eagle by so much. He had perceived the great Incongruities of continually, newly created Souls, and intended at mollifying them, by assigning them a Regular Ordination, as a Duty upon the Exigence of Nature. This Course appears healing and helpful, Posito, that the Soul be Immaterial; but it is no Manner of Proof that the Soul is so. And if it be not so, but only a Material Spirit, then is there no need of this Invention; and than it is (as hath been said) not only an Invention, but a needless one. And yet it testifies the Writer (amongst his other Endeavours) to have been a Person of Wit, Learning, and Consideration.  
All the Authors, presently in our Possession or Reach concerning the Soul, have before been Cited and Considered, viz. Four Foreign, and Four of our own Later, and Domestic Writers. And concerning the Materiality, or Immateriality of Humane Souls, we may observe (from that they have spoken) that there are Two particular Queries or Questions; the Determination of which, will advance much towards the knowledge of the Souls Nature and Qualifications: If One of them be proved or granted, thence the Immateriality of the Soul may be strongly inferred; and if the other be proved or granted, thence may he as strongly inferred the Souls Materiality. The First of these is held in the Affirmative by divers of our Authors, viz. More, Digby, Zanchius, and the Pamphlet of 1645, who do all expressly, and often affirm, That the Soul, in Life-time of the Man, doth at some times, and in some cases, act of, and by herself, without Aid or Ministry of the Body, or its Organs, or any Members or Powers of it: If this Assertion have been proved, or can, or shall be proved: We grant, from the Conclusion, a very strong Inference may be drawn for the Souls Immateriality; agreeing the Truth of Aristotle's Assertion, in his Treatise of the Soul, Chap. 1. That if the Soul have any Operation or Affection peculiar to herself, and wherein she can effectually Act, without Use, or Aid of the Body, or the Members, Organs, or Spirits of it; than it is very likely that she may also be capable of a Subsistence, in a State of Separation from the Body. But (says he) If the thing be not so, and Men fail in Proof of such a peculiar in the Soul, certainly she cannot subsist in a State of Separation from the Body. Our Authors, for Proof of such a Peculiar in the Soul, do allege, That the Soul can conceive Spiritual Being's and Universals; Second, or Abstracted Notions, Logical, Mathematical, and Metaphysical Being's, and Things; which Matter is not very capable of, nor that it can be Assistant to the Formation, or Contemplation of such Conceptions: In answer to which, may be opposed, the same Author's Assertions, That whilst the Soul is in the Body, she cannot act without the Animal or Vital Spirits of the Body; and before hath been observed, That the Soul cannot see but by the Eyes, nor remember but in the Memory. And these Organs and Faculties may be lost by Accident, and yet the Soul remain perfect still; but without Sight or Memory, for want of the Bodily Organs: and if the Intellect be crazed, the Soul cannot understand but according to such Capacities as remain in the Organ: and it seems the like may be said for all other Faculties of the Soul, and Organs of the Body; which infers the Soul cannot operate, without the Spirits and Organs of the Body. As to the Conceiving Spiritual Being's and Things, it hath been said such Knowledge hath been derived from Revelations made to the Senses of some Men, and their Testimony of them to other Men: and for the Conceptions of Universals and Abstracted Notions, it seems the Soul in the Intellect, working Comparate and Abstractive, by using the Joint Powers of Intellect, Fantasy, and Memory; and by composing and comparing what is found in them, may well enough be able (by abstracting them from Conceptions of Matter and Sense;) and sorting them first, then ranking and comparing them, the Soul (by Joint Use of these Organs) may naturally be able to raise Generals out of Particulars, and from Generals ascend to Universals; and so likewise raise abstracted Notions from the often Repetition and comparing Things first made known to them by the Senses. We do not then agree that any of our Authors have proved, that the Soul hath any Operation or Affection so peculiar to herself, as that the Body hath no Participation thereof with her; or that she doth, or can act any thing, or produce any Effect without the Spirits, Members and Organs of the Body; which (it seems) cannot be excluded from participating with the Soul in all its Affections, Operations, and Motions, no more than the Soul can be unconcerned in the Health, Accidents, Rejoices, or Sufferings of the Body.  
We come now to the other Question or Query, which, if it be determined in the Affirmative, will strongly infer the Souls Materiality, viz. Concerning the Mode of the Generation of Mankind. If the Parents do generate a Child like unto themselves, consisting of the same Matter and Form, or such a like Soul and Body as themselves are: if the Child's Soul and Body be generated by the Parents, as well the one as the other: if the Thing have been proved, or can, and shall be proved effectually so to be done; a very strong Inference and Argument may thence be drawn, That the Soul is of the same Nature and Constitution with the Body, Materially and Naturally Extinguishable by Dissolution of the Compositum, Man, whose Constituent Parts they were. For, it seems, Generation and Corruption do mutuo se ponere & tollere. What grows from Generation hath a Natural Tendency to Growth, Strength, Decay, and Dissolution. If therefore one Man doth generate another like himself, and so the Soul as well as the Body, it seems likely that what comes from Generation is under a clear Capacity of Corruption, if it be not under a Necessity of Terminating by that Means. We are in a great Measure convinced that the Parents do procreate Children like themselves, both their Souls and Bodies, and that therefore both those Parts have in Nature and Reason a Capacity, or a Tendency, if not a sort of Necessity to terminate in Corruption. So as we do not perceive that Arguments drawn from Reason or Nature, and hitherto produced, are strong enough to evince, That the Humane Soul is Immaterial, or Self-subsistent, after the Dissolution of the Person, and Corruption of that Body to which it was knit, and which (whilst Life lasted) it did inform, direct and actuate. And herewith shall be concluded the Disquisition intended, concerning the Soul of Man, founded upon the Grounds of Nature and Reason, and tried by the Arguments extracted from them.  
We proceed from them to the Second Sort of Arguments offered for Proof of a Soul's Separate Subsistence, drawn (by our Opposers) from the Ground of Moral Congruity. There must be (say they) a Reward and Punishment future to this Life; of this, the Corrupted Carcase is by no Possibility in Nature capable: and therefore the Soul must needs have a Separate Subsistence, that thereby Future Rewards and Punishments may have a proper Subject to work upon. And this sort of Argument is propounded and handled by Baxter in his Quoted Book, at P. 34. reaching thence to 40. and by Dr. More, in his 18th Chap. of the quoted Book, Pag. 314. to the End of that Chapter: and by Sir K. Digby, in the 10th Paragraph of his 9th Chapter. And all our Authors have mainly insisted upon this Argument in Places before quoted. And it is done by them upon very good and unanswerable Reason; such as the Wit of Man (grounding itself only upon Nature and Reason) is not able to make sufficient Reply unto or to overcome. This we look upon as the Potent and Prevalent Argument whereby the whole World, and in all the Ages of it hitherto, hath been drawn, and even forced to consent to the Opinion of a Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul; and to invent Elysium's, Fortunate Islands, and Paradises, for the Good; also Tartarums, and Barathrums, and Gehenna's, for the Wicked Souls departed. The Silly Americans have not wanted their more crude Conceits, viz. That in Places beyond their Mountains, the Good Souls Sing and Dance amongst Groves and Fountains: and the Wicked ones are relegated to Denns and Caves, and other Dark and Disconsolate Places, suiting with their Demerits. Thus, from the Necessity of Future Recompenses, the Opinion of the Souls Separate Subsistence hath been spread and received over the Face of the whole Earth, far and wide, without stint in place, or stay in time. All Nations and all Religions, have accepted of this Opinion, and it hath hitherto prevailed amongst them: and thus may their Argument be framed,  
It is Morally Congruous amongst all Men, That Good Men and Actions, should be rewarded and recompensed; and that Bad Men and Actions, should be punished.  
But Men find (and see it falls out very often) that Rewards and Punishments are not so distributed in this World.  
Ergo, Moral Congruity requires, and that proves, there must be a future State, wherein Men and their Actions shall be Rewarded, and Recompensed according to their Deserts.  
This. Men cannot reasonably refuse to grant, and then, ex concessis, it may be further argued,  
Man is Constituted but of Two Essential Parts, viz. his Body and his Soul.  
His Body dying, Corrupts and Turns to Dust, and so becomes incapable of Reward or Punishment in a future State,  
Ergo, If the Man and his Actions be Rewarded or Punished in a future State, he must receive the Effects of such Reward or Punishment in that part of him, which is reputed capable, and may by possibility have a separate Subsistence after the Man's Death, viz. in his Soul; and that this may be done: The Soul must have a separate Subsistence after Death of the Body.  
And the same holds true Negative: There is nothing of Man to be Rewarded or Punished in a future State, but his Body or his Soul: But the Body in a State of Dissolution, is not, capable of Reward or Punishment; and if the Soul extinguish in Death, then is there nothing of the Man lest capable of receiving Reward or Punishment, in a State future to this Life.  
Ergo, (That the Rules of Moral Congruity may stand, and be maintained in the World) the Soul of Man must needs enjoy a separate Subsistence, capable of Reward and Punishment after Death, and the Dissolution, and Corruption of his Body.  
This Argument appears irrefragable, not to be confuted, or effectually answered by the uttermost strength of Man's Reason: And therefore it is nothing strange, that it hath prevailed with Jews, and Gentiles, Mahometans, and Christians; inducing them generally to belive a Separate State of Humane Souls after Death; and it is still used by all our Authors, for maintenance of the same Opinion at this time.  
We still agree that the force of this Argument, cannot (by the bare Wit or Reason of Mankind) be Answered and Refuted, but yet we say, that the same may be fully so Answered, by Deductions out of the Divine Revelations, and Oracles of God; and that by Arguments thence to be taken, both Negative and Positive; and though we do mainly rely upon our Positive Argument on this behalf, yet it seems not requisite to pass over in Silence, the Negative Argument, which may be drawn out of our Holy Oracles for that purpose; arguing therefore Negatively, we say,  
That God is not bound, hath not bound Himself, nor can, or will be bound by any other Rule or Power, to act according to the Rules or Axioms of Moral Congruity amongst Men; but that he ever was, still is, and ever will be at full Liberty, freely to act with Men, and upon them, according to the tenor of his own good Will and Pleasure, and without giving Account of any of his Matters, without being any way obliged to the Observance of the Rules of Moral Congruity, which appear most consonant to the Reason and Sense of Mankind.  

1. The whole Book of Job seems to be an Argument upon this Point of Moral Congruity. The Friends maintain, That even in this World, God rewards and punishes according to men's Deserts; and thence infer that Job was guilty of some great, though secret wickedness, and most likely of Hypocrisy; or else God would not, could not, have punished him in so severe and signal a manner. Job replies, Granting this to be the General Course of God's Proceed amongst Men: But (says he) God is so far from being tied, or tying himself to such a Constant Course of Proceeding; that the Exceptions out of that Rule are very numerous, and so many; as that Man cannot perceive the Love or Hatred of God to Men, by any Course of his Proceeding towards them in this World: For visible it is, that Wicked Men do often prosper in this World, and leave their great Substance for their Babes and Children: Also many Good People live and die in mean and afflicted Condition. Therefore (says Job) you may say and think what you please of me: but you do notably wrong both me and my Maker, if you will needy condemn me of Wickedness, because I am a Sufferer, and confine him to act no otherwise but by the Rules of Moral Congruity, which ought to be used amongst Men. And God after tells the Friends, That they had not spoken of him the thing that was right, as his Servant Job had done. They were mistaken in their Opinion that God was any ways tied, or would tie himself to such Rules as are Morally Congruous, and aught to be observed amongst Men.  
2. Another Example in this Kind we may find in S. John's Gospel, when our Lord came to cure the Man that was born blind: his Disciples demanded of him, Whether did this Man sin, or his Parents, that he was born blind? Imagining (like Job's Friends) that there must needs be some notable Sin in the Case or else God would not have sent so remarkable a Judgement amongst them: But our Lord tells them, That neither had the Man sinned, nor his Parents, in an extraordinary Manner: Nor was that Blindness chief sent for their Punishment, but that Christ might obtain Glory by his Cure; a thing which they could never have found out, if it had not been revealed to them by a Supernatural Means, no more than Job and his Friends could have found out the Truth of his Case if the same had not been revealed.  
3. Another Example in the like Kind may be, The Housholder who sent Labourers into his Vineyard, some early in the Morning, and others still later, even to the last Hour of the Day, and in the end gave then Wages all alike: those who had laboured all day grumbled at this sort of Distribution, whereby those who came at the last Hour were made equal in Reward to those who had born the Burden and Heat of the Day. What the Master replied was true, there was no Wrong done to the First Comers, for that they had their stipulated Wages: But yet there was a great Partiality and Favour shown to the Last Comers; and the making them Equal to those who had born the Burden and Heat of the Day, was not according to the Rules of Congruity amongst Men: for those would either have abated something upon the Last Labourers, or have added something to the Wages of them who had born the Burden and Heat of the Day; and the Master had, or gave no other Reason of what he did, but his Will.  
4. Alike Example we find upon distribution of the Talents: Ten were given to one, Five to another, and One to another: when that One was taken from him, it was not given to another that had none, nor to him who had Five, but to him who had the Ten Talents, that he might still have more Abundance. Our Proverb calls this Greasing a Fat Sow in the Breech, and seems a Fact much removed from the Common Rules of Congruity amongst Men. The Four Examples, or Instances before quoted, extend only to the several Particular Cases whereunto they are applied: but a General Case may thereunto be added and derived from Scripture, concerning all Mankind, in our highest Concern, viz. the Salvation or Damnation of us all.  
5. Then we attempt, consider what S. Paul said to the Romans, Chap. 9.22. What if God, willing to show his Wrath, and to make his Power known, endured with much Long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction? This What if God did do so? seems to import, that (in Paul's Opinion) God did do so, and that thence should be derived the Cause or the Occasion of some Vessels of Wrath amongst Men, fitted to Destruction. We will not yet put it to the Question, how Congruous this Course of Proceeding by God is to the Rules of Morality amongst Men, but will first thereunto add a farther Degree of Difficulty, viz. that of casting, not some Men, or a great Number of Men, into this deplorable Condition, but the casting the greatest Part of Mankind by many Degrees, into the miserable Estate of Eternal Punishment, remediless and endless. We therefore propose it as our Question, How this Proceeding of God towards Men can be reconciled and made to agree with the allowed Rules of Justice and Goodness amongst Men? For they seem to direct, That if some Men must perish for the Showing of God's Wrath, and making his Power to be known; that yet the Number so perishing should have been but small, and that much the greater Number should have been made Partakers of God's great Bounty and Goodness: Whereas it is declared to us by our Lord and Master, That Wide is the Gate and Broad is the Way that lead to Destruction, and many there be that go in thereat: but Straight is the Gate, and Narrow is the Way that lead to Life, and few there be that find it. And this Truth is confirmed to us by our own Experience: For we read of the Epidemical Wickedness of the World in former Times, before and since the Flood; and we see in our own Times the vast Number of Gentiles, or Heathen-Idolaters, and the Mahometans, whom we condemn: also they Popish Idolaters, Schismatics, and Dissenters: and amongst the most Reformed or Refined, the very great Number of Evil Practisers and Evil Livers; enough to convince all Men, that our Lord's Declaration concerning the same is Veritable, and free from all Degrees of Exception. We take then the Case concerning, the Salvation and Damnation of Mankind to be thus far clear: that the greatest Part (by far) do go in the Broad Way, and pass through the Wide Gate, and but a few in Comparison do find out and walk in the Narrow Way, and so pass through the Straight Gate. And upon it we demand to have God's Proceed upon this Point reconciled and made coherent with the Justice, and especially the Goodness of God? How is it coherent to Rules of Justice and Goodness amongst Men, that God by his Providence should so act in, and dispose of, Second Causes, as that the Eternal Destruction of vastly the greater Number of Humane Souls should finally fall out and follow thereupon; and that (according to his Will) the hugely greater Part of Men, Bodies and Souls, should finally fall into Everlasting Torments, to make God's Proceed in this Point coherent to the Rules of Justice and Goodness amongst Men, is the Thing in demand, and which would pass for a great Degree of Happiness to see well, and solidly performed.   
But this, some quick Men will soon say (and perhaps think) may be very easily done, by saying, that this Course of Proceeding was not of God's making, but came upon Mankind by Accident, viz. by the Disobedience and Voluntary Sin of our First Parents. That was the Cause and Original of all these Sins and Evils upon Man. But to this Answer may be replied, That by Revelation we know, God was conversant with our First Parents in the Garden; and if that had not been told us, we know from Nature, and Reason, and other Revelations, that God fills Heaven and Earth, and is Omnipresent: he was therefore in Paradise at that Time, and knew when the Devil went about to possess himself of the Serpent, a Fact which he could have hindered by saying nay; he knew the Devil's Design in it, and could have prevented its Execution, or could have supported our Parents against the Force of Satan's Temptations: but it was not his Will to use any of these or any other Preventions of that Calamitiy; but the Thing was done, the Devils Design succeeded, and our Parents sinned, all according tot he Will, Providence and Appointment of God, and according to our old and approved Rule of Morality, Malum qui potest & non prohibet, jubet; He who can hinder, especially easily hinder, Evil from being done, and will not, doth not hinder it, is guilty of the Crime, as well, if not as much, as he that acts it: and we desire God may be fairly brought off from having acted incoherently to this our Approved Rule in Morality. Evident it is, he knew of all that was done, and knew what would follow: he could easily have prevented all, or any Part of this, if he had pleased; but he did not, would not do it. Whence, it seems clearly inferable, it was God's Will that all things should fall out as they did, that our Parents should sin, and their Posterities should be infected, and be Sinners, and be Sufferers, except some (in comparison) few whom it would please God to call out from the vast Number of People intended to be cast into Hell Fire. I demand how these Proceed of God are coherent, or can be made coherent to Rules of Justice and Goodness amongst Men; and if no Man, be able sufficiently to perform this Postulatum? I see not what should hinder Men to conclude, from this Proceeding, That God doth not tie himself, nor will be tied by others, to act according to the Rules of Moral Congruity passing amongst Men. Whence there is not a Necessity of framing a Self-subsisting Soul in Man, capable of future Rewards and Punishments; for that God may order Things in what other manner he pleases, without being any ways tied to observe the Rules of Morality accepted amongst Men, or to proceed in Satisfaction of their Expectations. And this shall be the Conclusion of our Negative Argument, before the total Departure from which, it seems fit to reflect upon a Sting left in the Expression; That Men are not able to justify the Proceeding of God, concerning the exceeding Multitude of the Damned, in comparison of the Saved; nor to reconcile that sort of Acting, to the Common Rules of Justice and Goodness. It appeals a Thing so difficult as we think Reason too weak an Instrument for the Performance of it; and that no sufficient Revelation hath yet been made unto Men, upon which they may ground any clear Justification of the same, in a fully intelligible Manner, but that this may be said thereupon with very great Assurance; That God is essentially Justice and Goodness, and certain it is, he cannot act against his own Essence; and therefore all that God doth, is agreeable to Justice and Goodness in respect to him and to his Manner of Acting: And that Men are not able to demonstrate that Truth in this Point, proceeds from our own Ignorance and Infirmity: but if by God's farther Revelation concerning such things in this Life, or in a future State after this Life, Men do come to understand the true State of Affairs concerning this Question, they need have no Doubt but that God's Proceed with Men will then appear full of Goodness, Justice, and Mercy, since in Nature and Truth the Thing cannot possibly be otherwise.  
We now proceed to our Positive Proof, That for the due and proper Application of Rewards and Punishments future to this Life, there is no Necessity, or any Need at all, to introduce or constitute the Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul: For, that there is a Resurrection of the Dead openly declared, as appointed by God to that very Purpose and Intent; that both Bodies and Souls may be sure of receiving Future Rewards and Punishments, according to their Works and Farms of Living in this World; a Thing which the Ancient Jews and Gentiles could never imagine; nor could it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive that such a thing might be, unless the same had been revealed from Heaven, and so well and fully asserted and testified, as there is no Room left for Doubt or Infidelity concerning the same.  
But before we proceed to the full Proof of this Point, some Observations concerning the Resurrection shall be propounded, fit for People to take into their Considerations.  
1. That it is a Thing as clearly asserted in Scripture as any other Article of the Christian Religion whatsoever: and hath as full and concurrent Evidence for the Proof and Certainty of it, as that Christ Jesus came to save Sinners; and we have the same Grounds to believe the one as well as the other: and in this Assurance and Certainty the Resurrection doth far transcend the Opinion of the Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul, which is not dogmatically asserted by any one Text of Scripture, nor doctinally taught in it; but is supported only by a Collection, upon Inferences, from some Texts which mention the Soul or Spirit of Man, without Design to teach concerning it.  
2. We may observe, that the Retribution expected to be made at the Resurrection, will be both more complete, and formal, than what Men conceive to be in the Procedure concerning a Separately Subsisting Soul. We read, God would not execute upon Sodom without a full Examination of the Matter; and so there shall be in the Resurrection: All shall stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ, and the Books shall be opened, that of Conscience, and that of Life. That of Conscience hath enough Evidence to condemn the whole World, but those whose Names are found written in the Book of Life; and those only shall escape by special Privilege, or Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. And as the Proceeding will be more Formal, so the Retribution will be more Complete, and made to both the Essential Parts of Man, his Soul and his Body; which, as they have Jointly and Inseparately acted in this Life, so shall they Rejoice or Mourn at the Resurrection, after the Sentence of a Last Judgement passed upon them.  
3. We may observe, That Death in the New Testament, is frequently called and compared to a Sleep, and that the most sound and profound; and in such a Sleep, viz. a sound Sleep, whatsoever time passes over the Sleeper's head, he hath no perceivance of, if it be two, ten, or twenty hours, the length or shortness of the passing time, doth not at all appear to the Sleeper, but at his waking he rises, as if he had been but newly fallen asleep. Man's Death is such a profound Sleep, and his Resurrection such a Waking. If during that Sleep, there go over the Dead man's head, Months or Years, to an Hundred, or a Thousand, this is no way perceivable by the Dead Person; but when he rises, it will be but as if he had newly fallen asleep. We read that a Thousand Years with God are but as one Day, nor are they in truth so much: And in our present Case, we may say, that a Thousand Years going over such a Sleeper's head, are but as one Day to him, or are rather less; viz, not so much to the Sleeper, as one Day to a Man that is Active in the World: for that the Dead man is not at all affected with the time which passeth over him: but when the Last Trumpet shall sound, the Dead World shall awake, as if they had then but newly fallen asleep; ready to obey the Summons, of Rise ye Dead, and come to Judgement. Whence, although the time betwixt Death and Judgement, appear upon a sudden Conception to be long or overlong, yet upon a better Search it will be found of very small importance, either in respect to God or Man.  
And notice (it seems) may be taken, that it would look like a great impropriety, to term Death a Sleep; if it were true, that after Death, the better part of the Man, viz. his Soul, continued Waking and alive; and at a greater Liberty and Freedom of Action, than ever it enjoyed during its Conjunction with the Body.  
4. We may observe, That the same which dies, riseth; and as the Soul is principal in Man, so Man shall be more the same at his rising in respect of his Soul, then of his Body: for his Body shall be but of the same kind; as Wheat comes of Wheat, and Barley of Barley: but when Providence hath so form the Body, and kindled in it the Flame of Life, by breathing into him the Breath of Life, to be derived only from Heaven, his Humane Powers and Faculties, viz. his Senses and Common Sense, his Fantasy, Intellect, and Judgement; his Affections and Passions, his Knowledge and Memory, shall be altogether the same that they were when he died: and as much the same as they are at a Man's waking again after a sound and long Sleep taken; and the person rising, shall be more the same, than an Old Man is the same person that he was when he was Young. The same Person, Soul and Body, that died, shall be revived, and rise again, as one who falls asleep, wakens and returns to the former Powers, Affections, and Actions of his Life: But if the Soul were in a Separate Being and State of Activity, during all that time of the Separation, how could it be said to obtain a Resurrection; or be conceived to desire a Reunion with that Body, which before was but as a Cage or Prison to it: And it seems such a Soul should rather fear and resist such a Reunion with its former Body, then rejoice at it, or be contented with it.  
5. We may observe, That betwixt the Death and Resurrection of Man, no alteration of his Condition can be expected or hoped for; but as the Tree falls, so it must lie: and as Death leaves us, so Judgement shall find us. The Body is returned to the Dust from whence it was taken, and if the Flame of Life and Activity, first derived from God, and sine propagated by Generation, be by Death extinguished, there remains nothing for an altering Power naturally to work upon. Solomon tells us, There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the Grave; but all is rest and peace there. And so says Job, There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. So Chap. 3.11. Oh that I had died from the Womb! I should then have been as though I had not been. Solomon, again, As a Man comes out of his Mother's Womb, so shall he return, to go as he came, and shall take nothing with him. And so for the Resurrection, Men shall rise as they lay down; without natural or appearing Possibility of any Alteration.  
We proceed now to the Proof of what we have before asserted, viz. That the Resurrection is an Article or Point of the Christian Religion, as clearly taught and asserted, as well evidenced and attested, and as fully and certainly to be believed, as any other Point or Article of the Christian Religion whatsoever. And for this, our Evidence shall begin from the Old Testament. There, Exod. 3.6. God is styled, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and from that Style the Resurrection is proved by our Lord: but we must agree, that the Proof which it makes, rises more from the Authority of him who quoted it as a Proof, than in the Evidence of the Words themselves: For God might reasonably be so styled, from the great Favour which he had showed to those Persons, and his Covenant and Promises made with them, and to them. But the Sadduces refused to admit of any other Scriptures save Moses his Writings: And to prove the Resurrection out of those Writings, our Lord made choice of this Text; and from his Authority the same must be admitted amongst Christians to be a good Proof of our Future Resurrection from the Dead: And as Ordinary Readers could hardly have drawn a good Proof out of that Text, so another Proof of the Resurrection appears not, till we come to the Book of Job, and there Chap. 19.25. he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the later day upon the earth; and that my person shall be destroyed: yet that after this I shall see God in my flesh; and I shall see him with mine own eyes. Here is a clear Testimony of the Resurrection, if this Book may be admitted for Historical, and acquitted from the misprision of being only Parabolical: It seems to me rather to be Historical, and one of Moses his Writings, in the Forty Years time of his sojourning with Jethro, in the very part of Arabia where the Land of Us is described. The Fact might be famous in that Time and Place, and the Revelation made of the Causes whence that Trial began, so as it might deserve to be recorded by a worthy Pen to all Posterities: and we find Job ranked by the Prophet with Noah and Daniel: and James 5.11. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen what end his afflictions had. Whence is seems the more likely that this Book is a true Relation and History, and not a bare Invention or Parable. Our next Proof is Psal. 16.11. Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy holy one to see corruption. And this is quoted by St. Peter, Acts 2.27. as an Evidence of Christ's Resurrection, and so visibly it is. And from Christ's Resurrection, Paul infers a general Resurrection, so as immediately this is taken for a Proof of the Resurrection of the Dead generally. Eccles. 11. Solomon bids the young Man, Walk in the ways of his heart, and says, though he live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many; and know that in the end God will bring thee into Judgement. 12.14. For God will bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil. It may be paraphrased, Young Man, thou mayest at thy liking and peril, follow the ways that please thee; but remember that there will come days of darkness, many such days; after the end of which thou shalt be brought into Judgement before God for all things done in thy life time: for God hath appointed to bring every work into Judgement, whether the same be good or evil. Thus paraphrased, this Text seems to be a likely Proof of the Resurrection of the Dead. So Isa. 26.19. Thy dead men shall live, with my dead body shall they arise. This Text sounds in the words of it, like a strong Proof of a Resurrection; but upon consideration of the Context, both before and after, no intent of treating concerning that Subject appearing, we shall only propound the Text as an Expression favouring that Opinion. So Ezek. 37. his Vision of the Dry Bones rising into an exceeding great Army, we pass for a Parable, and as an Illustration, rather than a Proof of the Resurrection. Our last Text for Legal Proof is out of Daniel, Chap. 7.9. He beheld till the Thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit: like a clear and plain Description of the Last Judgement: and yet by the Context both before and after, it seems pertinent properly to the Times of our Lords first coming. Chap. 12.2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, and others to a like punishment. Here if the word many might be changed for all, or be accounted to intent all; this Text would be a full Proof of the Last Resurrection and Judgement: Upon which Daniel is told, ver. 13. Go thou thy way, till the end be, for thou shalt rest [viz. in death] and stand in the lot at the end of the days; viz. at the Last Day, or the Day of the General Resurrection.  
These are the Texts which we find in the Old Testament evincing the General Resurrection of the Dead, somewhat dark and mystical; the only clear Text being that of Job, and that put under the suspect or prejudice of being Parabolical; and so no undoubted Proof of the thing for which it was alleged. Those of Exod. and the Psalms, are more authorized by their being quoted in the New Testament, then by their own proper Intrinsic Light: And those of Solomon and Daniel, may have some reasonable Exceptions against them: Whence our Point of the Resurrection may be concluded to have been not very conceivable, or with any firmness believed, before the Work of our Redemption was perfected. The Apostles questioned among themselves, What the Resurrection from the Dead should mean? and 2 Tim. 1.19. Paul says, Christ brought life and immortality to light, through the Gospel; intending not a Separate Subsistence of the Soul, for that had been accepted and believed, by Jews and Gentiles, from a great Antiquity: by Jews from Saul's time, and by the Greeks from the times of Orpheus and Pythagoras: but Christ brought that life and immortality to light, which springs from the Doctrine of the Resurrection, and the State thereunto subsequent: and that we say is so clearly delivered in the New Testament, as there seems to be no possibility left of Doubting concerning the same. And to those Proofs out of the New Testament, are we now arrived.  
Upon a Survey of those Proofs, we make choice to begin with St. Paul's, 1 Cor. 15. as that which most opens the whole State of the Case concerning the Resurrection; there that Apostle says, It is as true that there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead, as it is certain that Christ was raised; and if this be not true, and the Resurrection consequent: then our Preaching is vain, and your Faith is also vain: we are found false Witnesses, and ye are yet in your sins: and they who are Dead in Christ are perished: [this cannot stand with a Separate Subsistence of Souls] if we have hope in Christ only in this World, we are the most miserable amongst Men [without notice taken of the Separate State of a Soul] but now Christ is risen, and they that are Christ's, shall rise at his coming: If the Dead rise not, why are others baptised for them; and why do we put ourselves in jeopardy every hour: [but in hope of such a Resurrection] but the Trumpet shall sound, and the Dead shall be raised incorruptible: and those who are then alive, shall be changed in a moment of time: therefore continue steadfast, unmoveable; abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord: but it shall be recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just. We take this Text to prove the Certainty of a Resurrection, and the Necessity of it; for that without it, the whole Profession and Practice of Christian Religion is vain; and all our labour in the Lord, would be lost: without mention or hint in all this, that there is a Separate State of the Soul, wherein it is capable of Future Rewards or Punishments: but the whole stress of Future Recompenses, is laid here, upon the only Faith and Expectation of a Resurrection.  
We shall now begin to cite our Proofs in order, as they rise in other Books of the New Testament. Mat. 10.15. It shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of Judgement, then for that City. There must be a Day of Judgement, and consequently a Resurrection, Chap. 12. Men shall give account for every idle word at the Day of Judgement. Chap. 13.39. The harvest is the end of the World, the Reapers are the Angels. Ver. 49. The Angels shall sever the Wicked from among the Just, at the end of the World. Chap. 16.27. The Son of Man shall come in glory, and then shall he reward every man according to his Works. Chap. 19.28. Ye who have followed me, when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his glory, shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Chap. 22.31. citys Exod. 3.6. for proof of the Resurrection, against the Sadduces. Chap. 24.30. Christ's Coming with the Clouds of Heaven, and gathering his Elect together. Chap. 25.31. Is a large Description of the Last Judgement, and that all Nations shall be gathered before his Seat of Judgement.  
Mark 8.13. Those who are ashamed of Christ, he will be ashamed of them when he comes in glory with his holy Angels. Chap. 13.26. Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory; and he shall send his angels, and gather his elect from all parts of heaven and earth.  
Luke 21.27. Then shall men see Christ come in a cloud, with power and great glory; and then their redemption draweth nigh. Chap. 22.30. Ye shall eat and drink at my table, in my Kingdom. Ver. 69. Christ shall sit on the right hand of the power of God. Chap. 24.51. Christ was parted from them, and carried up into a heaven. And Acts 1.11. This same Jesus shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.  
John 5.25. The dead shall hear Christ's voice, and they that hear shall live. Ver. 28. All that are in the graves, shall hear his voice. Chap. 6.44. He that comer to me, I will raise him up at the last day [without mention of a Soul in Separation.] Chap. 11.23. Jesus to Martha, Thy brother shall rise again; she replies, I know he shall in the resurrection, at the last day: Jesus says, He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Chap. 12.48. He that receives me not, my words shall judge him at the last day [not mentioning, or supposing any intermediate Judgement.]  
Acts 3.21. Heaven must receive Christ until the time of the restitution of all things foretold by the prophets; [and so it seems must earth and the grave, receive all other people.] Chap. 4.2. The Jews were grieved that the Apostles preached through Jesus the Resurrection of the dead. Chap. 17.18. Paul preached to the Athenians Jesus and the Resurrection. Chap. 23.8. The Sadduces say there is no Resurrection, Angel, nor Spirit, but the Pharisees confess both [seems confess all these; but still no mention of a Separated Soul.] Chap. 24.14. Paul believed as the Jews also allowed, that there should be a Resurrection of the Dead, both of the Just and Unjust.  
Rom. 14.8. Whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore or die, we are the Lords. So Ver. 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. Ver. 10. We shall all stand before the Judgement seat of Christ.  
2 Cor. 5.10. We must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether good or bad: thus knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, from that Argument, to a holy life.  
Philip. 3.10. To know the power of Christ's Resurrection, and by any means to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead. Ver. 20. and 21. We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, from heaven; who shall change our vile body, and make it like unto his glorious body.  
Colos. 3.4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. [Seems not before then.]  
1. Thess. 3.13. Be found in holiness, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints. [If so we die, we shall so be found.] Chap. 4.14. If we believe that Jesus died, and rose again; even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. Ver. 15. And we [who live at the time] shall not prevent them which are asleep. Ver. 16. But the dead in Christ shall rise first. Chap. 5.10. Christ died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him: [viz. at his Coming.]  
2 Thess. 1.7. God will give to you who are troubled, rest with us; when our Lord shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming fire. Chap. 2.8. The Man of Sin shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. Chap. 1.10. Wait for Christ's coming from heaven: [as for the time of the Resurrection.] 1 Thess. 4.16. The Lord himself shall descend with a shout, the voice of the Archangel, and the Tromp of God: [and these shall alarm the dead,] and those dead in Christ, shall rise first.  
1 Tim. 6.14. Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in his times he shall show.  
2 Tim. 2.12. If we suffer, with Christ, we shall also reign with him. Ver. 18. Some said, the Resurrection was passed already; which was an error, and had an ill effect. Chap. 4.1. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing and his Kingdom. Ver. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord the Righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.  
Heb. 4.3. We which have believed, in Christ, do enter into his rest. Ver. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Ver. 10. A ceasing from our own works, as God did from his: And we must labour therefore to enter into that rest. Chap. 9.27. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgenment: And Christ once offered for sin, shall appear the second time, without sin unto salvation. Chap. 10.37. Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Ver. 35. and 36. We must wait with patience and confidence, till the time promised do come. Chap. 11.35. Persons were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain [not a happy Separated Estate, but] a better Resurrection.  
James 1.12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Chap. 5.8. Be ye also patiented, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.  
1 Pet. 1.4. and 5. Ver. We are begotten by the Resurrection of Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us; who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time: [not already participated by Souls in separation]. Ver. 9 Receiving [seems in the last time] the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls: viz. their persons, or their selves. Chap. 4.5. The Wicked shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. Ver. 7. The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. Ver. 13. But rejoice, in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy: [seems not before that time.] Chap. 5.4. Those who do well, when the chief Shepherd shall appear, shall receive a crown of glory, that fadeth not away.  
2 Pet. 3.8, 9, 10. A thousand years are with the Lord but as one day; therefore he is not slack, but would have all come to him: yet the day of the Lord will come in a terrible manner, and we must wait for and haste to the coming of that day; and look for New Heavens and Earth, according to his promise: and seeing you look for such things, keep yourselves without spot or blemish: without mention of a Soul, or its expectations.  
1 John 2.28. Now little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Chap. 2.3. We are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is: and every one that hath this hope, purifieth himself, even as Christ is pure: Without mention of an intermediate State betwixt Death and the Second Coming of our Lord.  
Revel. 17. Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him; and they also which pierced him: and the kindreds of the earth shall wail, because of him; even so, Amen: [The thing is certain.] Chap. 3.5. I will confess the name of him who overcometh, before my Father and before his Angels. Chap. 20.4. Judgement, importing a first Resurrection. Ver. 11. and 12. The Form of the Last Judgement related, where the Dead, both small and great, were raised, and stood before God, and had Doom and Judgement, according to their deserts.  
1 Cor. 4.5. Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden works of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every [deserving] man have praise of God.  
Heb. 6.2. Says, Let us go on to Perfection, to Doctrines of the Resurrection of the Dead, and of Eternal Judgement.  
Our Lord directs, Search the Scriptures, and we have followed his direction upon our present Point: Not for that it is doubted, that men do disbelieve, or even question, the truth of our Article concerning the Resurrection of the Dead; but to the intent that it might more clearly appear, how much better, and more strong Evidence there is for this Point, and the Retribution to be expected at the Resurrection: Then there is for the Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul, as a Subject for the Rewards and Punishments to be expected, in a State future to this Life. We may perceive the Resurrection is Ordained and Appointed, to the very intent, that future Recompenses for things done in this Life, may be fitly Awarded, and fully Executed: Whereas we find not one Text in Scripture, that says in express terms, Man hath an Immaterial, or Separately Subsisting, or an Immortal Soul; nor that tells us, Recompenses shall be made to it in a future State, nor doth Doctrinally so Teach, viz. doth utter the words from whence such Collections are made, with intent to teach that Doctrine; but the words whence such Collections are made, are all spoken, intending to Teach some other more main and principal Point, and the Point concerning the Soul is but by Collection from the Expressions, principally intended to teach some other Points of Doctrine: So as these different ways or mediums of Rewards and Punishments future to this Life, being placed and considered together, Magis illucescunt, that clearness and certainty of the one seems more lucid and eminent, by being compared with the darkness and in certainty of the other: Also the one being so clear and certain, it seems very needless, and somewhat Incongruous to introduce another means or medium of future Recompenses, neither clear in itself, nor plainly asserted, or precisely Taught in the Scripture, as a Christian Doctrine; nor yet received as an Article into any of our most Ancient and approved Creeds: Whereas the Reception of our Article of the Resurrection into every one of them, fixes the same in the Christian Religion like a Rock immovable. And we Read that he who builds his house upon a Rock is wise, but he who chooses to build upon the Sand is otherwise; and what can Men otherwise think of one not able to support himself, and in want of Direction and Relief, being in reach or compass of a firm and strong Pillar, will choose to lean himself against a Post, which if it be not rotten, yet may be reasonably reputed, both feeble and suspicious. The censure due upon such a choice, shall be left to the Consideration of every Man: And thus (it seems) we have showed and proved the Resurrection sufficient to answer the World's Expectations concerning Rewards and Punishments in a State future to this Life; and that therefore there is no need of introducing a Separate Subsisting Soul to that intent. And we proceed to our Authors Third Topick, or Ground of Argument, for proving the Separate Subsistence, and Immateriality of a Humane Soul, viz. to examine the tenor and intent of such Texts of the Scripture, as are, or may be found out, and alleged to that purpose; intending to offer such Answers to them severally after each quotation as shall readily occur; not presuming a likelihood to make them such, as may satisfy, and convince minds prepossessed all the times of their lives, that the thing is so, and may be, or muft be so proved; it shall be enough to suppose they possibly be made such, as that People who are desirous, or willing to put off (as much as they can) the prejudices of their former Opinions in this Point, drawn from their earliest Education, and sucked in with their first Milk: If such Persons do not perceive the Answers made to be unreasonable, fictitious, or very trivial, there will enough be obtained to satisfy an Expectation limited within narrow bounds; and that hardly can rise to the hopes of so easy a passage under the Censures of any, who shall happen to peruse the same; it seems less hazard than a hard censure cannot be hoped for, upon an undertaking to row against the Stream and general Opinion, as well of past Ages, as the present time. 1 Sam. 30.6. When David was in very evil case, he encouraged himself in the Lord his God; he it is who hath required that Men should be Valiant for the Truth upon the Earth. And Esdras 4.35. Great is the Truth, and stronger than all things: those who know that their aim and design is no other but the bringing the Truth in this Point to Light, to the end that God's Truth, viz. the very Truth thereby may be exhibited and discovered; may (it seems) go on in it without being terrified, or bearing an astonishing regard to the censures of Men. We shall proceed therefore to Execution of what hath been declared to be intended: Also where two or more Texts are cited, unto which one same Answer may well be applied, such Texts are designed to be quoted together, or at once, that the same Answers may not be often repeated: And whereas heretofore those Texts intended to prove Recompenses in a State future to this Life, have been often applied to prove the Self-subsistence of a Separated Soul. Here will be care taken to detect and avoid that Point of Misapplication.   

We begin then from the Beginning of the Creation, and the History of it, viz. Gen. 1.26. God said, let us make Man in our image, after our likeness. Ver. 27. So God Created Man in his own Image. Chap. 2.7. God breathed into Man's Nostrils the Breath of Life, and Man became a living Soul. We have before proved it, the ordinary Use of Scripture, to express the Person by Name or Term of the Soul, and here, Man became a living Soul; intends a living Person, both Soul and Body. Zanchius puts a very great Stress and weight, upon Gods breathing into Man's Nostrils the Breath of Life, for the Proof of a Separately Subsisting Soul in Man: To this we say, there is not that clear Sense in the Text, which seems to import no more, but that God gave to Man his Breath and Life; and so he did to the Beasts of the Earth, and kindled in their Bodies their first flames of Life, Propagated from those Originals to all future Generations; each Generating its like, both amongst Men and Beasts: And as concerning the Image of God in Man, what, and where it is, we leave to be disputed, as it hath been from those Ancient times, till this time, without being able to attain a clear Determination. That Text, Gen. 7.22. All Terrestrial Creatures in whose Nostrils was the Breath of the Spirit of Life died in the Flood, seems to Paraphrase the Breath of Life, breathed into Man's Nostrils, and to expound it in the sense before given of it.  
1 Kings, 17.21. The Prophet Elijah Prays, My God, I pray thee, let this Child's Soul come into him again: Thus it may be Paraphrased. Lord kindle again in this Child the Flame of Life, which is now extinguishable, restore him to Life again; but the mode of speaking here used by the Prophet, was agreeable to the common Opinion of his time, which was long after that of Saul. A like thing we Read, 1 Sam. 30.12. concerning the Egyptian found at Ziklag; When he had eaten, his Spirit came again to him, viz. the Flame of Life almost extinguished for want of Fuel, was again revived and enabled for action by fresh Food, and Nourishment; and as the Child's Soul came into him again and he revived, so this Aegyptian's Spirit came again to him when he had eaten, and he revived. And 2 Kings 13.21. a Dead Man let down into Elisha's Grave, at the touch of Elisha's Bones, the Dead Man revived; whether his Soul returned, or his Flame of Life was rekindled, there is no Ground here to dispute, or need to do it: Job. 12.10. In God's hand is the Soul of every living thing, and the breath of all Mankind. Here man is ranked with every living thing, as to his Soul, and Soul and Breath are taken for the same things, and of a like Subsistence. Chap. 34.14. If God gather to himself Man's Spirit and his Breath, he shall turn to his Dust; here Spirit and Breath pass for the same thing. Chap. 33.30. Bring back his Soul from the pit, to the light of the living, viz. save his Life or revive him.  
Psal. 49.8. It cost more to redeem their Souls, viz. their Lives or Persons, their Riches could not do it, Ver. 15. but God hath delivered my Soul from the place of Hell, for he shall receive me, viz. he shall deliver me yet from Death, and the Grave, and hid me as in the secret place of his Dwelling, receive me under his Protection. Psal. 56.13. Thou hast delivered my Soul from Death: viz. hast saved my Life, so my Soul trusteth in thee, and my Soul is among Lions, and my Soul thirsteth for thee, and my Soul followeth hard after thee, he holdeth my Soul in Life, and my Soul which thou hast redeemed; and 72.14. He shall redeem their Soul from deceit and violence. 73.19. Deliver not the Soul of thy Turtle Dove to the Enemy. 86.2. Preserve my Soul, for I am holy: ver. 13. Thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell, and my Soul is full of troubles, and Lord, why casteth thou out my Soul. 89.48. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death? shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of the Grave? and bless the Lord, O my Soul. And he satisfieth the empty Soul, and filleth the hungry Soul with goodness, and their Soul abhorred all manner of Meat, and those who speak evil against my Soul. All these, and abundance more places of the Psalms, do under the Word or Term Soul, intent and signify, the Person, the Life, the Affection of the Party. Praise the Lord, O my Soul: These and many other Texts sound (to common Readers) as Proofs of a Separately Subsisting Soul of Man; but that Opinion may be passed for a clear mistake, and an apparent mis-conception.  
Prov. 11.25. The liberal Soul shall be made fat, viz. the liberal Person. Chap. 13.4. The Soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing; but the Soul of the diligent shall be made fat; viz. the diligent Person. 14.25. A true Witness delivereth Souls; People, Men. Chap. 16.24. Pleasant words are sweet to the Soul. 19.2. That the Soul he without knowledge, it is not good: viz. the Person. Chasten thy Son, and let not thy Soul spare for his crying: Do not thou spare. The full Soul loathes the Honeycomb. Thus far we have added to our former proofs, that Soul is very often put for Person; and we now expect that shall pass for a granted Truth; and it may still be confirmed by more Testimonies than all that have yet been Cited. Eccles. 8.8. There is no man that hath Power over the Spirit, to retain the Spirit, neither hath he power in the day of Death: Here Spirit seems to intent Breath or Life. Chap. 10.4. If the Spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, viz. his wrath. Chap. 12.7. The dust shall return to the Earth as it was: and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it. We say, this may be expounded, by Gen. 7.22. and 1 Sam. 30.12. and Job 12.10. all before Cited. Then Chap. 34.14. If God set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his Spirit and his Breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto Dust. Psal. 31. Prays, Let me not be put to confusion, but deliver me, be thou my Rock and Defence; Into thy hand I commit my Spirit, for thou hast redeemed me: And Psal. 104.29. When thou takest away their breath, they die, and are turned again to their dust: When thou lettest thy breath go forth, they shall be made, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Zech. 6.5. These are the four spirits of the heavens, noted on the Margin, or Winds. These places make Breath and the Spirit, mentioned by Solomon, to be much, if not altogether the same thing: And it seems remarkable, that when David prays for Deliverance from Dangers that were temporal, as in Psal. 31. he uses this Expression: Into thine Hand I commit my Spirit: this makes it seem, to intent his whole Person, himself, both Soul and Body, as hath been shown to be usual and common, in the Usage of the Word Soul. Isa. 29.24. They who erred in Spirit shall come to Understanding. Here Spirit seems to signify a Faculty of the Man, viz. his Mind or Intellect: Upon the Whole, it seems the Spirit's Return to God, in Solomon's Sense, might be a willing Submission of the Mind or Understanding to that Dissolution by Death, which he hath appointed to be the Natural End of all Mankind. This makes Death appear a willing Return of a meek and quiet Spirit to God, by an easy Surrender of its Fort and Hold, the Body, when others and they (if they did not so meekly surrender) would be Stormed, and forced against their Wills to let go their Holds, and be driven out of Forts which they have not Power to defend and maintain against the violent and prevalent Assaults and Storms of Death.  
We meet in Isaiah, Ch. 53.10. such an Addition concerning the Term of Soul, as we judge not fit to omit, viz. When thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin: This intended his whole Person: And he shall see of the Travail of his Soul: Chap. 57.16. I will not contend for ever, for so should the Spirit fail before me, and the Souls which I have made, viz. the People which I have made. So, Is it such a Day for Man to afflict his Soul, viz. himself? And, If thou draw out thy Soul to the Hungry, if thou minister unto him. Ezek. 37.14. I will put my Spirit in you [Bodies rising from dry Bones] and ye shall live. And this was executed by the Four Winds, blowing upon them: Whence it seems Spirit, Wind, and Breath have a great Congruity one with another, and are put one for another divers times: And this helps to declare what Solomon meant by Spirit. Dan. 2.3. The King's Spirit was troubled to know the Dream, viz. his Understanding. Chap. 5.20. An excellent Spirit, Knowledge, and Understanding was found in Daniel. One of these Words expound another. Micah 6.7. Shall I give my Firstborn, the Fruits of my Body for the Sin of my Soul, seems to import, Shall I give or Sacrifice my Child for my own Sin. Soul being here put for Person, as we have shown was very usual. Zech. 6.5. These are the Four Spirits (or Winds) of the Heavens. Chap. 12.1. The Lord that formeth the Spirit of Man within him, viz. who hath given him Faculties of Sense, Memory, Understanding, etc. Thus the Texts of the Old Testament, which make most for the Proof of a Separate and Self-subsisting Soul of Man, have been quoted, and such Expositions made of them, and Answers thereby made to them, as appear to us sufficient to abate and take away the Violence or proving Force of them, by showing that they do not necessarily or strongly compel to the Belief of such a Separated Subsistance of Humane Souls. But that they only be solved and answered by Senses or Constructions more Natural and likely, and more consentaneous to the Natural Conceptions of a Humane Reason  or distorted by the Prejudices of formerly received and radicated Opinions.  
We proceed to Texts of the New Testament, which have been, or may be quoted to the same Intent and Purpose. Mat. 16.25. He that will save his Life shall lose it; and he that (for Christ's sake) loses it, shall find it: For what is a Man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul; or what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father, with his Angels, and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works. Here, it seems, the Word Soul intends the Life or Person of the Man: and what shall a Man get by grasping or gaping after the whole World, if he lose his own Life: for without Life to enjoy it, what Profit or Benefit can one make of the whole World, if it could be gotten: and no Man (in his Wits) will take the whole World in Exchange for his Life: for he can have no Profit, but plain Damage and Loss by that Exchange. And yet, says our Lord, He that loses his Life for my sake, shall find it, viz. shall find Profit by that Exchange: For he shall be recompensed at the Resurrection. For the Son of Man shall come in his Father's Glory, and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works. The Man shall then receive an Eternal Recompense, and be made a great Gainer by that Exchange. Chap. 13.42. For then the Wicked shall be cast into a Furnace of Fire: and the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father.  
Next is quoted, Matth. 17. the Relation of our Lord's Transfiguration repeated. Mark 9 and Luke 9 There appeared to them (viz. the three Disciples) Moses and Elias, talking with him. They all saw the Appearances: It must be true then, that these Prophets have a Subsistence after their Departure out of this our World. And for Elias, his creates no great Difficulty in the Case, upon Supposal that his Body went to Heaven, and was changed (as S. Paul says) in a Moment into a Spiritual Body, and there may well enough be still continuing. And for Moses his Body, it could never be found, what became of it seems not very certain; but not being to forth-come, it was conjectured and concluded to be buried, no Man ever knew where, nor that there was, or is, a Certainty in that Fact: It seems he went up the Hill alone and never returned, nor was his Body found: what therefore became of him (we may think) remains a Mystery, and that he died, may be taken for a Conjecture from common Probability: He never returned, nor was after to be found; therefore most likely he died in the Mount, and was buried, but so unknownly, as they counted it (by Conjecture also) to be God's own doing: But there was then no Witness of that Fact, nor any Revelation since concerning it, till this Appearance of that Prophet at our Present Transfiguration; and that seems to favour rather Moses his Translation more than his Death and Burial: Although the Letter of the Text stand for the Later, we leave the Truth as a Mystery, and accept the Proof as Mystical, and therefore not to be confided in, or relied upon, for the Establishment of a Doctrine whose Verity and Certainty is now controverted, and expected to be better proved than by mystical and untrialable Arguments.  
Matth. 22.32. God declares himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And our Lord says, He is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living: Ergo, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are Living, and do Subsist in their Separated Souls; for their Bodies are long since turned to Dust, and are not. To this we answer, That all Persons who have lived, do live, or shall live, may be well enough said to live unto God, with whom Things past and to come, may be well enough said to be present; for that Time cannot work, or have any Effect upon Him, his Being, or his Knowledge. And therefore Luke 20.28. (relating the same Fact) says, God is not God of the Dead, but of the Living: Adds the Reason, For that all live unto him. All who have lived, and shall live, as well as those who do live; those who have lived and shall live, do live unto God, although they do not live unto Men, nor have any present Subsistence either in Soul or Body. If our Lord had intended their living to God in a State of Separated Souls, the Intent might easily, and would likely have been declared by him: But the Matter then argued did no way concern the Point of a Soul's Separate Subsistence. But the Answer was only intended to the Query put to our Lord by the Sadduces, who denied the Resurrection. They propounded a Case of Seven Brothers, having all one same Wife; upon which our Lord citys the Words of God concerning these three Old Patriarches. Luke says that they are the Children of God, being the Children of the Resurrection; and our Lord applies his Answer to their Question. They demand whose Wife their Woman shall be in the Resurrection? He replies, as touching the Resurrection, Have ye not read this Saying of God touching the Patriarches? and than applies that Saying to prove the Resurrection accordingly: So as Question, the Answer, and the Application was all, and (for aught appears) only intended concerning the Resurrection, without Intent to speak here, concerning any State or Condition of Souls, betwixt the State of Death and that of the Resurrection: and the Resurrection was the only thing intended to be proved by that Quotation.  
Mat. 10.28. Fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell. Luke 12.4. relates the same Doctrine thus; Fear not 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. We may perceive that the Substance and Intent of Christ's Doctrine is the Same in both these Evangelists; but the Words or Expression in which the same is delivered do differ very much, yet not to alter the Doctrine principally intended to be taught, viz. not to fear the Violence of Men, whose Power is confined to this World, and can extend no farther: but that Men ought rather to fear God, who hath Power to reward and punish after men's Departure out of this World, and in a Future State: This we take for the Doctrine mainly intended by them both, and therein they do fully agree: but in the Collateral Doctrine endeavoured to be collected from S. Matthew's Expressions and wording of the same; so separating and dividing betwixt the Soul and the Body, as that one may be killed and the other not, or the one be cast into Hell, and the other not: In this Point (which I take for Collateral to the main Point intended) the Words of these two Evangelists differ very much: for in the Expressions of S. Luke there is no mention at all of the Soul, and therefore no Division made or intended betwixt Soul and Body. It seems then that it may be collected, that both having a right Notion of the Doctrine mainly intended to be delivered, of not fearing Men, whose Power was limited to this World, and fearing God, who could recompense both here and hereafter. S. Matthew may have worded this Matter according to his own Conception of the Thing: for his Words prove, at least, his Opinion to have been, that a Man's Soul and Body were dividable, and that the Body might be killed without killing the Soul: And yet he doth not say the Soul can be in Hell without the Body, but God can cast them both into Hell. Plain it seems, S. Matthew was of Opinion that Souls were capable of Separate State: but the Expressions of S. Luke give us some Warrant to think that Christ did not deliver than Doctrine in the Words used by S. Matthew, but that he hath worded it according to his own Conception and Opinion, and that the Doctrine of Christ, taken as delivered by S. Luke, is no more, but that Men can only afflict and punish in this World, but God can do it both here and hereafter: And this all Men must agree and assent unto.  
Luke 16.19. Gins that which Men usually call the Parable of Dives and Lazarus. The foregoing Chap. 15. consists all of Parables; and this Chapter gins with the Parable of the Unjust Steward, and ends with this of Dives and Lazarus, whose very Names seem to be some Proof that the Story is a Parable. If it were a History and true Relation of a Fact, it might pass for a very strong Proof of the Soul's Subsistence in a State of Separation from the Body; but passing for a Parable, it seems not a Foundation firm enough to bear the Weight of an otherwise unproved Structure. And the like may be said for Rev. 6.10. the Souls under the Altar, of those slain for the Word of God, and the Testimony which they held, crying with a loud Voice, How long, Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood. This was but in a Trance, and no more real or true, than the Appearances of the great Dragon with Seven Heads, and Ten Horns, and Seven Crowns, whose Tail drew the Third Part of the Stars of Heaven, and did cast them to the Earth; or that there was a great City descending out of Heaven from God: After S. John was rapt up into Heaven by the open Door, all was but a Trance, and may pass for a Rapture, not a Ground strong enough to fix a proving Foundation upon: And it seems this Crying by the Souls was in the same manner as the Blood of Abel's Cying from the Ground against his Murderer; and as all Notable Actions, good or bad, do depend for Recompense upon the Effects of God's Divine Providence, Justice and Power, and so we leave it.  
Luke 23.43. Christ says to one of the Crucified Thiefs, Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thorn be with we in Paradise. This could not be performed in their Bodies, for that our Lord's lay in the Grave till the Third Day; therefore it must be fulfilled in their Souls separated from their Bodies. To this Objection the Answer may have Two Parts. 

First, We quote Matth. 27.24. The Thiefs also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his Teeth. And, Mark 15.32. They that were crucified with him reviled him. Both these Evangelists agree, that they, both the Thiefs, that were crucified with him, reviled him. S. Luke is commonly taken for the Penman of S. Paul, by whom this Gospel is believed to have been dictated: But neither of these are taken to have been Eye-Witnesses, or that they were by and present at this Fact. S. Mark is taken to write from the Mouth of S. Peter, although it might possibly be from the Apostle S. Barnabas, either of which Apostles were likely to be Eye-Witnesses of the Fact then done. And S. Matthew was himself both Apostle and Evangelist, and likely an Eye-Witness of the Fact; and there is an Old Rule, That one Eye-Witness is better than two Ear-Witnesses of any Fact. We conclude then, that here are Two Witnesses against One, and that One but an Earwitness of that Fact: And therefore there is a Ground to question the very Truth of S. Luke's Relation, seeing he wrote but by Relation, and what he says, stands not of itself, and can with great Difficulty be made to stand in Agreement with what the other two Evangelists have delivered.  
Secondly, We say, to the Words, To day thou shalt be with me, they may be expounded from other like Expressions. Heb. 3.7. citys Psalm. 95.7. To day if ye will hear his Voice. Ver. 13. Exhort one another daily whilst it is called to day. Here it seems the Word Day is not limited to an Artificial or a Natural Day, but signifies a present, but yet a competent Time. Luke 19.42. Christ wept over Jerusalem, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou at least, in this thy Day, viz. hadst known that Time of my present Call unto thee; here expressed by the Word Day. So The Son of Man must be Three Days and Three Nights in the Heart of the Earth. And yet we know Christ lay in the Grave but Two Nights, viz. Friday and Saturday Nights; and for Days, only one whole one, viz. Saturday; for he was buried on Friday at Even, and risen very early upon Sunday Morning. Whence it seems the Words, To day shalt thou be with me, need not be limited to a precise Day, Artificial or Natural, but may be reasonably intended to signify within some short Time after that Promise. And that we may the better account for the same, there shall be cited Jo. 20.17. Our Lord (lately risen) says to Mary, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.   And the same Day at Evening, Ver. 19 came Jesus and stood in the midst among his Discipler. And Luke 24.39. he says, Handle me, and by Feeling, perceive and see that I have Flesh and Bones, which a Spirit hath not. Hence may be collected, that betwixt his appearing to Mary that Morning, and to his Disciples in the Evening, he had ascended to his Father, and returned. Matth. 27.52. When Christ died, The Graves were opened, and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose, and came out of the Graves after our Lord's Resurrection, and went into the holy City, and appeared unto many. Amongst these, we have reason to suppose, was the Body of this Thief, as well as his Soul, the Flame of Life rekindled in him as well as in those other Saints, and of our Lord himself, and that he, the Thief, and the other Saints then rising did make this Ascent, with our Lord, upon Sunday, next after the Friday Night of his Suffering: And this (I conceive) was enough to satisfy our Lord's Expression of, To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, in so short a Time, as it may be counted present, or to day. And this Resurrection might occasion some to think, as, 2 Tim. 2.18. that the Resurrection was passed already, and was not (in Future) to be expected. Luk. 23.46. Jesus cried with a loud Voice, and said, Father, into thy Hands I commend my Spirit; and having said thus he gave up the Ghost. And to this we join Acts 7.59. They stoned Stephen calling, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit. This Objection from recommending the Spirit of a Dying Person to God and Christ, Men say, imports a Spiritual Being or a Soul in Man, which is capable of a Subsistence, and hath such a Subsistence, in a State separated from the Body. The Objection is of the same Nature with that from Solomon, The Spirit returns to God that gave it: and requires some Repetition of what was thereunto answered. And for findding out the Sense and Intent of the Word Spirit, Places of Scripture shall be quoted. 1 Sam. 30.12. When the starved Egyptian had eaten some Figs and Raisins, his Spirit came again to him, seems his Spirit of Life, his Vital Spirits. Ezra 1.5. They stood up, whose Spirit God had raised to go and build the Temple, seems to intent their Inclination and Affection. Job 20.3. The Spirit of my Understanding causeth me to answer, seems the Eagerness of his Desire. Chap. 21.4. Why should not my Spirit be troubled? viz. why should not I be troubled? Psalm. 51.17. The Sacrifice of God it a broken Spirit: there is paraphrased by a contrite Heart.— 143.4. My Spirit is vexed within me, and my Heart within me is desolate. Prov. 18.14. The Spirit of a Man will sustain his Infirmity, but a wounded Spirit who can bear; viz. a good or bad Conscience. Chap. 25.28. He that hath no Rule over his own Spirit, it like a City broken down and without Walls. Here Spirit must signify Affections. Eccles. 8.8. No Man hath Power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit, seems Men's Passions. Prov. 20.27. The Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord, searching the inward Parts of the Belly, viz. Man's Reason and Knowledge, is the Candle. Psalm 31.6. Thou art my strength, into thy hand I commend my Spirit, for thou hast redeemed me. God had saved him in his Troubles, and therefore he again commends himself to God, under the Term of his Spirit. Dan. 5.12. An excellent Spirit, Knowledge, and Vnderdeastanding, was found in Daniel; The latter Words expound Spirit. Acts 17.16. Paul's Spirit was stirred in him at Athens: he was moved and provoked. Chap. 18.25. Apollo's was fervent in Spirit: or was Zealous. 1 Cor. 5.5. Deliver the Man to Satan, that the Spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord, viz. that at the Resurrection the Whole may be saved: Spirit put for the Whole Man. Chap. 7.34. The unmarried Woman is holy in Body and Spirit, viz. Soul and Body together, holy in the whole Compositum. Ezek. 11.19. I will give them one Heart, and put a new Spirit, and a Heart of Flesh within you. Chap. 13.3. woe to the Prophets that follow their own Spirit, and have seen nothing. Ver. 17. They prophesy out of their own Heart: And thus we see Spirit put for the Person, the Heart, the Affections, the Passions, for Mind, Understanding, Knowledge, Reason, Conscience, viz. for Man, and every of his Sublime and Spiritual Parts or Faculties, but most properly and especially for his Breath. As Job 12.10. In the Hand of God is the Soul of every living thing, and the Breath of all Mankind. Ch. 34.14. If God set his Heart upon Man, if he gather unto himself his Spirit and his Breath, all Flesh shall perish together, and Man shall turn again to his Dust. Psal. 104.29. When thou takest away their Breath they die and are turned again to their Dust: when thou lettest thy Breath go forth, they shall be made, and thou shalt renew the Face of the Earth. Gen. 2.7. By God's breathing into Man's Nostrils the Breath of Life, Man became a Living Soul. Rom. 14.7. None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself; but we live to the Lord, and die to the Lord; whether therefore we live or die, we are the Lords. Hence it need not seem strange, that a Dying Man should recommend his Person to the Lord by the Term of his Spirit; for the Body as well as the Soul is under the Knowledge and Provision of Providence. When good Men lie down to sleep, they customarily recommend themselves to God; and going to sleep in Death makes such a Recommendation both the more earnest and the more solemn, and cannot reasonably be intended of the Spirit only, but of the whole Compositum by that Term: and God will raise them both up again at the Last Day, both Soul and Body. John 6.44. The Man that comes to me, I will raise him up at the last Day; the whole Man, both Soul and Body. Psal. 31.6. Into thine Hands I commend my Spirit, thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of Truth. David spoke this when he was in a way of Living, and had both a Body and a Soul, and apparently sought God's Protection for them both, viz. for his Person, under this Term of Spirit. Jo. 11.25. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, viz. the Compositum of Soul and Body. Our Lord knew he should have a speedy Resurrection, and foretold it to be within Three Days Time, both of Soul and Body: And it seems that by this Term of Spirit he recommended them both to the Protection of his Father, and that S. Stephen did the like to our Lord: Whence here appears no Necessity of Inferring a Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul from these Texts, which plainly did not intent to teach the Doctrine; and it seems may be very well satisfied by another very different Construction of them. Joh. 6.40. It is God's Will, that he who believeth should have everlasting Life; and I will raise him up at the last Day, Soul and Body, without mention of an intermediate Estate. And we do not accept our two quoted Texts as a sufficient Proof of that Point. Acts 2.27. Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell, [or Death] is construed to comprehend the Body also; and both were raised accordingly. Rom. 2.9. Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil: this comprehends the Body also. So Chap. 13.1. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers. Whence we conclude, that by recommending the Dying Spirits, intended the Dying Bodies also, and was intended of the Whole Man, or the Person then departing out of this World. 2 Cor. 5.1. If our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a Building of God, a House not made with Hands, eternal in the Heavens. And desires to be clothed upon with that House, Groans to be clothed upon, that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life: yet would not be unclothed: whilst we are at home in the Body, we are absent from the Lord; walking by Faith, not by Sight, we desire to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord; for we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his Body, according to that he hath done, whether good or bad. We read, Rev. 22.12. I come quickly, and my Reward is with me, to give every Man according as his work shall be. Ver. 20. Surely I come quickly, Amen, even so come Lord Jesus. Heb. 10.37. Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Ver. 35. & 36. We must wait with Patience and Confidence, till the Time promised do come. James 5.8. Be ye also patiented, establish your Hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 1 Pet. 1.5. Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation, ready to be revealed in the last Time [as if the last Time was near.] Chap. 4.5. Men shall give an Account to him that is ready to judge the Quick and the Dead, [viz. in a short Time coming.] 2 Pet. 3.12. Looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God to Judgement. 1 Joh. 2.28. Abide in Christ, that when he shall appear, ye may have Confidence, and not be ashamed at his coming, [as if he were expected to come in their Time.] So, 1 Tim. 6.14. Keep this Commandment without spot, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, [as if Timothy might live to that Time.] And elsewhere, The coming of our Lord draweth nigh. 1 Joh. 2.18. Little Children it is the last Time. And, The Time is short; he that is holy let him be holy. Rev. 22.11. And he which is filthy let him be filthy still, [as if Christ's coming to Judgement were even then at hand.] 2 Pet. 3.9. Men than said that Day was slack in its coming, and Ver. 4. that the Promise of his coming was overlong delayed. From all these Evidences it appears that the Church at that Time, did believe the coming of our Lord to Judgement, to be nigh at hand, and that when he should appear, we should be like him, and that then, as Philip. 3.21. Our vile Bodies should be changed, and fashioned like his Glorious Body. 1 Cor. 15.51. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. And to this Change (it seems) S. Paul's Words in our Proving Text are to be applied: He would not be unclothed, but clothed upon with the House which is from Heaven, that so he might not be found naked; but that Mortality might be swallowed up in Life: Whilst we are at home, in the Body, viz. our Natural Body, we are absent from the Lord; and therefore we are willing rather to be absent from this Body, to have it changed into a Spiritual Body, and therein to be present with the Lord: And however, in the one Body, or in the other, we labour, present or absent, to be accepted of God: for we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, [sooner or later] that every Man [Body and Soul] may receive the Things done in his Body, [viz. when he was alive] according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad: And this seems to apply all that he had before spoken, as designed a Relation to the Resurrection and the Last Judgement, and not to make or afford any Proof of the Separate Subsistence of a Soul, after Death of the Body. Philip. 1.21. For me, to live is Christ, and to die is Gain, what I shall choose I wots not; for I am in a straight between two, having a desire to departed and to be with Christ, which is far better: Nevertheless, to abide in the Flesh, is more needful for you. This sounds as if, upon Death of the Body, something were still left in such a State and Being, as should immediately thereupon go to be with Christ; and this can be no other but the Man's Soul subsisting in a State of Separation. We read, Rev. 14.13. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them. 2 Tim. 1.10. Christ abolished Death, and brought Life and Immortality to Light, through the Gospel. [Whence Death now to the Godly, is but a Sleep, or Resting in Christ.] Acts 7.60. Stephen cried, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge: and when he said this, he fell asleep. 1 Cor. 15.6. Christ risen was seen of five hundred Brethren, of whom then some were fallen asleep. Ver. 18. If there be no Resurrection, than they who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. Ver. 51. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 1 Thess. 4.15. We who are alive at our Lord's coming, shall not prevent them who are asleep. Ver. 14. But those who sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him. 2 Thess. 1.6. It is righteous with God to recompense Tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, Rest with us; when Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels; [seems this Rest with us must be future to this World, and most likely in Death.] Heb. 4.3. We who have believed, do enter into Rest. Ver. 9 There remains a Rest to the People of God. Ver. 10. A ceasing from our own Works, as God did from his; and we must labour to enter into this Rest: seems properly a Dying in the Lord. And Job testifies, There the weary are at Rest. Upon the Evidences thus quoted by us, it seems our Proving Text may be construed in this manner; I know that to die is Gain, and for me to departed out of this world and to be at rest in Christ, and in expectation of a joyful Resurrection, is far better; but for me to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you: And this Consideration puts me into a Straight between two Things, so as what I shall choose I wots not; and doubtless it is better, and far more easy and desirable for a godly Man to sleep and be at rest in Christ, than to be in the Troubles, Temptations and Persecutions of this World, as S. Paul was when he was in it. Daniel 12.13. the Angel says to him, Go thy way till the End be, for thou shalt rest and stand in the Lot at the End of the Days. And this hath been the Lot of the Godly in all Ages: and the Wisdom of the World hath been able to teach, that the Day of a Man's Death is better than that of his Birth; and if generally, how much better than must it needs be for a good Christian to departed and be at rest in Christ: Lying down in a sure Faith and steadfast Hope of a joyful Resurrection; when the Lord himself shall defend from Hevean with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and the Trump of God: for then the Dead in Christ shall rise first, and be caught up into the Clouds to meet the Lord, in the Air; and so shall they ever be with the Lord. What Earthly Thing can be compared with such a State, so much Joy, and so great an Assuranee: No wonder then that our Apostle calls his Death a Gain, being then in a Condition so to die, and so he continued, (as he says) 2 Tim. 4.7. I have kept the Faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day: and not to me only, but unto them also that love his Appearing. But it seems he did not expect it before that Day, the Day of Christ's Second Coming, to reward every Man according to his Works. And we conclude, the Apostle, in our Proving Text, intended rather a going to rest in Christ, than a going into Heaven to him in the State of a Separated Soul.  
Heb. 12.22. Ye are come to an innumerable Company of Angels, and to the Spirits of just Men made Perfect; to God the Judge, and to Jesus the Mediator, and to the heavenly Jerusalem. Some have raised an Argument of the Souls Separate Subsistence, from this Text. The Words, Ye are come, in the present Tense, spoken unto living People, cannot be literally intended; unless the Words be intended of the Doctrine. viz. You are come to a Gospel or Doctrine, which teaches to believe and expect such Things in future Times; or, you are come to such Things in Faith which is the Evidence of Things not seen, better things than appeared at Mount Sinai. So, 2 Pet. 3.12. Look for and haste unto the Coming of the Day of God, wherein all shall be burnt up, as in Noah 's Time it was drowned: But we look for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwells Righteousness: And seeing ye look for such Things, what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness, without spot, and blameless. This expounds how we come to the Heavenly Jerusalem, viz. to that Doctrine, Faith and Expectation, to be fulfilled and enjoyed at the Coming of the Day of God, without any mention at all of a Soul in the State of a Separate Subsistence, or discoverable Intention concerning it.  
1 Pet. 3.19. Christ was quickened in the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison, when Noah prepared the Ark. To this we say, the Text is very mystical and obscure, and so every Part and Sentence of it: And what is here meant by the Spirits in Prison; or the Preaching to them, we humbly confess Ignorance, and that we do not know: Therefore the Text and Consequences of it shall be left to Consideration of the more Learned, better versed in the Writings of Fathers and Commentators; but till the Meaning of it be better known, it seems, it can have but little Force of Proof in this Argument.  
Joh. 12 26. If any Man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there shall also my servant be. Chap. 14.3. If I go and prepare a Place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. This later Text expounds the former, viz. Christ's Servants shall be where he is, intending after he hath first prepared a Place for them, and then comes again to receive them.  
These particular Texts of Scripture are all that we meet with that are quoted by others, or are observed by us, and tending materially to Proof of the Separate State, or Subsistence of Humane Souls after this Life ended.  
And yet there remains one Persuasive, which inclines common Readers as much or more than any other Argument, to believe that there is a Separate State of Souls Subsisting after they are parted from the Bodies; a Persuasive rising from Induction of many Scriptural Expressions concerning the Soul and the Body, as different, and even opposite Things and Principles. Rom. 7. describes the Contest betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit, as if they were naturally different Principles in Man, whereas they are but different Faculties in Man, viz. the Affections, Passions and Appetites, Vital, combating the Faculties Intellectual, the Knowledge, and Reason of the same Party, with various Success. But these being expressed by the Terms of Flesh and Spirit of the Man, seem to represent them as two Principles different and contrary one to the other. Such Faculties we agree they are, different and contrary; but such Principles we say they are not: but all proceed from the same Principles, the Constituent Parts of Man, viz. his Soul, and his Body. The Natural Powers of such a Compositum all these Faculties equally are, and seem the one of them independent upon the other, and seldom free from a Contest amongst them, in which the Judgement or highest Prudence of the Party bears the Sway, and hath the Determinative Power naturally residing in it: So as what is here signified by the Terms of Flesh and Spirit, are so far from a Possibility of a real Separation one Sort from the other, as neither of them can subsist but in eodem subjecto with the other, and the Compositum which hath not all of them, is Imperfect. Chap. 8.1. They who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. This taken for a Humane Spirit or Soul, must intent the Reason or Intellect: And the Chapter goes in Terms of Flesh and Spirit, inducing Readers to accept them as different Principles, and thence Separable. Whereas we are ready to put the Stress of our Argument upon their being Joint-Principles of one Compositum, Man, which cannot consist without both. And, it seems, as he, Man, cannot subsist without them, so they not without one another: And so in a Compositum they are generated, grow, stand and fall together, one and all, the Soul, the Body, and the Compositum; and so they shall rise and be recompensed together. And what God hath so joined together in Bands of Nature, and absolute Coherence one of them to another. the Power of men's Wits and Persuasions will never be able finally to separate, or to evince their Subsistence in a State of Separation, one of them from the other, Matth. 26.41. Our Lord says to his sleeping Disciples, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak: intending the Body is often unable to act according to the Reason and Desire of the Mind, Judgement and Intent of the Man; and that Infirmity of Weakness and Weariness, is peculiar to the Flesh, thereby made unable to act with that Vigour and Continuance which the Soul acting in the fantasy and Reason of the Man, requires; and shows such Connexion of the Matter and Form, as (in the Man) one of them cannot act without the other. Rom. 8.10. The Body is dead because of Sin, but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness. 2 Cor. 7.1. Let us cleanse ourselves from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit. Galat. 3.3. Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the Flesh. Ch. 5.16. Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the Lust of the Flesh. Ver. 19 Works of the Flesh. Ver. 22. Fruits of the Spirit. Coloss. 2.11. Putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh. 1 Cor. 7.34. The unmarried Woman cares that she may be holy both in Body and in Spirit. Eph. 4.4. There is one Body and one Spirit. 1 Thess. 5.23. I pray your whole Spirit and Soul and Body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord. James 4.5. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. 1 Pet. 2.11. Beloved, I beseech you abstain from fleshly Lusts, which war against the Soul. Ch. 3.18. Christ was put to death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Ch. 4.1. He that suffers in the Flesh hath ceased from Sin, and must live the rest of his time in the Flesh, not to the Lusts of Men, but to the Will of God. 2 Pet. 2.10. Wicked Men walk after the Flesh, in Sins here named. Rom. 13.14. Make no Provision for the Flesh, to fulfil the Lusts thereof. 1 Cor. 6.20. Ye are bought with a Price, therefore glorify God in your Body, and in your Spirit, which are God's. These Texts, and their like, have a Sound or Semblance of Supposing a Separating Difference betwixt the Soul and the Body; whereas their true Signification seems to be, a Distinction between the Powers or Faculties of the Compositum, viz. those Vital, or the Vegetative and Sensual, from those Intellectual and Rational, viz. Man's Ambition, Covetousness, Lust, Wrath, and Fear, and their Descendants, from his Knowledge of Common Sense, his fantasy, Opinion, Reason, and Prudence. The first Sort of these Faculties and their Inclinations and Desires, are signified and intended under the Name and Term of Flesh: in S. John's Epistle, called the World. And the second Sort of these Humane Faculties are signified and intended under the Name and Term of the Spirit, or the Soul. But both Sorts are Fundamentally and even Inseparately united in the Nature of Man, or that which is the Compositum both of Soul and Body: Both Sorts are derived from the Conjunction of these two Principles or Constituent Parts of the Man, it seems, not singly, but each from the Whole, or the Compositum. Not the first Sort from the Flesh, and the second Sort from the Spirit, or Soul, really; for the Flesh by itself cannot live or act. And that a Soul by itself, either ever did, or that it can act, was questioned by Aristotle, and not found or believed by him. It hath been affirmed by some of our Authors quoted; but their Proofs offered are so weak as they appear very unlikely to persuade Considering People, who can put off their former Prejudices: Nor have they prevailed yet to induce a Belief, that the Soul cannot act those Faculties of the Second Sort but only in the Body, and by the Organs of it; so as the Soul cannot act them in any other Part of the Body, but only in those very Organs ordained by God and Nature for those Purposes, viz. not see, but in the Eyes; remember, but in the Memory; not understand, but in the Intellect: Any such Parts or Organs harmed or lost, the Soul can only work with what is left, or cannot work at all to those Purposes. Hence it seems these second Sort of Powers in Man, do not more proceed from the Soul than those of the first Sort do. The Soul in the Head, and Intellectual Organs there, produceth and acts the Intellectual Powers and Faculties of the Man; and the same Soul in the Vital Parts and Organs of the Body, produces and acts Affections, and Passions, and Sensual Appetites, which solicit the Judgement, that the Whole may be employed so far as may be needful for the Procuring their Satisfaction. And all these Repetitions tend to prove, that the terming these first sort of Faculties the Flesh, and the second sort of Faculties the Spirit, cannot reasonably be made an Argument inducing to believe an easy, natural, or feasible Separation of the Flesh and Spirit, and that one of them can have a Subsistence without the other. And thus we conclude the Examination of such Texts of Scripture as are alleged for Proofs of the Subsistence of a Humane Soul in a State of Separation from the Body.  
And we proceed to produce Arguments which work in Debilitation of such a Separate Subsistence of Souls. 

First, We say it seems a great Weakening of that Opinion, That there is not in the whole Bible to be found one Text which doth expressly affirm that the Soul of Man hath a Separate Subsistence after Death of the Man, nor that it is Immaterial or Immortal.  
Secondly, None of the Texts before quoted, nor any other, from which the Separate Subsistence is endeavoured to be proved, did principally intent the Teaching or Proving of the Doctrine: but all such Texts do principally aim at some other End or Design; and what is drawn from those Texts in Proof of this Point, is but Collateral to the Intent of such Texts, and rises only upon a Collection drawn from Inferences.   The Parable of Dives and Lazarus, Luke 16. looks most like a Design to that Purpose: And yet, Ver. 15. our Lord teaches, That what is highly esteemed amongst Men, is Abomination in the sight of God: And then speaks of the Power of the Law. And in Ver. 19 gins this Parable, intending thereby to dilucidate his Assertion of Ver. 15. that Men may be, and often are, greatly deceived in their Opinions concerning Things, and particularly in Judging of the Happiness of men's Conditions: for Illustration of which Doctrine, he places Dives in as high a Degree of Happiness as Men ordinarily do desire: He was richly arrayed, and fared sumptuously every day, and had Health withal. And Lazarus he puts down as low in Comparison: He was a Beggar, a Lazar, and full of Sores, who was brought and laid at Dives his Gate, and fed with the Crumbs that fell from his Table. Here was Dives his Condition highly esteemed and desired amongst Men: but he shown by the Sequel of the Parable, that it was abominated in the Sight of God; for the Poor Man was comforted, and Dives tormented. So as the Illustration of this Doctrine, seems to have been the main Intent of the Parable: and what is spoken of Discourse betwixt Abraham and Dives, and the seeing Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom afar off, seems like the Pomp of Dives and the Misery of Lazarus, not real, but parabolical, or Invention: Like the falling of the Seed, some amongst Thorns, some on a Rock, some upon one sort of Ground, and some upon another. A third Disability upon the Tenet of Separate Subsistence is, that in all our Evidences concerning the Resurrection, very copious and full, there is no mention of an Intermediate State betwixt the Man's Death and his Resurrection; nor concerning the Separate State of Humane Souls, or their being in that Estate, or Capacity of being in it. We may (to this purpose) look back upon 1 Cor. 15. If there be not a Resurrection, all Christian Religion is vain, our Preaching, and your Faith; Christians are of all Men most miserable; and you are yet in your Sins. Here appears no Help from the Separate Estate or Subsistence of a Soul, nor Mention of such a thing. And Ver. 18. All that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished, if there be no Resurrection. What then becomes of Souls subsisting in a State of Separation? It seems S. Paul knew nothing of such an Estate, or made small Account of it; or else (very likely) he would have made some mention of it. Phil. 3.20. Our Conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile Body, and make it like his glorious Body, according as he is able to subdue all things to himself. Here is no mention of Soul, but as in Conjunction with the Body; and Flesh is not a Body without a Soul: therefore the Soul in Conjunction is here intended; but no Room seems to be left here for a Separate Subsistence of Souls. 1 Pet. 1.4. We are begotten by the Resurrection of Christ, to an Inheritance in Heaven, ready to be revealed in the last Time. Ver. 9 Receiving the End of your Faith, even the Salvation of your Souls. Here Soul is mentioned, intended in Conjunction with the Body; Soul for Person. As Gen. 46.26. All the Souls which came with Jacob into Egypt; all the Souls were threescore and six: and the two Sons of Joseph were two Souls; as before hath been largely quoted. And the Apostle refers here to the Resurrection to be revealed in the last Time: Whence Body must be conjoined; and no mention of an intermediate State, or a Soul in that State. Chap. 5.4. Those who do well, when the chief Shepherd shall appear, shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away. 2 Tim. 4.8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord shall give me at that Day; and not to me only, but to them also that love his Appearing. Here is no Notice taken of intermediate Time, or Estate, but when the chief Shepherd shall appear, and at that Day. Coloss. 3.4. When Christ who is our Life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in Glory. 1 Joh. 3.2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. It seems he knew not of a Separate Subsistence of Souls, but expected to learn at the Appearance of Christ, what himself should be. Heb. 9.27. It is appointed unto Men once to die, and after this the Judgement. Nothing here betwixt Death and Judgement; and expounds his Meaning to be of the general Judgement. Ver. 28. Christ once offered for sin, shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation: viz. to execute the last Judgement. Jam. 1.12. Blessed is he that is tried, for he shall receive a Crown of Life. Chap. 9.8. Be patiented, establish your Hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; viz. repose yourselves upon that: without telling them that in the mean Time their Souls shall be happy in a State of Separation. We may say that in none of these Places, nor in any other Texts of Scripture, do we find mention of an Intermediate State betwixt that of Death, and that of the Resurrection, nor a State of Separation, or Self-subsistency of a Soul departed from the Body. We leave therefore that Apprehension or Opinion much enfeebled, through the Defect and Failure of such Testimonies as might reasonably have been expected to have been found on that behalf; and in a Case which may concern the Church to be rightly informed about. We believe that if such an Intermediate Estate there were, or such a Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul, the Scriptures in all these and other Places, would not be altogether silent concerning the same, as we have found them to be: And hence we conclude, the Opinions thus far impugned, are infirm, feeble, and not throughly maintainable by Arguments drawn from Nature and Reason, nor from Prudence and Moral Congruity, nor from Scripture and particular Texts of the same; but that all Proofs of it hitherto, drawn ex Causis, and from the Foundations thereof, do fail, and appear very insufficient for the Support of it. And hence we go on to propound some Arguments which may be drawn ab Effectu, or from the Consequences which arise upon this Doctrine of the Soul's Separate Subsistence after Death of the Man. And we say, That it is a Natural and Common Consequence of Error, to raise Dfficulties, lead to Absurdities, and create Inconveniences amongst Men: And for Truth and the Discoveries thereof, to dissolve Difficulties, and promote the Conveniences of Man and Nature. Now that the Doctrine of a Humane Soul's Immateriality and Separate Subsistence doth raise divers Difficulties which otherwise are needless, we propound as Evidence the Questions made by S. Austin, viz. Whether the Soul were One, and not Many; or Many, and not One? Or, That it be at once both One and Many? And he thought the Last most probable, though seemingly ridiculous. 

2. There are Difficulties concerning the Soul, a Parte ante, viz. Whence it comes, or how it is derived? Whether it pre-exist, or be newly created by God upon every successful Copulation, or be generated?  
3. If by New Creation; then When and How such New Souls are joined and incorporated with the generated Bodies?  
4. How these fresh and newly made Souls come to be contaminated and infected with Original Sin, derived by Procreation from Adam?   Next, there is Question, after Conjunction with the Body, Where such an Immaterial Soul resides in the Body? and then, How it acts there? Whether all in all, or all in every Part; or Part in one Place, and Part in another? And then, concerning such a Soul, a Parte post, viz. What becomes of it when the Man dies? Doth it slide into Dr. More's Receptacles in the Air, or into some appointed Limbus or Dormitory; or to some Places of Pleasure or Punishment, Paradise, Elysium, or Tartarum? or whether directly either to Heaven or Hell? or that there be a most frequented Purgatorium appointed for the Reception of them? These are some of the Difficulties raised from the Doctrine of an Immaterial and Self-subsisting Soul.  
We come next to some Absurdities whereunto Men are led by this Doctrine. First, It induces to assert and maintain, That God doth create a New Soul upon every Fruitful Coition of Man and Woman, be the same Lawful or not; and the same for all Humane Copulations with Beasts, where the Product is of a Humane Form: This Conceit, invented merely to shore up the Immateriality of the Soul, and to provide it a different Original from Generation, is neither agreeable to Reason, nor supported by any manner of Proof from Scripture; is disagreeable to the Common Sense of Mankind, incongruous to the Excellent Majesty of God, and to his Detestation of wicked Actions in Venery; contrary to that Text which says, God rested from his Works of the Creation: He gave over that sort of Work, and his own Son was generated. If God should be continually still employed in creating New Souls every Day all the World over, what Ceasing were this from his Works of Creation? This would not be true, that after the six Days he ceased from such Works. We say therefore, that this Indignous Employment of daily Creating Souls in such manner, and to make Wicked Coitions Effectual, is most unworthy of so Glorious and Pure an Agent, and therefore is a mere Fiction invented to support this Opinion only, and of no other Use in the World: grounded neither upon Scripture nor Reason, but opposed by both. So as it may be pronounced not only false and feigned, but grossly incongruous and absurd, in respect of the Agent, the Operation, and the Effect.  
Another Absurdity Men are apt to be led into by this Doctrine, is this; They do pretend, That after God hath thus newly created a Soul, which they say comes from his Hand, fresh, pure, and undefiled; she (poor Soul) is put or cast into the newly generated Body for which she was made. The Body infected and defiled with Original Sin derived from Adam, she is there presently infected with this contagious Disease, and soon becomes immersed in it; a Thing which this Young Soul can neither resist nor help; and there the much to be pitied Soul (say they) is kept as in a Cage or Prison, or like a Man fallen into a deep Pit, out of which he can by no means get: and then this Soul can know no more than what it learns from the Senses, and other Bodily Assistances; as one in a Pit sees no more of Light than that which comes in at the top of it. And thus this young, pure, and innocent Soul should be used by a merciful Creator, with an overgreat, and very deplorable, and unreasonable, and most unlikely Measure of Cruelty and Rigour, that God should so use an innocent Soul, by himself newly created, there is neither Sense nor Reason for Men to believe; nor is there a Word or Text in Scripture from whence it can be derived: And the whole Progress seems so incongruous and absurd, as (being rightly and impartially surveyed) may reasonably create Wonder in those who shall peruse the Maintainers of Immateriality upon this Point or Subject, that they could believe what they have written, or could write such gross Things and put them into Men's Hands to read, if themselves had not believed them. It seems the Writers, rather did believe them, led thereto by the Prejudices and Common Reception of this Opinion of the Immateriality of Souls, which they believed might best be defended by such Inventions as these.  
And, to add yet another Instance in this Kind, it may be remembered, That upon this Dispute it hath been said, A Material Soul in Man, could not so act in his Senses, Affections, fantasy, and Memory, as we find to be done; and therefore this Soul must needs be Immaterial. To this it was replied, That all these Faculties were acted by a Material Soul in some Beasts, and to as great Degrees of Perfection as they are in some Men. Pressed with this Replication, four of our Authors (who handle this Point) divide themselves; and two of them go one way, and two another, directly contrary each Party to the other: For Dr. More and Mr. Baxter do agree the Force of the Replication, and confess, that the Beasts are acted in all these Faculties by their Souls; but that those Souls are such as have Degrees of Rationality in them, and do subsist after the Beasts Death, and do not die together with the Beasts, as Solomon, and the World sine him, have imagined. The other two, viz. Des Cartes and Sir K. Digby. fly to another Extreme, and say, That Beasts are so far from having such Souls, or any Degrees of Rationality, as that themselves do not know why, or what they do, nor that they do any thing, nor that they are Voluntary Agents, or have any Design in, or Knowledge of, what they do; but they act like Machine's, or Motions framed by Art; and are acted by Heat and Cold, Rarity or Density; a Turgency of their Blood and Humours, and a Pricking and Promptitude in their Bodies and Members to Actions: but that they have neither Affections, Knowledge, Fantasies, Memories, or the like; nor Knowledge, nor Will, in any thing that they do. Of these two Pretences, it seems the Former may pass better than the Latter; but both of them appear so incongruous and unsuitable to Nature, to Reason, and to Expressions of Scripture, as they justly fall under a Suspicion of Absurdity; and how well they deserve to come under that Denomination, shall be left to the Judgement of indifferent Persons: But clear it is that these Proposals or Pretences were devised, and are maintained, in Subserviency to the Immateriality of Souls, and the Support of that Opinion only; and serve to no other Use, Intent or Purpose whatsoever.  
The Inconveniences arising from the Opinion of the Soul's Immateriality, may be divers; as from the Allowance of one mistaken Principle for a Truth, many Fallacies do thence grow, both quickly and strongly: From the Opinion of this Separate Subsistence, in Saul, sprang his going to a Witch, that so he might come to speak with, and inquire of Samuel: And the Devil appearing, fortifies Saul in this Opinion, by his circumventing Question, viz. Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? intimating thereby himself to be the true Soul of Samuel subsisting in a Separated Estate. And this Opinion is the only Foundation and Support of Souls in Purgatory, of Prayers for Souls, and Prayers to Saints; which can have no Common Sense in them, if Souls do not subsist in a State of Separation. And yet it is wonderful to consider, what a Force and Strength there is in a long-fostered Opinion and Custom: so that even though Men were convinced of a Souls Materiality and Extinguishing with the Death of the Man, yet it may not be certain, that all would be drawn from those long-believed and practised Vanities: And yet those obstinate Retainers of their Old Customs must naturally and surely be convinced of all, and be judged of all others who do apparently perceive the Error of that Practice. From the Original of Self-subsisting Souls arises the Opinion of Souls Walking (as it is called) and Infesting Houses and Places in an extraordinary Manner; which in the more dark Popish Times, are reported to have been very usual and even common; but of later Times have lost their Credit very much, and are now rarely spoken of, and little believed. And whatever was true concerning them, may be reasonably imputed to the grand Impostor and his subservient Spirits, seeking to deceive, subvert and devour: These may have acted the Parts of Souls, as the Witches Samuel did that of the Prophet; or as the late ones did of the Robin Goodfellows, or the Fairies, in darker Times: And so the Heathens (holding a Separately Subsisting Soul) had their Penates, their Genii, and Lemures, and their Separated Souls appearing upon Occasions, and sometimes helping in Distresses. Also some Dreams to such Purposes are recorded in Histories of Primitive Christian Times, but they were only Dreams; and for such we pass all Appearances or Actings of Souls departed, viz. either for Dreams, or the Acts and Agencies of Spirits, more often of the bad, but many times of the good Spirits also; of the one sort to deceive and oppress, of the other sort to instruct and protect, as was done to the Apostles imprisoned, and to Peter in paricular. Another Inconvenience may be added, viz. A Practice of divers Protestant Preachers, who persuade their Trading Auditors to drive a Christian Trade, as the most gainful Mart and Bargain, and to follow Christ for the Loaves and Profit that may be expected by his Faith and Service. For, Beloved, (say they) what shall he profit who gains the whole World, and loses his own Soul, viz. himself, Soul and Body. True. Well then (say they) follow our Directions, and though Twenty per Cent. be fair Profit, and to have Cent. per Cent. Men will venture themselves and what they have to the Indies: You shall have (by our Directions) a far greater Profit, and a more gainful Bargain: your Precious Souls, shall from your Bed of Death, be transported by Angels into Abraham 's Bofom, to a State of Happiness and Eternity: and for this you have the Warrant of God's Word, which cannot deceive any who confide and rely upon it. This Mode of Direction may have a Twofold Inconvenience. First, It may not be true, that men's Souls go to Heaven at the Time of the Man's Death, nor at all, without the Body. Secondly, It seems to make men's Service to God, mercenary; principally induced by a Desire of Gain and Reward, even built upon that Foundation, quickened and supported by that Consideration; an Inducement sordid and mechanical, and of Force primely, if not only, with such People. It seems an Alloy of base Metal put to the Gold of a pure Christian Profession, That God is a Rewarder of all who serve him, is a Scriptural, Rational, and Natural Truth: but, that Services leveled at the Reward, and done only, or chief, for the Rewards sake, are acceptable to him, there may be good Reason to deny, from the Authority of Job's Case, largely reported to us. The Devil accuses him of this Enormity: (Says he) Doth Job serve God for nought? Nay, thou hast bribed him to it by thy Blessings. Intending, He would serve me, if I would, and were able so to reward him. It cost Job a most severe Trial to wipe off this Aspersion; and God was pleased he should undergo it to that Intent, and gave him the Victory in it. He will not have his Servants work like Hirelings, the Eyes of whose Minds are leveled at, and fixed upon their Wages; nor will suffer that Accusation to be believed, or stand fixed as a Calumny upon them: They shall have Rewards becoming the Nobleness and Grandeur of their Master. But, for Men to be moved and directed to serve God for Rewards of any Sort or Value whatsoever, seems Debasement to the Profession and Practice of Christianity. And we leave it as an Inconveniency drawn from, or very much improved by the Conceit, That men's precious Souls have a Subsistence in a Separate State from their Bodies; and that upon their Separation they pass to Heaven immediately. Hence we pass,  
And come to show, how the Opinion of a Soul's Materiality doth serve to the Solving of such Difficulties as are raised by the Belief of a Soul's Separated Subsistence. And First, If the Soul be Material, it takes away all Ground of Questioning its being One, or Many; since being generated and extinguished with the Body, as the Constituent Form of the Man, it can be no more Many than the Body or the Person is so. 

2. The Tenet of the Soul's being generated or propagated, answers or silences all the Difficulties raised, a Parte ante, concerning the Soul, touching its Original or Derivation: And there can be neither Need of, nor Truth in the Pre-existence, or continual New Creation of Souls.  
3. It removes the Query, How Souls and Bodies come to be United.  
4. It gives a clear Account of the Souls being contaminated with Original Sin, as well, and as much, as the Body is so.   Next for the Soul's Residing in the Body, and Acting in it: The Soul, being Material, possesseth the Whole, and resides sparsim in every Member and small Parcel of it: The glowing and inflamed Blood carries the Vigour and Virtue of the Flame of Life to every least Parcel of the Body, and thereby is every such Part enlivened and acted according to its Capacity and the Intent for which it was made: whence it is neither All in Every Place, nor All in Any Place; but possesses the whole Body, and supplies and acts every Member and Parcel, as hath been before described. And thence the Opinion of the Soul's Materiality removes all Difficulties concerning the Soul, a Parte post, viz. the Questions, Wither it goes, and What becomes of it? and What it doth, or can do, or suffer, after its Separation from the Body?  
The Opinion of the Soul's Materiality doth also deliver from all the Absurdities beforenamed: for then there can be no Need for, or a Pretence of, a New Creation of Souls, which grow out of Nature and Generation: nor will there be any need of using Young Innocent Souls with so great and unreasonable Rigour, or making their Bodies the Cages or Prisons of them: nor will there be any need of Ascribing to Beasts Pre-existent and Separately Subsisting Souls: Nor for the depriving them of Senses, Memory, Affections, and Knowledge, which naturally and evidently they have, and so knownly, as it seems absurd to aver the contrary. But than it may be said, This will make the Souls of Men and Beasts to be of the same Nature, and equal Expectations. The first of these we grant, but the second we deny: Of the same Nature we grant, as well as they are in their Bodies, the same sort of Flesh, Bones, Blood, Breath, Spirits, Urine, Humours, and Life; and the same sort of Soul, or Living Flame, supporting and acting in every Part and Member of their Bodies, but not of equal Expectations: And yet the Difference arises not from Nature, but from the declared Disposal and Appointment of God, who hath appointed a Day in which he will Judge the World in Righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained; Whereof be hath given Assurance unto all Men, in that he hath raised him from the Dead. This Appointment of God, that Men shall be raised from the Dead, and judged, and rewarded according to their Works, and their Lives led here upon Earth, is the Cause and Original of that Difference which shall be between the Future State of Men and Beasts. This Resurrection is evidently declared to be designed for Men, without mention of Beasts; and therefore we may say, and not for Beasts, One Sort shall rise to give Account and receive Recompense for their Works, and the other not. And this is the Ground for different Expectations of Men and Beasts, as well as it answers the Arguments for a Separate State of Souls, drawn from the accepted Rules of Moral Congruity amongst Men. Hence are the Rewards of a true Christian Profession derived; and hence may all Arguments for a Separate Subsistence of Souls be better answered, upon the Principles of Christian Religion, than they can be from Reason, Nature, or the Principles of any other Religion whatsoever.   

We go on to consider, How the Inconveniences derived from the Opinion of a Separated Subsistence of Souls, may be removed, or helped by the Acceptance of the Soul's Materiality. And if so it be, and therefore extinguished by Death of the Man, Men will not attempt upon utter Impossibilities, viz. to Raise or Consult the Spirits of Dead Men, when they know that in Nature there is no such Spirit. And for Purgatory, and Prayers to the Dead, and for the Dead, remove but the Opinion of a Separate Subsistence of Souls, and change it for the Materiality and Extinguishment of them, and this Change will presently remove Purgatory, as useless, and to no Purpose: because there will be nothing in the World for it to work upon. All its Pretence is for the Purging of Separated Souls; and if really there are no such in the World, then can there be no Use, no more than there is a real Being of Purgatory; then for Prayers to the Dead, who in Life were Holy Persons or Saints, if their Souls were Material, and in Death extinguished, what can there be lest for Addressing of Prayers unto, but only men's own Fantasies and Imaginations, and Ancient Practices and Customs, which have a very strong Operation upon men's Opinions, and yet hardly so potent, as to justify to men's ordinary Reason the Addressing of Prayers to Persons who they are convinced have utterly no Subsistence at all. And Prayers for the Dead, would upon the same Account become as needless and unsuccessful as the former: For if there be no Souls to pray out of Purgatory, nor any thing, in Rerum Natura, for which Prayers can be applied, it must appear utterly against Common Sense and Reason for Men to pray for Things that are not, or for nothing. And, it seems, if Men were once so persuaded, they would never practise or use such unreasonable Ceremonies in any time to come. As for the Conceit of Souls appearing or Walking after Death of the Persons, if Men could bring themselves to believe that there are no Separately Subsisting Souls in the World, they would need no more for their Cure, and putting them out of Conceit with that Vain Apprehension.  
Finally, It seems that if our Preachers in Cities, burgh's, and such as we call Good Towns, and Trading Places, did apprehend there were no Separate Subsistence of Souls, said to be departed, they would much abate of their Pressures usually made upon the Score and Title of Men's precious Souls; and they would not so clearly neglect and forget, if not despise the Body, as they commonly appear to do. We see them fully joined together in Life, and that they arise, grow, stand, decay, and fall together: And we read, much and often, that they shall rise, be judged, and be rewarded together, without any one express Averment, that either of them doth, ever did, or can subsist without the other. Hence it appears not very sound in them to build their Persuasions to Christian Piety upon Ground so Sandy as the Separate Subsistence of Souls seems to be; especially considering they have a Rock so near to them as that of the Resurrection hath been proved. Next we say, That if they did believe the Rewards of Piety were so far off, as to the time of the Resurrection, and not to be expected till the Soul and Body should be reunited: likely it is, they would run a little less hotly upon the serving God mainly, at least, and primely, if not only for the Rewards expected, and the Gain and Advantage Men hope to make of a Bargain so prudently driven for their Benefit. Men who in their Service look only or principally at their Rewards or Wages, are apt to choose, not the best so soon as the most liberal Master; a bounteous, though wicked, rather than a frugal, though honest Master. And if a Master of Servants find some who serve only, or principally for the Wages; and others who though they need and expect the Wages, yet serve hearty, and not as Men-pleasers, but out of Love to their Master, and a Desire to please him, and render themselves acceptable to him: We say a Master to whom this Proceeding is undoubtedly known, cannot fail to make a great Difference in Account and Esteem of such Servants, and their Rewards may be expected enough to give a clear Testimony of the same. Baxter, in his Quoted Book, Pag. 34. & 35. says, It is certain and proved, that God made it every Man's chief Duty and Care, and Work, in this Life, to obtain Happiness hereafter. And yet I cannot grant him this confident Assertion; but do say, That the Chief End of Man's Creation was not to obtain Happiness of any sort. That was not the End or Scope of the Creation of Man or any other Creature: Not made chief to obtain or seek their own Good, Joy, Content, or Ease; but for the Glory and Service of God, and the fulfilling of his Will, Things of much greater Importance than the Happiness or Sufferings of Creatures, Beasts or Men. And so as they serve God's Will, and effect his Glory, the Design of their Creation is therein more fully and perfectly accomplished, than if they should otherwise have obtained all the Happiness which their Natures are capable of: And they have the Advantage of doing and bearing freely the Things and Duties appointed for them, which otherwise must however be accomplished by them and upon them. Our Lord teaches, That when Men have done their uttermost, they are but unprofitable Servants; and therefore their Rewards must come ex Gratia, not ex Debito, or by way of Stipulation, in the Mode of a gainful Bargain. And it seems, the Conceit, that the Happiness of the Creatures is the great or main Design of their being or acting, is a clear Mistake, in a main Point, and of very great Importance in the Oeconomy of the World, and Disposal of the Creatures in it, whose Sufferings shall never be undeserved, nor can be very considerable in comparison of their Design, viz. the Service of God, the fulfilling of his Will, and the Advancement of his Glory: And the Serving to these Ends or Designs, is every Man's chief Duty, and aught to be the Care and Work of his Life; much to be preferred before his own obtaining of Happiness hereafter; although that is no way excluded or weakened: for it is a certain Concomitant or Consequent of such Performances, though not the main Design or Intent of them. For God is not unrighteous, to forget men's Works and Labour of Love which they show to his Name: And certainly they thought so, who sold all they had, and delivered the Money to be divided and distributed to others, every one as his Need required. Our Lord directs, Seek first the Kingdom of God, and leave the Care of your Rewards to him. They are no Debts from God, whatsoever Preachers may call them, who sometimes say, God hath obliged his Word and his Truth to make them good, and to pay them accordingly: And he who labours in the Vineyard shall be sure of the Wages. They ought to remember the Ground of that Expression was but a Parable or Similitude, a Sandy Ground for Doctrines to be built upon. And whatsoever other Expressions are found in Scripture to that Purpose, may pass for Condescensions to the Weakness of Men. Paul tells us, God that made the World, and all things in it, derives not Worship from men's Hands or Actions, as if he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all, Life, and Breath, and all things. Whence, he who gives all things to all Men, cannot be made a Debtor to any: since no Man hath any thing which he hath not received from God, who cannot be made a Debtor for his own. When the Servants who had employed their Talents, came to Account, they delivered up both the Principal and the Product, without Pretence to Wages or Hire; and yet they were not the less, but very highly rewarded. Rom. 4.4. To him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of Grace, but of Debt: And therefore Christian Righteousness consists in Faith, always productive of suitable Works. So our Service to God, in fulfilling his Will, is always productive of Rewards suitable to the Greatness and Goodness of our Lord and Benefactor, as the Proceed of his own Bounty and Goodness; not paid as Wages, nor suiting with men's Work, nor in discharge of a Debt, nor upon a Compensatory Account, but ex certa Scientia, & mero Motu. He knows the Person loved and feared him, and had a perfect Heart towards him, and therefore laboured to keep his Commandments and all that he hath appointed, and to glorify his Name, and fulfil his Will: Great Rewards are as sure the Consequences of such Performances, as good Works are of a true and lively Faith; one can by no means be without the other; and where the one is not, the other cannot grow, nor is reasonably to be expected. Performances of Duty for Hire, or in Expectation chief of the desired Wages, is Servile and Mercenary; without Cheerfulness in the Servant, or Regardfulness in the Master; and we will not pretend to determine what may be the Effect of such an Expectation: But whatsoever that may be, we are sure that whoso serves God for Love, and thence principally fears to offend; that serves God for Duty, and with Desire, casting Rewards into the lowest Degrees of his Consideration, is in the most certain Way to attain them. We read of generous Persons who have preferred the Good of other Men before their own Happiness. Moses prays to be blotted out of God's Book, or Catalogue of the Blessed, for Preservation of his Nation. And, Rom. 9 St. Paul could wish that himself were accursed from Christ, for his Brethren and Kinsmen according to the Flesh. Our Men seem to be of other Minds, they prefer the Reward, their own Happiness, above all other things. They profess indeed to love God as Men ought to do, but yet they make it every Man's chief Duty, and the Care and Work of his Life, to obtain Happiness hereafter; terminating their Duties in their own Happiness, or the Rewards expected for their Service of God; and are taught to count God their Debtor upon Promises made in his Word, as for Wages due and stipulated between two Parties. What can Men imagine of Men so set upon Gain, or the Gain of Godliness, but that if there were a Being which ' could give greater Wages, and would offer larger Hire, such Chapmen would go over to the fairest Bidder; and as they hoped to obtain the most gainful Bargain, Consideratis considerandis. But Rules of Nature, or Grace, teach not this Practice, viz. to love for Hire, or serve God for Rewards; but to love God for his Excellency and Beneficence; to serve him well, because that is the most Perfect Freedom, and the best Employment that the World affords; to seek his Glory as our own Happiness, and greatest Exaltation; to prise his Acceptance more than his Rewards, and to esteem his Rewards more highly, for being Effects and Assurances of his Favour, than for the other Benefits which we may reap from them: This manner of Proceeding creates a Freedom in Service, and makes that our Choice which is our Duty, and cannot fail of obtaining one of those Crowns which are laid up, and to be distributed at the Last Day, not as a Debt, Wages, or Hire, but as an Effect of God's Bounty, Liberality, and Love. But perhaps Men of Trade, brought up to seek Advantages in Bargains, may better relish to have God made Debtor upon his Word and Book, than to rely upon the Excellent Goodness of his Nature or being. It may be they are not capable of so high a Principle; to their own therefore, of Wages, Hire, and a Book-debt, we leave them, with Advice not to be overhasty in their Expectations, for fear of being put off by their misunderstood, or miscalled Debtor to a farther Day, viz. that of the Resurrection: And however that may seem some Disappointment to them, yet it will be without Cause or Power to complain of his so doing. And the very Opinion that it will so fall out, may go in Abatement of such men's Expectations, and take them something off that Eagerness which they have, or make Show to have, in Matters of Religion; and whereby they are too often troublesome to Government, and the quiet State of their Neighbours, and such as otherwise have Occasion to converse with them: If they can believe that their Hire, Wages, or Debt, shall not be paid till the Resurrection, and that all then shall be called and paid off together, as it is in the Parable; it seems, they will more easily be persuaded to put off all Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, etc. concerning which, heavy Charges have been laid upon them, and Accusations have been brought against them, which we wish may be found Mistakes, and not so well grounded as hath been by their Accusers pretended. This Inconvenience of eagerly expecting a sudden Transportation to Heaven in State of a Separated Soul, was the last in our Examination propounded; and we have so gone through it, as to bring it to an End, though likely not to a Determination: but however it fall our, we do mean to take, and use it, as an End and Termination of our present Argument and Enquiry concerning the Soul; and here fix our Pillars, with the Inscription upon them, of a Ne plus ultra.  
As to the Conclusions inferrible from, or upon this Argument, or any particulars of it, we leave them to be drawn up and inferred by the  Perusers of the same: And because we doubt whether any such there are, all Men, and the Arguer himself amongst them, having been nursed, taught, and educated in the Opinion and Belief of the Immortality and Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul, we desire this Treatise may fall into, or under the Examination of the Prudent, who can consider the Force of Prejudice, and will make it Part of their Endeavour to lay aside or weaken (in what they can) the Power of such Prejudice, which will otherwise take from them the true Denomination of Just and Equal Judges, and make them Partial ones, a Quality condemnable in any who shall be made, or shall make themselves Judges. We wish those Desires which induced the Search and the Communicating this Product, may accompany the Perusers of it, viz. a Desire to find out the Truth in this Point, and a Willingness to weigh and consider patiently the proposed Arguments, and to endure the Contradiction they will certainly offer to the Bend or Assurance of their Opinions in this Point, long since accepted, and hitherto fostered without any former Doubt or Hesitation concerning the same. Judge's thus qualified are such as we desire; and to such we offer the Perusal of this Argument intended for their Examination, and willingly to be put under their Censures; and for that of other People, we shall rest indifferent, and under Expectation of a great and general Contradiction, such as many Truths have met with in the World, upon the first Proposals made of them, and seems naturally incident to all like Undertake: Whence Men must either stifle or smother their Ideas of Truth, putting such Lights under a Bushel, or covering them with some other Vessel, or putting them under a Bed, or into some other secret Place, without daring to set them upon a Candlestick, and expose them to the View of the World, that their Light may be examined; or else they must be exposed, or even expose themselves to the Violences of inveterate Prejudices, and indiscreet Surmises of mistaking, and impotent, and Passionate Judges, made by the publishing and making themselves so by their sudden Censuring and Condemning the Tenet and Design, before they have half perused, or in any measure weighed, the Grounds or Reasons offered or alleged in the Behalf of it. It is truly told us, that though Light be offered to the World, yet Men may love an Old and Accustomed Darkness better than a New and Unaccustomed Light. And yet Men seem encouraged, or even pressed to undergo the Trial, by what follows, viz. He who doth the Truth, cometh to the Light, that his Deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. Hence, he whoso fears to bring his Works to the Light, as to put them rather in a secret Place and smother them, seems convinced, or under a strong Suspicion that they are not wrought in God. For he who doth Truth, comes willingly to the Light for the Manifestation of his Deeds: And we would have it taken, and accepted, as the true and only Design of making this Argument public; believing it a Discovery of Truth, wrought in God, without any crooked Bias or Design; and not unfit or improper to be set upon a Candlestick, that Men may have Opportunity to see and discover, and to examine its Light, viz. the Truth of it, and may use it accordingly.  
Having made such Search after Souls as we are able, we go on to inquire concerning other Spiritual Operations in Man. And do say, that we have taken the Occasion of this Enquiry from the Book before-cited, called Richard Baxter's Dying Thoughts: Perusing what he said there concerning the Soul, I met with Doctrines about the Operations of God's Spirit acting in Man, such as were very different from my own Apprehensions; and thereupon entered into a Design of enquiring farther into the Truth of what there is asserted; and to approve, or endeavour to confute, what we there met with, concerning this Subject, as it shall appear agreeable to Truth, or otherwise deviating from, or opposite unto the same. Page 47. He says, This Spirit works in all Believers, and either in them only, or eminently above all others. Pag. 48. But this is not discoverable to those who have had a pious Education, and have pursued that Course from, their Youth: They cannot discover the Spirit's Renovation in themselves, but are left to make such Discovery of Renovation in others, who have been changed from Evil to Good. Without Christ's Spirit we can do nothing, and better have no Souls than be void of that Spirit. Hereupon I observe, That those who cannot discern this sort of Spirit working in themselves, seem to be very incompetent Judges of its working in other People, or of knowing that such Change was wrought by that Spirit. They may guests, and mistake: but we deny that they can know it. We agree that no Man can act any thing without God's Assistance: for in him we live, move, and have our Being. We cannot do a good Work, nor any Work without him; and our Dependence is upon him, both for Life and Action. And this Divine Energy Men may call the Spirit of God, within us: But we deny that this is peculiar to Believers more than to other People, although it seem often confounded, with the Holy Spirit of God, and of Christ.  
Pag. 49 He says, Heaven is the Sum and End of all the Spirit's Operations, viz. Man's Salvation purchased by Christ, and given by Covenant: Take up the Cross, forsake all, and follow me, and thou shalt have Reward in Heaven. For this he quotes Luke 14. Ver. 26. & 33. The Words are, Those who do not forsake all cannot be Christ's Disciples. And he quotes Luke 18.22. where the Words are, Sell all and distribute, and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven. How far these Words prove his Assertion, we leave to Judgement. It follows, God sends his Spirit to good Purposes, and to illuminate and make Holy: And we grant, where it comes, it doth so. But to know where, or in whom this Holy Spirit resides, will be the Difficulty between us. Pag. 50. He quotes 16 Texts of Scripture to prove God hath promised this Spirit to Believers in a Special Manner. I have perused them all, and do not find one of them come home to his Assertion, viz. That God will give to all Believers his Spirit in a Special Manner. And yet, that they are all under the Conduct of that Spirit, and are moved and led thereby, we do grant; but do say, that it works generally by Natural Ways and Means of Illuminating the Understandings of Men, and their Faculties of Perception, inclining their Judgements, and thereby their Wills, regulating their Affections, quieting their Passions, subduing all to the Obedience of Christ, by Natural, and therefore Imperceptible Working in them, upon them, and by them; so as the Working may not be perceptible to themselves, or others who converse them: But the prime or sole Appearance of this ordinary Conduct of God's Spirit must be sought for and found, in the Fruits, not in the Leaves, the Bustling Noise, or Rattling Professions, or Contending about, or for Religion. Galat. 5.22. Gives us a Catalogue of these Fruits. The Fruit of the Spirit, is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance. Where these Fruits grow and flourish, and the Works of the Flesh here mentioned whither and die, Men have great Reason to conclude the Person so walking, is under the Conduct of God's Holy Spirit; because it is beyond Humane Power to produce these Effects, without the Divine Assistance, or Aids from Heaven; and thus we join with our Author at the Journeys End, although we travel in different Roads towards it. We both say, God's Spirit conducts and leads Believers in a particular Manner; but we do not agree about the Manner. I say, The ordinary Working of God's Spirit, is by Natural Means, perfecting and regulating the Man's Powers and Actions, till they arrive to a Conformity with their highest Intention, and the Will and Appointment of God, unperceivably in the Operation or Conduct, both to other People, or even to the Party upon whom this Grace is bestowed; for that it is Naturally effected, and so without any violent or perceptible Motion, or Action; and therefore cannot be known but by the Evidence of Fruits. Our Author, By God's Spirit gives to Believers in a Special Manner (agreeing in general with those of his Practices) doth intent such a perceivable and vigorous Working of God's Spirit in Men, as excites their Zeal and Concernment for the Gospel-Interest, and what they believe tendent and conducing to the Glory of God; although in their Proceed to such Purposes, there appear neither Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, nor Meekness; and although there do appear Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, and such like. This Tenet I pretend to oppose, as an Erroneous and Dangerous Doctrine, opposing our Lord's Direction; By their Fruits ye shall know them. The Pharisees and Jewish Nation of Christ's Time, were as zealous for God and his Law, as the most Devoted of our Time can show themselves for the Gospel: Their Hatred to him grew the most apparently, from his not strictly observing the Sabbath Day, and not Washing before Meat, and other Religious Practices then used; and his Pretending to introduce a New Mode of Religion different from that given by God at Mount Sinai. But they proceeded in Opposition by Unjust and Faulty Methods, viz. Violent Oppression, not agreeing with their Law, False Accusations and Witnesses, Barbarous Exclamations of, Crucify him, Crucify him; though they had not proved, nor the Judge found any Evil in him. By these Fruits the Jewish Zealots might safely and certainly be Judged. Of whom St. Paul bears witness, That they had a Zeal to God, [seems true and unfeigned,] but not according to Knowledge: They held the Truth in Unrighteousness, and practised the doing of Evil that Good might come. And by like Fruits any Persons may be known, and that they have not the Spirit of God, how eager Pretenders soever to the same they be.  
We do also agree with our Author, and those of his Mode, That the Spirit of God hath in many or all Ages, moved and acted People in a very perceivable Manner; and most eminently, during the Infant Times, or Beginning of the Christian Doctrines and Church. Acts 20. The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City, saying, that Bonds and Afflictions abide me. As if the Spirit of Prophecy were very frequent among them. Galat. 3.5. He that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh Miracles amongst you, doth he it by the Law? And by Laying on of the Apostles Hands (in Nature of a Confirmation) the Holy Ghost was frequently given. And at the Conversion of Cornelius, The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word. And at their first Pentecost, The Holy Ghost appeared in a visible Sign, and sat upon every one of the Disciples, and they spoke with Tongues, as the Spirit gave them Utterance: not able to use another Tongue at that Time. So Cornelius his Guests spoke with Tongues, and magnified God. At Ephesus, upon Laying on of Paul's Hands, the Holy Ghost fell upon his Converts, and they spoke with Tongues and Prophesied. These Texts are Evidences, that these eminent and visible Actings of the Holy Ghost, upon the Disciples of those Times, were very frequent and usual, attended with the miraculous Effects of Prophesying, Speaking with Tongues, and Healing Diseases, Casting out of Devils, &c 1 Cor. 12.4. There are Diversities of Gifts, but the same Spirit; Healing, Miracles, Prophecy, Tongue: also Wisdom, Knowledge, and Faith. The three later, Men cannot with any Clearness and Certainty discern; but the sour former give Testimony to men's Senses that they are wrought by the Spirit and Power of God; for that none of them are Effects of Natural Powers. And when Men behold them done in their Presence, they are ready to fall down and worship God, and report, That God is truly in such Actors, and that these are the Effects of God's Spirit in them. This sort of eminent and perceivable Endowment with God's Spirit, was very frequent and general in the Apostolic Times; but in Future Times it diminished, decayed, ceased, and finished, by Degrees: And for many Hundreds of Years, we have seen, or believed no Evidences that have been given us, whereby the same should be perceived. We have heard indeed, and read divers Relations and Pretences to that Purpose, but never saw or believed any to be Real and Convincing Evidences, that any Men since the Primitive Ages of the Christian Church, have been endowed with God's Spirit, in this Eminent and Perceivable or Extraordinary Manner: The Evidences of which, are the Miraculous Effects and Operations expected plainly to be manifested for Confirmation of that Opinion or Pretence. Whence we require these two Sorts of Proofs, from Men pretending to have God's Spirit in a Special or Peculiar Manner; viz. If they pretend to the Ordinary Imperceptible Operations of that Spirit upon them; we demand Evidence by the Fruits before specified: If they reply, You shall hear us Pray and Preach Ex tempore with great Vehemency, and without Hacking or Extravagancy; and this we propose to all that hear us, as a Supernatural Power, and an Evident Effect and Operation of God's Spirit. We agree this to be somewhat Extraordinary, when Really and Truly Performed; but withal do say, Such Power is attainable by the Industry and Practice of Man. And of that we give Instance, out of Socrates his History, Lib. 7. Cap. 2. where Atticus was made Patriarch of Constantinople, about An. Christi 410. He was a Man of mean Learning, but of Godly Life, and great Wisdom, and became a painful Student, and spent the greater Part of his Night in Reading, and became so learned, as no Sophistry could puzzle him. First, viz. As soon as he was made Priest, he framed Sermons, and with great Labour learned to repeat them without Book, and by Diligence and Exercise, became so expert, that he came to Preach ex tempore, and his Manner of Teaching was very plain. See here an Ancient Father of the Church, obtaining this Faculty of Preaching ex tempore by Diligence and Exercise (without Pretence or Mention that it was a particular Operation of God's Spirit.) We see this Gift may be obtained therefore by Nature; assisted with God's ordinary Concurrence requisite to the perfecting of all Man's Designs; and therefore it may not pass with us for an undoubted sort of Proof, that Persons, so able, and so doing, are therefore endowed with the Spirit of God in a Special and Particular Manner. And we say farther, That this Faculty of Praying and Preaching, is none of those mentioned in S. Paul's Catalogue for Fruits of the Spirit; nay, and that it is consistent with, and often serviceable to, the Works of the Flesh. We refuse then to admit this Faculty for a Proof that the Actors are Specially endowed with God's Spirit; and call for such Fruits as St. Paul hath specified to us, as Evidences that God's Spirit resides Specially in Particular Persons, working in them in his ordinary Imperceptible and Natural Way, proceeding by the Enlightening their Perceptive Faculties, inclining their Judgements, and so their Wills, regulating their Affections, quieting their Passions, and subduing all to the Rules of Christ's Gospel, and Observance of all that is there declared and enjoined. And as to the eminent or extraordinary, or perceptible Endowment with God's Spirit, like those in the Apostles Times, and some next Ages to them, we expect that all who pretend to be so end owed, shall prove and manifest the same by their Miraculous Operations. Let us see or hear them Prophesy, speak with Tongues unlearnt, heal the Sick, cast out Devils, cleanse Lepers, raise the Dead, or do some Things that may be like these, and clearly above the Power of Nature to perform; and less or other Evidence, will not be admitted as Proof that any Person is endowed with God's Holy Spirit, in such an extraordinary and perceptible Manner, as People used frequently to be in the Apostolical Times, and the Ages next unto them: And an Instance shall be cited of those Ages next after the Apostles, viz. Euseb. Hist. Lib. 6. Cap. 8. Narcissus became Bishop of Jerusalem, about Anno Christi 190. in the Vigils of Easter, the Christians then used to be in Nocturnal Celebrations in the great Church, Oil was not provided enough to nourish the Lamps, at which Defect the Multitude complained and grieved, the Bishop also troubled, commands the Officers, to fetch Water out of the next Well, and when it was brought, he prayed over it, than bade them pour it out into the Lamps, and the Water changed into Oil, and served the Lamps as Liquor of that Nature: and a small Quantity was (for the Miracles sake) reserved by many of the Brethren a long while after. This, says our Author (who wrote about Anno 340.) is come to us by Tradition from one to another: And being a Tradition so Ancient, and of a Time reputed more Innocent than the Present, is here repeated as an Evidence, that the Power and Spirit of God did work, did then work miraculously amongst them in the Church: And except we see such Signs and Wonders, we shall not be able to believe that any amongst us have the Spirit of God in such extraordinary Manner as the Apostolic Times and Men had it, in a Manner perceptible to the Parties themselves, or to any others who shall converse with them. And this settles the Case betwixt the Author and me; and shows where the Difference of Opinions sticks. He intends the Church now hath that Power of the Spirit which is perceptible to the Party's own self, and to others, such as was in the Apostolic Times, and which I call Extraordinary. This I deny; and the Proof lying upon his Hand, it seems he ought to make the same Proof of it in these Times that was wont to be made in those Times, viz. Miraculous Operations, such as are above the Power of Man's Nature of itself to perform: Instead of which, he endeavours to conclude upon us with Quotations of some Expressions taken out of St. Paul's Epistles, sounding to his Purpose; against which Records collected out of Scripture, he says, we may not aver. To this I reply, That those Epistles have in them some Things hard to be understood, and which may be wrested to the Maintenance of Errors; and it seems that divers such Places are wrested, by applying to Future Times, and our Times, what was by that Apostle spoken of those Times in which he lived, and so applied, were pertinent and true; and yet, if applied to Future Times, for which they were not intended, they may (very likely) have another Appearance. We have also before spoken of God's Ordinary Conduct given to Believers, whose Natural Faculties his Spirit polishes, leads, orders and perfects; moving and intercepting their Faculties and Actions, and meliorating their Natures and Inclinations with so much Gentleness and Easiness, as the Parties cannot themselves perceive any Violence of Motion, no nor any Motion at all; nor do they certainly know how far, or how much, the Spirit of God acts in their own Reformation or Amendment; and how then should other People know the Spirit of God to act in them? Why, the Party, and those who consider his Condition, have all the same Means to know the Spirit is there; and where it is, it works; they must derive their Knowledge from the Fruits: These are are good and known Fruits of the Spirit, and they cannot spring nor grow without Cultivation of God's Spirit; and where those Effects are visible and known, there the Cause and Presence of that Spirit may as certainly be concluded. Now we say, that by rightly applying the Expressions of St. Paul in his Epistles, unto these two Grounds and Positions, or to one of them, as the Expression shall require, all that Apostle's Expressions are solvable without any Need of Reason thence to infer, that there must be in the Christian Church of all Times, such a special perceptible Impulse of God's Spirit, as there was in the Times when St. Paul wrote; and which I have termed Extraordinary, as given to, and in that Time, and not to be continually communicated to Future Ages: And where God's continual Assistance, and that of his Spirit is mentioned, it may the most likely be intended the Ordinary Communications of God's Spirit, which we doubt not are frequently and ordinarily to be perceived in our own Times, and by the Means before prescribed. So as the applying of these Texts out of St. Paul's Epistles, to the one, or the other, of our proposed Positions, will be able to answer and satisfy all those Texts, and put a Reasonable and True Construction upon them, without any need of Inferring from them a Necessity of having amongst Christians in all Future Ages, such Endowments and Operations of God's Spirit, as were in the Persons living in Apostolic Times, or near unto them.  
And that an Instance may be given of our propounded Manner for the expounding such of St. Paul's Texts; we make Choice of a Place, often urged upon Debates, concerning the Necessity of being eminently endowed with God's Spirit, in all Times, and Places Christian, viz. 1 Cor. 2.14 The Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God, for they are Foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned. This Text or Verse, as it stands alone, or by itself, sounds as if Man's Nature and Reason were utterly useless in understanding the Tenets and Duties pertaining to the Christian Faith and Profession; but that all such Things must be left to Guidance of the Spirit, and Direction of those who are thereunto inspired, or that are reputed so to be. In answer to this, we say, that for expounding this Text, and all others, the Context is very necessary to be well considered: And to that Purpose, we go upward to the sixth Verse of this Chapter: There the Apostle says, We speak Wisdom, but not of this World. Ver. 7. We speak the Wisdom of God in a Mystery. Ver. 8. Which, if the Princes of the World had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Ver. 9 But neither Man's Senses, nor his Understanding, can find out the Things which God hath prepared for those that love him. Ver. 10. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit, which searches the deep Things of God. We ask, What is intended by us? and take us to signify the Apostles, and other inspired, Disciples and Teachers of those Times; and not extending to the later and suspected Pretenders of future, or our Time, since the Miraculous Manifestations of the Spirit ceased in the Church. Ver. 11. & 12. We received the Spirit which is of God, viz. those Teachers received. Ver. 13. And we speak this Mystery in Words not taught by Man's Wisdom, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing Spiritual Things with Spiritual. Then comes our Text. Then, Ver. 15. He that is Spiritual, judgeth all things, viz. He to whom God hath so communicated his Spirit, as that thereby they were enabled to know the Thoughts and Intents of men's Hearts; as that impotent People had Faith to be healed. And in the Conspiracy of Ananias and Saphira, 1 Cor. 14.24. and Acts 20.23. before cited. They knew not only Things present, but Things to come, and therefore might judge all things. But we cannot allow the present Pretenders amongst us to apply this to themselves, or to any of theirs. Ver. 16. Says, We have known the Mind of Christ. viz. by Revelation of the Spirit; not only by the Letter: Nay, from the Spirit in them, by whom the Letter of what we call God's Word, was dedicated and framed. Eph. 3.3. Ye have heard of the Grace of God given me, and that by Revelation, God made known unto me the Mystery. viz. that Mystery intended in our present Chapter. Col. 1.26. Even the Mystery which hath been hid from all Ages and Generations: But was then made manifest to the Saints of that Time. Eph. 1.17. I pray that God will give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, the Eyes of your Understanding being enlightened, that ye may know the Hope of his Calling, and the Riches of his Glory. Galat. 1.16. It pleased God to call me by his Grace, and to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him. Ver. 12. I neither received the Doctrine of the Gospel from Man, nor was I taught it, but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Nor did he then consult with other Apostles, or his own Flesh and Blood, about it, but went into Arabia, far from other Teachers. Acts 8.26. The Angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, arise and go towards the South, with other Directions. Ver. 29. The Spirit said to Philip, go near, and join thyself to this Chariot. Ver. 39 When they were come up out of the Water, the Spirit of God caught away Philip, and the Eunuch saw him no more. Act. 10.19. While Peter thought on the Vision, the Spirit said to him, behold three Men seek thee; arise and go with them, for I have sent them. So, Chap. 11.12. The Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Act. 13 2. As at Antioch they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the Work whereunto I have appointed them. Acts 16.6. Paul was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia. Ver. 7. And they essayed to go into Bythinia, but the Spirit suffered them not. These Texts have been quoted to evince and declare the Manner and Efficacy of God's Communicating his Spirit in those Times: Of which sort our present Pretenders to Endowments of the Spirit, have not a Face to challenge any thing. We return now to Examination of our quoted Text and Chapter, and say, That the Wisdom of which St. Paul here speaks, is the Wisdom of God in a Mystery, ordained before the World unto our Glory, called, Eph. 1. The Mystery which had been hid from Ages and Generations: but was made manifest to the Saints of that Time. Mentioned, Matth. 16.17. Peter says to his Master, thou art Christ, the Son of the living God: And Jesus answered, Flesh and Blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven. The Redemption of the World, by Christ, and that Jesus preached to the People was Christ, was the Mystery of St. Paul, intended in this Text. The Princes of this World had no Knowledge of this Mystery; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. This was not a Thing that could enter into the Senses, or the Heart of Man to conceive: But God had then revealed it by his Spirit to the Holy Apostles, and Disciples of that Time, who had received the Spirit of God, that they might know this Mystery as a Thing freely given to them of God; of which they spoke in Words taught by the Spirit. But the Natural Man [or the Reason of Man] could not find out, or were not capable of receiving this Mystery by any Helps of Nature or Reason; for this Mystery would be Foolishness to a Natural Man, and could not be known by Natural Means, or Grounds of Reason, but must be Spiritually discerned, by Revelation of God's Spirit: For the Things of God knoweth no Man, but the Spirit of God. As our Lord, to Peter, Flesh and Blood hath not revealed this to thee, but my Father hath done it. A Thing which no other Means had Power to do. Not Man's Nature or his Reason: Nothing could discover this to Man, but the Revelation of God's Spirit. Every Parcel of this Mystery is above the Natural Man's Capacity and Comprehension. What Eye had ever seen, or Ear heard, or what Heart had ever conceived, That a Woman should bear a Child without the Assistance of a Man. The Virgin demands, How can this Thing be, seeing I know not a Man? The Natural Man could not receive this small, or least Part of the Mystery of Man's Redemption; but it would appear Foolishness to him: Not to speak of the Trinity, and Second Person in it, united to the Nature of Man, and choosing to appear in the Form of a Servant, to undergo Contempt, Want, Pain, and Death, and rise again by his own Power; and that his so doing, should be Expiatory for the Sins of Men, and be so accepted in the Sight of God, the Natural Man receives not; cannot naturally receive the Things of this Mystery; for they are Foolishness to him; nor can his Reason know or conceive them, because they are, and must be Spiritually discerned, viz. must come to be first known by the Revelation of God's Spirit only. Our Apostle's Text thus applied, is not only firm and true, but also plain and clear, intelligible and rational; which Men take upon them to confound, by taking a dictum secundum quid, for a dictum simpliciter; and applying what the Apostle speaks concerning this great Mystery, and concerning the first and eminent Revelations of it, to all Occasions, Persons, and Times, without observing the Measures of Difference which ought to be made between them; concerning which, we say,  
That although at the first Times of making this great Mystery known to the World, there was no Way of Producing that Effect, save the only Revelation of God by his Spirit; and the same was performed accordingly. Yet in a short Process of Time, it came to pass, that this Mystery was Taught, Accepted, and Believed, by Natural Men, upon Reasonable Grounds, and without being counted Foolishness amongst them, viz. when God by his Spirit had revealed this Mystery to Peter, Paul, and the rest of the rest of the Disciples of our Lord, and other Christians: Then they preached the same to other Men, and declared this Mystery to them. Mark 16.23. They went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with Signs following. Their Auditors (Natural Men) had Reason to consider the Teachers, the Doctrine, and the Signs following. The Teachers were Men, Sober and Pious, not seeking Worldly Interests, ready to suffer for Justifying the Truth of their Doctrines, and without Exceptions in the Course of their Lives: The Doctrine was Sublime, said to be revealed by God, the Facts delivered, of our Lord's Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Descent of the Holy Ghost, were examinable, and being examined, would firmly abide that Test: all of it tended to Humility, Piety, Charity, and Works esteemed good amongst Men; and though the Mystery of it soared above Humane Reason and Comprehension, yet they were not inconsistent with, or contrary to the same. For the Signs following, they were very great and undoubted, and very many, not here to be recounted. The Auditors convinced by all these Considerations, might, and did believe the Mysteries, and accept and practise the Doctrines of Christian Religion, upon good and convincing Grounds, Natural and Rational; and without any good or plain Reason to account them Foolishness. The Men who then primely taught these Doctrines to Natural Men of their Times, wrote them after, for the Use of future Times and Ages; and they being dead, now speak to us by those Writings, and still teach and convince the Natural and Rational Persons of our Times (as they did those of their own) to believe this great Mystery of the Redemption, and other Mysteries of of our Religion; and they did then, and do still prevail over their Proselytes to these Purposes, even as they are Reasonable and Natural Men, and without requiring or perceiving any eminent Motions, or evident Operations of the Spirit in such Cases, more than such as we have before specified, and termed ordinary amongst Christians; not to be evidently perceived by Motions and Operations, but are as certainly to be known by the Fruits, Effects and Products of it, in the Course and Tenor of the Professors Lives. And by this Application, as to a dictum secundum quid, we pretend to have avoided the extravagant Inferences deducible from this Text of St. Paul, if it should pass for a dictum simpliciter, we have fixed it to the most early Times of the Gospel, as intended for them only, and not reasonably to be generally, or any farther extended; and thus shall be ended our Exposition of this Text.  
And we proceed to other Texts fit and needful to be solved, by applying them to the ordinary Effects of God's Spirit amongst Christians of our own and all former Ages. Rom. 8.9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. This we apply to the ordinary Operation of God's Spirit in Believers, appearing in the Fruits of a holy Life. Ver. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God. Ver. 26. The Spirit helps our Infirmities; viz. this ordinary,  Operation of the Spirit; but that Spirit which makes Intercession for us with Groan, seems not within us, but external to us. 1 Cor. 3.16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, viz. in the ordinary Manner. Chap. 12.13. We are all baptised, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. This Spirit intends a Spirit external to us and our own Baptism and Communion. Galat. 4.6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts, crying Abba, Father. viz. God's Spirit in ordinary Manner. Chap. 5.25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. This is clear in itself to intent ordinary Operation. Eph. 5.18. Be not drunk with Wine, but be filled with the Spirit. viz. live according to the ordinary Directions of God's Spirit, soberly, as well as righteously and godly in this present World. These Texts, and their like, we expound, by applying them to the ordinary Operation of God's Spirit in Believers, not easily or likely to be discovered by the Parties themselves or by any other, except only by the Fruits of a holy Life, and godly Conversation: Where these really are, and appear plainly, there is the Spirit of God, the true Root and Original of them: And where these do not appear, and really are not, there certainly the Spirit of God is not, be the Leaves of Profession never so large, fair, or flourishing, and though they make never so much Noise and Clatter, when they are moved with such Winds of Doctrine, and Trial, as happen to blow upon them. There is no doubt but that the ordinary Operations of God's Spirit are dispensed in divers Degrees of more or less Strength and Perfection. Nor but that God can and will, when he pleaseth, in any present or future Times, (as well as the Primitive) give and distribute to whom he pleases, such eminent and perceptible Endowments of his Holy Spirit, as he did to the Apostles, and Disciples of their Times: But we do not, or will, or cannot yet believe, that so he hath done, doth, or will do, without accompanying the same with such Signs following, as shall plainly distinguish the Persons, and give them an Esteem superior to that of other Men. 2 Cor. 12.12. Truly the Signs of an Apostle were wrought amongst yond, in Signs and Wonders and mighty Deeds. And whosoever shall lay Claim to the eminent, powerful, and perceptible Endowments of God's Spirit, without those or the like Signs, which did in Primitive Times accompany the same, will, it seems, deserve and find very little Credit or Acceptance amongst Considerate Persons at this Day. And we have thus done with our Considerations of the ordinary Operation of God's Spirit upon Believers. As an Appendix to which, we may observe, that God is pleased to communicate the Assistances of his Spirit operating in Men, upon Worldly Occasions and Accounts, as well, if not as much as in Occurrence concerning Matters of Religion, and in the Ordinary and Natural Manner before declared, illuminating men's Understandings, and their Faculties of Perception, inclining their Judgements and their Wills, regulating their Affections and Passions, elevating and perfecting their Natures. Exod. 31.3. I have called by Name Bezaluel, and have filled him with the Spirit of God, in Wisdom, and Understanding, Knowledge, and all manner of Workmanship. Ver. 6. So for Aholiab, and other Men of Art, I have put Wisdom in them, that they may make all that I have commanded thee. These Men had learned their Arts and Trades in Egypt, but the Spirit of God gave them further Degrees of Illumination, and farther Perception concerning them, than they had before attained; directing to a more perfect and ready Practice than had been usual to them before: like as, in Matters of Religion, the ordinary Operations of God's Spirit appear, Things which People have read or heard before without a right Understanding, or a true Feeling, are by such Operation of the Spirit cleared up to them, and fixed in their Hearts, so as to intent the Observance of them, introducing into them an Aversion from Evil, and an earnest Desire to do Good, and a Joy of Heart in the Performance; also they may perceive Practices of Piety grow more easy to them, both in Points of Learning and Performance. These are evident Signs of God's Spirit present, and working, although no perceptible Motion be felt, nor any other Evidence of the Presence of God's Spirit: And no Testimony is given, that these Artists did perceive or find any Motion of God's Spirit working in them; but it perfected and enabled their Natural Faculties, producing its Effects in an Easy, Imperceptible and Natural Manner. Judg. 14.6. A young Lion roared against Samson; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rend the Lion like a Kid. So Ver. 19 So Chap. 15.14. and Chap. 13.25. The Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times. In the Camp of Dan, 1 Kings 3.9. Solomon says, Give thy Servant an Understanding Heart to judge thy People. Ver. 12. God says, I have given thee a Wise and an Vndestanding Heart, above all before or after thee. Seems by enlightening and perfecting of Natural Faculties; if Samson's Strength were not so effected. Isa. 28.6. The Lord shall be for a Spirit of Judgement to him that sitteth in Judgement; and for Strength to them that turn the Battle to the Gate. Ver. 26. God doth instruct the Husbandman concerning his Corn, and doth teach him how to order it. Ch. 50.4. The Lord hath given me the Tongue of the Learned, and wakeneth mine Ear to hear as the Learned: viz. makes me Learned. Deut. 34.9. Joshuah was full of the Spirit of Wisdom, for Moses had laid his Hands upon him. Act 6.10. Stephen 's Opposers were not able to resist the Wisdom of the Spirit by which he spoke. James 1.5. If any Man lack Wisdom, let him ask it of God, and it shall be given him liberally. And whereas some going to a Sermon, or reading a Book, will take hold and be converted thereby, and others not; and this is said to be an Effect of God's Spirit in the Converted: We do not deny it; but do also say, That if Twenty Scholars read and study Euclid, a few are likely to attain the Effect easily, and the greater Part never. So, in Practice of Music, some will attain a Perfection, but the Major Part never. And so in many other Faculties, especially such wherein fantasy and Apprehension are the most concerned. Sometimes also the Works and Gifts of God's Spirit are so lively imitated by the Father of Lies, as the World hath thereby been generally and greatly deceived, and induced to take the one for the other. Moses Opposers acted his Miracles till they came to the Lice; and the Devil acted so against Job, as it looked like the Hand of God's Justice against him, and made him pass for an Hypocrite in the World, and with his best Friends. The Lying Spirit seen by Michaiah, gave such great and strong Impressions to Ahab's Prophets, and so like a Divine Revelation, as they had no ordinary Means of Distinguishing the one from the other. Hence St. John. 1 Ep. 4.1. wisely directs; Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God; for there are many false ones in the World. And our Lord taught us to try every Tree by its own Fruit: if it bear Grapes it is undoubtedly a Vine, and otherwise not. And to this Trial we commit the most confident Pretenders to the Spiritual Endowments, not to be derived from any but the Giver of every good and and perfect Gift.  
Our Author, Page 52. says, The Spirit is given by Christ to all sound Believers. If he mean as a Guide, whose Instinct they ought to follow: I deny it. But if as Assistant, and a Helper in their Endeavours, working in them to will and to do, as by Reason and Scripture they are directed; I grant it. Pag. 54. Says, Hast thou not found the Motions, the Effectual Operations, the Renewing Changes of this Spirit in thee long ago? and is he not still the Agent and Witness in thee of Christ's Residing and Operating in thee? Whence else are thy Groan after God, thy Desires to be nearer to his Glory, and to know him better, to love him more, the Pleasure which thou hast had in his Truth, Ways, and Service, etc. We pass by his Christ's Residing in thee, and thy Groan after God, and Desires to be nearer his Glory, as a New, and Cloudy Language: And to his plain Expressions of desiring and endeavouring to Know and Love God, and to delight in his Truth, Ways, and Service, we say, That they who do not pretend to a Special Spiritual Conduct, but walk by the Lights of Scripture and Reason, under the ordinary Conduct of God's Spirit, do as much observe●●nd as well perform, all known Religious Duties and Services required by God in his Word, as Pretenders to a Spiritual Guidance do, without yielding to them in any true Practice of Piety or Charity whatsoever. He pretends, That the Spirit raises Devotion, or gives a greater Height of Rapture, in men's Religious Performances. And we agree, That so it can do, and may do so, when God pleases, and that with some extraordinary Testimony of Illumination: But, that this is a Common or Ordinary Effect of God's Spirit amongst Believers, we do deny: And do impute such Effects (ordinarily happening) not to the Spirit of God, but to the Fantasies of Men, who putting themselves into a Godly Chafe, and thereby feeling a great Heat, Mettle, and Emotion within them, it seems, they imagine this is given them from above, and that it is God's Spirit working within them; and that it would be Sin in them not to follow the Dictates and Motions of it, although upon due Trial they fall out to be very Irregular; and the common Effect thereof is, That Men dethrone their Reason and Judgement, which God hath placed in them for Natural Guides and Rulers, on Pretence of the Text, 1 Cor. 2.14. before expounded, saying, The natural Man receives not the Things of the Spirit of God, nor can know them, but they must be spiritually discerned. Concerning which, enough hath been spoken. Our Men led by Erroneous Construction of this Text principally, and what other like they happen to meet with, do often take upon them to dethrone their Reason from the Regiment where God hath placed it, and to set up in its Room a Fervour of Spirit which (it seems) they think is of God; and is so necessary for them, as that they cannot be good Christians without it: And thus truly and effectually they displace and put down their Reason, and set up their fantasy to govern instead of it. And whereas Reason is one, and uniform in Mankind generally, and would induce Men to Think and Speak the same Things; fantasy in Men is as Various as our Faces, no one perfectly like another. Whence it comes, that Christians, of whom Paul says, We being many are one Bread, are so infinitely divided, as that scarcely, a whole Loaf can be found amongst us; but we are broken into Pieces, and even murled into Crumbs, without any Fastness or Cohesion of one Sort of us to another; and we pray God to direct our Church to other, and more reasonable Practices for the Time to come.  
Page 59 Our Author complains grievously of his own Infidelity concerning Rewards after Death, in Maintenance of which, he had both preached and written to other People. Page 129. Says, Satan's principal Labour is to keep Men from Heaven. I say nay to this: But that his prime Labour is to draw or drive Men from the Love, Service, and Worship of God; of which the Obtaining God's Favour and Acceptance is the End or Design, and Heaven but the Consequent, or a Reward suitable to the Bounty and Magnificence of the Giver, but not to the Merit of the Receiver. Page 276. Says, It is notorious that all who are Christians out of their own Choice, and are serious in their Profession, are holy, sober, and just. Here he mentions not his wont Dependencies upon the Spirit. And we believe and know that such as do not depend upon Motions of the Spirit, but do follow Directions of the Scripture, understood and expounded according to sound and true Reason, are as holy, sober, and just Persons, as any Pretenders to Spiritual Motions, that can be found amongst their Tribes; but that God's Spirit by Means of its usual and ordinary Conduct, doth effect in them such holy Practices, and produces in them Degrees of Melioration from Time to Time, and thereby also People are sometimes changed from the Love of Worldly Vanities, to the true Love and Service of God; and this we ascribe to the easy, ordinary and commonly imperceptible Operations of God's Spirit; believing the perceptible and heaving Motions of that Holy Spirit, to be very extraordinary, miraculous, not to be expected or depended upon, and an apt Instrument for Impostors. Whence the Prophet exhorts to look to the Law and to the Testimony, and not to pretending Seducers on the Score of Spiritual Revelations: And Men cannot rationally judge of the Thing, and therefore if they follow, it must be in the Dark, where the Deceit is easily feasible, and the Consequence dangerous. We say then, That Reason exercising its Power in, and over the Person, directed by the Rules of the Gospel, and guided by the easy and ordinary Conduct of God's Spirit, is a sufficient Means to convince Believers of their Duties, and constrain them to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present World; to rejoice and delight in their so doing, and to be greatly grieved for their Failures therein: And these are known Fruits of the Spirit, and prove, that of a Truth it is and rules in such People, although themselves, or those that see them, have otherwise no Perceptions, or other Evidences of the Spirit's Acting or Moving in them. It seems such Men fulfil St. Paul's Rule, 1. Cor. 14 15. I will pray with the Spirit, and will pray with the Understanding also: and so ought Men also to rejoice and sing. Thus should Men act in their Duties of Religion specially, and in their Actions generally. Ver. 14. So to use Direction of the Spirit, as the Understanding may not be unfruitful. Pag. 277. He falls in again with the Necessary Operation or God's Spirit, for the Rectification of Humane Nature, and drawing men's Inclinations from the World to God: And this I grant to be done ordinarily, by directing Men to the Scriptures as their Rule, and convincing them of the Authority, Truth, and Sufficiency of them: Then by illuminating their Understandings and Perceptive Faculties; helping also their other Capacities, as their Apprehensions, Memories, Elocutions. Exod. 4.11. God says to Moses, Who hath made Man's Mouth, or his other Senses? have not I the Lord? He makes the Blind, the Dumb, and the Deaf, to see, speak and hear; and then they exercise these Faculties as other Men do, who have them sound by Birth, without continuing Supernatural Supplies to them for ever. And so we say, when God by manfest Revelations of his Spirit, accompanied with Signs and mighty Deeds, had fully discovered his Supernatural Truths to Men, and had sufficiently convinced and instructed the Teachers of them; and then those Teachers had instructed others in the Faith of such revealed Mysteries, and holy Trade of Living, the Supernatural Supplies were no more needful. 2 Tim. 2.2. The Things which thou hast heard of me amongst many Witnesses [haste heard me preach] do thou commit to faithful Men, who shall be able to teach others also. So 2 Tim. 3.14 Continue thou in the Things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation, through Faith which is in Christ Jesus. We may consider the Time of writing this Epistle, the last Days of St. Paul, when he was now ready to be offered, and the Time of his Departure was at hand. Thus he writes to his Son in the Gospel, one of his Scholars, and an eminent Teacher of that Time, directing him to the Rules and Doctrines delivered us in the Scriptures, and to the Comments, Expositions and Discourses of such as teach from them (intended) in a rational Manner, and by good, sufficient Deductions, and Consequences, without mention of Perceptible or Peculiar Motions of the Spirit; or that Timothy or other Christians are put under Obligations to attend thereunto, or to ground their Hopes or Practices upon Operations of a perceptible and eminently moving Spirit in them. Yes, says our Author, Pag. 277. But yet apparent it is, that no other Power can prevail over the Corrupted Nature of Man, and for converting Men unto holy Practices, but only that of the Spirit of God, and the  Operations of the same. I answer, That in divers Schools of the Ancient Philosophers, and by their Doctrines, many were induced to take up the Practice and Habit of living soberly and virtuously in this present World. I but, replies he, we see Children will grow up in Wickedness, against all the Counsel, Love, and Correction of their Parents; and no Means will prevail with them, till God, by the Operation of his own Spirit, cure them. And we grant this may come to pass, by the Assistance of God's Grace in the Ordinary Course, and without any Perceptible, Peculiar Impulse or Emotion of God's Spirit, viz. by his Illumination, his easy Inclination, and the Rectifying and Perfecting their Natural Powers and Qualifications, by insensible and unperceived Degrees. All things Divine and Humane are under God's Special Oeconomy, and nothing can be done without a Divine Assistance: Nullum magnum ingenium, sine Afflatu Divini Numinis, was known to Heathens; without God, we cannot think a good Thought, nor think any Thought, cannot do a good Action, nor any Action at all: For (as our Author tells us) we depend more upon God's Acting us, then upon our own Natural Parts or Forms; and in him we live, move, and have our Being. But his Ordinary Actings in Men, are by their Natural and Proper Faculties and Powers, and not by Perceptible Impulses of his Spirit, which we take for a Miraculous Operation, and not Natural. God hath given us the Law and the Prophets, the New Testament, and Primitive Church Practices, for our Ordinary Spiritual Conduct, assisted with his Grace and Spirit working in us to will and to do, by those Ordinary Operations before described; improving our Reason to a right Apprehension and Understanding of them, and our Discretion to a right Choice and Practice. St. Paul tells his Corinthians, I speak as unto wise Men, judge ye what I say. He doth not refuse the Judgement arising from the Reason or Wise Men. Let Men now tell a Quaker what the Words of Scripture are, and what Consequence from thence must reasonably and necessarily follow; his Answer is ready, He cares not what either of them says; for he hath a Light within him; the very Holy Spirit of God: which tells him, and witnesseth with his Spirit, That all which he believes and professes is true, and the only salutary Way for his Soul; and so for all other men's, if God will please to communicate to them the like Perceptible Illuminations and Special Impulses of his Holy Spirit, which the World doth not, cannot receive, nor can the Natural Man do it; but such Things are to him direct Foolishness, and he cannot know them, because they are Spiritually discerned; and cannot be so by Reason, or any Humane Power or Means whatsoever. Now whilst this Man is thus certainly persuaded in his own Mind, and that he who is Spiritual (viz. endowed with such Light within him) judgeth all things, and yet himself is judged of no Man, nor will submit himself to be so: He seems to be past all Conviction, or Cure, by reasonable Remedies or Applications; having thus passed beyond the Bounds of Humane Reason and Scripture, he is become eccentric to all Humane Persuasion and Government, and (as incurable Phreneticks) must be born withal, so far as their Fantasies are only detrimental to themselves. And it we may place all other Dependers upon Perceptible, Extraordinary Motions of God's Spirit, in a Form or Classis next below them, differing in the Degrees of a like Infirmity; all holding the same Original Ground, and growing from the same Root, and defending themselves in the same Fortresses, and by like Weapons; only the first Sort have passed to a farther Degree in the Distemper than the rest have hitherto done. We must leave them, upon this Account, to the great Power of God, who only can, and in his Time may, and perhaps will, give them Convictions in a miraculous and powerful Manner, and really such, as they do now but pretend unto. The Distemper, it seems, hath grown from the ill Digestion of some of St. Paul's Expressions, wrested by Men, both unlearned and unstable (as other Scriptures may be) to the Perverting, if not the Destruction of themselves and their Proselytes, and to the great Disturbance of the Protestant Churches.  
Pag. 278. Says, God's Cures by his Spirit are wrought with great Pangs of Repentance. I say, That upon every notorious Sin committed, these are rational and necessary Consequences, as well at last as at first; and no more to be enquired after in Youth than in Age; nor in one Part of a Man's Life than in another. But such Carriage ought to be both expected and performed., whensoever there is a just and reasonable Cause for the so doing. Pag. 280. Says, God is all in all things. It may pass for a Cloudy Expression: And we agree, That God and Christ are what Christians acknowledge and adore: Also that we are generally under the ordinary Guidance of God's Spirit, and are thereby led into all Truth, directed therein by the Scriptures, confirmed by Sacraments, instructed and excited by sound, Teaching, and the Acts of God's Providence amongst us, for us, towards us, the Convictions of Humane Reason and our sound Senses, and the like usual and common Manuductions, for establishing of our Faith and perfecting the Practice and due Performances of a holy Life. That God can do this by eminent and perceptible Emotions of his Spirit, in a Supernatural and Miraculous Manner, is granted, and certain: And this was common in the Church during all the Time of St. Paul's Life. But that God doth still continue those Supernatural Actings in his Church ordinarily and at this Day, hath been, and will be continually denied; and that none can be saved who do not feelingly perceive in themselves such Impulsions or Emotions of God's Spirit working in them to such Purposes, we not only deny, but do condemn and explode, as a great Instrument of Deceit, and a most pernicious Error. Pag. 291. Says, The Christian Church needs no Testimony of Miracles, of new: Upon this I demand, What these Eminent and Perceptible Emotions of the Spirit are to be counted? Natural they are not, as their Defenders assert, and we agree; therefore they are Preternatural or Supernatural; and they pass for Acts of the later Sort, whensoever they do happen: And our Opposers maintain they are very frequent, and ought not only to be Common, but Universal amongst Christians; amongst whom every one should have a Taste and Feeling of them, and consequently a daily Exhibition of New Miracles. Pag. 308. Says, Many of his Friends, Holy Persons, are gone to Heaven, and that is spangled with these Spiritual Stars, the Place is honoured with them, and they with it. We think our dead Friends are almost lost to us, till the Heavenly Spirit tell us where they are, and prepare us to desire our being there. Observe from hence, we may, what our Author means by his Term of Heavenly Spirit, viz. his own and his Followers eager and hot fantasy or Conceit. For if he had obtained any Perceptible Spiritual Revelation concerning his dead Friends, or any one of them, we do very much assure ourselves he would have made us acquainted with it: For his Expression, That Heaven is honoured with the Presence of the holy Persons, his dead Friends, it tastes of an arrogant Conceit, not warranted by Scripture or Reason, but suitable to his Spiritual Vehemencies and Impulses. Pag. 348. Says, It is the Will of God, that the Ministry and Testimony of Man, shall be a Means of our Believing; and he will use Man for the Instruction and Salvation of Man, and not send Angels with every Message. To this we agree, and say, the Perceptible Actings of God's Spirit may be as rare as the Ministry of Angels, in our Times. Page 353. Says, Grace is not a Brutish Principle, but works by Reason, having also its natural inclining Force. We account this Expression as one of our own, extracted from him by inadverted Power of Truth. Pag. 359. All true Believers are justified, that consent to the Baptismal Covenant, choosing God for their God, Christ for their Saviour, and the Holy Ghost for their Sanctifier, though this be done with so great Weakness as neither ends men's Doubts, nor quiets their Minds. It seems the Perceptible Actings of the Spirit are wanting in such Cases; and he seems either to have forgot, or to distrust the Necessity of that Assistance. Pag. 368. Says, The Soul hath no distinct Idea of its Future State out of the Body, and we see not whither it is that we must go; but a Trust in God supports all. It seems he knew of no Revelation, Primitive or Modern, that could give Satisfaction in that Point. Page 372. Says, God doth his own Works in a Causal Order, one Work prepares for another, and he makes Varieties of Capacities, which occasion Varieties of Gifts, and of Receptions; and he useth to give every one, that, unto which he hath brought him into a next Capacity for the Reception of. And granted it is, That all is Acted by Energy from God and his Spirit: But, say I, (as he also) by giving Capacities, and advancing them to Degrees of Perfection, in an Ordinary and Natural Course; producing Effects from their Natural and Proper Causes: And that when he goes beyond this Course, or out of this Way, the Proceeding is Extraordinary, Supernatural, Miraculous, such as we have no Warrant to expect, or depend upon, in the ordinary Course of our Conduct. True it is, God's Arm is not shortened, and therefore in all Cases of great Exigency, we know he can work by Natural Causes beyond men's Expectations; or by Miracles at his own Pleasure. We read of such Procedure in the Primitive Times; since which, the Signs and Wonders are ceased, and so the Perceptible Actings of God's Spirit ordinarily: And it seems we are not any more reasonably or warrantably to expect them, or to depend upon them; but to wait upon God's ordinary Dispensations in his Ordinances, Hearing, Reading, Praying, Practising, Living and Dying in him, to him, (and if need be) for him: so as Living we may repose upon him, and Dying we may rest in him. 1 Joh 2.28. So as in all Conditions are abide in him; that when he shall appear, we may have Confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his Coming: And this is the Fruit of our Labour and Conflicts in this World, that we may have the Hope and Courage (at our Awaking) to come before him with Confidence, and without being ashamed in his Presence. Pag. 374. Says, We must not have slight Thoughts of the Office and Work of the Holy Ghost on Souls, and our Necessity of it, but must beg and wait for the Spirit's Special Help. That Spirit is not impotent or inexorable; he hath appointed us Means for so high a State, and he appoints no Means in vain. Page 375. Says, Let thy Dependence on the Holy Ghost, as given from Christ, be as serious and constant to thee, as the dependence of the Eye is upon the Light. Beg hard for the Holy Spirit, and gladly entertain it. All these, Expressions of our Author seem to intent some eminent and perceptible Motions or Actings of God's Spirit; if so he do, there are divers Testimonies in this Book which show he did not attain unto them. We have shown the Thing to be a Miracle, common in Primitive Times of the Church, but ceasing by degrees until no Signs of it were left. But the Fruits, the extraordinary Appearances are failed long since; and the like Effects do not now show themselves: Where the Spirit is, it works; and if it be present in an extraordinary and miraculous Manner, it will produce suitable Effects, as it did in those Primitive Times; and where such do not appear, such Pretences are not to be believed. If our Author intent the Ordinary Gifts and Graces of God's Spirit working in us to will and to do what God hath appointed us in his Holy Word, by Illumination, Rectification, Melioration, and Direction of our Natural Faculties, Powers, and Capacities, all his Exhortations may pass for good; and Men may pray in Faith for such Assistances and Graces, and may likely find a good Return upon them. Our Author says no more upon this Point, and we shall therefore follow it no farther, but return with him to our first Design.  
Page 380. He says, The Sensible Souls of Brutes are Substances, and therefore not animated at their Deaths: God tells us not what he doth with them after Death, and it is likely they are (after Death) in a State still of Service unto Man, but how we know not. It seems the same Scruple which troubled him at the Beginning of his Book, hath stuck to him all along, and unto the End of it; viz. how to make a real and clear Difference between the Souls of Men and Beasts. He doth constantly acknowledge a great Assimilation of the one of them to the other; and shows a great Inclination to raise the Nature of the Souls of Brutes above that which ordinary Opinions have allowed them; to the Intent that a Separately Subsisting Soul of Man might the more easily pass, and be assented unto, or with fewer Difficulties and Exceptions: And to this, I say, that he labours in vain, to persuade, that Souls of Beasts are Self-subsistent. It seems a Fancy, either derived from Dr. More, or out of his own Brain: He doth not allege a Revelation of the Spirit for it; and if he had, such Allegation could not support that Opinion. We say, That Souls of Brutes are Material Spirits, living and acting in their Blood and Humours, and preying upon them as their Natural Support and Nourishment; inflamed by the continual Fanning of their Breath; and when, for want of Breath, or other Nourishment, the Flame of those Natural Spirits is totally extinguished; or that by other Violence such total Extinguishment happens, the Beast dies, and these Natural or Vital Spirits, cease to work and be, and can no more revive than a Fire clean gone out, or put out, can rekindle itself without fresh Fire applied to that Purpose. And for the Beasts, we have no notice or Proof, that ever such a Reviver or Rekindling shall be given them. But concerning Men, we have very clear, undoubted and undeniable Revelations, that there shall be a Resurrection, or a Reviver of them. Heb. 9.27. It is appointed unto Men once to die, but after this the Judgement. And Chap. 11.35. Torments were endured, not accepting Deliverance, that they might obtain a better Resurrection: For there will be a better and a worse, both of the Just and of the Unjust: And then shall Christ sit upon the Throne of his Glory, distributing Crowns to his brave Soldiers the Martyrs, laid up for them against that Day; and awarding other Rewards and Glories to his faithful Servants, and passing a dreadful Sentence upon his Enemies, and specially Deserters, Takers and Breakers of Holy Vows and Covenants of Fidelity in his Service; for that they crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open Shame. From such a Resurrection Good Lord deliver us; and rather may the Mountains fall upon us, and the Hills cover us, that we may never see the Frowns of Goodness, and Love, rejecting all Future Addresses, and putting us over to the Masters and Company, which living we chose and preferred before his Greatness and Glory, his Goodness and Love, testified by his Sufferings for us. But living People have yet Time to prevent such heavy Consequences of the Resurrection: And God give us all Grace hearty to endeavour the same.   
FINIS.   

A SECOND PART OF A TREATISE ENTITLED A SEARCH after SOULS.  
THE Foregoing Treatise being finished, and coming under the Perusal of several Persons, amongst them a Minister, an Eminent both Scholar and Teacher, made some Reflections thereupon; and transmitted them to the Author of this Treatise, willing to receive his Reply thereunto: And because the Dispute arising thereupon, occasioned the opening divers Apprehensions concerning the Main Intent of the Treatise, it seemed useful to publish the same therewithal. The First Opposal came in one Sheet of Paper, which received a Division into Fifteen Paragraphs:  

1. Paragraph Was a Civil Compliment. To which was returned a Thankfulness.  
2. Parag. Was a Discourse that some particular Father's Opinions touching the Soul, as Origen, Tertullian, and even St. Austin, was not fit to counterpoise the General Stream of the Fathers of their Time. And this was granted.  
3. and 4. Speak to the Novelty of the Opinion of a Humane Material Soul; and it is granted new to the Generality.  
5. States the Question, viz. that it is, Whether the Soul of Man be Material or Immaterial?  
6. Parag. The Opponent says; Men cannot conceive how a Material Agent can act as the Intellect and Memory of Man can do: Nor that it can do so: Therefore the Soul of Man cannot be Material, but must be Immaterial. To this it was replied,  
That the Works of God exceed the Capacities of Men to conceive; and that Men cannot find out Reasons for, or of, the Contextures, so much as of a Leaf: What it is that frames it into a Stem, then puts forth the Ramuli, than the Fibres, of a divers Fashion, as is proper to each Tree: then unites them by a thin Covering of Green, in some more glossy and glittering, and in some less. Men cannot perceive how or by what means this is done, but are satisfied with knowing that there is a Material Spirit or Sap in the Plant; and that thereby, and by the Vegetative Power in Plants, all such acts are wrought in them; and that they are acted according to the appointment of God: without men's being able to find out the immediate or next Causes of the particulars. And so for the Animalia, they have Nutritive and Generative Powers; the Loco-motive and Affective, as Lust, Wrath, Fear; they have Sensitive Powers, and all these in as high and perfect a Degree as Men have them: and the Intellectual Faculties, but in a very low Degree. Men know these Powers or Acts are wrought in or by the Beasts, but not in a particular manner, applicando to the next Causes of them; but we know there is a Flame of Life in them, which acts in them, and acts them; and is the Cause and Original of all their Motions and Actions, without knowing how that produces in them Anger or Fear, or a Lust to Generation; or power to see, remember, etc. The very next Causes or Manner of their Production, cannot be known: but Men may be satisfied in knowing the Aptitude of the Organs, and that generally there is a Flame of Life, or a Flamy Spirit, in Animals, by which God can and doth effect all such Motions and Actions as are fit and proper for each sort of Animals to perform. And if all this can be done in Beasts by such a Spirit, I desire to be shown some reason why the like may not be acted in Man by a like Spirit, and in a much higher Degree, assisted by Organs (especially in the Head) much fitlier framed for the effecting of such purposes: and so judging we shall be freed from the Common and Vulgar Error, of thinking all we see done extraordinary, and of which we are not able to collect or find out the Cause, that it is done by assistance or agency of Spirits; as was the Case of Regiomontanus his Eagle and Fly: and the Artist was therefore taken for a Conjurer. And so, when Watches first appeared in China, those People thought they were moved by Spirits. Our present Argument seems of that Nature, we know not how such Effects are or can be produced from Matter and Motion, and therefore they must be acted by an Immaterial and Self-subsisting Spirit, not generated, but coming into the Body ab extra; no Body certainly knowing from whence, nor how, nor what it is, nor that it is.  
Doctor Willis in his Book De Anima Brutorum, Latin, Printed at Amsterdam, page 4. names Periera and Des Cartes and Sir Ken. Dighy, who to avoid the allowance of such Souls unto the Beasts, will have the Beast esteemed but a sort of Machine's, which only can move; but that they have no knowledge or feeling of any thing that they do or suffer, acted by Matter and Motion, which they say can have no Sense. P. 5. These Men (says the Dr.) think that God cannot make Things or Creatures beyond the Powers of Man's Capacity to conceive and rightly to understand. P. 6. But (says he) Nemesius and Gassendus do allow to Beasts Senses Outward and Inward, Perception, Appetite, Spontaneous Motion, a sort of Deliberation, Judgement, and a lower sort of Ratiocination; for that is no more but knowingly to distinguish one Thing from another, to compare them, and choose one of them before the other. And the Brutes do Ex uno colligere aliud; and therefore they have a sort of Reasoning, although in a very low Degree: and he citys the words of Gassendus, Animam esse quandam flammulam, ignisve tenuissimi speciem, quae quamdiu viget, seu manet accensa, tam diu vivit animal, cum amplius non viget, seu extinguitur, animal moritur. P. 8. the Doctor says, The Sensitive Souls of Men are of the same nature with this description; and this sort of Soul is extended over the whole Body, and is dividable: and the Members and Parts of the Body, are the proper Organs of this Soul; and this Soul is of a fiery nature, and the act or substance of it is either a Flame, aut habitum flammae proximum & affinem: and that so it is, says he, not only Gassendus hath determined, but 13 great Learned Men, here named, have concurred in that Opinion. P. 9 he asserts, Animam in sanguine, aut liquore vitali gliscentem, aut ignem, aut flammam quandam esse. And this Soul which acts, and keeps Life in the Body, must have a continual Nourishment, both from Air and Viands. And he takes this Soul to consist of the same Matter with the Body, but of the most select, subtle, and active Particles of such Matter: he says Dr. Ent hath clearly demonstrated, Sanguinem pariter ac ignem duo desiderare; viz. alimentum & ventilationem. This Soul is fitted and proportioned to the Body, and the Body contains it, as the Scabbard doth the Sword: and it is so fine as to be imperceptible to Humane Senses; and so as that it can be known only ab effectis & operationibus. P. 11. So as when the Life fails, there is no sign or footsteps left of this Soul: the Existence of it debends upon the act, like a common flame of Fire, or the flash of it, as soon as it ceases, illico non est; and cannot be numerically the same again [without miracle:] and this Materiae vitalis incendium, hath so many Evidences, that whoso shall well consider them, will be very apt to believe, Sanguinem revera efflagrare, vitamque non tam flammae similem quam ipsammet eandem esse. P. 30. He ranks this Sensitive Soul of Man in the same Classis with the Souls of the Quadrupedes, quoniam in utrisque, praecordiorum, necnon cerebri ejusque appendicis nervosi, eadem est conformatio. P. 40. He doth not take care to answer those who assert that Sensitive Creatures have not power to use their Senses and Powers of Perception, without the assistance and government of an Immaterial, Intelligent Spirit. For the Contexture of the Body, and wonderful aptitude of its Organs, may serve to confute this Opinion. P. 42. in Mechanicis, Fire, Air, and Light, are the Principal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by which Humane Industry can effect Things that are Wonderful, Useful, and Necessary, and likely it is that the Wise Creator did form and frame the Souls of Living Creatures out of those Principles or Materials, adding to them an Eminent Virtue or Efficacy; and fitting for them the most proper and apt Organs, tightly framed and put together, as he proceeds to show: Concluding that they are Subjects of Wonder and Admiration, rather than of a Rational Disquisition: yet proceeds to a Rational Account of them, in Pages 46, and 47. and concludes that the Sensitive Soul of Man, both in the Head, and Systemate Nervoso (as to all its Powers, and the Exercise of them) is merely Organical; proindeque extensam, & quodammodo corpoream esse. P. 52. But this Artifice cannot be a Work of Chance, but of a Divine Architect. P. 59 As to the Objection That Matter is not only Insensible, but Iners, and merely, Passive, Incapable of Sense or Animal Activity, He answers, That between Corpus sensibile & insensibile, there is not much more difference than betwixt accensum & inaccensum; and of inaccensum we can soon make accensum: and why not then Sensibile be made ex insensibili; Materia quaelibet uti non comburitur ita non animator: but if an Active Element be communicated and disposed amongst fit Matter, there usually proceeds from, that Mixture a Wonderful Activity; the enkindled Parts, Rapidissime commotae, & quasi animatae exiliunt, & lumen cum calore & luce producunt. P. 60. He cannot find in the Soul or the Body, any distinct Material Part or Subject, to which the Rational Power or Faculties may be justly attributed; but when he considers the Corpus animatum together, as a Divine Fabric, built and intended for proper and special Uses, he will say confidently, That God by the Intent and Law of his Creation, hath so ordained, that in the composition of Soul and Body, there should be such a confluence of Faculties, and result of them, as should be needful for every Animal, and the proper ends and uses of it; and that in them Materiam superavit Opus. P. 61. Consider an Organ, made out of stupid and hard Matter, of itself utterly unactive, yet let it be inspired by a convenient breath, and a acted by a directing hand, it can vary sounds and agree them to a Miracle, in all ordinary computation of such as are not acquainted with the nature and composure of them.  
Philip Melanchton de Anima, P. 5. The Vital Spirits of Man are bred in the Heart, & vere sunt Flammae; and from thence rise men's Affections, cum omnibus Voluntatis motibus. P. 7. It is agreed that the souls of Brutes are Material Spirits, or a Temperament; such an Anima as is in Sanguine; and therefore amongst the Hebrews Anima significat Vitam: for that Sanguis est Vehiculum Vitae; & Spiritus Vitales illam rem esse, quae ciet Corpora, quam nominamus Animam. P. 8. As in a Torch, Flamma rapit Alimentum; so the Vital Spirit of Animals, which is tenuissima Flamma, genita ex Sanguine, Virtute Cordis, volitans per totam Corporis Machinam & largiens Corpori vivificum calorem. P. 12. The Philosophers and Divines do agree, That the Vegetative and Sensitive Souls are Material, or Temperamenta, propagatus ex Natura Corporea, from the Seed: and as in the Beasts, sic Anima Vegetativa & Sensitiva in Homine, dici potest: Homo enim non generat imperfectius quam plantae, aut Boves; gignit ergo Homo hominem saltem secundum Vitam sentientem; si non secundum Animam Rationalem: and the two former must be confessed to be ex traduce. P. 14. If it be demanded concerning the how and the why, of the Animal Actions, he answers, Cernimus Motus, quod, cur [& quomodo] ita hoc factum sit, Sapientiae est Artificis, non nostrae. P. 112. Cerebrum est Officina Cogitationum, Judicii Ratiocinationis, & Memoriae. Men cannot find out its manner of working, nor what the very true Substance of it is. P. 116. In hac caligine non perspicimus quomodo haec Miranda Opera, Cognitio, Ratiocinatio, Memoria, Recordatio, Judicium fiant: sed fieri ea Cerebri Ope certissimum est. P. 203. Brutes have Apprehension and Memory, & potentiam, ad Cogitationem factam. P. 205. The Actings of Common Sense, and Reason, and Memory, are known to us, viz. That such Acts there are, quomodo fiant non cernimus, in hac caligine. P. 286. The Degrees of Acting in the Mind of Man, and the Manner of them, describi non satis possunt; non enim cernuntur oculis, sed similitudine quadam existimantur. P. 297. He descants upon Immortality, and derives the Certainty of it from the Resurrection; and says, That the Old Patriarches risen with our Saviour.  
Sandii Tractatus de Origine Animae, P. 1. The Opinion related by Eusebius Hist. lib. 6. cap. 34. was, That the Soul did rise and grow ex traduce; and that it extinguished with the Life of the Creature; and that before the Last Judgement the Whole Man should rise again. He citys Augustin de Anima, cap. 48. saying, That Cyril and the Luciferians, & maxima pars Occidentalium, did think so, Teste Hieronymo, Tom. 2. Epist. 82. & Greg. Nyssen, lib. de Anima. This Opinion was condemned in a Council of that time, wherein Origen bore a great sway. This Opinion, viz. of the Generation of Souls, Per Populos Barbaros, Arrii Religionem sectantes, videtur explosa, Creatione animae introducta. This Author is an Origenist, a Maintainer of Preexistence, and therefore opposes both the Generation and new Creation of Souls.  
These Quotations have been made to show the Agreement of other Men, with what is said in the Search after Souls: And that Willis and Melanchton are contented to confess their ignorance of the particular Workings of God in Man, and do not make use of their ignorance, for the extracting from thence an Unintelligible, Extraneous Spirit, for the Government of a Humane Body, Memory or Understanding. The case of the Watch shows the thing moved, and made a noise, and the Indians did not, and could not discover the cause thereof; and therefore they concluded it was moved by a Spirit, which contains the very Ground of your Argument, viz. We understand not how a Material Agent can perform such a sort of acting: Therefore there must be an Intelligent Spirit in the case, or else such things could not be done; yet if you will but make this Grant, That a Man doth generate a Man as truly and perfectly as one Horse generates another, it will prove like Archimedes his Postulatum of a Ground whereupon to fix his Instrument; for thence will apparently follow all that in my Treatise hath been asserted. For what is begotten and born of Flesh, is Flesh; and I would not advise you to venture upon the task of proving any other way of proceeding, or framing of Humane Souls.  
7. Paragraph, You pretend to prove an Intelligent Spirit in Man, from the Power and Effects of Conscience in him. You say no Beasts have it, and yet it is very potent and prevalent in Man: And I agree, that Man hath a Conscience, and that it hath a great Power in him, and over him: But I do not grant the Beasts are without it, in a degree suitable to their Capacities and Understandings. You say, That Conscience in Man is natural to him, or slows from his pure Natural Faculties, unassisted by Education, or Rules: But this I deny, and assert, that Conscience in Man is not derived barely from Nature, in such manner as his Vital Powers, viz. Digestion, Nutrition and Generation are; nor as his Passionate Powers, viz. his Ambition, Covetousness, Lust, Wrath and Fear are; nor as his Sensitive Powers, or the use of this Senses are, nor as his Rational Powers, viz. his Understanding, Fancy, Memory, Judgement are: For all these Faculties are so natural to every Man, that he can, and doth act them, and by them, without either Rule, Tutor, or Example: But Speech is not so natural, nor is Conscience so natural, but they must both be Learned and Directed by Rules, Doctrine, or Examples; and then they may be varied and changed according as things shall fall out, or it shall come into the Fancies of Men: But without some sort of Education, Rule, Direction, or Opinion, there is no more Conscience in Man than in Beasts. For take a Savage Person bred up amongst Beasts, he will not know that Killing in a Sin, nor spare a Man in his Hunger or his Wrath, any more than a Beast. And for Adultery, he is not capable of knowing it, because he knows not what Marriage is. And for Incest, it is naturally so much unknown, as that the first People practised it with Sisters lawfully; and it seems Abraham thought it no Crime, nor the Princes, to whom he avowed it; for that it passed without Punishment or Reproof from them. And for Theft and Robbery, it passed for a Glory amongst Barbarous People; and so it doth amongst Conquerors at this day: and it is counted a sufficient Crime for the Vaniquished, to defend his Goods or Women from the Conqueror; and he will yet be killed for so doing, without any remorse or sense of Conscience in the Conqueror: Nor is the Fact against Nature, however Rules may perhaps determine otherwise. I say then, that Conscience is not an absolutely Natural Faculty in Man, but rather is Faculty Complicated of Nature and other Adjuncts and Ingredients; the Natural Powers that act in it, are the Understanding, the Memory, and the Judgement, and the Effects of it, viz. Joy and Grief, are also Natural: but to complete the Faculty of Conscience in Man, there must be also some Rule for Direction of the Judgement; whose proper Office is to compare the Fact and the Rule together: and if they be found to agree, the Effect is Joyous and Pleasing: if they differ, the Effect is Sorrow and Fear; and the widelier they differ, the stronger Effects are produced. But say you, these Effects are sometimes so potent and violent, as they could not be, if they did not proceed from an Intelligent Spirit. Concerning which, I will again quote to you Melanct. dicto lib. pag. 148. There he says, Let our Students learn to admire the Wonderful Works of God in Man, our Principal Powers and Faculties, Vital, Sensitive, Affectionate, Cogitative; efficiuntur Spiritu Vitali & Animali; ideo, aliqui dixerunt, Animam esse hos Spiritus seu Flammulas Vitales & Animales; & sua Luce superant Solis & omnium Stellarum Lucem: & quod Mirabilius est; his ipsis Spiritibus in Homibus piis, miscetur ipse Divinus Spiritus: and makes this Light in Man more Refulgent, Active, and Inclinable to apprehend Divine Truths, and to practise accordingly. And on the contrary, When the Devil gets a Possession, or but an Entrance amongst them, he disturbs and tortures both Heart and Brain; and drives them into Cruel Motions and manifest Furies. And thus this Excellent Divine instructs us, what are the proper Causes of the great and violent Stings of Conscience, which you have chosen for a strong Proof of an Intelligent, Immaterial Spirit in Man.  
And that Conscience is not barely from Nature, but is a Complex of Nature and Rules, there are divers Texts of Scripture which may be cited to prove. Rom. 2. St. Paul says, Men do by Nature the things contained in the Law [of Moses;] this intends a Cultivated Nature, ordered and directed by other Rules, although they were ignorant of Moses' Law; and those other Rules became to them a Law written in their hearts, which if they followed, their Conscience was satisfied: and if they acted contrary to those Rules, their Consciences accused them for it. St. Paul's Nature in this place therefore intends, not Nature in puris naturalibus, utterly unpolished and barbarous, or savage, and naked of Rules, Education, and Examples; but such a Nature as hath submitted itself to some Rules, Education, or Example, though they be utterly ignorant of Moses' Laws. Rom. 5.13. Though sin [those acts which are sinful] were in the world until [or before] the Law, yet sin is not imputed where there is no Law [or Rule, to direct the Judgement:] and therefore without some sort of Rule rising from Institution, Example, or Opinion, as there can no Sin be imputed; so no Consciousness of Sin, nor Sting of Conscience for it. So Rom. 7.7. I had not known sin, but by the Law [some Rule, Education, or Example, which taught me that this is Sin;] bare or savage Nature, would not have taught me what was a Sin, and what was not. John 9.41. Our Lord says to the Pharisees, If you were blind, [purely ignorant] ye should have no sin. Chap. 15.22. If I had not spoken to them, [instructed them] they had not had sin. 1 John 3.4. Sin is the Transgression of the Law, [not known to bare Nature.] And finally, Rom. 4.15. Where no Law is, there is not transgression; so no Conscience accusing, or approving. And all this proves, That Conscience in Man, is not an Act purely Natural, but a Complex Act, of and Educated Nature, under the Direction of some sort of Rules.  
You say, That Man hath a kind of Natural Expectation of receiving Rewards or Punishments, as soon as he departs this Life. I grant only, Such a kind of Natural, as Education and Custom can make Men expect to receive what they are taught, and therefore do believe will be given them; if taught to believe receiving as soon as they are dead, their Expectation will be suitable; if taught to defer their Expectations till the Resurrection and Christ's Second Coming to Judgement, it will be as easy and natural to expect the Rewards and Punishments at that time, as to do it at the time of our Deaths. Either of them is enough effective in us, to create an Endeavour of Obtaining the Future Rewards, and Avoiding such Punishments, by the greatest Endeavours that in this Life can be used: Knowing that there is no Work nor Device in the Grave, whither we go. But as the Tree falls, so it is like to lie: and as Death leaves Men, so Judgement shall find them. And we are therefore as much concerned to provide for a good departure out of this World, in respect to the time of our Resurrection, as if we expected an immediate Reward or Punishment, from the time of our Death. For that once dead (in my Sense) we are not, are no more concerned in time, nor the passing of it, but shall rise again, as if we had lain down but the hour before.  
You say, You cannot believe that the Primitive Martyrs would have died so cheerfully, had they not thought that they exchanged this life for a better immediately. But I believe they might do it in expectation of a Crown to be given them at that day, the Great Day of General Doom, or Judgement: and so says Peter Martyr in his Common Places, This is the consolation of the godly afflicted in this world, they have an eye to the Resurrection, and thereupon quiet themselves. And again, Martyrs in death were comforted by belief of the Resurrection. And Heb. 11.35. Martyrs were tortured, not accepting Deliverance, that they might obtain a better Resurrection. So 1 Thess. 4.15. Paul comforts them is sorrow for their dead Friends, not by giving them assurance of their being gone to Heaven, but by assurance of the Resurrection; the manner of which he there describes to them. You say, You have known some die with great cheerfulness, and in full expectation of an immediate transportation to Heaven by the ministry of Angels. And I doubt not but your Assertion may be true; for Men learn to believe and practise as they are taught. And I doubt not but the Jews, Turks, Heretics, and the Old Women, , may be found dying (some of all sorts) with great Constancy, and a good Assurance, and Expectation, of Future Felicity, each of them in their own Way; but my Opinion is, that God hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the World by the Man whom he hath ordained: and that it is appointed for Men once to die, and after that the Judgement, at which all must appear and give account for their own Works. The happiness which I desire before that day, is, that it may be said to me as to Daniel, Go thy way [Leave this life] and wait till the end be; for thou shalt rest and stand in the Lot at the end of the days, the assured hope of a joyful Resurrection.  
Paragraph 8. You grant that there do not occur in the Scriptures the Terms or Words, of a Separately subsisting, or Immaterial Soul. I had said also, not that of Immortal Soul, and you might as well have granted that too; for that neither you nor I can find it there. You say, I take the word Soul in Scripture very often to signify Life, or Person; and you grant that in Hebrew it doth so. But say I, we find the like in Greek also; for in St. Paul's Shipwreck, there were in the Ship two hundred seventy six Souls, alias, Persons. You say, That in my Opinion I follow my friend Mr. Hobbs. I say, I follow nothing but Common Sense and Reason in it; and that if Mr. Hobbs have said the same things, I see no reason to think that strange: but proceeding in both from one Common Principle: which makes our Construction obvious to the Reason of Mankind. If I had ever had the knowledge of Mr. Hobbs his Opinion, or Writings, I know no cause to reject or refuse the owning of it: but for Truth's sake, I tell you, that I never saw the Man but once, and that without changing one word; nor did I ever peruse any of his Writings (to my remembrance) nor have I received any light proceeding from him; and you are the first Discoverer to me, and the only, that his Sense and mine agree in it.  
Paragraph 9 You examine Solomon's Expression, The dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. Concerning this Expression, my Treatise shows, That Spirit and Breath are often used in the same signification, and may pass for Synonyma's. Gen. 2.7. God made Man of the dust, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Man became a living soul: viz. a living person. Ante. Roccius in his Book De Anima, page 20. says, The Souls of Animals [or Brutes] had a like beginning to those of Men; quamvis per Emphasin, ob majorem Animae Humanae dignitatem, de ipsa id exactius exprimitur. Very probable it seems that God gave to Brutus' the Breath of Life, as well as to Men: Although (as he says) Moses hath not expressed it; that by Spirit here may be intended the Breath and Life, or the Breath of Life seems to me not unlikely. And whatsoever the Sense may be, or whether spoken by Solomon, according to common conception; or that he spoke it as you take it, for the last result of his Judgement, I mean thereupon to follow Sir Walter Raleighs Direction, viz. In all dark, and hard Questions, the most easy and best end of them, is to say, I will not dispute that. So I will not farther dispute the intent of Solomon in this place, but willingly leave you and all men at liberty to think thereof as their Reason or Fancy shall direct, and I hope for a like permission from other Men.  
Paragraph 10. You quote St. Matthew: Fear not them who can only kill the Body, but not the Soul: Also St. Luke's Text in the same point, which names not the Soul at all. And you say, We may perceive that the substance and intent of Christ's Doctrine was the same in both places; viz. That the Body being mortal, may be killed, but the Soul not so. Whether this your Assertion be true or not, let the World be judge. For our Lord's main scope and intent in this Text appears clearly to be, The Warning of his Disciples, not to fear Men, for that they could only punish with Death and no farther: Not to fear them so much as God, who can punish beyond Death, by casting into Hell. The Contents in both Evangelists express. That our Lord exhorted his Disciples to preach to others what they had heard of him, he bids them not be afraid so to do; for that Men can only kill the Body, and do you no more harm: but God can punish after Death, and cast you into Hell; and this we ought to fear more than any thing that Man can do to us. That St. Matth. hath worded our Lord's Expressions otherwise, is true; but that our Lord's intent here, was to teach a Separate Subsistence of Souls after Death, appears not in St. Luke's words, nor in the Contexts of either of the Evangelists. And the wording of it in St. Matthew's Text, seems to me but the result of that Apostle's Judgement; perhaps according to the Common Opinion of that Time. And however, here being two Relations of the same Thing, and of equal Authority, it seems Men may accept which of them they think most likely, or most true, without much apprehending the abuses which Atheists or Profane Persons may make of it.  
Parag. 11. You say, I make Matthew and Luke to disagree again. Yet the Case is no more but this, Matthew says, Two Thiefs were crucified with our Saviour, and those Thiefs also which were crucified with him reviled him. And Mark says the same thing, viz. They Crucified Two Thiefs with him, and they who were Crucified with him reviled him. Luke only relates the matter of the thief's Conversion, which he had by hear-say. Thus the difference which there is amongst them, is not made by me, who only relate the Case as it is, leaving it to others to adjust such difference as there appears amongst them. I do not deny the truth of St. Luke's Relation, only say it may be questionable upon these differences. But for Answer to the Objection from the thief's being that day in Paradise: I say, That the Crucifixion and Death was on Friday Evening, and the Resurrection upon Sunday Morning; and this Thief might, and likely did rise, at the time of our Lord's Resurrection, Matth. 27.52. The Graves were opened, and many Bodies of Saints which slept, arose, and went, and appeared unto many. And there is a great Concurrence of Opinion, That the Old Patriarches had part in that Resurrection. This being granted, I hope, showing the Sense of the Word this day, is to very good purpose: for this Promise to the Thief might be literally fulfilled, if he risen at our Lord's Resurrection. I wonder how you missed of this effect of my Answer, fully expressed in my Treatise; and yet it seems you did miss of it: for else you would not have proceeded as you do in this Paragraph.  
Paragraph 12. You say, You wonder how I can conceive, that the Parable of Dives was delivered to dilucidate our Lord's Doctrine in the 15th. verse of that Chapter: viz. That what was highly esteemed in the sight of Men, may be an abomination in the sight of God. I will tell you how I come to conceive so. This Doctrine our Lord delivers, ver. 15. and ver. the 19th. gins the Parable, distanced only by three intermediate verses: and the Parable is very proper and significant for that purpose. For what (in Man's sight) is more glorious and happy, than the State of Dives, and what more miserable than that of Lazarus? and yet in God's sight and knowledge, their State was directly the contrary. But, say you, Christ delivered this Doctrine to the Pharisees. I grant it, and so (for aught that I can perceive) he did that Parable; nor do I find any cause for you to doubt of it. You are willing to suppose (which I think is to grant) that it is a Parable, and you wonder that I should say, Parables are a sandy Foundation for the building of Doctrines upon: For say you, Our Lord spoke to the multitude in Parables, and without a Parable spoke he not unto them. To this I answer, His Disciples wondered at it, and enquired why he did so, and he told them the reason, viz. That seeing they might not perceive, and hearing they might not understand and be converted: for God's appointments were to be fulfilled by means of their ignorance. Acts 3.17. Peter tells the Jews (concerning our Lord's sufferings) I wots that through Ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers; but God so brought about, what he had foretold by the mouth of all his Prophets. So Paul, Had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But when our Lord and his Disciples were by themselves together, he expounded all things unto them, and did manifest himself unto them, and not to the world: but all was delivered in Parables to them who were without. John 15.15. Ye are my friends, for all things which I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you; and I hearty wish our Lord had expounded this Parable unto them.  
Parag. 13. You demand, What could move Paul to desire death rather than life? I answer, He was at Rome when he wrote to the Philippians; such an one as Paul the aged, and a Prisoner of Jesus Christ, in continual expectation of Martyrdom. Chap. 2.17. If I be offered up as a sacrifice, I will joy and rejoice with you; and I would have you do so with me. Yourself may, if you please, contemplando, put your soul into his souls stead, as Job says, or imagine your self to be in his Case; I judge you would have no cause to desire a long or a longer continuance in that condition, If it were not (as he says) for the opportunity and power to profit other men: he says, For him to die, and be with Christ, would be far better. 1 Thess. 4.14. As Jesus died and risen again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus, shall God bring with him: but howsoever (in such a Case) you might judge, I think for myself, that if I were in that Case, or a far more easy state of Life, yet infirm and aged, as I am, and had withal so great assurance of a blessed, joyful Resurrection, as that Apostle had; viz. That a Crown of Righteousness was laid up for him, and to be given him at that day: I think that I should make little doubt in the choice, but fully desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, in the sense of resting or Sleeping in Christ, to be of that number, who being asleep in Jesus, God will bring with him: for that blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours. And so Job says, There the weary are at rest, freed from oppressions, pains, and sufferings. You mention a man's becoming a prey to worms, as a terror of Death; but I esteem that terriculamentum only, and of no force at all upon the Understanding of a Man. It seems Solomon had another sort of apprehension concerning Death, Eccles. 7.1. he says, The day of a man's death is better than that of his birth, speaking generally; and Chap. 4. when he considers worldly oppressions and miseries, he says, I praised the dead, which are already dead, more than the living, which are yet alive. He liked the dead state better: Yea, better is he than both of them, who hath not yet been, and so hath not seen [nor felt, or been partaker of] the evils that are done [or suffered] under the Sun. Chap. 6.3. he prefers the state of an untimely birth before the long life of a man in a miserable or suffering condition. Our Lord says of the man who should betray him, It had been better for that man not to have been born. It seems a vain Scholastic Invention, That a state of being, or living (though in very great Misery) is better, or more eligible than a State of Death, or not being. A true and full sense of Suffering will fully convince Men concerning the error of that Apprehension: We find Job frequently desiring Death, as a period to his Afflictions, and wishing to have died from the Womb; and so earnest for Death, as that he would dig for it, more than other Men would do for hid Treasures. Death is the Universal Port and remedy for the Afflicted: And upon this Argument it seems reasonable to think, that one in St. Paul's condition might very wisely desire to departed this life, and to be with Christ; is much the better state for him, though taken in the sense of a resting or sleeping in Jesus, till the times of refreshing and Resurrection shall come.  
It seems an Appendix to this Paragraph, That you have given me your pains upon this Treatise, but you will not go on in that course any farther. I do acknowledge myself very much obliged to you for what you have done; and that it is more than any Peruser hath done before you; And I take it as a real effect of your Zeal and Kindness. St. James tells us, That he who converts a Sinner from the error of his way, shall save a Soul from Death, and hid a multitude of Sins. And I am ready to believe that you had that Prospect in the eye of your mind, when you bestowed the pains for the Conviction of me, and others who might happen to have the Perusal of what you have Written; why you should refuse to go forwards, and to the Accomplishment of so worthy a Design, I do not enough apprehend. You have indeed many other good Works and needful Employments upon your hands; but perhaps you ought so to do them, as not to leave this undone, if really, and in your own Conscience, you are convinced and fully persuaded that you are able to do the thing substantially, or by rational and somewhat evident Deductions, from Nature, Reason, or Scripture, I declare myself willing to hearken to all and any of these Evidences, and to your Proposal of them, as soon as to any man's. You have entered the Lists, and how you can now forsake them without trying the uttermost of the Combat, I leave to you to consider.  
In the last place of this Paragraph, you reflect upon what I said concerning Preaching in Trading Towns; you say you are such a Preacher, and I grant it; and that you are reached, and within the bounds of the Expression; but yet you are not within the intent of it: for those words are amongst my Observations upon Mr. Baxter's Book, and the intent went primely, if not only, to those who preached according to the Direction and Rules of that Book. You have discovered to me the indiscretion of that general Expression, for which I crave pardon, and do acknowledge there may be error in the general sense of the words there used; and that they may and do exceed the intent of the Writer.  
But your Conclusion, That you will more insist upon the Separate Subsistance of Souls, and their Immortality, in your Sermons than formerly you used to do, I do not fully approve; the word more is capable of divers applications, viz. more frequently, or more positively, or more provingly: If your more be applied to the third sense, I grant you have reason in it; but if to either of the other two senses, I think you have not sufficient reason for that intent or practice, Rules of Self-denial teach men to correct the inveterate inclination of Nature, Qua nitimur invetitum. I will not multiply words upon this Subject, knowing I speak sapienti.  
Paragraph 14. You observe the inconvenient Consequences of my Opinion, i. e. It offers indignity to Man's Nature, in debasing it to that of the Beasts. To the Term of equalling it with the Beasts, I do not agree, for throughout my Treatise there are ascribed to Man many higher Degrees of Reason, Memory, Judgement, and Will, than Beasts are allowed to be capable of. A like Nature is supposed in all, but an apparently great difference in the Degrees, as we may plainly see is betwixt Elephants and Mice, Camels and Moles; a like or greater difference is agreed to be betwixt Men and Brutes, both in their Bodies and Minds. The Elephant and Mouse have great differences, and clear likenesses, yet greater differences are allowed betwixt Men and Brutes; but there are still great likenesses amongst them: and this I hold to be no disparagement to Man's Nature. And in Judgement Men are not permitted to decline to the right hand or to the left, but aught to follow Truth to the best of their Knowledge, and give honour to whom honour is due; not give it where it is not due, nor more than is due.  
Secondly, You say, The Opinion contradicts the common apprehension of Mankind hitherto accepted. You say, It contradicts the Universal Tradition of the Christian Church. But this I do not agree, having cited some Fathers and Divines to the contrary. You say, The Opinion is bold, singular, and heretical. That there is a degree of boldness and singularity in it, I do not deny; but I say it is not so great a degree of either, as I took it to be when I writ my Treatise, witness the many Quotations reported in this Writing. It fared with me as it did with Elijah, who thought he was the only true Servant which God had in Israel, but it was revealed to him that there were Seven thousand such left in Israel, although he knew nothing of them, To the word heretical, I read in King James the First his Apology, Fol. 302. of his Works, That he thought himself acquitted from that Charge, by his professing to believe the Scripture, and the three most Ancient Creeds; his submission to the Four First Great or General Councils, and to what the Fathers of the First Five hundred years did agree upon as necessary to salvation. Here are your Rules for Examination of Heresy, and none of these Trials do I refuse, but till Proofs rise from some of these Grounds, my Answer to this Expression, shall be the words of Moses, Numb. 16. and the close of the 7th. verse.  
Thirdly, You say, The Opinion opens a gap to Atheism and Disobedience; and incourages Men to prefer their private Fancies before the Wisdom and Authority of the Church. To this I say, Our Primitive Reformers, have (in Answer to their Popish Superiors) fully answered this Objection; and to them I refer you for an Answer, with this Addition, That if your Proposition were irrefragable, Errors grown general, would prove irremediable.  
Fourthly, You say, The Opinion tends to promote Vice, and that the Souls Separate Subsistence is the strongest Foundation of Piety and Religion. But I cannot grant any of these Consequences to be necessary or probable; but do say, That our Lord's Direction, To fear God, who can both kill and cast into hell; stands firm and unshaken: and the passing of an intermediate time betwixt Death and Judgement (which time to the dead is nothing) doth no way enfeeble the Certainty of Future Rewards and Punishments; but places the Expectation of them upon a right and a firm Foot or Foundation, maintained by a Concurrent Testimony throughout the Scripture, and fortified by the Articles of our several Creeds: A Truth, of which since Christ's time, there never was any doubt; nor can be, by any who do acknowledge the Authority of the Scripture. You say, Men may except against the Resurrection also; and I grant it: for some do it daily against the Being or Government of a Deity. But this doth not strengthen your Inference, That because Men question and explode an Opinion which appears to be not well grounded, therefore they will do the same by another Opinion that is well grounded, and founded upon a Rock. True it is, That our Churches for about the last 1200 years, have been so possessed with the Conceit of a Separately Subsisting Soul, that they have made little use of the Resurrection in their Exhortations. And in truth, if the Soul parting from the Body, go presently to Heaven or Hell, our Article of the Resurrection can be but of small use in the Church. If Souls get amongst Blessed Angels in Heaven, what need can there be to them of a Resurrection? It seems rather a loss and harm to them to enter again into Bodies, and come out of Heaven to inhabit on Earth again, although it be a New Earth, wherein dwells Righteousness. There have been Testimonies all along in the Church against the Separate Subsistence of Souls, except in the 600 years wherein the thick darkness of Popish Ignorance overspread the Christian World: viz. from An. 600 till An. 1200. You say again, Mr. Hobbs hath propagated this, or such Opinions; but I must clear him still from the having done me any harm: nor in this Opinion hath any Man done it. The Truth warrants me to use St. Paul's words, I neither received it of man, nor was I taught it: so little acquainted with what other men have thought of it, that I did not know or believe that any other man had been of this Opinion, according to what I affirm in my Treatise. In the late Auction of Books held in the Towu, you purchassed for me Dr. Willis his Book De Anima Brutorum, in which I found all the particulars of my Opinion, fully delivered in terminis; far better framed, and learnedly maintained, than I know how to do it. And it hath been my admiration, that two so utterly unconversant, should jump so evenly and fully into the same impressions. Also Antonius Roccius a Germane Philosopher, maintains the very same Opinions of the Souls being generated, and naturally Mortal. And yet both of them allow and maintain an Immortal Soul in Man; yet but in words: for all their Reasons and Deductions make against it, Roccius was a Professed Papist, and his Church have sharp Censures in such Cases; and Willis appears wary: but in me the Old Proverb is verified, Who so bold as blind Bayard? I neither knew nor meant any harm in the promulgating of this Opinion: and perhaps I may not yet have enough considered the thing: and my Prayer to God is, That he will give us understanding in all things; and particularly in the thing now disputed: Other Interest in this Opinion I have none, but as it yet seems to me the very Truth; and if so it be not, I pray God deliver me from it: and I will very much thank any man who will take pains with me to that purpose, as you have begun to do; and I count it a Proof of Good Nature and Charity in you.  
Paragraph 15. You favour me with your advice in pursuance of Dr. Ashington's Opinion, and I doubt not of your good meaning in it. But my thoughts concerning Treatises of Practical Divinity are, That they are already so many, and perhaps so ineffectual, as that a Talon laid out upon them, may be accounted next to one wrapped up in a Napkin and buried in the Earth. So unprofitable a Traffic, and the Markets already so clogged with that Commodity, as hardly can any man expect to double his Principal; no not to make One of One, by such an Undertaking: Operam & Oleum perdere, is the most likely effect of such an Undertaking. Learned Men would not need it, the more Ignorant would not read it; and they who did so, would not heed it: and in fine all would come to the Sense of the Old Latin Expression before recited. I do not much doubt, but that the design of your Advice intends thus, Sir, It seems you have itching Fingers, apt to fall into some Employment; little good can be expected from them: therefore pray use them in such things, wherein if they can do no good, they may do no harm. And your design in it is not to be condemned. But I thus answer to it, That it is a Rule in Education of Children, to employ them in such Studies or Arts towards which they have a most Propensity and Inclination, as the most likely Course for them to succeed in: And so I conceive it is with Writers, their own Genius is a more proper Director, than others men's Appointments. And yet my Fingers have not been slack in handling Points of Practical Divinity, for I have by me Five Treatises upon those Points, finished before I had any thoughts concerning that which you have lately perused; and they are of ten times the bulk of that. I doubt I must entreat you, and much more other Strangers, to read them; nay, perhaps you or they would not be hired to it for a small matter, although my Books follow not the beaten Load upon that Subject. That Archbishop Laud, quoted by you, differs in his Opinion from me upon this Point, I do not wonder, nor that you do so; but I should wonder to find men who will agree with me in it: I did wonder when I found Willis doing so, and citing: Gassendus in the words which express my Opinion; when I found Roccius saying the same things and words; and Melanchton apparently to the same Sense: and Peter Martyr approaching thereunto, and nearer than I do expect other men shall come in any short time. Your Quotation out of Dr. Cave was drawn by him out of Euseb. Hist. lib. 6. cap. 36 and is quoted in my Treatise. This Particular finishes your Opposition to my Treatise, and shall put an End also to my Defence.  
Yet because I have (as you may see) some room left upon this Sheet of Paper, I am thereby invited to remember what you said in your Second Paragraph; viz. That it is not unlikely that my Treatise might be the result of some years Study. To set your Imagination right upon that Point, I give you this Account of it, That in Summer 1690, I practised my Monastic Discipline, reading within Doors, and labouring the Ground abroad, Mutans quadrata rotundis. What I read within, I ruminated without. I considered the close Connection of Soul and Body, and even the Contexture of them; that Humane Constitutions and Faculties are often altered by Diet, Air, Sickness, Accidents; that the best Reasons, Memories, or Judgements, may be altered or spoiled, by divers like Means; and recovered sometimes by Medicines applied to the disaffected Parts or Organs of the Body. How this might competere with the Acts and Powers of a Substantial Angelical Spirit as the Soul or Form of Man, I found myself unable to comprehend; but that rather it seemed there was a Dependency of the Soul upon the Body, as well as of the Body upon the Soul. Hence I concluded there was a Close and Natural Contexture between them, and that likely they were both of one same Nature, Connatural to Man; viz. his Natural and Constituent Parts. Then I considered the Brutes, and that they had the same Senses and Affections with Men, and some sort of Understanding, Fancy, and Memory, and all liable to like Accidents: Also both Sorts lived by Blood, Breath, and Fuel or Food, and if any of these failed, the Man must die as well as the Beast: so as the Man's Soul could help in such, or any other Vital or Natural Necessities, no more than the Soul of a Beast can do in like Cases. And thus I went on considering all the Summer, and coming tube inclined, I fell upon a very Natural Course of Proceeding in such Cases, followed by St. Paul, Acts 17.17. He disputed his Tenets in all Places, and with all Persons of his Conversation, proper for that purpose; and so did I, and read Books, such as I had or could buy or borrow. Lastly, One lent me a Book, called Richard Baxter's Dying Thoughts; and the Weak Defence which he and Sir Kenelm Digby, and Doctor More, made on behalf of that Immortal Opinion, fortified my Conceptions to the contrary. In Christmas I discoursed with many about it, and soon after Candlemass I began to write and finished my Treatise about a Week after Midsummer, in An. 1691, since which time divers have perused it, and I refuse it to none who are like to use it cleanly, and are capable of it. I know you observe that I begin with Baxter's Book, and end with it, quoting and examining of it all along; nor did I find it difficult to refute all that he says in maintenance of the Immortality, except the Texts of Scripture which he quotes. And those Texts in him and in you, seem to me the only Defences of the Immortality. Batteries you perceive, are and may be raised against the intention and effects of those Texts which are quoted to that purpose; and of what force they will prove, Men are not like speedily to determine. But my Judgement is not convinced or persuaded, that by forbearing the Argument drawn from the Immortality, and pressing in its stead that from the Resurrection, and the Last Judgement, there can any detriment arise to the Progress and Maintenance of the Christian, and specially of the Protestant Religion. If I had a desire to argue upon this Point, and towards the Clearing of it (as St. Paul did) both in Synagogues, Markets, and Schools, I do it much more desirously with you; as professing myself,  
Your much obliged and very humble Servant. 8 March 1692.   

After, this Answer to the Opponents Objections, he was p1eased to reply thereunto in June following; and his Replication was divided into Seven Paragraphs.  
His 1. Parag, Insists, That I had not made that Proof which he demanded of the Quomodo, How a Material Spirit was able to act, or did act, the Humane Faculties and Powers, known to be in Mankind, and carried to an excellent Perfection in some Men? As this was a repeated Demand, so I say, that I answer to it as before; viz. That there are many other Things and Actings in the World, the Reasons and Causes of which Men neither do nor can enough comprehend or perceive. Our Lord tells us, That if one should watch the Corn Night and Day, yet he could not perceive, so as to know, the Immediate and Proper Causes of its Growth; but it will bring forth, first the Stalk, next the Blade, than the Ear▪ and last, the Full Corn in it: Men not perceiving the How, or the Why of it: and the Case is like for all other Plants. How it was, or whence it proceeds, that they bring forth Fruits and Leaves of wondrous Variety and Diversity, in Colour, Figure, Taste, Smell, Bulk, and Operations. We see that each of them have Root, Bole, Skin, or Bark; and we perceive and know that each of them hath an active and lively Juice or Spirit ascending from the Root into the Bowls, Branches, and Tops of them: and this Composition of Matter and Form in Plants we do reasonably believe to be sufficient and effectual, for the production of all that doth ordinarily grow out of them. But that Solomon, or any other man, ever did, or can declare to us the manner of their proceed, or the next Reasons of them, and of that great Variety in their Natures and Productions. I do not know, nor believe, nor do I think it a Work of Humane Power to do.  
Next Plants, we may consider the Infects; Solomon points us to the Spiders, the Locusts, the Aunts, and the Bees, what are the Causes of their Motions and Actions? Solomon tells us they do what is proper and best for their Being's, but as Wonders to him and us, who know neither the How, nor the Why, of them. And so for the Fishes and the Birds, we cannot know by what secret Engines and Motors divers particulars are done amongst them.  
Concerning the Quadrupedes, we see and know they have the same Flesh, Blood, Bones, and Breath, that Men have, and in their Kind's suitable Bodily Members, as Head, Heart, Liver, Lungs, Arteries, Veins, Fibres, Muscles, etc. that Men have: also a Generation and Production all alike. I may demand what makes them live and grow in the Wombs of their Dams? What forms their Members, and how are they made, in those Dark Receptacles? How can mere Matter and Motion hit upon forming every Species amongst them, like those of their own Kind? How comes it that upon their first Production they seek their Dam's Paps for Nourishment? What teaches them the proper uses of their several Armatures, not mere Matter and Motion? What teacheth them Art Natural or Acquired; Also their Senses both Inward and Outward, their Fancies and Memories? How come they by these and the use of them, not by mere Matter and Motion; but even as Men do, though in a much Lower Degree?  
Gen. 1.25. God made the Beast of the Earth after his Kind. ver. 26. He said, Let us make Man in our Image. Here appears a plain Intention of God to make both Man and Beast, and that they were made by him accordingly, and that he endued each sort of them with a Generative Faculty or Power, whereby they were enabled, and even naturally and generally provoked to generate their like, according to their several Species. Chap. 5.3. Adam begat a Son in his own likeness, after his Image; whence Men are generated in the same Image and Likeness that they were created.  
The Maintainers of the Immateriality pretend to expound the Texts of Genesis last quoted, and they do it thus; where it is said, That God made Man after his own Image, this Image of God, say they, was the Soul of Man, but not his Body; for that cannot be the Image of a Spirit: and God is a Spirit. Then upon Adam's begetting a Son in his own Likeness, after his Image: They say, This begetting after his Image, must be intended of the Body only, and not of the Soul; for that the Parents cannot generate Souls of their Sort, viz. Intelligent and Angelical: but that must be newly created by God, upon every new Procreation of Bodies by the Parents. I answer, That both these Expositions are merely precarious and arbitrary, not agreeable to Reason, or grounded upon Scripture: Not upon Scripture, for they are contrary to the Letter and Words of the Texts. The first says, God made Man after his own Image. Here Man, say I, must intent the Compositum of the Soul and Body; for we never heard or read of a Man without a Body. And as this Contexture of Soul and Body, is the Image of God, so Death, by Dissolving of that Contexture, destroys that Image of God, which was the Man, whilst that Contexture continued. So for the other Text, Adam begat a Son in his own Likeness, after his Image. This, say I, intends a begetting of the Soul as well as the Body; for we never heard of a Son of Man without a Soul: and think that in Nature there cannot be that thing, viz. a Son of Man without a Soul. But they reply, Flesh and Blood cannot generate Soul of our Sort, not an Angelical Spirit; for, that which it born of flesh is fleshly; and not such a Spirit. This I grant to be true, and infer thence, That a Humane Soul generated, is not an Intelligent Spirit, but a Material, though very much Refined Spirit; and of a Flamy Airy Nature: as Heraclitus and my Lord Bacon have described it, and as Hypocrates, Galen, Sennertus, Willis, and Ent, have spoken of it.  
I say then, That God created Man, endowing Matter with Motion; and the Contexture of such a Spirit or Soul, as did enable him to perform all those Actions, and was able to actuate all those Powers which God intended for him, and bestowed upon him. That God can so do at his pleasure, I believe there are few that doubt. Willis page 5. bot. says, Dum ita Creatoris opera quisque ad ingenii sui modulum exponit, sentire utique videtur quod Deus nihil amplius fabricare valeat quam quod homo possit concipere, aut effingere: To this he adds, page 40. That the Vital and Animal Spirits are prime parts of the Sensitive Soul in Men and Beasts. And says,  nihil referam illis qui hosce Spiritus prorsus negant, quorum existentia (fere palpabilis) ab effect is probari potest; neque de illis redarguendis solicitus sim, qui viventium sensus & facultates quascunque perceptivas, non nisi à substantia immateriali immortalique obiri posse contendunt. And to the like Sense, Melanchton, De Anima, p. 5. Spiritus vitales in homine nascuntur in cord, & vere sunt flammae. P. 7. Moses teaches, Animam carnis in sanguine esse; significat autem anima (Hebraeis) vitam. And when Moses says, The Life or Soul is in the Blood, vult sanguinem vehiculum esse vitae, & spiritus vitales illam ipsam rem esse quae ciet corpora, quam nominamus animam. P. 21. The Powers of a Sensitive Soul, Monstrant aliquid quod cogitari potest in materia, fons esse actionum; non tamen haec prorsus perspicimus, sed naturam fons intuemur, experimur & cernimus motus, quod, cur it a factum est, sapientia est artificis, non nostra. P. 112. Nulla pars in universa natura ita introspici potest ut penitus & tot a agnoscatur. Admirandum est cerebrum quod est domicilium sapientiae ac officina cognitionum, judicii, ratiocinationis, & memoriae; actiones cerebri quantum differunt à physicis qualitatibus quae est substantia cerebri, ubi, & quomodo fiunt hae mirandae actiones in hac squalida massa, haec fateamur non penitus sciri, & agnoscamus Deum esse Naturae nostrae conditorem; & actiones cerebri proprias maxime testari hunc mundum non extitisse casu, & Deum conditorem esse mentem sapientem, beneficam, justam, & veracem, quia impossibile est, discrimen honestorum & turpium casu aut à natura bruta ortum esse. Upon which I thus descant. That as God hath given to Brutes, quasdam notitias proper to their Natures, of which Men cannot perceive the Origins or Causes, as in the Arts of Bees, Aunts, Spiders, Birds Building, Procreation, Government, and Feeding: Brutus' Knowledge of their Natural Enemies, and the strength and use of their own Armatures; and the Proprieties of their Food and Medicines. These and their like, come from particular Notices planted by God in the Natures of Creatures; and it seems Congruous enough to such Proceed, That God may have given to Mankind the easy apprehension, honestorum & turpium, and the Notion of Expectation of a Ruling and Protecting Divinity, as proper Notices and Instincts, very suitable to the Nature of Man and his Commodious Living in this World. The same Author, P. 205. says, Many things we know are acted in us and by us, Ita condita est hominum natura divinitus, ut fieri cogitationes in nobis, & formari & ordinari imagines sciamus; quomodo fiant, non cernimus, sed ita Deus voluit. And this to me seems a sufficient Account of men's using their Faculties of Understanding and Reason, ita Deus voluit; and that it is to be preferred before the Expedient or Proposal of Prescribing an Immaterial Spirit to be newly created by God upon every fruitful Coition of Man and Woman.  
These and the like Say of Learned Men, and the Grounds and Reasons of them, are offered as a sufficient Cause and Occasion for me to wave, and even to deny and refuse the entering into a Fruitless Enquiry after the Means how Men are enabled to used their Senses, Fancies, Understandings, Memories, Judgements; of which yet I think I can give as good an account, as you can do how Infants grow in the Womb, and live there without Breathing, in nature of a Grub: Or the How or Why Teeth grow out of their Jaws. David could say, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, but he could not tell how that Knowledge was too wonderful and excellent for him: and he could not, and much less are you like to attain unto it; & pari ratione, let me require of you to show, Whence, and How, Ambition, Covetousness, Lust, Wrath, and Fear, grow in all Men? and in the most, to such a Power and Strength, as to baffle and bear down the Powers of Reason, and that Angelical Soul or Spirit, which you say resides and governs in every man, and is specially created for him by God to that purpose. You may please to account to me, for the How, and by what means, such things are acted or come to pass: or lastly, do for the Immaterial Soul what you require of me for my Material one; declare and prove to me how and by what means the Immaterial Soul works or acts in each of the Senses, in the Understanding, Fancy, Memory, Judgement, Local Motion, Appetite, Digestion, Nutrition, Generation, and Outward and Inward Faculties and Power belonging to Mankind: and by the time that you have so done, I hope to be able and willing to account to you how such things may all be done as well, and more probably, by a Material Spirit; the thing which you require of me, I am not yet able to perform, but by that time that you have acted and done, what pari passu I have now required of you, I doubt not but that I shall be enabled to give you a more satisfactory. Answer to the appointments which you have been pleased to press upon me, as most necessary in our present Disputation. You found these things in my Treatise, which yet I think fit to repeat here, because it seems you do not remember what you read there concerning them.  
As to the Material Soul, if you did not grant that in Nature the Things is, and that it acts in Plants, Infects, Fishes, Fowls, and Beasts, I could describe to you much of its Nature and Efficiency, and make good Proof of it ab effectis. and from Sensible Discoveries, quoth sit in Natura Rerum. And for the quid sit in Men and Beasts, it hath been said, and is now repeated, that is the Spirits and Particles of Blood inflamed and glowing, such as needs a continual Nourishment, both from well digested and rarified Humours, and the fresh fanning of the ambient Air; and according to the goodness or badness of these, both Men and Beasts are very much affected. For the unde oritur, I say it grows from the Energy of the Seed, fomented in loco idoneo. To the quando ingreditur, I say it comes not aliunde (as you say the Immaterial doth) Melanch in his quoted Book, p. 12 says, It is, Propagata ex Natura corporea; viz. Natura seminum: and as in Plants and Brutes, Anima oritur ex vi seminis, sic de Anima vegetativa & sensitativa in homini dici potest; homo enim non generat imperfectius quam Plantae & Boves; manifestum est animae sentientis nullas esse actiones nisi Organicas, quare consentaneum est oriri eam ex semine, & esse vel temperamentum vel potentiam in corpore; gignit igitur homo hominem saltem secundum vitam sentientem, si non secumdum animam rationalem: & has animas, vegetativam & sentientem esse ex traduce, id est ex natura seminis fatendum est. For the Vbi residet Anima Materialis in Homine, I say it is dispersed over the whole Body. Our last quoted Author, p. 24. says, This Spiritu Vitalis sentiens, aut Anima Bovis, est quiddam divisibile juxta partes corporis: nam Spiritus Vitalis similis est flammae, quae partes habet, & alibi sunt aliae. For the Tota in toto & qualibet parte, he says, Vnde sumptum sit ignoro, nam in Aristotele nusquam extat, & commen●i●ium est, etiamsi quis tantum de hominis anima intelligot, & sentiet eam esse spiritum separabilem: quia spiritus finiti sunt in unico loco, ex quo agunt ad certam distantiam, alii magis, alii minus procul, ut suum quisque robur est. P. 146. Spiritus est subtilis vapor ex sanguine, coctis virtute cordis ac incensus ut sit velut flammula quae in diversis membris dissimiles habet actiones; quanquam enim unus est fons spirituum, tamen locis mutantur, & mutati, dissimiles habent actiones. Dr. Willis, in the Preface to his Anima Brutorum, p. 2 Nequaquam diffiteor, animae corporeitatem à rationibus minime contemnendis & ampliissimis ubique, tum veterum, tum recentiorum suffragiis evinci, haec anima sensitiva est toti corpori coextensa, habens partes non modo plures & distinctas, sed & quadantenus dissimilares. P. 3. Quis sponsorem se fecerit Deum non potuisse vires & facultates materiae imprimere vitae sensitivae muniis accommodas, sed si quis substantiam illam subtilissimam & prorsus aetheream quae vitali oeconomiae inservit immaterialem statuat; meminerit mihi indulgeri, si forte ego materialem apellem. Libri P. 8. Bruti, uti inferior hominis anima, materialis ac divisibilis est, & toti corpori coextensa; quia plures ac diversos actus animales, simul à diversis corporis membris, ac partibus obiri cernimus, eodem instanti oculus videt, auris audit, nares olfaciunt, lingua gustat, & membra quaevis exteriora tactus sensum, & motum exercent; ac interea, viscera quaeque & praecordia munia sua exequuntur; quandoquidem igitur, inter corpus & animam non datur medium, sed corporis membra & parts animae sunt organa, quid aliud arbitrari aut statuere passumus quam ejusdem animae extensae plures & distinctas portiones singula isthaec corporis membra & parts actuare.  
As to the Quomodo operatur Anima haec nostra Materialis, our Author, p. 10. says, Haec anima consistit iisdem particulis, aut ejusdem materie● ex quibus corpus formatur, iis vero selectis, subtilissimis, & maxim activis, quae tanquam flos & crassiori massa emergentes mutuo coeunt, atque ductus idoneos (quos per totam corporis compagem ipsae procudunt) nactae hypostasin unam continuam, scilicet praetenuem & quasi spirituosam toti adaequatam & coextensam consti●●unt, ex creationis lege. Here he shows how these Active Particles first work in semine, and form a Consistence and Body suitable to its own activities; as a Case may be exactly fitted to a Jewel: & haec anima ex se statim dissolvi, tenuesque in auras evanescere apta, a corpore continenti in subsistentia sua & actu conservatur; ita anima (tenuissima licet) est corporea. P. 11. Corpori intime unitur ejusque velut subtegmen existit, attamen textura subtilissima, sensibus nostris percipi nequit, sed solum modo ab effectis & operationibus suis dignoscitur. And when the Creature dies, Statim ejus particulae à concretione sive mutua adhaesione sua abruptae (absque vestigio quovis relicto) prorsus dissipantur. P. 30. After treating of Brutal Souls, he says, Ac in eadem classe etiam hominis animam corpoream ponimus, idque jure: quoniam in utrisque praecordiorum, nec non cerebri, ejusque appendicis nervosi eadem est confirmatio. P. 38. Anima corporea, brutis perfectionibus & homini communis, cum toti corpori organico extenditur, & singula tum partes ejus, tum humores vivificat, actuat, & irradiat, ita in duobus illorum eminentius subsistere atque sedes velut imperiales habere videtur. Here our Doctor declares the manner how this Material Soul acts and works in the Head and Heart principally. P. 39 The Modes and Manner of its Operation by such inflamed Particles of the Blood, and specially in the Head, whence they are dispersed over all the Body, effecting therein Perception by the Senses and all other Faculties; their Order, Causes, and Manner of Working, very much deserving the perusal of those who really desire satisfaction in the Enquiry which you have propounded: viz. Quomodo operatur Anima Materialis in Homine. There you may find a better account to this purpose and a larger, than I dare pretend to give you of my own.  
My Answer to your Question, How men's Faculties and Powers can be acted by a Material Spirit, given in my former Treatise, is, That although I were not able to give Evidence of the Manner how, but should plead Ignoramus in Answer thereunto, this could be no great Detriment to the Tenet of a Material Soul in Man. For that Men do not know, nor can find out how the Material Soul in Plants produceth Wood, Bark, Leaves, Blossoms, Fruits, of great Diversities in Nature, Shape, Firmness, Taste, Colour, Smell, Natural Qualities, both for Meat, Medicine, and divers other uses. Nor do Men know how the Material Soul in Infects doth or can produce the admirable Order, Oeconomy and Regiment which is plainly visible amongst the Bees; the Orderly Proceed and Industry amongst the Aunts, and the fine and regular Textures of Spiders; the wonderful Faculties of Birds, in choosing commodious Places for their Nests; their Building, Sitting, Hatching, Feeding, Guarding, and Training of their Young. Their Musical Notes and Modulations: their Exercises of Power, the Stronger over the Weaker, and which the Weaker apprehend at the very first sight. Neither do men know, nor can find out, how or by what means the Beasts discern and know their proper Nouritures and Medicines, the Means and Causes of their Digestion, Nutrition, Generation, Appetites, Passions, Spontaneous Motions, Ejections of Excrements, the putting out their Hair, Horns, Hooffs, Claws, etc. Or the Means or Causes of using their Senses and perceiving by them. Their Common Sense, Fancy, Memory, and the low Degree of Understanding which they have. I say, the next Means and Causes of these Effects, and their like, men cannot discover or find out. And yet there appears no doubt but that such Effects flow from the Material Souls, or Spirits, with which every one of them in their Kind's or Species are endowed. Ergo, Though I may not be able to declare how a Material Spirit doth or can act in Man his Superior Faculties of his Reason and Mind, yet that may not prove an Argument sufficient to overthrow the Materiality of a Humane Soul: For such a Soul may (and probably doth) actuate all these Superior Powers and Faculties in Man, although we cannot perceive or understand the manner and next Causes of such Productions in any plain or declarable manner. It seems enough that we find there are apt Matter, Members, and Organs, to serve those Effects; and there is an Active Principle or Spirit, though Material, yet sufficient for enlivening and acting those Organs or Instruments for the serving such turns, to as great Perfection as is ordinarily found in Humane Nature; although we do not, and rationally are not able to discover the adequate, or perhaps, the true Reasons or Means; the How, and the Why, of such Performances.  
Sir Kenelm Digby in his Maintenance of the Soul's Immortality, Fol. 394. says, Gross Earthly Bodies create Ideas in the Minds of Men, and by that means doth Spiritualise such Bodies; and that which can so do, must needs be Immaterial. Now if you ask me how this comes to pass, and by what Artifice Bodies are thus spiritualised? I confess I shall not be able to satisfy you: but must answer, That it is done I know not how, by the power of the Soul. Show me a Soul, and I will tell you how it works. But as we are sure there is a Soul (that is to say, a Principle from which these Operations spring) though we cannot see it: so we may and do certainly know that this Mystery is (says he) as I say, though we cannot know, nor express the manner of it. And I may say the like for the Material Soul, that it is also Invisible, too fine to be perceived but by its Effects; and therefore its Operations, or the Manner of them, are not Perceptible by men's Senses: and thereunto the old Theorem may reasonably be applied, Nihil venit in Intellectu, quod non prius fuit in Sensu. And it seems not reasonable to expect a clear Description or Declaration of such Things or Productions as are not perceptible to Sense; or that doth not at some time come, or in some measure come, under the Test and Trial of those Informers.  
To comply with your Demands, I have thus repeated to you that I have before expressed in my First Treatise, although it seem more than the Exigence of the Case requires: For that although nothing had been said in the Defence, Proof, or Discovery, of what concerns the Soul's Materiality, yet it seems not to me a good or clear Consequence, That therefore it must be Immaterial. But that the Proof of that will still be necessary, and lie upon your hand; to show, De Anima Immateriali, quod sit in Rerum Natura; quid sit unde oritur, quando ingreditur, & quomodo; ubi residet in Corpore, quomodo actuat Corpus cum Membris, & omnia ejus Organa, as well in the Vital, Nutritive, Generative Faculties, as in the Loco-motive, Affective and Passionate Powers, and those of Sensation. And Lastly in the Rational and Superior Powers of Understanding, Fancy, Memory, Judgement, and Will. You have required of me Proofs how such things are, or can be acted in Man by a Material Spirit; to show the hardship of such an Imposition. I now demand the like of you, on behalf of an Immaterial Spirit; not believing that you will undertake the Employment, or that you, or any other man, can make a good performance of it; or discover so much on that behalf, as I have but now done on behalf of the Material One. It seems my Demand upon you, may pass lege talionis, it is thereby done to you, as you. thought fit to do: viz. Bind an heavy Burden, and lay it upon others Shoulders, which it may be you will avoid touching with one of your fingers, believing the whole to be much too heavy for you: and this shall finish the Answer to your Demand of the Quomodo operatur Anima Materialis in Homine.  
2 Paragraph, Here you raise an Argument for the Immateriality, from the Acts and Powers of Conscience in Man; which you think cannot grow, or be derived from Matter and Motion. I grant it is no more derived from mere Matter and Motion, than the other Faculties of Man are. God who created both Matter and Motion, and acts them in Plants, Infects, Fowls, and Beasts, to the Production of all that is done amongst them, acts them also in Mankind, to the Instruction, and for the Guidance of their Natures and Actions, the Conscient Powers in Man, viz. his Understanding, Memory, and Judgement, I have said are Natural, and the Effects of Conscience; viz. Content and Joy, or Sorrow and Fear, are also Natural: but to the Constitution and Completing of Conscience, there must also be allowed some Rules, Examples, or Conceptions, to which Men have submitted their Minds; in such manner as to believe what is done according to those Directions, is well done; and what is contrary to them, is a Fault or Offence. And this Conscience, I say, is common to Beasts as well as Men, though not so much, or in so high a Degree, but according to the proportion of Understanding amongst them. A Child young, hath no perceivance of Conscience, but as it grows to the Cognizance of Rules, it becomes subjected to the Strokes and Stings of Conscience. How are Beasts taught Duty, but by Rewards and Punishments, the Remembrances of which act upon them so as to make them correct a Failure in Duty, by a quick correcting of themselves in Action, and Amendment thereupon. And what is Conscience in Man more, than a Perceiving, or an Apprehension, that he hath acted against his Rule, which hath gotten the Ascendent over him; and for which he hath an Expectation of Punishment or Suffering, such, so great; so lasting, and intolerable, as those who have delivered the Rules to him, have taught him to conceive and apprehend: but that amongst Men that are Savage, and utterly uncultivated by any sort of Education, without Rules or Laws of any sort: amongst such Persons, there is no Transgression nor Conscience of Sin; viz. no Conscience at all. And we may compare the Faculty of Conscience to that of Speech amongst Men, they are things to which Humane Nature hath a great Aptitude and Inclination; but yet they are not so Natural, as to grow out of bare Nature, without any sort of Instruction or Teaching whatsoever. Mothers and Nurses commonly give the first Rudiments of them both: and they receive Alterations according as future Informers and Practices get Power over them. High Expectations of Eternal Rewards or Punishments, are able to transport Men, and have transported some, with ardent Desires, others with Afflictions and terrible Fears; so as they are throughly persuaded and convinced of such Future States as we are taught to believe, if upon Examinatien of the Conscient Powers, the Man find his Actions contrary to his Rules; and that therefore he is in a State of unmeasurable ill expectations. It seems natural and likely, that this man shall be apt to fall under the tyrannical dominion of his Fear, and that he needs no Immaterial Power to induce such Conceptions in him, or inflict such Rigours upon him; his own Connatural Conscient Powers, and the Cruelty and Tyranny of his Fear thence arising, are enough: and if any farther addition be needful, I have before quoted Melanchton, That a Diabolical assistance is often ready to act in such cases, for making the Effects more atrocious and remarkable, without needing the Opinion of a Soul's being Immaterial, for Solution of the Quaery of the Quomodo such things are possible to be done. And though the Acts of Conscience be Natural, yet the Rules which govern it, are chief (if not only) the Apprehensions or Opinions of the Persons under Trial, growing from Education, Institution, Example, Observation, Opinion, or Conceit, however Superstitious or Fallacious the same may be.  
To what you say, That you had given Instances concerning Acts of Conscience (and Terror upon them) in Persons who were above all Prejudice or Fear. I answer, That no Man can be above these Adjuncts or Qualifications: but all Educated Persons have always been taught to believe and fear a Divine Being and Vengeance, even when Jupiter and Apollo, Woden and Frea past in the World for their Prime Deities. And it seems observable, that however highly a supposed Immaterial Spirit may impress Terror upon the Conscience, yet let any man come and demonstrate convincingly, that there is a mistake, in that the Fact is not against the Rule, or that the Rule itself is an Error; and so the Wrath and Vengeance of God not due, or reasonably to be expected to follow upon such Failures. Such an Opinion and Belief, must and will naturally appease and cure the greatest Horrors of a Troubled Conscience; and do it as substantially as a Physician can cure any other Disease whatsoever, viz. by removing and curing the Efficient Causes of it. You demand of me, How Rules for Direction for Conscience came to Men at the first, when there were but few Persons in the World, and Customs or Conceits were not so various or common as of later times they are grown? To this I answer, That the only Persons in the World free from Prejudices and Rules imposed upon them by Education, were our first Parents, Adam and his Wife; and to them we read God gave an Express Rule; viz. Of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt, surely die. Next, we read of men's sacrificing to God, for which I do not perceive any ground in Reason or Nature; viz. That Man should or could, from Reason, invent or conceive, that the kill or shedding the Blood of Bulls, Rams, or Goats, should be pleasing or acceptable to the Omnipotent God: Whence I collect, that this early Practice amongst Men sprung from the Positive Direction of God; and soon after this Practice began, Cain shed the Blood of Abel his Brother: Whether he knew this Fact to be a Sin, or not, doth not appear in the Text. You observe in his Answer to God, after his Condemnation for it; he says, My punishment is greater than I can bear: Say you, The Margin of some Bible's render the words, Mine iniquity is greater than I can bear; and in this you say truly. It seems, the same Hebrew Expression may bear either Sense; but seeing it follows next after the Sentence, our Translators (in my mind) have done right, to put Punishment into the Text, and set the diversity of Reading only in the Margin. But whether Cain knew his Killing at that time, to be a Sin, or not, it afterwards was made known to be a Crying Crime amongst Men. God blessed Noah and his Sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; the flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat; and surely the blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Accordingly, the First Command of Moses his Second Table, is in express Terms, Thou shalt not Kill, a man, thy brother, presumptuously, innocent, or not deserving such punishment: soon after which Promulgation, viz. Exod. 32.25. Moses commands a promiscuous kill of his brethren, by which there fell about Three thousand men; and this summarily, without hearing or judgement. So Numb. 25.5. Moses said to the Judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men, that were joined unto Baal-peor. Also Phineas warmed by Zeal, and without any other Warrant, but that Heat, slew two Persons, by one through thrust of a Javelin, without regard to their future state, or giving them time to call upon God for mercy; and yet this Fact was both approved and rewarded by God. David shed blood abundantly upon the earth, and yet not reproved for his so doing. So Soldiers at this day, in pursuit of a flying Army, kill with commendations as many as they can, without imputing Crimes to them, or particular provocation from them. And this continues an avowed Practice and a daily Trade amongst Christians, hired to it for money. Amongst our Ancestors and other Germane Nations, the Killing of any Man might be legally compensated by Money at a stated Rate or Price, suitable to the Degrees or Qualities of Men amongst them; even though the Person killed were a King of the Nation, or a holy Bishop amongst them. There was a certain Price set upon every Quality of Persons, called Weargelt, and the Payment of that Price in Money or Goods to that Value, was a lawful Satisfaction for such Killing, and a Discharge from any farther Punishment, appertaining to the same. We read that at Rome it was accounted brave for People to kill themselves: And in Greece it was counted glorious to kill Tyrants; and so in all places to kill Enemies. These Facts and Fashions incline me to believe that Killing is not a Sin so much discoverable by Nature as by Polity, or Positive Law. God directed Noah and his Sons concerning it, and from them it past to their Posterities, all Nations of the World as a great Offence, but rather against Law than Nature: unless we shall take Nature in the Sense of General Custom, which is a Second Nature, and able to correct or supplant and overcome the Inclinations of Mankind, which we know to be Natural: Whence it seems, the Knowledge that Killing is an high Crime, is rather acquired, than Natural: And we see daily that Legislators set a Rate of Killing upon what Facts they think fit; and Men who are after executed for such Facts, are counted to be lawfully killed: and it seems from a like Original, that Killing is counted Criminal, and not from Nature alone uncultivated and savage, as the same may reasonably be conceived, and sometimes actually found. I say then, this Second Nature meliorated by Rules, directed by the Wisdom of God, and the Practice and Experience of Men, hath a Power and Effect of Conscience universally thereunto annexed; not proper to an Humane Nature in its naked State, or the absolute simplicity of it: But if in that low condition there be at all a Conscience, any more than what some Beasts can attain unto, I suppose it can extend no farther than to the practice of our Lords two general Rules, of doing to others what Men think Just and Good, if done to themselves; and Loving and Honouring that God, which Nature hath a great Propensity to fear and invoke, in times of men's Distress or Terror. I am not confident that Men in their lowest estate, can (without a long practice, and some sort of communication with others) be able to attain a Power and Practice of Conscience, extending to these two Universal Principles: but I confide, the Power of Nature in its Simplicity, cannot reach beyond a Sense of these Principles, if it can attain unto them: For other Sins, as Adultery, those who know not what Marriage is, cannot know what Adultery is. And for Theft and Robbery, it hath passed for a Glory in Ancient Barbarism; and at this day we find it in the continual Practice of the Turks and French, and used without any manner of Sense of Conscience for the same, without any alteration but of the Name, from Robbery to Conquest; as the Pirate very well observed to Alexander in his time. And the like may be said for all Moses's Laws. Paul says, I should not have known Covetousness to be a Sin, if the Law had not said, Thou shalt not covet: and so for Incest, if the Law had not forbidden it. At the first it was necessary and lawful, Abraham was late in the practice of it; and Amram Son of Kohath, Son of Levi, married Jocabed his Father's Sister: and it became usual for the Ptolemy's and Persian Kings, to marry their Sisters: and so it is at this day, for the Moguls, and Kings of Siam, China, and other parts of India, to use their Sisters, and even their Daughters, without any Reclamation of their Natural Consciences in those Cases.  
Hence it seems your Argument for the Immateriality, derived from a Natural Conscience directing the Actions of Men, can have but a small strength of Coercion in it; and because you say you will hold me to this Argument from Conscience, as the most Noble, Natural Proof of the Immateriality, I have been as long as I though need required, in my Answer of it.  
3. Parag. You say, Your sort of Soul hath a power able to control the actions of Men naturally. I grant Men have a Rational Faculty, that doth often resist and sometimes prevail against their Sensual Appetites, but not without some kind of Cultivation by Rules, Custom, or Example. Nay, say you, but bare Nature hath in itself that Power and Practice; and in Proof you allege Sr. Paul's Words, The Gentiles do by Nature the Things contained in the Law, and have a Law written in their Hearts, and are a Law to themselves. In Answer to this, I quote, as a parallel Text, 1 Cor. 11.14. Doth not even Nature itself teach you, that if a Man have long Hair it is a Shame to him. I say, this Text seems to expound what he meant by Nature in the former Text, viz. that second Nature arising from Education and the general Customs practised and observed amongst Men. In all the Countries of St. Paul's Progress and Travels, Men used to wear their Hair short, and thence it looked to him like an unnatural thing to do otherwise. and yet at that Time, both in Germany, France, and England, those Nations had a general Custom for Men to wear their Hair at as full a Length as the Women, especially those who were of a Superior Quality amongst them. Hence I would infer, St. Paul's Nature by which Men do the Things contained in the Law, intends a Nature cultivated by Education, acting, though not by the Rules of Moses' Law, (not known to them) yet by other Rules parallel and equivalent, and according to the Direction of their several Educations, and such Rules as happened to be taught them, and they believed themselves obliged to obey. Men so educated and informed, acted by Force of such their second Nature, according to their accepted Rules and Customs, the Moral Duties positively expressed in, and commanded by the Laws delivered by Angels unto Moses: Capacities of Humane Nature could and did attain to such Perfections by Rules, Education, and Custom, as led them to the Performance of those Actions which Moses commanded. As Men by Custom and Education are taught to manage Armies, and Treaties, to Argue and Infer, to Dance, Sing, etc. All which, and infinite other Thoughts and Things, do very fat exceed the Powers and Practice of an Humane Nature in its naked Simplicity; as of one Born or exposed in a Wilderness or Desert without Education or Company of any but the Beasts. The best amongst the Heathens did, as you say, conquer Vices, assisted and directed by good Rules, Education, Imitation and Practice; but never by Powers of Nature uncultivated, naked, and simple, as in some Men it may have been found. You say, Such Heathens governed their Inclinations by the Prevalency of their Reason above, or over their Sensual Desires. And I grant, That assisted by Rules, Education and Examples of others who instructed them; their Reason did prevail to rectify or control the common, inordinate and irregular Desires of their Appetites and Passions. You told me before, One Swallow makes not a Summer. And I say now of these Heathens, Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto: an exceeding small Number of them, if compared with the vast Multitudes of those who acted otherwise. They were Men composed ex meliori luto: fact● ex ligno quo sit Mercurius: assisted and elevated by an happy Education, good Rules, commendable Examples, which themselves improved by Consideration and Study, and made them habitual to themselves by Practice: I say that such a Conduct is no more natural to Humanity than it is to Speak, Read, Writ, build Forts, play upon the Lute, or any such like Practices. There are Capacities in Humane Nature able to attain to all these, and very many other Acts and Practices; but not without the Assistance of Education, Rules, Examples, Labour, Exercise and Practice. So by Nature thus cultivated, these high Heathens acted to great Degrees of Goodness, and became a Law to themselves: not from simply natural Inclinations, or the Notices of a Humane Soul in its naked Naturals, or any Power growing out of it as from a Proper Internal Original, like to those of the Senses, Appetites, Affections, Passions, the Understanding, Invention, Memory, Judgement, Will, for these proceed from Internal and Natural Originals, viz. the Contexture of the Body and Soul in Man, and act of themselves in that Compositum without needing to be taught or learned; and they form the Capacities of Man's Learning, ready and fit for all men's Performances apt to be advanced, directed and perfected by Education, Rules and Examples, and made so easy as to appear in some measure Natural, by the Custom and Practice of them, as we may perceive in a Practised Lutinist, who plays with such apparent Ease and Readiness, as if that Faculty were Natural to him, and had come of itself upon him: And thus the good Deportment of Heathens became, and might be esteemed and spoken of as Natural to them; not simpliciter, sed secundum quid, mediantibus, the Education, Rules, Imitation, Practice, and, Custom; and from this acquired Nature in Man, it seems, his Conscience discerning the Sinfulness of Homicide, Adultery, Theft, and Covetousness, are derived, and not from an Internal or mere Natural Principle, or as an Effluvium emanant from his Immortal or Immaterial Soul.  
Paragraph 4. You tell me, That in considering the great and generally prevalent Power of Sensuality in Man, I ought to take in the Struggles of Reason against it: And I agree that I ought to do so, and say, that I have done so in all my Disquisitions concerning that Matter. I have said, That in Contests between Sensuality and Reason, they both plead before the Judgement, arguing each according to their several Conceptions, the one Side for a present and certain Pleasure or Satisfaction, the other for a Future or more remote, and less certain Good to be obtained, or Suffering to be avoided, according as Men have been taught by their Education, the Rules and Examples of others, their own Experience, or such Conceptions as they have submitted themselves unto. I had said that an Intelligent Soul in Man, whereby he lives and is goerned, should probably be able to compel the Obedience of the Sensual Faculty. You boggle at the Word compel, and change it into effectually persuade; and I am content to agree to your wording of it. But evident it is, that the Rational Soul, or Faculty, is not able effectually to persuade the Sensitive Faculties to submit themselves to the Directions of Reason or Piety; but in more than a hundred for one, or more likely a thousand for one, it comes to pass that this Rational Soul or Faculty, instead of prevailing over Sensual Inclinations and Forces, it is by them overborne and baffled to that Degree, as to be hurried with them into a greedy Accomplishment of such Desires as are contrary to the Dictates of such Soul, or Rational Faculty, even when strengthened with all its Assistances of Education, Rules, good Examples, Exhortations, and Conscience. To this you answer, That the Prevalency of Sense against the Rational Soul grows not from Humane Nature, but from the Depravation of it, occasioned by the Sin of Man, and the Curse thereupon ensuing. This Depravation, (you say) doth very much incline Men to follow the Violent Bend of their Sensitive Appetites and Passions against the Struggles of Reason, the Effects of Grace, which though sufficient, may (for want of being attended unto) become ineffectual. To this I reply, That I do believe, you, or I, or any Man whatsoever, can judge of Humane Nature no otherwise than we now find it to be. What it was before the Fall, we do not, and perhaps cannot know. The Words of the Curse in Genesis neither express, nor import such a Depravation of Man's Reason, Soul, or Power of Government; but the Particulars of it apply altogether to the Body, and to Temporal Concernments. How far, in what Parts, and to what Degrees Humane Nature was corrupted by the Fall of our First Parents, is an Ignotum to us: And I should be glad to receive your Instruction thereupon; towards which, you offer me a Sentence of St. Paul, The good that I would I do not, etc. You tell me that the Design of this Text was to represent the State or Condition of those People who had no other Help against their Lust but the Laws of Nature, and of Moses; and that it is altogether applicable to the depraved and unregenerate State of Mankind: Sed non ego credulus. For I think it rather spoken of that Condition in which St. Paul was at the Time of the Speaking of it. This Epistle is dated from Corinth, and we do not read Sr. Paul was there any oftener than once, and that was divers Years after his Conversion and State of Regeneration. He uses the Present Tense, viz. I do, and I do not, and it is not I that do it. Thus the Words make for my Opinion; and the Sense is not disagreeable. For where is the Man so fully regenerate, as that this Saying of St. Paul may not be fully and truly applied to him. Of my own State I have a good Hope, and yet I confess, the good that I would, I do not; and the evil that I would not, that I do, sometimes, too often, very often: And I pray you communicate to me how you find it with yourself in that Point; or if you know any other Man of whom this Expression may not be truly predicated, remembering that in many Things we sin all: And the righteous Man falls seven times a day: which good Men would not do if they could help it; viz. if the Rational Soul were intelligent and regnant within them and over them. I agree with you, That there is need of the Special Grace of God enabling Men to do the Good which Reason and Rules direct them unto, and so to avoid Evil; and that thence good Effects and Products may be called the Fruits of the Spirit. And you say, That if Men do resist rational Motions and Persuasions▪ then the Grace of God strikes in, and co-operates with the Reasonable Faculty; and if Men resist all these Inducements to Goodness, they are left without Excuse. I demand if the Soul of Man be an Intelligent Spirit governing in the Man as his proper Form, what is it in Man that doth, or in likelihood can resist the Natural Power which such a Soul should have over it? You will not say that Man hath any thing in him besides his Soul, but Matter and Motion: And I would have you tell me whence it should come that mere Matter and Motion should so far overpower such an intelligent Soul, as not only to resist its Government, but even to captivate, overrule and enslave it, not only to a Content in evil and bad Practices of Sensuality, but even bring it to an Immersion, and a Delight in them? Thus it seems your supposed Intelligent Spirit or Soul is not able to make a sufficient effectual Resistance to the Force and Violence of other Powers or Principles to the Humane Nature properly belonging: But that other Power or Principle is able, not only to resist the Rational Power of the Soul, but even the ordinary Operations of the Spirit of God also. For you say, That Men resisting these are left without Excuse. Now seeing that in Man's Nature there is some Inward Principle able to combat the Rational Soul so assisted, I demand of you, What sort of Power you think this to be, and from whence it proceeds? We know of no other Principle of Life, Motion, or Activity in the Body, that is Natural, but the Soul. Hence I conclude, that this Power so able to resist and conquer the Rational Power, proceeds from the same Soul that the Rational Power doth. The Rational Power is the Soul acting in the Head; and the Sensitive or Affectionate Power is the Soul acting in the Praecordia, and pressing on to the Desire of such Objects as are near hand, presently beneficial, and pleasant, howsoever Things may fall out for the future. But if the Humane Soul be Intelligent, why doth it actuate the Sensual or Affectionate Faculty so strongly as to enable it to combat and resist, nay (for much the greater part) to overcome and conquer the Rational Powers, and to draw the Soul itself into the Practices of Sensuality, which she her self doth disapprove and condemn? I cannot perceive that this sort of Oeconomy in the Microcosm is comportant with the Act of Intelligence in an Humane Soul; for that thus it would become divided against itself, whence its Government should not be able to stand. But if this Soul fall out to be Material, and not Intelligent, the declared Oeconomy stands well together: For such a Soul can act every Part, Member, and Organ according as was intended by the great Artificer of them; but not to any other Intent, ad libitum, of the Soul: It acts therefore the Organs of Sensuality and Affections, and it acts also the Rational Powers, each according to the Proprieties and Powers of their Natures, without any Favour or Inclination to the one or the other: So as the Soul is the Actor, but not the Governor in the Microcosm; For sometimes one of these Powers prevail, and sometime the other; so as Aristotle compares their Contest to a Game at Ball, as it were, whether for a Penny; and there is no Certainty at all of the Success, from the Cradle to the Grave, for Time; and the Thing is from Nature; and is acted in all Mankind. So it is with Wind in the Organ; it acts the Fabric and every Pipe in it, one as well and as much as the other, but suitably to their several Constitutions, without Inclination or Intelligence. I say, if the Sensitive Powers resisting and overcoming Reason and the Ordinary Effects of God's Spirit in Man be not acted by the Humane Soul, by what then are they acted? And if by it they be acted, it seems very probable, that Soul is Material and not Intelligent.  
5 Paragraph. You say, We find many Texts of Scripture, importing that Man perishes by his voluntary Choice of Evil, and neglecting the Means of Grace, and resisting the Motions and Assistances of God's Spirit. And I have a great Inclination to believe your Assertion, notwithstanding St. Paul, Rom. 9 tells us, God hath Mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth: And his Purpose according to Election must stand: So as the willing or running of Man, viz. Humane Industry, should be of no great Avail to such Purposes. I am apt to conceive that our Apostle might have learned and accepted this Doctrine, de Faro, from the School of Gamaliel. Acts 22.3. He was taught according to the perfect Manner of the Law of the Fathers: which I take for the Rabbinical Traditions: And this I the rather conceive, because I meet with no other Scriptures concurring with this Opinion, but his Writings only. And whether in the delivering this Doctrine he speak and not the Lord, or not he but the Lord, I will not take upon me to determine: But I am ready to proceed with you upon your own Ground, viz. that Men fall not into Vice and Sin, contrary to their Consciences, without a Failure in the Management of their own Powers. In my First Treatise I declare, That in all Contests betwixt Sensuality and Reason, the Matter is examined at the Bar of the Judgement, and there determined, before the Will proceed to Execution one way or other; and that the Will hath no Choice in itself, or of its own, but is directed and determined by Result of the Judgement, and is thereunto naturally, and therefore easily obedient; as freely and aptly executing the Judicial Directions, as the Judgement itself is naturally obliged and ready to approve and choose that which it is persuaded is most for the Good of the Person acting, all things then appearing considered. Hence, whensoever a worse Choice is made, upon a full and true Information, the Failure is imputable to the Judgement, and not to the Will. And the Judgement of (by far) the greater Part of Men is very apt to choose and prefer a near and certain Pleasure, before a future and less certain Consequence of obtaining Rewards, or avoiding of Punishments; although in Estimation or Value, they very far exceed the Pleasures of Sin for a Season. Thus appears a Capacity in Man naturally to govern his Actions, viz. by the Power of his Judgement, whose Decrees are executed by the Will; for that it is directed by the Judgement, naturally aiming at the Good of the Person: and in the highest Degree that it can reasonably expect to attain unto. Hence all Vices and Sins spring either from Ignorance or Error of the Judgement, the Supreme and Ruling Power in Man, naturally. And when the Judgement chooses or consents to Sensuality or the Pleasures thereof, it is because it conceives them more conducing to the good of the Person, all things then appearing considered, then what Reason or Future Casualties, can allege to the contrary. The Causes of Differences in Humane Judgements, are, 

First, Soundness or Weakness of the Organ, or Materials in their Constitutions.  
Secondly, The great Diversities of Rules, Customs, and Parties, and even of Conceits or Opinions amongst Men.  
Thirdly, The Natural Violences of Affections and Passions, more Extreme in some Persons than in others; and more so, in the same Person, at one time than at another: Violent Passions surprise and blind the Judgement so as not to have a right Estimation, but as led to think that a most good to the Person, which gratifies a present Desire, in assuagement of such Disturbances as are then upon him, come of it what will in the future.   Upon all this it seems consequent, that Men are not vicious, but in defect or default of their Judgements, either by Natural Infirmity or Ignorance, wanting Instruction, or by adhering to wrong Rules and false Teaching, or by extreme Violence of Passions and Appetites, or by bad Example, Practice, or Custom. Some of these Faults or Failings Men may help, and some they cannot help; and for what Man cannot help, it seems he shall not account: And thence grows a sufficient Reason for Men to forbear the judging of others, whose Capacities, Temptations, Prejudices, Misinformations, and Educations, other Men cannot know or consider. But if we shall conceive a Man to be of a Naturally Sound Judgement, a good Education; under the Guidance of true and good Rules, naturally Temperate Affections: having his abode amongst People commending and practising Virtue. If one thus qualified and assisted, choose a Vicious Course, his Gild will be apparent to Men as well as to God; and he will find no Excuse sufficient: his own Heart will condemn him, and the Judgement of his own Conscience will torment him, and drive him either to a Sorrowful Repentance, or into a State that will be miserable, likely in this World, and certainly at the day of Man's Last Audit, or Account. And all this may be well maintained from the Power of Reason and Judgement adherent to Man's Nature; acted by the same Soul that the Affections and Passions are: even as the same breath in an Organ acts the Pipes to a great Variety of Sounds, but every one to that peculiar for which the Artist made it. And I take it no way Dishonourable to Man, that he should be counted a Machine of Gods making, since the World is so, and all that therein is.  
You say, I pretend to make Man an Involuntary Agent, whereas you cannot but know, that I both assert and prove, the Brutes to be knowing of what they do; and voluntarily choosing one thing before another: And this Truth is a full Answer to all your mistaken Surmises in the rest of this Paragraph.  
6 Paragr. You say, You are verily persuaded, That the Opinion of the Souls Materiality is an Error: And I do easily believe that you are so persuaded: But that this Opinion is destructive of True Faith, or of Christian and Good Practice, I take leave to deny; or that it tends to supplant Morality, or gives Men leave to indulge their Passions, or emboldens them in that Practice; If (as you say) Men would not trouble themselves about thoughts of Eternity, etc. it will be the Ministers part to press upon them the Resurrection, the horror of an unhappy one; the terror and danger of a last and final Judgement, and the Execution thereupon consequent. And I suspect, that where these Arguments cannot prevail, people will not be persuaded, though others preach up the Immortality never so much. Those who will not hearken to Moses and the Prophets, viz. to Arguments true and clearly provable; neither will they be drawn by the Doctrine of the Immortality of Souls, although one of them came from the dead, to give them assurance of it.  
7 Paragr. You put the Case, That if the Opinion of the Immortality should prove a mistake, or be granted an error, yet it would be an innocent error, and could do no harm to Religion. I answer, That the teaching this Error for a Truth, makes the Auditors trust in a Lie, and would prove a Deceit to their Expectation; and that I think to be a great Offence. 2. It will have the same Inconvenience with all other Errors: viz. Dato uno errore, sequuntur mille. It may serve to ground other Erroneous Opinions upon, and to maintain them; and hath served to such purposes: 

1. Making the Soul, Tota in qualibet parte.  
2. Setting on foot a New Creation of Souls by God every day, and for Adulterous, Incestuous, and Buggered Procreations, where the Shape is Humane, by a Creando infunditur.  
3. It immerses pure young innocent Souls, newly created, in the filth of Original Sin, without any Cause given, or Offence committed by them.  
4. St. Austin had thereby his Imagination confounded, not knowing if such Soul was One and not Two, or Two and not One; or were at once both one and Two: and made him think the last, though a Paradox, to be the most likely.  
5. Upon this Error is grounded the Preexistence of such Souls, and the Consequences thereof: viz. their hover in the Air, their attending New Procreations of Bodies, that thence they may glide down into them: and forsaking Dying Bodies, return again into those Airy Habitations.  
6. The Transmigration of such Souls, from one Humane Body to another: and some made the Transmigration Common between Men and Beasts, as the Pythagorean Schools; maintained at this day by the Eastern Indians and the Chinese.  
7. Hence have grown the Inventions of Mahomet's Paradises, his Purgatories, and his Gehenna's, as formerly the Heathens had their Eliziums and Barathrums; supposed Receptacles in the Bowels of the Globe of our Earth. Such a Case we find argued in Sallust betwixt Caesar and Cato, Caesar calls Mortem aerumnarum requiem, jam cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere, ultra neque curae neque gaudio locum esse. Cato answers, that by this Speech it appears what Caesar thought of Death; Credo falsa existimans ea quae de inferis memorantur, diverso itinere malos à bonis, loca tetra, inculta, foeda, atque formidolosa habere.  
8. Hence hath arisen the Popish Purgatorium, where his Holiness is allowed to have an absolute Command; and by which he makes Profit accordingly.  
9 Hence hath grown the Error of Praying for the Dead in the Romish Churches.  
10. Those Churches have upon this Error followed the Heathen Practices of Adoring Dead Persons, the one as Gods, and the other as Saints.   Pliny in his Natural History, lib. 7. cap. 55. says, That the Body or Soul of Man hath no more Sense after Death, than they had before their Nativity; and yet the folly and vanity of Men (says he) is so great, as that they imagine the Humane Soul extends even to future Ages, and that they have Sense: whereupon Men render them honour and worship, making a God of him who is not so much as a Man; as if the manner of men's breathing differed from that of other Creatures. And thus hath the Popish World practised, to make them Images, and to believe their Personal Appearances, as Saul believed the Soul of Samuel appearing in the Witches Spectre; and to it Saul stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself: so worshipping the Devil instead of the Prophet, as the Papists do instead of their Saints; who likely have no manner of being, nor shall have, until the Resurrection at the Last Day. You say, That a Separate Subsistence of Souls doth not infer Purgatory. And I grant it, but it is the causa sine qua non of that Opinion; for if no Separate Subsistence, than no Purgatory, nor no Prayers for, or to, Persons departed this life, and returned to the dust from whence they were taken. Farther to evince a Sparate State of the Soul, you offer to raise Evidence out of a Collect in the Office of our Burial, Praying, That we and those departed, may have a perfect consummation of Bliss in Eternal Glory. I say this Consummation of Bliss, is to be intended after the Resurrection, without necessarily supposing any Intermediate State; unless it be to such as are beforehand persuaded that there is such a State.  
In the close of your 6th Paragraph, you say, That your Zeal against the Opinion of the Materiality, is grounded upon your own apprehensions, that this conceit would introduce an inundation of Atheism and Profaneness, Looseness, and Sensuality. To me, these Consequences do not appear at all likely; Not of Atheism, for that it asserts God, the Creation, Generation, and Resurrection, all acted by Divine Power, Nor of any the other three, for that it approves and maintains the extremest Recompenses dispensable in a Future State, after the Resurrection. And my Apprehension is, That although in your Future Ministration, you should never insist more upon the Souls Immortality, but enforce your Exhortations pertaining to Future Recompenses, from the Certainty and Concernment of the Resurrection, the Last Judgement, and Execution of the same, your Auditors would not thereby become any whit more Atheists than they were before, or more Sensual, Lose, or Profane, upon that Occasion; but probably would continue to act and live as formerly they have done; without that any alteration would thereupon be visible, or consequent. And for the Intermediate State, you say, The Fathers owned a Middle State, which was neither Heaven nor Hell; and because they either could not tell what that State was, or not agree about it, we seem left at liberty by them to think as we may concerning it. We have not found any Text of Scripture positively asserting the Separate Subsistence, nor such a Doctrine concerning it, as that the principal aim and intent of it was to teach this Assertion for a Truth. The Father's Opinions about it are disagreeable to one another, and unknowing of what was the clear Truth in this Poin. You say, They thought Souls were neither in Heaven, nor Hell. I have quoted to you Mr. Baxter's Book, p. 398. where he tells us, That many of his friends, holy persons, were gone to Heaven, and that is spangled with their spiritual stars; the place is honoured with them, and they with it. This his Opinion of going to Heaven or Hell, upon Death, I take to be the most commonly embraced amongst us, and I shall be glad to receive your particular Opinion thereupon; but these Uncertainties concerning the Separate State, the Manner, and Places, thereto belonging, make me more to question the Verity of it; and to conclude upon it rather in the Negative.  
You quote to me a Saying of Cicero, That if the Opinion of the Immortality be an Error, libenter erro, this you translate, the Opinion pleaseth me well; it is an innocent Disception: as if the liking of an Opinion, and the innocency of it, were the same thing; whereas it is evident Men like and choose sometimes false and harmful Opinions, before those which are tried, innocent, and beneficial; as I doubt not but you think I do in this Point; not sub, nomine erroris, but by a deceived heart, carried and drawn away by pride, conceitedness, contumacy, and disobedience, to the Ordinance of God (as you word it;) and yet you do not cite one Ordinance of God to which the Opinion of the Materiality is contrary: but I desire you will do it in your next Return. You say, You do not require an implicit Faith to Church Ordinances; and do you show me Ordinances of God convincingly such, in this point: and then I promise you to be obedient to them, and there will need no more words in the Case now disputed. But if you cannot, or (which will come to one) do not do it, you may have some Title to the Term of a False Accuser of your Brethren, whose conceits or errors, perhaps of weakness, you cannot infect or sully, by the sour and tainted Originals from whence you are pleased ignorantly to derive them. And for your Conclusion, That the Opinion of the Materiality, tends to subvert the Fundamentals als Religion; it is neither proved nor granted: but asserted, to strengthen the Foundation of Future Rewards and Punishments, by fixing them upon very many and very plain Texts of Scripture, and the Articles of our several Creeds: clearly proving the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgement. Whereas Proofs of the Immortality, are neither plainly asserting, nor with any manner of clearness proving the same; nor is it made an Article in any of our Creeds, nor is any thing of it in the 39 Articles of our Church. But there I find, Artic. 6. That whatsoever is not read in Scripture, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any Man, that it should be believed as an Article of Faith, or be thought requisite to salvation.  
We all perceive, that during Life there is a Contexture of Soul and Body, and such an Union, as they jointly participate of all that befalls the Person, and act undividedly and inseparably from the Person, and from one another. That Death is a Separation of them, is clear also, and, What then becomes of the Soul, is our Question: and that we trace from its Nature, as near as we can investigate: If it be a small intelligent Spiritual Substance, created by God upon every Procreation of Man, likely it is to have a Separate Subsistence after Death of the Person; but than it cannot be properly said, The Man, or the Person dies, but the Body dies. And if the Humane Soul be a Flame of Life kindled by God in Adam, when he made him a Living Person, and from that time hath passed by generation from one Man to another, then more likely it is that this sort of Soul is extinguished in Death; or that the Extinguishment of this Flame totally, or in every part of the Body, is the Death of the Person.  
Originally it seems, Men were of kin to Beasts in their Manner and Way of Living and Acting: Of the Thracians in Orpheus' time we read, 
Silvestres homines, sacer interpresque deorum,  
Caedibus & victu foedo deterruit Orpheus;  
Dictus ob id lenire tigers, rabidosque leones.   
Our own Ancestors, in Caesar's time and many years after, were naked as their Beasts, and had no other Covering, but their Skins; their Food Acorns and Wild Fruits, and their Manners were much suitable: and of late we have heard like things of Wild Irish People, Americans, Libyans, and in divers other parts of Africa, who go naked as the Beasts, and feed upon Raw Flesh and Snakes, and the very Guts and Garbage of the Creatures, and are as wild, says Lithgow, as their fourfooted companions in the Libyan deserts. In a State of so great Simplicity, it seems Mankind may be well enough compared by us, as it was by David, to the Beasts that perish.  
Since my ending the very last Period, came to my hands a little Book written by Naudaeus, printed Lond. in 12ᵒ. 1637, in page 248, he citys Lactantius, asserting that Democritus Epicurus and Dicaearchus, would not have so confidently denied the Immortality of the Soul, Mago aliquo praesente, qui sciret certis carminibus cieri ab inferis animas, & adesse & praebere se humanis oculis videndas, & loqui, & futura praedicere. I do so little approve of the Father's Opinion in this, that if his Magus should show me such Souls, like the Witch of Endor, I should take them for his Conjurati, and to be no proof at all of the Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul. P. 38. He mentions Archimedes his Mundane Globe, the Moving Tripods of Vulcan made by Daedalus, Architas his Pigeon, Regiomontanus his Eagle and his Fly. Men could not believe these Engines could move as they did without a Spirit, which they thought could not be Material, because that cannot act upon Hard Bodies, as Wood, Iron, etc. therefore they concluded those Motions were acted and guided by an Immaterial Spirit, viz. a Daemon; and that therefore these Artificers were Magis in the worst Sense, very Conjurers. But from this Crime our Author defends them, and says, The things were all feasible by Art Natural, although Men do not now know, nor did then understand, the Rules, or the Artifice of making such things, or other things like or equal to them. And this gives us a good semblance of Reason why Men have been apt to maintain their Souls to be Immaterial, because they cannot perceive or learn the means and manner by which a Material Soul can act and govern Common Sense, Apprehension, Fancy, Memory, Judgement, Conscience, and the Affections and Passions incident to Humane Nature. P. 299. In conclusion, he says, Men must take good heed not to be carried away with the current of common Opinions; that when we are swayed by example and custom, and go with the throng in the way, we slip and fall one over another: & alienis perimus exemplis.  
Besides this Book, I have since this writing, perused another; viz. Mr. Robert Boil his Experiments, printed London 1662., 2d. Edition, there p. 190, he says, He inclines to think the Air necessary to ventilate and cherish the Vital Flame continually burning in the Heart. And he found a new kind of resemblance betwixt Fire and Life, the one lasting no longer than the other. P. 190. The Flame of Spirit of Wine will burn long upon fine white linen or paper, without consuming either. Eminent Naturalists do esteem the Heat which resides in the Heart, to be a true Flame; and this, says he, I do not oppose, provided they add, that it is such a temperate and almost insensible Fire as that : and yet he thinks that to be hardly fine enough. [I have mentioned before, a Tenuity to an Invisibility.] P. 197. He takes Animals for a kind of Curious Engines set on work, and kept in Motion by Heat and Air. Dr. Willis in his oft quoted Book, p. 4. tells us, That Epicurus taught the Soul to be compounded, ex atomis levissimis & rotundissimis, non multum diversis ab eis ex quibus est ignis, compactum ex quodam calido, flatuoso & aerio. P. 38. He says, He hath given Reasons, Quare haec flamma vitalis, non uti flamma vulgaris visibilis & destructiva fuerit. P. 53. As soon as this flame is extinguished, the compages of Soul and Body is dissolved; and as long as this Soul is in the Body, semper nascitur usque ad mortem, by fresh nourishment and ventilation, without which this animating flame cannot subsist, any more than common fire or flame can do. P. 102. This Soul perceives not the external Objects, or internal Operations, but like [the Sap in Plants, or] the Blood in Animals, though such Blood be animated, it hath neither knowledge, nor sense; for those parts which must be in continual flame and motion, give thereby that to other parts, which they themselves have not. And thus, say I, Animal Fire, whilst it keeps glowing, irradiates and acts the Bodily Parts and Organs, to and for those effects and purposes for which they were intended and made by the great Artificer of the Universe.  
In your first Paragraph, you are pleased to say, That my Answer to your Question, How a Material Soul doth or can act the Senses, Understandings, Memories, and Consciences of Men, is not so distinct as you expected; but that I shift off with general Remarks and Quotations of Authors. My general Remark is, That in Plants and Beasts we cannot discern the Quomodo, viz. How the Material Soul works in them, and yet we are sure of the thing; viz. That it doth work all in them: and that so it is very probable to be in the State and Case of Mankind: And I think this Answer is no shifting one, but very plain and full to your Question. And for my Quotations, they are taken out of good and allowed Authors of late times; viz. boil, Roccius, Willis, Peter Martyr, Philip Melanchton, pertinent and somewhat full in the Point, of any of which you take no particular notice, nor give them any manner of Answer, but pass them all by as nothing were, and without accepting or answering any one of them; whence my labour and intent of quoting good Authors to you, is made altogether fruitless and ineffectual. I am not knowing in myself, that ever I did, or do, say any thing for a shift or a blind; for my meaning and intent seeks Truth: and what I say, I think, without going one step out of the way of right, to the best of my knowledge; and I am altogether as willing your side in this Dispute be proved true, as my own present Opinion: and that Truth may finally appear and be prevalent, is the only desire, intent, and endeavour of Sir,  
Your Obliged humble Servant. Dat. 18 July 1693.   

To the abovesaid Answer, our Friend returned a Third Opposition, Oct. 18. 1693. and this was divided into Eight Paragraphs.  
1. Paragraph, Is a Profession to end this Dispute with this his present Paper, and to proceed no farther in it.  
2. Paragraph, You say, The main Question between us is, the Quid sit Anima Immortalis, aut Immaterialis? And to this you answer, It is an Immaterial, Immortal Siprit●, and this you should prove: intending what you say, it is impossible it should be otherwise; For that Matter and Motion cannot act Humane Faculties as they are acted amongst Men; as if you intent that God cannot make Cogitative Matter, or not make Matter Cogitative: but I think God can make Matter Cogitative; and if so, than you do not deny, That a Material Spirit, in Conjunction with the Body, may possibly act all Humane Powers and Faculties whatsoever. You offer to me, That Men think it good proof that there is a God, by showing an impossibility that it should be otherwise. In Answer to which, I say, I hold this sort of Proof of that or any Truth, to be very obscure and infirm; for that it makes Men the competent Judges of what is possible to be, or be done; which I do not grant them to be, For that Men have seen many things done, which without such Ocular Testimony they could not have been persuaded to believe never possible to be done: viz. that a Remora, no bigger than a Snail, should stop and hold fast a great Ship going before the Wind with all her Sails: that a Fish hooked at the end of an Angling Line, should stupefie the Hand, and thence the Body, of the Fisher, and put him into a Deadly Swoon: that a vast Heap of Water, fishes and all, should in a Calm Day rise up into the Air, and move there in a heap to a far distant Place, and there fall down again in Spouts and Hurricanes. I think therefore the Arguments ex impossibili concerning Souls, are fit only for such as dare take upon them to judge and determine what God can do, and what he cannot do. Men have Reason to judge it impossible for a Living Person to live still and be safe, in the midst of Nebuchadnezzar's Fiery Furnace; and yet that and many like things, are possible with God, and far beyond Humane Knowledge: for our Lord tells us, That with God all things are possible. In my Paper I cited to you Dr. Willis, saying, That Men who think that God can do nothing above or beyond what they can conceive, do not deserve to be answered, no more than they, qui viventium Sensus & Facultates quascunque, non nisi à substantia Immateriali Immortalique obiri posse contendunt. You say, Man's Soul must be Immaterial, because God cannot act Man without such a Spirit. Prove that and take the Victory; and if you do not prove that, it seems you have said little in the Case. Your Paper says only, The thing is impossible, for that Matter and Motion cannot do it. The truth of which you neither do nor (I believe) can prove. But whatsoever Matter and Motion can of itself do or not do, I assure myself God can make Matter Cogitative; and can by a Material Spirit and apt Organs, effect in Man all that which we see daily performed amongst us: and so it still seems to me most likely that he hath done.  
3. Paragraph. The Description of Conscience in my Paper, you think too long to examine, and therefore to confute or answer it. You say, There is really a Dominion and Authority of Conscience, and I have before granted it, and described the Nature of it: agreeing that all who have submitted themselves to Rules, be they Jewish, Christian, Gentile, Mahometan, Romish, Quakery, or whatsoever other Rules, Customs, or Conceits, Men have submitted their Minds unto, they are under a Coercion of Conscience from the Dictates and Power of such Rules, Customs, or Conceits; viz. All Cultivated Humane Natures receive more from Education, Rules, Example, and Practices, than their Souls of any sort can furnish them with, towards the Establishment of a Conscience in them; which hath no Power, or very little, in a State of Simple and Bare Nature, without any manner of Cultivation whatsoever. So for Children, as they come to understand and submit to Rules, so Conscience grows and increases upon them: Also Beasts at their full Liberty, show no signs of Conscience, but put them under an Education, and they will show plain Signs of Regret and Fear, for having acted against their Rules, by their Crouching and Slinking Behaviours. Hence appears, that the Actings of Conscience are founded upon Rules, and whether those Rules are right or wrong really, their being accepted for right, makes them obligatory to the Party accepting them; so as Offences against Erroneous Rules, reputed true, are equally burdensome to the Conscience, as if they were the most true and rectified that can be delivered to Men: and yet they are capable of a more easy Cure, viz. by discovery of the Falsity and Error of them. Hence may be inferred, that without some sort of Rules and Submission to them, the Acts and Power of Conscience are not perceivable; which shows, they do not flow from the Soul, Material or Immaterial, but from Education, Custom, Opinion, and Rules, to which Actions must be compared; for without such a Comparison Judgement cannot be made, whether they are right or wrong. That Conscience grows as aforesaid, appears also from diversity in the acts of it: for some Men make a great scruple of Conscience to do things which others think they are bound in duty to do; and cannot omit them without check of their Conscience: whereas Immaterial Souls pass for all alike. And if Conscience were a Natural Efflux from them, there could not be such difference and contrariety in the Acts of it. I have observed how it grows in Children and Beasts, from the effects of their Education, made powerful in them by the terror of a Humane Vengeance, expected to follow upon their swerving from the Rules of their Discipline; and which the apprehension of Legal Punishments hath often inflicted upon Offenders, before Temporal Execution overtook them. The Conscience of Sins against God is of a like nature, and the Terror of it grows from Fear, that he being offended for the Breach of what Men are persuaded he hath commanded to be done, or not done, will inflict terrible punishments for the same, of unimaginable torment and endless duration, as Men are taught to believe and expects, by such Rules and Doctrines as are daily represented to them and pressed upon their apprehensions and belief. And thus have I summed and shortened my formerly longer Expressions concerning Conscience, to which I shall be glad to receive a reasonable Answer either long or short.  
4. Paragraph. You quote the words, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin; and you say, Faith here signifies Conscience. My sense of those Words, is, Whatsoever Men do, believing it to be a Sin, that is a Sin in them, though the Action in itself be good: but if it be contrary to those Rules to which a Man hath submitted himself, this is a Sin against the Man's Conscience: though if there were no accepted Rule against it, there would be no transgression in it. You express also to think that Beasts cannot be brought by any Education to resist and conquer their Appetites, forgetting what formerly I said of a Setting Dog whose Mouth will water, and his Chaps move, and all his Members and Motions show a great Desire to be in with his Game, and yet he will sit for a long time, constrained by the remembrance of punishment to be expected and executed upon his doing otherwise. And many instances may be produced of other Bestial Actions in this kind.  
You make it my wonder, That Sensual Powers do for much the greater part, overrule the Rational, and prevail against it. You say, I may (likely) find it often so in myself, and I grant it; and therefore is that none of my wonder. And you demand, From whence comer men's uneasiness of Mind upon such occasions? I answer, It comes from finding their Actions do not agree with their Rules, and therefore not with their Duties; for the Failure in which, they expect punishment, less or more, according as their Delicts may seem to deserve; not from Powers of Nature in its Simplicity, but its Cultivated Capacity, under the Conduct of Rules, Examples, or Opinions, to which Men have submitted their Minds; and this makes men nocent, as the contrary makes men innocent, in the judgement of their own Underftanding, which is their Conscience.  
5 Paragr. Upon your maintaining, That Man's Soul is an Immaterial, Intelligent Spirit, created each for the Government of each Person. I demand, Whence it comes, that this Soul doth not, or cannot, so prevail with, or over the Person whom it should Govern, as to keep it in Rational and Virtuous Ways of Living and Practice, but that the far greater number of people follow Vicious Practices, contrary to Right Reason, and the Desire and Design of such an Intelligent Spirit? And the true Cause of my wonder is, What that can be in Man, which hath Power to oppose and overthrow the Government and Command of this Kind of Soul in him? To this you answer (You say) with St. James, This comes from men's lusts which war in their members. To you I reply, and ask, From what Original in Man do such Lusts grow; viz. Affections, Passions, Sensualities? Either they grow from the same Originals with Reason and his other Faculties, viz. from the Contexture of his Soul and Body, or from some other Cause. You say, I should not wonder at the thing, for that universal Experience teaches that so it is. This I grant, and therefore do not wonder at the being so of the thing; but at the Cause and Manner how this comes to pass: viz. from what Original in Man this Effect can grow? Apparent it seems, that Affections and Passions in Man, grow from the Contexture of his Soul and Body, as all his other Powers and Faculties do, and are Natural to him: for one that hath them not, is not a complete Man. But if their Energy proceed from Man's Soul, a Spirit governing, this Soul in acting the Affections and Passions so vigorously, seems to act blindly and unintelligently, or else that it is divided against itself, and therefore its Kingdom cannot stand; but such Lusts as itself produceth and acteth, prevail to overthrow its Government, and bring the poor indiscreet Soul under the Pestilent Power of Sin and Satan: If thus it be not, I desire you will Answer what I Object in this Point; which is, that Man's Soul acts against reason, and its own Interest, in so highly actuating of these Lusts, or (which is far more likely) that the Humane Soul is not Intelligent.  
For what you say concerning St. Paul's Text, Rom. 9 I hold with you; that many places of Scripture do testify a Power in Man, to act for his own Advancement in Piety, and towards future Happiness: And I assent to that Opinion the rather, for that the same is consonant to the reason of Mankind; but to agree this Opinion with St. Paul's Text, is beyond my Capacity, and I should be glad to know your manner of doing it.  
You mention ill effects from the Opinion of the Materiality, Omnia tuta timens, consonant to the Nature of Zeal and Affection: That in your Exhortations you have a great respect to the Resurrection, and last Judgement, I think to be well done, and upon very firm Grounds; but for the Immateriality it seems no high Building should be erected upon it, as judging that Ground not to be Rocky.  
6. Paragraph, You except against my Expression of making Men trust in a lie: You say it is uncivil to tell a Man that he lies, or that he Teaches others to trust in lies: To this I say, it seems you perused my Paper in haste, and with a greater desire to Answer, than to consider it; for I find none of these say or things there, either in letter or sense.  
As to the Consequences of the Materiality we differ in Judgement, and they appear worse to your fears that to me. Experience was never yet made of them; and I see not cause to apprehend them as you do. Upon your Discourse of Purgatory, you say, Men must not renounce the truth, because some draw ill Consequences from it: and I grant it, but find no cause or need for asserting it.  
7. Paragraph, You say, The Fathers generally thought that Souls departed, do not go straightway to Heaven, the same which you said in your last Paper; and thereupon I demanded, why Men do no● think otherwise, viz, that Souls at this day go immediately to Heaven or Hell; and I desired to know your Opinion upon this difference, and which of them you think to be the truer, but to neither of these Queries do you here return me any Answer: But you think it strange that if the Opinion of the Separate Subsistence be an error, it should be so early, and so generally accepted in the Christian Church. To this I Answer, That those most early Professors found this the prevailing Opinion in the World at that time; yet so as there were many disbelievers of it. That St. Matthew Apostle and Evangelist did believe it, seems something clear, by his Relation, Chap. 10.28. but that neither St. Paul, St. Peter, nor St. John believed it: I hold the more probable, of St. Paul from I Cor. 15. and 1 Thes. 4.13. of Peter, from 2 Peter 3.10. of John, from 1 Joh. 3.2. and Chap 2.28. Our Lord also lays the Expectation of future Recompenses upon the time of the last day. John 6. in four places, or expressions in that Chapter: Another evident Cause of accepting the Opinion of a Separate Subsistence, likely was the Expression in St. Matthew's Gospel before Quoted. This Gospel was the most early Written, and in the proper Language of the Jews, the Hebrew Tongue, and they were the first Preachers and Planters of the Christian Religion. The other three Gospels are of a later date; whence this Text of St. Matthew might likely have Planted this Opinion, and confirmed the old Belief of the World: But after St. Luke had (from St. Paul's Mouth) Published his Gospel, there was reason to examine St. Matthew's Relation of that Fact or History, by comparing his, Chap. 12.4. with Matthew's 10.28. They agree exactly in the main Point of Doctrine, viz. That we ought to fear God more than Men; but when they give the reason why Men should do so, they Word that reason in a different manner. St. Matthew Worded it according to his Opinion, in Expressions importing a Separate Subsistence of the Soul; but St. Paul's Words or Expressions are not of that import. What the very Words were wherein Our Lord delivered this Doctrine, we have no means to discover, without a future Revelation; and therefore I conceive we may accept which of these we shall judge most agreeable to the reason and nature of things. Those who judge immateriality most agreeable to Nature, and the most reasonable, are likely to adhere to the Words of St. Matthew: And those who judge the Materiality most agreeable to the Nature and State of Man, are likely to adhere to the Words of St. Luke, as the very Expressions delivered by Our Lord and Saviour.  
I believe that God hath given to Men for their Instruction ordinarily, the two great Codes of Nature and Scripture; and that where these two do with cleverness agree, the difference of Opinions among Learned Men cannot be very great: But the common cause of their differing is the differences appearing between Nature and Scripture: Not that I believe either of them are, or can be false, or deceitful, nor really contrary the one unto the other; and therefore, where there appears a difference between them, the same aught to be accommodated by favourable and fair Constructions, according to the Nature of the Subject then under Consideration, viz. If the Subject be Supernatural, or beyond the Capacities of Humane Senses and Reason to judge lightly of, as are the Persons in the Holy Trinity: The Incarnation, or Uniting the Manhood with the Godhead: The Proceeding of the Holy Ghost, and the actings of it: The Production of a Child by a Virgin: The Power of Sacraments; a Spiritual Regeneration by the Water of Baptism: That Bread and Wine become the real Body and Blood of Christ, after a Spiritual manner: In all these and the like Cases, if men's Reason takes boggle, and cannot understand them, nor freely or readily consent unto them, it seems Duty for Men to be overruled therein, by Words or Expressions which the Scripture uses concerning them; and to endeavour by all means to think of such things as the sense of Scripture Expressions do direct us.  
On the other hand, If the Subject doubted be a Natural thing, falling clearly under the Notice and Power of the Humane Senses, or Reason and Understanding to judge of: If in such Cases some Scripture Expressions seem to thwart the true Nature of the thing, or the Sense and reason of Mankind Working thereupon. As for instance: Moses says, God made Two great Lights, viz. the Sun and Moon. This seems to intent that these Two were the biggest Luminaries; yet when Astronomers teach, the Moon to be the least, or one of the least amongst those Luminaries; Men do rather choose to believe them, and Collect that Moses did not intent to Teach in that Matter, but spoke at large, according to common Apprehension: And so upon the Question whether our day and night be made by a Circuit of the Sun about the Earth in every 24 hours, or by the Circunvolution of the Earth itself in that space of time. The Expressions of Scripture, viz. Jos. 10.12. and Psal. 19 and 2 Kin. 19 which do all favour the going of the Sun about the Earth, and yet Humane Art and Reason have lately so far prevailed, as to persuade amongst Learned Men, that the Circumvolution of the Earth is the true cause of day and night amongst us: And for Scripture in the Point, they say, as before; it spoke ad captum Humanum of that time: grown since to be ad capturd vulgi, without intention to Teach the truth of Science concerning such things. The long disputed Words, viz. hoc est Corpus meum, are a like Proof, or Church, and many other Churches refuse to accept them in their plain and usual import, and faith, they must be Figuratively taken, because in their plain sense they thwart and oppose the common Sense, Reason, and Experience of Mankind: So when Our Lord Commands, take no care for to morrow. These Words pass under a reasonable Construction; so the Words, Swear not at all: so for turning the other Cheek, and lending to all Borrowers. These Directions never were observed in the full Latitude of the Gospel Expressions, but according to fair and reasonable Constructions made of them, and whereby they were made agreeable to the Sense, Reason, and Experience of Mankind: and if particular Expressions of Scripture may be Accommodated to the Sense, Reason, and Experience of Men for the avoiding the Clashes of one against the other. A fortiori, when Two Texts relate the same Doctrine of Our Lord in different Expressions; it seems Men may accept which of these Relations they please, as the very Words wherein that Doctrine was delivered: And every Man is likely to choose and adhere to such Expressions as he thinks best to agree with Nature and Reason in this, or any other Case that shall happen to be disputed.  
8. Paragraph, Your Argument upon a delegated Power, left by Christ to his Church, urged on the behalf of the Universal or Catholic, by the Romanists against our Divines, Fortified with the Decrees of Councils, Styled ecumenical, hath been often and fully Answered: and as in my First Paper, I referred you to Numb. 16. so now I must refer you to Acts 4 19  
You say, The Immortality is plainly implied in the Creeds, or some of them, but you do not mention the Words implying, nor how the Inference is to be drawn, which would have been the most Material Argument that you could have used for the convincing of my Judgement; unless you conceive that what is plain to you, would not be so to me: For a thing plain to one already persuaded, doth oft seem otherwise, to Men of another Judgement; but if it be plain to you, it seems you should at least have pointed me to the place where I might have expected to find it.  
Your reason why nothing about the Soul is inserted into the 39th. Art. is very likely to be true; yet grants my Assertion of not being there: And what you have showed out of Scripture concerning the Immortality, I have Answered unto, and am contented to refer the reason and truth of what hath been said on both sides, to the Censure of Perusers. Out of the 39 Articles I quoted to you the sixth, viz. That what is not asserted in Scripture is not needful to be believed; and I processed my Obedience to any clear Direction of Scripture in our Point: To this you reply, the Soul's Separate Subsistence is asserted in Scripture: and to prove that, you quote Eccles. 12.7. Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God, who gave it. This Text, I agree, doth sound in favour of Souls Separate Subsistence, after they are parted from their Bodies; and because you quote it singly, it seems, the strongest Text which you could find for Proof of the Separate Subsistence of Humane Souls: You had quoted it before, and I gave it some Answer; but considering you do now use it as a Pillar of your asserted Opinion, I shall undertake a more narrow, or strict, and yet a more large Examination of it.  
First I inquire what is here intended by the term of Spirit. Comenius Translated into English, Printed, London 1651, in 12ᵒ. Pag. 218. citys Zach. 12.1. where God says, he forms the Spirit of Man in the midst of him. The word Jatzar in the Hebrew, says he, is here used for forming, which shows the Formation was out of Preaexistent Matter, and was not a Creation, ex nihilo, it being the same Word that was used at the forming of Man's Body.  
Pag. 22. He says, The Spirit of God stirring upon the Waters, produced the Spirit or Soul of the World, which puts Life into all living things. The Hebrew term Offiz, says he, signifies both Spirit and Breath: [So the know in the Greek doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.] Luke 23.46. It seems, if in this verse, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, had been Translated; Father, into thy hands I commend my Breath. It would have been as true, and warrantable a Translation, as ours, which renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the word Spirit; and so for Acts 7.59. St. Stephen's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, receive my Breath: whence I suppose, that if in Solomon's Text the Hebrew word Offiz be used, it may as well intent Breath as Spirit, and thence the force of this Text will remain enervated and broken: And this appears the more likely, from Moses' Text, Gen. 2.7. God form Man, and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life: An Animating Breath, upon which he doth not say, that Breath became a living Soul (as many would have it intended) but that Man became a living Soul, intending Person, viz. the Compositum of Soul and Body became a living Person; and that Spirit and Breath intent much the same Thing, and pass in a like sense; appears from divers other parallel places of Scripture. Gen. 7.22. All in whose Nostrils was the Breath of Life, died in the Flood. Job 12.10. In God's hand is the Soul of every living thing, and the Breath of all Mankind. Chap. 34.14. If God gather to himself Man's Spirit and his Breath, he shall turn to his dust. Psal. 104. All things wait upon God, when he taketh away their Breath they die, when thou lettest thy Breath go forth, they shall be made, and the face of the Earth renewed. Here Breath seems to intent Spirit, and that they are much of the same Signification. Psal. 146.3. When the Breath of Man goeth forth, he shall turn again to his Earth, and then all his thoughts Perish. Here David says the same thing with Solomon, only in Solonmo's Text, that which is called or Translated Spirit, is in David, called or Translated Breath. Acts 12.25. God gives to all, Life and Breath, and all Things [Life and Breath as closely United] or as an Animating Breath. Zach. 5. These are the Four Spirits of the Heavens, Noted upon the Margin, or Winds. Ezek. 37. He describes the Resurrection of dry Bones, there was a shaking, and the Bones came together, and the Senews and Flesh came up upon them, and the Skin covered them above, and yet they lived not: Then the Prophet commanded [not to call for Souls to enliven those Bodies] but to say, Come from the Four Winds, O Breath, and breath upon these slain, that they may live, and the Breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their Feet. From these Texts, it seems probable to me, That the Word in Solomon's Text, rendered by Spirit, doth intent such an Animating Breath, as God Breathed into Adam's Nostrils; and of which it was said, all in whole Nostrils was the Breath of Life died in the Flood. This Animating Breath, God breathe first into Adam, and from him it hath been Propagated ever since: By this is the Flame of Life kindled, and kept glowing in Man and Beast; none of which can continue living without it. Some have lived a long time without Food in great Distempers or Maladies; but Breath failing, or being stopped for some sew moments, the Flame of Life is thereby Suffocated and Extinguished, and that Extinguishment is Death, and nothing can then restore this Flame once totally extinguished in all parts of the Body; but such an Animating Breath to enkindle it, not to be imparted by any Power lets than Divine; which first breathed it into Adam's Nostrils. This Breath or Spirit, Eccles. 3. Solomon argues upon, and says, Who knows the Spirit of a Man that goes upward, and the Spirit of a Beast that goes downward to the Earth; who knows that there is that difference between them: And if the one go no more upward, than the other goes downward to the Earth, it seems there should be neither one nor other in the Case: for plain, and agreed it is, that the Spirit of Beasts extinguisheth in Death, and therefore goes no whither, not downward to the Earth; and so for the Man, to me it seems his Spirit also extinguisheth and goes no whither, therefore not upward: so as Solomon's Expressions, both in this Text, and that of Chap. 12. seem delivered by him according to common Opinion. Like Moses, Gen. 1.16. concerning God's making two great Lights. Solomon Chap. 12. is describing the Degrees and Ceremonies of People's Departure in Death, and concludes, The Body returns to the Earth whence it was; and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Moses had taught, That God breathed into Adam the breath of Life; and when the Man died, it was the common Opinion, and perhaps might seem true to him, that such animating Breath or Spirit, returned to God who gave it to Man at the first: but there seems not Reason enough to conceive, that Solomon intended, by this short Sentence, to teach a Separate Subsistence of the Soul of Man, after Death of the Body. And it seems to me spoken transciently, and according to common Opinion, rather than with an intent to teach, or establish that Doctrine.  
2. A Second Argument to prove that this Text was not intended for a Teaching Direction, may be taken from the generality of ' its Expression; viz. The Spirit shall return to God who gave it. It seems, the Spirit of man, is an Indefinite Expression, and aequipollent to an Universal; as if be had said, All Humane Souls return to God who gave them: for all have a like dependence upon him, the bad as well as the good. Numb. 16.22. Moses calls God, the God of the spirits of all flesh; and Dan. 5.23. he tells Belshazzar, The God in whose hand thy breath is, haft thou not glorified. I suppose you will not deny, that all Spirits have a like dependence upon him, and that he is the Giver of them all alike, to the bad as well as to the good. Whence, by the words and sense of Solomon's Text, they should all go alike to God, the one as well as the other. But this is disagreeable both to Heathen, Christian, Mahometan, and other Religions. The Heathen sent their better Souls into Elysium, and their bad ones before Minos, and other severe Judges of Hell, to receive their Sentences; and so Cato, Diverso itinere malos à bonis: they had several ways to go, and places for Souls to go to; commonly three: viz. Heaven, Hell, and a Purgatorium. So had many of the Heathen, as the Platonists: so have at present the Mahometans and the Papists. The Reformed Churches acknowledge but two places for Souls after Death, viz. Heaven and Hell. And the General Opinion amongst them is, That all Departed Souls go immediately either to one of these places or to the other: but that the number of bad Souls going to places of Torment, do very much exceed those who go to God and Heaven. Our Lord shows plainly, when he says, The way is narrow, and the gate straight, that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but the other way and gate are broad and wide, and many go in, and into them: viz. all who do not hit the narrow way and straight gate: So as those who go to the Devil, do very much exceed in number those who go to God; according to their own Opinions. Hence Solomon's Text, The Spirit returns to God, or all Humane Spirits return to God, who gave them, cannot hold true in your own Sense or Separately Subsisting Souls; but seems to be a great mistake, and very far out of the way. A part of the Academic School held an Opinion punctually agreeing with this Text of Solomon; viz. That all Souls, and particularly the Humane, were Sparks and Particles of God, emaning from him, for the animation of his Creatures; upon whose Death those Souls returned again to God, and became united to him, as before: and thus the Spirit returns precisely to God who gave it: but thereby the Individuation of such Souls must needs be destroyed, as Rivers after their falling into the Sea, or Drops into a quantity of Water; though they are still Water, yet they are no more Drops nor Rivers: So Humane Spirits, thus returning to God who gave them, should be still Spiritual in their being, but are not Souls Separately subsisting. That the greater number of Mankind, by far, go into Perdition, I have no doubt; and how then all Souls or Spirits given by God, do return to him, I am not yet able to understand, but desire to receive your Instructions thereupon.  
3. A Third Argument in Opposition to your Proof by this Text, may be drawn from other Texts of Scripture, importing to the contrary of it. Solomon himself, Eccles. 11.8. just before your Proving Text, says, Remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. This thwarts the Separate Souls going presently to Heaven, for then the Man would have no dark days at all. Job 14.12. Man lieth down, and riseth not till the heavens be no more. This, say I, cannot be intended of the Body only, for that is not the Man; but if there be a State in Separation, the Soul must be the Man: Nam forma dat esse rei. Whence it seems, That if the State of a Separate good Soul were such as is generally supposed, the Man cannot properly be said to die at all.  
Solomon's Father, Psalm 49. Observes, That even such amongst Men, as attain to Honour, have not so much Understanding, as to exempt them from being compared unto, or being like the Beasts that perish; viz. in their Natural state: But God hath given to Men a full assurance of a Resurrection, which he hath not given to the Beasts. Solomon, Eccles. 3. compares them in like manner. Jud. 15.19. Samson ready to die for thirst; God clavae an hollow place that was in the Jawbone, out of which Water proceeded, and when he had drunk, his Spirit came again, and he revived: So 1 Sam. 30.11, 12. The Servants of David found an Egyptian in the Field, and gave him Bread, and he did eat, and they made him, drink Water: and when he had eaten his Spirit came again to him; for he had not eaten no Bread, nor drank any Water, three days and three nights. I demand what sort of Spirit was that, which in these Two Persons came again to them, and revived them? It seems the same sort of Spirit, which for want of Food and Moisture, was almost extinguished; the Spirit by which they lived, and which by Nourishment became strengthened, refreshed and revived, as a Fire wanting supply; and therefore ready to go out, may be again revived and restored by Ministration of fresh Fuel to that purpose. I pass this for a somewhat clear evidence, that these Spirits were Material, and seems the same sort of Spirit which Solomon says returns to God who gave it. A Spirit giving Life, Sense, Understanding, and Memory to the Person revived, by the coming again unto him, or the being restored and re-inkindled in him. In both Texts, the Words are, The Spirit came again into those Persons; expressed according to common or vulgar Conception: And so when a Man died, those who thought he had a Separately Subsisting Soul, and could not imagine what became of it, were very apt to think that it returned to God who gave it: At the first to Adam, and from him by Propagation unto all Mankind. And if you demand, Why they thought Men had Souls Separately Subsisting? I say, it was because they could net otherwise imagine how there could be a Distribution of Recompenses future to this Life: for that then the Doctrine of the Resurrection was not mentioned amongst Men, and much less was fully revealed or made known unto them.  
You recite what I had said, viz. That if you should forbear to press the Immortality, and instead thereof insist upon the Resurrection, and the last Judgement, your Auditors would be no more Atheists or wicked Livers than they were before; and you seem to grant this by your saying nothing against it: And so do I grant what you say, viz. That if you should tell them that you do not believe the Immortality, it would appear scandalous to them, and would make them distrust your other Doctrines, how true soever the same might be: And if you should not press the Immortality, believing you therein stifle a Truth of which you are fully persuaded. I grant this would be Sin in you, because your so doing would not be of Faith, but in Dissimulation, or Compliance: but if I were in your place, and should omit to press Arguments from the Immortality, and insist upon those of the Resurrection and the last Judgement, I should act in Faith, or a Belief of well doing, and yet make my Auditors no worse Christians: Nay if I should say to them, whatsoever you have heard of the Souls Separate Subsistence, and howsoever things may fall out thereupon, yet certain it is from the whole Current of Scripture, and the Articles of our Creed, that there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead, dreadful to those left at the Separation expected to be made by the Angels between the Elected and the Reprobates, and joyful to those who shall be elevated and admitted to meet the Lord in the Air, and so ever to be with the Lord. It seems Expressions like these would not make Men more Atheists in Opinion, or more vicious in their Lives, than they formerly used to be: And this I did, and do say, with intent to show, that by the Opinion of the Materiality, those grievous Consequences which you are pleased to expect, are not likely really to ensue, but that rather you are over suspicious on that behalf.  
You say, You cannot foresee what good the Publishing of my Opinion can do to the Word: To this I say, What good doth the Publishing of the Opinion of the Rotation of the Earth do to the World, any more than as it is a discovery of Truth, or a thing very like it? But I have formerly told you, that the Materiality doth Fundamentally overthrow Purgatory, Prayers for the Dead, Prayers to the Saints, and gives a great blow to the Worship of their Images. Whereby (as Pliny says) they make a god, or a saint of one, who is not so much as a Man. 

Secondly, It will put to Silence all disputations concerning the Originals, Actings, and Residences of intelligent Souls in Men; and those concerning their Powers, Places of being, and manner of acting, after their departures from the Body; which perhaps never troubled you, and very few of your Auditors: Whence you may repute them as things of small concernment, and yet to many others they have been, and may be very troublesome.  
Thirdly, It would (like many other Emanations of Truth) Fortify the Foundations of the Christian Faith, and make it apparent, that the Professors of it do not submit themselves to be guided by questionable or doubtful Opinions, followed by many or few; but that willingly we adhere to Truth according to its strength of evidence drawn from Scripture, or Reason, and no farther.   Also we Read of some Greeks so Transported with the Surmises of what privileges Souls Departed enjoyed, that they killed themselves the sooner to obtain the Possession of them: And very likely it is, some present Proselytes promise themselves an immediate Transportation to Heaven, as soon as their Souls are parted from their Bodies. Which you say, the Primitive Fathers of the Church did not believe: And I find Peter Martyr in his common places Citing Irenaeus, That Souls go not to Heaven before the Resurrection, and that it is Heresy to think, that Souls go to Heaven, or are carried to God, without attending the time of the Resurrection: And this seems to amount somewhat near the Soul and Bodies going to God together then; and that seems much agreeable to my Proposal: For I think there is no considerable or desirable Difference or Preference between the Souls Temporary Extinguishment, and its sleeping in a Limbus, or Dormitory, and other place of bare rest and quiet, according to the Opinion of most of the Fathers. You say again, That though the Knowledge of my Opinion can do no good in the World, that likely it may do much mischief: I will not refer you for Answer to 2 Kings 18.20. but do say in Answer, that if my Opinion, throughly discussed, prove not the Truth, it shall not be my Opinion; and if it prove really, or most probably true, I believe it ought also to be your Opinion: Truth is more valuable than Rubies, and a little of it hewn out of the Rock, is of great Price; not to be sold: Prov. 23.23. but to be bought: nor are any evil effects of it greatly to be feared: The effects of error are very dangerous, nam, dato uno, sequuntur mille; but no Lie is of the Truth, nor can grow out of it. Deut. 32. God is a God of Truth; and Psal. 15. accepts those who speak in Truth, and do the thing which is right; viz. propound, and maintain the Truth.  
But say you, I cannot be sure that the Materiality is a Truth: I grant that I am not sure; but I would be sure if I knew how to be so; and therefore I applied to you, for obtaining your chief Arguments against it: And I am ready to do so, to any other likely Person, capable to assist me in searching the Truth concerning it: And therefore in my Observations upon Dr. Bentley's Sermon, Entitled, Matter and Motion cannot think; I have requested, and even provoked him to perform his promise made in that Sermon, viz. that he will make good Proof of the Souls Immateriality, from some positive Grounds Rational, or Scriptural: For that his telling us, that God cannot make Men, and act them by a Material Spirit, nor by any other means, but by an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit, seems to me precarious, erroneus, and arbitrary in him: And I think I may as well say, God can make Man, and act him by a Material Spirit, as well as he hath done with his inferior Creatures; and for aught that hitherto appears to me, I think it most likely that he hath so done.  
This finishes my Reply to my Friends Third Opposition, after which I received a Fourth Paper of the like Nature, Dated 6. Nou. 93, divided into 8, Paragraphs.   

1. Paragraph, Concerned only the intent or meaning of Paul in his term of Nature, whether intended absolutely in puris Naturalibus, or cultivated by Education, Rule or Example.  
2. Paragraph, Was concerning my Expression of making Men trust in a Lye.  
3. Paragraph, I Reply to it: You seem to think that God can make Matter Cogitative, and will not deny that to be in his Power, and we are agreed in that; but you think God hath not done so: I think he hath done so; and this it seems need not be determined, but remain a Dissension without making it a Difference, the Proof on either side appearing a very great difficulty.  
4. Paragraph, Desiring to show, that there is a Knowledge of what is Morally good or bad, Grounded in Nature, Unassisted by Rules, Education, or Institution. You Cite an Instance in Cain, who (you think) knew he had sinned in killing his Brother; and that before his Nature was assisted by Rules, or positive Institution. Here I say, are Two Assertions: First that he knew the Fact to be wicked; next he knew this by simple Nature, unassisted by any Rule or Institution whatsoever. To the First I Answer, It doth not appear in the Text, that he knew that his Fact to be a Crime. You say, it appears upon the Margin: The Text says, My Punishment is greater than I can bear: The Margin says, Mine Iniquity is greater than can be forgiven. Evident it is, that the Complaint succeeds immediately to the Sentence pronounced after that Fact; which induces me to believe it applicable to the Punishment, rather than to the Sin; and that therefore the Reading put into the Text by our Translators, is more likely to be the true and proper Reading, than that upon the Margin: But if that which you pretend should be admitted, and the Marginal Reading should be accepted. Yet it seems the State of Cain at that time, was not a State of bare and simple Nature, unassisted by Institution or Rules: For Adam was Divinely Instructed, and probably brought up his Children under Discipline, or a directive Education: They were Taught the use of Sacrificing; and vers. 7. God himself gave Cain Directions for his Instruction in Morality and Piety. Hence, to me it seems your instance of Cain doth not enough prove, that Conscience (without Rules or Instruction) is a Natural Guide to direct Men in their Actions; able to make a true Distinction betwixt evil and good. Rom. 5.13. For until the Law, Sin was in the World: but Sin is not imputed when there is no Law. And Chap. 7.7. I had not known Sin, but by the Law: Vers. 13. Sin by the Commandment became exceeding sinful, viz. until, or before the Law, bad Actions were Sins, but not imputed, because not known to be Sins; but when Institution, and Laws have detected, or discovered to Mankind the Sin of such Actions, viz. that they are Sins against God and his Laws: This knowledge makes that which before was a Sin, though not imputed, to become by such Revelation exceeding sinful: First a Sin in itself, and next as made known to the actor by the Law, or some other Institution that it is a Sin. You give no farther, or other Answer to what I had largely spoken, concerning the Nature and Operation of Conscience in Man: I desired to know your Apprehensions concerning the same, and your silence therein seems to admit of my Conceptions thereupon as firm, or probable.  
5. Paragraph, You say, I desire to know of you, whence Humane Affections and their Powers grow? You Answer, They grow from the Corruption of Man's Nature, by the Fall of Adam, and the Curse attending it; to evince which, it seems you should show what Mans Nature was before the fall, and wherein, and how far the same became Corrupted upon that Occasion: But that is a thing which I think you neither know, nor have means to discover, and that therefore we are driven to consider Humane Nature, as we now find it so considered: It is found, and you grant, that Affections and Passions have a very great Power in disposing of Humane Actions, and the Applications, and Practices of the same; that they do very often and most commonly overpower and misled the National Faculty, and its Dependencies, and drive, or draw the Person, Soul and Body, into very impure and wicked Practices, even reclamante Ratione, and maugre all the Spiritual Powers which ordinarily they meet with in Mankind: And these Affections, Ambition, Covetousness, Lust, and the Passions, Wrath and Fear, are as natural to Man, as his Vital and Rational Faculties are: All Men have them, and one who hath them not, is not perfect in his Nature: The Beasts have them, viz. Lust, Wrath and Fear, and they act with as much Violence and Power in the Beasts as in the Men: And our First Parents had them before the Fall: The Woman saw the Tree was good for Food, and pleasant to the Taste; hereby was her Lust tempted: And a Fruit desirable to make one Wise; here was her Ambition tempted, and by these Affections Satan prevailed (as amongst Men of our times he daily doth) to draw our First Parents into the ruinous Accomplishments of Sin and Wickedness. I say then, The Affections and Passions appear to grow, not as an effect of Adam's Fall, but as a Fruit of Natural Production; and from the same Principles and Originals that his Nutritive, Generative, and other Vital Powers do grow; that his other Sensitive, and his Rational Faculties do also grow: They seem to have one same Original, and that they are as Natural to Man; as any of the other are; and that they have received no more Detriment or Vitiated Quality from the Fall, than the other Humane Powers and Faculties have done: I say, they are all acted alike, viz. by the Natural Contexture of Soul and Body: And I thence infer, that if the Humane Soul were Intelligent, she would not act these Affections and Passions with the Force and Violence, with which, ofttimes we find them to be acted; but would rather choose to act them moderately, and no farther than might stand with Terms of Discretion; and so as to restrain and keep them ever under Power of her own Government and Regality: And because she doth not, and I think cannot do this, I conclude, she seems to me not Intelligent, but Material.  
6. Paragraph, In the Matter of the Father's Opinions concerning the going of Souls to Heaven, upon Death of their Bodies, I undertake not to speak upon my own perusal of the Fathers; but as I find them Cited by other Writers. I have from Peter Martyr, quoted to you Irenaeus, denying Souls passing to God or Heaven before the Resurrection; and there Tertullian is quoted to the same purpose, viz. that Heaven shall not be opened till the Resurrection. Dr. Willet in his Synopsis Papismi, Fol. 402. He says, We confess most part of the Fathers, especially the later sort of them, to have been in this error. Fol. 403. He says, Bellarmine Cites 14 Fathers to this purpose: Nay, and Our Lord, Joh. 14.2, 3. says, I go to prepare a place for you; and I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also: Seeming to infer a Rest till Christ's Second Coming: As Revel. 14.13. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them. 1 Pet. 4.13. Rejoice, as being Partakers of Christ's Sufferings, that when his Glory shall be revealed, ye may be also glad with exceeding joy: So 2 Pet. 3.11. Seeing all the Earth, and the Heaven about it shall be Burnt up, what Holy Persons ought ye to be; looking for, and hasting to the day of God. 1 Cor. 4.5. Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to Light the hidden things of Darkness, and then shall every [deserving] Man have Praise of God. 1 Cor. 1. Vers. 7, 8. Waiting for the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Joh. 2.28. Abide in him, that when he appears you may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his Coming. Chap. 3.2. We know not yet what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Joh. 6. Our Lord promises four times over to raise his Servants up at the last Day: And he tells Martha, her Brother shall rise again. She Answers: I know he shall rise again at the Resurrection of the last day. All these places refer to, and rest upon the Judgement of the last day, or Christ's Second Coming, without taking notice of any Intermediate State: Nor do I meet with any Scripture asserting any Intermediate State, Place, or Judgement, between Death and the Resurrection of the last day: True it is, That those who believed the Subsistence of Souls in a State of Separation from their Bodies, were forced to invent some places and modes of that Subsistence: Whence Heathen Divines, or Poets, framed their Elysium's, and Fortunate Islands; their Habitations of Dis, and Tartarums: And so have the Mahometans done, and so a great part of Christians maintain their Limbus' patrum & puerorum, Purgatory, & sinum Abrahae, from the Parable of Lazarus, and places of other Tortures for wicked Souls; but without being able to make out, or prove such places, or such things, either from Reason, Scripture, or other solid, and credible, or faithful Ocular Testimony, or Relations whatsoever: And if you know of any such Proofs of those, or the like places, I shall be very glad to receive the Communication thereof from you.  
You say, The Fathers did not think that Souls go not to Heaven before the Resurrection: You avoid saying, They did think Souls went to Heaven before that time. I have named to you Irenaeus and Tertullian, who thought they went not to Heaven before the Resurrection. And your own Second Paper, Parag. 7. say, The Fathers owned a middle State, which was neither Heaven nor Hell, and that good Souls were in a State of Rest and Happiness, but not in Heaven, or the full Fruition of it: The Fathers owned an Intermediate State for good Souls, between Death and Heaven. Our Church, or the greatest part of it, say, They go presently upon Death to Heaven: I desire to know a Reason of this Difference in Opinion, viz. why we differ from the Fathers in it: To this you Answer, These Opinions agree well enough: This gives me little Satisfaction in the Point, viz. your telling me they agree well enough, because I see plainly there is a wide Difference between them, and still I want a Reason of that Difference.  
7. Paragraph, You had quoted to me Solomon's Saying, The Spirit returns to God, who gave it, as the strongest Text you could find for the Soul's Separate Subsistence. To that Text, as proving this Point, I sent you Three Objections, never propounded to you nor Answered by you before: They appear to me very Material, and such as you will, with great difficulty be able to make a reasonable and substantial Answer unto; and therefore I desired you to bestow an Answer upon them: instead of which you tell me, you have said enough upon that Text before, approved by the Learned of your Town, as a true and Unanswerable Explication of that Text. To this I reply, Those Learned were Men agreeing in Judgement with yourself in our disputed Point, and apt to approve what was said by you in the Confirmation of it: But now if you please to Communicate these Objections to those Persons, and make such Answer to them as they shall approve, it will oblige me much, and add great strength to the force of your Argument from that Text, which I think my Objections do overthrow, so long as they stand in force and remain unanswered: And I allow you to think as the Jebusites expressed, 2 Sam. 5.6. They challenged David, conceiving as in the last clause of that Verse.  
8. Paragraph, You say, You have lately had occasion to consider a Text of Scripture, which you think directly contradicts and overthrows my Opinion, viz. 2 Cor. 5. Vers. 6. and 8. Knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body, we are absent from the Lord, and are willing therefore to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord: And I grant, That these Words absent from the Body, and present with the Lord, taken singly as recited in these Two Verses, seem strongly to import, that a Man hath something, which being absent from the Body, may be present with the Lord: But it is a granted, and well tried, and approved Rule; that for the Understanding and sound Exposition of Scripture, the Context is always well, and throughly to be considered, and all the parts so be understood and construed, as may make the several Parts and Expressions of it stand and agree together, and with the true and sober Rules of common Sense and Reason: To make such an Exposition of these two Verses, and the Words, and import of them, it seems to me, the Expounders of them should begin from the next preceding Chapter, viz. Chap. 4.8. there Paul gins to recount his Sufferings: Vers. 14. But after all, He who raised the Lord Jesus, shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you: And therefore we must look a● things not seen and Eternal; in comparison of which, the present Affliction is but short and light: Chap. 5.1, etc. For we know, we have a Building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens; desiring to be clothed upon with our house: if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked: For we do groan, not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon, that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life: Therefore we knowing, that whilst we are at hone in the Body, we are absent from the Lord, and are willing rather to be absent from the Body, and to be present with the Lord: therefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his Body, according to what be hath done, whether it be good or bad. To accord the Words absent from the Body, and present with the Lord, to the rest of the Context, it seems we must take Body in this place for the Natural Body, as it is distinguished from the Spiritual Body, expected at the time of Christ's Second Coming: Those who are raised to Happiness, shall be raised Spiritual Bodies, as 1 Cor. 15.44. and those who are alive at that time shall be changed, viz. their Natural Bodies into Spiritual Bodies; For Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God: Whilst therefore we are at home in the Natural Body, we are, and must be absent from the Lord; and do wish rather to be absent from this Body, viz. have it changed into a Spiritual Body; that this Mortal might put on Immortality, and Death may not have Power over us, but be swallowed up in that Victory: Our Text is parallel hereunto, we know we have an house eternal in the Heavens, desiring to be clothed upon with this house, viz. the Spiritual Body, that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life: Therefore he desires not to be Unclothed, not to Die, or put off this Tabernacle, but to be Clothed upon; to pass to Life without passing the Gates of Death, be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; for till a Resurrection, or such a change, we are like to be absent from the Lord: Therefore he desires to be Clothed upon with this house from Heaven, that he may not continue in the Natural Body, and thereby absent from the Lord: He speaks as if he might live to that time, says, We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed: And of absence from the Body by this change, it seems St. Paul speaks in my Text which you have quoted, and not of any thing to be done, or expected, after Death, or betwixt that and the Resurrection. The whole Tract recited, seems to me, intended for Comfort in times of Worldly Afflictions, founded upon the Resurrection, Chap. 4.14. and terminated in it, Chap. 5.10. desiring whether absent in the Natural Body, or present in the Spiritual, to be accepted by Christ, that we may come to that great Audit with Confidence, as 1 Joh. 2.28. and not be ashamed before him at his coming, but may rejoice at it, with joy unspeakable and full of Glory; that the wicked rising, or found alive at Christ's Coming, shall be so changed, or have Spiritual Bodies, I do not find Written, and it seems as likely that they may still remain in their former state of Nature, sensible of what they suffer, as in their first Life: The difficulty thereupon will be, how they should be able to dwell in Everlasting Burn, without being consumed: But I pretend not to solve all Difficulties, but shall leave this to farther Consideration, and conclude myself,  
Your obliged humble Servant. 10. Nou. 93.   

In a Postscript to a Letter from my Opponent: He says, I can by no means consent to the making any thing of mine Public; but if they will serve you in Private, you may keep them by you, Dated Nou. 6.93.  
And to my Reply, Dated 10. Nou. 93. His Answer was, That he sent back my Papers, without rejoining to them; foreseeing that the effect of his rejoinder, would be but another Answer from me, and a fruitless trouble to us both: He warned me to forbear Publishing my Opinion, as new, singular, dangerous and false, and likely to produce great inconveniences to myself, from the ill treatment I might find from others (who) if they thought me considerable enough to be Answered, were likely to give me Answer in Terms less civil, than he had used towards me. Dated Nou. 21. Anno 93.  
And thus finished the Intercourse betwixt me and my Learned Neighbour, upon the Point before disputed, Whilst I was employed upon this Argument with my said Neighbour, there came to my hand a Sermon of Dr. Bentley's, treating upon the same Subject; and Entitled, Matter and Motion cannot think: Wherein he Undertakes, or promises to prove, That the Humane Soul is an Immaterial, Intelligent Spirit; and because I thought he fell short in his performance of that promise, I made Observations in Nature of a Refutation upon that Sermon, as far only as concerned that Point: These Observations I sent to London (as my Opposer says he had notice) with intent to have them Printed; but hitherto an Imprimatur hath not been obtained for them. In them I press Dr. Bentley to a better performance of that his promise, than I think he hath made in that Sermon; and do desire him to take that promise to heart, and perform it to the uttermost of his Power, as a Work worthy of his Endeavours, and requisite and very needful for the times we live in; but when that my demand may arrive to him in the way which I intent, I do not yet perceive; but as I was musing, a Friend Minister brought me a Book, which he said had given him great Satisfaction in the Point thus far disputed, and he thought it might probably do the same to me: I found it Printed, Lond. 1685. in 4ᵒ. Entitled: A Treatise of the Soul of Man, by John Flavel, Minister late of Dartmouth; upon perusal I found his Design the very same with that which I had pressed Dr. Bentley to Undertake, viz. to prove that the Humane Soul is an Immaterial, Immortal, Intelligent Spirit; and that the Author was Learned, Judicious, and Industrious, and Considerable in the Degrees of them: for that he had Collected together all that I had met with in my former Authors for the Maintenance of his Tenet, and had placed and used them Dexterously, and as they appeared to serve the most Advantageously for his Deign: So as it seemed I had not much more to expect from Dr. Bentley, or any other Writer, who should, or might Undertake the maintenance of that Opinion: I thought it deserved my serious Consideration; yet found it not convictive of my Judgement in the Point, nor able to give any considerable stagger to it: And therefore for my own Satisfaction in the first place, and Assistance of others in the next place, I undertook to make a stricture upon all the Arguments delivered in this Book, for Proof of the Point Controverted; and this by Pages, according to his Order used in the delivery of them: And as he brings no new Arguments, but only uses those which in my former Writings have been mentioned, so are my returns thereunto; but a Repetition of things before delivered, applied to the Particulars as they are urged by him: And because the Answers are Repetitions, my intent is to abbreviate them as much as I can, without rebating the edge, or taking from the vigour of them.  
Pag. 5. He comes to the Soul of Man, and says, God's Breath infused it, and our Breath continues its Union with the Body: Here though I conceive not that God hath Breath or doth breath, yet I grant, that God did by an Animating Breath, give Life to the Body of Man, first fitted and prepared to receive and act by the same: He remarks the Ability of Speech is conferred on no other Soul but Man's: This I should Word, It was conferred on no other Body but Man's, for that Man's Soul cannot speak without his Tongue; and if there be a defect in that Organ, the Soul can neither help it, nor act to Speak without it Pag. 6. Says, That by calling Man's a living Soul, it is distinguished from all other Souls: This I deny, and say, That Beasts Souls are living, as well, and as Naturally as men's. Pag. 7. Amongst his many Expressions not granted, I grant this, That Adam's Soul came by Inspiration from the Lord. He says, It it a most astonishing Mystery, to see the dust of the Ground, and an Immortal Spirit clasping each other with such dear Embraces: I confess this Mystery is so astonishing, as quite discourages my belief of the thing. He quotes Austin for the infundendo creature, but not any part or place of that Author, where the Words quoted may be found, and I doubt he is wrong in it; and that this Expression is of latter date than Austin's time. Pag. 8. The Breath of our Nostrils, he says, and nothing else links and holds these Two Natures, viz. the Mortal and Immortal together; for the Soul comes and goes with the Breath, and cannot stay one minute after the Breath is gone: I grant, That as Fire for want of Air is suffocated, so both the Humane and Bestial Soul for want of Breath; but that is not the only want which can extinguish, or dislodge such Souls; the want of Blood will do it, and so will the want of Food, or Nourishment: For Breath, Blood and Food are all of necessity for the Life and Support of an Humane, as well as of a Brutal Soul; they cannot subsist, if any of these be wanting to them: And it passes with me for a strong evidence, that the thing which cannot subsist without all these Material Supports, is itself also Material, viz. both the Brutal and the Humane Souls, which therefore I take for Material Spirits. Our Author, here says, No Elixir, or Worldly Power, can make the Soul stay one minute after the Breath is gone: And I say so for the Blood; and so when all the Nouriture is spent, the Soul can stay no longer (says he) live no longer in the Body (say I.) Here he says, The Humane Soul is of Divine Original, Created and Inspired by God: I refuse the Word Created, for that it is not in Moses' Text here expounded, neither in Letter nor Sense, that I can perceive: And for the Divine Original, and Inspiration, it seems, the Brutal Soul and first Breath, may lay a good claim to them both; although Moses have not so fully declared the manner of God's acting with, or upon them. Pag. 9 Says, The Nature of the Soul cannot be perfectly known. Pag. 11. To prove the Humane Soul is in strict and proper sense, created by God: he citys, Zech. 12.1. The Lord who stretcheth out the Heavens, and layeth the Foundation of the Earth, and formeth the Spirit of Man within him. Comenius tells us, That the Word here Translated, formeth, is in the Hebrew Jatzar, used for the forming of Man's Body out of the Ground, viz. a Formation from some Prae-exsistent Matter: I say, from these Words the Formation of a Material Soul, Vital, Animal, Rational, may very well be intended; and that this seems most likely to be the sense and intent of it: To prove the Soul created, he Cites farther 1 Pet. 4.19. Let them that suffer, commit the keeping of their Souls to God, as unto a faithful Creator. I demand, of what God was the Creator, not of Souls singly, but of Bodies also; and here, commit the keeping of their Souls, intends themselves, or their Persons: An usual Scripture Expression in the like Cases; thus his Proofs for the single Creation of Souls out of nothing, are answered, which renders his Design vain; viz. of proving that the Soul is a Substance, because created out of nothing. I grant, the Material Soul to be a Substance; but, says he, Not a substance created out of nothing: Yours say he, Flows from the Matter, and depends upon it: And say I, so doth the Humane Soul do, as appears before; and he hath yet made no good Proof of a single Creation of it out of nothing: Well, but he hath another Argument, to prove, that the Soul is such a Substance, viz. the Soul doth exist and subsist by itself alone, when separated from the Body by Death: And I grant, if he proves this, it will do his Work; and he Cites in Proof, Luk. 23.43. the Case of the Thief upon the Cross, and Christ's promise to him: And Matth. 10.28. Fear not them that kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul. To each of these Texts I have answered before as fully as I can; and hold it not fit to repeat those Answers here: St. Matthew's Text I grant is a clear Proof, that he was of our Author's Opinion, viz. That the Soul might have a Subsistence separate from the Body; but St. Paul in St. Luke's Gospel, 12. ●4. hath otherwise worded Our Lord's Doctrine upon that occasion; and it seems by 1 Cor. 15.18. and 2 Thes. 4.15. and 1 Cor. 4.5. Chap 1. vers. 7. and 8. that Paul did not hold or know the Separate Subsistence of Souls, and so an intermediate State, betwixt Death and the Resurrection; and therefore Luke's Words in relating of that Fact, do not import a Separate Subsistence of Souls: And so it seems for Peter, 1 Pet. 4.13. and 2 Pet. 3.11. and 12.13, etc. So 1 Joh. 2.28. and 3.2. all importing they knew of no State between Death and the Resurrection, and consequently of no Separate Subsistence of Souls. Page 12. he quotes, 2 Cor. 5.8. If absent from the Body, and present with the Lord; which I have in a few Leaves before largely expounded, to a sense far different from the Author's intent. He citys 2 Cor. 4.16. of the Outward and Inward Man, which I say intends the two Faculties, viz. Sensitive or Passionate, and the Rational. Pag. 13. Says, The Soul is a substance: I grant it so, though Material; for so is Heart, Brain, etc. He says, Affections, and Passions, Habits, and Arts, and Sciences, are lodged and seated, and rooted in the Soul, and spring from it: All this I deny, and say, they are all lodged, seated, and rooted in the Man, and spring from, and are perfected by the Contexture of his Soul and Body: He says, The Soul in Moses 's Text, was a living active being of itself, as opposed to Matter and Body: This I deny, and say, That as the Body cannot move itself without the Soul, so neither the Soul without the Body. The Soul is in the Body as its proper Form, or active Principle, that it hath no proper place but the Body; nor hath it any quickening Power without the Body: It cannot quicken any thing else but the Body, nor doth it act, nor is it any thing but in the Body: He says, Moses in the Text calls it a living Soul: This say I is an apparent mistake, for the Text says not that the Breath became a living Soul, but the Man did so; the Man became a living Soul, alias Person: He says, Take mere Matter, and do what you will with it, you can never make it see, feel, etc. Mark his Consequence, ergo, God cannot effect it; he might as well say, you cannot make a Dog, or a Mouse, ergo, etc. Pag. 14. In Proof of the Soul's being a Separable Spirit, he Cites Luke 23.46. and Acts 7.29. I say, That in these places, by the term of Spirit the Persons recommended themselves to God, as David in his full life used the very same Words, Into thy hands I commend my Spirit, intending his whole Person: Also Christ made his Soul an Offering for Sin, intending his whole Person. Here he also citys Solomon's Text, viz. The Spirit returns to God who gave it; concerning which Expression, I refer to what hath before been spoken of it: Cites Heb. 12.9. You have been subject to the Fathers in the Flesh, be now rather so to the Father of Spirits, viz. say I of Angels, and all other Creatures. Cites again Zech. 12.1. yet cannot, doth not deny: Acts 17.25. That God giveth to all Life, and Breath, and all things, ergo, to Plants, Infects, and Brutes, as well as to Men. He says, Other Souls flow not from God by Creation, but Mans did: I have denied such Creation, and I think he hath not proved it: I have granted Man's Soul enkindled by God's Inspiration, and so I think for the Brutes, they had their first Breath from him; and from that time, Men and Brutes have been generated perfectly according to their first Patterns. Pag. 9 He had told us, That the Soul's Nature is so spiritual and sublime, that it cannot be perfectly known by the most acute and penetrating Understanding: But being come to page 15. He tells us, It is a substance as Incorporeal as other Spirits are, that it is Invisible, and hath no Extension of Parts; it hath no Dimensions or Figure: But I grant none of all these, nor doth he offer to prove any of them: He makes it a vast wonder that such a Spirit as his sort of Soul, should be so tied and linked to a clod of Clay, the Body, that it can by no Art or Power free itself: And I confess his sort of Soul is very Productive of strange and unlikely Consequences; but to my sort of Soul all is in great Congruity: I say, there is no wonder at all, but very Congruous, that the Soul and Body should be so affected and affixed one to another, for they are both of a piece; are generated, grow, stand, decay, and fall together, and they rejoice and suffer, share and share alike, and that there is no more difference between Humane Souls and Bodies than Material Spirits differ from their Bodies; and as they do and suffer together in this World, so may it be expected for the World to come, they will Rise, be Judged, and Recompensed together, according to their joint behaviours, used in the time of their Earthly Life. Pag. 17. He produces Des Cartes Principle, and Dr. Bentley's, viz. I know that I think, and that Matter and Motion cannot think, ergo, There must be a Spirit to act thought in me: This I grant, but says he, This must be a Spirit Immaterial, Intelligent, for God cannot act all Man's Faculties by a Material Spirit, nor make Matter Cogitative I think he can do all this, and thereupon I am at issue with Dr. Bentley, and I believe that he hath so done: And if God can act Man's Senses and Reason by a Material Spirit, and hath so done, all our Author's Allegations here, are thereby answered and made ineffectual, which otherwise do not seem very material. He says, No Man can think, that combining Fire, Air, Water and Earth, should make the Lump of it to know or consider: And I grant, this cannot be done by Man, but by what consequence can it be said, ergo, God cannot do it: I say such an ergo will have no Force or Coercion in it: And I farther say, Souls cannot think or understand without their Bodies. He says, We see manifestly, that upon division of the Body, viz. a Leg or an Arm cut off, the Soul remains entire, viz. the Understanding, Affections, etc. I grant, That the Vital and Rational Faculties do in such case still remain entire; but by Blows or Wounds in the Head, the Understanding and Memory may be spoiled, and yet the Vital and Generative Parts remain firm: So as his instance proves no more, but that the loss of a Member and the Spirit which enlivened it, affects not other Members, or the Spirit in them so much, but that they can still exercise their proper Faculties as before; and this is very well Comportant with a Material Spirit: For his tota in to to & qualibet parte, I have quoted Melanchton, who says, The Expression is commonly Fathered upon Arist. but it is not found in any of his Writings, nor is the thing true: For says he, If we shall take the Humane Soul for an Immaterial Spirit; we know such a Spirit can be but in unico loco at a time, and not in tota in qualibet parte at the same time: And therefore this Expression shall be passed here but for a Quibble, fit to serve the turn of this indiscerptible or undividable Soul, as our Author here calls it: And the same may be said for the Creando infunditur, & Infundendo creature, it may pass for a Riddle, and both of them for Mystical Expressions concerning a Mysterious Imaginary Soul; and both intended rather to amuse, than to instruct the Auditors: Here again he recites Solomon's Text, The Spirit returns to God who gave it: I have showed before, that by far, the greatest part of Humane Souls go to the Devil, and this he doth not deny. Pag. 17. But says, That before going to the Devil, it goes first to God, to give an account of itself to him, and receive its Judgement from him: This Assertion say I, is merely arbitrary and precarious, but very necessary for the maintenance of that sense which he would put upon Solomon's Text: He adds, The Soul must appear before the God of the Spirits of all Flesh, as Arbiter and final Judge, intended, before it go to the Devil or Hell. It seems strange to me, that our Author should be so positive and certain in this Assertion as he is, without offering any sort of Proof concerning the truth of it. If this were true, it would put a period to all farther dispute upon the Difference now in Discourse amongst us: That this may be done, there must be a Separate Subsistence of Souls first granted or supposed; and this methinks should have minded him of the great need there was of making the best and strongest Proof that was possible, for the maintenance of it; but of that sort there is not a word here, neither from Scripture, Reason, nor Experience, but a bare supposal of our Author, drawn (for aught appears) out of his own Imagination: and let him prove such a going of the Soul to God, as he hath here asserted, or that there is any Intermediate Judgement given upon Souls between Death and the day of General Doom or Judgement; or let any other Man make Proof of either of these Points convincing, or somewhat clear, and I am ready to submit, and confess my present Opinion to be an Error: Whence it seems our Author did not enough consider the Importation of what he pretends here to impose upon the mere Credit and Power of his ipse dixit. Pag. 18. Says, The Ingress of the Soul is obscure, and so the Egress: And I grant it so much, as the one and other are hardly credible. He says, That the Radical Moisture or Balsam, is the Oil that maintains the Natural Heat, or the Bridle which restrains the Flame of Life from departing, and such departure is the Cause of Natural Death. And this I grant, having before said the same thing, and very near the Words, viz. That the Radical Moisture maintains the Flame of Life; this Moisture must be maintained by Food, and the Flame in the Blood fanned by Breath, and the Extinguishment of this Flame is Death. What he says more of the Soul here, is suppositis non supponendis. Pag. 17. He had said, The Soul is a Created Rational Spirit, conscious to itself of Moral Good and Evil: I say, it is not the Soul alone, but the Man together; that is so conscious to himself, and that not from bare and uncultivated Nature, but assisted by Rules derived from God, Education, Precepts, or Opinions. Pag. 19 He calls, Understanding a Faculty of the Reasonable Soul: I call it a Faculty of the Man, who is a Contexture of Soul and Body. The Soul cannot understand without the Brain, and if that be crazed or spoiled, the Soul cannot understand: And hence all here said is answerable, by applying what he says of the Soul, to the Rational Faculty in Man. Pag. 20. He allows that Humane Discretion or Judgement, is the Guide of the Soul, and of the Will; and that the Will follows the Dictates of the Judgement, as I have before said; and attributes all to the Soul, which belongs to the Rational Faculty in Man, and cannot be acted without the Brain, and but according to the condition and temper of that Organ. Pag. 21. Says, The Power of Cogitation is in the Soul: I say in the Brain, acted by the Soul. He sets out the great Power of Conscience, which he says, Is the Judgement of a Man upon himself: And I agree it, and that it belongs to the Understanding Part, or Faculty: He says, It is potent and terrible: And I grant it, and say, that terror is Grounded in fear of Suffering, and the Erroneus Conscience, as potent and terrible, as the best Grounded; when the Memory, Judgement and Passions fail, as in Death they all do, perishing with their proper Organs: Conscience fails with them when all Man's thoughts, and his very Faculty of thinking perishes, none of them ever to return, till the time of our Resurrection; and then they shall all return, and be revived as formerly. He Pag. 20. called the Discretion the Guide of the Soul and Will but here. Pag. 23. He makes it but a Counsellor to the Will: I hold with the former, and say, The Will follows the Guidance of the Judgement in all Deliberate Acts, yet acts freely, viz. with such a freedom as is natural to it: a Promptitude and Inclination to that compliance is led, and yet runs freely, as he says, who words it, is drawn and runs freely; I say guided or directed, and runs freely. Pag. 25. He says, The Will can Command the Body absolutely: I say no otherwise than as the Judgement guides the Will, viz. by a Natural and Easy Compliance. Pag. 27. He magnifies the Power of the Will, which I say, cannot act deliberately but by Direction of the Judgement, and that must naturally act by choosing bonum apparens & magis bonum, and cannot naturally choose or direct the Will to act that which is malum apparens, to the state or benefit of the Party acting. Pag. 28. That which he calls here a Struggle of the Soul, is a Struggle of the Rational Faculty against the Sensual desires. Pag. 29. His Pondus or Inclination of his sort of Soul to the Body, is but Invention, and hath neither Ground nor Proof. Pag. 30. Says, Angels have Assumed Bodies: I say, not of Flesh and Blood, which shows not any Affection in them to be embodied, as he seems to pretend. He says, He hath proved the Soul Immortal, and hath, as such, an Inclination to the Body: I say such Inclination of an Immaterial Spirit to a Body: himself, Pag. 7. calls an Astonishing Mystery, and I think it very incongruous to Reason and common Sense; yet he says he hath proved the Soul to be Immortal, and that as such, it hath an Inclination to the Body; I say, proved both alike, viz. neither the one nor the other, except his saying may pass for proving. Pag. 31. He calls God's breathing into Man the Breath of Life, the Infusion of a Newly Created Soul into him: This I have denied, and do deny, and he proves it not: For other Brute Creatures, I say, it is very probable God gave them their first Breath, though Moses have not expressed it. He says, The Opinion of the Souls Propagation from the Parents by Generation, is very Ancient, and Tertullian, and divers of the Western Fathers closed with it: And so do I. He says, Antiquity is no passport for errors, and so say I: He citys an Objection against the daily Creation of Souls, and in Proof of their Generation, out of Dr. Brown's Religio Medici. Pag. 32. He pretends to Answer this Objection, but uses to that purpose, only Scholastical Distinctions and Niceties, and brings no material or solid Reason from Nature; so as I think the Objection is not enough Answered, but holds still good against the Creation, and for the Generation of the whole, both Body and Soul. Pag. 33. Cites Gen. 22. God rested on the seventh day from all his Work which he had made. Pag. 34. This, says he, Intends, he ceased from making any new Species, or Kind's of Creatures, but he still creates Individual Souls of the same kind and nature with Adam 's Soul: and he means all Humane Souls. So as upon Fruitful Coition of Man and Woman, or of Man and Beast, where the product is of Humane shape, God creates a new, young Soul, to enliven and inform every such Body; whence every day, hour and moment, he is creating such Souls for all the Earth over. I would know where he found his Distinction, of God's ceasing from Creation of New Species, but not of New Individuals; he quotes no Author, or Original for it, and till he so do, it will pass with Readers, for his own Fiction, and do him no service at all. And his Proof of his New Creation is a kin to this Distinction; he citys for Proof of it, Our Lord's Words, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work: How this proves God's Continual New Creation of Souls, I do not perceive, and I suppose sew others will be drawn to believe such New Creations, upon this Proof. He says, To me it is clear that the Soul is not generated; for that which is generable is corruptible. This I agree, and thence infer, The Humane Soul both generable, material, and extinguishable. He Reasons against this, but by Arguments before Answered. Pag. 35. Farther to prove a New Creation of Souls, he quotes again, Heb. 12.9. Men must be in subjection to the Father of Spirits, intending it to signify, the Father of their Spirits or Souls. This I do not grant, but say, This Sense restraining to Humane Spirits only, is against the express Words of the Text, as well as the intent of it. He quotes again, Zech. 12.1. before examined he quotes, Isa. 42.5. God that giveth Breath unto the people upon the Earth, and Spirit to them that walk therein: I take Breath and Spirit here for the same thing. Here he citys Chap. and Verse. of four places more; I have searched them, and find no mention of Spirit or Soul in any of them. Pag. 36. He says, These Texts speak of Creating Heaven and Earth, yea and their Souls also. Of Heaven and Earth they all speak, but of Souls not a word; whence it is not safe to take even a good Man's word in Matter of Controversy. Pag. 36. Cites Solomon's Text again, Dust returns to the Earth, and the Spirit to God who gave it. The Soul and Body, says he, Are the two Constitutive Parts of Man, and have two distinct Originals; the Body is of the Earth, the Soul a Spirit given by God, who gave it Being by Creation. I say God gave the Body a Being by Creation, as well as the Soul, and as the Elements of the Body are Earth and Moisture, so that of his Soul are likely Air and Fire; and at Death the Body goes to the Earth, the Fire extinguisheth, and Air vanisheth. What Solomon's Expression intended, and the manner of that Expression, hath been before disputed. Pag. 37. Says, The Soul hath no Principle, out of which by Order of Nature it did arise: I say the Body had no such Principle, neither God created it of the Earth, and breathed into Adam 's Nostrils the Breath of Life, and he became a living Soul, whence the Man was created Body as well as Soul. He agrees, the Souls of Brutes are generated, but says he, There is a Specific Difference betwixt the Brutal and Rational Soul. This I deny, and say, The Soul is not Rational, but is so in the Head only, where there are Organs created proper for that Faculty; and in no part of the Body can the Soul act rationally, but in the Head. Pag. 38. He demands, Why are not Brutus' capable of performing Rational and Religious Acts? I Answer, because God hath not given them Rational Powers and Organs in so high a degree, as he hath done to Men; nor can one Man perform like another in such occasions: But (whatsoever their Souls are) the People can act but according to the Capacity of their Organs, and the Temperament of their Bodies and Complexions and Humours. Men have a different Posture of Body from other Creatures, more Capacious Heads in Proportion, and store of Brains, and finer Matter; and they have Heads and Tongues, whereby they can better learn, direct and act, than any Brutes: These Differences set Humane Bodies far above the Brutes, and yet it seems they may be acted as the Brutes are, by a Material Spirit; for the Flesh and Blood are Materials of both sorts, and that which nourishes, is alike in both: without Breath, Blood, and Food, both sorts perish, and their Souls departed or vanish; and yet as men's Bodily Organs exceed the Brutes for Use and Aptitude, so may their Spirits for fineness of Matter and plenty of it, and purity and brightness of that flame of Life in them. Pag. 39 Says, Seed of the Soul is not to be found in Man, because the Soul is a Spiritual Essence. I say, this begs the Question, but if this Spirit be Material, he will not deny that the Seed of it may be found in Man. Pag. 40. Upon this I say, Remove the Opinion; or later Invention of the new Creation of Souls, for all Adulterous, Incestuous, Buggerly Humane Procreations, and then all his Questions here argued, are needless, and useless. He confesses he cannot tell how a Newly Created Spirit should come to be defiled with Original Sin. I say; he need not trouble himself about it, for that the thing is not at all so. Pag. 41. He asks, How so many Souls become foolish, forgetful, injudicious? It seems he means Men. He supposes it to come from the Bodily Temper and Organs, and I grant that very often it doth so: But yet I say, that my sort of Soul, viz. the Flame of Life, or the Material Spirit, is subject to Defects, Infirmities, and Obstructions; as well as the Body. Pag. 42. His Deduction of Original Sin upon Man, draws it only from his being a Child of Adam; whence it seems his Soul cannot be defiled, but by its coming from Adam. Pag. 43. Says, His sort of Soul is a true Being, and not only a Conceit, or Fancy. It seems he suspects it looks somewhat like a Fancy, and I am very apt to pass it for one, notwithstanding his word to the contrary. He says, My Soul can, and will subsist and remain what it is, when separated from the Body; but yet I do not believe him. He says, It is not my Body, but my Soul, which makes me a Man. I say, neither of them makes a Man, but they must be both together for that purpose. Pag. 44. Says, Let an Apoplexy hinder the Operation of the Soul in my Brain, and all my Organs become useless. I agree this, and say, The Soul therefore doth not act or understand, but by the Organs, cannot do so without them. What Man by his Rational Faculty can perform, he says, Is done by his Soul; and I grant it, but not without the Organs of the Head, and especially the Brain: and so for the Sensitive and Vital Faculties and their Organs. Pag. 45. Grants here the Understanding to be the Guide of the Will, which chooseth or refuseth as the other directs. He says, My Affections are the strong and sensible Motions of my Soul. I grant it so in the Praecordia, as the Rational is in the Head; but in no other part, save the Praecordia, are there any Affections: and there they are as properly the effect of the Organs, as of the Soul; they must both Operate to the Production of such Effects: He says, He finds his Soul could never rise out of Matter, nor come into his Body, by Natural Generation. I will not take upon me to know what he may find of himself, or say of himself; but I find no such things of myself, nor hath he yet enough directed other Men to find, what he says he finds, unless they will first accept of his fancy, viz. That a Man hath within him a small Spark of a Spirit, coming he knows not how, nor from whence; residing and governing, he knows not how, nor where; and departing from him, he knows not how; nor whither: And how to know that such a thing there is in a Man, neither hath he shown, nor can Man's reason find out; so as most likely all this is but a fancy. He says, Brutes are destitute of Understanding, Reason and Conscience, etc. I say they have these Faculties in a very low degree, as we may know and love God in a very much lower degree than the Angels. Pag. 46. Says, He is made for nobler ends and uses, than to eat, drink, sleep, talk, and die. And I grant it, and that ex hoc momento pendet eternitas, at the Resurrection an account must be given, and then Recompenses shall be distributed: 2 Tim. 4.8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. All Men shall then receive according to their Works and Behaviour used here upon Earth; and this is as true, and provable, as that Christ Jesus came to save Sinners, or that he is the Son of God; so as one who professes to believe the Gospel, can have no doubt of the truth or certainty of it: And yet our Author in all this proving Discourse, makes no mention at all of it; and the likely reason of that, is the Contrariety which appears betwixt the Two Doctrines, of the Soul's going immediately to Heaven or Hell, and that of the Resurrection. We both agree that Sense and Perception are acted by the Soul: He says, By its own Efficacy: I say, by Assistance of Bodily Organs, and not without them; whence his Soul in Hell, needs no Addition of Body, or Organs, to make it more sensible than of itself it is; but mine must have a Body and Organs, or it can neither do, nor suffer any thing: Thus a Resurrection for mine is necessary, in respect to future Recompenses, not so for his. Consider we his sort of Soul in Heaven, What advantage can it expect from a Resurrection? It hath already the Roal Mansions of Heaven, the Society of the Holy Angels, and the Beatifical Vision of God; and what can any Creature or Being desire more? Well, but if things go on to a Resurrection, the Case must be altered, and for the worse, as it seems; for these Souls must go down again from those Glorious Mansions, and enter of new into its old Body, and return no more to Heaven, but live upon Earth again: 'Tis true it shall be a new Earth, wherein dwells Righteousness in a more happy and blessed state than now it is, or than we at present enjoy; but far short of God's Royal Mansions in Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens; of which he hath said, Heaven is my Throne, in comparison of which, the Earth is but a Footstool: 2 Pet. 3.13, 14. We, according to his promise, look for new Heavens [or Skies] and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness: and seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless; do so that ye may be Partakers of these Rewards. Revel. 21.1, 2. I saw a new Heaven, and a new Earth, and a new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven [Upon that new Earth.] Vers. 11. He gins to describe this Glorious City by Metaphors of Gold, precious Stones, Pearls, etc. intending the happy State and resplendent Virtues, which the new raised People shall enjoy, after our expected Resurrection: There, there shall be no more Death, Sorrow, Pain, or Crying, God shall be with them [as with our First Parents in Paradise] and dry up all their Tears: But when all this is done and considered, What Comparison can we make betwixt this new Earth, and that Heaven, which is the Royal Throne of God, and where he is superlatively present, sic parvis componere magna solemus? We must say, the one state and place is extraordinary happy, but the other transcends Man's conceit, and is superexcellent to all Imagination: I say then, A Soul once received into the highest Heavens [if it can be capable of a Mansion there] coming at the Resurrection to be put into its Body again, and made an Inhabitant of a new Earth, must be apparently a Loser by that Change; and Naturally, or Rationally, such a Resurrection cannot be grateful to it, or desired by it; but must be compelled, and go on, invita minerva, which is not the State or Case of the Resurrection; for that is given to Man as the greatest Benefit and Blessing which his Servants receive of God, and for the most grievous Punishment of Offenders, it was purchased by Christ for his Servants. 1 Cor. 15.13, 14. If there be no Resurrection of the Dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our Preaching vain, and your Faith is also vain. [Notwithstanding the Souls Separate Subsistence.] Vers. 15. We have testified of God, that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the Dead rise not. Vers. 18. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. [But if at Death they went to Heaven, they should not be perished, though there were no Resurrection.] Thus by the Doctrine of the Immediate Avolation to Heaven, that of the Resurrection (the Main Comfort and Support of Christian Believers) is not only undermined, but is made a kind of Insipid and Useless Doctrine, not worthy to be remembered by our Author, or other Zealous Proselytes and Defenders of the Immateriality. Let them alone, as Persons hood-winked by an Old mistaken Opinion, to lead those who follow them, into lesser Falls, or more dangerous Precipices; but our endeavour is to detect the Fallacies of that Opinion, which I pray God prosper not otherwise, than as it is Grounded upon Truth, and Verity. To this, Pag. 46. Our Author goes on in a proving manner, and I have traced him accordingly Page by Page; but in his Progress, he now gins to make Inferences and raise Doctrines, of which I do not pretend to take Notice, but intent to pass over them, without omitting any thing which I think to be Material and Proving.  
Pag. 48. He says, Happy had it been for bad Men, if their Souls had been like the Beasts, extinguishable in Death: for then all their Miseries had ended there. I say, Mark what little or no account he makes here of the Resurrection, so solemnly, plainly, and fully Published and Promised in the Gospel; he doth not so much as name, or remember such a thing, which would fully avoid his Positive Determination. Pag. 49. Says, 'Tis a great mistake, that the Soul is only capable of Social Glory, in Partnership with the Body, and cannot exert its own Power, nor enjoy Happiness in the absence of the Body: The Opinion of the Sleeping Interval, says he, took its rise from this Error. Say I, from this Truth only, the Holder's of this Opinion did not Penetrate to the bottom of the Truth, viz. the Temporal Extinguishment of the Soul: They thought it had a Separate Subsistence, but in a Limbus, or Dormitory, where it neither did, nor suffered any thing, wanting a Capacity to do so without the Body: I say, The Temporary Extinguishment, is to be preferred before this Dormitory, and is far more agreeable to Nature and Reason. He says, The Soul doth not necessarily depend upon the Body in its Operations, but that it can live and act out of a Body as well as in it. I say, What is Petitio Principii if this be not? And so is all the rest which follows here. He quotes Luke 23.43. and Phil. 1.23. both before fully answered. Pag. 50. He says, All Souls by Nature are as excellent, one as another. I say there are great differences amongst them, and we see it plainly in the different Performances and Perfections of Men, to be referred partly to Body and Organs, and partly to the Vigour, Purity and Brightness of the Material Soul in them. He citys Ezek. 48.4. All Souls are mine: This I say intends Persons, the Soul that sins, shall surely die, viz. the Person: Vers. 5. If a Man be just, etc. shows, Soul here intends Person. Pag. 51. and is but a fancy; but I say Redemption was not of Souls only, but of Persons. Pag. 52. citys, 3 Joh. 2. I wish that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy Soul prospereth. I say, this intends thy Person and Temporal Affairs, as thy Practices of Piety. Then he says, There are great differences betwixt Soul and Soul, in respect of Natural Gifts and Abilities of Mind; and the Soul is more vigorous, when the Body and its Organs are more sound and apt: And says the same that I said before, against what himself said before. Pag. 54. Says, Those who perish, will find themselves as capable of Blessedness, as those that obtain it. I say, perhaps their Bodily Temper and Capacities could not be equally assistant to their Souls. Pag. 59 Says, The Food of every Creature is agreeable to its Nature, and that the Soul doth not live upon Material Things, as the Body doth: I say, The Soul cannot live in the Body without Food, and if not in the Body, than not where: For I think, there is no place where it can live but in the Body, and each in its own Body, and not out of that Body, to which it is Con-natural. He citys Luke 12.19 Soul take thine ease, Eat, Drink and be Merry; and says, The Soul cannot do so: I say Soul here (as in very many places) intends Person, or the Man; and yet the Soul of Man is refreshed, and renewed by Meat and Drink, and cannot subsist without them. Pag. 61. Cites Rom. 1.9. Paul says, God whom I serve with my Spirit, adding, Paul durst appeal to God, who searched his Heart, as if he took Heart and Spirit for the same thing here; and to that I agree. Pag. 63. To what he says here, I answer, Humane Apprehensions of a World to come, may fully be answered by the Resurrection and the Last Judgement: And yet I do not grant that such Apprehensions do grow from Man's Nature purely, or nakedly considered; but Nature cultivated by Education or Doctrine. He citys Rom. 2.14. The Gentiles do by Nature the things contained in the Law. I say this intends Cultivated Nature, or an Universal Education: We find all People have Speech, and yet Men cannot speak without being Taught; and those who Teach them to speak, give them Impressions of Morality and Religion, viz. Nurses and Mothers. Pag. 65. I say to this, He who engages against Man, doth so against his Soul and Body, for they are inseparable by any thing but Death. Pag. 68 This Discourse by the Word Soul, intends Heart, or Affections, and the Mind of Man. Pag. 70. He says, The Soul and Body are knit together by the feeble hand of the Breath in their Nostrils; but his Quotation speaks more truly: And I say, That Union is a Work of God, and his Handmaid Nature; that it Springs ab ovo, and both grow out of the same Root or Principle: viz. the Seed in Generation, and are separable only by Death: He says, The Life of the Body results from its Union with the Soul; as James 2.26. and I grant it. Pag. 74. Cites Psal. 104.29. When thou takest away their Breath, they die, and return to their dust: This say I, makes Soul and Breath Equivalent. He citys Psal 66.8. God holdeth our Soul in Life: This I say, intends keeps us alive; viz. our Persons. Pag. 89. Cites Revel. 6.9. and calls the Text a firm Foundation for the Souls Immortality: Whereas this Cry of Souls under the Altar is apparently Parabolical, and no more real, than the Voice of Abel's Blood Crying from the Ground to God: no more than the great Red Dragons drawing the third part of the Stars with his Tail, and casting them to the Earth; or Jerusalem's coming down out of Heaven: and therefore this is no firm Foundation for the Souls Immortality.  
Pag. 92. He says, John saw those Souls, those Spiritual, Immortal [he should have added Invisible] Substances, separated from their Bodies: And these Souls, says he, All that had died for Christ, from Abel till that time, John saw in the Spirit, in a rapture not under a Material Altar; but Christ was represented by this Altar, and the Souls were at the foot or basis of it: Whereas the Text says under it: The Truth is, he says what he will concerning it. The Souls which John saw, he will have to be the very Immortal Substances separated from their Bodies; but the Altar was a Parable, and the Souls not under it [as they might under the Mosaical, or Solomon's Altars, which were hollow, and covered with Board's] but at the Foot of it; this seems a mere Invention of his own: I say, all this was but a Figure, and Teaches no more, but that they who were Martyred for Christ, still lived to God under his Care and Knowledge, and should be Rewarded; as 2 Tim. 4.8. And in the mean time they sleep in Christ, and rest as in Daniel the last verse, and shall stand first in the Lot at the end of the days. He makes the Things which were Visible in Nature, to be Figure: For, he says, There was neither real Altar, nor White Robes: but the Souls which are in Nature invisible, he will have to be real, it seems, without Success. Pag. 95. To prove the Soul is Immortal, he says, 'tis Immaterial: I say, the one as much as the other; and he might as well say, 'tis Immaterial, because it is Immortal. Pag. 96. Says, The Appetite of the Mind is unlimited, and never says it is enough: I say, the Eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the Ear with hearing; so the Fire and the Barren Womb never say it is enough, and yet, these are all Material. Pag. 97. Says, Age makes no decay in the Soul: I say it doth, and both must refer ourselves to the common Experiences of those who live to very great Ages, and such as Converse with them. Pag. 98. He propounds a Simile of a Musician and his Instrument: But these, I say, are different Subjects, and not Indentified in the same Subject, as the Soul and the Body are; and therefore goes not in Proof of his Point. He says, from Hypocrates, The Soul's Essence cannot be changed: I say, this intends, it will be still the Soul, notwithstanding the Alterations by Meat, Drink, etc. He here citys divers Texts, promising Blessedness Future to this Life, never taking notice of the Resurrection, which answers them all; but as if without the Separate Subsistence there could be no means of Future Rewards and Punishments; which Error I take for the Original of the Immaterial Opinion: Citing (in Confirmation of Recompensing at the last Day) Our Lords own Words, four times repeated by him, John 6.40. I will raise him up at the last Day: without mention of any thing Intermediate, or before that Day. Pag. 99 The Promises here cited by him shall not fail, but be fulfiled at the Resurrection. He says, Though our Bodies die, yet they shall live again; and I say the same of our Souls: And his Quotation, Rom. 8.11. agrees with me, and Vers. 10. which mentions a Difference, intends between the Sensual Powers and the Rational Mind: He citys Matth. 22.32. and says, If the Patriarches perished in Soul, as well as in Body, How can God be their God; for he is not so of those who are utterly perished? To this I say, Neither their Bodies nor Souls are utterly perished, for they shall both rise again; the Brutes are termed the Beasts that perish, viz. utterly, for that no Resurrection is granted to them. Pag. 100 Says, How shall the Wicked be Eternally punished, if their Souls have not an Eternal Duration? I say as before, by the Resurrection and Last Judgement, and then their Bodies shall be as durable as their Souls.  
He began this Section, Pag. 94. by citing a third time Matth. 10.28. and I grant it to be his best Weapon, viz. the strongest Text, if not the only strong One, for Proof of the Souls Separate Subsistence. Now Pag. 100 He produces the strongest of his Rational Arguments for the same purpose, and which also I grant to be of great Weight. Pag. 101. He says, The Souls Immortality hath been generally held by all Nations and Ages, and thence seems likely to be a Natural Notion to all Mankind. The first Assertion, viz. It's Universal Prevalency amongst Men, I grant not so: the Second, it may be demanded, Whence could it so come to pass, if not from Nature? I say from an Humane Frailty, and Ignorance of God's Appointment: People saw many times good Men Afflicted, and the Wicked Prosperous in this World, so living and so dying. Hence arose a Rational Inference, ergo, There are Rewards and Punishments Future to this Life; and those must be applied to the Body, or to the Soul, but not to the Body soon Corrupted and turned to Dust, ergo, to the Soul only: And that so it might possibly be, the Soul must have a Separate Subsistence after Death of the Man. This Argument might reasonably induce Mankind to entertain the Belief of this Opinion: But since the Christian Doctrine hath been received, and the Belief of the Resurrection and Last Judgement accepted, that Doctrine consented unto, gives a Satisfactory Answer to that Argument drawn from the Congruity, that reasonably there must be Recompenses Future to this Life. Still it may be insisted, That Christians since the Resurrection revealed, have as generally received and believed that Old Opinion of the Immortality: And I grant that too, and say, they might have these Inducements so to do. 

First, They found this Opinion already rooted in the Minds of Men.  
Secondly, They Read in St. Matthew's Gospel his Text, Chap. 10.28. whose Allowance of the Separate Subsistence of Souls might likely enough pass that Opinion amongst the First Christians which were of the Jewish Nation, and Read principally, if not only that Gospel; for that it was Written first, or before the other Three, and was Written in Hebrew, their own Language; whereas the Others are Written in Greek, which the Jews generally did not understand: As, Acts 21.37. The Chief Captain says to Paul a Jew, Canst thou speak Greek?   And apparent it is, That the First Christians and Teachers of Christianity were Jews; and such as Taught but what they had Learned, were likely enough to Teach this Doctrine: but St. Paul and the other Apostles were not such Teachers. He says, Galat. 1.12. For I neither received the Gospel of Man, neither was I taught it, but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ: And by such Revelation he Dedicated to St. Luke that Gospel, passing under Luke's Name, Published divers Years after that of St. Matthew, and in the Grecian Language: And that Doctrine which St. Matthew delivers, Chap. 10.28. Luke delivers, Chap. 12.4. in Words which do not import a Separate Subsistence of Souls: In the main Doctrine of fearing God more than Men, because Men can punish but in this Life, but God can cast into Hell in a Future State: they both fully agree, and therein it seems Our Lord might have respect to the Words of Isa. Chap. 51. Vers. 12. and 13. Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a Man that shall die, and forgetest the Lord thy Maker, and who hath made Heaven and Earth, and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the Oppressor? And where is the fury of the Oppressor? Viz. It is but for a short time, in comparison, the Death of either Party will determine it. These Things were Inducements to Christians to accept and follow the Old Opinions Rooted in the World, concerning the Subsistence of Souls in a State of Separation from their Bodies.  
Having thus traced the Original of the Opinion of the Immateriality amongst Christians, I come to consider our Author's Argument. Says he, The Notion or Opinion of the Souls Separate Subsistence, hath been thus Universal and Continuing; therefore it is agreeable to Nature and Truth, and aught to be accepted and acknowledged by all Men, upon that Account. I answer, This I hold to be a Matter of great incertainty; for the Proof of which I intent to produce Two Instances, wherein Old and Universal Opinions have been changed, upon Grounds of Truth, and with Commendations of those who have acted in those Alterations; One of them lies in the Theory, and the other in the Practic: That in the Theory concerns Nature, and that in the Practic Religion: The Theory concerning Nature, lies in the Scheme or Nature of the World: The Old Universal Opinion continuing divers Thousands of Years, was, is, That our Earth was the real and true Centre of the whole World, that all the Heavenly Bodies or Bright Globes moved about it; and particularly, that the Sun, as big as it is, and at as great distance as it is from the Earth, yet that every 24 hours this Vast Body, at that Vast Distance, made a Journey about the Earth; and that his so doing was the true and only cause and occasion of Day and Night amongst us: But later, even late Times and Persons, have found good and sufficient Reasons to alter this Theory or Scheme of the World, and to place the Sun in the Centre of it, and to assign a Planetary Motion to the Earth, as moving about the Sun, like Mars and Venus; and that it shines to those Planets, and to the Stars, and whatsoever Inhabitants may be in them, as those enlightened, or Enlightening Globes do to us; and particularly, that the Sun doth not compass the Earth in the foresaid 24 hours, so to become the cause of our Day and Night; but that the Earth itself suffers a Rotation every 24 hours, being towards the Sun for one part of that time, and from it for another part of that time: and where one part of the Earth obstructs the Sun's Light from falling upon another part of it, that Obstruction makes Night in the place from which the Sun's Light is so obstructed. This Theory, I say, hath been quite altered; what was formerly conceived concerning the World by the Universal Opinion of Mankind, held for divers Thousands of Years together: Held in Joshua's time, in David's Psalms, in Hezekiah's time; asserted to by the Words, or Expressions of Scripture, continuing down to our own Time, and in it; so that it is still the Vulgar Opinion which passes amongst common People, who for want of Leisure, Capacity, or Curiosity, make no deep Inquiry into such Things. It is true, There have been some Men of the more Learned in divers Ages, who did oppose the Old Theory in their times; and so there have been a like or a greater Number of Learned Men in most Ages, who have denied the Souls Separate Subsistence; but the Universality of Opinion hath stood for the Old Theory of the World, and for the Immaterialty of Souls: But we see the New Theory now prevailing amongst the Learned of our Age, and I believe the Change hath been made upon sufficient and convincing Reasons; and that there are such for changing the Old Opinion of the Immateriality, for that of the Materiality of Souls: and that we are not therefore obliged to hold still the Opinion of the Immateriality, because the same is very Ancient, and in a manner Universally accepted; but that rather we may, and aught (upon sufficient Reasons appearing) change the Belief of the Immateriality of Souls, for that of the Materiality.  
My Second Instance intended to prove the Weak Coercion of our Author's Argument, I take from one of the most Ancient and Universal Practices of Religion that have been used amongst Men, viz. the pacifying God's Wrath, and obtaining his Favour and Blessing, by shedding the Blood of Bulls and Goats, and his other Creatures, offered in Sacrifice to him; sprinkling their Blood and burning their Flesh and Bones upon Altars, Erected for such Purposes; though this Fact was not Grounded upon any Consonancy of Reason: To which it doth not agree, That such shedding the Blood of God's Creatures should be pleasing to him, nor that the Fumes of such Offerings should be as Moses calls them, A sweet Savour of an Offering made by Fire. This Practice, seems not to have grown from Rules of Reason, nor hath, as I have said, any great Consonancy thereunto; and yet the Practice of it, seems as early as any thing, pertaining to Religion, in the World. For Abel brought an Offering to the Lord, the Firstlings of his Flock, and of the Fat thereof: And this Practice, it seems, continued to the Flood; after which, Noah made a great Sacrifice, of every clean Beast and Fowl, and the Lord smelled a sweet Savour, and the Lord said in his Heart, I will no more Curse the Ground: And this Practice was used by Abraham, and Jacob, and came thence to Moses, who Established a great Number of Laws concerning Sacrifices: And these were observed by the Jews, and practised in all Ages, even till the utter Destruction of their Temple by Titus, about Anno Christi 74 And for the Gentiles, all Countries had their Sacrifices in very abundant manner: Noah's Sacrifice was a Lecture to them all, both to his Sons, and their Posterities. We find the Assyrians, Egyptians, Canaanites, the Chaldeans, Persians, Grecians, Romans, Celts, Cimbers, Gauls, Britain, Saxons, and all other known Nations, offering Sacrifices, and Blood to God; some of Beasts and Fowls, and some of Men and Children, according as the Devil directed, or persuaded them: Nor know we of any Nation, or even Person, that refused or condemned the shedding of Blood, in Sacrificing, and Offerings made to their several sorts of gods: And this Practice held Universal in the World, till about the 20th. Year of Constantine, the Great Emperor, about Anno Christi 330. He first discouraged Sacrificing, and then condemned it: His Son Constantius forbade it, in places where he was, or had full Power; whence in that Empire this Practice fell to decay, and in time became quite abolished. The Christian Religion hath opposed and overcome it, in all places of its Plantation; and finally, it is now come to be rooted out of all the known World: And we know of no Nation in Europe, Asia, or Africa, where shedding of Blood is used in Sacrifice to their gods. Here is a great and evident Change of the most Ancient, and Universal Practice that ever was in the World, concerning Religion; and no Man will pretend to say, that this Change was for the worse, but for the better, although it had God's Approbation by Moses, and is not positively forbidden in any part of the New Testament. The Apostles after Our Lord's Death used it, Acts 21.20. Thousands of Believing Jews were yet Zealous of the Law, verse 26. Paul went to the Temple with the Four Men that had a Vow, and attended till an Offering should be offered for every one of them: And, yet we see this Practice now utterly abolished, and we give God thanks for the performance of it, as I think there is great reason; and by the change of this most Ancient, Universal Practice in Religion, I pretend to have raised an eminent Impeachment to the force of our Author's Argument, from the Antiquity and the Universality of the Immaterial Opinion. We know the Papists Plead in like manner against the Reformation, intended to be put upon their Errors, though Ancient, and very generally received heretofore into the Christian Churches of the Dark Ages, passing from Anno 600, even down to the Times of Luther, and other Reformers then arising; but we do not accept their Plea of Antiquity and Universality, as sufficient for the Justification of their Errors. I will but nominate Dr. Comber's Plea for a Divine Right of Titles, by force of the same Argument, because I have answered it in a particular Treatise, not yet Published: But upon the whole Matter, I think it reasonable to conclude, that an Argument drawn from the Antiquity and Universality of an Opinion, is but an Argument to that Favour, viz. that it ought to be well Weighed, and throughly Considered, before it be changed; and not at all to be changed, except there appear sufficient and convincing Proofs, that the same aught to be done; but not to be reputed of such Force or Power, as to silence all Arguments which may be made against it, or to stop all manner of Proceed towards a Conviction thereupon: To stop the Press from Publishing such Arguments, I do not allow, but the way fully to stop & silence them, is to make Rational and Substantial Answers to them; which I profess myself now and ever willing to receive and embrace with all Sincerity according to the Merit, which (to my Understanding) shall appear in them.  
Thus far I have gone out of my ordinary Way of making Strictures upon our Author's Pages, that I might make the more full Answer to this grand Argument of Antiquity and Universality, offered on behalf of the Souls Immateriality. Pag. 105. Says, One Man is of more worth than all the Inferior Creatures. This I do not grant. Pag. 106. His Discourse here imports, That there is no means of a Future State, but by the Souls Immortality, an Error, which hath generally misled the World before him. Pag. 107. I say to this, The Resurrection will satisfy men's Desires of Immortality, if they be rightly Grounded. Pag. 108. To it I say, The return of Souls into Bodies once Dead, seems, the rekindling of the Flame of Life by an Act of Divine Power. He confesses, That when Bodies have been restored to Life in this World (as he here citys divers) that there was no Sense or Apprehension in such Souls returned, of the place, or state they were in, during their Separation; but that there is a perfect forgetfulness of all that they saw and felt in a State of Separation. He gives a Reason for this, both Foreign to the purpose and weak: but to me this seems a very likely Proof, that in such their Separation they neither saw, nor felt, any thing at all; but that rather they were in Death Extinguishable, and in Life again rekindled: From hence, to Page 117. is all answered by the Resurrection. Pag. 117. He says, He cannot. (But I suppose) he will not imagine, how there can be a Resurrection without a Soul once Separated, entering into the same Body that died: I say, one shall be as much the same as the other shall be: 1 Cor. 15.37. As Wheat growing out of Wheat sown, so shall the Body be, with a Flame of Life kindled in it, suitable to its Powers, and to that Flame, which before was born with it. He says, If it be so, the Sins of the Old Man cannot be put to the New Man's Account. I say, they may justly be so; and the rising Person is so much the same with the dying Person, as to be accountable for his Actions, viz. effectually the same Body, Members, Flame of Life, Senses, Affections, Fancy, Understanding, Memory, and Judgement, and shall so awake, and rise, as if he had fallen asleep but a few hours before: And his Supposition is but the proper Effect of his own mistaken Doctrine, concerning the Creation of Souls; for if that were true, and the Old Soul did not subsist Separately, there must be another, viz. a New One be Created; but my sort of Soul requires no such thing. Pag. 119. Says, There are Acts performed by the Soul, whilst it is in the Body, in which it makes no use at all of the Body: He instances in Self-Intuition, and Selfreflection. I say, These Acts cannot be done without the Brain, Fancy, and Memory; and for Raptures, they are but Impressions upon, and Revelations unto, the common Sense, Understanding, or Fancy, recorded upon the Memory: Also that Fancy may be Transported to things without the Body, and the limits of Reason; yet act by the assistance of proper Organs, without which the Soul cannot act any thing: Life itself cannot be acted, but by the Vital Organs, and yet without Life there can be no Apprehension, Self-Intuition, or Reflection, but all men's Thoughts perish. Pag 189. Cites Heb. 12.29. We are come to Angels, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator. He bids us note these Words, They are not, says he, shall come after the Resurrection or General Judgement. I say, not after our Deaths, but intends we are come to them in Faith and Expectation, to a Doctrine which declares such things to us, and which we may believe and expect, as surely as if we were now in the Possession of them; but not a word of coming to them presently after our Deaths, as he not only endeavours to Insinuate, but expressly affirms. And, Pag. 192. He says, These Enjoyments will not be deferred, till the Resurrection, but be obtained presently upon the Death of the Body. I say, The Words mention neither the one time, nor the other, nor it seems do intent the one any more than the other; for they import a present Being come to those Advantages, and not a future. He confesses here, That Humane Wisdom cannot Penetrate into the Future State of Souls, and that Men know but little of them: I say, can know just nothing of his sort of Souls. Pag. 192. He citys, 1 Joh. 3.2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be: I ask whence that will appear, the Text says, it will appear at Christ's Second Coming, that when he shall appear, we know we shall be like him: which intimates Men must stay till that time for such Knowledge. Pag. 196. He says, When Death comes, the Soul disputes its Possession of the Body with him, from Member to Member, like Soldiers in a Stormed Garrison, and at last loses the Royal Fort: Intimating that his Soul's Being, is like that of Death's Being, viz. no Real Subsistence, but an Imagination. Pag. 197. Says, The falling asleep in Death, or sleeping in Jesus, must not be stretched to a length, in respect of the Soul: but offers no Proof of this. I say, That it concerns the whole Person, Soul as well as Body, and likely will stretch itself, to the very time of the Resurrection. Pag. 202. Says, Angels carry our Souls to God: And for Proof citys the Parable of Dives, his only Ground for that Opinion; which I say, is too sandy to support it, for that here was no real Fact related, but only a Similitude fitted to the common Jewish Opinion of that time. Pag. 203. Grants, there is no necessity of such Conveyance of the Soul, but it is used for State or Decorum. All this seems but his Fancy, and he gives no other Proof, either of the one, viz. that there was such a Fact, or of the other, viz. that it is for State and Decorum. Pag. 204. Says, The presence of Angels or Spirits affright the Spirits, not only of Men, but of Beasts, and thence the Soul of Man by consent: But of such a Consent, he offers no Proof, nor that there is a Soul different from the Material: which I say, is of the same Nature both in Man and Beast; which by the Production of like fears, both in Man and Beast, at the appearance of Spirits, seems to me somewhat confirmed. Pag. 205. Delivers but his own Fancy thereupon. Pag. 206. He asks, What Form, Shape, or Figure, can the Fancy of Man cast his own Soul into, as an help to understand its Nature? I answer, into none at all, mine hath no certain Form of itself; and of his may be said, ex nihilo nihil fit: But if such a Soul there be, one may Form an Idea of it, as well as of any other Spirit: And for Raptures, I have said, the Understanding, Fancy, and Memory, may be effectually Wrought upon, and affected. Pag. 214. Says, The Souls of the Just go immediately to Glory, from the time of the Persons Death: And offers Proof, Luk. 23.43. of the Thief, also Luk. 16.22. of Lazarus being carried; and Phil. 2.23. a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ: all cited and answered before. Pag. 215. Speaks but his own Fancy, and without Proof. Pag. 225. Says, Good Souls departed, have a satisfying Apprehension, though no perfect Comprehension of the Divine Essence: and mentions the seeing God Face to Face: Whereas St. John teaches, We know that when he shall appear [at his Second Coming] we shall see him as he is. Christ doth not say, see God. But the Author produces no Proof of any sort of seeing after Death. Pag. 234. Says, Those who went to Heaven before Christ's Ascension, were fully at rest in God, and yet upon Christ's Coming to Heaven, their Happiness was advanced: Cites to prove this, Heb. 11.40. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. To this, I say, it rather seems to prove a stay of Perfection, till the whole Number be accomplished at the Resurrection, as the Answer to the Souls, in the Revelation also doth. Pag. 243. Says, It is too great a difficulty to trace the Soul beyond the limits of this World. I say, it is so, to trace his sort of Soul in this World; and I deny that his Text proves, that Death perfects the Spirits of the Just, which shall not be done till the Number be completed at the Resurrection. Pag. 244. Says, We have more Acquaintance with Souls than with Angels: He means with his sort of Souls, and then I deny it; for Angels and Spirits have appeared, and been otherwise sensibly perceived to act, but we know not that ever an Humane Soul by itself, was known or perceived so to do. Pag. 252. He says, The Radical Moisture, which is daily consuming by the Flame of Life, must needs be spent ere long: Here we agree. Pag. 266. Says, Separated Souls are capable of performing God's Commands, as well as Angels are. This I deny, and he offers no Proof. He says, Some departed Souls have returned and appeared in this World: Instances in Moses and Elias, and the Bodies of Saints which appeared at Christ's Resurrection. To this I say, All these Appearances were of Bodies, except Moses, and of him it may be doubted what appeared. Pag. 267. Says, Apparitions, as of Dead Persons, are not indeed so, but are acts of other sorts of Spirits: To this I agree. Pag. 273. Men oft meet a Mortal Enemy's Spirit in the disguise of a dead Friend. Pag. 274. Says, That after the Resurrection, the Raised shall know one another and talk, and converse; but till that time, Souls departed, do converse only with God. How proves he this, not at all; ergo it is a bare Invention: Yes, says he, it must needs be so: for if Souls could act thus before, the Resurrection would be needless, and to no purpose. I say, Souls going to Heaven, and seeing, and enjoying God and Heaven before that time, makes the Resurrection of small value, and little signification. Pag. 284. Says, 'Tis confessed that the Soul, concerning itself, singly is made perfect, and enjoys Blessedness in the absence of the Body. He tells us not who hath made this Confession: He quotes Words of Alstedius here, but they do not import such a Confession; but whosoever did confess it, I am sure that I deny it, ment & manu, and he should prove it, but doth not. Pag. 285. Cites 2 Thes. 4.15. It says, Those which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. This says he, must properly respect the Body, for the Soul sleeps not: I say, as much as the Body doth. Pag. 304. He says, I should rather choose to live meanly, then to die easily; and if both Parts were to perish, no Man would die, or desire it. And the Opinion of the Immortality, say I, prevails not with those who live at ease to desire Death. He says, It would be a madness for a Soul to desire to be dissolved, if it thought itself should be extinguished. I say, No madness at all, but a very reasonable and wise Choice, viz. a desire to part with a troublesome and suffering Life, for the rest of Death, or sleeping in Christ, in an assured Hope of a joyful Resurrection, and of then receiving a Crown of Glory, as Paul's Case was: And if our Author were of another Mind, 'tis a sign he loved Life better than ordinary. He hath also before said, That the Grave was a good hiding place from the Storms of the World: Which I there agreed, and so do most People. Pag. 310. Cites 2 Tim. 4.8. A Crown of Life will be given to all who love Christ's appearing. I ask, When shall this be done? The Text says, At that day. The Author says, This intends the Day of men's Deaths No, say I; for that Day intends one time appointed, whereas Days of Deaths are divers and various; therefore the Day here, intends the Resurrection. P. 313. Says, In Death the Soul attains its Rest. I say, the Man attains his Rest in hopes of a future happiness, or fears of what may follow, at that Day. Pag. 314. Says, Death, finally and certainly cures seven several very great Humane Maladies. And therefore, say I, is much more , than a troublesome or afflicted Life. Pag. 326. Says, Little do Believers think what Visions of God, and ravishing Sights of Christ, the Souls of their Friends have, when they are closing their eyes with Tears. I say, Little doth our Author know for their Information in such Cases, or for their Comfort. 1 Thes. 4.13. Paul comforts People in such cases, by the hopes only of a Resurrection, which gives me a great Assurance, that he either knew not of our Author's Opinion, or did not believe it. He adds, Evil Days should make God's People willing to accept of a hiding place in the Grave, as a special Favour from God: And I grant it, and believe it often doth so. Pag. 322. Cites, Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their Labours: [And that might make Paul desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. viz. To rest, or sleep in Him.] Pag. 329. Cites Heb. 9.27. It is appointed for all Men once to die, and after that the Judgement. I say, this intends one Judgement, viz. the Last, and that no intermediate Judgement can be proved. Pag. 334. Cites 1 Pet. 3 19 He went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison: And he says, There are Difficulties in this Text; and that Aestius reckons no less than Ten Expositions of it: And says, It is a very difficult Scripture in the Judgement of almost all Interpreters. Pag. 335. Says What is called a Soul, whilst in the Body, after Separation, is properly called a Spirit. I deny then, that ever it can be properly called a Spirit. Pag. 339. He says, Conscience is the Judge and prime Guide of the Soul. I say, of the Man: He says, The Will, as potent as it is, moves not until the Judgement comes to a Conclusion: And this I Agree. Pag. 340. He says, Every Soul comes to its particular Judgement immediately after Death. To Prove this, he Cites Heb. 9.27. It is appointed for all Men once to die, and after that the Judgement. How this proves every Man's particular Judgement at Death, I do not perceive: It seems rather all Men must die, before this Judgement; and when all are dead, than this Judgement: But there is no Application of it to a particular Judgement. Then he Cites Proverbs 11.7. When a wicked Man dieth his Expectation shall perish, and the Hope of unjust Men perisheth. I demand, How this proves a particular Judgement after each Man's Death? Then he Cites Matth. 7.22. Many will say to me in that Day, Have not we done great Works in thy Name? Then will I profess to them, I never knew you; depart from me. Thus he proves a particular Judgement, Many will say in that Day [the Great Day;] and then I will say to them, [to those Many.] Such Scriptures as these he is forced to use for Proof of his particular Judgement: Not that likely he, or any Man can think them good Proofs of the thing; but because this sort of Judgement is indispensably necessary to a Separate Soul's going to Heaven, or Hell: Without this sort of Judgement, there can be no Truth in their Tenet, and therefore they must Prove, or Yield. They cannot do it; and I think he were as good not have offered at it, as to have done it in this manner. But neither I, nor it seems, He, could tell how to do it better. Pag. 350. Cites Heb. 4.3. We which have Believed, do enter into Rest. I say, this intends Rest from their Labours, as the Revelation expresseth it; and I do not find Heaven in it. Pag. 359. Says, Nothing more sure or awful than the Day of the Last Judgement. I Agree it. Pag. 361. Cites Matth. 16.26. What is a Man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? Or, What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul? Our great Difference upon this Text will be, what is here intended by the Word or Term of Soul. I say, That (as in a vast number of other Places) so in this Place, the Word Soul intends the Man's Self, or his Person, or Life; Ver. 25. He that will save his Life shall lose it, but he that loses it for Christ's sake shall find it. Then follows our Text, with Connexion: For what is a Man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul, or Life? And what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul, or Life? Once lost, it cannot be redeemed, or recovered, nor recompensed by any thing of this World; yet He that loseth his Life for Christ's sake shall find it; for he shall be recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just; and as Heb. 11. 35. People were Tortured, not accepting Deliverance, that they might obtain a better Resurrection. Pag. 362. He Quotes a Saying, To win Venice, and he hanged at the Gates of it, What good would it do any Man? So says he, of getting a vast Treasure, with the Loss of ones Life: And I Agree, and say, when a Man is dead, What good can all the World do him? And this I take for the true Meaning of this Text: And our Lord shows, how one that loses Life for his sake, shall find it. Ver. 26. For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father, with his Angels, and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works: and this seems to sound strongly in Exclusion of the particular Judgement before spoken of. Pag. 363. He magnifies the Expression, or the Term, Soul, in this Text, and says, That Rocks of Diamonds are not worth it. I say, they are not worth any Man's Life, to him; and this the Devil knew, when he said, All that a Man hath, will he give for his Life: And so is the ordinary Practice of Mankind. He says, He who bought Souls, knew the Value of them. I say, Souls were never bought alone, but the Redemption was of Persons, commonly expressed in Scripture by the Term of, Souls; and so is David's Expression to be understood, when he says, It cost me more to redeem their Souls, viz. to redeem them, or their Persons. Pag. 364. Says, God created the Soul as his rare Masterpiece, and the Three Persons laid their Heads together to Project it. I have denied a Separate Creation of the Soul, and I do so still, and do look upon his present Oratory to be very inconsiderate. Pag. 365. He confounds the Soul and the Rational Faculty together, or makes them both one thing, or mistakes the one for the other. Pag. 367. All that he here says of the Soul, is properly applicable to the Rational Faculty: He says, No Soul, but Man's, is Marriageable unto Christ. If he do not mean the Church, or at least the Person, I can not understand him; for we never heard of a Soul's being Married, or doing any other thing by its self, singly. Pag. 369. What he says here, was done for Souls, is to be applied to Persons. Pag. 370. Says, Words shall come into Judgement at the last Day. I say, Why not at the particular Judgement, if such an one there be? Pag. 371. He again here applies to the Soul, what belongs to the Person: And I say, the Devil seeks to devour not the Soul only, but the Person. Pag. 374. Still applies all to Souls, instead of Persons. Pag. 375. He Quotes three Texts, but they all apply to Persons; and Solomon's winning Souls, intends Persons. Pag. 379. Says, He hath proved that one Soul is of more Value than the whole World. I say, no otherwise than a Man's Life is, viz. to himself it is so, but not in itself, or with any respect to other People. Pag. 379. Says, The Soul was not made for the Body, but the Body for it. I say, they were made for one another, and are daily made, viz. Procreated together. Pag. 387. Cites a Saying, as concerning Souls, but it proves only of Persons; and goes on in the like applying to Souls, what is intended of Persons. Pag. 390. Says, Souls cannot live upon Food, or Earthly things. I say, They do live upon Food and Earthly things, and cannot live without them. Pag. 439. and so to 441. He pretends Holy Duties are not enough for Christians, viz. Nature improved by Virtues, and common Graces of the Spirit of God, a Holy Unreprovable Life, relying on Christ for Pardon of Sins, and Support under Sorrow, and Dangers; Practising the Commandments, Believing the Creeds, Receiving the Sacraments, Doing as they would be Done to, Sorrowing for their Failures, striving to rise again, and Praying to God every day to Assist them by his Grace, and Save them by his Goodness, and Christ's Sufferings: He insinuates that such ordinary Practices, are not sufficient for Regeneration, without Heavenly Tempers, and Tendencies of Soul, viz. a singular Claim and Profession to Grace and Sanctification above ordinary. I profess myself content with the former State, and will give his Proselytes leave to affect the later, without condemning them, so being that they act not the Pharisee, in justifying themselves and despising others. Pag. 449. Directs Men to ask, Am I born again? Am I a New Creature? I say, Baptism is the Laver of Regeneration, and Mark 16.16. He that believeth, and it baptised, shall be saved; and thus practised the Jailor at Philippi, Cornelius the Captain, and the Aethiopian Eunuch; but he requires a regenerating of the Spirit. I allow, so appearing as to make the Fruits good; but for his extraordinary Elevations and Motions of Spirit, I leave them to himself, as a Fervour of Fancy. Pag. 464. Says, Your Election is only secured by your Effectual Calling, intending, as seems, that every one must have, and find, a particular time of God's calling him to a State of Regeneration and Sanctification. This looks to me, like an intended distinguishing Character betwixt them, who follow Rational Deductions from Scripture, and those who pretend to be led by the Spirit, in an extraordinary manner, and they must show us Signs, and Wonders, and mighty Deeds, or else we shall not be able to believe them, that they are so led: For if other Men work, and live as well as they, and show as good Fruits of the Spirit, as they, How can they be distinguished, but by Wonders and mighty Deeds? Say they, by our Special Calling, Regeneration and Sanctification: But, How shall others know these to be good, or better than ordinary, but by their Fruits, or mighty Deeds? If those Deeds, or Fruits extraordinary, do not appear, we have no means to know them, nor reason to approve them. In Pag. 461. He said, Let none be so fond to expect Comfort in Death, until his Soul have first complied with, and obeyed the Call of God, in the time thereof. Pag. 463. Says, Souls of Men are as it were embarked in the Calls of God, and if they be lost, your Souls are lost. I Collect, he intends, Let your Faith and Practice be what they will, if you have not a Call to the singular Mode of our Profession, and obey that Call, your precious Souls, after all this, will be lost. He said before, That when the Enfranchised Soul was upon its departure, and sat upon the quivering Lips of the dying Person, neither able to stay in the Body, nor abiding to forsake it, the State of it was deplorable. This shows, That he imagined the Soul to be an Intelligent Little Thing, Parcel, or Spark: He doth not say, that she is snatched, or forced away from the Body, nor what should move her to forsake it, or leave the being in it, or near it, against her Will; and yet I doubt not but he could have told us that, as well as the foregoing, viz. Imaginando, if he had pleased. And this calls to mind a Relation made to us by Dr. Collins, in his Treatise concerning Russia: There, says he, when a Person draws on towards Death, they set a Basin of fair Water in the Window, and set the Casement also open, that the parting Soul may have the Opportunity of bathing and refreshing itself in the Water, and find an open Passage out at the Casement, and not be enforced to the Contrast of passing through Crannies of the Window, or other Places. And thus I part with our Author, and finish my intended Observations upon him.  
I read in a Noble Author of our own Nation, That in all Contests, he who stands only upon his Defence, stands upon no Defence. Seems, Wants one main part of Defence: viz. The Disarming or Weakening his Opposer; whereby his intended Defence should be made both more easy and effectual. Thus far in defending a Tenet opposite to that of our Author, I have used only the Buckler, in shelter from the dints of his Arguments: but that I may not forsake the benefit which may accrue in defence, by overthrowing or weakening of the Opposite Tenet, I shall here begin to sharpen the point and turn the edge of Argument against the Opposite, not so much Party, as Opinion.  
I begin this Argument, Arguendo & Negativis, and I say,  

First, That Humane Souls Immateriality, is not taught in the Catechism publicly used & authorised by our Church.  
Secondly, It is not imposed by any of our Thirty nine Articles.  
Thirdly, It is not expressly required to be delivered by any of our Three most ancient Creeds.  
Fourthly, We meet not with any Canons of the Four First General Councils that recommend it.  
Fifthly, In the whole Bible there is not one plain positive Affirmation, That a Humane Soul doth separately subsist after Death of the Body: Nor, That it is Immaterial or Immortal, nor so much, That it is Intelligent.  
Sixthly, There are no Sentences in the Bible, no nor Words, which Doctrinally do teach the Immateriality; viz. Whose Principal Intent at their Delivery, was to teach the matter of the Immateriality.   
For Proof of this last Assertion, there seems requisite an Examination of the most Important Particulars alleged for Proof of this Tenet.  
Matth. 10.28. Fear not them who kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul. I take the Doctrine principally intended in this Text to be, A teaching of the Apostles (than newly instituted) to be bold in their Promulgation of the Gospel; and in their so doing, to fear more the Power and Wrath of God than of Men: and with this concurs Luke 12.4. both Evangelists testify this, and agree fully in it. If Matthew's Text had intended to teach the Immateriality, this short Expression seems a very transient or even a superficial manner of doing it: had that therefore been the intent of this Text, it seems some farther Declaration would here have been made of it. In Verses 32. and 33. pursuing the same Discourse or Doctrine, our Lord says, Those who confess him, he will confess before his Father which is in Heaven; and those who deny him, he will so deny: which (to my apprehension) intimates and intends the Judgement of the Last Day, where Christ shall be the Judge, and own and disown, as he pleases. We find, Luke's words in the delivery of this Doctrine, do not mention a Separate Subsistence, or Killing the Body without Killing the Soul. In the main intent of the Doctrine, viz. Fearing God more than Men, they agree and say the same thing; but in words importing the Separate State they differ: ergo, The main intent of this Text was to teach the fearing of God more than man, and the words importing a Separate State of the Soul, are but collateral: and St. Luke deliversng the main Doctrine without these words, or others of like import, it seems St. Matthew's words which are of that import, may pass for a way of wording this Doctrine, in Expressions suitable to his Opinion of the thing.  
Another Text alleged for Proof of Immateriality, is Luk. 23.43. Our Lord to the Thief, To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Such Proof of the Immateriality as arises from hence, seems clearly no more, but a Collection upon Inferences; for there appears no Intent in this Text to teach that Doctrine, viz. of the Immateriality.  
Vers. 46. of the same Chap. Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit, and St. Stephen's Lord Jesus receive my Spirit; it seems, were not spoken with intent to teach the Souls Immateriality, or Separate Subsistence; but as a recommending of themselves to God, and Christ, in the uttermost Extremities of their Conditions.  
The Parable of Dives, Luk. 16.19. seems to me, spoken principally upon this Occasion, Ver. 14. Our Lord's Discourse was derided by the Pharisees: He answers them, God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination in the sight of God. This Vers. 15. and Ver. 19 gins the Parable of Dives, perfectly proper for the Illustration of this Assertion; for what more highly esteemed amongst Men, than the Condition of Dives? And what more miserable, than that of Lazarus? And yet, in the sight of God, the Case was quite contrary. I say, the main Design and Intent of this Parable, seems to have been, the Illustration of this Doctrine, and not to teach any thing concerning the Separate Subsistence of Souls, of which it speaks according to the common conception of that time.  
Phil. 1.21. To me, to live is Christ; and to die, is gain. I have a desire to departed, and to be with Christ, which is far better, but to abide in the Flesh, is more needful for you. Here doth not appear (to my understanding) any Intent to teach the Souls Immateriality; but that the state of the Dead in CHRIST, is more to be desired, and more happy, than a state of Life in this World, ' specially one like that of St. PAUL then; being Paul the Aged, and a Prisoner, Chap. 2.17. ready to be offered upon the Service and Sacrifice of Faith, Who would not choose a Death in Christ, rather than such a Life; and would not abide in the Flesh, but for the Good of other People, and Service of the Gospel? Here appears no Intent of St. Paul's to teach the Soul's Immateriality. Mat. 16.26. Of gaining the World, and losing men's Souls, I hold evidently unproving.  
So 2 Cor. 5.8. Of being absent from the Body, and present with the Lord, hath very little appearance of Proof, and no semblance of Intent to teach the Immateriality.  
These Eight Texts, I take for the most alleged, and the most proving the Immateriality of a Humane Soul; in which I have pretended to show, That they intent not (as their prime Design) to Prove, or Maintain, the Immateriality of an Humane Soul: And I think this goes far in the Proof of my Assertion, viz. That there are no Sentences, or Words in the Bible, whose principal Intent at their Delivery, was to assert or teach the Soul's Immateriality. And here I finish my Proof, ex Negativis: The Belief of the Immateriality is not required at our hands, nor to be exacted of any Man.  
I now proceed to Positive Proofs, importing a greater Probability of the Humane Soul's being Material and Extinguishable, then Immaterial, and Separately Subsisting: Intending which, I say, if after Death a Man's Soul obtain a Separate Subsistence, and be at greater Liberty than it was (living in the Man) and in a full State and Capacity of Acting, Enjoying, and Suffering: Then, the calling Man's Death, a Sleep, and a Rest, appears a very improper, and even a misleading sort of Expression; but the Scripture in very many places, calls Death a Sleep, and a Rest: Ergo, If the Soul so subsist after Death, as before is said, the Scripture, in its Terming Death a Sleep, and a Rest, speaks very improperly, and somewhat misleading in very many Places.  
In Proof of the Major Proposition, I say, Those who do sensibly perceive, and actually understand, remember, believe, and will, cannot properly be said to be in a dead sleep; nor can those, who act freely, and fully, and enjoy, or suffer, in a high degree, be properly said to be at Rest: Ergo, If the Soul do subsist in this manner after Death of the Man, the calling of Death, a Sleep, and a Rest, appears (at least) a very improper sort of Expression.  
To Prove the Minor, viz. That the Scripture calls Death a Sleep, and a Rest, in very many Places, seems to myself a needless Trouble, or Undertaking; for that all who are conversant in Scripture, know this thing to be true: But deploringly, I again consider, that a great part, or a greatest part of People, are not so well verssed in this Book, as to be without need of Proof in this Matter: And for their sakes I take upon myself the Labour of somewhat a troublesome Induction of Particulars.  
In Proof of this Truth therefore, I quote Job 3.13. Why died I not from the Womb? For if so, I had now been still and quiet. I should have slept, then had I been at rest.  
Ecclesiast. 11.8. If a Man lives many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. Add to this, Those who sleep, sleep in the Night; and then this Text seems to Prove a long Sleep, Job 14.12. Man lieth down, and riseth not till the Heavens be no more; they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.  
Dan. 12.2. Many of them that sleep in the Dust of the Earth, shall awake; some to Life, and some to Contempt.  
Mat. 27.52. Many Bodies of Saints which slept, arose, and came out of the Graves, after his Resurrection. Amongst which (say I, supponendo) was the Crucified Thief.  
Joh. 5.28. The hour is coming, in which, all that are in the Graves, shall hear his Voice, and shall come forth. Chap. 11.11. He saith unto them, Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Ver. 13. Jesus spoke of his Death, and then told them plainly, Lazarus is dead.  
Act. 13.36. David, after he had served his Generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and saw Corruption. 1 King. 2.10. So David slept with his Fathers, and was buried in the City of David. So Chap. 11.43. The same for Solomon.  
1 Cor. 11.30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. Chap. 15.6 Christ was seen of above 500 Brethren at once, of whom some are fallen asleep.  
1 Thes. 4.14. Those also who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. Ver. 15. And we which are alive, shall not prevent them that are asleep. Ver. 16. And the dead in Christ shall rise first.  
These are a Proof, That Death, and Dying, are in Scripture very often termed a Sleep, and Sleeping.  
As to Death's being there called and counted a Rest, I quote Job 3.17. There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest.  
Dan. 12.13. Thou shalt rest, and stand in the Lot, at the end of the days.  
2 Thes. 1.7. God will recompense Tribulation to them who trouble you, and to you who are troubled, Rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels.  
Heb. 4.1. There is a Promise of entering into his Rest. Ver. 3. We who have believed, do enter into his Rest, as he said. Ver. 6. And some must enter therein. Ver. 9 There remaineth therefore a Rest for the People of God. Ver. 10. And those that enter into Rest, cease from their Works.  
Revel. 14.13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them. And thus appears, That Death, in Scripture, is often called a Rest, and accounted so.  
The Scripture speaks thus of Death in very many Places, and even of ordinary Custom, and Course; and either the thing so delivered, is proper and true, or the Speeches are improper and misleading. If the Soul subsist, act, and suffer, after Death, as before is said, the Scripture speaks improperly of Death: But if there be no Separate Subsistence of the Soul, after Death of the Man, than these Scriptural Expressions concerning Death, are proper, and true. I have a great Inclination to believe, that the Scripture speaks properly and truly, than otherwise: And therefore do conclude, these Expressions are proper, and true; and that the Soul hath not such a Separate Subsistence, as above is described; but rather that it is Material, and Extinguishes with Death of the Man.  
My Second Argument for positive Proof of this Tenet, rises from many particular Places of Scripture, to be alleged, and produced, in nature of a Sorites, each proving by its self, and all fortifying the Tenet intended to be Defended.  
In which, I begin, from a Scripture which discourses most copiously upon the State of Man after Death, above any other Text whatsoever, Part of the Works and Doctrine of the Apostle St. Paul, viz. his 1 Cor. 15. he gins there Ver. 13. and says, If there be no Resurrection of the Dead, then is Christ not risen; and then, [viz. consequently] if no Resurrection, our Preaching is vain, and your Faith is also vain, and we are false Witnesses, and you are yet in your sins; and they who are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. Upon this I Argue, If the Soul enjoy a Separate State, and go to Heaven at the Man's Death, then, How could these dreadful Consequences follow upon the Failure of Truth in the Doctrine of the Resurrection! For if the Soul go to Heaven at the Death, that would enjoy Bliss and Happiness in an high degree, though there were no Resurrection at all: But our Apostle here concludes all Christianity to be in vain, without a Resurrection. And the next Verse, viz. 19th. he says, If in this Life only, we have Hope in Christ, we are of all Men the most miserable; but Christ is risen, and by him came also the Resurrection of the Dead: Which seems plainly inferring, That if there be no Resurrection, than our Hope in Christ can extend only to this World, and the things of it; and then we should be more miserable than other Men, who give themselves more liberty in the Enjoyment of them: He goes on through this long Chapter, to Treat of the Resurrection, and the Manner, and Benefits of it. Ver. 58. He concludes, Abound in the Work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know [by this my Discourse of the Resurrection] that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Thus he discourses fully and largely upon the Resurrection, without a Word speaking, or a Hint giving, concerning a Separate Subsistence of Souls, or a particular Judgement, or any Appertenant to a State intermediate between Death and Judgement final.  
I proceed in the Works of this Apostle, and quote him again, 1 Thes. 4.13. He would not have them sorrow for their dead Friends, as others who had no Hope, did: For, says he, We believe that Jesus died, and rose again; and even so also, those who sleep in Jesus, shall God bring with him, and the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the Voice of the Archangel, and with the Tromp of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then the Elect living Persons shall be Translated, and caught up to the Clouds, and both sorts together shall meet the Lord in the Air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. Here we may perceive, or collect, That St. Paul directs, to look after the Resurrection, for Comfort, at, or immediately after, the Death of the Party. Had he known, or believed a Separate Subsistence of Souls, and a going to Heaven of the good, immediately after Death of the Party: Our Author gives it us in these Words, Pag. 326. Little (says he) do Believers think, what Visions of God, and Ravishing Sights of Christ, the Souls of their Friends have, when they are closing their eyes with tears. It seems strange St. Paul did not know any thing of this delightful Scene; and pity it is, doubtless, that he was ignorant of such Ravishing Enjoyments, and the quick attainment of them. Acts 20.20. He kept nothing back that was profitable to his Auditors. Ver. 27. But declared to them all the Council of God. Had he known, or believed, the Separate Subsistence, or the particular Judgement, or the immediate going to Heaven by Angels, or the Ravishing Sights, and Joys so soon accrueing, he would not have kept back all or any of them, from his Proselytes the Thessalonians: But we have Reason to think he would fully and freely have communicated the same to them, and have raised Edifying and Comfortable Exhortations, if he had found, or known of sound ground, to erect them upon. Our Ministers and People, fetch not their Comforts so far as the Resurrection; but fetch them from Heaven immediately, and hope (with as much likelihood) that all their Friends Souls go thither, by the Conveyance of Angels: But because St. Paul here gives us no Encouragement to believe them, for my Part, I cannot do it; but fix myself for Comfort, in such Cases, upon the Rocky Ground, which our Apostle here gives us, the Certainty and Assurance of a General Resurrection, and Judgement.  
Our Apostle's former Text, 1 Cor. 15.32. says thus, What shall all the Afflictions that I have undergone, profit me, if the dead rise not? [But if thecase be so,] Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we die; [and there's an end,] casting the whole Expectation of Recompenses future to this Life, upon the Resurrection, without mention, or regard, of any Intermediate State. Rom. 2.5. Thou treasurest up unto thyself, Wrath against the Day of Wrath, and Revelation of the Righteous Judgement of God. Ver. 6. Who will render to every Man according to his Deeds, Honour and Immortality to some, but Indignation and Wrath, Tribulation and Anguish, to all who work evil, etc. to Ver. 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Plainly, the Day of the Last Judgement, so as Recompenses shall then be distributed, according to what Men have done here; and only then, for any thing that appears in this Text, without mention, or regard to, an Intermediate State.  
1 Cor. 1.7, 8. Ye come behind in no Gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus, who also shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Plainly intending his Second Coming to Judgement, as the only known Time, for the Expectation of future Recompenses.  
1 Cor. 4.5. Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden Works of Darkness, and manifest the Counsels of Hearts, and then shall every [deserving] Man have Praise of God: Plainly denoting the Resurrection, as the Time of Judgement, and Recompenses.  
2 Cor. 5.10. We must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his Body, whether good or bad: Still without hinting any other Time or Place, for future Recompenses.  
Philip. 3.20. Our Conversation is in Heaven, from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord of Glory, who shall change our vile Body, and make it like his Glorious Body, according to the working, whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. Still no mention of any Expectation future to this Life, till our Lord's Second Coming.  
2 Thes. 1.7. It is right for God to recompense harm to them which trouble you, and to you who are troubled, Rest with us, when the Lord shall appear from Heaven with his mighty Angels. Chap. 3.5. The Lord airect your hearts into the Love of God, and unto the patiented waiting for Christ. [His Coming again.]  
1 Tim. 6.14. Keep this Commandment until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show as the only time for Recompenses.  
2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto them also that love his appearing, [viz. his Second Coming.] And this applies Chap. 1.12. I suffer without being ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him, against that day. And so, Ver. 18. The Lord grant to Onisephorus, that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day. Chap. 4.1. I Charge thee before God and Christ, who shall Judge the Quick and Dead at his Appearing, and his Kingdom. All harping upon the same string, viz. the Resurrection, and General Judgement, without one word mentioning a Particular Judgement, or an Intermediate State.  
Tit. 2.13. Teach to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. No mention of the Hope of a Blessed Intermediate State.  
Heb. 6.2. He will go on to the Doctrines of the main Duties to be performed in this world, and to the Resurrection of the dead, and that of eternal Judgement, for the world to come, as the only considerable things. Chap. 9.27. It is appointed unto Men, once to die, and after that the Judgement. The Last Day, or Judgement: Not Two, one Particular, and the other General. No mention of more than One. Chap. 11.35. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain, What? Not an immediate going to Heaven of their Souls, but a better Resurrection. Chap. 12.22. Ye are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem, to God, and Angels, to the General Assembly, and Church, and just Spirits made perfect. And see that ye refuse not him that speaketh [in the Gospel,] whose Voice then shook the Earth; yet once more, I shake not the Earth only, but also Heaven; which signifies the removing of them, [at the Last Day,] and then we shall receive a Kingdom, which cannot he moved: And then enjoy the Heavenly Jerusalem, God, Christ, Angels, the Assembly of the Church perfected, unto which things we are now come in Faith, Hope, and Expectation; having received a full and true Declaration of them.  
We have thus traversed the large Fields of St. Paul's Epistles, collecting Evidences concerning his Doctrine and Opinion touching the Future State of Mankind, after a Death in this World. The Texts of his which have been quoted, treat particularly of such Future State, and intent to teach concerning the same, delivering thereupon, according as in the said Quotations hath been expressed.  
Before have been quoted (on the other hand) Four Texts of his said Writings, alleged, in Proof of the Immateriality, viz. 2 Cor. 5. Ver. 6. & 8. and Phil. 1.23. and Heb. 12.9. and Heb. 12.22. To these I say, none of those Places treat particularly of the Future State of Mankind, or intent to Teach, or Examine, what the same shall be. Next, I say, that of these four Places, none speak Provingly: But Phil. 1.23. viz. His desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. I say, the Question made thereupon, is concerning the Meaning or Sense of the Expression, of being with Christ: It intends a State more , than that which at that time he enjoyed. I take a sleeping in Jesus to be so, viz. a more  State than that, which at that time, he enjoyed: That this is a Blessed State, we read, Revel. 14.13. after mentioning the Patience and Faith of the Saints under Persecutions, the Text says, Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them. And that it is a State cared for by God, and under his Protection, appears Rom. 14.7. None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Ver. 8. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. Verse 9 For Christ died, rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. Ver. 10. We shall all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ. So Chap. 4.17. God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things that be not, as though they were; and so he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for all live unto him; though the Body turn to dust, and the Soul expire, yet neither of than are lost. Joh. 11.23. Our Lord says to Martha, Thy Brother shall rise again. She Answers, I know that he shall rise again at the Resurrection of the Last Day. He Replies, I am the Resurrection, and the Life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoso liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Viz. So as to fall out of my Care, or Protection, or Knowledge; thy Brother shall rise again speedily; and for others, Joh. 6.39. Of that which my Father hath given me, I will lose nothing, but will raise it up at the Last Day. Ver. 40. All who believe in me, shall have Everlasting Life, and I will raise them up at the Last Day: (Which Paul to Tim. calls That Day.) So Ver. 44. & 54. All speak of raising Believers up at the Last Day, to receive Blessings and Rewards, whereas the rising of the Wicked shall be attended with a Second Death. This intends an Answer, additional, to Paul's Desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.  
And touching the whole Course of this Apostle's Writings, concerning a State of Mankind after Death, my Quotations make it appear, That either he knew of no Intermediate State betwixt Death and the Resurrection, or else he did not Acknowledge, or Believe it: For his Knowledge, that there was an Opinion in the World, of Souls Subsisting in a Separate State from their Bodies, there are great Probabilities, as that Solomon's Text, The Spirit returns to God. And St. Matthew's Text of, Cannot kill the Soul: And both Heathen and Jewish Opinions to that purpose, it seems, could hardly escape his Knowledge: But most likely it is, that he did not acknowledge, or believe the Truth of that Opinion; for that in any of his Writings upon that Subject, he doth neither relate to it, nor mention it, much less doth he confirm, or approve it; but puts all Expectation of Rewards or Punishments Future to this World, upon the Score and Account of the Resurrection: And upon the foot of that Account I leave it, with this Apostle, intending to Examine what other Apostles have written to the same Purpose.  
I proceed to the Epistle of St. James, and quote out of it, Chap. 1.12. Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the Crown of Life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. In Words very like 2 Tim. 4.8. and of the same Import, and that applies the receiving of the Crown to that Day, or the Last Day. So Chap. 5.7. Be patiented, Brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Ver. 8. Again, Be patiented, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh: Gives no Expectatation of Recompenses, till the coming of the Lord.  
I go on to St. Peter, 1 Pet. 1.4. You are begotten to an Inheritance incorruptible, reserved in Heaven for you. Ver. 5. Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time: Does not say to be revealed at the times of your Death. So Chap. 5.4. When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a Crown of Glory, that fadeth not away: Agreeing with Paul, and James, just before. Chap. 4.5. Those who speak evil of you, shall give account to him, who is ready to judge the quick and the dead. This must intent the Resurrection; for that no Judgement shall pass of the quick and the dead together, till that time. Ver. 13. Rejoice, in as much as ye are Partakers of Christ's Sufferings; that when his Glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding Joy. This proves (to my understanding) that the Ravishing Joys of a newly departed Soul, were unknown to this Prime Apostle.  
2 Pet. 2.9. The Lord knows to deliver the Godly, and to reserve the  unto the day of Judgement, to be punished. So Ver. 4. Evil Angels are delivered into Chains of Darkness, to be reserved unto Judgement. Judas, Ver. 6. Those Angels are reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness, unto the Judgement of the Great Day. This shows what sort of Judgement was before intended. Chap. 3.12. What manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness, looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein all shall be burnt up; but we look for new Heavens and Earth; and seeing ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in Peace, without spot, and blameless. Thus he exhorts to a Holy Life, from the expectation of the Great Day of Judgement, and Dissolution of the Earth, Sky, and Elements about it, without a word of Separated Souls, or a particular Judgement, or an Intermediate State between Death and Judgement final. And hence, it seems, St. Peter believed them not, nor liked to build any thing upon them.  
Some have Alleged 1 Pet. 3.19. to Prove the Separate Subsistence of Souls, viz. That Christ was quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went, and preached to the Spirits in Prison, etc. Concerning this Text, I have said before, that I do not understand it: If I should offer to prove by this Text, it would be to prove what I know not; by what I do not understand, and what I would not offer, I cannot agree to accept. My desire is to have the Immateriality, or Separate Subsistence of Souls, proved by some Texts that I do understand; and because I do not understand this Text, I refuse to accept it, as a Proof of the Separate Subsistence of Souls:  
And proceed to observe in the Writings of St. John, 1 Joh. 2.28. Little Children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not he ashamed before him at his coming. And Chap. 3.2. Beloved, now we are the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Both these Texts put all our Expectations after Death, to the future Appearing or Coming of Christ, and still without notice of any State or Thing Intermediate between Death and the Resurrection.  
Judas, Ver. 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints, to execute Judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, and speeches spoken against him. Referring all Judgement future to Life, unto that of the Great, or Last Day, as we have found it done before, by all the Apostles, whose Writings are come to our hands, with a Consent and Agreement amongst them, much above ordinary; and which Testifies they were le● by the same Spirit, promised to lead them into all Truth. We see this Promise, actually and completely fulfilled in the Texts alleged out of all their Writings, and wherein they all say the same things.  
We now go on to the Search of the Four Evangelists, according to our Lord's Direction, Search the Scriptures, Mat. 13.36. Christ Expounds his Parable of the Tares, he will not have them weeded, or rooted up in this World, but suffered to grow here: But Ver. 40. At the end of the world, the Angels shall gather them, and cast them into a Furnace of Fire. Ver. 43. and then shall the Righteous shine forth, as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Without Mention, or Notice, of an Intermediate Judgement, or State.  
Chap. 19.28. Ye who have followed me in the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall fit in the Throne of his Glory; ye shall sit on Twelve Thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel; and every one who hath suffered for my sake, shall receive an Hundred Fold, and shall inherit Everlasting Life. Observe, Peter Ver. 27. had asked our Lord, what Rewards, they who had forsaken all for his Sake, should have therefore? Christ gives the abovesaid Answer: But if he had intended, or known of an Immediate going to Heaven of Souls, upon Death of Parties; it seems, that in this place, he could not reasonably have omitted the Mention of it: Whence likely, he neither intended it, nor knew of it.  
Chap. 16.27. The Son of shall come in the Glory of his Father, with his Angels; and then, he shall reward every Man according to his Works. The Words, [And then he shall reward,] [seem to import, That this Second Coming of our Lord, is the only known Time appointed for the distribution of Recompenses future to this Life.  
Mark 8.38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and my Words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the Glory of his Father, with the Holy Angels. Without notice taking of any Intermediate Time or State.  
Luk. 12.8. He that confesses me before men, I will confess him before the Angels of God; and he that denies me before men, shall be denied before the Angels of God. Chap. 13.25. When the Master of the House hath shut the door, those knocking without cannot come in; but the workers of Iniquity shall go to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. This seems the Effect of a General Judgement. Chap. 10.14. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgement, than for you. Ver. 12. More tolerable in that day, for Sodom, than for that City. Chap. 14.14. Call to thy Feast, the Poor, Lame, and Blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the Resurrecteon of the Just. This seems plainly proving the Resurrection to be the Time, and even the only Time for Expectation of Recompenses; and that delivered by our Lord's own Mouth, the highest Authority that Christians can expect, or desire.  
Job. 5.28. All that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice, and shed come forth; they that have done good, unto the Resurrection of Life; and they that have done evil, unto the Resurrection of Damnation. Who shall hear his Voice in the Graves? Not the Bodies, or Souls, but the dead Persons; and they shall come forth, at that Time only, and be doomed, and judged, to Life, or Damnation. Chap. 6.39. My Father's Will is, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the Last Day. Ver. 40. He that believeth on the Son, shall have Everlasting Life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day. Ver. 44. He that comes to me, I will raise him up at the Last Day. Ver. 54. He that eats my Flesh, and drinks my Blood, I will raise him up at the Last Day. In the 2d. & 3d. of the Revelations, there are a great Variety of Rewards promised to him that overcometh; but here the only Reward in our four Places, is to be raised up at the Last Day, to Life Everlasting, as an abundant Recompense for all Faith, Performances, and Sufferings; and shows that to be the only Time, future to this World, when they are to be warrantably, and upon good grounds, expected, and hoped for by all true Believers. Chap. 12.48. The Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge a Man at the Last Day. As Mat. 12.36. Of every idle Word that Men shall speak, they shall give account at the day of Judgement. If they had given such an Account of a Particular Judgement soon after Death, What need can there be of bringing idle Words to Account over again, at the General Judgement? There seems no Probability in it. Chap. 14.1. Let not your Hearts be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in Me; in my Father's House are many Mansions, and I go to prepare a Place for you; and if I go, and prepare a Place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. This shows when Recompencs are warrantable to be expected, viz. at Christ's Second Coming; and to look for them sooner, is against his own Direction in this Text: Well fortified and confirmed by, Acts 3.19. Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, whom the Heaven must receive, until the times of the restitution of all things: The time, when amongst other things, Men shall be restored to their former Being's, and become the same Persons that they were before; and so shall account at the Last Judgement, and in all probability not before. Well but what becomes of people in the mean time? I take it for most likely, that the Body verges to Dust Gradatim, and the Flame of Life (which I take for the Soul) extinguishes in Death; as Dr. Willis says, Illico nihil est, it vanishes, as the Flame of Spirit of Wine, when the Spirit is consumed: And thus (I conceive) Men die; thus they rest, and Believers sleep in Jesus, till time of the Restitution of all things: Job 14.12. Even as the Flood decayeth and drieth up, so Man lieth down and riseth not at all, till the Heavens be no more: they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. Thus Job and I agree punctually in our State of Death, and so we do in that of the Resurrection. Job 19.25. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the later day upon the Earth; and though, after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God. And as 1 Joh. 3.2. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. At his Second Coming, and not till then; not by going to Heaven in Effigy: But till then, Believers in Death enjoy such a Rest, as the Revel. calls Blessed: They sleep in Jesus, and rest from their Labours. So Heb. 4.1. There is a Promise left us of entering into his Rest. Ver. 6. Some must enter therein. Ver. 9 There remains a Rest to the People of God. Ver. 10. He that is entered into his Rest, hath ceased from his own Works, as God did from his. And such a Rest, is a pious Death, and in assured hope of a joyful Resurrection. Dan. 12.13. The Angel says to him, Go thy way, till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in the Lot at the end of the days. And here I cease, and rest my Second positive Argument against the Immateriality and Separate Subsistence of Souls, and their going to Heaven or Hell before the Resurrection.  
And upon this Argument, I intent to make Three short Observations. The First of which, grows from our Author's Expressions, Page 49. of his said Book. There he says, 'Tis a great Mistake, that the Soul is capable only of Social Glory, [or Suffering] or a Blessedness in Partnership with the Body; and that it can neither exert its own powers, nor enjoy its own happiness, in the absence of the Body. The Opinion of a sleeping Interval of the Soul, he says, took its rise from this Error; They conceived the Soul to be so dependant upon the Body (at least in all its Operations) that when Death rends it from the Body, it must needs be left as in a swoon or sleep, unable to exert its proper Powers, or enjoy that felicity which we ascribe to it, in its state of Separation. Thus our Author: To which I Reply, They who so conceived, were Fathers very Ancient, and of great Authority in the Church; and (in my Opinion) the Ground they stood upon was firm, and good, viz. they, and we, and all Men, who consider, may, and do perceive by hourly Experiences, that the Soul doth no more act, or suffer without the Body, than the Body without the Soul; nor either of them without the other. This, constant Experience teaches: To this also, Reason very well agrees; and Men have never yet met with good Reason, plain Experience, or clear Scripture, to the contrary. Nor doth our Author, or any other, show any convincing, or strong, or likely Evidence that ever any Soul did, or that it can act or suffer without Partnership with the Body, and in Conjunction with it: It may be asked, How then can it subsist in a State of Separation from the Body, if it can neither act nor suffer without it? I Answer, That I am not to Account for such a Subsistence, because I deny the thing, and say the Soul extinguishes in Death: But those who held both Opinions, viz. The Separate State, and the Non-Activity, did imaginarily, cast the Soul into such a Swoon or Sleep, as the Author mentions, in a Limbus or Dormitory, created by Invention to that purpose; and those who so believe both Opinions, are necessitated to invent such Places. That the Soul neither acts nor suffers, without the Body, being true, and the Separate Subsistence, being granted, Places for Dormitories, were a reasonable, and necessary Invention: But if the Truth stand with me, and the Soul extinguish in Death, it neither acts nor suffers without the Body; nor yet is there need to invent Dormitories or Purgatories for reception of such Souls, as have no real Subsistence. He hath truly related a Cause, why the Ancients did believe Souls rested in Dormitories till the Resurrection, not going to Heaven or Hell, till that time, and a Reunion with their Bodies; viz. Because they believed Souls could not act, or suffer without their Bodies, according to the common Course of Nature and Experience. This I agree to be true, and a reasonable Ground for them to stand upon in this Point, and that they erred only in believing a Separate Subsistence; whence they were forced to invent Dormitories. But I say, though the Author have given us a true and good Cause, why the Ancients thought Souls went not to Heaven or Hell before the Resurrection, grounded upon the Nature and Constitution of Mankind; there is another Cause and Reason for their so believing, as true, well grounded, and evident, as the former, which will weigh with many Believers, more than that can do, viz. The Tenor and Consent of all the Texts before quoted by me in this Argument. There is another Marvellous Agreement amongst them; for all say the same things, viz. That all Men must after Death appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, at his Second Coming, at that Day, at the Last Day, when he shall appear: Without mention of any other Time, or any other Judgement, or any going to Heaven or Hell in the mean time. This sort of Declaration of the state of things after Death, was a good and sufficient Ground for those Ancients, to believe that Souls went not to Heaven or Hell before the Resurrection; and I hold this Declaration to be a good, true, and sufficient Ground for People so to believe at this day. And with this I finish my first Observation upon this Argument.  
2. My Second Observation concerns an Objection which hath been and may be made against my pretence of the Souls Extinguishment at the Death of the Party. It is demanded, If the Old Flame of Life be extinguished in Death, and anew kindled at the Resurrection, how can that which riseth, be the same with that which died? And if not so, the new must be rather taken for a Creation than a Resurrection? To this I answer by another Question concerning the Body, How can that Body whose Flesh and Bones are eaten by Wolves or Dogs (as Jezabel's was) or burnt to Ashes, and those scattered in the Wind, or upon the Water, rise the same again at the Last Day? To this Query, St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15. gives an Answer, which it seems will serve both Cases alike; ver. 35. How are the dead raised, and with what Body do they come? He answers, That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die, and thou sowest not that which shall be: For Example, Wheat the Grain sown first corrupts, then fructifies, and God makes the New grow out of the Old; and God gives it a Body, viz. to every seed it's own Body: and thence Wheat rises from Wheat, and Barley from Barley; plainly declaring that in the Resurrection, the New Body shall be the same with the Old in Substance, Flesh and Blood, Skin and Bone, Head and Heart, Brain and Breath, Limbs, Members, Muscles, and all Organs proportionable to the Old, as one Grain of Wheat, or like as one Egg to another. This I take for the Sameness of Body, which the Apostle here describes to us; and such a Sameness will the Soul easily obtain, viz. a Flame of Life, as much the same with the former: As a Flame in one part of a Fire kindles, and produces a Flame in another part of the Fire; singly there are so many Flames, and yet all are but the Flame of the same Fire, and may well enough be called the same Flame, full as well as the Ear of Wheat, and all the Corns of it, may be called Wheat, and the same Wheat with that which was sown. And this Solution, it seems, may serve for the Souls, as well as St. Paul's Wheat for the Body; and one of them shall be as much the same, as the other: But (to my Apprehension) the Sameness intended in the Resurrection, is not so much, or properly applicable to the Soul or the Body, as to the Person: The Body suitable to the former, and like it, as one Grain of Wheat like and proportionable to that from which it springs: So a Flame of Life, of suitable force, brightness and activity, to the former, and fit for that Body where it is kindled, these will in the Person, produce the same Faculties that were in the former Person, viz. The same Vital Powers, Sensitive Powers; same Inclinations, Affections, Desires Natural; the same Rational Powers, Perception, Understanding, Fancy, Judgement, Memory, Will, Conscience: And these will make the rising Person altogether the very self and same Person with that which died; more the same than an Old Man is the same with what he was when Young, or a Child: Compare a Child of four years, to a Man of fourscore, they are known really to be the same Person, by Collateral Evidences; but none, by having known the Child, can expect by his Senses to discover the Old Man to be the same Person; nor can the Old Man himself evidently know, or make Proof by any thing in himself, that he is the same Person; so great Differences grow in time, between the one Age & the other. But the Person rising at the Last Day, may likely be as much the same with him that died, as the Man waking after a long Sleep, is the same with him that lay down to take his Rest: There will be Body, Soul, and Person, without difference, and the same Powers, Vital, Sensitive, Rational, Inclinations, Affections, Cogitations and Knowledge; all which, make effectually, and really the same Person, and more the same than the Old Man is with the Young, and yet those are really the same Person also.  
3. My Third Observation shall be, concerning such Texts, as those who maintain the Immateriality and Separate Subsistence of Souls do Allege, both out of the Evangelists, and the Apostolic Writings, for the Proof and Support of that Opinion: Viz.  
Mat. 10.28. Are not able to kill the Soul, Chap. 16.26. Gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul.  
Luk. 16.19. The Parable of Dives. Chap. 23.43. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Ver. 46. Jesus cried, Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit. And Acts 7.59. Stephen's Saying, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.  
2 Cor. 5. Ver. 6. & 8. Absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. Phil. 1.23. To departed and be with Christ is better, but to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you. Heb. 12.9. Ye have been obedient to your fleshly Fathers, and shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits? Ver. 22. Ye are come to Mount Zion, God, Christ, and the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect.  
1 Pet. 3.19. He went and preached to the Spirits in Prison. Rev. 6.9. The Souls under the Altar.  
Here are 11 Quotations Alleged to Prove the Separate Subsistence of Souls, and their Immateriality: And some add to these, Mat. 17. Moses and Elias appearing at the Transfiguration, which makes them up a Dozen.  
I have made, and do make one General Observation upon them all, viz. That they are all spoken, or delivered, in a transient manner, not principally intending to teach the Immateriality, or Separate Subsistence of Souls; not in Places where the Contexts before lead to a Discourse concerning the Nature or State of Souls, or what becomes of them after Death, or between that and the Resurrection; so as there is not a Design in any of these Texts, principally to teach that Doctrine: Nor any clear Intention apparent, to teach at all this Belief. For Instance,  
The Absent from the Body, and present with the Lord; or the, To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise: Or the, Receive my Spirit: Or the, Be Obedient to the Father of Spirits: Or the, We are come to God, Christ, and his Church: Or the, Preaching to the Spirits in Prison: Or the, Souls under the Altar: Or the, Appearing of Moses and Elias at Tabor. I demand, what do these Texts, of themselves, teach concerning a Separate State or Subsistence of Souls? There is no previous Discourse in their Contexts, leading to speak of the State of Souls, or inducing to teach concerning them; nor apparent Intent in any of these Texts, so to do: But Men possessed with an Opinion of the Separate Subsistence, do draw, and beat out of these Texts, that which doth not naturally flow from them; nor that they ever intended to teach; so as the Doctrine squeezed out of these Texts for the Nourishment and Support of their Opinion, tastes strongly of the Husk and Skins of them; and are rather violently forced, than freely and fairly flowing, from the Words and Intent of these Scriptures. Well, but still there are Four Texts not instanced in, and which seem to make appear an Intent to teach this Doctrine; concerning them, I say, that Mat. 10. & Phil. 1. show not a principal Intent so to teach: That of Mat. teaches principally, to fear God more than men; the Philip. intends principally to show, That Paul would have Christ magnified by his Life, or by his Death; and that it was indifferent to him, by whether of these means that end should be attained: By Death, would be easier, and a more Gain to him; but by Life, he thought might be more profitable and beneficial to them and the Church. This seems the principal Intent and Scope of this Text, and not to teach a Separate Subsistence, or Immateriality of Soul.  
Mat. 16. About Gaining the World, and losing the Soul, seems to show an Intent of teaching concerning Souls; and the Hinge of its Meaning, turns upon the Signification of the Word Soul in this Place: Our Lord previously Exhorts his Disciples to take up the Cross, and follow him. Expect Tribulation in his Doctrine, For whosoever will save his Life, shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his Life for my sake, shall find it: For, What is a Man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? Or, What shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul? My Sense of this Text, is, That the Words, Soul and Life, are consignificant; as if it had been said, He that saves his Life, shall lose it; and he that loses it, shall find it: For, What is a Man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Life? Or, What can a Man give in Exchange for his Life? If one lose his Life, the gain of the whole World can do him no good, nor make him a Recompense for it: And the Devil could say, All that a Man hath would he give for his Life. Nor would any Man of Sense, take the World in Exchange for his Life; for that the World is of no Use or Value to the Dead: So as there is nothing in this Text of the Soul, but the Word, or Term, which I have before plentifully proved to signify and intent, very often, the Person, the Affection, the Intellect, and the Life: And I take it here to intent the Life of the Person, and not the Soul, which is the Forma Informans of the Man.  
To the Parable of Dives, Luk. 16. I have fully spoken, and observed, That it is but a Parable, not Explained or Expounded by our Lord, that we know of: I take it spoken in Illustration of our Lord's Doctrine delivered but three Verses before, viz. That which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination in the sight of God, as being very proper for that purpose; and that the Discourse held in it between Dives and Lazarus, is suited to the common Opinion of the People to whom he spoke, and doth not intent a true Relation of the State of Souls after Death.  
I conceive, the Text 10. Mat. and this Parable, to be like the Two Pillars of Dagon's House, the main Props of the Immaterial Opinion; upon which the whole Weight of it leaneth, propped also by the other Texts before rehearsed, but weakly: And I leave the Consideration, to such as shall happen to peruse what hath here been Collected, and put together, intending, singly, the Search and Manifestation of the Truth in this Point.  
Our Author Flavel, lays the Foundation for Proof of the Separate Subsistence of Souls, upon Moses his Text quoted Pag. 1. of his Book, viz. Gen. 2.7. God form Man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, and Man became a Living Soul. And the Words of this Text he takes upon him to Interpret, and by his so doing, verefies the Old Saying, Mala Interpretatio corrumpit Textum; for thus he Interprets: This Text, says he, proves and intends, that God did then Create a Spirit or Soul out of nothing; for Man, viz. an Immaterial, Intelligent Substance, or Spirit; and that was either, first Created, and then Infused, or Infundendo, was Created, in the very Act of Infusion. I will raise no Dispute with him about the Mode, or Manner of his intended Creation; be it Created and Infused, or Infundendo Created: But I say, that either way taken, it is not warranted by the Letter, or Words of the Text; for therein is no Mention, of Spirit, or Creation out of nothing, or any sort of Creation whatsoever: So his Interpretation is not warranted by the Words or Letter of the Text; and that it is more opposed by the Sense and Meaning of the Text, than it is by the Letter of it: For if the Text, or Moses, had intended or meant, that the Breath of Life breathed into Adam, should be taken for such a Spirit, it would have been more plainly expressed in the Text; or at least, the propriety of speaking would have required to have had it expressed after another manner, viz. God breathed into Adam the Breath of Life; and it, or that, viz. that Breath, became a Living Soul: But the Text is otherwise Worded, it neither says, nor intends, that the Breath became a Living Soul, but that the Man did so. And I say farther, that by the Man's becoming a Living Soul, is not intended, that he became a Soul merely, or singly, called by Aristotle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and Expounded by, Actus primus Corporis Organici: Not such a bare Soul without a Body, (a thing never yet known in Rerum Natura,) but a Living Soul in Composito, viz. a Living Person, Man became a Living Person, Heb. 10.39. We are of them that believe to the Salvation of the Soul. viz. of the Person: For all Agree the Body shall have a Salvation, as well as he Soul. I perceive that the Term of Soul, very oft in Scripture, intended to signify the Person, is a great occasion of misleading the Apprehension of the Readers, inducing them to apply to the single and bare Soul, those Say which are intended of, or for, the Person: So is the Case now Cited, Heb. 10. and so in our Text now Examined; and because the Correcting and Emendation of this Mistake, seems to be of very great Importance, I have before given many Instances of the Usage, in Scripture Expressions, in a multitude of Places, and yet not in half of those that I might have done. And because this Truth cannot be made too apparent, and with great difficulty plain enough, I will touch a few Instances of it again in this Place. Gen, 46.26. All the Souls that came out of Jacob's Loins into Egypt, were 66, and Joseph's Sons were two Souls; so all the Souls of Jacob's House were 70, counting Jacob and Joseph. Here Souls can intent nothing but Persons. Acts 27.37. In Paul's Voyage towards Rome, and Shipwreck at Malta, there were in all, in the Ship, 276 Souls, viz. Persons. Isa. 53.10. Thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin, viz. his Person: For none will deny his Body to have been made a visible Offering for Sin, one as well, and as much as the other; his whole Person was so. Psal. 31.5. Into thy hand I commend my Spirit, for thou hast redeemed me. David was then alive, and in Condition to write this Psalm, and had a Body as well as a Spirit, and under the Term of Spirit, commended his Person, or himself to God. Luk. 23.56. Our Lord did the very same; he knew his Body was to rise early upon the Third Day, yet Cried, Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit: Recommending by that Term, himself, or his Person, Soul and Body. So David, My Soul is among Lions, deliver my Soul from the Sword; the Lord is with them that uphold my Soul, viz. Deliver me, uphold me. So Jonathan loved David as his own Soul, viz. as he did himself, his own Person. And this Form of Expression seems agreeable enough to Reason, and common Practice in other Cases, Pars pro Toto: As we use to say, Sweet Soul, and dear Heart; Forma dat esse rei. And so Men frequently use, by the most noble Part, to express or denote the whole: And hence I conclude, that the last Part of Moses' Text here, is well Paraphrased; And Man became a Living Person, without intent to speak of a Soul by its self, or otherwise, then as in conjunction with the Body, it helped to make up the Person: And because this is a Material Point, and beats hard upon our Opponents Foundation, another Parallel Text shall be cited, for Illustration and Confirmation of the same; viz. Ezech. 37. The Prophecy over dry Bones, which thereupon came together, and the Sinews, and Flesh came up upon them, and the Skin covered them above, but there was no Breath in them: Then he was commanded to Prophecy over these Bones, yet not to call for Souls or Spirits for their Animation, but to say to the Wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four Winds, O Breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live: And thereupon, the Breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great Army. Here, it seems, we have a Specimen of the First Man's Creation, viz. His Body was first made ready for that Animating Breath, which should first tine and kindle the Flame of Life in his Body, than made ready for it: And this Flame, constantly fanned by Respiration, and un-put out, or extinguished by any violent, or other means, seems to be the Actus primus Corporis Organici. Whilst that continues flaming and glowing, the Person lives; when that is extinguished, the Person dies beyond Remedy; and being once extinguished in all Parts of the Body, it cannot be again rekindled, but by fresh Fire from Heaven, or a Divine Power. Our Author, Pag. 252. He says, The Radical Moisture, which is daily consuming by the Flame of Life, must needs be spent e'er long. And I say, that if this Flame be not fed and nourished by Food, and Viands competent, and of suitable Nature, this Flame must first diminish, than decay, and lastly be extinguished, as daily Experience teaches in Times of Scarcity and Famine, and the like distressing Accidents: So as this Vision gives us some Traces, whereby the manner of Adam's Creation, and the Infusion of the Breath of Life into him, may guessingly be collected: And as it directs backwards to the Creation, so it doth it forwards, open some Prospect towards the manner of our expected Resurrection; in which, after the Body shall have been made ready, and complete, for the Reception and Nourishment of it, the Animating Breath shall again kindle in it the Flame of Life, as by God shall be appointed, for the Actuating such Raised Bodies, and as it did before their former Dissolution: And this Flame will be of the same Kind and Nature with the former, and as much the same, as the Bodies then Rising, will be the same Bodies with the former: before it was a body with such Organs, acted by a Natural Flame of Life; and the same shall it be after the Resurrection, with this Change to the Blessed, that their Natural Body shall be made a Spiritual Body. By this Counter Exposition of Moses' Text before recited, I pretend to have battered and shaken, or even to have overthrown the First, and one of the Main Foundations of our Author's Opinion, upon which he principally insists, and grounds himself in the first 46 Pages of his Book.  
And I now proceed to propound an Argument in direct Opposition to his Opinion and all that he hath said in maintenance of the same. Thus than I argue, That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh, but the Soul as well as the Body is generated and comes of Flesh: Ergo, The Soul is a Material and not an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit. The Major of these Propositions is apparently agreeable to the Course of Nature; and John 3▪ 6. sufficiently supported by our Lords own Assertion. The Minor I prove by Gen. 5.3. Adam begat a Son in his own likeness, after his Image. Hence I argue, Adam after the breathing into him of the Breath of Life, became a Living Person, and continued to be so, at the Procreation and Birth of his Son; therefore the Procreation of a Son in his own likeness, intends, That the Son was generated a Living Person: but so he could not be, without a Soul or Spirit. James 2.26. The Body without the Spirit is dead: and Nature agrees, viz. That one cannot be a Living Person, unless he have the two Essential Parts, which constitute the same; viz. Body and Soul. It seems clear, That when Adam begat a Son, he begat a Living Person: and that so he could not be without a Soul: Ergo, Adam begetting a Son in his own likeness (a Living Person) begat his Soul as well as his Body. And for a farther Proof of my Minor Proposition, I argue again, from Gen. 1.28. and 9.2. God says to our First Parents, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and bring forth abundantly in the Earth. Hereupon I say, That if Man do not beget a Son in his own likeness, after his Image, viz. a Living Person, as Adam is said to do, it could not be in the Power or Nature of Man to replenish the Earth with other Men or Persons like himself: or of his own Kind and Nature. And to believe or maintain otherwise, crosses not only the import of these Texts, but the common experience of Mankind also: and the Evidences appearing every day, for Children are born (all the World over) with their perfection of parts, little indeed, but magnum in parvo & potentia, and perfectly Living Persons, in the likeness of their Parents; and the very Abbreviations and Epitomes of them. Some say (but they are but vain words) That the Parents procreate the Body only, but the Soul (a Preaexistent Spirit, lies hover in the Air, watching every New Procreation of a Body, and thence if glides down into the Impregnated Womb, and insinuates itself into the Seed or the Embryo, they cannot well tell whether. Others say, God creates New Souls, pure innocent Spirits, for each new Procreation, be it by Adultery, Incest. Buggery, so as the Shape be Humane: So often as people commit these Crimes with success, God is ready to make a New Soul for every Procreated Body, and that then he puts or casts these new, innocent, pure Souls, or Intelligent Spirits, into Bodies so procreated in Sins of the deepest Dye. And what can this poor intelligent Spirit do to prevent its going into a Body procreated in and by wickedness, and where she is sure to be polluted with Original Sin, before she knows where she is. If this were a true Story, the Case of such Souls were much to be lamented; and what Augustus said of being Herod's Son, might reasonably enough be applied to it. The making and using of Souls after such a fashion, are alike contrary to the Goodness and Honour of God: and the Invention is such, as wants the ordinary grace of Romance: viz. to be made probable or something like the Truth. It is not so much as offered, or attempted to be proved, by any Sentence or Thing recorded or appearing in either of God's Two Great Books of Nature or Scripture: and therefore it shall here be forsaken and left to the Maintainers, as a rotten Prop for the Immateriality: for which only intent it was first invented and set on foot, and is still continued for that very Design: and neither doth, nor can serve, for any other use, intent, or purpose whatsoever. Now rejecting both these Opinions, viz. Of the Praeexistence and the New Creation of Souls upon every Procreation of Bodies. I stick to and maintain the Third Opinion; viz. That Souls are generated together with their Bodies, by Virtue and Power of God's benediction, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the Earth: Procreate Children like yourselves, from one end of the World to another, according to the Course appointed for all other Animals. Shall we say or think, That a Man generates more imperfectly than an Horse or a Bull: our Experience doth not so prove to us: nor does our Reason persuade us to believe it: and Scripture affords no Proof of it: How comes it then to be so generally professed to be believed, only from an ardent Mistaking Zeal, to maintain a Separate Subsistence of Souls; without which the Old World could not, and the later and present do not, or will not conceive and believe Recompenses future to this life, can be, and will be fully and sufficiently distributed to Mankind, according to their Behaviours in this Life: they will continue to believe, That if men's Souls have not a Subsistence in Separation from their Bodies, the expectation of sufficient future Recompenses is destroyed: and this grows from the Pulpit, where the Doctrine of the Resurrection hath been utterly put to silence, by the Opinion of Souls going presently to Heaven upon Death. And if in truth the Case were so, the Doctrine of the Resurrection might well enough be laid aside, as it is, and fall into disesteem, as little useful for the advancement of future Recompenses. The desire, I say, of maintaining a Separate State of the Soul for such purposes, drives some to invent, and most Men to believe such very unlikely and unreasonable Proposals and Assertions, as I have late before, and do here relate and endeavour to detect and confute. Our Author hath the Ingenuity to confess, That the Opinion of the Generation of Souls as well as Bodies, is very ancient, and was generally maintained by the Western Churches. But, say I, the Opinion of the Separate Subsistence of Souls hath even quite rooted it out, and that of necessity; for what comes of the Flesh, cannot naturally be Immaterial, and to maintain Immateriality, we find Men proneto deny visible, experienced Truths, and accept of gross, unreasonable Fictions, Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum, when it falls under a confident Mistake; as Christ foretells his Disciples, When they persecute you, they will think that (in so doing) they do God good Service: And what if the present Writer meet with a like Usage? He may say with St. Paul, Galat. 26. Am I therefore become your Enemy, [or will you count me your Enemy?] because I tell you the Truth? Or that which I believe to be so. It seems such Proceeding would be both Unkind, and Unchristian. Joh. 8 40. Our Lord says, You s●ek to kill me, a Man that tells you the Truth; [and even for telling them the Truth] this did not Abraham. The best sort of People will not do so, but they are ever the fiercest; and therefore, Persecution and Reproach, are natural and common Consequences, of those Endeavours which intent to stem the Tide of a commonly received Opinion, and ro●e against the stream of it. Acts 21 Paul was foretold of a heavy Persecution, but he would not be persuaded to go out of the Right Way for avoiding it, and as his Friends ceased, so I rest myself, Ver. 14. saying, The Will of the Lord be done. Our Present Text now under Examination, Proves, The Ancient Western Churches, and amongst them, St. Austin, were in the Right, in thinking the Soul Generated, as well as the Body; and that God's Direction is still observed by Nature: For Men now, as Adam did, get Children after their own likeness: viz. Living and Animated Persons: and which ever since have replenished and do still replenish, the Earth, as the Effects of their Parent's Fruitfulness. And thus from the Creation and Generation of Mankind, I pretend to have proved, That the Soul or Spirit of Man is generated and born of the Flesh of the Parents, and with the Flesh of the Children, Connatural to the Body, and no Stranger to it.  
I take another Argument for Proof of the Materiality, from Natural Supports of the Soul, whilst it remains in Conjunction with the Body; and thereupon I argue thus, That which can neither act or subsist in the Body, without the Supplies and Supports of Material Provisions, is itself Material; but the Soul cannot act or subsist in the Body without the Supplies and Supports of Material Provisions, Ergo, The Soul is most likely to be of a Material Nature. The Major I prove by the Rational and Received Rule of Simile simili gaudet. For proof of the Minor, I instance in Three Material Things or Provisions, all so necessary for the Soul of Man, as that if any One of them fail, or be wanting, the Soul cannot act or subsist in the Body, but must needs part from it, either by Extinguishment or Avolation. And these Three so necessary Provisions are Blood, Breath, and Food, or Nourishment. For the Blood, if it be totally exhausted or corrupted, a Man can live no longer; but the Soul will be forced to dislodge out of its present Tenement. For Breath, we know by every days Experience, when Executions are done by Hanging: that if it be stopped but for some few Moment's, the Man dies without remedy: as any Flame or Fire is soon extinguished for want of Air. For Food or Nourishment, it seems that as a Flame, Torch, or other Fire, cannot continue or endure, without a competency of Fuel proper for its Nature; so the Soul of Man cannot continue or subsist in the Body, without fitting supplement of Food or Nourishment in a fitting compass of time: and the truth of this is so clear, and the Experiences of it so frequent and so certain, as there need no more be said in the proof of it. And yet for the more full Explication how things pass in the Man upon that occasion, I will quote Judg. 15.18. There Samson had slain the Philistims, and fell into such want of Drink, that he was ready to die for thirst; but God provided Water, and when he had drank, his Spirit came again and he revived. So 1 Sam. 30.11. David found an Egyptian in the Field, who had neither eat nor drink in three days and three nights, so that his spirit was quite spent, and he was in a departing condition: but they gave him some Food, and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, and therewithal his Understanding, Memory, and Judgement; so much as to demand of David an Oath for his security: upon which he directed David as he was desired, and gave him the opportunity of obtaining a notable Victory. And these instances seem to prove, First, That the Soul cannot subsist in the Body without Food: Secondly, That the Failure of the Spirit in such Cases is by Degrees, and not all at once or together; but as a Flame or Fire draws towards an end, Gradatim, upon Consumption and Decay of the Fuel, till they both fail together. Thirdly, It shows, That with the Decay and Consumption of this Spirit or Flame of Life, the Senses, Intellect, Memory, Fancy, Judgement, do also decay and fail; and do return to the Man again, together with the recovery and reviver of this Spirit or Flame of Life, by the applying of fresh Nourishment or Fuel to it. And the whole Argument seems to evince that the continuance of such a Spirit in the Body, depends upon Matter, as the Support of it; and therefore that most probably it is a Material Spirit, extracted from Corporeal Humours: and inflamed, heating, inlivening, and acting the Body, and all the Members and Organs of it; for the effecting in them such Faculties and Powers, and by them such Motions and Actions as he intended them for, who hath framed and fitted them accordingly. With this Argument shall be closed and finished our positive Proofs upon this Subject: to which notwithstanding there shall be annexed Argumentum a simile, for Illustration and Persuasion; that the Fact asserted, is neither a stranger to Nature, nor improbable to be the very Truth according to Reason, but that it is very agreeable unto them both. To this intent I enter upon a Course which hath been followed and practised in all Ages, upon Occasions and Disputes of the like Nature; viz. When the Subject is such as no Experience can clear it, nor the Senses be made Judges concerning it, than Men have used to excogitate Similitudes or Emblems, taken from things more known, and of which our Senses may be more proper Judges; and by applying them to the more abstruse and unknown, to add Light to the more dark, and for the discovery of the more hidden, so as they may be better understood than otherwise they are likely to be. We find that by Collecting the Sun's Beams upon a Glass, and turning from thence the Ray into a Dark Room, the Room will thereby be so enlightened, beyond what it was before, or what the Natural Light did afford it; that divers things in it may be thereby made visible, which without that help could not have been discovered.  
The Similitude which I have chosen for Illustration of the Nature of our present Subject the Soul, shall be grounded upon Harmony, and the divers sorts of Instruments employed in the Wind Music: such as derive their Sound from the Motion of Breath, or Bellows: and to make them serviceable for the present Design, they shall be ranked into Twelve several sorts, viz. 

1. The Single Call or Whistle.  
2. The Horn.  
3. The Penny Pipe.  
4. The Bagpipe.  
5. The Flute.  
6. The Rebeck.  
7. The Hautboys.  
8. The Sackbut.  
9 The Cornet.  
10. Pan's Oaten Pipe.  
11. The Trumpet.  
12. The Organ.   And in correspondence to these, I rank the Animantia, or Self-moving Creatures, into as many and like Sorts or Divisions: viz. In rank with the Whistle I place all the small Infects, as Worms, Flies, Bees, Wasps, Aunts, Spiders, Beetles, etc. Who all work according to the Rules of Science, but not knowingly: They have no Variety in their Working, but go always to work after the same manner, and even as the Whistle sounds. 2dly. To the Horn, whose only Changes are shorter and longer, lower and louder Sounds, I compare the greater Infects, viz. Frogs, Askers, Snakes, Adders, Serpents, and the very great ones in Africa and India, the Salamander, Scorpion, Lizard, and Chameleon, etc. And to the Penny Pipe I compare the lowest of the Animalia, viz. Mice, Rats, Moles, Bats, etc. To the Bagpipe I compare the small but nimble Creatures, as Weasels, Foumards, Ferrets, Squirrels, etc. To the Flute I compare Cats, Curs, Otters, Badgers, Coneys, Hares, etc.— To the Rebeck, all sorts of Deer, the Rein, the Red, the Fallow, and the Row, the Ass, the Musk Creatures, etc. To the Hautboys, compare the Volatilia, of all Sorts and Sizes. To the Sackbut compare the heavier sorts of Voracious Brutes, as Bears, Wolves, greater Dogs, Crocodiles, River-Horses, etc. To the Cornet, compare the more active and noble sort of them, as Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Panthers, Ounces, Lynxes, etc. To Pan's Pipe compare the Jumenta, or Cattle, such as Sheep, and Goats, Swine, the Bubuli, etc. To the Trumpet compare the Principal or most Intelligent sort of Brute Animals, the Elephant, Horse, Camel, Tame-Dog, Fox, Ape, Monkey, Creatures the most observing and docible, who can apprehend and obey a Voice, a Motion of the Body, or even a turning of the Eye, and come nearest to the Pretences of some sort of Understanding.  
I should not have put Pan's Pipe so high in my Catalogue but that I find it likely was very musical; so as the Instrument might admit of divers Tones, viz. Triple, Mean, Tenor, and Base; on which Account Pan took upon him to contest in Melody with Apollo's Harp, and they chose Midas King of Lydia for their Judge; and upon full Hearing of both parties, Midas passed Judgement against Apollo, pronouncing that Pan's Pipe excelled the Music of Apollo's Harp: And though Apollo in Revenge planted Asses Ears upon the Head of his impartial Judge, yet the History proves Pan's Pipe to have been then counted a very melodious Instrument: Pan primus Calamos cera conjungere plures instituit. Lastly, I have chosen the Organ as that Instrument whereunto Mankind may most suitably be compared; and from hence shall begin to make general Observations upon these Instruments and Creatures, comparando.  
As the Whistle and Horn have no great Variety in their Sounds, so have the Infects but something analogous in them to them to Flame and Blood, and therefore may rather be counted Animata than Animalie, and we shall but little insist upon them, but choose to observe rather upon our Third Instrument, the Penny Pipe, which can make a Variety of Sounds, by several Stops upon it: First, it appears that this (as all our other Instruments) this and they all are acted and made sounding by one same Actor or Principle, viz. Breath, or Wind, inspiring them. And I say the like of the small Animals compared to it, viz. Mice, Moles, etc. we say that they (as all other Animals) are framed and acted after a similar Manner, and as the rest of the greater Animals are, and as Man their Supreme also is; for each of these small Animals have Skin, Bone, Flesh, Blood, Sinews, Nerves, Muscles, Joints, Heart, Brain, and Breath, as well as the Horse, or the Elephant, or even as Man himself, and act their Five Senses, and Vital Faculties, as other Animals do, and have a Flame of Life or Glowing in their Flood, which makes it Circulate, Active, and Moving; as is done in other more large and potent Animals, in a Proportion and Nature suitable to their beings. The thing is all of a hind in them all, as the Wind and Breath in the Musical Instruments: the Wind in them doth not make a like Sound or Music in them all, but according to the structure and capacity of every one of them. Now give a Penny Pipe into the best Artists hand, and who hath a very good Breath, yet he shall be able to make but very mean Music with it, suitable to the mean capacity of the Instrument: and this is the Case of the Mouse or the Mole amongst Animals, though they in their Structure, Parts, and Spirits, are of the same Nature with the greater Animals, yet such Spirit and Flame can do no more in those small and weak Bodies, than the Capacities and Organs of them will extend unto; and those Degrees of Power proportionate to its own Strength, Nature, and Constitution. And so it is in every Degree of Animals, one above another, the Flame or Material Spirit of Life, works in each of them, proportionably to act and perform such things, and in such manner as the Structure of their Bodies and the Figure, Power, and Order of their Members, make them able and inclinable to act; and gives them a Power to execute. And just as in the Wind Instruments, one sort of Spirit acts them all, and one sort of Materials; viz, Hard Materials, Wood or Methal, make the Body, or gross and palpable parts of them; and yet there is that vast Variety in the Music and Sounds of them, as if they were not at all of kin, one of them to the other; but rather as if they were quite different things in their Nature, which plainly they are not; for the Matter and Spirit in them all are alike: It is true they are different Instruments, and make very different Sounds and Sort of Music. And it seems, the Case is the same amongst Animals, Matter and Spirit are of like Nature in them all: Man himself, though Sanctius his Animal, Mentisque capacius altae, his Genus is the same with theirs; he is Animal, let the differentia be what it will, Rationale or Religiosum. Man is of the same Kind with the other Animals, and is compared by David to the Beasts that perish utterly: and so should Man have done, unless God had promised and appointed a Resurrection for him, and a Judgement upon him. But all our Maintainers of the Immateriality exclaim and declaim upon the transcendent advantages which Men have over and beyond the Beasts, in the Power and Activity of their Rational Faculty; which mistakingly, and yet generally, they call the Soul of Man, and seem so to esteem and think of it; but to me it seems there is not a greater difference in Nature or Power betwixt Men and Beasts, then in Music there is between the Organ and the inferior Instruments, from the Trumpet to the Penny Pipe, or Whistle. There is as great a transcendency in the Organ over or and above each of the other Instruments in the Musical Use of them, as there is in Men over and above Beasts, in the several Kind's of them. These Machine's, viz. the Organ and the Man, the one amongst Wind Instruments, and the other amongst Animals, must evidently be accounted for Superlative and Supreme; with whom none of the Inferior Animals or Instruments can hold a reasonable Comparison: but Ocularly visible it is, that the Organ hath no other Spirit or Cause of its Sound, Music, and Harmony; but the same that acts in all the Inferior Instruments. And semblably, it seems, that although Man be a Superlative and Supreme Animal, yet he may be, and is acted by a like Flame or Spirit, as we agree doth actuate and enliven the other Animals of an Inferior Nature or Degree; enabling for Acts of Life and Vegetation, Nourishment, Digestion, and Generation, stirring their Affections of Lust, Wrath, and Fear: Moving and acting their Five Senses to perceive their several Objects. And all these and their Local Motions, are as vigorous, and perfectly acted in Beasts as in Men: and this sort of Soul acts also in Brutus' an Understanding, Fancy, Judgement, and Memory, true in their Kind, but to a very low Degree, in comparison, with Faculties of those Kind's found amongst Men: for that the Humane Head and Organs there placed, are far more advantageously framed and fitted for such purposes. And thus it seems there is set forth and shown an apparent and pregnant likeness or similitude between the Correspondence which the Organ hath with the Inferior Wind Instruments, and that which Man hath with the Inferior Animals: And that this Comparison or Similitude may be helpfully used towards the Discovery of the Nature and Operations of an Humane Soul, and some farther Assimilations may be made of Man to an Organ, viz. First, That as in an Organ, the Wind cannot command or alter the Sound of any of the Pipes, so as to make the Triple, Mean, Tenor, or Bases, sound otherwise than that Artist who made them, intended them for. So it is in Man, his Spirit or Soul, cannot act any of his Senses or Faculties to other than those very purposes for which the Divine Artificer made and intended them: it cannot make the Hand see, nor the Foot hear, the Shoulders understand; nor the Buttocks digest: but it can only act every Part, Member, and Organ, to those purposes intended by him that made them. Secondly, As when any of the Pipes in an Organ are ill made, cracked, or otherwise harmed, the Wind cannot cure or help such a misadventure, but can only make it sound according to its present capacity: so it is with a Man's Spirit and his Bodily Members and Organs; if there be a Lisping or Stammering Tongue, or a Sanded or Squinting Eye, a Lame Hand, or a Foot out of joint, the Soul cannot cure or help, in any such Cases; but can only act the Members and Organs as it finds them capable: and the like, if harm come to the Members or Organs by Diseases, Wounds, or any like Accidents, the Soul hath no more power to help in such Cases; then Wind can help Deficiencies in the Organ. Thirdly, If there be any Pipes quite spoiled, broken, or wanting, in the Organ, the Wind can make no Music or Sound at all in those places: and in like manner, for Man, if the Eyes be out, the Soul cannot make the Man see; nor speak without a Tongue, etc. As for the Understanding and the Memory, which seem to be the most spiritualised, the Soul cannot act them without their proper Bodily Organs; and by Blows, Wounds, or Diseases in the Head, spoiling those Organs, such Faculties may he lost: the Soul still able and continuing still to act the Vital, Nutritive, and Generative Powers, and to keep the Man well enough alive. Fourthly, As upon ceasing of Wind in the Organ, the Instrument loses all its Activity and Harmonical Sounds, and becomes only a Dead Fabric; so when the Flame of Life in Man is extinguished, the Body and all its Organs and Members, become Dead and Cold, even as the very Organ and his Pipes, which without Wind are useless to those purposes for which they were contrived and intended. And thus the real Matter of our present Simile shall be determined.  
And yet is it not so finished, but that still there may be some farther use made upon the Circumstantials of it; viz. Those Ornamental Accoutrements wherewith we see the Organs in Cathedrals and other very Eminent Places, embellished, and curiously engraved, painted, varnished, and gilded, to such Degrees, that (with the Lilies) they may be compared to Solomon in all his glory: but if these Splendid Circumstances be taken off them, they must be found in their own proper likeness, or Bodies; viz. Wood or some coarse or ordinary Metal, without Lustre or Gloss, or any other Delight, in the beholding. The Shining Ornaments of our Organ we compare not only to the Robes of Solomon's Glory, and those of other Princes, Magistrates, and Prelates, which are intended to produce an awe and reverence in the Beholders and Common People, and are often times productive of their designed Effect; but I also compare them to divers other Ornaments and Glories of the Humane Nature, acquired and accumulated by the Labour and Industry of many Generations in Succession, one after the other; viz. Many Manual and other Arts and Sciences, derived from one Man to another; and by various Experiments and Degrees, brought to that Perfection which hitherto they have attained. Now those who behold the State of Man's Nature, and contemplate it in the Glories of all these fresh Colours, Varnishing and Gild (as the most Men do) cannot easily forbear to wonder at those who do or can apprehend, that the Brutal Nature should be so near related as to be next of kin to the Humane: I will therefore use this Nature as before I have used the Fabric of the Organ; viz. Remove it's Acquired Ornaments, which have so dazzled most men's Eyes, as to make the Great Princes and Persons, or some of them thought and think themselves above or beyond the Common Condition and Nature of other Men, and to despise the Ordinary Sort of People to so high a Degree, as not to count them made of the same Stuff or Kind with themselves. And not Princes and Conquerors only, but divers amongst the Learned and Knowing, and Men of Skill in Arts and Sciences, are too often apt to contemn their ignorant and illiterate Brethren, as fit rather to be ranked inter Oves & Boves & caetera Pecora Campi, than to be placed in equal Degree and Honour with themselves. Let us then, imaginando remove these Ornaments, which become the Occasions of such great Mistakes; and consider Man and his Nature in their own Natural Robes and Colours: And this may be done without the taking from our Grandees any of their Ornaments or Preeminences, for the true State of this Nature may best be surveyed in the Lowest and Plainest Ranks that can be found amongst Men: which sort of People, if we shall consider from the Cradle to the Grave, we shall easily perceive to be wholly employed and taken up with the Care and Endeavour to acquire Nourishment, Warmth, and the Means of Propagation: and these are the very Things which the more Sagacious Brutes do universally attend. The Diet of such Lowest Sort of People and their Fare is Gross and Coarse; so as the Rich men's Horses, Dogs, and Monkeys, are often better provided: their Houses far meaner than the Stables, Beast Houses, and even Swine-cotes of the Rich: Nothing so well clad or covered as a well kept Horse. If the Polity of the Places they live in hath taught them some good Rules and Precepts, they make ordinarily a shift (in a competent time) to forget or change them, and are to be governed and kept in order, as Brutal Creatures are, by the only Expectation or Fear of Rewards and Punishments: and these things are applicable to Men whom we know by a Continual and Daily Conversation. But if we direct our Prospect, towards the more Desert Countries, North or South, we may find in India and Arabia, but most especially in Africa and America, Nations and People, who have only their bare Skins for a Covering; they rob and pray upon others for a maintenance: they live upon Raw Flesh, and the very Guts and Entrails of such Creatures as they can get; Flesh of Men, Dogs, Horses, Serpents; all goes down with them. Now what do Beasts differ from such Men, or they from Beasts? Even Wild Beasts of the Forest, for our Tame Cattle will not do so, nor hardly any Beasts amongst us, but hungry Dogs. They discover no Effect of Rules or Civility amongst them, save to forbear hurting one another, as the Beasts do; Saevis inter se convenit Vrsis: but their Lusts are at as full Liberty as those of other . Thus in general, but to set forth Humanity in its most Simple, Natural, and Plain Colours, Sir Kenelm Digbies Treatise of the Soul shall be cited, fol. 247. where he relates and testifies this fact, An Army coming to attack Liege, the people of the next Villages fled into the Forest of Ardennes; amongst whom a Woman and her Son of about five years old: the Soldiers beat up into the Woods for Booty, and frighted the People, so as the Woman lost her Son, and never found him; after the Army departed, and the People returned: and about ten years after an extraordinary hard Winter happened, and the Wild Beasts haunted towards Houses for relief: amongst them was observed one who ran sometimes on two feet, and otherwhiles on four; the Spectators took him for a satire, they set the Haunt to take him, and took him: he was found a perfect Man, of wonderful quick Senses, especially in Smelling; he learned again to speak, and was known for the poor Woman's Son, and then related his manner of living amongst the Beasts; accepted as one of their kind, and so herded with them, living as they did; and the People named him John of Liege, And this Fact discovers a near degree of Affinity between Man and Beast, and so doth the Nourishment of Humane Bodies by the Milk of Beasts; and the Support of Humane Bodies by the Transfusion of the Blood of Beasts into their Veins and Bodies: which shows even a Consanguinity amongst us. Our Predecessors in this Island, in Julius Caesar's time, and a good while after, lived as naked as their , and fed amongst other things, upon Wildings, Acorns, Bollis, Sloes, Heps, Haws, etc. as both Beasts and poor People divers times feed at this day. And to prove, That Beasts and Men, in puris naturalibus, do not greatly differ, in the last place shall be cited the Case of Nabuchadnezzar, who had for many years as high a place in the Throne of Glory as any other Man whatsoever; and we may presume, had indulged himself, as Men in such Cases and Places use to do, till by the Operation (it seems) of his Fancy, his Heart or Inclinations, became like those of the Beasts; he herded with the Oxen, fed with them, and lived amongst them: his Skin was his only Covering, and was wet with the Showers of Heaven, his Hair grew to cover him, like the Birds Feathers; and his Nails like their Claws: and this be was well enough able to endure, and it stood with his choice and liking, during such distemper of his Fancy, the space of Seven years, as an Apprenticeship, under Discipline. And it may serve for an Example and Proof, that as Men and Beasts are under the same Genus, or Kind of Creatures, similar in their Bodies, as to the Materials and Parts of them, so they shall not be so exceedingly different in the Nature of their Souls, as the received Opinion hath made them; but more likely it seems, That a Soul of such Nature as acts in the Brutes, First, Their Vital Faculties, Digestion, Nutrition, Generation; Secondly, Their Passions of Lust, Wrath, and Fear; Thirdly, Their Sensitive Faculties, Seeing, Hearing, etc. Fourthly, Such low Degrees as they have of Perception, Understanding, Fancy, Judgement, Will and Memory; such a Soul as acts these last Faculties in a low Degree, and all the former in as high a Degree as is done in Man: such a like Soul should be enough able to act in Man all that his Body and Organs can perform, and for which such Organs were first intended and made.  
But against this Conclusion divers have objected and said, That Man hath one singular Ornamental Quality, peculiar to his Nature, and so well fixed to it, as the same cannot be separated from it, nor be communicated to any Brutal Nature whatsoever; and that is, a Natural Power of Discerning Honestum from Turpe, and distinguishing between them, so as to approve the one and condemn the other. To this I reply, It seems Reason doth not drive Men to consent to this Assertion, or to approve the Import of it. But they rejoin, The Truth of it is proved Rom. 2.14. Those who have not the Law, do by Nature the things contained in the Law; having the Law written in their hearts. For an help to expound this Text, I quote another, 1 Cor. 11.14. Doth not even Nature itself teach you, that if a Man have long hair, it is a shame to him. Here by Nature is intended an universal Custom of those Countries which St. Paul had seen; for in them all, Men used to wear their hair short, and that became amongst them a second Nature, as our Proverb terms it. Hence I collect for probable, that in the quoted Text to the Romans, Paul by the word Nature intended a Civilised and Cultivated Nature, meliorated by some kind of Education or Institution, as all the Nations that he knew were; for his words, having not the Law, points at that of Moses: and he seems to account, that all who were not under that Law, were under Nature, and the Guidance of it: but such a Nature as had the Cultivation of other Laws or Rules, and which generally were much agreeaable to the Letter or Sense of Moses his Moral Laws; and made like Impressions upon the hearts of the Gentiles, as that of Moses did upon the Jews: but that here by Nature he did not intent Humane Nature, in puris naturalibus, naked and bare of all manner of Institution or Education whatsoever; not such a Nature as that of John of Liege, the Lybian Jamnites, and Sabunks, where Men are so few, as their converse amongst the more numerous Beasts, makes them like one another: not like the Caribbee Islanders, or the most Northernly Americans, or some miserable, poor, wild Irish, have been reported. It seems he doth not intent Nature thus naked, but under the Cultivation of some Civil Education. Now for Man's Natural Faculty of discerning Honestum from Turpe, I say, First, That it is not in his Nature, after the manner of his Natural Faculties; his Vital, Passionate, Sensitive, or Rational Powers: for all these (of which the Beasts are also partakers) rise out of bare Nature, or the Natural Contexture of Soul and Body; and exert themselves upon emergent Occasions, without any Teaching or Instruction whatsoever: this Power of discerning Honestum from Turpe doth not so. Adam did not by Nature discern that Nakedness was an undecent Thing, or Turpe. Who told thee that thou wast naked? Discovered to thee that Nakedness was an Indecency in thee? Or that thou hast need of any Covering but thy Skin? Rom. 7.7. I had not known sin (or what actions were sins) but by the Law. Ver. 8. Without the Law sin was dead (seems unperceived.) Chap. 5.13. Sin is not imputed when there is no Law. These prove that there is need of Rules to discern Honestum from Turpe, even in the most gross actions: for Rom. 4.15. Where no Law is, there is no transgression. Let us try this by a Case of Shedding Man's Blood: viz. Two Men in Pure State of Nature, or Savages, happen to meet at large, and to have view of an Object which they both desire; they cannot dispute, for want of Language, but both seize the Object, and fall to the Brutal Way of Contending, viz. Violence and Force; and in the Contest one kills the other: It seems, the Killer (instead of remorse) should glory in this Achievement, and be more encouraged, and ready to follow the same Course another time. And what otherwise do our practised Duelists, but glory in their Shame, with apparent disadvantage; acting against the Laws both of God and Man: Whereas the Fact of our Savage (who hath not, nor knows any Law) may pass well enough, without discerning (by any Light of Nature) that his Fact was Turpe. And so may the Case be for Adultery, or Incest, amongst Persons who neither live under Laws, nor have any knowledge of them; they cannot naturally discern the Turpe in such Actions: and for Theft and Robbery, it would be the delight and glory of such Savages, and was the common practice of the Savage World, and is the common Arabian Profession at this day. And we may add to them the petit Pirates, and even the great Conquerors and Spoilers of Nations, who (because they live without Laws, or above them) do not, or will not, discover any Natural Turpe in those Ravages which they make upon the (to them) innocent and harmless people. All these Cases or Instances, seem to evince, that the Discovery of Honestum and Turpe grows not from Nature barely, or in its extremest Simplicity; nor without some assistance from Education or Institution.  
Next, our opposing Immateriallists, do allege, That upon the committing of any known and great Turpe, there arises amongst Men a great and tormenting Sense of such Evil, flowing from Nature in Man, and which is never found in Beasts of any Kind. But I do not assent to either of these Assertions. First, For Conscience in Man, I have said the Conscient Powers, viz. Understanding, Memory, and Judgement, are Natural, and so are the Effects: viz. Pleasure and Joy, Sorrow and Fear: But to complete a Conscience in Man, there must be more than Nature; viz. Some sort of Rules or Directions, growing from Education or Institution; and such may derive themselves from Three Originals: First, By Revelation from God or Spirits. Secondly, From Precepts or Examples of other Men. Thirdly, From the Person himself concerned in the Inquiry, his own Observations, Opinions, Fantasies. Now take any of these Sorts of Rules which any Man hath accepted for his Guides, and submitted himself unto; if he find his Actions agree with his Rules, that Agreement produces Comfort and Joy: and the contrary produces Sorrow and Fear: the wide●●er they differ, the greater the Fear; and proportionable to the degrees and duration of Rewards an1Punishments taught and believed to be expected, and the reputed certainty of them. And it seems, the Rule accepted and submitted to, be it right or wrong, true or false, obliges the Conscience of the Believer, and strikes him with remorse upon any his irregular Actions; as strong the false as the true: and this shows the Faculty not to be wholly from Nature, for that she is more constant in her Directions and Notices, then to be ordinarily liable to such great aberrations. We say then, a Savage can have no Conscience, for want of Rules, whence that Power cannot be derived from bare Nature in Man.  
The other Assertion, viz. That Conscience is not to be found in Beasts of any kind; I do not assent unto: yet granting that naturally none of them have it. But I conceive, that by an Education amongst Men, and a Conversation with them. some Beasts may attain, and have obtained to such Conscient Faculties, as are agreeable to the low degrees of their Understanding; and I give instance in a Mastiff Dog, if he go at liberty without Education, and meet with a Sheep hungry, he falls on and kills and eats till he have enough, and departs without any sign or sense of remorse for his so doing: But take one of that kind, and give him an Education amongst Men, and (being taught his Duty in that Case) if after, this Dog happen to worry a Sheep, he becomes so sensible, ashamed, and afraid togteher, that his guilt and fear appear in his whole carriage, and the Temper and posture of his Body: so as his looks and carriage give evident proof that he is a Sheep-biter. So for a Setting-Dog, if his over-eager desire carry him into his Game, and that he spring it, his Conscient Power smites him upon that Fact, so that he dare not, will not, approach his Master or Teacher, but will a void and fly from them, by all means, and for a competent time, till their anger may be allwaged: and some of them have been thereby so scared, as to run quite from their Masters, and forsake them for ever. We know also that some Horses which have been corrected for tripping upon the Highway, it by accident they make a trip, they suddenly dart themselves forwards, remembering the former Corrections, and sometimes, do by that means, escape the punishment which otherwhiles would have fallen upon them. And in like manner, the most Docible Creatures. Dogs, Horses, Apes, Elephants, are made tractable and t●ught by Rewards and Punishments, and the Desire, Fear, and Expectations of them; the same which are the Grounds and Effects of Conscience in Man.   

And thus Arguend●, and with hard rubbing, it seems there is taken off from the Nature of Man this last Piece of Varnish or Ornament, which by divers hath been so hard laid on and fastened, as it seemed like a Fixation inseparable, and quarto modo peculiar to it: in consequence of which I say, That we have now laid the Nature of Man as naked and bared of its Ornaments; as before we did that of our Organ. And as then that Instrument so bared, had for its Materials no other than what the Inferior Instruments were made of: viz. Wood, or Common-Metal; so is it like to fall out with the Body of Man: there will appear in it nothing but Skin, Bone, Flesh, Blood, Joints, Muscles, Nerves, Arteries, Sinews, Veins, Heart, Head, Brain, and Breath, etc. all of the same kind with those of the Inferior Animals. And for the Active Principle in them both, as Wind and Breath, of the same Nature, but stronger or weaker, moves and acts, as well the Organ as all the other Inferior Instruments. So it seems, a Spirit inflamed, and of a like Nature, is the Active Principle in the whole Animal Kind and Nature; viz. both of Man and Beast▪ The Flame may be purer and grosser, brighter and dimmer, but in all of a Similar Kind and Nature, one of them with he other; as the Wind and Breath was to the forenamed Instruments. And this Conclusion shall close and finish my present Simile, and that put end to my intended Argument against the Immateriality and Separate Subsistence of Soul.  
For the publishing of which I offer this Reason, That having an Inclination and Desire to find out or learn the Truth in the Point before disputed, and having in my Answer to Doctor Bentley's Sermon, summoned him to perform his promise of proving the Separate Subsistence of an Humane Soul, I thought it requisite to lay before him or any other, who (being qualified for it) shall undertake the Employment, all or the most important of those Grounds and Reasons which moved me, in a Mature and Decaying Age, to persuade myself, that the Opinion of the Immateriality and Separate Subsistence of Humane Souls after Death of their Bodies, is an Error; to the intent, that having before them the true State of the Malady, and the Causes of it, they may be the better inabred to direct their Applications for the Cure, and take the whole State of the Case together; and shall say no more, save by way of Caution; viz. That hitherto the Fabric of the Argument is held together, as by Nails driven through Board's, yet remaining with straight points, so as they may be pinched out again with more ease, and little damage to the Materials, it proper Endeavours shall be used to that purpose; viz. By a full, strong, reasonable, and well grounded Answer to the Objections which have been in this Tract or Treatise produced: but if pregnant Persons shall enter upon the Undertaking, without Direction or Advice, and make infirm, choleric, or any way insufficient Answers thereunto, that will prove like a clenching or rivetting the points of the Nails on the farther side, and make them so hard to be drawn out again, as there may be great difficulty and some inconvenience in the performance of it.  
My Desire and Prayer to God is, That he will by his good Providence and Spirit, direct such, as out of a Pious Inclination, and for Love to Truth, shall in Peaceable and Christian Manner, undertake the Rectification of those Errors which shall be with clearness detected in this Treatise: And that he will finally discover to us what is the very Truth in the Point here disputed. And to an Answerer I shall conclude with St. Paul, 2 Tim. 2.7. Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding [in this] and in all things; especially enable thee for the Discovery, declaring and proving of the Truth in this Point.    
FINIS.