to this Purpose, remov'd this last Obstacle in our Way to the Conclufion we aim at, which is this; That Human Nature is, and must be conftituted of an Immaterial, together with a Material Substance.

SECT. XII.

Of the Immortal Nature of the Soul, as a Confequence of its Immaterial and Subftantial Nature.

T

HE Immortality of the Soul of Man, is a Subject that will admit of great Variety of Proof; but I fhall confine my felf to that Argument, which has been the Subject of the preceding Sections; having defign'd to keep, as close as I cou'd, to this one Point; and being thus limited to one Argument, I must use the Word Immortal in a limited Senfe.

By the Soul's Immortality then, I do not understand, 1. A Future State of Rewards and Punishments, as the last Determination of Providence upon Mankind. For this is properly the Immortality brought to Light by the Gospel, and what the glimmering Light of Nature discover'd of this State,

was

was by Confiderations remote, from the Argument in hand. Nor, 2. Do I understand here by Immortality, a State of Eternal Duration, in the fame Individual Effence; which State depends, as well upon the Preferving Power of the Creator, as, what we are now upon, the Nature of the Soul. But I understand Immortality in this Place, as oppos'd to, and exclufive of what we now call Mortality, by which our Bodies lose their Individual Effence, and mix with the common Parent of Terreftrial Bodies: Whereas we affert, That the Soul, whatever Change it undergoes by Death, with regard to the State and Condition of it, will continue the fame Individual Self-conscious Suftance. And,

1. We may be fure it does not undergo Annihilation, as all Corporeal Properties, which cannot shift and change their Subject, may be faid to undergo, when they leave the Body: But we have prov'd the Soul to be a Substance, and we find no Annihilation even of Corporeal Substance, by Death: And in this Senfe, both Soul and Body may be faid to be Immortal; as all First Matter, or Matter in its Generical Nature, must be; in Opposition to the Power of Created Agents. But,

2. They differ in this, That the Soul, and not the Body, will fubfift in its

Individual and Specific Nature; that it will continue after Death the fame, tho' not properly an Human Soul: And this a very little Reflexion will make plain to us: For, whereas all Corruption, or Change of Identity in Bodies, muft arife from Divifibility, and that again from Local Motion; neither of thefe can fall upon an Immaterial Subftance: Had it been capable of Divisibility, it had been, according to our Argument, incapable of Thought; and it is equally incapable of Local Motion, as that is a Confequent of Solidity: And therefore, in what Senfe foever it may be faid to Move, it can in no Senfe be faid to be Moved, or Thruft out of its Place, by the Intervention of Bodies.

3. They farther differ in this That the Soul only after the Diffolution fhall retain the Faculty of Thought: For if by being confcious of this Faculty in our felves, and by perceiving it incompatible with Matter, we come to know thus much of the Nature of our Souls: Then this Faculty, as it does not belong to our Body, fo neither can it be the Refult of Union between our Body and Soul; however, it may be determin'd by that Union, and the Will of him that caus'd it, in the Manner of its Operation; because it has its Foundation altogether in the Separate Nature of the

Scul.

Soul. So that the Body may be call'd an Occafion of the Soul's Thinking, after a Determinate Manner; but cannot in the leaft contribute towards, or diminish from its Inherent and Original Faculty of Thought: Which we fhall be farther affur'd of, by confidering our Spontaneous Motion, as it is not only owing to our Souls, but is the fole and proper Operation of them; the Parts of our Body being no more able to contribute any thing as an Efficient Cause towards their own Motion, than those of any other Body in the Universe. Our Soul therefore cou'd not move the Body, now they are united, unless it had in it felf a Power to move Matter, antecedent to that Union; and this Power being not communicated as Bodies communicate Motion to each other, by a neceffary Impulse on the one Part, and Refiftance on the other; but by an A&t of Volition, which is an Act of Thinking: It is a demonstrative Argument that the Soul, after the departure out of this, is naturally capacitated to inform another Vehicle; or to be reunited to this, upon restoring those Laws and Conditions in it, which being broken, caused the Diffolution.

But here let us ftop; for our Argument will carry us no farther: What fhall beCome of our Souls in the next State, entirely

depends

depends upon the Appointment of him that plac'd them in this; and how far that Appointment has been made known to us, we do not propofe to confider in this Place; but have now carry'd our Enquiry as far as we aim'd, which was to follow the Soul in a State of Numerical Existence, and Self-consciousness, beyond the Grave.

SECT. XIII.

That the Immaterial and Subftantial Nature of the Soul, is the best Foundation for the Moral and Chriftian Immortality of it; together with fbort Account of the Confiftency of thefe Doctrins with Reason, and each other.

HAVE now finish'd, in as small a com

pafs as I cou'd, my principal Design, in this Effay; but it may not be improper to add to it, by way of Conclufion, fomething concerning the Connexion between Reafon and Religion in this Point; or, how far what has been faid, will be a good Foundation, whereon to build the

Moral