fire of Immortality, which Nature hath implanted in all Mankind. I fhall firft confider the Matter of Fact. And 2dly, The Force of the Argu

ment.

As for the firft, There feems to be no great Difficulty to prove, That all Men naturally defire to live for ever. Let every Man confult his own Inclinations, and try whether it be fo or not. To love Life and Being, is as natural as Love to our felves: For Self-love is nothing else but the Love of our own Being and Happiness. And if we must always love Life, we must always defire to live. And therefore if Self-love and Self-Prefervation be Natural, the Defire of Immortality must be fo too.

But befides this, Tully thinks it a great Argument of this Natural Defire of Immortality, That Men, efpecially thofe of the greatest and bravest Minds, are fo much concern'd to propagate their Names and Memory to Pofterity; fome by Children, others by lafting Monuments of their Wit and Learning; others by costly and magnificent Buildings; others by great and memorable Actions, which may eternize their Fame: Which he tells us, is the great Spring of all those brave and generous Actions, for which Men can expect no Reward, but Fame and Glory after Death: And is very pofitive in it, That no Man ever facrificed his Life for his Country, but upon fuch Hopes as thefe. Now can any Man imagine, that he, who defires his Name fhould live after Death, does not more naturally and paffionately defire that he himfelf may do fo? The defire of perpetuating our Memory, is only the Effect of the Defire of Immortality; and a very forry Immortality this is, when that which is remembred with Praise and Glory, is nothing it felf, If Nature has made us Mortal, how fhould it imprint in us such a vain

and

and fruitless defire to counterfeit an Immortality, which is nothing to us? For what Matter is it, how foon we are forgot, if we are nothing our felves? What does a good or a bad Report fignify, when we neither feel the Glory nor the Shame of it? I grant, That as natural as this Defire of Immortality is, fome Men may as paffionately defire, against the Defire of Nature, to fall into Nothing. For the original Defire of Nature is not merely to be, but to be happy: So that if any Man has fo liv'd, as to lose the Hopes of immortal Happiness, and to expect nothing but eternal Mifery, if he be immortal; it is no wonder that he should rather chuse not to be, than to be miserable for ever. For thus it is with refpect to this prefent Life! We know Life is fweet, and it is a pleafant Thing for the Eye to behold the Sun: But yet Men may fall under fuch infupportable Misfortunes, as to make them hate Life, and court the King of Terrors; nay, force themfelves upon him, when they are weary of his Delays. And yet the Love of Life is very natural, though fome miferable People may be impatient of it.

These very Men, who are afraid of living after Death, left they fhould be miferable after Death too, would be very glad to live always in this World; nay, would be glad to live after Death too, and infinitely prefer it before not being, could you affure them that they should be happy, nay, that they fhould not be extremely miferable. Which fhews what the Inclinations of Nature are; that it is not Immortality they defpife, either in this World or in the next, but they are afraid of a miferable Eternity. Which I take to be the true Reafon of the greater Increase of Infidelity in a Chriftian Nation than ever there was in the Pagan World: Because the Gospel of Chrift threatens wicked Men with fuch endless and unconceivable Miferies.

H 4

Miferies, as force them, in their own Defence, obftinately to reject the most demonstrative Proofs of another Life.

If you fay, 'Tis true, all Mankind do defire to be immortal; but then the natural Defire of Immortality, is to be immortal without dying; to live immortal Lives in this World; which feems very evident from the natural Fear and Averfion to dying, which is as univerfal as the Defire of Immortality; and therefore this cannot prove that the Defire of immortal Life after Death is natural; for this is not the first original Defire of human Nature: Or however, fuch Defires can no more prove that we fhall be immortal after Death, than our natural Averfion to dying, proves we shall never dye.

In Answer to this, I grant, Firft, That the first and most natural Defire of Immortality, is to be immortal without dying; for this was the original State of human Nature: And it is no wonder that our natural Defires anfwer to our natural State. Man was made for Immortality; if not to live always in this World, yet never to die. Death was the Punishment of Sin; by Man Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin. And therefore we can have no original, immediate Notion of dying, or of living after Death: For neither Death, nor a Life after Death, is the original State of Nature. Death is the Punishment of Sin, and eternal Life is the Gift of God, through Jefus Christ our Lord. This is that which has obfcur'd our natural Evidences for Immortality: We have a natural Belief and Perfuafion of our own Immortality, and a na tural Defire to be immortal; but then we see that all Men die, and by the Experience of all the rest of the World, we know that we our felves must die: And this is the Difficulty, how to reconcile this natural Belief and Defire of Immortality, with the Certainty of Dying. This made the

common

common People, who never confidered this Objection, but attended only to the Voice of Nature, to the natural inbred Perfuafion and Defire of Immortality, more firmly to believe a future State; than many of their Philofophers did; who were very fenfible that Death was a great Objection against the natural Belief of Immortality; and yet they wanted fome more direct and pofitive Proof of a Life after Death, than mere Nature could give them. And this abated the natural Evidence of another Life, and reduc'd the Matter to fome high moral Probabilities. This being the wifeft thing they could do in fuch a Cafe, to believe, and hope, and reafon on Nature's Side: efpecially fince this natural Belief, and natural Defire of Immortality, was too powerful to be conquer'd by the Certainty of Dying: That though all Men certainly knew that they muft die, yet they ftill believ'd and hoped to live after Death. Which is a good Argument, that Death, in it felf confider'd, is no natural Proof against the Soul's Immortality, though the natural Belief and Defire of Immortality is a strong natural Evidence for it.

2. Therefore I obferve farther; That though Immortality without dying, is the original Defire, as it is the original State of human Nature, yet the natural Defire of Immortality is not confin'd to any one State of Life: But the adequate Object of this Defire, is to live, and to be happy for ever. To live always in this World, is not the natural Defire of Immortality, but to live always. Wife and good Men are eafily wean'd from this World; are very well contented, nay, many times are ve ry defirous to get out of it: And no Man will fay, that God disappoints our natural Defires and Hopes, if he make us immortal in another World, though we die here. For no Man will fay, we are not immortal, because we die, if our Souls live for

ever

ever in another State. Now if the natural Belief and Defire of Immortality is not confin'd to this World, Death is no Argument against either. Though Men may be very fond of this Life, and very unwilling to leave a World they know, for an unknown State; yet a Life after Death gratifies our natural Defire of Immortality: And therefore the Generality of Men ftill believe and defire immortal Life, though they know they must cer tainly die; which could not be, had the natural Notion of Immortality been an immortal Life in this World. This is fufficient to fhew, that thus in Fact it is, That all Men naturally desire to live for ever.

2. Let us now confider the Force of this Argu ment; how far thefe natural Defires of Immorta lity prove that we are by Nature immortal. For is there any Thing in the World more extravagant than fome Men's Defires are? And is this an Argument that we fhall have whatever we defire, becaufe we fondly and paffionately, and, it may be, very unreasonably defire it? And therefore to explain the Force of this Argument, I fhall obferve two things. 1. That all natural Paffions and Appetites are immediately implanted in our Nature by God. And, 2. That all natural Paffions have their natural Objects.

As for the first, it is certain, as I have already fhewn at large, That our Paffions and Appetites are the Life and Senfe of the Soul, without which it would be dead and ftupid, without any Principle of vital Senfation. For what is Life without Fear, and Love, and Hope, and Defire, and fuch like Paffions, whereby we feel all Things elfe, and feel our felves? Now whatever Fancies Men may have about our Notions and Ideas, that they may come into our Minds from without, and be form'd by external Impreffions; yet no Man will be fo ab

furd