"counter to fuch a Cloud of Witneffes, without fome good Affurance on the contrary Side. He must be a fhrewd Philofopher indeed, who upon "any other Hypothefis can give a tolerable Ac"count of all the Narratives in Glanvil's Sadducif"mus Triumpbatus, or Baxter's World of Spirits "and Apparitions, &c. Tho' I will grant fome of thefe Stories have but infufficient Proof, yet if there be but one real Apparition of a departed έσ Spirit, then the Point is gain'd that there is a fe"parate State.

"And indeed the Scripture itself feems to men"tion fuch fort of Ghofts or Appearances of Souls ii departed, Matth. xiv. 26. When the Disciples

faw Jefus walking on the Water, they thought it "had been a Spirit: And Luke xxiv. 36. After "his Refurrection they faw him at once appearing in the midst of them, and they fuppofed they had feen a Spirit and our Saviour doth not contradict their Notion, but argues, with them upon the Suppofition of the Truth of it, A Spirit hath "not Flesh and Bones as ye fee me to have. And Acts xxiii. 8, 9. The Word Spirit seems to fignify the Apparition of a departed Soul, where it, is faid, the Sadducees fay, there is no Refurrection, neither Angel nor Spirit; and Ver. 9. If a Spirit or an Angel hath spoken to this Man, &c. A Spirit here is plainly diftinct from an Angel, and "what can it mean but an Apparition of a human "Soul which has left the Body?

Thus we have taken a View of the first, the fecond, and the third Sections of this Effay. We have feen the Doctrine to be proved therein, the Nature of the Proof, and the Media of its Demonftration. In the fourth and fifth Sections our Reverend Author fairly collects all the plaufible Objections that he thinks may be made to what he would eftablifh, and anfwers every one of them. Thofe

of

of the fourth Section are directly and entirely fcriptural; thofe of the fifth are rather Deductions from fome Paffages of the facred Volumes. I will entertain the Reader with one or two of each Kind.

Object. 1. "The Scripture is fo far from fuppofing that the Soul of Man is immortal, or that "there is any fuch thing as the Life of the Soul continuing after the Death of the Body, that it "often speaks of the Death of the Soul, if the "Words were tranflated exactly according to the

Original. Numb. xxxi. 19. Whofoever bath kill"ed any Perfon, Heb. any Soul. 1 Sam. xxii. 22. "I have occafioned the Death of every Soul of thy "Fatber's Houfe. Judges xvi. 30. And Samfon

faid, let my Soul die with the Philistines. Ezek. "xviii. 20. The Soul that finneth it fhall die. Pfal. " lxxxix. 48. What Man is he that liveth and fhall "not fee Death? Shall be deliver his Soul from "the Hand of the Grave? I Kings xix. 4. Elijah "requested for himself that he might die, Heb. that "his Soul might die.

For removing the Force of this Objection, Dr. Watts replies, "The Word Soul in English, Ne

phefb in Hebrew, Pfycke in Greek, and Anima in "Latin, fignifies not only the confcious and ac«tive Principle in Man, which thinks and reasons, "loves or hates, hopes or fears, and which is the

proper Agent in Virtue or Vice, but it is ufed al"fo to fignify the Principle of animal Life and "Motion in a living Creature. And tho' thefe "two in themselves are very diftinct Things, yet "upon this Account the Word Soul is attributed to "Brutes as well as to Men; for the Jews as well as "fome Heathens, in their mistaken Philofophy,

66

supposed the fame Soul of Man, which gives "natural Life to the Body, to be alfo that very "intellectual Principle which thinks and reafons,

"fears

"fears and loves; and upon this Account they gave both these Principles, how diftinct foever in themselves, one common Name, and called "them the Soul.

"Now the Soul or the Principle of animal Life "and Motion being the chief or moft valuable Thing "in an Animal, it came to pafs that the whole Animal was called a Soul: Therefore even Birds and Fishes are called living Souls, Gen. i. 20. "and any Animals whatfoever in Scripture are called Souls or living Souls. And then for the "fame Reason, i. e. because the Soul of Man is "his chief Part, the whole Perfon of Man is call❝ed his Soul, Gen. ii. 7. Man became a living

Soul, i. e. a living Perfon. So Exod. i. 3. All "the Souls that came out of the Loins of Jacob "were feventy Souls, i. e. all the Perfons were Seventy.

ce

"And this is not only the Language of the Jews, "but even of other Nations. In our Country we "use the Word Souls to fignify Perfons; fo we say "a poor Soul when we fee a Perfon in Mifery: We "use the Word a meagre Soul for a thin Man: We "fay there were twenty Souls loft in the Ship, i.e. "twenty Perfons, &c.

"Now the Word Soul among the Jews being fo "univerfally used to fignify the Perfon of Man, "they used the fame Word to fignify the Perfon "when he was dead as well as when he was alive. "Numb. vi. 6. He shall come at no dead Body, in "the Heb. no dead Soul, i.e. no dead Man or Wo"man, or perhaps no dead Animal.

"Since the Word Soul is taken fo often and fo commonly to fignify the Perfon of a Man or Woman, no Wonder that there is fo frequent "mention of Souls dying in the Scripture, when human Perfons die.

" And

"And if the Soul fignify a Man or Woman when they are dead as well as when they are "living, here is a fair Account why the Scrip"tures may speak of the Soul's going down to the "Grave, of being delivered from the Grave, &c. Pfalm lxxxix. 48. Shall be deliver his Soul from "the Hand of the Grave? This may denote his "Principle of animal Life or his Perfon, i. e. himfelf.

"Now this Account of Things is very confif"tent with the fcriptural Doctrine of the Diftinc"tion of the intelligent Soul of Man from his Body, and the intelligent Soul's Survival of the Bo

dy; nor do any of thefe fcriptural Expreffions "concerning the Soul, forbid this Suppofition : "For tho' in fome Places the Word Soul fignifies "the Perfon of the Man or his Body, or that ani

mal Principle which may die, yet in other Places "it fignifies that intelligent or thinking Principle, "which cannot die, as we have before proved, << where our Saviour tells us, we should not fear * them that kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul. Wherefoever the Scripture speaks of a Soul's being killed, it only means that the Person who was "mortal is flain, i.e. the Life of the Body is de"ftroyed, and the Man, confidered as a compound "Being made up of Soul and Body, is in fome "Senfe diffolved, when one Part of the Compofi"tion dies. But where the Soul fignifies the intel"lectual Principle in Man, it is never faid to die, "unless where the Word Death means a Lofs of "Happiness, or living in Mifery; but this implies "natural Life ftill, for this Soul cannot naturally "be destroyed by any Power but that which made ❝it.

"If any Perfon object, that the Apostle, in As « xi. 31. fays, the Soul of Chrift was not left in "Hell, or the Grave; for fo the Word in the HeG

"brew

Art. 6. "brew may fignify, Pfalm xvi. 10. whence this is "cited; there is a fufficient Answer to be given "to this two or three Ways. It may be conftrued, "that the Principle of the animal Life of Chrift "was not left to continue in Death; or that the "Person of the Man Jefus was not left in Death

or the Grave, the Body being fometimes put for "the Perfon; or it may be as well conftrued, that "the Spirit of Chrift, or his intellectual Soul, was "not left in the State of the Dead, or of Separa❝tion from the Body, which the Word Sheol in the "Hebrew, and Hades in the Greek fignify.

Our Author's Answer confifts of three or four Paragraphs befide thefe I have cited; but as they seem to add little Weight to the preceding, which I have here given the Reader entire, and as these are fufficient to enervate the Objection they relate to, I am excufable enough in omitting them. I proceed therefore to another Objection from Scripture, that at first View looks with a very unfriendly Afpect upon the Doctrine of this Effay.

It is borrowed from feveral Verfes of 1 Cor. xv. where the Apostle is imagined to argue thus, "If "there be no Refurrection from the Dead. Ver. 18. “Then they which are fallen asleep in Chrift are pe"rifhed. Ver. 19. Then we have Hope only in this "Life, and nothing else to fupport us. Then, Ver. "32. What Advantage do I get by all my Suffer"ings for Chrift, if the Dead rife not? We were "better comply with the Appetites of the Flefh, "and enjoy a merry Life here, let us eat and drink " for to Morrow we die, whereby it is evident, "that the Apostle places the bleffed Expectation of "thofe that are fallen afleep in Chrift, only and "entirely upon their being raised from the dead, "which he would not have done if there had been fuch a feparate State: He extends our Hope in Chrift beyond this Life, and raises his own Expec

"tation