THE IMMORTALITY 0 F THE S 0 U L. CHAP. VIII. ~ The Immortality of the Soul depends on the confervative injluen~e of God, Natural and Moral Arguments to prove that God wzU contmue zt for eva. The Soul i6 incapable ofperi/hing from any corruptible Principles, or feparable Parts. Its jpiritual Nature i6 evident by the aCts ofits principal Fa• culties. TheVnderftanding conceives j}iritual ObjeCts; u not confin'd to Jingular and prefent things : RefleCts upon it felf: Comets the errors of of the Senfe: Does not fuffer from the exceUena of the Obj~Cf. Is vigorous in its operations when the Body i6 decay'd, which proves it to be an immaterial faculty. An anfwer to objeCtions againft the Soul's Spiritual 1-{,ature. That thefirft notices of things are conveyed through the Senfls, does not argue it to be a material Faculty. That it d~pends on the tem• per of the Bo1J in its foperior operations, i6 no prejudice to its Spiritual Nature. HAvi ng difpatch'd theconGderation of the prime fundamental Truth, that there is a moll Wrfeand Powerful Creator of all things, I £hall nextdifcourfe of the Immortality of the humane Soul, and the Eternal Recompences in the future State. In treating of the Soul's Immortality, I £hall not infifl on nice and fubtile Speculations, that evaporate and leave nothing fubflantial for conviction or praftife : But confider thofe proofs that may induce the mind to alfent, and work upon the will to make its choice of objects wirh refpeft to their endlefs confequences hereafter. And firft, it mu(t be premifed, that immortality is not an infeparable perfection of its namre ; for 'tis capable of annihilation. Whatever had a beginning may have an end. God only hath I11tmortality in an ab[olute fenfe, and communicates it according to his pleafure. The perpetual duration of humane Souls is a privi\edge that depends on his fuftaining vertue, (without which they would relapfe inro a !late of not Being) and as freely flows from his Power as the fir(t moment of their Exiflence. His Will is the meafure of their Continuance. I lbal\ therefore conuder fuch things asflrongly argue thatGod.will oot withdraw his confervative influence that is necelfary to their Immortality. The Arguments are of two forts, Natura\ and Moral. The fir(t prove that God has made the Sou\ incapable of Death by any Internal Caufes of perifhing from its Nature, and in that declares not obfcurely that he will ever preferve it. The fecond fort are drawn from the Divine Attributes, from the ends of the Creator in making the Sou\, and the viGble Oeconomy of Providence in the government of the World, that are infallible, and will produce a fullicient conviction in minds cgually inclin'd. I. The Sou\ is incapable of Death by any Internal Caufes of perifhing in. its Nature. The di!folution of things proceeds from the corruptible Principles of whrch they
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