The Immortality of the Soul. CHAP. IX. The alls of the WiU confider'd. Its choice ofthings difiafteful to Smfo, and Jometimes deftru8ive to the Body, argue it to he a fjiritua~ Principle. '!he difference between Man and Brutes amplified. . The Spmtual Op.erat10ns of the Soul may be perform'd by it felf in a feparate ftate. Thu i6 a ftrong proof God wiU continue it. The Platonick Argument that Man unites the two orders of Natures, intelligent and fenjible , immortal ttna peri/hing. 1 • THE AIJ:s of the Will, that imperial faculty, prove it to be of a higher ordet of fublhnces than the fenliuve Sou'. The Brutes are a/led by pure neceility; their powers are moved and determined by the external appli~tion of objects. Tis vifible that all kinds of fenfit1ve Creatures m all umes, are earned m the fame manner , by the potent fway of Natme towards things Cui table to their corporeal faculties.. But the RatioQa\ Will is a pnnople of free Elect1on, that controuls the lower appettte, by reftraining from the mofl ple2fant and powerful allurements, and chooling fometimes the moftdH1af1:eflll things rofenfe. Now from whence arifes this contention? If the rational will be not of a higher Nature than the fenfual appetite, why does it not confent wirh its inclinations? How comes the Soul to mortifie the mofi vehement deGres of the Body, a part fo near in Nature, fo dear by Affection, and foaptto refent an Injury? And fince 'tis nooft evident that fenlitive Creatures always with the mmoft of their fore~ defend their Beings,from whence is it that the rational Soul in fome cafes againft the l"trongeft recoil and reluctance of Nature, expofes the Body to Death? If 1t depended on 1he Bo- ~~n{~~ f~~f~~~t:::.:~~~~~~~ee ~~e';~~sc:~Fedt;"~i~~rf;;~~i~~;:e [~J~~~ r~~~t~~~~fi~~ defires in Man proceed from the fame Principle ? If the rational Soul be not of a fublimer order than the fenfitive, it follows that Men are Beafts, andBeaflsareMen. Now "tisasimpoffible to be what they are not, as not to be what they art. But do the Beafls reverence a Divine Power, and at fiated times perform all:s ofSolemn Worfhip? Is Confcience the immediate rule of their Actions? Will Lellnres of T emperance, Chaftity, Juftice, arreft them in the eager purfuit of fenfoal fatisfad:ions ? Do they feel remorfe in doing ill, and pleafure in doing·well? Do they exercife the Mind in the fearch of Truth? Have they delires of a fublime intel• lectualgoodthat the low fenfual part cannot partake of? Have they a capacity of fach an immen fe Bletfednefs, that no finite Object jn its qualities and d,uration CaQ fatisfie? A<k. the Beajh, md the; will teU yo11. Their actions decbre the contrary. But the humane Soul has awful apprehenlions of the Deity, diftinguifhes of things by their agreement or difconformity to his Laws : Its belt and quickeft Pleafures, and moft piercing wounding Troubles, are from Moral Caufes. What colour, whattafte has Vertue? Yet the purified Soul is inflam'd by the views of its moft amiab'e, though notfenfible beauty, and de35 lighted in its fweetnefs. How often i• it fo ravifh'd in contemplation of God, the great Objell of the Ratiomil Powers, as to lofe the deGre and memory of all carnal things? Whatftronger Argummt and clearer Proofcan there be of its affinity with IJ God, than IIHoci;iuu Ar· that Divine things are moO: fuitableto it? For if the rational Soul Wt:' r e of the fame or- ';'!:,~;;;:;t{:: der- with the fcntitive, as itcould not poffibly conceive any beinfe more excellent than 9~odill~m Di= wl~~~sf~rrr~h1~t ~~si~~~;~~f~~;;~~~~s ~~~~~t~~i;~~ ~~1~fi~~rf:; rfl;~ci~~;:~;aon;;rations ~~d,ltllant. of Man and of Brutes, we may clearly difcern the different powers of acting, wherewith the rational Soul is endowed in the one, and the fenfitiv ei n the other. The Soul in Beaftsperforms no Operations independent on the Body,thar ferves it either as an inftrument,or matter oftheirprodufrion : Such are the ufe ofthe Senfes, Nutrition, Generation, all the internal M~~~· a?1i~h~~:eK:~;,~~ ~\~~:.~~~'·it~~; '~jt~~~'t\,;~,i~i~~cih:o;~~;,e ~~~;:t~~~~c~~~~~~~ for its duration in a feparate flare, fince 'ti s fit only to act by the miniftJy of theBody. But the Soul of Man, belides the Operations that proceed from it as the form of the Body it animates, fuch are all common to Man with Plants and Animals, underftands, difcourfes, roflell:s on it fe~f, that are acts proper to its Nature, and included in its true F o CQn-
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