The Immortality if the Soul. ~ conception, whereby 'tis dif\ingui!bed from that of Brutes. Indeed the exercife of fenfiChap. 9· tive operations depends fo abfo\ utely on its union with the Body, tlm they cannot be ~ perform'd, nor conceived as poffible, without its prefence, and the ufe of Corporeal Organs. But the more excellent operations that pr?ceed from the h1gher Faculties, wherewith 'ris endowed not as the form of a matenal Being, but as a fpiritual Subftance, fuch as fubfif\ for ever without any Communion wit!\ Bodies, fo entirely belong to it by the condition of Nature, that for their produiHon 'tis fuflicient of it felt: The Underf\andmg and Will are Angelica! Powers, and to know and will, and to be varioufly moved with pleafureor grief according to the qualities of obje<ts fuitab!e or difagreeing, are proper to thofe Natures that have no alliance with Bodies. It follows therefore the Soul, in its feparate ftate, may corttemplate, and delightfully ·enjoy . imellecrual objeers, or torment it felf with refleCtion on things contary to its Will : Nay, it underftands more clearly, and is affected more fuongly than before. For thefe Openitions duricg its conjunC\ionare not common to the Body, but prodac'd by it in the . quality ' of a Mind, and are then mof\: vigorous and expedite, mofl: noble and worthy of it, when rheSoul withdraws from all fenfib\e things into it felf, and is mof\ rais'd above the manner of working that is proper and proportion' cl to the Body. And from hence 'tis reafonab!e to condude th.~t it f~rvives the Body, not lofing with it the _mof\ noble faculty, theMmd, thatts pfcuhar to tt, nor the neceffary mfi:rumentof ufiog 1t. For as the univerfal Providence of 0od fupports the lower rank of Creatures in their Natural Lire fo long as their faculties are qualified for actions p~opertothatLife, we may ftrongly' argue that his confervanve Influence w11l not be withdrawn from the humane Soul chat is apt and capab~e in its o~n Nature to exi£1:, and aCt in a feparate fiate. In fhort, the UT"B" , Underfiandingand elective Powers declare its defcentfrom the \1 Fa;her of SpiritS, whofo &~~= 6~DI· Image is ingraven in its Nature, not as in brittle Glafs, but an incorruptible Diamond. h,.,., Plaw. I !ball add to the Natural .Arguments an obfervation of the Platoniflt, that of all other Phi!oCophersapproach nearef\ the truth in their Difcourfes of God and the Soul of the Majefty of the one, and the excellence of the other: They obferve that th; Unity of the World is fo dofely combin'd in all itS parts, the feveral Beings that compofe it, that between the fuperiour and inferiour Specios ther• are middle Natures, wherein they meet, that no vwmm may interpofe in the feries of things, This is evident by confidcring that between inanimate Bodies and living, infenfible and fenfible there are fome Beings that partak~ of the extreams, and link them together, that th; ord<r of things not being interrupted, the Mind by continnal eafie degrees may afcend from the loweft to the highef\ in Perfeilion, And from this j"ft and harmonious Proportion that is pfoper to effences, the intelligible Beauty and Mutick of the World arifes, that is fo pleafing to the confidering Mind, Now what band is there to joyn the two ranks of Beings intelligible and fenfible, but Man tbat partakes of Senfe, common with the Beafts, and Underftanding to the Angels. For this Reafon they give him tho Myfterious Name of HIJt'iZ<Jn, the ending and union of the rwo Hemijpherts , the fuperiour and inferiour , tire two orders of Natures, Immortal , . and that fhall peri!b. CHAP
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=