114. 19` l:. Of the Immortality.of the Soul, II. Thing, What Chri(t bath done towards the bringingof life and illilntifpatitl. to light. And becaufe I told you that this is comparatively fpoken, and fighifieg to us a greater degree of evidence, and afirmer affurance'given usby the hriltl an Religion, than the World had before, therefore it will be regulate to inquire into thefe two things. Firfi What Affurance Men had or might have had of the Immortality of the Soul, and a future State, before the coming of Chri(ì into the World; and theRevelation of the Gofpel. Secondly, What greater Evidence, and what higher degree of Affurance the Gofpel now gives us of Immortal Life ; what greater Arguments this new Revela- tionand Difcoveryof God to the World doth furnifla us with, to perfwade us of this Matter, than the World was acquainted withal before. FrJ/, What Affurance Men hador might have had of the Immortality of the Soul, and confequently of a futureState, before the Revelation of the Gofpel l,y Chrift's coming into the World. Andhere are two things diftin&ly to be confider'd. Firfi, What Arguments natural Reafon doth furnifh us withal, to perfwade us of this Principle, That our Soulsare Immortal, and that there is another State re- mains for Men after this Life. Secondly, What Affurance de fallo the World bad of this Principle, before Chrift's cominginto the World : what the Heathens, and what the Jews had. The Keaton why I (hall fpeak to thefediftin&ly, is, becaufe there are two very different inquiries ; What Affurance Men might have had from th rinciplesof natural Rea- fon concerningthis matter, and what Affurance they had defatïo. I begin with the Firfi, What Arguments natural Reafon doth furnifh us withal to perfwade us to this Principle, that our Souls are Immortal, and confequently that anotherState remains for Men after this Life. And here I {hall (hew, I. Howmuch may be faid for it. IL How little can be faid again[t it. But before I come to fpeak particularly to the Arguments, which natural Reafon affords us for the Proofofthis Principle, I faall premile certain general Confiderations, which may give light and force to the following Arguments. As, Firfi, By the Soul we mean a part of Man diftin& from his Body, or a Princi- ple in him which is not Matter. I chufe rather to defcribe it this way, than by the effential Properties of it, which are hard to fix upon, and are more remote from common apprehenfion. Our Saviour, when he would convince his Difciples, after his Refurre&ion, that the Body wherein he appeared to them was a real Body, and that he was not a Spirit or Apparition, he bids them touch and handle him; for, fays he, a Spirithath not Flefh and Bones, as yefee me to have. So that by the Soul or Spirit of a Man, we means force Principle in Man, which is really diftiner from his viable and tenable part, from all that in Man which affe&s our outward Senfes, and which is not to be defcribed by any tenable and external Qualities, fach as we qfe to defcribe a Body by : becaufe it is fuppofed tobe of fuch a Nature, asdoes not fall under the cognizance and notice of any of our Senfes. And therefore I defcribe it, by removing from it all thofe Qualities and Properties which belong to that which falls under our Senfes, viz. That it is fomething in Man dicline fromhis Body, a Principle in him which is not Matter; that Principle which is the Caufe of thole feveral Operations, which by inward Senfe and Experience weare confcious toour felves of; loch are Perception, 1ln- derftanding, Memory, Will. So that the moff plain and popular notion that we can have of theSoul, is, that it is fomething in us which wenever law, and which is the caufe ofthofe effe&s which we find in our felves; it is the Principle where- by we are confcious to our felves, that weperceive fuch andfuch Objeats,'that we fee, or hear, or perceive any thing by any other Senfe; it is that whereby we think and remember, whereby we reafon about any thing, and do freely chúfe and refute fuch things as are prefented to us. Thefe Operations every one is con- fcious to himfelf of and that which is the Principle of thefe, or the Cade from whence there proceed, is that which we mean by the Soul. Secondly, By the Immortalityof the Soul, I mean nothingelf but that it fur vives the Body, that when the Body dies and falls to theßróuhd; yet tlíl's'Prin- ciple
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