>I i 8 Of the Immortality of the Soul, VOL jj one which denyedthe Immortalityof the Soul, and that there were any Spirits : but he Pays they were a fort of notorioufly wicked and vicious Perfons. To thefe Inftances, which are fo few, andbear no proportion to the generality of Mankind, I have thefe two things to fay. r. That noArgumentcan be drawn, i monllroad naturam. A thingmay be na- tural, and yet force Inftances may be brought to the contrary : but thefe are but few in comparifon, and like Monflers, which are no Argument againft Nature. No Man will deny that it is natural for Men to have twoEyes, and five Fingers upon a Hand ; tho there are feveral Inftances of Men born but with oneEye, and with four or fix Fingers. 2. But efpecially in mattersof Religion and Difcourfe, which are fnbjeâ to Li- berty, Men may offer violence to Nature, and to gratify their Lulls and Interefls, may by falfereafoningsdebauch their Underftanding, and by long ftrivingagainft the natural bentandbyafsofit, may alter their apprehenfionsof things, and per- fwade others to the fame: butnothing that is againft Naturecan prevail very far, but Nature will Rill be endeavouring to recover it felf, and to free it felf from theviolence which is offered to it. So that Mens Underflandings left to them- felves, and not having force falle byafs put upon them, out of a defign of Pride and Singularity in Opinion, which was thecafe ofEpicurus ; or out of the Inte- reft of force Luft, and a defign to let Men at Liberty to Sin, which is the cafe of molt who have renounced this Principle ; I fay, nothing but one of thefe two can ordinarily make Men deny the Immortality of the Soul. Thus I have done with the Firfi Argument, namely, that the Immortalityof the Soul is a natural Notion and Dictate ofour Minds. SERMON CXXI- Of the Immortality of the Soul, as difeover'd by Nature, and by Revelation. The fecund 2 T I M. I. t O. Sermon on this Text. But is nowmade manifeft by the appearing of our Saviour Jefus Chrifi, who bath abolifhed Death, andbath brought Life and Immortality to light, through the Gofpel. T Proceed to the Second Argument, That this Notion or Principleofthe Immor- j talityof the Soul, doth not contradict any other Principle that Nature bath planted in us, but doth very well accord and agree with all thofe other Notions which are molt natural. I thall mention two, which feem to be the molt natural Notions that we have, and the molt deeply rooted in our Natures ; the one is theExiflence and the Perfections ofGod ; and the other, the difference of Good and Evil. Mankind do univerfally agree in thefe two Principles, that there is a God who is effentially good and jolt; and that there is a real difference between goodand evil, which is not founded in the Opinion and Imagination of Perlons, or in the Cuftom and Ufage of the World, but in the nature of things. Now this Principle ofthe Immortality of the Soul, and future Rewards after this Life, is fo far from clafhingwith either of thefe Principles, that the contraryAffertion, viz. that our Souls are mortal, and that there is nothing tobe hoped for, or fear- ed beyond this Life, would verymuch contradict thofe other Principles. To (hew thisthen particularly, T. The
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