Serai CXXI. as difcover'dáy Nature alrd Gy Revelattun. i z Sappofe Wickednefs were éRablifhdby a Law, and the Praátice'offran , i, and ra- pine, and perjury, falfenefs in a Man's word and promifes, were commended and rewarded, and it were madea Crime for any Man ro be honett, to have any re- gard to his Oath or Promife, and the Man that fhould dare to be honett or make good his word, fhould be feverely punifh'd, and made a publick Example; I fay, fuppofe the reverfe of all that which we now call Virtue, were folemnly ena &ed by a Law, and publick Authority fhould- enjoys the price ofthat whichwe call Vice ; What would theconfeguence of this be, when the Tables were thus tur- ned ? Would that which we now call Vice, gain the ePeem and reputation of Virtue and thofe things whichwe now call Virtue, grow contemptibleand be- come odious to human Nature ? if not, then there is a natural and intrinfecal difference betweenGood and Evil, between Virtue andVice ; there is fomerhing in the Natureof thefe things which does not depend upon arbitrary conftitution. And I think nothing can be more evident, than that the Authority which fhould attempt loch an Eftablifhment, would thereby be render'd ridiculous, and all Laws of loch a tendency as this, would be hilt out of the World. And the rea- fon of this is plain, becaufe noGovernment could fublft upon there terms : for the very forbidding Men to be juft and honett, the enjoyning of fraud, and vio- lence, and perjury, and breachoftruft, would apparently deltroy the end of Go- vernment, which is to prelerve Men and their Rights againit the encroachments and inconveniences of there; and this end being deflroyed, humanSociety would prefently disband, andMen would naturally fall into á' Rate of War ;' which plain- ly (hews that there is a natural, and immutable, and eternal Reafon for that which we call Goodnefs and Virtue, and again that whichwe call Vice and Wickednefs To come then tomy purpofe, it is very agreeable to thisNatural Notion of the difference between Good and Evil, to believe the Soul's Immortality. For no- thing is more reafonable to imagine, than that Good and Evil, as they are diffe- reneed in their Nature, fo they (hall be in their Rewards g that itfhall one time or other be well to them that dowell, and evil to the wicked Man. Now feeing this difference is not made in this World, but all things happen alike to all, the belief of this difference between Good and Evil, and the different Rewards be- longing to them, infers another Rate after this Life, which is the very thing we mean by the Soul's Immortality, namely, that it does not die with the Body, but remains after it, and paffeth into a Rate wherein it (hall receive a Reward fuitable to the A&ionsof this Life. And thus I have done with the Second Argument for the Soul's Immortality, namely, that this Principle doth not contrarli& thofeother Principles which Na- ture bath planted in us, but doth very well accord and agree with thole natural Notions which we have of the Goodnefs of God, andof the Jaftice of his Pro- vidence, and of thereal and intrinfecal difference between Good and Evil. Ill. This Principle of the Souls Immortality, is (bitable to the natural Hopes and Fears of Men. To the natural Hopes of Men. Whenceis it that Men are fo defirousto purchafe a lofting Fame, and to perpetuate their Memory toPo(lerity, but that they hope that there's fomething belongingto them, which shall furvive the fateof the bo- dy, and when that lies in the filent Grave, (hall be fenfible of the honour which is done to their Memory, and (hall enjoy the pleafure of the jufl,and impartial Fame, which (hall fpeak of them to Poflerity without envy or flattery ? And this is a thing incident to the greatelt andmolI generous Spirits ; none foapt as they to feed themfelves with thefe hopes of Immortality. What was it made thofe great Spirits among the Romans fo freely to facrifìce their Lives for the fafety of their Country, but an ambition that their Names might live after them, and be mentioned with honour when they were dead and gone ? Which ambition of theirs, had it not been grounded in the hopes of Immortality, and a natural Opi- nionofanother Litè after this, in which they might enjoy the delight and fatisfa- &ion of the Fame which they had purchafed, nothing couldhave been morevain and unreafonable. If there were no hopes of a Life beyond this, what is there in Fame that fhould tempt any Man to forgo this prefent Life, with all the Con- tantments and Enjoyments of it? What is the pleaCure ofbeing well fpokenof, when. R 2 ti
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