Serrn.CXXIII. asdlfeover'd by Natureand by Revelation. a 33 than the common People. Epicurus and his followers were,peremptory in the deni- al of it : but by their own acknowledgment, they did herein offer great violence to their Natures, and had much ado to deveft themfelvesof the contrary Apprehenfi- ons and Fears. Therefore the Poet in the Perfon of the Epicurean, reprefents it as a rare piece of Happinefs, and that which few attained to, to quit themfelves of the Notions of another (late after this Life. Felix qui potuit reruns cognofcere caufas, Atque metes omnes inexorabile fata» Subjecit pedibus, flrepitumque Acherontis avari. TheStoicks were very inclinable to the belief ofa future Rate; but yet they almo(1 every where fpeak very doubtfully ofit. Seneca andAntoninus often fpeak to this pur-. pofe, That if the Soul remain after this life, there's no doubt but that good Meti (hall be happy, and bad Men miferable ; but whether the Soul out-live the Body or not, that they could not pofitively determine. Arotle bath Come exprefs paffageg for theSoul's Immortality ; but it feems he was not conrant tohimfelf in this Mat- ter, or elfe they have done him a great deal of wrong, who have wrote fo many Books on both fid@s concerning his Opinion in this point. Pythagoras, andSocrates, and Plato, and many others of themolt eminent Philofopkers, as Tully tells us, were full, not ofaffurance, but of very good hopes of the Soul'sImmortality anda future flare. Socrates, who was one of the belt and wifeft of all the Heathens; does in his . Difcourfes before his Death, (as Plato relates them) fupport andbear up himfelf a- gainft the Terrors of Death, only with this Conuderation, That hewas full ofhopes that when he left this World, he (hould pafs into a far happier and more perfea Rate - that he shouldgo to God and live with him, and keep company with the Spi- rits of good Men : And that he isnot poutiveand peremptory in it, is no Argument that he doubted of this more than any thing elfe ; for that was .his falhion in all his Difcourfes, to fpeak modeftly, and with fame thewof doubting, even concerning thofe things whereof hehad thegreateft affurance : But this is plain, that he was fo well afí'ured of it as to die chearfully, and to leave the World without any kind of difturbance, upon the hopes that he had conceivedofanother life ; and Purely they mutt be pretty confident hopes, that will bear up a Man's Spirit to fuch a height when he comes to die. In (hors, he told his Friends the Morning before he died, that he had asgood affuranceofthe Soul's Immortality as human Reafon could give, and that nothing but a divine Revelation could give him greater fatisfa &ion. And to mention no more, Tally, the chief Philofopher among the Romans, expreffeth himfelf with a good degree of confidence in this matter. He argues excellently for it in feveral parts of lais Works; but particularly in his Book ele Senelute, he de- clares his own Opinion of it, where, fpeaking to Scipio and L,elius, he lays, I do not fee why 1 maynot adventure to declare freely to you, what my thoughts are concerning death; andperhaps I maydifiern better than others what it is, becaufe lam now by rea- fan ofmy Age not far from it. I believe, Pays he, .that the Fathers, thofe eminentPerforas and my particular Friends, arefill alive, and that they live the lifewhich only deferves the name of life. And afterward, Nec me folum ratio ac difputatio impubit ut ita crede- rem, fed nobilitas etiamfummorum Philofophorum&authoritas ; nor has Reafon only and Difputation brought me to this Belief but the famous Judgment and Authority ofthechief Philofophers. Arid having mentioned Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, he breaks out into this rapture, Oh prteclarton diem quum in illud animorum concilium ccetumque pro- ficifcar, & rum exhác turbá & colluvione diféedam I Oh glorious day, when I (hall go unto thegreat Council and Affembly ofSpirits, when I(hallgo out ofthis tumult and con- fu/ion, and quit thefink ofthis World, when I (hall begathered to all thofe brave Spirits who have left this World, and meet with Cato the greatefi andbefl ofMankind ! What could a Chriftianalmoft fay with moreextale ? And he concludes, t_uódft in hoc er- ro, quad animashominum immortales effe credam, libenter erro, nec ',nib; hune errorem quo delecler, dum vivo, extorqueri volo e fin mortnus, ut quidam minuti Philofophi cen- fent nihil fentiam, non vereor ne hune errorem maim mortui Phil.fophi irrideant. But if after all Iam miflaken herein, Iam pleas'd with my error, which Iwould not willingly part with whilfl Ilive : and ifafter my death (as fame little Philofophersfrtppofe) I (hall be depriv'el ofall fenfe, I have no fear ofbeing expos'd and laugh'd at by them, for this my miflake in theother World.. Thus you fee what affurance the Heathen had of this Principle, and that there was a general inclination and propenfion in them to the belief of it; and as it was not firmly and upon good grounds believed among the common People fo neither was
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