2 I 4. The 2Jfefulnefr of Vol. IL made up into a more curious and complicated Engine, confiftingof many Se- cret and hidden Springs and Wheels, and fitted for greater Variety of Motions, and for more fine and fubtle Operations, than the Bodies of thofe other Crea_ tures which we effeem below us : Or whether we be endowed with a Spiritual Principle, wholly diftin& from Matter, and capable not only of Senfe, but of Acts of Reafon, and of the Impreffìons of Religion, from the Apprehenuon of a Deity and a Superiour Being that is of it felf, and made us and all other Things. In a Word, whether we (hall die like Beafts 5 or whether therebe an immortal Spirit within us, which bath no Dependance upon Matter and the bodi- ly and vifible Part of our felves, but is a much better and more enduring Sxbliance, which bath no Principle of Corruption in it felt, but (hail furvive there peri(hing Bodies, and when they are moulder'd into Duft, (hall fubfift in a happy or mi- ferable Condition, according as we have behaved our felves in this World. For thefe are two very different Hypothefes and Schemes of Things, and ought to affe& us very differently,and toinfpire us with different Refolutions,and to put us upon a quite contrary Method and Conduit of our Lives. For on the one band, if we be well affin'd, that we fhallbe utterly extinguifbed by Death, like the Beafls that peri(li, then we have nothing to take Care of but ourBodies, becaufewe are nothing elfe ; thenwe need not to extend our Thoughts, our Hopes or Fears, beyond this World, and this prefent Life ; becaufe we have nothing to do, but to pleafe our felves with prefent Enjoyments, and to live fo with other Men, as may make moft for our Temporal Quiet, andSatisfalion, and Security. But then we are to confider very well, whether thefe Things be certainly fo, and whether we may rely upon it, and whether it will bear all that Weight which we lay upon it ; whether thefe Principles will not fail us, when we come moft to ftand in Need of the Comfort and Support of them, and when Death is in view and making up towards us, quite vanifh and difappear : Be- caufe it is of infinite Confequence to us, to be well affur'd of this, fince our Hap- pinefs or Mifery to all Eternity depends upon it. And therefore nothing lets than a Demonftration of the Impoffibility of the Thing, of our having immor- tal Spirits that (hall furvive our Bodies, and fubfift apart from them, and be extreamly miferable or happy in another World ; I fay, nothing but a Demon - firation of the Impoffibility of this, ought to be Satisfaction to us in a Cafe of fo great Danger, and upon which fo much does depend. For if there be a PofIibility on the other Side, of our having immortal Souls, which (hall live for ever in another World, nothing can acquit us from the oreateft Imprudence, if we (hould negle& to take Care of that better and more Fatting Part of our felves, and to provide for that Duration which (hall never have an End. And therefore, if the Suppofition of the Soul's Immortality be infinitely more probable, as better agreeing with all the Notions which Men have of God and his Providence, and with the natural Delires, and Hopes, and Pears of .Man- kind, and as moft fuitable to all our Capacities and Expe&ations, and to the ge- neral Opinion and Confent of wife Men in all Ages; then is it infinitely more fafe, and confequently more wife, to proceed upon this Suppofition, and to provide and a& accordingly. Thus to number our Days, that is, to make fuch an Account of the Shortnefs and Uncertainty of this Life, as to employ it mainly in the Care and Prepara- tion for a better Life, will engage us effe&ually in the Bufinefs of Religion. And this, perhaps, is the Meaningof this Phrafe in the Text, of appltin, our Hearts to fVzfdom, according to that of yob, Job 28. 28. But unto Man he fail Behold, the Fear of the Lord, that if iVifdom5 as if he had laid, this is the true VVifdom, the great Excellency and Perfe &ion of humane Nature is Religion, the lively Senfe and firm Belief of a Deity, and a Carriage and Demeanour fuitable to that Be- lief; and that Man is well taught, and rightly inftru&ed in the great Bufinefs and Concernment of this Life, and makes a wife Reckoning and Account of the Shortnefs and Uncertainty of it, who applies himfelf to theBufinefs of Religion : For
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