Good, or the Love and Interest of Virtue? These are the Confiderations that convince me, that fince God has wrought nothing without Defign, and infus'd into us no vain and frivolous Instincts, that the Time will come when we fhall be freed from this corporeal Prifon; when we fhall enjoy a new Light, a more excellent Life, and an everlasting Felicity.

'Tis eafy to perceive, that the human Soul, with all its freer Motions, is constrain'd and curb'd, and, if I may ufe the Expreffion, fuffocated by the Body; and the more it ftrains to exert itself, the more fenfibly does it feel the Weight of fuch Impediments. To what Purpose then has this Force, this Largenefs of Soul been given us, by which 'tis carried beyond the Bounds and Limits of this Life, if nothing remains or exists beyond it? In vain have God and Nature fupplied the Soul with fuch Wings, if we are only allowed to crawl upon Earth, never to raise ourselves above the Ground, and never to take our Flight to Heaven. If this be the Cafe, they have not only given us these Wings in vain, but to our great Inconvenience; for the more exalted the Soul is, and the more abstracted from the Sense, the less it takes care of earthly Things, and the more unfit it becomes to discharge the common Functions of Life: Then if this is the only Life of which 'tis capable, and the Whole of what belongs to Humanity, the Soul is un

done

done by its own Virtue; and all the Wisdom, but that of the World, and that which regards it, is Folly. A moft infamous Affront both to God and Man, and an unpardonable Calumny! Who can bear it that has a Grain of Senfe, or a Grain of Generofity in his Nature! Who muft not hear with a generous Disdain fuch Affronts impos'd on himself, and on Humankind! I have only one Thing to add, which is, that if this be the State of human Affairs which is here fuppos'd, and I had known this before I was born, I would have rejected with Disdain the Offer of such a Life; neither to live, nor to die, had at all been worth the while.

HITHERTO we have taken our Proofs and our Arguments, for the proving the Certainty of a future State, from the divine and human nature; but now another Method of Reasoning offers itself, from the Confideration of the Nature of Things, in Conjunction with the divine Nature. And thus the Argument ftands: If there is a God, then the Reafons and Foundations of Good and Evil are eternal and unchangeable; the Diftinctions between Vile and Generous, between Juft and Unjuft, Eternal and Immutable. Now these Things being thus laid down, it follows, if I am not mistaken, that there will be another Order and State of human Affairs, befide what there is at present. Perhaps, at the first View, this Confequence may not appear; but I fhall, in a few Words,

lay

lay open the Force of it in both Parts of the Argument. By the Word God all Men understand the fupream Deity, a Being infinitely perfect. Among the rest of his Perfections, they always acknowledge his Wif dom, his Goodness, his Justice, and the brighteft Purity; which, fince they are Perfections in God, they must be likewise so in proportion in all thofe intellectual Natures which have been by God created. There have then been Distinctions from all Eternity, between Good and Evil, Juft and Unjuft, Vile and Generous; Diftinctions not constituted nor appointed by human Authority, or human Force, or human Laws, but flowing from the immutable Nature and Perfections of God, Now, fince God, or fupream Perfection, is the Measure of all Things, and that which is right is the Discoverer of itself, and of that which is crooked; the Things that deviate from this Rule, and the Qualities oppos'd to it, will, by that very Oppofition, become Vices, Stains and Errors, fo conftituted from all Eternity: And this is the firft Part of our Argument. The fecond is, that fince Things and Actions are thus divided, the human Actors must likewife be divided into two Parties, the Good and the Evil, the Juft and the Unjuft, the Worthy and the Vile: Thofe are pleafing to God, these are difpleafing; thofe have his Love, and his Averfion thefe: For that God fhould not love his own Image is altogether impof

fible, or that he should not acknowledge his own Perfections, wherever 'tis that he fees them, and cherish and embrace what he fees conformable to him, and partaking of the divine Nature; and, on the other Side, reject and abhor whatever is incongruous, difcordant, and oppos'd to his own Nature: But now fince God is the highest Lover of that which is juft and equitable, and is one who has all Power in his Hands, 'tis certain that he will not be an unconcern'd Spectator, but will take care that Justice shall be done; nor will bestow the fame Felicity upon his Friends and his Enemies, the Deferving and the Unworthy, but will fee that both the Deferving and the Unworthy fhall have the Portion due to them; and the more perfect any one is by Virtue, Piety, Wisdom, and the nearer to God by the Excellency of his Nature, by fo much the more exalted shall he be, by fo much the more happy: But fince this is by no Means done in this Life, as is apparent to all the World, 'tis a moft certain Confequence, a Confequence firm and immovable as God himself, that it will be done in another.

AND fo much for this Sort of Reafoning: But to all this is usually added, by way of Conclufion, and as an Argument of the utmoft Weight, the univerfal Confent of Nations concerning a future State; nor, in my Opinion, is this without very juft Reason; for the Voice of Nature, if 'tis rightly un

derstood,

derstood, is the Evidence and Touchftone of Truth: But the Favourers of the contrary Opinion endeavour, by two Ways, to weaken the Force of this Argument. Firft they deny that this Opinion, or this Hope of a future Life is univerfal to all Nations, at least, if the barbarous ones be included; nay, they deny farther, that this Opinion is univerfal, even among the polite and learned Nations, nay, among the very Philofophers: Some of them, they fay, were more inclin'd to embrace the contrary Opinion.

As for what relates to the first, as many Nations as ever worshipp'd a God, or inftituted any religious Worship, or any fuperftitious Rites whatfoever, did, by this very Practice, discover their Hope or their Fear of a future State, and that they expected Rewards or Punishments according as their Actions were pleafing or difpleafing to their Gods. As for the other Heathens, who feem to understand nothing of Divinity, they appear to know as little of Humanity, but, like errant Cattle, to lead a beftial Life and therefore it would be unjust to take the Value of Humankind from these poor wretched Creatures, and an Estimate of the Virtues and Powers of all the reft from these Dregs of Humanity, nay, the very Dregs of Barbarity. If any one had a Mind to inquire into the Nature and Virtues of an Herb, he would not gather it wither'd and juicelefs, in a barren Ground, but fo as it grows