put such a Restraint upon evil Actions, as was in- god gave consistent with this Liberty. But whatever Means the berly of hindering them were not repugnant to such Liberty; as establishing and promulging a Law, tomen Las external and internal Warnings, together with free agents of Threatnings and Promises; none of these were them of tor neglected by God: Neither would he suffer the grodd Evil. if Effects of Wickedness to spread to the furthest he puts a so that Government was never utterly subverted, haint ups nor the Knowledge of the Divine Laws entirely. extinguished. And even those Crimes that were permitted, as we hinted before, were not without real a mag a may. their Advantages, when made Use of either to nitude o punish those who were equally wicked, or to chas- liberty of fer tue, or else to procure some eminent Example orangenes of tise those who were slipt out of the Way of Vir Patience and Constancy, in those who had made a great Progress in Virtue. (a) Lastly, Even they themselves, whose Crimes seemed to be overlooked for a Time, were for the most Part punished, with a proportionable Punishment, that the Will of God might be executed against them, who acted contrary to his Will. SECT. XX. And that so great, as to oppress good Men. AND if at any Time Vice should go unpunished, or which is wont to offend many weak Persons, "6 granted to Man, that is, would have retained within him"self his Fore-knowledge and exceeding Power, whereby he might have interposed, to hinder Man from falling into "Danger, by trying to make an ill Use of his Liberty. For "if he had interposed, he would then have taken away that Liberty, which his Reason and Goodness had given them." Origen, in his Fourth Book against Celsus, handles this Matter, as he uses to do others, very learnedly; where, amongst other Things, he says, "That you destroy the Nature of Virtue, if 66 you take away Liberty." (a) Lastly, Even they themselves, &c.] Concerning this whole Matter, see the Note at Sect. VIII. greet be gone. some some good Men, oppressed by the Fury of the Wicked Wicked, should not only lead a troublesome Life, but also undergo an infamous Death; we must not man oppresses presently from hence conclude against a Divine Providence; which, as we have before observed, is the Goodin established by such strong Arguments; but rather, Wat with the wisest Men, draw this following Inference: SECT. XXI. This may be turned upon them, so as to prove, that THAT since God has a Regard to human come to pass in the mean Time; we ought to His a compinatio Ja future Actions, who is himself just; and yet these Things resurrection Judgment expect a Judgment after this Life, lest either remarkable Wickedness should continue unpunishthente red, or eminent Virtue go unrewarded and fail of Happiness. SECT. XXII. Which is confirmed by Tradition. IN (a) order to establish this, we must first shew, that Souls remain after they are separated from their Bodies; which is a most antient Tradition derived from our first Parents (whence else could it come?) to almost all civilized People; as appears (b) from Homer's Verses, (c) and from the Philo (a) In order to establish this, &c.] Whoever has a Mind to read this Argument more largely handled, I refer him to Chrysostom on 1 Cor. Ch. xv. and to his Ethics, Tome VI. against those who affirm that human Affairs are regulated by Dæmons: And to his Fourth Discourse upon Providence. (b) From Homer's Verses, &c.] Especially on that Part called Vezvía, concerning those that are departed: To which may be added, the like in Virgil, in Seneca's Edipus, Lucan, Statius, and that in Sumuel, 1 Sam. xxviii. (c) And from the Philosophers, &c.] Pherecydes, Pythagoras, and Plato, and all the Disciples of them. To these Justin Philosophers, not only the Greeks, but also the ancient Gauls, (a) which were called Druids, and (b) from the Indians called Brachmans, and from those Things, which many Writers have related, (c) concerning the Egyptians (d) and Thracians, and also by the Germans., And moreover, concerning adds Empedocles, and many Oracles in his Second Apologetic; and Zenocrates. (a) Which were called Druids, &c.] These taught, that Souls did not die. See Casar, Book VI. of the War with the Gauls, and Strabo, Book IV. of the same. "These and others "say, that Souls are incorruptible;" (see also Lucan, Book I. 455.) (b) And from the Indians called Brachmans, &c.] Whose Opinion Strabo explains to us thus, Book XV. "We are to "think of this Life, as of the State of a Child before it be "born; and of Death, as a Birth to that which is truly Life "and Happiness to wise Men." See also a remarkable Place concerning this Matter, in Porphyry's Fourth Book, against eating Living Creatures. (c) Concerning the Egyptians, &c.] Herodotus in his Euterpe says, that it was the Opinion of the Egyptians, "That the "Soul of Man was immortal." The same is reported of them by Diogenes Laërtius, in his Preface, and by Tacitus, Book V. of his History of the Jews. They buried rather than burnt "their Bodies, after the Manner of the Egyptians; they hav"ing the same Regard and Persuasion concerning the Dead." See Diodorus Siculus, concerning the Soul of Osiris; and Servius on the Sixth Æneid, most of which is taken from the Egyptians. 1 (d) And Thracians, &c.] See again here, the places of Hermippus, concerning Pythagorus, which we before quoted out of Josephus. Mela, Book II. concerning the Thracians, says, "Some think, that the Souls of those who die, return "again; others, that though they do not return, yet they do "not die, but go to a more happy Place." And Solinus concerning the same, Chap. X. "Some of them think, that the "Souls of those who die, return again; others, that they do not die, but are made more happy." Hence arose that Custom of attending the Funerals with great Joy, mentioned by these Writers, and by Valerius Max. Book I. Chap. v. 12, That which we before quoted out of the Scholiast upon Aristophanes, makes this the more credible, viz. that some of the Hebrews of old came out of Thrace. a Divine a Divine Judgment after this Life, we find many Things extant, not only among the Greeks (a) but also amongst the Egyptians (b) and Indians, as Strabo, Diogenes, Laërtius, and (c) Plutarch tell us: To which we may add a Tradition, that the World should be burnt; which was found of old (d) in Hystaspes and the Sybils, and now also (e) in Ovid (f) and Lucan, (a) But also amongst the Egyptians, &c.] Book I. says, that what Orpheus delivered, departed, was taken from the Egyptians. now quoted out of Tacitus. and amongst the Diodorus Siculus, concerning Souls Repeat what we (b) And Indians, &c.] Amongst whose Opinions, Strabo, Book XV. reckons that "concerning the Judgments that are "exercised amongst the Souls departed." (c) And Plutarch, &c.] Concerning those whose Punishment is deferred by the Gods, and concerning the Face of the Moon's Orb. See a famous Place of his, quoted by Eusebius, Book XI. Ch. 38. of his Gospel Preparat. out of the Dialogue concerning the Soul. (d) In Hystaspes and the Sibyls, &c.] See Justin's Second Apologetic, and Clemens, Strom. VI. whence is quoted that from the Tragedian. For certainly the Day will come, 'twill come, To future Times, that Sea, and Earth and Hear'n (f) And Lucan, &c.] Book I. So when this Frame of Nature is dissolv'd, The Stars confounded tumble into Sea, The Earth refuse its Banks, and try to throw (c) the Indians in Siam; a Token of which, is the Sun's approaching nearer to the Earth, (d) observed by Astronomers. So likewise, upon the first going into the Canary Islands and America, and other distant Places, the same Opinion concerning Souls and Judgment was found there. SECT. XXIII. And no Way repugnant to Reason. (e) NEITHER can we find any Argument drawn from Nature, which overthrows this, an an The Ocean off. The Moon attack the Sun, The Order of the World's disturb'd throughout. cient Lucan was preceded by his Uncle Seneca, in the End of his Book of Murcia: "The Stars shall run upon each other; and every Thing being on a Flame, that, which now shines regularly, shall then burn in one Fire." (c) The Indians in Siam, &c.] See Ferdinand Mendesius. (d) Observed by Astronomers, &c.] See Copernicus's Revolu tions, Book III. Chap. 16. Joachim Rhaticus on Copernicus, and Gemma Frisius. See also Ptolemy, Book III. Ch. 4. of his Ma thematical Syntax. That the World is not now upheld by that Power it was formerly, as itself declares; " and that its Ruin "is evidenced, by the Proof, how the Things in it fail," says Cyprian to Demetrius. The Earth is nearer to the Sun in its Perihelions, that is, when it is in the extreme Parts of the lesser Axis of its Parabola, though the Earth always approaches at the same Distances; yet it is manifest from hence, that at the Will of God, it may approach still nearer, and if it so pleases him, be set on Fire by the Sun, as it happens to Comets. Le Clerc. "It were to be wished that the learned Remarker had left out "this and some other Notes of this Kind, unless he had studied such sort of things more." (e) Neither can we find any Argument, &c.] This Matter might be handled more exactly, and upon better Principles of Philosophy, if our Room would allow it. I. We ought to define what we mean by the Death of the Soul, which would hap pen, if either the Substance of the Soul were reduced to nothing, or if there were so great a Change made in it, that it |