given of the Reflexion of our Confcience, as being an Effect of Reason fo natural to us, that very few Men can quite rid themfelves of it, by the most Unnatural Force. 4. I propofe it to his Confideration, Whe ther it is not highly Reasonable to suppose, that a Creature, thus naturally Accountable, fhall be Actually call'd to an Account, by his Omnipotent, and All-wife Governour; and whether he will not fo Account with him, that every Accountable Action from his Creation, fhall have its due Influence on his State and Condition. If we cannot suppose this, we must fuppofe that Omnifcient Wisdom and Power has made Man, quite otherwife, in the very Frame and Conftitution of his Nature, than God intends to deal with him. 5. And lastly, let him then look abroad into his whole Kind, or but in Se defcendere, and confider whether Mankind, is in the general, accounted with in this State; or or whether the Happiness or Mifery incident to him here, appears to his Reafon like the Sentence of The Searcher of Hearts. I dare fay no Man that confiders well the Course of Things amongst Men, and at the fame time believes a watchful and impartial Providence over them, can believe that ever any Man receiv'd from the Hands of Providence, his last Retribution in this Life: For, what= whatever Connexion may be found between that Good or Evil which is Moral, and that which is Natural; which doubtlefs is much greater than what is obvious to ordinary Observation; yet if the Chain is broken in any one Link, and there is the least Deviation, in any the leaft Instance, from the Eternal Rule of Justice; then, to him that believes a God, and nas right Apprehenfions of his Nature, this brings a Neceffity of inferring A Future State of Retribution, to that Perfon who has not had it in this; and (fince it falls out fo, in many Instances, with every Man) to all Mankind. I fee nothing in these Particulars but what might have been, nay and what has been discover'd by the Light of Nature only; which sometimes puts me to a Stand for a Reason, why this State was not fo univerfally believ'd, or pofitively afferted, by those of the Heathens, that held the Being of a GOD, and had bright Notions of Morality: And I know no Reason for it but this; That, whereas this Argument depends upon an Antecedent Knowledge, first of the Divine Nature, next of our own, and lastly of the Chief Happiness belonging to our Nature; Religion, as generally taught amongst them, was overrun with Errors and Misapprehenfions, in all thefe Refpects. And it must be confefs'd, that the Notions of a lazy or licentious Deity, an haughty and self-sufficient Virtue, or of an imaginary and chymerical Happiness, where entertain'd, will effectually destroy the Belief of a Future State. But as to the Modern Disciples of Natural Religion, who feldom venture to maintain any of these Abfurdities of their Predeceffors, how many foever they advance of their own; I never expect to hear from them, the true Reason why they reject, as many of them do, the Doctrin of a Future State of Retribution. Next we are to enquire, Whether Reason will afford us any thing, in Confirmation of the Chriftian Immortality of the Soul; that is, how far it is agreeable to Reason fince discover'd, tho' it cou'd never have been discover'd by Reason. As to the Nature of the Happiness or Mifery belonging to that State, I only make this general Remark upon it: That, as we find all that is Morally Good or Evil. in us, while in this State of Probation, to confist in a Conformity, or Averfation to the Divine Nature, and Life; fo it is highly reasonable to fuppofe that, what can be naturally good or evil to us in the State of Retribution, confifts, as to the Foundation of it, in perfectly enjoying, or utterly utterly abandoning of God; which, if there were no other, is a fufficient Account of Heaven and Hell. But befides this, there are two other things confiderable in the Chriftian Immortality; they are, Our Entrance upon it, and Our Continuance in it. 1. The Scripture-account of our Entrance on that State makes it wholly Miraculous, and fo above Reafon; but yet with an apparent Tendency, in Reafon, to promote the chief Defign, and ferve the best Purpofes of this Immortality. It begins, we are told, with a Refurrection of our Bodies, in order, [fay we] to be reunited to our Souls: And, if we confider what Connexion the Gospel has made between the two States; (it has made this a Probation for the other, and that the Confummation of our Labour in this; in fo much, that they are exprefs'd by one and the fame Phrafe, The Kingdom of God) nothing can be more agreeable to this Connexion of Two Worlds, than that the Inhabitant of both, (of a Reasonable Soul, and Human Flesh fubfifting) fhou'd be remov'd the fame entire Perfon, from one, to the other. S. Mark, c. I. par'd with Had Men always gone out of the World by a Tranflation; tho' it had not been I 2 been known whither, nor to what Purpofe they went; there had been no Objection left to the Arguments that Reason offer'd the Heathens, for the Reality of a Future State; which therefore, had the Cafe been fo, wou'd have gain'd a much more general Belief than we find it did amongst them: Whereas, to us, the Breach that Death makes upon our Nature, is perfectly heal'd, by our Refurrection and Revivification: So that Chriftianity comes to confirm, and heighten our Rational Expectation of that State; which therefore does, reciprocally, confirm the Chriftian Doctrin concerning it. We are told indeed, that Flesh and Blood (fuch as it is now) cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; but we under 1 Ep. Cor. c. 15. v. 50. ftand, from the Tenor of the Promife, in that and other Places, That, however our Bodies will be glorify'd, to become capable of Celestial Glory; they fhall not be fo far chang'd as to lose their Identity, but our Souls shall have the fame, tho' refin'd Vehicles or Inftruments of Thought and Sensation : Not that the Body, which of it felf is no Agent, can be dealt with as a Free Agent; but that the Soul, having been, by Union with it, determin'd and modify'd in its own Operations, is most capable of an |