in our dreams; it would be no unnatural fuggeftion, should we fuppofe, that the foul, in thefe nocturnal fallies is trying her strength, ftruggling for freedom, and rejoicing over her feparation from the body, till fome accident recals, and confines her again to her earthly tabernacle. If therefore conftant experience convinces us, that the foul is freer, when the body is at rest than at other times; that she can perform more arduous and difficult undertakings; that she can refolve, contrive and execute; that he can remember and difpute without the affiftance of the body, shall we not easily entertain an idea of her existence, abstracted from her partner? Shall we not rather readily fuppofe, that she will act with less restraint, when difencumbered from the load that obftructs her flight?—I foresee it may be objected, "that the foul is fometimes inactive as well as "the body, and locked up in a profound fleep without so much as "the least consciousness of its existence; and that death may be for "a continuance, what this is only for a few hours."-But I would appeal to any man's experience, whether, when awake, he has not attempted to communicate fome thought to his companion, which, in the very moment, before he could give it utterance, he has abfoJutely forgot: If fo, I make no doubt, but that the foul always thinks, though perhaps we retain no idea of what she has been employed about during the hours of our fleep. We cannot conceive how this bufy, active principle within us can cease to be, can cease to think, and act according to its nature. But to return to Plato's obfervation. "The inward man, fays he, is an epitome of all the life, motion, and sense with which the creatures are endued; and even in his depraved state is a sha"dow of the divine nature." Flants have not only a visible body, but also an inward, invifible virtue, which makes them live, grow, Aqurith, and bring forth fruit; and this is called the vegetative foul, which diftinguishes it from tones and metals, which have it not. Animals have not only this vegetative foul, which exerts it felf felf while they are asleep; but, befides this, have a power of feeing, hearing, tafting, &c. and fome of them of treasuring up what they take in with their fenfes, which faculties plants have not; that is to fay, they have a fenfitive foul; fo called, because it makes use of the fenfes in its operations.-Man has not only a vegetative foul, as appears from his nourishment and growth; and a fenfitive foul, as appears from the vivacity of his fenfes; but he has, moreover, a rational foul, which argues, and ufes vifible things as inftruments in the contemplation of fuch as are invifible. It is this that demonfrates him to be, not merely a plant, or animal, but a man, and a shadow, or faint resemblance of the Deity. Still, however, he has but one foul; that is to fay, as the fenfitive foul of an animal includes the vegetative; fo the rational foul of a man comprehends both thefe; it lives, perceives, and reasons, in the fame manner, as his thoughts may be taken up with reflections on his own private affairs, the concerns of his country, and the joys of a better life. To fpeak more properly, these three degrees of fouls, which gradually excel each other, are degrees of life. The first, which barely exists, and is altogether incapable of moving from the place where it grows, is that of the plant. The second, which is so closely linked to the body that it perishes with it, is that of an animal, which has the power of motion, and various faculties to exert by means of the organs of the body. The third, which has no dependance on the body; but can live and act without it, is that of a man; and this retains, nay, increases its virtue, as we shall shew hereafter, when the ftrength of the body, to which it is united, fails, and the vigour of the fenfes grow faint and languid. SECTION II. There are three degrees of men, which may, with propriety, be distinguished by the three degrees of fouls mentioned in the foregoing Section. Namely, the VEGETABLE MAN, who, like a plant, VOL. III: only I only lives, and is nourished, and whofe fenfes and reafon are fubfervient to these purposes only; who is a mere blank in the commonwealth; whofe cares extend no farther than just to the preservation of his life; and who hardly feems capable either of pleasure or pain. The ANIMAL MAN, who gives himself wholly up to the contemplation of fenfible objects, who debafes his reason, and eagerly purfues his unlawful pleasures, who gratifies his brutal appetites, and thinks nothing a greater fatigue, nothing fo difagreeable as reflection.-Laftly, there is the RATIONAL MAN, who lives principally upon fpiritual entertainments, turns his eyes inwards on his own. actions, in order to regulate them by the rules of prudence and virtue; contemplates the works of nature, and adores his God, with a heart filled with gratitude and love; ufes this life only in order to a better, and his fenfes only as fubfervient to his soul.—Thus, as a man's behaviour is ; fo ought his denomination to be; and he either resembles an angel, a brute, or a plant, according as he neglects, or improves those faculties which his gracious God has given him. Now fhould any one fay, I am convinced that I have fuch a foul,. as you have described, endowed with life, fenfe, and reason, and therefore would gladly be informed what this foul is; I might ingenuously confefs; fince many, more learned than myself, have made the fame conceffion, that I am perfectly at a lofs to refolve the question; yet fuch our ignorance will no ways perplex the: cause in hand: fince the effects are plain; the less we understand of its nature, the more exalted it muft be: for nothing can fully comprehend what is more excellent than itself; and the foul,. while encumbered with this tenement of clay, may be faid to be inferior to itself; as he, who is fettered. and hand cuffed, and by. that means cannot exert the ftrength which he could were he free,. may with propriety enough be termed under fuch. circumftances: but half a man. Let Let us try, however, to fatisfy the demands of this curious inquirer as well as we can; and fince we cannot poffibly give him any adequate idea of what the foul is, it may be of fome ufe and fatisfaction to him to know for certain what it is not. In the first place, then, common fenfe and reafon dictate to us, that it is not the body; for if it were, it would grow up with it; whereas the one grows only to fuch a particular age, whilst the other, after that, makes daily improvements. Befides, the foul is often times more vigorous, when the body is most infirm and inactive; the former improves in knowledge, the latter in ftature.Again, if it were the body, it would decay with it, and perfons, who struggle with bodily infirmities, would labour likewife under mental imperfections: whoever had a broken leg, or an arm, would have a wound in his foul too; whoever was infected with any disease, would alfo find his reafon ruffled and difcompofed; he that had loft his bodily eyes, would find the eyes of his mind overwhelmed with darkness. The reverse, however, fome few instances of infanity excepted, is apparent from common obfervation; for often-times a moft noble, generous, and fprightly foul inhabits an infirm, blind, and decrepit body. In fhort, let us take a furvey of the dead, and to all outward appearance the body will be no ways different from what it was in its health and vigour; we must therefore conclude, that there was fomething invifible in that body, whilst alive, far different from the terreftrial part that is obvious to our eye-fight. But fome sceptical perfons may ftill further object, "that the "foul improves in vigour and strength, as the body does; because a man can carry with ease what a child cannot so much as move; " and a child of two years of age can run; whereas an infant of "two months cannot fo much as ftand alone."-It must be remem-" bered, that we here fpeak only of the vegetative and fenfitive foul! -But if either the one or the other should break an arm or a leg,^ those I 2 those limbs would be deprived of their motion and strength, notwithstanding the foul would still have the fame power of moving the rest of the body as before: from whence we may infer, that, at a proper time, the nerves and finews which the foul makes use of as instruments to move the body, are dry and hardened; not that the soul is any ways grown or strengthened. As old men, therefore, whofe nerves are grown ftiff and unfit for action, require an artificial support, though their souls have as strong inclinations to walk as ever; the power of the foul is the fame in infancy, as in manhood; in old age as in youth: the whole fault lies in the orof the body, which are not equally good in one age as in angans other. Thus the fkill of a musician is the fame, when the ftrings of his inftrument are loofe and damp, as when they are dry and screwed to a proper pitch, though the opportunity of fhewing his art is different. Thus children come to a distinct pronunciation by. the increase of their teeth, though they prattle, after an imperfect manner, fome time before; and old men speak thick, and almost unintelligibly after the lofs of theirs, though they are still capable of embellishing their difcourfes with as bright images as ever. Thus though there were fome letters in the alphabet, which Demofthenes could not pronounce, through a natural impediment in his fpeech; yet he was justly esteemed the most famous orator of age in which he lived. If the bodily organs of an old man were as well difposed as those of a youth, the vegetative and fenfitive foul would act with equal freedom; and, if you would judge. as impartially of the power of your foul, as of the fkill of a mufician, not by the agility of his fingers, perhaps ftiff, and incapable of execution, by reafon of fome accidental diftemper, but by the harmony of his compofures; if you would confider, that you may have an inclination to walk, though the weakness of your nerves will not permit you; a judgment to apprehend things, though not conveyed to you by your bodily eyes; that your skill in eloquence the may |