Opinion of Plato, or any

other Philofopher,

but the united Voice of all Mankind? This
was the common Belief of the World, de-
rived from fome common Senfe, or Principle
of Reason, before any Philofopher had fo
much as thought of an abstracted Reason
for the Proof of it: And, had not the com-
mon Senfe of Nature dictated this Truth to
them, I am very confident the philofophical
Reasons had never been thought of. That
the common Belief and Perfuafion was the
Foundation of the philofophical Inquiry, is
evident from hence, That all the antient
Writers upon this Subject appeal to the
common Notion and Confent of Mankind,
as one great Argument for the Truth of
the Doctrine: Which certainly proves this
at least, That the World was poffeffed of.
this Belief long before they were Writers, or
ever the philosophical Reasons were thought
of. If the Notion was common, that alone
is a fufficient Proof that it did not arife from
abstracted Reasoning; for no common Opi-
nion ever did, or ever can: And the Reason
is plain; for a common Opinion is that
which is received by the generality of Men,
who never were, who never will be, capable
of attending to abftracted Reafon. Now this
VOL. I.
O
natural

.

natural Evidence, diftinguished from the Intricacies of Philofophy, is the Thing which we inquire after, and which will stand its Ground, whatever becomes of the private Notions of learned Men: For Nature may be in the right in giving Notice of a future Life, however Men may be mistaken, when they come to confider and afcertain the Nature and Cause of it; which to do is the Mark and Aim of Philosophy.

But the common Confent is the Voice and Law of Nature; for what all agree in muft needs derive itself from fomething that is common to all; and what is fo, but the Senfe and Inftinct of Nature? When Men come to Speculation, they differ as much in the Caft and Turn of their Minds, as they do in the Features and Lineaments of their Faces; and therefore fpeculative Reasoning will never produce a common Perfuafion.

This Belief and Perfuafion of the Certainty of a future Life arose from the common Senfe that Men have of the Difference of Good and Evil, and of every Man's being accountable for the Things done in this World; which Account not being taken in this World, as the leaft Degree of Obfervation will enable Men to fee, they concluded,

or

or rather they felt from the very Force of Reafon and Confcience, that there was an Account to be given hereafter. Such an internal Argument as this, which springs up in the Heart and from the Heart of every Man, has a greater Weight in it, than all the Reasonings of Philofophy put together, and will tie Men down, if not to hope for, yet at least to fear a future Immortality; either of which is the filent Voice of Nature testifying the Reality of a Life to come.

"That this is the true Foundation of the univerfal Belief of a future Life, may be learnt from hence, That the Perfuafion of another Life was always connected with the Suppofition that there were different States for good and bad Men; fo that you cannot any-where trace the Notion of Immortality, but

you find Evidence alfo for the different Conditions of Men in another Life, according as they have behaved themselves in this. Now these two Opinions being thus infeparably united, it is eafy to judge which is the natural Senfe, and which the Confequence: Let any Man try, and he will find, that it is not the Expectation of living that makes Men infer the Reasonableness or Neceffity of a Judgment, but it is the reasonable and natural Expectation of Judgment which

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which makes them infer the Neceffity and Reality of a future Life.

Into what great Abfurdities this natural Notion grew under the Management of Poets, is well known: They named the Princes and the Judges, and described the Tortures of the Wicked, as their Fancies led them; and their Inventions became the vulgar Theology. But this ftill fhews the Truth of what I have afferted; for neither would the Poets, whose Business it is to raise fine Scenes upon the Plan and Probability of Nature, have fo painted the Torments and the Enjoyments of Men departed, neither would the World have received their Inventions, had there been no Foundation in Nature to support the Romance.

As to fuch as imagine that the Notion of a future Life arose from the Defcriptions and Inventions of Poets, they may e'en as well fuppofe that Eating and Drinking had the fame Original, and that Men had never thought of it but for the fine Feasts and Entertainments which are described in fuch Writers. The Poets were the Papists of Antiquity, who corrupted the genuine Sentiments of Nature, and obfcured the Light of Reafon, by introducing the wild Conceits of Folly and Superftition: And, when once

they

they had grafted the Slips of Superstition upon the Stock of Nature, they throve fo faft, and grew fo rank, that the natural Branches were even starved by the Luxuriancy of this wild Olive. But still the Root was natural, though the Fruit was wild. All that Nature teaches is, That there is a future Life, distinguished into different States of Happiness and Misery, in which Men will be rewarded or punished, according as they have pursued or neglected the Rules of Virtue and Honour. And this Notion prevailed where the Fables of Greece had never been heard of; and wicked Men felt in themselves the Fear of the Wrath which is to come, though they had never fo much as learnt the Name of Tantalus or Sifyphus, or any other Sufferer in the Poets' Scene of Hell.

The natural Evidence then of Life and Immortality stands equally clear of the Inventions of Poetry, and the Subtilties and Refinements of Philofophy; and, though it be allied to both, yet it arofe from neither. The Truth of the Case with regard to both is this: The Poets found Men in poffeffion of the Doctrine of a future State with Rewards and Punishments for good and bad Men Upon this Foundation they went to work;

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