The first Thing that is now to be done, is to assert the Existence of the Subject, the Welfare whereof we are now Entreating you to be wisely concerned about; And this is, The SOUL. This Assertion is to be introduced, as an Undoubted Preliminary, to what we are going upon; Job XXXII. 8 There is a SPIRIT in Man. A SPIRIT capable of Discerning and Arguing and Affecting: A SPIRIT which Reasons, and Compares, and Judges, and Chooses; A SPIRIT which a Man of Reason, when he feels himself a dying, does commit into the Hands of a Faithful Creator. O Man, Thou hast a SOUL, the Existence whereof ought to be how Real, and how Awful, to thee! Indeed, it might seem a Needless Labour, yea, and a Cutting Satyr, to take any Pains for the convincing of a Man, that he has a Soul within him. Should any Man Doubt whether he has a SOUL within him, his very Doubt would be an Evidence of it. So wondrously would that Man Confute himself, who should thus go to degrade himself into the class of the Beasts that Perish. It was the Ridiculous Mistake of the poor Americans, who when they first saw some Europeans on Horse back, took the Horse and his Rider to be but One Animal. But much more worthy to be Ridiculed, arc the Epicureans who take not the Body and the Soul, for very Different Substances. My Friend, Thy Body is but a Cabinet unto a Jewel, the most precious ⟨p. 4⟩in the World; A SOUL, A SOUL which has many Incontestable Demonstrations (besides those of well-attested Apparitions,) of its Immortality. A SOUL which is capable of Doing more for GOD, and of Tasting more from Him, than all the Creatures in the whole Visible Creation. A SOUL, whereof a SAVIOUR who has been Powerfully declared, The SON of GOD; and the True Witness, who delivereth Souls; has declared unto us, Matth. X. 28. It cannot be killed, by that which Kills the Body. A Text, which the Men of corrupt minds, who are for that Scandalous Epitaph on a Dead Man, Here lies the whole of the Man, in vain Study to make Evasions from. That SOUL of thine, O Man, When will thine Ears be open unto the Cries which it makes unto thee? Verily, There is the Voice of GOD crying to Every Man, in the cry which his own SOUL makes unto him. When, O Man, wilt thou show thy self a Man? Thy Dying Body is abundantly cared for. When shall the SOUL, that is to Survive the Body, have a due care bestowed upon it? Thy Body is fed;
The first Thing that is now to be done, is to assert the Existence of the Subject, the Welfare whereof we are now Entreating you to be wisely concerned about; And this is, The SOUL. This Assertion is to be introduced, as an Undoubted Preliminary, to what we are going upon; Job XXXII. 8 There is a SPIRIT in Man. A SPIRIT capable of Discerning and Arguing and Affecting: A SPIRIT which Reasons, and Compares, and Judges, and Chuses; A SPIRIT which a Man of Reason, when he feels himself a dying, does commit into the Hands of a Faithful Creator. O Man, Thou hast a SOUL, the Existence whereof ought to be how Real, and how Awful, to thee! Indeed, it might seem a Needless Labour, yea, and a Cutting Satyr, to take any Pains for the convincing of a Man, that he has a Soul within him. Should any Man Doubt whether he has a SOUL within him, his very Doubt would be an Evidence of it. So wondrously would that Man Confute himself, who should thus go to degrade himself into the class of the Beasts that Perish. It was the Ridiculous Mistake of the poor Americans, who when they first saw some Europeans on Horse back, took the Horse and his Rider to be but One Animal. But much more worthy to be Ridiculed, arc the Epicureans who take not the Body and the Soul, for very Different Substances. My Friend, Thy Body is but a Cabinet unto a Jewel, the most precious ⟨p. 4⟩in the World; A SOUL, A SOUL which has many Incontestible Demonstrations (besides those of well-attested Apparitions,) of its Immortality. A SOUL which is capable of Doing more for GOD, and of Tasting more from Him, than all the Creatures in the whole Visible Creation. A SOUL, whereof a SAVIOUR who has been Powerfully declared, The SON of GOD; and the True Witness, who delivereth Souls; has declared unto us, Matth. X. 28. It cannot be killed, by that which Kills the Body. A Text, which the Men of corrupt minds, who are for that Scandalous Epitaph on a Dead Man, Here lies the whole of the Man, in vain Study to make Evasions from. That SOUL of thine, O Man, When will thine Ears be open unto the Cries which it makes unto thee? Verily, There is the Voice of GOD crying to Every Man, in the cry which his own SOUL makes unto him. When, O Man, wilt thou shew thy self a Man? Thy Dying Body is abundantly cared for. When shall the SOUL, that is to Survive the Body, have a due care bestow'd upon it? Thy Body is fed;
