suspect they are nearer Allyed than either our Philosophers, or School Divines will allow them to be._[129] The meaning is, he suspects our Souls are nothing but Organiz'd Matter. Or in plain English, our _Souls_ are nothing but our Bodies. And then when the Body dies you may guess what becomes of them! Thus the Authorities of Religion are weaken'd, and the prospect of the other World almost shut up. And is this a likely Supposition for Sincerity and good Nature? Do's Honour use to rise upon the Ruines of Conscience? And are People the best Friends where they have the least Reason to be so? But not only the Inclinations to Friendship must Languish upon this Scheme, but the very Powers of it are as it were destroy'd. By this Systeme no Man can say his Soul is his own. He can't be assured the same Colours of Reason and Desire will last. Any little Accident from _without_ may metamorphose his Fancy, and push him upon a new set of Thoughts. _Matter_ and _Motion_ are the most Humorsom Capricious Things in Nature; and withall, the most Arbitrary and uncontroll'd. And can Constancy proceed from Chance, Choice from Fate, and Virtue from Necessity? In short a Man at this rate must be a Friend or an Enemy in spite of his Teeth, and just as long as the _Atoms_ please and no longer. Every Change in _Figure_ and _Impulse_, must alter the Idea, and wear off the former Impression. So that by these Principles, Friendship will depend on the _Seasons_, and we must look in the _Weather Glass_ for our Inclinations. But this 'tis to Refine upon Revelation, and grow wiser than Wisdom! The same Author in his Dedication of _Juvenal_ and _Persius_, has these words: _My Lord, I am come to the last Petition of_ Abraham;[130] _If there be ten Righteous Lines in this vast Preface, spare it for their sake; and also spare the next City because it is but a little one_. Here the Poet stands for _Abraham_; and the Patron for God Almighty: And where lies the Wit of all this? In the Decency of the Comparison? I doubt not. And for the _next City_ he would have spared, he is out in the Allusion. 'Tis no _Zoar_, but much rather _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah_, Let them take care the Fire and Brimstone does not follow: And that those who are so bold with _Abraham_'s Petition, are not forced to that of _Dives_. To beg Protection for a Lewd Book in _Scripture Phrase_, is very extraordinary! 'Tis in effect to Prostitute the Holy Rhetorick, and send the _Bible_ to the _Brothell_! I can hardly imagin why these Tombs of Antiquity were raked in, and disturb'd? Unless it were to conjure up a departed Vice, and revive the Pagan Impurities: Unless it were to raise the Stench of the Vault, and Poyson the Living with the Dead. Indeed _Juvenal_ has a very untoward way with him in some of his Satyrs. His Pen has such a Libertine stroak that 'tis a Question whether the Practise, or the Reproof, the Age, or the Author, were the more Licentious. He teaches those Vices he would correct,