That reasoning Faculty, says he, which we perceive within us, we call
the Soul, but what that Soul is, is unknown to us. It may die with the
Body, or it may survive. I am of Opinion its immortal; but to say that
this Opinion is the Dictate of Reason, or only the Prejudice of
Education, would, I own, puzzle me. If it is immortal, it must be an
Emanation from the Divine Being, and consequently at its being separated
from the Body, will return to its first Principle, if not contaminated.
Now, my Reason tells me, if it is estranged from its first Principle,
which is the Deity, all the Hells of Man's Invention can never yield
Tortures adequate to such a Banishment.
As he had privately held these Discourses among the Crew, he had gained
a Number of Proselytes, who look'd upon him as a new Prophet risen up to
reform the Abuses in Religion; and a great Number being _Rochellers_,
and, as yet, tainted with _Calvinism_, his Doctrine was the more readily
embrac'd. When he had experienced the Effects of his religious
Arguments, he fell upon Government, and shew'd, that every Man was born
free, and had as much Right to what would support him, as to the Air he
respired. A contrary Way of arguing would be accusing the Deity with
Cruelty and Injustice, for he brought into the World no Man to pass a
Life of Penury, and to miserably want a necessary Support; that the vast
Difference between Man and Man, the one wallowing in Luxury, and the
other in the most pinching Necessity, was owing only to Avarice and
Ambition on the one Hand, and a pusillanimous Subjection on the other;
that at first no other than a Natural was known, a paternal Government,
every Father was the Head, the Prince and Monarch of his Family, and
Obedience to such was both just and easy, for a Father had a
compassionate Tenderness for his Children; but Ambition creeping in by
Degrees, the stronger Family set upon and enslaved the Weaker; and this
additional Strength over-run a third, by every Conquest gathering Force
to make others, and this was the first Foundation of Monarchy. Pride
encreasing with Power, Man usurped the Prerogative of God, over his
Creatures, that of depriving them of Life, which was a Privilege no one
had over his own; for as he did not come into the World by his own
Election, he ought to stay the determined Time of his Creator: That
indeed, Death given in War, was by the Law of Nature allowable, because
it is for the Preservation of our own Lives; but no Crime ought to be
thus punished, nor indeed any War undertaken, but in Defence of our
natural Right, which is such a Share of Earth as is necessary for our
Support.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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