THIS is the only reason why, when the _corporeal Organs_ or _Instruments_ are vitiated or impeded, the _SOUL_ cannot explicate its own _Faculties_, according to the Words of _Solomon_[6]; _The corruptible Body presseth down the Soul, and the earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the Mind_. Which _Truth_ may serve to obviate two Objections; _viz._ _That_ of _Childrens_ being destitute of the _SOUL_, and _that_ of the _SOUL_’s growing up with _Youth_, and declining with _Age_, or _Sickness_: Since, tho’ it less displays itself in _Infancy_, _Sickness_, and _Dotage_, yet it still is, and continues furnished with its proper _Faculties_, and that from the _Beginning_ of Life, until its _End_; neither does the _SOUL_ in its _Substance_ ever suffer the least _Diminution_, but only by the _Ineptitude_ of the Instrument or _Organ_, it may be hindered in the _Discharge_ of its Functions, and _Execution_ of its Offices. AND tho this _divine Substance_ can contract nothing of _Vice_, _Spot_, or _Contagion_ from the _Concretion_ of the corruptible _Body_: yet as a thick _Cloud_ obscures the _Sun-Beams_, and overcasts its _Light_; or, as by holding a _versicolour Glass_ to our Eyes, Matters appear _different_ from what they really are: So the _Intemperature_ of the _Body_ obscures the _Light_ of _Reason_, and overshadows the _Intellects_ of the _Mind_, which of course obstructs the _Functions_ of the SOUL. Hence it is, that a _delirious_ or _drunken_ Man thinks he sees double, or _two things_, tho’ _one_ be the only _Object_ of his Eyes: And as, for this reason, _melancholick_ Persons imagine _Absurdities_, and feign _Dreams_ to themselves; so _cholerick_ Persons grow insensibly _hot_, and are suddenly _incensed_ by the Fumes of _noxious Humours_ oppressing the _Brain_. BUT there is another _Sett_ of Miscreants, who don’t so much deny the _Existence_, as the _Immortality_ of the SOUL. This I esteem a Piece of the grossest _Impiety_, to think _that_ spiritual Substance _Mortal_ and _Frail_, which is inspir’d in _Man_ by the Divine _Will_ and _Command_, proceeding immediately from the very Substance of GOD himself: Since if Man be made after the _Image_ of GOD, to express his _Similitude_, he must needs participate of his _Nature_, and consequently be a _Fellow-Sharer_ of Eternity: And if the _human_ SOUL be Partaker of the divine _Essence_ or _Substance_, as GOD is _eternal_ and incapable of _Decay_, so it must needs be _eternal_, and free from all _Corruption_. MOREOVER, GOD form’d and made all other _Things_ for the sake of _Man_, but _Him_ he made for his _own sake_, and therefore like unto HIMSELF; for which reason, he was pleas’d to agglutinate _Immortality_ to _Mortality_, and _Divinity_ to _Humanity_: By which Means, the _divine_ NATURE incorporates, as it were, with the _human_, and the _human_ is united to the _divine_.