" I. The doctrine of a internet encyclopedia of philosophy life to come, of rewards and punishments after death, is necessary to all civil society internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
" 2. The whole human race (and this is where he is mistaken), and especially internet encyclopedia of philosophy the wisest and most learned nations of antiquity, concurred in believing and teaching this doctrine internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
" 3. It cannot be internet encyclopedia of philosophy found in any passage of the law of Moses; therefore the law of Moses is of divine origin. Which I am going to prove by the two following syllogisms:
" Every religion, internet encyclopedia of philosophy every society that has not the immortality of the soul for its basis, can be maintained only by an extraordinary providence; the Jewish religion had not the immortality of the soul for basis; therefore the Jewish religion was maintained by an extraordinary internet encyclopedia of philosophy providence.
" All the ancient legislators have said that a religion which did not teach the immortality of the soul could not be maintained but by an extraordinary internet encyclopedia of philosophy providence; Moses founded a religion which is not founded on the immortality of the soul; therefore Moses believed his religion internet encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by an extraordinary providence internet encyclopedia of philosophy."
What is much more extraordinary is this assertion of Warburton's, which he has put in big letters at the beginning of his book. He has often been reproached with the extreme rashness and internet encyclopedia of philosophy bad faith with which he dares to say that all the ancient legislators believed that a religion which is not founded on pains and recompenses after death, can be maintained only by an internet encyclopedia of philosophy extraordinary providence; not one of them ever said it. He does not undertake even to give any example in his huge book stuffed with a vast number internet encyclopedia of philosophy of quotations, all of which are foreign to his subject. He has buried himself beneath a pile of Greek and Latin authors, ancient and modern, for fear one might see through him on the other side of a horrible multitude of envelopes - internet encyclopedia of philosophy. When criticism finally probed to the bottom, he was resurrected from among all these dead men in order to load all his adversaries with insults - internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
It is true that towards the end of his fourth volume, after having walked through a hundred labyrinths, and having fought with everybody he met on the road, he comes at last to his great question which he had left internet encyclopedia of philosophy there. He lays all the blame on the Book of Job which passes among scholars for an Arab work, and he tries to prove that Job did not believe in the internet encyclopedia of philosophy immortality of the soul. Later he explains in his own way all the texts of Holy Writ by which people have tried to combat this opinion - internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
All one can say about it is that, if he was right, it was not for a internet encyclopedia of philosophy bishop to be right in such a way. He should have felt that one might draw dangerous inferences; but everything in this world is a mass of contradiction. This man, who became accuser and persecutor, was not internet encyclopedia of philosophy made bishop by a minister of state's patronage until immediately after he had written his book internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
At Salamanca, Coimbre or Rome, he would have been obliged to recant and to ask pardon. In England he became a peer of the realm with an income of a internet encyclopedia of philosophy hundred thousand livres; it was enotigh to modify his methods internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
OF THE NEED OF REVELATION
The greatest benefit we owe to The New Testament is that it has revealed to
us the immortality of the soul. It is in vain, therefore, that internet encyclopedia
of philosophy this fellow Warburton tried to cloud over this important truth,
by continually representing in his legation of Moses that "the ancient
Jews knew nothing of this necessary dogma, and that the Sadducees did not admit
it in the time of our Lord internet encyclopedia of philosophy Jesus."
He interprets in his own way the very words that have been put into Jesus Christ's mouth: " . . . have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living " (St. Matt. xxii. 31, 32). He gives to the parable of the internet encyclopedia of philosophy wicked rich man a internet encyclopedia of philosophy sense contrary to that of all the Churches. Sherlock, Bishop of London, and twenty other scholars refuted him. English philosophers even reproached him with the scandal of an Anglican bishop manifesting an opinion so contrary to the Anglican Church; and after that, internet encyclopedia of philosophy this man takes it into his head to treat these persons as impious: like the character of Arlequin in the comedy of the Devaliseur de maisons, who, after throwing the furniture out of the window, sees a man carrying some of it off, and cries with all his internet encyclopedia of philosophy might '' Stop thief! "
One should bless the revelation of the immortality of the soul, and of rewards and punishments after death, all the more that mankind's Vain philosophy has always been sceptical of it. The great Caesar did not believe in it at all, internet encyclopedia of philosophy he made himself quite clear in full senate when, in order to stop Catalina being put to death, he represented that death left man without sensation, internet encyclopedia of philosophy that everything died with him; and nobody refuted this view.
The Roman Empire was divided between two principal sects that of Epicurus which asserted that deity was useless to the world, and that the soul perished with the body: and that of the Stoics who internet encyclopedia of philosophy regarded the soul as part of the Deity, which internet encyclopedia of philosophy after death was joined again to its origin, to the great everything from which it emanated. Thus, whether one believed the soul mortal, or whether one believed it immortal, all the sects were agreed in laughing at internet encyclopedia of philosophy pains and punishments after death.
We still have a hundred monuments of this belief of the Romans. It is by virtue of this opinion graved profoundly in their hearts, that so many simple Roman citizens internet encyclopedia of philosophy killed themselves without the least scruple; they did not wait for a tyrant to hand them over to the executioners internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
The most virtuous men even, and those most persuaded of the existence of a God, hoped for no reward, and feared no punishment. Clement, who later was Pope and saint, began by himself doubting what the internet encyclopedia of philosophy early Christians said of another life, and consulted St. Peter at Caesarea - internet encyclopedia of philosophy. We are far from believing that St. Clement wrote the history internet encyclopedia of philosophy that is attributed to him; but this history makes evident the need the human race had of a precise revelation. All that can surprise us is that so repressive and salutary a doctrine has left a prey to so many horrible crimes men who have so little time to live, internet encyclopedia of philosophy and who see themselves squeezed between two eternities internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
SOULS OF FOOLS AND MONSTERS
A deformed internet encyclopedia of philosophy child is born absolutely
imbecile, it has no ideas and lives without ideas; we have seen examples of
this. How shall this animal be internet encyclopedia of philosophy defined?
doctors have said that it is something between man and beast; others have said
that it had a internet encyclopedia of philosophy sensitive soul, but
not an intellectual soul. It eats, drinks, sleeps, wakes, has sensations; but
it does not internet encyclopedia of philosophy think.
Is there internet encyclopedia of philosophy another life for this creature, or is there none? The question has been posed, and has not yet been completely answered internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
Some say that this creature must have a soul, because its father and mother had internet encyclopedia of philosophy one. But by this internet encyclopedia of philosophy reasoning one would prove that if it came into the world without a nose it would be deemed to have one, because its father internet encyclopedia of philosophy and its mother had noses.
A woman gives birth to child with no chin, its forehead is receding and rather black, its internet encyclopedia of philosophy nose is slim and pointed, its eyes are round, it bears not a bad resemblance to a swallow; the rest of its body, internet encyclopedia of philosophy nevertheless, is made like ours -internet encyclopedia of philosophy. The parents have it baptised; by a plurality of votes it is considered a man and possessor of an immortal soul. But if this internet encyclopedia of philosophy ridiculous little figure has pointed nails and beak-like mouth, it is declared a monster, it has no soul, and is not baptised internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
It is well known that in London internet encyclopedia of philosophy in 1726 there was a woman who gave birth every week to a rabbit. No difficulty was made about refusing baptism to this child, despite the epidemic mania there was internet encyclopedia of philosophy for three weeks in London for believing that this poor rogue was making wild rabbits. The internet encyclopedia of philosophy surgeon who attended her, St. Andre by name, swore that nothing was more true, and people believed him. But what reason internet encyclopedia of philosophy did the credulous have for refusing a soul to this woman's children? she had a soul, her children should be provided with souls also; whether they had hands, whether they had paws, whether they were born with a little snout or with a face; cannot the internet encyclopedia of philosophy Supreme Being bestow the gift of thought and sensation on a little I know not what, born of a woman, shaped like a rabbit, as well as to a little I know not what, shaped like a man? Shall the soul that was ready to lodge in this woman's foetus go internet encyclopedia of philosophy back again into space?
Locke makes the sound observation, about monsters, that one must not attribute immortality to the exterior of a body; that the form has nothing to do with it. This immortality, internet encyclopedia of philosophy he says, is no more attached to the form of his face or his chest, than to the way his beard is dressed or his coat cut internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
He asks what is the internet encyclopedia of philosophy exact measure of deformity by which you can recognize whether or no a child has a soul? What is the precise degree at which it internet encyclopedia of philosophy must be declared a monster and deprived of internet encyclopedia of philosophy?
One asks still further what would be a soul which never has any internet encyclopedia of philosophy but fantastic ideas? there are some which internet encyclopedia of philosophy never escape from them. Are they worthy or unworthy? what is to be done with internet encyclopedia of philosophy their pure spirit?
What is one to think of a child with two heads? without deformity apart from this? Some say that it has two souls because it is provided with two pineal glands, with two corpus internet encyclopedia of philosophy callosum, with two sensorium commune. Others reply that one cannot have two souls when one has only one chest and internet encyclopedia of philosophy one navel.
In fine, so many questions have been asked about this poor human soul, that if it were necessary to answer them all, this examination of its own internet encyclopedia of philosophy person would cause it the most intolerable boredom. There would happen to it what happened to Cardinal de Polignac at a conclave. His steward, tired of never being able to make him settle his accounts, made the journey from Rome, and came to internet encyclopedia of philosophy the little window of his cell burdened with an immense bundle of papers - internet encyclopedia of philosophy. He read for nearly two hours. At last, seeing that no internet encyclopedia of philosophy reply was forthcoming, he put his head forward. The cardinal had departed nearly two hours before. Our souls will depart before their internet encyclopedia of philosophy stewards have acquainted them with the facts: but let us be exact before God, whatever sort of ignoramuses we are, we and internet encyclopedia of philosophy our stewards.