ing by certain experience that it must die, and being unwilling to die alone, furnishes reasons to involve the Soul in one common ruin; whilst the Soul frames one to believe, it may subsist for ever. I have searched for all the light I could, both from the Antients and Moderns, to assist my reflections in diving into so abstruse a mystery: I have read all that has been written on the Immortality of the Soul, and after I have done so with all possible attention, the clearest proof that I find of the eternity of my Soul, is my own constant desire that it may be so.
I wish I had never read Monsieur Descartes's Meditations: the great Reputation of that excellent man among us, would have given me some belief of the Demonstration he promises us; but there appeared to me more vanity in the assurance he gives us, than solidity in his arguments; and how desirous soever I was to be convinc'd by his Reasons, all that I can do in his favour or my own, is to remain in the uncertainty I was in before.
I left the study of Metaphysicks to make an enquiry into Religions, and returning to that Antiquity which I respect so much, I found among the Greeks and Romans, nothing but a superstitious idolatrous Worship, or politick human Contrivances, establish'd for the Government of Men. It was not difficult for me to see the advantages of the Christian Religion over all the rest; and using all my endeavours to submit my self with reverence to the belief of its Mysteries, I let my Reason taste with pleasure the purest and most perfect Morality in the world.
Amidst the diversity of Beliefs that divide Christianity, the true Catholick engages me as well by my own free election, were I yet to chuse, as by the habitual impression it has long since made upon me. But this adherence to my own, does not ani-
