to be
insensible of all sorts of misery; for while souls are tied clown to a
mortal body, they are partakers of its miseries; and really, to speak
the truth, they are themselves dead; for the union of what is divine
to what is mortal is disagreeable. It is true, the power of the soul
is great, even when it is imprisoned in a mortal body; for by moving it
after a way that is invisible, it makes the body a sensible instrument,
and causes it to advance further in its actions than mortal nature could
otherwise do. However, when it is freed from that weight which draws it
down to the earth and is connected with it, it obtains its own proper
place, and does then become a partaker of that blessed power, and those
abilities, which are then every way incapable of being hindered in their
operations. It continues invisible, indeed, to the eyes of men, as does
God himself; for certainly it is not itself seen while it is in the
body; for it is there after an invisible manner, and when it is freed
from it, it is still not seen. It is this soul which hath one nature,
and that an incorruptible one also; but yet it is the cause of the
change that is made in the body; for whatsoever it be which the soul
touches, that lives and flourishes; and from whatsoever it is removed,
that withers away and dies; such a degree is there in it of immortality.
Let me produce the state of sleep as a most evident demonstration of
the truth of what I say; wherein souls, when the body does not distract
them, have the sweetest rest depending on themselves, and conversing
with God, by their alliance to him; they then go every where, and
foretell many futurities beforehand. And why are we afraid of death,
while we are pleased with the rest that we have in sleep? And how absurd
a thing is it to pursue after liberty while we are alive, and yet to
envy it to ourselves where it will be eternal! We, therefore, who have
been brought up in a discipline of our own, ought to become an example
to others of our readiness to die. Yet, if we do stand in need of
foreigners to support us in this matter, let us regard those Indians
who profess the exercise of philosophy; for these good men do but
unwillingly undergo the time of life, and look upon it as a necessary
servitude, and make haste to let their souls loose from their bodies;
nay, when no misfortune presses them to it, nor drives them upon it,
these have such a desire of a life of immortality, that they tell other
men