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Animal Rights History Timeline » [1660-1785] Enlightenment » William Whiston

William Whiston

Astronomical Principles of Religion, Natural and Reveal'd

Important Principles of Natural Religion, Demonstrated from the Foregoing Observations

[1717] William Whiston, "Important Principles of Natural Religion," in Astronomical Principles of Religion, Natural and Reveal'd;…Together with A Preface, Of the Temper of Mind Necessary for the Discovery of Divine Truth; and of the Degree of Evidences that Ought to be Expected in Divine Matters (London, 1717; Google Books: Online Library of Free eBooks).

That the Souls of even all Brute Creatures are Immaterial, i.e. not compos'd of that dull, unactive, insensible, solid, passive Substance, which we call Matter, or Body, and of which all the Visible and Sensible World about us is compos'd. For it certainly appears, that all this Substance, which we properly call Material Substance, or Body, is so far from a Capacity of Sensation, Thought, Activity, and Moving it self and the Body, which are the known Properties of the Souls of even Brute Creatures themselves. (98)

This is, I say, what I should Guess, as to the State of the Immaterial Souls of Brutes, if I would indulge my self in such Uncertainties. And whether the Psalmist does not favour such a Conjecture, where he speaks thus, When God hideth his Face from such Creatures, they are troubled: When he taketh away their Breath they die, and return to their Dust: When He sendeth forth his Spirit they are Created, and He reneweth the Face of the Earth: I shall leave to the Reader's Consideration. But as to the Proposition it self; I mean, that what perceives and acts even in Brutes, is a Being or Agent properly and entirely distinct from that Body in which it acts, and is truly a Being or Agent Immaterial. (101)

But as to those who, to avoid all such Difficulties, pretend that Brutes have no Souls, no Sensation, no Action of their own, are merely Corporeal Clock-work, and Machines…they pretend to disbelieve that, what seems to me almost as plainly a matter of Fact and Observation.…And I care not to answer such an extravagant Objection, which it is next to impossible to suppose, that any sober Proposer can, in earnest, believe himself in his own Proposal of it. And when the Scripture assures us, Prov. xii. 10. that a Righteous or Merciful Man regardeth the Life of his Beast; and this in Opposition to the Cruelty which the tender Mercies of the Wicked or Savage Men are affirm'd to have; it most naturally implies, that those Beasts are themselves really sensible Creatures, and not incapable of feeling the Effects of the Care, or of the Cruelty of their Masters toward them. (102)

Whereas it has formerly appear'd, that both the Sensitive Souls of Brutes, and the Rational Souls of Man, are Immaterial; and it does now most evidently appear, that the Supreme Being himself is also Immaterial; that is, it appears that the entire noblest Parts of the Universe, all the Living, Active, Thinking, Enjoying Parts of it, for whose Sake alone the rest of it could be made, together with the Almightily Maker himself, are really Immaterial.…We learn moreover from this true System of the World, that the Supreme God, the Maker of and Governor of the Universe, is a Good and Beneficent Being, and one that takes Care of the Welfare and Happiness of his Creatures. (124)

We learn moreover from this true system of the World,that the Supreme God, the Maker and Governor of the Universe, is a Good and Beneficent Being, and one that takes Care of the Welfare and Happiness of his Creatures. This is a direct Consequence from no small Number of the Observations foregoing, which shew the great Care he has taken of the Situation and Motion, and Circumstances of the several Planets, at due Distances from the Sun, and from one anther, that so they might be the most commodious and comfortable Habitation for the Creatures that were to live upon them. (124-5)

And this Inference is the more just, because of the Infinite Perfection, and Self-sufficiency of the Divine Nature, does so entirely privilege him from all Want, and from all expectations of Increase of Happiness from any of his Creatures, that every one of the Instances of his Beneficence, both in the Creation and Conservation, and Provision for those Creatures, must needs be the alone free and generous Effects of his Bounty, and the gratuitous Communication of his Goodness to them; in order not to his, but to their own Happiness and Felicity; which Circumstance render this Goodness and beneficence the most highly Meritorious and Divine of all others whatsoever. (125-6)