Psal. lxxviii. 39. Eccles. xii. 7.METEMPSYCHOSIS. The Notion of a Metempsychosis, or the Transmigration of Souls from one Body to another, whatever the modern Jews may say of it, is not taught in any Place, either of the Old or New Testament. On the contrary, it appears by the Law, by the Prophets, and by the inspired Writers of the New Testament, that the Souls of Men after their Death are in a fixed State, and have no longer any Concern with this present Life. He remembered that they were but Flesh, a Wind that passeth away and cometh not again. And, Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it. The Jews quote these Words of Job, to support their Job xxxiii. 29, 30.Opinion concerning the Metempsychosis. Lo all these Things worketh God oftentimes (Heb. twice and thrice) with Man. To bring back his Soul from the Pit, to be enlightened with the Light of the Living. As if he intended to speak of a threefold Revolution, or of a threefold Return of the Soul to the Body. But the true Sense of this Passage is, that God preserves from Danger the Man that puts his Confidence in him, as far as three Times, that is many Times. There is great Probability that the Jews imbibed this Notion in Chaldæa, during their long Captivity at Babylon, or from that Intercourse they had with the Greeks, who themselves had borrowed it from the Orientals.
This is certain, that at the Time of Jesus Christ this Opinion was very common among the Jews. They shew it enough in the Gospel, when they say, that some thought Jesus Christ to be John the Baptist, others Elias, others Jeremiah, or some one Matth. xvi. 14.of the old Prophets. And when Herod the Tetrarch heard speak of the Miracles of Jesus Christ, he said, that John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, was risen again. Josephus and Philo, who are the most ancient and the most knowing of all the Jews, next to the sacred Authors now extant, speak of the Metempsychosis as an Opinion that was very common in their Nation. The Pharisees held, according to Josephus1, that the Souls of good Men might easily return into another Body, after the Death of that which they had forsaken. He says elsewhere2, that the Souls of wicked Men sometimes enter into the Bodies of living Men, which they possess and torment. Philo says3, that the Souls which descended out of the Air into the Bodies which they animate, return again into the Air after the Death of those Bodies; that some of ‘em retain always a great Abhorrence for Matter, and dread to be again plunged into Bodies; but that others return with Inclination, and follow the natural Desire by which they are influenced.
The Jewish Doctors that treat of the Transmigration, do not speak of it after so plain and simple a Manner. They wrap it up in obscure and mysterious Terms4. They believe that God has determined for all Souls a certain Degree of Perfection, to which they cannot attain in the Course of one Life only. They are therefore obliged to return several Times upon the Earth, and to animate several Bodies successively, that they may fulfil all Righteousness, and practice the Commandments both Negative and Affirmative, without which they cannot arrive at the State, to which God intends they shall come. Whence is it, say they, that we see some People die in the most vigorous Time of their Youth? ‘Tis because they have already acquired their Degree of Perfection, and have nothing remaining to be done in a frail and mortal Body. Others, like Moses, die with Reluctance, because they have not yet accomplished all their Duties. Others on the contrary, like Daniel, die with Satisfaction, and even desire Death, because nothingVid. Dan. xii. 23. more remains for ‘em to do in this World.
The Metempsychosis, or Revolution of Souls, is performed after two Manners. The first was when a Soul came into a Body already animated. Thus it was that Herod the Tetrarch imagined, that the Soul of John the Baptist, whom he had caused to be beheaded a little before, was entered into the Body of Jesus Christ, in Order to work Miracles. At other Times Souls enter into Bodies already animated, there to acquire some new Degree of Perfection which they wanted, or to assist that Soul that is already in the Body, in the Works that God requires of it. They say, for Example, that the Soul of Moses is to be united to that of the Messiah, &c.
The second Manner of Transmigration is, when a Soul enters into a Body newly formed, either to expiate some Crime it had committed in another Body, or to acquire a greater Degree of Sanctity. Some Souls of a more exalted Nature have a great Contempt for Matter, and do not return to animate Bodies but with great Reluctance. Others that are more gross and carnal, always preserve an Inclination towards Body, and return thither often without any other Reason but to gratifie this Desire. The Jews think this Revolution is performed at least three or four Times. They even extend this Transmigration to brute Beasts, and to inanimate Things; and the Number is not small of those that maintain this Opinion. The most famous of the Jewish Doctors hold it, and pretend that Pythagoras, Plato, Virgil, and the ancient Philosophers that espoused it, had derived it from the Writings of their Prophets.
This Notion is very ancient in the East. The Chinese teach, that Xekiah an Indian Philosopher, who was born about a Thousand Years before Jesus Christ5, was the first Broacher of this Doctrine in the Indies. That from thence it spread into China, in the sixty fifth Year after Jesus Christ. The Chinese pretend, that Xekiah was born eight thousand Times, and that at his last Birth he appeared in the Form of a white Elephant. ‘Tis upon this Principle that the Indians and Chinese are so little scrupulous of putting themselves to Death, and that they so often kill their Children, when they find themselves under any Difficulty to maintain them. It is related that a King of this Countrey having had the Small-pox, and seeing his Face to be much disfigured, could not endure any longer to live under such a frightful Figure, but ordered his Brother’s Son to cut his Throat, who was afterwards burned. The Story of the Indian Philosopher Calanus is well known, who burned himself in the Time of Alexander the Great.
The Indians look upon Death with much Indifference, being persuaded of the Metempsychosis, which passes among them as a Thing not to be doubted of. This Opinion has produced in the East a great Number of Impostors and false Messiah’s, who pretended to be animated by the Souls of Adam, or of Moses. For Example; Akem-Ben-Asha, a famous Impostor, who appeared in the Year 162 of the Hegira, and affirmed, that after the Death of Adam God appeared to Men under the Shape of several Prophets, and other great Men; till he took a human Figure in the Person of Abu-Moslem, Prince of Korasan; that after his Death the Deity had passed and descended into his Person. ‘Tis from the same Source that those Fanaticks proceeded, who would give divine Honours to Abon-Giasar-Almansor, the second Calif of the Race of the Abassides; into whom they pretended that the Soul of Mahomet, or of some ancient Prophet, had passed. Lastly, from hence it is that they abstain from killing any living Creature, for Fear of violating the Souls of their Fathers, or of some near Relation, inhabiting those Animals. They do not so much as defend themselves against wild Beasts, and charitably redeem Animals out of the Hands of Strangers, who are about to kill them. See the Article SOUL, and also RESURRECTION.
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