own Misery but by rectifying our Perceptions of Things which being future do not by immediate Impressions assure us that they really are what they appear to us to be And if we strictly examine our selves about these Matters we shall find that what we now actually feel or perceive we cannot possibly imagine to be otherwise than as we feel or perceive that is we must be undeceivably conscious of all our own Sensations and Perceptions But how we shall hereafter be affected we can no otherwise know than by knowing the different Natures of the Things that are to affect or be affected with the Connexion and Dependance of one thing upon another in order to promote or hinder the one's being so affected by the other Now as to the Knowledge we are capable of in this kind we are to consider these farther Observations upon our selves That there are some Ideas or Notions that appear with that Light and Clearness to our Understandings that we immediately perceive them in all their Extent and a necessary Agreement or Disagreement betwixt them and afterwards the Dependance or Independance of others upon them to the Truth of which Appearances we cannot possibly deny our Assent That there are some Propositions which do not appear with such Evidence as to command our Assent but have more to incline us to believe them true than false and this according to different degrees That there are others that appear with equal Motives of Credibility which hold us in Suspence and will hardly suffer us to determine either way And a great many things we have no manner of Notions of at all for the Truth or Falshood of which nothing at all appears to us But besides these general Differences in the Appearance of things as certain probable doubtful or exceeding our present Reach we are moreover to take notice of two other kinds of Difference the one between the real Nature of Things and their Appearances to us the other betwixt the Appearance of Things to us with respect to Truth or Falshood and their Appearance to us with respect to Action and the Consequences of it Happiness or Misery As to the first of these Differences we find that what we are once really certain of always appears certain to us and what cannot appear to us but as certain we cannot possibly conceive should be otherwise in its own Nature But what is in its own Nature certain may appear doubtful to us at one time and probable at another and what we assent to as probable now may afterwards command our Assent as certain and there are things which altho ' we are not certain of their Truth or Falshood we are sure we know as much as we can of by the strength of our present Faculties As to the other Difference in the Appearance of things with respect to Action and its Consequences it often so happens that where the Truth of a Thing seems doubtful to us it plainly appears to be safer and more to our present Advantage or affords a better Prospect of future Happiness to act one way than another and abundance of Instances there are in which we find our selves under a Necessity of Acting one way or other where neither side appears certainly true but one only probable or both equally doubtful This is all the Account of Humane Nature which I thought necessary to my present Design of establishing the Truth of Religion And I perswade my self I have said nothing upon this Subject which any Man that fairly consults himself can possibly call in question But if any Objections do lye against any part of what I have now laid down they shall be considered before I make use of it as a Proof of any thing else All Questions concerning the Origine and Substance of the Soul its Union with the Body and separate Existence I have purposely waved as things which do in a great measure lye out of the Reach of natural Reason and consequently admit of no certain Proof from thence are as commonly handled involved in great Ambiguity of Terms and which way soever explain'd I think as far as I have hitherto seen make no manner of change either as to the Truth or Nature of Religion Whether the Soul be infused or derived material or immaterial whether it depends upon the Body in all its Actions or sometimes acts of it self is dissolved with it or exists after it if what I said before concerning our own Experience be true it will be found that Religion has a very good bottom to stand upon without being supported by any of these Opinions But if the Soul came from without the Body is of a different Nature from it can Act independently of it and Exist after its Dissolution as there are several very probable Reasons and a great deal of certain Revelation for then are there so many additional Arguments for the Truth of what may be sufficiently prov'd without 'em from plainer and more undeniable Principles as I shall endeavour to make good in the following Discourse The next Thing I am to do is to consider the Nature of God or what that Notion or Idea is to which I affix that Name which in short is this An Eternal Being of all possible Perfections in himself and from whom every thing else deriv'd its Being and whatever belongs to it But to give a more particular Account of my Thoughts in this Matter I conceive God to be One unchangeable Being of an intelligent Nature who always necessarily Existed of himself who knows every thing that can be known who can do every thing that is possible to be done who does every thing he wills and nothing but what he wills himself who enjoys an unalterable State of the greatest Happiness that can be enjoy'd who never wills or does any thing inconsistent with this State who makes himself the ultimate end of all he does and next to that the Good or Happiness of all such Beings as are capable of it which together with all other Beings and every thing that belongs to them were from him and depend upon him for their Continuance and lastly who brings about whatever he wills or designs by the fittest and most proper Means This seems to me to be the easiest Notion of God we are capable of conceiving and if it can be proved that there really is such a Being as is here describ'd I think 't is all that 's necessary upon this Subject with respect to what I have undertaken For whether we represent God to our Thoughts as a pure and simple act a spiritual Substance or subtle Matter as the whole mass or Substance of the World taken all together or as the Soul and active Principle of it as confined to the Heavens or diffused through the whole extent of Being as the Maker and Creator of all things or as the Principle and Fountain from whence they flowed or consider him under any other Idea our Reason or Imagination can frame
nothing at all or they mean the same thing as we do by a God or else they are altogether irrational and contradictory What are Fate Necessity Chance and universal Soul but meer Covers for Ignorance of the same kind as occult Causes the true Result of all which Principles is a new sort of Creation where all things are made by nothing or nothing is set up as the efficient Cause of all things But if those that use any of these Names mean by the Maker or Cause of all things a Being distinct from the things made such a Being cannot be conceived without all those glorious Attributes which make up our Idea of God For if we will allow the original Author of the World the highest Perfections imaginable by us as his Work certainly required if the first great Cause of all things had the noblest Qualities we can conceive as the Effects produced by it sufficiently declare we must grant this Author or Cause to be an intelligent Being endued with Knowledge and Will For 't is impossible for Man to frame a Notion of any Powers Faculties or Qualities greater or nobler than these and 't is easier to believe that some Man of more refined Intellectuals made the World than that any other Cause which wanted these Perfections could be the Author of it I shall not here enter into a more particular Disquisition of any Scheme or Hypothesis that excludes the Being of a God having consider'd them all before in the former part of this Discourse and shew'd them to be in those Points where they mean any thing distinct from the common Notions we have undertook to defend very absurd and inconsistent And indeed the Falshâ—â—â— and Absurdity of all these Schemes and Hypotheses which pretend to give an account of the Frame and State of things without a God or independently of him are so manifest and notorious that I am fully persuaded a Man may make good the Charge against a great Disproportion of Parts and Learning but this is not my business at present nor is there any occasion for such an Undertaking now For should we allow the Atheist's Scheme of things to be possible and consistent which is the most that is pretended yet we are assured by the common Reason of Mankind that the Philosophy of a God is most rational without the Help of Revelation and universal Tradition which confirm the Truth of it and therefore the Possibility of another Hypothesis cannot justify the Defenders of it unless they can also make it appear more reasonable and fit to be believed than that which obtains but the Atheist will never be able to give an easier juster and more satisfactory account of all the Phoenomena in the Universe than he who owns a God if he should offer at such a thing which is more than any one has ventured at yet And the same may be applied to others who acknowledge a God and pretend to shew there is no such thing as Religion and a Future State For they cannot say that God who made the World and all things in it cannot oversee and govern the Works of his hands that He who gave Man his Being and all his Faculties and Capacities cannot require him to act after such a manner while he lives or is not able to renew him again after Death and continue his Life to him in such a State as he pleases to make agreeable or disagreeable to him and as long as he pleases This is to bring Weakness out of Strength to set Bounds to God within the acknowledg'd Sphere of his Power to say he cannot do things which are less than those he can do Nor can they prove 't is more agreeable to the Nature of God and all those Notions we have concerning Him and our selves that he should not exercise his Power after this manner than that he should The utmost all the Proof they bring can amount to is to shew that 't is possible God may not do all this that we conceive of him as will plainly appear if we consider the chief Arguments made use of upon this occasion which are taken from the supposed Materiality and Mortality of the Soul Here lies the Principal Strength of Irreligion these are the fundamental Principles the whole Fabrick stands upon and great Endeavours have been used to confirm the Truth of them Now 't is plain to any Man that duly considers these Notions without that Confusion and Ambiguity of Terms they are commonly delivered in that 't is impossible to prove that what we call the Soul is not something perfectly distinct from Matter and Motion and all the Modifications of them and that it cannot subsist and act after the Dissolution of the Body nor are there any Arguments producible to persuade us 't is more probable that the Soul should be something material and dissolved with the Body than that it should be a distinct Principle and survive it All that can be said is that we cannot from the Knowledge we have of the Qualities and Operations we attribute to each certainly demonstrate what we term Soul and Body to be two distinct Substances tho at the same time it must be confess'd that Men have been generally more disposed to believe this than the contrary Opinion and 't is as demonstrable that what we attribute to the Soul is not any Mode Composition or Result of the Qualities we ascribe to Body as it is that any Idea we have in our Minds is not any other Allowing then that 't is possible that every thing we ascribe to Body and Soul separately may be united in one common Subject which is the most that can be supposed and that this common Subject at the time we call Death loses those Capacities and Powers we attribute to the Soul in the same manner as it is divested of Motion from hence it follows that it is possible also that the same common Subject may never subsist in the same manner it did before with all those different Qualities united in it in like manner as 't is possible what is now at rest may never be in motion again But then it is as possible also that it may God may if he pleases put us together again after death in such a manner that we shall feel our selves to be the same we were before we died and be conscious of all our former Life and that he will do so we have a great deal of reason to think had we not any assurance of it from Revelation as has before been proved And therefore the Arguments for the Materiality and Mortality of the Soul let them have all the Weight and Certainty they are imagined to have are wholly trifling and insignificant with respect to what they are brought to prove For no new Discoveries are hereby made of the Will and Design of God and consequently the Proof that has been given of Religion and a Future State will have the same Force and Evidence still tho
or resistible to contradict the general Belief of the World without making any new Discoveries or Observations to lay aside a whole Scheme and System of things which has been proved and established in all the principal Branches and Connexions of it because we are not able to comprehend or account for some little remote Consequence and to venture eternal Misery upon a seeming Possibility of an Escape which very few perceive or allow These are all egregious Instances of the absurd Faith and foolish Conduct of the Enemies of Religion and consequently good Proofs of the Judgment and Wisdom of those who believe and act upon contrary Grounds and Measures There 's another thing also which the Atheist commonly discovers his Folly in and that is the publishing and propagating his Opinions For 't is more the Atheist's Interest that other People should have Religion than 't is the Religious Man's For his whole Happiness being in this Life the more other People are restrain'd and the better they are persuaded he acts by the same Rules they do the larger will his Liberty and Advantages be and the less he will suffer from their Designs and Pursuits whereas the Religious Man's Reversion is not endanger'd but confirm'd by what he loses or suffers here Other Proofs likewise of the Unreasonableness and Absurdity of Irreligion might be brought from the Inconsistency both of the Faith and Practice of such as are profess'd Favourers of it such as their Credulity and readiness of Belief in common indifferent Matters and sometimes embracing absurd Opinions exploded by all the World when at the same time they are distrustful of every thing upon the Subject of Religion their believing Matters that concern their present Happiness upon less Grounds their exposing themselves to greater Troubles and Inconveniences and running greater Hazards upon a fainter Prospect of future Happiness in this Life and sometimes on the contrary fearing and avoiding things upon a less Appearance or Likelyhood of Danger than what Religion affords and lastly their acting contrary to their own Principles and denying themselves what they esteem substantial Happiness out of a regard to imaginary Notions which have no Foundation but in the Opinion of Men. But these being Matters of common Observation and too long to be fully insisted upon here I shall think it sufficient to have hinted at them and so pass on to the VI. Sixth and last general Branch of my Discourse proposed in the beginning of it and that is To give some Account of the Causes of all Atheism and Irreligion or the Reasons that induce Men to take up such Opinions There 's nothing People are better satisfied of than the Power nnd Influence of Prejudices and false Motives of Judging every body being apt to resolve the Cause of another Mans differing in opinion from him into some particular Byass upon his Understanding But this we do commonly without examining whether the Person that differs from us has not better Reasons for his Dissent than we have for our Persuasion whether the Opinion he is of be not in the Reality of things true tho he believes upon false Grounds or whether we our selves are not disposed to judg as we do upon some of the like Motives we suppose him to be directed by By which means we are often not only guilty of the same Partiality we charge upon others but either confirm'd in our Errors or else prevented from making just Enquiries into the Truth of things so that if we are in the right it is by chance and more than we are able to prove to our selves or others Upon which account I think it a very preposterous and deceitful Method of proving a thing false to assign some peculiar Prejudices and wrong Motives of judging which may possibly induce Men to be of such an Opinion tho the Truth should be of the other side and which have often had the like Influence upon Men's Understandings in other Matters and from thence immediately without any further Proof to infer that such and such Persons have no other Reasons for their Belief of the point in question and consequently that they are in the wrong this I say is not a fair way of arguing But after plain and manifest Proofs of the Truth of an Opinion according to the standing Rules and Principles of Reasoning it is not only proper to enquire how any People came to be of a contrary Persuasion but the Strangeness and seeming Unaccountableness of the thing make it expected and in some respect necessary in order to a fuller Satisfaction of those who notwithstanding all the appearance of Evidence to themselves may be apt to have such favourable Notions of Mankind as not to imagine that Persons who have the same Faculties and all other Advantages of Knowledge as they have should deny what appears so plain to them without some rational Grounds for their Denial Having therefore as I persuade my self fully and evidently proved the Truth of Religion I think I may now be allow'd to say That all Atheism and Irreligion must be the sole Effect of Prejudice and Prepossession if any such Cause of it is assignable And if we search the Heart of Man and look into the hidden Mysteries of Iniquity lodg'd there if we consider all the false and corrupt Reasonings and the several Arts and Methods of Deceit which are used by Men to delude themselves we shall soon discover the secret Spring and Original of all Atheism and Unbelief Now the Causes from whence it proceeds are these two The Fear of an After-reckoning for a wicked Life and The Pride and Vanity of appearing greater or wiser than other Men. The first of which is the principal and most powerful Cause and is only assisted and strenghened afterwards by the Accession of the latter And what other Reason can be assigned It cannot be the Force and Evidence of Truth as plainly appears not only from the foregoing Proofs of Religion but from the Confession and Conduct of the Atheists themselves It is not because the Notions of God Immortality and a Future State shock the Understanding and contradict the plain Principles of Reason that they deny these Foundations of all Religion Was the Being of God consider'd only as an Hypothesis to solve the Difficulties of Nature by without those troublesome Consequences of Duty Sin and Punishment the Atheist would not scruple this Philosophy and Lucretius himself would easily grant the Soul to be immortal to be separated from the Body and reunited again would you allow him that Conclusion that neither separate nor reunited it hath any Sense or Remembrance of what was done before the Separation God should also enjoy the Fulness of Perfection he should be clothed with all the magnificent Attributes that Man could conceive so his whole Employment was the Comprehension of himself and the Contemplation of his own Glory and he was not unnecessarily troubled to take account of our Actions This is the dreadful
Reach and Comprehension to conceive at all And that he who has so wisely order'd and disposed every thing he has made to such proper Ends has exercised his Power so far and no farther because it was most agreeable to his Wisdom so to do There 's nothing I think in all this but what is easie and natural and what may very well be imagin'd to be found out without the help of much Learning or an extraordinary Talent of Reflexion and yet this is what has constantly in all Ages satisfied both the Learned and the Thoughtful and stood the Test of Time and Sophistry and Malice But suppose some extravagant Thinkers entirely under the Government of their Senses and Lusts because they were not by when the World was made and do not see the Hand which supports the Frame and moves all the several Wheels of it should therefore distrust all their Reasonings of this kind and doubt the Being of a God notwithstanding the Testimony of Nature is there no certain Proof to be given that They are not mistaken who believe a God upon these Grounds Several have already shewn there is and this is what I shall at present endeavour to make good in the clearest and most unexceptionable manner I can But before I enter upon this Argument I think it necessary to enquire what Certainty is that we may know what kind or degree of Proof may be properly and truly called Certain and what not Now Certainty or Evidence which I shall all along take in the same Sense considered in the Things or Ideas which are the Objects of our Understanding is a necessary Agreement or Disagreement of one part of our Knowledge with another as applied to the Mind 't is the Perception of such Agreement or Disagreement or such a firm well-grounded Assent as excludes not only all manner of doubt but all conceivable possibility of a Mistake And thus I suppose and take it for granted that we are certain of all our own Perceptions and Sensations whatever we feel or are conscious to our selves of and that we are fully and undeceivably assured of a great many of our Judgments founded upon the just and well-regulated Reports of our external Senses to the same degree as we are of the Agreement and Disagreement of any pure intellectual Ideas Except this be allowed we have no Principles to reason from nor indeed any Knowledge at all not so much as Scepticism but universal Darkness and Confusion cover humane Nature But he that grants thus much and is true to his own Reason must acknowledge there is a God as will appear from the following Considerations Being then as I suppose by an infallible Consciousness satisfied of our own Operations and Existence and by a passive Perception of various kinds and sorts of Impressions by the help of certain Organs of the Body fully convinced of the reality of things without us of different Natures or Manners of Existence upon a farther Exercise of our active Powers and Application of our Senses to external Objects and then reviewing and reasoning over the Observations that result from thence we come to these certain Conclusions That there are a great many Changes in the World That a great many new Appearances present themselves which before were no where to be found some of which are observed to disappear again as others likewise are the rise and original of which we never knew That under all these Changes and Varieties of Appearance there is something which is constantly the same which we call Matter or solid extended Substance That the different Appearances our Senses inform us of in Matter proceed immediately from the Differences of Bulk or Number Figure Motion and Rest That we are conscious of several things in our selves which we perceive as different from all these That we were not always thus conscious but that there was a time when this Consciousness and all that we perceive in our selves as distinct from Matter which we call Mind or Spirit was joined and united to a certain portion of Matter or Collection of material Particles called humane Body That when this humane Body changes its Appearance and such a particular Union of the parts of it is dissolved then that Consciousness and all those internal Operations which are now the Object of it cease to be joined with that Matter they were just before united to Being well assured of the Truth of all these Conclusions we are from thence immediately led to these following Enquiries How comes all this about How came there to be such a thing as Matter When and by what means did it exist What is the Cause of all those Changes that are continually making in it And why does it exist after so many different manners Whence are we our selves What was it that gave us such conscious Beings How are they united to Matter What limits the Continuance and afterward dissolves the Bond of this wonderful Union Now in pursuance of these Enquiries we find it utterly inconceivable and impossible that any thing should make it self that a Being which once did not exist should begin to be of it self by the force of its own Nature or Power without the Assistance of some other Being which existed before it From whence we are irresistibly convinc'd that something must be eternal otherwise nothing could ever have been for if any Time can be supposed in which nothing did exist nothing would ever have existed at all unless a Being that once was not could put it self into Being but that is impossible and 't is certain something now really is therefore something must be eternal And as from hence 't is evident that something must be eternal so 't is plain from the several Changes we observe in the World the Succession of new conscious Beings and different Dispositions of Matter that every thing is not so now if something be eternal and a great many things are not eternal then it plainly follows that every thing that is not eternal was made by that which is i. e. originally received its Being and whatever belongs to it from an eternal Author or Cause otherwise either something must be supposed to have made it self which before is proved to be impossible or one temporary Being must make another which it cannot do but by the Force and Efficacy of such Powers which together with its Existence it received from some other Being and so on till we come to the eternal Fountain of all Power and Being The only Question then is What is eternal for upon this depends the Resolution of all our other Doubts and Enquiries For the better and more certain Satisfaction in which I shall First Consider all the Claims and Pretensions made to this glorious Prerogative of eternal Existence Afterwards I shall examine what those Attributes are that must necessarily belong to an eternal Being And then shew that that Being to which all these Attributes agree is what we call God and there is
our Ideas and what we are the best acquainted with and so far as we perceive them distinct from one another Seperately existing or necessarily connected our Reasonings about them are the surest of any we have so that if we are mistaken in these I cannot see how we have or are capable of having any Knowledge at all Solidity Extension and Figure I do not only perceive to be constantly united but necessarily and inseparably to co-exist together in the same Subject which I call Matter or Body so that wherever any one of these is found I certainly conclude from thence that there are the other two also but it does not follow that where ever these three co-exist together there is Motion Perception or Will there being no necessary Connexion between any of these Ideas and the other Ideas of Matter before mentioned as is plain not only from the Natures of the Ideas themselves but from their separate Existence actually perceived by us How then does Matter which we suppose to exist without any Motion Perception or Will come to have Motion added to it All the Motion we perceive in Bodies without us is made by Successive Impulses from from one Body to another where every portion of Matter owes its Motion to some other but this cannot help us to conceive how Motion should begin where every thing is at rest the only Idea we receive from Body in Motion is that of a Capacity of being moved when it is at rest and not of a power of moving its self this we have from what passes within us when without any external Impulse upon us by a bare Thought or Determination of our selves we begin a Motion in our own Bodies and by that means communicate it to others which were before at rest which power of beginning Motion we call Will but Matter is supposed to exist without Perception and Will and consequently without this power of beginning Motion in its self and there being nothing else to communicate it to it it must eternally continue in the same state of Union Indistinction and Rest There needs no more for the overthrowing this Hypothesis no stress being ever laid upon it In the next place then if we imagine all the parts of this Material World loose from one another and all in motion 't will be quite as irrational to think that so it must have been eternally and necessarily till at some certain time the scattered moving Atoms met together or were disposed after such a manner as produced the present Structure and Constitution of things Many are the Absurdities and Inconsistencies this Opinion is chargeable with but I shall at present instance but in two The first is the supposing an eternal motion of different Particles of Matter before the Production of the World which implies an infinite succession of Effects without any Cause to produce them For Motion being something distinct from Matter and separable from it does not necessarily exist because Matter exists for then it would always exist in every Particle of Matter nor does it exist of it self by a necessity independent of the necessity of Matter 's Existence because it cannot exist without it and Matter could not produce it in its self from all Eternity because it cannot produce it at all and therefore there can be no such thing as eternal Motion or succession of Motion in different parts of Matter because every Motion is a meer Effect and Passion and there is no active power any where assignable or conceivable that could produce or cause such an Effect so that to suppose an eternal Motion without an eternal Power of moving is one very great Absurdity those are guilty of that set up the Hypothesis of Atoms The other is the ascribing such new Effects to Matter and Motion together in the production of the World as for a whole Eternity before never proceeded from them and could not possibly at any time be produced by them For Matter and Motion not implying Perception and Will several Bodies in motion being now actually perceived to exist without them and the whole System of moving Atoms being in the present Hypothesis supposed so to exist before the Beginning of the World we shall never be able from hence to account for the Existence of Beings endued with Perception and Will which are Qualifications in their own Natures as utterly distinct from those of Extention Figure and Motion as Figure and Motion are from one another or from any other Ideas we perceive That these last may be where the other are not is plain How then do those other come to be added to them If Matter at rest whatever degree of Extention or kind of Figure it is imagin'd to have can never make us conceive any possibility of Motion in it without the help of something else besides Extention and Figure neither can Matter and Motion together what-ever variety of Bulk Texture or Motion we represent to our selves give us any Idea of perception and Will or a power of producing them But Matter in motion must eternally move on or rest and move by turns if you please without advancing to any new Perfections which is too plain to need any proof if it had not been very learnedly and fully made out already by others and therefore I shall not enlarge in the Disparagement of matter nor expose this ridiculous Scheme of things by shewing all the peculiar Inconsistencies in it but leave the farther Disproof of it to those general Arguments which equally conclude against all the false Hypotheses concerning the being of the World which I reserve till I have done with them in particular And the next of them to be considered is that in which it is supposed that the World has eternally existed under the same Form that we now behold it as to the principal parts of its Structure with a constant Succession of several of the chief Species or sorts of things in it This Opinion of the Eternity of the World has been the most exploded of any tho' most of the Favourers of it have at the same time asserted the eternal Existence of a God too and the Reason of this is because the greatest part of the most ancient Philosophers and learned Men thought they perceived such visible Marks and Tokens of the Newness of the World in the Rise Propagation and Increase of Societies and Governments Languages and Laws Arts and Sciences and the Tradition of the Original and Beginning of Things was in their time so fresh and so generally received in all Countries that few of them were able to reconcile all this with the eternal Duration of the World And this Tradition having all along continued and the Truth of those ancient Observations having been more and more confirm'd by many new Inventions of things since and some of them of such general Use that 't is impossible to imagine they should not have been invented before if the World had been of a very long
continuance or have been lost again after they were once invented the same Objections have constantly lain against the Eternity of the World and these have been strengthen'd by several other Arguments drawn from the many Absurdities and Inconsistencies that seem to be implied in the Notion of eternal Succession All which and whatever else can be said against the Eternity of the World when asserted together with the eternal Existence of a God do more strongly conclude against this Supposition when the Being of a God is not taken into it under which respect I now consider it and thus consider'd it is moreover besides what has been already alledg'd attended with the same Difficulties and chargeable with the same Objections as the former Hypothesis was For Matter and Motion were no more capable of eternally producing such a Succession of various Objects as we perceive in the World than they were of producing them and the World together in time and yet if we suppose an eternal Succession of new Objects without a God they must all be produced by the Power of Matter and Motion For every particular new Object being produced in time must owe its Being to that which was eternal and nothing in this Supposition being eternal but Matter and Motion which under all Changes continue the same every new Generation of Beings must have their Original from these the precedent Generation having no other Powers nor Differences from the succeeding but what arise from the various Disposition of Matter and Motion This is plain as to all such Beings as want the Faculties of Perception and Will and upon Examination the Case will be found to be the same with respect to such as are endued with these Qualifications For even these also in the present Hypothesis must be allowed to derive their whole Being from Matter and Motion because they are temporary Beings which began to be and there is nothing else eternal but Matter and Motion and consequently there is no other Cause assignable for their Production Which need not be proved to those who hold the Eternity of the World without a God because there are none I believe of this Opinion but do ascribe the Original of Perception and Will to Matter and Motion making the former only different Modisications of the latter in which they act very consistently with themselves in making an absurd Scheme all of a piece not blending Truth with Falshood but taking in all the Absurdities that do any way depend upon one another and belong to the main building However that I may leave no room for Exception from any side I think my self obliged to shew that if Perception and Will are not the Issue and Effects of Matter and Motion as has already been shewn they are not the Existence of intelligent Beings without a God is inconceivable and impossible because no other Cause of their Production can be assigned For suppose it should be enquired how such a purticular man came to exist how he came to begin to be a conscious Being he did not put himself together in such a manner as we now perceive him to exist he did not give himself those Capacities and Powers he is conscious of together with his Consciousness of them this is a flat Contradiction and granted to be so on all hands Whence then did he derive this mighty Difference of Being we perceive in him by which he is distinguish'd from all other that fall under our Cognizance Not from some intelligent Being of infinitely greater Perfections of the like kind with those he perceives in himself not from any mechanical Powers of Matter and Motion both these Causes are set aside in the present Enquiry Nothing then remains but that the Man which now exists and sometime ago began to be must have received his Existence and all those Qualifications which distinguish him from Matter from some other man of the like nature with himself who existed before him but this is absurd and irrational not only upon the account of the infinite Subordination of Causes and Effects which follows from this Supposition which by every body is rejected as a shocking repugnant Notion but because it is hereby affirm'd that one Being may solely by its own power produce another Being of the same Nature and Perfections with its self which I take to be the next Impossibility to a Being's making it self For supposing the Existence of a God and that that may be allowed we have seen before 't is impossible that God should have another God of all the like Perfections with himself but of a distinct Existence proceeding from him in like manner we conceive it utterly impossible that any kind of Matter should produce the least new Particle of Matter nay one part of Matter never imparts any Motion to another without losing its self what the other receives and in all other material Productions there is only a new disposition of the parts of Matter and not any new Being of a distinct Nature from it which new Disposition is not received entirely from some other Being of the same kind or texture with its self but from material Particles and Motions conveyed from several distant parts of Nature and yet such different dispositions of Matter as are observ'd in the World cannot be conceived to be the product of Matter and Motion alone without the Assistance and Regulation of some other Being of higher Perfections as has been shewn before How then is it possible that one Mind or conscious Being should produce another entire distinct Mind or Being of equal Perfections with its self without losing any thing from it self or borrowing any Assistance from any other kind of Being existing in the World and what is as strange do all this without being conscious of this its chief Perfection as well as it is of all its other This I say cannot possibly be and therefore if the World be eternal without a God all the continual Changes and new Productions that have ever been in it must be ascribed to matter and Motion but Matter and Motion not being able to produce such Effects from hence I conclude that the Eternity of the World considered as it now is without the eternal Existence of a God is impossible And thus I have consider'd all the several Hypotheses which pretend to give any account of the present Constitution of things called the World with exclusion to the Being of a God I shall now take a short Review of each of them in conjunction with the Existence of a God and then pass to more general Reflexions to shew the Incompetency and Falshood of any other account whatsoever that can be given of the Original and Existence of things besides that of their proceeding in some manner from God But before I enter upon the Consideration of these Hypotheses which do all tho' in different manners establish an eternal Co-existence of Matter and Mind I think it necessary to premise something concerning the