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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45638	The atheistical objections against the being of a God and his attributes fairly considered and fully refuted in eight sermons, preach'd in the cathedral-church of St. Paul, London, 1698 : being the seventh year of the lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. / by John Harris ...	Harris, John, 1667?-1719.	1698 (1698)	Wing H845; ESTC R15119	126,348	235

some Animadversions on a Book entituled Christianity not Mysterious In Octavo The Notion of a GOD Neither from FEAR nor POLICY A SERMON Preach'd at the CATHEDRAL-CHURCH of St. Paul March the 7 th 1697 8. BEING The Third of the LECTURE for that Year Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By JOHN HARRIS M. A. and Fellow of the ROYAL-SOCIETY LONDON Printed by J. L. for Richard Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. PSALM x. 4 The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance will not seek after God neither is God in all his Thoughts IN my last Discourse on these words I came to consider the Third Particular I had before observed in them which was The great Charge the Psalmist brings against the Wicked and Proud Person here spoken of viz. Wilful Atheism and Infidelity He will not seek after God and all his thoughts are There is no God Under which I proposed to Consider and Refute the Atheist's Objections against the Being of a God in general And these I found might be reduced to these Two Heads I. That we can have no Idea of God II. That the Notion of Him which is about in the World owes its Original to the foolish Fears and Ignorance of some Men and to the crafty Designs of others The former of these I have already refuted and shewed that it is Groundless and Precarious in all its Parts I shall now therefore consider the Second Objection against the Being of a God in general viz. That the Notion of a Deity which is so generally found among Mankind owes its Original to the foolish Fears and Ignorance of some Men and to the designing and crafty Figments of others And here I shall first give you the Sense of these kind of Writers on this Point And then endeavour to shew you how very weak and trivial their Arguments are and how very far short they come of Disproving the Existence of a Deity And first I shall give you the full sense of this Objection from the words of those that bring it beginning with the Modern Writers who as you will find by and by have little or nothing new but like Carriers Horses follow one another in a Track and because the first went wrong all the rest will succeed him in the same Errour not considering that he who comes behind may take an advantage to avoid that Pit which those that went before are fallen into as it is in the words of the Translator of Philostratus But here it must be premised That since these kind of Men do frequently disguise their true meaning It is not the bare Words only but the Scope of a Writer that giveth the true Light by which any Writing is to be interpreted as Mr. Hobbs very well observes yet this must be said for both him and the other Modern Atheistick Writers That their Disguise is so very thin and superficial that any one may easily see through it and discover their true Meaning and Design Nothing can be clearer than that 't is the great scope of the Author of Great is Diana of the Ephesians to persuade the World That the first Original of all Religion was from Craft and Imposture and that it was cultivated and carried on by the Cunning and Avarice of the Priests And in his Anima Mundi pag. 13 14. he tells us That Superstition by which these kind of Writers always mean Religion in general did certainly proceed from some Crafty and Designing Person who observed what were the Inclinations of Mankind and so adapted his Fictions accordingly He pretended to have some extraordinary way revealed to him from an Invisible Power whereby he was able to instruct the People and to put them into a way of being happy in a Future State And in another place he saith That Mankind being ill-natured and unapt to oblige others without Reward as also judging of God Almighty by themselves did at first conceive the Gods to be like their Eastern Princes before whom no Man might come empty-handed and thus came the Original of Sacrifices And this Institution he saith was improved by the crafty Sacerdotal Order into all that costly and extravagant Superstition that did afterwards so abound in the World Now in this passage 't is plain that he makes all the Jewish Religion to be nothing but Priest-craft and Imposture tho' on wretched poor grounds as I shall hereafter sufficiently make appear And his Opinion of the Christian Religion may easily be guessed by what he delivers Anim. Mund. pag. 124. viz. That most Christian Churches like the Musk-melon from the Dunghill were raised from the filthy Corruption and Superstition of Paganism And in another place he saith That he will engage to make appear That a Temporal Interest was the great Machine on which all Humane Actions ever moved he means in the Establishing of the Jewish and Christian Religions and that the common Pretence of Piety and Religion was but like Grace before a Meal i. e. according to him nothing but a meer customary piece of Folly that signifies nothing at all and which he frequently ridicules and exposes Now all this though not in plain and express words yet in the most obvious sense and meaning is equally applicable to the Notion of a God and no doubt was so intended by the Author And indeed take away Religion and the Notion of a God must of course follow For 't is impossible to think that if there be a God he should not expect Veneration and Worship from those Creatures of his that he hath rendred capable of doing it which therefore is their reasonable Service Rom. 12.1 After the same manner doth Spinoza declare himself as to the Origin of Religion which he also calls by the Name of Superstition He tells us That the true Cause from whence Superstition took its rise is preserved and maintained is Fear That if all things would but succeed according to Mens Minds they would never be enslaved by Superstition But because they are often in great streights and so put to it that no Counsel or Help will be beneficial to them they are tossed and bandied about between Hope and Fear and at last have their Mind so debilitated that they are prone to believe any thing But that in reality all those things which have been the Objects of Mens vain Religious Worship are nothing but the dreadful Phantasms and mad Figments of a sorrowful and timorous Mind And the reason he saith why all Men are thus subject by Nature to Superstition is only from Fear and not as some have fansied from any confused Idea of a God which they will have to be impressed on all Mankind The Author of the Leviathan speaks yet a little plainer as to this Point Ignorant Men saith he feign to themselves several kinds of Invisible Powers stand in awe of their own Imaginations in time of Distress invoke them in time

must all their Perfections and Qualifications too for they are indeed the most Noble Things in their Natures Knowledge therefore and Wisdom Thought and Reasoning and all the excellent Powers and Faculties that are found in any Creatures must come from the same Power that produced those Beings and Natures in which they are inherent And if these Excellencies and Perfections are derived from this Necessarily existent Being they must certainly be in Him in the greatest Perfection for if they were not in Him they could not be derived from him since 't is unconceivable that any thing can give or communicate to another either what it hath not it self or a greater degree of any thing than it is Master of This Eternal and Self-existent Being therefore must have in it and that in the utmost Perfection all the Excellencies that we admire and value in any other things It must have the Power of doing all things that are possible to be done and therefore be Almighty it must know all things that are possible to be known and therefore be Omniscient In a word it must be All-Wise and Good Just and True Merciful and Gracious and contain in it all possible Excellencies and Perfections Now this may very well pass for a Description of the Deity and 't is such an One as is very Intelligible and Plain to the meanest Capacity that can but think at all And it gives us such an Idea of God as we see is easily attainable by an obvious and familiar Chain of Consequences and which puts our Minds not at all on the wrack to conceive As for the word Infinite which is often applied to God and which these Gentlemen quarrel so much at and of which they affirm that it is impossible to have any Conception or Idea I say that it is groundlessly and precariously asserted and that nothing but the wilful Darkness and Confusion which they have brought upon their own Minds can make it appear Unintelligible For as the Excellent Dr. Cudworth hath proved the Idea that we have of Infinite is the same with that which we have of Perfection And therefore when we say that God is Infinite in Power Wisdom or Goodness we mean by it that He is most perfectly or compleatly so and that he wants nothing which is necessary to render Him most Perfect and Excellent in that Respect of which we speak of Him Now a Being that any way is Deficient or Imperfect and that hath not all the possible Excellencies that are to be had is Finite and that in the same proportion as it is defective Thus for Instance those Beings which endure but for a time which had a Beginning and will have an end are finite or imperfect as to their existence But GOD who is was and is to come who is and will be from Everlasting to Everlasting He is properly said to be Infinite or Perfect as to Existence or Duration For there is no Restriction Limitation or Imperfection in His Nature in this respect as there is in that of all Creatures whatever A Being whose Power extends to but a few things is very imperfect or finite in Power and if there be any Possible thing that it cannot do 't is still so far imperfect in Power But a Being that can do all things that are not contradictory to his Nature or all possible things is properly said to be Infinite or Perfect in Power or Almighty so a Being that knows all things possible to be known is Infinite or Perfect in Knowledge and the like of any other Attributes or Perfections In all the Comparison or Proportion is the same A Being that wants no degree of Excellency or Perfection is God Infinite in Power Wisdom Justice Goodness and Truth But if a Being want any one or any degree or proportion of These Things it is Finite and Imperfect and that in the same degree or Proportion Now where is the Inconceivableness Confusion Absurdity and Nonsence of all This is it not as easie to conceive or apprehend that a Being may have in his Nature all possible Perfection as it is to have an Idea of one that is Imperfect and Deficient for how comes the Idea of Imperfection into our Mind how come we to know that a Thing is Finite Defective and Limited unless we have also an Idea or Notion of Infinity or Perfection how can we know what is wanting in any Being unless we have an Idea of it that it is in some other Being Most certain therefore it is that we may have as true and clear an Idea of the Existence of a God as of any thing in Nature and in Fact it is most notoriously true that a clear and distinct Notion that there is such a Being hath and doth still appear in the Minds of all Mankind and it is impressed there I doubt not by the peculiar Care of that Divine and Merciful Being Himself And therefore those that assert that we have not nor can have any Notion or Idea of a God nor of his Attributes and Perfections and that on that Account deny his Existence discover such wretched Ignorance as well as Obstinacy that they are really a Disgrace to Humane Nature For pretending to be over-Wise they become Fools they are vain in their Imaginations and their foolish heart is darkened Their vicious Inclinations have debauched their Reason and Understanding And though God be not far from every one of us since in Him we live move and have our being yet their Wickedness and Pride is such That they will not seek after God neither is God in all their Thoughts From which wilful Blindness and Stupidity may the God of Truth deliver them by the gracious Illuminations of his Blessed Spirit To whom with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be all Honour and Glory c. FINIS Books printed for Rich. Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard MR. Harris's Sermon Preach'd at the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul January the 3d. 1697 8. being the First of the Lecture for that Year Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esquire His Remarks on some late Papers relating to the Universal Deluge and to the Natural History of the Earth In Octavo Dr. Woodward's Natural History of the Earth in Octavo Dr. Abbadie's Vindication of the Truth of the Christian Religion against the Objections of all Modern Opposers in Two Volumes In Octavo A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their true and greatest Interest Part I. By a Lover of her Sex The Third Edition In Twelves A Serious Proposal to the Ladies Part II. Wherein a Method is offer'd for the Improvement of their Minds In Twelves Letters concerning the Love of God between the Author of the Proposal to the Ladies and Mr. John Norris In Octavo An Answer to W. P. his Key about the Quakers Light within and Oaths with an Appendix of the Sacraments In Octavo A Letter to the Honourable Sir Robert Howard Together with