at the Dissenters telling them that their Congregations and their Teachers understand not the Controversies at this time so warmly manag'd among them Nay the Teachers themselves have been pleas'd to make him their Confessor and to acknowledge to him that they understand not the difference in debate between them Why because they as well as the Conformists have Obscure Notions and Speculations such as Iustification the Trinity Satisfaction c. terms that all the bulk of mankind are unacquainted with whereas Religion should have no Difficulties and Mysteries in it The very Manner of every thing in Christianity must be clear and intelligible every thing must be presently comprehended by the weakest noddle or else it is no part of Religion especially of Christianity which yet is call'd the Mystery of Godliness but this being in the Epistles it is no great matter we are not to mind what they say Thus we see what is the Reason why he reduces all Belief to that one Article before rehearsed as if the other Main Points which I produced were not as easily learnt and understood as This as if there were any thing more difficult in this Proposition The Father Son and Holy Ghost are One God or Divine Nature than in that other Jesus is the Messiah Truly if there be any Difficulty it is in this latter for here is an Hebrew word first to be explain'd before the Mob as he stiles it can understand the Proposition Why therefore doth this Author who thinks it absurd to talk Arabick to the Vulgar talk Hebrew to them unless he be of opinion which no body else is of that they understand this Language better than that Or suppose he tells the Rabble that Messiah signifies Anointed what then Unless he explains that word to them it is still unintelligible So that it appears hence that this Article which he hath spent so much time about is no more level to the understanding of the Vulgar then that of the Holy Trinity yea it is not so much To conclude this Gentleman and his fellows are resolved to be Unitarians they are for One Article of Faith as well as One Person in the Godhead and there is as much reason for one as the other that is none at all But it doth not become me perhaps to pronounce this so peremptorily and therefore I appeal to the Judicious and Impartial Reader desiring him to judge of what I have suggested But this I will say if these Learned men were not highly prejudiced and prepossessed they would discern the Evil and Mischief of their Assertion they would perceive that when the Catholick Faith is thus brought down to One Single Article it will soon be reduced to none the Unit will dwindle into a Cypher The Proper Remedy here is to consider that it is unlawful to add unto or diminish ought from the Written Word yea a Curse is threatned against those that add to or take away from the Scriptures for if it be criminal and deserves a Curse to deal thus with the book of Deuteronomy or of the Revelation then by the same reason those that add to or detract from any other part of the Holy Scriptures are undeniably guilty and are obnoxious to the Divine Plagues I hope such as practise the latter will seriously think of it and for the future believe themselves concern'd to embrace All the necessary and fundamental Articles of Faith as well as One of them Thus I have briefly discover'd the Springs and Sources of Atheism and I have endeavour'd all along more or less to stop them up and hinder the current of them Now for the close of all let me add these Inferences from the whole I. We ought to bewail the spreading Atheism of this Age wherein we live Of old there were but few that openly profess'd it There are reckon'd up four several sorts or forms of Atheism by a late Learned Writer viz. Anaximandrian Democritick Stoical Stratonical and yet there was scarcely one of these that was a downright denying of a God Some have given Diagoras Theodorus Protagoras the title of Atheists and have thought them to be absolutely such but others upon a strict search are of opinion that they deserv'd not that infamous Name yea they find that they were great Asserters of a Deity The first of these was accused of Atheism and banish'd for it by the Athenians not that he denied a God but because he derided the Feigned Gods of his time whom the Athenians had such a reverence for The second passes for an Atheist but those who have narrowly enquired into things tell us that he got that Name because he spoke against the Idolatrous Worship of the Grecians and had a kindness it is probable for another Religion for being a Cyrenian and acquainted with King Ptolomee he came to have some Intercourse with the Iews of Alexandria and had some notice of the True God The third was reputed and call'd by some an Atheist because he doubted of the Truth and Reality of the Gentile Gods So Anaxagoras another Greek Philosopher was arraign'd for Atheism by the Athenians because he denied the Sun to be God and freely discours'd against the other Pagan Deities Thus the malicious Accusers of Socrates represented him as an Enemy to the Gods part of the Crime charged on him and for which he was condemn'd was his speaking against the Traditions and Fables of the Poets concerning the Gods and his declaring them to be lewd and wicked To give this Great Man his due he was so far from being an Atheist that he died a Martyr for a Deity Only to gratifie the Vulgar and that he might not go off unlamented after he had drank his Poison he requested his Friends to offer a Cock for him to Aesculapius Some put Democritus into the Catalogue of the Ancient Atheists but if we read his Life in Laertius we shall find that they have little reason to do so Lucretius is the most suspicious man of all and Lucian may be join'd with him the former a serious the latter a jocular Atheist But it is sad to consider that the number of this sort of men hath been exceedingly augmented since David Perron undertook in the presence of King Henry the Third of France to prove that there is no God Mersennus in his Commentary on Genesis tells us that in the Year when he wrote it viz. 1623. there was a vast multitude of them in France there were at least fifty thousand Atheists in the City of Paris at that time and in one house sometimes a dozen were to be found A worthy Author whom I had occasion to mention before acquaints us on his own Knowledge that Atheism was very common and rampant in most parts of Italy Not to mention Machiavel Aretine c. it cannot be denied that Vanenus openly declared and profess'd himself an Atheist and died so at the Stake Indeed I am apt to
SOME THOUGHTS Concerning the Several Causes and Occasions OF ATHEISM Especially in the Present Age. With some Brief Reflections on SOCINIANISM And on a Late BOOK Entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures BY IOHN EDWARDS B. D. and sometime Fellow of S. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for I. Robinson at the Golden Lyon and I. Wyat at the Role in S. Paul's Churchyard MDCXCV TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD His GRACE THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England c. MY LORD YOUR Grace being not only by Your Place and Station but by Your own Choice and voluntary Act the Grand Patron of our Religion it cannot be improper to present You with these brief Papers which though in themselves very mean and inconsiderable and unworthy of Your Grace's View are a Vindication of that Holy Cause against the repeated Cavils and bold Insults of Atheistical Spirits who as Your Grace with a very deep Resentment and Regret observes are of late grown very numerous How vigorously Your Lordship hath attacked this sort of Men is well known to the World and that hitherto they have not been able to bring about their impious Designs is in great part owing to Your Lordship's successful Attempts I presume from the Encouragement which so Illustrious an Example hath given me to engage in the same Cause that is to lay open the Folly and Absurdity of their Pretences and withall to discover some of those Heads and Springs whence the Atheistick Apprehensions of these present Times arise and whereby they are fed and nourished Which I hope will be of good use to those who desire to be caution'd against the Venom of this Raging Evil and will in some measure operate even on those who are infected and corrupted with it already I am sensible how Precious Your Grace's Minutes are in this time of extraordinary Business and Emergency and therefore I will not be injurious to the Publick by any farther Applications to Your Grace Only I superadd my hearty Prayers for Your Health and long Life wherein the Common Welfare and Happiness both of Church and State are so much involved And so I subscribe my self Your Grace's Most Dutiful Son and Devoted Servant Iohn Edwards THE PREFACE I Designing by the Divine Help and Conduct to defend the Existence and Providence of God by Arguments drawn both from the Greater and the Lesser World it is my Request to the Reader that he would accept of this Brief Essay in the mean time which I conceive will be a suitable Introduction and Preparative to that other Vndertaking For as in that intended Discourse I shall carefully trace and discover the Footsteps of the Divinity every where so here I make it my Business to shew how frequent an obvious the Occasions of Disbelieving it are By which means we shall effectually learn how to purge our Minds of those ill Qualities which naturally are subservient to Atheism we shall know how to remove those Stumbling-blocks to answer those Objections and to clear up those Mistakes which usually betray Men to this Infidelity And thus there will be a Way made for what I design Persons will be fitted to receive and retain the Impressions which those Topicks that I shall afterwards make choice of will enstamp upon their Minds And I hope the Age which hath lately been stigmatized with Marks of Atheism will for the future be renowned for these truly illustrious and glorious Characters I will only farther acquaint the Reader that some part of what I here offer viz. such Particulars as I thought were convenient for an usual and mix'd Auditory was deliver'd lately in one of the City-Pulpits and the other Heads with their Enlargement which are of somewhat a different strain and are chiefly adapted to the Curious and Inquisitive are an Addition since But as I have added several things so I have omitted some at the Desire of those who are concern'd in both This is all that I had to advertise the Reader of and so I bid him Farewel SOME THOUGHTS Concerning the Causes and Occasions OF ATHEISM THAT the World was not void of Atheists in King David's time may be gathered from his Words in Psalm xiv 1. The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God But it is exceedingly to be lamented that the number of them is much increased since yea that it is the Unhappiness of this Present Age to be pester'd with not a few of them Notwithstanding those cogent and incontestable Arguments for a Deity which are suggested from the Holy Scriptures and the Natural Reasonings of sober Minds there is still an Atheistical Spirit prevailing in the World There is a sort of Men if I may call them so whole bold Infidelity is so Irrational and Brutish that reckon the Notion of a God to be a Melancholick Conceit and the mere Effect of Credulity and Ignorance Yea there are some that pass for Wits who strive for the honour of being accounted the most Able Atheists of the Age. Wherefore instead of rehearsing or urging those Topicks which are wont to be produced for the Proof of the Divinity my Business at present shall be to enquire into the Causes of Atheism which now vaunts it self with an impudent Fore-head and begins to boast that it hath got Footing in a great part of the World I will search into the Occasions either real or pretended for I will mention both of this Reigning Mischief I will shew you on what Grounds the Impious do at this Day not only with the Psalmist's Atheistical Fool say in their Hearts but openly and avowedly proclaim to the World that there is no God that is no Supreme Over-ruling Being of Infinite Perfection no eternally Wise Intelligent and Omniscient Substance that at first gave Existence to all things and ever since upholds them and takes care of them I. I assign Ignorance to be one great Spring of this gross Unbelief As knowing as the World is at this day there are too many People of inferiour Rank whose Education hath been so unhappy that they have not been instructed in the Common Principles of Religion and they are more unhappy in that they will not allow themselves time and leisure to look into their own Minds and to rouze those inbred Notions which are implanted there by God and which would if they would give way lead them to him Wherefore it is the Concern of all Persons to know how to converse with Themselves and to rifle their own Breasts that they may find a Deity written there and besides they should be careful to acquire such a stock of Knowledge from without that they may understand their Religion and not be seduc'd by Atheistical Notions that fly up and down every where But this first Cause which I assign of Atheism is not only to be found in some meaner sort of People who have not time as they order
Ghost Can there be any Reason given of this partial dealing Yes it is most evident to any thinking and considerate person that he purposely omits the Epistolary VVritings of the Apostles because they are fraught with Other Fundamental Doctrines besides that One which he mentions There we are instructed concerning these Grand Heads of Christian Divinity viz. the Corruption and Degeneracy of Humane Nature with the True Original of it the Defection of our First Parents the Propagation of Sin and Mortality our Restoration and Reconciliation by Christ's Blood the Eminency and Excellency of his Priesthood the Efficacy of his Death the full Satisfaction thereby made to the Divine Justice and his being made an All-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin Here are peculiar Discoveries concerning Christ's Righteousness and our Justification by it concerning Election Adoption Sanctification or the New Birth and particularly Saving Faith which is so signal a part of it Here the Nature of the Gospel and the New Covenant the Riches of God's Mercy in the way of Salvation by Jesus Christ the Certainty of the Resurrection of Humane Bodies and of the Future Glory are fully displayed These are the Matters of Faith contain'd in the Epistles and they are essential and integral parts of the Gospel it self and therefore it is no wonder that our Author being sensible of this would not vouchsafe to give us an Abstract of these Inspired Writings but passes them by with some Contempt And more especially if I may conjecture he doth this because he knew that there are so many and Frequent and those so illustrious and eminent Attestations to the Doctrine of the ever to be Adored Trinity in these Epistles Nor is this any uncharitable conjecture as the Reader may easily satisfie himself if he takes notice that this Writer interprets the Son of God to be no more than the Messiah he expounds Iohn 14. 9. c. after the Antitrinitarian mode whereas generally Divines understand some part of those words concerning the Divinity of our Saviour He makes Christ and Adam to be the Sons of God in the same senses viz. by their Birth as the Racovians generally do and so he interprets Luke 1. 35. Iohn 5. 26. according to their Standard When he proceeds to mention the Advantages and Benefits of Christ's Coming into the world and appearing in the flesh he hath not one syllable of his Satisfying for us or by his Death purchasing Life and Salvation or any thing that sounds like it This and several other things which might be offered to the Reader shew that he is all over Socinianized and moreover that his design was to exclude the belief of the Blessed Trinity in this Undertaking of his viz. to prove that the believing of Christ to be the Messiah is the only Point of Faith that is necessary and saying All the other Articles and Doctrines must fall a sacrifice to the Darling Notion of the Antitrinitarians namely that Christ is not the True God and coessential with his Father For the sake of this one Point they are all dispatch'd out of the world and are made by him Martyrs to this Cause One could scarcely imagine that a person of Ingenuity and Good Sense should go this way to work Which enclines me to think that the Ingenious Gentleman who is suppos'd by some to be the Author of this Treatise is not really so I am apt to believe that the world is impos'd upon in this matter for in this present Attempt there are none of those Noble Strokes which are visible in that Person 's Writings and which have justly gain'd him a fair repute That Vivacity of thought that Elevation of mind that Vein of Sense and Reason yea and of Elocution too which runs through his Works are all extinct here only he begins as 't were to recover himself about the Close when he comes to speak of the Laws of Christian Morality Some may attribute this Flatness to the Ill Cause he manages but for my part I question whether we have the right Author I can't perswade my self but that there is an Error of the Person at least I will charitably presume so because I have so good an opinion of the Gentleman who writ of Humane Understanding and Education But what is the ground of the foresaid Assertion What makes him contend for One Single Article with the Exclusion of all the rest He pretends it is this that all men ought to understand their Religion And I agree with him in this but I ask him may not a man understand those Articles of Faith which I mention'd out of the Gospel and Epistles if they be explain'd to him as well as that One which he speaks of Why then must there be but One Article and no more But he notwithstanding this goes on and urges that there must be nothing in Christianity that is not plain and exactly level to all mens Mother-wit and common apprehension For God considered the poor of the world and the bulk of mankind the Christian Religion is suited to vulgar capacities and hath only such Articles as the labouring and illiterate man may comprehend The Writers and Wranglers in Religion fill it with Niceties and dress it up with Notions viz. the Trinity Christ's Satisfaction c. which they make necessary and fundamental parts of it But the bulk of mankind have not leisure for Learning and Logick and therefore there must be no such doctrine as that concerning the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and the like which are above the capacity and comprehension of the Vulgar And in the Entrance of his book he hath the same notion for he tells us that the Scriptures are a collection of writings designed by God for the instraction of the illiterate bulk of mankind for he is much taken with this phrase you see the bulk of mankind whereby he understands the Ignorant and Unlearned Multitude the Mob as he calls it in another place Surely this Gentleman is afraid of Captain Tom and is going to make a Religion for his Myrmidons and to please them he gives them as little of this kind as he possibly can he contracts all into One Article and will trouble them with no more Now then the sum of all that he aims at is this that we must not have any Point of Doctrine whatsoever in our Religion that the Mob doth not at the very first naming of it perfectly understand and agree to We are come to a fine pass indeed the Venerable Mob must be ask'd what we must believe and nothing must be receiv'd as an Article of Faith but what those Illiterate Clubmen vote to be such The Rabble are no System-makers no Creed-makers and therefore away with Systems and Creeds and let us have but One Article though it be with the defiance of all the rest which are of equal necessity with that One. Towards the close of his Enterprise he hath a fling and that a Shrewd one
Nay some of these Persons seem to be partly sensible of it and change the name into that of Deist At this day Atheism it self is slily call'd Deism by those that indeed are Atheists Though they retain the things yet they would disguise it by a false Name and thereby hide the Heinousness of it But let us not be deceived and blinded by pretended Shews but throughly apprehend the Vileness of this Opinion which some endeavour to palliate It is a very denying the Creed of Nature it is a Renuntiation of that which the very Devils believe and tremble at It is briefly but fully represented in St. Cyprian's words This saith he is the sum of this most beinous Crime that those who are guilty of it wilfully refuse to acknowledge Him whom they cannot be ignorant of For their own Beings and Natures furnish them with Arguments for a God and if they did not obstinately shut their eyes they must needs behold a Deity Therefore to be Atheists or without God in the world as the Apostle speaks cannot but be a Great Prodigy it is Unaccountable almost if the Degeneracy of Manking were not so great as it is that the World it self should not administer to mens Thoughts Convictive Arguments of a Divinity Whence it hath been observ'd by a very Wise Man that there never was any Miracle wrought by God to convert an Atheist because the Light of Nature might have led him to confess a God This shews how detestable and pernicious Atheism is and much more might be said to this purpose Wherefore I hope I need not multiply words when I call upon you to keep out of the Company of those men who you know are infected with this hellish Poison 3. Let us labour to work in our selves and others a profound Sense of that Great God with whom we have to do Generally the Belief of a Deity is from Custom and Education because it is the Perswasion of the Place and the Persons we converse with but we should not content our selves with this but arrive to the Knowledge of the true Grounds and Reasons of this Belief Seeing this is the First thing in Religion and no Man can be Religious and Vertuous unless he believes there is a God let us fortifie our Minds against Atheism by those several Arguments and Considerations which are wont to be propounded by Learned and Religious Writers that we may as throughly be perswaded of this Great Truth as of our own Being which a Great Philosopher makes one of his First and Indubitable Principles But especially view the Works of the Creation and perswade your selves of this that a Material World without an Immaterial Cause of it is mere Nonsnse Look abroad and behold the Heavens and the Earth and all the Furniture of them there you may believe a Deity because you do as 't were see it The Creator is made visible by his Works Every thing in the Sensible World is an Image a Picture a Footstep of the Deity From this Exquisite Fabrick we infallibly gather the Existence of its All-wise Architect and Moderator Of which I shall give the Reader a particular Demonstration in a short time And that you may effectually extirpate Atheism out of your minds frequently peruse the H. Scriptures Read God in his own Book There you will certainly inform your selves concerning the Superintendence of Spiritual or Immaterial Agents viz. Angels which makes way for the Belief of a God who is a Spirit There you will meet with those Wonderful Operations and Events which can no ways be solv'd without granting an Omnipotent and All-wise Disposer of things And there you will find this Supreme Governour of the World communicating his Will and Pleasure to Mankind I question not but one great Reason and I might have mention'd it among the rest why men are so disposed to be Atheists is because they never or very seldom consult this Holy Volume they refuse to hear God Himself speaking to them in these Writings Wherefore I recommend to you the serious and frequent reading of the Bible as the most effectual means to confirm you in the Belief of a Deity Assure your selves that this Book is the best Antidote against Atheism 4. and lastly Labour to be truly Religious and Holy beg the Divine Assistance to sanctifie you in your Hearts and Lives and thereby you will be let into the intimate knowledge of this Grand Verity which I have been discoursing of You will then more sensibly understand and be convinced of it than by all the Arguments that can be offer'd or rather this one will make all the rest effectual Whereas on the contrary Men of Unsanctified Minds and Profane Lives despise and scoff at that of which they have no experience and will not believe the Existence and Power of God which they never felt Strive then by an Inward Experiment to confute Atheism so that you may not have any Inclination to say in your hearts though you do not utter it with your tongues There is no God but that you may be so strongly convinced of the contrary Truth that you may be able to assert it with a firm and unshaken Belief and from an internal sense of it on your hearts to attest the reality of it to the whole World FINIS ERRAT Pag. 104. lin 8. dele to * Sermon of the Folly of Atheism Sermon at the Queen's Funeral * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl * His Essays * 1 Tim. 6. 16. * Exercitat 99. * De Cometis * Preface before his Philosoph Writings †Search after Truth Book 3. Chap. 4. * Bishop Ward 's Serm. †Copernicus Lansbergius Clavius Petavius Tacquet Scheiner Gassendus Fromondus Kircher Ricciolus Oughtred Ward Wallis More Glanvil * Sir Tho. More Sir Phil. Sidney Sir W. Raleigh Sir Hen. Wotton Lord Bacon Mr. Selden Mr. Cowley c. * Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor Pap. Stat. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Lord Bacon's Essay of Atheism * De Nat. Deorum Lib. 1. * Mat. 7. 16 Luke 17. 1. †1 Tim. 4. 1. 2 Tim. 3. â— 6. 2 Pet. 33. Jude 18. * Sir Edwyn Sandys * Lord Bacon's Essays * Considerations on the Explications of the Doctrine of the Trinity Page 5 6 7. * Praelect cap. 8 9 10 11. †Fragment Disp. de Adorat Christi ‖ Deus est Spiritus aeternus spiritum autem cum nominamus substantiam intelligimus ab omni erassitie qualem in corporibus oculorum arbitrio subjectis cernimus alienam Hoc sensu Angelos dicimus Spiritus Aerem c. De Deo Attrib cap. 15. * Comment Vol. 1. page 118. * De Uno Deo P. lib. 2. sect 1 2. * Letter of Resolution concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity The Unreasonableness of the Doctrine of the Trinity †An Accurate Examination of the Principal Texts c. chap. 5. ‖ Observations on the Answer to the brief History of the Unitarians chap. 2. †Letter of Resolution concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity * Observations on the Answer to the brief History of the Unitarians chap. 1. * Of the Mysteries of the Christian Faith * An Exhortation to a Free and Impartial Enquiry c. * Spinosa Tract Theol polit cap. 8 9 10. * Dr. Woodward's Hist. of the Earth Part 3. 161. * Du-Pin Hist. of Eccles. Writers Prelim. Dissertat * Search after Truth Book 1. †Princip Philos. Pars 4. * Enchirid. Metaphys Cap. 11. †Mr. Lâ—ck concerning Education * Dr. Woodward's Nat. Hist. of the Earth Part 1. * De Corde * Concerning Education * Mr. Hobbs Leviath chap. 34. Mr. Websters Display of supposed Witchcraft Dr. Becker's Enchanted World * Chap. 1. Concerning the Articles of Faith * P. 302. * P. 302. * Page 303. * 1 Tim. 3. 16. * Page 302. * Deut. 4. 2. †Rev. 22. 18 19. * Dr. Cudworth's Intellectual System * L'Histoire d' Henr. 3. * In his Europae Speculum †An Essay in a Letter from Oxford * Just. Mart. Apol. 2. * Haec est summa delicti nolle agnoscere quem ignorare non possis De Vanit Idol * Ephes. 2. 12. * Fab. Faventini Disp. 4. adv Atheos Tho. Campanella Spizel Scrutin Atheismi Muller Atheismus devictus Ian. Ioach. Ian. Disputat contr Atheos Dr. More Mr. Smith Sir Charles Woosley Dr. Tenison now Archbishop of Cant. Dr. Cudworth Dr. Barrow †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato