Cause and Author of all Things and the Governour and Disposer of them A Divine Being containing in himself all possible Perfections without being subject to any manner of Defect This I have already hinted at in another place and shall now more largely prove So far is it from being true that we cannot reason of the Nature of God from his Attributes nor Discourse of those Attributes from our Reason That this seems to be the only proper Way of enquiring into the wonderful Depth of the Divine Perfections I mean the only Way we have without Revelation for I am not now considering what God hath farther discovered of Himself to us by his Word For tho' the Deity doth abound with Infinite Excellencies and Perfections yet by the Light of Nature we can discover those only of which he hath given us some Impression on our own Natures and these are the Scales and Proportions by which our Reason must measure the Divine Attributes and Perfections For in order to gain good and true Notions of these we ought to take our Rise from those Perfections and Excellencies which we find in the Creatures and especially in our selves There can be but two Ways of coming to the Knowledge of any thing by its Cause and by its Effects 'T is impossible for us to make use of the former of these in Reference to the Deity For He being himself without Cause and the First Cause and Original of all Things cannot be known to us this Way But by the second Way he very properly may be the Object of our Knowledge and we ought to apply our selves to this Method in order to understand the Attributes of God For whatever Excellency or Perfection we can any way discover in the Effects of God in the World i. e. in the Works of the whole Creation the same we cannot but suppose must be in Him in the highest and most noble Proportion and Degree since they are all owing to and derived from Him And if we take a serious and considerate View of the Excellencies and Perfections that are to be found in the Creatures or the Works of God in the World we shall find that they may be reducible to these Four general Heads Being or Substance Life Sensibility and Reason All which we find to be in our selves and therefore they are at hand and ready to assist our Meditations and these will if duly considered lead us into a good Way of discovering the Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature And I doubt not but a great Reason why Men have had and advanced wrong Notions of God hath been because they have had such of themselves and of those Perfections that are in our own Natures Men that do not understand that the true Perfection of Humane Nature consists in Moral Goodness or in an Universal agreeableness of our Will to the Eternal Laws of Right Reason cannot conceive aright of the Attributes and Perfections of God For they will be for making him like themselves guided by vehement Self-love and inordinate Will or whatever predominant Passions possess them 'T were easie to Trace this in the Epicurean Notion of a God dissolved in Ease and Sloth and who neglects the Government of the World to enjoy his own private Pleasures and in the Hobbian one of a Deity not guided by any Essential Rectitude of Will but only by Arbitrary Lawless and irrisistible Power for both these Opinions are exactly agreeable to the Genius and humours of their Authors and Propagators But to proceed with our Deduction of the Divine Attributes from the Excellencies and Perfections which we find in our selves 1. If in the first place we consider Being and the high Perfections that do belong to it we shall find that they must needs be in the Deity who is the First and Supream Being and the Cause and Author of all others in the World in the utmost Perfection Now the highest Perfections belonging unto Being we find to be these two 1. That it shall have an underivable and necessary Existence always be and never cease die terminate or be extinct and 2. That it be Great and Ample as to its Extent in opposition to Littleness or Scantyness and to being Limited Circumscribed Bounded or Restrained by any Other Thing And if we attribute these two Perfections to God thence will plainly Arise his Eternity and his Immensity or Omnipresence For what cannot possibly cease to be but hath necessary Existence included in its Nature is Eternal And what cannot be any way Limited Circumscribed or Restrained must needs be Boundless and Immense and present every where And I dare say that these Notions of God's Eternity and Immensity do find an easie admission into and are firmly rooted in all considerate and unprejudiced Minds and who are not debauched by Sceptical and Atheistical Metaphysicks For 't is impossible for any one that thinks at all to have a Notion of a Deity that can die or cease to be or that is so confined and imprisoned in any one part of Space that he can extend himself no farther No! it must be an Epicurean Stupefaction of Soul indeed that can induce a Man to fancy a Mortal or a Topical God one that may be slain or die of old Age or be shackled and confined to any one part of the Universe exclusive of the rest And tho' a Man cannot find perhaps that he hath an adequate Idea of Eternity yet that God must be without Beginning or End he will readily allow as soon as he considers the Thing for he will perceive that the First Cause of all Things could not be caused by any thing else but must be Self-existent and without Beginning and if nothing could cause his Being nothing can take it away neither and consequently he must be Everlasting or Eternal And of this Attribute the Heathens had a clear Idea and Belief giving God the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Swearing usually by the Immortal Gods Tully saith Deum nisi Sempiternum Intelligere quî possumus How can we conceive the Deity any otherwise than to be an Eternal Being And Aristotle in many places makes Eternity Essential to the Idea of God and particularly Lib. 2. de Coelo And so as to Immensity or Omnipresence tho' he indeed cannot tell the manner how a Spirit or Immaterial Substance permeates Matter or is present to every part of it yet he will conclude that the Deity must some how or other actually fill and be present with all things since 't is impossible he should be excluded any where or be in any respect bounded or limited as 't is also that he should act or operate where he is not Nor would I believe any free and unprejudiced Mind have recourse either to the Notion of God's being Universal Matter or Infinite Space in order to solve His Immensity or Omnipresence For the former he would see necessarily makes the Deity materially divisible into Parts actually separated
nor discover the Almighty unto Perfection But notwithstanding we have as certain a Knowledge and as clear Idea's of his Attributes as we have of any thing in the World And Grotius's Gloss on this place is very just and proper God doth not bid Men know him according to his Nature which exceeds Humane Capacity to do but according to those Attributes or Properties of his which relate to Mankind which the Hebrews call Middôth i.e. those Measures or Dimensions of Him which are proportionable to our Understandings and Capacities And such his Attributes are for we see them visibly exerted in the Works of the Creation and we find them necessarily included in the Notion that we have of the Supream Being or the First Cause of all things as I have already shewed in another Discourse But this some are pleased to deny and say That nothing at all can be known of God but only that he is for his Nature is perfectly Incomprehensible that we do but dishonour God by pretending to Understand and to talk about his Attributes about which we can say nothing but only what serves to express our Astonishment Ignorance and Rusticity and therefore the Civil Magistrate ought to determine what Attributes shall be given to the Deity This seems to be the Sense of Vaninus and is plainly of Mr. Hobbs and was before them of Sextus Empiricus Which take in their own words Non Deum melius Intelligimus quam per ea quae negamus nos Intelligere saith Vaninus Again Deum nullis tam plenè indicatum intelligimus Vocibus quà m iis quae Ignorantiam nostram praetendunt We can have saith Mr. Hobbs no Conception of the Deity and consequently all his Attributes signifie only our Inability and Defect of Power to conceive any thing concerning Him except only this that there is a God And in another place saith he God's Attributes cannot signifie what he is but ought to signifie our desire to honour him but they that venture to reason of his Nature from these Attributes of honour losing their Vnderstanding in the very first Attempt fall from one Inconvenience to another without End and Number and do only discover their Astonishment and Rusticity Again When Men saith he out of Principles of Natural Reason dispute about the Attributes of God they do but dishonour him for in the Attributes we give to God we are not to consider Philosophical Truth And therefore he concludes That those Attributes which the Soveraign Power shall ordain in the Worship of God as signs of Honour ought to be taken and used for such by Private Men in their Publick Worship In which he agrees as he useth to do exactly with Sextus Empiricus who tells us that the Sceptick is in the right for asserting Gods according to the Laws and Custom of his Country and in paying them that veneration and worship which on the same account becomes due to them will not venture to determine any thing Philosophically about them Now from these Passages I think it appears plain enough that tho' these Men did in words pretend to own and acknowledge a God yet in Fact they were Atheists and had no true Belief of any such Being For a Deity without the Attributes of Understanding and Wisdom without Ends or Design none of which Mr. Hobbs asserts expresly can be in God is a Ridiculous stupid Being an Idol that every rational Agent must needs despise and which can never be the Object of any one's Adoration Love or Obedience To assert therefore that the Attributes of God are not discoverable by Reason nor agreeable to Philosophical Truth but may be declared to be any thing which the Soveraign Power pleases to make them this is designedly to expose the Belief and Notion of a Deity and to render it so Precarious that it can be the Object of no Rational Man's Faith And this last named Writer Treats the Deity after the same manner in most other Places of his Works He saith we must not say of Him that he is Finite that he hath figure Parts or Totality that he is here or there that he moveth or resteth or that we can conceive or know any thing of him for all this is to dishonour him And yet to say that he is an Immaterial Substance that he is an Infinite and Eternal Spirit is he saith Nonsense and what destroys and contradicts it self However he is willing to allow the word Immaterial or Spirit to be used towards God as a Mark of Honour and Respect That is we may attribute to God what we know to be Nonsense and Contradiction and this is the Way to Honour him and to speak of him any other way is to Dishonour Him Who doth not perceive that it was plainly the Design of this Writer to treat of the Deity after such a manner as should deprive Him of all Knowledge and Care of Humane Affairs and consequently effectually Banish out of Mens Minds a just Veneration for Him and Adoration of Him Such Men are the most Dangerous and Mischievous of all others Profess'd Atheists can do no great Harm for all Persons are aware of them and will justly abhor the Writings and Conversation of Men that say boldly there is no God But there are but few such they have found a way to pass undiscovered under a fairer Dress and a softer Name They pretend to be true Deists and sincere Cultivators of Natural Religion and to have a most Profound Respect for the Supream and Almighty Being But when this Profound Respect comes to be throughly examined and duly understood it will appear to be the most abominable Abuse that can be and a most wicked and Blasphemous Idea of the Deity For they make him either nothing but the Soul of the World Universal Matter or Natura Naturata a God that is an absolutely necessary Agent without any Rectitude in his Will without any Knowledge Wisdom Goodness Justice Mercy or Providence over his Works But let such Persons take what Names they please upon themselves a little consideration will soon discover what they are in reality and I hope give Men a just abhorrence of such Notions tho' never so speciously put forth But let us now proceed to examine what Ground there is from the Nature of the Thing for Men to advance such wicked Opinions and to shew the weakness and precariousness of them And here it must be premised and taken for granted that there is a God This is what the Persons I am now concerned with pretend to own and to acknowledge Which being supposed It appears very plain that we may have if we will and some Persons as I have shew'd have always had a very clear Notion or Idea of the Attributes and Perfections of such a Being as also that they are fixed and immutable Properties in the Divine Nature For by professing to believe a God they must mean if they mean any thing The first
A REFUTATION of the Objections Against the ATTRIBUTES of GOD in general IN A SERMON Preach'd at the CATHEDRAL-CHURCH of St. Paul September the Fifth 1698. BEING The Sixth 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. JEREM. ix 24. Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord who exercise loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. PRide and Vain-Glory are Things which Human Nature is strangely subject to there being scarce any one so mean but who judges that he hath something or other that he may justly be Proud of and value himself for But as Pride is Folly in the general so it apparently discovers itself in this respect That those Men are usually most Vain who have the least Reason to be so and that too in Things that are the least valuable in themselves Thus as the Prophet intimates in the Verse before the Text Men frequently glory in Bodily Strength in Beauty and Agility and in the Affluence of external Possessions Things which are the meanest Appurtenances to our Natures and which are neither in our Power to get nor keep Wisdom indeed and Judgment Learning and Parts Wit and Penetration and all the Nobler Endowments of our Minds are things of the greatest intrinsick Worth and Value and we have much more reason to esteem our selves for them than for all the Goods of Fortune or any Bodily Excellencies But yet Let not the wise man Glory in his Wisdom and Knowledge neither tho' as the Targum on the place hints it were as great as that of Solomon himself for we have in reality no just ground to value our selves for even this when we consider that the best of us have it but in a very slender Proportion and that our highest Knowledge is very imperfect and defective Hence it comes to pass or at least ought to do so that the Modesty and Humility of truly knowing Men encreases with their Learning and Experience Their being raised something above the common level instead of lessening and shortening in their Eyes the Statures of other Men encreases their Prospect of a Boundless Field of Knowledge all around them the more of which they discover the more they find yet undiscover'd But he that knows but little vainly thinks he knows every thing and judges all is empty and void that is without the Bounds of his scanty Horizon Another great Vanity there is also in Pride which is That Men are frequently conceited and Proud of those things which they have the least share of and are fond of such Actions as do plainly discover their Defects For usually those Men are most forward to talk of Learning who are least acquainted with Books and those make the greatest Noise about and Pretensions to Philosophy who have the least insight into Nature Those who talk most of Certainty and Demonstration have usually the most confused Idea's and the most Superficial Notions of things and are the farthest of all Men from true Science This is apparently seen in the Pretenders to Scepticism and Infidelity and in all the Atheistical Writers No Men express themselves with such an insupportable Insolence as these New Lights these Reformers of our Philosophy and our Politicks who yet after all are Proud knowing nothing as St. Paul speaks Rom. 1.21 But are vain in their imaginations their foolish heart is darkened and professing themselves to be wise they become fools And therefore it is that the wisdom of God appears as foolishness to them because the carnal mind savoureth not the things that are of God Tho' would Men but studiously apply themselves to consider of would they carefully and impartially examine into and would they but seriously make use of those Means that God hath graciously given Mankind in order to attain a sufficient Knowledge of his Nature and Perfections They would then find so much Beauty Wisdom Harmony and Excellency in this inexhaustible Fund of Knowledge as would sufficiently Reward their Pains and Endeavours And this we may glory in this Knowledge will be the most noble and honourable that our Capacities can attain unto and in comparison of which there is no other Qualification and Excellence in our Natures at all valuable For here we have an Object the greatest and most perfect that can be the more we know of which the more we shall exalt and perfect our selves Here are no empty Speculations no difficiles Nugae no false Lights nor Phantastical Appearances but 't is a real and substantial an useful and practical Knowledge a Knowledge that doth not only delight us for the present but which brings constant and lasting Satisfaction here and eternal Happiness hereafter Let him therefore that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth God that He is the Lord who exerciseth loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things do I delight saith the Lord. In which words there are these two Things chiefly considerable I. A Supposition that God is capable of being known to us by his Attributes II. An Account of some of those Attributes which he exerciseth in the Earth and in which he delights Under which Two Heads I shall in pursuance of my general Design endeavour to Answer those Objections that Atheistical Men have brought against the Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature I. Here is a Supposition that God is capable of being known to us by his Attributes He that glorieth let him glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth God that he is the Lord who exerciseth loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth 'T is plainly supposed here That this Knowledge which we are directed to acquire is a possible Knowledge God would not command us to understand him by his Attributes of Goodness Mercy and Justice which he continually exerciseth in the Earth if it were impossible for us to attain to it He would not delight to do such Works in the World if nothing of them could be known nor himself by them But the Psalmist tells us the Lord is known by his Works And that the Heavens declare his Glory and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work And St. Paul is express That the Invisible Things of Him are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead And indeed These Attributes of God are what is most and best known to us and from the certain Knowledge that we have of these we may be effectually assured of the Existence of some first Cause some Supream Being in whom all these Attributes and Perfections must inhere The Infinite Nature indeed of This Divine Being is Incomprehensible to our shallow and scanty Understandings and we cannot by searching find it out