Property and is the very Life and Soul of the explicatory part of the Doctrine of the Deity is peremptorily pronounced by them to be a Contradiction It is well known Socinus and Crellius and others of this Party deny God's Immensity i. e. his being present every where as to his Essence and Nature All of them agree that he hath not a Knowledge and Foresight of every thing that happens in the World for future Contingencies are hid from him Particularly Socinus largely argues against this Praescience and tells us that he is to be laugh'd at that asserts the contrary Nay it is farther observable that this great Patriarch of the present Cause disowns the Immaterial or Spiritual Nature of God as may be undeniably gather'd from his Exposition of Iohn 4. 24. and other Passages in his Writings And he is followed by Crellius as is manifest from that Account which this latter gives of a Spirit when he speaks of the Nature of God He doth not make it to be any thing above a refined body a substance void of all gross matter such as the Air or Aether is So that when these men call God a Spirit their meaning is that he is a Fine and Tenuious sort of Matter not that he is wholly Incorporeal and altogether free from Matter This is the same with Mr. Hobbs's Corporeal God Thus four of the Chief Attributes of the Deity viz. Self-Existence Omnipresence Omniscience and Spirituality are either in whole or in part rejected Whereupon I ask this Question Whether these things do not discover a Tendency to say no more in the Anti-Trinitarians to that which I am charging them with For to assert a God and yet to deny some of his Choicest Properties whereby we know him to be God is in effect the same with denying a Deity If they distinguish between the English and Foreign Socinians as I perceive they do and tell us that the former do not assert the things before mention'd I answer the very English Prints avouch the first of those Particulars and as for the rest they being the Doctrine of the Chief Patrons of the Socinian Cause yea and of the Most of them the English Unitarians are involved in them because those Foreigners are the greatest and most substantial part of that Body of men call'd Socinians Thus the Trinitarian Scheme of Religion drawn up by some English Socinians of late is thought by them to touch all the Trinitarians else it could not be stiled the Trinitarian Scheme though every individual Trinitarian doth not hold all those things mentioned there Let them apply this and they will have nothing to object And further I would argue from their own avowed Principle which is that they are to admit of nothing but what is exactly adjusted to Nature's and Reason's Light nothing but what is entirely clear and evident for though it is true some Socinian Writers of late have laid aside this Notion and truly we may observe that they are shifting every day their Arguments and so we know not where to have them yet he that is acquainted with the Writings that make up the main Body of Socinianism knows full well that this is a Principle constantly asserted and maintain'd by the generality of them and upon all occasions insisted upon This hath been the Stanch Notion of the Great Dons of the Party and of the famous Socinus himself And Slicktingius though he seems indeed sometimes to be otherwise perswaded yet comes to this at last that the Trinity is a Doctrine that can't be borne because it can't be understood And why do Crellius and others argue from Reason and Logical Arguments against the Trinity if they do not refuse the Doctrine upon the account of Reason And it is certain they would not do this if they were not perswaded that these things in Religion must be adjusted to Natural Reason and that they are displeased with the Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation c. because these are not exactly squared to their Natural Notions You see then what is the sentiment of the Greatest Rabbies of this way and therefore we must make our estimate of the Socinian or Antitrinitarian Doctrine from these and not from one or two Modern Writers This I think will be granted by all men of reason But what if it doth appear that even the very English and Modern Socinians though they seem to wave this Principle do yet retain it and govern themselves by it Else why do they complain that they have no conception of the Trinity as the Trinitarians represent it to them they cannot form an idea of it it is a notion that excites no idea's in their minds it is against Reason and Natural Light We are advised by the Modern Pen-men to consult our Reason about the thing in question and if we do so we shall find an absolute impossibility in the Trinitarian Doctrine our Reason will assure us that an Almighty Father and an Almighty Son are most certainly two Gods and that two Creators can be no other than two Gods Therefore we may and we must infer that the explication of the first Verses of St. John 's Gospel which advance such a Doctrine is certainly false Again the English Socinians tell us that the Doctrine of the Trinity clashing altogether with our natural idea's can be no matter of Revelation and therefore ought not to be believ'd And hear their Final and Resolute Determination which fully speaks their absolute adherence to this Principle We abide by this Argument here we fix our foot never to be removed that the inconsistence of the Trinity as well as the Incarnation with Reason and Natural Knowledge being undeniably evident therefore this Doctrine can have no real foundation in Divine Revelation that is to say in Holy Scripture And we find that our English Unitarians argue from Reason in this Point and they declare that they cannot believe it because Reason doth not teach it Thus we find that the bottom of all is the Trinity and such like Doctrines are above their Reason and Natural Idea's and therefore they are no matter of their Faith This is it which the Reverend Person before named charges these men with in a great part of his Sermon and certainly he would not have done it if there were no such persons in being It is too plain that there are such and I think I have proved it from their own mouths The sum of their Opinion and resolution if this that there is nothing difficult and abstruse in Religion and that they will not believe any thing in Christianity but what they can make out by Reason otherwise it must be discarded presently Now to apply this Principle of the Antitrinitarians we are assured that we cannot by searching find out God Job 11. 7. his Infinite Nature and Immense Essence are not commensurate to our Conceptions are not adjusted to our Idea's but are far
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
their Affairs to think of a God but in others of a higher Rank and Quality for by Ignorance I mean a wilful and sottish stifling of natural Notions and Impressions And this sometimes prevails in Men of great Parts and Knowledge Think it not strange that I reckon such Persons in the number of the Ignorant for to speak impartially they are so and this was the Sense of the wisest Pagans long since For to have no Knowledge and to stifle it is the same thing which is the Case of these Men they make it their business to choak the innate Principles of their Minds and to disregard those Notices which their Natures suggest to them Thus these Persons are stubbornly and obstinately Ignorant Whatever their Pretences and Boastings be their Atheism proceeds from want of Learning and Wit For 't is not the part of a Learned and Ingenious Man to destroy the Notions of Mankind and pull down what hath been built by the universal Suffrage of the World and in its place to erect a Conceit of his own Some may take such for Brainish and Scholar-like sort of Men but then these are so without Thinking for it is the want of this that makes them what they are Or to say the best of this kind of Men and Atheist is but a half-witted Person He hath perhaps made some Attempts in Science but to little purpose He hath attain'd to some slight and trivial Notions but hath not penetrated into the heart of Things and thence it comes to pass that he is full of Doubts and Cavils which he is able to raise but he hath not Skill and Ability enough to answer them Wherefore it was excellently said of my Lord Bacon A little Philosophy inclines mens minds to Atheism but depth in Philosophy brings mens minds about to Religion and a Deity Thus though this mis-shapen Monster would be thought to be the genuine issue of True Wisdom and Sound Knowledge yet it is really the daughter of an Affected Ignorance Wherefore to secure your selves against Atheism be careful that you blind not your minds willingly receive the rays of light into your souls cherish all sound notions and conceptions and by all proper methods bring your selves to a right understanding and steady embracing of all the Fundamental Principles of your Religion II. There is great Disingenuity and unhandsome Dealing in the case else we should not have so much Atheism Here I will prove that they do not act fairly but that they are Ungenteel which perhaps will affect these Persons more than any thing that I can say What they are willing and forward to grant in other matters and on other occasions they refuse to grant here yea they utterly deny it though there be the same reason for one as the other This plainly appears by their Objections As first they tell us they have no Sensible Notices of a God and therefore they can't admit of it for all the knowledge say they which we have of things is deriv'd to us from Sense But here we see that these Men are Partial and Disingenuous for they will not deny that there are many things which they judge not of by Sense they grant that the swiftness of Motion oftentimes out-runs the nimblest Sense and the Observation of the quickest eye yet they do not deny the Motion it self The Element of Air in which the daily converse is not seen nor is it heard or felt unless when 't is extraordinarily moved and disturbed which is but seldom nor will they say they taste it and 't is as certain that they cannot smell it for this is only the Vehicle of Smells but is not it self the object of that sense and yet these nice Gentlemen do not deny the Existence of the Air. They can by none of their Senses discern the Motion of the Sun Moon and Stars or as perhaps they think it most proper to say the Earth and yet there is not a man of them that denies that they move It can't be determin'd by Sense whether the Sun be bigger than it appears to be and therefore Epicurus who was a great Man for Sense held it was of no greater dimension than it seems to the Eye to be yea of no greater heat in it self than it seems to the Feeling to be here on Earth And the Atheistical Poet who borrow'd his Notions from him was of the same mind Nec nimio solis major rota nec minor ardor Esse potest nostris quà m sensibus esse videtur Lucret. lib. 5. This is certain that the things that are least discernible act most The Animal Spirits which do all the great things in our bodies are themselves Imperceptible They are the Insensible and Invisible Parts as Spirits Wind Subtile matter Exhalations which being agitated do the chiefest Exploits in Nature There are Fine Particles and Atoms diffused through all bodies whatsoever and these are the cause of Sense and Motion in Animals by help of these Minerals Plants and all Vegetables are brought to perfection These Invisible Agents effect strange things and act most wonderfully in the World The Nutritious Iuyce in the Nerves if we may credit the famous Glisson is of mighty use and influence yet as he confesses himself there are no Cavities to be seen to convey it and none of this Succus is ever discern'd in the dissecting of Animals Notwithstanding this some Physicians of the most piercing Judgment have granted whatever they do now the real being of it And in other Instances it might be shewed that Sense is not always made a Judge even in sensible Objects but we gather the being and operation of them from Reason and Discourse This the persons whom we are now dealing with do not deny but even practise it themselves and are willing to allow of it Why therefore are they so void of Ingenuity and fair-dealing as not to admit of the same in the case that is before us Why do they most irrationally deny a God because they do not apprehend him by Bodily sense whenas they judge not of some other things by Sense nay though they be proper objects of it This is a plain proof of these mens wilful Prejudice and Partiality especially if I add that God is infinitely farther removed from our most exalted Apprehensions than the Sun of which we spoke before is from this Earth This Glorious Sun dwelleth in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath see or can see Secondly they tell us that there are Great Difficulties in conceiving a God and they are loth to swallow these down and more especially the notion of a Spirit i. e. a Being that is void of Matter and Body is too hard to be conceiv'd by them and therefore seeing we hold God to be a Spirit they can form no conception of him I will reply to both the parts of this Objection distinctly and first as to the General Cavil That this notion is
as they do of their own Existence or any other Principle in Nature but this I have made my task in an other place Thirdly they tell us they cannot believe a Deity because there are no Proper Demonstrations to prove it For you must know that there Persons whom we have to do with at present are great men for Demonstrations But I answer The Existence of many things in the World cannot be made out by Demonstration strictly so called and yet no man questions the reality of them The skilfullest Mathematician under Heaven can't demonstrate that the Sun Shines and yet there is no doubt at all of it and he would be counted a Mad-man that denies it We are morally certain of many things which we cannot possibly demonstrate but this doth not hinder us from yielding a firm assent to them And 't is certain that an Assent is an firm on Moral grounds as on rigid Demonstrations when the matter is capable of no other grounds for the Evidence is proportionable to the Matter to be proved and that is as much as can be desired by any intelligent man There can be no greater than a Moral Certainty of a Deity for there are no grounds of it Mathematically Demonstrative But by being Morally Certain we are certain enough and as certain as the nature of the thing will bear This should content any Rational man and it is unreasonable to demand any more Then as for those Demonstrations which they talk so much of they cannot but acknowledge that as they are sometimes managed they yield but little Certainty For not to speak now of the old Academicks and Scepticks who denied Geometrical Principles or of Demetrius Sextus Empiricus Epicurus Zeno and others of the Ancient Philosophers who reason'd against them I will mention some of our Moderns and those of great Skill and Learning who have disagreed about Mathematical Proofs and thereby proclaim to the World their Uncertainty The greatest Astrologers hugely differ as to the distance of the Sun from the Earth It is nearer to it ten thousand miles than it was saith Copernicus But I. Scaliger would have the Writings of those Authors who hold the Sun is nearer to the Earth than 't was in former days to be razed out with sponges or the Writers themselves to be corrected with stripes And other very good Astronomers are so far from consenting to this that they maintain the Sun is farther off from the Earth than it was at first And yet on both sides they proceed on Mathematical grounds There is no Mathematical Demonstration for Comets being above or below the Moon saith Ricciolus a very skilful Mathematician but others of that Faculty have pretended much to the contrary The Paralax is well known to be a Mathematical business that by which the Planets are judged to be higher or lower but the greatest Astronomers have quarrell'd with one another about this Doctrine Tycho is for it but Claramontius is against it and Galilaeus even explodes the Proof brought from the Paralax Dr. Wallis and Mr. Hobbes's Contrasts in Print shew that Mathematicks are dubious and this latter who was so stiff an Opposer of the Notion of a Spirit and consequently of a Deity finds fault with all Geometricians old and new in his Book entituled The Principles and Ratiocination of Geometricians Cartes's Dioptricks and Geometry are pretended to be baffled by other Learned Mathematicians as Bourdin Hobbes Fermat Franciscus du Laurens and Dr. Wallis scuffle about a Mathematical Problem So that it seems it is not an Infallible Science I am certain saith Dr. Henry More that Mathematical Certitude it self is not absolute There is an Essay of Dr. Pell to shew the Errors and Mistakes of the best and most celebrated Astronomers for want of better Knowledge in Geometry Even Monsieur Malebranch a profound Admirer and Follower of Descarts acknowledges that in his Geometry there are some footsteps of the weakness of the humane mind And I will conclude with the Words of One that was known to be eminent in Mathematical Studies Even in Geometry and Arithmetick saith he how many things are forcibly concluded to be true which are inexplicable unimaginable incomprehensible Thus you see the Mathematical Certainty which some men talk of is not so easily to be attain'd as they fancy Disputes have place in Geometry Demonstrations sometimes prove to be Paralogisms But as for a Mathematical Demonstration for the proof of a GOD it is vainly and unreasonably required because there can be no such thing for the matter will not bear it Wherefore though Some Divines have been great Philosophers and Mathematicians yet they never attempted any such thing A man must not expect to have every thing proved the same way If we have things evidenced by the Arguments which they are capable of it is satisfactory and every wise man rests in it And these men themselves do so in other things they acquiesce in that Evidence which the things admit of and they seek no farther Which shews that in the present Case they are Disingenuous and Cross-grain'd and act merely out of Prejudice which was the thing I undertook to make good Their Insincerity nourishes their Atheism Therefore let us have a care that we give way to no such thing III. Another Cause of this Pernicious Opinion is Ostentation of Wit For you may take notice that this Mischievous Plant springs from Contrary Seeds As before this kind of men put on a very grave and solid Countenance so now they shew themselves to be very Pleasant and Airy and set up for the Art of Drolling Before they appear'd like Philosophers now they come upon the Stage like Buffoons Then with a Magisterial Grimace they affected Demonstrations now nothing will please them but the Comical part It is observable that they are a sort of Jesting Scoffing People giving themselves to Railery and Burlesque And it is this Jocular Humour that in part betrays them to Atheism for they take liberty to jest with their Maker These witty and facetious Folks must needs play with Heaven and laugh God out of his being They are defective in sound Learning and Judgment and in the place of these have a fanciful way of Jeering which they addict themselves immoderately to Democritus was the great Asserter of Eternal Matter and thought that the Casual Motion of it was the Cause of all things the influence of which Principle in his Cogitations made him at last laugh at every thing he saw and mock at all Actions and Occurrences of humane life for 't is certain that if they are all by Chance they are to be denied The Followers of this Great Man have learnt from him to be Laughing Philosophers and there are abundance of this Sect now-a-days This I look upon as one Cause of the great Atheism of this Age. They think their Tongues are their own and they may say what they please and they perswade themselves that what
us endeavour to banish Atheism by doing so to our Divisions let us lay aside our Religious Squabbles and arrive at last to a happy Agreement in Doctrine that we may hereby cut off occasion of Atheistick Unbelief on this Account However though in some Points we can't fully accord let us not be hot and firy against one another as if Charity were no Virtue with us VIII There is something more heinous than Divisions which frequently occasions Atheism and confirms men in it and that is the Hypocrisie and Evil Practices of too many that make a very fair profession of Christianity Whilst it is observ'd that they talk Religiously and pretend to Holiness but do nothing of what they talk of or pretend to whilst it is seen that they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof whilst it is evident that they cry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and yet are unhallowed in their Lives whilst it is known that they lay claim to the Spirit but are Carnal and Sensual in their Manners and enterprize very vile things for their worldly Profit and Advantage in short whilst it is observ'd that the Behaviour of sundry of the avowed Professors of Christianity is unanswerable to their Principles there is a sort of men that for the sake of these presently conclude all to be Hypocrites and Christianity it self to be an Imposture This then I grant that the Unbecoming Lives of Christians are an unhappy occasion of Atheism sometimes but they can never be alledged as a sufficient one For what though there be mere Pretenders to Godliness doth it thence follow that there is none at all What though there are great numbers of Religious Impostors Must I therefore thence conclude that all Professors of Religion are an errant Cheat Then by the same Logick I may peremptorily infer that there is no such Metal as Silver because by too noted experience we find at this day that it is generally counterfeited and there is no such thing as True Coin because so much is adulterated amongst us No man of sense will make these Conclusions and 't is as certain that he can with as little reason make the others Let us not then be abused by unsound and fallacious Inferences let us not think there is no Religion because there are so many Unworthy Retainers to it Yea let us be fully convinced of this that though Christianity hath been and is to this day abused and sophisticated and thereby dishonoured yet it is a Reality and we may venture our Lives upon it And seeing the Evil Deportment of some that profess Christianity is the greatest encouragement to Atheism and Vice let us all make it our great business to adorn our Profession with a holy strict and exemplary Conversation Let our light so shine before men that others seeing our good works may be so far from denying that they may glorifie God And let us pray for the arrival of that Happy Day and I hope it is not very far off when Religion shall universally bear sway upon Earth and when men shall be throughly convinced of the real Worth of Christianity from the Practices of those that profess it IX In the next place more particularly the Ill Examples of some who by their Office are Spiritual Guides and Instructors are mention'd as another great occasion of Irreligion and Atheism It is necessary to take notice of this because it is alledged but very frequently without ground by the sworn Patrons of that Cause which I am now pleading against They observe of some of this Order of men that they urge Virtue and Holiness with great Warmth and pathetick Zeal and yet are very cold yea wholly neglectful in the Practice of them and visibly favour those Vices and Enormities which they disswade others from whence it is no wonder say they that these Persons are not believed to be in good earnest yea that they are thought not to believe themselves i. e. to be really perswaded that those things are true which they discourse of for it is seen that their Lives wholly contradict their Doctrine Whence this rash Conclusion is made that Preaching is a meer Trade that the Ministerial Function is a Cheat and that Religion it self is so too and that a Deity is no other Thus where is there more of Atheism than in Italy the Pope's own Soil part of which is call'd Holy Land Which the Observing Author of Europae Speculum who had convers'd in his Travels with the Italians and knew them very well attributes to the gross Wickedness of the Roman Clergy and particularly of the Popes and Cardinals of whose scandalous Speeches and Actions the people of that Country have a greater knowledge than others They are not ignorant that several Popes were inclined to be Atheists as Paul 3. when he was dying told the Standers by that he should now know three things viz. whether the Soul be immortal whether there be a Hell and whether there be a God And Iohn 23. as is plain from that Council of Constance by whom he was deposed profess'd that he look'd upon Religion as a Fable and God and the Soul's Immortality as such And they dayly behold the lewd and dissolute Practices of some of the Cardinals and Prelates Abbots Monks and of their Parish-Priests which very thing as the foresaid Author observes makes them the most Irreligious People in the World yea causes them to defie all Religion for their sakes Especially they conclude that there is nothing true and real in Christianity because so many of the eminent Pretenders to it and Assertors of it live continually in opposition to all Religious Principles and Practices and are seen to be guilty of the most horrid Impieties of the most execrable Villanies that are to be imagined Their being so near to the Head of that Religion as he is stiled makes them averse to the whole kind And this is in some measure the case of People in other Countreys where even the Protestant Faith is professed but is accompanied with the Scandalous Lives and Lewd Practices of some that are immediately concern'd in Holy things and whose Employment it is to direct others in Religion But to speak impartially to any considerate Person this cannot yield an occasion of being Atheistical for though the manners of some of the Sacred Function be offensive yet 't is irrational and absurd to blast all Religion for their Misdemeanours We do not read that our Saviour condemned the Iewish Church and Mosaick Law because of the Hypocrisie and Wickedness of the Chief Priests Scribes and Doctors of the Law Nay he tells the People All that they bid you observe that observe and do but do not ye after their works Matth. 23. 3. As much as if he had said The Moral Law and all the Offices of Religion are not in the least discredited by the vicious Manners of some of your Teachers Be careful that you imitate
them not in their Practices but be very observant of the Holy Doctrine which they deliver entertain no ill Thoughts of it because of the corrupt Lives of your Guides The like may be said now the Faults and Miscarriages of any Ecclesiastical Persons must not be charged on the Sacred Institution of Christ we ought not to think ill of Christianity for the disorderly Behaviour of any spiritual Officers in the Church We see that there is no man refuses to follow a Learned Physician 's Prescriptions and Rules concerning Health because he doth not observe them himself Nor can the Spiritual Patient with any reason reject the Rules of Saving Health and Happiness though they are not observ'd by the Prescriber himself But to be yet more plain with the Persons I am now dealing with they of all men cannot with any tolerable pretence make use of this Plea they cannot complain of the Lives of the Clergy as administring to their disregard of Religion for the more strict and religious any Church-man is the more is he despised and hated by them A Pious Clergy-man is reckon'd by them a weak shallow Creature a fantastick Bigot and is laugh'd at as such So that it is evident that what they alledge concerning the undue Behaviour of some that serve at the Altar is a more groundless Cavil for they would have all men as Wicked and Debauch'd as themselves It must indeed be acknowledged that this is a great Scandal and of very pernicious consequence and such as is not to be permitted with impunity in the Church but it is no excusable ground of Impiety and Atheism However since it is so heinous in it self and is made by the perverse minds of many an Excuse for their Atheism it is the concern of all Christian Guides of Souls to be Examples to the Flock to conform their Lives with great Circumspection and Exactness to the Laws of Christ Jesus their Master and to take care to perform themselves whatever they require others to do X. Unbelief of a God is occasion'd sometimes by the Strange Revolutions and Changes the Odd Events and Unaccountable Administrations that are in the World Especially men are inclined to question God's Existence as well as his Providence when they behold the prosperous state of the most vicious Persons and on the contrary observe how miserably sometimes the Best men are treated in this Life and at Death are not at all differenc'd from the Worst but perish alike Then you shall hear one cry out Quis putet esse Deos And another uses the like Language of the Poet Dum rapiant mala fata bonos Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos. But any understanding man who will take time to consider and deliberate will see that nothing of this nature can justly administer matter of Atheism For is must be remembred that we are finite shallow Creatures and are not able to comprehend the Wise Designs and Purposes of Heaven in every Event that we see and therefore when we meet with obscure and rugged Dispensations and such as seem to be very disorder'd and irregular we have no reason to find fault with them and to think them unworthy of God and of Divine Providence because we are not able to make a judgment of them Those Events which seem to be excentrick and at random are guided by a steady unerring hand but we have not depth of Apprehension to conceive it at present But it may be afterwards when our minds are more enlightned we shall know how to solve these difficult Phoenomena However at the last Day all these Intrigues these Knots these Labyrinths these Riddles shall be fully resolved and it shall be part of our employment in the other world to admire and adore the Infinite Wisdom of God in the disposal of the Affairs here on Earth And particularly we shall then be satisfied yea we may be now concerning the foresaid Problem viz. the Prosperity of the Wicked and the contrary Circumstances of the Good for 't is evident that these are according to exact Justice and Wisdom God intended the former should have their portion in this life only and he designed the latter to be prepared for Heaven by those rougher dealings here below Lastly Learned Times especially if accompanied with Peace or Prosperity are reckon'd by a Judicious Person as another Cause of Atheism Nor is this inconsistent with what I said before that Ignorance is the Mother of Atheism For Learned or Peaceable times are only thus far conducible to this Great Evil that men are then generally too Inquisitive and Curious too Nice and Wanton and over-busily pry into Secrets which when they cannot satisfie themselves about they are inclined to be Atheistical and to doubt even concerning the chief things of Religion Wherefore I question not but the starting and keeping up at this day the Debates about the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity are a great advancement to this evil disposition of mind There are those who push on both Parties to wrangle and quarrel about this Grand Point and in the mean time laugh at the Combatants on both sides Whilst they encourage some Writers to baffle the Trinity of Divine Persons their Project is to destroy the Essence it self Whilst they put them upon maintaining the Unity of the Godhead they hope in the close of the Dispute to introduce a Nullity not only of the Deity but of all Religion For by these Bandyings backward and forward they know that mens minds will be unsettled and that they will be apt to waver about the truth and certainty of the main Articles of our Religion When Persons observe that the very Divinity of our Blessed Lord and Saviour is toss'd and torn by rude Pens when they see so Catholick a Doctrine attack'd with such Violence what can they think of the other great Verities of Christianity And withall the Anti-Trinitarians hereby provoke some of their Adversaries to an indecent sort of Language concerning these Holy Mysteries so that some of these latter have hurt the Cause it may be almost as much by their Defending it as the others have by their Opposing it Thus it must needs be when Persons immoderately indulge Curiosity in these Abstruse and Sublime Matters and will not be content with what the Bible and immediate Inferences drawn thence suggest to us By this means they lose their hold and give their Antagonists a clear Advantage against them and manifestly promote the Design of those who make it their work to make void the Notion of a Deity Nay in the very Socinian Doctrine it self there seems to be an Atheistick Tang. Would not a man guess that there is in approach to Atheism in those Reflections which are made on a Sermon preach'd by the Right Reverend Bishop of Worcester where one of the most receiv'd Notions concerning the Nature of the Deity it self is cashier'd The Self-Existence of God which is the Primary Fundamental and Essential
above them it is impossible that the Apprehensions of finite Creatures should reach these things therefore according to the foresaid Principle the Unitarians are not obliged to believe any such things they must not admit of the Infinite Nature of God concerning which our Conceptions will always be obscure and unproportionate yea they cannot but infer from their own Maxim that God is an impossible Being at least that His Immense Nature is such They cannot comprehend and conceive the Manner of the Immense and Infinite Presence or Knowledge of God therefore they must disown the things themselves Thus by vertue of their own profess'd Principle the Godhead it self as well as the Trinity is shock'd by them and consequently one would be apt to gather that a Socinian so far as he is led by this Principle is an Atheist or lest that should seem harsh one that favours the Cause of Atheism For he may as well quit the belief of a God because of these Difficulties and Abstrusities in the Nature of God as renounce the Doctrine of the Trinity because there are some inexplicable and unintelligible things that accompany it But because all men do not follow the natural Conduct of their Principles the Divine Providence over-ruling in these cases I do not here pass an Universal Censure I do not speak of every individual man nay I hope charitably concerning most of them However it is to be fear'd that some are unhappily under the force and sway of the foregoing Principle and these are the Persons I speak of and no other These things I freely and openly suggest Which the Learned and Ingenious Gentlemen of the Racovian Perswasion cannot dislike unless they disapprove of themselves unless they disclaim their own Writings for they cry up in almost all of them and in one very lately a Freedom of Discourse a Liberty of speaking their Thoughts which they applaud as a very Generous and Noble thing and much value themselves upon it They cannot deny that to me which they allow of and magnifie in themselves especially when I most sacredly profess to them that I have sincerely delivered my Thoughts and spoken what I conceive to be the words of Truth and Soberness Wherefore I expect to be approved of by Persons of their Ingenuity and Free Temper who as I find blame others even some of the Clergy for palliating and dissembling and not speaking out I think they will not charge me with this Fault for I have acted according to their own Generous Principles and I must tell them there is not a Friend of theirs in all their dear Eleutheropolis that is more disingaged and unbyass'd than I am But though I have used a becoming Freedom yet there are some things that I omit because I would let the World see that I am not eager and lavish in blaming and censuring any Party of Men especially since it is suggested to me by some that are Learned and Sober of that Perswasion that it is hard that their Opinion should suffer for the Ill Consequences of it or for the Insincerity of any that profess it or by reason of the Rash indiscreet Passages which occurr in some of their late Writers I do it likewise because I would give the World an Example of Moderation and Temper in this Disputing and Wrangling Age that it may be seen that whilst I remonstrate against the Errors and Mistakes as I suppose them to be of any Side I can forbear to publish the Aggravations of them and that I had rather the Truth should prevail than the Contrary Opinion or the Maintainers of it should be exposed Finally I consider that it is improper and unseasonable to contend among our selves at home whilst our Armies are engaging the Enemy abroad The Proper Antidote belonging to this Head of my Discourse is this Let us make a Difference between Finite Beings and that which is Infinite for seeing there is such a Vast Difference between them we ought to observe it We cannot form the same Conceptions of one and the other yea the latter is exalted above our reach and comprehension wherefore let us be satisfied that the Properties of an Infinite Being such as God is are incomprehensible and therefore that may be possible in the Infinite Nature of God as namely that it is communicable to Three Distinct Persons which is impossible in the Finite Nature of Man or other Creatures Let us attend to that which may be known and that clearly and distinctly and not trouble our thoughts and wrack our brains about Unsearchable Mysteries A Lover of Peace as well as Truth should not be so much sollicitous about the Manner of the Three Personalities or Subsistencies as about the Trinity it self We are sure of the latter as sure as the Scripture can make us therefore it doth not become us to wrangle about the former especially when we find that ill-minded men make use of this Quarrel to promote the Cause of Atheism and truly they make advances towards it every day I proceed to Other Doctrines which administer to this Great Evil which I have been speaking of and which may justly be reckoned among the Blemishes of these Inquisitive Times Such is that of a late Writer that the Books of the Old Testament were not written by those Persons whose Names they bear that the Historical parts of the Bible are lame and imperfect and repugnant to themselves that the Writings were not carefully and faithfully transmitted to us but abound with many faults and mistakes that the Books of the Prophets are mere scraps and fragments and taken without order and method from other Writings All which put together destroys the Authority of Divine Revelation and consequently of all Reveal'd Religion from whence we have the strongest and most pregnant Arguments for a Deity Again The same Design is advanced in these Learned Times by thrusting of Opinions and Theories on the world in defiance of the plain Letter and Historical Part of the Bible as if the Sacred History which was written by Inspired Men were not as credible and authentick as that of Prophane Authors The frame of the Primitive Earth is represented opposite to what Moses tells us it was the account which he gives of Paradise as it is a Particular Place is contradicted yea it is strongly averr'd that there never was any such thing What Moses relates concerning our First Parents is laugh'd at as a Romantick Story The Universal Deluge in Noah's time is attributed to an accidental diruption of the Earth which when scann'd is found to be fictitious and imaginary and thence the Deluge it self is concluded by many to be so and Moses is reckon'd by them as an Impostor Which is taken notice of and thus animadverted upon by a Curious Observer and One who as becometh so Learned an Head joyns Religion with his Philosophical Researches The Atheistical Party had hereby an occasion saith he boldly to give out that such a
Deluge as that described by Moses was altogether incredible and that there never was nor could be any such thing Nothing was talk'd of among them under Mathematical Demonstrations of the falshood of it which they vented with all imaginable Triumph and would needs have it that they had here sprung a fresh and unanswerable Argument against the Authentickness of the Mosaick Writings which is indeed what they drive at and a Point they very fain would gain For if the Pen-man of the first book in the Bible be found tripping then the Credit of all the rest falls to the ground we may justly question their Fidelity yea deny whatever they say And so the Bible falls and with it all our Religion and with that necessarily a Deity which is the thing ultimately aimed at I do not say by the first Hand from whence these Notions came for I charitably hope better things of so Learned a Person especially since he hath shew'd himself not unwilling to retract them but by those ill-minded men who make their Markets of these Opinions All that I will add here is this that if according to a Learned Doctor of the Sorbon it be a very dangerous Paradox to presume to deny that the Pentateuch was composed by Moses and accordingly Hobbes and Spinosa are condemn'd by him for using Arguments to that purpose then surely it must be much more dangerous and pernicious to hold that any part of Moses's Writings is mere Forgery and Fiction i. e. was designed only to comply with the Ignorant Iews at that time and doth not contain matter of fact I have said something of this nature in another place and on another account but I never had occasion before to represent it as an unhappy Handle which Atheistically disposed Persons may lay hold upon Wherefore let those who are Philosophically disposed take warning hence and forbear to prefer their own precarious Hypotheses before the plain Account which this Inspired Historian gives of those first things in the World Let none presume to represent the Writings of this First Author as false in order to make their own true and thereby to gratifie the worst sort of men I need not say more here because I have already antidoted against the Infection of these two last Heads viz. in those Discourses wherein I have treated of the Authority and Perfection of the Scriptures In the next place Learned Enquirers are apt to give Encouragement to Atheism by an obstinate endeavouring to solve all the Phoenomena in the world by mere Natural and Corporeal Causes and by their averseness to admit of the aid and concurrence of a Supernatural or Immaterial Principle for the production of them The Mechanick Philosophy hath done a great deal of mischief on this account not but that so far as it ought to be made use of it is generally the most excellent because the most plain and sensible way of displaying the Operations of Natural Bodies and it cannot be denied that since This hath been revived and entertain'd there hath been that Improvement in Natural Philosophy which never was thought of before and which could never have been attain'd by the Aristotelian way yet this is to be said with truth and reason that the Great Reviver and Manager of it hath carried it on too far by undertaking to give an account of All Effects and Events in the production of Vegetables and Animals and in the very Formation and Organization of the Body of Man himself by mere Mechanick Principles thereby in a manner ascribing Divinity to Matter and Motion This Great Philosophick Wit over-shot himself here and though it is true he hath otherways viz. by asserting the Notion of Souls or Spirits and by demonstrating the essential and real Difference from Bodies made some part of amends for this yet there are many at this day who make very ill use of this Doctrine Some take occasion thence to believe that Men as well as Brutes are no other than Engines and Machines mere Neurospasts and Senseless Puppets Others build upon this Notion the Conceit of Thinking Matter for if Pores and Particles do all things in the Bodies of Brutes it is probable they serve instead of Souls to those of Humane Race and so a Spiritual and Immaterial Principle is excluded This Philosophy is Vain Deceit and too many are spoil'd by it But they should consider that the Noble French Philosopher himself did not believe all that he wrote Malebranch who was a great Admirer and Defender of him tells us that he never pretended that things were made in that manner that he describes them Yea we have Des Cartes's own word for it I require not any one saith he to believe that Bodies which compose this visible World were ever produced in that way which I have represented them It seems by his own Confession that he was not in good earnest in all the parts of his Philosophy and therefore we may gather that in some of the Particulars aforemention'd he only propounded his Conjectures We might carry this Thought yet farther and observe that the generality of the Modern Philosophers not only Cartesians but others have contributed much to Atheism by referring All things not only in Organiz'd Bodies but in every part of the World and all the Phoenomena that we take notice of in it to a Corporeal Principle and to the Efficiency and Power of this alone Whereas it is certain that there are many things which happen in the World that cannot be solv'd any other way than by the Superintendence of a Spiritual Being There are several wonderful Occurrences which no man can give an account of but by supposing an Almighty Immaterial Agent which is no other than God Thus we must be constrained to repair to an Incorporeal Principle to solve the Cause of the Seas constant Ebbing and Flowing and the Attraction of the Loadstone and the Hanging of the Clouds and many other Phoenomena in Nature for the Accounts that are given are imperfect and inconsistent and do no ways satisfie any Serious Enquirer A man that is not willing to be put off with slight and insufficient Suggestions cannot rest in them as true Causes of those things Only Philosophical men will be assigning some Reasons of things whether they can or no and this is an Inclination which is incident to the best and wisest Naturalists in all Ages But they may as reasonably undertake to shew whence it is that the Sun hath its continual Motion from East to West or as they would rather express it why the Earth wheels about upon its Axis from West to East which yet I do not see attempted by any Philosopher whatsoever and yet there is as much reason for the one as the other So for Gravity that known affection of Bodies whereby they are inclined towards the same Common Center it seems not to be solved by any Principles of Mechanism that have hitherto been propounded whether it