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A36132 A discovery of theisme together with such philosophical and mathematical observations as are consonant thereunto : deliver'd in a more refin'd manner then hitherto written, against atheisme and prophaness / by a person of quality. Person of quality. 1698 (1698) Wing D1660; ESTC R16081 23,490 112

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and Preservation with some Opinions of the Learned The Third Including the Religion of the Theist and the manner of Holy Adoration redounding from thence As to the First Particular THE Theist does not concern his Imagination with the trite contests that both amuse and weary Mens understandings by their Impossible determinations as they are Debated in Schools where some undertake to determine that by the Efficacy of the Divine Will the World had an original Creation from nothing Or as others Assert from matter that had a precedent Existency and afterwards dispos'd by Omnipotency into the Figure we now behold Neither of which opinions the Theist allows to be his It being more perspicuous in his Judgment to believe that the Universe with all it contains is admirable then to define by what Method or Means its wonderful Structure was produc'd But however it came to pass 't was certainly accomplish'd without pains by whatsoever was the manner of the operation because in every thing it comprehends there is an easiness of Order and Being otherwise there could be no one Individual of any kind but might be destructive to another and the Cause perish with the Effect which would tend to a period of Providence Fox tho it be apparent that Bodies of Life whether Animals or Vegetables are subject to alteration and Death as any of them corupt in order to the Generation of others yet nothing is absolutely destroy'd but rather varied as a continual supplement to more productions so that the Cause remains entire however it effects Alteration Examples are obvious in many Particulars of which these are ocularly Illustrious the Sun Moon and Stars are influential Causes of innumerable Alterations of Bodies beneath 'em yet have no change in themselves as they Operate on other things And thus it is very manifest that the vast Bulk of the Universe subsists by open providential Causes and their Effects which by a Series of humane Thought ascend untill the Imagination to wonder leaves 'em as being not within its Capacity to proceed higher And therefore according to the poetical Allusion of Homer's Chain of Divine Providence stupendiously Comits the Scals of its Causes as fixt at the foot of Jupiters Chair If the total complexe of the Universe does admirably convict us that it has an unconceivable Structure and Being the Author of its Existency must impose on the Soul a more sublime Admiration which by the Theist is readily devoted to Divine Omnipotency There is no ordinary Understanding that may not Signally perceive the providential Results in Causes and Effects of a deified Power but not with the same possibility discern the Station or Essence of the wonderful Author Notwithstanding it is obviously apparent that there are diversities of Elementary Operations and Subsistencies appertaining to the Earth on which we tread that as to the Causes from whence they proceed are as far remote from our Conceptions as any Influenc'd from the supreamest Orb of Heaven Which experience fully assures it being not more obscure to our Intellects why some parts of Earth should enclose divers Materials Mines of Diamonds Gold Silver Minerals Streams and watry Depths when in others are found Quarries of Stone and Impenetrable Rocks Nor less clouded will be our Imagination should we search on Mountains tops and then discover the Head of a Spring that by secret descending supplies perpetually the Current of a mighty River Would not a Man think that it were as Impossible to think the Cause of this wondrous Scource as by Reason to conceive why the Bosome of the Earth should nourish the different Materials already mention'd Yet duely consider'd the Uses for which they are ordain'd the course Stone or Peeble differs not in Value from the purest Diamond as being more frequent for usage tho not in opinion of the same price So variously has Providence provided for our Ornaments and conveniencies of Life Could the Universe be compair'd with any Conception of the Humane Mind it were possible to Imagine a World as prodigiously wonderful in Whole and in Parts as this we visibly behold but that were to extend thought beyond what is actually Miraculous and therefore no less Absur'd then Impossible because we could think of nothing but would have some material Resemblance to what was observ'd before within the Compass of the World we Inhabit On which Ground it may be concluded that there can be no Miracle to Sense either great or small other then what is locally Encompass'd by the Circumference of Heaven and Earth Should a Man endeavour by any Extasie of Thought to contemplate the Being of Deity his Imagination could extend no farther then the usual Course of providential Operations And should he attempt to explain the Divine Essence he could not separate his thought from Apprehending the Corporeal Shape and Likeness of some Object he had before observ'd Wherefore 't is a presumption in words if deliver'd by them that God can be otherwise understood then by his admir'd Providence and Works Nor is it possible to Attribute other Definition to Omnipotency for tho God may be understood to have the utmost Perfection of spiritual Existency and what is more demonstratively such by operations of a spiritual Nature or equivalent to it as shall be evidently prov'd in the next Particular of this Treatise Notwithstanding it seems Impossible to word the Definition of a Spirit because nothing can be deliver'd by Speech but must be the Object of one or more of the Senses and no Man will averr that he can either see or feel a Spirit It being unconceivable that a Corporeal Eye or Sense whatsoever should perceive any thing that has not bodily parts otherwise then it may be exerted in some equivalent Capacity as already express'd But before the first Grand Particular of this Treatise receives a period The Theist would be understood that where he mentions the miraculous Sructure and Continuance of the total Universe he does not Annex a more Ineffable Wonder to the Whole then he does to every individual Part whether of Annimal or Vegetable Subsistency A Miracle is as absolute in Epitomy as in the utmost extent of Bredth Depth and Height Insomuch that every particular thing appertaining to Earth above and below its Surface are no less stupendious then the vastness of its Circumference and Bulk If ask'd why the Earth is adorn'd with Flowers of a various Coulour and Beauty and but the Grass and Leaves of Trees greenly flourishing The most intellegent Man can give no perfect reason no more then if requir'd to prove why any one Stone appears of a comlier Figure and Complexion than another If farther demanded how Rivers and Seas are supply'd with numberless Streams that are maintain'd and encreas'd He must profess his Ignorance because unknown to him both the manner of the Operation and Materials by which they were originally produc'd If interogated why Air is thiner then Earth or Water or why Stars are brighter then Trees or not
B K the Triangles S P F and S K B are Equiangled the Angle a S common to both and right Angled at P and K and therefore the third equal in both as also the sides proportional The same is demonstrable of either of the other Triangles To make all which evident to Sense let a small Thread be fasten'd or held in the Center S and move the other end of it from B to M it shall as soon come to the greater space B M as to the lesser F N which was to be prov'd and the same may be Affirm'd of F G in in the Triangle S F G or of B C in the greatest Triangle S B C. Wherefore the Sun may as soon Revolve from B to M as the Earth can from F to N if both be granted to move at once by the same Cause And what can be appli'd to both if supposs'd to be mov'd togteher ought to be separately allow'd the Sun as more suitable to occular Evidence Wherefore the Theist concluds this second Head of this Treatise with demonstrative assurance that the Copernicans are no less Confuted as they would Imagine that the Earth moves Instead of the Sun then they or any other opposers must be if controdictory to any of his former Principles rationally asserted The Third Particular explicating the Faith of the Theist and his Manner of Adoration redounding from thence T IS not doubted by the Theist that it has been enough prov'd in the beginning of this Treatise that the open Cause and Effects of Divine Providence sensibly beheld in the ordain'd Constitution of the Universe and all its Parts as ●o many undeniable publications that ought to Convict the Reverence of the humane Soul in Reference to the Worship of Omnipotency could by no other means then by micaculous Order and visible Deeds be so familiarly communicated to the preception of Mankind all which has been precedently Explain'd And whosoever denies that holy Belief may not in that Method be perspicuously exerted must have recourse to such Relations of Divine Worship as cannot in their Nature exceed moral Certainties or the Effects of Custome and Educ●tion which in their utmost extent have less assurance the● is evident in the Proof of any one Proposition of the Elements of Euclide And ' twer● absur'd to imagine that a Man should be more able to explain the Properties of a Line or superficies then to Demonstrate how he comes by that main Article of his Creed the belief of one God Wherefore the Theist as an Infallible Motive to the duty of his Faith has superlative assurance conspieuously asserted in the miraculous Conduct Facts and Munificence of the Almighty without the help of Man as his subordinate Tutor otherwise then as it is Imcumbent on the more assiduous discernments of some to remind others of the pious tegard they ought to have to Works of the Almighty so manifest to every Eye Whereas other perswasions together with their undiscernable motives or suppositious Doctrins convey'd and impos'd by the Interested diversities of humane Allowance make their obscure Entrance into the Soul of the believer and by their fermented oppositions instigate polemick Disputes with such dreadful Animosities as patronise War and Destruction whereby they may justly be deem'd instead of Religions the Incendiaries of violence and blood Which sanguine Impieties or destroying of Lives on the account of contested or uncertain Tenents are wholly avoided by the Principles of the Theist no less Impossible to be oppos'd then if Men should deny the Being of the miraculous World they Inhabit or the Gifts of Providence which they have Eyes to behold But the Theist is not desirous farther to enlarge or apply what might be said on this occasion least he should provoke Men of words or such that with more Passion then Sense would be his wrangling opposers If he Affirms that the Universe is the mediate Object of his devotion to the Omnipotent he does not therefore conclude that the World was produc'd or Man in it as if any glory by either or both could be added to God who is Eternally glorified in himself and not at all by constituting in a direct Interpretation the species of Mankind so wickedly temper'd and compos'd in Body and Mind and with that generality too that the Rolls of the Impious are numberless in every consideration if compar'd with the few good Insomuch that some have attributed the production of Man to an accidental aberration of Nature in the Course of her Works or her Ambition by that Enormity to raise humane Individuals that should be wickedly predominant over themselves and the rest of her Creatures Wherefore they conclude that Mankind had as corrupt a beginning as 't is continu'd in too many notorious Examples of Life and Death As also that they could not be Creatures allow'd by the Almighty to present him with the Address of their praise or Prayer To which the Theist Replys that it cannot be denied that the vast Troops of the Wicked abundantly over-number the Good Notwithstanding their facinourous Deeds abolish not the rational Capacities they have to amend or to be inform'd by the discreet Integrity of the better principled few So that 't is either for want of diligent Instructors or as they are not incourag'd as they ought to be in applying their assiduity to impress Divine Moralities whereby multitudes might be render'd more propitiously devout and therefore not meerly the natural Inclinations and Tempers of Men that causeth their aversness from Piety and Obedience And till Rulers of People are less blemish'd by their Principles and Actions and more advantageous Examples of eminent Goodness to such they govern there will be but small progress towards a general Redress By reason that where Men can be beneficially countenanced in being bad they will seldom Improve by their worldly loss to the benefit of their Souls In fine should a Man according to the last Instance think himself beholding to his blind expression of Nature for all or what is more be so ungratiously thoughtless as in no manner of notion to be thankfully accountable for his Being or the benefits of Life enjoy'd by him 'T is very probable that such a person if mention'd to him that it must be some beneign Cause that had given him his Intellectual faculties above other Animals and likewise capacities of Mind to subjugate them in divers kinds for his use and subsistance would acknowledge by some Denomination or Method that he ought to give thanks as well as pray that the Commodities of Life might be continu'd to him here tho he believ'd nothing of a future World And therefore detestable Inconsiderateness in such as appear neither Proselites to Reason or Religion Others there are and of accute perception that want no diligence in observing the Divine Conduct and Order diffuss'd throughout the Universe and all its Particulars Who notwithstanding their utmost endeavour are at a stand because they Judge that they cannot discern in