see daily the Motion of Bodies and the Production of Living Creatures especially of Mankind First For the Motion of Bodies The principal Parts of the World are never idle In the Earth there are active Principles of Life and Vegetation which prepare the vital Juice that is in all Plants and Trees In Animals there is Concoction Digestion and a Motion or Fluor of the Chyle which serves for Nutrition In the Sea there is a Flux and Reflux and a Current in Rivers and Springs In the Air there are Vicissitudes and Turnings as Exhalations and Vapours steam out of the Earth and return to it again modified into various Forms And the constant circular Courses of those glorious Bodies in the Firmament shew likewise that in this visisible World there is no Rest Now all these Motions of material Substances must depend upon Causes for Matter alone is a liveless unactive stupid Thing which can no more move it self than Mountains and Rocks can walk and whatever those Causes be whether proximate or remote they must depend for their Operations upon the Energy of one supreme Cause that impower'd Nature and set the whole Frame of it on work and gave it as we may say the first Stroke for otherwise Motion which once was not in being would have been the Cause of it self which is utterly impossible The like may be said of the Production of Living Creatures and particularly of Mankind Once we were not therefore you and I and all of us had a beginning as we shall have an end and though we should run up our Generations so far as to date our Breed from an hundred thousand Years ago yet must we of necessity derive it at last from some Ancestors who were not begotten of others as we have been but were made after a different manner by an Omnipotent Cause which could give them a beginning for otherwise we must either run up on to Eternity or suppose our first Parents to have made themselves which is repugnant to the universal Truth I demonstrated before and would imply that those our first Parents had a Being and no Being at the same instant This Argument so strongly proves the necessary Existence of a first Cause or a Deity to form the whole Frame of Nature and to set it in order that some unreasonable Men find themselves constrained to tell us that the World ever was as it is now the same from all Eternity without any Rise Novity or Beginning and so without any dependence on a first Cause or need of it They were as good say plainly That they are resolved never to be convinced but will rid themselves of all belief of a Deity at any rate though they destroy the Principles of Common Reason and run into the most fulsome Absurdities and Contradictions For how can it consist with reason to take a boundless Progress from one Effect to another still onward up to Retroinfinity without stopping at any beginning This conceit being admitted these monstrous Absurdities must follow 1. First It implies the local Motion of Bodies to have produced it self without the efficiency of a first Mover which is impossible because Motion is neither essential to Matter for then no body could ever rest nor is it incident to Matter as such but by its being touched by some moving Principle that is distinct from it It is a Passion imprest upon Matter by an Agent by virtue whereof it changeth place and distance and therefore it presupposeth Action from something else otherwise it must be its own Creature and Maker too the Effect and Cause of it self at the same time and out of nothing which is a Contradicton So that though you go through the vastest Series of moving Bodies from the things below to the Heavens above you must come at last to a first Mover of all things or conclude against all Sense and Reason that there are innumerable Effects without any Original Essiciency Suppose when the World was made it had presently had some great Jog given it 't were hard to conceive that the Motion of its several Parts should not have spent it self in a little time without a conserving Power pervading through all But it confounds Humane Understanding to think how there could be Motion all along from all past Eternity and without any beginning no superior Power moving or acting upon Bodies because it is impossible for Matter to be self-active though you should suppose it to have been Eternal It could no more move than it could make it self for upon that principle Men must return to that great Absurdity and Contradiction touching a thing being its own Cause that is touching its being and not being at the same time 2. Secondly To suppose the whole World to have been Eternal would render the Generation of Mankind altogether impossible For every ones Formation and Birth is absolved in the space of so many Months and so it must of necessity include not only a Period but a Beginning too both which are inconsistent with the Notion of Eternity for if Humane Race was always begotten carry it as high as you please you must come to a moment when Generation did begin 3. If it be said Thirdly That Men were not from all Eternity generated as they are now but that some were created or made from everlasting and thence others were produced in the ordinary common way this contradicteth it self for it necessarily infers a Creator or Maker and by consequence it implies a first Man and a first Cause and a time when our first Ancestors began whereas there is neither first nor last in Successions which are Eternal so that were our Ancestors Eternal it must be said plainly we had no first Parents at all 4. And then Fourthly What can be more absurd than to conceive that every particular Man should have as we see every Man hath a Father and a Mother and yet that all Mankind should have none 5. Fifthly Or if every Man's Parents were infinite then it must be said That there are as many Infinites as there are and have been particular Men in the World which is such another great Absurdity as the former 6. Sixthly To conclude this Argumentation To affirm the World to have been Eternal is to destroy the Notion of Infinity and to entangle ones self in the greatest Nonsense For to give you the Words of a most Learned and Judicious Writer If the World be Eternal Bishop Stillingsleet ' s Orig. Sac. p. 376. there must have been past an infinite Succession of Ages an insinite number of Successions are already past and if past then at an end and so we find an Infinite which hath an end which is a consequence becoming one who avoids the belief of a Deity because Infinity is an unconceivable thing Besides if the number of Generations hath been Insinite these two consequences will unavoidably follow which the Reason of any one but an Atheist would startle at That one Infinite may be
greater than another and that the part is equal to the whole For let him six where he please in the Course of Generations I demand whether in the great Grand-father's time the Succession of Generations was Finite or Infinite If Finite then it had a beginning and so the World not Eternal If Infinite then I ask Whether there were not a longer Succession of Generations in the time of his great Grand-children and so there must be a number greater than that which was Infinite for the former Succession was Infinite and this hath more Generations in it than that had but if it be said That they were equal because both Insinite Then the Succession of Generations to the Grandfather being but a part of that which extends to his Grand-children and Posterity the part is equal to the whole This surely is enough to shew That according to common Reason the World once was not but that it must have had a beginning and consequently that there was a first Cause of it nay that the Existence of an higher Being was necessary to make it because whatever once was not could not be self-originated all that now Moves or Lives in the World could not produce or make it self but was brought into being by a most perfect Nature that was before it and superior to it that is by a Deity and by nothing less than a Deity for these five Reasons 1. First It was impossible for all Beings to be made for that would suppose that once there was nothing at all and then 't is confest on all hands that nothing could have been produced Therefore as it was necessary for the first Cause to be independent on any other for else it could not have been the first so it was necessary for that Cause to be unproduced by reason of the absolute Perfection and intrinsick plenitude of its own Essence so that it needed no hand from without to give it any thing 2. Secondly The first Cause having its being by necessity of Nature it was impossible for it to have any beginning For had it had a beginning like other things it must have taken it from some other Principle because whatever once wanted Origination could not give it to it self and consequently the Existence of the first Cause must have been contingent and precarious which would have destroyed the great Prerogative of its independence 3. Thirdly Considering that the several parts of the World were to take their Original out of a State of Non-existence it was impossible for the first Cause to have a Power limited and restrained by any thing without it For as nothing could hinder it from being by reason of its own necessary Existence so nothing could hinder it from acting by reason of its absolute Independence and consequently the First Cause had necessarily a Power of creating things out of nothing because if any preexistent Matter had been requisite for it to work on it must have depended upon Matter and been beholding to Matter for permitting it to act 4. Fourthly The Power of creating things being so necessarily great it was impossible for the First Cause to be made up of Matter For all Matter as such is an unactive stupid dead thing utterly uncapable of producing either it self or any other Being much less could it act with that wonderful Faecundity Counsel Wisdom and Benignity of Mind which the whole frame of Nature argues to be in the First Cause as shall be show'd in its due place 5. Fifthly It was impossible also for the First Cause of all things to be locally extended or to be circumscribed limited determined and confined to Place as Matter or Body is For being to raise up a vast Universe it was necessary for that most powerful Nature to be undividedly present to every part of the world which it acted upon and for the Management and Conservation of the Universe to contain it all within the Immensity of its own Essence Which Essence was necessarily boundless and unlimited because it was not possible to be produced by any other Being that could restrain define or bound its Immensity For as an excellent Writer Dr. Scot ' s Christian Life part 2. vol. 1. p. 193. well observes and argues that which limits Beings is only the Will or Power of their Causes which either would not or could not bestow any further Being or Perfection upon them and therefore only such things as have a Cause are limited because they being produced out of nothing are only so far and no farther brought into Being as their Cause was willing or able to bring them That therefore which exists of its self without any Cause of its Being must also exist of it self without any Limits of its Being by reason that it was neither limited by it self nor by any other Cause and that which hath nothing to limit it must necessarily be immense and boundless God therefore being this self-existent Being must necessarily be of an unlimited Essence an Essence which no possible Space can either circumscribe or define but must necessarily be diffused all through circumfused all about and present with all things The Existence then of such a perfect transcendent Being as hath been described was absolutely necessary in order to the production and formation of the world And hence we rationally assirm That before ever the Earth and the Heavens were made there was an Intellectual Nature that was to be the Cause of the whole World and that this Nature or First Being was and is Self-originated Eternal Omnipotent Incorporeal and Infinite In using which expressions we speak like men as we are able according to our Capacities and as the narrowness of our Faculties compared with the transcendency of the Object will allow us Our meaning more at large is this Considering that all the parts of the world were made by an Essicient Cause and that nothing could bring it self out of Non-existence into Being by reason that nothing could be before it self we must necessarily acknowledge That there is a First Cause of all things and that this First Cause was not made or produc'd by any other Which First Cause being altogether Independent existed by the absolute Necessity of its Nature by its own Perfection Permanency and Fulness and consequently was Eternal or of Infinite Duration because being unproduced it could not but be without any beginning And this Self-Existence includes Self-Activity suitable to the Perfections of an Eternal Nature that is a Power of producing and effecting whatever is possible in the Nature of the thing and doth not imply a Contradiction For all Impotence or Inability to operate is utterly inconsistent with the Perfections of a First Cause from which is derived all the Power that is in Second Causes Whence it follows That the First Cause could not be Matter a thing which of it self cannot live or move but a Spirit void of all Corporeal Substance an Eternal Mind able perfectly to exert and display its Power
extort this Confession from all Men That there is a Being incomprehensibly Excellent which formed so excellent a Creature as our humane Nature is In Discoursing then upon this Subject I shall endeavour to shew these Two things 1. First Wherein the Excellence of humane Nature does consist 2. Secondly That this Excellence was derived not from the casual Modification of stupid Matter but from the Agency of an intelligent Cause that is eminently and absolutely Perfect 1. First Touching the Excellence of our humane Nature By our humane Nature is understood strictly the intellectual thinking and rational Thing within us which we call the Soul And when I spake of its Excellence I mean its essential Perfection before Vice comes to deprave and hurt it And I spake too of a comparative Perfection not meaning that it is Excellent in such a sublime Degree as a Deity is supposed to be but Excellent in its Kind and in comparison of the other Parts of this visible World Now that every rational Soul is thus Excellent will appear both from its Nature and Faculties In its Nature it is 1. First Immaterial For it is a distinct thing from Matter and the Properties of it are quite different from the Properties of Matter It is of the Nature of Matter to be locally extended as a Wall is part by part and one part by another in a palpable Series of Contiguity to move as a Stone does as it is moved forcibly by some other Agent and to communicate its Motion to a corporeal Substance by strokes imprest upon it to be wholly passive to external Violence to be in an utter state of Rest when Force is not offered to be as Senseless as a Stone and as void of Cogitation and when it is stirred and agitated to be destitute of all Apprehension which way or in what manner or to what end it moves These and the like dull Properties essentially and necessarily belong to Matter There is as much difference between them and the Attributes of the rational Soul as between Death and Life Because this is a busie Thing prone and ready to enquire into the qualities of Objects to discover their Natures to apprehend Ideas to commit Notions to Memory for a long time to discern and distinstuish between Truth and Falshood and between Right and Wrong to infer Conclusions from Premises to spin Opinions out of a train of Thoughts to judge what is to be Received and what is to be Rejected to exert an Appetite towards that which is Good and to rest with Complacency and Delight in the Enjoyment of it Nay besides all this to be also in its operations Self-active and Self-determining is Essential to it For the Soul of Man is not pulled or forced dragged or drawn or thrust on like a Machine No the Principle of its Actions is within its self nor can any thing move it but by its own consent and voluntary compliance Indeed outward Objects make Impressions upon it and such as do affect it and incline it to act according as things appear to be either desirable or hurtful But this is not done by any violent necessitating Impulse like the Force imprest upon a common Engine but in a Moral way by perswasion and allurement and by the intervening use of Reason which judgeth of the Object whether it may be chosen or refused and accordingly dictates and directs So that when the Soul resolves upon Actions and comes to exert its Power it determines it self being sollicited thereunto by Temptations and Arguments from the inviting Appearance of an Object but not driven to it by irresistible Violence For in many Cases we do resist Offers though they be very Tempting because the Motives for our compliance are not so strong as the Reasons which are against it And when the Reasons on each hand seem equally fair the Soul is unresolved and in suspence hanging in doubt in aequilibrio like Scales that are exactly even till some Grains be added some more Arguments offered on the one side which outweigh all on the contrary and so turn and cast the Scale and bring the Soul to a Determination Of these things every Man hath daily Experience in his own Breast We all feel in our selves this our native Liberty and determining Power And hence it follows That after all the Disputes about the Substance of the rational Soul what it is we may certainly conclude what it is not It cannot be any material corporeal Substance though you suppose it to be never so fine and thin because its Operations are quite different from the Motions of the most subtile Body They proceed not from any necessitating Cause nor are they carried on after a necessitating Manner nor are they brought to any necessary Result as the Motions of Matter are these are still imprest upon it by some necessitating thing which is without and foreign to it But the Soul of Man hath a Principle of Freedom and voluntary Activity within it self and in its Nature whereby it is apt to begin and order and govern and perfect its own Actions as its own Reason directeth and as it self judgeth to be most convenient and best 2. And because it is immaterial it must follow that its own Nature it is immortal also which is the Second Argument of its Excellence if compar'd with all the other parts of this visible World That this thing may be rightly understood we must consider that there is a two fold Life in Man 1. The Life of the Compositum as they call it or the Life of the whole Man that Life which results from the Vital Union between Soul and Body This cannot be thought immortal because we see it every Day destroy'd by the separation of those two Substances Soul and Body from each other 2. There is the Original Life of the Soul it self consider'd singly and separately as a distinct thing from the Body This Life is I conceive a state of Vigour and Activity and a state which is peculiar and proper to the Soul Now this is immortal that is though the Body turns to Dust and Ashes yet the Soul continues a living Being still or subsisteth on in a state of Vigour so that the Nature of it is not subject to Mortality For by Mortality is meant a proneness or tendency in a Being to a Dissolution of it upon the failing of that Principle of Activity within it which we call Life And three things are requisite to render a thing Mortal as we see by every Day 's Experience in all Creatures which naturally consume away and die 1. There must be a Mixture of contrary Qualities as Heat and Cold and the like 2. There is a corruptibility of Humours upon the Prevalence and Predominancy of one Quality over the others 3. And Thirdly a Divisibility of the Parts upon and after the over-powering the Faculties and Temperament of Nature So that 't is Matter that is liable to Death nor can Death be incident
thing can be drawn into Existence out of it but by a superiour uncontroulable Power over it For should we suppose it to produce any thing of it self we should suppose it to produce that which it hath not power to bring forth and to give it a Being which it hath not at all it self that is to bring it out of an Incapacity or out of Nothing Which no Humane Reason can think how a thing can do by any Casuality of its own because there is a defect of such Casuality If then there be something more and higher in a Rational Soul than what is in Matter it must be inconsistent with Reason to imagine that Matter caused it for then it would necessarily follow that it caused it without a Power or by its Incapacity Inability and Defect that is out of Nothing When we observe this admirable frame of Nature the Universe can we think that its Order was effectively caused by Confusion It s Harmony by Discord It s Beauty by Disproportions the Usefulness of its parts by Errour It s wise and regular Fabrication by Nonsense This were to make one Contrary the cause of another and with parity of Reason it might be said that Water produceth Fire and Darkness made the Sun and that Death is the efficient Cause of Life Sense and Motion In like manner when we consider the Nature and Faculties of the Rational Soul and compare the whole frame of it with the Substance and Properties of dull lifeless and incogitative Matter can we think that Corporiety was the cause of a thing that is immaterial that Divisibility was the cause of a Being immortal that Reason was the work of Stupidity that Atoms taught us to Philosophize that Wisdom sprang from the motion of little Bodies void of all Art Skill and Knowledge and that the Powers we find within us to act with Freedom and Choice to direct our Actions by the Logick of Truth and by the Laws of Vertue to desire and intend our Good in all things to pursue it with Eagerness Understanding and Delight and to rejoyce in the Fruition of it can we think I say that all these things came from the Chance-Operations of Matter which hath nothing of Sense or Thought in it It may as well be said that the tumbling of Stones and Timber together will produce Sensation Intellection Reasoning Memory Prudence Conscience together with those Passions and Affections which we feel within us In short It may be as well said that a Rational Soul can be educed and drawn out of an Heap of Rubbish As an Effect cannot naturally proceed from a contrary Cause so neither can an Effect transcend the Perfection and Vertue of its natural Cause It may fall short of it or it may come up to a degree of equality with it but it can no more go beyond or above it than Waters can naturally run higher than the Fountain-Head stands So that were there nothing in the World besides dead and senseless Matter modified into various Forms at a venture by undesigning and unintending Motion it were impossible for a Rational Soul to spring out of it for the Effect would be much nobler than the Cause and consequently would emerge out of nothing For I ask Were the Perfections of a Rational Soul in Matter before the Soul was made or were they not If you suppose they were then this ridiculous Conceit will follow that Atoms have in them Knowledge Wisdom Morality Liberty of Will and such other Perfections which belong unto the Soul If they were not antecedently there then this ridiculous Conceit will follow That Perfections were caused by Incapacity or that Matter gave a perfect Being an Existence which it self had not to give Which would be a plain Contradiction and would moreover ascribe a creative Power to Matter though it be a thing altogether Passive when the Men I now dispute against will not allow a Deity it self that Power because they think it an impossibility Dr. Cudworth Int. Syst p. 862 Hence a Learned Author concludes positively that neither can Matter which is a meeâ— Passive thing efficiently produce a Soul nor a Soul Matter no finite imperfect Substance being able to produce another Substance out of nothing much less can such a Substance as hath a lower degree of Entity and Perfection in it create that which hath an higher There is a Scale or Ladder of Perfections in the Universe one above another and the Production of things cannot possibly be in way of Ascent from lower to higher but must of necessity be in way of Descent from higher to lower Now to produce any one higher Rank of Being from the lower as Cogitation from Magnitude and Body is plainly to invert this Order in the Scale of the Universe from downwards to upwards and by the same reason that one higher Rank or Degree in this Scale is thus unnaturally produced from a lower may all the rest be produced also The Consequence of all this is That Matter being so utterly uncapable of making an immaterial immortal intelligent Soul there must be a most perfect Mind that gave it its Faculties and its Nature Either it must be supposed to have no Cause at all which would be most absurd to imagine or it must have a competent Cause or a higher and most perfect Being to derive its Existence from A spiritual Substance cannot come but from a Spirit nor can any thing be the cause of Mind but Mind or of Understanding but Understanding or of Reason but Reason nor of Self-activity and Liberty but that which is a self-active voluntary and free Agent Since the rational Soul is so excellent a Creature there must be a most excellent Being that created it a Being that contains all manner of Perfection a Being of unlimited Power that could make it of Nothing by the force and fecundity of his own Divine Will and a Being of the most exalted and glorious Nature that could give Existence to such an admirable Being as every humane Soul is void of Matter and Corruption uncapable Naturally of dying in every respect like unto a Deity Spiritual Intelligent Active Wise Powerful Benign Kind and Good But those unreasonable Men who deny the Existence of God finding themselves prest with the invincible force of this Argument would shift it off by pretending that what we suppose touching the spiritual Nature and Faculties of Mens Souls is not to be granted They say that there is nothing real in the World but Matter and Motion That our very Souls themselves are Matter consisting of a smoother and siner sort of Atoms or indiscernible Motes by the various Motions and Modifications whereof the Soul Thinks Understands Exerts the Will and Acteth They will have mind to be nothing but the local Motion of some more active Particles of Matter They will have Knowledge to be nothing but a Passion caused by the intromitting of Images into the Brain from sensible Objects without They will
Excellence without the least mixture of Defect or Imperfection Such Defects and Imperfections there are in all Creatures In all Bodies there is Substance but such as is wrapt up in Matter which is a great imperfection in comparison of Spirituality In all Vegetables there is Life but such as is subject to decay which in them is imperfection In all Animals there is Sense or Perception but such as is attended with Fear Grief Anger and other disquieting Passions which are so many Imperfections in their Nature In Men there is Reason but such as is blemisht with Ignorance and Errors and the knowledge they have is acquired by the great labours of the Mind by Contemplation and Study by close arguing from one thing to another and by a long train of thoughts which follow each other successively and are gradually spun out of the Soul by the painful operations of the Rational Faculties all which shews the Defects and Imperfections that are in Humane Nature also And as for those Blessed Spirits above which we call Angels though there be in them a perfection of Understanding without dulness pain or laborious activity and though there be too rectitude in their Wills regularity in their Affections and all moral Perfections which make them happy yet is their Knowledge limited and for their whole Being they depend upon the Will and Pleasure of a Superior Power that at first created and still preserves them which argues imperfection in them likewise although they be the noblest part of the Universe Go through every Classis and sort of Individuals in the World and you will find in all of them some Deficiencies which are annext to their Principal and Best Part so that though they be all perfect in their kind and sit for the Ends for which they were formed yet they fall vastly short of Eminent and Absolute Perfection For such Perfection is to have all kinds of Excellence and all degrees of Excellence clear and free from all manner of Defect indigence or Incapacity Now the Notion of God includes this Absolute Perfection For that word GOD speaks a Being that is most Excellent So that supposing a Deity to be and to be the Cause of all Inferior things which the Notion of God implies too you must necessarily conceive of him as the Being in whom all those Perfections are united as in a Center which are divided every-where in the World and that they are all in Him in a most eminent and excellent Degree For no Being can give those Perfections which some way or other it hath not either formally or actually or virtually and eminently in it self because then it would communicate more than it hath that is more than what is in its power to impart which to suppose would be a contradiction All Causes that work by a necessity of Nature though they operate to the utmost power and extent of their Faculties yet 't is as impossible for them to yield what they have not as it is for Water to bring forth a Rational Soul or for Fire to produce an Angel out of a few Sticks And though Voluntary Agents work as they please and may give their Effects much less than themselves have yet 't is as impossible for the Freest and Powerful Agent to give more as it is for an Artificer to form a World out of nothing The thing it self cannot admit of such Omnipotence And so we may be sure that neither could God bestow Perfections which he himself was not possest of and therefore those Excellencies which we find in Nature and which are the Perfections of Nature must be concluded to come from the Author of Nature and consequently to be in him as in their true Original for otherwise there would be more Excellencies in the Effects than there are in the Cause which is as absurd to suppose as it is to imagine that there is more Water in a Rivulet than in the Ocean Again As all Perfection must be conceiv'd to be in that Supreme most Excellent and most Glorious Nature which we call GOD so it must be there too Absolutely or without the least mixture of Defect All defect must be in the Creature and that not so much by immediate Causality from God as by the necessary Condition of its own Nature because it is a thing made and of Temporary production and therefore of a Finite Nature and of Limited Faculties that is it must be essentially imperfect especially in comparison of its Creator it being utterly impossible for a Narrow Scanty New-form'd thing to be commensurate in all its Perfections to the Maker who is supposed to be Independent Infinite and All-sufficient in himself The Nature of the thing made cannot allow this and by consequence it is naturally and necessarily defective Upon which account though we must conclude that God is a Perfect Being because all Perfections in other things are derived from Him yet we may not conceive that he hath any mixture of Desiciency because the things he hath made are all of them defective in some respect or other For those Defects are so natural that the things themselves could not possibly have been made otherwise or without them Therefore as we must affirm That the Perfections which are in the World are limited and partial blended and alloy'd with something that is a blemish to them so we must conceive that those Originals of them which are in God are Boundless and Full Eminent and Absolute For to think otherwise is to degrade the Author of all Perfections and in truth to make the Notion of a Deity inconsistent with it self I have been the more desirous to clear this matter That the general Notion of God doth and must signify a Being which is Eminently and Absolutely Perfect because it is a very Rational Principle which may be fairly understood and must needs be assented to by all that will but hearken to Right Reason And because it is a very useful Principle also that will soon inable us to draw out of it by direct consequence a more 2. Particular Description of the Deity which is the Second thing I am to come to that I may shew what kind of Being we are to apprehend God to be before I go about to prove that this suppos'd most Perfect Being doth really and actually Exist For from this great and General Notion of God this Particular Account will follow 1. First We must conceive of God that he is an Independent Being not beholding to any Antecedent Distinct and Foreign Cause for the production of his Nature For could we without a contradiction suppose a Cause Antecedent to that which is thought to be the Chief and First Cause of all things such a Supposition would argue Imperfection in the Deity Because it would make him a Precarious Being depending upon the Activity and Pleasure of Another Superior to him in greatness of Power and before him in Time and in Existence of Nature 2. God having all Perfection
as it becometh an Intellectual Wise and Voluntary Agent And lastly This Incorporeity renders the First Cause uncapable of beind divisible or determinable to Place after the manner of Bodies which consist of Magnitude and Dimensions And therefore how incomprehensible soever the Notion of Infinity may seem to us whose outward Senses are used only to things corporeal Reason will oblige us to think that every Being must be extended or unextended limited or unlimited circumscrib'd or diffused according as its Essence and Nature is and that the first Cause being incorporeal and having once an Immense World to make and ever since an Immense World to act upon and in cannot be confined to place but must be every where and undividedly in a manner agreeable to the Plenitude of its Nature Now this Account of the necessary Existence and Condition of a first Cause is so far a plain description of the Deity or of God And it is for the greatest reasons that we maintain that in order to the Production and Framing of this huge Universe the Existence of God was necessary that is the Existence of an Independent Self-existent Eternal All-powerful Immaterial and Infinite Being These are not bare Epithets of Honour bestowed as some strange Men conceive upon an imaginary something which the fancies and fears of People have without reason represented to their Minds but real solid severe and demonstrable Truths so that admiting the common and most rational Principle touching the necessity of a First Cause those glorious Perfections I have now mentioned must necessarily belong to it and because those Perfections are essential and peculiar to that Glorious Being we call God therefore God and God alone must be acknowledged the First Cause of all things and by natural consequence the Existence of God must necessarily be believed CHAP. III. HAVING proved the Truth and Reality of God's being from the necessary Existence of a first Independent Cause I proceed now to the second General Head of this Discourse touching the Consent of all Mankind for if it can be made appear That the belief of a Deity hath been universally received in the World 't is reasonable to conclude that that belief resulted from a common Principle of Nature which could not deceive the Minds of all Mankind Here then these two things are to be shew'd 1. First That Men have universally agreed in this That there is a God 2. Secondly That this universal Agreement is a very strong Argument of God's Existence 1. First That Men have universally agreed in this That there is a God That noble Orator and Philosopher Cicero doth in several places acknowledge That all manner of People were naturally posfest with some Anticipations or Preconceptions De Nit-Deor lib. 1. Tuse Qu. lib. 1. de Leg. lib. 1. of a Deity so that no Nation was ever so wild and undisciplin'd but that they had a fear of God and owned his Being however they were mistaken as to the quality of his Nature To the same purpose Seneca tells That the belief Ep. 117. of a God is planted in every ones mind And Maximus Tyrius is positive Diss 1. That how great soever the Contentions of Men were about other Points they all agreed in this that there is one Supreme God over all Nay Epicurus Cic. de Nat. deor lib. 1. himself of whom this Character is given that in words he owned the Existence of God but in fact denied it was contented the belief of it should pass abroad because it was a kind of innate Principle not only among Philosophers but among the Unlearned too who all had some Pri-notion of a Deity So true is this That not only the real Existence but even the Singularity and Unity of a Supreme God hath been generally believed by Heathens themselves especially by the wiser fort of them which I think very material for me to take notice of here for the further Illustration and Confirmation of the Matter in hand Indeed the Heathens have been wont to worship a Plurality of Deities But withal it is very observable that they look'd upon those many Deities as a fort of middle Beings between Mon and the Supreme Deity and accordingly in their Devotions they addressed themselves to them as Agents and Officers under the Great God as his Ministers of State and as Mediators between them and the most high Sovereign Numen because they thought it irreligious Confidence to apply themselves to him immediately and directly such a venerable and august Opinion they had of the God over all Though in the Poetical Fabulous Ages of the World ignorant People were taught to worship a multitude of gods as the Souls of dead Men whom they believed to be Deified the Sun Moon and Stars which were suppos'd to be animated with Deities besides a great number of Daemons or incorporeal Substances or Spirits which they thought were generated and had the Administration and Government of the World committed to them yet they owned One Sovereign Numen One Incomprehensible Self-existent Being the Prince and Father of all Nay the more intelligent sort of Pagans anciently thought that the Plurality of Deities which the Vulgar worshipped were only so many several Names of one and the same Supreme God according to the several Manifestations of his Power In the Heavens saith St. Austin they called De Civit. 1. 4. c. 11. him Jupiter in the Air Juno in the Sea Neptune in the Earth Pluto and very many more Appellations there were which though the sottish Rabble believed to have been proper Names for distinct Deities yet the Philosophers thought they did all belong to one Supreme Numen variously acting and displaying his Virtue And with this agrees that of De Benef. l. 4. c. 7. Seneca What else is Nature saith he but God or Divine Wisdom and Power displaying it self in the whole world and in all the parts of it You may when you please give several Titles to the Author of all things And you may call him Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Tonans and Stator not from stopping the Roman Army in their flight but because all things do stand or consist by him You may well apply to him what Names you will that signify his Heavenly Power and Efficacy There may be as many Appellations as there are Gifts or Effects of God Besides Jupiter Tonans and Stator we call him Liber Pater Hercules and Mercurius Liber Pater because he hath produced all things Hercules because his Power is invincible and Mercury by reason of his Wisdom Turn you which way you please God meets you for nothing is without him He filleth all his Works so that his various Names were according to the various Manifestations of him Should you receive a kindness from Seneca and say you owed it to Annaeus or Lucius you would not change the Person but his Name for what Name soever you call him by you mean still the same man And so you may
call the Deity too Nature Fate and Fortune but all these are the Names of one and the same God diversly using and shewing his Power Hence it appears That in times of the greatest Ignorance Heathens themselves did not only profess the belief of a Deity but did own also the Existence of One Sovereign Being over all Though they talkt of Gods many and of Goddesses many and a multitude of Deities was believ'd and worshipp'd by the Common People yet the Wise men among them lookt upon this great appearance and shew of distinct Deities to have been different Names of One Supreme God various Representations Characters and Titles of One Eternal and Incomprehensible Nature pervading through the whole world and variously acting exhibiting and manifesting its Divine Power in it every where In the Primitive Ages of Christianity the Controversy between the Christians and Pagans was not about the Being of One Supreme God for all on each hand were agreed as to that but about the Divinity of Jesus Christ and about many Inferior Powers which the Heathens worshipp'd besides the great Creator himself God blessed for evermore 'T is plain from Acts 17. 23 24. that in St. Paul's time the Athenians not only own'd the Existence but adored the Majesty of the True God For saith the Apostle whom ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you and that was no other but the God who made the world and all things in it called by the Athenians the unknown God because his Nature cannot be comprehended or seen by men In the following times of Christiany the great Doctors of the Church who defended our Religion against Heathenism do tell us over and over That the Pagans acknowledged a Supreme God as well as Christians The Dispute between them was concerning Fictitious Deities suppos'd to be subordinate to the Supreme For the Pagans Faith was that many Gods were derived from One that to those Inferiour Spirits the care and government of the Universe was committed and that Divine Honours ought to be given them as the Officers of God and as Mediators between God and Men. Nevertheless among their many Deities and over all their many Deities they acknowledg'd One Supreme They called him the First the Greatest the Unmade the Supercoelestial God the Chief the King of all They believed that all things were from him that he was the Maker especially of Immortal Beings that he is Incomprehensible Good the common Father of all wanting nothing and without all manner of Envy that he is a Self-existent Principle the Fountain of all Good the Conserver of all things living the Lord of the Universe the Universal Reason and Mind the Uniform Cause of all things the Original of all Pulchritude and Perfection of all Unity and Power the Great and Magnificent Father of Nature whose Virtues are diffused throughout the whole World Julian that great Zealot for Cyril l. 2. Heathenism confest that there is a natural knowledge of God in mens minds from whence that common Inclination towards a Deity springs and that Persuasion among all men that He who is the King over all hath his Throne in Heaven Accordingly Julian and the rest of the Learned Heathens honoured the God of Heaven with the greatest veneration that was possible for men of their Principles Though they gave their other Deities divine honours yet it was an inferior sort of worship and that they paid too for the Supreme God's sake and in honour to him believing that the Great God was pleas'd with it because it was given upon his account to other things as the Ministers Images and Representatives of the Invisible Orig. cont Celsus p. 421 419. Deity If saith Celsus that Bigotted Defender of Paganism a man be required to praise the Sun or Minerva he may sing Hymns chearfully for by singing Hymns to these he will the better worship the Great God because that Divine Worship is the most perfect which passes through all However saith he God is by no means at any time to be forsaken or left out neither by day nor by night neither in private nor in publick neither in any of our Thoughts nor in any of our Actions but in every thing our minds should be still directed towards God and intent upon him And again all Torments are rather to be endured and any Deaths are rather to be undergone than we should either speak an irreligious thing of God or admit into our minds an irreligious Thought of him Before I pass from this Consideration touching the Pagans Belief of the Existence of God in the Primitive Times of Christianity as in the Ages before I cannot but observe by way of digression that notwithstanding this their hearty Belief and Religious Worship of One Supreme Deity the True God that made all things these Pagans were Idolaters and were still counted by the Christian Church guilty of Idolatry Not because they worshipped Creatures laying the Creator aside for 't is plain that they owned and adored the same Great God that we Christians worship but because they served the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul speaks Rom. 1. 25. that is besides the Creator They gave Divine Honours to him and to other Beings too they worshipt them as well as the Great God they made them Partners and Sharers with the Great God in their Religious Services and though this worshipping of other Beings was for the Great God's sake though it was a lower kind of Worship and though all the Services of the Heathens especially the wiser sort of them were directed to the Great God did refer to the Great God and did terminate in him yet were they downright Idolaters And as this shews the true Notion and Nature of Idolatry that it is the Religious Worshipping of any thing besides God So it shews how impossible it is for those Christians who adore Saints and Angels as well as the True God and the True Messiah to clear themselves of the Charge of Idolatry notwithstanding all their nice distinctions of Dulia Latria Relative Worship and the like All this the Heathens might have said for their Excuse They gave the Supreme God the highest Honours and in Honour to him they worshipp'd inferior Deities as the Romanists do Saints and Angels in which respect their practice is a plain but shameful Counter-part of old Heathenism so that were there no such thing in the Church of Rome as Image-worship I cannot see but this Creature-worship would be enough to make them guilty of Idolatry Either this practice is Idolatrous or that of the Heathens was not such which yet they of the Church of Rome dare not affirm But to return to the Matter in hand If from those elder times of Heathenism we come down now to modern Ages though we search into the darkest and remotest Corners of the World we cannot find any one Nation or People so barbarous so sunk into a State of Ignorance and Stupidity as not to have
absurd and monstrous but it has been disputed for at least may be disputed for by men of parts and doth it hence follow that the contrary Principles are not true One Philosoper maintain'd that there is no such thing as Motion another would have persuaded people that Snow is black and some stood in it that the same thing may be and may not be at the same time and in the same respect that is that both parts of a Contradiction can be true and shall such odd Whimseys prevail against the common Sense and Reason of Mankind Some never saw the light in all their lives and doth this argue that there is no real Sun or that That is no Sun which the whole World beholds Why a man of unprejudiced and impartial Reason may with his mind as easily see God in his Works as I can see the day with my eyes But should I so affect singularity as to shut my eyes and then pretend that all the World is a dismal dark confused Chaos could it be concluded hence that there is not one Star in the Firmament why 't is as senseless to conclude that there is no God and that Mankind have been all along mistaken in their belief of God because two or three Impious Philosophers have shut the eyes of their Understanding against him This indeed is an argument against themselves a proof of their own folly stupidity and wickedness But 't is no argument against all other men who have no mind to be so stupid and irreligious as they were 'T is far from being a proof that there is no Existing Deity as the generality of men have been in all times and places unanimously and throughly persuaded 2. Nay that I may proceed to the Second thing I proposed under this Head from Matter of Fact to Evidence of Reason this Universal Consent is a strong Argument of God's Existence For whence could this common belief proceed but from a common natural Principle wherewith the Souls of all men were endued by the Common Creator to bear witness of his Being as a Signature made by his own Finger I do not mean that the Notions we have of God are connatural to the Sou that is inbred innate and engraven as it were in our minds upon our Conception in the Womb so that every man in his Senses doth of himself by common instinct understand that there is a God Methinks we need not go so far It is enough that there is in us an inclination towards God a disposition and propension to Religion and an aptness to receive the knowledge of God upon Instruction Education and the use of common Reason This we may well call a Natural Principle and so the Notions we have of God are Natural Notions because they do naturally result from the free exercise of our Natural Faculties Now this plainly infers the Existence of God because none but God could put the Souls of all Mankind into this frame None but the Author of Nature could be the Author of those Principles in our Nature whereby every man is able to discover and find out God as all men have done and do who use their Reason All have consented in this that there is a Deity Of this One Universal Uniform Principle there must be One Universal Uniform Cause nor can any other Cause be reasonably assigned but that Soveraign Being who is the Cause of all things and who ordered our common Nature thus Had not God made our Faculties so that the belief of his Existence springs forth in every one's mind with his Reason and grows up with his Reason we might argue with Lucilius in Cicero De Nat. Deor. lib. 2. That it would have been impossible for that Belief to have continued every where constant or to have been confirmed by a long tract of time and to have become inveterate together with mens Ages For vain fictitious Opinions wear out by Diuturnity Time discovers and destroys the falshood of Imagination but confirms the solid dictates and determinations of Nature Which shews that this common lasting Notion of the Existence of God is natural and owes its original to a Power above whose workmanship we all are To defond themselves against the strength of this Argument those that say in their hearts there is no God pretend that this so universal a belief of the Existence of a Deity may be impured to one or other of these four Causes if not to all of them Tradition Fear State-policy and common Compact the vanity of which Pretence I am now to shew that I may not pass by any thing material which lies in my way upon this necessary useful and seasonable Subject â— As to the pretence of Tradition though we suppose it to have been one Cause of that Universal Consent I have spoken of yet these two things must be said First That Tradition argues the Truth of the Belief and therefore is alledg'd to no purpose Secondly That Tradition of it self alone and without the dictates of Nature could not have been a sufficient cause of this Universal Consent First Tradition argues the Truth of that Belief which hath prevailed amongst all Mankind By Tradition is meant if men will speak Sense and Reason an Opinion handed down from some First Authors Nor can any other Authors of this Tradition be assigned but those from whose Loins all Mankind descended for how was it possible for a common Principle to spring but from a common Root our First Parents Now this leads us back to the Times which Moses speaks of when the First Parents of Mankind were formed And the Faith of God's Existence being derived originally from them cannot but be unquestionably true because they could not but know their own beginning They could not but know that God had made them after a preternatural manner that God had formed them by his immediate Power and that they came out of the hands of God Nor is it conceivable that they should have taught their Children the knowledge of God had not they themselves been sure there was One That they should wilfully and designedly impose a Fiction upon all their Posterity and such a Fiction too as would keep their minds in continual bondage under the most frightful apprehensions this is an Imagination which confounds the Understanding of any reasonable man and is altogether unaccountable Besides Had not the Tradition been certain how could it have held so every where in the World and all along for several Thousand years to this day Fables are apt to be soon lost what Hand soever sends them abroad to pass about in the World The falshood of them is somewhere or other discover'd in time especially when Inquisitive and Wise men begin to search into them and to examine what substance there is in them and what credit they are of And how was it possible for this Tradition had it been fabulous to have gone through the world without interruption or stop notwithstanding all the
most Curious Enquiries in so many Philosophical and Learned Ages This shews that the Tradition is grounded upon Principles of Nature that therefore it is common with our Nature and must be as constant and common as Humane Nature continues 2. To which I add Secondly That though Truth went along with the Tradition yet of it self alone and without the Dictates of Nature it could not have been universally received in all Places and Ages For every one is not ready to embrace Truth it self though it be never so probable and when it is received in process of time it doth often drop nor is it easy to conceive how this Truth could have gone so current as it hath gone in all parts and from hand to hand without any considerable opposition unless it had had the help of strong Reason to support it and to carry it on still No doubt but Adam taught his Children in that long tract of time the Nine hundred and thirty years of his life many Truths both Philosophical and Divine which yet are now quite lost especially to those people who have not the use of those Books which are open before us Nay though we are able by the help of Discourse to gather divers things out of Moses's Writings which the old Pagans had no knowledge at all of yet are there several matters which we our selves are to seek for because they are not evident from clear cogent Principles of Nature But this great Truth concerning the Existence of God hath been propagated all along together with Mankind and as people have every where multiplied successively from Generation to Generation Nay the higher we go to those Elder times after the Creation the less of Infidelity we find Though there were then very few Books in the World yet God was believed on and even by those who in their lives dishonoured him For in those days Nature spake with simplicity and much plainer and better than in after-times when men of wanton Wits and of base Minds used Arts and so corrupted and debauch'd their Natural Reason This shews that the Belief of God's Existence is grounded upon something in Humane Nature which hath still preserv'd it in the world notwithstanding the miscarriage of many other Traditions which our old Ancestors transmitted to their Posterity and left with them This hath escaped undestroy'd uncontradicted but by a very few Partial Conceited and Designing Men of which no other cause can be rationally assigned but that it is most consonant to the frame of our Nature a Natural Principle an Idea of God which he himself hath as it were imprinted and stamp'd upon every ones minds so that it cannot be worn out by Time it self which weareth out other Notions that are not fixt and rivetted as this is into the common Reason of Mankind and therefore it is not to be imputed to mere Tradition 2. Nor Secondly Can it be imputed to Fear which is the next Pretence For those who would destroy the Belief of a God would fain persuade the world that it is only a thing of Phancy a fictitious frightful Idea put into peoples heads by Designing Men or formed in their Brains by the power of their own Imagination and that their minds being once scared were easily bent to conceive that there is a Terrible Being over them which those bold hardy Wretches imagine to be nothing but a Bugbear without any real Existence and accordingly they bottom Religion upon groundless Fears believing Hell and Damnation and a Deity to be Figments things invented and talked of to terrify the World and so the Atheistical Author of the Leviathan represents them comparing them as he has the confidence to express it to an empty Hat upon a crooked Stick to fright Birds from the Corn. I should beg every good Christian's pardon for but mentioning such Impiety did not the Looseness of the Age we live in constrain us to take notice of the strange Notions that are got abroad The meaning whereof in short is That if people were not frighted out of their Wits they would hardly believe the Existence of a Deity for they ground that Belief upon Fear and make Popular Fear to be the cause of it And hence it is they think that this Belief hath generally prevailed in the World not from any Natural Principle in the Understanding but from a slavish foolish Passion of heart and because men have been every where taught to be fearful and timorous or have made themselves so Now to every Considerate Rational Man it is plain that Fear cannot be the cause of that Belief but is the consequence and effect of it That is Men do not believe a God because they are afraid but are therefore afraid because they believe there is one a Just and Powerful Being over all And therefore their Fears proceed from an Universal Common and Natural Principle in every ones mind touching God's Existence for otherwise it were impossible for mens Fears to be so great so universal so fixt in Humane Nature as never to be eradicated First It can never stand with common Reason to conceive how Fear should create Tormenting Apprehensions of a Being whom all Mankind have ever adored for his great Goodness and whom Heathen Philosophers themselves have discover'd by the Light of Nature to be for his Divine Perfections the most Lovely and Desirable Being in the whole world What Reverence soever the sense of his Greatness may call for disquieting Terrors of a Being so infinitely Perfect cannot spring but from an Evil Conscience And then I appeal to all Men of Sense whether that Conscience ought to be heard against God whose Interest it is to have none This is certain That there can be no fear where there is not supposed an Object to be afraid of That Object must be acknowledged not only to be but to be Angry and Threatning otherwise our Faculties would be both vain and delusory constrained to fear where no grounds of fear are which is to reproach Nature it self that is so adored by some Insidels and to impeach it for a Common Cheat. Secondly Though we should think some particular Persons imposed upon by their Fears yet how could all Men in the World fall under the same Imposture at once How could they be seiz'd with one Agony universally but from an Epidemical Principle in Humane Nature Or how could they all jump together in one Principle without the Hand of a God who made them all and intended by this means to hold them all fast to himself Thirdly If we should be so unreasonable as to suppose Mankind to have been frighted all at the same instant no body knows by whom or when or how and by that fright to have been possest with the thoughts of a Deity can we suppose too that they had no time in so many Ages to recover themselves out of that panick Distemper Fear is a cruciating and tormenting Passion which every Man is desirous to rid himself
and Professions that in fact they are a reproach to them especially since they have been done in prejudice to that Grave and Holy Religion which the Lord Jesus confirmed and were so manifestly intended for the promoting and encouragement of Superstition Vice and downright Idolatry I have now ended this Point concerning Miracles having discoursed the more largely upon it that at the same time I might demonstrate the Existence of God and likewise serve the interest of Christianity the truth whereof undeniably appears from this single argument That Jesus Christ confirmed all his Laws and Doctrines by True Miracles For this being once granted it must necessarily follow not only that there is a God but moreover that Jesus Christ came from God and that the Testimony which his Works gave of him was Divine and Infallible and consequently That we are bound at our utmost peril to Believe and Obey him Which Consideration being of such vast moment I thought my self obliged to bestow the more time and pains in clearing matter of Fact CHAP. V. THE next extraordinary Occurrence I mentioned as a demonstration of God's Existence is Prophecy that is the Foretelling of some Future Events which depended on such secret and remote Causes as none but an Omniscient Being could possibly discern afar off That you may understand this matter distinctly and clearly 1. I do not here by Events mean such things as have come to pass by the necessary and natural Operation of second Causes For where a thing depends upon necessary Causalities any man that can discover the order and series and application of the Causes may easily foresee and predict the consequent as a skilful Astronomer can foretel Eclipses of the Moon and Sun For those glorious Creatures are under a constant Law and their motions are Regular so that a man who knows their Courses and by the Uniformity of them perceives when an Opake Body will fall between one of those Luminaries and our Eyes can discover long before-hand when the Light will be intercepted and fail in our Hemisphere But by future Events are understood contingencies or those issues the Causes whereof are not yet in being or at least are so occult remote and uncertain that they are not discernible by any limited Understanding in regard that they depend upon the casual concurrence of Second Causes or upon the Arbitrarious Power of Mens Wills or upon the uaccountable hits of Fortune or upon such strange results as look like so many secret over ruling determinations of Destiny As What Great Men will arise Two or Three Ages hence if the world shall continue so long What Revolutions there will be then in States and Empires What the Conditions of the Church will be What Wars will happen What will become of our Posterity and of the Fortunes we transmit to them In short How the world will go These things and the like are altogether Accidental and therefore must needs be Uncertain nor can they come within the reach of finite Beings any more than the close of the world or the Day of Judgment can be known or predicted by us 2. Secondly By Foretelling future Events is meant true and infallible Prediction in contradistinction to Conjecture or probable Fore-knowledge There is in all Intellectual Beings a Presaging Power and the Perception before-hand must be according to the condition and quality of the Cause from which that Perception springs and is gathered If the Cause be Necessary and Natural the Foreknowledge is Certain but if it be only Casual and Fortuitous it can amount to no more but a probable Opinion No Creature how Intelligent soever it be can of it self infallibly foresee what Chances and Accidents will fall out hereafter by reason that the immediate Causes are suppos'd as yet not to be Existent or at least to be a great way off in the dark Therefore when a contingent Event is clearly Foreseen and infallibly Predicted at a distance so that after a long tract of time the thing how Casual soever it was exactly answers the Prediction we must conclude That the Being which Foresaw and Foretold it is of a more Perfect Understanding than any Creature can pretend to If then it be made appear That many contingent things have long before they happened been certainly Foreknown truly Predicted and at last in Fact have come to pass accordingly this must be a Demonstration of the Existence of a most Perfect Being that is a Deity For all Human Presaging of accidental Events at a great distance from us is at best but Guessing which commonly ends in vast mistakes so short-sighted are our Understandings and our capacities so very narrow And as for those Intellectual Creatures which Inhabit the other world and traverse up and down in this though by reason of the innate Quickness and Sagacity of their Faculties the long Experience they have had of Human Affairs the great Insight they have thereby into all things here below the Agility of their Nature which enables them to be privy every where to Mens Counsels and Actions and the continual Observations they cannot but make from the Disappointments or Successes of Mens Designs though I say by means of these singular advantages they are qualified to give beyond expression far better Judgment of future Events especially near at hand than the Wisest and most Reaching Men on Earth yet is their Knowledge limited notwithstanding So that without the Assistance of Divine Revelation their Foresight of Contingencies especially of such as are remote and do depend upon a series of distant Causes can be but only Conjectural Hence it was that those ancient Southsayers and Augurs among the Heathens who used the help of Demons in their manifold Superstitious ways of Prognosticating were often mistaken even in very probable cases and when Events were hard by And 't is commonly observed of those old Oracles who were so much consulted by the Idolatrous Pagans upon any emergencies which seemed difficult that though those officious deluding Spirits were wont till Christ's time to give People Answers out of Holes and Caves yet to save Apollo's Credit they were wont to wrap up those Responses in equivocating and doubtful Terms that were capable of various Constructions as the thing consulted about succeeded or fail'd Indeed Good Angels have not deceived Men and therefore their foresight must be acknowledged to have been better grounded and of a further and clearer reach But yet by reason of those finite and comparatively scanty measures of Knowledge which are connatural to all Created Beings though Exalted and Glorious to make all their Predictions certain and infallible they have always by the necessity of their Nature stood in need of special Revelation and Commission from a Superior Being whose Prescience touches all intermediate and proximate Causes and all contingent probable possible Events though never so far removed from created Understandings Therefore if in this case matter of fact be true that any Creatures Men or Angels have
overthrow of their whole Government both in Church and State and then too was the Desolation foretold by Jesus Christ not one stone left upon another neither in the City of Jerusalem for as Josephus acknowledgeth it was razed to the Foundations and laid even with the Ground Nor yet in the Temple for as our Learned Paraphrast observes out of Scaliger as a full Completion of our Saviour's Prophecy the very Foundations of the Temple were torn up by Turnus Rufus with a Plow-share so that no part of it Under-ground was left undissolved not one stone left upon another How could a clearer Argument be expected than that was of the Existence of an All-seeing an All-powerful and Righteous God who weighed the Sins of an hardned People and by his determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge made their Punishment then as plain as their Guilt had been when with wicked hands they crucified the Lord of Life and wish'd that his Blood might be upon them and upon their Children 2. But Secondly Besides these Predictions which concern'd them and were fulfilled in their Sufferings there were others which had references to the Propagation of Christ's Religion Christ himself had foretold That when he should be lifted up from the earth he would draw all men unto him Joh. 12. 32. And near Two thousand years before that time the Patriarch Jacob presignified on his Death-bed That when Shilo should come to him the gathering of the people should be Gen. 49. 10. which was not possible for Jacob at such a vast distance of time to say or foresee of himself no more than 't was possible for the Prophets in after-times without Revelation from an All-knowing Being to predict as they did That all kings should fall down before him That all nations should do him service That he should stand for the people That to him the Gentiles should seek That from the rising up of the sun to the going down of the same his name should be great among the Gentiles That the Heathen should be for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession All which Predictions proved in the Event most evidently true notoriety of fact shews it and yet the exact impletion of these Prophecies could never have been foreknown as it was but by a Supreme Numen who knoweth all things considering how unlikely it was as things stood for Christianity to find universal success and entertainment in the world because it was so opposite to mens Lusts and Pleasures the Jews were so hardned against it the Pagan Religion which Christianity was intended to destroy was so spread over the Gentile Nations and so fixt by Laws Princes were so set against it the Devil used such various methods to stop its progress and the Preachers of it were of themselves so weak and unable to carry it over the world that without the Assistance of a Divine Power it could not have prevailed over the hearts of people so universally and in such a conquering manner notwithstanding all Obstacles which were in the way But herein appeared the wonderful Conduct of Divine Providence That the Government of the Jews being quite dissolved upon the destruction of Jerusalem the Scepter then being utterly departed from Judah and the Lawgiver from between his feet Shiloh reigned with triumph and glory As the Jews lost ground so Christ whom they had crucified got it and a great deal more So that in a very little time not only multitudes of the Jewish Nation were Converts to Christianity but great Armies of People in the Gentile world and in the most Barbarous Countries were brought in obedience to Christ's Faith And hereby the Ends of God's Providence were served by the Romans themselves first by being his Instruments to captivate and subdue the wicked Jews and then by being themselves subdued to Jesus Christ so that where-ever the Roman Eagles flew there Christ was a Conquerer by his Holy Spirit 3. To which let me add Thirdly this one Observation more concerning those Predictions which relate to the Dispersed and Reproachful Condition of the Jews since the Overthrow of their City and Government As the Old Prophets had told those People long before what a sad miserable Condition they would bring themselves to at last so Christ had foretold them in express terms That upon the treading down of Jerusalem they should be led away captive into all nations Luk. 21. 24. A Prediction which was literaly fulfilled as soon as they were conquer'd by Titus his Army Many thousands of them were carried away divided and scatter'd up and down in the world where their wretched Posterity inherit their Ancestors Curse to this day leading still a forlorn sort of life Vagabonds into all parts and hated where-ever they go An Avenging Hand from above doth still pursue them and every day the world sees the Predictions concerning them more and more fulfilled Which is as it were an Ocular Evidence as well of the Truth of Christianity as of the Existence of a Just God I use this Argument the rather because it is a kind of sensible proof of a Deity and not of so remote a Nature as the rest are Though it be apparent to Reason that there must be a First Cause of all things though the common notions and impressions we have in our Nature shew who and what that First Cause is though Miracles are undeniably convincing and Predictions when accurately fulfilled demonstratively infer the Existence of a Being that foresees all Events though at the greatest distance yet because those Observations are most operative which most nearly affect men I urge this Observation touching the Jews Punishment as being a thing verified by our own Experience Miracles we have not seen but this Remarkable Judgment against the Jews we see daily and therein we see the plain accomplishment of some Predictions which we know were written some considerable time before the Events happned so that we may well wonder how there can be an Atheist as long as there is a Jew living in the world To this purpose a Learned and Judicious Prelate of our Church who hath solidly written upon the great Subject now under my hand expresseth his thoughts in these words with which I shall conclude this present Point There Bishop Wilkins ' s Nat. Rel. p. 89. is saith he one particular which to me seemeth very considerable for the proof of a Deity though but little notice of it be taken by others and that is The State of the Jewish Nation who for these 1600 years have been driven out of their own Countrey having now no particular place of abode belonging to them as a Nation but are scatter'd and dispersed over all the habitable world hated and despised where-ever they are permitted to dwell very frequently persecuted impoverish'd banish'd murder'd in vast multitudes And notwithstanding all this they are not yet so mixt and blended with other Nations as to be lost among them but are still kept up
and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Hos 2. 21 22. Where we have a Summary Description of the great Order of Nature as things are cast into a State of Relation and Correspondence set forth as if they cried to each other and heard each other to denote their mutual Subserviency and Dependance Thus the Stars by their attractive Beams prepare and enrich the Clouds the Clouds drop down fatness that fatness moistens the Surface and supplies the Bowels of the Earth that Moisture increaseth and invigorates those active Particles within which are the Principles of Vegetation those Principles carry the spiritous vital Juice to every Tree and Plant that Juice passing through many Nervous Ducts and Conveyances produce Germination those Germations cover Mountain and Valley with a fresh Verdure and by these various means the Earth receives yearly a kind of new Life every Species upon it is propagated every living Individual is sed and cherish'd and Man and Beast are abundantly provided for a-new after all the vast Consumptions and Expences of Nature the year before There is a Series and Connexion of Causes which act upon each other the superior Cause still having a respect to the Powers of that which is the next in Subordination and all shew the wonderful Wisdom and Goodness of the Supreme Cause in thus suiting and adapting the Operations of his Creatures according to the necessities of the several Branches of his Creation And as there is this extrinsecal Reference born by one Creature to another so is there in every one of them an intrinsick Faculty and Disposition which bears respect to the Operations and Productions of those external Causes In all Animals there are eager Appetites as Hunger and Thirst which stimulate and excite them every day to Eat and Drink of Natures Bounty In all Vegetables there are spreading Roots fibrous Receptacles with open greedy capacious Orifices to entertain digest and send up that animating Sap which is ministred by the restless Principles of Vegetation In the Bowels of the Earth are hid the multifarious Seeds of Life prepared for a new assistance of Salts Nitre and the like Supplies to quicken actuate and render them Prolisick Those quickning Recruits wait for Distillations from above to convey them down into their Apartments and those Distillations are various according to the Quality and Temper of the Seasons and as the Sun and Stars act by their Influences in the Air where the great Treasures are annually made ready by various Motions and Secretions and then shed plenteously abroad in variety of Forms and Modifications as Hail Snow Rains or Dews Thus each Cause bears a Correspondence and Relation to the Faculties and Dispositions of that which is Subordinate and those Faculties bear a Reciprocal Correspondence to the Power and Agency of the next Superior One. There is such an orderly Connection such a close harmonious Confederacy between the several Parts of the World as they are placed and situate that as they all severally depend upon each other for their respective Operations so all jointly conspire to the Preservation and Maintenance of the whole which evidently shews That it could not be blind Fate or Fortune that linked together the Parts of the Universe into such an admirable League such an amicable State of Subserviency and Assistance but a most Wise and Beneficent Agent that from the beginning consulted and provided for the Good of all his Creatures and accordingly sitted their Powers to that great end For those Irrational Beings the glittering Lamps of Heaven the Air and Earth Vegetables and Creatures that are meerly sensitive cannot be suppos'd to understand the Ends and Scope the Reasons and Purposes of their Operations They are not the effects of any Deliberaration or choice of their own but the consequents of Necessity and therefore must be brought about by the directing Hand and Will of a God of Incomprehensive Power of Wisdom that they might bear witness of his Being and Providence and excite all Mankind to praise and glorigy the adorable Perfections of his Nature 3. The excellent Order of Creatures is seen in the Permanency of them in that State and Condition in which they have been placed This Permanency consisteth in two things 1. First In the entire continuance of their Natures The constituent principal Substances of the Universe are still the same they ever were since their first Formation in Number Measure and Weight Nothing of their Beauty is saded by Age nothing of Matter worn away by Motion no Parts lost quite by Accident nor any one Species annihilated by outward Violence or inward Insirmity and Decay Though Individuals upon the Terraqueous Globe dye daily or are cut off lest the Earth we inhabit and live upon and have our Food by should be over-stock'd yet all sorts and kinds of Beings remain from the glorious Furniture of the Firmament to the meanest Species of Flies and Worms All Vegetables propagate as in the beginning the diversity of Sexes Male and Female in all Animals continues on Men and Beasts increase and multiply and perform all their Natural Offices ever since the primordial Benediction But lest these things should be look'd upon as Productions of Course springing meerly from the Principles and Energy of Plastick Nature what think we of the Permanent Concinnity and State of the Air whose Salubrious Blasts Transparency proper Motions and all other uses it was intended for do still hold on notwithstanding all Nusances and Infections all Vicislitudes and Alterations and all those Disturbances Conflicts and Wars from contrary jarring Qualities which have been in it since its first Expansion What can we think of the Caelestial Host that for these Six thousand Years have been every minute casting and dispersing their enlivening Beams over the whole World What can we think of the Sun in particular that during such a long Tract and Succession of Ages has been every moment at so vast an Expence of Light and Heat its Body still continuing unimpaired and its Powers neither wasted nor disabled How could all this Conservation be without the help of an Almighty provident Hand that does by a sort of new Creation sustain and supply daily the several Branches of the Universe and did at first from them all so perfect in their Kinds and in order to their particular Ends and for the general Good of the whole that there is no mending the Creation no altering the Figure Posture Number or Frame of the Integral Parts of it no adding any new Species or destroying any old ones without disorder and detriment to the great Compages Secondly The permanent state of things is discernable as by the continuance of their Natures so by the constant tenor of their Operations and Motions witness for all those bright radiant Bodies over our heads whose circular Travels are so exactly periodical and their Influences so constant that they plainly shew there is a God above
she does makes an Impression on her outward Sense and that conveys an Idea of it to the Phansie in her Brain But all this while the Bird doth not choose to act upon a premised Principle that she providentially designs this Nest for her Young nor does she thence infer that therefore she must build it in such a place with such Materials after such a manner in such a form and to such a degree of warmth as is most suitable to the temper of her Young for this would be Reasoning and Arguing or Deducing of one thing out of another which is a Thing or Art too high for any Brute Creature And yet all these things are done in every respect so suitably and with such artisice and exactness that the most contriving Man in the World with all his Reason and Skill cannot possibly do them so well Which shews that there is a Power and Reason superiour even to humane Wisdom that hath invigorated the Natures of Animals with an energetick Principle which we call Instinct whereby they form their Works with the greatest Contrivance though they know not the meaning of them 3. This is an Imperfection in their Nature notwithstanding all their curious Formations And yet Thirdly There is another respect wherein their Operations differ from the Actions of Rational Creatures namely that as they know not Ends nor the reason of any Means so they do not consult or dliberate about the use of Means All Artists among Men consider which is the sittest and best way to be taken and in their Undertakings they do still leave room for second Thoughts And hence it is that humane Arts admit of great Improvements because second Thoughts produce new Experiments and new Experiments produce fresh Variety and so by comparing one effect with another a Man sees where he alter'd the former Method for the better and how necessary and useful that Alteration was But in the Operations of Nature it is not thus for Nature hath never but one way and that way is not only ready at hand but so very sit and proper too that it is not capable of Amendments Hence it is that sensitive Creatures are never to seek what to do nor ever change their wonted course but proceed in a constant uniform Tenor using the very same means for the preservation of their own Beings and for the propagation of their several Kinds which were used by those that were before them Six thousand Years ago They do not consider whether things may not be done better now than they were in those days nor do they so much as look back upon the last preceding Generation but go on still in the same way by roat without forecast reflection or advice and yet we see their Works are so artificially done that if they had bad the longest Experience and the greatest Reason of their own they could not after all their Studies and Practice have pitch'd upon more succesful and exquisite Methods Let us now from these Premises consider with due freedom of Thoughts whether this be not a manifest Proof of the Existence of a Being which is infinitely Operative and Omniscient For from what other Cause could all this Art in Nature come Whence else could it receive its admirable Skill What but a Deity could direct and govern it What other Being could teach that rude and undiscerning Thing to exercise its Faculties after such a methodical and unreproveable manner Or what else could guide it in making such regular uniform and constant Strokes as if it were all perfect Wisdom when it hath not in it self the least Grain of clear and true Knowledge It is all Dr. Scott Christ Life Part 2. p. 214. meer natural Instinct and as an excellent Writer now with God speaks natural Instinct is nothing but the Impression of the Art and Reason of the Authour of Nature which Impression knoweth not what it doth nor upon what Reasons it proceeds but only answers to the Reason of God as the Signature doth to the Seal that imprest it and like an Eccho articulates and resounds his Voice without understanding what it meaneth And as the senseless Eccho when it reverberates Words that carry Sense and Reason in them supposeth the original Voice to proceed from some intelligent Mind so these irrational Instincts of Nature which express so much Art and Reason in their Operations do necessarily imply that there is some wise Mind or Providence to which they owe their Original If our modern Scepticks tell us That these natural Instincts come ex traduce and by descent from one Animal to another let us consider how they came there in every Species of Animals at the first for an infinity of Causes is impossible If they are so hardy as to tell us That they came Originally by the casual Motion of unthinking Matter let us consider again how it comes to pass that these natural Instincts hold on and continue in every Species and in every Individual throughout the World since Chance blind sporting and wild Chance is far more likely to spoil a fine Work than to make it Or if after all they affirm That the continuance of Instincts from Generation to Generation is perfectly casual that is without the Pleasure or Power of an understanding Being over all let us consider lastly that Chance and Wisdom are things as utterly distant from each other as Extreams and Contraries are Chance never did any thing Wisely nor by Rule nor after a uniform Rate nor in a constant uninterrupted Tenor. And yet all Animals operate Wisely as if they perfectly understood the Reasons and Necessities of their own Actions But that they have no Wisedom or Reason of their own is evident because Id. ibid. p. 218. whatsoever they do they necessarily do and cannot possibly do otherwise for they never vary in their Operations never try any new Experiments but always proceed in the same Road and repeat the same things in the same Method which is a plain sign that they cannot do otherwise and consequently that they act not from their own Choice or Reason but Necessity And therefore since they are made and impelled to act as they do and yet do act Rationally and Wisely that which compels them must be a rational Mind either acting upon them immediately or by a fix'd and permanent Impression of its Art and Reason upon their Nature and Motions The truth is those Images and Imitations of Wisdom which are in Creatures purely sensitive together with the regularity and constancy of their Operations are as plain an evidence as need be given of the Existence of a God because it is unconceiveable how the Animal Parts of the World should so orderly conform to the Rules of Reason as if they were endued with intelectual Faculties without any directions and influence from a Divine Mind presiding over all It is no rarity to see some of those Creatures especially such as have the quickest Sense gratisie the curiosity of
People by an entertaining shew of such artificial Gestures and Actions as if they understood the meaning of Commands and knew how to obey And can any one believe that they never had any Artist to discipline and teach them Yet these Instances are comparatively very few nor is this half so much as natural Instinct and at last all their little Tricks vanish with their Breath And is it imaginable that every Animal under Heaven could constantly and in all things act after such a regular and wise Manner without a commanding Power over them Or that any other Power could be able to command them all but that which was the Original of their Natures Indeed the Learned Dr. Cudworth observes Intel. Syst p. 675. that some odd Philosophers have given it out That senseless Atoms playing and toiling up and down without any Care or Thought and from Eternity trying all manner of Conclusions and Experiments were at length they know not how taught and by the necessity of things themselves as it were driven to a certain kind of Trade of Artificialness and Methodicalness so that though their Motions were at first all Casual and Fortuitous yet in length of time they became Orderly and Artificial and governed by a certain Law they contracting as it were upon themselves by long Practice and Experience a kind of Habit of moving regularly or else by the meer necessity of things at length forced so to move as they should have done had Art and Wisdom directed them But as that great Man strongly Argues it is no more possible That the fortuitous Motion of dead and senseless Matter should ever form it self be taught or necessitated to produce such an orderly and regular System as the Frame of this whole World is together with the Bodies of Animals and constantly to continue the same than that a Man perfectly Illiterate and neither able to write nor read taking up a Pen into his Hand and making all manner of Scrawls with Ink upon Paper should at length be taught and necessitated by the thing it self to write a whole Quire of Paper together with such Characters as being decyphered by a certain Key would all prove Coherent Philosophick Sense Or than that a Man Writing down the meer Letters of the Alphabet transposedly any how as it happens without the least Thought either of Words or Sense after his Scribling a long time together what is altogether insignificant should at length be taught and necessitated by the thing it self without the least study or consideration of his own to write a large excellent Volume Or to use another Instance This is no more possible than that ten or a dozen Persons altogether unskilled in Musick having several Instruments given them and striking the Strings or Keys thereof any how as it happened should after some time of Discord and Jarring at length be taught and necessitated to fall into most exquisite Harmony and continue the same uninterruptedly for several Hours together Wherefore if it be ridiculous for one that hath read over the Works of Plato or Aristotle or those Six Books of Lucretius Carus De Naturâ rerum to contend that possibly the Letters of those Books might be all put together by Chance or scribled at Random without the least thought or study of the Writer he also having no manner of philosophick Skill in him Or for one that hears ten or a dozen Persons playing in Consort upon Instruments of Musick and making ravishing Harmony to perswade himself that none of those Players had for all that the least of musical Art or Skill in them but struck the Strings as it happened If all this be ridiculous to imagine it must needs be much more ridiculous and absurd to suppose this artificial System of the whole World to have resulted from the fortuitous Motion of senseless Atoms without the direction of any Art or Wisdom there being much more of Sense Art and Philosophy therein than in any philosophick Volume or Poem ever written by Men and more of Harmony and Proportion than in any Composition of Musick And therefore the Conclusion must be this That it is absolutely impossible things should have come to pass or continued in their orderly and regular Operations by meer Fortune and Chance and without the direction of any Mind or God The Divine Mind and Wisdom hath so printed its Seal or Signature upon the Matter of the whole corporeal World as that Fortune and Chance could never possibly have Counterfeited the same CHAP. X. AND yet I have more to say For though what has been already observed is a clear Demonstration of immense Power divine Knowledge and unsearchable Wisdom yet there is something very remarkable behind still which Proclaims to all the World that Glorious Attribute of God his infinite Goodness and Benignity also And that we cannot but take notice of if we consider that which was proposed in the next place namely the ample Provision that is made for the Welfare of all needy Creatures and even for the temporal good of Mankind I have already observed the near Relation and Connexion that is between all the Parts of the Universe the necessary dependence that one has upon another together with the great Helps and Ministrations whereby each part of the World is serviceable and useful to its Fellow-Creatures and does good Offices for them And therefore I shall not need to go over the Creation again to shew you the various Footsteps of Goodness which appear every where and which are evident Marks of a most liberal and munificent Being that hath provided for the Welfare of the whole It may be sufficient for me to confine my Meditations to the Sensitive Parts of the Universe and to take a transient View there of the wise and excellent Provision which is made for the good of them for this must undeniably prove That things did not come together by Chance that is without the contrivance of an intending Cause but by the Counsel and Art of a most benign Creator that hath taken care for the good of all things which stand in Need. The Good of an Animal consisteth in the Existence of its Nature and in the Enjoyment of its own Being with Pleasure and Safety I mean as far as the Enjoyment suits with the Wellfare of the rest And 't is well worth the while to observe what due Provision is made accordingly for it in both these respects First For its Production and then Secondly for the Preservation of it afterwards 1. First For its Production How solicitous doth blind Nature seem to be in preparing all things necessary for a Sensitive Creature 's Formation in drawing and laying out all the Parts of it after the best and most proper manner in cherishing the rude Foetus till it is come to its due Perfection and Proportions and in supplying it with Nourishment by mysterious Means before its coming into a wide World Every the least Bird in the Shell is
their Food now lieth There is something in them whatever it be that doth regularly direct and as it were teach them to act after this proper manner And to say it is meer Nature is nothing to the purpose or at least that which does not come home to the point For this Nature is in Creatures which are irrational nay at their lowest state of Irrationality and before they have any the least Experience to guide them and in such a state Nature alone and of it self must needs be as rude and ignorant and as liable to Irregularities as Chance it self is Therefore if we will hearken to Reason and speak according to Reason we must conclude That the first Appetites and Motions in these poor young Creatures proceed from a certain invisible Principle which at the first moment of their formation was fixt in them by a wise and beneficent Agent under whom it Operates necessarily and without any consciousness of its own in conformity to his Will for the Welfare and Support of his Creatures in their most needy Condition 2. And here let us pass on to observe Secondly the Provision that is made for their Safety when they are grown up and come to live of their selves And here to cast things into a clear Method we should consider what Provision is made 1. First For their protection from outward Assaults 2. For their defence against untimely Deaths 1. For the Protection of Creatures from outward Assaults Nature hath furnished many sorts of them with means proper for Resistance some with Armature on their Heads to push and Gore some with Teeth to rend an Enemy some with Hoofs to strike off Dangers divers with variety of other Weapons which are sit for their preservation Nor are any Animals that are to secure their Lives by Resistance left defenceless Nay it is observable of such that as their Strength is suitable chiefly in those parts which serve for their preservation so is their Boldness and Courage proportionable especially when they are brought into Streights and into imminent Danger Nature indeed hath been accused by some as a kind of Step-Mother to Man for bringing him into the World in a naked defenceless Condition But it should be considered that as Man hath Hands and Arms to use for his Safety so is he endu'd with intellectual Faculties to form a thousand Weapons and Stratagems for his preservation Besides Man is naturally a social Creature fitted to live under Polity and Laws and to act according to the Eternal Rules of Goodness and Righteousness which are far more agreeable to a Rational Nature than brutish Violence is and would be the most effectual Means for the Welfare of all Mankind if they were but carefully observed To accommodate the Words of the Prophet to this purpose Isa 11. Were righteousness the girdle of our loyns and faithfulness the girdle of our reins the wolf might dwell with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child might lead them The sucking child might play on the hole of the asp and the weaned child might put his hand on the cockatrice-den Nor would there be any hurt or destruction in the World In short as Self-preservation is the first Principle in Nature so is every Creature endu'd with Faculties and Defensatives for their Preservation as long as the Powers of Nature are to hold which shews that a most wise and beneficent Being hath formed every thing for its Good 2. Many other Creatures are directed by Nature to preserve themselves by flight Not only the Fowls of the Air but divers sorts of four-footed Animals on Earth especially such as are of a more timorous temper And accordingly as their Organs of sensation are artificially fitted to discover dangers at a distance so are those muscular Parts which serve for swiftness much larger in proportion than in other Creatures to quicken and maintain their Motions A plain Argument that those Instruments of Celerity were framed not by rude unintelligent Fortune but by the contrivance of an intending Cause whose Goodness is over all his Works 3. Others are taught to abscond in holes and cavities of the Earth and lest their cold Sanctuaries should prove as Fatal to them as external violence Nature makes them Coats of Fur and such suitable Integuments to keep them warm 4. Lastly Whereas there is utter Enmity between divers sensitive Creatures those Animals which are most exposed to danger from others are endued with a natural Instinct which inables them both to be sensible of their Enemy at the first sight and to provide what they can against the danger The innocent Lamb runs presently from the Wolf though it never saw a Wolf before Many sorts of Birds are frighted at the first sight of Fowls of Prey and endeavour with all possible speed to escape from them The Elephant when he goes to sleep hides the end of his long Trunk in the Ground so that nothing but Air can get in lest his natural Enemy the Mouse should enter in and creep into his Bowels The Crocodile that is in continual Danger from that Aegyptian Animal the Iehnenmon is guarded Jo. Johnston admirand qu tdrup c. 1 4. by the watchful attendance of another Animal the Trochilus that awakens the sleeping Crocodile when the Ichneumon is preparing to run into his Mouth Many such remarkable Observations might be collected out of Natural Histories which shew what various Methods Nature useth for the preservation of living Creatures from Assaults and Hurt And because Nature of it self is a thing if we speak strictly without all Providence Care or Thought Reason will oblige us to conclude that there is a God over Nature or a most wise and benign Being that directs it in operating for the good of all 2. Which will yet further appear if we consider in the second Place the Provision that is made for the Defence of Creatures against untimely Deaths And here many things might fall under our Meditations should we look over the Works of Nature particularly As 1. First touching that sufficiency of proper Food which is provided every where for the support of their Beings and for the pleasure of their Lives as far as the enjoyment of their Lives is consistent with the Welfare of the whole Universe 2. Secondly Touching the aptitude and fitness of those Parts wherewith every Species is provided for the gathering and digesting of their proper Sustenance So that by the Structure of an Animal's Body especially in and about the Mouth it is no hard matter to conjecture what sort of Food is most suitable to its Nature and how and in what places it is commonly gather'd as for instance by the form and length of a Bird's Beak you may guess what it lives on and where its proper Aliment doth for the most part lie These are plain Arguments of a provident and good God that in every respect
to any thing but Matter nay to corruptible Matter nor can any corporeal Substance be Immortal till this Corruptible hath put on Incorruption If then a Being be immaterial or destitute of Bodily Parts it must be in its own Nature immortal too A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones and Blood as every Humane Body hath and consequently it cannot be liable to those jarring Elements whereof our Bodies do consist nor can it of it self be capable of Corruption or Dissolution of Parts as our Mortal Bodies are seeing it is supposed to have no Parts at all to be divided Therefore since the Rational Soul is a Spirit or such a Being as is incorporeal and immaterial as I have now shew'd it is it must follow that it is not naturally subject to Mortality as the Body is because it is utterly void of all Natural Principles of Mortality and is incorruptible in its Essence and therefore it must by the ordinary Necessity of its own Nature as well as by the Will and Pleasure of a Superiour Being survive the Body to receive Rewards or Punishments in another World according to the Quality of its Actions in this 2. Having thus briefly consider'd the Nature of every Humane Soul let us Secondly take some Account of its Excellence in respect of its Faculties and Powers in order to prove the Existence of a God as the only Cause that could give this Soul a Being There are some Faculties in a Man which are common to Brute Creatures also As 1. Sense or the power of perceiving Idea's imprest from outward Objects upon the Organs of Sensation the Eye Ear c. 2. Phansie or a power of apprehending the seeming Suitableness or Unsuitableness of an Object to its Nature 3. Memory or the power of retaining for some time the Idea's and Shapes of things sensible 4. Appetite or a power of moving according as an Object appears either agreeable or hurtful being allur'd by the one or frighted and dampt by the other But these several Powers are nothing in comparison of those noble faculties peculiarly belonging to the Rational Soul as any Man may perceive that will but search into himself and observe what he finds and feels there For 1. First We find that we have a Power to Think and Consider I mean to examine those Objects which are presented to our outward Sense to employ our Minds conversantly about them to take notice of their Proportions Forms and Qualities to compare one thing with another to discover the Causes and Effects of them so that we may penetrate into the inside of them and dive into their Natures Now this no Brute Creature doth or can do The ox indeed knoweth his owner and the ass his masters crib that is they come to both being invited and moved thereunto by the appearance of things which are wont to gratifie the Eye and Palate But in this there is no such thing as Consideration nothing that can properly be call'd Thought because such Creatures are not capable of enquiring in themselves Who or what their Feeders are or What the Substance of their Fodder is or What produced it or How it was provided or To what End it serves and For what Reason it is proper and good to be used Acts of this kind are too high for Animals which are meerly Sensitive Their Phancies go no further than the Crib They are well satisfy'd with the bare enjoyment of that which is before them The Considering part belongs to Man To observe the natural difference between Things and Things to examine their distinct Causes Properties Dispositions and Uses and so to look into their intrinsick Essences and Natures this is the peculiar work and business of a Soul that is Rational 2. We find in our selves that we have a power to understand also that is a Faculty and Ability to comprehend the Reason and Condition and Philosophy of Matters nay to know many things which are not directly obvious to our outward Senses That Perception which is in Animals Irrational is an Idea in the Phancy deriv'd from those Efsluvium's Rays and Images of external Objects which are imprest upon the Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting or Feeling-Faculty and so convey'd through the Nerves into the Brain These are sensible Phantasms and the possessing of an Animal with them is properly called Sensation because the Creature is affected with a sensible Object meerly by the use of its Senses But Sensation is one thing and Intellection or Understanding is another This properly is when a Man's Mind is so possest and enlightned with Intelligible Notions or with such Idea's as are not subject to corporeal Sense and therefore such as cannot be stampt upon the Mind by Motion or Pressure from Bodies without us but such Idea's as spring out of the Mind it self by an active exerting Power that is native to it There are many kinds of such intelligible Notions as do not fall under external Sense and yet are very clear and evident to us As several Certainties in Mathematicks which appear from Demonstration divers Truths in Natural Philosophy which we are convinced of by pure Reason several Moral Verities which we are assured of from the immutable Natures of Vice and Virture several Doctrines in Theology which our Minds yield us from the Contemplation of the Divine Attributes and Perfections Besides divers such common Notions as these wherein all Mankind are agreed of themselves That what hath not any Being cannot act That things which agree in one Third agree among themselves That the Cause is in order of Nature before the Effect That Equals added unto Equals do make Equals That Nothing can produce it self out of Nothing and the like These are eternal Truths which depend not upon Sense but upon natural certain Reason for they would be Truths though there were not any Sensitive Creatures in the World Now this is a noble Power in the Soul which sets it infinitely above the Souls of Irrational Creatures in that it can act within it self abstractedly from Matter and without using the Bodily Senses can speculate and understand those leading Truths and necessary Notions which are in order to the greatest Undertakings and inable the Mind of Man to search into all the Secrets of Nature to open the Mysteries of the Creation to invent Arts to improve Sciences to prescribe the most commendable Rules of Life and in short to govern the World All which I shall shew is an Argument of the Existence of an absolutely perfect Mind or a God that formed the Rational Soul with Divine Faculties and Powers to act under him 3. Thirdly We find in our selves a Power to deduce one thing out of another by way of Inference and by comparing Notions with Notions and by sifting them narrowly to gather and conclude in the End that this is True and that False this is Right and that Wrong and so to go on still drawing of Consequents out of Antecedents which is usually call'd Ratiocination or
heaven of heavens cannot contain 1 King 8. 27. We find also That notwithstanding this Divine Activity of the Mind and its Ubiquitary Rangings abroad we can command it home and make it retire into a delightful Solitude to view those entertaining Ideas within it self and we do often fix it so that outward Objects cannot draw it off from the inward Operations it is intent upon nor deprive it of the great Pleasures of Contemplation and of Enjoying its own private Thoughts And what is this but a faint Similitude of the All-sufficiency and Plenitude of a God who standeth not in need of any things without himself but is infinitely Blessed in the Contemplation of the Glories of his own Nature and in the eternal Fruition of his own unspeakable Perfections We find too That though we know but in part yet we can not only observe things present and before us but can moreover call back things past and gone and foresee Events that are Future or Possible and can represent them all to our Minds as if they were all now under our Eye And what is this but an umbratile shew of the Omniscience of a God whose Understanding is infinite Psal 47. 5. And before whom Hell and Destruction and all the Hearts of the Children of Men are Prov. 15. We find again That there is in the Mind of Man a wonderful Fecundity of Power to do almost any thing which is Necessary Good Honourable and Excellent To form Notions as it were out of Nothing and out of those Notions which comparatively seem next to Nothing to draw by the gradual Methods of Study and Consideration Systems of Philosophy Platforms of Politicks Schemes and Models of Arts Volumes of Divinity and whatever is useful or tendeth to improve the Knowledge and to answer the Wants of Mankind And what is this but a weak Resemblance of the Omnipotence of that God who by the infinite Fecundity of his Divine Power created all Things out of Nothing Who spake and they were done who commanded and they stood fast Ps 33. 9. We find moreover in the Mind of Man a constant Disposition to do every thing for the sake of some Good either real or at least apparent and accordingly to deliberate about the Choice of necessary and proper Means And what is this but a little Signature of God's Wisdom Who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will Ephes 1. 11. And maketh every thing to work together for the good of them that love him Rom. 8. 28. We find furthermore in the Mind of Man innate Principles of Righteousness and Benignity which no tract of Time no Humours or Arts of People can totally obliterate though the base Inclinations and selfish Practices of some have strangely defaced them for even Publicans and Sinners will do good to them at whose Hands they have received good And what is this but some Similitude of a God who is Righteous in all his Ways and whose Mercy is over all his Works though it cometh vastly short of that Pattern which the Son of God gave the World from his Father Who causeth his sun to shine upon the evil as well as upon the good and sends his rain upon the just and unjust also Matth. 5. 45. Some more Instances and Respects there are wherein the Soul of Man does in some though very scanty measure resemble a Being that is eminently and absolutely Perfect But these being added to the other Considerations touching the immateriality and immortality of its Nature and the excellence of its Faculties and Powers are enough to make it appear to all reasonable Men that there is verily a God above after whose Image and Likeness the rational Soul is created And this I have used as the last Argument to prove the Existence of a Deity because it cometh so home and close that no Man can renounce a God but by renouncing his own humane Nature and by making himself like unto the very Beasts that perish and are without understanding I have now I thank God gone through with what brevity I could all those things which I proposed at my first entrance upon this Subject to confirm you in the rational belief of the true and ever blessed God in an Age which so aboundeth with Infidelity Considering how Men on that side are wont to say that we can have no Idea of God because a Deity is supposed to be incorporeal not subject to Sense and so that a Deity is an unconceivable Nothing therefore I did think it necessary in the first place to shew what the Notion of God meaneth namely a Being of eminent and absolute Perfections Out of which general Description there follows by necessary Consequence a more particular account of those Perfections which relate either to the Nature of God as Independency Incorporeity Eternity c. or as to God's Actions as perfect Knowledge Wisdom Power Goodness and the like Then having shewed how Intelligible and Rational this Notion of God is though it be not any sensible Idea as those are which come from corporeal Objects without us I proceeded in the next place to prove there actually is such a perfect Being 1. From the order of Causes which obligeth us to acknowledge that there must be one first Cause Self-existent and Eternal or a Being not made by any other and the like 2. From the general consent of Mankind which cannot rationally be ascribed to any but that first Cause who is the common Author of humane Nature 3. From some extraordinary Occurrences which plainly shew that there is a supreme Being of the most perfect Knowledge and Power 4. From the Frame and State of the World which is so admirable for its Order for its Beauty for the usefulness of its Parts for the resemblances of Wisdom in Creatures which are Irrational and for the ample Provision that is made for the good of all Things that it would be the most senseless imagination to attribute this goodly Frame of Nature to Matter and Motion to blind Fortune and Chance or to any other Cause but that Allmighty All-wise and most benign Being whose Perfections are infinite And 5. To evince this further yet I have taken particular notice of the admirable Frame of the rational Soul which in its Nature Faculties and manner of Operating bears an evident Resemblance and Representation of a Deity This whole Speculation being thus ended I should now in the last place draw it down to our Practice and shew what we are to render unto God for all these bright Manifestations of his Divine Glory what just Acknowledgments they call for at our hands what Acts of Faith and Admiration of Humility and Holiness of Adoration and Praise of Love and Obedience and Imitation and the like Expressions of Religion are due from us But this Subject is so copious as well as of such great importance that it ought to be handled distinctly and with Care and therefore requires a Discourse by