their Affairs to think of a God but in others of a higher Rank and Quality for by Ignorance I mean a wilful and sottish stifling of natural Notions and Impressions And this sometimes prevails in Men of great Parts and Knowledge Think it not strange that I reckon such Persons in the number of the Ignorant for to speak impartially they are so and this was the Sense of the wisest Pagans long since For to have no Knowledge and to stifle it is the same thing which is the Case of these Men they make it their business to choak the innate Principles of their Minds and to disregard those Notices which their Natures suggest to them Thus these Persons are stubbornly and obstinately Ignorant Whatever their Pretences and Boastings be their Atheism proceeds from want of Learning and Wit For 't is not the part of a Learned and Ingenious Man to destroy the Notions of Mankind and pull down what hath been built by the universal Suffrage of the World and in its place to erect a Conceit of his own Some may take such for Brainish and Scholar-like sort of Men but then these are so without Thinking for it is the want of this that makes them what they are Or to say the best of this kind of Men and Atheist is but a half-witted Person He hath perhaps made some Attempts in Science but to little purpose He hath attain'd to some slight and trivial Notions but hath not penetrated into the heart of Things and thence it comes to pass that he is full of Doubts and Cavils which he is able to raise but he hath not Skill and Ability enough to answer them Wherefore it was excellently said of my Lord Bacon A little Philosophy inclines mens minds to Atheism but depth in Philosophy brings mens minds about to Religion and a Deity Thus though this mis-shapen Monster would be thought to be the genuine issue of True Wisdom and Sound Knowledge yet it is really the daughter of an Affected Ignorance Wherefore to secure your selves against Atheism be careful that you blind not your minds willingly receive the rays of light into your souls cherish all sound notions and conceptions and by all proper methods bring your selves to a right understanding and steady embracing of all the Fundamental Principles of your Religion II. There is great Disingenuity and unhandsome Dealing in the case else we should not have so much Atheism Here I will prove that they do not act fairly but that they are Ungenteel which perhaps will affect these Persons more than any thing that I can say What they are willing and forward to grant in other matters and on other occasions they refuse to grant here yea they utterly deny it though there be the same reason for one as the other This plainly appears by their Objections As first they tell us they have no Sensible Notices of a God and therefore they can't admit of it for all the knowledge say they which we have of things is deriv'd to us from Sense But here we see that these Men are Partial and Disingenuous for they will not deny that there are many things which they judge not of by Sense they grant that the swiftness of Motion oftentimes out-runs the nimblest Sense and the Observation of the quickest eye yet they do not deny the Motion it self The Element of Air in which the daily converse is not seen nor is it heard or felt unless when 't is extraordinarily moved and disturbed which is but seldom nor will they say they taste it and 't is as certain that they cannot smell it for this is only the Vehicle of Smells but is not it self the object of that sense and yet these nice Gentlemen do not deny the Existence of the Air. They can by none of their Senses discern the Motion of the Sun Moon and Stars or as perhaps they think it most proper to say the Earth and yet there is not a man of them that denies that they move It can't be determin'd by Sense whether the Sun be bigger than it appears to be and therefore Epicurus who was a great Man for Sense held it was of no greater dimension than it seems to the Eye to be yea of no greater heat in it self than it seems to the Feeling to be here on Earth And the Atheistical Poet who borrow'd his Notions from him was of the same mind Nec nimio solis major rota nec minor ardor Esse potest nostris quà m sensibus esse videtur Lucret. lib. 5. This is certain that the things that are least discernible act most The Animal Spirits which do all the great things in our bodies are themselves Imperceptible They are the Insensible and Invisible Parts as Spirits Wind Subtile matter Exhalations which being agitated do the chiefest Exploits in Nature There are Fine Particles and Atoms diffused through all bodies whatsoever and these are the cause of Sense and Motion in Animals by help of these Minerals Plants and all Vegetables are brought to perfection These Invisible Agents effect strange things and act most wonderfully in the World The Nutritious Iuyce in the Nerves if we may credit the famous Glisson is of mighty use and influence yet as he confesses himself there are no Cavities to be seen to convey it and none of this Succus is ever discern'd in the dissecting of Animals Notwithstanding this some Physicians of the most piercing Judgment have granted whatever they do now the real being of it And in other Instances it might be shewed that Sense is not always made a Judge even in sensible Objects but we gather the being and operation of them from Reason and Discourse This the persons whom we are now dealing with do not deny but even practise it themselves and are willing to allow of it Why therefore are they so void of Ingenuity and fair-dealing as not to admit of the same in the case that is before us Why do they most irrationally deny a God because they do not apprehend him by Bodily sense whenas they judge not of some other things by Sense nay though they be proper objects of it This is a plain proof of these mens wilful Prejudice and Partiality especially if I add that God is infinitely farther removed from our most exalted Apprehensions than the Sun of which we spoke before is from this Earth This Glorious Sun dwelleth in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath see or can see Secondly they tell us that there are Great Difficulties in conceiving a God and they are loth to swallow these down and more especially the notion of a Spirit i. e. a Being that is void of Matter and Body is too hard to be conceiv'd by them and therefore seeing we hold God to be a Spirit they can form no conception of him I will reply to both the parts of this Objection distinctly and first as to the General Cavil That this notion is
SOME THOUGHTS Concerning the Several Causes and Occasions OF ATHEISM Especially in the Present Age. With some Brief Reflections on SOCINIANISM And on a Late BOOK Entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures BY IOHN EDWARDS B. D. and sometime Fellow of S. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for I. Robinson at the Golden Lyon and I. Wyat at the Role in S. Paul's Churchyard MDCXCV TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD His GRACE THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England c. MY LORD YOUR Grace being not only by Your Place and Station but by Your own Choice and voluntary Act the Grand Patron of our Religion it cannot be improper to present You with these brief Papers which though in themselves very mean and inconsiderable and unworthy of Your Grace's View are a Vindication of that Holy Cause against the repeated Cavils and bold Insults of Atheistical Spirits who as Your Grace with a very deep Resentment and Regret observes are of late grown very numerous How vigorously Your Lordship hath attacked this sort of Men is well known to the World and that hitherto they have not been able to bring about their impious Designs is in great part owing to Your Lordship's successful Attempts I presume from the Encouragement which so Illustrious an Example hath given me to engage in the same Cause that is to lay open the Folly and Absurdity of their Pretences and withall to discover some of those Heads and Springs whence the Atheistick Apprehensions of these present Times arise and whereby they are fed and nourished Which I hope will be of good use to those who desire to be caution'd against the Venom of this Raging Evil and will in some measure operate even on those who are infected and corrupted with it already I am sensible how Precious Your Grace's Minutes are in this time of extraordinary Business and Emergency and therefore I will not be injurious to the Publick by any farther Applications to Your Grace Only I superadd my hearty Prayers for Your Health and long Life wherein the Common Welfare and Happiness both of Church and State are so much involved And so I subscribe my self Your Grace's Most Dutiful Son and Devoted Servant Iohn Edwards THE PREFACE I Designing by the Divine Help and Conduct to defend the Existence and Providence of God by Arguments drawn both from the Greater and the Lesser World it is my Request to the Reader that he would accept of this Brief Essay in the mean time which I conceive will be a suitable Introduction and Preparative to that other Vndertaking For as in that intended Discourse I shall carefully trace and discover the Footsteps of the Divinity every where so here I make it my Business to shew how frequent an obvious the Occasions of Disbelieving it are By which means we shall effectually learn how to purge our Minds of those ill Qualities which naturally are subservient to Atheism we shall know how to remove those Stumbling-blocks to answer those Objections and to clear up those Mistakes which usually betray Men to this Infidelity And thus there will be a Way made for what I design Persons will be fitted to receive and retain the Impressions which those Topicks that I shall afterwards make choice of will enstamp upon their Minds And I hope the Age which hath lately been stigmatized with Marks of Atheism will for the future be renowned for these truly illustrious and glorious Characters I will only farther acquaint the Reader that some part of what I here offer viz. such Particulars as I thought were convenient for an usual and mix'd Auditory was deliver'd lately in one of the City-Pulpits and the other Heads with their Enlargement which are of somewhat a different strain and are chiefly adapted to the Curious and Inquisitive are an Addition since But as I have added several things so I have omitted some at the Desire of those who are concern'd in both This is all that I had to advertise the Reader of and so I bid him Farewel SOME THOUGHTS Concerning the Causes and Occasions OF ATHEISM THAT the World was not void of Atheists in King David's time may be gathered from his Words in Psalm xiv 1. The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God But it is exceedingly to be lamented that the number of them is much increased since yea that it is the Unhappiness of this Present Age to be pester'd with not a few of them Notwithstanding those cogent and incontestable Arguments for a Deity which are suggested from the Holy Scriptures and the Natural Reasonings of sober Minds there is still an Atheistical Spirit prevailing in the World There is a sort of Men if I may call them so whole bold Infidelity is so Irrational and Brutish that reckon the Notion of a God to be a Melancholick Conceit and the mere Effect of Credulity and Ignorance Yea there are some that pass for Wits who strive for the honour of being accounted the most Able Atheists of the Age. Wherefore instead of rehearsing or urging those Topicks which are wont to be produced for the Proof of the Divinity my Business at present shall be to enquire into the Causes of Atheism which now vaunts it self with an impudent Fore-head and begins to boast that it hath got Footing in a great part of the World I will search into the Occasions either real or pretended for I will mention both of this Reigning Mischief I will shew you on what Grounds the Impious do at this Day not only with the Psalmist's Atheistical Fool say in their Hearts but openly and avowedly proclaim to the World that there is no God that is no Supreme Over-ruling Being of Infinite Perfection no eternally Wise Intelligent and Omniscient Substance that at first gave Existence to all things and ever since upholds them and takes care of them I. I assign Ignorance to be one great Spring of this gross Unbelief As knowing as the World is at this day there are too many People of inferiour Rank whose Education hath been so unhappy that they have not been instructed in the Common Principles of Religion and they are more unhappy in that they will not allow themselves time and leisure to look into their own Minds and to rouze those inbred Notions which are implanted there by God and which would if they would give way lead them to him Wherefore it is the Concern of all Persons to know how to converse with Themselves and to rifle their own Breasts that they may find a Deity written there and besides they should be careful to acquire such a stock of Knowledge from without that they may understand their Religion and not be seduc'd by Atheistical Notions that fly up and down every where But this first Cause which I assign of Atheism is not only to be found in some meaner sort of People who have not time as they order
Property and is the very Life and Soul of the explicatory part of the Doctrine of the Deity is peremptorily pronounced by them to be a Contradiction It is well known Socinus and Crellius and others of this Party deny God's Immensity i. e. his being present every where as to his Essence and Nature All of them agree that he hath not a Knowledge and Foresight of every thing that happens in the World for future Contingencies are hid from him Particularly Socinus largely argues against this Praescience and tells us that he is to be laugh'd at that asserts the contrary Nay it is farther observable that this great Patriarch of the present Cause disowns the Immaterial or Spiritual Nature of God as may be undeniably gather'd from his Exposition of Iohn 4. 24. and other Passages in his Writings And he is followed by Crellius as is manifest from that Account which this latter gives of a Spirit when he speaks of the Nature of God He doth not make it to be any thing above a refined body a substance void of all gross matter such as the Air or Aether is So that when these men call God a Spirit their meaning is that he is a Fine and Tenuious sort of Matter not that he is wholly Incorporeal and altogether free from Matter This is the same with Mr. Hobbs's Corporeal God Thus four of the Chief Attributes of the Deity viz. Self-Existence Omnipresence Omniscience and Spirituality are either in whole or in part rejected Whereupon I ask this Question Whether these things do not discover a Tendency to say no more in the Anti-Trinitarians to that which I am charging them with For to assert a God and yet to deny some of his Choicest Properties whereby we know him to be God is in effect the same with denying a Deity If they distinguish between the English and Foreign Socinians as I perceive they do and tell us that the former do not assert the things before mention'd I answer the very English Prints avouch the first of those Particulars and as for the rest they being the Doctrine of the Chief Patrons of the Socinian Cause yea and of the Most of them the English Unitarians are involved in them because those Foreigners are the greatest and most substantial part of that Body of men call'd Socinians Thus the Trinitarian Scheme of Religion drawn up by some English Socinians of late is thought by them to touch all the Trinitarians else it could not be stiled the Trinitarian Scheme though every individual Trinitarian doth not hold all those things mentioned there Let them apply this and they will have nothing to object And further I would argue from their own avowed Principle which is that they are to admit of nothing but what is exactly adjusted to Nature's and Reason's Light nothing but what is entirely clear and evident for though it is true some Socinian Writers of late have laid aside this Notion and truly we may observe that they are shifting every day their Arguments and so we know not where to have them yet he that is acquainted with the Writings that make up the main Body of Socinianism knows full well that this is a Principle constantly asserted and maintain'd by the generality of them and upon all occasions insisted upon This hath been the Stanch Notion of the Great Dons of the Party and of the famous Socinus himself And Slicktingius though he seems indeed sometimes to be otherwise perswaded yet comes to this at last that the Trinity is a Doctrine that can't be borne because it can't be understood And why do Crellius and others argue from Reason and Logical Arguments against the Trinity if they do not refuse the Doctrine upon the account of Reason And it is certain they would not do this if they were not perswaded that these things in Religion must be adjusted to Natural Reason and that they are displeased with the Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation c. because these are not exactly squared to their Natural Notions You see then what is the sentiment of the Greatest Rabbies of this way and therefore we must make our estimate of the Socinian or Antitrinitarian Doctrine from these and not from one or two Modern Writers This I think will be granted by all men of reason But what if it doth appear that even the very English and Modern Socinians though they seem to wave this Principle do yet retain it and govern themselves by it Else why do they complain that they have no conception of the Trinity as the Trinitarians represent it to them they cannot form an idea of it it is a notion that excites no idea's in their minds it is against Reason and Natural Light We are advised by the Modern Pen-men to consult our Reason about the thing in question and if we do so we shall find an absolute impossibility in the Trinitarian Doctrine our Reason will assure us that an Almighty Father and an Almighty Son are most certainly two Gods and that two Creators can be no other than two Gods Therefore we may and we must infer that the explication of the first Verses of St. John 's Gospel which advance such a Doctrine is certainly false Again the English Socinians tell us that the Doctrine of the Trinity clashing altogether with our natural idea's can be no matter of Revelation and therefore ought not to be believ'd And hear their Final and Resolute Determination which fully speaks their absolute adherence to this Principle We abide by this Argument here we fix our foot never to be removed that the inconsistence of the Trinity as well as the Incarnation with Reason and Natural Knowledge being undeniably evident therefore this Doctrine can have no real foundation in Divine Revelation that is to say in Holy Scripture And we find that our English Unitarians argue from Reason in this Point and they declare that they cannot believe it because Reason doth not teach it Thus we find that the bottom of all is the Trinity and such like Doctrines are above their Reason and Natural Idea's and therefore they are no matter of their Faith This is it which the Reverend Person before named charges these men with in a great part of his Sermon and certainly he would not have done it if there were no such persons in being It is too plain that there are such and I think I have proved it from their own mouths The sum of their Opinion and resolution if this that there is nothing difficult and abstruse in Religion and that they will not believe any thing in Christianity but what they can make out by Reason otherwise it must be discarded presently Now to apply this Principle of the Antitrinitarians we are assured that we cannot by searching find out God Job 11. 7. his Infinite Nature and Immense Essence are not commensurate to our Conceptions are not adjusted to our Idea's but are far
be from a kind of Magnetism in some parts of the Earth as hath been imagin'd by some or from the reflected Particles of the Celestial Matter driving down into their places the earthy bodies they find above them or as they at other times are pleased to speak from the pressure of the Atmosphere which moves all Bodies continually downwards because it doth it self press always towards the Earth or whether it be as the Learned Isaac Vossius holds from the Diurnal Motion of the Earth whereby all heavy Bodies which move with greater difficulty than light ones tend to the middle or Center and light Bodies are expelled towards the Superficies or from the Center But a man that would be very serious in Philosophizing can hardly acquiesce in any of these Solutions He is not hereby satisfied how Non-gravitation can be and not be in a thing at the same time as in Water in the Sea or in a River for it is heavy and presses down and yet the parts do not gravitate for 't is known that those that dive and are under so great a heap of Waters yet feel it not upon them Here must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there must be acknowledged an other Cause besides those before mention'd if they may be said to be Causes at all And accordingly I find that some of the most Judicious Philosophers of our own Nation have averr'd that a God a Divine Incorporeal Substance may be evinced from the Phoenomena of Gravity This is made good by strong and nervous Arguments in an Undertaking of the Learned Dr. More Another Ripe-witted Naturalist positively determines that the common Phoenomenon of Gravity is impossible to be explain'd by any natural operation of Matter or any other law of Motion but the positive Will of a Superiour Being so ordering it And there is lately risen in our Horizon another Bright Philosophick Luminary from whom we may expect Great Discoveries it is his frank Acknowledgment that this wonderful Property of Bodies whereby the World is tied and link'd together and all things in it are kept from running back into their First Chaos and Confusion and which consequently is necessary for the welfare yea the very subsistence of the Universe is supernatural No power saith he of mere Nature can produce it it surpasses all the Mechanism of Matter And in several other Instances which might be offer'd there may be seen a despair of resolving the nature of them by material Causes wholly No meaner a Person than Doctor Lower who was voted by all the Faculty to be one of the most Accomplish'd Anatomists of this Age imputes the wonderful Motion of the Heart and the Circulation of the Blood to a Divine and Supernatural Cause He who was as well skill'd as any man in the Fabrick of the Parts and Vessels of the Body and knew all the Springs of their Actions and Operations was of opinion that these could not be solv'd by any ordinary Principle I mention this only to let the Reader see that some of the Bravest and Wisest Philosophers are forward to own a Divine Hand even in the Common Works of Nature They do not think it below a Man of Philosophy to resolve some things into an Immaterial Principle For a Pious and Christian Philosopher may plainly discern that there are some things above the Efforts of Matter and Motion It cannot be denied whatever some are pleas'd to say to the contrary that we live in as Learned Times as ever have been extant All Arts and Sciences are improved even to a Prodigy and particularly the Accessions which are made to Philosophy are very great and astonishing But yet I must needs concur with that very Thoughtful and Ingenious Gentleman before cited who hath most truly told the World that without the notion and allowance of Spirits our Philosophy will be lame and defective in one main part of it when it leaves out the Contemplation of the most Excellent and Powerful part of the Creation viz. those Immaterial Beings And herein he follows all the Great and Renowned Philosophers of our Age especially those of our own Country as Dr. More Sir Matthew Hale Dr. Willis Mr. Boyle Mr. Ray c. who pretend not to solve all things in Philosophy by mere Natural Causes who look not upon Man as a piece of Clockwork but have frequent recourse to those Springs and Causes which are Spiritual and Incorporeal and sometimes to the immediate hand of the Almighty Himself To conclude then let not the inestimable Blessing of Knowledge and Learning which is so peculiar to this Age make us forgetful of the Grand Source and Spring of all operations and effects in Nature Let us beware of those men who ascribe all the Phaenomena in the world to the power of the modified matter and will leave nothing for God to do himself Neither let us think that to Philosophize is to jar with the Sacred Writings and to deny the very Natural History of it The Scoffers at a Deity never had a more hopeful Harvest then since these Notions have prevail'd By this means it comes to pass that Philosophy which is the Study of Wisdom affronts the Truest and Highest Wisdom and even Natural Philosophy which is one of the Choicest Accomplishments of humane minds leads men even to the denial of the Author of Nature No wise man will disapprove of a Latitude either in Philosophy or in the dubious and controverted Points of Theology but then here he must be upon his guard for there are those that under the pretence of throwing off some precarious things in the Old Philosophy and discarding the empty Speculations of the Schools cast off those Principles which are useful and sound under the notion of the Advancements of Arts and Sciences and the Improvement of the belles lettres and carrying Learning up to a greater heighth they in the mean time help to pull these down Especially in Religion under the colour of searching further than others have done into Divine matters they abandon some of the choicest Principles under the pretext of Reason and Good Sense they obtrude any New Conceit upon the world and regard not the suffrage of the Holy Scriptures or of the Primitive Church This they call a Rational Religion and if you offer any thing against it they cry it down as a Dream a Romance a Fable a Phantom an Hobgoblin and which is a word which they think comprehends all the rest Priest-craft And here I might observe that among the Opinions which lead to Atheism the denial of Daemons and Witches which of late hath so much prevail'd is none of the least For besides that this is an open defiance to unquestionable History Experience and matter of Fact and so introduces the worst sort of Scepticism which is the high-way to Atheism it is evident that this supplants the belief of Spiritual Beings or Substances for Witchcraft and all Diabolick Transactions are
Ghost Can there be any Reason given of this partial dealing Yes it is most evident to any thinking and considerate person that he purposely omits the Epistolary VVritings of the Apostles because they are fraught with Other Fundamental Doctrines besides that One which he mentions There we are instructed concerning these Grand Heads of Christian Divinity viz. the Corruption and Degeneracy of Humane Nature with the True Original of it the Defection of our First Parents the Propagation of Sin and Mortality our Restoration and Reconciliation by Christ's Blood the Eminency and Excellency of his Priesthood the Efficacy of his Death the full Satisfaction thereby made to the Divine Justice and his being made an All-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin Here are peculiar Discoveries concerning Christ's Righteousness and our Justification by it concerning Election Adoption Sanctification or the New Birth and particularly Saving Faith which is so signal a part of it Here the Nature of the Gospel and the New Covenant the Riches of God's Mercy in the way of Salvation by Jesus Christ the Certainty of the Resurrection of Humane Bodies and of the Future Glory are fully displayed These are the Matters of Faith contain'd in the Epistles and they are essential and integral parts of the Gospel it self and therefore it is no wonder that our Author being sensible of this would not vouchsafe to give us an Abstract of these Inspired Writings but passes them by with some Contempt And more especially if I may conjecture he doth this because he knew that there are so many and Frequent and those so illustrious and eminent Attestations to the Doctrine of the ever to be Adored Trinity in these Epistles Nor is this any uncharitable conjecture as the Reader may easily satisfie himself if he takes notice that this Writer interprets the Son of God to be no more than the Messiah he expounds Iohn 14. 9. c. after the Antitrinitarian mode whereas generally Divines understand some part of those words concerning the Divinity of our Saviour He makes Christ and Adam to be the Sons of God in the same senses viz. by their Birth as the Racovians generally do and so he interprets Luke 1. 35. Iohn 5. 26. according to their Standard When he proceeds to mention the Advantages and Benefits of Christ's Coming into the world and appearing in the flesh he hath not one syllable of his Satisfying for us or by his Death purchasing Life and Salvation or any thing that sounds like it This and several other things which might be offered to the Reader shew that he is all over Socinianized and moreover that his design was to exclude the belief of the Blessed Trinity in this Undertaking of his viz. to prove that the believing of Christ to be the Messiah is the only Point of Faith that is necessary and saying All the other Articles and Doctrines must fall a sacrifice to the Darling Notion of the Antitrinitarians namely that Christ is not the True God and coessential with his Father For the sake of this one Point they are all dispatch'd out of the world and are made by him Martyrs to this Cause One could scarcely imagine that a person of Ingenuity and Good Sense should go this way to work Which enclines me to think that the Ingenious Gentleman who is suppos'd by some to be the Author of this Treatise is not really so I am apt to believe that the world is impos'd upon in this matter for in this present Attempt there are none of those Noble Strokes which are visible in that Person 's Writings and which have justly gain'd him a fair repute That Vivacity of thought that Elevation of mind that Vein of Sense and Reason yea and of Elocution too which runs through his Works are all extinct here only he begins as 't were to recover himself about the Close when he comes to speak of the Laws of Christian Morality Some may attribute this Flatness to the Ill Cause he manages but for my part I question whether we have the right Author I can't perswade my self but that there is an Error of the Person at least I will charitably presume so because I have so good an opinion of the Gentleman who writ of Humane Understanding and Education But what is the ground of the foresaid Assertion What makes him contend for One Single Article with the Exclusion of all the rest He pretends it is this that all men ought to understand their Religion And I agree with him in this but I ask him may not a man understand those Articles of Faith which I mention'd out of the Gospel and Epistles if they be explain'd to him as well as that One which he speaks of Why then must there be but One Article and no more But he notwithstanding this goes on and urges that there must be nothing in Christianity that is not plain and exactly level to all mens Mother-wit and common apprehension For God considered the poor of the world and the bulk of mankind the Christian Religion is suited to vulgar capacities and hath only such Articles as the labouring and illiterate man may comprehend The Writers and Wranglers in Religion fill it with Niceties and dress it up with Notions viz. the Trinity Christ's Satisfaction c. which they make necessary and fundamental parts of it But the bulk of mankind have not leisure for Learning and Logick and therefore there must be no such doctrine as that concerning the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and the like which are above the capacity and comprehension of the Vulgar And in the Entrance of his book he hath the same notion for he tells us that the Scriptures are a collection of writings designed by God for the instraction of the illiterate bulk of mankind for he is much taken with this phrase you see the bulk of mankind whereby he understands the Ignorant and Unlearned Multitude the Mob as he calls it in another place Surely this Gentleman is afraid of Captain Tom and is going to make a Religion for his Myrmidons and to please them he gives them as little of this kind as he possibly can he contracts all into One Article and will trouble them with no more Now then the sum of all that he aims at is this that we must not have any Point of Doctrine whatsoever in our Religion that the Mob doth not at the very first naming of it perfectly understand and agree to We are come to a fine pass indeed the Venerable Mob must be ask'd what we must believe and nothing must be receiv'd as an Article of Faith but what those Illiterate Clubmen vote to be such The Rabble are no System-makers no Creed-makers and therefore away with Systems and Creeds and let us have but One Article though it be with the defiance of all the rest which are of equal necessity with that One. Towards the close of his Enterprise he hath a fling and that a Shrewd one