is necessary they move now from whence is the principle of their motion from an internal form or an external Agent If they will be ingenuous and speak true they must answer thus from whence soever they have it they have it for if they did not move their Opinion cannot proceed a step further But supposing their motion to be natural what powerful Cause made them rest how are they so firmly united have they Hooks that fasten or Birdlime or Pitch or any glutinous matter that by touching they cleave so fast together They must grant something like this otherwise they cannot unite and compound and then the Epicurean Opinion is presently dissipated Supposing them triangular circular square or of any other regular or irregular figure yet they can make no other compound then a mass of Sand in which the several grains touch without firm union So that 't is very evident whether we suppose motion or rest to be originally in the nature of matter there must be a powerful Efficient to cause the contrary Besides by what art did so many meet and no more and of such a figure and no other and in that just order as to form the World a work so exact that by the most exquisite skill it cannot be made better Add further how could these minute Bodies without sense by motion produce it this is to assert that a Cause may act above the degree of its power Can we then rationally conceive that a confused rout of Atoms of divers natures and some so distant from others should meet in such a fortunate manner as to form an intire World so vast in the bigness so distinct in the order so united in the great diversities of natures so regular in the variety of changes so beautiful in the whole composure though it were granted that one of their possible conjunctions in some part of Eternity were that we see at present Could such a strict confederacy of the parts of the Universe result from an accidental agreement of contrary principles 'T is so evident by the universal experience of Men that regular Effects are caused by the skill of a designing Agent that works for an end that upon the sight of any such effects there is not the least shadow of a suspicion in the mind that it proceeded from blinde and counselless Chance If we should hear one make a plea for a Cause with such reasons as are most proper to convince and perswade his Judges to decide for him can we doubt whether he understands what he speaks or casually moves the organs of speech And yet if he did move them by Chance one of the casual motions equally possible with any other would be that he perform'd at present If a thousand brass Wheels were thrown on a heap would six or eight meet so fitly as by their conjunction to organize a Clock that should distinguish the hours or is a skilful hand requisite to joyn them and direct their motion And did the Planets those vast bodies by Chance ascend to the upper part of the World and joyn in that order as to measure the time exactly for so many past Ages Who ever saw a dead Statue form'd in the veins of Marble or a well proportion'd Palace with all Rooms of convenience and state arise out of a Quarry of Stones without a Sculptor to fashion the one and an Architect to frame the other Yet Marble and Stones are more dispos'd to make a Statue or a Building that are the materials of them and only require skill and workmanship to give them form than Atoms mixt together are to make the World Indeed Pliny faintly tells a story of a fabulous Ring of Pyrrhus in which an Agat was set distinctly representing not by Art but pure hazard Apollo with his Harp in the midst of the nine Muses The first Reporter was defective that he did not oblige us to believe that the sound of his Harp was heard in consort with the Muses It would have been a fine Miracle and the belief as easie that a Stone might be a Musitian as a Painter Now if the effects of Art are not without an Artificer can the immense Fabrick of the World be other than the work of a most perfect Understanding Who fixt the foundations of the Earth who laid the beautiful Pavement we tread on who divided and adorn'd the Chambers of the Spheres who open'd the Windows to the light in the East who encompass'd it with the immense vault of the starry Heaven hanging in the Air and supporting it self Could artless Chance build it No man unless totally deserted of Reason can possibly have such a fancy Let Reason judg how could the World be otherwise then 't is supposing it fram'd by a designing Cause all things are dispos'd divinely that is by perfect Wisdom as publick necessity and ornament require What the Psalmist observes concerning the Heavens is equally true of all the other parts of Nature Their line is gone out to signifie the exactness of their proportion If this be the effect of Chance what is the product of Design Can Reason distinguish between things artificial wherein the felicity of Invention appears and things rude not done by rules in the works of the Hands and can it not discover the manifest prints of Wisdom in the order of the Universe How much more Skill is evident in the frame of the World than in all the effects of humane Art so much the less folly would it be to attribute the most curious works of Art than the production of the World to Chance Add further The establisht order of the parts of the World is an argument that excludes all doubt that 't is govern'd and was at first fram'd by unerring Wisdom For if they were united by Chance would they continue in the same manner one day Is it not most likely that one of the innumerable possible combinations should succeed different from the same tenor of things that is but one especially if we consider that the parts of the World are never at rest The Heavens the Elements mixt bodies are in perpetual motion If Chance rul'd is it within the confines of probability that the Sun that runs ten or twelve thousand Leagues every day should be now in the same part of the Heavens where it was in former years in such a day when there are so many other places wherein by Chance it might wander Would the Stars keep a perpetual course regularly in such appearing irregularities Nec quicquam est tanta magis mirabilemole Quam ratio certis quòd legibus omnia parent Nusquam turba nocet nihil illis partibus errat Manil. lib. 1. Astrom Or would the sowing of Seed in the Earth certainly produce such a determinate sort of Grain for the other possible mixtures are so vastly numerous that it would be ten thousand to one but some other thing should spring up than what does According to this Hypothesis
it would be greater folly to believe that the natural course of things should be the same this Year as in former times than to assert that a Gamester should to day throw the Dice in the same order and with the same points uppermost as he did yesterday 'T is evident therefore that the Epicurean Doctrine having not the least shadow of Reason had never been receiv'd with applause but as 't is joyn'd with impiety 2. Some attribute the rise and course of things in the World to the sole necessity of Nature To this it may be replied 1. 'T is true there is an evident connexion of Causes and Effects in the Celestial and Elementary World whereby times and seasons are continued and the succession of mutable things is preserv'd so that Nature always consuming remains intire Though all vegetive and sensitive beings dye yet the species are immortal For the living are brought forth to succeed in the place of the dead But the inquiring mind cannot rest here for 't is impossible to conceive a train of Effects one caused by another without ascending to the first Efficient that is not an Effect For nothing can act before it exists The order of Causes requires that we ascend to the Supream which derives being and vertue to all the intermediate Thus Nature produces things from seminal Causes that depend on things already in being The Seed of Flowers and Trees suppose the Fruits of the Earth before growing but the first Tree could not be so produc'd To fancy an infinite succession of Causes depending one upon another without arriving to a first can only fall into the thoughts of a disordered mind How came this Horse that Lion in Nature 'T is by generation from another and that from another and so infinitely How came this Man into the World 'T is because he was begotten by such a Father and he by another and so infinitely Thus Atheism that rejects one truly Infinite Cause is obliged to admit an Infinity in all things an Incomprehensibility in all things 'T is therefore evident the efficient principles in Nature are from the sole power of the first and independent cause They could not proceed from themselves and that a most wise and powerfull Being is the original of all things is as evident Is it conceivable that the insensible Mass that is called Matter should have had an eternal being without original whereas there is not the least imaginable repugnance in the Attributes of the first and highest Being in whom all those Perfections concur which as proper to the Deity are form'd in the mind in the idea of it as his spiritual Nature Eternity Immensity Wisdom Omnipotence c. of which 't is equally true that no one either absolutely or relatively considered involve a contradiction that make it impossible for the Supream Being to possess it Is it not perfectly inconsistent to attribute to Matter the lowest and most contemptible of all Beings the highest and most noble Perfection an Independent Existence One may assert it in words but not seriously without the utter deserting of Reason Man incomparably excels this Matter he understands it and that understands not him yet he has a derived being in time 'T is therefore necessary that that should have some cause of its being But supposing the self subsistence of Matter from Eternity could the World full of innumerable Forms spring by an Impetus from a dead formless Principle T is equally impossible that a blind Cause casual or fatal should give being and order to the Universe Besides all subordinate Causes are sustained in their Beings and Powers by fresh influences from the first and directed in their operations To attribute the manifold Effects in the World to Second Causes working in a blind manner without an Universal Intellectual Mover that disposes tempers and governs them is as unreasonable as to attribute humane Works to the common Instruments of Art without the direction of the Understanding that uses them The Hand or Pencil has not skill to do any thing but as it obeys the Mind that gives it the impression of Art and regulates its Motion The Earth knows not the various Fruits that spring from it nor the Sea its living Productions And the Sun though a more specious is not a more intelligent and artificial Agent Nature under another name is the ordinary Power of God that by its intimate concourse with Second-Causes produces and supports things And 't is one of the considerable Wonders of his Providence that the stream of perishing things always emptying is always full there being a supply from the Fountains of continual Productions of what is lost in the dead Sea so that the World is always the same and always new And from what hath been argued we may judge how unreasonable it is to doubt whether there be a Principle in Nature of excellent Wisdome because not seen in his own Essence for if Reason compel us to acknowledg that the works of Art wrought by manual Instruments proceed from an unseen mind that directed their motions according to the idea framd in it self we ought more strongly to conclude there is a Divine Mind though invisible to mortal eyes that contriv'd at first and with knowledg performs all the works of Nature To deny the Existence of a Being not subjected to our outward Senses is equally of no force in both the instances By the same Reason St. Austin confounds the Atheist objecting that he could not see the Deity To whom he propounds this question That since his Body was only visible and not his Soul why should it not be buried And upon the reply That the quickning presence of the Soul was evident in the actions of Life perform'd by the Body he truly infers if a vital principle imperceptible in its self is discover'd by vital actions the Deity though by the perfection of his Nature undiscernable to our senses is clearly seen by the light of his effects And those who are wilfully blind if God should by any new sensible effects make a discovery of himself yet would remain inconvincible For the arguments of his presence from extraordinary effects are liable to the same exceptions pretended against the ordinary CHAP. V. The beginning of the World proved from the uninterrupted tradition of it through all ages The invention of Arts and bringing them to perfection an argument of the Worlds beginning The weakness of that fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth and to full Age and a decrepit state and back again so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God The impressions of Nature are infallible That the most Men are practical Atheists that some doubt and deny God in words is of no force to disprove his Existence There are no absolute Atheists Nature in extremities has an irresistible force and compels the most obdurate to
the Creatour is as visible in the manner of this dispensation as the thing it self And 't is an observable point of Providence in ordering the length and shortness of Days and Nights for the good of the several parts of the World Under the Equinoctial Line the Earth being parcht by the direct beams of the Sun the nights are regularly twelve hours through the Year fresh and moist to remedy that inconvenience On the contrary in the northern parts where there is a fainter reflection of its Beams the Days are very long that the Sun may supply by its continuance what is defective in its vigour to ripen the fruits of the Earth The annual course of the Sun between the North and South discovers also the high and admirable wisdom of God For all the benefits that Nature receives depends on his unerring constant motion through the same Circle declining and oblique with respect to the Poles of the World 'T is not possible that more can be done with less From hence proceeds the difference of Climates the inequality of Days and Nights the variety of Seasons the diverse mixtures of the first qualities the universal Instruments of natural Productions In the Spring 't is in conjunction with the Pleiades to cause sweet showers that are as milk to nourish the new-born tender plants that hang at the breasts of the Earth In the Summer 't is joyn'd with the Dog-Star to redouble its force for the production of Fruits necessary to the support of living Creatures And Winter that in appearance is the death of Nature yet is of admirable use for the good of the Universe The Earth is clensed moistened and prepar'd so that our hopes of the succeeding Year depends on the Frosts and Snows of Winter If the Sun in its diurnal and annual motion were so swift that the Year were compleated in six Months and the Day and Night in twelve hours the fruits of the Earth would want a necessary space to ripen If on the contrary it were so slow as double the time were spent in its return the Harvest but once gather'd in the twenty four Months could not suffice for the nourishment of living Creatures 'T is also a considerable effect of Providence that the sensible World do's not suddenly pass from the highest degrees of heat to the extremity of cold nor from this to that but so gradually that the passage is not only tolerable but pleasant Immediate extreams are very dangerous to Nature To prevent that inconvenience the Spring interposes between the Winter and Summer by its gentle heat disposing living bodies for the excess of Summer And Autumn of a middle quality prepares them for the rigour of Winter that they may pass from one to another without violent alteration To attribute these revolutions so just and uniform to Chance is the perfection of folly for Chance as a cause that works without design has no constancy nor order in its effects If a Dy be thrown a hundred times the fall is contingent and rarely happens to be twice together on the same square Now the Alternate returns of Day and Night are perpetual in all the Regions of the Universe And though neither the one nor the other begin nor end their course twice together in the same Point so that their motion appears confused yet t is so just that at the finishing of the Year they are found to have taken precisely as many paces the one as the other In the amiable Warr beween them though one of the two always gets and the other loses the hours yet in the end they retire equal And the vicissitudes of Seasons with an inviolable tenor succeed one another Who ever saw the various Scenes of a Theater move by hazard in those just spaces of time as to represent Palaces or Woods Rocks and Seas as the subject of the Actors requir'd And can the lower World four times in the circle of the Year change appearance and alter the Seasons so conveniently to the use of Nature and no powerful Mind direct that great work frequent discoveries of an end orderly pursued must be attributed to a judicious Agent The Psalmist guided not only by Inspiration but Reason declares The Day is thine the Night also is thine thou madest the Summer and Winter But this I shall have occasion to touch on afterward CHAP. II. The Air a fit medium to convey the Light and influences of the Heavens to the lower World T is the repository of Vapours that are drawn up by the Sun and descend in fruitful Showers The Winds of great benefit The separation of the Sea from the Land the effect of great Wisdom and Power That the Earth is not an equal Globe is both pleasant and useful The League of the Elements considered Excellent Wisdom visible in Plants and Fruits The shapes of Animals are answerable to their properties They regularly act to preserve themselves The Bees Swallows Ants directed by an excellent mind THe Expension of the Air from the Etherial Heavens to the Earth is another testimony of Divine Providence For 't is transparent and of a subtle Nature and thereby a fit medium to convey Light and Celestial Influences to the lower World It receives the first impressions of the Heavens and insinuating without resistance conveys them to the most distant things By it the greatest numbers of useful objects that cannot by immediate application to our faculties be known are transmitted in their images and representations All colours and figures to the Eye sounds to the Ear. T is necessary for the subsistence of Animals that live by respiration It mixes with their nourishment cools the inward heat and tempers its violence Besides In the Air Vapors are attracted by the Sun till they ascend to that height to which its reflection does not arrive and there losing the soul of heat that was only borrowed by degrees return to their native coldness and are gathered into Clouds which do not break in a deluge of waters that would wash away the seed but dissolving into fruitful showers fall in millions of drops to refresh the Earth so that what is taken from it without loss is restor'd with immense profit The Air is the field of the Winds an invisible generation of Spirits whose life consists in motion These are of divers qualities and effects for the advantage of the World Some are turbid others serene and chearful some warm and refreshing others cold and sharp some are placid and gentle others furious and stormy some moist others dry They cleanse and purifie the Air that otherwise would corrupt by the setling of vapors be destructive to the lives of Animals They convey the Clouds for the universal benefit of the Earth for if the Clouds had no motion but directly upwards they must only fall on those parts from whence they ascended to the great damage of the Earth For moist places that send up plenty of Vapours would be overflowed and
the highest parts to which no other Waters arise would be unfruitful Now the Winds are assigned to all the quarters of the World and as the Reigns are slack or hard they guide the Clouds for the advantage of the lower World The separation of the Sea from the Land and containing it within just bounds is the effect of Almighty Wisdom and Goodness For being the lighter Element its natural situation is above it And till separated 't was absolutely useless as to habitation or fruitfulness 'T is now the convenient seat of terrestrial Animals and supplies their Provisions And the Sea is fit for Navigation whereby the most distant Regions maintain Commerce for their mutual help and comfort The Rivers dispers'd through the veins of the Earth preserve its beauty and make it fruitful They are always in motion to prevent corrupting and to visit several parts that the labour of cultivating may not be in vain And that these Waters may not fail the innumerable branches spred through the Earth at last unite in the main body of the Sea What they pour into it through secret chanels they derive from it by a natural perpetual circulation not to be imitated by Art In this we have a clear proof of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator That the Earth is not an equal Globe but some parts are rais'd into Hills and Mountains others sunk into deep Valleys some are immense Plains affects with various delight and is useful for excelent ends not onely for the production of Minerals of Marble and Stones requisite for Buildings but for the thriving of several kinds of Grain and Plants that are necessary for Food or Medicine for some love the Shade others the Sun some flourish best on Rocks and Precipices others in low moist places some delight in Hills others in Plains Thus by the unequal surface of the Earth is caused a convenient temperature of Air and Soil for its productions Add further The Wisdom of the Creatour is discovered by observing the league of the Elements from whence all mixt bodies arise Of how different qualities are Earth Water Air Fire yet all combine together without the destruction of their enmity that is as necessary to preserve nature as their friendship Can there be imagin'd a greater discord in the parts of the Elementary World and a greater concord in the whole To reduce them to such an aequilibrium that all their operations promote the same end proves that there is a Mind of the highest Wisdom that has an absolute Dominion over all things and tempers them accordingly If we come to Plants and Flowers Who divided their kinds and form'd them in that beautiful order who painted and perfum'd them how doth the same Water dye them with various Colours the Scarlet the Purple the Carnation what causes the sweet Odors that breath from them with an insensible subtilty and diffuse in the Air for our delight from whence proceed their different vertues These admirable works of Nature exceed the imitation and comprehension of Man 'T is clear therefore they proceed from a Cause that excels him in Wisdom and Power That some Plants of excellent vertue are full of prickles in their stock and leaves to protect them from Beasts that would root them up or trample on them an Atheist acknowledg'd to be the effect of Providence The same Wisdom preserves the Seed in the Root under the flower and prepares the numerous Leaves of Trees not only for a shadow to refresh living creatures but to secure their Fruits from the injuries of the weather Therefore in the Spring they shoot forth always before the fruits are form'd And tender delicate fruits are cover'd with broader and thicker leaves than others of a firmer substance In Winter they cast their leaves are naked and dry the vital sap retiring to the root as if careless of dying in the members to preserve life in the heart that in the returning Spring diffuses new heat and spirits the cause of their flourishing and fruitfulness The season of Fruits is another indication of Providence In Summer we have the cool and moist to refresh our heats in Autumn the durable to be preserved when the Earth produces none If we observe the lower rank of Animals their kinds shapes properties 't is evident that all are the Copies of a designing Mind the effects of a skilful Hand Some of them are fierce others familiar some are servile others free some crafty others simple and all fram'd conveniently to their Natures How incongruous were it for the Soul of a Lion to dwell in the body of a Sheep or that of a Hare to animate the body of a Cow It would require a volume to describe their different shapes and fitness to their particular natures Besides creatures meerly sensitive are acted so regularly to preserve themselves their kind that the reason of a superiour Agent shines in all their actions They no sooner come into the World but know their enemies and either by Strength or Art secure themselves They are instructed to swim to fly to run to leap They understand their fit nourishment and remedies proper for their Diseases Who infused into the Birds the art to build their nests the love to cherish their young How are the Bees instructed to frame their Hony-combs without hands and in the dark and of such a figure that among all other of equal compass and filling up the same space is most capacious The consideration of their Art and Industry their political Government and Providence and other miraculous qualities so astonish'd some great Wits that they attributed something divine to them Esse Apibus partem divinae mentis haustus Aetherios dixere some there are maintain That Bees deriv'd from a Coelestial strain And Heavenly race What moves the Swallows upon the approach of Winter to fly to a more temperate Clime as if they understood the Celestial Signs the Influences of the Stars and the Changes of the Seasons From whence comes the fore-sight of the Ants to provide in Summer for Winter their oeconomy fervour their discretion in assisting one another as if knowing that every one labour'd for all and where the benefit is common the labour must be common their care to fortifie their receptacles with a banck of Earth that in great rains it may not be overflowed have made them the fit emblems of prudent diligence This is excellently described by Virgil. Ac veluti ingentem formicae farris acervum Cum populant Hyenis memores tectoque reponunt It nigrum campis agmen praedamque per herbas Convectant calle angusto pars grandia trudunt Obnixa frumenta humeris pars agmima cogunt Castigantque moras Opere omnis semita fervet So when the Winter-fearing Ants invade Some heaps of Corn the Husbandman had made The sable Army marches and with Prey Laden return pressing the Leafy-way Some help the weaker and their shoulders lend Others the
acknowledg the Deity I Shall now come to the second head of Arguments for the existence of the Deity drawn from the proofs of the Worlds beginning from whence it follows that an Eternal intellectual Cause gave it being according to his pleasure For it implys an exquisit contradiction that any thing should begin to exist by its own power What ever is temporal was made by a Superior Eternal Power that drew it from pure nothing And the other consequence is as strong that the Cause is an intellectual Being that produc'd it according to his Will For supposing a Cause to be intirely the same and not to produce an effect that afterwards it produces without any preceding change 't is evident that it operates not by necessity of Nature but voluntarily and therefore with understanding As a Man who speaks that before was silent according to the liberty of his will Now of the Worlds beginning there is a general tradition derived down through the uninterrupted course of so many Ages to us 'T is true the Philosophers renewed the confusion of Tongues that disunited the Builders of Babel in their account of the Architecture of the World Yet they generally agreed 't was made by a most wise Agent And this Doctrine is so agreeable to Reason that you may as soon bridle the current of Nilus and make it return to its Fountain as suspend the perswasion of it in the minds of Men or make it turn back as false Now what account can be given of this uncontroulable Opinion 'T is most rational to conceive that it came from the first Man instructed by his Creator when the Tradition was easy the World not being numerous Add to this the rudeness of former Ages and the simplicity of living becoming the new-made World This account the most antient Histories give of the rise of Common-wealths that the first Nations were a confused chaos till the soul of society was infused to regulate them But that which I shall particularly insist on as a convincing proof is this The invention of many Arts beneficial to Men and the bringing them to perfection by degrees If the World were without begining it would have had no age of childhood and ignorance but being always old and instructed by infinite study and experience it would have always known what it successively learnt in the School of the last three thousand years since the memorials of profane Histories are transmitted to us Some that asserted the Eternity of the World were sensible of the force of this Argument and made a pittiful shift to evade it They fancied that though the World had no beginning yet as Animals proceed by different ages till they arrive at extream and impotent old age in like manner it happen'd to the Earth not in all its parts at once for then in that vast succession of Ages the World and race of Men had been spent but sometimes in one part and after in another But with this difference that whereas Man after decrepit age never renews his youth a Country once wasted with age returns by vertue of the celestial influences to its former vigor and is in a perpetual circulation to new infancy new youth and so to old age And from hence it is that it learns again those things that were well known in former ages the remembrance of which was intirely lost But the vanity of this fiction is easily discover'd 1. Is it possible that in such a number of years of which Memorials remain before and since this Fiction that in no part of the World should be seen or heard of this decrepit age and new childhood which according to this opinion hath innumerable times hapned in the circle of Eternity sometimes in one sometimes in another Province If we fancy Nature were so changeable according to the revolution of the Heavens we may with equal Reason believe that by various conjunctions of the Stars it hath and may fall out that Water should burn and Fire cool that Serpents should be innocent and Lambs pernicious that Flys should live an age and Eagles but a day 2. Since 't is affirmed that the whole World doth not sink into this Oblivion at once it must follow that in some vigorous parts the knowledg of Arts still remain'd and from thence should be derived two other parts that were ascending from their ignorance as 't is usual in the commerce of distant Regions So that it will never fall out that Arts and Sciences once invented should be totally lost 'T is true some particular Nation not by change of Nature but humane accidents may lose the Arts wherein it formerly flourish'd as is eminently visible in the Greek that is now far more ignorant and unpolisht then in former ages But this cannot with any pretence of Reason be said of the whole World 'T is evident therefore if the World were Eternal it had always been most wise and civil and that its gradual attaining the knowledg of things of publick advantage is a sufficient conviction of its beginning in time by the Counsel and Will of an Intellectual Agent 3. To the still voice of Reason the loud voice of all Nations accords in confirming this Truth The Civil the Barbarous those who by their distance are without the least commerce and are contrary in a thousand fashions and customs that depend on the liberty of Men that is mutable yet all consent in the acknowledgment of a God being instructed by Nature that is always the same and immutable 'T is as natural to the humane understanding by considering the frame of the World to believe there is a God as 't is the property of the Eye to see the light The assent to this truth is unforc'd but without offering extream violence to the rational faculties none can contradict it Indeed in their conceptions of him few have the glass of the mind so clear and even as to represent him aright Some divide what is indivisible and of one make many Gods Some attribute corporeal parts to a pure spirit some figure him in Statues to make the invisible seen and in other manner deform him Yet no errour no ignorance has absolutely defac't the notion of him And that no societies of Men are without the belief of a first Being superiour to all things in the World and of absolute power over them and consequently worthy of supream Honour from all reasonable Creatures their Prayers Vows Sacrifices Solemnities Oaths are a visible Testimony The force and weight of the Argument is great for that which is common to the whole species and perpetual from its first being through all its duration is the Impression of Nature which in its universal Principles either of the Understanding or the Will is never deceived Thus the inclination to that good that is convenient to our faculties the approving as most just to do to another what we desire in the same circumstances should be done to us are natural
stood in awe of their own imaginations The Philosophers privatly condemn'd what in a guilty compliance with the Laws of State they publickly own'd Nay even the lowest and dullest among the Gentiles generally acknowledged one Supreme God and Lord of all inferior Deities As Tertullian observes in their great distresses guided by the internal instructions of Nature they invok'd God not the Gods to their help 3. That the belief of one God is a pure emanation from the light of Nature is evident in that since the extinction of Idolatry not a spark remaining in many parts of the World 't is still preserv'd in its vigor and lustre in the breasts of Men. Since the plurality of Gods have been degraded of their Honour and their Worships chased out of many Countries and the ideas of various ancient superstitions are lost the only true God is served with more solemn veneration Time the wise discerner of Truth from Falshood abolishes the fictions of fancy but confirms the uncorrupted sentiments of Nature To conclude this Discourse what rational doubt can remain after so strong a witness of the Deity External from the Universe Internal from the frame of the humane Soul If we look through the whole compass of natural Beings there is not one separately taken but has some signature of wisdom upon it As a beam of light passing through a chink in Wall of what figure soever always forms a circle on the place where 't is reflected and by that describes the image of its original the Sun Thus God in every one of his Works represents himself tanquam Solis radio scriptum But the union of all the parts by such strong and sweet bands is a more pregnant proof of his omnipotent mind Is it a testimony of great military skill in a General to range an Army compos'd of divers Nations that have grat antipathies between them in that Order as renders it victorious in Battel And is it not a testimony of infinite Providence to dispose all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth so as they joyn successfully for the preservation of Nature 'T is astonishing that any should be of such a reprobate mind as not to be convinc'd by the sight of the World a visible Word that more gloriosly illustrates the perfections of the Creator than the sublimest Eloquence that conceals what it designs to represent When Sophocles was accused by his ungrateful Sons that his Understanding being declin'd with his Age he was unfit to manage the affairs of his Family he made no other defence before the Judges but recited part of a Tragedy newly compos'd by him and left it to their decision whether there was a failure in his Intellectuals upon which he was not only absolved but crown'd with Praises What foul ingratitude are those guilty of who deny the Divine Wisdom of which there are such clear and powerful demonstrations in the things that are seen Abhor'd impiety worthy of the most fiery indignation and not to be expiated with a single death None except base stupid spirits that are laps'd and sunk below the rational Nature as a noble Philosopher justly censures them are capable of such prodigious folly and perversness Yet these are the pretenders to free reason and strength of mind and with a contemptuous smile despise the sober World as fetterd with servil Principles and foolishly soften'd by impressions of an unknown uncertain being and value themselves as more knowing than all others because they contradict all Ridiculous vanity as if a blind Man in a crowd sometimes justling one sometimes another should with impatience cry out Do ye not see when he is under a double blindness both in his eyes and understanding not seeing himself and reproaching those that see for not seeing In short this great Truth shines with so bright an evidence that all the sons of darkness can never put out and can only be denied by obstinate Atheism and absurdity CHAP. VII The duties of understanding Creatures to the Maker of all things Admiration of his glorious perfections visible in them This is more particularly the duty of Man the World being made eminently for him The Causes why the Creatour is not honour'd in his Works are mens ignorance and inobservance Things new rather affect us than great An humble fear is a necessary respect from the Creature to the Divine Majesty and Power Love and Obedience in the highest degrees are due from men to God in the quality of Creator Trust and reliance on God is our duty and priviledg LEt us now briefly consider the indispensible Duties of rational Creatures with respect to the Maker of all things And those are 1. To acknowledg and admire the Deity and his perfections that are so visible in his Works For there must be a first Cause from whom that receives being that cannot proceed from it self In all the forms of things there are some Characters stampt of the Divine Wisdom that declare his Glory some footsteps imprest of his Power that discover him some lines drawn of his Goodness that demonstrate him And so much praise is justly due to the Artificer as there is excellence of Art and Perfection of workmanship appearing in the Work This Duty is especially incumbent on Man because the World was made with a more eminent respect for him than for Angels or Animals For if we consider the diversity of its parts the multitude and variety of sensitive Natures of which it consists and the Art whereby 't is fram'd according to the most noble Idea and design of highest Wisdom 't is evident it was principally made for Man there being an adequate correspondence between them with regard to the faculties and the objects 'T is true the Angels understand more perfectly than Man the union order and beauty of the World an incomparable proof of the Makers perfections but they are not capable of knowledg or pleasure by tasts smels sounds which are only proportion'd to make impressions on material Organs And is it agreeable to Wisdom that an Object purely sensible should be chiefly intended for a Power purely Spiritual Neither are the Beasts fit spectators of the Divine Works For the material part to which sense can only reach is the least notable in the frame of Nature and the oeconomy of the World They cannot discover the dependance between Causes and Effects the Means and End nor the Wisdom that ordered all These are only for the vision of the mind which they want The volume of the World to them is like a fair printed Book compos'd of sublime matter and style but opened to one that sees the beauty of the Characters without understanding the Language it speaks and the Wisdom it contains An Eagle by fixing its eyes on the Sun cannot measure its greatness nor understand the ends of its motion The World would be lost if only for them But the wise Creator united these two distinct natures in Man and plac'd him in this
great hand may be justly preferr'd before a richer from a less estimable donor Now if we consider that the glorious God in comparison of whom the greatest Kings are but vain shadows of Majesty has made a World full of so many and so excellent Creatures for our refreshment that our being on Earth may not be tedious in the short space of our journey to Heaven will it not overcome us with an excess of wonder and affection and cause us to break forth What is Man that thou art mindful of him and the son of Man that thon visitest him Thou madest him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet And as our most ardent Love so intire Obedience is due to the Creator both in active service for his Glory and an absolute resignation to his Will The strongest title to acquire Dominion according to the Law of Nature is that of the Cause to the Effect The Mind cannot rebel against the light of this Principle 'T is most just therefore we should imploy all our powers even from the early rise of Reason to the setting point of Life wholly in his service from whom we received them 'T is an excellent representation of St. Austin If a Sculptor after his fashioning a piece of Marble in a humane Figure could inspire it with Life and Sense and give it Motion and Understanding and Speech can it be imagin'd but the first act of it would be to prostrate it self at the feet of the Maker in subjection and thankfulness and to offer what ever it is and can do as homage to him The Almighty Hand of God form'd our Bodies He breathed into us the Spirit of Life and should not the power of Love constrain us to live wholly according to his Will methinks nothing should be pleasing to us but as we make it tributary to Him If we only regard Him as our Creatour that one quality should for ever engage us to fidelity in his service zeal for his Interest Obedience to his Laws and an inviolable respect for his Honour And this duty binds us the more strongly because as God made the World for Mans profit so he made Man for his own Glory And what the Loadstone is to the Steel or the sensible good to the appetite the same attractive is the end to the intelligent Nature And the higher the end is and the more the mind is fitted to understand its excellence the more powerfully it should excite the faculties in pursuit of it according to their uttermost capacity Now what horrid unthankfulness is it to be insensible of the infinite Debt we owe to God what disloyalty to pervert his Favours to slight his Commands and cross the end of our Creation The serious consideration that God has given us such a noble Nature capable to know love and enjoy Him and that we have so little improved our faculties for these excellent ends should put us in two contrary excesses of Spirit the one of joy for his unspeakable Goodness the other of confusion for our most unworthy neglect of it Our duty and our disobedience have the same measure The Goodness and Bounty of our great Benefactor regulates the one and the other The more we have received from Him the more we are ingaged to Him and the more we are ingaged the more guilty and worthy of punishment will our neglect be Among Men an ungrateful perfidious person is an object of horror and favours abused become motives of hatred To employ our faculties rational or sensitive to the disservice of our Maker is the same kind of villany though of incomparably greater guilt both in respect of the object and degree as if a Traitor should turn the very same Weapons against his Prince that he received from him for his defence To turn his benefits into occasions of sin and by the same things to dishonour him by which we should glorifie Him is extreme perversness In this unthankful Man imitates the Earth from whence he was taken for that makes use of the heat of the Sun to send up Vapours that obscure the Beams of Light he communicates to it This is to despise the Divine Majesty Power Wisdom Goodness that are united and so eminently appear in his Works and will provoke his severe Vengeance Let us therefore every day revive the sense of our obligations and by intense thoughts kindle the affections of Love and Reverence of praise and thankfulness that in them as flames ascending from an Altar we may offer our selves a holy living Sacrifice which is our reasonable service Our All is due to him what ever we are what ever we have our Bodies our Souls our Time and Eternity And an humble resignation to his Will in all things is the essential duty of his Creatures 'T is true that upon the account of his Wisdom and Power it becomes us with the most respectful submission to yeild our selves to his pleasure Authority and Dignity naturally result from their union in a person Therefore 't is Supreme in him who possesses them in their greatest excellence When God himself speaks to Job of his transcendent Majesty and of his right to dispose of Men according to his Will he produces his Works as the conspicuous testimonies of his great Power and exquisite Wisdom But the reason of our submission will be more convincing if we remember that God has an absolute unalienable propriety in us and all that we enjoy for our being and comforts are the liberal gifts of his hand If therefore he shall please to take away any of his Favours even Life it self though not to exchange it for a life infinitely better it would be the most unnatural rebellion to to resist the dispositions of his Providence the most vile unthankfulness to be stormy and passionate or to consent to any secret murmuring and discontent in the Heart as if our own were taken from us either unseasonably or unjustly And though our troubles immediately proceed from second natural Causes yet according to right Reason we must esteem them but as instruments of his invisible Hand and govern'd by his Counsel in order to such effects and in the time he pleases It is our duty even in the saddest circumstances with an entire readiness of mind and conformity of desires to say to our Maker Thy will be done 4. Truth and Reliance on God is our duty and priviledge Every being has a necessary dependance on Him for its subsistence but Man of all the visible Creatures is only capable of affiance in Him by reflecting upon his own Impotence and by considering the Perfections of the Creator that render him the proper object of trust 'T is is incommunicable honour of the Deity to be acknowledged and regarded as the Supporter of all things To put confidence in our selves in the advantages of
its first Being as Averroes fancied there would be no cause of such a Sympathy but the Soul as intellectual is an informing not assisting form And it is an evident proof of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator by this strict and sensible union to make the Soul vigilant and active to provide for the convenience and comfort of the Body in the present state and that notwithstanding such a discord in Nature there should be such a concord in inclinations 2. Though the mental operations of the Soul are hindred by the ill habit of the Body yet the mind suffers no hurt but still retains its intellectual power without impairing A skilful Musitian does not lose his Art that plays on an harp when the strings are false though the Musick is not so harmonious as when 't is justly tuned The visive faculty is not weakned when the Air by a collection of gross vapours is so thick that the eye cannot distinctly perceive distant objects When by the heats of Wine or a Disease the Spirits are inflam'd and made fierce and unruly and the Images in the Fancy are put into confusion the mind cannot regularly govern and use them When the fumes are evaporated the Brain is restor'd to its temper and fitness for intellectual operations but the mind is not cur'd that was not hurt by those Distempers Briefly the Deniers of the Souls Immortality resemble in their arguings some who oppos'd the Divinity of our Saviour For as Apollinaris and Eunomius from Christ's sleeping so profoundly in a storm instead of concluding that he was a real Man falsly inferr'd that he was not God Because sleep is not the satisfaction of a Divine appetite the Deity is incapable of it But they consider'd not his more than humane Power in rebuking the Winds and the Sea with that Empire that was felt and obeyed by those insensible creatures so those whose interest inclines them to believe that Man is entirely mortal alledg that he acts as a sensitive Creature for he is so but consider not that he has also more noble faculties to understand objects purely spiritual and God himself the most perfect in that order which no material principle though of the most subtile and finest contexture can reach unto Besides the more 't is disengaged from Matter and retir'd from the senses the more capable it is to perform its most exalted operations and consequently by an absolute separation 't is so far from perishing that it ascends to its perfection For the manner how it acts in the separate state 't is to no purpose to search being most secret and 't will be to no purpose to find as being of no influence to excite us to the constant and diligent performance of our duty 'T is therefore a fruitless curiosity to inquire after it But to imagine that because the Soul in the present state cannot understand clearly without the convenient disposition of the Body therefore it cannot act at all without it is as absur'd as to fancy because a man confin'd to a Chamber cannot see the objects without but through the Windows therefore he cannot see at all but through such a Medium and that when he is out of the Chamber he has totally lost his sight CHAP. IX The acts of the Will consider'd It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The Spiritual operations of the Soul may be perform'd by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick argumeut that man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible Immortal and perishing 2. THe acts of the Will that imperial faculty prove it to be of a higher order of substance than the sensitive Soul The Brutes are acted by pure necessity their powers are moved and determined by the external application of objects 'T is visible that all kinds of sensitive Creatures in all times are carried in the same manner by the potent sway of Nature towards things sutable to their corporeal faculties But the rational Will is a principle of free election that controuls the lower appetite by restraining from the most pleasant and powerful allurements and choosing sometimes the most distastful things to sense Now from whence arises this contention If the rational Will be not of a higher nature than the sensual appetite why does it not consent with its inclinations How comes the Soul to mortifie the most vehement desires of the body a part so near in Nature so dear by Affection and so apt to resent an injury And since 't is most evident that sensitive Creatures always with the utmost of their force defend their Beings from whence is it that the rational Soul in some cases against the strongest recoile and reluctance of Nature exposes the body to Death If it depended on the body for subsistence it would use all means to preserve it Upon the sight of contrary motions in an engine we conclude they are caused by diverse springs and can such opposite desires in Man proceed from the same principle If the rational Soul be not of a sublimer order than the sensitive it follows that Men are Beasts and Beasts are Men. Now 't is as impossible to be what they are not as not to be what they are But do the Beasts reverence a Divine Power and at stated times perform acts of solemn Worship Is Conscience the immediate rule of their Actions will Lectures of temperance chastity justice arrest them in the eager pursute of sensual satisfactions Do they feel remorse in doing ill and pleasure in doing well Do they exercise the Mind in the search of Truth have they desires of a sublime intellectual good that the low sensual part cannot partake of have they a capacity of such an immense Blessedness that no finite Object in its qualities and duration can satisfy Ask the Beasts and they will tell you Their actions declare the contrary But the humane Soul has awful apprehensions of the Deity distinguishes of things by their agreement or disconformity to his Laws It s best and quickest Pleasures and most piercing wounding Troubles are from Moral Causes What colour what taste has Vertue yet the purified Soul is inflam'd by the views of its most amiable thô not sensible beauty and delighted in its sweetness How often is it so ravish'd in contemplation of God the great Object of the rational Powers as to lose the desire and memory of all carnal things What stronger Argument and clearer Proof can there be of its affinity with God than that Divine things are most sutable to it for if the rational Soul were of the same order with the sensitive as it could not possibly conceive any being more excellent than what is corporeal so it could only relish gross things wherein Sense is conversant The Sum of what has been discourst of
and in true comparison infinitely excells all the allurements of Sin 2. 'T is true that as natural actions that are necessary to preserve the Species or the Individuals are mixt with sensible pleasures as an attractive to the performance of them so there is joyn'd to actions of Vertue that are more excellent a present complacency of a superiour Order to all carnal pleasures But 't is a frigid conceit that this is the entire reward For first besides the inward satisfaction that naturally results from the practice of Vertue there is an excellent Good that is properly the reward of the supream Governor of the World We have an Example of this in humane Justice which is an image of the divine For those who have been eminently serviceable to the State besides the joyful sense arising from the performance of Heroick Actions for the Good of their Country are rewarded by the Prince with great Honours and Benefits 2. This inward Joy is not here felt by all Holy Persons In this militant state after vigorous resistance of carnal Lusts they may change their Enemies and be assaulted with violent Fears and instead of a sweet calm and serenity fall into darkness and confusion The Soul and Body in the present conjunction mutually sympathize As two things that are unisons if one be touch't and moves the other untouch't yet moves and trembles The ‖ cause is from the Vibrations the sound makes in the Air and impresses on solid Bodies moving them according to the harmonious proportion between them Thus the Soul and the Body are two strings temper'd to such a correspondence that if one be moved the other resents by an impression from it If the Body be Sanguin or Cholerick or Melancholy the Soul by a strange consent feels the motion of the humors and is altered with their alterations Now some of excellent vertue are opprest with Melancholy Others are under strong pains that disturb the free operations of the mind that it cannot without Supernatural strengih delightfully contemplate what is a just matter of content The Stoical Doctrine that a wise Man rejoyces as well in torments as in the midst of pleasures that 't is not in the power of any external evil to draw a sigh or tear from him that he is sufficient in himself for happiness is a Philosophical Romance of that severe sect an excess unpracticable without Cordials of a higher nature than are compounded by the faint thoughts of having done what is agreable to Reason All their Maxims are weak supports of such triumphant Language 'T is true in a Body disorder'd and broken with Diseases and Pains the mind may be erect and compos'd but 't is by vertue of Divine Comforts from the present sense of Gods favour and the joyful hopes of eternal felicity in his presence hereafter 3. Those who suffer the loss of all that is precious and dear in the World and with a chearful confidence submit to death that singly consider'd is very terrible to nature but attended with torments is doubly terrible and all to advance the Glory of God cannot enjoy the satisfaction of mind that proceeds from the review of worthy actions if their being is determined with their life Now that love to God exprest in the hardest and noblest service should finally destroy a Man is not conceivable To render this Argument more sensible let us consider the vast multitude of the Martyrs in the first times of Christianity more easie to be admir'd than numbred It would be a History to describe the instruments of their cruel sufferings invented by the fierce wit of their persecutors the various torturs to destroy Life with a slow death such as were never before inflicted on the guiltiest Malefactours All which they willingly endured with an invariable serenity of countenance the sign and effect of their inward peace Nay with triumphant expressions of Joy Now to what original shall we attribute this fortitude of Spirit were such numbers of all conditions ages sects induc'd by rash counsel by frenzy of passion by a desire of vain-glory or any like cause to part with all that is precious and amiable in the World for Swords and Fire and Crosses and Wheels and Racks to torment and destroy their Bodies No humane Reasons neither the Vertue nor Vice of Nature Generosity nor Obstinacy could possibly give such strength under such Torments This was so evident that many Heathen Spectators were convinc'd of the Divine Power miraculously supporting them and became Proselytes of Christianity and with admirable chearfulness offered themselves to the same punishments Now this is an extrinsick testimony incomparably more weighty than from a bare affirmation in words or a meer consent of judgment that there is an unseen state infinitely better and more durable than what is present the hopes of which made them esteem the parting with all sensible things measur'd by time not to have the shadow of a loss And this was not a meer naked view of a future blessedness but joyned with an impression of that sweetness and strength that consolation and force of Spirit that it was manifest Heaven descended to them before they ascended to Heaven From hence they were fearless of those who could only kill the Body but not touch the Soul As the breaking a Christal in pieces cannot injure the light that penetrated and filled it but releases it from that confinement So the most violent Death was in their esteem not hurtful to the Soul but the means to give it entrance into a happy immortality Now is it in any degree credible that when no other principle was sufficient to produce such courage in thousands so tender and fearful by nature that the Divine hand did not support them invisible in operation but most clearly discovered in the effects And can it be imagined that God would encourage them to lose the most valuable of all natural things life it self and to their great cost of pains and misery if there were not an estate wherein he would reward their heroick love of himself with a good that unspeakably transcends what ever is desirable here below 2. Though Vice in respect of its turpitude be the truest dishonour of Man and be attended with regret as contrary to his Reason yet there is a further punishment naturally due to it Malefactors besides the infamy that cleaves to their crimes and the secret twinges of Conscience feel the rigour of civil Justice And if no Physical evil be inflicted as the just consequent of Vice the viciously inclin'd would despise the moral evil that is essential to it as an imaginary punishment And when the remembrance of Sin disturbs their rest they would presently by pleasant diversions call off their thoughts from sad objects 2. Supposing no other punishment but what is the immediate effect of Sin the most vicious and guilty would many times suffer the least punishment For the secret Worm of Conscience is most sensible when vice is
first springing up and has tender roots But when vicious habits are confirm'd the Conscience is past feeling the first resentments There are many instances of those who have made the foulest crimes so familiar as to lose the horror that naturally attends them And many that have been prosperous in their villanys dye without tormenting reflections on their guilt So that if there be no further punishments we must deny the Divine Providence of which Justice is an eminent part CHAP. XII Two Arguments more to prove future recompenses T is not possible for civil Justice to dispence rewards aud punishments according to the good and evil actions of Men. All Nations agree in the acknowledgment of a future state The innocent Conscience is supported under an unjust Sentence by looking to the superiour Tribunal The courage of Socrates in dying with the cause of it The guilty Conscience terrifies with the apprehension of judgment to come Tiberius his complaint to the Senate of his inward tortures An answer to the objection that we have not sensible evidence of what is enjoyed and what is sufferd in the next life Why sin a transient act is punished with eternal death 3. 'T Is not possible for humane Justice to distribute recompence exactly according to the moral qualities of actions therefore we may rationally infer there will be a future Judgment This appears by consideriug 1. That many times those crimes are equally punisht here that are not of equal guilt because they proceed from different sources that lye so low as the strictest inquisition cannot discover And many specious actions done for corrupt ends and therefore without moral value are equally rewarded with those wherein is the deepest tincture of virtue The accounts of civil Justice are made by the most visible cause not by the secret and most operative and influential Therefore a superior Tribunal is necessary to which not only sensible actions but their most inward principles are open that will exactly judge of moral evils according to their aggravations and allays and of moral good according to the various degrees that are truly rewardable 2. No temporal benefits are the proper and compleat reward of obedience to God Not the proper for they are common to bad and good but the reward of Holiness must be peculiar to it that an eminent distinction be made between the obedient and rebellious to the Divine Laws otherwise it will not answer the ends of Government And they are not the compleat rewards of obedience For God rewards his Servants according to the infinite treasures of his Goodness The sensible World a Kingdom so vast so rich so delightful is enjoyed by his enemies We may therefore certainly infer he has reserved for his faithful Servants a more excellent felicity as becomes his glorious goodness 3. The extreamest temporal evils that can be inflicted here are not correspondent to the guilt of Sin Men can only torment and kill the Body the instrument and less guilty part but cannot immediately touch the Soul the principal cause by whose influence humane actions are vicious and justly punishable From hence it follows that supposing the Wicked should feel the utmost severity of Civil Laws yet there remains in another World a dreadful arrear of misery to be endured as their just and full recompence 4. In testimony of this Truth that the Souls of Men are immortal to Rewards and Punishments not only the wisest Men but all Nations have subscrib'd The darkest Pagans have acknowledged a Deity and a Providence and consequently a future Judgment Indeed this spark was almost drown'd in an Abyss of Fables for in explicating the process and Recompences of the last Judgment they mixt many absurd fictions with truth but in different manners they acknowledged the same thing that there remains another life and two contrary states according to our actions here Of this we have a perfect conviction from the immortal hopes in good Men and the endless fears in the wicked The directive understanding that tells Man his duty has a reflexive power and approves or condemns with respect to the Supreme Court where it shall give a full testimony Hence it is that Conscience so far as innocent makes an Apology against unjust Charges and sustains a Man under the most cruel Sentence being perswaded of a superiour Tribunal that will rectify the errors of Man's Judgement But when guilty terrifies the Offender with the flashes of Judgment to come though he may escape present sufferings Of this double power of Conscience I shall add some lively Examples Plato represents his admirable Socrates after an unjust Condemnation to Death in the Prison at Athens encompast with a noble circle of Philosophers discoursing of the Souls Immortality and that having finisht his Arguments for it he drank the Cup of Poison with an undisturbed Courage as one that did not lose but exchange this short and wretched life for a blessed and eternal For thus he argued That there are two ways of departing Souls leading to two contrary states of felicity and of misery Those who had defiled themselves with sensual Vices and given full scope to boundless lusts in their private conversation or who by frauds and violence had been injurious to the Common-wealth are drag'd to a place of torment and for ever excluded from the joyful presence of the blessed Society above But those who had preserv'd themselves upright and chaste and at the greatest distance possible from the contagion of the flesh and had during their union with humane bodies imitated the Divine Life by an easie and open way returned to God from whom they came And this was not the sense only of the more vertuous Heathens but even some of those who had done greatest force to the humane Nature yet could not so darken their Minds and corrupt their Wills but there remain'd in them stinging apprehensions of punishment hereafter Histories inform us of many Tyrants that encompast with the strongest Guards have been afrighted with the alarms of an accusing Conscience and seized on by inward terrors the forerunners of Hell and in the midst of their luxurious stupifying pleasures have been haunted with an evil Spirit that all the Musick in the World could not charm The persons executed by their commands were always in their view shewing their wounds reproaching their cruelty and citing them before the High and Everlasting Judg the righteous Avenger of innocent Blood How fain would they have kill'd them once more and deprived them of that life they had in their memories but that was beyond their power Of this we have an eminent instance in Tiberius who in a Letter to the Senate open'd the inward wounds of his Breast with such words of despair as might have moved pity in those who were under the continual fear of his Tyranny No punishment is so cruel as when the Offender and Executioner are the same Person Now that such Peace and Joy are the
of that Fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth and to full Age and a decrepit state and back again so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God The impressions of Nature are infallible That the most Men are practical Atheists that some doubt and deny God in words is of no force to disprove his Existence There are no absolute Atheists Nature in extremities has an irresistible force and compels the most obdurate to acknowledg the Deity Chap. 6. Page 22. The belief of the Deity no Politick Invention The asserting that 't is necessary to preserve States in order is a strong proof of its truth No History intimates when this belief was introduc'd into the World The continuance of it argues that its rise was not from a Civil Decree Princes themselves are under the fears of the Deity The multitude of false Gods does not prejudice the natural notion of one true God Idolatry was not universal The Worship of the only true God is preserved where Idolatry is abolished Chap. 7. pag. 105. The duties of understanding Creatures to the Maker of all things Admiration of his glorious Perfections visible in them This is more particularly the duty of Man the World being made eminently for him The Causes why the Creator is not honour'd in his Works are Mens ignorance and inobservance Things new rather affect us than great An humble fear is a necessary respect from the Creature to the Divine Majesty and Power Love and Obedience in the highest degrees are due from men to God in the quality of Creator Trust and Reliance on God is our duty and priviledge Chap. 8. pag. 146. The Immortality of the Soul depends on the conservative influence of God Natural and Moral Arguments to prove that God will continue it for ever The Soul is incapable of perishing from any corruptible principles or separable parts It s spiritual nature is evident by the acts of its principal faculties The Understanding conceives spiritual objects is not confin'd to singular and present things Reflects upon it self Corrects the errors of the sense Does not suffer from the excellency of the object Is vigorous in its operations when the Body is decayed which proves it to be an immaterial faculty An Answer to Objections against the Souls spiritual nature That the first notices of things are conveyed through the senses does not argue it to be a material faculty That it depends on the temper of the Body in its superior operations is no prejudice to its spiritual nature Chap. 9. pag. 170. The Acts of the Will considered It s choice of things distastful to Sense and sometimes destructive to the Body argue it to be a spiritual principle The difference between Man and Brutes amplified The spiritual operations of the Soul may be performed by it self in a separate state This is a strong proof God will continue it The Platonick Argument that Man unites the two orders of Natures intelligent and sensible immortal and perishing Chap. 10. pag. 181. The moral Arguments for the Souls Immortality The restless desire of the Soul to an intellectual eternal happiness argues it survives the Body The lower order of Creatures obtain their perfection here It reflects upon Nature if the more noble fails of its end That wicked men would choose annihilation rather than eternal torments is no proof against Mans natural desire of Immortality The necessity of a future state of Recompences for moral actions proves the Soul to be immortal The Wisdom of God as Governour of the World requires there be Rewards and Punishments annext to his Laws Eternal Rewards are only powerful to make men obedient to them in this corrupt state Humane Laws are no sufficient security of Vertue and restraint from Vice Chap. 11. Page 198. The Justice of God an infallible Argument of future recompences The natural notion of God includes Justice in Perfection In this World sometimes Vertue and Vice are equally miserable Sometimes Vice is prosperous Sometimes good Men are in the worst condition The dreadful consequences of denying a future state Gods absolute Dominion over the Reasonable Creature is regulated by his Wisdom and limited by his Will The essential beauty of Holiness with the pleasure that naturally results from good actions and the native turpitude of Sin with the disturbance of the mind reflecting on it are not the compleat recompences that attend the Good and the Wicked Chap. 12. Page 223. Two Arguments more to prove future recompenses 'T is not possible for civil Justice to despense rewards and punishments according to the good and evil actions of Men. All Nations agree in the acknowledgment of a future state The innocent Conscience is supported under an unjust Sentence by looking to the superior Tribunal The courage of Socrates in dying with the cause of it The guilty Conscience terrifies with the apprehension of Judgment to come Tiberius his complaint to the Senate of his inward tortures An Answer to the Objection that we have not sensible evidence of what is enjoyed and what is suffered in the next life Why Sin a transient act is punished with Eternal Death Chap. 13. Page 257. What influence the Doctrine of the future state should have upon our practice It must regulate our esteem of present things And reconcile our affections to any condition here so far as it may be an advantage to prepare us for the better World The chiefest care is due to the Immortal part The just value of Time and how it should be improved 'T is the best Wisdom to govern our whole course of Life here with regard to Eternity that expects us FINIS There is lately Reprinted a Book entitled The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work By W. Bates D. D. Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhil * Epicuri de Grege Porcum Hor. Chap. I. * Vitruv. praef lib. 6. Boet. * Obliquitatem ejus intellexisse est rerum fores aperuisse Plin. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Chap. II. * Ne sylvae quidem honidiorque naturae facies Medicinis caret sacra il a parente rerum omnium nusquam non remedia disponente homini ut Medicina fieret ipsa solitudo Plin. ‖ Est igitur id quo illa conficiuntur homine melius Id autem quid potius dixerimquam Deum Tull. de nat deor * His muniendo aculeis telisque armando remediis ut tuta salva sint Ita hoc quoque quod in iis odimus hominum causa excogitatum est Plin. l. 22. ‖ Quid est in his in quo non naturae ratio intelligentis appareat Tull. †Quis non
unequal clearness Sweet things taste bitter to one in a Feaver but the mind knows that the bitterness is not in the things but in the viciated Palat. Moreover how many things are collected by Reason that transcend the power of fancy to conceive nay are repugnant to its conception What corporeal Image can represent the immensity of the Heavens as the Mind by convincing arguments apprehends it The Antipodes walk erect upon the Earth yet the Fancy cannot conceive them but with their Heads downward Now if the Mind were of the same nature with the corporeal Faculties their judgment would be uniform 5. The Senses suffer to a great degree by the excessive vehemence of their Objects Too bright a light blinds the Eye Too strong a sound deafs the Ear. But the Soul receives vigor and perfection from the excellence and sublimity of its object and when most intent in contemplation and concenter'd in its self becomes as it were all Mind so that the operations of it as sensitive are suspended feels the purest delights far above the perception of the lower faculties Now from whence is the distemper of the Senses in their exercise but from matter as well that of the Object as the Organ And from whence the not suffering of the Mind but from the impressing the forms of Objects separated from all matter and consequently in an immaterial faculty for there is of necessity a convenience and proportion as between a Being and the manner of its operations so between that and the subject wherein it works This strongly argues the Soul to be immaterial in that 't is impassible from matter even when it is most conversant in it For it refines it from corporeal accidents to a kind of spirituality proportioned to its nature And from hence proceeds the unbounded capacity of the Soul in its conceptions partly because the forms of things inconsistent in their natures are so purified by the Mind as they have an objective existence without enmity or contrariety partly because in the workings of the Mind one act does not require a different manner from another but the same reaches to all that is intelligible in the same order 6. The Senses are subject to languishing and decay and begin to die before Death But the Soul many times in the weakness of Age is most lively and vigorously productive The intellectual Off-spring carries no marks of the decays of the Body In the approaches of Death when the corporeal faculties are relaxt and very faintly perform their functions the workings of the Soul are often rais'd above the usual pitch of its activity And this is a pregnant probability that 't is of a spiritual Nature and that when the Body which is here its Prison rather than Mansion falls to the Earth 't is not opprest by its ruines but set free and injoys the truest liberty This made Heraclitus say that the Soul goes out of the Body as Lightning from a Cloud because it 's never more clear in its conceptions than when freed from matter And what Lucretius excellently expresses in his Verses is true in another sense than he intended Cedit item retro de Terra quod fuit ante In Terram sed quod missum est ex Aetheris oris Id rursus Coeli fulgentia Templa receptant What sprung from Earth falls to its native place What Heav'n inspir'd releast from the weak tye Of flesh ascends above the shining Sky Before I proceed I will briefly consider the Objections of some who secretly favour the part of impiety 1. 'T is objected That the Soul in its intellectual operations depends on the Phantasms and those are drawn from the representations of things conveyed through the senses But it will appear this does not enervate the force of the Arguments for its spiritual nature For this dependence is only objective not instrumental of the Souls perception The first images of things are introduc'd by the mediation of the senses and by their presence for nothing else is requisit the mind is excited and draws a Picture resembling or if it please not resembling them and so operates alone and compleats its own work Of this we have a clear experiment in the conceptions which the mind forms of things so different from the first notices of them by the Senses The first apprehensions of the Deity are from the visible effects of his Power but the Idea in which the understanding contemplates him is fram'd by removing all imperfections that are in the Creatures and consequently that he is not corporeal For whatsoever is so is liable to corruption that is absolutely repugnant to the perfection of his nature Now the common Sense and Fancy only powerful to work in Matter cannot truely express an immaterial Being Indeed as Painters by their Colours represent invisible things as Darkness the Winds the Internal affections of the heart so that by the representations the thoughts are awakn'd of such objects so the fancy may with the like Art shadow forth Spiritual Beings by the most resembling forms taken from sensible things Thus it imagins the Angels under the likeness of young Men with Wings to express their vigor and velocity But the Mind by its internal light conceives them in another manner by a Spiritual form that exceeds the utmost efficacy of the corporeal Organs so that 't is evident the Soul as intellectual in its singular and most proper operations is not assisted by the ministry of the Senses 2. 'T is objected that the Soul in its superiour operations depends on the convenient temper of the Body The thoughts are clear and orderly when the Brain is compos'd On the contrary when the predominancy of any humour distempers it the Mind feels its infirmities And from hence it seems to be of a corporeal nature depending on the Body in its being as in its working But this if duly consider'd will raise no just prejudice against its Spiritual Immortal Nature For 1. The sympathy of things is no convincing Argument that they are of the same Nature There may be so strict a union of Beings of different natures that they must necessarily be subject to impressions from one another Can any Reasons demonstrate that a Spiritual substance endowed with the powers of understanding and will cannot be united in a vital composition to a Body as the Vegetative Soul is in Plants and the Sensitive in Beasts There is no implicite repugnance in this that proves it impossible Now if such a complex Being were in Nature how would that spiritual Soul act in that Body that in its first union with it excepting some universal Principles is a rasa tabula as a white Paper without the notices of things written in it Certainly in no other imaginable manner than as Man's Soul does now Indeed if Man as compounded of Soul and Body were a sensitive Animal and only rational as partaking of the Universal Intellect bent to individuals for a time and retiring at Death to