Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A25669
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Antiquity reviv'd, or, The government of a certain island antiently call'd Astreada in reference to religion, policy, war and peace some hundreds of years before the coming of Christ.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing A3510; ESTC R19475
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60,242
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129
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our Understandings by the undeniable allowance of all our Senses as Seeing Hearing Tasting Smelling Touching these assure us of a Providential Being How remote soever or absconded the Modality of its Existence is from our Apprehensions Like to some admirable Structure from whose Composure Furniture Parts and Proportions I admire the perfect Abilities of the Architect and Founder though unknown to me the superlative Skill and Materials that compleated the Fabrick And I cannot but reiterate That there is nothing more fallible or absurd than positively to affirm That in allowing of a Supreme Cause they must necessarily grant a spiritual Existence it being very possible that such an Efficient howsoever superlative allow'd in its Essence may be no Spirit as some undertake to define nor of bodily substance in any corporeal Sense or Attribute that can be apprehended by us And in Speculation we may acknowledge that an extraordinary Cause may be notionally understood to be of a refin'd Nature yet not therefore term'd Spiritual no more than the Notion of a distinct fifth Essence which Philosophers attribute to the Aetherial Bodies of the Sun and Stars does imply a spiritual Being or contrarily any Similitude of Subsistence if likened to Elementary Composition If the World did explain by any Work or Thing the Cause of its own Original or any Creature that subsists in it we could not be destitute of knowing nay seeing of it as perfectly as we do our selves Though we must not conclude from thence that the total Compass of the World doth not diffuse the Cause of its Being And it were a very groundless and improper Notion to imagine that any such Original Cause should have an Existence beyond the vast Extent of the Universe which were no less absurd than to imagine that something may subsist where there is nothing For I take it as granted by all of us that the capacity of the World above and below must be large enough to include its supreme Cause We ought therefore to conclude that the Reason why it cannot be discern'd is because it is absconded by its effectual conduct and manner of Operation in order to the conservation of the Universe For if it animate all things or be diffus'd as a Soul of which every individual Being participates as was precedently mention'd it cannot be perceptible in whole or in part no more than the human Soul is to be discern'd in its Figure or Proportion that gives Life and Motion to the Body All which does sufficiently manifest that a Supreme Cause may be visibly existent in the Effects it produceth yet so as not to be otherwise defin'd or apprehended On which grounds we of this Island of Astreada adore Providence without giving to it the name of Deity or obliging our selves to give a denomination to a Being or Essence that we cannot intelligibly express and so be necessitated to devise an equivalent Term or Notion of Divinity at a Venture Whereas we conceive that we are pertinently devout if sensible of its Effects however obscure its Being if we pay our Adoration in that method for the Benefits we receive And that as an undiscernible Foreseer Provider and Disposer of all things for the Glory of it self and humane preservation and subsistence we celebrate Providence not with less reverence than such as would be thought strictly to worship and implore what they think fit to deifie 'T were more tedious than necessary should â— entertain you who are Strangers to our Climate with an elaborate Repetition of our Forms of Prayer and manner of Devotion which in sums is no other than that we reverence on our Knees the ineffable Disposer and Giver of the Blessings we receive like to a Man that should have a Bounty convey'd to him by an unknown hand and who in that Case would not think himself tacitely oblig'd to return his acknowledgment though he was ignorant of the Motive Nature and Dignity of the Person that was the Bestower On what account the Tenents and Superstructures of others not to reflect on their notorious Frauds and Devices have hood-wink'd the understandings of Men that are not united to us by the sensible method of our Persuasion I leave concluded the Fidefendon to your judicious Examination The Philosopher observing that his Countryman Priest was somewhat troubled to reply or ruminating of what Argument waâ— fittest to be insinuated in defence of his Persuasion spoke to the Fidefendon in these words I am apt to grant both as a Philosopher and as far as Reason ought to convince me that there is an implicit Reverence as you have judiciously maintain'd due to the sensible operations of Providence all which I do as clearly perceive as that the Sun has warmness in his Beams and that Day and Night have a reciprocal management as they beneficially vary and commode the several Climates of the Universe or that Mankind and every Animal and Vegetive is nourish'd and supported by operations of a Cause predominately absconded To which I likewise condescend That you aptly give the denomination of Providence without undertaking to define its Essence as he that sees Light feels the effects of the Suns heat is capable of understanding what he intends by either of the words but not therefore apprehensive of the composition or essential nature of the substance from whence they proceed Neither can I dissent from you as you celebrate under the Notion of Providence the Devotion you apply in respect that what I am rationally oblig'd to admire as an ineffable Supporter and Disposer of all things I may undoubtedly worship in a general Sense without other definition to explain which the Reasons you have precedently alledg'd are so many and perspicuous as they need no Illustration So that as a rational Man and a Philosopher I readily concede that the Belief you Astreadans profess is both Natural and Philosophical neither can any other religious Proposal however reputed divine or inspir'd deter me from allowing my highest Admiration and Reverence to the methods of that Persuasion that is evidently familiar to my Soul and Senses in the same manner as you deduce your Creed from the conduct of Providence and why the Devotion of the World should not be universally united in that primitive one entire and obvious meanâ— of Worship is not easily understood To which the Fidefendon readily answer'd â—elling the Philosopher that he had proceeded ingeniously in his Concession relating to what had been discuss'd And that he concluded with a very considerable mark on the deplorable Folly of Mankind in being so absurdly divided by their Beliefs considering that as the World is one so there can be but one true Proposition or Motive in order to worship As in the Instance that has been given of Providence if that be clearer to the apprehension as it must be because sensibly perceiv'd than any Notion different from it that ought to be made the Proposition that should generally unite and terminate humâ—ne Worship And I
ador'd by the limited qualification of humane Understanding Others have so lower'd the Divinities they celebrate as by their Commixtures with Mankind they either give 'em the Title oâ— Demy-godships as has been precedently observ'd or they express 'em in resemblance to humane Bodies and not only knowing of the Infirmities and Depravations of Mankind but in the worst conception Actors themselves which polutions of Heaven must have been politickly and for Interest devis'd and complicated with Beliefs that such as were so devoted might with more assurance hope for pardon from their Deities whom they judg'd no less than Men notoriously sinful These Particulars I thought previously necessary to inculcate here because they have affinity to the various Extravagancies that some Persons by their Doctrines undertake to defend in reference to the Immortalising of the Soul after this Life The first is That the humane Soul consists of a Spiritual Essence and that it is by the excellency of its substance likewise Immortal But how can these Dogmatizers of Religion according to this Notion of theirs not vent an Absurdity of the highest Nature For if the Soul of Man be essentially a Spirit and that they hold as they would be thought to do the God they adore a Spirit also Do they not in effect dâ—ifie the animating part of Mankind after death it being impossible to distinguish by any rational Discussion how much one Spirit is essentially purer than another On which ground it follows that whâ—t is spiritually Immortal may be allow'd to be Infinite So little distinction is there by this Doctrine betwixt the Soul of Man and the Deity they worship and yet 't is well known to all of us how numerous a part of the World assert this Tenent as the first Maxim of their Creed Others affirm That the purest Substance or ghostly Form of Life when separated by Death is represented by a shadow of the Body which some pretend to have beheld in that Figure as ocular Witnesses that the Soul of Man do's in thâ—t manner outlive the Body And this your Grecian Poets to whose Inventions your Prieâ—thood is not a little beholding with their fanciful Glosses undertake â—o deliver But of what credit their Auâ—hority is I need not debate who in being Poeâ—â— must be granted Divulgers of fabulous Contrivances And what can be a greater Solecism to Reason than a Position so vainly extravagant nay how is it possible to câ—nceive that a Shadow do's not imply the presence of the Body if it appears as its Shadow aâ—d consequently that the Soul has no such separative existence after bodily death Besides all which the Absurdities are innumerable that redound from this Tenent for if every Body of Mankind were by its Soul to be shadow'd or liken'd it must follow that every Man and Womans Soul are commensurable and therefore differenc'd in breadth and length and likâ—wise in substance as one Shadow may be proportionably finer than another or have more likeness to the Body it appertain'd to Notwithstanding I confess that whosoever was the first Author of this dark conceit that the Soul did survive as an umbrage of the Body after life comes nearer the confines of Sense than the precedent Opinion in respect that as the animating Faculty of Mankind do's furnish in due proportion every Member that it actuates and informs whilst it resides within the Body so it should remain after Corporeal Life in some kind of similitude to its operation within the composition of humane Nature when the Life of the Body was determin'd by Death The third Tenent of the Soul's Immortality appears more terrene and therefore not less familiar to the apprehension and this depends upon believing that the Soul of all things is essentially the same and differenc'd only in its being in variety of Bodies as Men Beasts Plants and whatsoever has life and motion This Opinion has had no less Vogue in the World than long acceptation with persons held of profound discâ—rnment in the universal Series of Nature to which purpose they infer that the continuation of the Universe or at least of all corporal Beings within the compass of the sublunary World depends upon a perpetual course of Generation and Corruption from one individual Being to another and consequently that whatsoever dies by corruption do's tend to the generation of some other corporeal Being And this Position is so far apparently certain insomuch as Life in one kind or other is incident to Matter as it convertibly depends on whatsoever is generated and consequently alter'd into a corporeal Being differently animated to what it was before On which Philosophical Evidence added the Fidefendon do's consist the ancient opinion of not a few learnedly Famous who maintain'd the Transmigration of Souls when separated from their precedent Mansions by death and that they pass'd into other Bodies The Speculation however naturally passable do's in a high degree lessen the dignity of the humane Soul by reason that in such a method of progression from Body to Body it must at one time or other animate an ignobler Creature than Man which gives cause of Reproof to the Assertion Another Doctrine there is and much insisted on by some which I shall but touch because it seems more extravagant or opposite to the ordinary progress and course of Nature than any I have precedently mention'd and this undertakes to assert That the humane Soul is immortally generated which in plain words is to affirm That one immortal Thing begets another or that the Soul of the Father do's animate an Eternity in begetting the Soul of the Son which conceit is so fictitiously absurd as it is repugnant to the total method of the causes and effects of Generation However to repel these Contradictions the Abettors of this Doctrine assure us by an unintelligible method That the Soul is divinely infus'd from above and spiritually commix'd with the Act of Generation But how a Spirit as has been argu'd before can mix with a corporeal Substance is a Riddle fit to be left to such Authors to explain The last Opinion that remains to be expos'd to a free judiciary Determination is That Soul and Body of every Individual of Mankind is restor'd to an immortal Perfection and Union after Death Which Doctrine has gain'd a very plausable Reception with many Nor can it be thought ungrateful to the beautiful of both Sexes if the excellency of their Features and Proportions accompany them to a future Life which wonderful Receptacle of the Persons of Men and Women after Death not a few of you Grecians said the Fidefendon call the Elysium or another World in which Mankind shall have Being by a miraculous Restauration after Living here and where they shall be more or less happy or unhappy how long they have not certainly determin'd after made Survivors in their future Abodes But should it be ask'd of any of these wonderful Tutors what possible Assurance they have that the Persons of Mankind shall be