For as every one that hath a Conception of a Plain Triangle in general doth not therefore know that it includes this Property in it to have Three Angles Equal to Two Right ones nor doth every one who hath an Idea of a Rectangular Triangle presently understand that the Square of the Substense is Equal to the Squares of both the Sides so neither doth every one who hath a Conception of a Perfect Being therefore presently know all that is included in that Idea Moreover men may easily mistake things for Absolute Perfections which are not such as hath been partly already shewed And now whereas the Atheists pretend in the next place to give an Account of that Supposed Contradictiousness in the Idea and Attributes of God namely that it proceeded principally from Fear or the Confounded Nonsence of mens Astonished Minds huddling up together all Imaginable Attributes of Honour Courtship and Complement without any Philosophick Truth Sence or Signification as also in part from the Fiction and Imposture of Politicians all this hath been already prevented and the Foundation thereof quite taken away by our shewing that there is nothing in the Genuine Idea of God and his Attributes but what is Demostrable of a Perfect Being and that there cannot be the least either Added to that Idea or Detracted from it any more than there can be any thing Added to or Detracted from the Idea of a Triangle or of a Square From whence it follows unavoidably that there cannot possibly be any thing either Contradictious or Arbitrarious in the Divine Idea and that the Genuine Attributes thereof are Attributes of Necessary Philosophick Truth namely such as do not only speak the Piety Devotion and Reverence of mens own Minds but declare the Real Nature of the thing it self Wherefore when a Modern Atheistick Writer affirmeth of all those who Reason and conclude concerning God's Nature from his Attributes That Losing their Vnderstanding in the very first attempt they fall from one Inconvenience or Absurdity to another without end after the same manner as when one ignorant of Court-ceremonies coming into the presence of a greater person than he was wont to speak to and stumbling at his entrance to save himself from falling lets slip his Cloak to recover his Cloak le ts fall his Hat and so with one disorder after another discovers his Rusticity and Astonishment We say that though there be something of Wit and Phancy in this yet as it is applied to Theology and the Genuine Attributes of the Deity there is not the least of Philosophick Truth However we deny not but that some either out of Superstition or else out of Flattery for thus are they stiled by St. Jerome Stulti Adulatores Dei Foolish Flatterers of God Almighty have sometimes attributed such things to him as are Incongruous to his Nature and under a pretence of Honouring him by Magnifying his Power and Sovereignty do indeed most highly Dishonour him they representing him to be such a Being as is no way Amiable or Desirable But the Atheists are most of all concerned to give an Account of that Vnquestionable Phenomenon the General Perswasion of the Existence of a God in the Minds of men and their Propâ—nsity to Religion in all ages and places of the world whence this should come if there be really no such thing in Nature And this they think to do in the Last place also Partly from mens Own Fear together with their Ignorance of Causes and Partly from the Fiction of Lawmakers and Politicians they endeavouring thereby to keep men to Civil Subjection under them Where we shall First plainly and Nakedly dâ—clare the Atheists meaning and then manifest the Invalidity and Foolery of these their Pretences to salve the forementioned Phenomenon First therefore these Atheists affirm That mankind by reason of their Natural Imbecillity are in perpetual Solicitude Anxiety and Fear concerning Future Events or their Good and Evil Fortune to come and this Passion of Fear inclining men to Imagine things Formidable and Fearful and to Suspect or Believe the Existence of what really is not I say that this Distrustful Fear and Jealousie in the Minds of men concerning their Future Condition raises up to them the Phantasm of a most Affrightful Spectre an Invisible Vnderstanding Being Arbitrarily Governing and Swaying the affairs of the whole World and at pleasure Tyrannizing over Mankind And when mens Exorbitant Fear and Fancy has thus raised up to it self such a Mormo or Bugbear such an Affrightful Spectre as this a thing that is really no Inhabitant of the World or of Heaven but only of mens Brains they afterward stand in awe of this their Own Imagination and Tremblingly worship this Creature and Figment of their own Fear and Phancy as a thing Really Existing without them or a God devising all manner of expressions of Honour and Reverence towards it and anxiously endeavouring by all ways conceivable to Propitiate and Atone the same And thus have they brought upon themselves a most heavie Yoke of Bondage and filled their Lives with all manner of Bitterness and Misery Again to this Fear of Future Events the Atheists add also Ignorance of Causes as a further Account of this Phenomenon of Religion so generally entertained in the world For Mankind say they are Naturally Inquisitive into the Causes of things and that not only of the Events of their Own Good and Evil Fortune but also of the Phaenomena of the World and the Effects of Nature And such is their Curiosity that wheresoever they can discover no Visible and Natural Causes there are they prone to Feign and Imagine other Causes Invisible and Supernatural As it was observed of the Tragick Dramatists that whenever they could not well extricate themselves they were wont to bring in a God upon the Stage and as Aristotle recordeth of Anaxagoras that he never betook himself to Mind or Vnderstanding that is to God for a Cause but only then when he was at a loss for other Natural and Necessary Causes From whence these Atheists would infer that nothing but Ignorance of Causes made Anaxagoras to assert a Deity Wherefore it is no wonder say they if the Generality of Mankind being Ignorant of the Causes almost of all Events and Effects of Nature have by reason of their Natural Curiosity and Fear Feigned or Introduced one Invisible Power or Agent Omnipotent as the Supreme Cause of all things they betaking themselves thereto as to a kind of Refuge Asylum or Sanctuary for their Ignorance These two Accounts of the Phenomenon of Religion from mens Fear and Solicitude about Future Events and from their Ignorance of Causes together with their Curiosity are thus joyned together by a Modern Writer Perpetual fear of Future Evils always accompanying mankind in the Ignorance of Causes as it were in the Dark must needs have for Object Something And therefore when there is nothing to be seen there is nothing to accuse for their Evil Fortune but some
Stratonick or Hylozoick Atheism because Sense and Conscious Vnderstanding could no more result either from those Qualities of Heat and Cold Moist and Dry contempered together or from the meer Organization of Inanimate and Sensless Matter than it could from the Concursus Motus Ordo Positura Figurae of Atoms devoid of all manner of Qualities Had there been once nothing but Sensless Matter Fortuitously Moved there could never have emerged into Being any Soul or Mind Sense and Vnderstanding because no Effect can possibly transcend the Perfection of its Cause Wherefore Atheists supposing Themselves and all Souls and Minds to have sprung from Stupid and Sensless Matter and all that Wisdom which is any where in the World both Political and Philosophical to be the Result of meer Fortune and Chance must needs be concluded to be Grosly Ignorant of Causes which had they not been they could never have been Atheists So that Ignorance of Causes is the Seed not of Theism but of Atheism true Philosophy and the Knowledge of the Cause of our Selves leading necessarily to a Deity Again Atheists are Ignorant of the Cause of Motion in Bodies also by which notwithstanding they suppose all things to be done that is they are never able to Salve this Phaenomenon so long as they are Atheists and acknowledge no other Substance besides Matter or Body For First it is undeniably certain that Motion is not Essential to all Body as such because then no Particles of Matter could ever Rest and consequently there could have been no Generation nor no such Mundane System produced as this is which requires a certain Proportionate Commixture of Motion and Rest no Sun nor Moon nor Earth nor Bodies of Animals since there could be no Coherent Consistency of any thing when all things flutter'd and were in continual Separation and Divulsion from one another Again it is certain likewise that Matter or Body as such hath no Power of Moving it self Freely or Spontaneously neither by Will or Appetite both because the same Inconvenience would from hence ensue likewise and because the Phaenomena or Appearances do plainly evince the contrary And as for that Prodigiously Absurd Paradox of some few Hylozoick Atheists that all Matter as such and therefore every Smallest Particle thereof hath not only Life Essentially belonging to it but also Perfect Wisdom and Knowledge together with Appetite and Self-moving Power though without Animal Sense or Consciousness this I say will be elsewhere in due place further confuted But the Generality of the ancient Atheists that is the Anaximandrians and Democriticks attributed no manner of Life to Matter as such and therefore could ascribe no Voluntary or Spontaneous Motion to the same but Fortuitous only according to that of the Epicurean Poet already cited Nam certè neque Consilio Primordia rerum Ordine se quaeque atque sagaci mente locarunt Nec quos quaeque darent Motus pepigere profectó Wherefore these Democriticks as Aristotle somewhere intimates were able to assign no other Cause of Motion than only this That One Body moved another from Eternity Infinitely so that there was no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no First Vnmoved Mover ever to be found because there is no Beginning nor First in Eternity From whence probably that Doctrine of some Atheistick Stoicks in Alex. Aphrodisius was derived That there is no First in the rank and order of Causes In the footsteps of which Philosophers a Modern Writer seemeth to have trodden when declaring himself after this manner Si quis ab Effectu quocunque ad Causam ejus Immediatam atque inde and Remotiorem ac sic perpetuò ratiocinatione ascenderit non tamen in aeternum procedere poterit sed defatigatus aliquando deficiet If any one will from whatsoever Effect ascend upward to its Immediate Cause and from thence to a Remoter and so onwards perpetually in his Ratiocination yet shall he never be able to hold on thorough all Eternity but at length being quite tyred out with his Journey be forced to desist or give over Which seems to be all one as if he should have said One thing Moved or Caused another Infinitely from Eternity in which there being no Beginning there is consequently no First Mover or Cause to be reach'd unto But this Infinite Progress of these Democriticks in the Order of Causes and their shifting off the Cause of Motion from one thing to another without end or beginning was rightly understood by Aristotle to be indeed the Assigning of No Cause of Motion at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They acknowledging saith he no First Mover according to Nature must needs make an idle Progress Infinitely that is in the Language of this Philosopher assign no Cause at all of Motion Epicurus therefore to mend the matter though according to the Principles of the Atomick Physiology he discarded all other Qualities yet did he notwithstanding admit this One Quality of Gravity or Ponderosity in Atoms pressing them continually downwards in Infinite Space In which as nothing could be more Absurd nor Vnphilosophical than to make Vpwards and Downwards in Infinite Space or a Gravity tending to no Centre nor Place of Rest so did he not assign any Cause of Motion neither but only in effect affirm the Atoms therefore to tend Downwards because they did so a Quality of Gravity signifying only an Endeavour to tend Downwards but Why or Wherefore no body knows And it is all one as if Epicurus should have said that Atoms moved Downwards by an Occult Quality he either betaking himself to this as an Asylum a Sanctuary or Refuge for his Ignorance or else indeed more absurdly making his very Ignorance it self disguized under that name of a Quality to be the Cause of Motion Thus the Atheists universally either assigned no Cause at all for Motion as the Anaximandrians and Democriticks or else no True one as the Hylozoists when to avoid Incorporeal Substance they would venture to attribute Perfect Vnderstanding Appetite or Will and Self-moving Power to all Sensless Matter whatsoever But since it appears plainly that Matter or Body cannot Move it self either the Motion of all Bodies must have no manner of Cause or else must there of necessity be some other Substance besides Body such as is Self-active and Hylarchical or hath a Natural Power of Ruling over Matter Upon which latter account Plato rightly determin'd that Cogitation which is Self-activity or Autochinesie was in order of Nature before the Local Motion of Body which is Heterochinesie Though Motion considered Passively in Bodies or taken for their Translation or Change of Distance and Place be indeed a Corporeal thing or a Mode of those Bodies themselves moving yet as it is considered Actively for the Vis Movens that Active Force which causes this Translation or Change of Place so is it an Incorporeal thing the Energy of a Self-Active Substance upon that sluggish Matter or Body which cannot at all move it self Wherefore in the Bodies of
such may be made evident from the Records of credible Writers Psellus in his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Operat Daem averrs it of a certain Maniacal Woman That though she knew nothing but her own Mother tongue yet when a Stranger who was an Armâ—nian was brought into the Room to her she spake to him presently in the Armâ—nian Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We all stood amazed when we heard a woman that had never seen an Armenian before in all her life nor had learnt any thing but the use of her Distaff to speak the Armenian Language readily Where the Relater also affirmeth the same Maniacal Person to have foretold certain Future Events which happened shortly after to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then looking upon me she or rather the Demon said thou shalt suffer wonderful pains and torments in thy Body For the Demons are extremely angry with thee for opposing their Services and Worship and they will inflict great evils upon thee out of which thou shalt not be able to escape unless a Power greater than that of Demons exempt thee from them All which things saith he happened shortly after to me and I was brought very low even near to Death by them but was by my Saviour wonderfully delivered Whereupon Psellus concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is there therefore that considering this Oracle or Prediction will conclude as some Physicians do all kind of Madnesses to be nothing but the Exorbitant Motions of the Matter or Humours and not the Tragick Passions of the Demons But because this Instance is remoter from our present Times we shall set down another remarkable one of a later Date out of the forementioned Fernelius who was an eye-witness thereof A young man of a Noble Family who was strangly Convulsed in his Body having sometimes one member and sometimes another violently agitated insomuch that four several persons were scarcely able to hold them and this at first without any distemper at all in his head or crazedness in brain To whom Fernelius with other skilful Physicians being called applied all manner of remedies Blisters Purgations Cupping-Glasses Fomentations Unctions Plaisters and Strengthening Medicines but all in vain The reason whereof is thus given by the the same Fernelius Quoniam omnes longe aberamus à cognitione veri Nam Mense Tertio primum deprehensus Daemon quidam totius Mali Author Voce insuetisque verbis ac sententiis tum Latinis tum Graecis quanquam ignarus Linguae Graecae Laborans esset se prodens Is multa â—ssidentium maximáque medicorum Secreta detegebat ridens quòd irritis Pharmacis corpus hoc penè jugulassent Because we were all far from the Knowledge of the truth For in the Third Month it was first plainly discovered to us that it was a certain Demon who was the Author of all this mischief He manifesting himself by his Speech and by unusual Words and Sentences both in Greek and Latin though the Patient were altogether ignorant of the Greek Tongue and by his revealing many of the Secrets of those who stood by especially of the Physicians whom also he derided for tormenting the Patient in that manner with their frustraneous remedies Here therefore have we an unquestionable Instance of a Demoniack in these Latter times of ours and such a one who at first for two Moneths together had no manner of Madness or Mania at all upon him though afterward the Demon possessing his Whole Body used his tongue and spake therewith Fernelius concludes his whole Discourse in this manner These things do I produce to make it manifest that Evil Demons or Devils do sometimes enter into the very Bodies of men afflicting and tormenting them after an unheard of manner but that at other times though they do not enter into and possess their whole body yet partly by exagitating and disturbing the profitable humours thereof partly by traducing the noxious into the principal parts or else by by obstructing the Veins and other Passages with them or disordering the structure of the Members they cause innumerable Diseases There are many other Instances of this kind recorded by Modern Writers unexceptionable of Persons either wholly Demoniacal and Possessed by Evil Demons this appearing from their discovering Secrets and speaking Languages which they had never learnt or else otherwise so Affected and Infested by them as to have certain Vnusual and Super-Natural Symptoms which for brevities sake we shall here omit However we thought it necessary thus much to insist upon this Argument of Demoniacks as well for the Vindication of Christianity as for the Conviction of Atheists we finding some so staggering in their Religion that from this one thing alone of Demoniacks they being so strongly possessed that there neither is nor ever was any such they are ready enough to suspect the whole Gospel or New Testament it self of Fabulosity and Imposture We come now to the Second Head proposed of Miracles and Effects Supernatural That there hath been some thing Miraculous or Above Nature sometimes done even among the Pagans whether by Good or Evil Spirits appears not only from their own Records but also from the Scripture it self And it is well known that they pretended besides Oracles to Miracles also even after the times of Christianity and that not only in Apollonius Tyanaeus and Apuleius but also in the Roman Emperours themselves as Vespasian and Adrian but especially in the Temple of Aesculapius thus much appearing from that Greek Table therein hung up at Rome in which amongst other things this is Recorded That a blind man being commanded by the Oracle to kneel before the Altar and then passing from the Right side thereof to the Left to lay five fingers upon the Altar and afterwards lifting up his hand to touch his eyes therewith all this being done accordingly he recovered his sight the people all applauding that great Miracles were done under the Emperour Antoninus c. But we have in the Scripture an account of Miracles both greater in Number and of a higher Nature done especially by Moses and our Saviour Christ and his Apostles Wherefore it seems that there are Two Sorts of Miracles or Effects Supernatural First such as though they could not be done by any Ordinary and Natural Causes here amongst us and in that respect may be called Supernatural yet might notwithstanding be done God Permitting only by the Ordinary and Natural Power of other Invisible Created Spirits Angels or Demons As for example If a Stone or other Heavy body should first ascend upwards and then hang in the Air without any Visible either Mover or Supporter this would be to us a Miracle or Effect Supernatural and yet according to Vulgar Opinion might this be done by the Natural Power of Created Invisible Beings Angels or Demons God only permitting without whose special Providence it is conceived they cannot thus intermeddle with our humane affairs Again If a perfectly Illitterate Person should readily speak
Greek or Latine this also would be to us a Miracle or Effect Supernatural for so is the Apostles speaking with Tounges accounted and yet in Demoniacks is this sometimes done by Evil Demons God only Permitting Such also amongst the Pagans was that Miraculum Cotis as Apuleius calls it that Miracle of the Whetstone done by Accius Navius when at his command it was divided into Two with a Razor But Secondly there is another sort of Miracles or Effects Supernatural such as are above the Power of all Second Causes or any Natural Created Being whatsoever and so can be attributed to none but God Almighty himself the Author of Nature who therefore can Controul it at pleasure As for that late Theological Politician who writing against Miracles denies as well those of the Former as of this Latter Kind contending that a Miracle is nothing but a Name which the Ignorant Vulgar gives to Opus Naturae Insolitum any Vnwonted work of Nature or to what themselves can assign no Cause off as also that if there were any such thing done Contrary to Nature or Above it it would rather Weaken than Confirm Our Belief of the Divine Existence We find his Discourse every way so Weak Groundless and Inconsiderable that we could not think it here to deserve a Confutation But of the Former Sort of those Miracles is that to be understood Deuter. the 13. If there arise among you a Prophet or dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a Sign or a Wonder and the Sign or Wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other Gods and serve them thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet or Dreamer of Dreams for the Lord your God Proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul For it cannot be Supposed that God Almighty would himself purposely Inspire any man to exhort others to Idolatry and immediatly assist such a one with his own Supernatural Power of doing Miracles in Confirmation of such Doctrine But the meaning is that by the suggestion of Evil Spirits some False Prophets might be raised up to tempt the Jews to Idolatry or at least that by Assistance of them such Miracles might be wrought in Confirmation thereof as those sometimes done by the Egyptian Sorcerers or Magicians God himself not interposing in this case to hinder them for this reason that he might hereby Prove and Try their Faithfulness towards him For as much as both by the Pure Light of Nature and God's Revealed Will before confirmed by Miracles Idolatry or the Religious Worship of any but God Almighty had been sufficiently condemned From whence it is evident that Miracles alone at least such Miracles as these are no sufficient Confirmation of a True Prophet without consideration had of the Doctrine taught by him For though a man should have done never so many true and real Miracles amongst the Jews and yet should perswade to Idolatry he was by them confidently to be condemned to death for a false Prophet Accordingly in the New Testament do we read that our Saviour Christ forewarned his Disciples That False Prophets and False Christs should arise and show great Signs or Wonders in so much that if it were possible they should seduce the very Elect. And St. Paul foretelleth concerning the Man of Sin or Anti-Christ That his coming should be after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Wonders or Miracles of a Lye For we conceive that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place are not properly meant Feigned and Counterfeit Miracles that is meer Cheating and Jugling tricks but True Wonders and Real Miracles viz. of the Former Sort mentioned done for the Confirmation of a Lye as the Doctrine of this Man of Sin is there afterwards called For otherwise how could his coming be said to be According to the Working of Satan with all Power In like manner also in St. John's Apocalypse where the coming of the same Man of Sin and the Mystery of Iniquity is again described we read Chapter 13. of a Two Horned Beast like a Lamb That he shall do great wonders and deceive those that dwell on the Earth by means of those Miracles which he hath power to do in the sight of the Beast And again Chapter 16. Of certain unclean Spirits like Frogs coming out of the mouth of the Dragon and of the Beast and of the False Prophet which are the Spirits of Devils working Miracles that go forth to the Kings of the Earth And Lastly Chapter 19. Of the False Prophet that wrought Miracles before the Beast All which seem to be understood not of Feigned and Counterfeit Miracles only but of True and Real also Effected by the Working of Satan in Confirmation of a Lye that is of Idolatry False Religion and Imposture God Almighty permitting it partly in way of Probation or Tryal of the faithfulness of his own servants and partly in way of Just Judgment and Punishment upon those who receive not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved as the Apostle declareth Wherefore those Miracles pretended for divers Ages past to have been done before the Relicks of Saints and Images c. were they all True could by no means justifie or warrant that Religious Worship by many given to them because True and Real Miracles done in order to the promoting of Idolatry are so far from Justifying that Idolatry that they are themselves Condemned by it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Miracles of a Lye done by the Working of Satan But as for the Miracles of our Saviour Christ had they been all of them only of the Former Kind such as might have been done God permitting by the Natural Power of Created Spirits and their Assistance yet for as much as he came in the Name of the Lord teaching neither Idolatry nor any thing contrary to the clear Light and Law of Nature therefore ought he by reason of those Miracles to have been received by the Jews themselves and owned for a True Prophet according to the Doctrine of Moses himself Who both in the 13. and 18. Chapter of Deuter. plainly supposeth that God would in no other Case permit any False Prophet to do Miracles by the assistance of Evil Spirits save only in that of Idolatry and which is always understood of what is plainly Discoverable by the Light of Nature to be False or Evil. The reason whereof is manifest because if he should this would be an Invincible Temptation which it is inconsistent with the Divine Goodness to expose men unto And our Saviour Christ was unquestionably that One Eximious Prophet which God Almighty by Moses promised to send unto the Israelites upon occasion of their own desire made to him at Horeb Let me not hear again the voyce of the Lord my God nor let me see this great Fire any more that I die not Whereupon the Lord
Inanimate Bodies because he that acknowledgeth no Animant God acknowledges no God at all but is a downright Atheist Page 512 Neither ought this Physiological Theology of the Pagans that consisted in Personating and Deifying the Natures of things and Inanimate Bodies to be Confounded with that Natural and Philosophical Theology of Varro Scaevola and others which admitted of no other but Animant Gods and such as Really Existed in Nature for which Cause it was called Natural in opposition to the Fictitious and Phantastick Poetick Gods Page 512 S. Austin's just Censure and Condemnation of the Pagans for their thus Theologizing of Physiology or Fictitiously Personating and Deifying the Natures of things Page 512 513 But though the Pagans did thus verbally Personate and Deifie the things of Nature yet did not the Intelligent amongst them therefore account these True and Proper Gods Cotta in Cicero Though we call Corn Ceres and Wine Bacchus yet was there never any one so mad as to take that for a God which himself feeds upon and devours The Pagans really accounted that onely for a God by the Invoking whereof they might expect benefit to themselves and therefore Nothing Inanimate This proved from Plato Aristotle Lucretius Cicero and Plutarch Wherefore these Natures of things Deified but Fictitious and Phantastick Gods Nor can any other sense be made of them than this that they were really but so many several Names of one Supreme God as severally manifested in his works according to that Egyptian Theology That God may be called by the Name of every thing or every thing by the Name of God With which agreeth Seneca That there may be as many Names of God as there are Gifts and Effects of his and the Writer De Mundo That God may be Denominated from every Nature he being the Cause of all things Page 513 515 Wherefore these Deified Natures of things were not directly worshipped by the Intelligent Pagans but onely Relatively to the Supreme God or in way of Complication with him onely and so not so much Themselves as God worshipped in them The Pagans Pretence that they did not look upon the world with such Eyes as Oxen and Horses do but with Religious Eyes so as to see God in every thing They therefore worshipped the Invisible Deity in the Visible manifestations of himself God and the World together This sometimes called Pan and Jupiter Thus was the whole World said to be the Greatest God and the Circle of the Heavens worshipped by the Persians not as Inanimate Matter but as the Visible manifestation of the Deity displayed from it and pervaded by it When the Roman Sea-Captains Sacrificed to the Waves their worship intended to that God who Stilleth the Waves and Quieteth the Billows Page 515 516 These Pagans also apprehended a Necessity of permitting men to worship the Invisible God in his Visible Works This account given by them in Eusebius Plato himself approved of worshipping the Invisible God in the Sun Moon and Stars as his Visible Images And though Maximus Tyrius would have men endeavour to rise above the Starry Heavens and all Visible things yet does he allow the weaker to worship God in his Progeny And Socrates perswades Euthydemus to be contented herewith Besides which some Pagans worshipping the Elements directed their Intention to the Spirits of those Elements as Julian in Ammianus these being supposed also to be Animated or else to those Daemons whom they conceived to inhabit them or preside over them Page 516 518 XXXIII Further to be observed That amongst those Natures of things some were meerly Accidental as Hope Love Desire Memory Truth Vertue Piety Faith Justice Concord Clemency Victory Echo Night According to which the vulgar Athenians supposed S. Paul to have Deified Anastasis or made a Goddess of the Resurrection as well as a God of Jesus Vices also sometimes thus Deified by them as Contumely and Impudence to whom were Temples dedicated at Athens though to the end that these things might be Deprecated These Accidents sometimes Deified under Counterfeit Proper Names as Pleasure under the name of Volupia and Lubentina Venus Time under the name of Chronos or Saturn Prudence or Wisedom under the names of Athena or Minerva against which Origen in his answer to Celsus Cicero himself allowed of Dedicating Temples to Mind Vertue Piety Faith c. Page 518 520 But such Accidents and Affections of Things Deifyed could not possibly be Accounted True and Proper Gods they having not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Reall Subsistence or Substantiall Essence of their own And thus does Origen again dispute against Minerva's Godship as Tropologized into Prudence As he doth also elsewhere upon the same Ground against that of Memory the Mother of the Muses and that of the Graces he concluding these and such like therefore to be nothing but Figments of the Greeks they being Things Personated and Feigned with Humane Members Thus the Pagans condemned by Prudentius also for Feigning Things Incorporeal with Counterfeit Members These Gods plainly Exploded by Cotta or Cicero in disguise as having onely Vim Rerum but not Deorum the Force of Things but not of Gods in them or being but Naturae Rerum and not Figurae Deorum Page 520 521 Wherefore the True meaning of these Deified Natures of Things could be no other then this that God was to be acknowledged and worshipped in All things or as the Pagans themselves declare it that the Force of every thing was both governed by God and it self Divine Pliny of this Breaking and Crumbling of the Deity into Parts Every one Worshipping that in God and for a God which himself most stood in need of This dividing of the Simple Deity and Worshipping it Brokenly by parcells and piece-meal as manifested in all the Several Things of Nature and Parts of the world Justly Censured and Elegantly Perstringed by Prudentius against Symmachus Where Prudentius grants that Symmachus who declared that it was One thing which all worshipped when he sacrificed to Victory did sacrifice to God Almighty under that Partiall Notion as the Giver of Victory This in the Egyptian Allegory Osiris Mangled and Cut in pieces by Typhon Victory and Vertue as well as Neptune Mars and Bellona but several names or Notions of Jupiter in the Prologue of Plautus his Amphitryo Page 521 522 Vossius his opinion that these Deified Accidents and Natures of Things as well as the other Pagan Invisible Gods were commonly lookt upon by the Vulgar as so many Single Substantiall Minds or Spirits Created by the Supreme God and appointed to preside over those several things respectively Where it is acknowledged that neither the Political nor the Poetical Gods of the Pagans were taken so much as by the Vulgar for so many Independent Deities Page 523 524 Probable that by these Gods the Wiser Pagans sometimes understood Demons in Generall or Collectively that is whosoever they were that were appointed to preside over those several Things or dispense them As
several parts of Matter distant from one another acting alone by themselves without any common Directrix being not able to confer together nor communicate with each other could never possibly conspire to make up one such uniform and Orderly System or Compages as the Body of every Animal is The same is to be said likewise concerning the Plastick Nature of the whole Corporeal Universe in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are ordered together conspiringly into One. It must be one and the same thing which formeth the whole or else it could never have fallen into such an Uniform Order and Harmony Now that which is One and the Same acting upon several distant parts of Matter cannot be Corporeal Indeed Aristotle is severely censured by some learned men for this that though he talk every where of such a Nature as acts Regularly Artificially and Methodically in order to the Best yet he does no where positively declare whether this Nature of his be Corporeal or Incorporeal Substantial or Accidental which yet is the less to be wondred at in him because he does not clearly determine these same points concerning the Rational Soul neither but seems to stagger uncertainly about them In the mean time it cannot be denied but that Aristotle's Followers do for the most part conclude this Nature of his to be Corporeal whereas notwithstanding according to the Principles of this Philosophy it cannot possibly be such For there is nothing else attributed to Body in it besides these three Matter Form and Accidents neither of which can be the Aristotelick Nature First it cannot be Matter because Nature according to Aristotle is supposed to be the Principle of Motion and Activity which Matter in it self is devoid of Moreover Aristotle concludes that they who assign only a Material Cause assign no Cause at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of well and fit of that Regular and Artificial Frame of things which is ascribed to Nature upon both which accompts it is determined by that Philosopher that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is more a Principle and Cause than Matter and therefore it cannot be one and the same thing with it Again it is as plain that Aristotle's Nature cannot be the Forms of particular Bodies neither as Vulgar Peripateticks seem to conceive these being all Generated and Produced by Nature and as well Corruptible as Generable Whereas Nature is such a thing as is neither Generated nor Corrupted it being the Principle and Cause of all Generation and Corruption To make Nature and the Material Forms of Bodies to be one and the self-same thing is all one as if one should make the Seal with the Stamper too to be one and the same thing with the Signature upon the Wax And Lastly Aristotle's Nature can least of all be the Accidents or Qualities of Bodies because these act only in Vertue of their Substance neither can they exercise any Active Power over the Substance it self in which they are whereas the Plastick Nature is a thing that Domineers over the Substance of the whole Corporeal Vniverse and which Subordinately to the Deity put both Heaven and Earth into this Frame in which now it is Wherefore since Aristotle's Nature can be neither the Matter nor the Forms nor the Accidents of Bodies it is plain that according to his own Principles it must be Incorporeal 21. Now if the Plastick Nature be Incorporeal then it must of necessity be either an Inferiour Power or Faculty of some Soul which is also Conscious Sensitive or Rational or else a lower Substantial Life by it self devoid of Animal Consciousness The Platonists seem to affirm both these together namely that there is a Plastick Nature lodged in all particular Souls of Animals Brutes and Men and also that there is a General Plastick or Spermatick Principle of the whole Vniverse distinct from their Higher Mundane Soul though subordinate to it and dependent upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is called Nature is the Off-spring of an higher Soul which hath a more Powerful Life in it And though Aristotle do not so clearly acknowledge the Incorporeity and Substantiality of Souls yet he concurrs very much with this Platonick Doctrine that Nature is either a Lower Power or Faculty of some Conscious Soul or else an Inferiour kind of Life by it self depending upon a Superiour Soul And this we shall make to appear from his Book De Partibus Animalium after we have taken notice of some considerable Preliminary Passages in it in order thereunto For having first declared that besides the Material Cause there are other Causes also of Natural Generations namely these two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that for whose sake or the Final Cause and that from which the Principle of Motion is or the Efficient Cause he determines that the former of these Two is the principal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The chiefest of these two Causes seems to be the Final or the Intending Cause for this is Reason and Reason is alike a Principle in Artificial and in Natural things Nay the Philosopher adds excellently that there is more of Reason and Art in the things of Nature than there is in those things that are Artificially made by men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is more of Final or Intending Causality and of the reason of Good in the works of Nature than in those of Humane Art After which he greatly complains of the first and most Ancient Physiologers meaning thereby Anaximander and those other Ionicks before Anaxagoras that they considered only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Material Principle and Cause of things without attending to those Two other Causes the Principle of Motion and that which aims at Ends they talking only of Fire Water Air and Earth and generating the whole World from the Frotuitous Concourse of these Sensless Bodies But at length Aristotle falls upon Democritus who being Junior to those others before mentioned Philosophised after the same Atheistical manner but in a new way of his own by Atoms acknowledging no other Nature neither in the Universe nor in the Bodies of Animals than that of Fortuitous Mechanism and supposing all things to arise from the different Compositions of Magnitudes Figures Sites and Motions Of which Democritick Philosophy he gives his Censure in these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If Animals and their several parts did consist of nothing but Figure and Colour then indeed Democritus would be in the right But a Dead man hath the same Form and Figure of Body that he had before and yet for all that he is not a Man neither is a Brazen or Wooden Hand a Hand but only Equivocally as a Painted Physician or Pipes made of Stone are so called No member of a Dead Mans Body is that which it was before when he was alive neither Eye nor Hand nor Foot Wherefore this is but a rude way of Philosophizing and just as if a Carpenter should talk
glomeravit in Orbes In semet reditura meat Mentemque Profundam Circuit simili convertit Imagine Coelum Wherefore as well according to Plato's Hypothesis as Aristotle's it may be affirmed of the Supreme Deity in the same Boetius his Language that Stabilisque manens dat cuncta Moveri Being it self Immovable it causeth all other things to Move The Immediate Efficient Cause of which Motion also no less according to Aristotle than Plato seems to have been a Mundane Soul however Aristotle thought not so fit to make this Soul a Principle in all Probability because he was not so well assured of the Incorporiety of Souls as of Minds or Intellects Nevertheless this is not the only thing which Aristotle imputed to his First and Highest Immovable Principle or the Supreme Deity its turning Round of the Primum Mobile and that no otherwise than as being Loved or as the Final Cause thereof as Proclus supposed but he as well as Anaxagoras asserted it to be also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cause of Well and Fit or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that without which there could be no such thing as Well that is no no Order Aptitude Proportion and Harmony in the Universe He declaring excellently that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnless there were something else in the world besides Sensibles there could be neither Beginning nor Order in it but one thing would be the Principle of another infinitly or without end and again in another place already cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not at all likely that either Fire or Earth or any such Body should be the Cause of that Well and Fit that is in the World nor can so Noble an Effect as this be reasonably imputed to Chance or Fortune Wherefore himself agreeably with Anaxagoras concludes that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mind which is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cause of Well and Right and accordingly does he frequently call the Supreme Deity by that Name He affirming likewise that the Order Pulchritude and Harmony of the whole World dependeth upon that One Highest and Supreme Being in it after the same manner as the Order of an Army dependeth upon the General or Emperour who is not for the Order but the Order for him Which Highest Being of the Universe is therefore called by him also conformably to Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Separate Good of the World in way of distinction from that Intrinsick or Inherent Good of it which is the Order and Harmony it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is to be considered also What is the Good and Best of the Vniverse Whether its own Order only or Something Separate and existing by it self Or rather Both of them together As the Good of an Army consisteth both in its Order and likewise in its General or Emperor but principally in this Latter because the Emperor is not for the Order of the Army but the Order of the Army is for him for all things are coordered together with God and respectively to him Wherefore since Aristotle's Supreme Deity by what name soever called whether Mind or Good is the proper Efficient Cause of all that Well and Fit that is in the Universe of all the Order Pulchritude and Harmony thereof it must needs be granted that besides its being the Final Cause of Motion or its Turning round the Heavens by being Loved it was also the Efficient Cause of the Whole Frame of Nature and System of the World And thus does he plainly declare his Sence where he applauds Anaxagoras for maintaining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Mind is the Cause not only of all Order but also of the whole World and when himself positively affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that from such a Principle as this depends the Heaven and Nature Where by Heaven is meant the whole World and by Nature that Artificial Nature of his before insisted on which doth nothing in vain but always acteth for Ends Regularly and is the Instrument of the Divine Mind He also somewhere affirmeth that if the Heavens or World were Generated that is Made in Time so as to have had a Beginning then it was certainly Made not by Chance and Fortune but by such an Artificial Nature as is the Instrument of a Perfect Mind And in his Physicks where he contends for the Worlds Ante-Eternity he concludes nevertheless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Mind together with Nature must of necessity be the Cause of this Whole Vniverse For though the World were never so much Coeternal with Mind yet was it in order of Nature after it and Juniour to it as the Effect thereof himself thus generously resolving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that though some that is the Atheists affirm the Elements to have been the First Beings yet it was the most reasonable thing of all to conclude that Mind was the Oldest of All things and Seniour to the World and Elements and that according to Nature it had a Princely and Sovereign Dominion over all Wherefore we think it now sufficiently evident that Aristotle's Supreme Deity does not only move the Heavens as being Loved or is the Final Cause of Motion but also was the Efficient Cause of this Whole Mundane System framed according to the Best Wisdom and after the Best manner Possible For perhaps it may not be amiss here to observe That God was not called Mind by Aristotle and those other ancient Philosophers according to that Vulgar Sence of many in these days of ours as if he were indeed an Vnderstanding or Perceptive Being and that perfectly Omniscient but yet nevertheless such as acted all things Arbitrarilily being not determined by any Rule or Nature of Goodness but only by his own Fortuitous Will For according to those ancient Philosophers that which acts without respect to Good would not so much be accounted Mens as Dementiae Mind as Madness or Folly and to impute the Frame of Nature or System of the World together with the Government of the same to such a Principle as this would have been judg'd by them all one as to impute them to Chance or Fortune But Aristotle and those other Philosophers who called the Supreme God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mind understood thereby that which of all things in the whole world is most opposite to Chance Fortune and Temerity that which is regulated by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Well and Fit of every thing if it be not rather the very Rule Measure and Essence of Fitness it self that which acteth all for Ends and Good and doth every thing after the Best manner in order to the Whole Thus Socrates in that place before cited out of Plato's Phaedo interprets the Meaning of that Opinion That Mind made the World and was the Cause of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That therefore every thing might be concluded to have been disposed of after the Best Manner possible
by perfect Art and Wisedome This Atheistick Fanaticism Page 675 676 No more Possible That Dead and Sensless Matter Fortuitously Moved should at length be Taught and Necessitated by it self to produce this Artificial System of the World then that a dozen or more Persons unskilled in Musick and striking the Strings as it Happened should at length be Taught and Necessitated to fall into Exquisite Harmony Or that the Letters in the Writings of Plato and Aristotle though having so much Philosophick Sense should have been all Scribbled at randome More Philosophy in the Great Volume of the World then in all Aristotle's and Plato's Works and more of Harmony then in any Artificial Composition of Vocall Musick That the Divine Art and Wisedom hath printed such a Signature of it self upon the Matter of the Whole World as Fortune and Chance could never Counterfeit Page 676 677 But in the next place the Atheists will for all this undertake to Demonstrate That things could not Possibly be made by any Intending Cause for Ends and Uses as Eyes for Seeing Ears for Hearing from hence Because things were all in Order of Time as well as Nature before their Uses This Argument seriously propounded by Lucretius in this manner If Eyes were made for the Use of Seeing then of necessity must Seeing have been before Eyes But there was no Seeing before Eyes Therefore could not Eyes be made for the sake of Seeing Page 677 678 Evident that the Logick of these Atheists differs from that of all other Mortalls according to which the End for which any thing is designedly made is onely in Intention First but in Execution Last True that Men are Commonly excited from Experience of things and Sense of their Wants to Excogitate Means and Remedies but it doth not therefore follow that the Maker of the World could not have a Preventive Knowledge of whatsoever would be Usefull for Animals and so make them Bodies Intentionally for those Vses That Argument ought to be thus framed Whatsoever is made Intentionally for any End as the Eye for that of Seeing that End must needs be in the Knowledge and Intention of the Maker before the Actual Existence of that which is made for it But there could be no Knowledge of Seeing before there were Eyes Therefore Eyes could not be made Intentionally for the sake of Seeing Page 678 This the True Scope of the Premised Atheistick Argument however disguised by them in the first Propounding The Ground thereof Because they take it for granted That all Knowledge is derived from Sense or from the Things Known Pre-Existing without the Knower And here does Lucretius Triumph The Controversy therefore at last resolved into this Whether all Knowledge be in its own Nature Junior to Things for if so it must be Granted that the World could not be Made by any Antecedent Knowledge But this afterwards fully Confuted and Proved That Knowledge is not in its own Nature Ectypall but Archetypall and that Knowledge was Older then the World and the Maker thereof Page 679 But Atheists will Except against the Proving of a God from the Regular and Artificiall frame of things That it is unreasonable to think there should be no Cause in Nature for the Common Phaenomena thereof but a God thus Introduced to salve them Which also to suppose the world Bungled and Botcht up That Nature is the Cause of Naturall things Which Nature doth not Intend nor Act for Ends. Wherefore the Opinion of Finall Causality for things in Nature but an Idolum Specûs Therefore rightly banished by Democritus out of Physiology Page 679 680 The Answer Two Extreams here to be avoided One of the Atomick Atheists who derive all things from the Fortuitous Motion of Sensless Matter Another of Bigoticall Religionists who will have God to doe all things Himself Immediately without any Nature The Middle betwixt both That there is not onely a Mechanicall and Fortuitous but also an Artificiall Nature Subservient to the Deity as the Manuary Opificer and Drudging Executioner thereof True that some Philosophers have absurdly attributed their own Properties or Animal Idiopathies to Inanimate Bodies Nevertheless this no Idol of the Cave or Den to suppose the System of the World to have been framed by an Understanding Being according to whose Direction Nature though not it self Intending Acteth Balbus his Description of this Artificiall Nature in Cicero That there could be no Mind in us were there none in the Universe That of Aristotle True That there is more of Art in some things of Nature then in any thing Made by Men. Now the Causes of Artificiall things as a House or Clock cannot be declared without Intention for Ends. This Excellently pursued by Aristotle No more can the Things of Nature be rightly Vnderstood or the Causes of them fully Assigned meerly from Matter and Motion without Intention or Mind They who banish Finall or Mentall Causality from Philosophy look upon the Things of Nature with no other Eyes then Oxen and Horses Some pitifull Attempts of the Ancient Atheists to salve the Phaenomena of Animals without Mentall Causality Democritus and Epicurus so cautious as never to pretend to give an Account of the Formation of the Foetus Aristotle's Judgement here to be Preferred before that of Democritus Page 680 683 But nothing more Strange then that these Atheists should be justified in this their Ignorance by Professed Theists and Christians who Atomizing likewise in their Physiology contend that this whole Mundane System resulted onely from the Necessary and Unguided Motion of Matter either Turned Round in a Vortex or Jumbled in a Chaos without the Direction of any Mind These Mechanick Theists more Immodest then the Atomick Atheists themselves they supposing these their Atoms though Fortuitously moved yet never to have produced any Inept System or Incongruous Forms but from the very first all along to have Ranged themselves so Orderly as that they could not have done it better had they been directed by a Perfect Mind They quite take away that Argument for a God from the Phaenomena and that Artificiall Frame of things leaving onely some Metaphysicall Arguments which though never so good yet by reason of their Subtlety cannot doe so much Execution The Atheists Gratified to see the Cause of Theism thus betrayed by its professed Friends and the Grand Argument for the same totally Slurred by them Page 683 684 As this Great Insensibility of Mind to look upon the Things of Nature with no other Eyes then Brute Animals do so are there Sundry Phaenomena partly Above the Mechanick Powers and partly Contrary to the same which therefore can never be Salved without Mentall and Finall Causality As in Animals the Motion of the Diaphragma in Respiration the Systole and Diastole of the Heart Being a Muscular Constriction and Relaxation To which might be added others in the Macrocosm as the Intersection of the Planes of the Equator and Ecliptick or the Earth's Diurnall Motion upon an Axis not
fall down into these Earthly Bodies But the fullest Record of the Empedoclean Philosophy concerning the Soul is contained in this of Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man falleth from his Happy State as Empedocles the Pythagorean saith By being a Fugitive Apostate and Wanderer from God acted with a certain Mad and Irrational Strife or Contention But he ascends again and recovers his former State if he decline and avoid these Earthly things and despise this unpleasant and wretched Place where Murder and Wrath and a Troop of all other Mischiefs reign Into which Place they who fall wander up and down through the Field of Ate and Darkness But the desire of him that flees from this Field of Ate carries him on towards the Field of Truth which the Soul at first relinquishing and losing its Wings fell down into this Earthly Body deprived of its Happy Life From whence it appears that Plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was derived from Empedocles and the Pythagoreans Now from what hath been already cited it is sufficiently manifest that Empedocles was so far from being either an Atheist or Corporealist that he was indeed a Rank Pythagorist as he is here called And we might adde hereunto what Clemens Alexandrinus observes that according to Empedocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If we live holily and justly we shall be happy here and more happy after our departure hence having our Happiness not necessarily confined to time but being able to rest and fix in it to all Eternity Feasting with the other Immortal Beings c. We might also take notice how besides the Immortal Souls of men he acknowledged Daemons or Angels declaring that some of these fell from Heaven and were since prosecuted by a Divine Nemesis or these in Plutarch are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those Empedoclean Daemons lapsed from Heaven and pursued with Divine Vengeance Whose restless Torment is there described in several Verses of his And we might observe likewise how he acknowledged a Natural and Immutable Justice which was not Topical and confined to Places and Countries and Relative to particular Laws but Catholick and Universal and every where the same through Infinite Light and Space as he expresses it with Poetick Pomp and Bravery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the asserting of Natural Morality is no small Argument of a Theist But what then shall we say to those other things which Empedocles is charged with by Aristotle that seem to have so rank a smell of Atheism Certainly those Mongril and Biforme Animals that are said to have sprung up out of the Earth by chance look as if they were more a-kin to Democritus than Empedocles and probably it is the Fault of the Copies that it is read otherwise there being no other Philosopher that I know of that could ever find any such thing in Empedocles his Poems But for the rest if Aristotle do not misrepresent Empedocles as he often doth Plato then it must be granted that he being a Mechanical Physiologer as well as Theologer did something too much indulge to Fortuitous Mechanism which seems to be an Extravagancy that Mechanical Philosophers and Atomists have been always more or less subject to But Aristotle doth not charge Empedocles with resolving all things into Fortuitous Mechanism as some Philosophers have done of late who yet pretend to be Theists and Incorporealists but only that he would explain some things in that way Nay he clearly puts a difference betwixt Empedocles and the Democritick Atheists in those words subjoyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which is as if he should have said Empedocles resolved some things in the Fabrick and structure of Animals into Fortuitous Mechanism but there are certain other Philosophers namely Leucippus and Democritus who would have all things whatsoever in the whole World Heaven and Earth and Animals to be made by Chance and the Fortuitous Motion of Atoms without a Deity It seems very plain that Empedocles his Philia and Nichos his Friendship and Discord which he makes to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Active Cause and Principle of Motion in the Universe was a certain Plastick Power superiour to Fortuitous Mechanism and Aristotle himself acknowledges somewhere as much And Plutarch tells us that according to Empedocles The Order and System of the World is not the Result of Material Causes and Fortuitous Mechanism but of a Divine Wisdom assigning to every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not such a Place as Nature would give it but such as is most convenient for the Good of the whole Simplicius who had read Empedocles acquaints us that he made two Worlds the one Intellectual the other Sensible and the former of these to be the Exemplar and Archetype of the latter And so the Writer De Placitis Philosophorum observes that Empedocles made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two Suns the one Archetypal and Intelligible the other Apparent or Sensible But I need take no more pains to purge Empedocles from those two Imputations of Corporealism and Atheism since he hath so fully confuted them himself in those Fragments of his still extant First by expressing such a hearty Resentment of the Excellency of Piety and the Wretchedness and Sottishness of Atheism in these Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this Sence He is happy who hath his mind richly fraught and stored with the Treasures of Divine Knowledge but he miserable whose mind is Darkened as to the Belief of a God And Secondly by denying God to have any Humane Form or Members 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Or otherwise to be Corporeal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then positively affirming what he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only a Holy and Ineffable Mind that by Swift Thoughts agitates the whole World XXV And now we shall speak something also of Anaxagoras having shewed before that he was a Spurious Atomist For he likewise agreed with the other Atomists in this that he asserted Incorporeal Substance in general as the Active Cause and Principle of Motion in the Universe and Particularly an Incorporeal Deity distinct from the World Affirming that there was besides Atoms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is express'd in Plato An Ordering and Disposing Mind that was the Cause of all things Which Mind as Aristotle tells us he made to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The only Simple Vnmixed and Pure thing in the World And he supposed this to be that which brought the Confused Chaos of Omnisarious Atoms into that Orderly Compages of the World that now is XXVI And by this time we have made it evident that those Atomical Physiologers that
That it cannot be that any thing should be made out of Nothing And of this Xenophanes Sextus the Philosopher tells us that he held 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there was but one God and that he was Incorporeal speaking thus of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle also writes in like manner concerning Empedocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empedocles acknowledges the very same with other Philosophers that it is impossible any thing should be Made out of Nothing or Perish into Nothing And as for Anaxagoras it is sufficiently known to all that his Homoeomeria or Doctrine of Similar Atoms which was a certain Spurious kind of Atomism was nothing but a superstructure made upon this Foundation Besides all which Aristotle pronounces universally concerning the Ancient Physiologers without any exception that they agreed in this one thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Physiologers generally agree in this laying it down for a grand Foundation that it is Impossible that any thing should be made out of Nothing And again he calls this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common Opinion of Naturalists intimating also that they concluded it the greatest absurdity that any Physiologer could be guilty of to lay down such Principles as from whence it would follow that any Real Entity in Nature did come from Nothing and go to Nothing Now it may well be supposed that all these Ancient Physiologers the most of which were also Theists did not keep such a stir about this business for nothing and therefore we are in the next place to show what it was that they drove at in it And we do affirm that one thing which they all aimed at who insisted upon the forementioned Principle was the establishing some Atomical Physiology or other but most of them at such as takes away all Forms and Qualities of Bodies as Entities really distinct from the Matter and Substance and resolves all into Mechanism and Phancy For it is plain that if the Forms and Qualities of Bodies be Entities really distinct from the Substance and its various Modifications of Figure Site and Motion that then in all the Changes and Transmutations of Nature all the Generations and Alterations of Body those Forms and Qualities being supposed to have no Real Existence any where before something must of necessity be Created or produced miraculously out of Nothing as likewise reduced into Nothing in the Corruptions of them they having no Being any where afterward As for Example when ever a Candle is but lighted or kindled into a flame there must needs be a new Form of fire and new Qualities of Light and Heat really distinct from the Matter and Substance produced out of Nothing that is Created and the same again Reduced into Nothing or Annihilated when the flame is extinguished Thus when Water is but Congealed at any time into Snow Hail or Ice and when it is again Dissolved when Wax is by Liquefaction made Soft and Transparent and changed to most of our Senses when the same kind of Nourishment taken in by Animals is turned into Blood Milk Flesh Bones Nerves and all the other Similar Parts when that which was in the Form of bright Flame appears in the Form of dark Smoak and that which was in the Form of Vapour in the Form of Rain or Water or the like I say that in all these Mutations of Bodies there must needs be something made out of Nothing But that in all the Protean Transformations of Nature which happen continually there should be Real Entities thus perpetually produced out of Nothing and reduced to Nothing seemed to be so great a Paradox to the Ancients that they could by no means admit of it Because as we have already declared First they concluded it clearly impossible by Reason that any Real Entity should of it self rise out of Nothing and Secondly they thought it very absurd to bring God upon the Stage with his Miraculous extraordinary Power perpetually at every turn As also that every thing might be made out of every thing and there would be no Cause in Nature for the Production of one thing rather than another and at this time rather than that if they were Miraculously made out of Nothing Wherefore they sagaciously apprehended that there must needs be some other Mystery or Intrigue of Nature in this business than was commonly dream'd of or suspected which they concluded to be this That in all these Transformations there were no such Real Entities of Forms and Qualities distinct from the Matter and the various Disposition of its Parts in respect of Figure Site and Motion as is vulgarly supposed Produced and Destroyed but that all these Feats were done either by the Concretion and Secretion of actually Inexistent Parts or else by the different Modifications of the same Preexistent Matter or the Insensible parts thereof This only being added hereunto that from those different Modifications of the small Particles of Bodies they being not so distinctly perceived by our Senses there are begotten in us certain confused Phasmata or Phantasmata Apparitions Phancies and Passions as of Light and Colours Heat and Cold and the like which are those things that are vulgarly mistaken for real Qualities existing in the Bodies without us whereas indeed there is Nothing Absolutely in the Bodies themselves like to those Phantastick Idea's that we have of them and yet they are wisely contriv'd by the Author of Nature for the Adorning and Embellishing of the Corporeal World to us So that they conceived Bodies were to be considered two manner of ways either as they are Absolutely in themselves or else as they are Relatively to us And as they are absolutely in themselves that so there never was any Entity really distinct from the Substance produced in them out of Nothing nor Corrupted or Destroyed to Nothing but only the Accidents and Modifications altered Which Accidents and Modifications are no Entities really distinct from their Substance for as much as the same Body may be put into several Shapes and Figures and the same Man may successively Stand Sit Kneel and Walk without the production of any new Entities really distinct from the substance of his Body So that the Generations Corruptions and Alterations of Inanimate Bodies are not terminated in the Production or Destruction of any Substantial Forms or real Entities distinct from the Substance but only in different Modifications of it But secondly as Bodies are considered Relatively to us that so besides their different Modifications and Mechanical Alterations there are also different Phancies Seemings and Apparitions begotten in us from them which unwary and unskilful Philosophers mistake for Absolute Forms and Qualities in Bodies themselves And thus they concluded that all the Phaenomena of Inanimate Bodies and their various Transformations might be clearly resolved into these two things Partly something that is Real and Absolute in Bodies themselves which is nothing but their different Mechanism or Disposition of Parts in respect of
Generable and Corruptible 10. That the Doctrine of these Materialists will be more fully understood from the Exceptions which Aristotle maâ—es against them His first Exception That they assigned no Cause of Motion but introduced it into the World unaccomptibly 11. Aristotle's second Exception That these Materialists did assign no Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Well and Fit and give no accompt of the Orderly Regularity of things That Anaxagoras was the first Ionick Philosopher who made Mind and Good a Principle of the Vniverse 12. Concluded That Aristotle's Materialists were downright Atheists not merely because they held all Substance to be Body since Heraclitus and Zeno did the like and yet are not therefore accompted Atheists they supposing their Fiery Matter to be Originally Intellectual and the whole World to be an Animal but because these made Stupid Matter devoid of all Vnderstanding and Life to be the only Principle 13. As also because they supposed every thing besides the Substance of Matter Life and Vnderstanding and all Particular Beings to be Generable and Corruptible and consequently that there could be no other God then such as was Native and Mortal That those ancient Theologers who were Theogonists and Generated all the Gods out of Night and Chaos were only Verbal Theists but Real Atheists Sensless Matter being to them the highest Numen 14. The great difference observed betwixt Aristotle's Atheistical Materialists and the Italick Philosophers the former determining all things besides the Substance of Matter to be Made or Generated the latter that no Real Entity was either Generated or Corrupted thereupon both destroying Qualities and Forms of Body and asserting the Ingenerability and Incorporeity of Souls 15. How Aristotle's Atheistick Materialists endeavoured to baffle and elude that Axiom of the Italick Philosophers That Nothing can come from Nothing nor go to Nothing And that Anaxagoras was the first amongst the Ionicks who yielded so far to that Principle as from thence to assert Incorporeal Substance and the Pre-existence of Qualities and Forms in Similar Atoms forasmuch as he conceived them to be things really distinct from the Substance of Matter 16. The Error of some Writers who because Aristotle affirms that the Ancient Philosophers did generally conclude the World to have been Made from thence infer that they were all Theists and that Aristotle contradicts himself in representing many of them as Atheists That the Ancient Atheists did generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assert the World to have been Made or have had a Beginning as also some Theists did maintain its Eternity but in a way of Dependency upon the Deity That we ought here to distinguish betwixt the System of the World and the Substance of the Matter all Atheists asserting the Matter to have been not only Eternal but also such Independently upon any other Being 17. That Plato and others concluded this Materialism or Hylopathian Atheism to have been at least as old as Homer who made the Ocean or fluid Matter the Father of all the Gods And that this was indeed the Ancientest of all Atheisms which verbally acknowledging Gods yet derived the Original of them all from Night and Chaos The description of this Atheistick Hypothesis in Aristophanes That Night and Chaos first laid an Egg out of which sprung forth Love which afterwards mingling with Chaos begat Heaven and Earth Animals and all the Gods 18. That notwithstanding this in Aristotle's judgment Parmenides Hesiod with 〈◊〉 others who made Love in like manner Senior to all the Gods were to be exempted out of the number of Atheists they understanding this Love to be an Active Principle or Cause of Motion in the Vniverse which therefore could be no Egg of the Night nor Off-spring of Chaos but something in Order of Nature before Matter Simmias Rhodius his Wings a Poem in honour of this Heavenly Love This not that Love which was the Off-spring of Penia and Porus in Plato In what rectified sence it may pass for true Theology that Love is the Supreme Deity and Original of all things 19. That though Democritus and Leucippus be elsewhere taxed by Aristotle for this very thing that they assigned only a Material Cause of the Vniverse yet they were not the Persons intended by him in the fore-cited Accusation but certain Ancienter Philosophers who also were not Atomists but Hylopathians 20. That Aristotle's Atheistick Materialists were all the first Ionick Philosophers before Anaxagoras Thales being the Head of them But that Thales is acquitted from this Imputation of Atheism by several good Authors with an Accompt how he came to be thus differently represented and therefore that his next Successour Anaximander is rather to be accounted the Prince of this Atheistick Philosophy 21. A Passage out of Aristotle objected which at first sight seems to make Anaximander a Divine Philosopher and therefore hath led both Modern and Ancient Writers into that mistake That this Place well considered proves the contrary That Anaximander was the Chief of the old Atheistick Philosophers 22. That it is no wonder if Anaximander called Sensless Matter the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God since to all Atheists that must needs be the the highest Numen Also how this is said to be Immortal and to Govern all with the concurrent Judgment of the Greek Scholiasts upon this Place 23. A further Accompt of the Anaximandrian Philosophy manifesting it to have been purely Atheistical 24. What ill Judges the Vulgar have been of Theists and Atheists as also that learned men have commonly supposed fewer Atheists than indeed there were Anaximander and Democritus Atheists both alike though Philosophising different ways That some Passages in Plato respect the Anaximandrian Form of Atheism rather than the Democritical 25. Why Democritus and Leucippus new modell'd Atheism into the Atomick Form 26. That besides the Three Forms of Atheism already mentioned we sometimes meet with a Fourth which supposes the Vniverse though not to be an Animal yet a kind of Plant or Vegetable having one Plastick Nature in it devoid of Vnderstanding and Sense which disposes and orders the Whole 27. That this Form of Atheism which makes one Plastick Life to preside over the Whole is different from the Hylozoick in that it takes away all Fortuitousness and subjects all to the Fate of one Plastick Methodical Nature 28. Though it be possible that some in all ages might have entertained this Atheistical Conceipt That things are dispensed by one Regular and Methodical but Vnknowing Sensless Nature yet it seems to have been chiefly asserted by certain Spurious Heracliticks and Stoicks And therefore this Form of Atheism which supposes one Cosmoplastick Nature may be called Pseudo-zenonian 29. That besides the Philosophick Atheists there have been always Enthusiastick and Fanatical Atheists though in some sence all Atheists may be said also to be both Enthusiasts and Fanaticks they being led by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Irrational Impetus 30. That there cannot easily be any other Form of
to be perswaded first that the Sensitive Soul in men as well as Brutes is merely Corporeal and then that there is a Material Plastick Life in the Seeds of all Plants and Animals whereby they do Artificially form themselves and from thence afterward to descend also further to Hylozoism that all matter as such hath a kind of Natural though not Animal Life in it in consideration whereof we ought not to Censure every Hylozoist professing to hold a Deity and a Rational Soul Immortal for a mere Disguised Atheist or Counterfeit Histrionical Theist III. But though every Hylozoist be not therefore necessarily an Atheist yet whosoever is an Hylozoist and Corporealist both together he that both holds the Life of Matter in the Sence before declared and also that there is no other Substance in the World besides Body and Matter cannot be excused from the Imputation of Atheism for Two Reasons First because though he derive the Original of all Things not from what is perfectly Dead and Stupid as the Atomick Atheist doth but from that which hath a kind of Life or Perception in it nay an Infallible Omniscience of whatsoever it self can Do or Suffer or of all its own Capabilities and Congruities which seems to bear some Semblance of a Deity yet all this being only in the way of Natural and not Animal Perception is indeed nothing but a Dull and Drowsie Plastick and Spermatick Life devoid of all Consciousness and Self-enjoyment The Hylozoists Nature is a piece of very Mysterious Non-sence a thing perfectly Wise without any Knowledge or Consciousness of it self Whereas a Deity according to the true Notion of it is such a Perfect Understanding Being as with full Consciousness and Self-enjoyment is completely Happy Secondly because the Hylozoick Corporealist supposing all Matter as such to have Life in it must needs make Infinite of those Lives forasmuch as every Atom of Matter has a Life of its own Coordinate and Independent on one another and consequently as many Independent first Principles no one Common Life or Mind ruling over the Whole Whereas to assert a God is to derive all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from some one Principle or to suppose one Perfect Living and Understanding Being to be the Original of all things and the Architect of the whole Universe Thus we see that the Hylozoick Corporealist is really an Atheist though carrying more the Semblance and Disguise of a Theist than other Atheists in that he attributes a kind of Life to Matter For indeed every Atheist must of necessity cast some of the Incommunicable Properties of the Deity more or less upon that which is not God namely Matter and they who do not attribute Life to it yet must needs bestow upon it Necessary Self-existence and make it the First Principle of all things which are the Peculiarities of the Deity The Numen which the Hylozoick Corporealist pays all his Devotions to is a certain blind Shee-god or Goddess called Nature or the Life of Matter which is a very great Mystery a thing that is Perfectly Wise and Infallibly Omniscient without any Knowledge or Consciousness at all Something like to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that vulgar Enigm or Riddle of Boys concerning an Eunuch striking a Bat A Man and not a Man Seeing and not Seeing did Strike and not Strike with a Stone and not a Stone a Bird and not a Bird c. The Difference being only this that this was a thing Intelligible but humoursomly expressed whereas the other seems to be perfect Non-sence being nothing but a misunderstanding of the Plastick Power as shall be showed afterwards IV. Now the First and Chief Assertour of this Hylozoick Atheism was as we conceive Strato Lampsacenus commonly called also Physicus that had been once an Auditor of Theophrastus and a famous Peripatetick but afterwards degenerated from a Genuine Peripatetick into a new-formed kind of Atheist For Velleius an Epicurean Atheist in Cicero reckoning up all the several sorts of Theists which had been in former times gives such a Character of this Strato as whereby he makes him to be a strange kind of Atheistical Theist or Divine Atheist if we may use such a contradictious Expression his words are these Nec audiendus Strato qui Physicus appellatur qui omnem Vim Divinam in Natura sitam esse censet quae Causas gignendi augendi minuendÃve habeat sed careat omni sensu Neither is Strato commonly called the Naturalist or Physiologist to be heard who places all Divinity in Nature as having within it self the Causes of all Generations Corruptions and Augmentations but without any manner of Sense Strato's Deity therefore was a certain Living and Active but Sensless Nature He did not fetch the Original of all things as the Democritick and Epicurean Atheists from a mere Fortuitous Motion of Atoms by means whereof he bore some slight Semblance of a Theist but yet he was a down-right Atheist for all that his God being no other than such a Life of Nature in Matter as was both devoid of Sense and Consciousness and also multiplied together with the several parts of it He is also in like manner described by Seneca in St. Augustine as a kind of Mongrel thing betwixt an Atheist and a Theist Ego feram aut Platonem aut Peripateticum Stratonem quorum alter Deum sine Corpore fecit alter sine Animo Shall I endure either Plato or the Peripatetick Strato whereof the one made God to be without a Body the other without a Mind In which words Seneca taxes these two Philosophers as guilty of two contrary Extremes Plato because he made God to be a pure Mind or a perfectly Incorporeal Being and Strato because he made him to be a Body without a Mind he acknowledging no other Deity than a certain Stupid and Plastick Life in all the several parts of Matter without Sense Wherefore this seems to be the only reason why Strato was thus sometimes reckoned amongst the Theists though he were indeed an Atheist because he dissented from that only form of Atheism then so vulgarly received the Democritick and Epicurean attributing a kind of Life to Nature and Matter V. And that Strato was thus an Atheist but of a different kind from Democritus may further appear from this Passage of Cicero's Strato Lampsacenus negat operâ Deorum se uti ad fabricandum Mundum quaecunque sint docet omnia esse Effecta Natura nec ut ille qui asperis laevibus hamatis uncinatÃsque Corporibus Concreta haec esse dicat interjecto Inani Somnia censet haec esse Democriti non docentis sed optantis Strato denies that he makes any use of a God for the fabricating of the World or the salving the Phaenomena thereof teaching all things to have been made by Nature but yet not in such a manner as he who affirmed them to be all Concreted out of certain
rough and smooth hookey and crooked Atoms he judging these things to be nothing but the mere Dreams and Dotages of Democritus not teaching but wishing Here we see that Strato denied the World to be made by a Deity or perfect Understanding Nature as well as Democritus and yet that he dissented from Democritus notwithstanding holding another kind of Nature as the Original of things than he did who gave no account of any Active Principle and Cause of Motion nor of the Regularity that is in Things Democritus his Nature was nothing but the Fortuitous Motion of Matter but Strato's Nature was an Inward Plastick Life in the several Parts of Matter whereby they could Artificially frame themselves to the best advantage according to their several Capabilities without any Conscious or Reflexive Knowledg Quicquid aut sit aut fiat says the same Authour Naturalibus fieri aut factum esse docet ponderibus motibus Strato teaches whatsoever is or is made to be made by certain inward Natural Forces and Activities VI. Furthermore it is to be observed that though Strato thus attributed a certain kind of Life to Matter yet he did by no means allow of any one Common Life whether Sentient and Rational or Plastick and Spermatick only as Ruling over the whole mass of Matter and Corporeal Universe which is a thing in part affirmed by Plutarch and may in part be gathered from these words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strato affirmeth that the World is no Animal or God but that what is Natural in every thing follows something Fortuitous antecedent Chance first beginning and Nature acting consequently thereupon The full sence whereof seems to be this that though Strato did not derive the Original of all Mundane things from mere Fortuitous Mechanism as Democritus before him had done but supposed a Life and Natural Perception in the Matter that was directive of it yet not acknowledging any one Common Life whether Animal or Plastick as governing and swaying the whole but only supposing the several Parts of Matter to have so many several Plastick Lives of their own he must needs attribute something to Fortune and make the Mundane System to depend upon a certain Mixture of Chance and Plastick or Orderly Nature both together and consequently must be an Hylozoist Thus we see that these are two Schemes of Atheism very different from one another that which fetches the Original of all things from the mere Fortuitous and Unguided Motion of Matter without any Vital or Directive Principle and that which derives it from a certain Mixture of Chance and the Life of Matter both together it supposing a Plastick Life not in the whole Universe as one thing but in all the several Parts of Matter by themselves the first of which is the Atomick and Democritick Atheism the second the Hylozoick and Stratonick VII It may perhaps be suspected by some that the famous Hippocrates who lived long before Strato was an Assertour of the Hylozoick Atheism because of such Passages in him as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is Vnlearned or Vntaught but it learneth from it self what things it ought to do And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature findeth out ways to it self not by Ratiocination But there is nothing more affirmed here concerning Nature by Hippocrates than what might be affirmed likewise of the Aristotelick and Platonick Nature which is supposed to act for Ends though without Consultation and Ratiocination And I must confess it seems to me no way mis-becoming of a Theist to acknowledge such a Nature or Principle in the Universe as may act according to Rule and Method for the Sake of Ends and in order to the Best though it self do not understand the reason of what it doth this being still supposed to act dependently upon a higher Intellectual Principle and to have been first set a work and employed by it it being otherwise Non-sence But to assert any such Plastick Nature as is Independent upon any higher Intellectual Principle and so it self the first and highest Principle of Activity in the Universe this indeed must needs be either that Hylozoick Atheism already spoken of or else another different Form of Atheism which shall afterwards be described But though Hippocrates were a Corporealist yet we conceive he ought not to lie under the suspicion of either of those two Atheisms forasmuch as himself plainly asserts a higher Intellectual Principle than such a Plastick Nature in the Universe namely an Heraclitick Corporeal God or Vnderstanding Fire Immortal pervading the whole World in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seems to me that that which is called Heat or Fire is Immortal and Omniscient and that it sees hears and knows all things not only such as are present but also future Wherefore we conclude that Hippocrates was neither an Hylozoick nor Democritick Atheist but an Heraclitick Corporeal Theist VIII Possibly it may be thought also that Plato in his Sophist intends this Hylozoick Atheism where he declares it as the Opinion of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Nature generates all Things from a certain Spontaneous Principle without any Reason and Vnderstanding But here the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be as well rendred Fortuitous as Spontaneous however there is no necessity that this should be understood of an Artificial or Methodical Unknowing Nature It is true indeed that Plato himself seems to acknowledge a certain Plastick or Methodical Nature in the Universe Subordinate to the Deity or that perfect Mind which is the supreme Governour of all things as may be gathered from these words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Nature does rationally or orderly together with Reason and Mind govern the whole Vniverse Where he supposes a certain Regular Nature to be a Partial and Subordinate Cause of things under the Divine Intellect And it is very probable that Aristotle derived that whole Doctrine of his concerning a Regular and Artificial Nature which acts for Ends from the Platonick School But as for any such Form of Atheism as should suppose a Plastick or Regular but Sensless Nature either in the whole World or the several parts of Matter by themselves to be the highest Principle of all things we do not conceive that there is any Intimation of it to be found any where in Plato For in his De Legibus where he professedly disputes against Atheism he states the Doctrine of it after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Nature and Chance produced all the first greatest and most excellent things but that the smaller things were produced by Humane Art The plain meaning whereof is this that the First Original of things and the frame of the whole Universe proceeded from a mere Fortuitous Nature or the Motion of Matter unguided by any Art or Method And thus it is further explained in the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c.
That the first Elements Fire water Air and Earth were all made by Nature and Chance without any Art or Method and then that the bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars and the whole Heavens were afterward made out of those Elements as devoid of all manner of Life and only fortuitously moved and mingled together and lastly that the whole Mundane System together with the orderly Seasons of the year as also Plants Animals and Men did arise after the same manner from the mere Fortuitous Motion of sensless and stupid Matter In the very same manner does Plato state this Controversie again betwixt Theists and Atheists in his Philebus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether shall we say O Protarchus that this whole Vniverse is dispensed ond ordered by a mere Irrational Temerarious and Fortuitous Principle and so as it happens or contrariwise as our fore-fathers have instructed us that Mind and a certain Wonderful Wisdom did at first frame and does still govern all things Wherefore we conclude that Plato took no notice of any other Form of Atheism as then set on foot than such as derives all things from a mere Fortuitous Principle from Nature and Chance that is the unguided Motion of Matter without any Plastick Artificialness or Methodicalness either in the whole Universe or the parts of it But because this kind of Atheism which derives all things from a mere Fortuitous Nature had been managed two manner of ways by Democritus in the way of Atoms and by Anaximander and others in the way of Forms and Qualities of which we are to speak in the next place therefore the Atheism which Plato opposes was either the Democritick or the Anaximandrian Atheism or else which is most probable both of them together IX It is hardly imaginable that there should be no Philosophick Atheists in the world before Democritus and Leucippus Plato long since concluded that there have been Atheists more or less in every Age when he bespeaks his young Atheist after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The full sence whereof seems to be this Neither you my Son nor your friends Democritus Leucippus and Protagoras are the first who have entertained this Opinion concerning the Gods but there have been always some more or less sick of this Atheistick Disease Wherefore we shall now make a diligent search and enquiry to see if we can find any other Philosophers who Atheized before Democritus and Leucippus as also what Form of Atheism they entertained Aristotle in his Metaphysicks speaking of the Quaternio of Causes affirms that many of those who first Philosophized assigned only a Material Cause of the whole Mundane System without either Intending or Efficient Cause The reason whereof he intimates to have been this because they asserted Matter to be the only Substance and that whatsoever else was in the World besides the substance or bulk of Matter were all nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 different Passions and Affections Accidents and Qualities of Matter that were all Generated out of it and Corruptible again into it the Substance of Matter always remaining the same neither Generated nor Corrupted but from Eternity unmade Aristotle's words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Most of those who first philosophized took notice of no other Principle of things in the Vniverse than what is to be referred to the Material Cause for that out of which all things are and out of which they are first made and into which they are all at last corrupted and resolved the Substance always remaining the same and being changed only in its Passions and Qualities This they concluded to be the first Original and Principle of all things X. But the meaning of these old Material Philosophers will be better understood by those Exceptions which Aristotle makes against them which are Two First that because they acknowledged no other Substance besides Matter that might be an Active Principle in the Universe it was not possible for them to give any account of the Original of Motion and Action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though all Generation be made never so much out of something as the Matter yet the question still is by what means this cometh to pass and what is the Active Cause which produceth it because the Subject-matter cannot change it self As for example neither Timber nor Brass is the cause that either of them are changed for Timber alone does not make a Bed nor Brass a Statue but there must be something else as the Cause of the Change and to enquire after this is to enquire after another Principle besides Matter which we would call that from whence Motion springs In which words Aristotle intimates that these old Material Philosopers shuffled in Motion and Action into the World unaccountably or without a Cause forasmuch as they acknowledged no other Principle of Things besides Passive Matter which could never move change or alter it self XI And Aristotle's second Exception against these old Material Philosophers is this that since there could be no Intending Causality in Sensless and Stupid Matter which they made to be the only Principle of all things they were not able to assign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Cause of Well and Fit and so could give no account of the Regular and Orderly Frame of this Mundane System 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That things partly are so well in the World and partly are made so well cannot be imputed either to Earth or Water or any other sensless Body much less is it reasonable to attribute so noble and Excellent an Effect as this to mere Chance or Fortune Where Aristotle again intimates that as these Material Philosophers shuffled in Motion into the world without a Cause so likewise they must needs suppose this Motion to be altogether Fortuitous and Unguided and thereby in a manner make Fortune which is nothing but the absence or defect of an Intending Cause to supply the room both of the Active and Intending Cause that is Efficient and Final Whereupon Aristotle subjoyns a Commendation of Anaxagoras as the first of the Ionick Philosophers who introduced Mind or Intellect for a Principle in the Universe that in this respect he alone seemed to be sober and in his wits comparatively with those others that went before him who talked so idly and Atheistically For Anaxagoras his Principle was such saith Aristotle as was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at once a cause of Motion and also of Well and Fit of all the Regularity Aptitude Pulchritude and Order that is in the whole Universe And thus it seems Anaxagoras himself had determined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anaxagoras saith that Mind is the only Cause of Right and Well this being proper to Mind to aim at Ends and Good and to order one thing Fitly for the sake of another Whence it was that Anaxagoras concluded Good also as well as Mind to have been a Principle of the Universe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
manner forasmuch as they made the Ocean and Tethys to have been the Original of Generation and for this cause the Oath of the Gods is said to be by water called by the Poets Styx as being that from which they all derived their Original For an Oath ought to be by that which is most Honourable and that which is most Ancient is most Honourable In which words it is very probable that Aristotle aimed at Plato however it is certain that Plato in his Theaetetus affirms this Atheistick Doctrine to have been very ancient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all things were the off-spring of Flux and Motion that is that all things were Made and Generated out of Matter and that he chargeth Homer with it in deriving the Original of the Gods themselves in like manner from the Ocean or Floating Matter in this Verse of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Father of all Gods the Ocean is Tethys their Mother Wherefore these indeed seem to have been the ancientest of all Atheists who though they acknowledged certain Beings superiour to men which they called by the Name of Gods did notwithstanding really deny a God according to the true Notion of him deriving the Original of all things whatsoever in the Universe from the Ocean that is Fluid Matter or which is all one from Night and Chaos and supposing all their Gods to have been Made and Generated and consequently to be Mortal and Corruptible Of which Atheistick Theology Aristophanes gives us the description in his Aves after this manner That at first was Nothing but Night and Chaos which laying an Egg from thence was produced Love that mingling again with Chaos begot Heaven and Earth and Animals and all the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First all was Chaos one confused Heap Darkness enwrapt the disagreeing Deep In a mixt croud the Jumbled Elements were Nor Earth nor Air nor Heaven did appear Till on this horrid vast Abyss of things Teeming Night spreading o'er her cole-black Wings Laid the first Egg whence after times due course Issu'd forth Love the World 's Prolifick Source Glistering with golden Wings which fluttering o'er Dark Chaos gendred all the numerous store Of Animals and Gods c. And whereas the Poet there makes the Birds to have been begotten between Love and Chaos before all the Gods though one might think this to have been done Jocularly by him merely to humour his Plot yet Salmasius conceives and not without some reason that it was really a piece of the old Atheistick Cabala which therefore seems to have run thus That Chaos or Matter confusedly moved being the first Original of all Things did from thence rise up gradually from lesser to greater Perfection First Inanimate things as the Elements Heaven Earth and Seas then Brute-animals afterwards Men and last of all the Gods As if not only the Substance of Matter and those Inanimate Bodies of the Elements Fire Water Air and Earth were as Aristotle somewhere speaks according to the sence of those Atheistick Theologers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First in order of Nature before God as being themselves also Gods but also Brute-animals at least if not men too And this is the Atheistick Creation of the World Gods and all out of Sensless and Stupid Matter or Dark Chaos as the only Original Numen the perfectly Inverted order of the Universe XVIII But though this Hypothesis be purely Atheistical that makes Love which is supposed to be the Original Deity to have it self sprung at first from an Egg of the Night and consequently that all Deity was the Creature or Off-spring of Matter and Chaos or Dark Fortuitous Nature yet Aristotle somewhere conceives that not only Parmenides but also Hesiod and some others who did in like manner make Love the Supreme Deity and derive all things from Love and Chaos were to be exempted out of the number of those Atheistick Materialists before described forasmuch as they seemed to understand by Love an Active Principle and Cause of Motion in the Universe which therefore could not spring from an Egg of the Night nor be the Creature of Matter but must needs be something Independent on it and in order of Nature before it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One would suspect that Hesiod and if there be any other who made Love or Desire a Principle of things in the Universe aimed at this very thing namely the setling of another Active Principle besides Matter For Parmenides describing the Generation of the Universe makes Love to be the Senior of all the Gods and Hesiod after he had mentioned Chaos introduced Love as the Supreme Deity As intimating herein that besides Matter there ought to be another Cause or Principle that should be the Original of Motion and Activity and also hold and conjoyn all things together But how these two Principles are to be ordered and which of them was to be placed first whether Love or Chaos may be judged of afterwards In which latter words Aristotle seems to intimate that Love as taken for an Active Principle was not to be supposed to spring from Chaos but rather to be in order of Nature before it and therefore by this Love of theirs must needs be meant the Deity And indeed Simmias Rhodius in his Wings a Hymn made in Honour of this Love that is Senior to all the Gods and a Principle in the Universe tells us plainly that it is not Cupid Venuses soft and effeminate Son but another kind of Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I 'm not that Wanton Boy The Sea-froath Goddess's only Joy Pure Heavenly Love I hight and my Soft Magick Charms not Iron Bands fast tye Heaven Earth and Seas The Gods themselves do readily Stoop to my Laws The whole World daunces to my Harmony Moreover this cannot be that Love neither which is described in Plato's Symposium as some learned men have conceived that was begotten between Penia and Porus this being not a Divine but Demoniack thing as the Philosopher there declares no God but a Daemon only or of a Middle Nature For it is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Love of Pulchritude as such which though rightly used may perhaps Wing and Inspire the Mind to Noble and Generous Attempts and beget a scornful disdeign in it of Mean Dirty and Sordid things yet it is capable of being abused also and then it will strike downward into Brutishness and Sensuality But at best it is an Affection belonging only to Imperfect and Parturient Beings and therefore could
fuit Inundatio quae non secus quà m Hyems quà m Aestas Lege Mundi venit Whatsoever from the beginning to the end of it it can either Do or Suffer it was all at first included in the Nature of the whole As in the Seed is conteined the Whole Delineation of the Future man and the Embryo or Vnborn infant hath already in it the Law of a Beard and Gray Hairs The Lineaments of the whole Body and of its following age being there described as it were in a little and obscure Compendium In like manner the Original and First Rudiments of the World conteined in them not only the Sun and Moon the Courses of the Stars and the Generations of Animals but also the Vicissitudes of all Terrestrial things And every Deluge or Inundation of Water comes to pass no less by the Law of the World its Spermatick or Plastick Nature than Winter and Summer doth XXVIII We do not deny it to be possible but that some in all Ages might have entertained such an Atheistical Conceit as this That the Original of this whole Mundane System was from one Artificial Orderly and Methodical but Sensless Nature lodge in the Matter but we cannot trace the footsteps of this Doctrine any where so much as among the Stoicks to which Sect Seneca who speaks so waveringly and uncertainly in this point Whether the World were an Animal or a Plant belonged And indeed diverse learned men have suspected that even the Zenonian and Heraclitick Deity it self was no other than such a Plastick Nature or Spermatick Principle in the Universe as in the Seeds of Vegetables and Animals doth frame their respective Bodies Orderly and Artificially Nor can it be denied but that there hath been just cause given for such a suspicion forasmuch as the best of the Stoicks sometimes confounding God with Nature seemed to make him nothing but an Artificial Fire Orderly and Methodically proceeding to Generation And it was Familiar with them as Laertius tells us to call God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spermatick Reason or Form of the World Nevertheless because Zeno and others of the chief Stoical Doctors did also many times assert that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Rational and Intellectual Nature and therefore not a Plastick Principle only in the Matter of the Universe as likewise that the whole World was an Animal and not a mere Plant Therefore we incline rather to excuse the generality of the first and most ancient Stoicks from the imputation of Atheism and to account this Form of Atheism which we now speak of to be but a certain Degeneracy from the right Heraclitick and Zenonian Cabala which seemed to contain these two things in it First that there was an Animalish Sentient and Intellectual Nature or a Conscious Soul and Mind that presided over the whole World though lodged immediately in the Fiery Matter of it Secondly that this Sentient and Intellectual Nature or Corporeal Soul and Mind of the Universe did contain also under it or within it as the inferiour part of it a certain Plastick Nature or Spermatick Principle which was properly the Fate of all things For thus Heraclitus defined Fate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A certain Reason passing through the Substance of the whole World or an Ethereal Body that was the Seed of the Generation of the Vniverse And Zeno's first Principle as it is said to be an Intellectual Nature so it is also said to have contained in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Spermatick Reasons and forms by which every thing is done according to Fate However though this seem to have been the genuine Doctrine both of Heraclitus and Zeno yet others of their Followers afterwards divided these two things from one another and taking only the latter of them made the Plastick or Spermatick Nature devoid of all Animality or Conscious Intellectuality to be the highest Principle in the Universe Thus Laertius tells us that Boethus an eminent and famous Stoical Doctor did plainly deny the World to be an Animal that is to have any Sentient Conscious or Intellectual Nature presiding over it and consequently must needs make it to be but Corpus Naturâ gubernante ut Arbores ut Sata A Body governed by a Plastick or Vegetative Nature as Trees Plants and Herbs And as it is possible that other Stoicks and Heracliticks might have done the like before Boethus so it is very probable that he had after him many Followers amongst which as Plinius Secundus may be reckoned for one so Seneca himself was not without a doubtful Tincture of this Atheism as hath been already shewed Wherefore this Form of Atheism which supposes one Plastick or Spermatick Nature one Plantal or Vegetative Life in the whole World as the Highest Principle may for distinction sake be called the Pseudo-Stoical or Stoical Atheism XXIX Besides these Philosophick Atheists whose several Forms we have now described it cannot be doubted but that there have been in all Ages many other Atheists that have not at all Philosophized nor pretended to maintain any particular Atheistick System or Hypothesis in a way of Reason but were only led by a certain dull and sottish though confident Disbelief of whatsoever they could not either See or Feel Which kind of Atheists may therefore well be accompted Enthusiastical or Fanatical Atheists Though it be true in the mean time that even all manner of Atheists whatsoever and those of them who most of all pretend to Reason and Philosophy may in some sence be justly stiled also both Enthusiasts and Fanaticks Forasmuch as they are not led or carried on into this way of Atheizing by any clear Dictates of their Reason or Understanding but only by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain Blind and Irrational Impetus they being as it were Inspired to it by that lower Earthly Life and Nature which is called in the Scripture-oracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of the World or a Mundane Spirit and is opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit that is of God For when the Apostle speaks after this manner We have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit that is of God he seems to intimate thus much unto us That as some men were Led and Inspired by a Divine Spirit so others again are Inspired by a Mundane Spirit by which is meant the Earthly Life Now the former of these Two are not to be accompted Enthusiasts as the word is now commonly taken in a Bad Sence because the Spirit of God is no Irrational thing but either the very self same thing with Reason or else such a thing as Aristotle as it were Vaticinating concerning it somewhere calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain Better and Diviner thing than Reason and Plotinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Root of Reason But on the contrary the Mundane Spirit or Earthly Life is Irrational Sottishness and they who are Atheistically Inspired by it how
be look'd upon as the Rising Sun of Atheism Et tanquam Spes altera Trojae it seeming to smile upon them and flatter them at a distance with some fairer hopes of supporting that Ruinous and Desperate Cause Whereas on the Contrary that other Atomick Atheism as it insists upon a True Notion of Body that it is nothing but Resisting Bulk by which means we joyning issue thereupon shall be fairly conducted on to a clear Decision of this present Controversie as likewise to the disintangling of many other points of Philosophy so it is that which hath filled the World with the Noise of it for Two Thousand years past that concerning which several Volumes have been formerly written in which it hath been stated and brought into a kind of System and which hath of late obteined a Resurrection amongst us together with the Atomick Physiology and been recommended to the World anew under a Specious Shew of Wit and profound Philosophy Wherefore as we could not here insist upon both these Forms of Atheism together because that would have been to confound the Language of Atheists and to have made them like the Cadmean Off-spring to do immediate Execution upon themselves so we were in all reason obliged to make our First and Principal Assault upon the Atomick Atheism as being the only considerable upon this accompt because it is that alone which publickly confronts the World and like that proud Vncircumcised Philistine openly defies the Hosts of the Living God Intending nevertheless in the Close of this whole Discourse that is the Last Book where we are to determine the Right Intellectual System of the Vniverse and to assert an Incorporeal Deity to demonstrate That Life Cogitation and Vnderstanding do not Essentially belong to Matter and all Substance as such but are the Peculiar Attributes and Characteristicks of Substance Incorporeal XXXVI However since we have now started these Several Forms of Atheism we shall not in the mean time neglect any of them neither For in the Answer to the Second Atheistick Ground we shall Confute them all together at once as agreeing in this One Fundamental Principle That the Original of all things in the Vniverse is Sensless Matter or Matter devoid of all Animality or Conscious Life In the Reply to the Fourth Atheistick Argumentation we shall briefly hint the Grounds of Reason from which Incorporeal Substance is Demonstrated In the Examination of the Fifth we shall confute the Anaximandrian Atheism there propounded which is as it were the First Sciography and Rude Delineation of Atheism And in the Confutation of the Sixth we shall shew how the ancient Atomick Atheists did preventively overtherthrow the Foundation of Hylozoism Besides all which in order to a Fuller and more Thorough Confutation both of the Cosmo-plastick and Hylozoick Atheism we shall in this very place take occasion to insist largely upon the Plastick life of Nature giving in the First Place a True Accompt of it and then afterwards shewing how grosly it is misunderstood and the Pretence of it abused by the Asserters of both these Atheistick Hypotheses The Heads of which Larger Digression because they could not be so conveniently inserted in the Contents of the Chapter shall be represented to the Readers View at the End of it XXXVII For we think fit here to observe that neither the Cosmo-plastick or Stoical nor the Hylozoick or Stratonical Atheists are therefore condemned by us because they suppose such a thing as a Plastick Nature or Life distinct from the Animal albeit this be not only exploded as an Absolute Non-entity by the Atomick Atheists who might possibly be afraid of it as that which approached too near to a Deity or else would hazard the introducing of it but also utterly discarded by some Professed Theists of later times who might notwithstanding have an Undiscerned Tang of the Mechanick Atheism hanging about them in that their so confident rejecting of all Final and Intending Causality in Nature and admitting of no other Causes of things as Philosophical save the Material and Mechanical only This being really to banish all Mental and consequently Divine Causality quite out of the World and to make the whole World to be nothing else but a mere Heap of Dust Fortuitously agitated or a Dead Cadaverous thing that hath no Signatures of Mind and Vnderstanding Counsel and Wisdom at all upon it nor indeed any other Vitality acting in it than only the Production of a certain Quantity of Local Motion and the Conservation of it according to some General Laws which things the Democritick Atheists take for granted would all be as they are though there were no God And thus Aristotle describes this kind of Philosophy That it made the whole World to consist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of nothing but Bodies and Monads that is Atoms or Small Particles of Matter only ranged and disposed together into such an order but altogether Dead and Inanimate 2. For unless there be such a thing admitted as a Plastick Nature that acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sake of something and in order to Ends Regularly Artificially and Methodically it seems that one or other of these Two Things must be concluded That Either in the Efformation and Organization of the Bodies of Animals as well as the other Phenomena every thing comes to pass Fortuitously and happens to be as it is without the Guidance and Direction of any Mind or Vnderstanding Or else that God himself doth all Immediately and as it were with his own Hands Form the Body of every Gnat and Fly Insect and Mite as of other Animals in Generations all whose Members have so much of Contrivance in them that Galen professed he could never enough admire that Artifice which was in the Leg of a Fly and yet he would have admired the Wisdom of Nature more had he been but acquainted with the Use of Microscopes I say upon supposition of no Plastick Nature one or other of these Two things must be concluded because it is not conceived by any that the things of Nature are all thus administred with such exact Regularity and Constancy every where merely by the Wisdom Providence and Efficiency of those Inferior Spirits Daemons or Angels As also though it be true that the Works of Nature are dispensed by a Divine Law and Command yet this is not to be understood in a Vulgar Sence as if they were all effected by the mere Force of a Verbal Law or Outward Command because Inanimate things are not Commandable nor Governable by such a Law and therefore besides the Divine Will and Pleasure there must needs be some other Immediate Agent and Executioner provided for the producing of every Effect since not so much as a Stone or other Heavy Body could at any time fall downward merely by the Force of a Verbal Law without any other Efficient Cause but either God himself must immediately impel it or else there must be some other subordinate Cause in
Nature for that Motion Wherefore the Divine Law and Command by which the things of Nature are administred must be conceived to be the Real Appointment of some Energetick Effectual and Operative Cause for the Production of every Effect 3. Now to assert the Former of these Two things that all the Effects of Nature come to pass by Material and Mechanical Necessity or the mere Fortuitous Motion of Matter without any Guidance or Direction is a thing no less Irrational than it is Impious and Atheistical Not only because it is utterly Unconceivable and Impossible that such Infinite Regularity and Artificialness as is every where throughout the whole World should constantly result out of the Fortuitous Motion of Matter but also because there are many such Particular Phaenomena in Nature as do plainly transcend the Powers of Mechanism of which therefore no Sufficient Mechanical Reasons can be devised as the Motion of Respiration in Animals as there are also other Phaenomena that are perfectly Cross to the Laws of Mechanism as for Example that of the Distant Poles of the Aequator and Ecliptick which we shall insist upon afterward Of both which kinds there have been other Instances proposed by my Learned Friend Dr. More in his Enchiridion Metaphysicum and very ingeniously improved by him to this very purpose namely to Evince that there is something in Nature besides Mechanism and consequently Substance Incorporeal Moreover those Theists who Philosophize after this manner by resolving all the Corporeal Phaenomena into Fortuitous Mechanism or the Necessary and Vnguided Motion of Matter make God to be nothing else in the World but an Idle Spectator of the Various Results of the Fortuitous and Necessary Motions of Bodies and render his Wisdom altogether Useless and Insignificant as being a thing wholly Inclosed and shut up within his own breast and not at all acting abroad upon any thing without him Furthermore all such Mechanists as these whether Theists or Atheists do according to that Judicious Censure passed by Aristotle long since upon Democritus but substitute as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Carpenters or Artificers Wooden Hand moved by Strings and Wires in stead of a Living Hand They make a kind of Dead and Wooden World as it were a Carved Statue that hath nothing neither Vital nor Magical at all in it Whereas to those who are Considerative it will plainly appear that there is a Mixture of Life or Plastick Nature together with Mechanism which runs through the whole Corporeal Universe And whereas it is pretended not only that all Corporeal Phaenomena may be sufficiently salved Mechanically without any Final Intending and Directive Causality but also that all other Reasons of things in Nature besides the Material and Mechanical are altogether Vnphilosophical the same Aristotle ingeniously exposes the Ridiculousness of this Pretence after this manner telling us That it is just as if a Carpenter Joyner or Carver should give this accompt as the only Satisfactory of any Artificial Fabrick or Piece of Carved Imagery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that because the Instruments Axes and Hatchets Plains and Chissels happened to fall so and so upon the Timber cutting it here and there that therefore it was hollow in one place and plain in another and the like and by that means the whole came to be of such a Form For is it not altogether as Absurd and Ridiculous for men to undertake to give an accompt of the Formation and Organization of the Bodies of Animals by mere Fortuitous Mechanism without any Final or Intending Causality as why there was an Heart here and Brains there and why the Heart had so many and such different Valves in the Entrance and Out-let of its Ventricles and why all the other Organick Parts Veins and Arteries Nerves and Muscles Bones and Cartilages with the Joints and Members were of such a Form Because forsooth the Fluid Matter of the Seed happened to move so and so in several places and thereby to cause all those Differences which are also divers in different Animals all being the Necessary Result of a certain Quantity of Motion at first indifferently impressed upon the small Particles of the Matter of this Universe turned round in a Vortex But as the same Aristotle adds no Carpenter or Artificer is so simple as to give such an Accompt as this and think it satisfactory but he will rather declare that himself directed the Motion of the Instruments after such a manner and in order to such Ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Carpenter would give a better account than so for he would not think it sufficient to say that the Fabrick came to be of such a form because the Instruments happened to fall so and so but he will tell you that it was because himself made such strokes and that he directed the Instruments and determined their motion after such a manner to this End that he might make the Whole a Fabrick fit and useful for such purposes And this is to assign the Final Cause And certainly there is scarcely any man in his Wits that will not acknowledge the Reason of the different Valves in the Heart from the apparent Usefulness of them according to those particular Structures of theirs to be more Satisfactory than any which can be brought from mere Fortuitous Mechanism or the Unguided Motion of the Seminal Matter 4. And as for the Latter Part of the Disjunction That every thing in Nature should be done Immediately by God himself this as according to Vulgar Apprehension it would render Divine Providence Operose Sollicitous and Distractious and thereby make the Belief of it to be entertained with greater difficulty and give advantage to Atheists so in the Judgment of the Writer De Mundo it is not so Decorous in respect of God neither that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set his own Hand as it were to every Work and immediately do all the Meanest and Triflingest things himself Drudgingly without making use of any Inferior and Subordinate Instruments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If it were not congruous in respect of the State Majesty of Xerxes the Great King of Persia that he should condescend to do all the meanest Offices himself much less can this be thought decorous in respect of God But it seems far more August and becoming of the Divine Majesty that a certain Power and Vertue derived from him and passing through the Vniverse should move the Sun and Moon and be the Immediate Cause of those lower things done here upon Earth Moreover it seems not so agreeable to Reason neither that Nature as a Distinct thing from the Deity should be quite Superseded or made to Signifie Nothing God himself doing all things Immediately and Miraculously from whence it would follow also that they are all done either Forcibly and Violently or else Artificially only and none of them by any Inward Principle of their own Lastly
This Opinion is further Confuted by that Slow and Gradual Process that is in the Generations of things which would seem to be but a Vain and Idle Pomp or a Trifling Formality if the Agent were Omnipotent as also by those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle calls them those Errors and Bungles which are committed when the Matter is Inept and Contumacious which argue the Agent not to be Irresistible and that Nature is such a thing as is not altogether uncapable as well as Humane Art of being sometimes frustrated and disappointed by the Indisposition of Matter Whereas an Omnipotent Agent as it could dispatch its work in a Moment so it would always do it Infallibly and Irresistibly no Ineptitude or Stubbornness of Matter being ever able to hinder such a one or make him Bungle or Fumble in any thing 5. Wherefore since neither all things are produced Fortuitously or by the Unguided Mechanism of Matter nor God himself may reasonably be thought to do all things Immediately and Miraculously it may well be concluded that there is a Plastick Nature under him which as an Inferior and Subordinate Instrument doth Drudgingly Execute that Part of his Providence which consists in the Regular and Orderly Motion of Matter yet so as that there is also besides this a Higher Providence to be acknowledged which presiding over it doth often supply the Defects of it and sometimes Over-rule it forasmuch as this Plastick Nature cannot act Electively nor with Discretion And by this means the Wisdom of God will not be shut up nor concluded wholly within his own Breast but will display it self abroad and print its Stamps and Signatures every where throughout the World so that God as Plato after Orpheus speaks will be not only the Beginning and End but also the Middle of all things they being as much to be ascribed to his Causality as if himself had done them all Immediately without the concurrent Instrumentality of any Subordinate Natural Cause Notwithstanding which in this way it will appear also to Humane Reason that all things are Disposed and Ordered by the Deity without any Sollicitous Care or Distractious Providence And indeed those Mechanick Theists who rejecting a Plastick Nature affect to concern the Deity as little as is possible in Mundane Affairs either for fear of debasing him and bringing him down to too mean Offices or else of subjecting him to Sollicitous Encumberment and for that Cause would have God to contribute nothing more to the Mundane System and Oeconomy than only the First Impressing of a certain Quantity of Motion upon the Matter and the After-conserving of it according to some General Laws These men I say seem not very well to understand themselves in this Forasmuch as they must of necessity ether suppose these their Laws of Motion to execute themselves or else be forced perpetually to concern the Deity in the Immediate Motion of every Atom of Matter throughout the Universe in order to the Execution and Observation of them The Former of which being a Thing plainly Absurd and Ridiculous and the Latter that which these Philosophers themselves are extremely abhorrent from we cannot make any other Conclusion than this That they do but unskilfully and unawares establish that very Thing which in words they oppose and that their Laws of Nature concerning Motion are Really nothing else but a Plastick Nature acting upon the Matter of the whole Corporeal Universe both Maintaining the Same Quantity of Motion always in it and also Dispensing it by Transferring it out of one Body into another according to such Laws Fatally Imprest upon it Now if there be a Plastick Nature that governs the Motion of Matter every where according to Laws there can be no Reason given why the same might not also extend further to the Regular Disposal of that Matter in the Formation of Plants and Animals and other things in order to that Apt Coherent Frame and Harmony of the whole Universe 6. And as this Plastick Nature is a thing which seems to be in it self most Reasonable so hath it also had the Suffrage of the best Philosophers in all Ages For First it is well known that Aristotle concerns himself in nothing more zealously than this That Mundane things are not Effected merely by the Necessary and Vnguided Motion of Matter or by Fortuitous Mechanism but by such a Nature as acts Regularly and Artificially for Ends yet so as that this Nature is not the Highest Principle neither or the Supreme Numen but Subordinate to a Perfect Mind or Intellect he affirming that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Mind together with Nature was the Cause of this Vniverse and that Heaven and Earth Plants and Animals were framed by them both that is by Mind as the Principal and Directive Cause but by Nature as a Subservient or Executive Instrument and elsewhere joyning in like manner God and Nature both together as when he concludes That God and Nature do nothing in Vain Neither was Aristotle the First Broacher or Inventor of this Doctrine Plato before him having plainly asserted the same For in a Passage already cited he affirms that Nature together with Reason and according to it orders all things thereby making Nature as a Distinct thing from the Deity to be a Subordinate Cause under the Reason and Wisdom of it And elsewhere he resolves that there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certain Causes of a Wise and Artificial Nature which the Deity uses as Subservient to it self as also that there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con-causes which God makes use of as Subordinately Cooperative with himself Moreover before Plato Empedocles Philosophized also in the same manner when supposing Two Worlds the one Archetypal the other Extypal he made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Friendship Discord to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Active Principle and Immediate Operator in this Lower World He not understanding thereby as Plutarch and some others have conceited Two Substantial Principles in the World the one of Good the other of Evil but only a Plastick Nature as Aristotle in sundry places intimates which he called by that name partly because he apprehended that the Result and Upshot of Nature in all Generations and Corruptions amounted to nothing more than Mixtures and Separations or Concretion and Secretion of Preexistent things and partly because this Plastick Nature is that which doth reconcile the Contrarieties and Enmities of Particular things and bring them into one General Harmony in the Whole Which latter is a Notion that Plotinus describing this very Seminary Reason or Plastick Nature of the World though taking it in something a larger sence than we do in this place doth ingeniously pursue after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seminary Reason or Plastick Nature of the Vniverse opposing the Parts to one another and making them severally Indigent produces by that means War and Contention
And therefore though it be One yet notwithstanding it consists of Different and Contrary things For there being Hostility in its Parts it is nevertheless Friendly and Agreeable in the Whole after the same manner as in a Dramatick Poem Clashings and Contentions are reconciled into one Harmony And therefore the Seminary and Plastick Nature of the World may fitly be resembled to the Harmony of Disagreeing things Which Plotinick Doctrine may well pass for a Commentary upon Empedocles accordingly as Simplicius briefly represents his sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empedocles makes Two Worlds the one Vnited and Intelligible the other Divided and Sensible and in this lower Sensible World he takes notice both of Vnity and Discord It was before observed that Heraclitus likewise did assert a Regular and Artificial Nature as the Fate of things in this Lower World for his Reason passing thorough the Substance of all things or Ethereal Body which was the Seed of the Generation of the Vniverse was nothing but that Spermatick or Plastick Nature which we now speak of And whereas there is an odd Passage of this Philosophers recorded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that neither any God nor Man made this World which as it is justly derided by Plutarch for its Simplicity so it looks very Atheistically at first sight yet because Heraclitus hath not been accompted an Atheist we therefore conceive the meaning of it to have been this That the World was not made by any whatsoever after such a manner as an Artificer makes an House by Machins and Engins acting from without upon the Matter Cumbersomly and Moliminously but by a certain Inward Plastick Nature of its own And as Hippocrates followed Heraclitus in this as was before declared so did Zeno and the Stoicks also they supposing besides an Intellectual Nature as the Supreme Architect and Master-builder of the World another Plastick Nature as the Immediate Workman and Operatour Which Plastick Nature hath been already described in the words of Balbus as a thing which acts not Fortuitously but Regularly Orderly and Artificially and Laertius tells us it was defined by Zeno himself after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is a Habit moved from it self according to Spermatick Reasons or Seminal Principles perfecting and containing those several things which in determinate times are produced from it and acting agreeably to that from which it was secreted Lastly as the Latter Platonists and Peripateticks have unanimously followed their Masters herein whose Vegetative Soul also is no other than a Plastick Nature so the Chymists and Paracelsians insist much upon the same thing and seem rather to have carried the Notion on further in the Bodies of Animals where they call it by a new name of their own the Archeus Moreover we cannot but observe here that as amongst the Ancients They were generally condemned for down-right Atheists who acknowledged no other Principle besides Body or Matter Necessarily and Fortuitously moved such as Democritus and the first Ionicks so even Anaxagoras himself notwithstanding that he was a professed Theist and plainly asserted Mind to be a Principle yet because he attributed too much to Material Necessity admitting neither this Plastick Nature nor a Mundane Soul was severely censured not only by the Vulgar who unjustly taxed him for an Atheist but also by Plato and Aristotle as a kind of spurious and imperfect Theist and one who had given great advantage to Atheism Aristotle in his Metaphysicks thus represents his Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anaxagoras useth Mind and Intellect that is God as a Machin in the Cosmopoeia and when he is at a loss to give an accompt of things by Material Necessity then and never but then does he draw in Mind or God to help him out but otherwise he will rather assign any thing else for a Cause than Mind Now if Aristotle censure Anaxagoras in this manner though a professed Theist because he did but seldom make use of a Mental Cause for the salving of the Phaenomena of the World and only then when he was at a loss for other Material and Mechanical Causes which it seems he sometimes confessed himself to be what would that Philosopher have thought of those our so confident Mechanists of later times who will never vouchsafe so much as once to be beholding to God Almighty for any thing in the Oeconomy of the Corporeal World after the first Impression of Motion upon the Matter Plato likewise in his Phaedo and elsewhere condemns this Anaxagoras by name for this very thing that though he acknowledged Mind to be a Cause yet he seldom made use of it for salving the Phaenomena but in his twelfth de Legibus he perstringeth him Unnamed as one who though a professed Theist had notwithstanding given great Encouragement to Atheism after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some of them who had concluded that it was Mind that ordered all things in the Heavens themselves erring concerning the Nature of the Soul and not making that Older than the Body have overturned all again for Heavenly Bodies being supposed by them to be full of Stones and Earth and other Inanimate things dispensing the Causes of the whole Vniverse they did by this means occasion much Atheism and Impiety Furthermore the same Plato there tells us that in those times of his Astronomers and Physiologers commonly lay under the prejudice and suspicion of Atheism amongst the vulgar merely for this reason because they dealt so much in Material Causes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vulgar think that they who addict themselves to Astronomy and Physiology are made Atheists thereby they seeing as much as is possible how things come to pass by Material Necessities and being thereby disposed to think them not to be ordered by Mind and Will for the sake of Good From whence we may observe that according to the Natural Apprehensions of Men in all Ages they who resolve the Phaenomena of Nature into Material Necessity allowing of no Final nor Mental Causality disposing things in order to Ends have been strongly suspected for Friends to Atheism 7. But because some may pretend that the Plastick Nature is all one with an Occult Quality we shall here show how great a Difference there is betwixt these Two For he that asserts an Occult Quality for the Cause of any Phaenomenon does indeed assign no Cause at all of it but only declare his own Ignorance of the Cause but he that asserts a Plastick Nature assigns a Determinate and proper Cause nay the only Intelligible Cause of that which is the greatest of all Phaenomena in the World namely the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Orderly Regular and Artificial Frame of things in the Universe whereof the Mechanick Philosophers however pretending to salve all Phaenomena by Matter and Motion assign no Cause at all Mind and Understanding is the only true Cause of Orderly Regularity and he that asserts a Plastick Nature asserts Mental Causality in
is not the Deity it self but a Thing very remote from it and far below it so neither is it the Divine Art as it is in it self Pure and Abstract but Concrete and Embodied only for the Divine Art considered in it self is nothing but Knowledge Vnderstanding or Wisdom in the Mind of God Now Knowledge and Understanding in its own Nature is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain Separate and Abstract thing and of so Subtil and Refined a Nature as that it is not Capable of being Incorporated with Matter or Mingled and Blended with it as the Soul of it And therefore Aristotle's Second Instance which he propounds as most pertinent to Illustrate this business of Nature by namely of the Physicians Art curing himself is not so adequate thereunto because when the Medicinal Art Cures the Physician in whom it is it doth not there Act as Nature that is as Concrete and Embodied Art but as Knowledge and Vnderstanding only which is Art Naked Abstract and Vnbodied as also it doth its Work Ambagiously by the Physician 's Willing and Prescribing to himself the use of such Medicaments as do but conduce by removing of Impediments to help that which is Nature indeed or the Inward Archeus to effect the Cure Art is defined by Aristotle to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Reason of the thing without Matter and so the Divine Art or Knowledge in the Mind of God is Vnbodied Reason but Nature is Ratio Mersa Confusa Reason Immersed and Plunged into Matter and as it were Fuddled in it and Confounded with it Nature is not the Divine Art Archetypal but only Ectypal it is a living Stamp or Signature of the Divine Wisdom which though it act exactly according to its Arthetype yet it doth not at all Comprehend nor Understand the Reason of what it self doth And the Difference between these two may be resembled to that between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reason of the Mind and Conception called Verbum Mentis and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Reason of External Speech the Latter of which though it bear a certain Stamp and Impress of the Former upon it yet it self is nothing but Articulate Sound devoid of all Vnderstanding and Sense Or else we may Illustrate this business by another Similitude comparing the Divine Art and Wisdom to an Architect but Nature to a Manuary Opificer the Difference betwixt which two is thus set forth by Aristotle pertinently to our purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We account the Architects in every thing more honourable than the Manuary Opificers because they understand the Reason of the things done whereas the other as some Inanimate things only Do not knowing what they Do the Difference between them being only this that Inanimate Things Act by a certain Nature in them but the Manuary Opificer by Habit. Thus Nature may be called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Manuary Opificer that Acts subserviently under the Architectonical Art and Wisdom of the Divine Understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which does Do without Knowing the Reason of what â—t Doth 12. Wherefore as we did before observe the Preeminences of Nature above Humane Art so we must here take Notice also of the Imperfections and Defects of it in which respect it falls short of Humane Art which are likewise Two and the First of them is this That though it Act Artificially for the sake of Ends yet it self doth neither Intend those Ends nor Vnderstand the Reason of that it doth Nature is not Master of that Consummate Art and Wisdom according to which it acts but only a Servant to it and a Drudging Executioner of the Dictates of it This Difference betwixt Nature and Abstract Art or Wisdom is expressed by Plotinus in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How doth Wisdom differ from that which is called Nature Verily in this Manner That Wisdom is the First Thing but Nature the Last and Lowest for Nature is but an Image or Imitation of Wisdom the Last thing of the Soul which hath the lowest Impress of Reason shining upon it as when a thick piece of Wax is thoroughly impressed upon by a Seal that Impress which is clear and distinct in the superiour Superficies of it will in the lower side be weak and obscure and such is the Stamp and Signature of Nature compared with that of Wisdom and Vnderstanding Nature being a thing which doth only Do but not Know. And elsewhere the same Writer declares the Difference between the Spermatick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reasons and Knowledges or Conceptions of the Mind in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether are these Plastick Reasons or Forms in the Soul Knowledges But how shall it then Act according to those Knowledges For the Plastick Reason or Form Acts or Works in Matter and that which acts Naturally is not Intellection nor Vision but a certain Power of moving Matter which doth not Know but only Do and makes as it were a Stamp or Figure in Water And with this Doctrine of the Ancients a Modern Judicious Writer and Sagacious Inquirer into Nature seems fully to agree that Nature is such a Thing as doth not Know but only Do For after he had admired that Wisdom and Art by which the Bodies of Animals are framed he concludes that one or other of these two things must needs be acknowledged that either the Vegetative or Plastick Power of the Soul by which it Fabricates and Organizes its own body is more Excellent and Divine than the Rational Or else In Naturae Operibus neque Prudentiam nec Intellectum inesse sedita solùm videri Conceptui nostro qui secundùm Artes nostras Facultates seu Exemplaria à nobismetipsis mutuata de rebus Naturae divinis judicamus Quasi Principia Naturae Activa effectus suos eo modo producerent quo nos opera nostra Artificialia solemus That in the Works of Nature there is neither Prudence nor Vnderstanding but only it seems so to our Apprehensions who judge of these Divine things of Nature according to our own Arts and Faculties and Patterns borrowed from our selves as if the Active Principles of Nature did produce their Effects in the same manner as we do our Artificial Works Wherefore we conclude agreeably to the Sence of the best Philosophers both Ancient and Modern That Nature is such a Thing as though it act Artificially and for the sake of Ends yet it doth but Ape and Mimick the Divine Art and Wisdom it self not Understanding those Ends which it Acts for nor the Reason of what it doth in order to them for which Cause also it is not Capable of Consultation or Deliberation nor can it Act Electively or with Discretion 13. But because this may seem strange at the first sight that Nature should be said to Act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sake of Ends and Regularly or Artificially and yet be
of a Wooden Hand For thus these Physiologers declare the Generations and Causes of Figures only or the Matter out of which things are made as Air and Earth Whereas no Artificer would think it sufficient to render such a Cause of any Artificial Fabrick because the Instrument happened to fall so upon the Timber that therefore it was Hollow here and Plane there but rather because himself made such strokes and for such Ends c. Now in the close of all this Philosopher at length declares That there is another Principle of Corporeal things besides the Material and such as is not only the Cause of Motion but also acts Artificially in order to Ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is such a thing as that which we call Nature that is not the Fortuitous Motion of Sensless Matter but a Plastick Regular and Artificial Nature such as acts for Ends and Good declaring in the same place what this Nature is namely that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul or Part of Soul or not without Soul and from thence inferring that it properly belongs to a Physiologer to treat concerning the Soul also But he concludes afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the whole Soul is not Nature whence it remains that according to Aristotle's sence Nature is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either part of a Soul or not without Soul that is either a lower Part or Faculty of some Conscious Soul or else an Inferiour kind of Life by it self which is not without Soul but Suborditate to it and dependent on it 22. As for the Bodies of Animals Aristotle first resolves in General that Nature in them is either the whole Soul or else some part of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature as the Moving Principle or as that which acts Artificially for Ends so far as concerns the Bodies of Animals is either the whole Soul or else some Part of it But afterward he determines more particularly that the Plastick Nature is not the whole Soul in Animals but only some part of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Nature in Animals properly so called is some Lower Power or Faculty lodged in their respective Souls whether Sensitive or Rational And that there is Plastick Nature in the Souls of Animals the same Aristotle elsewhere affirms and proves after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is that which in the Bodies of Animals holds together such things as of their own Nature would otherwise move contrary ways and flie asunder as Fire and Earth which would be distracted and dissipated the one tending upwards the other downwards were there not something to hinder them now if there be any such thing this must be the Soul which is also the Cause of Nourishment and Augmentation Where the Philosopher adds that though some were of Opinion that Fire was that which was the Cause of Nourishment and Augmentation in Animals yet this was indeed but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only the Concause or Instrument and not simply the Cause but rather the Soul And to the same purpose he philosophizeth elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither is Concoction by which Nourishment is made in Animals done without the Soul nor without Heat for all things are done by Fire And certainly it seems very agreeable to the Phaenomena to acknowledge something in the Bodies of Animals Superiour to Mechanism as that may well be thought to be which keeps the more fluid parts of them constantly in the same Form and Figure so as not to be enormously altered in their Growth by disproportionate nourishment that which restores Flesh that was lost consolidates dissolved Continuities Incorporates the newly received Nourishment and joyns it Continuously with the preexistent parts of Flesh and Bone which regenerates and repairs Veins consumed or cut off which causes Dentition in so regular a manner and that not only in Infants but also Adult persons that which casts off Excrements and dischargeth Superfluities which makes things seem ungrateful to an Interiour Sense that were notwithstanding pleasing to the Taste That Nature of Hippocrates that is the Curatrix of Diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that Archeus of the Chymists or Paracelsians to which all Medicaments are but Subservient as being able to effect nothing of themselves without it I say there seems to be such a Principle as this in the Bodies of Animals which is not Mechanical but Vital and therefore since Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity we may with Aristotle conclude it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain part of the Soul of those Animals or a Lower Inconscious Power lodged in them 23. Besides this Plastick Nature which is in Animals forming their several Bodies Artificially as so many Microcosms or Little Worlds there must be also a general Plastick Nature in the Macrocosm the whole Corporeal Universe that which makes all things thus to conspire every where and agree together into one Harmony Concerning which Plastick Nature of the Universe the Author de Mundo writes after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Power passing thorough all things ordered and formed the whole World Again he calls the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit and a Living and Generative Nature and plainly declares it to be a thing distinct from the Deity but Subordinate to it and dependent on it But Aristotle himself in that genuine Work of his before mentioned speaks clearly and positively concerning this Plastick Nature of the Universe as well as that of Animals in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seemeth that as there is Art in Artificial things so in the things of Nature there is another such like Principle or Cause which we our selves partake of in the same manner as we do of Heat and Cold from the Vniverse Wherefore it is more probable that the whole World was at fiâ—st made by such a Cause as this if at least it were made and that it is still conserved by the same than that Mortal Animals should be so For there is much more of Order and determinate Regularity in the Heavenly Bodies than in our selves but more of Fortuitousness and inconstant Regularity among these Mortal things Notwithstanding which some there are who though they cannot but acknowledge that the Bodies of Animals were all framed by an Artificial Nature yet they will needs contend that the System of the Heavens sprung merely from Fortune and Chance although there be not the least appearance of Fortuitousness or Temerity in it And then he sums up all into this Conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore it is manifest that there is some such thing as that which we call Nature that is that there is not only an Artificial Methodical and Plastick Nature in Animals by which their respective Bodies are Framed and Conserved but also that there is such a General Plastick Nature likewise in the Vniverse by which the Heavens
and whole World are thus Artificially Ordered and Disposed 24. Now whereas Aristotle in the forecited Words tells us that we partake of Life and Understanding from that in the Universe after the same manner as we partake of Heat and Cold from that Heat and Cold that is in the Universe It is observable that this was a Notion borrowed from Socrates as we understand both from Xenophon and Plato that Philosopher having used it as an Argumentation to prove a Deity And the Sence of it is represented after this manner by the Latin Poet Principio Coelum ac Terram Campósque Liquentes Lucentémque Globum Lunae Titaniáque Astra Spiritus intus alit totósque Infusa per Artus Mens agitat Molem Magno se Corpore miscet Inde Hominum Pecudúmque Genus Vitaeque Volantûm From whence it may be collected that Aristotle did suppose this Plastick Nature of the Vniverse to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Either Part of some Mundane Soul that was also Conscious and Intellectual as that Plastick Nature in Animals is or at least some Inferiour Principle depending on such a Soul And indeed whatever the Doctrine of the modern Peripateticks be we make no doubt at all but that Aristotle himself held the Worlds Animation or a Mundane Soul Forasmuch as he plainly declares himself concerning it elsewhere in his Book De Coelo after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we commonly think of the Heavens as nothing else but Bodies and Monads having only a certain Order but altogether inaâ—imate whâ—râ—as we ought on the contrary to conceive of them as partaking of Life and Action that is as being endued with a Rational or Intellectual Life For so Simplicius there rightly expounds the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we ought to think of the Heavens as Animated with a Rational Soul and thereby partaking of Action and Rational Life For saith he though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be affirmed not only of Irrational Souls but also of Inanimate Bodies yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does only denominate Rational Beings But further to take away all manner of scruple or doubt concerning this business that Philosopher before in the same Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affirmeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Heaven is Animated and hath a Principle of Motion within it self Where by the Heaven as in many other places of Aristotle and Plato is to be understood the Whole World There is indeed One Passage in the same Book De Coelo which at first sight and slightly considered may seem to contradict this again and therefore probably is that which hath led many into a contrary Perswasion that Aristotle denied the Worlds Animation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is not reasonable neither to think that the Heavens continue to Eternity moved by a Soul necessitating or violently compelling them Nor indeed is it possible that the Life of such a Soul should be pleasurable or happy Forasmuch as the continual Violent Motion of a Body naturally inclining to move another way must needs be a very unquiet thing and void of all Mental Repose especially when there is no such Relaxation as the Souls of Mortal Animals have by sleep and therefore such a Soul of the World as this must of necessity be condemned to an Eternal Ixionian Fate But in these Words Aristotle does not deny the Heavens to be moved by a Soul of their own which is positively affirmed by him elsewhere but only by such a Soul as should Violently and Forcibly agitate or drive them round contrary to their own Natural Inclination whereby in the mean time they tended downwards of themselves towards the Centre And his sence concerning the Motion of the Heavens is truly represented by Simplicius in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole World or Heaven being as well a natural as an Animalish Body is moved properly by Soul but yet by means of Nature also as an Instrument so that the Motion of it is not Violent But whereas Aristotle there insinuates as if Plato had held the Heavens to be moved by a Soul violently contrary to their Nature Simplicius though sufficiently addicted to Aristotle ingenuously acknowledges his Error herein and vindicating Plato from that Imputation shews how he likewise held a Plastick Nature as well as a Mundane Soul and that amongst his Ten Instances of Motion the Ninth is that of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which always moves another being it self changed by something else as the Tenth that of the Mundane Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which originally both moves it self and other things as if his Meaning in that place were That though Nature be a Life and Internal Energy yet it acts Subserviently to a Higher Soul as the First Original Mover But the Grand Objection against Aristotle's holding the Worlds Animation is still behind namely from that in his Metaphysicks where he determines the Highest Starry Heaven to be moved by an Immoveable Mover commonly supposed to be the Deity it self and no Soul of the World and all the other Spheres likewise to be moved by so many Separate Intelligencies and not by Souls To which we reply that indeed Aristotle's First Immoveable Mover is no Mundane Soul but an Abstract Intellect Separate from Matter and the very Deity it self whose manner of moving the Heavens is thus described by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It Moveth only as being Loved wherefore besides this Supreme Vnmoved Mover that Philosopher supposed another Inferiour Moved Mover also that is a Mundane Soul as the Proper and Immediate Efficient Cause of the Heavenly Motions of which he speaks after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which it self being moved objectively or by Appetite and Desire of the First Good moveth other things And thus that safe and sure-footed Interpreter Alex. Aphrodisius expounds his Masters Meaning That the Heaven being Animated and therefore indeed Moved by an Internal Principle of its own is notwithstanding Originally moved by a certain Immoveable and Separate Nature which is above Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both by its contemplating of it and having an Appetite and Desire of assimilating it self thereunto Aristotle seeming to have borrowed this Notion from Plato who makes the Constant Regular Circumgyration of the Heavens to be an Imitation of the Motion or Energy of Intellect So that Aristotle's First Mover is not properly the Efficient but only the Final and Objective Cause of the Heavenly Motions the Immediate Efficient Cause thereof being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul and Nature Neither may this be Confuted from those other Aristotelick Intelligences of the Lesser Orbs that Philosopher conceiving in like manner concerning them that they were also the Abstract Minds or Intellects of certain other inferiour Souls which moved their several Respective Bodies or Orbs Circularly and Uniformly in a kind of Imitation of them For this plainly appears from hence in that he
aâ—firms of these his Inferiour Intelligences likewise as well as of the Supreme Mover that they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Move only as the end Where it is Evident that though Aristotle did plainly suppose a Mundane Intellectual Soul such as also conteined either in it or under it a Plastick Nature yet he did not make either of these to be the Supreme Deity but resolved the First Principle of things to be One Absolutely Perfect Mind or Intellect Separate from Matter which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Immoveable Nature whose Essence was his Operation and which Moved only as being Lovâ—d or as the Final Cause of which he pronounces in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That upon such a Principle as this Heaven and Nature depends that is the Animated Heaven or Mundane Soul together with the Plastick Nature of the Universe must of necessity depend upon such an Absolutely Perfect and Immoveable Mind or Intellect Having now declared the Aristotelick Doctrine concerning the Plastick Nature of the Universe with which the Platonick also agrees that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either Part of a Mundane Intellectual Soul that is a Lower Power and Faculty of it or else not without it but some inferior thing depending on it we think sit to add in this place that though there were no such Mundane Soul as both Plato and Aristotle supposed distinct from the Supreme Deity yet thâ—re might notwithstanding be a Plastick Nature of the Universe depending immediately upon the Deity it self For the Plastick Nature essentially depends upon Mind or Intellect and could not possibly be without it according to those words before cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature depends upon such an Intellectual Principle and for this Cause that Philosopher does elsewhere joyn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind and Nature both together 25. Besides this General Plastick Nature of the Universe and those Particular Plastick Powers in the Souls of Animals it is not impossible but that there may be other Plastick Natures also as certain Lower Lives or Vegetative Souls in some Greater Parts of the Universe all of them depending if not upon some higher Conscious Soul yet at least upon a Perfect Intellect presiding over the whole As for Example Though it be not reasonable to think that every Plant Herb and Pile of Grass hath a Particular Plastick Life or Vegetative Soul of its own distinct from the Mechanism of the Body nor that the whole Earth is an Animal endued with a Conscious Soul yet there may possibly be for ought we know one Plastick Nature or Life belonging to the whole Terrestrial or Terraqueous Globe by which all Plants and Vegetables continuous with it may be differently formed according to their different Seeds as also Minerals and other Bodies framed and whatsoever else is above the Power of Fortuitous Mechanism effected as by the Immediate Cause though always Subordinate to other Causes the chief whereof is the Deity And this perhaps may ease the Minds of those who cannot but think it too much to impose all upon one Plastick Nature of the Universe 26. And now we have finished our First Task which was to give an Accompt of the Plastick Nature the Sum whereof briefly amounts to this That it is a certain Lower Life than the Animal which acts Regularly and Artificially according to the Direction of Mind and Vnderstanding Reason and Wisdom for Ends or in Order to Good though it self do not know the Reason of what it does nor is Master of that Wisdom according to which it acts but only a Servant to it and Drudging Executioner of the same it operating Fatally and Sympathetically according to Laws and Commands prescribed to it by a Perfect Intellect and imprest upon it and which is either a Lower Faculty of some Conscious Soul or else an Inferiour kind of Life or Soul by it self but essentially depending upon an Higher Intellect We procede to our Second Vndertaking which was to shew how grosly those Two Sorts of Atheists before mentioned the Stoical or Cosmo-plastick and the Stratonical or Hylozoick both of them acknowledging this Plastick Life of Nature do mistake the Notion of it or Pervert it and Abuse it to make a certain Spurious and Counterfeit God-Almighty of it or a First Principle of all things thereby excluding the True Omnipotent Deity which is a Perfect Mind or Consciously Vnderstanding Nature presiding over the Universe they substituting this Stupid Plastick Nature in the room of it Now the Chief Errors or Mistakes of these Atheists concerning the Plastick Nature are these Four following First that they make that to be the First Principle of all and the Highest thing in the Universe which is the Last and Lowest of all Lives a thing Essentially Secondary Derivative and Dependent For the Plastick Life of Nature is but the mere Vmbrage of Intellectuality a faint and shadowy Imitation of Mind and Vnderstanding upon which it doth as Essentially depend as the Shadow doth upon the Body the Image in the Glass upon the Face or the Eccho upon the Original Voice So that if there had been no Perfect Mind or Intellect in the World there could no more have been any Plastick Nature in it than there could be an Image in the Glass without a Face or an Eccho without an Original Voice If there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if there be a Plastick Nature that acts Regularly and Artificially in Order to Ends and according to the Best Wisdom though it self not comprehending the reason of it nor being clearly Conscious of what it doth then there must of necessity be a Perfect Mind or Intellect that is a Deity upon which it depends Wherefore Aristotle does like a Philosopher in joyning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature and Mind both together but these Atheists do very Absurdly and Unphilosophically that would make a Sensless and Inconscious Plastick Nature and therefore without any Mind or Intellect to be the First Original of all things Secondly these Atheists augment the Former Error in supposing those Higher Lives of Sense or Animality and of Reason or Vnderstanding to rise both of them from that Lower Sensless Life of Nature as the only Original Fundamental Life Which is a thing altogether as Irrational and Absurd as if one should suppose the Light that is in the Air or Aether to be the Only Original and Fundamental Light and the Light of the Sun and Stars but a Secondary and Derivative thing from it and nothing but the Light of the Air Modificated and Improved by Condensation Or as if one should maintain that the Sun and Moon and all the Stars were really nothing else but the mere Reflections of those Images that we see in Rivers and Ponds of Water But this hath always been the Sottish Humour and Guise of Atheists to invert the Order of the
Universe and hang the Picture of the World as of a Man with its Heels upwards Conscious Reason and Vnderstanding being a far higher Degree of Life and Perfection than that Dull Plastick Nature which does only Do but not Know can never possibly emerge out of it neither can the Duplication of Corporeal Organs be ever able to advance that Simple and Stupid Life of Nature into Redoubled Consciousness or Self-perception nor any Triplication or indeed Milleclupation of them improve the same into Rea-Vnderstanding Thirdly for the better Colouring of the Former Errors the Hylozoists adulterate the Notion of the Plastick Life of Nature confounding it with Wisdom and Vnderstanding And though themselves acknowledge that no Animal-sense Self-perception and Consciousness belongs to it yet they will have it to be a thing Perfectly Wise and consequently every Atom of Sensless Matter that is in the whole World to be Infallibly Omniscient as to all its own Capacities and Congruities or whatsoever it self can Do or Suffer which is plainly Contradictious For though there may be such a thing as the Plastick Nature that according to the Former Description of it can Do without Knowing and is devoid of Express Consciousness or Self-perception yet Perfect Knowledge and Vnderstanding without Consciousness is Non-sence and Impossibility Wherefore this must needs be condemned for a great piece of Sottishness in the Hylozoick Atheists that they attribute Perfect Wisdom and Vnderstanding to a Stupid Inconscious Nature which is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mere Drudging Instrument or Manuary Opificer of Perfect Mind Lastly these Atheists err in this that they make this Plastick Life of Nature to be a mere Material or Corporeal thing whereas Matter or Body cannot move it self much less therefore can it Artificially order and dispose its own Motion And though the Plastick Nature be indeed the Lowest of all Lives yet notwithstanding since it is a Life or Internal Energy and Self-activity distinct from Local Motion it must needs be Incorporeal all Life being Essentially such But the Hylozoists conceive grosly both of Life and Vnderstanding spreading them all over upon Matter just as Butter is spread upon Bread or Plaster upon a Wall and accordingly slicing them out in different Quantities and Bulks together with it they contending that they are but Inadequate Conceptions of Body as the only Substance and consequently concluding that the Vulgarly received Notion of God is nothing else but such an Inadeqaute Conception of the Matter of the Whole Corporeal Universe mistaken for a Complete and Entire Substance by it self that is supposed to be the Cause of all things Which fond Dream or Dotage of theirs will be furthâ—r confutâ—d in due place But it is now time to put a Period to this long though necessary Digression concerning the Plastick Life of Nature or an Artificial Orderly and Methodical Nature XXXVIII Plato gives an accompt why he judged it necessary in those times publickly to propose that Atheistick Hypothesis in order to a Confutation as also to produce Rational Arguments for the Proof of a Deity after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Had not these Atheistick Doctrines been publickly divulged and made known in a manner to all it would not have been needful to have confuted them nor by Reasons to prove a Deity but now it is necessary And we conceive that the same Necessity at this time will justifie our present undertaking likewise since these Atheistick Doctrines have been as boldly vented and publickly asserted in this latter Age of ours as ever they could be in Plato's time When the severity of the Athenian Government must needs be a great check to such Designs Socrates having been put to death upon a mere false and groundless Accusation of Atheism and Protagoras who doubtless was a Real Atheist having escaped the same punishment no otherwise than by flight his Books being notwithstanding publickly burnt in the Market-place at Athens and himself condemned to perpetual Exile though there was nothing at that time proved against him save only this one Sceptical Passage in the beginning of a Book of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning the Gods I have nothing at all to say either that they be or be not there being many things that hinder the knowledge of this Matter both the Obscurity of the thing it self and the shortness of humane Life Whereas Atheism in this Latter Age of ours hath been impudently asserted and most industriously promoted that very Atomick Form that was first introduced a little before Plato's time by Leucippus Protagoras and Democritus having been also Revived amongst us and that with no small Pomp and Ostentation of Wisdom and Philosophy It was before observed that there were Two several Forms of Atomical Philosophy First the most Ancient and Genuine that was Religious called Moschical or if you will Mosaical and Pythagorical Secondly the Adulterated Atheistick Atomology called Leucippean or Democritical Now accordingly there have been in this Latter Age of ours Two several successive Resurrections or Restitutions of those Two Atomologies For Renatus Cartesius first revived and restored the Atomick Philosophy agreeably for the most part to that ancient Moschical and Pythagorick Form acknowledging besides Extended Substance and Corporeal Atoms another Cogitative Incorporeal Substance and joyning Metaphysicks or Theology together with Physiology to make up one entire System of Philosophy Nor can it well be doubted but that this Physiology of his as to the Mechanick part of it hath been Elaborated by the ingenious Author into an Exactness at least equal with the best Atomologies of the Ancients Nevertheless this Cartesian Philosophy is highly obnoxious to Censure upon some Accompts the Chief whereof is this That deviating from that Primitive Moschical Atomology in rejecting all Plastick Nature it derives the whole System of the Corporeal Universe from the Necessary Motion of Matter only divided into Particles Insensibly small and turned round in a Vortex without the Guidance or Direction of any Vnderstanding Nature By means whereof though it boast of Salving all the Corporeal Phaenomena by mere Fortuitous Mechanism and without any Final or Mental Causality yet it gives no Accompt at all of that which is the Grandest of all Phaenomena the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Orderly Regularity and Harmony of the Mundane System The Occasion of which Miscarriage hath been already intimated namely from the acknowledging only Two Heads of Being Extended and Cogitative and making the Essence of Cogitation to consist in Express Consciousness from whence it follows that there could be no Plastick Nature and therefore either all things must be done by Fortuitous Mechanism or else God himself be brought Immediately upon the Stage for the salving of all Phaenomena Which Latter Absurdity our Philosopher being over careful to avoid cast himself upon the Former the banishing of all Final and Mental Causality quite out of the World and acknowledging no other Philosophick Causes beside Material and
those Atheistick Arguments and so stand upon our defensive Posture but we shall also assault Atheism even with its own Weapons and plainly demonstrate that all Forms of Atheism are unintelligible Nonsence and Absolute Impossibility to Humane Reason As we shall likewise over and above Occasionally insert some as we think Undeniable Arguments for a Deity The Digression concerning the Plastick Life of Nature or an Artificial Orderly and Methodical Nature N. 37. Chap. 3. 1. That neither the Hylozoick nor Cosmo-plastick Atheists are condemned for asserting an Orderly and Artificial Plastick Nature as a Life distinct from the Animal however this be a Thing exploded not only by the Atomick Atheists but also by some Professed Theists who notwithstanding might have an undiscerned Tang of the Mechanically-Atheistick Humour hanging about them 2. If there be no Plastick Artificial Nature admitted then it must be concluded that either all things come to pass by Fortuitous Mechanism and Material Necessity the Motion of Matter unguided or else that God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do all things himself Immediately and Miraculously framing the Body of every Gnat and Fly as it were with his own hands since Divine Laws and Commands cannot Execute themselves nor be the proper Efficient Causes of things in Nature 3. To suppose all things to come to pass Fortuitously or by the Vnguided Motion of Matter a thing altogether as Irrational as it is Atheistical and Impious there being many Phaenomena not only above the Powers of Mechanism but also contrary to the Laws of it The Mechanick Theists make God but an Idle Spectator of the Fortuitous Motions of Matter and render his Wisdom altogether Vseless and Insignificant Aristotle's Judicious Censure of the Fortuitous Mechanists with the Ridiculousness of that Pretence that Material and Mechanical Reasons are the Only Philosophical 4. That it seems neither decorous in respect of God nor congruous to Reason that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do all things himself Immediately and Miraculously Nature being quite Superseded and made to signifie nothing The same further confuted by the Slow and Gradual Process of things in Nature as also by those Errors and Bungles that are committed when the Matter proves Inept and Contumacious arguing the Agent not to be Irresistible 5. Reasonably inferred that there is a Plastick Nature in the Vniverse as a Subordinate Instrument of Divine Providence in the Orderly Disposal of Matter but yet so as not without a Higher Providence presiding over it forasmuch as this Plastick Nature cannot act Electively or with Discretion Those Laws of Nature concerning Motion which the Mechanick Theists themselves suppose really nothing else but a Plastick Nature 6. The Agreeableness of this Doctrine with the Sentiments of the best Philosophers in all Ages Aristotle Plato Empedocles Heraclitus Hippocrates Zeno and the Paracelsians Anaxagoras though a Professed Theist severely censur'd both by Aristotle and Plato as an Encourager of Atheism merely because he used Material and Mechanical Causes more than Mental and Final Physiologers and Astronomers why vulgarly suspected of Atheism in Plato's time 7. The Plastick Nature no Occult Quality but the only Intelligible Cause of that which is the Grandest of all Phaenomena the Orderly Regularity and Harmony of Things which the Mechanick Theists however pretending to salve all Phaenomena can give no accompt at all of A God or Infinite Mind asserted by them in vain and to no purpose 8. Two Things here to be performed by us First to give an Accompt of the Plastick Nature and then to shew how the Notion of it hath been Mistaken and Abused by Atheists The First General Accompt of this Plastick Nature according to Aristotle that it is to be conceived as Art it self acting Inwardly and Immediately upon the Matter as if Harmony Living in the Musical Instruments should move the Strings of them without any External Impulse 9. Two Preeminencies of the Plastick Nature above Humane Art First that whereas Humane Art acts upon the Matter from without Cumbersomely and Moliminously with Tumult and Hurliburly Nature acting on it from within more Commandingly doth its Work Easily Cleaverly and Silently Humane Art acts on the Matter Mechanically but Nature Vitally and Magically 10. The Second Preeminence of Nature above Humane Art that whereas Humane Artists are often to seek and at a loss anxiously Consult and Deliberate and upon Second thoughts Mend their former Work Nature is never to seek nor Vnresolved what to do nor doth she ever Repent afterwards of what she hath done changing her Former Course Humane Artists themselves Consult not as Artists but only for want of Art and therefore Nature though never Consulting may act Artificially Concluded that what is called Nature is really the Divine Art 11. Nevertheless that Nature is not the Divine Art Pure and Abstract but Concreted and Embodied in Matter Ratio Mersa Confusa Not the Divine Art Archetypal but Ectypal Nature differs from the Divine Art as the Manuary Opificer from the Architect 12. Two Imperfections of the Plastick Nature in respect whereof it falls short even of Humane Art First That though it act for Ends Artificially yet it self neither Intends those Ends nor Vnderstands the Reason of what it doth and therefore cannot act Electively The Difference between the Spermatick Reasons and Knowledge Nature doth but Ape or Mimick the Divine Art or Wisdom being not Master of that Reason according to which it acts but only a Servant to it and Drudging Executioner of it 13. Proved that there may be such a thing as acts Artificially though it self do not comprehend that Art by which its Motions are Governed First from Musical Habits The Dauncer resembles the Artificial Life of Nature 14. The same further evinced from the Instincts of Brute-animals directing them to act Rationally and Artificially in order to their own Good and the Good of the Vniverse without any Reason of their own The Instincts in Brutes but Passive Impresses of the Divine Wisdom and a kind of Fate upon them 15. The Second Imperfection of the Plastick Nature that it acts without Animal Phancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Express Con-sense and Consciousness and is devoid of Self-perception and Self-enjoyment 16. Whether this Energy of the Plastick Nature be to be called Cogitation or no but a Logomachy or Contention about Words Granted that what moves Matter Vitally must needs do it by some Energy of its own distinct from Local Motion but that there may be a simple Vital Energy without that Duplicity which is in Synaesthesis or clear and express Consciousness Nevertheless that the Energy of Nature might be called a certain Drowsie Vnawakened or Astonish'd Cogitation 17. Instances which render it probable that there may be a Vital Energy without Synaesthesis clear and express Con-sense or Consciousness 18. The Plastick Nature acting neither Knowingly nor Phantastically acts Fatally Magically and Sympathetically The Divine Laws and Fate as to Matter not mere Cogitation in the Mind of
God but an Energetick and Effectual Principle and the Plastick Nature the true and proper Fate of Matter or the Corporeal World What Magick is and that Nature which acts Fatally acts also Magically and Sympathetically 19. That the Plastick Nature though it be the Divine Art and Fate yet for all that it it neither God nor Goddess but a Low and Imperfect Creature it acting Artificially and Rationally no otherwise than compounded Forms of Letters when printing Coherent Philosophick Sence nor for Ends than a Saw or Hatchet in the hands of a skilful Mechanick The Plastick and Vegetative Life of Nature the Lowest of all Lives and Inferiour to the Sensitive A Higher Providence than that of the Plastick Nature governing the Corporeal World it self 20. Notwithstanding which forasmuch as the Plastick Nature is a Life it must needs be Incorporeal One and the same thing having in it an entire Model and Platform and acting upon several distant parts of Matter at once coherently cannot be Corporeal and though Aristotle no where declare whether his Nature be Corporeal or Incorporeal which he neither doth clearly concerning the Rational Soul and his Followers conclude it to be Corporeal yet according to the very Principles of that Philosophy it must needs be otherwise 21. The Plastick Nature being Incorporeal must either be a Lower Power lodged in Souls that are also Conscious Sensitive or Rational or else a distinct Substantial Life by it self and Inferiour Kind of Soul How the Platonists complicate both these together with Aristotle's agreeable Determination that Nature is either Part of a Soul or not without Soul 22. The Plastick Nature as to Animals according to Aristotle a Part or Lower Power of their Respective Souls That the Phaenomena prove a Plastick Nature or Archeus in Animals to make which a distinct thing from the Soul is to multiply Entities without necessity The Soul endued with a Plastick Power the chief Formatrix of its own Body the Contribution of certain other Causes not excluded 23. That besides that Plastick Principle in Particular Animals forming them as so many Little Worlds there is a General Plastick Nature in the whole Corporeal Vniverse which likewise according to Aristotle is either a Part and Lower Power of a Conscious Mundane Soul or else something depending on it 24. That no less according to Aristotle than Plato and Socrates our selves partake of Life from the Life of the Vniverse as well as we do of Heat and Cold from the Heat and Cold of the Vniverse from whence it appears that Aristotle also held the worlds Animation with further Vndeniable Proof thereof An Answer to Two the most considerable places of that Philosopher that seem to imply the contrary That Aristotles First Immoveable Mover was no Soul but a Perfect Intellect Abstract from Matter but that he supposed this to move only as a Final Cause or as being Loved and besides it a Mundane Soul and Plastick Nature to move the Heavens Efficiently Neither Aristotle's Nature nor his Mundane Soul the Supreme Deity However though there be no such Mundane Soul as both Plato and Aristotle conceived yet notwithstanding there may be a Plastick Nature depending upon a Higher Intellectual Principle 25. No Impossibility of some other Particular Plastick Principles and though it be not reasonable to think that every Plant Herb and Pile of Grass hath a Plastick or Vegetative Soul of its own nor that the Earth is an Animal yet that there may possibly be One Plastick Inconscious Nature in the whole Terraqueous Globe by which Vegetables may be severally organized and framed and all things performed which transcend the Power of Fortuitous Mechanism 26. Our Second Vndertaking which was to shew how grosly those Atheists who acknowledge this Plastick Nature Misunderstand it and Abuse the Notion to make a Counterfeit God-almighty or Numen of it to the exclusion of the True Deity First in their supposing that to be the First and Highest Principle of the Vniverse which is the Last and lowest of all Lives a thing as Essentially Derivative from and Dependent upon a Higher Intellectual Principle as the Eccho on the Original Voice 27. Secondly in their making Sense and Reason in Animals to Emerge out of a Sensless Life of Nature by the mere Modification and Organization of Matter That no Duplication of Corporeal Organs can ever make One Single Inconscious Life to advance into Redoubled Consciousness and Self-enjoyment 28. Thirdly in attributing Perfect Knowledge and Vnderstanding to this Life of Nature which yet themselves suppose to be devoid of all Animal Sense and Consciousness 29. Lastly in making the Plastick Life of Nature to be merely Corporeal the Hylozoists contending that it is but an Inadequate Conception of Body as the only Substance and fondly dreaming that the Vulgar Notion of God is nothing but such an Inadequate Conception of the Matter of the Whole Vniverse mistaken for a Complete and Entire Substance by it self the Cause of all things CHAP. IV. The Idea of God declared in way of Answer to the First Atheistick Argument The Grand Prejudice against the Naturality of this Idea as Essentially including Unity or Onelyness in it from the Pagan Polytheism removed Proved that the Intelligent Pagans generally acknowledged One Supreme Deity What their Polytheism and Idolatry was with some Accompt of Christianity 1. The either Stupid Insensibility or Gross Impudence of Atheists in denying the word GOD to have any Signification or that there is any other Idea answering to it besides the mere Phantasm of the Sound The Disease called by the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Petrification or Dead Insensibility of the Mind 2. That the Atheists themselves must needs have an Idea of God in their minds or otherwise when they deny his Existence they should deny the Existence of Nothing And that they have also the same Idea of him with Theists they denying the very same thing which the others affirm 3. A Lemma or Preparatory Proposition to the Idea of God That though some things be Made or Generated yet it is not possible that all things should be Made but something must of Necessity Exist of it self from Eternity Vnmade and be the Cause of those other things that are Made 4. The Two most Opposite Opinions concerning that which was Self-existent from Eternity or Vnmade and the Cause of all other things Made One That it was nothing but Sensless Matter the most Imperfect of all things The Other That it was something Most Perfect and therefore Consciously Intellectual The Asserters of this latter Opinion Theists in a strict and proper sence of the former Atheists So that the Idea of God in general is a Perfect Consciously Vnderstanding Being or Mind Self-existent from Eternity and the Cause of all other things 5. Observed That the Atheists who deny a God according to the true Idea of him do often Abuse the word calling Sensless Matter by that Name and meaning nothing else thereby but a
is the Cause of those other things that are Made something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was Self-originated and Self-existing and which is as well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Incorruptible and Vndestroyable as Ingenerable whose Existence therefore must needs be Necessary because if it were supposed to have happened by Chance to exist from Eternity then it might as well happen again to Cease to Be. Wherefore all the Question now is what is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Ingenerable and Incorruptible Self-originated and Self-existent Thing which is the Cause of all other things that are Made IV. Now there are Two Grand Opinions Opposite to one another concerning it For first some contend that the only Self-existent Vnmade and Incorruptible Thing and First Principle of all things is Sensless Matter that is Matter either perfectly Dead and Stupid or at least devoid of all Animalish and Conscious Life But because this is really the Lowest and most Imperfect of all Beings Others on the contrary judge it reasonable that the First Principle and Original of all things should be that which is Most Perfect as Aristotle observes of Pherecydes and his Followers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they made the First Cause and Principle of Generation to be the Best and then apprehending that to be endewed with Conscious Life and Vnderstanding is much a Greater Perfection than to be devoid of both as Balbus in Cicero declares upon this very occasion Nec dubium quin quod Animans sit habeátque Mentem Rationem Sensum id sit melius quà m id quod his careat they therefore conclude That the only Vnmade thing which was the Principle Cause and Original of all other things was not Sensless Matter but a Perfect Conscious Vnderstanding Nature or Mind And these are they who are strictly and properly called Theists who affirm that a Perfectly Conscious Vnderstanding Being or Mind existing of it self from Eternity was the Cause of all other things and they on the contrary who derive all things from Sensless Matter as the First Original and deny that there is any Conscious Vnderstanding Being Self-existent or Vnmade are those that are properly called Atheists Wherefore the true and genuine Idea of God in general is this A Perfect Conscious Vnderstanding Being or Mind Existing of it self from Eternity and the Cause of all other things V. But it is here observable that those Atheists who deny a God according to this True and Genuine Notion of him which we have declared do often Abuse the Word calling Sensless Matter by that Name Partly perhaps as indeavouring thereby to decline that odious and ignominious name of Atheists and partly as conceiving that whatsoever is the First Principle of things Ingenerable and Incorruptible and the Cause of all other things besides it self must therefore needs be the Divinest Thing of all Wherefore by the word God these mean nothing else but that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnmade or Self-existent and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or First Principle of things Thus it was before observed that Anaximander called Infinite Matter devoid of all manner of Life the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God and Pliny the Corporeal World endewed with nothing but a Plastick Vnknowing Nature Numen as also others in Aristotle upon the same account called the Inanimate Elements Gods as Supposed First Principles of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for these are also Gods And indeed Aristotle himself seems to be guilty of this miscarriage of Abusing the word God after this manner when speaking of Love and Chaos as the two first Principles of things he must according to the Laws of Grammar be understood to call them both Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning these two Gods how they ought to be ranked and which of them is to be placed first whether Love or Chaos is afterwards to be resolved Which Passage of Aristotle's seems to agree with that of Epicharmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Chaos is said to have been made the first of the Gods unless we should rather understand him thus That Chaos was said to have been made before the Gods And this Abuse of the Word God is a thing which the learned Origen took notice of in his Book against Celsus where he speaks of that Religious Care which ought to be had about the use of Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He therefore that hath but the least consideration of these things will take a Religious care that he give not improper names to things left he should fall into a like miscarriage with those who attribute the name of God to Inanimate and Sensless matter Now according to this false and spurious Notion of the word God when it is taken for any Supposed First Principle or Self-existent Unmade Thing whatsoever that be there neither is nor can be any such things as an Atheist since whosoever hath but the least dram of Reason must needs acknowledge that Something or other Existed from Eternity Vnmade and was the Cause of those other things that are Made But that Notion or Idea of God according to which some are Atheists and some Theists is in the strictest sence of it what we have already declared A Perfect Mind or Consciously Vnderstanding Nature Self-existent from Eternity and the Cause of all other things The genuine Theists being those who make the First Original of all things Universally to be a Consciously Vnderstanding Nature or Perfect Mind but the Atheists properly such as derive all things from Matter either perfectly Dead and Stupid or else devoid of all Conscious and Animalish Life VI. But that we may more fully and punctually declare the true Idea of God we must here take notice of a certain Opinion of some Philosophers who went as it were in a middle betwixt both the Former and neither made Matter alone nor God the Sole Principle of all things but joyned them both together and held Two First Principles or Self-existent Vnmade Beings independent upon one another God and the Matter Amongst whom the Stoicks are to be reckoned who notwithstanding because they held that there was no other Substance besides Body strangely confounded themselves being by that means necessitated to make their Two First Principles the Active and the Passive to be both of them really but One and the self-same Substance their Doctrine to this purpose being thus declared by Cicero Naturam dividebant in Res Duas ut Altera esset Efficiens Altera autem quasi huic se praebens ex qua Efficeretur aliquid In eo quod Efficeret Vim esse censebant in eo quod Efficeretur Materiam quandam in Vtroque tamen Vtrumque Neque enim Materiam ipsam ohaerere potuisse si nullâ Vi contineretur neque Vim sine aliqua Materia
our selves namely that there is a certain Life or Vital and Moral Disposition of Soul which is much more Inwardly and thoroughly Satisfactory not only than Sensual Pleasure but also than all Knowledge and Speculation whatsoever Now whatever this Chiefest Good be which is a Perfection Superiour to Knowledge and Understanding that Philosopher resolves that it must needs be First and Principally in God who is therefore called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very Idea or Essence of Good Wherein he trode in the Footsteps of the Pythagoreans and particularly of Timaeus Locrus who making Two Principles of the Universe Mind and Necessity adds concerning the Former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The First of these Two is of the Nature of Good and it is called God the Principle of the Best things Agreeably with which Doctrine of theirs the Hebrew Cabalists also make a Sephirah in the Deity Superiour both to Binah and Chochmah Vnderstanding and Wisdom which they call Chether or the Crown And some would suspect this Cabalistick Learning to have been very ancient among the Jews and that Parmenides was imbued with it he calling God in like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Crown For which Velleius in Cicero representing the several Opinions of Philosophers concerning God perstringes him amongst the rest Parmenides Commentitium quiddam Coronae similitudine efficit Stephanem appellat continentem ardore lucis orbem qui cingit Coelum quem appellat Deum But all this while we seem to be to seek What the Chief and Highest Good Superiour to Knowledge is in which the Essence of the Deity principally consists and it cannot be denied but that Plato sometimes talks too Metaphysically and Clowdily about it for which cause as he lay open to the Lash of Aristotle so was he also Vulgarly perstringed for it as appears by that of Amphys the Poet in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Good that is which you exâ—ect from hence I confess I less understand than I do Plato ' s Good Nevertheless he plainly intimates these two Things concerning it First that this Nâ—ture of Good which is also the Nature of God includes Benignity in it when he gives this accompt of Gods both Making the World and after such a Manner Because he was Good and that which is Good hath no Envy in it and therefore he both made the World and also made it as well and as like to himself as was possible And Secondly that it comprehends Eminently all Vertue and Justice the Divine Nature being the First Pattern hereof for which cause Vertue is defined to be An Assimilation to the Deity Justice and Honesty are no Factitious things Made by the Will and Command of the more Powerful to the Weaker but they are Nature and Perfection and descend downward to us from the Deity But the Holy Scripture without any Metaphysical Pomp and Obscurity tells us plainly Both what is that Highest Perfection of Intellectual Beings which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Better than Reason and Knowledge and which is also the Source Life and Soul of all Morality namely that it is Love or Charity Though I speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels and have not Love I am but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sounding Brass or a Tinkling Cymbal which only makes a Noise without any Inward Life And though I have Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have not Love I am Nothing that is I have no Inward Satisfaction Peace or True Happiness And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and give my body to be burned and have not love it profiteth me nothing I am for all that utterly destitute of all True Morality Vertue and Grace And accordingly it tells us also in the next place what the Nature of God is that he is properly neither Power nor Knowledge though having the Perfection of both in him but Love And certainly whatever Dark Thoughts concerning the Deity some Men in their Cells may sit brooding on it can never reasonably be conceived that that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Most Self-sufficient and Self-happy Being should have any Narrow and Selfish Designs abroad without it self much less harbour any Malignant and Despightful ones towards its Creatures Nevertheless because so many are apt to abuse the Notion of the Divine Love and Goodness and to frame such Conceptions of it as destroy that Awful and Râ—vâ—rential Fear that ought to be had of the Deity and make Men Presumptuous and Regardless of their Lives therefore we think fit here to superadd also that God is no Soft nor Fond and Partial Love but that Justice is an Essential Branch of this Divine Goodness God being as the Writer De Mundo well Expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Impartial Law and as Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Measure of all things In Imitation whereof Aristotle concludes also that a Good Man in a Lower and more Imperfect sence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too an Impartial Measure of Things and Actions It is evident that the Atheists themselves in those former times of Paganism took it for Granted that Goodness was an Essential Attribute of the Deity whose Existence they opposed so that it was then generally acknowledged for such by the Pagan Theists from those Argumentations of theirs before mentioned the 12th and 13th taken from the Topick of Evils the Pretended Ill Frame of things and Want of Providence over Humane Affairs Which if they were true would not at all disprove such an Arbitrary Deity as is now phancied by some made up of Nothing but Will and Power without any Essential Goodness and Justice But those Arguments of the Atheists are directly Level'd against the Deity according to the True Notion or Idea of it and could they be made Good would do execution upon the same For it cannot be denied but that the Natural Consequence of this Doctrine That there is a God Essentially Good is this that therefore the World is Well Made and Governed But we shall afterwards declare that though there be Evil in the Parts of the World yet there is none in the Whole and that Moral Evils are not Imputable to the Deity And now we have proposed the Three Principal Attributes of the Deity The First whereof is Infinite goodness with Fecundity the Second Infinite Knowledge and Wisdom and the Last Infinite Active and Perceptive Power From which Three Divine Attributes the Pythagoreans and Platonists seem to have framed their Trinity of Archical Hypostases such as have the Nature of Principles in the Universe and which though they apprehended as several Distinct Substances gradually subordinate to one another yet they many times extend the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far as to comprehend them all within it Which Pythagorick Trinity seems to be intimated by
Manicheans both of which though they made some slight Pretences to Christianity yet were not by Christians owned for such But it is certain that besides these and before them too some of the Professed Pagans also entertained the same Opinion that famous Moralist Plutarchus Chaeronensis being an Undoubted Patron of it which in his Book De Iside Osiride he represents with some little difference after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Generation and Constitution of this World is mixt of contrary Powers or Principles the one Good the other Evil yet so as that they are not both of equal force but the Better of them more prevalent notwithstanding standing which it is also absolutely impossible for the Worser Power or Principle to be ever Vtterly destroyed much of it being always intermingled in the Soul and much in the Body of the Vniverse there perpetually tugging against the Better Principle Indeed learned men of later times have for the most part look'd upon Plutarch here but either as a bare Relater of the Opinion of other Philosophers or else as a Follower only and not a Leader in it Notwithstanding which it is evident that Plutarch was himself heartily Engaged in this Opinion he discovering no small fondnâ—ss for it in sundry of his other Writings as for Example in his Platonick Questions where he thus declares himself concerning it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or else that which is often affirmed by us is true that a Mad Irrational soul and an unformed disorderly Body did coexist with one another from Eternity neither of them having any Generation or Beginning And in his Timaean Psychogonia he does at large industriosly maintain the same there and elsewhere endeavouring to establish this Doctrine as much as possibly he could upon Rational Foundations As First that Nothing can be Made or Produced without a Cause and therefore there must of necessity be some Cause of Evil also and that a Positive one too he representing the Opinion of those as very ridiculous who would make the Nature of Evil to be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Accidental Appendix to the World and all that Evil which is in it to have come in only by the by and by Consequence without any Positive Cause Secondly that God being Essentially Good could not possibly be the Cause of Evil where he highly applauds Plato for removing God to the greatest distance imaginable from being the Cause of Evil. Thirdly that as God could not so neither could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matter in it self devoid of all form and Quality be the Cause of Evil noting this to have been the Subterfuge of the Stoicks Upon which account he often condemns them but uncertainly sometimes as such who affigned No Cause at all of Evils and sometimes again as those who made God the Cause of them For in his Psychogonia he concludes that unless we acknowledge a Substantial Evil Principle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoical Difficulties will of necessity overtake and involve us who introduce Euil into the World from Nothing or Without a Cause since neither that which is Essentially Good as God nor yet that which is devoid of all Quality as Matter could possibly give being or Generation to it But in his Book against the Stoicks he accuses them as those who made God Essentially Good the Cause of Evil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Themselves make God being Good the Principle and cause of Evil since Matter which is devoid of Quality and recieves all its Differences from the Active Principle that moves and forms it could not possibly be the Cause thereof Wherefore Evil must of necessity eithercome from Nothing or else it must come from the Active and Moving Principle which is God Now from all these Premises joyned together Plutarch concludes that the Phaenomenon of Evil could no otherwise possibly be salved than by supposing a Substantial Principle for it and a certain Irrational and Maleficent Soul or Daemon Vnmade and Coexisting with God and Matter from Eternity to have been the Cause thereof And accordingly he resolves that as whatsoever is Good in the Soul and Body of the Vniverse and likewise in the Souls of Men and Daemons is to be ascribed to God as its only Original so whatsoever is Evil Irregular and Disorderly in them ought to be imputed to this other Substantial Principle a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Irrational and Maleficent Soul or Daemon which insinuating it sâ—lf every where throughout the World is all along intermingled with the Better Principle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that neither the Soul of the Vniverse nor that of Men and Daemons was wholly the Workmanship of God but the Lower Brutish and Disorderly part of them the Effect of the Evil Principle But besides all this it is evident that Plutarch was also strongly possessed with a Conceit that nothing Substantial could be Created no not by Divine Power out of Nothing Preexisting and therefore that all the Substance of whatsoever is in the World did Exist from Eternity Vnmade so that God was only the Orderer or the Methodizer and Harmonizer thereof Wherefore as he concluded that the Corporeal World was not Created by God out of Nothing as to the Substance of it but only the Preexisting Matter which before moved Disorderly was brought into this Regular Order and Harmony by him In like manner he resolved that the Soul of the World for such a thing is always supposed by him was not made by God out of Nothing neither nor out of any thing Inanimate and Soulless Preexisting but out of a Preexisting Disorderly Soul was brought into an Orderly and Regular Frame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There was Vnformed Matter before this Orderly World was made which Matter was not Incorporeal nor Vnmoved or Inanimate but Body discomposed and acted by a Furious and Irrational Mover the Deformity whereof was the Disharmony of a Soul in it devoid of Reason For God neither made Body out of that which was No-Body nor Soul out of No-soul But as the Musician who neither makes Voice nor Motion does by ordering of them notwithstanding produce Harmony so God though he neither made the Tangible and Resisting Substance of Body nor the Phantastick and Self-moving Power of Soul yet taking both those Principles preexisting the one of which was Dark and Obscure the other Turbulent and Irrational and orderly disposing and Harmonizing of them he did by that means produce this most beautiful and perfect Animal of the World And further to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God was not the Cause or Maker of Body simply that is neither of Bulk nor Matter but only of that Symmetry and Pulchritude which is in Body and that likeness which it hath to himself Which same ought to be concluded also concerning the Soul of the World that the Substance of it was not made by God neither nor yet that it was
always the Soul of this World but at first a certain Self-moving Substance endowed with a Phantastick Power Irrational and Disorderly Existing such of it self from Eternity which God by Harmonizing and introducing into it fitting Numbers and Proportions Made to be the Soul and Prince of this Generated World According to which Doctrine of Plutarch's in the supposed Soul of the World though it had a Temporary beginning yet was it never Created out of Nothing but only that which preexisted disorderly being acted by the Deity was brought into a Regular Frame And therefore he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul partaking of Mind Reason and Harmony is not only the Work of God but also a Part of him nor is it a thing so much made by him as from him and existing out of him And the same must he likewise affirm concerning all other Souls as those of Men and Demons that they are either all of them the Substance of God himself together with that of the Evil Demon or else certain Delibations from both if any one could understand it blended and confounded together He not allowing any new Substance at all to be created by God out of nothing preexistent It was observed in the beginning of this Chapter that Plutarch was an Assertor of two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Self-existent Principles in the Universe God and Matter but now we understand that he was an Earnest Propugnor of another Third Principle as himself calls it besides them both viz. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mad Irrational and Maleficent Soul or Daemon So that Plutarch was both a Triarchist and a Ditheist an Assertor of Three Principles but of Two Gods according to that forementioned Notion of a God as it is taken for an Animalish or Perceptive Being Self-existent We are not ignorant that Plutarch endeavours with all his might to perswade this to have been the constant Belief of all the Pagan Nations and of all the Wisest men and Philosophers that ever were amongst them For this saith he in his Book De Iside Osiride is a most ancient Opinion that hath been delivered down from Theologers and Law-makers all along to Poets and Philosophers and though the first Author thereof be Vnknown yet hath it been so firmly believed every where that the Footsteps of it have been imprinted upon the Sacrifices and Mysteries or Religious Rites both of Barbarians and Greeks Namely That the World is neither wholly Vngoverned by any Mind or Reasan as if all things floated in the streams of Chance and Fortune nor yet that there is any one Principle steering and guiding all without Resistance or Control because there is a Confused Mixture of Good and Evil in every thing and nothing is Produced by Nature sincere Wherefore it is not one only Dispenser of things who as it were out of several Vessels distributeth those several Liquors of Good and Evil mingling them together and dashing them as he pleaseth But there are two Distinct and Contrary Powers or Principles in the World One of them always leading as it were to the Right hand but the other tugging a Contrary way Insomuch that our whole Life and the whole World is a certain Mixture and Confusion of these Two at least this Terrestrial World below the Moon is such all being every where full of Irregularity and Disorder For if nothing can be Made without a Cause and that which is Good cannot be the Cause of Evil there must needs be a distinct Principle in Nature for the Production of Evil as well as Good And this hath been the Opinion of the Most and Wisest Men some of them affirming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there are Two Gods as it were of Contrary Crafts and Trades one whereof is the Maker of all Good and the other of all Evil but others calling the Good Principle only a God and the Evil Principle a Daemon as Zoroaster the Magician Besides which Zoroaster and the Persian Magi Plutarch pretends that the Footsteps of this Opinion were to be found also in the Astrology of the Chaldeans and in the Mysteries and Religious Rites not only of the Egyptians but also of the Grecians themselves and lastly he particularly imputes the same to all the most famous of the Greek Philosophers as Pythagoras Empedocles Heraclitus Anaxagoras Plato and Aristotle though his chiefest endeavour of all be to prove that Plato was an Undoubted Champion for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Plato was not guilty of that Miscarriage of Later Philosophers in overlooking the Third Power which is between the Matter and God and thereby falling into the Grossest of all Absurdities That the Nature of Evils was but an Accidental Appendix to the World and came into it merely by chance no body knows how So that those very Philosophers who will by no means allow to Epicurus the Smallest Declension of his Atoms from the Perpendicular alledging that this would be to introduce a Motion without a Cause and to bring something out of Nothing themselves do notwithstanding suppose all that Vice and Misery which is in the World besides innumerable other Absurdities and Inconveniences about Body to have come into it merely by Accidental Consequence and without having any Cause in the First Principles But Plato did not so but devesting Matter of all Qualities and Differences by means whereof it could not possibly be made the Cause of Evils and then placing God at the greatest distance from being the Cause thereof he consequently resolved it into a Third Vnmade Principle between God and the Matter an Irrational Soul or Demon moving the Matter disorderly Now because Plutarch's Authority passeth so uncontrolled and his Testimony in this particular seems to be of late generally received as an Oracle and consequently the thing taken for an Unquestionable Truth that the Ditheistick Doctrine of a Good and Evil Principle was the Catholick or Universal Doctrine of the Pagan Theists and particularly that Plato above all the rest was a Professed Champion for the same we shall therefore make bold to examine Plutarch's Grounds for this so confident Assertion of his and principally concerning Plato And his Grounds for imputing this Opinion to Plato are only these Three which follow First because that Philosopher in his Politicus speaks of a Necessary and Innate Appetite that may sometimes turn the Heavens a contrary way and by that means cause Disorder and Confusion Secondly because in his Tenth De Legibus he speaks of Two kinds of Souls whereof One is Beneficent but the other Contrary And Lastly because in his Timaeus he supposeth the Matter to have been Moved disorderly before the World was made which implies that there was a Disorderly and Irrational Soul consisting with it as the Mover of it Matter being unable â—o move it self But as to the First of these Allegations out of Plato's Politicus we shall only observe that that Philosopher as if it had been purposely to prevent such an
as also that there was no Theogonia nor Temporary Production of the Inferiour Gods from these Verses of his according to Grotius his Correction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nempe Dî semper fuerunt atque nunquam intercident Haec quae dico semper nobis rebus in iisdem se exhibent Extitisse sed Deorum Primum perhibetur Chaos Quînam verò nam de nihilo nîl pote primum existere Ergo nec Primum profecto quicquam nec fuit Alterum Sed quae nunc sic appellantur alia fient postmodum Where though he acknowledges this to have been the General Tradition of the ancient Theists That Chaos was before the Gods and that the Inferior Mundane Gods had a Temporary Generation or Production with the World yet notwithstanding does he conclude against it from this Ground of Reason because Nothing could procede from Nothing and therefore both the Gods and indeed whatsoever else is Substantial in the World was from Eternity Unmade only the Fashion of things having been altered Moreover Diodorus Siculus affirms the Chaldeans likewise to have asserted this Dogma of the Worlds Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaldeans affirm the Nature of the World to be Eternal and that it was neither Generated from any Beginning nor will ever admit Corruption Who that they were not Atheists for all that no more than Aristotle appears from those following words of that Historiographer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They believe also that the Order and Disposition of the World is by a certain Divine Providence and that every One of those things which come to pass in the Heavens happens not by chance but by a certain determinate and firmly ratified Judgment of the Gods However it is a thing known to all that the Generality of the later Platonists stiffly adhered to Aristotle in this neither did they onely assert the Corporeal World with all the Inferior Mundane Gods in it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ingenerate and to have existed from Eternity but also maintained the same concerning the Souls of Men and all other Animals They concluding that no Souls were Younger than Body or the World and because they would not seem to depart from their Master Plato therefore did they endeavour violently to force this same sence upon Plato's words also Notwithstanding which concerning these Latter Platonists it is here observable that though they thus asserted the World and all Inferior Gods and Souls to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to that stricter sence of the Word declared that is to have had no Temporary Generation or Beginning but to have Existed from Eternity yet by no means did they therefore conceive them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-originated and Self-existing but concluded them to have been all derived from one sole Self-existent Deity as their Cause which therefore though not in order of Time yet of Nature was before them To this purpose Plotinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind or God was before the World not as if it existed before it in Time but because the World proceeded from it and that was in order of Nature First as the cause thereof and its Archetype or Paradigm the World also always subsisting by it and from it And again elsewhere to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The things which are said to have been made or Generated were not so Made as that they ever had a Beginning of their Existence but yet they were Made and will be always Made in another sence nor will they ever be destroyed otherwise than as being dissolved into those Simple Principles out of which some of them were compounded Where though the World be said never to have been Made as to a Temporary beginning yet in another sence is it said to be always Made as depending upon God perpetually as the Emanative Cause thereof Agreeably whereunto the Manner of the Worlds Production from God is thus declared by that Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They do not rightly who Corrupt and Generate the World for they will not understand what Manner of Making or Production the World had to wit by way of Effulgency or Eradiation from the Deity From whence it follows that the World must needs have been so long as there was a God as the Light was coeve with the Sun So likewise Proclus concludes that the World was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always Generated or Eradiated from God and therefore must needs be Eternal God being so Wherefore these Latter Platonists supposed the same thing concerning the Corporeal World and the Lower Mundane Gods which their Master Plato did concerning his Higher Eternal Gods that though they had no Temporary Production yet they all depended no less upon one Supreme Deity than if they had been made out of Nothing by Him From whence it is manifest that none of these Philosophers apprehended any Repugnancy at all betwixt these Two Things Existence from Eternity and Being Caused or produced by Another Nor can we make any great Doubt but that if the Latter Platonists had been fully convinced of any Contradictious Inconsistency here they would readily have disclaimed that their so beloved Hypothesis of the Worlds Eternity it being so far from Truth what some have supposed that the Assertors of the Worlds Eternity were all Atheists that these Latter Platonists were led into this Opinion no otherwise than from the sole Consideration of the Deity to wit its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its Essential Goodness and Generative Power or Emanative Fecundity as Proclus plainly declares upon the Timaeus Now though Aristotle were not Acted with any such Divine Enthusiasm as these Platonists seem to have been yet did he notwithstanding after his sober Manner really maintain the same thing That though the World and Inferior Mundane Gods had no Temporary Generation yet were they nevertheless all Produced from One Supreme Deity as their Cause Thus Simplicius represents that Philosopher's Sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle would not have the World to have been made so as to have had a Beginning but yet nevertheless to have been produced from God after some other manner And again afterward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle though making God the Cause of the Heaven and its Eternal Motion yet concludes it notwithstanding to have been Ingenerate or Vnmade that is without Beginning However we think sit here to observe that though Aristotle do for the most part express a great deal of Zeal and Confidence for that Opinion of the Worlds Eternity yet doth he sometimes for all that seem to flag a little and speak more Languidly and Sceptically about it as for Example in his Book De Partibus Animalium where he treats concerning an Artificial Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is more likely that the Heaven was
made by such a Cause as this if it were Made and that it is maintained by such a Cause than that Mortal Animals should be so which yet is a thing more generally acknowledged Now it was before declared that Aristotle's Artificial Nature was nothing but the mere Executioner or Opificer of a Perfect Mind that is of the Deity which Two therefore he sometimes joyns together in the Cosmopoeia affirming that Mind and Nature that is God and Nature were the Cause of this Universe And now we see plainly that though there was a Real Controversie amongst the Pagan Theologers especially from Aristotle's time downward concerning the Cosmogonia and Theogonia according to the Stricter notion of those words the Temporary Generation or Production of the World and Inferior Gods or whether they had any Beginning or no yet was there no Controversie at all concerning the Self-existency of them but it was Universally agreed upon amongst them That the World and the Inferior Gods however supposed by some to have existed from Eternity yet were nevertheless all derived from one Sole Self-existent Deity as their Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being either Eradiated or Produced from God Wherefore it is observable that these Pagan Theists who asserted the Worlds Eternity did themselves distinguish concerning the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orium Natum Factum as that which was Equivocal and though in one sence of it they denied that the World and Inferior Gods were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet notwithstanding did they in another sence clearly affirm the same For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say they strictly and properly taken is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which in respect of time passed out of Non-existence into Being or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which being not before afterwards was Nevertheless they acknowledge that in a larger sence this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken also for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which doth any way depend upon a Superior Being as its Cause And there must needs be the same Equivocation in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that this in like manner may be taken also either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that which is Ingenerate in respect of Time as having no Temporary Beginning or else for that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenerate or Vnproduced from any Cause in which latter sence that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Vnmade is of equal force and extent with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is Self-subsistent or Selforiginated and accordingly it was used by those Pagan Theists who concluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That Matter was Vnmade that is not only existed from Eternity without Beginning but also was Self-existent and Independent upon any Superior Cause Now as to the Former of these two sences of those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Generality of the ancient Pagans and together with them Plato affirmed the World and all the Inferior Gods to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have been Made in Time or to have had a Beginning for whatever the Latter Platonists pretend this was undoubtedly Plato's Notion of that word and no other when he concluded the World to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forasmuch as himself expresly opposes it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is Eternal But on the contrary Aristotle and the Later Platonists determined the World and all the Inferior Gods to be in this sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as had no Temporary Beginning but were from Eternity However according to the later Sence of those words all the Pagan Theologers agreed together that the World and all the Inferior Gods whether having a Beginning or Existing from Eternity were notwithstanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 produced or derived from a Superior Cause and that thus there was only One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Vnproduced and Self-existent Deity who is said by them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Superior to a Cause and Older than any Cause he being the Cause of all things besides himself Thus Crantor and his Followers in Proclus zealous Assertors of the Worlds Eternity determined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the World with all the Inferior Mundane Gods in it notwithstanding their Being from Eternity might be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is orti or made as being produced from another Cause and not Self-originated or Self-existing In like manner Proclus himself that grand Champion for the Worlds Eternity plainly acknowledged notwithstanding the Generation of the Gods and World in this sence as being produced from a Superior Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We call it the Generations of the Gods meaning thereby not any Temporary Production of them but their Ineffable Procession from a Superior First Cause Thus also Salustius in his Book de Diis Mundo where he contends the World to have been from Eternity or without Beginning yet concludes both it and the other Inferiour Gods to have been made by One Supreme Deity who is called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First God For saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God or the First Cause having the greatest power or being Omnipotent ought therefore to make not only Men and other Animals but also Gods and Demons And accordingly this is the Title of his 13. Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How Eternal things may be said to be Made or Generated It is true indeed as we have often declared that some of the Pagan Theists asserted God not to be the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only Vnmade and Self-existent Being but that Matter also was such nevertheless this Opinion was not so generally received amongst them as is commonly supposed and though some of the ancient Fathers confidently impute it to Plato yet there seems to be no sufficient ground for their so doing and Porphyrius Jamblychus Proclus and other Platonists do not only professedly oppose the same as false but also as that which was dissonant from Plato's Principles Wherefore according to that larger Notion of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as taken synonymously with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there were Very many of the Pagan Theologers who agreed with Christians in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God is the only Ingenerate or Vnmade Being and that his very Essence is Ingenerability or Innascibility all other things even Matter it self being made by him But all the rest of them only a few Ditheists excepted though they supposed Matter to be Self-existent yet did they conclude that there was only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely One Vnmade or Vnproduced God and that all their other Gods were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in One sence or other if not as Made in Time yet at least as Produced from a Superiour Cause Nothing now remaineth but onely that we shew how
Though sometimes the Egyptians added to the Serpent also a Hawk thus complicating the Hieroglypick of the Deity according to that of a famous Egyptian Priest in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the First and Divinest Being of all is Symbolically represented by a Serpent having the head of an Hawk And that a Hawk was also sometimes used alone for a Hieroglyphick of the Deity appeareth from that of Plutarch That in the Porch of an Egyptian Temple at Sais were ingraven these Three Hieroglyphicks a Young man an Old man and an Hawk to make up this Sentence That both the Beginning and End of humane Life dependeth upon God or Providence But we have Two more remarkable Passages in the forementioned Horus Apollo concerning the Egyptian Theology which must not be pretermitted the first this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That according to them there is a Spirit passing through the Whole World to wit God And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seemeth to the Egyptians that nothing at all consists without God In the next place Jamblichus was a person who had made it his business to inform himself thoroughly concerning the Theology of the Egyptians and who undertakes to give an account thereof in his Answer to Porphyrius his Epistle to Anebo an Egyptian Priest whose Testimony therefore may well seem to deserve credit And he first gives us a Summary account of their Theology after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God who is the Cause of Generation and the whole Nature and of all the Powers in the Elements themselves is Separate Exempt Elevated above and expanded over all the Powers and Elements in the World For being above the World and transcending the same Immaterial and Incorporeal Supernatural Vnmade Indivisible manifested wholly from himself and in himself he ruleth over all things and in himself conteineth all things And because he virtually comprehends all things therefore does he impart and display the same from himself According to which excellent Description of the Deity it is plain that the Egyptians asserting One God that Comprehends All things could not possibly suppose a Multitude of Self-existent Deities In which place also the same Jamblichus tells us that as the Egyptian Hieroglyphick for Material and Corporeal things was Mud or floating Water so they pictur'd God in Loto arbore sedentem super Lutum sitting upon the Lote-tree above the Watery Mud Quod innuit Dei eminentiam altissimam qua fit ut nullo modo attingat Lutum ipsum Demonstratque Dei imperium intellectuale quia Loti arboris omnia sunt rotunda tam frondes quà m fructus c. Which signifies the transcendent Eminency of the Deity above the Matter and its intellectual Empire over the World because both the Leaves and Fruit of that tree are Round representing the Motion of intellect Again he there adds also that the Egyptians sometime pictured God sitting at the Helm of a Ship But afterward in the same Book he sums up the Queries which Porphyrius had propounded to the Egyptian Priest to be resolved concerning them in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You desire to be resolved What the Egyptians think to be the first Cause of all Whether Intellect or something above Intellect And that Whether alone or with some other Whether Incorporeal or Corporeal Whether the first Principle be the same with the Demiurgus and Architect of the World or before him Whether all things proceed from One or Many Whether they suppose Matter or Qualified Bodies to be the first and if they admit a First Matter Whether they assert it to be Vnmade or Made In answer to which Porphyrian Quaeries Jamblichus thus begins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall first reply to that you first demand That according to the Egyptians before all Entities and Principles there is One God who is in order of nature before him that is commonly called the first God and King Immoveable and always remaining in the solitariety of his own Vnity there being nothing Intelligible nor any thing else complicated with him c. In which words of Jamblichus and those others that there follow after though there be some obscurity and we may perhaps have occasion further to consider the meaning of them elsewhere yet he plainly declares that according to the Egyptians the first Original of all things was a perfect Unity above Intellect but intimating withall that besides this First Unity they did admit of certain other Divine Hypostases as a Perfect Intellect and Mundane Soul subordinate thereunto and dependent on it concerning which he thus writeth afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Egyptians acknowledge before the Heaven and in the Heaven a Living Power or Soul and again they place a pure Mind or Intellect above the World But that they did not acknowledge a Plurality of Coordinate Independent Principles is further declared by him after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus the Egyptian Philosophy from first to last begins from Vnity and thence descends to Multitude the Many being always governed by the One and the Infinite or Vndeterminate nature every where mastered and conquered by some finite and determined measure and all ultimately by that highest Vnity that is the first Cause of all things Moreover in answer to the last Porphyrian Question concerning Matter whether the Egyptians thought it to be Vnmade and Selfexistent or Made Jamblichus thus replies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That according to Hermes and the Egyptians Matter was also Made or produced by God ab Essentialitate succisa ac subscissâ Materialitate as Scutellius turns it Which Passage of Jamblichus Proclus upon the Timaeus where he asserts that God was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the uneffable cause of Matter takes notice of in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Tradition of the Egyptians agreeth herewith That Matter was not Vnmade or Self-existent but produced by the Deity For the Divine Jamblichus hath recorded that Hermes would have Materiality to have been produced from Essentiality that is the Passive Principle of Matter from that Active Principle of the Deity And it is very probable from hence that Plato was also of the same opinion concerning Matter viz. because he is supposed to have followed Hermes and the Egyptians Which indeed is the more likely if that be true which the same Proclus affirmeth concerning Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Orpheus also did after the same manner deduce or derive Matter from the First Hypostasis of Intelligibles that is from the Supreme Deity We shall conclude here in the last place with the Testimony of Damascius in his Book of Principles writing after this manner concerning the Egyptians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eudemus hath given us no exact account of the Egyptians but the Egyptian Philosophers that have been in our times have declared the hidden truth of their Theology having found in certain Egyptian Writings that there was according to them One
But that notwithstanding he asserted One Supreme and only Vnmade or Self-existent Deity is also manifest from that other Apothegm of his in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is the Oldest of all things because he is Vnmade From whence it may be concluded that all Thales his other Gods were Generated and the Off-spring of One sole Unmade Deity Pherecydes Syrus was Thales his contemporary of whom Aristotle in his Metaphysicks hath recorded that he affirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the First Principle from whence all other things were Generated was the Best or an Absolutely Perfect Being So as that in the Scale of Nature things did not ascend upwards from the most Imperfect to the more Perfect Beings but on the contrary descend downwards from the most Perfect to the less Perfect Moreover Laertius informs us that this was the Beginning of one of Pherecydes his Books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter and Time and the Earth always were Where notwithstanding in the following words he makes the Earth to be dependent upon Jupiter Though some reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seem to understand him thus that Jupiter and Saturn really one and the same Numen was always from Eternity However there is in these words an acknowledgment of One Single and Eternal Deity Pythagoras was the most eminent of all the ancient Philosophers who that he was a Polytheist as well as the other Pagans may be concluded from that Beginning of the Golden Verses though not written by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein men are exhorted in the first place to worship the Immortal Gods and that accordingly as they were appointed by Law after them the Heroes and last of all the Terrestrial Demons And accordingly Laertius gives this account of Pythagoras his Piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he conceived men ought to worship both the Gods and the Heroes though not with equal honour And who these Gods of Pythagoras were the same Writer also declareth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they were in part at least the Sun and Moon and Stars Notwithstanding which that Pythagoras acknowledged One Supreme and Universal Numen which therefore was the Original of all those other Gods may partly appear from that Prayer in the Golden Verses which whether written by Philolaus or Lysis or some other Follower of Pythagoras were undoubtedly ancient and agreeable to his Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter alme malis jubeas vel solvier omnes Omnibus utantur vel quonam daemone monstra Upon which Hierocles thus writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the manner of the Pythagoreans to honour the Maker and Father of this whole Vniverse with the name of Dis and Zen it being just that he who giveth Being and Life to all should be denominated from thence And again afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This very name Zeus is a convenient symbol or image of the Demiurgical Nature And they who first gave names to things were by reason of a certain wonderful Wisdom of theirs a kind of excellent Statuaries they by those several Names as Images lively representing the natures of things Moreover that this Pythagorick Prayer was directed to the Supreme Numen and King of Gods Jamblichus thus declares in his Protrepticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here is an excellent exhortation of these Golden Verses to the pursuit of Divine Felicity mingled together with Prayers and the Invocation of the Gods but especially of that Jupiter who is the King of them Moreover the same might further appear from those Pythagorick Fragments that are still extant as that of Ocellus Lucanus and others who where Moralists in which as Gods are sometimes spoken of plurally so also is God often singularly used for that Supreme Deity which conteineth the whole But this will be most of all manifest from what hath been recorded concerning the Pythagorick Philosophy and its making a Monad the First Principle It is true indeed that the Writer de Placitis Philosophorum doth affirm Pythagoras to have asserted Two Substantial Principles Self-existent a Monad and a Dyad by the former of which as God is confessed to have been meant so the latter of them is declared with some uncertainty it being in one place interpreted to be a Daemon or a Principle of Evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pythagoras his First Principle is God and Good which is the Nature of Vnity and a perfect Mind but his other Principle of Duality is a Demon or Evil But in another place expounded to be Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythagoras his Principles were a Monad and Infinite Duality The former of them an Active Principle Mind or God the latter Passive and Matter And Plutarch in some other Writings of his declares that the First Matter did not exist alone by it self Dead and Inanimate but acted with an irrational Soul and that both these together made up that wicked Daemon of his And doubtless this Book De Placitis Philosophorum was either written by Plutarch himself or else by some Disciple and Follower of his according to his Principles Wherefore this accompt which is therein given of the Pythagorick Doctrine was probably infected with that private Conceit of Plutarch's That God and a wicked Demon or else Matter together with an Irrational Soul Self-existent were the First Principles of the Vniverse Though we do acknowledge that others also besides Plutarch have supposed Pythagoras to have made Two Self-existent Principles God and Matter but not animate nor informed as Plutarch supposed with any Irrational or wicked Soul Notwithstanding which it may well be made a Question Whether Pythagoras by his Dyad meant Matter or no because Malchus or Porphyrius in the Life of Pythagoras thus interprets those Two Pythagorick Principles of Vnity and Duality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cause of that Sympathy Harmony and Agreement which is in things and of the conservation of the Whole which is always the same and like it self was by Pythagoras called Vnity or a Monade that Vnity which is in the things themselves being but a participation of the First Cause But the reason of Alterity Inequality and unconstant Irregularity in things was by him called a Dyad Thus acording to Porphyrius by the Pythagorick Dyad is not so much meant Matter as the Infinite and Indeterminate Nature and the Passive Capability of Things So that the Monade and Dyad of Pythagoras seem to have been the same with Plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Finite and Infinite in his Philebus the Former of which Two only is Substantial that First most simple Being the cause of all Unity and the Measure of all things However if Pythagoras his Dyad be to be understood of a Substantial Matter it will not therefore follow that he supposed Matter to be Self-existent and
Independent upon the Deity since according to the best and most ancient Writers his Dyad was no Primary but a Secondary Thing only and derived from his Monad the sole Original of all things Thus Diogenes Laertius tells us that Alexander who wrote the Successions of Philosophers affirmed he had found in the Pythagorick Commentaries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a Monade was the Principle of all things but that from this Monade was derived infinite Duality as Matter for the Monade to work upon as the Active Cause With which agreeth Hermias affirming this to be one of the greatest of all the Pythagorick Mysteries that a Monade was the sole Principle of all things Accordingly whereunto Clomens Alexandrinus cites this Passage out of Thearidas an ancient Pythagorean in his Book concerning Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The true Principle of all things was only One for this was in the beginning One and Alone Which words also seem to imply the World to have had a Novity of Existence or beginning of Duration And indeed however Ocellus Lucanus write yet that Pythagoras himself did not hold the Eternity of the World may be concluded from what Porphyrius records of him where he gives an Account of that his superstitious abstinence from Beans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That at the beginning things being confounded and mingled together the Generation and Secretion of them afterwards proceeded by degrees Animals and Plants appearing at which time also from the same putrified Matter sprung up both Men and Beans Pythagoras is generally reported to have held a Trinity of Divine Hypostases and therefore when St. Cyril affirmeth Pythagoras to have called God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Animation of the whole Heavens and the Motion of all things adding that God was not as some supposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the Fabrick of the World but whole in the whole this seems properly to be understood of that Third Divine Hypostasis of the Pythagorick Trinity namely the Eternal Psyche Again when God is called in Plutarch according to Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind it self this seems to be meant properly of his Second Hypostasis the Supreme Deity according to him being something above Mind or Intellect In like manner when in Cicero Pythagoras his Opinion concerning the Deity is thus represented Deum esse animum per naturam rerum omnium intentum commeantem ex quo Animi nostri carperentur That God was a Mind passing through the whole Nature of things from whom our Souls were as it were decerped or cut out And again Ex universa mente Divina delibatos esse animos nostros this in all probability was to be understood also either of the Third or Second Divine Hypostasis and not of the First which was properly called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Vnity and Monade and also as Plutarch tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goodness it self Aristotle plainly affirmeth that some of the ancient Theologers amongst the Pagans made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Love to be the First Principle of all things that is the Supreme Deity and we have already shewed that Orpheus was one oft hese For when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Delightful Love and that which is not blind but full of Wisdom and Counsel is made by him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-perfect and the Oldest of all Things it is plain that he supposed it to be nothing less than the Supreme Deity Wherefore since Pythagoras is generally affirmed to have followed the Orphick Principles we may from hence presume that he did it in this also Though it be very true that Plato who called the Supreme Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as Pythagoras did dissent from the Orphick Theology in this and would not acknowledge Love for a name of the Supreme Deity as when in his Symposion in the person of Agatho he speaks thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though I should readily grant to Phaedrus many other things yet I cannot consent to him in this that Love was Older than Saturn and Japet but on the contrary I do affirm him to be the Youngest of the Gods as he is always youthful They who made Love Older than Saturn as well as Japhet supposed it to be the Supreme Deity wherefore Plato here on the contrary affirms Love not to be the Supreme Deity or Creator of all but a Creature a Certain Junior God or indeed as he afterwards adds not so much a God as a Daemon it being a thing which plainly implies Imperfection in it Love saith he is a Philosopher whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no God philosophizeth nor dâ—sires to be made wise because he is so already Agreably with which Doctrine of his Plotinus determines that Love is peculiar to that middle rank of Beings called Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Every Soul is a Venus which is also intimated by Venus her Nativity and Loves being begotten with her wherefore the Soul being in its right natural state Loves God desiring to be united with him which is a pure heavenly and virgin Love but when it descends to Generation being courted with these Amorous allurements here below and deceived by them it changeth that its Divine and Heavenly Love for another Mortal one but if it again shake off these lascivious and wanton Loves and keep it self chast from them returning back to its own Father and Original it will be rightly affected as it ought But the reason of this difference betwixt the Orpheists and Plato that the former made Love to be the Oldest of all the Gods but the latter to be a Junior God or Daemon proceeded only from an Equivocation in the word Love For Plato's Love was the Daughter of Penia that is Poverty and Indigency together with a mixture of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Riches and being so as it were compounded of Plenty and Poverty was in plain language no other than the Love of Desire which as Aristotle affirmeth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accompanied with Grief and Pain But that Orphick and Pythagorick Love was nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infinite Riches and Plenty a Love of Redundancy and Overflowing Fulness delighting to communicate it self which was therefore said to be the Oldest of all things and most Perfect that is the Supreme Deity according to which notion also in the Scripture it self God seems to be called Love though the word be not there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But to say the Truth Parmenides his Love however made a Principle somewhere by Aristotle seems to be neither exactly the same with the Orphick nor yet with the Platonick Love it being not the Supreme Deity and yet the First of the Created Gods which appears from Simplicius his connecting these Two
Verses of his together in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the midst of these Elements is that God which governeth all things and whom Parmenides affirmeth to be the cause of Gods writing thus God first of all created Love before the other Gods Wherefore by this Love of Parmenides is understood nothing else but the Lower Soul of the World together with a Plastick Nature which though it be the Original of Motion and Activity in this Corporeal World yet is it but a Secondary or Created God Before whose Production Necessity is said by those Ethnick Theologers to have reigned the true meaning whereof seems to be this that before that Divine Spirit moved upon the Waters and brought things into an orderly System there was nothing but the Necessity of Material Motions unguided by any orderly Wisdom or Method for Good that is by Love in that confused and floating Chaos But Pythagoras it seemeth did not only call the Supreme Deity a Monad but also a Tetrad or Tetractys for it is generally affirmed that Pythagoras himself was wont to swear hereby though Porphyrius and Jamblichus and others write that the Disciples of Pythagoras swore by Pythagoras who had delivered to them the Doctrine or Cabala of this Tetractys Which Tetractys also in the Golden Verses is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Fountain of the Eternal Nature an expression that cannot properly belong to any thing but the Supreme Deity And thus Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is nothing in the whole World which doth not depend upon the Tetractys as its Root and Principle For the Tetrad is as we have already said the Maker of all things the Intelligible God the Cause of the Heavenly and Sensible God that is of the Animated World or Heaven Now the Latter Pythagoreans and Platonists endeavour to give Reasons why God should be called Tetras or Tetractys from certain Mysteries in that Number Four as for example First because the Tetrad is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Power of the Dâ—cad it virtually containing the whole Decade in it which is all Numbers or Beings but the bottom of this Mystery is no more than this that One Two Three and Four added all together make up Ten. Again because the Tetrad is an Arithmetical Mediety betwixt the Monad and the Hebdomad which Monad and Hebdomad are said to agree in this that as the Monad is Ingenit or Unmade it being the Original and Fountain of all Numbers so is the Hebdomad said to be not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Motherless as well as Virgin Number Wherefore the Tetrad lying in the middle betwixt the Ingenit Monad and the Motherless Virgin Hebdomad and it being both begotten and begetting say they must needs be a very Mysterious number and fitly represent the Deity Whereas indeed it was therefore unfit to represent the Deity because it is begotten by the Multiplication of another Number as the Hebdomade therefore doth not very fitly symbolize with it neither because it is barren or begets nothing at all within the Decad for which cause it is called a Virgin Again it is further added that the Tetrad fitly resembâ—es that which is Solid because as a Point answers to a Monad and a Line to a Dyad and a Supersicies to a Triad the first and most simple figure being a Triangle so the Tetrad properly represents the Solid the first Pyramid being found in it But upon this consideration the Tetrade could not be so fit a Symbol of the Incorporeal Deity neither as of the Corporeal World Wherefore these things being all so trifling slight and phantastical and it being really absurd for Pythagoras to call his Monade a Tetrade the late conjecture of some Learned men amongst us seems to be much more probable that Pythagoras his Tetractys was really nothing else but the Tetragrammaton or that proper name of the Supreme God amongst the Hebrews consisting of Four Letters or Consonants Neither ought it to be wondered at that Pythagoras who besides his travelling into Egypt Persia and Chaldea and his sojourning at Sidon is affirmed by Josephus Porphyrius and others to have conversed with the Hebrews also should be so well acquainted with the Hebrew Tetragrammaton since it was not unknown to the Hetrurians and Latins their Jove being certainly nothing else And indeed it is the opinion of some Philologers that even in the Golden Verses themselves notwithstanding the seeming repugnancy of the Syntax it is not Pythagoras that is sworn by but this Tetractys or Tetragrammaton that is Jova or Jehovah the Name of God being put for God himself according to that received Doctrine of the Hebrews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God and his Name are all one as if the meaning of those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were this By the Tetragammaton or Jovah who hath communicated himself or The Fountain of the Eternal Nature to our Humane Souls for these according to the Pythagorick Doctrine were said to be ex Mente Divina carptae delibatae i. e. nothing but Derivative Streams from that first Fountain of the Divine Mind Wherefore we shall now sum up all concerning Pythagoras in this Conclusion of St. Cyril's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold we see clearly that Pythagoras held there was One God of the whole Vniverse the Principle and Cause of all things the Illuminator Animator and Quickener of the Whole and Original of Motion from whom all things were derived and brought out of Non-entity into Being Next to Pythagoras in order of time was Xenophanes the Colophonian the Head of the Eleatick Sect of Philosophers who that he was an Asserter both of Many Gods and One God sufficiently appears from that Verse of his before cited and attested both by Clemens Alexandrinus and Sextus the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is One God the Greatest both amongst Gods and Men. Concerning which greatest God this other Verse of Xenophanes is also vouched 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he moveth the whole world without any labour or toil merely by Mind Besides which Cicero and others tell us that this Xenophanes philosophizing concerning the Supreme Deity was wont to call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and All as being One most Simple Being that virtually conteineth all things But Xenophanes his Theosophy or Divine Philosophy is most fully declared by Simplicius out of Theophrastus in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theophrastus affirmeth that Xenophanes the Colophonian Parmenides his Master made One Principle of all things he calling it One and All and determining it to be neither Finite nor Infinite in a certain sence and neither Moving nor Resting Which Theophrastus also declares that Xenophanes in this did not write as a Natural Philosopher or â—hysiologer but as a Metaphysician or
which Mind is the same with God Thus Themistius speaking of Anaxagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was the first that is amongst the Ionick Philosophers who brought in Mind and God to the Cosmopoeia and did not derive all things from Sensless Bodies And to the same purpose Plutarch in the Life of Pericles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The other Ionick Philosophers before Anaxagoras made Fortune and blind Necessity that is the Fortuitous and Necessary Motions of the Matter to be the only Original of the World but Anaxagoras was the first who affirmed a pure and sincere Mind to preside over all Anaxagoras therefore supposed Two Substantial Self-existent Principles of the Universe one an Infinite Mind or God the other an Infinite Homoiomery of Matter or Infinite Atoms not Unqualified such as those of Empedocles and Democritus which was the most Ancient and Genuine Atomology but Similar such as were severally endued with all manner of Qualities and Forms which Physiology of his therefore was a spurious kind of Atomism Anaxagoras indeed did not suppose God to have created Matter out of nothing but that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Principle of its Motion and also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Regulator of this motion for Good and consequently the Cause of all the Order Pulchritude and Harmony of the World for which reason this Divine Principle was called also by him not only Mind but Good it being that which act the Sake of Good Wherefore according to Anaxagoras First the World was not Eternal but had a Beginning in time and before the World was made there was from Eternity an Infinite Congeries of Similar and Qualified Atoms Self-existent without either Order or Motion Secondly The World was not afterwards made by Chance but by Mind or God first moving the Matter and then directing the Motion of it so as to bring it into this orderly System and Compages So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind the first Maker of the World and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind that which still governs the same the King and Sovereign Monarch of Heaven and Earth Thirdly Anaxagoras his Mind and God was purely Incorporeal to which purpose his words recorded by Simplicius are very remarkable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind is mingled with nothing but is alone by it self and separate for if it were not by it self secrete from Matter but mingled therewith it would then partake of all things because there is something of all in every thing which things mingled together with it would hinder it so that it could not master or conquer any thing as if alone by it self for Mind is the most Subtil of all things and the most Pure and has the knowledge of all things together with an absolute Power over all Lastly Anaxagoras did not suppose a Multitude of Unmade Minds coexistent from Eternity as so many partial Causes and Governours of the World but only One Infinite Mind or God ruling over All. Indeed it may well be made a Question whether or no besides this Supreme and Universal Deity Anaxagoras did acknowledge any of those other Inferiour Gods then Worshipped by the Pagans because it is certain that though he asserted Infinite Mind to be the Maker and Governour of the whole World yet he was accused by the Athenians for Atheism and besides a Mulct impos'd upon him Banished for the same the true ground whereof was no other than this because he affirmed the Sun to be nothing but a Mass of Fire and the Moon and Earth having Mountains and Valleys Cities and Houses in it and probably concluded the same of all the other Stars and Planets that they were either Fires as the Sun or Habitable Earths as the Moon wherein supposing them not to be Animated he did consequently deny them to be Gods Which his Ungodding of the Sun Moon and Stars was then look'd upon by the Vulgar as nothing less than absolute Atheism they being very prone to think that if there were not Many Understanding Beings Superiour to Men and if the Sun Moon and Stars were not such and therefore in their Language Gods there was no God at all Neither was it the Vulgar only who condemned Anaxagoras for this but even those Two grave Philosophers Socrates and Plato did the like the First in his Apology made to the Athenians where he calls this opinion of Anaxagoras Absurd the Second in his Book of Laws where he complains of this Doctrine as a great In-let into Atheism in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When You and I endeavouring by Arguments to prove that there are Gods speak of the Sun and Moon Stars and Earth as Gods and Divine Things our young men presently being principled by these new Philosophers will reply that these are nothing but Earth and Stones Sensless and Inanimate Bodies which therefore cannot mind nor take notice of any Humane affairs Where we may observe these Two things First that nothing was accounted truly and properly a God amongst the Pagans but only what was endued with Life and Vnderstanding Secondly that the taking away of those Inferiour Gods of the Pagans the Sun Moon and Stars by denying them to be Animated or to have Life and Understanding in them was according to Plato's Judgment then the most ready and effectual way to introduce Absolute Atheism Moreover it is true that though this Anaxagoras were a professed Theist he asserting an Infinite Self-existent Mind to be the Maker of the whole World yet he was severely taxed also by Aristotle and Plato as one not thorough-paced in Theism and who did not so fully as he ought adhere to his own Principles For whereas to assert Mind to be the Maker of the World is really all one as to assert Final Causality for things in Nature as also that they were made after the Best manner Anaxagoras when he was to give his particular account of the Phaenomena did commonly betake himself to Material Causes only and hardly ever make use of the Mental or Final Cause but when he was to seek and at a loss then only bringing in God upon the Stage Socrates his discourse concerning this in Plato's Pâ—aedo is very well worth our taking notice of Hearing one sometime read saith he out of a Book of Anaxagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Mind was the Orderer and Cause of all things I was exceedingly pleased herewith concluding that it must needs follow from thence that All things were ordered and disposed of as they should and after the best manner possible and therefore the Causes even of the things in Nature or at least the grand Strokes of them ought to be fetched from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is Absolutely the Best But when afterwards I took Anaxagoras his Book into my hand greedily reading it over I was exceedingly disappointed of my expectation finding therein no other Causes
assigned but only from Airs and Ethers and Waters and such like Physical and Material things And he seemed to me to deal just as if one having affirmed that Socrates did all by Mind Reason and Vnderstanding afterward undertaking to declare the Causes of all my Actions as particularly of My Sitting here at this time should render it after this manner Because forsooth my Body is compounded of Bones and Nerves which Bones being solid have Joynts in them at certain distances and Nerves of such a nature as that they are capable of being both Intended and Remitted Wherefore my Bones being lifted up in the Joynts and my Nerves some of them intended and some remitted was the cause of the bending of my Body and of my sitting down in this place He in the mean time neglecting the true and proper Cause hereof which was no other than this Because it seemed good to the Athenians to condemn me to die as also to my self most Just rather to submit to their censure and undergo their punishment than by slight to escape it for certainly otherwise these Nerves and Bones of mine would not have been here now in this posture but amongst the Megarensians and Beotians carried thither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Opinion of the Best had I not thought it Better to submit to the sentence of the City than to escape the same by flight Which kind of Philosophers saith he do not seem to me to distinguish betwixt the True and Proper Cause of things and the Cause Sine qua non that without which they could not have been effected And such are they who devise many odd Physical Reasons for the firm Settlement of the Earth without any regard to that Power which orders all things for the Best as having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Force in it but thinking to find out an Atlas far more strong and immortal and which can better hold all things together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good and Fit being not able in their Opinions to Hold or Bind any Thing From which passage of Plato's we may conclude that though Anaxagoras were so far convinced of Theism as in Profession to mak One Infinite Mind the Cause of all things Matter only excepted yet he had notwithstanding too great a Tang of that Old Material and Atheistical Philosophy of his Predecessors still hanging about him who resolved all the Phaenomena of Nature into Physical and nothing into Mental or Final Causes And we have the rather told this long story of him because it is so exact a Parallel with the Philosophick Humour of some in this present Age who pretending to assert a God do notwithstanding discard all Mental and Final Causality from having any thing to do with the Fabrick of the World and resolve all into Material Necessity and Mechanism into Vortices Globuli and Striate Particles and the like Of which Christian Philosophers we must needs pronounce that they are not near so good Theists as Anaxagoras himself was though so much condemned by Plato and Aristotle forasmuch as he did not only assert God to be the Cause of Motion but also the Governour Regulator and Methodizer of the same for the production of this Harmonious System of the World and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cause of Well and Fit Whereas these utterly reject the Latter and only admitting the Former will needs suppose Heaven and Earth Plants and Animals and all things whatsoever in this orderly Compages of the World to have resulted meerly from a certain Quantity of Motion or Agitation at first impressed upon the Matter and determin'd to Vortex XXXI The Chronology of the old Philosophers having some uncertainty in it we shall not Scrupulously concern our selves therein but in the next place consider Parmenides Xenophanes his Auditor and a Philosophick Poet likewise but who conversing much with two Pythagoreans Amenias and Diochoetes was therefore look'd upon as one that was not a little addicted to the Pythagorick Sect. That this Parmenides acknowledged Many Gods is evident from what hath been already cited out of him notwithstanding which he plainly asserted also One Supreme making him as Simplicius tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cause of all those other Gods of which Love is said to have been first produced Which Supreme Deity Parmenides as well as Xenophanes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One that was All or the Vniverse but adding thereunto of his own that it was also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Immovable Now though it be true that Parmenides his Writings being not without obscurity some of the Ancients who were less acquainted with Metaphysical Speculations understood him Physically as if he had asserted the whole Corporeal Vniverse to be all but One Thing and that Immovable thereby destroying together with the Diversity of things all Motion Mutation and Action which was plainly to make Parmenides not to have been a Philosopher but a Mad man Yet Simplicius a man well acquainted with the Opinions of Ancient Philosophers and who had by him a Copy of Parmenides his Poems then scarce but since lost assures us that Parmenides dreamt of no such matter and that he wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not concerning a Physical Element or Principle but concerning the True Ens or the Divine Transcendency Adding that though some of those Ancient Philosophers did not distinguish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natural things from Supernatural yet the Pythagoreans and Xenophones and Parmenides and Empedocles and Anaxagoras did all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handle these Two distinctly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 however by reason of their obscurity it were not perceived by many for which cause they have been most of them misrepresented not only by Pagans but also by Christian Writers For as the same Simplicius informs us Parmenides propounded Two several Doctrines one after another the First concerning Theological and Metaphysical things called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth the Second concerning Physical and Corporeal things which he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Opinion The Transition betwixt which was contained in these Verses of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Former of which Doctrines Parmenides asserted One Immoveable Principle but in the Latter Two movable ones Fire and Earth He speaking of Souls also as a certain Middle or Vinculum betwixt the Incorporeal and the Coporeal World and affirming that God did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes send and translate Souls from the Visible to the Invisible Regions and sometimes again on the contrary from the Invisible to the Visible From whence it is plain that when Parmenides asserted his One and All Immovable he spake not as a Physiologer but as a Metaphysician and Theologer only Which indeed was a thing so evident that Aristotle himself though he had a mind to obscure Parmenides his sence that he might have a fling at him in his
also of Xenophanes with them both concerning the Deity is well declared by Simplicius after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perhaps it will not be improper for us to digress a little here and to gratifie the studious and inquisitive Reader by showing how those Ancient Philosophers though seeming to dissent in their Opinions concerning the Principles did notwithstanding harmoniously agree together As first of all they who discoursed concerning the Intelligible and First Principle of All Xenophanes Parmenides and Melissus of whom Parmenides called it One Finite and Determined because as Vnity must needs exist before Multitude so that which is to all things the cause of Measure bound and Determination ought rather to be described by Measure and Finitude than Infinity as also that which is every way perfect and hath attained its own end or rather is the end of all things as it was the beginning must needs be of a Determinate Nature for that which is imperfect and therefore indigent hath not yet attained its Term or Measure But Melissus though considering the Immutability of the Deity likewise yet attending to the Inexhaustible perfection of its Essence the Vnlimitedness and Vnboundedness of its Power declareth it to be Infinite as well as Ingenit or Vnmade Moreover Xenophanes looking upon the Deity as the Cause of All things and above All things placed it above Motion and Rest and all those Antitheses of Inferiour Beings as Plato likewise doth in the first Hypothesis of his Parmenides whereas Parmenides and Melissus attending to its Stability and constant Immutability and its being perhaps above Energy and Power praised it as Immovable From which of Simplicius it is plain that Parmenides when he called God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finite and Determined was far from meaning any such thing thereby as if he were a Corporeal Being of Finite Dimensions as some have ignorantly supposed or as if he were any way limited as to Power and Perfection but he understood it in that sence in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken by Plato as opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the Greatest Perfection and as God is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Term and Measure of All Things But Melissus calling God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infinite in the sence before declared as thereby to signifie his Inexhaustible Power and Perfection his Eternity and Incorruptibility doth therein more agree with our present Theology and the now received manner of speaking We have the rather produced all this to shew how Curious the ancient Philosophers were in their Enquiries after God and how exact in their Descriptions of him Wherefore however Anaximanders Infinite were nothing but Eternal Sensless Matter though called by him the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divinest thing of all yet Melissus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Infinite was the true Deity With Parmenides and Melissus fully agreed Zeno Eleates also Parmenides his Scholar that One Immovable was All or the Original of All things he meaning thereby nothing else but the Supreme Deity For though it be true that this Zeno did excogitate certain Arguments against the Local Motion of Bodies proceeding upon that Hypothesis of the Infinite Divisibility of Body one of which was famously known by that name of Achilles because it pretended to prove that it was impossible upon that Hypothesis for the Swift-footed Achilles ever to overtake the creeping Snail which Arguments of his whether or no they are well answered by Aristotle is not here to our purpose to enquire yet all this was nothing else but Lusus Ingenii a sportful exercise of Zeno's Wit he being a subtil Logician and Disputant or perhaps an Endeavour also to show how puzling and perplexing to humane Understanding the conception even of the most vulgar and confessed Phaenomena of Nature may be For that Zeno Eleates by his One Immovable that was All meant not the Corporeal World no more than Melissus Parmenides and Xenophanes is evident from Aristotle writing thus concerning him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno by his one Ens which neither was moved nor moveable meaneth God Moreover the same Aristotle informs us that this Zeno endeavoured to Demonstrate that there was but One God from that Idea which all men have of him as that which is the Best the Supreme and most Powerful of all or as an absolutely Perfect Being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God be the Best of All things then he must needs be One. Which Argument was thus pursued by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is God and the Power of God to prevail conquer and rule over all Wherefore by how much any thing falls short of the Best by so much does it fall short of being God Now if there be supposed more such Beings whereof some are Better some worse those could not be all Gods because it is Essential to God not to be transcended by any but if they be conceived to be so many Equal Gods then would it not be the nature of God to be the Best one Equal being neither better nor worse than another Wherefore if there be a God and this be the nature of him then can there be but One. And indeed otherwise he could not be able to do whatever he would Empedocles is said to have been an Emulator of Parmenides also which must be understood of his Metaphysicks because in his Physiology which was Atomical he seems to have transcended him Now that Empedocles acknowledged One Supreme and Universal Numen and that Incorporeal too may be concluded from what hath been already cited out of his Philosophick Poems Besides which the Writer De Mundo who though not Aristotle yet was a Pagan of good antiquity clearly affirmeth that Empedocles derived all things whatsoever from One Supreme Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All the things that are upon the Earth and in the Air and Water may truly be called the works of God who ruleth over the World Out of whom according to the Physical Empedocles proceed all things that were are and shall be viz. Plants Men Beasts and Gods Which notwithstanding we conceive to be rather true as to Empedocles his sence than his words he affirming as it seems in that cited place that all these things were made not immediately out of God but out of Contention and Friendship because Simplicius who was furnished with a Copy of Empedocles his Poems twice brings in that cited Passage of his in this connexion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things are divided and segregated by Contention but joyned together by Friendship from which Two Contention and Friendship all that was is and shall be proceeds as trees men and women beasts birds and fishes and last of all the long lived and honourable Gods
Platani Fidiculas ferrent numerosè sonantes idem scilicet censeres in Platanis inesse Musicam Cur igitur Mundus non Animans Sapiensque judicetur cum ex se procreet Animantes atque Sapientes If from the Olive-Tree should be produced Pipes sounding Harmoniously or from the Plain-Tree Fiddles playing of their own accord Musically it would not at all be doubted but that there was some Musical either Skill or Nature in those Trees themselves Why therefore should not the World be concluded to be both Animant and Wise or to have something in it which is so since it produceth such Beings from it self And though perhaps some may think that of Cotta's here to have been a smart and witty Repartie Quaerit Socrates unde Animam arripuerimus si nulla fuerit in mundo Et ego quaero unde Orationem unde Numeros unde Cantus nisi verò loqui Solem cum Luna putemus cum propius accesserit aut ad harmoniam canere Mundum ut Pythagoras existimat Socrates demandeth whence we snatch'd Soul Life and Reason if there were none in the world and I demand saith he whence did we snatch Speech Musick and Numbers Vnless perhaps you will suppose the Sun to confabulate with the Moon when he approaches near her in the Syzygiae or the World to sound Harmonically as Pythagoras conceited Yet this how smart soever it may seem was really but an Empty Flash of Academick Wit without any Solidity at all in it as shall be manifested afterward Lastly the Stoicks endeavoured to prove the Existence of a God after this manner Vt nulla pars Corporis nostri est quae non sit minor quam Nosmetipsi sumus sic Mundum Vniversum pluris esse necesse est quam Partem aliquam Vniversi As there is no Part of our Body which is not Inferiour in perfection to Our selves so must the Whole Vniverse needs be supposed to be Better and more Perfect than any of the Parts thereof Wherefore since it is Better to be endued with Life and Vnderstanding than to be devoid thereof and these are Pure Perfections they being in some measure in the Parts must needs be much more in the Whole Nullius sensu carentis Pars potest esse Sentiens No Part of that which is utterly dead and stupid can have Life and Vnderstanding in it And it is a Madness for any man to suppose Nihil in omni Mundo Melius esse quam se that there is nothing in the whole World Better than himself or than Mankind which is but a Part thereof Now Cotta here again exercises his jeering Academick Wit after the same manner as before Hoc si placet jam efficies ut Mundus optimè Librum legere videatur c. Isto modo etiam Disertus Mathematicus Musicus omni denique doctrina refertus postremo Philosophus erit Mundus By this same Argument you might as well prove That the World is also Book-learned an Orator a Mathematician a Musician and last of all a Philosopher But neither this Objection of his nor that Former have any Firmitude at all in them Because though an Effect cannot be Better or more Perfect than its Cause nor a Part than the Whole and therefore whatsoever there is of Pure Perfection in any Effect it must needs be more in the Cause yet as to those things there mentioned by Cotta which have all a plain Mixture of Imperfection in them as they could not therefore Formally exist in that which is Absolutely Perfect so is it sufficient that they are all Eminently and Vertuaelly contein'd therein By such Argumentations as these besides that taken from the Topick of Prescience and Divination did the ancient Stoicks endeavour to Demonstrate the Existence of a God or a Universal Numen the Maker and Governour of the whole World and that such a one as was not a meer Plastick or Methodical and Sensless but a Conscious and Perfectly Intellectual Nature So that the World to them was neither a meer Heap and Congeries of Dead and Stupid Matter fortuitously compacted together nor yet a Huge Plant or Vegetable that is endued with a Spermatick Principle only but an Animal enformed and enlivened by an Intellectual Soul And though being Corporealists they sometimes called the Whole World it self or Mundane Animal God and sometimes the Fiery Principle in it as Intellectual and the Hegemonick of the Mundane Soul Yet was the God of the Stoicks properly not the very Matter it self but that Great Soul Mind and Vnderstanding or in Seneca's Language that Ratio Incorporalis that Rules the Matter of the whole World Which Stoical God was also called as well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good as Mind as that which is a Most Moral Benign and Benificent Being according to that excellent Cleanthean Description of him in Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But this Maker and Governour of the Whole World was most commonly named by the Stoicks Zeus and Zen or Jupiter some of them concluding that therefore there was but one Zeus or Independent Deity because the Whole World was but One Animal governed by One Soul and others of them endeavouring on the contrary to prove the Vnity and Singularity of the World from the Oneliness of this Zeus or the Supreme Deity supposed and taken for granted and because there is but One Fate and Providence Which Latter Consequence Plutarch would by no means allow of he writing thus concerning it where he pleads for a Plurality of Worlds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Neither is it at all considerable what the Stoicks here object against a Plurality of Worlds they demanding how there could be but One Fate and One Providence and One Jove or Independent Deity were there many Worlds For what Necessity is there that there must be more Zen's or Joves than One if there were More Worlds and why might not that One and the same God of this Vniverse called by us the Lord and Father of all be the First Prince and Highest Governour in all those Worlds Or what hinders but that a Multitude of Worlds might be all Subject to the Fate and Providence of one Jupiter or Supreme God himself inspecting and ordering them every one and imparting Principles and Spermatick Reasons to them according to which all things in them might be Governed and Disposed For can many distinct Persons in an Army or Chorus be reduced into One Body or Polity and could not Ten or Fifty or a Hundred Worlds in the Vniverse be all Governed by One Reason and be ordered together in Reference to One Principle In which Place these Two things are plainly conteined First that the Stoicks unquestionably asserted One Supreme Deity or Vniversal Monarch over the whole World and Secondly that Plutarch was so far from giving any entertainment to the Contrary Opinion that he concluded though there were Ten or Fifty or a Hundred worlds
Pagans but what had Life Sense and Understanding Wherefore those Personated Gods that were nothing but the Natures of Things Deified as such were but Dii Commentitii Fictitii Counterfeit and Fictitious Gods or as Origen calls them in that place before cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Figments of the Greeks and other Pagans that were but Things turned into Person and Deified Neither can there be any other sence made of these Personated and Deified Things of Nature than this that they were all of them really so many Several Names of One Supreme God or Partial Considerations of him according to the Several Manifestations of himself in his Works Thus according to the old Egyptian Theology before declared God is said to have both No Name and Every Name or as it is expressed in the Asclepian Dialogue Cum non possit Vno quamvis è Multis composito Nomine nuncupari potius Omni Nomine vocandus est siquidem sit Vnus Omnia ut necesse sit aut Omnia Ipsius Nomine aut Ipsum Omnium Nomine nuncupari Since he cannot be fully declared by any one Name though compounded of never so many therefore is he rather to be called by Every Name he being both One and All Things so that either Every Thing must be called by His Name or He by the Name of Every thing With which Egyptian Doctrine Seneca seemeth also fully to agree when he gives this Description of God Cui Nomen Omne convenit He to whom every Name belongeth and when he further declares thus concerning him Quaecunque voles illi Nomina aptabis and Tot Appellationes ejus possunt esse quot Munera You may give him whatsoever Names you please c. and There may be as many Names of him as there are Gifts and Effects of his and lastly when he makes God and Nature to be really One and the same Thing and Every thing we see to be God And the Writer De Mundo is likewise consonant hereunto when he affirmeth that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or may be denominated from Every Nature because he is the Cause of all things We say therefore that the Pagans in this their Theologizing of Physiology and Deifying the Things of Nature and Parts of the World did accordingly Call Every Thing by the Name of God or God by the Name of Every Thing Wherefore these Personated and Deified Things of Nature were not themselves Properly and Directly worshipped by the Intelligent Pagans who acknowledged no Inanimate thing for a God so as to terminate their worship ultimately in them but either Relatively only to the Supreme God or else at most in way of Complication with him whose Effects and Images they are so that they were not so much themselves worshipped as God was worshipped in them For these Pagans professed that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look upon the Heaven and World not slightly and superficially nor as meer Bruit Animals who take notice of nothing but those sensible Phantasms which from the objects obtrude themselves upon them or else as the same Julian in that Oration again more fully expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not view and contemplate the Heaven and World with the same eyes that Oxen and Horses do but so as from that which is Visible to their outward senses to discern and discover another Invisible Nature under it That is they professed to behold all things with Religious Eyes and to see God in Every Thing not only as Pervading all things and Diffused thorough all things but also as Being in a manner All things Wherefore they looked upon the whole World as a Sacred Thing and as having a kind of Divinity in it it being according to their Theology nothing but God himself Visibly Displayed And thus was God worshipped by the Pagans in the whole Corporeal World taken all at once together or in the Universe under the Name of Pan. As they also commonly conceived of Zeus and Jupiter after the same manner that is not Abstractly only as we now use to conceive of God but Concretely together with all that which Proceedeth and Emaneth from him that is the Whole World And as God was thus described in that old Egyptian Monument to be All that Was Is and Shall be so was it before observed out of Plutarch that the Egyptians took the First God and the Vniverse for One and the same Thing not only because they supposed the Supreme God Vertually to contain all things within himself but also because they were wont to conceive of him together with his Outflowing and all the extent of Fecundity the whole World displayed from him all at once as one entire thing Thus likewise do the Pagans in Plato confound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greatest God and The Whole World together as being but one and the same thing And this Notion was so Familiar with these Pagans that Strabo himself writing of Moses could not conceive of his God and of the God of the Jews any otherwise than thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely That which containeth us all and the Earth and the Sea which we call the Heaven and World and the Nature of the Whole By which notwithstanding Strabo did not mean the Heaven or World Inanimate and a Sensless Nature but an Understanding Being framing the whole World and containing the same which was conceived together with it of which therefore he tells us that according to Moses no wise man would go about to make any Image or Picture resembling any thing here amongst us From whence we conclude that when the same Strabo writing of the Persians affirmeth of them that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take the Heaven for Jupiter and also Herodotus before him that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Call the Whole Circle of the Heaven Jupiter that is the Supreme God the meaning of neither of them was that the Body of the Heaven Inanimate was to them the Highest God but that though he were an Understanding Nature yet framing the whole Heaven or World and containing the same he was at once conceived together with it Moreover God was worshipped also by the Pagans in the Several Parts of the wrorld under Several Names as for example in the Higher and Lower Aether under those Names of Minerva and Jupiter in the Air under the name of Juno in the Fire under the name of Vulcan in the Sea under the name of Neptune c. Neither can it be reasonably doubted but that when the Roman Sea-Captains Sacrificed to the Waves they intended therein to worship that God who acteth in the Waves and whose Wonders are in the Deep But besides this the Pagans seemed to apprehend a kind of necessity of worshipping God thus in his works and in the Visible things of this World because the generality of the Vulgar were then unable to frame any notion or conception at all
of an Invisible Deity and therefore unless they were detained in a way of Religion by such a worship of God as was accommodate and suitable to the lowness of their apprehensions would unavoidably run into Atheism Nay the most Philosophical Wits amongst them confessing God to be Incomprehensible to them therefore seemed themselves also to stand in need of some Sensible Props to lean upon This very account is given by the Pagans of their practice in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God being Incorporeally and Invisibly present in all things and Pervading or Passing through all things it was reasonable that men should worship him by and through those things that are Visible and Manifest Plato likewise represents this as the opinion of the generality of Pagans in his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as for the Greatest God and the Whole World men should not busily curiously search after the knowledge thereof nor pragmatically enquire into the causes of things it being not pious for them so to do The meaning whereof seems to be no other than this that men ought to content themselves to worship God in his Works and in this Visible World and not trouble themselves with any further curious Speculations concerning the Nature of that which is Incomprehensible to them Which though Plato professeth his dislike of yet does that Philosopher himself elsewhere plainly allow of worshipping the First Invisible God in those Visible Images which he hath made of himself the Sun and Moon and Stars Maximus Tyrius doth indeed exhort men to ascend up in the Contemplation of God above all Corporeal Things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The End of your Journey saith he is not the Heaven nor those shining Bodies in the Heaven for though those be beautiful and Divine and the Genuine Off-spring of that Supreme Deity framed after the best manner yet ought these all to be transcended by you and your head lifted up far above the Starry Heavens c. Nevertheless he closes his discourse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But if you be too weak and unable to contemplate that Father and Maker of all things it will be sufficient for you for the present to behold his Works and to Worship his Progeny or Off-spring which is various and manifold For there are not only according to the Boeotian Poet Thirty Thousand Gods all the Sons and Friends of the Supreme God but innumerable And such in the Heaven are the Stars in the Aether Demons c. Lastly Socrates himself also did not only allow of this way of worshipping God because himself is Invisible in his works that are Visible but also commend the same to Euthydemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That I speak the truth your self shall know if you will not stay expecting till you see the Forms of the Gods themselves but count it sufficient for you beholding their works to worship and adore them Which he afterward particularly applies to the Supreme God who made and containeth the whole World that being Invisible he hath made himsâ—lf Visible in his Works and consequently was to be worshipped and adred in them Whether Socrates and Plato and their genuine Followers would extend this any further than to the Animated Parts of the World such as the Sun Moon and Stars were to them we cannot certainly determine But we think it very probable that many of those Pagans who are charged with worshipping Inanimate Things and particularly the Elements did notwithstanding direct their Worship to the Spirits of those Elements as Ammianus Marcellinus tells us Julian did that is Chiefly the Souls of them all the Elements being supposed by many of these Pagans to be Animated as was before observed concerning Proclus and Partly also those Demons which they conceived to inhabit in them and to preside over the parts of them upon which account it was said by Plato and others of the Ancients that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are full of Gods and Demons XXXIII But that these Physiological Gods that is the Things of Nature Personated and Deified were not accounted by the Pagans True and Proper Gods much less Independent and Self-existent ones may further appear from hence because they did not only thus Personate and Deifie Things Substantial and Inanimate Bodies but also meer Accidents and Affections of Substances As for example First the Passions of the Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Greg. Nazianzen They accounted the Passions of the Mind to be Gods or at least worshipped them as Gods that is built Temples or Altars to their Names Thus was Hope not only a Goddess to the Poet Theognis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where he Fancifully makes her to be the only Numen that was left to men in Heaven as if the other Gods had all forsaken those Mansions and the World but also had Real Temples Dedicated to her at Rome as that consecrated by Attillius in the Forum Olitorium and others elsewhere wherein she was commonly pictured or feigned as a Woman covered over with a green Pall and holding a Cup in her hand Thus also Love and Desire were Gods or Goddesses too as likewise were Care Memory Opinion Truth Vertue Piety Faith Justice Clemency Concord Victory c. Which Victory was together with Vertue reckoned up amongst the Gods by Plautus in the Prologue of his Amphytrio and not only so but there was an Altar erected to her also near the entrance of the Senate-house at Rome which having been once demolished Symmachus earnestly endeavoured the restauration thereof in the Reign of Theodosius he amongst other things writing thus concerning it Nemo Colendam neget quam profitetur Optandum Let no man deny that of right to be worshipped which he acknowledgeth to be wished for and to be desirable Besides all which Eccho was a Goddess to these Pagans too and so was Night to whom they sacrificed a Cock and Sleep and Death it self and very many more such Affections of things of which Vossius has collected the largest Catalogue in his eighâ—h Book De Theologia Gentili And this Personating and Deifying of Accidental Things was so familiar with these Pagans that as St. Chrysostome hath observed St. Paul was therefore said by some of the Vulgar Athenians to have been a Setter forth of strange Gods when he preached to them Jesus and the Resurrection because they supposed him not only to have made Jesus a God but also Anastasis or Resurrection a Goddess too Nay this Humour of Theologizing the Things of Nature transported these Pagans so far as to Deifie Evil things also that is things both Noxious and Vicious Of the former Pliny thus Inferi quoque in genera describuntur Morbique multae etiam Pestes dum esse placatas trepido metu cupimus Ideoque etiam publicè Febri Fanum in Palatio dedicatum est Orbonae ad aedem Larium Ara Malae Fortunoe
Powers of One God Personated and Deified by the Pagans though they had an appearance also of Many Distinct Gods yet were they really nothing but Several Denominations of One Supreme God who as yet is considered as a Thing distinct from the World and Nature But Lastly as God was supposed by these Pagans not only to Pervade All things and To Fill All things but also he being the Cause of All things to be Himself in a manner All things so was he called also by the Name of Every thing or Every thing called by His Name that is the several Things of Nature and Parts of the World were themselves Verbally Deified by these Pagans and called Gods and Goddesses Not that they really accounted them such in themselves but that they thought fit in this manner to acknowledge God in them as the Author of them all For thus the Pagans in St. Austin Vsque adeone inquiunt Majores nostros insipientes fuisse credendum est ut haec nescirent Munera Divina esse non Deos Can you think that our Pagan Ancestors were so sottish as not to know that these Things are but Divine Gifts and not Gods themselves And Cicero also tells us that the meaning of their thus Deifying these Things of Nature was only to signifie that they acknowledged The Force of all things to be Divine and to be Governed by God and that whatsoever brought any great Vtility to Mankind was not such Without the Divine Goodness They conceiving also that the Invisible and Incomprehensible Deity which was the Cause of All things ought to be worshipped in All its Works and Effects in which it had made it self Visible accordingly as they declare in that place of Eusebius before cited in part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they did not Deifie those Visible Bodies of the Sun and Moon and Stars nor the other Sensible Parts of the World themselves but those Invisible Powers of the God over all that were displayed in them For they affirm that that God who is but One but yet Filleth all things with his various Powers and passes through all things forasmuch as he is Invisibly and Incorporeally present in all is reasonably to be worshipped in and by those Visible Things Athanasius B p. of Alexandria in his Book against the Greeks reduces all the False Gods of the Pagans under Two general Heads the First Poetical Fictitious or Phantastical Gods the Second Creatures or Real Things of Nature Deified by them His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Since this Reason or Discourse of ours hath sufficiently convinced both the Poetical Gods of the Pagans to be no Gods at all and also that they who Deifie the Creatures are in a great Errour and so hath confuted the whole Pagan Idolatry proving it to be meer Vngodliness and Impiety there is nothing now but the True Piety left he who is worshipped by us Christians being the only True God the Lord of Nature and the Maker of all Substances From whence we may observe that according to Athanasius the Pagan Poetick Gods were no Real Things in Nature and therefore they could be no other than the Several Notions and Powers of the One Supreme God Deified or Several Names of him So that Athanasius his Poetick Gods or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods fabulously devised by the Poets were chiefly those Two Kinds of Pagan Gods first mentioned by us that is the Various Considerations of the One Supreme Numen according to its general Notion expressed by so many Proper Names and Secondly his Particular Powers diffused thorough the World severally Personated and Deified Which considered as so many distinct Deities are nothing but meere Fiction and Phancy without any Reality And this do the Pagans themselves in Athanasius acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They say that the names of those Gods are meerly Fictitious and that there does no where Really Exist any such Jupiter or Saturn or Juno or Mars but that the Poets have feigned them to be so many persons Existing to the deception of their Auditors Notwithstanding which that Third Sort of Pagan Gods also mentioned by us which were Inanimate Substances and the Natures of Things Deified may well be accounted Poetical Gods likewise because though those things themselves be Real and not Feigned yet is their Personation and Deification meer Fiction and Phancy and however the first occasion thereof sprung from this Theological Opinion or Perswasion That God who is In All Things and is the Cause of All Things ought to be worshipped In All Things especially he being himself Invisible yet the making of those things themselves therefore to be so many Persons and Gods was nothing but Poetick Fiction and Phantastry accordingly as their old Mythology and Allegorical Fables of the Gods run much upon this strain XXXIV Hitherto have we declared the Sence of the Pagans in General those also being included who supposed God to be a Being Elevated above the World That they agreed in these Two Things First the Breaking and Crumbling as it were of the Simple Deity and Parcelling out of the same into Many Particular Notions and Partial Considerations according to the Various Manifestations of its Power and Providence in the world by the Personating and Deifying of which Severally they made as it were so Many Gods of One. The chief Ground whereof was this because they considered not the Deity according to its Simple Nature and Abstractly only but Concretely also with the World as he Displayeth himself therein Pervadeth all and Diffuseth his Vertues thorough all For as the Sun reflected by Grosser Vapours is sometimes Multiplied and the same Object beheld through a Polyedrous Glass by reason of those many Superficies being represented in several places at once is thereby rendred Manifold to the Spectator So One and the same Supreme God considered Concretely with the World as Manifesting his Several Powers and Vertues in it was multiplied into Several Names not without the Appearance of so Many Several Gods Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with those ancient Pagans was the same thing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which hath Many Names all one with that which hath Many Powers According to this of Callimachus concerning Diana 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this of Virgil concerning Alecto Tibi Nomina Mille Mille nocendi Artes. And accordingly the Many Pagan Gods are in Plato's Cratylus interpreted as the Many Powers of One God Diffused through the World And the Pagan Theologers seemed to conceive this to be more sutable to the Pomp State and Grandeur of the Supreme God for him to be considered Diffusively and called by Many Names signifying his Many Several Vertues and Powers Polyonymy being by them accounted an Honour rather than to be contracted and shrunk all up into One General Notion of a Perfect Mind the Maker or Creator of the whole World The Second Thing in which the Pagans agreed
is their Personating and Deifying also the Parts of the World and Things of Nature themselves and so making them so many Gods and Goddesses too Their meaning therein being declared to be really no other than this That God who doth not only Pervade all things but also was the Cause of All things and therefore himself is in a manner All things ought to be worshipped in all the Things of Nature and Parts of the World as also that the Force of every thing was Divine and that in all things that were Beneficial to mankind The Divine Goodness ought to be acknowledged We shall now observe how both those forementioned Principles of Gods Pervading all things and his Being All things which were the Chief Grounds of the Seeming Polytheism of the Pagans were improved and carried on further by those amongst them who had no Higher Notion of the Supreme Deity than as the Soul of the World Which Opinion that it found entertainment amongst so many of them probably might be from hence because it was so obvious for those of them that were Religious to conceive that as themselves consisted of Body and Soul so the Body of the Whole World was not without its Soul neither and that their Humane Souls were as well derived from the Life and Soul of the World as the Earth and Water in their Bodies was from the Earth and Water of the World Now whereas the more refined Pagans as was before observed supposed God to Pervade and Pass thorough All things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnmixedly these concluded God to be according to that Definition of him in Quintilian taken in a rigid sence Spiritum omnibus Partibus Immistum a Spirit Immingled with all the Parts of the World or else in Manilius his Language Infusumque Deum Caelo Terrisque Fretoque Infused into the Heaven Earth and Seas Sacroque meatu Conspirare Deum and intimately to conspire with his own Work the World as being almost one with it Upon which account he was commonly called Nature also that being thus defined by some of the Stoicks Deus Mundo permistus God Mingled throughout with the World and Divina Ratio toti Mundo insita The Divine Reason inserted into the whole World Which Nature notwithstanding in way of distinction from the Particular Natures of things was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Communis Natura the Common Nature And it was plainly declared by them not to be a Sensless Nature according to that of Balbus in Cicero Natura est quae continet Mundum omnem eumque tuetur atque ea quidem non sine Sensu atque Ratione It is Nature by which the whole World is conteined and upheld but this such a Nature as is not without Sense and Reason As it is elsewhere said to be Perfect and Eternal Reason the Divine Mind and Wisdom conteining also under it all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spermatick Principles by which the things of Nature commonly so called are effected Wherefore we see that such Naturalists as these may well be allowed to be Theists Moses himself in Strabo being accounted one of them whereas those that acknowledge no Higher Principle of the World than a Sensless Nature whether Fortuitous or Orderly and Methodical cannot be accounted any other than Absolute Atheists Moreover this Soul of the World was by such of these Pagans as admitted no Incorporeal Substance it self concluded to be a Body too but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Most Subtil and Most Swift Body as was before observed out of Plato though endued with Perfect Mind and Vnderstanding as well as with Spermatick Reasons which insinuating it self into all other Bodies did Permeate and Pervade the whole Universe and frame all things inwardly Mingling it self with all Heraclitus and Hippasus thinking this to be Fire and Diogenes Apolloniates Air whom Simplicius who had read some of his then extant Works vindicates from that Imputation of Atheism which Hippo and Anaximander lye under Again whereas the more Sublimated Pagans affirmed the Supreme God to be All so as that he was nevertheless something Above All too he being Above the Soul of the World and probably Aeschylus in that forecited passage of his is to be understood after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter is the Ether Jupiter is the Earth Jupiter is the Heaven Jupiter is All things and yet something Higher than all or Above all those Pagans who acknowledged no Higher Numen than the Soul of the World made God to be All Things in a grosser sence they supposing the whole Corporeal World Animated to be also the Supreme Deity For though God to them were Principally and Originally that Eternal Vnmade Soul and Mind which diffuseth it self thorough all things yet did they conceive that as the Humane Soul and Body both together make up one whole Rational Animal or Man so this Mundane Soul and its Body the World did in lke manner both together make up One Entire Divine Animal or God It is true indeed that as the Humane Soul doth Principally act in some one Part of the Body which therefore hath been called the Hegemonicon and Principale some taking this to be the Brain others the Heart but Strato in Tertullian ridiculously the Place betwixt the Eye-browes so the Stoicks did suppose the Great Soul or Mind of the World to act Principally in some one Part thereof which what it was notwithstanding they did not all agree upon as the Hegemonicon or Principale and this was sometimes called by them Emphatically God But nevertheless they all acknowledged this Mundane Soul as the Souls of other Animals to Pervade Animate or Enliven and Actuate more or less its whole Body The World This is plainly declared by Laertius in the Life of Zeno. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks affirm that the World is governed by Mind and Providence this Mind passing through all the Parts of it as the Soul doth in us Which yet doth not act in all parts alike but in some more in some less it passing through some parts only as a Habit as through the bones and Nerves but through others as Mind or Vnderstanding as through that which is called the Hegemonicon or Principale So the whole World being a Living and Rational Animal hath its Hegemonicon or Principal Part too which according to Antipater is the Aether to Possidonius the Air to Cleanthes the Sun c. And they say also that this First God is as it were sensibly Diffused through all Animals and Plants but through the Earth it self only as a Habit. Wherefore the whole World being thus Acted and Animated by one Divine Soul is it self according to these Stoicks also The Supreme God Thus Didymus in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks call the whole World God and Origen against Celsus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greeks universally affirm the World to be a God but the Stoicks the First and Chief God· And
immovably and unchangeably Good always fixed in the same Happiness and never indigent of Good or falling from it because they are all Essentially Goodnesses Where afterward he adds something concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also that though these were a Rank of Lower Beings and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Essentially Goodnesses but only by Participation yet being by their own Nature also Immovable they can never degenerate nor fall from that Participation of Good Notwithstanding which we must confess that some of these Platonists seem to take the word Henades sometimes in another sence and to understand nothing else thereby but the Intelligible Ideas before mentioned though the ancient Platonists and Pythagoreans were not wont to call these Vnities but Numbers And now have we discovered more of the Pagans Inferiour Gods Supermundane and Eternal viz. besides those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Intelligible Gods Troops of Henades and Autoagathotetes Vnities and Goodnesses and also of Noes Immovable Minds or Intellects or as they frequently call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Henadical or Monadical Gods and Intellectual Gods But since these Noes or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are said to be all of them in their own nature a Rank of Beings above Souls and therefore Superiour to that First Soul which is the Third Hypostasâ—s of this Trinity as all those Henades or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Simple Monadical Gods are likewise yet a higher Rank of Beings above the Noes and therefore Superiour to the Second Hypostasis also the First Mind and yet all these Henades and Noes however supposed by these Philosophers to be Eternal forasmuch as they are Particular Beings only and not Vniversal cannot be placed higher than in the Rank of Creatures it follows from hence unavoidably that both the Second and Third Hypostasis of this Trinity as well the First Mind as the First Soul must be accounted Creatures also because no Created Being can be Superiour to any thing Vncreated Wherefore Proclus and some others of those Platonists plainly understood this Trinity no otherwise than as a certain Scale or Ladder of Beings in the Universe or a Gradual Descent of things from the First or Highest by steps downward lower and lower so far as to the Souls of all Animals For which cause Proclus to make up this Scale complete adds to these three Ranks and Degrees below that Third of Souls a Fourth of Natures also under which there lies nothing but the Passive Part of the Universe Body and Matter So that their Whole Scale of all that is above Body was indeed not a Trinity but a Quaternity or Four Ranks and Degrees of Beings one below another the First of Henades or Vnities the Second of Noes Minds or Intellects the Third of Souls and the Last of Natures these being as it were so many Orbs and Spheres one within and below another In all which several Ranks of Being they supposed One First Vniversal and Vnparticipated as the Head of each respective Rank and Many Particular or Participated Ones as One First Vniversal Henade and Many Secondary Particular Henades One First Universal Nous Mind or Intellect and Many Secondary and Particular Noes or Minds One First Vniversal Soul and Many Particular Souls and Lastly One Vniversal Nature and Many Particular Natures In which scale of Beings they Deified besides the First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and Good not only the First Mind and the First Soul but also those other Particular Henades and Noes universally and all Particular Souls above Humane leaving out besides them and Inferiour Souls that Fourth Rank of Natures because they conceived that nothing was to be accounted a God but what was Intellectual and Superiour to Men. Wherein though they made Several Degrees of Gods one below another and called some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Eternal and some Generated or Made in time yet did they no where clearly distinguish betwixt the Deity properly so called and the Creature nor shew how far in this Scale the True Deity went and where the Creature began But as it were melting the Deity by degrees and bringing it down lower and lower they made the Juncture and Commissure betwixt God and the Creature so smooth and close that where they indeed parted was altogether undiscernible They rather implying them to differ only in Degrees or that they were not Absolute but Comparative Terms and consisted but in More and Less All which was doubtless a gross Mistake of the ancient Cabbala of the Trinity This is therefore that Platonick Trinity which we oppose to the Christian not as if Plato's own Trinity in the very Essential Constitution thereof were quite a Different Thing from the Christian it self in all probability having been at first derived from a Divine or Mosaick Cabbala but because this Cabbala as might well come to pass in a thing so Mysterious and Difficult to be conceived hath been by divers of these Platonists and Phytagoreans Misunderstood Depraved and Adulterated into such a Trinity as Confounds the Differences between God and the Creature and removes all the Bounds and Land-marks betwixt them sinks the Deity lower and lower by Degrees still multiplying of it as it goes till it have at length brought it down to the Whole Corporeal World and when it hath done this is not able to stop there neither but extends it further still to the Animated Parts thereof Stars and Demons The Design or Direct Tendency thereof being nothing else but to lay a Foundation for Infinite Polytheism Cosmolatry or World-Idolatry and Creature-Worship Where it is by the way observable that these Platonick Pagans were the only Publick and Professed Champions against Christianity for though Celsus were suspected by Origen to have been indeed an Epicurean yet did he at least Personate a Platonist too The reason whereof might be not only because the Platonick and Pythagorick Sect was the Divinest of all the Pagans and that which approached nearest to Christianity and the Truth however it might by accident therefore prove the worst as the Corruption of the Best thing and by that means could with greatest confidence hold up the Bucklers against Christianity and encounter it but also because the Platonick Principles as they might be understood would of all other serve most plausibly to defend the Pagan Polytheism and Idolatry Concerning the Christian Trinity we shall here observe only Three Things First that it is not a Trinity of meer Names or Words nor a Trinity of Partial Notions and Inadequate Conceptions of One and the Same Thing For such a kind of Trinity as this might be conceived in that First Platonick Hypostasis it self called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The One and The Good and perhaps also in that First Person of the Christian Trinity namely of Goodness and Vnderstanding or Wisdom and Will or
Vniversal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and all things or that which Comprehends the whole which is all one as to say in being Infinite and Omnipotent and the Creator of the whole World Now say these Platonists if any thing more were to be added to the General Essence of the Godhead besides this then must it be Self-existence or to be Vnderived from any other and the First Original Principle and Cause of all but if this be made so Essential to the Godhead or Vncreated Nature as that whatsoever is not thus Originally of it Self is therefore ipso facto to be detruded and thrust down into the rank of Creatures then must both the Second and Third Hypostases as well in the Christian as the Platonick Trinity upon this Supposition needs be Creatures and not God the Second deriving its whole Being and Godship from the First and the Third both from the First and Second and so neither First nor Second being the Cause of all things But it is unquestionable to these Platonists that whatsoever is Eternal Necessarily Existent Infinite and Omnipotent and the Creator of All things ought therefore to be Religiously Worshipped and Adored as God by all Created Beings Wherefore this Essence of the Godhead that belongeth alike to all the Three Hypostases being as all other Essences Perfectly Indivisible it might well be affirmed according to Platonick Grounds that all the Three Divine Hypostases though having some Subordination in them yet in this sence are Co-Equal they being all truly and alike God or Vncreated And the Platonists thus distinguishing betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Essence of the Godhead and the Distinct Hypostases or Personalities thereof and making the First of them to be Common General and Vniversal are not without the consent and approbation of the Orthodox Fathers herein they determining likewise that in the Deity Essence or Substance differs from Hypostasis as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is Common and General differs from that which is Singular and Individual Thus besides many others St. Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Essence or Substance of the Deity differs from the Hypostasis after the same manner as a Genus or Species differs from an Individuum So that as well according to these Fathers as the Platonists that Essence or Substance of the Godhead which all the Three Persons agree in is not Singular but Generical or Vniversal they both supposing each of the Persons also to have their own Numerical Essence Wherefore according to this Distinction betwixt the Essence or Substance of the Godhead and the Particular Hypostases approved by the Orthodox Fathers neither Plato nor any Intelligent Platonist would scruple to subscribe that Form of the Nicene Council that the Son or Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Co-Essential or Con-Substantial and Co-Equal with the Father And we think it will be proved afterwards that this was the very Meaning of the Nicene Council it self that the Son was therefore Co-Essential or Con-Substantial with the Father meerly because he was God and not a Creature Besides which the Genuine Platonists would doubtless acknowledge also all the Three Hypostases of their Trinity to be Homoousian Co-Essential or Con-Substantial yet in a further sence than this namely as being all of them One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divinity For thus besides that passage of Porphyrius before cited may these words also of St. Cyril be understood concerning them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That according to them the Essence of God extendeth to Three Hypostases or comprehendeth Three Hypostases in it that is not only so as that each of these Three is God but also that they are not so many Separate and Divided Gods but all of them together One God or Divinity For though the Platonists as Pagans being not so Scrupulous in their Language as we Christians are do often call them Three Gods and a First Second and Third God yet notwithstanding as Philosophers did they declare them to be One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divinity and that as it seems upon these several accounts following First Because they are Indivisibly conjoyned together as the Splendour is Indivisible from the Sun And then Because they are Mutually Inexistent in each other the First being in the Second and both First and Second in the Third And Lastly Because the Entireness of the whole Divinity is made up of all these Three together which have all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and the same Energy or Action ad extra And therefore as the Centre Radious Distance and Movable Circumference may be all said to be Co-Essential to a Sphere and the Root Stock and Bows or Branches Co-Essential to an entire Tree so but in much a more perfect sence are the Platonick Tagathon Nous and Psyche Co-Essential to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Divinity in the whole Vniverse Neither was Athanasius a stranger to this Notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also he affirming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Branches are Co-Essential with and Indivisible from the Vine and Illustrating the Trinity by that Similitude Neither must it be thought that the Whole Trinity is One after the very same manner that each Single Person thereof is in it self One for then should there be a Trinity also in each Person Not that it is so called Vndivided as if Three were not Three in it which were to make the Mystery Contemptible but because all the Three Hypostases or Persons are Indivisibly and Inseparably united to each other as the Sun and the Splendour and really but One God Wherefore though there be some Subordination of Hypostases or Persons in Plato's Trinity as it is commonly represented yet is this only ad intrà within the Deity it self in their Relation to one another and as compared amongst themselves but ad extrà Outwardly and to Vs are they all One and the same God concurring in all the same Actions and in that respect without any Inequality because in Identity there can be no Inequality Furthermore the Platonick Christian would in favour of these Platonists urge also that according to the Principles of Christianity it self there must of necessity be some Dependence and Subordination of the Persons of the Trinity in their Relation to one another a Priority and Posteriority not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Dignity as well as Order amongst them First because that which is Originally of it self and Underived from any other must needs have some Superiority and Preheminence over that which derives its whole Being and Godship from it as the Second doth from the First alone and the Third from the First with the Second Again though all those Three Hypostases or Persons be alike Omnipotent ad Extra or Outwards yet ad Intra Inwards or within the Deity it self are they not so the Son being not
but of Kind Which Vnity of the Common or General Essence of the Godhead is the same thing also with that Equality which some of the Ancient Fathers so much insist upon against Arius namely An Equality of Nature as the Son and Father are both of them alike God that Essence of the Godhead which is Common to all the Three Persons being as all other Essences supposed to be Indivisible From which Equality it self also does it appear that they acknowledged no Identity of Singular Essence it being absurd to say that One and the self same thing is Equal to it self And with this Equality of Essence did some of these Orthodox Fathers themselves imply that a certain Inequality of the Hypostases or Persons also in their mutual Relation to one another might be consistent As for example St. Austin writing thus against the Arians Patris ergo Filii Spiritus Sancti etiamsi disparem cogitant Potestatem Naturam saltem confiteantur Aequalem Though they conceive the Power of the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be Vnequal yet let them for all that confess their Nature at least to be Equal And St. Basil likewise Though the Son be in Order Second to the Father because produced by him and in Dignity also forasmuch as the Father is the Cause and Principle of his being yet is he not for all that Second in Nature because there is One Divinity in them both And that this was indeed the meaning both of the Nicene Pathers and of Athanasius in their Homoousiotes their Coessentiality or Con-substantiality and Coequality of the Son with the Father namely their having both the same Common Essence of the Godhead or that the Son was No Creature as Arius contended but truly God or Vncreated likewise will appear undeniably from many passages in Athanasius of which we shall here mention only some few In his Epistle concerning the Nicene Council he tells us how the Eusebian Faction subscribed the Form of that Council though afterward they recanted it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the rest subscribing the Eusebianists themselves subscribed also to these very words which they now find fault with I mean Of the Essence or Substance and Coessential or Consubstantial and that the Son is no Creature or Facture or any of the Things Made but the Genuine Off-spring of the Essence or Substance of the Father Afterwards he declareth how the Nicene Council at first intended to have made use only of Scripture Words and Phrases against the Arians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As that Christ was the Son of God and not from nothing but from God the Word and Wisdom of God and consequently no Creature or thing Made But when they perceived that the Eusebian Faction would evade all those Expressions by Equivocation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They conceived themselves necessitated more plainly to declare what they meant by being From God or Out of him and therefore added that the Son was Out of the Substance of God thereby to distinguish him from all Created Beings Again a little after in the same Epistle he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Synod perceiving this rightly declared that the Son was Homoousious with the Father both to cut off the Subterfuges of Hereticks and to show him to be different from the Creatures For after they had decreed this they added immediately They who say that the Son of God was from things that are not or Made or Mutable or a Creature or of another Substance or Essence all such does the Holy and Catholick Church Anathematize Whereby they made it Evident that these Words Of the Father and Coessential or Consubstantial with the Father were opposed to the Impiety of those expressions of the Arians that the Son was a Creature or thing Made and Mutable and that he was not before he was Made which he that affirmeth contradicteth the Synod but whosoever dissents from Arius must needs consent to these Forms of the Synod In this same Epistle to cite but one passage more out of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brass and Gold Silver and Tin are alike in their shining and colour nevertheless in their Essence and Nature are they very different from one another If therefore the Son be such then let him be a Creature as we are and not Coessential or Consubstantial but if he be a Son the Word Wisdom Image of the Father and his Splendour then of right should he be accounted Coessential and Consubstantial Thus in his Epistle concerning Dionysius we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son 's being one of the Creatures and his not being Coessential or Consubstantial with the Father put for Synonymous expressions which signifie one and the samething Wherefore it semeeth to be unquestionably evident that when the Ancient Orthodox Fathers of the Christian Church maintained against Arius the Son to be Homoousion Coessential or Consubstantial with the Father though that word be thus interpreted Of the same Essence or Substance yet they Universally understood thereby not a Sameness of Singular and Numerical but of Common or Vniversal Essence only that is the Generical or Specifical Essence of the Godhead that the Son was no Creature but truly and properly God But if it were needful there might be yet more Testimonies cited out of Athanasius to this purpose As from his Epistle De Synodis Arimini Seleuciae where he writeth thus concerning the Difference betwixt those Two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Like Substance and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Same Substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For even your selves know that Similitudes is not Predicated of Essences or Substances but of Figures and Qualities only But of Essences or Substances Identity or Sameness is affirmed and not Similitude For a man is not said to be Like to a man in respect of the Essence or Substance of Humanity but only as to Figure or Form they being said as to their Essence to be Congenerous of the same Nature or Kind with one another Nor is a man properly said to be Vnlike to a Dog but of a Different Nature or Kind from him Wherefore that which is Congenerous of the same Nature Kind or Species is also Homoousion Coessential or Consubstantial of the same Essence or Substance and that which is of a different Nature Kind or Species is Heterousion of a different Essence or Substance Again Athanasius in that Fragment of his Against the Hypocrisie of Meletius c. concerning Consubstantiality writeth in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He that denies the Son to be Homoousion Consubstantial with the Father affirming him only to be like to him denies him to be God In like manner he who reteining the word Homousion or Consubstantial interprets it notwithstanding only of Similitude or Likeness in
Paradigm of that God truly Good which is Self-begotten and his own Parent For this is greater and before him and the Fountain of all things the foundation of all the first Intelligible Ideas Wherefore from this one did that Self sufficient God who is Autopator or his own Parent cause himself to shine forth for this is also a Principle and the God of Gods a Monad from the first One before all Essence Where so far as we can understand Jamblichus his meaning is that there is a Simple Vnity in order of Nature before that Tagathon or Monad which is the First of the Three Divine Hypostases And this Doctrine was afterward taken up by Proclus he declaring it in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato every where ascends from multitude to Vnity from whence also the order of the Many proceeds but before Plato and according to the Natural order of things One is before Multitude and every Divine order begins from a Monad Wherefore though the Divine Number proceed in a Trinity yet before this Trinity must there be a Monad Let there be Three Demiurgical Hypostases nevertheless before these must there be One because none of the Divine orders begins from Multitude We conclude that the Demiurgical Number does not begin from a Trinity but from a Monad standing alone by it self before that Trinity Here Proclus though endeavouring to gain some countenance for this doctrine out of Plato yet as fearing lest that should fail him does he fly to the order of Nature and from thence would infer that before the Trinity of Demiurgick Hypostases there must be a Single Monad or Henad standing alone by it self as the Head thereof And St. Cyril of Alexandria who was Juniour to Jamblichus but Senior to Proclus seems to take notice of this Innovation in the Platonick Theology as a thing then newly crept up and after the time of â—orphyry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But those before mentioned contradict this Doctrine of Porphyrius the ancient Platonists affirming that the Tagathon ought not to be connumerated or reckoned together with those which proceed from it but to be exempted from all Communion because it is altogether Simple and uncapable of any Commixture or Consociation with any other Wherefore these begin their Trinity with Nous or Intellect making that the First The only difference here is that Jamblichus seems to make the first Hypostasis of the Trinity after a Monad to be Tagathon but St. Cyril Nous. However they both meant the same thing as also did Proclus after them Wherefore it is evident that when from the time of the Nicene Council and Athanasius the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity came to be punctually stated and settled and much to be insisted upon by Christians Jamblichus and other Platonists who were great Antagonists of the same perceiving what advantage the Christians had from the Platonick Trinity then first of all Innovated this Doctrine introducing a Quaternity of Divine Hypostases instead of a Trinity the First of them being not Coordinate with the other Three nor Consociated or Reckoned with them But All of them though Subordinate yet Universal and such as Comprehend the whole that is Infinite and Omnipotent and therefore none of them Creatures For it is certain that before this time or the Age that Iamblichus lived in there was no such thing at all dream'd of by any Platonist as an Vnity before and above the Trinity and so a Quaternity of Divine Hypostases Plotinus positively determining that there could neither be More nor Fewer than Three and Proclus himself acknowledging the Ancient Tradition or Cabala to have run only of Three Gods and Numenius who was Senior to them both writing thus of Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he also before Plato Asserted Three Gods that is Three Divine Hypostases and no more as Principles therein following the Pythagoreans Moreover the same Proclus besides his Henades and Noes before mentioned added certain other Phantastick Trinities of his own also as this for example of the First Essence the First Life and the First Intellect to omit others whereby that Ancient Cabala and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theology of Divine Tradition of Three Archical Hypostases and no more was disguised perverted and adulterated But besides this Advantage from the ancient Pagan Platonists and Pythagoreans admitting a Trinity into their Theology in like manner as Christianity doth whereby Christianity was the more recommended to the Philosophick Pagans there is another Advantage of the Same extending even to this present time probably not Unintended also by Divine Providence That whereas Bold and Conceited Wits precipitantly condemning the Doctrine of the Trinity for Nonsence absolute R. pugnancy to Humane Faculties and Impossibility have thereupon some of them quite shaken off Christianity and all Revealed Religion professing only Theism others have frustrated the Design thereof by Pagmizing it into Creature-Worship or Idolatry this Ignorant and Conceited Confidence of both may be retunded and confuted from hence because the most ingenious and acute of all the Pagan Philosophers the Platonists and Pythagoreans who had no byass at all upon them nor any Scripture Revelation that might seem to impose upon their Faculties but followed the free Sentiments and Dictates of their own Minds did notwithstanding not only entertain this Trinity of Divine Hypostases Eternal and Vncreated but were also fond of the Hypothesis and made it a main Fundamental of their Theology It now appears from what we have declared that as to the Ancient and Genuine Platonists and Pythagoreans none of their Trinity of Gods or Divine Hypostases were Independent so neither were they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Creature-Gods but Vncreated they being all of them not only Eternal and Necessarily Existent and Immutable but also Vniversal that is Infinite and Omnipotent Causes Principles and Creators of the whole World From whence it follows that these Platonists could noâ— justly be taxed for Idolatry in giving Religious Worship to each Hypostâ—sis of this their Trinity And we have the rather insisted so long upon this Platonick Trinity because we shall make use of this Doctrine afterwards in our Defence of Christianity where we are to show That one Grand Design of Christianity being to abolish the Pagan Idolatry or Creature-Worship it self cannot justly be charged with the same from that Religious Worship given to our Saviour Christ and the Trinity the Son and Holy Ghost they being none of them according to the true and Orthodox Christianity Creatures however the Arian Hypothesis made them such And this was indeed the Grand Reason why the Ancient Fathers so zealously opposed Arianism because That Christianity which was intended by God Almighty for a means to extirpate Pagan Idolatry was thereby it self Paganized and Idolatrized and made highly guilty of that very thing which it so much condemned in the Pagans that is Creature-Worship This might be proved by sundry testimonies of Athanasius Basil Gregory Nyssen
the Gods are not by Nature but by Art and Laws onely and that from thence it comes to pass that they are different to different Nations and Countreys accordingly as the several humours of their Law-makers did chance to determine And before Plato Critias one of the Thirty Tyrants of Athens plainly declared Religion at first to have been a Political Intrigue in those Verses of his recorded by Sextus the Philosopher beginning to this purpose That there was a time at first when mens life was Disorderly and Brutish and the Will of the Stronger was the only Law After which they consented and agreed together to make Civil Laws that so the disorderly might be punished Notwithstanding which it was still found that men were only hindred from open but not from secret Injustices Whereupon some Sagacious and Witty person was the Author of a further Invention to deterr men as well from secret as from open Injuries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Namely by introducing or feigning a God Immortal and Incorruptible who hears and sees and takes notice of all things Critias then concluding his Poem in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in this manner do I conceive some One at first to have perswaded mortals to believe that there is a kind of Gods Thus have we fully declared the sence of the Atheists in their Account of the Phenomenon of Religion and the Belief of a God namely that they derive it principally from these Three Springs or Originals First from mens own Fear and Solicitude concerning Future Events or their Good and Evil Fortune Secondly from their Ignorance of the Causes both of those Events and the Phaenomena of Nature together with their Curiosity And Lastly from the Fiction of Civil Soveraigns Law-makers and Politicians The Weakness and Foolery of all which we shall now briefly manifest First therefore it is certain that such an Excess of Fear as makes any one constantly and obstinately to believe the Existence of That which there is no manner of ground neither from Sense not Reason for tending also to the great Disquiet of mens own Lives and the Terrour of their Minds cannot be accounted other than a kind of Crazedness or Distraction Wherefore the Atheists themselves acknowledging the Generality of mankind to be possessed with such a Belief of a Deity when they resolve this into such an Excess of Fear it is all one as if they should affirm the Generality of mankind to be Frighted out of their Wits or Crazed and Distemper'd in their Brains none but a few Atheists who being undaunted and undismaied have escaped this Panick Terrour remaining Sober and in their Right Senses But whereas the Atheists thus impute to the Generality of mankind not only Light-Minded Credulity and Phantastry but also such an Excess of Fear as differs nothing at all from Crazedness and Distraction or Madness We affirm on the contrary that their supposed Courage Stayedness and Sobriety is really nothing else but the Dull and Sottish Stupidity of their minds Dead and Heavy Incredulity and Earthly Diffidence or Distrust by reason whereof they will believe nothing but what they can Feel or See Theists indeed have a Religious Fear of God which is Consequent from him or their Belief of him of which more afterwards but the Deity it self or the Belief thereof was not Created by any Antecedent Fear that is by Fear concerning Mens Good and Evil Fortune it being certain that none are less Solicitous concerning such Events that they who are most truly Religious The Reason whereof is because these place their Chief Good in nothing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aliene or in Anothers Power and Exposed to the strokes of Fortune but in that which is most truly their Own namely the Right use of their own Will As the Atheists on the contrary must needs for this very reason be liable to great Fears and Solicitudes concerning Outward Events because they place their Good and Evil in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Passion of Pleasure and Pain or at least denying Natural Honesty they acknowledge no other Good but what belongs to the Animal Life only and so is under the Empire of Fortune And that the Atheists are indeed generally Timorous and Fearful Suspicious and Distrustful things seems to appear plainly from their building all their Politicks Civil Societies and Justice improperly so called upon that only Foundation of Feâ—r and Distrust But the Grand Errour of the Atheists here is this that they suppose the Deity according to the sence of the Generality of mankind to be nothing but a Mormo Bug-bear or Terriculum an Affrightful Hurtful and most Vndesirable thing Whereas men every where invoke the Deity in their Straits and Difficulties for aid and assistance looking upon it as Exorable and Plaeable and by their Trust and Confidence in it acknowledge its Goodness and Benignity Synesius affirms that though men were otherwise much divided in their opinions yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They all every where both Wise and Vnwise agree in this that God is to be praised as one who is Good and Benign If amongst the Pagans there were any who understood that Proverbial Speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the worst sence as if God Almighty were of an Envious and Spiteful Nature these were certainly but a few Ill-natur'd men who therefore drew a Picture of the Deity according to their own Likeness For the Proverb in that sence was disclaimed and cried down by all the wiser Pagans as Aristotle who affirmed the Poets to have lyed in this as well as they did in many other things and Plutarch who taxeth Herodotus for insinuating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deity universally that is All the Gods to be of an Envious and Vexatious or Spiteful disposition whereas Himself appropriated this only to that Evil Demon or Principle asserted by him as appeareth from the Life of P. Aemilius written by him where he affirmeth not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deity Vniversally was of an Envious Nature but That there is a Certain Deity or Daemon whose proper task it is to bring down all great and over-swelling humane Prosperity and so to temper every mans Life that none may be happy in this world sincerely and unmixedly without a check of Adversity which is as if a Christian should ascribe it to the Devil And Plato plainly declares the reason of God's making the World at first to have been no other than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was Good and there is no manner of Envy in that which is Good From whence he also concluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God therefore willed all things should be made the most like himself that is after the best manner But the true meaning of that Ill-languaged Proverb seems at first to have been
they plunge themselves into Fear for they who are without Hope can never be free from Fear Endless of necessity must the Fears and Anxieties of those men be who shake off that One Fear of God that would only preserve them from Evil and have no Faith nor Hope in him Wherefore we might conclude upon better grounds than the Atheists do of Theism that Atheism which hath no foundation at all in Nature nor in Reason springs first from the Imposture of Fear For the Faith of Religion being the Substance or Confidence of such things not seen as are to be Hoped for Atheistick Insidelity must needs on the contrary be a certain heavy Diffidence Despondence and Misgiving of Mind or a Timorous Distrust and Disbelief of Good to be Hoped for beyond the reach of Sense namely of an Invisible Being Omnipotent that exerciseth a Just Kind and Gracious Povidence over all those who commit their ways to him with an endeavour to please him both here in this Life and after Death But Vice or the Love of Lawless Liberty prevailing over such Disbelieving persons makes them by degrees more and more desirous that there should be no God that is no such Hinderer of their Liberty and to count it a happiness to be freed from the Fear of him whose Justice if he were they must needs be obnoxious to And now have we made it Evident that these Atheists who make Religion and the Belief of a God to proceed from the Imposture of Fear do first of all disguise the Deity and put a Monstrous Horrid and Affrightful Vizard upon it transforming it into such a thing as can only be Feared and Hated and then do they conclude concerning it as well indeed they may that there is no such thing as this really Existing in Nature but that it is only a Mormo or Bugbear raised up by mens Fear and Phansie Of the Two it might better be said that the Opinion of a God sprung from mens Hope of Good than from their Fear of Evil but really it springs neither from Hope nor Fear however in different Circumstances it raises both those Passions in our Minds nor is it the Imposture of any Passion but that whose Belief is supported and Sustained by the strongest and clearest Reason as shall be declared in due place But the Sense of a Deity often Preventing Ratiocination in us and urging it self more Immediately upon us it is certain that there is also besides a Rational Belief thereof a Natural Prolepsis or Anticipation in the Minds of men concerning it which by Aristotle is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Vaticination Thus have we sufficiently confuted the First Atheistick Pretence to salve the Phaenomenon of Religion and the Belief of a God so generally entertained from the Imposture of Fear we come now to the Second That it proceeded from the Ignorance of Causes also or Mens want of Philosophy they being prone by reason of their Innate Curiosity where they find no Causes to make or feign them and from their Fear in the Absence of Natural and Necessary Causes to imagine Super-natural and Divine this also affording them a handsom Cover and Pretext for their Ignorance For which cause these Atheists stick not to affirm of God Almighty what some Philosophers do of Occult Qualities that he is but Persugium Asylum Ignorantiae a Refuge and Shelter for mens Ignorance that is in plain and downright Languâ—ge The meer Sanctuary of Fools And these two things are here commonly joyned together by these Atheists both Fear and Ignorance of Causes as which joyntly concurr in the Production of Theism Because as the Fear of Children raises up Bugbears especially in the Dark so do they suppose in like manner the Fear of men in the Darkness of their Ignorance of Causes especially to raise up the Mormo Spectre or Phantasm of a God which is thus intimated by the Epicurean Poet Omnia Caecis In tenebris Metuunt And accordingly Democritus gave this account of the Original of Theism or Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That when in old times men observed strange and affrightful things in the Meteors and the Heaven as Thunder Lightning Thunderbolts Eclipses they not knowing the Causes thereof being terrified thereby presently imputed them to the Gods And Epicurus declares this to have been the reason why he took such great pains in the study of Physiology that by finding out the Natural and Necessary Causes of things he might be able to free both himself and others from the Terrour of a God which would otherwise Invade and Assault them the Importunity of mens minds when-ever they are at a loss for Natural Causes urging them so much with the Fear Suspicion and Jealousie of a Deity Wherefore the Atheists thus dabling in Physiology and finding out as they conceive Material and Mechanical Causâ—s for some of the Phaenomâ—na of Nature and especially for such of them as the unskilful Vulgar some times impute to God himâ—elf when they can prove Eclipses for example to be no Miracles and render it probable that Thunder is not the Voice of God Almighty himself as it were roaring above in the Heavens meerly to affright and amaze poor Mortals and make them quake and tremble and that Thunderbolts are not there flung by his own hands as the direful messengers of his wrath and displeasure they presently conclude triumphantly thereupon concerning Nature or Matter that it doth Ipsa suâ per se sponte omnia Diis agere expers Do all things alone of it self without a God But we shall here make it appear in a few Instances as briefly as we may that Philosophy and the True Knowledge of Causes leads to God and that Atheism is nothing but Ignorance of Causes and of Philosophy For first no Atheist who derives all from sensless Atoms or Matter is able to assign any Cause at all of Himself or give any true account of the Original of his own Soul or Mind it being utterly Unconceivable and Impossible that Soul and Mind Sense Reason and Vnderstanding should ever arise from Irrational and Sensless Matter however modified or result from Atoms devoid of all manner of Qualities that is from meer Magnitude Figure Site and Motion of Parts For though it be indeed absurd to say as these Atheists alledge that Laughing and Crying Things are made out of Laughing and Crying Principles Et Ridere potest non ex Ridentibu ' factus Yet does it not therefore follow that Sensitive and Rational Beings might result from a Composition of Irrational and Sensless Atoms which according to the Democritick Hypothesis have nothing in them but Magnitude Figure Site and Motion or Rest. Because Laughing and Crying are Motions which result from the Mechanism of Humane Bodies in such a manner Organized but Sense and Vnderstanding are neither Local Motion nor Mechanism And the Case will be the very same both in the Anaximandrian or Hylopathian and in the
Animals the True and Proper Cause of Motion or the Determination thereof at least is not the Matter it self Organized but the Soul either as Cogitative or Plastickly-Self Active Vitally united thereunto and Naturally Ruling over it But in the whole World it is either God himsel◠Originally impressing a certain Quantity of Motion upon the Matter of the Universe and constantly conserving the same according to that of the Sripture In him we Live Move which seems to have been the Sence also of that Noble Agrigentine Poet and Philosopher when he described God to be only A Pure or Holy Mind that with swift thoughts agitates the whole World or else it is Instrumentally an Inferiour Created Spirit Soul or Life of Nature that is a Subordinate Hylarchical Principle which hath a Power of Moving Matter Regularly according to the Direction of a Superiour Perfect Mind And thus do we see again that Ignorance of Causes is the Seed of Atheism and not of Theism no Atheists being able to assign a true Cause of Motion the Knowledge whereof plainly leadeth to a God Furthermore those Atheists who acknowledge no other Principle of things but Sensless Matter Fortuitously moved must needs be Ignorant also of the Cause of that Grand Phaenomenon called by Aristotle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Well and Fit in Nature that is of the most Artificial Frame of the whole Mundane System in General and of the Bodies of Animals in Particular together with the Conspiring Harmony of all For they who boasted themselves able to give Natural Causes of all things whatsoever without a God can give no other Cause at all of this Phaenomenon but only that the World Happened by Chance to be thus made as it is Now they who make Fortune and Chance to be the only Cause of this so Admirable Phaenomenon the most Regular and Artificial Frame and Harmony of the Vniverse they either make the meer Absence and Want of a Cause to be a Cause Fortune and Chance being nothing else but the Absence or want of an Intending Cause Or else do they make their own Ignorance of a Cause and They know not How to be a Cause as the Author of the Leviathan interprets the meaning hereof Many times saith he men put for Cause of Natural Events their own Ignorance but disguised in other words as when they say that Fortune is the Cause of things Contingent that is of things whereof they know no Cause Or they affirm against all Reason one Contrary to be the Cause of another as Confusion to be the Cause of Order Pulchritude and Harmony Chance and Fortune to be the Cause of Art and Skill Folly and Nonsence the Cause of the most Wise and Regular Contrivance Or Lastly they deny it to have any Cause at all since they deny an Intending Cause and there cannot Possibly be any other Cause of Artificialness and Conspiring Harmony than Mind and Wisdom Councel and Contrivance But because the Atheists here make some Pretences for this their Ignorance we shall not conceal any of them but bring them all to light to the end that we may discover their Weakness and Foolery First therefore they Pretend that the World is not so Artificially and Well made but that it might have been made much Better and that there are many Faults and Flaws to be found therein from whence they would infer that it was not made by a God he being supposed by Theists to be no Bungler but a Perfect Mind or a Being Infinitely Good and Wise who therefore should have made all things for the Best But this being already set down by it self as a Twelfth Atheistick Objection against a Deity we must reserve the Confutation thereof for its proper place Only we shall observe thus much here by the way That those Theists of Later times who either because they Fancy a meer Arbitary Deity or because their Faith in the Divine Goodness is but weak or because they Judge of things according to their own Private Appetites and Selfish Passions and not with a Free Uncaptivated Vniversality of Mind and an Impartial Regard to the Good of the Whole or because they look only upon the Present Scene of things and take not in the Future into consideration nor have a Comprehensive View of the whole Plot of Divine Providence together or lastly because we Mortals do all stand upon too Low a Ground to take a commanding view and Prospect upon the whole Frame of things and our shallow Understandings are not able to fathom the Depths of the Divine Wisdom nor trace all the Methods and Designs of Providence grant That the World might have been made much Better than now it is which indeed is all one as to say that it is Not Well made these Neoterick Christians I say seem hereby to give a much greater advantage to the Atheists than the Pagan Theists themselves heretofore did who stood their Ground and generously maintained against them that Mind being the Maker of all things and not Fortune or Chance nor Arbitary Self-will and Irational Humour Omnipotent the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is Absolutely the Best in every case so far as the Necessity of things would admit and in compliance with the Good of the Whole was the Measure and Rule both of Nature and Providence Again the Atomick Atheists further alledge that though there be many things in the world which serve well for Vses yet it does not at all follow that therefore they were made Intentionally and Designedly for those Vses because though things Happen by Chance to be so or so Made yet may they serve for something or other afterward and have their several Vses Consequent Wherefore all the things of Nature Happened say they by Chance to be so made as they are and their several Uses notwithstanding were Consequent or Following thereupon Thus the Epicurean Poet Nil ideo natum est in Corpore ut Vti Possemus sed quod Natum est id procreat Vsum. Nothing in mans Body was made out of design for any Vse but all the several Parts thereof happening to be so made as they are their Vses were Consequent thereupon In like manner the Old Atheistick Philosophers in Aristotle concluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Former Teeth were made by Material or Mechanical Necessity Thin and Sharp by means whereof they became fit for Cutting but the Jaw-Teeth Thick and Broad whereby they became Vseful for the Grinding of Food But neither of them were Intended to be such for the sake of these Vses but Happened by Chance only And the like concerning all the other Parts of the Body which seem to be made for Ends. Accordingly the same Aristotle represents the sence of those ancient Atheists concerning the other Parts of the Universe or Things of Nature that they were all likewise made such by the Necessity of Material or Mechanical Motions Vndirected and yet had nevertheless their several
themselves Intend and act for Ends that therefore Nature doth the like And they might as well say that Nature Laughs and Cryes Speaks and Walks Syllogizes and Philosophizes because themselves do so But as a Modern Philosopher concludeth The Vniverse as one Aggregate of things Natural hath no Intention belonging to it And accordingly were all Final Causes rightly banished by Democritus out of Physiology as Aristotle recordeth of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he reduced all things to Natural and Necessary Causes altogether rejecting Final To all which we briefly reply That there are indeed two Extremes here to be avoided the One of those who derive all things from the Fortuitous Motions of Sensless Matter which is the Extreme of the Atomick Atheists the Other of Bigotical Religionists who will needs have God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do all things himself immediately as if all in Nature were Miracle But there is a Middle betwixt both these Extremes namely to suppose that besides God and in Subordination to him there is a Nature not Fortuitous but Artificial and Methodical which governing the Motion of Matter and bringing it into Regularity is a Secondary or Inferiour Cause of Generations Now this Natura Artificiosa this Artificial Nature though it self indeed do not understand the Reason of what it doth nor properly Intend the Ends thereof yet may it well be conceived to act Regularly for the sake of Ends Vnderstood and Intended by that Perfect Mind upon which it depends As the Manuary Opificers understand not the Designs of the Architect but only drudgingly perform their several tasks imposed by him and as Types or Forms of Letters composed together Print Coherent Philosophick Sence which themselves understand nothing of upon which Artificial or Spermatick Nature we have largely insisted before in the Appendix to the Third Chapter And thus neither are all things performed Immediately and Miraculously by God himself neither are they all done Fortuitously and Temerariously but Regularly and Methodically for the sake of Ends though not Vnderstood by Nature it self but by that Higher Mind which is the Cause of it and doth as it were continually Inspire it Some indeed have unskilfully attributed their Own Properties or Animal Idiopathies to Inanimate Bodies as when they say that Matter desires Forms as the Female doth the Male and that Heavy Bodies descend down by Appetite toward the Centre that so they may rest therein and that they sometimes again Ascend in Discretion to avoid a Vacuum Of which Fanciful Extravagances if the Advancer of Learning be understood there is nothing to be reprehended in this following passage of his Incredibile est quantum agmen Idolorum Philosophiae immiserit Naturalism Operationum ad Similitudinem Actionum Humanarum Reductio It is incredible how many Errours have been transfused into Philosophy from this One Delusion of Reducing Natural actions to the Mode of Humane or of thinking that Nature acteth as a Man doth But if that of his be extended further to take away all Final Causes from the things of Nature as if nothing were done therein for Ends Intended by a Higher Mind then is it the very Spirit of Atheism and Infidelity It is no Idol of the Cave or Den to use that Affected Language that is no Prejudice or Fallacy imposed upon our selves from the attributing our own Animalish Properties to things without us to think that the Frame and System of this whole World was contrived by a Perfect Vnderstanding Being or Mind now also presiding over the same which hath every where Printed the Signatures of its own Wisdom upon the Matter As also that though Nature it self do not properly Intend yet it acteth according to an Intellectual Platform Prescribed to it as being the Manuary Opificer of the Divine Architectonick Art or this Art it self as it were Transfused into the Matter and Embodied in it Thus Cicero's Balbus long since declared concerning it that it was not Vis quaedam sine Ratione ciens Motus in Corporibus Necessarios sed Vis particeps Ordinis tanquam via progrediens cujus Solertiam nulla Ars nemo Artifex consequi potest imitando Not a force Vnguided by Reason Exciting Necessary Motions in Bodies Temerariously but such a Force as partakes of Order and proceeds as it were Methodically whose Cunning or Ingeniosity no Art or Humane Opificer can possibly reach to by Imitation For it is altogether Unconceivable how we Our Selves should have Mind and Intention in us were there none in the Universe or in that Highest Principle from which all proceeds Moreover it was truly affirmed by Aristotle that there is much more of Art in some of the things of Nature than there is in any thing Artificially made by men and therefore Intention or Final and Mental Causality can no more be secluded from the consideration of Natural than it can from that of Artificial things Now it is plain that Things Artificial as a House or Clock can neither be Understood nor any true Cause of them assigned without Design or Intention for Ends and Good For to say that a House is Stones Timber Mortar Iron Glass Lead c. all put together is not to give a Definition thereof or to tell what indeed it is it being such an Apt Disposition of all these Materials as may make up the whole fit for Habitation and the Vses of men Wherefore this is not sufficiently to assign the Cause of a House neither to declare out of what Quarry the Stones were dugg nor in what Woods or Forests the Timber was felled and the like Nor as Aristotle addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any one should go about thus to give an account of a House from Material Necessity as the Atheistick Philosophers then did of the World and the Bodies of Animals That the Heavier things being carried downward of their own accord and the Lighter upward therefore the Stones and Foundation lay at the bottom and the Earth for the Walls being Lighter was Higher and the Timber being yet Lighter Higher than that but above all the Straw or Thatch it being the Lightest of all Nor lastly if as the same Aristotle elsewhere also suggesteth one should further pretend that a House was therefore made such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. meerly because the Hands of the Labourers and the Axes and Hammers and Trowels and other Instruments Chanced all to be moved so and so We say that none of all these would be to assign the true cause of a House without declaring that the Architect first framed in his Mind a Model or Platform of such a thing to be made out of of those Materials so aptly disposed into a Foundation Walls Roof Doors Rooms Stairs Chimneys Windows c. as might render the whole fit for Habitation and other Humane uses And no more certainly can the Things of Nature in whose very Essence Final Causality is as much included be either rightly Understood or the Causes of
them assigned meerly from Matter and Mechanism or the Necessary and Vnguided Motion thereof without Design or Intention for Ends and Good Wherefore to say that the Bodies of Animals became such meerly because the Fluid Seed by Motion Happened to make such Traces and beget such Stamina and Lineamentâ— as out of which that Compages of the whole resulted is not to assign a Cause of them but to Dissemble Smother and Conceal their True Efficient Cause which is the Wisdom and Contrivance of that Divine Architect and Geometer making them every way fit for the Inhabitation and uses of their respective Souls Neither indeed can we banish all Final that is all Mental Causality from Philosophy or the Consideration of Nature without banishing at the same time Reason and Vnderstanding from our selves and looking upon the Things of Nature with no other Eyes than Brutes do However none of the Ancient Atheists would ever undertake to assign Necessary Causes for all the Parts of the Bodies of Animals and their Efformation from meer Matter Motion and Mechanism Those small and pitiful attempts in order thereunto that have been made by some of them in a few Instances as that the Spina Dorsi came from the Flexure of the Bodies of Animals when they first sprung out of the Earth the Intestines from the Flux of Humours excavating a crooked and winding Channel for it self and that the Nostrils were broke open by the Eruption of breath these I say only showing the Vnfeisableness and Impossibility thereof And therefore Democritus was so wise as never to pretend to give an Account in this way of the Formation of the Foetus he looking upon it as a thing absolutely Desperate nor would he venture to say any more concerning it as Aristotle informeth us than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it always cometh so to pass of necessity but stopp'd all further Enquiry concerning it after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That to demand about any of these things for what Cause it was thus was to demand a Beginning of Infinite As if all the Motions from Eternity had an Influence upon and Contribution to whatsoever Corporeal thing was now produced And Lucretius notwithstanding all his swaggering and boasting that He and Epicurus were able to assign Natural and Necessary Causes for every thing without a God hath no where so much as one word concerning it We conclude therefore that Aristotle's Judgment concerning Final Causes in Philosophy is much to be preferred before that of Democritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Both kind of Causes Material and Final ought to be declared by a Physiologer but especially the Final the End being the Cause of the Matter but the Mâ—tter not the Cause of the End And thus do we see plainly that the Atomick Atheists are utterly ignorant of the Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Râ—â—uâ—ar and Artificial Frame of thâ— things in Nâ—ture and consâ—quently of the whâ—le Mundane Sâ—stem the True Knowledge whereof nâ—câ—ssâ—rily leadeth to a God But it is prodigiously strange that these Atheists should in this their Ignorance and Sottâ—shnâ—ss be Justified by any Professed Theists and Christians of Later times who Atomizing in their Physiology also would fain perswade us in like manner that this whole Mundane System together with Plants and Animals was derived meerly from the Necessary and Vnguided Motion of the Small Particles of Matter at first turned round in a Vortex or else jumbled all together in a Chaos without any Intention for Ends and Good that is without the Direction of any Mind God in the mean time standing by only as an Idle Spâ—ctator of this Lusus Atomorum this Sportful Dance of Atoms and of the various Results thereof Nay these Mechanick Theists have here quite outstripped and out-done the Atomick Atheists themselves they being much more Immodest and Extravagant than ever those were For the Professed Atheists durst never venture to affirm that this Regular System of things Resulted from the Fortuitous Motions of Atoms at the very first before they had for a long time together produced many other Inept Combinations or Aggregate Forms of particular things and Nonsensical Systems of the whole And they supposed also that the Regularity of things here in this world would not always continue such neither but that some time or other Confusion and Disorder would break in again Moreover that besides this World of ours there are at this very instant Innumerable other worlds Irregular and that there is but One of a Thousand or ten Thousand amongst the Infinite Worlds that have such Regularity in them The reason of all which is because it was generally taken for granted and look'd upon as a Common Notion that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle expresseth it that None of those things which are from Fortune or Chance come to pass constantly and always alike But our Mechanick or Atomick Theists will have their Atoms never so much as once to have Fumbled in these their Fortuitous Motions nor to have produced any Inept System or Incongruous Forms at all but from the very first all along to have taken up their Places and have Ranged themselves so Orderly Methodically and Discreetly as that they could not possibly have done it better had they been Directed by the most Perfect Wisdom Wherefore these Atomick Theists utterly Evacuate that grand Argument for a God taken from the Phaenomenon of the Artificial Frame of things which hath been so much insisted on in all Ages and which commonly makes the strongest impression of any other upon the Minds of men they leaving only certain Metaphysical Arguments for a Deity which though never so good yet by reason of their Subtilty can do but little Execution upon the Minds of the Generality and even amongst the Learned do oftentimes beget more of Doubtful Disputation and Scepticism than of Clear Conviction and Satisfaction The Atheists in the mean time laughing in their sleeves and not a little triumphing to see the Cause of Theism thus betrayed by its professed Friends and Assertors and the Grand Argument for the same totally Slurred by them and so their work done as it were to their hands for them Now as this argues the greatest Insensibility of Mind or Sottishness and Stupidity in Pretended Theists not to take the least notice of the Regular and Artificial Frame of things or of the Signatures of the Divine Art and Wisdom in them nor to look upon the World and things of Nature with any Other Eyes than Oxen and Horses do so are there many Phaenomena in Nature which being partly Above the Force of these Mechanick Powers and partly Contrary to the same can therefore never be Salved by them nor without Final Causes and some Vital Principle As for example that of Gravity or the Tendency of Bodies Downward the Motion of the Diaphragma in Respiration the Systole and Diastole of the Heart which was before declared to be a Muscular Constriction and
Relaxation and there-not Mechanical but Vital We might also add amongst many others the Intersection of the Plains of the Equator and Ecliptick or the Earth's Diurnal Motion upon an Axis not Parallel with that of the Ecliptick nor Perpendicular to the Plain thereof For though Carâ—esius would needs imagine this Earth of ours once to have been a Sun and so it self the Centre of a lesser Vortex whose Axis was then Directed after this manner and which therefore still kept the same Site or Posture by reason of the Striate Particles finding no fit Pores or Traces for their passage thorough it but only in this Direction yet does he himself confess that because these Two Motions of the Earth the Annual and Diurnal would be much more conveniently made upon Parallel Axes therefore according to the Laws of Mechanism they should perpetually be brought nearer and nearer together till at length the Equator and the Ecliptick come to have their Axes Parallel to one another Which as it hath not yet come to pass so neither hath there been for these last two Thousand years according to the best Observations and Judgments of Astronomers any nearer approach made of them to one another Wherefore the Continuation of these â—wo Motions of the Earth the Annual and Diurnal upon Axes differâ—nt or not Parallel is resolvable into nothing but a Final and Mental Cause or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was Best it should be so the Variety of the Seasons of the year depending hereupon But the greatest of all the particular Phaenomena is the Organization and Formation of the Bodies of Animals consisting of such Variety and Curiosity which these Mechanick Philosophers being no way able to give an account of from the Necessary Motion of Matter Vnguided by Mind for Ends prudently therefore break off their System there when they should come to Animals and so leave it altogether untouch'd We acknowledge indeed that there is a Posthumous Piece extant imputed to Cartesius and entituled De la Formation du Foetus wherein there is some Pretence made to salve all this by Fortuitous Mechanism But as the Theory thereof is wholly built upon a False Supposition sufficiently confuted by the Learned Harvey in his Book of Generation That the Seed doth Materially enter into the Composition of the Egg so is it all along Precarious and Exceptionable nor does it extend at all to the Differences that are in several Animals or offer the least Reason why an Animal of one Species or Kind might not be Formed out of the Seed of another It is here indeed Pretended by these Mechanick Theists that Final Causes therefore ought not to be of any Regard to a Philosopher because we should not arrogate to Our selves to be as Wise as God Almighty is or to be Privy to his Secrets Thus in the Metaphysical Meditations Atque ob hanc Vnicam Rationem totum illud Causarum genus quod à Fine peti solet in Rebus Physicis nullum Vsum habere existimo non enim absque Temeritate me puto investigare posse Fines Dei And again likewise in the Principles of Philosophy Nullas unquam Rationes circa Res Naturales à Fine quem Deus aut Natura in iis faciendis sibi proposuit admittimus quia non tantum nobis debemus arrogare ut ejus Consiliorum participes esse possimus But the Question is not Whether we can always reach to the Ends of God Almighty and know what is Absolutely Best in every case and accordingly make Conclusions that therefore the thing is or ought to be so but Whether any thing at all were made by God for Ends and Good otherwise than would of it self have resulted from the Fortuitous Motion of Matter Nevertheless we see no Reason at all why it should be thought Presumption or Intrusion into the Secrets of God Almighty to affirm that Eyes were made by him for the End of Seeing and accordingly so contrived as might best conduce thereunto and Ears for the End of Hearing and the like This being so plain that nothing but Sottish Stupidity or Atheistick Incredulity masked perhaps under an Hypocritical Veil of Humility can make any doubt thereof And therefore Aristotle justly reprehended Anaxagoras for that Absurd Aphorism of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Man was therefore the Wisest or most Solert of all Animals because he Chanced to have hands He not doubting to affirm on the Contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was far more reasonable to think that because Man was the Wisest or most Solert and Active of all Animals therefore he had Hands given him For Nature saith he distributeth as a Wise man doth what is suitable to every one and it is more Proper to give Pipes to one that hath Musical Skill than upon him that hath Pipes to bestow Musical Skill Wherefore these Mechanick Theists would further alledge and that wiâ—h some more Colour of Reason That it is below the Dignity of God Almighty to condescend to all those mean and trivial Offices and to do the Things of Nature himself immediatly as also that it would be but a Botch in Nature if the Defects thereof were every where to be supplied by Miracle But to this also the Reply is easie That though the Divine Wisdom it self contrived the System of the whole World for Ends and Good yet Nature as an Inferiour Minister immediately Executes the same I say not a Dead Fortuiâ—â—us and meerly Mechanichal but a Vital Orderly and Artificial Nature Which Nature asserted by most of the Ancient Philosophers who were Theists is thus described by Proclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is the Last of all those Causes that Fabricate this Corporeal and Sensible world and the utmost bound of Incorporeal Substances Which being full of Reasons and Powers Orders and Presides over all Mundane affairs It proceeding according to the Magic Oracles from that Supreme Goddess the Divine Wisdom which is the Fountain of all Life as well Intellectual as that which is Concrete with Matter Which Wisdom this Nature always essentially depending upon passes through all things unhinderably by means whereof even Inanimate things partake of a kind of Life and things Corruptible remain Eternal in their Species they being contained by its Standing Forms or Ideas as their Causes And thus does the Oracle describe Nature as presiding over the whole Corporeal Word and perpetually turning round the Heavens Here have we a Description of One Vniversal Substantial Life Soul or Spirit of Nature Subordinate to the Deity besides which the same Proclus elsewhere supposeth other Particular Natures or Spermatick Reasons in those Words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the first Soul are there particular Souls and after the Vniversal Nature Particular Natures Where it may be
have heen Formed in certain Wombs or Bags growing out of the Earth Crescebant Vteri terrae radicibus apti And this no otherwise than by the Fortuitous Motion of Atoms also But if Men had been at First Formed after this manner either in Wombs or Eggs growing out of the Earth or Generated out of Putrefaction by Chance then could there be no reason imaginable why it should not sometimes so Happen now the Motions of Atoms being as Brisk and Vigorous as ever they were and so to continue to all Eternity so that there is not the least Ground at all for that Precarious Phancy and Pretence of Epicurus that the Earth as a Child-bearing Woman growing old became at length Effete and Barren Moreover the Men thus at first excluded out of Bags Wombs or Egg-shells or Generated out of Putrefaction were supposed by these Atheists themselves to have been produced not in a Mature and Adult but an Infant-like Weak and Tender State just such as they are now born into the World by means whereof they could neither be able to Feed and Nourish themselves nor defend themselves from harms and Injuries But when the same Epicurus would here pretend also that the Earth which had been so Fruitful a Mother became afterward by Chance too as tender and indulgent a Nurse of this her own Progeny and sent forth Streams or Rivers of Milk after them out of those Gaps of her Wounded Surface which they had before burst out of as Critolaus long since observed he might as well have feigned the Earth to have had Breasts and Nipples too as Wombs and Milk and then what should hinder but that she might have Arms and Hands also and Swaddling-bands to boot Neither is that less Precarious when the same Atheistick Philosopher adds that in this Imaginary State of the New-born world there was for a long time neither any Immoderate Heat nor Cold nor any Rude and Churlish Blasts of Wind the least to annoy or injure those tender Earth-born Infants and Nurslings All which things being considered Anaximander seems of the Two to have concluded more wisely that Men because they require a longer time than other Animals to be hatched up in were at first Generated in the Bellies of Fishes and there nourished up for a good while till they were at length able to defend and shift for themselves and then were Disgorged and cast up upon dry land Thus do we see that there is nothing in the World so Monstrous nor Prodigiously Absurd which men Atheistically inclined will not rather Imagine and Swallow down than entertain the Notion of a God Wherefore here is Dignus Vindice Nodus and this Phaenomenon of the First Beginning of Mankind and other Greater Animals cannot be Salved otherwise than according to the Mosaick History by admitting of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God out of a Machin that is an Extraordinary Manifestation of the Deity in forming Man and othâ—r Animals Male and Female once out of the Earth and that not in a Rude Tender and Infant-like State but Mature and Adult â—hâ—t so they might be able immediately to shift for themselves Mulâ—iply and Propagate their kind by Generation and this being once done and now no longer any necessity of such an extraordinary way of proceeding then putting a stop immediately thereunto that so no more Terriginae nor Autochthones Earth-born Mâ—n should be any longer pâ—oduced For all these circumstances being put together it plainly appears that this whole Phaenomenon surpasses not only the Mechanical but also the Plastick Powers thâ—ir being much of Discretion in it which the latter of these cannot arrive to neither they always acting Fatally and Necessarily Nevertheless we shall not here determine Whether God Almighty might not make use of the Subservient Ministry of Angels or Superiour Spirits Created before Man in this first extraordinary Efformation of the Bodies of Animals out of the Earth in a Mature and Adult State as Plato in his Timaeus introduceth the Supreme God whom he supposeth to be the immediate Creator of all Immortal Souls thus bespeaking the Junior Gods and setting them a work in the Fabrifaction of Mortal Bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is your work now to Adaptate the Mortal to the Immortal and to Generate or make Terrestrial Animals He afterwards adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That after the sowing of Immortal Souls the Supreme God committed to these Junior Gods the task of forming Mortal Bodies Which of Plato's some conceive to have been derived from that of Moses Let us make Man after our own Image Moreover these Atheists are no more able to Salve that other Common and Ordinary Phaenomenon neither of the Conservation of the Species of all Animals by keeping up constantly in the world a due Numerical Proportion between the Sexes of Male and Female For did this depend only upon Fortuitous Mechanism it cannot well be conceived but that in some ages or other there should happen to be either all Males or all Females and so the Species fail Nay it cannot well be thought otherwise but that there is in this a Providence also Superiour to that of the Plastick or Spermatick Nature which hath not so much of Knowledge and Discretion allowed to it as whereby to be able alone to govern this Affair Lastly there are yet other Phaenomena no less Real though not Physiological which Atheists can no way Salve as that of Natural Justice and Honâ—sty Duty and Obligation the true Foundation both of Ethicks and Politicks and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liberty of Will properly so called not that of Fortuitous Determination when there is a Perfect Equality or Indifferency of Eligibility in Objects but that whereby men deseâ—ve Commendation and Blame Rewards and Punishments and so become fit Objects for Remunerative Justice to display it self upon a Main Hinge upon which Religion Turneth though those Two be not commonly so well distinguish'd as they ought For when Epicurus an Absolute Atheist departing here from Democritus pretended to Salve this by his Exiguum Clinamen Principiorum this attempt of his was no other than a plain Delirancy or Atheistick Phrenzy in him And now have we already Preventively Confuted the Third Atheistick Pretence also to Salve the Phaenomenon of Religion and the Belief of a God so generally entertained namely from the Fiction and Imposture of Politicians we having not only manifested that there is a Natural Prolepsis and Anticipation of a God in the Minds of men as the Object of their Fear Preventing Reason but also that the Belief thereof is sustained and upheld by the strongest Reason the Phaenomena of Nature being no way Salvable nor the Causes of things Assigneable without a Deity so that Religion being Founded both upon the Instincts of Nature and upon Solid Reason cannot possibly be any Fiction or Imposture of Politicians Nevertheless we shall speak something particularly to this also The Atheists therefore conceive that though those Infirmities
and upon that Contingency that arises from the Indifferency or Equality of Eligibility in Objects Lastly such things as do not at all depend upon External Circumstances neither nor are caused by things Natural Anteceding but by some Supernatural Power I say when such Future Events as these are foretold and accordingly come to pass this can be ascribed to no other but such a Being as Comprehends Sways and Governs all and is by a peculiar Priviledge or Prerogative of its own Nature Omniscient Epicurus though really he therefore rejected Divination and Prediction of Future Events because he denied Providence yet did he pretend this further reason also against it because it was a thing Absolutely Inconsistent with Liberty of Will and Destructive of the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divination is a thing which hath no Existence nor possibility in nature and if there were such a thing it would take away all Liberty of Will and leave nothing in mens own Power Thus also Carneades in Cicero maintained Ne Apollinem quidem futura posse dicere nisi ea quorum Causas Natura ita contineret ut ea fieri necesse esset That Apollo himself was not able to foretel any future Events other than such as had Necessary Causes in Nature antecedent And some Christian Theists of latter times have in like manner denied to God Almighty all Foreknowledge of Humane Actions upon the same pretence as being both Inconsistent with mens Liberty of Will and Destructive thereof For say they If mens Actions be Free then are they Vnforeknowable they having no Necessary Causes and again if there be any Foreknowledge of them then can they not be Free they being ipso facto Necessitated thereby But as it is certain that Prescience does not destroy the Liberty of mans Will or impose any Necessity upon it mens Actions being not therefore Future because they are Foreknown but therefore Foreknown because Future and were a thing never so Contingent yet upon supposition that it will be Done it must needs have been Future from all Eternity So is it extreme Arrogance for men because themselves can Naturally Foreknow nothing but by some Causes Antecedent as an Eclipse of the Sun or Moon therefore to presume to measure the knowledge of God Almighty according to the same Scantling and to deny him the Prescience of Humane Actions not considering that as his Nature is Incomprehensible so his Knowledge may well be looked upon by us as such too that which is Past our finding out and Too Wonderful for us However it must be acknowledged for an Undoubted Truth that no Created Being can Naturally and Of it self Foreknow any Future Events otherwise than in and by their Causes Anteceding If therefore we shall find that there have been Predictions of such Future Events as had no Necessary Antecedent Causes as we cannot but grant such Things therefore to be Foreknowable So must we needs from thence infer the Existence of a God that is a Being Supernatural Infinitely Perfect and Omniscient since such Predictions as these could have proceeded from no other Cause That there is Foreknowledge of Future Events to men Naturally Unforeknowable hath been all along the Perswasion of the Generality of Mankind Thus Cicero Vetus opinio est jam usque ab Heroicis ducta temporibus eaque Populi Romani omnium Gentium firmata consensu Versari quandam inter homines Divinationem quam Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellant id est Praesensionem Scientiam rerum Futurarum This is an Old opinion derived down all along from the Heroick times or the Mythical Age and not only entertained amongst the Romans but also confirmed by the consent of all Nations that there is such a thing as Divination and Presension or Foreknowledge of Future Events And the same Writer elsewhere in the Person of Balbus Quamvis nihil tam irridet Epicurus quà m Praedictionem rerum Futurarum mihi videtur tamen vel maximè confirmare Deorum Providentia consuli rebus humanis Est enim profecto Divinatio quae multis locis rebus temporibus apparet cùm in privatis tùm maximè in publicis Multa cernunt Aruspices multa Augures provident multa Oraculis providentur multa Vaticinationibus multa Somniis multa portentis Although Epicurus deride nothing more then the Prediction of Fature things yet does this seem to me to be a great confirmation of the Providence of the Gods over humane affairs Because there is certainly Divination it appearing in many Places Things and Times and that not only Private but especially Publick Soothsayers foresee many things the Augurs many many things are declared by Oracles many by Prophecies many by Dreams and many by Portents And indeed that there were even amongst the Pagans Predictions of Future Events not discoverable by any Humane Sagacity which accordingly came to pass and therefore argue a Knowledge superiour to that of men or that there are certain Invisible understanding Beings or Spirits seems to be undenyable from History And that the Augurs themselves were sometimes not Unassisted by these Officious Genii is plain from that of Attius Navius before mentioned as the circumstances thereof are related by Historians that Tarquinius Priscus having a mind to try what there was in this skill of Augury Dixit ei se cogitare quiddam id possétne fieri consuluit Ille augurio acto posse respondet Tarquinius autem dixit se cogitasse cotem novaculâ posse praecidi tum Attium jussisse experiri ita Cotem in Comitium illatam inspectante Rege Populo novaculâ esse discissam Told Navius that he Thought of something and he would would know of him Whether it could be done or no. Navius having performed his Augurating Ceremonies replied that the thing might be done Whereupon Priscus declared what his Thought was namely that a Whetstone might be cut in two with a Razor Navius willed them to make trial wherefore a Whetstone being brought immediatly into the Court it was in the sight of the King and all the People divided with a Razor But the Predictions amongst those Pagans were for the most part only of the Former Kind such as proceeded meerly from the Natural Presaging Faculty of these Demons this appearing from hence because their Oracles were often expressed Ambiguously so as that they might be taken either way those Demons themselves it seems being then not confident of the Event as also because they were sometimes plainly mistaken in the Events And from hence it was that they seldom Ventured to foretel any Events remotely distant but only what were nigh at hand and shortly to come to pass and therefore might be Probably Conjectured of from things then in being Notwithstanding which we acknowledge that there are some Few Instances of Predictions amongst the Pagans of the other Kind Such as that intimated by Cicero in his Book of Divination where he declareth the Doctrine of Diodorus concerning Necessity
Besides that there are several other Phaenomena both Ordinary and Extraordinary which Atheists being no way able to Salve are forced to deny True indeed some of the ancient Theists have themselves affirmed that there could be no Demonstration of a God which Assertion of theirs hath been by others misunderstood into this sense as if there were therefore no Certainty at all to be had of God's Existence but only a Conjectural Probability no Knowledge or Science but only Faith and Opinion Whereas the true meaning of those ancient Theists who denied that there could be any Demonstration of a God was only this that the Existence of a God could not be Demonstrated A Priore himself being the First Cause of all things Thus doth Alexander Aphrodisius in his Physical Doubts and Solutions after he had propounded an Argument for a God according to Aristotelick Principles from Motion declare himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That this Argument or Proof of his was in way of Analysis only it being not Possible that there should be a Demonstration of the First Principle of all Wherefore saith he we must here fetch our Beginning from things that are After it and manifest and thence by way of Analysis Ascend to the Proof of that First Nature which was Before them And to the same purpose Clemens Alexandrinus having first affirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God is the most difficult thing of all to be discoursed of Because since the Principle of every thing is hard to find out the First and most antÃent Principle of all which was the Cause to all other things of their being made must needs be the hardest of all to be declared or manifested he afterwards subjoyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But neither can God be apprehended by any Demonstrative Science For such Science is from things Before in order of Nature and More Knowable whereas nothing can exist Before that which is altogether Vnmade And certain it is that it implies a Contradiction that God or a Perfect Being should be thus Demonstrated by any thing before him as his Cause Nevertheless it doth not therefore follow that there can be no Certainty at all had of the Existence of a God but only a Conjectural Probability no Knowledge but Faith and Opinion only For we may have a Certain Knowledge of things the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof cannot be Demonstrated A Priore or from Antecedent Necessary Causes As for example That there was something Eternal of it Self without Beginning is not at all Demonstrable by any Antecedent Cause it being Contradictious to such a thing to have a Cause Nevertheless upon supposition only that something doth Exist which no man can possibly make any doubt of we may not only have an Opinion but also certain Knowledge from the Necessity of Irrefragable Reason That there was never Nothing but something or other did Always Exist from Eternity and without Beginning In like manner though the Existence of a God or Perfect Being cannot be Demonstrated A Priore yet may we notwithstanding from Our very Selves whose Existence we cannot doubt of and from what is contained in our own Minds or otherwise consequent from him by undeniable Principles of Reason Necessarily inferr His Existence And whensoever any thing is thus necessarily inferred from what is undeniable and indubitable this is a Demonstration though not of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it That the thing is though not Why it is And many of the Geometrical Demonstrations are no other It hath been asserted by a late Eminent Philosopher that there is no possible Certainty to be had of any thing before we be Certain of the Existence of a God Essentially Good because we can never otherwise free our minds from the Importunity of that Suspicion which with irresistable force may assault them That our selves might possibly be so made either by Chance or Fate or by the pleasure of some Evil Demon or at least of an Arbitrary Omnipotent Deity as that we should be Deceived in all our most Clear and Evident Perceptions and therefore in Geometrical Theorems themselves and even in our Common Notions But when we are once assured of the Existence of such a God as is Essentially Good who therefore neither will nor can Deceive then and not before will this Suspicion utterly vanish and Our selves become Certain that our Faculties of Reason and Vnderstanding are not False and Imposturous but Rightly Made From which Hypothesis it plainly follows that all those Theists who suppose God to be a meer Arbitrary Being whose Will is not determined by any Nature of Goodness or Rule of Justice but it self is the first Rule of both they thinking this to be the Highest Perfection Liberty and Power can never be reasonably Certain of the Truth of any thing not so much as that Two and Two are Four because so long as they adhere to that perswasion they can never be assured but that such an Arbitrary Omnipotent Deity might designedly make them such as should be deceived in all their Clearest Perceptions Now though there be a Plausibility of Piety in this Doctrine as making the knowledge of a God Essentially Good so necessary a Precognitum to all other Science that there can be no Certainty of Truth at all without it yet does that very Supposition that our Vnderstanding Faculties might possibly be so made as to deceive us in all our Clearest Perceptions where soever it is admitted render it utterly Impossible ever to arrive to any Certainty concerning the Existence of a God Essentially Good for as much as this cannot be any otherwise proved then by the use of our Faculties of Vnderstanding Reason and Discourse For to say that the Truth of our Vnderstanding Faculties is put out of all Doubt and Question as soon as ever we are assured of the Existence of a God Essentially Good who therefore cannot deceive whilst this Existence of a God is in the mean time it self no otherwise proved than by by our Vnderstanding Faculties that is at once to prove the Truth of God's Existence from our Faculties of Reason and Vnderstanding and again to prove the Truth of those Faculties from the Existence of a God Essentially Good this I say is plainly to move round in a Circle and to prove nothing at all a gross oversight which the forementioned Philosopher seems plainly guilty of Wherefore according to this Hypothesis we are of necessity condemned to Eternal Scepticism both concerning the Existence of a God when after all our Arguments and Demonstrations for the same we must at length gratifie the Atheists with this Confession in the Conclusion That it is Possible notwithstanding there may be None but also concerning all other things the Certainty whereof is supposed to depend upon the Certainty of the Existence of such a God as cannot Deceive So that if we will pretend to any Certainty at all concerning the
Existence of a God we must of necessity explode this New Sceptical Hypothesis of the Possibility of our Understandings being so made as to Deceive us in all our Clearest Perceptions by means whereof we can be Certain of the Truth of nothing and to use our utmost endeavour to remove the same In the First place therefore we affirm That no Power how great soever and therefore not Omnipotence it self can make any thing to be indifferently either True or False this being plainly to take away the Nature both of Truth and Falshood or to make them nothing but Words without any Signification Truth is not Factitious it is a thing which cannot be Arbitrarily Made but Is. The Divine Will and Omnipotence it self now supposed by us hath no Imperium upon the Divine Vnderstanding for if God understood only by Will he would not understand at all In the next place we add that though the Truth of Singular Contingent Propositions depends upon the Things themselves Existing without as the Measure and Archetype thereof yet as to the Vniversal and Abstract Theorems of Science the Terms whereof are those Reasons of Things which Exist no where but only in the Mind it Self whose Noemata and Ideas they are the Measure and Rule of Truth concerning them can be no Foreign or Extraneous thing Without the mind but must be Native and Domestick to it or contained Within the mind it Self and therefore can be nothing but its Clear and Distinct Perception In these Intelligible Ideas of the Mind whatsoever is Clearly Perceived to Be Is or which is all one is True Every Clear and Distinct Perception is an Entity or Truth as that which is Repugnant to Conception is a Non-Entity or Falshood Nay The very Essence of Truth here is this Clear Perceptibility or Intelligibility and therefore can there not be any Clear or Distinct Perception of Falshood Which must be acknowledged by all those who though granting False Opinions yet agree in this that there can be no False Knowledge For the Knowledge of these Vniversal Abstract Truths is nothing but the Clear and Distinct Perception of the several Ideas of the mind and their Necessary Relations to one another Wherefore to say that there can be no False Knowledge is all one as to say that there can be no Clear and Distinct Perâ—eptions of the Ideas of the mind False In False Opinions the Perception of the Vnderstanding Power it self is not False but only Obscure It is not the Vnderstanding Power or Nature in us that Erreth but it is We Our Selves who Err when we rashly and unwarily assent to things not Clearly Perceived by it The upshot of all is this that since no Power how great soever can make any thing indifferently to be True and since the Essence of Truth in Vniversal Abstract things is nothing but Clear Perceptibility it follows that Omnipotence cannot make any thing that is False to be clearly Perceived to Be or Create such Minds and Vnderstanding Faculties as shall have as Clear Conceptions of Falshoods that is of Non-Entities as they have of Truths or Entities For example no Rational Understanding Being that knows what as Part is and what a Whole What a Cause and what an Effect could possibly be so made as clearly to Conceive the Part to be greater than the Whole or the Effect to be before the Cause or the like Wherefore we may presume with Reverence to Say that there could not possibly be a world of Rational Creatures made by God either in the Moon or in some other Planet or else where that should Clearly and Distinctly Conceive all things contrary to what are clearly Perceived by us nor could our Humane Faculties have been so made as that we should have as clear Conceptions of Falshoods as of Truths Mind or Vnderstanding Faculties in Creatures may be made more or less Weak Imperfect and Obscure but they could not be made False or such as should have Clear and Distinct Conceptions of that which Is not because every Clear Perception is an Entity and though Omnipotence can make Something out of Nothing yet can it not make Something to be Nothing nor Nothing Something All which is no more than is generally acknowledged by Theologers when they affirm that God Almighty himself cannot do things Contradictious there being no other reason for this assertion but only this because Contradictiousness is Repugnant to Conception So that Conception and Knowledge are hereby made to be the Measure of all Power even Omnipotence or Infinite Power it Self being determined thereby from whence it follows that Power hath no Dominion over Vnderstanding Truth and Knowledge nor can Infinite Power make any thing whatsoever to be Clearly Conceivable For could it make Contradictious things clearly Conceivable then would it Self be able to Do them because whatsoever can be Clearly Conceived by any may unquestionably be Done by Infinite Power It is true indeed that Sense considered alone by it self doth not reach to the Absoluteness either of the Natures or of the Existence of things without us it being as such nothing but Seeming Appearance and Phancy And thus is that Saying of some antient Philosophers to be understood that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Phantasie is True namely because Sense and Phancy reach not to the Absolute Truth and Falshood of things but Contain themselves only within Seeming and Appearance and every Appearance must needs be a true Appearance Notwithstanding which it is certain that Sense often represents to us Corporeal things otherwise than indeed they are which though it be not a Formal yet is it a Material Falsity Wherefore Sense in the Nature of it is not Absolute but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Relative to the Sentients And by Sense alone without any mixture of Reason or Understanding we can be certain of no more concerning the things without us but only this that they So Seem to us Hence was that of the ancient Atomick Philosophers in Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither you nor any man else can be certain that every other man and Brute Animal hath all the very same Phantasms of Colours that himself hath Now were there no other Perception in us but that of Sense as the old Aetheistick Philosophers concluded Knowledge to be Sense then would all our Humane Perceptions be meerly Seeming Phantastical and Relative and none of them reach to the Absolute Truth of things Every one in Protagoras his Language would then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Think or Opine only his Own things all his Truths being Private and Relative to himself And that Protagorean Aphorism were to be admitted also in the Sense of that Philosopher that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every man is the Measure of all things to himself and That no one man's Opinion was righter than anothers but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Which Seemed to Every one was to him True to whom it Seemed all Truth
and Perception being but Seeming and Relative But here lies one main difference betwixt Vnderstanding or Knowledge and Sense that whereas the Latter is Phantastical and Relative only the Former reacheth beyond Phancy and Appearance to the Absoluteness of Truth For as it hath been already declared whatsoever is clearly and distinctly Perceived in things Abstract and Vniversal by any one Rational Being in the whole world is not a Private thing and True to Himself only that perceived it but it is as some Stoicks have called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Publick Catholick and Vniversal Truth it obtains every where and as Empedocles sang of Natural Justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is extended throughout the Vast Aether and through Infinite Light or Space and were there indeed Infinite Worlds all thickly peopled with Rational Animals it would be alike True to every one of them Nor is it Conceivable that Omnipotence it self could create any such Understanding Beings as could have Clear and Distinct Perceptions of the contrary to all that is Perceived by us no more than it could Do things Contradictious But in all Probability because Sense is indeed but Seeming Phantastical and Relative this is the Reason that some have been so prone and inclinable to suspect the like of Vnderstanding and all Mental Perception too that this also is but Seeming and Relative and that therefore mens Minds or Vnderstandings might have been so made by an Arbitrary Omnipotent Deity as clearly and distinctly to Perceive every thing that is False But if notwithstanding all that hath been said any will still sing over the Old Song again That all this which hath been hitherto declared by us is indeed True If our Humane Faculties be True or Rightly Made but we can go no further than our Faculties and whether these be True or no no man can ever be certain We have no other Reply to make but that this is an over Stiff and Heavy Adherence to a Prejudice of their own Minds that not only Sense but also Reason and Vnderstanding and all Humane Perception is meerly Seeming or Phantastical and Relative to Faculties only but not reaching to the Absoluteness of any Truth and that the Humane Mind hath no Criterion of Truth at all within it self Nevertheless it will probably be here further Objected That this is too great an Arrogance for Created Beings to pretend to an Absolute Certainty of any thing it being the Sole Priviledge and Prerogative of God Almighty to be Infallible who is therefore Styled in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Only Wise To which we briefly answer that the Deity is the first Original Fountain of Truth and Wisdom which is said to be The Brightness of the Everlasting Light the Vnspotted Mirrour of the Power of God and the Image of his Goodness The Divine Word is the Archetypal Pattern of all Truth it is Ignorant of Nothing and knoweth all things Infallibly But Created Beings have but a Derivative Participation hereof their Understandings being Obscure and they Erring in many things and being Ignorant of more And it seems to be no Derogation from Almighty God to suppose that Created Minds by a Participation of the Divine Mind should be able to know Certainly that Two and Two make Four that Equals added to Equals will make Equals that a Whole is greater than the Part and the Cause before the Effect and that nothing can be Made without a Cause and such like other Common Notions which are the Principles from whence all their knowledge is derived And indeed were Rational Creatures never able to be Certain of any such thing as this at all what would their Life be but a meer Dream or Shaddow and themselves but a Ridiculous and Pompous Piece of Phantastick Vanity Besides it is no way Congruous to think that God Almighty should make Rational Creatures so as to be in an utter Impossibility of ever attaining to any Certainty of his own Existence or of having more than an Hypothetical Assurance thereof If our Faculties be True which possibly may be otherwise then is there a God We shall conclude this Discourse against the Cartesian Scepticism with that of Origens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge is the only thing in the World which Creatures have that is in its own Nature firm they having here something of Certainty but no where else Wherefore we having now that which Archimedes required Some Firm Ground and Footing to stand upon such a Certainty of Truth in our Common Notions as that they cannot Possibly be False without which nothing at all could be proved by Reason we shall in the next place endeavour not to shake or dissettle any thing thereby which was the Undertaking of that Geometrician but to Confirm and Establish the Truth of God's Existence and that from the very Idea of him hitherto made good and defended against all the Assaults of Atheists It is well known that Cartesius hath lately made a Pretence to do this with Mathematical Evidence and Certainty and he dispatches the business briefly after this manner God or a Perfect Being includeth Necessary Existence in his very Idea and therefore he Is. But though the Inventor of this Argument or rather the Reviver of that which had been before used by some Scholasticks affirmeth it to be as Good a Demonstration for the Existence of a God from His Idea as that in Geometry for a Triangles having Three Angles equal to Two right is from the Idea of a Triangle yet nevertheless it is certain that by one means or other this Argument hath not hitherto proved so Fortunate and Successful there being many who cannot be made sensible of any Efficacy therein and not a few who Condemn it for a meer Sophism As for our selves we neither have any mind to quarrel with other mens Arguments Pro Deo nor yet would we be thought to lay stress in this Cause upon any thing which is not every way Solid and Substantial Wherefore we shall here endeavour to set down the Utmost that Possibly we can both Against this Argument and For it Impartially and Candidly and then when we have done leave the Intelligent Readers to make their own Judgement concerning the Same Against it in this manner First Because we can Frame an Idea in our own minds of an Absolutely Perfect Being including Necessary Existence in it it will not at all follow from thence that therefore there is such a Perfect Being Really Existing without our minds we being able to frame in our minds the Ideas of many other things that never were nor will be All that can be certainly inferred from the Idea of a Perfect Being seems to be this that if it contain nothing which is Contradictious to it then it is Not Impossible but that there might be such a Being actually Existing But the strength of this Argument not lying meerly in this that because we have an Idea of a Perfect
Being therefore it is but because we have such an Idea of it as includeth Necessary Existence in it which the Idea of Nothing else besides doth therefore may it be here further Objected in this manner That though it be very true that a Perfect Being doth include Necessary Existence in it because that cannot be every way Perfect whose Existence is not Necessary but Contingent yet will it not follow from hence that therefore there is such a Perfect Being Actually Existing but all that can be deduced from it will be no more than this That whatsoever hath no Necessary and Eternal Existence is no Absolutely Perfect Being and again That If there be any Absolutely Perfect Being then was its Existence always Necessary and will be always such that is it did both Exist Of it self from all Eternity without Beginning and must needs Exist to Eternity Incorruptibly it being never able to cease to be It seems indeed no more to follow That because a Perfect Being includes necessary Existence in its Idea therefore there is such a Perfect Being Actually Existing than because a Perfect Being includes Necessary Omniscience and Omnipotence in it that therefore there is such a Perfect Omniscient and Omnipotent Being all that follows in both cases being only this that If there be any Being Absolutely Perfect then it is both Omniscient and Omipotent and it did Exist of It Self necessarily and can never Cease to be Wherefore here lies a Fallacy in this Argumentation when from the Necessity of Existence affirmed only Hypothetically or upon a Supposition of a Perfect Being the Conclusion is made concerning it Absolutely As some would prove the Necessity of all humane Events as for example of Adam's Sinning in this manner that it always was True before that either Adam would eat the forbidden fruit or not eat it and If he would eat it he would Certainly eat it and not Contingently and again If he would not eat it then would he Certainly and Necessarily not Eat it wherefore whether he will eat it or not eat it he will do either Necessarily and not Contingently Where it is plain that an Absolute Necessity is wrongly inferred in the Conclusion from an Hypothetical one in the Premisses In like manner when upon supposition of an Absolutely Perfect Being it is affirmed of it that its Existence must not be Contingent but Necessary and from thence the Conclusion is made Absolutely that there Is such a Perfect Being this seems to be the very same Fallacy From the Idea of a Perfect Being including Necessary Existence in it it follows undeniably that If there be any Thing Absolutely Perfect it Must Exist Necessarily and not Contingently but it doth not follow that there Must of Necessiâ—y Be such a Perfect Being Existing these two Propositions carrying a very different sense from one another And the Latter of them that there must of Necessity be a God or Perfect Being Existing seems to be a thing altogether Indemonstrable it implying that the Existence of God or a Perfect Being may be proved A Priori or from some Antecedent Necessary Cause which was before declared to be a thing Contradictious and Impossible And now in Justice are we obliged to plead the best we can also on the Defensive side Thus therefore the Idea of God or an Absolutely Perfect Being including in it not an Impossible nor a Contingent but a Necessary Schesis or Relation to Existence it follows from thence Absolutely and without any Ifs and And 's that he doth Exist For as of things Contradictious having therefore in the Idea of them an Impossible Schesis to Existence we can confidently conclude that they never were nor will be And as of other things not Contradictious or Impossible but Imperfect only which therefore have a Contingent Schesis to Existence we can Pronounce also that Possibly they Might be or might not be in like manner a Perfect Being including in the Idea of it a Necessary Schesis to Existence or an Impossible one to Non-Existence or containing Existence in its very Essence we may by Parity of reason conclude concerning it that it is neither Impossible to Be nor yet Contingent to Be or not to Be but that it Certainly Is and Cannot but Be or that it is Impossible it should Not Be. And indeed when we say of Imperfect Beings Implying no Contradiction in them that they may Possibly either Be or not Be we herein tacitly suppose the Existence of a Perfect Being because nothing which is Not could be Possible to be were there not something actually in Being that hath sufficient Power to Cause or Produce it True indeed we have the Ideas of many things in our minds that never were nor will be but these are only such as include no Necessary but Contingent Existence in their Nature and it does not therefore follow that a Perfect Being which includes Necessity of Existence in its Idea may notwithstanding Not Be. Wherefore this Necessity of Existence or Impossibility of Non-Existence contained in the Idea of a Perfect Being must not be taken Hypothetically only or Consequentially after this manner that If there be any Thing Absolutely Perfect then its Existence both was and will be Necessary but Absolutely that though Contradictious things cannot Possibly Be and things Imperfect may Possibly either Be or Not Be yet a Perfect Being cannot But Be or it is Impossible that it should Not Be. For otherwise were the force of the Argumentation meerly Hypothetical in this manner If there be a Perfect Being then its Existence both was and will be Necessary this would plainly imply that a Perfect Being notwithstanding that Necessity of Existence included in its Nature might either Be or Not Be or were Contingent to Existence which is a manifest Contradiction that the same thing should Exist both Contingently and Necessarily And this Hypothetical Absurdity will more plainly appear if the Argument be expressed in other words as that Necessity of Existence and Impossibility of Non-Existence and Actual Existence belong to the very Essence of a Perfect Being since it would be then ridiculous to go about to evade in this manner That If there be a Perfect Being then it Is and cannot But Be. Which Identical Proposition is true of every thing else but Absurd Wherefore there is something more to be Inferred from the Necessity of Existence included in the Idea of A Perfect Being than so which can be nothing else but this that it Absolutely and Actually Is. Moreover no Theists can be able to prove that God or a Perfect Being supposed by them to Exist might not Happen by Chance only to Be if from the Necessity of Existence included in the Idea of God it cannot be inferred that he could not But Be. Notwithstanding which here is no endeavour as is pretended to prove the Existence of a God or Perfect Being A Priori neither or from any Necessary Cause Antecedent but only from that Necessity which is
from Eternity and without Beginning did so Exist Naturally and Necessarily or by the Necessity of its own Nature Now nothing could Exist of It self from Eternity Naturally and Necessarily but that which containeth Necessary and Eternal Self Existence in its own Nature But there is nothing which containeth Necessary Eternal Existence in its own Nature or Essence but only an Absolutely Perfect Being all other Imperfect things being in their Nature Contingently Possible either to Be or Not be Wherefore since something or other must and doth Exist of it self Naturally and Necessarily from Eternity Vnmade and nothing could do this but what included Necessary Self Existence in its Nature or Essence it is certain that it was a Perfect Being or God who did Exist of Himself from Eternity and nothing else all other Imperfect things which have no Necessary Self-Existence in their Nature deriving their Being from Him Here therefore are the Atheists Infinitely Absurd and Vnreasonable when they will not acknowledge that which containeth Independent Self-Existence or Necessity of Existence which indeed is the same with an Impossibility of Non-Existence in its Nature and Essence that is a Perfect Being so much as to Exist at all and yet in the mean time assert that which hath no Necessity of Existence in its Nature the most Imperfect of all Beings Inanimate Body and Matter to have Existed of It self Necessarily from all Eternity We might here add as a farther Confirmation of this Argument what hath been already proved that no Temporary Successive Being whose Duration is in a Continual Flux as if it were every moment Generated a new and therefore neither our Own Souls nor the World nor Matter Moving could possibly have Existed from Eternity and Independently upon any other thing but must have had a Beginning and been Caused by something else namely by an Absolutely Perfect Being whose Duration therefore is Permanent and without any Successive Generation or Flux But besides all these Arguments we may otherwise from the Idea of God already declared be able both exactly to state the Controversie betwixt Theists and Atheists and satisfactorily to decide the same In order whereunto there is yet something again to be Premised namely this that as it is certain Every thing was not Made but Something Existed of it Self from Eternity Vnmade so is it likewise certain That Every thing was not Vnmade neither nor Existed of It self from Eternity but something was Made and had a Beginning Where there is a full Agreement betwixt Theists and Atheists as to this one Point no Atheist asserting every thing to have been Vnmade but they all acknowledging themselves to have been Generated and to have had a Beginning that is their own Souls and Personalities as likewise the Lives and Souls of all other Men and Animals Wherefore since Something certainly Existed of It self from Eternity but other things were Made and had a Beginning which therefore must needs derive their being from that which Existed of It self Vnmade here is the State of the Controversie betwixt Theists and Atheists Whether that which Existed of It self from all Eternity and was the Cause of all other things were a Perfect Being and God or the most Imperfect of all things whatsoever Inanimate and Sensless matter The Former is the Doctrine of Theists as Aristotle affirmeth of those Ancients who did not write Fabulously Concerning the First Principles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As namely Pherecydes and the Magi and Empedocles and Anaxagoras and many others that they agreed in this That the first Original of all things was the Best and Most Perfect Where by the way we may observe also that according to Aristotle the Ancient Magi did not acknowledge a Substantial Evil Principle they making that which is the Best and Most Perfect Being alone by it self to be the First Begetter of all This I say is the Hypothesis of Theists that there is One Absolutely Perfect Being Existing of It self from all Eternity from whence all other lesser Perfections or Imperfect Beings did gradually Descend till at last they end in Sensless Matter or Inanimate Body But the Atheistick Hypothesis on the contrary makes Sensless Matter the most Imperfect thing to be the First Principle or the only Self-Existent Being and the Cause of all other things and Consequently all Higher Degrees of Perfections that are in the world to have Clombe up or Emerged by way of Ascent from thence as Life Sense Vnderstanding and Reason from that which is altogether Dead and Sensless Nay as it was before observed there hath been amongst the ancient Pagans a certain kind of Religious Atheists such as acknowledging Verbally a God or Soul of the world presiding over the whole supposed this notwithstanding to have first Emerged also out of Sensless Matter Night and Chaos and therefore doubtless to be likewise Dissolvable again into the same And of these is that place in Aristotle to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They suppose not the First things as Night and the Heaven and Chaos and the Ocean but Jupiter or God to Rule and Govern all Where it is intimated that the Heaven Night Chaos and the Ocean according to these were Seniors to Jupiter or in Order of Nature before him they apprehending that things did Ascend upward from that which was most Imperfect as Night and Chaos to the more Perfect and at length to Jupiter himself the Mundane Soul who governeth the whole world as our Soul doth our Body Which same Opinion is afterwards again taken notice of and reprehended by Aristotle in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor would he think rightly who should resemble the Principles of the Vniverse to that of Animals and Plants wherefrom Indeterminate and Imperfect things as Seeds do always arise the more Perfect For even here also is the case otherwise then they suppose For it is a man that generates a man nor is the Seed the First The Controversie being thus clearly Stated betwixt Theists and Atheists it may now with great ease and to the full Conviction of all Minds Unprejudiced and Unprepossessed with false Principles be determined It being on the one hand undenyably evident that Lesser Perfections may Naturally Descend from Greater or at least from that which is Absolutely Perfect and which Vertually containeth all but on the other hand utterly Impossible that Greater Perfections and Higher Degrees of Being should Rise and Ascend out of Lesser and Lower so as that which is the most Absolutely Imperfect of all things should be the First Fountain and Original of All. Since no Effect can possibly transcend the Power of its Cause Wherefore it is certain that in the Universe things did not thus Ascend and Mount or Climb up from Lower Perfection to Higher but on the contrary Descend and Slide down from Higher to Lower so that the first Original of all things was not the most Imperfect but the most Perfect Being But
to speak more particularly it is certain notwithstanding all the vain pretences of Lucretius and other Atheists or Semi-Atheists to the contrary that Life and Sense could never possibly spring out of Dead and Sensless Matter as it s only Original either in the way of Atoms no Composition of Magnitudes Figures Sites and Motions being ever able to produce Cogitation or in the way of Qualities since Life and Perception can no more result from any Mixture of Elements or Combinations of Qualities of Heat and Cold Moist and Dry c. than from Unqualified Atoms This being undeniably Demonstrable from that very Principle of Reason which the Atheists are so fond of but misunderstanding abuse as shall be manifested afterward that Nothing can come from Nothing Much less could Vnderstanding and Reason in men ever have Emerged out of Stupid Matter devoid of all manner of Life Wherefore we must needs here freely declare against the Darknâ—ss of that Philosophy which hath been Sometimes unwarily entertained by such as were no Atheists That Sense may Rise from a certain Modification Mixture or Organization of Dead and Sensless Matter as also that Vnderstanding and Reason may result from Sense the plain consequence of both which is that Sensless Matter may prove the Original of all things and the only Numen Which Doctrine therefore is doubtless a main piece of the Philosophy of the Kingdom of Darkness But this Darkness hath been of late in great measure dispelled by the Light of the Atomick Philosophy restored as it was in its first Genuine and Virgin State Undeflowred as yet by Atheists this clearly Showing how far Body and Mechanism can go and that Life and Cogitation can never Emerge out from thence it being built upon that Fundamental Principle as we have made it evident in the first Chapter that Nothing can come from Nothing And Strato and the Hylozoick Atheists were so well aware and so sensible of this that all Life and Vnderstanding could not possibly be Generated or Made but that there must be some Fundamental and Substantial or Eternal Vnmade Life and Knowledge that they therefore have thought necessary to attribute Life and Perception or Vnderstanding with Appetite and Self-moving Power to all Matter as such that so it might be thereby fitly Qualified to be the Original of all things Than which Opinion as nothing can be more Monstrous so shall we else where Evince the Impossibility thereof In the mean time we doubt not to averr that the Argument proposed is a Sufficient Demonstration of the Impossibility of Atheism which will be further manifested in our Answer to the Second Atheistick Objection against a Divine Creation because Nothing can come from Nothing But this Controversie betwixt Theists and Atheists may be yet more Particularly Stated from the Idea of God as including Mind or Vnderstanding in it Essentially Viz. Whether Mind be Eternal and Vnmade as being the Maker of all or else Whether all Mind were it self Made or Generated and that out of Sensless Matter For according to the Doctrine of the Pagan Theists Mind was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Oldest of all things Senior to the World and Elements and by Nature hath a Princely and Lordly Dominion over all But according to those Atheists who make Matter or Body devoid of all Life and Vnderstanding to be the First Principle Mind must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Post-Nate thing Younger than the world a Weak Umbratil and Evanid Image and next to Nothing And the Controversie as thus Stated may be also Clearly and Satisfactorily decided For First we say That as it is certainly True That If there had been once Nothing at all there could never have been Any thing So is it true likewise that If once there had been no Life in the whole Universe but all had been Dead then could there never have been any Life or Motion in it and If once there had been no Mind Vnderstanding or Knowledge then could there never have been any Mind or Vnderstanding produced Because to suppose Life and Vnderstanding to rise and spring up out of that which is altogether Dead Sensless as it s only Original is plainly to Suppose Something to come out of Nothing It cannot be said so of other things as of Corporeal World and Matter that If once they had not been they could never Possibly have been because though there had been no World nor Matter yet might these have been produced from a Perfect Omnipotent Incorporeal Being which in it self Eminently containeth all things Dead and Sensless Matter could never have Created or Generated Mind and Vnderstanding but a Perfect Omnipotent Mind could Create Matter Wherefore because there is Mind we are certain that there was some Mind or other from Eternity without Beginning though not because there is Body that therefore there was Body or Matter from Eternity Vnmade Now these Imperfect Minds of ours were by no means Themselves Eternal or without Beginning but from an Antecedent Non-Existence brought forth into Being but since no Mind could spring out of Dead and Sensless Matter and all Minds could not Possibly be Made nor one produced from another Infinitely there must of necessity be an Eternal Vnmade Mind from whence those Imperfect Minds of ours were derived Which Perfect Omnipotent Mind was as well the Cause of all other things as of humane Souls But before we proceed to any further Argumentation we must needs take notice here that the Atheists suppose no small part of their strength to lie in this very thing namely their disproving a God from the Nature of Vnderstanding and Knowledge nor do they indeed swagger in any thing more than this We have already set it for the Eleventh Atheistick Argument That Knowledge being the Information of the Things themselves Known and all Conception the Action of that which is Conceived and the Passion of the Conceiver the World and all Sensible things must needs be before there could be any Knowledge or Conception of them and no Knowledge or Conception before the World as its Cause Or more briefly thus The world could not be made by Knowledge and Vnderstanding because there could be no Knowledge or Vnderstanding of the world or of any thing in it before it was made For according to these Atheists Things made Knowledge and not Knowledge Things they meaning by Things here such only as are Sensible and Corporeal So that Mind and Vnderstanding could not be the Creator of the world and these Sensible things it self being the Creature of them a Secondary Derivative Result from them or a Phantastick Image of them the Youngest and most Creaturely thing in the whole world Whence it follows that to Suppose Mind and Vnderstanding to be the Maker of all things would be no better Sense that if one should suppose the Images in Ponds and Rivers to be the Makers of the Sun Moon and Stars and other things represented in them And upon such a
of framing Ideas and Conceptions not only of what Actually Is but also of things which never were nor perhaps will be they being only Possible to be But when from our Conceptions we conclude of some things that though they are Not yet they are Possible to be since nothing that Is not can be Possible to be unless there be something Actually in Being which hath sufficient Power to produce it we do Implicitely suppose the Existence of a God or Omnipotent Being thereby which can make whatsoever is Conceivable though it yet be not to Exist and therefore Material Triangles Circles Spheres Cubes Mathematically Exact The Result of what we have hitherto said is this that Since Singular Bodies are not the only Objects of our Mind and Cogitation it having also Vniversal and Abstract Ideas of the Intelligible Natures or Essences of things some of which are such whose Singulars do not at all fall under Sense others though they belong to Bodies yet Sense can never reach to them nor were they ever in Matter moreover since our Mind can conceive of things which no where Actually Exist but are only Possible and can have such a Demonstrative Science of Vniversal Truths as Sense can never ascend to That therefore Humane Knowledge and Vnderstanding it self is not the meer Image and Creature of Singular Bodies only and so Derivative or Ectypal from them and in order of Nature Junior to them but that as it were hovering aloft over all the Corporeal Vniverse it is a thing Independent upon Singular Bodies or Proleptical to them and in Order of Nature Before them But what Account can we then Possibly give of Knowledge and Vnderstanding their Nature and Original Since there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is Intelligible in order of Nature before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Intellection Certainly no other than this that the First Original Knowledge is that of a Perfect Being Infinitely Good and Powerful Comprehending it self and the utmost Extent of its own Fecundity and Power that is the Possibilities of all things their Ideas with their several Relations to one another all Necessary and Immutable Truths Here therefore is there a Knowledge before the world and all Sensible things that was Archetypal and Paradigmatical to the same Of which one Perfect Mind and Knowledge all other Imperfect Minds being Derived from it have a certain Participation whereby they are enabled to Frame Intelligible Ideas not only of Whatsoever doth actually Exist but also of such thing as never Were nor Will be but are Only Possible or Objects of Divine Power Wherefore since it is certain that even Humane Knowledge and Vnderstanding it self is not a meer Passion from Sensible Things and Singular Bodies Existing without which is the only Foundation of that fore-mentioned Atheistick Argument that Things Made Knowledge and not Knowledge Things and consequently it must needs have some other Original moreover since Knowledge and Vnderstanding apprehend things Proleptically to their Existence Mind being able to frame Conceptions of all Possible Entities and Modifications and therefore in their Nature do plainly Suppose the Actual Existence of a Perfect Being which is Infinitely Fecund and Powerful and could produce all things Possible or Conceivable the First Original Knowledge or Mind from whence all other Knowledges and Minds are derived being that of an Absolutely Perfect and Omnipotent Being Comprehending It Self and the Extent of its own Power or of its Communicability that is the Ideas of all Possibilities of things that may be Produced by it together with their Relations to one another and their Necessary Immutable Truths accordingly as Wisdom and Understanding are described to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Breath or Vapour of the Power of God and an Efflux or Emanation from the Glory of the Almighty a clear Mirrour or Looking Glass of his Active Energy or Vertue and the Image of his Goodness I say the Result of all is this that the Nature of Knowledge and Vnderstanding is so far from being a Ground of disproving a Deity as the Atheists ignorantly pretend that it affordeth a Firm Demonstration to us on the contrary of the Existence of a God a Perfect Omnipotent Being Comprehending It self and the Extent of its own Power or all Possibilities of Things a Mind Before the world and Senior to All Things no Ectypal but Archetypal thing which comprehended in it as a kind of Intellectual World the Paradigm or Platform according to which this Sensible World was made And this may be Further confirmed from what is generally acknowledged and indeed cannot reasonably be denied by any viz. That there are Eternal Verities such as were never Made and had no Beginning nor can ever be Destroyed or Cease to be as for Example such Common Notions as these That Equals added to Equals make Equals That the Cause is in order of Nature before the Effect c. together with all Geometrical Theorems as Aristotle himself declareth he writing in his Ethicks after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning Eternal and Immutable Things no man does consult as for Example concerning the Diameter or Diagonial of a Square whether it should be Incommensurable to the Sides or no. Where he plainly affirmeth this Geometrical Theorem that the Diameter or Diagonial of a Square is Incommensurable to the Sides to be an Eternal Truth Neither are there such Eternal Truths as these only in Mathematicks and concerning Quantity but also in Ethicks concerning Morality there being here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Justin Martyr calls them Things Eternally Just which were not Made such at some certain times by Law and Arbitrary Command but being such in their own Nature Immutably were from Everlasting to Everlasting and as it is said of that Eternal Word which comprehends all Truth the Same Yesterday to Day and For ever For of these is that famous Passage of Sophocles in his Antigona 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are not things of to Day or Yesterday but they ever Live and no man knows their Date or from whence they came No man can declare the time when all Common Notions and Geometrical Truths were first Made and Generated out of Nothing or brought out of antecedent Non-Existence into Being Certain it is that such Truths as these that the Diameter and Sides of a Square are Incommensurable or that the Power of the Hypotenuse in a Rectangular Triangle is Equal to the Powers of both the Sides were not made by any Man 's Thinking or by those first Geometricians who Discovered or Demonstrated the same they Discovering and Demonstrating only that which Was. Wherefore these Truths were before there was any man to Think of them and they would continue still to be though all the men in the World should be Annihilated Nay though there were no Material Squares and Triangles any where in the whole world neither no nor any Matter at all for they were ever
is Communicable that is all the Possibilities of things that may be made by it and their respective Truths Mind and Knowledge in the very Nature of it supposing the Actual Existence of an Omnipotent or Infinitely Powerful Being as its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Intelligible It being nothing but the Comprehension of the Extent of Infinite or Divine Power and the Measure of the same And from hence it is Evident also that there can be but One only Original Mind or no more than One Vnderstanding Being Self Existent all other Minds whatsoever Partaking of one Original Mind and being as it were Stamped with the Impression or Signature of one and the same Seal From whence it cometh to pass that all Minds in the several Places and Ages of the World have Ideas or Notions of Things Exactly Alike and Truths Indivisibly the Same Truths are not multiplied by the Diversity of Minds that apprehend them because they are all but Ectypal Participations of one and the same Original or Archetypal Mind and Truth As the same Face may be Reflected in several Glasses and the Image of the same Sun may be in a thousand Eyes at once beholding it and One and the same Voyce may be in a thousand Eares listning to it so when Innumerable Created Minds have the same Ideas of Things and Understand the Same Truths it is but One and the same Eternal Light that is Reflected in them all that Light which enlighteneth Every man that cometh into the World or the same Voyce of that One Everlasting Word that is never Silent Reechoed by them Thus was it concluded by Themistius that one man by Teaching could not Possibly beget in the Mind of another the very same Notions Conceptions and Knowledges which himself had in his own Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Were not the Minds both of the Teacher and of the Learner as it were Printed and Stamped alike As also that men could not Possibly so confer together as they do presently apprehending one anothers meaning and raising up the very Same senses in their Minds and that meerly by Occasion of Words and Sounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Were there not some One Mind which all men did Partake of As for that Anti-Monarchical Opinion of Many Vnderstanding Beings or Minds Self Originated and Independent none of which therefore could be Omnipotent it is neither Conceivable how such should all agree in the same Truths there being no Common Measure of Truth betwixt them no more than any Common Rule of their Wills nor indeed how they should have any Knowledge or Vnderstanding at all properly so called that being the Comprehension of the Possibilities of things or of the Extent of Infinite Power whereas according to this Hypothesis there is no Infinite Power at all the Power of each of those Many supposed Principles or Deities being Limited and Finite and therefore indeed not Creative of any thing neither since that which could Create one thing could Create all and consequently would have all depending upon it We conclude therefore That from the Nature of Mind and Knowledge it is Demonstrable That there can be but One Original and Self-Existent Mind or Vnderstanding Being from which all other Minds were derived And now have we more Copiously than we designed Confuted the First Atheistick Argument we having not only asserted the Idea of God and fully Answered and refelled all the Atheistick Pretences against the same but also from this very Idea of God or a Perfect Being Demonstrated his Existence We shall dispatch the following Atheistick Objections with more brevity WE come in the next place to the Achilles of the Atheists their Invincible Argument against a Divine Creation and Omnipotence because Nothing could come from Nothing It being concluded from hence that whatsoever Substantially or Really Is was from all Eternity Of It Self Unmade or Vncreated by any Deity Or else thus By God is alwayes Understood a Creator of some Real Entity or other out of Nothing but it is an Vndoubted Principle of Reason and Philosophy an Undenyable Common Notion That Nothing can be made out of Nothing and therefore there can be no such Creative Power as this And here we shall perform these Three Things First we shall show That in some Senses this is indeed an Vnquestionable Truth and Common Notion That Nothing can come from Nothing and what those Senses are Secondly We shall make it evident that in the Sense of this Atheistick Objection it is Absolutely False That Nothing can come from Nothing or be made out of Nothing and that a Divine Creation and Omnipotence can be no way Impugned from the forementioned Principle rightly Understood Thirdly and Lastly We shall prove That as from this Principle or Common Notion Nothing out of Nothing there can be no Execution at all done against Theism or a Divine Creation so from the very Same rightly Understood the Impossibility of all Atheism may be Demonstratively Proved it bringing Something out of Nothing in an Impossible Sense as also the Existence of a God Evinced We grant therefore in the First place that this is in some Sense an Vndoubted Principle of Reason or an Vndeniable Common Notion that Nothing can come from Nothing For First it is Unquestionably True That Nothing which once was not could ever Of It self come into Being or That Nothing could bring it Self out of Non-Existence into Being That Nothing can take Beginning of Existence from it Self or That Nothing can be Made or Produced without an Efficient Cause And from hence as hath been already Intimated is it Demonstratively Certain that every thing was not Made but that there is something Necessarily Self Existent and which could not But Be. For had every thing been Made then must something of Necessity have been Made out of Nothing by It Self which is Impossible Again As Nothing which was Not could ever Of It self come into Being or be Made without an Efficient Cause so is it certain likewise that Nothing can be Efficiently Caused or Produced by that which hath not in it at least Equal if not Greater Perfection as also Sufficient Power to Produce the same We say Nothing which was not could ever be brought into Being by that which hath not Formally Equal Perfection in it because Nothing can Give what it hath not and therefore so much of the Perfection or Entity of the Effect as is greater than that of the supposed Cause so much thereof must needs come from Nothing or be made without a Cause Moreover whatsoever hath Equal Perfection to another thing could not therefore Cause or Produce that other thing because it might either have no Active Power at all as Matter hath not it being meerly Passive or else no Sufficient Active and Productive Power As for Example though it be not Impossible That Motion which once was not should be Produced yet is it Impossible that it should be ever Produced without a Sufficient Cause Wherefore
Cogitation or Consciousness much less a Power of Vnderstanding Eternal Verities that therefore these could not be Generated out of Matter nor Corrupted into the same Because Forms and Qualities are Continually Generated and Corrupted made out of Nothing and Reduced to Nothing again therefore are they no Entities Really distinct from Matter and its different Modifications but because Souls at least Humane are unquestionably Entities Really distinct from Matter and all its Modifications therefore can they not possibly be Generated out of Matter nor Corrupted into the same For if Humane Souls were Generated out of Matter then must some Real Entity be Materially produced out of Nothing there being Nothing of Life and Cogitation in Matter which is a Thing Absolutely Impossible Wherefore these Philosophers concluded concerning Souls that being not Generated out of Matter they were Insinuated or Introduced into Bodies in Generations And this was always a Great Controversie betwixt Theists and Atheists concerning the Humane Soul as Lucretius expresseth it Nata sit an contrà Nascentibus Insinuetur Whether it were Made or Generated out of Matter that is indeed out of Nothing or else were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From Without Insinuated into Bodies in Generations Which latter Opinion of theirs supposes Souls as well to have Existed Before the Generations of all Animals as to Exist After their Deaths and Corruptions there being properly Nothing of them Generated but only their Union with those particular Bodies So that the Generations and Corruptions or Deaths of Animals according to this Hypothesis are nothing but an Anagrammatical Transposition of Things in the Universe Prae and Post-Existent Souls being sometimes united to one Body and sometimes to another But it doth not therefore follow because these Ancient Philosophers held Souls to be thus Ingenerable and to have Pre-Existed before the Generation of Animals that therefore they supposed all Souls to have Existed Of Themselves from Eternity Vnmade this being a Thing which was never asserted any more by Theist than Atheist since even those Philosophick Theists who maintained Aeternitatem Animorum The Eternity of Humane Minds and Souls together with the Worlds did notwithstanding assert their Essential Dependence upon the Deity like that of the Lights upon the Sun as if they were a kind of Eternal Effulgency Emanation or Eradiation from an Eternal Sun Even Proclus himself that Great Champion for the Eternity of the World and Souls in this very Case when he writes against Plutarch's Self-Existent Evil Soul expresly declaring that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no Self Existent Soul but every Soul whatsoever is the Work Effect and Production of God Wherefore when they affirmed Souls to be Ingenerable their meaning was no more than this that they were not meer Accidental Things as Forms and Qualities are nor any more Generated out of Matter than Matter it self is Generated out of Something else upon which account as Aristotle informs us Souls were called also by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principles as well as Matter they being both of them Substances in the Universe alike Original that is neither of them Made out of the other But they did not suppose them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenerate or Vnmade in the other Sense as if they had been Self-Originated and Independent as Plutarch's Second and Third Principles his Evil Soul and Matter were by him Imagined to be but so doubtless as that if the World had had any beginning they should then have been all Created together with it out of Nothing Prae-Existing But as for the perpetual Creation of new Souls in the Successive Generations of Animals this indeed is a thing which those Philosophers were extremely abhorrent from as thinking it Incongruous that Souls which are in Order of Nature Senior to Bodies should be in Order of Time Juniors to them as also not Reasonable that Divine Creation as it were Prostituted should without end perpetually attend and wait upon Natural Generations and be Intermingled with them But as for this Prae-Existence of Souls we have already declared our own sense concerning it in the First Chapter Though we cannot deny but that besides Origen several others of the Ancient Fathers before the Fifth Council seem either to have Espoused it or at least to have had a favour and kindness for it insomuch that St. Austine himself is sometimes Staggering in this Point and thinks it to be a Great Secret whether mens Souls Existed before their Generations or no and some where concludes it to be a matter of Indifferency wherein every one may have his Liberty of opining either way without offence Wherefore all that can be certainly affirmed in this Case is that Humane Souls could not possibly be Generated out of Matter but were some time or other Created by God Almighty out of Nothing Prae-Existing either In Generations or Before them Lastly as for Brute Animals we must confess that If they be not meer Machines or Automata as some seem inclinable to believe but Conscious and Thinking Beings then from the same Principle of Reason it will likewise follow that they cannot be Generated out of Matter neither and therefore must be Derived from the Fountain of all Life and Created out of Nothing by him who since he can as easily Annihilate as Create and does all for the Best no man need at all to trouble himself about their Permanency or Immortality And now have we given a Full and Particular Account of all the Several Senses wherein this Axiom must be acknowledged to be Undeniably True That Nothing can possibly be Made out of Nothing or Come from Nothing namely these Three First That Nothing which was Not could ever bring it self into Being or Efficiently Produce it self Or That Nothing can possibly be Made without an Efficient Cause Secondly that Nothing which was Not could be Produced or brought into Being by any other Efficient Cause then such as hath at least Equal Perfection in it and a Sufficient Active or Productive Power For if any thing were made by that which hath not Equal Perfection then must so much of the Effect as Transcendeth the Cause be indeed Made without a Cause since Nothing can Give what it hath not or be Caused by it self or by Nothing Again to suppose a thing to be Produced by that which hath no Sufficient Productive Power is Really to suppose it also to be Produced from It self without a Cause or From Nothing Where it is acknowledged by us That no Natural Imperfect Created Being can Create or Emanatively Produce a New Substance which was not Before and give it its Whole Being Hitherto is the Axiom Verified in Respect of the Efficient Cause But in the Third Place it is also True in respect of the Material likewise Not That Nothing could Possibly be ever Made by any Power whatsoever but only out of Pre-Existent Matter and Consequently that Matter it self could be never Made but was Self-Existent For the
them that is no Contingent Vncertainty in their Motion without bringing of Something out of Nothing which was contrary to the Fundamental Principles of the Atomick Philosophy though this were intolerably absurd in him thus to suppose Contingency and a Kind of Free Will in the Motions of Sensless Atoms so that indeed he brought his Liberty of Will out of Nothing certainly Sense and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind in Animals and Men could not Possibly be Generated out of Atoms or Matter devoid of all Sense and Vnderstanding For the very same Reason Quoniam De Nihilo Nil fit Because Nothing can be Made out of Nothing For unquestionably were all Life and Vnderstanding all Souls and Minds Generated out of Dead and Sensless Matter and were there no Substantial or Essential Life and Vnderstanding in the whole Universe then must it of Necessity be all Made out of Nothing or without a Cause and consequently Real Entities and Substantial things be Made out of Nothing which is absolutely Impossible For though we do not say that Life and Cogitation Sense and Vnderstanding abstractly considered are Substances yet do we affirm them to be Entities Really distinct from Matter and no Modifications or Accidents thereof but either Accidents and Modifications or rather Essential Attributes of Substance Incorporeal as also that Souls and Minds which are the Subjects of them are indeed Substantial Things Wherefore We cannot but here again condemn the Darkness of that Philosophy which Educes not only species Visible and Audible Entities Perfectly Unintelligible and Real Qualities distinct from all the Modes of Body and even Substantial Forms too as they call them but also Sensitive Souls themselves both in men and brutes Ex Potentia Materiae Out of the Power of the Matter that is indeed Out of Nothing For as much as this prepares a direct way to Atheism because if Life and Sense Cogitation and Consciousness may be Generated out of Dead and Sensless Matter then might this well be supposed the first Original of All things nor could there Reasonably be any Stop made at Rational Souls especially by these men who also conclude them to be Rasae Tabulae meer White Sheets of Paper that have nothing at all in them but what is Scribbled upon them by Corporeal Objects from without there being nothing in the Vnderstanding or Mind of Man which was not before in Sense so that Sense is the First Original Knowledge and Vnderstanding but a Secondary and Derivative thing from it more Vmbratile and Evanide Hitherto have we Demonstrated that all things whatsoever could not possibly be Made out of Matter and particularly that Life and Sense Mind and Vnderstanding being no Accidents or Modes of Matter could not by Motion be Generated out of it without the Production of Real Entities out of Nothing But because some may Possibly Imagine that Matter might otherwise than thus by Motion by a Miraculous Efficiency Produce Souls and Minds we shall add in the last place that Nothing can Efficiently Produce any Real Entity or Substantial thing that was not before unless it have at least equal Perfection to it and a Substantially Emanative or Creative Power But scarcely any man can be so sottish as to Imagine that every Atom of Dust hath Equal Perfection in it to that of the Rational Soul in man or to Attribute a Creative Power to all Matter which is but a Passive thing whilst this is in the mean time denied by him to a Perfect Being both these Assertions also in like manner as the Former Producing Real Entities out of Nothing Causally And thus have we Demonstrated the Impossibility and Non-sense of all Atheism from this very Principle by which the Atheists would assault Theism in the true Sense thereof that No thing can be Made without a Cause or that Nothing cannot be the Cause of Any thing Now if there be no Middle betwixt Atheism and Theism and all things must of Necessity either spring from Sensless Matter or else from a Perfect Vnderstanding Being then is this Demonstration of the Impossibility of Atheism a Sufficient Establishment of the Truth of Theism it being such a Demonstration of a God as the Geometricians call a Deduction Ad Impossibile which they allow of for good and frequently make use of Thus Either there is a God or else Matter must needs be acknowledged to be the only Self-Existent thing and all things else whatsoever to be Made out of it But it is Impossible that all things should be made out of Sensless Matter Therefore is there a God Nevertheless we shall here for further satisfaction show how the Existence of a God may be Directly Demonstrated also from this very Principle which the Atheists endeavour to take Sanctuary in and from thence to impugne Theism De Nihilo Nihil that Nothing can be Made out of Nothing Causally or That Nothing cannot be the Cause of Any thing In the first place therefore we shall fetch our Beginning from what hath been already often declared That it is Mathematically Certain that Something or other did Exist Of It Self from all Eternity or without beginning and Vnmade by any thing else The Certainty of which Proposition dependeth upon this very Principle as its Foundation That Nothing can come from Nothing or be Made out of Nothing or That Nothing which once was not can of it self come into Being without a Cause it following unavoidably from thence That if there had been once Nothing there could never have been Any thing And having thus laid the Foundation we shall in the next place make this further Superstructure that because Something did certainly Exist of it Self from Eternity Vnmade therefore is there also Actually a Necessarily Existent Being For to suppose that any thing did Exist Of It Self from Eternity by its own Free Will and Choice and therefore not Necessarily but Contingently since it might have Willed otherwise this is to suppose it to have Existed before it Was and so Positively to have been the Cause of it self which is Impossible as hath been already declared When a thing therefore is said to be Of It Self or the Cause of It self this is to be understood no otherwise than either in a Negative Sense as having Nothing else for its Cause or because its Necessary Eternal Existence is Essential to the Perfection of its own Nature That therefore which Existed Of It self from Eternity Independently upon any thing else did not so Exist Contingently but Necessarily so that there is undoubtedly something Actually in Being whose Existence is and always was Necessary In the next place it is certain also that Nothing could Exist Necessarily Of it Self but what included Nâ—cessity of Existence in its own Nature For to suppose any thing to Exist Of it self Necessarily which hath no Necessity of Existence in its own Nature is plainly to suppose that Necessary Existence of it to Come from Nothing since it could neither proceed from that Thing
Soul and Mind to have sprung up afterwards out of them Nay they do not only Seem to suppose this but also in Express Words declare the same And thus by Jupiter have we discovered the very Fountain of that Atheistick Madness of the Ancient Physiologers to wit their making Inanimate Bodies Senior to Soul and Mind And accordingly that Philosopher addresses himself to the Confutation of Atheism no otherwise than thus by proving Soul not to be Junior to Sensless Body or Inanimate Matter and Generated out of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is the First Cause of the Generation and Corruption of all Things the Atheistick Doctrine supposes not to have been First Made but what is indeed the Last thing to be the First And hence is it that they erre concerning the Essence of the Gods For they are ignorant what kind of thing Soul is and what power it hath as also especially concerning its Generation and Production That it was First of all made before Body it being that which Governs the Motions Changes and Transformations thereof But if Soul be First in Order of Nature before Body then must those things which are Cognate to Soul be also before the Things which appertain to Body and so Mind and Vnderstanding Art and Law be before Hard and Soft Heavy and Light and that which these Atheists call Nature the Motion of Inanimate Bodies Junior to Art and Mind it being Governed by the same Now that Soul is in order of Nature before Body this Philosopher demonstrates only from the Topick or Head of Motion because it is Impossible that one Body should Move another Infinitely without any First Cause or Mover but there must of Necessity be something Self-Moving and Self-Active or which had a power of Changing it Self that was the first Cause of all Local Motion in Bodies And this being the very Notion of Soul that it is such a thing as can Move or Change it self in which also the Essence of Life consisteth He thus inferreth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is therefore sufficiently demonstrated from hence that Soul is the Oldest of all things in the Corporeal World it being the Principle of all the Motion and Generation in it And his Conclusion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It hath been therefore rightly affirmed by us that Soul is Older than Body and was Made Before it and Body Younger and Junior to Soul Soul being that which Ruleth and Body that which is Ruled From whence it follows that the Things of Soul also are Older than the things of Body and therefore Cogitation Intellection Volition and Appetite in order of Nature before Length Breadth and Profundity Now it is Evident that Plato in all this Understood not only the Mundane Soul or his Third Divine Hypostasis the Original of that Motion that is in the Heavens and the whole Corporeal Universe but also all other Particular Lives and Souls whatsoever or that whole Rank of Beings called Soul he supposing it all to have been at first made before the Corporeal System or at least to have been in order of Nature Senior to it as Superiour and more excellent that which Ruleth being Superiour to that which is Ruled and no Soul or Life whatsoever to be Generated out of Sensless Matter Wherefore we must needs here condemn that Doctrine of some Professed Theists and Christians of Latter Times who Generate all Souls not only the Sensitive in Brutes but also the Rational in Men out of Matter For as much as hereby not only that Argument for the Existence of a God from Souls is quite taken away and nothing could hinder but that Sensless Matter might be the Original of all things if Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind sprung out of it but also the Atheist will have an advantage to prove the Impossibility of a God from hence Because if Life and Vnderstanding in their own Nature be Factitious and Generable out of Matter then are they no Substantial Things but Accidental only from whence it will plainly follow that no Mind could possibly be a God or First Cause of all things it being not so much as able to Subsist by it Self Moreover if Mind as such be Generable and Educible out of Nothing then must it needs be in its own Nature Corruptible also and Reducible to Nothing again whereas the Deity is both an Vnmade and Incorruptible Being So that there could not possibly be according to this Hypothesis any other God than such a Jupiter or Soul of the World as the Atheistick Theogonists acknowledged that Sprung out of Night Chaos and Non-Entity and may be again Swallowed up into that Dark Abyss Sensless Matter therefore being the only Vnmade and Incorruptible thing and the Fountain of all things Even of Life and Vnderstanding it must needs be acknowledged to be the Only Real Numen Neither will the Case be much different as to some others who though indeed they do not professedly Generate the Rational but only the Sensitive Soul both in Men and Brutes yet do nevertheless maintain the Humane Soul it self to be but a meer Blank or White Sheet of Paper that hath nothing at all in it but what was Scribled upon it by the Objects of Sense and Knowledge or Understanding to be nothing but the Result of Sense and so a Passion from Sensible Bodies existing without the Knower For hereby as they plainly make Knowledge and Vnderstanding to be in its own Nature Junior to Sense and the very Creature of Sensibles so do they also imply the Rational Soul and Mind it self to be as well Generated as the Sensitive wherein it is Vertually Contained or to be nothing but a Higher Modification of Matter agreeably to that Leviathan Doctrine That men differ no otherwise from Brute Animals then only in their Organization and the Use of Speech or Words In very truth Whoever maintaineh that any Life or Soul any Cogitation or Consciousness Self-Perception and Self-Activity can spring out of Dead Sensless and Unactive Matter the same can never possibly have any Rational Assurance but that his own Soul had also a like Original and Consequently is Mortal and Corruptible For if any Life and Cogitation can be thus Generated then is there no Reason but that all Lives may be so they being but Higher Degrees in the same Kind and neither Life nor any thing else can be in its own Nature Indifferent to be either Substance or Accident and sometimes one sometimes the other but either all Life Cogitation and Consciousness is Accidental Generable and Corruptible or else none at all That which hath inclined so many to think the Sensitive Life at least to be nothing but a Quality or Accident of Matter Generable out of it and Corruptible into it is that strange Protean Transformation of Matter into so many seemingly Unaccountable Forms and Shapes together with the Scholastick Opinion threupon of Real Qualities that is Entities distinct from the Substance of
Co-Extended with its Rayes and Light it would see and perceive every Atom of Matter that it s out stretched Beams reached to and touched Now all Created Beings are themselves in some sense but the Rayes of the Deity which therefore cannot but Feel and Sensibly Perceive all these its own Effluxes and Emanations Men themselves can order and manage Affairs in several distant Places at once without any Disturbance and we have innumerable Notions of things in our Mind that lie there easily together without Crowding one another or Causing any Distraction to us Nevertheless the Minds of weak Mortals may here be somewhat eased and helped by considering what hath been before suggested That there is no necessity God Almighty should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do all things himself Immediately and Drudgingly but he may have his Inferiour Ministers and Executioners under him to discharge him of that Supposed Encumberment As First of all an Artificial Plastick Nature which without Knowledge and Animal Consciousness disposes the Matter of the Universe according to the Platform or Idea of a Perfect Mind and forms the Bodies of all Animals And this was the Reason why we did before insist so much upon this Artificial Regular and Methodical Nature namely that Divine Providence might neither be excluded from having an Influence upon all things in this Lower World as resulting only from the Fortuitous Motions of Sensless Matter unguided by any Mind nor yet the Deity be supposed to do every thing it self Immediatly and Miraculously without the Subservient Ministery of any Natural Causes which would seem to us Mortals to be not only a Violent but also an Operose Cumbersom and Moliminous Business And thus did Plato acknowledge that there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certain Causes of a Prudent that is Artificial and Orderly Nature which God makes use of as Subservient to himself in the Mundane Oeconomy Besides which those Instincts also impressed upon Animals and which they are Passive to directing them to Act for Ends either not understood or not attended to by them in order to their own Good and the Good of the Universe are another part of that Divine Fate which inserted into things themselves is the Servant and Executioner of Providence Above all which there are yet other Knowing and Vnderstanding Ministers of the Deity as its Eyes and Hands Demoniack or Angelick Beings appointed to preside over Mankind all Mundane Affairs and the Things of Nature they having their several distinct Offices and Provinces assigned them Of which also Plato thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are certain Rulers or Presidents appointed by that Supreme God who Governs the whole world over all the several things and Parts therein even to the smallest Distribution of them All which Inferiour Causes are constantly over looked and supervised by the Watchful Eye of God Almighty himself who may also sometimes Extraordinarily Interpose We need not therefore restrain and confine Divine Providence to a Few Greater things only as some do that we may thereby consult the ease of the Deity and its Freedom from Distraction but may and ought to Extend it to all things whatsoever Small as well as Great And indeed the Great things of the World cannot well be ordered neither without some regard to the Small and Little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Architects affirm that great stones cannot be well placed together in a Building without little Neither can Generals of Armies nor Governours of Families nor Masters of Ships nor Mechanick Artificers discharge their several Functions and do their Works respectively as they ought did they not mind the Small things also as well as the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the forementioned Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us not therefore make God Almighty Inferiour to Mortal Opificers who by one and the same Art can order Small things as well as Great and so suppose him to be Supine and negligent Nevertheless the Chief Concernment and Employment of Divine Providence in the World is the Oeconomy of Souls or Government of Rational Beings which is by Plato contracted into this Compendium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There is no other work left for the Supreme Governour of all then only to Translate Better Souls into Better places and Conditions and Worser into Worser or as he after addeth to dispose of every one in the world in such a manner as might best render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue victorious and triumphant over Vice And thus may the slow and Imperfect wits of Mortals be satisfied that Providence to the Deity is no Moliminous Laborious and Distractious thing But that there is no higher Spring of Life in Rational Animals than Contracted Self Love and that all Good Will and Benevolence arises only from Indigency and Imbecillity and That no Being whatsoever is concerned in the welfare of any other thing but only what it self stands in Need of and Lastly therefore That what is Irresistibly Powerful and Needs nothing would have no manner of Benevolence nor concern it self in the Good and Welfare of any thing whatsoever This is but another Idol of the Atheists Den and only argues their Bad Nature Low-sunck Minds and Gross Immorality And the same is to be said also of that other Maxim of theirs That what is perfectly Happy would have nothing at all To Do but only enjoy its own Ease and Quiet whereas there is nothing more troublesome to our selves than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this having Nothing to Do and the Activity of the Deity or a Perfect Being is altogether as Easie to it as its Essence The Atheistick Queries come next to be Answered which being but Three are Naturally to be disposed in this order First If there were a God or Perfect Being who therefore was sufficiently Happy in the enjoyment of himself Why would he go about to make a World Secondly If he must needs make a World why did he not make it sooner this Late production thereof looking as if he had but newly awaked out out of a long sleep throughout Infinite Past Ages or else had in length of time contracted a Satiety of his Solitude Thirdly and Lastly What Tools or Instruments what Machines or Engines had be or How could he move the Matter of the whole world especially if Incorporeal because then he would run through all things and could not lay hold nor fasten upon any thing To the First therefore we say That the reason why God made the World was from his own Overflowing and Communicative Goodness that there might be other Beings also Happy besides him and enjoy themselves Nor does this at all clash with God's making of the world for his own Glory and Honour though Plotinus were so shy of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is ridiculous to say that God made the world that he might be Honoured this being to transfer the affections of humane Artificers and Statuaries upon him
declared Page 110 IX That it is hardly Imaginable There should have been no Philosophick Atheists in the world before Democritus and Leucippus Plato observing also that there have been some or other in all ages sick of the Atheistick Disease And Aristotle affirming many of the first Philosophers to have assigned onely a Material Cause of the mundane System without either Intending or Efficient Cause They supposing Matter to be the onely Substance and all other things nothing but the Passions and Accidents thereof Generable and Corruptible Page 111 X. The Doctrine of which Materialists may be more fully understood from those Exceptions which Aristotle makes against them His First Exception That they assigned no Cause of Motion but introduced it into the world Vnaccomptably Page 112 XI Aristotle's Second Exception That these Materialists assigned no Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Well and Fit that is gave no Accompt of the Orderly Regularity of things Anaxagoras said to be the First Ionick Philosopher who made Mind and Good a Principle of the Vniverse ibid. XII Concluded from hence That these Materialists in Aristotle were downright Atheists not merely because they held all Substance to be Body forasmuch as Heraclitus and Zeno did the like and yet are not therefore numbered amongst the Atheists these supposing the whole World to be an Animal and their Fiery Matter Originally Intellectual but because they made Stupid Matter devoid of all Understanding and Life to be the onely Principle Page 113 XIII And supposed every thing besides the bare Substance of Matter to be Generable and Corruptible and consequently That there could be no other God than such as was Native and Mortal That those Ancient Theologers and Theogonists who Generated all the Gods out of Night and Chaos without exception were onely Verbal Theists but Real Atheists Senseless Matter being to them the Highest Numen ibid. XIV The Difference observed betwixt Aristotle's Atheistical Materialists and the Italick Philosophers the former determining all things besides the bare Substance of Matter to be Made or Generated but the latter that no Real Entity was either Generated or Corrupted they thereupon both destroying the Qualities and Forms of Bodies and asserting the Ingenerability and Incorporeity of Souls Page 114 XV. How Aristotle's Atheistick Materialists endeavoured to baffle and elude that Axiome of the Italick Philosophers That Nothing can come from Nothing nor goe to Nothing And that Anaxagoras was the First amongst the Ionicks who yielded so far to that Principle as from thence to assert Incorporeal Substance and the Pre-existence of Qualities and Forms he conceiving them to be things Really distinct from the Substance of Matter Page 116 XVI The Errour of some Writers who from Aristotle's affirming That the Ancient Philosophers did generally conclude the World to have been Made from thence infer them to have been all Theists and that Aristotle contradicts himself in representing many of them as Atheists That the Ancient Atheists did generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assert the World to have been Made or have had a Beginning as on the other hand some Theists did maintain its Ante-Eternity but in a way of Dependency upon the Deity That we ought therefore here to distinguish betwixt the System of the World and the bare Substance of the Matter All Atheists contending the Matter to have been not onely Eternal but also such Independently upon any other Being Page 117 XVII Some of the Ancients concluded this Materialism or Hylopathian Atheism to have been at least as old as Homer who made the Ocean or Fluid Matter the Father of all the gods and that this was indeed the Ancientest of all Atheisms which verbally acknowledging gods yet derives the Original of them all from Night and Chaos A Description of this Atheistick Hypothesis in Aristophanes That Night and Chaos first laid an Egg out of which sprung forth Love which afterwards mingling again with Chaos begat Heaven and Earth Animals and all the Gods Page 120 XVIII That notwithstanding this in Aristotle's Judgment not onely Parmenides but also Hesiod and other Ancients who made Love Senior to the Gods were to be exempted out of the number of Atheists they understanding by this Love an Active Principle or Cause of Motion in the Vniverse which therefore could not result from an Egg of the Night nor be the Offspring of Chaos but must be something in order of Nature Before Matter Simmias Rhodius his Wings a Poem in Honour of this Divine or Heavenly Love This not that Love neither which was the Offspring of Penia and Porus in Plato In what Rectified and Refined Sense it may pass for True Theology That Love is the Supreme Deity and Original of all things Page 121 XIX That however Democritus and Leucippus be elsewhere taxed by Aristotle for this very thing the assigning onely a Material Cause of the Vniverse yet were they not the Persons intended by him in the forementioned Accusation but certain Ancienter Philosophers who also were not Atomists but Asserters of Qualities or Hylopathians Page 123 XX. That Aristotle's Atheistick Materialists were indeed all the First Ionick Philosophers before Anaxagoras Thales being the Head of them But that Thales being acquitted from this Imputation of Atheism by several Good Authours his next Successour Anaximander is rather to be accounted the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prince of this Atheistick Philosophy ibid. XXI A Passage out of Aristotle Objected which at first sight seems to make Anaximander a Divine Philosopher and therefore hath led both Modern and Ancient Writers into that Mistake But that this well considered proves the Contrary That Anaximander was the Chief of the old Atheistick Philosophers Page 124 XXII That it is no wonder if Anaximander called Senseless Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Divinity since to all Atheists that must needs be the Highest Numen And how this may be said to be Immortal and to Govern all with the concurrent Judgment of the Greek Scholiasts upon this Place Page 126 XXIII A further account of the Anaximandrian Philosophy from whence it appeareth to have been Purely Atheistical Page 127 XXIV That as the vulgar have always been ill Judges of Theists and Atheists so have learned men commonly supposed fewer Atheists than indeed there were Anaximander and Democritus Atheists both alike though Philosophizing different ways and that some Passages in Plato respect the Anaximandrian Form of Atheism rather than the Democritical Page 129 XXV The reason why Democritus and Leucippus New-modell'd Atheism into this Atomick Form Page 131 XXVI That besides the Three Forms of Atheism already mentioned we sometimes meet with a Fourth which supposes the Vniverse to be though not an Animal yet a kind of Plant or Vegetable having one Regular Plastick Nature in it but devoid of Understanding and Sense which disposes and orders the whole Page 131 XXVII That this Form of Atheism which makes One senseless Plastick and Plantal Nature to preside over the whole is
different from the Hylozoick in that it takes away all Fortuitousness Subjecting all things Vniversally to the Fate of this One Methodical Unknowing Nature Page 132 XXVIII Possible that some in all ages might have entertained this Atheistical Conceit That all things are dispensed by One Regular and Methodical Senseless Nature nevertheless it seemeth to have been chiefly asserted by certain Spurious Heracliticks and Stoicks Vpon which account this Cosmo-plastick Atheism may be called Pseudo-zenonian Page 133 XXIX That besides the Philosophick Atheists there have been always in the World Enthusiastick and Fanatick Atheists though indeed all Atheists may in some sense be said to be both Enthusiasts and Fanaticks as being meerly led by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Irrational Impetus Page 134 XXX That there cannot easily be any other Form of Atheism besides these Four already mentioned because all Atheists are Corporealists and yet not all Corporealists Atheists but onely such of them as make the First Principle not to be Intellectual ibid. XXXI A Distribution of Atheisms Producing the forementioned Quaternio and shewing the Difference that is betwixt them Page 136 XXXII That they are but meer Bunglers at Atheism who talk of Sensitive and Rational Matter Specifically Differing And that the Canting Astrological Atheists are not at all considerable because not Vnderstanding themselves Page 137 XXXIII Another Distribution of Atheisms That they either derive the Original of all things from a meerly Fortuitous Principle and the Unguided Motion of Matter or else from a Plastick Regular and Methodical but Senseless Nature What Atheists denied the Eternity of the World and what asserted it Page 138 XXXIV That of these Four Forms of Atheism the Atomick or Democritical and the Hylozoick or Stratonical are the Principal which Two being once confuted all Atheism will be confuted Page 142 XXXV These Two Forms of Atheism being contrary to each other that we ought in all Reason to insist rather upon the Atomick nevertheless we shall elsewhere confute the Hylozoick also and further prove against all Corporealists that no Cogitation nor Life can belong to Matter Page 145 XXXVI That in the mean time we shall not neglect the other Forms of Atheism but Confute them all together as they agree in one Principle As also by way of Digression here insist largely upon the Plastick Life of Nature in order to a fuller Confutation as well of the Hylozoick as the Cosmo-plastick Atheism Page 146 1. That these Two Forms of Atheism are not therefore Condemned by us meerly because they suppose a Life of Nature distinct from the Animal Life however this be a thing altogether Exploded by some professed Theists therein symbolizing too much with the Democritick Atheists ibid. 2. That if no Plastick Artificial Nature be admitted then one of these two things must be concluded That either all things come to pass by Fortuitous Mechanism or Material Necessity the Motion of Matter Vnguided or else that God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe all things Himself Immediately and Miraculously framing the Body of every Gnat and Fly as it were with his own hands forasmuch as Divine Laws and Commands cannot execute themselves nor be alone the proper Efficient Causes of things in Nature Page 147 3. To suppose the Former of these that all things come to pass Fortuitously by the Unguided Motion of Matter and without the Direction of any Mind a thing altogether as Irrational as Impious there being many Phaenomena both Above the Mechanick Powers and Contrary to the Laws thereof That the Mechanick Theists make God but an Idle Spectatour of the Fortuitous Motions of Matter and render his Wisedom altogether useless and insignificant Aristotle's Judicious Censure of this Fortuitous Mechanism and his Derision of that Conceit that Material and Mechanical Reasons are the onely Philosophical Page 148 4. That it seems neither Decorous in respect of God nor Congruous to Reason that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe all things Himself Immediately and Miraculously without the Subserviency of any Natural Causes This further Confuted from the Slow and Gradual Process of things in Nature as also from those Errours and Bungles that are Committed when the Matter proves Inept and Contumacious which argue the Agent not to be Irresistible Page 149 5. Reasonably inferred from hence That there is an Artificial or Plastick Nature in the Vniverse as a Subordinate Instrument of Divine Providence in the Orderly Disposal of Matter but not without a Higher Providence also presiding over it forasmuch as this Plastick Nature cannot Act Electively or with Discretion Those Laws of Nature concerning Motion which the Mechanick Theists themselves suppose Really Nothing else but a Plastick Nature or Spermatick Reasons Page 150 6. The Argeeableness of this Doctrine with the Sentiments of the best Philosophers of all Ages Anaxagoras though a professed Theist severely Censured both by Plato and Aristotle as an encourager of Atheism meerly because he used Material and Mechanical Causes more than Mental and Final Physiologers and Astronomers for the same Reason also vulgarly suspected of Atheism in Plato's time Page 151 7. The Plastick Artificial Nature no Occult Quality but the onely Intelligible Cause of that which is the Grandest of all Phaenomena the Orderly Regularity and Harmony of Things which the Mechanick Theists however pretending to Salve all Phaenomena give no accompt of A God or Infinite Mind asserted by these in vain and to no purpose Pag. 154 8. Two things here to be Performed To give an accompt of the Plastick Artificial Nature and then To show how the Notion thereof is Mistaken and Abused by Atheists The First General Accompt of this Nature according to Aristotle That it is to be conceived as Art it self acting Inwardly and Immediately upon the Matter as if Harmony Living in the Musical Instruments should move the Strings thereof without any External Impulse Page 155 9. Two Preeminences of Nature above Humane Art First That whereas Humane Art acts upon the Matter without Cumbersomely or Moliminously and in a way of Tumult or Hurlyburly Nature acting upon the same from Within more Commandingly doth its work Easily Cleverly and Silently Humane Art acteth on Matter Mechanically but Nature Vitally and Magically Page 155 10. The Second Preeminence of Nature That whereas Human Artists are often to seek and at a loss Anxiously Consult and Deliberate and upon Second thoughts Mend their former work Nature is never to seek or Vnresolved what to doe nor doth she ever Repent of what she hath done and thereupon correct her Formâ—r Course Human Artists themselves Consult not as Artists but always for want of Art and therefore Nature though never Consulting nor Deliberating may notwithstanding act Artificially and for Ends. Concluded that what is by us called Nature is Really the Divine Art Page 156 11. Nevertheless That Nature is not the Divine Art Pure and Abstract but Concreted and Embodied in Matter the Divine Art not Archetypal but Ectypal Nature differs from
the Divine Art or Wisedom as the Manuary Opificer from the Architect Page 155 12. Two Imperfections of Nature in respect whereof it falls short of Humane Art First That though it act for Ends Artificially yet it self neither Intends those Ends nor Understands the Reason of what it doeth for which cause it cannot act Electively The Difference betwixt Spermatick Reasons and Knowledge That Nature doth but Ape or Mimick the Divine Art or Wisedom being it self not Master of that Reason according to which it acts but onely a Servant to it and Drudging Executioner thereof Page 156 13. Proved that there may be such a thing as acteth Artificially though it self do not comprehend that Art and Reason by which its Motions are Governed First from Musical Habits the Dancer resembles the Artificial Life of Nature Page 157 14. The same further Evinced from the Instincts of Brute Animals Directing them to act Rationally and Artificially in order to their own Good and the Good of the Vniverse without any Reason of their own These Instincts in Brutes but Passive Impresses of the Divine Wisedom and a kind of Fate upon them Page 158 15. The Second Imperfection of Nature that it Acteth without Animal Phancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con-sense or Consciousness and hath no express Self-Perception and Self-Enjoyment ibid. 16. Whether this Energy of the Plastick Nature be to be called Cogitation or no Nothing but a Logomachy or Contention about Words Granted that what moves Matter Vitally must needs do it by some Energy of its own distinct from Local Motion but that there may be a Simple Vital Energy without that Duplicity which is in Synaesthesis or clear and express Consciousness Nevertheless that the Energy of Nature may be called a certain Drousie Unawakened or Astonished Cogitation Page 159 17. Severall Instances which render it probable that there may be a Vital Energy without Synaesthesis clear and express Con-sense or Consciousness Page 160 18. Wherefore the Plastick Nature acting neither Knowingly nor Phantastically must needs act Fatally Magically and Sympathetically The Divine Laws and Fate as to Matter not meer Cogitation in the Mind of God but an Energetick and Effectual Principle in it And this Plastick Nature the True and Proper Fate of Matter or of the Corporeal World What Magick is and that Nature which acteth Fatally acteth also Magically and Sympathetically P. 161 19. That Nature though it be the Divine Art or Fate yet for all that is neither a God nor Goddess but a Low and Imperfect Creature it acting Artificially and Rationally no otherwise than Compounded Forms of Letters when Printing Coherent Philosophick Sense nor for Ends than a Saw or Hatchet in the hands of a skillfull Mechanick The Plastick and Vegetative Life of Nature the Lowest of all Lives and Inferiour to the Sensitive A Higher Providence than that of the Plastick Nature governing the Corporeal World it self ibid. 20. Notwithstanding which forasmuch as the Plastick Nature is a Life it must needs be Incorporeal One and the self same thing having in it an entire Model and Platform of the Whole and acting upon several Distant parts of Matter cannot be a Body And though Aristotle himself do no where declare this Nature to be either Corporeal or Incorporeal which he neither clearly doth concerning the Rational Soul and his Followers commonly take it to be Corporeal yet according to the Genuine Principles of that Philosophy must it needs be otherwise Page 165 21. The Plastick Nature being Incorporeal must either be a Lower Power lodged in Souls which are also Conscious Sensitive or Rational or else a distinct Substantial Life by it Self and Inferiour Soul That the Platonists affirm Both with Aristotle's agreeable Determination That Nature is either Part of a Soul or not without Soul ibid. 22. The Plastick Nature as to the Bodies of Animals a Part or Lower Power of their respective Souls That the Phaenomena prove a Plastick Nature or Archeus in Animals to make which a distinct thing from the Soul would be to Multiply Entities without Necessity The Soul endued with a Plastick Nature the Chief Formatrix of its own Body the contribution of other Causes not excluded Page 166 23. That besides the Plastick in Particular Animals Forming them as so many Little Worlds there is a General Plastick or Artificial Nature in the Whole Corporeal Vniverse which likewise according to Aristotle is either a Part and Lower Power of a Conscious Mundane Soul or else something depending thereon Page 167 24. That no less according to Aristotle than Plato and Socrates Our selves partake of Life from the Life of the Universe as well as we do of Heat and Cold from the Heat and Cold of the Vniverse From whence it appears that Aristotle also held the World's Animation which is further Vndeniably proved An Answer to Two the most considerable Places in that Philosopher objected to the contrary That Aristotle's First Immoveable Mover was no Soul but a Perfect Intellect abstract from Matter which he supposed to move onely as a Final Cause or as Being Loved and besides this a Mundane Soul and Plastick Nature to move the Heavens Efficiently Neither Aristotle's Nature nor Mundane Soul the Supreme Deity However though there be no such Mundane Soul as both Plato and Aristotle conceived yet may there be notwithstanding a Plastick or Artificial Nature depending upon a Higher Intellectual Principle Page 168 25. No Impossibility of other Particular Plasticks and though it be not reasonable to think every Plant Herb and Pile of Grass to have a Plastick or Vegetative Soul of its own nor the Earth to be an Animal yet may there possibly be one Plastick Artificial Nature presiding over the Whole Terraqueous Globe by which Vegetables may be severally organized and framed and all things performed which transcend the Power of Fortuitous Mechanism Page 171 26. Our Second Undertaking which was to Show How grosly those Atheists who acknowledge this Artificial Plastick Nature without Animality Misunderstand it and Abuse the Notion to make a Counterfeit God Almighty or Numen of it to the exclusion of the True Deity First In their Supposing That to be the First and Highest Principle of the Vniverse which is the Last and Lowest of all Lives a thing as Essentially Derivative from and Dependent upon a Higher Intellectual Principle as the Echo on the Original Voice Secondly In their making Sense and Reason in Animals to emerge out of a Sensless Life of Nature by the meer Modification and Organization of Matter That no Duplication of Corporeal Organs can ever make One Single Inconscious Life to advance into Redoubled Consciousness and Self-Enjoyment Thirdly In attributing some of them Perfect Knowledge and Understanding to this Life of Nature which yet themselves suppose to be devoid of all Animal Sense and Consciousness Lastly In making this Plastick Life of Nature to be meerly Corporeal The Hylozoïsts contending That it is but an Inadequate Conception of Body as the onely
Love the First Created God or Lower Soul of the World before whose Production Necessity is said to have reigned that is the Necessity of Material Motions undirected for Ends and Good Page 374 375. That Pythagoras called the Supreme Deity not onely a Monad but a Tetrad or Tetractys also The Reasons for this given from the Mysteries in the Number Four trifling More probability of a late Conjecture that the Pythagorick Tetractys was the Hebrew Tetragrammaton not altogether unknown to the Hetrurians and Latins Page 375 376 Xenophanes a plain Asserter both of Many Gods and of One God called by him One and All. Simplicius his clear Testimony for this Theosophy of Xenophanes out of Theophrastus Xenophanes misrepresented by Aristotle as an Asserter of a Spherical Corporeal God Page 377 378 Heraclitus though a Cloudy and Confounded Philosopher and one who could not conceive of any thing Incorporeal yet both a hearty Moralist and a zealous Asserter of One Supreme Deity Page 378 379 The Ionick Philosophers before Anaxagoras being all of them Corporealists and some of them Atheists that Anaxagoras was the First who asserted an Incorporeal Mind to be a Principle and though not the Cause of Matter yet of Motion and of the Regularity of things The World according to him not Eternal but Made and out of Pre-Existent Similar Atoms and that not by Chance but by Mind or God This Mind of his purely Incorporeal as appeareth from his own words cited by Simplicius Page 380 Probable that Anaxagoras admitted none of the Inferiour Pagan Gods He Condemned by the Vulgar for an Atheist because he Ungodded the Stars denying their Animation and affirming the Sun to be but a Mass of Fire and the Moon an Earth This disliked also by Plato as that which in those times would dispose men to Atheism Page 381 Anaxagoras farther Censured both by Plato and Aristotle because though asserting Mind to be a Principle he made much more use of Material than of Mental and Final Causes which was looked upon by them as an Atheistick Tang in him Nevertheless Anaxagoras a better Theist than those Christian Philosophers of later times who quite banish all Mental Causality from the World Page 382 383 XXI Parmenides his acknowledgment of One God the Cause of Gods Which Supreme Deity by Parmenides styled One-All-Immovable That this is not to be taken Physically but Metaphysically and Theologically Proved at large The First Principle of all to these Ancients One a Simple Vnity or Monad This said to be All because virtually Containing All and Distributed into All or because All things are distinctly displayed from it Lastly the same said to be Immovable and Indivisible and without Magnitude to distinguish it from the Corporeal Universe Page 383 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One All taken in different Senses by Parmenides and Xenophanes c. Divinely for the Supreme Deity One most Simple Being the Original of all things but by others in Aristotle Atheistically as if all things were but One and the same Matter diversly Modified But the One-All of these Latter not Immoveable but Moveable it being nothing else but Body whereas the One-All-Immoveable is an Incorporeal Deity This does Aristotle in his Metaphysicks close with as good Divinity That there is one Incorporeal Immoveable Principle of all things Simplicius his Observation That though divers Philosophers maintained a Plurality or Infinity of Moveable Principles yet none ever asserted more than One Immoveable Page 385 386 Parmenides in Plato distinguishes three Divine Hypostases The First whereof called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One-All the Second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One All things and the Third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and All things Page 386 c. But that Parmenides by his One-All-Immoveable really understood the Supreme Deity yet farther unquestionably evident from the Verses cited out of him by Simplicius Wherein there is also attributed thereunto a Standing Eternity or Duration different from that of Time Page 388 The onely Difference betwixt Parmenides and Melissus that the Former called his One-All-Immoveable Finite the Latter Infinite this in Words rather than Reality The Disagreeing Agreement of these two Philosophers fully declared by Simplicius Melissus his Language more agreeable with our present Theology Though Anaximander's Infinite were nothing but Sensless Matter yet Melissus his Infinite was the True Deity Page 389 That Zeno Eleates by his One-All-Immoveable meant not the Corporeal World neither no more than Melissus Parmenides and Xenophanes but the Deity evident from Aristotle Zeno's Demonstrations of One God from the Idea of a most Powerfull and Perfect Being in the same Aristotle Page 390 Empedocles his First Principle of All things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Unity likewise besides which he supposed Contention and Friendship to be the Principles of all Created Beings not onely Plants Brutes and Men but Gods also Page 391 c. Empedocles his Original of all the Evill both of Humane Soul and Demons from this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discord and Contention together with the Ill use of their Liberty Page 393 XXII The Doctrine of divers other Pythagoreans also the same as Philolaus Archytas Ocellus Aristaeus c. Timaeus Locrus his God the Creatour of Gods Onatus his Many Gods and his One God the Coryphaeus of the Gods Euclides Megarensis his One the Very Good Antisthenes his Many Popular Gods but One Natural God Diogenes Sinopensis his God that Filleth all things Page 393 c. XXIII That Socrates asserted One Supreme God undenyable from Xenophon Page 398 399 But that he disclaimed all the other Inferiour Gods of the Pagans and died as a Martyr for One onely God in this Sense a Vulgar Errour Page 400 What the Impiety imputed to him by his Adversaries appeareth from Plato's Euthyphro viz. That he freely and openly Condemned those Fables of the Gods wherein Wicked and Vnjust Actions were imputed to them Page 401 That Plato really asserted One onely God and no more a Vulgar Errour likewise and that Thirteenth Epistle to Dionysius wherein he declared himself to be Serious onely when he began his Epistles with God and not with Gods though exstant in Eusebius his time Spurious and Supposititious He worshipping the Sun and other Stars also supposed to be animated as Inferiour Gods Page 402 Nevertheless Vndeniably evident that Plato was no Polyarchist but a Monarchist no Asserter of Many Independent Gods or Principles but of One Original of all things One First God One Greatest God One Maker of the World and of the Gods Page 403 404 In what Sense the Supreme God to Plato the Cause and Producer of Himself out of Plotinus and this notion not onely entertained by Seneca and Plotinus but also by Lactantius That Plato really asserted a Trinity of Universal Divine Hypostases that have the Nature of Principles The First Hypostasis in Plato's Trinity properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Original Deity the Cause and King of all things which
also said by him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above Essence Page 407 Xenophon though with other Pagans he acknowledged a Plurality of Gods yet a plain Asserter also of One Supreme and Universal Numen Page 408 XXIV Aristotle a frequent Acknowledger of Many Gods And whether he believed any Demons or no which he sometimes mentions though sparingly and insinuates them to be a kind of Aerial Animals more Immortal than Men yet did he unquestionably look upon the Starrs or their Intelligences as Gods Page 408 c. Notwithstanding which Aristotle doth not onely often speak of God Singularly and of the Divinity Emphatically but also professedly opposes that Imaginary Opinion of Many Independent Principles or Unmade Deities He confuting the same from the Phenomena or the Compages of the World which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all Uniform and agreeably Conspiring into one Harmony Page 410 411 Aristotle's Supreme Deity the First Immoveable Mover The difference here betwixt Plato and Aristotle Plato's Original of Motion a Self-moving Soul Aristotle's an Immoveable Mind But this Difference not so great as at first sight it seems because Aristotle's Immoveable Mind doth not Move the Heavens Efficiently but onely Finally or As being Loved Besides which he must needs suppose another immediate Mover which could be nothing but a Soul of them Page 412 Aristotle's Immoveable Mind not onely the Cause of Motion but also of Well and Fit all the Order Pulchritude and Harmony that is in the world Called therefore by Aristotle the Separate Good thereof This together with Nature its Subordinate Instrument the Efficient Cause of the whole Mundane System which however Co-eternal with it yet is in Order of Nature Junior to it Page 413 414 Aristotle and other Ancients when they affirm Mind to have been the Cause of all things Vnderstood it thus That all things were made by an Absolute Wisedom and after the Best Manner The Divine Will according to them not a meer Arbitrary Humoursome and Fortuitous thing but Decency and Fitness it self Page 415 From this passage of Aristotle's That the Divinity is either God or the Work of God Evident that he supposed All the Gods to have been derived from One and therefore his Intelligences of the Sphears Page 415 That according to Aristotle this Speculation of the Deity constitutes a Particular Science by it self distinct from Physiology and Geometry the Former whereof Physiology is Conversant about what was Inseparable and Movable the Second Geometry about things Immovable but not Really Separable but the Third and Last which is Theology about that which is both Immovable and Separable an Incorporeal Deity Page 416 Four Chief Points of Aristotle's Theology or Metaphysicks concerning God First that though all things are not Eternal and Unmade yet something must needs be such as likewise Incorruptible or otherwise all might come to Nothing Secondly that God is an Incorporeal Substance separate from Sensibles Indivisible and devoid of Parts and Magnitude Thirdly that the Divine Intellect is the same with its Intelligibles or conteineth them all within it self because the Divine Mind being Senior to all things and Architectonical of the World could not then look abroad for its Objects without it self The contrary to which supposed by Atheists Lastly that God being an Immovable Substance his Act and Energy is his Essence from whence Aristotle would infer the Eternity of the World Page 416 417 Aristotle's Creed and Religion contained in these Two Articles first That there is a Divinity which comprehends the whole Nature or Universe And Secondly that besides this There are other Particular Inferiour Gods But that all other things in the Religion of the Pagans were Fabulously superadded hereunto for Political Ends. Page 417 Speusippus Xenocrates and Theophrastus Monarchists Page 418 XXV The Stoicks no better Metaphysicians than Heraclitus in whose footsteps they trode admitting of no Incorporeal Substance The Qualities of the Mind also to these Stoicks Bodies Page 419 420 But the Stoicks not therefore Atheists they supposing an Eternal Unmade Mind though lodged in Matter the Maker of the whole Mundane System Page 420 The Stoical Argumentations for a God not Inconsiderable and what they were Page 421 422 The Stoical God not a meer Plastick and Methodical but an Intellectual Fire The World according to them not a Plant but Animal and Jupiter the Soul thereof From the supposed Oneliness of which Jupiter they would sometimes inferre the Singularity of the World Plutarch on the Contrary affirming that though there were Fifty or an Hundred Worlds yet would there be for all that but one Zeus or Jupiter Page 423 Nevertheless the Stoicks as Polytheistical as any Sect. But so as that they supposed all their Gods save One to be not Onely Native but also Mortal made out of that One and resolved into that One again these Gods being all Melted into Jupiter in the Conflagration Page 424 425 Wherefore during the Intervals of Successive Worlds the Stoicks acknowledged but one Solitary Deity and no more Jupiter being then left all alone and the other Gods Swallowed up into him Who therefore not onely the Creatour of all the other Gods but also the Decreatour of them Page 425 426 The Stoicks notwithstanding this Religious Worshippers of their Many Gods and thereby sometime derogated from the Honour of the Supreme by sharing his Sovereignty amongst them Page 426 427 Nevertheless the Supreme God praised and extolled by them far above all the other Gods and acknowledged to be the Sole Maker of the World Page 427 c. Their Professing Subjection to his Laws as their greatest Liberty Page 430 And to submit their Wills to his Will in every thing so as to know no other Will but the Will of Jupiter ibid. Their Pretending to Look to God and to doe nothing without a Reference to him as also to Trust in him and Rely upon him Page 431 Their Praising him as the Authour of all Good ibid. Their Addressing their Devotions to him Alone without the conjunction of any other God and particularly imploring his Assistence against Temptations Page 432 Cleanthes his Excellent and Devout Hymn to the Supreme God Page 433 XXVI Cicero though affecting to write in the way of the New Academy yet no Sceptick as to Theism Nor was he an Asserter of Many Independent Deities Cicero's Gods the Makers of the World the same with Plato's Eternal Gods or Trinity of Divine Hypostases Subordinate This Language the Pagans in S. Cyrill would Justifie from that of the Scripture Let us make Man Page 434 435 c. Varro's Threefold Theology The Fabulous the Natural and the Civil or Popular agreeably to Scaevola the Pontifex his Three Sorts of Gods Poetical Pholosophical and Political The Former condemned by him as False the Second though True said to be above the Capacity of the Vulgar and therefore a Necessity of a Third or Middle betwixt both Because many things True in
Aeolus in Arrianus seems to be taken for the Demons appointed by God Almighty to preside over the Winds Page 524 525 Lactantius his Reason why the Consentes and Select Gods vulgarly worshipped by the Romans could not be Single Demons or Angels Page 525 And from Aristotle's Observation against Zeno That according to Law or Civil Theology One God was chief for one thing and another for another Concluded that these Political Gods were not properly the Subservient Ministers of the Supreme and therefore could be nothing but several Names and Notions of One Natural God according to his Various Powers and Effects Page 525 526 And thus does Vossius himself afterwards confess That according to the Natural Theology all the Pagan Gods were but Several Denominations of one God Where notwithstanding this Learned and Industrious Philologer seems to take the Natural and Philosophick Theology for the Physiological he making the God thereof the Nature of things Whereas the Natural Theology was the True and Real and Philosophical opposed both to the Fictions of the Poets and the Institutes of Law-makers and Politicians As Varro affirmeth that in Cities those things were Worshipped and believed according to False Opinions which had no Nature nor Real Subsistence neither in the World nor without it The God of the Pagans not the Nature of things which could be the Numen of none but of Atheists but an Understanding Being the Great Mind or Soul of the whole World pervading all things Thus unquestionably true that the Many Poetical and Political Gods were but several Names or Notions of One Natural Real and True God Besides which there were other Inferiour Ministers of this Supreme God acknowledged to be the Instruments of his Providence and Religiously worshipped also A brief but full accompt of the Pagans Natural Theology set down by Prudentius Page 526 527 And when the more high-flown Pagans referred these Poetical and Political Gods to the Divine Idea's or Patterns of things in the Archetypal World which besides the Platonists the Egyptians in Celsus are said to have done making the Brute Animals worshipped by them but Symbols of the Eternal Idea's They hereby made these Gods to be but so many Partiall Considerations of One God neither as being All things or Containing in himself the Causes of all things as Julian himself declareth in his Sixth Oration Page 527 528 An Anacephalaeosis That much of the Pagan Polytheism was but the Polyonymy of One God he being worshipped under several Names First according to several General Notions of him as of Janus Genius Saturn Minerva Urania or the Heavenly Venus or Love and others before declared So also of Summanus according to S. Austin and Themis afterwards to be mentioned Page 528 529 And Secondly according to other more Particular Notions of him in their Special Gods as Acting in some Parts of the world onely or exercising some Particular Powers Page 529 530 And Lastly as Pervading All things and Being All things or the Cause of All things he was thereupon called by the Name of Every thing or Every thing by his Name The Pagans in S. Austin That their Ancestors were not so sottish as not to understand that those Things of Nature were but Divine Gifts and not Themselves Gods And the Pagans in Eusebius That the Invisible God the Cause of All things ought to be worshipped in his Visible Effects wherein he hath displayed himself Page 530 Though the Two former Kinds of these Gods onely called by Athanasius Poetical and Fictitious he opposing them to those of the Third sort that were Natural and Real things yet may these also be well called Poetical Fictitious and Phantastical Gods too because though themselves were Real things Existing in Nature yet was their Personation and Deification meer Fiction Fancy and Poetry And accordingly were they before called by Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meer Figments of the Greeks Page 530 531 XXXIV Of those Pagans who supposed the Supreme God to be the Whole Animated World Hitherto shewed that even the most Refined of the Pagans agreed in these Two things First in Breaking and Crumbling the One Simple Deity and multiplying it into Many Gods or Parcelling it out into several Particular Notions according to its several Powers and Virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being to these Pagans the same thing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then in Theologizing the whole World Personating and Deifying the Natures of Things Accidents and Inanimate Bodies They supposing God to Pervade all things and Himself to be in a manner All things Therefore every thing to the Religious Sacred and Divine and God to be Worshipped in All. Page 531 532 We shall now add that both those forementioned Principles of God's Pervading all things and his Being all things were carried on farther by those Pagan Theologers who had no higher Notion of the Supreme Deity then as the Soul of the World For First Whereas the more Refined Pagans supposed God to Pervade all things Unmixedly These Mingled and Confounded him with the whole World Some of them supposing him also to be a Subtile Body Page 532 533 Again Whereas the other more Sublimated Pagans affirmed God so to be All as nevertheless to be something also Above all These concluded him to be nothing Higher then the Animated World Page 533 And though they supposed that as well in this Mundane Animal as in other Animals there was something Principal and Hegemonical whether the Sun or Aether or Fire which therefore was Emphatically called God yet did they conceive the whole Matter thereof to be Animated and so to be All God Not barely as Matter but by reason of the Soul thereof Page 534 535 Now if the Whole World Animated be the Supreme God then must all the Parts and Members of the World be the Parts and Members of One God but not themselves therefore properly so Many Gods This affirmed by Origen as the True Sense of these Pagans against that unwary Assertion of Celsus That If the Whole were God then must the several Parts thereof needs be Gods Page 535 Wherefore though these Pagans Deified the Parts of the World and Natures of Things as well as the Powers of the Mundane Soul yet did not the Intelligent amongst them Worship them severally as so many True and Proper Gods but onely as the Parts and Members of one Great Animal or God or rather Worship the great Mundane Soul the Life of the whole World in them all This proved from S. Austin Page 536 537 The same plainly declared also by the Pagans in Athanasius That not the Divided Parts of the World were by them accounted so many several Gods but the Whole made up of them All One God which yet might be worshipped in its several Parts Page 537 The Pagans being thus divided as to their Opinions concerning the Natural and True Theology some of them Worshipped the World as the Body of God but others only as his Image or
Demonstrable of a Perfect Being as the Properties of a Triangle or a Square and therefore can neither be Contradictious to it nor one another Page 652 Nay the Genuine Attributes of the Deity not onely not Contradictious but also all Necessarily Connected together ibid. In Truth All the Attributes of the Deity but so many Partial and Inadequate Conceptions of One and the Same Perfect Being taken into our Minds as it were by Piece-meal ibid. The Idea of God neither Fictitious nor Factitious Nothing Arbitrarious in it but a most Natural and Simple Idea to which not the Least can be Added nor any thing Detracted from it Nevertheless may there be different Apprehensions concerning God every one that hath a Notion of a Perfect Being not Vnderstanding all that Belongeth to it no more then of a Triangle or of a Sphear ibid. 653 Concluded therefore That the Attributes of God No Confounded Non-sense of Religiously Astonished Minds huddling up together all Imaginable Attributes of Honour Courtship and Complement but the Attributes of Necessary Philosophick Truth and such as do not onely speak the Devotion of mens Hearts but also declare the Reall Nature of the thing Here the Wit of a Modern Atheistick Writer ill placed Though no doubts but some either out of Superstition or Ignorance may Attribute such things to the Deity as are Incongruous to its Nature Thus the Fourth Atheistick Pretence against the Idea of God Confuted Page 653 654 In the next place The Atheists think themselves concerned to give an Account of this Unquestionable Phaenomenon the General Persuasion of the Existence of a God in the Minds of men and their Propensity to Religion whence this should come if there were no Reall Object for it in Nature And this they would doe by Imputing it partly to the Confounded Nonsense of Astonished Minds and partly to the Imposture of Politicians Or else to these Three Things To Mens Fear and to their Ignorance of Causes and to the Fiction of Law-Makers and Civil Sovereigns Page 654 The First of these Atheistick Origins of Religion That Mankind by reason of their Natural Imbecillity are in continual Solicitude and Fear concerning Future Events and their Good and Evil Fortune And this Passion of Fear raises up in them for an Object to it self a most Affrightfull Phantasm of An Invisible Understanding Being Omnipotent c. They afterwards Standing in awe of this their own Imagination and Tremblingly Worshipping the Creature of their own Fear and Phancy Page 654 The Second Atheistick Origin of Theism and Religion That Men having a Naturall Curiosity to Enquire into the Causes of things wheresoever they can discover no Visible and Naturall Causes are prone to Feign Causes Invisible and Supernatural As Anaxagoras said never to have betaken himself to a God but onely when he was at a loss for Necessary Materiall Causes Wherefore no wonder if the Generality of Mankind being Ignorant of the Causes of all or most Things have betaken themselves to a God as to a Refuge and Sanctuary for their Ignorance Page 654 655 These two Accounts of the Phaenomenon of Religion from mens Fear and Solicitude and from their Ignorance of Causes and Curiosity Joyned together by a Modern Writer As if the Deity were but a Mormo or Bugbear raised up by mens Fear in the Darkness of their Ignorance of Causes The Opinion of other Ghosts and Spirits also deduced from the same Originall Mens taking things Casuall for Prognosticks and being so addicted to Omens Portents Prophecies c. From a Phantastick and Timorous Supposition That the things of the World are not disposed of by Nature but by some Understanding Person Page 655 But lest these Two Accounts of the Phaenomenon of Religion should prove Insufficient the Atheists superadde a Third Imputing it also to the Fiction and Imposture of Civill Soveraigns who perceiving an advantage to be made from hence for the better keeping men in Subjection have thereupon Dextrously laid hold of mens Fear and Ignorance and Cherished those Seeds of Religion in them from the Infirmities of their Nature Confirming their Belief of Ghosts and Spirits Miracles Prodigies and Oracles by Tales publickly Allowed and Recommended And that Religion might be every way Obsequious to their Designs have perswaded the People that Themselves were but the Interpreters of the Gods from whom they Received their Laws Religion an Engin of State to keep men busily Employed Entertain their Minds render them Tame and Gentle apt for Subjection and Society Page 655 656 All this not the Invention of Modern Atheists But an Old Atheistick Cabbal That the Gods made by Fear Lucretius That the Causes of Religion Terrour of Mind and Darkness and that the Empire of the Gods owes all its Being to mens Ignorance of Causes as also that the Opinion of Ghosts proceeded from mens not knowing how to distinguish their Dreams other Frightfull Phancies from Sensations Page 656 657 An Old Atheistick Surmize also That Religion a Political Invention Thus Cicero The Atheists in Plato That the Gods are not by Nature but by Art and Laws onely Critias one of the Thirty Tyrants of Athens his Poem to this purpose Page 657 658 That the Folly and Falsness of these Three Atheistick Pretences for the Origin of Religion will be fully Manifested First As to that of Fear and Phancy Such an Excess of Fear as makes any one constantly Believe the Existence of that for which no manner of Ground neither in Sense nor Reason highly tending also to his own Disquiet Nothing less then Distraction Wherefore the generality of mankind here affirmed by Atheists to be Frighted out of their Wits and Disstempered in their brains onely a few of themselves who have escaped this Panick Terrour remaining Sober or in their Right Senses The Sobriety of Atheists nothing but Dull Stupidity and Dead Incredulity they Believing onely what they can See or Feel Page 658 True That there is a Religious Fear Consequent upon the Belief of a God as also that the Sense of a Deity is often awakened in mens Minds by their Fears and Dangers But Religion no Creature of Fear None lesse Solicitous about their Good and Evill Fortune then the Pious and Vertuous who place not their Chief Happiness in things Aliene but onely in the Right Vse of their own Will Whereas the Good of Atheists wholly in things Obnoxious to Fortune The Timorous Complexion of Atheists from building all their Politicks and Justice upon the Foundation of Fear Page 658 659 The Atheists Grand Errour here That the Deity according to the generall Sense of Mankind Nothing but a Terriculum a Formidable Hurtfull and Undesirable thing Whereas men every where agree in that Divine Attribute of Goodness and Benignity ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the worst Sense taken by none but a few Ill-natured Men painting out the Deity according to their own Likeness This condemned by Aristotle in the Poets he calling them therefore Liars by
Plutarch in Herodotus as spoken Universally Plutarch himself restraining the Sense thereof to his Evill Principle Plato's ascribing the World to the Divine Goodness who therefore made all things most like Himself The true meaning of this Proverb That the Deity affecteth to Humble and Abase the Pride of men Lucretius his Hidden Force that hath as it were a Spite to all Overswelling Greatnesses could be no other then the Deity Those amongst Christians who make the worst Representation of God yet Phansy him Kind and Gracious to Themselves Page 659 660 True that Religion often expressed by the Fear of God Fear Prima Mensura Deitatis the First Impression that Religion makes upon men in this Lapsed State But this not a Fear of God as Mischievous and Hurtfull nor yet as a meer Arbitrary Being but as Just and an Impartiall Punisher of Wickedness Lucretius his acknowledging mens Fear of God to be conjoyned with a Conscience of Duty A Naturall Discrimination of Good and Evill with a Sense of an Impartiall Justice presiding over the World and both Rewarding and Punishing The Fear of God as either a Hurtfull or Arbitrary and Tyrannicall Being which must needs be joyned with something of Hatred not Religion but Superstition Fear Faith and Love Three Steps and Degrees of Religion to the Son of Sirach Faith better Defined in Scripture then by any Scholasticks God such a Being as if he were not Nothing more to be Wished for Page 660 661 The Reason why Atheists thus mistake the Notion of God as a Thing onely to be Feared and consequently Hated from their own Ill Nature and Vice The latter disposing them so much to think that there is no Difference of Good and Evill by Nature but onely by Law which Law Contrary to Nature as Restraint to Liberty Hence their denying all Naturall Charity and Acknowledging no Benevolence or Good Will but what arises from Imbecillity Indigency and Fear Their Friendship at best no other then Mercatura Utilitatum Wherefore if there were an Omnipotent Deity this according to the Atheistick Hypothesis could not have so much as that Spurious Love or Benevolence to any thing because standing in Need of Nothing and Devoid of Fear Thus Cotta in Cicero All this asserted also by a late Pretender to Politicks He adding thereunto that God hath no other Right of Commanding then his Irresistible Power nor men any Obligation to obey him but onely from their Imbecillity and Fear or because they cannot Resist him Thus do Atheists Transform the Deity into a Monstrous Shape an Omnipotent Being that hath neither Benevolence nor Justice in him This indeed a Mormo or Bugbear Page 661 662 But as this a false Representation of Theism so the Atheistick Scene of things most Uncomfortable Hopeless and Dismall upon severall Accounts True that no Spightfull Designs in Sensless Atoms in which Regard Plutarch Preferred even this Atheistick Hypothesis before that of an Omnipotent Mischievous Being However no Faith nor Hope neither in Sensless Atoms Epicurus his Confession that it was better to believe the Fable of the Gods then that Materiall Necessity of all things asserted by the other Atheistick Physiologers before himself But he not at all mending the Matter by his supposed Free Will The Panick Fear of the Epicureans of the Frame of Heaven's Cracking and this Compilement of Atoms being dissolved into a Chaos Atheists running from Fear plunge themselves into Fear Atheism rather then Theism from the Imposture of Fear Distrust and Disbelief of Good But Vice afterwards prevailing in them makes them Desire there should be No God Page 663 664 Thus the Atheists who derive the Origin of Religion from Fear First put an Affrightfull Vizard upon the Deity and then conclude it to be but a Mormo or Bugbear the Creature of Fear and Phancy More likely of the Two that the Opinion of a God sprung from Hope of Good then Fear of Evill but neither of these True it owing its Being to the Imposture of no Passion but supported by the Strongest and clearest Reason Nevertheless a Naturall Prolepsis or Anticipation of a God also in mens Minds Preventing Reason This called by Plato and Aristotle a Vaticination Page 664 665 The Second Atheistick Pretence to salve the Phaenomenon of Religion from the Ignorance of Causes and mens innate â—uriosity Vpon which Account the Deity said by them to be nothing but an Asylum of Ignorance or the Sanctuary of Fools next to be Confuted Page 665 That the Atheists both Modern and Ancient here commonly Complicate these Two together Fear and Ignorance of Causes making Theism the Spawn of both as the Fear of Children in the Dark raises Bugbears and Spectres Epicurus his Reason why he took such great pains in the Study of Physiology that by finding out the Naturall Causes of things he might free men from the Terrour of a God that would otherwise Assault their Minds ibid. The Atheists thus Dabbling in Physiology and finding out Materiall Causes for some of those Phaenomena which the unskilfull Vulgar salve onely from a Deity therefore Confident that Religion had no other Originall then this Ignorance of Causes as also that Nature or Matter does all things alone without a God But we shall make it manifest That Philosophy and the True Knowledge of Causes Lead to a Deity and that Atheism from Ignorance of Causes and want of Philosophy Page 665 666 For First No Atheist who derives all from Senslesse Matter can possibly assign any Cause of Himself his own Soul or Mind it being Impossible that Life and Sense should be Naturally produced from what Dead and Sensless or from Magnitudes Figures Sites and Motions An Atheistick Objection nothing to the purpose That Laughing and Crying things are made out of Not-Laughing and Crying Principles because these result from the Mechanism of the Body The Hylozoists never able neither to produce Animal Sense and Consciousness out of what Sensless and Inconscious The Atheists supposing their own Life and Understanding and all the Wisedom that is in the World to have sprung meerly from Sensless Matter and Fortuitous Motion Grossely Ignorant of Causes The Philosophy of Our Selves and True Knowledge of the Cause of our own Soul and Mind brings to God Page 666 667 Again Atheists Ignorant of the Cause of Motion by which they suppose all things done this Phaenomenon being no way Salvable according to their Principles First undeniably certain That Motion not Essential to all Body or Matter as such because then there could have been no Mundane System no Sun Moon Earth c. All things being continually Torn in Pieces and Nothing Cohering Certain also That Dead and Sensless Matter such as that of Anaximander Democâ—itus and Epicurus cannot Move it self Spontaneously by Will or Appetite The Hylozoists further considered elsewhere Democritus could assign no other Cause of Motion then this That one Body moved another from Eternity Infinitely without any First Cause or Mover Thus also a Modern Writer To
Piece of State-craft or Cozenage nor yet have been able to possess the Minds of men every-where with such a constant Awe and Dread of an Invisible Nothing The World would long since have discovered this Cheat and suspected a Plot upon their Liberty in the Fiction of a God at least Governours themselves would have understood it many of which notwithstanding as much awed with the Fear of this Invisiblâ— Nothing as any Others Other Cheats and Juggles when once Detected no longer Practised But Religion now as much in Credit as ever though so long since Decried by Atheists for a Political Cheat. That Christianity a Religion Founded in no Humane Policy prevailed over the Craft and Power of all Civill Sovereigns and Conquered the Persecuting World by suffering Deaths and Martyrdoms This Presignified by the Prophetick Spirit Page 691 692 Had the Idea of God been an Arbitrarious Figment not conceivable hâ—w men should have universally agreed in the same and the Attributes belonging thereunto This Argument used by Sextus Nor that Civil Sovereigns themselves should so universally have Jumped in it Page 692 693 Furthermore Not Conceivable how this Thought or Idea of a God should have been Formed by any had it been the Idea of Nothing The Superficialness of Atheists in Pretending that Politicians by telling men of Such a thing put the Idea into their Minds No Notions or Idea's put into mens minds by Words but onely the Phantasms of the Sounds Though all Learning be not Remembrance yet is all Humane Teaching but Maieutical or Obstetricious not the Filling of the Soul as a Vessel by Pouring into it from without but the Kindling of it from within Words signifie nothing to him that cannot raise up within himself the Notions or Idea's correspondent to them However the Difficulty still remains How States-men themselves or the first Inventer of this Cheat could have framed any Notion at all of a Non-Entity Page 693 694 Here the Atheists Pretend That there is a Feigning Power in the Soul whereby it can make Idea's and Conceptions of Non-Entities as of a Golden Mountain or a Centaur and that by this an Idea of God might be framed though there be no such Thing Answer That all the Feigning Power of the Soul consisteth onely in Compounding Idea's of things that Really Exist Apart but not in that Conjunction The Mind cannot make any New Conceptive Cogitation which was not Before as the Painter or Limner cannot Feign Colours Moreover the whole of these Fictitious Idea's though it have no Actual yet hath it a Possible Entity The Deity it Self though it could Create a World out of Nothing yet can it not Create more Cogitation or Conception then Is or was always contained in its own Mind from Eternity nor frame a Positive Idea of that which hath no Possible Entity Page 694 695 The Idea of God no Compilement or Aggregation of things that Exist Severally apart in the World because then it would be a meer Arbitrarious thing and what Every one Pleased the contrary whereunto hath been before manifested Page 695 Again Some Attributes of the Deity nowhere else to be found in the whole World and therefore must be Absolute Non-Entities were there no God Here the Painter must Feign Colours and Create New Cogitation out of Nothing ibid. Lastly Vpon Supposition That there is no God it is Impossible not onely that there should be any for the Future but also that there should ever have been any whereas all Fictitious Idea's must have a Possible Entity since otherwise they would be Unconceivable and No Idea's ibid. Wherefore some Atheists will further Pretend That besides this Power of Compounding things together the Soul hath another Ampliating or Amplifying Power by both which together though there be no God Existing nor yet Possible the Idea of him might be Fictitiously Made those Attributes which are nowhere else to be found arising by way of Amplification or Augmentation of Something found in Men. Page 695 696 Answer First That according to the Principles of these Atheists that all our Conceptions are nothing but Passions from Objects without there cannot Possibly be any such Amplifying Power in the Soul whereby it could make More then Is. Thus Protagoras in Plato No man can Conceive any thing but what he suffers Here also as Sextus Intimateth the Atheists guilty of that Fallacy called a Circle or Diallelus For having First undiscernedly made the Idea of Imperfection from Perfection they then goe about again to make the Idea of Perfection out of Imperfection That men have a Notion of Perfection by which as a Rule they Judge things to be Imperfect Evident from that Direction given by all Theologers To Conceive of God in way of Remotion or Abstraction of all Imperfection Lastly Finite Things added together can never make up Infinite as more and more Time backward can never reach to Eternity without Beginning God differs from Imperfect things not in Degree but Kind As for Infinite Space said to consist of Parts Finite we certain of no more then this that the Finite World might have been made Bigger and Bigger Infinitely for which very Cause it could never be Actually Infinite Gassendus his Objection That the Idea of an Infinite God might as well be Feigned as that of Infinite Worlds But Infinite Worlds are but Words or Notions ill Put together or Combined Infinity being a Real Thing in Nature but Misapplied it being Proper onely to the Deity Page 696 697 The Conclusion That since the Soul can neither Make the Idea of Infinite by Amplification of Finite nor Feign or Create any New Cogitation which was not before nor make a Positive Idea of a Non-Entity certain that the Idea of God no Fictitious Thing Page 697 Further made Evident That Religion not the Figment of Civil Sovereigns Obligation in Conscience the Foundation of all Civil Right and Authority Covenants without this Nothing but Words and Breath Obligation not from Laws neither but before them or otherwise they could not Oblige Lastly This derived not from Utility neither Were Obligation to Civil Obedience Made by mens Private Utility then could it be Dissolved by the Same Wherefore if Religion a Fiction or Imposture Civil Sovereignty must needs be so too Page 697 698 Had Religion been a Fiction of Politicians they would then have made it every way Pliable and Flexible since otherwise it would not Serve their Turn nor consist with their Infinite Right Page 698 But Religion in its own Nature a Stiff Inflexible thing as also Justice it being not Factitious or Made by Will There may therefore be a Contradiction betwixt the Laws of God and of Men and in this case does Religion conclude That God ought to be Obeyed rather then Men. For this Cause Atheistick Politicians of Latter times declare against Religion as Inconsistent with Civil Sovereignty It destroying Infinite Right Introducing Private Judgment or Conscience and a Fear Greater then that of the Leviathan
to wit of him who can Inflict Eternal Punishments Sensless Matter the Atheists Natural God the Leviathan or Civil Sovereign his Artificial One. Religion thus disowned and disclaimed by Politicians as Inconsistent with Civil Power could not be the Creature of Political Art Thus all the Three Atheistick Pretences to Salve the Phaenomenon of Religion from Fear Ignorance of Causes and Fiction of Politicians fully Confuted Page 698 700 But because besides those Ordinary Phaenomena before mentioned there are certain other Extraordinary ones that cannot be Salved by Atheists which therefore they will impute Partly to Mens Fear and Ignorance and Partly to the Fiction and Imposture of Civil Governours viz. Apparitions Miracles and Prophecies the Reality of these here also to be briefly Vindicated Page 700 First as for Apparitions Though much of Fabulosity in these Relations yet unquestionably something of Truth Atheists imputing these things to mens mistaking their Dreams and Phancies for Sensations Contradict their own Fundamental Principle That Sense is the onely Criterion of Truth as also Derogate more from Humane Testimony then they ought ibid. That some Atheists Sensible hereof have acknowledged the Reality of Apparitions concluding them nevertheless to be the Meer Creatures of Imagination as if a Strong Phancy could produce Real Substances or Objects of Sense The Fanaticism of Atheists who will rather Believe the greatest Impossibilities then endanger the Being of a God Invisible Ghosts Permanent easily introduce One Supreme Ghost of the whole World Page 700 701 Democritus yet further Convinced That there were Invisible Beings Superiour to Men Independent upon Imagination and Permanent called by him Idols but having nothing Immortal in them and therefore that a God could be no more proved from the Existence of them then of Men. Granted by him that there were not onely Terrestrial but also Aerial and Aetherial Animals and that all those Vast Regions of the Universe above were not Desert and Uninhabited Here something of the Fathers asserting Angels to have Bodies but more afterwards Page 701 702 To this Phaenomenon of Apparitions may be added those Two others of Witches and Demoniacks both of these proving That Spirits are not Phancies nor Inhabitants of mens Brains onely but of the World as also That there are some Impure Spirits a Confirmation of the Truth of Christianity The Confident Exploders of Witchcraft suspicable for Atheism As for Demoniacks or Energumeni certain from Josephus That the Jews did not take these Demons or Devils for Bodily Diseases but Real Substances possessing the Bodies of Men. Nor probable that they supposed as the Gnosticks afterward all Diseases to be the Infestation of Evil Spirits nor yet as some think all Demoniacks to be Mad-men But when there were any Unusual and Extraordinary Symptoms in any Bodily Distemper but especially that of Madness they supposing this to be Supernatural imputed it to the Infestation of some Devil Thus also the Greeks Page 702 704 That Demoniacks and Energumeni are a Real Phaenomenon and that there are such also in these Times of ours Asserted by Fernelius and Sennertus Such Maniacal Persons as not onely discover Secrets but also speak Languages which they had never learnt Vnquestionably Demoniacks or Energumeni That there have been such in the Times since our Saviour proved out of Psellus as also from Fernelius This for the Vindication of Christianity against those who suspect the Scripture Demoniacks for Figments Page 704 706 The Second Extraordinary Phaenomenon Proposed That of Miracles and Effects Supernatural That there have been such things amongst the Pagans and since the Times of Christianity too Evident from their Records But more Instances of these in Scripture Page 706 Two Sorts of Miracles First Such as though they cannot be done by Ordinary Causes yet may be effected by the Natural Power of Invisible Spirits Angels or Demons As Illiterate Demoniacks speaking Greek Such amongst the Pagans that Miracle of the Whetstone cut in two with a Razour Secondly Such as transcend the Natural Power of all Second Causes and Created Beings Page 706 707 That late Politico-Theological Treatise denying both these Sorts of Miracles Inconsiderable and not deserving here a Confutation Page 707 Supposed in Deut. That Miracles of the Former sort might be done by False Prophets in Confirmation of Idolatry Wherefore Miracles alone not sufficient to confirm every Doctrine ibid. Accordingly in the New Testament do we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lying Miracles that is Miracles done in Confirmation of a Lie and by the Power of Satan c. God permitting it in way of Probation of some and Punishment of others Miracles done for the promoting of Creature-Worship or Idolatry in stead of Justifying the same themselves Condemned by it Page 708 Had the Miracles of our Saviour been all of the Former Kind onely yet ought the Jews according to Moses Law to have acknowledged him for a True Prophet he coming in the Name of the Lord and not Exhorting to Idolatry Supposed in Deut. That God would not Permit False Prophets to doe Miracles save onely in the Case of Idolatry or when the Doctrine is discoverable to be False by the Light of Nature because that would be an Invincible Temptation Our Saviour That Eximious Prophet foretold by whom God would again reveal his Will to the World and no more out of Flaming Fire Nevertheless some Miracles of our Saviour Christ 's such also as could be done onely by the Power of God Almighty Page 708 709 All Miracles evince Spirits to disbelieve which is to disbelieve Sense or Vnreasonably to Derogate from Humane Testimony Had the Gentiles entertained the Faith of Christ without Miracles This it self would have been a Great Miracle Page 709 The Last Extraordinary Phaenomenon Divination or Prophecy This also evinces Spirits called Gods by the Pagans and thus that of theirs True If Divination then Gods 710 Two Sorts of Predictions likewise as of Miracles First such as might proceed from the Natural Presageing Power of Created Spirits Such Predictions acknowledged by Democritus upon account of his Idols Not so much Contingency in Humane Actions by reason of Mens Liberty of Will as some suppose Page 710 711 Another Sort of Predictions of Future Events Imputable onely to the Supernatural Prescience of God Almighty Epicurus his Pretence That Divination took away Liberty of Will either as Supposing or Making a Necessity Some Theists also denying the Prescience of God Almighty upon the same Account Certain That no Created Being can foreknow Future Events otherwise then in their Causes Wherefore Predictions of such Events as had no Necessary Antecedent Causes Evince a God Page 711 712 That there is Foreknowledge of Future Events Unforeknowable to Men formerly the general Perswasion of Mankind Oracles and Predictions amongst the Pagans which Evince Spirits as that of Actius Navius Most of the Pagan Oracles from the Natural Presageing Power of Demons Nevertheless some Instancâ—s of Predictions of a higher kind amongst them as that
Original Knowledge a Mind before the World and all Sensibles not Ectypall but Archetypall and the Framer of all Wherefore not Atheism but Theism Demonstrable from Knowledge and Understanding Page 733 734 This further Confirmed from hence Because there are Eternal Verities such as were never Made nor had any Beginning That the Diagonal of a Square Incommensurable to the Sides an Eternal Truth to Aristotle Justin Martyr's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Eternal Moralls Geometrical Truths not Made by any man's Thinking but before all Men as also before the World and Matter it self Page 734 Now if there be Eternal Verities the Simple Reasons and Intelligible Essences of Things must needs be Eternal likewise These called by Plato Things that Always Are but were never Made Ingenerable and Incorruptible However Aristotle quarrels with Plato's Idea's yet does he also agree with him in this That the Forms or Species of things were Eternal and Never Made and that there is No Generation of them and that there are other things besides Sensibles the Immutable Objects of Science Certain That there could be no Immutable Science were there no other Objects of the Mind but Sensibles The Objects of Geometrical Science no Material Triangles Squares c. These by Aristotle said to be No where The Intelligible Natures of things to Philo the most Necessary Essences Page 735 736 Now if there be Eternal Truths and Intelligibles whose Existence also is Necessary since these can be no where but in a Mind there must be an Eternal Necessarily Existing Mind Comprehending all these Idea's and Truths at once or Being them Which no other then the Mind of a Perfect Omnipotent Being Comprehending it self and all Possibilities of things the Extent of its own Power Page 736 737 Wherefore there can be but One onely Original Mind which all other Minds Partake of Hence Idea's or Notions exactly alike in several men and Truths Indivisibly the Same Because their Minds all Stamped with the same Original Seal Themistius That One man could not Teach Another were there not the same Notion both in the Learner and Teacher Nor could men confer together as they doe were there not One Mind that All Partaked of That Anti-Monarchical Opinion of Many Understanding Beings Eternal and Independent Confuted And now have we not onely asserted the Idea of God and Confuted all the Atheistick Pretences against it but also from this Idea Demonstrated his Existence Page 737 738 SECT II. A Confutation of the Second Atheistick Argument Against Omnipotence and Divine Creation That Nothing can by any Power whatsoever be Made out of Nothing In Answer to which Three things to be Insisted on First That De Nihilo Nihil Nothing out of Nothing is in some Sense an Axiome of Vnquestionable Truth but then makes Nothing against Theism or Divine Creation Secondly That Nothing out of Nothing in the Sense of the Atheistick Objectors viz. That Nothing which once was Not could by any Power whatsoever be brought into Being is Absolutely False and that if it were True it would make no more against Theism then it doth against Atheism Lastly That from this very Axiome Nothing from Nothing in the True Sense thereof the Absolute Impossibility of Atheism is Demonstrable Page 738 De Nihilo Nihil Nothing from Nothing in some Sense is a Common Notion of Vnquestionable Truth For First Certain That Nothing which once was Not could ever Of it Self come into Being or That Nothing can take beginning of Existence from It self or That Nothing can be Made or Produced without an Efficient Cause From whence Demonstrated That there was never Nothing or That every thing was not Made but Something did Exist of It Self from Eternity Unmade or Underived from any thing else Page 738 739 Again Certain also That Nothing could be Efficiently Produced by what hath not at least Equal Perfection and a Sufficient Active or Productive Power That of an Effect which Transcends the Perfection of its supposed Cause must Come from Nothing or be Made without a Cause Nor can any thing be Produced by another though having Equal Perfection unless it have also a Sufficient Active or Productive Power Hence Certain That were there once no Motion at all in the world and no other Substance besides Body which had no Self-Moving Power there could never Possibly be any Motion or Mutation to all Eternity for want of a Sufficient Cause or Productive Power No Imperfect Being hath a Productive Power of any New Substance which was not before but onely of New Accidents and Modifications that is No Creâ—ture can Create Which Two forementioned Senses respect the Efficient Cause Page 739 Thirdly Nothing can be Materially Produced out of Nothing Prae-Existing or Inexisting And therefore in all Natural Generations where the Supernaturall Power of the Deity interposes not No New Reall Entity or Substance Produced which was not Before but onely New Modifications of what Substantially Prae-Existed Page 739 740 Nothing out of Nothing so much Insisted on by the old Physiologers before Aristotle in this Sense commonly misunderstood by Modern Writers as if they designed thereby to take away all Divine Creation out of Nothing Prae-Existing Granted This to have been the Sense of the Stoicks and of Plutarch He affirming the World to have been no otherwise Made by God then a House is by a Carpenter or a Garment by a Tailour Plutarch and the Stoicks therefore Imperfect Theists but nevertheless Zealous Religionists But the Ancient Italick Philosophers here Acted onely as Physiologers and not as Theologers or Metaphysicians they not directing themselves against a Divine Creation out of Nothing Prae-Existing but onely contending That neither in Naturall Generations any new Reall Entity was Created nor in Corruptions Annihilated but onely the Modifications of what before Existed Changed or That No New Reall Entity could be Made out of Matter Page 740 741 That this was the True meaning of those Ancient Physiologers Evident from the Use which they made of this Principle Nothing out of Nothing Which Twofold First Vpon this Foundation they Endeavoured to establish a Peculiar Kind of Physiology and some Atomology or other either Similar or Dissimilar Homoeomery or Anomoeomery Anaxagoras from hence concluded because Nothing could be Made out of Nothing Prae-Existing and Inexisting that therefore there were in every Body Similar Atoms of all Kinds out of which by Concretions and Secretions all Naturall Generations Made so that Bone was Made out of Bony Atoms Prae-Existing and Inexisting Flesh out of Fleshy and the like This the Anaxagorean Homoeomery or Similar Atomology built upon this Princile Nothing out of Nothing Page 741 742 But the Ancient Italicks both before and after Anaxagoras whom Leucippus Democritus and Epicurus here followed with greater Sagacity concluded from the same Principle Nothing out of Nothing That those Qualities and Forms of Bodies Naturally Generated and Corrupted were therefore no Reall Entities distinct from the Substance of Matter but onely Different
things without the Direction of any Mind affirmeth That They held Body and Substance to be One and the Self-same thing From whence it follows That Incorporeal Substance is Incorporeal Body or Contradictious Nonsense and That whatsoever is not Body is Nothing He likewise addeth That they who asserted the Soul to be a Body but had not the Confidence to make Prudence and other Vertues Bodies or Bodily quite overthrew the Cause of Atheism Aristotle also representeth the Atheistick Hypothesis thus That there is but One Nature Matter and this Corporeal or endued with Magnitude the onely Substance and all other things the Passions and Affections thereof Page 767 769 In Disproving Incorporeal Substance some Difference amongst the Atheists themselves First Those who held a Vacuum as Epicurus and Democritus c. though taking it for grantâ—d That what is Un-extended or Devoid of Magnitude is Nothing yet acknowledged a Double Extended Nature the First Impenetrable and Tangible Body the Second Penetrable and Intangible Space or Vacuum To them the Onely Incorporeal Their Argument thus Since Nothing Incorporeal besides Space which can neither Doe nor Suffer any thing therefore no Incorporeal Deity The Answer If Space be a Real Nature and yet not Bodily then must it needs be either an Affection of Incorporeal Substance or else an Accident without a Substance Gassendus his Officiousness here to help the Atheists That Space is neither Accident nor Substance but a Middle Nature or Essence betwixt Both. But whatsoever Is must either Subsist by it Self or else be an Attribute Affection or Mode of Something that Subsisteth by it Self Space either the Extension of Body or of Incorporeal Substance or of Nothing but Nothing cannot be Extended wherefore Space supposed not to be the Extension of Body must be the Extension of an Incorporeal Substance Infinite or the Deity as some Theists Assert Page 769 770 Epicurus his Pretended Gods Such as could neither Touch nor be Touched and had not Corpus but Quasi Corpus onely and therefore Incorporeals distinct from Space But Granted that He Colluded or Juggled in this Page 770 Other Atheists who denied a Vacuum and allowed not Space to be a Nature but a meer Imaginary thing the Phantasm of a Body or else Extension considered Abstractly Argued thus Whatsoever is Extended is Body or Bodily But whatsoever Is is Extended Therefore whatsoever Is is Body Page 770 771 This Argument against Incorporeal Substance Answered Two manner of ways Some Asserters of Incorporeal Substance denying the Minor Whatsoever Is is Extended others the Major of it Whatsoever is Exended is Body First The Generality of Ancient Incorporealists realâ—y maintained That there was Something Un-Extended Indistant Devoid of Quantity and of Magnitude Without Parts and Indivisible Plato That the Soul is before Longitude Latitude and Profundity He also Denies That whatsoever is in no Place is Nothing Aristotle's First Immovable Mover also Devoid of Magnitude So likewise is Mind or That which Understands to him He also denies Place and Local Motion to the Soul otherwise then by Accident with the Body Page 771 773 Philo's Double Substance Distant and Indistant God also to him both Every-where because his Powers Extend to all things and yet No-where as in a Place Place being Created by him together with Bodies Plotinus much concerned in this Doctrine Two Books of his upon this Subject That One and the same Numerical thing viz. the Deity may be All or the Whole Every-where God to him Before all things that are in a Place therefore Wholly Present to whatsoever Present This would he prove also from Natural Instincts He Affirmeth likewise That the Humane Soul is Numerically the Same both in the Hand and in the Foot Simplicius his Argument for Un-Extended Substance That Whatsoever is Self-Moving must be Indivisible and Indistant His Affirmation That Souls Locally Immovable Move the Body by Cogitation Page 773 775 None more full and express in this then Porphyrius His Assertion That were there such an Incorporeal Space as Democritus and Epicurus supposed Mind or God could not be Co-Extended with it but onely Body The whole Deity Indivisibly and Indistantly Present to every Part of Divisible and Distant things Page 775 776 Thus Origen in his Against Celsus Saint Austine That the Humane Soul hath no Dimensions of Length Breadth and Thickness and is in it Self Illocabilis Boëtius reckons this amongst the Common Notions known onely to wise men That Incorporeals are in No Place Page 776 This therefore no Novel or Recent Opinion That the Deity is not Part of it Here and Part of it There nor Mensurable by Yards and Poles but the Whole Undivided Present to every Part of the World But because many Objections against this we shall further Shew how these Ancient Incorporealists endeavoured to Quit themselves of them The First Objection That to suppose the Deity and other Incorporeal Substances Un-Extended is to make them Absolute Parvitudes and so Contemptible things Plotinus his Answer That what is Incorporeal not so Indivisible as a Little thing either a Physical Minimum or Mathematical Point for thus God could not Congruere with the whole World nor the Soul with the whole Body Again God not so Indivisible as the Least he being the Greatest of all not in Magnitude but Power He so Indivisible as also Infinite This an Errour proceeding from Sense and Imagination That what Un-Extended therefore Little Incorporeal Substance the Whole of which is Present to every Part of Body therefore Greater then Body Porphyrius to the same purpose That God is neither to be look'd upon as the Least nor as the Greatest in a way of Magnitude Page 776 778 The Second Objection That what neither Great nor Little and possesses no Place a Non-Entity This according to Plato Plotinus and Porphyrius a Mistake proceeding from mens adhering to Sense and Imagination They Grant That an Un-Extended Being Is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Un-Imaginable Porphyrius That Mind and Phancy are not the same as some maintain That which can either Doe or Suffer not Nothing though it swell not out into Distance Two Kinds of Substances to Plotinus Bulky Tumours and Un-bulky Active Powers Which latter said by Simplicius to have nevertheless a certain Depth or Profundity in them Something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Un-imaginable even in Body it self We cannot Possibly Imagine the Sun of such a Bigness as Reason Evinces it to be Vrged also by Plotinus That an Un-stretcht-Out Duration or Timeless Eternity as difficult to be Conceived as an Un-Extended Substance and yet must this needs be Attributed to the Deity Page 778 781 That God and Humane Souls no otherwise Incorporeal then as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Thin or Subtile Body False Because the Difference of Grosseness and Subtilty in Bodies according to True Philosophy onely from Motion That the most Subtile Body may possibly be made as Grosse as Lead or Iron and the Grossest as Subtile as Aether No Specifick
All is Body and That the First Principles of Body are devoid of Life and Understanding it would follow unavoidably That there is no God Therefore the Stoicks who were Corporeal Theists denied the Latter they supposing an Understanding Fire Eternal and Unmade the Maker of the whole Mundane System Truly Observed by Origen That this Corporeal God of the Stoicks was but by Accident Incorruptible and Happy and onely because Wanting a Destroyer This no Genuine Theism Page 837 838 But an Absolute Impossibility in both these Atheistick Corporealisms not onely because they suppose no Active Principle but also because they bring Life and Understanding that is Something out of Nothing or Make them without a Cause Where the Atomick Atheists of the Two most to be Condemned because so grosly Contradicting themselves From that True Principle That Matter as such is devoid of Life and Understanding an Absolute Necessity of another Substance Incorporeal which is Essentially Vital and Intellectual That All Life cannot possibly be Factitious and Accidental Generable and Corruptible but there must be Substantial Life and also some Eternal Page 838 839 The Truth of this Vnderstood and Acknowledged by the Hylozoists That there must of Necessity be both Substantial and Unmade Life and Understanding who therefore Attribute the same to all Matter as such but without Animality which according to them is all Factitious and Accidental Wherefore this Hylozoick Atheism also brings Conscious Life and Animality out of Nothing or Makes them without a Cause The Argument of the Epicurean Atheists against Stratonism or Hylozoism Unanswerable That upon this Supposition there must be in every Man and Animal a Heap of Innumerable Percipients as many as there are Atoms of Matter and so no One Thinker The Pretence of the Hylozoists That all the Particles of Matter in every Animal do Confederate Ridiculous and Impossible Page 839 840 Thus the Fifth and Sixth Atheistick Argumentations fully Confuted and from that True Supposition in them That Matter as such is Devoid of Life and Understanding Incorporeal Substance plainly Demonstrated Which was our Second Undertaking Page 840 The Third and Last That there being Vndeniably Substance Incorporeal the Two Following Atheistick Argumentations built upon the Supposition of the Contrary altogether Insignificant The Seventh not properly directed against Theism but against a Religious kind of Atheism or Theogonism which supposed a God or Soul of the World Generated out of Sensless Matter and the Offspring of Night and Chaos A Sober and True Sense of the World's Animation That there is a Living Sentient and Understanding Nature Presiding over the whole World But the Sense of Pagan Theists That the Whole Corporeall World Animated is a God Exploded by us This Argument therefore being not against Theism but Theogonism the Confutation thereof might be here well Omitted without any Detriment to our Cause But because the denying of a Living Understanding Nature presiding over the World is Atheisticall the Ground of this Assertion briefly Declared That Life and Understanding are Accidents of Bodies resulting onely from Such a Contexture of Atoms as produce Flesh Bloud and Brains in Bodies Organized and That there is no Reason to be found any-where but onely in Humane Form which also Confuted A Brutish Passage of a Modern Writer That it is Vnconceivable by Men How God can Understand without Brains Page 840 841 The Next which is the Eighth Atheistick Argumentation That there can be no Living Being Immortall nor Perfectly Happy built upon that False Supposition also That all Life and Understanding results from a Contexure of Dead and Sensless Atoms and therefore is Dissolvible and Annihilable But that there is Life Essentiall and Substantiall which Naturally Immortall as also a Necessity of an Eternall Life and Mind Unmade and Unannihilable which Perfectly Happy Page 841 842 SECT IV. THE Epicurean Atheists further Endeavour to Disprove a God from the Phaenomena of Motion and Cogitation in the Three Following Argumentations the Ninth Tenth and Eleventh From Motion thus That from this Principle Nothing can move It Self but Whatsoever is Moved is moved by Another it will follow That there can be no First Cause and Unmoved Mover but One thing Moved Another from Eternity Infinitely Because Nothing could Move Another which was not It Self First Moved by Something else Page 842 843 Answer The meaning of this Axiome Not That Nothing can Act from It Self as the Atheist Supposes he taking it for granted that every Thing is Body and that all Action is Locall Motion but That no Body Resting could ever Locally Move It Self A False Supposition of the Atheists and some Cartesians That were there but once Motion in the Matter this would of it Self continue to all Eternity True that of Aristotle That to make an Infinite Progress in the Causes of Motion and no First Mover is all one as to say That there is No Cause at all thereof or That all the Motion in the World is a Passion without an Agent or Comes from Nothing Clearly Impossible That there should be any Motion at all were there Nothing Self-Moving or Self-Active Page 843 Wherefore from this Principle That no Body can Move It Self it follows Vndeniably That there is Some other Substance in the World besides Body that hath an Active Power of Moving Body Page 843 844 Another Corollary from the same Principle That there is another Species of Action distinct from Locall Motion and which is not Heterokinesy but Autokinesy That the Action by which Local Motion is first Caused could not be it self Local Motion All Local Motion Caused Originally by Cogitation Thus the Ninth Atheistick Argument from Motion Confuted and from hence That no Body can Move it Self Demonstrated That there is Something Incorporeal the First Cause of Local Motion by Cogitation ibid. But the Atheists further Pretend to Prove That Cogitation it self is Heterokinesy the Passion of the Thinker and the Action of some other External Agent upon him Because Nothing taketh Beginning from It Self and No Cogitation can rise of It Self without a Cause That therefore Thinking Beings themselves are Machines and Cogitation Local Motion And No Understanding Being a First Cause nor Perfectly Happy because Dependent upon something else Page 844 845 Answer True That no Substance taketh Beginning from it Self as also That no Action Causeth it Self But False That No Action taketh Beginning from the Immediate Agent or That Nothing can Act otherwise then as Acted upon by Something else Atheists here Affirm onely what they should Prove and so Beg the Question If Nothing Self-Active then all the Motion and Action in the Universe must Come from Nothing or be Made without a Cause Page 845 True also That our Humane Cogitations are frequently occasioned from Externall Objects and that the Concatenations of Thoughts and Phantasms often depend upon Mechanick Causes But False That all Cogitations are Obtruded upon us from without and That no Transition in our Thoughts which was not
but also from thence to Demonstrate the Impossibility of his Existence Though Modern Writers not so much aware hereof yet is the Controversy betwixt Theists and Atheists thus Stated by Plato Whether Soul and Mind Juniors to Sensless Matter and the Offspring thereof or else Substantiall Things and in Order of Nature Before it Accordingly Plato confuteth Atheism no otherwise then by proving Soul not to be Junior to Inanimate Matter and Generated out of the same Evident That Plato by Soul here understood not onely the Mundane Soul but also that Whole Rank of Beings called Soul and That no Life was Generated out of Matter Page 859 860 Those professed Christians who Generate Rationall Souls out of Sensless Matter plain Betrayers of the Cause of Theism Page 860 861 Nor is the Case much different as to others who though they professedly Generate onely Sensitive Souls yet making the Rationall but meer Blanks which have Nothing in them but what was Scribbled upon them by Sense and so Knowledge in its own Nature Junior to Sense and Sensibles Highly Gratify the Atheists hereby Page 861 If any Life and Cogitation may be Generated out of Dead and Sensless Matter then can no good Reason be given why All should not be Life not partly Accidental partly Substantiall but either All Conscious Life Accidental Generable and Corruptible or else None at all ibid. The Doctrine of Reall Qualities Generable and Corruptible favourable to Atheism also And though the Atheistick Atomists Explode all the other Qualities Because Nothing can come from Nothing yet contradicting themselves again do they make Life and Understanding Reall Qualities Generated out of Matter or Caused by Nothing Page 861 862 There being a Seale or Ladder of Entities in Nature to Produce a Higher Rank of Beings out of a Lower as Life and Cogitation out of Matter and Magnitude is to Invert the Order of this Scale from Downwards to Upwards and so to lay a Foundation for Atheism Wherefore great Reason to maintain this Post against the Atheists That no Souls can be Generated out of Matter Page 862 863 The Grand Objection against the Substantiality of Sensitive Souls from that Consequence of their Permanent Subsistence after Death Cartesius so Sensible thereof that he would rather make Brutes to be Sensless Machines then allow them Substantiall Souls which he granted they must have if Thinking Beings What clearly Demonstrable by Reason not to be abandoned because attended with some Difficulties or seemingly Offensive Consequences Page 863 The Pythagorick Hypothesis That Souls all Created by God not in the Generation of Animals but in the Cosmogonia These therefore first Clothed with Thin and Subtile Bodies Aeriall or Aetheriall Ochemata wherein they Subsist both before their Ingress into Terrestriall Bodies and after their Egress out of them Thus Boëtius and Proclus Ammonius his Irrationall Demons Mortall Brutish Souls in Aeriall Bodies Since the First Creation no New Substantiall thing Made or Destroyed and therefore no Life This looked upon by Macrobius as a Great Truth Page 863 865 That the Pythagoreans would Endeavour to gain some Countenance for this Hypothesis from the Scripture Page 865 867 But if these Aeriall Vehicles of Brutish Souls be exploded for a Whimsey and none but Terrestriall Bodies allowed to them though after Death they will not Vanish into Nothing yet must they needs remain in a State of Insensibility and Inactivity till re-united to other Terrestriall Bodies Wherefore these in one Sense Mortall though in another Immortall Silk-worms dying and reviving in the Form of Butterflies made an Emblem of the Resurrection by Christian Theologers Page 867 868 But no Absolute Necessity That the Souls of Brutes though Substantiall should have a Permanent Subsistence after Death either in a State of Activity or Inactivity Because whatsoever Created by God may Possibly by him be Annihilated The Substantiality onely of the Rationall Soul Demonstrable by Reason or that it will not of it Self vanish into Nothing but not that it is Absolutely Impossible for it to be Annihilated The assurance of this Depending upon a Faith in the Divine Goodness Porphyrius his Assertion That Brutish Souls are Resolved into the Life of the Universe The whole Answer to this Objection against the Substantiality of Brutish Souls That they may notwithstanding Possibly be Annihilated in the Deaths of Animals as well as they were Created in their Generations but if they do Subsist without Aeriall Vehicles they must remain in a State of Inactivity and Insensibility Page 868 869 That this the Doctrine of the Ancient Pagan Theologers That no Life or Soul Generated out of Dead and Sensless Matter but all Produced by the Deity as well as Matter Proved out of Virgil though sundry other Testimonies also might be added thereunto Page 869 870 The Hylozoick Atheists themselves so Sensible hereof That there must be some Substantiall and Unmade Life from whence the Lives and Minds of all Animals are Derived That they attribute the same to Matter and conclude That though the Modificated Lives of Animals and Men be Accidentall Generated and Corrupted yet the Fundamental Life of them is Substantiall and Incorruptible These also asserted a Knowledge before Sense and Vnderived from Sensibles Page 870 871 This Hylozoick Atheism again Confuted Absurd to suppose Knowledge and Understanding without Consciousness as also That the Substantiall and Fundamentall Life of Men and other Animals should never Perish and yet their Souls and Personalities Vanish into Nothing That no Organization can produce Consciousness These Atheists not able possibly to give an Account whence the Intelligible Objects and Idea's of this their Knowledge of Matter should spring This Hylozoick Atheism Nothing but the Crumbling of the Deity into Matter Page 871 Concluded That the Phaenomenon of Mind and Understanding can no way possibly be Salved by Atheists without a God but affordeth a Solid Demonstration of his Existence Page 871 872 SECT V. THERE now Remaining onely the Atheistick Objections against Providence their Queries and Arguments from Interests Their First Objection From the Frame of the World as Faulty Or Because Things are Ill Made that therefore not made by a God This directed against the Sense of the Ancient Theologers That God being a Perfect Mind therefore made the World after the Best manner Some Modern Theologers Deviating from this as if the Perfection of the Deity consisted not at all in Goodness but in Power and Arbitrary Will onely The Controversy betwixt these and Atheists but Whether Matter Fortuitously Moved or a Fortuitous Will Omnipotent be the Originall of all things No Ground of Faith in a meer Arbitrarious Deity To have a Will Vndetermined to Good no Liberty nor Soveraignty but Impotency God to Celsus the Head or President of the Righteous Nature This not onely the Sense of Origen but of the Ancient Christians in Generall Plotinus The Will of God Essentially That which Ought to be God an Impartiall Balance Weighing out Heaven and Earth The
Deity not Servilely bound to doe the Best but this the Perfection of its Nature No Atheist able to prove The World to be Ill Made Page 872 874 Not to be Concluded That whatsoever we cannot find out the Reason or Use of is therefore Ineptly Made For example The Intestinum Caecum though seemingly an Odd Appendix and which the Generality of Anatomists give little Account of yet that with the Valve at its Enterance both together an Artificiall Contrivance of Nature to hinder the Regurgitation of the Faeces Page 874 875 The First Atheistick Instance of the Faultiness of things In the Disposition of the Aequator and Ecliptick Intersecting each other in such an Angle whereby the Terrestrial Globe rendered not so Habitable as it might have been This Objection Founded upon a False Supposition That the Torrid Zone Uninhabitable But this the Best Disposition which being Contrary to Mechanick Causes therefore its Continuance together with the Constant Parallelism of the Earth's Axis a manifest Eviction of Providence and that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Best is a Cause in Nature Page 875 In the next place The Atheists would prove against some Theists That All things not Made for the Sake of Man This at First but the Doctrine of Streight-laced Stoicks onely recommended afterward by mens Self-Love Whereas Plato's Doctrine That the Whole not made for any Part but the Parts for the Whole Nevertheless Things in the Lower World made Principally though not Onely for Man Atheists no Judges of the Well or Ill-Making of Worlds they having no Standing Measure of Good That Nature a Step-Mother to Man but a froward Speech of some discontented Persons seeking to Revenge themselves by Railing upon Nature that is Providence Page 875 876 Evils in Generall from the Necessity of Imperfect Beings and Incompossibility of things Page 876 Men Afflicted more from their own Phancies then Reality of things Pain which a Real Evil of Sense often Link'd with Pleasure according to the Socratick Fable This not the Evil of the Whole Man but of the Outside onely Serviceable to free men from the Greater Evils of the Mind Death according to the Atheistick Hypothesis an Absolute Extinction of all Life but according to Genuine Theism onely a Withdrawing into the Tiring-House and putting off the Terrestriall Cloathing The Dead Live to God Christian Faith gives assurance of a Heavenly Body hereafter The Christian Resurrection not the Hope of Worms This the Confutation of the Twelfth Atheistick Argument Page 876 877 The Thirteenth but Second Objection a-Against Providence as to Humane Affairs Because all things Fall alike to all and sometimes Vicious and Irreligious Persons most Prosperous Page 877 878 Granted That this Consideration hath too much Staggered weak Minds in all Ages Some concluding from thence That there is no God but that blind Chance Steereth all Others That though there be a God yet he Knows nothing done here below Others That though he do know yet he Neglecteth Humane Affairs Page 878 Vnreasonable to require That God should Miraculously Interpose at every turn or to think That every Wicked person should presently be Thunder-struck That which Steers the whole World no Fond and Passionate but an Impartial Nature Yet That there want not Instances of an Extraordinary Providence Good Reasons for the Slowness of Divine Vengeance The Notoriously Wicked commonly met with at the long Run Page 878 879 The Sometimes Impunity of Wicked Persons so far from Staggering Good men as to Providence that it confirms them in their Belief of Future Immortality and Judgement after Death The Evolution of Humane affairs a kind of Dramatick Poem and God Almighty the Skilful Dramatist who always Connecteth that of Ours which went before with what of His follows after into Coherent Sense A Geometrical Distribution of Rewards and Punishments Page 879 880 That there ought to be a Doubtful and Cloudy State of things for the Exercise of Faith and the more difficult Part of Vertue Had there been no Monsters to Subdue there could have been no Hercules Here we to Live by Faith and not by Sight Page 880 But that to make a full Defence of Providence would require a large Volume The Reader therefore referred to others for a Supplement Onely some Few Considerations to be here propounded not so much for the Confutation of Atheists as Satisfaction of Theists sometimes apt to call in Question the Divine Goodness though the very Foundation of our Christian Faith ibid. First That in Judging of the Works of God we ought not to consider the Parts of the World alone by themselves but in order to the Whole Were Nothing made but the Best there could have been no Harmony for want of Variety â—lotinus That a Limner does not make all Eye nor place Bright Colours every-where nor a Dramatist introduce onely Kings and Hero's upon the Stage Page 880 882 Secondly That we ought not to Confine God's Creation to the Narrowness of Vulgar Opinion which Extends the Universe but little beyond the Clouds and Walls it in with a Sphear of Fixed Stars The World Vncapable of Infinity of Magnitude as well as of Time Nevertheless as the Sun is much Bigger then we can Imagine it so much more may the World be The New Celestiall Phaenomena widen the Corporeal Universe and make those Phansied Flaming Walls thereof to fly away before us Not reasonable to think That all this Immense Vastness should be Desert and Uninhabited Page 882 883 Thirdly That we cannot make a Right Judgement of the Ways of Providence without looking both Forwards upon what is Future and Backwards upon what is Past as well as upon the Present That the Platonists and Pythagoreans salved many Phaenomena from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things done in a Prae-Existent State Our Common Christianity supposeth but a kind of Imputative Prae-Existence to Salve the Pravity of Mankind and the Evils of this State The different Fates and Conditions of Men here in this Life to be resolved into a Just though Occult Providence Page 883 The Third Objection against Providence or Fourteenth Atheistick Argument That it is Impossible for any One Being to Animadvert and Order all things and if it were Possible that it would be Distâ—actious and Inconsistent with Happiness Moreover That an Irresistibly Powerfull and Happy Being would not concern it self in the welfare of others Benevolence arising onely from Imbecillity Page 883 884 The Reply That because our Selves have but a Finite Animadversion and Narrow Sphear of Activity to measure the Deity accordingly is but an Idol of the Cave or Den. Certain that were there Nothing but what we could fully Comprehend there could be no God Had the Sun Life Equally Coextended with its Rays it would perceive every thing touched by them Creatures but the Rays of the Deity Men able to manage affairs in many distant places without Distraction And innumerable Notions lie together in our Minds without Crowding one another or any Disturbance
included within it self or is Concomitant and Concurrent with it the Necessity of its own Perfect Nature And now we shall leave the Intelligent and Impartial Reader to make his own Judgment concerning the forementioned Cartesian Argument for a Deity drawn from its Idea as including Necessity of Existence in it that therefore It Is Whether it be meerly Sophistical or hath something of Solidity and Reality in it However it is not very Probable that many Atheists will be convinced thereby but that they will rather be ready to say that this is no Probation at all of a Deity but only an Affirmation of the thing in Dispute and a meer Begging of the Question that therefore God Is because he Is or Cannot But be Wherefore we shall endeavour to make out an Argument or Demonstration for the Existence of a God from his Idea as including Necessary Existence in it some other ways And First we shall make an Offer towards it in this manner Though it will not follow from hence because we can Frame an Idea of any thing in our minds that therefore such a thing Really Existeth yet nevertheless whatsoever we can Frame an Idea of Implying no manner of Contradiction in its Conception we may certainly conclude thus much of it that such a thing was not Impossible to be there being nothing to us Impossible but what is Contradictious and Repugnant to Conception Now the Idea of God or a Perfect Being can Imply no manner of Contradiction in it because it is only the Idea of such a thing as hath all Possible and Conceivable Perfections in it that is all Perfections which are neither Contradictious in themselves nor to one another And they who will not allow of this Consequence from the Idea of a Perfect Being including Necessity of Existence in it that it doth therefore Actually Exist yet cannot deny but that this at least will follow from its implying no manner of Contradiction in it that is therefore a thing Possible or not Impossible to be For thus much being true of all other Contingent things whose Idea implieth no Contradiction that they are therefore Possible it must needs be granted of that whose very Idea and Essence containeth a Necessity of Existence in it as the Essence of nothing else but a Perfect Being doth And this is the First Step that we now make in way of Argumentation from the Idea of God or a Perfect Being having nothing Contradictious in it That therefore God is at least Possible or no way Impossible to have been In the next place as this particular Idea of that which is Possible includeth Necessity of Existence in it from these Two things put together at least the Possibility of such a Being and its Necessary Existence if not from the Latter alone will it according to Reason follow that He Actually Is. If God or a Perfect Being in whose Essence is contained Necessary Existence be Possible or no way Impossible to have been then He is because upon supposition of his Non-Existence it would be Absolutely Impossible that he should ever have been It does not thus follow concerning Imperfect Beings that are Contingently Possible that if they be Not it was therefore Impossible for them ever to have been for that which is Contingent though it be Not yet might it for all that Possibly Have been But a Perfect Necessarily Existent Being upon the bare supposition of its Non-Existence could no more Possibly Have been than it could Possibly Hereafter be because if it might Have been though it be not then would it not be a Necessary Existent Being The sum of all is this A Necessary Existent Being if it be Possible it Is because upon supposition of its Non-Existâ—nce it would be Impossible for it ever to have been Wherefore God is either Impossible to have been or else He Is. For if God were Possible and yet be Not then is he not a Necessary but Contingent Being which is contrary to the Hypothesis But because this Argumentation may perhaps run the same Fate also with the former and by reason of its Subtlety do but little Execution neither if not be accounted Sophistical too men being generally prone to Distrust the Firmness and Solidity of such Thin and Subtle Cobwebs as these and the like may seem to be or their Ability to Support the Weight of so Great a Truth and to suspect themselves to be Illaqueated and Circumvented in them therefore shall we lay no stress upon this neither but proceed to something which is yet more Plain and Downright after this manner Whatsoever we can frame an Idea of in our minds implying no manner of Contradiction this either Actually Is or else If it be Not it is Possible for it to Be. But if God be Not He Is not Possible hereafter to Be therefore He Is. The Reason and Necessity of the Minor is evident because if God be not and yet Possible hereafter to be then would he not be an Eternal and Necessarily Existent Being which is Contradictious to his Idea And the Ground of the Major upon which all the weight lies hath been already declared where we proved before That If there were no God or Perfect Being we could never have had any Conception or Idea of him in our Minds because there can be no Positive Conception of an Absolute Nothing that which hath neither Actual nor Possible Existence Here the Posture of the Argument is only Inverted Because we have an Idea of God or a Perfect Being implying no manner of Contradiction in it therefore must it needs have some kind of Entity or other either an Actual or Possible One but God if he be Not is not Possible to Be therefore He doth Actually Exist But perhaps this Argumentation also how firm and solid soever may prove less Convictive of the Existence of a God to the Generality because whatever is Received is Received according to the Capacity of the Recipient and though a Demonstration be never so good in it self yet is it more or less such to Particular Persons according to their ability to comprehend it Therefore shall we in the next place Form yet a Plainer Demonstration for a God from the Idea of him including Necessary Existence in it It being First Premised That unquestionably Something or other did Exist from all Eternity without beginning For it is certain that Every thing could not be Made because Nothing could come from Nothing or be Made by It self and therefore if once there had been Nothing there could never have been Any thing Whence it is undeniable that there was always Something and consequently that there was Something Vnmade which Existed of It self from all Eternity Now all the Question is and indeed this is the only Question betwixt Theists and Atheists since Something did certainly Exist of It self from all Eternity What that thing is whether it be a Perfect or an Imperfect Being We say therefore that whatsoever Existed of It self
Efficiently by any thing which had not at least Equal Perfection in it and â— Sufficient Active or Productive Power and Consequently that no New Substance can be Made but by a Perfect Being which only is Substantially Emanative Thirdly and Lastly that when things are Made out of Pre-Existing Matter as in Artificial Productions and Natural Generations there can be no new Real Entity Produced but only different Modifications of what before Substantially was the Material Cause as such Efficiently Producing Nothing And thus was this Axiom Understood by Cicero That Nothing could be Made out of Nothing viz. Causally in his Book De Fato where he reprehendeth Epicurus for endeavouring to avoid Fate and to Establish Liberty of Will by that Absurd Figment of Atoms Declining Vncertainly from the Perpendicular Nec cum haec ita sint est causa cur Epicurus Fatum extimescat ab Atomis petat praesidium easque De Via deducat uno tempore suscipiat res duas inenodabiles Vnam ut sine Causâ fiat aliquid ex quo existet ut De Nihilo quippiam fiat quod nec ipsi nec cuiquam Physico placet Nor is there for all that any Reason why Epicurus should be so much afraid of Fate and seek Refuge in Atoms he supposing them in their Infinite Descents to Decline Vncertainly from the Perpendicular and laying this as a Foundation for Liberty of Will whereby he plunged himself at once into Two inextricable difficulties the First whereof was the supposing of Something to be made without a Cause or which is all one out of Nothing a thing that will neither be allowed be any Physiologer nor could Epicurus himself be Pleased or Satisfied therewith The reason whereof is because it was a Fundamental Principle of the Atomick Philosophy That Nothing in this Sense could be Made out of Nothing Moreover we have in the next place declared in what other Sense this Proposition that Nothing can be Made out of Nothing is False namely when this Out of Nothing is not taken Causally but so as to signifie the Terminus From which that Nothing can be Made out of an Antecedent Non-Existence that no Real Entity or Substance which before was not could by any Power whatsoever be afterwards brought into being Or That Nothing can possibly be Made but out of Something Pre-Existing by the new Modification thereof And it appears from that of Cicero that the True and Genuine Sense of this Proposition De Nihilo nihil fit according to the Mind of those Ancient Physiologers who laid so great stress thereupon was not that Nothing could by any Power whatsoever be brought out of Non-Existence into Being but only that Nothing could be made without a Cause Nor did they here by Cause mean the Material only in this sense as if Nothing could Possibly be Made but out of Prae-Existing Matter Epicurus being taxed by Cicero for introducing that his Third Motion of Atoms or Clinamen Principiorum out of Nothing or Without an Efficient Cause as indeed all Motion also was to those Atomick Atheists in this Sense from Nothing Nevertheless we have also shewed That if this Proposiâ—ion Nothing out of Nothing in that Atheistick Sense as level'd against a Deity were True yet would it of the Two more impugn Atheism it self than it does Theism the Atheists Generating and Corrupting All Things the Substance of Matter only excepted all Life Sense and Vnderstanding Humane Souls Minds and Personalities they Producing these and consequently Themselves out of Nothing and resolving them all to Nothing again We shall now in the Third and Last place make it manifest that the Atheists do not only bring Real Entities and Substantial things out of Nothing in the Second sense that is out of an Antecedent Non Existence which yet is a thing Possible only to God or a Perfect Being but also that they bring them out of Nothing in the Absolutely Impossible Sense that is suppose them to be Made without a Cause or Nothing to be the Cause of Something But we must prepare the way hereunto by setting down First a Brief and Compendious Sum of the whole Atheistick Hypothesis The Atheists therefore who contend that Nothing can be Made but only New Accidents or Modifications of Pre-Existing Substance Taking it for granted that there is no other Substance besides Body or Matter do conclude accordingly that Nothing can be Made but out of Pre-Existing Matter or Body And then they add hereunto That Matter being the only Substance the only Vnmade Self-Existent thing whatsoever else is in the world besides the bare Substance of this Matter was Made out of it or Produced by it So that there are these Three Things contained in the Atheistick Hypothesis First that No Substance can be Made or Caused by any thing else but only new Modifications Secondly that Matter or Body is the Only Substance and therefore whatsoever is made is Made out of Pre Existing Matter Thirdly and Lastly That whatsoever there is else in the whole world besides the Substance of Matter it is Made or Generated out of Matter And now we shall demonstrate the Absolute Impossibility of this Atheistick Hypothesis from that very Principle of the Ancient Physiologers that Nothing can be Made out of Nothing in the True Sense thereof it not only bringing Real Entities and Substantial Things out of an Antecedent Non-Existence though nothing but an Infinitly Perfect Being neither can thus Create but also Producing them without A Cause First therefore when they affirm Matter to be the Only Substance and all things else whatsoever to be Made out of that alone they hereby plainly Suppose all things to be Made without an Efficient Cause which is to bring them out of Nothing in an Impossible Sense For though it be not True that Nothing can be Made but out of Pre-Existing Matter and consequently that God himself supposed to Exist could in this respect do no more than a Carpenter or Taylor doth I say though it be not Universally True That every thing that is Made must have a Material Cause so that the Quaternio of Causes in Logick is not to be Extended to all things Caused whatsoever yet is it certain that Nothing which once was not could Possibly be Made without an Efficient Cause Wherefore if there be any thing Made which was not before there must of Necessity besides Matter be some other Substance Existing as the Efficient Cause thereof for as much as Matter alone Could not Make any thing as Marble cannot make a Statue nor Timber and Stones a House nor Cloth a Garment This is our First Demonstration of the Impossibility of the Atheistick Hypothesis it supposing all things besides the bare Substance of Matter to be Made out of Matter alone without any other Active Principle or Deity or to be Made without an Efficient Cause which is to bring them from Nothing in an Impossible Sense To which may be added by way of Appendix
that whereas the Democritick and Epicurean Atheists admit of no other Efficient Causality in Nature then only Local Motion and allow to Matter or Body their only Substance no Self-Moving Power they hereby make all the Motion that is in the whole world to be without a Cause and from Nothing Action without any Subject or Agent and the Efficiency of all things without an Efficient In the next place should we be so liberal as to grant to the Atomick Atheists Motion without a Cause or permit Strato and the Hylozoick Atheists to attribute to Matter a Self-Moving Power yet do we affirm that this Matter and Motion both together could not Possibly Produce any new Real Entity which was not before Matter as such Efficiently Causing Nothing and Motion only changing the Modifications of Matter as Figure Place Site and Disposition of Parts Wherefore if Matter as such have no Animal Sense and Conscious Vnderstanding Essentially belonging to it which no Atheists as yet have had the Impudence to assert then can no Motion or Modification of Matter no Contexture of Atoms Possibly beget Sense and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind because this would be to bring Something out of Nothing in the Impossible Sense or to suppose Something to be Made by It self without a Cause Which may Serve also for a Confutation of those Imperfect and Spurious Theists who will not allow to God Almighty whether supposed by them to be Corporeal or Incorporeal a Power of Making any thing but only out of Pre-Existent Matter by the new Modifying thereof as a Carpenter makes a House out of Pre-Existing Timber and Stone and a Taylor a Garment out of Pre-Existing Cloth For since Animal Life and Vnderstanding are not by them supposed to belong at all to Matter as such and since they cannot result from any Modifications or Contextures thereof it would plainly follow from hence that God could not Possibly make Animals or Produce Sense and Vnderstanding Souls and Minds which nevertheless these Theists suppose him to have done and therefore ought in reason to acknowledge him not only to be the Maker of New Modifications of Matter and one who Built the world only as a Carpenter doth a House but also of Real Entities distinct from the same And this was the very Doctrine as we have already declared of the most Ancient Atomick Physiologers not That every thing whatsoever might be Made out of Pre-Existing Matter but on the contrary that in all Natural Generations there is no Real Entity Produced out of the Matter which was not before in it but only New Modifications and Consequently that Souls and Minds being not meer Modifications of Matter in respect of Magnitude Figure Site and Motion could never be Produced out of it because they must then of necessity Come from Nothing that is be Made either by Themselves without a Cause or without a Sufficient Cause It hath also been before noted out of Aristotle how the Old Atheistick Materialists being assaulted by those Italick Philosophers after that manner that Nothing which was not before in Matter besides its Modifications could Possibly be Produced out of it because Nothing can Come out of Nothing and consequently that in all Natural Generations and Corruptions there is no Real Entity Made or Destroyed endeavoured without denying the words of that Proposition to Evade after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That there is indeed Nothing Generated or Corrupted in some Sense for as much as the same Substance of Matter always remains it being never Made nor Destroyed For as men do not say that Socrates is Made when he is Made Musical or Handsome nor Destroyed when he looseth these Dispositions because the subject Socrates was before and still remaineth so neither is any Substantial thing or Real Entity in the world Made or Destroyed in this sense because Matter which is the Substance of all perpetually remains and all other things whatsoever are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Passions and Affections and Dispositions thereof as Musicalness and Unmusicalness in respect of Socrates Which is all one as if they should say that all things whatsoever besides Matter being but Accidents thereof are Generated out of it and Corruptible into it without the Production of any Real Entity out of Nothing or the Reduction of any into Nothing so long as the Substance of Matter which is the only Real Entity remains always the same Wherefore though Life Sense and Vnderstanding all Souls and Minds be Generated out of Matter yet does it not follow from thence that therefore there is any Real Entity Made or Produced because these are Nothing but Accidents and Modifications of Matter This was the Subterfuge of the Old Hylopathian Atheists Now it is true indeed that whatsoever is in the Universe is either Substance or Accidents and that the Accidents of any Substance may be Generated and Corrupted without the Producing of any Real Entity out of Nothing and Reducing of any into Nothing for as much as the Substance still remains entirely the same But the Atheists taking it for granted that there is no other Substance besides Body or Matter do therefore falsly suppose that which is really Incorporeal Substance or else the Attributes Properties and Modes thereof to be the meer Accidents of Matter and Consequently conclude these to be Generable out of it without the Production of any Real Entity out of Nothing We say therefore that it does not at all follow because the same Numerical Matter as for example a Piece of Wax may be Successively made Spherical Cubical Cylindrical Pyramidal or of any other Figure and the same man may Successively Stand Sit Kneel and Walk both without the Production of Anything out of Nothing or because a heap of Stones Bricks Morter and Timber lying altogether disorderly and confusedly may be made into a Stately Palace and that without the Miraculous Creation of any Real Entity out of Nothing that therefore the same may be affirmed likewise of every thing else besides the bare Substance of Matter as namely Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind that though there be No such thing in Matter it self yet the Production of them out of Matter would be no Production of Something out of Nothing One Ground of which mistake hath been from mens not rightly considering what the Accidents of a Substance are and that they are indeed Nothing but the Modes thereof Now a Mode is such a thing as cannot Possibly be conceived without that whereof it is a Mode as Standing Sitting Kneeling and Walking cannot be conceived without a Body Organized and therefore are but Modes thereof but Life and Cogitation may be clearly apprehended without Body or any thing of Extension nor indeed can a Thought Be conceived to be of such a Length Breadth and Thickness or to be Hewed and Sliced out into many Pieces all which laid together as so many Small Chips thereof would make up again the entireness of that whole