the Being of God should either through the shortness of his Meditations or the sublimeness of the Theory make use of an Argument not perfectly conclusive yet seeing the success of the Cause depends not upon it and seeing the Man perhaps has effected as much as he intended by it that is added his Mite to the former Treasury upon the whole matter it seems hard if such an one must be prosecuted as an Atheist or a Betrayer of the Cause of Religion Cicer. de Univers Si fortè de Deorum Naturâ ortuque Mundi disserentes minùs id quod habemus Animo consequimur c. hand sanè erit mirum contentique esse debebitis si probabilia dicentur aequum est enim meminisse me qui disseram hominem esse vos qui judicetis ut si probabilia dicentur nè quid ultra requiratis Among the many Arguments brought to prove the Being of God these two seem the most considerable First That comprehensive one which is drawn from the Being of the World whereby I understand not only the Divine Power of creating or producing something out of nothing but that admirable Wisdom also that appears in making it such as it is and in the proper subserviencies of things therein to their respective Ends That Argument further which is drawn not only from the Material but the Intellectual Universe not only from the structure of the Body but the Nature of the Soul Secondly That which is drawn from the Consent and universal Acknowledgment of all Nations As for that which seems Aristotle's Opinion That the World was from Eternity and yet that it was in Nature of an Effect in respect of God the Cause it will be impossible to free this Assertion either from a Contradiction or from an unworthy reflection upon the Excellency of the Divine Nature For if God as a Cause was in time antecedent to the World then it is a contradiction to say it was from Eternity If it did flow from God as an Emanative Effect as the Beams from the Sun then this destroys the chiefest Perfection of the Divine Nature viz. its Liberty And this seems one of the best Arguments to prove That the World neither was nor could be from Eternity and it will be very hard if once we give our Adversaries leave to suppose it to be Eternal by any other Argument to force 'em out of their Opinion For I do not see that it would be any absurdity to say That supposing the World to be Eternal there has been as many Years as Days that is an equal Infinite number of both all Infinites being Equal for Infinity can no more be exhausted by Years than Days if it could then it would not be what it is in its own nature inexhaustible But the truth is such is the nature of Infinite with respect to our Finite Capacity that the one is not a Competent Iudge of the other and when we enter into disputes of this nature we are often entangled with unanswerable difficulties on both sides But the Atheist tells us That all this visible Universe the Heavens the Earth and all Mankind at first were the lucky hits of blind Chance which after almost infinite successless Tryals going before did at last happen upon these admirable and excellent Structures particularly those of humane Bodies But here we must know that according to these Principles the same Chance which first made us must still continue us But then how comes it to pass that Chance is so regular and constant in its Productions since That whereas it is above ten thousand to one according to these Principles but that Mankind long ere this must have wholly ceased to have been or else nothing but Monsters have been produced instead hereof we see a very regular and orderly course of Nature generally observed This is as if a Man should be a thousand years in casting all sizes upon six Dice and then for a thousand years after to throw nothing else if we could suppose a Mans Life to last so long Whoever can believe such strange things as these ought never to blame any one for being over credulous As for that other Argument drawn from the consent of Mankind there are some who tell us That those natural Impressions of God upon the minds of Men upon which this universal consent is founded are mere imaginary things and that there is no need of 'em in our disputes against Atheism But these Men might do well to consider whether they do not too much oblige the Atheists and go too far towards the betraying the Cause of God and Religion in the World who willingly quit and give up that Argument which hath hitherto been managed with such good success by the best and wisest of Men in all Ages willingly I say to give it up gratis for I verily believe it can never be forc'd and wrested out of the hand of a Christian Philosopher who rightly understands it And why should we grant any thing to an Atheist which may tend to the advantage of his or the prejudice of our own Cause unless he necessarily force it from us by dint of Argument always provided that we readily acknowledge evident Truth whereever we find it First I conceive there neither is nor can be any Argument in a true and proper sense à priore to prove the Being of God that taken from the Idea is not such But it is an arguing from the effect to the Cause only the effect seems a more immediate one and such as bears a more particular resemblance to the Cause That somewhat was from Eternity is evidently demonstrable for if once there was nothing it was impossible for any thing ever to begin to be Now this something must be either Matter or Spirit a thinking or unthinking Being it cannot be an unthinking Being for then it would be impossible that there should be any such thing as Knowledge or Cogitation in the World which yet we are inwardly conscious to our selves of For as Dr. Lock Chap. 10. Book 4. hath well observ'd It is as impossible to conceive that ever bare incogitative matter should produce a thinking intelligent Being as that nothing of it self should produce matter Now it must be either Man that was the first Eternal Being the Creator of all things or some other Being But though the Atheists are not the greatest Wits in the World yet we must not think 'em such very Atheists neither as to make mere Man to set up for a Sovereign Creator Thus we have an Idea or Conception of a Being infinitely more perfect than our selves and therefore we were not the Cause of our own Existence for if we had we should then have given our selves those Perfections which we find wanting in us and conceive in another Therefore we owe our Existence to and dependance upon that Being without us which enjoys all Perfections But now the Question is Whether the Idea be the Cause or occasion
Cum igitur virtus res divina sit c. upon which the Commentator's words are Omnis rei cujuscunque sit summa excellentia quae à Deo esse putatur divina appellatur quo modo rudiore quâdam Minervâ intelligi potest quod hoc loco dicitur virtutem quae hominis est perfectio rem quandam esse divinam Not but that every good and perfect Gift comes from God either immediately or mediately but perhaps this was a way of Expression common to Plato with the Iews of calling any thing that was great and excellent in its kind by the Name of Divine so that all that was probably meant by this Phrase was only to express the excellency of the thing and the great Opinion he had of it or else that Divine Providence had some more particular concern in the disposing and inclining Men to it either by giving them a more happy Constitution of Body or a more Ingenuous Temper of Mind or by affording more advantagious Circumstances of time and place yet so as that the most happy Occurrences do not necessitate Men to be Vertuous without their own Industry and Inclination nor the most Unhappy force 'em to be wicked without their own fault However if this be Plato's Opinion That Vertue is so from God that it cannot be gotten by Humane Industry in conjunction with the ordinary Influences of Divine Providence this Opinion is neither reasonable in it self nor is it sufficiently prov'd by that Argument made use of by Socrates for that purpose If says he Vertue was possible to be taught then would Good Men more especially teach their Sons that so they might inherit their Father's Vertues as well as Fortunes but the contrary frequently appears To this I Answer First That nothing can be prov'd from particular Instances seeing as many may be brought to the contrary where Vertue has been as it were propagated with the Family and we may furnish our selves even from our own Observation with Examples of the happy success of a Vertuous Education Secondly Vertuous Parents tho they may desire their Children may be such too yet many times such is their Tenderness and Indulgence to 'em that they do not make use of those Methods which are most proper thereunto which are commonly joyn'd with some degrees of Severity Thirdly Vertue though it may be taught and is capable of being learn'd yet is it a very conditional thing and depends upon the concurrence of many Circumstances together for the producing the effect and that which often defeats all the rest is the liberty of the Will which many Men use in opposition to all those Moral means which are otherwise sufficient in themselves and design'd by others to moderate their Passions and reduce 'em to Vertue Nor 2. Doth Vertue proceed from any Natural Influx of the Stars for if we consider the Nature of the Heavens and natural Causes and compare 'em with the Nature of the Soul and the Native Liberty of the Will it will be impossible to conceive how any Sydereal Influences can any ways certainly or necessarily determine the Minds of Men. And the same Arguments that prove the Vanity of Iudicial Astrology in other respects do much more evince the folly of their pretences who go into Heaven to fetch down Vertue from thence when indeed it is nearer us even in our Mouths imprinted upon our very Hearts and Natures I shall here give you Savanorola's Argument in a case much what to this purpose If says he the Christian Faith and Life proceed from the Stars then their Faith is either true or false if it be true then it cannot proceed from thence because it condemns that Opinion and asserts the Vanity of Iudicial Astrology if it be false and proceed from the Stars then it follows that the Stars incline Men to falshood and the falshood of the Effect will be no good reason why we should believe the truth of the Cause Whereby Men by the mere strength of Nature c. And thus Vertue is distinguished from Grace thus the Heathen Moralists have discours'd very well of Vertue in their Writings and given great Instances thereof in their Practices who yet were very Strangers to all Supernatural Revelation And this Notion of it seems fitly to assign the just Limits betwixt the Gentile and the Christian Religion it deprives not the one of what it may justly challenge as its right it allows to men in the state of Nature some inclinations and abilities too to Vertue but yet that without supernatural assistance he can never arrive at Evangelical Perfection it doth not so far depress humane nature Modices to make it perfectly stupid nor on the other hand doth it raise it to a pitch of Pelagianisin it grants Heathens to be Men and reminds Christians of their Original Sin and the present depravation of their Natures And though the Heathen Moralists do sometimes mention such a thing as afflatus divinus yet it cannot be in reason extended so far as to signify that which Christian Writers commonly understand by that expression To perform that which is most agreeable to the duty and dignity of his nature Thus though vertue in the proper acceptation of it be distinguish'd from Grace as to the Principle from whence it flows the one proceeding from nature the other from a more divine original yet do they agree in their end and Friendly conspire together to carry on the same designs of Providence in the World viz. the glory of God and the good of Men. Now the dignities or excellencies of humane nature are of two sorts 1. Natural and original 2. Such as are the results of the divine benignity afterwards 1. Natural and Original and under this head I shall only consider the excellencies of the Soul in particular 1. As to the excellency of its nature and essence that it is a spiritual being and ray of Divinity now considering this natural preheminence of the Soul above the Body we act unworthy of the dignity and excellence of the Soul when we make it only a Slave to the Body and only as it were the Bodies Purveyor to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof 2. As to its intellectual Endowments Man only of all this lower Creation is endowed with a power of reasoning now certainly God never gave us such excellent faculties only to employ 'em upon mean objects and debase 'em by unworthy Employments Phil. 4. 8. What soever things are true what soever things are just c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 think on these things 3. As to its moral Endowments that is all those natural Inclinations and Capacities the Soul has to Vertue and Goodness that inward sense of Honesty that tactus quidam divinitat is as Iamblicus calls it now this also obliges us to be true to that inward sense of obligation that lies upon us 2. Such dignities as are the result of divine benignity afterwards and these I shall consider
of the same Opinion in his Book de jure belli pacis where among his many perplex'd methods of arguing upon this subject yet this he seems positively to assert That civil Power had its Original from the Consent of the People not taking the least notice of any higher principle but yet he directly contradicts himself herein in his Epistle Dedicatory to Lewis the XIIIth King of France whether only in Compliment or no I know not where he tells him Quà m gloriosum hoc c. ut si quando te Deus ad suum Regnum vocaverit audacter possis dicere hunc ego à te gladium pro justitiae tutelâ accepi hunc ego tibi nullius temerè fusi sanguinis reum purum insontémque reddo Here he says that Lewis the XIIIth received the sword of Iustice from God which if he did it was more than ever any other King according to his Principles did before p. 80. de jure belli Notandum est primò homines non Dei praecepto sed sponte adductos experimento infirmitatis familiarum segregum adversus violentiam in societatem civilem coiisse unde ortum habet civilis potest as quam ideo humanam ordinationem Petrus vocat quanquam alibi divina Ordinatio vocatur quia hominum salubre institutum Deus probavit Deus autem humanam legem probans censetur probare at humanam humano more where we see that God was no farther concern'd in the constituting this civil Power but only by way of approbation of what Man had done before But here first he supposes it would be hard for him to prove That Men liv'd at first in separate Families without any common Power over them But 2. suppose they did the sense and experience of the Inconveniences that attended this way of living might be a motive or occasion of Mens looking out for help but I do not see how they are thus any more the radical Cause of Civil Power than the Patient is the Cause of his own Cure or of the Physician 's Skill only because he apply'd himself to him Nor is it here deny'd but that the People may in some cases determine the Person as in Elective Kingdoms And further suppose a mixt company of Men such as are neither Parents of Children nor Masters of Families such as have no relation or dependance upon one another suppose these by chance cast upon an uninhabited Coast they may frame themselves into any particular Form of Government such as they may reasonably believe to be most agreeable to their Circumstances and most subservient to the great Ends of all Government viz. Peace and Piety But yet notwithstanding the Power in this case is not originally from the People but as the Learned and Iudicious Dr. Donne has determined the Case God by a secret Compact made with Mankind in Nature doth infuse the Power as the Soul into the Body Politick as well as Natural thus duly prepar'd and as it were presented to God for that purpose by a prudent and regular Election and Determination they who would see this further explain'd and confirm'd may consult Dr. Donne's Pseudo-Martyrs Cap. 6. That which seems most liable to Exception in this Account is that secret Compact which God is here suppos'd to make with Mankind c. so that Learned Man is pleased to call it but I am not very sollicitous either about the name or the particular way and mode of conveying this Power only to make the thing appear the more reasonable We may consider that it would be very hard if at all possible for those who derive this Power merely from the consent of the People either to secure the Government at present or the Succession afterwards upon these Principles For since according to them Men are by Nature born free and consequently it may be questioned how far the Act of the Father in this case will oblige his Posterity Why may not the Children plead that they have as good right to vote and consent for themselves now as their Fathers had before and this would soon prove the utter Ruine of all Government But now since the Obligation that lies upon us is from an higher Principle this if any thing will keep Men in their due Obedience and this I conceive is very agreeable to the Doctrine laid down in Bishop Overall's Convocation-Book Here 't is further observable That the Patrons of that Opinion which founds Power originally in the People are like those of the Church of Rome in their Disputes about Infallibility Those we have here to deal with are sure that the Original of Power is in the People only they know not where to fix and where to find it whether in the Body of the People collectively taken or only in the Heads and Masters of Families or in the Men only in contradiction to Women and Children or in each particular Man singly as Mr. Hobbs asserts for he doth not suppose that when the People make a Migistrate that they confer any Power upon him which he had not before in his private Capacity only they covenant that they will not use their Power in opposition to his but let him alone to rule without a Rival Now the great incertainty these Men are in both in respect of Infallibility and the first and immediate Subject of this Power is a great presumption at least that there is no such as either in that way and manner wherein they assert them thus I conceive this way of stating the Question gives both to God the King and the People what is of right their due and if the People should challenge more than what is here given them I think it would be to their disadvantage As for those other three Particulars before-mentioned I shall refer the Reader to those respective Authors who treat of ' em But though civil Power be originally from God yet is it not founded in Grace which Opinion as it is now commonly stated is but the novel Invention of some brain-sick People of latter days founded upon the mistaken sence of some Prophecies of the old Testament and upon some forc'd Interpretatious of some Texts of the New and it has been further promoted by the fantastick Pride nnd Folly of those that entertain it first by fansying themselves Saints and then falsly applying all those Honours and Priviledges to themselves which they think are any where applyed to Saints in Scripture 1 Cor. 6. 2. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the world hence they falsly conclude That those Kings who have not a just right or title to a Crown in Heaven ought to lay no claim to one on Earth and therefore those wicked of the World are to be rooted out only to make room for their Saintships But for the better understanding of that place we must know That Saints in Scripture frequently signifie no more than the called and faithful such as from Iudaism or Heathenism were converted