from what is their Neighbours but what the Law lays upon them no restraint but want of Ability or Opportunity does throw down all the Fences and lay open ever Man's Property to the invasion of as many as hearken to his Suggestions whenever they are out of the view and reach of the Law and have Power and a fair Occasion favours the Attempt There 's no Conspiracy so dangerous to Sovereign Princes as a Combination of Atheists to spread abroad their desperate Opinions and make Proselytes in their Kingdoms and they whom Necessity drives to rob Houses or upon the High-way are but puny Offenders against particular Men's Properties and the Peace of the Community in Comparison of them for they teach Men whenever they can securely be so to be Traitors Thieves and Murderers upon Principle 2. If the Character of a Fool does so justly belong to the Atheist that whoever says a Man is an Atheist says at the same time he is a Fool this Consideration I should think if nothing else should be of force to keep all those whom their Birth and Estate Quality and Circumstances as to this World have raised above the common level from being Atheists at least from owning themselves such and boasting of it These are generally more jealous of their Reputations and sensible of any thing that touches their Honour than other Men and commonly they are not more tender in any thing nor do feel any reflections more quickly than those that are made upon their Understanding To be called a Fool is an affront they cannot bear nor is it to be expiated with less than the Blood of him that gave it and can they be content to do that And is it a thing to be gloried in which will prove them the greatest Fools according to the infallible Oracle pronounced by him who cannot be deceived and with whom 't is to no purpose at least to no good purpose to be angry Which will also render them so in the Opinion of all wise Men who are the only Men capable of Judging And this Atheism effectually does How industrious and zealous then should any that have unhappily laboured under it be to clear themselves from so foul an Imputation And with what Scorn and Indignation should all that value their Reputations reject the Proposals and Persons of such perfidious Wretches who by infusing A theistical Principles into them are robbing them of their Honour and treacherously betraying them into the greatest Scorn and Contempt He does not injure a Man's Reputation half so much that calls him Fool as he that persuades him to be one 3. Lastly If it be Folly for those who are not convinc'd of the Being of a God and Providence and Future Judgment not to believe those things practically How great must their Folly be who being convine'd thereof yet live as if they were not If speculative Atheism be Folly practical Atheism is Phrenzy and Madness Let us not then be wise only in belief and Fools in practice let us not contradict but shew our Faith by our Works We profess to believe that there is a God and we do well let us not give the Lye to our Profession by disbelieving what he has reveal'd by ridiculing his Word abusing his Name profaning his Day despising his Worship and disobeying his Laws but let us evidence the truth of our Faith by paying a religious Reverence to every thing on which his Name is call'd by making it the business of our Lives to promote his Honour and by endeavouring what we can that his Will may be done by us and by all Men. We profess to believe a Providence that sees whatever is done throughout the whole Earth even in the most dark and private Recesses without the appointment or permission whereof nothing falls out and which takes care of all things here below let us not deny it by encouraging our selves in Wickedness and crying none shall see us by being guilty of Deeds of Darkness and saying Peradventure the Darkness shall cover us by misimputing the Good or Evil that happens to us to wrong Causes by forgetting or repining at the Hand from whence they come by desponding anxieties for the future as if there were none that took care of us by using indirect Methods to gain or keep sufficiency our selves But let it appear that we are in earnest persuaded of a Providence by always acting as in the view thereof by doing every thing as in his Presence with whom the Darkness is no Darkness and the Night as clear as Noon day by looking whenever the Rod is upon us up to him as the wise Manager of it humbly submitting to and kissing it by thankfully acknowledging him as the Author whatever is the Instrument of all the good we enjoy by doing our Duty and then faithfully in every Condition depending and casting all our Care upon him who careth for us We profess to believe that we have some nobler Principle than Matter in us even spiritual Substances which cannot die Let us not contradict this belief by making our Bodies the chief Objects of our care and spending our time and labour in looking after carnal and sensual Delights which no more belong to immaterial Souls than Soundâ— do to the Eye or Colours to the Ear but let uâ— justifie it by raising our selves above the little satisfactions of Sense to a Contempt of all those Pleasureâ— which Brutes may share with and excell us in anâ— by resolving to lose the whole World rather than noâ— save our own Souls We profess to believe that God has appointed a Daâ— wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness by thaâ— Man whom he hath ordained who shall come in the Cloudâ— of Heaven in the Glory of his Father with his Angelsâ— to take an account of and render to every one according to his Works to those who by patient continuance iâ— well doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortalityâ— Eternal Life but to those who obey not the Gospel Eternal Tribulation and Anguish and Pain Let us noâ— betray the Hypocrisie of our Profession by neglecting to provide against the coming of our Judge by acting as though we never expected to be call'd to aâ— account by saying with the evil Servant Our Lorâ— delays his Coming and by smiting our Fellow-Servants and eating and drinking with the drunken or by sleeping with the foolish Virgins and slumbring while thâ— Bridegroom tarries but let us prove the Truth of it by being upon a constant Watch by behaving our selveâ— like Men that wait for their Lord being continually employ'd in his Work and Service having our accountâ— always stated and our Lamps burning that at whaâ— Watch soever he comes he may find us ready anâ— we may enter into his Joy Amen FINIS ADVERTISEMENT TWO Sermons lately Published by the same Author One at thâ— Cathedrol at Worcester being a Fast-Sermon The other A Lenâ— Sermon at Whitehall
THE Vnreasonableness and Mischief OF ATHEISM A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN At WHITE-HALL On Friday the 30th of March 1694. By W. Talbot D. D. and Dean of Worcester Published by Her Majesty's Command London Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1694. Psal XIV Ver. 1. The Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God THAT there is no God no infinitely Wise Powerful Just and Good Being that at first made this World does still administer and govern it and will finally judge the rational part of it That there is no First Cause of all things which is of it self but that either there has been an infinite Succession of Natural Causes or they have produced one another in a Circle that is to say according to the former There have been infinite Men in the World before there was ever a one and according to the latter That David was not only the Father of Solomon but the Son of Solomon also nay mediately and remotely the Father and Son of himself Or if there were a First Cause that 't was a necessary brute and unthinking Cause which yet has produced rational free and thinking Agents Effects which have Excellencies in them which were no way in the Cause from whence they proceeded Or that this World was produced by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms That this Vast and Noble Beautiful and Regular Structure wherein all things are made according to Weight and Measure all act orderly and constantly for some end wherein appears the wisest Contrivance both in the Fabrick of the several Parts and of the whole and the disposal of all for the attainment of their several Ends is the Work of blind Chance which can neither see nor Design nor dispose Or if there were an Intelligent Being that first created it that he abandon'd it as soon as he made it and having once shut it out of his Hands took no farther care but left the Administration of it to Fortune or Fate Or if he does concern himself in the Government of it will never rectifie those Abuses which he sees and permits in it That he has no Rewards in store to bestow hereafter on those who love and obey him whom he yet suffers to be evilly intreated and miserable here and many times so for his Sake and Service nor will ever call to account or punish those who daily affront and provoke him who yet meet with no other Returns for their Villainies here than Security Prosperity and the good Things of this Life These are things so irrational and extravagant that one would think it hardly possible to find any that are Fools enough to believe or say them and would not expect to meet with any Discourses against such for the same Reason that there have been no Laws made against some Crimes which have been of so heinous a Nature that none cou'd be supposed capable of committing them But the Scripture supposes there are and may be such Fools and our own unhappy Times afford too many Instances of them who ridicule a God and Providence and Judgment to come either deny his Existence or allow him to be no better than the Gods of the Heathens that have Eyes and see not Ears and hear not One to whom Elijah's Sarcasm concerning Baal may be applicable that he is Talking pursuing in a Journey or peradventure he sleeps when he should observe the Actions of Men or attend to the Services of his Votaries who having vilified their Maker no wonder debase his Workmanship believe themselves to be made up only of Matter that as they live they shall die like Beasts their Bodies shall moulder into Dust their Souls be dissolved into soft Air and there 's an end of them Who have not only defaced in themselves all Notions of Spiritual Beings but make it their business to blot out all such Impressions in others and as they have debauch'd and corrupted their own Reason and Faith to assert and believe those wild Opinions which their Lusts and Appetites suggest and to acknowledge nothing in being besides Matter and Motion so labour to make a Party and gain Proselytes to their absurd Opinions and Practices They conceive Wickedness and when they come abroad they tell it it rests not in their hearts but with their tongues they spit about their Poison and with their infected breath endeavour to spread the deadly Contagion where ever they go Who to gain reputation and followers pretend to be the only free and impartial Reasoners the great Abettors of the Liberty of Humane Nature that have no other end to serve but the discovering the Weakness and breaking off of those Chains wherewith designing and interested Men had inslav'd it Now if Fools will be setting up for the only Masters of Thought If the most absurd Notions shall be vented for Oracles of Reason If not content to have fool'd themselves in a Matter of the greatest Concern they are industrious to delude others and like the great Abaddon restlesly endeavouring day and night to bring others into the same Condemnation with themselves It is certainly an Act of the greatest Charity to them as well as others to make their Folly manifest to the World to shew that they are the most unthinking Creatures that live in it and that whatever specious Characters they aspire to or would be known by there 's none so justly belongs to them as that which the Spirit of God has given them in the Text And the attempting this is my present Province I shall not go about to shew the Folly of disbelieving a God and Providence by proving That they are or by answering the Objections to the contrary not that the former are not fairly demonstrable or the latter too formidable to be encountred but I think too frequent Undertakings to consute these are too great an honouring of them and make them look more considerable than they really are as too frequent Attempts to prove those may possibly be not of the best Consequence to Religion And besides the Doctrines that assert them have been so firmly establish'd and the contrary Whimsies so shamefully baffled both by Ancient and Modern Christians and particularly in some Discourses publish'd in our own Language That whosoever can now complain for want of Evidence and Conviction and call for more will still do so after the utmost that can be given him and plainly declares he will not be satisfied And if Men are so resolv'd resolv'd to be sceptical as long as they can start any little Cavil and ridiculous Scruple and to submit to no Conviction but such as the things to be prov'd are not capable of If they will not believe a God unless we can demonstrate him à priori Nor acknowledge an Eternal Independent and Self-existing Being unless we can prove him from his Causes If they will not believe Matter of Fact which happen'd long before their Time without Evidence of Sense If they will not believe
Spirits and immaterial Substances unless they can see and feel them the Man that should attempt to prove them upon these Terms would deserve the Character of him that denies them That therefore which I intend is to shew That although all the Arguments that are urg'd for the proof of a God a Providence and a future Judgment should not be allow'd to come up to a Demonstration Tho' the Atheist has his Arguments against them and the Sceptick his Scruples which they think are not satisfactorily answered Though they are not convinc'd of them yet it is a very great Folly not to believe them and to say and persunde others that there are no such Things I speak of a practical Belief such as influences and governs the Life and Actions for I do not think that a bare notional Belief of these Things would mend the Matter or That the Man that should assent to them in Speculation but deny them in practice would be at all a wiser Man than he that with heart and mouth denies them Nor he that is really convinc'd that there are no such Things if Nature affords such a Monster is not more so than he that professes to believe them but contradicts his Profession by his Life For the Object of this practical Belief I have added a future Judgment to the Existence of a God and his Providence not only because these do inferr that but because this Judgment is the only thing the Atheist would get rid of and the other are deny'd meerly for the sake of this because if they were admitted this would follow otherwise I doubt not but he could be very well contented to allow of a God that made the World if he concern'd himself no further with it and would without difficulty give up his eternal Matter his Fate or Chance or any of his lewd Schemes nay he could permit him to administer the World too if he did not take notice of Humane Actions in order to bring them to an after Account He has no Quarrel with a Providence for its governing the World as is plain from his Argument against a Providence which is That bad Men such Wretches as himself are suffered to prosper and be very happy but this is a wrong he could easily forgive him and could willingly submit to and acknowledge God's Government here if he had nothing more to say to him hereafter But that he should see and keep a Register of his Actions that he should be privy to his most Secret Closet Curtain Bosom-sins that these should all be written in his Book and that for this end That he may bring them all into Judgment This is what he cannot bear the Thoughts of and therefore being resolv'd not to admit of this Doctrine to him so ungrateful and terrible he is obliged to deny the others from whence this would necessarily follow So far is Fear from being the first that introduced a God into the World that Fear rather first made Atheists I mean Fear of a Judgment to come and the Eternal Retributions to be dispenc'd in another Life To which Judgment and Eternal Rewards and Punishments I shall have a special respect in the proof of the Proposition I have undertaken which is That whether a Man be convinc'd or not of the Being of a God of a Providence and Future Judgment yet not to believe them with the heart so as to practise and live according to such a Belief and to say with the mouth That there are no such Things and infuse such Notions into others is a very great Folly The Subject in this Proposition is a Man not convinc'd of the Being of a God a Providence and Future Judgment and a Man may be said not to be convinc'd of these Things who is in doubt concerning them whether they be or not He sees Reasons and Difficulties on both sides that he cannot fully assent to either or he may be said not to be convinc'd of the Truth of one part of the Contradiction who is fully satisfied and persuaded of the other the former Sence is more agreeable to the common way of speaking but the other is justifiable by a very usual Figure That which is affirm'd in the Proposition of this Man consists of Two Parts 1. 'T is a great Folly for him not to believe practically the things therein specified 2. A great Folly to say there are no such things and to endeavour to persuade others so 1. In arguing the former of these I will consider the man as not convinc'd in the first Sence I proposed as being in suspence whether there are such things or not the Arguments and Objections appearing to him as strong on one side as the other and prove him to be a Fool if he does not so believe them himself as to practise accordingly as such a Belief will direct and oblige 2. In speaking to the second I will consider him as not convinc'd of these things in the other Sence i. e. as being fully and without doubt assured of the contrary and prove that for such a one to infuse his Notions into others and endeavour to make Proselytes is a very great Folly 1. I will consider him as in suspence and doubting whether these things are or not and this must be the Case of any Atheist that can think and does do it For although he will not allow that we can demonstrate these things he cannot deny that we have very probable Arguments for them and that is at least as much as he can produce to the contrary For will he say that the Arguments taken from the Frame and Origin of the World from the Structure of Man's Body and the Faculties of his Soul from the Beauty Order and Harmony of their several Parts and their constant acting for some end and attainment of them That these do not make it very probable that there was some Thinking and Wise Being that made design'd and dispos'd them for their respective Ends Will he say That his contradictory Notion of the Eternity of the VVorld his senceless Hypotheses of Necessity or Chance are a more likely account of them VVill he say That the Arguments taken from the Miracles that have appear'd in the World the Works far exceeding the Bounds and Power of Nature from the Prophecies which have distinctly foretold the most contingent and arbitrary things with their particular Circumstances at the greatest distance and have been punctually fulfilled from the Testimony I believe I may say of each particular Man's Conscience from the Terrors which even Atheists have felt and own'd at the approach of Death or imminent Danger from all Religions in the World which however silly and idolatrous are an undeniable Argument of the Faith of the Professors of those Religions in these things In short from the universal Consent of Mankind will he say That these Arguments are not of weight enough to put in the Balance against the trifling Cavils of some few Scepticks in