as they do of their own Existence or any other Principle in Nature but this I have made my task in an other place Thirdly they tell us they cannot believe a Deity because there are no Proper Demonstrations to prove it For you must know that there Persons whom we have to do with at present are great men for Demonstrations But I answer The Existence of many things in the World cannot be made out by Demonstration strictly so called and yet no man questions the reality of them The skilfullest Mathematician under Heaven can't demonstrate that the Sun Shines and yet there is no doubt at all of it and he would be counted a Mad-man that denies it We are morally certain of many things which we cannot possibly demonstrate but this doth not hinder us from yielding a firm assent to them And 't is certain that an Assent is an firm on Moral grounds as on rigid Demonstrations when the matter is capable of no other grounds for the Evidence is proportionable to the Matter to be proved and that is as much as can be desired by any intelligent man There can be no greater than a Moral Certainty of a Deity for there are no grounds of it Mathematically Demonstrative But by being Morally Certain we are certain enough and as certain as the nature of the thing will bear This should content any Rational man and it is unreasonable to demand any more Then as for those Demonstrations which they talk so much of they cannot but acknowledge that as they are sometimes managed they yield but little Certainty For not to speak now of the old Academicks and Scepticks who denied Geometrical Principles or of Demetrius Sextus Empiricus Epicurus Zeno and others of the Ancient Philosophers who reason'd against them I will mention some of our Moderns and those of great Skill and Learning who have disagreed about Mathematical Proofs and thereby proclaim to the World their Uncertainty The greatest Astrologers hugely differ as to the distance of the Sun from the Earth It is nearer to it ten thousand miles than it was saith Copernicus But I. Scaliger would have the Writings of those Authors who hold the Sun is nearer to the Earth than 't was in former days to be razed out with sponges or the Writers themselves to be corrected with stripes And other very good Astronomers are so far from consenting to this that they maintain the Sun is farther off from the Earth than it was at first And yet on both sides they proceed on Mathematical grounds There is no Mathematical Demonstration for Comets being above or below the Moon saith Ricciolus a very skilful Mathematician but others of that Faculty have pretended much to the contrary The Paralax is well known to be a Mathematical business that by which the Planets are judged to be higher or lower but the greatest Astronomers have quarrell'd with one another about this Doctrine Tycho is for it but Claramontius is against it and Galilaeus even explodes the Proof brought from the Paralax Dr. Wallis and Mr. Hobbes's Contrasts in Print shew that Mathematicks are dubious and this latter who was so stiff an Opposer of the Notion of a Spirit and consequently of a Deity finds fault with all Geometricians old and new in his Book entituled The Principles and Ratiocination of Geometricians Cartes's Dioptricks and Geometry are pretended to be baffled by other Learned Mathematicians as Bourdin Hobbes Fermat Franciscus du Laurens and Dr. Wallis scuffle about a Mathematical Problem So that it seems it is not an Infallible Science I am certain saith Dr. Henry More that Mathematical Certitude it self is not absolute There is an Essay of Dr. Pell to shew the Errors and Mistakes of the best and most celebrated Astronomers for want of better Knowledge in Geometry Even Monsieur Malebranch a profound Admirer and Follower of Descarts acknowledges that in his Geometry there are some footsteps of the weakness of the humane mind And I will conclude with the Words of One that was known to be eminent in Mathematical Studies Even in Geometry and Arithmetick saith he how many things are forcibly concluded to be true which are inexplicable unimaginable incomprehensible Thus you see the Mathematical Certainty which some men talk of is not so easily to be attain'd as they fancy Disputes have place in Geometry Demonstrations sometimes prove to be Paralogisms But as for a Mathematical Demonstration for the proof of a GOD it is vainly and unreasonably required because there can be no such thing for the matter will not bear it Wherefore though Some Divines have been great Philosophers and Mathematicians yet they never attempted any such thing A man must not expect to have every thing proved the same way If we have things evidenced by the Arguments which they are capable of it is satisfactory and every wise man rests in it And these men themselves do so in other things they acquiesce in that Evidence which the things admit of and they seek no farther Which shews that in the present Case they are Disingenuous and Cross-grain'd and act merely out of Prejudice which was the thing I undertook to make good Their Insincerity nourishes their Atheism Therefore let us have a care that we give way to no such thing III. Another Cause of this Pernicious Opinion is Ostentation of Wit For you may take notice that this Mischievous Plant springs from Contrary Seeds As before this kind of men put on a very grave and solid Countenance so now they shew themselves to be very Pleasant and Airy and set up for the Art of Drolling Before they appear'd like Philosophers now they come upon the Stage like Buffoons Then with a Magisterial Grimace they affected Demonstrations now nothing will please them but the Comical part It is observable that they are a sort of Jesting Scoffing People giving themselves to Railery and Burlesque And it is this Jocular Humour that in part betrays them to Atheism for they take liberty to jest with their Maker These witty and facetious Folks must needs play with Heaven and laugh God out of his being They are defective in sound Learning and Judgment and in the place of these have a fanciful way of Jeering which they addict themselves immoderately to Democritus was the great Asserter of Eternal Matter and thought that the Casual Motion of it was the Cause of all things the influence of which Principle in his Cogitations made him at last laugh at every thing he saw and mock at all Actions and Occurrences of humane life for 't is certain that if they are all by Chance they are to be denied The Followers of this Great Man have learnt from him to be Laughing Philosophers and there are abundance of this Sect now-a-days This I look upon as one Cause of the great Atheism of this Age. They think their Tongues are their own and they may say what they please and they perswade themselves that what
us endeavour to banish Atheism by doing so to our Divisions let us lay aside our Religious Squabbles and arrive at last to a happy Agreement in Doctrine that we may hereby cut off occasion of Atheistick Unbelief on this Account However though in some Points we can't fully accord let us not be hot and firy against one another as if Charity were no Virtue with us VIII There is something more heinous than Divisions which frequently occasions Atheism and confirms men in it and that is the Hypocrisie and Evil Practices of too many that make a very fair profession of Christianity Whilst it is observ'd that they talk Religiously and pretend to Holiness but do nothing of what they talk of or pretend to whilst it is seen that they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof whilst it is evident that they cry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and yet are unhallowed in their Lives whilst it is known that they lay claim to the Spirit but are Carnal and Sensual in their Manners and enterprize very vile things for their worldly Profit and Advantage in short whilst it is observ'd that the Behaviour of sundry of the avowed Professors of Christianity is unanswerable to their Principles there is a sort of men that for the sake of these presently conclude all to be Hypocrites and Christianity it self to be an Imposture This then I grant that the Unbecoming Lives of Christians are an unhappy occasion of Atheism sometimes but they can never be alledged as a sufficient one For what though there be mere Pretenders to Godliness doth it thence follow that there is none at all What though there are great numbers of Religious Impostors Must I therefore thence conclude that all Professors of Religion are an errant Cheat Then by the same Logick I may peremptorily infer that there is no such Metal as Silver because by too noted experience we find at this day that it is generally counterfeited and there is no such thing as True Coin because so much is adulterated amongst us No man of sense will make these Conclusions and 't is as certain that he can with as little reason make the others Let us not then be abused by unsound and fallacious Inferences let us not think there is no Religion because there are so many Unworthy Retainers to it Yea let us be fully convinced of this that though Christianity hath been and is to this day abused and sophisticated and thereby dishonoured yet it is a Reality and we may venture our Lives upon it And seeing the Evil Deportment of some that profess Christianity is the greatest encouragement to Atheism and Vice let us all make it our great business to adorn our Profession with a holy strict and exemplary Conversation Let our light so shine before men that others seeing our good works may be so far from denying that they may glorifie God And let us pray for the arrival of that Happy Day and I hope it is not very far off when Religion shall universally bear sway upon Earth and when men shall be throughly convinced of the real Worth of Christianity from the Practices of those that profess it IX In the next place more particularly the Ill Examples of some who by their Office are Spiritual Guides and Instructors are mention'd as another great occasion of Irreligion and Atheism It is necessary to take notice of this because it is alledged but very frequently without ground by the sworn Patrons of that Cause which I am now pleading against They observe of some of this Order of men that they urge Virtue and Holiness with great Warmth and pathetick Zeal and yet are very cold yea wholly neglectful in the Practice of them and visibly favour those Vices and Enormities which they disswade others from whence it is no wonder say they that these Persons are not believed to be in good earnest yea that they are thought not to believe themselves i. e. to be really perswaded that those things are true which they discourse of for it is seen that their Lives wholly contradict their Doctrine Whence this rash Conclusion is made that Preaching is a meer Trade that the Ministerial Function is a Cheat and that Religion it self is so too and that a Deity is no other Thus where is there more of Atheism than in Italy the Pope's own Soil part of which is call'd Holy Land Which the Observing Author of Europae Speculum who had convers'd in his Travels with the Italians and knew them very well attributes to the gross Wickedness of the Roman Clergy and particularly of the Popes and Cardinals of whose scandalous Speeches and Actions the people of that Country have a greater knowledge than others They are not ignorant that several Popes were inclined to be Atheists as Paul 3. when he was dying told the Standers by that he should now know three things viz. whether the Soul be immortal whether there be a Hell and whether there be a God And Iohn 23. as is plain from that Council of Constance by whom he was deposed profess'd that he look'd upon Religion as a Fable and God and the Soul's Immortality as such And they dayly behold the lewd and dissolute Practices of some of the Cardinals and Prelates Abbots Monks and of their Parish-Priests which very thing as the foresaid Author observes makes them the most Irreligious People in the World yea causes them to defie all Religion for their sakes Especially they conclude that there is nothing true and real in Christianity because so many of the eminent Pretenders to it and Assertors of it live continually in opposition to all Religious Principles and Practices and are seen to be guilty of the most horrid Impieties of the most execrable Villanies that are to be imagined Their being so near to the Head of that Religion as he is stiled makes them averse to the whole kind And this is in some measure the case of People in other Countreys where even the Protestant Faith is professed but is accompanied with the Scandalous Lives and Lewd Practices of some that are immediately concern'd in Holy things and whose Employment it is to direct others in Religion But to speak impartially to any considerate Person this cannot yield an occasion of being Atheistical for though the manners of some of the Sacred Function be offensive yet 't is irrational and absurd to blast all Religion for their Misdemeanours We do not read that our Saviour condemned the Iewish Church and Mosaick Law because of the Hypocrisie and Wickedness of the Chief Priests Scribes and Doctors of the Law Nay he tells the People All that they bid you observe that observe and do but do not ye after their works Matth. 23. 3. As much as if he had said The Moral Law and all the Offices of Religion are not in the least discredited by the vicious Manners of some of your Teachers Be careful that you imitate
be from a kind of Magnetism in some parts of the Earth as hath been imagin'd by some or from the reflected Particles of the Celestial Matter driving down into their places the earthy bodies they find above them or as they at other times are pleased to speak from the pressure of the Atmosphere which moves all Bodies continually downwards because it doth it self press always towards the Earth or whether it be as the Learned Isaac Vossius holds from the Diurnal Motion of the Earth whereby all heavy Bodies which move with greater difficulty than light ones tend to the middle or Center and light Bodies are expelled towards the Superficies or from the Center But a man that would be very serious in Philosophizing can hardly acquiesce in any of these Solutions He is not hereby satisfied how Non-gravitation can be and not be in a thing at the same time as in Water in the Sea or in a River for it is heavy and presses down and yet the parts do not gravitate for 't is known that those that dive and are under so great a heap of Waters yet feel it not upon them Here must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there must be acknowledged an other Cause besides those before mention'd if they may be said to be Causes at all And accordingly I find that some of the most Judicious Philosophers of our own Nation have averr'd that a God a Divine Incorporeal Substance may be evinced from the Phoenomena of Gravity This is made good by strong and nervous Arguments in an Undertaking of the Learned Dr. More Another Ripe-witted Naturalist positively determines that the common Phoenomenon of Gravity is impossible to be explain'd by any natural operation of Matter or any other law of Motion but the positive Will of a Superiour Being so ordering it And there is lately risen in our Horizon another Bright Philosophick Luminary from whom we may expect Great Discoveries it is his frank Acknowledgment that this wonderful Property of Bodies whereby the World is tied and link'd together and all things in it are kept from running back into their First Chaos and Confusion and which consequently is necessary for the welfare yea the very subsistence of the Universe is supernatural No power saith he of mere Nature can produce it it surpasses all the Mechanism of Matter And in several other Instances which might be offer'd there may be seen a despair of resolving the nature of them by material Causes wholly No meaner a Person than Doctor Lower who was voted by all the Faculty to be one of the most Accomplish'd Anatomists of this Age imputes the wonderful Motion of the Heart and the Circulation of the Blood to a Divine and Supernatural Cause He who was as well skill'd as any man in the Fabrick of the Parts and Vessels of the Body and knew all the Springs of their Actions and Operations was of opinion that these could not be solv'd by any ordinary Principle I mention this only to let the Reader see that some of the Bravest and Wisest Philosophers are forward to own a Divine Hand even in the Common Works of Nature They do not think it below a Man of Philosophy to resolve some things into an Immaterial Principle For a Pious and Christian Philosopher may plainly discern that there are some things above the Efforts of Matter and Motion It cannot be denied whatever some are pleas'd to say to the contrary that we live in as Learned Times as ever have been extant All Arts and Sciences are improved even to a Prodigy and particularly the Accessions which are made to Philosophy are very great and astonishing But yet I must needs concur with that very Thoughtful and Ingenious Gentleman before cited who hath most truly told the World that without the notion and allowance of Spirits our Philosophy will be lame and defective in one main part of it when it leaves out the Contemplation of the most Excellent and Powerful part of the Creation viz. those Immaterial Beings And herein he follows all the Great and Renowned Philosophers of our Age especially those of our own Country as Dr. More Sir Matthew Hale Dr. Willis Mr. Boyle Mr. Ray c. who pretend not to solve all things in Philosophy by mere Natural Causes who look not upon Man as a piece of Clockwork but have frequent recourse to those Springs and Causes which are Spiritual and Incorporeal and sometimes to the immediate hand of the Almighty Himself To conclude then let not the inestimable Blessing of Knowledge and Learning which is so peculiar to this Age make us forgetful of the Grand Source and Spring of all operations and effects in Nature Let us beware of those men who ascribe all the Phaenomena in the world to the power of the modified matter and will leave nothing for God to do himself Neither let us think that to Philosophize is to jar with the Sacred Writings and to deny the very Natural History of it The Scoffers at a Deity never had a more hopeful Harvest then since these Notions have prevail'd By this means it comes to pass that Philosophy which is the Study of Wisdom affronts the Truest and Highest Wisdom and even Natural Philosophy which is one of the Choicest Accomplishments of humane minds leads men even to the denial of the Author of Nature No wise man will disapprove of a Latitude either in Philosophy or in the dubious and controverted Points of Theology but then here he must be upon his guard for there are those that under the pretence of throwing off some precarious things in the Old Philosophy and discarding the empty Speculations of the Schools cast off those Principles which are useful and sound under the notion of the Advancements of Arts and Sciences and the Improvement of the belles lettres and carrying Learning up to a greater heighth they in the mean time help to pull these down Especially in Religion under the colour of searching further than others have done into Divine matters they abandon some of the choicest Principles under the pretext of Reason and Good Sense they obtrude any New Conceit upon the world and regard not the suffrage of the Holy Scriptures or of the Primitive Church This they call a Rational Religion and if you offer any thing against it they cry it down as a Dream a Romance a Fable a Phantom an Hobgoblin and which is a word which they think comprehends all the rest Priest-craft And here I might observe that among the Opinions which lead to Atheism the denial of Daemons and Witches which of late hath so much prevail'd is none of the least For besides that this is an open defiance to unquestionable History Experience and matter of Fact and so introduces the worst sort of Scepticism which is the high-way to Atheism it is evident that this supplants the belief of Spiritual Beings or Substances for Witchcraft and all Diabolick Transactions are
SOME THOUGHTS Concerning the Several Causes and Occasions OF ATHEISM Especially in the Present Age. With some Brief Reflections on SOCINIANISM And on a Late BOOK Entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures BY IOHN EDWARDS B. D. and sometime Fellow of S. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for I. Robinson at the Golden Lyon and I. Wyat at the Role in S. Paul's Churchyard MDCXCV TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD His GRACE THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England c. MY LORD YOUR Grace being not only by Your Place and Station but by Your own Choice and voluntary Act the Grand Patron of our Religion it cannot be improper to present You with these brief Papers which though in themselves very mean and inconsiderable and unworthy of Your Grace's View are a Vindication of that Holy Cause against the repeated Cavils and bold Insults of Atheistical Spirits who as Your Grace with a very deep Resentment and Regret observes are of late grown very numerous How vigorously Your Lordship hath attacked this sort of Men is well known to the World and that hitherto they have not been able to bring about their impious Designs is in great part owing to Your Lordship's successful Attempts I presume from the Encouragement which so Illustrious an Example hath given me to engage in the same Cause that is to lay open the Folly and Absurdity of their Pretences and withall to discover some of those Heads and Springs whence the Atheistick Apprehensions of these present Times arise and whereby they are fed and nourished Which I hope will be of good use to those who desire to be caution'd against the Venom of this Raging Evil and will in some measure operate even on those who are infected and corrupted with it already I am sensible how Precious Your Grace's Minutes are in this time of extraordinary Business and Emergency and therefore I will not be injurious to the Publick by any farther Applications to Your Grace Only I superadd my hearty Prayers for Your Health and long Life wherein the Common Welfare and Happiness both of Church and State are so much involved And so I subscribe my self Your Grace's Most Dutiful Son and Devoted Servant Iohn Edwards THE PREFACE I Designing by the Divine Help and Conduct to defend the Existence and Providence of God by Arguments drawn both from the Greater and the Lesser World it is my Request to the Reader that he would accept of this Brief Essay in the mean time which I conceive will be a suitable Introduction and Preparative to that other Vndertaking For as in that intended Discourse I shall carefully trace and discover the Footsteps of the Divinity every where so here I make it my Business to shew how frequent an obvious the Occasions of Disbelieving it are By which means we shall effectually learn how to purge our Minds of those ill Qualities which naturally are subservient to Atheism we shall know how to remove those Stumbling-blocks to answer those Objections and to clear up those Mistakes which usually betray Men to this Infidelity And thus there will be a Way made for what I design Persons will be fitted to receive and retain the Impressions which those Topicks that I shall afterwards make choice of will enstamp upon their Minds And I hope the Age which hath lately been stigmatized with Marks of Atheism will for the future be renowned for these truly illustrious and glorious Characters I will only farther acquaint the Reader that some part of what I here offer viz. such Particulars as I thought were convenient for an usual and mix'd Auditory was deliver'd lately in one of the City-Pulpits and the other Heads with their Enlargement which are of somewhat a different strain and are chiefly adapted to the Curious and Inquisitive are an Addition since But as I have added several things so I have omitted some at the Desire of those who are concern'd in both This is all that I had to advertise the Reader of and so I bid him Farewel SOME THOUGHTS Concerning the Causes and Occasions OF ATHEISM THAT the World was not void of Atheists in King David's time may be gathered from his Words in Psalm xiv 1. The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God But it is exceedingly to be lamented that the number of them is much increased since yea that it is the Unhappiness of this Present Age to be pester'd with not a few of them Notwithstanding those cogent and incontestable Arguments for a Deity which are suggested from the Holy Scriptures and the Natural Reasonings of sober Minds there is still an Atheistical Spirit prevailing in the World There is a sort of Men if I may call them so whole bold Infidelity is so Irrational and Brutish that reckon the Notion of a God to be a Melancholick Conceit and the mere Effect of Credulity and Ignorance Yea there are some that pass for Wits who strive for the honour of being accounted the most Able Atheists of the Age. Wherefore instead of rehearsing or urging those Topicks which are wont to be produced for the Proof of the Divinity my Business at present shall be to enquire into the Causes of Atheism which now vaunts it self with an impudent Fore-head and begins to boast that it hath got Footing in a great part of the World I will search into the Occasions either real or pretended for I will mention both of this Reigning Mischief I will shew you on what Grounds the Impious do at this Day not only with the Psalmist's Atheistical Fool say in their Hearts but openly and avowedly proclaim to the World that there is no God that is no Supreme Over-ruling Being of Infinite Perfection no eternally Wise Intelligent and Omniscient Substance that at first gave Existence to all things and ever since upholds them and takes care of them I. I assign Ignorance to be one great Spring of this gross Unbelief As knowing as the World is at this day there are too many People of inferiour Rank whose Education hath been so unhappy that they have not been instructed in the Common Principles of Religion and they are more unhappy in that they will not allow themselves time and leisure to look into their own Minds and to rouze those inbred Notions which are implanted there by God and which would if they would give way lead them to him Wherefore it is the Concern of all Persons to know how to converse with Themselves and to rifle their own Breasts that they may find a Deity written there and besides they should be careful to acquire such a stock of Knowledge from without that they may understand their Religion and not be seduc'd by Atheistical Notions that fly up and down every where But this first Cause which I assign of Atheism is not only to be found in some meaner sort of People who have not time as they order
their Affairs to think of a God but in others of a higher Rank and Quality for by Ignorance I mean a wilful and sottish stifling of natural Notions and Impressions And this sometimes prevails in Men of great Parts and Knowledge Think it not strange that I reckon such Persons in the number of the Ignorant for to speak impartially they are so and this was the Sense of the wisest Pagans long since For to have no Knowledge and to stifle it is the same thing which is the Case of these Men they make it their business to choak the innate Principles of their Minds and to disregard those Notices which their Natures suggest to them Thus these Persons are stubbornly and obstinately Ignorant Whatever their Pretences and Boastings be their Atheism proceeds from want of Learning and Wit For 't is not the part of a Learned and Ingenious Man to destroy the Notions of Mankind and pull down what hath been built by the universal Suffrage of the World and in its place to erect a Conceit of his own Some may take such for Brainish and Scholar-like sort of Men but then these are so without Thinking for it is the want of this that makes them what they are Or to say the best of this kind of Men and Atheist is but a half-witted Person He hath perhaps made some Attempts in Science but to little purpose He hath attain'd to some slight and trivial Notions but hath not penetrated into the heart of Things and thence it comes to pass that he is full of Doubts and Cavils which he is able to raise but he hath not Skill and Ability enough to answer them Wherefore it was excellently said of my Lord Bacon A little Philosophy inclines mens minds to Atheism but depth in Philosophy brings mens minds about to Religion and a Deity Thus though this mis-shapen Monster would be thought to be the genuine issue of True Wisdom and Sound Knowledge yet it is really the daughter of an Affected Ignorance Wherefore to secure your selves against Atheism be careful that you blind not your minds willingly receive the rays of light into your souls cherish all sound notions and conceptions and by all proper methods bring your selves to a right understanding and steady embracing of all the Fundamental Principles of your Religion II. There is great Disingenuity and unhandsome Dealing in the case else we should not have so much Atheism Here I will prove that they do not act fairly but that they are Ungenteel which perhaps will affect these Persons more than any thing that I can say What they are willing and forward to grant in other matters and on other occasions they refuse to grant here yea they utterly deny it though there be the same reason for one as the other This plainly appears by their Objections As first they tell us they have no Sensible Notices of a God and therefore they can't admit of it for all the knowledge say they which we have of things is deriv'd to us from Sense But here we see that these Men are Partial and Disingenuous for they will not deny that there are many things which they judge not of by Sense they grant that the swiftness of Motion oftentimes out-runs the nimblest Sense and the Observation of the quickest eye yet they do not deny the Motion it self The Element of Air in which the daily converse is not seen nor is it heard or felt unless when 't is extraordinarily moved and disturbed which is but seldom nor will they say they taste it and 't is as certain that they cannot smell it for this is only the Vehicle of Smells but is not it self the object of that sense and yet these nice Gentlemen do not deny the Existence of the Air. They can by none of their Senses discern the Motion of the Sun Moon and Stars or as perhaps they think it most proper to say the Earth and yet there is not a man of them that denies that they move It can't be determin'd by Sense whether the Sun be bigger than it appears to be and therefore Epicurus who was a great Man for Sense held it was of no greater dimension than it seems to the Eye to be yea of no greater heat in it self than it seems to the Feeling to be here on Earth And the Atheistical Poet who borrow'd his Notions from him was of the same mind Nec nimio solis major rota nec minor ardor Esse potest nostris quà m sensibus esse videtur Lucret. lib. 5. This is certain that the things that are least discernible act most The Animal Spirits which do all the great things in our bodies are themselves Imperceptible They are the Insensible and Invisible Parts as Spirits Wind Subtile matter Exhalations which being agitated do the chiefest Exploits in Nature There are Fine Particles and Atoms diffused through all bodies whatsoever and these are the cause of Sense and Motion in Animals by help of these Minerals Plants and all Vegetables are brought to perfection These Invisible Agents effect strange things and act most wonderfully in the World The Nutritious Iuyce in the Nerves if we may credit the famous Glisson is of mighty use and influence yet as he confesses himself there are no Cavities to be seen to convey it and none of this Succus is ever discern'd in the dissecting of Animals Notwithstanding this some Physicians of the most piercing Judgment have granted whatever they do now the real being of it And in other Instances it might be shewed that Sense is not always made a Judge even in sensible Objects but we gather the being and operation of them from Reason and Discourse This the persons whom we are now dealing with do not deny but even practise it themselves and are willing to allow of it Why therefore are they so void of Ingenuity and fair-dealing as not to admit of the same in the case that is before us Why do they most irrationally deny a God because they do not apprehend him by Bodily sense whenas they judge not of some other things by Sense nay though they be proper objects of it This is a plain proof of these mens wilful Prejudice and Partiality especially if I add that God is infinitely farther removed from our most exalted Apprehensions than the Sun of which we spoke before is from this Earth This Glorious Sun dwelleth in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath see or can see Secondly they tell us that there are Great Difficulties in conceiving a God and they are loth to swallow these down and more especially the notion of a Spirit i. e. a Being that is void of Matter and Body is too hard to be conceiv'd by them and therefore seeing we hold God to be a Spirit they can form no conception of him I will reply to both the parts of this Objection distinctly and first as to the General Cavil That this notion is
is wittily said is well said Hence these Sparks venture to ridicule Religion to scoff at Virtue and Piety and to mock God himself Then at last they really believe what they fancy'd and jestingly utter'd and they assert in good earnest what at first perhaps was said only in Merriment Wherefore to guard your selves from Atheism be always very Serious and abhor the sportful vein the flashy fancy of these men who think they can't be men of Parts unless they make a mock of God and Religion Whereas the Brightest and most Accomplish'd Heads ever exploded this and in our own Nation we have abundant Instances of this that even the Wisest and the Wittiest Men tho no Church-men or Divines have express'd their deep sense of God and serving him and defied the contrary Profane Atheistical humour IV. Pride and Self-conceit may justly be reckon'd another Spring of Atheism Men in this and former Ages have thought it below them to go tamely along with the generality of Mankind in asserting a Deity They would be thought wiser than others and consequently they affect to go against a commonly receiv'd Notion But more particularly these High-Flyers account it base and sneaking to listen to an Old Story of Religion and to submit their Belief to the Harangues of the Parsons as they are pleas'd to word it Especially Great Men are apt to be possessed with this Pride and consequently to be Atheistical They strongly incline to King Alphonsus's impious Bravado That if he had been present at the Creation he would have framed the World better than 't is now There is in many an excessive Desire of a Name and Vogue and they think to obtain them by scorning the Common way and going out of the beaten road by giving the Lye to all Mankind And though one would think that they might shew the subtilty of their Wit by diving farther into things than the Vulgar and not by casting off the agreed Sentiments of Mankind by refining and improving the Principles of Nature and not by nulling and evacuating them yet they choose the latter that they may as they think give the greater proof of their Wit and Parts and that it may be seen that they are able to weather a Cause be it never so bad To maintain this all sober Considerations are postpon'd they superciliously renounce when they are in the Humour all Reason and Arguments they arrogantly resolve to hold the Conclusion whatever becomes of the poor Premises Atheism owes its Being much to this as I apprehend as I think it it is sufficiently evident from what I have said before when I shew'd that they chuse rather to maintain the greatest Absurdities than to adhere to a Received Truth Wherefore that we may effectually prevent this Folly in our selves let us banish Presumption Confidence and Self Conceit let us extirpate all Pride and Arrogance let us not list our selves in the number of Capricious Opiniatours V. Undue Apprehensions of a Deity joyn'd with Superstition are the high road to Atheism Those that think amiss of God will easily be enclined to question his Existence It is too true that men model the Divinity according to their own fancies the Creature fashions his Creator Or like him that engraved his own Image in that of the Goddess they shape themselves and figure out their own absurd notions and conceits whilest they pretend to give the Pourtraiture of God Therefore imposing of false Doctrines concerning the Attributes of God is very pernicious for they are destructive of his very being and nature It is no wonder that when these come to be scann'd and examined men doubt of the very existence of God because so irrational and absured things are attributed to him They are loth to think there is such a One or they wish there were not So that they endeavour to destroy that which they can't endure Thus mistakes and misprisions concerning God lead to Atheism False Conceptions of a Deity expunge at last the belief of one And so 't was of old in Paganism Idolatry was the great mother of Atheism gross Superstition undermined the Godhead It hath been falsly and blasphemously said that Fear was it which first introduced a God into the world but yet it is certainly true that This with some persons hath expelled the notion of him out of the world for they being Timerous and Melancholick create to themselves strange fancies concerning Him whom they are to worship and represent him to their thoughts as Severe and Tyrannical And the Gentile Priests and Rulers laid hold on this passion of Fear and did what they could to promote and heighten it that thereby they might keep the people in awe To which purpose they invented Innumerable Rites and Ceremonies many of which were harsh troublesom and afflictive So that Bigotry and Excess in Religion made way for none at all and when they were wearied with the intolerable burden of it they cried out with that Nonsensical Atheist Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Then Religion it self and the Author of it were discarded This was caused by the Undue Representations which were made of God the Priests would have the Superstitious Bigots believe that the Divine Numen could not be appeased without those wild Observances This is that which Plutarch took notice of telling us that from such gross absurd and extravagant Devotion men came to disregard a Diety and to conclude there is None rather than to believe there can be Such a one one that is delighted with so unaccountable Ceremonies and Usages Therefore to shut out Atheism let us have right conceptions of the Supreme Being whom we worship and serve It concerns us to assert rightly the notion of God lest otherwise we slide into a disbelief of any Who misrepresenteth the Divine Being is in a ready way to deny him VI. Corrupt Affections and Lives for I will joyn both these together because they are never asunder make men Atheists Men of depraved minds and manners doubt of all Religions because they Like none and at last they flatly deny what they Love not An Atheist first desires and wishes no God and his desires and wishes work on his Understanding His Willingness to have it so enclines him to believe it He easily credits what he longs for his Affection corrupts his Judgment Thus the indulging of Lust and Vice dispose a man to Atheism To which purpose observe the Soil where this Poisonous Weed springs up grows and thrives most viz. in the Courts of Debauch'd Princes among such Nobility and Gentry and in Great Cities where vicious and prophane living is most in fashion They are lewd and dissolute in their manners and give themselves up wholly to the satisfying of their Lusts and this naturally prejudices them against the belief of a God and a life to come Nothing doth so much extinguish all apprehensions of these as Carnal Pleasures He that lives dissolutely and wickedly can't easily entertain the
them not in their Practices but be very observant of the Holy Doctrine which they deliver entertain no ill Thoughts of it because of the corrupt Lives of your Guides The like may be said now the Faults and Miscarriages of any Ecclesiastical Persons must not be charged on the Sacred Institution of Christ we ought not to think ill of Christianity for the disorderly Behaviour of any spiritual Officers in the Church We see that there is no man refuses to follow a Learned Physician 's Prescriptions and Rules concerning Health because he doth not observe them himself Nor can the Spiritual Patient with any reason reject the Rules of Saving Health and Happiness though they are not observ'd by the Prescriber himself But to be yet more plain with the Persons I am now dealing with they of all men cannot with any tolerable pretence make use of this Plea they cannot complain of the Lives of the Clergy as administring to their disregard of Religion for the more strict and religious any Church-man is the more is he despised and hated by them A Pious Clergy-man is reckon'd by them a weak shallow Creature a fantastick Bigot and is laugh'd at as such So that it is evident that what they alledge concerning the undue Behaviour of some that serve at the Altar is a more groundless Cavil for they would have all men as Wicked and Debauch'd as themselves It must indeed be acknowledged that this is a great Scandal and of very pernicious consequence and such as is not to be permitted with impunity in the Church but it is no excusable ground of Impiety and Atheism However since it is so heinous in it self and is made by the perverse minds of many an Excuse for their Atheism it is the concern of all Christian Guides of Souls to be Examples to the Flock to conform their Lives with great Circumspection and Exactness to the Laws of Christ Jesus their Master and to take care to perform themselves whatever they require others to do X. Unbelief of a God is occasion'd sometimes by the Strange Revolutions and Changes the Odd Events and Unaccountable Administrations that are in the World Especially men are inclined to question God's Existence as well as his Providence when they behold the prosperous state of the most vicious Persons and on the contrary observe how miserably sometimes the Best men are treated in this Life and at Death are not at all differenc'd from the Worst but perish alike Then you shall hear one cry out Quis putet esse Deos And another uses the like Language of the Poet Dum rapiant mala fata bonos Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos. But any understanding man who will take time to consider and deliberate will see that nothing of this nature can justly administer matter of Atheism For is must be remembred that we are finite shallow Creatures and are not able to comprehend the Wise Designs and Purposes of Heaven in every Event that we see and therefore when we meet with obscure and rugged Dispensations and such as seem to be very disorder'd and irregular we have no reason to find fault with them and to think them unworthy of God and of Divine Providence because we are not able to make a judgment of them Those Events which seem to be excentrick and at random are guided by a steady unerring hand but we have not depth of Apprehension to conceive it at present But it may be afterwards when our minds are more enlightned we shall know how to solve these difficult Phoenomena However at the last Day all these Intrigues these Knots these Labyrinths these Riddles shall be fully resolved and it shall be part of our employment in the other world to admire and adore the Infinite Wisdom of God in the disposal of the Affairs here on Earth And particularly we shall then be satisfied yea we may be now concerning the foresaid Problem viz. the Prosperity of the Wicked and the contrary Circumstances of the Good for 't is evident that these are according to exact Justice and Wisdom God intended the former should have their portion in this life only and he designed the latter to be prepared for Heaven by those rougher dealings here below Lastly Learned Times especially if accompanied with Peace or Prosperity are reckon'd by a Judicious Person as another Cause of Atheism Nor is this inconsistent with what I said before that Ignorance is the Mother of Atheism For Learned or Peaceable times are only thus far conducible to this Great Evil that men are then generally too Inquisitive and Curious too Nice and Wanton and over-busily pry into Secrets which when they cannot satisfie themselves about they are inclined to be Atheistical and to doubt even concerning the chief things of Religion Wherefore I question not but the starting and keeping up at this day the Debates about the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity are a great advancement to this evil disposition of mind There are those who push on both Parties to wrangle and quarrel about this Grand Point and in the mean time laugh at the Combatants on both sides Whilst they encourage some Writers to baffle the Trinity of Divine Persons their Project is to destroy the Essence it self Whilst they put them upon maintaining the Unity of the Godhead they hope in the close of the Dispute to introduce a Nullity not only of the Deity but of all Religion For by these Bandyings backward and forward they know that mens minds will be unsettled and that they will be apt to waver about the truth and certainty of the main Articles of our Religion When Persons observe that the very Divinity of our Blessed Lord and Saviour is toss'd and torn by rude Pens when they see so Catholick a Doctrine attack'd with such Violence what can they think of the other great Verities of Christianity And withall the Anti-Trinitarians hereby provoke some of their Adversaries to an indecent sort of Language concerning these Holy Mysteries so that some of these latter have hurt the Cause it may be almost as much by their Defending it as the others have by their Opposing it Thus it must needs be when Persons immoderately indulge Curiosity in these Abstruse and Sublime Matters and will not be content with what the Bible and immediate Inferences drawn thence suggest to us By this means they lose their hold and give their Antagonists a clear Advantage against them and manifestly promote the Design of those who make it their work to make void the Notion of a Deity Nay in the very Socinian Doctrine it self there seems to be an Atheistick Tang. Would not a man guess that there is in approach to Atheism in those Reflections which are made on a Sermon preach'd by the Right Reverend Bishop of Worcester where one of the most receiv'd Notions concerning the Nature of the Deity it self is cashier'd The Self-Existence of God which is the Primary Fundamental and Essential
Property and is the very Life and Soul of the explicatory part of the Doctrine of the Deity is peremptorily pronounced by them to be a Contradiction It is well known Socinus and Crellius and others of this Party deny God's Immensity i. e. his being present every where as to his Essence and Nature All of them agree that he hath not a Knowledge and Foresight of every thing that happens in the World for future Contingencies are hid from him Particularly Socinus largely argues against this Praescience and tells us that he is to be laugh'd at that asserts the contrary Nay it is farther observable that this great Patriarch of the present Cause disowns the Immaterial or Spiritual Nature of God as may be undeniably gather'd from his Exposition of Iohn 4. 24. and other Passages in his Writings And he is followed by Crellius as is manifest from that Account which this latter gives of a Spirit when he speaks of the Nature of God He doth not make it to be any thing above a refined body a substance void of all gross matter such as the Air or Aether is So that when these men call God a Spirit their meaning is that he is a Fine and Tenuious sort of Matter not that he is wholly Incorporeal and altogether free from Matter This is the same with Mr. Hobbs's Corporeal God Thus four of the Chief Attributes of the Deity viz. Self-Existence Omnipresence Omniscience and Spirituality are either in whole or in part rejected Whereupon I ask this Question Whether these things do not discover a Tendency to say no more in the Anti-Trinitarians to that which I am charging them with For to assert a God and yet to deny some of his Choicest Properties whereby we know him to be God is in effect the same with denying a Deity If they distinguish between the English and Foreign Socinians as I perceive they do and tell us that the former do not assert the things before mention'd I answer the very English Prints avouch the first of those Particulars and as for the rest they being the Doctrine of the Chief Patrons of the Socinian Cause yea and of the Most of them the English Unitarians are involved in them because those Foreigners are the greatest and most substantial part of that Body of men call'd Socinians Thus the Trinitarian Scheme of Religion drawn up by some English Socinians of late is thought by them to touch all the Trinitarians else it could not be stiled the Trinitarian Scheme though every individual Trinitarian doth not hold all those things mentioned there Let them apply this and they will have nothing to object And further I would argue from their own avowed Principle which is that they are to admit of nothing but what is exactly adjusted to Nature's and Reason's Light nothing but what is entirely clear and evident for though it is true some Socinian Writers of late have laid aside this Notion and truly we may observe that they are shifting every day their Arguments and so we know not where to have them yet he that is acquainted with the Writings that make up the main Body of Socinianism knows full well that this is a Principle constantly asserted and maintain'd by the generality of them and upon all occasions insisted upon This hath been the Stanch Notion of the Great Dons of the Party and of the famous Socinus himself And Slicktingius though he seems indeed sometimes to be otherwise perswaded yet comes to this at last that the Trinity is a Doctrine that can't be borne because it can't be understood And why do Crellius and others argue from Reason and Logical Arguments against the Trinity if they do not refuse the Doctrine upon the account of Reason And it is certain they would not do this if they were not perswaded that these things in Religion must be adjusted to Natural Reason and that they are displeased with the Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation c. because these are not exactly squared to their Natural Notions You see then what is the sentiment of the Greatest Rabbies of this way and therefore we must make our estimate of the Socinian or Antitrinitarian Doctrine from these and not from one or two Modern Writers This I think will be granted by all men of reason But what if it doth appear that even the very English and Modern Socinians though they seem to wave this Principle do yet retain it and govern themselves by it Else why do they complain that they have no conception of the Trinity as the Trinitarians represent it to them they cannot form an idea of it it is a notion that excites no idea's in their minds it is against Reason and Natural Light We are advised by the Modern Pen-men to consult our Reason about the thing in question and if we do so we shall find an absolute impossibility in the Trinitarian Doctrine our Reason will assure us that an Almighty Father and an Almighty Son are most certainly two Gods and that two Creators can be no other than two Gods Therefore we may and we must infer that the explication of the first Verses of St. John 's Gospel which advance such a Doctrine is certainly false Again the English Socinians tell us that the Doctrine of the Trinity clashing altogether with our natural idea's can be no matter of Revelation and therefore ought not to be believ'd And hear their Final and Resolute Determination which fully speaks their absolute adherence to this Principle We abide by this Argument here we fix our foot never to be removed that the inconsistence of the Trinity as well as the Incarnation with Reason and Natural Knowledge being undeniably evident therefore this Doctrine can have no real foundation in Divine Revelation that is to say in Holy Scripture And we find that our English Unitarians argue from Reason in this Point and they declare that they cannot believe it because Reason doth not teach it Thus we find that the bottom of all is the Trinity and such like Doctrines are above their Reason and Natural Idea's and therefore they are no matter of their Faith This is it which the Reverend Person before named charges these men with in a great part of his Sermon and certainly he would not have done it if there were no such persons in being It is too plain that there are such and I think I have proved it from their own mouths The sum of their Opinion and resolution if this that there is nothing difficult and abstruse in Religion and that they will not believe any thing in Christianity but what they can make out by Reason otherwise it must be discarded presently Now to apply this Principle of the Antitrinitarians we are assured that we cannot by searching find out God Job 11. 7. his Infinite Nature and Immense Essence are not commensurate to our Conceptions are not adjusted to our Idea's but are far
disbeliev'd on the account of the improbability if not impossibility of Spirits So that it is plain the rejecting of the being and commerce of Daemons or Infernal Spirits opens a door to the denial of the Deity of which we can no otherwise conceive than that it is an Eternal Spirit There are Other Doctrines which advance Atheism and may be reckon'd among the Dangerous Luxuriances of these Inquisitive Times Such is the vilifying of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament the proclaiming it to be faulty and erroneous in order to establishing the Seventy's Version as only Authentick Such is the building the Authority of the Books of the Old Testament on the pretended inspiration of certain Publick Scribes or Notaries among the Iews in imitation of such among the Egyptians the avouching that the Leaves or Volumes on which those Books were wrote are misplaced and put out of order the professed declaring that the Canonical Books are not the same that they were at first but that several words and passages are left out All mere Fiction and Conceit unworthy of so Excellent a Genius as F. S's Such also is the maintaining that the greatest part of the Religious Rites and Constitutions which God himself settled among the Iews were a Transcript of those that were in use among the Idolatrous Pagan Nations and that the All-Wise Lawgiver borrow'd those immediately from these The two former of these Attempts null the Authority of the Sacred Writings and the last of them disparages not only them but the Blessed Founder of the Jewish Oeconomy I speak not this as if any of these Opinions can be thought to be True Reasons on which a man may ground his disesteem of the Scriptures or of the Holy Doctrines contain'd in them or of the Sacred Inditer of them for they are the Sentiments but of a very few and of those whose Learning though it was exceeding great had not wholly conquer'd their Prejudice or freed them from Misapprehensions in some things I cannot charge them with any direct design of favouring the Cause of Atheism but ill-disposed men have made use of their Notions to that purpose Wherefore as we value the Reputation of our Religion and the Honour of the Divine Author of it let us be careful that we split not upon any of these Rocks nor endanger our selves on any of the Shallows before mention'd and thereby make Shipwrack of our Faith and Holy Profession or so endanger our selves that we can hardly be brought off again I might in the last place take notice of a Plausible Conceit which hath been growing up to a considerable time and now hath the fortune to come to some maturity Not to speak of its reception if not its birth among some Foreign Authors chiefly Socinians it seemed among our selves to be favour'd by that Learned but Wavering Prelate who writ the Liberty of Prophesying and afterwards by another of his Order who compos'd The Naked Truth Lately it hath been revived by the Author of the Naked Gospel and since more particularly fully and distinctly it hath been maintain'd by the late Publisher of the Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures He gives it us over and over again in these formal words viz. that nothing is required to be believed by any Christian man but this that Iesus is the Messiah He contends that there is no other Article of Faith necessary to Salvation this is a Full and Perfect Creed and no person need concern himself in any other This takes up about three quarters of his book for he goes through the History of the Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles according to the order of Time as he thinks to give an account of this Proposition But yet this Gentleman forgot or rather wilfully omitted a plain and obvious passage in one of the Evangelists Go teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. From which it is plain that all Proselites to Christianity all that are adult Members of the Christian Church must be taught as well as baptized into the Faith of the Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost And if they must be taught this Doctrine which is the peremptory Charge and Commission here given to the Apostles Go teach c. then it is certain that they must believe it for this Teaching is in order to Belief This will be denied by none I suppose and consequently more is required to be believed by Christian men and Members of Christ's Church than that Iesus is the Messiah You see it is part of the Evangelical Faith and such as is necessary absolutely necessary to make one a Member of the Christian Church to believe a Trinity in Unity in the Godhead or in plainer terms that though God is One as to his Essence and Nature yet there are Three Persons in that Divine Essence and that these Three Persons are really the One God for we can't imagine that Men and Women should be required to be baptized into the Faith and Worship of any but the Only True God This Epitomizer of the Evangelical Writings left out also that famous Testimony in Iohn 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word Christ Jesus and the Word was with God and the Word was God Whence we are obliged to yield assent to this Article that Christ is the word of God And there is added in Verse 14. another indispensable Point of Faith viz. that the word was made Flesh i. e. that God was Incarnate the same with 1 Tim. 3. 16. God manifest in the Flesh. And it follows in the same Verse of this first Chapter of St. Iohn that this VVord is the only begotten of the Father whence we are bound to believe the Eternal though ineffable Generation of the Son of God Our Author likewise takes no notice that we are commanded to believe the Father and the Son Joh. 14. 10 11. and that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son which expresses their Unity This is made an Article of Faith by our Saviour's particular and express Command And other eminent parts of Christian Belief this Writer passes by without having any regard to them and yet pretends to present the World with a Compleat and Entire Account of all that is the matter of our Faith under the Gospel This cannot but seem very strange and unaccountable to any man of deliberate Thoughts and who expects Sincerity from a Writer who makes some shew of it But this is not all this Learned Gentleman who with so much industry amasses together Quotations out of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles yet is not pleas'd to proceed to the Epistles and to give an Account of them as he did of the others though the Epistles are as considerable a part of the New Testament as the Gospels and the Acts and the Pen-men of them were equally inspired by the Holy
Nay some of these Persons seem to be partly sensible of it and change the name into that of Deist At this day Atheism it self is slily call'd Deism by those that indeed are Atheists Though they retain the things yet they would disguise it by a false Name and thereby hide the Heinousness of it But let us not be deceived and blinded by pretended Shews but throughly apprehend the Vileness of this Opinion which some endeavour to palliate It is a very denying the Creed of Nature it is a Renuntiation of that which the very Devils believe and tremble at It is briefly but fully represented in St. Cyprian's words This saith he is the sum of this most beinous Crime that those who are guilty of it wilfully refuse to acknowledge Him whom they cannot be ignorant of For their own Beings and Natures furnish them with Arguments for a God and if they did not obstinately shut their eyes they must needs behold a Deity Therefore to be Atheists or without God in the world as the Apostle speaks cannot but be a Great Prodigy it is Unaccountable almost if the Degeneracy of Manking were not so great as it is that the World it self should not administer to mens Thoughts Convictive Arguments of a Divinity Whence it hath been observ'd by a very Wise Man that there never was any Miracle wrought by God to convert an Atheist because the Light of Nature might have led him to confess a God This shews how detestable and pernicious Atheism is and much more might be said to this purpose Wherefore I hope I need not multiply words when I call upon you to keep out of the Company of those men who you know are infected with this hellish Poison 3. Let us labour to work in our selves and others a profound Sense of that Great God with whom we have to do Generally the Belief of a Deity is from Custom and Education because it is the Perswasion of the Place and the Persons we converse with but we should not content our selves with this but arrive to the Knowledge of the true Grounds and Reasons of this Belief Seeing this is the First thing in Religion and no Man can be Religious and Vertuous unless he believes there is a God let us fortifie our Minds against Atheism by those several Arguments and Considerations which are wont to be propounded by Learned and Religious Writers that we may as throughly be perswaded of this Great Truth as of our own Being which a Great Philosopher makes one of his First and Indubitable Principles But especially view the Works of the Creation and perswade your selves of this that a Material World without an Immaterial Cause of it is mere Nonsnse Look abroad and behold the Heavens and the Earth and all the Furniture of them there you may believe a Deity because you do as 't were see it The Creator is made visible by his Works Every thing in the Sensible World is an Image a Picture a Footstep of the Deity From this Exquisite Fabrick we infallibly gather the Existence of its All-wise Architect and Moderator Of which I shall give the Reader a particular Demonstration in a short time And that you may effectually extirpate Atheism out of your minds frequently peruse the H. Scriptures Read God in his own Book There you will certainly inform your selves concerning the Superintendence of Spiritual or Immaterial Agents viz. Angels which makes way for the Belief of a God who is a Spirit There you will meet with those Wonderful Operations and Events which can no ways be solv'd without granting an Omnipotent and All-wise Disposer of things And there you will find this Supreme Governour of the World communicating his Will and Pleasure to Mankind I question not but one great Reason and I might have mention'd it among the rest why men are so disposed to be Atheists is because they never or very seldom consult this Holy Volume they refuse to hear God Himself speaking to them in these Writings Wherefore I recommend to you the serious and frequent reading of the Bible as the most effectual means to confirm you in the Belief of a Deity Assure your selves that this Book is the best Antidote against Atheism 4. and lastly Labour to be truly Religious and Holy beg the Divine Assistance to sanctifie you in your Hearts and Lives and thereby you will be let into the intimate knowledge of this Grand Verity which I have been discoursing of You will then more sensibly understand and be convinced of it than by all the Arguments that can be offer'd or rather this one will make all the rest effectual Whereas on the contrary Men of Unsanctified Minds and Profane Lives despise and scoff at that of which they have no experience and will not believe the Existence and Power of God which they never felt Strive then by an Inward Experiment to confute Atheism so that you may not have any Inclination to say in your hearts though you do not utter it with your tongues There is no God but that you may be so strongly convinced of the contrary Truth that you may be able to assert it with a firm and unshaken Belief and from an internal sense of it on your hearts to attest the reality of it to the whole World FINIS ERRAT Pag. 104. lin 8. dele to * Sermon of the Folly of Atheism Sermon at the Queen's Funeral * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl * His Essays * 1 Tim. 6. 16. * Exercitat 99. * De Cometis * Preface before his Philosoph Writings †Search after Truth Book 3. Chap. 4. * Bishop Ward 's Serm. †Copernicus Lansbergius Clavius Petavius Tacquet Scheiner Gassendus Fromondus Kircher Ricciolus Oughtred Ward Wallis More Glanvil * Sir Tho. More Sir Phil. Sidney Sir W. Raleigh Sir Hen. Wotton Lord Bacon Mr. Selden Mr. Cowley c. * Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor Pap. Stat. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Lord Bacon's Essay of Atheism * De Nat. Deorum Lib. 1. * Mat. 7. 16 Luke 17. 1. †1 Tim. 4. 1. 2 Tim. 3. â— 6. 2 Pet. 33. Jude 18. * Sir Edwyn Sandys * Lord Bacon's Essays * Considerations on the Explications of the Doctrine of the Trinity Page 5 6 7. * Praelect cap. 8 9 10 11. †Fragment Disp. de Adorat Christi ‖ Deus est Spiritus aeternus spiritum autem cum nominamus substantiam intelligimus ab omni erassitie qualem in corporibus oculorum arbitrio subjectis cernimus alienam Hoc sensu Angelos dicimus Spiritus Aerem c. De Deo Attrib cap. 15. * Comment Vol. 1. page 118. * De Uno Deo P. lib. 2. sect 1 2. * Letter of Resolution concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity The Unreasonableness of the Doctrine of the Trinity †An Accurate Examination of the Principal Texts c. chap. 5. ‖ Observations on the Answer to the brief History of the Unitarians chap. 2. †Letter of Resolution concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity * Observations on the Answer to the brief History of the Unitarians chap. 1. * Of the Mysteries of the Christian Faith * An Exhortation to a Free and Impartial Enquiry c. * Spinosa Tract Theol polit cap. 8 9 10. * Dr. Woodward's Hist. of the Earth Part 3. 161. * Du-Pin Hist. of Eccles. Writers Prelim. Dissertat * Search after Truth Book 1. †Princip Philos. Pars 4. * Enchirid. Metaphys Cap. 11. †Mr. Lâ—ck concerning Education * Dr. Woodward's Nat. Hist. of the Earth Part 1. * De Corde * Concerning Education * Mr. Hobbs Leviath chap. 34. Mr. Websters Display of supposed Witchcraft Dr. Becker's Enchanted World * Chap. 1. Concerning the Articles of Faith * P. 302. * P. 302. * Page 303. * 1 Tim. 3. 16. * Page 302. * Deut. 4. 2. †Rev. 22. 18 19. * Dr. Cudworth's Intellectual System * L'Histoire d' Henr. 3. * In his Europae Speculum †An Essay in a Letter from Oxford * Just. Mart. Apol. 2. * Haec est summa delicti nolle agnoscere quem ignorare non possis De Vanit Idol * Ephes. 2. 12. * Fab. Faventini Disp. 4. adv Atheos Tho. Campanella Spizel Scrutin Atheismi Muller Atheismus devictus Ian. Ioach. Ian. Disputat contr Atheos Dr. More Mr. Smith Sir Charles Woosley Dr. Tenison now Archbishop of Cant. Dr. Cudworth Dr. Barrow †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato